Lia's BK tweets archive - 2020-10-19: Nashira, Cloud Passage, Sheliak

Lia @liareplaysbk · 06:16 PM · Oct 19, 2020 Permalink

Let’s try and get through the Cloud Passage before dinner. Probably not going to be posting a ton, it’ll mostly be combat and I’m still holding off the mechanics megathread until I’ve got a few more toys.

Lia @liareplaysbk · 06:32 PM · Oct 19, 2020 Permalink

Kalas being a master of deception as always.
Which... is really smart, building him up as a terrible liar when he’s bullshitting us the whole way.
Gibari’s reaction is a quality JRPG dot dot dot, but the really solid work on the portrait makes it more of a “I’m onto you, kid”.

Reblys: “Wait a minute. You’re wanted by the Empire?”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 06:35 PM · Oct 19, 2020 Permalink

Main quest pointers:
- reinforcing CASTLE IS NEXT;
- Gibari’s coming with, cementing his character as A Good Guy;
- go find Anna because she knows about the secret exit.

Reblys: “Some of us saw another squadron of soldiers flying towards the castle.”

Reblys: “Whatever they’re looking for, it must be at the castle.”

Gibari: “Besides, I’m itchin’ to find out what the Empire’s up to.”

Reblys: “Anna is the only one who knows about the secret path that leads outside the village.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 06:41 PM · Oct 19, 2020 Permalink

We find Anna having a shouting match with Imperials bullying a kid, which she of course wins because she’s a Cute And Badass Fantasy Bartender.
Back to the bar, SECRET TUNNEEEEEEEEL

Anna in front of a large opening in the bar’s floor: “Here’s the entrance.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 06:54 PM · Oct 19, 2020 Permalink

I wonder if the wrong z-sorting on status effects like poison is the emulator or was also there on Gamecube, hmmm

Lia @liareplaysbk · 07:27 PM · Oct 19, 2020 Permalink

Said glitch, for the record. It seems to be on every particle effect, with the camera caaaaarefully working around overlaps which would show.
... I’m going to try and not hit the disassembly stage of obsession over this game but now I’m curious about the render passes setup.

Combat screen, showing a poison effect from the background drawn over the foreground character.

Lia @liareplaysbk · 07:39 PM · Oct 19, 2020 Permalink

The Cloud Passage. It’s a road made of clouds. Also, cloud machine to get clouds to make a couple paths: as usual, simple puzzles only.
It’s funny how fast Diadem ramps up the Fantastical Landscape Factor compared to Salad Suud.

A complex contraption described by Kalas as a cloud reeling machine.

Lia @liareplaysbk · 07:53 PM · Oct 19, 2020 Permalink

Glitch confirmed on original hardware! Godamnit I’m going to end up decompiling this.

Baffan @Baffan · 07:51 PM · Oct 19, 2020

@liareplaysbk It's a game thing. It happens as well on console.

Lia @liareplaysbk · 09:21 PM · Oct 19, 2020 Permalink

Dinner done, let’s walk out of the area and definitely not get pounced on by a boss.

Lia @liareplaysbk · 09:39 PM · Oct 19, 2020 Permalink

SURPRISE, A BOSS. Imperial design sure is, er, an aesthetic.
This thing hits hard and buffs its attack as the fight goes on, but my decks cooperated.

The level exit, blocked by a big machine.

Xelha: “It’s an Iron Beetle. From the Imperial Mobile Forces. I can’t believe they even sent these out [here]”.

Gibari: “We’ll see about that. They won’t get too far if I can help it! I’ll make ‘em wish they never set foot on my turf!”

Combat turn result screen, showing the boss hitting for 300 damage before defending it down to 161.

Lia @liareplaysbk · 10:02 PM · Oct 19, 2020 Permalink

To the castle town! A short cutscene tells us that things are er maybe not going super-great for Diadem.

The castle of Diadem, extremely on fire and crowded by a pack of Imperial soldiers with another Iron Beetle.

