#THIS is a gacha i can get behind. after playing genshin for so long the amount of pulls im getting feels criminal

[blueskittlesart]

i did download infinity nikki btw so you're never going to hear from me again

[circood]

Alright, I'm going to get my thoughts on gachas and specifically their monetization systems off in one long post. This is really just a way to organize my own thoughts on the matter.

In short, I think that if you have a gambling problem then gacha games are bad and you should stay away from them. If you don't then I don't think they're worse than any other f2p model.

To me any gacha with a transparent pity system is essentially just offering their characters outright for the price it takes to guarantee them. So if you need 180 rolls to 100% guarantee a character, then they cost 180 rolls and maybe there's a slight chance they'll cost less.

Of course, many people object to having any gameplay features be locked behind what is essentially gambling. And I do think it's bad, but I don't think it's THAT worse than most other f2p models. Assuming again you aren't predisposed to gambling problems. And even then, cosmetic gambling like TF2 crates are just as exploitative of gambling addiction as gachas. Just because they don't affect gameplay doesn't mean they don't prey on people.

But back to my point, live service games need to keep people playing and spending to maintain and update the game, and so inherently they need to design their game in a way that encourages this. Many MMOs literally lock you away from your character when you stop paying, and they're designed with a lot of grinding to drag out your play time. Even MMO stories require constant new areas and big events to keep people coming back, which makes telling a concise story almost impossible.

I think a lot of "gacha problems" are just "live service problems" that people look past when it comes to MMOs and other constantly updated games.

And of course, all of this assumes that the gachas I'm talking about DO NOT require meta teams to play through most of the content. This isn't a problem for most popular gachas (certainly not Mihoyo games), but any game that has you hit a wall until you spend money is absolute trash.

Honestly, as much as people see gachas as a supremely greedy genre, they are one of the few types of games that you can play completely free and still enjoy almost all of the content. I don't know, I guess I just don't care about having access to every character when I play a game. I don't try to unlock every character in LoL or Warframe, and hell even in pokemon I usually stick with a team of 6. Getting a new character every 2 months or so from the free currency in gachas just doesn't feel to me like that much of a gameplay impact. Especially when the only difficult content in the game that arguably needs meta builds is like a 10 minute fight every month that rewards you with a single roll and has no impact on story like Genshin lmao

Ultimately even after defending gachas for so long I still prefer real games that you pay once for and own forever, but I don't think you can really compare games that are meant to keep updating forever to games that are meant to be a self-contained experience. What each type of game is going for is just too different.

Anyway this was just disorganized stream of consciousness spewing thoughts before I go to bed

Sorry

[genkishoujo]

monetized gambling that you can sell to people legally has been a business strategy in free to play games for as long as i can remember, as far back as 2004 in Nexon mmorpgs that sold "Gachapons". i absolutely understand hating that mechanic and i do too, but the fact is that ZZZ, Star Rail, and Genshin Impact you can clear everything in those games by simply playing them. "free to play" is a real, viable option because the stupid gambling system they force you to use gives you enough currency to get enough characters and weapons from playing it, and the actual games themselves aren't hard. it's all exploration, writing, storytelling, character design, music, and fan engagement -- the gambling is a buildup of everything else so that you WANT to swipe, and you are making the ACTIVE DECISION to do so because you don't want to miss out/she's so cute/his animations are soooo cool/he does so many numbers/whatever. you don't actually NEED these characters to play these games, which is a huge departure from other games in the mobile industry such as Puzzle and Dragons, Fate: GO, Princess Connect RE:Dive, Cookie Run Kingdom, AFK Arena, Idolm@ster, Youkai Watch, pretty much any card-style JP gacha game or western mobile game requires you to have the newest (usually limited) characters or upgrades to progress past a certain point, the meta of the game is designed that way. many of these games incorporate social PvP/PvE competitive elements to create artificial barriers that further incentivize swiping on their own gambling systems so that you can compete/experience that content with your friends, or even lock paid currency farms behind these rotating meta game modes. while Star Rail/Genshin/ZZZ/WuWa/PGR have their own versions of this, it is absolutely treated as extraneous bonus content designed for people who have nothing left to do in the game, and offers scraps of rewards. Spiral Abyss gives you two pulls for fully clearing it (36 stars). Star Rail Memory of Chaos is clearable to a high degree using free characters, weapons, and grindable gear, and even if you clear it the rewards rotate on a monthly/bimonthly basis, so it's not exactly intended to be a source of income the way that PvP in Priconne/NIKKE affect your paid currency payouts every month. in Genshin, Star Rail, ZZZ (and even Kuro Games' games) you can pick it up, download it, and run through everything, even as a casual player who spends $0, but to the people with disposable income that are desperate for more content (or already have habits built from other games in the industry lol), they have the option to pay more to play slots for cute animated characters that, in the long run, won't have much bearing on whether or not you can actually experience everything. If you stick with these games, you will get enough characters and weapons to clear content, and even if you have to use 4 stars you can grind out the gear your characters wear to make them strong enough to handle just about anything. additionally, i just want to point out that Kuro and Hoyo both have extremely generous pities in these games. Even in Honkai Impact 3rd, the precursor to Star Rail, Hoyo implemented alot of these mechanics I mentioned above in order to force people into pulling for the newest characters and all their gacha weapons, but they had a pity system, which was not common in gachas originally. Puzzle and Dragons, one of the original JP mobile gachas, NEVER guaranteed you ANYTHING you pulled on until forced to by competition from other games. Arknights, Priconne, Fate: GO, and a whole slew of idol anime mobile games hesitantly implemented a 300 pull hard pity on certain banners after competition from other games, including Genshin, and backlash from the community.

these games all have predatory business models built on trying to get you to pull on their slot machines. but if you're gonna hate on the industry at least understand that the games are one thing, and the gambling simulator they wall their waifus behind is another.

[bearpillowmonster]

Wuthering Waves

I caught up.

Coming from the guy who doesn't like Tears of the Kingdom (sees an army behind me) oh, hey. I was afraid to try anything considered like it, you know, the grindy, open-world walking, parachute and climbing simulators. That included Genshin. But if there's one thing that can change my mind about a game, it's a cute anime girl and with genshin, I can't say there were many that I was interested in, meh. So this one released and it was pizazz because I saw some good looking characters that I could want to collect, that's the mechanic after all and if I saw those then there must be plenty more.

You start out picking boy or girl, no choice on features or personality. They're just static on a background so I just picked the boy and figured I'd get romance options and partner points and junk, yeah, no, that's not what this game is. The female protag was actually the one I saw, come to find out, just couldn't tell from the way she was framed. But ok, you don't build your relationship with any one girl but there's gacha mechanics so there's bound to be one to like.

Once you pick your protag, that's it, you don't get to go back but it's generous enough to let you pick who you play as in the battlefield as well as in the overworld as long as you have them.

Right away, the gameplay is actually pretty impressive, I was blown away by how fast-paced it was and felt myself shaking my head at Breath of the Wild. Sure, you don't have anything to experiment with but it does have mechanics like levitation on certain objects, a grapple, a sensor, a camera, it's neat enough to fit very nice. Having the three in your party at a time is really beneficial and seamless, you can get combos off of each other like mad, really satisfying. Aside from playstyle, they have different weapons too. Some have guns, some have swords, some have little companions that do all the work for them but they're a good buffer because they heal.

Exp is gained more through the menu though as you get canisters to apply to your characters. Some can argue that it lets you play as your powerful ones and feed your little ones so you can play as them more often so that's neat but sometimes it feels wasted because of it, not sure how you want to feel because you do get normal exp too but it's not much. I normally gave a lot to my main, because he was in my party all the time anyway, might as well have a pillar but then I realized that going down the list depleted what level I was used to playing as and couldn't pull off as good of combos as I should've so you want to try and keep your main 3 as close as possible in stats. Make sure they each have max resonators and level those up too. There're just too many things to level up.

The graphics aren't all bad, you can set the options in the settings but there was a lot of pop-in so there was no real "view from far away" mechanic or binocucom. I wasn't really bothered. The Open-World has a good variety of fast-travel points so it never really felt like a hefty run like TOTK did, nor as empty, I always felt like there was enough variety and enemies and places to interact with and fight, it's a good world.

The stamina meter is actually pretty reasonable, you can even run up and along walls. You can climb the lip most of the time so I don't feel stuck. My only real complaint with the world is something that Zelda does better and that's side-quests. I'm always doing quests, going here or there and they usually aren't far from the next checkpoint but for one, they kind of suck. If it's not the main mission, it wasn't really worth paying attention for me, save a few, I skipped a lot of cutscenes. The way these are treated is also a bit weird because something the protag wants to talk, sometimes they're silent. I assume it's because you can choose gender but at the same time, why not commit one way or the other? There will also be little title card transitions that summarize the gaps in between like "This person went to jail." next custscene. Really weird. They've started adding characters already and so far some of those have some good stories though so I can't complain too much if they update with better quests.

