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theinstagrahame · 5 months

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One of the best things about Crowdfunding is, stuff arrives even when you're cutting way back on spending. A *ton* of stuff arrived in the last month and a bit. Got a bunch of really neat projects in, and it's time to get hype about it!

Why these games rule, under the cut

The Revenant Society: Banana Chan is one of those names that immediately catches my attention when she's on a project. Actually, looking at the list again, the team for this game was stacked, it was a real All-Star Cast. But like, even without the powerhouse designers on the case, this just gets all the things I want in a game: Time loops, murder mysteries, trapped on the Underground. A PbtA game where you solve your own murder is, y'know, a pitch that'll attract my attention.

Hellwhalers: I saw this game coming up through design phases in the Plus One Exp Discord, and it sounded incredible. Using tokens and an old ship betting game, you're part of a whaling crew chasing Moby Dick into actual hell. Maybe Ahab wasn't crazy after all, and maybe we won't survive.

Xenolanguage: I might own everything Thorny Games makes now, because they make games about language. Folks who may not know me might not know that I *love* linquistics. Honestly, if I could repeat college, I'd put more of my time into Linguistics. But due to the linear nature of time, I'll settle for playing games about decoding alien language in a first contact situation. Sorta like that movie Contact. Which, I loved.

Mothership and Desert Moons of Karth: I read through the original version of Mothership a couple of years ago, and it's one I wanted to get more into. When I saw that there was a chance to pick up the full 1e boxset on KS, I jumped. I've also seen tons of people talk about Karth as a really awesome sandbox module for the system, so when I had a little cash on DTRPG from selling books, it was an easy pickup.

Inscrutable Cities: Possum Creek Games told me to back this, so I did (this is a joke, but I do love PCG a whole lot). In reality, I saw Inscrutable Cities on Itch a while ago, and the pitch grabbed me. I love reading solo journaling games (I still haven't found a way I like to play them, if I'm completely honest, but they're really neat reads). Walking through an impossible city is something I'd love to do, so, I have the book for it now.

Reap: Spencer Cambell makes bangers, and bangers only. I'm not *not* on a mission to collect all of his work, but Necromancers? Solo tactical board games, built on Rune? Sure. I'm in.

Luna: Spencer Campbell makes bangers, and bangers only. I also picked up another of his books this month. The Nova universe? Moon cultists trying to destroy the sun? Sure, I'm in.

3 Moonlight on Roseville Beach zines: I played Moonlight on Roseville Beach on my now-defunct podcast, and it's a game that I honestly think about a lot. The dice system was complicated, but in a really neat way that gave the players a ton of really interesting decisions with every roll. What part of my action succeeds? What kinds of complications am I opening myself to?

Anyway, R. Rook put together some characters, mysteries, and monsters for the game, and I really wanted to explore more.

Hiria, In the Margins, A Visit to San Sibilia: I mentioned earlier that I like the notion of exploring weird cities, right? Well, here's two games about that, and a cool bookmark RPG for reading. I listened to San Sibilia played in an episode of Friends at the Table, and it really captured my attention. The questions were fascinating, and they let the players flesh out a city we'd only heard of, but not seen prior to that game. It was a cool coda on a really fantastic and weird season, Sangfielle.

Grandmothership: The title alone had me, but Armanda Haller is a creator I keep an eye on, because she makes really rad stuff. This caught my attention because solving mysteries in a weird, Mothership-esque sci-fi setting, as nosy grandmothers, really just, gets me. I want to do that. I want to live that.

Holdfast Station: I've been watching Stonetop develop through its email updates. It's another PbtA game, but with a robust city-building and city development core loop that, is 100% my jam. (Low-key, one of my favorite games is Dragon Quest Builders 2.) This game takes that concept to space, which is 1000% my jam, in fact.

Spectres of Brocken: Aaron Lim is a designer I got into early on in my foray into games, and I do love Mech Anime. I am eager to see his take on Mech Anime, and I am really intrigued by the way this game handles playsets and worldbuilding as part of the game itself. Really can't wait to dive into this.

Lay on Hands: This is another of those games I've heard about, but never actually checked out. I know Alfred Valley better by reputation than by direct experience, but this is one of those games I hear people constantly telling people to check out. So, I'm gonna!

Penumbra City: Maybe 5 years ago, I read a novella by Margaret Killjoy about anarchists living in an abandoned city, and beset by assholes within their community, and supernatural horrors from without. The world kinda stuck with me, so when I saw she was working on an RPG not in the same world), I was curious to see what that would look like. I haven't cracked Penumbra City open yet, but I'm jazzed to do so.

These two fell off the pile for the big photo, so I forgot:

Deathmatch Island: I enjoyed the Hunger Games and Battle Royale movies a pretty moderate amount, but what really caught my attention here was the promise that players could also break the Reality TV Parody. The use of the Paragon system also caught my attention. After hearing one AP of Agon, I really wanted to see how that would translate into this, and it didn't take me too long reading it to go "Oh, okay, this rules."

Our God is Dead: What if you were a paladin or priest of a faith, and you found out your god was dead? What if you also had like, a bunch of people who really needed that god not to be dead, like this weekend? This sounds hilarious, and I am going to insert it into conversation often to see if people want to play it. Apologies to people who know me.

Eagle eyed viewers may have noticed a second Mothership box. What's that about?

It's a storage box for all my Mothership Zines so far... Except the two that are just slightly too big!

And, some fun comics/graphic novels:

Good Boy Paws: A friend of mine in comics put this together, and it looked extremely cute. A sweet tale of a good boi.

Wine Ghost Goes to Hell: Picked this up because the creator had contributed to Bugsnax, which is a game I enjoyed, and the concept seemed fun. Will have to check it out and report back!

#indie ttrpg #ttrpg #indie ttrpgs #indie comics #crowdfund haul report

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arimiadev · 9 months

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recommendations of visual novels on sale for the steam winter sale 2023

steam's winter sale just started and will run for the next two weeks, so if you're looking for a new visual novel to try (or want to get into them), here's a lot that I've played that are on sale on steam.

umineko when they cry

the ushiromiya family returns to the family head's home on an isolated island for their annual conference with the intention of settling how his vast amount of wealth is divided. instead, though, a letter is left from someone claiming to be a "witch". with the ushiromiyas dropping left and right, the mystery behind everything remains to be solved.

