The Last To Post Wins!

[Just call me AL]

12 minutes ago, Armagon said:

So i'm overhearing my cousin watching a movie that's been dubbed in Spanish and honest to God, every Spanish dub sounds the same. It's like there are stock voices that they use instead of real people. And yes, i understand the language. I'm Venezuelan American. Watch any two, completely unrelated movies dubbed in Spanish and you'll see what i mean.

Sounds like I ought to stick with subs if I want to watch anything that has a Spanish language option.

[Acacia Sgt]

16 minutes ago, Armagon said:

So i'm overhearing my cousin watching a movie that's been dubbed in Spanish and honest to God, every Spanish dub sounds the same. It's like there are stock voices that they use instead of real people. And yes, i understand the language. I'm Venezuelan American. Watch any two, completely unrelated movies dubbed in Spanish and you'll see what i mean.

Hmm, what movie was it? I take it is a LatAm dub you're watching, not Castillian?

Anyway... well, maybe it's different since I'm a native and this is the stuff I've grown up with; but I've never gotten that vibe. That said, perhaps this is due to, at least for LatAm dubs, that they employ a neutral Spanish dialogue? I know some places make more rationalized dubs; but nowadays it's more common to have a single universal dub.

Beats me...

[Just call me AL]

2 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Hmm, what movie was it? I take it is a LatAm dub you're watching, not Castillian?

Anyway... well, maybe it's different since I'm a native and this is the stuff I've grown up with; but I've never gotten that vibe. That said, perhaps this is due to, at least for LatAm dubs, that they employ a neutral Spanish dialogue? I know some places make more rationalized dubs; but nowadays it's more common to have a single universal dub.

Beats me...

I remember some lists of actors portraying the same character having two different Spanish voices listed to differentiate between Latin and European Spanish. I don't know if I'm remembering correctly, though.

[Acacia Sgt]

Well, yes, both sides of the Atlantic have their dubs.

What I mean is that here in Latin America the practice is to have a single dub to be aired for the entire region (well, save Brazil since they have to make their own, naturally). Sometimes, some countries will make their own dub; but the standard practice these days is to have the one dub. Perhaps that gives the idea they all sound the same, is my guess.

It all depends on what he has been watching. Latin America, well the Hispanic part, has like three-four different dubbing companies, all in different countries.

[Acacia Sgt]

Ahahahaha, oh man, a while ago it started airing on TV one of the Huevocartoon movies. The second one. Man, I had almost forgotten just how HILARIOUS it was.

And that's just the start. Oh man...

[Armagon]

3 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Hmm, what movie was it? I take it is a LatAm dub you're watching, not Castillian?

I think it was the first Jumanji movie. As in the one with Dwanye "The Rock" Johnson (iirc, there were other Jumanji movies before then). As for the type of dub, it was definitely a Latin American dub.

3 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

What I mean is that here in Latin America the practice is to have a single dub to be aired for the entire region (well, save Brazil since they have to make their own, naturally). Sometimes, some countries will make their own dub; but the standard practice these days is to have the one dub. Perhaps that gives the idea they all sound the same, is my guess.

That could be the reason why. But it still feels weird. 

[Acacia Sgt]

5 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I think it was the first Jumanji movie. As in the one with Dwanye "The Rock" Johnson (iirc, there were other Jumanji movies before then). As for the type of dub, it was definitely a Latin American dub.

That could be the reason why. But it still feels weird. 

I know there was one before that one. Well, can't help you there, I haven't seen that one.

It's alright. It's sometimes weird even between us...

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

The time has come when birdies wake me up at 5 AM.

Oof

[Acacia Sgt]

You live in UTC?

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

No, I just posted one hour late after I had been got awake.

 

[Acacia Sgt]

Ah.

Hmm, 5AM... that used to be my waking time for years and years...

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

It is for me during the week.

But on free days like Sunday I would like to sleep a bit longer...

 

I am really not looking forward to summer when I will sleep usually for like 5-6 hours thanks to long brightness, provied my room temperature allows me to sleep.

[WeAreNewcastle1053]

Summer seems to vary from place to place. In Hoshido and Nohr, the summers are mild and just warm things up.

