Board 8 > Tompic 10: Killing the Farming Business

(+) Yeah! (+)

<cite>Tom Bombadil posted [p:940288214] in Tompic 10:... [t:78751519]...</cite> <quote> What should I read/listen to/watch next? Next webcomic: Gunnerkrigg Court Next audiobook: The Colour of Magic (or something else fantasy) Next audiobook: The Adventure of the Sinister Stranger (or something else mystery) Next audiobook: A Dance with Dragons (or something else fantasy) Next anime: Wandering Son Next anime: Sailor Moon Crystal Next anime: Tenchi Muyo Universe Next LP: Chip and Ironicus play No More Heroes Next LP: (resume) Simosimo plays Wrestling MPire HD 2019 Next LP: RoahmMythril plays Mega Man Battle Network Vote View Results What should I read/listen to/watch next? - Results (28 votes) Next webcomic: Gunnerkrigg Court 17.86% (5 votes) 5 Next audiobook: The Colour of Magic (or something else fantasy) 10.71% (3 votes) 3 Next audiobook: The Adventure of the Sinister Stranger (or something else mystery) 3.57% (1 vote) 1 Next audiobook: A Dance with Dragons (or something else fantasy) 10.71% (3 votes) 3 Next anime: Wandering Son 3.57% (1 vote) 1 Next anime: Sailor Moon Crystal 10.71% (3 votes) 3 Next anime: Tenchi Muyo Universe 7.14% (2 votes) 2 Next LP: Chip and Ironicus play No More Heroes 14.29% (4 votes) 4 Next LP: (resume) Simosimo plays Wrestling MPire HD 2019 3.57% (1 vote) 1 Next LP: RoahmMythril plays Mega Man Battle Network 17.86% (5 votes) 5 Show Voting Form function poll_vote() { var vote_option = $("input[name='poll_vote']:checked").val(); if(!vote_option) return; $.ajax({ type: 'POST', url: '/ajax/forum_poll_vote', data: { option: vote_option, board: '8', topic: '78751519', message: '0', key: '9a5c7344' }, success: function(response) { if(response.error) { alert(response.error); } else { $("#poll_vote").hide(); $("#poll_results").html(response.html).show(); } } }); } function view_results_legacy() { $("#poll_vote").hide(); $("#poll_results").show(); } function hide_results_legacy() { $("#poll_results").hide(); $("#poll_vote").show(); } #bump# Welcome to the TOMPIC! In this, I will liveblog various things that I'm watching and reading and playing and doing, and sometimes people even are interested! There will be mostly unmarked SPOILERS for anything I'm doing! It shouldn't be too hard to avoid them, though, and I try to tag some of the biggest reveals anyway, as well as stuff that I've been spoiled on before the current point in the writeups. The poll will officially run until one of the relevant categories has an opening. The winner at that time will be my next selection from its category. Feel free to keep voting even if you come late- it'll still have some influence on future decisions, and on the poll when we get to TOMPIC 11! Unless it gets purged first and I have to try to go from memory on what it said several months ago. Like that would ever happen! Audiobook selections may vary based on what my library has available Things are going pretty slowly these days, even by TOMPIC standards- I've got plenty of time to do stuff but not plenty of energy. Maybe being done with school will help. So what is getting posted here, starting with what will probably last the longest? Pro wrestling slot: CHIKARA We're still pretty early on, although I skipped a chunk of the very earliest stuff. At the rate I am going, I am very unlikely to ever catch up even if Maniac or somebody gives me a very condensed list of essentials, but that's just how it goes when I watch wrasslin'. Loving it so far. The mix of flying and comedy and chains is right up my alley, and they even have a bunch of tournaments and stuff. And, I am told, cool long-term storylines, but I haven't seen them yet. What's next: Theoretically this could keep going until I'm dead. If I drop it ever, it'll most likely be for NJPW (especially if they start posting Stardom) or a hypothetical AEW Network, or Stardom if they ever finish uploading their back catalog. What's a WWE? Let's Play Stardew Valley Hey I'm out of school so theoretically I will be able to do this more often! ....Probably won't though, let's be real, between my wife also living here and my headspace being pretty sub-optimal for recording these days. "Western show" slot: Being the Elite I'm almost 80 episodes in, and enjoying that we're getting more and more storylines and skits. Gonna be real weird when I catch up to the start of AEW and don't actually keep up with AEW. (I love AEW so far but I am not shelling out 50/month for cable and another 50/month for PPVs >_>) W</quote>

we want three body

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tell my library

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@TomBombrary we want three body

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FE: Finally beat the daggum Dmitri paralogue. How dose my bleb taste, Hubert. And then I did a rare beast hunt where the enemy stole my kill on the rare beast. I dunno I just haven't super been feeling this one even now that I'm past the level that was giving me a hard time.

