#(actually it probably could but i don't feel the need to have the PC version)

[propertyofwhitney67]

One thing that kills me a little about dols writing is how the characters (especially the LIs) are kind of being left behind in the wake of game play gimmicks (that seem fun until you realize they're just a grind) and supernatural lore (that doesn't even directly tie into any of the LIs).

For example, cooking could have been a fun inclusion in the game, but its a real slog to get through and it doesn't actually progress any of the storylines or lead to really fun scenes with the love interests. Like, cooking could be tied into the cafe, or certain ingredients could be used in a food play context, or utilize cooking for dates with the LIs, because right now cooking is extremely under-developed (which is deserving of criticism imo. If the game or story aspect of a new mechanic isn't finished it probably shouldn't be pushed out, because there's no guarantee that any of the developers will actually get around to doing anything with it in the future).

Some of the lore is cool, but it isn't very well integrated with the characters. With the snake painting and the multi-ending gimmick it could have been a fun quest for the PC to discover new endings by talking to other characters. Like, maybe Winter knows one ending, but Sydney (or Jordan) has heard another, and Avery/Remy/Wren know another version of the events, so you get to learn more about the world while also learning about a character and their thoughts on the painting. Admittedly, I don't really care that much about the temple, but I attribute that to the writing not doing a great job at tying the temple into... anything, really lmao

The lack of dates and holiday events with the LIs is something I also find frustrating. Maybe it's just me, but doing Christmas and Valentine's events with all of the love interests seems like a really easy thing to plan for, and they're events that feel meaty enough that most people would be okay with getting a few big events like that every year. Not to mention you could have events that delve into lore while also focusing on LIs. The temple follows a made up pseudo pagan religion. Throw in festivals for the summer and winter solstices. Make a harvest festival that involves the PC and Alex needing to do something.

Somehow dol just feels like an incredibly strange game when I actually think about it. The LIs don't feel fleshed out enough for an actual dating sim adjacent game, but the lore isn't consistent enough for the game to be focused on that either (like what even is the island? why is it tribal? why not have it take vague inspiration from more Celtic mythology or English folklore instead, because the island just feels really gross the way it exists now).

The cooking def needs work, a lot of work. It takes so fucking long to get recipes to even make a fucking meal, they really gotta come up with a better way of doing the cooking. Like you said using it for dates and stuff would be really cool, there also needs to be more variety in scenes when you do give them food bc it's the same shit every time. I agree, if it isn't finished don't put it out. You can hint at it or even openly talk about it but don't give us halfassed shit.

Some of the lore is quite interesting and I used to be obsessed with it, all the things Winter would tell you about the antiques is cool. But now it just feels off? Idk there's just something different, it might be the writing.

We do need more dates and holidays, like what do you mean I can't give other LI's Christmas gifts? Why is Eden the only one with a valentines event? I also really love your idea of those events, they would be so cool. It really shouldn't be hard to implement more events, like sure it'll take a bit to write everything but I'm more than willing to wait for actually good content. I'm willing to wait months if it means the writing is better, just please.

There's some inconsistencies and things that have just been completely changed and/or removed. The characters genuinely need to be fleshed out and I say this with my whole fucking chest, do fucking better devs and writers

The island is fucking awful and kinda hella racist if you really think about it. It needs a whole rework or just be removed bc it serves no purpose aside from like 4 artifacts and a temple quest.

[remidyal]

Intrepid Heroes PCs ranked least favorite to favorite

Some quick rules for this very arbitrarily created ranking: Only characters from IH seasons, not sidequests, and it's purely based on my vibes and feelings towards the characters. It also doesn't take into account Quangle-related material. There's spoilers here, particularly for Unsleeping City and Crown of Candy, so reader beware

34. Gunthrie Miggles-Rashbax (ASO) It can be very funny in a disaster sort of way and certainly Gunnie's not a bad performance from Lou or anything, but man he puts my teeth and my soul on edge when he's at work. Someone's got to be at the bottom of this list, and this was one of two characters I considered!

33. Cumulous Rocks (ACoC) The other consideration for the bottom, because while Gunnie makes me actively uncomfortable at all times Cumulous gives me nothing. As close as any D20 PC comes to being a non-presence. He's in almost twice as many episodes as Lapin and there's only one character of Zac's anyone ever talks about from Crown of Candy.

32. Theobald Gumbar (ACoC) For both Murph and Zac, I have a strong preference for what we might call their scummier characters, and Theo is basically Murph at his most paladin-y even though Theo is a fighter. I still like him alright - only the first two entries on this list are even remotely negative, if I was doing letter grades we'd already be into like B- territory - but this side of Murph is him at his least entertaining for me.

31. Mother Timothy Goose (NA) Already getting difficult! Timothy is a kind guy and I hope he has a lot of non-stolen apples in his future but he's definitely the weakest of the Never After cast for me. I admire the hell out of Ally for trying a pretty wide variety of characters; this one just didn't quite land for me.

30. Liam Wilhemina (ACoC) A VERY different Ally character, there's just a lot of whiplash with Liam from scene to scene that's part of the full Beardsley experience. Obviously this list would look very different if I were building out based on combat effectiveness. Honestly probably dropped five spots from that last Wish and resurrection of the villains alone.

29. Ricky Matsui (TUC) I'm going to get yelled at for this one being this low, and Ricky's got some incredibly funny moments obviously, but it's very much a Zac as comedy assassin sort of performance and I don't find him THAT interesting on a scene to scene basis. The TUC2 version of him's the better of the two, though. Even more than Murph, I prefer Zac playing assholes.

28. Sundry Sidney (ASO) So here's the thing: I'm southern USian and Emily's accent here drives me up the wall. Similar sort of situation with Moonshine being my least favorite of her NADDPOD PCs by a mile. Everything about the concept and character aside from that is great; the character voice docks it for me.

27. Kugrash (TUC) There's a lot to love in this performance, obviously, and I think it's actually an extremely interesting thing to come in on someone who has been working as a better person (rat) for a long time. I just don't necessarily need that many juicy cockroaches in my life. I think maybe suffers a little bit by only getting one season, because the players have definitely gotten better over time to me.

26. Lapin Cadbury (ACoC) I know, I know, but there's only six episodes with this dude in them as a primary PC and I'm not giving that many points for potential. Could have should have would have been a lot higher, but he makes it this far off what we did get.

25. Misty Moore/Rowan Berry/Holly Branch/Probably a bunch of other names (TUC) Similar to Kugrash she might have improved if she'd stuck though she does reappear in TUC2 more. Honestly if I was counting Quangle material she might jump higher because her appearances in those have been great, but she's relatively one-note even if it is a very funny note. Technically the first PC to really attempt romancing another PC unless we count Kristen kissing everyone freshman year.

24. Jet Rocks (ACoC) Another character cut short, though nine episodes is a significant amount more than six. A lot of people have extremely strong preferences between Emily's ACoC characters. EXTREMELY strong. I do not, which is why...

23. Saccharina Frostwhip (ACoC) ...they're ranked back to back. I think they're both pretty fun characters, but with some significantly flawed choices probably made worse by the filming circumstances of ACoC. I also think this was always the backup character (other than hilariously maybe Lou's) that was most likely to come into play, because Jet fought as though she was invincible from episode one. I will take this spot to note that I don't think Saccharina herself upped the power level of the party upon coming in as much as simply them getting to higher levels did, though she didn't hurt.

22. Ruby Rocks (ACoC) Honestly this is almost two characters too - there's the Ruby from the first half of the season and the Ruby from the second half. I think it's a bold choice to have gone into anger and fury so much in mourning, and also that neither she nor Saccharina are totally in the wrong in their fights throughout, but I do get where it wore on some people and it did for me a bit too.

21. Big Barry Syx (ASO) DEFINITELY my favorite of Murph's non-weirdo type, he honestly plays incredibly well off of everyone else in the season; I think there's individual interactions that are just stellar with every member of the cast here. There's another step up here into B+ territory; the list from here is so hard.

20. Fabian Arimaris Seacaster (FH) Yes that is the canonical spelling of his middle name for some reason, and yes this is my lowest Bad Kid. There's a lot I love about him, obviously, but I find his Junior Year arc in particular not all that interesting and Kristen and Gorgug jumped him there. I'm still looking forward to more of him, presuming Chungledown Bimothy doesn't murder him in a liveshow.

19. Pinocchio (NA) Speaking of character voices, it's been years now and I still can't believe Lou stuck to this voice the whole season even knowing he doesn't let things go. Honestly a very similar situation to Fabian, lots of things I like here and in this case maybe let down by just how disjointed all of Never After can be. This part isn't Lou's fault but I've never once spelled Pinocchio right the first time - I always want there to be two Ns.

