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| | Let's Play Dark Rising 2! (LP #4) | |
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Galaxite Omega Fusion Master
Gender : Posts : 391 Join date : 2016-05-16 Age : 27 Location : Wherever you want, baby~
| Subject: Let's Play Dark Rising 2! (LP #4) Sun Mar 04, 2018 10:08 pm | |
| The beast has returned.
For the uninitiated, Dark Rising 2 is part of a Pokemon rom hack series made by the eponymous Dark Rising Girl - long story short, the first game was a bad fanfiction with a difficulty curve so punishing and erratic that you might as well have fought an eighty foot tall mechanical Joe Frasier bare-handed. (Prime example: You start at level 5... and you end the game fighting a level 99 abomination with 1000 Base Stat Total and a 200 power Dark move. It's inhuman.) The first game holds the lowest score I've given/could give to any game, fanmade or otherwise... so you're probably wondering why the hell I would be willing to go back into this series instead of casting it into the fiery pits of Inferno. For one, I like to stay positive and hope she may have improved as time passed, and second I want to get this dirt patch off of my list of games to let's play. The third reason is entirely because of how events I made unfolded in the last let's play - I liked them so much that I wanted to continue even if Dark Rising itself is beyond saving. Oh well. Let's see how long things last before everything bursts into flames. Chapter 1 - Dawn of the New World
- Spoiler:
Yeah, I still don't know what this is about. I have the right save file type and I can even do hard saves now, but I still get this message. Oh thank god Pikachu's head isn't kaput this time around. I still have no idea how that glitch happened in the first game. "If you're receiving this letter, you must be the person who defeated the Omni League Champion, Adrian. I am Professor Mercury and this world... is inhabited far and wide by creatures called Pokemon. You are embarking on a cruise here to the Omni Region to start your next adventure and overcome new challenges."... Well, that's certainly different - a custom trainer sprite. I'll admit that it still has the shading problem from before, but this is a far cry compared to the simple recolors of existing characters that the first game had. Essentially, the most you should take away from this is that an eldritch abomination called Darugis has plans to destroy the world with his personal army of idiots that your character had to slog through. You wind up here because you're still chasing the tyrant and now you're here to stop him for good, or so I hope. I'm not even going to bother picking the genders this time, because if it's a direct continuation from the first game then of course I'm going as the girl. She looks way different in this game now that the graphics have taken a creativity upgrade. Before, the female choice looked like Leaf with a Super Mario dress and minimal hat shading, but now they definitely look... different. Her legs aren't transparent, by the way - it just blurs together with all of this blue. Long story short, Monica is - Christ what happened to your face, dude. We're not even out the starting line and we're already getting weird glitches. Ahem. You are the son/daughter of a man named Jean Blake, a person said to have sealed Darugis away a long time ago... although the timeframe on that is extremely unclear because game canon Darugis is supposed to have created the universe with Arceus. (My renovations are a different story, however, and we'll cover that in time) You assemble a rag tag group of losers to form a new generation of Team Dark Rising (yes, that's really what she went with, roll the credits already) so you can fight Darugis, but you're the only one who really matters in the long run so who cares am I right? "I was also informed by your region's professor that you're coming with a friend."Monica had a blonde friend? That said, he looks pretty average and has actual shading, so alright. Believe it or not, I didn't recognize who this was at first. It's supposed to be your rival from the first game but thanks to the creativity upgrade and the blonde hair, he looks completely different. I even called him Jim without realizing it was the same guy. YIKES.Apparently the weird palette glitch affects Noah too. It's like someone spilled hot coffee all over his body. "Please be sure you've filled out the questions correctly and have this letter sent back to me. I will see you soon!"Alright, cool. I really have no idea of what to expect coming up - I know it's gonna be uber cheating hard, but let's hope everything else is decent enough so I won't be completely miserable. "We have finally set sail in the Omni Region!"Brand new region. Let's cross our fingers and hope that it's actually a brand new region and not just Kanto again. Future Dan: Err... "So much has happened, it seems like forever since I started on my journey. Dad, I'm coming for you... let's do this!"So we're starting out on a ship of all places - cool, cool. I'll give her credit, DRG could have easily made this an exposition dump about everything that happened in the first game and that would be horrible, but thank god that didn't happen. This guy is a Nonverbal NPC when you talk to him from the side... But when you try to leave, he actually responds. How does this keep happening? Sailor: "As requested, your Dragon Pokemon and your Pokedex are being held by Professor Mercury of Arkaios City. Lady Florina and Master Dray are waiting for you at the dock. Before you leave the ship, here are you shoes. The maidens have cleaned them off well."I do like that Monica and pals are actually respected for what they did in the last game, which is good because it was torture. Ooh, I like that they give you the Running Shoes right away. Any game that does that gets a few bonus points. The pointer arrow is black and purple this time around. That's neat, I guess, though I can imagine it isn't without some horrible side effect. This dude gives you a potion for free. Can't complain. "Because of this, all of their doors are locked."Yeah, I figured. Don't want you to sneak into a mid-game battle from the original FireRed with no Pokemon. Item Balls remain as presents, which is still adorable. You get a Stardust here, so that's cool. It's the least valuable of all of the items you could sell, but you still get free money. Good stuff. The captain mutters something about going to Unova and that's alright. Though to be fair, I'd much rather go to Unova than wherever we might land in here. ... Excuse me? Then how do people go to and leave from the island? From airplanes? From Pokemon? Because I find it extremely unlikely that no nautical business has ever happened in the amount of time it takes to make a solid living here. Oi vey. "You left down in your room downstairs. Take this.""Your room is the only one that's opened. Make sure you get your stuff before we clean up."I'll do just that, I guess. Word of warning: You can still leave without said items, so it would have been better to create a script that stops you until you get them - it can't be that hard, right? "I've decided to come to the Omni Region to expand my knowledge of Pokemon."This should give us an accurate timeframe of when this game was made. Kalos stuff should be really interesting considering this game is still a straight hack of FireRed (I checked.) A Master Ball right off the bat, whoo boy. This is gonna be a ride. ... Then again, if this is supposed to be a continuation from the first story, then I guess it makes sense that you still have a Master Ball from what you did. You're supposed to have two though, so what the hell happened to the other one? ( Future Dan: The Landorus you never caught used it up via plot contrivance. I knew that son of a bitch was up to no good.) This weird green egg is actually supposed to be the Jewel of Life. I'm extremely glad she didn't forget about it and is still keeping it relevant in this game, but why would Monica just leave that lying around in the open? That's like putting the Hope Diamond on display for everyone to take it. ( - red emeras mark Let's Play exclusive content) [Monica glares at the Jewel of Life as she grips it in both hands]: ("Can't believe it's been an entire year since we took this weird gem thing from Light. I don't know what Darugis is planning, but it's weird he never bothered taking this from us.") Hey, it's the loser crew. Florina: [Sighs] "Be serious, Dray."Dray: "What?! I'm excited for this. By the way, Monica. Did you do something with your hair? It looks different."(I'm still not giving these guys portraits until I see their sprites in game.) : "I look different? Noah is the one who dyed his hair blonde."It is really weird seeing her as Leaf for the entire first adventure and seeing her now as this goth chick with purple hair. That said, I dig the new look way more. Yeah, you're definitely more... unique than the blue Brendan you were in the first game. Sydney: "Enough talk! Monica, Noah, go get your Pokemon so we can defeat Darugis - now!"I'll move at my own pace, thank you. I should probably give a short summary of who these people are: Dray and Florina are just there, Noah is your rival and Sydney is the only one with an actual backstory as she's a Dragon-user whose parents were killed by Darugis. She was our enemy for the longest time, complete with an angsty, ultra combative demeanor... but she warmed up at the end. Thank god too because I was this close to using her as target practice. ???: "WELL, IT'S ABOUT TIME!"[The professor from the intro walks into the group]"You were supposed to be here an hour ago... come to my lab... Immediately!"[She leaves the scene]Pushy, much? : "Hey, Monica! I'm going to the lab. See you there!"Florina: "You better hurry up to the lab, also. We'll see you later!"[The entire crew leaves]( ) : "Alright, round two of the big adventure... I just hope I don't have as much of a headache this time around." Arkaios is a real word, by the way - it means "new with reference to a beginning point" in Greek. That's a surprisingly educated reference. [Actual in-game music: Arkaios City]Wait, what - HOLD ON A MOMENT THERE HOT SHOT. There's honest to goodness custom music in this? That's insane. Not only that, this place doesn't look half bad! It's actually decent looking, although I'll admit that my expectations aren't incredibly high after the Hell that was the first game. That said, the original video link is broken. So let's have this music instead: [Current OST: Solar Boy Django]These are mistakes we all saw coming a mile away, but this is still quite the improvement. A Mart in the first town that you don't even need the professor's permission to use? Good. "But it remains the most peaceful, quiet place in the Omni Region."How long do you think it'll take before this gets proven wrong? ... Benga? As in this munchkin here? He seems to pop up in a lot of these rom hacks, now that I think about it. You can't go inside and trying to hack your way in kicks you into a fake Link Battle room. I find that fascinating because the game seems to use that as the default "don't know where to go" pointer. "I don't think Professor Mercury qualifies to be the region's leading Professor on Pokemon. She's way too grouchy and assertive for young trainers to ask her for advice."Well then, that's interesting. She's an unbearable idiot yet she's still the professor... I dunno, I find that more unique than just having her be a goody two shoes. She's not named after a plant either, but when I went to look up "mercury trees" I found literal aluminum christmas trees. So uh... she's a rebel? "Professor Ivan entrusted me with your Dragon Pokemon and your Pokedex. Although the Pokedex is here, I'm afraid that your data within the Core Region is not. It has been deleted...": "... Great..."How the hell did the Pokedex data get deleted? To be fair, I completely understand why they had to do this - it's a brand new game with a new array of Pokemon. Still weird, though. : "Don't you look at me like that!"Ten bucks that she did it on purpose because she felt like pranking these two. : "... Fine...": "Now, for your Dragon Pokemon!""My assistant over there has a Pokedex.": "Is she really serious? What kind of a professor is this?"Noah speaks the most sense. : "Now, back to what I was saying. In the packages, I have your Dragon Pokemon. Which one belongs to you?"They... they hand you the fully evolved versions of the starters from the last game right off the bat. That's really cool, but since I'm following a story here... Wait, what the fuck? Corin, why are you level 10? What kind of wizardry is this? The worst part is that in the real Pokemon games, amazing things like level 10 Salamence are perfectly legal thanks to the madness involving S.O.S Battles. : ("Bad transfer must've messed with my body a little? I dunno, I feel kinda barfy..."): "Oh, brilliant." Nice. Let's get this show on the road! [Monica flinched at the prospect of a rival battle but notices Noah didn't come after her]... Huh. Now that's eyecatching.DRG managed to remove the rival battle from the start of the game... I know it's not a big thing, but this gives me hope. Not only does this town have a Pokemon Center, there's someone obnoxious blocking the way. "In the Omni Region. For example, I'm an extremist."An... extremist? Okay, I'm staying away from you.: ("She looks sorta familiar...")???: "Well, I'll be leaving now..."[The person disappears]Hold on a second. Wasn't that the girl that you encounter at the gate to the Core League? The one that looked like a red-bandanna version of Shelly from Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire? It almost makes me wish there was a Complete Edition for Dark Rising that ironed out all of the flaws. It wouldn't be good, per se, due to the fundamental flaws of these rom hacks. But it would be nice to have everything be in one game and have a lot of the kaizo nonsense removed. [This place has a custom theme too but I don't have it]I don't like the route theme as much as I do the actual city theme, so what can you do. The fact there's even custom music at all is mind-boggling. "You must be the other trainer we were told to look out for.": "Who are you? Wait... those uniforms... You're a member of Team Galactic!"How does Monica know what Team Galactic members look like if she doesn't come from Sinnoh? Grunt: "That's right! We're back and we're taking over! Only this time, we're much larger thanks to Master Cyrus's pact with Team Rocket, Aqua, Magma and Plasma. But you won't be able to see us take over the world because I'm eliminating you right here!"Oh lordy loo, here we go. Right - in the first Dark Rising, there was a side plot element involving Giovanni and how he was going to make a pact with every other Team to take over the world and dethrone Darugis. I'm really fond of this idea and surprised that she's bringing it into the second game, but only two problems with it. One, Darugis is already a major threat and powerful to the point where he can just breathe and people would die. All of the antagonists of the real Pokemon games coming together as one big group would be something that requires a story of its own, so they're wildly out of place in this game with a pre-established villain. ( Future Dan: Doesn't help the actual execution of Team Rainbow Rocket in Ultra Sun/Moon was mid at best due to it being contained in postgame.) Second, the idea makes no sense if you take it at face value. If you pay attention to the actual series canon for Pokemon, none of the teams would realistically come together if they've been dismantled by the player characters. Galactic and Plasma are the worst examples of this because Cyrus is supposed to be hurtling through the Distortion World and Ghetsis is... well, let's just assume he lost his sanity to the point of madman ramblings. (Have you seen him at the end of Black/White 2? His Hydreigon having a Life Orb is supposed to be symbolic, you know...) ( Future Dan: Uh, that too.) There's Monica's new backsprite - she's a purple-haired Dawn with red clothes. Yeah, I never said the game was completely free from palette swaps of existing characters. But this is at least distinct enough(?). The Grunt themselves is cannon fodder. They're easy peasy no matter which dragon you choose or what Pokemon you get on this route. Earth Power is normally a horrible choice for Garchomp as they're not Special Attackers, but there's no Physical/Special split function in this hack... so yeah, Corin has a free 90 base power move right at the start of the game, as she rightfully should being the Pokemon of a legendary heroine. These guys give a ton of experience too - just one Stunky and it knocks Corin straight to level 11. I guess that's cool. ("I wonder where the others are.")Yeah, where did Dray and the others go? Did they leave before the goons showed up? ... Exclamation boxes are also black for some reason. There's the side effect. : "I've heard it all before." ( ) [One ass-whupping later, Monica receives a call from her phone]: "Hello?" : "Hey babe, it's me. I've got something important to give you. Go to the PC at the nearest Pokemon Center - it's a surprise!" : "Oooh, alright! I'll get to it." [A message pops up on screen]: "So you're really in the Omni Region, huh? You're gonna need some real firepower, so what better gift can I give than... The Crew?" [Theme I would use here: Invitation of a Crazed Moon]: "Yooo! Do you really mean it, Jack?" : "Of course! Take a look for yourself!" : "Damn! You got everyone here!" : "I brought your best guys and even some of my own. Never hurts to be too safe, after all." : "Nice. Hey, where's Sathala* and the others?" *1: A Whimsicott that managed to be a complete badass twice in the DR1 playthrough. : "They're at home with your mom. Amaterasu* and Sheol* seem to have vanished, so I don't know where they went... But yeah. I know you can do it, babe - knock out some of Darugis's teeth for me, will ya?" : "Trust me, I'm recording that beatdown for the world to see." *2: A Reshiram encountered at the end of DR1. She was part of something complicated involving the Tao Trio and mostly sat around to tell LP!Monica about Hoopa, or something. Must've been important. *3: A Giratina encountered at the 8th gym badge town. You were never actually supposed to capture them, but thanks to the game's impossibly broken nature, you can get one for free while it still acts like you caught it for someone else. Sheol was just... there for only two scenes - he went Lali Ho in the team set-ups and mused about Monica's power. That's about it. If we're really continuing from the last game, then having the whole team here plus some of the guys from the Snakewood let's play (Because as it turns out, this series is part of a saga with Snakewood thanks to DRG mentioning it at one point). The amount of prep work I had to do before this first chapter was... well, I nearly spent the entire day on it. It was insane. Fun fact: Floatzel and Staraptor aren't normally in the game, so I had to expand the game's Pokemon count just to include them. I also added in some new surprises... so that'll be interesting down the line. : ("Sweet, I can actually fight without holding back!"): ("It's awesome that we get to help Monica, miss Bellamine. Maybe we'll see Sigurd too!"): ("I'd like that."): ("With you all here, we're sure to tip the scales in our favor. Let's go!")A cool thing is that there's Kalos Pokemon in here, although their sprites are a bit... off. Still, they're there if you want to use them. : ("Whoa. These guys seem kinda out of my league. Just who are they?")Found a Buneary! So not only do we have old LP Pokemon here, we also have brand new ones like Iris here. Too bad there's no Mega Lopunny in this game, because you know I would wreck house with a monster like that. Birth Elimination? What the hell are these guys planning? ... Fancy name there. By walking, you pillock. : "My lab leads to a shortcut into Tabula Rasa. Never mind that now... You sure took your sweet time getting here." (That guy from before wasn't kidding, sheesh.) : "I was attacked by by a bunch of Galactic Grunts. What's going on here?": "Something very disturbing... Tabula Rasa is home to many newborn Pokemon. This team Galaxy, or whatever they call themselves, have decided to attack the newborn Pokemon and the new trainers that were planning to start their adventure today. In the Omni Region, new trainers must catch their first Pokemon in Tabula Rasa, it is not given to them. Today, many new trainers have gone there... I'm afraid for them."Huh. Interesting world-building there. Also, jesus christ! I knew Darugis was evil, but this is even worse than saturday morning cartoon villain behavior. : "I'll handle it, don't worry. I think my friends are in there too. We'll defeat those grunts. (This has to be the work of Darugis. Has it really taken control of every evil group in history?")Oh wait, Darugis is controlling the evil teams to do all of this - they're not functioning on their own. That makes a little bit more sense, but again... : "Very well, make sure that you do."Believe it or not, Tabula Rasa does stand for something - an absence of pre-conceived ideas or goals... a clean slate. Given how this place is supposed to be where young kids go and befriend baby Pokemon to make them their partners, that's actually excellent. Props to DRG. (Also, I remember it more for the Justice League episode than anything else.) [Actual in-game music: Tabula Rasa]It's a pink cotton candy forest... that also has its own theme. Strange, but this whole beginning bit is still nice, all things considered. "You're here to assist the group of people over there in kicking these weirdos out of Tabula Rasa. I'm right, aren't I?": "Who are you? Are you associated with Team Galactic too?"???: "Do I look like one of them? Instead of conversing with me, you should get a move on. Your friends are having a tough time. I'll just watch from here.": ("Instead of just standing here, she should be helping me. Ugh...")Good point. [Actual in-game music: Wild Pokemon]I am consistently impressed by all of the custom music here. All of the baby Pokemon are at level 5, by the way. Generous, much? There were some more Galactic grunts around here, but they went down easy peasy. Rocket Grunts are here too, apparently. They have different Pokemon from the Galactic guys... But they go down just as easily. Getting poisoned sucks, especially when you remember that you're not going to have a team like I do right now. Wouldn't say that, bucko.Who just leaves these incredibly valuable healing items in the middle of a baby Pokemon forest? Everyone's getting their time to shine. : "Don't even try it." Whoa, deja vu. Granted, the last time Ambes fought one of these, it was a zombie? But still. Murkrow are blistering, and that's all I'll say on the matter. Out of all of the grunts here, this guy had the greatest chance to beat me and it was still something low like 5% or something. : "That's cool and all, but just wait until I really get in the groove. There won't be anything left of it." "She tried to protect me from the bad people, but she wound up fainting... They took Tommy and his Bonsly up to the play pen area."I feel bad for these kids. They just want to get some Pokemon so they can be trainers yet the plot of DR2 happened around them. Okay, you guys are officially taking it too far. Although logically, shouldn't they kill their own Pokemon if they're going to be true to that message? Ah, villain hypocrisy. "Don't finish that sentence..."Oh dear god, they're referencing Captain Planet. I'm howling here. [Monica slaps her into oblivion]: "Don't care. Next?" "We've been ordered here by Giovanni himself to stop the birth of all Pokemon in the Omni Region."What the hell kind of morbid plot is Darugis putting into everyone's brains? I mean, baby killing IS an efficient way to stop things at their roots but don't expect anybody to just stand around while it happens. That said, the battle went the way you think it did. : ("Thank you for rescuing me!")Holy god, I caught a Happiny. I think they're a rare pokemon here, guys. Lucky Dan, eh? A bit too generous, huh... I'm very suspicious now. [Deep sigh]This is going to end well. Cyrus: "Indeed I am."Dray: "Monica, we'll hold off his grunts. You take care of him!": "Gotcha! Let's do this!"Cyrus: "Your attempt to stop us now is futile. We shall rid the world of Pokemon entirely!": [Rolls eyes] "Yeah, we'll see!"[Theme for this bit: Cyrus Battle Theme]The first actual boss in the game and it's against the Team Galactic boss of all people. Threat scaling in Pokemon games is kinda kooky, but this is ridiculous. Also, I'm pretty sure Monica is getting PTSD flashbacks to that guy in the first game that looked a lot like Cyrus. He who shall not be named. The Vengeance of the Rude Crude Dudes AlertCyrus is also a pain in the ass to beat. His Murkrow is the least of our problems and they're still strong enough to sweep through most of the team. Pursuit and Wing Attack really hurt. Thankfully he decided to be stupid and use Confuse Ray. Ambes didn't hit himself once and wound up paralyzing the damn thing into oblivion. Nice.His Sneasel is a mixed bag. Sometimes he's really smart and uses Icy Wind to beat through the team, yet other times he will randomly Low Kick Gale for piddly damage. I don't get it. (While we're still at it, why does Garchomp's sprite have that weird thick outline?) CYRUS'S GYARADOS, THOUGHWhat a monster this thing is. Not only do you have the level mountain range at work again, you have to fight a fully evolved Pokemon... while the rest of your team should be around level 12 with one pseudo-legendary and about five baby Pokemon. It's ludicrous.It gets worse, though. Just take a look at this: sigh.WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO PEOPLE, DUDE Being difficult doesn't automatically make your game better, nor will people grind to meet with whatever threat you throw them with. You'd think with this being the second game she'd learn from the mistakes of the first, but apparently not. A Level 20 Gyarados with 250 EVs and no real way to combat it other than grinding an Elekid that will most likely die in one or two hits? Come on. This is actually not the worst of it, because aside from having Scald (a STAB move that burns and is boosted by a held item), he also has... and stay with me when I say this here, but... HYPER BEAM.GODDAMN HYPER BEAM AS YOUR FIRST REAL CHALLENGE.Through a long and complicated series of events, I managed to defeat Cyrus with no casualties. I was stuck for an hour or so on this, and we're not even past the first chapter... what a start, huh? Yeah no kidding, how are you supposed to beat that??Level grinding? That's boring! "That Pokemon who's protecting the boy and his Bonsly is glowing!"Cyrus: "Argh. Everyone, retreat!"he be a pirateDray: "No way. Monica, we'll chase after them! Meet us later!"Oh hey, they're legit helping Monica out. That's far better than whatever the hell they were doing in the first game. "I was scared until you and the green Pokemon showed up.": "Aw, it was nothing." This kid managed to have both Virizion of the Swords of Justice and Monica show up to save him. Extremely lucky. : ("It spoke? It's communicating with me mentally just like Entei did in the Core Region.")Virizion: ("You're this generation's chosen savior. Arceus does not make mistakes, you are the one. However, do not let anger fuel your motivation to win. That will give Darugis the edge in this battle. Goodbye, Monica."): "I'll try to keep that in mind." But yeah guys, that's all I can fit into one chapter. Next time on Dark Rising 2, we're going to... do something that will likely wind up with me getting frustrated. I dunno with this game. See you then. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team setup: (Corin, level 14, , / ) - "I kinda didn't miss this, if I have to be honest." (Siegfried, level 11, , / ) - "Stay strong, guys! We'll get through this somehow." (Gale, level 16, , / ) - "... That Cyrus battle left me a little winded, jeez." (Wave, level 11, , ) - "Aww, shucks partner! I don't think they could have done it without ya!" (Bellamine, level 13, , ) - "The journey never ends, does it?" (Ambes, level 13, , ) - "Oh no, I can already tell where this is going..."--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Back-up Team: (Jeanne, level 7, , ) - "Glad to meet all of you. It's always good to meet other strong Pokemon that aren't trying to rip our throats out~" (Ignell, level 6, , / ) - "I can say the same, wahahaha!" (Arthur, level 8, , / ) - "Aye. You'd think they'd let up after a while, but no such luck." (Beatrice, level 7, , / ) - "Monica seems like quite the capable leader... with our combined might, we should be unstoppable." (Candelabra, level 7, , / ) - "I know, right? It's super cool! Oh, and by the way, my name is Candy. " (Iris, level 6, , ) - "... I feel like the odd one out. How about you?" (Lucera, level 5, , ) - "Oh, no question. It's like we stumbled into a reunion."
Last edited by Galaxite Omega on Sat Aug 19, 2023 5:45 pm; edited 1 time in total | |
| | | Galaxite Omega Fusion Master
Gender : Posts : 391 Join date : 2016-05-16 Age : 27 Location : Wherever you want, baby~
| Subject: Re: Let's Play Dark Rising 2! (LP #4) Sun Mar 04, 2018 10:10 pm | |
| This is going to be an exercise in frustration. Chapter 2 - Your Thieving Heart
- Spoiler:
Unlike the last two Pokemon let's plays I've done, I'm actively switching out Pokemon so everyone can get some screentime. With a name like that, this place is bound to be sunshine and rainbows. In fact, everything's coming up roses. I know I'm cheating to even have Arthur and the rest of the crew here, but I can't help but laugh when I see a level 10 Escavalier smash a Rattata with his forehead. Jeanne is incredibly busted this time around because Ninetales in this game have Drought as a primary ability... This is a vast step-up from her appearance in Snakewood and she was already the team carrier in that game WITHOUT an omnipresent 1.5x boost so yeeesh.Ah yes, something cool I should mention - DRG litters certain areas with rare starter encounter chances - she did this even in the first game. It's a nice concept, but unfortunately when you actually do find one, they're at level 10... In a game where you are forced to grind to level 99 to beat the game. If someone else is a trainer, even something as innocent as saying hi will end up with blood flowing through the streets. In fact, I show off how cruel I am by atomizing a poor Sewaddle. There is nothing left of it, christ! You can find Carnivine around here, but aside from their kooky faces and existence as a flying venus fly trap... not much else going for them. Speaking of roses, Beatrice is a Pokemon that goes as far back as the Snakewood let's play but never had her full potential realized due to Roserades not existing in that game. She returned around the end of the first Dark Rising, but at that point I had already super-grinded and had a solidified team, so she couldn't really do anything there. ... Until this game, that is. She's not only an early team member with great moves and stats, but you're not even supposed to get a Roserade in the first place. ♫I love cheatin', I love breakin' things ~♫You know, it would have been really appreciated if you just sold these in the mart that we came out of. : "I don't even know you, but okay." [Jeanne roasts every Pokemon of his indiscriminately]There's just... Hoothoot everywhere. I think they're there for creepy(?) effect, but okay. In hindsight, I'd kinda love it if Pokemon games just had unreachable, non-aggressive Pokemon serve as area decoration. It'd add more atmosphere that way. Small question - why is there a monk in the middle of the woods? He's just... there. Also, let it be said that DRG has not fixed her recolor problem, because yeesh those black robes. Oh good let's make the death god fox even more powerful - I don't have a grudge or anything, noYou see, since Jeanne comes with a free Sunny Day every fight now, I removed it out of her movset and replaced it with... Well, just watch. This is a real thing Ninetales can do, and it's glorious. Have I talked about Gale yet? She's Monica's personal pilotwing, but is also easily the most powerful bird yet due to Staraptor's incredible 120 base attack stat. Oh yes, there's also Kricketune - a Pokemon I like due to them being a conductor cricket with a big doofy moustache and a killer cry, but that's about all they have going for them. ... Is he wearing a Rasta hat or is that hair? "You're one of them losers causing trouble in Tabula Rasa, aren't you?!": "You got the wrong idea. Me and my friends are actually pursuing those guys right now."???: "Yeah, right! Who do you think you're foolin'? No one messes with the people of my hometown. You're going down, sucka!": "I don't have time for this, back off!"This is the most reasonable line anybody has said in this series yet. ???: "No way, pal! My name's Benga and I'm the protector of the people!"Wait, what? Oh, Benga... I don't have much of an opinion of him normally, but judging by that pre-fight dialogue and Dark Rising's spotty record, this is going to be absolutely miserable. His first Pokemon isn't much of a problem - it's just a Nidoran... One that should be a Nidorino by now (they evolve at level 16) but I'm not complaining. Arthur drills into the poor son of a bitch with his candy cane lances. Larvesta's up next and to be honest, they're not that bad. I'd be much more worried if it were Volcarona because apparently they're strong enough to be banned to Ubers in Gen 9, but right now? Yeah, they're mince-meat. The most incredible thing that I've learned recently is that there is a functioning Physical/Special split working in this hack, which explains why Earth Power was doing relatively little damage earlier. That's actually pretty good. Zen Headbutt has also been changed to not be game-breaking as it can no longer stunlock opponents into oblivion. In fact, it can't induce flinching at all anymore. It's really bizarre how hot and cold the mechanics for this one move have been as time passed. Zangoose is easily the biggest threat out of Benga's team due to them having an impeccable attack stat and being level 22 (naturally). I swear, this game would be infinitely more accessible if you didn't have to do forced grinding. These two duke it out for a bit before both of them get down to dangerously low levels of health. Then this happened: Like damn, that was a close shave. Anything less and I would have been out a Staraptor. "There's no way you're one of them losers then, they wouldn't be this strong. Who the heck are you?": ("This guy... he battles so aggressively. What's his deal?")(Gale got burned in between frames because I had to keep retrying this fight multiple times just because of the level gap kept screwing me over.) : "My name's Monica. I just came to the Omni Region not too long ago to seek out a monster named Darugis. He's trying to destroy the world and has an organization working with him to destroy all Pokemon.": "Uh-huh... The first part sounds like I need to investigate. But the second part... I could care less. Actually, the world would be better off without Pokemon. Deep down they're evil and just waiting for the right moment to strike all of us."I can't. This guy cannot be serious. Benga, you goddamn banana-head, what did you just use to fight Monica's team?This has to be one of the stupidest plot threads I've seen in a game yet, because Benga hates every Pokemon out there despite having a team of his own and his beef primarily revolving around only four Pokemon in particular (spoiler). It makes no goddamn sense no matter which way you look at it. : "What are you saying? Pokemon are living creatures and our friends. (Hell, you even used some right now to fight me.)": "You're a fool. I'm out of here. I have a feeling I'll be seeing you again soon."[Benga leaves]Why, you little donkey. I imagine Monica and the team suffering an existential crisis just trying to makes sense of this kid after what just happened. This guy tells you to pick up the Pokedex or your Pokemon won't be able to evolve... To be brutally honest, if you have to put a person here to remind your players to pick up the Pokedex, then I'm pretty sure you're doing game design wrong. Second town in the game and it's a Grass place. : "Smells nice, though." : "Uh... not necessarily." Imagine actually having to take care of over 800+ Pokemon. You'd be so overwhelmed that you'd need a small country's worth of resources to satisfy them, and that's just for starters. Unedited dialogue from FireRed... Complete with the Drowzee guy being exactly the same. Not very slick, huh? "Ivy, is passionate about Pokemon battles just as much as she's into making our city smell beautiful. Don't get on her bad side, though, or you'll feel the wrath of her thorns."Oh, I'm so intimidated. Then again, given where the levels in this game go, I probably should be intimidated. (Makes a Spearow noise) Well, uh... I'll leave you to that. "Do not talk to my children either.": ("What's his problem?")You know, aside from entering his house as a stranger. I was gonna leave it at that, but as it turns out... this is actually building up to something interesting... I hope, anyway. You can get a Makuhita here, but neither choice is particularly useful. Now, if Mega Beedrill were in this game, that'd be an entirely different story. Certain towns sell specific evolutionary stones. That's neat, but I don't really care for the Pokemon that utilize them here. (That, and I've got a team of fully-evolved Pokemon that I've already cheated in.) Walked in and out of the city only to see... this. It's the same lady who tells you about Ivy, but she's been displaced behind the house for some reason. This is the kind of bug I'd expect to see in a bad RPG Maker game with no ability to save where the NPCs go, but here it's just bizarre. ... To be fair, it's at least a different layout from Erika's gym from the original Firered. : "Cool. I'm a real big fan of battling." : "As you can probably tell." : ("Monica is quite the vixen - no wonder why Jack fell head over heels for her.")These girls have never seen a real lady, apparently. Especially when I swap out to Siegfried to give them a small fighting chance and to spread out the experience. "I can tell you're no stranger to gym battles. But I'm sorry to say that you've never faced a gym leader like me before. I gracefully use my Pokemon's ability to cause status effects upon my opponent. You will fall to my venom!": "We'll see about that. I'm always ready for a battle!"Hello, Cheryl. So this is what you've been doing after the Sinnoh games. Cheryl was my second favorite of the partners you could get in the Sinnoh games, with Marley being first due to my fatal weakness to goth girls. If I were higher-leveled, this would be a massacre... but instead it's merely a slaughter. Ivysaur is bulky enough to survive a Drought-powered Flamethrower, but I attribute that primarily to the lack of levels. Tropius also had a ton of health, but thanks to the sun influence, Siegfried punches her out in a flash. ( Future Dan: I've just realized. How can there be strong sunlight indoors? Are they using skylights?) Meet Not-Cheryl's ace in the hole and a Pokemon that would otherwise be unobtainable if I didn't hack in Beatrice for myself. Roserade is just as tough as you think she is, and comes with a nasty assortment of moves that you've already seen Beatrice do. Extrasensory and Sludge Bomb are the biggest problems here thanks to a crazy 125 Special Attack stat and being able to outspeed everyone due to the level gap. I swear Not-Cheryl is one of the most annoying Gym Leaders in the game just for Roserade alone. And you. Well, I just plain don't like you. Amoonguss isn't hard, especially compared to what came before them, but they're been an eyesore to me ever since Gen 6 so good riddance. "As proof of your victory, I confer on you this... the official Pokemon League Thornbadge."Nice. We can use Flash now ( ) and... We can also learn Giga Drain - an excellent move, but it's hindered by it only having 5 PP. I'm not even kidding. Giga Drain was boosted to have 10 PP and have 75 power after Gen 5, but what can you do? (You know, aside from changing it so that's not the case... laziness will be the death of me one day.) You can meet the Fishing Guru in the route ahead and get a rod from him. That's cool and all, but your friend is a bit more interesting. That Clauncher sprite is pretty good, although I attribute that more to the base that DRG used for this game. It's not even necessarily a surprise that this is built on a base either, because she lists it on the Pokecommunity page for Dark Rising 2. Also, that poor Tympole had to suffer for our amusement. I can give this one a break because they're not selling Paralyze Heals in stores... but it's still a problem because paralysis was being more of an issue than poison. "Oh no, I'm running late! I should get into a Pokemon fight with this random girl, aaaaaaa!" Video game logic is funny sometimes. Oh, so you meant like an X-Games guy, not a terrorist. Okay, that's easier to take in. I do like how DRG switches up the fights by making them Double Battles sometimes... That, and you get to see both members of the Nido family. You know, I still can't get over how they're essentially poisonous monster bunnies. Before we get the plot train going, there's some stuff I have to get first. (Also, that weird tomato bird is supposed to be a Fletchling. It looks strikingly similar to a fakemon from Snakewood called Cinderco, though...) You have this big pedestal with stairs... for a simple Ether. This is super underwhelming when compared to the Max Ethers/Elixirs that we got earlier. : "I know you have a Dragon Pokemon. Let's see it!": "For the last time, no, I don't have any Dragon Pokemon!": "... Wait, I remember you. You're the girl I saw standing around the Malice Courtyard entrance in the Core Region. Are you following us?"So that random girl back at the end of the first game did have a purpose. : "I also saw you stealing from the Pokemart in Eden City. You're hiding something.": "Hmph. So what? I steal, it's what I do, it's the only way I know how to survive. It's none of your business!"For some reason I can't entirely get behind this girl despite the fact she steals just to survive. There's an underlying layer of " bitch" to it that I can't exactly pin down. : "We're wasting time here. Dray and Florina already went on ahead to Volton City. We believe Darugis has a hidden base set up around there."(Oh yeah, I played ahead and saw how these guys acted. They deserve portraits now.) : "Hey, you. Let's have a battle. If I win, you return the goods you stole from the mart and we'll leave you alone for good. If I lose, you're free to go with the goods in hand.": "What?! Monica, are you not listening? She has a Dragon Pokemon with some intense energy! She might be the third chosen one, not Light."A refresher for who Light is: He's some prick that was raised to protect Arceus, but grew tired of it and joined Darugis because he didn't want to be a slave to god or something. Noah is making the most sense, though. You'll see what I mean when we get to fighting this mystery girl. Her sprite isn't half bad, although I'm concerned as to why she has fire coming out of her hand. Doesn't that hurt? Much like Benga, she has a member of the Nido family... that goes down in a snap thanks to Earth Power. Her Seviper is one of the easier Pokemon to deal with thanks to it being a straight-forward Poison type with no real surprises. Then we have... Fennekin. Alright, it's a member of one of my favorite starter trios in the series, but feast your eyes on this madness: +213 BST! (A normal Fennekin has: 40 / 45 / 40 /62 / 60 / 60) We're not even past the second chapter of the second game and we're ALREADY getting fake base stat Pokemon. What, is this Super-Fennekin? This is almost enough to give Delphox a run for its money! I'll admit though, aside from their big head, the sprite looks great. There's even a shiny programmed in, but given how you can't encounter Fennekin anywhere... I attribute this to the base that DRG used. To add insult to injury, they nearly beat Corin (a pseudo-legendary with a type advantage). God damn, that's stupid. However, this isn't the worst that Bandanna Girl has up her sleeve. You know how Noah kept bringing up that she had a Dragon Pokemon? Yeah, this is what he meant. A level 30 Noivern?! A level 30 anything would be a huge obstacle, but a pseudo-legendary of all things? Someone really needed to step in when it came to the level scaling, jeez. Oh, and to top it off? THEY HAVE SHADOW TAG. Yes, a level 30 pseudo-legendary that you can't run from. That's pure evil and I hate every part of the thought process that went into it. : ("Mama always did say to never mess with flying fellas... that was too close.")Wave has Ice Beam to clip their wings, but nearly died in the process. I'll give Bandanna Girl this - she stole a damn fine Pokemon to kick our ass with. Delicious. "I cannot have Fennekin go hungry another night!"Poor little super baby. : ("That was a powerful Dragon alright, a unique one too. She has Pokemon I've never heard of before... Who is she?")"But a deal's a deal, return the stuff you stole and come with us. We have some questions for you.": "You sound like a policeman bringing a thief into custody.": "Never knew you had jokes, Sydney."In all seriousness, though... Huh. : "No! Just leave me alone!": "H-hey! She's trying to get away! Monica, meet up with Dray and Florina at Volton City. We'll get the girl!": "Alright..."[All three of them escape into the cave]Well, that was fun. The level curve is still outrageous, but things seem to be taking a... more interesting turn than the last game. The Lunar Cave, huh? Is it gonna be - Huh. The name confused me there for a second because it doesn't seem to be a ripoff of Mount Moon at all. The layout is completely different and there's even a custom tileset (I think, anyway). This water isn't animated and I don't think you can even surf on it. Peculiar. True to its name, you can find Lunatones around here. Man, you'd expect the actual Sun and Moon games to do more with Lunatone and Solrock, but... nope. Just a cameo (by name) in the desert that nobody goes into except to get Tapu Bulu. If there's any more moon stuff in the Lunar Cave, I'm going to bust a Moon Pie. Hikers in this game wear all white and well... yeah. I'll let the screenshot speak for itself. There was a bug guy around here, and lemme just say that I wish Leavanny was more powerful. I adore their design but their horrendous typing (Bug/Grass) makes them vulnerable to so many things that it's not even funny. Maybe they'll continue Mega Evolutions by the Sinnoh remakes or something. ( Future Dan: Should I tell him? Especially about the Sinnoh remake thing?) Escape Ropes are a necessity for dungeons, especially when they get all long and labyrinthine. Oh no, I guess we should respect his property and le-- Psych! It's mine now, loser. You get all these cool things, but there's no real fight waiting for you at the end. The pace is certainly better at the very least. Next time on Pokemon Dark Rising 2... Actually, I'm not at liberty to reveal what comes next. It's that much of a surprise. See you then. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Team setup: (Corin, level 23, , / ) - "Does it feel... weird to anyone else here? Like there's something in the air?" (Gale, level 22, , / ) - "Yeah... It's kind of a familiar feeling." (Wave, level 24, , ) - "Yeehaw, bagged in my first big win for the region! Wonder what sucker I'll have to fight next." (Arthur, level 23, , / ) - "You're quite the strong lass, so leave some for the rest of us Wave!" (Bellamine, level 24, , ) - "Hmm? This feeling... This aura... But wait, why does some of it feel evil?" (Beatrice, level 24, , / ) - [Stretches] "Aah! It's been a long time since I've really gotten to work. This is great exercise."--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Back-up Team: (Jeanne, level 20, , ) - "Mmmhmm. Yes, we're gonna have a lot of fun this time around." (Ambes, level 23, , ) - "Whoa. Did anyone else feel that? That was like the worst chill I've gotten in a while!" (Ignell, level 17, , / ) - "I'll be fine if I don't go to fight, really. Whatever the rest of the team is dealing is far too much for my blood now." (Siegfried, level 21, , / ) - "Oh, so you can detect it too, Ambes? I already know what it is... and we have to destroy it!" (Candelabra, level 22, , / ) - "Whoa, it must be really diesel if it got under your skin, lil man." (Iris, level 6, , ) - "So is anybody going to fill us in on what's happening here?" (Lucera, level 5, , ) - "That would be appreciated, yes."
