Messages

1

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

« on: Yesterday at 11:09:52 pm »

Yakuza 0 was fun. Oh, you'll definitely like it if you want something "Asian." It was my first dive into the series and my friends suggested I try out Yakuza 0 first so you could try it out.

I've got a bunch of them through game bundles on my PC. The new Judgment spinoff is also a jRPG, so there's that! I'd like to play the series for sure. I got really into the Yokai Watch series (of all things) simply because it leaned so hard into the Japanese culture side of it. I tend to like games with a strong Asian culture influence.

Is Minecraft any fun? I kinda wanted to get into it.

I think it's an amazing game. The gameplay loop is super rewarding. It's equal parts exploration and resource management. Normally I don't like games that don't have strong stories, but Minecraft is the one exception. The soundtrack and graphics are also really simplistic and sort of old school, but fitting given the motif. I played it first in maybe 2015 with some friends, and we have a server we played on for about a year. It's one of those games I wouldn't really care to play by myself, but playing with people makes it incredibly rewarding.

Yeah, saving up money and moving and just not having a job here is probably ideal. I mean, you can open up a little store and sell stuff in your neighborhood, build an apartment building and collect rent, or just do what I did and start a farm and sell the animals like chickens. People will buy them. Money goes a long way here, man.

There was a school shooting near us today. We're obviously heartbroken, but my wife actually asked me about moving overseas earlier. I had to remind her that every place has its problems, but that not everyone has to work about gun violence and mental health problems quite like the US. It's been a crazy day. It's heavy stuff.

I thought most Americans just stick their elderly parents in a retirement home and leave them there, so I'm surprised you said that! In Asian culture, we take care of our parents until they pass in the home.

Eh, probably more of a stereotype... although it's certainly true to a degree. We obviously don't feel that way. We feel like we should take care of our parents. If they want to be independent, then our job is to set them up to be independent but has us nearby to check on them and care for them. Or, if the situation gets bad enough, have them move in with us. Lord knows they took care of us for our first 20 years, it only seems fair we take care of them in their twilight years.

I finished the Lost Labyrinth last night. I'm planning on just wrapping the game up and wrapping our project up nicely and quickly so I'll try to get through the remaining dungeons tonight. I think I have to do Lionhead, then ofc the Star Dragon Tower and I dunno if there's one more?

We're not far apart, although you'll likely beat me. I think I can wrap up the game within the next week or so. Once we're done I still want to do a final review -- what did we LOVE about the game? What didn't we live? What would we want to see in a new LUNAR game if they ever made one? I think that will then wrap us up! Haha

Sometimes I think about video game, JRPG "difficulty" vs. just making things annoying for the player. It's fine though cause it's something relaxing to do while I think about things and life, in general.

See, I hate unnecessary grinding and game bloat. I have so little time to game and it just makes everything more drawn out.

Like, I was thinking about what you had mentioned when we first met that everyone, including whites, came from somewhere else even just a few generations ago or back. We all came from a boat from somewhere. I think you're such an interesting friend of mine's since you're so generic, and whiteboy lol. :p I kinda think about let's just say Italians or Irish, are they any more American than me if they were to go to the US now and just happen to be considered white? I don't see a difference in a situation like your family member wants to come to the US and you helping them out?

I think I said it before, but you're as American as any other second generation American. We get so overwhelmed by trying to DEFINE things as one thing or another rather than just letting things be as they are. Humans are so vast and unique, and while I agree that it helps to classify a person as A or B or XYZ, we're all very complicated creatures. Being an American isn't about waving an American flag or shooting guns, it's not about being a Democrat of a Republican or just non-political. Being American is simply being part of the community. People move to America, become citizens, and it doesn't matter if you're part of a Russian-American subculture or a Chinese-American subculture, as long as you're investing back into the communities here, that largely makes you American. You did that while you were here, you lived and ate and breathed Americana.

Sure you've since moved, but you did your dues and you earned your piece of the American way. You have a piece of paper - your citizenship - that says you're an American.

Who's to say your Italian cousin Vinny that just arrived in New York is more American than I am just cause they're white?

EXACTLY! As you said, two or three generations back nearly all Americans are immigrants. So fuck those people that try to gatekeep.

From the way you described yourself I def see you as like a true blue, red-blooded Southern white American. Just generic. English.

I mean, I am. I wouldn't call myself a red-blooded Southerner, though. I'm from up north and the people down here would call me a Yankee. I'm from Cleveland originally, so I'm from blue-collar rust belt Americana. I don't have a Southern accent and there's a lot I don't like about Southern culture, despite living here. A lot of the culture in the south is about conservative politics, shootin' guns, and claiming to be a devout Christian (which in many cases is just lip service). I am mostly none of those things, haha...

But yeah, generic white boy otherwise.

As for LUNAR 2...

As for me... I've just beat the Lionhead and moved on to the dungeon in the Illusion Forest springs. I remember this being where you get the Ocarina to re-listen to the soundtrack.

After that I think it's on to the Star Dragon Tower. I remember getting one of the dragon eye jewels from a dungeon a while back, but I can't recall if I got the second one. I may have to consult a walkthrough to double check.

2

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

« on: Yesterday at 01:21:18 am »

Have you thought about the next game you wanna play, Boo? You had mentioned Final Fantasy XV and I just happen to have it for PS4, as well. :p

Yeah, I'm definitely going to play some Final Fantasy XV, and probably Metroid Prime Remastered (which is probably only like 15 hours to beat, give or take). Although I may actually invest some time into Minecraft, too. My kids and I have a Realms account and we haven't played on it much recently, and they've been asking for me to. I'm tempted to log in while they're asleep and build them some secret locations, maybe a scavenger hunt or something. Something I know they'd enjoy, and it would be good to invest some gaming time with them.

You've talked about how much you love the Yakuza games, and I've been craving something that is really deep into Asian culture. Maybe Yakuza 0 to start?

TBH doe, I kinda love the idea of doing 90s/2000s JRPGs. I'm still up for Chrono Trigger / or even Chrono Cross since this's a Chrono website and it's On Topic. Any old-school, traditional, turn-based, linear JRPG is fine with me.

I still intend on taking a little break from group play, but it will be a short break and we'll pick something up together in the summer. I definitely thing a Chrono Trigger playthrough would be fun, and I think I prefer that over Cross simply because I've played Cross more recently a few years back. I may even want to go straight form Chrono Trigger into Chrono Cross. But yeah, something old school would be the most fun for sure.

The lower standard cost of living here is much lower than compared to the US, so I pay a lot less for my monthly expenses here for sure. I just wanted to let my friends know how I'm managing living here and if it really is that inexpensive. I hope that information quenched your curiosity! C: I'll try to get the numbers for electricity, water & internet as well.