18. Pete Conlan (TUC) Another tale of two seasons character, TUC2 Pete is much better than TUC Pete for me, and enough so that he rises up to here. (Season 1 Pete would be floating around 30). Love the arc and character development, love the connection to Dream, love the tweaks to Wild Magic that Brennan and Ally made to make it matter more because that subclasses is dull as hell as written.

17. Gerard of Greenleigh (NA) He's just so perfectly an asshole in the right amounts to be a hilarious performance, and yet isn't always in the wrong or at fault. The sword form names making fun of Wheel of Time are VERY fun for me as someone with a love/hate relationship with those books. Of all the cast, I'm pretty sure Murph has the closest match to me in media consumed.

16. Rosamund du Prix (NA) I still like the ace interpretation over the lesbian one but both are a lot of fun. Probably has the most complete story of any of the NA characters, which isn't saying much. Love the concept, love the curse, love the third mini.

15. Sofia Lee (TUC) I wouldn't visit Staten Island to meet Sofia Lee, but I would at least think about it and make a promise to maybe try the ferry sometime if I was in New York and had nothing better to do.

14. Gorgug Thistlespring (FH) A BIG riser for me in JY, because I genuinely didn't enjoy him all that much in FY or SY and he would have been around Ricky territory. Love the entire Barbarian/Artificer thing. The Mary Anne epilogue is probably the funniest single thing in all of Junior Year to me.

13. Puss in Boots (NA) Definitely has the MOST fragmented mess of a character arc of anybody in Never After and still is this high because Zac was born to play the role of a con artist cat.

12. Ylfa Snorgelsson (NA) It may have taken me two episodes to realize Emily was doing that voice intentionally and they didn't film while she had a cold. If the Bad Kids are teens from a John Hughes movie, Ylfa is the actual preteen who's throwing up in the backseat of your car on a road trip, aside from the wolf parts.

11. Kristen Chili's Applebees (FH) Not only is the middle name canon, so is the apostrophe. I love her junior year arc, and the moment in the woods where she releases Lucy and Yolanda's souls is absolutely incredible. Is she a lot sometimes? Oh, for sure, but she's still a lot of fun to have on my screen.

10. Being Deep Underwater and Finding a Current That Leads You Swiftly and Perfectly to Where You Need to Go (Riva for short) (ASO) Remember, at the end of the season they're the most cynical person their race has ever had and also have killed a whole lot of people! Just an absolute delight at every moment, even in a pretty purely supporting role.

9. Iga Lisowski (TUC) Yes, both TUC2 specific characters are in my top ten, for very different reasons. I love Iga, I love her family, I love her dragon, I just love everything about her, even if her art makes her look decrepit instead of like, 45.

8. Amethar Rocks (ACoC) I need to find the clip, which is either from ACoC or TUC2 adventuring party, of Lou talking about this but to paraphrase he mentions that Amethar has exaggerated versions of what he considers his own flaws, and he certainly does have plenty of flaws, but I think he's the pillar that keeps ACoC rolling and I think the season would have been a lot worse if Brennan had succeeded in murdering the shit out of him early as he wanted to.

7. Riz Gukgak (FH) Riz is a combo platter of Murph's offerings, being both a dogged story-character and a weird-ass little guy. Shout out to our canonical ace shrimp king, may his reign last a solid ten or fifteen minutes until he has to get to his next club meeting.

6. Normal "Skip" Takamori (ASO) I'm not splitting up the man and the slug but both would be high on this list independently. DEFINITELY the biggest jerk Zac's played, even over the con artist cat, and just so very much fun. He's my top Zac character, but he's not my top ASO character, because...

5. Margaret Encino (ASO) EASILY my favorite Ally character. Spends so much time in online banking during battle and is right to do so. An anachronism to the setting in the best ways, instead of being purely disruptive as it sometimes can be.

4. Fig Faeth (FH) If we've truly seen the last of Fig for a potential Senior Year, I'm okay with that, but everything we've gotten is so good. Pure heart and funny and unpredictable and just so much torture of NPCs who probably didn't deserve it but it's fine, they're not real people.

3. Cody Walsh (TUC) Definitely the D20 character whose player hates him the most, for me Cody's easily the funniest character D20's ever had, start to finish. I actually strained a muscle laughing at the bad turn. You know the one, if you've seen it.

2. Adaine Abernant (FH) Ow, right in the feelings. Solidly number 2 in spite of her Junior Year arc being also a little on the flat side, because she deserved a year with some breaks after the first two. Hopefully she and Aelwyn are having ice cream for a good long time.

1. Kingston Brown (from downtown, TUC) In the same clip mentioned above for Amethar, Lou described Kingston as being an exaggerated version of the things that he liked about himself, and I fully agree there. Kingston's an aspirational character in a lot of ways, someone I would love to be more like, and not in the whole having magic thing. And on top of that he's very funny! So Lou manages to take both extremes here, first and last, and I think that's appropriate.

[edgelordhoard]

hey im planning to switch over to linux and need advice from the smart people of tumblr, please and thank you. my messages are open so if you need any info to help me out hmu.

General Questions:

im seeing everyone saying ubuntu, mint, and ziron are "the #1 go to versions for beginners" but like... which is it?

i also hear about security being the best with linux but nothing about it coming with antiviruses. does it come with one like how windows comes with defender or do you install that yourself, or is it something different entirely?

all the sources i look at talk about downloading and installing linux but i want to know what to expect when first getting a prebuilt pc with the OS, like the system 76 pcs. do you have to set it up like when you install it or is it as easy as getting any new computer?

i know nothing about coding and im planning to get a computer from system 76 since it seems like the best, and its by far the only source that only comes with linux, and since my current one was pretty much ruined by someone i thought could fix it after a faulty outlet fried its insides, he didnt and made it worse.

so yeah, which linux version do you suggest for a computer moron, any suggestions for computers would be nice (max price is $1,300), i'll put the specs and my uses under the read more.

Preferences:

It ONLY comes with Linux. I despise what Windows has become and don't want to even bother dual booting cause I feel with the switchovers happening they're gonna get salty and make something that'll turn your computer into a bomb if you use Linux with it.

Kinda beefy but not a supercomputer. I don't use AI stuff, I'm not a programmer, but I do frequently play modded Minecraft with my friends and run smps for my Discord servers. I recently switched to Modrinth cause ATLauncher had been giving me trouble. Curseforge is out of the question.

At the most, I'll be playing VRChat with friends while having Spotify or Youtube in the background for music and Discord open in case someone needs my help in one of my servers, similar goes for running one of my SMPs just minus the VR.

Gaming Questions:

I also play VR games often, especially BeatSaber (modded ofc im not insane), and I have Half Life Alyx that I haven't been able to finish cause my already dead and gutted PC struggles to run it anymore even with the lowest settings. My current headset is a two feet in the grave, barely hanging in there, held by tape Oculus Rift S thats as old as my current PC whos also dead. I plan to get a new headset soon and had the Quest 2 recommended to me by friends. If theres better alternatives that isn't Meta please let me know.

I'm a DBD addict. Does it really run DBD or was that just the one guy from the one video I saw.

My friends also often drag me onto Roblox so I need to know if that'll be an option for Linux too.

I know I could probably look up all this myself but every source is outdated from years ago or they all say different things and it just confuses me.

Art Questions:

My current tablet is a Wacom, I got it before knowing how greedy the company actually is, and I plan to switch to a Huion after this tablet dies on me. If compatibility is an issue with it please let me know what to do about that.

I usually use Medibang but I don't think it runs on Linux from what I've seen, if I'm wrong lemme know. Am I going to have to switch all the files over to something else before getting a Linux or are there programs I can use that'll load them?

I also write and need to know if I need to switch all my files to something else before porting it all over to the Linux PC. I just used the default notepad and document programs on Windows.

But yeah, that's all my questions for now. If I think of any more I'll just edit this post. Sorry if I sound super dumb for all this, I tried finding information sources myself but like I said all of them weren't too moron friendly or had relevant information. Most sources I found were articles or reddit forums from years ago so I thought "Hey, why don't I just go ask the computer nerds directly?" so here I am.

[wildcreativemastermind]

SWTOR: Jedi Consular Companions

Listen, I like the Jedi Consular story in SWTOR. It was the first story in the game I completed, and I still enjoy replaying it. I downloaded the game to play a Jedi, and the consular story gives, at least I think it gives, a better Jedi experience than the Jedi Knight story does. The big drawback for me however, is the companions.

