Parrhesia

Okay.

[spoiler=Update 38 - Ursla] My name is Ursla, and I am a fighter of monsters. I used to be young and foolish and relished the violence for its own sake. The Clan was my salvation. Here we stand together and fight together and win together. I was weak before. But now there is so much to focus on. The glory of the hunt sustains the chase, but as I sleep it is the lives saved and restored that soften my dreams. Yvet helps. As ever. Guinness fights through the pain and I admire his spirit. I would not have asked him to come here with us. But here he is. One dead and two dusted. That leaves the zombie and the- coward my limbs are asleep and my head is heavy and nothing will move but i still think and see and feel and behind me the fight continues without me we- they fight an evil and i should be there with them this one is stronger than the rest and the old ways will not work and i was wrong to underestimate it but it was strong and every part of my body screams to give in and let it take me but i will never let go our leader charges heedless to preserve his dreams and closing in but wolfe a friend will fight for me and he is surrounded His words ring out across the cavern. "Did we do it?" We did. And a flash of light our memento.

Okay.

That isn't how you spell John, and I'm not American.

Voted no because it's technically true, but the people coming into this thread who care enough to vote are gonna disproportionately vote no. Awakening and Fates have been incredibly successful and pretty much saved the series. Still, each console change (usually) sees a shakeup. I'm excited to see what a theoretical FE for the Switch would look like, and it's definitely good that they've raked in cash for it.

hot take; it doesn't

the demonym of the USA is 'American' regardless of your personal feelings on the term's legitimacy

are you seriously and unironically dismissing the city of venice because you didn't agree with the country it was in the 18th fucking century lmao get this, the past fucking sucked and all 18th-century nations would've fucking blown to live in

Get this, my main main: I'm gonna educate you about something fucking great. Have you ever heard of... Italy?

Excellen here to save the day with another history lesson; 'Spinvis came onto the stagnant and formulaic Dutch music scene around 2004. He was a breath of fresh air, with his poetic lyrics, odd rhythms, and refreshing use of sampling. Unfortunately everyone he inspires is crap. '

Heh, American sport. As if that's relevant to the rest of the world, you and your irrelevant little 'World Series' trying to claim tha I watched the entire thing and was on the edge of my fucking seat. Holy shit. And it even took a symbolic 108 years, it was too perfect.

[spoiler=Update 37] "He's been out for hours now." "I should go in." "Kyrie, you'll just get in the way. Adelle's got it in hand." "I want to help!" "You wouldn't, trust me." "I wish Nofilia were here. Or Nathala." "Maybe someone can fetch her from Fluorgis." "That'd take too long - anyway, the lad's not poisoned." "You sure, Wolfe?" Moves for the exit. New. Different. "And he was the same way back at the fens?" "Yeah, and on the whole march back. Thrashing and screaming. An eye consuming everything in its path." "Gods." "Look... there's this contract, Cid reckons. Same kind of case. Fuck our other obligations, I think we need to secure this problem before it eats the lad alive, from the inside-" "Don't be dramatic." "Yeah, but-" "He has a point, love." "Let's just get this over with."

DOn't trust the previous Disinnocence, I'M the real one. Okay. Furthermore; 'thanks rock band 2 for introducing me to this song/band. i really fucking love the drums in this song i don't know why they just sound cool. ' They do.

[spoiler=Update 36] Remember the Sweet Sap quest which is very topically about a lost voice which is what I have right now? Yeah, we do that and also will do this. This is the plot, though. This is one of the busier background scenes in the game, probably. This may or may not be a callback to a similar quest in FFTA1 where you palm off some shaved ice to a rampaging faerie to stop the faerie from rampaging. Anyway, Pyrrh celebrates by becoming a cannoneer. Are they any good? Well. I guess we'll find out. Oh, Adele. No. Adele, after Shadeholme, half the fucking party is afraid of ghosts. Or at least the mindnumbing tedium of fighting them. Guinness denies the charge. Unconvincingly. And Cid finally speaks up. Copycat's illegal again because ??? but like hell am I not bringing Kyrie, Ursla and Wolfe to make for four exorcism-capable units. Zombie down. I should try and capture a gif. Here's a gif! This is not a difficult mission. The monk's exorcism is identical in appearance and effect. Exorcism might be locked to 1-range, though, while Burial's weapon-range. Well, Adele brought the other flying eye to critical, and they both have Crit: Quicken. So it tried to death dive Kyrie. It missed. Gold ghost summons a new ghost... but Cid gets an opportunity (his line for getting one is "Let's show these pups how it's done!") and, well, now I basically have seven exorcists for a bit. Cid evaporates the bossghost. Meanwhile Guinness shoots cotton candy out of his sword I guess. And then the last ghosts get exorcised it's not even worth screenshotting. Dude, I fucking speedran that. Let's see if this has any plot relevance. Because I don't remember. um. okay the little wisp orb thing drifts down from the top of the screen and goes into Guinness' eye. where... ? Stories are filled with heroes visiting from a distant world. They arrive, they make their mark, they leave as heroes... ... but what happens when they get back?

