dorchadas | Entries tagged with crpg (pc・ロールプレイゲーム)

I Feel: chipper
I Hear: BrunuhVille - Dawn of Love

I wish that Baldur's Gate II had been able to do more with lighting, because that would have made the transition from the Underdark a lot more dramatic. And this point, Chiyo and her companions have spent days underground in total blackness. It'd be a moment like when the Lone Wanderer leaves Vault 101. Most of the party are elves or half-elves and can see in the dark--low-light vision for elves wasn't implemented until D&D 3.x's, so here they still have infravision--but Minsc and Imoen are not. Minsc probably would take everything in stride, but I'm surprised that there were no scenes of Imoen panicking. Captured by a vengeance-obsessed(?) archmage, imprisoned at the moment she thought she was freed, had her soul ripped out, and when she was rescued, dumped into a city of shark people and then into total blackness filled with what she knows are one of the most unpleasant cultures on Faerun? That's a lot to take in.

But no, I just get a chapter transition.
( Read more... )

I Feel: determined
I Hear: SuperSquare - No Sense Running (Lost City)

I go to the Temple of Lolth, where Matron Ardulace is ecstatic that I managed to find the proper blood and that everything will be ready:

Matron Ardulace: "Ahhh...the Spider Queen smiles upon us. Our gamble does not go unwasted, daughter. Your champion has brought us the blood that we need!!"
Phaere: "Praise Lolth! The ritual may finally be begun! Despana will rule Ust Natha without question as the pre-eminent House!"
Matron Ardulace: "Indeed. But we must be cautious, daughter, ever cautious. The ritual may be disturbed before it is completed. The silver one may get desperate."
Phaere: "You are going to seal the city, matron?"
Matron Ardulace: "Yes. We cannot be disturbed from the outside. I shall go, now, and begin the proper preparations. This shall be a glorious day, indeed! Veldrin. You have done House Despana the greatest of services. You will be a female without equal...riches and slaves shall be yours. I shall see to it as soon as the ritual has been completed. Now is the time for you to rest, strong one...there is nothing more for you to prove to me."
Phaere: "Well, I am not done with her just yet. Veldrin...come to my personal apartments. I expect you to meet me there within the hour...this is not a request."

Well, that doesn't leave me with much of a choice, then.
( Read more... )

I Feel: peaceful
I Hear: Khallanar - Arach-Tinilith

So Phaere wants me to meet her immediately after arguing with Solaufein, and in the Female Fighter's Society where he won't be able to enter. I think I know where this is going, but since she only gave me an hour, I don't have any choice but to go to meet her immediately. When I do, she confirms my suspicions--after offhandedly saying she was thinking of having Chiyo tortured, she says flat-out that she and Solaufein are not on the best of terms and that she's tired of his insolence and allowing it to continue would be risking her position in the priesthood, but she can't kill him herself without risking war between their Houses. So she has come to a solution!

Have Chiyo do it.
( Read more... )

I Feel: amused
I Hear: Archangel - Ambitious Whispers, Immoral Chants (Wicked Melody, Devil's Ambition)

And so the party enters Ust Natha, stronghold of the dark elves.

Immediately on entering, I see a pair of githyanki standing around, a drow off to the side, and another drow berating a duergar slave for not properly working. When the duergar pleads for mercy, saying he hasn't eaten in a week, the drow beats him to death. Then a drow priestess walks up and asks what is happening, the drow says that the slave was misbehaving and was punished. The priestess snarls that the slave was her property, not his, and that the slave was well-trained and will be harder to replace than he will. Then she executes him, simply saying:

"I have other sons."

So that's the kind of society that Chiyo and the party has to infiltrate.
( Read more... )

I Feel: good
I Hear: Delain - Nothing Left

Other than Last Dream, I haven't played a JRPG in years. Not since I lived in Japan and finally played through the DS version of Final Fantasy IV, I think. Last Dream was fun, but it didn't entirely scratch my JRPG itch, maybe because it was so focused on recreating the experience of Final Fantasy I, before the idea of "JRPG" really took hold. The characters were only their classes and the story barely focused on them at all.

