Let's Play: Soul Nomad and the World Eaters - COMPLETED

[IGdood]

Hello all,

I've decided to take a break from Total War and to explore more SRPGs.

I wanted to do a Last Remnant LP but I realized that doesn't get the community involved as in my more recent total war LPs people got to name units to represent their involvement in the game.


So what is Soul Nomad?


It's made by Nippon Ichi, which is famous for the Disgaea series and La Pucelle Tactics. Gameplay appears to be squad on squad combat where you have a group of units engage another group on the battlemap. Each squad is led by a leader who receives bonuses for every unit placed under his/her command. Each unit can be named and I think stat growths are random-ish.

I will explain more as I go along and I would like for the community to get involved as before. This will be a screenshot LP because trying to record all the cutscenes and gameplay would take too long.



For now, here's a menu screen.

Edited May 26, 2013 by IGdood

[Mew]

Soul Nomad has a seemingly interesting universe, I've never had the luxury of owning this game and have always been interested, so I'll probably follow this thread. :V Good choice of game imo.

[Firespark Faerie]

I played this a few years back. I always thoughy the title sounded like it could be the name of a rock band or something, but it's a fun game. Let me know if you get stuck somewhere- I might be able to land a hand. I'm not sure how familiar you are with Nippon Ichi, but I'll give the standard warning regardless. As with any NIS game, be prepared for lots of level grinding, random pop culture references, and cameos when you least expect it.

Edited March 5, 2013 by Firespark Faerie

[IGdood]

Soul Nomad has a seemingly interesting universe, I've never had the luxury of owning this game and have always been interested, so I'll probably follow this thread. :V Good choice of game imo.

Thanks! I wanted to pick something obscure.

I played this a few years back. I always thoughy the title sounded like it could be the name of a rock band or something, but it's a fun game. Let me know if you get stuck somewhere- I might be able to land a hand. I'm not sure how familiar you are with Nippon Ichi, but I'll give the standard warning regardless. As with any NIS game, be prepared for lots of level grinding, random pop culture references, and cameos when you least expect it.

As a Disgaea player, I know that feeling. Thanks for the warning still. A friend told me Soul Nomad has less grinding if you just want to get through its story, but the secret characters require lots of grinding to unlock.

[IGdood]

IT BEGINS.

Story in nutshell. There was an awesome guy named Lord Median who conquered the world. Then he died and things hit the fan.

I'm going to assume the black and white man who was walking while the words whizzed by is Lord Median himself.

Horus Heresy, anyone? (I'm a 40k fan).

Oh look, it's my turn. I guess I'll assume the role of the main character. Everyone else can form my retinue later on.

>truly noble name

Heheheh, oh stop it, you.

Hooray. A hidden village. I bet I'm a country bumpkin idiot, or even worse, a sheltered fool.

Whiny chick #1 I bet you're my love interest. I'm okay with that, but what's up with your feet? Are those hooves?

You won't make town guardian if you don't come off as wise. You're on the other end of the spectrum. -snicker-

All my fault? Goback2kitchenplz

Bitch Imma tear you a new one.

OH IT'S ON.

Okay, so instead of having an isometric view ala Disgaea, the overhead map resembles Fire Emblem's. It's divided into tiles, and units move up, down, left, and right. VIctory conditions for this battle is to rout the enemy, otherwise known as slaughtering everyone.

A unit's ACT stat determines how often their turn comes along. It's like the speed stat from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance/A2

Also note the terrain effects.

Besides attacking, it appears units can also use skills. I will look into this as we go along.

I MAKE THE FIRST MOVE. My basic attack consists of a powerful double slash.

After I attack, the enemy counterattacks. She barely dents me.

[IGdood]

After a few rounds of banging each other up pretty badly, our stamina bars have decreased to what I can say is approximately below 70%. Then she unleashes this. OH NO YOU FUCKING DON'T.

Well that barely did anything. WEAK. I finish her off with a basic counterattack.

I get money for clearing a map and for killing people. I lose money because I ended the mission with injuries. Typical Nippon Ichi game. And I get random items for prizes with names that might be pop culture references/just plain weird.

No skipping.

That's it? Man you're a slacker. You just fear my awesomeness. I will grow to be a noble hero. You can be my slave.

The screen shakes, and I look around for a desk to hide under.

