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rainbowwing251 · 4 years ago

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New World, Old Traditions (Xenoblade Chronicles Tickle Fic)

A/N: SURPRISE! I decided to write a shorter fic for the 1-year anniversary of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition!

While I couldn’t finish “WARNING: Beware of Grins” in time for the anniversary, I couldn’t stomach the idea of not doing anything for it. So I sat there, wondering if I could do anything to celebrate this milestone, when I thought to myself, “Hey! I should write a fic based on two of the headcanons that I have about the birthdays of the main party members in Xenoblade Chronicles!”

What are those two headcanons? Well, allow me to describe them to you!

Headcanon #1: The birthdays of each of the main party members correspond to a date that matches up with either one of two things:

The release date of a specific entry in the Xenoblade series, including ports.

A date on which major news for a specific entry in the Xenoblade series was announced. An example would be March 26th, the date of the Nintendo Direct Mini that announced the release date for XC:DE and the Future Connected epilogue that came with it.

While I would love to list off all of the birthdays, I don’t want this Author’s Note to drag on and on, so I’ll just list off the birthdays of the characters who will be the main stars of this fic.

#1- Shulk’s birthday is June 10th (the release date of the original Xenoblade Chronicles in Japan).

#2- Reyn’s birthday is March 26th. I already explained the significance of this date earlier, so I won’t repeat myself.

#3- Fiora’s birthday is May 29th (the release date of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, A.K.A today!)

If you want to know the birthdates of Dunban, Sharla, Melia, and Riki, let me know!

As for headcanon #2, this is what it is: Shulk, Reyn, and Fiora have a tradition of tickling each other on their birthdays. It doesn’t matter whose birthday it is, they will all get the chance to tickle each other. If you would like to learn more about this headcanon, check out this post!

Now that I have explained my two headcanons, I would like to give one last bit of information before we move on to the fic.

Normally, when I write a fic, Shulk is the lee. However, I wanted to try something different with this fic.

This time, it’s Fiora’s turn to be the lee. Shulk will be one of the two lers in this fic, the other being Reyn (though I suppose that’s obvious, given the fact that I told you my headcanon for Reyn’s birthdate). This is going to be fun to write.

Oh, and one last thing: There are major spoilers for Xenoblade Chronicles in this fic. Do not read this fic if you haven’t beaten the game yet.

Alright, I think it’s about time that we get to the fic. So without further ado, let’s go! Happy 1-year anniversary, Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition!

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When was the last time she had slept like this?

When was the last time she had a good night's rest with no nightmares or monsters to keep her up at night? When was the last time she dreamed of her friends and the wholesome mischief they would get themselves into? When was the last time she slept in in the morning?

And most importantly, when was the last time she had slept in her Homs body?

For months on end, she was afraid. Afraid of how others would view her in her mechanical body. Afraid that both her friends and brother would betray her. Afraid of losing control over herself once more (even though Meyneth was careful with her body, never putting it in harm's way). Afraid that at any moment, she would fall asleep forever.

But now… she was free. Free from the cold metal that once gave her a second chance at life. Free from the sorrow that filled her heart every time she thought about her shortening life span. Free from the emptiness that came with the inability to feel the physical touch of an organic life form. Free from the gods that once ruled the world.

She thanked them. She thanked everyone and everything that made her life as a Mechon more bearable. She thanked those who gave her the courage to fight on, even with the threat of Zanza and the constant feeling that death was coming for her.

But most of all, she thanked Shulk, Melia, and Linada for finding the Biotic Regeneration Device, the very machine that saved her life.

The sudden loss of her mechanical body meant that she could feel certain physical sensations again. She couldn’t remember the last time that she had felt hunger, thirst, or extreme fatigue. Sure, she had felt tired as a Mechon, but that paled in comparison to the exhaustion she had been feeling since the day that she woke up from the chamber. She hadn’t felt this tired since the day that her brother returned home from the Battle of Sword Valley.

She had felt this way for at least a week now. She knew that some of it came from all of the walking she did when she was tasked to find those who needed help with the reconstruction efforts in New Colony 9, but when she thought about all of the times that she had helped people in the old world prior to the Mechon raid on the old Colony 9, she knew that the majority of her fatigue came from an entirely different source.

She didn’t know for sure what the cause was, but she figured that it had something to do with the fact that she was in a mechanical body for months. She was still adjusting to the body she never thought she would be in again, so it wouldn’t surprise her if the fatigue went away on its own in about a month. For now, she would have to deal with the excessive amount of sleepiness.

Right now, she was asleep, burned out from her walks across the new yet all-so-familiar colony she called home. Normally, this wouldn’t be an issue with any of her companions. All of them knew that she was much more tired than she had ever been in her life, and they would usually let her be when she slept into the late hours of the morning.

However, today was a little bit different.

Today was Fiora’s birthday, and she had slept in. Shulk and Reyn were having none of this.

“What do you say we do to wake her up?” Reyn asked the former visionary.

“Hm… We could gently shake her until she wakes up, but she won’t be happy about that…”

“Should we spook her?”

“No! We are not doing that!”

“Sorry, sorry. Just wanted to propose an idea.”

Shulk glared at him for a bit before he put his hand on his chin in thought.

“Scaring her isn’t a good idea, but maybe we’ll have to do something that will jolt her awake…”

“Seems like it’s the only way to wake her these days…”

Reyn mulled over a possible solution. After a few seconds of silence between him and his closest friend, he was suddenly hit with an idea.

“Wait, I got it!”

“Oh dear Bionis… what is it, Reyn?” Shulk said, playfully teasing the older Hom.

“First of all, don’t give me that attitude,” He poked the younger male in the bicep, “second of all, do you remember a certain tradition that you, Fiora and I used to have?”

Shulk rummaged his brain for a memory that would provide the answer to the soldier’s question. Eventually, he found it.

“Are you talking about… that tradition?”

“Huh? Can you be more specific?” Reyn was a bit confused, not understanding the vagueness of the heir’s response, before he noticed the blush that was forming on his face.

“Oh, so you do remember that tradition?”

“Yeah…”

Reyn ruffled his hair before he asked him, “So what do you think? Should we do it?”

“It might work… And even if it doesn’t, we’ll tickle her anyway at some point in the day. Tradition and that.”

“So is that a yes?”

Shulk nodded and said, “Yeah, it’s a yes.”

The auburn-haired male gave him a thumbs up. “Alrighty then, let’s go and wake up Fiora!”

The two of them left the Weapons Development Lab and strolled through the streets of New Colony 9. As they walked by, Dunban, Sharla, Melia, and Riki all greeted them, asking if they could wish Fiora a “Happy Birthday” on their behalf (all four of them were busy with the reconstruction, and Dunban didn’t have the heart to wake his sister up from a well-deserved sleep). They told them that they would, and kept on walking.

Eventually, they arrived at Dunban’s House. Reyn went up to the front door and turned the knob. He wasn’t surprised to find that the door was unlocked. He quietly pushed the door open and tip-toed inside the house. He waited in the kitchen for a few seconds, listening for the blonde woman’s footsteps, before he turned to Shulk to tell him that she was still asleep. The scientist carefully stepped inside the room.

They sneaked up the stairs, careful to avoid the spots that made the steps creak, and found the young girl sleeping in the bed.

“Ready?” Reyn whispered to his fellow Hom.

“Ready.” He answered

The older male slowly lifted the blanket off of Fiora’s body, revealing that she was wearing a Dyed Top and Dyed Bottoms. She usually put these two pieces of clothing on when she was about to go to bed, and wore her normal outfit during the day.

Reyn looked over at Shulk and whispered, “You go for the knees, and I’ll go for the sides, alright?”

“Got it.” The heir whispered back.

Reyn carefully reached over to pull Fiora’s shirt up and slowly drifted his hands towards her sides, while Shulk made his fingers walk up to her knees.

As soon as their fingers made contact with her skin, they lightly wiggled them.

At first, she didn’t react to the touch, far too deep in her sleep to notice anything that came from the real world, but in ten seconds, she finally let out a couple of giggles.

“Hehehehe… Stahahahahahp…” She made an attempt to swat at the boys’ hands, but she didn’t put enough strength into the swats, and was therefore unable to stop the sensation.

Soon enough, her eyes fluttered open, still giggling at the sensation that was coursing through her body. Shulk and Reyn took their hands off of her as she drifted towards wakefulness.

“Shulk…? Reyn…?”

“Good morning, sleepy head!” Reyn sang, ruffling Fiora’s hair exactly like he did with Shulk’s back at the Weapons Development Lab.