And then I started to notice articles about some RPG I'd never heard of called "Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky," like this one on US Gamer. And just recently, this one. And I heard friends mention it and how much they liked it. I put it on my wishlist about a week before Steam's summer sale hit and then it went on sale, and I bought it and booted it up to check it out. And then kept playing. And playing. And now, I have beaten it, and it was just as good as those articles led me to believe.

Let the troping begin.

( Read more... )

I Feel: worried
I Hear: Nox Arcana - Darkness Immortal

As the party uses the magic infinitely-long rope to descend into the Underdark, I'm taken to another cutscene of Irenicus (spoilers after 18:25), this time talking to dark elves about a drow assault on the "temple of the false gods" before two surface elf prisoners who recognize Irenicus and address him as "Joneleth" are brought in. That's right, this whole thing is so he can get revenge on Suldanessellar. I'm not surprised that Irenicus would ally with the drow, since he's already allied with a vampire, but I am surprised the drow would ally with him, since he's a surface elf and a male at that. What is it that the Matron Mother is referring to that was so compelling?

After the cutscene, a new chapter begins:
( Read more... )

I Feel: mellow
I Hear: VGMPire podcast

The party comes to in an air pocket in the depths of the sea, in the city of the sahuagin.

Sahuagin are kind of odd. D&D has a bunch of underwater fish-like humanoids--the sahuagin, of course, but also the locathah, kuo-toa, skum (note K), and some underwater variants of dryland monsters like merrow (aquatic ogres) and scrags (aquatic trolls). But for some reason, it's the sahuagin that have taken most of the popular D&D consciousness. They got their own book for AD&D 2e, called The Sea Devils, and even showed up in the first Final Fantasy game as SAHAG. As a child I thought it stood for "Sea hag," but the Japanese is サハギン, so the source is pretty obvious. Looking at Wikipedia tells me the sahuagin originally date from Blackmoor, so maybe they get first billing simply by virtue of being the oldest.

( Read more... )

I Feel: rushed
I Hear: Super Mario World - Ghosts of the Marble Hall (CrimsonZeal OC ReMix)

I walk up the stairs out of the maze and am immediately ambushed by kobolds with flaming arrows. This happened all the time in the first game and was probably the single larger source of my deaths in the first dozen hours of the game, but hasn't been much but an annoyance since then. Here, some of them are standing on pillars and should theoretically be inaccessible, but because Baldur's Gate II doesn't actually have a Z level Minsc and Chiyo are easily able to run over and splatter them. Aerie and Xan's spells take care of the rest, and as soon as they're all dead, a cloaked "apparition" appears and tells me that the Tests of Madness have begun:( Read more... )

I Feel: infuriated
I Hear: Demoscene Time Machine - Horizon

Chiyo awakens in a glass tube in a laboratory, her companions missing, and Irenicus and Yoshimo standing outside. There are other tubes at the edge of the room, with other people standing in them.( Read more... )

I Feel: distressed
I Hear: Atrium Carceri - Enclosed World / Liberation

Aran Linvail leads the party down to the docks and the waiting ship and introduces them to the captain, Saemon Havarian, and his ship the Galante:
( Read more... )

I Feel: worried
I Hear: Sonic Adventure II - Chao Cave Rave (Air3s OC ReMix)

I realize that I should have given that scroll of simulacrum to Chiyo. Now that she has elven chain mail, spawning another melee character who has permanent haste from boots, a +5 weapon with a chance of stunning and doing extra damage, and all the other spells that Chiyo already has memorized would have been great. Xan cloning himself is worthwhile, but I don't think it will help quite as much as another Chiyo will. Ah well--there will be more scrolls later!
( Read more... )

I Feel: accomplished
I Hear: Faun - Wilde Rose

Alright, so of the tasks I have before I'm going to help the Shadow Thieves, I accomplished...one of them last time. I killed Kangaxx. Time to get to the others.

