Darkcloud k'California

A page of random media related musings

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Rosei might have said it in a deadpan tone and he might be a literal embodiment of Winter, but "Forget your 'right mind', Itecho. We're going crazy." is one heck of a hotblooded line. Him saying it while getting on a motorcycle to go fight terrorists doesn't hurt either.

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Ah, so their kids would be half-dwarfs. Well, the race was pretty much extinct anyway, I guess they'll kind of live on as a human sub-species this way? Eventually it would probably be mostly a few regional racial traits. And even then there wouldn't be a whole lot of it about given how they'd just be the descendants of these two, as it would seem Amber only has one set of DNA in her and she probably isn't going to solicit other men for their "secretions", even if it would improve genetic diversity.

Which means the only means to ensure the survival of true dwarfdom is cultural. I... would hope Amber was given some info on dwarvern society and culture she can pass down to her kids. Maybe a few volunteers that can serve as the core of a new settlement.

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If there's any moral to take from the end of Sir Richard's arc it's this:

The smart lawyers know when to insist on payment in advance.

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Okay, "short update ended up being not that short, but let's continue. At the end of the previous post the Dark Warriors pasted a group of soldiers with a boosted Doublecast Meteor. Let's see how things go from there.

After that the soldiers get back up and transform into monsters before summoning some more, and the Dark Warriors are swiftly overcome in the accursed cutscene zone. So back to the Light team.

And… he's right about that. They just took the skies when things happened and have now come back. But things ain't great out there.

Dusk is worried about something besides the end of the world. He quickly takes the party over to Lufenia, as apparently he overheard his sister getting the crap kicked out of her.

Before heading into battle I check out the interior of the airship (And apparently forget to take a screenshot). Rosie/Argy is there, still hooked up to the machinery, but she serves a secondary function from this point on. She can let you redistribute any Memories you've given the Memorists, so you don't have to be locked in to a sub-optimal build… if you can make it to the end of the game. Kinda late on that one. But besides that you can rest in some beds and save your game here.

Also as a side note, this version of the world is called the World of Dusk by the game.

The reunion has finally happened.

Though first we gotta put there mutts down.

There's a joke to be had here about Diana having a dirty or bizarre mind, but my own is not functioning right now. Sorry.

Aww…

AHH!!!

Fade to black, rejoin on the airship after everybody has exchanged notes.

Allurifying is a fun one.

Well Dusk insists on going back to Mysidia to report rather than making a beeline directly for Avalon, so that's the next destination.

Alba, don't disrespect the NPCs just because they don't have names.

Well after a long meeting it's decided that while they can't be sure that Avalon is behind the state of the world or the disappearance of the populace, but they still have monster soldiers and have been behind every other bad thing in the game thus far so they're the best place to start.

Which of course means…

Four Job Fiesta, Eight Character Edition. There's a reason I've also been titling this the Dimensional Fiesta. Time for the final rules!

You have 5 party member slots. As some of the jobs you roll for at the start can either be shared or refer to unique jobs obtained later, potentially you can have as many as 8 different jobs, or as few as 4. So, if you have 4 jobs, you can go ahead a double up on one of them. But if you have 5 or more available jobs each active party member must have a unique job.

In this run I just so happen to have 5, which is enough for one of each. Speaking of which, here is my final party:

I want my Thief to have access to the Ranger abilities, so Nacht is my Thief. I definitely want my Ranger, so Glaive is in. I need a Dragoon due to Fiesta rules, so Aigis can be here. Dusk is the best White Mage, but I don't have those so instead he's my Red Mage. And not only is Alba my best Black Mage but I also want access to Meteor, so she's definitely the choice for that.

As one final note, something to be aware of is that while I may have a Dark Warrior Black Mage, I still won't be getting the other two level 8 Black Magic spells. As the level 8 spells are locked behind advancing the Seer and Magus jobs. And well… I don't have those. Yeah, kinda sucks. Oh well, Meteor was the most valuable spell anyway.

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Well there's a certain something I recall coming up here fairly quick in Dimensions, assuming that my memories are correct which given the amount of time quite easily might not be the case, so here's hoping for a mini-update to get to that point.

Yeah, don't think bracing themselves helped. Kinda like using duck and cover for an atomic bomb.

Plot twists that aren't happening: pieces of the world are all over the place at this point. It's gonna take a whole other RPG's worth of content to gather them together, and it will involve so many earthquakes there's not gonna be a single stone standing on another by the end.

