#It's just gameplay that kinda isn't my favorite sometimes

[wayfinderships]

Good afternoon gamers!!! I miss F.inal F.antasy. I miss it a lot-

[thydungeongal]

I genuinely don't understand what y'all mean by "ok to kill enemies." Everytime it comes up I feel less and less confident I am following the conversation.

D&D kind of has, as part of its DNA, the idea that combat will eventually happen in the game. To that end, throughout the history of the game there have been many different types of guy that in the text of the game have been presented as like almost self-evidently okay to kill simply because. While different editions of the game have tried to move away from some of the more overtly problematic portrayals of this (basically saying that certain types of humanoids are okay to kill because they look funny and live in caves is kinda fucked up), the truth is that pretty much every attempt to look for a suitable Boogeyman that player characters can kill without any iffy ethics about it is going to end up really weird.

Anyway this is why people will often look for types of guy to present as enemies where characters can engage in no-thoughts-head-empty lethal sports with them without anyone needing to have a "wait a minute, are we the baddies?" moment. Demons and the undead are pretty easy to go for here.

My personal favorite approach is to just accept the fact that D&D kinda sucks with black-and-white morality and instead of making the conflict in the world about clear good and evil teams make it about different groups of people with different goals. Orcs can be present but they're no longer "the evil guys it's always morally okay to kill because of biotruths" but instead just some guys who might sometimes have violent disagreements with other people.

Anyway a lot of this stuff doesn't mean anything and as said not engaging with games as texts on this level isn't really necessary to enjoy them. But for me at least it can often elevate gameplay. When bandits aren't just some guys who decided to become evil criminals some day but actual people whose banditry is a response to something going on in the world and their lives, it suddenly makes the conflicts in the world a lot more real and grounded (and sometimes killing those bandits can be the right thing to do, but sometimes negotiating with them or even cooperating them can be the right thing to do. Basically, once you start thinking about all the different types of Guy that inhabit the worlds of D&D not just as game tokens that player characters can hit to make XP come out [although that is also fine and dandy as a playstyle] but as living thinking creatures with actual goals, the types of narratives the game starts to produce also expands a hundredfold.)

Anyway I'm not sure if that answers your question because I went on like a bunch of tangents. But it was also kind of a vague question.

[kwamiwayzz]

BroooooI wanted to do the question thiingingintinf that u reblogged ifydm <3

Okaokay so JECKA (My baby) withhh 2,3,5,12,13,16 and 22 (is that too much?? Sry if it is 😭)

Lol it’s no issue, these are actually kinda fun. It took me a bit to come up with some of them:

2. Favorite canon thing

While some people see it as a headcanon, it's referenced in-game that Jecka is book smart (all the AP classes that she takes, and I think she's mentioned to be a straight-A student somewhere, but lol someone correct me if I'm wrong). I just like the idea that she's a secret nerd.

I also like how she has a good head on her shoulders, trying to keep Nicole out of trouble, despite her own problematic issues (letting Nicole get away with some things as long as it doesn't affect her).

3. Least favorite canon thing

Her in-game art sprite, excluding the promo art for Flip Side--that art made her look so good that I forgot her game was a flop.

I'm sure other people have noticed it too, but it's not just Jecka's sprite art I dislike, it's all the female characters. Their chests look too big to a point where it feels like the creator sexualizes them. But I guess that's not surprising coming from someone who projects himself onto Jeffery.

5. First song that comes to mind

I actually don't have a song that comes to mind that makes me think of Jecka, but if I did, I'd probably say maybe a few R&B songs (mostly because of Flip Side's intro song).

12. Headcanon for this character

I have quite a few, but some are headcanons that the general fandom has had:

Has anger issues stemmed from her tumultuous home life (learned from her dad)

Neurotic and probably a control freak over a lot of things in her life, which can be seen from how she reacts to things going wrong (Nicole getting shot, breaking down in front of the school therapist about her dad's abuse and side job stepping on men for money, dating Mr. Katz just so she could get an A in the class)

More toned and works out a lot compared to Nicole's noodley body

Her form of self-harm is typically overworking herself to keep herself from overthinking

Constantly thinking about the future (and things hopefully getting better after high school) keeps her from giving into her depression

13. Emoji

Sometimes I think of this one 💅when it comes to Jecka. But I think she probably uses this one 😘 ironically at first when texting Nicole.

16. Least favorite ship for this character

I was going to mention a femslash ship, but it's already super niche and rare anyway that there's no need to even bring it up. I don't really dislike it, but I'm just not invested all too much in the other character Jecka is shipped with.

Other than that, all the men in the game.

22. Like/Dislike from fic

I don't think I've come across it, but I'm not really the biggest fan of when a fic makes Jecka out to be the "good guy" or morally better than Nicole, which isn't a high bar when we're thinking of the games. She can be pretty naive and let morally corrupt things happen (White Pride Ending from the first game) even if it's not to the same extent as Nicole. I mostly bring this up because I've seen some YouTube comments make Jecka to be a completely flawless person (again, in comparison to Nicole).

Things I do like in fic is when more of her character is expanded upon with what little we got in the first two games (actually, throw in Flip Side too because that game barely went much about Jecka's character).

As much as Flip Side was a flop, there was a comment in one of the gameplay videos that mentioned how Jecka seems to have a shorter temper than Nicole (immediately yelling at Crispin to tell him to fuck off). It made me think of wanting to see more fics that expand on Jecka turning out to be just like her dad even if she doesn't mean to.

[cinamun]

I know you spend a lot of time making TFA for all of us, so I know you have a busy schedule, but do you actually take time to do gameplay? I know you let them wander sometimes (we won't talk about that time Hope was electrocuted lmao!), but I just wonder if you play the game sometimes. I myself have a hard time trying to actually play the game. TS3 was and still is my favorite, but TS4 has the look of the sims looking delicious but I can't keep my attention since there so many things missing. Just wondering if the story of TFA keeps you going or gameplay and the story.

I was just saying that I want to play the game more. There have been numerous really big arcs lately in TFA which is time consuming. I definitely just play the characters (my sweet baby OCs) in between setting up shots and stuff like that. If its the wrong time of day for the scene, for example, I'll play the household until the right time. Send Jay to work, work on milestones with the twins, etc. It all depends on the household. I definitely need a break to just play in general. I tried that a few months back but I got some weird comments and just kinda went back into story mode.

I'll be honest, though, I very much enjoy sims 4. For me, its fun and I don't share the idea that too much is missing (not saying there isn't). When cottage living came out I played out a couple generations on a farm. It was relaxing and fun and I want to do something like that again. I should also add that I only played sims 3 initially when it was first released, lost interest in the sims and missed the entire sims 3 era. So what some might find missing, its all new to me.

TFA keeps me going but I'd be lying if I didn't say it wasn't emotionally taxing. I just love the characters so any chance I get to just unpause and let them fulfil their wants, goof off and occassionally get hit by lightning, I very much have a blast.

[refinedpet]

I hate Itsuki from Tokyo Mirage Sessions so much. It's incredible the games main cast is all so loveable, genuinely all of them are some of my favorite characters.

And then the player character is like if you gave a silent protagonist dialog in an attempt to make him even more unlikable.