CHIKARA Aniversario Orange: Same music video as the night before, but it's a good'un so I don't mind. Dark Breed do some sort of ritual with Bryce, and carry a box of incense to the ring. Seems like the start of something. Hallowicked over Equinox in a solid opener with a silly finish- distraction rollup from UMB. (***) We have replaced Carolina Jim with a guy who messed up Bryce's last name ono. Rorshach puts away Private Eye in a decent short match. (**1/2)

Higurashi: Moe oni Jesus helping our friends band together to resist a corrupt military organization fills me with DETERMINATION. Not the biggest fan of Rika having a thing for Akasaka but whatever.

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Higurashi: Oh man the game is afoot! We finally get badass face Ooishi! Shion shows up! (for two seconds) Akane still exists! Good times. Interesting that they're building sympathy for Takano. I'd say I want her beaten not redeemed, but it would not be the first time Ryukishi has sold me on an improbable face turn.

MLP 9-19: I dunno, that whole ep felt a bit weird to me. Seemed kinda out of character for Rarity to be having issues with sharing. Generosity and all that. I'm here for Spike and Gabby, though.

I started Arknights. Dunno if I'll stick with it but fun to mess with so far.

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Higurashi: I am really enjoying how every single person gets to be useful at the end here! I also keep having dreams about secret hideouts and saferooms and stuff so it was kinda weird when we went underground for an extended period lol.

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Episode 19 was a bit of an odd one.

Episode 20 is a fun one though. Starlight and Trixie antics incoming!

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ROT3K and the sequels of Three-Body Problem are both excellent.
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There is a very strong chance that I will break down and buy physical copies of the rest of Three-Body, but I am slogging very slowly through Les Mis first, so don't get too excited too far ahead of time

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I shall be replacing my hard drive in my PS3, since the original one is almost dead.

Right now, my PS3 can't really do anything, since the hard drive freezes, crashes, and loads abysmally slow.

It lasted 10 years. A decade is actually a reasonable lifespan for 1 hard drive. The actual PS3 hardware outside of the hard drive is actually in great shape otherwise.

On the plus side, I'm getting one that's double the size of the original. The original installed one had a capacity of 250 GB, and the new one will have 500 GB, and with my experience, the extra +250 GB will be more than enough extra space to work with.

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ooh nice!

BTE 79-81: oh hey there's a new Masa! And....Flip turns face lol.

I have acquired Sonic Robo Blast 2 Kart. I feel like I have reached some kind of turning point- who knew all I ever really wanted was to drive blue Hatsune Miku around the Midnight Channel from P3?


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Thanks Tom!

I ordered the Hard Drive the other day, and I should get it about Tuesday~ish, considering that the COVID-19 situation has caused shipping times to fluctuate wildly, so what is expected delivery can fall off track without notice. Until then, we shall see.

As for getting the hard drive out of the system, it wasn't all that hard to do. I have a PS3 Slim model, and after removing all of the power/video cords, the removal process was this:

#1 Flip the console upside down.
#2 Near the front of the console, there is a small access panel in the middle, popping that open reveals a single screw, removing that screw allows for the removal of a small panel located underneath the disc drive slot in the front of the console.
#3 Inside that enclosure, there is a metal caddy that has a metal fold down handle, and with that, the caddy holding the hard drive can be slid right out.
#4 After that, there's 4 small screws that have to be removed, and this allows for the hard drive to be separated from the drive holder caddy.

Before this though, I went ahead and backed up all of my save data that I could. I even backed up my *copy protected* files by getting a short term subscription to the Playstation Plus*. This seems to be the only way to back up those type of files.

*I've never used PS+ before, but the backup system gave me 1024 MB of space for save files. When I was finished, the total save data on my PS3 totaled right around 700 MB.

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So, the shipment info on my Hard Drive is a confusing one, it's been switching between delayed and shipped out all in the same day. Maybe it will be arriving soon? Either way, it's coming "eventually". The COVID stuff has really caused some strange stuff to happen.

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Well, I got a confirmation as to when my hard drive is arriving, and it looks like it got delayed all the way to June 29. Oh well.

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Hot out today. Right around 94F. Doesn't make you want to do much.

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So, interestingly enough, I was at GameXchange today looking for a Sega Dreamcast VMU [Virtual Memory Unit for save files], and the guy working there mentioned they had new ones, since there is a company that makes reproductions of the VMU's. They were only $12.99, so I took a chance on one. From what I can tell, it works perfectly fine. The one available had a clear green casing, and it was packaged the exact same way as a new from 20 years ago, in the box with the instruction page and the set of two CR2032 batteries inside the unit.