But to find out that in your world, as well as that of my puppet, summer is to be dreaded and feared. Funny how my puppet's world gets much, much hotter than most summers in Hoshido. And then you have these little flying insects that annoy and bite you. My puppet has had wounds on their arms and legs from previous insect bites, which they have been scratching.

I don't think I'll see the seasons the same way ever again.

[DragonFlames]

17 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Try sleeping at the inn in Torigoth first, and changing the time to morning, say 5:00 AM, that might provide the spark for it trigger at the bakery. I say it's likely available now due to having enemies at level 38. Time of day once in a while plays a role in when quests are available, I think it's less so in XC2 than prior games.

I'll try that next time, then! Thank you!

17 hours ago, Shrimperor said:

Is approaching endgame

By which I mean: Good luck!

16 hours ago, Armagon said:

You can get Black Pomegranates from the two collection points near the Yurna the Elderwood landmark in Uraya. Those items aren't very rare and if you've got Blades with Botany (Dromarch has it), it should come up more often. So you can just farm those.

Noted! Thank you!

[Lightcosmo]

I'm being reminded here that quests in Xenoblade 2 are way better done than in Xenoblade Chronicles. Those quests are just... awful to complete. Of course, I still would prefer Torna's way of handling it, but anything is better than Xenoblade Chronicles quests. Hopefully that's something that possibly gets changed up a bit in the DE.

[DragonFlames]

When I bring up Nights of Azure, everyone be like:

Ah, memes...

Anyway, It has come to my attention that the most annoying quests in Xenoblade 2, as in, the ones with the most egregious examples of "But wait, there's more!" - "Seriously? SERIOUSLY?!?" come from the Nopon. Other requesters are usually satisfied with the completion of the first task they give you. Not the Nopon; they dump task upon task upon task on you and the reward is rarely appropriate to the time you need to invest to get it. To that, all I can say is "F*** you, Nopon. F*** you."
To no one's surprise, that small part of me that wishes the Nopon were here that has been festering in my heart since I started this game up is growing ever so slightly larger every time one of the little buggers runs their pie hole.
I think Xenoblade 2 is legitimately the very first game where I get annoyed at sidequests of all things. And now I hear it was even worse in Xenoblade 1? How?!?

Edited March 22, 2020 by DragonFlames

[Interdimensional Observer]

51 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

I think Xenoblade 2 is legitimately the very first game where I get annoyed at sidequests of all things. And now I hear it was even worse in Xenoblade 1? How?!?

From what I remember:

• Sheer quantity. It's tremendous. No Merc Missions to ease some tedium either.
• Reward is EXP, money, weapons, armor, and gems. EXP is often too abundant in XC1 and makes the current enemies a curbstomp due to the level curve, money is junk, you can get plenty and better equips from killing things. The gems might be nice though.
• NPCs, as listed by in their dot on the world Affinity Chart, have set times when they are present, otherwise they aren't. NPCs also move around a bit, a schedule of sorts. For a Social Sim game, this is fine, but for a bazillion NPCs? Not so much. You're not even told where the NPCs are located.
• A few quests might have major quality, but of those with stories, a lot are mundane and forgettable. I appreciate a little effort over none, but none of it is compelling enough to not feel like busywork.
• No Affinity Missions (XCX)/Blade Quests (XC2), which are usually (not always- "Fathers and Sons" in XCX is very bad) of a higher quality to some extent.

Nonetheless, to build Area Affinity, you must do a lot of questing, you can't spend hordes of money like in XC2 to boost it.

And you'll want to get the Affinities up a bit if you want the 4th and 5th Skill Trees (a set of five passive abilities you can unlock, most can be shared with other characters) of every character, which require Area Affinities at a certain level. It's only fortunate that the 4th Trees are mostly only okay for what they offer and the 5ths are endgame-only, so skipping them isn't so bad.

Also, two of Shulk's Monado Arts are unlocked via quests in need of Area Affinity. But at least the final Area generates Affinity really fast, and it doesn't need more than like two stars of it to get the very good Monado Armor.

