Board 8 > Jeff Zero & Leonhart in Different Houses: Life Will Change Edition [JZLF]

(+) Yeah! (+)

Man, chapters 273 and 274 of the final School Rumble volume tore me up emotionally. Not gonna spoil anything in case someone here wants to read it because it should be experienced firsthand, but I couldn't hold back the tears. Generally only Clannad can get me that stirred up.
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bah it's frustrating getting stuck on a puzzle in a Layton game because you can't visualize the shape the thing is supposed to take in order to solve it

I guess I could just look up the solution but I don't really like to do that so I guess I'll just brute force solve it

Especially since I want to solve this thing and figure out what the heck just happened to Flora. Do we have a fake Flora now? Is it that Don Paolo guy? Wasn't he the fake Chelmey in the first game? This would be a disguise on an entirely different level, but maybe he is a master of disguise. Hopefully we can get this resolved soon and get Flora some more screentime. Let her solve a puzzle or something, guys!

We've barely made any headway into the mystery of the Elysian Box. Dropstone's founder was obsessed with trying to find it but supposedly never did (or did she?). Mr. Anderson's daughter Katia is running away from home, and I assume it has something to do with the box, too, but I guess we'll find out whenever I solve this stupid puzzle.
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What number is it?
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ProfitProphet posted...

What number is it?

40
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I liked that one
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The worst part is making sure they face the right direction because I know I've got them in the right spot, and that's what I can't visualize.
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The hints won't help with that so don't bother if you haven't already
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yes I am already aware

I don't have a problem with using hint coins if I get stuck because that's what they're there for.
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Oh yeah, I've used quite a few in every game. From what I can remember some puzzles, especially in the first game, just don't have very clear instructions and getting that first hint can get you on the right track
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Whew FINALLY

"Was it hard converting the 3-D shape of the box into a flat 2-D image in your head?"

shut up game
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And Chapter 2 is in the books. And we get our first glimpse of Katia, as she boards the Molentary Express along with us.
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I always have to reset if I use any hint coins

Need a full count!
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LordoftheMorons posted...

I always have to reset if I use any hint coins

Need a full count!

I'm glad I'm not the only one.

I never did finish the third game, or go on to the second trilogy. Maybe I'll go back to them someday...
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thanks for reminding me why I am grateful not to be a completionist
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The quest to get better at Zestiria battles continues. And has been mostly successful. With some more tweaking of the strategy options, I seem to have mostly gotten the AI to gain the smallest semblance of a survival instinct. At the cost of their offense somewhat, but whatever, they're only there to keep my combos up really. They're still dumb about it sometimes but it's a lot better.

Except for the occasional sidequest boss that is like "yo i can one-shot you all lol" but that's mostly a function of playing on Intense. Thankfully sidequest bosses give you the retry option if you wipe and you can change the difficulty from there. (Wipe in a standard fight and you have to load a save.) Though there was was a regular fight in the latest dungeon/area where the first encounter wiped me in a matter of seconds and I was about to go "oh for ****s sake" but thankfully I had saved about 15 seconds earlier and it was an anomaly. They only have this one move that is scary and I must have had the luck to encounter 6 of them and have them all spam it immediately and since I didn't realize how dangerous it was... that was the wipe. >_>

In other news, Support Abilities are a really cool concept but man sometimes they just seem to take forever to proc. Which is annoying. And sometimes seems to defy any reason so it's not like I can fix it. still a cool idea though.
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So are you actually enjoying this game or not?

Because it goes on sale for $15 all the time, and I've often been tempted to get it.
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I feel like playing Tales games on higher difficulties is gonna be the way for me to really enjoy them.
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I am, yes. Though it's on the weaker end of Tales so far. But I also don't know far in I am so it could still definitely turn around?

If you asked me to rank Tales games it'd probably come in at either last or second-to-last to Xillia of the ones I played, but again, that's probably not fair to it right now and also I generally like the Tales formula so I still like it.

also edna is still the absolute best

Top Tier Tales character.
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So my Crunchyroll subscription comes with manga, too, and I see that they have Attack on Titan available. I'm wondering if I should just go ahead and read through it as far as I can before season 3 comes out. I've never really read a manga before seeing the anime version first (although I have gone beyond where the anime stopped when the series seems to be canceled like Haruhi or School Rumble). It might help to get some of the bad taste from season 2 out of my mouth if I go ahead and see where all these dangling plot threads eventually lead, assuming the payoff is actually worth it.
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Might want to ask @MariaTaylor about that
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I personally thought all of the material after where season 2 ends is really great. pretty much better than anything in the anime so far. going by popular opinion one of the arcs is regarded low while the rest is regarded more highly. I guess it's up to you if you value my opinion or popular opinion more.

all of the remaining dangling plot threads have been resolved in the manga. I read through to exactly chapter 90 which is where I would say the first big 'turning point' in the plot is. this is where they finally are in a position of.... okay, now we understand EVERYTHING that is going on, we know who and what the enemy is, we know what we need to do next. now let's make a plan to go out and do it. I did not read anything past that. I'll wait till the manga is finished and then read the second 'post answer' part after that. like yourself I was primarily interested in reading ahead to have all of the questions answered and I felt they were all answered by chapter 90.
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Hmmm...I'll probably pick it up and start reading it soon then.
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I just cleared the first two zones in Sonic Mania. Did not expect to play Puyo
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That boss fight is so great.

