Author Topic: Let's Play 2023 - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete  (Read 19063 times)

Boo the Gentleman Caller

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Re: Let's Play - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete
« Reply #195 on: April 03, 2023, 10:18:45 pm »
I haven't gamed since whenever I last posted here. It's been busy busy! I also definitely won't be playing any tonight... I had family in town again this weekend, and then it's been nothing but outdoor chores: cutting grass, trimming trees, weeding, the whole shebang. Spring is officially here and I'm already ready to do nothing.

Glad you're enjoying FFXV! I don't remember where the storybeats go with the Chapters, but glad you're having a blast. Hopefully it's a good investment of time and energy. :)

Until next time...

VidKid369

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Re: Let's Play - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete
« Reply #196 on: April 05, 2023, 02:44:03 am »
Waiting to watch the Making of disc with you, pal!

And also yeah, just playing FFXV on my end. Put 20 hrs in already.

Boo the Gentleman Caller

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Re: Let's Play - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete
« Reply #197 on: April 07, 2023, 11:44:50 am »
Let's plan on watching it early next week. Maybe Monday or Tuesday?

It's Friday morning here and I haven't played any video games in over a week, so I haven't finished LUNAR nor have I started FFXV. I've been really bogged down by work and running non-stop for the kid's sports, and now this weekend we're traveling for Easter. I sure wish I had a Steam Deck about now!!!

To be honest, I'm sort of in a rough place mentally. I'm just exhausted because of all the running I've been doing for work and kids. I don't do well with constant efforts and I regularly need a half day or day to recharge, and I'm just not getting it. It's literally non-stop every day for about three weeks now. I've also had to be in the office everyday for the past week (and again this upcoming week) for some team project deliverables, and it just makes me even more exhausted -- in-office days end up being 14 to 16 hour workdays once you include travel/transit time.

I'm also behind on the few shows I am watching. I haven't watched any new episodes of the Mandalorian or Star Trek Picard in three weeks, so I'm definitely behind on anything that isn't work or family!

So yeah, sorry I'm sort of MIA right now. There's no real interesting life updates here except to say that Tennessee state law is a fucking mess. Not sure if keep up with American politics at all, but I'm continuously embarrassed by the TN state lawmakers. Living in the "deep south" is embarrassing; I love the people here, but southern hospitality is a lie and 90% of the population are hypocrites. Religious zealots, gun-obsessed, homophobic, anti-immigrant, racist, anti-children labor laws, so on and so forth... the mental gymnastics is exhausting.

Anyways, my rant is over. :D

How's Final Fantasy XV? What do you think about the action-RPG combat? Have you started collecting any of the Royal Arm weapons yet?!

If you haven't fought the boss in the Balouve Mines yet (needed for one of the Royal Arms down there), I friggin' hated that boss. I remember fighting him at like level 25 and was actually able to beat him, but it was a lot of kiting and teleporting in to slash him a few times and then jumping up to a different level of the mine to recover. I think it took like 30+ minutes but it's possible. You'll have to revive your squad a lot, haha...

Anyways, I hope you're enjoying Survivor and Final Fantasy XV. Keep me updated about your adventures! Even if I'm not posting as much, I'd like to keep hearing about your thoughts and what you're doing in the game -- it's pumping me up for when I actually have time to pick it up!

VidKid369

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Re: Let's Play - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete
« Reply #198 on: April 07, 2023, 02:17:17 pm »
Hey, Boo. I've been waiting for your reply with bated breath.
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To be honest, I'm sort of in a rough place mentally. I'm just exhausted because of all the running I've been doing for work and kids. I don't do well with constant efforts and I regularly need a half day or day to recharge, and I'm just not getting it.
I can understand, Boo. Hang in there! I'm exactly the same way. I definitely need time to myself to just shut myself in the house, lock myself in my room and play RPGs, watch Survivor or write in a notebook or something. I'm rooting for you I know you can do it! Just think it has to end sometime and you can get your break. C:

I actually dreaded the "system" when I was in the US. I felt like ever since we were kids we were programmed/locked into being in some form of a 24-hr. daily schedule that just repeats everyday. Wake up, get ready, go to school/work, come home, do family/personal stuff, sleep. Repeat. Weekend. Catch up on sleep or do household chores or groceries. Work week again. It just seemed weird to me, and I kinda felt like if you weren't doing what everyone else was doing you draw suspicion from snoopy elderly neighbors and the police wondering why you're at the mall on a Thursday at 11 am? Anyway. I don't like America's system, so I got out. I definitely have my own schedule here now and I have plenty of time to research RPGs and analyze Survivor to my heart's content. I didn't like the Entity that was America breathing down my neck.

Yeah, I can do the Making of whenever you like. Just give me a holler. C:

I actually really like FFXV rn I've already put 25 hr. into it. I'm doing sidequests, and ignoring the main plot. I'm lv. 37 and I'm just about to go to the Disc of Cauthess with Ardyn. I quite like the graphics, Lunafreya is beautiful. I just pop it on whenever I feel like it during the day. The game was very easy for me to pick up. I'm pretty into RPGs rn like I want to just order a bunch of new games but I decided to save my money and just concentrate on beating FFXV rn. I like just doing the sidequests and stuff for people, like fetch quests, take a picture here for me, or doing the monster hunts. Like I said I love the camping, cooking and fishing. FFXV has the best fishing mechanics for me so far before I had thought Breath of Fire had the easiest. Nothing kills a JRPG more to me than a complicated fishing mini-game. In FFXV it's so easy, and therefore so much fun! :)

So I've kinda realized my schedule is just free and wondered why the heck I was going to bed so early each night so I've been doing 48 hour days lately where I just stay up for 2 days, take a nap if I feel sleepy (or wait for the heat to pass), and just basically do whatever I want. I found I get a lot more stuff done. Plus I ordered some Folgers coffee which's imported so it's been helping out my caffeine game.

