Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 01:19 AM · Dec 31, 2022
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Coliseum started. It’s pretty miserable even though the fights are easy (for now). Megathread when I’m done because there’s a lot of very, very good sidequest dialog
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 01:22 AM · Dec 31, 2022
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Do I actually risk anything if I flatten the group I’ve been warned about? It’s all “noooo don’t win that fight you’ll annoy the rich man” but considering the points requirements, I think I’m expected to piss him off!
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 10:04 PM · Dec 31, 2022
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This entire plotline is apparently sponsored by “Sagi is FIFTEEN please stop making every adult woman in sight be horny for him it’s getting weird” (NPC dialog in the entrance hall changes as you rank up)
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 10:54 PM · Dec 31, 2022
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“What happens if I piss off the rich guy” turns out to be “It’s not like you have a choice, the rank 3 quest does not appear if you don’t clear all the encounters”!
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 01:36 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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So. This place. Now that we can get there by ship, off to a very bad start. I wish this didn’t set the tone for the rest. Blanket cw for shitty creepy stuff about our 15yo hero, I guess!
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 01:39 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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There’s a lot of flavor text around, much of it about good combat / betting strategies, or an Anuénué snail backpack woman with a soldier fetish (her words), or an old Sadal Suud man really into seeing muscle men fight. Sure. But also this maybe-conspiracy maybe-meta? I’m CURIOUS
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 01:41 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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Have your canon confirmation that Sagi would lick Switch game cards, I suppose
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 01:46 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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New quest magnus for Pac! … I’m sure this person is fine and not at all concussed
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 01:49 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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So long as you’re carrying the thing, this is Recovered Person loops on. Lose the magnus - it ages into thin air - and a new crisis happens. Everything is fine, why does this game have so much Like That
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 01:52 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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Anyway after that is LOTS OF FIGHTING. The first battle of a rank has a small cutscene and a special guitar mix, which is neat. After that it’s just regular battle music that restarts with every round. It’s not great!
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 01:56 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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Nonetheless, Rank 1 is what, Hassaleh encounters, so I steamroll all of it and promptly get sent on errands to unlock Rank 2.
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 01:59 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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This is really a main quest progression gate, since you need to have access to Diadem. Our errand is prevented by a kid yet again being a very believable kid
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 02:02 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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Sagi truly is brilliance incarnate some days. Still, this is a Coliseum quest, and so…
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 02:04 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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Sagi usually polishes up a flippant response into something nicer. Not this time and with this portrait and the way children in this series take no shit, it is PERFECT
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 02:07 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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Being sincere is IMO more in-character. But we converge on the same question either way…
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 02:09 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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The spirit’s “He has his moments” becomes a very good Sagi line and a terrible kiddo answer. Is Elle learning from Gena or something.
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 02:12 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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If we answer more confidently, we’re spared Toxic Masculinity Truthisms. In all cases, the point is a request for fireworks, which are fired when someone becomes champion.
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 02:17 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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Who doesn’t love false choices by way of a horrible kid being a horrible kid
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 02:20 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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Fireworks it is, then. All in a day’s work. (Unlike this thread which will continue after sleep is had)
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 08:28 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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As for why the fireworks would be visible: this line has been there all along
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 08:33 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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I’m surprised Guillo doesn’t comment that Elle seems set to grow up just as bad as Milly, or something. In any case, we get our fetch quest item and we are off back to the Coliseum…
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 08:36 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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And that gets us rank 2, meaning time for more fights.
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 08:39 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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The rank 3 quest somehow unlocked when I had some 2000 points left to go, which I’m not going to complain about. Looks like that random old man who’s been waiting in Nunki forever will finally get his wish! The dialog is clearly designed for pre-promachination, tho
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 08:42 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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Before we can leave, we get pounced on by some guy called Ark, who’s weirdly eager to tell us about sponsors. Whichever answer we pick, we get the same infodump
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 08:45 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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Look, I just got dogtags from some quitter in Mintaka, I have no idea how any of this works
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 08:48 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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Okay, sure. Some other NPCs have also been talking about Panie sponsoring some really strong monsters. This would all have more weight if the encounters had actual theme or difficulty to them, but it’s all shuffles of one area’s monsters with little rhyme or reason!