I feel like the key for ex-pats like me -- who don't really have much money overall - would be to save a lot of US currency and then make the move. Cost of living would be lower, but I assume the pay is equivalently lower, too. So hypothetically, if I had $100,000 in USD saved up and moved to another country with a lower cost of living, that $100k could go much, much further. Who knows, though, my mother-in-law was saying today that she intends for us to care for them when they get old, as we are likely the only family members that would be responsible enough to do so.

So any moving for us would have to be years down the road, after our parents are gone and our own kids are grown. Alas!

Don't you think the bosses in the Epilogue are total pushovers? With Jean's White Dragon Protect and Hiro spamming Triple Sword + Burning Rage, it's only about time until they just keel over. It's almost kinda boring to me, lol.

Anything after Zophar has been easy! Haha! Some of the dungeons also don't have bosses, but are absolutely slogs to get through. I just keep wishing they'd hurry up and end, and I can't recall which dungeon just has end-game equips and which dungeons are necessary to finish the epilogue.

Speaking of, I did finish the Dragon's Nest. I received the Gale Crest, which is going on Hiro along with the Goddess Crest. I've moved on to Lionhead. I didn't get far before I decided to call it quits.

I'm glad this game lets you save anywhere -- that was such a revolutionary feature (to me, anywhere) when I first played SSSC.

3

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

« on: March 26, 2023, 01:42:09 am »

I'm thinking about just blazing through the Epilogue as fast as I can because I have so much free-time right now and I just wanna get this game over with. lol

Yeah, you're now moving ahead of me a bit. Last night I finished the Dragon Ruins dungeon and beat the Phantom Sentry boss and got the Left Dragon Eye. The boss wasn't too bad, although he nearly wiped out my entire party the first time he pulled everyone in and used his group attack.

I'm still going slow just on account of not being able to game much. I have family visiting town again this weekend, which is eating into any personal weekend time I would normally have (which isn't much, but moreso than during the week).

If you're ready to be done with LUNAR, please feel free to wrap it up. I definitely don't want you waiting on me!

So yeah. I was just thinking about why I feel that way when I meet corporate people in America. Are all of you guys that way in person forrealz? It's one thing to be a Big Cat on the computer, but a smallfry in person? I just felt like I could eat that person up if we were on an island competing for $1 dollars.

I mean, they're all just normal people, too. But often times in corporate America you have to really throw yourself entirely into the business and carry yourself a certain way if you want to move up. It's very soulless, and I do believe after a certain time you'll lose yourself. Obviously this isn't the case for all people, but if you're not careful, you can easily sort of turn into a soulless zombie. I think I've done a good job staying true to myself while climbing the latter, and I think acting naturally and being authentic has actually helped me moreso than it's hindered me. A lot of it is do to how inauthentic many of the interactions feel.

I also feel that corporate culture tends to attract certain types of people. Hard rule follows, people who like structure, people who are very right-brained and process-oriented, stuff like that. You don't see many creatives in corporate culture (unless it's in marketing or something similar).

Just my two cents.

Anyway, it's been a long day and I'm about to crash. I may or may not be on tomorrow, but if not, I'll be on the following day.

Take it easy, homie!

4

Chrono Trigger Modification / Re: Temporal Flux tutorial videos.

« on: March 24, 2023, 05:50:55 pm »

On a personal note completely unrelated to this thread, I had no idea you were up there, Z! I lived in ND for years. I've been away for a while, but it'll always be home to me. Hang in there!

5

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

« on: March 24, 2023, 01:21:35 pm »

So I'm definitely gonna try some of the stuff you mentioned, Boo. I went to the small grocery here and they have tons of Campbell's stuff so I wanted to try like maybe Cream of Chicken with some sorta broccoli thing. And now I know what to use Cream of Mushroom for besides just eating it! Thanks! Since I did work at Chipotle Mexican Grill, I'm gonna try out some of the recipes we had at the restaurant like the Cilantro Lime-Rice, I still remember the recipes and everything. And making salsa is always fun for me. Even if it's just regular fresh salsa.

See, I think some casseroles are really boring and bland. My wife makes a tuna casserole which is just boiled egg noodles, shredded canned tuna, some cream of mushroom soup, and she adds a little seasoning and stuff. It's so BORING to me but my wife and kids love it. It's one of the only dishes I don't like to eat and will sometimes skip it when she makes it.

Green bean casserole is another personal favorite, although it's better as a side dish than a main course. You take two cans of French's green beans, a can of cream of mushroom soup, and a splash of milk and mix. I then saute some minced onions and mix it in, too. Add some French's fried onions on top and bake.

And that's another cooking time with Boo.

I have my own sorta idea / or, perception of "white people" food. Basically any food that has no smell and is safe to bring to the office to microwave. Like salads, pasta salads, couscous etc. etc. I know heating up fish in the microwave is a no no, trust me my Mom has had an office job since ever since I was born so I know stories.

This may or may not be accurate, I dunno. I just know I was raised in a house that didn't do much regarding the microwave. We did a lot of slow cooking in a slow cooker or the oven. Although you are right, pasta salads / potato salads / veggie salads are definitely part of the Americana food staple. I feel like they're less for home-cooked meals and are usually seen more at events where you're feeding a lot of people cheaply -- such as a work or church event. I don't feel like many people do pasta salad just at home, but I could be wrong there.

As for couscous and quinoa and grains like that... Is it just me or are those moreso newer food staples here in the US? I was an adult before I had either. I grew up moreso on stovetop rice dishes (like a yellow saffron rice) or plain brown rice. My mom never used a rice cooker, though; that's something I picked up on my own as I started to eat more more Asian dishes as an adult.

I was kinda thinking our lifes are totally different but we have something in common.

I love this, though. There's a common thread and commonality, but at the end of the day, there's a lot of exploration and open-minded and leaning going on. This is what I feel friendships are all about. It would be so boring if I was only friends with people just like myself.

I'm just sorta doing self-care stuff like playing with a comedone and such. lol Once you get used to the routine it's kinda repetitive and boring, even though it was fun at first. I'm noticing a difference though now that I'm taking much better care of myself. It's kinda hard work though I'm not used to this as a guy. Playing with soaps and lotions and stuff lol

I feel you, man. I could do more. I'm just focused on doing cardio two or three times a week (normally like a 4 or 5 mile run) and trying to hit the gym twice a week. It's hit or miss, to be honest, but a little bit is better than nothing!

I am going to game it up tonight for a little bit. My MIL is coming into town and my son has his big birthday party tomorrow, so I'll have enough time to finish the Dragon Ruins and then I'll probably call it quits.

6

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

« on: March 22, 2023, 11:52:32 pm »

With the go-to signal from you I went ahead and did the Brave Labyrinth this evening. Usually I follow the WD guidebook and do this last, and the Hero's Talisman winds up being useless so good call on doing this dungeon first! You really know your stuff! I want to play more but I'll just follow your lead.

I can't take all the credit. I've also consulted Google and Gamefaqs a few times to get recommendations, haha...

Lol that you call each other Anglo. I never knew that.

