indigozeal (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
indigozeal) wrote2012-01-13 10:00 pm
indigozeal) wrote2012-01-13 10:00 pm
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Alas, poor Jinx: Neo Angelique playlog pt. 13
So this was the J.D. backstory episode.
I took J.D. back to Kozu as recommended by the Bingo Talk subscreen, and we learn that his dad's taken a tumble and is in bed recuperating. We later learn it's nothing serious, but Ange is separated from J.D. at this point, whereupon she runs into the man's wife and J.D.'s mom. J.D.'s mom spins out the Kau backstory, which is slightly different here. As in the anime, J.D.'s insensate when he first comes to the village, but instead of Kau merrily dragging him around on his day-to-day activities, J.D. simply sits in a heap in a room in his newfound family's house, Kau visiting him in an attempt to rouse him from his stupor. He keeps asking J.D. to smile, giving him the "smiles are the seeds of happiness" line, till he falls ill, whereupon J.D. rouses himself for the very first time to follow Kau into his room. Kau, of course, never wake s up. J.D. doesn't understand about death, though, and sits by the boy's bed, repeating his last words back to him in an attempt to get him to awaken. I prefer the anime version, as it's more messily human (I enjoy Kau bringing J.D. through the sunflowers, J.D. calling to Kau with machinelike noncomprehension but still the first bits of emotion etc.), but this version has an effective pathos as well.
After J.D. checks in with his dad, we can happen upon a young member of Artefact who's looking for an old Institute outpost in a forest near Kozu. J.D.'ll direct there, whereupon she'll offer up information about recent Artefact activity: they own and operate an Orb mine near this facility, but it's recently been shuttered. (If Orbs are organic in that they come from Thanatos, how can they dwell in veins of ore in country rock? Is it like calcite or apatite?) Ange notes smoke damage on the outside of the building, and J.D. confesses that this is where he woke up - this is the site of his first memory, of explosions and fire and people screaming around him for help. His limbs wouldn't work, though, and he remained frozen in place, able to do nothing but listen to those around him suffer. It's an effective character scene, and if Ange expresses sympathy with J.D., voicing that she has painful memories of events from her own past she never wishes to repeat, they'll share a small romantic moment.
The second plot thread involves the overwhelming of the Jinx by the evolution of the Thanatos. The odd thing here is that the Jinx are actually somewhat anthropomorphized, albeit to a very small degree - they have a synthesized voice that seems male and female at once (though they say nothing but TARGET CONFIRMED etc.), and when their operator gets in their little Artefact-issued car, the Jinx picks up and waddles after. During one of the encounters with members of Artefact, J.D. sorrowfully notes what he calls extensive "wounds" on the Jinx and suggests it be taken in for maintenance, laying the foundation for the failure of the Jinx here to be Artefact mismanagement and overreach rather than the stupid "the Thanatos are developing a biological immunity to laser fire!" reason of the anime. Documents discovered later in the game, though, sadly reference the Jinx-immunity issue, so we haven't seen the last of it.
Most of the Jinx operators are female, BTW. Well, two out of three we see, which is saying a lot in Angeland. The third, I believe, is the operator who struggled to his feet to save the day in the Thanatos attack on Ange's school in the first half of Abyss. I'm still surprised they allowed a member of Artefact any heroism.
Anyhow, after another successful demonstration of a Jinx unit - and another perhaps-not-surprising-for-his-character-but-still-surprising-for-Angelique expression of sympathy and cheer from J.D. at the advent of more Thanatos hunters, be they human or mechanical - Bernard overtakes us on the road to tell us he has big news he needs all of the Aube Hunters to hear. Back at the ranch, Bernard reveals that the owner of his newspaper has caved to governmental pressure and has been covering up recent defeats of old and new Jinx models by souped-up Thanatos. He also reveals that Artefact dug too greedily and too deep in their Orb mine, whereby they awakened a Super Thanatos that has bested all comers. Though he has second thoughts later on about sending Ange into such danger, he requests that the Aube Hunters send the hellbeast back into shadow and flame.
The game gives you a clear signal that Serious Stuff is about to go down at this point by autosaving, and so, after a lengthy introduction to the whispered horrors of this beast by the loquacious townsfolk, we dove into the mine. J.D. comes across a broken Jinx unit (which even gets not one but two "......" dialogue boxes), whereupon he sadly offers it a "rest in peace" and is about to offer a prayer for its silicon soul when the miniboss shows up. The boss Thanatos' name was Legion, which was disappointingly not a giant glob of bodies but instead something like a caduceus. It had its own special boss music and lighting effects and everything. Naturally, it went down like a punk in all of four hits.
