Board 8 > SaveEstelle & LeonhartFour in New Houses: Kamehameha Edition [SELF]

(+) Yeah! (+)

if some incidental npc dialogue from randy in cs3 is any indication the (crossbell) orbal net has already started down that dark path.

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so does Crossbell ascribe to the Spanish J as a whole or just in a couple of cases?

since both Jona and Juna are pronounced like Yona and Yuna

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...Could be. I was going to say it might just be Zemuria in general, but Jessica defies it (and is Erebonian)

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So we ended up watching Nightmare Before Christmas, Hocus Pocus, Halloweentown, and a few Treehouse of Horror Simpsons episodes tonight.

And I snuck in some Trails From Zero along the way!

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More progress in SC. I realized people don't talk about Josette much. I like Josette a lot.

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Jos'eh'tte

She's pretty solid. Her crush on Joshua is dumb, but she's good when they're not focusing on that. It's too bad she loses her personality in the later games.
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BK_Sheikah00 posted...

More progress in SC. I realized people don't talk about Josette much. I like Josette a lot.

Josette is great.

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Yeah, Josette is a good character. Loved her in SC (just not as much as Estelle)

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New Vantage Masters theme is a big upgrade, so that was cool. I could probably write an update blurb but I dunno if I feel like anything too significant happened to justify it really. Just arrived at Titus Gate. Well, there was a gold Active Voice Event on the way there lol: Class VII reminiscing fondly on them crashing the fight in Hamel in CS3 Chapter 1 and Randy like ffs guys. lmao

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All I ask is that you don't have any mandatory Vantage Masters segment this time

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I randomly introduced my wife to Phoenix Wrong for some reason

the internet was a different place 15 years ago

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CS4 Chapter 1 Day 1 (8/7) completed.

The end of this day was really great.

Backing up a bit though I didn't expect to find Anton, the First Anguis over at Titus Gate. lmao he's coming here looking for Sharon this is going to be an incredible subplot I can tell. Anyway it was on to Hamel after that and that was the highlight. Great character moments for New Class VII here - both Ash's despondence at what happened and especially Juna/Altina/Kurt's pep talks and then later on Ash's response to Rutger. Though in-between there was a name I hadn't heard in a long time... Gilbert. lol that guy. lmao that not-quite-an-S-Craft. Also, is it just me or are battles here tougher than they have been for a long time in Cold Steel? This battle could get out of hand in a hurry if I didn't use Burst and/or S-Crafts to try and manage it. Also had to reload and give the Rutger/Xeno/Leo fight a second try for the bonus AP conditions.

Back in Eryn now and neat looks like we're following the CS2 Chapter 1 formula to the letter up to and including getting to take one of old Class VII with me next time. Wish Fie and Sara were on different teams though what a mean choice. Didn't do much except beat Elliot in Vantage Masters before stopping since he's literally in the room over where you get control back.

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Argh I'm falling so far behind

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I just need to get a day off work so I can just play Cold Steel IV, but it's proving to be unusually difficult! I might be able to manage it on Wednesday, but even then, I still have to run errands for my wife while she's at work.

Married life just gets in the way, man.

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this is what happens when you prioritize anything over video games

your mistake!

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Lesson learned

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Dragon Ball Z Episode 1 complete!

wow nobody told me this was just a buddy sitcom where Goku has to rescue his bumbling son from a contrived scenario every episode

it's also weird seeing this new OP and ED after I got so used to the Dragon Ball ones

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Are you watching normal DBZ or Kai?

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Normal because I have no streaming option for Kai, unfortunately

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LeonhartFour posted...

it's also weird seeing this new OP and ED after I got so used to the Dragon Ball ones

Is it the rock the dragon opening?

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pjbasis posted...

Is it the rock the dragon opening?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5s54OGiTwc

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For reference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4vjJrGeh1c

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rock the dragon is an abomination. almost as bad as the US GT opening

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This is what I got when I watched DBZ:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAOCnSKz-x8
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Woah, I had no idea you were Canadian, TRE!

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That opening has always fascinated me because it's 90% just footage from the first 3 movies and then suddenly stuff that doesn't happen until halfway through the series at the last 5 seconds.