But all these side-quests have to originate somewhere and it's not out in the world, it's usually at the hub or starting town which is really odd. I may pass all these places but they have no meaning to me unless I do a quest. Sometimes that quest will just be later in the story and I haven't unlocked it, which I'll get to. Other towns do exist but they're few and far between and they don't give me any quests. I think this is the part to say that it's not an MMO. It acts like an MMO, but it's not, I'm not sure that it'd run the same that way so it can be forgiven but I think that would boost the experience a tad and breathe more life into the areas that exist. Is it grindy? Well, let's talk about that.

I hate when enemies feel spongy and because attacks are constantly bringing down health rather than cold and calculated chips, I didn't feel like I was being cheated, I just felt like if I had trouble with it, it was just the level I was at.

There's actually a few different types of exp but they use different bases to level up. So we have character exp, which is fueled by those capsules I was talking about, gained from pretty much everything. Then we have weapon exp which, I'm a Kingdom Hearts nerd so of course I'm going to draw a comparison, Union Cross. You take medals and you feed them to other medals to increase the level. That's a good comparison for the gacha too, you have a few different events to choose from and it asks you who you're going after but it doesn't affect probability or really much of anything but you have a chance to win a character, not just girls either, I have this Raiden/Sephi crossover here to prove it but you're going to get a lot of items instead.

Union X often had something guaranteed in 10 or so pulls, getting 10 each time with a guaranteed rare for events. Being that this just came out, you might run out but I had enough to do it over time. I believe it holds your place and it's a chinese gacha game, let me remind you, that's what they want, but it's perfectly manageable without it.

Right now, there are 18 characters you can get, but you get 4 from the get-go and I got so far that I got a free ticket to choose one of whomever so 5 if you get that. Can I get the female protag? That remains to be seen but I'm looking into it. I honestly think to wait for more characters to appear so you can get the one you really want and be happy with but right now, I'm more or less just getting a head-start. Anyways! The last sort of exp is Union Exp, why it's called that, I don't know, there are no guilds or unions, maybe just as an 'overall' or union of everything combined, but it's basically the level of your profile and how far you are into the story. This is gained by most things, little by little. I found that I got the most doing lengthy quests, claiming rewards and getting those fast travel icons. The thing is, this is the one that it actually requires you to get in the story. I didn't even need to worry about it until I was to meet with Chixia again and enter the Grand Library for the first time.

I was Union 11. I needed 14. So, for some reason, I got really behind, really quickly. So I grinded and did some quests but some of them I was underleveled for the first time as a character so I went out and did the little stuff that I said because, like I said, all those side-quests originate in the main town and once you complete those then you're kind of lost on what to do and just have to leg until you reach that goal. I suppose it's meant to inflate playtime but I finally got to the quest and found that I was facing enemies in the 40s, which only my protag was prepared for so I had to go and grind again to upgrade everything. A very sudden spike.

I'm a bit of an item hoarder so I don't spend what I don't need to so I had the resources to level up my characters (the capsules, which don't affect Union Level) but I just saved them for when I decided what to use them on so that I was never out. If I want to do things in a timely manner, I have to use them. After I beat that boss, the next main quest has another big jump over to level 21. Now I'm familiar with MMOs staggering their main quests so that you can stay busy with side ones but when the side ones are also staggered, it gets kind of annoying.

It's also annoying to log in everytime you open the game but alt F4 to close and you can just get back in. But back to the Union Leveling. You get to 20 and it says that in order to progress you need to get this ascension thing in the form of a training quest but the enemies are over level 40, which your character is maxed out at and you need to beat this quest to level up higher. So, if you can't beat it, the only way to get stronger is to max everything else out until hopefully you get there. I was at 40, 39, and 38, weapons maxed, all resonators filled and still couldn't beat it. It's timed. And really, I was doing just about everything else without a problem aside from some of the tower, the main missions are harder than any boss you will face in the overworld because they specifically put you in that position. So how did I improve when I was literally barred from exp points?

Well, I pulled. That's right, gacha was apparently more than optional, you need it in order to get better weapons/the same ones to feed to the ones you already have. Through this, I learned the crafting and synthesis system though I don't care much for it unless it saves me the trip of fighting the same stuff over and over. The next limit wasn't nearly as tough because it more or less acts as your final main quest for the chapter so it grants you level 50 characters to play as.

I know I said this is a single player game and technically, I'm half correct. The core is indeed single player, but there's a co-op experience where you can go and grind or fight monsters or bosses, good for leveling up but you can't get any help doing quests, it's one sided. This will probably change later on but that's the base

[darkangelwrath]

So I wrote down every game I played in 2023

Ya it started as a stupid idea to make a joke tier list of every game but instead I just decided to write down what I did alongside some feelings on the game. Ya formatting for this is screwed but what can you do with something started on a whim that turned into a 15,325 word long document.

Anyway may everyone play some good games next year.

Played A Previous Year.

★Warframe [Off stream]

Still a Good game Archon hunts are nice keep feeling like I’ve missed some shards tho.

⋆Citrine's Last Wish

                Finally, a good defense mission. Also, nice to see the mercy timer mechanic is back and hope they keep it for the never lucky crowd.

⋆Duviri Paradox

                Ya the quest is interesting as a starting point to the game. As for its gameplay loop like it has neat rewards and leveling the intrinsics aren’t that bad. Worst that I can say is that it’s an ‘open world’ so that means a grind. Admittedly that might be me at 3829.9 hours on steam talking and not being in a mood to just grind. Also, the Incarnon weapons tend to be fun and strong. Even if farming them is a bit of a pain.

⋆ Abyss of Dagath

A neat little mission and a neat little dojo room. Alongside with companions being reworked and becoming a useful thing in most situations. Also got rid of some of the voodoo math. Always a good clarity change. Really the Big W content pass.

⋆ Update 35 Whispers in the Walls

                Once again, the Tenno save the day with the power of murder, theft, intimidation, blackmail, and love and friendship. Also, that secret its neat to have another John Prodman style content. As for the event nice and simple worst that I can say is the boss feels kind of bulky. But its an end game boss and is not as bad as Archons were at launch. New tile-set is neat, and the new syndicate carries a gut punching story. Bird 3 is best boy.

★Genshin Impact [Off stream]

So, the year they added the TCG roughly and we arrived too Fontain. I enjoy it still, but it is a gacha game so wouldn’t recommend the game despite it being pretty solid game..

⋆3.4 Released

New zone, and it was nice seeing Jet again. Also, poor jet. Neat that the prediction of the Sky nail being addressed was wrong. Also, funny to see a random NPC able to be challenged to a TCG duel in a quest even if it was optional. Otherwise, area was different then rest of the desert and the future expansion area has been noticed to the north. The question was if it was one area or two.

⋆The Exquisite Night Chimes event completed.

                Well, that story for this year’s lantern rite. was nice will look forward to the lore videos for it. As for the gameplay.

+Radiant Sparks:

 an interesting parkour version. Not sure if I like it or not.

+Paper Theater:

what a nice little side scroller.

+Vigilance at Sea:

All right I get its nice little mini game. Basically, Mario cart battle mode with the boats. At least there is a non-co-op version.

+Behind the Scenes:

 Just a combat challenge nice and easy. Addedly I had Nahida out while it was raining so :V

⋆Second Blooming completed.

                Nice to see Lisa again. Don’t really feel anything about the event meat itself but like I don’t care for spiral abyss and having to do it 3 waves feels whatever to me. I want to like the shared characters between teams but like I hate it messes up my team order.

⋆Warrior's Spirit

                Okay nice little event. Glad it is just complete the encounter and not do it in a certain time limit. Shame they made you unlock the hardest difficulty. As for the story nice little fluff to show off the new skin.

⋆Almighty Arataki Extraordinary and Exhilarating Extreme Beetle Brawl

                Another Himbo Oni event. Always a treat in how stupid things will get. After all, seeing the Himbo argue with some chunni kid is great. Has the annoying feature of having to beat the easier stage before the hardest stage. Also waited like normal till the whole event was unlocked. Then did the stages in opposite order. Over all felt like the controls/gameplay was just fine not sure what was the tell for the perfect timing.

⋆3.5 Released

                New character, new story quest, new hangout. Just fine. Archon quest was interesting as normal just has the good problem of wanting to know what comes next. admittedly I didn’t pull Dehya cause of her gameplay and she is on the standard banner. Shame since I liked her character.

⋆Windblume's Breath

                Story was sweet and good. Certainly, was a one that didn’t have me checking out. Thank God all the mini games started in one place. Still did the wait till it’s all unlocked before starting it all.

+Floral Pursuits:

                Okay this was a fun mini game. Sure, just call it just packman and such but like it was fun and simple. It really didn’t need more like the worst stage was the rotate the stair case one cause every other one was just better.

+Ballads of Breeze:

                At least this time the let you pick your poison of instrument. not like there is much of a difference. Like it’s a rhythm game it has been done before in game. OH GOD WHY IS IT SO FAST ON PRO. Also thank God you don’t need to unlock the higher levels.

