Screaming geysers of blood!? Let's Play Vandal Hearts!

[JBear]

Man, I love Vandal Hearts. Have I mentioned that? It's definitely on my personal top 5. I love its ridiculous punctuation, I love its localization quirks-- I love it's heart. And the gameplay is pretty neat too! I loved it when I first played it, I think it blows its contemporaries out of the water, and even now, I feel like it holds up! That said, after having turned it into work for several years, I don't think I'll want to play it again for a good long while.

So. It turns out that I'm pretty bad at LP-ing! I could feel myself improve as I went along, but I still struggle to be concise and not just screen-shot everything. Also, like I just said, Vandal Hearts is one of my all-time favourite video games, and yet I still couldn't manage a regular update schedule. This took me almost 4 years! That's a long time! In fact, it took even longer, if you consider the fact that the first planning document I have for this has a time-stamp of January 2011! I thought I'd be done in a few months! Still, I really want to thank the half-dozen or so regular readers I have that stuck it out, and any lurkers that might be out there reading along as well. Thanks so much for following along, and making me feel less as if I was screaming into the void! Now that it's in the can, hopefully a few people will stumble over it and get some enjoyment out of it.

I'm not sure what's next for me. I do have a Let's Play short-list (Phantasy Star, Suikoden 3, and King Arthur's World), but I don't want something else that will drag along for years. At the pace that I played Vandal Hearts, a Suikoden 3 Let's Play would take me over a decade! That said, I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't excited at the thought of diving right in to play some Phantasy Star...

Next time: There is no next time! That's it! Go home! I don't care where you go, but you can't stay here. If I never have to throw away another screenshot because a talking head blinked, it will be too soon. Thanks for reading!

[Westerhof]

I don't know how the end of a long, deliberate LP snuck up on me, but it did! Congrats on finishing, I enjoyed every update (and have gone back now and then to reread old ones).

[Gerad]

Thanks, JBear, great LP!

So the bad ending just doesn't have the last scene with Eleni, and that's the only difference?

[Mogri]

Congratulations! This map is complete!

[Torzelbaum]

That was some good LPing, JBear.

So long and thanks for all the interoobanglipses.

[JBear]

Originally Posted by Gerad

Thanks, JBear, great LP!

So the bad ending just doesn't have the last scene with Eleni, and that's the only difference?

No no, the "bad" ending just doesn't have that last congratulatory splash screen. It is otherwise identical.

[Mogri]

List of games where a protagonist "dies" but comes back magicalally at the very end:

Lufia
Shining Force
The 7th Saga (ish)
Terranigma
Final Fantasy XII (implied)
Final Fantasy IX (briefly, sorta)

and now

Vandal Hearts

I don't know why this is a trope.

[Gerad]

Final fantasy tactics?

At first I was like "Lufia what?" but then I realized I was thinking 2.

I think it's a trope just because of the emotional effect of having the sad hero death followed by the happiness of them still living. It's been around for a while, I'm sure. Big Hero 6 and Batman vs. Superman/Justice League are some recent examples.

[aturtledoesbite]

does breath of the wild count for that list

[JBear]

FYI, ya'll, you'll note that Mogri spoiler-popped his list. You might want to consider doing the same!

Originally Posted by Gerad

I think it's a trope just because of the emotional effect of having the sad hero death followed by the happiness of them still living. It's been around for a while, I'm sure.

Note too that, just before this, Vandal Hearts pulls the same cheat by having Ash run Clive through with his sword, but then afterwards we're told that he'll live, even though he never shows up or is mentioned again.

Originally Posted by Mogri

magicalally

*thumbs up*

[Soren Highwind]

Congrats on the finished LP, JBear! I enjoyed reading it a lot. Looking forward to whatever you decide to do next!

[Johnny Unusual]

Congrats on finishing, man. Quite an accomplishment.

[JBear]

Thanks ya'll. I really appreciate it!

Anyway, I'm already noodling around with an SMS emulator, because I guess I don't learn. >_<

[Yimothy]

Congrats on a job well done, JBear! I enjoyed it and look forward to the next one (once you've recovered).