Messages

91

General Discussion / Re: Let's Play - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete

« on: January 23, 2023, 12:53:30 pm »

Hey, Boo I just made it to Vane officially (made it through the Cave of Trials) and I tried to talk to everyone and of course when you’re in Vane you have to read all the books in the Magic Library.

I have a few notes, I’ve been ruminating all night:

-It’s kinda sad the White Dragon Wings Nall gives you have obviously lost all its power in the previous game it allows you to teleport to any place you’ve visited previously and in this game it’s the same as Ronfar’s Escape Litany to take you out of a dungeon. I guess it speaks to there being no Goddess anymore and a lot of her magic in magical artifacts have weakened. Nall and the dragons still exist though?
-Is it just me or are we being bombarded with so many Lemina bromides? I love that we made it to Vane and her story and reasons for joining can be more fleshed out. I was thinking the reason the two girls joined is probably just superficial & shallow like it’s better to travel in a group? shrug
-Lucia’s A.I. is back to normal as she’s casting Plasma Rain again admittedly it’s not as powerful as it was in the Blue Spire. A lot of people notice when she casts her stat-ups she always casts it on mainly Hiro. Could that just be because she likes him?
-I’m kinda of out of it but I’ll re-read the books in Vane again tomorrow to see what I can come up with.
-Lemina has such a heinous insecurity about Vane and how its lost all its glory. I think it explains her being one-dimensionally greedy a lot to restore it to what it ONCE was.

Cheers!

92

General Discussion / Re: Let's Play - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete

« on: January 23, 2023, 12:17:49 am »

-Lol I'm just copying people I see online and how they display their games. I thought to myself hey maybe I should do that? It'd look nicer that's for sure, and I kinda wanna show off a little. Thanks again for the compliments, Boo.
-Oh yeah mostly I get annoyed with other peoples' kids, but I know when I have kids of mine own I will probably change. When I was a little kid I didn't like adults paying attention to me... so I sorta just ignore kids when I'm around them now. I think they're probably a lot smarter than they appear. :shrug:
-I'm assuming Lucia's A.I. is based on events that take place when she realizes certain things about lifes in general, that're for the positive and she gains a little bit of humanity. I kinda see her as just an empty shell and as she progresses thru the story she gets filled up with all sorts of human emotions like: friendship, caring, love, etc. And as she goes through this metamorphosis she's more likely to use/or she regains her powers, a bit more...
-I can see where you're coming from about Lemina. I stan her so I feel I have to defend her. I mean, Lemina's personality IS pretty paper-thin and one-dimensional in the first place! So does she really need a hard reason to go along w/ the party? lol I think she's just after money and that's more than enough reason to do anything, even IRL. I still find Jean's ambitions to be sorta lagging behind the rest... Her story is just so far away from everyone else's. She's just traveling with them basically. Either way, I like both the girls though.
-It's fine don't worry about the schedule Boo, just play at your own pace and I'll find a way to catch up/keep up/wait for you. I just found SSSC's story more simpler. It's just about love. I think I saw somewhere that Vic was hyping up that EBC has a ton more text compared to SSSC so maybe that's why I'm so reluctant to play it sometimes cause I'd have to read through everything.

93

General Discussion / Re: Let's Play - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete

« on: January 22, 2023, 08:58:43 am »

Hey, Boo!! I've been mostly just thinking hard and a lot about our analysis on LUNAR 2 and I have a few notes I've been ruminating about that've been stirring in my crazy head:

Notes:

-I think the main narrative is basically Lucia's Mission: She needs to see/meet with Althena. So they're all going to Pentagulia. Hiro and Ronfar seem to be penetrating this drive the most. Ronfar has business to take care of in the Holy City and he knows the way. Jean has her own thing going on, and Lemina wants the party to join the Magic Guild so she's heading for Vane. ...
-I think the next main major sub-plot is how annoying Leo is. Even all the way out in Meribia, the biggest city in the world, he's put up wanted posters trying to capture the group. He's relentless almost to the point of insanity, I personally feel like. I hate Leo so much. I want this point to be relevent to my real life but I know that has nothing to do with this game, but I've just come to learn I hate all the soldiers, guards what-have-you's that work for a "Empire" of some sort in JRPGs. I just find them and their mission so annoying. I love when the writers turn them into bumbling fools cause that's how I feel about them. FF6 does this too with the myriad of soldiers you can talk to in the game. Turns out they're just lazy, poor, literal bums that joined the force, hot-headed, dumb/stupid, grunt working work horses, just NPCs that don't add much story to the overall thing. Anyway, ... just how I feel about these types.
-Jean's whole sub-plot / backstory about the Masked Man. She seems to have her own thing-agenda going on away from the group. She's just tagging along to see if she can travel and find out what/who it is?
-Now that Nall's made an appearance Ruby's story gets a pump-pump with the whole Red Dragon thing.

