Games you are playing

[Maxine MagicFox]

Clarissa, on a dare, earned $8 from me, the remaining money she needed to purchase Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon

The dare:
[spoiler]Me and my mom LOVE LOVE LOVE a strange commodity known as Pickled Pig's Feet. Clarissa, for obvious reasons, refused to eat it, despite my assurance it was really good. She has been earning and saving money for the past month to get this game. XD It was kinda a low blow for me to use that against her.[/spoiler]

While there, I also spent $30 on a game I had never heard of and I pray to GOD I have not wasted my money. Rissa was the one who picked it up and she was as interested in the idea of it as I was. It's called Time Hollow.
*Sigh* I hope it turns out to be a good game. :\ It's by Konami so it could be a hit or a miss. Graphics are GORGEOUS, though.

[Kimiko]

What a coincidence. I bought Time Hollow too just last week. It's waiting for me to finish Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2. I also bought Geometry Wars: Galaxies, but that looks like it'll get old quickly.

[Twat]

Another coincidence; I just picked up my copy of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon today. Over two weeks late, though. :( Despite the fact I pre ordered ASAP, I got the 23,345th laser cel. It looks so pretty. It's the only game-related thing I am displaying in my room.

Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2 is a very good game. So good that I shared it with every person I could. If they didn't have anything to play it on, I gave them one of my Game Boys/DSs/Game Boy Players.

[scy]

I picked up Time Hollow when it came out (and followed it ever since I saw the JPN Trailer). It's fun, albeit short (my little sister beat it a good like 4 times in the course of an EVENING when I was working on Persona 4) but seemingly chock full of "wait what?" moments.

[spoiler]Very much follows the "Butterfly Effect" train of thought. Just don't fuck with the past, yo. Why you play with time to do some of the things still confuses me though... It's a visual novel / adventure game with "fuck you linear 4th Dimension" plot devices (i.e., you'll be creating time paradoxes!).[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Also, main character not hooking up with his Aunt-but-when-she's-16-so-not-his-Aunt-THANKS-PLOT-HOLE-TIME-WARPS made me sad, though the ending hints that he may WITH HIS COUSIN (THANKS PLOT-HOLE-TIME-WARPS) or ... you know, I just have no idea. Whatever.[/spoiler]

[Twat]

Oh wow. My childhood is being invoked upon. I played Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and Sword of Light when I was a kid, but I had some guy translating the important parts for me so I really didn't know what was going on. Playing this again, hearing the music, feeling the sense of tragedy... it's so goooooood.

I'm kind of on the fence about the music. I like some of the 8-bit versions more.

[Seniwac]

they butchered medeus's theme


god the NES version was so epic

[Maxine MagicFox]

Scy... -_-; you had to spoil me? I'm not even halfway through the game, yet, and I don't really know what it means, but, please.... >_>; learn when to use spoiler tags. I hate knowing ANY part of a game.


That aside, I'm REALLY enjoying this game. Not really "hard" but it's not bad, either. It's like reading a VN with only a little more interaction, so I'm not too depressed by it.

Umm... the names.... the LAST names... "Twombly" "Threet" "Fourier" "Fivet" "Sixon" .... ....

I mean, when Phoenix Wright game series did strange things with their names at least it was so... well, I can't say ridiculous 'cause they are, but, at least with that game it's INTENDED to be. .... It's just stupid with this game and lacks of effort on either A) the developers or B) the translators. (I dunno who's at fault)

[Riseatrance]

[scy]

Didn't think that was a major /big deal / or even one at all to be honest ... and if you're nearing halfway through the game you've done it. Sorry, I suppose.

More spoilers on that subject then!
[spoiler]It's the second thing you do in the game if I recall ... or at least the start of Chapter 2. I mean, you pretty much get the scene and "oh look dead dog wait what we're fixing it?"