I hit a roadblock with my Survivor re-watch I reached a season I don't really like and a winner I don't really like. (Guatemala.) So I've been watching other reality T.V. like I have to catch up on Big Brother and rn I'm doing America's Next Top Model cause I love watching girls. There's a live Survivor season airing rn so I don't know what I'm doing re-watching older seasons when I should be more focused on that? Reality T.V. was such a big part of my childhood and it's fun re-living that. :)

Awe. I love that you said you like my lifes updates! I'll try to keep you posted then. I'll probably double post but I'm gonna try not to triple post so I'll make the next one a good one!! :D

VidKid369

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Re: Let's Play - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete
« Reply #199 on: April 08, 2023, 01:06:27 pm »
Ah! Hey, Boo. Here's a lifes update.

So basically just sticking to Final Fantasy XV for right now. I just got the car back from the Empire's base which's a good thing cause I was freaking out how I was gonna do sidequests without it. Anyway, I got it back. It looks like the story's gonna go to another country/continent or another part of the map so I'm thinking of staying put and try to do all the sidequests on the first map first before continuing on. I wanna be so overpowered that I just breeze through the main story points. And plus doing the side stuff is so much fun. While I'm playing I just think about what JRPG to get next: I was thinking about the .Hack game cause I played the first one on PS2 and it was kinda fun and I was of course also thinking about Dragon Quest XI cause I want another epic JRPG adventure. Kinda thinking about MGS: Phantom Pain cause the sneaking mission I just did reminded me of it.

So I actually left the castle today. I went to this place near the hospital on the highway called Mody's Pizza. I've been looking for pizza here that's comprable to our's in America but I don't think I'm gonna find that unless I go to Manila or another big city and to the mall at like a Domino's or something. Anyway this pizza is like a frozen pizza from the frozen freezer section aisle at the grocery like at best if even that. I used to go to this other place called Shakey's but they closed so this one just opened. I made friends with the woman that works there. I might hit it up again if I want a carbo-load.

As for reality T.V. I'm still doing Survivor cause I'm just a freak like that and I started this new series called The Traitors on Netflix. It's only available on Netflix US and I don't have a VPN but you know me I know all the sites that have every reality show series available for streaming for free so. Why not. The show's pretty good you should check it out if you're into Scottish/European castles in the countryside and such. It's a competition-based show so there's mindfuckery and sabotage and such. :thumbsup:

I'm so awake right now I might stay up all night. Neighbors are playing with poppers outside so the dogs are sleeping inside right now but I'm about to kick them out. I need them outside at like 1-4am. Anyway so that's all pretty much me.

Hope you're doing good. I got worried at your last message but I know you can handle it. I'm probably just gonna do some late-night exercises like sit ups on my bed, and some push ups I already did my daily walk. If I stay up I plan on walking again at 6am before the sun comes up and it starts getting hot. Take care! Boo, you're the best!! :D

Boo the Gentleman Caller

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Re: Let's Play - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete
« Reply #200 on: April 09, 2023, 11:24:14 pm »
Welp, just got back from a short trip this weekend to visit my parents. They live about 3.5 hours away, but of course there was major traffic both directions due to the holiday. It was a super quick trip, but we had fun.

On Friday night I went to see Bruce Campbell (a b-movie actor) do a Q&A and trivia show, and then we watched one of his movies. It was a blast. We watched Evil Dead 2 IN A FRIGGIN' CAVE. Like, they set up a huge projector and some chairs in a dark cavern and we just got to watch one of the best horror (with a little bit of dark comedy) movies of all time. It was awesome. I didn't get home until 3:00am and then had to wake up at 7:00am to make the trip to see my parents. Suffice to say, I'm pooped.

This week is going to be another busy one. I have to drive into the office all five days this week, which means I'll be awake at 5:00am and then at work by 7:00am, and I'll get off at maybe 4:00pm at the earliest, plus an hour+ drive home. It's going to be a LOOOOONG week. I have sports and school events almost every day this week, so there will little to no gaming time, but...

...I'm thinking about sort of watching the Making of LUNAR 2 DVD on my way to work. A lot of the time I listen to podcasts or listen to YouTube videos, seeing that it's an hour or more drive each direction. That way I can do that. I've already checked and the video is uploaded on youtube, so I can take it that way.

So tomorrow morning (my time) -- I'm watching the Make of LUNAR 2 documentary! :D

I still haven't finished the show, though.

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So basically just sticking to Final Fantasy XV for right now. I just got the car back from the Empire's base which's a good thing cause I was freaking out how I was gonna do sidequests without it. Anyway, I got it back. It looks like the story's gonna go to another country/continent or another part of the map so I'm thinking of staying put and try to do all the sidequests on the first map first before continuing on.

Pretty sure that's where I left off when I quit playing! I did what you're doing and focused on getting all the side quests knocked out, and at that point I was able to get most of the Royal Arms. Hearing you talk about it is getting me excited for when I'm able to start playing it.

Who's your favorite character? I really like Noctis, although I thought Aranea had an awesome design. I think you've already met her (maybe at that base when you retrieve the Regalia?).

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I like just doing the sidequests and stuff for people, like fetch quests, take a picture here for me, or doing the monster hunts. Like I said I love the camping, cooking and fishing. FFXV has the best fishing mechanics for me so far before I had thought Breath of Fire had the easiest. Nothing kills a JRPG more to me than a complicated fishing mini-game. In FFXV it's so easy, and therefore so much fun!

