#||Yes I know lore/reality is different from gameplay

[shining-gem34]

||Been thinking about Dan Feng Pathstrider. In stories, he is both a healer and a fighter. It be interesting to think over how his lineage (Ichor bloodline via reincarnation) are almost similar in terms of fighting/healing style with some variations in since the Dan Feng in the animation showed similar attacks that DH did (the basic atk and summoning cloudhymn dragons).

Obviously what first comes to mind is: Abundance or Destruction.

Destruction where his skill can do dmg single and adjacent enemy BUT after a criteria been meet he can also cast Healing Over Time buffs/debuffs to an ally (strangely enough it almost always lands on Yingxing if he's in the party).

Abundance: "I'm a healer but-" /shot. Anyway, his skill is obviously healing allies while giving them buffs (energy regeneration over time/dmg bonus/etc). His ULT however does AOE dmg to all enemies where it boosts his outgoing healing% and any allies who can heal/self-heal as well. Any extra stuff? He can do a follow-up atk after he debuffs an ally status ailment.

[smolsix]

-blows dust off this blog-

So

Little Nightmares III, huh???

I was trying to avoid being excited about it because no solid release date and 2024 could be a few months from now or a year from now and Idk how long I can handle being so fuckin hyped for this game YEEHAW

BUT I CAN'T, I KEEP THINKING ABT THE GAME AAHAHHGAGA

so here are my thoughts, if you wanted to know

FIRST OF ALL, i am so glad that after we saw LTNM II we thought it'd be co-op but it was just an AI, that we finally get co-op! AND ONLINE TOO, i spent the first day worried it'd be shared screen same room situation since i wasn't trying to get my hopes up but then I realised I can just.. google it.. AND IT IS!!! ONLINE!! IDK WHO I AM GONNA PLAY IT W FIRST AAAAAAAA

anyways, you can definitely tell it's a new studio working on this game, the world feels mostly the same but the character designs themselves are definitely stylistically similar, but not the same. With Six especially, the MC designs were very simplistic and realistic but used colour (or for Mono, a single design quirk being the bag) to stand out against their backgrounds and against the enemies which are largely neutral colours. But these new ones feel... "over designed"? On their own they definitely aren't, but in comparison to Mono, Six, Seven, and even NPCs like the flashlight girl, they have a lot more going on (especially the little wrench kid, Idk which one is Alone and which one is Low yet btw OOP)

Despite it being a new studio and you can tell, new puzzles and environments, they're still doing their best to have the OGs vibes and whatnot to feel familiar, namely in the trailer they bring back the fuses, and the additional gameplay video there's a short scene with an environment with all the shelves you can find in LTNM 1s gnome section (the one with the cart that is affected by the Maws swaying).

But regardless, it still feels different enough my brain is still nervous about it. I also feel In A Way about Tarsier having LTNM II explode and their franchise getting the attention it deserves, only to have it stuck with Bandai and now it's going to likely explode again and they aren't involved. Idk how anyone on that team feels about it, but if it were me omg.

Also the only boss we've seen so far (i hope they add more and i def want some to be a surprise so im not gonna assume this is the only one for now) feels... out of place? it has the design qualities of a LTNM boss, but the size of it makes it more of a spectacle than a warped/corruption of an adult. All the previous bosses fit in their environment, we are the small ones and they are scaled to the world around them. This is the first time, outside monster Six who imo is a bit of an outlier anyways due to her circumstances, we're getting a boss who is this huge and doesn't even fit their own environment. I hope we get a lore reason for this in some way, because currently the boss doesn't have the same vibe as the others and it's throwing me off a bit. Don't get me wrong, it'll be terrifying, but looking at the picture as a whole they are sort of out of place for me rn. I don't hate the bitch either, I'm not gonna be like omg get rid of it or change it, but it does strike me as odd seeing it for now.

And yes the tall man is too tall for a lot of things, but he's not THAT big. He's more like yer tall guy who hits his head off doorways, which happens irl anyways LMAO

Little Nightmares primarily tries to capture the feeling of being a small child and how everything is big and scary, but a doll that huge is out of the realm of reality set up for us already. It's gone from scary corrupted animal to godzilla, if that makes sense.

OH AND THE MIRRORS ARE VERY LTNM COMICS OF THEM TEE HEE < 3

[mightbeorphanedidk]

ranting

One thing that really pisses me off about fandoms is the expectation that you should only be able to enjoy the game if you understand it's hidden meaning. Let me explain;

I saw a thread on twitter this morning (Let me just cover what they said) that was basically two people or so complaining about how the entire Red Dead fandom is under the assumption that Dutch sees Arthur and John like sons, that they're family.

In reality, they're not; When Agent Milton said arthur was "an orphaned street kid seduced by that maniac silver tongue that then matured into a degenerate murderer", he wasn't exactly WRONG. Arthur WAS seduced. He was tricked and manipulated into trusting Dutch and giving his entire life and purpose to him. Essentially, he was put between two choices.

A. Go to the foster care system where orphans weren't treated very well, especially delinquents as Arthur was

or B. Go with the nice cheery man who promised safety and education and a life away from the place Arthur's parents might've died

Arthur was tricked into joining the gang and then groomed and conditioned into becoming Dutch's most trusted associate, only ever losing that trust when he started to doubt and go against Dutch. The twitter thread said yes, sure, numerous times throughout the game, it was implied that they had a father-son relationship, but that doesn't mean Dutch saw Arthur as a son. Nor did it mean Arthur saw Dutch as a father.

The only relationship they had was based around convenience for Dutch and survival for Arthur-- Dutch didn't see Arthur as family, and neither should the fandom.

The twitter thread then goes on to say it's really shallow and (media) illiterate of the fandom to ignore this and continue to put them together as some sort of found family, when it's a deep and hidden cycle of manipulation and codependency. I don't think they were TRYING to insult a majority of the fandom, though, only discussing and debating.

From memory anyone on that thread who protested otherwise was sort of shot down by the "well it's common sense and the meaning behind it so" reason, which I felt lsfdbfghtgrfe about.

I understand that the game is deeper than "found family of cowboys run across country and everything goes to hell", it delves into trust and dependance and nurture, but people should be allowed to... you know.. enjoy the game as they see it? idk am I wildly in the wrong here

Like it's different for everyone, do you get me? I personally really enjoy found family, and this game is essentially that, from the lore to the gameplay itself. I LIKE that. So I engage with the game with the mindset that it IS like that. It's really offputting to have people scream in your ear about "them not being found family" and eventually makes the fandom environment toxic as hell.

I guess what I'm trying to say is people shouldn't have to engage with the deeper meaning of a game to enjoy and see it that way. But some people think you do, and trust me, I'm all for learning deeper meanings and understanding the game holistically, however sometimes it just feels more fun to engage with it how it's surface story gives you. I don't think that makes me ILLITERATE.

idk

no hate to the twitter people though they pointed that out really well

[gingermintpepper]

After thinking it over for a bit, I've decided that I might as well do a proper underrated 3DS game rec list. I'm a bit of an ATLUS junkie and that's gonna be pretty disgustingly apparent in this list, but it's not my fault that they released hit after hit and all of them were duly ignored.

Due to tumblr's 10 image limit (and my struggle to keep motivated to do one thing for more than three hours) I'm definitely gonna have to break this up into parts and I'm fairly certain one of these lists is just gonna be MegaTen games lmao but I'd like to let people know about these excellent titles and see if I can't at least get people interested in them so they can get more traction.

So, without further ado:

Some 3DS Games that were criminally slept on (part 1)

Monster Hunter Stories

God, where do I begin with this game. Well, the basics: It's a JRPG spinoff title of the now widely successful and popular Monster Hunter series featuring a different take on interacting with the varied and intricate monsters populating the world: Riders.

Yep, instead of hunting the beasties, you play as a young rider who's completed their intiation ritual and can now bond with 'Monsties' as they've cutely labelled the usually ferocious monsters of the wilds. The great thing is that you still fight Monsters--tons of them in fact but this isn't a paid review and in my humble opinion, the most impressive thing about this game is the visual style. The landscapes, the armour, the way they redesigned and 3DS-ified the classically hyper realistic and monstrous beasts to not only be absolutely adorable but still capable of being intimidating when the time calls for it, the stellar animation of special moves and combination attacks--it's delicious, nutritious, stupendous, I can and will consume it like it's part of my recommended caloric intake.

It's very akin to Pokemon in the way its basic gameplay premise is set up, however, instead of catching--or even indeed befriending--the Monsties in the game, you rummage through their nests and steal their eggs, later hatching them and getting yourself a brand new lightly kidnapped monster pal!

Other general things about the game:

Pros:

The armour and weapon sets for both male and female characters slap along with the general character customisation options. They're incredibly diverse (though limited in body type) and you can switch around traits and features whenever you want from your house.

The POGS--these porkers are everywhere and they serve as tiny little achievements for exploring every odd and end of the world. Also they have little outfits. They're so cute. 🥺🥺

You can actually ride the Monsties. All of em. Or, at least the ones that you have available to be your buddies. They all have exploration skills and traits that not only make exploring much more interesting but encourage you to swap out your active Monstie and play around with your options a bit.

Y'all breeding Monsties is complicated and I live for just how intense and ridiculous you can get with optimal builds for these things.

The story is really competently put together! The characters, character designs and even the internal conflict with your starting trio of characters is really compelling along with the mystery of the blight that's infecting Monsters across the world. It's not anything worth awards but it's compelling and it makes you care about the characters if that's what you're in the market for.

Amazing sound design, expansive world, everything about the presentation of this game oozes that Monster Hunter charm even if the art is cutesier than usual. You'll never get bored of its stellar visual presentation!

Available for around twenty quid on the Google Play store, so if you want, you could actually get the full game on your smartphone or tablet. Note though that it would be a battery nuker.

Cons:

If you're on a regular 3DS, frame rate drops are a given. This game kinda pushes the visual capabilities of the 3DS to its absolute limit--a lot like Okamiden did back on the DS.

One save file :( It's pretty much for the same reason as above but still.

If you're playing as the girl, you can't get male armour and vice versa. Since there's only one save file, you'll never be able to have all of the armour sets in a single playthrough and that's criminal because both of the sets for the genders are absolutely breath-taking, thank you.

I 👏can't 👏make👏my👏 own 👏Palico👏

Multi-player for this game is pretty dead seeing as it's almost five years old by now and never got much press or traction. Usually this wouldn't be an issue - this game is 99% singleplayer and you don't really need to fuss about with multi-player to have fun, but if you want to collect all the Monsties, you'll need it since the only way to get Glavenus is through pvp achievements. :/

Final thoughts: Play it if you find yourself getting tired or disappointed with 3DS Pokemon games but still want something that feels as fantastical as Pokemon. It outshines the 3DS Pokemon games at every turn and I will never be over just how thoughtfully put together and fully realised these games are. Of course, if you've ever played Monster Hunter, then you know just how intensive these games are with the lore, biology, cultures and world of their Monsters but seeing that translated into JRPG format was just very sobering and it's a game that, to this day, continues to awe me with just how much love and attention went into it.

Last note: If you're still unsure about it, there's a demo available on the e-shop of the 3DS that allows you to play through the entire initial area of the game. Your data does carry through to the full release and to give you an idea of how much I've been able to squeeze out of it - my playtime for that demo is currently sitting at 22 hours. Make sure to get a hold of that Cyan-Kut-Ku!

7th Dragon III Code: VFD

The title may sound intimidating but the premise is not! A mysterious disease called Dragon Sickness spread by the Dragonsbane flowers that have cropped up all around the world. You and your team are recruited by the Nodens game company after you display extraordinary prowess in their hit virtual reality game 7th Encount. As you go through the adventure, you are tasked with finding out the truth behind the Dragon Sickness and asked to stop both it and the Dragons that are destroying the world.

This game is fun. It's another turn-based JRPG however, in this game you create all of your characters yourself from the myriad of classes available to you from the jump. Different classes of course have very different specialisations - Samurai focus on high powered cutting damage with their swords, Duelists are summoners who can influence the element of the battlefield as well as summon monsters from each element, Agents can hack into your enemies and inflict a barrage of nasty ailments, just to name a few - and you are given three teams of three characters each to experiment with different team comps and find the balance that works for you. There's also a wide variety of Dragons to hunt and kill in the game, which directly affects how infected your world is with the Dragon Sickness causing Dragonsbane. Along the way you will also come into contact with many interesting characters, concepts and confrontations that will make the task of saving the world all the more imperative.

Pros

1. The character creator and differing classes give way for tons of experimenting and playing around with your own unique approach to combat and carrying out your missions. Granted, 'character creation' is generous, it's little more than palatte swaps but the classes are really where VFD shines. Eight main classes may not sound like a lot, but the expaniveness of the character skills, their synergy with their fellow classes and the uniqueness of some of the classes in and of itself allows for so much flexibility and creativity in approaches to even tougher bosses. It also encourages the switching about of your party members to really finagle with the options available to you.

2. God this game is pretty. The locations, the character art, the creature design - all of it is gorgeous and this game capitalises on every bit of the 3DS's presentation limitations as it can.

3. You can romance anything and everyone - yes, you can even be gay/lesbian/poly in this game. In fact, one of the main characters - Julietta - is gnc and he's a constant source of joy as well one of my personal favourite characters, right behind Yuma.

4. Exploration is very very forgiving as the game has healing spots and teleport nodes all over the world to allow for quick, seamless travel between quest points without feeling like anything is too much of a hassle. There are also special enemies that allow for quick grinding as well as quick farming of money. In general, the game does a really good job of making sure that the grind is never unbearable or inconsiderate of your time.

