Board 8 > SaveEstelle & LeonhartFour in New Houses: Next-Gen Edition [SELF]

(+) Yeah! (+)

So what's the difference between vanilla DQXI and the Definitive Edition, and would it be worth losing several hours of what I've already done to get it?

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The increased battle speed would probably wipe out those hours for you.
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I know they added some individual character stories, in addition to the 2D mode. I've only played like an hour of the DE, though, so all I really know is how the 2D version looks.

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Man playing through all stars and smb3 is really floaty compared to 1.

I think this cements that 1 truly is the best.

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didn't All-Stars mess with the jump physics compared to the originals

Mario 3 is still the best regardless

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All right, let's continue Cold Steel IV Fragments!

More Ogre Rean time! You know it's serious business when no one comments on finding a red treasure chest! Too bad Rean didn't get a chance to no sell crawling through a vent! When we reach the end of Rean's route, we get a blue and a red Gear archaism, and memories of Millium and Altina begin to flood his mind. For some reason, Crow and Duvalie stop them from acting us. Duvalie can't even get out her usual condescending smack talk before being shocked at Celine's new form. Apparently, the Gnomes stole the technology to make these archaisms from Ouroboros, and Duvalie just doesn't like them as a concept at all. Celine asks why they're helping Rean, and Crow responds that he's just paying back his interest (which is a great line) before flipping the coin to Rean. Apparently the archaisms can form Combat Links, which is interesting. I mostly use the battle as an excuse to see Crow's and Duvalie's S-Crafts.

After the battle, we learn the archaisms have a self-destruct mode, but Rean gets even more furious about them being fakes and cuts them to pieces before they can blow themselves up. I am curious as to what Crow and Duvalie are up to here. Celine is finally able to communicate telepathically with Emma and catches her up to speed, and then she informs Sara of what's going on, too. Huh, Duvalie actually gets listed under "Allies" under Character Profiles, interesting. Crow's profile says he was revived to join the Rivalries, whatever that means.

After all the cutscenes, we immediately switch to the boys' team. It's kind of weird to think we've got Felix and Lorenz working together here!

More later.

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The Office Season 7 Episode 13 complete!

I don't think I've ever bothered with New Year's resolutions


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The Office Season 7 Episode 14 complete!

I wonder how many of my elementary school friends actually remember me.

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oh ya Black Workshop Team C hype.

Punished Rean/Celine/Duvalie/Crow the party of dreams

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Im noticing a distinct lack of Dragonball recently

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watching it right now!

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oh, you watched through the original DB too, right? what was your arc ranking?
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SeabassDebeste posted...

oh, you watched through the original DB too, right? what was your arc ranking?

looking at a list of "sagas" on the Dragon Ball Wiki:

Piccolo Jr. > King Piccolo > Tien Shinhan > Red Ribbon Army > Tournament > Emperor Pilaf > Fortuneteller Baba

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Dragon Ball Z Episode 21 complete!

The Saiyans have landed. Also, Oolong actually had the right idea there, but it's interesting to learn that there are limits on the wishes the dragon can fulfill.

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red ribbon way too high

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maybe I'm misremembering it, everything beyond the last three arcs feels too long ago for me to remember clearly

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Interesting, so for you things monotonically improved besides Baba!

Wonder if that will continue with Z!

(I actually prefer DB to Z)

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Well, the last three arcs are definitely notably better than anything that preceded them! I feel like the Baba stuff was kinda uninteresting filler. I could probably swap the Tournament saga with the Red Ribbon saga, but that's about it.

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Dragon Ball Z Episode 22 complete!

Kami and Piccolo being aliens is like the least surprising revelation ever.

also why does Vegeta's voice remind me of Stewie Griffin's voice without the British accent

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Let's get back to Cold Steel IV Fragments!

At the end of the boys' section this time, Georg is waiting for us. Gaius comments how he's completely changed from who he used to be. He busts out his own Combat Shell, called Naglfar (Millium would almost certainly call him Naggy), and it seems he created it himself. Huh, according to Georg's profile, he was implanted with false memories before he was sent to Thors. I wonder what purpose that served. I guess it enabled the Gnomes to spy on them without George giving away who he really was.

