Board 8 > SaveEstelle/LeonhartFour in Different Houses: Featuring Doggo Edition [SELF]

(+) Yeah! (+)

I know Chapter 13 is hit or miss, but I really liked it. Great atmosphere, and it really conveyed the sense of desperation and how bad the situation was.
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Thanks, pyre! Started my binge-watching and finished the Prologue and started Chapter 1. everyone in crossbell is a jerk lol.
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nobody likes having to talk to the police
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Leonhart4 posted...

I know Chapter 13 is hit or miss, but I really liked it. Great atmosphere, and it really conveyed the sense of desperation and how bad the situation was.

Thematically it was strong. Ardyn's taunting was great. Mechanically it dragged a bit. Also had the option to play as Gladio and Ignis, but ignored that.
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Well, I think that was meant to be like a beta/demo for the character DLCs and for adding in the ability to play as the other characters in the main game (originally, you could only play as Noctis). It's not a very long sequence.

I actually kind of like that the game forced you to completely change the way you've been able to play the entire game and adapt to another style.
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Also, I started the second book of The Expanse series yesterday (Season 4 hype). The first book had rotating perspectives between only Holden and Miller, but the second book rotates between Holden, Bobbie, Avasarala, and Prax (with the prologue being from Mei's perspective), so that's cool.
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Omega Weapon beated and not ashamed to admit I used the PS4 features to beat it

Instant full ATB and guaranteed Limit Breaks too good
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Apparently Omega levels with you now like regular enemies, while on PS1 it was fixed level 100. Dunno if that's a big nerf.
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Looking at it, it does affect its overall HP, but all of its other stats are mostly unaffected at the level I was at, so I guess it was a nerf, but like I said, I cheesed it, so it didn't matter much!
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3X speed and instant Limit Breaks makes grinding for 1000 kills easier

Also it slows down for timing parts of Limit Breaks like the triggers for Squall and button inputs for Zell which is nice
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Even in the original beating Omega at level 12 wasn't too challenging.
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Well, that's because FFVIII is more about your junctions and abilities than your level. I've never tried a low level run though. I just play it like a normal RPG for the most part.

Although I'm probably going to wind up getting my entire party to level 100 before this is over in my quest to get 1000 kills. I've already got Squall, Zell, and Rinoa there. Thankfully, your Battle Meter can track your kills so I can know how far away from it I am.
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dang man is brandin cooks even out there tonight
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Mob Psycho 100 Episode 11 complete

I think Reigen might have jumped straight to the top of my rankings just with this episode alone.
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hahaha

yeah reigen is amazing in these episodes
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Whew, I was a little worried about Carson after that first half, but now he's got 100+ yards rushing and a TD catch, so he got the job done for me tonight.

Although I'm facing one of the weakest teams in the league this week, so I think I'll be fine either way.
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Chapter 14 is shaping up to be perfect. It's the best. Finished the sidequests in the city. Time to go to the citadel
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All party members at Level 100 now

man grinding for 1000 kills sure is boring
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Whew, finally. Now all that's left is to finish the game!
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We enter Ultimecia's throne room (Remastered Ultimecia is pretty hot imhotbqh), and she begins railing against SeeD's very existence while replacing her Cs with Ks like she's in Mortal Kombat (Ultimecia for round 2 of MK11 DLC please). Thus begins one of my favorite final boss sequences in the series, where we get four phases, each one with a different boss theme (It goes from Premonition to The Legendary Beast to Maybe I'm a Lion to The Extreme). It isn't difficult if you're prepared (although it took 13-year-old me a few tries to finally take her down), but the atmosphere is fantastic, especially once you get to that final phase.

Also, she randomly selects who you start the fight with, but it doesn't matter that much if you don't get the three you want. Whenever someone dies and you don't revive them for a little while, they get "blown away" and the next person steps in to replace them, so you can even kill them off yourself if you don't want them in your party! I actually got really lucky this time and got Squall/Zell/Rinoa from the jump. She'll also occasionally kick a spell out of your inventory, and it can be annoying if the spell she chooses is something you have junctioned.

