#also the combat lol i love arpg

[ridox]

Questions about Xavier & Theories Following Chapter 8 —

I need anyone’s input/theory/thoughts regarding this matter because I haven’t gone through much of Xavier’s Secret Times and Tender Moments yet, and I’ve only unlocked 3/9 of Shooting Stars

Discussion under the cut for potential spoilers

Anyway, I just finished going through Chapter 8 of the Main Story and based from this conversation with Jeremiah. Does this mean Xavier has direct/or indirect influence over what happened to Josephine and Caleb on Chapter 4?

I’m assuming the Nonintervention Principle is for the Lightseekers who venture through space, calling for them to basically NOT ALTER anything in the timeline they’re hopping onto as a preventative measure to creating a butterfly effect (?)

I remember some people saying that Xavier caused the explosion but now that I think about it I don’t think he inherently has anything to do with it. Rather, I think his presence, Jeremiah’s, alongside all the other backtrackers or whatever you call them, is what caused Josephine and Caleb’s death (?)

I have to gather my thoughts for a more concrete theory about this but in essence, the fact that some of the residents of Philos never returned to their own home and their correct timeline… caused a major butterfly effect that essentially kickstarted the catastrophic events that’s happening in MC’s life as of the moment

I feel like Xavier knew what was going to happen to MC’s grandmother and PERHAPS he even knows if Caleb really died or not but he’s bound by this rule to not intervene and to just let it pan out the way it’s supposed to be

Which kinda creates a loophole because his existence itself in this timeline is what caused it to happen in the first place (?) if that specific theory is right

ANYWAY MOVING ON TO MY ACTUAL QUESTIONS —

I remember reading a theory or perhaps an actual explanation that - in an attempt to try and save Queen MC - Xavier created a Möbius Strip that essentially catapults him back in time creating this unending loophole in the Philos timeline

MY QUESTION IS… IS THERE A POSSIBILITY THAT THE MÖBIUS STRIP IN QUESTION IS WHAT RESULTED IN THE DEEPSPACE TUNNEL? OR THE DEEPSPACE TUNNEL ITSELF IS THE MÖBIUS STRIP?

I haven’t done enough research to support this theory because it’s 12 AM and I just finished the chapter and want to document these thoughts but I’m theorizing that Xavier’s effort to save his MC in his own timeline resulted in a time rift in the form of the Deepspace Tunnel.

The same tunnel that was the main reason why MC’s heart got implanted with the Aether Core in the first place. What if the Wanderers that ravaged Linkon City those many years ago were actually Philos citizens (backtrackers, lightseekers) that died during the creation of the tunnel and emerged on the other side as just that… Wanderers?

What if the Wanderer that stabbed current MC through the heart is an alternate timeline/Philos timeline MC who recognized herself and essentially transplanted her heart to hers?

LIKE MY MIND IS GOING MILES AN HOUR THINKING ABOUT THIS BUT I KNOW EVERYTHING’S MESSY AND UNORGANIZED SO LIKE MAYBE I’LL WRITE THIS UP MORE IN THE FUTURE WITH SUPPORTING FACTS AND STUFF

But yeah! To summarize it all —

- Xavier and the rest of the backtrackers/lightseekers in Linkon City are Space and Time anomalies

- Their existence in itself is wrong and is what resulted in the catastrophic event many years ago

- Possibly the Wanderer that pierced current MC’s heart is her from a Philos timeline

- Also Xavier may have been indirectly involve to the death of MC’s grandmother and Caleb

- BUT ALSO I think Xavier knows whether Caleb is truly dead or alive

- Bonus: I feel like Caleb found out that an alternate timeline exists and he had to fake his own death for the sake of MC’s safety

- Just by the end of Chapter 8, everyone was talking about the recent discovery of Philos and imo I feel like this happened prior to Caleb coming home in the first place

