DragonFlames

Effin' METAL/10! I wanted to dip my head into the Neptunia series for some time now, but the overt focus on fanservice was kind of a turn-off (ironic, coming from someone who lists Nights of Azure among his favourite franchises, I know...) Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book - Juno

No problem. You're right, lifeless was probably too extreme a term to use here. You'll have to forgive me for that. It was just the first word that came to mind when I typed my original post.

I haven't played Genealogy, so I won't judge it, but yeah, that does sound pretty bad. Though I'd argue it's worse in Sacred Stones, because there EVERYONE gets invalidated because of Seth. Keyword being "sometimes". I find not all of them unlikable - in fact, the unlikable ones are in a minority, but it's still very noticeable regardless. I just don't feel this certain something I feel when I look at other games' casts. Sacred Stones' cast just doesn't speak to me the way others do. And I know that there are good supports there, I got a good laugh out of the Lute/Ross support, for example and Tana/Cormag is a good support as well, but... The cast in itself doesn't exactly make me want to learn more about them the way say Path of Radiance's or Awakening's did. I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything here, just saying that Sacred Stones' cast - to me - is one of the weaker ones in the franchise. It's certainly not as atrocious as Fates, overall, but it feels alarmingly similar in parts. As for the four characters you mentioned: Dozla seems like a cool dude, but pretty generic. Ewan is a bratty half-pint that reminds me all too much of Ricken and Hayato, two characters I can't stand. Tethys is alright, but nothing special. L'Arachel is annoying and a progenitor of the gimmicky characters of later games (I know I'm probably pretty alone with the opinion of L'Arachel being annoying, but there you go).

Because you'll die if you don't sleep regularly. That's not even a joke. Insomnia can straight up kill you. Scary stuff, when you really think about it. I think it has something to do with the brain needing time to process the information we take in during the day, hence why we dream, but I'm no expert on these things. What is a "Hasta" and why can it be a king? (in reference to the ultimate lance from FE7: Rex Hasta)

Hello! Here's hoping you have fun on this site. I know I do!

The thing that bugs me most about Sacred Stones is how unmemorable - sometimes straight up unlikable - it's characters are to me. They all feel so lifeless, in a way. The only exceptions to this are Eirika, Lute, Tana, Myrrh and maybe Ross and that's it. I'm actually fine with the map design in Sacred Stones. It gives you an incentive to try different things (though not really, considering something I'll get to in a bit) and different units and it can get genuinely tough if you don't grind and make a few minor mistakes. Though for me, personally, I think Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn had some of the best (read: most enjoyable to play) maps in the series. Sacred Stones is a bit too in love with Fog of War, which I really, really do not like. And then, there's the garbage tier unit balance. Granted, this seems to be a theme in every Fire Emblem game, but it's at its worst here. Why? Because of Seth. Seth, just by existing, makes almost every other unit superfluous and is the reason this game is considered pathetically easy. IntSys really, really screwed up on this one and it's one of two reasons I can't stand Seth, the other being that he's as generic as they come, character-wise.

Because it sounds funny and more child-friendly than "crap", I assume. Well, to be fair, I've only played Twilight Princess and Hyrule Warriors and found the boss fights in those games to be the least enjoyable parts of it. But hey, to each their own, I suppose. Have you heard the tragedy of Parrot the Parrot King?

I played the original mode because the game told me playing in Refrain mode has heavy spoilers for the plot. I don't know what exactly changes in Refrain mode besides two NPCs being playable characters (I think I have an idea who that is going to be, though). I read some reviews for it as well and I get where they're all coming from. I liked it, because it hit more than a few notes I like about games like these. I got the game for 25 Euros on PS4, so maybe you can get it cheaper as well. The world is really pretty to look at, yes, and there is some incentive to explore it, as there are treasure chests and rare enemies around that give you useful items and lots of EXP respectively. There are also gathering points in the spirit of Tales of Berseria that give you materials you need for quests and the like. On that note: I forgot to mention that every single darn quest in this game is repeatable. So if there is a reward that caught your eye, you can get multiples of it quite easily.

