I'm Ready To Kick Souls and Eat Worlds....Wait...(A Blind Let's Play Of Soul Nomad And The World Eaters

[Kodre09]

Well that’s certainly a Title Screen.

Welcome everyone to Soul Nomad And The World Eaters, a Tactical Strategy RPG. Known as Soul Cradle: World Eaters in Japan, this game was developed by Nippon Ichi and published by NIS America when it eventually came to the States on the PS2 on September 25, 2007.

Many of you likely know Nippon Ichi as the company who developed the famous Disgaea Series of JRPGs. I know this as well, and this game follows in the vein of their signature fantasy RPG style.

At least, I think it does.

Cause I haven’t played this game before…save for the bit where I got footage for screenshots, and the above bit.

I have played some of the Disgaea games, but never finished one. Mainly cause I played them back when I was a stupid kid who didn’t understand how to grind efficiently in JRPGs. Now that I am older (and maybe wiser) I hope to actually finish one of these games. And what game better to start with than a Strategy RPG? I like Strategy and I like RPGs. Win-win.

If you need a bit more info on the game, here’s the Summary from the back of the Box (found on Gamefaqs):

Gig, the fearsome Master of Death, is back…and he’s pissed off! Taking over your body is just the first step on his quest for global domination. It’s up to you to rein him in and use his power, along with your band of fellow warriors, to stop the horrific World Eaters from annihilating everything.

Now with the preamble out of the way, allow me to explain the features/rules of this LP:

1. How will I be playing the game?: Using an emulator. Whatever your feelings on that fact are, it’s the best way for me to play this game right now. And get footage for screenshots.

2. Will this LP be completely Blind?: Correct. I know absolutely nothing about the game, outside of what I’ve already gotten footage for screenshots for. Thus everything that happens will be as new to me as it is to some of you. Know that this means I won’t be following any guides or going for any kind of challenges or perfect runs. I’m just gonna play through the game at my own pace and see how it goes. With that said:

3. Rules on Spoilers or Discussion of Spoilers?: Absolutely None. I would like to see this game’s twist and turns for myself, thank you very much. Please refrain from discussing or talking about Spoilers or Major Events until after they occur in game.

4. Will you be adding anything extra to the LP?: Yes. Specifically, I will add in my own commentary. This is mainly because the Protag is of the Silent Variety, thus I feel the need to add in snarky and humorous dialogue to enhance the LP. Know that I make no promises that all my added dialogue will be snarky or funny. I will try my best to entertain though.

Any normal dialogue will be typed out like this.

Any added dialogue will be typed out like this.

4. Will there be Audience Participation?: Yes…kind of. See, I do know that this game has choices that affect the Ending (I guessed as much from how far I went for my Screenshot Footage). However, since this will be a Blind LP, I feel it best for me make to those choices for myself, so I can get my own experience from this game. However, from what I remember of my time with the old Disgaea games (specifically 2 and 3), you can create your own Party of Badass RPG characters. You can name them whatever you want, choose their class, how they level up, and overall just have your own personal death squad of OCs.

So, when I reach that point in the game, I’ll open up Applications for people who want to get their character in the game. If you wish to put your hat in the ring, please wait until I reach that point in the game. This will let me know how to set up the Application itself.

With all that out of the way, let us begin this Epic Tale!

[Kodre09]

Table Of Contents

1. The Prologue, or, Our Childhood Friend is a Battle Junky Bitch

2. Graduating To Guardian, or, NPC Dialogue Before Getting Our Sword

Applications

To Be Created

[Kodre09]

Soul Nomad: Intro movie

The above is the Intro Movie for the game. If you don’t feel like watching it, here’s a quick summary:

The continent we’re on is named Prodesto.

It’s been in a constant state of civil war for years, until some absolute badass named Lord Median The Conqueror beat everyone’s ass and united it.

Life was good for ten years. Then Median and his son died, and the whole thing fell apart. Then fifteen years later Median’s daughter, Layan, came of age and got everyone’s shit together again.