My first stop is the Temple District sewers, where the workers who have the spider-killing weapon are. Jaeggar and Hurg are in the western end of the sewers behind a pipe, which is why I missed them on my first run-through of the sewers. Chiyo approaches them and they demand to know what she wants, though in dimwitted minion sort of way:

Jaeggar: "Here then, what do you want? Don't be bothering my concentration, I've lots of work to get done after my nap."
Hurg: "Wadda you want here? Ain't nothing here for public to see. We just take care of cleanin' the sewers and such."
Chiyo: "I hear you might have a sword I seek. It should have spider-like patterns on it."
Hurg: "I don't know nothing about weapons, really. Trained a bit in hammers, but I don't keep none myself. Not sure what you want."
Jaeggar: "No, no, she wants that blade we was given by ol' Gaden. The one that he said we should pack with us when we go after them spiders in the old ducts."
Hurg: "Ohhhh, I know the one. Yeah, scares 'em good for some reason. Sure wish I knew how to swing it proper. Always end up on me arse when I take a whack with it."
Chiyo: "I'll pay you 1000 gold, no questions asked."

Their response is somewhat surprising:
( Read more... )

I Feel: annoyed
I Hear: Mass Effect - Uncharted Depths (Hy Bound OC ReMix)

After my review of Mass Effect 2, you might wonder why I'm even playing Mass Effect 3. And let me tell you, there were some times that I wondered the same thing. Usually whenever the main plot was occurring, or during a lot of the dialogue that had been stripped down to a But Thou Must of "[PARAGON] Yes" or "[RENEGADE] Yes." This...was not a good game. But it is a flaw in my character that I have a very difficult time putting a piece of media down and walking away. Yes, I realize that there are enough good video games that I could stop playing the instant I stop liking something and I would still never be able to play all the games worth playing, but I have a hard time remembering that. Once I picked up Mass Effect 3, I was going to finish it.

And I did. Sort of. You'll see what I mean later in this review.

Ah yes, the famed salarian foresight and strategic acumen.

( Read more... )

I Feel: accomplished
I Hear: Nox Arcana - Darkness Immortal

Before I get into doing anything else, let's check my quest log and see what the game thinks that I should be doing:

Head down to the docks and meet Mook to help the Shadow Thieves.
Recover Kangaxx's body.
Find a caretaker for the orphan Risa.
Investigate the back rooms of the Copper Coronet.
Meet the elf Aegnor in the Government District.
Finish the armor started by Rejiek Hidesman.

Huh...that's it? I definitely expected that I would have more loose ends to tie up before I went to talk to the Shadow Thieves. I mean, I do want to explore Athkatla a bit more, but I don't have many formal tasks.
( Read more... )

I Feel: aggravated
I Hear: Antti Martikainen - At the Gates of Babylon

Before I go barging into people's houses unannounced in the traditional murderhobo fashion, I head back to my stronghold to check on Chiyo's apprentices. Morul hands over the scroll and says that now it's time for the final task--making a real magic item. They can either make the Robe of the Apprenti, a Ring of Wizardry, or a Staff of Power. When Morul mentions the staff, both Larz and Nara are aghast at Morul's suggestions, exclaiming how horribly dangerous they are. When Morul asks Chiyo what to do, Chiyo says...to make none of them, saying that one of the most important lessons for a wizard is when to back away. The three apprentices thank Chiyo for the opportunity to study under her and then dimension door out. I would have thought that spell was too high for an apprentice to cast--if they can cast that, they're at least 7th level wizards, which is hardly apprentice level. Maybe they have scrolls Teos gave them?
( Read more... )

I Feel: hopeful
I Hear: Reuben Kee, pixietricks - To Far Away Times

Back in the room where the air elemental came up with the bucket, I head through the south door. Yoshimo unlocks and I enter, finding another door and a side cavern where a hobgoblin, a troll, and a human are arguing over who will clean the master's golems:

Human: "Fools! The Master will brook no incompetence! You are to clean his favorite golems and you do work too poorly! The Master is furious! He values his golems more than a hundred of you!!"
Hobgoblin: "We do best, animal! Gerg did not sign on to be smacked about by filthy dog."
Troll: "Please don't hits me, doggie! It hurts! It hurts!"
Human: "You have it wrong, scum! The dog is the one who grovels and that shall surely be you!"