So I initially don't like EBC much compared to SSSC cause there's so much stuff going on. But now that I'm taking baby-steps, I can piece everything together slowly as the game progresses.

Ok, that's all for tonight. Ciao!

94

General Discussion / Re: Let's Play - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete

« on: January 21, 2023, 05:44:15 am »

Thanks dude for the compliments about the pic! I actually think my collection is pretty small compared to most, but I pretty much exclusively only go for RPGs. Sometimes I dabble in other stuff. I just wanted to not have my collection collecting dust up in the attic or somewhere else in the house I wanted to put it out for display!

I pretty much am still into physical copies. I have room in the house that I'm not making use of. I very rarely download games online, only if I'm randomly interested in something, I'll usually go for the physical game case! Something kinda empty to me about downloading a game and there's no disc or anything that goes with it... But I'm sure that'll change since downloads and streaming is the next generation thing!

I'll probably never get rid of my stuff... I'm kinda thinking about raising my kids with video games in the house so once I'm dead they can do what they want with it! lol

I'm about to talk to everyone in Taben's Peak and I'll try to make it past the Meribian Sewers to where you're at right now! I've been kinda busy testing out the PS4 Pro and had a couple games come in thru deliveries: Final Fantasy XV and Yakuza 0, so I've been playtesting them out. Really happy with the PS4 Pro purchase fwiw.

Super happy to be doing this side-project w/ you man, it kinda takes me back to my roots and what I really enjoyed growing up! I love going really slow and analyzing the little bits and parts of the game. What I noticed--Usually I just get through the game as fast as I can all the while talking to everybody and getting everything. Now that we're taking baby steps and I can spend a few days in a town and really analyze and take in what the townsfolk and NPCs are saying, and how I feel about their line?

All really good stuff, man.

Edit: Alright, I made it though the Meribian Sewers and I kicked the Masked Man's butt... whose voice is so obviously Lunn's. LOL I'll head to Taben's Peak and wait up for you!

Some random thoughts that popped into my mind while playing the last few sessions:
-I wonder if anyone's ever compared Jean to Kitana from Mortal Kombat with the fans?
-Lemina at Taben's Peak has me thinking she and I are a lot alike (she's always been my favorite character in L2: EBC) when she was complaining about having to be around kids. I sorta find little kids annoying too! :haha
-Lucia's A.I. is growing a lot more, she's using different attacks like Power Up!(sp?) and Lightning Bomb. She's definitely growing as a person.

95

General Discussion / Re: Let's Play - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete

« on: January 20, 2023, 05:57:32 am »

Hi, Boo.

-I grinded so much in the Zulan Mountains that I had enough Silver to buy everything I needed in the weapon and armor shops in Meribia! Even had some Silver left over too as well!
-Yes, I'm familiar w/ Haschel. Tbh, I hate the older, black pony-tailed samurai looking guys in JRPGs. Cyan from FF6 and Haschel from the Legend of Dragoon I really hated their character art when I was a kid to the point where I didn't even want to play the game. To this day, I have LoD in my collection but I haven't gotten around to beating it. Maybe some day.
-Lunn's voice/accent is kinda cheesy: like whenever they have an Asian karate movie from the 80s all the people speak like that. :X
-I actually like grinding these days cause I have nothing but time in my schedule. I knew when I was a kid I wasn't gonna have any time to game when I got older because of either school/or, a job/kids/family so I sorta molded my lifes into something where I definitely had control of my hours and plenty of time to sit down and play specifically long RPGs. I know they're time-consuming so I sorta manipulated everything in my adult life so I can have time to game whenever I wanted to.
-I'm at the top of Taben's Peak I just have to talk to all the kids, everybody.