With that, we switch over to the girls. They run across a strange apparatus that no one knows the purpose of, but it's operational. I'm sure we'll figure it out before this section is over! When we reach the end of this section, it's Angelica waiting for us, naturally. She's calling herself Red Rossweisse now, and it seems that she still has a fondness for the ladies. Some things the Gnomes can't alter, I guess!

And now we're back to the Rean Team! Crow says he's gotten all his memories back and assures Celine he's on Rean's side...for now. Crow's "Jackpooooot!" line might make up for all the treasure chest dialogues we've had to endure to this point. Crow also says that Rean's new power comes from becoming the Sacrifice, again, whatever that means. I'm really starting to dig the dungeon theme by this point, by the way. Let's see who's waiting for us at the end of this section, and it's...Ines and Ennea, which is only fitting since we have Duvalie with us. They ask her if she'll regret leaving the Stahlritter, and she says she knows she will because they mean everything to her. However, she cannot keep following Arianrhod down a wrong path. Apparently, her guilty conscience has been bothering her since she unknowingly played a part in bringing about the Great Twilight. Oh hey, and there's McBurn, the FLAMING CONFLAGRATION, itching to take on the Ashen Ogre's power.

Then we switch back to the girls against Angelica. Emma can perceive that her soul hasn't been altered the way that Crow's, Arianrhod's, or Rutger's were, which is why she still acts like herself despite the brainwashing. After all, she's not an immortal who was brought back from the dead like they were. The mask allows her to unleash her full potential and simultaneously keep her behavior in check. Honestly, she should keep wearing the mask even if she becomes good again, if that's the case.

Next up is the boys (and Sara) against Georg. Elliot asks when exactly he stopped being George. Machias adds that he grieved Crow's death like the rest of them, and he didn't sabotage them during the civil war despite having every opportunity to do so. Jusis thinks it was Crow's death that was the trigger. Kurt says he remembers Altina saying her memories of the Black Workshop were wiped clean, which means the Gnomes have the ability to tamper with people's minds. Georg confirms that it was indeed Crow's death that reawakened his true personality, although he still "pretended" to be George in order to set the stage for the Great Twilight.

Now we come full circle back to the Rean Team, and McBurn wastes no time unleashing his full power and pulls out the demonic sword Angbar, which he received from the Grandmaster. Rean is apparently raring to go, but we have to fight Angelica first. They actually make us drain her HP to 0, which surprises me a little bit! Next up is Georg, and we also have to reduce him to 0 HP. Neither fight is particularly tough, but seeing their S-Crafts is pretty neat. The main course is the Rean Team against McBurn and the Stahlritter, naturally, and we thankfully don't have to drain them to 0. Getting rid of the girls isn't too difficult, but McBurn's S-Craft inflicts a really painful burn on everyone but Rean (who's immune to everything in Ogre form). That turns out to be problematic since Rean can't use Arts or Items, but the special item that we crafted in Eryn (that he's somehow able to equip even though Class VII hasn't met up with him yet) prevents him from being KO'd. Because of that, Rean is able to survive the duel.

The Rean Team is able to use cutscene powers to even stagger McBurn, and they urge Rean to go on ahead to find his friends, which he somehow understands. It's rare to see the heroes actually get the upper hand on the bad guys in this series, but they do usually save it for the last game in a subseries! Emma, Laura, and Fie urge Juna, Altina, and Musse to go find Rean as well. Finally, the boys (and Sara) tell Ash and Kurt to find Rean as well. Oh hey, we triggered a save point! That doesn't happen often in the middle of a chapter! I imagine that means we've got a lot of cutscenes coming up.

More to come.

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Red Ribbon is great

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LeonhartFour posted...

there's McBurn, the FLAMING CONFLAGRATION

excuse me you mean McBurn, the ALMIGHTY CONFLAGRATION

LeonhartFour posted...

I'm really starting to dig the dungeon theme by this point, by the way.

Doomsday Trance (the "final battle" theme of CS3 when it's Punished Rean slaughtering the Corrupted Holy Beast of Earth after Millium's sacrifice in the "can't really lose" battle) is excellent, yeah.

