#I got them to like 1 hp on my normal build so I don't feel bad about atomizing him on a different one lol

[elfcow]

Quad legs are SO busted in AC. I've been playing the whole game in fucking hard mode apparently.

Having the time of my life fighting Enforcer boss on my raptor build dodging everything by the skin of my teeth. I check the clock, it's getting late and I need to get to bed. I boot up a quad-leg build I've almost never practiced with and blow them to fucking smithereens. Just march the boss down, tanking everything, and stunlock them until they explode. Ok. Good to know.

Gonna go back to my speedy mech now.

[uncleasriel]

FromSoft Starter Guide For Everything Except Sekiro

FromSoft is a company known for their challenging (but manageable games. A lot of folks want to try them, but hit some rough parts getting started. Since almost FromSoft game (with the exception of Sekiro, which is just Built Different[1]) has a lot of the same gameplay loops and mechanics, I figured I'd list few common common techniques that can help you get started for pretty much every one (Except Sekiro. See my footnote below[1]). My advice here is not necessarily the be-all, end-all, but it enough to get you started and feeling comfortable enough to carry you through to the end-game. In SHort, they are:

Prepare To Die

Prioritize Permanent Investments Over Consumables

Level Up Your HP Stat

Explore The Environment

Upgrade Your Weapon

Co-Op Frequently, And In Other Folks' Worlds, And Often

Read Item Descriptions

Have Fun

1. Prepare to die.

I know, I know. This sounds like shitty advice, among the same level of usefulness as "git gud." But when I say you should prepare to die, I mean that dying from an encounter is not only normal, it's to be expected. The developers made death a core part of not only their gameplay loops, but also their lore. Dying repeatedly (and coming back again and again and again) is the exact intended experience. You are Undead, or Unkindled Ash, or The Good Hunter, or The Tarnished you dying, and for Plot Reasons you are incapable of staying dead. You'll just pop back at the spawn, ready try again.

Treat this as a learning experience. Something got you, and now that it has, you know its deadly tricks. As Frank Herbert taught us, "Knowing there's a trap is the first step in evading it" and now you know that This Area Has Poison, or That Shadowy Area Has Things That Grapple And Eat Your Face you will prepare you for the next run. Plus, if you drop a large payload of Souls/Blood Echoes/Runes you can always run back, grab said Souls/Blood Echoes/Runes then race to the spawn point. Even if you lose them, don't worry. Trust me when I say there will always be more where that came from.

2. Prioritize Permanent Investments Over Consumables

Consumables can be bought at merchants, and the longer you play, the more of them you can find or farm. Early game you'll be tempted to buy them, but the thing about consumables is that when they're gone, they're gone! Buying something permanent (like a new weapon, or armor, or upgrade material) will go a long way. This isn't to say that you should never buy consumables (Hell, Bloodborne's healing system requires it!) but you should always remember that when they're gone, they're gone - and so are the souls/echoes/runes you spent on them.

3. Level Up Your HP Stat

Even with taking the approach that Each Death Is A Teachable Moment, you're still gonna want to avoid having too many deaths, if only because loading screens are less interesting to watch than actual gameplay. Thus, you'll want to see fewer of them.

Leveling HP literally increased the number of hits you can take before a loading screen, giving you more time to pop off a healing item and keep fighting that good fight. Eventually you'll want to stop leveling this (Somewhere between forty and sixty, depending on which specific game and/or build you're playing) but until you each those caps, it's never a bad idea to spend your Level Up XP on hitpoints.

4. Explore The Level

There are plenty of secrets hiding, even in the early levels! Go diving into nooks, crannies and weird corners, seeing what can be seen! Oftentimes, among clusters of tough enemies, are are glowing Items that can be picked up and retrieved by rushing in - you keep the items you gain when you die - you only lose your Souls/Echoes/Runes between loading screens, and even tehn they require retrieval. Doing a suicide run to That Special Glowy Thing can pay off unexpected dividends.

As well, exploration can revealing hidden shortcuts that speed up traversal around levels. You can also meet helpful NPCs who can be merchants, teachers, and have fun questlines which break your heart are delightful and silly and give you cool items! Remember: try not to harm the NPCs - you can tell whether they're enemies by whether or not you can lock onto them. A friendly NPC can go a long way in teasing out the game's lore and setting, though don't be surprised if you don't finish their questline on your first play-through - FromSoft designs their quests to be deliberately obscure.

5. Upgrade Your Weapon

In most of the games, the starting weapons that come with your class range between okay to solid. decent. While some individual choices are less than ideal (*glares at the Bandit class*) the rest either are solid melee weapons or else have respectable starting spells.

Exploring the levels can reveal lots of helpful upgrade materials, and even getting them from +0 to +1 which makes them do a lot more damage with each hit. Taking the weapon or magic catalyst to blacksmiths or workbenches (usually located near a hub or bonfire) will bring out more in your weapon. Just remember that while you'll eventually get infinite upgrade materials to take you weapons to about halfway of their upgrade tree (usually +3 to +6 in most FromSoft games), this comes later. Usually, it's wise to commit to a solid early weapon wealy on - I recommend shortswords and longswords for beginners, but if you find yourself falling in love with a rapier or katana or Something Fancy, feel free to switch to that.

6. Co-Op Frequently, And In Other Folks' Worlds, And Often

On my first playthrough, I was so scared of playing online and looking bad in front of other players. "What if I die like a chump in front of someone? What will they think of me? Will I be paired with folks who are so much better, and outclass me? " I played offline, hollowed, and barely reached out to others..

This is, in retrospect, silly. These games are designed with co-op elements for a reason. By playing online, you get the notes (which alternate between incredibly helpful and absolutely hilarious in tone), bloodstains (which show you how others died, turning their teachable moments into yours as well) and, most importantly, synchonous multiplayer. Whether it's putting down Summon Signs, ringing your Small Resonant Bell, or using the Fingers in a Summon Pool, offering to help others is one of the most delightful and rewarding parts of the experiences.

By the time you've gotten the Multiplayer Items, you've probably noticed that, when you die and don't collect your Souls/Echoes/Runes, they're Gone For Good. This is entirely how the gameplay works - in your world. But when you visit another players's world? Everything you earn from killed foes returns with you when you return to your world.

This means you can earn oodles of Souls/Echoes/Runes by just camping in front of the same Boss Walk, and doing it over and over again. You can afford to take risks, because (so long as your host doesn't die) they can resummon you again and again using the same Humanity/Insight/Furlcalling Finger Remedy from the same starting point. On a good run, even a newer player and a weaker Host can make a lot of progress by summoning the same guy over and over to clear through all the monsters, get all the loot, and turn even a slog into a delightful day out. What's better - you get to learn the layout of the place, get more comfortable with the enemies there, and gain aboatload of experience in the process.

Eventually you'll start to carry weaker players and show them the way through - it's one of the most delightful feelings ever. Sure, there are Invaders here and there - but you always be summoned again, to fight another day.