+Breezy Snapshots:

This one is always nice and simple. Can’t hate it even if it feels like I’ve been here before. Probably going to be that way till we can pose NPCs for the photos.

⋆Vibro-Crystal Verification           

                Ya combat event. Like I can never find enthusiasm for these events I just throw them onto the middle difficulty and do them. Also, I did not pay attention to the dialog beyond seeing that its follow up to the previous events.

⋆ Fungus Mechanicus

                I like this event was feeling meh towards a normal Mechanicus event but this was a good mix up. I am not sure I did the final quest but oh well only would have missed out on some mora and adventure exp.

⋆ 3.6 Released

                Well new area, Nahida gets traumatized again, a new hangout and a shorter Aranara world quest with the Pari. It was good content. New weekly boss seems fine to me, at least for only doing it once so far outside the quest. Will probably hate it latter with the 3 phases but oh well. For the new area gimmicks flying with Sorush is annoying only cause of that load screen when going back to your character. New Hilichurls are fine if a bit bulky but as an alt to Mitachurls it is nice, Consecrated crocodile is fun it has the death roll like any good crocodile enemy has, and Consecrated cat can go screw itself with its aggro range and grass beams. Will look forward to the lore videos for the stuff I unga bunga past like the fact Jeht has a merc company of her own and hunting down Masseira. Ya fun update and thanks for genshin-impact-map letting me clear everything in three days after the update.

⋆ Brewing Developments

                Ya this was a nice and easy combat event. Nice to see that NPC again. The Combat gimmick this time was just there. Of course, I just use the middle difficulty cause with how strong my teams are I can get double the score needed. With out stressing and getting frustrated by inflated NPC health.

⋆Fulminating Sandstorm

                Well nice little story event. Felt kind of short to be honest but not exactly bad. Story was fine. Otherwise, was kind of just a is their event.

⋆A Parade of Providence

Hat Guy was MVP, Dori is the continued winner of Sumeru character who deserves to be suplex, but ya the story was nice and contained Kaveh is a good boy. Nothing seemed to be huge lore implications but who knows that nihilistic nonsense will come to roost in Natlan when we know more than “The rules of war are woven in the womb: the victors shall burn bright, while the losers must turn to ash. When the God of War shares this secret with the Traveler, it is because she has her reasons.” And it has hot springs. Also, I hope we get a new nickname for hat guy every event now like that is much better than if they made you pick his name from a list instead of a text box.

+Gathering of Stars:

Nice little puzzle. Is simple and doesn’t overstay its welcome. Took me till halfway done to wrap my head around it. Kind of hate the light up but it’s a mini-game if this was the main content for a game wouldn’t want it there but here its fine.

+Project Connectivity:

Nice little mini-game with a neat use of teapot mechanics. Not exactly deep, but it is fun. Also is a test of your jumping which isn’t that frequent of a thing in this game.

+Antiquity Hunt:

I don’t hate this one it’s just very barebones and I have done it before in earlier events. Nice context for it tho.

+In Truth Steps:

Ya this is neat and everything I just don’t really care for these types of puzzles. Like its fine and all but like I aint getting out of bed for it. As for the puzzles first was made sense to me, second took me a few tries, third was between the two.

+Concordat Reactions:

                I am still at the point of all combat events I sleep. Except when they have a cryo slime then I must pay a bit more attention because I can’t Ganyu everything. Shame I must put it on Hard difficulty then just chill in medium. Also so glad there is only three rounds.

+Mimetic Replications:

                I don’t know what I expected but this is so inoffensive that I don’t really care that it is a disguise rhythm game. Also, neat how all three are different, but like what the hell was the fish one. I missed 1 out of 25 after doing the “get up walk around then continue and all of a sudden get better” trick, but still what the hell was the fish one.

⋆The Recollector's Path

            Well nice to see Sorush again. As for gameplay nice to see what they can do with Sorush for the ‘combat’ portions, the races are to be expected, and the match the location is what it is. As for the story it feels like an extension of the world quest. That is fine. Good on worm boy escaping after 10,000 years a statue.

⋆ 3.7 Released

The Genius Invokation TCG update. Also, Yoimiya story quest 2, Kaveh hangout, and new Dendro character Kiara. It really is kind of funny how some people I saw got so salty about it. Like to me the TCG is so in offensive I don’t mind doing the 4 weekly challengers. Like the worst that I can say is just look up a deck and use that. A negative I could say about it is “wow they really just doubled the cards available didn’t they.”. As for the second Yoimiya story quest ya that’s a bit sad like I am a sap but the whole time I was “writers please don’t kill the child.” I will cry.

⋆Duel! The Summoners' Summit!

                The Genius Invokation TCG Event. Not sure why everyone was salty about it if we got an event with Sorush we would get an event for the TCG. Like you don’t even need to play it for the story. Which in itself might be a bit of an anti-climax but that might be just a developer overcorrection to the much earlier Unreconciled Stars being very important lore wise, so they want to avoid another situation like that. Instead, we get tragic backstory lore for the TCG. However, can we just go with the idea that if the patch launch dates are the cannon timeline for the in-game events. So, that Version 3.2(November 2, 2022) is when Nahida was let out of baby jail and cured Eleazar and Version 3.3(December 7, 2022) was when TCG was added to the game (And became popular worldwide), and 3.7(May 24, 2023) is when this event happened. So did Gulab really die from Eleazar right before it was cured. Like God damn no wonder Garvipidam is such a mood. Like damn. Also, on point for giving out the “Friendship Eternal” card at the end of the story. Not sure how that will work in the future but till then the wiki text “event-exclusive Event Card” is a fun trivia. Also is it wired how many events that are in Mondstadt have a free weapon?

+A Tour Of Wonders:

                Okay parkour section. Then a combat section. This was very short all things considered. Like it wasn’t bad it just felt like it should have stuck with parkour or combat.

+Zero Hour Invokation:

                Huh people were complaining about the TCG event when this is the only time it appears and be mandatory? Also, nice how it made you a deck for those who don’t play it or are new and don’t have a large card collection

+Evermotion Mechanical Painting: Invoker:

                Always a fun little mini game. Glad its back and with a twist. Didn’t really have difficulty because I got its rules down with its last appearance. The duck duck goose it did however was fun.

+Heart of the Dice:

                Once again going for the middle difficulty is nice and cozy with a max out team. Neat theming for one of these combat with a twist events. Otherwise, it just seems like nice and straight forward rules.

⋆Divine Ingenuity: Collector's Chapter

Okay definitely an amazing event. To think I only scratched the surface for it too. Like I did use the custom domains to finish off the elemental mastery achievements I haven’t done yet but otherwise I appreciate the depth of it, and it is a shame that it isn’t here to stay. Hope they make its’ return an anniversary thing.

⋆ Feast of the Departed Warriors

                Okay this is a simple combat event. One of the add challenge modifiers to reach the score. Worst I can say about it is the last one is 8,000 score not 6,000 like each one before. Which is why I didn’t go for that score on the final one.

⋆ Fayz Trials: Hypothesis

                Ya, I like this event a bit more than the previous one even if it felt kind of long but needs 7 so each element can have one assigned to it for rewards. Always neat to see a returning event NPC and it to come back with a nice little gimmick. It’s not hard but seeing all the team comps without concern of needing to build it without any pain in the ass gimmick is just nice to go through.

⋆ 3.8 Released

THE MEME IS DEAD EULA BANNER IS HERE. Also, the foreshadowing for Fontaine patch with that world quest. Not sure if it really was anything important that wasn’t said elsewhere. Like the fact the research institute blew up. Admittedly I watch Ashikai so I got the recap that I smooth brain forgot. Anyway, looking forward to brat archon.

⋆ Veluriyam Mirage

                Okay the NPCs weren’t all dead. I was thinking that with how good the devs are with keeping up with elemental vision mechanic. Like the whole time I was “okay why are they all hydro resonating” Like I thought Eula’s cousin was dead till I got a chance to check with elemental vision then I thought he dodged a bullet. Otherwise, nice little cozy story that probably has some deep lore foreshadowing that I missed connecting the dots for. As for gameplay always love new areas to explore. Glad the made a treasure compass for this area and glad it’s not just golden apple archipelago again. Like it might be because of the terrain of the archipelago or the fact I’ve been there twice but I like this area a bit more.

+Spino Buster:

You know it’s weird to think how long it’s been since there has been a shoot the target mini-game, or at least feel like it. Oh well as the joke I saw about it “finally they balanced Ganyu for these target minigames.” Otherwise, ya I like it. Funny enough it’s still easy but I guess that’s the perks of being a PC player.

+Sojourns of the Barking Fox:

What a nice little minigame. I am honestly surprised they used the Sorush gameplay again so soon, but it was last seen in an event in 3.6 so :V.

+Dance of the Flashing Thought:

Nice little combat event. Can’t really say much about it with how easy it was. I mean it didn’t even have difficulty levels. Like that’s fine just the open world and domain combat is harder even excluding outliers.