Last edited by Galaxite Omega on Fri Aug 25, 2023 1:32 am; edited 1 time in total | |
| | | Galaxite Omega Fusion Master
Gender : Posts : 391 Join date : 2016-05-16 Age : 27 Location : Wherever you want, baby~
| Subject: Re: Let's Play Dark Rising 2! (LP #4) Sun Mar 04, 2018 10:16 pm | |
| Ladies and gentlemen, have we got a show for you tonight!No more waiting - there's some special events in this chapter alone that will change the course of the entire game, so you better brace yourselves. Chapter #3 - Vile Omen - Spoiler:
Last time on Pokemon Dark Rising 2, we braved through the Lunar Cave and fought a level 30 Noivern with Shadow Tag. To say this is an omen for the future would be like calling the ocean a puddle. Anyway, let's ask around the town to see what's up. "I'm a Rich Boy, you don't deserve to be in the same breathing space as me!"Oh good, some old money idiot that thinks he's God's Gift to Pokemon. Good start. : "I've beaten plenty of Rich Boys back in the Core Region. What makes you so different?": "Cause I'm better and richer than all of 'em! That's it, we're gonna battle right now and after I beat you, I'm kicking you out of my crib while I laugh at you!"Why couldn't this guy be an actual villain? He's petty enough to be one and honestly with the way he talks he could really entertaining. Also: Dosh King Deter here has the skills to pay the bills, unfortunately. He's a powerful opponent for some random dude. Granted, it's not like I can really tell if that's my fault for not grinding, but still. Ah, now I see. His Snorlax is a demon - it hits like a truck full of lard and can squish my puny humanoids with ease. I had to reset a lot on this fight before I could get it down - that's how you know he means business. It took a joint effort between Beatrice and Arthur to really take him down, so hats off to both of them. He also had a Raichu that Beatrice poisoned to death. To think, if this were an Alolan Raichu, the outcome would be very different. "I'll let myself out while you're still crying over your defeat. Next time, be nicer to people."In-Game Monica is FINALLY becoming an absolute savage. You love to see it. [Monica walks out of the house with a wad of bills in her hand and a snide grin]That Snorlax was pretty tough though, so I'll give him that at least. "Which leads to Helios Cave."We'll keep that in mind for later. (Maybe not. I don't know.) "It's very dangerous... Besides, you don't even have six Omni League Gym Badges. You'd get slaughtered in there!"You know, telling me not to go is only going to make me go in even more. Funnily enough, this is another thing DRG got right because the guy does go away after you beat the appropriate amount of gym leaders. "Lower your guard. My name is Zyiah. I'm looking for a notorious thief named Jalice. She has my Noivern."(How do you pronounce that, by the way?) : "I just battled a girl with a Noivern!"(And they were totally not cheating, no sir.) Zyiah: "Excellent. That means she's close. Thank you."[She disappears]Nice. Jalice and her Super-Fennekin are gonna be in trouble now. By the way, you cannot walk under Zyiah and skip her because there is an invisible wall in the way. At least DRG's scripters realized someone would try to do that. Oh snap, here comes Team Rocket. "Not this time, though."How much you want to bet? Silly Rocket Grunts never learn. Yamask has always been one of the cutest but saddest Pokemon to me especially when you pay attention to the lore that says they were a human in life. Like jesus. Oh, do go on. Says the people who are aligned with some eldritch god of darkness with plans to destroy the world and make everyone else's lives a living hell. If anything you should be glad Monica isn't messing with you any more than she already is. : "You know, you're very lucky you met me now. Back then I would have just smashed your face in with a bat." Oh? How so? Ah. So I shouldn't be scared at all, then. Gotcha. There's just a bunch of these guys all over the place, huh? Oh well, that just leaves me with more trash to throw away. : ("Hoo-wee, that stinks! Wonder what that guy was made of.")In all honesty, the Grunts aren't too bad. The levels are really piling up, but even that shouldn't be too much of an issue if you [s]cheat repeatedly to get more Rare Candies[/s] grind your heart out. You know, I discovered a patch for the first Dark Rising that's effectively a Kaizo version with refined plot elements, difficulty and bug fixes. (Yeah it's the Power Plant again. Hooray.)The oddest thing about the Dark Rising 1 Kaizo hack is that they actually tone down the difficulty. You know how I complained about the game having obnoxious levels and cheating by having fake base stat legendaries at the end? The Kaizo hack (on top of making revives not work in battle) debuffed all of them - the 1000 BST Lugia Darugis has been reduced to only have 700 BST (20 less than Arceus) and the legendaries have been restored to their canon stats - the best example of this has been Regigigas's Huge Power being replaced with Clear Body. Who would have thought?The levels are also more balanced in that they're not a complete nosedive into "good god someone save me" territory (even if you still wind up at level 100 by the end) - just take a look: ( Original) vs ( Kaizo) Like good lord. You know the first Dark Rising was busted when the Kaizo edition tones DOWN the difficulty. Baby steps, but damn. If they did this in the first place, I might have not created Sigurd... Wait. If Dark Rising 1 wasn't so terrible, I wouldn't have created one of my favorite rewrites / characters in any fan thing I've ever done. Never easy, huh? That said - dear lord in heaven, these tiles sear my eyes. Obviously the same person doesn't work on all of the maps, cause this is kinda sad. You can find Trubbish and Grimer all around here, so there's also the smell working against you too. : "I'm just gonna stop you right there." : "Would a kid be able to do this, idiot?" Then again, given how this is the Pokemon world, a teenager that's around Monica's age usually tends to be the hero in these kinds of stories. Gale getting in some work - that Staraptor attack stat is fearsome. Here we have a Max Potion! Excellent. (There's no shops around, by the way, making this is the kindest gift the game has given me at this point) "Don't worry yourself with the weaklings, deal with the leader."Ooooh, they're actually helping us! This is a far cry from how they acted in the first game. An Electrode that was hiding in a present box. Given how Electrode is three feet tall, that must be one giant-ass christmas present. You can also find Klink here. Funny story: During a session of Mirage Island hunting in ORAS, I managed to find a shiny Klink right the fuck out of nowhere. The best part is that it was my birthday at the time, so thank you for the gift Random Number Goddess. I would but you're in Dark Rising. Thunder is more powerful than T-Bolt but the drop in accuracy kills it for me. 90 Power for 100% accuracy is far more reliable. "I could beat a hundred of these small fries without having to go to the Pokemon Center once! I got this, just go find the Volton City gym leader."Dray is cocky but in a way that's not annoying this time around. Also, again, he's helping me instead of antagonizing me. "But we managed to catch up with the others here. I planned on taking the leader out myself, but I'll let you have the honors. Good luck.": "It's not luck, it's skill."Damn, when did everyone start getting a spine? I would have appreciated this earlier! Florina talks about how the villainous teams are gonna put in an infectious toxin into the factory products, which might explain the presence of the Grimer here. Anyway, let's go and - Well hello there. What brings you into town, little zappy fella. Yes, you really can find Rotom just wandering around this place! Good thing too, because Rotom is one of my favorite Gen 4 Pokemon period. : ("Zzzup! How'zzz it going, pal?"): "Pretty good. How about you?" : ("Oh, nothing much... Just that some weird dudezzz barged into my house and got everyone riled up. Mind if I go with you to beat them up?"): "... As good as an excuse as we'll ever get. Welcome aboard, uh..." : ("Just call me Quote, doll. Nice to meetcha...zzt!"): "Oh... alright." Ooooh, look at that Hydreigon sprite. It's actually not too bad... Especially compared to everything else here. "I wouldn't mind catching up, but right now we have bigger problems at hand. I battled both the Team Aqua and Team Magma leaders in a two on one battle, but I couldn't defeat both of them. I thought it was all over for me until your friends and that guy over there showed up.": ("Kayo...")Hot damn, we even got Not-Silver Kayo on our side! Also, in case anybody forgot (likely the case because even I almost did): Eon is a character that was introduced in the first game to hype up the sequel as he's a gym leader from the Omni Region that visited the Core Region for some odd reason I still don't quite understand. He's apparently famous or something, I don't know. "It looks even more powerful."Please, we took down this Hydreigon with one Aura Saber the last time we met. That, and he should be really lucky that there are no fairies in this game. : "I'm sort of angered that you'd think otherwise. Not even one thousand of Darugis's puppets can stop me. Darugis will pay for brainwashing me. I'll destroy ANYONE who associates themselves with Darugis!"He's still an edgelord, but the edge is on our side now. That's about what I'd expect from Not-Silver, really. "This must be the other one we were told about.": "Enough talking. Hydreigon - HYPER BEAM!"Hydreigon: [Roars]Damn, Kayo just pulled off a Lance! He really does mean what he said about people who associate themselves with Darugis. Archie: "Ugh, I'm finished. Who is this trainer?!"Maxie: "I don't know. We were not warned about him. Nevertheless, I'll settle for getting rid of this trainer here. For I, Maxie, leader of Team Magma, will melt the entire world into ashes!"Hooo lord this is gonna get confusing once you take into consideration that canonically speaking, this whole series takes place after Snakewood. (Both in-game and let's play plot-wise too - DRG acknowledges "the Snakewood tragedy" in the first game.) So crackpot theory because of this whole thing: What if Archie and Maxie appearing here is because they fled from Hoenn's zombie apocalypse? I mean sure, the protagonist of Snakewood solved that issue and everything's cherry, but it gets really really really weird when you start putting the pieces together. Honestly, couldn't ask for more. Maxie is supposed to be a Fire-type powerhouse, but if you bring along a good water type then you should be fine. Especially since he doesn't even evolve Lampent into Chandelure. But hey, he got some good hits off on the guys if their health dropping between screenshots is any indication. Oh yeah, Rotom has the appliance forms in this too but I don't think there's a way to swap between them. What a shame. ... Wait, what the fuck? We beat all five of his Pokemon! What else could be left? That uh... that is no normal Rattata. [A deep, sinister laugh echoes through the room, followed by a shadow appearing over Maxie's shoulder][Demon King Odio]( ) : ("Why hello, Monica. Glad to see you've finally come along."): "Wondered how long it would take until you showed yourself, Darugis." : ("You're quite the woman if you're still going to do this even without Sigurd. Either you're the most reckless person I've ever met or you're one of the most confident. Either way, I expect you to give me a good show."): "Oh suck a chode, you so called Demon King. What even is this crazy Rattata, anyway? One of those Darkmons you talked about?" : ("Oh this? The start of something wonderful. You see, between the zombie apocalypse in Hoenn and the invasion of the Core Region, I had gathered enough resources to make an entire new army of Darkmons. Then it hit me:"): ("I'd 'coerce' all of the different terrorist groups across the regions to fight for my cause. Our showdown just wouldn't be interesting enough without enough players on the board."): "Is this a game to you?" : ("Living forever as a tyrannical god of darkness wears on your mind. Plus, I like to watch you squirm since I actually consider you a worthy opponent. In fact, I'm starting to take a liking to your other Pokemon...")[Darugis chuckles before vanishing]: "Lunatic! We have to do something about him soon, but -- Whoa!" [The Darkrai-ified Rattata charges at Monica only for Gale to intercept it]So yes, that's totally a thing that just happened! This is one of the major edits I put into Dark Rising 2 - Darkrai-ified Pokemon. Not only is it perfect for the kind of story we're dealing with, the thought process behind why I did it is gonna be a doozy. So one day I was sulking about trying to figure out what to do after Dark Rising 1: Would I play the sequel or not? I don't need to elaborate more on that, but there was something interesting I discovered while doing an archive romp of my friend's art stuff. There were a ton of sprites for Darkrai-ified Pokemon - they were immaculate even for 2007 and I figured "hey we should do something with these". Cut to the LP of Dark Rising 2 where me and my friend, The Composer, made a whole bunch of new sprites just for the LP and put them into the game itself. In-story wise, this is just taking the Conarp thing from Dark Rising 1 and making something actually cool out of it, since apparently Darugis can just make monsters out of nothing. Makes too much sense, then, that he'd just make a bunch of Pokemon in his image. Anyway, the evil Rattata is / with Shadow Tag and comes with these stats: 100 / 110 / 50 / 25 / 49 / 110 ( 444 Total) It's sort of the "prototype" of the Darkrai-ified Mons because while it comes with incredible HP, Attack and Speed stats, it is only slightly more durable than a real Rattata. Expect a similar theme with the other Mons down the line. I went with 444 because it's supposed to start off easy. Gale takes it out in a flash with her wicked Kung Fu Talon Chop. [The dark Rattata dissolves into dust]Oh yeah, by the way? It was either a corpse Darugis re-animated (because we're still keeping the zombie theme) or a normal Rattata that he corrupted. Whichever sounds more gruesome to you. Yeah, you better run! (You have to press A to continue the cutscene outside of battle. Sigh.) "Tell me where Darugis's true lair is and maybe I'll spare you and your Pokemon's lives."Archie: "Not a chance. We need to get out of here!"Maxie: "We'll meet you two again.": "You're not leaving until you answer my question!": ("... Kayo's gotten much more powerful since the Core Region. I hate to admit it, but right now he's stronger than me.")Based on... what? We haven't actually seen his levels yet, unless I'm supposed to assume that he's level 90 while we're stuck at 30 something. (Florina): "Hey, you guys! We've captured the other team members and we're waiting for the police to arrive and bring them into custody. Let those two go. Trust me, I've got a plan. I'll explain later at Gemstone City.": ("She wants us to let the leaders go?")That is not very wise, but what the hell it's not like we can't hunt them down like dogs anyway. : "Uh, alright, Florina."Maxie: "Aha! Goodbye!": "Not so fast! I won't let you escape!"Kayo is the only smart one even after all that. He sure is growing. [Everyone leaves the scene except for Monica][Monica notices a faint glimmer on the ground]: "... What the hell?" [Current OST: Sealed Door]: "... A necklace? Did the Rattata drop this when we killed it?" [Monica picks it up]Ooooh boy, here we go. The Link Gem is an extremely important item whose full purpose I'd rather not share just yet, but keep it in mind for later. Just know that I had to pull so many strings to have this happen. The (admittedly temporary) art piece used to depict the Link Gem in something that isn't just game graphics was drawn by my Best Bro, AntipathicZora. I told you we meant business. Clearing the factory unlocks the path ahead into the Helios Canyon. Helios is the personification of the Sun in Greek Mythology, so obviously we're going to have a nice sunny walk through the place. There was this fella who doesn't seem to have a neck and lacks shading in all the places where it counts. The Dark Rising Syndrome, you could even say. Oh. That is a funky looking Pancham. He stares into my soul."Trainers with awesome Pokemon who have no idea what to do. Before training Pokemon, trainers themselves need to grow up."A nugget of wisdom from an unlikely source. You've done good, random karate man. You can find wild Lopunny out here if you want them. I already have more than enough, thank you. : "Huh. Thanks, I guess." You can also find Fletchinder around here too, but oh. The Gen 6 Pokemon in this hack look pretty weird. I can't pin down why, though. God damn it, Benga's back. : "It's you again... what did you do?": "I finally captured the one Pokemon I've been searching for. The one who could defeat the three Pokemon that took my ancestors' lives away so many years ago... I've captured Heatran."I'm still confused from earlier. Didn't he hate every Pokemon in existence? Why is he resorting to use a Pokemon to get revenge against other Pokemon? My migraine's back and we're not even in the worst of it yet. : "What three Pokemon would do that? And what's a Heatran?": "You're so naive and dumb.": "Long ago, Pokemon attacked my homeland and the people in it as well. Terrakion, Virizion, Cobalion... They did it. They attacked them."So you're going to use Heatran to get back against the Swords of Justice... A relatively slow / type against three types that all have 108 speed. "My best friend has the power to connect to those Pokemon and I know for sure that they're all pure of heart just like he is.": "So you're best friends with a guy that has control of those Pokemon?! Where is he? If you're here, he must be around somewhere.": "There must've been some misunderstanding in the story you were told. There's no way Pokemon would attack humans. Not unless they were being threatened."Reasonable argument. : "Shut up! I've told you before, all Pokemon are evil creatures inside just waiting to strike us down! It doesn't matter if you listen to me or not. I have Heatran now. This Pokemon is a perfect counter to those who hurt my ancestors. Now, all I have to do is find your friend!"Okay seriously, what the hell is up with Benga? He's so skewed and wrong that I honestly can't believe that he's being played straight right now. The hypocrisy is one thing, but does he not know that Heatran would get brutalized by the Swords of Justice in a real fight? Is he literally supposed to be Wrong Genre Savvy? If that's the case, then the whole "all Pokemon are evil" thing is still brain-dead because... What does he use to fight Monica's team again? That said, he got some direct upgrades to the other Pokemon he had... Not enough to be a real threat anymore, but hey he's trying. Larvesta is still killer, so watch out for him. Heatran themselves is very dangerous due to being damn-near level 50. They may not be fast (77 base speed isn't really something to write home about), but any fire attack this thing shoots out will char you down to the bone if you're not careful. Beatrice and Corin team up to take out Benga and his stupid team for the second time. "How could you defeat me with Heatran?!": "You need to calm down! Your intentions are clouded with anger. Anybody can see you're blinded and you need to chill."When even In-Game Monica tells you to chill, you seriously need to do so. Benga throws another hissy fit and Monica's like "okay whatever tell me about the story". "Tell me exactly what happened in this story and who told it to you."Okay I'm just going to cut this short and summarize it for all of our benefits: So the Swords of Justice (Cobalion, Terrakion and Virizion) supposedly razed a village to the ground and massacred the humans that lived there. Alder, the champion of the Unova region, told this story to Benga seeing as he's his grandson. Somehow, this one story told by his grandfather managed to make Benga doubt his entire perspective on Pokemon. Like "oh hey grand pap told me Pokemon could be bad? screw that, they're all evil". At this point he needs to be forcefully admitted in a psych ward so he isn't a threat to himself and others. Monica's like "Bruh. Chill." and tells Benga about how Noah knows these Pokemon and how he's not a bad guy. Benga, being the insufferable demon child that he is, decides to want to throw down against Noah despite not having any personal grudge against him in particular or the fact this plot point with Benga is pointless because we have the plot of Dark Rising to deal with. Benga also tells us about how to get another Heatran for ourselves in the cave ahead, but I'm just like... enough. : "That crazy guy is gonna do something bad to Noah... I better hurry up after him!" [Monica runs into the cave but a tremendous pressure catches her attention and stops her in her tracks]: "Wh... whoa! What's all this?" [She looks towards the sky and notices two Lucarios jumping across the trees][Broken Wings](Admittedly temporary, Zor will draw a better version) [Monica drops to the ground with a gasp. The red Lucario's eyes widen as he notices her]: ("No way, is that...!?"): "Sigurd!!"[The two Lucarios jump in front of Monica]: "It's... it's really you! I've missed you and Signe so much!" : ("You have no idea how lonely we were without you, so the feeling's mutual."): "You're... you're both idiots!" [Monica runs over to them and ensnares both of them in a messy, sobbing hug.]: ("... I'm happy to see you too, Monica."): ("I hope the others have been doing well since we were gone?"): "Y-yeah! Everyone's been doing great! There's so many people that want to see you again, and it's just... " [She says as she wipes her tears]: ("I'll admit, I'm not quite used to people wanting to see me... but we have DO a family to go back to now."): ("Of course. Siegfried will probably start bawling his eyes out when he sees us again.") [Giggles]: ("I feel like teasing him a little just for old time's sakes."): "Poor little guy. But yeah, you two... What have you learned since you were gone?" : ("Well... we've trained day in and day out since we've left. We've discovered things about out our powers that we couldn't have figured out alone. Our teamwork is nothing like it was before."): ("That and well... It was amazing in that we've actually bonded as brother and sister. It was some time where we could just be... together. Me and Sigurd have been gone a long time before you helped us, Monica. So I guess the only thing I can do is thank you too.") [She bows]: "No problem. I want to do more catch up, but we're in the thick of Darugis's latest waste dump. I'll admit I was kinda crapping myself wondering how we'd deal with him without you two, but your timing couldn't be any more perfect. Let's go dethrone the demon king." : ("Yes, ma'am!")The cheating game is back on, friends, and it feels so good. To elaborate more, Sigurd and Signe are two Lucarios that appeared over the course of the Dark Rising 1 Let's Play that I coded into the game myself to beat back the cheating difficulty. The funny part is that they started off an anti-cheating measure... but then it snowballed and became a story inside of the LP itself, where Sigurd himself is the root of the entire story due to his trainer becoming Darugis, the demon king, in an attempt to bring him back from the dead. (Long story.) The two Lucarios have an extremely powerful move called Aura Saber that hits for 150 Base Power and has a 75% chance to burn, so I expect them to rip shit apart. Sigurd himself has gotten a buff since the last game due to the training they went through: 100 / 150 / 120 / 150 / 100 / 120 ( 740 Total) That year-long offscreen training arc really paid off, huh? Anyway, we make it inside of the Helios Cave and discover it's a fire cave. About what I expected, I guess. There's this dude that shares the same sprite as "Dark EEEEVIL Pete" from the last game. (Yes, that's really what he's called.) You didn't do the formula right: Respect isn't given. It's earned. Especially when your Pokemon are like this. Good, but we need far more than just one Repel to make it matter. You know what, I'm gonna go back to Volton City for a bit. I don't want to deal with bootleg Candice. (Aka. the ice gym leader from Gen 4) We have the Pokemon Fan Club! And that's all we'll ever see from them again. So in a twist nobody wanted, Eon's gym is Lt. Surge's but with some trainers switched around. It is just as annoying as the real gym this is based off of thanks to the RNG associated with finding the second switch. Yadda yadda official gym battle. Let's get this over with already. He looks slightly better than he did in the first Dark Rising, but his sprite is still a weird yellow Falkner. : ("Speed without power isn't all that scary, buddy.")Jolteon was the first to go thanks to Siegfried's incredible tiny person powers. > for a reason guys. Ampharos was the ace of Eon's team, if I remember correctly. That or I put him to sleep before he even did anything. Manectric is a cool Pokemon that got a Super Saiyan 3 Mega Evolution thanks to X and Y... That is unfortunately not in this game. Oh well. (He gives us the Joltbadge, by the way.) Back to Helios Cave, we find an Escape Rope just in case we have to backtrack. He comes to meditate with a mime. Now I can't get the image of a meditating clown out of my head. Brute strength alone can only get you so far, dude. It gets really weird when adults say this to you. Like really think about it for a moment - some grizzled hiker dude tells you that he's gonna beat up your Pokemon with his despite the fact you're far younger than him. What a concept. Oooh we made it out already. Nice. This place doesn't look too bad, either. "You must be tough to endure that cave."How do people get around these places if they require being tough enough to survive? Do people die of heatstroke in there or something? I'm so curious. There's some Sawsbuck around here, which I guess is alright if you're into grassy deer. Their main gimmick (changing forms based on the seasons) isn't in the hack, but even the real games don't do that after they dropped the whole "seasonal" thing from Black and White. Thankfully there was a Pokecenter here for us to take a rest in, because yeesh. I'd consider that a pretty eventful chapter! These are what Sigurd and Signe's menu sprites look like by the way, along with a headcount of all of our guys. Next time on Dark Rising, we're gonna brave some new territory with our unreasonably overpowered new Pokemon! Hurray! See you then. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team setup: (Corin, level 39, , / ) - "Sigurd and Signe are back! How've you been, guys?!" (Gale, level 35, , / ) - "We really missed you, you know." (Wave, level 36, , ) - "Hey, y'all are back! Good to see you're not hurt!" (Arthur, level 35, , / ) - "Aye, let's celebrate by bashing some Darugis grunts!" (Bellamine, level 33, , ) - "Welcome back, you two. The training paid off, hopefully?" (Beatrice, level 35, , / ) - "Oh, madam Signe! I have something important to hand you!~"--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Back-up Team: (Sigurd, level 50, , / ) - "Oh god, I need a moment. I don't usually feel emotions like this." (Signe, level 50, , / ) - "There, there, Siegfried. We won't leave you again." [Cradles him between her arms] (Siegfried, level 41, , / ) - [Incoherent messy sobbing] (Quote, level 25, , / ) - "Hey guyzzz! I... uh... Don't know what I walked into, but I like it! So how about that Link Gem that Monica found? Anybody gonna... comment on zzzat?" (Jeanne, level 20, , ) - "Isn't that lovely? Their family's been reunited " (Ambes, level 23, , ) - "Whoaaaaaa! They're so cool looking! They're like superheroes!" (Ignell, level 22, , / ) - "Haha, yes. Don't be intimidated talking to them, Ambes, they're actually quite humble." (Candelabra, level 22, , / ) - "Man this is getting me real sappy. It reminds me of when I had to take care of my brother and sisters..." (Iris, level 6, , ) - "Yooo! Who are they?" (Lucera, level 5, , ) - "This is all very sweet... but there's something ominous hanging in the air that I can't really pin down. I'm getting chills."