7. Read Item Descriptions

These will give fantastic advice on how to use them, and tease out bits of lore. It's surprising how easily folks miss this, and how often reading an item description can reveal a clue that can make a boss much easier or help reveal a Shocking Secret about the history of the setting.

8. Have Fun

It's corny as hell, but it's true. These games are meant to be played so they can be beaten. When you've spent all your Souls/Echoes/Runes at the end of levelling up, splurge a little on some weird item. Try following one of those notes that says "Treasure ahead" at the edge of a cliff, or experiment with that weird item you found. it might be awesome! It might be useless! It might be hilarious! Regardless - these games are meant to be played, and to delight, so leap into it!

FromSoft games are hard, but I sincerely believe the reputation that "FromSOft Is SOOO Hardcore "reputation is grossly overrated. They can be frustrating, at the end of the day they were design to give you an enjoyable challenge. For all the jokes about "lol, you died" the design teams and even the other players want you to succeed.

While these games pose daunting challenges, they are also made with loving care that generously grants you the tools to overcome the challenges they set. I firmly believe that their difficulty is based more on obscurity of handing out How To Play information than raw Skill Challenge, and the means of overcoming this obscurity is through trial and error. Not everyone has the time for that. But that's why I wrote this guide. It's enough to help you to get started

I hope you found this guide helpful. It's probably not going to be the be-all, end-all for FromSfot advice, but it should be enough to help you get started. Please, let me know if there's anything I left out, or anything you wish I'd mentioned. I want to help folks get into these games as much as possible, so any feedback is welcome!

PRAISE THE SUN!

Footnotes

[1] Sekiro does have quite a few Souls-like elements, like the use of Idols checkpoints, doors you can later unlock to create shortcuts, replaying levels over and over until you have mastery of their geography and monster layouts, and so on. But the game's lack of a conventional leveling or weapons upgrade system puts it in a different methodology of play - in a Souls game, using some of the tricks I mention by farming enemies for items or XP is a fine strategy to power through tougher moments. In Sekiro, you have to learn the specific set of inputs and specific mechanic needed to overcome the boss ahead of you. It's much tighter, but at the cost of demanding it be played in a highly specific specific way. It's a great game, but my advice is less useful here.

[unclerippuascension]

Fixing Pokemon Legends: Arceus' Combat

So far I have been enjoying PL:A, its a solid 6/10; but the combat is very lumpy dumpy for no disernable reason and as somebody whose been playing the series since I was 10 back when DPP came out I wanted to come up with some fixes to make battling more fun. I brought up the combat in a previous post, but it bears repeating on what needs to be fixed.

Bring back abilities: I will never understand why PL:A got rid of a cornerstone of Pokemon's gameplay. Ever since Gen3 abilities have been a neat way of making your pokemon feel more like individuals. You could catch two Shinx and they'd be more unique compared to the other because of their differing abilities. Gen5 also introduced hidden abilities which were harder to get but were often way better than the standard abilities. Why not keep those? It would naturally encourage players to catch multiple Pokemon, and the game could even keep hidden abilities by having Space-Time Disortion Pokemon or Alphas have a small chance of having their hidden ability. The only reason I can fathom Game Freak nixing abilities was due to their being no PvP but that is a flimsy excuse at best if that is the case.

Keep old move/status effects: A lot of the moves and status effects have been changed, and again I don't know why. Moves that previously hit multiple enemies don't anymore, moves that lowered or buffed a certain stat are much more vague, and the status effects of sleep and frozen are now just palette swaps of paralysis and poison. This makes combat a matter of elemental rock-paper-scissors where you occassionally make your attacks hit harder and slower or softer and faster; and if multiple enemies gang up on you, you just have to take a beating until your turn comes and that can be really unfair. If they kept the way attacks used to work in older games there'd be no issue, have Bulk Up raise attack and defene instead of 'offensive and defensive' stats, have Bulldoze hit multiple enemies, and have Hyponsis actually put the opponent to sleep.

Let Pokemon hold berries: Your Pokemon also can't hold berries, there aren't normal held items in this game but there are berries and it makes no sense that your Pokemon can't hold them. It'd give you a leg up if your Pokemon had the chance to heal themselves with a berry, especially when wild Pokemon can just use a strong style move and wipe out half of you HP. Yeah berries are mostly used as lures in this game, but that's no excuse. If I have a bajillion Sitrus berries its because I want to give them to my Pokemon so they can heal themselves during a battle. If I wanna lure a Pokemon over to me I'l use a cake lure.

Actually have friendliness do something: Aside from making certain Pokemon evolve, friendship does fuck all in this game. Friendship has gone from "oh some Pokemon evolve and two moves do more damage" to "Your pokemon will survive 1 Hit Kills, dodge moves, and shake off status effects because they love you and want to return all the TLC you've given them." and for PL:A to get rid of that feels very wrong for a game about building the very first bonds with Pokemon historically. Yes this one is minor, but I remember a time where Game Freak played along with the idea that these hunks of polygons and code were real living breathing creatures; and if they didn't bring back Pokemon Camp they could at least keep the updated friendship mechanics. Maybe even have it so you can take a Pokemon out of its pokeball to walk with you through the vast open enviroments and have that increase friendship faster. The game lets you have them out of their pokeballs but they just sort of sit there, you can't even pet them! Why have an NPC who checks friendship when friendship doesn't even bloody do anything that it didn't already do in Gen2 like 20 years ago? Return and Frustration aren't even in this game! PL:A is doing less than Gen2 and I don't know why!!. They should have kept the current friendship mechanics, lile everything else they should have kept but didn't for reasons unknown.

But yeah those are my thoughts, PL:A isn't terrible but it also isn't great and 90% of that is due to the crippled combat system. If Game Freak has more Legends games I hope they fix the combat to make it fun, because in the probably paraphrased words of Reggie Fils-amie: If its not fun, why play it?

[icharchivist]

I hope you don't mind but can i ask what you suggest the order of doing things is??

Like... what order should I do the Primarch weapons, Eternal recruitment and Evoker recruitment in?

heyo!

I don't mind at all but i just hope i'll be clear enough ^^"

i huh, got a little long

EDIT: OK editted what i needed to edit about character class’s weapons off you go!

The Seraphic are your first priority outside of building a grid. Easy. Those will give you a major boost in your grids and you will always keep them in your grids, so get them as soon as you can and focus on them. You will get level-gated eventually since to go further into grinding you'll need to have access to raid only unlockable after lvl 101, so take it one step at a time, but they are your main priority. (note that the story for the Light and Dark Seraphic will spoil wmtsb pt2 and 3 a bit)

Eternal recruitment is tedious but i would recommend, especially as a beginner, to maybe think about doing Threo and/or Tien (Three Tigger Axe and Ten Wolf Gun respectively) as early as you can. They're godsends for beginners, Thero with her plain damage which will basically kill any enemies in front of her making her easier for farming (especially Slim blasting), and Tien with her formidable Bounty that will allow you for more loots per fight. Both are really good early investment. It's okay to take your time with them (i personally only have 3 - Threo, Tien and Seox), especially since it gets more complicated if you take the uncapping into account.