Cons:

1. This is the fourth game in a series the West has never seen any other title for, and from the looks of it, will probably never see any other titles for. Because of that, there are some elements that may seem confusing or revelations in the plot that may seem to come out of nowhere.

2. While the visuals are great, the OST of this one is pretty short making for a lot of reused soundtracks that can get really annoying if you're like me and need your audio to be interesting or consistent so it doesn't distract you too much.

3. This one isn't really a con but it is divisive: This game gets pretty difficult at times. A few of the main dragon enemies including and especially the final boss can give you a serious run for your money in the annoy-o-meter in terms of the kind of absolute JRPG fuckery they can pull out of their magic bag of bullshit movesets and while I generally enjoy that kind of thing, I know it's not for everyone. Most regular combat shouldn't be too tricky once you have a team comp that works well together but you also need to pay attention since the same team that carries you to victory one time might be worth beans against another dragon.

Final thoughts: This is... a really good game. Interesting story, really interesting characters, pretty world and a battle system that really makes you sit down and think. There's also a demo for this available in the e-shop and while your data doesn't carry over - you do receive multiple perks for carrying over your demo data including some exclusive items that, while not game breaking, do help a ton in the early stages of the game.

This isn't a final list by any stretch of the word; I only have the energy to do these two right now, but the next games up for coverage are Ever Oasis and Stella Glow! If you're interested in my full plan of games I want to cover here then my current lineup includes: Theatrhythm: Curtain Call, Project Mirai: Deluxe, Culdecept Revolt, Alliance Alive, Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology, Etrian Odyssey V, Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker and Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse.

Finally, if anyone has played any of the games I mention, cover or plan to cover PLEASE REACH OUT TO ME, I AM SO LONELY IN MY FORTRESS OF SAND. On a serious note, I'd love to hear what other people who've played these games think!

Thanks for reading,

-Ginger

PS: @feralpeacock Because a million years ago, on my first underrated games post, you asked that I remember you. :D

[databoyreekoo]

thoughts on khmom

this thread contains spoilers for khmom, you have been warned

long story short; i loved it

i’ve always been indifferent about kairi. i don’t like her, but i don’t hate her either. honestly, it’s hard to have any sort of opinion on her when her presence in the story is severely lacking...especially compared to other female characters like aqua, xion and namine, who are all developed and well-rounded. but that’s the thing...it’s just kairi. fans like to jump to “nomura doesn’t know how to write female characters and will never give his female characters anything” when in reality, kairi is just poorly written. (i’d like to add that i’m not saying there aren’t any flaws in the way nomura writes his female characters, but this issue is exclusive to kairi as far as kh is concerned). i mean...even larxene and ava have more depth than kairi, and they haven’t even been featured in as many games as her. this is frustrating for those who already like her, and for those who want to like her. yet...it’s been kinda obvious that nomura a) didn’t really know what to do with her post kh1, and/or b) doesn’t particularly enjoy writing for her.

between kh1, kh2 and ddd, kairi showed only a smidgeon of her desire to fight for and help her friends. however, these moments were immediately countered by her waiting on the islands for sora and riku to return, her getting kidnapped, her getting manipulated by xehanort (and other orgxiii members)...or her getting killed. in kh3, her training was left in the hands of a wizard...not a keyblade master. and yes, even though time doesn’t exist in the secret forest, there’s only so much knowledge axel can pass onto kairi...and without a variety of enemies to fight, there’s only so much experience kairi can gain. she still had a lot to learn but was thrown into a war and expected to hold her own (she did good for what little time she had to prepare, though).

then..remind happened. apart from the lore bits that were added and the plot holes that were addressed, the rest of it felt like fanservice, to be quite honest. it gave the fans everything they had been screaming about since kh3′s initial release, including “kairi development/spotlight.” i’m using quotations because kairi was very inconsistent in remind. one moment she’s blocking xion’s attack and protecting axel (repaying him for protecting her earlier in the KG, regardless if she remembers it or not AND for plot reasons; getting to see xion’s face, all in all this feels good, this feels like natural progression for kairi, love that for her), then...she’s suddenly overpowering XEMNAS of all people after he literally slapped sora, roxas AND xion away like a couple of mosquitos...(thematically, it would’ve made more sense for it to have been xion or roxas getting the upper hand, and it would’ve been in character too since they’re both powerhouses...it just feels like this was compensation or an apology for kairi not doing anything in the base game when xemnas kidnapped her...WHICH STILL HAPPENS BTW making this interaction between xemnas and kairi feel insincere and unrewarding...i want natural progression for kairi, i don’t want her to come off like a mary sue), then later once sora and the guardians bring kairi back, she’s totally clueless as to what sora means by “kairi, are you ready for this?” when she can obviously see darkness swirling above their heads...yet, earlier, she immediately gave axel affirmation when he asks “you with me?” just as they’re about to fight saix and xion...her fight against xehanort was wonderful though, her gameplay suited her very well. i just want consistency and natural progression like the rest of the main cast experienced.

i feel like remind was kinda misleading when it comes to kairi...and a lot of fans just rolled with the hype straight into khmom, believing it to be this huge turning point for kairi...only to be let down by the ending.

however, khmom is a turning point for kairi...but it feels sincere, it feels deserved. it feels natural. she got to address her repressed childhood memories and confront an illusion of xehanort, the embodiment of her suffering. she acknowledged her weakness (in jp, sena translated it different) and how it put sora and everyone else in danger. she showed frustration and anger with the way xehanort used her and altered her fate. she charged in to fight and stand up for herself without a second thought. she’s more assertive and involved now than she ever has been, and her personality is finally showing through and she’s bursting with life. even when she tells riku she wants to go, and he denies her in order to keep her safe (i swear to god, if i see one more person call riku a misogynist for gently putting kairi down because she isn’t experienced enough and doesn’t have the power of waking needed to journey to a dangerous, unknown world i’m gonna lose my mind, sora was literally denied access to the realm of darkness all throughout kh3 because it was too dangerous and he hadn’t regained the power of waking and nobody said a damn thing about that), she acknowledges her lack of experience and tells riku with confidence that she’s going to train hard and get stronger so she can fight alongside sora AND riku...not just sora this time. this is the first time in a long time we’ve seen kairi so vocal and adamant about her training so she can grow stronger and not put herself or anyone else in harms way anymore...instead of her writing it down in an unsent letter or having the game telling us but hardly show it. she even tells yen sid she wants to train under aqua WHICH IS HUGE because not only is it a decision she makes herself (and actually voices this time instead of remaining passive), but she also utilizes magic and speed in combat...training under aqua will help her develop SO MUCH, in both character and skill. this also opens potential friendships between kairi and terra, as well as kairi and ventus.

kairi is finally...FINALLY starting her own journey, and even though her path is different from sora and riku’s right now (which, honestly, will be more beneficial for her in the long run), i have more faith now than ever that kairi’s path will cross with sora and riku’s again and she’ll have the strength she wants in order to stand by their side and support them.

[jackdawyt]

One of the most alarming statements made by anonymous BioWare employees currently working on the next Dragon Age has been the remark that the next game is “planned with a live service component, built for long-term gameplay and revenue.”

Like me, I suspect you have questions regarding what exactly a live-service Dragon Age 4 may entail. While we don’t have all the answers currently, thanks to Jason Schreier’s article on “The Past and Present of Dragon Age”, we certainly have an idea on what the next Dragon Age may look like.  

Regardless, I feel like it’s even more necessary to have this conversation on BioWare’s live service future having watched the debacle of Anthem’s post-launch content, and what BioWare hopefully learned from Anthem’s experience going forward with Dragon Age 4.  

You see, Anthem’s live service model was originally going to follow story-based content after the base game launched. The content would forward the main narrative in many different directions with new areas, bosses, dungeons, characters, stories, and of course, cosmetics.  

In pre-production, Anthem's story had been produced with live service in mind, so the developers could easily write, change and create many different plot points and narratives in future content to come.  

“They had a really strong belief in the live service,” said one developer. “Issues that were coming up, they’d say, ‘We’re a live service. We’ll be supporting this for years to come. We’ll fix that later on.’” (How BioWare's Anthem Went Wrong, Kotaku).

The game was originally planned to follow a deep content road map, that would have players still engaged with Anthem ten years after launch.  

"Anthem is a social game where you and your friends go on quests and journeys. It’s a game that we’ve been working on for almost four years now, and once we launch it next year I think it’ll be the start of a ten-year journey for us." (Patrick Soderlund)

However, Anthem’s original ‘idealistic’ live-service model didn’t come to fruition due to only 18 months of development time. The content road map we did eventually get for Anthem, didn’t prove to be successful.  

[Anthem] was in development for nearly seven years but didn’t enter production until the final 18 months, thanks to big narrative reboots, major design overhauls, and a leadership team said to be unable to provide a consistent vision and unwilling to listen to feedback. (How BioWare's Anthem Went Wrong, Kotaku).

The post-launch content was staged in acts. The first act was called “Echoes of Reality” and would last around three months, providing constant new missions, strongholds and world dynamics. The act would end on a huge update called “The Cataclysm”.  

Unfortunately, this road map was too idealistic, and was cancelled after heavy delays of “The Cataclysm” event.  

With BioWare’s first live service model not going according to plan, hopefully, the unsuccessful launch of Anthem’s live service-model speaks volume for future BioWare’s titles, and the developers have learned from that experience.

It's worth stating that Anthem isn’t dead and BioWare haven’t abandoned ship. They’ve remained adamant on working out how the game can stay afloat, as a small production team at BioWare Austin work on the preliminary design of Anthem 2.0.  

BioWare and parent company EA have been planning an overhaul of the online shooter, according to three people familiar with those plans. Some call it “Anthem 2.0” or “Anthem Next.” (Sources: BioWare Plans A Complete Overhaul For Anthem, Kotaku).

In spite of that, I know for a fact, every Dragon Age fan can look at Anthem’s style of a live-service model and say that this model wouldn't cross-over into a Dragon Age game.  

Anthem is a multiplayer game with a heavy emphasis on gameplay as opposed to story. While the game does have a main narrative with all the BioWare trimmings of lore and a codex, the general reason you play Anthem is to kill, loot and customise your javelin suit.  

This gameplay loop can be easily continued with a live service model adding new content like levels, enemies, worlds, cosmetics, etc.  

Whereas for Dragon Age, the player���s experience is deeper than the gameplay - there are many reasons we play Dragon Age - for instance my experiences have been driven by the story as I, solely, make impacting choices and consequences throughout the world.  

Anthem’s live service model reflects a very different perspective, so, what could a Dragon Age live service-model entail?  

Well, according to Jason Schreier: “we not sure about the details, and in fact they’re likely still being decided, as the game is still very early in development and could evolve based on the negative reception to Anthem. If it does turn out to be an online game, which seems likely, it would be shocking if you couldn’t play the bulk of it by yourself."

"One person close to the game told [Jason] that Morrison’s critical path, or main story, would be designed for single-player and that goal of the multiplayer elements would be to keep people engaged so that they would actually stick with post-launch content."

"Some ideas [Jason] heard floated for Morrison’s multiplayer include companions that can be controlled by multiple players via drop-in/drop-out co-op, similar to old-school BioWare RPGs like Baldur’s Gate, and quests that could change based not just on one player’s decisions, but on the choices of players across the globe."

“They have a lot of unanswered questions. Plus, I know it’s going to change like five times in the next two years.”

The trouble with Dragon Age 4 being live service is that the game is predominantly single-player, and while there is a multiplayer mode in Inquisition, no one plays Dragon Age for multiplayer. As I said before, there are many personal reasons each of us play the series from escapism to fantasy fulfilment and everything in-between.  

Diversification of a live service model or multiplayer in the fourth entry of a single-player RPG just sounds like a recipe for disaster in my opinion.  

While in theory, the idea of a drop-in/drop-out coop system in Dragon Age 4 sounds somewhat okay, everything else that multiplayer implicates is not okay.  

If this sort of coop system is embedded into the game, then Dragon Age 4 could be an always online game running on servers. If Anthem serves as an example, that means no offline play, long loading screens, and an almost unplayable launch day.

How can Dragon Age 4 follow a live service model, and at the same time appeal to the majority of the single-player fans? That’s not a rhetorical question because I have three approach's BioWare could likely follow:  

The Andromeda Approach

In Mass Effect: Andromeda, Ryder has a small unit called Strike Teams, they act like Inquisition’s war table mechanic where you can send out groups into the world for rewards. However, in Andromeda as a secondary option, the player can actually take over these missions themselves in the multiplayer mode to assume full security over the mission’s succession.  

Dragon Age 4 could have a new war table that enacts live service content. Perhaps you’re given an incentivise to take on side-missions in multiplayer with other people, however, like Andromeda’s method, if you’d rather not, you can just send NPC’s to do the task with a longer time limit.  

The multiplayer mode while connected to the single-player would be a dispatched component. This sounds like the most okay approach for the majority of fans.  

The Anthem Approach

Anthem’s approach follows a single-player hub-based world where many key choices and story scenes can play out. Then once you enter the world, or choose a quest, the player is automatically put into a lobby. While you can play the missions and explore the world solo, you can’t play offline, it’s always online play on servers.  

Hypothetically, if Dragon Age 4 followed this exact approach, the player would have a single-player based hub, like a castle, fort or camp where we could engage with our allies and further the plot. However, when continuing the main missions, or exploring the world, we’d then have to go through a lobby to continue the adventure solo or with friends on always online servers, with no offline play.  