Since I have another of the original clear one's, comparing the two, they look identical, and you can barely tell it's a reproduction model. The batteries inside aren't necessary unless you intend to run one of the mini games directly on the VMU, so I just took them out, otherwise, the VMU will drain those batteries on it's own.

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Oh yeah, and on the subject of Dreamcast, I've been playing through Skies of Arcadia [I'll shorten that to SOA].

SOA: Over the last few days is when I began. So far, the following objectives are complete at 5 hours in:

#1 Opening mini dungeon on the Imperial Airship and defeating the boss Antonio the War Beast. A very basic and straight forward area, and the boss is very limited in it's danger to your party, but, like most RPG's, the opening section is rarely difficult.

#2 Shrine Island Dungeon and defeating the boss Sentinel. The first proper dungeon in the game. The length feels just about right without dragging on for too long. The boss has one powerful attack, but it's delay really weakens it, since every other turn, it performs a *Target Search*, which for all intents and purposes amounts to a free turn without worry of taking damage.

#3 First ship battle against Baltor the Black Pirate's Blackbeard Airship. Since this is the first one, it's extremely basic, and only a few cannon blasts puts this down, so, it only lasted three turn cycles before achieving victory. I didn't even have to repair the ship once before winning.

#4 The Valua Empire. This is a fairly long set piece with multiple bosses. So far, I'm passed the main dungeon along with the two bosses that are almost back to back. You have the option to go back and recover before moving on to the second boss thankfully. The first boss, which I don't remember the name of, is a giant blob like creature that can potentially poison your party. Despite numerous poison attacks, I somehow avoided the poison status here. RNG favored me for some reason, making things easier. The second boss is a tough one, perhaps maybe the hardest boss for quite a long time in the game, the Executioner. It has a special that can hit in a line [meaning mulitple targets], and it dishes out massive damage for this point in the game. RNG comes into play here, as the boss can either spam it, or use one of it's lesser attacks. This is a boss you will die to if you are not careful. It doesn't help that two accompanying Spell Wardens can attack and ultimately buff the main boss for extra damage. Painful.

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I gotta play that one one of these days

Tom Bombadil posted...

"Western show" slot: Being the Elite
What's next: That's far enough in the future I haven't even thought about it

Tom Bombadil posted...

Pro wrestling slot: CHIKARA
What's next: Theoretically this could keep going until I'm dead.

I haven't made the official call yet but more likely than not this is some quality r/agedlikemilk fodder

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Skies of Arcadia is a pretty interesting game. Sad to see it not make enough of a splash to warrant a sequel of any sort. Strange that Sega hasn't decided to re-release the game on one of the current sets of systems or even a PC version. Maybe they will decide to do that in the future? As for now, Dreamcast and Gamecube are the only releases. There actually was a PS2 consideration at one point, but Sega opted to cancel that one.

As for more progress on my run:

SOA: #4 Continuing from where I left off, the end half has a very linear set of objectives. Run across a speeding rail car [what RPG doesn't have one of these sequences, right?] while fighting a couple of fixed encounters with a boss at the end. Here, you fight two elite guards, and, the main difficulty is actually killing them more than worrying about dying. Their attack power is not really all that robust, it's the constant healing back and forth between the two of them that prolongs this fight. As for the final segment, this involves a Ship Battle versus a Valuan Cruiser. The fight is over as soon as you are able to fire your ship's newly acquired Special Cannon, which obliterates all of it's health in one shot. This ship battle might as well be labeled a S. Cannon tutorial fight!

As for enemies in these first 4 sections, not too much stands out, a few of them have the occasional *power attack*, but if you do a bit of routine leveling, things will go smoothly here.

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Currently leaning towards dropping BTE (probably would've eventually anyway) and CHIKARA. (...if I even get a choice?) MLP is an extra slot so it'll just take over for BTE, and the wrestling slot....I think it'll go to Lucha Underground since I found that on a site, but the possibility is still on the table that I am taking a hiatus from wrestling type things. NJPW and Stardom and even TNA are also dark horses.

Smash: Plowed through a bunch; I THINK I got everything there is to get. Ghaleem was tough but that was a good final boss and a good ga- oh.

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Speaking of MLP, Hasbro has moved on to what would be called *Generation 4.5*, it's a mixed bag for sure, but at least the original Voice Actors are still on board. It's called Pony Life, and it takes a *mileage may vary* direction.

As opposed to the one episode 22 minute format of FiM, it's a series of four 5ish minute episodes that total the 20+ minutes.