(also note that you should keep as many of the dupes for the Revenant weapons as you can aside from the one you will need to uncap to get the Eternal. uncapping to 5* isn’t a concern to have right now but know that this process involves using 40 Revenant Weapons on top of the one you forged. It’s good to have a stash dedicated to keeping them and leave them aside until you’re ready)

Evokers.... *looks at the state of my Evokers grinding* ahah what is that ahahahahaha....

Okay so Evokers are especially tedious so it's a complicated one. I think the early steps from unlocking their respective summons should be easy and their summons bring a major boost, so it may be good to try to work onto it a little. That said the Evokers take a lot of mats and later on mats from Impossible raids, so it will take a lot of time to unlock them. BUT you should also account for the Arcarum tickets. Since you cannot keep more than 90 tickets, it means that you may be more limited in your ability to farm Arcarum-only mats. And boy will you want to farm those well because they're really hard to get and takes a lot of diligence to get. The thing i've been told is to focus on them one at the time, or do them by pair: for exemple when grinding for The Sun you will be also doing some Hanged Man's raids and get Hanged Man's loot, so you can do both The Sun and The Hanged Man at once.

Not to mention that Arcarum can drop weapons you'd else get in the Omega raids, such as lumi swords and such, which is a good investment. However you would need to have a grid that can stand on its own because you don't have access to friends' summons in there, not to mention the restriction you may find in there (ex: quests that you can only do with R characters)

Out of those three grinds, the Evokers are the most tedious ones to get and it's okay to take your time. It's good to not neglect the Arcarum (i say as i ignore my own advice), but it shouldn't be your utmost priority.

If i may, what is accessible early and that you should focus on is getting the Atma sword and the Bahamut dagger from the What makes the sky blue sidestories.

wmtsb, being anniversary events, gave out a lot of BIG rewards that are game changing. Mostly, the possibility to pick a Bahamut Weapons from wmtsb1 and an Atma weapon from wmtsb3.

Bahamut weapons give a boost on attack or health but only to characters from specific races. Dagger gives a boost in attack to human and Erune, which are the majority of characters in the game, so the best investment you can make. Note that to push the dagger to its full power you will have to forge it further in the shop. Then it will be a must have in your grids (it's also often recommanded to +99 mark on it if you can)

Atma weapons give a major boost on attack depending on the character's weapon specificity. So for exemple the Atma sword will give a boost in attack for any characters who are shown to wield a sword on their profile. Sword is the most common weapon in the game, thus it is recommanded to take an Atma Sword as a beginner and slap it in any grids in which you mostly use sword characters for (and this is where it will start to be interesting to make sure to build teams by weapon's proefficiency, ie, in this case, making sure to mostly have sword characters as your offence) As for Bahamut the Atma will ask for more forging in the shop, i don't remember if there's any nor the specific for when it's an Atma, but there is an option to turn the Atma into an Ultima but only with HL raids, so don't worry too much about that.

Also i'm checking but it should be from Zooey's normal raid, if you can access to The Grand Order raid (normal) you should try to peak into it until you can unlock at least the Cosmo Sword from the shop. Cosmo weapons that you will find in Zooey's raid will basically multiply weapons of the same proefficiency 's HP and Attack that are in your grid. Basically: if your grid is mostly swords, slapping a Cosmo Sword in your grid will tremendously multiply your power. Cosmo Sword are a must have for light especially, since the ideal Light Grid includes 1) The Lumi swords, 2) the Xeno Sunblade, 3) later on HL, the Sword Opus.

I have heard that it is not wise to invest in other Cosmo weapons because of the fact grids rarely benefit for it, but Light (and Fire once you unlock the Impo raids) benefit a lot from the Cosmo Sword. You won't be able to 4* it until you can unlock HL tho.

BUT only focus on Cosmic sword if you have the grid to back it up (again: a full Lumi sword set up for exemple in light)

Another thing since i mentioned it: Keep an eye out for the Xeno events.

The other must-have in a grid is the Xeno weapons, which are only available when Xeno events are up. Xeno tends to run every few months before Unit and Fight and they are limited events with limited drops that are essential to forge a Xeno weapon. Xeno influence your grid tremendously and can be accessed at early levels. Wind Xeno should get a rerun soonish since the next Unit and Fight is around the corner, so keep an eye out for it.

(Opus is HL concern so it's not something to worry about just now but that will be another must have once you unlock Lucilius's HL raid)

EDIT: Another thing you should focus on as you get close to level 101 is to forge one of the weapon linked to a character class from Special: Rank II. 

You will need to have forged any of the weapons from Rank II to later being able to unlock any class from Rank IV. Rank IV is unlockable after lvl 101, and after doing one mission per class, but it is necessary to first unlock them to forge that weapon

or so i was told at least DLKFJD With recommandation to focus either on Glorybringer, Doctor, Kengo or Rising Force, due to their specific kitset that are super useful. 

So my advice is:

1) focus on your grid by getting multiple weapons of the omega series (Respectively: Colo Cane, Levi Dagger, Yggy Sword, Tiamat Gun, Lumi Swords, Celeste Claw. Note that your Lumi Swords will still be in your grid on HL so this is the thing you must invest the most on. It's often not recommanded to uncap the starting weapons's 5* since you'll replace them the moment you get into HL bosses, but Lumi swords are where you can go ham)

2) at the same time as your grids, work on your Seraphic. Go as far as you can to unlock your Seraphic

3) Do wmtsb as soon as possible: it takes reaching chapter 44 of the main story, but it will give you 2 super important must have weapons: The Atma Sword and the Bahamut Dagger. And it's easy to get them, no tedious grinding, except for forging the Bahamut weapon further but it is something you can do on low level

4) Focus on Xeno anytime a Xeno event is up

5) For the Eternals, take them one by one, do not rush, and if you want to work on them, focus either on Threo or Tien first

6) you can think about the Cosmic Sword if you feel like it though it's not a priority

7) The Evokers take a lot, lot, lot of time and grind that is in HL only, so don't rush through it, but it is wise to not let your tickets reach its cap so you can grind efficiently.

I hope it's not too confusing, if there's anything that needs clarification don't hesitate to ask. I know gbf can be a little complicated and sometimes i can get so focused on HL content that i miss out some better ways to explain LL content

Hope it helps out!

Take care!

[af1899]

FEH - So, update notes for 5.9.0 are out

ICYMI, last night we got news on what's coming for the 5.9.0 software update for Fire Emblem Heroes, which you can check on this archived copy at Gamepedia.

But I want to comment on each point of interest right below and resume more or less all that's new as well as sharing my thoughts, feel free to continue reading.

