MARREND'S PROFILE

So, it's finally time to finish what we started. I'm talking about, of course, an LP for...


...Xenosaga Episode 3 - Also sprach Zarathustra. Or, as with the other games in this series, simply, Xenosaga Episode 3. If you played Xenosaga Episode 2, and did not like the direction that game took, and skipped out on this game, I get it. Hell, I was probably close to being among that number. Still, I was curious about how this series would continue, and, ultimately, end. Remember that this series was supposed to entail 6 games, and we only got 3. So, not only was there a need to compartmentalize, but, a desire to correct the mistakes that were made in Episode 2.

I can't really say what the overall expectation for Episode 3 was, but, to say that the previous entry did not take very well would be a vast understatement. It is a small miracle that this game even exists, from what I've learned of it's development. With a game like this, you gotta go out with a bang, and, in my humble opinion, this game does that in spades.

While the combat engine was revamped again, it brings back Tech Attacks for characters, and made Tech Attacks for ES based on filling Anima Gauge(s), rather than stick with the Stock command. Characters no longer have access to button inputs for their attacks, though the ES retain that mechanic, adding an additional layer with a Fuel system. This mechanic might be a callback to it's spiritual predecessor to some degree? I'll talk more about this when I get to the game, proper.

If there is one nitpick I have, it's that loading clear game data from Episode 2 to Episode 3 is probably as useful as loading clear game data from Episode 1 into Episode 2. Which is to say, nothing really useful can be gained there. Off the top of my head, I think it's Shion's Vector outfit, maybe KOS-MOS' original outfit, and maybe some other things I'm not remembering because they are totally irrelevant. What the hell, Monolift Soft? What the hell?

As before, I've tagged a playlist for the soundtrack, and two for cutscenes (here and here), because, at this point, there's no reason not to tag both. While I don't have a specific goal, or challenge in mind, know that I will absolutely utilize Codebreaker codes, and thus, my experience will be vastly different than other players.

Table of Contents:

• Disk 1

-Session 1 - Hacking into the S-Line
-Session 2 - Rennes-le-Chateau d'If
-Session 3 - Takin' Out the Trash
-Session 4 - Ancient Temples, New Adversaries
-Session 5 - During the Dark Age of RMN's Server Issues

Hey, everybody! Welcome back to another LP thread! This time, we're going to cut down the mightiest tree in the forest! Wiiiiiiiith! A herring!

Er, let's try that again. As much as I'm tempted to finish the Xenosaga series with Episode 3 (it'll be next, I swear!), I'm going to do the traditional Christmas LP thread with...


...The Witcher 3 - Wild Hunt! Like the LP for The Outer Worlds, this is a game I have not played before, nor have any kind of experience in. In fact, I've not played any game in this series, and, generally speaking, am coming to this game blind. I've heard good things about it from various sources, some of which being references to the in-game card game, Gwent. I threw it on my Steam wishlist, out of curiosity to see what this was all about at some point, and was gifted it for Christmas this year.

While I could do some research to gain a better frame of reference as to what I'm getting into, or have some random/interesting tidbit to share, I think it might be interesting to play with my knowledge pool as-is. However, I'm at least somewhat aware that this game has relationships that can get rather... intimate, and I'll do my best to avoid posting anything explicit when/if such situations come up.

I don't have a particular goal/aim for this LP, outside of just seeing what exists here, and seeing for myself if the game lives up to what hype I've heard of it. I doubt the use of UGE would be possible in conjunction with this game, and while it might be possible to utilize CheatEngine, I'll do my best to refrain from doing so. If I do end up using it, I'll let you know.