“Hands off, you big oaf…~” She teased, earning a pout from the soldier and a laugh from the scientist.

“Happy Birthday, Fiora!” Shulk said, pulling her up into a sitting position before hugging her.

“Aw, thank you, Shulk!” She replied cheerfully, then turned her attention over to Reyn.

“No, Fiora, I didn’t forget your birthday this year.” Reyn said with a faint blush and an exasperated tone.

Fiora had every reason to doubt him. Normally, Reyn would forget about her birthday for at least half of the day before someone would remind him.

“Heheheh… I don’t believe you one bit- ah!” Fiora was about to sass her muscular friend, but she was cut off by Shulk pushing her onto the bed.

“You can laugh at him later, Fiora. For now, we have a tradition to attend to.”

He quickly lost the former Mechon, “What? What are you talking about?”

“What? You don’t remember our old tradition?” A tinge of dismay flashed across Reyn’s face, but in a split second, it had vanished. “What do you think, Shulk? Should we help her remember?”

The younger blonde nodded as a smirk grew on his lips. “Yeah, let’s do it!”

Reyn was about to tickle her underarms, but Shulk stopped him.

“Hang on, do you know how long we’re supposed to tickle her?”

Fiora heard that second-to-last word and immediately began to panic. “Wait, what did you say?”

Reyn ignored her (as did Shulk) and answered the heir’s question. “Yeah, she’s nineteen years old now, so we’ll tickle her for nineteen minutes, correct?”

“You got it! Now, are you ready?”

“You bet I am! Let’s bring this tradition back!”

Fiora could only squirm and giggle as Reyn grabbed her wrists and pinned them down with his left hand. Meanwhile, Shulk sat down on her legs and moved his body until he knew for sure that his weight would keep her legs pinned.

“Nohohoho, guhihihihihiys!”

Shulk tsked at her and slipped into his role as a ler, “You should save your breath, Fiora, because you’re going to need it~”

The unexpected tease from the former visionary was the last thing she heard before she was suddenly attacked by two pairs of hands. One pair went for her underarms, while the other snuck up her shirt and pinched at her ribs.

“Ahahahahahahaha! Nohohohohohohohoho!” She quickly fell into a laughing fit and tried her hardest to pull her arms down. Unfortunately, Reyn’s grip was far too strong, so she had no choice but to surrender herself to the tickles. Even worse, while she made her attempt to escape, the soldier took advantage of the situation and sped up the tickling every time she stretched her arms out.

“Eep! Reheheheheheyn, stahahahahahahap! Lehehehehehet mehehehe gohohohoho!”

“Sorry, Fiora, but you’re out of luck. There’s still eighteen minutes to go~!”

Fiora squealed as the older male raked his fingers back and forth in her underarms and teased her at the same time. Since when did he become an intimidating tickle monster?

Knowing that she was helpless under Reyn’s hold, she decided to focus her efforts on her legs. Shulk was a bit weaker than Reyn, so she figured that it would be easy for her to knock him off. She laughed and laughed for another two minutes before she made an attempt at lifting her right leg.

However, as soon as she tried to lift it, Shulk countered her by launching an all-out attack on her knees.

“Oh no you don’t! You’re not getting away from us~!”

“Whahahahahahahaha! Sihihihihihihihihincehehehehe whehehehehehen dihihihihi yohohohou gehehehehet sohohohoho bohohohohohold?”

“Trust me, if Reyn wasn’t here, I wouldn’t be doing this right now. But since he’s here with me, I’m feeling rather brave.” He moved his right hand to the back of her right knee and began to scratch at the spot, while his left hand skittered across her left kneecap. “Soon, you will fear me~!”

The teasing and tickling from the youngest member of the group nearly broke the helpless woman underneath him.

“Ihihihihihihihihi’m nohohohohohohohot ahahahahahfraihihihihihihid ohohohohohof yohohohoHOHOHO! REHEHEHEHEHEYN, NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!” Reyn broke the laughter dam within her by blowing raspberries into her neck.

“No? No what? What am I doing wrong, Fiora~? Tell me!”

“QUIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIT THEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE RAHAHAHAHAHAHAHASPBEHEHEHEHEHEHERRIHIHIHIHIES!”

Reyn let out a chuckle, “Sorry, what did you say? I can’t understand you!”

“YOHOHOHOHOHOHOU KNOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOW WHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHT IHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHI SAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHID!”

Shulk shook his head and made his hands jump up to her sides. “Fiora, Reyn doesn’t speak ticklish.”

“Yeah, I don’t understand the ticklish language! I haven’t even studied it, yet!”

Fiora’s mind was about to be lost in the raging river of laughter that spilled from her mouth.

“SHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUT IHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIT!” She accidentally yelled.

Reyn stopped tickling her and put his hand over his heart in mock offense, while Shulk let out an exaggerated gasp and sped his tickling up to the max.

“Fiora! That wasn’t necessary! Shulk, I think we need to punish this rude little birthday girl!”

“I agree, Reyn, but we should save the punishment for the last five minutes. That will straighten her out for sure!”

Fiora had never shivered at Shulk’s words before, but even though all of the tickling, she felt a powerful chill run down her spine.

“WHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAT DOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOES THAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAT MEHEHEHEHEHEAN, SHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHULK?!”

The scientist let out the most threatening laugh she had ever heard from him in her life, “You’ll see~” Then he zipped his hands onto her stomach, releasing a shriek from the back of her throat.

“EEEEE! STAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAP IHIHIHIHIHIHIHIT! STAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAP!” She was getting dangerously close to breaking as she endured the barrage of tummy tickles that rained down upon her.

“Ten minutes left, Reyn! Don’t let up just yet!”

“Got it, but we might want to slow it down so Fiora can breathe!”

“Good idea. If my hypothesis is correct, her laughter will turn silent in two minutes, so we should ease up on her so that doesn’t happen.”

Reyn had to laugh at that. Even when he’s tickling someone to death, Shulk would always find a way to be geeky. Fiora probably laughed at that too, but right now, it was impossible to differentiate between her normal laugh and her tickle laugh.

The two boys slowed their fingers down until they were only tracing over her skin, and although she was tittering, she was able to take a dozen, much-needed breathers.

“Yohohohou guys ahahahahare much mohohohohore ehehehvil than Ihihihi thohohohought…”

Reyn took this moment to revel in her words, “Don’t mess with this tickle monster! You’ll regret it when you do, right Fiora?”

Fiora did her best to give him a death stare, but only succeeded in making herself look silly (if Reyn laughing at her was anything to go by).

As per usual, Shulk took the smart route and just facepalmed at Reyn’s behavior.

“That’s a dangerous thought process, Reyn. Don’t forget that she can dish out punishments more dangerous than Zanza.”

That got a shocked response out of the other male, “You sure about that? I don’t think a tickle monster would have anything on a god!”

“I didn’t defeat Zanza on my own, Reyn! Fiora helped, and so did you and the others!”

Reyn wanted to argue back, but found that he couldn’t. Shulk had a point.

“Anyway, we have five minutes left, and you know what that means~”

“Dear Bionis! How did he transition back into his role so effortlessly?!” Well Shulk was right, Fiora would learn to fear him at some point. If he can return to the role of a ler in no time flat, then she would be terrified to know how he would act if he was playing the role of a tickle monster.

“Ohoho, I’ve been waiting for this! Ready for the grand finale, Fiora~?” Reyn asked with an unnervingly innocent tone in his voice.

“N-nohohohoho!”

“Well too bad!” Reyn nearly shouted out at her. He made his hands hover over her neck, while Shulk had his hands over her hips.

“This is part of the tradition, Fiora. When we reach the five-minute mark, we will target the lee’s worst spots until this time is up. We will not make any exceptions, no matter how much you protest against us or beg for us to reconsider.” Shulk explained to her in the most nonchalant and calm voice she had ever heard from the former visionary. The voice was so haunting that even Reyn was shuddering in fear.

“Now, any last words before you meet your end~?” He asked her. Silence was the only thing he got in response.

“Nothing? Very well, then. Reyn, on the count of three.”

“A-alright then…”

Shulk looked over and raised an eyebrow at his slight stutter before he returned his attention to the poor woman beneath him.

“Three.” The two of them brought their hands closer to her in perfect sync with each other.

“Two.” They finally made contact with her skin.

“One.” Fiora was once again in an anticipatory giggle fit.

“Now!” All hell broke loose.

At long last, Fiora broke under the intense tickling that shook her to the core.

“NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO! WHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIY WOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOULD YOHOHOHOHOHOHOU GUHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIYS DOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO THIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIS?!”

Reyn was going to answer her, but Shulk butted in and only said the word, “Tradition.”

They both knew that any further teasing would send the former Face unit into a fit of silent laughter, so they stayed silent for the remaining five minutes. The only sound that could be heard in the house was Fiora’s uncontrollable laughter.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity to her, they let up. The tickling abruptly ended, Reyn let go of her wrists, and Shulk got off of her legs.

She laid there, chest heaving up and down as she struggled to regain her composure, while the scientist checked on her legs.

“Can you feel this, Fiora?” he asked as he squeezed her leg in a way that would not be painful or tickly.

“Yes… I can... feel it.” She told him in between breaths.

“You alright?” Reyn questioned her. “Feeling woozy?”

“No, I’m… fine.”

All three of them sat there in near-silence as Fiora’s breathing returned to normal. When it did, she spoke.

“That was impressive. I didn’t think you two had it in you to tickle and tease me like that.”

Reyn objected, “Hey, I’ve had that potential for years! If there’s anyone you should be impressed by, it would be him!” He pointed at Shulk, “I had no idea he could speak like that! It creeped me out!”

The younger boy couldn’t help the prideful smile on his face. “I learned it from watching and listening to all of you guys.”

“So that’s why you sounded like Melia towards the end there!” Fiora exclaimed, “I was trying to figure that out!”

“Oh, uh… That wasn’t intentional.” Shulk professed, feeling slightly embarrassed. He often imitated those that he loved on an unconscious level, and apparently, that’s exactly what he did when he teased Fiora.

“Sure it wasn’t.” she countered.

“Hey guys,” Reyn spoke up, “I think we should go and find the others. They might need help with the reconstruction.”

Fiora was a little concerned about the possibility of them working all day today, considering what day it was. “Do you think we’ll have time to celebrate my birthday today?”

“I think so,” he answered, “They told us to tell you that they said ‘Happy Birthday’, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they thought about that.”

“Oh! Well, I think we should go and find them so we can talk about it! Just give me a few minutes to change!”

“Okay then! Shulk and I will be downstairs waiting!” He turned to the other boy, only to find him staring at the bottom of the staircase.

“Shulk?” He didn’t get an answer.

Reyn didn’t notice it (or perhaps he might have forgotten it), but Shulk knew what was coming next. According to the tradition, once the birthday boy/girl was free from his or her tickle session, then…

“But first…” Yep, he called it.

He turned around and found that she was still sitting on the bed, looking at him and Reyn with an evil glint in her eyes. He knew what was coming.

“W-what?” Reyn stammered out. He was about to turn and make a run for it, but Fiora’s reflexes were too fast, and she caught his arm before he even had the chance to take a single step away from her.

“If I remember correctly, it’s your turn to be tickled.”

The soldier’s eyes widened, “W-wait, so you DO remember our tradition?”

“Yep, I was just pretending to not know about it. I’ll admit, the results I got from that were surprising,” She glanced at the younger Hom, who was as still as a statue, “...but I knew that the reveal would rile you guys up. I know that this will make you ten times more ticklish, so I figured that I would go for it.”

She got up off of the bed and tugged at Reyn’s arm, trying to pull him onto the spot that she was in mere minutes ago. “Shulk, can you help me?”

“On it.”

In no time at all, Reyn’s laughter would fill the home. After that, it would be Shulk’s turn.

They may be in a new world, but they knew that they would adjust to it just fine, because even though everything has changed, the past would never be forgotten.

#tickling #xenoblade chrontickles #lee!Fiora #ler!Shulk #ler!Reyn #SURPRISE MOTHERFUCKER I WROTE A NEW FIC!#okay that was a bit over the top #but seriously I'm really proud of this fic #WARNING: Beware of Grins is still in the works #but for now I think this fic will suffice #happy one year anniversary XC:DE!#I still haven't played the base game yet #but I did beat Future Connected last year #hence why I mentioned the Bionis Shoulder in my Silver Linings from Silver Eyes fic #I would like to play the base game #but I don't think I'll be able to spend a good amount of time on it due to college #oh well I'll get to it at some point #for now I'll just continue the Sword & Shield DLC and work on the Crown Tundra #I started that a few days ago

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back-to-louis · 7 years ago

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Since I'm not familiar with the band friendships, when all five of them were in the band, would you have a guess as to which two members hung out the most outside of work, based off of either just actual photo evidence or just maybe stories they share? I'm sure they're all fairly close, but there's always a pair that really is more of friend-buddies than work-buddies, if that makes any sense.

Based off of direct things they've said and stories they've told, I feel the time line was sort of like:Harry and Louis hit it off immediately. Zayn and Louis met at boot camp and became friends as well. Niall and Liam were roommates at boot camp. When they were put into One Direction it was Louis who went and picked up Zayn at his home to drive him to Robin's bungalow where the boys began to bond, and they became closer on the drive, having found a lot in common as Yorkshire lads with a billion baby sisters between them. Niall loved Louis immediately.Liam and Zayn bonded immediately over personality type and love of the same type of music. Louis and Liam initially clashed over their respective visions for leading the band. Harry and Zayn initially clashed bc (????).When they lost the x factor but were given a recording contract Harry and Louis decided to live together. Zayn says, of this time, that Louis was pretty much always at his place. He also says (getting fuzzy here) that initially Harry and Louis were closest and after that it was him and Louis, and after that Liam and Louis. Liam and Louis say of this time that while they were initially wary they eventually agreed on how to share leadership of the band and tension between them slowly dissolved. Liam and Zayn remained close. Liam declares Niam is real.Louis broke up with gf Hannah and started dating Eleanor, moved out from his shared flat with Harry. Harry became good friends with Nick Grimshaw and hangs out with him often. Eleanor and Liam's gf Danielle became very good friends and this was reflected in Liam's and Louis' increased closeness. Danielle seemed both aware and okay with the fact that Louis was known to frequently give Liam "love bites" when she is not around.Louis and Harry are increasingly pestered about Larry and Louis states that the rumors have affected them to the point that they have reduced their public interactions. They both deny Larry on camera. Louis plaintively asks Zayn for a heart to heart over Twitter after denying Larry there.The boys start songwriting more for TMH, including Zilo collabs like Back For You, about missing their girlfriends while on tour. Louis recruits 5SoS to open for them and he and Harry become close with the lads and they all hang out together, but it's Louis and LIAM who together would own the 5sos trademark. Louis and Harry are seen together in public on a non-working related outing for the last time. Nouis banter becomes a thing during the TMH tour and they play off and with one another incredibly well. Zayn eats a candied thong off of Harry's dick. [Sorry I'm sure I'm missing zarry and narry and Niam significant moments here but they weren't my focus so I apologize!!]This Is Us is released, and in it Louis and Liam talk about how they have grown from frenemies into close friends. Lilo go shopping together in Japan. Zilo go out for a day in Amsterdam and are trapped there by fans. Harry picks Niall's nose, which has me feeling some kind of a way, but they also share adorable banter. Zarry hold hands, legit, for real. Zayn gets engaged to Perrie and admits that Louis was the first one of the boys he told. Liam and Danielle break up.The boys co-write together more for Midnight Memories and Lilo emerge as the main songwriting pair of the band. Zilo (in all combinations) become a prominent personality clique onstage. Eleanor and Liam's new gf Sophia become good friends and the four of them spend time together. Louis says of this time that he and Liam connected "big time," that "[they've] really clicked." Louis and Zayn commission the Mystery Machine, a private van haven souped up with video games and water speakers for external intruders that the other boys are expressly forbidden from entering.Four! More Lilo co-writes, and Harry solo compositions. And the WWA tour. Quite fuzzy on the WWA tour because: zayn and Louis spend increasing time together and travel separately from the band. The weed video is leaked. They take a trip together and return to a set list change to Stockholm Syndrome, a song to which neither of them know the words. Fandom (and larries) start to fret over what they believe to be an OT4 vs Harry division, fueled by articles in The Sun (that are mostly denied by Ben Winston).Zayn leaves the tour, and then the band. From the reactions of the others and Louis' admission, it is likely that at the time he was closest to Zayn in the band. Eleanor and Louis break up, and in the midst of it, Lilo spend Valentines Day together. Louis and Liam become (or become more of) menaces onstage, Louis rips liam's shirt open, they almost kiss, they banter about it. They take four million selfies together and only share a handful. Niall is lad, and Liam will never be allowed to be. The tour ends and Harry and Louis hug onstage for the first time since the end of the Up All Night tour.I honestly only meant to be like, "Idk I guess it went Larry --> Zouis --> lilo --> zilo/nouis/narry??? Niam???" and it turned into this and I'm so so sorry wow what a mess

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ciathyzareposts · 5 years ago

Text

Game 349: Dragon Warrior (1986)

But does he possess the Power of the Glow?