From the link, go to the comments section, and select "Sort by Best", and by selecting that, it will be listed in the first comment for the episode links if you're interested in giving it a go:
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2020/06/my-little-pony-pony-life-episode-1-2.html

Anyways...

SOA: #5 Temple of Pyrynn. A giant pyramid in the desert with a reasonable dungeon length. It's got it's share of things going on, first as always, enemy encounters, trapped chests [each one opened has an item, but a battle is fought everytime], and a few rolling stone cylinder puzzles [at least with these, the developers decided to shut off random encounters in these rooms, so you could focus solely on completing the puzzle].

What follows is essentially 2.5 bosses in a row. First, there's the Rock Worm boss, that uses various fire attacks, so, as one could expect, ice type attacks or magic pound this boss pretty hard. It's got a few tricks up it's sleeve, such as a petrification attack, and another that can strike your whole party. But, if you leveled enough, he's not too difficult.

Next is the first of two ship battles, and this first battle describes the *half* of 2.5, since this battle can not actually be won. All you can do, is weather it out to reach the real boss battle. Even your attacks deal pitiful damage against it, including an S. Cannon strike. The main event is against a rather tough ship battle, even for this point in the game. It boils down to being extremely defensive, otherwise, lots of damage can accumulate quickly, and that can lead to a game over here if your not careful.


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Did not know about that!

....I uh think I will pass, based on the first few minutes, but thanks for letting me know

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Yeah, Pony Life is definitely not the same as the main show, but, I think I'll give one more chance when episodes 5-8 release on this Sunday.

In regards to the remainder of FiM, I'd say the final 7 episodes [S9E20 - S9E26] that are left on your list are very solid except for S9E22, which I feel is the weakest of the bunch. It's not a bad episode, it just feels like it could of fit in an earlier season in my opinion. The Season Finale [S9E24&25] I thought was great stuff, and even the Epilogue Episode [S9E26] was good too.

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Somehow missed this topic.

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Got my PS3 back online with a new hard drive. Nice to be able to turn it on, and it comes on without having to need a corrupt file system restore every single time!

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So hm. I think I can continue being a wrestling fan but yeah CHIKARA is cancelled and this is as good a time as any to give up on BTE. WWE is not something I super wanna support either. AEW ain't got a library service. NJPW's service is a bit disorganized, and Stardom is still missing the period I was watching, and TNA/Impact is TNA/Impact, and in all of those cases, it's time to face the reality that I don't watch enough wrestling to keep up with any of those feds, much less start from the beginning and catch up. That really bugs me because I want to follow storylines and careers, not just watch highlights or whatever. If only there was a fed that I knew would have an ending date at some point. Maybe one that I already knew I liked. Or one that would scratch the lucha itch.

oh hey what is this page in my bookmarks

Lucha Underground 1-25: so apparently this is up on tubi tv now! Cueto has a brother! I am vaguely aware he becomes important later but it seems obvious from his introduction anyway. Snappy little Fenix/Killshot opening. (***) Cueto hypes up both Puma and Drago for the upcoming career/title match. Homicide (I think? Fake edit: Nope it's Hernandez) is upset he is booked against two people who don't like him, so Cueto adds a #1 Contendership stip, and meanwhile Fenix overhears that Homicide doesn't care about him. Fourway with Argenis and three jobbers, all of whom got taken out by Penta. They don't even really pretend it's gonna be a real match, but it's Texano who wrecks everybody instead of Penta. (N/A) Texano calls out whoever beat him up last week! He doesn't know who it was and I don't remember lol. Cueto is approached by Marty the Moth, who I am also vaguely aware gets a push over time. Mothman's request to join in the action is denied. Cuerno/They Call Him Cage/Hernandez up next! Hernandez gets the win after an ineffectual runin from Marty. Warming up on Cage I think.(***)

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Higurashi: BEATED. Sorta. Apparently there's a secret ending but I screwed up without saving halfway through the process and got annoyed and it's past midnight anyway so it'll wait for next time. I really like how everybody got their individual time to shine in this whole last ep! All came together very nicely, and I wouldn't have even thought to look for a different ending without accidentally learning that while trying to find info on the Fragments bit. Ryukishi is good people. I really want a music room.

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Okami: i felt like revisiting this title once more. Firstly, it's the PS2 variant of the game. One hour in, the game doesn't give you a real lot to do, as story elements dominate the game with small bursts of gameplay with plenty of *tutorial stops*, as the game explains every button action to you during this early stage of the game.

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Yay Okami! Maybe someday I will try it again and be able to draw a straight line.