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Cold Steel IV Fragments complete!

New Class VII reunites in the central hub of the Black Workshop, and you can really see how far underground they are here. Altina says there are three research facilities they can access from here. She's now able to faintly remember Alberich and Millium, who woke up before she did. Then we cut to Rean in front of Valimar and the Sword of the End. Their voices can't reach him because of the curse of the Great One, so they decide they have to beat him up instead. This time, it's Altina who gets to make the big speech, saying she's going to protect everyone like Millium did before her. The fight doesn't prove to be too difficult, but the atmosphere is excellent with the battle theme.

Just when it seems like Rean's about to snap out of it, it gets worse, but then all their ARCUS units activate. Celine tells them all to link up because Rean's consciousness has been shattered into fragments, but they can call out to him and put him back together again. We see the Old Class VII start to activate their ARCUS units as well, and Duvalie for some strange reason (which she thankfully lampshades), and then we cut to all of our allies over the course of the four games lending their power, too.

Suddenly we've moved from Punished Rean to Naked Rean as everyone calls out to him, and thankfully, this time, it's more than just 12 people saying REAN. This kinda feels like the ending of every Persona game since 3 where all your maxed S. Links give you the power to beat the final boss, so it's cool that they brought it all together like that here, too. In Cold Steel, the real final boss is Rean's inner demon, whoa super deep, right? And they make you fight the final boss after Act 1, what a bold strategy.

Seriously though, Valimar and Millium showing up as their former selves to give Rean the final push he needed was the highlight here, I think. Unfortunately, his hair stayed white even after regaining himself, but Altina finally letting out her pent up emotions was a real heartwarming moment. However, Rean was apparently able to follow along with everything despite his former state, so we don't need to have a huge debriefing for him.

Naturally, the bad guys aren't going to let us enjoy this feel good moment for long. They say that Rean's power has left a permanent mark on him now, and there's no turning back. Rean tells everyone about Osborne giving him his heart, which saved his life but set him down the path to becoming the ultimate Sacrifice required to start the Great Twilight. I mean, come on, you can't tell me Osborne was planning this all the way back then, or did it just become a happy coincidence for him? Right on cue, Osborne decides to show up, along with Alberich and Arianrhod. Alisa tries to call out her old man, but he ain't havin' it. They share blood, but they aren't family. Arianrhod says she's glad Rean has regained control of himself because he couldn't serve their purpose for him the way he was. After all, he'd be pretty useless as an Awakener. Duvalie says she has to take her leave from the Stahlritter because she can't understand Arianrhod's motive for helping with the Great Twilight, and it is courteously granted.

Osborne urges Rean to stick around, but he knows better because all of his other henchmen are on their way there. The problem is how to actually get outta there. Celine says that Valimar is their only hope. His mind may be gone, but Rean can still control him. Osborne makes time to take a few potshots at Musse while also acknowledging her as his second most formidable opponent behind Olivert. Interesting that he says that Olivert "remains" a formidable opponent. Does that mean Olivert is still alive, or is he talking about Olivert's legacy in the creation of Class VII? Black Alberich channels Monokuma by saying the greater the hope, the greater the despair that follows. He then summons the original combat shell and they all plan to fight us together. Osborne pulls out a sword that only the leader of the Gnomes is permitted to wield, according to Alberich. He says its creation was different from the Sword of the End, but the result is similar. He's about to give us the name of the sword when Osborne shuts him up. Crow talks about the Rivalries again but still nobody has explained what they are.

Oh hey, they're actually making us fight Osborne and Arianrhod. I kinda expected we'd be bailing out before this! They show off some impressive moves, but surviving long enough to meet the AP conditions isn't TOO tough. We get some fun cutscene fighting showing we're outmatched at this point. Osborne taunts Rean and says if he were to unleash all the power pent up inside of him as a result of being the ultimate Sacrifice, he might stand a chance. However, Rean turns it around and says that because of the curse, he can actually see a way out of this. He calls for Emma and Gaius to do their thing, which involves opening a dimensional portal enhanced by his Stigma, and suddenly we have Vita helping us, too. The Bobcat and a Dominion airship pass through, carrying Randy, Vita, Agate, and Aurelia, heck yeah. Sounds like Thomas and Gaius were working together with Vita on this one.

