HCBailly



"I "Let's Play" video games in a walkthrough/commentary format for your entertainment and my own."

- The description of his YouTube channel

HCBailly produces Let's Play video series on YouTube for many Eastern RPG and S/NES-age Action RPG video games. Most of his LPs are for Squaresoft, Enix, and Square-Enix games, with the bulk of his library consisting in games from the 8- and 16-bit eras; however as shown in the list below, he has done LPs for games from other publishers and for other consoles as well, Final Fantasy XIII being his first LP for a current-generational console game.

The focus in his LPs lies mainly on information and completeness; as the channel description quote indicates, they are quite similar to a Walkthrough, though they still contain the humour, opinions and fridge observations usually found in Let's Plays. All of his series are for games he has played numerous times before, not only in his childhood (as with the older classics), but also in preparatory test-runs for the LP series. Having familiarized himself with these games, his LPs typically exemplify all the methods and secrets needed to achieve 100% Completion and Game-Breaking allocations of stats and resources, with minimal to zero Level Grinding whenever possible. He even explains how the game works and takes time to figure out how they work; which will help others play the game.

He also composed songs on Mario Paint.

His real name is Henri Carl Bailly. He revealed what H means in his Terranigma LP, and he revealed what the C meant in his very first episode of Seiken Densetsu 3 (surprisingly, it didn't turn out to be 'Cliff Hanger' or 'Catch Phrase').

His channel. He is also a member of The Game Station.

Has a page for all his catchphrases right over heeeere.


 * Arcana
 * Chrono Cross
 * Chrono Trigger
 * Crystalis
 * Dragon Quest I
 * Dragon Quest II
 * Dragon Quest III
 * Dragon Quest IV DS Version
 * Final Fantasy I
 * Final Fantasy II
 * Final Fantasy III
 * Final Fantasy IV
 * Final Fantasy IV Complete Collection
 * Final Fantasy IV CC: The Interlude
 * Final Fantasy IV CC: The After Years
 * Final Fantasy V
 * Final Fantasy VI
 * Final Fantasy VII
 * Final Fantasy VIII
 * Final Fantasy IX
 * Final Fantasy XIII
 * Final Fantasy Adventure
 * Final Fantasy Legend
 * SaGa 2
 * SaGa 3
 * Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
 * Final Fantasy Tactics
 * Illusion of Gaia
 * Knytt Stories
 * The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
 * The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
 * The Legend of Zelda Oracle Games
 * Lufia
 * Lufia II - Rise of the Sinistrals
 * Radiant Historia
 * Secret of Mana (with his brother, JB)
 * Seiken Densetsu 3 (with his brother, JB) (two playthroughs)
 * StarTropics
 * Soul Blazer
 * Terranigma
 * The World Ends With You (April Fools')

Games in preparation, in alphabetical order:

 * Final Fantasy XII
 * Seiken Densetsu 3 (alternate parties)

Games he's highly considering Let's Plays for, in alphabetical order:

 * ActRaiser (low on the list)
 * Breath of Fire
 * Breath of Fire II
 * Dragon Quest V
 * Dragon Quest VI
 * Final Fantasy IV DS
 * Final Fantasy X
 * Legend of Dragoon (High on list)
 * Other Zelda games
 * Xenogears (low on the list)

"As we all know, rumours and legends in jRPGs are always 100% accurate."
 * One Hundred Percent Completion: Or at least 99%.
 * A Date with Rosie Palms: Mentioned during Final Fantasy XIII regarding 12-year old players and the resident Innocent Fanservice Girl.
 * Afraid of Blood: In his own words, he tends to get "freaked out" by gore, and realistic violence.
 * All Myths Are True: Often referenced.

""It's time for the joke final battle!""
 * Alternate Ending: To the second-to-last episode of the Crystalis LP, in which HC and the boss have a funny conversation.
 * Though not exactly an ending, there's an alternate entire video of what the death of Aerith would've been like if HC was talking throughout the whole thing like normal.
 * He does an alternate cut of his reaction to Golbez's introduction where he makes jokes the whole time.
 * Anticlimax Boss: In-Universe, his opinion of Final Fantasy XIII's final boss.

