Hey mun, what's your favorite costume/title for Rita whenever you play Vesperia?
"I'm not a big fan of the alternate clothes for the Tales games. Too many of them are really goofy for the situation.
"That said, the Seeker outfit is very Rita.
"Of course, the only screencap I have of it is of Rita in the middle of casting Ancient Catastrophe:"
"That said, she is an alt of mine on FFXIV. The usual title is 'Archmage' and she used this outfit for an awfully long time ('cause lots of cold places):"
Hey Rita, I've got a question. Why do you say 'Blah Blah Blah' when speed-casting spells? Does magic actually let you get away with something like that? Also, isn't it a lil embarrassing to shout MEOW when speed casting Gold Cat?
"You do know that you need Gold Cat for the new infinite combo, don't you?"
Hey Rita! I know Halloween's a good couple o' months away but I had the devil of a good idea for your next costume~! You should dress up as Etna~! Cause you know...*ahemSameVAahem*
"I already have this year's Halloween planned.
"Truth be told, I had that something for last year, but the mun insisted we go do a zombie shoot instead."
Well, Rita knowing an archer was one up on Alvin, who didnât, and had been faking it himself this whole time. Damn, if he could only get his guns back.
"You mean aside from flooding out everyone downstream? It drains down into the wetlands and towards the castle, which might not be a bad idea,â he conceded. âItâs loaded with Guardians over there, and no one in Hyrule would shed any tears about washing those guys away. But youâd probably get Kakariko Village as a side effect, and they donât deserve it.â Alvin folded his arms and considered the problem.
âAh! But perhaps we could redirect it to the ocean instead, if we had some means of doing so,â Sidon offered. âIt isnât far from here. Just on the other side of that mountain.â He pointed directly east.
Alvin shrugged, broad and loose.
âTerrific. So if we have an earth-moving crew and enough dynamite to destroy a mountain, weâre golden. Unfortunately, I donât tend to keep those in my back pockets.â
Rita fell silent. In her mind's eye, she could picture Alvin's map -- Zora, the reservoir, the mountain ... but there wasn't anything on the other side.
She looked across the reservoir. The rain got in the way, but it looked like there was another dam, on the far side. That meant that they'd needed to block off another exit ... a river, perhaps?
"And here I was hoping to be dry a little longer."
Rita fell silent. In her mind's eye, she could picture Alvin's map -- Zora, the reservoir, the mountain ... but there wasn't anything on the other side.
She looked across the reservoir. The rain got in the way, but it looked like there was another dam, on the far side. That meant that they'd needed to block off another exit ... a river, perhaps?
"And here I was hoping to be dry a little longer."
I dunno why, but I feel like Rita would be the type to accidentally invent cheese heh. But seriously, the ToV world doesn't have cheeeeeese? Weird.
It's not entirely surprising, once you realize that Japan has only recently started to eat cheese. Traditional Japanese cuisine is essentially cheese-free. (In fact, most of Asia east of India doesn't do cheese.)
We should probably be thankful that they include tomatoes.
The Prince, much like his father, was larger than life, though his version was in the enthusiasm department. After the preliminary greetings, he launched confidentially into his plan.
As he ended on a triumphant note, Alvin folded his arms.
âLet me get this straight. You want someone to ride your back, get launched into the air, and shoot this thing,â he mopped water out of his eyes, and pointed at the gigantic animal-like construct, âwith shock arrows.â
The rain pattered incessantly on the roof overhead. Rita tried not to ask why there was a shelter with a couch on the top of the dam, overlooking the lake. The Zora were fish people, and she could see them needing a place to rest if they came up to swim here before the Divine Beast started dumping water on it.
"I only know one archer who could make that shot, but I could also imagine him splatting like a pancake on the surface afterwards, dumping all the arrows out of his quiver so they could shock him senseless before he could take a second shot."
Rita's attention drifted to the mountain behind. It was taller, sure, but it was too far to shoot an arrow from. She wondered if they could fire a rocket from there instead. But fire chus wouldn't work for that; she'd still need sulfur. There was that volcano.
Or maybe honey ...
"Or maybe," she finally said to her company, "what we need to do is change the frame.
"The immediate problem is too much water in the dam. How do we fix that?"
The rain pattered incessantly on the roof overhead. Rita tried not to ask why there was a shelter with a couch on the top of the dam, overlooking the lake. The Zora were fish people, and she could see them needing a place to rest if they came up to swim here before the Divine Beast started dumping water on it.
"I only know one archer who could make that shot, but I could also imagine him splatting like a pancake on the surface afterwards, dumping all the arrows out of his quiver so they could shock him senseless before he could take a second shot."
Rita's attention drifted to the mountain behind. It was taller, sure, but it was too far to shoot an arrow from. She wondered if they could fire a rocket from there instead. But fire chus wouldn't work for that; she'd still need sulfur. There was that volcano.
Or maybe honey ...
"Or maybe," she finally said to her company, "what we need to do is change the frame.
"The immediate problem is too much water in the dam. How do we fix that?"
"Alas, what would the New Year be, without the dazzling aura of the witchiest witch alive to liven things up? No need to thank me for gracing your inbox with my presence, it's the least I can do~" ....So how many Magilous has Rita blasted so far? 3? 4?
"To be fair, I stabbed one in her spine with the tactical pen that Judith gave me for my un-birthday."
The primary instincts of all creatures â sex and death. If you can combine the two they become a bigger selling point. Though not exactly graphic, the Kiss of Death is still sensual, seductive, and very, very deadly. The Kiss of Death comes in many varieties, including: hypnosis, narcotic effect, and sucking out the soul of the victim, which may or may not result in death, depending on the story. Crucially it can also be a symbolic gesture â the kiss itself does not bring death or harm, but the person who receives it knows that his days are numbered.
