The Great Log Posting: Arc II

[Halbarad]

Post 2-3

Re - Ami's elemental control over snow.

*Grins*

If nothing else I really dug that little snippet. Such a nice, reasonable solution to a difficult problem, yeah?

Only thing I found mildly disturbing here was the complete lack of any rolling for EC by Ami. Rei really set the only precedent with it, admittedly, but for it just to happen automatically was just a little 'eh' to me. Worked, I suppose.

Re - Minako summoning coats.

I'm utterly blanking on where Minako got those coats? Subspace? Random? I can't remember for the life of me, but it's a minor point.

Goooo compact abuse! Not the first and not the last time.

Re - Herb, REi and others getting snowballed.

*Grins*

*Flees*

Just die.

Re - Icemen.

These were purely meant to be little distractions and EP wasters. They worked for what they were, and there was a childlike amusement to attack the Sailors with snow and ice. After all the hell they'd been through, it's a child's weapon to attack with!

Yeah, the whole mall battle here was an endurance test. Between the teleport back from the Moon, EC efforts to get us to the mall unpopsicled and dealing with the snowmen, it was more 'will you have enough energy to beat Celcia when you get there' than it was Celcia actually being a difficult fight.

Re - Mall.

This presentation of the mall is very typical and to the point. I like the one in Splinter far more, this was pretty much a minor background for a Celcia fight.

In fairness, it was far more involved in the plot with Splinter, but yes. Celcia was really the first test of anything for Arc 2, and so there wasn't a lot that went into it.

Re - <Sailor_Mercury> "Wow. I'm going to have to ask whoever did this for tips."

The pure level of irony in this scene is utterly massive, isn't it? I just find myself laughing over and over at little things like this.

See above in re: OOC Ami-ness.

Re - Jadeite taking Celcia's energy.

A quickie timeline to help elaborate certain points during and after this arc.

- Jadeite takes the last of Celcia's power.

- Jadeite dies a few weeks later.

- Celcia escapes, and true to her nature, begins to regroup and reform. You can only survive winter, you can never banish it forever, can you?

Does this mean that if Jadeite had lived, Celcia wouldn't have been able to reform?

[Anastasia]

There was definitely that. Quite a lot of speculation over the ~6 weeks wherein the arc took place over just exactly who Cynthia was and what significance she had.

That was fun to see unfold. It's a shame she met the fate she did, but she also worked wonderfully.

OOC I figured as much, but of course IC the poor rabbit panicked and blamed herself - a recurring theme with her in game 1, really starting here more than anywhere. Just out of curiosity, DID her healing have any effect on Jadeite? He was the one she actually aimed at, after all.

A little bit. This was something played with off and on the entire arc - I'll get into this more when it comes up in the logs.

Not sure what we COULD have done there, though. It's addressed a bit in the abandoned plot ideas thread, but the only other real solution would have been someone with solid memories of the Silver Millenium that could have given us the information directly. We got a little of that with Starfire and Pluto, but yeah - that's about all I could see for that.

Yeah, basically. I'm still just not happy with the solution.

Does this mean that if Jadeite had lived, Celcia wouldn't have been able to reform?

Kinda sort maybe. Admittedly I didn't have it planned out at the time that 'We'll get a new Ami needs a dramatic foil/introspective force villian' so that it would go as such.

[Anastasia]

2-4 comments

Re - V-chan's Hawaii plans

Once again I apologize for Hawaii in general. I feel obligated, since you girls never made it, did you? Durn it all to heck.

Re - Mugen Gakuen.

Commenting on this now since I missed it before.

I have to give Minako credit for coming up with the idea of going there. This little thread started by her past the explusion turned into one of the defining elements of game 1. Even the PCs that didn't make it managed to have a profound impact on the game world for better and for worse.

Re - Rei's Dad.

I remember this scene really starting to set the tone for Rei's fatherly relationship. There's some real anger and bitterness showing, albiet that Rei's showing it under duress. It wasn't hard to take that into what the relationship ended up becoming; once yearly meets and lunches under normal circumstances.


Re - Minako's 'training'

This scene still makes me laugh. This was such a breath of fresh air in this arc, and Corwin/Eb had some good comedic timing when they synced well. Rei's reactions here are just priceless.

Re - Telepathy.

I like this scene. Good reactions over all and there was some real humor as they began to come to terms with it. For some reason I've always been a little meh on the actual trait in retrospect. I don't know why, just a little niggling blehness to it for no good reason. It's refreshing to see that it holds up well after all.

Re - Minako and Paranoid Reiism.

oh yeah, and then that shoe drops again. I'm just going to wince at this one, since it's not major enough to deserve deep comment and I'm sure I'll hit on this later on anyway. Poor everyone.