I'll be honest, that's may or may not be a thing. I have no idea what white people call themselves. It just sounded good to me! Regardless, I'm now your token white internet pen pal! Haha. Your Anglo-bro or something.

Sometimes I wonder, besides white, what America slightly leans towards and I just guessed Spanish because it's the second language, amirite? A lot of English incorporates a lot of Spanglish now. So.

Yup. Definitely Spanish.

I had to look up what offal means I thought it was a religious ceremony lol, I just call it innards. And yes, we don't waste in Filipino cooking they bbq things such-as chicken intestines and stuff and sell it on the side of the street here along with blood sausage, the heads and feet of the chickens and stuff. I don't really eat that stuff but some people like it. I don't want my dinner staring me back in the face.

Haha! I've had mixed experiences, but I'm pretty open-minded and will at least try just about anything. Chicken hearts, pigs feet, intestines, ovaries, you name it... Like you said, it makes for cheap street food. To me the texture tends to ruin these things more than the actual taste. Like, I had some chicken heart a while back at a place called TwoTenJack. They tasted really good, but they were really tough and chewy and there was definitely some heart cartilage or something in there that sort of turned me off. I had two and was done.

I really like yakitori and street skewers as a whole.

Sometimes I'm curious to try more white people/American food if you can give me some ideas... I mentioned I've been regularly eating couscous lately, I dunno if that's popular to bring to the office. I'm very interested in stuff like pasta salads and such. I love the dressings.

Oh man, I wouldn't even know where to start. My black friends have told me that they think white people food is, like, casseroles. I dunno. My wife and kids like it when I do a slowcooker roast with mashed potatoes and gravy, candied carrots, green been casserole, squash casserole, stuff like that.

Probably the absolute whitest meal I can think of is chicken and stuffing "casserole."

First you make either homemade or boxed stuffing... I like to just buy a box of pre-made stuffing mix, but then I jazz it up - I toast some bread in the oven, rip it up, add some more seasoning (oregano, garlic powder, salt, pepper). Add in 2 eggs. I then dice an onion and about the same amount of celery, and I boil them in chicken stock until soft. Sometimes I'll throw in a can of cream of chicken soup, depending of if I mind the extra calories. I then hand mix it all really well and put it in a greased or sprayed glass baking pan.

Then you take several chicken breasts, maybe cut them longways to make them thinner, and season on both sides with garlic powder, salt, pepper, and paprika. Lay it on top of the raw stuffing mix.

Last, you take a can of cream of mushroom soup, a small container of sour cream, and throw in some paprika. Mix it until it's well blended, and then you layer it on top of the stuffing mix and chicken breast.

Throw it in the oven for around 30 minutes at maybe 400 degrees and you have a moist, hearty, all-in-one chicken and stuffing casserole. I'll then add a few sides: mashed potatoes, green beans, maybe some fresh corn cut from the cob, and maybe a dinner roll.

It's definitely not an every day meal. I like to do it moreso on a Sunday or a rainy day. I tried to find a recipe but can't really find one. It's something my mom taught me. I did find a picture of something sort of like it and attached it here, although mine is less dry and has more of a creamy sauce on top.

I'll try to think of something else. I'm sure there are things that are more super white boy, hahahaha!

Anyway, I just got home and won't be able to game tonight. Tomorrow I'll definitely try to wrap up the Dragon Ruins. I'm not even halfway through, so that will probably be my entire gaming session tomorrow.

Nice chatting with you as always, my friend!

7

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

« on: March 21, 2023, 09:49:16 pm »

Hey man,

I'm back in the saddle, too. My posts will continue to probably be every other day for the foreseeable future on account of real life responsibilities being in full swing. Probably until summer and school gets out.

I was thinking last night, "What says I'm American?" when I was thinking about my U.S. Citizenship and my passport. Does this piece of paper say I'm a true, blue American now?

I think the passport definitely says you're a US citizen, but I'd like to think (and maybe this is overly optimistic on my part) that anyone who lives in America (or is an ex-pat) can really claim to be American. Different from the legal definition, I'd like to think it's a state-of-mind. Who knows? I'm glad I don't have to define these things, as I don't want to define anything for anyone else, haha... that's on them to decide! After all, who better to know than the individual!

But then I moved to HS in 2001, and in Freshman year my whole, entire school was basically all-white kids and just me looking how I did was like a no-no for them. Like you had to be whitewashed and a little bit extra for them to even acknowledge your presence. This was before Tik Tok so there was a bit of racism in the air coming from both camps. The white kids thought they were superior and had the numbers / The minority kids would camp out together in empty classrooms and exclaim "Minority power!" So- It just seemed like a hostile environment. I didn't wanna to get stabbed or get in a fight so I left after that schoolyear.

This is sad. I went to three different high schools (my dad moved a lot for work during those years) and the second one I went to was in an affluent area with lots of diversity. Asian, Jewish, Middle Eastern, Anglo - there was A LOT of representation and maybe I've naive, but it felt like everyone pretty much got along and respected each other. I dunno, though, that may have just been my friends and I. I hung with mostly white people, but we also had friends that weren't Anglo.

My second school was up in ND and it was much more polarizing. The school was like 98% white with only a very few African Americans, Asians, and a few Native Americans. Everyone but the Native Americans were intermingled (there wasn't enough Asians to have an Asian clique, for example), but the experience you described about subtle racism from all parties was pretty much what I saw with the Native Americans. It made me really sad and still does. My heart goes out to the Native Americans and all they've been through as a result of colonialism.

So I've lived in America all my life. But I still don't know what it's all about really. I think there's way too much media pouring out of America that it's hard to know what's really true anymore.

Anyone with two brain cells still in the US doesn't know what to trust with the media, either. CNN and Fox News and all the other "news" corporations are bottom feeders that thrive on disinformation and strife. It's unfortunately, but it's true -- it's all toxic.

I tend to think of America as more Spanish-leaning, like cause the language itself incorporates a lot of Spanglish. "That's kinda blunt and Spanglish." So I'm more burritos, taco night, refried bean dip w/ sour cream, Spanish dirty rice, rice and beans, taco salad. People say Texas is very Tex-Mex, but California is very much Spanish and Mexican-leaning too you know. I have a lot of Latino friends back home and I miss them dearly.

Yeah, America has definitely had a boom of immigrants from Latin American countries, and with it all that Latin culture. I love it. The food, the passion, it's great. I love being able to experience other cultures (and not be accused of cultural appropriation). It's hard to find good Tex-Mex where I'm at now; all the Mexican restaurants are the same and they're all only so-so. Half of the time I don't order off the menu and ask the waiters/waitresses what they'd eat, so sometimes I get surprised with something a little more authentic.

"Tacos Authenticos" is one of my favorite dishes here. Corn tortillas with diced white onions, cilantro, and lime, plus a meat of your choice. I'm not afraid so I've tried it all, and not just the carintas or the carne asada. I've tried beef tongue and cheek and all kinds of things in the tacos.

