#now byyye I'll be back some time

[lemoonthetwink]

I'M BACK IN THE FUCKING BUILDING AGAIN

[12th-shavie]

[90 hours in]

I remembered... I coerced the demon out and got the fancy staff... why does that kid still have his STuFfeD ToY...?

I also finally led the clock tower guy to said clock tower, the boss sure stood in my way (the cracked Osvald nuke team do be working out fine) so that's fun

I found a bunch of next chapters for npcs, it's pretty neat that they're a thing, it'd be a shame not to see these guys again

Melia's was cute if not a little baffling, how did that guy even think of taking over the town when he's unable to even help with anything ??

The Mira and elderly guard one was a little more interesting, I was in fact pretty curious to see if Mira would be a small boss fight or something but I'm glad with what I got (family...)

Thurston and Floyd's was fun, how did this guy become such a reasonable manager (also holy shit Floyd you are terrifying me)

I tried beating the Deep One with the team I was trying to level a bit since they wouldn't be in the next chapter but hum... yeah that didn't work out so well

I did beat the dino dragon though ! Not all is lost this time around

Time to shine do Agnea's final chapter ! It starts of all nice and sketchy, with reunions aplenty !

Oh hey it's Giselle's Traveling Troupe again thanks for the help by- oh hello again Gil thanks for the help byy- oh hi Laila again thanks for the help byyye

Will Gil ever go a conversation without ever saying that something's hot I wonder

He does have a pretty hot jazzy tune on the keys tho (and it carries in the theater, neat)

Dolcinaea and Veronica do have a nice little something going here... me likey

Oh wow the manager boss is such a loser lmao he doesn't even see how significant he truly is

And cut ! Thanks Veronica for shutting that idiot up before he started becoming aggravating <3

Damn, Dolcinaea, girl, what a sprite ! I'm not her biggest fan but I'll be damned, the spritework in this game is gorgeous... and phase one done, that's what happens when Osvald hits the field now (and it wasn't even my best version of this team)

It took me an extra attempt to beat her out of bad luck but phase two also got a quick demise in the end, I love my Osvald nuke setup

Agnea is so precious, her story was wholesome, and her end card ? With everyone who rooted for her (eventually) and her sister giving her the bouquet ? And she's crying tears of joy ? We're crying tears of joy...

Oh I can take Agnea off the team now ? Hmmm how about no I like my overlevelled supportive queen just where she is

I did finally beat the Deep One, thanks Osvald <3

I couldn't resist the temptation and went on to do the long awaited final chapter of Osvald's story

I'm not immune to the precious memories of the past with his family

So you're telling me Harvey would give anything to beat Osvald ? Ha, better give the fuck up then, scumbag

Truly the One True Magic was the power of love we remembered along the way (150 sp cost is a lot, but arcanist support skills are one hell of a drug though and I will not go back to lower damage)

My Osvald nuke setup was absolutely flawless, beautiful, and destructive~ Anything to beat some sense into that delusional asshole

Did Harvey just fucking explode ??? Man, I would've hoped he'd pay a bit more before biting the dust

Osvald please go see your daughter she deserves this, even if she needs some time to process the events, don't make her wait too much

Love that end card, it is both dashing (extremely stylish fit on Osvald) and tugging at my heartstrings

Next thing I did was the next chapter for Misha (and Alrond) which was quite cute so that's a win

I finally caved in and decided to start doing the second chapters of crossed paths I had unlocked before finishing Temenos' story

Started that off with Ochette and Castti's, and I had nearly forgotten how adorable it is that Ochette calls Castti "Ma" so naturally

Oh hey that's the third time I see this spooky aura in the environment with the spooky music and the shadow creatures (except the first two times weren't scripted and were over when I beat the spookster) I wonder what that's about

Callbacks to Trousseau's purple rain of death, neat

Castti corruption arc- oh okay we're not doing that thanks Ochette

What was that at the very end ??? What do you mean the quest is over ???? What was it ?????

Surely the Agnea and Hikari follow-up won't do this to me, right ?

So far so cute, Benkei just really wants a festival

Can't say I expected to fight this girl over her dead twin but that is a good new learned skill for Hikari so I ain't complaining

These lyrics are quite ominous huh... and of course the quest just ends here once more

Guess that's just how these quest are all going to give me : a fine tie-in and suspense

Octopath Traveler II delayed playthrough blogging

[10 hours in]

Contains light spoilers of some early chapters I guess

I started the journey with Agnea because she looked like a sweetie (and she is) and she really has the most jrpg "leave of this small village to see the big wide world to make your dream come true" beginning

I got her to allure a villager that replenishes SP with every dancer skill she uses and she's been the cornerstone to most battles ever since

The second traveler I got was Partitio and he's a funny lad, I love his vibe, hat, jacket, and speech ! Also, the atmosphere of his storyline was a nice dramatic change of pace after the cozy first one I got

I headcanon that Roque's betrayal was in fact very much a divorce with Partitio's dad and I cannot wait to see how that applies to future chapters (I do hope it ages like fine wine rather than milk)

Partitio's combat performance was pretty solid despite a lack of AoE but the weapon variety for breaking was the early highlight

I ignored the fork in the road that lead to Hikari in favor of recruiting Castti because I wanted a healer and I feel slightly guilty (but also not at all)

Castti is literally so nice to people I can't wait to see if she really has an extremely shady past that will torment her for at least 1 chapter before she decides that she's going to be a good noddle in spite of all

Her concocting is pretty fun but I wish I had more diffusing serum (I can make do with latent power for now but it'd more fun to let her do some fun nuking)

Castti is also extremely tanky (she's the only one I have with over 1k HP so far) so she was a very welcome addition to the party

The next step in the journey was recruiting Osvald (I wanted to start with him but the 2 forced chapters made me decide to instead make him the reward for reaching the eastern continent) after I ignored the boat that lead to Ochette and wandered around until I stumbled upon a boat that lead really close to Osvald on the map and eventually found him face-down in the snow (which makes my decision to no start with him even better)

His first two chapters cemented him as one of my favorites beyond the visual vibes I got from the first selecting menu, and his skillset was a cherry on top

AoE magic nuking when I already have some buffing and BP donating in my party ? I'm sold. Free weakpoint reveals every battle ? Even better ! Osvaldo battle voicelines ? Yes please !

After that I found the scholar license and decided that Agnea should also learn to buff spell intensity to make my Osvaldo nuking engine even stronger (she's been doing great and I'm very proud of her)

Since it was on the way to Agnea's second chapter for which she was at the recommended level, I went on to recruit Temenos and he did not disappoint ! He really gave me an impression of being a seemingly upstanding fellow who is in fact not only shady but just the right blend of ambiguous tease with genuine words thrown in (props to his voice acting that really sells it)

His detective moment was also pretty cool, especially after seeing the duality of his abilities to get people to follow him without risk of failure and his (very shady) coercing to get more intel

I considered replacing Castti with him as my party healer but he is very squishy compared to her, and she also has weapon diversity and more consistent debuffing over him so for the time being he's just chilling at the tavern waiting for a party composition that makes him shine

On my way to the big city I found the inventor license and could simply not resist giving it to Partitio it simply fit him too well (and more weapons to break with is very nice), although I'm thinking of changing it later to try a Temenos build that would allow him to break even more and coerce better

Now onto the big city to recruit Throné and let Agnea's story unfold further !