marsh lynx
She is shunned because she has a dick.
And I must stress I'm not joking, she is intersex and you are kinda suppose to suspect because at some point, she parries an attack, the camera kinda focuses on her crotch and there is a bulge (and a few more contextual clues).
The way that the Remaster fucked up the lightning in that scene makes the bulge much less noticeable than in the original.
There is no way to not make this weird but it's plot relevant and I have no other way of communicating this.
hasty meteor
i
solar cipher
...okay
hasty meteor
what
marsh lynx
You didn't know?
hasty meteor
NO?
marsh lynx
Hahaha
I am not joking, it's canon lore
It's an early 2000s RPG in which you have 3 protagonist, one is gay, one is intersex, and one is a psychopath.
Yoko Taro is a master in representation
hasty meteor
Yeah I looked it up just now and well
Yoko Taro is going to Yoko Taro, I guess
solar cipher
that time is the dumbest coincidence
royal pawn
holy shit
solar cipher
load your clear data and play "Kaine's Arc", okay, that I can do
marsh lynx
I say this because it'll be relevant in future playthroughs, i think the 3rd especially, when you get a lot of Kaine lore, but might as well put it out now before you start the 2nd so you can notice details about it
royal pawn
She is shunned because she has a dick.
And I must stress I'm not joking, she is ...
yep
the remaster nerfed her bulge
marsh lynx
royal pawn
and that fuckup a bit the story
marsh lynx
It's the silliest possible thing that a change of the lighting engine can do
solar cipher
I'm gonna let her tell it now that I'm in her head
marsh lynx
I think it was a bit that, and a large part that she has to expose a large part of her skin to the sun to weaken the shade
royal pawn
yoko taro managed to fucking made a character basically naked have plot and deep meaning
marsh lynx
Can i also say, how I love this outburst after Emil sacrifice?
https://youtu.be/Oj3XBbl6jSU?t=24478
It's so raw and makes no sense but it conveys exactly the flood of emotion everyone is feeling at best boy being gone
royal pawn
NO?
I do recommend you read this then
a short kaine story that they released
it is... a ride......
...
solar cipher
first word choice I've seen that even hints at all this is, during this text-only bit at the start of route B, she refers to herself as a failed creation of the heavens, which pretty clearly means she was born with whatever it was they're hating her for, and shade possession doesn't seem like the kind of thing you're born with
marsh lynx
Oh is this when the game turns into a book?
solar cipher
yep
marsh lynx
I don't think so, but it's not that long
solar cipher
ok yeah it's not ambiguous any more
missable in route A but even if I hadn't been told I think I would've gotten it at this point
marsh lynx
Most people miss it, and just assume it's something related to the shade
solar cipher
uh
then I have to ask
was this bit phrased more ambiguously in English?
"Tear all their clothes off! Let's settle once and for all whether you're a boy or a girl!"
royal pawn
nop
marsh lynx
I knew in advance before even starting the game, because I am obsessed with Drakengard and yet Nier never came to a platform I owned
royal pawn
same way
marsh lynx
No but you might assume it's something related to her absurd strenght
If she was shade possessed
solar cipher
I mean that could technically just be gender non-conforming but none of the other femboys or vice versas in this setting get treated this way
marsh lynx
Something like "you are too strong, you must be a guy faking beinga girl" or something like that
royal pawn
https://nier.fandom.com/wiki/The_Witch%27s_Banquet/Fan_Translation
btw you can read this without finishing the game
kinda goes in detail that she has a thing
maybe way too much detail
definitely way too much detail
marsh lynx
Like, unless they spell it out for you, it's not something you think in a game
at least not in a normal game
solar cipher
yeah, I mean to clarify I likely wouldn't have specifically jumped to intersex from this, but it's clear they think she has some non-standard gender situation
and no one gives protag crap for being kind of a femboy sometimes
marsh lynx
Maybe from a game from 2020
From a game from 2010 I don't know if I would have guessed anything gender releated, especially from Japan
marsh lynx
Still, Kaine is awesome and she is also a very good bait to spot bigots once they learn about it
The denials I've seen are legendary
royal pawn
people who deny are dumb as fuck
they confirm she being intersex even on the website of the game
hasty meteor
The fact she's intersex is based as hell
Yoko Taro is similtaniously insane and based
solar cipher
which is the definition of art
marsh lynx
I'm 100% convinced that more explicit light stories were released specifically because Yoko Taro was annoyed at people doing incredible feats of mental gymnastics to avoid facing what he wrote in his story
marsh lynx
They did it with Emil too
"are you sure he's gay? It's not because he fused with his sister"
Yoko Taro explicitly replied "no fuck off, he's gay"
Well not a direct quote but in spirit
solar cipher
10 years old, okay, we got an age for this flashback
for Emil, did I miss something or is that later?
marsh lynx
I don't think you missed anything
solar cipher
there's been plenty of kakkoii comments about protag but nothing that crossed the line into making me suspect
marsh lynx
The most obvious one is when you go at the marriage
I don't recall the specific exchange, let me see if I can find it
solar cipher
oh yeah, I was wondering what Emil was actually worrying about, since they made a point of him saying protag misunderstood
but too much else was going on for me to dig into that at the time
royal pawn
fun fact about the line there
on the original nier, they censored the line in the english version
replicant did justice and kept it
solar cipher
wow, I was not in the zone when I played this part
hasty meteor
GAY SKELETON
GAY SKELETON
it's like that "Be Gay, Do Crimes" meme
except it's "Be Gay, Commit Accidental Genocide"
marsh lynx
Also when he transforms he says to Nier "I can't stand to be with you when I look like this" as if there is something special about Nier that makes him ashamed to be near him with a body he considers hideous.
royal pawn
it is subtle on purpose
solar cipher
that line did make me pause at the time but I wasn't sure what to make of it
royal pawn
because it is just something he is, it is not part of the plot of anything
solar cipher
ok I can definitely see "if my body wasn't like this my parents wouldn't be dead" making a lot of people think they're all talking about the shade thing
assuming they don't clarify later she gets the shade after this scene
at least, I'm assuming that's the timeline here
aaaaaand then we have "Kaine was happy and reassured that her grandmother saw her as a 'girl'."