Dude, the budget that went into the cooking must've been insane. The modellers did such an amazing job on all the food -- some of it looks AMAZING and makes me really hungry. I love learning new recipes as I eat at new diners and find new ingredients in the wild.

The fishing is also great, like you said. I skipped over the fishing for a long while and never tried it, but once I did I was hooked. Like you said, it's pretty simple and reminds me of the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time fishing minigame on the Nintendo 64.

Make sure you go back to the entrance of Insomnia city and there's a hidden fishing hole (and a hidden sewers entrance nearby). If I remember correctly, there's a rare fish that you can only find there.

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I went to this place near the hospital on the highway called Mody's Pizza. I've been looking for pizza here that's comprable to our's in America but I don't think I'm gonna find that unless I go to Manila or another big city and to the mall at like a Domino's or something. Anyway this pizza is like a frozen pizza from the frozen freezer section aisle at the grocery like at best if even that. I used to go to this other place called Shakey's but they closed so this one just opened. I made friends with the woman that works there. I might hit it up again if I want a carbo-load.

I imagine that's tough trying to find good American-style food, especially pizza. I know when I traveled in Japan it was tough to find decent pizza. When I was in the UK the pizza was better and was closer to US pizza, but even then something was off and wasn't quite right.

If nothing else, though, I always like having "my place" where I know the staff (at least casually) and it feels comforting, even if the food is subpar and only so-so. We have a place like that here in our small little town.

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As for reality T.V. I'm still doing Survivor cause I'm just a freak like that and I started this new series called The Traitors on Netflix.

I hadn't heard of The Traitor but just watched the trailer, and it looks good! I have a thousand shows I'm juggling, none of which have been watched in over a week, haha... I'm telling you man, I need a break. If I can just get through this week I can get back to a still-busy but more manageable schedule.


VidKid369

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Re: Let's Play - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete
« Reply #201 on: April 10, 2023, 12:58:18 pm »
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We watched Evil Dead 2 IN A FRIGGIN' CAVE.
Sounds cool. Makes me wanna play Resident Evil. I'm into all sorts of things and find a genuine interest in them. @_x I remember one time I was staying up late on a weekend and this program popped on called Saturday Night Frightfest and they would show like a really bad horror movie and the people would commentate on it. I got into it, though.

Alright, --I'll watch the Making of LUNAR 2 tomorrow then. :)

I've been doing all the sidequests and I have only 4-5 of the Royal Arms.
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Who's your favorite character?
Noctis is like, my 2nd-favorite character only to Prompto. Noctis's design is I can't tell if he's supposed to be half-Asian or whatever and they make him seem kinda emo. But he's ok. I like Prompto cause he's supposed to be the goofy one and he's constantly talking, and I like his look like blond hair and fair skin he looks icy cool. Then, probably Ignis cause he's the nerdy cooking all the meals. And Gladio.

I hadn't met Aranea yet. I quite like Cindy and Lunafreya.

I did what you suggested and went to that fishing hole and milled around for a little bit but only caught a few common fish. Thanks!

Yeah, I really like JRPGs that incorporate food because they try to make the games seem so involved it only makes sense? I like a bunch of JRPGs that have food in them even if it's only an item or two: Breath of Fire, Star Ocean: the Second Story has an Iron Chef-like cooking competition mini-game, Azure Dreams has a restaurant, Suikoden II also has a competition mini-game, Earthbound has the condiments/sauces. Up to now I've found Final Fantasy a little dry without food. This installation has caught my eye though. As I play games I take note in my RPG Cookbook of various dishes I can re-create in real life -- I'm alone and food is important to survival so I take what I can from these games and see what kind of foods that's easy to make at home for me as a single guy on his own. I really do try to learn from JRPGs and not just interact with them! C:

Hang in there, Boo! Keep holdin' on!! :D

Boo the Gentleman Caller

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Re: Let's Play - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete
« Reply #202 on: April 10, 2023, 09:44:51 pm »
I watched the Making of LUNAR 2 documentary today, and I listened to all the outtakes as well. I wish I could remember all my thoughts I had this morning, but here's what comes to mind...

  • It was funny hearing the Japanese developers talk about their experience. I'd be interested in hearing what their original draft of LUNAR 2 looked like -- they mention that it had all the heroes of SSSC traveling and fighting along a new generation of heroes. Now that I know that that story exists, I want to play it!
  • I like how even though team members had specialties (ie scenario writing, development, etc), everyone got to contribute to the overall story.
  • I'm surprised by the voice actor for Ghaleon. He actually sounds the same, just not as theatrical in every day conversation!
  • The voice actress for Ruby and Jean was hilarious. She sounds like a really fun person, and after seeing and hearing all of the behind the scenes, I wish she had more.
  • I never loved the VA for Hiro, as I thought he was sort of a bad actor (so was Lucia). But seeing and hearing him here -- he has more acting ability than I think the game showcases. I'd be curious to see what else he's done, if anything. It's also cool that he's friends with the VA for Alex Noa, and that that's how he got the role!
  • I never loved the VA for Lucia, either, but the VA seems just so sweet and innocent. Nice lady.
  • I don't remember if it was Lucia or Jean's VA, but her talking about her family and farting was hilarious.
  • One thing they briefly mentioned was how the series is very much inspired by northern Europe. I love the character designs in this game, and this just makes me love it more.
  • I wish they had included the VA for Nall, but alas!

There's probably more that I'm forgetting, but that's what I have for now.

I have a really long day tomorrow, as after work I have a dinner with a vendor where they're going to wine and dine myself and several other leaders. I probably won't get home until late, so I'm going to try and conquer the final dungeon of LUNAR 2 tonight. I probably won't be able to finish it, but maybe I can at least get further up the tower. I still haven't finished the game and I'm ready!

