Just What is an Edge Fencer, Anyway? Let's Play Summon Night Swordcraft Story 2!

I played this before.

The answer is always the same.

Aera/Dinah FTW!

(Trust me on this guys. In this game, the girl character gets the BEST scenes)

(check this out I can whisper to Aeonus like this and ONLY HE KNOWS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT)

EDIT:

Understatment of the century!

So hey, last call for votes (and vote changes), as the polls close tonight! Dinah and EXeLD are neck-and-neck so every vote counts!


And
My dark secret here is that I haven't played this game near as much as the first, so I'm not even sure which GB this would be (PC would definitely be Aera)! Back when it came out I did Edgar/Dinah and Aera/Loki runs, and started but never finished an Edgar/Arno one. Then over the next three years I didn't touch it and forgot 90% of the game!
(Then this month I played Edgar/EXeLD as a refresher)

I'll vote for Aera/Dinah, since I recently started an Aera/EXeLD game, since I forgot how talky this game is. My first game was Edgar/Dinah, so it'll be interesting to see the differences as well.

Why are girl main characters so much better than guy main characters, anyway? There need to be more games that let you choose a girl main character. And give the girl main character the same romantic relationships as the guy main character.

Looks like I missed the deadline, but I'd be willing to throw my Arno vote to Dinah for tie-breaking purposes.

Man that would have been helpful a couple days ago. Let's get the part up to the choice posted while I figure out what I'm going to do about the rest...





Aera absolutely whomped Edgar 21 votes to 3! You folks have good taste; like Cleru, Edgar's pretty generic. The writers had a bit more fun with Pratty and Aera.


And we jump right into her internal monologue.


Someone's trying to turn said inner monologue into a dialogue. How rude! Better just ignore them, it can't be important.


Ignore, ignore....


Oh for cryin out loud, WHAT?


Yikes! This edge doesn't have a fence!


Saving Aera from falling off the cliff by throwing her into a rock wall, Ryouga inadvertantly kills her. Now we get to play the rest of the game as a ghost!


Oh. Nevermind. Guess her training includes being thrown into walls. But not anything about not falling off cliffs. Considering this is the aptly-named village of Cliff, you'd think maybe she would know to watch her step.

Yeah, don't underestimate apprentices. You never know when one might be stuck fixing every problem threatening your little town. It happens more often than you think!


Said reason, incidentally, is that she lost a bet. Ryouga challenged her to a duel and she lost.


Yeah, someone should put up a railing there. Maybe some kind of fencer of edges.


Oh ho! The old blush and denial. He takes off and Aera has to catch up.


Well maybe you shouldn't leave her behind, genius.


Wow. Just wow. There's no way this will turn out badly. If something happens to you, Aera can have your stuff, right?


Naw, unlike some other seals that were hastily put up and only last three years, this one's actually really sturdy. There's not much of a risk of breaking it accidentally.


Ah! She said "hell"! Can you do that in a video game?


One improvement over the first game is that there are some real gems in the dialogue, while the first game tended more towards function over style.

Hey, on the subject of real families!


Huh, didn't Pratty tend to commune with the image of her father against a black background too? And carry around an heirloom?


But it seems her foster family is good people too. Let's hope they don't suffer horribly at the hands of any ancient sealed demons. Ha, ha, ha, like that would happen!


By the way, Lynn is the fun NPC


But her juicy secrets will have to come later, we've got some investigating to do!


It's.... It's... a half-devil, half-angel robot girl! DineLD!

And that will be it for this update, even if it is only half the update I planned.

If you can make the LP work with this creation, I would buy you five bagels.

Wow, Aera is... feisty.

Or rather, a half-ghost:

An Aeronus if you would.

Oh yes. God yes.

And I believe somebody changed their vote to Dinah.

So, as of "the close of voting" there was a tie. So I took Jikkuryuu's post as a half vote for Arno and a half for EXeLD just to break the tie. Then Kirin came along and broke the tie the other way after I'd played through the day with EXeLD and had part of the update written. I wasn't really happy with what I had written, though, and after trying out both choices, I decided...