Then fifty years later, some major monsters(likely the titular World Eaters) came down and wrecked everyone’s shit. They were led by some guy/thing/evil force/designated bad person of the day.

Layan sacrificed herself to kill the leader, and the monsters went silent. They’re not dead, just sleep.

And that’s where our story picks up.

Well, not quite. First we’re greeted by a feminine voice and this text box. One cool thing about this game is that all cutscenes I’ve seen so far have been voiced. That’s not usually the norm for JRPGs, so I give them props for going the extra mile like that. The voice proceeds to ask us which Gender we want to be: Male or Female.

I’m going to choose Male, just because. No real other reason behind it. We’re then prompted to type in a name for our Protagonist.

Since this is my first time playing, I’m sticking with the already entered name: Revya. The voice says it’s a fine name.

Probably want to think twice about giving a complete stranger Carte Blanche on your whole world. Just saying.

The screen fades to black, then fades into this screen.

Huh, so it’s been 200 years since Layna beat the World Eaters? Wonder if things have gotten better.

We then fade into this screen where we get the name of the location we’re in: Hidden Village, Central Commons. Behind the sign are people who I’m assuming will be important characters based on their attire and the fact that they’re the first two people we see.

And judging by how this girl has a voice, name that isn’t Revya, and a text box, the red haired boy is likely our Main Character. And he’s currently being the one who Danette is taking her frustrations out on.

The two are likely childhood friends, if my Anime Trope knowledge doesn’t fail me here. We learn that Danette is upset because the Village Leader won’t let the two of them become “Sepp Guardians”, who I’m guessing help protect the Village and keep it Hidden. She has rejected them both despite the fact that they’ve been training for it and are old enough now.

We also learn that Danette is a fucking bitch.

Revya: Sure, blame me for all your problems. That’s healthy.

Danette: It’s what friends are for, right?

Danette pulls out two daggers and declares that it’s time for another training bout between them. It is here we learn that she is a Battle Junky, as she says the two of them have fought about 1,000+ times. However, she can’t actually remember if it’s that much. Lucky for her…

We also happen to be a Battle Junky who reminds her that:

Revya: I think it’s our 2,327th session.

Danette: How do you know that?

Revya: I started keeping track after session number 999. Keeps me sharp.

We seem to acquiesce and pull out our two handed sword.

Revya: Same way I handled it in session 779. I’ll block it.

Danette: That was a fluke and you know it!

Revya: Whatever helps you sleep at night.

Here we enter the Tutorial Fight. Danette offers to give us a run down. However, for ease of reading, I’ll go ahead and summarize everything. I’ll go into more detail when it becomes necessary.

This is the Menu that we can pull up to do things. Right now we can Move to different Squares, Attack our Enemy, Defend from Damage, check our Stats, and End our Turn.

We have one Action every Turn, and Attacking takes that Turn. I don’t control this so Revya attacks.

This is the Battlefield. Whenever a unit (enemy or ally) attacks another, they both get a shot off. First the attacking unit, then the defending unit. This means every exchange always results in damage for both sides.

We start our exchange with Danette…

And eventually win with a lucky crit.

This is the Results/Ranking Screen. We get it whenever we beat a battle. I’m guessing GP is the game’s currency. We get GP for clearing the Map, taking little casualties and damage, and for killing enemy Units. We also gain ranks that can give us special things. Right now the only item we got out of the fight that makes sense is the helmet “Warriror’s Cry”.

I’m worried about what the “Blackmail” Item is considering we got it from our female childhood friend.

The game gives us the option to skip the cutscene after a battle. While that’s neat, I’m not gonna be using it much cause…I don’t know the story.

When we fade back in, a bell starts tolling somewhere in the Village. Danette recognizes it.

Revya: Maybe I’m not the one holding us back.

Danette: What’s that supposed to mean?

Revya: You’ll figure it out someday.