"Has there ever been a duke that was good in a work of fiction?"
 * April Fools: Played The World Ends With You... for all of one video.
 * Aristocrats Are Evil:

""You get to live. ... For now.""
 * Uploader Appeal: Green hair, like Rydia.
 * He's also mentioned that he can give a game that's not very good a pass as long as it has good battle mechanics, witty dialogue, fun puzzles to solve, fun exploration, or a great soundtrack.
 * Then there's if the game allows you to tank damage or if there's an ice level.
 * Ax Crazy: A little bit.

"Beginning: HC: Hullo, this is HCBailly. JB: And I'm having a nice, tasty beverage. Ending: HC: I'm HCBailly. JB: And my drink's empty... HC: Signing off. Have a good day!"
 * Badass Mustache: Not HC, but Yang and Cyan, whose mustaches HC takes time to compliment (and rightfully so).
 * Berserk Button: Guardian Acorns.
 * Cockatrices. No matter which game they're in.
 * A more serious example is that he doesn't take kindly to insults or arguments in his comments section, and won't hesitate to block people for them.
 * This is a case of Tropes Are Not Bad, as now his comments section and fanbase are usually on good behavior, as opposed to the rest of Youtube.
 * JB has one in the form of Dream Seed Herbs. Likely because he always has to stop what he's doing so HC can make sure they get one, whether or not they really need to.
 * Big No: When he obtains a Guardian Acorn.
 * Big Word Shout: GAAAAAAAAAAAAME!
 * Big Yes: Often, when defeating various bosses at critical health.
 * Blessed with Suck The aforementioned 'Bailly Curse'. Grants immortality, but has serious drawbacks.
 * Cursed with Awesome: He has mentioned some beneficial effects to the curse.
 * Blind Idiot Translation: Lampshades instances of poor translation.
 * He's a bit picky about how to spell the Dwarven greeting whenever it's used in games.
 * Brick Joke: During one episode of Seiken Densetsu 3, JB has something to say at the start and end of the video.

"HC: (mentions not wanting to do something) JB: Quit being a wussy."
 * But Thou Must!: Lampshaded to the point of being a Catch Phrase.
 * Catch Phrase: Way too many one might argue, that now have its own page.
 * He's always getting more, usually about one to four new ones per LP. Whether or not they stick afterwards varies.
 * His brother even gets in on the action:

"Like all good bosses, he (explodes/melts/shatters/...)"
 * Both acknowledge that it's from a movie and that he'd adopted the phrase.
 * Chain-Reaction Destruction:

"JB: There's always some POS item you have to get."
 * Cliff Hanger: Darn near every video, even his FAQ on himself. He really, really enjoys these.
 * Notable subversion, in one episode of Seiken Densetsu 3, HC is just about to do a cliffhanger, when JB accidentally walks into the next area of the level, causing HC to have to extend the episode with a boss fight.
 * Completely Missing the Point: At one point in Seiken Densetsu 3, he doesn't know why monsters in a certain elemental environment wouldn't be weak to their respective element, thinking they're weaker from heavy exposure to it. JB tries to tell him why, but ultimately abandons it.
 * Crowning Music of Awesome: Points them out and occasionally creates his own, i.e. here.
 * Curb Stomp Battle: Makes short work of Cagnazzo, thanks mostly to Tellah's spells.
 * Deadpan Snarker: His brother pulls this off whenever he's around.
 * Demonic Spiders: Cockatrices, Red Magi, Ashasins, Green Dragons and Gold Batboons, between others.
 * Dissimile: Some of his "X are like Y. Except they kill you!" similes.
 * Doing It for the Art: In the finale to Final Fantasy Tactics he mentions a new sound setup with a comma in the price tag.
 * Dull Surprise: Part of his mild Early Installment Weirdness: "And we get a (treasure), yaaay." Not that it wasn't still funny...
 * Evil Laugh: Whenever he ends on a cliffhanger and is feeling particularly troll-ish that day.
 * Whenever he utterly obliterates an enemy.
 * JB has a quiet one.
 * The Faceless: Up until very recently, but finally averted.
 * Foreshadowing: He often foreshadows what'll happen in other games; as well as what might happen in the future. Commonly, he says "If only there was some way I could get past this obstacle/some power that would do this/weapon that would help my situation."
 * Often he will make a pun that relates to something he will be doing so that those familiar with the game know what to expect without ruining it for newcomers.
 * Four Point Scale: During the credits, he reviews the game he just played, and a 7 is about the lowest he ever goes. Though it's justified since he only plays games that he really likes.
 * Fridge Logic: A mini-rant about how useless a dragoon's heavy armor would be if they're always jumping out of range of enemy attacks.
 * In The After Years, he points out that if Yang's ship had lost speed because of damage, that would be fine. Instead, the ship is losing speed because the fuel tank has been damaged. On a sailing ship. Cue Head Desk, three times.
 * Fun with Acronyms: During Seiken Densetsu 3, HC tells his brother to kill a certain enemy last because of the item they'd drop. JB tries to explain it, but it goes right over his head.