I'm not a huge fan of offal per se, but I'm not afraid to at least try it. Is there much offal use in Filipino cooking? Just the other day I had some chitterlings from a soul food restaurant. They were so-so, haha...

-------------------------------

Anyway, onto the gaming front...

Brave Labyrinth

I had started the Dragon Ruins (the very first dungeon in the game), but ended up leaving and I instead went to the Brave Labyrinth north of Horam. I remembered there being an item that made the Epilogue content a bit easier, but I couldn't remember what it was.

So anyway, I finished the dungeon today. I opted NOT to use the walkthrough to solve the various puzzles, and even though it wasn't a particularly long dungeon, it had quite a lot of battles from all the wrong "answers" I picked as I proceeded. I finally got to the end, though, and defeated the boss.

The item is awesome and I'm glad I changed my mind and decided to go here first. Ronfar got the item for now, although I may end up giving it to Jean later.

I've headed back to the Dragon Ruins and have saved at the entrance.

8

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

« on: March 19, 2023, 09:39:03 pm »

And I'm back! I may be a day or two late in responses for the next week or so, just as I get back into the swing of things and get caught up with all we have going on both at home and at work. I need a vacation from the vacation!

So as for LUNAR 2 - I'm super trying to concentrate on it now during the day, I've like stopped binging Survivor cause I'm out of gas on it at the moment. So I've crawled back to video games. I just re-recruited Jean I thought I was gonna get Ronfar first but he's not in his house in Larpa.

If you haven't gotten him yet, he's there in Raculi! He's in a house with Mauri. It took me a hot minute to find them both, but I did eventually find him. He was the second last party member I re-recruited (Leo was last on account of having to go back through an entire dungeon to reach him).

You mentioned Asians don't really get represented at all on T.V. but I'm sure there's so many reasons why. I bet most Asians don't wanna even go on T.V. as most of them in the U.S. have that "stay in your own lane, keep your head down and work, not my chair not my problem" mentality. ... Most of the time they do - but there's always something a little "off" or foreign about it to me maybe it's just the editing?

I feel that Asian Americans are as much American as, say, Irish Americans, or African Americans. One can still cling to the "old culture" of their country of origin while still embracing and being part of the current American culture. I don't think it has to be one or the other.

But you're definitely right, Asian cultures tend to really focus on perfectionism and grinding in life. Japan, for example, takes this to the nth degree, haha. I could see a desire to avoid the spotlight, but at the same time... how many Asian leads do we have in American cinema that *aren't* leaning into the whole Asian culture angle? Crazy Rich Asians, Fresh Off the Boat , and Kim's Convenience all come to mind.

Kinda makes me wonder about what America's "culture" really is? Like cheeseburgers, sex drugs & rock n' roll, BIG MONEY, Spend Money, vacation vacation vacation?

I think we have so many cultures it's hard to nail it all down to one, but I think Americans are generally very prideful, work very hard (almost to the point of corporate slavery), and there's always the pursuit of the American dream: making lots of money and living a comfortable life. The food staples would definitely be pizza, burgers, and fries, though... And maybe BBQ down here in the south.

Anyway. lol I always felt like the show was challenging me to move back home to my country and to see if I can do it after growing up in all the rich excess of America? Well now that I'm here, I'm thinking about giving the country another shot to win me over? There was a point where America was pretty dead to me. And I can get over what happened in HS cause I think I really don't care anymore? I think there's so many other small little details like I'm still a U.S. Citizen, I have a Passport, etc.

You can always be a child of both worlds! Nothing wrong with that! The nice thing about the Philippines is how much farther the USD will go compared to here. How's the healthcare access there? Affordable and high quality?

I hear that's one of the biggest cultural dividers here in America. It's really easy to find high quality, advanced healthcare... but it's insanely expensive. So you can essentially get the best healthcare in the world here (especially for specialties like oncology), but you're also going to pay a premium.

I truly believe all those artifacts from JRPGs are just symbolism for America's huge influence on the rest of the world.

Magna carta. It's definitely a driver in a lot of media, that's for sure. The funny thing is, it's not really just an American thing, IMO. It is right now in 2023, sure, but if you look at history the concept has been repeating for centuries. The Mongolian Empire, the Roman Empire, the British Empire. America is just one more power-hungry empire that will eventually break from within and someone new will take its place. Don't get me wrong, I'm not condoning America (far from it), but it's sort of par for the course.

I think it's pretty fun being an American. Like people here definitely look at me differently because of it. And people always have their own perceptions on us around the world.

Curiously, how are you treated differently? Good? Bad? Indifferent?

9

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

« on: March 16, 2023, 02:01:28 am »

Sorry for the lapse in response, we're on vacation and my response time will be pretty abysmal for the next week or so.

I just mean you have the whole 2 monitors set up, a PC meant for gaming, probably a Steam account. You seem to post here at the Compendium about gaming a lot. You have a very busy lifes but still get time in to game each day by way of scheduling/time management.

Creating the perfect gaming setup with the PC and swapping out parts is part of the fun. Like, I enjoy that part of it just as much as playing the actual video games. I'm not one of those guys that has an incredible PC with the very best graphics cards (far from it); but I still enjoy putting a PC together: making sure to get the right parts, doing proper cable management, ensuring good air flow, etc. There's a lot of it that is all about optimization. But again, that's part of the hobby for me and many people who are into PC gaming -- but obviously not everyone finds that element fun. Same with modding - I like twiddling with the game files and trying to increase the graphics on the game through mods.

As for time management, I just have very little free time. I work and am in transit anywhere between 10 and 12 hours a day, five days a week, and then I come home and have to be a dad and cook dinner, help with homework, clean and do chores, handle the animals, etc... I enjoy gaming and it's a good stress reliever, so if I want to do it, I sort of have to force it in and be very intentional about it. I simply have very little free time, even on weekends, but I guess I somehow find a way to make it all work.

After all, I'm a project manager at work. I literally optimize processes, manage budgets / schedules / resources. My job is to ensure that are able to estimate targets and then hit them... every single day. So I'd like to think I'm good at bringing those skills home with me. After doing it for fifteen years, I'd like to think I'm a good steward of my time.

I just use a laptop to post on messageboards about Survivor I actually shied away from public forums about JRPGs when I was younger because I was annoyed there were other people out there who were better at the games than me and that made me feel disappointment in myself as a gamer, I only went on GameFAQs but still I was disappointed in myself as a teenager cause I could never fit in time to create a FAQ and instead I focused on homework and school, I don't think I have the mind or body to sit down and game for 17 hour marathons anymore.

Bah, you were just being too hard on yourself!

I also think some of that is just getting older. I remember when Kingdom Hearts 2 came out I literally binged it and did nothing but play it for like 4 or 5 days. I finished it at 100%, including all of the optional side quests. Nowadays I couldn't do that even if I did happen to have the free time. My attention span won't allow me to put that amount of time into something, and my body will be screaming at me for being stationary for too long, haha! After about two hours of gaming my brain turns to mush and I have to move on to a different task.