Revya: What’s that? You want to go again? I’m still fresh and ready, so if you wanna go-

Danette: Oh shut up! We need to get to Lady La-

Suddenly, the screen starts shaking and we hear a rumbling the distance. Danette responds to it by saying:

We respond with:

Revya: There’s been a lot lately. Hopefully no one got trapped under falling rubble this time. Maybe I should go check-

Revya: Or you could just ignore my concern and drag me to our Village Elder who we see everyday. Sure, let’s just forget about the fact that someone could be dying at this very moment.

Danette: Exactly! I knew you’d understand!

Revya: …Somehow that response doesn’t surprise me.

And then we’re booted to this screen which lets us explore the Hidden Village. I’m guessing the Green Exclamation Point is where the Main Plot is. So, naturally, I’m not going there immediately.

Instead, I’m going to end Update 1 here. I hope you all enjoyed my first Let’s Play. Hopefully, I managed to entertain you all at least a little bit. Join me next time for more, Soul Nomad!

[Kodre09]

Fun Fact: Update 1 Used to be Longer and have more to it…but then I clicked the “Quote Whole Post” button and accidently deleted all my work.

I swear I know what I’m doing.

[Timrod]

Take it from me, since this happened to me multiple times when I LPed YIIK and again during one of the recent Persona 5 Royal updates, keep Notepad (or Libreoffice or whatever) open and copy-paste your post into it every so often. Sometimes, the site will straight up eat your update for no particular reason.

I’ll be real though, when I first looked at this I thought “Oh, this must’ve been like La Pucelle and came out before Disgaea 1” but no, it came out in 2007 - a full year after Disgaea 2. In hindsight I should’ve realized it’s using Disgaea 2’s engine, because the command menu and dialog boxes are done in almost exactly the same style.

What surprised me was how primitive the sprite work is compared to Disgaea or Disgaea 2, but I guess it makes sense if this was a spinoff title that they didn’t know was going to succeed.

[Kodre09]

Thanks for the advice, and I was thinking of doing something like that. As in, copy/pasting my post in a separate program.

As for the game itself, the sprites being primitive is news to me.

[Kodre09]

Continuing where we left off, we head to the Altar to see who’s there. I’m going to be limiting the amount of screenshots, and summarizing a lot of the conversations. Mainly to cut down on how much I have to post, but also to ease reading.

Danette: Why are we here?

Reyva: Because there was an earthquake. We need to be sure everyone’s alright.

Danetee: But Lady Layna-

Revya: Would understand if we were a bit late because we were trying to be sure everyone in the Village is alright. Like a Sepp Guardian would do.

Danette:…Fine! But be sure to hurry up!

When we enter the Altar, we’re met with this screen. As you can guess, we can talk to each of the different NPCs. Unlike cutscenes these conversations aren’t voice acted. It’s understandable. They already have voices for most of the actual cutscenes. Can’t expect them to do it for all of them.

For now we’re going to talk to Old Crone Drei. She doesn’t really say much, just stands around being smug and saying that we’re lucky that Lady Layna took us in as babies. Else we would’ve been eaten by wild animals.

Revya: Yes, Drei. I’m as thankful as I was the last 200 hundred times you told me that.

Drei: Well good! Now leave! I need to pray to the gods for help soothing these old bones.

Danette: Why didn’t you tell her off!?

Revya: She’s older than anyone in this Village aside Lady Layna, and has aged far less gracefully. Likely can’t even put on her shoes by herself anymore. It would disrespectful to yell at her for a factual statement.

Danette: Yeah, but she’s a bitch.

Revya: True, but I’m not as petty as you.

After her we meet up with Caretaker Nei.

Revya: 'Fraid not this time Nei. Sorry.

Nei: Oh, it’s alright. I should be able to manage on my own.

Nei explains to us that babies are an important thing to the Village because, well, you need kids to keep the population going after all. However, there have been less babies born recently. And she thinks a major cause is how many of the grown males in the Village leave to see the outside world. While she misses them, she doesn’t want them to come back with strangers and put the Village at risk.

Reyva: Hey, calm down. That’s not gonna happen.

Nei: But what-

Revya: It. Won’t. Happen. Ok?

Nei:…Ok. Thank you Revya.

Revya: No problem. How’s Gaidus doing?