Re - Minako, tuxedos and penguins in general.

>_< >_< >_< >_< >_< >_< >_< >_< >_<

Re - Minako setting Usagi up with Kotono.

This is purely a Redux comment, but it's scaaaaaaary to imagine! Can you imagine Corwin's Minako, my Kotono and Eb's Usagi together?

Re - Minako and Rei.

The last scene with them really was nice to read. Despite some flaws in the relationship, they had a chemistry together that's still a joy to watch play. Such a pity it was lost in flames and paranoia.

[Halbarad]

2-4 comments

Re - V-chan's Hawaii plans

Once again I apologize for Hawaii in general. I feel obligated, since you girls never made it, did you? Durn it all to heck.

Not outside of a rather truncated omake, no. And that was just me and Ami, if memory serves.

Re - Mugen Gakuen.

Commenting on this now since I missed it before.

I have to give Minako credit for coming up with the idea of going there. This little thread started by her past the explusion turned into one of the defining elements of game 1. Even the PCs that didn't make it managed to have a profound impact on the game world for better and for worse.

Agreed to that. So much of the game centered around Mugen and the people there.

Re - Rei's Dad.

I remember this scene really starting to set the tone for Rei's fatherly relationship. There's some real anger and bitterness showing, albiet that Rei's showing it under duress. It wasn't hard to take that into what the relationship ended up becoming; once yearly meets and lunches under normal circumstances.

He only had two real scenes in game canon (Rei's birthday and the whole semi-fiasco meeting with the senshi after arc 5 wrapped up), but for some reason Rei's father always just clicked with me for some reason. More on this when we get to his scenes, I suppose.

Re - Minako's 'training'

This scene still makes me laugh. This was such a breath of fresh air in this arc, and Corwin/Eb had some good comedic timing when they synced well. Rei's reactions here are just priceless.

Heh, that was indeed cute. Rei and Usagi had excellent chemistry as well, but that's one thing we never really did play off of each other very well with - comedy.

Re - Telepathy.

I like this scene. Good reactions over all and there was some real humor as they began to come to terms with it. For some reason I've always been a little meh on the actual trait in retrospect. I don't know why, just a little niggling blehness to it for no good reason. It's refreshing to see that it holds up well after all.

Certainly had the potential to be a lot of trouble, but in the end it never really progressed being a replacement for the senshi communicators, really. If nothing else I loved having it around for all the grist it provided in the way of inadvertent mental comments here and there.

Re - Minako and Paranoid Reiism.

oh yeah, and then that shoe drops again. I'm just going to wince at this one, since it's not major enough to deserve deep comment and I'm sure I'll hit on this later on anyway. Poor everyone.

....yeah, jumping to the worst possible conclusion there. Moving on, nothing else to see here.

Re - Minako, tuxedos and penguins in general.

>_< >_< >_< >_< >_< >_< >_< >_< >_<

Well put.

Re - Minako setting Usagi up with Kotono.

This is purely a Redux comment, but it's scaaaaaaary to imagine! Can you imagine Corwin's Minako, my Kotono and Eb's Usagi together?

From what I've seen of your Kotono, she'd be frightening in conjunction with ANY of the above - either Eb's or my Usagi or Corwin's Minako. She's just scary in general!

Re - Minako and Rei.

The last scene with them really was nice to read. Despite some flaws in the relationship, they had a chemistry together that's still a joy to watch play. Such a pity it was lost in flames and paranoia.

Very impressive scene in terms of the visuals described, I'll agree. Just that personally I was a little bothered by the whole 'angelic' angle taken by Minako for a few reasons.

[Anastasia]

2-5 comments.

Re: Minako's parents.

I get evil laughs with her subtle question of 'is she your girlfriend' when Usagi was introduced. I'm fairly sure she knew Rei was with her daughter already, so that's O_O worthy! Oh, those wacky Aino, just full of lesbian shenanigans!

Re: Herb's rocket plane.

You know, I don't think this was really a big deal unto itself. It merely became a bit of a symbol of the times regarding Herb - and sometimes, you need to just let something go.

Re: Minako smashing Zoicite's pictures.

See, that's the sort of property destruction Minako was good at. Little stuff, and I totally agree with smiting those bothersome images. Sadly she didn't keep a good track record at her smashin' choices.

Re: Rei and Jadeite's temple talk.

Another lost scene. Damn, I think most of Jadeite's stuff was Reicentric and lost in the times. Anyone remember what happened here at all, I'm mostly blanking.

Re: More Cynthia buildup.

The mystery grows; slowly but surely. I forgot all about this little snippet of recollection.