"Voice: Who is arousing me from my sleep?
 * Funny Background Event: In one bit during Seiken Densetsu 3 in Hawk and Lise's storyline, HC is talking like usual, and JB has his character start pushing around a bird that's been following them.
 * At the ends of some of their videos together, JB has his character do a little dance. Lampshaded and enforced on one occasion.
 * Every so often one (or both) of his cats will jump on the table (presumably where the computer is located) or otherwise cause a distraction and/or interrupt what's going on, much to HC's annoyance.
 * Game Breaker: To a certain extent he will use these (when he deems it fair), sometimes to great comedic effect.
 * In Final Fantasy VIII he does use the card game and Junction System to dramatic effect, remarking at one point (in configuring an extreme boost to everyone's HP levels), "I just BROKE the game." He did however not go so far as to attain the game's ultimate Disk One Nuke -- obtaining the Infinity+1 Sword literally on disk one of a linear, four-disk game -- as he viewed that as a little over the top.
 * Gameplay and Story Segregation: Discussed for laughs regarding a Radiant Historia Bad Ending where in regard to his low damage output.
 * Genre Blindness: He often fakes this to prevent spoilers.
 * Good Bad Translation: Probably the only reason why "Ark is a caring soul" exists, thus is enjoyed by HCBailly to the point of being a Running Gag for the Terranigma LP and a few cameos in other ones.
 * The Good King: Jokes about being having his own kingdom and ruling it rather fairly.
 * The Grand List of Console Role Playing Game Cliches: Often makes reference to this.
 * Head Desk: This is how he responds to some of the dumber revelations and events in his LPs, e.g. Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy XIII, Lufia II, Radiant Historia, and most recently Final Fantasy IV: The After Years.
 * His brother does this too when his brother's jokes get really cheesy.
 * Heh Heh, You Said "X": Not very often, but...

HCBailly: Heheh."

"HC: And she cried. JB: How hard should I punch him, viewers?"
 * Heroic BSOD: He sometimes derogatorily calls this "emo mode".
 * Heroes Want Greenheads.
 * Hilarious Outtakes: Some for Final Fantasy VII, in which HC drops a Cluster F-Bomb.
 * The Alternate Ending to one of the Crystalis videos, as described above.
 * Incredibly Lame Pun:
 * "Piece of Powdah" (with powder, as opposed to the usual "Piece of Powah").
 * The Seiken Densetsu 3 co-op LPs with his brother contain a running gag, usually like this:

"HC: Or will Baron throw a MONK-ey wrench into our plans? HC: Or will Baron's army deliver us a crushing defeat? HC: Can this game get any edgier?"
 * Three so far in Final Fantasy IV: Complete Collection, each of them doubling as cliffhangers and thinly-veiled spoilers:

"I don't know why lava is so popular in video games..."
 * Insistent Terminology: Insists on calling a Piece of Heart a "Piece of Powah".
 * Insurmountable Waist-Height Fence: He complains about the impossibility to "do things the oldfashioned way" (simply breaking a door down) in Final Fantasy games here.
 * Its Pronounced Tropay: When he says 'ether', he does not give the first E the long E sound. This was changed and lampshaded when he played A Link to The Past.
 * Certain cases during Chrono Trigger, including the main character's name. HC being HC, he naturally lampshades it.
 * Pronounced Yuffie's name as "yuffy", and lampshaded it.
 * Kindhearted Cat Lover: Has two of his own whom he talks about from time to time.
 * Large Ham: When he wants to be. Especially when saying "He's weak to [ICE!/FIRE!/THUNDER!/WATER!/...]". Otherwise, he often warns his viewers that they should turn down the volume
 * Lethal Lava Land: Discussed here.