First of all, the thing we all look forward to the most:

✨ R E F I N E S ✨

Who wouldn't be excited to see one of their favorite characters or that of someone else's getting a well deserved refine after a long wait? Us Micaiah fans are "eating well" lately, meaning that we're happy with the attention she's been getting, but the coming refine announcement is all we should probably read of her in a while:

Yes, you're seeing right, her Brave alt is getting a refine, I've been waiting to decide how I want to build her. 🥺 But hopefully it's good, I'm excited regardless.

As for the others, it was about normal, the other [CYL 2019] winners were also bound to get theirs around this time as well as some of the oldest Legendaries too, this time, Ephraim and Lyn got lucky with new refines, they both have received great remix upgrades overall but [Solar Brace II] for Ephraim is particularly looking quite better indeed, I have mine at +1 +hp collecting dust so I look forward to see what his refine will be otherwise if I don't like it enough and if someone needs [Atk/Def Solo 4] he'll have his days counted.

In a similar topic, Hector in his Legendary alt isn't getting a refine yet, but he's getting [Crafty Fighter 3] and an upgraded version of [Ostia's Pulse], which is slightly less restrictive but has a few extras to grant him an extra utility. He also gains extra inheritance value thanks to the former addition, both skills are easy to secure with the 4 available slots.

Male Kana is getting [Dusk Dragonstone] which is a direct counterpart to that of his sister's weapon, perhaps the effects at base and refine will be analogous, but we'll learn at the time of datamine, taking place soon after the update gradually rolls out this 9/2/2021 at 8:00 p.m. (GMT-3) so in about 3 days and 3 hours as of this post's creation date.

Next up, I want to cover our next batch of limited [Combat Manuals]:

This time, Soiree Nephenee and Flora are our 5★ choices, and they're actually good, but not so impressive.

For me... Flora means I can finally get [Atk/Res Solo 3] and [Quick Riposte 3] on OG Idoun (for context, she's my "skill unit", so I'm giving her every skill she can get) and Soiree Nephenee means I can finally merge her, which is so pog because mine is -spd and I quite like her:

It sure sucks, but it's not so bad, still, it's great I can finally patch it.

Again, I'll leave any appreciation talk for later, and I only have this version of her.

There's also Spring Saleh, the only noteworthy 4★ one who carries good skills and can also serve as merge for those working on him, but if you want my recommendation, try to secure Soiree Nephenee, her fodder is all right and she's a seasonal unit, if you also happen to be working on her, that means you can give her a free merge.

Asides all that, the following Legendary Heroes will now appear only in {Legendary Hero Remix} banners, the next should be coming some time in the middle of this month: Lucina, Azura, Tiki, Eirika, Marth and Hríd.

We're getting new [Memento Events] for [Heroes Journey] (the scenes with random outcomes you can watch when you get 100 [Memento Points]), we'll learn of them after the software update.

I didn't get all the possible outcomes in this event when it was around and didn't even know until last day that the three [Orbs] from the quests were daily so I missed 6 of them, what a drag, but at least I finished it I guess.

But speaking of it, I realized I've never given my insight on it, but so far I think it's an okay event with more fun interactions, rewards are quite nice and appreciated, but it has little play value making it less impressive and easy to forget (adding to the fact it'll run once in each month for 3 days), specially once you get all the rewards it's almost pointless to farm beyond then, but make sure you clear it once everyday when it's around!

Finally, just a random [Aether Raids] structure has its level cap raised by 1 as per usual and two weapons are getting one of their mechanisms fixed to work as intended (Nyx's [Ginnungagap] sure was more important though) but no news on coming music to the [Concert Hall] since months so 0/10 dislike unsubscribe.

It's overall a decently packed update but there's not much to be excited about, other than the refines for the [CYL 2019], as said before, I think it's most exciting to me, but that and the free merge on Soiree Nephenee are my only major highlights.

[purplerose244]

Thinking journal for season 12 Prime Empire 😎😎😎 (1/2)

So, I'm keeping this during all of season 12 to put down my thoughts as they appear. It's mostly for not ranting every single time a new episode comes out so please don't mind me too much 😅 I'm following the English release so please no spoilers 😙

I'm gonna split it in two, since apparently the season has 16 episodes. So this is the first part, enjoy my rambling 💜💜

It's the 30th of March and here we go!

IN GENERAL

I'm so, SO HAPPY, we have a theme for this season. For my experience apparently silly themes (tech ninja, ghosts, pirates) had brought very surprising results so I'm SO DOWN FOR THIS 😍😍

It seems that they fixed the mood, there is a specific mystery and a specific mission to follow. I like it too

THE NEW WHIP IS DOPE AS ALWAYS

I'm really glad there are plenty of references to past episodes, comebacks are my jam

The only thing that still kinda bothers me is the length of the episodes. It's not all bad, I just think the 20 minutes format was better. One thing is splitting 20 in 10 minutes, another is putting together 11 minutes of important stuff. Doesn't bother me too much, I just wish there was more time for my favorite show 🤷‍♀️

WOULD YOU LIKE TO ENTER PRIME EMPIRE?

Is it normal for me to feel really old after they made the "what is a VCR?" joke? Like, I'm a uni student so still pretty young, but I lived through the transition from that to the DVD so... eh, I laughed anyway👵

Jay is smart, I really believe he is. Yet I saw him putting a possibly corrupted motherboard into a legendary game randomly found into a villain's lair, and I was like "Of course he did that, I love you you dumb*ss" raising my glass of juice towards him 😎

Okay, I'm down for this Lloyd. I'm down for a season with Lloyd being creeped out just because, being silly, just a ninja helping his friends and- (remembers there's a Harumi avatar in the sets) I'M NOT READY

The ending was actually nicely creepy. Cool nods in approval

DYER ISLAND

THAT INTRO THOUGH, THAT WAS EPIC! Love the techno sounds, love the clear gaming connection, I rate it 10/HECK YEAH LONG LIVE THE FOLD

I was scared about how the shorts were supposed to play along with the season, but it looks fine so far with the mechanic and later for Scott. Good 👍

Ah, Fist to Face, that game came all over from the nostalgic season 1. That's what I'm talking about 😎

So they just associated that Unagami is probably Dyer's avatar like that? Like sure, I thought about it, but it looks a little rushed. Mm, I wonder if there's something more behind it?

LEVEL 13

Cyrus Borg is back and he TALKS!!! Finally, he gets some action! Go tech dad!

I'm so happy he referenced the Digiverse, I would have been very disappointed if he hadn't. Time flies Borg...

Not gonna lie, I thought the next to follow up Jay's spot as best in videigames was going to be Kai or Lloyd. It's not disappointing though, since pretty much all the ninja have been seen playing, and to be honest I like the implication that Cole and Jay probably played a lot together. As bruiseshipping or as BrOTP, I still love them together no matter what 💙🖤💙🖤

Ooooohhhhh, that's why Zane and Pixal are left behind. It makes sense, sure, but I don't understand the implication of the plan: they saw Dyer entering Prime Empire, so why looking for him in real life? Mm, maybe they will investigate about his life and what happened... PIXANE ON THE CASE 😍

Already saw Prime Empire's world in the shorts, of course it looks DOPE, still very happy to finally being there!