VidKid369

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Re: Let's Play - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete
« Reply #203 on: April 12, 2023, 05:04:39 am »
Ok, I just watched it. I've watched this so many times!

Um. Overall I thought it was pretty interesting. Usually whenever I watch it I skip the Japanese part and go straight to the US for a laugh!

I thought everything about it was interesting. I thought it was interesting how so many people are involved in just one game on the Japanese part. And there's a bunch of people cramped in one room with a bunch of computers and T.V.s stacked on top of one another. I also really liked how everything was hand-drawn and they just use the computer to add little details and stuff.

I always get a kick out of Noriyuki Iwadare cause they make him seem like this super eccentric, loner, mad scientist type of artist playing piano is a small room-type. I like how he explained he "added ethnicity to the music." I guess most music is just none? He touched upon Indian and Northern European (I have no idea what that is?). I always did think LUNAR had some ethnic vibes, kinda like The Legend of Zelda or something.

I thought how it was interesting how they explained that the Japanese add voices after it's drawn/US draws in accordance to the dialogue. And when they bring the game to the US they have to add the voices in Japanese-style in accordance to the drawing and the mouths moving. Interesting!

Um. I get a kick out of all the voice actors too. I think Jenny Stigile is everyone's favorite as she sings all the opening songs and has been working with Working Designs on so many games for so long. I was playing Albert Odyssey for Sega Saturn and she did voice work on that game too and I was surprised she's like still there! They make jokes in-game about her too like in Arc the Lad: "I much prefer when Jenny sings!"

I think my favorite voice actor is Kathy Ostrander cause she was like embarrassed about saying her own last name or whatever. Ostrander? lmao.

Chad Letts the voice for Hiro is really cool too. I've always liked him as Tempest in SSSC. I think he was the major change though cause I'm pretty sure the voice actor for Hiro in the Sega CD version is a different guy.

I always got a kick out of seeing all the testers in the Working Designs office. LOL!!!!! And seeing like the handful of staff members. I remember being in California and talking to Kelly Knight as a kid when I was making a phone-order for something. XD

I think that's pretty much it. I remember when I was taking college classes I would get home after getting some In-n-Out Burger, pop in the Making of disc and watch it while I ate cause I needed a breather and it was nice to remember not to be so serious and stressed out!

Yeah, cool extra they provided with the game, for sure! LUNAR 2: EBC has nice packaging and it's a really nice item to have in my collection. They never did that for games before and it was really nice.

I'm so happy to finally be done with the game!

EDIT: As for FFXV, I was gonna say the magitek troopers dropping down while you're already in the middle of a battle is really annoying, especially since I noticed it happens frequently. Also I noticed the bushes and shrubbery get in the way of the camera and there's already so much going on I have to keep attacking instead of going to move the camera. Just some minor gripes doe!
« Last Edit: April 12, 2023, 12:51:29 pm by VidKid369 »

VidKid369

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Re: Let's Play - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete
« Reply #204 on: April 13, 2023, 05:44:42 am »
Hey, Boo another update on what I'm doing.

So I've kinda been doing my "48 hour day" thing. Pretty much I find sleeping so boring... and I don't really get tired at night anymore that much... I was kinda thinking maybe I'm not producing melatonin to feel sleepy when it's nighttime? I've always stayed up really late at night since high school/I'm most definitely a night owl and I've kinda been a just more extreme about it now as an adult since I don't have supervision. So I actually haven't even gone to sleep yet since yesterday! I'm not tired right now at all.

I've been getting more and more into FFXV. I met Aranea I thought she was just ok kinda a brief encounter. I took Iris to Malmalam Thicket and got a Royal Arm. I've gotten two more so far aside from the storyline ones one at Malmalam and the Rock of Ravatogh. I have to go find mythril for the boat.

Nothing really exciting I'm up to just a lot of gaming. I was just thinking I don't really like lying down in a bed for more than 5 hours cause it really hurts. I've been feeling being 36 more and more these days. A lot of people here have been calling me out that I do tend to sleep a lot. I got to thinking, Why am I sleeping and lying down thinking so much when deep down inside I know I don't like to? So I've been doing the coffee thing more and more, I get almost twice more exercise in a "day" now and I have plenty more time to game and do whatever I want.

I was joking to myself maybe I'm too big and strong to fit in a day's work into a small 24-hr. window and my mind needs TWO days? Or there could just be something wrong with me. LOL Don't worry I plan on sleeping for realz tonight, though.

Been thinking about JRPGs I wanna tackle:
Dragon Quest 11 -- It was suggested I just get the definitive edition S
Final Fantasy VII Remake -- I've been in a HUGE Final Fantasy mood and want to try this out
Final Fantasy PixelRemaster -- it comes out April 19th and I kinda wanna re-visit the older games and see what players experienced way back when

I have a huge thing for farmsim games now since I have the farm so I was wondering if you knew of any good ones?
--the Harvest Moon games?
--Rune Factory series?
--Atelier?
--Stardew Valley?

Have a good day, Boo! :D

Boo the Gentleman Caller

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Re: Let's Play - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete
« Reply #205 on: April 16, 2023, 11:24:55 pm »
Welp, I'm officially back in action! I survived a streak of 3 weeks of in-office work days on top of normal parent/school/sport responsibilities. I still won't be checking in daily, but it won't be nearly as rare as it has been the past few weeks.

I have yet to beat LUNAR 2 and actually haven't played video games in weeks. In fact, I've also given up mobile gaming on my cell phone entirely. I quit playing Final Fantasy Brave Exvius: War of the Visions and Another Eden. I've been a day-one player for FFBE:WotV and have logged in daily, and I've probably spent over a grand of real money to buy stupid in-game currency over the past three years. I'm probably not a whale, but I've been a player that has acquired almost all the units, maxed them, and played daily to get literally every single armor and weapon maxed out.