Also, its defeat advanced myGlobal Happiness Meter Doomsday Clock by a whole 100 points. It now stands at about 120 clicks (out of 1000) before midnight. And I'd been trying to keep it artificially low by reloading after every few fruitless battles in my Guardstone searching, lest the world get prematurely happy through my combat victories. At this rate, I'm afraid I might awaken Erebus before I fulfill whatever requirements there are for a proper J.D. ending. I mean, this is Baby's First Otome Game; we should at least get that aspect of the gameplay right.
In other bad news: I did get the Guardstone of Green this time from a new area that opened up, but I'm losing hope that the last one remaining, the one for Light, will ever be found. I've searched all open areas with no luck, but there're a few roads that lead to dead ends that presumably should be occupied by accessable locations at this stage of the game. Locations are added to your list via events and Aube Hunter missions, and while missions are offered somewhat at random, I've been doing every one that's come down the pike. I fear that by ditching Rene I might have taken the opportunity to learn about a few of them off the table (one of the dead ends is right by the Celestizam). RENE!! ::shakes fist::
Small things:
- After the Kozu events, you can meet a second, more snipey fortuneteller who'll give you LoveLove results with Bernard and Rene (and, presumably, Erenfried, Mathias, etc.). I learned only that I'd blown my chances with Bernard, but who cares.
- J.D. will "sing" Kau's song in his events, but his seiyuu doesn't actually vocalize; you get only the instrumentals.
- The Dragon village has a special festival to commemorate the Sara-Pastha romance that unified their tribe (though the two are as of yet unnamed).
- I did get a request from Hannah, who wanted us to fetch her a gift for a friend from a nearby Thanatos-infested location. I fulfilled it with J.D., but remembering how she claimed to be the granddaughter of Auguste, I wonder if things wouldn've been different with Nyx in tow.
- Before all this kicks off, J.D. will have a reunion with the woman whose heel he fixed earlier in the game. She's opening up a bar and wants to thank J.D., and only J.D., by giving him a drink (of juice - J.D. refuses alcohol while on duty). Ange is requested to offer an opinion on this, but all my responses ("why don't you go along; it'll be fun"; "well, if you really want to, J.D...." ::sad face::) sent my compatibility rating downward. The only "positive" option was to get angry at the woman's perceived rudeness. Guess J.D. wants his woman to fight for him.
Rayne Engrish Watch: Didn't even see Rayne, 'cept at the very end. Got a "supiidii" from the snobby, negligent Artefact member and a "meintenansu" from J.D.
.
I took J.D. back to Kozu as recommended by the Bingo Talk subscreen, and we learn that his dad's taken a tumble and is in bed recuperating. We later learn it's nothing serious, but Ange is separated from J.D. at this point, whereupon she runs into the man's wife and J.D.'s mom. J.D.'s mom spins out the Kau backstory, which is slightly different here. As in the anime, J.D.'s insensate when he first comes to the village, but instead of Kau merrily dragging him around on his day-to-day activities, J.D. simply sits in a heap in a room in his newfound family's house, Kau visiting him in an attempt to rouse him from his stupor. He keeps asking J.D. to smile, giving him the "smiles are the seeds of happiness" line, till he falls ill, whereupon J.D. rouses himself for the very first time to follow Kau into his room. Kau, of course, never wake s up. J.D. doesn't understand about death, though, and sits by the boy's bed, repeating his last words back to him in an attempt to get him to awaken. I prefer the anime version, as it's more messily human (I enjoy Kau bringing J.D. through the sunflowers, J.D. calling to Kau with machinelike noncomprehension but still the first bits of emotion etc.), but this version has an effective pathos as well.
After J.D. checks in with his dad, we can happen upon a young member of Artefact who's looking for an old Institute outpost in a forest near Kozu. J.D.'ll direct there, whereupon she'll offer up information about recent Artefact activity: they own and operate an Orb mine near this facility, but it's recently been shuttered. (If Orbs are organic in that they come from Thanatos, how can they dwell in veins of ore in country rock? Is it like calcite or apatite?) Ange notes smoke damage on the outside of the building, and J.D. confesses that this is where he woke up - this is the site of his first memory, of explosions and fire and people screaming around him for help. His limbs wouldn't work, though, and he remained frozen in place, able to do nothing but listen to those around him suffer. It's an effective character scene, and if Ange expresses sympathy with J.D., voicing that she has painful memories of events from her own past she never wishes to repeat, they'll share a small romantic moment.