Table of Contents:
-Session 1 - Doing Everything but the Kitchen Sink
-Session 2 - Even More Side Hustling
-Session 3 - Jeanne! You Must Not Advanze Ze... Oh, Drat
-Session 4 - The Elf, the Witch, and the Wild Hunt
-Session 5 - Bringing in the Baron
-Session 6 - From the City to the Bogs
-Session 7 - Meeting the Crones
-Session 8 - An Introduction to Novigrad
-Session 9 - Hunting Treasure Because it is Our Pleasure

Hey, gang! It's LP time! I figured, since I covered Xenogears here (and you should totally read it), I thought I should also cover it's spiritual successor on the PS2, the Xenosaga series. I do plan to LP all three games at some point, though, I will definitely want some kind of break between games. However, unlike my LPs of the Suikoden series (which you should also read!), I will start with the first game...


...Xenosaga Episode 1 - Der Wille zur Macht! More simply known as Xenosaga Episode 1, because absolutely nobody I am aware of refers to these games by their full titles, outside of possibly reviewers. Though, the subtitle/phrase approximately means "the will to power", if my memory, or humble knowledge of German, is correct.

So, there's probably a different story behind this, but, here's what I can figure. If you played Xenogears, or read my LP, it's pretty obvious that content was cut from the game. A number of people that worked on Xenogears wanted another try at making another game like it, or maybe a sequel? I imagine that the suits at Squaresoft said no, and those people shrugged and left the company, eventually forming their own studio, Monolith. They got Namco as a publisher, and, after about 5 years after the release of Xenogears, they came out with Xenosaga Episode 1.

Xenosaga was always designed with the idea that it would be as a series. The initial projection was six games, if memory recalls. It is with some amount of irony that the series got cut from six games to three. Episode 3 sometimes shows that it's storytelling might have been rushed/compressed due to where the company's expectations were in how many games they had to tell the story. It's certainly not as bad as Disk 2 in Xenogears, but, there's times in Episiode 3 that I get the impression that whatever is being talked about could have been a separate game. Or, you know, at least more expanded that what is being discussed. That's more a topic for Episode 2 or 3, though.

As with other LPs, I have a playlist that I will refer to if/when I want to call out music cues. When the need/desire arises, I will be using this playlist for various cut-scenes that occur in-game. The content in cut-scenes, regardless of whither or not I post a video, will be summarized as much as I can manage to.

I don't have a specific goal in mind, so, this LP will be about relaying what's in the game, and any shout-outs to Xenogears I can observe. Please keep in mind that I have zero compunctions in using CodeBreaker cheat codes, and in so doing, how I relay the game's difficulty might be a bit skewed. I will welcome any questions, or comments, of course.


Table of Contents:
-Session 1 - Just Another Day on the Woglinde
-Session 2 - Craptastrophe, Naming Land
-Session 3 - We're Space Recyclers, Goddamn it!
-Session 4 - The Largest Debt
-Session 5 - Introducing the Kukai Foundation
-Session 6 - Ghosts of the Past and Future
-Session 7 - The Cursed Song
-Session 8 - Mission Complete

This last Christmas was very generous to me. With it, I was gifted three games. I don't know if I have the wherewithal to LP all three, but, nonetheless, I have the hankering for another LP. Though, part of that hankering is from reading through Xenogears whenever the topic arises in the Discord channel. Or, needing to get certain image(s) that are used within that LP for varying reasons. So, thanks a lot, Xenogears, and the Santas that got me these game!

So! This time, we're delving into...


...Final Fantasy 7 Remake. My copy includes the Intergrade content. I reserve the right to skip over it entirely, and focus on the core experience.

So, I kinda feel this game needs no introduction. However, let's have one anyway, and start with a the obvious. The game's original release was on PlayStation somewhere in the year 1997. So, like, about 25 years ago.

And just writing that sentence makes me feel old. ;_;

Like, I can barely recall seeing images from the game in a page from a magazine (might have been a guidebook?) during a lunch period of my last year at high school. I might not have been personally invested in the game at the time, it would later.

Let's jump ahead into the summer of '98. Maybe '99. My brother came home from college, and introduced me to the wonders of emulation. This was my first real exposure to the SNES FFs. I might have played a friend's copy of FF1 on the NES back in the day, but, I'll be damned if I got very far into it.