Last edited by Galaxite Omega on Fri Oct 20, 2023 3:50 am; edited 2 times in total | |
| | | Galaxite Omega Fusion Master
Gender : Posts : 391 Join date : 2016-05-16 Age : 27 Location : Wherever you want, baby~
| Subject: Re: Let's Play Dark Rising 2! (LP #4) Sun Mar 04, 2018 10:18 pm | |
| We're slowly but surely chipping away at this game, one chapter at a time. Chapter #4 - Stone Cold
- Spoiler:
Last time on Dark Rising 2, we made it to a conveniently placed Pokecenter next to a boiling magma cave. Hey, if they have good hazard pay then who am I to judge? I also meant what I said earlier about the team constantly shifting just to show everyone off. Good thing too, because there's like a million trainers on this route and a fair amount of them are unavoidable. Don't you just love padding? It'd be really anticlimactic if we could say no, so I guess we have to. Smeargle is an interesting Pokemon. They have stats that would make even Baby Pokemon bully them and are fragile to the point where any strong hit could kill them outright. Yet they can copy any move in the entire game for keeps thanks to Sketch. Yes, this even applies to something like... oh, Spore and Palkia's Spacial Rend. I've always found to be a hilarious concept. : "Okay, so...?" [The girl flies into a rage and attacks Monica]I will take no other explanation for why this confrontation happens. Good lord, did the Loser Club come out just to bother me? At the very least you can sneak past them if you're really careful but this is miserable. "To watch Robot Chicken. Maybe that's the reason why I lost? Hmm..."Okay that's it, you referenced Robot Chicken in a Pokemon rom hack. We made it, boys. Gemstone River, huh? Just what will this place have in store for us? I don't understand the people who want to stay hidden but instead run up to you, shout and get into very conspicuous Pokemon battles that everyone can see and hear. Good god, this is enough power to burn down the entire country. I approve. Oh goodie. Maybe we can seduce the demon king into stopping his omnicidal rampage. Nugget bridge trainers again, but this time from the other side. I dunno, I find it really disingenuous when a rom hack does the exact same things as the original game but only slightly switched around. Sure, there's not much DRG could have done given how she was a Literal Child, but this is still what we got. I'll save the rant for another day because right now we have Water types to fry. It must suck being a monotype trainer in this world - if your opponent has your advantage then you're screwed unless you're a strategic genius. : ("Back me up if things go sour, alright?"): ("Gotcha, pal! Zzzzt!")At the very least Mr. Fisherman tries to spice things up by throwing a Ground type here and there, but even then... Ambes learned Grass Knot at one point and demolishes the thing. : ("Ooof. Thanks for the save, uh... what'zzz your name again?"): ("Ambes. Glad to meet you, Quote."): ("Yo, you managed to catch my name before I could even zzzay it myself! You're pretty zzzharp, bud!") : ("You kinda had to be back where I came from, otherwise you're one foot in the grave."): ("No kidding, huh? Zzzomething tells me I can relate, haha..."): ("I think we'll make a great team if we zzztick together, then!")Mr. Fisherman still got some hits in despite my type advantage, so you know this guy means business. Oh really? Guess I should take the kid gloves off myself then. ... I mean, yep. Signe is supposed to be the mage compared to her brother as reflected by her moveset above. Void Bomb is a 125 power move that hits both opponents in a double battle, which is simply just whoof. This is what happens when you push me into cheating, folks. Funny story, I was originally going to make Void Bomb inflict sleep instead of flinching to keep with the Darkrai theme... but instead of causing damage, it only put the opponent to to sleep. Since that involves messing around with a ton of code and it was such a small thing in the grand scheme of things, I decided to leave it at flinching. On one hand, we're at a type disadvantage. On the other, we have a literal flaming goddess fox and a chandelier with enough magic power to rival the legends themselves. Hmmmm.The expected result.Oh damn that's right, I gave Candelabra Leaf Blade for some reason. You see, I still didn't know there was a working Physical/Special split even by this point in the game, so I just gave Candy whatever strong grass move for coverage even though Chandelures have awful physical stats. Clumsy me. Future Dan: What do you mean you gave her Leaf Blade? Chandelure doesn't even learn it, you fool. (Yes, I hack in two super Lucarios, but I draw the line at a canon Pokemon learning an ill-fitting move lmao.) But at least Beatrice picks up the slack. "You should be proud. Take this!"He hands us TM03, but things don't stop there. Fisherman: "I bet you're exhausted and want to rest to Gemstone City, am I right? Well... YOU GOTTA BEAT ME! Yeah, that's right, you're not done. We have a reputation to maintain, we can't just let any trainer brag about beating us. You ready?": "Yeah... I guess..."If there's anything I don't like about Dark Rising (quite a bit, but I'll save that tangent for the end), the primary one is that the (intentional) humor is pretty weak. Monica's reaction sells to me that this is one of those "if you bring up the problem, it's suddenly not as annoying" scenarios. She's as annoyed as the audience would probably be, but at the same time that doesn't really fix or make the scene less annoying. I hate it when content creators do that kind of thing. As for the fight itself, this would normally be an intimidating team if it weren't for the fact we have a psychic super Lucario on our side. Two different 4x weaknesses that both end in the same way. I love these two, okay? Oh my lord. It's like the claw part of Clawitzer is immaculate while the actual shrimp is a compressed JPEG. Candelabra ends it with her magical fireproof leaf blades. "I give you permission to pass!": ("This isn't something worth bragging about...")You see what I mean? This entire sequence felt more like an obstacle than anything fun, to be honest. Anyway, we're in the next town already. Its inhabitants include the mysterious Tomato Fletchling. Then May shows up all of a sudden and comes to battle us. She has a damn good sprite, especially for the standards of this hack... which makes me wonder where DRG and crew pilfered it from. This Venusaur was still a real hassle to take down even with the sun in place... like damn. Meanwhile, Candy melts a Glaceon into a puddle while Beatrice eats Blastoise for dinner. In hindsight, we should be really glad this series doesn't get graphic with Pokemon battling otherwise it'd wind up being really gnarly. REALLY. A LEVEL 50 BLAZIKEN ALREADY.Why do you do this to me, game? If I didn't have Signe, this would have been a serious kick to the nads. You guys have to keep in mind that this is still only Chapter 4 yet we're facing what would be a champion's team in the normal games right out of nowhere. It really does make me wonder what kind of person was meant to play this game or what the hell the DR team was going for with such an obtuse difficulty curve. Future Dan: Obviously they thought 'high levels = difficult'. Thank god Snorlax doesn't have Pulverizing Pancake in this game otherwise the end result would be a nuclear explosion of lard, blood and tears. I don't quite like your tone. I'll just stop you there. The girls don't talk about anything significant, just that May is a famous coordinator and that Monica's mom is a big fan. I'll just cut to the point where May gives us the Fame Checker... an item that would be a novelty even in the real games. May doesn't even show up later or have an impact on the plot, so in reality we had to fight a level 50 Blaziken for no goddamn reason. You could omit this entire scene and the game wouldn't change in the slightest. Given how this is obviously the rock town, this guy must be the Gym Leader. Gen 6 had a Rock gym leader too, but at least they had the decency to not just call him Granite.The fun part is that the police bar you from going anywhere else, so guess where we're going? What the hell kind of scuffle happened in here? Sure, this is the second time this destroyed house scene has appeared in the series so far, but you people have all of the crazy parties without me. Sydney tells us that Noah's off somewhere else while Zyiah is here to snatch back her Noivern. "Instead of focusing on becoming a master thief, you should be more focused on training your Pokemon. You're an embarrassment to them and yourself. You're one of the weakest trainers I've ever seen."Okay, Granite is pretty badass for a character we'll meet once and never see again. : "Ugh... you bastard. Whatever, I still got what I came here for. A fossil of an ancient Pokemon! I bet once I learn how to revive this baby, they'll be no stopping me."[Granite shakes his head in disappointment]Granite: "I feel sorry for your Pokemon. Surrender peacefully, now!"I like him if only for the fact he's not taking her crap. "Gotcha back, Noivern.": "No! It's mine now!"Woman, can you not? You're surrounded by like three people who are all justified in either beating you up or sending your ass to the slammer. Don't push it. Monica motions that Jalice should let herself get put into police custody, but guess what Granite says? Granite: "No."Sydney and Zyiah respond accordingly: "What?!"Like what the hell, dude. You were doing really well before that. Sigh. He rationalizes that Jalice is really childish and that jail wouldn't really do much to change her. So instead, he's willing to let her learn life lessons the hard way. Admirable, but if she winds up stealing more Pokemon it'll be on your head. He looks over to Monica and challenges her to a gym battle, so hell yeah you know I'm there. [Everyone leaves but Monica]That could have gone better, but oh well. ... You didn't even change the text. A little bit of playtesting wouldn't kill you, even if it means your game doesn't come out as fast. Oh thank the lord for a Mart. We've been starved for one ever since Chapter 2. A cool thing about this place is that they sell evolutionary stones... cause you know, Gemstone City. I do find it weird how Moon Stones are sold for nothing despite the fact they're an evolutionary item too... it wouldn't be very hard to change it either, unless I'm supposed to assume they're having a special sale. : "..."[Monica uppercuts the man into space]The lamer the joke, the more backlash it has. Oh snap, there was this too. This lady is willing to give away a precious little Eevee, so you know I'm gonna take that offer. : ("Oh well, I guess this had to happen eventually..."): ("Hi, my name is Johnny! You don't mind taking care of me... right?"): "... I'm not even going to ask what happened that requires you to be handed off to a perfect stranger, but welcome aboard anyway." "Both the son and daughter have no memory of what has happened... Ruko."Huh. Remember the dad in chapter 2 who told us to leave him and his family alone? It turns out that's a reoccurring plot element that'll serve as foreshadowing later on for a major plot element. Not half bad. "Most of the Pokemon have been scientifically revived from their fossil state and now roam the mines endlessly. If you do choose to enter the mines, be very careful. All of them will attack you.": "Alright."I love how Monica has just been warned to not enter a mine full of prehistoric animals that will attack on sight and she just shrugs it off like it's just another walk in the park. Then again, compared to what we've already faced, it practically is just another walk in the park. Well, we'll just have to save that for later. : "What's going on? Where's Florina and everyone else?": "They went on ahead. Yo, Monica... I got bad news for you. Something's not right with Noah. I know you two are tight, so you're the best person for this mission."Oh god, is Noah actually turning evil? Wasn't that one of the things I predicted back in the first Dark Rising? : "Mission? What's wrong with him?": "I don't know, that's the problem! He was headed towards a place called Misty Trees, said to be shrouded in a dark mist. You have to be the one to see what's up with him. The rest of the team are headed straight for Hollowsville. Florina detected high amounts of negative energy coming from that city."Hollowsville and Misty Trees, huh? Can't wait to go visit Not-Lavender Town. : "We're taking the shortcut. You, on the other hand, should be searching Misty Trees for Noah. He said something about awakening his chosen power, whatever that means."("Mine is Bonding, Light's is Creation, but...")But wait, I thought Light's power was bestowed upon him by Darugis. In hindsight, that makes the whole Conarp/Blazard fiasco even more amazing because Light made that thing from scratch and it still wound up being terrible. (Context: Light was a person that was raised to protect Arceus all his life but rebelled because he's a manchild that only believes he should ally himself with the strongest. Conarp, on the other hand, is a / fakemon that has Wonder Guard and a truly amazingly awful sprite) Dray tells us about the tree behind him and gives us... Cut, of course. He disappears afterward, leaving us to cut down the tree whenever we want. Oh well, we might as well go fight Granite. There's a sandstorm inside of the gym?! How does that work? Does he just have fans blowing wind everywhere in here? Also, this is what, like the second time Brock's gym has been re-used? Wave hi to Dark Rising Girl, everyone. I say that because Tarea is literally her self-insert avatar that she tried to integrate into the plot back in the first game. I'm still reeling from that by the way. Oooh nice, who's the lucky guy/gal? ... Then again, if a wedding ring looked like that, I'd hesitate to put it on anybody's finger. Generic taunt followed up by generic beatdown. Maybe you could have lasted longer if you had something tougher than a Rhydon. He taunts us about his strength while Monica's just like "yeah okay whatever what makes you better than the ones we've faced in the past" - which only re-affirms my statement that Monica is learning how to become a savage. If you didn't expect Granite to be a black-vested Marshal from the Unova Elite Four, then I'm slightly disappointed. RUDE CRUDE DUDES ALERTHis team is very blistering and powerful even with our matched levels. Sure, I could always unleash the Lucario duo, but I need to train up the other guys on my team in case Sigurd and Signe aren't enough. His first mon is a Rhyperior that is decidedly more durable than the Rhydon from before, but it still goes out in a snap thanks to a generous dose of Sleep Powder and Giga Drain. His next Pokemon, on the other hand, is a Relicanth that spams hazards like Stealth Rock... Alright, real talk? I hate Stealth Rocks in the real games. They're the main reason why I keep a hazard ward and the only reason I really use them myself is because I might as well take advantage of it too. In Dark Rising, though, they're simply Spikes with a Rock typing so... yeah, they're hilariously inept at doing anything because the caster might get knocked out before then. Relicanth managed to survive getting blasted by a four times weakness despite being the same level as Beatrice, so that's hella impressive. It could only help him for so long. This was a tricky one. Arthur had to use Swords Dance while trying to survive Armaldo's onslaught, as they could easily 2 hit KO him. So I resorted to putting him to sleep while Arthur smashed him with Iron Head. Signe, on the other hand, decides not to mess around and goes straight into dicing up the rest of Granite's team with Aura Saber. I actually sort of feel bad for that Tyranitar, although Cradily can rot in the deepest pits of the ocean for its stalling ways. Barbaracle is a Gen 6 Pokemon that I like for how outlandishly stupid its design is and how blistering it can be if you can get a Shell Smash off. In here, though, it gets destroyed by... Wait. Did it really just survive on a sliver of health despite a four times weakness? Thankfully, Beatrice managed to survive his onslaught by a small margin and won us the match. Yeah, no kidding. He gives us the Fossilbadge, by the way. He also hands us the Stealth Rock TM, but I think I'll pass, thank you. Now since that's out of the way, let's get moving. Hey, Iris is actually being useful! I knew I brought her along for a reason. : ("Awesome!")We're switching up the team again to bring Sigurd along. This is actually the first time he's been in the team since the end of Dark Rising 1, so let's make things special by going to... This place. Beating up a bunch of living fossils wouldn't hurt. Oh dear, I think we're moving too fast for my liking. ... Nah just kidding, he actually gives it to his wife-to-be instead. He hands Monica something nice for her troubles, though: Yep, we get Strength. This is how I assume we get Heatran, but I think I'll pass on that too. I just now discovered the Helix meme. Now I can finally praise him. MONICA'S SPEAKING IN TONGUESl̴̗̹̞͖̰̑̀͊ͅa͂͗ͫͮ̎͋̄ͩ̿͏҉̹̟̜̙̲̺͕̺ ̭̪̤͎͍̖̣͈̦̅̚ļ̴͉̗̞͙̜̭̩̳ͣͩ̇̇̓̏̉ͅi̶̮̯ͭͯ͌̂̊̓̚͠ ͊̀͏̷̬͚̝͇̤̰̠ͅl̻̙͓͍͑ͤ͛͒̈͑͡͡ư͖͇͇͚͙̗͚͕ͮ̇͐̀͗̾̚͜ ̧̛̗͕̼̖̒̊̈́̎̒̑̉l̺͎̳̞͚̻ͦ̈ͦͨ͑̔̆̂͘e̳͇̝̬͕͂ͦ̏͢ͅ ̸̧͇̼̮͔̪͌̏̚l̴͇͈̺̎̄ͮ̊ͨ̍͂̿́͘ǫ̥̪͈̥ͩ̇͆͠I mean... what was the question? Steven's here because he's infatuated with rocks, but Monica recognizes him and figures that they should fight to train for the road ahead. Good idea, but... Boy, are we gonna regret it in a second. Steven is the champion of Hoenn and has all of the power to back it up, unfortunately. Yep! No, really, your reward for talking to Steven is to fight LEVEL 65 AND ABOVE ENEMIES.Just... christ, could it kill you to balance the difficulty a little bit? Sure, he may be the champion, but there's such a thing as "holding back". Hell, let me tell you why this "sudden superboss" thing is such a problem. In the real Emerald, Steven is a superboss with a team of level 70s... but he was very much the exception rather than the rule. Not only that, you had to scour the deepest parts of Meteor Falls after you beat the game to even attempt to fight him, so just having him appear in an easily accessible area during the main story ruins the entire purpose of such a fight. Casual reminder that the Dark Rising team may not have any idea what they're doing here. But hey, at least Sigurd is so mind-numbingly overpowered that he can somehow salvage a victory for us despite being 20 levels below his opponents. Good shit. It gets really ridiculous when you take into account that the DR team beefs up the effort values of every enemy Pokemon to 255. Normally, when you invest 252 EVs into a stat, it increases that stat by 63 points. That's a lot, especially when you take the level mountain range into consideration. Then we have to deal with the legendaries with fake base stats... At the end of the day, that's not challenge, it's just throwing your players into a woodchuck. Thank god, too. I'm pretty sure if I tried to do this without Sigurd, I'd be drowning my sorrows in soda. "This place feels like home to me."Oh, that wacky Steven. Seriously though, don't come near me ever again. "Creepy..."Try me, kid. One of my favorite Pokemon is a Chandelure - have you seen what those things do to people? There was a bug catcher just above this guy that gets ruined by Jeanne and Beatrice's wombo combo. : "I think the person you're looking for is far more guilty looking than me." Poor Vespiquen never stood a chance. Shame too, because she's otherwise a really cool Pokemon. Wait, what do you mean your purse was stolen? It's hanging from your arm, you pillock! : ("Some humans just love to instigate...")Thankfully, we get a Max Potion to compensate for whatever the hell it was we just went through. A storm, huh? We just gotta set that creepy mood in otherwise it just wouldn't be right. You know, at the very least I can't immediately recognize these areas. Sure, it'll kick in eventually, but props to them for actually doing different map designs instead of rehashing the original game's. OH that is a good sprite. It's like a clump of feathers that just barely resemble Talonflame. "But they're so low leveled it's not even funny."Don't even get me started on levels or I'll shove you in the freezer. This Burn Heal would have been useful for Monica's opponents not too long ago. Well shit, that freezer remark came into play when I didn't expect it to. There was a dude around here who had a Rotom-Frost as one of his Pokemon and that's cool. [Is shot by the pun police]Also, the return of the Supreme Saltlord. He always seems to show up when we get close to Lavender Town-esque places. At the least this place has the decency to throw another Pokecenter at us instead of just making us go from point A to point B with no break in between. Killer B or Killer Queen? (I am obsessed with Jojo, please don't fault me for it.) Booooo, I say. You couldn't even change the sign to say something else? Ooooh, how terrifying. I don't think that'll be enough to scare us away, though. If there were a Pokemon in the entire series that I legit hate, Stunfisk might be one of them. Dumb flat face. Alright, let me have it. What does this place look like? Ah. Custom tilesets! Cool. Next time on Dark Rising 2, we're gonna brave this spooky forest and hope we don't get possessed by ghosts! See you then. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team setup: (Corin, level 42, , / ) - "Ghosts, huh? I'm more scared of Sigurd's powers than I am of any ghost, really." (Sigurd, level 50, , / ) - [Winces] "I can't tell if that's a compliment or not." (Jeanne, level 39, , ) - "My new drought powers are serving us very well. It turns our opponents into instant barbecues~" (Wave, level 44, , ) - "... Not gonna lie y'all, I do get spooked rather easily." (Bellamine, level 42, , ) - "Say, Beatrice. Doesn't this whole scenario remind you of the time when we had to go hunt zombies with Jack?" (Beatrice, level 43, , / ) - "Huh? Oh yes, miss Bellamine - the good old days. Although... calling them 'good' would be a massive stretch." [She giggles]--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Back-up Team: (Signe, level 51, , / ) - "At the very least we take turns." [Signe stretches] (Siegfried, level 42, , / ) - "You're doing great, guys! I'm rooting for you!" [Siegfried hops up and down with pompoms] (Arthur, level 43, , / ) - "Hollowsville sounds very... pleasant. I wonder if we'll find any ghouls and ghosts?" (Gale, level 36, , / ) - "Maybe we'll find a haunted castle, heh." (Quote, level 34, , / ) - "Oh hey! Ghosts? Zzzounds like my kinda jam!" (Ambes, level 36, , ) - "Oh yeah, that's right... you're a ghost-type, Quote. I have a bit of a personal question for you- what kind of Pokemon were you like when you were alive?" (Johnny, level 25, , ) - "Wow, so many cool Pokemon. Our trainer is really strong, too!" (Ignell, level 22, , / ) - "Why hello, Johnny! Welcome to the team, lad!" (Candelabra, level 37, , / ) - "Hee hee hee... This is gonna be fun. Maybe I should uh... contribute to the spookfest." (Iris, level 6, , ) - "... I don't like the way she said that." (Lucera, level 5, , ) - "Oh my goodness, Siegfried is so adorable. I'm tempted to cheer with him."
Last edited by Galaxite Omega on Mon Oct 23, 2023 1:24 pm; edited 2 times in total | |
| | | Galaxite Omega Fusion Master
Gender : Posts : 391 Join date : 2016-05-16 Age : 27 Location : Wherever you want, baby~
| Subject: Re: Let's Play Dark Rising 2! (LP #4) Sun Mar 04, 2018 10:20 pm | |
| Let's have some fun. Chapter #5 - Looming Evil
- Spoiler:
Last time on Dark Rising, we entered a ~ spooky scary~ forest called Misty Trees. Is it gonna be as bad as I think? Probably. The game hasn't really impressed me so far outside of the brief beginning. (Also, good god the game is being self-aware. We should put it down now before it becomes sentient.) WILD SHEDINJA.Sure, Shedinja is really bad outside of its ability and its only purpose here is to be a spooky ghost for the forest, but I must have it. Ghost bug ninja friend. I doubt he'll do much, but writing another message at the end-of-chapter team set-up will be fun. Either this was a wild Pokemon or a trainer's... Still, I've always found Rotom-Fan to be useless compared to its other appliances. What kind of sadist gives a Flying Pokemon Levitate? "Am I the only girl like that?"Doubtful, but I'm glad you're in your element. I'm quite the connoisseur for spooks myself. This initiates a fight, by the way. Why? Beats me. You'd think the distressed mom in the middle of a forbidden, haunted forest would do something more productive than fight some random stranger. This guy makes me giggle just because of how silly he sounds. I should mention (if I haven't already) that the custom forest music in Dark Rising 2 is pretty damn annoying, so I just mute the game anyway. It doesn't help that the trainer battle theme isn't that good either and is used for every single fight in the game... even the ones where it should be replaced with something more intense. Now that's just ridiculous. If anything, the more evil something is, the more interesting it is to study. That's sort of why villains tend to get more popular than the heroes (as long as they're written well, anyway). Speaking of evil... if you try to use an Escape Rope here, you'll actually get teleported past the forest, skip an entire town and land in the one after it. So... yeah, that's one of the first major bugs we've encountered yet. I'd rather have this than the first major bug appearing in chapter 1, though. But wait! "He's pure evil... Not even Heatran could stop him."... What did you expect? Heatran is a legendary, sure, but there's still the everything else that would put Noah at an advantage, especially if he has the Swords of Justice on his side. Idiot. : "Oh nothing, Monica. Only that I've finally awakened my true potential!"How was I able to call this? : "Ugh... this guy isn't normal. I felt every attack whenever my Pokemon were hit."... Now that is a terrifying prospect, given the existence of OHKO moves. : "I have unlocked the ability that was held dormant inside of me for so long. I now understand everything.": "Noah, you don't normally talk like this. Why would you intentionally hurt another trainer?"Monica, despite being the voice of reason, is met with: : " ... Shut up...": "What?!": "I was put on this hopeless planet so that I can destroy it and create a new one. You see, Monica... you have the ability to bond with legendary Pokemon, to understand them and connect with them emotionally. The other guy, Light, has the power to create Pokemon, even monsters if he so desires."... Noah, did you have a bad day or something? Like come on, this is getting a bit too edgy even for you. That said, "has the power to create Pokemon, even monsters" is especially stupid when you remember Pokemon is short for pocket monster. : "Looks like you got the short end of the stick when it comes to abilities, Monica. If what I felt in this battle was any indication of his ability, then his pwns yours as well."God damn it with this game. It was bad enough when the actual Diamond and Pearl did the whole internet speak thing, but it's especially frustrating here seeing as this is plot-related. In fact, one of the iffier aspects of Dark Rising is its mood swing problems. I could give Snakewood a pass mostly because the madness made the game interesting, but when you're having a 100% serious scene... maybe it would be best to not have random internet speak in your dialogue. Just sayin'. "Stay out of this, seriously."You know, just because Dray uses it doesn't mean it's any better... though I will give him credit for being comic relief in this game full of misery. (Mostly for me.) : "I have unlocked the power of destruction! With this power, I can destroy the evil that stands in way and the world as well.": "Do you hear yourself?! Snap out of it, Noah. This is the type of mentality Darugis feeds on! You're only making him stronger by destroying things. It feeds off of negative energy, remember?"Yeah, what the hell? I know I should honestly stop paying attention and finish the game already, but this is like a trainwreck I can't look away from. Why did Noah's entire personality change just because he learned about his new power thing? : "Good. I want it to consume as much negative energy as possible... so that it can pose a challenge to me after my ultimate plan is complete!"Have you seen in-game Darugis's power? Where did this sudden arrogance come from? He can't even beat Monica and it still took multiple Aura Sabers to take down Darugis's first form, so how in the world does this raving lunatic expect to beat what is effectively the Superdevil? Also, ultimate plan? Ugh, I'll just let Monica sum it up: : "You've... lost it."Never have I agreed with a fictional character more. [A shadowy figure hovers over Monica's shoulder]( ) : ("Oh excuse me. I don't mean to intrude, but I heard someone speak my name. So this little man thinks he can beat me at my best?")( ) : ("Darugis? What are you-") ( ) : ("Oh hush, it's not like he can tell I'm here.") : "Lost it? Oh no, best friend, I've only just obtained it."( ) : ("... He isn't serious, right?")[Noah releases the Swords of Justice from their Pokeballs]: "No way!"[Benga screams and vows to chase them down]( ) : ("Oh sweet Arceus, he's serious. Damn, I knew I made the right choice making you my arch-nemesis because this is priceless.")( ) : ("He plans on using Yveltal to kill me. Yveltal. Allow me to laugh even harder.")( ) : "Get out of my head, you sociopath!" ( ) : ("Oooh, pushy.")[Everyone but Monica disappears in the fade to black]... Well, that was a thing. Noah's gone down the path of edgelord and I swear the only way to snap him out of it is to smack him with a two by four. Sydney's here and offers to hand you an Axew. She also tells us about the new location of the Dark Rising headquarters, so that's cool I guess. Alright we've made it to the spooky section of the game, everyone. I'm just praying it's not as bad as Salem from the first game. [Theme I would use here: Dark Alley]Long story short, this lady used to be the gym leader before she had to retire from old age. She offers to have a friendly match so we take her on. True to her title as a former gym leader, she's tougher than your normal trainer. That said, it's pretty unfair when I have a Sun Goddess fox on my side. Her other two Pokemon were smashed in record time, although I will give Beatrice brownie points for fighting a Gengar while burned and at half health. She has to be the nicest non-helpful NPC in the entire game because she's pretty much "gg" and doesn't complain. I'm just wondering how cool she must have been if she was still the gym leader. The fancy tiling hides a horrible secret - the ground will eat you if you go to the wrong place. (I don't think this is that hard to fix, either.) We get the Psychic TM for our troubles. Better than nothing, I suppose. Everyone is gaga over the new gym leader in this town because they always cite how hot she is. I'll be the judge of that, thank you very much. "Sure, it's spooky, but who cares?"Me and this girl are synchronized. If nobody's getting hurt then I don't see any reason to complain. Thank god for Pokemarts. We made so much money just from fighting random people that we have over 240,000 Pokedollars... and we must use every penny. ... One of our best Pokemon is a ghost type, and that's not even counting Quote or Hel from the past game. Methinks this line from the original Red/Blue did not age well when more Ghost types got added to the roster. Hell, Monica had much worse than a ghost hand pop up over her shoulder in the past five minutes. "No one ever steps over it. It's said to be a cursed mark on this city, and whoever touches or steps on the grass will die a painful death."Comforting. You can't even step on it though, so you can't get yourself "cursed". What a shame. Oh, so this is where the Omni region Name Rater is. Good to know. I'd say this place is the Not-Lavender Town, but they're actually way different aside from the ghost typing. "The lady in there may be hot, but she's friends with ghost!"Don't you mean ghost s? I also don't see why being friends with ghosts is a problem in the same world where ghost Pokemon are a thing. Plus, goth chicks are the best.Oh goodie, it's murder time. There's so much cheese going around that I might become lactose intolerant. You can't go south because these spookboys will block your way. This is gonna be fun. Who's this crazy guy? ( He's speaking in tongues. This is really scary now.) "Did you come here to watch the murder of my sister, Morgana? Which Pokemon do you think I should use?!" I don't like where this is heading. : "What? Who are you people?"???: "Booo! This trainer's no fun. Hmm... should I go with Cofa'grigus suffocating her inside its coffin? Or should I let Banette kill her with its nasty little tricks? Banette's my favorite!"Dude, is this nutjob and Morgana lost members of the Addams Family or something? This is totally the kind of shit they would do to each other. That said, this is a vast step up from the otherwise boring or insultingly dumb characters we've seen so far. : "Look, I don't know what's going on here, but it sounds dangerous."???: "... Get this trainer away from me! Grunt, do your job!"Hot damn, that is a nice sprite. I refuse to believe this was made just for Dark Rising because it's way better than anything we've seen so far. The only question I have is whether he's standing or he's kneeling. If he's standing, he has teeny legs. True to the Gastly next to his trainer sprite, he has one that's at level 50. Not sure why you would even have a level 50 Gastly instead of a Haunter but you do you. He had other members of the Gengar family but they went down without much of a hassle anyway. : ("You're telling me... he's so boring!")What he lacks in soul he makes up for in style because even Mr. Loco's grunts are more visually appealing than 90% of the people we've encountered on this journey... including our main protagonists. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ "I just remembered my favorite show is about to come on. I'll come back and kill my sister later. Not like she has much to do anyway! Hahahaha, goodbye in my best AOL voice! Remember? Remember AOL?": ("... Hey Monica, do you mind if I eat this dude's soul? For everyone else's sakes?"): "What is wrong with you? You're psychotic."Is this some vain attempt to ape the Deadly Seven's madness shtick from Snakewood? ???: "Me... psychotic... hahaha! I love it! See ya, Monica!": "Wait, how do you -"[Crazy Guy and his grunts vanish]... Now that was an experience. I want to see that guy again just to see what kind of wacky shit he'll say next. Oh god is this a flash dungeon mixed with Sabrina's teleporting gym? Well then. I'm using walk through walls to skip to her and there is nothing you can do to stop me. "A young, fresh challenger ready to be devoured in fear of my Ghost Pokemon.": "Lady, I've faced much worse. Let's do this!"Morgana: "Mwahahaha! Yes! Yes! I love it! But tell me... How will you defeat what you cannot attack?"Can't attack? I have to make sure Candy doesn't get smashed by rocks or spooked by other ghosts all of the time! The way she talks makes her brother/sister relationship with Mr. Nutso more obvious, although she doesn't seem to be as much of a psycho as he is. rude crude dudes alertOh. Oh, that looks amazing. It's literally as if they squished her and stretched her out afterward, because yikes that resize is not good looking. For those of you who aren't aware, this is Sabrina's character from Pokestar Studios (Black and White 2) where she played an evil queen called Belleba. Honestly one of my favorite character designs in the series, but here it's wasted because we get to find the Crazy Guy again but not her. Sigurd evaporates this Mismagius from the face of the earth. For those of you at home, imagine the world inverting itself and exploding into a black hole. That's how intense his critical hits are. Jellicent is a Pokemon I always found interesting due to how they look and what they're capable of, but in here they're just gonna be a hassle due to Giga Drain's reduced PP and the fact it doesn't go down in one shot due to their bulk. : ("Who's the spooky one now, huh!?")
Beatrice tagged out and put this Spiritomb to sleep so Candelabra can roast it without worries. Good thing I ha the foresight to give her Substitute so she can land some cheap shots. Trevenant is another interesting one, although I don't really know of any interesting ways it can be used aside from the good old Harvest spam. (Sitrus + Recycle) ... Uh. Apparently enemy Chandelures are invisible. Believe it or not, this is because they're wayyy up in the sky due to their Y positioning being something crazy like 102+. I don't know how the Dark Rising team managed to get it like that. : ("Ah hell no. I'm tagging out!")That said, I had to swap out to Sigurd because Candy can't stand up against another member of her species without getting demolished. Ooooh, Gourgeist. They're like one of my favorite ghost Pokemon behind Mimikyu and Chandelure due to their different sizes and their cute looks, but I will admit they're not that good for fighting. What can you do? Not-Sabrina of the Addams Family hands us the badge and we go on our merry way. Does it actually raise the defense of the team or is that just a line that they kept over from the original Red and Blue? I don't see much of a difference. We can also use surf out of battle, so Morgana is also sweet enough to hand us a Shadow Ball TM. Thanks to the working Physical/Special split in this game, we slap it onto Candy without a second thought. She sort of deserves it for carrying us this far. God bless you random trainers. Sure we're in the middle of nowhere and I have more important things to do, but it's all in good fun I suppose. I cannot say the same for what Sigurd does to this poor Houndoom. All he does is prick them with the edge of the blade and they go flying into space. More vendor trash! Good for me. Skill Swap is the epitome of cool but situational because it involves outplaying your opponent... not that you can really do that with all of the DBZ shenanigans in Dark Rising. What building in particular? There's a lot of them. "Please enter the Dark Rising base."... This is the new base? We're on top of a lake. I guess I can't really complain if it works. This dude gives you the Itemfinder. Thank you, but no. This guy, on the other hand, hands us the VS. Seeker which I doubt will actually help. I don't really trust DRG's scripters with the finer details of changing random trainer teams up for rematches. Oh boy, the loser gang's all here now that Noah's flipped his alliances. Sydney said something about wanting to fight us earlier. "This is the room where we'll have our battle.": "Alright...": "Monica! Shake it off! You won't be able to help Noah if you're not at your best. I will not be holding back!": "Yeah, Monica! Don't pull a Naruto on us!"God damn it Dray, can you not. You know, at the very least, everyone is trying to actively help Monica by making sure she's prepared for the road ahead. That's a huge step forward from the mess they were like in the first Dark Rising... which I will forever hold in spite as Rival Battle Simulator. : "Ah, nevermind. Let's get this battle started!": "Alright, let's do this!"Sydney is a blue Jupiter now and I kind of like how she looks. It's better than the first game, at least. Despite being paralyzed and below half of her health, Candy is still a force to be reckoned with. (Ooops I forgot to give Sigurd 4 moves for this game.) : ("Aha! I'll get you after all the times you and your friends beat me up! How are you even so strong?")[Sigurd makes a slight frown and gets up in the other Lucario's face]: ("I have to be otherwise everyone I love will die."): ("That's it? You have all this power and that's --"): ("I'm not interested in your stupid rivalry, so drop it."): ("Agh! Maybe I shouldn't hold a grudge against the guy that can beat up Darugis...")Haxorus was here too, but that fight was like: Kyurem is cool now that it doesn't have two clones that are also fused with Reshiram and Zekrom (seriously, that was one of the dumbest plot elements in the first game - two ripoffs of Hilbert and Hilda just had Black and White Kyurem while it took Sydney an entire adventure to find the real one) Beatrice wrestles with a Kingdra for a bit and slams them with a Sludge Bomb. You know, it's funny. She did nothing in the game she debuted in (Snakewood) as she was only a Roselia then. She re-appeared towards the end of Dark Rising 1 but didn't accomplish much beyond just being a cameo. Then we get to Dark Rising 2 where she's not only really strong, she's a damn-near permanent team member. Imagine how much easier Snakewood would have been with this kind of firepower under my belt. Damn skippy we did. Monica shrugs it off with all of the finesse of and vows to save Noah and her father one more time. Dray volunteers to chill and watch some anime (the dork), but Florina points out that the next place to go is Aster Prairie due to the strong concentration of negative energy coming from there. Nice. Florina says something about a friend in the next room, so I wonder who it is? It's Pete! He made a miraculous recovery from his edgelord phase. ??? Really? This again? Oi. But hey, at least there's a nurse to heal our wounds after what we did just to get here. The TV exploded from the sheer amount of chili dogs we just witnessed. He's doing great ever since he broke out of Darugis's spell and mentions that Monica can break Noah out of whatever fix he's in. Only problem with that is that Noah genuinely seems to be up his ass on this one, so that might complicate things. Pete mentions that he brought another friend along from Dr. Ivan. You're not gonna believe who it is: UH : " Wait a minute." : ("But... but I'm right here.")As it turns out, it was actually just a plush toy that Dr. Ivan confused for Siegfried. Ooops.(The Victini is supposed to be the same one you obtained halfway through the first game, but seeing as Siegfried already fills out that spot and he's been with us since the game started... yeah, having a second Siegfried wouldn't make much sense.) This dude fights you because he decided to take his anger of not finding rare Pokemon on you. There's not any rare Pokemon that I really care to get anyway... so go ahead, mister Rage Machine. They're a necessary healing item for stone wall types, but a lot of the Pokemon I use tend to be on the "lean and mean" side of fighting anyway. Not gonna stop me from getting the Leftovers here, though. Yeah, people tend to like other people that aren't douches. So... we're here. You know, despite everything else that's happened in this game, the town areas are well made. They're a far cry from the mere copy and pasting from the original game... although I wish the same could be said for the interiors/dungeon areas. This dude hands us a bike in exchange for a voucher I spontaneously had. I don't remember when I got a voucher, but I'll take that bike, thank you. Okay, stop. We get to the Flying gym and the name of the gym leader is friggin' Feather. Man, that's not even trying. You could have named her Heather or Grace just so you can have a little bit of subtlety or something. There's our target, but let's not go there just yet. We have a city to explore! Interesting. We'll have to check up on these later, because for now? Monica pays a visit to the local bar. Next time on Pokemon Dark Rising, we deal with more shenanigans and start our new life of crime. See you then. [Monica orders a drink][Current OST: Midas River]: "After all the junk we had to do since this started, I need a b-break." : ("Oh no, I know where this is going!"): ("Monica, please, I just want to go to bed. We're all tired."): "Man, shut up and get me another drink - if I sleep, Darugis'll get me, you know!" : ("I don't like this. Monica, you need to stop before -"): "Mo ooon riiiiiver~! Wiiiider than a mile~! hic" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team setup: (Corin, level 43, , / ) - "Oh... jeez. She's really killing it with the drinks there. How's she supposed to find Noah when she's buzzed to hell and back?" (Sigurd, level 53, , / ) - "Didn't you say this happened before?" (Bellamine, level 49, , ) - "Good lord, imagine if her and Jack started drinking together. They'd be unstoppable." (Candelabra, level 51, , / ) - "She's pretty funny like this, though." (Beatrice, level 51, , / ) - "It's a good laugh until she breaks her liver. We should stop her!" (Siegfried, level 42, , / ) - [Hugs the Victini plush doll]--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Back-up Team: (Signe, level 51, , / ) - "So who is this Jack you guys keep talking about?" (Jeanne, level 39, , ) - "Oh... hmm~ Since you brought him up, he's our trainer. He's a great man that's guided us through a difficult time, not unlike you and Monica." (Arthur, level 43, , / ) - "Ah. Wasn't it the same man who fought the undead with you?" (Gale, level 36, , / ) - "I still can't believe zombies were a thing in the world we live in. Sure, ghosts because of the obvious, but... that's crazy. Can't imagine surviving that." (Wave, level 44, , ) - "I don't think my heart can take having to deal with something like that. I'm scared of the corpses that don't move as it is." (Quote, level 34, , / ) - "Hey guyzzz, maybe we should go after Noah or... zzzomething? No? Alright then." (Ambes, level 36, , ) - "Monica drinks too? Oh boy, we're in trouble now." (Johnny, level 25, , ) - "I agree with Quote. I never met Noah before but he doesn't seem to be in his right mind?" (Shadow, level 45, , / ) - "... I'm a ninja." [Shadow hides behind a table] (Ignell, level 22, , / ) - "She can really hold her own with a can of beer, wahaha!" (Iris, level 6, , ) - "... Dude. Maybe we should hurry up or something? I don't think the big evil guy is gonna let this happen." (Lucera, level 5, , ) - "Granted, we're goofing off and nothing bad seems to be happening. But I see what you mean, Iris."