In 99% of story scenes you can just not read what he says and nothing is missed. In side stories there's almost always another member of the cast that makes more sense to be part of it, if not actively one there while he third wheels it

The only trait they gave him is dense anime protagonist. It's to the extent that not only is he fucking clueless when women like him

BUT HIS LITERALLY ACTUAL BEST FRIEND

Touma says "thanks for always being here for me, you're such a great best friend" and this mother fucker is like "wait we're friends?"

Gods I hate him so much

Not to mention the whole point is the entire cast having careers in the entertainment industry as talent. Where usually they focus on one or two different things rather than doing everything

In the story Itsuki isn't shown doing ANYTHING good at all and yet he actively does a bit of everything alongside Tsubasa who might as well be the actual protagonist anyway.

And yeah, it ends with him being a manager instead of talent, but Maiko exists, that's not a role that needed to be filled.

It's absolutely incredible how they combined the worst part of silent and spoken protagonists.

Gods, I'm already deep into this so let's keep going.

Let's look at other FE and SMT protagonists.

I feel WAY more attached to Demifiend as a character who quite literally gets no characterization in SMT3. Because at least that let's you portray your own experience onto him, and give him the associated personality with whatever route you're doing.

And then look at like, Joker Persona 5. Someone else I don't like. He's a silent protagonist in the "I have dialog options" way. Which at least then, sometimes I hate all the options given to me and there's a semblance of character. And it's obviously not meant to be important and more a way to give the people reading a way to stay engaged and make sure they're paying attention (because clearly that fanbse needs it). Even if ultimately both are useless filler dialog

Then there's weird cases like Byleth. Where not speaking much is built into their character, but that's handled much better in Three Hopes as opposed to TH where they're the main character. Regardless, they're probably the best of these that actually talk at being a player insert above all else. And not being an active hindrance on the games plot. Though it is unfortunate having the silent protagonist actually be an important player in the story, instead of basically an observer to it that gets to meddle like Demifiend.

Then there's cases like Flynn Megami Tensei who actually manages to get the vibes of a real character dispite basically talking as much as Demifiend. Even before he's allowed to talk in SMT4:A. Just listening to how other characters talk about him has that impact.

SOMEHOW all these different approaches, even the bad ones, turn out better than Itsuki. And what's fucked up is that he's NOT a silent protagonist, but if I compared him to any character that actually speaks it would immediately become obvious what an absolute failure he is.

One last thing. He's also the only problem with the game gameplay wise. Since you can't remove him from the Party of 3, meaning you want your team built around a sword always being there. Limiting what cool combos you can do. While also kinda making the last party member more underwhelming since to use them you need to be willing to have two swords in your party of 3 instead of covering more weaknesses. And you're just not allowed to take him out until New Game Plus

I didn't mean to go on for that long, moral of the story is fuck Itsuki. He's the only thing wrong with TMS#FE and that somehow manages to cover everything wrong with the story, gameplay and pacing.

[spinningbuster98]

Let's talk about Sequence Breaking

Sequence Breaking has got to be one of the most satisfying things I've ever seen in a videogame

And I'm talking about intentional breaks. Yeah yeah sure, stuff involving glitches and exploits is also impressive, hell even more so, you might even argue that it's not a "true" sequence break unless it's 100% unintended

But I love the idea of a game giving you the means to obtain items earlier than intended and telling you "are you skilled enough to do it?"

This is why I will forever defend Super's Wall Jump

"But it's too finicky and the timing is weird it sucks!"

Yeah sorry to sound like an elitist but, you don't get it

Yoy really don't

This isn't Mega Man X or Hollow Knight, where wall jumping is an integral part of the platforming that you have to perform on the regular, here wall jumping is akin to a cheat code: something you're not supposed to use (though you actually are in reality) and that is only required to break the game. If wall jumping were as easy as in those games then sequence breaking wouldn't be nearly as satisfying since even a baby could pull it off. Wall Jumping in this game is SUPPOSED to require skill, it is MEANT to be somewhat finicky to an extent. Not that I won't have some negatives to talk about concerning this game's controls, though manybe next time...

I personally find it weird how this game's sequence breaking continues to be my favorite. since both Zero Mission and Dread handle it better in some areas

Zero Mission just flat out has more of it: Super kinda stops having any more real sequence breaking instances (again: excluding glitches) after Norfair. There's that early Energy Tank in that water room in the Wrecked Ship I guess? But after that pretty much everything can be obtained on your first run through an area with the skills that you already have. You can't even get the Screw Attack early to my understanding

Dread doesn't have as much sequence breaking as the other 2, and some of it is pretty stupidly implemented (why should I bother with the early Super Missiles and the Kraid Bomb insta kill when those require MORE backtracking that just doing things by the book?), but others not only result in less backtracking but also in some actual gameplay advantages: getting the Grapple Beam early allows you to skip two slow water sections in Burenia a little later and getting the early Gravity Suit (and the early Screw Attack that's pretty much connected to it) allows you to absolutely rip Ferenia open like a tin can, especially if you also get the Space Jump before the Storm Missiles, allowing you to go wherever you want, destroy the boss with no effort and make a joke out of its EMMI Zone. By contrast sequence breaking in Super only really results in cutting back on backtracking: what do you get from early Power Bombs? Eh I guess you regain access to Crateria and Brinstar earlier.... it's kinda useless though. Early Spazer and Wave Beams? Kinda useful but it's not like enemies are super tough here and they don't really open new areas or shortcuts. Ever Zero Mission's sequence breaking gives you more practical advantages sometimes: early Varia Suit? More defense earlier on and you can use it to explore some extra rooms in Norfair earlier. Early Screw Attack and Super Missiles? Those speak for themselves

However I can't help but find Super's more fun to pull off

Every instance of sequence breaking in Super is a matter of pure skill and imagination: YOU have to pull off those wall jumps and shinesparks, YOU have to make those long jumps after running certain distances

By contrast sequence breaking in ZM and Dread tends to be more dependent on finding secret passages. You want to fight Ridley first in ZM? Find the secret shaft in Norfair. Early Screw Attack? You gotta know there are some secret missile blocks in the room right below it. Wanna skip the Long Beam? You gotta know that there are a few secret breakable blocks

Dread is a bit of both worlds in a way: getting the Grapple Beam early requires you to find a secret passage yes, but you must also be able to use your slide jump really well to go through said passage. Getting the Gravity Suit as early as possible also requires you to be skilled with the shinespark both to reach the Green Teleportal early and to clear the Shinespark puzzle required to access the secret route

This isn't a bad way to go about things by any means, hell it's appropriate for adventure games! But I also find it inherently less interesting and intuitive than Super's

In this game it's all about "Hmm... this looks like I can wall jump here and access this door earlier!" It's all about intuitively approaching the level design once you have a good unserstanding of your abilities and have some good creativity with your movements. It's not even just about sequence breaking per se though that's for another time

In those other two you mostly just gotta know that at X spot you can shoot thus revealing a secret passage, which is satisfying the first time but then that's it

Anyway Maridia is actually pretty good.

First off, for the "Muh Maridia tube" crowd: did you know that there's another entrance to Maridia accessible from the Wrecked Ship? It'll take you to a damp region in Crateria full of dead ends but using the X Ray Scope on one of them reveals a breakable wall, and boom: entrance to Maridia!