Re: Ami's boyfriend.

This ended up a dropped plot thread for a few reasons. I'm glad it was officially retconned with BeanAmi, since it didn't go anywhere anyway. 'sides, Pytha was more than enough on the 'mysterious non attack criminals' front.

Re: Telepathy amusements, what Mina and Rei did last night!

A nice amusing break after the exploration of the Moon again. What DID they do, anyway?

Re: Doujins.

I could type some here, but I'll just go with the mainstay. >_<.

I think even Minako was trying to ignore that!

---

Nothing too major this post, it was mostly setup work and continuations before the next big set o' fireworks.

[Halbarad]

2-5 comments.

Re: Minako's parents.

I get evil laughs with her subtle question of 'is she your girlfriend' when Usagi was introduced. I'm fairly sure she knew Rei was with her daughter already, so that's O_O worthy! Oh, those wacky Aino, just full of lesbian shenanigans!

I really wish we'd gotten to see more of Minako's parents, in all honesty. I liked Ken and Yuri - a foreshadowing of Redux's Souichi and Reiko, maybe?

Re: Herb's rocket plane.

You know, I don't think this was really a big deal unto itself. It merely became a bit of a symbol of the times regarding Herb - and sometimes, you need to just let something go.

That's really the key, yeah. Not so much that the idea was terrible, but it JUST KEPT COMING UP. Mostly in OOC, not IC, but yeah - it was tiresome to hear about it all the time, and if it was meant as a joke it went far past the point of being run into the ground.

Re: Minako smashing Zoicite's pictures.

See, that's the sort of property destruction Minako was good at. Little stuff, and I totally agree with smiting those bothersome images. Sadly she didn't keep a good track record at her smashin' choices.

Agreed to both points.

Re: Rei and Jadeite's temple talk.

Another lost scene. Damn, I think most of Jadeite's stuff was Reicentric and lost in the times. Anyone remember what happened here at all, I'm mostly blanking.

If I remember correctly, this was mostly Jadeite attempting to boast at Rei about how he was going to take over things, and Rei mostly blowing him off. Some of the content is referenced in a few other parts of the arc, although I'm missing the actual log itself.

Re: More Cynthia buildup.

The mystery grows; slowly but surely. I forgot all about this little snippet of recollection.

We went to the Moon an awful lot in this arc, considering how much effort it took to get there.

Re: Ami's boyfriend.

This ended up a dropped plot thread for a few reasons. I'm glad it was officially retconned with BeanAmi, since it didn't go anywhere anyway. 'sides, Pytha was more than enough on the 'mysterious non attack criminals' front.

So he was originally a criminal? I know he'd been mentioned in the abandoned plot elements topic, but that was something somewhat new. I figured if anything he'd have been reincarnated in some fashion.

Re: Telepathy amusements, what Mina and Rei did last night!

A nice amusing break after the exploration of the Moon again. What DID they do, anyway?

Nothing too strenuous. >_> I seem to recall from OOC comments that Rei was trying to stay on the moral path, so it was just a cuddling session, really.

Re: Doujins.

I could type some here, but I'll just go with the mainstay. >_<.

I think even Minako was trying to ignore that!

Yeah. Provided some grist for humor in a few upcoming scenes, but really... just... no.

[Anastasia]

2-6 comments.

Re: Rei/Usagi/Minako drama.

As I'm reading this, I wonder how it would've gone if Minako had just been honest with Rei here. This struck me as a really stupid time to get defensive, since Rei was clearly stung. It wouldn't have turned into this grand dramascape, but oh well. Poor Rei-chan! Of course, when she does tell her more drama comes, so eh. This is a case of a 'logical power that shouldn't have been', I think. I'd have disallowed it in retrospect, too many ways for it to go afoul.

Re: Ikkuko.

This was an amusing scene as I remember it being. IT doesn't really pick up until the hentai talk starts, but just imagine Usagi's Mom hearing that! I think I based Redux Ikkuko on this angry, warlike stereotype! Scaaaaary! That said, this is an utterly hilarious scene, poor Shingo!

Re: Mamoru.

Oh balls.

There's no good way to hit this scene. On one hand, he was pretty clearly out of his mind. He was shattered as much as Rei was and coping with it on his own. I feel for him right there; he doesn't have the support of a Minako or a Usagi or even a Makoto. He want sto reach out but he can't - his situation alone is prohibitive, as well as the situation of the others. In that scenario, he has little choice but to leave.

Hawaii was a stupid mistake, though. Came off as GM spite. Bleh.

Anyway. It's one of those cases where I don't fault either RPer or character. IT was simply a bad, rough meeting that had to happen sooner or later. Usagi's reaction to being called Serenity just turned it into full disaster range.

