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Post by Josh Devlin on Jan 25, 2021 22:12:51 GMT -6
Josh flinched when the terrible static erupted from the TV speakers, immediately reaching for the remote to turn the volume down. The inverted color scheme made it difficult to see anything, especially not the three Blats charging Angela's way! They were surrounding her, batting her about with their wings. Once the combat was over, Josh flashed the main menu - that screen seemed to be fine. When he went back to the main screen, though, everything was still inverted colors! "Jae, we might have to deal with this a while - will you be okay until we can get to a save?" Josh asked. As the two advanced, more enemies the two could barely see came out of hiding; they included goblins, each with single-use but strong projectile weapons that could easily clear over a third of Angela's health on contact! After several combats, they had found themselves deep in the cave, though there was no sign of a save point or the exit. "This is really hard on the eyes..." Josh moaned, turning his head away from the screen after cleaning up another random mob that took Hawk to level 4, and Angela as well. Or it would have, but Angela had dropped in that last battle. "Oh, I'm dead. Did you remember to pick up any Angel's Grail?" he asked, continuing to take notes down per the details of his contract. he asked, continuing to take notes down per the details of his contract. "If you can find us a save point, I'm going to try hard-resetting the console. Maybe that will fix it."--- Jae TsukudaYbUFN252{WC: 264} {PC: 6}
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Post by Jae Tsukuda on Jan 28, 2021 14:01:01 GMT -6
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Post by RaikouRider on Jan 29, 2021 15:25:52 GMT -6
Jae Tsukuda Josh DevlinNothing happened!All rolls were passed.After locating a save point and resetting the console once the save had finished, the graphics and sound seemed to revert to normal. The ambient sound of the waterfall appeared to be recycled from other titles released by the same developer around this era, which was commonplace for developers who worked on multiple series. The two could continue on as normal.
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Post by Josh Devlin on Jan 29, 2021 16:02:28 GMT -6
"As I thought," Josh quipped as he sat back down from resetting the console. "This is why restarting devices is the first thing you should do when troubleshooting." Once the two were back in game, he took a moment to admire how nice the cave tileset looked in its proper colors. After the players guided Angela and Hawk into the next room, the ground behind them gave way, trapping them in a large cavern filled with rough terrain. The screen began rumbling and shaking, which was shortly followed by the game's first boss, the Full Metal Digger, dropping in from above and filling the top two-thirds of the screen. It sported bladelike fangs and six talon-laden legs that let it crawl in any direction while facing any direction. The boss monster's eyes immediately stared down Angela and fired yellow beams of light at her, knocking her all the way to the right side of the battleground but dealing her minimal damage thanks to her high Spirit. Retaliating, Josh positioned Angela back in front of its large schnoz and bashed away at with her staff, doing anywhere between one and three points of damage per hit. "Jae, this is all your fight. I'll try to keep an eye on our health; just cut away at it."If those sharp teeth weren't enough of a problem, the crab-like monster was also a Wisp Adept, with access to both the offensive spell Holy Ball and the recovery spell Heal Light. Hawk didn't have the high Spirit stat Angela did, and would be highly susceptible to the magic attacks. While Josh would be able to contribute a little with physical techs, it was dangerous for Angela to be in melee more than needed; he had her lay low when it looked like their foe was about to go on the offense. --- Jae Tsukuda3Hn||A1X{WC: 307} {PC: 7}
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Post by Jae Tsukuda on Feb 6, 2021 11:57:57 GMT -6
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Post by RaikouRider on Feb 7, 2021 11:51:04 GMT -6
Jae Tsukuda Josh DevlinA random event has occurred!After a scuffle lasting several minutes, explosions surrounded the giant metal monster, but it didn't disappear! The gargantuan sprite covered most of the screen, the two characters superimposed over it during the following cutscene. The resulting palette and memory bank conflicts made all the sprites look like a garbled mess. Pixel vomit, as retro enthusiasts called it. Everything else seemed normal, though; all the text on the screen was still readable and in coherent, normal-looking words.