We'll start with Qyzen, the first companion. He's a trandoshan and friend of the PC's master. At first, I actually liked him. The thing of him declaring the pc to be the Scorekeeper's Herald was not good, and I really think shouldn't have been there in the first place, but it was a single drawback. The Jedi Council is shown to have concerns about Qyzen and Yuon's (pc's master) friendship. When I first started playing, that last point got some eyerolls out of me. I've seen the movies, I know Jedi are allowed to have friends. However, on this 2nd playthrough, I'm fully on the Jedi Council's side concerning Qyzen, if anything my opinion is harsher than theirs'.

Qyzen, as he is, should not be allowed at the Jedi Temple. This guy has hunted Wookies for sport and shows no remorse for doing so. He doesn't believe hunting wookies is wrong. What if there are any wookie Jedi? Padawans? Initiates? Younglings? Their safety is more important than Yuon's or Qyzen's feelings, get him away from the Temple and off of Tython.

What I think should've been done with Qyzen: honestly, he doesn't need that many changes, two are all that are needed. 1. no calling the pc Scorekeeper's Herald. This never made sense, the pc is not trandoshan, not part of trandoshan culture, and does things that many Jedi could do. A nickname does make sense, both in universe and from a game development standpoint. I think something like "young hunter" (possibly "master hunter" later) would make more sense. It would be an acknowledgement of the Consular as a fellow and friend in a transdoshan way without placing undue importance on them.

2. don't have Qyzen be a wookie hunter. This is really the big one. It would resolve a lot of the issues that are created by Qyzen's presences as it is in the game. Maybe there's a group of trandoshans who think there should be limits on what can and can't be hunted, sentient species can't be hunter the same way animals can. Qyzen could have been part of this group (or even still is). This could even tie into Qyzen's side quest later of the wookie killing trandoshans based on information from a trandoshan. In the version I'm suggesting, the trandoshan who gives the wookie info on who to kill is telling the wookie to kill trandoshans who have sworn off hunting wookies. The wookie kills these trandoshans anyway because they're blinded by vengeance. When Qyzen and the Consular encounter this wookie, they could help get said wookie off the vengeance path or kill them to avenge the dead trandoshans.

We'll do Tharan next. Why is he there? He could find excitement, and probably be happier, without the Consular. He doesn't seem to like much about the Jedi, especially not their using the Force. I interact with this guy and I wonder why he doesn't try to find excitement and adventure elsewhere. Surely it couldn't be that hard for him to get his own ship.

My ideas for Tharan: scrap him, introduce him many planets later, or change his character to fit someone who'd hang out with Jedi.

Ideally, I think he should be scrapped, I simply do not find him likable. If we're going to change him instead, I think I have a solution. Make him a scientist who used to study the force. Instead of seeing something he doesn't understand and being rather averse to it, he wants to understand how it works. His dreams and aspirations on this were crushed by not finding enough funding, or something else happened to prevent him from studying the force. Working with the Consular on Nar Shadaa could than reawaken that ambition, and maybe he could use the Consular for his research (if they consent of course), it would give a clearer reason for him to travel with the Consular specifically. And maybe Syo and Fain tried to help with that study back in the day. It would change Tharan's focus, but it would make his extensive time around Jedi make more sense and explain why he'd have an anti-mind trick device (is that really part of exo-tech? that bit struck me as odd). Perhaps Tharan's working on Nar Shadaa could have been him seeking the most profitable work he could get since he couldn't fulfill his ambition. He could still have his tech knowledge, it just wouldn't be his main interest.

Now for Zenith: Zenith on his own is okay, not great but okay. He doesn't quite have the glaring issues some of the others do. My problem with him isn't really him, so much as that he's yet another companion who doesn't approve of the Jedi Consular acting like a Jedi. I think if we had at least one companion before him who did, I'd have a better opinion of Zenith.

Finally talking about companions I like, let's talk about Felix. Felix himself is fine, good actually. He's the only Jedi romance I actually like (I'm squicked by master/padawan romances, and Doc is just awful). The problem with Felix isn't Felix, the problem with Felix is that he shows up far to late. He's the first companion the Consular who fits the bog standard playthrough and is one of the romance options, and yet he doesn't appear until the last planet of chapter 2. This means he doesn't get the time he needs to be explored, as his own character or his relationship with the Consular.

Given his being a love interest and having the Sith holocron in his head that does absolutely nothing during the class story, Felix just screams underexplored to me. The fix with him, introduce and make him a companion in chapter one, maybe he could be on Tatooine so he could still be on a miserable middle of nowhere planet. And do something with the holocron during the class story, maybe we run into a Sith who knows about the holocron in Felix's head, and Felix and the Consular have to work together to deal with the problems that come from this. The love between Felix and the Consular (whether friendship or romance) could be used to help him in this. Also, don't end his romance with marriage. Instead, just have him and the Consular agree for them to be permanent, it accomplishes the same general goal without doing something that would make certain the Consular would have to leave the Jedi.

Now for Nadia, I like Nadia as a character, but there are some problems, especially with her as a love interest. The big issue with her, like Felix, is that she becomes a companion to late in the game. I think she should have become a companion at Quesh. This would allow her and her and the JC's relationship more time to develop.

As for the Nadia romance, it has so much wrong that I'm seriously considering saying it should be thrown out. The game's romances in general have power imbalance issues, but JC/Nadia has got to be one of the worst in this regard. I can ignore it with Felix cause it's not highlighted (it also helps that Felix is the one pursuing the Consular), but I can't do that with Nadia.

Okay, so the JC becomes her Jedi master and she starts to see the male JC as something of a father figure. This would have been genuinely adorable if she wasn't expressing romantic interest in the JC, and soon after her father's death.

Another part of the power dynamic in this is that Nadia is a Senator, she is the JC's boss. This doesn't get highlighted in the game with Nadia specifically, but it is the case.

Honestly, Nadia just shouldn't be a romance option, so much would have to change to make it not concerning that I don't even want to bother.

But what about male consulars? Shouldn't they get a romance option? A female one since this game came in 2008 and queer romance wasn't gonna happen?

Ok, genderbend Tharan and make her the male Consular's love interest. Keep Holiday, she could be a friend and assistant instead of a girlfriend (maybe there could be subtle hints of Holiday and lady Tharan being friendly exs) No I'm not elaborating more on that.

[anim-ttrpgs]

Investigators’ Truth in Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy

We have mentioned before on this blog when talking about Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy that in Eureka roleplay is mechanics-driven and mechanics are roleplay-driven, but what does that mean?

The short version is that when making your PC, you put things on their character sheet that give bonuses when they act in a way that is consistent with their intended characterization.

One of these elements is called a character’s Truth. Every Eureka PC has a Truth, and they may even have multiple Truths. A Truth can even change as a result of events in the campaign.

A character’s Truth is some strong element of their personality or beliefs that is likely to spur them into action, get them into trouble, or both. It is not necessarily a flaw, but it easily can be, as one of the main purposes of it is to encourage and reward players for letting their characters screw up.

When playing a video game or a TTRPG, it’s often very easy to sit back and think out every problem and approach them perfectly logically, especially when time usually pauses as you discuss the next move among the other players at the table. But if every character in a movie or book or any other story always made the most perfectly logical decision, that would probably be a pretty boring story, and it certainly wouldn’t be a very realistic story. People don't always make the most logical decisions in real life.

However, when playing a game, it can feel like “losing” to intentionally make a character make a decision that you, in your logical detached mind, know will probably not work out well for them in the long run. Eureka argues that this is not “losing”, and that this is actually exactly how Eureka is supposed to go. To encourage this, we added the Truth mechanic.

Like I said before, Truth is not exactly a flaw, just some part of the character’s personality or beliefs that would spur them to action or get them into trouble. It could be a hot temper, a need to always have the last word, an overly competitive nature, a love of violence, or a compulsion to lie, but it could also be a strong desire to selflessly protect others, or the trust that one’s fellow man are inherently good.

Whatever it is, when a character acts within the parameters of their Truth, they get a +1 to the dice roll for whatever it is they’re doing, or whatever dice roll results from them acting in their Truth.

This doesn’t mean that a character acting within their Truth is always the worst course of action on their part, sometimes emotional gut decisions do turn out to be right. Maybe a character whose Truth is somehow based around trusting others is right to lower their weapon, because the monster might be just as scared of them as they are of him, and that +1 Truth Bonus is going to come in handy in the resulting Comfort roll to try and de-escalate the situation—or maybe they’re completely wrong and the monster was just waiting for an opportunity to seize the upper hand, and that +1 Truth Bonus is instead going to be used on an Athletics roll to run like hell.

This also doesn’t mean that a character always has to act within their Truth, no one realistically reacts the exact same way to every situation, and we do not encourage GMs to push or punish players if their characters do not act within their Truth, but Truth helps reward realistic, in-character behavior from the PCs.

