#Probably one of the most complex and interesting minigames in this game too

[nonogram-hell]

so... i'm going to take back what I said about this year's NoTP... I love the upgrade to the Phantom Dungeons so much!! I also feel really silly about complaining about Darkseeds being scarce, since my best guess is that the Dungeons might've been the actual main source for them outside of Trick or Treating. I just forgot that the main attraction of NoTP doesn't actually release until a week into October, usually 😭

Regardless, I very much appreciate Darkseeds being more available! No complaints about that.

The implications of the upgraded Dungeons are also very interesting as well.... gonna put spoilers for it under the cut!

Well! About the final boss....

Damn!! I wonder, has Greely actually been corrupted from being in the Dungeons too long (+ its collapse) or is Dark Greely simply a copy of him, like how players fight dark copies of themselves?

Then again, seeing as how Peck isn't exactly "corrupted", at least in the same manner as the final boss + the corrupted phantoms, perhaps he's still out there... I just hope we get to see Greely (safe!) again soon.

Also, I think it's really funny how the old boss of the caverns is now a mini boss, guess they're just small fry in the grand scheme of things... I do appreciate the nerf (?) to the damage it deals though, supercharge + sneaky leg can't exactly wipe out a full team as easily anymore haha

Oof, I should quit my rambling now, but if anyone has anything else to say about the new Dungeons/NoTP 2024 so far please lmk!! I'd love to talk about it more with other people!

[emptylotfiasco]

my review for yakuza 1 on the ps2 it is a really good game. you should play it forever and ever. i will probably replay it one day or like get round to finishing kiwami cause it was really fun i had a lot of fun with it <3 the minigames are cool and the substories are good and the localisation is funny and worth experiencing for urself but it also like its not a haha play this game cause its so bad its fun it is acutally a good game and i liked it a lot. 10/10 ten million thoughts under the cut

first of all minigames love in heart massage parlour my favourite it is very funny. talking to prostitutes minigame is fun i completed all of them. almost. haruka cock blocked me for one of them. baseball is good it turns me into the devil sometimes but i like it. gambling. suprisingly not that bad everytime i had to do it. i wish they would have let me skip the 60 second long roulette animation because i know that is not real. crane game. AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! moving on. slot machines. sucked but thats okay idgaf they should have figured out not to put it in subsequent games though. colliseum yeah i did it it was fine pretty typical.

substories were good i did almost all of them excepttt i missed the casino royale one because i progressed the main story too far rawr </3 oh i didnt finish the gangbusters either because i run away from random encounters as much as i can. so i also didnt fight amon. but i like how maybe because ps2 limitations and resource limitations substories were super short and simple. i think in kiwami it was mixing the longer formatted substories with what were originally very basic premises and it didnt work for me. it is what made the substories feel like a slog to me in the remake. but in this game it is easier to gaf about a simple substory when it doesnt take that long to complete. the original game had a lot of the funny ones the one where you give tissues to a guy who ran out of toilet paper in the public bathroom and the one where kiryu picks up a dead guys phone and follows every instruction given to him by a complete stranger until he is eventually hired to kill himself. and the one where tghe guy makes kiryu get all the toys from the crane machine for his sugar baby. and the one where kiryu has to talk a guy down from suicide. and there were ones that werent funny but i still liked like that one with the street artist because I thought it was cool how you can use items from that substory to complete other substories and that one really long chain of substories that takes you all over the map.

Unmm jingu is a shitty villain but I think that has been knew. I thought the story and the way it unfolded was really good until the very last few chapters where the government stuff really kicked in. I did know most of the story already but like. Some parts I liked were helping the counterfeiters at the hostess club and them saying they did a forgery for kazama 5 years ago. The body of the fake mizuki being explained by a a copycat bar that was trying to capitalise on Ares success having someone pretend to be mizuki and that person getting killed. I thought that was cool and interesting I like this level of detail in my weirdly complex crime drama plotlines. I think it was funny that he was voiced by Robert atkin downes. i liked haruka trust meter i thought it was so cute i liked increasing it by buying her things. I think Yumi is interesting and Reina <333 Reina <33 Reina <3 lalalalala Reina <3 kazama. nishiki wasn't interesting but like I've played yakoza 0 so like I know he is so it's fine. Sera... Idgaf like I kind of gaf but not really. I think maybe because the only involvement he had was the jingu stuff and jingu sucks so. That one guy that tortured kiryu. Actually that is an interesting part of his character that I have heard surprisingly little about. Who else. Oh yeah shinji. Anyways. Who else.

Majima category oh yeahhh Majima oh yeah . Majima was awesome because Majima is alsways awesome. People like to say wow can you imagine playing Yakuza 1 on the ps2 and thinking that one day people are gonna want to bone Majima. That must be so crazy so insane. My asnqwr is that you're not a real Majima fucker. I've always wanted to fuck him. I've alwayyysss wanted to fuck him. I was there from the start. And I want to fuck mark hamilljima too. There is no shame in this. I don't care how many polgyons he has the sleazy bpd princess with the steel tipped shoes leather pants snakeskin jacket eye patch knife bat and tits out is a monument to sex. When he threatens that one sex worker and he's like so what do you say you wanna be my bitch I'm like ohhhh do I. plus the whole point og his appeal is that hes kind of ugly. he was pretty in yakuza 0 because they gentrified him that is not the real majima. look at his ugly ass hair cut. hes fourty yhears old and a bowlcut on his head. So if you do nat wanna bone him then you cannot be trusted and I'm the only one allowed to fuck him sorry that's the rules. I swear I was going to actually write a review part here I don't know what happened. I'm just gonna move on.

the localisation is my favourite part of the game i really love how comically vulgar it is it gives me the same enjoyment factor as the silly writing from yakuza 0. it made the game very interesting and i would miss it dearly if it wasnt there. i liked it when kiryu said are you retarded or just deaf. and when yuya said look at you fuckhead. and when kiryu said i did have the urge to hit some balls today. seems like yours are gonna have to do. and when he said step the fuck up its time to die. i loved ten years in the joint fight. come on fucker bring that shit kazuma ten years in the joint made you a fucking pussy it made me say its kiryu time and i kiryued all ovedr the millenium tower. the delivery made everything really funny and like ueah it undercut the dramatic moments but it also made me like enjoy the finale scene with jingu because i kept laughing at everything everyone said so i think there was a net benefit. there was two scenes where i thought the english dub delivery made things funnier on purpose. one was where kiryu took haruka to the bath house and he was like its take your daughter- its a social studies field trip and the one scene where date was like lets break open the amulet and reina and haruka were like NO!! and he was like haha nevermind just kidding. and the one where kiryu explains what a bath house is to haruka was funny too. i love this va i think like. as strange as the action hero deep voice is for kiryu when u have not expereinced this game hes also so sooooo awkward. so awkward. and it wraps around to sounding very kiryu. cause like that kind of is him like hes intimidating but hes also awkward and autistic and doesnt know what a cell phone is or how to babysit a child so he lets her gamble away all his savings. by the way his ps2 model has very beautiful eyelashes.

OH YEAH. i like the combat. sorry. i forgot about the central gameplay mechanic of the whole game i got distracted. like of course it is clunky its a playstation 2 game. but it also was really fun <3 i especially liked. i forgot his name but the moveset of that guy that is like the captain of the nishikiyama family is kind of sick and it was cool to fight against. the combat in this game is the exact mixture of satisfying and so frustrating makes me want to rip the skin off my face and eat it that i love. kiwami is also like this. and i liked how short andd snappy the heat action animations were not to say i prefer them but just that like. i guess it made the fights feel fast paced and it felt just as good to do them as the overly animated ones. i liked how even hough some guys had huge healthbars fighting them didnt take ten million kajillion billion years. WAIT but fuck the komaki training i couldnt even complete it cause it was too hard. that was fucked up they were fucked up for that.

i really liked the style of this game i liked the art and i liked the models and. i looked at some of these cutscenes in a very damnn that looks good kind of way. that one post that is like ps2 is peak aesthetic is so true cause it looked really nice at times.

okay the end. do not expect anyone to read this becuse i said it all for myself. i wish i did get round to making the html copy of kiryus blog work cause that is probably where id ramble about yakuza. but i hate java script and also i dont care. so tumblr post.

[heloflor]

Ranking the 10 Showtime transformations because why not

Note that this is based on gameplay. If it was based on design, this list would be widely different. Mild spoilers as I mention the number of levels + a few elements in some of them.

(1.5k words below)

10. Swordfighter Peach: The more trailers I saw the more I expected this one to be rather dull and repetitive, and yeah it was. All you do is run and press a button, sometimes having to wait before pressing it. It probably doesn’t help that I’m not into beat 'em ups. The design and aesthetic are really cool, but the gameplay really gets dull.

9. Mermaid Peach: Ok so while I absolutely adore this game and would buy a sequel/DLC in a heartbeat if Nintendo released one tomorrow, there are two big issues I have with it. You can’t skip the in-level cutscenes and dialogues (which makes going back to collect everything very tedious) and the game is way too short.

Tbh I would’ve loved to have at least eight levels per transformations, but regardless I do think we should have had at least five, that way not only would the game be longer but we could also have had more game mechanics for each transformation, as there was a lot of potential here and it feels like the game only scratched the surface of what could be done with them (ngl I’m very curious about the scrapped content of this game).

The way I see it, the first and second levels stay the same, third you start in the transformation and it introduces a new mechanic, fourth is the Sparklas rescue level, and fifth is a play done fully with the Sparkla by your side, as I feel like having one long/full level with each Sparkla would have made one specific cutscene more effective since we would’ve seen more of them as a result.

Going back to the topic of Mermaid Peach, thing is, while each transformation had more potential, I’m still very satisfied with what we ended up having for all of them, including Swordfighter. Mermaid is the exception tho, as unlike the others it feels like an actual waste of potential, not helped by the first level being a complete slug in its first half and the Sparkla level being ridiculously short.

Like that transformation is just a whole lot of nothing. You either move some fishes or do a not-actually-a-rhythm-game concert, both of which aren’t the most interesting thing. Tbh I should probably put it below Swordfighter but I do like controlling the fishes, especially in the second level, so it gets some points for that. But it’s still a very “nothing” transformation.

I think the issue is that they didn’t fully commit to their ideas for it. Like we get a few puzzles but they’re way too short and easy, same with the concert that isn’t much of a minigame. I feel like had they pushed for longer or more complex puzzles and done something different for the concert, it would have been a better transformation. Or at least make the puzzles of the first level better, as I do like the way they handled the second level’s fight-oriented section.

And unrelated but huge props to whoever did the opera singing bc some of the notes they hit are high!

8. Mighty Peach: It’s basically the same issue as Swordfighter. You run around and attack, rinse and repeat. But this time it’s more satisfying and there’s more gameplay variety. Also the boss of the second stage had so much effort put into them and I can’t help but love it for it. Still all about running and punching, but it’s more fun.

7. Kung-Fu Peach: Same deal as Swordfighter and Mighty. Now I’m putting it above the other two bc they do try to give you different ways of fighting on top of some platforming, and going down the polls is very satisfying when there are tons of enemies. I also find the bosses to be better than Swordfighter, even if in both cases it’s just “press the attack button at the right time”. I think it’s the animations, it’s just more fun. The boss for the Sparkla rescue is especially enjoyable. But yeah ultimately it’s still a lot of running and punching.

6. Figure Skater Peach: This one was weird to rank bc I do really like the gameplay, they did a really good job at mixing up minigame with fighting, plus the boss is fun. But at the same time the levels themselves aren’t all that good imo.

I think this transformation might suffer the most from only having three levels. Like I wish we had more exploring/"platforming" the likes of the first level (the section after the performance but before the boss), but at the same time I like the parade float idea of the second level. The first level also has a fairly long “tutorial” (the performance section) but at the same time I get why it’s there. So yeah, I guess the issue is moreso how little levels they are, making the flaws of what we have stand out more.

On that note, I found the controls to be a bit janky at times, especially when it comes to turning around, but I’m willing to forgive some of it since it’s ice physics + gives some more difficulty (even though I’m not the biggest fan of when the difficulty comes from jankiness rather than lack of skill)

The sparkla level is amazing tho!

5. Patissiere Peach: The transformation I expected the least of and ended up genuinely surprised by how enjoyable it is. You don’t even do that much, there’s only two minigames that are played out three times, but for some reason I still love it. And I like how tight the timing on the cookies is on the second level, in general they don’t leave you much room to mess it up which I like.

4. Cowgirl Peach: It’s basically the opposite of Figure Skater. I don’t find the gameplay itself all that interesting but the levels are so good and manage to use said gameplay very well, which really makes up for it! The second and Sparkla level in particular are really good, I really enjoyed them!

3. Dashing Thief Peach: Look I grew up playing Mario games, of course I’m going to enjoy the 2D platforming levels. But yeah those are really fun! Love the vibes, cool levels, and I especially like the Sparkla one as it really feels like they’re testing you on every ability with the four different rooms + the escape. Really enjoyable transformation!