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 08:50 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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I don’t know whether this was there all along or appeared with Rank 2, but: yikes
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 08:53 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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And as @ChaoticBlades mentioned, Elle gets new dialog for every rank
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 08:55 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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To Nunki and the old man who’s been there a WHILE! When he asks whether we’re who he’s been waiting for, we can be sincere…
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 08:58 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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Or we can lie, in which case being sincere afterwards gets a different reaction. No choice if we want to advance the quest anyway, but what is it with this plotline and making Sagi lie?
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 09:01 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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The escort quest is then implemented as a bunch of questions with incredibly unhelpful answers, typos, and assumptions that there are still trees around.
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 09:05 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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Yes, Sagi, down the cliff, which we’ve jumped up and down a zillion times, why would you look shocked? If you answer “farther back” Lance just moves back to the first location.
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 09:08 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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And same in the third and final location: “further back” moves him back to the second step, “closer” gets him out. How… how do you get from Cebalrai to the Coliseum. All the ships are in Pherkad. What.
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 09:10 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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Anyway, that’s Rank 3 achieved, which changes the state of the Coliseum itself: new NPCs, new dialog!
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 09:16 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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Starting with another dire warning about Panie. Spoiler: we need to clear all the sets to rank up so we can’t avoid it anyway.
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 09:20 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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And onto our theme of “somehow a 15yo is getting a lot of attention from adult women”, YAY (no)
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 09:24 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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We’ve also still got that one old man wanting to see muscles, and another one creeping on the ushers. Hashtag diversity
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 09:27 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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There’s also less irksome stuff. Our dogtags donator is here, for instance. He faux-apologizes but then reminds us how COOL this all is. Sure.
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 09:30 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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There was a blank wall and an artist pondering what to paint. The decision has now been taken. Not a Champion’s portrait YET! (Ignore the discrepancy in the last two images they definitely weren’t taken after Rank 4 nuh uh)
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 09:32 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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Also ft. further conspiracy theorizing and whatever this dialog even is
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 09:35 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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And the infirmary now has a nurse being creepy about Sagi and patients being creepy about the nurses. WONDERFUL, moving on
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 09:38 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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As mentioned, bringing the required points to 0 without defeating The Snare doesn’t yield the quest dialog so splat they go. Ark warns us again, sure, whatever.
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 09:48 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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Off to Komo Mai. Dinner doesn’t seem to be in the cards. This is not voiced and has no music, not even the default ominous theme they’ve been overusing a lot. It’s making the whole thing pretty weak!
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 09:52 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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He’s upset we sent Generic Monster Group 37 packing, and so he’s figured out we borrowed someone’s dogtags, oh noes. Again this might have more impact if there was literally any audio, and if they hadn’t painted Sagi’s face on the wall already
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 09:57 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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On the bright side, it finally makes his dialog about gravity and water make sense. Kinda weird that said dialog doesn’t change after this “little chat”, though! Also evil guy is from Mintaka, how novel
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 10:05 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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And of course he’d pretend the whole thing was civil. Textbook. Anyway, Rank 4!
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 10:10 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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And there’s new dialog in the Sheliak infirmary again. Something something truth from the mouth of children?
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 10:12 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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Mostly by extensive use of Zeniver Cascade (Guillo’s level 3 ice AOE), I make it through most of the point requirement and am told I can’t get the quest yet. A peek at guides said it’s in Tarazed so I guess that tracks.
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 10:15 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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So instead, let’s go try out another @ChaoticBlades suggestion: load an older save, and give a Terrible rather than Heartbreaking Song. Does not advance the quest, objectively much better dialog.
Lia
@liareplaysbk
· 10:17 AM · Jan 01, 2023
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And after that it’s off to Atria see what’s over there. I can now advance past where the Malpercio siblings fell, and there’s a save flower, so… I guess next time is a boss of some sort!