In this way, the rules/mechanics of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy are tied directly to the roleplay of the character, and the roleplay of the character is encouraged and supported by the rules/mechanics.

Stay tuned for another post about a way that in-character roleplay and rules/mechanics are intertwined with the Traits system.

You can also pick up a pre-release PDF copy of this game(in a fully playable state) for $5 through our Patreon.

[dol-dee]

IK nobody asked buuuuut I'll talk about it anyways.

I somewhat fall into the category of prefering fem iterations of the dol characters. I say somewhat bc, Yeah I like women but thats not the main reason.

DoL HEAVILY relies on tropes and well known character archetypes when it comes to it's NPCs.

A lot of them are ol' reliables and (at least to me) feel very worn out when in their cis male version. Which is why I often gravitate to the version that feels more "fresh" or subversive to me.

For Example: I love my fem Sydney but her particular character trope (corruption of the "pure" religious character) feels a bit more interesting (to me) when its M!Sydney.

Although I will admit that another reason I tend to favor the female versions is that most dol fandom depictions (that I have seen) already have a strong bias towards the male version of these characters. The ground there is plenty covered already and I don't think I can bring much new to the table there.

I don't think most people will care about my particular opinions/List on this , so I'll put it under a cut haha.

Tbf I like to let the game do it's own thing to see what it cooks up in the npcs body, sex and gender department but I do have a few characters that I consistently change like Avery.

Cis M!Avery is just suuuch a tired trope to me (probably bc it's not that uncommon in real life either?) Another man with anger issues who exclusively dates (according to canon aka Vrel) only 18 to 20 year olds? YAWN. idk I could just go look at Leonardo DiCaprios dating chart if I wanted to see that. Obviously, if it does something for you, go right ahead. I'll leave you to your feast, it's just not for me. I need Avery to be a very smarmy, maladjusted butch woman.

Okokok I'll get to the list now (for the characters that I have developed strong opinions about anyways) and I'll go into, what my current/canon run is set to as well as what I prefer depending on what I find more interesting. (with some notes if I have thoughts on the character) uhhhhh Ig I'll do it in Alphabetical order?

Avery: Preferred: F! Avery Current Run: F! Avery (note: I think I went in and manually changed it) - (Nothing more to say really, I already mentioned my reasons. Plus M!Avery just makes me feel icky)

Alex: Preferred: No preference Current Run: M! Alex

Bailey: Preferred: somewhat neutral but leaning towards F! Bailey Current Run: F! Bailey - (Bailey once again seems to have a lot of M! fanworks already and I like the idea of her being either futch or butch. Bailey just strikes me as someone who'd wear a lot of boring suits. Very nondescript/practical)

Eden: Preferred: F! Eden Current Run: F! Eden - (Eden is a case where I really wanted to live my Huntress dbd fantasies out with her but was open to the option of M!Eden. Until I ran into him in my first run and I really didn't like it very much. I prefer her as a hulking hermit woman atp also sad toxic yuri between Eden and Bailey <3)

Harper: Preferred: No preference Current Run: F! Harper - (Harper lowkey gives me Moira Overwatch vibes (mainly bc of my design lmao) so I have a soft spot for fem!Harper)

Kylar: Preferred: No preference Current Run: F! Kylar - (I do think same sex PC and Kylar is hilarious considering Kylar is so fixated on getting you pregnant, so in this case: ig whatevers funnier <3)

Remy: Preferred: F!Remy kinda Current Run: F! Remy - (I'm actually kind neutral on Remy's sex and gender but I do think its somehow funnier when it's F!Remy. Like whats going on there that she wants to give other women humongus tits and milk them?)

Robin: Preferred: No preference Current Run: M! Robin - (Robin is cute either way!)

Sydney: Preferred: No preference Current Run: F! Sydney - ( I have no real preference for Sydney and I already mentioned my thoughts on them)

Whitney: Preferred: F! Whitney Current Run: M! Whitney - (I've seen this trope so many times with hyperagressive dudes. It's not doing much for me. To see that kind of behavior with a fem character instead really revitalizes my interest in It! M!Whitney is fine and hes kinda grown on me but I think I'd have more fun with Whitney if they were femme instead)

[dutyworn]

pc rambles, don't mind me

so i'm planning to build a computer for the first! time, sometime next year, and i'm at the point where i'm choosing the parts, so that i can start buying them earlier over the months/years to be able to wait for sales and stuff like that. i have never had a desktop pc and i've never built a pc and i am so thrilled to do it, almost not at all intimidated (it looks like lego for adults and fun), especially as i've been developing a special interest in computer parts and therefore learning more and more about computers

i'm 99.9 percent certain that i want a ryzen 7 7800X3D and 100 percent certain that i want an AM5 processor, and i'm leaning heavily towards one of the RTX 4070s (why are there like FOUR DIFFERENT MODELS OF THE 4070 GUYS), most likely RTX 4070 Super or Ti Super because fuck only 8GB of VRAM for that pricetag for the non-supers??? honestly fuck the pricetag of the Ti Super and Super anyway because ????????????????????? this is supposed to be a mid-high graphics card and the Ti Super is OVER A THOUSAND currently with import taxes, and i feel like if i went for AMD instead of nvidia i could buy a slightly lower end graphics card for half the price, but because of the non-gaming stuff that i like to do, i am kind of restricted to nvidia.

so basically waiting for black friday sales or such while i save moneys.

i don't really know their plans for the 4000 series anyway now that the 5000 series is out but i am? holding? out? hope? for... price drops...? i'm not really even looking at the newest series unless for some reason there were discounts that let me buy something better or as good for less money but that's. ey.

if i sound like i know what i'm talking about, i probably don't.

need to learn much more about relevant motherboards before picking my options there, but as a data hoarderTM, i do want lots of storage connectivity. i actually was going to buy a new external hdd sometimes this year but if i build a computer next year... internal hdds are so much cheaper, so i might just wait for that. i mean, i'm prioritising the fastest ssds before thinking about general storage, one for OS and one for programs/games/etc., i just want many, many slots for storage i can upgrade later.

i do want a fishtank case with a glass wall, but i'm actually not too much into rgb light aesthetics, and i'm currently favouring the thought of noctua fans all around, and aircooling, rather than liquid.

i also. they need to start making 24 inch screens that are 1440p. there is literally a single option for a higher refresh rate screen that is 24 inch and 1440p. i don't want a 27 inch screen! that's huge! and i don't want 1080p for 24 inches. i'm used to a 15 inch laptop screen with 1080p, no way will i go for 1080p in a screen bigger than 20 inches. i want the ppi, thank you.

so, yes, i currently have a laptop (i5-11300H, RTX 3060 laptop version), that i mostly use with an external keyboard, which is nice, but i also do... want a new keyboard... probably to use with my laptop even before i start buying computer parts?

i'm not saying i'm getting fully into custom keyboards but i am saying that i want a tactile, customisable keyboard (i have my eyes on one). my current one is um. 65 percent, i think, or 60, i forget the difference, and that is fine because i also have my 75 percent laptop keyboard i can use the arrow keys etc. on for ease of access, but i definitely want at least a 75 percent, or 80 percent one this time. if i get different switches i can also have a different typing feel based on my mood! ksnsbnsmbns

but like. i want to be able to switch out the keycaps and switches if i so choose. i also don't want another one where the keys are hard to use unless the rgb light is on, like my current one. yes, i could just set it at a white light but... i don't like using the computer in the dark anyway, i don't want to have to have rgb on?

and i know linear switches or a low profile might make more sense for gaming but i also don't caaaaaaaare i want my tactile switches. i want that thonk.

anyway the other night my partner was talking about a nerdy thing they had bought for their apartment, and i was like, wanna know how nerdy i am? and they were like, you own a garrus vakarian body pillow. and i was like. ok. yes, but, not what i was gonna say ksnsmabsnmsas. i've been watching hours and hours of computer building videos and how-tos and it's way over a year until i am even planning to build mine. that's how nerdy i am.

my uncle built a computer before it was cool, like late 90s i think, so i'm continuing the legacy i guess

[aurosoulart]

Hey, sorry if this is bad(?), but I was wondering if you had any advice for getting into the xr world/career. I think I've seen you mention the topic (encouraging others to join the field?) at least once, but I don't know how to even get started. Thank you for your time!

(If you could answer this not publicly I would appreciate it, but it's fine if you do, or like, if you don't answer at all)

not a bad thing to ask at all! I've actually been in the middle of writing a guide about this for some time that I will.... hopefully finish sometime soon ghskgh.