Last edited by Galaxite Omega on Wed Oct 25, 2023 2:28 pm; edited 1 time in total | |
| | | Galaxite Omega Fusion Master
Gender : Posts : 391 Join date : 2016-05-16 Age : 27 Location : Wherever you want, baby~
| Subject: Re: Let's Play Dark Rising 2! (LP #4) Sun Mar 04, 2018 10:21 pm | |
| We're gonna be the best spies ever, guys. Just watch. Chapter #6 - Wretched Hive
- Spoiler:
: "Ugh, my head... what happened?" : ("You went on a rant about how your life is horrible, tried to punch Sigurd and passed out. Are you okay?")[Monica glances at the clock and the empty glasses]: "... You don't need to be psychic to know my answer . Come on, let's get outta here." [Bellamine helps Monica up, who wobbles a bit]: ("Take care of yourself a bit more, alright? Believe it or not, this isn't the first time I've had to deal with this."): "I'll try to not have it happen again. Gah, my head..." Seriously though, last time on Dark Rising we went through the ~spooky~ section of the game and found out Noah turned cuckoo crazy. Now we're going to go gambling. Our friends are taking part in the fun too. Dray definitely seems like the kind to ruin his wallet, so I'll leave him to it. May doesn't say anything really interesting aside from "challenge every gym leader even if it's not important". The casino itself isn't a 'sekret hideout' either unlike the vanilla games - that guy back there wants to trade you Castform for a Xatu. Not that fair a trade, to be honest... This fella wants to train alone and is one of the few generous NPCs in Dark Rising. For you see, he hands us Rock Smash. I don't remember if there's any required HM usage in 2 aside from surfing, but still. Before we check out the Fight Dojo, let's snag a Max Ether. Straight and to the point. I mean, I find it weird to just have the same maps from the vanilla Firered all the time but with some obtuse gimmick here or there (sand in the rock gym, the Sabrina teleport maze but it's completely dark, etc.) Sorta comes with the territory of being the protagonist of an RPG. We have to explore every inch even if it's not necessary. oH that pangoro looks good.Yikes, these are definitely first draft versions of these sprites. Then again, I have no real timeframe of when Dark Rising 2 was released. The earliest I could find was March 2013 - a whole seven months before X and Y were even released. Was the Gen 6 stuff put in the game after the fact or is DRG a timelord? Wrong person to say that to, buddy. [One beatdown later]Hey, they at least tried to spice things up by having a chick as the master instead. She's a sprite from Ruby/Sapphire that's not mangled at least. Hooray, I guess...? I don't think this fight would be hard even without the Super-Lucario. Also, Hawlucha straight-up has no shading. That's pretty bad, made even worse that it fits with the other sprites with no shading in this series. She lets us have a Hawlucha for our troubles. Good deal too because I actually really like the luchador bird thing. Never mind then. I don't feel like making a new character slot anyway, so This is one of the few "mini-areas" I brought up in the last chapter. The Astraeus Garden is the smaller of the two and doesn't really offer much. For example, all it took was fighting a bunch of horribly underprepared trainers (I say that for anybody who has to fight Sigurd) and that's it. At the very least you get some very nice things at the end. This guy sucker-punches you when you get into the other place, so I don't quite appreciate that. [One pimp-slap later]I hate it when someone says this despite the fact you beat them three ways to Sunday. Anyway, the Fight Dome is definitely more involved than the garden, but... it's just more fighting-type Pokemon. I'd rather not. I still can't believe they didn't go with Heather. Hallelujah, we finally got rid of Earth Power. Corin is now super-good again. "This gym leader's name is Feather. She uses flying type Pokemon, so you know what to do.": "Zap 'em, freeze 'em or knock 'em down with rocks."This conversation amuses me for some reason. Thankfully we have not one, but two Electric types on the team. At least the people in this gym are sneaky enough to throw curveballs like Gliscor to anybody who doesn't have an Ice type. Then there's this poor sap that demonstrates how not-scary Gyarados becomes when you have good Electric Pokemon. You'd think a giant city-destroying serpent would get more respect than this, but nah. I'll just leave it at that. ... She has a Santa hat. She's not even plot required so I'll just cut straight to the fight. Wow Caitlin, you've seen better days. Shame too because she was like my favorite Unova Elite Four member aside from Shauntal. That said: Rude Crude Dudes AlertShe's actually pretty damn tough for some random gym leader. We were around the same levels yet it still took quite a bit to maneuver past her without losing a Pokemon. Rotom-Fan gets annihilated by Corin though... which is the expected result if you pit an animated fan against a landshark dragon. I've just realized a major weakness Sigurd would have if this were actually Gen 6 - fairy types. They would counter everything he can throw at them regardless of how overpowered Aura Saber and Void Bomb are as moves. He'd get Drain Kissed out of existence by literally any Gardevoir or Hatterene that he'd be unfortunate to run into, so that's a cute balancing act. How unfortunate it is, then, that Togekiss is still Normal/Flying in this hack for some reason... for them. Braviary is a pain to fight thanks to Brave Bird. Even when they're paralyzed, they were still really terrifying to fight with Ambes. Then again, that's why we have two electric types. : ("I got your back, yo."): ("Guess you paid me back for earlier, huh?")Long story short, she hands us Aerial Ace. There is literally nothing else to this - Feather could have been a random-ass trainer in the middle of the woods and the impression would have been the same, mostly because Gym Leaders aren't required to be fought in this game. Anyway, we should stop messing around and go to the place where we have to go. I can never get over how a conversation so innocent can end up with a duel to the death. But as far as I'm concerned, it was in self-defense. She does mention something about Bulbasaur and Chikorita hanging around here, but if you're at this point of the game then there's no reason to go after them. ... That is actually not too far off regarding a person I know. The only time I would lead with Lopunny is if they were mega or a Klutz lead, but this was way before the Lopunna mega was a thing. So not only is this silly, the original line belonged to a gambler. Game Freak edited out the reference to gambling when they were adapting the script from the gameboy games over to FireRed/Leafgreen, hence why gaming doesn't rhyme at all. There's something about this Heliolisk that rubs me the wrong way. And now Corin'll be rubbing his face against the dirt. "There's this guy I'm trying to impress, so don't tell anybody ok?": "My lips are sealed." Fun fact: The person who started this fight mentioned that we look silly doing this. I agree 100%. "Tried hitting on me over there. It was so gross."Ech. We should probably do something about that. If this were any other series and if Monica wasn't the protagonist, Badass Grandma would have certainly won. That said, your reward for beating an old woman('s Pokemon) is being able to access the Day-Care Center. That's nice.Something about that Cyclist's sprite reminds me of a character. I can't pin it down, but it at least looks better than most of the other sprites in the game. (Barring the shoes and the hat, yuck.) Oh boy, here we go! Team Aqua's finally making their move. ... Not that I can even pretend the grunts will be able to do anything to me. Archie: "Prepare to get washed away, Monica!"Short, sweet and to the point. Why can't more of the dialogue in this series be like that? I do find it cool how we fight all of the evil team leaders in the game, I just wish that we didn't have to face them in such a stupid way. That said - wow what the fuck? What's the level 17 Pupitar for? One, I thought Archie was the water guy. Two, why is it level 17? Did we catch Archie in the middle of a training session or something? If that's what's really going on here, then that's amazing. That moment when you realize Wailord would be bigger than even the area where we're fighting in. I also find it strange how the Dark Rising team changes fights into Double Battles from time to time, but at least that keeps things from getting too boring. It is clever how he has a Rotom-Wash even though it'll get ravaged by Grass types. That seems about right. But wait, he still has one more trick up his sleeve... [Theme for the Darkmons: Amalgam Dual Mix]: ( "Huh!? Miss Wave? But isn't she with us...?") : ( "So he's already started making duplicates from scratch... let's get rid of this thing, Beatrice!") 100 / 135 / 95 / 116 / 85 / 135 (666 Total)Behold, another Darkrai-ified Pokemon! Yeah, all of the stronger ones from now on will have stats that add up to 666 because I'm an edgelord, sue me. So what I figured is that all of the Evil Team Leaders would get one and that they would serve as the dark counterparts to Monica's Pokemon... just to make things more interesting. Evil Wave is a / type with, believe it or not: Shadow Tag. Yes, really. You better be glad this isn't actually in Dark Rising (aside from the Noivern from earlier) or that I'm not a sadist if we ever had to make a hack of our own. D-Wave doesn't seem like much since she's alone, but that will change quickly if you don't take her out. On top of having ridiculous health and defenses, she also comes with this fancy Devil Flame attack that is guaranteed to burn you. Hell, it nearly killed Sigurd despite him being the OG super-uber. : [Falls to his knees as Monica tries to douse the purple flames with medicine]: ("To think there's an entire army of those wretched knockoffs... We could be in serious trouble now.")[Monica applies a Full Restore to him]: ("Yeah, no kidding. The Darkmons aren't exactly easy to make, but he's had a lot of time to prepare and improve his methods since the last time we met...")As a side note, I love it when a series introduces a serious threat that turns out to just be a regular member of a much bigger army. I'm a big nerd, can you blame me? Anyway, taking out the D-Wave finishes the fight. Archie runs away because he is a big baby and takes his grunts with him. The entire loser crew is here, so this is better be worth my time. "I can't believe we're about to take down an entire super group of bad guys. This is going to be a huge showdown!"Dray echoes my inner child. "Grunts from various organizations in history have come together, along with their leaders, to build a super group. We believe they're being controlled by Darugis."Sydney, on the other hand, needs to represent my cynical adult self. [Theme I would use here: Ghost Hunt]: "What's the plan?": "Stealth."Oooooh, the game is actually getting interesting now. I'm listening. : "Oh come on! I want to go in there like a boss and wreck that place with Druddigon!"Dray, please. Strong-arming your way through an enemy fortress is only fun when you have an army backing you up. A single person can't do anything unless they're a literal god machine of fighting. : "Not a good idea. There's countless grunts in there, not to mention their bosses. As good as we are, there's just too many. We're going to have to sneak in, Monica. Take this member's badge - with this, you should be able to walk away in the Utopia without attracting too much attention to yourself. But don't try the guard over there, his sharp eye can detect a fake badge just like that. You're going to have to go in through the basement."Cool stuff. Basically, we can't heal or buy items because the bad guy mart has badge scanners. Something else about negative energy and the guys leave the scene. We're actually doing something cool for once, so I can't really complain. : "You're so getting fired after this. That's if there's anything left of this place after I'm done here."Why can't in-game Monica be this savage all of the time? Huh. Would you look at that? The game actually decided to cut out the frustration for us by giving us the Card Key right off the bat. I guess it's obvious that we're going back into the Not-Silph Co. building again, but this time we're going to have a much easier time getting around. "Don't get in our way!"Yikes, even the janitors are hardcore. It's a good thing they're not gonna rat us out or anything. Another sky-bound (or in this case, ceiling-bound) enemy Pokemon. How does this keep happening? This would make an excellent out-of-context screenshot. Just pass this to your friends and nobody will understand what's happening. I guess the janitors are here for a reason if there's Trubbish and Muk everywhere. What I am not 100% on is why their garbage is strong enough to fight a vanilla elite four team. Their sceptic tank is that lethal? You can also find Goomy our lord and saviorAh shit, the jig's up boys. "A member of any organization within the Omega Utopia. Why are you here?!": ("I thought Florina said this fake member's badge would work!")In hindsight, this was kind of a dumb idea. : ("This could be bad... all of the teams will know we're here!")"You must be a member here, but you're out of your work clothes. Sorry about that! I didn't look at you good enough. I see the badge now.": [Speechless]... I'll take it. To be honest, Monica looks like someone that would belong here with her goth clothes and hair. [Theme for this place: Zozo - Slam Shuffle]Might as well, am I right? The guys in white are supposed to be Team Plasma grunts, but I figured DRG noticed that Gen 5 sprites look awful when they're put in the same room as the Firered/Ruby sprites. They stop us from passing because we're not in uniform and we don't have an assignment. Makes sense, I suppose. Not gonna lie, this is actually my favorite part of the entire game. We could have totally gone through and done it the boring way (aka. fighting through everyone) so I'm grateful we're using our sneaking skills. Thank you DRG. What could it be This lady tries to teach you Softboiled and nearly gave me a heart attack when she said she saw us before. You don't necessarily want those words coming out of the grunt of a villainous team that's hunting after you. "The leaders and the scientists in the Omega Facility aren't telling us grunts anything!"... Interesting. What kind of crazy doomsday villain shit are they doing in there? "It's not like we're still holding a grudge from years ago..."Awww, that's nice. Two grunts from opposing teams put their differences aside. That sort of reminds me of the scene in the actual Alpha Sapphire/Omega Ruby where an aqua and magma grunt were secretly hooking up... except you know, it's in Dark Rising. : "I'll do just that, chief." [Snickers when back is turned]"In search of a group of young trainers who think they can stop us. It's pretty boring if you're not out on an assignment."[The Rocket Grunt looks over Sigurd and Monica]( ) : "Say, that's a pretty wicked-looking Lucario you've got there. He sort of looks like one of those weird super-Pokemon that our leaders use. You must be an executive or something, huh?" : "... Oh yeah, it wasn't easy. He's a real killer, though." ("I'm so sorry, Sigurd."): ("... Smooth.")"We'll be the only ones with Pokemon in the world! Excited?": "Yep..."The motivations of this group confuse me to no end sometimes. That said, I'm still having a lot of fun. "Our leaders destroyed them!"Oh damn, is Monica the only person that's not captured? This went south fast. "They've got in our way for too long!": ("Yeah, good luck with that, buddy.")You can go behind this tree to get... a normal Ether. I guess it's better than nothing? "Are we really doing the right thing by killing all Pokemon?": "Hell no - I mean... yes we are!"RG: "Right, right!"This is darkly humorous and I approve. "Our bosses have found the secret of another Pokemon type. That's the biggest rumor I've ever heard! Like there could really be another type we've never known of for so long. Ha!"I swear if this is the Fairy type, I will crack some skulls. I figured I should show off the bicycle while we're here and christ, who sliced the rocket grunt in half? Ooooh, some R and R. Monica and the guys sort of need it. "I need a hot shower."That does sound pretty good, yes. Oh my god, more Yugioh. "He heard some ridiculous story about dueling monsters from some spiky haired guy in the Core region. Now he believes monsters inside cards are real!"I should probably play The Sacred Cards or even Reshef of Destruction ( !!!) in the future as an LP. That said, ugh. Please don't remind me of Pharaoh Atem from Dark Rising 1. I still have nightmares of that thing. Except for yourselves apparently. Is it all of them or just the ones you don't use? A group intent on mass genocide and the part I'm the most focused on first is how many they're going to go after. I sure have my priorities straight. "What our leaders are discussing in the facility."Given how this LP has gone so far, they've probably deciding on making Darkmon versions of legendaries. "Kinda weird, don'tcha think?"Oh right, they do name-drop the fairy typing. I do remember the game being made as a beta that got worked on multiple times... so maybe that explains all the X and Y stuff? I don't know man. There's two grunts blocking the way into the facility, so I guess that only leaves us with one option. The nuclear option: Calling it a night. Monica and pals need their full strength to take on the forces of evil. (No, this doesn't count as healing because they stop you in-game)Next time on Dark Rising 2, we're going to sneak into the deepest part of this scumlord hive and blow it up from the inside - hopefully not taking ourselves out in the process. See you then. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Team setup: (Corin, level 59, , / ) - "Alright Corin, pretend you're some heartless Garchomp that eats baby Pokemon for a living..." (Sigurd, level 59, , / ) - "We should be lucky that they're not smart enough to tell who we really are." (Signe, level 59, , / ) - "This sneaking stuff is really fun, though." (Wave, level 59, , ) - "Golly, the evil me from earlier looked really fearsome. Mama always did say I had a wild side, but I don't think that's what she meant." (Beatrice, level 60, , / ) - "Hmm... if I knew we were going to infiltrate the evil teams, maybe I should have been painted in Team Rocket colors." (Candelabra, level 59, , / ) - "I know, right? I've always wanted a real excuse to act like a psycho soul-sucking ghost, but I usually don't like hurting random folks."--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Back-up Team: (Siegfried, level 50, , / ) - "Man, I wanted to go sneak into the evil team place too." (Bellamine, level 59, , ) - "I'm honestly mortified. What if they get discovered?" (Jeanne, level 43, , ) - "These Darkmons are rather terrifying if they can take anyone's appearance..." (Arthur, level 50, , / ) - "Aye, miss Bellamine. Then again, they're a very capable team. I wouldn't worry too much." (Gale, level 36, , / ) - "Only thing I'm worried about is Monica's liver. Even my old trainer didn't drink that much." (Quote, level 51, , / ) - "I'm with Siegfried on this. I could have played the bit of a haunted TV to freak people out." (Ambes, level 51, , ) - "Why is it so much fun to talk about all the ways we could have posed as evil Pokemon?" (Johnny, level 25, , ) - "I dunno about you two, but I don't think it's very smart to take light of a situation like this..." (Shadow, level 45, , / ) - "... I approve of Monica's ninja sneaking." (Ignell, level 28, , / ) - "Johnny is right, although I will admit it would be rather fun to fight an 'evil' version of myself. The ultimate test of strength..." (Iris, level 6, , ) - "Oh heck no, there better not be a Dark-thingy of me! My last trainer was one of these grunts, and I was happy just to get away!" (Lucera, level 5, , ) - "How long can they keep up the act before they just decide to beat everyone up? I'd be itching to deliver some egg-based justice."
Last edited by Galaxite Omega on Sun Oct 29, 2023 3:56 am; edited 1 time in total | |
| | | Galaxite Omega Fusion Master
Gender : Posts : 391 Join date : 2016-05-16 Age : 27 Location : Wherever you want, baby~
| Subject: Re: Let's Play Dark Rising 2! (LP #4) Sun Mar 04, 2018 10:22 pm | |
| We're gonna hit them where it hurts. Chapter #7 - Enemy Retreating
- Spoiler:
"We're both supposed to be on break right now but the guard who covers the next shift isn't here yet! This is the third time this has happened."Oooh, sucks to be you. Also, hello everyone Last time on Dark Rising, we infiltrated the super-base that belongs to all of the evil Pokemon teams... they have literally no idea what's going to hit them. "Are we... grunts allowed inside the Omega Facility?"RG: "No, we're not... Wait... NO WAY! I forgot it's my turn to guard the entrance! Gotta go, gotta go! I have to use the bathroom first. I just hope nobody tries to sneak in before I get there. C'ya!" Smooth move, killer. Your bladder just doomed your entire organization. If you were thinking "recycled Silph Co Building"... Then you'd be right! Granted, you probably didn't expect it to be in red. What kinda nasty shit has Darugis been cooking up in here? Oh damn, they actually put a guy right in front of the stairs. This has to be their finest security work yet. Brilliant. Galactic Grunt: "Here you... What's this?": "Guess you can't make it to the top being sneaky, huh?"Galactic Grunt: "IT'S A FAKE! INTRUDER ALERT!"Well boys, we've been had. It's do or die now. [Theme for fighting through the Omega Facility: Darkest Night]Sorta wanted to sneak in, but I guess this is good enough. I had to pull out Darkest Night for this because we're effectively storming one of the main villain's strongholds, so let's rock. The amazing thing about the Omega Facility is that unlike the other Not-Silph Co. Building in the first game, you get the Key Card before you even get here... and on top of that, all of the teleporters are removed! The DR team actually did a good thing for level design, which might be a miracle. There was a lady around here that gives you Thunder Wave. Is it convenient? Yes. Do I need it? Nah. : "I've been wanting to do this all day." [Cracks knuckles]True to normal Pokemon, the grunts aren't much of a hassle. But you have to remember that there's no healing spots unless you leave back to a previous town... if they get any good hits off on your team and you don't have any healing items, things could snowball for you. The Plasma Grunts in all of their glory... okay honest question, why is all the shading from sprites gone? Is it because whoever was in charge of the sprites thought it would look cooler without them or is it a legitimate attempt to remove unwanted pixels when they were converting stuff over? : [Laughs derisively while walking away]Make 'em feel bad. Nice. I love this woman. I've never found Torment to be useful. If we were in any dire spot for cash, then maybe I'll consider using it as vendor trash. It is also relevant to what playing this series is like over extended periods of time. I'll take all of these though. Oh, the wonders of stealing from criminals. Yikes. Reminder that they were doing experiments on fairy types, so that gives me even more reason to rip this place apart. "So that I may find the origins of the Fairy Type, not something like this!": "The Fairy type?"- Monica channeling everyone's reactions pre-X and Y. "That's you, right?": "And proud of it. Everything in here needs to be shut down and quick." Hooray, a vitamin that won't do anything due to how many Pokemon we've beaten at this point. Nice cash, though. You've already lost to another solo trainer and that one didn't have a Super-Lucario and his sister. Law of averages put Monica at an advantage; sorry, mate. No use to me personally, but I love it whenever someone pulls off a Substitute and manage to land a scumbag Focus Punch because of it. "You think you can take that away from me?": "You're being controlled. Team Magma was the past, it's time you get over it and quit this power trip you're on. Let's do this!"Power trip, huh? Maybe you can say that about me too. [The Dreadful Fight]Maxie has gotten quite a boost thanks to Drought Ninetales. There's also the middling detail of his new "surprise"... Of course, our team is more than capable of taking him down... even if Signe's burn worries me. : ("You can't knock me down!")He also had a Fire Quote for all the good that entails. Beatrice standing up against a fatal Fire weakness makes her even more of a badass in my eyes, though. : ("Hoo-wee, now that's a hard case if I've ever seen one! Mr. Ignell is scary enough, but his doppelganger could set the region on fire...")100 / 130 / 111 /130 / 85 / 110 ( 666 Total) Here's Maxie's real (surprise) ace in the hole - Evil Ignell. He is / type with Intimidate of all abilities. As you can see from the stats, they're even more powerful than both Mega Evolutions for Charizard and the Intimidate makes him even more of a tank to physical attackers. Combine all of this with Drought and you may as well be fighting with a literal demon. Thank god I created Aura Saber to deal with him, then. By the power of love, determination and cheating. : "I'm old enough to drink, shut your mouth." Future Dan: She is not, actually. I forgot she was only 19 in the first game, according to LP canon. Oops. There's just a Jigglypuff staring at Monica from across the counter. Regardless of what's going on here, that's kinda creepy. "It's a legendary Pokemon."I'll be good god-damned if Xerneas is a normal type in this game. That's like taking the water type away from Kyogre and turning it into a beached whale. "Please, take this Pokemon with you. It's very fragile. We were doing experiments on it."Another new Pokemon, huh? Let's see what it is - Oh no, this is gonna get dramatic real quick. [Current Theme: Reminiscence]: ("H... hi. My name is Rubus.")[Bellamine perks her head when she hears the little Ralts utter his name]: ("Wait... Rubus? No, it can't be...")"We were running tests on it, trying to see if we could awaken its other hidden type.": "Other type?"Scientist: "Yes, the Fairy-type. Please, take good care of it for m--": ("So this is where they've been keeping you all this time. Rubus, my poor son...!")[Rubus audibly gasps and runs over to her]: ("Mama!!!")[The two of them grasp each other in a tight hug]: "Son?! Wait, you're actually a mother?!" : ("Yes, but he was stolen from me before any of this started... before even the Hoenn incident.") : ("In fact, you... You did experiments on him?")[She shoots an icy glare at the scientist]Scientist: "Well yes, but..." : ("I swear to the legendaries themselves... if you hurt my son, I will not just kill you. I will unmake you."): "Whoa, hey, let's not get hasty here. I want to kick these guys into the dirt too, but wasting time on small fry isn't going to --" : ("Be quiet! You don't know how it feels to lose your child!"): "Whoa! Hey!" : ("Miss Bellamine, please calm down! Nobody's doubting what you feel, but this...") [The Gardevoir shoots a dour frown at Monica]: ("No. I'm sorry, you two, but... My life turned into a living hell because of these people. They've harmed so many, and to let them keep breathing is an insult to those who have survived.")[She puts Rubus down on the ground and gives him a kiss on the forehead]: ("Keep him safe. I'll be right back."): ("Mama? What are you do--")[Bellamine teleports away]: "... Oh dear lord, what just happened." : ("Ah... that's the most furious I've ever seen her get. This could be bad for everyone involved."): ("This is exactly what Darugis wants... this is what he feeds on. We have to find her before something happens!"): "I'd react the same way if someone took my kid too... let's roll out!" (Also have a Calcium because we totally need it) Oh hey, we needed to round off the Aqua-Magma dynamic. Thanks for coming, Archie. Evil Wave is just as tough as before, but thankfully Beatrice can get to strut her stuff now that Sigurd isn't there to steal the limelight. : ("Not the easy prey I imagined... hah...")Christ, even with a type advantage, Beatrice nearly got swamped. These Darkrai Pokemon are cool and all but good lord I made them a bit too tough. Aside from that, Archie goes down in a snap. It's not without a cost however, thanks to our dwindling supplies and my lack of burn heals. (The one time I need them!) Huh. All of the evil team members are being controlled like puppets. That makes a lot more sense than Archie and Maxie lapsing back into villain territory after the revelation they had at the end of the Hoenn games. Oh god even Sigurd got burned. Things are not looking good for the team. "A boy came crashing into the building with a giant red bird! Its eyes... it represented death."Hi Noah. Ooh, this is gonna be fun. Beatrice got frozen by some grunt and that's embarassing. Aaaaa Florina YOU ARE LOVELY This makes up for all of the stupid shit you did in the first game. All of it.[Monica sees the grunts ragdolled across the hallway, with some of them having empty, drooling expressions]: "Good lord. I thought my temper as a delinquent was bad, but Miss Bellamine is something else." : ("Something doesn't feel right...")"All of the chaos you and your annoying, childish friends have caused! I will not let you reach the upper floor. It is there where our most important experiment is being held. You will fall, right now!"( ) : "Oh yeah? Who's going to stop me? The army of people that I've already smashed?" [Snide grin]: "Very clever, girl... but perhaps you'll change your tone once you see this." [A shadowy Gardevoir teleports in]: "Wait... Is that Miss Bellamine?! What did you do to her?" : "Hah. This Gardevoir was easy to control due to how her anger consumed her... a wild animal controlled by emotions. She will do much better as a puppet." : ("R... Rubus..."): "Wow, how heartless are you?!" [Cursed Leorina]Cyrus is pretty damn tough. Thanks to the working physical/special split, Weavile is just as dangerous as in the real games... even if Houndoom is kind of a weenie. Christ. Wave just barely survives his Honchkrow's assault and comes out on top. She's arguably the most normal Pokemon I have yet she's still toughing it out with the big boys. That said, I have noticed that she gets into a LOT of close call scenarios. Here it comes. 100 / 105 / 65 / 165 / 115 / 116 ( 666 Total) : ("I'll... I'll kill you, demon..."): ("So it's come to this now? Alright, then.")Evil Bellamine is a / type with Synchronize and it's like... good god. I'll let the drama play itself out, but she's extremely dangerous. I was originally struggling to make Evil Bellamine strong without making her overpowered... But then I figured "weak defense stat" and called it a day. This is like my second favorite sprite out of the ones the Composer made for the fakemon, although it's hard to say that when they're all really good. [Bellamine uses Calm Mind and shoots off Shock Waves at Sigurd]: ("Ggh!"): ("Gotta... aim this just right or...!")[Sigurd uses Aura Saber!][She falls to the ground with the dark power fading out of her body]: ("It worked?")Meanwhile in the rest of the battle... yeah, Cyrus's Gyarados was a pain. This was like the worst time to not bring an electric type, but a Sleep Powder + Stone Edge combo squished him in no time flat. Oh shit, he has more than one. 100 / 101 / 75 / 140 / 140 / 110 ( 666 Total) You know the man means business when he has two. Evil Jeanne is a / type with Flash Fire on top of having some crazy special defense. She's effectively the bulkier of the two and serves as the Twinrova of the Darkrai-ified Pokemon due to having control over Fire and Ice. (Now if I only had the technical know-how to put Protean in the game.) Wave can't cut it, so we have to take her out before she gets ruined by this thing. Thanks to a four-times resistance to Dark, Sigurd barely feels this. Even the ultimate Dark attack would have trouble scratching him. Evil Jeanne shattered into glass despite all the fuss I made about her. God bless Aura Saber. Technically? It's not. Aura Saber is as strong as Focus Punch and doesn't come with the stupid restriction of losing the turn when you get hit. I'm not apologizing because you all deserve what's coming to you. [Signe aura-punches Cyrus into the wall, knocking him out]-- ( ) [Bellamine remains unconscious - Sigurd runs over to her and pulls her back to Monica]: ("Are you alright!?")[Sigurd shakes her a bit, but she doesn't respond]: ("... Are you?"): "Sigurd, why isn't she getting up?" : ("I... I don't know. I swear I aimed correctly and everything, but...") [Voice breaking]: "Miss Bellamine...?" [Sigurd cradles Bellamine's body]: ("Of course, it had to be me again... no, no, no! Gods, why!? Why did this have to happen again!?")[In the midst of his sobbing, Sigurd's ears pick up a heartbeat]: ("Huh?")[Bellamine weakly opens her eyes][Replay Reminiscence]: ("Sigurd...? You're all burned and bruised. What happened?"): "Oh thank Arceus!" : ("You're alive!"): ("Alive?"): "You got captured by the enemy and they turned you into a dark version of yourself. That's the short version, anyway." : ("I... I see. Did I hurt any of you?"): ("A heart attack here and there but nothing too serious. You had me worried that I killed you..."): ("I'm fine, really. It'll take more than that to put me down.")[Sigurd gets up, unknowingly pulling Bellamine up with him in a bridal carry]: "Yeah, don't leave us behind again! You really scared me... in more ways than one." : ("It was a stupid idea to run off like that... I'm so sorry I made you all worry so much."): ("It's alright. If anything, this is proof why I shouldn't have ever tried to stake it on my own just because Darugis is my archnemesis. Power and vengeance is one thing, but I wouldn't get far without a team to pick me up. You guys give me purpose beyond that."): ("Glad to hear that. Speaking of which.... Sigurd, darling, you can let me down now."): ("O-oh! Sorry about that.") [Sigurd puts her down]: ("Always the gentleman, hehe."): (" Ooh.") [Rubus hops into his mother's arms]: ("I was scared I was never going to see you again, mama!"): ("Me too, sweetie..."): "Awww... So what even happened that wound up with you two getting lost?" : ("Ah. Monica, you see... I didn't simply lose Rubus. He was taken from me by the disciples of Darugis. I tried to fight and get my son back, but I wound up getting enough of my power drained to regress into a previous evolution. History repeats, I suppose. After that, I mistakenly teleported to Hoenn... that's where I met Jack."): "Wow... you've been through a lot, miss. " Future Dan: And for those of you in the audience: no, I did not plan this from the start. There was no way in the world I would have expected THIS to come out of Bellamine being cheated into existence at the beginning of Snakewood, like are you kidding me? Even Rubus's reveal was a last minute thing when I was making this chapter when I saw the Pokemon the scientist gave you was, of all things, a Ralts. But you know, I am quick on my feet: when it came time to make the HD versions of the let's plays, I retroactively added hints up until this point so it'd have a better build up to this moment. : ("I grew to love Jack even if the hole in my heart wasn't completely healed... but now that Rubus is back, I'll make sure he grows up under our care."): "Sounds like a plan." Hi Yveltal. Glad to see you made an appearance. ... That overworld sprite isn't that bad for a custom job, to be honest. I can at least tell it's Yveltal. You'd think she wouldn't judge at this point considering how one of her best friends has the exact same look. I do find it interesting how Yveltal is presented in the anime and the movies as an unstoppable force that drains people of their life force just because... Even though in reality, death gods are ultimately not bad at all - especially when compared to their contemporaries (look at Hades vs. Zeus in actual Greek Mythology). : ("So this is the one Mani chose... hmm. I'm not impressed."): "Noah... what is that Pokemon?": "This Pokemon is the god of Destruction, Yveltal! With its power, I can not only destroy Darugis, but the entire world." () [Darugis can be heard cackling in the distance]:"Once that's done, I can create a new world filled with true order and balance. That is my destiny, Monica. Your ability to bond with Pokemon doesn't interest me, but Light..."Uh, how? You sort of need some creation powers to counteract all that destruction. You can't just make something out of nothing, idiot. Also, did this dude just turn into Emperor Griffon from Dark Chronicle? "I haven't seen him since the Core Region.": "Him and Xerneas... They were the only ones capable of countering my plans. While I was upstairs, I already prevented the rebirth of Xerneas's powers. There's nobody who can stop me now!"Ahem. Things that can counter Yveltal I immediately have on hand: #1: Electric types and Ice Beam #2: Sleep Powder + Stone Edge #3: Aura Saber There'd be more if this were the actual Pokemon games with stealth rock and phasing. : [Makes friendship speech]: [Edgy speech about destiny while the screen blacks out]Funny thing, I'd expect the roles to be reversed here given how both of them look. We didn't miss much. I do find it interesting that we haven't fought Noah at all despite all the times he shows up... DRG is saving him up for something big and I can respect that. Oof. I can already tell this is going to be a mess. (We shifted his body towards the other way just from talking? What?) Since it's V of all people (eugh), I'll summarize it for our benefit: His children are dead. Giovanni killed them and Ghetsis mortally injured V himself. Monica screams at V to not die when in reality she would be spitting on his face right now for everything he's done not only to Monica but to his children. Remember, he turned them into stone statues for no reason in the first game despite them showing loyalty to him. V's heart stops and that's about it - good riddance. Oh and Monica swears revenge against Giovanni despite never meeting him before this. (The bonus stuff in DR1 doesn't count because he's supposed to have wiped our memory due to psychic bullshit) I do like that she's getting more determined to slap up all of the villains, though. (The demon text is calling out Noah's name ) "...What are you doing here?"Light: "Monica, I'm here because of Xerneas."(As a side note, he's gone from Lance to blue-haired Lance. Subtle.) : "Xerneas? That's the Pokemon in front of us?"Light: "Yes. It's a Pokemon of pure Fairy-type.": "So fairy types are real."Well of course. By the way, I thought Fairy types were cool even when they first came out. You have to keep in mind the Dullahan counts as a fae on top of being the Irish counterpart to the Grim Reaper... so there's that. Light: "Not anymore, I'm afraid. Darugis has completely removed the power of Fairy from every Pokemon in existence. It is the only type Darugis is weak to, too. With Arceus's power sealed away, Darugis was able to freely seal away the Fairy typing as well."WHATYou know, as if I needed more fuel for the "in-game Darugis is a poorly written villain" funeral pyre. One? This is an excuse for not having the Fairy type embedded in the base that this hack used. Two, how in the fuck can Darugis remove an entire type out of existence? Especially when it's the type that he's weak to? All this does is increase his Villain Sue-ness to comedy levels, because you have to keep in mind that even without removing an entire type, he still did the following things before this: #1: Being so grotesquely overpowered that even the Legendaries and GOD couldn't hold a candle to him (1000 BST Dark/Ghost type and that's just the first game. I've heard he's worse in 2). Yeah, the Kaizo version knocked him down to 700 BST but that's not the version I played. #2: Possess everyone all around the world through their negative thoughts. Yes, every single person in the world barring our heroes. The fact he even has a weakness that he so easily removes makes it even worse because it's like really? I can't even write that off as "lol didn't happen" because Xerneas is actually here!See? The story is so irreparably broken that I can't even write around it when it comes to this. "Xerneas is the Pokemon of Life... the Pokemon I was destined to befriend. Darugis took its power away, I won't stand for it. I will get Xerneas's power back."Monica: "I still don't trust you."Obviously. Although... why does he get the suspicious treatment while we practically cry over V's second death despite the fact V did much, much worse? Like what are her priorities? I like this guy, though. : ("Monica... meet me here later. It's important."): "O-oh. Okay then." We get some more loot, free of charge. Funny that you bring up Rare Candies... Hi Ghetsis, your overworld sprite is very... playdoh looking. Long story short, he brings up that he's the leader of Team Plasma, Dray makes a Bleach reference (yuk yuk), and we get to throwing fists. ( ) : "Thanks for that, by the way." Despite the fact his overworld sprite was the Black/White 2 version with the scepter, his battle sprite is from Black/White 1. Oh and it has the proper shading. I don't get it. Thanks to Florina I don't have much to worry about when it comes to healing, but he still got me here and there. Cofa'grigus is easily the most terrifying of the normal Pokemon due to having access to the dreaded Shadow Tag... so if you're not careful, you could pay dearly for it. I find it funny how in canon, this Hydreigon was originally ten levels lower than it was supposed to evolve... yet due to the ridiculous over-leveled nature of Dark Rising, it's actually at an appropriate level of strength. [Amalgam Dual Mix]235 / 86 / 88 / 107 / 95 / 55 ( 666 Total) Good lord, the Darkmons just keep coming in. Evil Lumis is much like Evil Bellamine in that they're both / with Synchronize... But hot damn, the disparity in endurance couldn't be any greater. It's like trying to chip away at a mountain with a toothpick! While D-Lumis doesn't attack for much, her horrifying health stat when combined with her average defenses make her a nightmare to defeat with non-bug Pokemon. (I sure had a lot of fun messing around with these fakemon, though.) Leftovers is pretty amazing on a beast like this. I had to rely exclusively on the Lucario siblings to even crack this egg... which is simply insane. After that we have Genesect who is nowhere near as scary. See? Candelabra with no help managed to roast it easy peasy.: ("Mmm, always love the smell of roasted metal cockroach in the morning.") Genesect was the least of my problems, dude. Even Coffin Man was more dangerous than him. [Fade to black]Ghetsis dies and we move on. No, really, that's him gone. [Monica shoves the hand in front of his face and keeps on moving]We'll make a fortune with all of these vitamins. Now for the last villain team boss... Although I'm curious as to what Darugis was going to use them all for if Darugis is strong enough to remove an entire type. Monica shouts revenge for V (Let's Play!Monica screams to take him down just because), Giovanni activates Mega Evolution and they charge at each other. [Rainbow Rocket Giovanni]If I'm not mistaken, Giovanni is actually weaker than he was in Dark Rising 1? In the first game, he was a secret boss that had level 90s... yet you could encounter him with level 30s. (I'll never live that down, by the way) Wave ices the Gliscor... Her and Corin swamp the Nido couple... : ("High five!") Leaving Beatrice to use this Rhyperior as her personal five course meal. : ("Mmm, delicious!") (+20 in Defense)
Still, that's quite a powerful mon. Their power even puts Sigurd's to shame! Mega Evolution doesn't mess around. : ("Aagh! Close call...")Mewtwo Y nearly killed Sigurd and would have one-shotted him if he wasn't immune to Psychic. Damn that's strong.110 / 161 / 110 / 90 / 85 / 110 ( 666 Total) To top off the Darkmons for tonight, we have Evil Corin. Fitting considering Garchomp are normally Dragon/Ground and how Gio is primarily a Ground type specialist. Evil Corin is / type with Intimidate and comes with a whopping 161 attack. That is twenty less than Kartana, the actual strongest non-mega, non Huge Power-boosted Pokemon in the real games (As of Gen 7, at least). : ("Begone, demon!")Signe takes some blows before slicing the fake Garchomp out of existence. "And now, I can't keep it!"The promise was to kill V, right? Not to save him? Giovanni: "That negativity... Darugis will love it! DARUGIS! TAKE MY LIFE, NOW!!": ("... Uh, okay? I would have preferred you to last longer as a pawn, but if you insist...")[Fade to black]Giovanni straight up committed suicide to power Darugis up...? Huh? This game's plot is eating at my brain. Gio and pals were going to destroy Xerneas and threaten the lives of every Pokemon on the planet. Good thing we stopped by, then. The dude gives us this case of fancy magic rocks and tells us to meet a woman called Alcina. Alright then, if our mission is complete... : "Oh wait, we have to talk to Xerneas!" [Soft Light]: ("Greetings, Monica. My name is Queen Mani... I wanted to warn you about the danger you'll face on the road ahead."): "Ah... Such as?" : ("Darugis is growing in strength even as we speak. I'm afraid not even Sigurd and Signe combined will be able to stop him if he keeps going... So I came to help you. Hold out the Jewel of Life."): "O-oh. Alright then." [Monica holds out the Jewel of Life. Xerneas glows and resonates with the jewel, causing a bright flash of light to wash over the room]: "Whoa!" : ("Another boost?! Is this really the power of the Pokemon of Life?"): ("I love it whenever we get these big power boosts~") : ("W-wah! Even we got powered up too!"): ("Well then. I did not expect this."): ("Yowza! This new power is sure to come in handy. Thank you, your Majesty!")Yes, a 200 power fire move. I am not pulling my punches anymore, folks.: ("Signe, look! Twin sabers!"): ("Whoa! I have them too!")For the record, 2X Saber can also work as the two of them using aura sabers in an X cut. It also makes sense that the Pokemon of Life boosted their aura powers - it is life force, after all. : ("Monica, Sigurd, Signe... I've been watching over all of you - even you and Jack, miss Bellamine."): ("That necromancer back in Hoenn... that old human's mad ambition nearly cost us everything! We had to intervene, even if it meant I had to take my focus away from Darugis's followers."): ("But thankfully you were there to stop things from getting any worse."): ("I always imagined what kind of being had the power to bring the undead back to life, so it's an honor to meet you in person your Majesty."): ("Of course. I had to undo the perversions that old fool did using Yveltal's power - we have to balance each other out otherwise it could have dire consequences on the world."): ("That said, I can't stay here for long. Sigurd, I wish I could have done more for you even back then... all of this grief never needed to happen to begin with."): ("Don't worry, your Majesty - it's my responsibility. Plus, I'm not alone anymore."): ("I'm glad to hear that - especially after the last time we've met. Now, if you'll excuse me..."): "Wait! Before you go, do you have any idea what this thing is?" [Monica holds out the Link Gem]: ("That's...!"): ("How did you manage to come across a Link Gem?"): "I dunno, I found it off the corpse of one of the Darkmons Darugis summoned at me. It looked shiny, so I kept it. What's it do?" : ("It's an ancient artifact created through alchemy - it's effectively a prototype for the DNA Splicers that fuse Kyurem with its lost halves."): "Yo. Are you telling me I can fuse my Pokemon with it?" : ("Err... I should also mention that it's likely unstable and any fusing could be irreversible. It's not a toy, so be careful with it."): ("Still, keep it close. Something tells me we might need it. I wish all of you luck.")[Mani vanishes]: "Wow... that was something. Let's keep moving, guys!" (what actually happens behind the scenes )Once the Plasma Grunts are out of the way, you can finally access this forest where fog was never meant to be used in. Next time on Dark Rising 2, things get a bit too chilly for my tastes. See you then. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Team setup: (Corin, level 83, , / ) - [Flexes new dragon muscles] (Sigurd, level 88, , / ) - "Two aura sabers... this is far beyond anything I've ever been capable of before." (Siegfried, level 84, , / ) - "Congratulations on being reunited with your son, Miss Bellamine!" (Wave, level 87, , ) - "Yeee-haw! Can't wait to wrassle a copy of me with these new powers. They won't know what hit 'em!" (Bellamine, level 84, , ) - "Thank you, Siegfried. Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to Rubus. Come on, sweetie, say hello." (Beatrice, level 84, , / ) - "Ohhh my... her Majesty nearly made me faint... "--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Back-up Team: (Rubus, level 25, , ) - [Clings to Bellamine's dress] "Uh... hi." (Signe, level 87, , / ) - "Oh my gosh, he's so adorable!" (Arthur, level 86, , / ) - "Aye. Don't be shy, lad - you're in far better company now!" (Gale, level 84, , / ) - "To think those scientists experimented on this poor kid... I oughta peck their eyes out." (Quote, level 81, , / ) - "Whoa, zzzt! It's like zzzomeone put us into hyper-drive! I can barely zzztay still, zzzt!" (Ambes, level 81, , ) - "Miss Bellamine lost her son before?! Sheesh, no wonder she was treating Jack like her own kid." (Johnny, level 47, , ) - "Hi, Rubus. My name is Johnny." (Shadow, level 60, , / ) - [Shadow hides behind a table leg] "... You didn't see me." (Ignell, level 82, , / ) - "Wahaha! If he isn't a precocious little scamp." (Candelabra, level 82, , / ) - "Weeeh. Why is he so cute?" (Iris, level 60, , ) - "Haha. Between the power boost and the Gardevoir being reunited with her son... I can't help but smile." (Lucera, level 60, , ) - "Poor little guy... we need to do our best in helping him feel comfortable."
