Interdimensional Observer

Maybe next time Sawano should take things to the next level. By which I mean something like if you string all the unusual song titles together in just the right order, you reveal a secret message.

It's Motoi Sakuraba, how could it not be? There is actually a logic to this madness, so I'm told. z5 (no meaning). "mira"- referring what the music's role is supposed to be, it plays when the game introduces you to the planet. 2012 04 28, which I guess is the date it was composed. In other words, its a filing label that got scrambled up. ...I'm not going to click on this, the title was bad enough. And the fact it's VR... thats taking to a creepy new level.

It's the song's name. The dungeon is named after a star like most places in Baten Kaitos with exotic names, the only exceptions being the entirety of Anuenue and the locales within Mira (but Mira itself is star).

And I've rewatched up to the final dungeon now. I've seen enough that I need a break and I'll watch the remainder tomorrow. If you don't mind listening to final dungeon music before getting to it oneself, here is one with a really weird title.:

Just thinking, even if Biden wins and Trump eventually concedes, it's going to buy us at most four years of total peace of mind. Because is it possible to repair the Republican's anti-democratic decline? Assume Trump finally gets so angry he has a heart attack and dies in the next four years (or that he dies of some other means), even without him at the rudder, will the party he leads return to normal? Assuming it doesn't, once a figure who isn't Trump himself takes over, they'll be able to say "I'm not that guy" and they won't have quite the same terrible look to less-informed voters. Yet Fascist President B could potentially be as bad, or worse because they're competent and would go through the bureaucracy to affect a ruthless efficient rational and radical overhaul of America. Given it's realistically impossible for the Democrats to always effectively campaign, and America's preference for swapping political parties every so many years, I'd be afraid a President Biden would be democracy coming up for that one gasp of air before its hopeless struggle to stay afloat leads it to sink back beneath the water and drown.

I just finished rewatching my favorite part of BKO. It was... exhilarating, imagining how Monolith would use its modern budgeting and tech to add more visual drama ala the best choreographed scenes of XC2 was a pipe dream I was entertaining throughout. I could see non-presentation criticisms, and there was some stuff I'd like to be added to this part, albeit I felt it was all so tight that I dare not insert what I'd want. And sincerely, I still love this segment in spite of any flaws.

I want to suggest SagixMilliarde, but I'm still in the process of reviewing its quality, so I can't wholeheartedly endorse it. Though I know it ain't bad. If it was required I offer up a second pick (but I'm not offering any)... where are you Armagon with Fei Fong WongxElly Van Houten? And let's face it both are very obscure.

I fight for ENGLAND! Every Naked Girl Loves A Naked Dick Apparently, this and a few other inconspicuous acronyms were used during WWII for letters written between soldiers and their girlfriends/wives. Had to get the sextexting past government censors somehow.

Sounds like Rudolf would've been better if his last name was Zoldark. Bian Zoldark: "Aliens are coming to destroy humanity! We must stop this at once!" How? Bian: "I will unite humanity by force! Only united, by any means necessary, can humanity survive the existential threat!" Anything else? Bian: "Yes, in the case my Divine Crusaders should lose and I die, I entrust humanity's future to whoever is strong enough to defeat me." -Written in 1991, four months before FE Gaiden was released. (Not sure if the last clause added later in 2002 or not.) Would this have appeased anyone about SoV Rudolf? Just replace "evil aliens" with liberating humanity from corrupted gods or something. And make it so Alm was Rudolf's favored would-be challenger, but he would've handed the world to Est if she led his demise.

Uses Dark Breath that fills the air with a black miasma, which can also Blind everyone. While the miasma is up, any fire attack will clear the air, at the price of triggering Combustion, a powerful fire attack to everyone. Has Fire Breath so it can ignite the miasma whenever it wants to. Poison and Curse Breaths try to inflict those ailments on everyone, including the Zombie Dragon itself, who gets HP regeneration from being inflicted with either of those two ailments. Also has a stab triple-bind, and two bash attacks to round out its arsenal. It's weak to all the magic elements, including fire, which is good, because if you want the conditional drop without Formaldehyde (it unlocks the best cannon), you must kill it with Combustion. You get Solor as your partner here first time against it. You and Mirina the tavern-owning Spirit Broker fight this together. Petrify, Poison, Panic, Insta-kill, and lots of binds (including a Bind resistance debuff) via mostly bash damage. Don't hurt the Bind Snakes she summons, it'll make her hurt you even more. Squeeze Grip damages you more for every Bind a character has on them. Weak to ice. Just watch the opening for old Nocturne. The Fiends and Dante aren't actually relevant at all to the main story, they only matter for the new "True Demon" ending and related optional content. But, this is actually the second version of the game's opening, the original one from the first pre-Maniax release, which will be the default in the HD remaster, had none of them, because Dante and the Fiends didn't exist at the time. So, it sounds like Atlus used the same marketing plan 13 years later. Put everything into showcasing the new content for the second edition, which makes some sense if your goal is to try to convince people to double dip, they already know everything else about it, you can't impress or mystify them with that. The base game involved the main character dating a woman named Katherine, only to go cheating with a new girl named Catherine. Qatherine was the only other way to continue the naming pattern. Apparently, Katherine was basically Law wife (as in "I don't want to see you alone with another woman, ever"), Catherine was Chaos wife, and the Neutral ending was ditching both women to venture on your lonesome into space.