I can't make a recommendation list without mentioning umineko. it's life changing. it might even trans your gender. it's hard to describe umineko, but just know that it's absolutely deserving of the "cult classic" tag.

notes:

kinetic/linear - no choices

VERY long

divided into two games on steam - Questions Arcs is the first 4 episodes and Answers Arcs is the last 4 episodes (8 episodes in total, play Questions Arcs first)

created by Ryukishi07, creator of Higurashi

fantasy mystery

ace attorney

follow phoenix wright as he embarks on his career as a lawyer to help people. meet a variety of clients and prove their innocence by collecting evidence, interviewing witnesses, and exposing lies in court.

ace attorney is one of the classic mystery visual novels, being a blend of point-and-click elements via investigations and visual novel storytelling. the steam port is a massive collection, combining the first 3 games (the original phoenix wright trilogy) as 1 game.

notes:

investigative gameplay segments, a good chunk of the story is point-and-click parts

VERY long for the whole trilogy- each game is around 20 hours long and the steam edition is 3 games

modern mystery with supernatural elements

ai: the somnium files

play as detective kaname date as he hunts down a serial killer using a cutting-edge technology which allows him to "psync" with a person, diving into the memories of others to solve crimes in a limited amount of time with the help of his AI assistant/eyeball Aiba.

aitsf is a lot. it's probably the raunchiest non-eroge game I've ever played and despite my low tolerance for dirty jokes I found most of it to be laughable and a fun experience, though I did play this with friends. if it's a miss for you, it's gonna miss you by a wide margin, but if it's a hit for you, you're going to be recommending it nonstop. either way you'll want to hit kaname date with a car.

notes:

long, around 25-35 hours

this game heavily relies on going back to prior choices via their branching menu to try other options in order to get the full story (and true ending). there are several endings to this game but you're meant to play through them all, not just one or two.

a lot of gameplay and interactive segments

sci-fi mystery

english voice acting

witch on the holy night

aoko aozaki is a highschooler who has to balance her class president, perfect grades life with her secret afterschool life of being a mage—a secret she has to keep at the risk of death. keeping this balance already isn’t easy but one day she gets a wrench thrown into it with the introduction of a transfer student, soujuurou shizuki, a country boy so out of touch that he’s never seen electricity before.

I love witch on the holy night so, so much. it's one of the most beautifully directed visual novels ever made with so much love and care put into each frame. the cast is wonderful (touko my beloved) and it's a must-read for anyone who likes modern-ish fantasy.

notes:

kinetic / linear - no choices

long, around 25-30 hours

originally written by kinoko nasu, one of the co-founders of type-moon and creators of fate/stay night. has some relation to tsukihime and garden of sinners but you don't need any knowledge of those going in

modern-ish (1980s) fantasy with lots of talking about magic

ghostpia

a snowy town filled with "ghosts" is where the young woman sayako finds herself trapped, feeling like she doesn't belong and wants to leave this town where no one dies.

it's hard to describe ghostpia. it's a surreal-ish story about "ghosts" where every character is quirkier than the last but every part is made with so much heart behind it. you never really know where the story is going, but unfortunately only 1 season is currently out on steam.

notes:

medium length, around 10 hours

very innovative and unique use of visuals and paneling

surreal-ish (sometimes violent) fantasy

please be happy

as a shapeshifting fox called a "gumiho", miho has traveled the world in search for a traveler who showed her kindness many years ago. afraid of sticking around in one place for too long, miho has never stayed anywhere for more than a few nights- but all of that changes when she arrives in wellington, new zealand and meets the barista/writer aspen and the vampire archivist juliet.

okay okay I had to recommend at least one visual novel I worked on. please be happy was a labor of love for our team that took over 3 years to make and is a slice of life story about love, trust, and what it means to be human.

notes:

medium to long, about 20 hours

2 romanceable ladies, aspen and juliet, and a plethora of side characters to meet via a map system

modern slice of life fantasy

english voice acting

WE KNOW THE DEVIL

find yourself back at summer camp with all the queer religious horror of it.

WE KNOW THE DEVIL is a short, atmospheric and slightly surreal story about 3 teens at a religious summer camp waiting for the devil. if you want something that feels familiar and otherworldly at the same time, this is right up your alley.

notes:

very short, about 2 hours

3 endings and 1 true ending

isolation, psychological horror

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this is just a handful of recommendations of visual novels I've played and enjoyed that are on sale right now on steam.

some of these titles, like please be happy and WE KNOW THE DEVIL, are also available on itch.io which is a website for indie games! they're also currently having a winter sale so a lot of indie visual novels are on sale over there too, if you want DRM-free versions of games while also giving a better revenue split to devs.

#visual novel #visual novels #visual novel game #game recommendations #game recs #I wanted to rec more indie stuff but the ones I like either aren't on sale or they're free or they're not on steam at all #so that'll be for another time...#also this didnt end up as giant as i was thinking it would be bc i didnt want to do multiple in a series like higu and dai gyakuten

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canmom · 3 months

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l'aventure de canmom à annecy - épisode deux: XR

so I'm going to abandon all semblance of chronological order at this point.

just like last year there was an VR room operating on a morning booking system - each thing had two headsets and a signup sheet. I didn't get to try every one but I did get most of them. enough that the volunteers noticed me coming back every day x3

^ some random people immersed in the Wired

this is easily the longest annecy post so far... so please read on for a big old discussion of the unique difficulties faced by VR film as a medium, and how this year's annecy films meet them... or more often don't.

so annecy's vr films section is for essentially linear vr projects (i refuse to write "experiences") that can be watched/played in less than an hour. i don't know if that's a hard rule but that's how long all the ones here were!

let's get the technical stuff out of the way: the Quest 2/3 was by far the headset of choice. some ran natively, some were PCVR with a wire connecting to a computer, and some were 360° videos which played back on the headset with 3dof tracking. some had a degree of interactivity, up to about a 'walking simulator' level. the average runtime was between 20m and an hour.

the preamble: on the limitations of VR

the big question I have with XR movies is basically... how well does it actually use the medium? like, is it doing anything that wouldn't work better as a flatscreen game or a film?

this might seem like a high bar to clear, like why shouldn't it be in VR - but VR is uncomfortable, the headset is expensive etc etc, and that's before even the formal stuff I'm about to get into. so that's 'why not'. and also, this is a new medium, I want to see what unique features it has to offer!

I'm sure I've said this before, but despite on the face of it being more 'inmersive' than traditional flatscreen games or films, VR is actually a pretty restrictive medium! compared to flatscreen games with their many 'buttons', you are very limited in the possible interactions. your main interaction is to 'pick up' and 'hold' objects, but this is close enough to actual physical interaction to highlight how much it isn't. what it actually means is that you position your hand or controller in a trigger and press a grab button or pinch your fingers, at which point the object snaps to your hand and moves weightlessly with it.

you also can't accelerate the pov too much without causing motion sickness, etc etc.

ok, what about film? well, compared to film, the big big thing VR lacks is the frame of the camera. you can't cut, you can't frame a subject, you don't have long shots or closeups, you can't even rely on the player/viewer looking in the direction of an interesting thing.

since movement is also tricky in VR due to the motion sickness problem, you're also limited in your ability to steer the viewer to interesting sights with Valve-style 'vistas' using the level architecture. it's not impossible - Valve themselves have their familiar vistas in HL Alyx - but it's something that depends on the player being able to move through a large space, so it doesn't fit these kinds of movie-like project so well. otherwise you can draw attention to a direction using various means, like visual effects that converge on a spot, or just keeping most of the action in the same area.

what you can also do, closer to camerawork, is move the viewer's point of view, and shrink or enlarge their surroundings. the language of VR 'shots' is still far from defined, but we have a few recurring ones: standing in a normal sized room, the giant's view in a tiny city, the floating perspective looking down on a diorama, the ant's eye view inside something regular sized.

