|
Post by ryougaelliot on Oct 12, 2011 0:07:25 GMT -5
I'm with Naru on this so far. I'm at the beginning-ish of the final chapter, and the whole overall journey has been ridiculous. yotaka, I'm already in a full body cast, if that helps.
|
|
|
Post by yangxu on Oct 13, 2011 13:32:44 GMT -5
Don't read the spoiler if you haven't beaten Ao. The reason Lloyd gave for not having KeA to rewrite the history of Crossbell is unconvincing. He disregarded all the innocent children that were sacrificed during DG's rituals and died during various experimentation. "All our efforts meant nothing if history is rewritten". That's gotta be one of the worst excuses coming from someone who was apparently saved by KeA's power of time/space manipulation. w~ xD I haven't played any of the series nor anything, but this sounds like the kind of ending that would get me to agree with you on everything if I had played it all. xD >_<"""" Haha, I thought I'd be the only person who thinks this way, thanks for the support =P
|
|
|
Post by narugami on Oct 16, 2011 8:06:01 GMT -5
I actually found one thing that reminded me of Ys, but it's a spoiler and not a direct reference (one character has an outfit that resembles a character from Ys 6.) Anyway. Unless they totally futzed up the ending, Zero/Ao have surpassed Sora FC/SC for me. I don't know about other people, I was pissed at how the ending turned out in Ao. Zero/Ao have surpassed FC/SC in terms of system, but story-wise, they are less appealing to me. Don't read the spoiler if you haven't beaten Ao. The reason Lloyd gave for not having KeA to rewrite the history of Crossbell is unconvincing. He disregarded all the innocent children that were sacrificed during DG's rituals and died during various experimentation. "All our efforts meant nothing if history is rewritten". That's gotta be one of the worst excuses coming from someone who was apparently saved by KeA's power of time/space manipulation. Just beat the game last night~ Spoiler response: I don't know. You're probably objectively right that it would have been wiser to use KeA's power. To me, though, that would have been retroactively justifying all the horrible things that were done in the name of the Azure Zero Plan. And it's not certain that the perfect world would have been perfect (especially with those people designing it.) Would they have used KeA's power again? Maybe I've watched too much Higurashi but I'm skeptical of fishing for a better world. Also, can you imagine the fan outcry if all the interesting developments at the end of the game had been erased by the Demiurgus? But that's just my opinion Anyway! Lovely game. Fandisc now please.
|
|
|
Post by Raison D'etritus on Oct 16, 2011 8:40:06 GMT -5
Does the series bear a strong Gnostic influence?!? Or are some borrowed names the limit? ( I thought Soraya Saga belonged to Monolith!) *gets kanji cards back out*
|
|
|
Post by yangxu on Oct 16, 2011 8:41:31 GMT -5
I don't know about other people, I was pissed at how the ending turned out in Ao. Zero/Ao have surpassed FC/SC in terms of system, but story-wise, they are less appealing to me. Don't read the spoiler if you haven't beaten Ao. The reason Lloyd gave for not having KeA to rewrite the history of Crossbell is unconvincing. He disregarded all the innocent children that were sacrificed during DG's rituals and died during various experimentation. "All our efforts meant nothing if history is rewritten". That's gotta be one of the worst excuses coming from someone who was apparently saved by KeA's power of time/space manipulation. Just beat the game last night~ Spoiler response: I don't know. You're probably objectively right that it would have been wiser to use KeA's power. To me, though, that would have been retroactively justifying all the horrible things that were done in the name of the Azure Zero Plan. And it's not certain that the perfect world would have been perfect (especially with those people designing it.) Would they have used KeA's power again? Maybe I've watched too much Higurashi but I'm skeptical of fishing for a better world. Also, can you imagine the fan outcry if all the interesting developments at the end of the game had been erased by the Demiurgus? But that's just my opinion Anyway! Lovely game. Fandisc now please. Point taken. Those who talked KeA into "re-weaving" the world are just a bunch of selfish jerks. Interesting that you brought up Higurashi, since it took them a few tries to get everything right. With so many different factions in Ao, the action of one person/party could potentially throw Crossbell into chaos again.