This turns the tide in our favor, and Crow summons his Divine Knight as Rean tries to retake control of Valimar. With Celine's help, he's able to activate him and grab the Sword of the End. We get all the other Soldats at our disposal as well. This prompts Osborne and Arianrhod to summon their own Divine Knights, but not before they praise Aurelia's potential strength as even higher than their own. Aurelia for Calvard arc MC, anyone? Osborne and Rean talk about how Awakeners have an inescapable destiny, and any attempt to stray from it just results in tragedy. Then Rean calls back to Vita's failed plan at the Infernal Castle to restore the Great One via the Rivalry of the Seven, which Alberich says can only occur when the world is on the brink of destruction. Apparently, the plan failed because Vita attempted it too soon, I guess. So basically the seven Divine Knights have to destroy each other, and that enables the Great One to become whole again or something? It wasn't possible before because not all of the Divine Knights had been awoken yet. Machias puts the cherry on top of this plot dump by saying, "At this point, we don't have the luxury of uncovering their motives."

Despite what Rean just said, he's opting to defy his fate so that Millium's sacrifice won't be in vain and so that he'll never lose himself again. Oh, I thought for sure we were going to have a Divine Knight battle, but I guess not! Osborne says that only a miracle could stop Operation Jormangandr at this point, and Musse gives a parting gift by telling him the name of her plan: Mille Mirage. Dunno what that means, but Osborne seems to get the point! Either way, we somehow manage to escape. The bad guys who were late to the party muse over what Class VII's escape means, and this short chapter comes to an end, whew. I get an A for the chapter, so I'm not sure if I just missed some bonus AP or what. Oh well, no big deal.

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LeonhartFour posted...

I get an A for the chapter, so I'm not sure if I just missed some bonus AP or what. Oh well, no big deal.

It was probably in the last fight of Fragments. The victory condition is to get either Osborne or Arianrhod to half health. (By itself this grants 5 AP.) The bonus is to reduce them both to half HP... but since the fight ends when just one of them does... you need to get them both there simultaneously for the max of 10 AP.

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13 Sentinels beated!

Great game, I definitely recommend it

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Yeah, I kept trying to hit them both at the same time, but it's hard to tell how far you are from that red marker.

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IIRC it's half health for both, so you can math it out.

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Happy December

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I'm curious what the spoiler is in the limited edition now. Haven't gotten too many plot twists, and I'm going into the final sequence (unless the spoiler is something from the ending? Hilarious if so).

Also who is that in the top left in that picture? Is it Patrick?
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Looks like Olivert to me

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the Sara disrespect in that is killing me

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Mac Arrowny posted...

I'm curious what the spoiler is in the limited edition now. Haven't gotten too many plot twists, and I'm going into the final sequence (unless the spoiler is something from the ending? Hilarious if so

I assumed it was (CS4 Act 1-3 spoilers) that they show pictures of all the Awakeners and that Rufus is one of them. I guess it could also be something I didn't recognize as a spoiler at the time though.
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Ahh, that makes sense. Thanks.
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oh does it mean it's safe for me to look at that thing now

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I mean it's been a month or so since I looked at it but the thing I mentioned above was the only thing I remember as a spoiler, yes. (When I looked before playing the game that is)
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Is it okay to read that Black Records thing? I know it had a spoiler warning, too.

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oh yeah I opened those cards when I finished and was like "huh that's it?"

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the complete black records is an art book so it has some art from stuff all the way to the end of the game

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that feeling when you have limited slots to fill out your party for a dungeon and you try to figure out who is probably more suited for story purposes and then at the end you realize you guessed wrong

feels bad

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Sounds like a job for NG+

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The Mana Sword posted...

red ribbon way too high

agreed here

LeonhartFour posted...

