Wolf Kanno
is a Level 99 Chocobo
Memento Mori
Site Contributor

Btw, sorry, but I didn't really listen to your advice I do intend to spend the majority of my weekend on self-fulfillment, so to speak (i.e. writing, gym, etc.), but I couldn't help myself and started EP right away. Overall, I'm loving it so far! Here are some of my experiences so far:

• I expected this game to be harder, but it still caught me off guard. Got slammed in one of my first battles yesterday evening just before going to bed, but I got up today with a newfound resolve. Turns out, I really need to save more often (even though saving takes slightly longer now compared to IS PSP) and shift to my MegaTen mode, i.e. playing very carefully and paying attention to everything. IS brought back some bad habits from the FF days in that I could just do anything and win because the game seemed kind of afraid I'd give up so it just gave me all the tools to win.
• The battles actually do flow a lot better! Who knew deciding everyone's actions from a single menu is much more comfortable than inputting everyone's commands one by one!
• At first I was a bit worried when I noticed that everyone has just one conversation option, but then I found that not only does it really streamline the contact experience, but there are actually more group contacts, since they partly depend on the order you pick the characters for it. And they've all been really amusing so far. I like that they're really taking advantage of the fact that the cast is adults.
• Thoroughly enjoying the cast already. Ulala seems cool and Katsuya is bae, what with his adorkableness. So far he's my favorite. And while I'm happy that Maya gets to be in the spotlight and that I myself can be the one inspiring positivity this time, it feels a bit odd that she's silent.
• Pleasantly surprised with the voice acting. I'd heard it was laughably bad, but that's a very unfair exaggeration, imo. Does it meet current VA standards? Of course not. But considering the time it was recorded in, it's really pretty good. It definitely helps that Amanda Wynn Lee and David Wittenberg are veteran voice actors and even back then they knew how to play their characters fairly well. Maya is probably the weakest at this point, but it's interesting how Lia Minella's Maya sounds very similar to Wendee Lee's Maya from IS sometimes. It's almost as if Lee was trying to sound like Minella at times. Still, I haven't heard the voice most people complained about, Tatsuya, so I guess my opinion might change. But overall I'm still very pleasantly surprised by the voice acting.
• Here's another surprise, but this one is much less pleasant. Everyone said the translation is fine. It's passable, at best, I think. It may not be as bad as FFVII's translation, in that I can still get the general gist of what's going on while VII got pretty incomprehensible at times, but it's still painfully obvious that this is a translation - something a good translation always averts - with a lot of awkward syntax, to the point that I often have to squint and focus really hard on the sentence to understand the message. I just hope I'll get used to it.
• I'm also pretty happy with the UI. Coming from the very sleek, late-Persona-inspired menus from P1 and IS, I was worried this would be very clunky, but I'm actually getting similar nostalgic 90s vibes to when I was playing Soul Hackers. The UI does its job well. Also, I changed my background to stars! Yaaaay~!

So yeah, sorry for the long message But I'm digging EP and can't wait to see more of it!

And this is my second playthrough. Even knowing exactly what's going to happen, it's still an incredibly powerful ending that really punches you in the gut. The way the music (you know the piece I'm talking about, for sure) starts playing at exactly the moment the... thing happens is just incredibly haunting. And while I considered the ending bittersweet at first, I can see it as much more of a downer now - like, yeah, turns out everyone is much happier in the reality where they never met each other. And that is smurfing devastating, the thought that your cherished friends actually do get to lead a better life without ever meeting you. Really, this game has a plot that is unique in that it's pretty much a Greek tragedy (not a tragedy in the sense that it is understood today, though there is the obligatory character death that, btw, moved me so much more than FFVII's). The main characters are puppets in a play conducted by gods, the main conflict revolves around them dealing with a sin they unwittingly committed and it ends with them being - quite fairly even - punished for it. Think Oedipus Rex and how similar they are in that regard (plus, daddy issues! It fits!). Catharsis is achieved by us feeling sympathy for the characters and understanding that their punishment is deserved.

Oh, and Philemon... I ended up punching him, but really, it was mostly because I think it's the better ending and I think Tatsuya has no reason to thank him. But I am not on board with all the comments I see on the Internet where people are just so furious with Philemon, saying he doesn't deserve forgiveness, etc. And yet, when he pulls of his mask, and says that iconic "I am you" line, that really puts the whole rage against Philemon in a very abstract context. He's the embodiment of humanity's good traits. He exists because we exists, and he embodies our virtues. And yet, he is otherworldly, and his motivations are on a scale so abstract and above our earthly understanding, that I can't really bring myself to call him a bastard. He's simply not human, and he didn't participate in this game for amusement, as far as I can tell. He embodies our own drive to improve, learn, and evolve, and logically, we all know that demands sacrifice. Tatsuya punching him is a perfect reaction from a teenager. But when you can look at it from a critical angle, as a spectator, I really can't understand people's rage against him.

So just beat IS

Damn

God damn

But man, you reminded me it's October already. That means there's less than four weeks to Halloween, and three weekends left for me to sit down and write my story. With P2 absorbing so much of my time, I'm really gonna have to kick myself in the nads to get on that because that really isn't a lot of time, now that I think about it.

Of those I've seen Jacob's Ladder, Nightmare Before Christmas, the Addams Family (though it's been ages, God) and Corpse Bride. Might look into the others for what we're gonna watch this Halloween. I remember last year we spontaneously bought Fran Bow on steam since it was on sale for Halloween and it was pretty great.

Whats on your list so far?

Yeah it was definitely something

oh yeah, remember now

its been a while since i watched it and i cant remember the details

And even THAT show was really ambiguous about the meaning of its sexuality