Just found it pointless since the dog dying was a FAR better option than what originally happened. I guess it is because Horou / Ethan wanted to not be a terrible person at fixing the past (WHEE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT) but I'm a terrible person.[/spoiler]

Edit: Just occurred to me that you may have meant something else in my post entirely ... if so then uh ... I guess you're not even out of Chapter 0 / Prologue ("A New Day") then or something. Either way, oops sorry! Didn't think either was remotely close to a spoiler.

[spoiler]I mean ... the game is about fucking with time. Strange things (changing events, unkilling people) happen when you change the past (even minor things like moving a brick or breathing a second later). Like the "Butterfly Effect." The smallest change can trickle down and cause a catastrophe (...why some of them made the changes in the Butterfly Effect movie confuses me still but whatever).

My first thought on watching the trailer (a pen that lets you go back in time?!) was the game revolving around time paradoxes. It's practically the selling point of the game and the basic story synopsis. You get a pen that controls time, your parents vanish, weird shit happens and oh look cute girl with purple hair.

Sorry, just find it weird that's a spoiler. Saying messing with time is a spoiler is like saying THERE'S A DUNGEON is a spoiler for EO/EO2 >>. Guess my definition for spoilers is far tighter.[/spoiler]

The names are pretty much cut-and-dry from the Japanese one. The numbered names are in reference to Time (well, a clock at that) and Horou / Ethan is in regard to ... well, time again.

Ethan Kairos = The "right" time, more or less; the pair word to chronos though chronos is more for ... well, sequential time. Kairos is more for the time when an opportunity arises. If someone has a better grasp of greek and/or latin than I'd like a better English description of Kairos >>. I just know it as a fleeting moment in time or a moment that "occurs" but "doesn't" unless an outside force acts upon it (i.e., missing the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; that opportunity is an appropriate use of kairos).

Horou Tokio = "Hollow" and the phrase "Time Corridor" (toki no horou).

Father and Uncle (spoilered just in case)
[spoiler]Wataru Tokio = "To cross time"
Tamotsu Tokio = "To preserve time"[/spoiler]

Rest of the cast, spoilered for length:
[spoiler]Seisaku Ichiyanagi / Irving Onegin
Sakutarou Ninomiya / Jack Twombley
Motoki Mihara / Vin Threet
Waori Mihara / Ashley Threet
Shunta Shidou / Ben Fourier
Nagi Goshima / Morris Fivet
Kotoko Rokujou / Eva Sixon
Ryunosuke Nanasawa / Aaron Seven
Mayu Yagi / Olivia Eights
Shouko Kuri / Emily Niner
Sonoka Tokura / Sarah Tenneson
Arata Juichitani / Jacob Eleven
Kanon Junibayashi / Kori Twelves

Follow / Sox (not sure what Sox is going for outside of the "Socks" pun they use. Follow ~= Forou ~= Horou ~= Hollow though).[/spoiler]

No less dumb than some of the puns they went after for Phoenix Wright ... though the fact they went with a purely literal translation makes for some terrible names (Fivet? Threet?) but they wanted to stick with the time motif for them all so I like it. Same deal with most the PW names trying to stick to the same spirit of the pun (Naruhodou = Wright!) but they were pretty liberal there, even if some came out as ridiculously corny.

Still, I'd have preferred them just, you know, sticking with the original name and just having a note in their description that say "THE NUMBER ONE IS IN THIS NAME" or whatever.

[Riseatrance]

7th Dragon progress cited from my Backloggery:

Party Avg Level: 17 // Dragons Killed: 47 / 666

[Maxine MagicFox]

@Scy: Yeah, I wasn't even through Prologue when I read your spoiler.

As for the names, yeah, I go the time reference. Ethan Kairos was a little strange and I didn't get that one, but I was sure it still had something to do with time.

If they had kept the japanese names, I probably wouldn't have minded "too" much, but it's still the fact that - it's an aweful concept to have the names of characters who have NOTHING to do with the time element to ALL be number 1-12. It really comes down to "the authors didn't give a shit about their characters enough to give them some nice names." And especially for as "serious"/"mature" of a story they are going for.