This wouldn’t be a good experience in my opinion.  

The “Ideal” Approach  

My ideal approach to live service is, of course, way too optimistic, but I’m throwing it out there anyways because Ubisoft did it, so that means anyone can do it. I’d love Dragon Age 4’s live service model to follow many post-launch story-based DLC’s adding to the narrative post-launch.  

Perhaps smaller content added monthly like new enemies, quests, areas, etc.  

And larger, story-based content perhaps 3-4 months after launch, and onwards.  

This is exactly what live service should be, the game is kept alive with more quests and story DLC’s giving the game breathe. If done successfully, this could be a live service RPG done right, with more content coming for months.  

Final Thoughts  

I may sound cavalier about the whole live service Dragon Age 4 ordeal, but I trust in the developers and their knowledge of their games and more importantly, their fans.  

This is something I haven’t stopped talking about, but it’s worth reiterating that the BioWare developers are looking with an eye to what the fans love about Dragon Age. The main team working on Dragon Age 4 created the Trespasser DLC, that’s John Epler’s narrative direction, with Patrick Weekes as the Lead Writer.  

Yes, I do get worried when I hear the terms “live service Dragon Age 4”, and “Anthem with Dragons”, but ultimately that’s just unplaced fear. In reality, the BioWare developers know their fanbase more than anyone, and will most certainly cater to our needs for the next Dragon Age game.  

I know this topic is rather baren at the moment, we don’t have a clearer picture of what Dragon Age 4 will look like. We’ve just got to trust the epic developers who’ve been at the studio since Dragon Age: Origins and are working on the next instalment to the best of their ability.

I’m sure we’ll touch on this topic in the future, but for now, let’s just focus on supporting the people creating the next Dragon Age, rather than fear what may or may not transpire in the next game. When we know more about live service, I’ll be sure to have another chat about it with you all then.  

Let me know your thoughts on how BioWare can handle Dragon Age 4’s live service model.  

[monster-huntologist]

Why the Monster Hunters Hunt Monsters

Inspired by an old post from @the-wyvern-biologist and various YouTube comments, I’ve decided to compile a list of reasons and details about why Monsters are hunted in the first place.

Reasons

Protection: The areas that the gameplay take place in are often close to towns and villages. Monsters that venture too close will end up attacking people and causing massive damage. In some cases, people have already been attacked and the monster needs to be gotten rid off before things get worse.

Ecosystems: Monsters that venture out of their normal habitats can wreak havoc on an ecosystem they aren’t meant to be in. Overhunting the prey species, attacking local predators and disrupting natural processes are examples of what can happen. Elder Dragons and Deviljho in particular are very guilty of this, as they are walking natural disasters that will wipe out entire areas of life if left alone.

Mercy: This is more uncommon, but sometimes Monsters are hunted to put them out of their misery. The main culprit is the Frenzy Virus, a disease that drives monsters insane with anger and pain while slowly killing them. Gore Magala, the spreader of the Virus, is also vulnerable as they can sometimes be transformed into a Chaotic variant. This causes them to be in constant pain, stuck in a state halfway between their juvenile and adult form like disrupting a caterpillars cocoon. A similar disease is the Black Blight, but it instead created by Fatalis and is more magical than biological. Hunting Kushala Daora and Savage Deviljho can also be seen as mercy kills, considering the horrific way they die naturally for the former and the painful life of the latter (Art from here )

Funds: Yes, some quests have rather stupid reasons for being made, such as a spoilt child being scared by a Lagombi or a woman wanting to make quill pens out of Malfestio feathers. The reason why such quests aren't rejected immediately is because they pay the Hunters Guild (and therefore the Hunters) to do them. The Hunters Guild is just that, a Guild. It needs money to keep it afloat, so if a client pays handsomely, the job will get done no matter how stupid the reason.

Reality of Nature: In the grand scheme of things, what Hunters do is not much different from what Monsters do to each other. It’s a world where everything is fighting each tooth-and-nail, often coming down to one Monster killing another. The Hunters are just another opponent a monster has to look out for in its daily life.

Details.

Capturing: You are given the option to capture every singe large monster in the game (except the Elder Dragons due to their power) and release it back into the wild afterwards. This is a more peaceful option, as the monster can be relocated to an area further away from civilisation where it won’t cause any problems. There’s even an increased chance of rewards too. I greatly appreciate the fact that we are given this option, and I never go on a hunt without doing it.

It Could Be Much Worse: Long story short, the world of Monster Hunter is technically post-apocalyptic. A highly advanced civilisation known only as the Ancient Civilisation used to exist that treated every creature like nothing more than cattle. They made towers out of Kushala Daora bodies and in their most heinous act, constructed a biomechanical abomination out of the corpses of over 30 monsters. This caused the Elder Dragons to start a Great Dragon War, which eventually wiped out the Ancient Civilisation. They are the reason why Elder Dragons attack people in the first place, as they remember the sins of their ancestors. But the oldest ones nearing death in the New World have forgiven humanity, knowing that they are now respected as they rightfully should.

Hopefully this answers any questions people might have about the world of Monster Hunter and its lore!

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

K now you got me curious about that. I kinda assumed P5MC would’ve been stronger then P4 MC (P3MC beats them both no doubt from me) so why do you say that P4MC is stronger?

Was gonna make a separate post when I had time but now is a time as any XU (btw I still dunno why people think P5MC is stronger, is it cause of the gym? His Phantom Thieving? The gun? Stanael’s gun? The Yaldy scene? I really wanna read people’s reasons but I have a feeling it’s those and.....if that’s it then no one is paying attention to poor P4MC then ;w;)

So that post was more lore driven than gameplay driven just a heads up (gameplay it’s a lot more complicated because we have to look at like.....a bunch of different entries and lay down ground rules for those, cause like P3P!MC/FeMC vs P4MC vs P5MC is.....a lot more fair considering the former can’t use fusions due to them being items....assuming we can’t use items). Just want to clarify before I explain what I mean is lore wise (I’ll compare the Personas down below but I’ll try to keep it from crossing to much into the gameplay meta line). And this is excluding Royal/Scramble (cause....not everyone knows that stuff yet, and I need to reevaluate things myself and I just haven’t been able to yet XU). But man, people really do underestimate P4MC ;w;

Now then, without Personas they are probably about even, like if they got into a fist fight they could probably end in a tie (but my money is still on P4MC if I had to choose cause he gets back up). P4MC seems to be taller (by a few in) and a more buff build, while P5MC is more of a slim build (but is probs more agile). And this is regardless if they are in the Metaverse, TV World, or the Real World (cause he should get an outfit in the Metaverse, plus Personas seem to give the user great physical strength regardless if it’s a Metaverse setting or not). That being said, P5MC does have akido(?), but it’s self trained and that’s if he goes to the gym. But, P4MC trains with Chie (which he probably did cause they all probs maxed their SLs/CoOps, but Ren might not have gone to the gym), and also stays in shape thanks to 1) fighting Shadows and 2) his sports club SL (this is assuming we are only looking at their school time selves, Adult!P4MC is unknown atm), so it’s not like he’s out of shape himself. P4MC also has crazier and bigger fish too (also needed to complete an SL), so that could be deemed as a work out compared to P5MC’s fishing. 

If we’re looking at initial Personas (which is what they are most likely gonna run with cause of how the spinoffs handle P4/5), P4MC has the upper hand thanks to resisting Dark (aka curse) (btw Minato/Hamu would probs go down first in an initial only Persona fight, cause they’d be weak to P5MC and then P4MC could/would probs beat P5MC thanks to resisting the other’s attack).

Ultimate Persona is a bit more....I wouldn’t say even, but there’s strengths and weaknesses to both sides. Satanael has the upper hand with a “survive one attack” ability, resists everything but almighty, heatriser, and can harm INO via physical (and maaaaybe psy/nuke...it’s unclear how Atlus wants to treat INO in this regard). INO has better stats (and can achieve better stats than Satanael), can deal BIG almighty damage (thanks to mine charge, Satanael doesn’t have a charge), and while he doesn’t resist Light/Dark/Alimighty he does have a big evasion ability. I’d say INO could also be hit by PSY and Nuke thanks to PQ2 (which still makes no sense???? why didn’t they add resist in those categories to all the other ult Personas ??? XP) but P5R shows INO resisting those now so we gonna go with that....because that makes more sense (it makes sense for them to resist Psy and Nuke because they resist all elemental damage but since those didn’t exist, you could assume they could resist it cause it falls under elemental damage...but PQ2 fudges it up for some reason XP), I mean P5R also made him more of a beast since it seems like INO resists Phys too but I won’t include that. I mean if you wanna say he can be hit by Nuke fine, one more thing INO can be hit with....BUT INO also has a ult attack and Satanael doesn’t. Which, while Satanael and INO could be going toe to toe for awhile, INO might be able to deliver the final blow that Satanael can’t. 

Which leads into why....P4MC should win. He’s just shown he’s stronger in his stories. He wins because of his own power that made him stronger. P5MC doesn’t win via his own power. He wins because he receives outside help more often than not (which isn’t bad, I’m not saying having help is bad, but in a hypothetical 1v1....it doesn’t bode well for him). Against Yaldy he got a freaking buff from the cognitive world....A TEMP BUFF MIND YOU! THANKS TO COGNITION! It’s such BS! Yes, P3/4MC they received their power because of their bonds, their connections, MC’s are their friends’ power as much as they are power for the MC’s. P3/4MC could only get that strong because of their friends. It’s because of their own effort and will to protect the ones they care about is the reason they win......P5MC it’s because of the public cheering for them for like 5 min for a temp buff cause of cognition (and it def doesn’t continue to last cause of how the meter goes down to 50% later irl). Even with cognition on P5MC’s side, it’s probably not a whole lot to actually do anything beneficial for him like with Yaldy. P3/4 is about power of friendship and relationships. P5 is about the power of convenience and plot devices. Buncha bullshit that he gets handed the World Arcana like that, not even his own power saved the world (he doesn’t even have a World Arcana Persona! No one ever talks about that what’s P5MC’s World Persona?! P4 has INO, P3 has a finger 8U What’s P5′s????)

There’s also the fact P4MC can use Myriads of Truth outside of Izanami, and it can hurt people outside of her too (we know this thanks to Arena). Satanael can’t use his Sinful Shell (at least at this point in time, watch Atlus jk my post when Arena 3 comes out, I’m already prepared for it >8V I bet Atlus’ reason won’t even make sense because->) because it’s only used in the 100% cognition scene! Satanael can only be that powerful and can only use that move thanks to cognition! But you see, P4MC is Mr. Bond Master, he’s strong cause of his bonds, every handshake with a new person=him getting more powerful (half jk). 8U But this drive also shows that even if he loses a fight, he gets right back up because he wants to protect his friends (as seen post-Liz fight in Liz’s route in Arena). Like this is a big thing P4MC has that I think people overlook, this bastard has A LOT of willpower. Whenever that word is brought up, only Tatsuya (you know defying time and reality to keep his memories) and P3MCs (staying alive for like two months to keep their promise) are ever mentioned (and don’t get me wrong, those are amazing feats too! All three/four, FeMC/P3MC are technically two people, of these people deserve the top 3 will power spot), but gd P4MC has it too. After getting his ass handed to him by Liz, he got right back up and was like “round two!” and power starts to flow through him that it takes Liz aback! Or his most amazing feat, coming back from the freaking underworld (aka basically death), just will his ass right back in front of Izanami and then Izanami is unable to freaking kill him (he hangs onto 1 HP like a boss, hell if he can do this against P3MC it’s possible for him to even come out on top of that fight). Izanami literally says “can the will of so few surpass that of all mankind?!” His (and IT’s) determination is one that surpasses all of mankind! Compare that to P5MC, who defeated Yaldy because of his bond with his CoOps-oh wait no it’s cause of a BS temp power buff the public gave him my mistake. P3/4: “We know what’s best for mankind! And it’s not freaking death! Our will power will surpass mankind!” P5: “Y-yeah same! But we’re gonna not succeed on our own and get bailed out by the public, only for them to half revert back to their same old ways despite....changing for us for a hot second...wait what?” 

P4MC (depending on where in the timeline we have him and P5MC facing off), he’s had more experience too. Not only has he beaten 7ish gods/god avatars (to P5MC’s.......looking at all the P5 entries and without spoilers....possibly 3ish/4ish gods/godly avatars/god level stuff), he’s also faced off with 2 robots and what is basically a super soldier (aka Sho), he’s also fought against a lot of SEES who are seasoned fighters and had ult personas vs his initial persona (and won in some cases, or held his own A LOT, depends on the timeline/route). Oh and has fought more VR people/the VR people more times (P4/G, PQ1, PQ2, and...maybe Arena/Ultimax depends on the route). While P5 is catching up (kinda, we aren’t comparing how a lot of those final battles were won with the final blow), P4MC still has the most experience. 

The only way P5MC can win if it’s 1V4+, P5MC has access to the VR and can use multiple Personas and P4MC can’t, P5MC has 100% cognition on (not possible, and would be a real ass pull), P4MC is crippled beyond belief (even then I’d still expect him to win cause he doesn’t give up). 

So yeah. P4MC has more willpower, his Personas seem to have an advantage (either elemental advantage with initial, or stat+final blow for Ult), and doesn’t get up/gets right back up after a beating (so even if P5MC gets P4MC down to 0 hp, its possible P4MC will get right back up without the need of a skill like P5MC). 