Second: The area is certainly much bigger than the others and the game has pretty much stopped nudging you in any particular direction....but honestly it's really not so bad once you notice that you'll be mostly just moving from left to right to reach Draygon and that you'll have to avoid the bottom half of the map

However if we wanna talk about problems then yeah the sand pits and sandfalls are really awkward and not in a fun way. The room just before Draygon's where it's full of sand and the game wants you to use the Grapple Beam in very precise manners is kinda bad. Yeah I used the wall jump to get through it much quicker and easier....but as I said this is an ability that's secret, you shouldn't be depending on it to not have an awkward time with level design

Then there's the process of 100%ing this place which requires you to go through half of it twice just for those items hidden in those two secret sand pit rooms.

This is dumb. Very dumb. People complain about the "final victory laps" in the next games, and we'll get to those, but this is honestly just stupid and nonsensical as it adds nothing to the experience, it's not challenging, it doesn't require any real routing as there are only 2 possible routes you can go about this to my knowledge. It's just a big time waster

(also I've always thought that they gave you the Spring Ball this late as a joke. Why is it here?)

You wanna know an issue that I have with this game? The fact that the goddamn full item jingle plays when you get every single item expansion. EVERY.SINGLE.ONE.

In the last two games and those afterwards either the item jingle is really short or there's a much shorter jingle that plays out with minor items.

Here it's the full thing every single time. Not only is this aggravating as fuck when you're going for 100%, as it stops the action for approximately 5 seconds every 5 minutes, but it also resets the fucking stage music!

Super Metroid has some of my favorite tracks in the series, yet I barely get to listen to them fully because it feels like every 3 rooms I'm getting a round of NANANANANANANANANANANANANAAAAAAAAAAA

No I don't care that Dread only gives you a couple of beeps when you get an item expansion it keeps things moving goddamnit!

[bahamutgames]

Paper Mario: The Thousand Afterthoughts

Game: Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door (May 23, 2024)

Console: Nintendo Switch

It's that time again!! If you had told me not too long ago that I'd have to give my thoughts on 2 different Mario RPG remakes on Switch (and an upcoming brand new M&L) so close to each other, I would've laughed you out of the room. But here we are. And now I look quite foolish, don't I?

My mood is kinda in free fall and I only want to write about these Mario RPGs when I'm in a good mood, but I think I'm okay right now. So I'll capitalize on it. Similar to the Super Mario RPG Remake I'll try to focus on what makes this such a lovely remake rather than gushing about why I adore TTYD. But if you're curious, it has some of the best characters, writing, and combat in the series. While I also think it's a really padded out game. That's my micro review of the original. Okay? Okay.

As always, this isn't a review. Just me throwing up my thoughts. Go play Thousand Year Door RIGHT NOW. Either the original or the remake. I'll wait.

Now that they're gone-

SPOILERS FOR THOUSAND YEAR DOOR AHEAD, YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!!

Opening

I feel like I've given you my long, tragic backstory with Mario RPGs a billion times but if you somehow missed it. These were my favorite games of all time, they fell off, I get sad, so on and so forth. Thousand Year Door is one of my favorite video games ever, in the trio of greatest Mario games ever made you have Super Mario RPG, Bowser's Inside Story, and TTYD. And, yeah, needless to say. I was bummed when Paper Mario started to go in its new direction. But I'd like to not give that the oxygen of attention at the moment.

So when they were like "Oh there's one last thing" in that direct, the MILLISECOND that first note hit I was like "HUH???" And I flipped my fucking LID, I couldn't believe they were ACTUALLY gonna remake TTYD. And not only that, it was looking good! And then it came out and I couldn't afford it lol.

But thankfully my good friend (Idk if they want me to name them here so I'll avoid it for the time being) bought it for me. Which was so so so nice of them and I genuinely appreciate it cause this was such a wonderful experience. So this review is sponsored by my friend :)

And again, I'll skip the suspense. This is another WONDERFUL remake that's a total love letter to the original and understands what made it so good.

Stuff I liked

I think the best place to start would be with how faithful this is to the original. It doesn't change pretty much ANYTHING. If there's any major changes to stuff that was in the original (not counting new content) I can't remember it. Not that I was expecting them to change it but still, it's nice that they didn't like, butcher it or something crazy. It's the same good plot, pretty much an identical script (with any changes being for the better imo.), and the same wonderful gameplay.

But of course, what makes a remake interesting is what ACTUALLY gets changed. And I think pretty much right out the gate you'll notice the MASSIVE graphics overhaul this game got. It takes a more papercraft approach like the secondary Paper Mario Trilogy (SS, CS, OK) but applies it to the worlds from the original game. And it looks AMAZING! This is basically exactly what I wanted ever since we got to see the SS Flavion in Smash 3DS lmao. In addition to that there's SO many new sprites in this game for each character. It's actually crazy just how much new animations there are for everyone. Not just teammates, who now have back sprites and TONS of facial expressions and reactions, but even enemies and NPCs have TONS of new things that can do. Sometimes enemies will laugh at you if you get fucked over, people will change to match the mood of what they're saying. It's actually crazy, I had to stop playing every 5 seconds to look at all the new sprites and details. One of my personal favorite new expressions is Mario tipping his hat in respect when death is brought up. It's small but it's such a Mario thing to do and I actually flipped out when I first saw it.

Then there's the redone soundtrack. OH MY GOD it's SOOOOO GOOD. This might be a better OST than the original, and may be one of my new favorite Mario RPG OSTs in general. Every song is lovingly redone and they all sound SO NICE. In particular the battle theme, which changes for each chapter, is SUCH a treat. I adored that. All the boss remixes are great (Cortez in particular was a big shock that I loved) and I believe the teammate themes are actually new. This was also a lovely addition. Bobbery (not biased because he's my favorite partner) probably has my favorite theme. And some of my favorite songs, 'Happiness and Sadness' + 'We're Counting On You, Mario' were both SO well done!! And it's changes and upgrades like these that REALLY add to the experience and make it even better in my opinion! Or at least, wonderful to reexperience!

Then of course there's the combat, which is pretty much completely unchanged as far as I can recall? But they did actually add new super bosses which was really cool! You can fight Prince Mush which is neat, and Whacka which is AWESOME! This actually gives a reason to do the Pit of 100 Trials a second time (fun fact, this remake was my first time ever beating the pit! And I did it without dying. You can retry a floor if you die in this remade version of the pit, just as an fyi).

And the game over all is filled with nice little changes like that. Stuff that's maybe not ground breaking, or giving you a brand new reason to try it like the changes to Super Mario RPG's combat. But in my opinion, these small quality of life improvements are just as good. A much easier to access quick travel room to warp to each chapter is added in the sewers. Saving is instant, similar to Origami King and such. Most of the backtracking that people complain about has been cut out with simple pipes and springs in convenient locations. They even add more stuff to collect like letting you unlock CONCEPT ART WHICH IS SO FUCKING COOL, I still haven't looked through it all but it's actually amazing they did this and I'd KILL for Mario Art Books from every Mario game please just release more Mario concept art UGH. And of course there's the changed dialogue to confirm vivian being trans which is so nice, and I'm honestly shocked they actually did it. It feels almost un-nintendo of them to do. But I'm so happy they did it! It's a real remake, baby!!

In general, yeah, this game is perfect. It's filled with clear love for the original, without being afraid of acknowledging where improvements were made in future titles. Like, again, instant saving or the really nice graphics or music changing for each chapter. And while there aren't any WILD changes like brand new cutscenes in the Super Mario RPG remake, I'd say what they add and ultimately didn't add makes this such a wonderful remake all the same. I had a blast playing it and it felt so good to just, genuinely no coping love playing Paper Mario again!