Also, I finished Chapter 3 of Diabolical Box. We've made our way to the mysterious phantom town of Folsense. The train owner and conductor are searching about for something, presumably the Elysian Box. Or maybe it's this castle full of gold that one of the residents told us about. We also found a book with a goat on the cover and about a dozen locks that prevent us from reading anything but the first entry. Flora wasn't feeling well, so Layton and Luke left her in a hotel to rest. If this is a fake Flora, I imagine this was just a ruse and we'll discover the truth soon enough.
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Still working on getting all the Chaos Emeralds in Sonic Mania. It doesn't matter what the special stage is in a Sonic game. I am almost always going to be bad at it.
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So I've been playing the lottery in my NG+ run of Persona 5 because I have a lot of extra money this time around since I'm not having to spend anything on equipment, and I won 100,000 yen last time. Is there a higher payout than that? I figure I might as well quit while I'm ahead if that's the best prize you can win.
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It's weird in Persona 5 that we never learn what the deal was with Shido and that woman at the beginning of the game. I guess it was just to provide an opportunity for Joker to get falsely convicted by the main villain, but I thought the actual event itself would turn out to be something important to the overall story beyond that. Guess not!
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LeonhartFour posted...

So I've been playing the lottery in my NG+ run of Persona 5 because I have a lot of extra money this time around since I'm not having to spend anything on equipment, and I won 100,000 yen last time. Is there a higher payout than that? I figure I might as well quit while I'm ahead if that's the best prize you can win.

Not to my knowledge.
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so apparently this Layton puzzle wants me to make a precise outline of a shape with the stylus

this is a joke right
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Well, I've found an easily accessible giant ring near the beginning of one of the zones, so now I can just reload that zone over and over again until I get the rest of the Chaos Emeralds.
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Finished Chapter 4 of Diabolical Box. Still doesn't feel like we've made a lot of progress as of yet. We're just following Beluga and Chelmey around and not really learning anything new or of value. I guess the one big thing is that there's supposedly a vampire who lives in the castle on the outskirts of town. Since this is a Layton game, there's no way this dude is actually a vampire, but it should be interesting to see how they explain all of this stuff!

By the way, is there really a benefit to all the mini-games, like the camera, the hamster, the tea, etc.? I've fiddled with it a little bit, but not too much.
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They unlock bonus puzzles.
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Yeah, puzzle unlocks. Also the hamster will eventually point out hint coins if you get far enough in his minigame.
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I think I've got most of the camera pieces. I might only be missing one at this point (either that or I've got them arranged improperly and I've got them all, who knows). I've only got about half of the tea ingredient things, and there were a bunch of people asking me to make them a certain blend of tea and I kept screwing up, so that's why I asked. I don't know if I've missed any at this point, although when I finished the chapter, no puzzles got sent to the shack, so I dunno.
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All right, finished my School Rumble re-watch. The flashback scene in the last episode with Tenma and Yakumo is really good because it shows how they used to be and why they became the people they are now. The relationship between Tenma and Yakumo is one of the most fascinating ones in the series because they complement each other really well. The one's strengths are the other's weaknesses.

Time for a huge character ranking!

Harima > Yakumo > Eri > Karen > Mikoto > Sarah > Tenma > Akira > Nakamura > Imadori > Lara > Itoko > Inaba > Haruna > Satsuki > Harry > Karasuma > Aso > Shuji > Mai > Megumi > Tsumugi > Hanai > Saeko > Suga > Togo > Nara > Sasakura > Nishimoto > Anegasaki > Tennouji > Yoshidayama > Pyotr > Napoleon > Iori > Masaru > Tani > Fuyuki > Mihara > Shigeo > Madoka

I think that's all the ones who matter anyway.
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And now to update the New and Improved Female Character Rankings 2.0

Yakumo > Kurisu > Yukiko > Aqua > Makoto > Mitsuru > Yui > Shiori > Akane > Pepper > Namine > Mikasa > Eureka > Art3mis > Valentine > Vera > Elizabeth > Cora

A new #1 appears!
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I don't know most of those but Elizabeth is way too low
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It's not Persona 3 Elizabeth

It's Pirates of the Caribbean Elizabeth
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That makes me feel much better
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It also makes me feel much better to know someone else out there appreciates Elizabeth.

Criminally underrated character.
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I'm still not very far into the game but the date at the mall was enough to make me really like her
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ProfitProphet posted...

I'm still not very far into the game but the date at the mall was enough to make me really like her

One of my favorite scenes in the game.

I believe my exact reaction to that moment was, "I don't know what just happened. All I know is that I want more dates with Elizabeth."
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LeonhartFour posted...

It also makes me feel much better to know someone else out there appreciates Elizabeth.

Criminally underrated character.

Wait, really? I thought everyone loved P3 Elizabeth.

I also vaguely remember thinking her route in P4Arena was great, but I can barely remember anything about that game...
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sadly no I've seen many people who somehow prefer other Velvet Room attendants over her

And yes, Elizabeth is also great in P4A. If they never actually follow up on her story there, I'll be kinda disappointed.
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Whaaaa. Who the hell prefers Margaret or the Velvet Twins over Elizabeth?
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Some of them post in this very topic!

I'd be up for allowing some public shaming for their bad opinions...!
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Margaret could've been good if she weren't so bland. And if they hadn't fucked up her Social Link. The Velvet Twins are a lot more interesting, but sadly, their Confidant sucks too. They're at least a more major part of the story though, so they don't suffer quite as much. Plus they have this little bit of amazingness:

https://youtu.be/0M7f-nuF6fo?t=6m25s
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Margaret's better in the anime and the side games than she is in P4 itself. They give her more personality. Having Marie around helped her out in Golden, too.

Still got nothing on Elizabeth though!
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Oh yeah, I forgot to mention a few days ago that I missed the pine resin again
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Downloaded Sonic Mania

I've already gotten two game overs to my old nemeses, the underwater rotating stairs
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