I was just wondering if you believe, say Star Trek is on every Thursday night at 8:00 P.M. and all the fans sit down together at home to watch at that time. Group-Think. Do you think everyone that watches the show has the same thoughts or reactions to it?

Ah, as for group-think -- I think we all react differently. Keeping the example on Star Trek, Star Trek Discovery has a black female captain and several gay and non-binary characters. Some people consider it "too woke" or "too action-packed" (since it's no longer episodic). Opinions all are over the place and reactions to episodes are equally diverse. Some love it, some hate it. I don't really think group think would apply here, but...

Group-think is definitely a real thing, though.

It's sort of... like attracts like. Most people are drawn to others like them; people that look the same, people that think the same or hold the same belief-systems. Take incels, for example. They tend to find each other and form communities online, and that sort of echo chamber of belief just amplified because they're all taking unconscious comfort in people who think and act the same way as themselves. Same with the MAGA crowd. It's all just group-think, they're all stuck in an echo-chamber and think that everyone thinks the same way because they only surround themselves with other people who think the same way.

That's why I think it's important to embrace differences and just stay open-minded. Differences can be bad, but they're more likely to be cool and unique.

Telepathy.--I never had any brothers or sisters, I don't have a twin. But they say twins can read each other's minds sometimes. I'm sure it's not exactly verbatim but say a certain facial reaction or nuance can give away what a person's thinking? I was also wondering if people who are deeply in love can read ea. other's minds, like do you and your wife send each other love messages through thought while you're both at work? LOL

I've always heard that about twins, too. Normally it's moreso with identical twins (but not limited to them), which would make sense -- they spawned from the same zygote and are quite literally formed from the same DNA. They might end up being very different people, but on a genetic level, they're still (nearly) identical. Genetics also plays a role in our behaviors and manner of thinking (although so does upbringing and environment), so I could see how twins would think alike - it's at least partially-influenced by their genetics to be similar!

As for my wife and I... we are very, very different. We think very differently and have very different beliefs. BUT! We have been together so long we are pretty good about predicting how the other will respond or what the other is thinking. That just comes with knowing someone really, really well. At least for us.

Take for example a burger place we went to recently. I think I mentioned it another post. It wasn't very good, and as we were sitting there eating it (I just know my wife's tastes and likes/dislikes), I knew she probably wasn't enjoying her food very much. Lo and behold, when we left the restaurant I told her I didn't think she enjoyed it very much, and she confirmed that it was exactly as I thought, hahaha!

I'm not talking straight-up verbatim communication thru minds but just like do you think facial expressions or certain looks can give away what a person is thinking?

Oh definitely!!! Non-verbal communication is probably more prevalent than actual communication. That's why online communication can be tricky sometimes. Sarcasm and nuance doesn't always come across well. Lord knows I've pissed people off online trying to be funny, but the intended humor went over their head (at no fault of their own) and they thought I was being rude or serious.

You're getting through the Epilogue much faster than I am, that's for sure! I don't know how you do it you seem to get through dungeons and towns lickity-split! You run through your sessions.

For the epilogue, I simply used a walkthrough so I knew exactly where to go. If it makes you feel any better, I'm still at the prologue dungeon and haven't played in a few days!

You mentioned living minimally and I have nothing against that but since we both come from the richest most blessed nation in the world, I was just concerned why you would do that in the first place?

Probably simple-living would be a more apt term for my desires, but I do think minimal living is an ideal. Americans - and much of the first-world - take things for granted, and quite frankly, are so freaking wasteful. We produce insane amounts of waste, we take-take-take from the environment without thinking through the costs. Minimalistic living tends to be a better state of equilibrium. Eating less meet, using less electricity (which is largely derived from burning fossil-fuel), recycling -- they're all ideals that benefit everyone on the planet. After all, we're simply borrowing the planet from the children of tomorrow. My children will inherit the mess we make, so if I can lessen that impact even a little bit, why not? First world or third world, it won't make much of a difference when things get really dire.

Americans always think their way is the best, the only way, and everyone else is weird for doing things how they do it. (Like how everybody made fun of the Japanese and Michael Jackson for wearing masks but look where everybody is now.)

I don't think that's an American thing. Not at all. Most cultures tend to be a little uncomfortable by the nuance and habits of other cultures that are different. Different is different.

Although there's definitely an American "pride" in doing things the best way. Obviously not all Americans are that way, and the Americans that are actually exposed to other cultures tend to be much more open-minded. I think many of the Americans that are so obsessed with "America's the best" and all that nonsense are rural Americans who haven't really such much outside of their small town and seen the rest of the country, let alone the world.

I mean, if we're being honest, even the United States is made up of dozens of unique regional sub-cultures: even the Southeast where I am has very different cultures. The rednecks of Alabama are different from the rednecks of Tennessee, let alone the differences in Appalachian hillbillies versus NC mountain folk. So on and so forth. All of that demographic tends to be grouped together, when in fact, they're all very different sub-cultures that only look the same when looking at at a glance.

Sorry/My bad if I seem like I'm interrogating you but I'M JUST SO CURIOUS what you think. I've never really had a white friend before.

I don't mind at all! Obviously I'm an open book, and I don't mind fielding questions. I probably am not the true typical American, as I'm much more open-minded than most people. I try (and generally succeed) at not being judgmental and open-minded about most things. As long as they aren't hurting anyone, anyway.

As for being the token white friend, I don't mind. One of my friends is a gay dude, and he always joked that I was his only straight guy friend. He generally hung out exclusively with others in the LGBTQ+ community, but he said none of them liked jRPGs and video games. That just so happened to be what we bonded over, so I was the only person in his life he could talk to about video games and stuff. It was just a funny friendship. We've sort of fallen out of touch since I moved a few years ago, so I'm going to reach out to him and see how he is!

It does suck that you had such a bad experience growing up here in the United States, though. That experience is obviously not exclusive to you. We've talked about it before, but the Asian-American demographic really doesn't have much representation anywhere here. It's really unfortunate.

10

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

« on: March 13, 2023, 06:49:20 pm »

I am actually quite odd and I like to re-play my favorites and see if my thoughts change while playing. I have no idea why I get new games. I just got a PS4 Pro but I still keep my PS3 out so I can play the PS1's fantastic JRPG library. I guess I like to know that I'll be pouring a lot of time into something that I know I'll enjoy. I guess I like familiarity.

I actually read an article about just this. It's scientific that we often fall back on shows/movies/games we know because of the familiarity with it, and there's something innately comforting in that. I'm not really articulating it with justice, but yeah, it's a very real thing. I'm that way! I tend to watch Star Trek reruns and have them on when I get downtime. I like the storytelling and the optimism, and it's somewhat comforting knowing what is going to happen. It's all familiar.