how about theatre, which also has most of these limitations? well, compared to being in person with a real human being, you're limited by the capabilities of realtime animation systems and the rendering tech available on the device. you're looking at the character in a slightly fuzzy low resolution and unless you have AAA money which noone in VR does, you're a bit limited in the 'acting' you can pull off. this may change if the apple vision pro gets popular - apple already have a 'gertie the dinosaur' style demo where a very detailed dinosaur emerges from a portal - but it's definitely out of reach of most teams working on the Quest.

so compared to all these other media, what does XR offer?

compared to film and theatre, there is the game aspect of agency: a story feels different if you are the one doing it. so most VR narrative games have characters interact with the player somehow, though this introduces the problem of how to write the player into a story without feeling like you're railroading them or that they're superfluous to the real story.

it's very easy to undercut this sense of agency by having an amount that's not zero but still too small, e.g. if it just feels like the player is touching a button that lights up then you wonder why they even bothered.

the role that most games put the (vaguely defined) player character in is 'terrifying violence doer'. this is a fairly easy role to write around, and it gives the player a lot of control of the 'how' while letting the writer control the 'what' and 'where' and 'why'. similarly if the player's role is something like 'puzzle solver'. but for a purely narrative presentation, these roles don't exist.

still, this is the idea that a lot of VR rests on: an 'immersive experience' which puts the player into the story.

the other big thing that VR has is the joy of experiencing visual effects in 3D. particles, trails, transforming geometric shapes etc are cool on a flat screen and even cooler in stereo vision where you can move your head around. another benefit is spatial audio by default - something that is gradually coming to games but provided 'for free' by vr consoles.

in the land of games, you also have incredibly precise position and direction input... as long as it's in arm's length of the player. the most successful genres of VR games (so far) use this: a lot of shooting games, and some games that let you interact with physics objects, offer 3D jigsaw puzzles, or simulate sports to provide some real exercise. it can be really good for rhythm games as beat saber demonstrates.

VR is also really for social games like VRChat - similar to MMOs but with the benefits of more complex tracking in lieu of canned animations.

but... none of these fit the form of a predictable 15-50 minute narrative sequence! they're not films! so the VR films category at annecy is a tough problem to crack.

last year, the VR project that most impressed me was one that put you in the seat of a novice spotter in a bomber in the second world war. this was a great fit for a lot of reasons. you are in a vehicle so you have no reason to move from seated; the scenario is full of loud scary sounds that can make full use of spatial audio; your 'character' is well-defined but also doesn't have much reason to speak within the scenario. this had a small amount of interaction (by pointing your head) which you could actually fail, making it a bit closer to a game, and also giving you reason to play close attention to the bombed out cityscape below you. it did a fantastic job of capturing the tension of a dangerous air mission, the pilot character interacting with you was compelling, and overall it really benefited from being in VR.

this year's films

sadly nothing I saw this year comes close to that. but still, some are interesting, so let's go through them!

My favourite this year was probably Flow - completely unrelated to the movie in the main competition, though they share the trait of being completely wordless, conveying their story simply through imagery and music.

Flow's big trick is a very cool visual effect where characters and objects are conveyed the trails left behind by little particles, causing them to appear ghostlike . At first you're just flying through a cityscape, passing various people on the street and in the subway, with the particle trails conveying the breaths of the passengers; gradually a storm brews, the trails becoming the wind that tears at everything.

I believe this was a prerendered film, with only 3dof tracking - i think i saw some compression artefacts at some point. So it's less technically impressive than if they managed to do it realtime but it does make full use of the power this gives to render loads of particles and move rapidly through different scenes. it was also an effect that benefitted from the ability to put you in the middle of it - something that would not work as well on a flat screen.

But it also benefitted a lot from being more film-like. It has an original soundtrack, and progresses without input from the player. There's no awkward 'player' character to write around, no space you stand about in. The film can simply unfold and let you appreciate it. In this case, no interaction is better than bad interaction.

My Inner Ear Quartet from Japan did not do anything particularly novel with the medium, but to my mind it had by far the most compelling story. It tells of a young, introverted boy who habitually digs in the dirt for objects that other people would consider trash. The title refers to a string quartet which he hears when he cries, imagined to be in his inner ear; also there is a pair of tiny shrimp which he saw grow in a net.

The first half is narrated by a man who turns out to be the boy grown up, now a hearing aid salesman. While the boy abandons his box of treasures, as an adult he returns to collecting and documenting abandoned objects as a kind of urban explorer.

The geometry here is stylised in a kind of rough, children's drawing way. I think this could have been pushed further with more complex shaders but it works. For the most part, you're watching as an invisible observer seated on a floating chair. At certain points, the viewpoint is taken inside the boy's ear, or into the tin of treasures, where you can grab the objects and get the boy's brief, poetic description of each one.

I liked this story because it had substance, but left enough up to interpretation to be engaging. By showing the treasures to us with the descriptions we get to understand why they might be significant to the boy. It plays well with the classic anime theme of objects as vessels for emotional significance. I think it would have worked just as well on a flat screen, but I enjoyed my time with it.

Now the rest...

The Age of the Monster had some things going for it, but honestly I think this one shouldn't have been in VR. It's basically a film about how bad we're fucking up the planet, putting us in the house of a man who works in the nuclear industry in the 70s up to a future where the cooling towers lie in ruins. The 'monster' is a giant anthro catfish, seen first as a B-movie monster and dream vision and finally as a real kaiju scale creature in the final future scene.

We're told about the economic circumstances that led to the man getting this job, and his relief at working in nuclear during the oil crisis; we're told about the infamous repressed oil industry report about how climate change is gonna be a thing; we're told about the man's fraught relationship with his radical daughter who is furious about his extractivist ways. Then we get a collapse and humans learn to take the force of nature more seriously, i forget the exact phrasing they used.

The main problem is? These are mostly things you are told, by voiceover. There is some environmental storytelling in the evolution of the house but not enough to convey much without the v/o. the film does not seem to have the confidence in its imagery to show us what it's trying to say.

I feel like the film's vision of the post-collapse future, with flocks of birds flying over a wide river and collapsed overgrown cooling towers, is a huge missed opportunity. Here's an opportunity to apply some true visual imagination of how humans might live in a climate changed future... but nah, giant catfish kaiju just kinda hanging out there.

The environmental message is generally a stance I sympathise with, but the film doesn't make a good case for it on a propaganda level. We see the cooling towers outside the window and eventually the house, flooded, but it does little to make the collapse narrative emotionally compelling - and I question a little the choice to make it nuclear focused in a film about climate change. It's probably based on an actual guy, right? Maybe someone's parent? But... despite putting us in his shoes i don't really feel like i understand him very well.

Does this seem harsh? I know full well how involved vr dev is, and even simple things can take weeks. But i also want someone to make the most of this medium. To make something as compelling as the best short films on the main screens.