+Bing-Bang Finchball:

Nice little minigame. Always a nice relaxing thing to deal with a game based off the famous Olympic sport curling.

⋆ Adventurer's Trials: Advanced

Nice little even no story no fuss. All that I can complain about is it really shows how the game evolved over time like Amber’s skill vs Yaoyao’s Skill and how the control are. Like at least Alhaitham vs Keqing has functional differences in how they are used. Like its some rough edges stuff but not enough to bother me for its stay.

⋆ Perilous Expedition

… I feel like I already wrote this section, but I am writing this now on the 8/30 when this ended on 8/7. Like it was just a combat event and not that big of a deal admittedly I just skipped the hardest difficulty because it was something silly like clear 15 level 90s in under a minute. However, the event wanting you to use different characters is a fun concept. Kind of wish they used that idea in some other event where you set all the sections first and then pick which team goes first as a relay race kind of deal, or maybe an endurance battle.

⋆ 4.0 Released

Fontaine is here.

Day one impressions

So, dragons are a social construct. Got all but 5 of the telepoters. Diving seems fine other than the boss fights I've ran into. New world bosses seem fine. Also wow 2 world quest lines. the hydro rings are the good version of the old elcetro gates in wata. new reaction seems ignoble from initial impression will come down to the units that can use them. Also, mechs unsurprisingly can’t swim.

The following days

So, I did everything I could find using the Interactive map before doing the archon quest. LOL. Also thank God for the map update to have layers.

+ Area

Beautiful as always. New underwater mechanics are good. I wouldn’t say they were great since I kind of wish the attacks were tied to the type of weapon a character had. Since getting it from a random fish feels kind of hit or miss sometimes. Nice that every foe drops the same items that was a miss for something that could have been extremely annoying. Admittedly didn’t feel like it really got to show off the new puzzles but that might be down to it being the first of the Fontaine areas since we get updates in that style since 2.0. Above the sea the aquabus is a lovely little thing and I will use it to get to a new area if I can for future updates. The skyships are fine but kind of make me wonder why they didn’t use them instead of the aquabus for travel around the region other then it’s the water region, so aqueducts are needed. Not sure I care about the new Arkhe system. Like as it exists now it is kind of just there. However, I don’t care about spiral abyss where it will probably matter so I probably won’t about it either. Otherwise, the new enemies are fine they are neat but nothing outside the expectation, or I killed them to fast to notice something. Kind of doubt that since I was using a hydro traveler, Nilou, Nahida and Kokomi for half of it with the other half being toss Ganyu at it.

+ Archon quest

Act 1 – wow we really did see someone melt. Like that seems like a save it for the 3rd act or something as a “remember this? Ya its real.” Sort of surprise. Childe is as he normally is, and Fatui continued to be actual decent people to puppy kicking bad guys in their range. The court drama was fine more interesting than the normal investigating gameplay. Was certainly a Mix up compared to normal Archon quest Acts with how much of it was taken up by the trial. As for the twist end neat call back to something that happened like an hour ago. Also, funny how Judge was like “Ya he sus but he aint it” at the end. Brat Archon is great, and I hope she gets bullied in the future. Also, ya went straight into we turn people into drugs with the traveler going not my problem mixed with you aint special.

Act 2 – Navia is best girl. She went straight to suggesting do a crime. Little does she know I’ve already pilfered everything in the region not nailed down. Well, that went from 0 to 10 real fast. Also, good way to cover why we keep fighting meks. Was really liking the Navia story quest then got hit right in the face with another trial section. There is going to be one for every act isn’t it like I get it that’s what Fontaine is but like I hope for mercy and the dev’s are restrained with it in the future. Also, wow does Childe continue with the L’s can’t just be the tough guy of questionable morels who might take our side at the end of everything without taking L’s all the time. Ya dude got what he deserved. Was expecting his lover to call him trash and that be the end of it but victims got their comeuppance. Also, ya, that judgment thing works off mob rules. Like I fully expect some needs of the many demands one dude to die for everyone else kind of situation to happen. Also, hilarious to think about how Furina about the same age as Nahida. Neuvillette is totally dragon dad to her too. We really lay into Paimon this patch I am kind of getting worried she is going to die soon in the story because of it.

+ World quest Line: Narzissenkreuz Adventure

Well, that is a quest. Sure, it can be summed up as it was just a dream but by God was there some feelings of something sketch as hell happened and you just walked into the aftermath. Also, ya I pulled out Endora since I am that old of a player. Really kind of checks out with the Veluriyam Mirage story too.

+ World quest Line: Ancient Colors

I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE. TRIED TO TRICK ME. INSTEASD OF JUST ONE LONG WORLD QUEST YOU MADE TWO THAT BECOME ONE. Anyway, all the Melusine are good girls in need of head pats. All together this really is a lot subtler about you just walking into the aftermath of a messed-up situation. Like up until the end its “okay some idiot is trying to pilfer the dragon’s corpse for some reason” only to swerve right into the Narzissenkreuz storyline with the dead dragon being a good father by staying dead.

+Other World Quests

A sad/meta with the young girl kind of hate it with the chest thing. They really are going hard on what is art them this region along with puzzle designed?

Henri Poor guy just wanted to do honest work, but he was the salt of the earth and was only taken advantage of by the fatui. Fortunately, the men in black took him in this will in no way come up latter.

Wow we really just met a mob families don there with the White Glove and just let him murder a guy Like he was a jerk but damn. Also probably going to tie into the above two questlines purely because we find the secret meeting room in a book in the zone it unlocks so put me down for White Glove covering it up or being in a secret society looking for it.

… ya I’m going to call it now every Fontaine character is descended form Oceanid’s aren’t they as the explanation for all the weird shit going on.

⋆ Mega Meka Melee

Well, that was a short and sweet story. Also, funny that Childe story quest call back at the end. Really see the Childe ‘redemption’ arc theories being true. Let it happen I want to say “If Evil? Why Himbo?”.

+Dance Dance Resolution:

Okay a nice little combo game that really feels like a phone game. Not hard since I only missed one on the first one for the entire set but eh its’ was nice and simple.

+Torrent Turbulent Charge:

I was thinking this type of underwater gameplay was going to show up for an event and here it is. The fact that this is like triple the underwater courses that are in open world challenges is funny. Like they aren’t hard, and I am glad for it since perspective feels like a shadow over this type of gameplay.

+Efficiency Testing Simulation Arena:

The designated go to area and kill [x] number of enemies. At least it kept to being mostly the new enemies. Still not sold on the Arkhe. Mostly cause its only on three units and I didn’t go for Lyney and use traveler outside Archon quests that often. That and the hit reg for Lynette’s Arkhe reaction feels bad.

⋆ Verdict Blades

                Combat event is ago. Never care for the unlockable hardest difficulty but this event was kind of easy for the normal stages but ya hardest mode is hardest. Still not sure about Arkhe system still even if I got Freminet but I have noticed that the foes with have multiple levels that need to be hit to enter the stun state. I thought up to this point it was just inconsistent but no its just as bad cause I will kill the foe by the time the ability comes off cooldown.

⋆ Study of light and Shadow: A Fontaine of Enchantment.

                A nice little photography event.

⋆ 4.1 Released

⋆ New Archon Quest

New area, new archon quest, new character quests. Ya, I pulled for him. Checked out his ability description in the character archive tested in the trial and then pulled for Neuvillette. Single dad raising his theater daughter is better than the Knave not even a contest don’t “why evil if hot tho?” me. Hope she dies like Signoria I remember Lyudochka even if I need to look up her name which is better than 90% of unvoiced NPCs in this game. Since her stealing a ninja identity and the ninja having to put up with it is too funny. Like I’m willing to give a pass on the triplets and Childe for the ‘if you don’t follow orders you would wind up with you dead at best, you and your family at worst’ situation but the Knave is a 100% cause of that situation. Also, glad they fixed the quest conflict with a giant UI thank God.

As for the area didn’t pillage it before the archon quest this time, just grabbed every statue of the seven and waypoint I could find, but it seems like a nice area so far. I would what looks like 1 giant world quest in it but then while wondering about I triggered the spot light and got put into prison before getting sent there in the Archon quest which is how I found out about them fixing the quest conflicts. Which I am pretty sure is going to be another massive world quest if the prison food shop is any indication. As for the prison it’s a neat area that is not fire safe with all those elevator only access areas, but it seems like an area mostly for the Archon quest and that is.

Small notes about combat specifically the Arkhe system they have really like giving us the Pneuma version since every character that has been introduced so far has been it. Like the wiki has all the teased characters having Ousia but they decided to front load Pneuma. Otherwise Neuvillette feels like it works with hit registration on it and area it covers vs the abilities cooldown instead of previous characters. As for a (new?) mechanic Life bond. It exists. Like I’ve not noticed it so far and it all together feels like off brand Corrosion. Like it will kill low investment characters like my Neuvillette but it won’t matter till abyss floor 12.

