KYLELASCAR'S PROFILE

Isn't it wonderful how all these players have all these different tastes? If someone doesn't like battles/grinding and "getting sidetracked", (s)he can play a straight forward adventure game or visual novel instead of a JRPG. I love JRPGs especially because they can combine the best of different genres.

Similar to tastes, there are many different kinds of completionists. Sometimes I even add self-imposed challenges to my playthrough if I somehow benefit from that, e.g. if it motivates me to grind. A recent example would be the excellent RPG Maker MV JRPG Empire. The game features a steal mechanic and a bestiary that shows monster drops as soon as the player got the drop for the first time. I wanted to steal every item from every enemy at least once, and I also wanted to get every monster drop at least once, but there was a problem: Stolen items don't count towards "unlocking" monster drops in the bestiary, so I already had to compromise when it came to enemies that are only fought once (bosses). Since I didn't know if all boss drops were 100 % guaranteed, I went for stealing. Furthermore, the probability of most mob enemy drops is very low (single-digit percentage), even for common items that can be bought at shops. When I had completed all optional stuff, leveled all party members to maximum level and was about to face the final boss, yet still didn't get all monster drops in the final dungeon, I decided to abandon my self-imposed challenge, since it wasn't worth the effort anymore at that point. Apart from that "issue", though, the game is really good.

The bottom line is that every JRPG is different, and I'm rather flexible, so I have to figure out again and again what I want to complete each time, and the same should be true for most JRPG players.

author=thesacredlobo
What do you call the bug that allows you to get Vane back after he's left the party in the market town (the one that has the arena in it)?

I tried to avoid this bug during my second playthrough (won all arena battles before triggering the mercenary gathering scene), so I can't tell if or how this bug qualifies as sequence-breaking. My guess is that Vane simply rejoins the party prematurely, but otherwise everything plays out as intended. Am I mistaken? Even when looking at the event by using RPG Maker 2003, I don't really understand it. Vane rejoins the party early when a certain switch is activated, but I don't know how this switch is activated and which purpose it serves. My best guess would be some kind of unfinished alternate story route, since the player is supposed to win the remaining arena battles later, which is indicated by Solian saying that he will maybe participate in one or two arena battles before or after the mercenary gathering scene. Thus, most players won't encounter this bug. And even if: In my understanding, this bug only works to the player's advantage.

author=thesacredlobo
After all, I've run into developers in the past that have made the final entry in their series first.

Maybe that's why so many developers' second games are prequels. :D

I just completed the game for the second time and "skimmed through" both of your let's plays. While I agree with most of your points, I wouldn't overemphasize the game's bugs. There's only one opportunity for sequence-breaking: Climbing Serpent's Peak early. When someone the player has never heard of utters a few lines and takes part in cutscenes during the climb, it should be obvious for the player that (s)he took a wrong turn. Apart from the things you mentioned, the game is solidly crafted within the engine's limitations.

Since this game claims to be "episode 2" (it's a standalone game, but contains several references to Solians's past endeavors), I wonder if there's an episode 1 that will never see the light of day (again).

author=dd33
i undestand but ot your argument ido like wheel said think other things but im not a patient guy xd and when i read all progress he made in the mail we send it just schock for me that not finish

WheelmanZero can take his own sweet time to complete Umbral Soul's Ultimate Edition. Why don't you, dd33, learn basic English in the meantime?

author=pianotm
Because you are clearly taking criticism of the game personally.

No, I just took your insults personally, because I had previously thought you were a decent person.

author=pianotm
Please enumerate my insults so that I can properly apologize.

"Ass", "douchebaggery", "cognitive Dissonance". I didn't say anything of this quality to you or thesacredlobo, and I'm even too tired to consider his posts, because I'm too occupied with your nonsense. Of course, your posts will remain untouched. The incompetent watchdogs here will sure give you the usual VIP treatment.

author=pianotm
Entitlement. We're really not interested in your first world problems.

Talk for yourself, Mr. majestic plural. This site is all about first world problems anyway. Furthermore, I really believe that women who can't overcome they (probably) have nearly been raped (probably without having been touched at all) count as first world problems, too.

author=pianotm
I notice you didn't take issue with me giving the game a good review even though I only played three to four hours of it, but you showed up in direct response to thesacredlobo's first comment on the thread. Maybe it's just coincidence, but it seems you have a personal issue with thesacredlobo. I hardly know anything about the game, yet you didn't have a single criticism for my "failure". Is your cognitive dissonance usually this strong?

What exactly gave you the impression that I even bothered to read your review? Is your self-conceit usually this strong? If you really want to know: Yes, you are worse in every way compared to thesacredlobo.

author=pianotm
What alarms me isn't actually that you defend Siddon. You actually sound rapey when you defend him and many of your early defenses on the thread from my review suggest that Siddon should actually be allowed.

