《放浪冒险谭》杂谈(E文)

2001-11-13 22:50 | quale

Oddities
Try looking up in “The Withered Springs” (in the Catacombs). There’s no ceiling, it’s the first time you really see the light of day after entering Lea Monde.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Shakespere characters, from "Hamlet" I think.
There are FFT referances creeping up through the game.
The writing around the Rood on the title screen is the A.J Durai quote, yet it's something else in the official game art.
A.J. Durai is the narrator of Final Fantasy Tactics, the son of one of the characters.
Rood means “crucifix”. (Look it up, it’s in the dictionary.)
The ghost boy Merlose sees throughout the game is Sydney, not Joshua. It’s easy to tell them apart; Sydney has a belt, Josh doesn't. And I'm pretty sure Syd has a jewel at his collar while Joshua just has little strings/stitches.
People die oddly in that game. The ones that turn into dust supposedly had some kind of pact with the Dark. (Sydney, Rosencrantz, Hardin.) Yet some of the people who use magick in the game didn't do this. (Duane, Grissom.) Maybe "using the Dark" means more than tinkering with a few spells, a "selling your soul" kind of thing.
An obvious one, but Duane and Grissom are brothers.
Duane likes to tap his left foot a lot. Just do a close-up in battle and watch him.
If you kill Duane before his two knights they'll yell at you. Check the script, I included it.
Duane's knights are named Sarjik and Bejart.
And the two knights you fight at the very beginning (the ones discussing the Cloudstones) are Goodwin and Sackheim.
Grissom will occasionally attack Sydney in the forest. I let the forest battle drag out for almost an hour, letting Grissom beat up on Ashley and Sydney, and about once every ten to twenty attacks Grissom will actively go after Sydney rather than Ashley. On the other hand, Sydney will NEVER attack Grissom. Ever. He'll take a swing at Dark Crusader occasionally (doing about four damage) and cast spells on Ashely, but he'll never attack Grissom no matter how much Grissom hits him. [At least, I've never seen him do it. I've fought Grissom three times, one of those times for a full hour. :P]
Ashley seems to have his psychic link with women only.
Ashley's pants have no back. Neither do Hardin's. And Sydney's barely have a front. There's a perfectly logical explination. The back-less shorts are convenient for when nature calls in the middle of a dungeon. You don't want to be fussing with armour for long when bats and goblins are trying to kill you. And as for Sydney, his metal hands wouldn't make dressing himself the easiest thing in the world. Still, we all know Square just likes to dress 'em like that. At least Vagrant Story has the distinction of having more scantily clad male characters than females.
In the scene with Grissom, Tieger, and Neesa at the end of the game, watch Neesa's arm. It's limp, she holds it like it's injured, and she doesn't have her hammer out even though Tieger's holding his axe. Could Grissom have injured her?
Grissom gets some painfully ironic foreshadowing. He's standing there the whole time Guildenstern and Samantha are talking about incomplete death, and we all know what happens to him later.
How did Grissom get from the forest to the Undercity? When I wrote it in Swan Song I just figured he woke up and walked there himself, but it doesn't really say.
The two zombie knights you meet at the forest river are the knights that were with Grissom, Faendos and Lamkin. I think one is missing an arm, makes you wonder what killed them.
The first undead knight you meet in the Wine Cellar (the one who asks you to "stop the pain") is named Mandel.


Roods
"Rood" means "crucifix". It's in the dictionary. It's also the religious symbol that pops up a lot in Vagrant Story. You'd be surprised at how often you see it; these are only a few instances I noticed.

Characters
Sydney

The Rood Inverse tattoo on his back.
Guildenstern
Rood Inverse on his back after he steals it from Sydney.
Ashley
At the end he has a normal Rood on his back, though it’s very bright red
Two roods on either side of his shorts
The necklace
Tia
Her necklace, the same one Ashley’s wearing
Crimson Blades
All the Blades have a little sword-and-rose symbol somewhere on their uniform that forms a Rood, and Roods decorating their uniforms.
Grissom
He crosses himself in a Rood pattern just before he kills the cultist, and while Guildenstern is talking about incomplete death.
Same as the rest of the Blades, he has the rood-and-rose thing on his uniform.
Mullenkamp
She has a normal Rood on her back

Monsters
Training dummies

All the dummies have roods on them somewhere.
The human-shaped dummies have Roods on them where Blades do.
The undead dummy has one on its chest.
The Phantom dummy has one on its face.
Crusaders (aka, Dullahans)
Sometimes have a Rood on their shoulder plate.
Death
Death has a Rood on its back
Guildenstern (final boss forms)
The sword his demon form has is a Holy Win, shaped like a Rood
Look at his angel form closely. It’s shaped like a Rood.
Guildenstern’s “Bloody Sin” attack conjured up a Rood
Arcitecture
Iron Maiden B2 is shaped like a Rood.
Many of the doorways and archways have Roods on them.
The giant Rood on the ceiling in the Atrium.
The giant Rood on the floor in the cathedral room where Ashley finds Sydney.
The cathedral room where you fight the Ifrit has a big Rood-shaped crack on the back wall.
Many of the female statues in Lea Monde and the Duke’s manor have Rood swords.
Other
The menu screen and start-up screen have a Rood in the background.
The Paling (the platform Ashley fights on at the end) is a giant Rood circle.
The Jazzerait Shield has a Rood on it.
The Holy Win is shaped like a Rood.
The Advent Sign break art makes a Rood.
Radial Surge makes the Rood circle when cast.
The little symbol that indicates Ashley has a Magic Ward active is a Rood.


FFT Referances
Referances to Final Fantasy Tactics. Spoilers!!!
Agrias' Balm - Balm used by the great knight Agrias as told in the Zodiac Brave Story.
Agrias was Ovelia's guardian knight.
Orlandu - Actinolite containing a fragment of Orlandu's skeleton. Increases power against humans.
Everyone should remember ol' Thunder God Cid.
Beowulf - Armandine holding Beowulf the Great's hair. Increases power against phantoms.
Beowolf, the guy who's in love with the dragon-chick, Reis.
Altema - Garnet containing Altema the Fallen's spirit. Increases power against evil enemies.
Altema, the biggest push-over in the history of Final Fantasy bosses.
A.J. Durai
The narrator of Final Fantasy Tactics.

-
Oh, please. Warping the minds of men and shepherding the masses has
always been your Church's domain. You lure sheep with empty miracles and
a dead God. ...Or perhaps you, too, are a sheep, Samantha. A poor little
lamb, bleating for your faith as though it were milk of the poppy. Yet
mark your savior well, for he is one of the demons you so fear, Samantha. --Sydney Losstarot