Now then the archon quest. Neuvillette. You sly dog giving a cake to frame us for a crime. Like I thought it was just poisoned by the Knave or something, but no. The end of the quest revealed the knave was much worse than that. Getting the triplets here as side actors were nice with how Freminet got more than one line and something to do. Worcester sauce was a dick for reasonable reasons but that whole confrontation segment between him and Lyney had me want to bring up Lyney sad backstory. This became even more relative with his character quest. Since I immediately got the feeling, he was actively fucking with him and it getting turned around on him would of ended that real quick. Just to hurry up if Worcester and Sigewinne were going to be the masterminds behind the evil conspiracy or just being followers of Egeria still left over from her death as to why they were so independent since we still got that “Assassins from our homeland” hanging thread and we got like one or two more acts left in this arc, or that might just be relegated to the Narzissenkreuz story line. Honestly the weirdest thing about it is how cavalier most of the prisoners are compared to normal NPCs. Like the worst was Worcester, admittedly we got thrown into jail for eating a cake and everyone was “ya that checks out” and for Paimon flying when we got to Fontain so most of the prisoners being in for tax fraud, jay walking, and tomfoolery would not surprise me. As for the investigation mechanic glad the mixed it up again for this quest not sure the currency mattered, or it was just an illusion, but it was a nice little thing for context. Sigewinne I am digging being a lowkey sociopath big sister nurse. I am a bit annoyed that it’s going to probably another hydro healer because that alongside over worked office lady is the Devs two types. To be serious nice to bring all that world quest context about the Melusine into the main story. Was admittedly worried for a bit that she had a lolicon stalker but that didn’t happen still wish she was more like the regular Melusines in design. As for the ending poor Furina we probably gave her a PTSD attack with our actions when we met her with this context like I was wondering if it was just a player only flashback but nope the knave straight up admitted to it after bulling a child right in front of us because she was salty about her inability to find the Gnoses. Oh, and Neuvillette is the dragon Sovereign like everyone in the lore community expect no go play the character quest. Also, God damn it Childe you just had to F----- the wale didn’t you.

⋆ Radiant Harvest

Poor guy just tried to make a bit of cash on the side but got stuck with people being idiots releasing wild animals that don’t belong in the environment. Otherwise, it was a nice chill event to get all the objectives.

⋆ Dodoco's Bomb-Tastic Adventure

Wow two events about environmental disasters in one patch. Also, kind of funny that we got the important task of distract play with Klee, so she doesn’t blow something up. Lisa also once again dodges work.

⋆ Waterborne Poetry

Well, that was a nice event. Any new player would be confused from the references to the last lantern rite but what else is new. Was a nice gathering of older characters that haven’t been seen in a while so who cares. Other than its obvious foreshadowing to the future archon quests with oceanids tying in probably. Picture part was neat if only because it wasn’t a one and done thing. The shooting minigame was neat and continues the tradition of the devs realizing Ganyu was a mistake for this type of games. The combat section was kind of neat, but I don’t think I 100% under stood it beyond kill everything else to bomb the tough guy.

⋆ The Peaks and Troughs of Life

Nice and simple combat event for the end of the patch. Anyway, it dragged on a bit in my opinion with the three waves per round but that’s partly on me for waiting till they are all unlocked to be done. As for this gimmick nice little charge gadget to get the buffs. I admittedly didn’t use them the first 3 rounds but that was on me thinking the point limit for the buffs was going to be tied to the score. Not that I was going for the final tier of rewards because I don’t hate myself to min max to that level.

⋆ 4.2 Released

⋆ New Archon Quest

                Wait was that actually 45 days real time? So Evil mommy daddy is slightly less evil like she ain’t going to back stab us latter. Navia almost died and was saved by the dead bros. Lamo mona lore out of God damn nowhere like straight up did I walk into mona character quest chapter 2. Like I was familiar enough with the deep lore/been around long enough to know where it was going but still out of nowhere, would have thought it would be foreshadowed by steambird comments but nope heard and saw nothing of the sort. Also feel bad about trapping Furina like that to only fulfill the prophecy in a way that it was too late. With Childe being a god damn lunatic buying everyone some time. Then we got inner Furina poor girl needs a therapy vacation. Ya so that line was the secret fountain line. So Focalor is a bit of a dick for everything but lamo Chad Focalor Fucks over the heavenly principles by herself while the Virgin Tasarista faffs about for 500 years having to steal all other archons shit to try the same. Also, that boss fight straight up felt like it glitched defeated the shadow man and insta ended it. Completely funny at how Neuvillette was like “Alright I need to kill something, and the whale has voluntold” Skirt is hilarious with how she showed up chucked Childe like a bag and then explained stuff without explaining anything. That ending cutscene really understates the death toll but like divine or dragon intervention, I guess? Like it checks out with gameplay of can’t drown in Fontaines water being extended to story for non-vision people temporarily. Also, Charlotte was a nice way to checking up on everything, and God damn I thought the gnoses was destroyed Neuvillette better have tricked them with it being useless now, and he did because its cursed, all of them are cursed. Well shit good thing we seen the brother already or else the gnoses being the missing twin theories would of ran rampant at least for the most part. Well at least we got Natlan lore finally that is more than “lol hot springs”.

⋆ New Area, new character quest, and world quests

+ Mechanics and Region :

Alright Erinnyes Forest is a nice little area if feeling like a bit small expansion since we had an entire side already for it since 4.0, while the Morte Region is a nice big ocean area with a tone of ruins. As for the new mechanics. Bacterial mats are an odd thing that get cheesed by Furina water walking. The Xenochromatic Ball Octopus is more interesting that it is on land but otherwise is just an interaction tool that doesn’t use the gadget slot which is more good than bad I think. The Harmonious Reed Pipe and Dew Bubbles can go to hell if only because the Dew Bubbles are push and not pull. Floating Crystal Flowers and Floating Crystal Platforms are a new coat of paint on an old mechanic. Potential Energy Orbs are fun golf/bowling time. Dangerous Autocannons are neat as always but mechanically weird to use like didn’t the Veluriyam Mirage have a better controlling cannon or am I just misremembering that? Operable Mechanisms are a bit odd in needing the Xenochromatic Ball Octopus but fine otherwise, and the Energy Flow is a twist on flow puzzles which is just fine with me. Oh, the paintings popped up again and are still kind of suspect. Especially with the gold fish being the key to unlocking a world quest.

+ The Wild Fair of Erinnyes:

Okay I was expecting this to tie into the Narzissenkreuz story line but instead we got a Melusine who is probably a Bathysmal Vishap. Like the fact like 4 Bathysmal Vishap are just chilling in the Erinnyes Forest right under the statue of seven for the forest region. That is especially funny with the game scaling like you could see the from the walk way to Opera Epiclese. None the less Pahsiv is still a good girl. Also, finally a use for Tidalga that I’ve been picking up like a kleptomaniac. Still expect this to come up again latter maybe with Neuvillette or Kokomi in the future.

+ Narzissenkreuz part Search in the Algae Sea:

You know its funny I met the guy on the island before sinking it. Otherwise, ya the final chapter for this story quest most likely. Having done most of the little dungeons beforehand is always going to be a bit funny to do with the discussion of “oh ya the sealed evil in a can have it right hear got it yester under a random rock” happening in cutscenes. All in all, the deep lore enjoyers were definitely on the money with the who’s who in their theories so nice to see that tied up together while we cause destruction to an old landmark site. Again. They gave out a neat sword too that caused an Arkhe explosion too even can be refined too rank 5 using see shells from places. Unlike the Kagotsurube Isshin. It’s just why is this effect only on a god damn sword and not a one-piece artifact set like come on. That is my main complaint with the Arkhe system.

+ Questioning Melusine and Answering Machine:

Well, that was a hoot. Certainly, foreshadowing with that harbinger reference at the end. Also, just some guy casually makes a sentient robot and it’s just another thing on the pile of random shit the Traveler has experienced. Also Neuvillette must never know or else we will be in danger for making a Melusine sad.

+ An Expected Plan:

Well, that was a nice little follow up to the Institute quest. Can’t wait till the next part cause let’s face it that ending was setting up a part 3. Also, traveler continues to meet and work with constantly escalating sketchy people. Got to warm us up for Snezhnaya right?

+ Impromptu Poem of the Crimson Dawn:

 Ya that guy was just shady. Like call it protagonist centered morality and such but like feels dumping the Treasure hoarders into the local cops is a viable solution to the whole event. Then just rando robin hood wannabe is just here. Like Fontaine didn’t even go the way of corrupt cop/police yet why is this a thing. Its only a because we are in Fontaine issue too.

 + Free Verse:

Well, that was a thing. Kind of weird with the traveler talking but okay. Did not get suckered punched by growing up story but was wonder what I ate when everything started talking.

 + Wish-Fulfilling Treasure Hunt:

Well, that was a nice little quest. Hope there is some follow up on it latter. Otherwise wonder how many players saw him on the island before we sunk it and realized it was our fault.

+ Happy Birthday:

Well, if that isn’t a gut punch and a tone of “Hey recall this ya we are going to explain everything in context you should know even if you don’t good luck recalling everything” Like straight up wish I had a detection book mechanic to tell the who’s who. At least the lore videos are going to be fun about it.