「女の子」と
solar cipher
so, yeah, super clear there's some kind of gender thing happening
royal pawn
ok I can definitely see "if my body wasn't like this my parents wouldn't be dead...
and that is also fucking amazing writting
the girl who is half monster is hated because she has a pp
like, holy shit
marsh lynx
on the original nier, they censored the line in the english version
In the xBox version tho, since it's Papa nier, it's a bit different
Emil is too gay to censor, even here he goes for it
Your heterosexuality merely slides off his polished round head
royal pawn
I need to get an Emil head someday
solar cipher
all that footage of Yoko wearing an Emil head hits so differently now that I know who this kid is
royal pawn
true
solar cipher
on to... Kaine's Dream part 2
solar cipher
they wouldn't give him the budget to model and voice young Kaine
oh hang on I see stuff I wanna read in another Manechat channel
well if she struggles to chop a single piece of firewood I think that rules out the "freakishly strong" interpretation
I'm guessing we're building up to the part where a shade kills her grandma
marsh lynx
Yeah if you take it all together and do take it in, it's really the only explanation, but consider that Nier isn't an easy story to parse at the best of times.
It's easy to second guess yourself about the timeline, or about what characters said earlier, stuff like that
solar cipher
mm-hmm, which is part of the reason I write down bits like this which stand out for whatever lore reason
marsh lynx
Or maybe you misread a line, it's a pretty damn long story to splice in a game out of the blue
solar cipher
I tried way too hard to make "spline" a meaningful verb there
marsh lynx
Yoko Taro isn't a coward, he isn't afraid to do stuff like that, but even he saved it for the 2nd playthrough
Also did you already notice the 2nd major difference for this playthrough?
solar cipher
it's Kaine's story, we started after the timeskip maybe, and it's almost all text so far?
I'm not entirely sure this is a "playthrough" yet
marsh lynx
Okay I'll shut up for now, you'll notice sooner rather than later
solar cipher
oh, okay, grandma's not dead, just old
solar cipher
"I've never seen anyone die from a wound that shallow."
I'm imagining all these scenes with Kaine wearing "normal" clothes and keep wondering if that's incorrect
the whole "drawing someone makes them eternal" bit is clearly supposed to be sweet, but it keeps making me think of all the bad stuff that led to in Utena 
Kaine's Dream part 3
she's 15 now
it specifies living with her grandmother for 5 years, so that first flashback must've been shortly after she lost her parents and shortly before they moved out of the village
marsh lynx
Yeah my reading is that grandma throwing stones at the village youth would have been the catalyst of both of them leaving for good
solar cipher
"you know, we should really build a 4th wall" 
royal pawn
that sure is a fucking line
solar cipher
(tbf I paraphrased that to make it funnier)
solar cipher
iiiinteresting
so, for starters, it says a lot about the shades that one would specifically wait for Kaine to come back before killing her grandmother
but then it ends with Kaine under the giant shade's foot with a line about all she could feel was wanting to live and wanting to kill
and we're immediately thrown back into
that felt much easier
I'm guessing levels and gear carried over
oh more text
ah she did lose an arm and a leg that day
...and an eye
solar cipher
assuming they don't clarify later she gets the shade after this scene
yep, she gets it right after the giant shade kills grandma and almost kills her
her shade goes by "Turan"?
solar cipher
and we're back
royal pawn
that smile
solar cipher
I assume it's no accident that those flashbacks span a 5 year period of the past, and she was petrified for 5 years
ooh we get to see the camping out this time
oops, I touched a weird book in my house that wasn't there before, and it localized me
royal pawn
papa nier!
that is the protagonist of the western version of the original nier
jp had femboy protag that you use now
solar cipher
that was my assumption but good to be sure
royal pawn
but western they changed to muscle man
the plot and everything is the same
only difference is Yona is daughter instead of sister
solar cipher
yep I was familiar with that whole weirdness
and how people sometimes refer to the original western version as "Nier Gestalt"
anyway, it finally let me save
so I've gotta stop there for tonight
or I won't get to work tomorrow
marsh lynx
It technically isn't as clear cut as gestalt for the west and replicant for JP
It was more that replicant was the Playstation exclusive and Gestalt the Xbox exclusive but both released in Japan .
That said Japan had like 12 Xbox sold there at the time, as PS had massive market dominance, and they only ported Gestalt for both consoles to the western markets, so it practically shake out as if gestalt is the western version.
hasty meteor
oops, I touched a weird book in my house that wasn't there before, and it locali...
Remember the DLC/not DLC weapon weirdness I went on about?