SUPERSTAR ROCKIN' JAY

I don't know why, but Kai questioning the double jump made me laugh. Also poor him, he just got his powers back from last season and they're already gone again 😂

And of course. Them. Wow. It must be the most amazing and CURSED thing I've ever seen so far, the League of Jay 🤯 I'm so happy they exist and they freaking use past seasons' suits!!! Awesome!!! Never thought I was going to see Jay's old plain haircut again... yeah, he got better with the curly one, but I'm feeling nostalgic 🤷‍♀️

Their nick are histerical omg, Jaybird, Dee-Jay, Jaywalkin, I'm loving this way more than I should 😂 Also they freaking screamed "JAY-NJA GOO!!!" and I don't know what to do with that, it's too great for me to comprehend 👏👏

And then, THIS happened:

Your Honor, I would like to confirm this as THE MOST SECRET DREAM I'VE EVER HAD FOR THIS SHOW FINALLY COMING TRUE!!! A NINJA FROM NINJAGO DOING THE NARUTO RUN!!! 🤯🤯🤯 Done, I'm done, conclude the season, this is more than enough for me 😍

First Kai gets hit and fall from a building, DYING, then Lloyd gets desperate for his brother (MY BROTP 💚❤💚❤), then Kai respawns and Lloyd looks so relieved and Kai is all panting while slowly realizing it's a game and MY HEART CAN'T HANDLE THIS MUCH OKAY???

As a very passionate Kai fangirl I always expect the cringy moment, it really is inevitable for my favorite hothead. I love that idiot so much it's unbelievable, even if it's an absolute and costant suffering 😅 Holy Garmadon it was painful seeing his VERY slow realization that in this game you only have four lives

... SO HE HAS ONE NOW!?! NINJAGO CREW YOU ALREADY KILLED ZANE, NYA AND LLOYD ONCE AT THE END OF A SEASON, DON'T YOU DARE PLAY WITH ME AGAIN 😱😱😱

Okay, I did not expect to hear about Mr. Cuddly Wamp ever again since Hands of Time and BOY if I'm happy it was actually a password, I love this show 😂

SCOTT FINALLY!!! YESS!!! 😍😍😍

Okay, for as long as it is not debunked, I will hold onto the Scott is Jay's brother/twin theory. I'm sorry but: his jacket has dragons AND lightnings on it, they have very similar skin in avatar mode, he said he was waiting for him in the short, he could very well have his same hair under cap and hoodie and he's a mechanic too. I know, I know, they could have the same skin because Scott helped him for the avatar, and there might be shadier reason behind the 'I was waiting for you' thing, and there are tons of good mechanics in Ninjago... STILL HOW COOL WOULD THAT BE??? 😍

SCOTT HAS ONE LIFE POINT TOO??? NO! NOOO!!! NOOOOOOO!!! Don't you dare appear and steal my heart only to die at the end of the season, come on!! 😭

So for now it seems like he just wants to survive. Can we actually confirm he's an avatar and not an NPC? I mean he could be, but I don't see the point of an NPC self aware of his life points. Idk, maybe I'm overthinking this 🤷‍♀️

Lol, Kai is the only one weirded out by the Jay-con all around him. Probably because he hasn't heard from his fans since Skybound 😅 (I'M STILL HERE MY FLAME BABE, ILY ❤❤❤)

And in all of his glory, freaking Superstar Rockin' Jay!!! 😎😎 Okay, I loved the design since the first time I saw it, but it looks possibly even better in the show 😍😍😍 And Jay looks absolutely adorable in it, and he's got a guitar, and he was waiting for his friends, and he hugs them (I'm weak for LEGO hugs for some reason) and he is so happy and AAAHHH 💙💙💙💙💙

I'm very curious about how Scott will play into the situation, clearly he will provide some kind of insight about Prime Empire. I can't wait to know more about him!! 😍

I AM OKINO

I did not expect this when I saw this Okino guy in the trailer... and I'm so happy I was surprised, I love him 👌

And he's voiced by Alessandro Juliani?? HECK YEAH!!! With all the hype about the DnD 13th season, and consequentially the knight theme, I really miss Nexo Knights and having Aaron's VA around makes me happy... any hope to have Giles Panton as well? I miss Clay the most 💙💙

This is what I'm talking about, the game theme needs this stuff! I was already happy to see life points, double jumps and respawns, but this? The NPC guide? Awesome 👍 It's nice to see the take on the matter, the guide seeing so many players getting killed, first because they did not listen, then because they were actually just unlucky. The touchy matter I always expect watching Ninjago 👏👏

At least I THINK he's an NPC? For now I don't really see a way of knowing, and it doesn't look like it matters. He didn't show life points so maybe? Does this mean he can't die? I have questions people

Which brings me to the cube thingies. That's what happens to the dead players? I mean, I would understand if they just become pixels, but there's also the drone that takes the datas every time. Idk, feels like there's more behind it. And honestly? It looks like great material for angst, like one of the ninja dies but then they discover they just need to get where Unagami stores all of the players! I hope it's something like this!

They designs of the players are really cool, I already saw them in the other episodes, but seeing them this close just confirmed it. Between this and Jay's awesome avatar, I see lots of great cosplay ideas coming 😍 I wonder when will Kai and Lloyd use their avatars, and why would they since I'm guessing Jay did for disguise and to distinguish himself from his fans

PLEASE TELL ME WE'LL SEE SCOTT SOON, I ALREADY MISS HIM!!! 💙💙💙 I have too many theories about that tech dude, I'm so excited about who he might turn out to be!

I was a little skeptical about the new ninja suits, but seeing them in the show convinced me, very cool! Especially on Nya 💕💕💕

THE GLITCH

Alright, Okino is indeed an NPC. Cool the fact that at first he could not understand the fact that he was in a game, but when reality changed he was forced to. Welcome into the crew! 😙

I'm kinda worried about it though, either they will shut down the game and he will stay inside or he will sacrifice for them. He's a very loyal samurai, I can see that happening and I'm SCARED

I WAS SWEATING BULLETS AT THE AMBUSH!!! I 100% saw it coming, we all freaking saw it coming, even the ninja did but where like 'we can walk and die or we can risk and die so might as well'. But still, my babies DYING and respawning so fast was not pretty 😱😱

Nya got the scariest death until now in my opinion, holy Garmadon Dyer DOES have a twisted mind...

Seeing Kai so scared of being in a new situation and with one HP reminds me A LOT of the Digiverse, and that's actually a nice touch. Give him a cellphone, hothead is a social media expert, but put him in a game and... huuhhh... 😅

Have I mentioned I love the ninja's new emoji masks??