|
|
|
Post by narugami on Oct 17, 2011 13:22:03 GMT -5
RazingD'etritus: Yes, there is a strong Gnostic element to the plot. It only really comes into the forefront late in the game, though. Since I've had some time to think over the game (and catch up on my sleep) here's a non-spoiler review. This only covers gameplay, and since the base system was already pretty good, I'm going to focus on the new stuff. There were a lot of changes made to refine and tweak the system from Zero. They make the game much faster and easier to play. These include: 1) The car. The car is a gift from Eidos. You can warp to any location or bus stop on the world map. If you accidentally go back to Crossbell without it, you can press Triangle to send the car back to the garage. It's fantastic. Plus you can paint it in cheerful colours and even upgrade it so it recovers HP/EP/CP. Why spend money at the inn when you can nap in your car? 2) Some records now have a percentage marker to show your progress. If you want to know how many treasure chests you've opened so far, check the record menu for a percent indicator. 3) Now, when you view an enemy's data without having scanned it first, the data appears in red. This is useful if you want to scan all enemies - in Zero I missed some because I had the Data quartz equipped and thought I'd scanned some monsters when I actually hadn't. 4) New minigames. Honestly, I'm impressed with the effort they put into it. Pom!tto is surprisingly fun and I hope they expand it and include it in more games. 5) There's a TON of relationship scenes you can unlock with even minor characters. There's definitely lots of room to find new things on a second or even third run through the game. 6) It's possible to get one of the Zemulia weapons even if you missed collecting all the novels. This is a big help for completionists. 7) The scene viewer in the Extra menu now lets you watch the relationship events for characters you've unlocked. It's a nice touch. 8) You can skip arts! This is amazing! Thank you Falcom! Complaints: 1) There are too many bugs. There are a number of reports of scene display errors (the wrong sprites appear on screen.) Additionally, there are a few fights that you're supposed to lose, but you get a record if you win. I won one of those fights and got a system message that I earned a record. However, it doesn't appear in the Records menu and I didn't get any points for it. In any case, the bugs are a problem. Fix them, Falcom! 2) The marketing promised that we'd get to visit certain areas. Sure they show up in cutscenes, but do we get to prowl around and steal stuff? No. This sucks. 3) The Prestory data library is a nice touch, but if you've played Sora and Zero you won't need it, and if you skipped those games it won't help. I'd prefer it if the next game included definitions of the more unusual terminology. 4) The game is too short (no it isn't, I'm just crazy) 5) Why is there no sound test?
|
|
|
Post by Red Hairdo on Oct 17, 2011 15:58:36 GMT -5
I actually found one thing that reminded me of Ys, but it's a spoiler and not a direct reference (one character has an outfit that resembles a character from Ys 6.) Anyway. Unless they totally futzed up the ending, Zero/Ao have surpassed Sora FC/SC for me. Oh! Is it possible for me to Google and find the artwork for said character? What should I try to Google? If needed, perhaps you could use the Spoiler Tag we have? Also, thanks for letting me know this. So, what character was it?
|
|
|
Post by narugami on Oct 17, 2011 17:18:17 GMT -5
Oh! Is it possible for me to Google and find the artwork for said character? What should I try to Google? If needed, perhaps you could use the Spoiler Tag we have? Also, thanks for letting me know this. So, what character was it? Sorry about that. Major spoilers do not click if you intend to play Zero/Ao:
|
|
|
Post by Red Hairdo on Oct 17, 2011 18:41:24 GMT -5
Thankies! Edit: Hm. xD Yeah, I guess it's as much of a "cameo" as Agate in SNK is, so to speak, which... isn't much, I concur. But thanks anyway for bearing with me.
|
|
|
Post by yotaka on Oct 17, 2011 19:17:45 GMT -5
I don't know the specific reference in Ao (but my copy will finally be within my hands in a few hours and then I will, oh yes... or at least I'll get started) but if you were thinking of Agate being a 'cameo' in the sense of being a red-haired guy with a sword, I'd give Anelace much bigger Cameo Points. Her outfit is basically Adol's classic armor as modified to be used by a girl. 2) The marketing promised that we'd get to visit certain areas. Sure they show up in cutscenes, but do we get to prowl around and steal stuff? No. This sucks. Ooh, let me guess, it's the areas in Erebonia and Calvard isn't it?
|
|
|
Post by Red Hairdo on Oct 17, 2011 19:31:40 GMT -5
I personally never considered Agate to actually count as an Ys cameo (which is why I left SNK out of this Ys-related games list), but it was indeed something I thought of keeping in mind. And now I'll keep that Anelace person in mind, as well. xD Thanks for the input.
|
|
|
Post by hips on Oct 17, 2011 23:36:34 GMT -5
Some comments on the final scene. About Lloyd's reason to reject using KeA's power, one is that it denies Lloyd's past effort, but I think the more important one, which he also used to convince the lawyer, is that human will grow, be made better, by going through such ordeal. And this is, in their opinion, the true value all people should pursue.
There are, however, some motivations from the antagonists that I do not quite understand. For example, why does Ian give up so easily? I thought they should seduce Lloyd by promising a resurrection of Guy. Second, what's the purpose of Mariabell? Just to have fun? She doesn't seem to care about her "artifact" being destroyed very much, yet she said their family's thousand year desire is strong.
|
|
|
Post by narugami on Oct 18, 2011 7:35:22 GMT -5
Honestly, there are way more Zwei II references in Ao: you can get a model of the Tristan to hang in Lloyd's room and you can get a penguin kigurumi. Penguin KeA has terrifying destructive power.
Hopefully they'll put Zwei II Plus on Vita one of these days.
|
|
|
Post by Red Hairdo on Jan 8, 2012 22:29:25 GMT -5
AO NO KISEKI IS Y S-RELATED! Hoozah Yakra is the one who discovered that on occasion some weeks ago, actually. Glad to know not only ZNK, but also ANK is Ys-related. I wonder if NNK will also be. Sorry if this was already said somewhere else in ALoY during these past few months.
|
|