Welcome to that. 
solar cipher
nope 
hasty meteor
While not required in the original release, they have since been added to the total weapon count in NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139..., and thus are now needed to view all endings. It is referred to as "A Departed Mother's Diary" in ver.1.22..., and it becomes available for access after viewing Ending A instead.
oh nvm i was just Wrong™️
me smart
anyway, you need to do this eventually, apparently
solar cipher
work's done for the week and our archipelago's still in BK mode, time for more of Ending B
royal pawn
LESGO
solar cipher
you 
royal pawn
devola!
solar cipher
though the question remains, why is Poporu telling us where to go to find Maou if the twins don't want us getting there at all
she could've just never mentioned the sea route to Stone Temple
solar cipher
figured it'd be something like that
oh this is new
those two were called Hansel and Gretel this whole time?
solar cipher
"here's all the character building we couldn't do before because we wanted to blow your mind with the shades are the real humans thing"
royal pawn
This is where this game starts to be truly different from any other random rpg
solar cipher
also is everyone in this story siblings
even Kaine and Emil are like found siblings
the book has a twin
royal pawn
Yoko Taro has a thing for adding twins
pretty much every single of his games has it
literally even have its own wiki page
royal pawn
yep
solar cipher
thank goodness I can just keep running past most of the enemies
nope, don't care about your miniboss
"I used to mock and despite you all, who remained incomplete and became gestalts." 
lore lore lore
"You think I'm the boss!?"
Turan: "Oh this is hilarious!"
Kaine can hear both of their voices can't she
Turan: "You're not sympathizing with it, are you? It's way too late to turn back now!"
oh god this is why she got stabbed
royal pawn
Kaine can hear both of their voices can't she
yep she can hear shades
royal pawn
oh god this is why she got stabbed
YEP
solar cipher
what on earth was the big one that killed her grandmother saying
there's gotta be a reason B doesn't start that far back
well it could be that one was actually an asshole
her flashbacks earlier implied it was a literal sadist
that's interesting
after we beat up Turan and bring Kaine back, Emil's rant auto-scrolls even if I'm not pressing any buttons
it doesn't go back to waiting for my input until Kaine's first line
I like that
solar cipher
that I didn't notice the first time tells you something about by mental state before
hasty meteor
**you** <:FSthestare:646156341781463052>
My immediate reaction too, lmao
solar cipher
speedran the tree
"Mama, are we going to die?"
"I'm... Kureo... and you?"
was that the dead brother's name?
royal pawn
solar cipher
oh apparently not
"You already have <whatever that metal was>!"
immediately turns around and exits Mt Robot
"Let's travel the world together someday."
solar cipher
poporu-saaaan, I ran out of quest markers again, gimme more
that's right, this is when we wipe cliff village off the map
I'm a little disappointed there's no remains of a campfire out here
Turan's hyped for this
ah so the villagers were completely aware of the shades' presence, they were only afraid that us showing up would... lead to exactly what happened
are they, like, weirdly the most accepting of shades out of all these villages, despite all the bullshit they gave Kaine?
but then why are they so weird about who sent what letter
royal pawn
people are weird
solar cipher
actually, yeah, who the hell sent that letter
it's nice being overleveled
still cool
boom
oh, for later
"Emil's Dream ~Rampage~" 
right, gotta read this load screen
begin drug application 2016 02 09
had to look up one kanji to get (political) "cabinet"; my political vocab still kinda sucks
I'd almost forgotten about the time Emil needed a blindfold
royal pawn
feels like 5 years ago
solar cipher
thaaat's right, the Nie/Sacrifice piece was from wiping out the cliff village
which... strongly implies someone wanted this to happen
that's right, I've been meaning to check
is this young Kaine's attempt at drawing her grandma?
royal pawn
that is a good spot
to the achivement
of looking under her skirt
because of the lil mountain thing
royal pawn
is this young Kaine's attempt at drawing her grandma?
I think so?
tho looks like a shade
solar cipher
as weird as it is to say this
solar cipher
of looking under her skirt
I've tried this multiple times now and the game has yet to react to it
solar cipher
I was wondering if that might be it
solar cipher
back to The Hole™️
"Sorry, Pii-chan... I was too weak..."
I think it's just the wedding left now?
oh no we've got the whole coastal town ghost ship kraken shade thing to do
that's right, this guy still hasn't dropped whatever y'all expected it to drop
got a word I think
still haven't looked at those
"You haven't been eating much lately, are you okay?" oof
another new Kaine scene, though nothing we didn't already know
why have I turned into this?
did that person go home... because of this black body?
if I eat more humans, surely I'll become a human 
but I have to take a break before doing the actual fight
solar cipher
hahaha he's asking Kaine how periods work 
I think that's new? unless I was really rushing this scene last time
too bad none of these shades can just talk the way humans(???) would understand
or write, apparently? I get the kid in the mountain not knowing how to write but I feel like the tree could've tried it, and this girl's surrounded by enough writing she could've tried to get the deliveryman to help with that even if she didn't know
oooh Turan pushes for taking the guy hostage long before Kaine does it
Luise: "I will become human!" 
"don't be afraid, I'll be human soon"
"but.... you told me to sing..."
"I was trying to become human to live with you"
"the world is so beautiful..." 
Kaine's dress has pockets!? HOW
WAIT THE SHADE GIRL CAN WRITE
also can you believe Discord doesn't block this
what is Clyde even doing
ok NOW it's wedding time
weird that our personal mailbox is not a save point
I keep going to the save point ten feet away when the game wants me to pick up a personal letter
"humans took the forest... you all stand no chance of defeating them yourselves, and people know how to coexist anyway... I know that very well" I think that was?
that's already more interesting than a few of the other B-exclusive shade lines
still no idea what to do with the weird little sandfall gated structures in the desert
it's interesting that the masked village is so chill about emil
and that emil isn't hanging out with kaine
"in this village, rules are everything"
"it's a little odd, but anything not in the rules, no one's bothered by"
right, I remember this line now
solar cipher
and since y'all made such a big deal out of these lines the other day, let's fully transcribe the originals
(skipping the opening filler pleasantries)
Emil: ashita no kekkonshiki ga tanoshimi de, iroiro souzou shitetara me ga saetekichatte......