That being said I need to reevaluate some stuff with Royal. I still think P4MC is stronger tho (but I think P3MCs are the strongest, that being said P4/5MC haven’t been put in a situation where they need to die to protect everyone, aka get the universe arcana, so I wouldn’t 100% count them out because I think P4/5MC have the potential to go as far as the P3MCs if need be...well....def P4MC.....not sure about P5MC he still needs to prove himself imo). 

[musingmycelium]

da 20 questions

i was tagged by @goblin-deity thanks dear <3 and i’ll tag @lyrium-lovesong @raymurata @pegaeae @veridium-bye and @crystal-grace <3 no obligations of course <3

01) Favourite game of the series?

ooooghghghghghgh Origins is my Favorite, the Story........

02) How did you discover Dragon Age?

i recieved a copy of inquisition as a gift, became immediately immursed but i didn’t dig more into the series for a good half a year or so? at which point i discovered the other two games and went Oh Fuck

03) How many times you’ve played the games? 

oh, uHHHHHHH, Far Too Many. i’ve sunk over 1k hours into dai alone, origins and da2 probably have about 1k combined?

04) Favourite race to play as?

i’m always a slut for elves 

05) Favourite class?

me, a staff wielding bisexual: i’m Mage, all the way. though i don’t mind rogue if i mix things up [which is like, i think i have three or four rogue play throughs out of all of them?] i NEVER play warrior bc i’m a bottom i’m not about that life

06) Do you play through the games differently or do you make the same decisions each time?

i play in character! so i’ve got some Wildly different world states depending on which playthrough/oc i’m on

07) Go-to adventuring group?

for my Canon world states i’ve got origins gang: sten, zevran, morrigan. da2 gang: fenris/aveline, anders/merrill, varric. dai gang: dorian, bull, solas/sera  i sense a theme...... 

08) Which of your characters did you put the most thought into?

oh god, ellanis and noure are my most fleshed out origins kids, wren and galahad are less fleshed out, sorta, but i Love them, idrilla and da’ean are pretty fleshed out as well -though linayel and mithra are also fairly fleshed out i just never write about them 

09) Favourite romance?

ZEVRAN -god i love him so much hhhhhHHHHHHHH he’s got Everything, everytime i play ellanis and he goes ‘the grey wardens die here’ i’m Fucking Lost Already man. hhhhhoooohhghghghghghgh i’d go on but i’m running on cough syrup and midol so it would be even less coherent than ususal

10) Have you read any of the comics/books?

lmao i own all the books but i haven’t been able to finish them because My God are they poorly written. LIKE good Characters, good characters, shit prose.

11) If you read them, which was your favourite book?

the one i’m furthest along in rn is stolen throne so i’ll go with that one

12) Favourite DLCs?

jaws of hakon -holy shit as an archaeologist grad student i cannot tell you how much i Fucking Loved the lore dump in site form that was jaws of hakon JUST OH MY GOD it was AMAZING the first time you talk to professor what’shisface with the hot accent and he starts talking about chronologies via buckles i was fucking lost in nerd heaven

13) Things that annoy you.

homophobia and transphobia and racism. the games are Rife with bad correlations between real people and grey morality and poor handling of sensitive contents, though i don’t know if it was all done for ‘woke’ points or if some came from legitimate good intentions, most of my problems lie in those areas. fandom also hits a lot of my annoyances but that’s what block is for

14) Orlais or Ferelden?

antiva bitch

15) Templars or mages?

mages

16) If you have multiple characters, are they in different/parallel universes or in the same one?

same one! ellanis is my canon hof but noure is a part of his backstory and they meet during the blight [ellanis frees noure from a sentence of tranquility and conscripts them, uh, temporarily] noure leaves the group after like a week?ish and goes to nevarra. wren and galahad are twins, wren being the older one and the main rabble-rouser hawke. da’ean is the only quizzy but idrilla, linayel, mithra and a handful of other lavellan ocs all exist within the clan -idrilla and linayel and a few others come to skyhold after clan lavellan handles the unrest in wycome with da’ean’s help [my canon there is a bit wonky as of yet as i’m still working out the kinks]  

17) What did you name your pets? (mabari, summoned animals, mounts, etc)

this is the part i suck at, i think ellanis named the mabari something after the flower that saved him? but i don’t remember tbh, and that’s the only one i cna think of rn too lkjlkjlkjklj

18) Have you installed any mods?

oh yes. ohhh yes i have an extense amount of mods on all three games, mostly cosmetic ones but a few gameplay ones

19) Did your Warden want to become a Grey Warden?

ellanis didn’t no, he thought warden’s were a bit of reality mixed with myth. when duncan shows up he’s more skeptical and curious than anything else, and his joining is less than enthusiastic but he makes the most of it for a good five years, before he fucks off to do his own research in antiva in seclusion -he just leaves, with an encripted note for nate making him warden-commander of ferelden while he’s gone and tells him not to tell anyone where he’s gone. only nate and velanna know where he is in the wardens

20) Hawke’s personality?

wren is a purple hawke! she knows what she wants and she is not afraid to go after it, although she does care deeply and shows her affections loudly. she’s a fucking chaotic stupid mess and i love her.

galahad is blue throughout. a natural big brother, super loving and patient and caring. he’s always looking to help, though when things go wrong he tends to blame himself only, he’s more together than wren though. 

21) Did you make matching armor for your companions in Inquisition?

....yes.......  my inquisition is a fashion disaster, everyone has a palatte but i do complimentary colors for my parties and lis Of Course

22) If your character(s) could go back in time to change one thing, what would they change?

yes, ellanis would go back and kill the shems before they could crash the wedding -to prevent shianni from ever having to live through what she did. he would still have probably been conscripted by duncan soooo not too big a change for him but, for shianni it would be huge. 

ellanis has another but it’s tied up with noure’s: noure would go back and ambush the templars before being captured and then run for their life. without ever having lived in the circle i don’t, know exactly how noure would come out -probably happier, less jagged, less terrified and paranoid. but probably not by much if they had to live their life constantly looking over their shoulder. they may have ended up in nevarra this way too, but they wouldn’t have ever made it to kirkwall and they never would have met anders or karl, they may have never fallen out of love with ellanis via distance/assumed death, it would be far different than what happened.

wren and galahad both would go back and save bethany. doesn’t matter how, or what the cost to themselves would have been that’s their little sister and they would do anything to save her if they could.

da’ean’s is much the same. his biggest regret, the thing which haunts him the most is ashalle’s [not dao ashalle lmao] death. he was supposed to protect her and after what happens in that field and that month, da’ean blames himself for how his sister died. though he isn’t the one to blame, and later [far, far later] he is able to come to terms with what happened. though he never Truly shakes the guilt.

linayel would probably try to save his mother’s sight. he would tell her to stay with him by the fire, or would try and find a cure faster for her. the illness wasn’t his fault and he knows it wasn’t but given the chance he would save her sight if he could.  

23) Do you have any headcanons about your character(s) that go against canon?

lmao canon? never heard of her, a shitton of what i write is either me taking canon and making it Good/Useable or me shitting on it and saying this is My Castle Now

24) Who did you leave in the Fade?

this choiice always pissed me off, or it did after i knew who they were. when i first played i had no idea who hawke was or who the grey warden contact was [stroud for my first couple of play throughs] at all. so i would flip flop between them without care really. 

now, in my canon alistair stays behind while hawke physically drags da’ean out because he was going to stay and fight or find a different way out. i still think its shit and a naratively piss-poor meta punch though

25) Favourite mount?

i’m a dirty gatherer so i don’t actually use any mount. the only time i Have used a mount was the royal 16 for screenshot purposes, which i lost when my harddrive crashed a couple months ago D:

[nameless-articles]

A Delayed Topic: Budgets in Video Games

I’m naked in my Japan dorm eating Pocky, yet I’m disappointed in myself. Not because of my current activities, but because in waiting (really working on other projects) to write my article on mid-tier budgets I missed the boat before other big-name video game people sailed off on it. Nonetheless, it’s a topic I’ve had on my mind for a while now, and to scrap the project just because some other people have tackled it would be silly. So without further ado, I present to you my thoughts and hope for video game budgets going forward (though of course whatever I have to say will have little influence on what publishers do).

A while ago, my brother and I got into a heated discussion over the price of video games. He believes sixty dollars is too high a price for a newly released game, while (though of course I’d much rather pay less) I find it to be a fair price. However, for any readers ready to judge my spending habits, I should remark that I only buy perhaps one or two new games a year (in actuality, I haven’t bought a newly-released game in 2018). It takes a game a fair amount of effort to win me over enough to drop money on launch; the best way for a game to earn goodwill is to be created by a developer that has a good track record. While some people find this habit (that of buying games from trusted developers) as a risk not worth taking, I have only been truly upset over maybe one new game purchase in my life (that honor goes to Mass Effect 3). In my experience, that game has stopped me from not only waiting to buy future Bioware titles but has stopped me from buying them altogether. In the long run, I believe the customers’ (not as individuals but as a collective) happiness will determine whether a developer will succeed or fail. That being said, it isn’t stopping publishers from doing everything in their power to fight that reality. There’s only so much we can say about predatory practices in video games. At their core, these practices are forced into a game with little consideration for how it affects the mechanics or overall flow: The majority of modern AAA games are designed to make money, nothing else.

The question is not “does the price of the game reflect its quality?” Video games are art, and, with no malice, if a painting can sell for millions I don’t see why video games can’t do the same. That might seem like I’m arguing against my point, but I’m not. For us to consider games a form of art, we need to reconsider how we view the cost of that art, and the cost of art is not solely determined by the work put into producing it.

Take Battlefront II for example, by technical merits it is quite the achievement and all the detail packed into it must have taken the developers countless time to create, yet I wouldn’t consider paying over ten dollars for it because, as a customer, the experience on offer is not one I value greatly. On the other hand, if the asking price for Drakengard 3 had been eighty dollars, I would’ve at least considered it. I don’t believe this is how most people think of games, despite having often heard claims that people would’ve spent two hundred dollars on Skyrim if they could (although given the recent controversies concerning Fallout 76 that might’ve been a bad idea, too). Most people make such claims with one particular game when they have become infatuated with it (someone might make that argument for me), but I think the scope of this lens should be broadened to every game we consider purchasing.

Of course, we need to consider the mass-marketed and laborious nature of video games. Visual art like painting and photography can afford to have higher prices precisely because they are limited in quantity. In addition, video games take countless hours from multiple people through different departments, and they all need to be compensated somehow. No developer should expect to work for free (that said, practices like crunch time which recently got brought up again for Red Dead Redemption 2 still occur), and I am all for making sure they get their fair share.

However, a significant chunk of a big games budget is spent on marketing the game, with less than a majority fraction going to actual development, and this trend is only growing. While I understand the importance of giving your game a good amount of coverage, the fact that more money is spent letting people know a game exists rather than ensuring the quality is a recipe for mediocrity, which shouldn’t come as a surprise. I want to give the video game industry the benefit of the doubt and believe the goal is to create a product worthy of the consumer’s money, but trends like massive marketing budgets and locking in game items on the grounds of player choice speaks more to the capitalist perversion of the craft. It might sound like I’m taking video games too seriously, but I believe we are seeing a shift in the industry that is going to change the way video games take risks, and I would argue in a manner that is ultimately limiting the artistic possibilities of the medium.

With budgets as inflated as they are, these projects can’t fail. I don’t mean fail the way publishers mean fail, wherein they expected a decent game to become the next Call of Duty or where only a couple million sales means the investors didn’t make the massive profits they expected (though still made a profit). Big budget games are less likely to try out new and experimental ideas because more often than naught consumers want something they know rather than new mechanics or odd stories. While this has always been the case to some degree, games like Metal Gear Solid 2 are less likely to be created today than they were two console generations ago. Ironically enough, Death Stranding is looking to be such an experience and the only reason it’s able to do this is because the game is being designed as a console exclusive, which Sony banks on selling more consoles than actual units (in the sense that the game might sell a couple million but many of those buyers will probably get one of their consoles just to play it). Games like Bloodborne are meant to give people a reason to own a console by pushing that system as the only means to get such an experience (in some sense it matters less how that game sells). Of course, Sony is expecting a Hideo Kojima exclusive to sell very well, but they are still taking a huge risk by giving him a good amount of money considering the kind of experience it seems to be (at this point, a story-based open world exploration (admittedly this is not the most unique general premise but the story seems to suggest otherwise)). We could never expect a publisher like EA or Ubisoft to take such a risk, though to give them credit they do bankroll much smaller games that tend to mechanically and narratively experiment more than the Battlefields and the Assassin’s Creeds that give EA the profits to test things out on a smaller scale.

It might sound like I’m giving these larger publishers some slack, but I think this approach is still rather tamed and limiting the possibilities video games have. I don’t see this setup of high-budget-destined-for-profit games to pay for the experimental smaller games as giving the most variety of gameplay and narratives. I think it’s better than only big budget games, but these other projects tend to be closer to indie games, which, though they have their place in video games, have to be limited in scope and technical prowess in order to exist. For example, Undertale is an amazing game that I’m glad exists, but imagine what Toby Fox could do if he had a couple million to spend rather than fifty thousand. These are the experiences lacking in the industry, multi-million dollar budgets with the heart and mindset of an independent project. This isn’t to say such experiences don’t exist at all, but that I believe they offer the best compromise between publisher greed and developer freedom. While this might have already been expected, I’m going to talk about how Drakengard 3 is close to an example of such a product.

