Friendship is Dragons
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Page 1739 - Danger Tangent
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Newbiespud
6th Sep 2022, 6:00 AM
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"Let's just breed that gold chocobo and get the Knights of the Round materia while that meteor is hanging in the sky."
"It'll only take us 40 hours of nonstop gaming to get it, translating to weeks in-game for the chocobos to mature after hatching when there's supposed to be only three days left before everyone dies."
That was me in Mass Effect 2. "Oh, have the Collectors captured my entire crew and I need to go rescue them right now? Time to go mine for resources on every planet I haven't gotten to yet!"
In fairness to me, that same game gave us plenty of other character-loyalty-building missions that were also presented as having a ticking clock, yet I didn't have to drop everything to go do them immediately, so how was I to know this was different? And of course I didn't have a save from before the capture because why would I think I needed one for specifically that point in the game.
In fairness to me, that same game gave us plenty of other character-loyalty-building missions that were also presented as having a ticking clock, yet I didn't have to drop everything to go do them immediately, so how was I to know this was different? And of course I didn't have a save from before the capture because why would I think I needed one for specifically that point in the game.
Sadly, the joke was on you for waiting around. The time it takes you to chase after the Collectors determines how many of the non combat crew survives. So if you like to procrastinate and do it all just after the ship abduction then you're only saving 2 people as the rest are melted down into organic goo.
The only way to save EVERYONE was to make sure all missions and upgrades were added before that ship attack and then resolve the last mission and upgrade (which I think was Legion's) and immediately give chase.
The cruel irony is the warning on time sensitive missions has NOTHING to do with the missions themselves, it is a warning about the Collectors doing their thing as not having them all finished before then means death, and taking to long to do them means the death of others.
The only way to save EVERYONE was to make sure all missions and upgrades were added before that ship attack and then resolve the last mission and upgrade (which I think was Legion's) and immediately give chase.
The cruel irony is the warning on time sensitive missions has NOTHING to do with the missions themselves, it is a warning about the Collectors doing their thing as not having them all finished before then means death, and taking to long to do them means the death of others.
Ancient not-filly-explored castle surely has some secret treasures not yet looted, right?
That word should have been 'Fully', but thinking about it, I could argue that it refers to the CMC and what would of happened if they go exploring an old castle. :3
They'd likely have triggered all the "fun-house" traps, and gone back for second round.
A great and dooming evil is approaching to destroy all us, let's visit some old dungeon when it's not arrives"
Elder Scrolls game in a nutshell
Elder Scrolls game in a nutshell
There is one stage in Grandia II in which you do have a "no time advances in main quest". The stage is deliberately there to let the party "power-up" (but you do need to save before starting it, as the monsters were powered up enough that if they get initiative, the entire party is effectively dead -- you have to creep through the ruins and ambush them, then use your strongest attacks... go back to the save point, restore power, save, rinse and repeat.
I am reminded of the finale of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. In Ocarina's finale, the Big Bad wants to assemble the MacGuffin from it's three pieces (and obtain the power of the gods in the process). He himself has one piece, he has just kidnapped the princess who has the second piece, which conveniently serves as motivation for the hero, who has the third and final piece, to come right to him to the rescue. So the Big Bad can just relax in his evil tower, playing his ominous theme song on a pipe organ to pass the time, as he waits for the hero's inevitable arrival to rescue the princess. So the plot doesn't progress until you decide to go and face the Big Bad, because his plan explicitly requires the hero to show up to rescue the princess anyway, he knows you WILL come for her sooner or later, and he is more than patient to wait until you do.
The difference here is that the girls have NO reason to go and confront the villains themselves (the villains having not taken hostages or done anything else to force them to come), but they do know that the villains are going to come to them sooner or later anyway to collect the MacGuffin that they know Twilight has. So it is the heroes that are waiting around instead of the villains this time. I mean, Discord and Tirek COULD take a hostage or something to force the girls to come and engage them on their terms like most villains would; I wonder why that option was never discussed?
The difference here is that the girls have NO reason to go and confront the villains themselves (the villains having not taken hostages or done anything else to force them to come), but they do know that the villains are going to come to them sooner or later anyway to collect the MacGuffin that they know Twilight has. So it is the heroes that are waiting around instead of the villains this time. I mean, Discord and Tirek COULD take a hostage or something to force the girls to come and engage them on their terms like most villains would; I wonder why that option was never discussed?
Tirek is already an existential crisis, so taking a hostage might be redundant. Even if he did, the girls would have to assume he's already drained the hostage's power, which is the bigger threat.
In his case, a better timer might be to say Tirek was last seen walking toward a town he hasn't been to yet. The party would have to choose between putting everything on hold to stop him, or letting him have the power-up so they have time to finish one more sidequest.
In his case, a better timer might be to say Tirek was last seen walking toward a town he hasn't been to yet. The party would have to choose between putting everything on hold to stop him, or letting him have the power-up so they have time to finish one more sidequest.
True enough, but draining the hostage doesn't have to be the actual threat; they could always send a message to the girls saying, "Hey, I've got your princesses and their guards prisoner, and if you don't show up soon, we're going to start killing and/or torturing them. That would definitely get the heroes moving.
This is well known as the only acceptable way to play an open world RPG. "A world-eating dragon has come back and is out for my blood specifically because I'm the only one who can stop him...but first I'm gonna join all the guilds, assassinate the Emperor, build myself a sweet house, get married, adopt kids, uncover the long-lost secret of aetherium, either destroy or join the vampire menace, deal with this mofo who keeps sending people to kill me, and finally end this damned civil war all by myself."