2. Detective Peach: I had no idea what to expect of this one and am still surprised by how much I love it. I don’t know if this is the mystery angle, the fact you can skip dialogues and even go straight to the answer if you want to without needing any clue (which makes replaying the levels way less tedious), the Junior detective that I can’t help but love, the fact you can check on everything which makes my monkey brain happy, Peach’s “I’m smarter than everyone else” face when getting the answer that I find hilarious, or level 2 as a whole (especially the very beginning and “cutscene” at the end), but yeah I adore this one!

The only negative I can say is that there’s little replayability once you know the answer, which I’m assuming is an issue with the genre in general so it’s not like the game could have done this differently, and the Sparkla level which is way too short and easy. Other than that, love it!

1. Ninja Peach: Like I said for Dashing Thief, I’m a big fan of platforming. And this level is all platforming on top of really fun infiltration. They also somehow managed to make auto-scrolling sections fun, which I really like (I think it’s the speed that makes them enjoyable).

Speaking of infiltration I’m also a big fan of all the silly animations Peach has when sneaking around (the two branches clearly not made of grass, the wall disguise that doesn’t hide her hair, the bamboo, the shoes when walking on water, the log with hair when spotted, trying to walk sneakily in that one section from the second level), you can tell the people working on the game had fun with those!

Also the “scroll usage” sections are incredibly satisfying, especially the one from the second level. The Sparkla level is also very fun, tho not my favorite. But yeah, it’s just a very fun and satisfying transformation!

(Note that I’m aware of how dumb it is to complain about some transformations “not having much going on gameplay wise” or “only being two buttons to push” when literally every single one of them is just pushing two buttons, but the difference lies in how much variety they were able to get out of each transformation on top of the genre for each, both of which make for a more or less enjoyable experience depending on the transformation.

For example, both Swordfighter and Dashing Thief only have two buttons you can push, but Swordfighter ends up being exclusively about fighting enemies, while Dashing Thief has a few puzzles, some quick action moments, a gliding section and some “rail sliding” (no idea what else to call it). It’s still just pushing two buttons, but they got more variety out of it, hence being more interesting.)

[midoropalace]

Yakuza: Like a Dragon -2-

Previously, I made it to Sotenbori and participated in the Sotenbori Arena. With a few arena levels under my belt, it's time to storm the Omi Alliance HQ.

Just kidding! I decide to grind out some more levels in the Sotenbori Arena. I make it to about level 10 before I decide to dip. And I'm glad I do, because I get a nice new weapon for Joon-gi Han. Truthfully, I miss using the electric-affinity knuckles, but this seems like a nice weapon to use instead.

As I grind out the arena, I notice that my bond experience is maxing out with several characters. I decide to head back to Ijincho to participate in some Drink Links.

First up is the best boy, Zhao. The discussion centers around Mabuchi's betrayal -- and his fate. Ichiban questions what happened to Mabuchi after the Omi Alliance fiasco, to which Zhao replies that traitors to the Liumang get turned into meat buns. This leads to a really funny moment where Ichiban remarks that Lao Ma got turned into Bao Ma. Zhao, of course, is just messing with Ichiban -- he has a soft spot for Mabuchi despite what has happened. Zhao has such a big soft spot that he actually helps sneak Mabuchi out of Ijincho to protect him for Seong-hui. The complexity behind Zhao's character is appreciated, and it's nice to see that the first impression he gave earlier in the game is actually nothing more than an act. It's a very interesting dynamic that I don't see a ton of games do often -- or well, for that matter.

Nanba is next, though he isn't in this Drink Link for too long -- the barkeep asks him to go shopping. This, of course, is a misdirection on the barkeep's part. In truth, he wanted to get Nanba out of the bar so he could invite a former nurse from Nanba's hospital to discuss Nanba's wheelings and dealings with Ichiban. The former nurse does show up, but seems both ignorant to her drug-smuggling co-worker's identity and uninterested in discussing further. After getting a call that there's a pachinko machine with a big jackpot, she promptly departs. Nanba arrives just in time to see her and question the men about her, but he gets no answers. He assumes this means Ichiban and the barkeep are planning to throw him a surprise party. A surprisingly cute interaction.

Finally, we have Joon-gi. Honestly, his Drink Link this time wasn't that interesting, though he does mention that the Jingweon are looking for him. I don't dislike Joon-gi, but I wish his character was just a tad bit more interesting. At least he's a powerhouse in battle.

While I'm here, I decide to check out the karaoke machine to see which songs Joon-gi and Zhao brought with them. Interesting, Joon-gi has no song assigned to him. Maybe he's not a big karaoke fan? I decide to try out Zhao's song instead -- "Hell Stew".

As expected, the song is silly but fits Zhao to a T. The karaoke layout continues to give me motion sickness, however. I seriously don't understand why I find this version of the karaoke minigame so hard to follow. It feels like my eyes strain every time I play it.

With new bond levels come new jobs. I decide to play around and swap out some new jobs for most characters. I put Joon-gi into the Enforcer job, mainly so I can build some of his defenses. Meanwhile, I put Zhao into the Chef job, mainly because I think it suits him lore-wise, but also so that he can eventually get Peppermill Blow. Meanwhile, I swapped Eri and Saeko into Idol and Dealer, respectively, just so I can get their second character skills. I then swapped Adachi into Foreman to start grinding that one out. In retrospect, I probably should have done this before grinding out Sotenbori Arena, but alas.

Before heading back to Sotenbori, I notice that there's a substory available on the north side of the city. When I arrive, I find a man crying in pain sitting on a folding chair.

It's traffic census sensei! The man claims to be a traffic census worker, I job I've never heard of. He explains that his job is to count the number of pedestrians passing by a given street. As it turns out, such a thing does exist -- but it's mostly handled electronically in the modern day. He offers to let Ichiban be a traffic census worker for a bit, allowing us to play a pretty simple minigame. Essentially, we have to count how many men walk by on screen for a few seconds. Doing so, and providing him the correct headcount, nets a 10,000 yen reward. Cool.

Speaking to traffic census sensei allows us to play the minigame again. The second task requires us to pay attention to the women on screen, while the third tasks requires us to separately count men and women. Task two wasn't hard, but for some reason I had a lot of difficulty with task three. Keeping track of two separate variables isn't great for my anti-math brain. When I realized I counted eight men and that none of the answers had "eight men" as a choice, I decided to give up and look up the answer instead. I just don't have the time or patience.

Completing task three nets us this small counter, and an assurance that we are next in line to inherit traffic census sensei's title. What an honor. But before we can officially take that title, we have to deal with the Omi Alliance.

Ichi and his crew infiltrate the Omi Alliance HQ by pretending to be caterers. The disguises are paper thin, of course, and when we get to the second floor, the crew insists on using stealth to avoid Omi Alliance members as opposed to fighting them. Which is exactly what I do as I run around the second floor like a lunatic looking for safes.

Arakawa is apparently holed up in the so-called "Dragon Chamber", which we encounter the door to pretty quickly. Making my way to the chamber, however, I encounter a group of Omi Alliance members who readily expose our disguises and do battle with us. Just when we think it's over, however, we are greeted by...

The only other Yakuza I've played in Yakuza 0, and truthfully I never even finished it... But I can imagine the surprise on everyone's faces seeing these two. Majima I am very familiar with because of 0, and I'm assuming Saejima is similarly highly-regarded. Maybe? Idk.

Majima decides to battle us one-to-one to start. He is level 50... significantly higher than our current levels. But I am surprised at the amount of damage I am able to deal to him. Even though he is dealing strong damage in return, I can easily heal through it. As long as the battle keeps up like this, I should be --

Fuck.

And within minutes, I am completely wiped out by Majima and his horde of doppelgängers. Seriously, what the hell is this massive difficulty spike? The doppelgangers are stupid strong and fast, being able to attack twice in the time it takes for any of my characters to go through one round of combat. It becomes abundantly clear that I am outmatched and lose pretty soundly. Rather than attempting the dungeon over, I decide to load the autosave, which graciously happened right before wandering into the Omi Alliance HQ.

Clearly out-leveled and outmatched, I decide to head back to Sotenbori Arena for a bit of grinding. As of the time of this writing, I reached level 40 with most of the cast. I'm not sure if it's worth it to go to 50, but next time I will try Majima one more time. While grinding out the arena, I made it to level 15 and got these two accessories, both of which seem useful. I also got wiped out on floor 16, where I learned the hard way that the game actually ends when Ichiban gets knocked out. Fun

[roxtron]

hopefully it's not too late for me to reply to this but i have a lot of thoughts about SB. I'm one of the seemingly few that really enjoyed the game in spite of its flaws, so I have a largely positive opinion of it overall even though I know things can still be improved. so uhhh... What do I like about it? I'm sure that comes down to my own biases for the most part. I'm the type of person that enjoys characters and story the most, while I like the complexity of his dynamics with others, I will bring this into an aspect I dislike with how vague the game keeps his character. I think whether you lean into the orphan backstory, the fact that backstory is implied to be tied to GGY, the fact he was GGY at all and the ways his memories (or lack of) may be affecting him throughout the game.. I think those would've been amazing to explore and I find it a shame they didn't to keep things mysterious. If Gregory lost his memories from being freed, I think it'd be interesting to see his personality change as he slowly regains them and becomes aware of what he's done, and how the knowledge of those actions might shape him. If he kept his memories, it'd add to his fear of Vanessa and the other animatronics in the beginning, especially with the impression I got that GGY seems to have used Freddy, potentially to kill his victims. It could make his dynamic with Freddy even more complex, as he starts seeing him as more of a person than just a machine to be used or a character he likes, as he grows to care about him and may feel guilty for what he's been through. Same thing with Vanny's development, I wish there were more on-screen development for her, I wish they weren't so obsessed with the obvious mystery of who Vanny is and actually gave us scenes of Vanny's perspective, maybe glitchtrap giving her orders or something, helping her become more sympathetic by showing what she's been put through, something Gregory may or may not know that could also shape how he feels about her throughout the events of the game. Considering the Princess Quest ending seems canon, and is probably a better choice for the canon ending, with her being saved and seemingly becoming family with Vanessa in the end, I wish the two had more interactions, or we could've got an epilogue or something to show more of their dynamic. At least Freddy is with Gregory almost the entire game so there's plenty of reason and opportunities to show their dynamic and care about them, but there's so little with Vanessa and Gregory that, while I do adore their dynamic, it's worth acknowledging that is mostly fandom creation, there's very little there in canon unfortunately.. I wish they had more development, I wish Vanny/Vanessa had more development in general. I wish Vanny was more of a presence, whether that makes her seem like a threat or an annoying obstacle for Gregory to worry about, however confident he may or may not be facing her or running from her. I just think there's so many details within this game that could be explored more in depth. Especially with cut lines. I've rambled about it before but I think the cut lines of what seems to be a glitchtrapped/controlled Freddy would've made for a great finale with the princess quest ending, maybe a fnaf-1 style multitasking minigame, to run from Freddy into Vanny's room to the arcade cabinet, and try to keep the animatronics away while also beating the arcade game, I think it could've brought a lot more tension to that moment, the gameplay of princess quest allowing you to easily retry sort of gets rid of the tension and need to hurry before you're caught, because once you get to that cabinet, you're fine. They can't get you. But uh, I'm assuming your project isn't a fangame lol, as cool as it'd be to get a remake of SB I assume you're asking for details like this for a fic or something, so hopefully these ideas could be of use for that if you want to and could find a way to incorporate them! That's all I can think of for now but hopefully any of it could've helped. Sorry it was pretty rambling and unstructured..

Hey fnaf tumblrinas I wanna know something. Call it research for an upcoming project;

What do you like about Security Breach? What do you dislike about it? What would you change, and why?

[lets-redesign-yansim]

Let’s Redesign Akademi High School

First off the name. Let’s just change the name to a last name, cause that’s easiest, let’s go with Hoshino Academy.

The main setting of the game is the school, so it’s important to flesh it out. Personally I don’t have a major issue with the layout of the school. I think the central courtyard is a good idea, the school is fairly easy to navigate, there are a lot of diverse areas to the school, the layout is not a major issue.

As a whole I think the major issue with the location itself is cohesion. Take for example these three rooms.

They feel like they’re all from very different locations, not three rooms in a high school. I think that this could be improved by having a neutral color scheme for the walls/floors and then have most of rooms with wall décor and furniture that changes. For instance the drama club room might be more like a dressing room connected to the theater, or be a dance rehearsal room. The martial arts club during the day has the mats rolled up in the corner of the room. 

In addition some of the clubs probably wouldn’t be approved by a prestigious school, so I think it would be more interesting if some of the clubs were more unofficial. For instance the Occult club operates in one of the storage closets, or the gaming club is instead a more informal group of friends in the computer lab. I think that this would make the social dynamics more apparent, for instance you might lose some reputation points for joining the occult club. 

Next, the uniform. 

The current uniform used by the game, as many have pointed out is the “sailor uniform” which in japan is essentially a middle school uniform. A lot of people have pointed this out before. Although the uniform is iconic in anime, it carries some pretty uncomfortable undertones. These characters are wearing a uniform for very young students (japanese middle school students are ages 12-15) while the characters in the game are implied to be sleeping with older men for money or being seduced by their teachers or taking photos of girl’s underwear. All of these elements are pretty gross at any age but the idea that they’re dressed up as middle schoolers makes it even more uncomfortable. So my solution is to use a high school uniform.