Stuff I didn't like

But of course no game is perfect. And I do have some nit picks. Like, why don't they use Mario's official new signature when he signs up to join the Glitz Pit? No but seriously, folks-

There's not much wrong with this remake, there's some small stuff like them not fixing EVERY bit of fluff from the original. You still have to mash 100 times for the 'I Love You' scene. Which is funny! But like, no one complains about THIS but you all complain about a little backtracking? Amateur hour. I also think the Prince Mush fight isn't as cool as everyone says it is. I'm not huge on fights where you have to play 100% perfectly but I know that's just a me thing. And I wish SO badly they could've done a tiny bit more to have teammates interact with each other more. Although I do love that everyone comes out whenever you stand on the altar in front of the door. But like, I think everyone should've come out when the Crystal Stars are gathering everyone's wishes... OH MY GOD I FORGOT THEY MADE THE CRYSTAL STARS UGLY IN THIS REMAKE OH NOOOOO GAME RUINED-

But really, I think my big main complaint is that this remake feels a little... Too easy? Compared to the original. In the original the game is MASSIVELY padded out by having you get constantly fucked over by the stage elements. But this time I swear I got hit by a stage element maybe 2 or 3 times. But my enemy was CONSTANTLY getting fried or slammed to death in every fight. It's too common on the enemies, but feels like it's massively toned down on you. I think in the original you can get fucked over a bit much, but this doesn't feel like a compromise, if that makes sense?

Final Thoughts

But WHO CARES!! This remake is SO good! Genuinely, if you love Thousand Year Door, if you hate Thousand Year Door, if you've never played Paper Mario in your life. I think you owe it to yourself to finally experience this wonderful video game. It's truly one of my favorite video games ever and I think it's such a fantastic entry into the RPG genre.

From small changes to big changes, this is a wonderful remake. I don't know if I'd say it's a replacement to the original, personally. I actually think the original's more simple graphics have a GREAT and cartoonish feel to them that's lost a little bit with the papercraft look. And obviously nostalgia is a hell of a drug, but if someone told me they prefer this version? It's absolutely a no-brainer why. I'm so happy I loved this game so much...

Sooooo, how about that Paper Mario 64 remake, guys-

===

And that's that! Once again, I know I've said this a million times. But even though this remake was amazing and made me fall in love with Paper Mario all over again. I'm still waiting patiently for them to do a new Paper Mario in this style. I'm only so impressed that they made an amazing game amazing again. I want to know if they have what it takes to make something BRAND NEW with such a wonderful plot, characters, and combat. I'm very excited for the potential of future Mario RPGs regardless though, and I can't wait to see what's in store for us with Brothership. But Intelligent Systems, I AM wait for a new Paper Mario in this style. You've been warned.

That's all I have for now. Go out and play a game you adore!

[belongsinthetrash]

What interesting things have you gotten interested in, in these past few interesting months, my interesting friend

Well, well-well-well-well, welllllll, a few thing-a-ma-bobs. But it's mainly been 4 fandoms that have come and intergrained themselves in my grey matterspace.

Disco Elysium is pretty obvious with some of my recent posts, BUT I've really only gotten 5 or so hours into my first playthrough so far and from what I can guess, it is nowhere near the end for me. I'm gonna try and get back to it sometime soon, but it's just been a case of notyet getting into the mindset to play a deeply written detective-human psychology-political story novel, to the surprise of myself. It's highly enjoyable, don't miscontrue my words, but it's an undertaking.

Speaking of politics, guess which underwater, steampunk, civil war simulator franchise I've played and has shot to the top of favorite games of all time? Yeah, Bioshock 1 and 2 had knocked my socks off with their presentation and story than I had first expected. I knew the games were classics, but I had just thought they wouldn't interest me since I'm kinda lukewarm on the steampunk genre admittedly. But Rapture as a whole had made me engrossed with every inner working and system in the sunken city, not withstanding the competing and aggressive interactions between the personification of political stances called Andrew Ryan, Sofia Lamb, and Frank Fontaine. Lovely games and my heart is sent to every Big Daddy and Little Sister down there, specially Delta.

Oh, and Infinite? ...i-it's fine. Like, I liked looking at the grim alternate history of Columbia (which is another reason Rapture had grabbed me) and I got used to the gameplay and feeling of being akin to Half-Life 2, but the ending kinda fell super flat on me and I wasn't a fan of how they intergrated parallel worlds into the story. And less said about Burial at Sea, I'll give you as many sugardoodles as need be.

Now back to our normal scheduled program, and by normal, I mean bizarre. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. Good segueway, I know. But yeah, Jojo has occupied a lot of brainspace in me too recently, which is rare for an anime to do so for me. But fuck me, did the story grip me by Part 2. I had felt like it had finally start to get it's narrative grip by the time I had seen the Pillar Men emerge to be cool, strong, honorific yet bastard vampire dudes. It may have also been the gay talking and Joseph being iconic. But what sucks about my situation is that I'm not far into Part 3 because I've been watching through it on a friend's behalf and her schedule hasn't aligned for it for the past month, so I'm stuck in a purgatory of waiting to get the full context of scenes through the actual story while I tiptoe around spoilers when watching content made by Jojo fans, and it kills me more when I slowly feel like I'll fucking ADORE Parts 5, 6, and 7 when I get to it! Basille, you bitch (affectionate), WATCH JOJO WITH ME!

Ahem, sorry bout that, let me get to the last thing right quick. Risk of Rain was yet another thing recommended to me by a friend and I've had my fair share of enjoyment playing through both of the games. The first game's style is wonderfully Terraria feeling for a guy that knows that Terraria is not my speed in the slightest, and I had a fair bit in fun in completing the game with every survivor. Risk of Rain 2 has been even more fun but also more infuriating as another result, since I really like the transition into 3d and how the game feels much more smoother to play, but I've grinded myself at trying to beat the game even once after 30+ attempts that it has burned me out even when I get a good run. Maybe it's just because I complete stages too slowly, but I can't help but wanting to complete shit. I've gotten to Mithrix once and have been waiting to taste that wonderful feeling again. And what is another kick in the pants is how RIsk of Rain Returns has released but isn't on consoles beside the Switch and I want it!

Oh, and I don't know if I had said this outright, but I had seen Ultrakill about a year ago and have been still into that, but even moreso now, soooo I guess that counts?

