so, I sacrificed my savestate since I needed quite some help towards the end of the session (I’ll probably be hating credits the next few weeks! Well played, Mr. Taro) - my ESPgaluda/Ikaruga training has been too many years ago.
Anyway, the few wonderful moments that stand out if you ask me:
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the first time you do that combined sword+lance attack where 2B uses the lance to go airborn, and uses the swirling sword to inflict massive damage™ (or is it the other way 'round? too fast for me to remember after 67+ hours in the game)
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forest king flashbacks:
it is so endearing to see how the machines try to wrap their heads around (human) concepts like loyalty, thankfulness, life in general (esp. growing up!) and fail in such a comical, and at the same time, sad way. That moment, when this one machine wonders aloud why the king remains a toddler (for the last 250ish years, come on!) might have been the moment I’ll remember most when stepping away from this game, since it managed to be funny, sad, astonishing and crazy at the same time. The game doesn’t try too hard, setup, execution and tone hit the marks - just a perfect moment of this game. -
dead aliens:
That honestly was a surprise I didn’t see coming. Well played, with the tropes/expectations one has due to consuming lots of (sci-fi) media, this scene/setup works pretty well to give you that “WHAT?” feeling, where your expectations (you’ll meet the overlords/aliens later in the game) are crushed. Well played.
Will go for most/all endings in the next few months, I'll be enjoying playing this game at a slower pace now, and do all the sidequests/finally do the Emil quest. Didn't find his room and was always wondering what he was talking about, thought that was gibberish but seems like I got trolled (again) by this game. Also: badass move that they show this picture with emil watching the ruins of the ancient civilization/city in the very first loading screen of the game (what a _huge_ spoiler that most/all(?) players don't get?)
(wiped Pascals memory btw, because I couldn’t just walk away and leave him like that. Maybe that was the programmer in me, but I felt that wiping his memory would be the most humane course of action. Humane, huh…)
tl;dr: Game gets a GOTY2017 nomination already, doubt that I'll find something "better", i.e. more engaging this year. Even with Ace Combat 7 on the horizon, yes.