I won't go into detail unless there's interest, but I quit playing because the parent company (GUMI) is just balls-to-the-wall insanity recently with limited releases, and you can't stay in the game anymore without spending real world money. Once it becomes forced on you and is no longer an option, I'm out. See ya! I just don't have enough time in my life anymore for much gaming, and this is one less thing to complicate my life and add to my stress.

Too bad, because the storyline has been EXCELLENT the past year or so.

Now, on to you adventures with FFXV:

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As for FFXV, I was gonna say the magitek troopers dropping down while you're already in the middle of a battle is really annoying, especially since I noticed it happens frequently.


YES. This was such a pain for me, too. Especially when you're fighting Giants at nighttime. This was a major complaint for me, too.

Where are you at, now? How are you enjoying it?

You mentioned before how beautiful Lunafreya is. I've heard a lot of people say that, actually. I think she's pretty, but what I really appreciate about her design is that she's every day pretty -- like the type of person you'd see around town. Not the over-the-top beautiful of, say, Tifa and Aerith from FF7R.

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Been thinking about JRPGs I wanna tackle:
...
Final Fantasy VII Remake -- I've been in a HUGE Final Fantasy mood and want to try this out

Speaking of FF7R -- I platinum'd the game last year and loved every minute of it. If you liked the original FF7, I think you'll like this one. It is definitely a remake but adds some new content that really leaves your head scratching (especially in the last few chapters). 
The graphics are stellar, and the gameplay is boss. I have some complaints with the pacing and chapter-system, but overall, it's an 8.5/10 for me.

Also... I'm not one to get into nonfiction babes, but the women of FF7R will have you falling in love. Every single one of them. It's impossible to choose between Tifa, Aerith, and Jessie.

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I have a huge thing for farmsim games now since I have the farm so I was wondering if you knew of any good ones?
--the Harvest Moon games?
--Rune Factory series?
--Atelier?
--Stardew Valley?

I haven't played any of them. The only farming sim I ever played was a game called the Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles back in 2017 or 2018. I've always thought I'd love a farming sim, but never really pulled the trigger.

The Atelier series, in particular, stands out to me as a low-stakes game that I'd probably dig, but there are so many of them I don't know where to begin. That and they never seem to go on sale.

One last thing... I'm finally going to beat LUNAR 2 tonight! I get to work from home tomorrow so I don't have to wake up nearly as early, and I'm committed to wrapping this game up. I still want to share some thoughts around what I'd like the sequel to be, which I'll share later. I typed up some stuff back in Feb and March, so it will be here eventually.

Anyway, glad you're doing well, my friend. Hang in there and keep me updated about life's journeys!

VidKid369

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Re: Let's Play - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete
« Reply #206 on: April 17, 2023, 03:43:45 pm »
Yeah, I'm not really into mobile gaming. I played Angry Birds for a little bit. I figure I try to focus on console just cause it's always worked for me. I need the T.V., my room and my chair.
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Where are you at, now? How are you enjoying it?
I was busy trying to do as many sidequests as I can in Ch. 8 but there're alotta them. I looked up that you can't really go back to the open world once you set sail for Altissia going into Ch. 9, but there's a dog that lets you go back and visit? :shrug: I set sail anyway cause I figure I'll try to beat the game instead of lolly-gagging.

I don't really fawn over much video game girls but I guess I like Lunafreya cause she's a blonde and the way they made her face looks just normal she can look a little weird but I think that's just normal. Yeah, I've seen some clips of FF7R and it looks great. I usually like most FF girls but I thought FF7 was always missing a good blonde. Unless they count Cloud in a dress? :x
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The Atelier series, in particular, stands out to me as a low-stakes game that I'd probably dig, but there are so many of them I don't know where to begin.
Before I got a PS4 Pro, I was playing a few last-minute JRPGs for the PS3 and Atelier was like caught my eye last-second lol, I enjoyed it a lot. I started with Atelier Rorona and just went in order by release date. I'm looking at the PS4 Atelier games and apparently Atelier Sophie/Atelier Sophie 2 is a good place to start. I'm thinking about picking up that game rn.

I'm pretty into PS4 JRPG gameplaying right now and I have a few titles I'm looking at to possibly get:
-ever heard of Undertale? It's kinda like Earthbound but even weirder
-FFVIIR I kinda wanna play this
-DQ11S this looks good
-Atelier Sophie 2 I just wanna cont my Atelier journey onto the PS4

I'm just kinda home alone. My dogs keep me company when I'm in the room doing exercises/yoga and stuff. I've been writing in a notebook a lot just my inane thoughts. I'm still doing my "staying awake" thing I kinda just take a nap whenever I feel I need to. I hate having a schedule or 24-hr. routine. It seems so systematic. I kinda just do a lot of stuff at night when it's actually cool and I don't feel zapped by the heat and I kinda stay inside when the sun's out during the day and just go out when I have to supervise and talk to the workers. I love that my dogs keep me company all the time. I notice they're starting to be more affectionate towards me especially the other one boy dog. He stays outside and guards the place while the girl stays in my room in case something happens and her barking will wake me up.

I'm trying to teach one of the maids the kinds of foods I like so she can start to make it herself. I'm focused on trying to make a good chicken tikka masala I got all the spices and garam masala and everything!