The week's been fine for me. I've been keeping a journal ever since December so I write everything down that I need to do and just general musings I have about lifes in general, lol. It's good therapy. I built a shelf for all my games/consoles so I have that set up in my living room right now. I'll try to snap a picture but I'm afraid it's gonna look huge and take up the whole page lol.

I've just been generally doing chores around the farmhouse (I'm meticulously clean like Ray Kroc) and just spending time with my dogs and stuff. Nothing TOO exciting, but gaming's always where it's at for me.

Yeah, I try to exercise everyday even if it's just an hour walk outside. Here in the Philippines it's always hot so days are in the 90sF everyday. I still haven't got used to it as an American. I've just been training the new maid we got in the house like teaching her what we eat during meals and how to work the laundry wash and stuff. Just same ole same ole stuff around here. In the evening times, when I'm pooped... I mostly just e-shop on Shopee (like our version of Amazon) app and just find little nick-knacks I need around the house and for myself/dogs. Like I've been buying self-care skincare routine stuff because I'm in my 30s now and I don't want my face to crack. I've been buying exercise equipment/yoga stuff. I've also been buying office/art supplies for my little office/desk area like artsy stuff like pens, markers and such.

Hope you're doing well, Boo!

96

General Discussion / Re: Let's Play - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete

« on: January 19, 2023, 06:21:09 am »

I was gonna get a session in- finish up my session, but then I realized something, and I had to run back online to tell you! I misspoke earlier when I had mentioned that the Mystic Ruins were the remains of the Grindery, - it's so most obviously Taben's Peak not just from the name (so obvious.) but the location, -- it's in between Meribia and Vane where it shot it down in the distant past. I'm sorry homie for the confusion, I haven't played this game and analyzed it in forever, I'm getting forgetful in my old age! ...That kinda makes the Mystic Ruins even more mysterious... Why does Ghaleon choose to reside there of all the places he can make his home?

Ok, now that that's outta the way. I made it to Meribia and I have spoken to the townsfolk. I actually loved first strolling into Meribia in this game it takes me back to SSSC even the NPCs are recycled sprites. They've done away with Black Rose Street (dang!), the port (double-dang!) and the Seagull Tavern (triple-dipple dang!) so it's mainly now just the concentrated center of the once bustling seaport city in the last, the first game! Oh, vell! At least it takes me back at least a little bit.

I'm planning on going into the dojo (lol) and talking to Lunn who reminds me of either Revolver Ocelot or the Marlboro Man. And then I'll plan on traversing Taben's Peak to get to where you're at!

Ok, doing all that now.

Edit:

Note: Boo!! You can get 2 more bromides in Meribia! So there's a total of 3 you can get: one, from the minstrel in the tavern, second, from Ramus' grandpa if you just keep talking to him long enough he hands it over, and third, in the back of Ramus' store check the barrels and you'll find another Lemina one you might have to have taken the one from Ramus' grandpa first before this one appears I'm not sure. Don't forget these!!!

It's nice to see Lemina getting some backstory (compared to Jean's) even if it's just through pictures. Haha

97

General Discussion / Re: Let's Play - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete

« on: January 18, 2023, 05:52:49 am »

Lol, Boo -- I spent like the last 3 days just going back-and-forth into the blizzard and leveling up haha. I'm at lv. 28 and about 18 hours into the game. :O

So now that you're back I went ahead and killed the Missing Link (I thought its name was kinda cleaver ) which was unsurprisingly very easy at the level that I'm at! Thank God though, usually this boss gives me trouble and I have to use up a Starlight.

The Zulan Mountains are pretty cool in that it gives you a bunch of new accessories to play-with and equip on your characters, like different rings and such. I opted to not even equip the Power Crest because even when paired with another crest like say the Dream Crest it decreases your power so I just left it in the item sack.

Yeah I loved the part when Lucia comes back after realizing that not saving the town was not the right thing to do. I also noticed that her A.I. gets a lot more aggressive in the Missing Link battle, - did you notice she would ALWAYS attack every turn with Napalm Shot or up someone's defense with Magic Barrier instead of defending or running around the map aimlessly? I guess that storypoint got Lucia's head thinking clearly again now that she realizes she has friends and she has to fight with them. I loved that she gets more aggressive.