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Also because we all love inequalities. (OP name spoilers?)

Genkai Toppa Survivor > Makafushigi Adventure! > Dan Dan Kokoro Hikareteku > Kuu-Zen-Zetsu-Go > Cho-Zets Dynamic! > Dragon Soul > We Gotta Power > Cha-La Head-Cha-La

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Does DBZ have multiple OPs then?

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DBZ has two, yeah. Four if you count Kai.

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Okay, back to Cold Steel IV Act 1!

We're gathering intel around Saint-Arkh. You can sense the tension in the town as there are people in favor of war (due to the Great Twilight's influence) and those who are uncomfortable with how much their loved ones have changed. I'm enjoying the Juna/Kurt/Altina banter amongst themselves as they learn all this new info. When we try to visit Marquis Hyarms' mansion, we find the Imperial Defense Force out front instead of the provincial army. Apparently, they're in charge while the marquis is "absent." When we get to the cathedral. Altina mentions there's some sort of "turf war" between the factions in the church, which I don't remember from CS3! As they talk about seeing Elliot's concert here, his sister happens to overhear them, although Fiona doesn't mention that connection to them.

After their investigation, the party discusses how unnatural it is that Erebonia is moving toward war with Calvard at breakneck speed. When we return to the guild headquarters, there's someone inside. They charge in to restrain them, only to discover it's Kairi. He informs us that Pablo and Tatiana made it this far with him, and they're in Parm at the moment. We decide the next course of action is to head to Parm ourselves and trade info with them, as well as give Kurt a chance to check on people he knows. However, Juna is curious about Draknor Fortress since Fiona told them that's where she'd been before coming to Saint-Arkh, so she wants to check that out, too.

Unfortunately, Neidhardt and the 4th Armored Division have set up a checkpoint on the way to Draknor Fortress, so no getting there yet! Once we get on the south highway toward Parm, Juna suggests checking out the old field exercise camp along the way.

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LeonhartFour posted...

Altina mentions there's some sort of "turf war" between the factions in the church, which I don't remember from CS3!

The main games I remember this from is the Crossbell series. Basically there is something of a dispute between the division of the church that handles artifact retrieval (Gralsritter and related peoples) and the division which priests/bishops/etc are a part of that handles other things. I don't think much detail about the nature of the dispute has been given, and the one thing I know of that's been affected by this dispute is that the archbishop of Crossbell Cathedral has banned the Gralsritter from entering Crossbell since before the start of the series.
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The Office Season 5 Episode 24 complete!

Michael and Dwight's war was great.

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The Office Season 5 Episode 25 complete!

Every now and then you get a glimpse at just how good of a salesman and negotiator Michael really is.

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That's kinda the point of his character. He's a really good salesmen who got promoted to manager because of his sales skills and has no talent at his new job... which is fairly common IRL, too.
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Cold Steel IV Act 1 continued!

When we arrive at the field camp, the party is surprised to see Pleroma Grass everywhere, and this time it's a deep purple, almost black color. They also discover a pink Soldat with the branch campus emblem on it, meaning it belongs to Juna. Before they can check it out, the Pleroma Grass summons a magic knight. We have to weaken it on foot first to give Juna a chance to start up her machine. However, it repairs itself quicker than expected and it doesn't seem like Juna can make it in time. She channels Rean and her Soldat somehow starts moving on its own, whoa. The pendant Rose gave Juna starts flashing as well. Apparently, now we can summon a Panzer Soldat once per battle, except against humans.

After defeating the magic knight, the Pleroma Grass disappears. They give Rose a call about it after the battle, and naturally, this isn't the only place it's popped up. As far as the Panzer Soldat is concerned, Rose thinks their connection with Valimar must still be active, and it's reacting to that. Altina uses Claiomh Solais's stealth mode to hide the Panzer Soldat, which is a convenient trick!

I enjoy the banter between New Class VII as they recall events that happened in the locations we visited in CS3.

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I always enjoy when a dumb character gets to be super competent at something

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More Cold Steel IV Act 1!