The second plot thread involves the overwhelming of the Jinx by the evolution of the Thanatos. The odd thing here is that the Jinx are actually somewhat anthropomorphized, albeit to a very small degree - they have a synthesized voice that seems male and female at once (though they say nothing but TARGET CONFIRMED etc.), and when their operator gets in their little Artefact-issued car, the Jinx picks up and waddles after. During one of the encounters with members of Artefact, J.D. sorrowfully notes what he calls extensive "wounds" on the Jinx and suggests it be taken in for maintenance, laying the foundation for the failure of the Jinx here to be Artefact mismanagement and overreach rather than the stupid "the Thanatos are developing a biological immunity to laser fire!" reason of the anime. Documents discovered later in the game, though, sadly reference the Jinx-immunity issue, so we haven't seen the last of it.
Most of the Jinx operators are female, BTW. Well, two out of three we see, which is saying a lot in Angeland. The third, I believe, is the operator who struggled to his feet to save the day in the Thanatos attack on Ange's school in the first half of Abyss. I'm still surprised they allowed a member of Artefact any heroism.
Anyhow, after another successful demonstration of a Jinx unit - and another perhaps-not-surprising-for-his-character-but-still-surprising-for-Angelique expression of sympathy and cheer from J.D. at the advent of more Thanatos hunters, be they human or mechanical - Bernard overtakes us on the road to tell us he has big news he needs all of the Aube Hunters to hear. Back at the ranch, Bernard reveals that the owner of his newspaper has caved to governmental pressure and has been covering up recent defeats of old and new Jinx models by souped-up Thanatos. He also reveals that Artefact dug too greedily and too deep in their Orb mine, whereby they awakened a Super Thanatos that has bested all comers. Though he has second thoughts later on about sending Ange into such danger, he requests that the Aube Hunters send the hellbeast back into shadow and flame.
The game gives you a clear signal that Serious Stuff is about to go down at this point by autosaving, and so, after a lengthy introduction to the whispered horrors of this beast by the loquacious townsfolk, we dove into the mine. J.D. comes across a broken Jinx unit (which even gets not one but two "......" dialogue boxes), whereupon he sadly offers it a "rest in peace" and is about to offer a prayer for its silicon soul when the miniboss shows up. The boss Thanatos' name was Legion, which was disappointingly not a giant glob of bodies but instead something like a caduceus. It had its own special boss music and lighting effects and everything. Naturally, it went down like a punk in all of four hits.
Also, its defeat advanced my
In other bad news: I did get the Guardstone of Green this time from a new area that opened up, but I'm losing hope that the last one remaining, the one for Light, will ever be found. I've searched all open areas with no luck, but there're a few roads that lead to dead ends that presumably should be occupied by accessable locations at this stage of the game. Locations are added to your list via events and Aube Hunter missions, and while missions are offered somewhat at random, I've been doing every one that's come down the pike. I fear that by ditching Rene I might have taken the opportunity to learn about a few of them off the table (one of the dead ends is right by the Celestizam). RENE!! ::shakes fist::
Small things:
- After the Kozu events, you can meet a second, more snipey fortuneteller who'll give you LoveLove results with Bernard and Rene (and, presumably, Erenfried, Mathias, etc.). I learned only that I'd blown my chances with Bernard, but who cares.
- J.D. will "sing" Kau's song in his events, but his seiyuu doesn't actually vocalize; you get only the instrumentals.
- The Dragon village has a special festival to commemorate the Sara-Pastha romance that unified their tribe (though the two are as of yet unnamed).
- I did get a request from Hannah, who wanted us to fetch her a gift for a friend from a nearby Thanatos-infested location. I fulfilled it with J.D., but remembering how she claimed to be the granddaughter of Auguste, I wonder if things wouldn've been different with Nyx in tow.
- Before all this kicks off, J.D. will have a reunion with the woman whose heel he fixed earlier in the game. She's opening up a bar and wants to thank J.D., and only J.D., by giving him a drink (of juice - J.D. refuses alcohol while on duty). Ange is requested to offer an opinion on this, but all my responses ("why don't you go along; it'll be fun"; "well, if you really want to, J.D...." ::sad face::) sent my compatibility rating downward. The only "positive" option was to get angry at the woman's perceived rudeness. Guess J.D. wants his woman to fight for him.
Rayne Engrish Watch: Didn't even see Rayne, 'cept at the very end. Got a "supiidii" from the snobby, negligent Artefact member and a "meintenansu" from J.D.
.