Emil: suteki darou naa, kirei darou naa.
Emil: ii naa, Fiia-san, ii naa.
Ixrec: emiiru ni mo itsuka, ii o-yoma-san ga mitsukaru yo.
Emil: o-yome-san? ......aa, o-yome-san desu ka.
Shiro no Sho: hoka ni nani ga aru? neboketeoru no ka? sassa to nero
Emil: I was looking forward to tomorrow's wedding, imagining so many things, and then I was wide awake......
Emil: it's so wonderful, it's so pretty
Emil: Fia-san's so nice, so nice.
Ixrec: You'll find a good bride someday too, Emil.
Emil: A bride? ......ah, right, a bride.
White Book: What else would it be? Are you still half-asleep? Go take a nap.
to be maximally literal without inaccuracy
......sou janain dakedo na / ......that's not what I meant though
this line I noticed the first time around because of the pause and zoom-in, but somehow I slipped clean by the "oh, a bride" line
are you feeling bad for the wolves yet
right, kissing the bride is rule 904
the weird part is the wolves are talking as if they never attacked any humans before this
but the people also consistently said wolf attacks were increasing lately
"so this is all that's left"
"we could still run away now"
unanimous howls of support
"wakatta"
not sure if I remembered to ask this out loud before, but why is this well(?) the only one with greenery around it
is the idea that the ex-forest wolves are hanging out in the most forest-y part of the desert
ok this is a lot more than five wolves
you lied cutscene
I am so overleveled for this I'm just gonna run around in circles to see if more dialogue triggers
heh, I think the game is not allowing the NPCs to score the final blow
yep, had to be me
"What... did we ever do... to you..."
thaaaaat's why it's important that Fia wasn't a native of the masked city, neither was alpha shade wolf
Kaine: "stop over-explaining embarrassing words like nakama and repaying-a-personal-debt"
omg there's two of you again
yes it still looks weird, I'm too used to this room having no one else in it
when one of you gets back and catches up:
do C, D or E start at the very beginning, or do they all pick up at Kaine's de-petrification?
(this affects which one(s) I'll choose to do in English)
speedran stone temple again
I wanna see what happens if I do this door loop repeatedly, and if I give the birbs wrong answers
on 3rd loop nakama say the obvious, Turan says something like "end of the beginning, beginning of the end" 
yep, both doors loop
start door warping to back door doesn't do the mini-cutscene, that feels like a speedrun optimization to reach the birbs faster
hiii, it's me again 
ah, in this scene Kaine's the only one who can confidently say the twins are not shades, because of her shade connection
more Turan cackling
of course Emil knows what a waltz is
"stop killing our babies!"
"there there, no need to be scared now, mommy's here"
"I'm not asking for your forgiveness!"
"Kaine? 
"
Turan: "this is neither hatred or sadness... what are you feeling now?"
just keep spamming RT + Y
huh, you really can down the armor pig multiple times and it just keeps reviving
(paraphrasing)
Turan: "It's full of hatred after its nakama got slaughtered! I love the angry ones!"
Kaine: "Just like you. Clinging to hatred out of loneliness"
Turan: "th-that's not it!"
Kaine: "It's fine. I'm the same way. But it's too late for us now. Far, far too late."
solar cipher
got sidetracked in another chat
black book ded
"You still don't understand, Turan? I've heard so many voices, experienced so many emotions. I was wrong. I am tainted. But he accepted me anyway. Until I die, I will be his blade." (definitely missed some words but that's close)
"Yona... I'll be with you soon..."
if there was any doubt the 2053 girl and the ~3400 girl have the same name, Maou says it multiple times
lol, the cookies made it into the afterlife
credits
while I wait for these to play, stupid but maybe important thought
we never actually cured Yona of black scrawl-itis
back in ending A it felt like we were meant to assume the illness was essentially the shade possessing her and fighting for control
but thinking back on the birb passwords, I'm not sure that fits
if shades are what happens when human souls detach from bodies in a way that they can re-enter other bodies later, and the reason humans developed that technology/ability was to combat the existential threat of "the black illness", then something's not adding up
but the backstory also has magical superweapons and nuke-proof stuff and white salt-ification which seem pretty unlikely to be direct causes/symptoms/cures of the black illness so I'm clearly still missing a lot of the pieces here
o hai
of all the times for Amazon to arrive
this is why every video game needs a pause button that actually pauses all parts of the game
ok rewatched it on youtube
so A is a flower, B is that coat of arms thingy I still don't recall seeing outside the menus (was it in Emil's mansion?)
hasty meteor
hahaha he's asking Kaine how periods work <:derpyfacewing:506544826423181315>
No, that happens in every route
solar cipher
ending C, get all weapons, cool
hasty meteor
I remember it caught me hella off guard
solar cipher
guess I was losing focus that day
solar cipher
I suppose this answers how the staff made it
right before I forget
do C, D or E start at the very beginning, or do they all pick up at Kaine's de-petrification?
(this affects which one(s) I'll choose to do in English)
hasty meteor
huh, you really can down the armor pig multiple times and it just keeps reviving
I had the Fool big sword and I was one shotting the armoured pig over and over again
like literally camping it
hasty meteor
> do C, D or E start at the very beginning, or do they all pick up at Kaine's de...