So here's the town menu. I guess I can talk to random people, while choosing the green symbol advances the story. I'm not going to take a screenie for every line of dialogue, not even for the main storyline.....but I will pick and choose the lines so things are coherent. Don't worry, you won't miss the best parts.

By the way, isn't Layna the heroine from 200 years ago? holy shit.

Must be an utterly crapsack world to live in.

Lady Layna must definitely be the heroine of legend.

Yeah fuck you too mate.

A life story unfolds....and new weapons!

She picked the knives. I bet she's a speedy fighter type.

I want the bow....waiit LADY LAYNA Y U TAKE THEM AWAY

Edited March 5, 2013 by skitarii

[IGdood]

WHAT IS THIS? I FEEL THE CORRUPTION. I FEEL A THOUSAND MINDS CRY OUT IN PAIN. IT IS A GOOD PAIN.

You could've at least given me a warning, Layna? Now I feel like mindfuckery is about to happen.

ASDAJKHGFVAJD who are you

Use my body? Nay, I am incorruptible, foul knave. You came to the wrong neighborhood motherfucker

NEVAAAAR GO FUCK YOURSELF

That's the most fucktarded deal I've heard of. BEGONE.

I feel like shit, you old hag. Thanks for asking.

[Esau of Isaac]

Wow this game looks great and I've never heard of it.

Makes sense since it's a Nippon Ichi game, I guess. It's like those guys love just releasing games in the west without saying anything and just waiting to see who happens across it.

[IGdood]

Wow this game looks great and I've never heard of it.

Makes sense since it's a Nippon Ichi game, I guess. It's like those guys love just releasing games in the west without saying anything and just waiting to see who happens across it.

The story is a lot more grimdark....and the language is a lot more offensive.

Lemme guess. The last line of defense is me. Well then. A-as l-long as I have Danette....i-it's not like I l-like her or anything...

Y-you guys will join me right? right...? G-guys?

Also, Danette's being a bitch. Again.

>RUTHLESS

Whoa whoa whoa what?

Well at least you know you're retarded....

PROMPTLY IGNORED.

TO ARMS, COMRADES

And that is all for today.

Edited March 5, 2013 by skitarii

[IGdood]

Boohoo looks like you're in for some trouble, Dan.

I am such a good friend. I get friendzoned in real life.

What be this? Holy shit this Gig guy is badass. But the fact that he can't do shit to me is even more badass. His voice actor is fucking awesome too. LITTLE SHITS

The townspeople send us off with items. I suppose I'll need them a lot. The names are....weird, typical Nippon Ichi. (Horse WIener, anyone?)

I-I'm only taking you along because you'd make a good meatshield, n-not that I l-like you or anything...uguu~

I feel like a schizophrenic with this guy's voice always present in my head. Fuck.

That didn't sound wrong at all. Cue white screen flash.

So apparently I have the power to summon people to my side as long as they agree. Wouldn't it fucking suck if they were using the toilet and I summoned them? HAHA CAUGHT WITH YOUR PANT DOWN

[IGdood]

Interedasting. So the gameplay is as follows: A room houses a squad and confers effects to it. There will be more rooms unlocked in the future. A squad is made up of separate units. Where they are placed in the room determines their attack, and some attacks are better than others. For example, a mage placed in the rear will do attacks that damage 3 units at a time but if placed in the front she will smack people with her staff, and that's very ineffective since she has low strength.

It appears that I can wander around the map like in Sacred Stones......

So we have 3 units at the moment. Please join in and make them your own, SF Members!! Or you can wait for future units.

This does make me wonder, who did I dominate between the village and now?

For every unit in a room, 10% (Adjust Leader) of its stats are given to the leader. It appears there's also a very definitive rock-papers-scissors mechanic here that's determined by the unit class of a leader. Magic >> Melee >> Ranged >> Magic. SO you can have a Melee unit lead a squad of Magic units but they will only be effective against Ranged leaders. Interesting.

Killing the leader also kills the whole squad. Regardless, I shall lead from the front because I am a HERO.

Cooooool I can give a name to the squad. I can rename existing units also.....but probably not the uniques.

I need suggestions.

SO let's look at the units.

Swordsman - Pretty standard melee fighter. Slashes people, throws a rock if placed in middle row, does nothing if placed in the rear. High HP , ATK, , Stamina. Not human (Sepp legs), can move on mountain terrain.

Pyremage - Fire-oriented mage. Smacks people when placed in front row, sends a single-target fire ball from middle row, ignites entire enemy rows if placed in the back. Pretty squishy.