I'm back in the town. And I'm gonna talk to everyone else a little later. I thought the Maria-amnesia thing was kinda of funny. lol

98

General Discussion / Re: Let's Play - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete

« on: January 16, 2023, 11:03:06 pm »

I'm grinding as we speak and may be able to save up enough Silver to fully upgrade before moving forward in the story. That being said, I have to travel for work tomorrow (Monday and Tuesday), and won't be playing tomorrow. I probably won't play again until late Tuesday night, and the next few sessions will be short just because I have to be up every day at 5:00am for my morning commute. I'm in the office Tues/Wed/Thurs and it's an hour drive one way, give or take. I loathe the corporate grind and wish I could get out of it.

Go get 'em, Boo! I remember when I was younger I used to read Dilbert comic strips and thought that working in an office when I got older would be fun, my Mom was an accountant and I thought she was doing well to contribute to the family's financial situation so I thought I could copy that. I ended up working in restaurants/food service though and falling in love with it, - which I think was a blast! One of my heroes growing up was Ray Kroc (the founder of McDonald's) and I loved fast-food and especially McDonald's when I moved to the States. He would come in after-hours and meticulously clean the corners of the tables that were bolted onto the floor. "The devil's in the details." I ended up loving cleaning greasy kitchens and cleaning my house is almost a way for me to relax. I learned working in restaurants that working with food and in the kitchen if it's not clean people can easily get sick plus I learned a lot of people's allergies to food and cross-contamination of stuff. Once I clean a good bit around then I can really sit down to game.

Don't worry, right now I'm still in Zulan (I'll wait for you) just leveling up and grinding. I have more than enough money and I've bought all the equip. upgrades so far. I'll just mindlessly fight battles until I feel like it's just a waste of time to do so, so I'll try not to go farther ahead until I've exhausted my options!

Hopefully you're able to put yourself out there, even if you are in a more rural area! I got lucky and married my college sweetheart, and we got married super young (probably too young). I was 22 and she was 20. We've had a lot of (normal) growing pains just in how we have changed and had to adapt to those changes in our partner, but all-in-all it's been a blast. Because of her, I missed the advent of the dating apps like Tinder and OK Cupid.

My best friend is single, never been married, and he's had quite the interesting adventures with the dating apps. I don't know if I could deal with them, haha...

I was kinda just busy in my 20s haha, maybe I was more about lust rather than love! It's so sweet that you managed to marry your college sweetheart!!, I was all about just networking, meeting new people, meeting girls at college parties, just being a regular ol' party animal!! TBH, I really wish I stayed home more during my 20s and went online and played games rather than going out so much, I really regret that if I can go back and do it over again I would just play more video games rather than listen to my friends.

As for coffee, this is me, too. I drink about 12 ounces most mornings and then I drink two cans of soda a day. Give or take. I drink about 64 to 100 ounces of water, too. But I do worry about them staining my teeth, both now and as I grow older. I don't feel I *need* coffee, but it sure it nice. I also drink it dark and strong, so it's a good pick-me-up just in the warmth and flavor alone.

A part of it for me is, I'm also kinda weirded out by coffee lovers and enthusiasts how they say "Coffee is Life" and they just wanna get wired, amped or whatever it is! When I used to drink it was usually because I was bored and wanted to break up the monotony with getting wired off coffee... but I see people and they need coffee to stay awake and function at work and I just think that's an unhealthy way to go about things. I'm also weirded out that so many Americans drink coffee on a regular basis... I almost feel like it's the "Kool-Aid" people are drinking and I don't want any part of it like the gov't puts something in the coffee lol.

I think I function perfectly fine off of it and just drinking hot chocolate. I'm a complete fish when it comes to drinking water though I just drink it all day non-stop. We don't have much juices in the house (all the sugars) so it's mostly just a LOT of water and hot choco to break up the monotony during the day.

This is not a flavor combination I saw coming! Salty and sweet, I can see it working, though. Are Dorito's there any different than the ones here in the States? I know sometimes the ingredients are a little different between various countries (for example, Coca-Cola sugars are different in Mexico and South America versus in the US).

What foods do you miss most from America that you can't get there? Whether it's restaurants or processed/canned/bagged goodies?

Dorito's are the same here, you can usually find them in the import aisle. I think the Coke over here is the same as the US too. I was thinking more of the food combination of "cheesy & chocolately" lol. Uhh, we have a ton of fast-food restaurants here but they're mostly located in the big city in the US I lived in an area where there was a huge line-up of just fast-food restaurants about a block up from my house near the highway so I definitely miss fast-food the most. I miss In-N-Out, McDonald's, Burger King, Jack-in-the-Box, Carl's Jr. all of it!!! When I was a kid I had a hard time eating but I liked fast food burgers & fries.