Lia @liareplaysbk · 10:05 PM · Oct 19, 2020 Permalink

We move into the city and hear something through a door, so we settle in to eavesdrop on Precious Idiot Lyude.
If you recall his line from the opening - “That’s unthinkable! To act against the Empire?” - that’s this scene.

Lyude, from inside a building: “I find that hard to believe. King Ladekahn, plotting a surprise attack against the Empire?”

Kalas crouching by a window to eavesdrop.

Lia @liareplaysbk · 10:10 PM · Oct 19, 2020 Permalink

The Imperial Commander (leading the invasion force, I assume) hammers the “not like other Imperials” point some more, wraps it up with some threats, and we get a serving of Sadface Lyude, of which there will be PLENTY.

Imperial Commander: “Don’t tell me you still believe that nonsense about the infidels being equal to the Empire’s chosen elite!”

Imperial Commander: “Have you already forgotten why you were exiled to this godforsaken land, Ambassador?”

Imperial Commander: “Just do what you’re told, and stay out of the way. Unless you’re asking for more than just another “exile”.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 10:12 PM · Oct 19, 2020 Permalink

Kalas making a not-wholly-incorrect assessment here.
Lyude’s backstory, which we get later, is that he refused slaughter orders and got himself exiled rather than court-martialed only due to coming from a good family.

Kalas: “He doesn’t seem too bright, does he? Thickheads like him won’t live to see their twenties.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 10:15 PM · Oct 19, 2020 Permalink

The fact that said events happened two years before the game i.e. WHEN HE WAS SIXTEEN is, er, putting some stress on the disbelief’s antigrav spell. As mentioned earlier, the age thing gets weird.
Either way, setting him up as the plot’s punching bag, we’ll get back to that.

Lia @liareplaysbk · 10:17 PM · Oct 19, 2020 Permalink

Xelha mentions that the whole thing’s a shoddy excuse for an attack and that the Empire is probably after the sealed evil power, Gibari goes “What”.
Nice “We... I” here, as she remembers that Kalas does not, in fact, give a singular fuck.

Xelha: “We... I came to warn your king, but it’s too late now...”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 10:20 PM · Oct 19, 2020 Permalink

We’re then rushed by a random NPC, who trusts Gibari to single-handedly fix this. It’s like he’s more than a strangely unconventional fisherman! Funny how that works!
(He used to be an especially good knight, very close to the King. We’ll get more on that later)

Random NPC: “Please do something! You must save the King! If anyone, you’re the one who can do it!”

Gibari: “All right, all right. I’m on my way. Just tone it down, will ya?”

Random NPC: “Thank you! We’re counting on you, Gibari!”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 10:23 PM · Oct 19, 2020 Permalink

Accidental foreshadowing in the shop, as one of the weapons available for purchase is... a trumpet? That none of our characters can use?
Isn’t that bizarre, it’s like we’re adding someone else to the crew soon.

Shop screen, focused on a “Shadow cornet”. It’s a trumpet.

Lia @liareplaysbk · 10:24 PM · Oct 19, 2020 Permalink

The town’s NPC dialogue is neat, because it’s not full-on panic. It’s deep worry about what’s going on at the castle and family members who are knights, powerlessness and hope both, getting ready to keep safe. Very “calm before the storm”.

Lia @liareplaysbk · 10:25 PM · Oct 19, 2020 Permalink

And a line in passing about the last conflict between Diadem and the Empire being twenty years ago.
Hey guess what prequel is set exactly two decades before this and probably dives into those events?

Lia @liareplaysbk · 10:27 PM · Oct 19, 2020 Permalink

Talk to some more soldiers bragging about being brutes with guns, go class up Gibari, steal everything that’s not nailed down, and we’re in decent shape for whatever’s next.
Tomorrow: to the castle see whether we can save His Majesty.

Lia @liareplaysbk · 10:31 PM · Oct 19, 2020 Permalink

There’ll be yelling about Lyude soon enough - you can probably guess which side of the “He’s whiny and unbearable” vs “He’s sweet and oh-so-shippable” divide I land on - but I want to wait ‘till Diadem is wrapped up because that gives us more narrative overthinking material.