"As you all know, in RPGs you'd be better off if you just never got involved in the plot at all, because the villain is trying to manipulate you into helping them."
 * Let's Play: Yeah, but occasionally posts videos about his progress in random games like Minecraft, or "FAQ Me" videos in which he answers questions asked by his viewers, or more recently his occasional blog videos.
 * Level Grinding: Usually averted. He demonstrates stat- and resource-allocations which allow you to bypass grinding, assuming you engage (rather than run from) all the enemies randomly encountered while traveling from Point A to Point B and during dungeon exploration.
 * With older RPGs which necessitate grinding, he will lampshade it in the opening: "Are you ready for massive level grinding??!!"
 * In his Final Fantasy V LP, which requires some targeted grinding, he conveniently breaks the grinding down into neat little evenly spaced 5-10 minute portions so that it's ... less of a grind. Thanks HC!
 * Made of Iron: Lampshaded with RPG characters, who can apparently survive any fall or explosion.
 * Man Behind the Man: He often talks about the "bad guy" and the "real bad guy", especially in Final Fantasy games.
 * Most Annoying Sound: Delita's reed flute was this to him in Final Fantasy Tactics.
 * News Travels Fast: He often references this, for example here.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He often discusses and criticizes this trope.

"HC: I'm sure that's not true."
 * Nostalgia Filter: He often has these mocking spiels of "Back in my day, we....and WE LIKED IT!". However, brilliantly averted when, during Crystalis, he went on a spiel about how there were no save points mid-dungeon and if you died at the boss, you had to trek all the way through the dungeon again. Right as he's about to say that they liked it, he interrupts himself and says, "Actually...no, we didn't."
 * His word on most modern JRPG's in general. He does play them and like some, but it's clear as day that he finds a good majority of them to be inferior to the SNES-era ones.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: HCBailly will often feign ignorance to the plot of the game he is playing, even though he has already played the game numerous times in preparation for the Let's Play, so that he doesn't spoil future events.

"HC: Oh, blow me if you don't know who [the Man in Black] is!"
 * Opening Narration: See the first page quote.
 * Overly-Long Fighting Animation: He usually fast-forwards these.
 * Paper-Thin Disguise: He lampshades the use of this trope in The After Years for The Hooded Man  and the Man in Black.

""It has a 94% chance of hitting, so it should--" WHAT THE HELL, GAME?!?!? (he had to dampen the sound so it didn't damage anyone else's speakers.)"
 * Performance Anxiety: Unintentionally averted. "I made that look a LOT easier than it actually is."
 * But also, on occasion, played straight. GAAAAAAAAAMMMMME!
 * In his Final Fantasy Tactics LP:
 * Missed!*

"HC: FUCK YOU AND DIE!
 * Perverse Sexual Lust: "Oh that's so hot..."
 * Sometimes played for laughs.
 * Pet Peeve Trope: In-Universe. Plots with the motif of people being manipulated. Not to the point of being a Berserk Button, but he does actively dislike it.
 * Playing with Fire: Tends to gravitate towards fire elementals when given the choice between different elements (in situations where attacking power is the only part that matters).
 * Plug N Play Friends: He briefly ponders about this at the end of this Final Fantasy Tactics episode.
 * Porting Disaster: Minor one, in-universe. He considers the Game Boy Color remake of Crystalis to be far inferior to the original.
 * Power Perversion Potential: In his Radiant Historia Let's Play he mentions that, if he was Stocke, he would use his time-travelling powers to have sex with Raynie over, and over...
 * Power-Up Letdown: He hates Guardian Acorns, mainly because they change the music.
 * Even though the Piece of Power plays the exact same music, and he loves to tank....
 * Precision F-Strike: On rare occasions; it varies. He sometimes refers to his cuss-word per-series quota. The rarity of him cussing has made his fans make up text lines like "When HCBailly cusses a volcano erupts somewhere on Earth".
 * Massively subverted in his Final Fantasy Deleted Scenes in which he turns it into a Cluster F-Bomb
 * Laid THREE glorious F-Bombs near the end of his Final Fantasy XIII LP.