Dragon Warrior

AKA Dragon Quest (original Japanese title)

Japan

Chunsoft (developer), Enix (publisher)

Released 1986 for MSX and NES (Japan); English version released for NES in 1989

Date Started: 22 November 2019

Date Ended: 30 November 2019

Total Hours: 17

Difficulty: Moderate (3/5), adjustable based on how much you grind

Final Rating: (to come later)

Ranking at time of posting: (to come later)

Dragon Warrior tells the tale of a hero out to defeat an enemy called the Dragonlord. You have to visit two small castles, six small cities, and four small dungeons to collect a series of clues and items necessary to make your way to the Dragonlord and beat him in combat. The whole enterprise takes about an hour.

Oh, except for the grinding. Which took another goddamned sixteen hours. Before I played Dragon Warrior, I thought I knew what it meant to “grind.” I thought I’d done it, in fact, in games like The Bard’s Tale and Wizard’s Crown. I thought it could be kind of fun, allowing you to test out various attack and spell options that you might otherwise have neglected. I even opined on several occasions that I preferred games with a bit of grinding. All of that was before Dragon Warrior held me down and robbed me of my innocence.

Get used to this screen.

The basic setup of Dragon Warrior is that you start at a castle. Around the castle are slimes that earn you one hit point and one experience point. Eventually, you have to explore the entire land for the items and clues that will lead you to the endgame. This would only take you about one hour if there were no enemies. But the farther you get away from the castle, the harder the enemies become. At first, you care only about simple survival around the castle and its closest town, Brecconary. Soon, you reach a high enough level that those enemies are no longer a problem, but at that point you have to worry about surviving a trip through the ghosts and magicians that haunt the path to Garinham. Once that’s accomplished, you have to get good enough to defeat the scorpions and skeletons blocking the way to Kol. Every time you start to feel like a badass, the game rudely reminds you that some new, tougher pack of enemies is hovering just over the horizon.

Alefgard, looking a lot like Britannia except that the enemy’s castle is on Buccaneer’s Den.

Except for the imbalance between gameplay and grinding, Dragon Warrior plays a lot like (and was clearly inspired by) an early Ultima. We’ve got a game world shaped almost exactly like Britannia from Ultima IV, including the position of the castle and first town. We have an iconographic interface. We have a Lord British-like king, a Mondain-like enemy, and a bunch of NPCs in between who offer one-line clues. Beyond this, the developers added some original elements, but not enough to make up for the sheer number of hours that you have to spend fighting slimes.

The backstory is mildly amusing, starting with its redundant opening words: “In olden days of yore.” The realm of Alefgard was once cloaked in darkness–a darkness lifted when a brave warrior named Erdrick defeated “an evil being.” To accomplish this feat, “he used balls of light.” You might guess that the source of these magnificent balls was supernatural or heavenly, but no, they were simply “bequeathed to him by a friend.” When the balls had done their work, Erdrick gave them to King Lorick, who brought peace to the land. But during the reign of King Lorik XVI, the evil Dragonlord stole the balls of light from Tantegel Castle, “and once again the kingdom of Alefgard was plunged into darkness.” Enter the hero.

“Right now. This minute. Like, the moment you press START on your controller.”

Character creation consists only of a name; everyone begins with 3 strength, 3 agility (speed), 15 hit points, 0 magic points, 3 attack power, and 1 defense power.

“Character creation.”

You and your GCLM start in Castle Tantegel (obviously a reference to Tintagel in Cornwall), speaking with King Lorik XVI, who does three things for you throughout the game. First, he tells you how many experience points you need for your next level. Second, he saves the game for you. The throne room is the only place you can save, which is a restriction I don’t mind and even encourage. Third, he resurrects you when you die, although it costs half your gold.

I thought it was balls of light. Plural.

From the moment you leave Tantagel, you can see the Dragonlord’s castle, Charlock, across the bay. Most of the non-grinding part of the game involves reaching his castle, made difficult because the world of Alefgard apparently has no boats.

Castle Tantagel, Brecconary, and Castle Charlock.

To reach Charlock’s island, you have to use something called the “Rainbow Drop” to create a bridge from another nearby island. The Rainbow Drop is a fusion of the Stones of Sunlight (which are different from the Balls of Light, apparently) and the Staff of Rain, and the old wizard who performs this fusion will only do so if you find Erdrick’s Token and thus prove that you’re a descendant of Erdrick. Both the Staff of Rain and the Stones of Sunlight have a couple of precursor quests, but in general you get the idea. NPC clues lead you most of the way.

The end result of most of the games items and clues.

There’s at least one major side-quest in the game, although come to think of it, I’m not sure how it can be a side quest. It involves the rescue of the king’s daughter, Princess Gwaelin, from a green dragon in a dungeon. You’d think her kidnapping would be important enough to mention in the backstory, but the manual doesn’t include it. It’s not a tough battle after Level 10 or so; later, green dragons appear liberally as random encounters.

The dragon and princess.

The rescued princess professes her love for the hero and gives him an item called “Gwaelin’s Love.” Whatever it is, it allows him to communicate with her from anywhere in the game, and she takes over Lorik’s responsibility of telling the hero how many experience points he needs for the next level. She also tells him where he is in respect to the castle, which I thought was fairly useless information until I got a clue to find Erdrick’s Token 70 leagues south and 40 leagues east of the castle. Still, I feel like I could have figured out the location without Gwaelin’s coordinates, so it makes me wonder what prevents me from winning the game without having rescued Gwaelin first. Since she shows up in the endgame, I assume something does.

I feel like I could have accomplished this by just counting steps.

Other than Erdrick’s Sword, which is found in Charlock, this is all you need to defeat the enemy mechanically. Defeating him functionally is a different story. You can’t hope to reach him, let alone defeat him, unless you’re at least Level 18. I defeated him at Level 19, but it took me four tries and I was abusing save states to “reload.”

This is where the grinding comes in. Level 19 requires 22,000 experience points, and if all you did was walk from city to city picking up clues and items, and then make your way to the Dragonlord, you’d only earn about 1,000 experience points from the random combats along the way. The other 21,000 experience points you must seek out for yourself.

The hustle and bustle of a typical Dragon Warrior town.

Combat comes upon you randomly as you wander across the landscape or through (most) dungeons, and it is more akin to Wizardry than Ultima. You only ever face one enemy at a time. He might surprise you and get a free attack, but otherwise combat begins with your options to fight, cast a spell, flee, or use an item. Running works often enough to get you out of a tight spot, but not so often that you can use it to pass through areas far above your level. The few items that you can use in combat stop being useful after the early levels. So most of the time, you’re fighting or casting.

Fighting does a modest amount of damage based on your strength and weapon. Occasionally, you get lucky with a critical hit or (as the game has it) “excellent move.” Occasionally, the enemy parries entirely.

Most of the strategy of combat, to the extent that it has any, is in the few spells. You acquire them in stages as you level up. “Heal” comes at Level 3 and greatly extends your ability to grind in between inn stops (resting at inns is the only way to restore all health and magic). “Hurt” (Level 4) harms enemies, and “Sleep” (Level 7) puts them to sleep for at least one round. “Stopspell” (Level 10) negates enemy magic, and “Healmore” (Level 17) and “Hurtmore” (Level 19) are super-powered versions of their weaker cousins.

Fighting a harder enemy late in the game. I had him under a “Sleep” spell, but he woke up at the last hit.

“Sleep” is pretty useful from the moment you acquire it, and if you’re lucky it will put enemies to bed for enough rounds that you can hack them to death. The problem is that when you’re grinding for a handful of experience points at a time, quantity is more important than quality. You want to stay in areas where you don’t have to resort to “tactics”–where you can just hold down the “Fight” option and plow through them. This means that for the first hour, you’re killing slimes, red slimes, and occasionally “drakees” around the castle for 1-2 experience points each.

Once you hit Level 5 (110 experience points), you can make it to the city of Garinham without dying. Then you’re stuck battling ghosts, magicians, and “magidrakees” at 3-5 experience points each for a couple of hours until, say, Level 8. From there, you move to the city of Kol, which is surrounded by skeletons and scorpions with 6-11 experience points each. By Level 12 (4000 experience), you can survive for long periods of time on the large southern island (accessible through a dungeon), where warlocks, wolves, werewolves, wolflords, and wyverns occupy you for 13-40 points each.