I'm not as expert at gaming as you -- you seem to have it down to a schedule and timestamp. I'm just a simple, novice JRPG fan. I don't consider myself hardcore or anything I just know what I love.

Lol, What exactly is an expert at gaming? I wouldn't consider myself an expert by any means. I just use it as a hobby. It's no different than reading a good book, only that it allows us to control the characters. That's why I like jRPGs and don't tend to play multiplayer games or games that have an endless gameplay loop (MMORPGs, shooters like Fortnight or Call of Duty, etc). I need a good story and quite frankly, that trumps everything else -- it's more important than graphics or gameplay.

I just wanted to tell you that doing all this with you was really fun for me and it's helped me out tremendously in my life. I'll never forget it.

Yeah man, It's been a blast! We'll do it again after a little break. The friendship and gaming aspects make it a fun little adventure!

I'd love to talk to you more even about non-gaming things cause we seem to be similiar in that we both love to think about what we're thinking of all the time and what it means? in greater life? I wanted to pick your brain about what you think about group-think and telepathy and if it exists? I'm so random.

Hmmm... I mean, I believe in aliens. The universe has billions of stars, and then there are billions of billions of planets. It sure seems weird if we're the only living things out there in cosmos. However, I'm very much a man of science and largely a skeptic. I generally don't put much stock into cryptobiology (i.e. bigfoot or loch ness monster), although it's fun to think about.

Nor do I believe in ghosts or the supernatural. If they are real, I think they are likely inter-dimensional beings or minor hiccups in time rather than spirits of the dead. Like those who see ghosts are actually seeing visages of the past through some kind of space-time phenomena. Even that's a long-shot to me, though. I have yet to experience anything even remotely supernatural and there's nothing inherently scientific about it; it's hard to quantify and measure such in a scientifically-viable way. Maybe once we quantify and can measure the soul (beyond electrical impulse in the brain) we can understand more?

So I remain open to the idea, but again... highly skeptical. A more likely scenario is that those who want to believe are more likely to witness strange events. It's sort of like hypnotism - your openness and susceptibility to experience it makes it more likely to "work" on/for you. Not discounting it by any means, it may just explain why some people are more likely to experience strange happenings.

Which brings me to your question around telepathy... I don't know. I wouldn't say I believe in such things, but I don't discount it either. I guess I'm agnostic from that approach leaning on the skeptic-side. I'm just curious how it would even work given the laws of physics. As of yet, I'm not aware of humans being able to literally overwrite the laws of physics, but who knows!

All that being said... I think it makes for super interesting theories and it's super fun to talk about and think about.

I really like reading about the SPC Foundation and some creepypasta like the Backrooms. They're entirely fiction, of course, but take those ideas, throw in monsters, and they create some REALLY interesting reading material. It's richness for the imagination!

EDIT:

Part of the skeptic in me comes from growing up in the Chuch. I grew up in the Evangelical movement, where everyone in their mom was running up and down the aisles screaming, others were speaking in tongues, others were falling out on the floor and spasming while being "slain in the spirit." The majority of what I saw was largely fake and for show. You can see the psychology happening in many instances -- people would fall out but then open their eyes just enough to see if anyone was watching. Others would literally be trying to outdo each other with the screaming and the speaking in tongues, and it was clear they were just shouting out random syllables.

Not to discount anyone's personal experience, but I'm pretty confident that some of what I saw was absolutely fake. I try to tread lightly because spirituality and religion are very personal affairs, but I can't deny the falsity of at least some of it. That, in turn, makes me somewhat skeptic of quite a lot of things that may not make sense.

11

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

« on: March 13, 2023, 01:00:50 am »

Okay, double post time!!!

So I did some research, and it looks like I didn't actually miss anything in Zophar's Domain! It turns out the walkthrough I was referencing was for the original game and NOT the Complete version of the game!

The guide I looked at was referencing a Storm Shield, Immortal Robe, King's Mail, Mage's Rod, and other items (including the Dragon Helm) all being acquired there in Zophar's Domain. It turns out that's only the case in the original game.

This walkthrough (https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps/197807-lunar-2-eternal-blue/faqs/52712), seems to confirm that I didn't miss anything, thank goodness. All I actually found were Silver Lights, Life Jewels, and the Fiend Ring -- despite battling every enemy and checking every corner for chests. I generally haven't missed items in this game (as far as I know). I'm probably going to use this walkthrough to get through the rest of the game.

I was able to  re-recruit Leo, Jean, Ronfar, and Lemina based on their locations, and I traveled the world to visit each location (to record them in Lucia's Pendant for easy fast travel) and obtained most of the bromides. If I remember correctly, there's a REALLY powerful accessory in the Brave Labyrinth, but I'm going to skip it for now and check out the Dragon Cave/Tower from the game's prologue. I got to second floor and I'm going to stop here for tonight.

EDIT: The bromides seem a bit more tame than SSSC. Or maybe it's just me. I even got the fabled Bromide X, haha...

Also -- Luna is OG. Seeing her side-by-side with Lucia, she's the ultimate waifu of the LUNAR series. Not that I really prescribe to such a thing as a waifu, but she's clearly the best of all of them.

12

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

« on: March 13, 2023, 12:49:07 am »

I don't really like to PC game cause I feel it's super hardcore and I've been warned about games on there like WoW. How it ruins people's lifes. lol But I mean I'm sure it's more mainstream now.

Yeah, I'm with you on the MMORPGs -- I don't enjoy them, simply because I don't have time for grinding and I prefer a storyline that keeps me moving. Like you, I've heard a lot of horror stories about people getting really obsessive about them and that's just not me.

As for the PC being hardcore, it's much more mainstream and the barrier to entry to lower now than it was fifteen years ago. I built my PC and swap out parts every few years for upgrades. I like that I can emulate and mod games on it, although 95% of the modding I do with games is enhancing the graphics. Like upgraded game textures, or new lighting filters... stuff like that. It can really bring older games into new life to upgrade the graphics. Although, depending on the game, some classics are better off untouched.

So you've played FFXV already and are gonna do it again but with mods?

When it was released on PC I played it only about 30% through and never finished it. I can't even remember why I put it down, but the time I spent in it was a lot of fun. I want to play through it all the way, although I'll be starting a new game. This time I'm going to finish it and play the DLC, though! The only mods I'll use will be to add new weapons and armor/outfits (such as weapons imported from Final Fantasy VII Remake).

UM. I loved Dragon Warrior VII for PSX. ... Dragon Quest VIII was good too on the PS2 I had recently just beat it for the first time last year.

They both had Nintendo 3DS releases about a decade ago, so those were the first times I played them. I liked VIII much more than VII. Apparently there was added content, new playable party members, and enhanced graphics, but the music got a major downgrade. Which was a bummer, because the soundtrack to DQVIII was amazing. I really liked the world map theme.

