General Exalted Discussion XII: One More and Get a Free Deathlord

[Drascin]

Um... Really? I mean, Other M's story and characterization was horrible, but the gameplay wasn't that bad, was it?

It was, honestly. It was monotonous, linear, samey, and boring, and the "walk" and "pixelhunting" portions were the kind of thing that someone should have realized three seconds after the idea appeared that they were completely self-defeating.

But when compared to the utter wreck that was everything to do with characterization and the disjointed disaster that was the "plot" (in the loosest sense of the word), it can't help but actually look decent. Landing in a mound of cow droppings seems great when your alternative is landing in a spike trap full of scorpions that are also on fire!

[RPGuru1331]

From that you can safely infer both my opinion of the game and the fact that I don't literally prefer the idea of repeated acid baths.

Only because of the acid baths though.

[omegalith]

Actually, Samus is a pretty good representation of an Alchemical, with her modular suit. Even some of the effects are very Exalted like, such as the Gravity suit granting enough immunity to environmental effects that she can treat Lava as if it were air.

Plus her tendency to blow up Planets she doesn't like. :p

Prime 3 Gives a pretty good example of being forced to rely on Voidtech... With her fellow bounty hunters succumbing to Gremlin Syndrome.

There are anomalies of course: With no charms installed she's effectively a Chozoblooded human rather than an artificial person. Later expanding to include Metroid DNA as well, which I suppose would qualify as a mutation.

Anywho, her enemies are a little harder to shoehorn in: Ridley I guess is effectively a Behemoth who absolutely refuses to permanently die.

You could model Phaaze as a largely dormant Titan, given that it's a Planet sized abomination who's blood infests other planets, converting them into more of itself.

Killing Prime resulted in Phaaze blowing up, which kinda screams "Fetich"... That said, she started off as a giant crab monster then pretty much used Black Mirror Shintai on Samus. That sounds more like an Infernal. Then again, clearly not human in the first place.

Mother Brain is pretty clearly just an AI, and the Pirates are vaguely reminiscent of Sci-fi Lintha.


The Metroids themselves seem somewhat like the results of some Solar experiment in trying to make a soul-devouring superpreadator to use as guard dogs. Riding an Omega into battle seems pretty standard behaviour as well.

Drwing a blank on the X-parasites though.

[Qwertystop]

Killing Prime resulted in Phaaze blowing up, which kinda screams "Fetich"... That said, she started off as a giant crab monster then pretty much used Black Mirror Shintai on Samus. That sounds more like an Infernal. Then again, clearly not human in the first place.

Crab monster? Might be hard to tell while it keeps moving, turning 2/3 invisible, and shooting Rings of Lasery Death across the ground, but it's a Metroid. It's clearer while it's almost dead just before it steals your suit, but it's basically a Metroid with tentacles instead of claws, and rotated 90 degrees.

Unless you mean the armored form, which AFAIK was stated to be Space Pirate weapons and armor that reached Prime via an unspecified "somehow" (since the Pirates very specifically couldn't get down there, or it would make more sense).

[omegalith]

The Prime Metroid's first form is pretty much a crab monster, possibly intended to vaguely resemble a Gamma.

After she sustains considerable damage and falls off a cliff, her core somehow detaches from the rest of her body.

There was an abandoned plot idea that the Pirates had experimented on her, which is why she has some simmilar weapons to the beam troopers... But said idea was abandoned because as you said, it didn't make sense.

The programmers did accidentally leave in a mention of the idea in one of the logbook entries... But this was swiftly retconned out and later reissues of the game including the European release and the Trilogy boxset have a different entry.

In other words, the canon explanation is that it's pure coincidence that her extensive mutations use the same colour coded beam-changing gameplay gimmick as certain Space Pirate weapons systems.

Use of a specific weapon to strike a weakpoint isn't a particulary unusual trait for a videogame enemy, after all.

[Qwertystop]

Oh. I thought it was... Pirate gear that fell through to the caves while they were trying to get in, or something.

[Draken]

The cave in Phaaze immediately before Dark Samus is littered with cast-off shells of Metroid Prime. So the armored form is natural to primes, most likely.

Prime itself is likely an advanced form of the Phazon Metroid we see around Phaaze.

My guess for the X is that they would be a particularly nasty species of Darkbrood or maybe part of an Unshaped Raksha (SR388 being the unshaped's 'world', with the metroids being a species introduced by a solar wanting to irritate said unshaped by overtaking his body-snatcher thriller narrative).

[Exthalion]

Prime also reforms into Samus shape though destroyed. It is likely that Prime just retains previously absorbed forms.

[Kobold-Bard]

If Nara-O knows everything that's known only to one being, does that mean he knows the Incarnae's strategies in the Games of Divinity (except possibly the Maidens, if they collaborate)?

Can Nara-O use this information to experience them vicariously through the Incarnae's collective knowledge of the game in play.

[blazingshadow]

i don't think it works on the incarnae. jupiter knows everything every secret a single person knows so technically his power is useless unless it doesn't work on them

[Sanguine]

i don't think it works on the incarnae. jupiter knows everything every secret a single person knows so technically his power is useless unless it doesn't work on them

That's one way to look at it. I always thought the Division of Secrets just didn't count other division members when it comes to their domain. Otherwise Nara-O himself knowing something would make it no longer part of his domain. Which is just silly.

[Lix Lorn]

That's one way to look at it. I always thought the Division of Secrets just didn't count other division members when it comes to their domain. Otherwise Nara-O himself knowing something would make it no longer part of his domain. Which is just silly.