In terms of other foods I kinda miss: tortilla chips & salsa, Ranch dip, Flamin' Hot Chee-tos, and I've never tried 'em before but I see it on social media but Takis? Those look interesting.

Alright, I'm going to go heads down and grind for a few more minutes. My goal is to fully upgrade everything tonight, so wish me luck!

I'll try not to go ahead without you, Boo, but I'll level-up here in Zulan Blizzard until I find that the time it takes to gain a level isn't worth it anymore. I kinda like just mindlessly grinding, relaxing and thinking my thoughts. Lol I'll see you later, Boo!

99

General Discussion / Re: Let's Play - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete

« on: January 15, 2023, 02:26:01 am »

Don’t worry about being stuck in Zulan for the time-being. EVERYTIME I re-play LUNAR 2, I always have to spend a LOT of time in Zulan fighting battles just to upgrade the weapons & armor. It’s inevitable. — I mean you could opt to skip out on the upgrades and head into the snowstorm without them but that wouldn’t be any fun now would it? Missing out on any item and the one-liner item description from Working Designs would be a travesty?

I’m in Zulan right now. I’ll head into the blizzard right after you to grind for Silver. I notice it being kinda weird you just came from West Nota with its own equipment upgrades and you head into Zulan with updated stock of its own without a dungeon in between? That’s unheard of in the traditional, classic JRPG world! C:

*I started drinking coffee in college cause my parents always had a pot brewing at anytime of day in the house so I got mildly curious. I’ve never been a coffee drinker. I never drank coffee in high school. I quit during my swimming in college though. I started up again in my mid-20s, I dunno why, and I’ve now quit (prob for good) about a month ago.

I know it’s like ambrosia or the Drink of the Gods for people in the world for forever but it’s kinda like the garlic of drinks for me... — I just want to be able to get a date and fresh breath & oral hygiene is essential. I’m also worried about stains.

Whenever I quit an addictive habit I just replace it with something else (that’s hopefully better), in this case I went with hot chocolate. I quit during the Christmas season and hot chocolate and Doritos is one of my favorite combinations. Chocolate has a littlest bit of caffeine and that’s really all I need.

People seem to double-take when I tell them I don’t drink coffee though.

100

General Discussion / Re: Let's Play - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete

« on: January 14, 2023, 04:41:47 am »

I specifically remember a scene on the Behind the Scenes Making of LUNAR disc in which they are interviewing the VA, and they talk about how he was chugging a gallon of milk to try and cough and sound like he was dying, hahaha...

Lol yeah. Vic made John Truitt (the voice of Ghaleon) drink warm milk from Wendy's to make it seem like he was hacking up phlegm in his death-scene. That was pretty funny.

Apparently, lol... I've been taking ginko biloba to actually help with my memory. I am a tad forgetful and don't feel as mentally spry as I used to be, haha... For some reason I was thinking it was just a regular Dagger in Gwyn's basement. Whoops!

Oh, does ginko biloba help? I kinda feel that way too when I'm doing chores around the house I like go into one room and forget something in the other, ... We're getting old, man. lol The one thing that kinda helped me a little bit going about my day-to-day was quitting coffee. MAN, that was such a game changer. Noticed mood improvements, and better sleep because of it. I do drink energy drinks though so I have caffeine. I just don't like the taste of coffee/and the coffee breath that comes with it... When you're single it definitely helps to have fresh breath!

Dude, NIIIICE! That's awesome. Now if only there was a filter on these fancy televisions that gave a CRT effect. I had no idea until the past few years just how much the CRT televisions smoothed the lines of old video games. It's pretty jarring to see some of the comparisons.

I'm trying not to forget about my retro games/consoles because, for example, playing LUNAR 2 right now reminds me that these are the types of games I like and enjoy playing... and analyzing... There's just something about the RPGs that we grew up with that not even a 4K game can even compare to, it's like there was magic in the air during the late 90s.

Nice dude! I used to own an original SNES copy, but I let a friend borrow it back in college and he "lost it" -- I wish I had the backbone I have now to make him repay me. I'd had it since 1996 and it's one of the few physical pieces of video game history that I wish I physically owned (I switched to digital archives for everything below the Wii/PS3-era a few years ago and just do emulation now for those systems).