E starts at the beginning
C and D are still after depretrifcation
solar cipher
hm
hasty meteor
(The only major difference between C and D is the choice you make at the very end
And you'll want to do C first, so I'd plop a save right before the end stretch to save a playthrough)
solar cipher
makes sense
I'm thinking English for C/D then, we'll see how I feel when I get to E
hasty meteor
Just wanting to save you a few hours
Well, unless you want to get the boss speedrun achievements after upgrading the Fool's weapons
solar cipher
nah
hasty meteor
I'm sure you could get them without the fully upgraded Fools weapons but given there's no easy way to refight bosses outside of looping, it's kinda ehhhh
solar cipher
hasty meteor
welp, lmao
solar cipher
oh the limit is 10 in English
hasty meteor
probably due to formatting
solar cipher
wow I need to rename every save file
is this not using unicode or something, why would this be necessary
I was wondering about this
I'm guessing these scenes are exactly the same as B, so there's no point re-reading unless we want to do super in depth language comparisons?
clicks no
royal pawn
I'm guessing these scenes are exactly the same as B, so there's no point re-read...
the moment something new happens you will notice
so yeah no need
solar cipher
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X and it's dead
oddly enough it's Popola's voice that sounds the most different from JP to me
still funny
wait, why am I carrying around a pipe
ok, back in the default gameplay state, let's look at the weapon lists
hasty meteor
wait, why am I carrying around a pipe
There is a hidden pipe weapon you can find but if you just beat ending B you get it automatically
solar cipher
are Virtuous Contract and Cruel Oath DLC weapons?
hasty meteor
Yes, they're the default weapons in Automata
hasty meteor
Also from Automata
ugh you just reminded me i still need to grab every weapon in Automata
solar cipher
so all of my missing weapons are shops and sidequest rewards except one
Phoenix Sword Found Shadowlord's Castle - After successfully talking to the doves, break the crate near the birdbath.
solar cipher
same, but I never saw a crate there
I did find all of the other findable weapons
ok so three of the quest rewards are for that papa nier diary I never got around to
let's find the other three first, the shops will be easy to get while I redo the main quest stuff
hasty meteor
The Papa Nier stuff is pretty grindy but if you still need to upgrade weapons, the boxes in those segments are pretty worth it
hasty meteor
The place where Shadowlord's Castle is
solar cipher
huh
oh Stone Temple?
ok two of these quests require getting a key fragment first, but the broken map I can pick up immediately
holy heck I need a lot of gold for these weapons
farming advice?
uh, blacksmith's not giving me The Broken Map quest
hasty meteor
farming advice?
I'm not sure
royal pawn
I got my gold from fishing and selling broken robot stuff
solar cipher
duuuuuuh, I still haven't sold anything
royal pawn
well that explain
solar cipher
"It was right under our pages this whole time!"
...good joke, translators
oh now he's giving me the quest
when did I get Rainbow Spider Silk
that's more like it
hasty meteor
Shows the bosses you've defeated
royal pawn
it is just a funny haha collection
solar cipher
royal pawn
nothing creepy at all
hasty meteor
and since you're early in the loop you don't have most of them
solar cipher
ok, let's do lost shrine to get that out of the way and unlock the 2nd quest, then I'll start on the diary
oh god, Turan calling her "sunshine"
such a good localization choice
royal pawn
lmao
solar cipher
are these block puzzles different
lol this banter about Emil and Kaine's campouts is a bit more specific than I remember
"I've got a fucking image to maintain"
royal pawn
not having bleeps is nice
solar cipher
to be clear she uses plenty of swear words in JP that aren't bleeped
we just don't know what was bleeped
royal pawn
oh
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like, there's plenty of kuso's and the like left intact
she usually calls the book kusogami (kami = paper)
hasty meteor
"I've got a fucking image to maintain"
Laura Bailey fucking kills it as Kaine
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honestly the core cast are all great matches for how the JP characters sounded
I dunno why Devola and Popola sound like they're in their teens now but that's not exactly a problem
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Also Weiss calling Kaine a "hussy"
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wow Tyrann says "Sunshine" a lot (still a great choice)
ah that's probably what they did with shitagi-onna (underwear woman)
I'm so overleveled my dark gluttony one-shot Tyrann
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Typical
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ok the fragment names are basically the same
aww
ooooh first new scene since B
...that raises a lot of questions
most pressing, wtf was 2053 NieR fighting in the prologue if not Gestalts
lol
royal pawn
lmao
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you know you're truly bilingual when you realize some great lines in your native language would be hard to pull off in the other one
bingo
you really, really should not have brought all-red danmaku support to this fight
The Aerie, that's what it's called here
ok diary time
I was hilariously OL for that first fight
royal pawn
oh no league players
royal pawn
good ol drakengard
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also is that why the tree mentioned a memory of a falling dragon
still OP
that sounds familiar
oh no it's bad platforming time
noooo not combat and platforming
boss dead in two parries lol
the what
what pacts???
k
omg the abandoned basketball court segment goes on FOREVER
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royal pawn
lol
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a very very slow rail shooter
ok 2/3 of those dungeons is enough for now
confirmed I got the weapons
(I left the pipe equipped because it's funny)
royal pawn
pipe best weapon
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at this point most of what I need to do is blocked on picking up the Facade quest
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metal pipe sfx
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OwO
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Tyrann is such a shit
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yeah that makes sense
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rus became las
that feels intentional
too bad they didn't have the technology to render an actual wound on Kaine
Level Up! 
skip the magic nuke scene, skip emil's memory
its name was Wendy?