I provocatively asked if someone who saves the world should be allowed to rape women. This question doesn't apply to real life, since we usually don't see any world-saving here. Nevertheless, I'm sure that all men except for you are potential rapists, but lack text comprehension.

author=pianotm
You're speaking to a widower whose wife died in his arms. I know you're not actually supposed to instantly know that, but by all means, please explain the feelings of women to a man who married a woman who was forced to live with her rapist, lost custody of her son to him, and then had to flee the state she lived in because the man was threatening her, who then couldn't get an ambulance to her in time to stop her lungs collapsing during an asthma attack.

I'm sorry for your loss. Your personal history seems to be the reason why your posts are emotionally charged.

author=pianotm
You are conflating what thesacredlobo said. From what I understand, Siddon behaved in this fashion and had absolutely no penance, was allowed to join the party, and then provided nothing of substance to even justify his presence, and in the process, created a conflict of interest within the party. Why in the world would you defend this? It makes Siddon a sociopath, the party a gang of idiots, and you seem to think this is perfectly okay? It's okay for them to just forget how this guy behaved with no reason given.

No penance? Siddon lost everything he worked so hard for because of the Sarisa incident. In contrast to that, Sarisa married rich (even though she claims she didn't know who Drake was) and tolerated Drake's endeavors for years. The question we should really ask is: Why should the former wife of the main enemy be treated differently? Yes, she tries to better herself in a more obvious way than Siddon, but following your logic, she still shouldn't be allowed to join the party. Nevertheless, every man (and woman) is needed during the resource-intensive battles and dungeons, even a "potential rapist". If Siddon is beyond redemption, then we all are. You really don't know anything about forgiveness. Let me take the first step and forgive you for your rude behavior towards me.

author=pianotm
I am not even going to justify this with an answer because you absolutely have no idea if she wouldn't have resisted. Point in fact, you clearly have no experience with women because if you did, you'd know that when a woman says no, even if she does "want it", she's going to resist.

Do you know this from personal experience? Sorry, I'm clueless, because I don't sleep with women who say no.

author=pianotm
It's still bad game design. Most people DON'T want to be FORCED to visit the same dungeon six times in a fucking hour.

It's a forest that connects the northern and southern half of a continent. I'm really surprised how accustomed people are to the typical contrived JRPG game design that allows/forces the party to visit every place on the world map only once and in classified order. If you don't play a JRPG mainly because of justified backtracking, it's your loss. I don't care, for the world doesn't need you to play a certain or any game.

author=pianotm
A CIVIL WAR IS A BREATH OF FRESH AIR COMPARED TO A WAR THAT HAPPENED SO LONG AGO, MOST CIVILIZATIONS WOULD BE HARD PRESSED TO PROVE IT EVEN HAPPENED IN THE ABSENCE OF RELIABLE DOCUMENTATION, A PROBLEM WE ACTUALLY HAVE IN THE REAL, FREAKING WORLD, RELATED TO THE TIME PERIODS BETWEEN THE 3RD AND 11TH CENTURIES. An historical explanation that clearly doesn't understand how human social memory works. CONFLICT AFTER CONFLICT WITH DRAGONS THAT NOBODY REMEMBERS EVEN THOUGH EVERYONE LIVES IN A SOCIETY THAT CLEARLY DOESN'T HAVE THE RESOURCES TO PERPETRATE SUCH A COVER UP. NO MYTHS EVEN BEYOND THE RUMORS OF SIGHTINGS! I CANNOT RECALL A SINGLE TYRANT BOTH REAL, OR IN A COMPETENT WORK OF FICTION PULLING THAT OFF!

Yes, nothing is more convincing than caps! And guess what: The game's world is only populated by a few hundred people. If you want to enjoy the best possible stories that aren't affected by typical JRPG limitations, you should read books. Did you ever try to develop a game or story of this scope? I know the effort it takes, and I think it's better to give up than to develop one short, mediocre (incomplete) game after another.

author=pianotm
We actually don't know that, and Griffit can still remain Kersh's friend and companion without supporting that decision to protect that egg.

In what kind of fairy tale world do you live? This conflict is definitely on the scale of being able to break friends apart. Griffit's decision to support Kersh even though he disagrees with him on the matter of (not) keeping the egg is supposed to show how mature Griffit is. He's probably more mature than both of us, but honestly: While I still try to "win" this discussion, I'm content with just pissing you off, since pissing me off seems to be your main goal.

author=pianotm
I wrote better trash when I was writing Star Trek fanfics when I was 9-years-old.

Looking at your games, I highly doubt that.