I had a similar story happen to me when I leant my copy of Xenogears (+ strategy guide) to a friend, and when I went to ask for it back he replied with "Oh, I sold it to pay my rent." I was in shock. Looking back, I wish I took him to Judge Judy or small-claims court or something but I was just THAT good of a friend I let it roll off my back. I don't speak to him anymore.

Yeah, my RPGs are so special to me I call them my babies that I never sell them. I will trade though if there's something I really want (Usually a Working Designs game).

Once we're done we should talk about a dream list of what we'd wanna see if a new LUNAR game was ever created.

Oh definitely I don't really write anything down so-to-speak but I'm sure I've ruminated about possible scenarios I'd like to see for a LUNAR 3 if it ever came to fruit.

#15 session

I'm kinda lagging behind I just got the PS4 Pro so I've been integrating it into the "lineup" and it's eating up a fair bit of my time over here! I was also messing around with the SNES to ensure our next dual-play is in the works.

I'm making my way to Zulan! I did a detour to the Madoria Carnival and no one really changes their line except a few like Giban and Katarina the fortuneteller who gives the player some really philosophical food for thought, lol.

I visited East Nota again and talked to everybody again. The kid that hates his dad made me actually laugh about "He just wants me to be a merchant like him, and support him when he gets older. I hate him!" For some reason, that resonated with me! There were a few other cheeky townspeople too!

For now, I stopped at the bridge again before heading into West Nota. I'll probly play a little more again later, and will try to make it to Zulan tonight (if not tomorrow).

Good speaking to you again, Boo!

Edit:

#15.5 session

I'm glad to say, I'm glad Zophar zapped the *bleep* out of Leo. I haven't felt so satisfied about something in ages.

I took a tour of West Nota and thought everyone was hilarious.
-Obviously the main point of interest is Kyle, Julia and Romeo.
-I think it's interesting how writers in RPGs have random people living together in each house. Like in West Nota, a brother and a sister live together. That just strikes me as odd cause in America you grow up with your immediate family, move out live on your own at 18 and just kinda get married. I've never found myself living with anybody else or a complete stranger, to be frank, I'd rather live alone if the other household member wasn't my wife. It seems a little un-American to have random couplings of people living together? To me anyway.

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General Discussion / Re: Let's Play - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete

« on: January 13, 2023, 02:47:51 am »

I don't *actually* stan him and my sarcasm probably isn't coming through very well, but I do think he's an interesting character. He's got a great character design, but of course, he's the blind zealot whose judgement is clouded due to his fanaticism. He makes for a good foil for Hiro, even if he is over-the-top and annoying. What I *do* like about his character arc is that he eventually comes around, although it happens far too late into the story. I think it would be cool if we saw more of a gradual change and had him join maybe in the second arc or beginning of the third rather than right at the end. Show us more of that change and then let us spend time with him having been reformed and apologetic for his behavior.

I actually don’t hate Leo per se, I just find most to a lot of his actions and behavior in the beginning of the game to be kind of stupid, dumb? Like he won’t listen and just stands his ground blindly following Althena’s every order. AND he’s in a position of power in the Guard so he’s almost abusing his authority over the people like some fanatical crooked cop IRL. I think it’s funny when everything he stood for and believes in crumbles before him, and THEN that’s when he finally comes around when everything is just so obvious—it was obvious from the beginning he just refused to believe it. Stubborn, stupid. I do like his character design though and he is a beastman like Jessica, and he controls earth magic. And he’s the brother to Mauri, who was my favorite character when I was like 13-14. o_O;;

I kinda got Sailor Moon or magical girl anime vibes from the scene, haha...

Love Sailor Moon and 90s anime.

Really, really good callout. You're better at picking up some of that nuance than I am! In hindsight, that's totally what's happening here and is good writing. I feel like jRPGs don't do that sort of parallel/subtle storytelling that much.

I just pay attention to the text and ask “Why do they want the player to know this right now?” since I figure most video games you can play without any real text and figure out what to do so any real text they throw out at’cha is like a cherry on top for me. And I like to read a lot and just figure out why? a lot.

Did you notice he said a few words funny? Such as 'again' as 'ageen'?

