Open ended gameplay! Engrishy translations! Spiky hair! Let's play SaGa Frontier!

And by "very powerful character" I gather you mean "very powerful cutie-wootie oooo who's a sweet little rainbow hamster of doom YOU ARE YES YOU ARE." I thought the mechs were adorable until I got to the snoozy angora hamster of doom picture.

So cute!

Even cuter! I just want to hug them both! <3

That's exactly why I don't like using monsters! Sure, he's an adorable doom hamster now, but after a battle or two, he's going to change forms into a disgustingly non-crossdressing ogre or a bat or something else that's lame :(

But yes, Cotton is goddamn adorable and is probably my second favourite monster in the game.

And that's something you should remedy! You know you wanna play it again! Even do a LP, maybe? ;)

Ugh, fuck. It's like newer pokemon games. What the fuck happened to Litwick? Chandelure, I am disappoint in all but your cry. ...And the fact that mine's a boss because I kept using him in hopes he woul devolve into something more delightful.

Anyway, delightful starnipples and the races in this game are pretty sweet. Looking forward to updates, and please have a safe trip home, Snark!

Thanks! Vietnam has been a pretty fun trip! Great food too!

And for what its worth, at least evolved Pokemon generally share some physical traits with their cuter precursors (I do agree that Litwick is so much better than its evolved forms though). The last time I used Cotton, the poor thing ended up as a undead, headless horseman.

Fucking badass, why're we complaining again? I wish my pokemon were headless horsemen. Maybe they'll wake up more Aselluses. The world needs more Aselluses. Aselu- Ase- How do you write her name again? : (

... -Looks at avatar- O-oh, I always thought they were cute. Though it may because I love all ghost types.

By the way, Snark, are you planning on doing any other paths? Because all of the characters seem interesting.

Uh-huh, I know what you're trying to do. You just want me to play through Blue's path so you don't have to! But seriously, I unfortunately don't own a copy of the game and this computer dislikes emulators. I do want to eventually do an LP though. Maybe once I get a new computer or at least get this one up to snuff.

My Whote party is almost all ghost types. That game had wicked ghost types everywhere. INCLUDING MY CHANDELURE. Who I've learned to love and accept, even if he's not as cute as he was when he was a little Litwick! My Jellicent too. Sweet geeguz my Jellicent.

Snaaaark. You should consider doing Lute's path after Asellus since you said it was short and likeable! Just throwing that out there.

Honestly, I haven't really thought that far ahead yet. We've still got a long way to go with Asellus's playthrough, so even if I were to cover another character, that's still quite some time down the road. Also, you could totally try the game yourself! The emulator and ROM are really easy to find, and given how SaGa Frontier hasn't seen an English rerelease in years, you could do it in clean conscience! :D

...maybe...? :P

Oh, I should probably clarify what I meant by Lute's path being short. It has very little story content, however, you still have to do a hell of a lot of sidequests to get him and his team strong enough to do what little story he has. Given that I plan on doing all the same sidequests with Asellus, a Lute playthrough would pretty much be a repeat of what we've already seen, only with less lesbians and mystics and creepy dudes stuffing ladies into coffins :(

Anyway, now that I'm back from Vietnam, let's get on with Asellus merry quest to not get terribly murdered by beautiful men and sentient cacti!

I decided to leave White Rose back at her coffin room, so that she could be creepy by herself. We then pay a visit to the dress shop to commission a few extra dresses for the next inevitable murder attempt that will befall Asellus.



Huh. Interesting, but perhaps not the best way to greet your customers.



Hi.

Ye…Yes.

My heart was pounding so hard. I couldn’t say anything.

Kiss her, you fool!



A strange girl.

Asellus! That is not how you win her heart to add her to your harem!

Anyway, Gina runs to her room because Asellus is an insensitive jerk.

My heart went blank when I heard her say, “a strange girl.”



Sorry I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I’m Asellus. What’s your name?

Gina.

Gina. What kind of place is this?