Cleric - Heals people That's about it. I don't think I want to use him as a melee fighter (he's got a fucking book!) Best placed in the rear, I suppose.

Let's move on. There's no plot reason to even why this battle is occurring. Gig says we should beat up random people, and SO SHALL IT BE.

I can check my movement range and stuff!

So a tactic is an action I perform on the map. A combo would be a special skill I use in battle. Got it. I suppose different leaders have different powers?

I certainly have a lot of self-buffs.

Head to forest, buff defense and prepare for an attack.

This is a typical example of how NOT to use magic units. They attack for near-0 damage, and I own the shit out of them in the counterattack.

[IGdood]

Alma is tactically inept and that is a sin. Sinners should die.

[Rehab]

Neat-looking gameplay and character stuff! Nominating "Sami" for swordie, "J. Page" or "Page" for cleric, and "Triss" or "Merrigold" for pyremage.

[IGdood]

Neat-looking gameplay and character stuff! Nominating "Sami" for swordie, "J. Page" or "Page" for cleric, and "Triss" or "Merrigold" for pyremage.

Cool. Reserved!!

[IGdood]

The skirmish continues!

Notice that a heart means that it's favorable to attack. So either the hero character is a unique class of his own (I'M SPESHUL) or Priest leaders get raped by everything.

Since my stamina is low enough, I use the special move Holy Justice. When you use a special move you first use a basic attack followed by a follow up train of rape.

"Let's snap some necks like the old days" What kind of fucking childhood is that, Dan?

Pwned, bitches. Level up!

I then use Last Act to boost my action points (for moving extra tiles) and critical hit chance. Let's go to that forest for additional defense.

The last squad had a mage in the rear row, and she burns.

Good thing the priest heals before the counterattack.

I can only use Holy Justice once per battle. Time to partner up with asskicker Gig.....

The basic attack heavily damages the front row, but it's okay. This special ability fucked the leader HARD. The sheer amount of hits (reflected in the combo counter) was over the top.

The spoils of war......

A room? What for oh great destroyer of worlds and truly evil person who nukes places?

As you progress through the game you unlock new rooms, which provide different effects on the units housed inside of them. You can change rooms (and it's all random) which might screw over your positioning especially if you end up with a room with only front rows but no rear rows (so no healing)

I can lock a room but I think any room is better than the one I have now.

For example, the Gladiator Room gives the Death Charge ability to its occupants. Death Charge confers a 5% attack bonus for every tile your squad travels at the turn before they attack, so it would be awesome if I used Last Act and then charged 6-7 tiles at an enemy.

This one's for REHAB

W-who the fuck are you?

Kotaro is a self-proclaimed hero and took over the leader spot of my second squad. Well, I can't put my new cleric there as a healer.....

[Rehab]

Surprised I was the only choice there but yea yea c\m/

At first, I wondered if whether one used Gig to his full power would determine the course of the story. At this point, it looks kind of like there's not much choice to some parts of it, though. <:

Edited March 6, 2013 by Rehab

[IGdood]

Surprised I was the only choice there but yea yea c\m/

At first, I wondered if whether one used Gig to his full power would determine the course of the story. At this point, it looks kind of like there's not much choice to some parts of it, though. <:

Woohoo. Yeah I think they influence the ending but that's about it.

It's time to kill a World Eater! I'm sure we'll survive.....SAID NO ONE EVER.

VOICES IN MY HEAD THEY WANT ME TO KILL YOU

Gig stahp being mean to retards.

In honor of SF member Integrity (I don't know what his name is now) I hereby dub my command squad's name XCOM.

It's locked so it won't be erased when I decide to randomly generate new rooms.

WE GO NOW TO THE WORLD EATER. TO OUR DOOOOOM.

SHE HEARS THE ANNOYING VOICES TOO.

She's really bad with names. Damn cows.

This is gonna be quite a gig and a running gag.

Now who the hell are these people? They look infinitely more badass than I do.

[IGdood]

Oh so bandage man is a cripple. No worries.

MY SWORD HUNGERS FOR BLOOD. FEAST TIME IT IS.

Will you please shut the fuck up and get out of my way? I have a world to save. Commander Shepard (muh hero!) wouldn't stand for this shit.

A new enemy. They look puny as fuck.

Note that Dan got her game face on. We're ready to pwn these n00bs.