Yeah, I find a lot of people just sound more nasally when they’re really trying to act. Like that upper-crust renaissance-sy sound.

I'm with you here. I've always felt his inclusion here felt like fan service and a bit odd. His eventual betrayal of Zophar as "see, I'm redeemed and was doing this to atone for my past sins" was also just sort of meh. I like Zophar as a new villain and would have preferred he just had new minions, or perhaps if some sort of SSS cameo was necessary, maybe one of the Vile Tribe sisters?

I think you hit the nail on the head on why they wrote him back into the script. I like Zophar a lot more too. I don’t really care about bad guys in any medium, fiction or IRL.

Anyway, I completely forgot about Ghaleon's garden at the bottom of the tower, as well as the faeries. It's interesting to see this foreshadowing about his true intentions and his love for the faeries and mankind. They particularly mention that he's sad, doesn't smile a lot, and thinks about the past a lot.

I thought you would notice cause it’s kinda of a bit obvious but the Mystic Ruins are probably the remains of the Grindery from the first game, so this’s probably the Vane area from SSSC. (I know you like comparing the maps) I think the Secret Garden of fairies gives it away and it makes sense that Ghaleon would almost make it his house and live there cause that’s where he was killed. Kind of like a huge headstone.

-The Ancient Dagger is from Gwyn’s basement when he asks you to find a weapon in the beginning of the game. You’re so forgetful! C:
-Yeah I always get stuck in Zulan with not enough silver and I’m forced to grind.

Personal note/Good news: Boo, I have some good news in regards to our next dual-play. I had forgot I ordered this little thing on Shopee (our version of Amazon):



It's called a Mini, and it allows me to hook up the SNES' composite cables to an HDMI thus I can hook it up to my 4K T.V..

I haven't busted out this bad boy in a hot minute.





I'll have no problem over here on my end if we choose to play Chrono Trigger next, my man!

102

General Discussion / Re: Let's Play - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete

« on: January 12, 2023, 04:40:49 am »

Lol, I actually think Leo is so annoying. I actually said "I hate Leo" when he struck the Magic Arrow before it launched. There's something about him that's so... unappealing, to me. Just his blind loyalty to Althena and the Guard/Chosen. It's almost like a certain naivete about just go about his job, not really knowing anything about anything else. Anyways, huh.

The Madoria Carnival was fun.

The scenes with Lucia getting a dress change was interesting, though I doubt it has anything to do with the story. I think it kinda shows that the girls are getting along, and Hiro & Ronfar are sorta buddying-up too. The party's getting along quite well. I was thinking about how it's so interesting in RPGs that you just meet someone, and they immediately join you and fight for you. Sometimes some characters lack any real reason other than to be a pawn/chess piece in battle.

Yeah, her outfit is really nice. I really enjoyed the scene where the girls were playing dress-up like as if they're in their room, all giggling together and having fun. Very like 80s or 90s? lol

So I stopped at the Mystic Ruins but I've done my chores for today so I'll prolly end up playing some more laters. I was thinking to myself maybe they don't let you go into the Mystic Ruins from the world map because there's no entrance on the ground floor? It was interesting/funny that they entered through the top - from the sky.

I was gonna say that the events in Nota harped on the whole 'duality' aspect to LUNAR once again - with West and East Nota being "separated" or "joined together" by the bridge depending on how you look at it. Maybe it's pointing to "what joins" the two parts together? In regards to, Lunar and the Blue Star or the Goddess Althena and Lucia? Just something to ponder about and some food for thought.

Edit:

So you finally meet Ghaleon in the Mystic Ruins. I know I'm probably going against the grain here when I say this but I thought he was much better in SSSC as a standalone one-time bad guy. I thought he did his thing, and he won and done. I don't particularly care to dive into the backstory of villains I just find all bad people one-dimensional cause they are evil. BUT, I know a lot of fans like him so I'll give understanding his motives in this game a chance.

I got through the first floor of floating platforms and then I saved once I got to the second floor, I'm kinda tired tonight and I have to do some e-shopping for myself and my dogs. I'll most-likely cont tomorrow morning. See you around, Boo!