BECAUSE I DO!!! 😂😂😂😂

So Unagami knows about them trying to stop him and he sent the rat people because of it. Considering how little we know about this guy, I'm wondering what we are about to discover

Alright, going to the next challenge, very curious about this adventure. So... beware of the rats, ninja? Still not sure what I think about the rats 😅

THE CLIFFS OF HYSTERIA

I would like to say Okino is the edgiest character of the show I've ever seen... but I've seen MORRO. But still poor guy, he got a case of the Matrix

Oooohhhh, the major question in videogames: better go grinding for more money to get the better stuff but while losing lots of time, or get the least expensive just to go on with the story but definitely risking to lose lives?

Ah there we go, so the energy cubes mean something! Also reference to the Sushimi guy of the set (gosh that name, I can't 😂). So do people actually die in Prime Empire or they are just kidnapped kinda? Can the ninja just bring back? ANGST POTENTIAL

Cole please don't die please don't die please don't die for the love of Garmadon please don't die somebody help-

HOLY FSM KAI I MEANT HELP FROM SOMEONE WITH MORE THAN ONE LIFE DON'T DO THAT BE CAREFUL PLEASE I FREAKING LOVE YOU YOU RECKLESS HOTHEAD ❤❤❤

Nya giving Kai a sweet look after seeing her brother is okay, that's what I live for 😍

So apparently Unagami is trying to build some kind of device using the energy cubes of the dead players (sounds kinda creepy like this 😱) to create some kind of portal? To Ninjago? I don't understand, if Unagami is Milton Dyer then why this? Just to bring his army and conquer? I mean I guess, sounds a little simple though. Then again, if it turns out it's not Dyer, it could be Unagami wanting to be real and get into his creator's world? Mm...

I like the message, having the ability to choose your own path. Very fitting for a game themed season, I hope it gets explored even more!

More for the "I love the ninja emoji masks of this season"'s compilation 😂😂😂

THE MAZE OF THE RED DRAGON

Duuuude, Jay being good at mazes comes all the way from Possession, the Tomb of the First Spinjitzu Master! 😍 ... or maybe I just rewatch this show too much... could be both really 😅

Unagami is NASTY!

Confirmed the thing about going into the real world, what scares me is how much powers Unagami seems to actually possess. Like, can he do the block thingy whenever he wants? Just straight up pause and do whatever? Wow...

Jay being extra 😎

I mean, of course he is, he's got better statics! 😂 I like how he seems so focused and in charge, I still hope we see more of him... and Scott... WHERE IS SCOTT???

I love dragons, this metal one is cute 😍

So now we have two ronin: a samurai looking for a path on his own in a digital world... and a shady guy named Ronin 😛 Total respect for Okino, he really showed the values he believes in. No matter he was programmed his way, I hope he finds what he's looking for. Better come back for the final battle!

One Keytana down, two more to go. I know one is the price of the race, while the last one... I don't really know.

More of the masks because I love them 😂 Here we have Vegeta Lloyd and Kawai Cole ✌✌

[hypnotized-so-mesmerized]

1, 3, 11, 15 ,17 , 20??? I want to ask all of them but I don't want to overwhelm you!! 😅😆🙈

Omg hahaha, THANK YOU for asking me these 💜💖 I get the feeling haha, they’re all so tempting!!  1. Are there any fics that you wanted to leave multiple kudos for, and were disappointed when you could only leave one?

Ahhh yes, ABSOLUTELY!!!! There’s so, so, SO many ahhh...can’t put all of them on here cause it’ll be too long to post tbh but here’s some off the top of my head that I wish I could leave 1,00000000 kudos for!! 

Built From Scraps by @peter-stank And every single fic in this verse too and honestly, EVERYTHING Beedee has written!!! BUt BFS particularly, Tony and May are dusted but Peter and Pepper aren’t and it’s just...i sob EVERY SINGLE TIME I re-read this but it’s amazing and so worth and I am in love <3 Amazing characterization, well rounded stories for EVERY single character, and just...wow wow wow wow wow wow <3 

Not-Uncle Tony by @jen27ny An awesome spin on the usual biodad au in which Happy is Peter’s biological father and it’s amazing and incredible and “Not-Uncle” Tony is..well, Peter’s uncle!! It’s so great and I love this so so so much!! The relationship between all 3 of them, Happy being a great dad and just..EVERYTHING!!

Lilypad: Year 1 by @marauders4evr This fic is AMAZING, i can’t get over it, Regulus is incredible in this and so are Harry and Dudley and I LOVE IT SO MUCH, must read for HP fans and found family lovers!! It’s just..dsfkjdsf ahh so incredible, and great character and world building <3 

You’ll Always Get There First  by crowkag on AO3 (don’t think they have a tumblr!) Just found out there’s a companion piece too with Tony and May co-parenting and I am excited!! 

All’s Well That Ends Well (To End Up with You) by @seek-rest Yes, this is a series but i want to give EACH WORK in the series multiple kudos dskfjdsf...there’s college AU MJ and Peter, with those two being UTTER IDIOTS (said with all the love), pining, angst, miscommunication, fluff...just...EVERYTHING I AM SO IN LOVE WITH SERIES (even though these two make me so mad something, I LOVE THEM!!!)....and legit everything seek-rest has written that I’ve read I want to give multiple kudos to too!!  there’s SO MANY MORE fics I want to tag here, I really need to get on making a rec list or fic rec blog, but limiting myself to these 5 for now (though if someone asks for 1 again ill give more haha

3: slowburn or established relationship?

Ahhhh sklfjksjdf okay...I thought I could choose but...I don’t think I can!!! Cause slow burn is amazing and the PINING and ahhhh....but Established Relationship is everything too cause you get to see the pair be cute and coupley and grow together...KLSFJKDJS...Slowburn that also turns into Established Relationship is my final answer 😅

11: ever read guilty pleasure fics?

YES I definitely do hahaha...all fan fic reading started out as guily pleasure for me, and now its just certain ones/things...but slowly its all becoming less guilty pleasure and more just..pleasure without the guilt part of it? but still some in the guilty pleasure category that i definitely read for now haha :) 

15: do you usually leave comments on chapters/fics?

I try my absolute best to, and this is something I’m working on!! Problem is, I want to comment on EVERYTHING but then i get too tired, or need to finish other stuff or am not in the right headspace so yeah...I try to open the fic up in a new tab or get back to it then, but I need to get better at that and be okay with writing a shorter comment and posting it and coming back to it later for a longer one! 

17: canon-compliant or canon, what canon?

Depends on what it is, but typically...Canon, what canon?? Particularly with Irondad!!!! <3 

20: what something that immediately makes you exit out of a fic?