Last edited by Galaxite Omega on Thu Nov 02, 2023 8:32 pm; edited 4 times in total | |
| | | Galaxite Omega Fusion Master
Gender : Posts : 391 Join date : 2016-05-16 Age : 27 Location : Wherever you want, baby~
| Subject: Re: Let's Play Dark Rising 2! (LP #4) Sun Mar 04, 2018 10:23 pm | |
| Oh boy. This is when the game starts taking its crazy pills. Will be I be affected? Let's see in: Chapter #8 - Karma Houdini
- Spoiler:
[Current OST: Sleeping Beast]Last time on Dark Rising 2, we annihilated the evil teams and met Xerneas. Need I say more? : "That depends. Does going on a mission to save the world against my will count as a good deed?" We are so over-prepared for this next bit and I love it. : "Oh, this ought to be interesting." ... Neat idea. How will DRG actually pull it off? : "Bad touch." Triple Soul is supposed to be a 200 power attack that combines the powers of Sigurd's family into tri-nuke fireball made out of aura. This Wigglytuff is nowhere near as much of a threat to justify using it, so Siegfried spares her by going for Zen Headbutt instead. Fun fact: The trainer shoplifted before... what a rebel! "Is afraid the Arctic Mirage will put an end to her life.": "Why's that?"Researcher: "The route beyond this... it's a nightmare. But only for some people. The route we are on is called the Meadow of Karma. When someone walks this path, they will be judged. If you have good karma, the route after this won't be a problem. However if you have bad karma, the next route will take your life with a slow, painful death of being frozen. We believe it is the work of the Order Pokemon."Nice, but you lost me when you brought up the Order Pokemon. You know, this guy: Why is this such an issue? Zygarde is / , the same type as Corin. Anything -related is basically their kryptonite, so how can Zygarde create a space where people who suffer from bad karma freeze to death? Like what the shit? If anything, the Meadow of Karma would be Kyurem's territory. But no - Sydney had to catch it in the first game. This is what happens when you don't properly plan out your stories. (Not to mention that this is horribly edgy with no real purpose.) Good people see a little bit of snow, bad people get crushed by ice rocks. Riveting. This lady is the one who everyone's talking about here. Do you remember that family from way earlier in the game with two kids and a dad that told us not to get involved? Well, this is the mom. She had bad karma but she managed to survive the following route, amazingly enough. This wound up with her getting separated from her kids and husband... I'll admit, this is one of the better written sub-stories in the series yet because DRG's been building it up since the start of the game and it (sorta kinda) foreshadows this part of the game. Future Dan: Just gonna leave this little guy here. Oh, and she gives us Fly too. Acceptable. "You will lose."Ooooh boy, now we're getting synchronized. This is how I've felt about the trainers all game and honestly? It's 100% true what she's saying. If the world was currently in the amount of trouble it is now and Monica had to go and save it, the hordes of random trainers challenging her for no reason would ultimately slow her down. Nice going, random NPC #50, you wound up destroying the world because you delayed Monica for a few minutes. : "I dunno man, I'm not in a good mood and you shouldn't stick around for it." : "Move out of my way, thief. I don't have time for your stupid games."Monica the Savage. : "That was a jerk thing to say. Guess you aren't as nice as you seem when you're not around your friends."Oh I'm sorry, you were saying? : "I don't care. All I care about is getting revenge for all the people Darugis has hurt."I would normally be against Monica suddenly getting all angry and stuff, but this is one of the few times where that is completely justified. Darugis has screwed up everyone's lives in one way or another, the protagonist in particular has had to go through an immense list of bullshit trials and, on top of everything else, one of her best friends turned against her for no reason. Also, Jalice has been an unapologetic bastard who's commited Pokemon theft on screen at least once, so it's extra funny that she's trying to get all high and mighty on Monica here. : "So that's what drives you, huh? That's it? You'd do anything to get that?": "Yes, now move!": "With an attitude like that, I wouldn't be surprised if you did a ton of cruel things. I bet the Arctic Mirage won't let you live."Oh, do go on. : "Says the person who steals everything and lives on the streets. What's wrong? Scared to take another step because you know you'll be entering the Arctic Mirage grounds?"I wouldn't put "lives on the streets" as something she should be held against, but yes the stealing part is accurate. I love that In-Game Monica finally grew a pair. "I stole from Granite first!"Childish tantrum, steals without remorse, hypocritical to a fault... Are you sure Monica's the bad one here, kid? If this is the special Pokemon you stole from Granite, then I'm disappointed. It wouldn't have been a problem even if we didn't get the power boost last chapter. Goodra looks like a plushie here and I want it. Super Fennekin falls to my own super cutie. As a side note, Jalice's devotion to protecting Fennekin seems to be her only positive trait. Honestly? She's pretty abhorrent past that, so there isn't really much to care about her if she gets captured or killed off or something. Seviper is as predictable as ever and that caps it off. Feeling's mutual, babe. "But I can tell something's happened to you since the last time I saw you. You better get those demons out of you before you do something you regret and the Arctic Mirage takes your life. This place got its name from a group of travelers years ago. The people with good karma didn't see a thing -"Basically, she repeats the same information as before but now it's plot-relevant. : "You're not scaring me.": "Hehe, we'll see. I hope you get a frozen death and then have your body crushed by an ice boulder! Just like... my brother..."Hold up. You're serious. I can't help but laugh at how ridiculous this is all getting. A: Says we need to get those "demons" out of us like she cares... B: And then immediately says she wants us to die. C: "Boo-hoo, my brother died" like that's supposed to excuse her behavior. This is one of those scenarios where I want the actual human characters to start brawling just so Monica can pile-driver her into dust. At least it'd make Jalice useful as entertainment. : "Hey buddy, do you mind if I test something on you?" I have gone mad with power and it feels so good~ "I cannot feel my body! Please... I ask of one last battle before I die.": "Whatever you want, dude." [Ninja cutaway to the scene afterward]"I will die here because of my actions in the past... It is all coming back to haunt me."( ) : ("Wait, Monica... I don't know about this."): "Huh? What's the matter, Sigurd?" : ("It's just... if this judges us for our deeds in the past... then maybe I should stay behind."): "What?! Oh come on, she just said that to scare us. There's no snowstorm strong enough to hurt you anyway, so what are you worried about?" : ("I'm not proud of what I've done in the past."): "Sigurd, you're like the nicest person I've ever met. Chill. Wait, I didn't mean to--." : ("... Alright, intentional or not, that was pretty bad. Let's get through this together, then."): "Of course, dummy." That is genuinely morbid, but imagine the kind of money those pictures would sell for if this guy isn't enough of a shitheel to freeze over himself. When we go up, we meet this weirdo. : "Yeah."???: "Good. It's refreshing to see someone in this place who hasn't lost their mind."I don't know why the game tried to build up that something bad is going to happen to Monica when it's obvious she'll be fine. It's not like the game has a morality system that actually puts this place to the test. That said, I'd kill for a Pokemon game that has a section of it that gets harder depending on how you acted during the adventure. : "Where does the building behind you lead?"???: "To the prince of the sea, Manaphy. My name is Zale, the leader of Hyetal City, otherwise known as the eighth gym leader of the Omni Region. The gateway behind me is off-limits to people like you, I'm afraid."I know, right? Excuse you. Zale: "You may not be suffering like the others here, but you're no saint."Guilty. : "No one is."Zale: "Exactly... no one but me. The prince of the sea only graces those who are pure of heart. You still have negative emotions inside of you. Come back after you've relinquished them."[Monica is speechless with an unamused grimace]Alright, Mr. Aqua Jedi, I guess you know what you're talking about. Seeing as you're perfect and all. "I'm kinda lost here."Same, but it's for a lot of different reasons than just an invisible blizzard. Why do we always have to fight even in places where people have died and stuff? There's such a thing as due to the dead in the Snakewood-Dark Rising world, apparently. Moral of the day: Be a good person or a horde of Bergmite will eat your frozen corpse. This lady tells you about the three legendary birds and that's cool... but I don't see how they have anything to do with this place. It'd make sense if Articuno created this warped space where people with bad karma get turned into popsicles... but no, let's have Zygarde do it. Wild Weavile and Zoroark, though. Two of my favorite Dark Pokemon in one spot? How could I not? [A Strange Happening]: ("Hold on there. Sigurd, you're still alive?"): ("Who's asking"): ("Haha! Come now - Darugis must have really knocked your head around if you don't remember us!"): ("Wait..."): ("Beowulf and Linoura!? But how...?"): ("Wow, he actually forgot! And after all of those times we fought together..."): "... Alright, I'm lost. Anybody mind filling me in?" : ("Ah! You're Monica, yes? We used to fight alongside Sigurd with your father!")[Monica blinks for a few seconds, bewildered by what the Zoroark said][At the Bottom of the Night]: "... What?" : ("Hmm. Well, you were very young back then. Linny, how about you explain this?"): ("You see, Monica... we've been trying to find you to tell you about your father. It was his last act as a trainer."): "... Last act? Is he dead!?" : ("No, no, he's fine! But he was so ashamed of what he did that he couldn't bear to face you or your mother again. He released us because he felt we'd be better in your hands, since he's aware of how powerful you're becoming as a trainer."): "But I don't get it. Wasn't dad the last person who defeated Darugis? If he had Sigurd backing you guys up, you should have been unstoppable!" : ("It was never a matter of strength. Blake did a lot of work, but he was only getting rid of all of the resources Darugis had built up until then. Defeating the actual demon himself was still out of his grasp."): ("Also... keep in mind, Monica - I was also nowhere near as open as I am today. Strong as your father was, well.. there's only so much we could have done as a team. Beowulf and Linoura were the only two I really confided in back then."): "Whoa. You weren't kidding when you said I was doing better than my dad already." : ("Your stubbornness helped whip me into shape, so there's that too."): "Damn right. I'll be honest - I don't know if I can beat Darugis, especially if my dad couldn't hack it himself. But, you know, like Miss Bellamine said, letting that guy live would be an insult to everyone who suffered by his hand. Beowulf, Linoura... I'd be happy to have you along for that reason." : ("I'd be honored!") : ("Let's make this reunion worth it, then!") I wouldn't expect it to be a tropical adventure with a name like that. Also, is it just me or did she really not know how to pronounce Arctic? The first time might have been passed off as a typo, but she kept spelling it Artic instead. Also, hi Benga. Yadda yadda "I'm gonna kill Noah", the same spiel we've been through before. OOOOH that's goodIt's like a zombie Tyrantrum with how bootleg it looks, good god. Even Aurous didn't look this bad. It and its companions bite the dust in no time flat thanks to our Thick Strength. Heatran continues to have no chance and I continue to wonder how Benga managed to do anything. "What's going on here?!"Benga continues to be denser than the ocean. "I got the wrong idea about these Pokemon. They're evil and I'm going to prove it!"Man, go be stupid somewhere else. I don't have time for you. At least it was brief. Mercy is all I can really ask for in a place like this. Blue dude in a blue cave better be important. : "I have to get by, excuse me."Monica's at least said excuse me. Blue Cap Man: "Hmmm... no way, it is you. You're Monica, the Omni League Champion.": "I'm not the champion. I merely defeated the champion, Adrian."But... isn't that -- "You dethroned Adrian, one of the strongest trainers in the world."Yeah. That's sort of how it works, Monica. : "I'll be going now."Blue Cap Man: "You don't seem like the Monica I've heard about. Your attitude, it's not like what I've heard."Dude. : "I don't care what you've heard."Blue Cap Man: "No, you're not that trainer at all. Whatever you're going through that's created this negativity you're giving off, just remember that there are people out there going through stuff as well. The world doesn't revolve around only you."Prick. She calmly asked you to step aside and, in your infinite wisdom, you decide to piss her off even more by getting on a higher moral ground because she didn't "act the way you wanted." Also, how do you know she has baggage going on right now? Are you a psychic or something? : "Fine, it's a battle you want? Let's get this over with."Blue Cap Man: "No, I don't want to battle someone like you. Not until you're the Monica that defeated Adrian again. But know this... my name is Nathan, and I'm the top contender for a title you don't even care to own. A lot of trainers like me work hard for something you have. I'll be sure to take it off your hands when you're back to yourself."What, are you her number one stalker fan or something? Jesus fuckin' christ, this guy has barely been around for one screen and he's already up there with Jalice and Benga! Is there something in the water or something? Cryogonal has always been a weird Pokemon to me. It's a giant, sentient crying snowflake monster... that's also a mirror. You had to remind me of the Explorer games and how I could be playing them instead of this. Avalugg is another weird Ice Pokemon that's like the physical counterpart to Cryogonal. I'm not particularly fond of it. You can get some junk around here if you really want them. I can't really complain at a free revive though. Remember the Big Pearl incident from the first Dark Rising? The glitch that involved an infinite amount of them spawning if you simply walked away from the treasure chest? That's fixed, unfortunately. Although I will note that there's some funky shadows on the upper right corner there. That doesn't look quite right. Isn't that a no-brainer for every patch of grass and cave in the Pokemon universe? Monica gets swallowed by the ground again. Pesky layers are getting clever on me. Ultra Balls are good, I guess. I've stopped catching Pokemon, so they're not that useful to me anymore. Noah released the Swords of Justice from his party earlier, and they all wound up in different caves. You could get them if you want, but I'm personally not going to. Contra? Please tell me we'll run into a pair of shirtless dudes wielding spreader guns. That'd make this game go from a zero to a perfect ten real quick. Rest is great and all, but we're such powerhouses that it doesn't even matter. The square jaws on these guys crack me up. They look so dopey. I'm sorry to break this to you officer, but... My eyes are reeling from all of this white with no other color in it but pitch-black outlines. Oh no, the hooded guys are here and they're blocking our path. Whatever shall we do? We'll get to these two in a bit. "He's so dreamy, O-M-G!"I met the man and he made me want to release my lunch from how pretentious he is. You can have him. This guy says we can take his Rare Candy if we can move the boulder that's offscreen. Thanks for the offer, but we're already covered on that front. Alfheim City, huh? Is there really another spook place in the Omni Region? This is both the Pokemon Center and the Mart. Neat stuff. "Snow on the ground, sun in the sky."The sun's supposed to be out now? This place is so poorly colored that it looks cloudy 24/7. They're pulling a Twinrova on us. I'd worry about that if it wasn't for the fact that Mr. Cuckoo is back! "You know, between you and me, she's not as scary as she tries to be. I know you feel the same way! C'mon, I won't tell!": "Who are you and why is one of your mindless zombies in this city?"???: "Now-now, no name calling! He is a part of a world full of wonders! He is only a minion worshipping his god!": "Oh yea, who's his god?"[Citadel of the Bount]... Well, it's not surprising at all in the least, but still .: "You know about Darugis?!"???: "No. I know about Darugis, though! Hehehehehe... My name's Mason. Nice to meet you again, Monica. I'm the leader of a cult. A cult that represents the true god!": "You're being controlled."Mason: "Controlled? Wait, wait! I know what that is! Mind-Transfer Jutsu! Hahahaha!": "You have problems. Let's battle!"Mason: "Battle me? Don't you think it'd be more smart of you to battle my minions near the Endless Garden? That's where those Gym Leaders are. I'd hurry too, my minions just love breaking those poor Cloyster shells and stabbing them in the eyes. They'd do competitions to see who'd kill the most Cloysters, you know?": "You're sick! I'll be back later to deal with you."( ) : ("Isn't he adorable, though? He's like some evil, demented cat.")( ) : "Darugis?! Don't tell me you're behind this!" ( ) : ("Actually? I'm not. He decided to follow me of his own free will and he seemed to be a far more interesting case than most other people I come across. I had to take him along.")( ) : "Anything to get a thrill, huh?" ( ) : ("Guilty.")Oh my god, it's Paul from the Pokemon anime. That one rival that tortured his Chimchar to abuse Blaze's power even though that's a horrible idea. We really needed a cameo from him of all people. Oh well, I can't argue with that. We're beating him up for Ash, I suppose. Despite Weavile being his go-to Pokemon, his Gastrodon wound up being more of a problem than I expected. Thank god for Beatrice - I wish Roserade existed in this hack by default. "When that day comes, the results will be different.": "Not to be mean, but nah." Sadly, not even this pretty snow effect will make this area look better. "It's so reassuring."She says this after I had already knocked them out. You'd think there'd be a bigger reaction to that. Sudowoodo can barely take a little bit of water... and here comes a buff Garchomp and a Superman Lucario ready to beat him up just because his trainer decided to throw him into the ring. What a miserable existence. now that's spicy Made infinitely worse by how he's actually acting. Well, here's the big action set-piece for this chapter. Let's get it down. (Also say hello to the two little munchkins that totally aren't Tate and Liza with blue and red hair.) "What are you doing here with these guys?! Unless..."Hooded Kids: "All hail Darugis! All hail Darugis!"( ) : ("It's like music to my ears.")Brandon: "The ritual is complete!"Ritual? What is going on here? Blaze: "Hey, whoever you are. If you're good at Pokemon battles, you mind giving us a hand?"Isis: "You're asking for help, bro? That's usually my thing?"I'll cut to the chase and just summarize: Monica ponders that Darugis must be getting more powerful (now that's a terrifying thought given what he's already done) if someone like Frontier Brain Brandon got swayed to his side. Then Monica commits the ultimate faux pas and says she'll destroy Brandon and his Pokemon even though it's obvious the poor man is just being manipulated. Then he taunts Monica about the promise from V's children, I puke a little bit in my mouth and we move on. they're heeeeelping Brandon is on the evil side now, and you know what that means. Hilariously over-leveled first stage Pokemon. Granted, I don't know what's up and down with this game anymore. This Omanyte could have sekret kung fu arts... or it may even be Lord Helix himself. You can never take a chance. Regigigas is a cool-looking legendary that is normally held back by Slow Start, but here it doesn't have such a thing. Correction: It has goddamn Huge Power to bolster a base 170 attack stat. For the crowd at home, that means he does over 270 points of damage even without a STAB boost.I can't be the only person that sees a problem with this. : ("My spleen!")Case in point: Sigurd of all people got reamed. Every time something like this happens, I remember that he's strong but not unstoppable. Aura Saber whips Reggie into shape, though. Brandon has the other Regis under his belt, with Registeel getting crushed in an Earthquake. Regice stomachs a Triple Soul from Siegfried thanks to that insane 200 base Special Defense...But it couldn't survive two. Yes, I am cheeky. Brandon says it was too late and that the ritual is complete. He isn't freed of his possession... which leaves Monica wondering as to what the hell went wrong. When you combine this with the whole Darkrai-ified Pokemon thing, this is starting to get a bit ludicrous. It's like Darugis has a personal army of not only criminals but spawns of himself and a fanatic cult. I would play the shit out of a real game that has a plot like that, especially if it's Pokemon. Isis: "Agh... we beat them, but they won't shut up!"Brandon: "We can retreat for now! Mission complete!"The twins wonder what Brandon and his pack of goons are up to in the Endless Gardens. They mention that the gardens are the home of the Lati Twins, leaving me to wonder as to what Darugis would want with more legendaries. Honestly, that would be really cool if the Lati Twins were plot relevant and tied into the themes of the two leaders in the Contra City, but nah. As a reward for beating Brandon, you get Rain Dance and access to the garden. Hooray. Oh what the heck, let's take on the gym just so we can say we did it. Huh. More quizzes, only this time there's nothing exceptionally stupid this time around. They give their banter and say they won't hold back just because we helped earlier. Bring it, kiddos. On one hand, I love it whenever stories do the whole Fire and Ice dynamic even if it's kind of overplayed. On the other, they're pretty basic and their names slay me. Blaze is obvious enough, but Isis? As in the Egyptian goddess?Dude, Isis has nothing to do with cold or frost. That's reaching, but at the very least it's better than her brother. True to their dynamic, the twins have Fridge and Oven Quotes. Rotom is very popular in the Omni Region, it seems. There's those weird numbers again. I know that's our health in a different format, but it looks so weird.Shame the Rotoms had to get beaten up Sigurd and Corin, though. Everyone else suffers a Void Bomb + Stone Edge combo. Honestly with all the stuff we do to our opponents, you'd think we were the bad guys after all... cause this sure isn't fair, no sir. Not that I'm complaining. Oh please, kids. You're giving yourselves too much credit. They hand us the Contra Badge and Fire Blast because this is still Blaine 's gym from the original FireRed. It's the thought that counts.They bicker about types some more and we leave. They're easily the most interesting gym leaders in the game yet they're still pretty meh. Oh well, better something than nothing. We make our way over to the Endless Garden that is not covered in snow for once. (Thank god too because my eyes couldn't take much more of that.) Good advice, Mr. Sign. Next time on Dark Rising 2, we're gonna do some fun stuff before the real descent into madness begins. See you then. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team setup: (Corin, level 85, , / ) - "I can't help but agree with Monica. All of this would get to me too if I were her." (Sigurd, level 92, , / ) - "Well then. I didn't freeze to death after all. How about that." (Siegfried, level 85, , / ) - "Of course you didn't, silly! You need to have more confidence in yourself." (Wave, level 87, , ) - "That Mason feller is nuttier than squirrel poop. Did he get dropped on his head when he was a kid?" (Bellamine, level 84, , ) - "He was certainly... off. I don't think I've ever seen someone that unhinged before." (Beatrice, level 84, , / ) - "Wouldn't be surprised if he was one of the psychos that Jack just barely missed during the zombie outbreak back in Hoenn..."--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Back-up Team: (Signe, level 87, , / ) - [Has Rubus ride on her shoulders] (Arthur, level 86, , / ) - "Darugis has amassed quite the army. I'm no coward, but methinks we might be a bit outnumbered here..." (Gale, level 84, , / ) - "They may have the advantage in numbers, but we beat them out in quality. I'd like to see them take me on." (Quote, level 81, , / ) - "Monica lookzzt pretty upset. What happened?" (Ambes, level 81, , ) - "Not sure, but I can't help but sympathize with her. That Nathan guy didn't really help with all the other junk she went through." (Johnny, level 47, , ) - "She must have had it rough." (Shadow, level 60, , / ) - [Looks around for intruders] (Rubus, level 25, , ) - "Aaa-a! Don't let me go!" (Ignell, level 82, , / ) - "Hello, Beowulf and Linoura. Glad to see some veterans from the legendary Jean Blake himself." (Candelabra, level 82, , / ) - "Yo, what was he like? Was he just like Monica, or what?" (Beowulf, level 56, , ) - "More of a bleeding heart, actually. He loved to fight, but he was also a very compassionate person - even to folks who didn't deserve it." (Linoura, level 60, , / ) - "In fact, for as much as we admired that aspect of him, it often bit us in the ass. My husband here had to save Blake from being stabbed in the back at one point, and that landed him in the Pokemon Center for at least a few days." (Iris, level 60, , ) - "Ouch. Well, you can trust Monica to be more alert about that kinda thing, based on what I've seen her do." (Lucera, level 60, , ) - "I think my mother might have helped heal you up when she still worked with a Nurse Joy, actually..."