103

General Discussion / Re: Let's Play - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete

« on: January 11, 2023, 09:46:47 am »

#14 session

I'm kinda busy today but I had to play just to relax and unwind. After the events in East Nota I made my way to the Madoria Carnival. Don't worry Boo, the next few events are just casual chitchatting with townsfolk or in this case carnivalfolk so there isn't really much effort or thought involved, just enjoying the storyline. I meandered around the carnival avoiding the top-screen cause the next story event takes place there where you shoot out of the Magic Arrow to get away from Leo and the Guard.

The carnival has a lot of fun people to talk to, much more different than the sleepy desert citizens of the past few towns. You also get to meet the people you saw in the Illusion Forest again way back when so that was fun seeing what they do at the Carnival.

I'll probably explore more tomorrow morning but for the time being I stopped in front of the Giggle Den.

Just keep doing what you're doing Boo, I'm doing ok here!! I probably won't venture too far along into the story I'm taking care of the farmhouse and lot and I'm also doing a lot of exercising and self-care. Gaming is a hard hobby haha, so I like to take care of my body for those epic long sedentary endurance runs just sitting in front of the T.V.. Take care, Boo!

104

General Discussion / Re: Let's Play - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete

« on: January 10, 2023, 04:12:27 am »

#13 session

I'm still on the bridge in East Nota. I'll wait for you.

While I was waiting (I just had to play today), I went back to the Bandit Butte and leveled up a little bit more. Lol at Butte Interior (per the save screen). This's a good place to grind with Lemina just casting Burning Rain in every battle, and leaving when her MP is depleted. The Parasite enemy is atrocious but I figured out you can kill it in the first round by Jean using Butterfly Dance and Hiro using Boomerang. I leveled up in here until I could buy everything from the weapon shop in East Nota and have some money left over. This's a good place to grind cause the enemies drop a lot of Silver and give a decent amount of EXP.

I'm planning on going back and leveling up some more, I don't mind at all waiting for you. Cheers!

105

General Discussion / Re: Let's Play - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete

« on: January 09, 2023, 09:25:25 am »

#12 session

I'm not in the best mood today.

-Yeah, I try to save all my mega-heal items for the Final Boss as well. I actually use it at that time though. o_O;; That's an interesting take on making the game harder.
-Lol yeah the Ghost Manor is a weird dungeon. haha
*Oh you can definitely return to this and previous areas later on in the game so don't worry. Everything opens up in the Epilogue. C:
*Yup the magic carpet scene reminds me of the hot air balloon ride. Would have loved to see an anime cutscene of them screaming as well. That scene makes me dizzy now at my age though.
*If you equip the Snake and Shiro Crest together you'll get a boost in attack + range, so I opted for Ronfar, to give him better distance.
*I actually mean to play around with the equips at this point, actually, I wanted to equip a Dagger on Jean just to see what it'll do?
*In the Sega CD version there are actual bandits in this dungeon, and there was a mini-boss battle with the Phantom Sentry (a big boss bandit), I dunno why they took it out of this game. It seems to be an iconic moment for this game as LUNAR has random enemies/bosses like the Inca God? (?)

*Yeah Ruby must have a deep pocket. I like the Final Fantasy-esque limitless unlimited item menu too as well I think all RPGs should be that way I don't think it takes away from the fantasy element at all. Yeah I don't like having to individually equip items on characters in order to use it either, but I didn't mind in SSSC.
*I thought the two-screen area behind Ronfar's house kinda corny in terms of dungeon design. With it's like 5 enemies.

I've stopped in front of Nota for now. I intend to explore the world map as well before I enter Nota and continue on with the story. Funny that you say it reminds you of Morocco, I was just thinking we're not out of the Salyan Desert yet so every town we've visited so far is like a desert town. With sand and everything and stuff.

I plan to explore more a little later.

Edit:

#12.5 session

Cont from last night this morning.

I think the tower to the east of Nota is the Mystic Ruins. I found it funny they didn't even try to come up with a reason for you not being able to enter, they just won't even load the entrance map. Yeah the Madoria Carnival is closed for right now I think because the Guard is harassing the Caravan and slowing them down.

I entered East Nota. Yup the guy that sold his house to the Chosen is pretty funny. There's not a real Sanctuary in Nota apparently.

The Mayor's house is pretty interesting as it introduces/gives us a preview of the Rememberizer. If you remember in the first game, it allows you to replay the anime cutscenes you've viewed. It's not available until much later, don't worry.

Seems like a sleepy/bazaar-esque desert town to me. I stopped in front of the bridge too. Will wait for you before continuing on!