Re: Serenity/Usagi divide.

An ironic bit of nitpicking for a lot of reasons. I'm not attacking it, just saying.

[Halbarad]

2-6 comments.

Re: Rei/Usagi/Minako drama.

As I'm reading this, I wonder how it would've gone if Minako had just been honest with Rei here. This struck me as a really stupid time to get defensive, since Rei was clearly stung. It wouldn't have turned into this grand dramascape, but oh well. Poor Rei-chan! Of course, when she does tell her more drama comes, so eh. This is a case of a 'logical power that shouldn't have been', I think. I'd have disallowed it in retrospect, too many ways for it to go afoul.

Yeah, the whole 'love EC' thing did get a bit out of hand. I suspect the EC itself would have been manageable, although it'd need fairly tight regulation on its effects to be used properly.

That said, I think some of the strain that built up between Rei and Minako is starting to show here. The fact that Minako and Rei were both hiding things from each other didn't help matters; Rei's side was a bit more understandable, but neither was particularly healthy.

Usagi... mmmf. I'm honestly not sure what I was thinking at the time - sort of a case of 'trust Rei' then switching to 'oh crap, what if I was wrong' almost immediately. Not too crazy about the odangoed one's reactions here myself, although she's really not a major player in the scene overall.

Re: Ikkuko.

This was an amusing scene as I remember it being. IT doesn't really pick up until the hentai talk starts, but just imagine Usagi's Mom hearing that! I think I based Redux Ikkuko on this angry, warlike stereotype! Scaaaaary! That said, this is an utterly hilarious scene, poor Shingo!

I lol'd. In all seriousness? The scene itself was great, although I do somewhat regret Ikkuko and Usagi's chat there at the beginning being cut short. I can't imagine that it was easy for Ikkuko to come to grips with the fact that her daughter risked her life almost on a daily basis, and more of a chance to talk about that would have been nice - it still came out, but mostly through Ikkuko helping with triage later in the arc after the Oxyite and Orestes fights.

Re: Mamoru.

Oh balls.

There's no good way to hit this scene. On one hand, he was pretty clearly out of his mind. He was shattered as much as Rei was and coping with it on his own. I feel for him right there; he doesn't have the support of a Minako or a Usagi or even a Makoto. He want sto reach out but he can't - his situation alone is prohibitive, as well as the situation of the others. In that scenario, he has little choice but to leave.

Hawaii was a stupid mistake, though. Came off as GM spite. Bleh.

Anyway. It's one of those cases where I don't fault either RPer or character. IT was simply a bad, rough meeting that had to happen sooner or later. Usagi's reaction to being called Serenity just turned it into full disaster range.

In rereading, I really do feel bad for Mamoru. I don't at all doubt that he was caught in as difficult a position as Rei was, although I'd be shocked if he had the overwhelming guilt that the Pyro had for her destruction of half the city.

The decision to leave, I think, is what sealed his fate more than anything, regardless of the destination. Yes, it made sense for him, but after that little half-crazy speech Usagi would have really needed something to build her trust back on, and the assistance of Tuxedo Kamen - or Endymion - through the rather insane battles to come would have done wonders for her. Instead he left her hanging when, arguably, she needed him even more than before.

Re: Serenity/Usagi divide.

An ironic bit of nitpicking for a lot of reasons. I'm not attacking it, just saying.

And here we come to a really strange dichotomy. This is the first time, although not the last, where Usagi has to figure out how to sort out her different lives. While she doesn't have the brainwashing issues of either Rei or Mamoru, she did have rather thorough memories of the Moon Kingdom, and a large part of this arc and its downtime were devoted to resolving that.

That's where things start to get rather sticky. The idea that she needed to be the princess was one that took hold far before this, way back when I joined the game in arc 1 - the basic premise for her was that, after her mother's near-death due to her inaction, Usagi came to a conclusion: she'd failed her mother as Usagi Tsukino and her duty as Sailor Moon, both there and in times previous. Her carefree, ditzy attitude was a consistent disappointment to her mother, and that same attitude had led to quite a bit of friction with Rei and Luna about her duties as Sailor Moon - and then her mother nearly died to the monster at the hot spring. All she felt she had left was the princess, much as she didn't want to acknowledge that role at first. But, seeing it as the last thing she had a chance to do without screwing it up, it spurred a new determination in the rabbit.

So, with the decision to take up her mantle as Serenity, it would seem rather ironic that referring to her as such would cause such a reaction, right?