Also, I've seen some people use the fact that Ultimecia summons Griever as "proof" that she's actually Rinoa. However, if you scan him during the fight, it says she drew him from Squall's mind, so she drew a GF from him in the same way that we've drawn GFs from other bosses during the game. I'm not entirely sure how that works, but whatever, it makes for a cool fight! Also, fun fact: Quistis can actually learn the Shockwave Pulsar move Griever uses, but it's difficult to get the item you need for it, Dark Matter. You have to refine 100 Curse Spikes to get it. Dark Matter also refines into 100 Ultimas, so it's a pretty valuable item!

I like the speech Ultimecia gives right before you beat her, and I especially like that she never actually gets to finish it. She talks about how everything eventually gets lost to time, even the things that are most precious to us. Anyway, after the fight is over, everyone is struggling to get back to their time as they run around in white space. Unfortunately, Squall somehow gets separated from the rest of them, perhaps evidence that he's not quite as far in his emotional development and attachment as he'd like to be, even with Rinoa.

Somehow he ends up in the past at the orphanage, where he meets Edea as "The Successor" begins to play. Soon after, Ultimecia appears as well on the brink of death. She has to be free of all her powers in order to die in peace, and Edea agrees to take them upon herself since she's already a sorceress so none of the children become one. Ultimecia doesn't want to disappear, but she has no choice, further evidence you can't hold on to sorceress powers to be immortal.

When Edea asks who Squall is, he explains that he's a SeeD from Balamb Garden and tells her their mission. Eventually, she realizes that he's future Squall and tells him to return to his own time. She asks if he'll be fine on his own, and he gives her a SeeD salute as he vanishes back into time compression. He thinks he'll be fine now because he's not alone anymore, but even as he calls out, he can't find them, forcing him to wonder if he is indeed all alone again.
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Then we transition into the ending FMV (which you can't stream from your PS4, naturally!). In this entire sequence, there isn't a single word of dialogue. As I said before, FFVIII tried to emphasize communicating meaning through body language and facial expression, and that's what they aim to do here. You can know how Squall and the others are feeling just from their actions and reactions.

After a while, time compression begins to play tricks on Squall's mind, and he sees illusions of his friends, but oddly enough, he can't see their faces clearly. At one point, a feather falls from the sky, the same one Rinoa sent flying off into the sky in the opening FMV. It causes him to imagine her, but it's repetitive and nonsensical to him. Eventually, Squall can't take it anymore (especially after he sees an image of Rinoa dying in space) and after a single tear, he breaks as the feather falls to the ground.

Then Rinoa happens upon him as Eyes on Me begins to play (and the Platinum triggers, aw yeah). There have been some people who've thought Squall died here until the post-credits scene because you can't see what happens to him after they appear in the flower field again, but Rinoa's expression when she looks at his face pretty clearly says it all (as I alluded to earlier).

When we cut to Seifer with Fujin and Raijin, we can tell he's back to his normal self by the way he's acting. Even though he's not really presented as a sympathetic character at all, really (perhaps pitiable, but that's it), it actually is kind of nice to see him laugh and then smile as Garden passes overhead.

Then we flashback to the day Laguna proposed to Raine. This is the scene that always gives me chills because the song climaxes at the perfect moment (although it is a little ironic that the song Julia wrote about him plays in a scene about Raine...!). Then Laguna visits Raine's grave, probably for the first time since she died. It's a very bittersweet moment. It's really well done.

Now we have the credits, complete with a slice of life sequence as Selphie films the celebration party at Garden. I love this part because, as you well know, cast chemistry is big for me, and this is a great way to show it off. I like Selphie taking Irvine's hat, as well as Zell choking on hot dogs and then getting so angry that everyone's laughing at him that he pelts the camera with one. Seriously, Zell is great. Unfortunately, the battery runs out at the worst possible moment as they see Rinoa on the balcony talking to someone unseen. Fortunately, the game lets us to privy to the rest of it, as we see a full smile from Squall for the first time as he takes Rinoa in for the big kiss. The end (not Selphie's The End, which I still don't think I've actually ever seen, maybe once). Whew, beat it in almost exactly a month!