Because Zelda boss fights aren't that interesting in the first place. What the heck is a "heck"?

That actually nearly matches what I think about the game, as well. Still have to try the Devil Survivor games, though. I recently finished my first playthrough of Shining Resonance Refrain and thought that while I'm at it, I'd write some impressions and thoughts down for everybody's reading pleasure (or not). So, the game is apparently part of a long-running franchise known as "Shining" (not to be confused with the famous horror movie, I imagine), but it felt like it's own entity and entirely disconnected to any other game. At least I never got the feeling that I should have played a previous entry in order to understand this one. It's an action RPG that looks and feels very similar to the Tales series. You use the Square button for basic attacks and the Triangle button for a so-called "Break" attack, that can put enemies into the "Break" status, which increases the damage you can deal to them and renders them immobile for a while, enabling you to wail at them with everything you have. There are also special attacks called "Force abilities", which you can use by pressing L1 and the corresponding button, which have a variety of effects from casting spells to additional physical attacks to buffing and healing, depending on the character you play as. All in all, it's a fun system, but it does get repetitive after a while and feels less engaging than say Nights of Azure 2's battle system. The overworld is larger than what it looks like at first, which is both a good and a bad thing. Good in that it subverts expectations by appearing small, but then surprising you with its vastness and it's really beautiful to look at, but bad because there is no way to fast travel to certain areas, so you'll have to walk everywhere manually from the main town. Speaking of towns, there is only the main one, though there are camp sites scattered throughout the areas where you can rest, heal and spend time with your party members (more on that later). Saving is restricted to save points, which can only be found in town and at the aforementioned camp sites, which can be a bad thing if you are in the middle of a story mission that doesn't let you go back to one, but you want to take a break to eat or do something else. How can I best go about describing the story without going into too many spoilers? Think reverse 7th Dragon mixed with Stella Glow, Tales of and a bit of Naruto and Fire Emblem Fates sprinkled in. Why reverse 7th Dragon? Well, as it turns out, dragons are actually the good guys in this game. The main protagonist has the soul of the strongest of five World Dragons, the Shining Dragon, living within him, which enables him to transform into the form of a giant, golden dragon (yes, even in combat and yes, it's every bit as awesome as it sounds, especially later on), which is why I made the Naruto comparison, only the Shining Dragon is a bit less omnicidal than the Nine Tailed Demon Fox. Stella Glow, because one of the main themes of the game is music, even the weapons the main characters use are musical instruments. There are such gems as a keyboard gun, a harp bow, an electric guitar axe, a lance flute, and violin sword and shield. This is also where the Fire Emblem Fates comparison comes in: The Armonics (the musical instrument weapons) where forged from parts of the Shining Dragon's body and gifted to the mortals so that they could commune with dragons through Rune Songs, which could also be used to calm rampaging dragons down or even take control of them if used wrong. Even with all these familiar themes and elements, the story manages to be very engaging and entertaining, since it puts a spin on all these themes that give them their own identity, only the magic music part is played relatively straight. The basic premise is as generic as they come, however: evil Empire invades good kingdom to conquer it, but as the story unfolds, you'll find out just why the Empire invades and what each party has to gain from the war. Hint: The fact that the Shining Dragon is inside the protagonist isn't something that's there for the sake of looking cool. What really sells the story, however, is the characters. They are all really well fleshed out and developed over the course of the story and / or have characteristics that set them apart from the usual stereotype you'd normally put them in. Sadly, only four or five of the seven playable characters seem to have closer relevance to the story (two of them fade out for a bit towards the end, although they get a day in the spotlight when you have to fight off hordes of enemies with only the two of them. A shame, because one of the two is actually one of my favourites). The protagonist himself is also a refreshing departure from the usual hero stereotype. He starts out as meek and he's afraid of the power within him (because he lost control of it before), but he mans up towards the end with a believable character arc that really makes me feel and root for him. He's also not oblivious to love, which is a good thing for his several female companions (more on that later). Sadly, the same can't be said about the villains of the story, who, with two exceptions, feel very generic and almost cartoonishly evil. There's the megalomaniac general who has a Messiah Complex, the sadistic mad scientist and bishounen Lu Bu (I'm not kidding). As for the exceptions, the only thing I can say about them is that their motivations run deeper than mere world domination for the sake of power (I would give too many spoilers if I said more, so I won't). Which brings me to the final aspect of the game: the dating mechanics. Yes, in a similar vein to Conecption II, Persona and Stella Glow, you have the option of inviting your companions to night events after a few battles (usually four or five) and with enough night events, you get to spend a day with them in town. This is the main source of character development you'll have in the game as you find out more and more sides to your friends that are really, really surprising at times. Like Stella Glow, each and every character has their own unique ending (yes, even the males) and you can pick and choose which ending to get. There's five dates for each character and after the fifth, they're eligible for their respective ending. Romance, however, seems to only happen with the females. It's also, once again, very clear which female character the writers intended as the designated main girl, although in actuality, there's two, but halfway through, the focus dramatically shifts from one to the other and the actions of the one are arguably only there to set up the relationship between the protagonist and the other girl. There's also the fact that two of your party members try to get the protagonist and the second girl together. Now, onto some problems I have. These are a bit unsorted, so bear with me: There is a certain plot point that gets brought up a few times during the story, but never gets resolved. As a child, the protagonist collapsed one day in his dragon form, whereupon a mystery girl found him, treated his wounds and gifted him with a music box, but forgot to give him the key, so he can't play it. The protagonist repeatedly states his desire to meet that mystery girl again one day to ask her for the key and / or give the music box back to her, but as stated before, it goes unresolved. It is very clear, however, who the girl is, as she has the same voice actress as one of your party members, at least in the English localization. Some gameplay mechanics are never properly explained. There is a so-called Bond Diagram, for instance, where you can arrange party members so that they can gain beneficial effects in battle through Resonance. The higher your affection with a character, the higher the chance of a Resonance occuring. Effects are dependent on something called "Traits", which every character gains through the story or through dating them and mixing and matching Traits changes the type of Resonance you get. But this is the extent of my knowledge of that mechanic. I don't know which combination of Traits does what and I don't know what kinds of effects Resonance even has. There is exactly one Rune Song that is good. The others are pretty useless. And you get the good one during the mandatory Chapter 4 date. It prevents all ailments and lowers damage taken for every party member.