This is a common high school uniform style in Japan. The summer uniform style in silhouette looks very similar to the sailor uniform style. Make the bow red and the skirt blue and the girl’s uniform is very similar to the previously established sailor uniform.

Plus with this version you can add more on top of it. For instance giving the student council blazers while everyone else wears the summer style, different characters can have different sleeve lengths or skirt lengths or add sweaters or different kinds of bows/ties. Characters can look vastly different while still adhering to a uniform beyond just excessive hair accessories or stockings. 

In addition with the summer uniform male characters can also have variety in their uniforms. With the male uniform currently employed by yandere simulator there is little variation for male students. With the summer-style uniform you can have various sleeve lengths, ties, or add jackets onto the uniform to vary male students.

Next is the staff. 

The staff is too sexualized. The two teacher rivals will get their own posts but I think it’s kind of gross how sexualized the female faculty is compared to the headmaster, I know he’s supposed to be older but we all know why the female staff is designed the way they are to be sexy for the dev. 

The teachers all look alike, which I don’t think is a huge problem, maybe just changing some of their hair colors if they are intended to be distinct individual characters but keeping them similar makes them quickly recognizable. The guidance counselor I think looks fine but should have a different outfit, the hyper-sexualized outfit is too much. Conversely I think that there should be some male teachers or something, it just feels strange that all of the teachers are just sexy women. 

I also think it would be interesting to have the staff be more fleshed out. Some of them have favorite students or are supervisors of certain clubs. This would give more obstacles in the social dynamics of the school. Killing one person affects a web of others, insulting one person affects a web of others, befriending one person affects a web of others. And I think that should include the staff. 

Finally the mechanics of the classroom. 

Currently on each day the player can attend two classes of their choice. The options available are biology, chemistry, language, physical education, and psychology. These classes are intended to improve certain skills utilized in the game. Language in the final product will likely improve speech checks, and chemistry will likely allow you to use more poisons, etc. However I think that since school is such a major part of the game, it should have more utility.

Obviously it would be boring to attend a full class, but I have three ideas of random events that could occur during a class.

Let’s say a player picks a class. While in the class at random a short dialogue option appears where a student asks to cheat off of your work. You could report the student for cheating, hand over your work, tell the student you’ll help tutor them, or say no. These options would either improve or decrease the player’s social status, or even get the teacher’s trust. Small social events like this would be interesting and make the environment feel more like a school with classes and assignments going on instead of a sandbox. 

My second idea is to give the player a chance to learn some information at random. Kind of like helpful hints, maybe during the class two girls are talking about how they were going to hang out with Rival X, but she was going to be at the pool tomorrow. Or the player hears the teacher talking to a repairman about how the vents have such cheap screws and should be replaced next year. Or the player learns that certain types of cleaning fluids used by the chemistry room, and the school’s cleaning supplies are flammable, and should be handled with care. Small pieces of information that the player could use to their advantage, making the classes more useful.

My final idea is having a random event for the player to ingratiate themselves to the teachers. Maybe the teacher asks for a volunteer and the player does a simple minigame. Or the teacher asks the class a question and the player has to choose the correct answer (or choose not to answer at all). If the player succeeds these minigames, the teacher likes and trusts them a bit more. Keep this up, and the you’ll become a “teacher’s pet” where the faculty isn’t as suspicious or defensive of you as you’ve proved yourself a good student. 

These events would make the class time not feel like a waste or glossed over. They would be useful in multiple ways to gain information or social status or new skills. They would also give the player options for what kind of character they want to be. If they want to be a quiet wallflower they can simply observe. Or they could be a delinquent who gets questions wrong and cheats off other students. Or they can be a studious over achiever who’s respected by the teachers. 

These changes and additions I think would improve the setting to make it feel more like a school. Considering how a majority of the game takes place here and that a large part of the mechanics are dependent on understanding the school, these simple changes I feel would help flesh it out from a gimmicky, unrealistic location to a complete academy.  

Beyond the school I think there should be a small town or street, but that will be a separate post. 

Tldr; make the academy more complex and interesting by adding a few random events and aesthetic changes. 

[baphomet-media]

Sword Art Offline - A CrossCode Review

Genre: Adventure Subgenre: Action RPG Developer: Radical Fish Games Publisher: Deck13 Platform(s): PC, Playstation, Switch, Xbox (Reviewed on Xbox Series X) Release Date: July 9th, 2020 Time Played: 60 hours

CrossCode was a game that I knew next to nothing about going in. I heard some faint praise for the title online, but I really had no idea what to expect. The game’s description bills it as a Zelda-like, but offers little else in the way of explanation. The vibrant pixel art environments convinced me to give it a shot. So is CrossCode a success, or is it just a glitch in the system?

Story

In the distant future, humanity has colonized the galaxy. On one remote moon, a company called Instatainment decides to create something unique. They create a one-of-a-kind MMO where the locations in the game are real physical places, and players can log in and explore them using avatars made of something called “instant matter,” a kind of extremely light and insubstantial matter that can be quickly and cheaply conjured up for all sorts of purposes, but cannot meaningfully interact with the physical environment. This MMO is called CrossWorlds, and has become very popular in the world of CrossCode. Despite the fact that the game features an in-universe MMO, CrossCode is in fact an offline, singleplayer game. The different meta layers can be somewhat difficult to explain at times, but I found it to be a novel and interesting setting.

You take control of Lea, a player of CrossWorlds who has seemingly lost her memory. While being aided by man-at-the-keyboard Sergey, she must infiltrate CrossWorlds from the outside and play the game to recover her memories. But all is not what it seems, as a strange flying blue avatar seems to be pursuing Lea.

Along the way, Lea will participate in the game of CrossWorlds alongside other avatars such as the feisty french Emilie (AKA Emilienator), the nerdy Toby (AKA C’tron), the braggadocious Apollo, and many more. Each character has a vibrant design and personality that make them stand out and feel loveable.

The game’s plot is quite intense at times and drips with intrigue, keeping you playing for hours on end. In one of my play sessions, I played the game for over 7 hours in a single sitting, which is a testament to how hooked I was. There are plenty of twists and turns throughout that keep you guessing, and many different layers to ponder over in between sessions. Unfortunately, I feel like the ending falls a touch flat, as it feels like the game just kind of stops and all the conflicts resolve at once, but it’s a small issue.

There is a bad ending to the game, obtainable by missing or failing a single optional story event, but if you’re paying attention and exploring you’ll have no trouble finding it. There is also a DLC epilogue episode that continues from the true ending, but unfortunately this epilogue is not yet available on console at the time of writing. It is currently slated for a ‘Summer 2021’ release, so perhaps I will be able to review it shortly.

I wish there was more I could say about the story because there’s a LOT going on, but unfortunately it would ruin the experience, so you’ll have to discover it for yourself. Suffice it to say that the story kept me intrigued and hungry for more up until the very end. The writing is often witty and funny, and I noticed various references to other series, such as Kingdom Hearts, Gurren Lagann, and Ace Attorney.

Gameplay

CrossCode at its core is a top-down action RPG. Lea has a number of different moves that can assist her in combat, such as melee attacks, ranged attacks, dodging, guarding, and special attacks. Additionally, once you complete the game’s dungeons, Lea will be able to switch into different elemental modes. Each mode has its own stats, special attacks, and affinities, and it pays to be vigilant about which elements are effective against which enemies. Plus, using elemental modes for too long builds up an overheat meter that, when filled, locks Lea out of elemental modes until it depletes. Due to all this complexity, it pays to think on your feet and be conscientious about how you approach fights.

On top of that, there are different consumables that offer timed buffs, different equipment effects which offer different buffs, as well as the Circuit, a skill tree with different trees for each element. Every time Lea levels up, she gains one Circuit Point for each elemental tree to spend on permanent buffs and unlocking special attacks. Some nodes on the circuits require multiple circuit points to unlock, so you’ll have to weigh which nodes to unlock when. All of this combined makes Lea highly configurable, but versatile enough to where you can completely change her build at any time outside of combat.

As you play the game, you will typically have allied characters fighting alongside Lea, which makes tough groups of enemies much more manageable. However, there are many areas which are “instanced” to where Lea must complete challenges alone. These are some of the game’s toughest challenges, and typically involve puzzle solving and/or combat. There are various dungeons around the Playground of CrossWorlds, the in-universe playable area, and most are quite extensive. These are the moments that the game somewhat feels Zelda-like, though really only in that you have to progress through dungeons with various puzzle and combat rooms in order to unlock a new element. Each dungeon adds new mechanics to master, and many dungeons bring back old mechanics from prior dungeons, requiring you to figure out how multiple mechanics work together. I found these sections a ton of fun, even if some of the puzzles were real head-scratchers.

Where would an RPG be without its sidequests? CrossWorlds, and by extension CrossCode, has plenty of sidequests for Lea to undergo to gain experience, money, and items. Most of the quests are your bog-standard fetch quests, but many have the player find new areas, face unique encounters, or even engage in minigames. Fortunately, a lot of the monotony of questing that you’d expect from any other game is mitigated by the fact that you can teleport back to any discovered landmark at any time for free.

As you explore the world, you’ll find yourself engaging in minor platforming. Essentially, areas of the game map are on different elevation tiers, and there are a ton of chests that are locked behind finding out how exactly to manage the elevation to reach a chest on a high ledge, often traveling on high elevation across multiple maps for a single chest. It can be a bit frustrating for people who constantly see chests that are seemingly out of their reach, but I found it fun to hunt them all down. Additionally, using a charged projectile to ricochet off walls and obstacles are quite common. One downside to the platforming is that it can sometimes be difficult to determine the heights of different stage elements at a glance, as the game doesn’t seem to have any sort of visual indication of the different elevations aside from just looking at the relative vertical distance between the floor and the next level. This often causes you to jump into walls or off cliffs during drawn-out platforming sections, which can be frustrating.

Overall, I don’t really agree that CrossCode is a Zelda-like. To me, it’s more like a 2d hack-n-slash without aerial combat. Still, that isn’t a negative, and I feel like CrossCode manages to create something that feels its own and not heavily derivative. I only wish the marketing had played more to its strengths instead of just bragging about how much the game was like Zelda and how many different genres they think they mashed together. I probably would have given the game a shot a lot sooner.

Presentation

The environments of CrossCode are gorgeous, with high detail pixel art that is hard to believe is based on a tileset. The character designs are bold and emotive, and really give you an idea of what each character is about at first sight. The game’s soundtrack is also a banger, with plenty of different tracks in many different instruments. It’s the kind of soundtrack I’d happily listen to outside of the game, and instantly becomes familiar to you.

Conclusion

Aside from a bit of platforming jank and a slightly underwhelming ending, CrossCode is a real gem of a game that anyone who likes RPGs should check out on their platform of choice, and especially if you have Game Pass. This is a game that deserves the same level of cult following as other indie gems such as Celeste and Stardew Valley. I look forward to the coming DLC, and whatever developer Radical Fish cooks up next (hopefully a sequel!)

Score: 9 / 10

[aion-rsa]

15 Hardest PlayStation One Games of All-Time

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The PlayStation is fondly remembered for its classic collection of revolutionary games, advancements in 3D technology, and CD player functionality that let you easily play the Men in Black soundtrack whenever you wanted. As you’ve probably guessed from the title of this article, though, it’s also the home of some of the hardest games of the ’90s.

The PlayStation may have helped move us out of the arcade era and its notorious difficulty levels, but with the challenges of 3D game design came a new set of in-game challenges that tested a generation of gamers in ways that they simply were not prepared for.

Even after we’ve grown accustomed to the machinations and expectations of 3D game design all these years later, I suspect that many modern gamers would struggle to beat the 15 hardest PlayStation One games ever.

15. Crash Bandicoot

One of the funniest things about the release of 2017’s Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy was watching everyone suddenly remember that the Crash Bandicoot games were absurdly difficult. 

Despite their linear design, the Crash Bandicoot games demanded a level of platforming perfection that proved to be elusive enough at a time when modern video game graphics, cameras, and controls made the remakes of the Crash Bandicoot games much more accessible but was nearly impossible to achieve in the early days of PlayStation gaming.

The later Crash Bandicoot games made things slightly easier, but the first title’s combination of intentionally challenging obstacles and a few questionable design decisions make it one of the most truly difficult games of its era.

14. Fear Effect

The original Fear Effect games are awkward to play today for a lot of reasons (casual racism and strange “softcore” cutscenes, for instance), but if you find yourself struggling to make it through these titles, it’s not just because they haven’t aged especially well. Fear Effect was an incredibly difficult game even for its time.

Essentially a blend of Resident Evil-like controls, point and click adventure puzzles, and awkward stealth sequences, Fear Effect is like a Hall of Fame for the most challenging and infuriating gameplay concepts of its era. 

Fear Effect 2 might even be harder than the first game, but the nod here goes to the original for featuring one of the most uniquely difficult gaming experiences the PlayStation has to offer. 

13. Driver

22 years after its release, I’m still convinced that Driver is a prank. How else can you explain developer Reflections Interactive’s decision to make this game’s tutorial mission one of the hardest levels in video game history?

Driver’s first level requires you to complete a series of complex maneuvers in a confined space while racing against a way too short time limit. To make matters worse, the game often fails to recognize when you’ve properly completed a maneuver, which means that you might not pass the test even if you’ve somehow mastered the game’s most complex movies the first time you’re ever asked to perform them. 

