No real spoilers
Butch:
I did play and I do have thoughts but it's BOOK SALE DAY so I'll wait to share thoughts until after the hunt.
Will it be a trove of stinky wisdom or just rows of fifth print James Patterson books? We shall see.
This one usually sucks, but it's where I found that autographed Barack Obama one, so I have to go to it every year because of that. Superstition, you know.
Loothound:
Good luck. Do you run into a lot of old Dick Francis novels? For some reason whenever I stop by yard sales and such there are always old Dick Francis novels.
I also played, but I'll wait to see where you're at before chiming in.
Feminina:
I didn't play, but I think I'll do one more run. Can't decide who to romance next.
Loothound:
Have you done Pan yet? Sure as hell I ain't gonna do it.
Butch:
Yeah, I was pretty surprised that you could flirt with Pan. Not sure that made sense.
Went to the apartment, sang with Apollo (liked that), flirted cuz of course, met Oracle (if Oracle does not get a song I want my money back), talked to everyone at the club and had to go get Junior at work before going to meet Persephone which'll drive Looty nuts cuz Looty wants to talk about whatever song is coming next.
Eros is kind of awesome.
We got some THEMES here, don't we? Not wanting to see the future, not wanting fate or destiny, being locked in. They can't let the past go, they'll be trapped by the future if they know what it is. Lot to chew on. I'm still chewing.
From an art design perspective, I'm wondering why they chose to make the songs (at least two of the three I've done) take place "elsewhere." Lost Girls faded to that tree/pond/stage thing, "What did I do?" faded to a lighthouse. They didn't take place on the same "set," for some reason. I don't have a problem with it. I thought the whole progressing shadows of Calliope and Apollo were used quite well as a dramatic device. Still, it's interesting that they consciously made this choice of "changing the set" to something more abstract when the music starts.
Off to see how much these books are worth.
Loothound:
I noticed the "change of set" thing, as you call it, and assumed that it was meant to be read as a manifestation of Grace's muse magic. I like it, because the scene changes to fit the tone of the song, and I think that's something else that changes with the decisions you make during the musical number.
Again, this came up in spades with the Persephone thing, so…
Feminina:
I have not romanced Pan, but I saw you can, and I might have to try it and see what happens. Hm.
I agree that changing the scene is about Grace's muse power: I think it represents a sort of magical backdrop that her power builds for the scene. They're not actually going to another location, but she's able to create these shared imagined contexts for the songs that make them more dramatic and kind of express the singers' emotions. A nice touch.
Also, I liked "What did I do (what didn't I do)?" One of my favorite songs so far, kind of hummable.
And I'm not sure why it makes less sense to flirt with Pan than with anyone else: they're all total strangers to Grace except Freddie.
I think Eros' shirt is really something. He seems so mild-mannered and sweet, though.
Butch:
Cuz Pan seems rather evil.
Now, granted, so did Morrigan and we all know how I feel about her. But still.
If Apollo only had clunky armor he'd be perfect for you.
Feminina:
Yeah, I'm not sure what evil has to do with anything, man.
Heavy armor would ruin Apollo's open shirt look! I guess he could have one of those suits that has abs sculpted in...not the same, though.
I think a bit further on in the story we can discuss why he might not choose armor...
Loothound:
Ohhh, a mystery. We'll see how that plays into my plans to romance him.
Butch:
A mystery indeed.....
I keep forgetting this is, in fact, a mystery and that I should be looking for clues.
Feminina:
They're pretty good about making sure you don't miss any key clues. It's not like those times in AC Valhalla where you had to accuse someone, and just hope you'd collected all the information and interpreted it correctly.
Butch:
Oh, well, that's good. I keep looking at art direction and then thinking "I'm supposed to be saving my own life."
On that, as much as I like flirting, I think if I knew that I would be murdered by a bunch of gods in a week, that might hurt my mojo, you know what I mean? I give Grace credit. She's able to compartmentalize with the best of them.
Loothound:
Don't musicals always kind of do that, though? The fact that it's a musical adds a lot of light heartedness to the situation, no matter how grave. Just look at Hamilton with the deadly, deadly duels. A good time was still had by all.
The tone thing will be really interesting going forward, since I'm playing the kick-ass way. I only have bits and pieces of Feminina's two playthroughs to go by, but the rock on vibe is WAAAAY more aggressive than what I've seen there. Maybe your attribute changes more than just your conversation options.
Butch:
Whoa, like the whole tone of the songs? That would be a lot of recording.
Feminina:
Honestly, more games should feature musical smackdowns. Although, much as I respect what they do with what they have going on here, I would not say no to a game with musical smackdowns but also more traditional animation. Obviously a musical number like Lizzy Wizzy's in Phantom Liberty with the option to go in multiple directions based on player choice is a lot more complicated than what we have here...but wouldn't it be awesome?
The songs really can turn out extremely differently depending on which trait(s) you lean on in the course of the number, although I feel like they all start out the same regardless of what trait you selected to define you at the beginning. So Kickass and Clever both get the same opening lines, but can go in quite different directions once Grace exerts some influence.
Butch:
MUSICAL SMACKDOWNS need to happen. Like Flyting only better.
Hey, if you can hit square to "play sick solo," maybe we're almost there.
Loothound:
Musical smackdowns, indeed. Once again, I can't wait to talk about the first encounter with Persephone, because once again it is super relevant.
I would be amazed by a "play sick solo" button. What if it had some sort of Guitar Hero or Dance Dance Revolution-like mini game to determine how well you nailed it? Use it in place of a charisma check or something to see how well you can sway the outcome, or something.
OMG…a Witcher game where you play as Jaskier, and that's your mechanic instead of combat.
Butch:
HA! Combat bard.
I'll go sing with Persephone soon. Promise.
Feminina:
WOULD PLAY.
I mean, ideally with someone other than Jaskier/Dandelion as the PC, because he was kind of irritating (on purpose) in TW3, but whatever. I suppose that's bards for you. Gotta be able to rile people up.
Butch:
Though, if you're playing the music, does that mean you can't get your thang on at the fancy dress balls?
Have to do what I just taught Nugget. He's teaching himself guitar. I told him, learn really old songs, then, when you play them for girls, you can be all "I wrote that for you," and they won't know it cuz it's old!
Of course, with my luck, the sorceress I'd try that on would turn out to be 200 years old.
Loothound:
Gotta be careful with that these days, though. From what I can see the kiddos are all about old music these days, judging from the band t-shirts I see them walking around in. Shows like Stranger Things and the availability of EVERYTHING on streaming services seems to have really kickstarted an interest in the before times.
I imagine 200 year old sorceresses are really hard to impress, even with such obviously sick game. Lotta preparation to rizz them up.
See, I said a young person thing. Unless that's already dated lingo, which it probably is. I should probably yeet everything I think I know about current slang into a skippity toilet.
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