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Post by Josh Devlin on Feb 7, 2021 12:06:06 GMT -6
Josh couldn't help but laugh hysterically during the post-boss cutscene, where the party entered the Temple of Light and acquired the summon spirit Wisp. This gave Angela access to Holy Ball, the same spell the previous boss used on them. With all the level-up points Josh had dumped into Angela's Intelligence, it would hit a lot harder, too. "Kind of wish I could see the new pixel art, but this is funnier! Gotta love pixel vomit, but this does need to be fixed." He jotted down the game's failure to remove the boss's sprite during the long cutscene. After acquiring the spirit, several beastfolk stormed the temple and captured the two. The screen faded completely to black except for the HUD at the bottom of the screen, at last fixing the palette and sprite overload issues. When the screen faded back in, the two found themselves in Castle City Jad's prison, alongside another beastfolk that introduced himself as Kevin, who had lost a longtime friend by the name of Karl when Queen Corrine invaded the Beastfolk Nation for its Arcana. The beastfolk warden returned and told all three of them to "pipe down", Kevin threatening to tell the Beast King about his unlawful imprisonment. Angela complained about how sweaty she had become, and that she needed help changing her clothes, requesting she be let out to do so. The warden insulted the two of them before walking away. -- mTc4cpteJae Tsukuda {WC: 238} {PC: 8}
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Post by Jae Tsukuda on Feb 9, 2021 0:05:05 GMT -6
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Post by RaikouRider on Feb 11, 2021 17:18:41 GMT -6
Josh Devlin Jae TsukudaA random event has occurred!Kevin joined the party at last, giving the two a meat shield that would buy Angela time to cast her spells in the thick of combat! Unfortunately, the only parts of Kevin's sprite the two could see were his head, feel, and arms. The disjointed, seemingly floating head and arms looked a bit unsettling without a body to attach them to. It seems the developers had forgotten to give Kevin any armor to start the game with, giving him a defense rating of zero! He wouldn't be doing too much tanking without armor...
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Post by Josh Devlin on Feb 11, 2021 17:31:48 GMT -6
"Good one, Jae," Josh chimed in as Hawk broke the party out of jail, including their new party member, Kevin. It seemed that Kevin had shed some body weight...a bit too much, in fact. "...What?" he asked with a quizzical look on his face, pulling up the main menu as soon as he got control. There was no equipment whatsoever on Kevin. He thought there would be fur under the light armor that should have been on the fighter...apparently not? "...We should probably get him at least something. I'd rather not stare at a floating head all game," Josh shrugged, heading over to the marketplace to get the best gear they could get without breaking the bank. The ship at port was ready to take the three as close to their next destination as possible. While they would need to hoof it across the Golden Road to get to the Maw of the Earth, where the Earth Arcana was, the closest they'd be able to get by ship was the Free City of Maya. The fare to Maya wouldn't leave them with a lot of money for replenishing supplies, but a little brawling on the Golden Road would fix that. Getting to the magical object would require the cooperation of the dwarves who made their home within the Maw... --- Jae Tsukuda_rVyxZdF{WC: 221} {PC: 9}
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Post by Jae Tsukuda on Feb 13, 2021 7:50:03 GMT -6
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Post by RaikouRider on Feb 14, 2021 9:44:06 GMT -6
Josh Devlin Jae TsukudaNothing happened!All rolls were failed.While the Golden Road was not truly paved with gold, it reflected a gold-like color. The road at the foothills was filled with bright colors; the tans of rock faces, the yellows of the road itself, and the greens of the grass and trees that surrounded it. The road was laden with standard early-game monster fare; poisonous insects, both flying and not, as well as rogue bandits looking to make a quick buck. While their darts did quite a bit of damage, particularly to Angela, it seemed that may have been a feature rather than a bug.
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Post by Josh Devlin on Feb 14, 2021 9:56:09 GMT -6
Josh went into the sub-menu when Jae asked the question. One of the biggest complaints he had with the fan-translation of this game was how large and sluggish the sub-menu was. Rather than a traditional list menu, it was sprawled out over a map containing nine distinct screens. It was so laggy that each input took about three-quarters of a second to register. "This is something I hope gets fixed before release." He scrolled over to the skills screen, which by default displayed Angela's magic spells. She only had one, but was it a good one! He smiled upon noticing there was a shortcut to switch characters, rather than going in and out of the menu for every character. "That's a nice quality-of-life improvement." No Steal skill. "Seems like we just have to fight for money."With the enemies growing in strength alongside the party, combats were filling their coffers faster. The combats themselves were faster, as well, particularly with Kevin on the front lines. He was doing almost double the damage Hawk was; only Angela's magic was more efficient at defeating the nasties on the road. While Josh didn't think it would be a bad idea to run back and forth across the road a few times for more lucre, Jae had previously expressed interest in simply moving on with the story. And the story would force them in that direction; with the way west to the city of Byzel closed, they would need to head into the Maw of the Earth. As soon as they stepped inside, the music faded to no more than a quiet rumble. jXn_HzBW--- Jae Tsukuda{WC: 269} {PC: 10}
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Post by Jae Tsukuda on Feb 18, 2021 6:50:51 GMT -6
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Post by RaikouRider on Feb 20, 2021 17:34:46 GMT -6
Josh Devlin Jae Tsukuda A random event has occurred!Jae was right to suspect another boss battle coming up. It was one of the more difficult early-game fights. When the two transitioned to the screen containing an underground bridge inside the Maw of the Earth, several of Corrine's mages were waiting for them. As soon as the two stepped onto the bridge, the victory fanfare suddenly started playing, as though they had beaten a boss! The two were also prompted to pick stats to grow, as though they had gained a level. Furthermore, the two could cross to the Grasslands Country of Forcena and the Dwarves' Village unhindered, skipping an entire dungeon!
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