 + Furina Character Quest:

Well, aint that a nice little quest. Wish the traveler wasn’t kind of a dick dragging Furina into the plot like come on let the girl relax after dealing with everything for 500 years. Also, that last minute take the stage was so contrived/trope. Couldn’t have let Furina be content as a director/consultant? nope straight back to the acting spot light. Like splitting the difference and making it so Dulphy illness took her voice, so Furina had to sing the part for her while Dulphy acted the role would have been better in my eyes. Would have been neat too with the vision showing up paralleling the fake one.

⋆ Misty Dungeon: Realm of Water

Combat Event lets go. Okay this is at least kind of neat with it using a limited character pool. Otherwise, simple event at least when doing the three weakening rounds so I don’t know or care how tough they are without. That and I am pretty sure that you can’t complete the secondary objective without the side fights.

⋆ Thelxie's Fantastic Adventures

                What the hell is wrong with this region and sad stories like the previous regions did similar things, but God damn does this one keeps on with these gut punch stories. Like I did feel like the kids dead at the start, but yep straight up kid was actually dead. Not sure I like how the House of hearth doctors got mentioned considering pass lore like was kind of worried for a moment that Freminet was going to gaslight the women considering the what the House of hearth gets up to. As for the ending. Ya elemental energies are memoires aint got to explain shit.

+ Motherboard Trouble shooting.

                I wonder about the name “Motherboard” being in universes, but like I just got to recall robots were a launch enemy. Alongside all the ones roaming the country side of Fontaine. As for the gameplay the nice take on the good old pipe minigame. I like it didn’t have any big problems with it only trouble was the last couple if only cause having to think in spaces and not time when it came to having two penguins on one track with the switches.

+ Record of the search for glory

                NOOOOOOOOOOOOO, THEY MADE ME KILL THE ROUND FRIEND FOR THE CROWN! Otherwise, ya simple underwater find the thing. That is glowing and sees though walls. Like at least swimming combat aint bad. Might just be me understanding all the mechanics they used in it from open world traversal.

+ Purgation Counterstrike

                Okay that was a neat little combat gimmick basically a second burst that is shared between all characters if I understood it right. The trial characters are always neat other than the one time I grabbed the trial instead of my own. Admittedly I mostly used it as a “use this comp” indicator for the encounter.

⋆ Lil' Fungi's Fun-Tastic Fiesta

FUNGI FRIENDS ARE BACK. Also, always neat when a returning NPCs comes back in a different costume. As for gameplay it was simple and not sure if they could do more with it. My main problem is that it’s such a shake up from normal gameplay that it tosses my muscle memory for the game out the window and it’s not like it sticks around long enough to be built up. Otherwise, a good event.

⋆ 4.3 Released

⋆Navia Story quest

                Alexa play “angel with a shotgun”. Navia continues to be unable to catch a break. Like easily probably the worst year she has had in her life. Other wise a straight forward story quest with no deep lore reveals just some terrorism. However, Navia’s gameplay is much more interesting if this is where they are going with the Geo element.

⋆Roses and Muskets

                That was nice for old players to see Xavier back. Also, really did the 3 layers of meta in this quest the movie based on the book based off real life. Like really? Adamantly, I feel like the older Inazuma character were just there with how little they got to do. Like I get it was showing of Furina enjoying her retirement and preview for Chevreuse and Chiori but oh well limited time limited scope is the way it goes. As for the story fairly enjoyable with the highlight being THAT GOD DAMN BULLET BLOCK CHEVREUSE MLG NO SCOPE PRO.

+Thousand-Pace Interdiction Arcminute Sharpshooting Zone

                Well, that’s a way to do a shooting minigame. Feels a bit off in mouse sensitivity for what is normally done but what can you do.

+Trick Shots, Tricky Lights

                Well, that is an easy combat section. Kind of forget the special gimmick but it does have the same pseudo burst as the previous event and it’s still a good system.

+Xtreme Drive

                A co-op event been a long time since that happened. Also, nice that they knew to disable the alternative movement actions after they learned that lesion in the hide and seek event. Wish the points were paid out per game played and not a score system because I had to play another round despite only needing 25 points for the final reward.

+Into the Frame

                Okay neat little minigame. Not hard and you will puzzle out the solution from just messing it up. Definitely dependent on reading the prompt and figuring out which picture is the correct one.

★Fate/Grand Order [Off stream]

I am at the point this is a solved game so am sticking around for the story. Which going to be honest I hop over to atlas academy to read the story there just cause of the format feels better then how it is in game. It is a gacha game so wouldn’t recommend.

⋆Lostbelt 5-5: Heian-kyo completed.

                Solid story chapter read it on atlasacademy.io. cause format. Otherwise definitely a way to wrap up limbos story arc if he wasn’t going to be tied into the main story. Kintoki is still a good boy. Not sure why the mech was needed to show up but Babbage is probably there to foreshadow it. Also surprised Nursery Rhyme didn’t get a costume since we got 2 from it anyway. Main Story is still good.

⋆Revival: Saber Wars 2 Event completed.

Skipped the story because I played it the first time. Was neat that the quest selection would show what counted for the event missions that is a very nice quality of life.

⋆Farewell to Kamakura - Little Big Tengu Event completed.

                Ya, this was a nice relaxing story was nice. Hate the extra spawns Craft Essence wish they could make more than 3 enemies on the field oh wait that’s added next Lost Belt. OH well.

⋆Holy Grail Front Caesar: Et tu Brute?

                I like these grail front events. The main problem I feel that they have is balance. Like they really need to change the limit for deployment. It really feels like the only CE that is worth using is Herc’s Bond CE. Like hell even if they only permitted Bond CEs at 0 cost that would be kind of interesting.

⋆Valentine's 2023

                Well, that was an event. Neat how back up units came in mid attack change. Caren was the living sus that she is. Also, kind of nice how exhausted the pro-tag is with everything. Admittedly that is coming from a day one player.

⋆Chaldea Boys Collection 2023 Event - Holy Grail Phantom Thief Amakusa Shirou and the Slapstick Museum

                Ya, I skipped all the text and read it on atlasacademy.io after the event ended... No shame just no interest in reading the visual novel format to much text to little displayed. Otherwise, same old same event set up. Story was fun when I got around to reading it defiantly an odd ensemble but one that worked out. Not sure the better sweet ending with the museum curator was needed but eh its fine especially with Moriarty being salty. To be honest the real W was the costume we got along the way.

⋆Akihabara Explosion

                Ya a nice little tower event. Also skipped all the text and read it on atlasacademy.io. Did my normal strategy of use my lowest rarity first and only use 3 servants per node it really is the only time I use most of the roster that can’t be used to 3 turn with caster atoria or skati. That or the big single target damage. Also, good luck getting rid of your AP with it lol. Only difficulty was me remembering to swap to the damage CEs. Story was fun but like every oversimplification of the story idiot genius makes a problem for everyone quote for that “Or do you also doubt it's possible for humans to give birth when someone tells you about their mother?”. Also, summonable Aphrodite when?

⋆Bedazzled! Grail Concert! Crane Returns an Idol's Favor

                Once again, I skipped the quest text to read it latter on atlasacademy.io. As for the farm kind of neat to have the point ladder make the event CE scale off of, still not sure that it needed three-point ladders. 90+ quests continue to be interesting in how I solve them by just NP with three different servants. Otherwise, costume tickets are neat was in a position to use all but two of them, and the fact that most of the Idols got a skill upgrade alongside the event. Would have been nice to realize that during the event to help with farming but oh well. LAMO NEVER WENT BACK AND READ THE STORY.

⋆Holy Grail Front: My Super Camelot 2023

                More Grail Front. Its fine like I don’t hate it like others seem to I just feel like the balance is off, and it really would be fine if it only had 3 or so missions instead of the 7 we got. Just feels a bit annoying. That and they should just make it all units get two actions per turn and be done with this variable move point nonsense. Still the only time I’ve failed a front I think and all I can say is wonder why it took so long with how the dev’s have to stack the deck so hard. That and the end was just piling on that agitation.

⋆Revival: FGO Summer 2022 Summer Camp

Event rerun okay. Was fun reading it the first time but otherwise, ya. It’s just your run of the mill mission-based event with three currencies. Story was fine I hate the villains is the worst I can recall of it. Probably the least interesting of the summer events in terms of story if it wasn’t for pasine.

