I don't want this to get lost in the uploading of Eiyuden, so we are going to move forward with Chapter 3. Sadly, the capture card lost the data between me walking out to the starting point and where the previous video ended. Nothing of real value is lost, as the important stuff comes later. This is basically the beginning of us recruiting other alien species to live with us while we try to figure out why some of the races outright hate us and whether that hate extends to other races we encounter.

This is where the loading times on Switch (how?) start to feel punishing. We must navigate the mines and push carts here and there to make progress while we investigate the bandits. Upon reaching the opposite end, we have a full blown team fight with them. Yusuke is really good for this segment as you can use his "block" Charge Up to defend one turn and then deal serious damage the next. It beats the "taunt" that Iugo offers by a huge margin. Kuroto and Mellore can attack from the back row and Francesca can heal, so I really recommend bringing those three for this part (bench Iugo).

When all is said and done, we have located the ruins of a castle, and a lot of hungry people. Ultimately, we will need to look more into this whole bandit thing and get to the bottom of it.

You run into Mellore in the city, but you must do this sidequest to recruit her. We must cross the ridge and fight the monster at the end of it, which has a minor gimmick to it. I don't know how you tell with certainty where the monster will pop up so you can hammer it down, but if someone tells me in the comments, I will pin it.

Upon defeating the monster, Mellore joins the team and we can finally change her equipment. If you fought 3 wild boars as you travel through here, Kuroto will join you when you go back and talk to him. Finally, if you talk to Yume's grandmother after clearing the area, you can come back to find Yume and her friend, the first of the "large" party members you are able to recruit.

To my knowledge, this is the extent of the early recruitments, so we will need to move the story forward a bit before more come up for grabs. Still, we are making good progress I think.

I will try to put the recruited characters in the title moving forward. Otherwise, Mio has gone on leave and Garr may be behind her, so we are given the temporary captain assignment. Our first job is to fill the ranks, which I believe you can complete whenever you have a 6 man party. However, there are more people to be had here, so we will do a brief sidequest where we can bring in 3 more...

After wandering through the forest and fighting a boss that reminds me of FF9, we are able to enter the ruins where the mission truly starts. Truth be told, little changes from the forest, but there are meant to be puzzles that I don't realize until the very end as I seem to solve them on the first try and must intentionally throw one to confirm it.

After a bit of exploring, Nowa and Seign are separated where we are introduced to the union system, where the characters can combine their moves for additional effects. There are numerous combos in the game, so this is only the tip of the iceberg. Then upon reuniting, we get to face the boss and learn the Gimmick system (it really is called that...).

When it is all said and done, we have a 6 month time skip, Mio has left and we need to go out and recruit some people to replace her. For those concerned, this is also the last video I've recorded where I spoke to date, so the next few are going to be a little quieter. Due to the considerable amount of voice acting, let me know if you want me to continue reading or just let them do their thing.

The official release for the game is meant to be tomorrow, but some people like myself were able to get it early. I put a few hours into it and we'll do the entire opening here.

This is the spiritual successor to the Suikoden series and is made by quite a few of the same people who worked on the original series. They were aiming to emulate the original two games and as for how well they succeeded, we will find out.

Story-wise, we are thrust into a job on our first day with the Watch. A ruin was discovered and a joint expedition is arranged between the League and Empire to explore it. We can change the gear of the Watch members, but the Imperials are fixed until they are recruited properly.

Battles consist of 6 party members in two rows going up against what is probably 6 enemies in the same formation. There will be other battle types that are revealed later, but for the time being we just have the classic style found in most JRPGs. The fights are random, but they are fairly few and far between.

Basically, there is a lot more depth to be had and it will take time before we can dig far enough to find it.

To be clear: this unlock started at the end of the Eldritch video. Lantern Jack must knock himself out in a losing game. From there, in a subsequent game, we need to go down to 1 HP (without getting knocked out) and reaching 30 HP. It seems that only Jack here can overheal himself, so you may want to bring Eldritch, Adept, or guys who give out of turn card plays or powers. I recommend plays more than powers.

As for this variant, it is decent. It revolves more around one-shots than just dealing outright damage, so it is hard to say which is better. The healing here can also lead to Baleful hits that put Fanatic to shame, and you have better chances of finding your ongoing cards to set up. There is a case to be made for both here without one eclipsing the other as I think is the case with Eldritch.

And with this video, I am most likely done with Earth Prime. The game never really hooked me like Multiverse did, and with the exception of the two newest heroes, I wasn't really a fan of what I found there. The heroes seem to be a bit on the weak side. Ultimately, what I liked best about this was probably the environments. For the villains, they are really hit or miss. Omega can become very tedious, and the Meta Mind can lead to some devastating unfun loops. I doubt these guys will get re-worked like the main Sentinels group currently is, but I would like to see Eldritch and Lantern Jack again someday.