Roast chicken and HP sauce.

Dijon Mustard with maybe my favourite comment of all time; 'the choreography for this very classy music is to do The Thinker (nudity optional) and say, "mm, yes, i get it."' What else I get is that there is officially one song of buffer. Please help this state of affairs!

[spoiler=Update 35] No narrative today. That's because it's one of the frankly crap Death Marches up next. jesus christ. I pack my group with ranged guys and they have, well, this. Tricksters are archers on crack, hurling playing cards across the map at their enemies and inflicting rare debuffs. Spoilers: yes. The cards actually do a little loop-the-loop before hitting the opponent. This is an annoying as fuck enemy party honestly but if the parivir dies they shouldn't have too much killing power. I just realised by the way that if I'd put Ursla where Wolfe is, the mission would've been failed as she would've been unable to move Exactly One Tile. Disappointingly the new elementalist ability only uses the default lightning animation but still, the elementalist is silenced and the parivir disabled. Remember how I said debuffs were shit earlier... ? The gunner tries to silence Nofi but misses, which is good. Normally that's what rapiers are for but, well... good luck running at them one tile a turn. Not that their melee units are at all hindered. Fortunately, Lawrn drains 70 HP straight back... after stepping (one tile) away. Ursla is almost definitely our best unit. Certainly against single targets. You'd think, in fact, that the guys who can move as far and often as they'd like wouldn't be the ones being caught and massacred in five-tile cross-shaped clumps. Wolfe finishes the job on the juggler. The soldier rends Gren's magic because, I mean, fuck it. Then he dies. Wolfe gets the trickster, but only after being convinced by him that he was poisoned (Hypochondria is in fact a skill in this game) and then Nofilia brings an end to it. So what is the vaguely-illegal-implied Death March? My inclination is that, since we 'are charged with upholding the law', it's where judged clans face off against, er, non-judged clans. The battlefield is stacked against the judged clans so it's a chance for non-judged clans to win easy money... only the fights are to the death, should they fail. Anyway, in a happier note (arguably), it's easily the best Bonga Bugle mission. Oh, Templeton... So yeah we're pretending to be the shopkeeper. Capitalism, ho! Man, I'm procrastinating on a journalism assignment right now. Also three other assignments. It's trivia night and oh my god enemy red magi have fucking gorgeous colour coordination. Anyway they want things and you have to give them the right item. We get three options and one's a greatsword so off it goes. I mean it's either the Mage Manual or, you know. The gun. Or the Death Claws. It's the Manual. errr shit luminous? Yeah it's luminous. Maybe we can get some of this shit! Apparently it's the Samite Coat by process of elimination. Echo herbs because all FFs use the same items. Hi Yvet. uh Okay she'd like green. Templeton occasionally says nice things to us if we aren't terrible. Next time this mission shows up I should fuck it up with the power of savestates. what Get out of here, rerun! Consider this foreshadowing. Golden armour. Which you can't wear. Ten from ten! We get a Eureka crystal for our 'perfect retail record' - an item that heals and buffs everyone. And here we go. Remember the initial bounty on the forgers? They made their ribbons from... wild cassies. oh god here they come. Christ. Two guys Charmed/Slept/Slowed - the last two on Caul, too, so thank God I brought Nathala and her Esuna. So cassies have a 100% accurate charm and a sleep/slow breath. They all have a large-area heal (for more than most attacks), protect and regen combined. They have a strong attack and the law precludes buffs and debuffs but that's okay because they're mostly immune to debuffs anyway. We were not ready. Next up on FFTA2: We advance the plot.

im fuccs breaking argie rep for a bit cause i fuc love this man, and this song, except for the part where he says he doesn't do coke. please do coke - fucobi