⋆Lostbelt 6: Avalon le Fae

⋆Part 1

                Oh, ya some main story always good. Yes, I did read it on atlasacademy.io it was faster and more comfortable for me. Still had it running on auto text using Samsung Flow to get better scenes, music, and animations. So as the story goes, ya Fae are dicks, and this is the only lostbelt that I don’t feel bad about offing. Like its unfortunate but this is just a functional trash heap of a location-timeline. As for spoilers I am mostly blind other than one off no context comments that I half recall. Glad Mash got some independent character development and Chad Nasu was willing to skirt NTR with how hard wifu ‘culture’ get. F for the gob bros dying like absolute lads. Nasu really wanted to make fun of all those Doujin stories when he wrote this arc didn’t, he. Also, kind of rude to separate us from Mash right at the end there. As for Fujimaru half or Castoria half to be more accurate. Oberon is in the Mephistopheles camp of sus even if helping with no ulterior motives. All around that half showed the shit heap that is the lost belt by being true and faithful to traditional Fae myth. Also did they really doge the implications of it being rape camps with that artificial insemination line in the Dracae section like I thought that it was going to be just implied and not addressed with Humans being like cattle, but they decided to not leave that hanging. Also, Beryl is a hate sink that deserve all the bad things that will happen to him. Nice to have a simple villain for once. All together things are progressing in ways we still don’t know exactly what the deal beyond the first answer, but it is part 1 so leave that for the complete section.

 As for gameplay didn’t notice anything but like I got the quick and arts loops on speed dial I am leveling up all my servants’ skills to 6 for the hell of it since I got them to max level outside grails. As for my pulls got Morgana without using up my bangk alongside a np2 Baobhan Sith. Morgana is fine (read that she is best in immortal comps) while Baobhan Sith came in clutch in the only time I was going to fail a quest during the story and her kit is simply “their will be a use for you at some point.” Shame I ran out of nails to max her skills. Final boss for part 1 was just fine, it was a stall fest for me using the support rider DaVinci and mash with a castorio for back up. The most annoying thing was having to use a support mash when my own is bulked up to hell and back with being the only servant I have given the golden Fous, paw prints, and card appends. Like if she had appended skills, I would have made them 10/10/10 as soon as the animations finished cause I am eggplant club for life give her head pats and max her stats.

⋆Part 2

So that was an eventful end. Count Pepe continues to be best bad guy, Beryl is trash person, babbitt sit is oddly a good girl despite being evil, and Morgan really should have let this lostbelt/lostworld burn cause Fey are trash. Barghest is a good girl who will have bad things happen to her, and Mélusine is getting conned by everyone she knows. As for the story the pilgrimage seemed to be oddly fast and slow for how many bells we have rung in this part and how quickly it happened with their still being a third part but that’s where everything will come to roost. Cnoc na Riabh and Cu was interesting if a bit heavy on the reference to other same faces. Oberon continues to be suspect, while Muramasa continues to be helpful if annoying in how he is an alter-ego in gameplay and not a saber where every time it would be more useful especially since I am sitting on a maxed-out copy of him. The history of the lostbelt tab is interesting but that feels like more thoughts than I will dedicate to it, but it is nice for those who like it. The twist with Morgan being Altria predecessor feels like it could have been foreshadowed a bit more but the as the answer to the puzzle that was been shown does make sense it’s just feels like you figure it out the sentence before they tell you. Morgan also does put out the power at the end and only lost cause fairies are terrible. Gareth being a mirror clan lined up with the visions of the future power she showed with no explanation before that. All in all, despite everything I am waiting for this lostbelt burn in part 3. Sorry Fujimaru you are too much of a good person, so trauma conga-line(a traumga-line) is your fate. Still, it’s really nice how they give the protagonist some more dialogue instead of letting it fall to the wayside. Also, nice they didn’t try and separate mash and Fujimaru again. It’s also kind of funny how by now the default idea should be “beat the shit out of [x]” first resort to a lot of problem in this game because that’s what everything turns into. I really wonder if most of my passive enjoyment of this is because everything was known due to the prophecy it was only a question of how it will pan out.

As for gameplay the actual intended to be beaten final fight. ya, that was hard actually used some Layline stones for it. Woodwose was also that hard too. At least because I couldn’t just double castor Altria it, which is what I did to every other combat encounter. Like that unwinnable fight at the end was winnable with that team comp and I would have if I could. The only interesting thing I could say was the one where you only needed to kill 3 enemies and they piled on the curse and poison on their killer and I just one turned the entire wave. Overall, I am not sure how much I like these support servant frequency on one hand its certainly the consequences of putting all the cannon story servants into the support menu and only being able to take one but I really wish they went the extra mile to put them in your own summons so you can pick them if you want to take them or use your own. Like right now it feels like an annoying half way point between a forced comp and using your own servants. That mostly is just coming from having to fill in the team for so many encounters that just gets solved by making the same 3-turn loop setup with Altria + tammo + AOE arts NP servant, but like Day one NA problems, I guess.

⋆Part 3

What an end. Like didn’t even have much time to think about before everything went to hell. Like that wasn’t a surprise with ominous glowing eyes Cernunnos at the end of part 2 but like take the L so hard we must pull a time Houdini to not lose and have Koyanskaya bail us out too. Like damn. The only time we’ve lost as hard must be for both the incarnation of mankind in arc 1 and bleached earth in arc 2. Otherwise, Fey are terrible and deserved everything that happened to them. Like Barghest being the best of them despite being an unwilling cannibal really shows how low the bar is. Mélusine would count but lol dragon and mercy kill her abusive mom, Mike can be argued to be MVP for the duty of not fucking up, and random fairy girl(Hope?) came in clutch by being the selfish bitch she died as. Habetrot is a good girl and friend of brides and does not count. Despite not getting any ascension art not even to take off her hat. This was the end of Castoria story and what an end. From seeing from her point of view of past story events, Muramasa sacrifice, Percival’s end and Cernunnos defeat. All great. The fact Oberon betrayal is so simple is kind of underwhelming but at the same time fitting. Like even if this is like the fifth time a villain’s entire plot can be summarized as “Bothered by this massive complex issue? Use this one quick trick to fix it! Genocide.” Like if it wasn’t for this entire Lostbelt story being about vapid idiots messing everything up that being tacked onto the end it probably wouldn’t fit. Plus, it kind of feels like Oberon is also kind of aware of how dumb it is with all the talk of stories and actors. Adamantly this might be purely the always lies make all his dialog retroactively and proactively be pure subtext with no just plain text reading consequently. Like the only honest thing he said was calling Fujimaru a lunatic for trying to deck him. Also, Sion at the end just listing future events is funny. Oh ya, they brought Beryl back for a scene so we could see his back story. At least Pepe was a bro from the grave. Still Oberon’s defeat flashback/dream sequence was better if only cause of how salty he was about the whole thing. Also it is kind of funny how Oberon just disappears at a point and no one comments on it.

As for gameplay the boss fights went from reasonable (Mélusine), hard but reasonable ( Cernunnos), and what the fresh hell ( Barghest). Like everyone was saying Cernunnos is the hardest fight but like I only need 1 Laystone for it unlike the 3 for Barghest fight. Like they both do it in different ways but they both do the screw with the player in an unfair way. Like God damn were the devs liberal with buff removals for these bosses. This is very much an “oh shit we power crept to hard” response but like this feels so much an issue of not being able to buff and nerf servants cause gacha game. Oh well at least I got Koyanskaya L and Oberon so buster loops are now my future. Not that I used them much in part 3 because I’ve become poor in mats again. At least I can deal with the dickish 1-3-1 waves that exists to stop NP arts looping just like every new quick servant gets NP hit taxed for the same reason. In my opinion this state is purely because they decided every skill goes off a turn set up for buff durations with the rare skill going off uses and not a single skill going of waves as its duration. Like if they did that it would really mix it up the servant roster where some are good for 1 wave 99 reserves and others the current set up. That however is probably another consequence of the gacha system.

⋆Revival: The Return of Nero Fest - Summer 2023

I farmed so many boxes. As always fuck challenge quests. Only did the ones that paid out a lore. Like I’ve said it before but while one challenge quest in an event is fine this is just nonsense of who in the office can come up with some ridiculous restrictions on the gameplay.

⋆Chaldea Summer Adventure! A Boy Pursuing Dreams and a Girl Who Dreams

Columbus is a little shit that is all. All in all, what a nice little event. Didn’t really matter in the end but definitely some meta foreshadow in how the narrative will go in the future. At least more so for new players since that’s how these events go in only needing to beat the prologue to take part in them. I am a sap, so I teared up at the end. Also, this treasure chest mechanic for events is a neat shake up but not sure if it’s better than lotto events.

⋆Csejte Halloween Trilogy: Ultra Deluxe Highlights!

Ya no. I was there Gandalf I ant reading this again don’t care if they reframed it skipped every god damn quest gladly.

⋆Halloween 2023 - Halloween Rising! The Queen of Dust and the Disciple of Darkness

So once again Liz returned. So anyway, the gameplay changes of having 6 enemies out at one time continues to be amazing. Otherwise, nice they took the chance to give out the servant coins for the old welfare servants in this event. I still haven’t gotten around to reading through all the text but Liz getting shade is apricated.

⋆Revival: GUDAGUDA 2022 - Super Ancient Shinsengumi History GUDAGUDA Yamataikoku 2022 - Lite

So those raids died fast. Anyway, was here for the first one. So, it was a simple event for me. Kind of love and hate the daily reward mission they had if. Probably because my tolerance for that kind of stuff has been getting lower as I get older.