Yep, the Warped Savior is IV's 6th Stratum superboss. I love its name. It was intended to be the countermeasure in case Yggdrasil went out of control, buuuuuuuut someone forgot you better be able to control the countermeasure then, because what if it goes AWOL? It sounds like the perfect mistake for a cheesy movie (maybe Kaiju?) or something. And, on the 6th Stratum in general when I first began to explore it, I would only play the game at night in an unlit room. The dragons I remember were harder in IV. Partly because I didn't feel like grinding materials to get five copies of each of the element-reducing accessories. I wish this game had the Protector's Wall skills. And the Fallen One you never saw then was... interesting, a boss that binds itself and you must keep Head bound (low, non-increasing resistance to Head Binds make it easy) or else Supernova will OHKO you. But Darkness Curse is annoying, sure it binds the boss, but it also has a very high likelihood of binding every limb of everyone on your side, and is used on turn 1 and every time it loses 25% of its HP. Your best solution is to keep everyone slower than the FO, that way it you can pop Therica As on the same turn as Darkness Curse is used. Why not use a Dancer with the Waltz that cures Binds? Darkness Curse dispels buffs too, as if to specifically get around the Dancer. I get losing on the Dryad, it's "Bind/Ailment Shutdown or die", I was fortunate my first team was Bs & As. Chain Blast and the Panic infliction Jenetta brings sufficed for my 2nd run's Chain team, but it took several failed attempts to land the stuff. Does no Dryad mean no Zombie Dragon or Lamia (why two human-female-top-bound-to-a-monster's body girls in one game Atlus?)? The Zombie Dragon I think was easier for me (and easy with my Divine Punisher on the 2nd run- I could trigger Combustion without taking a single point of damage), and Lamia was definitely harder than Dryad for the first team, if surprisingly not as brutal as I'd thought it'd be for the second. From what I've been told, the easy, cheesy solution to the superbosses in EOV is this. All you really need is the Impact Brawler using Heavenly Aid followed by Death's Cradle (with everyone at 1 HP) after someone tosses a Medica IV on it. The rest is optional for the other superbosses so as long as you survive the first turn and can land Death's Cradle on the second. Not gonna listen because I still need to get to the 6th Stratum in that game. Does swapping to the easiest difficulty permanently lock you into like Nexus? If not, I'll swap to it for Scylla, I know how to win, but she's a hassle where I could still lose. All will should go well after that. From one person's review, I read that Qatherine, the new datable girl in Catherine: Full Body edition, that weird Atlus puzzle-platformer about relationships, was similarly felt to be tacked on. Maybe Atlus just don't know how to make new characters in enhanced versions feel more naturally there. How was that Womb of Grief-related girl in Strange Journey Redux? Ah, the one before getting to the two Linked Game bosses. It's very quick and simple, but good. --- Minor addition of a few screenshots of what the post-dragon apocalypse world is like:

Wasn't expecting this when I clicked on the review of a 30-year old game that looked like a shump from afar. Nice new tutorial girl Sega.

I envy the blissful ignorance of those who pay no attention to politics. *Sigh* Even when it makes me feel depressed, I feel compelled out of a sense of "escapism is wrong" and "duty" to watch and read the news, though I never go further than spectating. Then, I think "What does it matter, what happens on a little sphere in a vast dark universe, over an amount of time that amounts to nothing?" and instead get cosmic meaninglessness depression. -Oh, and throw in some "Due to the tens/hundreds of thousands/millions of people who share their country, modern democratic republicanism still like many less good forms of government to precede it, endows the individual with little real control over their lives", a form of human historical depression.

Can't exactly tell from a sample of one. I've a long ways to go, I'll find out eventually. The Claret Hollows is terrible design, seriously, it bad. I love it's appearance, a cavernous place that looks like it you could see all of Yggdrasil's roots becoming enmeshed there, but also like a cave where aliens that have transformed due to illegal nuclear waste dumping lay, ready to hijack the bodies of the curious or lost soul who wanders inside. But getting through floors 26, 29, and 30 are painful hassles that aren't at all worth it. V's postgame is thin- no little events at all in the 6th Stratum. But the 6th Stratum itself becomes easier to navigate when you understand the warps have strict rules about where they send you. You always get teleport in the direction you stepped towards, and the number of spaces is determined by the warp's color. The only ultimate 6th Stratum superboss I've fought is the Warped Savior, with the weakening chemicals applied. The rest need grind I never did and very specific team setups I'd rather not retool for.