That's pretty much all I'm up to today just video gaming and everyday life to break up the monotony! lol

VidKid369

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Re: Let's Play - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete
« Reply #207 on: April 20, 2023, 02:32:55 pm »
Hey, Boo. So I beat FFXV. I'm surprised I beat it so quick in what seems like a week or a few days. :shrug: Overall I liked it though I liked the cinematics and I felt like I just enjoyed it towards the end. I'm just fucking around wid it now while I wait for DQ11 to be delivered I'm gonna play it with a friend of mine on Discord. Apparently the S - Definitive Version has dumbed down graphics for its release for the Switch and it's there also for the PS4 version, so I opted to get the Standard Version. :shrug: I kinda wanna window shop around online for another new game though that I can just play on the downlow...

As for me, life's going ok. I made tikka masala the other day, I have some leftovers I'm about to heat up and eat, it turned out pretty good and it was so easy to make once you do it for the first time. It's turning out to be one of my favorite dishes to eat... The recipe calls for chicken but I just made it with potatoes. For the next batch tomorrow, I'm gonna add green peas and cubes of cheese, as well... I gave some of the farm workers some and they said my recipe was delicious. :)

Rn, I'm catching up to the new season of Survivor I have to watch the newest ep tonight, just shopping around for games and just random IRL stuff...

Hope you're doing good, hoss! :D

Boo the Gentleman Caller

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Re: Let's Play - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete
« Reply #208 on: April 20, 2023, 07:12:58 pm »
Welp, I finally finished LUNAR 2 on Sunday! Or was it Monday? Either way, I finished it!

I really do love this series, and I wish that it was picked back up. My only fear is that they would change up the gameplay too much, which I dunno, I find the current system charming. Dragon Song was far too different and lost a lot of what made the previous LUNAR games so good.

I originally meant to just write out a few plots / story beats / combat elements that I'd like to see, but it quickly evolved into a full-fledged fanfic plot. I'm sorry, and you don't have to read it, haha...

So here's my thought on a potential sequel story...

First, some background: SILVER STAR HARMONY's prologue explored what it called the HERESY WAR, which was the adventure of Dragonmaster Dyne, Ghaleon, Mel de Alkirk, and Lemia Ausa. This new scenario showed their final battle against the FIVE PRINCES OF THE BLACK STAR, eldritch horrors that were allied with the villain EIPHEL to steal the powers of Althena. As we know, this adventure ended with Goddess Althena becoming human and leaving the world without a proper deity.

The story picks up 300 years after Silver Star and 700 years before Eternal Blue...

It follows a blue-haired warrior, GALE, who is serving in a backwater outpost on the edge of the FRONTIER. His best friend is the prince of the now-nation of Pao, PRINCE ERRANT GRAY, a trouble-maker that often gets the two into trouble -- which is soon revealed to be why the two are being punished and force to serve in this backwater location. Errant is a capable swordsman and more skilled than Gale, but he is arrogant, selfish, and while not evil, he isn't a very good friend.

Rumors have been circulating that mysterious masked figures, called SCIONS, have been visiting various kingdoms promising wealth and magical artifacts in exchange for political cooperation. One of these figures, the SCION OF EHTRIC, has come to the Pao nation and is meeting with KING ZEPHYR GRAY.

Through a series of events, Gale and Errant end up back in Pao's capital and Errant steals a magical relic from the Scion. He force Gale to try it on, and it's revealed to be a magical ring that binds itself to Gale's hand. The ring allows Gale to summon a magical black blade at will and grants him new sword art skills that make him a powerful swordsman - even better than Prince Errant himself. However, King Zypher, tired of their antics, sends them out of the kingdom and to the magical city of VANE to find an enchantment to remove the ring.

After leaving the nation of Pao, the two pass through the FOREST OF ILLUSION and get separated by moving trees of the forest, and Gale finds an abandoned laboratory. Deep within it he finds a beautiful, sleeping woman with jet-black hair, who has been frozen in stasis for centuries. Gale awakes her to learn her name is AMARIS, but she has amnesia and remembers nothing about herself. She also hears a mysterious hears a song that is calling out to her. Gale convinces her to accompany him to Vane, and upon leaving the forest they find Prince Errant, who rejoins the party. He expresses jealousy that Gale has both acquired a powerful magic relic and a beautiful woman.

The trio is accosted by the Scion of Ehtric, who demands both the magical ring and Amaris. He expresses that "the ring was meant for someone else, King Zypher." Since the ring cannot be removed due to the enchantment, the Scion attacks them to take off Gale's hand instead. Despite the party's best efforts, their power isn't enough to defeat the Scion, and they are defeated...

...before the Scion can strike Gale down, however, the trio is rescued by a mysterious, WHITE-HAIRED WARRIOR. He defeats the Scion (who escapes) and warns that both Gale and Amaris are in grave danger. He is annoyed that Gale woke Amaris up, and has been trying to protect her "for ages" so she could awaken her latent powers. He expresses that Amaris' powers will one day be needed to stop the Scions, who are actually evil, corrupted men serving the Five Princes of the Black Star. Last, this mysterious warrior encourages Gale to get to Vane quickly -- he worries that the the powers of his magical ring come with a terrible cost. This white-haired warrior (who is later revealed to be Nall) then runs off on his own mission.

The group makes a pitstop in ILUK, where they meet a beautiful inventor named FORSS ALBRIGHT. Forss joins the party and uses her inventions to essentially create magic-like effects. Despite not having any actual magic ability, she is the spellcaster in this journey. Forss builds them a hot air balloon to hasten their journey to Vane, but the journey is short-lived and they end up crashing in the MERYOD SWAMP.

After reaching the sinking village of MERYOD, the group meets another party member, FALION AUSA, one of the two premiers of the MAGIC GUILD of Vane. He explains that his father, the leader of the Magic Guild, recently died and made his two young sons their new leaders. Falion has very limited magical ability and has no interest leading the Guild, so he ran away from home. Despite these events, he agrees to help the party travel to Vane.