- I feel like since Ever pretty much runs everything in Linkon, they tried to sway Caleb into turning MC in for the sake of “research” or something after they found out she’s probably the only living person who fused well with an Aether Core

ANYWAY SORRY FOR THE RAMBLE I WOULD LIKE TO HERE ANYBODY’S THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS PLS I’M SO NECK DEEP INSIDE L&DS LORE

[nerd-bastard]

ok so over the... /checks calendar, past five days i have managed to tear through act one of DQXI and hoo boy. hooooo boy. 

i fucking love this game *_*

@flutiebear​ thank you so much for your notes, they were super helpful!! my thing with JRPGs is mostly the turn based combat-- i can get SO BORED with it, i definitely prefer ARPGs where i can button mash things to death. DQXI seems to have found some kind of sweet spot for me tho, where battles are just long enough for me to like. pick a strategy and implement it, and get satisfactory results. sometimes those satisfactory results are just Talc helichoptering an entire group of enemies to death in one swing, which scratches my ‘button mash them to death’ itch :D I definitely like the easier monsters and relaxing while i play too, i’ve literally failed exactly ONE boss battle and that was bc my initial strategy sucked, not bc i didn’t have the muscle to pull it off. and omg, THE NO’S. BEST TIP EVER, THANK YOU.

and, as per your request, thoughts! :DDD full disclosure, i watched a playthrough up through the MMA tournament before I got the game, so these aren’t exactly first impressions. tons of screenshots and rambling below the cut, RIP mobile users :(

OH and because I got it on PC, i literally modded it before I even fired up the game lol. found some nice retextures on the mod nexus and installed the orchestral music overhaul too, it’s nice. The retextures are Wild Side Erik and Chainmail Luminary, i love them and I recommend the hell out of ‘em. Just a heads up so folks know why my Erik and Hero look different :D

ALRIGHT I WAS TOO DISTRACTED TO TAKE SCREENSHOTS FOR THE FIRST PART UP THE TOR but: i love gemma and i would die for her and sandy, and so would Talc. also christ, slimes are the most adorable enemy ever, DQ did a good thing with slimes. 

/NERVOUS LAUGHTER

horsey!! her name is Whisper and Talc loves her :D

so, initial Hero headcanons: Talc does not want to be a Luminary. He wants to stay in Cobblestone, and continue spending days at a time alone in the wilderness hunting for his family and culling monsters and riding horses and whittling wood and carving soapstone to pass the time. He knows he’s not Hero material-- he has to work too hard to hold his temper, and he’s too stubborn, and and and (he’s fine-- he just really wants to be like Chalky, but he’s a 16 year old kid who thinks good people ((like Chalky)) don’t have to try so hard to be good people, not a man with 60+ years of experience and time to mellow out. he’ll get there.) So Talc’s plan is 100% ‘Go to Heliodor, explain the situation to the king’s Knights and give them the pendant so one of them can go defeat the evil instead, then go home to Cobblestone.’ and well. We know how that turns out.

the most hardened, you say ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 

THIS FUCKER. WHAT IS THIS FUCKER. 47 HOURS INTO THIS GAME AND I DON’T KNOW WHAT THIS FUCKER IS. ARE YOU GOOD? ARE YOU EVIL?? ARE THERE A BUNCH OF YOU, OR IS IT JUST FUCKING YOU FOLLOWING ME EVERYWHERE? TELL ME

THERE HE IS!!! THERE’S MY BOY!! <3_<3 

In Talc’s defense, he was trying to open the jars, not smash them. yes i absolutely have to reconcile breaking into people’s homes and smashing their stuff with his character, he’s a country bumpkin who struggles to remember the concept of ‘private property’ and is so stupidly strong from rock climbing and swinging a greatsword around that is is a genuine struggle for him to lay hands on ceramic without shattering it. he’s a bit of a bull in a china shop, and it’s only growing up with Gemma that let him develop a reflex-bordering-on-instinct to be as gentle as possible with other human beings that, unfortunately, does not translate well to inanimate objects.