Disgaea: Couple story fights, couple Improve Counterattack bills, nothing crazy. The second fight was a fun map with Evade/Warp/Deathblow, which let me get some good levels for my lowbies (at least the ones lucky enough to hit and/or survive)

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Oh my! In Okami, eventually, the game will have you drawing circles for some of the brush techniques as well!

Okami: After running through most of the primary world restoration tasks, along with a fishing mini game [since the mini game is required to be completed, it's difficulty is low], the first full dungeon of the game opens up. It's not a particularly long dungeon, but it doesn't feel too short either. I'm currently at the end portion of it.

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Happy July 4th!

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Right now it's a split three way playthrough for me.

Dreamcast: Skies of Arcadia
PS2: Okami
PS3: Mass Effect [this is my first time playing this, I actually bought the Mass Effect Trilogy years ago, started playing it for only about 2 hours, then went on to something else. Since it was so long of a gap, I opted to start over, as I didn't remember what I played in those two hours.]

I'll be jumping around between these three titles, which ever one I feel gets my attention on a daily basis. It's been mostly Mass Effect over the last couple of days. Mass Effect has a really slow start to it, until the Galaxy Travel Map is opened up, removing the linear feel of the first few hours. While there a lot of planets listed, there's still quite a few that are either locked or unavailable to visit. I'm assuming some are story locked till later, or, maybe never visitable at all? To early to tell yet. Chose a Soldier path, which amounts to mainly normal weapons and heavy armor types.

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Mass Effect: Actually, it didn't take me all that long to get through this game. Only about 16 hours before completion. I imported my save to Mass Effect 2, and played for about 1 hour thus far.

Importing a save wasn't possible by itself in the Trilogy version release until a patch download was completed. Once that was completed [a 27 MB download, so not that big of a deal], I had the selectable option under new game.

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Higurashi: BEATED. Bit anti-climactic compared to what it took to unlock the true ending, if we're being honest. Still, it's fun times, and apparently there's more out there somewhere? Kinda bummed that there's not a sound room, so I'll have to figure out the BGM I like on my own time I guess.

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SOA: #6 The South Ocean on the world map. Normally, I'm not going to say much about the world map travel, but the South Ocean is a bit different. Your airship moves very slowly as the heavy winds push back at your vessel. As a result, the length of the distance piles on the random encounters as you traverse through the area. One of the enemies has a chance of hitting your characters with a single target death spell called Eterni. Fortunately, the enemy AI triggered the attack only once, so, RNG mostly favored good luck. The spell has a 50% chance of inflicting death, so it's a rather dangerous spell.

#7 Ship battle vs. the Chameleon. Shortly after visiting the village Horteka, this is one of the first storyline battles you'll encounter. Nothing truly threatening as long as you guard against the enemy ship's stronger attacks, and every few turns, the game throws you the chance at a S. Cannon opportunity. The heaviest damage is the Chameleon's Flame Cannon, but it's still not too overwhelming. [5600 vs. 2800 approx. damage based on no guard vs. guarding] Keeping HP up, and SP up makes this manageable in a several turns. Two S. Cannons should win this, unless some lingering damage needs to be dealt to finish the battle off.

#8 Moon Stone Mountain. A dungeon that is more confusing than it is difficult, There's plenty of traps that you throw in the wrong direction, so paying attention to surroundings will help avoid going down the wrong paths. Switching to the first person view and looking below the see through metal paths will determine if a drop zone is the correct path or not. Seeing a mine cart directly below you at a trap door signifies a false pathway, and those send you right back to the beginning. I have progressed to the end half of the dungeon.

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SOA: #8 That last part is very straight forward, and the boss of the area is a reskin of Antonio, the very first boss, aptly named Antonio 2. Yeah, it has the exact same attacks with more attack power. Fairly easy.

#9 Lost City of Rixis. Even if you find Rixis on the map, the entrance is sealed until finding two discoveries on the world map, each baring a key item. Rixis itself has a bunch of twisting pathways and partially destroyed structures to navigate through. Most of the enemies are easily dealt with, except for the Sloth like monster, which can use a Quake spell. The boss at the end, a giant bird, spends most of it's time using status attacks in addition to normal attacks.

#10 The Chameleon [again] and Grendel the Green Gigas. Two ship battles in a row. The Chameleon hits a bit harder since it's super weapon is a bit stronger than the previous time, and Grendel is actually less powerful than you would expect. While the same sort of tactics apply, Grendel justs has to be hit with your S. Cannon at the right event point, as the damage done will be no where near to depleting all of his health to achieve victory.

#11 Maw of Tartas. Except for the storyline events, this is quick in terms of gameplay, a single battle with some Valuan Troops, and a rather standard ship battle against a Valuan Gunship.