 

 

51 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

To no one's surprise, that small part of me that wishes the Nopon were here that has been festering in my heart since I started this game up is growing ever so slightly larger every time one of the little buggers runs their pie hole.

How about you place them somewhere more appropriate for the Xeno- franchise? Like here:

That thing in the middle? Planet Earth (Existence: 4.54 billion BC-2054 AD, R.I.P.). No true spoilers here, this is from the opening sequence of XCX.

Edited March 22, 2020 by Interdimensional Observer

[Acacia Sgt]

Welp, time to move to Planet Bob, then...

I mean, Mira is an interesting concept and all, though imagine if the game had instead gone the Titan A.E. route.

Edited March 22, 2020 by Acacia Sgt

[Armagon]

1 hour ago, DragonFlames said:

I think Xenoblade 2 is legitimately the very first game where I get annoyed at sidequests of all things. And now I hear it was even worse in Xenoblade 1? How?!?

To add to what Interdimensional Observer said, there is like, no guidence when it comes to quests. I am not kidding when i say that you basically need to look up the quest in the Wiki if you actually want to complete because the quests do not tell you anything. And collecting items is also kinda bad becuase unlike the garuanteed collection points in 2, items are gotten through randomized item orbs that you can find scattered randomly across the world. You simply walk through it to pick it up (it's like this in X as well). 

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Reward is EXP

It's worth noting that quests are like, the main source of EXP in Xenoblade 1, which is another issue. Because quests are so bad, i don't feel like doing them but then i end up underleveld and the game really hates you if you're underleveled. Quests and the level penalties are like, the bare minimum that needs to be fixed in DE.

Edited March 22, 2020 by Armagon

[Just call me AL]

11 minutes ago, Armagon said:

To add to what Interdimensional Observer said, there is like, no guidence when it comes to quests. I am not kidding when i say that you basically need to look up the quest in the Wiki if you actually want to complete because the quests do not tell you anything. And collecting items is also kinda bad becuase unlike the garuanteed collection points in 2, items are gotten through randomized item orbs that you can find scattered randomly across the world. You simply walk through it to pick it up (it's like this in X as well). 

Don't even get me started on items like Black Liver Beans or Forget You Nots.

[Lightcosmo]

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

It's worth noting that quests are like, the main source of EXP in Xenoblade 1, which is another issue. Because quests are so bad, i don't feel like doing them but then i end up underleveld and the game really hates you if you're underleveled. Quests and the level penalties are like, the bare minimum that needs to be fixed in DE.

I never run into this issue, I'm almost always level 60 after finishing sword valley.

[Armagon]

It was nowhere near as bad and boring as Planet of the Monsters but Godzilla 2000 is not good. The final battle is kinda fun but there's no buildup and most of the movie is about the UFO that shows up rather than Godzilla himself. 4/10.

1 hour ago, Just call me AL said:

Don't even get me started on items like Black Liver Beans or Forget You Nots.

I still remember spending like seven hours in Valak Mountain trying to get the two Ice Cabbages for Colony 6 reconstruction.

[Interdimensional Observer]

2 hours ago, Armagon said:

It's worth noting that quests are like, the main source of EXP in Xenoblade 1, which is another issue. Because quests are so bad, i don't feel like doing them but then i end up underleveld and the game really hates you if you're underleveled. Quests and the level penalties are like, the bare minimum that needs to be fixed in DE.

True. Admittedly I've only gone through XC1 twice, but I was feeling underleveled at the generally accepted halfway point boss battle on my second run. Though in a way it was fun, because I was doing with minimal Sharla use this time (unlike my first play where I noobed Sharla into everything), and sticking to the men of Colony 9 made it more entertaining. I made a secondary point of minimizing my exploration to leave as much Location/Landmark/Secret Area AP/SP available for when everybody at last had joined. That further curtailed my EXP gain.

 

2 hours ago, Armagon said:

To add to what Interdimensional Observer said, there is like, no guidence when it comes to quests. I am not kidding when i say that you basically need to look up the quest in the Wiki if you actually want to complete because the quests do not tell you anything.

