Oboro-maru (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
firebird_ninja) wrote2032-12-30 04:24 pm
firebird_ninja) wrote2032-12-30 04:24 pm
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Random Information
I'm certain I haven't covered everything people are curious about, so post here if you want to know something.
Why do you hyphenate between Oboro and maru? | Why is his name "Oboro-maru?"
His name is actually just "Oboro." In feudal Japan (the time which he's from) young boys were given the suffix of "-maru" to show that they hadn't yet become an adult.
Despite his skill, Oboro is a very young ninja-in-training (I'd guess 17 at most) and has yet to actually become a full ninja. Thus, the "-maru" in his name is just a suffix showing that he hasn't yet "graduated to adulthood."
Why the name "firebird_ninja?"
As you can see here in his sprite sheet, Oboro can summon phoenixes (among other things) to aid him. The name was fairly obvious, though it is a bit misleading -- he has water and poison techniques too, even if he's mostly fire.
How do you handle his history?
For the Oboro played in this journal, he has gone through the Stealth option for his chapter and the True Ending. For the Final Chapter, he traveled with a party of Akira, Yuan, and Sundown.
Huh? Stealth Option?
In Oboro's chapter, you have two main options when dealing with it that are both the "proper" way to do things (and to get you his Infinity Sword, as the Infinity +1 Sword doesn't come until later).
Both of them are laid out for you in the beginning.
The first option I call Stealth or Zero Kill. The Clan Leader puts this forward as the preferred option: go through the castle unseen. This is actually a bit of story and gameplay segregation, as the main thing of this path is not that you aren't seen, but rather that you don't kill anyone living. You can be caught and forced into encounters so long as you run from the battle. However, there are some battles that are both against living creatures and cannot be ran from, which means if you aren't careful it could totally wreck your attempts. However, that doesn't mean Oboro is stuck at level 1. There are areas around the castle that contain enemies that aren't living creatures (ghosts, machines) and all of the actual bosses (the three final ones and the two Bonus ones) aren't considered living either, meaning you can murder them as you wish without breaking your Zero Kill run. Needless to say, this option definitely requires a lot of saving, because one single screw up in the wrong place can easily land you into an inescapable battle. This includes some very Guide Dang It moments, as to get this path proper you have to kill a certain boss's minions to get an item, recruit the one optional party member, and make sure not to free(/recruit) the man you're actually there to rescue -- not doing (or in the latter case, doing) any of these permanently locks you out of the No Kill path. That in mind, it also seems the "correct" of the two, as the one friendly NPC in the castle rewards you with healing items.
The second option I call Berserk or 100 Kill. The Clan Leader also puts this way forward as a... psuedo-stealth option, musing that people can't really raise the alarm if they aren't alive to do so. In this case, it's the exact opposite of the first option -- you must get to 100 kills, which means you need to kill everyone in the castle, regardless of whether they're actual enemies or just harmless women. This is actually a bit harder than it sounds. Some things are obvious, such as screwing up the passwords, attacking everyone in sight, and recruiting the guy you're there to rescue, but like the Zero Kill path, there's a few Guide Dang Its where you have to purposefully trigger encounters, race against another enemy to kill a group of guards, and make sure not to recruit the second party member (or, if you do recruit him, make sure to break him before a certain point). This gets you a different weapon from the Stealth option, of course, and no healing items from the NPC.
Obviously, you can go through the game as a middle ground, but that nets you absolutely nothing at all and makes Oboro somewhat under-equipped for the Final Chapter.
Okay. What about the True Ending?
One of the things I love about Live a Live is that there are four different endings, and two of them have you as the Big Bad! Here's the list, in order of worst to best and describing how to get them as well. None of these names are official, but just what I term them.
Armageddon/Worst Ending: After the eighth Chapter, chose Oersted/the Knight once more. You become the Demon King Odio and are dropped into a room with statues of all the bosses of the game. You then replay the major battles from the other chapters one at a time, except you are the boss. If, at any time, you are low on health, you choose the "Armageddon" option from your battle menu. Every single boss in every single time self-destructs at the same time, causing the universe to utterly implode and destroy itself and every single thing in it. Needless to say, as the universe no longer exists, the credits just roll on a black screen.
Emptiness/Bad Ending: Once again, choose Oersted/the Knight, but this time win all the battles. You've changed time (as the heroes were killed instead of rising above) and all the periods of time are assumed to be thrust into chaos and hatred. Oersted goes to the top of the mountain and broods while the credits roll over shots of the dead, empty world of his time.
Finished/Good Ending: Choose anyone but Oersted, go through the fantasy world, and gather three other heroes to be your party. Get to the top of the Mountain and fight the final boss. When you defeat him, Oersted will return to a human form and demand you kill him. When you do so, everyone will be returned to their proper times and the credits roll on the Fantasy world as it begins to brighten and teem with life once more.
Hope/True Ending: Once again, choose anyone but Oersted and gather your party. This time, you have to go to every character's personal dungeon and get their final weapon/Infinity +1 Sword from there -- and since you can only have three people in your party not counting the main character you chose, this does mean you have to add and remove party members until they're all equipped with their final weapon and their dungeon is complete. Go up the mountain and fight Oersted like normal, but when he demands you kill him, refuse. Leave the room, and the other three you left behind will show up in the statue room. Oersted crawls in then starts a boss rush with each individual character facing down their respective villains once more, but alone this time. Once defeated, Oersted will express shock then surrender, dying from his wounds. The characters all give parting words as they're transported back to their proper times. The credits roll on each individual character watching the sun rise in their time, and the game ends with a shot of them on the fantasy-time's mountain, watching the sun rise.