This variant is crazy. That is putting it very mildly. To explain, you sacrifice a card from your hand to give a surge of tokens to a spell, possibly funding even a powerful master spell to go off. With some relics, cantrips, or a specific spell, you can start a ridiculous loop here that can spiral out of control if a game goes too long.

To unlock this monster of a card, you need to be against Malador, reduce his HP to 0 or lower while he is on his normal side, all 4 master spells must be in Eldritch's play area with enough tokens to power them. Finally, just lose.

If you pay attention to the spells Malador has in play, you may be able to trap him on his normal side to make this very easy provided you have the DPS. In the event things just go horribly, remember that his flipped mask card can destroy problem spells and generate tokens to flip him, so make sure to abuse it. Eldritch can provide out of turn power plays to speed this along if needed.

Overall, a somewhat easy unlock that is just on the time consuming side. Also, remember that I triggered the first part of the Lantern Jack unlock here, so we will need to finish that tomorrow.

I finally got around to playing with the mini-pack, which comes with a new villain, environment, and a pair of heroes that seem to be far stronger than the rest of their Prime counterparts.

Malador is an enemy that uses a unique persistent card, meaning only special cards can destroy his. These spells all have different effects that can either help him flip back and forth or make him remain on a specific side. Like the Matriarch, he has a mask that controls which side he is on. Sadly, I forgot to test whether Eldritch's tokens can be used to trap him on a specific side, which is something I would need to check if I play again.

As for Malador, his summoned beasts can deal a lot of damage due to their multi-hits. If there are any effects to enhance damage, the spider can practically two-shot a hero from full HP and few heroes could withstand that third strike. The catch to this is that if you have even small amounts of DR, he has a lot of difficulty trying to get through it. Flesh to Iron shuts him down hard, but there are a lot more cards that can do an equal effect.

Hero-wise, Eldritch is the Prime equivalent to the Argent Adept. You have relics that power your spells, and the master spells have game changing effects. You can pass along multiple card draws to multiple heroes, or enable multiple powers. The relics also give him more plays, draws, and powers, so it becomes a fairly simple affair to set him up. This has become my favorite hero in Earth Prime, and you haven't even seen his variant here yet.

Lantern Jack is interesting, and I describe him as the Fanatic equivalent. He has low HP, damages himself with some of his moves, but has very similar cards to Fanatic. There are cards that heal him, enhance his healing, and he has comparable cards to Holy Nova and Wrathful Retribution. What is even more broken that I did not get to test here, but I will demonstrate is that his Baleful (Wrathful) card is an absolute value, meaning that you can over..

I trigger the third chapter here, but this is still more of me exploring trying to make sense of the game and its systems since it does a horrible job explaining it on its own. As we get further into the game, more and more sidequests will open up and I do some exploring here, which was probably not the best. Truth be told, with what I know now, I would not bother with any of these quests until I have a Skell as it makes traveling so much easier. The rewards for them are not really enough to justify the headache.

The day this video releases is the fated day where the Wii U loses its online capability. I will probably stop playing the game after today, so whatever I am able to record leading up to that moment will be where the gameplay ends. You will get to see some of the other players here and there as I run into them in the overworld or see them in the barracks. Sadly, those brief encounters may be the only proof some of these people ever existed. I blame the eclipse.

The tutorial continues with us learning a few more things about the world, and here is where we can begin to make money as we are introduced to the data probes that will haunt us in all videos to come. There are still loads of other things we cannot do, so we need to be careful when navigating the world as the post game content is mixed with the normal gameplay stuff.

I was still expecting more in terms of tutorial for the game, but it just doesn't come. There is a digital manual you see in the menu, but it is not the same. Sadly, you would probably want to spend a little while trying to read online tutorials if you were to pick this up now. It would also let you know which quests to prioritize.

Anyway, we get to meet some of the potential party members here. The game will force you to use Lin and Elma for the vast majority of the game (some sidequests included), so hopefully you can get used to them. From time to time, you will be allowed a fourth party member, which you get to decide.

Anyway, once the tour of the city is over, we can take our first real mission.

With the shutdown of the servers looming on the horizon, I cannot delay playing this game any longer. I hop in mostly blind (I will read stuff later) to kick things off in my mad dash to get the Ares 90. Any additional tickets I get along the way will help for the other content that is gated behind online, but for the most part, I want to get that mech.

As for my objective with the game, it was primarily getting the content that will be lost before the time runs out. Beyond that, I will try to do quite a bit of the content, but I am not looking to 100% the game. There are too many RNG variables here for me to commit an appropriate amount of time to get optimal setups. As a result, I will try to piece together something I can use with the dregs we get along the way.

Story-line wise, we have just fled an alien attack on Earth and have been shot down on an alien world. We need to gather the survivors and escape to the remnants of our ship to survive. From there, we will be going on missions to find other survivors, meet aliens, and accomplish other objectives. Things start out very vague, but we will be filling in details as we go.