Well, the last three arcs are definitely notably better than anything that preceded them!

and definitely agreed here

DBZ goes even more insane on power levels (obviously), but i think it's obvious why - the higher-stakes, higher-technique battles are just so much more interesting than the earliest stuff

that said i did think the first tournament arc was good. just thinking about it makes me miss being a kid!
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Yeah, the first tournament was good. The Goku/Jackie fight is probably the first fight on the show that really gripped me.

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First tournament arc is really fun, and I love the training stuff with Krillin before the actual tournament. It's very simple, but there's something appealing about that, before things get crazy.

The second tournament is probably the best arc in DB for me, though. Almost every fight in that one is good, when the 21st and 23rd both kind of have dud first rounds.

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LeonhartFour posted...

didn't All-Stars mess with the jump physics compared to the originals

Mario 3 is still the best regardless

I agree that Mario 3 is the best regardless, but All-Stars was not kind to Mario 1 (and Lost levels) while Mario 3 isn't really that different, so if you think Mario 1 is best when playing all stars, that's definitely how you'd feel anyway.

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Every time I've delivered a large Walmart box on my mail route in the last month, part of me has wondered if I'm delivering a PS5, even though it's pretty unlikely.

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I finished the second story in The Intuition of Haruhi Suzumiya, Seven Wonders Overtime. This one...was okay, I guess. It was mostly just Kyon and Koizumi sitting around discussing hypothetical scenarios. I think that works in limited quantities, but it can't be the conceit of an entire story. It feels like Nagato, Asahina, and even Haruhi have barely been involved at all (well, Haruhi has been more important as a concept than as a character in all stories in the timeline post-Disappearance, but that's a discussion for another time).

That being said, the last story, Tsuruya's Challenge, comprises 2/3 of the book in terms of length, so there's plenty of time to turn things around. I read the first handful of pages, and it already feels like Nagato has been more involved here than the first two stories put together! Plus, they're discussing mystery novels, and I can get on board with that.

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Oh hey, Trails From Zero Intermission complete! That was a fun little break, although I feel like I learned more about KeA from CS4 than I did here...!

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The Office Season 7 Episode 15 complete!

I've never been good at those "caption this" contests.

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Okay, here's one thing I will criticize about CS4 as actively bad: the split dungeon design. It mostly works out well, but they do this incredibly stupid thing where when you get to the boss, you have to go through all the other parties' parts before you fight that boss. It's okay when it's, say, a two party split dungeon, but when it gets up to three parties or five parties later on, it means you spend forever going through the dungeon part, and then it's a huge slog of bosses in a row. I hate it and the devs should feel bad for not understanding what gameplay pacing is.

part of the reason I'm peeved about this is that finale spoilers all the bosses for the Pales are random monsters/mechs. What a wasted opportunity. Makes the whole Pale section feel a lot less epic than it could've. They could've like, given Shirley or Mariabell to the Crossbell crew, for example.

Another thing that annoys be about both this and 3 is the way all the characters breathe real heavily all the time. It's especially noticeable with some of the characters, like Laura. Too much motion looks even more unnatural than no motion at all! Also emphasizes how randomly stacked some of the women are. Like, why is Elie twice as big in her 3D model as she is in her menu portrait? Bah.
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LeonhartFour posted...

I finished the second story in The Intuition of Haruhi Suzumiya, Seven Wonders Overtime. This one...was okay, I guess. It was mostly just Kyon and Koizumi sitting around discussing hypothetical scenarios. I think that works in limited quantities, but it can't be the conceit of an entire story. It feels like Nagato, Asahina, and even Haruhi have barely been involved at all (well, Haruhi has been more important as a concept than as a character in all stories in the timeline post-Disappearance, but that's a discussion for another time).

That being said, the last story, Tsuruya's Challenge, comprises 2/3 of the book in terms of length, so there's plenty of time to turn things around. I read the first handful of pages, and it already feels like Nagato has been more involved here than the first two stories put together! Plus, they're discussing mystery novels, and I can get on board with that.

That's sort of what I felt about Seven Wonders Overtime. It definitely felt too long for me. I liked the mystery stuff at the start of Tsuruya's Challenge but a lot of the references went over my head. You've definitely read more mystery than I have so maybe it'll go over better with you.
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