We find our first Trial Chest, which can be used to strengthen our Brave Orders back to their old effectiveness. First up are Juna and Kurt. Only Juna's Brave Order gets upgraded though, unfortunately. We eventually make it to Parm, and I'm reminded of how much I liked this town theme in CS3. At the training hall, we find the Heimdallr Military Police camped out in front, and Rex shows up to tell us that all the students have moved out. He also mentions that Vivi has gone missing. We also ran into Lakelord II, and he said Kenneth's gone missing. Sounds like a lot of people have fallen off the radar! Anyway, Rex said that the Empire's most promising fighters have been recruited to pilot Panzer Soldats.

Anyway, that's all for tonight. I guess I'll probably be playing Trails From Zero tomorrow as we watch the election results!

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My hot take is that CS3/4 Rean is a top tier JRPG protagonist.

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welp a family I know tested positive for Covid and I've been around them in the last couple weeks so I guess I'll be getting tested

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Is that easy to do?

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pjbasis posted...

Is that easy to do?

Around here, it's pretty easy to make an appointment, yeah. Don't know about more populated areas, but I live in a town of about 20,000.

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The Office Season 5 Episode 26 complete!

Oh hey, it's that Kevin chili meme.

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The Office Season 5 Episode 27 complete!

Dwight's Jack Nicholson impression is surprisingly solid.

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I see Trump is now the Vegas betting favorite

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As bad as I'm feeling at the moment, I stand by my long held position that betting markets are dumb and very bad at predicting things

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Betting markets aren't projections. They set the odds based on what they think people will vote on so they can make the most money, so yeah, it doesn't mean anything in and of itself. It basically just means more people are starting to bet Trump will win.

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My nerves had me so wound up I didn't sleep at all last night so I mercifully crashed into a few naps this afternoon and evening and slept through a great deal of all this though I think I'm awake for good now (at midnight lol ugh) and it's like waking up to chaos.

I assume in a few hours I'll try to start up CS4 again to tear my attention away from all this but we'll see.

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Playing some Trails From Zero Chapter 2 and finished the Stargazer's Tower section. Getting Noel Seeker to temporarily join the party was pretty cool. I'm starting to like Yin more and more. Also, my guess for the fake Yin is that green-haired First Division dude. I suspected he could be the real Yin before this, but he seems as likely as any, although I don't know what his motive is at this point. I enjoyed even Yin appreciating Lloyd's detective's intuition, too.

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Trails From Zero Chapter 2 complete! Huh, it was the mayor's aide all along. I guess he was too milquetoast for me to consider! And I didn't expect Rixia to wind up being Yin, but looking at all the clues and hints in hindsight, it makes sense, especially when she talked about Ilya moving her off of her fated path or whatever. Plus, she was the one who brought the threat to the SSS in the first place.

Next up is the Crossbell Anniversary Celebration, so that should be fun!

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Since I'm in a pretty bad mental space right now I think it might do me some good to just verbalize this at least once because I'm not sure I explicitly ever have. I love you guys; my social anxiety that hit me all at once way back at middle school basically ended my social life right then and there with what friendships I had made previously being what little remained and even then it kind of withered fromt hat point as I became increasingly less able to deal. So really Board 8 (and mainly this topic and the couple other sub-groups like Trails B8/VGMC/etc.) are pretty much my only friends and I've always really appreciated that.

I've always enjoyed chatting with you all whether it be about games, anime, sports, or just whatever everyday stuff comes up. I'm less able to comment on some stuff because my life experience is basically zero and I've always been shit at connecting and expressing myself socially so even when I'm do I'm sure it comes off as awkward or even bad (I know there's a simple word for the adjective I want here but for the life of me I can't find it) but even so I'm glad that hasn't soured things as far as I know.

So, uh... yeah, I guess that's what I wanted to say. There's probably more but I'm having a difficult time stringing together too many coherent thoughts right now so I think I'll wrap that up before I ramble any more. Just thought I'd say all this in a kind of "acknowledge your blessings" kind of way... if that makes sense? idk if it does. So Leon, Quinton/SaveEstelle, LotM, dowolf, pyre, Mac, TRE, Kleenex, Janus, pj, and everyone else - if I missed names, and I'm sure I did! It wasn't on purpose my memory is a sieve the music is playing me off oh god - thank you.

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