Kalil, that's the shade kid's English name
Yona wants me to save more often
the book knows too much
royal pawn
lmao
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oh right, I sold all my random stuff so I have to actually get this item again
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I'm gonna be in here a while because guides say the 3rd quest absolutely requires 3 Machine Oil and only 1 dropped while I was getting the alloys
and yes I finally equipped some words, since one of them boosts item drop
I thought I saw something like that go by in the Japanese entries
oil #2
marsh lynx
is the idea that the ex-forest wolves are hanging out in the most forest-y part ...
Correct, this place used to be a forest
I see you are in the weapon collection bit, good luck
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oil 3
we are moving the buck on now
looks like I don't have the materials to upgrade any of these crazy OP weapons
ah, they really are doing codebreaking, I just assumed that was part of the facade
o
lol
cat
hasty meteor
cat
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apparently it's impossible to use a shop without accepting the shopkeeper's quest first
anyway, bought the 3 eggplants
lol
in the seafront tavern, when the lady hits on protag, in JP he gets flustered and stumbles over his response, in EN it's just a chill "nah, I'm good"
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Luise: "I will become human!" <:flutterwaaaugh:685079096518377473>
oh, it's Louise with an o, duh
I was not fully in EN mode
did a sleeping boar just spawn next to me?
one subtle difference: here Weiss says "that particular couple could benefit from a little change"
the word Shiro used for "change" was:
成長★【せいちょうseichou】 noun / ~する noun:
- growth; development; growing up; becoming an adult
- growth (of a company, the economy, etc.)
i.e. grow the f up / stop acting like kids
oh wow, they went semi-literal on this line
I was wondering what ones does with tamashii wo butsukeru, but, that's probably the right call here
"Whatever you say" indeed
gotta have apostrophes, in English assholes speak in apostrophes
finally, there's the "hussy" you told me about
pretty sure this was one of the lines where he said shitagi-onna before so it's probably used 1-to-1
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did a sleeping boar just spawn next to me?
yep
always have one next to you
on the beeg area
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💡 this was Louise practicing writing
oh my god Tyrann is so good in English 
great line in both languages
wait, I don't remember this phase at all
WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE PLATFORMING
ALSO EXCELLENT QUESTION
still sad
so essentially the same ending, but we skip over the part where it totally overpowers us and we're saved by the postman distracting her
"that is some grade-A chickenscratch"
did she not tear it up this time
omg omg omg
ah it was "thank you"
huh, that boar's there again
somehow I really didn't notice it in all of my first two runs
I forgot the weapons shop gah
there, done
might be a bit low on funds for the Facade stuff
looks like I just have enough after selling more robot parts
and now to not fast travel to the desert, because I need to farm goat hides on the eastern road
I want hides, not meat!
ow
please just be a rare drop and not let there be any elaborate preconditions the guide is missing...
the goat kicked me!
how dare it
marsh lynx
it is just a rare drop
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FINALLY
wait did it give me double
or have I had 1 there the whole time I somehow missed the last time I checked this menu
the 3rd one came much faster
hopefully that's it for item farming (I haven't read ahead for the full quest)
whoa I almost forgot to go shopping again
so close
here have all that goat meat I just farmed
now I have all the shop weapons
Emil is not a fan of trains or lightbulbs
what a coincidence
ok time to do the wedding scene and wolf fights yet again
Fyra, that's how they spell it
hahaha protag is more vulgar in English too!
now that line I do not remember
they got creative with this one too
don't think Japan has the whole bears on unicycles cliche
did real circuses actually do that?
(as detailed earlier, the other lines in this conversation are nearly identical, especially the all-important gayness level)
btw, big wolf, once someone gets stabbed, just yanking the weapon out only does more damage...
Kaine: "Meh."
flawless translation
yeah the sand people voices are the same in both langs
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they do sound japanese
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it is so close to Japanese, like someone wrote actual Japanese lines and then applied some shuffling algorithm to the letters
lol, Kaine called the king a "dumbass"
it does appear to have consistent words though
like, I'm 95% sure "zelga" is Facade for "wolf/ves" (ambiguous plurality because Japanese)
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PAT THE DOGGO
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ok, sidequest time
omg Grimoire Weiss rolls r's on words like "married"
a hidden room in the lost shrine where sun doesn't reach
too bad I can't put waypoints on sidequests
aside from checking every room on the shrine map, my only idea at the moment is down the elevator shaft into the basement
but so far the game seems very intent on not letting me jump into the shaft
...or I was totally overthinking it
or the next step of the quest is finding someone who knows it's not just any junk
quest log seems very sure this was "the treasure", so I won't bother searching more of the shrine
or the next step is to buy a real treasure and pretend we found it!?
dammit you two need marriage counseling
oh, the king's weapon quest has a prereq quest I didn't notice
uh... where the heck was the temple
ok I can't even walk to the temple without doing another prereq sidequest
game just tell me what you want, stop being weird about it
oh it's not a whole sidequest, it's just having done enough of the main quest before
this guide has linking and phrasing issues
I just got a poison tutorial
"Screw those guys. They made their bed, let them shit in it."
it's really making me do a whole new set of sand temple trials?
that was the shade they had to seal away?
that thing was like a first dungeon miniboss
I might have to redo this quest in JP just to compare some of these lines
that one too
right, now I should be able to talk to the king about the actual sidequest I came here for
this makes sense
huh, I never properly looked at this before
that's a lot of plants and animals I'd expect to find in a not-desert
"we must stay calm and approach this slowly"
Weiss, that miniboss was almost dead before you finished that sentence
the armored guy outside the door was tougher than that
there we go
I think we're finally done with Facade (until E anyway)
now back to this idiot
Marriage. Counseling.