If you’re one of the many who has never beaten Driver’s opening level, you may be shocked to find that there are difficulty spikes later in the game that are even more difficult than its notorious opener. At least this game is still better than the sequel. 

12. Oddworld: Abe’s Odyssey

Oddworld’s unique puzzles and strange core mechanics would have made it challenging enough for players just trying to figure out what’s expected of them, but this game goes one step further by employing some of the most unforgiving level design tactics in PlayStation history. 

Your margin for error in this game rarely rises above zero as gunfire and traps constantly threaten to end your fun. While that kind of unforgiving gameplay makes sense in something like a bullet hell title, it can be frustrating to work with in a puzzle game where your trial and error attempts are hindered by an additional series of wrong moves. 

Oddworld: Abe’s Odyssey is clearly meant to be a difficult game, but knowing that doesn’t make it feel any less unforgiving. 

11. Rayman

As strange as it may seem given the evolution of the franchise over the years, the original Rayman is by far one of the hardest games of the ‘90s and arguably one of the hardest platformer games ever made. 

Unlike other platformers that challenge you with rewarding gameplay that requires precision movements, most of Rayman’s challenges can be best described as “bulls***.” The slippery slopes and spiked pits spread generously throughout levels might kill you, but the game’s bizarre enemy spawning system that makes it practically impossible to anticipate their placement certainly will. 

If Rayman isn’t one of the hardest games ever made its certainty among the most frustrating. 

10. Vagrant Story

For years, fans have called Vagrant Story one of the most underrated PlayStation games and one of the most overlooked RPGs ever made. It deserves both those titles, but I think Vagrant Story also deserves to be remembered as an absurdly difficult epic. 

Initially, the challenge of Vagrant Story comes from learning its unique combat system that often leaves you feeling helpless. Even after you’ve made sense of the basics, Vagrant Story’s brutal bosses, clever traps, and even “basic” enemies will constantly make you wonder whether or not you can ever really master what this game throws at you. 

Like Dark Souls, Vagrant Story’s difficulty is very much part of what makes the game work as well as it does. Appreciating that doesn’t make the game any easier, though. 

9. Heart of Darkness

Never heard of Heart of Darkness? I’m not surprised. Even for its time, this was a relatively obscure title that is now fondly remembered for its visuals, excellent story, and interesting gameplay. Mostly, though, Heart of Darkness is remembered for its nearly unrivaled difficulty spikes.  

In fact, Heart of Darkness could give Driver a run for its money in the battle between games with the most absurdly difficult opening levels. Enemies swarm you in this opening section like you’re playing a bullet hell shooter, but the game controls like a particularly clunky FMV puzzler. Even if you know what you’re doing, it’s incredibly difficult to respond to the on-screen action in time. 

Things get slightly better from there, but I’d still say that most gamers will not have the patience for this game’s labyrinth levels, bewildering puzzles, and often painful controls. 

8. Blasto

To be fair to Blasto, this PS1 action game was probably released a generation before technology could properly support it. In another timeline, it might have turned out to be as good as the first Ratchet and Clank game. To be even fairer to Blasto, it starred the late Phil Hartman who always went above and beyond for everything he did, including the voice work for this game. 

With all of that out of the way, let’s focus on Blasto’s real reputation as one of the PS1’s most reliable sources of broken controllers. It’s bad enough that this game’s slow movements and dodgy camera make even basic sections challenging, but the fact that many levels have no barriers to speak of means you spend most of your time falling to your death while trying to complete even simple jumps. 

This is a truly painful gaming experience that snared many unsuspecting gamers with its charm and front-loaded good ideas. 

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7. Einhander

While not the most difficult 2D shoot ‘em up ever made, Einhander was high-profile enough to lure in many early PS1 adopters who were completely unprepared for its retro difficulty level. 

Rather than throw as many enemies at you as possible and call it a day, Einhander increases the health pool of the average enemy while requiring you to navigate some truly devastating death zones. The impact of that design decision really comes thorugh in the game’s boss fights which task you with taking down massive foes who employ complex and shifting attack strategies. 

This is a truly great game that stands the test of time, but don’t let its looks and sounds convince you that Einhander is anything less than a classic example of “NES hard.” 

6. Irritating Stick

Yes, the game’s title gives its difficulty level away, but to truly appreciate how frustrating Irritating Stick is, you’ve got to play it for yourself. 

Irritating Stick is like a blend of Super Monkey Ball and the board game Operation. It requires you to guide a small ball through a series of themed mazes that leave you almost no room to safely maneuver. To make matters worse, you have to race against a constantly ticking clock that’s absurd restrictions essentially require you to truly master this game within a few levels. Of course, true mastery may not be possible for most players as each level seems to add a new wrinkle that makes you wonder how you will ever get through in time. 

Oh, and I have to give a special shout-out to the game’s announcer who screams “Watch out, you’re too close to the edge!” whenever you’re near the game’s barriers. Yes, I know I’m too close to the edge, now kindly leave me the **** alone. 

5. Incredible Crisis

Remember that scene in Metal Gear Solid when you had to mash the Circle button to survive the torture device until it felt like your wrist was going to break? Well, imagine that scene stretched out across most of a full game. That’s Incredible Crisis. 

Incredible Crisis is a collection of eclectic minigames that often require you to mash buttons as fast as humanly possible. Actually, I take that back. No human can be expected to survive this gauntlet of finger destroying terror. Oh, and if a minigame doesn’t require you to furiously mash buttons, that means it’s only going to destroy you in some other strange way. 

The bizarre set of skills required to beat this game means that it may even frustrate gamers who otherwise seek such challenges.

4. Tomb Raider 3

Yes, the first two Tomb Raider games are difficult. However, part of their challenge (especially today) stems from their ambitious design which was often ahead of what you could reasonably expect from video game technology at the time. 

Tomb Raider 3 is on a different (difficulty) level, though. Even if the game didn’t add a ridiculous number of spikes, boulders, pits, and traps waiting to end your run before you know they’re there, its bewildering level design that tried to recreate the experience of having no idea what you’re doing in the middle of a dark tomb has broken even diehard series fans. 

Despite its better moments and incredible pedigree, it’s genuinely hard to recommend this game to anyone but masochists. I genuinely don’t know if it’s possible to beat this game without a strategy guide or walkthrough. 

3. Nightmare Creatures

There’s a degree to which early PlayStation games were fundamentally unprepared to handle the challenges of 3D action/adventure game design. That means that any additional difficulties added to that underlying level of challenge make some games of that era nearly impossible to properly play today. 

I guess that’s just my way of saying that Nightmare Creatures is indeed the nightmare it bills itself as. What would already be a challenging romp through a hellish world of monsters is made that much worse by the presence of an adrenaline system that effectively serves as a time limit and forces you to kill enemies as quickly as possible despite often being unprepared for them in every conceivable way.

Some games throw you into the water to teach you how to swim. Nightmare Creatures holds your head under the water as you lean because it fundamentally doesn’t want you to succeed.

2. Tenchu: Stealth Assassins

The “fall” of the stealth genre from mainstream gaming in recent years has long disappointed genre fans who rank such games among their favorites of all-time. Yet, it has to be acknowledged that even the best stealth games were often difficult in a way that could immediately dissuade even tested gamers. 

While difficulty is a given in many stealth titles, Tenchu sometimes abuses the privilege by going out of your way to remind you that you are weak. Maybe it’s because many of us were just excited to play a game where we were a badass ninja assassin, but the way that Tenchu required you to play it safe and employ trial-and-error tactics to survive its various challenges left many burying their hands in their face as they tried to understand what they were doing wrong. 

Even after you appreciated Tenchu for what it was and even discovered what the game expected of you, it always found a way to force you to make that little mistake that would instantly end a run. 

1. King’s Field

Is it cliche to name a game from eventual Dark Souls developer FromSoftware as the hardest PS1 title ever? For the sake of argument, let’s say it is. That doesn’t change the fact that even Dark Souls veterans will find themselves surprised by how difficult this game truly is. 

King’s Field was pretty revolutionary for its time, which means that many gamers simply didn’t know what they were supposed to be doing when they booted up this title. What the most patient PS1 gamers discovered, though, is that King’s Field is basically a rough draft of Dark Souls combined with an especially difficult dungeon crawler. Even if the game’s ambitious 3D visuals and the jank they produce didn’t create additional challenges, this title’s brutal combat, a parade of traps, confounding controls, deliberately slow pace, and complete lack of direction even made hardcore PC RPG fans wonder what this game was and why it hated them so much.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

King’s Field doesn’t hate you, but it’s a testament to what the game was going for that it’s both clearly an early look at the next 25 years of gaming and a title that will likely still challenge generations to come.

The post 15 Hardest PlayStation One Games of All-Time appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[noddytheornithopod]

Holy shit my thoughts on Mind over Mutant got surprisingly complicated so uh here’s a massive discussion under the cut, lol.

Out of all the main post Naughty Dog games... this might be my favourite after all? It’s far from perfect, but I think I had the most satisfying experience overall.

To start, visually everything looks pretty good. Granted I’m using the PS2 version which has a few visual bugs because it was designed for Wii and X360 graphics more, but generally I like how it holds up? Shame 360 emulators aren’t a thing as of now, and I’m not buying some old console just for one game, lol. Speaking of PS2, there’s no Coco option because apparently her moves were too complex for the system, RIP.

To start... yes, fuck the backtracking. It’s perfectly reasonably why this pisses people off. For me, it’s mainly the transition between Wumpa Island and the Ratcicle Kingdom since you have to go through AND back twice, with little variation. Other paths at least have you only needing to retread once for the story or there’s a new extra path in it that unlocks. At least some of the enemies change up I guess? But honestly, I think what bugs me more is that it’s not exactly consistent in its implementation. Because for a while, yeah you’re going back and forth retreading old ground, but then you get the key for the Junkyard on Wumpa Island and you’re just teleported to the Junkyard gate. Same thing happens when you get the Uka Uka bones. And of course, there’s the teleporters to find said bones, which is kind of striking a middle ground. Basically... it’s kinda inconsistent. Tedious when it is, but when you suddenly start to get used to it, you’re given massive leaps lol.

There’s stuff from Titans that was changed that I don’t really understand why? For example, the block with Crash no longer has a dodge, and dodging is now purely responding to mutant attacks. I like the addition to help even out things between Crash and mutants, but why no dodge normally? There’s no board sliding anymore, nothing calls for it obviously so it may have been pointless but it is kinda funny. Also Crash’s glide is replaced with the spin drill, which of course has its uses, but I miss having that glide too (you could have both, maybe the drill is by holding square or even pressing triangle, IDK).

On the topic of Crash, I kinda feel like Crash’s gameplay is oddly sidelined? I think it’s because of the mutant storing. Even if there’s less combat, much of the platforming now uses the mutants, and because there’s only some sections where you have to be Crash, it means you end up being Crash rather sparingly unless you really want to stick to him. Like, mutant storing is a good idea and works with the kind of game, but compare to Titans where even if it was more combat focused, the fact you had to use Crash in more parts meant you end up playing as him more than this game, and thus it feels like he has more of a presence with his own move set.

The combat felt off at first, but I ended up realising it’s because I became used to the Titans system... to start, it’s less intense and slower paced. You’re rarely gonna be swarmed so you actually have a chance against enemies. There’s also the mutant mojo upgrades, which means your mutant actually grows stronger with each upgrade, making combat different each time.

I like how they use mojo... for the most part. I like that the mutants can now be upgraded, and Crash of course grows stronger. My one reservation is that the upgrades don’t feel that diverse? In Crash’s case it’s probably because he keeps most of his moves from Titans, but still, only strength and spin upgrades isn’t the most exciting. Same with the mutants, getting stronger and the occasional special attack boost is cool, but it’s not the most exciting. I guess I need to view it like a Ratchet and Clank situation, because that’s what this is more like... including the multiplier. Including a multiplier with your combo level to make mojo worth more helps a lot with upgrading.

Because mutant gameplay is now more diverse instead of just a few classes that do their job, it also comes across as more inconsistent? I like that there’s improvements like them being able to jump now and more attack variations eg from when you block or jump and hit attack, but I also find some of it a bit awkward. Like, many of these attack variations are cool, but the tutorials give fuck all clues to them, so it’s hard to figure everything out.

For example... seriously, it took me ages to figure out how to use the TK in combat. TK is a pretty fun mutant, but until you figure out how to shoot and combine attacks with their telekinesis, you’re gonna be stuck to slow heavy attacks and awkwardly throwing enemies around.

I also find the Rhinoroller awkward. Because of the new moveset compared to Titans, it’s on one hand less slow, but on the other, it can get pretty annoying to control.

Ratcicle feels kind of overdeveloped. They can freeze stuff AND surf on shallow water. I mean, it’s great, but it kinda makes the other mutants look less exciting, lol. But yeah, one of the best mutants in this game because they definitely thought of much.

There’s a few mutants that are fun to play as like Spike, Sludge, and Battler, but unless you go outside the main story, they don’t really feel like they have much of a presence. The introduction pacing feels off, basically.