The first level-up.

The far southern parts of the map are swarming with enemies capable of casting high-level spells. They include wraith knights, starwyverns, magiwyverns, green dragons, axe knights, and demon knights. The most valuable has maybe 70 experience points. I never reached a point where I was comfortable mindlessly grinding through this lot, but after you pass Level 13, you have the “Return” spell, which automatically warps you back to the safety of the castle, so you can afford to take more risks. I finished the game at Level 19 with 22,500 experience points, but it goes all the way to Level 30 and 65,535 experience points. Who in the world would take it that high?

Leveling up has a palpable effect on combat difficulty, with each new level contributing a boost in strength, agility, maximum hit points, maximum magic points, and perhaps a new spell. But you’re not just grinding for the experience. You’re also grinding for the gold, so you can buy improved equipment. (There are a handful of chests in the game, but not enough to deliver significant gold rewards.) Early in the game, you earn gold at a rate of about 1 for every 2 experience points, but against higher-level enemies the ratio reverses, and soon you’re earning double the amount of gold as experience.

The paltry selection in the first town.

Gold is used to purchase weapons, which go in this order: bamboo pole (10 gold), club (60), copper sword (180), hand axe (560), broad sword (1500), and flame sword (9800). Armor progresses as follows: clothes (10), leather armor (70), chain mail (300), half plate (1000), full plate (3000), and magic armor (7700). Shields are small (90), large (800), and silver (14800). As you upgrade, the shop will give you half the value of your current items back to you, but it won’t let you buy the new item until you have enough gold without considering the buy-back. So when you go to upgrade from chain mail to half plate, the shop will offer 150 for the chain mail, but you can only make the offer when you have the 1000 needed for half plate on its own, not 850.

At first, I thought it would be a constant mental struggle whether to buy the next incremental upgrade or hold out for a higher level. For instance, do you bother to upgrade from chain mail to half plate, or just save your gold until you can go to full plate? But you can’t really move on until you have enough experience anyway, and getting to the requisite experience levels generally means that you have enough gold to hit every incremental improvement along the way. The only purchase that I felt was wasted was the magic armor, as I found “Erdrick’s Armor” shortly after I bought it. Erdrick’s Armor heals you 1 hit point every step you take and protects you against damage from swamps and magic barriers, and in an replay or walkthrough-assisted game, it would be worth a suicide mission, running from as many enemies as possible, as soon as you can plausibly hope to reach it.

The game has a few other usable items that are fairly clever. Dragon’s scales raise your defense temporarily; fairy water prevents enemies from attacking for short periods; herbs restore hit points; and wings cast the “Return” spell and warp you back to the castle. You also have to buy magic keys to fully explore the interiors of towns and dungeons.

Once I had the necessary items and Erdrick’s Armor, which generally assured I could reclaim my hit points between battles without wasting magic points, I decided to take on Castle Charlock. The first level has a throne but no occupant, and I had to fiddle around with search options to find a hidden staircase behind the throne.

My armor protects me against the magic barriers as I approach an empty throne.

Below the hidden stairs are eight dungeon levels, one of which has a chest holding Erdrick’s Sword. Fortunately, I found it before meeting the Dragonlord because I understand it’s necessary to kill him, yet I don’t recall getting any clue to that effect.

That was lucky.

The bottom level is a large one, but you ultimately encounter the Dragonlord in his “real” throne. He immediately offers you a deal: “To share this world and to rule half of it if thou will now stand beside me.” Of course I had to say yes the first time. He replied: “Really? [I think I had to say “yes” again.] Then half of this world is thine, half of the darkness, and . . . if thou dies, I can bring thee back for another attempt without loss of thy deeds to date. Thy journey is over. Take now a long, long rest. Hahahahaha . . . .” The screen turned red and the game was over.

I’m not really sure what happened there, but I think there was a glitch. “Without loss of thy deeds to date” is text from the king’s offer to save your game. I suspect something else was supposed to appear there that made it clear the Dragonlord was betraying me. Or else it was an ironic echo of the king’s offer.

I mean, I would like to take a long rest. But the “hahahahaha” part makes me suspicious.

Either way, I reloaded and said no. A battle against the Dragonlord commenced and ended after three rounds. But then, “The Dragonlord revealed his true self!” and turned into a dragon. I’d like to say this was a major plot twist, but he kind of gave it away by calling himself “Dragonlord.”

It turns out he’s kind of racist.

The dragon Dragonlord was much tougher, and as I mentioned above, it took me four tries to beat him. The issue was mostly that I needed to cast “Healmore” every two rounds, and eventually I would run out of magic points. (No other spells seem to work in battle against him.) If I had been playing without save states, waking up in the castle at every loss, I would have spent another few hours grinding. As it was, I just kept trying until I got a luckier sequence of random numbers where I only had to “Healmore” every three rounds instead of every two. That left me enough attacks in between to slice away his hit points.

Once he was dead: “Thou hast done well in defeating the Dragonlord. Thou hast found the Ball of Light. [I still want to know what happened to the other ones.] Across the land spreads the brilliance until all shadows are banished and peace is restored.”

Was the Ball of Light really necessary as a plot point?

I was teleported back to the castle, where the king said that the legends were true and I was the “line of Erdrick.” He offered me his throne, but the game had me automatically decline. “If ever I am to rule a country,” Chester said, channeling Conan, “It must be a land that I myself find.” One wonders how he’ll “rule” a place that has no other people, but we’ll let it go for now.

“I will have my own kingdom, my own queen.”

Gwaelin immediately volunteered herself as a companion on my journey. (Honestly, I didn’t mean to suggest I was leaving today.) The game offered me “yes” and “no” options, but if I said “no,” Gwaelin responded, “But thou must!” and I got the “choice” again. So I made her happy by accepting. “And thus the tale comes to an end . . . unless the dragons return again.”

Which they will, at least 12 times, in the main series alone.

There was a nice animation of some trumpeters playing before the final screen. That puts me in mind to talk about the game music. Because I haven’t otherwise focused much on music, I don’t know what game first introduced the idea of multiple background themes for each major division of gameplay, including outdoor exploration, town exploration, dungeon exploration, and combat. The first that I can remember is Ultima IV, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Sugiyama took his musical cues from Kenneth Arnold. But where Arnold’s compositions are mostly homophonic, with one clear melody line supported by complementary chords, Sugiyama’s uses a complex polyphony (multiple melodies operating at once). I thought the complexity was utterly lost on the era hardware, but I admired it nonetheless. Of course, I turned it off after a few minutes, as usual, because I don’t like repetitive background music no matter how much I admire the counterpoint.

The winning screen.

As for the rest of the game, I found it trite and boring. The running-around-looking-for-clues portion is no more advanced than we saw in the original Ultima five years earlier, but instead of making a 6-hour game out of what they had, the developers of Dragon Warrior bulked things up with a lot of tedious grinding. However, the game is undoubtedly an RPG. It is probably the earliest console RPG (available in English, anyway) that we don’t have to qualify with prefixes like “quasi-” and “proto-.” On my GIMLET, it earns:

2 points for a basic, uncomplicated game world.

3 points for character creation and development. Character creation is nothing, but development is rewarding enough–the one thing other than sound that’s more advanced here than in early Ultima.

My character sheet a little more than halfway through the game.

4 points for NPCs. This is the earliest JRPG that I can remember to include a healthy number of clue-givers and lore-speakers.

NPCs offer a lot of one-line hints.

2 points for encounters. Enemies aren’t much differentiated except for those with spell abilities and those without. There are no non-combat encounters.

2 points for magic and combat, both fairly primitive.

3 points for equipment. The linear progression of weapons and armor is balanced by some creative usable items.

4 points for the economy. It lacks complexity, but it sure does remain relevant for most of the game.

3 points for quests. In addition to the main quest, there are a few side areas. Notably, I forgot to follow a clue to a “Warrior’s Ring” that might have helped.

This should be standard in RPGs, but without the subsequent betrayal.

4 points for graphics, sound, and interface. I don’t like the graphics of this era in general. I would prefer the smooth, crisp lines and distinct colors of pure abstract iconography over the early console era’s attempts to depict complex things with limited hardware. (Graphics are credited to Akira Toriyama, better known as the creator of Dragon Ball.) The sound is occasionally fun but not in any way atmospheric. The console controls, infantile as they are, work reasonably well for the limited number of commands the game offers.