If its Starker or Thorki or anything of the like, I exit out...also anything racist/racism related...not like, in a fic where racism is being adressed in some way necesarry for/to the fic, or is being disparaged, but if its a fic where characters are being racist and its being touted as a good thing, fics with those in it I absolutely can’t read them. And along the same vein, if there’s a lot of stereotyping/prejudice for any group and is being shown as a positive/normal thing, i exit out of the fic as well. 

also, for general reader inserts specifically, if there’s repeatedly a lot of descriptors in which its  very very very clearly written for a white reader? “my pale cheeks, cream colored skin, blond hair” stuff like that...I end up exiting out now. 

Luckily, in all the reader-inserts ive read in the marvel/actors fandom I haven’t seen too much of these and have instead read works by amazing writers who are inclusive of everyone in their fics and that has warmed my heart so much <3  

Okay, this got REALLY long, I’m sorry about that everyone!! Thanks so much Anuja for asking me these!!!! <3 @infj-slytherclaw 

Send me fanfic reader asks!

[cwtwheely]

Pokémon Let's Go Review

Well... this has been a contentious Pokémon game, hasn't it?

While fans were excited that Pokémon was going to be released on the Switch (even if some were disappointed that there would be no more main series games on the 3DS), knowing that the first would include Go elements put some off entirely. Which is understandable; it took about two years for the app to fully form, and its "gameplay" is rudimentary.

But I like Go regardless, and I was looking forward to Let's Go, especially after learning that it was a remake of Yellow (which desperately needed a remake, as the original is incredibly dated).

As for this? I love it. I've been playing it as much as I can since it was released, and I've been having so much fun.

First off, let's talk about the Go aspect. Yes, you no longer battle most of the Pokémon you encounter, but they make sure you have enough of an incentive to catch them other than filling the Pokédex. And it all comes down to catch combos.

Catch combos are earned by catching one species of Pokémon over and over again (you can encounter another Pokémon, run from it and not break the combo). The higher the combo, the more candy and berries you earn.

Candy, which can also be earned by transferring Pokémon to the professor, replace the God awful medical based boosters from the other games which were so expensive and scarce to find in the wild. There are 6 different candy you can earn:

Health - raises HP

Mighty - raises Attack

Tough - raises Defence

Smart - raises Special Attack

Courage - raises Special Defence

Quick - raises Speed

These candy come in normal size (can be used on any Pokémon), large (only work on Pokémon above level 30) and extra large (only work on Pokémon above level 60). There are also Pokémon-specific candy (like Go) which raise every stat of that Pokémon and its evolutionary line (eg: Charmander candy works on Charizard), and the rare candy retains its main series effect of raising the level of a Pokémon.

With these, it's never been easier to unleash the true potential of your Pokémon. It's gotten me into competitive battling a lot more than I thought. And if any system needs to bleed into the main series, it's the candy system.

That said, if it does become a mainstay, it needs a tweak. While I'm not too fussed about grinding for the candy, using them can be incredibly tedious and unnecessarily time consuming. It takes, at most, 10 minutes to fully raise a Pokémon, and that's if you have enough candy to get it that far.

In Go these days, if you have more than one rare candy, and you want to give them all to one Pokémon, you can do so in seconds. It would be nice if that was possible with the Let's Go candy system too, especially with the Pokémon specific candy.

Catch combos offer more benefits than just candy. The further along a chain you get, the more likely you are to find one with the best base stats. You can check these with the Judge feature, which is given to you once you catch 30 different species and talk to an aide on the eastern building out of Fuschia City (heading to Lavender Town). It's another feature that makes it so much easier to invest in getting the best out of your favourite Pokémon (and another feature that needs to be kept).

And, yes, chain combos make things easier to find shiny Pokémon. With a combo over 30, odds are slashed from 1 in just over 4,000 to one in 341. And these odds are made better if you set a lure off and (once you've registered every Pokémon in the Pokédex) the shiny charm.

Also, the higher the combo, the more experience your Pokémon get. While that's great, as is the even distribution of EXP for every Pokémon in your team, it's not ideal. Say you've built a team that you're not entirely happy with. You find a Pokémon you want to include, but realise it's at a much lower level. The only way to build that Pokémon up is to remove all of your current team and grind it up, which is the only major flaw with the catching mechanic. Fortunately, this could only be an issue with any future Let's Go games (if they make more of them).

Yes, some will say "just send it out first in trainer battles!"

You need your stronger Pokémon to support that weaker one, so all the EXP your weak Pokémon gets, your stronger one gets, too (actually, the higher level one gets more, I think). Y

Your team still shares EXP from trainer battles, so you have the same problem.

There aren't as many Trainers as there are wild Pokémon.

Whether they stick with Go catching mechanics, revert to normal, allow players to battle, beat then catch Pokémon (like they do with Snorlax, the Electrode in the Power Plant or the Legendaries) or allow players to choose the best option for them, chain combos should be kept, especially if they're wanting to double down on the competitive scene and allowing everyone a chance to get involved in it.

The catching itself is... alright. While I do like using the Poké Ball Plus, the gyroscope technology in handheld mode is also really good. That said, in a game made to be as accessible as possible, disabled people are abandoned by them.

As someone who is disabled, I'm incredibly fortunate to have little issue using them... for now. One wrong move, however, and I could probably never play the game again. Granted, that's a worst case scenario, but with my condition, that is also a possibility. For a full report on this, I'll refer you to this Kotaku article:

Seriously Nintendo, stop forcing us to accept motion controls! They utterly destroyed Star Fox Zero and they are restrictive as all hell for a series that's meant to be universal! Make them an option if you must, but for God's sake, motion controls should never be the only way to play on a home console!

With all of that out of the way, the story is... well, pretty much the same as the original Yellow version. There are some tweaks; your rival is friendlier than Blue was, Lorelei helps you with Team Rocket on route 10, you see the Cubone try and interact with its dead mother (the most heartbreaking scene in media since Up), you see Blue take over the Viridian City Gym after you beat Giovanni (explaining why you faced him in Gold, Silver and Crystal).

But on the whole, it's simple yet effective. Frankly, it's a better story than Black and White because it doesn't reek of hypocrisy (they're using Pokémon to try and push a message to not abuse animals) and never takes itself too seriously. Besides which, the twist of Giovanni being the Viridian Gym Leader as a means to boost his operation is so unexpected and well handled that it's never been matched.

But on the whole, you beat the Gyms, catch the Pokémon and be the best. It's a formula that works.

Where the game truly shines, however, is the graphics. By the end of the game, I was thinking "why hasn't Pokémon been on a home console before now?" Sure, they wanted people to come together, which was more likely with handheld consoles. But frankly? It held the visual storytelling back so much. And this game is proof of that.

I've mentioned the Cubone moment before, but that whole subplot is the best, most heartbreaking storytelling the franchise has ever had to offer. But the only time that actually worked, and was properly felt, was in this game.

The Gyms also got an upgrade. Most of them were slight updates, but two (Saffron and Cinnabar) have similar mechanics, but a much different feel. Cinnabar especially is so over the top with its quiz theme is just brilliant. I loved it. Saffron's, however, was just breathtakingly beautiful. It was also TARDIS-like in that it's much bigger on the inside. But it's another example of why the Switch makes the game look so much better.