[barbatos-sama]

so far these are the pros and cons of this game, there will be a lot of comparing to gembin because the game makes no effort to hide how much of a gembin clone it is:

cons:

• character designs aren't great, a lot of them are very busy and the ones that aren't are kinda plain because the colors are kinda muted

• colors are more muted and less whimsical because this isn't a historical fantasy like gembin, like i said it's supposed to be a futuristic game so it's almost like they're trying to take classic gacha character design but make it fit into a futuristic sci fi theme and they don't really execute that very well

• the sci-fi aspect itself just doesn't appeal to me, this is obviously a matter of personal taste though

• it takes a lot of big made up science words and spits it at you all at once, making things hard to understand. gembin has some complicated fantasy terms as well but they ease you into it, starting in mond where everything is pretty easy to understand and terms are mostly normal and easy to understand. by the time it gets real bad in gembin is in sumeru, but you're so far into the game at that point where you're invested enough to actually learn and memorize these terms. this game spits them at you immediately so i was quickly discouraged and decided i didn't care abt the plot if they were gonna immediately make you do homework in order to understand anything

• speaking of the plot like i mentioned before i started skipping most of the dialogue and cutscenes because i just didn't care, it was boring. i Tried at first but i just couldn't understand what was going on bc of the nonsense technical terms they wanted me to learn

• THE INTERFACE okay my god the interface is so hard to navigate at least for me. i don't know what any of this shit is or what it does. the interface over the gameplay is almost Exactly like gembin's so that's easy to understand but the menus? nahhhh. it's like they wanted to copy homework but make it different but they made it different in the wrong way

• back to the character designs unfortunately has the "most women have big booba" problem. i don't have a problem with booba women, i kind of used to bc it made me dysphoric but it doesn't anymore and i think having some titty every now and again is fine. but when almost Every woman has big booba it makes them feel less unique. like in gembin for example there's ladies with all sizes of booba, some even have flat chests like furina and hu tao. ladies with like super big booba are actually not Super common, shenhe and yelan come to mind. in gembin you could say "the lady with the big titties" and those two would probs come to mind for whoever ur talking to, but in this game it would be like "ur gonna have to be more specific." like you know what i mean?? ahdjd not Every woman can be a booba woman you've got to branch out.

• obviously they only have twink which is a crime against me personally. the game came out rather recently so maybe there will be more, but maybe not having many twinks is a good thing bc i wont feel enticed to pull for many ppl.

• jumping is weirdly floaty and sprinting is weird

• fighting is kinda boring, ive been button mashing and things die lmao. so far there's not as much strategy as there is in gembin, but maybe i just dont know enough abt the combat system? it gave me tutorial trials tho and most of it consisted of "click four times then use your skill" so it doesn't seem very promising.

• exploration is a lot more boring than in gembin, gembin has chests and puzzles like jam packed into its world but those are much farther between in this game. since exploration is literally my favorite thing abt gembin this game is seriously lacking to me lol

• sometimes it can be kinda frustrating trying to do the things it wants me to, like it gave me a challenge to do backflips 10 times in a row without falling off a box, and the box would get smaller on each difficulty, and it took FOREVER because first of all didn't even tell me what i was doing at first so i didn't know i wasn't supposed to flip off the box, then once i figured that out it was just a rly hard thing to do but the quest marker wouldn't go away until you finished it. i finally did finish it but it was v frustrating and i was like "i come back to this game and the first thing you do is frustrate me? hello?" also there was a domain that was literally a side scroller so it was like, sonic the hedgehog but worse and very clunky. that took me several tries as well bc the controls for this segment are like, not great. i had to remap the buttons for that specific part. idk maybe someone with bigger hands can do it better but i have small hands and can't even reach the left shift button soooo

pros:

• i have just realised that almost every pro i have would be "this is like gembin" such as it having practically identical features such as how characters are built, constellations, battle pass, welkin, how quests are organized, etc. like i can't even tell you how much this game truly is "gembin but worse". they took gembin and used almost identical mechanics but made the characters uglier, the interface worse, and the exploration more boring. like i was sitting here like "okay but as a clone it had the opportunity to improve on gembin" but it didn't. like... okay it's got a bigger resin cap? you can walk up walls? i'm struggling to think of something here

[lowpolyshadow]

okay here's my final horizons review that nobody asked for :) the short summary is an overall like 8/10 personally with high highs and low lows to average it all out there, but like . god those highs are high

speaking of i played on hard mode for the entire thing and did not change it a single time so this also influences my perception but like im a loser tryhard sweaty gamer so that probably just added to the positives for me ngl JGKLASDFJL;KS okay anyways

amy gameplay 8/10, tails gameplay 8/10, knuckles gameplay 6/10

i am SO FUCKING SERIOUS WHEN I SAY KNUCKLES WOULD BE LIKE 9/10 IF HE HAD FREE CLIMBING AND WASN'T LIMITED TO THE RED SPOTS like it makes sense in this scenario since he's literally free dlc and like the game wasn't really made with knuckles in mind therefore if he was given free range to climb and shit like SA2 it might be weird or just lead to things you super weren't intended to do etc. BUT like. im just saying. in a perfect world he would be able to climb on all surfaces and that would be more than enough for me to forgive his glide's super wide turns (i already forgive it because it makes sense it's just like. from a player feel perspective)

i can't forgive some of those awful camera angles though it's the same issue i have with sonic when he wall climbs, wall climbing just has bad camera angles that i greatly dislike u__u also i think i was most looking forward to playing as knuckles so i was just kinda disappointed he isn't more punchy i want PUNCHY

amy was super fun to play and would've been a 9 but i am in fact a hammer believer, i know they like at least bring it up in game why she doesn't hammer more but i AM a hammer enjoyer and i think if she had more swingy hammer movesets it would be like. chef's kiss i love her floatiness and tarot cards

tails is tails he's so broken LMAOOOO and the wrench attack shit is genuinely really good and so funny, his entire thing fits perfectly with the fact that he's like, not really a Fighter fighter guy and matches with previous tails gameplay .... but i do still want a homing attack for specifically objects not enemies or something. idk that'd be hard to handle sometimes but that's my single grievance i thought tails was really good he's so cute :)

in general i wish all 3 had more combat options but again. it's free dlc. in the future if they do like sonic adventure 3 or whatever then i'll be more harsh for not having more moves for them like sonic but this is free dlc

sonic gameplay 8.5/10

i'm crazy and i thought the towers were a lot of fun, my favorite WOULD'VE BEEN tower 2 except the pink squares not respawning is genuinely like girl what's wrong with you + tower 5 eked out being my favorite anyways in the end

my favorites in order were 5, 2, 4, 1, and 3 (3 was by far the easiest but also like . i am so not into the wall climbing camera JGKALSDJFKLASDJ and also i had the funny glitch where the boostpad clipped me out of the tower which like, funny but now i have to climb the tower again) i thought these were super fun platforming challenges with the only grievance being they're literally WAY more difficult than anything from base game and so the sudden jump is like actually insane expecting little timmy to play frontiers on like hard mode which is very easy, and then doing this

the combat trials were disappointing bc like. .. the first one had some difficulty to it and then the rest were snzzzz and then suddenly MASTER KING KOCO BABYYYYY but again im insane. and deranged. i thought a time/ring limit boss rush was sick as fuck and perfect parry is what i wished the actual base game parry was so like. yeah. but again the boss fights weren't Made for perfect parry so especially wyvern, figuring out was like harder than necessary since this is something they throw at you with no warning or prior practice in the base game or anything

i had fun though. i had gamer fun and joy. so like <- sick in the head i just felt the thrill of battle and violence and any time i figured out the parry timing/got consistent with it and i was like being the ultimate speedrun gamer it's like. YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! also kellin quinn's vocals carried me because god the music never gets old dude that shit pumped me up (helps i only had to fight knight twice and the problem child was just wyvern lol)

AND THE FINAL BOSS .... supreme still lowkey is a very very very very mid boss. and the new THE END doesn't change it a Ton because like after you see the sickass cutscene and stuff, it becomes kind of a mid boss again but with really hype animations and all .... like it's not a hard fight. it's just ... jank .... the controls feel kinda wonky when you're trying to target the tube .... the camera is weird because it's so easy for sonic to not be visible from all the trees, so while parrying the meteors isn't hard it's just like ... why would you do this to me

final boss fight itself is like 7/10 carried by the visuals and setting, but then the end of the boss fight is like WHOOOOOOOOOOO FUCK YEAH FUCK YEAH FUCK YEAH LETS GOOOOO I FUCKING LOVE SONIC THE HEDGEHOG YYEAHHHHHH YEAHHHHHHHHHHH so like overall good dlc imo

[springlock-suits]

Glamrock Diner AU

[Reference Sheet] [further context]

Springbonnie is more prominent in this au ramble because I have blatant favoritism. But I'm working (and taking suggestions) on how Fredbear should work

I'm also taking suggestions on the entire au in general, I love working together with my followers to help flesh something out <3

And so without further ado-

.