Why do you hyphenate between Oboro and maru? | Why is his name "Oboro-maru?"
His name is actually just "Oboro." In feudal Japan (the time which he's from) young boys were given the suffix of "-maru" to show that they hadn't yet become an adult.
Despite his skill, Oboro is a very young ninja-in-training (I'd guess 17 at most) and has yet to actually become a full ninja. Thus, the "-maru" in his name is just a suffix showing that he hasn't yet "graduated to adulthood."
Why the name "firebird_ninja?"
As you can see here in his sprite sheet, Oboro can summon phoenixes (among other things) to aid him. The name was fairly obvious, though it is a bit misleading -- he has water and poison techniques too, even if he's mostly fire.
How do you handle his history?
For the Oboro played in this journal, he has gone through the Stealth option for his chapter and the True Ending. For the Final Chapter, he traveled with a party of Akira, Yuan, and Sundown.
Huh? Stealth Option?
In Oboro's chapter, you have two main options when dealing with it that are both the "proper" way to do things (and to get you his Infinity Sword, as the Infinity +1 Sword doesn't come until later).
Both of them are laid out for you in the beginning.
The first option I call Stealth or Zero Kill. The Clan Leader puts this forward as the preferred option: go through the castle unseen. This is actually a bit of story and gameplay segregation, as the main thing of this path is not that you aren't seen, but rather that you don't kill anyone living. You can be caught and forced into encounters so long as you run from the battle. However, there are some battles that are both against living creatures and cannot be ran from, which means if you aren't careful it could totally wreck your attempts. However, that doesn't mean Oboro is stuck at level 1. There are areas around the castle that contain enemies that aren't living creatures (ghosts, machines) and all of the actual bosses (the three final ones and the two Bonus ones) aren't considered living either, meaning you can murder them as you wish without breaking your Zero Kill run. Needless to say, this option definitely requires a lot of saving, because one single screw up in the wrong place can easily land you into an inescapable battle. This includes some very Guide Dang It moments, as to get this path proper you have to kill a certain boss's minions to get an item, recruit the one optional party member, and make sure not to free(/recruit) the man you're actually there to rescue -- not doing (or in the latter case, doing) any of these permanently locks you out of the No Kill path. That in mind, it also seems the "correct" of the two, as the one friendly NPC in the castle rewards you with healing items.
The second option I call Berserk or 100 Kill. The Clan Leader also puts this way forward as a... psuedo-stealth option, musing that people can't really raise the alarm if they aren't alive to do so. In this case, it's the exact opposite of the first option -- you must get to 100 kills, which means you need to kill everyone in the castle, regardless of whether they're actual enemies or just harmless women. This is actually a bit harder than it sounds. Some things are obvious, such as screwing up the passwords, attacking everyone in sight, and recruiting the guy you're there to rescue, but like the Zero Kill path, there's a few Guide Dang Its where you have to purposefully trigger encounters, race against another enemy to kill a group of guards, and make sure not to recruit the second party member (or, if you do recruit him, make sure to break him before a certain point). This gets you a different weapon from the Stealth option, of course, and no healing items from the NPC.
Obviously, you can go through the game as a middle ground, but that nets you absolutely nothing at all and makes Oboro somewhat under-equipped for the Final Chapter.
Okay. What about the True Ending?
One of the things I love about Live a Live is that there are four different endings, and two of them have you as the Big Bad! Here's the list, in order of worst to best and describing how to get them as well. None of these names are official, but just what I term them.
Armageddon/Worst Ending: After the eighth Chapter, chose Oersted/the Knight once more. You become the Demon King Odio and are dropped into a room with statues of all the bosses of the game. You then replay the major battles from the other chapters one at a time, except you are the boss. If, at any time, you are low on health, you choose the "Armageddon" option from your battle menu. Every single boss in every single time self-destructs at the same time, causing the universe to utterly implode and destroy itself and every single thing in it. Needless to say, as the universe no longer exists, the credits just roll on a black screen.
Emptiness/Bad Ending: Once again, choose Oersted/the Knight, but this time win all the battles. You've changed time (as the heroes were killed instead of rising above) and all the periods of time are assumed to be thrust into chaos and hatred. Oersted goes to the top of the mountain and broods while the credits roll over shots of the dead, empty world of his time.
Finished/Good Ending: Choose anyone but Oersted, go through the fantasy world, and gather three other heroes to be your party. Get to the top of the Mountain and fight the final boss. When you defeat him, Oersted will return to a human form and demand you kill him. When you do so, everyone will be returned to their proper times and the credits roll on the Fantasy world as it begins to brighten and teem with life once more.
Hope/True Ending: Once again, choose anyone but Oersted and gather your party. This time, you have to go to every character's personal dungeon and get their final weapon/Infinity +1 Sword from there -- and since you can only have three people in your party not counting the main character you chose, this does mean you have to add and remove party members until they're all equipped with their final weapon and their dungeon is complete. Go up the mountain and fight Oersted like normal, but when he demands you kill him, refuse. Leave the room, and the other three you left behind will show up in the statue room. Oersted crawls in then starts a boss rush with each individual character facing down their respective villains once more, but alone this time. Once defeated, Oersted will express shock then surrender, dying from his wounds. The characters all give parting words as they're transported back to their proper times. The credits roll on each individual character watching the sun rise in their time, and the game ends with a shot of them on the fantasy-time's mountain, watching the sun rise.