I'd rather ride a whale, because a whale would actually be big enough to carry me, while an eagle would probably collapse under the weight, the poor thing. In addition, whales are my favourite animals, so there's that, too. WYR be able to understand what animals say or speak every human language fluently?

"Does anyone know how I talk despite lacking vocal cords?"

A rose. How many daffodils does it take to make it rain?

Is hyped for something.

"Did someone say 'Oran Berries'?"

Username backwards is gniwkwaH

I'd rather be ostracized. I'm used to it IRL, after all. WYR be rich with no friends or poor with a ton of friends?

His username backwards is "nalmiraK"

Both would be hilarious, but laughing at a drunkard is funnier, so the second one, please. WYR have a pet snake or a pet spider?

150 Dollars?!? Why are you not supposed to stand on your head?

Welcome to the forest! Hope you enjoy your stay!

Probably, seeing how everything has been shipped with everything else by this point in time. Why do people assume animals don't have feelings?

"What do you mean 'You're going to defuse in 5 minutes'?"

You're welcome :D Current question: A lute that somehow manages to sound like an electric guitar. How many ants would you need to lift a semi off the ground?

They're just fantasy, because real-life buffaloes don't have wings... at least I think they don't, else they'd be pretty OP as far as animals go. "Oh, there's a lion? No prob, I'll just fly away!" On the other hand, just having wings doesn't guarantee flight (just look at ostriches), so if buffaloes did have wings, they'd not be necessarily able to use them, judging from the way their bodies are built - which doesn't suggest a high degree of aerodynamics, at least not enough to take to the skies above - in which case one has to wonder why they'd even have them if that's the case and... I have a headache now. Why did I just spend an entire paragraph discussing the practicality of a type of bovine animal having wings?