Board 8 > TOMPIC 7: Johtonian Successor Nadesico

(+) Yeah! (+)

8-bit: I feel like "wow all that cool stuff happened offscreen so we don't have to explain it!" is becoming less of a gag and more of a copout >_>

DW6E: BEATED. Now to....play the battle royal scenario as a Ruler! I got Sun Shang Xiang like halfway through already. Good news is it moves a lot faster when you're not waiting on the AI to get around to attacking. Bad news is SSX is an archer now, and kinda sucks a lot. But hey, I can use other folks as my PC, too!
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DW6 screwing with people's weapons was the worst.

I started an evil ruler play through as LuBu. It is much harder to be evil than good. They made really normal things give you good points.
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8.22 - What Lies Beneath
6 Days.
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Dune: okay I think our mustaches are thoroughly twirled at this point let's see what any of these plots look like

Pokemon: Route 35 exploration continues, and now I've found the National Park. Too bad it's not a bug catching day, I guess, but I'm getting decent experience wandering around.
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Dune: THINGS ARE PROBABLY HAPPENING BUT I CAN'T REALLY TELL YET

MLP 8-20- The Washouts: NOBODY INVITED ME TO THE RAINBOW DASH FAN CLUB WHAT GIVES. Dang, Scootaloo with a top 10 anime betrayal over here. Dash as the voice of reason and mom is pretty great! Also whoaaaa spitfire. Lightning Dust is pretty entertaining too, even if I had forgetten she existed. Solid ep!
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8.22 - What Lies Beneath
4 Days.

Dash is betrayed! *GASP*
Lightning Dust hasn't been around since the Season 3 episode Wonderbolts Academy, that's a long enough time ago, right?
Spitfire just gave Scootaloo far too much, ouch! [Spitfire really needs to calm down!]
That episode was crazy!
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Dune: Man I'm getting Ender vibes off Paul with the mentat AND quitsatz hadarach thing going on.

LP DDLC 3b: Natsuki is a British 4kids villain now for some reason! Anyway, the Natsuki vs. Yuri scene is stressful enough even without the interface screw! The LPers punted to Sayori, which went a lot better than I expected. Doubt it'll work out in the long run, but good job Sayori. Man I kinda want a non-despair AU with these kiddos.

Trails: Exterminated the second sewer monster, and figured that was about it for this block. Finals BEATED, but it took some elbow grease, some luck, and some of my best food. ....I already like Mueller and ship him and Olivier.

Nadesico 22- Protect the Visitor?: Yukina is pretty entertaining, lol. We were having some cute buildup to peace talks, and then of course things went south. lol, Akatsuki was the president of Nergal. And then we sure got a lot of plot very quickly! Glad that nobody took Nergal's side here.
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8.22 - What Lies Beneath
3 Days.
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Kwisatz Haderach

He Who Comes With the Dawn
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Dune: I'm interested in these characters and this worldbuilding, but I'm also about ready for Yui to do whatever Evil Terrible No Good Very Bad Thing he's gonna do to get the plot started! I particularly wanna know more about the Beni-Jezirites, though. Lot to unpack from the trickles we've gotten so far, and I suspect they could wind up as the big bad puppetmasters. Or at least benevolent dictator ones.

City of Dark Magic: Almost there! Nothing like a good climactic bombing attempt. Kinda running out of pages to resolve all this, though!

Sanctuary: Not a whole lot going on, just some grinding since I'm not at the recommended level for the next area yet. I've found that a more aggressive style seems to work just fine, although I'm reluctant to try that with actual strong opponents. Also I got my cabin and tavern upgraded which is pretty nice for a half hour of playtime.
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Dune: Well they did the thing, sorta! Was surprised Leto was still alive, but I assume that isn't going to last that long. I'm enjoying all the characters I've met so far, even if I can only take Mapes so seriously while she reminds me of maplejet. Also dang how much did Princess Irilon write, anyway.

LP Stardew 43:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6Q8psWW6XI" data-time="
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8.22 - What Lies Beneath
2 Days.
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Dune: I kinda wonder why the author lets us know ahead of time who the moles are. I assume there's a decent reason but I feel like betrayals are more impactful generally when you don't see em coming?
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Tom Bombadil posted...

Dune: I kinda wonder why the author lets us know ahead of time who the moles are. I assume there's a decent reason but I feel like betrayals are more impactful generally when you don't see em coming?

I think it's the style he's going for. It's not a drama with hidden motives and betrayals and reveals. It's a political chessmatch, where the readers know the pieces and the game and watch how the characters try to out-maneuver each other.
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Dune: I keep waiting for Yui or Kines to stab Leto or something. I probably shouldn't be expecting a plot that simple at this point.

