JSA Storytime: Mage

Good evening owls and robofuckers,

I believe we left off on a cliffhanger the other day

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Hello, Storyteller.

Trails update. Finished Azure today, and goddamn this game is fantastic. Fair warning though, a lot of these notes are gonna come across like I'm complaining a lot. I did still love the game, but I had more critiques this time. Also, the last chapter is fucking long, but only because A LOT happens.

Azure was what, 2011. Can't even call it prescient, cause this kind of shit is depressingly dirt common throughout history.

Sure, less demigods and forcefields, but still.
Aw sweet, we finally got our own airship! Which I can't help notice has the same internal layout as the Arseille. That's some good asset recycling right there.

Why is getting the band back together such a good trope? I suppose it provides a good narrative structure with an established emotional core.

I fucking hate Elon Ark, the turtle cryptid with the unfortunate name. High defense, tons of health, spams shockwaves, loves that charge up attack, and now they pop up all the time. Pain in my ass.

I love how the forcefield around the city is a little barrier. Y'know, in case you didn't get the theme.

I like Rixia a lot, but the game is doing that thing where all the bad shit she did happened offscreen before we met her, so it's more telling than showing.

Okay, Eschaton is an amazing art. This shit is so extra, and it's surprising since they noticably cut down on the overly elaborate animations Sky suffered from at times.

1) I ship Randy and Mireille so hard. 2) Grace is providing a lot of welcome comic relief right now. Shit was getting a bit too dour there.

I was hoping we wouldn't have to fight Noel, but it's presented as a knocking some sense into her sort of thing, so that's fine. Also, her new S-Craft is fucking awesome.

So get this, one of the RC goons was very low on health, and the idiot let off a War Cry and knocked himself the fuck out. Dumbass.

I'm glad Elie got to have a cool moment there for once. It's annoying that she doesn't get nearly as much to do. Though she is pointing out the moral greyness of the situation.

Divine Crusade features a pair of pistols that supsiciously resemble Ebony and Ivory. As such, it is now my headcanon that Elie is a Devil May Cry fan. She husbandos Nero, for the record.

Hey, Falcom. Do us all a solid and stop making late game enemies resistant to everything. Like, seriously why even have status effects if they become effectively useless? Come on.

On that topic, fuck off with self destructing enemies. Just... stop it. There's almost never any way to avoid it. It's cheap, and annoying as fuck. Knock it off, or give me a way to deal with it.

Well, that fight was suitably annoying. Moreso becase of the weird gimmicks than actually being tough. And then he fucks off while basically dropping an ad for Cold Steel. Amazing.

Knight waifus! Ines is tough but managable, Ennea is a pain with her cheapshots, and Duvalie is cute. CUTE! Also, I really hope Arianrhod is Elie's mom, cause that would be hilarious.

Fuck me, that armor ain't for nothing, huh? She has so much defense! This started to feel like a fake fight after a while. Also, presumably this backstory will be relevant to next time, yes?

This sequence of the previous heroes fighting the Aions is yet another instance of "Yeah, you played the previous games, right? ". It's never not funny.

Oh this dungeon is really cool, especially with the rotating camera. Also, human-sized archaisms. Which are even vaguely feminine. We are getting very close to a robot girl party member.

I'm almost certain you guys were waiting for me to freak out over Eidolon Gear. And you were right. FUCKING HYPE.

HI CRANKY

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still here liking lost ark

PATER-MATER, NOOOOO! Wow, really? Well, fuck. On the upside, at least we won't have to fight the other two Aions.

Huh. The fight with Dieter was surprisingly easy. Granted, this is mostly because Reflect is amazing. ... Also, the fuck is THIS twist? I can't tell if this is a good twist or not.

Also, I kinda love how all the Ouroboros people just fucking leave. And you can see their plans for Erebonia in Trails of Cold Steel, coming September 26!

Anyone play Tales of Symphonia? Case this part is giving me flashbacks. Synthetic green haired girl turning into a giant tree near the end of the game. Kind of uncanny, really.

Aww, the chests are being super supportive again. Which is good because all these ghost enemies that make you VANISH by touching you can fuck off. Fuck the vanish effect.

Sorry, but this fight sucks. I always hated Wald, and his boss fight is equally frustrating. I hate fights where I half to spend half of it resing everyone.

This fight is better, but still making me res a lot. I've come to enjoy Shirley's character kind of ironically. Still waiting for that apology for the groping though.