I don’t know either. Ever since I came here 3 years ago, there are so many things I don’t understand.

Lady Asellus and I talked for a while. It was like a dream and I can’t remember what we talked about.

Huh, guess that ended well enough. Anyway, guess we might as well say bye to the shopkeeper before we take our leave.



Please don’t take our Gina away.

What are you talking about?

She’s just a plain innocent girl. Please have mercy. Don’t take her away.

I am not a mystic. I’m human like yourself.

Please leave the girl alone.

Bah. I'll take her away, and she's gonna like it! And besides! It's not like Asellus is going to stick her in a coffin!

Lute's path was such a disappoint, especially since Lute himself is such a nice guy.

Oooh, sweet! I'll definitely check it out.

Poor Asellus, almost everyone hates her gut. As for Gina, is it Asellus' mystic charm at work, or is she just that much infatuated already ?

Headcanon: Gina played the game and knows how great Asellus has been so far.

The game is fairly ambiguous over which it is. Personally, though, I like to believe it was a natural attraction that may have been helped along by Asellus's mystic sexiness. Alternatively, this:

What is it with mystics and sticking women in coffins? (Do they stick men in coffins too?) I'm just going to start pretending that the coffins are the Stargate type, to make this ever so slightly less creepy.

*contemplates this for a bit*

...nope, nope. Still just as creepy as before.

I forgot to mention this earlier, but I really love the fact that Asellus doesn't do the typical RPG hero thing of getting embarrassed and denying her attraction to Gina and is instead all like, "Dude, I'm not gonna stick her in a coffin like a dirty Mystic! I'm gonna do the human thing and take her virginity in the back of my car!"

---
Edit: On a completely unrelated note, it's 2013 in Australia now, so happy new year guys!

Now if you'll afford me this one moment of unabashed patriotism, I'm going to leave a completely unrelated song by Australia's very own Missy Higgins. Because I can.

Well, if Asellus was straight, she'd probably stick men in coffins, I guess.

---

We've got a bit of a short update this time. After a successful evening of seducing Gina, we return to Castle Facinaturu when we come across a familiar jackass...



Hey, want some good information?

…

While I personally would have gone with stabbing him in the face, ignoring him is a pretty good reaction, Asellus.

Ignore me, huh? Nice attitude…I guess you don’t wanna know how to get out of here…

Tell me!

Asellus! This is the guy who stabbed you! Do you honestly think you can trust anything that comes out of his mouth!?

Go to the bar in Rootville and talk to a human there.

Why are you telling me this?

Well, at the very least she's skeptical. Still not going to stop her doing exactly as he says though.

Anyway, as per usual with the shorter updates, here's some fanart to pad it out:

Healthy scepticism will get you anywhere, Ashie... asse... erm... protagonist.

Because if you can't trust the man who stabbed you in the middle of a rose garden, who can you trust?

Avsdvd sooo pretty... Stabbing in the face is always the answer.

This fan art is reminding me of how much I approve of cravats, the wearing of cravats, and people who wear cravats. Which ought to be worn.

Against our better judgement, we follow Ciato's advice and head towards this totally not seedy at all bar.



Seriously, Asellus. I know I keep harping on you about this, but I try to make it a policy not to take advice from people who try to murder us!



In the bar, we meet with a man who I can only describe as Palette Swapped Ryu.

What a depressing bar! What happened to the entertainment round here? How about some music and dancing?

Your first time here?

No, it’s just I don’t really go out to bars too often…

Where are you from?

What do you mean? I am from Facinaturu.

Don’t lie to me. I need to get out of here.

Well, at least she's still keeping some measure of her wits and perception.

If you’re talking business, then you’d better have money.

I don’t have any with me. But I know I can get some.

Bank robbing sidequest, GO!

…all right. Here’s the key to the house below. Follow the secret passage to the cave and don’t forget my money.

Knowing Asellus's luck, he's probably going to lead us to some back alley to murder us and steal our organs.