Snipe and Stench are back as ranged mutants. Snipe suddenly gets an upgrade and is pretty fun to play. Stench I’m not so crazy about, like now their special attack isn’t ranged anymore so that kinda messes up the gameplay with them, and while the fire rate is improved from Titans, every now and then they do a reload animation which I assume was meant to add detail, but all it does is slow the gameplay down and make the rhythm of firing off.

Magmadon is around, and while they aren’t underused, I do think it’s a bit of a missed opportunity with this game’s increased platforming focus that it doesn’t have any fire/lava abilities. There’s only one place that’s too hot for other characters and thus making them necessary too. Like, imagine if you could use it to melt through ice or even metal, eg a door that must be melted down to progress. Sludge’s shrinking ability is only used like two or three times (and I think only one is mandatory), so I think there’s missed opportunities there too. The shapeshifting and extendable arms stuff could’ve made for some cool mechanics. Adding more platforming abilities for mutants might overcomplicate the game of course, but... still. Especially with Sludge, give them some more use, even for secrets and such. Speaking of secrets... Spike needing to use the special attack on that one spiky part on the way to Mt Grimly is pretty random, huh?

Scorporilla and Yuktopus serve their role as the massive powerhouses (and Scorporilla even gets a beefed up melee combo), though I must admit it’s odd Yuktopus is now demoted to a regular enemy/sub-boss class (seeing two in the minigames was surreal when I was young lol). And I mean, random changes in design and stuff is something I find odd in general. I mean, the returning mutants mostly have improved designs, but for others I’m not as sure on, eg Rhinoroller looking less rhino-y, and Sludge suddenly being a boar instead of an frog or chameleon or whatever it was in Titans. Guess some is NV mutations but whatever, lol.

On the topic of enemy design, one thing I miss from Titans is the colour and outfit variations. Maybe they had less time to do it and at least the single models they get look good, but still, it’s a shame. We do get the hero mutants, but the PS2 version fucks up their looks for some reason, lol (and for some reason their mojo upgrades separately from the standard of their species, which is weird, especially since it’s not counted in the game’s completion).

Grimlys are cool, probably my favourite mutant in the game. Kinda funny how they don’t have a block and instead a lock on function, but it makes sense given they’re meant to be used faster than other close range mutants. But yeah, time slowing is so cool it’s even back in Crash 4 with one of the new Quantum Masks. Really helps you rake up that combo count to get all that mojo too.

The minions are... interesting. They mostly do their job, but then suddenly you have Doom Monkeys and Znu that have these massive stun attacks that can get annoying if there’s a lot of them. Slap-Es can block but as long as you’re not Crash they’re as quick as any others. The Doom Monkeys are less annoying in speech too, thankfully.

I get a few audio bugs. Most annoying of which is being unable to hear enemy conversations. But sometimes I just got sound effects cut out for no reason. On the inverse... some of the mutants are very noisy and need to shut up. Aku Aku also sometimes adds commentary when unnecessary, making him feel a bit handholdy. Yes, I’m going to the damn roller village, be patient, dude.

Probably the thing to impress me most revisiting the game is actually the continuity and worldbuilding. I mean, to start, you have all the mutants becoming free and forming their own societies, only for the NVs to turn them into evil warriors again. Said societies are pretty interesting as well.

Wumpa Island is mostly the same (sans all the stranded Ratinicians gone wild lol), but then you have the Ratcicle Kingdom. A Kingdom formed mostly out of ice, and also near Cortex’s evil public school. Nothing like this was in Titans, so was there always a cold part of Wumpa Island, or did the concentration of Ratcicles allow them to make enough ice to form a cold climate and society despite this being tropical nearby? All the designers and stuff are cool, and some of the characters are quite peculiar (I love that one masochist Ratcicle lol).

Then there’s the Ice Prison and Evil School. IDK how the Ice Prison was made, but it seems like it’s Cortex’s doing since the Brat Girls run it AND Evil School (while also being students?). As one of those lore junkies that headcanons Wumpa Island is the second island from the original Crash games, this fits oddly well, because in Twinsanity Cortex suddenly has a massive floating Iceberg lab. Maybe Cortex also made the school and prison nearby, and the Ratcicles took their Wumpa Island residence and connected Cortex’s base. Yeah, I’m getting crazy with my speculation, but the game letting you fuel this is fun. Also cool how the Brat Girls leave Nina after she loses in Titans and end up as Cortex’s grunts, ironically.

The Wasteland seems new, and I assume it’s the evolution of the Lumberyard from Titans. We also have rhinoroller elders even if it’s only two years of existing lol.

The Junkyard is apparently born out of the remains of N Gin’s weapons factory (I heard somewhere the Weapons factory was apparently on N Sanity Island but IDK if that was ever confirmed, it makes more sense it was on Wumpa Island TBH but if it was imagine all that junk moved there lol, TBH Cortex Island could work for the weapons factory too, it would make things less cluttered and it’s possible there’s still unpolluted beaches but whatever). It’s a pretty cool setting, and the Doom Monkeys being in the remains of their old location but under new leadership (and somehow with rockets removed from their heads... maybe they were merely aesthetic? lol) is nice continuity. Judging from the concept art it also seems to be around that volcanic area in Titans, which makes sense given that had more machinery.

Mt Grimly is completely new. Surprisingly it’s not an evolution of the Uka tree (though there is one creepy tree place with the hero Grimly on Wumpa Island), and as a result it’s much harder to work into my 2nd island headcanon (I mean, at least that island always had a giant tree lol). Cool location, but unfortunately we don’t really learn much about its normal state compared to the other worlds, unless it’s permanently inhabited by evil dudes, lol. Also I still wonder what the heck the Znu and Grimlys are. Are the Znu supposed to be the same thing as Grimlies? Are the Grimlys NV transoformed Znu??? Who knows.

Even the changing enemies in revisiting locations relates to the story. For example, the sludges in the Junkyard will say how Slap-Es and Stenches have appeared from “the sky”. Besides random occasional appearances from different mutants in various locations, you also have the Znu and Doom Monkeys moving out of their home levels to the previous ones after you make it through said levels the first time. I’m very perplexed by the sudden increase of Battlers when you revisit evil school and the ice prison paths though... either they’re also favourites of Cortex, or the Brat Girls disappointed Cortex after he saw Crash break into school and Nina helped him and he... used NVs on them to make new Battlers. Other stuff like Snipes in the Wasteland because of the Snipe hero are clear enough, but this one is... interesting.

There are some inconsistencies that bug me though. For one, it feels like nobody acknowledges Cortex’s blog video. Aku Aku acts surprised that N Brio is back and working with Cortex, and later wonders how Brio gets dark mojo even though Cortex explicitly says he’s using Uka for that. IDK, I guess Aku Aku doesn’t like watching internet videos and expected Crash and Coco to do everything, lol (I mean, he doesn’t really acknowledge it after watching anyway). Also a bit confused on how evil school works... it’s implied the Brat Girls are the main students, especially when one NPC says it’s all girls, but the intro video includes all genders and shows non-Brat Girls so... something’s up (maybe the NPC misheard or the ad was lying and only had girls because EVIL). Also apparently there’s another evil school somewhere besides Madame Amberly’s (is it also public? how is it public, is there a government funding these evil schools? did Cortex declare some regime?).

The humour and cutscenes are mostly pretty fun and there’s many funny moments. There are a few jokes that are... questionable at best (Uka I know you’re evil, but you don’t need to be ableist), and some of it probably seems outdated, but I actually appreciate most of it. The 2D cutscenes in different styles simulating changing channels like you have an NV is cool and has some pretty fun jokes with them, though it does suck you don’t see some character models well if at all as a result. The whole satire of consumerism and the latest tech fads was a nice addition (between this and the different mutant powers and stuff, it’s almost a classic Ratchet and Clank type game), not to mention wild stuff like evil recycling (and I mean, green movements ARE co-opted soooo) and many edgy but still mostly jokes I doubt would pass today.

Bosses are fine. Cortex was fun, but Coco was too easy (plus she’s freed from NV control a bit too soon, they could’ve saved her for the Ice Prison or even Evil School or something to raise the stakes, I mean if you’re not gonna fully commit to playable Coco then you may as well go the N Tranced route). Crunch wasn’t as hard as I remember, in fact he was kinda underwhelming. If anything the Scorporilla and Yuktopus acting as sorta sub-bosses in-story were better fights than saving the bandicoots (also one of the sludges says Crunch is Crash’s brother... confirmed?). Also small nitpick but why doesn’t Coco have her evil model in the enemy profiles, even as she has her boss lines?

Music is legit one of my favourite soundtracks in the series, Marc Baril doesn’t get enough credit. He manages to have such a range and it all works so well even as it has a distinct and fitting style.

Voodoo doll collecting is more involved which is cool, and there’s also golden wumpa now serving as health upgrades because we don’t have lives anymore. Yeah, Titans and MoM did gold wumpa first, not CTR:NF and Crash 4. At this rate I wouldn’t be surprised if it showed up even earlier. Minigames are optional too which means less stress for 100% completion, though there’s also the arena minigames (oh hey, more Ratchet and Clank similarities), and they unlock enemy skins... unfortunately unlike Titans which had skins for every enemy, there’s only a few skins here (one for each world’s games), which is disappointing.

Anyway... yeah. Mind over Mutant isn’t as polished as Titans and is a bit messy and inconsistent in some places (most likely because this game has less time than Titans), and some of the backtracking is tedious, but in general I had a pretty good time with it, and was actually pleasantly surprised by some things.

[tetrakys]

About Ikemen Vampire...

I finally got around to do the Ikemen Vampire first impressions post no one asked for, but I said I would do.

I’ve had the app on my phone for a while now, I mostly login and do the minigame to pile up on points and diamonds, but I’ve also played the butler event and a few chapters of Napoleon’s route.

FYI I only red a couple of spoilers on one route, so I’m jumping into this completely blind. Here we go.

The Premise:

A bunch of famous men from history turned vampires all living in the same mansion during a specific time in the past. On one side this is kinda interesting, on the other I know too much about many of these people (including their real aspect) to not face-palm every time I read their names, that’s why it took me so long to start this game. I knew it would need some getting used to it, and I have to admit I still find it strange at times. But well...

MC is, at least for now, the typical japanese otome game MC, so nothing exciting here, but maybe she will get gutsier moving forward? One can only hope. At least I like her love for travelling and she seems to know several languages.

Anyway if I’d been in her place, spending one month in the past with all these famous historical figures around, like hell I would’ve accepted to be a maid. I would’ve spent the whole time exploring and interviewing, I would’ve cut a deal with Le Comte, I’m sure he would’ve said yes. 

Anyway, let’s get to the guys, knowing that I’m an otome hoe and of course the plan is to get with all them (except maybe one). Team harem always for the win.

Ei fu.   Siccome immobile, Dato il mortal sospiro, Stette la spoglia immemore Orba di tanto spiro, Così percossa, attonita5 La terra al nunzio sta, ...

99% of the people reading won’t know what this is about. It’s one of the most important italian poems ever, it was written to celebrate Napoleon Bonaparte, it’s called Il Cinque Maggio (the date of Napoleon’s death... or in this case... resurrection as a vampire?). It’s huge, 108 verses, and I had to learn the whole thing by memory in school. It was so painful that it stuck with me to this day. That’s why I have a sort of love/hate relationship with the man.

But I decided to start with him for two reasons: I find this version of him hot and mysterious and I know his sexy scene is free so... who am I to turn down sexy times for free??

His back story of being half human half vampire is interesting and I am curious to see where this is going. I’m also curios to see how much cybird is sticking to history because the emperor had an interesting life to say the least. Including two wives, which I don’t want to think about because I am extremely jealous of all my otome boyfriends so I hope they are going to ignore this detail.

Yeah... no... this is so wrong... the guy died in exile in St Elena after failing to get his power back, speculations say that maybe he was even poisoned. It wasn’t a peaceful death and definitely he had regrets. 

I feel like I am putting too much thought into this and I should take the game as if these are just random people.

Anyway, Napoleon the character has a really pretty design, I love his eyes and his mysterious aura, and he looks like the honorable knight type. I hope he has also a kinky side because that’s how I roll and too good is not exactly my thing. He said he’s not attracted to MC pfff.... bullshit of course. We’ll see.

I don’t have much to say about Mozart because I’ve seen very little of him. I like his design, he seems to be the cold and slightly asshole type which I generally like, but too cold could put me off. If they’re going for any realism at all there could maybe be some daddy issues in his route?

This was the route that originally interested me the most because Leonardo was a genius and he’s the closest to home. Let’s ignore the fact that people keep using Da Vinci as if it was his surname WHICH IS NOT ,“da” means “from” and “Vinci” is a town, Leonardo from Vinci, he didn’t have a surname because he was a natural son. But other than that, there are two main points that make me consider skipping his route altogether. 

First of all, this is the only spoiler I have about the game, I know this story is sad whatever the ending, and I don’t do sad in my escapism. I only want happy endings, people may not agree but that’s my personal philosophy for playing these games.

Second, that “cara mia” triggers my rage every time I read it. As I explained in another post, “cara mia” is paternalistic and kinda offensive, “mia cara” is the sweet, caring one. The writers picked the wrong one and it’s soooo annoying to read. Especially because he repeats it quite a lot.