And this is where everything ends. Having to hop back to chapter 6, we must win over Sakamoto, who will help us with the final exorcism. The Departed realizes that its course of action makes it the same as those who killed them and shows mercy to prevent history from repeating itself and a new Departed from being created. We try to leave the restored girls alone, but with some effort, they are able to recall everything that happened and escape the curse.

It is short and with just a single character, but we get to address some of the rumors from OOPARTS back in NG. This sends us on a small tour around the city and in the end, Mary gets to make a cameo and the events of NG are set into motion.

And this is where everything ends. Having to hop back to chapter 6, we must win over Sakamoto, who will help us with the final exorcism. The Departed realizes that its course of action makes it the same as those who killed them and shows mercy to prevent history from repeating itself and a new Departed from being created. We try to leave the restored girls alone, but with some effort, they are able to recall everything that happened and escape the curse.

Overall, I mentioned that the ritual is the biggest clue to the Departed's identity. For the longest time, Yashiki seems to be operating on the assumption that there is a single person involved, but the visions show you that there are two brides, not one. This means that both Himeko and Michiho are the Departed.

To summarize things here, the Departed resided in the doll and largely slept since being placed there 60 years prior to the game. When Himeko and Michiho visit the clock tower, the Departed channels Captain Ginyu and does a body swap, forcing them into the doll while it takes their body. Then once the other spirits have been consumed, they conclude the ritual by eating the two girls inside the doll.

Otherwise, once you give the correct answer, everything is kicked off and you will eventually face the Departed and have to exorcise it. The trick is just being prepared for the bugs (frog) and the fungus (doll), then you merely have to "propose" to the Departed to send it out. From there, Yashiki is able to pick up the pieces (literally?) and bring the case to a close, albeit an unhappy one due to the casualties.

If given the chance to do things over, we probably should try to smooth things over with Sakamoto. Perhaps if she doesn't perish in the forest, she may be able to lend a helping hand...

Unlike with NG, the devs here provided a subtitled version of the song. This means I don't have to typeset it myself and can instead cut it out from the credits for anyone who wishes to listen.

It is short and with just a single character, but we get to address some of the rumors from OOPARTS back in NG. This sends us on a small tour around the city and in the end, Mary gets to make a cameo and the events of NG are set into motion.

While I answer the question wrong here, I do spoil the Departed's identity, on the commentary version at least. By giving the wrong name, the Departed does not take it well and suddenly decides it wants to see other people...

Overall, I mentioned that the ritual is the biggest clue to the Departed's identity. For the longest time, Yashiki seems to be operating on the assumption that there is a single person involved, but the visions show you that there are two brides, not one. This means that both Himeko and Michiho are the Departed.

To summarize things here, the Departed resided in the doll and largely slept since being placed there 60 years prior to the game. When Himeko and Michiho visit the clock tower, the Departed channels Captain Ginyu and does a body swap, forcing them into the doll while it takes their body. Then once the other spirits have been consumed, they conclude the ritual by eating the two girls inside the doll.

Otherwise, once you give the correct answer, everything is kicked off and you will eventually face the Departed and have to exorcise it. The trick is just being prepared for the bugs (frog) and the fungus (doll), then you merely have to "propose" to the Departed to send it out. From there, Yashiki is able to pick up the pieces (literally?) and bring the case to a close, albeit an unhappy one due to the casualties.

If given the chance to do things over, we probably should try to smooth things over with Sakamoto. Perhaps if she doesn't perish in the forest, she may be able to lend a helping hand...

Another micro-chapter so to speak where we see everyone moving into position for the finale. Sakamoto is making her push to get us out the door, Konoe is starting to cave, Abe bails, and Michiho stands by us as we explore for some final clues. However, tragedy strikes in the clock tower, and we need to withdraw as we prepare for our final move.

There are only four souls to find here, and they aren't that difficult to find, especially compared to the previous chapter. The most difficult one to get would probably be the third one as you have to go slightly out of your way, otherwise all of the others are on the route to complete the story.

All of the clues are revealed and I stop things to give everyone one final chance to piece everything together before the answer gets revealed. Overall, I would say the most important clue is revealed here in the details about the ritual that created the Departed, so hopefully people picked it up. Tomorrow the endings will hit and we have a couple things to do after that, so the game will be winding down this week.

Immediately upon entering the final chapter, the gloves are off as the Wrath is getting ready to wipe everyone out. We are given one final chance by the Headmaster before being forced off the case, which means we finally have the green light to solve things. Without Michiho in the picture, Douryou is trying to pick up the slack, but there is only so much she can do. It isn't until we are able to hit the dorms that the biggest breakthrough in the case finally occurs...

Sadly, there are no CGs in this segment, so I am using the chapter title card for the thumbnail. Rest assured that there are thumbnails for the rest of this chapter, so we just have to endure a little longer.