While full of plenty of flaws and lackluster gameplay elements, the entirety of the Drakengard/Nier series is enjoyed on a cult level because it offers something that is hard to find in other games: that is, a balls to the wall crazy story that, for the sake of the memes, really makes you think. I find the lore of the series interesting, but I mainly play them because they offer stories that for once give me a chance to reflect on my own perspective and have me consider why I believe what I believe. Yes, games like that exist elsewhere, but there is a specific type of craziness and intrigue that comes with these games that I have yet to see replicated in other series (by all means, feel free to mention some). Back to Drakengard 3 in particular, I’ve already talked about why I believe the final boss is one of the best moments I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing. Such an ending risks alienating countless players, and it’s the kind of choice you’d probably never see attempted in today’s AAA titles because it’s far too risky. However, you’d also never find it in an entirely independent project, because they lack the funds to even try and attempt an ending of that scope. For that reason, I believe the AA (a couple million, maybe ten or twenty million at most), offer the best space for games that want to push the artistic bounds of the video game medium.

One argument to be made against this proposal is the fear that such games won’t have the level of polish present in higher budget titles. While this can be true, it doesn’t account for what the reality was two generations ago. Games like Metal Gear Solid 2 and Silent Hill 2 (it just seems like the second game is always the best of a series) were expensive in their day, but even their budgets look small in comparison to what’s being spent on games today. While the graphical prowess of AAA games has increased vastly since then, do modern games come across as mechanically or narratively more engaging than two generations ago? I tend to think not, though games like Nier: Automata give me hope that interesting narratives can still be constructed and built upon in a world of higher budgets. Nier is by no means a high budget game, but it costs more than anything an independent studio is able to muster, while at the same time turning a profit for their publisher and bringing their developer from the brink of death. All while giving players an enjoyable and engaging game.

There’s been the idea floating around that games need to cost more than $60. The rising costs of video games is the main culprit, proponents of an increased price say, however I want to lay blame on the consumer for a moment. Gamers appreciate flashy graphics, and these graphics don’t come cheap. It makes sense for publishers to make certain elements of a game top priority if players demonstrate that these features are the sort of things they want to see. Most consumers want more of the same, yet love to complain that every game is trying to be the next [insert current leading genre here]. Players flock to these games, at least enough to allow publishers and developers to make a quick buck off of making such a game.

More than any other artistic medium, video games are highly iterative, which can be to its advantage at times. However, as a result trends take awhile before they die, and in that time there will be countless games of a popular genre that take up time, money, and space from games that are doing different things. Consider how many forgotten first person shooters existed last generation, consider how many forgotten open world games exist this generation. Now imagine the countless battle royal games that are either out or coming out in the future. All of those games devote resources away from a potentially game-changing project. I’m losing focus a little bit, but it’s worth remembering that the problem is not merely concerned with budgets.

In order to give players what they want, publishers and developers have to find monetization methods to make these games and make a profit for their investors, for whom (unfortunately) the creation of big budget games is often times merely a profit-driven endeavor. Money has always driven the creation of art, and only recently crowdfunding and other supportive methods have taken off. However, the vast majority of the population isn’t rich enough to support multiple games with thousands of dollars like some of these investors can, so until then this method of game production will persist. Since players are (rightfully) against a flat price increase of video games, we’ve seen growing use of microtransactions and lootbox systems that, as anyone should know, do not justify the cost of what they give but rather subsidize the other costs of the game. Players buy these microtransactions, and in some cases the overall amount spent on in-game microtransactions have earned a company more money than other games or even the game its sold within. Publishers know this, which perpetuates the cycle of spending more money on marketing to ensure they can get enough whales that will sink a ton of money into the game so they can make their profit regardless.

The saddest part about the current situation is that it might not even be enough to “vote with your wallet” as is often repeated, because most players don’t engage with these monetization practices, but those who do engage in such a way that it’s worth it for the company to alienate a vocal minority of their players in favor of exploit the small amount of players who will pay to play. A complete boycott of these games might not be enough to convince publishers to change their monetization methods. At this point, they know how much money they can make through the nickle-and-dime processes that even if games had a higher starting price it would hardly incentivize them to drop it altogether. Given the number of deluxe and super deluxe editions many games release with which only give access to maybe a few other missions and cosmetics for a quarter of the cost of the real game, some might argue is already the case.

Why did I bother writing all this if the outlook appears black. I’m certain no developer will ever read this, and given my general reach on this site is minimal at best, it’s very unlikely that this will get any traction that leads to some grander change. Still, I find it important for people to see and understand why games are monetized the way they do, and in this instance the burden is on the consumer to inform publishers the kinds of experiences we want to see. I’m fully aware that what I want from video games is not what other people want to see; if it was, then there would be no reason for me to make this post. But I do find the experiences I want lacking, and I believe more AA budgets will give the best range for those types of experiences that will push gaming in a new direction. It is not the Red Dead Redemption 2’s of the industry that will revolutionize gaming, but the smaller, humbler experiences that will shape the artistic future of games to come.

There is still much room for video games to develop as a medium. Whether it’s in traditionally controlled games or virtual reality experiences, there is still plenty for us to learn and develop how the immense amount of player-controlled interactions influence the final product. Expensive-to-make games cannot afford to fully explore these bounds, making them the least opportune avenue to expand, reshape, or break how we understand player interactivity in an artistic sense. While there are developers who do push bounds on higher budgets, most do nothing that hasn’t already been done (sometimes even better) by a project on a lower budget. I guess what I really want to say is that I want something to challenge me and my understanding of player agency as much as the Drakenier series, and I doubt it will be something that cost over fifty million that will change that.

P.S. I understand that what I seek for the future of games, whether narratively or mechanically, is not necessarily the priority of other players, let alone publishers and developers. Perhaps in the future I’ll go more into what I look for in video games, and why I enjoy playing the games that I do.

[thalsianiii]

War, PTSD, and Role Play

So this might come off as ranty, for which I apologize.

Now, is it just me or is everyone rather desensitized to the fact that the warcraft universe is at war? More importantly, at war with some really terrifying shit? I get it, every expansion is a war. It’s that kind of game of course. World of Warcraft. But does that mean everyone is simply indifferent to the effects of such?

Admittedly, I’ve never actually been to war. And I’d like to preface all of this with a heart felt thank you to those of you who have been and what you’ve done for your respective countries. I’m also not oblivious to the fact that many soldiers come back from their deployment different. Veteran PTSD is a thing after all. Many soldiers go off to war and come back changed men and women. That kind of life is something many of us can’t imagine. On the flip side, many others come back fine. I don’t know the statistics. But we all know it happens.

So then there’s the role players in the warcraft universe. many of us (myself included) have played, or currently play, a character who has participated in different campaigns throughout warcraft history. Second & Third war, Outland, Northrend, Cataclysm, etc. Argus now being the most recent installment. and one thing I’ve noticed is many people seem to treat these events rather...casually.

There’s a few points I want to address about the scope of the world, some of these events and what it means to really participate in them. These are things I feel people don’t take into consideration. In the end RP your way. But perhaps consider this food for thought?

1) The Distance. This is something that is incredibly skewed due to the need to make the game at all playable. But I think a lot of people don’t realize how massive Azeroth (and the universe) is supposed to be. Dalaran has apparently 3000 citizens living in it. But it certainly doesn’t look like it could hold 3000 individuals in it. Elwynn is something like half a day to a days ride from Stormwind (Need source). Northrend, Kalimdor, Pandaria, entirely different continents. Consider how long it takes to fly to Europe from North America. Consider how long it takes to go by ship (which is warcrafts primary methods of mass travel). that’s potential weeks, if not months. but of course we have to cut corners here and there. Because this isn’t real life, it’s role play. But distance still needs to be considered. and it appears as though people don’t factor that in. It’s very much “oh I’m going to Plaguelands be back in half an hour” mentality as opposed too “I ride for Westfall in the morning. I’ll be back by weeks end” which, personally, cheapens the experience.

2) The enemy. With the exception of Vanilla and possibly Pandaria. We rarely fought a war against ‘normal’ threats (or each other in the PvP sense). We’ve fought insects, demons, old gods, undead, rampaging elementals, dragon aspects, literal feeling monsters, more demons, etc. If a soldier can go off to war on another continent and come back incredibly changed because of fighting other people. How terribly might someone be ruined by fighting the undead? Or demons? Or a literal god? I personally can’t fathom what that would do to a person because it’s fantasy. But I consider it in my RP as a Veteran character. Do I think fighting against demons, knowing what they do to people will fuck someone up? Hell yes I do. Imagine fighting in another country and watching your comrades get torn apart by attack dogs, or eaten by the enemy soldiers. That’s what we’re fighting on Argus. Just with cartoony graphics.

3) What it means to be a soldier. Here’s one I think a lot of people either don’t consider, or possibly choose to ignore because of how it does potentially hinder RP. But if you’re on duty, you don’t get to come home every night. You’re camped out at a Base of some sort. Whether that base camp is a fort in the middle east, or a spaceship on another planet. If you’re a soldier or mercenary of some organization you’re expected to be present for that period of time. You’re expected to sleep there, eat there, be ready for a counter attack at a moments notice. If you’re going home every night that base is left weakened. Each time you leave, you weaken that foothold and increase the chances that when you come back it will be overrun. My very very first RP campaign ever we were told that IC we’d be gone for a couple weeks. So we couldn’t really be seen in the city. Yes I appreciate that you want to go to the taverns and do walk up RP. But personally, if you want to play a character who’s going to participate in a war. commit to it. You’re not going to your job at the bank for 8 hours and coming home. You’re a soldier.

4) Portals. Mother trucking portals. Now remember this is me here, lore asshole who loooooves magic. Portals are my bread and butter. hearthstones, city portals, demonic gateways. They make getting around point 1) very easy without just using the compression of the game for granted. But it’s all to easy to abuse them in a war setting. “Well there’s a portal to Dalaran right there so like... I can just come and go as I please!” Yes. You have that ability for mechanical purposes of course. I.e. Blizz can’t lock us on Argus for the rest of the expansion. But refer to points 1-3. It will take time to travel from say, the Antoran Wastes to a transporter pad. A few hours at least maybe? Then When you come out in Dalaran. Maybe another 30 minutes to travel through the city to the stormwind portal? this list could get long but you see my point. And you can’t have a portal from your front door to the battlefield. That’s just inviting enemy forces right into your home. Portals, to me, always seem like the part of gameplay where realism and critical thinking is never used and people only think of the superficial uses and never the consequences or meaning behind their actions.

There are other lesser things to consider but these are the ones that I either focus on when I write, or I feel people abuse/don’t consider. When you say you’re fighting on Argus but come home every night and just wash the Fel away It cheapens the gravity of what were involving ourselves in, in my opinion. I get it, you don’t want to miss out on attending this weeks server social because you’re RPing being at war. No one is going to ask you too. It’s your game after all.

I can admit I’m personally annoyed by this, specifically because I find in trying to write someone with some Post Argus PTSD I’m met with a LOT of “oh pfft yeah I was on Argus too so what?” mentality and it bugs the shit out of me. I like to believe our soldiers here in reality don’t treat their brothers-in-arms like that. I’m not saying you should agree with them or give them a free pass when they do fucked up shit. Jump on them when it’s deserved. But please don’t discredit their actions in a war setting just because you take it less seriously than someone else. To me, that’s like a soldier looking at someone with PTSD and going “pfft it wasn’t that bad.” which, when you think of it in real world context, sounds pretty awful.

Now don’t take this as me telling you what to do or how to RP. Your money, your choice. Just in the same way it’s my money for my game. You can consider these points, Ignore them, If you have interesting counter points please share them! Like I said, it’s ranty and I apologize for that. If you want to be a casual player that’s your right of course, just like PvP and PvE, you don’t have to be a die hard. Play how you want.

Here’s a gif of a duck

[sjrresearch]

9 Historical Games We're Thankful for This Thanksgiving

It’s a tradition in many households to gather around the turkey on Thanksgiving Day and list off the things you’re thankful for. Unfortunately, 2020 may make it difficult to think of anything. Unless, of course, you want to thank the video game developers that have provided you a mental escape throughout the year.

Along with my health and the health and safety of my family, I would like to highlight some of the historical games that offered a means of educational entertainment. The teams behind these nine games made it possible to be thankful for a digital experience as they fleshed out historical periods, put the spotlight on notable figures from the past, and twisted the stories of yesteryear to fit within a fictional tale. 

Partisans 1941

The Eastern Front of World War II is a popular location in gaming. If it’s a World War II title, chances are it’s taking place somewhere on the Eastern Front. That makes it incredibly easy for games to get lost in the shuffle. Partisans 1941 is kind of one of those games, and it really doesn’t deserve to be pushed aside.

A blend of stealth action and real-time strategy gaming comes helps tell the story of Russian Partisans that pushed back against the German occupation. Unlike traditional RTS games, Partisans 1941 focuses heavily on guerilla warfare, and players will need to perfect tactical stealth to dismantle the German stronghold. It’s not a perspective of the war we’re used to seeing, but it’s definitely one we’re happy was given the spotlight in 2020.

Hades

Mythology and history often go hand-in-hand, with the former being a piece of a culture’s history. Hades may not have the cadence of a historical game, but there is so much Grecian lore worked in that it’s hard to ignore the work Supergiant Games put into research.

The roguelike RPG puts players in the shoes of Zagreus, the Prince of the Underworld. Equipped with his trusty blade and a host of mystical powers, Zagreus hacks and slashes his way through hordes of enemies - but all it takes is one wrong move for the outnumbered hero to fail. Thankfully, the Gods of Olympus are on his side, providing Zagreus with enhancements to help him on his quest.