The party has several other adventures while traveling to reach the Magic Guild of Vane. Now a complete party, we have Gale, our sword-wielding hero; Amaris a mixture of healing and attack spells; Prince Errant a physical attacker with both ranged and non-ranged attacks; Forss, the technology-wielding "battlemage"; and Falion, a physical attacker with a few power-up spells.

They eventually reach Vane, where they meet Falion's twin brother, LUMOS AUSA. Lumos was worried about Falion and begs him to come home, as they are stronger together, but Falion refuses. Regardless of events here, the Magic Guild's council are able to study Gale's magic ring and reveal that the ring is made ancient magic from the Dark Star and the ring cannot be removed without the powers of the four dragons... which we learn have been missing from the world since the events of Silver Star.

Thus, the heroes are forced to try and locate the four dragons. The party first travels to try to find the White Dragon. On their travels, the party continues encountering the evil Scions, who are revealed to be gifting similar powerful relics (with dark secrets) to the leaders of Meribia and other countries. The goal is that the artifacts gifted to the leaders will eventually corrupt them and turn them evil, and no nation on LUNAR will have leadership that can help rise to stop the Five Princes of the Dark Star when they enact their evil plot. While on these adventures, the Scions try to recruit Prince Errant, who has slowly been harboring a growing jealousy over Gale. In Meribia, they eventually succeed, and Errant turns into a villain and leaves the party.

Upon finally crossing the ocean and reaching the White Dragon Cave, they find no sign of a dragon and decide to find either the blue or red dragon. It's a small branching storyline with only slightly different events, but regardless, their efforts are ultimately in vain, and they fail to find the other dragon.

Feeling confused and frustrated at the disappearance of the four dragons, however, they end encountering the white-haired warrior again, who reveals himself to be the white dragon, NALL. Nall explains that after the events of Silver Star, the dragons lost their powers and were forced permanently into their human body forms. Thus, the Nall of this game is currently just a normal human without any of his transformation abilities or magical spells. He joins the party (replacing Prince Errant) and explains that if they can find the four dragons and take them to the fifth STAR DRAGON, they may be able to harness the powers of the Blue Star (where Althena's lingering magic is slowly healing the planet so that humans may one day return) and revive the powers of the four dragon's.

The party ends up tracking down the blue dragon, CYAN, who is happily living life as a human in Meribia. They then manage to locate the red dragon, AMELIA, who is also living as a human (and is guarding a red dragon egg - hinted at being baby Ruby). Amelia explains more about the nature of the dragons and their offspring. She also explains that the black dragon, RUBEUS, died at the Grindery during the events of Silver Star. No black dragon has been seen since, although per the nature of dragons, a replacement dragon would have been magically created before Rubeus had died.

Nall and Amelia then reveal that the shadow dragon has been with them all along: the black dragon is actually Amaris, who was hatched/born before the events of Silver Star and was being studied (in her human form) by the evil scientist, Taben. However, Taben was defeated and his hidden laboratory was lost in time, Amaris with it. This explains the song she has been hearing since awakening - it is Luna's song from Silver Star, and it is the magical song of Goddess Althena guiding her to embracing her dragonic heritage as the black dragon.

Having found all four dragons, the group locates and then climbs the Star Dragon Tower, where the Star Dragon challenges their dedication. Upon defeating him, he explains that he can create a bridge to the ruins of the Blue Star, where they may be able to find the lingering magic of Althena they need to revive the powers of the four dragons.

Just before they use the powers of the Star Dragon to travel to the Blue Star, the evil infection of Gale's magic ring is revealed to have almost entirely consumed Gale's soul - they're almost out of time!

They nevertheless travel to the Blue Star and explore the ancient ruins of a city that is very, very similar to modern-day Earth (it may even be Earth, who knows). There they are confronted by Prince Errant, now evil and imbued with dark powers from the Five Princes of the Dark Star. They manage to defeat him, however; the Five Princes then take back their power back from Prince Errant and belittle him, calling him weak and feeding his insecurities and his rivalry to Gale.

The party finds a crystal garden created by Goddess Althena when she left the Blue Star, where her lingering magic is slowly healing the Blue Star so that humans can one day return. They pick a crystal flower that contains her power and return to Lunar via the Star Dragon's power. Prince Errant begrudgingly goes with them.

Back in the Star Dragon Tower, Gale and Amaris attempt to use the magic of Althena to revive the four dragons, but find that the magic still isn't powerful enough to break the seal, only weaken it. The seal is weakened just enough so that Nall gains a few new battle abilities. Regardless, the four dragon's powers are being blocked by the Five Princes of the Dark Star, and thus the Princes must be defeated entirely - without the powers of the four dragons.

Before they can make their next move, however, Gale finally succumbs to the evil ring and collapses, before awakening as an evil Scion, now-imbued with powers gifted to him from the Five Princes of the Dark Star. The party fights him and tries to talk him out of it, and it is only with the combined efforts of Amaris and his friends that they are able to give him the strength to overcome the evil curse. Through the power of friendship and love, Gale is able to overcomes the darkness, focus, and...

...he chops off his own arm, severing the infected arm that wears the ring. This sacrifice causes the evil ring to lose it's power entirely. Prince Errant, still consumed by his own insecurities and wanting to regain the favor of the Dark Princes, betrays the party yet again and kidnaps Amaris and takes her to the Five Princes.

A short time passes, and Gale is despondent, thinking that he is weak and useless, and that he has failed Amaris. He has also lost his battle prowess and sword with the loss of the magic ring. However, his friends come to him and reveal that they have built him a new, mechanical replacement arm. This emboldens him, and despite his lack of ability, he resolves to save Amaris and save the world. Proud of his resolve, the Star Dragon then gives him a dragon relic of his own: the Ring of the Star Dragon. Gale equips it and essentially regains the powers he had from the evil relic, but this time his black sword is comprised of goodness and holy light.