Last edited by Galaxite Omega on Tue Feb 13, 2024 3:30 am; edited 3 times in total | |
| | | Galaxite Omega Fusion Master
Gender : Posts : 391 Join date : 2016-05-16 Age : 27 Location : Wherever you want, baby~
| Subject: Re: Let's Play Dark Rising 2! (LP #4) Sun Mar 04, 2018 10:25 pm | |
| I smell the power of friendship on the horizon. Chapter #9 - Companions
- Spoiler:
I still can't get over Zygarde creating an edgy karma ice route thing. Also hello, we're rich. They don't call it the Endless Gardens for nothing. Look at those perfectly laid out bundles of grass and flowers... who's tending to them? You're going to be seeing the same screen for the next fifteen or so rooms, so I may as well just document the items that are in here. Sunny Day the TM is made obsolete thanks to Jeanne's presence. We could have definitely benefited from more Full Restores earlier, so thanks. The Leaf Stone isn't worth that much while the TM is Steel Wing. Not sure how we're ever supposed to really make use of either. This place is long, tedious and linear. You can't really get lost yet it still takes quite a bit to get back, especially if you don't have repels on hand. So... there they are. The Lati Twins make their scene as optional Pokemon in the middle of some giant meadow. They are also way underpowered even by current enemy team standards (we're hitting 70s), so I am immediately disinclined to get them. Oh and if you run away from one, this message pops up. It happens with both of them, and it makes me wonder how much of this game was a copy and paste job. (Also, why does all the weird stuff happen to Siegfried? ) Now that we've beaten up Frontier Brain Brandon, we can finally get out of this eyesore of a city. Bringing up the map shows us Kanto (obviously), but I just have to address that there's a city named ERROR. I don't know what Dark Rising Girl did, but clearly Vermillion has been Gaster'd out of existence and in its place is a glitch hell. If this were a fair game, I would value these a lot more. Unfortunately, this is Dark Rising, so these are about as rare as dirt on the road. The route we're on is called the "Boscage Trail". I have no idea if that's a real word or just something DRG made up to sound clever (ex. Numassity from the first game) Oh my god he's a dork.I'll give Mason one thing - his lunacy is great. He provides more entertainment than most of the other characters in this series, at the very least. There's just a couple on top of the cliff there. I dunno what they're doing but they better keep it private. Spoiler alert: It's actually Gary. Nothing plot-related is said except for the fact that Gary wants to challenge Monica because she beat Ash. Oh, and something about finding a legendary in a canyon. I don't really care enough to transcribe the dialogue because it's not important. The poor guard though. Gary would normally be a challenge if this wasn't Dark Rising. Electivire is a cool Pokemon that just can't keep up with me. Ah, the joys of being the protagonist in a single-player role playing game. The rest of his team was beaten off screen because we have better things to do. Gary promises us to give us Surf in the next town ( ) so we can get to a place called Alfheim City (now that I know isn't a made up word) and that he's looking for Terrakion in the canyon ahead. Okay, cool. I like this guy. Mostly because he sees a bunch of suspicious people in hoods and doesn't even bat an eye. That's a lot of fights. How about we take a small detour? (There was a cut tree on the fence and it lead into this house) That... That's Iris from Black and White. The cameos never end! Let's just chuck in every single character from the real Pokemon games in our fan hack for no reason. "Get out of here!"Iris in Dark Rising: The most realistic Pokemon trainer in all of the series. You break into her house, she straight up tells you to get out. Wait, no, there's still Gladion. Iris is one of my favorite Unova trainers because she's so adorable. Too bad her Pokemon get to suffer for my amusement. Corin: Still the Best Garchomp, 2017. Future Dan: Oh god, that's how old these original prints were? How did six years pass by already? Siegfried nearly died trying to out-hax Iris. "I come to this place to be alone sometimes... heh."... I'd rather not know what you do in here. Also, Iris is straight up stuck in the wall. The reason being because she has no other sprite than "facing forward", so she turns invisible if you try to talk to her from other directions. You can't fool me, DRG. Not here, and I'm kinda salty about that. I don't want to face more goons... but I'm always down for an ass-whupping. ^ Add Haunter and Gengar and you have 80% of the fights in this roadblock. However, they do try to spice it up. God damn that Banette sprite is cool. Why couldn't we have this level of sprite quality all game instead of having the weird no-shading bits? The Banettes can't stop us, but they sure are succeeding at taking my patience away. I know, right? You could sort of get away with this sort of gauntlet in normal Pokemon due to the lack of a real plot (90% of the time), but here it's just a waste of time. Even in the grander scale of RPG design, gauntlet scenarios at at least fun when... you know, it's a challenge to survive and make it to the end. Here though, the Gengars (and Banettes) they throw at us all die in a single hit regardless if we had Sigurd or not. It's just tedious. [The hooded kid stays quiet]: "Worthless... you can't even talk."Now Monica's getting a bit edgy herself because she promises to destroy Darugis and everyone associated with him. That's... a lot of people. Oh hey, it's our loser crew. How's it going, guys? Oh lord, they're gonna give Monica an intervention. (Okay, alright, I'll transcribe this one just for the logic involved in it) : "What are you guys doing standing around? Darugis is still out there. Isn't that why we came to this region in the first place?!": "Chill, Monica."No, Dray, we cannot just tell Monica to chill about a world-destroyer that's more broken than Aizen from Bleach. : "You've let your failures cloud your mind, Monica."... I'm legitimately trying to remember how Monica or our team has failed. : "Sydney's right, Monica. What happened to V is not your fault."... Excuse me?You're trying to use V's death as the catalyst of Monica acting all frustrated? You're saying V's death was a failure on Monica's behalf? Okay, stop, stop. I just have to address this. This has got to be the dumbest plot thread in all of Dark Rising - let's ignore the Fairy Typing, Darugis, and everything else. Let's ignore all of the useless, irrelevant characters and plot devices that ultimately do nothing in the grand scheme of the story. This is what kills me: V and his character arc that started in the first game. For those of you who did not take the time to read through the first Dark Rising LP, V was a character that was introduced as an unrepentant, evil man that did things ranging from attacking the protagonist, wishing eternal torture on them and their father, sealed his own children in stone for no reason (despite them being dedicated to his cause!) and other things while having a snide attitude from start to finish. Despite his obvious villainy and complete disregard for Monica, the in-game protagonist shed a tear upon his death like if he was a sympathetic character. Fast forward to this game where he dies a second time (long story), Monica is revealed to have made a promise to save him and his children and her failure to uphold the promise made her "sad". Out of everyone that deserved to die the most, it was V... yet the game acts like he was some lost soul that deserved a second chance. I'm sorry, but no. I'm glad the bastard's dead for real now, because honestly? Darugis may be poorly written with uber powers, but even it at least fills a consistent purpose - being the final obstacle. At no point are we ever lead to think it might be a good guy in the game proper and the goal's been to kill it since day one. I'd be giving this advice regardless of how old DRG was when she first made the Dark Risings, since this is just bad writing. Anyway, Monica tells them Darugis has to pay (he should) and they mention that we can't win using negative emotions. Florina decides that we need to make Monica happy by... get this, battling.This doesn't work either - if Monica is disturbed to the point where she's talking back at her friends and willing to kill people associated with Darugis, then one little battle isn't going to cure that. It'd take long therapy sessions, good companionship and a lot of time away from the mission at hand to really snap her out of it. Sure, it doesn't have to be that complicated, but at least put in real effort to resolve her issues.Oh, and Dray is a meme as always. Florina's gotten an upgrade to be something more than Blue May, but her sprite could still use a bit more work. She has an interesting team that gets stomped out by ours in a flash. What can you really do before the almighty level curve? Serperior is my favorite of the Unova starters... unfortunately, Contrary doesn't exist in this so it'll never reach its true potential. Oh, and Corin acts as the Dragonslayer once more. Mega Altaria would have been a great addition to our team, but that didn't become a thing until Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. [Monica smiles]Whatever you say, game. (Prepare yourself for this one because things get into dangerous levels of schmaltz. If you somehow survive this without getting diabetes, you are a stronger person than me.) "It felt good to battle someone without hatred inside of me. I got thrust into this war with Darugis the moment I received my first Pokemon. I never had the chance to... the chance to feel what I felt battling Florina just now. At least, not a lot. I want more moments like that."Sydney begrudingly admits that she's become friends with Monica and pals during the journey. : "Hey look, Sydney has feelings!"yuk yuk yuk Dray is honestly the best hero character, though. : "Thanks guys, I'm back. I'll avenge V, but not through anger. I'll defeat Darugis and make sure everyone in the world can have battles with each other just like I did with Florina. Through Happiness and being Competitive. But most of all, by just having Fun."this DIALOGUEhow can you do this to me Just... I get that Monica's supposed to have her spirits lifted or something, but this is just too much. The fact this cheesy speech is coming out of Monica of all people makes it even worse, because the game acts like she's completely free of all negativity. Yes, really. Dray makes a Yugioh Zexal reference that I don't understand and we all agree to meet up past the Vulcan Canyon. Alright, sure. [Monica's team stares at her in confusion]: ("Don't you, uh... think you're overdoing it a bit?"): "... Listen. If I didn't sell it hard enough, they wouldn't have left me alone." : ("You're kind of a bad actor, then."): "True." This place looks incredibly familiar but I can't put my finger on where it comes from. The warning won't help much if you're already inside the steaming hot volcano cave. Silly sign. Oh wow that is hideous. What did DRG's team do to the tiles? There's Terrakion, but we'll just leave him. He's doing fine in this weird mountain place anyway, so who are we to take him? If I'm not mistaken, this was another place in the vanilla FireRed? It was the mountain where you could catch Moltres, I think. There's a Rocket Grunt here? What's he up to? I will not have any Pokemon of mine smashing this dude. Let's just... quietly leave. Brandon's like "bring it, kiddo" while Monica claims that she's going to beat him without negativity. That's physically impossible, but I've already said my piece on that. We fight him in a Double Battle format now and that makes things go faster. I can appreciate this. Damn. That kind of power is simply too much for anything to handle. It's literally as if we sliced through solid rock and the pieces left behind diamondized from how hard we were cutting. Sigurd is that strong, folks. Triple Soul and 2X Saber = the dumbest combination of moves in all of Pokemon, fanmade or not. Brandon better pack up his stuff and go home because the burn we left on him can never be healed. He thanks us for freeing him from the possession and we go on our merry way. A volcanic canyon that leads into a beach. Okay, I guess. These dudes harass some lady and there's a water surface effect that was definitely not meant to be used here. Oh my god, there's even more of these guys... plus an old face. (Why was my save for this part called "zombo.com"? I must have been bored to reference a site that's nothing but loading.) Ziyah: ("I'm sorry, Monica") - "Monica, I must take you down! By Darugis's orders, I will stop you right here and crush your Pokemon!"She's totally faking it, but Gary tells us to fight her. I guess we have no choice, then. Okay, who saw it coming since part 1 that she was really Marley. I guess out of all the characters she could have stole, Marley is a good one. ( If you haven't noticed I have a thing for goths .) Siegfried and Gale destroy this Umbreon and Medicham in some wicked Triple Soul + Brave Bird combo. Wow, even Gardevoirs can fly? I didn't know that. : ("How are they doing that?")Thankfully, due to the lack of a Fairy type, Corin (somehow) beats them with Earthquake. Shadow Tag Noivern is still terrible, but I'll live. Poor Siegfried keeps getting thrown into these awful situations where he nearly dies, though. Glad Ziyah was able to get her Noivern back, at least. Oh. Did we do a bad thing by winning? Monica knows she's not being mind-controlled but doesn't think that there might be something iffy about an ally(?) fighting her. Ziyah decides to leave and takes the grunts with her... well, I guess we just doomed an entire village by doing what we've been doing all game. Now, if only this kind of manipulation was more prominent throughout the entire series. So I've decided to do some intel on what these weird number glitch monsters even are: They're Bad Eggs.Taking it out of the Day Care center turns it into a Bad Egg, so that makes me wonder just what in good god's green earth Dark Rising Girl did to the coding of this game. We ignore that and go into this house where Gary thanks us for helping. Gary's a cool guy... until you talk to him again and trigger the same message. If you talk to Gary twice, he tries to give you another Surf but all that does is crash the game. No, really. Did the Dark Rising Team even playtest their game? [Monica gives a death stare to the cop]: [Wearing a Judge Dredd hat] "That's what I thought." Whoaaaa that is a derpy-looking Sigilyph. Something about it seems... very bootleg. The ninth chapter into Dark Rising 2 and we just now get the ability to surf. I do like how these games downplay HM use, though. Oh boy, there's not only the town but Xerneas and Light too! What are we gonna get ourselves into? : ("Hello again, Monica."): "Hi, Your Majesty!" : ("As much as I'd like to talk, we have to make this short."): "O-oh. Okay, then." Summary time! Light says that there's three chosen ones - him, Monica and Noah. Noah's been misguided into using Yveltal's power against the entire world instead of just Darugis (which is still stupid, by the way) and that Light's power of creation ultimately came from Xerneas. Neato burrito. Only our powers combined can defeat Darugis (for some reason) and he challenges us to a fight to decide if we're truly worthy. Hint: Who's the person that's saved everyone's asses so far and even beat up Darugis's first form? First ten guesses don't count. He's Blue Lance now. The only reason he should even look like Lance is if they're either the same guy or brothers... so I dunno. Siegfried smashes his head against this Dragalge. He may be the size of a plushie but he still causes this giant poisonous horsefish dragon to crumble. Sigurd acts unfair to one of my favorite Steel types. Light has Phione for some reason. I guess he couldn't pay full price for Manaphy? OHXerneas has seen better days. : ("I know I'm no match for you like this... make it quick - we don't have more time to waste.")[Sigurd nods]: ("I'll be watching your progress, Sigurd. Know that I'll always be there to protect you..."): ("Thank you, Your Majesty. I can't imagine if I had to fight you at your real strength...")Future Dan: If Xerneas was allowed to have the Fairy type here, she'd COMPLETELY WASH Sigurd and it'd be hilarious. "Are you truly the stronger of us three?!"[Monica, Sigurd and Signe give him a dull stare]That's sort of a given, right? You can say that you're chosen ones too, but Monica's the only one who does anything around here .You didn't expect it before we tried? Come on, man. Light tells us that Darugis's lair is beyond Alfheim City and that we have to free Arceus to stand a chance. Thanks, but no deal. At least he wishes us thanks before we march off to our inevitable demise. [Alfheim City Theme: Chaos Angel Map]This place is a home to warlocks and witches, apparently. I wouldn't put it past the actual games to do something like this with Hex Maniacs and Psychics... in fact that's sort of what I expect if we're talking about magic in the Pokemon universe. I'm breaking out the Chaos Angel Map theme because this place needs some appropriately spooky music. Yeah, a dude in the other town said this place was full of evil witches and I kinda wanted to slap him for that. "Alcina doesn't like talking about it..."there he isThe big man himself. Oh Zygarde, why did you have to get shafted in this? "Kinda weird."After literally everything else that's happened, that's weird to you? Alright. Convenient! At least they're right next to each other as opposed to the real games where they're towns apart. For those of you curious as to what an "Alfheim" is, it's one of the nine worlds in Norse Mythology - the world of the light elves. It's supposed to be some shiny place that's ethereal in scope, so I can sort of see why DRG uses it for the magic town? I'm reaching to get anything good out of the game at this point. This, however, is based on a real-life forest that's supposed to be haunted. It's referred to as the Bermuda Triangle of Romania with weird crescent-shaped trees and all sorts of crazy supernatural phenomena. Now that's the kind of thing I like to see. Yeah, no kidding. We've only been chasing it around for the span of two entire games, you know. Anyway, that's it for this one. Next time on Dark Rising 2, we're going to fight for our lives. See you then. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team setup: (Corin, level 87, , / ) - "Oh, that's not a good feeling. It's sort of like when Sigurd first appeared, but now it's enough to make me sick..." (Sigurd, level 94, , / ) - "That's him. Are we ready, everyone?" (Siegfried, level 87, , / ) - "A-ah. Gotta stay strong..." (Wave, level 88, , ) - "M-my knees are shaking, bad. You reckon we can even handle this?" (Gale, level 84, , / ) - "Of course we can. Where's your motivation?" (Beatrice, level 86, , / ) - "Eeugh! What a terrible feeling. This easily puts the necromancer to shame..."--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Back-up Team: (Signe, level 87, , / ) - "I-it's time to face Alberich again. It's time to stand strong!" (Arthur, level 86, , / ) - "Aye! It's time we made a difference!" (Quote, level 81, , / ) - "Sheesh... those are some nasty vibezzz. How come you aren't zzzcared, dude?" (Ambes, level 81, , ) - "If I'm going to be real with you, I am. But... we have to be brave and take Darugis out for all he's done! My family is depending on me coming back alive, so we have to keep going forward." (Johnny, level 47, , ) - "Wow, Ambes..." (Shadow, level 60, , / ) - "... I don't think it's time to play around anymore. We're in quite the fix." (Bellamine, level 84, , ) - "It's alright, sweetie. Stay here with your big brothers and sisters. I have to help Monica." (Rubus, level 25, , ) - "B-but mama... what if you don't come back this time?!" (Ignell, level 82, , / ) - "I'll charge in and help them myself if I have to." (Candelabra, level 82, , / ) - "We're finally here, huh? Lemme at him!" (Beowulf, level 56, , ) - "Oh... this is BAD. Darugis has gotten much stronger since we last fought him." (Linoura, level 60, , / ) - "Y-yes. It's so palpable that I can barely stand even from this distance. Just how are Monica and them going to do it?" (Iris, level 60, , ) - "Are they going to be alright?" (Lucera, level 60, , ) - "I hope so. I don't have enough medicine for 'atomized by a dark nuke'."
Last edited by Galaxite Omega on Sun Nov 19, 2023 7:56 pm; edited 1 time in total | |
| | | Galaxite Omega Fusion Master
Gender : Posts : 391 Join date : 2016-05-16 Age : 27 Location : Wherever you want, baby~
| Subject: Re: Let's Play Dark Rising 2! (LP #4) Sun Mar 04, 2018 10:27 pm | |
| I've never been more excited to play a game I don't like. Let's do this. Chapter #10 - Wrath of the Demon King ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spoiler:
We're in a magic city and we're nearing the end game for Dark Rising 2. That's about all we need. ( Also listen to this song while you read this bit because it's pretty damn sweet) However, there's just a few things we have to do before we can really move forward... This being one of them. : "What?"Lady: "Jalice, control yourself. Now.": "No, Mother! I'm not taking orders from you. I never have and I never will!"Well then. This got awkward quick. Thankfully the mom is 100x more reasonable and rational than Jalice herself. That's good, at least. : "How can I? This trainer is the one who killed my father! Your husband!": "What?!"Don't tell me she's V's wife. I'll stop the LP right here if she is. Lady: "Adrian's soul became one with the darkness of his own free will. The trainer before you is the chosen one. The one who has been selected to prevent any further harm to the universe."Oh, she's the wife of that champion guy we beat at the end of Dark Rising 1. The one that was like ten feet tall and transparently evil. I don't understand how DRG can write V being passed off as sympathetic while this other guy is condemned to his fate via his own actions... and his wife is okay with it. Like I don't see where the quality begins and where it ends. : "There's nothing special about this person! I'll show you!"Okay, if that's how you want to go about it. So is this Aurorus actually hers or did she steal it? That alone would make Jalice a horrible person... and then you have the rest of her attitude. Good god. Squishy dragon mamaWave nearly got destroyed by Fennekin. I swear it's taking something because Wave has a type advantage and still only won by the skin of her teeth. Lady: "You hate yourself, Jalice..."Now that, my friends, is the sickest burn you could give a person... seeing as this is coming from her own mother. Alright, backstory dump: Jalice's brother practiced forbidden magic that didn't need equivalent exchange to work and died in the Arctic Mirage. Her mom is like "oh magic without equivalent exchange is evil" even though those are the rules of alchemy aka. are two different things. Jalice even says so herself. Monica thinks of how Dray could make a Full Metal Alchemist reference (time and place, asshole) and Jalice blames her mother for letting Adrian die (no, he had to be stopped) and for making Jalice a screw-up herself. I dunno man, you're a pretty awful kid - given how your dad volunteered to be evil though, I can't imagine you were a happy family. The mom is like "alright just meet me inside". Game, now's not a good time to make me laugh. : "How do you know my name?"Lady: "My name is Alcina. I am a true master fortune teller and the gym leader of Alfheim City."There's our contact. To be honest, it would have been a much more compelling tale with Jalice if she was a primary focus and downplayed her bitchiness just a bit. As it is, she's sorta irredeemable. : "I was told to bring this to you."Alcina: "As the future predicted... Darugis has shattered the Omni Megastone and given it to different individuals."Good god, what's the point of all these things if they all get broken before him? Why does he even need minions if he's super uber godlike? : "What's an Omni Mega Stone?"Alcina: "A larger stone capable of mega-evolving a trainer's Pokemon without the need of a strong, positive bond. It instead uses their negative energy to transform their Pokemon. This is not good..."But... Mega Evolution isn't inherently tied to a bond. You could catch a Pokemon off the street, slap a mega stone on them and it works just fine. The bond is what prevents them from going insane and attacking you... so I don't know what this is all about. : "I need to free Arceus."Nah fam, we've got something better than Arceus. Alcina: "I shall grant you permission to the Hoia-Baciu. The sealed chamber is located at the very end... I shall be there to dispel the barrier for you."So is the dungeon where Arceus is sealed or is Darugis sealed there? I don't know anymore. Jalice confirms that she's the red girl from the final area in the first game and that she's been watching us fight her dad. She admits that she has a lot to learn but has the gall to give Monica a speech about how even though Monica's the chosen one, there's things she can never fix. Yeah, okay. Too little too late, woman. ... That's sort of where she drops off from the story and I'm content with it because thank god we never have to see her again. While we're here, we may as well challenge Alcina to get one final power boost for the road. Why does one of the coolest characters personality-wise have to have one of the dopiest sprites yet? Like come on, this is a disservice to her. Bird and Dragon combo takes all kinds. Also, there's the funhouse mirror Sigilyph again. Poor Espeon didn't deserve a Sigurd beating. (+121 BST!!)That is a short Delphox. Also, good god what's with these boosts? Does Alcina's family just conduct some ungodly ritual to make their Fennekins super strong? That's the only real explanation I have. My real problem with this, however, is that Fennekin isn't obtainable and that there's no Braixen. Of course Dark Rising Girl would have to leave my favorite evolution out of the game. I mean, of course, everyone's practically an infant compared to Sigurd. She gives us the Magic Badge and another psychic. Goodbye Alcina, you were like one of the coolest characters in the entire story. Way better than your daughter, at least. Hi Dawn. We really needed your presence in this game, it seems. I really don't get the point of these Pokemon anime character cameos. They're pretty pointless. I don't even know what you're doing in this game, Dawn. But enough of that... we have a haunted forest to go through. [Chaos Angel Act 2]We're going in deep, boys and girls.At first I was like "Oh god a flash dungeon" but the path is extremely linear so it wasn't that much of a problem. Just imagine this for the next four minutes with a few random battles sprinkled in. I really should have invested in some repels... Surprise Noah! "I told you before - I can handle Darugis on my own. Do not get in the way.": "Noah, you don't know what you're doing. This needs to stop right now. Yveltal's destructive nature has taken over you."So that's the reason why he's been acting like such an edgelord? : "You're wrong. I know exactly what I'm doing. I'm doing this for us! I'm doing this for you..."Oh, is this the cliche where he can't just tell us why he's acting this way? At least with Ziyah, her village was in danger if she spoke or some shit. : "We need to do this together, Noah. Like we planned.""If you enter the Sealed Chamber, I will be there to stop you from freeing Arceus. I have Yveltal by my side... as well as others.": "Others?"who though: "You've been warned, Monica! Go back before it's too late and I have to destroy you."But doesn't that run counter to wanting her alive? Idiot. Oh well, that's yet another fight we don't participate in... seriously, just what is he saving up for us? If our characters somehow live through this adventure, we're going to be rich. Dray asks us if there's been any anime references since we last met. Monica tells him about the Full Metal Alchemist one and they yuk it up. "Free it and Darugis will have met its match.": ("I doubt that!")"I've set up a meeting location in Harmony Town. Good luck, Monica. I know you'll succeed. Remember, you have the Master Ball from the Core Region and the Jewel of Life. If you forgot them, the Celcius is docked at Arkaios Harbor."If we had to be reminded to get those two extremely important things this late into the game, then you really should have made it mandatory to get them. Alcina just tells us about catching Arceus. Everyone around here needs to chill. [The Depths]So this place is where Arceus is supposed to be sealed, huh? Then why are there Darugis minions all around the place? What, did he manage to sneak them past the seal too? That's silly. I would greatly appreciate it if we could get more of these. Yeah. Sure. Whatever you say, buddy. Thank you kindly. Why did this make me chuckle so hard? God, this place is a treasure trove of goodies. It's nice that they're prepping us up for one of the biggest fights in the game. I guess it's time for two best friends to throw down. Just what does Noah have up his sleeve? : "Noah... This ends right now!": "You were always the naive and foolish one between the two of us. I'm just as powerful as you, Monica. The difference between us is... I've obtained my chosen god."It's funny that you say we're equals. : "What's wrong with you?! Can't you see this isn't about gods, or Pokemon in general? It's about US! The bond we've had since we were kids. Heck, we still are kids!"... What? Also, I thought Monica was like a 20 year old at this point. Well she is in my canon, anyway. "Let's see how strong our bond really is."Noah brings up Benga as our friend (no, he's not) and that if we fight him, we'll feel the pain of our Pokemon getting attacked. Monica gives an extremely cheesy speech about how her friendship will give her the strength to fight and shut the hell up already!Anyway, this is the real... wait, Rival? [Current OST: Fat Chocobo theme]What. What.You have to be pulling my leg. : "Noah, are you actually trying?" A LEVEL 5 LICKILICKYAlright, no. He doesn't even have Yveltal for what is effectively the final time we'll ever fight him? What is DRG trying to pull here? Let me check the game data and see what - ... So apparently if you put the level above 100, it gets messed up and it doesn't count, hence why the Torchic is only level 10. Still, what the fuck happened? Did DRG simply forget to give Noah a proper team? She went through all the effort to put Yveltal in yet we never get to see them because of how incompetent/lazy her crew is. Honestly, for a character that's been around since the first Dark Rising, I have to admit this is pretty disrespectful to Noah. So I made some modifications. Bam. He gets all the Swords of Justice, his starter and Yveltal. Now that's a better send off. ... I actually feel kind of bad that I cared more about Noah than the person who originally made him. [Let's try that again: X Vs. Zero]I also fixed his name because come on. Signe takes out Cobalion while Arthur smashes Terrakion. The latter one was really tricky because they hit hard - two Stone Edges and that would have been it for my irish bug knight. Sigurd and Siegfried tag team Keldeo and Virizion. The Musketeer Pokemon are down, so that only leaves us... The Best Dragon competition. Operation Whupass is a go. ... That was not very smart of you, Noah. [Corin used Dragon Claw!]Damn, that's good. To think we would have never gotten to see Yveltal if we just played the game like we were meant to. ... Anyway, Yveltal is horrifying. He has a move called Demon Wing that hits like a truck and paralyzes you if you get hit, on top of having legendary stats. Oh, and guess what? YUP. Shadow Tag.Looks like Beatrice is biting the dust. ... Or not! Goddamn, she's like the most powerful non-Sigurd, non-Corin member on the entire team and she's been around since Snakewood! I love it. (I had to retry the fight a few times, not gonna lie.) I'm not sure if their silence is because of how close of a match it was or how stupid the original fight was. : "Noah, this is over.": "Monica!!"[He grabs her by the shirt]: "DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT THE HELL'S GONNA HAPPEN TO YOU IF YOU CONTINUE DOWN THIS PATH?! YOU'LL DIE, YOU HEAR ME! YOU'LL FREAKIN' DIE!"Whoa, that's the most emotional I've ever seen anyone get in Dark Rising. : "I'm not going to die. I'm win and survive for all of us.": "You don't get it... I was going to sacrifice myself so that you can live, you idiot!": "What?": "Your dad is waiting for you... But I'll tell you in case he doesn't. Monica, Darugis can never die. But, you can seal it in Pandora's Box forever after it's defeated. But only if you...": "... Why?": "You're not strong enough to make a dent in him. Not even Arceus can do enough damage to stop the regeneration effect he has going on in this region." : "... Won't stop me from trying." : "... Go on. There's nothing I can do anymore."That's quite the plot twist. I'll save the rest of my frustration for when it's appropriate. Oh? Who could this possibly be? Jean Blake: "Monica...?"Oh shit. [Theme for this bit][He checks his watch]Jean Blake: "Let's see... you're about a couple hours late, but I expected you would show up and rescue your old man soon enough. Heh... yes, Monica. It's me, your old man.": "Dad!!"JB: "Look at you, all grown up. I've missed you and your mother so much... but there was nothing I could do. Darugis's power may be stronger than ever before. Oh... and I see you've brought a familiar face.": ("You're still alive, sir?! But... how?"): "You and Sigurd fought together? Why didn't you tell me about any of this?!"JB: "Keeping you uninformed was the best way. I wanted you safe so that you could have a better life."Noble, but look at what that wound up doing. : "Dad..."JB: "As good as it would feel to kick some evil ass with my own child and Sigurd one more time, I'm too weak at the moment to help you. Besides, this is your story now. You got the Jewel of Life, right?: "Yeah, right here."JB: "Good. Break the seal on Arceus and them to defeat Darugis. You've come this far all alone without me - you could do the rest on your own as well. I've always been tough on you and it seems to have paid off. Look at you, Monica."I take back what I said about Alcina - Jean Blake is the coolest character in the game now that we've actually gotten to meet him. JB: "Good to hear. I'm going home to see your mother. I can make it. You are the chosen one now, my child... fulfill your destiny.": "... Dad, I think I know why Darugis came back. You didn't fulfill YOUR destiny... right?"[Sigurd turns away]JB: "... So you do know. We'll discuss this later.": "... When?"JB: "Don't question me, Monica. Arceus is waiting... I will see you soon."He got real defensive towards the end there, huh? But yeah... If what Noah said is true, then he must have chickened out of sacrificing himself to stop Darugis from coming back. I... can't really blame him. : "So you're the real deal, huh? That Reshiram I used to have told me you were an impostor." : ("I see... She was right about there being an impostor, but trust me when I say that I'm no fake.") : "Show me proof." : ("Very well then.")There's god, everyone. Arceus has been buffed to have 150 in every stat and learns a ???-type Judgement when you get them to level 100... but honestly? Given the difficulty of Dark Rising, you should have either toned it down or given us something overpowered like this for the entire adventure. Like Sigurd, for example. We also get to put the Master Ball to use because why the hell not? : ("I see no reason to call me by any other name.")[The Jewel of Life shimmers]: "... Well then, that's good enough for me." Incoming plot in three, two, one... [God of Decadence]: "Who're you? Wait, is that you, Mason?!"Mason: "Heheheh! It is I, indeed. Hello again, Monica. May I?! May I?!": "May you what?"Mason: "Not you, you silly person! I'm talking to my god!": "Your... god?": "More like... for the first time in a long time."Mason: "Hahaha! The ritual is complete! Allow me to introduce to you... the true god!! Master Darugis!!"(Dialogue from here will change wildly from the in-game text - this is technically the first time you're ever supposed to meet Darugis in person, but LP-wise he's messed around with us since chapter 3 of the first DR let's play.) : "So this is your true form!": ("Not necessarily; I did have to make myself presentable to you in a short amount of time. You broke Arceus's seal, I see. Your father would be proud."): ("God, his aura is overwhelming. I can barely stand!")In-Game Darugis taunts Monica by saying he'll only use 25 percent of his power to create a duplicate of himself. That uh... no. We're not doing that. : "I've waited too long to finally defeat you! This ends now!""Wait, that's that other guy's thing. Heheh... Let the match begin!"(please): ("You know, Monica... you're special. Not even your father pushed me this far. I've been planning something fun just for you."): "L-like what?" : ("Behold.")[Five shadowy figures manifest behind Darugis][Monica gasps]: "N... no way..." : ("I've decided that I should pay you a proper tribute... by killing you with better versions of your own Pokemon. You should feel honored."): "Bastard!" [Battle Against A True Hero]The demon king stands before us... and he's a red Hugh from Black and White 2. Thank you, but I'd rather just imagine him being a Darkrai. But yes, I edited the shit out of this fight because it was originally just Darugis and a Pokemon resembling himself(??). In this version, it's Darkrai-ified Pokemon that are all based off of Monica's team from the first Dark Rising. : ("I'll defeat myself!")[Corin and her dark counterpart clash]: ("Sorry Darugis, but you need to try harder than that.")As amazing as it would be to have the counterparts clash, we're fighting to win here. D-Wave gets drained away by Beatrice because I love our big dumb Roserade. 100 / 150 / 100 / 110 / 66 / 140 ( 666 Total) Explosive first impressions, huh? Evil Gale is a / type with Intimidate - she's lightning fast and hits like a battleship. To balance it out, she has weak Special Defense... allowing Siegfried to be a perfect match for her. She's very much a Sigurd-killer, hence why he didn't get sent out to deal with her. : ("Y-yeah! How'd you like that...?") [Strained breath]100 / 155 / 135 / 105 / 105 / 66 ( 666 Total) Evil Arthur is a / type with Shell Armor... who is also his evil sister, apparently. Whoops. Anyway, this is by far the easiest counterpart battle due to two things. Evil Arthur doesn't have any outstanding attribute as opposed to the real Arthur who has a type advantage thanks to his evil counterpart's weakness to Bug. : ("Impressive work, but you lacked the finer details.")100 / 100 / 100 / 126 / 120 / 120 ( 666 Total) Oh boy. Evil Siegfried is a / type with Serene Grace and is the most balanced of the Darkmons. He has Devil Flame to act as a dark counterpart to Triple Soul, but that shouldn't be much to worry about. : ("H-how dare you, Alberich..."): ("What? You can't even bear to strike down an image of Siegfried? Hahahaha!"): ("Don't let him get to you, sis!"): ("I'll make sure you pay for this!")[She slices the evil copy in half]: ("See, you can do it!"): ("I'm impressed... perhaps I should have broken you some more while we were still together."): ("... You don't scare me."): ("We meet again, Alberich..."): ("Let's see who draws their last breath first.")205 / 205 / 205 / 205 / 205 / 205 ( 1,230 Total) what the shit are these stats oh my godAll bets are off - Darugis is an obscenely overpowered villain that didn't need to do half of this. This is reaching Aizen Sosuke levels of ridiculous because he's already powerful enough to destroy the other legendaries without having to limit our choices like removing the Fairy type, destroying the Super Mega Stone or whatever and so on. I thought Arceus was supposed to be one of the most powerful Pokemon in the universe (that's how it's like in Ubers, anyway) yet this guy manages to not only top that but also come with a whole set of extra abilities like possessing people and so on. Plus, in-game Darugis has the gall to say that this is only twenty five percent of his power? Are you fucked?Oh, and for the curious, this is what Darugis looked like before I inserted my friend's sprites. Yuck.I can finally see why he's called Darugis - he's literally Darkrai Lugia. The ultimate villain of Dark Rising are two pre-existing legendaries that have been mashed together. Give me a break, man... [Sigurd emerges with a few gashes]: ("... You're mine."): ("Still, you can't touch me! I'm part ghost, remember?")[Sigurd diagonally slices his body]: ("Wh-what?!"): ("Me and Signe have been training to defeat you ever since we left. Our blades are keener than whatever trick you have up your sleeve. Come on, Signe!")(aka. i removed his ghost typing when they weren't looking): ("Right!")[Sigurd and Signe charge at the weakened Darugis with their aura sabers]: ("It's over..."): ("Hopefully he's dead for real now."): ("What?!")Oh shut up, we kicked his ass.Monica mentions that this is only a fraction of Darugis's power and it's like - no. "It seems you have not awakened Arceus's power, Judgment. That move might actually hurt me a little if I were to use a mere thirty percent of my power. If I used one hundred percent of my power, I could destroy the world in a mere six seconds."What is the point of this sequence if we're literally just told "lol nope didn't count"? This isn't Dragon Ball Z, DRG - there's a limit to the kind of power we can throw around in Pokemon! (In-Game Darugis/Mason even makes a Dragon Ball Z reference to be extra cheeky) Also, tough guy, if you were really that fucking empowered from the start, then why bother with any of this? There's making a villain competent, but this is just going too far. ... God, I'm starting to get a headache from all of this. My version of this lunacy is as follows: : ("... I thought I was a goner there. But then I remembered this entire region is my personal healing ground. No matter what kind of attack you throw at me, I'll just regenerate."): "So that means..." : ("That's right. You can't beat me no matter how hard you try. That final attack left quite the impression on me, though... so it'll take a bit to get back to that level of strength.")(see? no ripping off of frieza here): ("Are you running away again?"): ("Correct. I'll be waiting for you ahead... Maybe you can think of a way to get rid of me by then. Come, Mason!")[They fade into the shadows]That's how that part ends! Our friends aren't there anymore, so you know what that means... Sidequest time!No, not really. I just came to check up on Manaphy before we had to move on... and I can't even get them. How about no. Anyway, you get on this path by going north from Alfheim City. "Path to Harmony" would sound really cheesy even if it weren't for the town actually named Harmony not too far ahead. Oh, and Nathan's here. He wants to battle us now that we're not "held back by negativity" or some garbage. He's a blue... Actually, I don't think he's based off of anybody. Or at least nobody I can remember. I think he's a brand new character sprite with splices of old. Cool stuff but utterly useless against a team that just went 6-0 against Darugis's second form. Sigurd beats up another Lucario (teehee) along with the return of the Quality Talonflame. How many dragons has Corin beat up in the past few chapters? I'm too lazy to count them all. That was easy! Why are you worried after defeating a Pokemon with a 1200+ base stat total average? "I couldn't help but notice you were a little nervous. We'll battle again."[Nathan walks off]... And that's the last we'll ever see of him, folks! No, seriously. He was here just to insult Monica, chase after her championship title and fight her. He had no other purpose in this story aside from that and I doubt any of you will remember he even existed... which begs the question of why he was even here in the first place. The guys talk about Jean Blake's survival for a bit before discussing about the town they're in right now. Noah relays the info that Darugis destroyed Harmony Town due to Ziyah's loss, although I'm not sure it matters that much. Knowing how he's like, he would have done if even if she won. Oh well. They plan to meet up afterwards, so that leaves me to check the town. That is a meme, I'm sure of it. No, not the precious Full Restores... But wait! This guy still has a shop up. Please tell me you have - Oh, you're scum. Any shop that makes me pay for vendor trash is officially the worst. Anyway, we're taking a small break before we move on. Pretty crazy stuff, I have to say. Next time on Dark Rising 2, we regroup our efforts so we can have a rematch with the Demon King. See you then. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team setup: (Corin, level 88, , / ) - "I still can't believe that I beat my evil self!" (Sigurd, level 96, , / ) - "The Omni Region's his personal healing ground... If his regeneration allowed him to take a dual Aura Saber strike then I'm at a loss of how to stop him." (Signe, level 88, , / ) - "We can beat him, Sigurd. I hope. But... if there's any good side, Monica's father is still alive." (Siegfried, level 87, , / ) - "Yeah! We just have to stay positive." [Hugs the Lucario siblings] (Wave, level 89, , ) - "Man... how do you guys stay so strong under pressure? I can't even wrap my mind around it." (Beatrice, level 87, , / ) - "Well, Wave, all you have to do is be confident. Look at how much damage they did. There's still a way to stop Darugis no matter how many times he regenerates." (Arceus, level 70, ) - "I'll finally get you back for this, Alberich."--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Back-up Team: (Arthur, level 86, , / ) - "Haha, that feels good." (Gale, level 84, , / ) - "... On the other hand, I'm glad Siegfried took my spot. My dark counterpart looked really diesel." (Quote, level 81, , / ) - "Oh nice, they came back alive! Welcome back, guys!" (Ambes, level 81, , ) - "You're safe! Good job on beating him back... I think?" (Johnny, level 47, , ) - "Maybe it's too early to celebrate?" (Shadow, level 60, , / ) - "Hmmm..." [Hides under a table] (Bellamine, level 84, , ) - "I'm afraid we didn't... really stop him. He's weakened, for sure, but he's still out there." (Rubus, level 25, , ) - [Hops into Bellamine's arms immediately] (Ignell, level 82, , / ) - "He... wasn't stopped?" (Candelabra, level 82, , / ) - "Wow! This Darugis guy is pretty scary. I wonder if they'll make an evil copy of me next..." (Beowulf, level 56, , ) - "At least they came back..." (Linoura, level 60, , / ) - "What kind of scum is this Darugis person? Why would he do all of this?" (Iris, level 60, , ) - "I know, right? Ooh, he gets my blood boiling!" (Lucera, level 60, , ) - "Ugh, I wish I could do something to help at least."