Anyway, Sol is excited at the thought that the others might be back. Sarah is quietly jealous over Sol getting back with his friend who is a girl. But Sol wants to get back to trying to find them.

So the world has, theoretically, been put back together, but things have… changed.

It's not far to get to Mysidia. But in the meantime here's a view of the world and the mini-map. Things have certainly changed. Including the color palette. And once the heroes actually enter, well…

That's not a good. And yes, that includes the shops, I checked.

See, this is why you leave world repair to experts, like dogs with talkative fleas.

It's not that big of a world, how hard can it possibly be to find two people in it?

So Dusk grabs some fresh Whisperweed and the party sets out.

About five feet out, as they kinda lost their ride when things spontaneously stopped existing.

So there's some pieces missing. Oh, like you've never misplaced a few things while putting together a puzzle!

Apparently the Dark Warriors had an easier time of it. Didn't even stumble.

The Dark Warriors are also in someplace pink now.

Pink and empty.

You know, Diana's expression of relief upon being told that Sol and the others are fine brings to mind that you don't actually get a look at the religion of most Final Fantasy games.

Kind of a non-answer there.

Oh hey, the Imperials made it!

What's that, Meteor? You want me to clown on these guys by pushing your button twice? Honestly Quake might have been preferable. Meteor deals around 2500 damage to four random targets. So you know, it's gonna be great for boss fights where I only have one, but for groups it's far less reliable.

And yeah, so much for a short update, gotta make a split here. Admittedly gameplay wise it's still pretty short. It's just, well, we're deep in the Plot Zone now, which means the image limit has reared it's head once more.

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Waitwaitwait... what's this about Link being raised by Hobbits?!

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Time to finish up this section of Dimensions by seeing what the Dark Warriors are up to.

Back with the Dark Warriors after The Mask tells the heroes to draw their weapons he casts Firaga… right behind them, hitting the stealth mode Cocytus. Well after some banter it'll apparently be time to fight this general instead. But hey, I'm pretty sure I know her weakness at least.

Not very surprising that she opens up with Blizzaga. In the meantime I open with multiple Spreadshots and a bunch of Firagas and Comet. Apparently Comet is actually more powerful here, so I'll switch over to more of those, plus Flare from Mask. Cocytus shows off her own strength with a single target ice attack called Benumb, dealing a little over 7000 damage to Nacht. Yeah, no surviving that. I mean, maybe Glaive could with a Shell. After Diana also gets taken down Glaive uses his Alchemy skill to Phoenix Down two people at once. I like Rangers in this game! But soon after that comes one of those auto-battle enders, this time called Glacial Dance.

You heard it here folks. Turns out Meteo was the Power of Friendship all along (as delivered by Nanoha).

Um… shouldn't you, you know, try and stop the heroes from powering up?

In a fun change of pace, the party gets to use the scripted attack this time. I imagine Quad-Meteo would hurt. A lot.

She tries to counter with her own scripted attack, but Mask hops in the way to take the proverbial bullet.

Have you guessed the revelation to come yet?

Uh, I think this is supposed to be Glaive's line. Oops.

And with that Elgo dies... again... passing along his job like so many other guest characters before him.

But then the ruins start shaking as it's time for Harmonic Convergence, or whatever they're calling it in this one.

And as the world quakes and the lightning strikes the dungeons the heroes are in, the game decides it's time for a logo and save break, so I guess that's as good a stopping place as any for now.

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Last time on Dimensions The Mask revealed he was split by the world splitting, the Crystals were acting suspicious, and both teams of Warriors managed to snag a summon. This time, we're starting with the Light Warriors heading to a cave for reasons Sophia can't be bothered to explain.

Here's hoping that name is not indicative to the length of the dungeon.

Soooo… when Mysidia aimed at the ground, they missed? That lake wasn't the original point of departure? Well Sophia still ain't talking, so down into the dungeon it is.

Yeah, you know you're getting close to the end when you start encountering these guys. Also, while the graphics may not be that great as, well, early mobile game, but still, not a bad looking Behemoth.

On the way down I find some pieces of Dragon equipment that Aigis can equip, each piece increasing a different elemental resistance. A neat touch as opposed to having them all resist the same thing, as it gives you a reason to actually want to use the full set. I also find another Chouchou, and decide that would be more valuable on Dusk than the Protect Ring. But other than that there's not actually that much to this one. Strong monsters, but not overly so, end of the dungeon just past the second save point. There's far worse than this.

Yep, time for the passing on of the Light Warrior's final job.