also... ngl, it took... a minute for that accent to grow on me. that accent, man. more like ‘those accents’ JUST PICK ONE AND STICK WITH IT DUDE

talc: you know those days when you’re like ‘this might as well happen, adult life is already so goddamn weird’

also, those SHOUJO SPARKLES. i will NEVER BE OVER THE SPARKLES.

holy shit i love Erik’s expressions and poses so much, he’s so fucking expressive (all the characters are, the voice acting and animation in this game has been a delight every step of the way, but i just. adore Erik’s in particular, everything he does is so endearing to me.)

ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THIS QUEST NAME, IT COULD NOT BE ANY LESS SUBTLE

little did he know what monster he had created

seriously tho i LOVE the crafting system in this game, it’s a good challenge and a little frustrating when one of the random events screws you up, but SO SO SATISFYING when you finally get your +3. also it works really well with my headcanon that Talc is very much a “show your love by providing the ones you care about with anything they could possibly need or want” type of person. he’s actually very good at anticipating said needs/wants and has a knack for giving his friends things before they even properly knew they needed/wanted the thing. he also has a tendency to...kind of forget that he can get things in return, and gets really flustered and happy when he does get something which also leads to a tendency to treasure and consequentially hoard small dumb things BECAUSE they were gifts.

this is where Talc’s heart starts to go doki-doki-- he's very much a people pleaser, if he can make folks happy it makes him happy. the little bit of trouble is it was pretty much the status quo in cobblestone, and a little bit taken for granted by the time he strikes out-- not by everyone, or all the time, for sure, but getting out into the world and getting a sudden influx of gratitude is like crack for him. Also Erik is Nice and Handsome and was happy to do all the talking in downtown Heliodor so Talc didn’t have to worry about it, so Talc now definitely wants to keep Erik. It’s also hilarious to Talc that Erik is clearly skilled with knives, and yet has zero clue how to dress or cook a rabbit-- he’s very determined to keep the city boy alive (watch me walk this headcanon back in a few days when i finally get his back story and it turns out he lived off the land for years)

oh man, my HEART, MY HEART. even knowing it was coming, playing through this part was rough, especially since now it’s my Talc running around the ruins of the one place he wanted to live out his days protecting. ;_; that was his job, that’s what he was good at and contributed to his home, except for the one time it really, really needed him. he’s more than a little fucked up about it, but it’s a big part of him really leaning into the Luminary role- he can’t stand the thought of it happening to anyone else.

this. this is kinda a big deal for him, after cobblestone. after learning people blame him for Dundrasil, and then feeling responsible for Cobblestone, he’s already starting to have tiny, niggling doubts about ‘oh shit what if i AM some kind of darkspawn??’ Fighting alongside Erik through the Kingsbarrow and getting to feel like he’s helping and protecting Erik helps, and then so does this. 

it also plays right into his thing for doing justice-- which, he tries to hold Chalky’s words close to his heart, he does, and his vision isn’t the first time Chalky has had to encourage him to let grudges go. it was the main motivation for the vast majority of his pranks as a kid: make Gemma cry by telling her proper ladies don’t play at catching frogs and getting dirty? enjoy the frog hidden in a jar leaping out at your face, old lady. accuse him of being a darkspawn and throw him and his family in jail? hell yes he is going to help this thief steal your greatest treasure, and love every minute of it.

and now, to wrap things up bc this post is already way too long and i’ve got. the rest of act one to yammer about later:

YES

YESSSSS

YAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSS

in conclusion: this is a good game and a good ship and i already have 300 words of fic sitting in my gdrive <_<;;;

[medakakurokami]

top 5 jrpgs

these aren’t necessarily in order its hard to rank games just whichever come to my head. also try to stick to 1 per franchise. Things like .hack and Chrono Trigger and Xenogears would probably make the list if i’d ever fuckin beat em! also avoiding SRPG’s or action-focused ARPG’s like Nier Automata, y’know shit that video game journalists think are JRPG’s.