Sorry robot fans! I'll be sure to whip up a special EXeLD-centric post for you guys later as an apology.

She's... panting and on all fours. There's nothing suggestive about that. Nothing at all.


Yes! She was attacked by a terrible creature with sharp, pointy teeth!


Enter RAMPAGE RABBIT, STAGE LEFT.


Except he apparently doesn't like to be called cute.


Like any good tutorial fight, this is trivial.


There are a few improvements in battles over the first game. It's impossible to tell from still pictures, but the animations have many more frames and everything moves much more smoothly. On the right I got a critical hit, which does triple damage and triggers a voice clip. Which brings up another improvemnt: this game has voice clips that play when you cast a spell, get a critical hit, or win an important battle.


Beating the rabbits bumps Aera to level 2. I'm going to be putting lots of points into agility because I'm pretty sure it affects attack speed and recovery time. You also get a Bandage for winning, but like the first game there's not much need for healing items.


Thank you folks! She'll be here all week, don't forget to tip your waitress!

But where's its territory? Surely it doesn't live up here on top of the cliffs? There's no room up here for anything but the town and ruins...


Wow, she's quite the charmer isn't she?


Suddenly I'm not so eager to meet her family...


...


Huh. Wouldn't that get in the way for Guardian Beasts, too, considering they're Summon Creatures as well?

If you're wondering what's so bad about stray summons, consider that all random encounters, plus non-human bosses, and even Parista himself all qualify. Most summoned creatures are feral by nature and without a master to control them, become violent. Basically, when you hear "stray summon" you can usually substitute "monster".


I don't know who she's trying to fool with that act.


Oh.


Ok, now there's no way Aera's going to fall for that, right?


Was she actually hurt by the rabbit after all?


It's kinda hard to see, but her clothes just turned white and she got a halo.


Well this is new!

This sounds complicated.


And she's back to normal, and trying to take back the apologies. What was that whole thing about, anyway?


Yeah, this is a kind of an interesting scenario. How do an angel and a devil end up sharing the same body?


But that's not the question she answers. Sad face.


So what do you do with an exhausted devil girl with a bad attitude who sometimes turns into an angel to apologize profusely?

Take her home, of course!


I dunno about you guys but I sympathize with Ryouga here.


And we finally get around to giving her a name.


So Ryouga goes to the Chief's house to tell him about the damaged ward stone, and Aera takes Dinah home to meet the family. Or rest. Whatever.

So she's fine now. Glad to hear it! Now she can get out. She's going to be nothing but trouble!


Hey, did we ever figure out what the Secret of Mana was?


A little? She's a lot spoiled!


Dinah's got Orin wrapped around her finger already! I knew this was a bad idea.


Geez, it's her fault in the first place!

And if you were disappointed that Aera wasn't carrying on the fine tradition of silly headwear... It looks like he wrapped a towel around his head to keep the chain belt from pulling out his hair.


Wow, seriously? Just like that she lets the secret out?


Does she need her head checked? That never happened!


And some of you wanted the pet robot instead!

*Twirl*
Hmm, I wonder if we could bill her as a magical girl? Pretty Devil Magical Angel Dinah! Ehhh.... I guess not.


Well if you're going to keep apologizing like that, do we really have a choice but to forgive?

Angel!Dinah doesn't want to be a burden, but Devil!Dinah is not going to put up with that kind of attitude! She deserves to be waited on hand and foot!


Well I'll admit, I'm having fun. Who was it that was worried that Aera/Dinah was going to be more of the same?


It's worth noting that unlike Wystern, not everyone in Cliff is a Craftknight. In fact, every Craftknight in town is present right now!


Why'd he ask if he was just going to literally drag her down there anyway?


Not like we have a choice in the matter. But this seems like a good place to stop for now.


Next time: The bond between two women, tempered in a forge!

I'd get tired of that act real quick if I was playing.

But I'm not, so I'll watch it all spiral into madness and lesbian undertones.

Also I can't wait to see how Aera and Lynn interact.