Still not gonna use it! But for the record, yes, this means that if you get the last job when rolling for a Fiesta run you are going to be waiting a while. I also get the last bit of JP needed to max out each character's fourth job here, which… doesn't mean much as I'm specializing with just two here, but for the record, this is when you can finally do it.

Whomst?!

Oh. Himst. Huh, wonder if the Thunder General is weak to Earth or Water? If it's Water there's not much I can do. I mean theoretically I have a Triton Dagger which can cast Flood when used but I doubt a Ninja spell would match the power of Double Comet. Double Quake however is quite doable. And funny.

So, is this going to interrupt the battle, or just serve as a backdrop to it?

Interruption! In more ways than one. This update has just a few too many screenshots for one post, so breaking here.

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Well this chapter has Robin once again looking to be robbin' somebody, so he and Little John take a group of men and lie in wait for somebody to "invite to a feast". And Robin gets... a poor knight, Sir Richard, who is about to lose everything because he had to go into debt to save his son when the young man accidentally killed his opponent in a jousting tournament (lances broke and a piece went right through the other guy's visor, through the eye, and into the brain). And Robin does feel sorry for the guy and takes him back to see if there's anything they can do.

Meanwhile Little John nabbed one of the richest bishops in England. With a full baggage train. They even had the accountant so they could check and see what was what, which allowed Robin to set some stuff aside as legitimate goods that should get to where they were going, and what to split three ways, with one third to be kept for their own pay, one third to be sold to give to charity, and the last third their "guest" would be allowed to keep. It's honestly interesting in that it showed that yes, Robin is keeping some of what they steal as he and his men have their own expenses/desires, but yes, he does in fact give quite a lot to charity. Including the 1/3 of the gold as it was enough to pay Richard's debts, though the knight insists on treating it as a loan to be repaid to Robin rather than a gift.

It was also interesting to read one of the insults Little John had lobbed the bishop's way. I mean, I'd heard the phrase "baby-eating bishop" from Blackadder II, but I wasn't expecting to read somebody using "man-eating bishop" a good century earlier. Were there actual accusations of cannibalism amongst the clergy back in the day, or is this some kind of English running gag I'm not privy to?

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Okay, definitely not a surprise that the elven elder who chose "intelligent species mating habits" as her special interest would have a wide variety of "tools" in her "lab" (and I am SO NOT taking a screenshot of THESE scene establishing pictures), but having both a statuette and a painting of a four-legged, winged phallus seems like a bit much.

...And what would you even call that, anyway? A Dilphon? Dildogrif? Dildasus? Hmm... feet seem kinda talon-like so I'm leaning towards Dilphon.

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I just know this is some kind of referential joke, but I have absolutely no idea what it's supposed to be. I don't suppose anybody knows just what this is supposed to be?

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Yeah... really not helping my earlier accusation of all the elves in this series being high as kites. Time to lay off the "traditional cuisine", drink some water, take a nap, and get a good slap in the face to recenter yourself, dude.

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You know, I was kinda hoping that Robin's scheme to get Allan a Dale married to his sweetie would be a bit more extravagant and cunning than "take along 20 dudes and my own priest and threaten to beat the crap out of anybody who objects". I mean it worked, but it just kinda lacked pizzazz. Um, at least the knight she was going to marry was willing to bow out when he saw she had somebody else? That or the man was just good at acting all stoic and noble when confronted with 20 dudes with swords and bows with their own thoughts on who the girl should marry.

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Well I left off getting ready to throw down against an Eidolon. Let's get back to that.

Well as I can't cast Demi anyway, my strategy for the fight is simple. Spreadshots and Comets galore. As for what Diabolos is bringing to the fight, there's Dark, of course, as well as some Comets of his own. Then he's got an attack called Evil Messenger which blasts the party for around 1000. But it only takes a few rounds to end the fight. Alba was doing 10000 a round with double Comets, and Glaive's Spreadshots were coming out fairly fast and dealing around 4000. One thing I am not hurting for with this Fiesta job selection is damage.

Yeah, I caught a Diabolos!

Time for the final section.

Honestly that might make for an interesting game premise. Two worlds to explore where everybody has had their consciousnesses split, dwelling in both at once, with each version of that person having certain aspects of the original.

Curse your sudden yet inevitable betrayal!

Oh, uh, guess we're doing this first.

The Light Warriors leave the Crystal chamber as Mysidia begins shaking in its descent (with the camera lingering on a door to the back of the chamber), but have time to get back into the town and Sophia's chamber. Anyway, she tells the party to take a look outside.