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| | | Galaxite Omega Fusion Master
Gender : Posts : 391 Join date : 2016-05-16 Age : 27 Location : Wherever you want, baby~
| Subject: Re: Let's Play Dark Rising 2! (LP #4) Sun Mar 04, 2018 10:29 pm | |
| We may as well call this the exposition chapter because yikes there's a lotta text in this game. Chapter #11 - Revelations ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spoiler:
We beat Darugis's 2nd form (I consider it the second after the Shadow Lugia from the first game) and now we're dealing with the aftermath. Monica knows that Ziyah was forced to fight her and Ziyah declares her vengeance against the big dumb overlord. However, she notices that Monica has a peculiar shiny stone: Turns out good ol' Giovanni dropped a shard after he committed suicide(???) back in the Omega Facility. Ziyah mentions that even with the Omni Megastone being destroyed, the shards still glow if they're close to another... meaning someone around here has a mega. Anything mega-evolution related would be infinitely cooler in a better game with a better story. Oh hey, the loser crew's finally complete! Everyone's here except for Noah, though. "Just know that you won the battle, alright? It doesn't matter how strong Darugis is. We'll defeat it!": ("I hope so..."): "And don't forget, we have Arceus on our side now. Once it regains its full power with your help, it'll be an end to all of this."Optimistic, but have you seen that guy? He's uh... not exactly the kind to have a fair fight. Meanwhile, Dray brings up that any normal person would flip if they learned about the stuff that happened in the Sealed Chamber. He notices Monica's feeling insecure but just asks her where she's going. (Hyetal City, by the way) Alcina congratulates us and tells us the secret of Arceus's true power along with some other stuff about the shards and how we're not ready to use them or something? (Aka. they're not able to program in actual Mega Evolutions that we can use) She also tells us to get stronger by fighting Zale, the gym leader of Hyetal City. Sorta comes with the territory of all this other stuff, doesn't it? Sydney tells us about a place that's pretty much Icefall Cave from the Sevii Islands and that's all she brings up. Thrilling. Oh shit, papa's here to lay down the plot. "Your friends brought me here... Said I had a lot of explaining to do. They're right, heh.": "I thought you were going home? Is Mom alright?"JB: "Yeah, she's good. I called her. In the Core Region, did you run into a person called Amaris?"Okay, good, Darugis hasn't discovered Monica's mom and planned to use her as a hostage. : "Yeah, she was being controlled by Darugis."JB: "... She's dead."Oh no, the person I didn't know anything about is dead. Still though, that has to sting for Blake considering she was his ally before this. JB: "Darugis hunted her down. Without her and Sigurd, I wouldn't have defeated it 27 years ago."Alright, Jean Blake was told to be the only person to defeat Darugis despite Darugis existing for centuries? That uh... seems a bit improbable considering the timespan and the disparity in strength. (At least he used to work with Sigurd in the LP, so I guess that alleviates some of it.) : "Why is Darugis still around? Tell me."JB: "Because I couldn't bring myself to die, Monica. I just met your mother... I had a great life, I couldn't sacrifice myself to assure Darugis will never return."Wow, dude... : "Selfish..."JB: "Yeah, I know, kiddo. Now, because I couldn't, you're going to do it... Right?"[Monica stares at him with disgust. Sigurd looks away]JB: "Exactly. It's tough, isn't it?"Looks like for all the games built up to him being a hero, he was ultimately kind of a coward. That's... frankly a lot better than having him be some paragon of faith because it makes him relatable. Who's to say another person wouldn't have done what he did if they were in his shoes? Wow, this is actually a really good plot twist. Good job, DRG. : "... I'm leaving."If I learned my father condemned me to die because he couldn't do the job himself, I'd probably feel some resentment too. But oh well, it's our job now I guess. "I'll meet you in Hyetal City, alright?": "Don't bother."Ouch. Poor Monica. Florina gathers everyone to leave to Hyetal while Kayo stays behind for some reason. arrrgh Long story short, he gives us a Deino with a Macho Brace and says that he'll come after our championship title. Hopefully Monica lives long enough to see that through? I don't really care about Kayo, to be honest. He was there in the first game to pester us and suddenly gained a change of heart towards the end, although I'm not convinced he's not just Silver with a different name. (Also, if you try to talk to him after he gives you Deino, he turns into a Nonverbal NPC. Smooth.) Hey, here's the place Sydney was talking about. At least there's no stairs that bend the laws of physics. I'll admit, the town maps are really cool this time around... but the dungeons could have used some serious work. If I'm not mistaken, the only original one was the Lunar Cave from around Chapter 2 (I think) while everything else is a either a terrible palette swap and unchanged from the original game. The same items as in the last game and in the vanilla FireRed. Yawn. But hey, at least someone's actually here to challenge us for it! Siegfried roasts the giant living snowflake into nothing thanks to that critical hit. There's not even vapor left, that's how powerful Triple Soul is. At least Waterfall is actually useful now, I guess? It was just kinda there in the first Dark Rising. This again? Really? Also, I was wrong about Chapter 10 being the last time we see Nathan because there's this too. Still, it's not like he's a good character - even Dray's more charming than him, to be honest. Sure, the anime references are really stupid and out of place, but he's at least far more developed and cares about Monica. Monica sees Benga trying to attack Keldeo in the distance and teams up with Nathan to stop the hooded kids. This will never cease to amuse me, though. I know Gengar is a trade evolution, but there's just no sense in keeping them a Gastly. There's not even an emotional reason either, seeing as all of these hooded kids are puppets for Darugis. Monica explains that these guys worship Darugis, they give another hoo-rah for the guy and Benga yells about Keldeo in the background. Me and Monica share the same thoughts: ("Ugh, what is he doing?!")While I don't like him, he's still willing to fight. If he dies trying to fight Darugis, not only will I not care as much if someone like, say, our loser crew were to bite it... but he'll also slow down the bastard a bit while we get more time to think. I'm kinda cutthroat that way. He screams at the grunts to get out of here. They comply, surprisingly enough. : "It's not that easy, Nathan. Darugis is-"Nathan: "Nevermind. I'll find Darugis myself."If someone makes a drinking game out of all the times we say Darugis (ding!) throughout this game and Dark Rising 1, you will not survive even if it's non-alcoholic. Also... you really want to take on a person whose power is almost double that of Arceus (720 vs 1280 and that's just the second form) complete with a gradually increasing army made up of super Darkmons that all have stat totals higher than Kyurem at the very least?It was nice knowing you, buddy. Okay, let's stop this idiot from doing any more things... because honestly? "Leave me alone. I'm THIS close to getting revenge for my ancestors. I've got this My-Little-Pony clone cornered and trapped like a rat. Friendship and Magic can't save it!"... Excuse me, but: God fucking damn it, Dark Rising Girl. Even In-Game Monica thinks this is stupid because even she has ellipses before she decides to say anything else. Benga is so convinced about killing Keldeo that it's not even funny. The kid has problems. Then Keldeo telepathically tells Monica to stop him, although we were planning on doing that a long time ago. Bootleg Tyrantrum has Intimidate now, so that's fun. Although it didn't really mean much at the end of the day. I am still not convinced Heatran would be anywhere near enough to defeat any of the Swords of Justice. Sure, there's the level gap, but Keldeo is strong against both of its types... Not to mention the slaughter that'd happen if they all ganged up on it. Wave does another amazing thing and takes out the Volcarona despite it being way more powerful than her. This water weasel, I swear. It's one thing to go after a certain group, but it's another thing entirely to have a deep-seated hatred for literally every single Pokemon in existence just because your fucking grandfather told you a story. Monica and Keldeo bond minds and they tell him the real story, although I'm not sure that even matters because if this kid is really this far gone just from a story, then honestly there's no helping him. Blah blah, humans are pricks that wanted to expand their grasp, the Swords of Justice were only fighting back, you know the rest. He buys into the mind-bonding thing, fortunately enough. Monica tells Benga that his ancestor died trying to protect Keldeo and that shuts Benga up for good. I... don't know how or why, but I'll take it. Benga leaves while Keldeo stays behind so we can catch him. ... Honestly? Benga's entire character arc is easily the most ludicrous in the game, although second to the V complications due to that being a thing since Dark Rising 1. Lemme break it down: He decides all Pokemon are evil based on one story that his grandfather told him. Not an actual incident or him having an upbringing of always hating Pokemon (the opposite if you know how Alder's like) - no, just one story and they're all bad. Not to mention the game never seems to keep it consistent: Does he hate all Pokemon or just the Swords of Justice? The fact they never stick to one makes it especially fucking aggravating, not helping the fact that he has his own team. It's so impersonal too, because he does this for people that he didn't even grow up with - his ancestors are long gone, so even if the Swords of Justice were responsible, there'd be no reason to hunt them down unless they were actively slaughtering more people... which they're not. I guess that's the mindset behind this, but if he really wanted to show off a hatred of Pokemon, then maybe he should show that attitude with his own team? Not once does he ever belittle his own Pokemon aside from the generic "hate all Pokemon" moans. Honestly, the worst part about this is that you could remove Benga from the game and nothing would be changed. His arc impacts nothing revolving around Darugis, which is actually even worse than Jalice in that regard because at least her mom unsealed the barrier or something. The biggest problem about Dark Rising is that it has too many plot points/characters, zero focus and a lack of direction... not to mention all of the things she put in that don't even add up like Benga's story. The only consistent thing is going after Darugis and Jean Blake, but everything else is tacked on. Given that this is what we're working with, I'm sorry but I have to decline. Wait, aren't you part of Noah's party? Oh and to top it all off, he was really Siegfried in disguise. : ("What? No.")We might as well move on. I'd care more about the Milotic thing if it actually mattered. [War Agony]Why would you ever want to swim in a place like this? What could be so important here that Arceus has to stop us? Also, hi, Arceus. : "Arceus, how did you-?!": ("I freed myself from the device you used to contain me. This place, I sense something... Yes... I sense the calling of time and space. Dialga and Palkia.")You know, in hindsight, that does make perfect sense. If Arceus is actually god, then a Pokeball can't really contain him. I've always held the theory that the Arceus you catch in the real games is only like a fragment of the real one's power - like he's some eldritch abomination that hides in a dimension we can't comprehend. : "Dialga and Palkia are in this building?"Just... out of nowhere. The Space/Time dragons are in this random building in the Omni Region. There's no real lore to make sense of why they're here, they just are. Arceus also mentions that Darugis has poisoned the waterhole I mean, Darugis has cursed the water so we can't surf on it. I'm adding that to the list. : ("Yes... That is why I shall lend you my power. It is the power of god. I bestow you as a true chosen one, capable of using this power. You can now walk on water."): "... You're kidding, right?"I love how even she doesn't buy it anymore. : ("The dark waters will not harm humans, only Pokemon. When you see dark water, walk over it. I shall return to the device now.")[Arceus pops back into the Pokeball]Well... that was a thing. Honestly, with all the shit going on, Monica might as well be a 20 year old girl version of Jesus. Reasons below: * She's a chosen one * Everyone gives her shit despite her status as a messiah * She's about to sacrifice herself for the greater good * She can walk on water The only things she's missing is turning her blood into wine and the long flowing beard. Anyway, the Dimension Castle is pretty boring. I'm glad they never changed this, though. The books are just talking about Dialga and Palkia. It would be a bigger surprise if Arceus didn't straight up tell us that they're in here. That kills whatever mystery there could have been. Also, have a drugstore's worth of vitamins. Just take all of them - all that matters is cash. So as it turns out, these two TMs were here not because of anything Dark Rising Girl did, but because they're leftovers from the real game. Smoooooth. Alright, I'll bite. This would be way more appreciated if they were at level 90, but they're not. Even then, it's not like we even need them thanks to the presence of Sigurd and the rest of our overpowered entourage. Wait, was the entire point of this stupid castle just to give us Dialga and Palkia? You have this big epic name like the "Dimension Castle" but in reality it's just the Pokemon Mansion painted blue and purple with the Time and Space dragons inside. There's zero lore attached to it - Dark Rising Girl just decided to open this place up to you for some reason. It only seemed to be a stopping point for you to meet up with Arceus. You get this message if you try to use surf like normal, but did Arceus really give us the ability to walk on water? ... That he did. Except not really because you could still walk on the water even if you didn't to talk to him. It wouldn't have been that hard to create a temporary invisible blockade to make it seem like Arceus really did give us the power to walk on water. I've noticed this entire game that Dark Rising Girl and her crew have not improved when it comes to eventing because you still have to talk to NPCs even after you defeat them... among other things. The loose, patchwork feeling of how events work in Dark Rising 1 and 2 make the games feel even shoddier than they already are. Oh, and here's Overheat in a place surrounded by water. I also have to mention that even though you're walking on top of the water, you can still run into wild Pokemon... so that was fun to deal with. [City of Hopelessness]With how close we are to the end, the moody rain and the overall dark atmosphere here, it makes perfect sense to put this song out. (Oh yes, I should mention that there was a guard trainer standing at the gate to this place that didn't interact with you unless you fought him... and even when you beat him, he turned into a Nonverbal NPC. Incredible.) : "I'm tempted to punch this guy's nose in and I haven't even properly met him yet. Good start." Oh, that is not pretty. I take back my claim earlier about the town maps looking good. Oh hey, this place has its own Department Store. (It's properly labeled as such, to be fair, unlike the first game where it straight up said "Celadon Dept. Store" despite it being in Numassity) You can find Professor Mercury at the top and she'll be a bitch unless you give her some water... given how the original NPC was a bratty little girl, that's actually perfect. I wonder if the dialogue is the same if you picked the boy option. Holy shit, she actually paid attention to detail.I can't even really be like "this is totally an NPC from the normal game" because I looked it up - there's no text like this in the vanilla game. She took out the time to pay attention to detail... on a minor character we would have never seen otherwise. If only DRG did this with the important things in the game... Back in Universe One, however... This lady says she came from Mystic Falls in the Core Region and that she was too lazy to unpack her stuff... honestly, I don't understand why the boxes are even there. They're a red herring even in the real games. "White Hand... it's real... It's coming for you tonight... In your sleep. Bye"What is with this woman, I swear. So not only do you mention My Little Pony, you had to drag creepypasta into this. Show of hands: who forgot this was supposed to be a "serious" take on the Pokemon series's story again? At this point it's just a really, really, really bad fanfiction. Oh, and the kid pops out of existence because Rule of Scary. I have no idea what this key is used for or why some kid obsessed with creepypasta had it, but we'll be taking it. Jesus christ, that guy has a pretty big ego if he's willing to write down all of his wins. Too bad we can't fight him right now. who names these placesBut wait, I thought Jean Blake had a lab in... okay, screw it, I don't care anymore. There's no such thing as too evil to study, remember?If you expected anything other than the lab from Cinnabar, then you're sorely mistaken. JB: "Monica, wait. I know why you're upset with me. We need to talk.": "I thought you were going back to Fells Town to be--"Okay, this is just telling us what we already heard before. Lemme just skip to the new stuff: JB: "I know you're not proud of my decision years ago. But you need to understand, I couldn't just leave you both. So I sealed Darugis away, hoping and praying the seal would never be broken. There's a lot of things you just don't understand, Monica."So in summation, he was too much of a coward and now he's trying to find excuses to justify why he doomed his kid. He's a good dad.: "I guess I get what you're saying."JB: "Do you? I've been fighting back my emotions about all of this, but I can't anymore. You've barely lived your life, Monica. Now you're going to throw it away and die? You're my child, damn it!"Okay, he's finally shown that he does care about Monica's wellbeing instead of being a cold asshole about it. Blake: "Fine... I'll be there for the final battle. Take care of her, Sigurd. Mom and I will always be here for you.": ("It's the least I can do, sir.")Obviously, dum dum. If God is real, then anything is real. Oh hey, Dray wanted to send us his regards. He says everyone went on ahead, but he stops us because he knows we're feeling down. Monica explains that Darugis felt overwhelmingly powerful and (blech), but he tries to keep her spirits up. Also, he says this: "I may not be Super Saiyan God-Mode like you, Noah and Light are, but I can sense your doubt. You're scared of Darugis, aren't you?" The fun thing is that Dray brings up that Shadow Lugia was cheap as fuck thanks to Dark Chaos, so at least DRG is aware her games are ridiculously unbalanced. I appreciate the sentiment, dude, but... Really though, it's not that fair of a comparison after what we've already seen. I mean, you sort of have to. It's either you get cheap enough to defeat the overpowered bad guy or he wins. There's no middle ground. "Let's go inside before things get out of control in there.": "Thanks, Dray. I needed that.": "No problem, it's what I do. I'm like that guy in the anime who has to snap some sense into the protagonist every now and then."After that he tries to be like "oh, I could totally beat you if I wasn't taking it easy to make you not depressed", but I can't really get mad at him because he just told us he's nowhere near as good as we are. This is a path. It is a thing. Commentary levels dropping to critical levels, beep boop. They put a guy here to bar our progress... curse the Pokemon protagonists' inability to push people aside without using Pokemon. ... Wrong timing? Wrong timing. This is the real one we have to go to. I'm not sure why they built a Battle Tower right next to the super evil with dark clouds tower of demise. It makes a good tourist attraction, obviously. [Tower of Fanatics]It's... a purple Pokemon tower. That's about what I expected. Oh hey, Mason's here with another person that's... not Darugis. What the hell? Mason gloats about our accomplishments. The Loser Crew got annihilated by Mega Evolutions and they introduce the shady red dude right next to him. Alcina mentions that he's one of the Four Majestic Gym Leaders - the Omni Region had twelve gym leaders in total until Zale turned out to be invincible and stole work from the four of them. They disappeared for over twenty years, leaving Darugis to recruit them because why the fuck not, right? Mason mentions that Darugis is going to flood the city with the tower (somehow???) and that we have to get going. He also makes a lusty remark toward Alcina and everyone nearly barfs at it. Mason taunts him for having a temper and everyone makes it up the tower. I'll give Mason this, he's a pretty effective troll. I'll leave any questions for this place later, because trust me I have a lot.Anyway, next time on Dark Rising 2, we storm the tower and get closer towards the final battle. See you then. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team setup: (Corin, level 90, , / ) - "Yeesh. This place is pretty spooky." (Sigurd, level 97, , / ) - [Shivers] (Siegfried, level 89, , / ) - "No kidding. This feeling of dread beats out any ghost, to be honest..." (Wave, level 89, , ) - "Just gotta... keep my cool. Yeah." (Gale, level 85, , / ) - "Stay strong, guys. We're heading straight into the depths." (Beatrice, level 88, , / ) - "This place honestly gives me a chill... given how we had to deal with the undead a few years back, that's saying something." (Arceus, level 80, ) - "Haha..."--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Back-up Team: (Signe, level 88, , / ) - "The tower seems to be a burial ground... so why would they call it the Tower of Demise? That's not exactly a comforting place to bury your family." (Arthur, level 86, , / ) - "I just hope they'll be alright." (Quote, level 81, , / ) - "Yowza, that's foul. I'm not even there and I'm still getting chillzzt!" (Ambes, level 81, , ) - "It doesn't help that I have a really awful gut feeling." (Johnny, level 47, , ) - "Yeah, no kidding." (Shadow, level 60, , / ) - "... I agree with Signe, though." (Rubus, level 25, , ) - [Uncontrollable shaking] (Bellamine, level 84, , ) - [Holds Rubus in her arms] "It's alright, sweetie... Good lord, the amount of evil energy coming from that tower is enough to make my skin crawl too." (Ignell, level 82, , / ) - "I'm not going to lie, this does seem pretty grim." (Candelabra, level 82, , / ) - "You know, Ambes, I have a bad feeling too! Could it be that they...?" (Beowulf, level 56, , ) - "Hmm... I'd offer to help, but I'm afraid I'd get stomped out by whatever beast they're facing." (Linoura, level 60, , / ) - "I'm feeling sick and I'm not even close to that tower. Beowulf, what do you think is even going on in there?" (Iris, level 60, , ) - "Ah! I just thought of something. What if other Pokemon can mega evolve too?" (Lucera, level 60, , ) - "Maybe you could if you gave it a try, Iris."
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| | | Galaxite Omega Fusion Master
Gender : Posts : 391 Join date : 2016-05-16 Age : 27 Location : Wherever you want, baby~
| Subject: Re: Let's Play Dark Rising 2! (LP #4) Sun Mar 04, 2018 10:32 pm | |
| Oooh, this one's gonna be fun. Especially since we're almost at the end. Chapter #12 - Road To Dusk ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spoiler:
Right, we're in some super evil Pokemon Tower. I didn't forget. She tells us that Darugis is trying to give us the slip and that we should get going. Given how much we creamed him earlier, it makes sense that he's running away. Everyone's complaining that they can't go up the tower for some reason. Curious... You know, encountering unidentified ghosts made sense in the vanilla games because they were the only ghosts you could even fight before you got the Silph Scope... but here? We already have a Chandelure and a Shedinja. I swear if Candy is too scared to fight another ghost just because we don't have a Silph Scope, she's going in the trash.Oh hey Arceus escaped from his ball again and -- ... Convenient. Not that we even need it, to be honest. It's not like we'll fight the uber spirit of Cubone's mother or something. : ("Monica... It appears Darugis has again created an obstacle in your path."): "Yeah, the rooms above this one are filled with water. This doesn't make any sense... If the tower was flooded, shouldn't it have started from the bottom of the tower?"The logic bomb is too much for me. : ("Yes, you are indeed correct. There are forces even I cannot understand at this current time.")Really? It makes no sense for Arceus to not comprehend how Darugis is keeping a bunch of water in the same place. It... doesn't seem to be that hard of a trick? Primarina could do it and they're infinitely less powerful than the moron that is our main villain. Monica complains that she can't go up the tower or she'll drown, but Arceus barfs out another power for her: Arceus is really relying on that Splash Plate to do stuff for us, huh? Darugis gave his minions the ability to breathe water too because he's cheating as always. : "I guess you won't mind if we beat him up every day in the process?" Oh wow, an item that is completely useless! I never thought I'd get to see one of those again. Oh no, what will I do? Surely, this random dude knows what he's talking about. Monica doesn't have like a million aces up her sleeves, no. ... Cleanse Tag? Are you sure that'll really help at this point in the game? At this point, you'd need a whole exorcism. Also, say hello to the level 90 Unown again. Why do these little guys always pop up whenever we reach a stronghold for Darugis? Is it for the spooky effect? : "Uh... Thanks, I guess. How'd you even do that?" : ("The Jewel of Life, of course."): "Oooh right, I forgot it could do that." Say hello to a Spiritomb we'll never catch. Shame too, because they could have been nice to have. Maybe we'll get them in another Pokemon game. Despite all of the demonic shit going on, this is still like a memorial tower. We're looting the graves of ghosts who are all influenced by Darugis and stuff... it would have been interesting if trying to get an item also activated a forced encounter, but I doubt DRG would have had the patience to do that. Then again, she managed to figure out how to make genders work for an NPC that we would have never seen otherwise, so I really don't know where her priorities lie at. Thaaaat's creepy. Good thing we're not going to let that happen, huh? I should mention that the grunts all have up to three Pokemon with most of them being Gengar. They're not very hard and they don't really say anything interesting aside from "all hail Darugis" - that wore out its welcome real fast. I don't need to say anything about this other than cold hard cash, baby.Well, that didn't take long. Not sure why the water was even a thing or why Darugis couldn't just blow the town up with his great flaming eyebrows the absolutely broken Dark Chaos, so you got me there. Anyway, let's go ahead and: (oh jeez) [Lavos Theme][A screeching howl made up of thousands of voices echoes through the room]: ("It's you... the red Lucario!"): ("Aah! What is that?!"): ("Sigurd... you've doomed us all. Darugis exists because of you!"): "The ghosts know about his past?" : ("Listen, I didn't want any of this to happen. I... I did my part back then. What Alberich did was reckless, but he..."): ("Be quiet. Regardless of how you feel, so many people are dead because of you... You unleashed a monster into the world!"): ("It's not my fault! I'm trying my best to stop him!"): ("It's too late... too late.... You and your friends are going to die. There is no more hope in this world... all thanks to you."): ("N-no, it's not... there's still...")[He falls to his knees. Monica, Signe and Siegfried run over to him]: "Hey, lay off already! He's one of the best chances we have to defeat Darugis once and for all. All we need to do is fight." : ("... He will break you like he did us. You have yet to feel true terror, child...")[The red mist disappears]: ("Sigurd, are you alright!?")[Sigurd looks up with tears welling up in his eyes]: ("Wh... Why are you crying?"): ("All of this is because of me in the first place. I've tried really hard to be okay with it, but after thinking of all of the people that suffer because of me..."): "... No, it's not your fault." : ("Monica's right. Sigurd, listen: Both of you followed what you thought was right. You wanted to help our country. He wanted to see you again. The end result wasn't necessarily right, but nobody can really blame you. If anything, Alberich becoming the demon king and every atrocity he's done is all on him, not you."): ("But... How can we possibly match up to him now? He's invincible."): "That's the thing. You're still fighting. Even if you were responsible for him turning bad, if you just sat around doing nothing... then I'd have a problem. But you're not. In fact, you're one of my strongest guys. I... can't imagine how we could have gotten this far without you." : ("Oh... of course."): ("We'll support you no matter what. You want to help people in danger and stop more from getting hurt, right? That makes you a hero in my eyes."): ("Guys... you're..."): ("We'll find a way to take down Alberich for good! No ominous ghost message is going to keep us down!"): ("You know, I thought like you a long time ago... but then you proved me wrong. Now it's my turn. Come on - we have a demon king to dethrone."): [Wipes his tears away] ("... Ha, you got me there. You're right. Losing faith now would just make everything worse."): "I'm glad we can at least give you a confidence boost, dude." LP plots are fun to write. Anyway, we finally have Mason and these other two chucklefucks to deal with. ... Wait, how did they get past the water if we're the only people with waterbreathing? Serves you right, dum dum. "It's because of me he escaped..."Doubtful: there's not really anybody in the world that can even confront him aside from us, so I can't really blame you if he snuck away. : "I need to battle him, not you."Zale: "I will not object. Defeat him."Not like we need your approval, but at least he's willing to admit that we're strong enough to do this. "I'm afraid he's long gone. He's grown tired of this boring world. You live, you die, the end. That's all this place is! Ahahaha!"Mason is a nihilist on top of being ratfuck insane. He would fit very well in Snakewood, although given DRG that was probably intentional. : "No, I'm not here for Darugis. I'm here for you!"Zale: "Trainer, defeat this clown. If you do not, I'll do it."At least I'm not the only one sick of Mason's shit. Nathan: "You must hurry as well. The water is going to overcome this floor soon, like the ones below it."So does the water come from the ocean around it or... what? : "You people try, try, try and try time and again to bring meaning to your life. You're going to die anyway, no matter what!! YOU'RE ALL SO STUPID!!" I swear to god if this is based off of the ending of Snakewood, I will do a Bane and crack this game's spine in half... Although given how this is based off of a Game Boy Advance game, I can do that with my fingers. : "This ends now, Mason!"[Young Nobleman of Madness]Despite everything else, there's three things I can say about Mason: #1: He was really entertaining due to his lunacy. It's pretty obvious he's an homage to Snakewood and while I'm iffy about that, he at least makes the game interesting. #2: His sprite is rad as fuck. You should have asked this person to do the sprites for you, DRG. #3: He uh... deserves the Rude Crude Dudes Alarm.He starts off with a Cofa'grigus that can take a ton of punishment due to their surprising bulk. There's also the middling detail of them having Shadow Tag so you can't escape, a feature shared by their wild counterparts in the lower levels of the Tower. Normally he would have a Trevenant here, but... 100 / 55 / 101 / 190 / 110 / 110 ( 666 Total) Oh, this is gonna be trouble. Evil Candelabra is a / type with Shadow Tag again (I'm a masochist, ok) and access to Devil Flame, making her one of the most brutal Darkmons encountered so far. I'd wager to say she's the second deadliest thing in the game behind Darugis himself. To let you know how diesel she is, she managed to survive an Aura Saber. That's... pretty telling.Thankfully, a Sigurd managed to shatter her with a critical hit before she could burn him. Deadly stuff, I swear... 100 / 90 / 90 / 136 / 110 / 140 ( 666 Total) Evil Ambes, on the other hand, is a little less scary but he's still pretty dangerous. He's a / type with Lightning Rod and is one of the fastest Darkmons yet. Fortunately, he's also a giant dunce who didn't learn that attacking Ground types with electricity doesn't hurt them. But I will give him this: he's tough enough to survive an Earthquake.I'm just glad he didn't have the smart idea to use Ice Beam or Corin would have been dead by now. Mason's other Pokemon are not as interesting to mention aside from Gengar packing Destiny Bond... But so did all of his goons. (Mason is Darugis's favorite, hence why he has two Darkmons and a Mega) That sprite could uh... use a bit more work, but alright. Oh lordy, here we go. You know how the Darkmons seemed like a daunting task to take down due to them being more powerful than their normal counterparts? Well, as it turns out, the Mega Evolutions in this game are that on crack. Just... take a look at this: (+261 BST!!)Okay, all bets are off. How can you do the "fake base stat" garbage again, Dark Rising Girl? That's not how Mega Evolution fucking works. Mega Evos give a boost of 100 BST and sometimes reduce stats to meet up with that. (Such as giving Mega Beedrill 15 Special Attack to bolster their speed and attack) This? This is beyond Kaizo. Is it supposed to be justified because we have Arceus now? No. I won't accept it because it's still stupid. Nobody wants fight an uber like this just to complete the goddamn game. You guys reading have to keep in mind that not only do you have the gigantic numbers, but there's also effort values: DRG, in some vain attempt to make her villains scarier, had every one of their Pokemon have 252 EVs. For those who don't want to do the math, that increases a stat by 63 points. Due to how enemy EVs work in the Gen 3 games (I assume), all of their stats are increased by 63 points on top of having ridiculously high bases.(If I'm mistaken, someone point this out) Oh, and would you believe me that there's more? Corin, despite the impending danger, decides to take on this beast for herself. (... And did something funky with her neck) Amazingly enough, she managed to beat through whatever tricks this guy had and came out on top. Best Dragon. (In an alternate timeline, Wave did it. This game is hard, alright) "Thank you for defeating me!!"He's... thanking us for beating him. He was aware he was a menace? : "Darugis, the one who shall destroy this disgraceful planet, is gathering all of the negativity absorbed from this world and will unleash it within the next few hours.": "What?! So he's going to destroy the world now? I thought-": "You thought wrong! He's inside Hell, focusing all of power in preparation for one final attack. You can't do anything about it! DARUGIS! TAKE ME AS AN OFFERING! TAKE MY DARK SOUL AND DEVOUR IT IN YOUR DESTRUCTION! ALL HAIL DARUGIS!"I'm going to become lactose intolerant from all this cheese. Oh well, rest in pieces, Mason. You were fun while it lasted. : "Monica! Do you know what you're doing? Where there is light, there must also be dark! People like me will always exist! Can't you see? Not even you nor the god of Pokemon can change balance! You'll only destroy order! I'M HAPPY TO LEAVE THIS WORLD BEFORE ORDER IS DESTROYED! AHAHAHA! I WIN!"Okay, now you're making me losing my patience. Good riddance, jesus christ. Let's get out of here. We might as well pay Zale a visit and knock him off his perch while we're at it. It's a giant swimming pool. That's our final task. If only beating Zale in a swimming match was what we had to do, though. He claims that the fight won't be official because all of the badges rusted away or something, although I'll just chalk that up to him being a bad manager than him being undefeated. He is also a red-haired Lucian from the Sinnoh Elite Four... Interesting character design to use for a water gym. I'm curious as to where these people get the other Rotom forms because I want Quote to be a big dumb applicance. Siegfried had help from Beatrice to roast this Gyarados. You guys have to keep in mind that while these levels are normal for us... to every other normal person, they're an impossible, harrowing challenge. Like jesus christ, Beatrice got frozen. This is almost easily one of the better gyms for her to fight in and she's already at a disadvantage. Thankfully, Sleep Powder comes to save the day. I'll give Zale this: He's a pretty diesel fighter. No wonder why Alcina wanted us to fight with him. That Greninja sprite is surprisingly really good compared to the other Gen 6 Pokemon in here. Too bad Beatrice decided to have frog's legs. Well hey, at least he's a champ about it. He congratulates us and wants to see more of us in the future, but Monica's worried that she might not even live that long... Kinda depressing when you get down to it. Hey, remember this place from Chapter 3? We're finally going to explore the rest of it. Nice. Now we can finally use Flash outside of battle. We have all the badges, though! Including the one that's supposed to let us use flash. A glitch, perhaps? *Deep sigh*Okay, here we go. Let's just hope this won't suck. ...DRG was kind enough to make it a straight and narrow path with no real surprises. I do like that she didn't try to ape the horrific mind-bending level design of Snakewood and just decided to keep things simple. There she is. Oh, and it's the Mystery Dungeon sprite for Cresselia too. Nice. [Current OST: The Requiem of Shield Knight]: ("Who are you, child?"): "Name's Monica, nice to meet you. See, I'm on a quest to stop an evil overlord called Darugis and I figured we would find something in here that could help us." : ("D... Darugis, you say? So he's come back. I thought Sigurd and that man stopped him?"): "Oh snap, you know Sigurd?! Wait, you know my dad?" : ("Ah, I see... so he's chosen a new trainer to fight with. Can I see Sigurd, please?"): "Oh, sure." : ("No way. Selene, is that you?"): ("What a silly question. Of course it's me."): ("How has the fight been going since I've been sealed here?"): ("Funny you ask, because I've made a lot of progress. For one... I've got Signe and Siegfried back."): ("Hi, mama! Glad to see you're alright!")(Note: He's saying this as an affectionate nickname, not because she's his biological mother) : ("... Hello, Selene."): ("Wonderful! I'll admit, while Signe's return has me a bit curious, I can't be any happier with the both of you coming back."): "M-mama? Just how do you guys know each other?" : ("Oh right, we never told you about Selene, did we?"): ("I'm Alberich's wife, Monica. Long story short, I used arcane magic to bolster our powers so we could defeat him. Unfortunately, the price came with me turning into a Cresselia, but I accepted that going in."): "Whoa... you were his wife? Was he anything like this before he did the ritual to bring Sigurd back?" : ("No. He was a kind, thoughtful man. I fell for him because he was genuine about his feelings, but... then he started to get cold and detached. It didn't take long for him to become the man he is today."): "... That's rough, buddy." : ("Say, mama, now that you're here, do you mind helping us? Monica's a really good trainer! She's guided us this far and that's just for starters."): ("Oooh, I actually didn't think of that. You'd get along well with Miss Bellamine and the rest."): ("Heehee. It seems like you've made quite a lot of friends on your journey. What kind of woman would I be if I declined?") : "Rad. Hey, Sigurd, more of your family is coming back together. See, not everything is bad." : ("You have no idea how happy this makes me, though.")But wait! Oooops. DRG forgot to clean up the event... so you can catch an infinite amount of Cresselias. For extra confusion points, if you run away, it actually does say "The Cresselia ran away". I'm... yeah, I'm not even going to touch that one and move on. Now that Mason is dead, his grunts have all fled. Good thing, too. Well would you look at that, Kayo is the last obstacle before we get to saving the world. He's still kind of a dick, but now he's at least willing to be Monica's rival. Monica makes a speech about how she's ready to sacrifice herself so all of her friends can be safe, but Kayo wants the satisfaction of taking Darugis down himself. They fight to see who gets to go. Kayo has a much better sprite than before, but he's... just Silver with a different name. They're practically alike in demeanor and appearance. Even Dray, Florina and Sydney got some design changes to make them at least distinguishable from their actual counterparts, so I don't understand why Kayo didn't get that treatment either. That said, I feel bad for any Weavile that isn't Linoura. Gale takes Blaziken for a ride while Wave uses Zoroark as a surfboard. More overkill from Siegfried while Corin wrestles a Gyarados for exercise. Hydreigon is supposed to be Kayo's signature Pokemon, but they've never been able to match up to an Aura Saber. Tough luck, dude. I mean, if we lost to Kayo, then there's no way we could be able to fight Darugis. It's simple math. He wants us to come back alive and tells us that we're good at beating the odds. Awww. Kayo reprises the role of being the guy to tell us that the Elite Four (or in this case, the Majestic Gym Leaders) have busted Fake Base Stat Pokemon with moves that they shouldn't know. I guess Arceus is supposed to pick up the slack for us in this regard, but even then... They give each other a thumbs up and that's the end of that. A visit a day keeps the overlords away. So now we come to the Loser Crew and our final words before we march towards the final battle. They reminisce about how she was the first real threat in Monica's journey. Sydney gets all teary-eyed at how much Monica has taught her about not being an edgy Batman expy (remember, her parents were killed) and that's cool, I guess. Blake and Monica give a big old hug and he vows to find a way to bring her back once this is over. He tells us to go out there and make him proud, so forgive me if this actually moves me a bit. Dray gets so emotional that he breaks character and doesn't want to make an anime reference. Monica manages to get him to crack and they yuk it up one last time. He says that he's gonna back us up if we get in trouble, so that's sweet. I'll admit, Dray is actually my favorite character in this game aside from Mason. Florina ponders on how we could change the outcome of this so Monica doesn't have to die. In-Game Monica has resigned herself to her fate while LP Monica is like: : ("Sigurd and his family will get us out of this. I trust them and my team to get me through this. But... if for some reason I don't make it, you need to pick up after me.")Noah decides to go with Monica all the way, but she refuses because it'd be smarter for him to stay behind in case we don't cut it. They've been friends since pre-school apparently, so at least now we have a timeline for how long they've known each other. This has been a very messy game but at least everyone's decided to get decent toward the end. We also took the time to bolster our powers for the final battle. You guys better get ready for next time because it's a two parter showdown between us and the demon king's best. See you then. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team setup: (Corin, level 100, , / ) - "Are we ready guys? Let's kick some ass!" (Sigurd, level 100, , / ) - [Cracks knuckles] "This is our final stand. Let's make it count." (Signe, level 100, , / ) - "We'll finally be able to make him pay for everything he's done..." (Siegfried, level 100, , / ) - "I'll admit, what if things went differently...? Just how much could we have changed?" (Wave, level 98, , ) - "No sense in worryin' about the past, little buddy. It's all about what we're doin' now." (Candelabra, level 82, , / ) - "Yeeeah boy! Let's burn 'em up!" (Bellamine, level 100, , ) - "So this is the third time we've stood at the foot of an evil overlord's lair... I hope it's the last." (Beatrice, level 99, , / ) - "Oh, without question, I hope we never have to do anything like this again." (Arthur, level 96, , / ) - "To say I'm not nervous would be lying. But I'm still going." (Gale, level 95, , / ) - "Bring it on." (Ambes, level 100, , ) - "Miss Selene, we'll stop your husband. I know we can. You see, I have a pair of siblings that I have to take care of once this is all over... My big sis put me in charge." (Selene, level 95, , ) - "Well, aren't you the responsible one. You and all of your friends seem like impressive people... I just wish we could have met up sooner." (Arceus, level 100, ) - "... So even Selene's made her way back here... Hmm."--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Back-up Team: (Quote, level 81, , / ) - "Bzzzt! Raise some hell, guys!" (Johnny, level 47, , ) - "They're so cool..." (Shadow, level 60, , / ) - "I wish I could help, but being recon is sort of my deal..." (Rubus, level 25, , ) - "Mama! Go kick that overlord's butt! I know you can!" (Ignell, level 82, , / ) - "I'm rather content with letting them solve it. I believe in them to do it!" (Beowulf, level 56, , ) - "They're quite a team. We made the right choice going to them." (Linoura, level 60, , / ) - "Are you sure they'll be alright, though?" (Iris, level 60, , ) - "I like to believe so." (Lucera, level 60, , ) - "... Wow, that was a lot to take in."