In fact... I don't think I ever finished DQVIII. Damn. I'm bad about that with jRPGS. I'll get really into a game for a while, but then life will get busy and I won't have time for games for a few weeks and by the time things slow down for me to pick it back up, I never end up returning to it.

I have multiple games that have fallen into this trap over the past few years... CrossCode, The Outer Worlds, I am Setsuna... I'm at the end game of pretty much each one of them but haven't crossed the finished line. Maybe I should buckle down and finish those at some point soon?

You see how long it's taken me to play LUNAR 2, and I've actually gone through it quicker than I expected. Playing through it with a friend sort of made me accountable and forced me to play it almost daily. I felt like I was letting you down if I waited too long between play sessions! Hahaha!

Ok, the way I read your last post it seemed like you nonchalantly defeated Zophar, lol. He's one of/if not the hardest boss in the game.

Nope, nothing nonchalant about it, hahaha! It was a tough boss battle. Definitely the hardest boss of the game. I kept fearing there was going to be a second phase and was relieved that when I beat it, I truly beat it.

The one thing I do miss the most is the food - but, I've been on a weight loss journey for 5 years and NOT being around all the American food I'm used to helped tremendously. Here, a typical meal is very "Japanese" (since we like Japan) and it's just a small serving of rice, "ulam" - the meat/or main dish to go with your rice, gulay - vegetables and we have lots of dipping sauces mostly soy sauce/fish sauce/vinegar mixed with garlic/onions/chili peppers etc. I'm quite satisfied with a piece of fried fish and a little veggies.

I really, really enjoy Asian and non-American food. I get tired of burgers and pizza. We went to this burger place a few towns over that was supposed to be amazing, and it was SUCH A DISAPPOINTMENT. $80 for four cheeseburgers and fries, one appetizer, one milkshake, and a tip for the waitress. It was overpriced and so incredibly disappointing. We generally only eat out once a week (twice max) simply because it's so expensive, especially seeing that there's four of us.

Today I made a Sunday roast with carrots, potatoes, and onions. It cooked in the crockpot all day and was so incredibly tender. It's one of those meals that it big and hearty and you can make two meals out of it. We'll have it for dinner again tomorrow, but we'll add a side of salad and maybe some corn.

Tuesday is my son's birthday, so we'll take him wherever he wants to go for food. As of right now he wants a burrito, haha.

As for Wednesday... Wednesday I'm making Japanese gyudon! I've never made it before, so I'm excited (and nervous) to try it out. I won't use any dashi seasoning in it, and I still need to buy the saki for the broth, but the rest of the ingredients I've already got covered: soy sauce, mirin, sugar, thinly-sliced ribeye, onions, ginger, etc. I'm also going to make some sushi with it as an appetizer, although I'll be using cooked shrimp or crab.

Food is one of my passions, haha...

Anyway, I'm going to stop here and game a little. I'm going to try and see what items I missed in Zophar's Domain and see if I can manually add them to my inventory using cheat codes. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to do so, It may just be time consuming. Gwah ha ha! All I really care about is the Dragon Helm, though.

Cheating isn't beneath me, when it comes to video games. I have like an hour a day max for gaming, so I'll take whatever shortcuts are afforded to me. Of course, this is only for single-player games. I wouldn't cheat in multiplayer games, as that's not fair to the other players.

13

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

« on: March 12, 2023, 01:43:35 am »

Hey, Boo, I actually JUST NOW beat Zophar, too! He's always been a pretty tough final boss I was looking forward to seeing your reaction to his difficulty?

Oh, he was hard, all right! He took down party members multiple times. I essentially went back and forth between White Dragon protect spell (which I stupidly put on Hiro) and Ronfar's healing. I then spammed mostly multi-attack spells hoping to take all the hands down. When Hiro attacked he was using Triple Sword attacks. Hiro also had the ring on that kept him immune from status effects, so I didn't have any problems there. When I beat Zophar I had only killed two of the hands.

Yeah, Zophar's got that whole androgynous, fairy kinda Marilyn Manson look-type thing going on for sure. I meant to give you some backstory on him--basically he's an alien being that wanders space devouring planets to I assume keep himself alive. He's been called a Planet Eater or Eater of Planets. He jumps from one planet to another and basically sucks the lifeforce out of it before moving on to a new one. When he stumbled upon the Blue Star Althena was there and she destroyed him, and moved all her children to the Silver Star/Lunar since it wrecked havoc on the Blue Star. The evil in people's hearts caused Zophar's revival. etc etc.

Oooooh! Interesting! Is this from the manga / novel? Or is there an Ultamania out there for the series? Or did I somehow miss that in the game? Either way, I actually like that much more than Zophar somehow being a product of the humans on the Blue Star. Even if mankind helped revive him (unintentionally), I really like this origin story.

If you're interested in "getting everything" for L2: EBC why don't you try getting your hands on the Official Working Designs Strategy Guide? I have it, but didn't reference it on our playthrough cause I wanted to try going into it blind this time. It pretty much maps out how to collect everything if that's what you're going after!! *product placement*

I actually used to collect a lot of player's guides, but I sold them all off about seven or eight years ago. Now I only have a very select few that hold a lot of sentimental value to me. Final Fantasy VII, Chrono Cross, and a few others. I just don't have room for all the stuff that I wish I owned! Haha.

I'm actually not going to play tonight -- we ran errands today and my son has gotten sick tonight, so I'm pooped and going to bed after this post. I do intend on playing the Epilogue, though. I remember there are at least two additional dungeons, so I'm all in. However, I did look up some cheat codes that I may be able to use with my emulator that will allow me to insert items onto characters via cheat codes. I think I'm going to do that for at least the Dragon Helm. If I remember correctly, all of the Dragon armor has some unique properties, as do some other sets. I'm going to try that out tomorrow. It will be years before I want to play Lunar 2 again, so I might as well knock it all out now.

Not using toilet paper/and flushing it down the toilet-I know that's a hard one for Americans to let go of.

Funny you mentioned this, I am seriously looking for a good bidet. I used them when I visited Asia a few years ago, and I'm totally sold on the concept. We used to use the butt wet wipes to ensure a proper cleaning, but those are horrible for the environment and quit using them about 3 years ago. Now we just use TP, but I'm seriously down with the bidet.

As for water, we do use a water filter for our drinking and both our hot water tank and most of our appliances are green-certified for both decreased water and electricity usage. I don't know if I could give up hot showers entirely, but I did give up baths a while back. We'll see! I've looked into getting off the electrical grid and doing fully solar; I think that would be pretty rad.

I was gonna tell you, once you decide to retire you should definitely think about moving to the Philippines/or just another country and try "roughing it" maybe bring the kids along? You guys seem very "Filipino" and don't mind letting go of our hoity-toity American standards of living, like always needing a hot shower everyday etc.