After a moment, the "human" transforms into a werewolf and the group runs off without being hostile. Since the golems and the master are both dead, I let them go.
( Read more... )

I Feel: happy
I Hear: Myth: The Fallen Lords - The Siege of Madrigal

Yoshimo back in the party, I head back to the Planar Sphere. Once inside, the leader of the Solamnic Knights greets me and asks that, as a wizard of great power, I return her and her companions to their home:

Reyna: "It seems you are now master here, oh wizard of great power. I ask you to turn your will towards getting my fellow knights and I back to where we belong."
Chiyo: "And just how do you expect me to do that?"
Reyna: "I don't know. I am not knowledgeable in magic, but there must be some way. If you do not know, at least make some inquiries. I beg of you, this is not our home."
Chiyo: "I will see what can be done. Now leave me."
Reyna: "That is all we can ask. We have little choice."

The dialogue responses here are kind of disappointing for Chiyo's disposition--that response is something that Chiyo as I envision her would never say, but that's a limit of CRPGs. That's the answer I give because it's the most positive one, and as the leader nods and leaves, the tell-tale circle of a teleportation spell appears and a Cowled Wizard materializes in the Planar Sphere. As is traditional for Cowled Wizards, he starts off by being a dick:
( Read more... )

I Feel: accomplished
I Hear: Brandon Strader - Omerta (Battle Scene)

I've had an urge to play a JRPG for a few months. I thought about playing Final Fantasy XII--I have the "undub" version with Japanese voices, which should make dealing with Vaan and Penelo less annoying--but a game called "Last Dream" came across my discovery queue on Steam, touting its inspiration from Final Fantasy, its cute 16-bit graphics, and its profusion of minigames. Since I already had tried FFXII once and bounced off it, and since I had been thinking of replaying the original Final Fantasy but have already beaten it twice, I figured a new game in the old style would be a good way to thread the needle.

Sadly, this is never brought up again.

( Read more... )

I Feel: accomplished
I Hear: Morrowind - Nerevar Rising

The Umar Hills Inn does still have all the stuff I left on the floor there, but I had forgotten what it was and it turns out it's all old quest items, because Baldur's Gate II is early enough that it doesn't automatically clear out quest items after you're done with the quest. I check the merchants, who don't have anything exciting, and spend a bit of time talking to the townspeople. They thank me for solving the problems and for making peace with the ogres, though they're worried about ogres walking through town. And I can't really blame them. I mean, ogres eat people and they're twice as big as humans. This is why I'm not usually a fan of metaphors for actual subaltern human groups that rely on fantastic creatures to make the point. It's worst with vampires, who literally drink the blood of the innocent and can take over people's minds, but generally anything that's hugely different from humanity is a bad choice.

That's neither here nor there, though.
( Read more... )

I Feel: accomplished
I Hear: Castlevania II: Simon's Quest - Bloody Hell (Ailsean, Tim Sheehy OC ReMix)

I go back and hand the documents over to Edwin, who gets in one last insult before telling Chiyo that Mae'Var has a final task for her and she should report to him at once. In the basement, Mae'Var says that Edwin has told him we are:

"Fairly good at the sneaksman's trade, but a little hamfisted when you fight."

which sounds like exactly the opposite of my group composition, what with Yoshimo being the only person who's actually able to sneak around anywhere, but we'll see what task he wants.( Read more... )

I Feel: accomplished
I Hear: VHS Glitch - Jaw Breaker

After a hiatus, I'm back! And thanks to my extensive record-keeping, I can pick up right where I left off.

I know I've been trying to get to Mae'Var to see how terrible the Shadow Thieves are, but I have a couple loose ends to tie up first, so I head back to the Copper Coronet and walk into the back rooms. Upstairs, I find a dwarf named Llynis, who starts when I enter the room with a mutter that he thought I was that damn ghost again:( Read more... )

I Feel: okay
I Hear: DoctorM64 - Danger in Old Tourian

Gargoyle's Quest is another one of those games I learned about through Nintendo Power. I was positive that it was through the Counselor's Corner section, but I looked through most of the Nintendo Power issues that I had a child and I could only find one question asked about Gargoyle's Quest and it's not about the topic I remember. I looked up the game in a Nintendo Power database, checked issue #12, but even it doesn't have the question asking where to find the Wings of the Falcon that I remember reading about. Which is good, because the answer is, "You talk to the townsghouls and follow their clear and explicit instructions." I won't say it's impossible to screw up, but it seems very unlikely.