Hm I got an interesting question for ya. If you had to change one trope or game mechanic for the Tales Of series, what would it be?
If Arise is a trend, then bring back multi-player support.
If it's not, then get rid of the false character deaths. Sure, it's an adventure game -- if you don't see the body, then the character isn't dead -- but there's a limit.
That's one of the third-act Vespy flaws. The character sacrifice is undone almost immediately.
This campaign has just started, so isn't quite as fleshed out as Neu Ferre's. (The first Neu Ferre campaign ran back in 3rd ed.)
Oar's Rest is the home of the heroes, a band of pirates that originally preyed on the colonies of a Dwarvish empire. The center of the colonies province collapsed when a hobgoblin horde boiled out of the center of the continent and conquered everything in the Lake of Fortunes.
They'd have gone farther -- they had a Nilbog who could cast Stone to Mud -- but the governor of Fortune's Throat triggered the Last Defensive Spell. Everybody who died in Fortune's Throat turned into undead that would defend the city. (Those of you who've seen Sokol Keep know this spell.)
The pirates of Oar's Rest did the best they could to rescue the smallfolk from the Spell and the invasion, creating a very strange culture on the island.
The three power centers on Oar's Rest:
The pirates. They're followers of Tritherion, god of liberty and retribution, and they're ready for war. Chaotic Good.
The original inhabitants. They're aquatic elves who believe that you're not a person if you're not creating art of some flavor. (The town exhibits the best of elvish street art.) Chaotic Good.
The rescued smallfolk. Those who haven't joined the pirates have turned into weird, backwards worshipers of the God of Famine. ("Incabulos, pass us by.") Neutral Scared.
Opposing them:
The dwarves. Lawful Good turned bad. These are the people C.S. Lewis warned you about, who control you for your own good.
The hobgoblins. Their big warband may or may not have dissolved, but it has stalled. Lawful Evil.
Hey mun, what other tales of games have ya played? Any other favorites outta the bunch?
Ones I've finished: Symphonia, Abyss, Xbox Vespy, Graces (and f), Xillia (and 2), and Berseria.
Ones I haven't: Zesteria, Arise, and Definitive Vespy. I play Tales games because they're multi-player, and Zesty wasn't really -- the in-game tutorials behaved *very* weirdly with two players. Arise wasn't at all, and watching Tales played is honestly boring.
The less said about Definitive Vespy, the better.
Of the ones I like best, Berseria and Xillia are 1 and 1A. Xbox Vespy is actually number three -- still good enough to be recommended, but there are a couple of flaws in the third act that don't exist in the other two.
This campaign is set in the shadow of a collapsed empire, where the survivors are trying to fill the power vacuum.
Important places:
Neu Ferre (obviously). A city full of "dragon-blooded." The tip-top elite of Neu Ferre are human sorcerers that inherit their powers by family, with the story being that they inherited their powers from dragons. Kobolds and Dragonborn are big secondary players, as their sorcerers can find their way into upper crust society. The city's patron deity is Wee Jas (so they're Lawful Evil).
Pakka Yad. Neu Ferre's rival for control of the area. They're also loaded with magic-users, but they're all warlocks inducted into the cult of their patron demon. Also Lawful Evil.
Anvilton. The center of mineral wealth in the area. They're primarily a source of iron and silver, but all the rarer metals can be found in this area, too. They eschew the "easy" magics of the coastal cities, going so far as to hunt them within the city. Lawful.
Fallcrest. The Red River that connects Anvilton and Neu Ferre contains one flaw: the waterfall at Fallcrest. The town was born of the need to portage cargo up and down the waterfall. This made it the chokepoint in the war between Neu Ferre and Pakka Yad, with Pakka Yad forces seizing the north side of the town, and burning it down when Neu Ferre came to liberate the town.
The campaign starts in a farming village south of Neu Ferre. It's part of the city's sphere of influence, but neglected because of the threat to the north.
I'm not necessary *seriously* back, but I need a place to post some of my current D&D campaign maps. If they become too big a thing, I'll probably add another blog specifically for it, but until then I'll dump them here.
Feel free to ping me. Intrigue me enough, and I'll RP again. Obviously, Rita's in bad head space with how cranky she gets -- the usual caveats apply, in that the punch line might be violence.
âYeah, she pretty much nailed it with ânot even closeâ,â Alvin admitted. It hadnât been relevant last time he talked with King Dorephan, so he hadnât bothered to bring it up. âOn the bright side, I donât think youâll have to worry about anyone we know causing any trouble, either.â
Not that Alvin knew for certain that no one else had been somehow transported to Hyrule. But given that the only non-native heâd met was Rita, and heâd been here a decent while, he figured the odds were good.
âSo did you need a Hylian in specific, or just someone built like one? What kind of job are we talking?â
âIâll leave it to the Prince to detail the full plan, as heâs part of it.Â
âAssuming the both of you can handle lightning arrows safely, the other key to the plan is a cuirass that will allow you the ability to swim up a waterfall. Theyâre painstaking to make, and the only one we possess currently is custom-fit for a Hylian warrior.â
âSwim up a waterfall. Wearing armor thatâs probably a few sizes too big for me. Carrying lightning arrows.â
And this is only part of the plan. Rita didnât like where this was headed.
âMaybe we should talk about what our actual objective is. We might be able to think of a solution that better fits our assets.â