The real issue here in Usagi's mind was that she'd redeemed herself to her parents, with the revelation about Sailor Moon after Metallia's defeat. She'd given them something to be proud of. And she'd redeemed herself as a senshi, by defeating Metallia in the first place when even Queen Serenity herself had stated it wasn't possible. With that in mind (even with the major blow that the escape itself was), she knew she COULD succeed at all three, and was coming to the decision that she should do her best to carry out all three lives to be the best she could with all of them. So Mamoru relegating her to just one of those roles was something of a slap in the face - she was Serenity, she was Usagi, and she was Sailor Moon, but she wasn't ONLY those things - she was all of them together. And for Mamoru to ignore that and concentrate on only one aspect of who she was made her feel like he didn't care about any of the rest. And so we have the breakdown there.

God, I need to shut up sometimes.

[Anastasia]

Re - Minako's suspicion.

WARNING SIGN BLOOP BLOOP BLOOP.

That was really a bad, bad thing to have happen. If she can't even handle Rei and Usagi going for a walk together, it bodes bad for the future. The immediate reaction was a bad tipper for friction in the relationship, wasn't it?

Re - Rei-chan's trama and memories of killing.

Wow. That was powerful - just going to people and remembering how she slaughtered them for Metallia. She's also right about how it unlocked her - she'd never been innocent again in that meaning of the word. On the other hand, these feelings can be channeled for better things, as Rei finds out later in her life.

Re - Minako round 2

I don't disagree with one premise - Minako had reasons to think of a bit of what she did. REi wasn't a saint, nor was Usagi. That said? This is the first really bad scene I've read with them and the first real crack. If nothing else, Mina really should've gotten the hint to let this battle go.

Re - Usagi following Rei.

This was a big setup scene. I feel a bit bad for Minako - if she hadn't blown it all here, she probably should've been there by all rights. Instead she hurts Rei a bit and leaves the scene with bad feelings. Not good. Anyway, nice scene with Rei and Usagi. It turned more into a Minako commentary, however. Ooops.


Re - Usa-hime-chan.

I can tolerate -chan, as it's really hard to translate into English and has a certain tradition to it. -hime annoys me since Princess works just as well. No matter what, you don't combine them. >_<

Re - Luna switching sides to Herb and giving Usagi Nian.

Just imagine if that had happened!

Re - Herb and Usagi.

This was a nice scene as they waited for Ami. Decent interaction on both sides and a good scene flow. Just sayin', consider what's been said before about all of that.

Re - Sailor V stuff.

I still like this for what it is, even if I have wonders about if it really fit in fully to the game tone. Then again, Minako did get shot, so probably so. Ow.

[Anastasia]

He only had two real scenes in game canon (Rei's birthday and the whole semi-fiasco meeting with the senshi after arc 5 wrapped up), but for some reason Rei's father always just clicked with me for some reason. More on this when we get to his scenes, I suppose.

I think you relate to him more than you realise. But yeah, more on that later.

He only had two real scenes in game canon (Rei's birthday and the whole semi-fiasco meeting with the senshi after arc 5 wrapped up), but for some reason Rei's father always just clicked with me for some reason. More on this when we get to his scenes, I suppose.

Indeed! For all your good points in RPing, you've never been able to keep up with Eb's sense of comedy. Hell, I can't, really, he's just a natural.

Very impressive scene in terms of the visuals described, I'll agree. Just that personally I was a little bothered by the whole 'angelic' angle taken by Minako for a few reasons.

How so?

I really wish we'd gotten to see more of Minako's parents, in all honesty. I liked Ken and Yuri - a foreshadowing of Redux's Souichi and Reiko, maybe?

No, not really. Not only was the outline of those two done by Hotaru, I simply had forgotten all about 'em.

So he was originally a criminal? I know he'd been mentioned in the abandoned plot elements topic, but that was something somewhat new. I figured if anything he'd have been reincarnated in some fashion.

I don't remember and am too lazy to dig through tons of old notes that have little meaning even to me some days. <_<

Mamoru stuff

Yeah. It was a case of 'This might hurt, but he's just too gone at this point and doesn't have any support'. Just meh. I feel bad for how that went down.

[Halbarad]

Re - Minako's suspicion.

WARNING SIGN BLOOP BLOOP BLOOP.

That was really a bad, bad thing to have happen. If she can't even handle Rei and Usagi going for a walk together, it bodes bad for the future. The immediate reaction was a bad tipper for friction in the relationship, wasn't it?

Yeah, that one thing was I think what tipped the scales. I don't remember when things in the OOC room started to lean towards trouble in paradise, but I want to say this was what triggered it more than anything else. There'd been hints of it before this - Minako's rapid nightmare just after the criminals were released was almost a foreshadowing - but this is where it really came out into the open.