The Retro Rink

-Fazbear ent decided to retheme the Bonnie Bowl into the Retro Rink sometime after Bonnie went missing. And added 2 new animatronics, the Retro Glamrocks, Springbonnie and Fredbear!

-For this retheme, the Retro Rink had the walls and carpet and such changed to look like a mash of the old locations, but mostly like the original Fredbear's Family Diner

-ex: Fredbear's Family Diner's striped gray walls with confetti bits at the top, blue arcade carpet, mostly red doors + decorations. Also the checkered walls and floor from other old Freddy's locations. There are also bits that are made to match the Retro Glamrocks themselves

-The ice cream/food area is very largely unchanged, but the arcade area is now more focused on "Retro games" Both real ones and stuff you'd find in old Freddy's locations

-The Retro Rink replaces Bonnie's stage with a slightly larger one, where the Retro Glamrocks now preform! They sing old songs from the diner, duets, and remixes of old songs from the diner

-Bonnie Bowl is on the 4th floor along with the Fazcade/Dance Hall whatever it's called. So while definitely still impractical, I really like imagining that DJMM has been given a tunnel to enter the area with (maybe it could also be used for one of the bonus bosses' fights?) DJMM helps with the remixes :]

.

"Gameplay"

-Neither of the Retros are wearing their roller skates when you first enter the Rink for Monty's Mystery Mix. But they are when the bonus fight "unlocks" for you. I'm not sure when the fight takes place? But I'm trying to avoid after 6. I'm also not sure storywise why they don't just chase you with rollerskates immediately

-Their roller skates are like heelys. Retractable and such. I fully believe fazbear ent is capable of making animatronic feet that can just turn into rollerskates. Can be accompanied with a fun animation too! Like they lift a foot off the ground to turn it into a skate and then lift the other. Fred and Spring can even have different animations to show off their different personalities and how they use the skates! Maybe Spring just jumps to get both feet into skate mode immediately. Ooh that'd be a fun animation to watch, esp if he jumps down from a ledge while doing it, like the DJMM tunnel 👀?

-Fredbear uses skates normally and calmly. Spring is concerningly close to crossing the line between casual skating and roller derby

-Springbonnie more actively chases you than Fredbear does. Fredbear will leave you mostly alone unless you very obviously get into his line of sight, you'll need a distraction like for tutorial Chica. But in the bonus fight Fredbear gets much more intense, kinda like fnaf 1 Freddy

-Springbonnie can jump similarly to Monty, has enhanced hearing, and of course speed from the skates. A hearing upgrade is immediately out because I can't imagine how that'd be useful gameplay wise, and it's not very accessible either. A jumping upgrade would be super cool, but at the same time doesn't feel very useful? And it feels weird giving Freddy an upgrade that isn't really unique to the animatronic you took the upgrade from. But also. It would be super cool, maybe the bonus upgrades could be made useful and special areas are added to the map where you can use it. The speed from the skates is the best upgrade I think, but ah, Fredbear should probably be the speed because I can't think of ANY other upgrades for him that'd be useful for Gregory

-So, right now I'm thinking you get a "sprint" upgrade from Fredbear and jumping from Springbonnie!

(Freddy would definitely be devastated if he learned you upgraded him with Springbonnie's parts)

.

Personally +Extras

-The Retro's love DJ Music Man!! They are besties!!!!

-I imagine Springbonnie would either love or hate Sun, but I'm not sure which. They don't see Moon all that often and don't really have a strong opinion

-Fredbear likes Sun! How nice that Sunny takes care of children :], Fredbear doesn't really like Moon however, on account of the whole traumatizing them thing

-While it took awhile for the Retro's and Glamrock's to start properly interacting and starting friendships, especially Springbonnie and Freddy, they did in the end all get along!

-Springbonnie, Roxy, and Monty get along like a house on fire and are fiercely competitive. Fredbear, Freddy, and Chica watch from the sidelines like exasperated older siblings

-Fredbear is similar to Freddy in terms of personality I think. He really cares about children and is programmed to help teach them to skate +plus take them to a med station if they get injured. Although I think if they switched roles in the tutorial Fred would've listened to Gregory about not needing medical attention, he doesn't believe him of course, but Fred figures helping the child get away from the guard and out of the pizzaplex is the more pressing matter. Fredbear also has a rather tired personality, I've always seen Fredbear as sort of a tired/chill character, probably mostly bc of how Golden Freddy is always slumped over. And it's a nice contrast to the energy of Springbonnie

"Is Glamrock Springbonnie possessed by William?"

-So far I think Springbonnie isnt possessed by William. But I figure he definitely has some "memories" not really anything Springbonnie can put into words or think about. But they instinctively call Gregory "Little Bear" because of it. Also a fear of water and fire that's just chalked up to them being an animatronic

-Since not possessed, Afton and Vanny definitely want to get their hands on poor Spring. They could also be like, slightly possessed? Yknow? Like it comes and goes.

Spring is definitely under the effects of the glitch the night you're there tho. Should I be counting the glitch and possession as different things

(Oh hmm now I'm thinking too much about Burntrap's motivations. Does he even Want a new Springbonnie body? Because while stealing Springs' casing would be easy, like, it leaves the question why he won't take the casings from any of the animatronics in the real game? Surely there's extras and some spray paint lying around. Ahh oh well whatever that's a story plot hole for this au and we're not focusing ok story right now, so this is a future me problem 👉😎👉)

Monty

-I personally like to believe that Monty didn't do anything to Glamrock Bonnie, but so far for the purposes of this au it doesn't matter if he did or didn't I think

-I really like making Spring and Monty friends

-Springbonnie absolutely loves being a menace to Monty. This was pretty much the very first thing I thought of for this au. I decided on this due to Monty being largely assumed to have destroyed the first Glamrock Bonnie. Also it's kinda cathartic for her? Like the fragmented memories make it so Spring sorta subconsciously knows about some "dangerous red alligator" so messing with Monty who they trust would never actually hurt them makes Spring feel better and more in control. This also works in favor for Monty! It's comforting for him that the new rabbit is so willing to prank and be annoying around him despite all the rumors about what he did to the old Bonnie. They're friends and they trust and care about each other :]

–(ough if I give this au plot Monty is gonna get messed up, where is his bunny friend :[ he's getting blamed for the disappearance again :[, he just wants to find Springbonnie and know he's okay)

-I actually have like a whole little comic concept of how Monty and Spring meet, I probably won't draw it, but for now just know that Monty was the first to see one of the Retros and Springbonnie enjoys chaos

-Springbonnie always says bye to Monty by saying "See ya later alligator" and greets Monty with a "Hey there alligator!". This isn't important to the au I just think it's cute

[sugarysketches]

Pokemon Alternatives

Hi! So that new Pokemon rip-off, huh? Gonna make my thoughts short and say: I don't like it!