When you’re bringing the princess home, the icon changes to show you carrying the princess–which is just a bit too difficult to convey using the graphics capabilities of the system.

2 points for gameplay. Too linear, not replayable, and too long. I wouldn’t say it’s “too hard,” because that depends on how long you make it, but even for a moderate level of difficulty, it’s too long.

That gives us a final score of 29, which is below my recommended threshold but in some ways still high given its place as the first incontestable console RPG. I could see it whetting a player’s appetite for RPGs, like Questron did for me, without being a great RPG itself.

Kurt Kalata covers the history of Dragon Warrior–or more properly Dragon Quest, as it’s known in Japan–in an article at GamaSutra. Developers Yuji Horii and Koichi Nakamura attended the 1985 Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco and were enchanted with Wizardry and Ultima but deliberately decided to simplify Wizardry‘s combat mechanics for the average console player. (I find it amusing that the “dumbing down” of console games, often argued by computer game partisans and contested by console partisans, is directly confirmed by the accounts of early console developers.)

In Japan, sales were slow but ultimately developed quite well. The 1989 North American release (the one that I played) featured some upgrades from the original, including the hero’s icon changing to match direction of travel and a battery save rather than a password save. It sold poorly and got mediocre reviews, as much more complex games had come along in the intervening period, but the game’s enduring fame was assured when Nintendo Power started giving free copies to subscribers.

The name change in North America was due to the’ tabletop RPG DragonQuest (originally a competitor to Dungeons and Dragons but acquired by TSR in 1989), but I’ll revert to the original title in discussing the future. Dragon Quest II came out in 1987 for the MSX and NES (North American release in 1990) and Dragon Quest III a year later (North American release in 1992). Each stepped up the complexity of inventory, economy, and combat, and most of all allowed for multiple characters in the party and multiple enemies in combat. After that, the public got a new Dragon Quest game every two-to-five years, culminating in Dragon Quest XI in 2017. Dragon Quest XII is currently under development. The main series has kept the same primary team of developers throughout its history.

A spinoff series called Dragon Quest Monsters started in 1998 (last release in 2016), heavily inspired by Pokémon. The Mystery Dungeon series (1993-2006) were a quartet of roguelikes based on Dragon Quest characters and themes. One common enemy in the Dragon Quest environment, Slime, got an action-adventure series between 2003 and 2011. There were also board games, card games, manga, novels, and anime. The main series has continued to enjoy western releases, and Enix has been able to use the original title since 2003, when they registered Dragon Quest in the United States with no objections from the then-owners of the DragonQuest copyright, Wizards of the Coast.

I think only the most recent release, Dragon Quest XI, is on my official list, as it’s the only one to appear on the computer as well as the console. We’ll see if I ever reach it or get to any of the others. This week, Dragon Warrior was supposed to be a quick piece that I was going to hold in reserve in case I failed to make my publication goals on any of the primary games, but it took me so long that I had to publish it immediately instead of the next Challenge of the Five Realms entry. I should have learned a long time ago that I can never plan for a four-hour, one-entry game, no matter how primitive the mechanics. Such games do happen, but only when you aren’t deliberately counting on them.

Between Dragon Warrior, Bokosuka Wars, Deadly Towers, and the PC JRPGs that I’ve managed to play, I’m satisfied that I’ve covered enough of the early JRPG era and early console era. If I decide to try a console game again, I’ll feel comfortable leaping to one of the landmark games from the late 1980s rather than experiencing everything in between. But don’t look for that soon.

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/game-349-dragon-warrior-1986/

#retro games #dos games #retro #crpg #adventure #amiga #oldcomputers #8bit #16bit #blog #repost

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michaeljtraylor · 6 years ago

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Kingdom Hearts 3 release date, news and trailers

It’s been almost 12 years since Kingdom Hearts 2 was released, but the demand for Kingdom Hearts 3 has not faltered. In that 12 years we may have gone through one and a half new console generations (and played many spin off titles) but the mainline Kingdom Hearts story has remained in the back of our minds.

Thankfully the highly-anticipated Kingdom Hearts 3 was confirmed by Square Enix in 2013 with an official announcement.

Following the official announcement, Square Enix remained pretty tight-lipped about any further details regarding Kingdom Heart 3. Then at E3 2014 we got a teaser trailer and some tantalizing details, followed by even more news and a gameplay trailer at E3 2015.

But it was E3 2018 when the real juicy details emerged, showing some of the Disney characters Sora, Donald and Goofy will be encountering, alongside an official release date.

We’ve summarised all the news, rumors and juicy details about Kingdom Hearts 3 right here for you – so get comfy.

[Update: V-Jump magazine has given us a closer look at the Hercules characters.]

Cut to the chase

What is it? The long-anticipated third mainline title in Square Enix’s action roleplaying crossover series, Kingdom Hearts.

When can I play it? January 29, 2019

What can I play it on? PS4 and Xbox One

Trailers

There are now a lot of Kingdom Hearts 3 trailers out in the world for you to pore over. However, the most recent trailer is from Tokyo Game Show and revealed the Big Hero 6 world.

Two trailers from E3 2018 confirmed that Frozen, Wreck-It-Ralph, and Pirates of the Caribbean are new worlds in the game.

We also got a four minutes long trailer Disney’s D23 Expo in Japan. The gameplay video gives fans a look at the brand new Monsters Inc World, starring Boo, Mike and Sully.

D23 is the place for Kingdom Hearts trailers, as prior to the Japan event we were treated to another trailer announcing a brand new Toy Story world.

Not long before this at E3 2017 we got the chance to see another gameplay trailer which showed off footage from the game’s Hercules level.

The second most recent trailer for the game was released at JumpFesta in 2016. The trailer gave an insight into how the game’s combat will work as well as a glimpse at special abilities and the impact the game’s environment will have on fighting.

Prior to this there was another and much more full trailer released at E3 in 2015. In this gameplay trailer fans got a look at what appears to be a new location – the exterior of Rapunzel’s tower from the film Tangled.

A much shorter trailer was revealed at E3 in 2014, setting the stage for the game’s main story.

And of course we can’t forget the announcement trailer from all the way back in 2013. There have been lots of trailer haven’t there?

Kingdom Hearts 3 release date

Square Enix has now confirmed that Kingdom Hearts 3 will launch on January 29 2019.

Kingdom Hearts 3 news and features

A closer look at Hercules characters

Twitter user YonkouProductions shared a screenshot of the next V-Jump issue which shows off the Hercules characters we can expect to see in Kingdom Hearts 3 (via Comic Book). We already knew we would be returning to Hercules and Mount Olympus in the latest addition to the Kingdom Hearts franchise, however the screenshot reveals we will also be meeting Meg, Pegasus, Hades and Meg on the journey.

You can check out the tweet below:

Kingdom Hearts 3 pic.twitter.com/37F3sceAY7October 17, 2018

Story

Kingdom Hearts 3 will see players once more take up the role of Sora as he travels with his closest friends Donald and Goofy across a variety of world themed around and populated by a host of famous Disney and Final Fantasy characters.

Game director Tetsuya Nomura has confirmed that the game’s story will start straight after the ending of Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance.

This means that the game will follow our trio in their pursuit of the Seven Guardians of Light to prepare for their final showdown against Master Xehanort. All the while, King Mickey and Riku will continue their hunt for the remaining Keyblade wielders.

Does all of this sound like complete gobbledygook to you? Not to worry, if you’d like to catch up on all of the essential story you can do so on PlayStation 4 by playing Kingdom Hearts 1.5 + 2.5 Remix and Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue.

Not sure you’ve got the time for playing through all of that? Then you could watch the below summary of the franchise timeline created by Game Trailers. It’s still almost an hour long but it’ll do the job.

New visuals

Kingdom Hearts 3 will adopt a slightly visual style to previous games in the franchise, aiming for more of a brush-like look than photo realism. In an interview with Famitsu (via Kotaku) Tetsuya Nomura was very open about the decision to take a new visual approach, stating that this new direction was an attempt to “Express Disney’s 2D brushwork in 3D.”

Nomura said this was a look they’d wanted since the first game but “At the time, the [PlayStation 2] didn’t have the processing power to allow us to freely adjust the lighting.”

The new PlayStation 4 hardware, however, is much more capable and Nomura said it’s possible to get “a real feeling of evolution by just making the standard graphics into HD.” Nomura admitted that it’s a fairly “drastic change” but added that he sees it as “a rich evolution of everything we’ve shown you up to now.”