I hope you don't mind me posting this publicly - I ended up writing a short novel and figure it might be useful to others who are curious as well! anyways, the advice I give to people with a background in illustration is to start out with a Quest 2 headset. they retail at $300 new, but you can get them used via eBay, Craigslist, FB Marketplace or someplace like that for around $200 or under. the Quest 2 works without needing to be plugged into a PC, though you will probably want to buy a more ergonomic head-strap to make it more comfortable. (the head strap that Meta sells is overpriced, but this third-party one is really good) if you're interested in working with augmented reality (the type of work I do!) and have the ability to save up some extra money, I'd recommend waiting for the release of the Quest 3, which will launch this fall and cost $500. totally not a requirement at all to start learning, though.

other than that, I'd recommend starting out with free art programs like Open Brush and Gravity Sketch to familiarize yourself with creating in-headset. both of these programs have a large amount of tutorial videos up on YouTube - as well as an active community of other artists who are all generally very friendly and eager to help people learn. VR Art Live and The Spatial Canvas's Discord servers are the communities I'm part of. :)

after that, it all just comes down to posting your new artwork online to as many platforms as you can mentally handle (this is the hardest part for me, ghsghs), and also looking at paid XR artist programs/gigs. Mozilla Hubs, Horizon Worlds, and Figmin XR (that's me!) all have some creator opportunities where they pay people to create things on their platform.

you can also find work doing XR concept art, art performances, and I've even seen grant programs for XR artists from art galleries. these things are harder to find, but if you make a LinkedIn page and a modest portfolio of your XR art, chances are high that you'll get some eyes on it.

it's ridiculously easy to be a big fish in a small pond right now if you have any kind of skills with these programs. I will say that there does seem to be a push towards people who can create things that are interactive and can be shared with others (like AR Snapchat/TikTok/Instagram filters, experiences created and published to platforms like Mozilla Hubs, Figmin XR, etc.), so that's something to keep in mind while learning - but not something that should stop you!

going from 2D illustration to creating things in 3D space is a whirlwind of learning new skills that can often feel overwhelming, but the most important thing is that it should feel fun and enjoyable to you. I started out by just listening to music while painting in Tilt Brush (Tilt Brush was the original version of Open Brush, before Google made it open-source) and creating whatever felt the most fun in the moment. everything else just came from natural curiosity and connecting with other artists in the space.

lastly... I have no technical (coding, traditional 3D modeling) skills. I am a 2x college dropout with chronic mental illness, and prior to my current employment I was never able to hold a job for longer than 3 months. and yet....... this new industry has changed my life completely, and at 29 years old I finally feel like I have a purpose. I'm somehow a software developer now, without needing to know anything about software development. that's wild!!!

this is why I'm so excited for the future. if this brand-new technology (still in its infancy! viewed as frightening by so many!!) was able to help me in such a radical way... what will that mean for even more people discovering it as it becomes more accessible?

I don't know the answer to that yet... but I do know how wonderful it is to see people learning about all of this for the first time. helping with that alone is more than enough for me 💖

[facet-project]

hey it's the first devlog on this blog yaaay

unFortunately it's probably also going to be the scarcest devlog. migrating things to the new godot file is taking a while, since i had to get a few specific things set up before i could really start playing in the space again.

was a little bit lethargic getting back into the project after taking a break. making the prototype and getting it reviewed by friends and family took a LOT out of me. it turns out when you put your entire heart into something, you Care about how other people think about it. shocker!!!

also the fact that it FEELS like i'm working from scratch again! it's difficult. even though i'm not, i now have almost a year of experience and knowledge of this game's inner workings. i'm just reordering and re-coding some things that were slapped together. not only does this version have to run, it also has to be robust

so a Lot of the programming side of the project this month was like... dry research about screen resolution, pixel compression, and config save/load (different from game progress save/load, as your config settings SHOULD carry over between different saves. would be really annoying if they didn't ljadsflkasjd). and there's not a lot to Show for that. "ooh cool a screenshot with dummy buttons on it" "oh look i hammered out what the native resolution of the game is" c'mon

there's Not a lot of visual assets to show this time so i apologize for that. next month will be a lot meatier i think!

i actually still have some stuff to do with the config save/load but i at least got it to the point where i can... you know! save and load. i need to figure out how i'm going to store game saves, but. i can worry about that later. all i need to make the game run right now is the initial save/load process. and then as i work through the game i can decide what needs to be saved between play sessions instead of having to decide after months of development what should be in the data file

i started making the UI for this but i need to actually finish it - in the options menu, for colorblind and cultural accessibility, you'll be able to change the colors of the five "temperament" colors in the game - it's very important that someone can look at these colors at a glance and know what it means. there are a few pre-built pallets but in the full game you'll be able to map them all to whatever colors you want. red to me is a very angry color, so it's set to the hotheaded temperament - but if you can't see red very well or you don't associate it with anger, you'll be able to change it to whatever color you want instead! i might make a post about what this system means because it doesn't really come off as interesting in text but it's fun to play around with

i also wrote MUSIC this month! i picked up the violin for the first time in over a decade and was really surprised how easy it came back to me. i might go be brave and ask my dad to help lend some guitar parts for the soundtrack which i think would be very sweet and sentimental for me to have immortalized in a game

i have violin demos for a lot of songs but i'm not posting them. i'm soooo shy. i'm only posting finished music i think and nothing's Finished (i have some time in october to do Finished Polished work, so....)

i think next month i'm going to work on........... character movement. get the pc's character sprite all polished up and get the movement states and walking/running animations up and......running. heh. in the prototype you could only run up/down/left/right there wasn't like. a running speed and a walking speed or transitions between directions.

also i hadn't put in color shift support for the sprites in the last version.... probably need to do that this time around. the player scene is going to be a lot more complicated than it was in the previous version!!

[tobiasdrake]

And Sea of Stars.

Time to tackle some trials.

These little lantern doo-dads are cutie-patooties, is what they are. I'm a little weirded out that they drop Berries though.

Do they eat the berries? Do they grow the berries? Are these plants or herbivores because it's freaky either way.

Alright man, we gathered your weird giant artifacts and now we understand Live Magic. Do we pass?

Honestly, I don't know why you made a token gesture of a fuss about letting Garl in here in the first place. He can use Live Magic too. I know it's because of Something Something Solstice Warriors So Attunement and all that but. Still.

If the presence of a Solstice Warrior nearby means everybody gets superpowers then this is one area where having normies along is a total benefit. The more Live Mana channelers, the merrier.

Anyway, you can give me my certificate or whatever and we can--

...okay, so apparently that was happening while I was talking.

Man, I have got to stop going off on monologues in the middle of dramatically tense conversations.

I just want it on record that I think it's unfair of you to make us build the robot body that you are going to crack my skull with. I think that demonstrates poor work ethic on your part. And that I would like to file a formal complaint with your manager.

That's fair.

Hold up, nobody said anything about prophecies. We were just told to learn "to use magic without using magic".

Fuck yeah, gift with purchase!

But we already began our journey!

Ten years after beginning our journey.

I'm so tired of beginning our journey.

Oh man, I am going to ruin so many people's sleep schedules doing this. This is the most catastrophic power yet.

It's not even a toggle. Like, a lot of games have the ability to SHLOOP straight to dawn or dusk, often with the implication that you aren't really changing the time of day so much as you're just skipping forward in time, either with or without your PC.

But no, this is whole-ass fucking time-of-day manipulation. I can crank the sun back and forth like a DJ at a turntable. WICKA-WICKA Your lunch hour is gone.

This might actually be a sound basis for one of those Superpower Registration Act storylines. I'm about to ruin the lives of every single person on the planet because this bridge is solar-powered and I don't wanna wait around for the right time of day.

It's nice to know that it's not just Moraine. We're all inconsiderate pricks. Imagine doing this instead of. Like. Any other possible locking mechanism ever.

We already have locks that you just zippy-zap with a bit of lunar magic and they open right up. But no. I'm going to crank the sun back to 8 AM every time I want to cross this bridge. Fuck you.

Hold up. We sealed ancient evils inside a prison whose locking mechanism is a specific time of day? I feel like there's a flaw in that plan.

Well. That's horrifying. Anyways, it's prophecy time.

HA! Told you lunar magic's superior. Even Sun Warrior Zale needs a little bit of night to become the best version of himself.

Zale's prophecy is that he needs to be more like me. My prophecy is that I'm next-gen Jesus. I WIN.

Does Garl get a prophecy?

That's. Not. A prophecy. That is whining about our decision to bring a normie disguised as a prophecy. Man, everyone's prophecy sucks but mine. Even time recognizes that I'm the best one in this group.