Oh yeah, I didn't remember for sure if there was a quest navigator in XC1. The absence of one is a terrible flaw. A point of progress for XCX then, even if the guidance wasn't perfect in all instances, specifically collectibles and enemy drops (remedied by BLADE Tickets a little bit)- but hunting generic enemies and Tyrants was absolutely fine.

 

2 hours ago, Armagon said:

And collecting items is also kinda bad becuase unlike the garuanteed collection points in 2, items are gotten through randomized item orbs that you can find scattered randomly across the world. You simply walk through it to pick it up (it's like this in X as well). 

There is still a measure of randomness in some XC2 collection point collectibles IIRC. But, probably much less than the prior two games, which is very good. Knowing Linka Honey is guaranteed at a certain spot removes unnecessary tedium of visiting tens of different collection spots until you finally find a source of what you want.

Though, XCX (not sure about XC1) does geographically determine where you have a chance of finding something.:

But, we shouldn't need fans to whip these guides up and tell us about this minutiae the game leaves unexplained. The salt I need for Vess's 100 Dumplings is in Uraya? Where in the whole darned thing XC2?! Next game, I want them to provide us with regional maps like this, or even more specific descriptions as to where each and every collectible can be found. It doesn't have to tell us right away, but as soon as we get one, we should know all the details about it.

 

 

 

By the way Armagon, if you get DS emulation working better for you, besides the Rune Factories, there is one officially translated Atelier game for DS. Atelier Annie: Alchemist of Sera Island, I recall seeing it in a Nintendo Power issue long ago. Wikipedia says it's the second of the three DS Ateliers, but the other two didn't leave Japan, yet none share a world location.

And, if you manage to get PS2 emulation up to speed again, the only other officially-translated Ateliers will be available to you. That is to say the Atelier Iris trilogy and Mana Khemia duology, both of which seem to be quite different stylistically from the Atelier you're familiar with.

It appears the Salburg trilogy that invented the Atelier franchise and its successor the Gramnud duology, were "Titular Cute Girl Crafts", the Atelier vibe you know. 

But the Iris trio, just looking at the boxart, has more of a typical JRPG, Tale-ish appearance, if still about crafting and turn-based gameplay apparently. With the exception of Iris 3, there isn't even a playable alchemist named "Iris"! It's a generic bishonen dude who takes center stage. 

The Mana Khemia duology is "alchemy goes to school", and course, it forsook actually having Atelier in its name. But it still has those Puni things I oversaw some of  you talk about.

Perhaps, if a "History of Atelier" were written, Rorona would be called "the Restoration of Stylistically Traditional Atelier" after five years of deviation.

-Just a tip from someone willing to walk up to the frosted glass window of a franchise, but politely hesitates and chooses not to walk through this particular door.

Edited March 22, 2020 by Interdimensional Observer

[Armagon]

18 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

But, we shouldn't need fans to whip these guides up and tell us about this minutiae the game leaves unexplained. The salt I need for Vess's 100 Dumplings is in Uraya? Where in the whole darned thing XC2?! Next game, I want them to provide us with regional maps like this, or even more specific descriptions as to where each and every collectible can be found. It doesn't have to tell us right away, but as soon as we get one, we should know all the details about it.

 

Agreed. Xenoblade 1 did have a collectepdia but to fill it out, you needed to sacrifice the items to register them and that could be really inconvinent for rare items. The next game should have a collectepdia but expanded upon and it's filled up as you collect (kinda like the PokeDex).

18 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

By the way Armagon, if you get DS emulation working better for you, besides the Rune Factories, there is one officially translated Atelier game for DS. Atelier Annie: Alchemist of Sera Island, I recall seeing it in a Nintendo Power issue long ago.

iirc, this one is one of the few Atelier spin-offs. I haven't heard enough about it though.

18 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

And, if you manage to get PS2 emulation up to speed again, the only other officially-translated Ateliers will be available to you. That is to say the Atelier Iris trilogy and Mana Khemia duology, both of which seem to be quite different stylistically from the Atelier you're familiar with.

Yeah, the Iris trilogy is more of a traditional JRPG thing with Atelier's item crafting. Just that the latter isn't as important compared to the rest of the series. I think.