HC: YOU'RE FUCKING KIDDING ME!

HC: What the fuck is that?!]] |undefined"

"HC: YOU'RE FUCKING KIDDING ME! Come on, game! Come on! What the hell!?"
 * During the LP of Final Fantasy V, he pulled an Atomic F-Bomb, with his impression about.

"HC: YOU'RE FUCKING KIDDING ME! A SPACESHIP?! Right THERE?! Waiting for us?! In our general direction?! Of course! Why not?!"
 * A rather notable moment was in the instance of Deus Ex Machina in Final Fantasy VIII:

"HC: Really game? Really? The fate of the world hangs in the balance depending on who I choose to watch the FUCKING FIRE. This is ludicrous!"
 * One so far in Radiant Historia:

"HC: YOU'RE FUCKING KIDDING ME! WHY!? Just fix the damn bridge!! What's wrong with you?"
 * And who can forget his suffering about rebuilding the bridge to Arus in the Lufia LP?

"HC: Wouldn't she be a lot easier to kill? JB: Not really preferable. HC: Of course not, but the world's coming to an end. Gotta do what you gotta do. Take one for the team! JB: ... Not. Really. Preferable."
 * "Previously On...": When recapping a previous video's events, he usually plays small clips with movie quotes, or maybe even just with movie quotes. Like this one for Final Fantasy VI.
 * But in recent days, he doesn't put clips of movies due to copyright issues. Ever then, he has made some, like this for the Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection LP, to prove he doesn't need clips to reference movie quotes or such.
 * Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Generally does a variation of this whenever he says the name of the game he's currently playing in his videos.
 * In Seiken Densetsu 3, one antagonist cannot be killed or else a sympathetic character will also be killed due to a curse.

"Because, as we all know, when we're fighting our friends, they're more powerful as an enemy than they are when they join our party! Absolutely!"
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: When he and his brother record, they have this dynamic, though downplayed. HC is more prone to outbursts and JB is The Quiet One.
 * Redemption Demotion: Discussed.

"HC: Hello, I'm HCBailly. JB: And I'm (something different each time)."
 * Retsupurae: A target of a couple of their videos. One of their more Base Breaker videos, given there seem to be more people in the comments defending him than usual.
 * The Reveal: In his FAQ video, he showed a picture of himself from a few years previously. Then on 2012 new year, he finally shows his face to his fans, who have been wondering for a long time. The page image might have spoiled it though. Here you go.
 * Rule 34: JB guesses that this applies to HC now that he's shown his face.
 * Running Gag: For a few episodes in a row during the Seiken Densetsu 3 LP, it will open like this:

"HC: I hate the Laws of Probability!"
 * In his Final Fantasy Tactics LP, his frustration that the Random Number Generator refuses to work in his favour.

""And now, for another edition of Square-Enix Fanboy.""
 * The Scrappy: Doesn't care for Cait Sith.
 * Scrappy Level: The cave to Arus in Lufia, but mentions how it's the only truly low point of the game compared to everything else and isn't too long.
 * Scrappy Mechanic: Randomly generated dungeons and the aforementioned Guardian Acorns.
 * Subverted in Dragon Quest IV: he doesn't mind the Tactics system of the NES version as much as other people seem to.
 * Self-Deprecation: His intro to the beginning of the Dragon Quest IV LP.

"I just love that "ding" sound my barrier makes. It reminds me that I'm invincible."
 * Sequelitis: He feels that despite the pros of Final Fantasy XIII-2 over its predecessor, the cons outweigh them.
 * Shout-Out: So, so many. Has stated in one episode that he can rattle off Shout-Out after Shout-Out without even trying.
 * That said, he does reference certain things more than others. More recurrent shout outs are to, Star Wars, My Little Pony, and Code Geass.
 * If he misses a shout out, JB Bailly will likely make it.
 * JB: And I'm a ninja! Believe it!
 * Recently he's even made Shout Outs without even recognizing where they came from.
 * Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Prefers these for their often relaxing atmosphere.
 * Sound of No Damage: He enjoys hearing these (as long as they're caused by his immunity and not that of an enemy).