As a little fun fact on the topic of the elemental dragons, I glimpsed the 30F map of EO1's Claret Hollows: --- I threw OpenEmu on my new Mac, though I said I wouldn't. I can't connect my spare PS3 controller to it because of USB issues, but I can sync and unsync my Switch Pro Controller to it whenever I want to. Thing runs a little warm, emulation is still difficult stuff, but it's nowhere near scorching now. Fortunately, I don't intend to emulate a lot on the laptop, I've already played most of what I wanted to try. I started up a new file, using the "USA" patch which I can feel the difference with, definitely going to be better in the long haul. I killed the purple bear monster as ordered, no issues, completed a few little optional requests. And was then told to go to the forest with lots of Bloom- this translation's name for Dragonsbane (the Japanese is "furowaro"- looks like the English "flower" once you smooth it out)- which I showed a picture of earlier. The interior of the forest: I was sent here because of the mysterious Bloom and unusually menacing monsters. This game's world seems to recognize that Dragons exist already, but it seems they treat them as nothing out of the ordinary. And they don't fully understand the effects of Bloom, they don't get that the Dragons cause it, though they do have a basic understanding that Dragonsbane causes confusion and other ailments to those in its presence. And sorry to dawdle, but... ...there it is (sorry it's cut off at the top). That bead-ish blue dot southwest of my position fully healed me, so I'm primed for this. Behold: All the Bloom vanished and the forest returned to normal after this. You know, so far, this game feels... absentminded, ordinary. The opening before I could make my first character started with look at the planet from space, accompanied by lines that read "Call it something, call it farming, call it grazing. Call them Dragons.", basically summarizing what Dragons do with every planet they visit. Then the opening mentioned Hunters- the term for the guild-organized groups of adventurers- which it basically cast as a heroic contrast to Dragons, and as it showed an overview of Kazan, it said along the lines of "Today, your fate begins, blah blah blah, you're the special Hunter". But after this, it was directionless completion of a few menial requests, then the cave bear killing, and then this dragon. The world is bright, the world seems very nonchalant. But thats a tangent. Right after I slew the First Dragon, I was dragged back to Kazan and met with the old man president of the country, a former and talented Hunter himself and pretty well-liked by everyone, you can bump into him several times already. After the meeting, he saw how tired my Guild was after slaying the Dragon and said a doctor was being fetched for at the Guild. I went back there, and...

Rocket: Robot on Wheels? A purer 3D collectathon platformer devoid of bosses or enemies almost in general, might be good for an afternoon or three.

Apparently, there are enough errors that one site made a list of some of them.: https://legendsoflocalization.com/this-be-bad-translation-08-tales-of-berseria/ No real hypothesis as to why though. Weird, my older (and now mostly retired) MacBook runs Desmune with no real problems, it gets hot to the touch, but thats just as true running a mere web browser. This said, if you were to emulate it, I'd advise going with the "USA" version of the fan translation. It's the exact same script, but the fans cut down the game's random encounter rate by 50%, which I'm now noticing is too high in the "retail" unedited version also available. I'd bear with it, but I discovered that the cheaty no-encounters accessory isn't able to be equipped by any class I'm actually using, though the no-Bloom damage accessory can be used by anyone. Because I don't want to use a Mage, the Love Band accessory is junk. Ideally I'd replace the patched rom with another and keep the save file, but finding the save file is a bit tricky and I've only played an hour in. So I'll be less delicate and more hasty and just start totally anew. --- And after reviewing the classes I'm using and their actual damage multipliers, it looks like I should ditch the Samurai and go for the Fighter after all. Axe Fighter can provide Status Down, making it easier for the Princess and Rogue to land their ailments, which will make it easier to get the 3 Pain Counters for the Rogue's Triple Kiss, which appears to have a comparatively absurd multiplier. To help the Rogue further actually, it's the Knight I should ditch because the Samurai simply by being around can buff the Rogue's Atk by 40% with a certain passive skill maxed. -But, I want the Knight for reasons of defense, and because it can deal good damage too in tandem with the Princess. ...I love team synergy.🤓 And a few more early screenshots of mine: And I'll add that it appears this translation calls the Lucier the "Rushe". The eternal Japanese "rl" tlansritelation issue and other things.