And i've heard good things about Mana Khemia, most notably it's battle system, which both Escha & Logy and Shallie ripped off (in a good way). The only other thing about Mana Khemia that i know is that it's "Atelier goes to school" and has a similar structure to Rorona and E&L.

I intend to check out Mana Khemia after i'm done with the moden Atelier games. Classic Atelier should be an interesting experience. The PS2 Ateliers should also be easier to emulate than Xenosaga, since they are all 2D (Rorona was the series transition to 3D).

 

Edited March 22, 2020 by Armagon

[DragonFlames]

4 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

From what I remember:

• Sheer quantity. It's tremendous. No Merc Missions to ease some tedium either.
• Reward is EXP, money, weapons, armor, and gems. EXP is often too abundant in XC1 and makes the current enemies a curbstomp due to the level curve, money is junk, you can get plenty and better equips from killing things. The gems might be nice though.
• NPCs, as listed by in their dot on the world Affinity Chart, have set times when they are present, otherwise they aren't. NPCs also move around a bit, a schedule of sorts. For a Social Sim game, this is fine, but for a bazillion NPCs? Not so much. You're not even told where the NPCs are located.
• A few quests might have major quality, but of those with stories, a lot are mundane and forgettable. I appreciate a little effort over none, but none of it is compelling enough to not feel like busywork.
• No Affinity Missions (XCX)/Blade Quests (XC2), which are usually (not always- "Fathers and Sons" in XCX is very bad) of a higher quality to some extent.

Nonetheless, to build Area Affinity, you must do a lot of questing, you can't spend hordes of money like in XC2 to boost it.

And you'll want to get the Affinities up a bit if you want the 4th and 5th Skill Trees (a set of five passive abilities you can unlock, most can be shared with other characters) of every character, which require Area Affinities at a certain level. It's only fortunate that the 4th Trees are mostly only okay for what they offer and the 5ths are endgame-only, so skipping them isn't so bad.

Also, two of Shulk's Monado Arts are unlocked via quests in need of Area Affinity. But at least the final Area generates Affinity really fast, and it doesn't need more than like two stars of it to get the very good Monado Armor.

OOF.
This really is worse than Xenoblade 2.
So we can expect Xenobalde 3's quest system to be at least halfway decent. Yay!

I do like the Blade quests, though. If only for the additional background story they provide for the Blades you get.

4 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

That thing in the middle? Planet Earth (Existence: 4.54 billion BC-2054 AD, R.I.P.). No true spoilers here, this is from the opening sequence of XCX.

F

I do dislike the Nopon, but not enough that I would blow up Earth to kill them.

3 hours ago, Armagon said:

It's worth noting that quests are like, the main source of EXP in Xenoblade 1, which is another issue. Because quests are so bad, i don't feel like doing them but then i end up underleveld and the game really hates you if you're underleveled. Quests and the level penalties are like, the bare minimum that needs to be fixed in DE.

Meanwhile, in Xenoblade 2, it's easy to overlevel if you do quests and use the bonus EXP they give you regularly.
Example: boss of Chapter 6? Level 46.
Me at that point? Level 53+

tfw three gorillas in Wulfric's Blade Quest are a harder boss fight than

all three Torna underlings using their Blade/Man Eater powers.

47 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

But, we shouldn't need fans to whip these guides up and tell us about this minutiae the game leaves unexplained. The salt I need for Vess's 100 Dumplings is in Uraya? Where in the whole darned thing XC2?! Next game, I want them to provide us with regional maps like this, or even more specific descriptions as to where each and every collectible can be found. It doesn't have to tell us right away, but as soon as we get one, we should know all the details about it.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^T.H.I.S.

---

I got Herald!
Remember how I said her silhouette reminded me of the Pokémon Zekrom? Well... if you leave the parts that are a girl out, what's left does look like a black dragon. And her element is Electric, too.
The way she is "stuck" to that dragon body brings to mind Nights of Azure 2's final boss' final form as well. Yes, yes, I know.
Awesome design, though, all things considered. Probably my favorite so far.

Chapter 6 ended on a whammy earlier. The way the boss trash-talked Rex was kinda epic, ngl.
On to the next one!