The party stages a final assault against the Five Princes of the Dark Star, who are revealed to be trying to revive their king, the evil deity ZOPHAR. The party defeats the Five Princes, and Prince Errant is betrayed by the Five Princes and forced to become the living host to the soul of Zophar, allowing him an avatar to re-enter the world.

The heroes battle the Five Princes, defeat them, and then battles the Zophar-possed-Errant. As Zophar returns to his slumber, Errant dies (no redemption for him). Gale uses his Ring of the Star Dragon to deliver the final blow and re-seal Zophar away, rendering the relic useless (side note: the party will muse that they may have only delayed Zophar's revival (thus setting the stage for for Eternal Blue). In a way, the Five Princes succeeded, as this they are ultimately revealed to be what allowed Zophar to return to the world of LUNAR... it will just take ~700 years for him to reawaken.

With the Five Dark Princes of the Dark Star gone forever, the four dragons regain their powers and everyone celebrates... Gale is now celebrated as a hero and is invited to become a Knight in the nation of Pao by King Zypher, but he declines and decides to travel the world and maybe retire to Meribia (and run for mayor one day). Forss is invited by Lumos Ausa to join the Magic Guild of Vane, where she hopes to bridge the gap between magic and technology. Falion embraces his heritage and returns to the Magic Guild with Forss and his brother, Lumos, where together they'll help run the Magic Guild. Amaris embraces her heritage as the black dragon and decides to help bridge the gap between human and non-human (beastmen, dragons, etc).

A few random thoughts:
-It's clear I intentionally twist some series tropes on their head here. Gone is a goddess Althena proxy character, and there's no baby cat dragon. Errant is also a Nash proxy, as he turns against the party, but unlike Nash, he never redeems himself, showing that not all people can be saved.
-Since the lead protagonist, Gale, has blue hair, it's heavily implied that he is a descendant of Alex and Luna. In actuality, we learn that he is descended from Tempest and Fresca (and gained his blue hair from her bloodline). His name is the hint -- Gale, like a Tempest. Haha!
-Nall in this story is really depressed and nihilistic having had lived for several hundred years and having had to watch all of his friends eventually grow old and die, so we see him almost process that grief and steady his own emotions like we eventually see in Eternal Blue.
-There's no baby cat dragon that runs with the party this game, as the dragon that hangs with the party is Amaris. She sort of holds the role that Luna / Lucia played in previous games. At the end of the game she, of course, goes on to accept the mantle of being the black dragon. In the first draft of the story I also thought about her trying to become a dragonmaster and failing because she, herself, is revealed to be one of the four dragons, but I removed this as the powers of the dragonmaster are gone with the absence of Althena.
-I didn't explain it very well, but the Five Princes of the Dark Star are Eldritch horrors that are currently an enigma in lore, and in this game they're mostly pulling the strings while their Scions try to gain powers for Zophar's return. I made up the fact that they're trying to revive Zophar, so that's not canon, although they do exist -- we just don't know who/what/why.
-There's no overwhelming love story here, unfortunately. I thought it wouldn't quite work between Gale and Amaris, although I thought that it would be heavily implied, just never confirmed one way or another if their friendship is deeper or not.
-Phacia does appear in the story as an NPC, where she is now very old and long-lived (as part of the Vile tribe) and helps the party find the Star Dragon Tower. She is the only returning character from either Silver Star or Eternal Blue.

That's about it.
« Last Edit: April 20, 2023, 10:41:44 pm by Boo the Gentleman Caller »

Boo the Gentleman Caller

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Re: Let's Play - LUNAR: Eternal Blue Complete
« Reply #209 on: April 20, 2023, 07:13:53 pm »
As for life... I'll have to come back and edit this post. I'm about to take my daughter to volleyball. :D

EDIT: Back!

So dang, you already finished FFXV?! I know there's quite a bit of post-game content, so enjoy. I started it the other day but I've put in maybe 2 hours, so I'm still in chapter 1 doing the hunt missions and leveling up Noctis' fishing ability.

What was your favorite part? What did you think of the story? Did you do and of the DLC?

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...while I wait for DQ11 to be delivered I'm gonna play it with a friend of mine on Discord. Apparently the S - Definitive Version has dumbed down graphics for its release for the Switch and it's there also for the PS4 version, so I opted to get the Standard Version.


I thought the Definitive Version was mostly the same as Standard, it just included some additional QoL updates and additional (optional) story content. Although the S version on the Switch has lower res textures for obvious reasons. I dunno, though. I own the Switch version but have yet to play it. Let me know what you think once you get into it!

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As for me, life's going ok. I made tikka masala the other day, I have some leftovers I'm about to heat up and eat, it turned out pretty good and it was so easy to make once you do it for the first time. It's turning out to be one of my favorite dishes to eat... The recipe calls for chicken but I just made it with potatoes.

Nice! I work with a lot of Indian guys, so we tend to eat a lot of Indian food around the office. I definitely love tikka masala, though. I've made it a few times at home, but my family would rather I make a red or panang Thai curry instead. Using potatoes is a genius idea, though; I'll have to try it!

Who makes it better -- you or the house staff?

There's not really much going on in my life. HR did decide to fire that guy, so we've been having to pull a little extra weight to make up for the loss of manpower. It's also been amazing not having to go into the office every single day; I had three weeks of that, and it was absolutely brutal. I'm also on a little bit of a diet, just because I've put on about 8 pounds since Christmas. No fun. :/
« Last Edit: April 20, 2023, 10:51:47 pm by Boo the Gentleman Caller »