5. Dragon Quest III

I usually give all the love to Dragon Quest 5, and after 11 I’d be tempted to say 11, but let me give love to 3. Dragon Quest 3 has been so embedded in JRPG design and culture seeping into anime as well, even when not complex, playing it feels like experiencing something truly classic, an early mastered blueprint for a genre. Specifically though, the SNES version’s added intro shows that the simple story lends itself to something greater than the tropes it created, which is something every JRPG after it would have to accomplish as well.

4. Persona 4 Golden

Persona 4 has garnered a lot of distaste from people in the last few years, and not without good reason. Many of the social and personal commentary it tried to make was poorly handled by people who were clearly not writing from personal experience, and you also have Yosuke Hanamura the biggest shitlord this side of the Samegawa River. There’s also flaws that were present at launch, such as the tedious recapping of the story after every dungeon, the drab dungeons that played like a cautionary tale against corridors in video games, and a maligned start to the third act where strict dialogue options would cost many players the true ending and a limited window to forming a relationship with Naoto Shirogane, one of the game’s best characters. While fortunately the Golden release could fix those latter issues, the former will perhaps rightly be the source of discourse for as long as this game lingers in people’s minds. However, I don’t think Persona 4 gets its due credit this far out. Nowadays we have much more representation in video games, from excellent games that have lesbian fish knights to mediocre corporate produced pandering games it’s just everywhere. But the discussion of sexual and LGBT issues in mainstream gaming was much harder to find before Persona 4. And despite the aspects that were mishandled, messages about toxic masculinity (that greatly resonated with me as a teenager) and the pressures of women coming into male dominated professions can still be well derived. And beyond that the cast is (mostly) as charming as Persona casts get with each of them having strong personal arcs.

3. Undertale

Does Undertale count as a JRPG? Made in America with non-traditional RPG mechanics? Undertale will be the placeholder here until I finally get around to playing Earthbound. Anyway Undertale’s great. Constantly funny and charming, heartwarming story, addictive gameplay, beautiful and awesome music, stellar deconstructive game design. You know why it’s great.

2. Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana

I only got into Ys recently and have only beaten 4 of the games but it’s good to know a lot of Ys fans also agree this was a quick high-tier entry in the franchise. A game that’s almost inherently fun to zip around in and master on the highest levels of difficulty. It carries with it Falcom’s now-signature style of constant NPC characterization in a way that attaches you to everyone in the game and makes it increasingly satisfying to watch your village grow. The story isn’t mind blowing but glimpses of greatness are there, and the entire premise feels like it’s one that is perfect for a video game so much that its inconceivable that it hasn’t been done this well before if at all.

1. Trails of Cold Steel II

But the experience of Ys 8 is insular (LOL i’m funny) and Falcom’s constant worldbuilding and dense lore, deep NPC characterization, and excellent RPG mechanics are at their most rewarding when 7 games deep into an inspired saga. People were complaining to me the other day about the Trails games being too much of a slog early on and that games need some sort of instant gratification. But instant gratification is a hot pocket in the microwave for 90 seconds, and Trails is a four course meal at a Brazilian steak house. At 3 hours in, I was regretting my purchase of Trails Of Cold Steel 1. By three hours into the sequel, Trails of Cold Steel had elevated my expectations and standards for JRPG’s and RPG’s in general. Full of anime cliche’s and PS2 graphics, Cold Steel never wasted its time being ashamed of the genre and the series has picked up and improved on the best elements of other series’ character building, exploitation based combat, life sim integration into gameplay in story, and beat them all out in terms of building the world through side quests and extra material. Top it all off with great music, great designs and artwork, and one of the best English localizations you’ll ever hear or read. If you aren’t playing this saga you’re missing out, and I can’t wait for the next game in November.