Miracle in every game: FE4- Totally different from every subsequent incarnation. A 1-turn Avoid bonus equal to (11 - remaining HP )*10 when HP falls below 11. FE5- Luck*3 = % chance. Converts the would-be fatal hit to a dodge, allowing this skill to proc multiple consecutive times. FEs 9 & 10- Luck (+/- Biorhythm in RD)= % chance. A fatal hit instead deals half of the recipient's current HP FEs 13, 14, 16- Luck = % chance. Unit will survive a fatal hit with 1 HP, cannot proc at 1 HP. The only game where Miracle is guaranteed is Heroes, provided the cooldown has cooled off, because Heroes relegates all RNG to the gatcha and nothing else. I guess you never heard of Shinto mythology... It's understandable you'd forget if you never thought you'd be able to play the game.😃 -- I decided to give the original 7th Dragon a little chance while on the topic of it. I've barely explored outside of the first town. I'm not sure what my classes will be, but I was thinking these as my four intrepid Hunters who will one day save the world: And as for skills: Ack! What is this? The skill tree is overwhelming at first look. But if you click on a skill, it'll tell you its prerequisite skills levels it requires to be unlocked. Also, SP is now 3 to start, and 1 per level, not like later 7th Ds where you earn some after every battle, it's the Etrian Odyssey skill system, which is fine for me. I see a Retire option, but no Rest though, that sounds worrisome, not that I really ever Rest, but the ability to reallocate SP for a cost is good peace of mind. And it's odd because the very first EO had Rest in it already. Here's a picture of Kazan, the starting town. I shrunk the picture a little, it actually looks clearer and even brighter when I was playing it. Not bad for the DS, the artstyle choice works for me.: When I stepped out of town, this: Not too shabby for a first battle theme. Also, the victory tune is the same as all the later games. And, What is a Pokemon meme going back to ye olde RBY doing here? The site I got the fan translation from mentioned that the game has this built in cheat where if you name that Mage portrait 🎶TLOVE, they come with those items and their name changes to Hanoi. You can strip him of those items and give them to anyone to equip. No random encounters at all? Why not take advantage of this! There are also special names that give your characters an extra point of SP to start, but I'm not going to use those, I prefer my own.

There is a girl who likes getting actual trash in RF, and if she were bisexual/lesbian, Mythra could win her over in a heartbeat. There have also been at least two girls who don't get LP from gifts.

I hope it's enjoyable for you, good luck with it! "Thank you for the review! I didn't know there was a translation of an older 7th Dragon game. I was interested in trying them out, but I don't really understand Japanese, so I thought it'd be out of the question. I think I'll give this game a spin!" Your words, back in 2017, exactly one day short of three years ago. It appears you forgot. So yes, there are English fan translations. How else would I have played them to completion, barring the bonus dungeon in each game that I did not attempt? I've no understanding of Japanese. I even posted images of Nyala and Fomalhaut here once before. There a few minor differences from the official VFD translation, for instance, Nyala is called Niara in 2020 and Aytelle is now Aitelle IIRC, but it's nothing significant.

How do we not know that Nyala is already amongst us? Nyala sounds like "Nyarlahotep", who is the Faceless God of the Cthulhu mythos, and who by having no face, has a thousand faces, a thousand forms. He could be here, right now, pulling the strings, for unlike the Outer Gods whom he serves, he is wise and genuinely evil.

Yeah, it's four games. This was the first: Visually, it's a bit different. And it's set in that medieval-fantasy Eden world thats the future in VFD. No Banisher class though, and as you see, it's 4 characters in battle instead of 3. The first seems to me to be the black sheep actually. 7th Dragon 2020 is a "soft reboot" in a sense. Set of course in modern Tokyo in the titular year COVID19 will mutate into dragonsbane exactly nine days from now, the general aesthetics, story and gameplay here are all more or less of the same as VFD. 2020-II is a sequel to 2020, set six months later so does that mean in 2021? when another True Dragon arrives, and features a lot of the same places and characters as the first 2020. I haven't played the original 7th D yet, I read there's a Desume-specific crashing issue at one point in the game. But rereading the translation notes, it looks like they patched in an alternative method to achieve what the crash prevented. Maybe I'll try it then, I haven't gotten to emulating on my new Mac yet.

Well, yeah, 2020 and 2020-II are. The original game is DS-only, but the other two were PSP-only. The 2020s are a little harder than VFD, have no support rows, and lack as many classes (5 in the first, 6 in the second with the addition of Idol). I played through them both, because I liked VFD enough that more of the same was totally fine and emulation is free. Just don't start a drinking game where you take a drink whenever the plot feels conspicuously familiar, you might blackout.

I was watching the Great British Baking Show again, it has convinced me Xenoblade British accents are fake. Real British accents are unintelligible 20% of the time, very low-pitched voices and clipping off half or more of the syllables does that. I'm sure Miku would win, she's survived dragon apocalypses twice.

Yeah, the prior games weren't particularly amazing on the music front either, serviceable, but not memorable.