Re - Rei-chan's trama and memories of killing.

Wow. That was powerful - just going to people and remembering how she slaughtered them for Metallia. She's also right about how it unlocked her - she'd never been innocent again in that meaning of the word. On the other hand, these feelings can be channeled for better things, as Rei finds out later in her life.

Not a lot to add here, other than that I found Rei's reactions throughout this entire scene and through the fight following to be masterfully done. Excellent work by Ebiris throughout.

Re - Minako round 2

I don't disagree with one premise - Minako had reasons to think of a bit of what she did. REi wasn't a saint, nor was Usagi. That said? This is the first really bad scene I've read with them and the first real crack. If nothing else, Mina really should've gotten the hint to let this battle go.

I think part of the issue here was hypocrisy. It had been clear up to this point that Minako was hiding her own secrets from Rei (just look at the last post for an example) and then she comes out angry that Rei's doing the same thing to her. Double standards are never good, and I'd suspect on some level that's what led to the wedge being driven between Rei and Minako for this scene - otherwise, it could easily have been Minako to comfort Rei here.

Re - Usagi following Rei.

This was a big setup scene. I feel a bit bad for Minako - if she hadn't blown it all here, she probably should've been there by all rights. Instead she hurts Rei a bit and leaves the scene with bad feelings. Not good. Anyway, nice scene with Rei and Usagi. It turned more into a Minako commentary, however. Ooops.

So I'll take on the Usagi and Rei part and you can respond to me this time!

Anyway, this scene - while it's definitely a precursor to the later romance between the two that developed in arc 3 - was really just a further cementing of the way the relationship between Rei and Usagi was changing, to my mind. With Usagi's shift into a more responsible mindset and the major blow to Rei's ego delivered by Metallia, the dynamic between these two changed pretty dramatically, and this scene is a perfect example of the changes taking place. Usagi sees that her best friend is in an insane amount of pain and does what she can to comfort her, in a bit of a role reversal - Rei's usually the stronger of the two, after all.

Re - Usa-hime-chan.

I can tolerate -chan, as it's really hard to translate into English and has a certain tradition to it. -hime annoys me since Princess works just as well. No matter what, you don't combine them. >_<

Yeah, pairing honorifics is a bit eh. This one, like the rocket plane, turned into more of an OOC joke than an IC one - I don't think I've seen Usa-hime-chan since in game during edits (to the end of arc IV now).

Re - Luna switching sides to Herb and giving Usagi Nian.

Just imagine if that had happened!

*imagines Dune laying in a pool of congealing blood* Okay, did that.

Re - Herb and Usagi.

This was a nice scene as they waited for Ami. Decent interaction on both sides and a good scene flow. Just sayin', consider what's been said before about all of that.

Herb did have some pretty decent scenes when the radically wacky and OOC comments stayed out of things. Just that unfortunately, that didn't happen too often.

Re - Sailor V stuff.

I still like this for what it is, even if I have wonders about if it really fit in fully to the game tone. Then again, Minako did get shot, so probably so. Ow.

There's been a lot of discussion on Sailor V and whether she really fit the game. Personally, given all the rest we had to keep up with, it probably would have just been best to let that go as we had MORE than enough else going on to keep our attention without looking for more.

[Halbarad]

I think you relate to him more than you realise. But yeah, more on that later.

Oh, I know I relate to him. Strong temper, tightly controlled? Check. Tendency to try thinking three steps ahead of anyone else (like any politician would do)? Check. Tendency to keep things bottled up for far longer than would be really healthy? Check. >_>

No, not really. Not only was the outline of those two done by Hotaru, I simply had forgotten all about 'em.

Not necessarily that you thought about it directly that way. I've seen this kind of foreshadowing in a few places while doing edits - Chibi Rei is an excellent example of that, from the Angst Darts omake. I doubt the thought even entered your head when planning out arc IV, but the echoes between sweet little girl Chibi Rei and grungy hateful teenager Chibi Rei just really resonates with Chibi Usa and Eiko in arc IV. In both cases (Chibi Rei and the Ainos), I think it's more of a concept probably pinging around in the back of your head that comes out again.

[Anastasia]

Re: Rei's light blue sweater.

Rei-chan, never wear light blue. IT doesn't work for you at all.

Re: Rei going to Minako's room.

IS it me or did this scene start really awkwardly? I'm just noticing the flow is like a slug slithering across a strip of salty hell. WEll, then again, it sure resolved with the apology. Condition Green again, at least for now!

Re: Usagi's algebra attitude.

The sad thing is that she's pretty much correct. Stupid math.

Re: All blondes should have magical cheating pens.

This is just an awesome line on so many levels. I'm only quoting it to once again save it for posterity.