Gargoyle Doyle tells another 'skipping though time' story, depicting a gargoyle on an 800 year old church from its construction through to demolition. I would compare this one perhaps to a puppet theatre - it certainly stands out in terms of character animation, with Doyle played by Jason Isaacs as a classic grumpy old British theatre guy, his foyle foil a goofy statue of monk acting as a drainpipe with a penchant for puns.

I didn't get to watch this one in full, since I got to sub in for someone who left early (thanks to the volunteer who took pity on me when it was fully booked lol). So I didn't see the full arc of this. What I saw was... definitely edutainment material, but pretty well done. The player is cast as a visitor to a future museum and nature reserve built on the site of the church. It seems like this was originally shown in a real museum in Venice, with the 'in the museum' sections portrayed in mixed reality; obvs this wouldn't work at Annecy so they have these virtual too.

The narrative as a whole seems a tad self congratulatory and pat, with Doyle learning a valuable lesson about not being a cunt to his only friends as he's resurrected in the museum, and it doesn't do a whole lot with the VR framing, but taking it as an educational puppet show, it works pretty well - the voice performances are good and the jokes, while a little predictable, work for the kid-friendly style it's going for. I'm not sure it really needed to be 40 minutes long, but I can see they wanted to go maximalist for a proof of concept like this. It is kinda limited by the rendering capabilities of the Quest, the lack of shadows in particular, and could definitely benefit from some baked lighting given the relatively static scenes, but I give it a lot of credit for the character animation and VA.

Apparently the jury liked this one too because it won the competition!

Nana Lou has been in development a few years apparently, casting the player in the role of a psychopomp spirit whose role is to ease the passing of a woman dying of a stroke. Visually, this is one of the best looking, with elaborate forest scenes and strong environment design.

What I really like about this one is its use, at times, of a diorama-like presentation where the player looks down on tiny characters in a room. This is a concept I've wanted to try in VR for a while, and it's cool to see someone do it.

I found the kind of spiritual aspect of the story a lot more underwhelming. The player is accompanied by two other spirits who explain everything that's going on and point out the significance of all the imagery. The player is informed they have an important role, but they don't have a name and can't talk back, and the only interaction is to grab floating photos to initiate flashbacks.

I wish this film had had the confidence to trust in its acting and visual storytelling. While Nana Lou's life is a bit too lacking in serious conflict to make the premise work, it would still be far more interesting and compelling with the frame story largely trimmed. You could still cast the player as a psychopomp but you don't need to have a greek chorus telling them what to click on!

The actual story concerns Lou's relationship with her daughter, who became estranged when she quit university to raise her child, instead of staying on as Lou thought she should. This caused them to spend decades estranged. Finding out this story frees up the daughter's spirit as well, and the penultimate scene has her speak to Lou and make up.

There's definitely something to work with there, but the main delivery mechanism is rather ponderous narration triggered by interacting with objects, with the dramatic scenes largely having taken place off screen. Like The Age of the Monster, it suffers a severe telling-not-showing problem.

It's a shame because there are nice touches here. When you are beside Lou's bed in the hospital, your touch leaves a glow effect which is very evocative. The acting is solid, though the script undermines it a bit.

I don't think narration is evil - evidently, Yuri and I used it in our film, it's a very efficient way to convey information - but I do think it requires a lot of thought put into style and rhythm.

Spots of Light... ok. This one tells the story of an Israeli soldier who lost his sight in the Lebanon war, and later regained it temporarily through surgery. Given my general feelings about the Israeli military (presently carrying out a genocide), I was definitely not disposed to like this one. Nevertheless, it was the only one free so I decided to give it a shot.

This is one of those films where you interview someone and then put an animation to it. So this guy tells you what it was like to be blind and then not blind to see his family briefly, and it's illustrated with various images. And (if i remember right) some parts are on tvs showing video (and if you're using vr to embed a flat screen what is even the point??). When he's blind, everything disappears except vague outlines suggested by small points of light.

Ultimately this is a film about blindness, not the war (of course, meaning this is a person who could leave the war behind - though not to make light of the cruelty of conscription). Making a film about the experience of blindness in a purely visual medium is a choice all right, and I don't feel like this film expressed anything unexpected about it - he was sad to lose his sight, glad to see his family, depressed to lose it again but ultimately at peace. Which is conveyed, of course, primarily by narration.

So yeah this one didn't do much for me!

Stay Alive My Son, now. Agh. This one was... this one was a mess.

So this one is about the Cambodian genocide, right. It's based on a memoir by a survivor of the genocide, Pin Yathay, who became separated from his wife and son while fleeing the Khmer Rouge.

The way this is presented is essentially a walking simulator that takes you through a dungeon-like environment full of skeletons. Every so often you encounter 3D films - filmed with some kind of depth camera - showing actors playing out scenes from the life of the family. There is also a frame story where you visit Pin Yathay in his modern day house, where he sees a digital reconstruction of how his son might look as an adult

This one is difficult to review because it was severely marred by technical issues with the spatial audio, which caused the sound to cut out when you turned your head the wrong way or moved it to the wrong place. It would probably be less of a rough experience if the audio worked as intended. Nevertheless, I have plenty of reservations with the way the story is told as well.

It seems the director of the VR experience (fine! I'll write experience, there isn't a better noun for this kind of thing that sits between game and film) met Pin Yathay, there's video of her speaking to him at the end, but he had pretty minimal creative input beyond providing inspiration through his memoir. So this is a Greek/US interpretation of the Cambodian genocide. The narrative it tells is basically: Yathay and his family are living a pretty idyllic life, then the Khmer Rouge happens, seemingly not for any particular reason. Yathay and his family are evacuated and then put to hard labour growing rice; eventually, their son is put to work too, so fearing for his life, they flee into the jungle.

The Cambodian genocide is - obviously! - one of the worst atrocities of the whole bloody 20th century, and the circumstances surrounding it are worth reading about (though pretty unremittingly bleak). But you won't learn much about, say, cold war geopolitical alignment, Prince Sihanouk, the absolutely horrific civil war, the different ideologies in play in the Marxist milieu that influenced Pol Pot, or the spillover from Vietnam and the massive bombing by the Americans here which helped put the Khmer Rouge in power. You definitely won't learn much about the Cambodia that existed before the war. Instead, you're mostly traversing a dungeon that could come from any horror game, shining your torch on the things you're told to in order to unlock another segment of narration from (the actor playing) Yathay. It is, in pretty literal terms, a tour of atrocities.

Unfortunately the '3D film of actors' conceit doesn't really work because... even audio issues aside, the acting is pretty unconvincing. For some reason - perhaps that subtitles are tricky in VR - the dialogue is in accented English rather than Cambodian, and it's pretty quickly evident that they just have one guy in the role of 'Khmer Rouge soldier' and the lines he's given are kinda awkward. The horror game aesthetics of the environments and the amateur actors and costumes all clash pretty badly. The 3D filming is also kind of jank, only really working if you're fairly close to the camera position, so you aren't really free to move too far even if the audio didn't crap out.