Oh, there's more. So he gets a prophecy and also some whining. Elder Mist wanted to clearly establish that he's only delivering this prophecy under duress.

Though the prophecy itself is pretty good, actually. High five, Garl. We're both better than Zale.

That's going to be our ticket to Wraith Island. We need to be there before the eclipse which is... uh... an amount of time away. Shouldn't be too far off. Depending on side quests, of course.

Of course, if we miss the eclipse, I could probably just timey-wime the days back until the day of the eclipse anyway.

Giants are our travel mechanism? Do they, like, shoot teleport lasers out of their eyes or something?

O_O CAN HE MISS!?

[bro3256]

Predictions for Nintendo Switch Online

I think it goes without saying that the Nintendo Switch Online (or NSO) service has been controversial to say the least. The fact that we now have to pay for what used to be free online and the lack of benefits you get to subscribing has led to this service being received very poorly at least at launch. It's been about 5 years since NSO launched and a lot of that controversy has seemingly dried up either by new additions to the game library or simply the fact that we're just used to it at this point.

Now don't get me wrong there are still detractors to NSO, but it seems as if this service has been accepted for what it is despite its flaws, although I do have to agree with some of the things said by folks regarding how the service launched and how it currently is.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, I want to lay down some predictions regarding the future of this service as I've seen some wild things being proposed by fans that sound completely unrealistic and nothing Nintendo would ever regularly do. Starting with the obvious, what future platforms will Nintendo add to the game library?

First things first, GameCube is not going to happen at least for a long time. I suspect Nintendo may add it once the Switch's successor is out but at this very moment it is laughable to consider GameCube right now. The biggest main issue is the fact that Nintendo themselves has been rereleasing GameCube games as full price Switch games. Metroid Prime Remastered and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door come to mind. I know for the most part the whole "things releasing outside of NSO means it will never come to NSO" myth has more or less died at this point but GameCube tends to be a special case here since these games still feel modern enough to resell as new games.

Another thing is to completely throw out any consideration of any mainline Pokémon games appearing on the Game Boy apps. The spinoffs sure, but actual mainline games is a bit silly. If they were somehow to be added they would need to do a lot of backend stuff to get these games properly working and so players don't cheat with the regular tools NSO offers such as rewind and restore points. It's not impossible but I see this as too much work to be worth it if simply putting these out as digital eShop releases sounds much easier. Besides if every version was put out on NSO then you'd lose the magic of Pokémon just like that, and that wouldn't be fun would it?

Okay so what do I actually think NSO is gonna add to its game library? Well unless Nintendo puts out a Virtual Boy or a Game & Watch app then I suspect we will probably see more third party apps. One consideration I don't see a ton of people talking about is the PC-Engine and TurboGrafx-16.

Games from these consoles have appeared on Virtual Console in the past on Wii and Wii U and a very limited number of PC-Engine games did release on 3DS only in Japan. I wouldn't doubt that Nintendo would add this as apart of their Expansion Pack, heck maybe even regular NSO if we're lucky. I would just love to see more NEC love (or well Konami love now).

But why stop there when the Mark III and Master System could be added too? Sega is already on board with NSO with their Mega Drive and Genesis apps so this would be a great addition especially since these games have not been given enough love even by Sega. SG-1000 would also be cool but that might be a bit too niche for a service like NSO but who knows.

As for games, while there is quite a bit already on the service there are certainly omissions that are quite baffling so let's get some of the more obvious ones out of the way and in no particular order.

Gomoku Narabe Renju, Mahjong, Golf, Urban Champion, SimCity, Mario Paint, Super Smash Bros., Ridge Racer 64, Banjo-Tooie, Super Mario Land, Qix, X, Balloon Kid, Mole Mania, Super Mario Bros. Deluxe, Pokémon Pinball, Densetsu no Stafy 1-3, Mother 3, and Rhythm Tengoku just to name a few.

So lets start with one that might not be interesting at a glance but would be a great addition to the service.

Tetris for the NES (no, not the Tengen version) is one of the more iconic versions of this beloved puzzle game, but why go back to this version specifically? I mean we already have Tetris on the Game Boy app and plenty of other Tetris games on Switch so what's the deal here?

Well for one, this version has never seen any kind of rerelease... kind of. This version in terms of how it played was ported over to Tetris Effect: Connected as a side mode but unless you knew about it I'd imagine not a whole lot of folks have dabbled with it and it's still technically not the original game.

But secondly, the main reason why this mode even exists and also why I personally would like to see it on NSO is purely to make the game accessible to a wider audience considering the competitive scene of this specific classic version of Tetris.

Being able to play this on NSO would mean a ton more people get to experience how this version plays and more importantly gives players another option of playing this without resorting to unofficial PC emulation. Obviously pro players are going to stick to original hardware but if you just wanted to practice or wanted a taste of this version then it's no wonder that having it on Switch would be a dream. Hopefully with the Game Boy version already being on the service this will increase the chances of this one happening.

So this next one is already planned to release for NSO in Japan but there's no word on it releasing internationally but regardless...

...Kaeru no tame ni Kane wa Naru or as its unofficially known as The Frog For Whom the Bell Tolls. It's an action RPG that's often compared to Link's Awakening to the point where in said Zelda game there's a cameo appearance featuring Prince Richard from Bell Tolls. This is one of the more well known Nintendo developed games that never left Japan and as of writing has never seen an official English localization of any kind and unfortunately there seems to be a trend with international NSO releases having Japanese games that have not been translated. So the likelihood of this not only releasing outside of Japan but getting a new localization for NSO is very unlikely but it's more than possible given Nintendo puts in the work to translating this in English. I'd imagine a remake of this game being far more likely to getting an international release if that were to happen and hey if it's in the style of the Link's Awakening remake that would be pretty cool.

So let's move away to one that might actually happen.

This one's pretty straight forward and don't be scared by this being Japan exclusive as outside of some story cutscenes this one's perfectly playable as its mainly a puzzle game. It has seen rereleases in the past on Virtual Console and if it were to release on NSO it's very likely that it would release internationally since the benefit of Nintendo not putting in effort to localize these games means they can just drop this on the SNES app no problem. Also good time to mention that this also includes the original Wrecking Crew so it would be funny to see Wrecking Crew on the service twice.

So let's end this game prediction saga with one that probably will never happen but if it were to happen I'd be curious how it would be implemented.

So let's get this out of the way, this is an M rated game. For a while it was believed that Nintendo would shy away from more mature games from appearing on the service but GoldenEye 007 on N64 at least in Japan indicates that Nintendo's solution is purely to bump up the rating of the overall app. So I'd imagine if this were to drop on NSO we'd not only see a rating bump for the N64 app but hopefully some kind of parental control option to stop players under 17 from playing this one. While it would be cool to see this on NSO in terms of being able to play it on a Nintendo platform again, I purely would like to see this get added just to see what they'd do to the app in response to this M rated addition to the service.

And there are my NSO predictions as of November 2023. I do wonder when the next Nintendo platform releases if we'll see an uptick in support for the service but its likely that this slow trickle of games will continue as usual. I'd normally would wish for more platforms to be represented on NSO but the problem is that some of the ones already on the service are very lacking especially Game Boy and Game Boy Advance. Hopefully those libraries get beefed up soon.

[blazehedgehog]

Thoughts on the Last Nintendo Direct for the Switch?

It was alright. A lot of people are very excited by what was shown but, I dunno.

A lot of modern Mario RPGs are pretty hit-or-miss, so Brothership isn't necessarily an instant win for me.

Nintendo World Championship could be interesting. It's probably a better take on the NES Remix idea than previous games, and the way they're doing online multiplayer could prove to be pretty cool. It's a shame it isn't live, but I suppose racing against ghosts means you don't have to worry about latency.

The thing is, with both NES Remix and this, I also want the option to just... play the full versions of these games. No timers, no competitions, just the raw games. But Nintendo's not going to do that. They'd also rather have you subscribe to their NSO service, too.

Fantasian is mostly interesting to me for the fact that a lot of the backgrounds are effectively pre-rendered -- but not using CGI. They apparently made realworld dioramas using actual model making material and photographed them. That's cool. The rest of the game seems like generic JRPG fluff.

I've tried over and over to like Donkey Kong Country Returns, both on the Wii and the 3DS, and it just rubs me the wrong way. I've said it's something weird with the controls feeling sluggish, but I think it's also the level design. It feels like it stretches some of its ideas pretty thin. Like we did not need a whole world dedicated to minecart levels. I'd hope the DKCR remaster is the version I'd finally enjoy, but I don't have my hopes up.