how convenient, we have to go through the northern plains to finish the main quest anyway
phew
ok, let's finish mt robot, then the diary, then endgame
I've reached such a silly extreme of overleveled that even my spear one-shots everything smaller than a miniboss in this region
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Yup, typical NieR experience
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Honestly given the tone this game flings between, it might as well be Star Wars
royal pawn
robo 
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scurrilous, I forgot that was a word
I forget exactly how you phrased this in JP but yes, fuck that
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Kaine: "stop over-explaining embarrassing words like nakama and repaying-a-perso...
ha, "mushy shit", perfect adaptation of ^
royal pawn
fuck that
they in for the whole ride
even if the ride is short and painful
and explodes
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like that weird minecart in the mountain
now, diary 3
sounds about right
oh no these enemies require multiple hits to kill
I'd better actually try
first segment done
geez, rude
not sure I got this before
get a therapist
boomer nier in boomer game feels appropriate at least
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lesgo
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uh
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Huh, apparently weapons have different auras when charging
I was wondering if you got the CHONKER yet
I call it that because at level 4 it deals 999 damage
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well that was damage spongy af, hopefully you'll be a tad more interesting
the fool's weapons are awarded by the diary, so yes I necessarily have two of them going into diary dungeon three
I noticed they're also the highest base damage weapons, and I have none of the upgrade materials that'd make anything else overtake them, so they've been my mainstays since I did diary dungeons 1-2
and poof
that's adorable but please don't
I... wait that's actually true for shades, never mind, you get an emo pass this time
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I think Damascus Steel is in the factory area
you'll probably have to do a few loops (definitely) if you want to upgrade any of them
don't be me
don't upgrade all 3 of them to max
you do not need all 3 of them
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fortunately this guy's easy as long as I follow the standard Dark Souls tactic of "a thousand perfectly timed butt pokes"
nooooooo fine
aaaaand a third one
I'm gonna have to disagree with you on that one game
I CAN DO THIS ALL DAY
wait
checks inventory
I CAN DO THIS FOR AT LEAST ANOTHER FIVE MINUTES
oh well, endgame
is this a reference?
you mean murder you again? you betcha, it's a fun fight
I have 9 + 16 + 11 = 36 weapons, plus the one left at birbs, yep that checks out
WHAT
what even is your plan
come on here
that checks out, fishing sucks
oh wait the phoenix weapons are even better than the fool weapons
oh god my spear does more damage than my two handed sword now
what is this madness
is this the last save point before the ending choice?
I assume I don't need to get all the endings on the same save file
given what you said before
and there it is
hi, you're toast
"shit on a shingle"
yet another timed boss achievement
possibly the most unnecessary level up of all time
kills all the younglings
yep, that spear was doing noticeably more damage than my two-hander
ding
I feel like I downed the armor pig ~10 times before they got through enough Tyrann/Kaine dialogue to play the cutscene
and 2 more times before they opened the door
just do what we did in rehearsal
add Devola to the list of "more vulgar in English" characters
aaaand dead already
I feel like I should watch this one
wait
everything begins with cookies
and everything will end with cookies
oh that was the last one
understatement of the century
oh damn he actually got it
well, it was a draw
oh it's Grimoire Noir
pick a language!
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shadowlord curb stomped
Yona pressed RT
yes, I AM the onii-chan
sorry to hear that, but
if that was my ending choice, fuck it, I'm not just gonna pretend I can't hear that
here we GOOOOOOO
"it's not like I can stop it"
yeaaaaaaah the black scrawl is separate from shade-ness/shade possession
I don't like the sound of that coming from you
"Well, there you go. Good luck with that." goddammit Tyrann
I guess it's not too important which one I do first considering I'll be doing both anyway
let's start with the top one
yay?
credits
what language is this ending theme in
Yoko Taro gets to be in all caps
not sure what that C symbol is
so now I have to redo all the shadowlord palace fights to do the other Kaine choice
someone please confirm that I don't need to do C and D on the same savefile
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ping
did I really need an even stronger attack damage word now
well if you're gonna give me that
ping
I was hoping I'd get that ping
wait, why is this doing ending B stuff
oh frick I didn't get the last weapon from the birbs on this save
goddammit
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well that was a waste of half an hour
royal pawn
oh
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this is why guide-only ending requirements and not being able to save everywhere are bad
Ending B: The World Ends With Cookies
royal pawn
what language is this ending theme in
Chaos
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nice
royal pawn
it is literally called Chaos Language
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all right, now it's an ending D run
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LESGO
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the conversation after the twins fight takes longer than the twins fight now
beat Devola before protag could even finish saying "I'm nothing like you"
royal pawn
lmao
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and beat the book before Weiss could say I am nothing like you
and shadowlord on "I'll become his swo-"
this is still funny
royal pawn
time for the end
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I just cant wait for when you start automata
I find replicant having a better story
but automata a better game overall
the shit in there is insane
my boi toko taro got creative af there
It have the best ending in any media I ever seen
a ending that cant be replicated in any form of media, besides a video game
I fucking love that game
royal pawn
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all right let's do this
royal pawn
Time to end this
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yep
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brb copying save files
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that is cheating!
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I won't use them unless Yoko fucks me over
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fair
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it is made to hurt
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goodbye
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not the Shaman Fish!