Gameplay

It looks like the action RPG gameplay won’t change too much from previous titles in the franchise, most likely drawing from and improving on that of Kingdom Hearts 2 and perhaps integrating particularly successful elements from the handheld titles.

It’s been confirmed, though, that Sora will be much more mobile in combat, able to wall run, jump on enemies, and largely take greater advantage of the game’s much larger environments.

Back in 2013, Nomura said that the combat in Kingdom Hearts 3 will be “pretty frantic”, with NPCs able to join in the three-person party fights as well as “more intricate” enemy AI.

A couple of interesting new combat features that have been confirmed include Attraction Flow and Keyblade Transformations.

Attraction Flow attacks are new super moves that will apparently be triggered under certain though unconfirmed battle conditions. These powerful moves based on the Flowmotion moves from Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance are inspired by some of the biggest rides at the Disney theme parks such as the Teacups, Pirate Ship and Thunder Mountain Railroad.

Keyblade Transformations are fairly self explanatory and will allow Sora’s Keyblade weapons to transform in battle with different effects.

According to Nomura, Keyblade Transformations will only be unlocked when all missions from one of the game’s worlds are unlocked, with each individual world offering its own unique transformation.

For example, it was spotted by KH Insider that an Olympus Keyblade was able to cast Zeus’ lightning as well as transform into a Pegasus-drawn chariot.

New worlds

Disney’s been busy in the years since Kingdom Hearts 2 was first released so as you’d expect, there are going to be a few new worlds to play in.

Thus far the Kingdom of Corona from Tangled, an as yet untitled world from Big Hero 6, Mount Olympus from Hercules, Twilight Town Mysterious Tower, Toy Story, Frozen, Pirates of the Caribbean and Monsters inc. worlds have been confirmed as new additions.

In a recent interview with Famitsu, Nomura lessened the excitement of a brand new Toy Story world slightly by revealing that there will be fewer Disney worlds in this game than in Kingdom Hearts 2.

Kingdom Hearts 2 had 12 worlds in total and thus far we have seven worlds confirmed for the third game. With Nomura stating that all of the worlds that will feature in the game will be revealed before its release we can expect a few more to be revealed over the next year. How many of these will be brand new worlds and how many will be repeats from previous games is unclear.

At the very least, Nomura has promised that even though there will be fewer worlds, they’ll be much more dense. We have to admit, not every Kingdom Hearts world holds an equal place in our own hearts so we’ll happily take quality over quantity.

Though Disney has also acquired Marvel and LucasFilm, it’s unlikely their franchises will appear in Kingdom Hearts due to a variety of other license agreement barriers, with Nomura cautioning that “the other associated companies under Disney [are] not something that is as simple as us consulting with Disney Interactive. So, unfortunately, the lineup is kind of considered as different.”

Another playable character?

A report in Official PlayStation UK (scanned by KHInsider) suggests that Kingdom Hearts 3 may feature a playable Riku alongside Sora.

“The latest game in the Disney-meets-Final-Fantasy mash up series is split between two perspectives of best buds Sora and Riku. You will meet a host of new characters whose help you’ll need to stop the evil Master Xehanort from bringing about another Keyblade war. Familiar faces and places return, but there are new worlds to visit inspired by Toy Story, Fantasia and Tangled.”

These aren’t details that have been confirmed by Square Enix about the game yet, so we’re sticking them strictly in the rumor category for now. It could very well be that the information has been mixed up with the similarly named Kingdom Hearts 3D, released on PS4 in 2016. This game had a playable Riku as well as a Fantasia-themed world.

It may be, however, that the information is accurate. Game director, Nomura, did tell IGN in July 2017 that the team was considering putting another playable character into the game. He just didn’t state that it was Riku.

Regardless, we’re hoping to see some more Kingdom Hearts 3 information (perhaps even a release date) at the D23 in Japan, taking place in February 2018.

Nintendo Switch?

In a recent interview Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsuda told Nikkei (via MyNintendo) that the company is focusing on bringing more of its current and future titles to Nintendo’s new console, the Nintendo Switch.

Though Matsuda makes no direct reference to bringing Kingdom Hearts 3 to the Switch, it does suggest that if such a move is feasible and the hardware limitations aren’t too great, Square Enix will make it happen.

We’ll send you pre-order details and the best Kingdom Hearts 3 deals as soon as they’re available.

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etechwire-blog · 6 years ago

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Kingdom Hearts 3: release date, news and rumors

New Post has been published on https://www.etechwire.com/kingdom-hearts-3-release-date-news-and-rumors/

Kingdom Hearts 3: release date, news and rumors

It’s been almost 12 years since Kingdom Hearts 2 was released, but the demand for Kingdom Hearts 3 has not faltered. In that 12 years way may have gone through one and a half new console generations and played many spin off titles, but the mainline Kingdom Hearts story has remained in the back of our minds.

Confirmed by Square Enix in 2013 with an announcement, Kingdom Hearts 3 will continue the story of Sora, Donald and Goofy.

After the initial confirmation and announcement trailer in 201,3 we then got a teaser trailer and some tantalizing details at E3 in 2014 and even more news and a gameplay trailer at E3 2015. Since then news has been fairly thin on the ground but we’ve collected all of the latest news and rumors right here for your perusal.

[Update: With E3 2018 and Square Enix’s very own press conference being right around the corner, we’re expecting to get some big Kingdom Hearts announcements soon. Could this finally be the time for a release date reveal? TechRadar will be attending E3 and reporting live from the show floor so make sure you check back here for the latest news and announcements as they happen.]

Cut to the chase

What is it? The long-anticipated third mainline title in Square Enix’s action roleplaying crossover series, Kingdom Hearts.

When can I play it? 2018

What can I play it on? PS4 and Xbox One

Trailers

There are now six Kingdom Hearts 3 trailers you need to watch if you really want to consider yourself a Keyblade hype master.

The latest comes from Disney’s D23 Expo in Japan. At four minutes long, this new trailer gives fans a look at the brand new Monsters Inc World, starring Boo, Mike and Sully.

D23 is the place for Kingdom Hearts trailers, as prior to the Japan event we were treated to another trailer announcing a brand new Toy Story world.

Not long before this at E3 2017 we got the chance to see another gameplay trailer which showed off footage from the game’s Hercules level.

A much shorter trailer was revealed at E3 in 2014, setting the stage for the game’s main story.

And of course we can’t forget the announcement trailer from all the way back in 2013. There have been lots of trailer haven’t there?

Release date

At D23 in July 2017, it was announced in a fifth trailer that the game would be released in 2018. Though there was no more solid date than this provided it gives fans a window to look forward to.

In an interview at D23, the game’s director Tetsuya Nomura explained what had taken so long to get the game to this point (bearing in mind Kingdom Hearts 2 was released 12 years ago and 3 was announced all the way back in 2013).

Nomura said that “it hurts” to hear accusations that he’s taking too long, particularly as just after the game’s first year of development the decision to change to Unreal Engine 4 was made over his head. This change, though inevitable, caused extensive delays which weren’t helped by timing and resourcing challenges within Square Enix.

“It’s kind of out of my hands” he said.

It’s now 2018 and we don’t have any more information on the game’s release date. We’re hoping that might be cleared up at the next D23 event, taking place in Japan in February.

News and features

Story

Game director Tetsuya Nomura has confirmed that the game’s story will start straight after the ending of Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance.

New visuals

Nomura said this was a look they’d wanted since the first game but “At the time, the [PlayStation 2] didn’t have the processing power to allow us to freely adjust the lighting.”

Gameplay

It’s been confirmed, though, that Sora will be much more mobile in combat, able to wall run, jump on enemies, and largely take greater advantage of the game’s much larger environments.

Back in 2013, Nomura said that the combat in Kingdom Hearts 3 will be “pretty frantic”, with NPCs able to join in the three-person party fights as well as “more intricate” enemy AI.

A couple of interesting new combat features that have been confirmed include Attraction Flow and Keyblade Transformations.

Keyblade Transformations are fairly self explanatory and will allow Sora’s Keyblade weapons to transform in battle with different effects.

According to Nomura, Keyblade Transformations will only be unlocked when all missions from one of the game’s worlds are unlocked, with each individual world offering its own unique transformation.

For example, it was spotted by KH Insider that an Olympus Keyblade was able to cast Zeus’ lightning as well as transform into a Pegasus-drawn chariot.

New worlds

Disney’s been busy in the years since Kingdom Hearts 2 was first released so as you’d expect, there are going to be a few new worlds to play in.