Re: Minako's Mamoru comments.

While she has reasons to be distrustful, she still comes across as really just hating the guy. Mamoru deserves some flack, but he doesn't feel like he quite deserved that.

Re: The heavy wooden door.

This was purely to be a slowdown and/or EP trap. It worked!

Re: Orestes

He was almost sorta sane here. His girly side came out to play, moreso since he still had Makoto at the time. Bastard. He played the stalker roll well no matter how he was acting, however. More on him later during his bigger apperance, since that's by far the more memorable one.

Re: Archvile.

*Hiss*

A nice throwaway one shot monster. The idea of Doom demons being the hell demons in this game was a random one, but it worked really well overall. It doesn't hurt that said demons really have good design and fit in well.

Technically it was a 'nightmare' Archvile, but whatever.

Re: Oxyite.

For all he was an incredible warrior, you find out right off he couldn't teleport or can at least infer it. He was pure muscle on an incredible scale, but ultimately a normal pirate who happened to have an amazing level of power granted to him. It showed - he jeered and mocked, but seemed relaxed and ready to fight just for the sake of fighting. A far different mode of operation than the other criminals here, really.

Moreso, you note he mentioned he's doing this just to get a ride back to space. It might've been possible for the Sailors to deflect or even use him if they'd taken an approach offering the same with better odds. If nothing else, he was a mercenary to the extreme. It's also noteworthy he didn't deign to attack until the demonw as dealt with. He simply kicked back and let the PCs put out one fire at at time. It didn't help him much, but he wasn't a fool.

Re: Rei's reaction to Hell.

Interesting and unsurprising, all things considered.

Re: Rei-chan 0, Oxyite 1.

OW. He outspeeds the Senshi, deals 64 damage to them and laughs off their counters in round 1? Not good.

Re: Oxyite round 2.

Since his second battle isn't in the logs due to misfortune, I'll finish my comments here. He did what I wanted to do as a rule - he kicked utter ass. Knocking Rei through a roof and nearly killing her on one blow as nice. Becoming an energy source stronger than Beryl in a round on a 5x speed is nasty. Utterly being undamaged by the Sailor Senshi who did so well already? Scary.

If he'd done a little less impressively, maybe they'd have gotten to talk a bit more. My only real regret is that he never managed serious talk time, but so it goes.

[Halbarad]

Re: Rei's light blue sweater.

Rei-chan, never wear light blue. IT doesn't work for you at all.

Eh. In this case, given her white hair, it probably would have worked better than her usual color choices.

Re: Rei going to Minako's room.

IS it me or did this scene start really awkwardly? I'm just noticing the flow is like a slug slithering across a strip of salty hell. WEll, then again, it sure resolved with the apology. Condition Green again, at least for now!

Highly awkward, yes. And the apology seemed to magically smooth things over... but it was a case of 'okay, all better' to my eye more than the problem really being addressed and understood on both sides.

Re: Usagi's algebra attitude.

The sad thing is that she's pretty much correct. Stupid math.

The amusing thing is that I as her player find algebra more use than you as the GM technically giving her the homework do. Humorous twist, I guess.

Re: All blondes should have magical cheating pens.

This is just an awesome line on so many levels. I'm only quoting it to once again save it for posterity.

Usagi's would have run out of ink SO long ago, magical or not.

Re: Minako's Mamoru comments.

While she has reasons to be distrustful, she still comes across as really just hating the guy. Mamoru deserves some flack, but he doesn't feel like he quite deserved that.

Think this is a bit of OOC bleeding over into IC, most likely. We were all pretty down on Tuxy at that point, although Minako more than most.

Re: The heavy wooden door.

This was purely to be a slowdown and/or EP trap. It worked!

Like we needed any further problems with this battle.

Re: Orestes

He was almost sorta sane here. His girly side came out to play, moreso since he still had Makoto at the time. Bastard. He played the stalker roll well no matter how he was acting, however. More on him later during his bigger apperance, since that's by far the more memorable one.

Not much to say here - he didn't show up for more than a line or two, then poof. I'll comment more when you do, I suppose.

Re: Archvile.

*Hiss*

A nice throwaway one shot monster. The idea of Doom demons being the hell demons in this game was a random one, but it worked really well overall. It doesn't hurt that said demons really have good design and fit in well.

Technically it was a 'nightmare' Archvile, but whatever.

I just remember you constantly taunting me in PM, trying to get me to figure out what exactly it was that we were fighting. I had to suppress the urge to hit you once I figured it out, too.

That said, it was a good move to use Doom demons here. As you said, they translated quite well into the system, and provided fodder for at least a half-dozen omakes all the way through the end of the real game 1 run with Quantum Hop.

