indigozeal (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
indigozeal) wrote2011-10-20 09:14 pm
indigozeal) wrote2011-10-20 09:14 pm
Entry tags:
Neo Angelique playlog pt. 5
Previously, on Neo Angelique - or, rather, this time on Neo Angelique - there was dinner. Previously on Neo Angelique, there was a cranky and uncooperative Hyuga, which plays into problems this time.
I got up to the game's first use of the dinner party mechanic - heh, and is't that a strange sentence; perhaps more titles need to incorporate a dinner party mechanic, like Mortal Kombat and Dead Space, or Animamundi at the very least - which proved pleasant and interesting gameplay-wise. It starts out simple enough - Ange's asked what she wants to eat that night from a selection of dishes, each the speciality of one of the different Aube Hunters. You'll get a compatibility boost with the gentleman whose dish you choose, but you're not told who cooks what beforehand. Ange's preparing desert, though, and whatever she chooses, it's up to her to prepare a compatible treat (don't go pairing blancmange with pork 'n' beans, in other words).
It's during dinner, however, that things get interesting. During the meal, Ange can choose to engage one of the Aube Hunters in chitchat. You don't have control over what Ange will ask, which can be anything from the fellow's former life to how he's finding the manor, etc. As he answers, the others will chime in with their opinions and experiences, and their individual mood meters will go up or down depending on the turns the conversation takes. Eventually, control will turn back to Ange, and she can either change the subject, engaging another dinner partner in conversation, or pursue the topic at hand. Prolong a conversation too many turns, though, and the gentleman will start stonewalling or confess to being at a loss for words, which will bring down the mood in the room as the other diners react with irritation or fidget with their plates. The mechanic, in other words, revolves around judging when a conversation has reached its natural end, which isn't something you usually see gauged in videogames.
Right, so I had chosen jambalaya, which turned out to be Rayne's specialty, and sat down for what I hoped to be a entertaining and informative meal. And the start was promising - the Aube Hunters dug in, and everyone's happy little "percentage of meal eaten" pie charts whittled away...except for Hyuga's. Rayne had slaved over a hot stove! We had a party especially for him! And do you know that he wouldn't eat his jambalaya.
The problem probably began when Hyuga had had the first of what will probably be many small altercations with Rayne just before dinner and therefore (despite a perfunctory compliment at the start of the meal) wasn't predisposed to eat Rayne's cooking. (Admittedly, Hyuga doesn't exactly seem like a jambalaya fan anyway.) I ended up feeling a little bad that Hyuga was having such a difficult time in the house (regardless of how much of that was his own fault), and so - considering he was the newcomer and all - I picked him as my first target for the conversation. Ange asked him about the things he'd seen in his travels, and he responded with an earnest remark about the "wondrous things - and terrible things" he'd encountered. After a couple comments, Ange's conversation prompt came up again, and I thought it'd be friendly to follow up on Hyuga's adventures - maybe he'd have a thrilling story of exciting derring-do to share with us! But, his response: "I'm sorry, but that topic is not suitable for the dinner table." Cue little Peanuts-esque gloomy clouds of tangled scribbles over everyone's heads.
Turning the conversation to J.D. and Nyx, though, proved much more fruitful, and everyone seemed in high spirits by the end of the meal. Well, almost everyone:
Rayne: Hey, I'm glad you liked my jambalaya. I had a good time.
Nyx: Smashing festivities, mademoiselle. I'll be coming to your room tonight. ::wink:: (And he did.)
J.D.: What a great party! Everyone seemed so happy♥
Hyuga: I hate eating. I hate food. I hate you.
His actual words were something along the lines of "I guess that dinner party just wasn't for me," but that's an accurate reflection of his genuine opinion of us. I'm honestly curious if his little mood-meter on the status screen will get to the "gritting teeth" smiley by the end of the game.
Ahhhh, what else happened? Ange & Rayne ran an errand or two in the Celestizam. While in a nearby town, on the way to lunch, Rayne stopped to look at some old books for sale, just like in one episode of the series - I'm surprised at how much comes directly from the game. (It must've been a treat for fans, but I now wish the TV crew'd been a little more inventive.) I feel guilty, since a conversation prompt popped up while he was browsing, and I chose "Any particular book you're looking for?" over "Want to get lunch later?", viewing the former as a possible way to open up the topic of reading material and the latter as kind of a snitty reminder about lunch. Unfortunately, I chose poorly, as Rayne interpreted the comment as "if you're not looking for a particular book, let's go," and so the poor guy never really got to browse. In summary, I need to hang around a less passive-aggressive crowd in real life.
I happened upon what I suppose was a special event involving Nyx playing piano. I did tick him off a bit by choosing to linger outside his door for a short while and listen to the music instead of barging in straightaway, but events progressed smoothly after that. I'm not consciously pursuing Nyx, but he seems adept at tricking me into choices that lead to romantic situations.
Also, I'm back to thinking that the dream voice is Elvin instead of Rene; it lacks that youthful lilt Rene has even when he's deadly serious.
What next? Maybe I'll take Hyuga out so that he doesn't feel totally isolated - not on any serious quests, of course. Now that the Celestizam's open to us, I do hope His Stabbiness makes an appearance soon.
Rayne Engrish watch: "ittsu mai taan" ("it's my turn"); "gibu ando teeku" ("give and take" - I don't think he's even aiming for anything intelligible in his native Japanese anymore), and I have written down that he used the word "gaiya" (or possibly "gaaya"), but I didn't note the circumstances, and neither WWWJDIC not Yahoo Japan nor Google have any ideas as to what he could mean. Then again, I think they'd be at a loss on "gibu ando teeku," too.
