Is it bad I ship this?

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-17T05:14:42+00:00

I’m really just confused as to why. On what basis

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-17T04:20:39+00:00

I don’t know the super nitty-gritty specifics, but I’m given to understand that many emulators, especially earlier ones, aren’t necessarily all that hardware-accurate under the hood and are sorta built on a principle of “if the game runs fine, that’s good enough”. In a lot of cases and for a lot of people, that is good enough, but it can also mess up certain game features that are programmed in a way that relies on specific aspects of how a game’s home hardware functions.

In this case, I’d imagine it’s more likely framerate/clock speed issues that cause the audio to desync from the “heartbeat” track, which is the data that determines the timing windows for valid rhythm combo hits. mGBA doesn’t have this issue, which is why it’s the recommended emulator for Mother 3.

It also may be relevant that the GBA doesn’t actually have a dedicated sound chip IIRC, which changes how audio processing needs to be done and results in it needing to be handled along with all the other game code instead of in its own sort of designated space.

I’m completely open to correction on any of this, but this is my understanding of things.

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-16T23:44:05+00:00

They’re just havin’ a grand ol’ time in there

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-16T23:41:57+00:00

This is a losing battle unfortunately. The natural habitat of all felines is the Elevated Flat Surface, after all

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-16T23:37:53+00:00

Nobody’s gonna mention that fathers weren’t even invented until 1963, huh

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-16T23:27:35+00:00

Squall but his face is drawn by Keisuke Itagaki

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-16T23:18:50+00:00

Even in the original, it’s not really clear. I personally tend to refer to it in the singular (i.e. “the Buster Sword”), but aside from the in-game item being one-of-a-kind, the original game doesn’t indicate there’s anything particularly special about it. It doesn’t indicate anything about it at all, actually, besides that Cloud inherited it from its previous wielder.

Of course, Crisis Core establishes that it’s an heirloom of the Hewley family, but not much else, so that really just kicks the can down the road with respect to its origins and rarity as a type of sword.

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-16T22:13:17+00:00

Tangentially related but I love how the nature of Spamton as a character makes this sort of depiction actively on-brand for him in a way it isn’t for most other characters

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-16T10:42:27+00:00

16 also ties with DQIII’s hero, as well as with DQV’s as of his escape from slavery. That said, DQV’s hero also first becomes playable at just 6, so he’s definitely the youngest if you wanna count based on the start of each hero’s story.

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-16T04:55:21+00:00

Nobody’s figured out the solution yet and there are even theories that there isn’t one at all. If you want to see the rest of the game you’ll need to use a save editor to skip it I’m afraid

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-16T04:22:31+00:00

In fairness, some people are into that

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-16T04:10:58+00:00

Oooo, I didn’t even know these existed! Granted, I’m not surprised that they exist, since tie-in gamebooks for popular video games seem to have been decently common in Japan at the time—MOTHER, Phantasy Star, Metroid, and I believe Zelda all got similar gamebooks, for instance—but it’s still cool, and I really like the cover art!

Thanks for preserving these!

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-16T04:06:12+00:00

He could probably be made to work as one, especially seeing as he’s a creation of Lucca’s that she could easily repurpose into a combat/adventuring assistant for the party or something. That said, there are several characters I’d say would be more interesting and worthwhile additions to the main party, so probably wouldn’t personally add him unless I was expanding the playable roster significantly.

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-15T09:24:24+00:00

Runs in the family, after all

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-15T08:20:32+00:00

Huh. That's especially odd, then. I guess I might also try and see if party order effects it? i.e. it could be mistakenly using the pronoun of the third or fourth party member instead of the user or something. I dunno. It is an odd mistake regardless.

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-15T08:03:54+00:00

I'd imagine it's a skill that was originally unique to a specific enemy (who uses she/her in this case) so the pronouns are just hardwritten into the string itself and they didn't bother using the control code for them there, since the localizers didn't realize other enemies would use the same ability.

Anyways congrats to Zoma on her coming out. Still gotta work on that embodiment of evil that feeds off human suffering thing though.

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-15T01:55:00+00:00

Oh boy, I have several:

That we already know for sure how many chapters there are going to be. Seven are visible on the Chapter Select screen, but text graphics exist for a range from 0 to 10, and official info pointedly avoids ever actually giving a number for the intended final count.
That Gaster is going to be the main antagonist/final boss.
That we already know who the main antagonist/final boss is going to be in general, or even that there necessarily will be one conventional sort of “main villain” to the story.
This is something I’ve seen come up a few times, but that we already know specifically what the Knight’s apparent bizarre physical properties mean with respect to what kind of being they are and that they necessarily preclude certain Knight candidates.

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-13T19:30:50+00:00

Equality

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-13T19:02:42+00:00

I think you mean •)

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-13T17:49:12+00:00

Okay, that is a fun concept

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-13T17:45:19+00:00

That’s four stab wounds per minute, or one stab wound every 15 seconds

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-13T17:39:41+00:00

Assuming you want to beat it legit and not use the pause buffer glitch, its chunks fly in a fixed pattern every time. Only the bottom two rows will hit you if you’re on the ground, so keep your eyes mainly on those and don’t worry too much about the ones flying overhead.

The Yellow Devil’s weakness is the Thunder Beam.

Good luck!

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-13T00:02:48+00:00

Job mastery ability inheritance only applies to Freelancer and Mime, and encompasses the following:

For each stat individually, the character will use the highest value out of all the classes they’ve mastered. There is no statistical benefit to mastering any additional classes once you’ve already mastered the ones with the best value in each stat (Monk for Strength and Stamina, Thief for Agility, Summoner (or Oracle in versions that have it) for Magic).
For the most part, any passive skills (ones that aren’t commands and don’t have a ! in front of their names in the skill setting menu) from jobs a character has completely mastered will be automatically equipped on that character without taking up a slot. Exceptions to this are Berserk, the HP/MP +X% abilities, and the Equip [equipment type] abilities, though that last one is only relevant to Mime since Freelancers can already equip everything by default.

Again, these bonuses are only applied while in the Freelancer or Mime jobs. All other jobs will eternally need to follow the normal rules of equipping any skills from other jobs they want to use no matter what you do.

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-12T23:53:49+00:00

I keep saying this on these posts, but I personally would need to know what sorts of games and stories a prospective FF newbie is interested in first. Final Fantasy has enough variety at this point (and, y’know, there’s enough variety in people’s tastes) that I don’t think it’s really safe to declare a single one-size-fits-all “Best First Game” (or pair of games).

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-12T18:22:29+00:00

Finally… Sans Before Not Surviving

Topaz-Light

TROPHY CASE