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Continuing on...

SOA: #12 This part of the game is a turning point. One character is out of the party for story line reasons, and the rest of your crew is split up in two different areas. The main character finds himself on a deserted island, and the other two are in a port city. At the deserted island, your tasked with defeating a bunch of enemies for food, and gathering items on the ground during each segment. As for the port city section, finding and talking with the right people will advance the story. Eventually, both parties will arrive at a small island to the north.

#13 Daccat's Island. Each party takes on half of the dungeon, with actions that will unlock doors and paths. There are *switching points* scattered around to swap between the two parties as you progress. Reaching the end reunites both parties as one, and the game doesn't let you progress further without *surprise surprise*, a boss battle. This one has two enemies, each one using fire or ice properties. But, the kicker is an attack called Death Waltz, hefty damage to the whole party. This has a 2 turn setup, where the boss uses the Engage command on the previous turn before executing the attack. However, kill one of them, and the Death Waltz attack is no more, and the battle becomes rather simple to finish.

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More SOA progress, but, it's late, and I'll type it up another day.

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How are you doing at hunting discoveries?

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My discovery total is around 30, I reached a point where I just started exploring around for them.

From those 30, Vyse = 26, Domingo = 4.

Some of them almost seemed like luck because of positioning. The Balloon Flower is kind of just in the middle of nowhere for example. [It did net 8400 Gold.]

More on the game's progress:

SOA: #14 Returning to the Port City Nasrad gets you captured, and it's right back to Valua, this time, the Grand Fortress, a giant fortress wall covered in cannons on it's offensive side, and your in the middle of it inside it's jails.

As a result, your team is split up. You start with Vyse and Gilder, and on the upper floor, Aika is locked up in the upper cell, and Fina is being held in another portion of the Grand Fortress. As for the area layout, it's almost impossible to get lost, since the pathway is as linear as it can get. There's only 2 chests in the entire area, and searching for them takes no time at all.

Saving Aika isn't all that tough, since the boss you fight, while being one of the Valuan Generals, Vigoro, has very little in the way of threatening attacks. Sure, he has Panic type of attack that he throws at Aika almost every other turn, but it does little damage, and the Panic status usually wears off in one or two turns.

Saving Fina isn't difficult either, as the guards are pretty much almost the same ones fought on the railcar from the previous time. As for the final boss of the area, the Dralkor Tank [I had to look up the name, since I didn't remember how to spell it!], this thing is tough. Just about every other turn, it uses it's signature attack called Wheel Blast. It's an area of effect attack that does rather painful damage, and any time the boss uses a normal attack, it's a sigh of relief. Because of the high damage, it's best to just to cast the spell Increm to minimize the damage as much as possible, guard a lot, and heal quite often while using Vyse's or Gilder's special attacks as much as possible.

The end portion gets you a ship called the Delphinus, your official endgame ship. The interesting thing about the game, was that during the early stages of development, Sega tinkered with the idea of allowing the player to buy and sell ships throughout the game. But that idea was ultimately scrapped as the development of the game progressed, so here we are.

This ship's S.Cannon is probably the highlight of the ship, a weapon called the MoonStone Cannon, a giant laser that is hidden inside the ship, where the front of the ship opens up to reveal this ridiculously awesome weapon. It deals massive damage when used as well. For the purpose of getting the ship, you have to contend with a ship battle where you in effect fight the Grand Fortress itself. By using any of the normal cannons on the structure will result in 0 damage. All you need to do is build up enough spirit points to blast the wall with your S.Cannon.

Also, at the conclusion of this, the Prince of Valua, Enrique, becomes a new party member, and Gilder's brief appearance in your party ends.

#15 Return to the Deserted Island and pay up 100,000 Gold to have your ship upgraded [so it can go through sky rifts, basically walls of wind on the world map, which were previously impassable in the earlier portions of the game], and so the Deserted Island can be turned into your base. Paying up is a requirement, so do whatever you can to rake in the gold. [From the Daccat Island portion, you can go to Nasrad, and at the Discoveries info buying and selling shop, you have the option to sell Daccat's Coin for 20,000 Gold if you wish.]

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Hell yeah Delphinius!

Hell yeah island base!

Searching for discoveries is just a fun part of the game for me. Many are just really random to find and just involve flying around watching your compass. There is even at least one that moves around.

I so want a rerelease of this game. Preferably with a quicker battles and/or less random encounters.

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Once you get that ship, it's a satisfying moment!

The island base too!