""Oh what, you want out of the room now? You wanted so bad in my room to sleep with me... ON MY BED! Not... Never mind..."
 * Special Guest: On rare occasions his brother joins in the recording.
 * Stealth Pun:
 * He's very prone to making these to support a Cliff Hanger.
 * "Now you're both deceased crabs." (Link to the Past episode 6, 1:14)
 * Stone Wall: Likes to tank, as in having a character take all the damage on behalf of other teammates in games.
 * Supporting Protagonist: In a way. During Seiken Densetsu 3, in Lise and Hawk's storyline, HC plays as Hawk, who wasn't chosen as the first character, therefore it's more Lise's story than Hawk's. Despite being "player 2", HC is still the one leading the game (though he did play as Lise until there were more characters). Then they switched.
 * Take That: He often gives Take Thats to other games but also ones he even likes.
 * More traditionally, he's fond of picking on Final Fantasy XII. And he delivered an extended take that to The World Ends With You during Hawk's intro of the Seiken Densetsu 3 LP., telling his brother that he's lucky to have not played it.
 * Taken even further by pretending to Let's Play that game and mocking it all the while.
 * Take Your Time: Of course the best time to do sidequests is when the world's in grave danger/imminent danger, absolutely!
 * During any of Final Fantasy VIII's numerous cliff-hangers: "What better time for some triiiiple-triiiad?!"
 * Tear Jerker: Exploited.
 * "If you can still have a good day after hearing this music, you're a monster".
 * The Teetotaler
 * That Came Out Wrong: To his cat during Dragon Quest IV.


 * That One Sidequest: The mini game with Cid in the Desert Palace.
 * He will sometimes index these in separate appendix videos rather than in the main LPs.
 * Throw the Dog a Bone: He admits that the Crystalis remake did at least give better background information.
 * Too Awesome to Use:
 * He says this about Megalixirs.
 * In Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics #71 he calls Elixirs "part of the 'too good to use' club".
 * Trademark Favorite Video Game: Final Fantasy IV. He does reference it a lot more than other games he's played.
 * Troll: He accuses Radiant Historia of being this after one of the game's multiple Bad Endings,

"How many teleports is that now?"
 * He claims to be doing this himself when he uploads a video of the remake of Crystalis mainly to point out its inferiority to the original.
 * He says he's doing this to brony haters in the comments section of Final Fantasy IV Complete Part 44.
 * Trolling Creator: "Have a good day, viewers... if you can!! Mwahahahahahahaha...
 * Updated Rerelease: His Arcana LP is being redone, after doing it once as one of his first Let's Plays, long ago.
 * Villain Teleportation: Here he wonders about the bad guys' tendency of teleporting out when defeated. Also lampshaded here.

"HCBailly (in his forum, imagining how he'd comment the game in a Let's Play): Did Illusion of Gaia make too much sense for you?"
 * What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?: In-Universe, his opinion of Soul Blazer, to a much greater extent, Illusion of Gaia, and even moreso Nie R.

"NPC: Woah, I guess the war started while we were having our epic battle. HCBailly: Our epic staring contest. Next, we will play... Beat ...table tennis."
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: In Radiant Historia.

"Suspend your disbelief, viewers!"
 * When I Was Your Age: Often used in a minor manner but once more prominently in his Final Fantasy XIII LP.
 * Who Writes This Crap?: A variation of this is said for his monthly Precision F-Strike (S strike in this case), during Illusion of Gaia during the scene after  died.
 * Willing Suspension of Disbelief:

"Who doesn't love the kitties? If you don't like cats, you're a monster."
 * The Windy City: Has a bit of an accent, which is especially noticeable when doing his impression of fellow Chicago native Bill Murray, particularly in one of his favorite movies, Groundhog Day.
 * With Lyrics: The Rufus Shinra Welcoming March.
 * You Gotta Have Green Hair: HC has a weak spot for green haired girls, it seems.
 * You Keep Using That Word: He says this to an NPC in Radiant Historia regarding "inconceivable", after various other NPCs used this word in a strange manner. (On that occasion, they weren't even using that word, but said "impossible" instead.)
 * You Monster!:


 * Also his opinion on players of Final Fantasy VII who did not cry when