Revya: That’s good to hear. I gotta get going though.

Nei: Alright. Bye Revya.

Next we meet Hamatz Of The Dark. We find him near some memorials and praying areas. We also find out that he’s gone blind, thus the, “Of The Dark” in this name.

He proceeds to lament his aging and how he isn’t as spry as he used to be. Then he says…this:

Revya: Looks to Danette with concern Please tell me he means that in a not creepy way.

Danette: Wha-No! He just helped me learn how to fight!

Hamatz: Damn straight I did! I’m the one who showed her how to shank someone with both arms tied behind her back!

Revya: Wait, how the fuck would she do that?

Hamatz: Wouldn’t you like to know? What else did I teach you Danette?

Danette: Never reveal all your secrets!

Hamatz: Atta girl!

Revya: Urgh. Anyway, how have-

There’s another earthquake and our conversation gets cut short. Hamatz says that they’ve been getting more frequent.

We leave the man to his praying and move to the next area: The Central Field.

Here we meet these characters with very interesting names. We start with “Buff Veteran Ben”.

Danette: Really!? I knew it!

Revya: Thanks for the vote of confidence, Ben.

Ben: No problem.

He then goes on to mention how he’s been alive for 180 years, while Lady Layna has been alive that entire time. In fact, she’s been living as a human for 200 years.

Huh. Anyone else find it weird that the Elder of the Village not only has the same name as King Medain’s daughter, and has been alive for 200 years? The exact amount of time that has passed since the same Layna defeated the leader of the World Eaters?

…The game isn’t really trying to hide this from the players, is it?

Anyway, we move to the next person: Cool Toughguy Van:

Revya: Thanks for just dropping that responsibility on our heads.

Van: No problem dude. I know you’re up for the task.

He then says that Lady Layna goes into a period of rest where she’s completely vulnerable, and thus must be protected by her guardians. Which will now be our characters, who haven’t even been made proper Sepp Guardians yet.

Yeah, Layna’s in good hands.

With that incredible weight of responsibility weighing us down, we go talk to the last person: Winged Mariene:

…Is this…is this game actually calling to attention how JRPGs don’t mention the MC’s name if it’s created by the Player? Holy shit was this ahead of its time.

Though while this explains why Danette doesn’t call us by our name, it doesn’t explain why no one else does.

Revya: Nope. I’m still just “you” to her. Despite all that we’ve been through.

Danette: Hey I remember your name!

Revya: Then say it here and now.

Danette: It’s…uh…um…Adel?

Revya: No.

Danette: Taka?

Revya: Nah.

Danette: Kenshin?

Revya: Three strikes, you’re out.

Danette: My memory’s not that bad?

Revya: Then where’s your dairy?

Danette: I have a dairy?

Revya: And there you go.

With that we head back to the travel menu. However, before we head to Lady Layna’s Room, we go to the Gate and try to Leave The Village. When we do, we get new dialogue.

Revya: Hey, Gadius. Nei says you’re kid’s doing well. She telling the truth?

Gadius: Revya! I am offended you even suggest I am in anyway a poor father figure. I demand an apology!

Revya: Woah, calm down. I’m sorry, ok?

Gadius: Apology accepted.

He then explains why he can’t let us go: The Village has something hiding it, but only as long as everyone stays inside. If a person suddenly appeared out of nowhere, everyone would be able to understand that there’s a Village hidden here…including the World Eaters.

Revya: Wait…the other Villages are…

Gaidus: I am afraid so. While some still stand, many have fallen to the monsters outside our Village.

Revya: Damn it…that’s…damn it…

Well, with that…horrifying revelation, we move on to Lady Layna’s room. Revya and Danette enter the room and bow to the Elder:

Danette: We would’ve been her sooner if SOMEONE hadn’t insisted we walk all over the Village.

Revya: Oh yes. Ensuring we aren’t late to a meeting with a person we see almost everyday is LEAGUES more pressing than making sure everyone is alright after an earthquake.

Layna: Now, now, you two. There’s no need to fight. You are here now after all.