So, I’m not 100% sure yet, but this might be the first time in my history as an otome-player that I skip a route.

This. Adorable. Rascal. He might be the second route I play after Napoleon because I can’t wait to banter with this guy (if MC’s personality allows it). 

He seems as smart as his real counter-part and I like it.

I find a little annoying that he speaks like someone pretending to be British, it seems like the writers tried too hard, but what he says is kinda hilarious and I want him to (try to) bite me 👀

I assume they didn’t go completely with the realistic route here, otherwise Vincent should be a little coo coo, but the guy was sensitive and fragile and it seems that this was somehow preserved in the character. He has both ears though, so he probably isn’t completely suicidal. 

However he seems the totally sugary sweet type which is really not my thing. But I also heard he has one of the hottest sexy scenes in the game so colour me intrigued 👀

THIS! This is my man! I don’t know why I always fall for the tsundere, it’s not like I’m a masochist and like to be mistreated, but I like the bantering and I hope that MC is going to be cool enough to allow me to reply to him in tone. I really want to fight with him! 👀

Also, he’s sexy, and the fact that I know absolutely nothing about him, helps me not feeling annoyed by whatever it has been done to the character. 

I don’t know what to expect from his route. Does he have a brother complex? Is he jealous because his brother is a genius and he was a simple merchant? Why were they both turned? So many questions. Give me this beautiful asshole’s route soon cybird!

I know nothing about him too, but there’s something in him that irks me. He has a sort of paternalistic attitude, too many compliments, too polite... Also, that kimono has a strange fit.

On the positive side he seems protective and I like his quirkiness, so we’ll see.

Newton is the one that, together with Leonardo, interested me the most for pure principle. And, in this case, I am quite satisfied. I like his aesthetics and personality-wise he seems similar to Mozart, quiet, distant type. We’ll see.

I keep wondering why they turned a female character male, they could’ve added a wlw route. Anyway, I won’t complain because look-wise I like him the most out of everyone. The eye patch intrigues me, I like his style and I find him really beautiful. I know though that his route is the least sexy and that’s a bummer. I am curious about him and his route and wonder if he also hears voices in his head.

In this case I’m pretty sure we’re far away from the real person. William the character is the yandere of the group and even the other vampires seem a little preoccupied by him. I wonder if his route is maybe a little dangerous, I’m intrigued.

Mmm... I know I’m going to attract the disappointment of his many fans but I don’t like Saint-Germain. He’s handsome yes, but the one thing I hate in LIs is fakeness and duplicity, and I feel it with every bone in my body this guy is a liar. He emanates the same vibes as Lucien and Leiftan. There’s so much you’re hiding Comte, and you don’t fool me one bit! Also, his colour palette is too yellow for my tastes.

Sebastian is just boring to me. I don’t know.... he looks and sounds so plain. I hope there is some big mystery behind and that he will show more personality because at the moment he’s just meh. Also he can’t be just a simple, unknown human there must be something else (I hope).

So, currently, the characters who interest me are: Theo, Arthur, Isaac, Napoleon, Jean, William, Wolfgang 

While Vincent, Sebastian, Dazai, Leonardo and Comte all follow at the back of the queue.

Let’s see after a couple of months of playing if my opinions change.

And btw I’ve seen the three new vampires and they look so much cooler than all the main ones combined! I can’t wait for their routes to come out.

[tumblunni]

I wish there was a name for the genre other than dressup games tho. Its one of many of my interests that i felt that i had to supress in order to be "real trans", yknow? Like its annoying how a giant pile of proof is never proof enough but having ONE hobby that stereotypically fits your birth sex is somehow proof that youre lying. And you get so used to that that even when you're alone your anxieties repeat those people's voices and it keeps you from enjoying what you love.

Also like..honestly if not for the name it wouldbt even be a "girly hobby", so man i worry about nothing. I mean its weird how (for example) dragonball zenoverse and soul calibur are manly dressup games, and like 90% of mmos are super male-aimed dressup games with near naked women. And there's bazillions of games with dressup functionality that are hybrids with other genres and actually let you take your custom character and DO STUFF WITH THEM, and thats the kind i love the most! Dressup deep dark fantasy action rpg time! I like making a character, i like dressup with armours or demon horns or anime fighter hair aura nonsense or god knows what! Its so limiting to have this image of the genre as just "girly fashion", like man who could enjoy a dressup game without OPTIONS??? Most of those stereotype pandering dressups are soulless cashgrabs, thats why Style Savvy looks so appealing to me as legit the first actual fully fleshed out non glitched as fuck girly dressup that ive ever seen! Also thankfully it does have options for multiple styles of fashion even though the general prrsentation is very cliche girly. The demo alone showed some nice punk clothes and gothic stuff!

Anyway i wish we could popularise a better name for the genre or make it so that people dont automatically associate the phrase dressup with negativity. Character customization is kinda another way to describe it but its a big clunkyness of crusty syllables. At least it better describes the main appeal which is creating characters! Seriously ive seen a lot of people assume that dressup games are literally only dressing up one premade character and then they go "oh yo actually that does sound fun" or "i think ive already played one of those!" when you tell them its like making an oc. So many sports games have dressup and all these stereotype-obsessed dudely dudes are like "wtf you mean the entire time this was the same damn thing??"

And oh man another genre thats unfairly ruined by badly made aggressively sexist shit games is parenting sims! Again i wish there was a word thats less pigeonholed into the stereotype but the obly other ones are raising sim or life sim which are basically the same. Like man when you hear all that you imagine a collection of boring minigames changing diapers and not a cool choose your own adventure rpg where your character grows and gets different endings. And in this case the more girly parenting versions are actually pretty ahead of the grade! All those shitty diaper minigame things clog up western stores but in japan there's series like Princess Maker that have RIDICULOUSLY in depth character choice progression algorhythms and 50-60 endings each time!

Like man seriously why is the whole genre of anything to do with making good roleplay characters considered "girly and vapid" but then rightfully recognized as in-depth and complex whenever it appears in a much smaller form in some macho game? Probably the same reason why otome dating sims are considered laughable yet male-aimed comparatively shitty awfully translated waifu nonsense is somehow top tier. Dude you could be having pron AND actual storywriting, dont settle for less! Seriously finding a non-terrible straight dude dating sim is almost as hard as finding gay ones in general, despite 90% of the entire market being straight dudes. I end up playing the "girly" dating sims more often just because...like..actual characters...actual words...

WAIT MAN THATS ALSO WHY I PLAY DRESSUPS!!!!

Shit that makes so much sense! Yeh whenever i try and be like "oh i'll only play the manly create-a-lil-dude games" they never last very long cos they're usually eithee smaller minigames or attatched to a genre i dont like. I have soooo many sports games despite hating sports games! Theyre one of the few manly genres with good dressup engines! Also like man yeah girly dressups are stereotypically considered the main thing of the genre so no wonder i'd find more of them. Also now im actually checking my library of dressup games is overwhelmingly macho stuff or mmorpgs, i dont know why i was even telling myself im being too girly for liking these??? Again, its the brain fallacy of all proof of your transness being invalid yet one single strike against it is somehow definitive proof. Man i still remember when i was too scared to wear one pair of pink socks because somehow one pair of pink socks would mean i was a "faker trans trender". Why am i so anxious!!! How do i take my brain to the mechanic!!!

So uhh yeah in summary gta 5 is a dressup game. End post.

[ocgear]

Devlog #6 Writing, Music, and Art

Hey y’all! I wanted to give an update since I’m pretty sure everyone thinks I’m dead ^^;

For quick updates on the project: OCG is being produced in two parts now. Part 1 will contain the many mysteries that the world of OCG has to offer and part 2 will be a sort of answer arc. The first draft of OCG part 1 is written and I’ve been hard at work revising and editing the prologue and chapter 1 of the script. For part 1, there is roughly 6-7 chapters of planned content. I’m hoping that at the end of the day, Part 1 will resonate with you, the reader.

Covid has been extremely hard on my ability to complete the project. I won’t get too personal on a devblog, but my health and finances were impacted. I apologize for the delays and this account’s inactivity. I feel like I'm letting down the people who want to read OverClock Gear and I just want to let everyone know that I'm still committed to working on the project and that despite the inactivity, I'm still working hard to improve every aspect as much as possible.

I'd like to share some of the things I learned along the way so that maybe future devs can learn something from my struggles.

WRITING:

As a warning, I want to say that none of the following are hard rules of writing. These are just things that I've observed as a writer and as a consumer.

Probably the most challenging part of a Visual Novel is writing a script that works with the format. The rules for VN writing are different from traditional novels and screenplays as many elements will be shown on screen but usually not enough to get a full sense what's going on. This is more of an opinion, but I feel that the descriptions should supplement the action and we should pick and choose when to show with sprites instead of describing. This is especially true when considering dialogue and internal monologue will make up a majority of the script akin to a movie.

It's not to say you should ignore everything you know about writing, however. There's still things about structure and character arcs that are useful.

Speaking of characters, balancing your cast is also a challenge. Every character is fighting for enough screen time to develop enough for the reader to care. As I'm writing OCG, I am trimming down and trying to give each cast member enough time to breathe while keeping in mind the characters' backstories and motivations. There's also the delicate balance between backstory and current events to keep in mind. I think it's especially hard to figure out how to reveal backstory without dumping a history lesson on the player.

There's also the issue with paragraph length for display purposes. VNs have a unique format that breaks down text into easily digestible chunks. However, overutilizing the space can sometimes make the reading experience worse.

There are a lot of things to consider visually too when writing your script. I've had to think about the actual space that they occupy so that chain of events make sense. Since there will be visual elements to the story, I need to try to figure out how those elements fit in too as I'm writing. For instance, how characters will appear, do gestures, and different CGs that need to appear are crucial to the format and needs to be considered.

From a general storytelling perspective, I've been toying with the idea of including gameplay. However, I realized that in trying to do so, I'd have to create a bunch of excuses to play the minigame which would be:

1. Unsatisfying without enough stages to challenge the player

OR

2. Disrupt the story to challenge the player

I think that if I wanted to have gameplay, I should plot out the game in a way such that the story fits the gameplay and not the other way around. Since I'm working on a primarily story driven experience, I won't be including any minigames that would take the player out of the experience. However, I have ideas for games that could take place in the world of OverClock Gear. Those are sitting in the vault until I release OCG part 1.

There's also something interesting I learned about twists and keeping people engaged in stories. Maybe this is something of a beginner's trap, but when people say a character isn't interesting it's usually because a character doesn't have anything meaningful to say or do, or they're simply floating through the story without influencing it. Giving a character powers and an award winning backstory isn't really enough to make someone interesting in a story. Giving a character flaws also doesn't make them automatically interesting. It's how you tie all these traits into story and their impact on other characters that make it interesting.

In today's day and age, readers have become more critical and perceiving than ever before, so it may seem like you'd need to hide more information to make your twists have impact. But I think it's better to show some of your hand. Twists also need room to breathe. They need to be logical but unexpected. A reader needs to convince themselves that it was possible through several minor clues leading up to the event. But balancing what to show and what to hide is a challenge in itself. Through showing off my script edits, I came to the conclusion that setting up expectations is a lot more satisfying than trying to make everything a mystery. Readers seem to get frustrated when the mystery leads nowhere in a story for an extended period of time. However, that's not to say every mystery should be revealed in a quick fashion. I think it's a balancing act, one in which we have to reveal what we can to keep the reader engaged while hiding the bigger stuff behind the curtains. In a way it's like slight of hand: We try to misdirect the audience with "true" events in the story and then blow them away with something they never saw coming.

An example of a bad twist from a scrapped project that I did several years ago: The main character meets a super secret organization who protects her from a military government. One of the people who protects her is a commander in that organization and seems to know a thing or two about the MC. However he is shot and killed before anything could be revealed.

There are elements that we can anticipate from the scenario: The MC is caught up in some crazy conspiracy with rogues and the military. However, the characters don't come off as interesting because they aren't given room to breathe. The organization became a device to set up the premise of the story. The commander doesn't impact the story and basically anybody else could've stepped in to save the MC. The MC isn't given time to bond with the commander and as such the twist at the end doesn't come across as earned.

These are just some thing that I've been thinking about as I've been consuming media and writing. There are too many games and fictional works that I've ruined for myself by being too critical. But through this, I'm hoping that the final script for OverClock Gear will be something I can be proud of.

Art:

I'm studying animation production to try to incorporate some of that knowledge into my VN. I want to be able to create a more immersive experience and make my VN more visually appealing. Some works that I really like are Muv Luv and Phoenix Wright. They're both unique in their presentation and utilize different parts of visual media that make them stand out.

The Muv Luv team are masters at using dynamic camera movement to craft visual spectacles. Despite the sprites being mostly non-moving, the way they are tweened and the few pose changes they have are combined with the camera in a way that almost makes them feel alive. Even in the first cutscene of Muv Luv Alternative, the parallax effects and strong camera angles help to sell that cinematic feel that isn't really found in any other VN's I've read.