But instead of going on a tirade about it, I'm gonna show you some actual Creature Collector games to play if you're tired of Pokemon! Yes, it's an entire genre, it's not just Pokemon (and sometimes Digimon) and it's probably my favorite game genre period.

Nexomon + Nexomon Extinction (have kinda mixed feelings on these ones, mainly for their plots and some of the creature designs, but they're here)

Cassette Beasts (probably, genuinely, my favorite in the list, it's a lot of fun and there's a lot of soul in it! Also if you're also an artist there's a sidequest in this game that'll really sit with you)

Coromon (I haven't played a ton of it yet, but it's very polished and very fun! There's online stuff like daily missions and alternate appearances you can get for the monsters [that don't replace the shinies])

Monster Sanctuary (A creature collector Metroidvania! The movement feels really good and the designs a really fun, but the battles are kinda tough)

Monster Crown (A game that emulates the look and feel of the Gen 1/2 games... but also unfortunately has much of the jank as well. If you can look past that though, it's really nice!)

Moonstone Island (A creature collector life-sim with deck-based battles, I also have mixed feelings on this game, mainly bc it doesn't mix all the different types of gameplay together the best imo, but it's still a very nice game!)

Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth (Ofc there has to be a Digimon game here, and this was actually my first one! A very good creature collector, even if some of the evolutions get convoluted)

That's all I have for now, but if you happen to know any games that I haven't listed, feel free to add them! I'm always looking for recommendations ^^

PS. if you're gonna try to argue with me about the Pokemon rip-off I won't name, I'm just gonna block you

PPS. if you're wondering why TemTem isn't here, it's bc I haven't played it and have no interest in it (also I cannot play MMOs due to internet problems)

[miss-k-lovenikki]

Finally out of exam season and somewhat rested enough to post ! I've been able to play LM for like two days and here are my various thoughts in random order

While i wasn't sure about the artstyle at first (it looked super uncanny to me) it kinda grew on me and i don't really mind it anymore. It's still isn't my favorite tho, i'm more of an anime gal i guess

The personalisation is crazy ! The way we can pretty easily recolor every single piece of clothing ? The character maker ? Amazing. I'm in LOVE

Love the fashion game trend of having completely bonkers story (why is it that every character i get attached to dies ?)

Now that may be a translation issue but the pacing of the story tho... sometimes it feels like they're skipping part of some scenes ? Idk but time feels weird (had the same issue w/ LN)

The inspirations are v obvious. And not in a good way ? Like i don't think we needed a sims simulation in a fashion game.

Fresh and Pure keeps on getting confused in mission titles smh

So many things i'm getting overwhelmed (was the same w/ SN so i think it's just a question of time before i know my way around the ui and general gameplay)

Character illustrations and Live2D animations are gorgeous

Super interested in the world's design and lore, i love the near future aesthetics

Not fond of the fact that opening your guild is behind a 5$ paywall, certainly explains why it took me three whole days to find one i could enter (...and then its an indonesian speaking guild that i don't remember applying to...?)

All in all, i do like the game ! I'm just not sure if it's gonna stick w/ me, especially w/ LN and SN already occupying quite some space in my schedule

[madamemimic]

Just got fully caught up with Your Turn to Die. Thoughts under the cut!

Fucking loved it.

I first gave this game a shot two years ago and while I enjoyed it quite a bit, I found myself bouncing off because I wasn't a huge fan of the point-and-click adventure style puzzle solving.

Fast forward to today and holy shit am I glad I stuck with it. The shift in gameplay styles in each chapter is super novel and I had a ton of fun adapting to each of them. While I think the minigames could use some work (saving Gin from the cage and a few of the chapter 2 attractions were kind of awful), the overall gameplay loop is a lot of fun.

I think most of my grievances with the gameplay are because it's being made in RPGMaker MV. It's an engine issue - not much you could do about that at this point. Later chapters fix a lot of these issues by using the game's strengths (analysis, puzzle-solving, character knowledge) a lot more often than just "click on this thing before a timer runs out!"

Some of the logic during debates can be a little strange, too. A few times in the first two chapters I found myself getting really frustrated because, while I was technically finding potential arguments and item-statement matchups, they weren't the ones that the game wanted, so it counted them as incorrect. Also, not being able to draw statements out of characters without lowering the timer in the Gin/Q-taro minigame kinda sucked. However, I had none of these issues during the chapter 2 main game and the chapter 3 banquet, so overall the game improved on that front quite a bit.

Music isn't great, but it's one dude doing his best with garageband loops. At the very least, each song fits its respective moment super well. I'd love to see this game with an original soundtrack, though...

The art is great. Character portraits are super dynamic, character designs are super solid and memorable, and the backgrounds look absolutely fantastic. There are a few awkward character portraits (Q-taro and Gin's can be a little strange sometimes), but those are nitpicks. Game looks great.

The characters and story... hoo boy, where do I even start? I don't dislike a single character in this game, which was a shock coming from the Danganronpa series. The worst I can say is that some of the characters weren't super interesting, but that was only for like two of the dolls in chapter 3. Big fan of Keiji, Sou (Shin?), and Reko. Every character feels unique and feels like they have a place in the story. Even some of the first characters to die are given proper characterization as the story goes on, meaning that really any character can be someone's favorite.

Sara is a pretty good protagonist, too! I often have trouble relating to protags in these kinds of games, but Sara is fairly interesting in her own right. If she were a side character instead, I think I'd like her a bit better... but hey, she isn't, so I'm not judging her on that. She's a fine protagonist with lots of character.

The story has the highest Revelations Per Hour of any game I've ever played. God damn. You get zero down time, especially in the latter two chapters. I haven't been this surprised by a game in a long, long time. Fuckin' love it.

By the way: On my playthrough, I've chosen Reko over Alice and Kanna over Sou. No dolls have survived.

Overall I loved what there is of YTTD so far and can't wait for even more in the future! Also, Alice is trans and you can't convince me otherwise.

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

Really doesn't help with my motivation to play Engage either when so many people are saying it's just leagues and leagues better than... my second favorite entry in the series (right under Sacred Stones). And to be clear I've been playing FE since I was a kid, and 3H is still easily top three, even with all of its flaws. The people who try to hype up Engage as better than 3H kinda give it... a pretty high bar to try to leap over for a lot of people? And I get a lot of that is coming from exhaustion from 3H's fandom (mostly edelstans lol) but it still doesn't do the new entry any good imo.

Yeah, I get that. When people put down my favorite entries to boost another entry, it just feels like a jab more than an actual breakdown of the titles. I can see good and bad in both Engage and Houses, but I don't think it's necessary to tear one down for the other. Honestly, there was no way Engage would be similar to Houses' gameplay mechanics because the main mechanic of Engage relies on something closer to the Pair Up system but with Emblems, which is a very limited (turn wise, because you get so many turns with the Emblems at a time versus Awakening's introduced Pair Up) gameplay mechanic.

I've also been playing FE since I was a kid and I definitely agree Houses is one I prefer, and yes, also, story wise. I do understand the story has some issues and it's definitely annoying that you have to go through the hub world system for the first half of the game in every single playthrough if you want your units to perform at their best for the chapter maps, but that's only because the story is broken up between four routes (five if you count CS giving us even more information while still using the general hub world system, just much more limited). I get it, it can be irritating for lore lovers and some people don't want to play the same game four times (or at least not so quickly, and it's hard to avoid spoilers sometimes if you don't hurry through all four routes which can suck). The story itself though, as a connected whole, isn't bad.