8-bit: Who WOULD win between Batman and Doom? I'm a bit sad about all the dwarves we're frying. We also have hot takes on the Bush administration, and some drag jokes that are...not the most 2018-friendly.
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8.22 - What Lies Beneath
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2018/09/my-little-pony-season-8-episode-22-what.html
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Dune: I feel like we could've let Jessica in on the whole fake distrust plan. If Perrin can pull it off I think she'd be more than capable.
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8.23 - Sounds of Silence
6 Days.
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8.23 - Sounds of Silence
5 Days.
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We finished Dragon Prince the other day! Not quite A:TLA tier, but a worthy replacement and worth checking out (...and stomaching the choppy animation)

Dune: I was enjoying the dinner, but now it's time for MOAR LIEK DRUNKEN IDAHO MIRITE
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8.23 - Sounds of Silence
4 Days.

The rest of the known pony schedule right now is:
October 6: Episode 24
October 13: Episodes 25 & 26
October 27: Holiday Special - The Best Gift Ever

Hearth's Warming, AKA "Christmas" inspired 44 minute special just before Halloween? Yup, that's interesting timing. Got to make the holidays seem "earlier" every year!

Source:
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2018/09/best-gift-ever-holiday-special-new.html
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8.23 - Sounds of Silence
3 Days.
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https://gyazo.com/b9dbafcf06fedc91c0c9a07b54a8db30

trails in the RIP
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oh the save files came back that's good
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Dune: I keep forgetting to write it up because I don't have other things to write up @_@ Anyway, geeze, way to self-sabotage, Yui. There were outcomes I was expecting, but Pyter being the one to die wasn't one! Jessica has really grown on me, and I guess it's time for Paul to get MORE super special chocolatey awesome. I do like some genius characters but I'm already starting to burn out on em after Ender and Bean.
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if you're tired of genius characters read Slaughterhouse-Five or Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
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8.23 - Sounds of Silence
2 Days.
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Dune: We went quite quickly from 0 to Emo Rand! Arguably a step further, beacuse Paul doesn't seem to actually want this. FAKE EDIT: okay good he does still have the ability to grieve

Pokemon: Bug Catching Contest! Only got 2nd, but I get a Scyther out of the deal, so I'm a happy camper.

Trails: If you're curious, I think what fixed it was restarting the computer. Or restarting steam, or turning cloud saves on and off, or who knows. Anywho, on to the dinner party! I like this head maid already and she hasn't actually helped us yet. Wonder what the odds are that the queen is alive? Oh, maybe they're gonna blackmail her with the granddaughter. Maybe Kloe is the granddaughter somehow! I'd be okay with that.
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8.23 - Sounds of Silence
1 Day.
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Dune: o ya go my space aiel I am looking forward to when they connect with the car'a'carn so they can have DESERT POWER which is like airpower or seapower but it's in the DESERT hence the name DESERT POWER because it's POWER that's in the DESERT. Also I have a feeling Howat is gonna go in an interesting direction here.

LP DDLC 4: I feel like the LPers are clickin' pretty well now. "If you feel guilty, that means you deserve to feel guilty" whoooooops. Also I completely forgot about this cookie scene, but Natsuki's voice makes it worthwhile.

Nadesico 23- A Place We Call Home: The band wasn't really separated for long, but it still felt good to get 'em back together! Also dang, the engineer guy had a cute wife this whole time >:\ Inez with Nergal is interesting!

Sanctuary: Found and switched to Bear Garb, which makes me regret using all my adornment shards but oh well
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Dune: so much sand they coulda named the book after it
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8.23 - Sounds of Silence
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2018/09/my-little-pony-season-8-episode-23.html

This episode was a fun one!
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8.24 - Father Knows Beast
6 Days.
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8.24 - Father Knows Beast
5 Days.
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Dune: This wandering in the desert bit is losing me a lil

City of Dark Magic: BEATED. All in all, pretty good, although I kinda liked the front half more than the back. Not, like, life changing, but a fun quickish read.

Which raises the question of what to read next! I'm not sure myself, actually. I just got copies of Les Miserables and And Then There Were None, which join A New Spring and Romance of Three Kingdoms (if I can find my copies) on a pretty short list of high priority stuff. Anybody attached to any of those four? Or heck maybe it's Silmarillion time again- that's been a while.
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8.24 - Father Knows Beast
4 Days.
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MLP 8-21- Rockhoof and a Hard Place: Man I am sad for this guy he's just tryin' to do his thing :\ Send him to the Pies imo! I do appreciate that the question was raised of why hippogriffs need boats. I just noticed that cutie marks stretch around appropriately when ponies walk. Not sure if they just started doing that or I just took eight seasons to notice, but it's kinda messing with my head. Yona and Rockhoof bonding is The Best. I also appreciate Twilight's little shrug when Spike questioned her authority to appoint him. Kinda dark undertones here, but a solid episode!

Finished up The Human Story by James C. Davis. History is not my thing (which surprises me actually because I love it in fiction) but this made it palatable! Trying to stretch my horizons and all that.

Dune: Man I figured Kines was gonna make it somehow, but at least we got some hints on his way out! Jessica continues staying relevant, which is a plus.