Phoenix Wright's sprites are a joy to look at. The animations are done with such strong key poses that I sometimes forget the game's animations were meant to be limited. In the modern day, there are many tools that are used to create smooth looking animations with complex actions like 3D models or Live2D. I'm honestly not a huge fan of Live2D animations as it often looks as if a puppeteer is handling the rig. 3D also presents the issue of having to create specialized rigs that can handle weird scenarios like foreshortening. For example in Dragon Ball Fighter Z, there's a lot of model distortion in cinematics that is pretty complicated for someone with no 3D expertise. Facial expressions are also a huge part of making visual novel character appealing which can be difficult to do well on a 3D model. Not to mention, to emulate a 2D style, the frames need to be displayed at 24fps which means chopping frames in-between the interpolated keys. It can be a lot of work to create something that closely resembles "Anime". There is also a charm in a more traditional approach to animation that I think more visual novels should employ. Though I recognize that for complicated sprites, a traditionally drawn 2d animation isn't practical at all, I want to use the idea of strong key poses to create more lively sprites as well as play with depth to further immersion.

There are some more ideas that I have for creating a better visual experience, but I don't want to go into too much of a tangent ^^;

Music:

I went back to learn more about music theory and I came across some great videos that emulate the Japanese video game/Pop style. If you're curious, you can check out Gavin Leper's channel on YouTube. That being said, something I realized about music in Visual Novels and Film in particular is that sometimes the music should accompany the dialogue or actions in the work instead of overpowering it. There are moments when elevator music is important and when it's important to use a swelling emotional piece. Not everything in life "goes hard" and I think that also applies to music in stories as well. Music in games is also designed to loop in contrast to film where individual pieces can be created for specific scenes. This adds an entirely new thing to think about since it needs to be repeatable without getting annoying. I don't really have a clean answer to this, but to observe songs from games you like and see how they transition from the end to the part that loops.

This was a long post and there's so much more I want to talk about but I'm trying to stay productive and get the script done. For anyone else struggling with finishing their VN, "Finish the Script" by Scott King is an excellent book. Wishing everyone the best!

- OCGDev

[pokemongoexcitement]

First impression! How does detective pikachu play and what makes it unique? What would you compare it to? I’m still debating if I should buy it.

I’m about halfway through the game as I write this, but here are my best answers. It’s a little lengthy as I have a few thoughts on this, and I tried to keep it as spoiler free as possible, but I have little practice with reviews, so bear with me. 

My first impressions ofDetective Pikachu are quite positive. I wouldn’t say it’s the most challenginggame out there-it’s actually pretty easy, so long as you talk to NPCs andinvestigate the environment. There tend not to be roadblocks for the sake ofroadblocks; if you can’t leave the area, or solve a step of the case, it’sbecause you missed something crucial in the case and not because you haven’tplayed enough minigames or anything. There aren’t many mistakes that will forceyou to reset, in my experience, so if you mess up a couple times you won’t missout on an important cutscene or have to start from the last save point. It’sgood if you’re just there for the story, but if you’re looking for a challenge,you may want to consider that.

This game relies more onits story than difficulty to entertain the reader. It’s divided up into severalchapters, each with its own mystery for you to solve. Each case relates back tothe big one, so it isn’t episodic and you don’t end up feeling like it could’vebeen cut. As for how well it’s told? Well, there are places that make youwonder how the police never saw the evidence you find, and sometimes you have agood idea of the culprit and how it’s done long before the case wraps up, butas it’s a beginner detective game for a younger crowd I think it should beforgiven. The mystery behind Pikachu is interesting, and if this story is goingwhere I think it’s going it’s going to be interesting.

What really makes thisstory unique is how they incorporate Pokemon into everyday life in the story. Alot of suspects, eyewitnesses, background characters, and temporary partymembers are Pokemon. You can tell that the game really worked to make sure theyweren’t just humans in a different guise, as many of them seem to have ways ofthinking that are more complex than animals, but not quite the same as a human’s.It’s quite refreshing, even if it’s sometimes frustrating when you’re trying toget clues. As you talk to them, you explore the relationship between Pokemon,wild and not, and humans. Honestly, I think the main series games treat Pokemona little too much like things that only are there for battle, and not enough asdenizens of the world, as they are here. This game also portrays abilities,subtle or well known, of Pokemon that aren’t able to be demonstrated in themain games. It can make guessing mysteries easier if you know your Pokedexwell, but if you don’t you won’t be left behind.

To be honest, I have noidea what to compare it to. This isn’t a main series game, so if you’reexpecting battles you’ll be disappointed to know there isn’t really that many.If a Pokemon attacks, generally you’ll only be dodging. But it’s really unfairto do that to Detective Pikachu, as this is a different genre. I don’t havemuch experience with the mystery game genre, but it’s a little similar to thefirst three Professor Layton games. Each area you’re in is divided into smallersections, where you search for clues and talk to NPCs. Unlike Layton, you wanderaround these areas rather than tap the screen. As I mentioned, it’s not thehardest detective game, but as it’s an introduction to the genre aimed atchildren, that’s to be expected. I’d imagine that if you’re not familiar withthe genre you might be thankful, but if you’ve played challenging detectivegames and enjoyed them this may feel a little too easy.

A couple things I think Ishould mention are the amiibo and the game saves. There is an amiibo out forDetective Pikachu, but in the game itself it just unlocks the ability to rewatch small snippets of Pikachu’s dialogue from chapters you’ve completed, and the ability to favorite them if you wish to rewatch only your favorites. I have no idea what it does in othergames, though. If you’re not interested in using amiibos in other games orcollecting them, you can probably skip this one and not miss much. There are also three game savefiles in each game cartridge/download, so if you live with a familymember/roommate also interested in this game and agreeable to sharing, you canwork out a way to share the payment between you.

Honestly, whether or not you’ll enjoy this game depends on how much challenge you want and the level of story you want. If you’re okay with little challenge with more focus on a story aimed for the same intended audience as the main series games, you might enjoy this. If you prefer more difficult gameplay or a more complex story, you might not.

[greed-the-dorkalicious]

FMA Extended Media Recommendations - Gold Tier (Second Place)

Continued from here!

The Abducted Alchemist (Novel)

This novel is a classic example of FMA’s fantastic combination of humor and seriousness. It all starts with an irritated Ed pranking Roy by pretending to be his son while Roy’s chatting up some women. Yep.

An odd series of terrorist attacks has been going on, with bombings targeting train tracks, family of military officers being targeted, and most strangely, no casualties. The public is growing increasingly hostile towards the military as they continue to fail to catch the culprits in this bizarre case. Fortunately, Roy gets a hilariously ironic lucky break when the terrorists, apparently having overheard Ed’s prank, mistake him for Roy’s actual son and kidnap him.

Upon hearing the news, Al and the soldiers at East City have a unanimous reaction of “Oh god, those poor terrorists. Maybe we should send flowers.” But there is still a mystery to be solved, and the story has a wonderful mixture of suspense, humor, and drama.

Fullmetal Alchemist Profiles (Book)

Known in Japan as “Perfect Guidebook 1″, this one one of few FMA guidebooks released in English. The reason it’s not red tier is because it’s a very old book from early on in the series, and doesn’t include characters like Ling, Olivier, or even Father. A lot of the information included is also fairly basic.

But nonetheless, it’s a great book with interesting insight into characters, fun trivia, quizzes, a look at Arakawa’s office and gossip from her assistants, bonus manga, development notes, and more. As old as it is, I actually refer to this book for trivia and fact checking all the time. It also includes an original bonus manga, the Blind Alchemist, which the OVA of the same name was based off. It’s a fantastic book that I would highly recommend to any FMA fan.

Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel (Game, Playstation 2)

Broken Angel is the first of the PS2 games, and thus not as... nice-looking as the second one, but the plot is a lot more FMA-like than Crimson Elixir. Like Crimson Elixir, the gameplay is very similar to Kingdom Hearts. I haven’t played this game in a long time and I have never fully understood the plot at all, so bear with me as I try to give a summary!

After a train crash, Ed and Al arrive in the town of New Hiessgart. Ed and Al meet a girl named Armony Eiselstein, whose father is an alchemist working on developing I Can’t Believe It’s Not the Philosopher’s Stone!™. Ed and Al hope to learn more about this item, known as the Philosopher’s Catalyst, while Armony wants them to teach her alchemy behind her father’s back. But strange things are afoot, with chimeras overrunning the town, and corrupt military groups going rogue. There may be more to the Eiselstein family than even Armony knows...

My favorite part of this entire game is the hilarious recurring boss, Genz Bresslau. Genz, the Armor-Piercing Alchemist, is a corrupt military officer with an automail arm of which he is very proud. After getting totally trashed by Ed, Genz makes it his goal to prove that his automail is better. Despite having little to no bearing on the actual plot, Genz repeatedly reappears for fights with more and more automail, defying all logic, though Ed keeps trying to explain that he really just does not care about this whole automail superiority complex or Genz at all.

Prince of the Dawn (Game, Wii, Japan only)

Really, the picture says it all. Prince of the Dawn and its sequel, Daughter of the Dusk, are very zany games. If you ever happen to come across something that looks like Brotherhood official art, but seems too ridiculous to be real, it’s probably from one of the Wii games. This game takes place some time in the middle of the manga’s plot, and unlike other games, it does include later characters such as Ling and Greed. It also gives more worldbuilding information, with the first real detailed mentions of Amestris’ southern neighbor, Aerugo.

I can’t say much about the plot, because I never made it very far in the game. I know Prince Claudio Rico of Aerugo has come to Amestris to negotiate and hopefully end the ongoing border war, and a festival is held to celebrate. But it seems the homunculi are trying to frame Roy for an assassination attempt on the prince... I think? I’m really not sure. Rather than being a fighting game like most FMA games, it’s mostly a point-and-click game, with multiple choice dialogue options to try to solve a mystery. There’s also a lot of minigames that make use of the Wii’s motion controls.

Because the game is based around discussion and mystery-solving, unfortunately it’s really not for anyone who isn’t fluent in Japanese. I’ve tried to play it several times, but my Japanese isn’t good enough to really understand what’s going on, and it took me forever to figure out this one mandatory Biggoron’s Sword-esque trading sequence because I couldn’t understand what my orders were. But if you do speak Japanese, it’s a fun and ridiculous game, and great for people who might not be into fighting games.

The Tale of Teacher (OVA)

We’ve all heard about the legendary incident in which Izumi Curtis stole rations from the Briggs mountain guard for a month, but have you ever wondered why she did that? This short OVA tells the story of 18-year-old Izumi’s quest for an alchemy teacher, her harsh initiation test, and how a dead bear helped her find true love. If you thought Ed and Al’s month on Yock Island was brutal, Izumi’s apprenticeship story will make you go “Woah, she really coddled those kids.”

[swipestream]

SUPERVERSIVE: Why Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time Felt Like Fan Fiction

The iconic Sly Cooper logo!

Let me start off with this. I LOVE the Sly Cooper series, which was arguably the single most underappreciated series of games in the PS2 era (which also happened to be the golden age of 3D platforming, what with the Ratchet and Clank and Jak and Daxter games coming out at the same time). The games were platformers starring Sly Cooper, a raccoon, a gentleman thief, and just about the coolest guy around, and his friends Bentley, a turtle and computer geek, and Murray, who started off the first game as their dumb and rather burdensome sidekick but in game 2 onward turned into the team muscle. Sly was the archetypal “good” thief who only stole from other thieves and liked the challenge more than anything else. Along the way Sly is chased by his nemesis and love interest, Inspector Carmelia Fox, a red-headed fox with a fiery temper who always manages to be a half step behind Sly and the gang.

Sly 1 felt like a Playstation 1 game on a PS2 engine, its story more of an excuse to get Sly into cool locations than anything else (though it gets more depth when you reach the final section). It distinguished itself with outstanding platforming mechanics, awesome level designs, terrific boss battles, and cel-shaded graphics that look cool to this day.

Sly 2 was a revelation in how much it improved upon the original. It was a textbook example of how to do a sequel well, in both storytelling and game design. Everything great about the first games was not only kept, but improved. The story became more complex, with actual surprising twists and real pathos. The level designs became more creative, Sly’s “hub worlds” expanded, more gameplay options appeared, the voice acting improved…all of it, fantastic. The only part of the game that suffered in comparison to the originals were the rather underwhelming boss battles, but the rest of the game was so brilliantly done that it hardly mattered.

Sly 3 wasn’t as much of an improvement over Sly 2 as Sly 2 was over the original. The story was excellent, but the gameplay, while varied, felt more like a collection of minigames interspersed with platforming sections rather than the other way around. What really saved the game was that the minigames as a rule were excellent and the final level was fantastic. The ending wrapped up the major storylines and gave all of the main characters proper closure. It was a perfect stopping point.

And then…eight years later…Sly 4 arrived, titled “Thieves in Time”. I was thrilled! While it could have ended at Sly 3 if they wanted to there was no question that room for a sequel was available.

So how was Sly 4?

It was good. I liked it. I’ve played it more than once.

It wasn’t great.

Something was just…off.

First off was the gameplay. 99% of it was exactly the same, which is in no way a criticism. I was looking for exactly that!

But, see…one of the promises was that the hub worlds were bigger. And sure enough, they were. But this lead to a problem: The guards were too spread out.