Hades features notable names from Greek mythology like Sisyphus, Patroclus, Tartarus, Zeus, Athena, Poseidon, and many more. Fans of mythology and mystical lore will definitely want to sink their teeth into Hades.

Panzer Corps 2

Wargaming can be intimidating, but Flashback Games found a way to highlight the complexities of the genre while keeping it user-friendly for newcomers. Panzer Corps 2 is a worthy sequel, putting a strategic spin on World War II utilizing proven gameplay mechanics that work well with the 20th-century conflict.

When it comes to history, Panzer Corps 2 is robust with authentic references to the Second World War. Players have access to more than 1,000 unique units, from expertly recreated vehicles to foot soldiers to lead the charge. The wargame features upwards of 60 scenarios spread across a branching campaign that integrates real moments of the war.

Panzer Corps 2 is a fantastic game to play alone, but the online component allows players to marvel at the history of World War II across ten multiplayer-driven scenarios. Looking for more after your playthrough? Then you’ll enjoy the innovative Scenario Editor that lets you design your own World War II campaign.

Builders of Egypt: Prologue

Ancient Egypt is one of the world’s most fascinating historical civilizations, so any game revolving around the time of Pharaohs and mummies is worth a try. Builders of Egypt: Prologue is a rather intriguing look at the ancient society, with a city-building mechanic that really puts you in control of the Nile Valley.

Every facet of society is in your hands, from the construction of essential buildings to the economy that keeps the individual cities running. Strategy Labs is no stranger to simulation games, but the development team hit it out of the park with this take on Ancient Egypt.

Construct towering pyramids, build roads that connect cities to vital resources, and command ruthless armies as the threat of civil war worsens. From diplomacy to religion, all of Egypt is in your hands.

Medieval Dynasty

Do you have what it takes to survive in a medieval age? Without the benefits of technology and shelter from Mother Nature’s unforgiving temper? Boot up Render Cube’s Medieval Dynasty and see if you have what it takes to forge a path to greatness.

Embark on an adventure that will take you from the very beginning as an inexperienced citizen of a budding village. Battle the elements and anyone that gets in your way, learn new skills to increase your chances of survival and rise to the top of your own dynasty. Medieval Dynasty is less of a historic game and more of a fleshed-out period piece that gives a glimpse of life in the past.

Equipment and buildings offer an authentic feel as you try to survive night after night. Medieval Dynasty is an RPG game at its core, forcing players to beef up their character and tend to the very basic needs of the everyman. There’s plenty to do as you expand your dynasty, so expect to sink plenty of hours in this open-world adventure.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

After catering its past two games to RPG fans, Ubisoft opted to return to the roots of the Assassin’s Creed series with Valhalla. In fact, some may say it regressed a bit with an experience that’s brutal, violent, and bloody. Quite frankly, it embodies the ruthlessness we’ve come to associate with Vikings, but there’s another layer to Assassin’s Creed that brings everything down to reality.

Yes, Valhalla works in a bit of mysticism, but the story is still very human. As Eivor, players guide their people from an unforgiving Norway to England, where they’ll struggle to erect a safe place to call home. The storytelling is ripe with historical authenticity with figures like King Alfred the Great of Wessex and Ivar the Boneless, a real Viking ruler that took part in the actual invasion of England. 

Valhalla could use a little polish, but the overall experience brings back memories of the series’ earlier entries and is definitely a worthy addition.

Through the Darkest of Times

Most World War II games take place during the conflict. Through the Darkest of Times takes players to a few years before Germany invaded Poland, as Adolf Hitler rises to power. Beneath the new chancellor, residents of Germany had to find ways to survive. You either joined Hitler’s cause, perished at the hands of his followers, or, if you were brave enough, took part in an underground resistance.

Through the Darkest of Times allows you to live out the third scenario as the leader of a small resistance. You can’t take the Nazi regime head-on, so you’ll have to plan small-but-significant attacks that will help topple Hitler’s forces. Share vital information, inspire an uprising, and sabotage the regime in this simulation strategy. 

Across four chapters, you’ll face difficult decisions that will undoubtedly get your followers killed while gaining ground against the Nazis. Can you stand to make those sacrifices and carry the weight of your choices? Find out in this interactive experience that plays out in a unique expressionist style.

Crusader Kings III

Crusader Kings III took the year by storm, putting players in the role of a royal or noble house member. The series has always been known for its historical roots, and the third entry further solidifies them as you guide your people across generations, securing the sanctity of your dynasty. 

Will you be a kind king that watches over his people or a ruthless ruler with a thirst for expansion and riches? With an army at your disposal, how you rule is completely up to you. But be sure that your people are actually on your side. Even the most violent of kings have detractors waiting to put your head on a pike.

Crusader Kings III captures the essence of ruling a kingdom, integrating touches of history in how its scenarios play out. There is no guaranteed victory in this RPG strategy game, so be prepared for every outcome on your quest for power.

Desperados III

Rounding out the long-running Desperados is this prequel, which sets up the relationships of the Wild West RTS series. Surviving in the Old West means knowing when to run ‘n gun and when to stick to the shadows. In Desperados III, that’s the only way to make it to the end!

Employing tactics that vary from stealth takedowns to long-range stun attacks, players guide the titular Desperados on a quest for redemption. Players are tasked with reading the map and planning the best method of attack. Using the skills and abilities of the four very different characters is sometimes the only way to succeed.

The game takes place in beautifully rendered environments that look to have been ripped right out of Wild West history.

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At SJR Research, we specialize in creating compelling narratives and provide research to give your game the kind of details that engage your players and create a resonant world they want to spend time in. If you are interested in learning more about our gaming research services, you can browse SJR Research’s service on our site at SJR Research.

[mechanicalinertia]

Content-Free Erpdert 2020-Oh-One: The Roles We Must Play in the Great Game

Okay. Let’s talk about my Bubblegum Crisis 2069 RPG. This isn’t a postmortem, though it feels like one. Think of it as laying out the prospects for the project’s necromantic revival. Think of me as Frankenstein, looking for a good ol’ bolt of lightning to give his hacked-together corpse-man life.

So:

1. The original reason I stalled out on the RPG was Megatokyo. Basically I liked The Sprawl’s citybookish supplement November Metric, specifically Benjamin Kouppi’s mini-citybooks for Brussels, Lagos, and Miami, so much that I figured the least I could do was highlight different parts of Megatokyo - how GENOM’s vision of the model megacity clashes with the reality of daily life, the street finding its own uses for things, the usual cyberpunk stuff - in a similar manner. Only then I realized I really, really wanted to avoid Orientalist stereotypes, and then I realized that really, really restricted what I could actually do in the various districts - or would a district-based approach really work? Why not just layer down the fundamental concepts, the aesthetics of Megatokyo? Probably because I didn’t know what the specifics of a cyberpunk megacity would be, realistically, and I didn’t want to just imitate CP2020′s Night City book - I wanted to create anchors for the players to tie their campaigns to. Something freeform, yet concrete, and yet I just couldn’t gin up the creative juices to write it in a satisfactory way. Well, alright, I thought, I’ll just move on. I’d written plenty of lore already, right, so there was nothing wrong with moving on.

But I’m not very good at moving on. See, it was at that point that, in light of all of BGC2069′s inspirations, I started to rethink the first half of the game - namely, its mechanics.

2. I made it very clear from the start that what I was doing was a hack of the RTAL rules for CP2020 and the BGC RPG. Kick out all the unnecessary stats from Fuzion - just scrub Fuzion from the record entirely. Use the pared-down gameplay from Hunter-Seeker, but ignore the godawful setting from that same hack - it reeked too much of Neuropolitan, which in turn reeked too much of Snow Crash, and that wasn’t the sense of the lore I was going for. And for the most part, I think the basics succeed in imitating CP2020 gameplay and combat without too many extra moving parts.

Oh, but when I started bolting moving parts on, that was when things got complicated. There’s no doubt I cast my net too goddamn wide, trying to alter the flawed systems of the original 2020 in the style of various fan-supplements from the internet of days long past. One of the few people who looked my abomination over said that he didn’t like the way lore and mechanics were blended together in those sections - too confusing, he said. And yeah, I was trying to twist CP2020′s looser ends and make them my own. But I overdid it. Gun-printing? Cybernetics and humanity loss? Hacking? All these things are Cyberpunk staples, yes, but I a) made them too damn complex (and in the case of the hacking’s vision of the ‘Noosphere’, potentially inaccurate), and b) they’re not Bubblegum Crisis staples.

By this I mean that original BGC eschews cybernetic augmentations (except for the bizarre and hyper-pulpy AD Police Files OVA, whose canonicity is dubious at best), elaborate hacking, and unhardsuited combat in its action scenes, or really a lot of excessive gun-porn, and it does just fine. So if I had to do it all over again - and something tells me I ought to - I would minimize these elements. Streamline the whole project. Focus on BGC’s strengths.

3. Well, what are those strengths? Anime-Superheroic-Cyberpunk is a great genre cocktail, but where do those mental Venn diagrams align? Well, in the Knight Sabers. Normal(ish) people in a cyberpunk future (not professional black-trenchcoat operatives in the least) with melodramatic problems solved by the application of high-flying, high-tech mecha-violence. That’s the bottled lightning that is Bubblegum Crisis, and as much as I hate to admit it, that’s what people want to play in this particular universe. If people want to play a different kind of cyberpunk campaign - one where hardsuited combat against Boomers with a pinch of anime-esque melodrama isn’t the norm - they’re gonna play Shadowrun or CPRed or The Sprawl or The Veil or Interface Zero (ech) or even Eclipse Phase if they’re desperate. So if we take ‘play as the Knight Sabers or a similar team’ as our modus operandi - well, what does that tell us?

4. Well, again, that ‘bareskin’ combat should be minimalized, cybernetics largely ignored, and hacking simplified for heat-of-the-moment electronic warfare (hacking a Boomer on the fly, not cracking a massively complex corporate mainframe). It doesn’t preclude using Interlock-ish rules (Stat-Skill-D10 vs. Target Number) per se - it doesn’t mandate a simpler system like BESM or OVA or something similarly rules-light. I’d argue that, because mecha-porn is so fundamental to BGC as its own thing, that if anything the game needs a slightly crunchier rules system just to build those mecha.

5. Or does it? Don’t get me wrong, I’m very proud of the mutation I cobbled together of Mekton Zeta Plus. However, I’m not as proud of the hardsuit-construction system I made based off of that system. It more feels like something the GM would use to make hardsuits for the players, not letting the players build their own suits.

Furthermore, I was sort of kicking the can down the road by giving GM’s such an extensive toolkit. It would be more desirable on the players’ end, I think, to just give them a monster-manual full of pre-built Boomers and maybe a few larger mecha, so the only mecha-building the GM or players are doing is their hardsuits / Motoslaves at the beginning of the campaign, then maybe a monster-of-the-week supermech like the DD once or twice. Likewise, I hadn’t bothered to actually make the rebooted versions of the Sabers and other characters to interact with PC’s, or for the players to inhabit, or hell, just to serve as inspiration for their own superheroes. So. Gotta do that.

6. I keep itching for some sort of roleplaying ‘training wheels’, some sort of system to encourage, if not directly reward, players to play around with inhabiting their characters. Like, if you had people who were interested in ‘hard’ roleplaying in their TTRPG, but didn’t really know how to do it. I keep thinking about the ‘clocks’ in The Sprawl, how they determine a sense of danger and urgency and generally are designed to keep the players moving forward through the beats of the story. I think that’s really cool, but at the same time it’s a very PBTA-tastic system - would it work for the ‘bareskin’ side of the game where the characters don’t have much more than a pistol and their wits to uncover what they must do once they get into hardsuits? One could make two very different games, here. The ‘Bareskin’ game, which is all about feelings and plots and story beats, and the ‘Hardsuit’ game, which is much more classic bang-bang-punch-punch stuff.

It’s not as intuitive, though, to design those sorts of things. And then I wonder if I’m taking the game too far away from it’s CP2020 roots, trying to make the game be something it isn’t. I’ve got this great grab bag of inspirations, but to make a BGC game truly itself - that’s hard. Because I’m not sure what trends I should be chasing, here.

7. But I’m getting myself muddled, here. I need a plan of action.

So:

A. Modularize the game. Core Rulebook largely ignores gun-printing, complex (deep) hacking, cybernetics, etc, and eschews them in favor of getting the players in their character’s shoes and hardsuits at a reasonable clip. I can put the complex stuff in its own pseudo-expansion and play around with it as necessary. Likewise, Mekton Infinity is great for complexity and granularity, but players are more gonna be coming from something more like Lancer than Mekton Zeta. So they’re gonna want some pre-built inspiration even if the endgame is to have players build their own suits.

B. Build the ‘sourcebook’. Focus a little less on the lore, focus more on where lore and mechanics intersect, namely in things. NPC’s to hang out with, mecha to battle.

C. While I’m at it it probably couldn’t hurt to make the general rules of heavier mecha combat more granular. Car chases and dogfights and things like that, alongside the more infantry-scale of hardsuit combat. Help people play the game with just some crude printed miniatures and nothing else.

D. Write the GM’s advice thing, see if that helps nail down what kind of game BGC is supposed to be. You know, what makes a BGC game unique, what should draw the players in, contrast it with other mecha-cyberpunk-anime-superhero games.

E. Then, I think, whether or not the game needs to segregate ‘bareskin’ and ‘hardsuit’ gameplay - and subsequently whether or not I need to add more rules like that - will become much clearer.

