Lurker > Gaawa_chan

IV is my nostalgic favorite. When I first played it, it was around the time that my chronic depression had started manifesting in earnest, and I found characters defined in great part by guilt, self-loathing, and envy paired with a theme of redemption/coming to terms with the wrongs you have done to be compelling. At the time, it was the first game I'd played with a story that was even worth mentioning.

Unfortunately, it has not aged well at all. I think if the game was remade *from the ground up*, properly fleshed out, it could be truly excellent, but much like Secret of Mana, you can see that they were trying to do something large, sweeping, and dramatic, but it was cut short by limitations of the time.

For example, a proper re-write of the game could cut out some of the fake-out death events in favor of a party swap mechanic, as the lack of one is the only reason those happen so much in the story. Characters and areas could be expanded on (the thought bubbles/extra scenes in the DS version and some of the bonus dungeon content in the GBA version is good but I think it could go further), and more limited character units could be expanded to be more comparable to, say, FFIX.

Uh... Do we really need spoiler tags for a 1991 game? Eh. I think a teeny bit more foreshadowing about the Lunarians would probably be in order as well. There IS some in the game if you are paying attention, but a lot of people seem to really hate Zemus (lolol that is ironic) so it might not be a bad idea.

Overtly explaining why it is Kain was susceptible to their influence but Edge and Tellah were not is a good idea. You can infer it if you understand the characters- Kain (and also Theodore, later revealed) is in turmoil over his negative feelings for people he cares about which makes him vulnerable to control, and this fundamentally differentiates his negative feelings from Edge and Tellah, who are "righteous" in their negativity aimed at the villains; there is no turmoil to be found there.

Unfortunately the game absolutely does not make it properly clear that that is why the baddies keep yoinking control of Kain; even the DS ending just has Rydia make a quip about how it was unbelievable that Edge had not fallen victim to Zemus' influence, so even the characters in-lore seemed baffled by what was going on.

And just for a quick aside, I always found it a bit strange how hated Edward is. I always liked him, even when I was little. Edge was my least favorite party member and Cid was my least favorite unit; Edward's status inflictions alone made him better than Cid.

But it is a very concise and decent to play game even to this day, and it doesn't get enough praise for the slew of optional bosses guarding loot it has in the final dungeon, that was awesome.

adjl posted...

And unfortunately, unlike with lyrical music, Google struggles to help with "that one tootly flute bit."

Yeah, it really fucking sucks when you hear a nice classical piece and if you're lucky the radio is like "that was blippity bloop #53235667" and you're like... wait, what was that again? What the fuck was that name? Why the fuck would anyone call their song that?

You should try some of the classic stuff, then. I listened to both growing up. You could try out pieces by the Scarlattis, those are really nice.

Here, I'll link you to a couple of things I grew up with. Dunno what OSTs you like, but you might enjoy these:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mAf_hfuGnXdDoZnGB8jgbtghr_5Ueshf4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwoRYxCZTY4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh9WX7TKfkI
I am, unfortunately, fucking terrible with song names, so... *shrug*

Thought about this a bit more; I was half-asleep when I made my first post in this topic. I should preface this by stating that I am not a vegan, just to be clear.

It's worth pointing out that many plants specifically evolved to be eaten- that being eaten is, oddly, how they sustain themselves. This is basically the only reason that fruit as a whole exists at all. As such, even if the TC's question was the case, I suppose the ethics of it would vary on a plant by plant basis.

SmugRickMoranis posted...

What about eggs, dairy, and honey, though? Never understood that aspect of veganism.

Milk comes from pregnant/parent animals, so in order to produce and take in appropriate quantities, it all but necessitates rather vicious treatment of the animals in question, including violence against the offspring and sexual abuse of the milk producing animal. Fairly easy to understand the moral objections there. *shrug* Going off on a tangent, people who scream about soy milk having phytoestrogen in it is hilarious if you remember that, you know, animal milk has ANIMAL estrogen in it, lol.

Eggs... I shit you not, the first argument I heard against eggs was one of the worst arguments for not eating any animal product I have ever heard. Was literally "They're bird periods. Isn't that gross?! Why would you want to eat that?! That's gross!" The better argument is that it results in male birds being slaughtered en masse (as does milk production, btw).

As for honey... this is far more complicated, tbh. Right now bee populations are in rapid decline, and from what little I understand, commercial bee-keeping is actually harming native bee populations, but this seems to easily be the most odd issue. I think the best argument against honey off the top of my head would simply be that we have alternatives that are pretty damn good, and there doesn't seem to be much reason to use honey when you could use something not produced by animals, but... this is definitely the one you mentioned I know the least about.

Bandaid over a gaping wound, but direct cash payments have been proven to be efficacious in a variety of scenarios.

It's not even a secret that this is the case. Prisons use forced+unpaid labor, many corporations have enslaved people in certain countries, and there are massive labor and sex trafficking rings. Slavery is probably more common today than it was at any point in history in the past, though I don't know if it is by proportion.

kind9 posted...

"Flat earthers need to be educated, not debated." - Aron Ra

Pretty much goes for all science deniers.

This. If Rogan cared about the truth, he would bring on educators, not debaters.

Veganism is still more efficient and sustainable. There's not just one reason that people become vegan, tbh. The suffering one is just the most common reason given.

I think Voltorb/Electrode is probably the "correct" answer, but one gen 1 pokemon that I have personally never liked is Magmar. The concept isn't bad but the design is just... so awful.

I don't think they're bad but I do think there are better alternatives (FJG + some other stuff) that would not cause as many issues as UBI could.

I rarely watch shows/movies, tbh. I should probably try the legend of vox machina at some point, but I've heard very mixed things about it. Seems very much like a love it or hate it thing.