Anyone else think it’s kind of weird that Layna has a young looking sprite, but her portrait is that of an old woman? Maybe there’s a story reason for it.

Lady Layna then says she’s going to give us the weapons we will use to protect our home. This makes Danette really excited.

Revya: No, she’s going to give us weapons cause she knows we’ll kill everyone the moment they’re in our hands.

Lady Layna: No one likes a smartass, Revya.

Layna confirms Danette’s guess, saying that we will have the power to protect those who can’t protect themselves. She then proceeds to summon a crapton of weapons out of thin air.

Danette: Ah, you have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this.

Revya: Hey, Danette? You remember what Lady Layna said about us using these weapons to protect those who can’t protect themselves, right?

Revya: That’s a no. Lady Layna, you sure you don’t want to rethink giving the bloodthirsty girl an actual weapon?

Layna: As long as you’re there to reign her in? Yes, yes I am.

Revya: Oh, so I’m supposed to be her Keeper? That’s just great. Thanks. Really.

You get three guesses as to which of those weapons Danette’s going to choose, and the first two don’t count. Go on, I’ll wait.

…

Of course she picks fucking green double daggers. Did you think she wouldn’t after her sprite used them in the Tutorial?

Revya: First, those are daggers, not a sword. Second, how are they in anyway sickles? They’re not curved enough.

Danette: Giggling while rubbing her new weapons

Revya: Aaaannnnddd you’re not listening to me.

Revya: Weird name for a pair of daggers.

Layna: It’s said that those that die by the blades experience true Tranquility before dying with naught but a whisper.

Revya: Ah, that fits.

Danette: I’m going to kill soooo many people with this.

Revya: Rrrriiiggghhhtttt. So, am I getting a weapon too? I only ask cause you kind of made the selection dis-

Revya: -aaaaawwwweeeeessssoooommmmmeeeee!

Revya: Shut up, Danette! Don’t ruin this for me!

Danette: Hey, didn’t you just get done saying I wasn’t ready to have a weapon?

Revya: Yeah, but that was you. And it was before a big, badass, black sword was on the table! So be quiet and stand there while I get my cool ass sword!

Danette: This isn’t fair!

Revya: Neither is life! Now gimme!

We step forward, grab the sword’s hilt, and-

Ooooohhh. That’s…probably not good.

[drcakey]

@Kodre09

Anyone else think it’s kind of weird that Layna has a young looking sprite, but her portrait is that of an old woman? Maybe there’s a story reason for it.

I’ve been playing Star Ocean 2 with a friend because we both hate happiness, and the portraits and sprites just…don’t match. Like ever. I think it’s actually weirdly common.

@Kodre09

…Is this…is this game actually calling to attention how JRPGs don’t mention the MC’s name if it’s created by the Player? Holy shit was this ahead of its time.

Isn’t Nippon Ichi’s whole thing being blandly witty about game conventions?

This made me start inventorying in my head how many JRPGs with voiceacting still let you name your character. I was surprised to realize there are quite a few. Final Fantasy realized the two don’t go together after X. Persona 3+ does it, of course, because an SMT lead is a hollow meat-puppet and this will never change. The two Baten Kaitos games have you name the guardian spirit, and they do not give a shit: whenever someone says the spirit’s name, they just insert a few seconds of silence into the dialogue like it’s been redacted by the CIA.

But the most mind-boggling use of it I’ve ever seen has got to be…Star Ocean 2, again! The game is heavily voice-acted, and not only can you name your party members, but you can rename them whenever you want like they’re Pokemon or something. And the voice acting will just…say the character’s canonical name. Like, the voice actor will say “Hey REINA, what do you think we should do?” while the dialogue box says “Hey POOP, what do you think we should do?” (I renamed the main character POOP because I am a serious adult)

[Kodre09]

That Star Ocean 2 stuff sounds hilarious.

And yeah, it seems to be something that JRPGs just…do?

I mean, I don’t mind it. But if you’re going to have us name our protag, how about not having everyone speak so things aren’t awkward.