And Then There Were None: Man, I can already see the Umineko influence, especially with the ominous poem. The previous owner of this book wrote in the victim (I assume) under each stanza, but probably everybody's dying anyway so I erased them while paying as little attention as I could.

Lucha 1-24a: Training montage with the mystery girl and the mystery dude. Melissa Santos and the other mystery dude watch on as Sexy Cenas her way through Pentagon. (**1/2) Mundo looks like a chump in a skit with Patron and a camera that makes me dizzy.
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8.24 - Father Knows Beast
3 Days.
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Dune: When I say "Us," you say "ol," or however you spell that. It's finally starting to get my attention going again, which hasn't really been happening since Jessica and Paul escaped for some reason. Also, did you know that Elfin-faced Cheney has an elfin face? I don't know what exactly an elfin face looks like, but we have successfully established that it applies to the elfin face of Elfin-Faced Cheney, whose face is elfin. Also hey I can get more and more of the pumpkin Spice jokes I see on facebook now!
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8.24 - Father Knows Beast
2 Days.
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Dune: The Feydratha/some guy duel was pretty good. Nice hope spot, that.
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Good news is I don't have the flu! Bad news is I have some sorta offbrand Diet Flu.

Nadesico 24- Ubiquitous Righteousness: They're straight up hosting a con, and it's kinda the best. The romance angles are progressing very cutely t-Wow they just straight up murdered Shiratori D: This dang sucks!

8-bit: I like how red mage's larp character found a harpsichord washed up on the beach. Thief stealing the soul from the Earth Orb was kinda cool!
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8.24 - Father Knows Beast
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2018/10/my-little-pony-season-8-episode-24.html

Being sick is rough, glad to hear it's not the flu though Tom.
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8.25&26 - School Raze
6 Days.

Yup, season finale time is upon us this Saturday.
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Persona: Route secured! Second half seemed a lot easier than the first- no complaints there. It feels weird waiting to send the calling card, but I don't seem to have a choice, so it's time for SOCIAL LINKS GO. Hermit 4 made me kinda sad. Star 7 wasn't much of anything. Hermit 5 (with special guest NPC Nishima) was great. I still can't pick between Futaba and Makoto, geeze. At this point it might come down to what comes first: passing Makoto's Knowledge gate, powering Futaba to 10, or endgame >_> Sojiro is gated now too, lame. Fortune 4 was a good teaser. Tower 5 was just setup, but gave me a nice skill.

DW6E: Sun Shang Xiang has unified Chaotic China! Was a good run once it got going. I was originally thinking I'd take Meng Huo and each of the Three Kingdoms for a spin, but...I think I'm good, fam- it ain't gonna get LESS repetitive from here, y'know? Plus I may very well be booting up Ro3K once I finish Persona, to truly scratch the grand strategy itch. Nothing replaces this one since it was never actually officially in the rotation!
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8.25&26 - School Raze
5 Days.
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Stardom 16.2.28:
Gauntlet- Diemond v. Watanabe: **1/2
Gauntlet- Diemond v. Yoneyama: **1/2

Trails: We're finally getting to the root of things, which is great! I'm also kinda hoping that this backstory is a game I get to play at some point. More importantly, MAID OUTFITS. Kinda bummed more NPCs didn't have commentary on that!

Pokemon: Looks like we will in fact have to backtrack to deliver this Spearow, ah well. On the plus side, I evolved my Mareep, and caught Exeggcute (man that palette is ugly) and Ditto (!!!)

LP DDLC 5: Man the player is kinda a jerk :\ But hey, new CG with buttoning Sayori's shirt, which....seems odd. This would be a good ship if I liked the MC better! I feel like most of the girls fall in that category I guess. Either Monika's second poem is different or I didn't notice/forgot about the "load me" at the end. Also geeze I'm gonna get diabetes from Sayori liking our poem. Her second poem really grew on me, too! She's gonna keep writing until she dies!! "Amy Likes Spiders" is greatly enhanced by one of the LPers being named Amy.

Sanctuary: Some quite close shaves with C.Y.N. and some colosseum stuff, but we survived and are progressing nicely.
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8.25 & 26 - School Raze
4 Days.
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Persona: Ohya gave me a target, and that makes two, so sure let's hit up Mementos. I have a sense I want to keep my approval up, and this is the only thing I'm aware of to help. Gotta figure out what Ohya does. >_> Anyway, the targets went just fine, and hey there's a new area now. Remembered that Advanced Fusion was a thing, and picked up Seth and Bugs.

Dune: get up on the maker's baaaack. The timeskips and prescience and stuff are kinda turning me off I think. Feels like I'm missing out on big stuff.
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Yeah Empires definitely gets repetitive. I usually change play styles or betray leaders just to mix things up.

I wish the AI did more. When I do a campaign there will usually be only a couple areas conquered by other nations. I wish there were more aggressive AI or that other nations would deal with uprising and betrayals like your country can. Would make it more interesting.
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