Anyway, have a piece of fanart:

That guy moved from idle observations on the atmosphere of the drinking establishment to quest-giving details pretty darn fast. I do not trust him. Trustworthy people kvetch about the atmosphere for at least two more lines before leading up to the key/secret passage/cave/treasure combo.

HNNNNG too pretty!

With escape on her mind, Asellus goes to the most trustworthy Mystic that she knows (i.e. the only one that didn't try to stab, maim or otherwise kill her)



Let’s go.

Princess White Rose-

Just call me White Rose.

White Rose, I need some money.

That...was hilariously blunt.

Money? Unfortunately, I don’t have any…Ildon probably has some human money.

No!! Don’t ask him! I need money to get out of here.

I appreciate your sense of urgency, Asellus, but perhaps you might not want to blurt out your escape plans so quickly.

I see. I don’t know exactly what humans use for money now. But I do have some precious metals. Perhaps they will do.

Dude, how long were you in that coffin?

Thanks, White Rose!

Asellus, granted, you don't have a large selection of trustworthy characters to choose from, but are you sure you want to put all your eggs into the basket that is Princess Stockholm?

I will come with you since Lord Orlouge appointed me your caretaker.

See! She just mentioned Orlouge! And made explicit reference to her duty to him! ORLOUGE! THE GUY WHO RAN YOU OVER CHASING THE ONE PRINCESS WHO EVER MANAGED TO ESCAPE

Ok. Thanks.

...oh, Asellus. As smart as you normally are, you obviously aren't at your best when stressed.

Well, maybe the game is just teaching us honesty pays! I mean, she tells the truth and Asellus pretty much accepts that straight away.

Or she could be planning to lead Asellus into the biggest, most rose adorned coffin ever!

Stressed, in love, same diff.

I will forever be thinking of Princess White Rose as Princess Stockholm, y'know. Which is still a step up from what her sprite had me thinking before, which was something like Princess Brainiac.

And we all have you to thank for her new nickname. I never thought of her cheeriness as being the result of Stockholm Syndrome, but god, after you pointed it our, it made too much sense to not be true!

HEADCANON NOW AND FOREVER

Princess Stockholm has become Princess Bald Spot.

This LP is going to destroy every last shred of dignity that White Princess has, isn't it?

Who needs dignity when you can have COFFINS?!

Entering the dodgy house with the key Palette Swapped Ryu gave her, Asellus and White Rose meet a...slime?



Please…



...alright, so apparently the slime was a lookout for a secret doorway. How understaffed were these guys that they had to use the most pathetic monster in all JRPGdom to be their doorkeeper?

Who gave you this information?

Ciato told me.

But why would he…I have a bad feeling about this.

See, Asellus!? Even Princess White Rose, who, might I remind you, is content to sleep in a coffin, thinks this is dodgy!



I know this is meant to be illegal and backalley, but isn't it a bit dangerous to have a monster infested dungeon with it's only barrier from town being a cabinet?

Whatever the case, if we want to get out of here, we'll have to fight our way through!



Ahha! Stupid looking cactus, we meet again!

You may have bested us last time, but now, things will be different!

We are not the weakling we once were! We have survived Ildon's training! We have the backing of White Rose, 46th Princess of Facinaturu! We wield the powerful Asura! But most importantly, we are a woman on a mission of freedom! You will not deny me my destiny! Prepare to di-



FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUC

Little known fact: dungeon monsters are terrified of cabinets. But because heroes would look much sillier wielding furniture instead of fancy weapons, this secret is kept safe for all time.

I hope that either Asellus or White Rose remembered to pack Asellus' multiple outfits when they left the castle. I have a feeling she's going to need them.

I don't know about you, Snark, but wardrobes are pretty scary things IMHO. :>

...Holy crap, I actually kinda want to see a RPG where the heroine wields the mighty furniture of legend!

I'm starting to think Gina loves Asellus simply because she's gotten more business out of her than the rest of her customers combined over the past year.

Only when wielded by little girls =P