Professor Gig educates me a bit about how things work. The hero unit (me) can summon additional rooms/squads onto the battlefield. Stamina also affects fighting ability when it's low enough, so yes you want to lower it to be able to use skills in battle but not to the point were you start taking additional damage and doing less damage.

Time to buff myself as I make my way to the enemy squads.

Toshi gets OHKO'd. I summon KOTARO onto the field.

Another soldier bites it, and I continue buffing myself as I make my way to Galahad, who actually has a few bodyguards.

So the soldier class attacks by doing a quick slash. They're pretty weak. Kotaro's mid row attack is a shockwave. Sami delivers the killing blow.

Triss proceeds to immolate the soldiers guarding Galahad, while I and Dan slice Galahad himself to ribbons.

[IGdood]

Fuck, give me a challenge next time.

Shut up, both of you. It's because of our awesome units J.Page, Triss, and Sami that we won. And Kotaro, but fuck that guy. I am the one true hero.

New unit! The Soldier.

Bye Kotaro. I won't miss you.

Changing rooms gives me a weird mid + rear row only Security Room. Great for meatshields, but all I want at the moment is another room. I guess Sami can throw rocks for awhile. I stuff another Pyremage and Soldier in there.

It appears the Soldier unit has generally poor stats but 20% of them go to the leader. ALso, molotov cocktail attack sounds fun.

Alright, let's take down this World Eater.

Wait, WHAT?

HOOOLY SHIT THAT BANDAGE GUY BLOCKED THAT ATTACK WITH HIS SWORD.

TO THE PAIN!!!

Merrigold is a mage leader, so her squad receives reduced damage from the Paladin squads because they're a melee type. In other words, she and co. rape.

XCOM squad just rapes everyone.

Pyremages can also burn the fuck out of faraway units without fear of counterattack using Terror Blaze. Whoever's left can then be wiped out.

[IGdood]

It's time to DIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

OH GOOOD WHAT THE FUUUU----

In this moment of weakness.....I want to give in to Gig...but never! My body is my own. MY MIND IS MY OWN-asKJDGASDSUUAISD

Poor, poor Galahad. Well he was pretty incompetent anyways....

[IGdood]

Less talking more fighting

Quit yo bitchin' Dan.

First a World Eater, and now a masked man? Well shit.

You poor fuck.

Hooray, we can use items now. And do level grinding.

TO BATTLE

[IGdood]

T-they look so happy!

These wolves are pushovers. Throwing rocks kills them pretty well.

You sad, sad fuck. Why don't you turn yourself into experience points?

His "assistant/sidekick" is also a joke.

BRING IT DIO

He's actually pretty powerful. Nearly killed Danette with a single attack.

But he's a total glass cannon. A blast from Triss took him out easily.

Gig seems to know something.....or not.

I really pity Danette in this scene.

[IGdood]

A new room that allows for movement after summoning!

New units.....awesome!

The Phynx can move far with his high ACT and he has pretty solid stats.

The Bareknuckle is pretty hardcore with attack but lacking everything else.

They're up for naming.

[ShinKuma]

Grinding on Soul Nomad is not required. The only thing that sucks is getting the rooms you want. But one time I played that game I just did main characters only run. So many options when everyone is together.

[IGdood]

Grinding on Soul Nomad is not required. The only thing that sucks is getting the rooms you want. But one time I played that game I just did main characters only run. So many options when everyone is together.

Okay, I see.

UPDATE TIME

We can check the Gig Edict shop here.....aka an item shop.

And the decor shop. This is where I can buy upgrades that last for 1 battle, unless I'm doing Inspections.

With our new units we form the 3rd squad. I let the Phynx be the leader because I can use his high movement range.

Move on! More bandits in our way!

Staying put for a turn to see what these new guys are. They remind me of hoodlums. A Thief class, perhaps? High evade, medium attack, low defense...

I can't target them either when they go invisible with Fade Out.

However, we outnumber them, and they quickly fall to our counterattacks.

These enemies stayed put the entire time. I wished they'd just charge me. Would've made things quicker.

Looks like Thief Leaders have Lupin Snatch, a move that debuffs and....robs something?

Whatever, the counterattack killed him anyways.

Gotta let the newbies level up.

Wanted to use Bolt Charge but that guy died before it could be used.

We've arrived at the city of Astec. Perhaps they would know how to take out a World Eater?

Everywhere we go, assholes and ignorants like you keep showing up.

He's saved by his Deep South accent.

Gig. Gig. GIG.