The basic feelings it's trying to explore - the horror of living through a genocide, separation from a child, guilt for abandoning him, not knowing if he's alive or dead - is definitely worth depicting, but honestly this would have been far far better expressed as a 10-20 minute film than a slow 55 minute VR walking sim. The more abstract bits toward the end with paper plane imagery and a Buddhist temple (where you have to put a block in a slot to unlock a door) also feel too jank and videogamey to really have much impact, though by that point I had been wrestling with the audio for nearly an hour so I wasn't in the most receptive mood.

But all the execution flaws aside, that leaves the question of what even is the right way to portray a genocide artistically? This approach is very abstract, reducing the events to dislocated symbols - propaganda posters, the tree against which children were dashed - which perhaps might reflect how fragmented memory becomes, but seems to be wasting the potential of VR to establish you in a place. But then, I guess rice fields are harder to render than enclosed dark rooms.

Speaking of rendering, this was PCVR, so your torch casts shadows and it has other features that would be hard on realtime. But the lack of ambient light and general harshness of the materials adds to the 'horror game' feel.

There is something here about how genocides become associated with certain images. For Cambodia, it is primarily phrases like 'killing fields' and the stacked skulls in the genocide memorials such as Choeung Ek - few people know the name of the memorial in the west, but I think everyone who's heard of the genocide has seen the big stack of skulls. I imagine this is what all the skeletons in this experience are supposed to call to mind: they're representatives of the many ways people died. The problem that this kind of environmental storytelling has long ago been made kind of camp by videogames. A photo of a stack of real skeletons still has power to disturb, but less so a low poly 3D skeleton.

Should it have tried for a realism? The idea of trying to realistically simulate the experience of living in Cambodia though the genocide is kind of ghoulish, and I'm glad they didn't take that approach. But the 'tour of images' approach falls flat. I think The Most Precious of Cargoes elsewhere in the festival makes a stronger case for how to approach a topic like a genocide in a consciously constructed way, but it also has the ability to be in dialogue with a lot of other films made about the Holocaust. There is less in English about the Cambodian genocide - the viewer can't even be assumed to know what happened.

Overall, I think it would be possible to make a much stronger film about the genocide in Cambodia. But I'm not sure what that film would look like. I did learn one thing from this story, which is that there is a reality show in Cambodia which shows survivors of the genocide being reunited with their families. Not much is made of this here, it's something of a background detail. What would it be like to grow up in the shadow of an event like that? I wish the film had been willing to portray more of modern Cambodia - and I hope at some point someone in Cambodia will have a film at this festival, in VR or not, which can talk about it all from the first person.

Is there a good way to try to answer the curiosity of people who live safely in rich countries about what it is like to go through an actual genocide... using a Meta Quest 2 VR headset that costs a few hundred quid? I don't really know, but this film could have done with being a bit more reflective, I feel. So it goes.

the others

there were three films I couldn't see - The Imaginary Friend, Oto's Planet and Emperor. If I get some other chance to try them I'll write about them too!

Overall I felt a bit disappointed with the VR this year, but also I kind of want to put my money where my mouth is and try my hand at making this kind of thing. I do have the technical knowledge at least!

If you read all this, thank you.

#l'aventure de canmom à annecy #annecy 2024

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omartinyosef · 5 months

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THE THREE WATERFALLS ULTIMATE THEORY

So. Okay. Let's get this shit done.

The waterfall as a symbol can be interpreted in many different ways, depending on cultural, historical, and personal context. Here are a few common interpretations:

Nature: Waterfalls are often seen as symbols of nature's raw power and beauty, representing the majesty and grandeur of the natural world.

Change: A waterfall symbolizes change, as it is a constantly moving, evolving entity. The flowing water can represent the passage of time, or the journey of life.

Cleanliness: The waterfall's cleansing properties can symbolize purification and renewal, often used in religious or spiritual contexts.

Abundance: Waterfalls are often associated with abundance, fertility, and prosperity, representing a source of sustenance and life.

Adventure: Waterfalls can symbolize adventure and excitement, representing a journey into the unknown and a quest for discovery.

Continuity: The waterfall also represents continuity and the flow of life – how life flows, including its highs and lows.

So. Mike said ''three waterfalls''. Giving the word waterfall the last meaning, it symbolizs that life keeps going. But using the meaning of change, the thing changes (haha humor de cuñado).

Three waterfalls. Three ''changes''. Okay. What could this mean? Of course something that changes the whole series. Something that screams revolution 'cuz it's the end of the season and all that stuff.

Also: ''Waterfall change management is a sequential and linear approach to managing changes in a project or system.''

This could mean that, through the whole season, we are gonna see three important changes/plot twists, but happening slowly? And the three waterfalls Mike said could be the final product of those changes. Of course Mike and Will are gonna have romantic interaction in season 5. And shut up you milkvans 'cause it's undeniable. Like, really. It's confirmed Will's in love with Mike, so it's gonna be a important part of the season. And if we think about byler happening, we have one change.

Another change that could happen is El and Mike's relationship. 'Cause if they break up we will have a change that affects the whole series. And with that we have two changes. Now third, which i dont have any idea of what it could be. Let me know in your comments. And if we think about the video games, surprise!! Often a video game has a secret hiding within a waterfal. So, this is gonna be like 3 secrets developing on season 5.

Like, could this be a pararell with 'Fantastic beasts: The secrets of Dumbledore?'', cause there's 3 secrets along the film. And the first revealed secret (that we all knew about) Is that dumbledore and Grindelwald we in love. AND we know that will's in love with Mike. So DING DING DING!!! First secret. Also, it's clear that One/Henry/ Vecna is hidding something about Will. Cause like, really, look at this

This is NOT a demogorgon and It used telekinesis to open the shed's door will locked. And manipulated the lightning. Bro. Fr. So we will find out why Vecna took Will and not anyone else. And DING DING DING!!! Second secret revealed. The third secret could be that this little guy:

LITERALLY SCREAMS:

(I use this flag cuz idk if you think mike's bi or gay)

So this three waterfalls have 3 secrets behind them and through the season we will see our dear characters face it and solving their messed up shit?

Maybe.

Good Lord i dont even know how i did this

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demdozeguys · 2 months

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Strap in for a long one, because it's time for:

REVIEWING AND RANKING EVERY GAME I GOT FROM THE STEAM SUMMER SALE

ramblings under the cut:

UNRANKED: ULTRA STREET FIGHTER IV

okay look I know I said I'd be ranking all of these but putting a fighting game up against six linear-progression single-player adventure type games feels a bit unfair.

as for whether I liked it: yeah it's alright. it's street fighter, it's fun. only time will tell how much my brother and I will get out of it, but I'm already feeling like I don't like it quite as much as 5. how much of that is due to 4 not having Urien is anyone's guess.

#6: CROW COUNTRY

I'm gonna be honest I didn't fuck with this game nearly as much as I thought I would.

maybe it's because I'm new to the genre. maybe it's because I've been spoiled by autosave. or maybe it's just because I can't aim to save my life. but losing upwards of 20 minutes of progress every time some creature I failed to hit or juke tagged me one too many times got frustrating pretty fast.