I don't think things would be that challenging. We live fairly minimally. I would fear not being able to get the food I crave more than giving up any other niceties, haha... I also worked for Rakuten in Japan in 2018, so we considered moving to Japan, but ultimately decided against it. We both have elderly parents we need to care for before we do any more permanent travel. I am seriously down to move outside of the US, though... one day.

My brother-in-law married a girl from Costa Rica and I know the USD goes so much further there than here. They've toyed with the idea of moving down there and trying to work remotely here in the US somehow.

Boo, I have FFXV for PS4 Pro right now too. I understand Hahahahaha if you don't want to post about it but I was thinking of picking it back up, either that or Yakuza Kiwami 1. But after now that we're done for LUNAR I kinda wanna start a brand-new adventure and maybe pick up Dragon Quest XI? I watched a trailer and there was a baby floating down a river in a basket and I felt like it was calling me.

I've always struggled to like the Dragon Quest games. I've only played VII and VIII, although I picked up IX at a garage sale a few years back. If I remember correctly, X was an MMORPG, but they are making a single-player console version of the game. I wish Square Enix would do that with FFXI and FFXIV (although I hear that FFXIV is really a game you can entirely solo if you wand, and is much more plot heavy than most MMORPGs). Anyway, I own DQ11 on the Nintendo Switch and it's one of the many games I want to play. I hear it is more open world and has a lot to offer, so I definitely want to play it.

As for gaming, I'm still thinking about playing FFXV. I downloaded some mods in preparation for it today on the Steam Workshop. If I understand it correctly, SE never released the level editor they had promised. They also cancelled the four final character DLC that were supposed to reveal the true ending. I don't know how much you know about the game, but there was supposed to be an additional "good" ending that was going to be the product of multiple DLC episodes. Instead, after they cancelled the game they compiled those stories into a novel. I'll probably read it after I play the game, since it's still canon to the game.

I really liked the game the first time I played it. It's mostly open-world (at least the last 2/3), and I think I put like 60 or 70 hours into it just exploring the game and completing bounties. It's sort of like the opposite of FFXIII, in which the first 2/3 of the game was mostly on rails, and then the last 1/3 opened up the world considerably.

But yeah, the mods I downloaded were all just weapons and armor.

Alright, homie, I'm pooped. It's gaming time tomorrow! Have a good one!

14

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

« on: March 11, 2023, 02:16:38 am »

Zophar's Domain

Dang, Zophar's a hottie with a body, hahaha! One thing I like about this game is how weird some of the boss designs are; they are sort of Geiger-esque body horror creatures. As I've said before in regards to the False Althena, I wish we got more backstory for Zophar. Where did he come from? Has he always existed on the Blue Star? All we really know of him is that he isn't as powerful as Althena, that he came from the Blue Star (and destroyed it), and that he was only able to revive on Lunar because of the innate darkness in the hearts of mankind.

Anyway, I beat him in round one... Round two was fun, too. I liked how he used Lucia's magic spells against the party. Also, when she was talking to each party member, she mentioned that Leo has "piercing insight." Yeah right! That's not how I would describe him at all, haha...

Zophar's scowl in the second battle was also pretty humorous for some reason. Who knew Zophar was such as pouter. It was also cool to Lucia transform into another outfit. Or at least |I think it was a new outfit; all we could see was what was in the portrait, which was a headband. This may have been her previous outfit she got earlier (I'm pretty sure it is).

Some of the battle dialogue in this game cracks me up. I gave the Red Dragon item to Ronfar, and every time he uses it he says, "Come here, pretty kitty!" to Ruby and it's just funny for some reason.

Round three with Hiro and Lucia versus Zophar in his sort of dragon skull look with wing-like appendages. I think I beat him in one round!

Now that things have wrapped... We still have a bit more to do. That's right, THE EPILOGUE! And we need to collect all the Bromides! I pulled up a walkthrough to see how to get all the Bromides, and I don't know if I ever got Bromide X before. That sounds completely new to me!

Also, in prepping for the epilogue, I see reference to all the Dragon equipment... I didn't collect any in the story. Did I somehow miss these items or are they post-game content? It looks like you may or may not have have received the Dragon Helm back in Zophar's Domain...? I see conflicting information in two different walkthroughs. And quite simply, Eternal Blue Complete isn't nearly as documented (or as popular) as Silver Star Story Complete, so the documentation is far less.

It looks like I missed that optional stuff in Zophar's Domain. No wonder I was annoyed that I kept only finding Star Lights / Silver Lights and no armor or weapon upgrades. I also saved over my last save, and I don't have any save states still in the dungeon, so I literally can't go back there. I wonder if I can get back there in the Epilogue...?

Well shit.

I'm saving here after Lucia returns to the Blue Star, so I will start the Epilogue events next time I play. I really enjoy post-game content like this.

I gotta be up in about 6 hours for my daughter's volleyball, so I'm headed to bed.

I also think I've decided what I'm going to play in my break between this and the next game: Final Fantasy XV. I've been wanting to play it and started it back in 2018 but never finished it, so I'm going to start a new game after Lunar 2. I'm also probably going to play the Metroid Prime Remaster (but I should be able to beat that in a week or two).

15

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

« on: March 10, 2023, 12:40:06 am »

Hmm, I'm kinda confused where you are in the game, Boo, cause I don't recall Ghaleon being in the Goddess Tower.

Yeah, I didn't do a good job explaining, sorry about that. I also meant to say Vane, not the Goddess Tower. But regardless, I had reverted to a previous save state and re-did the events going to Disc 3. I realized that once you finish the Goddess Tower you're stuck in Vane and have no choice but to go to Zophar's Domain, so I wanted to go back to when it was still open world so I could talk to NPC's and level up more. So that's what I was doing until last night when I got back to where I could enter Zophar's Domain.

Vane

A few thoughts from the other day:
-I was glad to finally (permanently) get Leo, although I did miss Lucia in battle. I couldn't remember if Leo was controllable or not, so I'm glad he was.
-Random, but there was nothing to steal from Ghaleon using Lemina's Thieve's Stave. Booooo! At least we got the Ghaleon's Sword (which auto-equips onto Hiro, I guess).
-RIP Ghaleon (again).
-I am still down on the Four Heroes all hanging out in Vane like they are completely redeemed. I mean, I'm glad they are sort of good now and reformed, but it still doesn't forgive them for what they did.

Zophar's Domain

The dungeon is a slog and I've leveled at much as I care to level. I'm ready to end this and just fought straight through to the boss. Not much regarding good dungeon loot, and the Fiend Ring is practically useless due to the HP limitation.

Anyway, now I'm at the end of the dungeon and will wait for you before tackling the last boss. The dialogue started where Hiro finds Lucia, but I used a save state to stop there.

Oh, I don't really visit Reddit I heard that's where the nerdiest of internet people go. My friend mentioned Reddit to me IRL once and I cringed.

Maybe once upon a time, but it's pretty mainstream now. *shrug*

Dogs are doing great/so is the farm etc.

Glad everyone is good!