Personally I find what Houses lacked in they did try to work on in Hopes with the characters, like how Felix and Sylvain were pretty shallow characters in Houses in some aspects (mainly in the main story. They had great supports sometimes, but their main story lines were often very shallow). Hopes gave them characterizations that felt genuine and real, and it's something I like to keep in mind for my next Houses playthroughs.

All the FE games have flaws in some areas so it's not Houses in particular. Like you said, it's probably fandom exhaustion, but that isn't the same as treating it like the worst entry in the franchise or like it's objectively inferior to Engage. To me, Engage is inferior both in story and gameplay, but I mainly focus on what I enjoyed. I do like the Emblem system, I just wished some of the older characters weren't ooc or that they got a bit more than generic lines for most of their bond conversations.

Engage doesn't really feel like a step up to me, but just another take on modern gaming. A step up would be like FE8 to FE9 (which is a little ironic, since FE9 was actually supposed to be FE8 because it was presumably in development before FE8 (it's called FE8 internally) but got released after SS and thus became the ninth entry). A different platform can do wonders for a franchise's new entries, but these two games don't have that.

And of course, I have no issue with people loving Engage. It's just getting pretty regular that I see (especially on YouTube in particular) people acting like Houses is suddenly a really bad entry, as if it wasn't what the whole fandom was obsessed with for three straight years.

In some way I think it's good that they're bringing FE7 back via the GBA emulator on Switch, because I'm hoping it reminds people that you don't need these complex new mechanics for a game to be that good. You don't need to dunk on the other entries for not having what you liked in it when you can play a game that has good story and characters but has an older way of playing/a not as new way of playing.

I enjoy Engage, but it just starts making me feel bitter when I see people comparing it to Houses and tearing Houses down to do so. It's fine to enjoy both and treat them as separate things even if they're within the same franchise. Every new game is going to "get better" in the sense of modern gaming, but it doesn't make the older ones worse.

[themuskrater]

I finally played the LEGO Skywalker Saga, so I'm gonna make some way too serious critiques about a children's game two whole years after it was relevant

THE GOOD

Without a doubt my favorite part of the game was the Galaxy Free Roam. I loved going around, doing side quests, discovering secrets, and exploring the galaxy as any character I've unlocked. The set pieces are really gorgeous and there's so speculation they're taken directly from EA'S Battlefront, which I'd totally believe. But exploring iconic locations are my leisure is just fun.

Some of the humor is genuinely really funny. Not all of it, I think they went way too far with raw slapstick in this game, but the dryer, sarcastic humor is great. Like there's a gonk droid of Exegol who wants your help starting his own gang because the Knights of Ren wouldn't let him join. His name? Emperor Gonkatine. That's hilarious.

THE BAD

The story mode of this game is so rushed it could give me whiplash. I mean this thing moves at a BREAK NECK pace. Entire movies can be finished in the span of like an hour, and when a good 70% of that is walking and shooting, there's absolutely no space for story. So much of the movies story is cut out or rushed that it really highlights the flaws in each movie. It really only gives you the bear essentials, if that, and for movies that already had not great plots (The Rise of Skywalker), it feels almost nonsensical. And even great movies like Empire Strikes Back struggle to make sense because in the rush of trying to get through 9 movies, they cut out really essential details. Like meeting Yoda on Degobah. He doesn't even TRY to test Luke's patience. He just sorta looks at him and says "Fuck this kid, I'm not training him. He has no patience"

"But it's a LEGO game, the Complete Saga didn't even have any voice acting!"

Shut up. Don't interrupt. I get that it's a LEGO game and story isn't exactly the main focus, but it should still receive SOME level of polish. And why do I think that? Because LEGO Star Wars the Complete Saga was MY introduction to Star Wars. It was the thing that got me into Star Wars as a kid. It had no voice acting and STILL did a better job at retelling the stories than the Skywalker Saga.

This game is so rushed at times that really iconic scenes are relegated to 30 second cutscenes. You don't get to play through the Battle Over Coruscant, you don't get to fight Palpatine as Mace Windu, you don't get to fight the Wampa as Luke Skywalker. These were all playable levels in the Complete Saga that are replaced by the shortest cutscenes you've ever seen. Hell, sometimes a mission will just be "walk to a certain place to watch another cutscene".

It's too bad that the story mode is so bad at times because in order to fully unlock Galaxy mode, which remember is my favorite part of the game, you HAVE to play through every single episode. You have to fully complete story mode in order to get to the best part of the game.

The gameplay is really stupid easy. I'm not gonna complain too much about that, I do at least have some self awareness. It's a LEGO game. They're all easy. It's just disappointing the marketing of this game really hyped up the upgraded gameplay and the new RPG elements, when in reality, they just moved the camera over the shoulder and gave you a counter button.

THE UGLY

This game made me realize something, and this gonna be a REALLY hot take. I don't like modern LEGO designs. I honestly think they lost all of their charm by making the mini figures way too detailed and adding too many unique pieces. Here's a few examples of what I mean. They just kinda lost the sauce:

I don't care if the new ones are more accurate or more impressive. The classic minifigures were charming and goofy. They had the sauce and they weren't even trying.

"Oh you're just nostalgia blind"

What did I say about interrupting me? But you're right, hypothetical reader, I probably am. I'm not trying to deny that. But I'm trying to look past my nostalgia and judge it based on the simple premise of LEGO: to create cool things with these simple pieces. The more character specific pieces you get, the more detail is added to those pieces, the further away from that premise you get. And I understand this is more of a problem of the LEGO brand as a whole, but it's the single informing principle to the artstyle of this game.

While I'm talking about playable characters, yes 380 is impressive, but most of them are glup shittos, and not even fun glup shittos. Who the fuck is Wrobie Tyce? Let me play as Garnidan God dammit!! You thought I'd be interested in playing as NAMBI GHIMA!? Nah, give me Even Piell.

There are also a number of characters missing that feel like obvious inclusions. We got every Glup Shitto you've never heard of, but we couldn't get Zeb or Chopper in the Rebel's DLC? None of the Jedi got Clone Wars costumes in the Clone Wars DLC. Hell, Rex was AT the Battle of Endor, HE APPEARS ON SCREEN IN RETURN OF THE JEDI, yet we don't see his Endor costume in game. But we get Jedi training flashback Luke and Leia, a scene that doesn't even make it into the game. These feel like really obvious characters that just got left out for some reason.

CONCLUSIONS

The game as a whole is quantity over quality. 380 playable characters, but most of them are characters you don't care about and never heard of, taking space that could have been used for more fan favorites. An open world with thousands of side quests, but you can't unlock them until playing through the story and when you do, most of them are fetch quests. All 9 movies to play through, but every movie is extremely rushed, missing key moments and important scenes. The game is a fun distraction, but not a whole lot more than that. It falls short of living up to the Complete Saga's legacy.

Also, my last gripe, for some reason the writers of this game thought Luke drinking milk was SO funny, they made it his only defining character trait. This is especially a problem for older Luke Skywalker. Which gets annoying really fast when all of his dialogue is about milk. So why don't I play as young Luke instead? Because young Luke's voice actor SUCKS. I don't know if it's a bad cast or bad directing, but he sounds nothing like Mark Hamill and it's super distracting. They would have been better off having older Luke voice both versions of the character.