I didn't hate my time with Crow Country. the environments are gorgeous, the story kept me intrigued, and filling out my mental list of "oh shit I can go here now"s was still satisfying. if this is your thing don't let me dissuade you, I just wasn't built for it.

#5: KAMIKO

Kamiko is decent fun, but there's not really a whole lot to say about it. It's a short and sweet zelda-esque game where the meat of the playtime comes from trying to go through it as fast as possible, and as you'll see later I happen to enjoy going fast. enjoyable, but not super meaty. if you like routing and time management give it a shot.

#4: PONY ISLAND

Alright, this is where we get into the Good Shit.

Pony Island is a game in which you play a game called Pony Island made by The Devil From The Bible. every few minutes there's some new weird meta setpiece to keep you on your toes, plus the code puzzles and pony sections between are solid fun on their own. it's a great time. and if you're interested, there's a pretty solid reward for getting 100%.

if I had to dock points, it didn't seem to have much in the way of replayability, but that's not a huge dealbreaker. I really need to get my hands on Inscryption now.....

#3: SPOOKY'S JUMPSCARE MANSION REMASTERED

I'm not normally big on horror but Spooky's kept me coming back. despite going into it already knowing what all the specimens did, they managed to keep me on the edge of my seat because you never know when they're going to show up. combine the legitimate building terror with an offbeat and self-aware sense of humor and you have a damn fun package.

it's worth noting that as of writing this, I've only completed the main story. the DLC campaigns probably won't affect the final ranking? but I have a feeling they'll make me appreciate the game more.

#2: PEPPER GRINDER

Pepper Grinder is fucking awesome.

The level design is great, the soundtrack rips, and just moving around with the core gimmick of "what if you could drill and then jump out" is so good. I just really wish there was more of it.

I was able to get all the major in-level collectibles and reach the end in under 3 hours. the bulk of my playtime came from the time trials, which do manage to hit a sweet spot of encouraging you to push yourself without requiring CBT perfection. demolishing the gold medal on the final boss took me well over an hour's worth of attempts and may have been one of the most viscerally satisfying challenges I've ever completed in a game.

Pepper Grinder is really, really cool. But if it had another world's worth of levels it would be even cooler.

#1: CHICORY: A COLORFUL TALE

Man. I fucking love Chicory.

The vibes are immacculate. The story made me really feel for these gay little animals. The soundtrack is delightful (Lena Raine, everybody!). The exploration is rewarding. The painting mechanics made me actively want to go back to areas I'd already been to and recolor them better than I did originally, which is like. not something most games do. You can even draw penises everywhere if you want. There's something for everybody.

I'm having a hard time putting down exactly what made me fall head over heels for this game as much as I did - especially when I wasn't expecting to going into it. Maybe it was just in the right place at the right time. No matter how it cheated the system, Chicory is easily the best game I picked up.

And that's that. this was my first time doing something like this (especially on tumblr) so it felt kinda weird but idk lmk if I planted any seeds in your brain

#dem.txt #actual blogging #steam summer sale #blugh maintagging is weird #can you believe I almost put down hashtag gaming. like what kind of tool

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gallifreyinstituteforlearning · 9 months

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🤔🎁 What gift would suit my Gallifreyan and their biology?

Choosing the perfect present for a Gallifreyan can be a challenge, given their unique biological and cultural attributes. Here are some gift ideas that humans can obtain:

1. Time-Based/Perspective Artwork: Consider artwork that changes or evolves over time. Ephemeral art, or art that shifts with perspective like a Lenticular could probably amuse them for hours.

2. Sensory Experience Gifts: Gallifreyans, with their heightened senses, would revel in gifts that tantalise multiple senses. Think along the lines of a set of exotic spices, or a collection of soundscapes. (Yes, like a mix tape).

3. Telepathic Communication Enhancers: Consider something that facilitates or enriches their telepathic abilities. If you can't get your hands on a Metebelis crystal or equivalent, consider a meditation aid or a voucher for a meditative retreat experience.

4. Historical books or experiences: Amuse them with historical books or interactive historical experiences. They'll find the human interpretation of history hilarious.

5. Puzzle Games: These could be physical puzzles that require assembly in a non-linear sequence, such as a Lotus Puzzle Box, or video games that involve navigating through time-based challenges.

6. Aromatic Plants or Oils: Given their sensitivity to scents, a selection of aromatic plants or essential oils from various corners of the galaxy would be a delightful and soothing gift. Choose fragrances that are known to have calming or invigorating effects.

So, as you mull over the perfect gift, remember - for a Gallifreyan's unique biology, it’s all about the blend of time, senses, and intellect. Happy shopping!

Gallifreyan Biology for Tuesday by GIL

More content ... →📫Got a question? | 📚Complete list of Q+A →😆Jokes |🩻Biology |🗨️Language |🕰️Throwbacks |🤓Facts →🫀Gallifreyan Anatomy and Physiology Guide (pending) →⚕️Gallifreyan Emergency Medicine Guides →📝Source list (WIP) →📜Masterpost If you're finding your happy place in this part of the internet, feel free to buy a coffee to help keep our exhausted human conscious. She works full-time in medicine and is so very tired 😴

#doctor who #dr who #dw eu #gallifreyans #GIL biology #GIL #gallifrey institute for learning #gallifreyan biology #Time Lord biology #TOTW: Christmas is coming #whoniverse #mcu

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exilethegame · 2 years

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Writing Update (12/12/22)

Hello everyone! These past two weeks were pretty productive all-things considered. I managed to write 49k words, making Chapter 5 pt. 2 100k words in total.

I started working on Scene 7 these past two weeks and, as you can see, managed to get through it very quickly. I plan to finish Scene 7 in the next two weeks along with starting on Scene 6 (and possibly finishing it).

We're definitely on the other side of things regarding pt. 2-- that is to say, most of the work left to do is rather simple w/ the exception of Scene 2. I imagine that "50% Done" mark is going to up rather quick these next few weeks, and because of that, I'm more than confident on reaching the release window of January - March.

It's likely I'll put out another application for anyone who wishes to be an Alpha Reader either later this month or near the beginning of January, so keep an eye out for that. I'll be taking in quite a lot of readers-- more than usual-- as my hope is that I'll have enough readers to stay with me as the book goes into closed production and up until release of the completed First Book.

I'm getting very excited to wrap up this Chapter. Not only do I think it's a good conclusion to Act I (and the demo) of the game, but I'm incredibly eager to go and replay what's been written and just absolutely overhaul everything. I have so much planned to add and expand on, and the idea of re-releasing the Twine Demo with the complete vision of what I want the game to be...

Let's just say it's genuinely heartwarming to me.

Anyway, that's all for today! Good luck to all my fellow college-goers who are dealing with finals this time of the year!

Chapter 5 (Part 2) Progress

Scene 1: Linear (Finished) Scene 2: Hobbies (Finished) Scene 3: Hobbies Scene 4: Check-in (50% -- 1/3 Branches) Scene 5: Chronological (75% Done) Scene 6: Chronological Scene 7: Companion (71% done 5/7 Branches) Scene 8: Companion

Total: 50% Done

#writing update

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magicalwarriordiamondheart · 1 year

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Patrons can claim a key for Liam's new episode right now

ks keys might be out tomorrow…? Waiting on the CSV so i can distribute keys since I have it uploaded through itch this time.