It's cool to see the "HD-2D" Dragon Quest games, at last. Those old phone versions they have on the Switch are awful. But also the only DQ game I've ever connected with was the demo for DQ8, so I dunno how much this tickles my fancy. But I've also never given a real one of these games a chance.

Hearing "timed exclusive for the Nintendo Switch" for Denpa Men is weird, given that was a 3DS game. I always thought it was first party. Is this also coming out on PS4? PC? Very strange.

Glad to hear about the Marvel Vs. Collection. I was just scrolling through my XBLA library on my 360 a few days ago and lamenting how I only own MvC2 and not MvC1, even though I like MvC1 better. Weird it's apparently only coming out for last gen; there aren't native PS5/SX versions of this or the Ace Attorney Collection. Just PS4/Xbone/Switch. With backwards compatibility I guess they don't have to bother with a native version, but still. Weird.

Zelda looks good and is a long time coming but I wish it wasn't so different. Like I have faith it'll be interesting but it does disappoint me it's going to be more puzzle-y and not an action game. After so many years of asking for the ability to play as Zelda, for them to say "well she CAN'T swing a sword like Link!" feels a little compromise-y. I'm sure it'll be fine.

That was not enough Metroid Prime 4. They picked the most unceremonious, least exciting way to show it, too. I actually thought it was them announcing remasters of Prime 2 + 3 like they did with Metroid Prime 1, because it's just generic "shooting nameless space pirates to metroid prime music" footage until the end.

Rewatching it, I can definitely see how people are saying it's a Switch 2 game, though. Like that Metroid Prime remaster seemed like it looked really pretty, but this feels like a step above what the Switch is normally capable of, at least as far as 60fps goes. Like compare for yourself. Prime remastered on the left, Prime 4 on the right.

Look at the ridges in her shoulder panels, and how they're a 3D modeled groove with inset detail in Prime 4. That detail is probably just a texture in the Prime remaster. And just, like, how much better the material work is overall.

I could see this being 1080p 60 on Switch 2 but only 30 on the OG Switch.

Also please show me new guns or mechanics or something next time.

[zmediaoutlet]

Astarion/take your pick

oooooo how exciting -- let's take two options here -- and rip, this will be spoiler central --

Astarion/redeemed!Dark Urge

this shit feels like how the game was meant to be played. I mean first of all just on pure amount of content, the Astarion romance blows everyone else out of the water, and the integration with a durge who's trying to get his shit together is suPREMEly good. It's fine I guess when you're just doing murdelation blood blah status, but the additional effort caused by just trying to get control of yourself is fascinating, especially when Astarion is clearly watching and going, hmm.

You can play a redemption however you want -- really trying to push into Good alignment, just trying to be neutrally in control of yourself, still flat-out a shithead but you don't want to be a shithead for daddy anymore, whatever -- but my favorite is a guy who's just trying to put one foot in front of the other, and looks at his worst blood-black impulses and goes okay, well not THAT obviously, so let's try to do the opposite. Contrary to some players' belief, it is SO easy to get Astarion to 100% loveydove romance while still being A Good Guy; you just have to not be an idiot, lol. Durge choosing to listen and having the wis/cha/int score to see through Astarion's bluster and see what he's actually saying is such a gift; Astarion carefully watching Durge not be as untrustworthy as he assumed literally everyone was, and thinking maybe I could... -- girl, that shit is catnip. Yum.

I also have a boner for the way that Astarion comes from this terrifying torture background and Durge is a terrifying torturer and could probably detail everything that Cazador did to him and make it worse -- but he's choosing not to, and it is an active and daily choice. Fits so nicely with Astarion being, yeah, a moderately amoral vampire, but he can watch that and go 'well, maybe I don't need to... be the worst version of myself...' Not that he turns into a paladin or some shit like that, but by the time you get to him in the ritual and you have to explain to him in baby steps that 'yo idiot, if you turn into supervamp you'll be Cazador but worse' -- seriously, it's like he never pays attention to literary tropes -- it's sOOO satisfying when he believes you, and backs off, and then when it's your turn to defy Bhaal it's like -- hell yes, not echoing the mistakes of our fathers! Freedom! And then they have like lots of sex about it or whatever. (I like the 'go to the Underdark with the spawn' ending; presumably we have a little vamp castle where boinking occurs.)

but to take it a different direction, a quick jaunt into:

Ascended!Astarion/Dark Justiciar!Shadowheart

and the reason I like this is that playing as the Origin characters fucking suuuuucks because they get ripped down blandly into the version of themselves who could react like a boring blank-slate Tav, because "player freedom is so important" [rolls eyes, jerking off motion]. More than that, though, they aren't allowed to really go through their own journeys, because no one listens to them. The job of the PC is to fix everyone else's personal sidequests -- none of the friends give a shit about your own. (Tav doesn't even have a problem, it's hysterical. At least Durge has something going on people pay attention to.)

so with that said, Astarion has no one to genuinely dissuade him against Ascending. I mean, Gale and Lae'zel aren't exactly for it, but none of them actually listen and talk him through the thought process the way a real PC can. So what's to stop him from Ascending? It's the obvious best option.

and then, relatedly, if you have a scared almost-feral Astarion who's desperate to get power however he can -- if he discovers that his hot cleric friend is a cleric of Shar, and she can do some hella dangerous shit and become an even stronger bodyguard? Uh, yes please. What does he care if the world rolls to darkness? He's got darkness plans of his own. And poor Shart then has no one actually giving a shit about her own problems -- why would a still-evil-track Astarion coach her into not sucking? They can be cunty wine drinkers together, never actually learning lessons and spiraling down into shitholery together. Does Astarion actually want to fuck her? What does it matter. They'll rule Baldur's Gate above and below. The fight can come later.

anyway, origin characters making each other worse is fascinating and also hysterical. shithead4shithead, amen.

[technicallylovingcomputer]

Migrating Projects to Unreal Engine 5: What to Expect and Watch Out For

So you're thinking about taking the plunge and migrating your project to Unreal Engine 5? Smart move! UE5 brings some genuinely game-changing features to the table, but like any major upgrade, there are some bumps along the road you'll want to navigate carefully.

As someone who's helped several teams make this transition, I wanted to share what you can realistically expect – both the awesome improvements and the "why is this breaking at 2 AM before our milestone?!" moments. Let's dive into what makes UE5 migration both exciting and occasionally hair-pulling.

The Good Stuff: Why UE5 Is Worth the Migration Effort

First, let's talk about why you're probably considering this migration in the first place. Unreal Engine 5 isn't just an incremental update – it represents a massive leap forward in game development technology.

Lumen: Global Illumination That Actually Works

Remember all those hours tweaking lightmaps and bake settings? Lumen changes the game with dynamic global illumination that actually works in production. This means:

No more waiting hours for lightmaps to bake

Realistic lighting that adapts to time of day changes

Light bouncing that updates in real-time as you modify your level

One developer I worked with literally cried tears of joy when they realized they could delete their entire lightmap optimization documentation. That's hundreds of hours of work suddenly made obsolete (in the best way possible).

Nanite: Say Goodbye to LODs

If you've spent countless hours creating LOD versions of models or battling with draw distance issues, Nanite will feel like magic:

Import film-quality assets directly into your game

Forget about manual LOD creation

Maintain incredible detail even at distance

Achieve polygon counts that would have melted your PC in UE4

Enhanced Editor Experience

The UE5 editor has received major quality-of-life improvements:

A more intuitive UI layout

Better organization for large projects

Improved Blueprint visual scripting

More responsive viewport performance

The Migration Reality Check: What to Watch Out For

Now for the part they don't always highlight in the flashy demo videos – the migration challenges. Having guided several unreal game development projects through this process, here are the pitfalls you should prepare for:

Materials Need Rework

Your carefully crafted materials might need significant updates:

PBR workflows have evolved in UE5

Many shader functions have been deprecated or changed

New material parameters are available, but require implementation

Material instances might need rebuilding

A mid-sized game I worked on had to assign a dedicated technical artist for two weeks just to update their material library. Plan accordingly!

Performance Profile Changes

UE5's performance characteristics are different from UE4:

CPU/GPU balance shifts with new rendering technologies

Memory requirements increase significantly

Some optimizations that worked well in UE4 might actually hurt in UE5

Mobile platforms require extra attention

One team I consulted for saw their memory usage double overnight after migration. They eventually got it back under control, but it wasn't the instant upgrade they expected.