Anyway, I played the SNES FFs. A lot. Eventually, I put together a set of UGE modules that could apply to saved states created with ZSNES. And a bunch of other games that you might have heard of. Such as Earthboud, Breath of Fire 1 and 2, Chrono Trigger, Lufia 1 and 2, Super Metriod, Treasure of the Rudra. I still have them archived, but, I haven't used them in years.

It might have been after this that we got ourselves hooked up with a PC demo of FF7. The content of which was contained to arena battles, but, it kinda made us get the PC port of FF7. We had a lot of issues getting past the plethora of FMVs that occur at the end of Disk 1. From what stories I've heard about the PC port, we were not alone in this misfortune. We gave up on FF7 until, basically, we started messing with PS1 emulation. I might have mentioned this in my Xenogears LP, but, we started with a program called Bleem!, then got a physical PS2 to play on, but eventually got into ePSXe.

A PS3 tech demo for what Final Fantasy 7 could look like with said hardware was made in... hell, it was 2005? I'm not 100% sure if the intent for such a showcase was to make a full game. However, to say that people were impressed by what Square-Enix showed, and wanted to actually see it happen would be an understatement. Now, after some 17 years, they have made good on the promise.

Sort of.

The game is to be released in chapters/episodes, and this game (currently?) represents the first of such. Out of how many, I'm not sure, and I worry about how many episodes this game will have, when it all comes down to it. To say nothing about the price-points for episodes as they release.

If you can forgive another anecdote, I recall when Starcraft 2's Human campaign was released. At the time, I figured I could wait until all three campaigns were released until jumping ship, and getting a package deal. However, the game completely fell off my radar, and never got back on, even after the Protoss and Zerg campaigns were made available.

Getting back on track, this is not the space to speculate about how they will handle what's isn't resolved by the end of this episode. This is about exploring what is here, and, hopefully, have an entertaining time, and sharing it with you.

As an aside, what screencaps I may make will be scaled down from full-screen resolution. Also, unless otherwise noted, Youtube music links will come from this list, and, for the sake of completeness, I will also provide the name of the track used in the case the links to those videos die on me.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 - The Destruction of Mako Reactor 1
Chapter 2 - Fateful Encounters
Chapter 3 - Home Sweet Slum
Chapter 4 - Mad Dash
Chapter 5 - Dogged Pursuit
Chapter 6 - Light the Way
Chapter 7 - A Trap is Sprung
Chapter 8 - Budding Bodyguard
Chapter 9 - The Town That Never Sleeps
Chapter 10 - Rough Waters
Chapter 11 - Haunted
Chapter 12 - Fight for Survival
Chapter 13 - A Broken World
Chapter 14 - In Search of Hope
Chapter 15 - The Day Midgar Stood Still
Chapter 16 - The Belly of the Beast
Chapter 17 - Deliverance from Chaos
Chapter 18 - Destiny's Crossroads

The purpose of this thread is to track 2022 Misao nominations on a monthly basis, and maybe throw a few notable games down for a basis of conversation.

Voting is now COMPLETE!
You may use this link to review the winners and nominees.

January
Total nominations: 0
Notes/Events:
-Nominations closed due to being the voting period for 2021 Misaos
-Seasons of RMN 5

Notable Games
-My Computer Wants to Eat Me?
-Isekai Cowboy (Commercial)
-Concerto
-MARGO - On the Brink
-Ruthless Smile
-Today I Went on a Quest


February
Total nominations: 0 (+0)
Notes/Events:
-Seasons of RMN 5

Notable Games
-I'll Defeat the Monster From the Comfort of My Bed! Powernap Edition
-Decay
-The Secret of Varonis
-A Ghostly Rose (Commercial)
-Izrand Allure
-Aida's Bizzard Halloween
-Crabmania
-Potty Quest
-Before Crisis: Cissnei
-The Alley
-Eternal Remnant: The First Chapter
-5th Era (Commercial)