I don't even remember catching that!
wow I've never been in half these menus
onee-chan
credits
royal pawn
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now I'm hoping ending E is we replay the whole thing as Kaine
royal pawn
now make a new file with a different name
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lemme see what the game says first
unfortunately you can't speed up or skip the credits
just hit the Zs
uh
royal pawn
this heccin flower
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hm
royal pawn
royal pawn
what did u try
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the same name
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someone said this was the guy's canon name so
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naisu
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any special missable requirements I have to worry about, or "just play and you'll get to E"?
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assuming it's broadly similar to A-D I'll probably stay in English for just the first half, since I've yet to hear the English versions of any of that content, then switch back
if it goes full bananas who knows
royal pawn
a fun fact about ending E
It was not on the original game
it was a scrapped ending because of budget
it was only released on a book
then replicant added it back
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Yoko Taro gets to be in all caps
I kinda like how the credits are alphabetical
not in order of importance
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I think I can take this guy
huh
hm, in this scene he seems to think the only way she could have gotten black scrawl is by using the black book
is this tower important?
ok it was 1,412
royal pawn
don't worry it is a complete normal save....
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come to think of it, this means we've lost an in-game playtime counter for me
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not sure what that C symbol is
last one I screenshot was 36 hours, and I probably spent an hour-ish on those two attempts at ending D
once again, she got here super fast
royal pawn
I bet the game feels so weird now
knowing all the shit that happening
and playing the begnning again
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gonna stop here for tonight
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hard to think of a better stopping point
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I like how half of the speedrun is also roll spamming across all the fields between actual locations
apparently boar riding is a thing though in a few places, I should do that for my E playthrough just to add some variety
"There's nothing worse than a sad tree." 
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amusingly, the boar drifting is the one thing this runner nails consistently
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the speedrun uses phoenix spear!
wow I was halfway to speedrun strats without even trying
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dang
my health bar is so sm0l
I like how it gives me this tutorial literally in the middle of a counterattack animation
I keep double-checking that Yonah's not standing here yet
that's right, this is young NieR's Lost Shrine visit
no sequence breaking for you
now that I know I'm gonna be coming back here multiple times, I'm pushing this box as close to the wall as possible
way too many times I tried to do this jump and walked off the box
no, the game demands it
I remember this monologue
are you sure about that
iiiiiiinteresting, this line has a similar static/radio distortion as when Weiss gets zapped by the twins later
I love how he always rolls the r's on "Grimoire"
and that's how Gretel died
I guess none of these were quite as fatal as the eye socket
👀
might as well get the Fool's weapons now
well, maybe just the one, if that; I'm only at level 4
lol died immediately
this is definitely for later
you know, in retrospect, it is a bit suspicious that Devola is so chill about this mythical being only known through ancient songs just showing up when the random village kid goes exploring one day
finally, I have the power of ✨ SIDEQUESTS ✨
let's boar drift
hasty meteor
Crank the eurobeat
hasty meteor
K a i n e
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were you surprised I had no trouble there?
ok this is where the Kaine talk started during my A playthrough, including the swear comparisons
also dug up that JP LP I found before so I can compare properly this time
oooh there's one of the weathervanes Kaine's memories kept talking about
oh btw this time I'm running around with Virtuous Contract since I'm paying marginally more attention and it's 50% stronger than my starter weapon
"we don't want your kind here"
"you're just like Kaine"
etc
soooooo second time around, this phrasing is super weird
what do they already think Kaine and I have in common just moments after I've walked into the village
killing shades?
or is the floating book making them thing I'm shade-possessed?
I'm gonna go with "we both kill shades, and this village is pro-shade"
oh, and much clearer shot of the drawing
pffff I don't think I paused here before
her first swear is "son of a bitch", which is just not in the JP line
second is the line Genryu remembered, which is also the first one that gets Weiss to comment on her swearing
yep it is the same line I focused on before
"Now get the hell out of here." is a mild swear, and another example where the JP line is not a swear (although it is rudely blunt)
yeah I think it's fair to say that the characterization is equivalent in the two languages, but in English that does amount to more swear words overall
a good example going the other way is that if you talk to her again at this point, the line is "Get lost already, would you?" = "kisama-ra ni you wa nai", and (in this context) kisama is a pointedly unnecessarily rude choice of "you" pronoun, making this one arguably ruder than the English
yep, this sort of trend continues with later lines, mild swears in English roughly correspond to a needlessly strong verb form or pronoun in Japanese
I'll stop overanalyzing Kaine's diction at this point until another creative swear pops up, y'all've probably heard all you wanted to by now
lol, nice, the "but she's really intense" line in Japanese uses a word literally meaning "difficult to approach"
also lol, medicine fish became shaman fish
that doesn't sound like the right fish
there, third try
oh right, they keep stats for me to ignore
huh, I caught a bigger one this time around
"common paperback"
the English tries noticably harder to work in book-related jargon into the Weiss-related banter
ha, this is almost an American-ism
let's see if level 6 is enough to do diary dungeon 1
definitely not
I'm gonna stop doing that until we're close to the time skip
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you know, I heard the speedrunner mention this
I was wondering how they were gonna make this complicated
all right, let's do this
the sponge is down
I am kinda sick of stone temple and junk heap at this point, but progression is progression
I remember this bit
miracles don't happen unless you believe in them, yep, I remember this too
is it just me or is teenage nier less responsive at jumping than adult nier
there's a word I didn't know
have I ever been to this ???
marsh lynx
A thing to ponder about Nier, while you do go forward, since you essentially already did all the original endings we can probably start reflecing about the story