But by then he already knows it. Maybe he just has a great memory?

[tonberrian]

I think he has an infinite file cabinet, and doesn't "know" all those secrets, but he could certainly look it up.

[aetherialDawn]

Nara-O's domain is secrets known to only one person.
If he learns them, then even if they cease to be part of his domain, they do not cease to be a particular fact he knows.
I'm not sure they cease to be part of his domain anyway, but it makes no difference, since he knows them whether or not they remain a part of his domain.

[Lix Lorn]

But by then he already knows it. Maybe he just has a great memory?

Nara-O's domain is secrets known to only one person.
If he learns them, then even if they cease to be part of his domain, they do not cease to be a particular fact he knows.
I'm not sure they cease to be part of his domain anyway, but it makes no difference, since he knows them whether or not they remain a part of his domain.

So zetta slow.

[aetherialDawn]

I hated that boss.

But he was a pretty cool villain.

[Lix Lorn]

I haven't actually played it...
...I'm not 100% sure I know what I'm quoting. It's TWEWY, right?

[Dragnar]

I haven't actually played it...
...I'm not 100% sure I know what I'm quoting. It's TWEY, right?

Go play TWEWY you right this second, you factoring hectopascal!

[Lix Lorn]

It's on my wish list!

[Lord Raziere]

and don't forget to put a spicy tuna roll on it as well!

but yeah, I think you'd like TWEWY Lix. relatable characters, great original story… and I myself identify with the main protagonist a lot. I share many things in common with him.

and as for how he relates to Exalted, since this is an Exalted thread, he is obviously an Eclipse Caste. trust me on this.

[Amechra]

So, I just watched Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.

I'm pretty sure old Honest Abe uses some Sidereal charms in there somewhere (is there a charm that lets you go "you got the wrong shipment! Ha, fools!"? I know that they can do it for themselves...)

[aetherialDawn]

The Wiki seems to be up once more.

I thought it deserved announcing.

[Kobold-Bard]

The Wiki seems to be up once more.

I thought it deserved announcing.

That is all.

[horus42]

So, I lurk in this thread a lot without actually posting much, but I thought I'd make an exception this time to advertise a game that I plan on running.

The recruitment thread is here, but if you'd like the short version:

It's a Dragon-Blooded game that's based on the Codex Alera. More specifically in that a you're playing Lookshyan Legionnaires lost deep in the Wyld, with no way to get home, and are surrounded by enemies on all sides. The only hope you have of survival is to build your own nation, and conquer all you see.

[aetherialDawn]

So, I lurk in this thread a lot without actually posting much, but I thought I'd make an exception this time to advertise a game that I plan on running.

The recruitment thread is here, but if you'd like the short version:

It's a Dragon-Blooded game that's based on the Codex Alera. More specifically in that a you're playing Lookshyan Legionnaires lost deep in the Wyld, with no way to get home, and are surrounded by enemies on all sides. The only hope you have of survival is to build your own nation, and conquer all you see.

The Wyld says they cannot do it.
"You are finite, you are a pattern, you cannot possibly adapt to everything. You will wither and die when the winds of change blow."

Yu-Shan says they cannot do it.
"You are Terrestrials, you are mere soldiers, you are not the conquerers. You were born to be the hand of the Solars your ancestors betrayed, and you will come to nothing without them."

The Sidereals say they cannot do it.
"You are of Earth as we are of Heaven; you are a tool for any hand that can grasp you, but your vision is that of the earth - too small to see the inevitable storms that will wash you away."



They will do it.


I'm in.

[Doran]

Hm, may I ask what's the difference between Exalted: The Splat, Manual Of Exalted Power The Splat, and Caste Books? Are some of these 1st and some 2nd edition?

The game sounds really interesting (Codex Alera is awesome) but I'm not sure how many books I'll need to play, with only currently having the Exalted core, and Compass the Wyld as relevant books. Plus 3rd edition is coming out soon.

[Volthawk]

Hm, may I ask what's the difference between Exalted: The Splat, Manual Of Exalted Power The Splat, and Caste Books? Are some of these 1st and some 2nd edition?

The game sounds really interesting (Codex Alera is awesome) but I'm not sure how many books I'll need to play, with only currently having the Exalted core, and Compass the Wyld as relevant books. Plus 3rd edition is coming out soon.

The 2e ones are the Manuals of Exalted Power. So for dragon-blooded, you'll need the MoEP: Dragon-Blooded, which contains their Charms and chargen rules, as well as the fluff related to them.

[horus42]

Hm, may I ask what's the difference between Exalted: The Splat, Manual Of Exalted Power The Splat, and Caste Books? Are some of these 1st and some 2nd edition?

The game sounds really interesting (Codex Alera is awesome) but I'm not sure how many books I'll need to play, with only currently having the Exalted core, and Compass the Wyld as relevant books. Plus 3rd edition is coming out soon.

What Volthawk said. Pretty much all you'd need is the Corebook and Manual of Exalted Power: The Dragon-Blooded. And I know 3e is coming out soon, but it won't be until at least the end of the year that the book for playing DBs will come out.

Either way, I'd be happy to have you in the game, but if you don't want to play, I totally understand.

[Exthalion]

There is that ten thousand dragons homebrew which contains most of the Terrestrial charmset with very minor tweeks to the rules.

[horus42]

There is that ten thousand dragons homebrew which contains most of the Terrestrial charmset with very minor tweeks to the rules.

Oh yeah... Forgot about that.