Whoo. That was a lot of text. We’ll see if anything comes of it, I guess.

[retphienix]

I'm going to let out some of my feelings on New Vegas under the cut, but let's start with some more optimistic talk based on what's about to happen.

We're going to play through New Vegas (again for me) in an attempt to re-evaluate it since I harbor such strong negativity towards it despite recognizing all it's accomplishments and improvements over F3.

To start, I adore the intro cutscene. I just do.

I wish it didn't jump to the slideshow mid-way through, but I can understand it non-the-less.

It's fun to see the factions doing interesting things, or even just actions that add character to a faceless organization.

We get the NCR partying it up and drunk, giving off vibes of "modern" military personnel on leave or taking a moment of reprieve. We also get to see the Legion acting like a small raid force and clearly using some stealth tactics as they attack quietly in the night.

To end it off we get to see Benny and the Khans, and aside from showing how strange Fallout engine models look scaled up for a cutscene (because the Khans look like crap), this was good stuff. I especially love the Courier's view swinging towards the weapon as they acknowledge the danger they are in.

Okay, let me get some things out in the air on this one.

I'm starting this playthrough with some baggage.

I really don't like New Vegas. Like at all.

Fallout 3 is one of my favorite games, Fallout 1 was so fantastic a playthrough that it got me excited about Fallout again (I've yet to play Fallout 2 but you better believe that's coming up at some point) and Fallout 4 is unbearably disappointing but offered me plenty of fun for my trouble.

I'm in the minority on this and I completely understand why.

I see all the gameplay mechanics that add depth and I LOVE them.

I see all the differences in the writing and I LOVE them.

I see the improvements to the factions to add depth and I LOVE that.(mostly, I love the attempt)

I see Hardcore mode and, while some have switched to complaining that it's far too simplistic, I had a total BLAST playing through this game on the hardest difficulty with Hardcore turned on.

I see the companions and how they are objectively the best to the point where I'd do anything to reunite Veronica with her girlfriend from the DLC or to steal Arcade away to a new land altogether.

But I just get so hung up on this game.

I've completed it every which way, I've grinded the achievements that forced me to play the game differently than I usually do, I found out unarmed is the most broken weapon-type in the game because Ballistic fists are unbalanced as heck and I loved it.

But I get so hung up on the things I don't like, despite how few they are, they are important things to me.

For one, the factions. I like that they are more complex but I just hate every single one of them.

I get that that 'can' be realistic, and I love “shades of gray” morality options that let me choose who I agree with despite the drawbacks, BUT EVERY FACTION IS UNLIKABLE, EVIL WITH FALSE “Good” IDEALS, OR THEIR DRAWBACKS ARE UNBEARABLY LAZY AND DULL.

I really, really don't like how Fallout 4 handled factions and yet I can still go "Yeah, I'll side with the Minutemen despite their synth problems because they are the moral ideology I agree most with" or "-with the Railroad because despite their human life devaluation issues I most agree blah blah".

Fallout 4 had two "too problematic for me" factions in the form of the Neo Nazi Brotherhood that goes entirely against what Fallout 3's brotherhood were (yes F3 had a simplistic "too good" brotherhood, but they were limited to that chapter and THIS racist chapter IS that chapter so that's just inexcusable), and the Institute who fail due to poor writing and lack of explanation (oh you're the GOOD guys who will SAVE us with technology? You have hidden synths wandering around all over for intel? THEN WHY DO YOU BLATANTLY POISON AND KILL PEOPLE TO STEAL THEIR IDENTITY WHEN YOU LIVE IN AN AGE WHERE YOU CAN JUST THROW A SYNTH SOMEWHERE WITH A BS BACKSTORY AND YOU KNOW THAT WILL WORK OUT JUST FINE??? You're murderers, not the good guys, screw off.)

The thing is, I was able to find factions I agreed with despite their flaws in 4, and 3 made it easy by not doing a good job at all and just giving you a good and bad choice (fair enough).

NV? It tries so hard to have diverse and interesting factions but I honestly think they got too distracted with adding flaws that they forgot to make any of them likable.

NCR are bureaucratic idiots who overexert (Bureaucracy as a flaw, in itself, is utterly lame and dull), follow the flaws of the US government (at least that's interesting) and can best be "agreed" with based on the fact that they support farms. But they even abuse that from what I remember.

The Legion have an entire in-universe explanation for why they look like a bunch of stupid cosplayers and I remember it being summed up as "I read a book, I like military tactics from the Roman empire so here we are!".

If Legion's entire goal is unifying the world under one flag then they could have been literally ANYTHING, but no, they are cosplayers with no deeper meaning beyond "I want slaves, don't respect culture if it isn't my own, and read a military book about rome".

That reason is utterly ridiculous and uninteresting. Anyone who tried to organize something like this would have success in their area (remember something about uniting some tribes and tackling opposition weakest to strongest to divide and conquer) but then they'd just fall apart because you're trying to run a racist little slave army while killing farmers, a revolt or dude in power armor is going to stomp you out realistically.

House is fine. Like, yeah. He's fine. He's gray morality, isolation is his goal, I don't "agree" with him but he's someone I COULD agree with if I was playing that kind of character.

So NV leaves me with either playing NCR because "Well, they suck completely, but hey, maybe they can do some good?", House, or take control on my own and use my own imagination to decide what happens to the area once the credits are finished (since you can’t experience any of those changes you would have instated, afterall. Though that itself isn’t a complaint because I understand the actual cost that would entail to add to the game, but the fact that my best option is this means I would have liked the option to make my lack of “good” choices felt “acceptable” because I could at least instate change etc)

So there's one major complaint out of the way, the factions all being either completely incompetent, stupid, or unlikably bad morally.

The next major complaint I had was the world itself.

I HATE IT. I HATE THIS DESERT WASTELAND OF BOREDOM.

I know some of you have probably heard a variant of that complaint! Something along the lines of "It's just empty desert and there is nothing to see" and you scoffed and you said "This idiot isn't looking in the right places" but you know what!

THERE IS A REASON THIS COMES UP IN PEOPLE WHO DON'T LIKE NEW VEGAS.

It's because, yes, there is stuff to see! But the LAND and WORLD look so barren by design (despite the things that are there) and it all looks so boringly dead and bland that even once we find interesting places it's all desaturated in our heads to the point where we go "ah. cool. is there anything to do in this boring hellscape."

Everything looks the same and it is a huge drain on the eyes.

This world is the most boring thing to look at. I hate sandscapes, I loathe exploring literal desert land. You have to shove more variation in there.

Fallout 3 worked with its separation between "empty" wasteland, "colonized" wasteland, "empty" cityscape, and "populated" cityscape.

You could go to these different types of places and feel a different environment around you.

New Vegas has two places. Empty desert that you sometimes find a shanty town in, or Vegas which is just casinos so who cares beyond gamblers.

It's so monotonous and boring.

The most exciting areas are your starting area (at first, because it hints that you'll find tons of strange working towns to spice up the desert instead of the reality of emptiness), Vegas if you're into that sort of thing, the NCR outpost with the Ranger monument, and Artillery tribe.

Fallout 3 had a green filter over everything and some people complained, I didn't care in the slightest. But with this brown filter over a brown sandscape I felt like it emphasized the color palate too much and made what was already boring to look at even worse.

Off topic, but throwing that in.

All said, maybe I'm exaggerating. But my time with New Vegas left me feeling like the overall politics were either utterly stupid or painfully unlikable, and knowing that made every other questline or story point feel meaningless because I wasn't invested in any character or organization involved.

When every major player is unlikable, I stop caring. So I ended New Vegas feeling like, for all it's writing and smaller stories, they messed up the factions so badly that I couldn't care about any of it.

So when I stop caring I decide to explore the world, and while it DOES have things in it, they painted over that fact by making every area look the same with their brown desert crap. It needed more cities or towns, more "outer" Vegas, and just more variety in general.

And if they couldn't justify a reason that would lend variety to New Vegas, then guess what? Maybe VEGAS is a boring as heck place to put your post apocalyptic game.

*sigh*

Since that rambling, lacking substance as I'm typing from emotion and not diving far enough in for details, rant is done-

(I really did go off and cut some of this because of that. Sad when you consider I got this fired up and I only listed two reasons, poor factions [in terms of morality and not being annoyed with their designs/lore] and the world looking terrible to me because I hate deserts)

-I am going back in to  try it all again.

[exilesofembermark]

Game Dev Update | 12.4.17

"Now we dance.” - The Stance Symbols in EoE

Welcome back to the ongoing chronicle of the Exiles of Embermark development!

Last Update, we talked about the female player character, new Abilities, Spectator Mode and Events. This time around, it’s a look at the design of Exiles’ otherworldly Breaches, concepts for Seasonal Rewards, an exceptionally colorful Legendary Axe and its creators and how we’re going to telegraph whether you’re playing a real person or a bot in the game  (and, of course, moar).

Let’s do this, shall we? (And let’s dig into it together in live Discord chat or on the forums!)

As shared previously, each Ability in the game currently is aligned with one of 3 Stances (they can also have “None”), Martial (the fist), Magic (the eye) or Mystic (the symbol that will come to telegraph “Breach” or manipulation of Embers and their energy to you as you go). Their advantages over each other in Combat (in addition to Initiative effects) are thus:

A BREAKDOWN ON BREACHES

It’s easy to blame all of the calamity that ensued after the initial Collapse on the existence of the Breaches, but they’re not an entity-- they’re just the by-product of the weakening boundaries between Embermark’s world and others. Edyrin Za’an is to blame here, and even he had issues to deal with that drove him to dip his toe into a pool filled with awfulness. 

We’ve all seen rifts, portals and passageways to other worlds in games, but Breaches are a bit different. As the boundaries between worlds weaken, those weak points start to show through as almost cracked panes of glass. Glass that’s eerily infused with some sort of power. 

As the boundary weakens further, the intensity increases and we see more of these little flecks of-- power?-- emanate from the opening (spoiler alert-- they’re Embers, and Embers are key to all sorts of everything in the game)

The first Breaches were temporary, opening the way for a summoning or three. When the Collapse ensued, whole rips opened up and stayed open, letting in all sorts of whatnot, from flora to fauna to those with ill intent. Here, we imagine the 1st Breach (to be named something more awesome later), which flung earth, water and structures far and wide. The great center body of water in the continent of Embermark was irreversibly changed the day this one opened up, and will be a location of great importance to players. 

SEASONAL REWARDS AND HUZZAHS (CONCEPTS)

Exiles is a game with Seasons, and the current design is for monthly seasons (subject to change). At the end of each Season players' rank in PvP and House will reset, world narrative will advance, and many tasty rewards will be doled out. To that end, we’re working on some concepts for that presentation to the player as they enter into a new season (and no, even though I love the word, it probably won’t actually say “Huzzah,” it’s just an early concept):

BOGANS AND THEIR BATTLEAXE

Behold the Bogan frontiersman, a wily race of humanoids that continue to cross over into Embermark to this day. They’re pioneers, putting down roots wherever they can, sometimes overrunning whole swaths of ex-civilization. 

They’re notably lacking in pretense and manners, but they’re a pragmatic lot. They use what they find. They assimilate their surroundings into their everyday and they collect. 

Notably lacking in pretense, that is, until they get to serve time as the Bogan Boss, whereupon the Axe passes to them. 

The Axe is an amalgam of tribute paid to the Bogan Boss-- gems and baubles and bits of metal. They’re not the most sophisticated of artisans in the world, but they know how to go gaudy, and this Axe reflects that. Rough stones made into blades and pointy bits, finer gems pilfered from ruins and fused into the sides, beads of necklace or bracelet wrapped around the handle. 

It’s pretty to some, ugly to others, and in combat, packs a wallop. (/bows low to our Australian constituents for their consulting)

TALES OF EMBERMARK on BOUND - THE FINAL PREVIEW

We’ve been steadily building pre-game history/mmm-delicious-lore with our friends over at Bound for some time now, and I’m excited to share one last snippet before releasing “Tales from Embermark,” the series we’ll be publishing on Bound in the coming days (watch Twitter or the Exiles Subreddit for announcement). This snippet comes from one of 7 episodes of Exiles anecdotes, wherein we learn a little bit about the oft-referred to mage that caused many of the problems that led to the Collapse. 

In the words of TOE’s Narrator, the enigmatic Orin:

I did see it, only in passing, from the tallest tower of House Majesty’s estate. A man, in my daze, had climbed to its summit. He wore robes of old and though he may have seen me present on the beach, he made no notice as such. Something to the east held his interest much more acutely, and as I turned to see what that might be, to my horror, I saw the dark legions marching down Tallwind Lake’s easterly sands.

How could I have miscalculated, I thought, rising from the beach.

Frozen, I watched as the soldiers crested the beaches, climbing the lakeside hills. In no time at all they would be butchering House Majesty, driving their blades into the mages as they slept.

But the man on the roof, with his hands flowing quietly through the air, had other plans.

Sinister plans.

---

Next time we talk about Tales, we’ll be telling them.

TRAINING GROUNDS & ARENA

Battle environments continue to roll off the Gunslinger presses, and we’re on track to provide at least one for each of the active Zones in the world somewhere during soft launch. On top of that, we’ve been figuring out ways to tell players where they are (and what they’re currently doing) in as elegant a fashion as we can. 