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| | | Galaxite Omega Fusion Master
Gender : Posts : 391 Join date : 2016-05-16 Age : 27 Location : Wherever you want, baby~
| Subject: Re: Let's Play Dark Rising 2! (LP #4) Sun Mar 04, 2018 10:33 pm | |
| Not much to say other than... Chapter #13 - Pitch Black Heart ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spoiler:
: "Yes, Arceus... I have. I will use my life force to defeat Darugis. I understand I will be sacrificed so that Darugis will never return again. This is my decision. This is my choice.": ("Very well, then. After you enter the Majestic Gate and battle a Majestic Gym Leader, you will no longer be able to return. Darugis and your chosen fate awaits you at the end: The Devil's Domain."): ("... Hmm.")Couldn't have said it better myself. [Journey to the Mountain of the Demon King]Despite what Arceus said, all of the "majestic gym leaders" are separated through cave entrances like this as opposed to the normal Elite Four room-by-room format. This makes it easier because I can just use walk through walls to get back to Nurse Joy and refresh my guys every time. Also, this is what allows me to freely swap Pokemon because you'll be seeing different members of the team throughout these runs. "I am the Majestic Gym Leader Ebony. You are the first trainer in a long time to come this far. Your reign of victory will end with me. My darkness will put an end to your light.": [Yawn] "Yeah, okay, whatever." [Shadow Devil]So as it turns out, there's two Sabrinas in the game but no actual Sabrina. The "majesty" of palette swaps. Anyway, like Kayo said, the Majestics are pretty messed up, arguably even more than last time. (Holy shit, how'd she do that without a fairy typing) While their Pokemon have moves they shouldn't know, the common trash isn't as big of an issue this time around... Hence why I'm not going to post up movesets like I did for Dark Rising 1. However, there is one thing that makes them worse than anything in the first game. I'll save it for when we see them. The Lucario siblings take out the trash. : ("Ugh, so that's what I looked like when I was possessed. How... unflattering."): ("I'll admit though, it's... a rather good look on you~")[Bellamine shoots an unamused glare at him]The Majestics all have more than one Darkmon because they're servants of Darugis and you know the rest. Arthur rips into the imposter Bellamine with X Scissor and that's the end of her. 120 / 81 / 120 / 130 / 130 / 85 ( 666 Total) : ("So you've sunk as low as this... How could you, Alberich?")Oh would you look at that. Evil Selene is a / type with Intimidate and is supposed to be the middle of the Psychic Darkmons in terms of bulk. Not completely offensive like D-Bellamine but not a stone wall like D-Lumis either. Still though, you gotta admit that sprite is freakin' amazing. I love my friend's handiwork. As a testament to that bulk, she manages to survive an X-Scissor where D-Bellamine couldn't. This one was closer than I wanted it to be, but god damn Arthur gets work done even if he doesn't show up all the time. ( +292 BST!!) Ugh... here's the gimmick with the Majestics - they all have Mega Evolutions. That'd actually be rad if it weren't for the teeny detail of them being overpowered to fuck and back. This basically allows DRG to repeat what she did in the first game but even worse. You know, I thought the Darkmons I've been putting in all game were more than enough when it comes to a fair challenge and that they were pretty damn powerful as it is. Then DRG decides to one-up me by putting in Super Uber Megas that only have a flimsy "oh they're powered by Darugis" explanation to justify why they're so broken. That's not a good look. Shockingly, Arthur stuck his head into the ring and came out on top despite all odds. If you're wondering what happened to Beatrice, she couldn't escape the Shadow Tag and that knocked her out. So hey, we finally have a casualty on our side... Not that it matters thanks to my endless amount of Revives. Hey, if the game's not playing fair, I shouldn't either. Oh, I'm sorry, did your precious Mega Absol not even manage to take out a normal Escavalier? "You are now granted permission.": "Like I need any permission from you." [Scoffs]"Oooh, my! So you're the trainer strong enough to battle me. Fine, I will call upon my strongest bugs to eat you alive! Even a new purple friend of mine... Come, now!": "Genesect?!"Not sure why Genesect matters compared to the sea of Darkmons or even the Mega Evolutions. [Green Scream - Yeah, all of them have different themes don't ask me why]... Hot damn that's actually a good sprite. Devora is the best designed character in this entire series, not helped by her being (Nah not really but I couldn't help it) But still though, this is a giant step up from the first game which had... this guy as the second person instead: [Eternal screaming]Anyway, Devora's specialty are bugs. Ebony had Dark because she's an edgelord Sabrina, but seeing as Devora is an actual original character instead of just a palette swap, she's way cooler in that regard. Poor Genesect never gets a break. You know, I should be glad the Shadow Tag + Truant + Entrainment combo doesn't exist in the previous generations. (Aka. trapping an opponent in by spamming protect every other turn, leaving them unable to stop you) If you can see it coming then there's no reason you should get caught by it, but it's always amazing to watch if someone gets it off. Arthur just barely scrapes past his evil counterpart. So far he's been the MVP in terms of Darkmon and Mega kills. 100 / 96 / 90 / 120 / 100 / 160 ( 666 Total) Wow, her only appearance in the entire game and it's through her dark counterpart. Evil Sathala is a / type with Sturdy because Darugis saw what she did in the first Dark Rising (vs. White Kyurem) and was so impressed by it that he gave her Sturdy out of respect. She's also the fastest Darkmon period due to her ridiculous 160 speed. Unfortunately, Sturdy didn't act like a free Focus Sash until Gen 5. Before then, it simply protected you from One Hit Kill moves that nobody used anyway. Sigurd takes her out in a fl-- wait a fuckin' second SHE'S STILL ALIVENow that's some perfect flattery and a ton of chutzpah. Too bad I decided to go for the overkill route to prevent them from making a similar comeback. 100 / 70 / 96 / 175 / 105 / 120 ( 666 Total) Ooooooh, this is a good one. Evil Beatrice is a / type with Shadow Tag and is arguably my favorite Darkmon design aside from the Cresselia and Gardevoir ones. I'm kinda sad we didn't make playable versions of these guys, but at the same time all we really need to beat the game is Sigurd. See? One swing and she's dead. Hell, even regular Beatrice could have beaten her up if she wasn't currently recovering from the last one. (If you're wondering why her and Evil Sathala are on an otherwise bug team, think of how bugs are attracted to flowers.) ( +255 BST!!) Devora's ace in the hole is her Mega Heracross, although you wouldn't be able to tell thanks to how easily Siegfried burned her out with Triple Soul. The terrifying thing is that if she lived through the Triple Soul, the burn would actually double her attack due to Guts. I can only imagine what kind of Majin Buu level destruction would happen if she got even one attack off in that state. Well, there goes one of the few decent trainer sprites in the game. I guess you were a thing. (In hindsight, who names their kid Devora?) This guy doesn't even look human. Okay, I'm sorry, but... I imagined this instead: Seriously though, here's the text because why not, right: "You... you're the one worthy of battling me?! Hah! Don't make me laugh. I will crush you into oblivion. Your Pokemon may not make it out here in one piece, kid. Are you prepared to see them in pain and misery?! Monica! I'll show you how a real Pokemon trainer battles!": "You're a bit too enthusiastic for someone that's about to lose." [Forever Torment]He's a gray-skinned Crasher Wake. Man, what kind of stuff did Darugis feed to this guy? Oooh, that's right, Candelabra was here. A Flamethrower from her is about as good as Triple Soul so yowza that's a lot of fire power. Meanwhile, Corin smashes these two together in the same quake. : ("It... it's me?!"): ("You miss big sis, don't you? Well, you're in luck: I'll send you straight to her."): ("... Oh, you're evil alright.")(Steel conducts electricity, right? So have this squeaky electric mouse along with your big bad steel mons.) The memes have come full circle and in the best way possible.For those of you that don't keep up with the running gag, Ambes getting frozen has been a staple since Snakewood - the game he appeared in. What makes this especially delicious is that he got frozen by his evil counterpart in the most high-stakes battle he's ever been in. To see the game acknowledge this and have him get frozen is an amazing twist of fate even if it's technically a bad thing for me. : ("Ngh...! I have a family to defend! Shine, Spark... everyone...! I've fought too hard for this to be the end!")[Ambes breaks through the ice and slams the Darkmon copy with a Signal Beam]: ("Sis passed on so we could live our life. You may look like me, but you lack everything I am.")But not only does he survive the freeze and beat the meme, Ambes also takes down his far more powerful evil counterpart in a one-on-one. Just... Holy fuck. ( +234 BST!!) Ooooh lordy, here we go. Guys, do you see what I see? I've said it before and I'll say it again: WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR MAJOR MALFUNCTIONIt's even worse this time around because at least Regigigas was Normal type and slightly weaker... but naw, this time we have a Pokemon that's infamous for Defense (Mega Aggron canonically has 230 Defense) combined with the same amount of health that makes even the Darkmons a hassle to kill... on top of being able to dish out Iron Slams with the same strength as a hydrogen bomb. The worst part is that they're not even the biggest offender for Dark Rising, and that's just horrifying. : [Deep breaths] ("That... that one was a tough one to crack even for me.")Sigurd had to go extra ham on this guy and use all of his strength just to take him out. Interesting, you say? Basically, he tells us that his name is Drakon and that Darugis will let him live when he starts destroying the world. Sorry buddy, but LP!Darugis isn't even willing to let part of his family (people he deeply loved, by the way) live through the apocalypse... let alone some rando. Hell, even In-Game Darugis will just throw you away after he loses interest in you. [Enter the Void]He's a red-haired Grimsley with the same color scheme (more or less) as Zale from earlier. Are they connected? Nah. Even if they were, it'd be too late in the game to care anyway. His specialty is Dragons if you couldn't tell through his wonderfully crafted name. Also, wow this is the fourth time Bellamine has been frozen. Her and Ambes are the biggest victims of freezing throughout my let's plays. Now if only there were some person out there was bored enough to count how many times people get frozen. Future Dan: I got you, fam. In fact, funny thing, Bellamine has been frozen more times than even Ambes! Here's the stats - * Jeanne: Once ( Snakewood Chapter 14) * Ambes: 3 times ( Snakewood Chapter 5, 20 and now Dark Rising 2 Chapter 13) * Beatrice: 3 times ( Snakewood Chapter 12 / Dark Rising 2 Chapter 7 and 12) * Bellamine: 4 times!! ( Snakewood Chapter 29, 30 / Dark Rising 1 Chapter 12 / Dark Rising 2 Chapter 13) ... And wouldn't you know, they're all Pokemon that made their debut in the Snakewood let's play. Bellamine thaws out and turns this Dragonite's brains to mush. You don't mess with Gardemom. Even more impressive is that she does it even to Goodra! (Aka. a Pokemon that is infamous for their special defense) Ice terrifies dragons, hence why Evil Jeanne is here. Plus, type coverage. Sigurd swipes this Salamence out of the air. Pretty sure Mega Salamence would be the only way to reasonably threaten Sigurd aside from Fairies. : ("Back for more, huh?!"): ("You're not even worthy of master's power!"): ("Whatever you say, buddy. You cheap fakes can't even slow us down!")( +261 BST!!) Oh gee, that's no good. Charizard X is even more powerful than Evil Ignell on top of having a Dragon typing. This is easily the scariest Mega in the game and by far one of the most difficult opponents to defeat that aren't the variations of Darugis. No wonder Dark Rising Girl wanted you to use Arceus. Thankfully Sigurd just barely takes the win for us and obliterates the guy in a neat and precise X-cut. : "Damn right." Drakon talks about how we're able to change fate - something I find especially hilarious considering what I have planned. He also mentions stuff about us being human, but I don't think the gray Crasher Wake guy is even human anymore... or Devora for that matter, considering how bugs flocked to her like a Disney princess. Oh boy, here we go - the final act. Guys, I just want you to brace yourselves. [Giygas's Intro]This is where things start to get... different. I'll cover the game canon ending in a separate gaiden chapter because this is something I've been working towards since even the end of the first game. : ("This is it, Monica. The fate of every living thing on this planet rests on you... Are you ready to feel so terrified that you can't even speak?"): "I... I'm not afraid. I've come this far for a reason and that's to stop you from causing more harm. You're going to pay for everything you've done." : ("Oh, the 'bold hero' act. I guess even you can't resist that when things look dire for you. Let me make this simple for you: I am at the peak of my powers. You are on my turf. I will end you and every single disgusting thing on this planet without a second thought. You all deserve that much for pushing me this far."): ("Alberich, all of us will stop you. You've done this for far too long..."): ("It's time to put the past behind us.")[Disappeared]: ("You've... even brought Selene here. Hmph. No matter. Everything you're fighting for... all the people you've helped, the Pokemon you've saved... Get ready to watch it all disappear.")I don't even need to say how important and gut-bustingly difficult this fight is. 110 / 110 / 90 / 190 / 110 / 130 ( 740 Total) For one, he took the Mewtwo that originally worked with Giovanni and corrupted him into a / type with Pressure. I know it's actually a down-grade compared to the Mega Form that had over 800+ BST before, but hey... nobody ever said becoming a Darkmon was going to be fun. Fun fact: D-Mewtwo and Sigurd share the same stat total, hence why it's different than the ones that had a 666 total before. Anyway, this was the team-setup for Darugis before I interfered and turned it into this: Basically, it's a line-up of his favorite Darkmons. It makes more sense this way instead of just having all of the Megas of the other team members. (Which, by the way, would also be violating how Mega Evolution works because you can only have one Mega out at a time) Sigurd dices the Mewtwo into pieces as their final punishment while Corin swamps another clone of her. There he is. The man, the legend, the ultimate reason why I checked out this series in the first place, the reason why Sigurd's plot even exists: Darugis's final form.Just check this shit out, alright? ( +150 BST!!) Mother of god, how is anything supposed to compete with this? This is beyond god-like - literally, this is almost double Arceus's power complete with a 200 base power Dark move that's guaranteed to poison. I don't think I can say it any better than in this gif right here: Because you know, at this point it's just wacky. : ("WHAT?!"): ("Oh, did you really think that was going to work again? Sorry, Sigurd, but I've finally developed a resistance against that damn Aura Saber of yours. Now it's my time to show you what it's like.")[Darugis used Demon Wing!]Oh... Keep in mind that's a 2x effective attack against Sigurd considering he's part Fighting-type. Yeah, he's dead. : ("If only you stayed behind with me... maybe you could have lived longer.")Jeez! Overkill, much? : ("Sigurd! Signe! Ah..."): ("Charge at him with everything we've got!")[All of Monica's other Pokemon rush at Darugis][Siegfried uses Triple Soul!]Did... Did Bellamine really land the final blow on Darugis despite being a regular-ass Gardevoir? She's the most badass mama I've ever seen. I swear to god this really happened, too. I was just about to give up and then Bellamine comes in with the final attack and dunks the fucker. That... this does wonders for her character. Unfortunately... [Darugis steadily regenerates]: ("... Hahaha! Good effort, but did you forget this is my domain?"): ("M-monster! How can you come back so quick--")[A wave of purple fire engulfs Bellamine]: ("It... It can't... Rubus, I'm sorry...")[She collapses]: ("Looks like you finally ran out of time. Maybe you can think it over in the next life, teehee.")... This is without a doubt our darkest hour yet. I hate to be the one to do the cliffhanging... but next time on Dark Rising 2, we get to see the ending. See you then. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team setup: (Corin, level 100, , / ) - [???] (Sigurd, level 100, , / ) - [???] (Signe, level 100, , / ) - [???] (Siegfried, level 100, , / ) - [???] (Wave, level 98, , ) - [???] (Bellamine, level 100, , ) - "We didn't make it..." (Beatrice, level 99, , / ) - [???] (Arthur, level 96, , / ) - [???] (Gale, level 95, , / ) - [???] (Candelabra, level 100, , / ) - [???] (Ambes, level 100, , ) - [???]--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Back-up Team: [-Transmission lost-]
Last edited by Galaxite Omega on Tue Aug 07, 2018 7:19 pm; edited 1 time in total | |
| | | Galaxite Omega Fusion Master
Gender : Posts : 391 Join date : 2016-05-16 Age : 27 Location : Wherever you want, baby~
| Subject: Re: Let's Play Dark Rising 2! (LP #4) Sun Mar 04, 2018 10:34 pm | |
| It's time to make a comeback. Chapter #14 - Fallen Brothers (Finale) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spoiler:
Last time on Dark Rising 2, we got obliterated by the Demon King. Let's see what happens, shall we? [Current OST: Battle Against The Masked Man][Monica's Pokemon lie defeated at Darugis's feet]: ("Ahahaha! Even you couldn't be enough to get rid of me. I actually feel kind of sad for what I'm going to do to you and your friends."): "N... no... it can't end like this. I've fought so hard just to get here..." : ("Monica... No matter what...")[Sigurd struggles to stands up and manifests a dim-glowing aura saber. His body is covered in gashes] : ("If I'm going down... I'll die fighting for you.")[Signe gets up and manifests a red aura saber]: ("You're the one that made a difference..."): "Guys..." : ("Oh, how touching. You really think this little emotional display is going to make a difference? Though I do commend you for standing up even after taking the brunt of my attacks. That makes this more interesting, I suppose."): ("Alberich, there may have been a time where we loved you... but this is the end."): ("He's right... Millennia of strife and anguish will come to an end tonight, even if it means killing ourselves in the process."): ("... You're always there to bother me, Selene. Maybe I should have ripped out your tongue just so I wouldn't have to hear your voice. You, our family and the rest of these garbage beings have been a thorn in my side for as long as I can remember, but now? It's finally time to say goodbye.")[Darugis surges with black lightning - Monica's Pokemon close around her and brace for impact][A light pierces through the void]: "Wh... whoa!" [The light emanates from both the Jewel of Life and the Link Gem - Recover The Light](For those of you that forgot, the Link Gem is a fusing gemstone based off of the technology of the DNA Splitters...) : ("The gems... But how?!")[The visage of Mani briefly appears]: ("Could it be... ?"): "Miss Mani?!" : ("Use the Link Gem, Monica! It is the key to your survival..."): ("Oh I see... "): ("That's our only choice, it seems. Monica, are you ready?"): "... Yeah. It's worth a shot! Let's do it!" [The Lucario siblings, Siegfried and Monica all put their hands on the Link Gem. An overwhelming light washes over the room][Live-A-Live]: "Darugis... no, Alberich. We weren't able to stop you individually, but combined..." [They summon a red and blue Aura Saber in each hand]: "Not even you can survive this." : ("... Haha! Excellent! I was wondering if you had any more tricks up your sleeve. Now... what do you even call yourselves?"): "Paragon.": ("Interesting. Well... since we're not pulling our punches anymore, I suppose you've earned the right to see my real face.")[Dark energy flows around Darugis and explodes in a pillar of purple flame. It clears to reveal a white-haired man][Zero-Two]: "Let's dance." Alright, let me just break down these... beasts for you. The Evil Sigurd may have appeared in Bonus Chapter #4 for Snakewood (aka. Chapter 31), but this is where it makes its first real appearance. It is / type with Intimidate and has the following stats: 110 / 160 / 100 /150 / 100 / 120 ( 740 Total) It is basically the ultimate Darkmon due to having (almost) the same stats as the real Sigurd and comes with Aura Saber to boot. Not only that, I think it looks bad-ass. Forgive me for copy-pasting, but: the sprite was not actually made by The Composer but instead another one of our friends, Zangbite. It's an old sprite from 2007 or so but it fit so much that I just had to use it. - Meanwhile, on the player side of things, we have Paragon. Good god. You thought Sigurd was overpowered? Feast your eyes on what is easily one of the most overpowered assets I'll ever have in a Pokemon game, hacked or not. (Also, I'll never thank The Composer enough for the sprites.) Due to being a quad fusion between Sigurd, his sister, Siegfried and Monica, they have the following stats: 200 / 200 / 200 /200 / 200 / 200 ( 1200 Total) Oh, but that's not all. They are / and have access to 2X Saber (a 225 power move), Triple Soul (a 200+ power move), Psychic and Void Bomb. Time to shred the game into space dust. Despite Evil Sigurd being one of the most powerful Darkmons I've put into the game, it gets dusted immediately. Paragon is in an entirely different league, my friends. We also get Evil Siegfried back for what he did to The Best Mom (Bellamine). : "They were diversions at best. Now I'm the only one left." There he is.The Composer also made his human form sprite... because out of everything I could have thought for the final battle, fighting Alberich as a man and not as a monster made the most sense to me. (Plus it's way better looking than the monstrosity of a sprite his other form had.) But trust me when I say he's still stupid overpowered even with Paragon on our side. 235 / 235 / 235 /235 / 235 / 235 ( 1410 Total) He gained 30 points from his other form and it's like... why did I do this? I just made it harder for me, especially considering we don't have a quad resistance against Dark Chaos anymore... I guess I really am a masochist after all. Yeah, Triple Soul barely did anything to him but christ if this isn't cool. Jeez. The two of them clashing is enough to destroy the planet by itself. I removed the Ghost typing from Darugis-Alberich, but... 2X Saber still only cuts out half of his health. Keep in mind, that is a 225 super effective move boosted by STAB that also burns 100% of the time.I understand that Arceus is meant to be used here due to Judgement also being broken, but WOW. Again, this isn't Dragon Ball Z where you can get away with ridiculous power levels. This is just bad game design due to the game cheating against the player - I would never even make Sigurd or Paragon in the first place if things were just balanced! Christ. I nearly lost even with the overpowered fusion-mon I put in, by the way. Then there's the times I had to retry because Dark Chaos kicked my ass. That's... unforgivably disgusting. : "Goodbye, Alberich." [Paragon used 2X Saber]: "In... incredible..." [Alberich falls to the ground with a pool of black blood surrounding him][Paragon unfuses into their components]: "Hot damn... I think we did it." : ("But... but what if he tries to regenerate again?"): ("... Something tells me that won't be an issue anymore.")[Sigurd points towards the large gaping wound on Alberich's body. It widens into smaller cracks][Monster of God]: "So... this is it. You finally got me, Sigurd. Centuries of struggle... and you and your friends come out as the victors." : ("I just have to ask: Why? Why did you put us in so much pain? What was the point of this?"): "... I guess you could say this is my punishment. What better way to end someone like me than this? Going out in a blaze of glory by the hands of the people you loved." : ("So that's what this was about...") : "... Oh, Selene. I wish things didn't have to be like this, but..." [Darugis raises an arm and summons a Darkmon in the shape of Sigurd]: "He's still strong enough to fight?!" : ("No...")[The fake Sigurd cradles Alberich's body]: "Monica. You put up a hell of a fight. I'm glad we were able to meet at least. Can't imagine what I would have done to the world if you didn't get in the way..." : "... I see. Good riddance." : ("... Alberich. I just want to say I'm sorry for the incident that caused all of this."): "Ha... what have you got to apologize about? If anything..." [The cracks spread across his entire body - the fake Sigurd holds him close]: "I'm the one that's not good enough for you." [He and the fake Sigurd fade into black dust and blow away in the wind.]: ("S-So... that's it."): "... Damn. He actually seemed to be a decent guy underneath all the Demon King stuff... even if that doesn't excuse the hundreds of years of torture he's inflicted on other people." : ("I'll always remember him not as Darugis, but instead for the man he used to be... Truthfully, he deserved far worse, but I'm just happy this is finally over."): ("Exactly."): ("You two are way more forgiving than I could ever be... But that just leaves the question of what to do now that Darugis is gone.")[Arceus steps into the room]: ("Impressive work, young one. You went above and beyond our original plan."): "Arceus? Well... thanks, I guess. Honestly, I just want to go home and sleep after this." : ("Ah, yes. You deserve a good rest after all you've endured... but first, we have to record your legacy in the Hall of Fame as the person who defeated Darugis. Do you mind coming with me?"): "... Huh. We did just kill the legendary demon king and stopped a centuries-old reign of terror, so... hell yeah, sign me on." : ("Excellent.")[Monica follows Arceus into the next room]: "... The hell? It's pitch black. I can't see anything." : ("Oh... don't worry about that. You won't need your eyes for much longer anyway.")[Arceus lets out a mocking laugh]: "What?" : "Wh... what's wrong with me? I can't even stand..." [The Fallen Child]: ("I've finally got you where I want you."): "You're... you were never Arceus after all, were you?" ["Arceus" transforms into a Hoopa](The Hoopa sprite you're seeing was made by Falgaia for the Smogon X/Y Sprite Project. Thanks for letting me use it, dude.) : ("You're not very bright, are you? I'm glad we could meet - my name is Loki. The other person that gave everything for Sigurd."): ("Loki... How did I know you would come back to us like this?") : ("I wish I could savor this family reunion a bit more, but you did just kill Alberich. Good job, but we still anticipated such a thing would happen. That's why I'm here."): ("Ugh... so he still had a back-up plan.") : "I'm so confused. I thought he was being genuine back there...?" : ("He was. Master was a bleeding heart even when he was the Demon King. Me, on the other hand...") : ("I've always been fond of tricks."): ("Don't you dare hurt Monica or we'll make you regret it.")[The other Pokemon back Corin up]: ("Oh, I'm petrified. Heh. I have a surprise for all of you, too.")[A wave of miasma flows through the room - Monica's team collapses]: ("What...? It's poison!"): ("It's... sapping my strength away... What kind of attack is this?!"): ("Oh no..."): "Guys...?" [Monica's life force rapidly drains out of her body]: ("We may have lost our leader, but there's still me. I'll continue where he failed... and I'll use your strength to get even farther than he did. Don't you feel proud?"): "... Nice trick, but you can't hold me down with something like that." : ("What?! But... but you're just a human! You should be dust!")[Prologue][The purple glow of the Link Gem illuminates Monica's face]: "If I hadn't gone Paragon immediately before this, you might have got me there. Too bad for you, huh?" : ("N-no! This wasn't supposed to happen!"): ("... Oh well, I'll just have to get rid of you the normal way."): "You don't... get it, do you?" : ("Oh?"): "Don't underestimate the bond between a trainer and their Pokemon. Isn't that right, Sigurd?" : ("Oh please, do you really-")(Zor, you are The Best for making this animation.) [Loki is smeared against the ground. He lies in a puddle of his own blood] [Sharp gasp]: ("Agh... But I thought you were knocked out..."): ("Not exactly. Your little chemical trap is nothing compared to what I've endured to get here."): ("I see... I was hoping it'd be enough to at least slow you down, but..."): ("Your friends don't seem to be as durable. That stab did hurt, but it'll take far more than that to get rid of me."): ("Don't try it, Loki. You've never been a match for me."): ("Don't lie. You've always had help... But now I'm afraid you're all alone. Even Monica can't help you against my real strength.")[Loki's body surges with purplish-red miasma that illuminates the room. He pulses with power as he changes into a giant beast-like form with six arms]: ("I'll tear all of your limbs off, one by one.")[Mabinogi Final Boss Theme](The Unbound sprite was also made by Falgaia for the Smogon X/Y Sprite Project. Unfortunately since I couldn't really fit it into the game without it looking uh /good/, I had to photoshop it in. Oh well.) Believe it or not, this is not just something I shoved in. You actually do encounter a Hoopa that disguises themselves as Arceus for some godforsaken reason, but I at least tried to build it up over the course of Dark Rising 1 and 2 so it wouldn't completely come out of nowhere like in the actual game canon. Anyway, Loki here is tremendous. He comes with the following stats: 200 / 170 / 145 /170 / 130 / 130 ( 945 Total) Like hot damn. It doesn't help that Sigurd's fighting solo against him for this one... If he doesn't make it, the world is kaput, basically. Not helped by him having Brick Break and Swords Dance. If Sigurd didn't have Intimidate to halve his attack, he would have gotten mutilated by that. However... even a monster like Loki's Unbound form isn't enough to really slow Sigurd down. Yes, even with those stupidly high stats, Sigurd still wipes the floor with him. That's pretty terrifying. [Sigurd used Aura Saber!]: ("It can't be... even all the power I stole wasn't enough to keep up with you..."): ("... You've already done enough.")[Loki turns back into his Confined form and lies against the ground]: ("... Sigurd?"): ("What?"): ("It's over, isn't it?"): ("... I would hope so.")[The lights dimly turn back on. Monica and her Pokemon get on their feet]: "Sigurd! You're alright." : ("I suppose."): ("Wait... before you go, I just want to say something.")[Love Like You]: ("... I'm surprised you're still able to talk with these wounds."): ("What is it, Loki?"): ("Me and Alberich... where did it start to go wrong?"): ("... The moment you couldn't trust your own family with your problems. But that's alright. We'll still miss you.")[Selene rubs her face against his]: ("You're too kind, Selene. If things were different, I... I..."): ("That's enough. You don't need to say anything else. What happened in the past... it doesn't matter now."): ("Yeah... I've never been good at giving speeches, so I'll just leave it at 'I'll miss you'."): ("To think... all of this happened because I couldn't stop myself from acting like a hero."): ("Nah. Don't feel bad about that. What we did was our own fault... and even then, you're braver than we could ever have been... "): ("Take care of our family... and Monica too.")[Loki lies limp in Signe's arms]: "So that's it, huh?" : "... Yeah. Now I'm sure. Let's go home." : "Let me help you there, buddy." [Monica holds him up by the arm]Well, that's it, guys. We won. In the context of the LP-specific ending, this is way less grim... and that's the one we're going with. Dark Rising 2 was... an experience. Granted, not exactly a good one, but it was still interesting to say the least. It was a huge step-up from Dark Rising 1 in terms of graphics, originality and gameplay. It was overall less painful, although the final battle was even more bullshit than the first game's. To be fair though, there were still some genuinely cool moments... I just wish the rest of the game was more balanced and less grind-heavy. Not to mention, it would have helped if the plot was better-written - the default ending infuriated me to the point where I had to make one for the LP itself. (Bad palette Venusaur says hi) Ultimately, it was a frustrating game and I don't agree with the decisions she made, but in some weird way... I still had fun. Well, I had fun my way. Anyway, before I get too sappy, all I can really say is... Thanks for watching..... [Set Love Like You to this timestamp]: "... Do you think they're finally at peace?" : ("Yeah. They can't hurt anybody again... and they won't suffer either. Living like that for that long... it seems like a nightmare, doesn't it?"): "... Hey listen, I'm just happy I was able to be with you." : ("Me too. But Monica... promise me that you'll let me go once I'm gone."): "... Yeah. That's part of growing up, isn't it?" : ("Let's make it count.")[A gentle breeze blows past the plains]-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Final setup: (Corin, level 100, , / ) - "We made it! Let's celebrate... and for real this time!" (Sigurd, level 100, , / ) - [At the grave-site with Monica] (Signe, level 100, , / ) - [Twirling in joy while holding Siegfried up] (Siegfried, level 100, , / ) - "Isn't it wonderful, sis!?" (Wave, level 98, , ) - "Gotta admit, I didn't think we'd be able to do it... good thing I was wrong!" (Candelabra, level 100, , / ) - "I'm just happy the world didn't blow up or something." (Bellamine, level 100, , ) - [Holding Rubus in her arms] "I can finally raise my son in peace... Not to mention, Jack and the others will be overjoyed to know Monica's safe." (Beatrice, level 99, , / ) - "It feels like we woke up from a nightmare. What an ordeal..." (Arthur, level 96, , / ) - "Aye! I've never been so afraid in my life. But I guess that's what we have friends like you for." (Gale, level 95, , / ) - "... You know, despite everything that happened, I can't get mad. I don't know why that is." (Ambes, level 100, , ) - "I did it, big sis! Shine, Spark... your brother's coming home!" (Selene, level 95, , ) - "This is what I've been fighting for ever since that day... Alberich, rest in peace."--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Back-up Team: (Quote, level 81, , / ) - "Wow! They did it! Jeezzt... this is too much excitement, even for me bzzt." (Johnny, level 47, , ) - "Let's party!!" (Shadow, level 60, , / ) - "Already ahead of you." [A pile of apple cores is next to him] (Rubus, level 25, , ) - "I wanna see the look on Jack's face when we come back. He'll flip, mama!" (Ignell, level 82, , / ) - "Ho-ho! Now we can rest easy. " (Beowulf, level 56, , ) - "Good haul. To the victors go the spoils!~" [Starts eating a bunch of apples] (Linoura, level 60, , / ) - "Beowulf, Shadow, I know we're happy to be alive, but don't start hogging the food!" (Iris, level 60, , ) - "Everyone's having fun! That's good enough for me." (Lucera, level 60, , ) - "I'm kind of glad we never got involved with any of the fighting... I prefer my face not being mangled, thank you."
Last edited by Galaxite Omega on Fri Sep 28, 2018 4:16 am; edited 2 times in total | |
| | | Galaxite Omega Fusion Master
Gender : Posts : 391 Join date : 2016-05-16 Age : 27 Location : Wherever you want, baby~
| Subject: Re: Let's Play Dark Rising 2! (LP #4) Sun Mar 04, 2018 10:34 pm | |
| Oh boy, here we go. Chapter #14-2 - Crumbling Hope (Bad Ending) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spoiler:
Alright, the good ending was fine and I'll never give it up, but how about we take a look at the actual ending of Dark Rising 2? I just hope you guys are ready, because... there's a reason why I made my own. A clarification before we get into anything: This is the alternate timeline where we killed Sigurd back in Chapter 2.5 of Dark Rising 1. Yes, Monica somehow managed to power through all of the first game and most of the second without him... if that doesn't say anything about her character, then jesus christ. She still managed to recruit Signe thanks to Siegfried, the adorable little bum. This is one thing that I'm kind of glad Dark Rising Girl put in - Arceus is obscene. Not only does he have 150 in every stat, Judgement is arguably even more broken than any of the custom moves I've put into the game myself. I'll show you how in just a bit. I will also take the liberty of transcribing this dialogue because you need to see this. "At last... You are all here to witness the end of the human race and every Pokemon on this planet.": "No, Darugis. I'm here... with my friends... As long as they support me, I have the power to do anything! I Am No Longer Afraid!"[Sydney smiles]Oh boy, we're gonna use ~the power of friendship~ to stop the demon king. [Florina smiles]Nah. Nah mate, I'm still confused. : "I No Longer Doubt Myself!"[Dray smiles]: ("Okay, we get it. Spare me the theatrics.")Anyway... do I even give the actual battle a proper song? Uh... how about this? ( Yes, good.)Darugis's team is made up of the aces of the other Elite Four members and... himself? It's explained away as him creating a Pokemon shaped like himself... or something. (???) Even with Arceus on my side, this is still the dumbest thing ever... but at least I won't get to suffer for it. Anyway... Judgement, right? Feast your eyes on this carnage. Mewtwo Y goes first thanks to their ridiculous speed stat and we get to demonstrate that Arceus has Color Change. I like that they at least try to emulate how Arceus controls, but it'd also be better to use a better base. Anyway, the best part about Judgement and why it's arguably even more overpowered than the likes of 2X Saber, Triple Soul or Void Bomb... It's a guaranteed Ancient Power boost every time. By that I mean it increases every stat by one stage. Given how you'll be spamming it until Darugis's team is space dust, Arceus can easily become one of the most disgusting creatures on the planet. DRG, I'm glad you decided to put in a super-mon after the hell that was the first game, but... this still isn't how you do game balance. The other dorks get swept away by Literally God and build up his strength even further. Darugis tries to keep up, but... Damn. I gotta admit, that's arguably the most satisfying thing that doesn't come from my own efforts. Good shit. : "THIS IS IT!! EVERYONE, ATTACK NOW!!"Literally everyone in the room: "GOODBYE, DARUGIS!"They yelled so hard it broke my computer. ("Just don't let my friends experience this..."): "NO! I AM DARUGIS! I AM YOUR TRUE GOD!": "SILENCE!"("I will stop time for all of your friends.")Who do you think you are? Dialga Brando? : ("Thank you... I'm ready now.")[Arceus begins to absorb the positive energy from Monica]At this point all of Monica's friends (and Benga) freak out and want to help, but I'm sorry friendos. You can't stop the wheels of Dookey Destiny. That'd be a nice thought, huh? : ("WHAT?! NO, NOT AGAIN! NOOO!")All caps Darugis makes me think of Skeletor. NYAAAH HE-MAN."Inside Pandora's Box.": ("Monica, come.")[Arceus slides into the next room without even changing his direction](It is as janky as it sounds.) [Armageddon]: "I'm proud of the fate I've chosen."Don't be. : ("Yes, Monica. Be proud.")[Monica's life force begins to rapidly drain away - her Pokemon are immobilized by the miasma]: ("Arceus? I was never Arceus. Because...")[Monica faded away]: ("You were never chosen by Arceus. I was talking to you the whole time.")This is the dumbest, most Shyamalan plot twist I've ever seen in anything. Holy shit.: ("... Hahahaha! Good job, Loki. I don't even need to be around anymore... you'll do my job just fine.")oH that is a good spriteSorta looks like Hoopa is trying a Big Boss cosplay but it came out... wrong. Where do I even begin with what just happened. So... we seal away Darugis only for some fartknuckle Hoopa to show up right the fuck out of nowhere to kill Monica and basically steal Darugis's spot as the big bad villain. Why? Because it's a shocking twist, don't you know. Let's ignore that it makes no sense in any way ( especially the "turning into Arceus" garbage) and the fact it extends the series for longer than it honestly deserved. Really, the series should have ended when we got rid of Darugis. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take out the trash.
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