Anyway, this game wasn't quite what I expected.

Phenomenal cosmic power, itty bitty screen size.

( Read more... )

I Feel: restless
I Hear: Miracle Of Sound - Commander Shepard

Or, as I call it:

I'm sorry. I had to.

( Read more... )

I Feel: frustrated
I Hear: Allicorn - The Last Days of Yhtill

As soon as I arrive back in Athkatla, a boy finds me and tells me that something terrible has happened to Moiya and I must come quickly, thus proving all my early suspicions correct. When I show up, Moiya is in trouble:
( Read more... )

I Feel: accomplished
I Hear: Big Giant Circles - Telescopic

I head back to Umar Hills and go immediately to the village to look for this contact. We find him outside the inn among the other merchants, a man named Fael, and buy a copy of History of the Zhentarim as the note we found in the tanner's house said to. Fael comments on the book we picked, and mentions that he used to deal in books back in Athkatla, and if we can tell him the name he used then he might be able to give us a discount. Chiyo answers "Darcin Cole," and Fael apologizes for the games and says that the armor he's preparing is almost ready. All it needs is the final ingredient--the blood of a silver dragon. Chiyo plays along and asks where to find it, and Fael shrugs and says, "You are the artist, you find one." I'm a bit tempted to just murder him on the spot, but this seems like a far-flung conspiracy of murderous armorcrafters, so I need to get more info. With the trail in Umar Hills cold, I change gears and head to Trademeet.
( Read more... )

Profile

dorchadas

June 2025

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30

Page Summary

Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XXIX: Dungeons & Dialogue
Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XXVIII: Escape from Ust Natha
Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XXVII: Come to me, dark warriors, battle awaits us!
Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XXVI: Vault of the Drow
Game Review: Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky
Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XXV: Scarytown
Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XXIV: City of the Sea-Devils
Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XXIII: The Affairs of Wizards
Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XXII: Like Rats in a Maze
Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XXI: The Way to Spellhold
Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XX: Walking in Shadows
Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XIX: Escape from Sidequest Hell
Game Review: Mass Effect 3
Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XVIII: Liches Get Stitches
Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XVII: You Spoony Bards!
Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XVI: Mind = Flayed
Dorchadas plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XV: Never Deal with a Dragon
Game Review: Last Dream
Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XIV: The Planar Sphere
Dorchadas plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XIII: I Finally Advance the Plot
Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XII: This Mae'Be a Bad Idea
Game Review: Gargoyle's Quest
Game Review: Mass Effect 2
Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XI: Grave Consequences
Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part X: When Animals Attack

Listen to the Rain

Entries tagged with crpg (pc・ロールプレイゲーム)

Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XXIX: Dungeons & Dialogue

Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XXVIII: Escape from Ust Natha

Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XXVII: Come to me, dark warriors, battle awaits us!

Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XXVI: Vault of the Drow

Game Review: Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky

Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XXV: Scarytown

Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XXIV: City of the Sea-Devils

Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XXIII: The Affairs of Wizards

Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XXII: Like Rats in a Maze

Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XXI: The Way to Spellhold

Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XX: Walking in Shadows

Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XIX: Escape from Sidequest Hell

Game Review: Mass Effect 3

Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XVIII: Liches Get Stitches

Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XVII: You Spoony Bards!

Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XVI: Mind = Flayed

Dorchadas plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XV: Never Deal with a Dragon

Game Review: Last Dream

Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XIV: The Planar Sphere

Dorchadas plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XIII: I Finally Advance the Plot

Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XII: This Mae'Be a Bad Idea

Game Review: Gargoyle's Quest

Game Review: Mass Effect 2

Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part XI: Grave Consequences

Dorchadas Plays Baldur's Gate II, Part X: When Animals Attack

Profile

June 2025

Page Summary

Active Entries

Syndicate

Entries tagged with crpg (pc・ロールプレイ ゲーム)

Page Summary

Active Entries

Syndicate

Entries tagged with crpg (pc・ロールプレイゲーム)