I highly recommend downloading through the Itch app if you want to keep up with updates as it can automatically update your game and patch any bugs i might find.

Update includes:

Episode 6 for liam lmao duh, there is four new unlockable cgs in this episode. (2 chibis, one main, one misc cut in) This Episode for the most part is linear, however there is A and B variants depending on the ending you got in e5 or your stats. Some are simply just based on your choices through the episode

Phone text conversations from Liam e1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 (variant A), Variant B is not in yet, Episode 4's convo is not visible instantly like the others, it shows up when the in-game date is February 07th.

Some changes in past episodes in the common route that aren't quite ready yet so just ignore them if u see them :')

A new unlockable accessory.

Game is now in 1080p HD, like 90% of artwork and UI has either been replaced with HD versions or redone entirely in the cases of some older cgs, Clover's sprite specifically, some UI elements were redone, etc

Engine updated from renpy 7 to renpy 8 so its now using all the newest versions of python. this should not effect your saves. I was able to easily transfer my saves to my new computer nd they still work <3

Basic grammar and spelling issues have been adjusted, a bunch of sprites were updated with additional layers separated out (bangs, hair side pieces, accessories) which I think looks a lot nicer

Gallery main page updated, character pages are still the original ones

oh yeah a bunch of cgs have animations now lol

#magical warrior diamond heart #mwdh #magical girl #updates #build updates #patreon updates #liam ep6 #screenshots #screenshots: 2023 build

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lostworldss · 9 months

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Blades Book 3 Predictions with the different endings

I’ve been thinking about how the narrative is going to go with the 3 different endings for Book 2. Because they all impact both where MC and the gang is at the end and also the state of magic in the realm(s).

In the Seal the Rifts and Stay in the Shadow Realm ending, MC and the gang is all stuck in the Shadow Realm. With this ending, magic is completely gone (or at least they say). The realms are forever separated as there is no more magic to use to get back to the other. Also, Tyril and the rest of the elves are getting weaker since they can actually feel the affects of their longer lifespans. The goblins are also dying out in this ending since they rely on magic too.

In the Combine the Realms ending, MC and the gang are just in the singular realm that is both the light and realms combined. There is no other realm anymore. Magic still exists in this ending, and it also doesn’t have the negative affects of taking a person’s life force for using light magic or corrupting a person’a mind for using shadow magic.

In Keep the Portals Open Ending, MC and the gang are in the light realm, but they can go back and forth to the Shadow Realm whenever since the portals are always open. The two realms still exist separately. However, magic still has it’s negative affects and it’s existence is also getting weaker.

The issue that the writers have to deal with for book 3, is how to get back to a shared linear narrative that will make sense for all of these endings. How are they going to make a story that can be playable for all players no matter which ending they chose? If you ask me, I believe that there could be 3 possible ways they go about this.

Option 1. They find a way to “ignore” the choice so that it doesn’t have an impact on Book 3.

By this, I mean moving the setting away from the realm(s) altogether and putting MC and the gang somewhere new. A way I can see this happening is if the person that they teased at the end is Nifara or a New God of some kind, who has the power the teleport MC and the gang to the environment where they live (perhaps this city of rain?)

One reason I can see them doing this is that it will give us a new map to explore. At this point, MC has been everywhere back and forth in the realm maps, going back to the same things again might be a bit tiring. Having a whole new map would make more sense.

Also with this, our choice of what happens to the realms doesn’t really matter, because we’re not interacting with it during the majority of the book.

The biggest flaw with this option, is that it doesn’t fix the issue of there being no magic if you chose the Shadow Realm ending. But maybe in this new map, the gods can give us magic that works only in this specific area? The only way I can see magic coming back is through divine intervention.

Option 2. They find a way “undo” the choice so that the realms go back to the way they were before or forces only one of the endings.

What is Choices if not an app where most of the choices do not actually matter? Not really a dig, but that’s just the nature of how these games/apps go. With choose your own adventure stories, it often becomes a battle of implementing actual branching choices verses having a good linear narrative.

With this option, every player would be in same spot regardless of whatever choice they made at the end of the last book.

I would be annoyed if they did this, because even though I would know why, it would just feel like a slap in the face to the players who thought this actually going to affect anything. If they really do this, it’s kind of like, what was even the point of the branching endings at all? Why include it if you know you’re making another book and are probably just going to retcon it anyway? who here worked at DC comics?

I could see them doing this possibly with Nifara or whoever that god is being OP and just controlling the portals/realms to being whatever they want it to be. Either that or random time travel that makes no sense (please no, please beat the endless summer allegations).

I could see them doing this because it does set everything back up simply and also gives us magic back. (I really can’t see them making MC, Nia, and Tyril go the whole book with magic).

Option 3. They actually do the unexpected. They make the branching choice matter. There is no linear narrative (or less of one).

Who knows? Maybe they will try to do the unexpected. They do put a lot of effort and resources into making Blades compared to the other books, so maybe they will try to be ambitious with it.

This could mean having 3 separate storylines, but I think that seems a little more unrealistic. More likely, the overall plot line will be the same, but the settings where it takes will be different depending on the choice. Maybe if you chose the Shadow Realm ending, they will make MC, Nia, and Tyril unable to use it the whole book (or at least in the beginning).

This would be a very bold move of them to do, and it could either be really bad or really great depending on how they execute it. I would at least give them props for the effort, because it certainly would be the hardest option to do.

To be honest, I never really considered that they would think about actually doing this, and found myself thinking it has to be one of the previous two options. But, as I thought about it more, I think there is a slight chance. And who am I to completely rule it out of the equation.

Please feel free to share your thoughts or if you have any other ideas!

#playchoices #blades of light and shadow #the way this took me an hour to type out on mobile

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bethanythebogwitch · 3 months

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What if the Paldea gym leaders level scaled?

I absolutely love the open world of Pokemon SV, but I don't like how the fixed levels of all the gym leaders, team star bosses, and titans means there still is an intended order like in the old linear games. So what if the gym leaders could be fought in any order and their teams would adjust to match the order you choose to challenge them in? I think the fairest way to do it is the leader's teams will be based on how many badges you have. So of you challenge Katy first her team will be relatively easy, but of you challenge her last, her team will be way better. I'm going to see if I can figure out what would be a good and challenging team composition for each gym leader no matter when you opt to challenge them.