Dang it, you're not supposed to cram a round floating island into a square crater lake!

You ever wonder just how much of "mysterious mentorship" is just people not liking having to explain things?

Got someplace to go before plot progression.

Behind the Crystal the dungeon goes deeper. And then through some doors you find a chamber called the Castle of the Protector. Can you guess what Eidolon that means?

Okay, the Light Warriors may not have Spreadshot, but both Sol and Aigis have mastered Dragoon which gives them… Holy Breath. Against the Light elemental summon.

So yeah, gonna have to rely on Sarah to carry this team. I think Sophia is gonna focus on getting Haste on her before worrying about Shell. Alexander voices his displeasure by punching Sarah a couple of times, but I've already got Protect up so it's not that bad. Of course then Alexander does the same so my "physical attackers" are even more worthless now. After the second round of Comet rain Alexander casts Shell to blunt that damage as well, but thankfully I still have Sophia on my team and she comes with Dispel as her level 8 White spell. I'd complain that she didn't get Holy despite that spell supposedly being unlocked now, but well, that wouldn't have been worth anything in this fight anyway. But Alexander loves to prove anything I can do he can do better, and casts Dispelga to remove all of my buffs before immediately following it with Divine Wrath, dealing around 1700-2200 damage to the entire team. OUCH. Still, the next round of Comets takes the big castle robot thingy down.

Still, I think with that Eidolon victory it's time to call it a night.

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Okay, last time on Dimensions the Light Warriors unlocked the power of Holy for absolutely nobody, which was followed by Mysidia beginning its crash back down to the ground. Now back to the Dark Warriors, they got the Rosetta Stone and Glaive accused The Mask of being Elgo, which he promptly ignored. Back to their part of the story.

Which shall first involve getting out of the dungeon as the section transition didn't actually move them any. Oh well, I was gonna be grinding anyway.

I sure hope she's better at learning languages than I am.

Wouldn't it be great if it really was that easy? That'd be great.

Huh, usually it's a moogle passing along that info.

But anything more than that will have to wait until the grinding be done.

<<hours of violence in session - please wait>>

Okay, that admittedly took longer than originally planned, but hey, it's done now and unless a boss just stonewalls me that should be the last grinding session I need to do for this playthrough. …Still gonna do Eidolon acquisition of course, but actual "run back and forth killing the same d00ds over and over is done. And hey, along with mastering those secondary jobs for the characters I also wound up with more than enough gil to fully stock up on both X-Potions and Ethers. Granted an Ether only restores 50 MP and my Black Mage (now Alba once again) is using more than that each turn, but that's what the Alchemy skill is for! Assuming I don't have the time for Osmose. So pretty much they're only gonna get used in boss fights. But I don't have to worry about using them now.

Anyway, back to the adventure now that the Dark Warriors speak Lufenian.

Darn rocks and their planet breaking.

That's pretty much it. There was a bit more banter of course, but what mattered was "Here's your plot coupon, go get the shiny."

Okay, time for the transitional dungeon.

Aaaaand it's done. Only a few screens long. Found a better bow for Nacht to use.

On to the real dungeon!

See, now I just feel silly for having used a Cottage outside.

Anyway, just north of the save point is a non-functioning teleporter with three holes in the northern wall.

oh crap this place has a malboro infestation

Oh crap, they resist Earth! My Quake is useless!

Anyway, I find an orb in the dungeon and bring it back. Sticking it in one of the slots activates the teleporter. Apparently can't take it out once it's in, so I'm guessing this is just going to be based on how many you have in there rather than where each one is placed.

Honestly reasonable questions. Just what is the Crystal's plan here?

Does anybody here speak Crystalian? Unne just tutored the party on Lufenish.

Anyway, the second section has a bunch of moving guards in addition to random battles. The flames start a fight against a bunch of undead, while the guards start a fight against a big metal guy called a Giant Soldier.

Right, next section.

You can't see it from a screenshot, but those orbs are moving along down there. On one hand they're giving me unfortunate flashbacks to the core of the Giant of Babil. On the other hand, they're helpfully making some black-colored secret passages more visible by getting covered by them.

Huh, accidentally went right to the thing this time. Only had time for a single fight. That won't do. Gotta get that exploration time in.

Like with this Hall of Demons place. I'm sure there's nothing to be concerned about with flames appearing on the pillars as I pass by.

Okay, so if I draw some Demi spells from him and then cast them on his I'd… be playing a much worse game than this. Instead I shall be making another post from this point due to image limit.