.
I got up to the game's first use of the dinner party mechanic - heh, and is't that a strange sentence; perhaps more titles need to incorporate a dinner party mechanic, like Mortal Kombat and Dead Space, or Animamundi at the very least - which proved pleasant and interesting gameplay-wise. It starts out simple enough - Ange's asked what she wants to eat that night from a selection of dishes, each the speciality of one of the different Aube Hunters. You'll get a compatibility boost with the gentleman whose dish you choose, but you're not told who cooks what beforehand. Ange's preparing desert, though, and whatever she chooses, it's up to her to prepare a compatible treat (don't go pairing blancmange with pork 'n' beans, in other words).
It's during dinner, however, that things get interesting. During the meal, Ange can choose to engage one of the Aube Hunters in chitchat. You don't have control over what Ange will ask, which can be anything from the fellow's former life to how he's finding the manor, etc. As he answers, the others will chime in with their opinions and experiences, and their individual mood meters will go up or down depending on the turns the conversation takes. Eventually, control will turn back to Ange, and she can either change the subject, engaging another dinner partner in conversation, or pursue the topic at hand. Prolong a conversation too many turns, though, and the gentleman will start stonewalling or confess to being at a loss for words, which will bring down the mood in the room as the other diners react with irritation or fidget with their plates. The mechanic, in other words, revolves around judging when a conversation has reached its natural end, which isn't something you usually see gauged in videogames.
Right, so I had chosen jambalaya, which turned out to be Rayne's specialty, and sat down for what I hoped to be a entertaining and informative meal. And the start was promising - the Aube Hunters dug in, and everyone's happy little "percentage of meal eaten" pie charts whittled away...except for Hyuga's. Rayne had slaved over a hot stove! We had a party especially for him! And do you know that he wouldn't eat his jambalaya.
The problem probably began when Hyuga had had the first of what will probably be many small altercations with Rayne just before dinner and therefore (despite a perfunctory compliment at the start of the meal) wasn't predisposed to eat Rayne's cooking. (Admittedly, Hyuga doesn't exactly seem like a jambalaya fan anyway.) I ended up feeling a little bad that Hyuga was having such a difficult time in the house (regardless of how much of that was his own fault), and so - considering he was the newcomer and all - I picked him as my first target for the conversation. Ange asked him about the things he'd seen in his travels, and he responded with an earnest remark about the "wondrous things - and terrible things" he'd encountered. After a couple comments, Ange's conversation prompt came up again, and I thought it'd be friendly to follow up on Hyuga's adventures - maybe he'd have a thrilling story of exciting derring-do to share with us! But, his response: "I'm sorry, but that topic is not suitable for the dinner table." Cue little Peanuts-esque gloomy clouds of tangled scribbles over everyone's heads.
Turning the conversation to J.D. and Nyx, though, proved much more fruitful, and everyone seemed in high spirits by the end of the meal. Well, almost everyone:
Rayne: Hey, I'm glad you liked my jambalaya. I had a good time.
Nyx: Smashing festivities, mademoiselle. I'll be coming to your room tonight. ::wink:: (And he did.)
J.D.: What a great party! Everyone seemed so happy♥
Hyuga: I hate eating. I hate food. I hate you.
His actual words were something along the lines of "I guess that dinner party just wasn't for me," but that's an accurate reflection of his genuine opinion of us. I'm honestly curious if his little mood-meter on the status screen will get to the "gritting teeth" smiley by the end of the game.
Ahhhh, what else happened? Ange & Rayne ran an errand or two in the Celestizam. While in a nearby town, on the way to lunch, Rayne stopped to look at some old books for sale, just like in one episode of the series - I'm surprised at how much comes directly from the game. (It must've been a treat for fans, but I now wish the TV crew'd been a little more inventive.) I feel guilty, since a conversation prompt popped up while he was browsing, and I chose "Any particular book you're looking for?" over "Want to get lunch later?", viewing the former as a possible way to open up the topic of reading material and the latter as kind of a snitty reminder about lunch. Unfortunately, I chose poorly, as Rayne interpreted the comment as "if you're not looking for a particular book, let's go," and so the poor guy never really got to browse. In summary, I need to hang around a less passive-aggressive crowd in real life.
I happened upon what I suppose was a special event involving Nyx playing piano. I did tick him off a bit by choosing to linger outside his door for a short while and listen to the music instead of barging in straightaway, but events progressed smoothly after that. I'm not consciously pursuing Nyx, but he seems adept at tricking me into choices that lead to romantic situations.
Also, I'm back to thinking that the dream voice is Elvin instead of Rene; it lacks that youthful lilt Rene has even when he's deadly serious.
What next? Maybe I'll take Hyuga out so that he doesn't feel totally isolated - not on any serious quests, of course. Now that the Celestizam's open to us, I do hope His Stabbiness makes an appearance soon.
Rayne Engrish watch: "ittsu mai taan" ("it's my turn"); "gibu ando teeku" ("give and take" - I don't think he's even aiming for anything intelligible in his native Japanese anymore), and I have written down that he used the word "gaiya" (or possibly "gaaya"), but I didn't note the circumstances, and neither WWWJDIC not Yahoo Japan nor Google have any ideas as to what he could mean. Then again, I think they'd be at a loss on "gibu ando teeku," too.
.