Plugin Compatibility Nightmares

If your project relies heavily on third-party plugins:

Many haven't been updated for UE5 compatibility

Some will never be updated if they're abandoned

Marketplace assets might need updates

Your own custom plugins will need review and updates

Blueprint Refactoring Required

Your Blueprint logic will likely need work:

Deprecated nodes need replacement

Some function signatures have changed

New best practices have emerged

Performance-critical Blueprints might benefit from conversion to C++

Practical Migration Strategy: A Step-by-Step Approach

Having been through this process multiple times, here's my battle-tested approach to migrating unreal game development projects to UE5:

1. Create a Proper Testing Environment

Don't just dive in with your production project:

Make a separate branch in version control

Set up a clean UE5 project first

Create a small test scene with your core mechanics

Migrate this small slice before attempting the full project

2. Tackle Dependencies First

Before touching your main content:

Update or replace critical plugins

Test each third-party integration individually

Document any API changes you discover

Have fallback plans for unsupported features

3. Adopt a Phased Migration Approach

Don't try to migrate everything at once:

Start with core systems and mechanics

Then handle character and animation systems

Migrate levels and environments next

UI elements typically come last

Test thoroughly between each phase

4. Rethink Rather Than Port 1:1

Some systems deserve reimagining rather than direct porting:

Could your lighting setup benefit from Lumen instead of static lighting?

Would Virtual Shadow Maps solve issues you were working around?

Might some complex Blueprint logic be simplified with new features?

Could Nanite eliminate optimization headaches?

Real Talk: Timeline and Resource Expectations

Be realistic about what this process requires:

Small projects (solo/tiny team): 1-3 weeks

Medium projects (5-15 people): 1-2 months

Large production (15+ team): 3-6 months minimum

One studio I advised initially estimated their migration would take two weeks. Reality? It took them closer to two months. The good news is that much of that time was spent implementing new UE5 features that dramatically improved their game.

Specific Features to Watch During Migration

World Partition

UE5's World Partition system replaces the old level streaming approach:

Automatic streaming based on distance

Better organization for massive worlds

But requires significant rethinking of level design workflows

If you're using complex level streaming, expect to spend extra time here.

Animation Systems

The animation pipeline in UE5 has evolved:

Control Rig offers new capabilities

IK Retargeter changes how you handle animations

Full-body IK solutions are more accessible

For character-heavy games, this area requires special attention.

UI Systems

UE5 brings UMG improvements but also changes:

Some widget behaviors have changed

Responsive design features are expanded

DPI scaling works differently

Is It Worth It? The Honest Answer

After helping numerous teams through UE5 migration, here's my unfiltered take:

For new projects: Absolutely start with UE5. The learning curve is worth it, and you'll avoid migration altogether.

For early development projects: Yes, migrate now. The pain is minimal compared to the benefits.

For mid-development projects: It depends. Calculate the time cost versus benefits for your specific case. The newer your UE4 version, the easier the transition.

For projects near completion: Probably not worth it unless a specific UE5 feature solves a critical problem. Finish in UE4 and consider UE5 for your next project or DLC.

Final Thoughts: Embracing the Future of Unreal Game Development

Migrating to UE5 isn't just a technical exercise – it's about embracing a new generation of game development possibilities. The teams I've seen succeed approached it with both excitement about the possibilities and realistic expectations about the challenges.

Remember that even with the bumps along the way, UE5 represents a massive leap forward for creators. The lighting is better, the geometry is more detailed, the workflows are improved, and the possibilities are expanded. When the migration dust settles, you'll have a more capable foundation for bringing your creative vision to life.

Have you already started migrating your project to UE5? I'd love to hear about your experiences in the comments below. And if you're just beginning the journey, drop any questions you have – our community has probably faced and solved similar challenges already!

[mcrmadness]

I need to build myself a new PC, so I have been looking at PC components a lot, and I've made a list of things I'm probably gonna buy. I still need to do a bit more research over somethings, but I was already aware that it's gonna be an expensive project. BUT if I invest on this properly now, then I might not need to upgrade the PC that soon and it might last for the next 10 years, and I could just replace some components if I e.g. get a motherboard that won't go old in just the next two years.

I built my current PC in 2016, and iirc the CPU is from the high-end of the CPUs that fit the current motherboard, so updating just the CPU is not possible with this computer. Plus I still have Windows 7, and I think this motherboard might support Win10, but not Win11, and at this point they are starting to stop the support for even Win10 so there's no point in updating to that if it will anyway be too old for everything in a couple of years.

And this is actually what my main point is: I don't mind spending a bit more money on a PC if it means it will run my video games and will fit my video editing career plans, because I know that what comes to computers, with money you get quality. The sum I'm looking at right now is somewhere around 600-700€ which in itself is a lot, but it's still half the price of a ready-made computer that you don't need to build yourself.

But what gets on my nerves is that I should get the OS. And I looked Win11 up and it can cost up to 150€??? More if it's the pro version. And like... why the fuck are these so expensive??? I'm also wondering whether I could pirate Win11 and get a working version somewhere, because know that in my family we have had Windows OS's since the 90s and I don't think a single one of them was actually bought to the household. Maybe Win95 or Win98 was original, but anything from XP up was pirated for sure. My Win7 is also a pirated copy my dad downloaded and installed to my PC (in general he taught me to pirate and use torrents back in the day when torrents were still a thing).

My laptop came with a pre-installed Win10 so I don't have a key or anything for it but it's still registered; and my previous laptop came with the installation CD for Windows Vista. That's probably the only time I've had a computer with an original installation disc for a Windows.

But yeah, the point of this post? Looking at the cheapest CPU options and them being 200€ at the cheapest makes me go "yeah that makes sense, it's a reasonable price for a brand-new CPU that comes with a fan", and then I look at Win11 that is basically just a random activation code on paper and perhaps a link (unless you buy the DVD version which may or may not cost more than a digital one), and it comes with a price tag of 150€ or more. Insane. That's the only product that makes me feel like in no way am I gonna pay THAT MUCH for just an OS!

(And no, Linux and such are not an option for me who likes to play video games a lot and do things that should work without emulators or all kinds of extra work. I've got ADHD stuff already requires some extra work from me to get even normal things started, so I don't need any extra steps there...)

[postgamecontent]

'Killing Time: Resurrected' Switch Review

Back in the day, I did not own a 3DO. I was a regular reader of Electronic Gaming Monthly and other video game magazines, and they all covered the console to varying degrees. Some games looked fun, but nothing that had me interested in scraping together the large sum of money needed to buy one. I didn't know anyone who owned one, probably for the same reasons. The next generation of consoles came, and I just shrugged my shoulders and figured I would probably never play a 3DO. And I never did.

In recent years, some of those more obscure consoles have been seeing a little love. There were Jaguar games in Atari 50. Limited Run paid homage to the CD-i with a game and controller built in its image. Intellivision, Atari 7800, and Atari Lynx games have popped up here and there on consoles like the Evercade. We've also seen a few 3DO games, all of which I have been... lucky enough to review. Let's just say that my image of the console has not been helped a great deal by Plumbers Don't Wear Ties and PO'ed. But I will say that those games had a distinctive character to them, giving me at least part of that 3DO flavor.

Killing Time: Resurrected also feels very much of the 3DO. Yes, I know it had a PC port back in the day, but there is a certain style to this game that marks it. This mash of not-quite-3D and digitized actors, all wrapped up in a frenetic DOOM-inspired action game, could only have happened in a very particular time and place. Unlike PO'ed, Killing Time is actually pretty good. Not that I don't appreciate PO'ed bizarre design, but Killing Time feels like I can enjoy it without qualifications.

A lot of this comes down to the quality of this remake. Nightdive has done its thing using the KEX Engine, and as a result we've got the ultimate version of Killing Time here. All the enemies and weapons from both 3DO and PC versions, fully 3D levels that allow you to look all around, extremely clear FMV bits and bobs, and none of that nasty loading. Killing Time isn't a perfect game by any means, but this might be the perfect version of Killing Time. Freed from technical shackles and with its best foot put forward, this game turns out to be a very solid game for its time.

I really appreciate the size of it all, though like other games of its era some places look so similar that it's easy to get lost. The gunplay feels good, and you get some really interesting weapons to mess with. The FMV stuff is corny as heck, but it helps give the game a strong identity. There's a lot more story here than you would usually see in a first-person shooter of this era, and it makes for a fun contrast with the fast action. You get all the usual options you would expect from a Nightdive release, so you can customize just about everything. You can even turn off a lot of the improvements to get a more classic experience, if that is what you want.

While I think that Nightdive has released better games, that mostly comes down to the original version being better. Killing Time: Resurrected might be its best remake, taking a decent game and buffing it up in several ways that help it shine its brightest. I had a really good time playing through this one, certainly more than I expected to. It has that boomer shooter excitement while managing to feel like its own thing. If you enjoy classic first-person shooters, this is one worth checking out.

Switch Score: 4/5