The Discoveries were an interesting mix. Some were obvious, as they might sit on a small island all by itself, and others that might be in a tricky spot to locate. And then, there are those that you can see it, but you have no way to reach it, because you are just not far enough into the game yet. [An example would be one that is behind a sky rift, and you can't travel through the sky rifts to reach it early in the game.]

Skies of Arcadia really deserves a re-release. I'm not sure why Sega hasn't decided to do it yet, not much really needs to be changed. I guess what needs to be done is make it with the extras that were included in the Gamecube version, and have it retain the superior OST version, as the Dreamcast version doesn't have the compressed audio. The graphics seem fine to me, maybe just fix the draw distance so you can see further out perhaps? But, that bit of mystery on the world map might of added to the experience, so this one could be debatable to change.

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There is a good added storyline in the Legends version, which includes another type of collectible to hunt for.

Also some new bounties for endgame content.

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Thanks for the info Maniac64!

SOA: #16 City of Esperanza. The task is to reach the lands of the East, and to do that, there is one sky rift different from the rest, known as the Dark Rift. Asking everyone here, and you'll basically get the same thing: It's impossible to pass through. Of course, being an RPG, this is where you'd prove all of the NPC's wrong, but first, you've got a problem, the Valuan Armada halts your progress, and it's ship battle time. The reason? Enrique is choosing to not return, so, the battle commences, against his effective *uncle* as he calls him, or General Gregorio.

This ship battle is a set of three battles, two smaller class ships, and then Gregorio's own ship called the Auriga. The first battle can actually be won with a single blast from your S.Cannon. It was over on the second turn cycle. The second ship fared slightly better, as it's health was down to almost nothing after one S.Cannon shot, picking it off with a standard cannon blast. The Auriga just took a lot longer, but, the battle wasn't really difficult. Most of the time, Auriga was stuck in moments where it couldn't hit my ship. This when a weapon, when used, displays the word *Lost*, meaning that whether a weapon is fired or not, there would be no way for it to hit it's target because of ship vs. ship placement. The only real unique thing about this fight is how his ship has a S.Cannon of sorts, but instead of a gun placement, it's the ability for his ship to completely ram into yours for direct damage. This is avoidable however, if you use a speed spell like Quika to avoid taking the hit.

#17 Dark Rift. One of the few ship dungeons. Random encounters still apply, and items are found in the various scattered ship wrecks. The thing to watch out for are false paths that lead right back to the beginning. But there is a way to avoid those, simply look at the spinning vortex, and avoid ones that have a reddish hue, and you'll know you're going the right way. At the end is another ship battle, against a creature in the final vortex. Really, there's not much to worry about, as it's attack power is fairly underwhelming, and using the usual tactics will be enough.

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SOA: #18 Tenkou Spellship ship battle.+ Jao & Mao boss battle. Both of these happen without a chance to save, so be ready for a standard battle to immediately follow. As for the ship battle, this one is a bit harder to land hits on, and your S.Cannon chance is virtually none, so, resorting to torpedoes is the most efficient option, as even cannons tend to miss more than usual. Jao & Mao have fairly strong special attacks, but, they don't have much health, so Increm + Vyse's special will put either of them down in about two attacks each.

#19 Mount Kazai. The main dungeon of the eastern lands, known as Yafutoma, and it's fairly long too. It's broken up in two halves. The first is flooding a passage so you can go down it safely. To do this, there's 4 primary switches that fill the middle with water, as each one pressed raises the water level by so much each time. The first switch is right in front of you, and the other three have their own path and challenge to complete. The second half is more straightforward, and there is the option to take the upper or lower path. The upper path skips a 4x battle with a set of stone guardians. The upper path comes with the normal random encounters, so, take your pick on which you prefer.

As for the end boss, Tortigar, it's not really that tough, and it tries to trick you into thinking it's going to be a very long battle. Why you ask? Because about 4 or 5 turns in the battle, it casts Sacrulen, a spell that recovers full HP. Even though this does happen, I'm convinced the boss is only programmed to use the spell that one time, and then carry on with all of the rest of it's attacks for the remainder of the battle. It's not really all that threatening of a boss either, but it does have one thing that makes the battle drag a bit, and it's use of Steelskin, a skill that reduces all damage to zero. If the boss uses that skill, it's unable to do anything else for the rest of the turn.

Fortunately, once the artifact your after, the Blue Moon Crystal, is recovered, your party is automatically brought back to the entrance of the dungeon, so, there's no need to backtrack out.

#19 Tenkou Island. A very short section with a sets of Tenkou warriors. Rather easy to take these guys out.