Probably poorly!

Yes.

Sorry 'bout my timing there. I'm a troublemaker! Or something.

No problem! I think this will work out for the best. (Also since I did an EXeLD run last month I wanted to do a Dinah run anyway)

Now where were we? Oh yes, being dragged down to the forge. Strap yourselves in folks, this is a pretty long update!



Exposition, Exposition, Exposition, Exposition. Listen kid, I was Craftknighting before you were out of diapers, I know the score.


Whoa hey hey hey you want us to team up with the brat princess? That'll work real well.


Not mentioned: using spells in combat.


There's certainly nothing that could go wrong by joining a lifetime partnership with someone we only met half an hour ago and who only ever thinks of herself.


Huh, a glimpse at some past trauma? Perhaps, through working and fighting together we will come to learn of her painful past and help heal her wounded heart? Followed by hot lesbian makeouts, maybe?


Is he a Craftknight or a salesman?


Well well well! Aera seems to be okay with it. Glad I get to sit and watch the show from a safe distance.

Haha she wasn't expecting Aera to call her bluff!

*Flash*
Hey I guess she doesn't only pop out to apologize. Whaddya know.

*Flash*
And Devil!Dinah experiences a moment of personal growth. She's really overcoming her racism!


I've changed my mind, I like this plan.


I love how Blaire is unconcerned with matters like the consent of the concerned parties.


And for the second time in 20 minutes Dinah is dragged bodily from the room against her will.


"For going along with whatever I say without question even if you don't want to."

Be honest, but that doesn't mean being nice? So basically we're going to have to be downright mean to Dinah? I'm listening....


Let's see, open the map... fast travel... here we go. No there's no such option in this game


This is so exciting! The exchange of vows, the rings, and the kiss at the end!


Actually, he's descended from a summoner.


Nope! I lied a little bit in the first post; Aera's real dad wasn't a Craftknight. Or at least there's no in-game indication that he was. So her real family was from a line of summoners and her foster family is full of Craftknights.



TIME PASSES....



MORE TIME PASSES....



AGES PASS, AND ALL THE WORKS OF MAN CRUMBLE TO DUST...

Man, now that's a talent... she can fall asleep standing up.


Maybe he's a lich?


Ooooh, busted!


Oh man, I bet now we have to draw up a magic circle and sign a pact with our own blood and cool magic shit, right?


What? But... but... magic circles and blood signing and glowy magicy sparklies...?


Dinah's disappointed too!


That'sokweshouldbegoinganywaygottagoforgesomeweapo nsbyenow!


Someone who sells stolen edges, obviously.

Good thing he's sealed and we won't have to go find any magic swords or worry about him getting free! Ahaha...hahah...ha we're so screwed.


You only appear in battle to cast spells, and you're invincible during them! What could put you at risk?

Anyway let's blow this popsicle stand. What's next on our agenda for today?

Practice? Have you read my other LP? I'm already a forging master! A Craftlord, if you will!


Bah, fine, fine. But let's talk to Ryouga and Lynn first.


Wow, Ryouga, slick.


!


See? Lynn is awesome.

Ouch, you know you're in trouble when Dinah is criticizing your self-control.


Oh right, that whole thing we were trying to do before coming across a certain little devil girl.


Uh, let's see... how does that go? Spin around, arm up, play fanfare...

And now we can use the party chat feature! Let's see what Dinah has to say.


Oh, that's our Dinah!


Of course! First you break down items into the four types of elemental materials, then use those to make a weapon you have a technique for! Right? That's how we learned to do it back in the first gradegame.


Just like the internet.


Well it's his job, after all. But wouldn't you think there would be more demand for kitchenware than weapons in a town like this?

And he forces young girls to call him "master!"


Business as usual there.


This is an oblique reference to TEC, which returns from the first game and increases a weapon's parameters as you fight with it.


So Aera breaks any machine she touches. Certainly that's not going to ever be relevant!


That was not even a point he made, what are you saying?


Yes! A hammer! It's so important, you should carry it with you everywhere, even to the bathroom!