Character rankings:

Squall > Laguna > Zell > Seifer > Rinoa > Quistis > Kiros > Ellone > Fujin > Irvine > Edea > Cid > Raijin > Ward > Raine > Selphie > Biggs/Wedge > Ultimecia > NORG > Adel > Caraway > Deling

New and improved female character rankings 2.0

Nagato > Maya > Yakumo > Kurisu > Chizuru > Estelle > Leia > Yukiko > Fina > Eru > Kotomi > Phoebe > Aqua > Makoto > Shoko > Mitsuru > Yui > Tessa > Takano > Luna > Yachiyo > Shiori > Daphne > Milla > 2B > Laura > Drummer > Rinoa > Wagatsuma > Ritsu > Akane > Pepper > Historia > Brawne > Amy > Rin > Namine > Seo > Maria > Mitsuha > Peach > Botan > Sophia > Yurippe > Samus > Eureka > Sypha > Art3mis > Valentine > Lotus > Mizuno > Zelda > Vera > Elizabeth > Yuri > Cora > Kotori
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anyway don't expect that level of detail with other stuff

I don't even know if anyone read all of that but FFVIII is a special game so whatever
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I read a lot of them. I just didn't have a lot to say because I have a very poor memory of anything that happens in FFVIII after disk 1.
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Eyes on Me is great

Somnus is pretty great too. Everything about Chapter 14 is just blowing me away. And the boys look so good.
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Yeah, I like the new look for the cast, too. FFXV's endgame is really strong.
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Well, I immediately recruited Mercedes, Dorothea, Annette, Linhardt, and Felix, so that was nice.
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It's been a little while since I've gotten to watch one, but I watched Deathly Hallows: Part 1 tonight. Plan to watch the second one this weekend and finally finish off the Harry Potter movies.
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FFXV beated. Final boss was quite a spectacle, though gameplay wasn't very tight. Pretty good ending. Don't think I wanna do post-game. Maybe just move on to the DLC episodes.
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Yeah, the final boss was fun, but I don't necessarily know that it was good. You can wear their new outfits in post-game, which is great. I don't know that it has a whole lot else to offer, although I can't say what all the Royal Edition added that the base game didn't have.
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Finally went back and got the platinum for 428

The Canaan story was quite a slog and was what made me stop before...

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Yeah, it's bad. It's way too long for what it is.
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I didn't do the Canaan story since I heard it was real bad
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I mean, I would just put it on auto-play and then go do something else for a while if it's just for a trophy.
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BK_Sheikah00 posted...

quite a spectacle, though gameplay wasn't very tight

Feels like the whole game tbh.


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5-1 beated.

Probably the hardest and longest first case in a while so far.

They really just jumped into the future again though. Athena introduced like she's always been there, Apollo getting the Raiden badassery upgrade. Looks like backstory next!


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Yeah, Dual Destinies jumps all over the place with its chronology. I actually kind of like the way they did it.

And the Apollo/Raiden comparison is very apt.
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The Expanse Season 4 teaser:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Jc76QrX5Vg" data-time="

Looks so good. It's nice to have a big budget! Only two months to go!
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I'm going to watch the Tennessee/Georgia game because I can't help myself

I don't imagine this will end well
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I like DD a lot, but I'm definitely not a fan of 5-1! Might rank it as the worst first case in the series.
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Eh, I'd consider E1-1 and 2-1 to be worse than 5-1.
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wow I didn't know our offense had that kind of big play potential in them

looks like changing QBs was the right move
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so why weren't we playing this guy sooner

we're actually winning
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ya go my vols
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zero no kiseki chapter 2 watched

in terms of chapters (including the prologue) i'm basically halfway

in terms of videos *screams internally* god and then ao after this. gotta go fast
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Aw yeah go my Arc-en-ciel

Rixia best.
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zeit the real mvp tbqh
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Well, that wasn't the route I expected this game to take, but the end result winds up being about the same. Bah.
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FFXV Platinum get. Beated all hunts and the Pitioss Ruins. Platforming does not work for this game.

Only Menace dungeons left.
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Alas, the FGO Babylonia anime is not on Crunchyroll, so I have resorted to the old torrent method.

First episode was a tale of contrasts - gratuitous ass shots of Mash and someone that looks suspiciously like Rin Tohsaka, then monster getting ripped to bloody shreds.
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I haven't used Crunchyroll in forever. I should probably just cancel my subscription.
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