That said, there were a couple of times where I experienced significant frame rate drops in handheld mode (I can't say if it's the same in docked mode as I don't play it that way). It mainly happens at the start of Viridian Forest when there are a lot of Pokémon on screen (be careful when setting a lure off there). I didn't experience any major bugs or glitches other than that, though.

And yes, your Pokémon can (finally) follow you around again. Some (Arcanine, Persian) you can ride on to traverse the world faster. And you can fly over the overworld on a Charizard or Dragonite once you beat the Elite Four (it's tougher to enter buildings though, so you have to spend a couple of seconds trying to land).

Hopefully this means that this feature will be a mainstay. Not only is it fun to interact with your buddy, but they also help you find hidden items in flowers or rocks.

The only Pokémon you can fully interact with is your starter: Pikachu or Eevee. It's similar to Pokémon Amie from X, Y, Sun and Moon, and... well, it's so charming. I often went in just to see her reactions and I wasn't disappointed. She danced, she got excited, she even gave me presents. It's just adorable! Hopefully this stays as well, only for every Pokémon that follows you around.

The menus are fine as well. But in handheld mode, it is rather cumbersome to use the buttons to navigate through them. The touchscreen can be used to interact with your partner Pokémon, so why it couldn't be used to navigate the menus I don't know. Maybe this is one of the aspects they intentionally stripped back? Either way, all us handheld players to use the touchscreen more for the next game please, Game Freak.

Also, the move selection boxes in battle seem... a tad small. It would be nice if they, and the font in them, were made a bit bigger in future games for those with poor eyesight. It's not like they're working with a small 3DS screen any more.

Overall though, I love this game. Yes, it is a stripped back game compared to Sun and Moon (no abilities, less moves). Yes, it has levelling issues. Yes, it has accessibility issues. But the things the game adds make them a fantastic entry point to the series, and competitive battling as a whole.

Plus, it was nice to experience Yellow with a fresh coat of paint. The hardware really helped to enhance the story (again, the Cubone subplot is heartbreaking), the return of travelling partners was great, seeing the Pokémon in the wild made the world feel more alive than it's ever felt.

I'm really looking forward to what they do with the franchise for generation 8. But to tide people over, this was a great instalment. I'd honestly go as far as to say it's one of my favourite Pokémon games ever, just behind HeartGold, SoulSilver, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.

Is Let's Go perfect? Absolutely not. But I've had more fun with this than I have with a Pokémon game since ORAS. It just puts you in the world and explore everything it has to offer. And for a Pokémon game, that's all I really want. It's a lot more fun than sitting through nearly an hour of cutscenes to actually do anything, only to do it again in "follow up" games that could easily have been sold as DLC rather than another full price release.

[childeapologist]

OMFG! Your damage!! Ughh pls share lol I think the highest I've hit so far and most recently (and I think it was by accident lol) was a little over 50k with Eula. LOL I think its because around that time, I increased her talents so its 6-5-8 atm. OH! I just checked Beidou's cons and I'm at C4 pfft I mean I want C6 but I didnt' realize she's at C4 —I just assumed I was like C2 lololol.

Oh, that reminds me, as you know, I've been tryna complete beidou. I did like 3 10-pulls and ... I got a gold star.. of which terrified me because I wasn't tryna get a gold star lol BUT it ended up being Jean lol I don't think you realize how happy I was when I saw that it was just Jean lol Which means I'm DEFINITELY saving up for Raiden like she may just complete me lol

also, I read your recent post about gaming/genshin community and thats so sucky I mean you're definitely right in cr/cd ratio (i'm by all means a newb but still). I think my Eula was like that too (like 1:4 ratio) but once I evened it out to at least 1:2.5, I think that's also why I was able to hit 50k. That reminds me of this user I found during co-op who had an obnoxious profile that, to me, almost low-key block them. It was something about using under lvl90 chara on domains and I was like ??? umm i understand that but like.... if you have a lvl 80 character that get crit 100k every other hit then why would lvls matter ? Idk it like really irked me because grinding for artifacts and ascension materials and even talent materials is time consuming and its a big turn off for other people just getting into and just enjoying the ride. idk it reminds of people that show off their artifacts and still ask if its good like... you know its good... so why did you ask???

OO yes I'll respond to some of this and then I'll share a bit not to flex bc it's not even a ~stellar~ build or anything yet but just to share on how I prioritize stats and stuff since I didn't fully comprehend all that until like....quite recently tbh.

C4 Beidou and a guaranteed Raiden seems great to me omg. Careful with your pulls from this point on cause a random low pity Ganyu/Zhongli/Yae could take away your guaranteed Raiden D:

Ugh people like that is why I don't do co op. Like that person's profile - aside from the fact that it's alienating towards newer players that won't have perfect teams or builds, they are just plain wrong. Artifacts/talents/team synergy/utilizing your reactions well is all way more important towards getting your damage off than raw character levels. It's always the people that are the most toxic that are also the most wrong. This is way Genshin was my gateway to quitting League, bc at least Genshin doesn't force me to play with these clowns LMAO

Like I'd love to optimize Itto and Childe more, but I spent a month prefarming Zhongli and once that was done I was thinking about how I also still needed an EM sands for Kazuha. It's neverending! Lmao

Although I must include a disclaimer - In that post I gave myself slightly too much credit and was misremembering my CR on Itto - it's 57% not 67% but I still stand by everything I said lmaoo.

And omg don't get me started on the "iS thIS gooD?" people with their artifacts that they know damn well are stellar.

Anyway, so my build advice. I'll put this behind a read more for the folks just scrolling

Since IK you have Eula, I'll showcase this.

I've spent far less resources farming for Eula than Itto and Childe so she's my biggest WIP of my main DPS. Just don't have the 4x pale flame, but I farmed Noblesse domain a lot for Bennett so I had all these bloodstained artifacts and threw this together. Her CR is far better with Serpent Spine but Itto is usually using it so I only switch it onto her situationally. But the phys damage from 2x bloodstained 2x pale flame and a snowtombed is wild. Her normals can hit for up to like 21k, and her bursts usually hit for about 180k. I feel like Eula wants CD > CR > Atk% > ER > ATK. Maybe some HP% since our girl has to get up close and personal and inevitably will take damage unless you have a cracked full HP built Zhongli

(Can’t get this image to full screen from desktop, may want to look from mobile if you wanna look close)

For Circlet, Goblet, Sands - if something has the main stat you want and at least two usable substats go for it and just use that til you get something better For flower and plume - If its got at least three usable substats just use that and wait for the 4x perfect starting stat ones later.

Or don't do any of this and level what you want and have fun. This is just how I do things loll. I'm always using less than perfect artifacts for the time being til the long grind for the "perfect" ones pays off.