Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Shangri-La Frontier
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Calathan
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I also don’t think anything that has been said in the anime has suggested to me that anyone is trapped in the game. I think all Setsuna was explaining is that in the game’s lore she is an AI rather than a ghost, but in either case she is just an in-game character.
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NeverConvex
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This was my impression, too; it seems like SLF's high-level world-building involves the common trope of the utopian high-tech society that encountered disaster and somehow became a fantasy RPG after its fall. References to AI and cyborgs and so forth have all seemed in this world-building spirit entirely within the confines of SLF, to me, rather than as any kind of references to the real world The only thing that seems to suggest there's "more" to SLF is the incredible depth of the NPCs' personalities, but it still seems unclear where that is going, exactly. Could just be ChatGPT on steroids, from the writer's perspective, but it does still seem suspiciously underexplained |
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Amuro1X
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As others have said, nothing about Setsuna's explanation said to me she was from the real world. Like, Sunraku and gang didn't react to that "reveal" because that's not what she said?
What I understood was that our Setsuna was an (in-game) AI recreation of the original Setsuna who had come to this world with Weathermon in the backstory. You know, the backstory that Sunraku skipped, lol. |
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Leviathonlx1
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Yea there's no reason to try and look tool into this being more complicated than a video game.
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sirdano1
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lol at the reviewer thinking this show's story is going to be anything but three goobers playing a video game.
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Amuro1X
Posts: 176 |
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I think anime in general has trained people to look for big twists, but here they're literally just playing a VRMMO with a really detailed story and world setting, the "twist" being that we're following a main character that couldn't give two craps about the plot and just wants a real challenge. |
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Hiroki not Takuya
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Ep20- Struck that the writer seems to have a good appreciation of the personality traits of gamers and gaming creatives, sentimental/romantic/passionate, analytical/strategic, competitive and adventurous. I especially relate to Pencilgon intending to quit the game having achieved a "game-changing" historic goal but not being able to forget the connection she has to the character Setsuna and not being able to resist a new quest connected to all that. Also, the SF scenario writer and game designer having it out over how the unexpected defeat of the near-final boss so early could have happened was both relatable and hilarious. Maybe not what people would actually do, but what they would feel like doing...
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Covnam
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With the world story progress tied to the defeat of the unique bosses I wonder if the order matters.
They said that they thought Weathermon would be defeated much later, but does that mean the story is now being released out of order? Clearly these are game designers that expected players to follow their script, but you'd have to think that they wouldn't be quite that rigid and progress would just be tied to the number of unique bosses and not specifically which ones (at least of the most part). |
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b-dragon
Posts: 460 |
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Yeah, that throws me. Why design a game with so much room for player and skill expression, and not expect severe deviations from the expected power progression? I'm projecting a bit from being a tabletop DM but players, given any freedom whatsoever, will be unpredictable, will push the limits of the system and narrative. And thats not really a bad thing- you shouldn't give players a sand box and mandate how they play in it. Further, why lock significant narrative content behind a 1-off boss monster for the whole server/game? It feels like awful design. Sunraku hasn't really cared about the narrative of the game, and that is absolutely fine. But did his beating of Wethermon deprive a player who would care about that content of the experience? We've been told that this is a god-tier game- a counterpoint to the awful, janky messes Sunraku normally plays. And I've had my doubts- in particular the skill system seems an unwieldy mess. But the narrative design choices, assuming I understand them correctly, seem...amateurish at best. Rookie mistakes. In an SAO-type game, this wouldn't stand out. Long term user enjoyment was not a goal of that "game". But in this case, it rankles a bit. |
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Covnam
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Maybe the average VR games are just a step or two above the trash games we've seen so by comparison this game is godly? Or perhaps it's just how "alive" the world is that makes it top tier? Outside of the scripted events, the AI seems to be quite good. Though we don't know how that compares to other games... |
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NeverConvex
Subscriber Posts: 2314 |
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I kind of love this kind of game-dev choice.  Reminds me of The Sleeper from Everquest, who goes on a rampage murdering everything continent-wide, exactly once per server, when 'woken' by the first uber-guild of MMO players to reach him, and forever modifies what gear/creatures are available in the zone he previously lived in.
Them not anticipating that in a highly skill-expressive game, the order would be broken, does seem silly, though, yeah. Especially since you'd expect dedicated game devs to be steeped enough in gamer culture to have quite a good idea of just how ridiculously dedicated many of their players will end up being. |
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Jabootu
Posts: 76 |
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Looking forward to Sunraku taking a bit of time off of SLF and playing a bit of NewWorld Online instead.
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Nom De Plume De Fanboy
 SubscriberExempt from Grammar Rules Posts: 613 Location: inland US west, pretty rural |
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I'm still wondering about the bunnies. The way to get to their area seems built into the game, to me, so they seem to be a regular part of the game, and while they did _not_ make the MC decide to fight the Tombguard, the bunny boss did help the MC to do it. So I'm thinking that the algorithm for the bunny boss may be imperfect, and, by helping, has changed the order of events in the game, possibly by accident. Or...
Or, speculating a lot, somebody hacked in and is controlling the bunny boss. Or, maybe it's a member of the game staff running him. Or, the "AI" for the game is doing it for their own reasons. Also, I don't know if the game staff knows that the MC has run into the bunny boss yet. All speculation on my part.  Still a fun show to watch, for me.
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NeverConvex
Subscriber Posts: 2314 |
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Head-canon: spoiler[bunny boss is a PC, played by the public-relations megane-kun who kept catching strays from the fight between the two devs. He's so sick of them he's devoted himself to destroying their careful balance and story in one long Sunraku-shaped blow.]
Last edited by NeverConvex on Thu Feb 29, 2024 10:40 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Nom De Plume De Fanboy
Subscriber Exempt from Grammar Rules Posts: 613 Location: inland US west, pretty rural |
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Hmmmm.... Makes as much sense as anything else right now. Definitely, definitely. ( Nodding head sagely... )
Last edited by Nom De Plume De Fanboy on Thu Feb 29, 2024 10:59 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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