And the fact that they did go for such a literal translation does make it worse. "Twombly" -_-; what were they SMOKING?!

(read no spoils)

[Riseatrance]

[scy]

Not exactly sure how giving each character a numbered surname, which isn't that hard to swallow for the untranslated names, is lazy. Should I be angry that nearly every character in random_game/anime follows some theme? At least these are related to the plot (i.e., Darker than Black has Hei [Black], Bai [White], Yin [Silver], Huang [Yellow] and so forth ... and none of them have any relevance to the story unless I missed something DEEP). If nothing else, I think they're kept relatively in order of appearance.

There's only two names that make no sense to me.
[spoiler]Why exactly do Seisaku / Irving and Naoko / Mary have the chronos-time names instead of some other time pun? Seisaku is bent on destroying through time and Naoko is stuck on preventing. They could've done something there.[/spoiler]

Just blame the fact they felt the need to translate the names (or that English words for 1-12 sound stupid in names unlike in Japanese). I do give them credit for Kairos though.

Edit: Ironically, bringing in Kairos for Ethan's last name makes the numbered names make more sense as they then represent Chronos ... though the fact there IS a Chronos used in the game makes that a little moot I suppose.

[spoiler]ps, they're related to the "time" element since something you do impacts all 12 of them [well, 14 as there's Seisaku / Irving's mother, Naoko / Mary, and both Motoki / Vin and Waori / Ashley are effected. Horou / Ethan's family related to the Pen are given the "tori o ..." names (Time Corridor, To Cross Time, To Preserve Time) ... though the Uncle isn't a Pen wielder, just an unfortunate victim 95% of the time (YOU MURDER HIM IN THE SHORTCUT ENDING). There's no "tori o ..." thing for the mother (Aki) but she's just the clueless sap stuck in the whole mess.[/spoiler]

Just still find it odd that what I said is considered a spoiler when it tells even less than your old Ever 17 sig. Hell, I think what I said is on the box (or easily surmised based on the game TITLE).

[spoiler]...unless it is the dog thing, in which case that makes more sense. If it's the "Butterfly Effect" / Don't mess with the past comment ... um, that is the most generic time manipulation plot device in the WORLD and is the basic plot of the game (SHIT GOES WRONG IN THE PAST TRY AND FIX IT BUT DON'T FUCK UP THE FIXING). You get told this in the Prologue or at the latest, Chapter 1.[/spoiler]

Edit: Reminds me ... I need to find the theme in ringtone format (it's used in the game) as it's AWESOME.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpD2J6fsvOE[/youtube]

[Maxine MagicFox]

[scy]

*shrugs* I was just legitimately confused on what in there is a spoiler; didn't mean to make a big deal out of it (but it was like 4 AM ... I'll blame that). The dog thing is one but it happens so early on I guess I assumed you were at least a chapter in so ... oops. I started overthinking it and got into the other stuff I said and was lost on how that was a spoiler >>.

[spoiler]...though there are two dog moments, I only was thinking of the first since the latter matters too ... and somehow makes SUPER COOL AND BROODING character into a hippy. In retrospect, they're both fucking retarded.

...plus there's no lead up. You just kind of get told "BUT LUCKY DIED" and then you go to save him. You don't even meet said dog prior to him getting killed.[/spoiler]

The literal translation I can agree with since the names are retarded (+t != Name) but the logic behind it? This is pretty much as basic as naming gets; the game revolves around Time ergo the names shall do so too. I suppose the fact I notice this EVERYWHERE made this less of an issue to me ... I blame or something.

The only really annoying (barring the fact the names are dumb) translation is that some names no longer carry any significance that they had in the original names

Also ... that is the original. Time Hollow by Masanori Akita. Pretty sure it was on a DDR game prior to ... well, Time Hollow.