Re: Oxyite.

For all he was an incredible warrior, you find out right off he couldn't teleport or can at least infer it. He was pure muscle on an incredible scale, but ultimately a normal pirate who happened to have an amazing level of power granted to him. It showed - he jeered and mocked, but seemed relaxed and ready to fight just for the sake of fighting. A far different mode of operation than the other criminals here, really.

Moreso, you note he mentioned he's doing this just to get a ride back to space. It might've been possible for the Sailors to deflect or even use him if they'd taken an approach offering the same with better odds. If nothing else, he was a mercenary to the extreme. It's also noteworthy he didn't deign to attack until the demonw as dealt with. He simply kicked back and let the PCs put out one fire at at time. It didn't help him much, but he wasn't a fool.

For the little we actually interacted with him beyond *slice dice carve bleed*, I kind of liked Oxyite. The point of waiting until they finished with the archvile did show a sort of sense of honor there, and the carefree, cocky demeanor fit perfectly for where he'd come from.

As far as offering him a ride, outside of finding Herb's rocket plane, what could we really have done? It's a nice thought, but given our capabilities at the time we didn't really have any way of capitalizing on it. Plus, with the history he'd had laid with the killing of Neptune I doubt any of the girls would have just been willing to let him go scot-free, whether we knew Michiru at that point or not.

Re: Rei's reaction to Hell.

Interesting and unsurprising, all things considered.

She'd created her own personal Hell while under Metallia's control. It'd probably take quite a bit to faze her thanks to that. >_>

Re: Rei-chan 0, Oxyite 1.

OW. He outspeeds the Senshi, deals 64 damage to them and laughs off their counters in round 1? Not good.

Yeah, the disorganization among the senshi here really shows. We were lucky to make it out with everyone's skin (mostly) intact.

Re: Oxyite round 2.

Since his second battle isn't in the logs due to misfortune, I'll finish my comments here. He did what I wanted to do as a rule - he kicked utter ass. Knocking Rei through a roof and nearly killing her on one blow as nice. Becoming an energy source stronger than Beryl in a round on a 5x speed is nasty. Utterly being undamaged by the Sailor Senshi who did so well already? Scary.

If he'd done a little less impressively, maybe they'd have gotten to talk a bit more. My only real regret is that he never managed serious talk time, but so it goes.

There's a reason he was unanimously chosen as the recipient of the Serena for Villain Best in Battle. Even with as much as we could bring to bear against him - even with a plan in place - he was a complete and utter badass, all the way to the bitter end.

[Anastasia]

Re: Rei-chan's first aid kit.

This became a running joke throughout the arc. After a battle? Rei-chan nearly dead? Get out the first aid kit!

Re: Burnt Usagi.

I missed this in the last log. Anyway, why is it that fire monsters always do so well against Usagi? I say it's karmic destiny!

Re: Rei's teleportation comments 'It's sure an advantage for them but not for us!'.

Pretty much. It's partly a gameplay mechanic and partly my personal preference. I think I prefer Redux here since it answers the TP question by integrating it into magic in general smoothly but with balance.

Re: Herb's list of plays.

It's like he didn't quite grasp the unspoken 'okay we get it stop it' vibe.

Re: Herb's lesbianism comment.

For all that it's pretty much accurate in theory and in retrospect, I remember this getting some nasty OOC comments at the time.

Re: Usagi and Ikkuko, round 3!

This was a very nice scene, then Jadeite had to show up and talk smack. Oh well. I liked the vibe the two Tsukino womb bearers had, it hinted at better things to come there when there wasn't so much stress going on.

Re: Jadeite

He really was a punk in this game, on rereading. True to his canon personality by and large, but this blow was the wrong idea at the wrong time for him. He's lucky he got out of this one alive!

Re: Herb's Ferrari.

Nothing against Herb having a car, but such a flashy symbol of wealth was probably a small mistake. In your face money gets old quick - more background things like a reasonable house or clothes are easier to pull off.

Of course, I could be wrong here and it's just general Herb sentiment talking.

Re: HArbor 9.

This feels like a flashback of the fake Sailor Moon plot Zoicite and Kunzite hatched in the SM canon. IS it jus tme or is that vibe there, sorta?

Re: Moon Pottymouth

Pretty much a joking reference to the tone changes from canon to game. As a rule I tried to keep Jadeite mostly Ic with that spirit. It made for amusing bits like this.

Re: Jadeite battle.

Short and nasty. The power difference is really showing up now, isn't it? Anyway, no comments here, I'll have a big Jadeite post awhile later.

Re: Golden Showers.

>_< >_< >_<