[spoiler=Update 34 - Nofilia] That light in the distance... could that be the tower from the stories? What should we do? Guinness' words. We do not turn back. We went on. Welcome to Brightmoon Tor, a place of testing and - for those who excel - reward. There are but two ways to leave the tower: reach its top, or die in the attempt. They approached us. They overwhelmed us. We fought back. And though we escaped, we only went from frying pan to fire. Bitter, bitter hubris. So we lick our wounds and go again. We finish what we started. We stand where challenged. We help the world. Our leader back commanding from the front. A sight to warm the heart. He bade me rest and heal from my wounds while he handled the foul things underground. Be wary, and focus on the job, he told them - not that Kyrie ever took those messages to heart. Ah, but it must have been good to be back at last. And he's got able help. Nathala, for one - stronger in the holy arts than I was ever going to be. Our opponents? Far less reliable. Nathala fell at the hands of the same attack - seemingly the eyes could offer a random soul on the field to their dark gods. Nathala cannot consider this a failure. Yoana was swift to avenge her. Guinness, wounded and desperate, struck down the bird after doing well to parry a would-be decisive strike. From there? The exorcists did their work. Efficient. Professional. Our watchwords. Deeper in Galleria, the enigmatic Scarface proved a generous and honest opponent. Ursla was back in the squad after some time studying the subtler techniques of archery, a process she repeatedly complained was 'like torture'. The Nagaraja was no pushover, admittedly, but Scarface's insistence on taking the front (or possibly our own preference for archery and heavy-duty magic) ensured our squad was insulated from harm. Summoners are the heavy-duty viera magi, by the way - they bombard huge areas with powerful magic. There's a lot of really interesting viera classes and summoner kinda got to be the odd one out. Scarface cleared the field but only Lawrn and our archers could effectively handle the wyrm itself. And then, given an opening, Ursla had a new skull to put on her mantelpiece. That is literally a thing she does. It is disgusting. Scarface nearly joined it. I am glad Ursla restrained herself, for once. Ursla then brought another strikeforce to bear on the forgers. I feel as though Ursla's changed, anyway. As if she's been influenced for the better by the group. It was a quick, bloody fight - neither side built for resilience, both crashing into one another with full force. They folded first, as Gren's cruel knives (their threat aided by Yvet's magic) shut down their heavy hitters. To think we used to be challenged by petty thieves like this. We've come so far. Next up on FFTA2: I didn't write up this random encounter but Caul got Addled/Disabled/Immobile all at once and Adele was crit for 245 damage.

This song makes Knight Falchion feel better pretty much every time Knight Falchion listen to it. The MV's simple and cute.

[spoiler=Update 33 - Pyrrh] It's a rough life, being a mercenary. Least I got a good resume to polish it off. I been with a ton of the majors - got my start with the Camoa Braves before the Bangaa Brotherhood kicked my head in, dragged me off and gave me a better job. Ten, fifteen years I've been in this business for more clans than you can shake a stick at and I figure this Clan of Worms lark is just a passing fad. But that suits me fine. Me, I was just hanging around Graszton, looking for a pickup group to form. Always a market for a good lancer, yeah? The rules of Death March are simple: uphold the law and kill everyone. Look, I'll be honest, the Death March fucking sucks. But it's a quick buck, don't judge me - I bet you'd do the same, and all. Our opponents were weak, anyway. Boss impressed me with his bloodlust straight-up. I can respect a willingness to get your hands dirty. The fat lad had some decent moves up his sleeve, too. Well, metaphorical sleeve. I'd lend him a shirt if I could, though. Their mage was too distracted watching to see me coming. Heh. The other bangaa impressed me nicely, too. Nothing had been signed and sealed yet but it was about this point where I felt sure I'd stay on with the team. Also the prick with the hat took my initial paycheck from me. The moment that the flowy guy hacks down their priest and then takes an unnecessary move away from the scene of the crime, they're doomed - and the boss even has a quip at the very end. So I signed on, figuring we'd... I dunno. Rough up some civilians or something, flaunt our invincibility, like the old days. No, fulfilling some nerd's dying dream is apparently the soup of the day. And, you know what? That's fine by me. Fight got off to a good start when the moogle did... well, I dunno, something, and it made everyone fight a hell of a lot better. Why we don't start every fight like this is a mystery to me. And hey, the fight cleared up a bunch of misconceptions anyway. Like, I was just about to worry if maybe I was with some plucky do-gooding protagonists here, but then the mage dropped a giant death eye on an enemy that turned into a pack of bats and flew off. what the fuck how dare they nerf the incredibly overpowered ability ughhh This either didn't cost any mana in FFTA1 or even if it did it, well... you started with all your mana, and this was the only spell your fightdave would need to cast. This is actually ~balanced~ now. What the hell, Squaresoft?! Something I don't realise at the time - note Torch's maximum MP. Boom, two bodies dropped, easy. Apparently there were a couple ghosts behind 'em, too, but the bow guy dusted 'em both before I could lay eyes on 'em. I saw the dust, though, so I believe him. The Stone exploded in the mage chick's face. This would be a really stupid law even if it wasn't the second map of two, where I've already picked melee units. Androgynous lass patched her up, though - just in time for us to be whisked off to... fuck knows, really. Hell, we made our way back - we're talking now, aren't we? - but even then I don't really... know. It was fine, though. Torjin assured me he had an infallible magic aura that could make him all but immortal. Yeah, that lasted, like, seven seconds. Wolfe started the map with 10 MP - everyone else ending with the same HP/MP they ended last with. Maybe the talking head gets reverted to basic? I broke the law at some point, but Wolfe muttered in my ear that it was a bullshit law anyway and then Nathala murdered the fuck out of the goblin, so I figured all was well. And judging by the way he crushed a drake, I guess Torch was mad about his great aura failing. Sidenote, by the way - if you ever find yourself fighting headless? Don't be a melee guy. The weird moogle got eaten a bit later, though. That just made Torch made. Was about then that I found out why they call him Torch, anyway. The androgynous lass was meant to finish the job. The red lass did instead. Good to see - not all their eggs in one basket, and no panic even when little red bits of pom-pom were drifting down onto the forest floor. Then the archer finished what the androgynous lass started. And then I... well, you can finish that one yourself. Child's play. When the archer said they'd let the sick man take over I laughed roughly and said that'd only be if he lived that long. The archer and most of the rest glared at me. Kinda comforting that casual cruelty's frowned on. I apologised and it felt good. Anyway, I better get back on the road. Heard some exciting reports from a scout of what might've been left behind... Next up on FFTA2:

My submission is a one-off collaboration between Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue. Like all Nick Cave songs it is a very cheerful song about romance and fulfilment.

Halloween is cool and good but it's not really a thing here, so nothing really changes when it comes around unless I get invited to a themed event or something.

[spoiler=Update 32 - Gren] Dear Ma, People have been looking different at me lately. They've stopped looking at me like they look at the Komodo Trader. Now when we go and fight terrible horrors of the world, like small business, I'm regarded as one of our top men! I've even been allowed repartee privileges! I'm glad I got to get us involved in this corporate scuffle. I bet these lowlives even buy things in these new paper Gil. All enemies on this map refuse to move. Furthermore, they are all literally named 'Badd Potions'. Our influence seemed to have strengthened the nerve of our weak prole friend, too! He didn't even let a small avalanche more than half-destroy him. And then they destroyed their own mage with their own spells! Oh, the loathsome plebeian. They will never know success! The Trader eventually decided against his plan of charging the hippy and wisely decided to rely on our protection. Anyway, we cleared our objective without any fuss or mess! So the entire Badd Potions plan is to bombard the board with Target All spells - well, Illusions target all enemies, the Scholar thing the boss has targets everything and kills the mage. Thing is, Lawrn's immune to ice damage. Which is all the Time Mage and Illusionist know, and all the Geomancer can do if he's standing on ice, which most of this map is. So he soloes the map. Lawrn inspires him and he gives us a Wyrmtwig - I guess high-end loot is the reward for completing subplots. The Trader was so grateful he even left us a letter! Without giving us his name. Then, we had to help gather a vital thesis together for a man who'd lost it, one way or another. We all laughed heartily at Rodanu's joke even if I don't think he meant it as a joke, and drew our weapons. The purple one bounced around hasting its allies while we destroyed them mercilessly before eventually destroying him. It reminded me of my old days when I trusted my teammates! Oh, youth! Anyway, so much to do - a squad has been named to go out and set off traps in the Aldanna Range! The roster reads that the 'six most annoying fighters in the company' will go, so I have high hopes that I- Wait, what? I'm going?! Well, time to take it with the good old fashioned moogle spirit... I will not succumb to spite! Addendum: I hate this Clan. Next up on FFTA2: But the future refused to change.

Definitely public - and not selective, either. I've been in public schools all my life and the one year at a selective school (back in 2007, when they still thought I was intelligent) was hellish tryhard garbage. It wanted to be a private school so badly because it'd been one in the past. Though in the UK, aren't public schools, like, the poshest of the posh?