To that end, we designed a couple of environments for PVP to let the player know whether they’re fighting another player for realsies (the technical term for PVP) or if they’re fighting the other player character while under the control of the computer (we call this feature “Spar”). If you’re fighting another player as a bot, you’ll see this “Training Grounds” environ to let you know you’re sparring:

And if you’re in it to win it with another real person on the other end of the Battle, you’ll see this Arena-style environment during your slaying:

BLOODTHORN

While powerful and dangerously beautiful, the tale behind Legendary Staff Bloodthorn is a sad one that will be revealed over time in the game. It involves love, rejection and a very powerful user of magicks named Kora Dumari. 

IS THAT A GOLEM?

Yes, yes it is. But it’s not your father’s golem. As we got into briefly at the beginning of this Update, what “Mystic” is in Embermark has wide-ranging ramifications...

BONUS: PUFFS

We’ve talked about VFX in the last few Updates, and our approach to them is evolving quickly. After experimenting with some different looks, we’ve moved toward matching up the style with the hand-painted direction for our characters and environs. Which is why I got excited when this smoke puffery became a reality-- stay tuned for its application in the game:

BONUS BONUS: NEW IDLE, NOW WITH COCKINESS

I try to cover some gameplay, art and features in each Update, and there’s always something that we did that I can’t help sharing. This month it’s the player idle animation. Why?

Cuz check out that shoulder shrug at the end of this sequence. Do you want to fight this guy? I do...

DON’T FORGET TO REMEMBER…

We’ll keep sharing details as we head toward testing (remember to PM TheWizard on the Exiles forums with your device type if you want in on closed testing & beta later), and you can count on early impressions from the testers throughout our various channels.

If you haven’t already, follow along with Exiles development on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. And if you haven’t, I’ll find you. And SMITE you.

AS WE READY TO BATTLE, WE CHAT

If you want to hear about the game, ask questions or connect with others who are helping the development team think about features, design and narrative, hop into the Discord Channel for live chat and say hi– it’s a friendly crew with plenty of daily/weekly/sometimes-planned shenanigans.

[canvaswolfdoll]

Canvas and Video Games

Have I talked about my Video Game history? Feels like I have, but I also can’t remember doing so. I’m also running low on possible essay topics, and haven’t finished off any media that I can review[1] recently enough to do that instead…

So, hey, you nerds, let’s talk about Video Games!

Because that’s obviously been a massive influence on my life, what with… my entire brand, really. Egads, am I a nerd, sitting here with a New 3DS in a charging cradle in front of me, trying to work out how to do better quality streams and deciding to write an essay about Video Games.

It all started with my brother, old Foxface himself. As the family lore goes, my parents once didn’t want video games in the house, what with… the social stigma, I guess? It was different times, alright?

Point is, my brother’s speech teacher was all ‘Hey, you know what may help with speech? Video Games! Get him video games.’

And so my parents did, despite any reasonable connection or evidence in the above argument.[2]

So they bought him the Sega Genesis, the only non-Nintendo console we’ve ever owned. He played Sonic the Hedgehog! Also… no. It was mostly just Sonic.

Obviously young Canvas was also interested in the wonder of interactive media, and the running rodent, so I’d watch him play, and occasionally step in as Tails or try to play it myself. And I was terrible at it.

Eventually, the Nintendo 64 was released and added to our fleet of hardware, and we never looked back! Ha ha!

That’s the console that we really cut our teeth on, with it’s many beloved games, from Mario 64, Star Fox 64, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (first Zelda game I was ever aware of), and so on and so forth. We ended up with most of the major releases.[3] Also Mischief Makers for some reason.

It was also the height of Video Rental stores, though I never got to choose games to rent. Vulpin stuck with Space Station Silicon Valley which… might deserve an HD Remake, to be honest. Such a bizarre premise people would eat up, nowadays.

The Game Boy Color arrived, carrying Pokemon and various shovelware, plus a few Zelda Games. Tried my best with them, but for the longest time I never actually completed a video game, or got that far, though I did finish Johto in Gold, which is something.

Gamecube came out, the Dreamcast died, and I began to become aware of the surrounding culture as my capabilities to use the internet matured. We also continued a trend of our person game libraries for the generation growing larger than the last. Lots of GameCube games.

Animal Crossing was a Christmas gift early in the cycle, and it was the first video game all of the kids in the family played, to various extents. Elder Sister was her usual perfectionist self, paid off her house, then pretty much stopped playing video games forever afterwards. Little Sister still plays the occasional game (mostly Paper Mario), but largely it’s just Foxface and I who are deep into the gaming scene.

But, like so many things, tracking each and every experience would be a rather sisyphean task, so I should try and refocus here.

Video Games have always been a presence in my life, and thus had its effects on my creative self, from imaginary friends to the little stories I’d crafted pacing the backyard. They were my chief insight into narratives and various genres, design (whether costume or set or mechanical). Nintendo Power helped educate me on the concept of news and industry, as well as the community that could grow from a hobby.

In fact, Pokemon was the main driving force behind the event I joke is the time I’ve ever made friends myself,[4] being approached while reading a book related to the franchise during second grade. It was nice.

Learning about the internet and GameFAQs hinted towards the wider world and culture, and eventually I came upon 8-Bit Theater, which fired up my love of comics in a big way. Comics and stories made from and about elements of video games? That’s so cool!

Then Nintendo Acres happened.

The diminishing use of quality sprite work in video games makes me sad, by the way. There’s just something about the GBA/DS era graphics that invokes joy in my heart, by now even Pokemon has left sprite work behind for models, and even kitschy independent games tend for the super minimalistic version of 8-bit and… whatever one would refer to Atari graphics. Had I artistic talent, I would slather my media in 16-bit evocative of Friends of Mineral Town or The World Ends with You.

In fact, I think that’s one of my main hurdles getting invested in Stardew Valley[5] and Undertale. They just look ugly, even by the standards of kitschy 8-bit style. Frisk is malformed, and all the Stardew characters are in the wrong perspective for the rest of the world. Sprite work can be so beautiful, and yet no one puts in the effort anymore.

Look, sprites aren’t the only aesthetic I love, just so we’re clear. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, I just prefer bright, cheery worlds. Tale of Symphonia is one of my favorite games, if not my absolute number one.[6] There’s just something very nice about a fantasy world that looks lush and vibrant, where you’d be happy to live just for the scenery. The Tales series and Rune Factory also made me very positive about oddly intricate characters in fantasy. I’ve never liked the dirt covered fantasy of… let’s say Skyrim. Fantasy should be about escapism, grand adventure in grand landscapes, not the crushing reality of medieval times.

More Ghibli, less brown is what I want in general.

I may be an oddball for the elements I look for in video games. I like RPGs (obviously) but there’s very few members of the genre I actually enjoy. I flat-out can’t stand western Video Game RPGs.

What I usually look for in games is both a compelling narrative and interesting mechanics, with allowance for the ‘Classics’ and trendsetters.[7] This is something I find lacking in Western-Style RPGs, with their focus on customizing and granular stat advancement. Sure, I understand someone’s desire to try and put a popular character in an Elder Scrolls, or place some curious limitation on themselves while crawling around Fallout’s wastelands.

But because the game needs to allow the player to make whoever they want, it severely cripples the writer’s ability to write the “main” character into the plot, lest they step on the agency of the player. So, from my perspective, we end up in one of two situations: the PC is a non-entity in the plot, with the narrative happening around and to them instead of with them. Or, we get a Mass Effect situation, where they treat it like Choose Your Own Adventure, and you end up shooting a dude when you thought you were just going to arrest him.[8] That’s why I much prefer being handed a protagonist with a history and personality.

Now, those familiar with my tabletop philosophies, and namely my disdain for randomized Character Gen because it takes away player agency might be tilting their head at this inconsistency.

Well, it’s a scale thing. I realize Video Games have a limitation, and thus it’s unreasonable to expect it to cater to you completely. Tabletop, however, allows endless narrative possibilities, because it’s being created in the moment. So, with Video Games, I’m more willing to just let the story take me along as an observer, like a TV Show.

Which is to say, I don’t really project on the Player Character, and am I happy with that. It’s a division between game and story that may seem odd, but it’s what I look for: every piece having a narrative purpose, especially the loser who’s carrying us on our back.

So, narratively, I prefer the style of JRPGs (also, I like Anime and it’s tropes, so…). Yet, I have never really gotten engrossed in any Final Fantasy Game, because list combat is very dull. I mean, grindy, set the auto-attack against opponent style of Western RPGs[10] aren’t much better, but at least it’s got a hint of visual interest.

What am I left with? For a while, Tales of Symphonia, but now I’ve got Rune Factory, with it’s rather simple combat, but still mostly fun (helped along by other elements), and especially Fire Emblem, which what I wish battlemat D&D combat could be: quick, clever, strategic.

Though I’ve only played the 3DS installments thus far, due to lack of accessibility to the early games, which I couldn’t be bothered to try when they were released. Did try the first GBA game to be ported over, but that ended up having the worst, most micromanaging tutorial I’ve ever seen, and thus I am incapable of completing the first level.

I know how to play video games, Fire Emblem. I am aware of the base concept of pressing A. Yeesh. You’re worse than modern Harvest Moon games!

I’ve also never gotten invested in military FPSs, as a mixture of finding the gameplay boring, difficulty mastering it, and mockery whenever I was roped into playing one with friends.[11] In general, I don’t like being in first person view, as I find it limiting to controls, and responding to things that get behind me is annoying, because I flail trying to find the source of damage, then die.

Though, with time, my avoidance has decreased. Portal has a first person camera, but in a mixture of a more puzzle focused game and excellent integration of tutorial into gameplay,[12] it takes an agitating limited camera and makes it very workable, while also teaching the player how to interact with a game in first person.

I also played a little Team Fortress 2, and now Overwatch. The difference with those two over, say, Modern Duty or whatever, is the tone. The two games are competitive, yes, but also light hearted and goofy. Death is cheap and non punishing, the addition of powers make character choice widely different and fun, and, when I do get a little frustrated, it’s very easy for me to take a breath say ‘It’s only a game’ and let it go. Which is important when playing video games, sometimes.

Because that’s what games should always be: entertainment. It’s why I don’t try and force myself through games I’m not enjoying or lose interest in (though obviously I do try and come back and finish the plot) and why I very rarely strive for 100% completion. Because I want to enjoy myself, not engage in tedious work.

It’s also why I don’t care about ESports. Because I don’t care about sports. People doing something very well doesn’t really appeal to me. High-level chess players aren’t interesting to watch or study, seeing two teams of muscled people charge one another isn’t fun, and fight scenes with the usual punching and kicking is dull.

Because, what I look for in most cases is novelty.

Seeing a master craftsman make a thing once can be interesting, just to see the process. See a master craftsman make the same thing a 100 times is uninteresting, because nothing new is happening. When it comes to sports and games, it’s more interesting to see novices play, because they mess up in interesting ways, spot and solve problems, and you get to sit back and go ‘Now, I would’ve done this.’

So, yeah, not a big fan of Counterstrike and League of Legends news, even besides the toxic communities.

Public perception of video games turned rather quick in my lifetime. It used to be such a niche hobby, enjoyed by nerds and children and so such. Yet… well times change, don’t they? Obviously children grew up and brought games along with them, but the hobby has expanded to become mainstream, a console being as necessary as a television, where those without are viewed as bizarre, despite it not being a physical need.[13] We all remember the children who noted their family doesn’t have a TV (or keep it in the closet), and I wonder if XBoxes have gained the same traction.[14]

If only tabletop games could get the same treatment.

Though I still wouldn’t be able to find a group, but still…

Now that I’m an employed adult, I have even more control over the games I play. Which means a Wii U and a custom built PC.

That I built myself, because I also enjoyed Lego as a child.

Between the two, I tend to have a wide enough net to catch the games that interest me. Sure, there’s still some PlayStation exclusives I’d love to try (Journey, Team ICO’s works, plenty of Tales games…)[15] but some of those games are slowly drifting over to Steam, and I already have a backlog, so I can wait it out.

That’s my stumbled musings about video games… Oh! I stream them! Over here! Watch me! I love to entertain and amuse!

Also maybe consider supporting me through patreon? Then I can put more resources into being amusing!

And share any thoughts you have. I’ll listen. Until then…

Kataal kataal.

[1] Did finish rereading Yotsuba&! but there’s nothing to say about besides “Read it!” [2] Certainly didn’t help me. [3] Though not Harvest Moon 64. One day, I will slay that whale. One day… [4] The rest are inherited after old friends leave. [5] Someone on Reddit commented its port to the Switch may help scratch the itch left by Rune Factory. They are, of course, dreadfully wrong. [6] I still dislike do rankings. [7] IE, I’m not a big fan of hallway-bound FPS games, but have played through the Half-Life series. Mostly for the connection to Portal. [8] I know it was in the ‘Renegade’ position, but I thought it’d be played as ‘I’ll risk losing the Shadow Broker to book this small fish’ sort of thing. I’m not very clever, okay?[9] [9] I actually never progressed much further than that. Perhaps it’ll be on CanvasPlays someday. [10] I don’t care if you have a list of subversions of this style, by the way. I really don’t. [11] I once annoyed a former friend for not knowing there’s an aim button. I didn’t know this, because I don’t play FPSs. [12] There’s a very nice Extra Credits about this somewhere. [13] Though as a cultural need… [14] Nintendo Consoles, of course and unfortunately, being considered the off-brand. [15] the PS3 port of Tides of Destiny. Yes, it’s a disgrace of a Rune Factory game, and it was also on the wii but… well, sometimes I’m an insane collector![16] [16] I don’t even need a PS3. I can get it used for, like, five bucks from GameStop…