March
Total nominations: 1 (+1)
Notes/Events:
-Muffle's 1-Dungeon RPG Jam

Notable Games:
-Sophia & Shire
-Super Mario World X
-Ascension - Chronicle of Blackhaven
-The Great Gaias (Commercial)
-Transcendence Legacy - Voidswept (Commercial)
-President Chainsaw (Commercial)
-Yoshi Goes to Tesco
-Slay the Lizard of Lunenburg (and Other Thankless Sidequests)


April
Total nominations: 4 (+3)
Notes/Events:
-RamZ's Last Minute Resource Mak Evento
-RMN Underwater Pixel Quilt

Notable Games:
-Succession: Rise of the Fallen Heir
-Monster World 4 RPG
-Super Mario Death Row 2: Shroomshak Redemption
-Reaper of the Starless Sea
-flatline
-radiolength
-Devil of the Mirror Remake
-Burial
-Paws for Adventure


May
Total nominations: 7 (+3)
Notes/Events:
-None

Notable Games:
-Towelket One More Time 3
-Towelket One More Time 2
-Towelket One More Time
-Stinker's Quest
-Astra Hunter Zosma
-Super Good Boy
-Blackmoon Prophecy Prelude
-One Creek: the house
-Prayer of the Faithless (Commercial)
-SimCabbie


June
Total Nominations: 17 (+10)
Notes/Events:
-15 Years of RMN
-Ranbow of PosTWOvitiy

Notable Games:
-Lobby Loitering
-Final Event XV: The Crystals of Time
-Mechanical Funnies
-Best of All
-Ninth Day Memorial
-Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga (Commercial)
-Delightful Adventure - Enhanced
-Burn Money Get Witches, Sidestory Ed.
-Warm Prism
-Esper Unleashed
-Ocean of Flavor
-The Super Ninjas
-Blue & Iris VS Ghosts


July
Total Nominations: 18 (+1)
Notes/Events:
-None

Notable Games:
-R E A L I T Y (Commercial)
-Maid Sweeper
-Omega Genesis
-Rule of Threes
-Life Eternal
-The Socratic Dialogue
-FIG
-Towelket One More Time 4
-Towelket One More Time 6
-Towelket One More Time Fury


August
Total Nominations: 36 (+18)
Notes/Events:
-Swap in 3 Middle with Who? (playlist)

Notable Games:
-Faded Blue
-Requiem
-Sindorin Inn
-Phina
-A Stolen Love and the Forgotten Promise
-Angelic Virtues
-Cold Front
-Kirby's Firendly Island
-Hand of the Goddess
-Xyz Crossing (Commercial)
-Magyar RM Triad
-Lord of the Rings
-Siam


September
Total Nominations: 89 (+53)
Notes/Events:
-N/A

Notable Games:
-Planet Farm
-Benny + hotgamerdad and the Bajillion DVDs
-Pokemon Nightfall
-Rivals Beyond
-Dormiveglia - A Dreamlike Journey (Commercial)
-Isle of Dread
-Astral Guard - Table Talk
-Fated Thread
-Despoina
-I Got Thrown Into a World That Looks Exactly the Same as Mine, but, There's Nobody Around Anymore, Trying to Figure Out What To Do
-Summoner's Soul
-I Got Reborn as the Demon Queen but I STILL Can't Make Any G*ddamn Friends
-Channel: Home


October
Total Nominations: 93 (+4)
Notes/Events:
-Resurrect the Dying

Notable Games:
-Dearest
-To Aerthen
-Heavenly Matyr
-witch2.rpg
-The Very Brief and Meaningless Adventures of Hero Man
-Mare Deo
-Skolios


November
Total Nominations: 121 (+28)
Notes/Events:
-RMN's Australian Christmas

Notable Games:
-Midnight on the Milky Way
-STREETSAD
-Sweet Middleground 5 - the cave
-Heisei Pistol Show
-Arcanion Chronicles: Demonica (Commercial)
-MOMOinc (Commercial)


December
Total Nominations: 309 (+188)
Notes/Events:
-Secret Santa 2022

Notable Games:
-His Fragile Mind
-Remember
-Towelket One More Time 5
-Sweeter Yesterday
-Tim-Tim2 2 (Commercial)