In most games, the number of team members a gym leader has gradually increases as you move through them. I'll have the number of team members each leader has increase with the number of badges the player has. I'll have the 1st and 2nd leaders with 3 members, 3rd, 4th, and 5th with 4, and 6th-8th with 5 members. I will only use Pokemon available in base SV for this. Assume gym leader Pokemon will evolve at the appropriate levels

Katy is not the best showing of a bug specialist due to her choice of team and the general flaws of low-level bugs. I'm going to give her an upgrade. For her 1st leader team, I'm going to start by taking a page from Viola's book and give her a Surskit to keep the player from sweeping with a fire type and intimidate Masquerain is pretty good. Then, I'll give her Pineco to set up hazards on higher level teams and counter the bug-type's frailty. For her tera mon I guess Teddiursa works for the connection between bears and bugs. Plus on higher-level teams, Guts Ursaring with a flame orb hits hard and the line can learn fury cutter and gets decent coverage options. for her 3rd, 4th, and 5th leader teams I'll add Lokix to showcase a powerful Paldea bug. Finally, for her 6th-8th leader teams, she will get the generally excellent Heracross for a final team of intimidate Masquerain, Forretress, Lokix, Heracross, and guts Ursaring with a flame orb. For post-game rematches she can get Volcarona added to her roster.

Brassius's 1st leader team will have Capsakid to help counter bugs with fire moves and Deerling to use STAB normal moves to hit most types for neutral damage, plus jump kick for coverage and horn leech for recovery at higher levels. As for his tera mon, grass Sudowoodo is too perfect not to use so it stays. For his 3rd - 5th leader teams he will add Foongus for utility, poison, and Spore at higher levels. His final team member will be Arboliva to set up grassy terrain and help with a recovery-heavy fighting style. His final team will be Scovillain, Sawsbuck, Amoongus, Arboliva, and Sudowoodo. In post-game rematches he can add Rotom Mow.

Iono is one of the harder gym leaders, so she doesn't need much of an upgrade. Her first leader team will be Wattrel to dodge ground moves and Tadbulb for a defensive member. I love levitate Mismagius as her tera mon, so that can stay (though it may have to be a Misdreavus for early challenges). Starting at 3rd leader she will add Electrode to outspeed just about anything and explode if needed. Then her final member will be Magnezone, for being a generally amazing Pokemon. Her final team will be Kilowattrel, Bellibolt, Electrode, Magnezone, and Mismagius. Her rematch team can add Rotom Wash.

Kofu's team is a letdown following Iono, so I'm going to completely revamp him. He can start with Veluza (good in the early game and its filet away fits his chef theme) and Shellos to help counter electric types. His tera mon is going to be Pincurchin. Hear me out. It gets volt absorb to shut down electric types and can learn poison jab to counter grass types and even reversal to punch through steel. Plus, people do eat sea urchins and Kofu is a chef. His next team member will be aqua-breed Tauros, to showcase a new regional form. Finally, he can have Toxapex for toxic stalling for a final team of Veluza, Gastrodon, aqua Tauros, Toxapex, and Pincurchin. His rematch team can add Dondozo and maybe be a double battle that switches out Veluza for Tatsugiri to set up their gimmick.

Larry is one of the most memetic Pokemon characters but his team stinks. I'll start by giving him Tandemaus for multi-hit loaded dice shenanigans and Dunsparce for glare, ground coverage, and its evolution. For his tera mon, I do think the Starly line is a good choice for tying together his gym leader and E4 teams, it just needs a way better moveset. Next he will get Chansey for stalling and utility. His final member will be Oranguru to help counter fighting and because I think Larry would really empathize with it. His final team is Maushold, Dudunsparce, Blissey, Oranguru, and Staraptor. In the post-game he can add Slaking to that.

Ryme's team is pretty cool, so I don't need to change much. As the first leader she will have Mimikyu for disguise and fairy coverage, and Greavard as a new mon and general attacker. I do like Toxtricity as her tera mon for fitting her musician vibe and being able to dish out hyper voices and boombursts without hurting its partner. That being said, because Toxel's stats are abysmal even for baby Pokemon, maybe until Toxel evolves she can use an uproaring Squawkabilly to serve the same purpose. Her next team member can be Spiritomb (which isn't that powerful anymore since fairy is a thing now). Finally, she can have Gengar as a general ghost staple. Her final team will be Mimikyu, Houndstone (which should come out 2nd to last to take advantage of last respects), Spiritomb, Gengar, and Toxtricity. For the post-game she can have Dragapult.

Tulip utterly fails to uphold Sabrina's legacy as a powerhouse psychic-type leader. Let's fix that. Her first leader team will have Girafarig to counter ghosts and pure power Meditite to counter dark and represent her friendship with Dendra. For her tera mon, I kind of want to go with Tinkatink since that line has some great coverage to counter psychic's many weaknesses. Next she can get Flittle-Espathra and take a page from canon Geeta's book by having it be her lead and copying the player's setup with opportunist. Finally, she can get Bronzong to counter psychic's frail defenses with a steel-type. Plus Bronzor being a mirror fits Tulip being a model. Her final leader team (she actually was the final leader I fought in my first playthrough since I couldn't figure out how to get to her city) will be opportunist Espathra, Farigiraf, pure power Medicham, Bronzong, and Tinkaton. In the post-game she can get Gardevoir

Finally, we reach Grusha and Ice is a tricky one to make a good team for. I'm going to make his first leader team Sneasel for speed and coverage and Cetoddle as a bulky monster. His tera mon is tricky because nothing benefits from becoming ice type, but I'll give him Shellder because shell smash Cloyster is an absolute beast and has the physical bulk and water moves to maybe survive ice's weaknesses and fight back. Yes I know Cloyster is already ice-type but I gotta give him something good. Next he can have Crabominable to counter steel and rock. His final member will be Froslass to counter fighting. His final leader team will therefore be Weavile, Cetitan, Crabominable, Froslass, and Cloyster. In the post-game he can add Baxcalibur.

While this isn't a E4 post, I do want to mention a few fixes I'd make. Rika should lead Hippowdon to set up sandstorm (instead of waiting for a very frail Dugtrio to do it) and Toedscruel to counter water and use spore. I think Poppy is fine, but maybe a Klefki for prankster setup could be good. Larry needs to ditch Tropius and get almost anything else, maybe Noivern to counter electric. Hassel is fine, I just think his team could use some better strategy. However, I do have thoughts about fixing Geeta. I know she's not that impressive because Nemona is the real final boss of the victory road storyline, but they didn't have to do her that dirty. Therefore, I want to see how nuts I can go with her.

First of all, Glimmora is going first to set up toxic spikes. Maybe give it stone edge to double up on the hazard setting and a focus sash to ensure it gets at least two layers of toxic spikes up. Kingambit will be sent out last to take full advantage of supreme overlord. From there I think giving her a Cyclizar to mirror the player's raidon and set up shed tail shenanigans would be nice. I also think she should have a Goldengho since nobody else does and it would confirm to the player that there is a reason to go after all those coins. You may have noticed this team has a severe ground weakness and to counter that I'm giving her a Palafin who will flip turn out as soon as it shows up to set up zero to hero. For a final team member I think Annihilape is another powerhouse option. This leaves her team as Glimmora, Goldengho, Cyclizar, Palafin, Annihilape, and Kingambit. This also means her team is all Paldean mons, which I think is fitting as the champion is the representative of their region.

#pokemon #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon sv #gym leaders #gym leader katy #gym leader brassius #gym leader iono #gym leader kofu #gym leader larry #gym leader ryme #gym leader tulip #gym leader grusha #geeta #champion geeta

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