It looks gorgeous, though

You see, in the original series, you needed to be very careful when you walked around, or you’d alert the guards. And if you alerted the guards you’d get at least two, possibly three or more, major guards going after you and even more minor guards. It wasn’t exactly an insurmountable threat, but it made sneaking around useful and practical. In Sly 4, the worlds were so big that escaping was basically child’s play. If you simply ran in the opposite direction the odds were that the other guards were so far away it wouldn’t really be a problem…and you could wander around for minutes without even seeing a guard. It took some of the fun out of wandering around the level. This was a minor flaw, but it was a flaw.

More noticeable was the story. The story wasn’t exactly the best part of Sly Cooper, but it was a draw. The comic booky style and fun use of classic tropes, as well as some plot twists that were actually clever and real moments of pathos, meant that you really were invested in following along. It wasn’t just “there”, it was a part of the game. And in Sly 4 the story was fun, but just…off.

Let’s pivot a little bit here. Carmelita Fox is a cop, and she’s chasing Sly, but she doesn’t hold the power in that relationship. Sly does. He is always the master of the situation, cocky, cool as a cucumber, always read to banter and trade barbs. He respects Carmelita and even has a thing for her, but he’s always the one in control.

This is important. It’s no fun if Carmelita is in control. If Sly is always losing, why would she have a thing for him? He would, literally, be a loser. And if Carmelita keeps kicking Sly’s butt, why would he have a thing for her? She’d be nothing but a thorn in his side instead of a fun challenge with a touch of sex appeal thrown in. That adversarial relationship charged with sexual tension made the whole dynamic exciting; think Han Solo and Princess Leia. Leia might have the power politically and legally, but Han is always the master of the situation every time they banter, and constantly plays the hero. If the dynamic was any other way the romance just doesn’t work.

I think the best example of their relationship comes from the best scene at the end of the original Sly Cooper, and one of the best scenes in the series (incidentally, as you may be able to tell from the art style, the cut scenes in Sly Cooper are awesome in and of themselves). Skip to about 50 seconds in to get to the fun:

I can’t find the exact scene I wanted to show to contrast, but I’ll summarize the general issue.

Sly 4 starts off with Sly and Carmelita together, as game 3 ended.

Then Sly goes back to his thieving ways, and Carmelita gets pissed at him.

Sly spends the rest of the game trying to make it up to her. We get scenes like Sly going up to her trying to explain “How sorry he was” while Carmelita storms off. He stands in the background, giving her puppy dog eyes and looking bashful and ashamed.

That’s not Sly Cooper! Sly would never try to “win over” Carmelita. The problem that Sanzaru had is that Sly and Carmelita’s relationship had simply reached its natural endpoint. If you really want to move forward with the game the proper way to go is to have Bentley and Murray call in Sly for an important mission outside of the law that Sly knows Carmelita won’t approve of. So Sly sneaks off and leaves a note telling Carmelita that he’s going to be gone for awhile. Carmelita gets angry and chases after him, and Sly can keep that cocky, “You-know-you-like-me” attitude without completely losing the moral high ground, even if he is a little guilty about what he has to do. THAT would have worked. A wounded puppy Sly? That doesn’t work. Sly needs to be the master of the situation, no matter what.

I’m being hard on “Thieves in Time” here. I liked it a lot! Seriously! I even had fun with the twisty, comic-booky time travel story! Sly 4 did several things really, really well that did much to make up for its small flaws. The boss battles – with the exception of the awful final level, which was a huge disappointment – were a massive improvement over Sly 2 and 3, creating a style that felt like a hybrid between the boss battles of the original and its sequels, and were some of the game’s best levels.

Sly gets to wear different “costumes” that give him new abilities, and you get to play as Sly’s “ancestors”, who play similar to Sly but with unique abilities of their own. Those were fantastic (and the ancestors were to a man hugely entertaining, especially “Tennessee ‘Kid’ Cooper”, whose “rail slide” levels were probably the very best parts of the game).The level design generally was terrific. The gameplay was varied. The updated cel-shaded animation was absolutely gorgeous. The new cut scene animation was…fine. I’m not sure why they decided to update it, actually, but whatever, it looked good.

It was a very good game with minor gameplay issues and a story that felt off…and an underwhelming ending.

Considering all of that, and considering that the game ended on a MASSIVE cliffhanger, I’m still holding out hope for a Sly 5. Since a TV show is supposedly in the works with luck it may bring back enough interest to make a game 5 viable.

Time will tell I suppose! Here’s hoping.

Sly and Carmelita before things go all pear-shaped

SUPERVERSIVE: Why Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time Felt Like Fan Fiction published first on http://ift.tt/2zdiasi

[samtheflamingomain]

the fractured but decent

I just finished the new South Park game, The Fractured But Whole, so naturally, I want to pick apart every detail and review it in disgusting depth.

It might seem unfair to compare it to Stick of Truth, but I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot of that.

Obviously, I'm a huge SP fanboy, and had been following the release of the game months beforehand. I watched an interview with Matt and Trey, and they gave a lot of insight into the game, how it would be different from SoT, and how it would be similar. That too will play into my analysis.

Obviously, spoilers ahead.

Let's divide this up for clarity. I'll go through general gameplay, plot, side quests and collectibles, mechanics/UI, and general thoughts, in that order.

Gameplay is a vague term so let's subdivide that: combat, powers, effects and exploration.

Combat is decent. I prefer the system set up in SoT, but the new system has its pros. I like the grid, moving around, and how your stats effect where you can move on the battleground. For example, Clyde has such a high "movement" stat that he can move almost anywhere on the grid.

But it can also get frustrating and confusing. Sometimes there's so many players on the board that moving becomes impossible. Sometimes you're stuck with combat buddies that can't attack, and sometimes it's unclear as to what the board will look like after your turn. For example, knockbacks and moves that change your location aren't always obvious as to how they’ll play out.

Finally, "inspection mode". It's meant to be used to get details on your friends and foes in battle, like their class, their health, and, most confusingly, their status effects and durations thereof. I never used it, and I think it just served to make combat more confusing.

Powers, I'll admit, kinda suck. Once you reach a point in the game where, for some back-assward reason, you unlock ALL POSSIBLE POWERS, it becomes a game of making a goddamn spreadsheet to weigh the pros and cons of more than 15 powers to decide which 4 you can have active in combat. Now, they give us a bit of help by allowing you to switch powers and buddies before a battle, but taking 20 minutes to pick your best powers beforehand is tedious, but also, unfortunately, necessary.

Also, they aren't very interesting or varied. Most powers involve a punch or hit, but there's like 8 of them that are basically the same. A lot don't make sense for their class, while others are completely useless. Finally, fuck all the healing powers. If you've got Kyle on your team, he's 50% a healer, so you have 2 (very weak) moves to use to deal damage. The healing items are much more effective, at least in my opinion.

Effects. What I mean by that is "Might", stats, and "artifacts". This is a lot of convoluted spreadsheet math again. There's hundreds of items that you can stick in your stats to improve your "Might". This is very hard to explain and even harder to balance.

Say you have six slots. There's more than 100 things that can go in those slots. Some of them improve your health stat, but eliminate your ability to move. Some of them downgrade your buddies' health while increasing your damage dealt. There's a total of (I think) 12 stats that can be affected by these "artifacts". Each one is assigned a number, and adding up all these numbers gives you your "Might" - which I still don't understand what, if anything, this means.

Exploration. Very little has changed since SoT in this department except there's fewer fast-travel locations, a slightly bigger map, and more (and better) puzzles throughout the world. One of my gripes would be the uselessness of many locations - a good 50% of the buildings or locations are only relevant once, and there's no need to revisit them later. (Canada, Mephesto's, the strip club, the Italian restaurant, City Wok, and U-Stor-It just to name a few).

But like I said, the puzzles are quite good, and actually challenging at times. Sometimes it involves spotting something a buddy can knock over, or noticing a little pinwheel that can get you on top of buildings. With the addition of the fart powers (reverse, pause, summon self and shift night/day), these puzzles are more complex and often have multiple steps involved.

Alright, onto the plot. I think it's much better than SoT. It starts out similar, with one faction of kids against the other, then brought together to fight a bigger foe. But they did this in a better, funnier, and ultimately more effective way, in my opinion.

For example, what seems like a silly side-quest leads to Stan (from the other faction) helping your faction, which then leads to both groups joining once they discover something bigger going on.

Now, this "bigger thing" is pretty confusing, especially at first. There's a lot of parts that don't seem to match up. The mayor is apparently failing the city, the cops are working for a racist slime monster (literally), and the sixth-graders are hoarding cats. It eventually comes together: the town is falling apart due to the main foe putting cat urine into the city's drugs and alcohol in order to cause chaos to usurp the mayor's seat. A lot of random groups get involved, like the sixth graders and Butters, to try and capitalize on the situation.

Which brings me to the second half of the game, where, in my opinion, a lot of comedic gold is made without it relying too much on nostalgia and throwbacks to the show. Mitch Conner, the main bad guy, is a joke I've never found particularly funny in the show, but in the game, it was easily one of the smartest moves they made.

"Mitch" (Cartman's hand puppet) kidnaps your parents in order to get you to help him win the mayoral race. As soon as this is revealed, all the characters react as they should: by blaming Cartman. No matter how much he insists "Mitch" is acting on his own, independent of himself, everyone turns on Cartman and he goes into hiding.

This, to me, is a much better way of bringing the plot together than in SoT, where the main villain's (Clyde’s) motivation is not very clear or believable. When we see "Mitch's" motivation for becoming mayor (to make every day Christmas), it's so absurd and Cartman-like that it works incredibly well.

And probably the funniest part of the game, right at the end, is when suddenly Mitch Conner takes over Kyle's hand. It makes no sense, but after the entire problem being blamed on Cartman, it takes a hilarious turn, suggesting that maybe Cartman really wasn't really behind everything after all.

And finally, the last battle. There's a bit of bullshit about going forward and back in time, but it ultimately leads to a hilarious battle where the characters fight themselves from the past - when they were still "playing" Stick of Truth. SuperCraig fights Thief Craig, Human Kite Kyle fights High Jew Elf Kyle and et cetera. There was also a great throwaway line from Wendy: "Hey, now I finally get to play Stick of Truth!"

Onto side quests and collectibles. I've stuck these together because they're pretty much the same. There's only maybe 8 side quests, and almost all of them are just "collect X and return to character Y". There's a lot to be desired in that department, in my opinion, but there is some good stuff in the "filling out your character sheet" plotline. Like the farting-flying-unicorn minigame where you help Kanye West's mother reach heaven so you can meet Jesus and choose your religion. Or when you have to learn about microagressions from PC Principal to choose your race.

As for the collectibles themselves, they're a bit much. Collect Yaoi, toilets, artifacts, costumes, Memberberries, Coonstagram followers, character sheets, cats. But that's up to you to care which achievements you pursue.

Now, mechanics and UI. This is the one category I will unapologetically shit on till the cows come home, with the exception of the phone menu, which is actually a very smart way to organize the massive amount of UI in place.

The artifact menu is a mess. It's confusing and frustrating. Same with the powers menu. Very hard to navigate intelligently. Props to the crafting menu, which is rather straightforward. But outside of the phone, the simple act of pulling up the map, seeing your quests and seeing your progress on those quests is very much lacking.

It gets even worse when we get into combat UI. When it's your turn, you get to choose between your three powers and healing items. It's actually somewhat trial-and-error when you go for an attack. Which power is most effective, and from which position on the board? It's a good thing it's turn-based and not timed, because I often found myself spending a good minute or two testing out every possible move.

And I'd be amiss if I didn't talk buddies. There's waaaay too many, and it's pretty easy to see the best ones and never change them: Wendy, Tweek, Cartman and Clyde were my team for the entire game, because nearly all the others have massive, gaping flaws in their combat abilities. For example, Stan only has two good moves, and they're very situation-dependent. They only help if he's in a specific spot and the enemies are lined up perfectly. He, along with Kyle, Kenny and Jimmy, are pretty useless.

Finally, general thoughts. Obviously, no matter my gripes, it's a great game. It's got enough from the last game and enough from the show to make it work. I found it much funnier than the last game, but, and here's one of my biggest problems with it: it was very short.

This brings me back to when I watched Matt and Trey talk about the game pre-release. They specifically said that this game would be longer. It only took me 20 hours to finish the main plotline AND all the side quests and collectibles. The last game took me nearly 30 hours just to finish the main quest. 

Also, they said the combat would be harder. It’s definitely more confusing and convoluted, but overall, it was pretty damn easy, (and I played on the hardest setting), and I only died maybe three times.

Two of the three fart powers (summon self and switch night/day) are pretty useless; I would've liked more interesting uses for these powers, or, even better, different ones. Reverse time and pause time have great applications in nearly every aspect of gameplay, whereas the other two only get used once or twice in very specific circumstances.

Again, I only gripe because I love the show and the games; I wouldn't put this much thought into it if I didn't. There was a lot that I feel like they missed out on, but there was definitely a lot that they got right. Every building has something to offer, unlike SoT, and there's a lot more in the way of puzzles, characters and overall comedy.

I do hope there'll be another game, but I don't know how that would really happen. If they're going to stick to the RPG genre, well, the kids have only ever played Game of Thrones and superheroes in the show. I don't know that there's another way to do this sort of game.

But hey, as we all know, Matt and Trey are full of surprises.

Stay Greater.