Thus far the Kingdom of Corona from Tangled, an as yet untitled world from Big Hero 6, Mount Olympus from Hercules, Twilight Town Mysterious Tower, Toy Story and Monsters inc. worlds have been confirmed as new additions.

In a recent interview with Famitsu, Nomura lessened the excitement of a brand new Toy Story world slightly by revealing that there will be fewer Disney worlds in this game than in Kingdom Hearts 2.

Kingdom Hearts 2 had 12 worlds in total and thus far we have 7 worlds confirmed for the third game. With Nomura stating that all of the worlds that will feature in the game will be revealed before its release we can expect a few more to be revealed over the next year. How many of these will be brand new worlds and how many will be repeats from previous games is unclear.

Another playable character?

A report in Official PlayStation UK (scanned by KHInsider) suggests that Kingdom Hearts 3 may feature a playable Riku alongside Sora.

Regardless, we’re hoping to see some more Kingdom Hearts 3 information (perhaps even a release date) at the D23 in Japan, taking place in February 2018.

Nintendo Switch?

E3 is the world’s largest exhibition for the games industry, stuffed full of the latest and greatest games and gaming hardware. TechRadar will be reporting live from Los Angeles all week to bring you the very latest from the show floor. Head to our dedicated E3 2018 hub to see all the latest news from the show.

#date #Hearts #Kingdom #news #release #rumors

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postgamecontent · 8 years ago

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Square/Enix Misfits: Brain Lord

Original Release Date: January 27, 1994 (JPN)

Original Hardware: Nintendo Super Famicom

Although they checked out a bit early in the generation, Enix America was fairly busy during the the Super NES years. Over a span of five years, they published 10 different games on the system. Strangely enough, not one of them was a Dragon Quest game. Their most frequent partner in those years was Quintet, whose full line-up we've already examined. But they had another developer that they worked with on more than one occasion during those years. Produce Co., Ltd was a mid-sized company formed by a bunch of former IREM employees in 1990. It would close its doors by the year 2000, but in the brief span of time it was around, Produce was mostly known for its work on the Super Bomberman games for Hudson, and a group of RPGs known collectively as the Mystic Ark series for Enix. Due to Enix no longer having an American branch during the mid-90s, only two of the four games in the Mystic Ark series would see release outside of Japan.

The first is a game that is more famous than it deserves to be. I'm not sure why 7th Saga became so well-known, but I suspect it was due to the decent coverage it got in Nintendo Power and other magazines of the time. Many of its problems came from some poorly thought-out localization changes, but even in its original form, it wasn't going to win any prizes. At the very least, however, it is somewhat known, which is more than I can say for the second Produce game to make it over to North America. Brain Lord technically takes place in the same universe as 7th Saga, but it's an action-RPG as opposed to that game's more straight take on the RPG genre. In another fit of poor planning, the game was released in North America on the same day as Robotrek in October of 1994. That also put it in the vicinity of Illusion of Gaia and Final Fantasy 6. It was an unusual glut for RPG fans, and it was inevitable that there would be some casualties. Brain Lord was one of them.

On one hand, it's not a big loss. Brain Lord isn't a great game by any stretch of the imagination. The only thing it truly exceeds at is in walking the line of mediocrity without fail. But it's also not a bad game. I could imagine this game finding more success at another time and place in the Super NES's life. The action is competent if not particularly thrilling. The story is so bland they might as well have not even bothered. The dungeon designs and puzzles are where it's at in Brain Lord, though, and they're quite enjoyable. The game leans a bit heavily on block-pushing puzzles, but they're at least well-designed ones with several gimmicks to consider. I lost count at some point, but I think there are five decent-sized dungeons to explore, each with multiple floors. You're not always meant to finish these dungeons in a single attempt, so warp statues are placed at regular intervals. You can use those to quickly travel back and forth from town. Since all you stand to lose by dying is some money, it's wise to head back now and then to unload what you've collected and stock up on supplies.

Each dungeon culminates in a boss battle that gives you the plot coupon you need to find the next one. There are only two towns in the game, so you're meant to be spending most of your time tackling the dungeon areas. I had to laugh at the name of the second town in the game. I'm not sure why the localizers thought having it named Toronto was a good idea, but it greatly added to my amusement. I am Shaun the brave warrior, hailing from the mystical fantasy realm of Toronto! Anyway, towns aren't good for much more than picking up quests or replenishing your basic supplies. You'll occasionally be buying some gear there, but most of the good stuff is in the dungeons. The real money sink in towns, particularly in the beginning of the game, is Jade.

Jades are special items that allow you to summon a Fairy. These Fairies each have a special ability they can use, ranging from direct attacks to healing spells and more. You can have two Fairies equipped at any given time, with much of the game's combat strategy revolving around using the best combinations for the situation. The Fairies will level up while they're out courtesy of certain enemy drops. Higher levels produce stronger effects. Your character, on the other hand, cannot level up. The closest thing you'll find are permanent stat-boosting items. Most of your power upgrades will come from finding new gear or magic spells. So while your character can attack directly with his weapons, he's not always that good at taking down the bad guys that pack the dungeons. Ignore the Fairies at your own peril.

I kind of enjoy the Fairy system, but as you can imagine it's hideously unbalanced. Once you farm up enough gold for the direct attacker and healer, you probably won't need much else. The fact that they only level up while they're equipped makes it a bad idea to change which ones you're using too frequently. I appreciate the sentiment, at least. In a slightly different way, I felt similarly about the magic and weapons in the game. There's a surprising variety of both here, but once you find ones that work for you, there isn't much point in experimenting. This kind of wasted potential is a hallmark of Produce's games in general, in my opinion.

One thing I like a lot is how the game handles your traveling companions. Although you only control a single character, your hero is meant to be part of a group that is trying to scrounge a living from questing. As you progress through each dungeon, you'll bump into your companions in various places. They'll give information and hints, nudge the story forward, flesh out their back-stories, and even help you solve the odd puzzle. I don't remember a lot of games of this era doing that sort of thing. It makes it feel like you're actually working with others who have their own interests and agendas in mind.

In addition to testing your puzzle-solving and monster-smashing skills, the game also has a fair number of platforming challenges. Not Brain Lord's strong point, I assure you. I've certainly run into worse, but the main character in this game is not a terribly agile guy. The only thing that makes it bearable is that your guy's jump distance is predictable. Since everything is constructed with tiles, it's easy enough to gauge each jump. You'll need good timing, though, since you'll often be jumping from or to a moving platform, often with other gimmicks in play such as a disappearing floor. Is this really testing my brain? Well, probably as much as that silly DS game, anyway.

While most of the people who worked on Brain Lord were the usual Produce crew, they managed to pull in a fairly famous talent to do the character designs. Sachiko Kamimura is generally best-known for her role as the character designer and supervising animator of the anime adaptation of the classic City Hunter. She worked on a number of products at Sunrise Inc and Toei Animation. Her video game work is limited to Brain Lord and the SEGA CD game based on The Heroic Legend of Arslan. I wish I could say that her obvious talent shined through in Brain Lord's characters, but they're not especially noteworthy by the standards of the time, and they look pretty poor in-game due to the angle of the overhead perspective. Nicely animated, at least, so good job on that.

I guess I'm not making Brain Lord sound all that exciting. Truth be told, it's not a very exciting game. But there's an odd rhythm to it that makes it easy to sink time into, particularly if you're not allergic to block puzzles. Outside of the Zelda series, most action-RPGs that bother to feature puzzles don't usually put a lot of effort into them. Even in the case of Zelda, its reliance on acquiring and using new tools means that you rarely need to think deeply about how to move forward. I won't say that Brain Lord is like taking the SATs or anything, but it does feel like somebody added swords and platforming to a Sokoban-style puzzle game, and I think for some people, that's a nice combination.

Unfortunately, like most of Enix's American-released games, Brain Lord has never made another appearance. It's not on any of the Virtual Consoles, and there certainly haven't been any new ports of the game. It's very likely that the rights to the game are stuck in limbo with Produce out of the picture. It's equally likely that Square Enix just doesn't care about it, though. It's not like anyone is banging down their door for the game, I'm sure. Still, it's too bad the game isn't more accessible for those looking to plumb the Super NES's RPG library. Consoles are more than just their most popular games, but that seems to be all that gets preserved. Brain Lord might be a little too average for its own good, but I could see some people still enjoying it today if it were available.

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#squareenixmisfits #brain lord #enix #rpg #snes #superfamicom #retro #gaming

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