#20 Taking back your ship captured by the Armada, and dealing with two traitors from Yafutoma: Muraji & Kangan. Yeah, this is quite the sequence. First, getting back your ship means fighting through a set of guards before reaching Muraji. This boss battle is actually kind of a joke. Muraji most of the time does pretty much nothing, and the three guards with him do most of the damage. Eventually, Muraji will call in more guards, but once the total hits 7, he can't call anymore in, and even then, he still sometimes does it repeatedly. So with no guards alive, Muraji sometimes stands there defenseless turn after turn, waiting for you to pound him. Easy.

And then comes the real part of this, the ship battles. First, Vigoro makes a return, but this time, his ship can hit hard. His main weapon is the Draco Cannon, the effective S.Cannon on his ship, so it's unblockable, although, it can be guarded for half damage at the very least. And what makes it dangerous, is he uses every turn cycle of the battle, and it will either be the first or third attack of the turn cycle. Despite this, there is an upside, because of the very direct nature of the battle, you can use your S.Cannon on any turn cycle, but the danger is the S.Cannons chances for both ships fall on the same turns, so, you have to choose between danger and safety for the entirety of the battle.

Right after this, is a second ship battle that indirectly involves Kangan, as he resurrects the Blue Gigas Bluheim with the Blue Moon Crystal. However, with the Delphinus in your possession, the Gigas is now truly defeatable, unlike the previous two, where you could only survive or knock it down. This is a long battle, because Bluheim has got a hefty amount of HP: 100,000, the first ship type battle where the damage required to win breaks six figures. Despite being long, Bluheim's attacks have some weird damage ranges. Especially his so called *strongest attack*, which, while it blows your ship off course for a heavier round of attacks, the attack itself does rather limited damage. Following the usual tactics of guarding, healing, and keeping your SP up for either a heavy assault or S.Cannon chance will get you through this one if you weather it out cautiously enough.

#21 Disc 1 Ends! Yup, I've reached that point in the game!

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It looks like a messed up a bit with my numbering.

It should of been: #20 Tenkou Island, #21 For the Armada section, and #22 The Disc switching event.

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SOA: #23 Return to Deserted Island AKA Cresent Isle. Fly east to get there. Apparently, the game's lore is built around the fact that inhabitants of the land do not believe the world is round, and, by traveling east proves a round world. Still, there's NPC's that call you crazy when you talk to them about it.

#24 The Land of Ice, and the abandoned city of Glacia. Once you reach the southern point of the world map, Glacia is a city encased inside ice, but thanks to a modified hull of your ship, you can *land* into it, and get inside. The first half is a series of questions to answer relating to purple moon stones. The correct answers are 2, Will & Spirit, Ice. If you haven't played the game, the 2 answer is probably the one that won't make much sense, but, it refers to the order the purple moon stone is in. You can see this when casting a purple spell. The design of the purple emblem underneath a target has 2 circles at the outer ring. The number of circles can also be seen on all other types of magics. Green is 1, Blue is 3, Red is 4, Yellow is 5, and Silver is 6.

Anyways, after answering these correctly, entrance to the main dungeon itself starts. Even though the area looks huge, very little of it is actually accessible, and before long, you're at the first boss of Disc 2. The boss's name is Veltarn, and the best way to describe it is a giant magical machine I guess? But anyways, the game finally throws a boss at you that's not a pushover. It's got some pretty heavy hitting attacks, and a bit of a nasty death laser attack. The death laser actually does very minimal damage on it's own, but if it connects correctly, the damage it deals is ignored and your character dies, otherwise, if it only deals the base damage, then you got lucky. Painful. Plus, it's main attack hits in a line and can dish out 1500-1700 range for all targets in it's path. I used plenty of revive spells to get through this one.

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Yeah Skies takes place before anyone has gone around the world to prove its round.

A lot of skies stuff is based on old earth myths and mysteries.

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When you think about how the game world's technology hadn't progressed far enough for sailors to go through standard Sky Rifts, Stone Reefs, and with even the most experienced of sailors getting either eaten alive, or barely escaping with their lives trying to tackle the Dark Rift, it all locks down that acceptance of a flat world in Arcadia.

Also, with tech that allows for travel beyond the familiar Mid Sky not available, where all of Disc 1 takes place [Exceptions being a few locations visited in the Yafutoma region, and the Temple in Rixis], and the early portion of Disc 2 reinforces that idea. Plus, the world builds on that by the location of certain discoveries, eluding to the ship wrecks that tell the player of the previous generations struggles with trying to conquer seemingly impossible barriers.

Although, it's now pretty funny when the Delphinus can fly right over the mountain range in Valua, ignore the Grand Fortress completely, and explore the world map variant of the Valuan Empire. Your ship can only land in Lower Valua City however.

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