⋆GUDAGUDA 2023 - Showa Kishin Project: Ryouma's Narrow Escape! The Mystery of the Disappearing Nobbu Head

I am just guda guda out. I just don’t care about the guda guda story lines. It’s just apathy for me. As for gameplay it’s your run of the mill mission even except they have ~special missions~ its fine. Really glad they added that do this node to complete this mission feature wasn’t added a while back but still good to not need to look up a walkthrough.

⋆Anti-Primate Biosphere, Tunguska Sanctuary

                NA #1! NA #1! NA #1! NA #1! Ya lamo that bug is the perfect capstone for a raid event and their arbitrary nonsense. Straight up hate raids in a low simmer kind of deal with how they are time gated by the dev’s and get blender-ed by players. Like the raids come out 12 at night for my time zone they are dead before I wake up even if I had a good sleep schedule. Then the final raid popped up and I deal too much damage and too little cause it’s that god damn backup dancers set up for drops. Like raids are the most interesting concept for content but turn out so bad to me. Also, that last story battle can go to hell even if it is appropriate level of in universe power. It just fights against the gameplay mechanics to be good.

As for story I would say fun as a concept even if it leans too much into nature good human’s bad misanthrope angle. As for the “please fuck” being the answer to the event it feels fine. As for wasted presence I get where people are coming from and sort of agree with Ibuki just being scenery dressing and Nikitich just feeling like there need to be more foreshadowing  for that ending bit, but the whole storyline seems to have the theme of anti-climaxes as its core tenet. I would say it was worse, but Koyanskaya has always been in the affable evil category in terms of antagonist. Like she is basically Pepe who decided to stay an antagonist the entire time instead of just vibing.

★Girls Frontline [Off stream]

I still skip all the text in the game. Might look up a story archive eventually but whatever. Still sticking with it cause it’s interesting to see what the Developers come up with. Still a gacha game so wouldn’t recommend even if tis a solid game.

⋆Fixed Point Event

                SKIPED THE STORY. But from audience apathy I am seeing is not a bad thing. HATE how they added another difficulty level would have liked it if I didn’t already farm every doll by the time I finished, but oh well. Maps continue to be a level of nonsense that I appreciate but still hate if only because it is on a phone game and even if the game is optimized well enough it still needs more. The minigame is neat certainly feels like they were experimenting with Neuralcloud and Girls Frontline 2 in development not sure how well that lines up with the development timeline thou. As for ranking god do I love the nonsense they come up for ranking maps. Still wish they functioned more like the Theater system so time is the only investment you need other than raising your dolls. Also, not sure the ranking system need the sum total of 3 maps with branching choices for what map is available.

⋆Love Bakery

Well, this is a nice and quick event. Neat to see coalition leaders in the shenanigans. Even if I still skip all the text. Also, weird that there wasn’t an achievement to give Persicaria her special coffee. Otherwise, nice and simple to get too the farm map no complaints here. Other than when do I get to capture chocolate doggos.

⋆The Glistening Bloom

Ya, I just want to foreword that I am still skipping the story even if this is a collab. I also haven’t gotten around to watching Zombie Land Saga it’s on the to watch list alongside the other 339 because I am a “Ya I watch anima. That’s putting it on your plan to watch list and never get around to it right?”. So, in terms of gameplay, I hate the event while I am glad it’s not the damn revolver selection this point thing and too many minigames for me to like it. The ending conditionals seem kind of verbose as a consequence of it. As for the dolls neat gimmick but probably a meme team. As for that little bit of the story I saw mentioned sad it’s just a dream and not Koutarou Tatsumi just clowning on William for his motivation being a massive siscon who wants to resurrect his dead sister. Like what I got from the story by osmosis is the community feels a bit of darkness induced apathy by not being able to get a win against William since we know he survives to be in Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery and this event could have been a way to have given us a W by having William out “But I Don't Want To Cure Cancer. I Want To Turn People Into Dinosaurs.” By Koutarou Tatsumi.

⋆Eclipses & Saros

                Well, this was an event. Nice and short and I skipped the story. It was neat in the Hard mode gave you custom echelons while the normal mode gave you a set one. Like it kind of feels inverse of what was the harder difficulty. Yes I am still skipping the story.

⋆ The Waves Wrangler

                Rerun time. Whatever it’s a nice event and we get closer to Girls Frontline 2 coming out with NA getting caught up with the main server. I am basically in raise for the sake of raising like I have all but 2 dolls and have like half the roster at level 100 and the other at level 90 and most Neural Upgrade at 2 or higher so like I am set. Which is why I did not even mention the theater that happened before this like I missed day 2 and still wound up at top 12% for that.

⋆ Longitudinal Strain

                This event has a better UI then the that damn rotary menu. As for story I still skipped it. Like sure this was a side story but by God was there a lot of story nodes. As for enemies seemed kind of neat as for strategy a certain point has come where “random bullshit go” can sum up what I need to do. Mostly because I really feel like the game is straining with its limitations for being on a phone. Like if this was built for the PC with the ability to save scum try and roll back events instead of having to restart the entire stage it would improve the game. That and just probably a better UI I would hope.

⋆ Lycan Sanctuary

                Okay neat little summer event. Like the gimmick stage of playing pachinko even if the others were forgettable. I skipped the story but them doing some social deduction game voting is neat. Didn’t pay attention to the translator controversy I saw about how they were weighting a win that they already translated.

⋆Gray Zone

                At first, I thought I wasn’t making a tone of progress with how many points it wanted. Then I saw how long it last for. Otherwise, it’s simply a neat mode. Even if it feels like it’s kind of long and tedious. Also, finally a good nonevent node for farming armored foes.

⋆Slow Shock

                Okay this level of puzzle maps can go to hell. As before I skip the story but just the number of puzzles is just annoying. Like please let me use my own dolls I have every doll that existed before this chapter event I want to use them. Otherwise seemed a reasonable balance in terms of challenge. Also, neat how the NA server is caught up with the Main CA server. As for the new gimmicks the BPM meter feels like it’s just there, the trees are reasonable in there annoyance, and most importantly we have crab enemies.

★Monster Hunter: Rise Sunbreak [On stream]

⋆Title Update 3

Chaotic Gore, Risen Kushala Dora, and Risen Teostra. What a neat little combination of monsters. Still not sure what is up with Teostra.

⋆Title Update 4

velkhana and Risen valstrax are nice. Like the worst part I could say is Anomaly farming is kind of annoying to me just from the shear bulk of it.

★League of Legends [Off stream]

The mistake after I decided to reinstall it after watching a bunch of Exil videos. Warmed up with a few vs AI matches before trying ARAM. Got called racist despite not saying a damn thing in a match I lost. Then called my revisit there.

 … still I miss Twisted Treeline ☹

★Destiny 2 [Off stream]

Ya played the free stuff for Light fall and the seasons. Gameplay is still good just I don’t care to get into it or toss money towards it.

Okay I picked back up during the crafting despite not being able to take advantage of it and did a Garden of Salvation and Crota’s End raid. Still haven’t done Vault of Glass or Kings Fall but like its 100% you need friends to do it since while LFG is there, I just hate it. Especially since at the moment my internet is on the fritz where its fine and wont hitch for videos but games it will, and I will get kicked form the activity sometimes I will reconnect but will be dead. Along side it wasn’t in the game at the time, and still haven’t gone back and tried it yet.

Overall, like to hate to be that guy, Destiny 2 is a good game but not enough worth my money or time investment with how much of both it wants you to spend on it.

And then they killed all the interest I had in it with that round of layoffs. Still grabbed the collection when Epic game store gave it out for free.

★Factorio [Off stream]

                So, ya got that itch to play it again. Still have never beaten a vanilla game and I still don’t have the drive too. This year tried the mods Space Exploration, Nullius, and SeaBlock. Also, been watching DoshDoshington and appreciating the madness of those videos. Even his non Factorio videos.

                Also, it’s hilarious how the expansion everyone was worried what horror the devs were going to let upon the land and it turns out they grabbed the Space Exploration dev to help them make their version of it. From the teases they have shown so far the only thing I’m not sure about is the ‘quality system’. Otherwise, Space Exploration for the common man and not its 300 hour madness induce enlightenment sounds pretty good.

★Girls Frontline Project Neuralcloud [Off stream]

Not sure if I like this more than the first Girls Frontline but it’s still interesting. Still, it is a gacha game so wouldn’t recommend even if it’s a solid game. Also, yes, I am skipping all the dialogue after chapter 1 part.2 when I found out it was optional for progress.

⋆Thundering Livestream Event

                Actually, I read this story was short and sweet. Nothing outstanding but the first event is what it is. Also pulled Kuro.

⋆Divine Heresy story Event

Boy was this the first annoying road block but that’s story events. At least it had an easy mode to do. Managed to reach the point during it to do the hard mode to completion. Not that it really did anything haven’t upgraded a doll to 70 yet.

⋆Magrasea’s Lang Syne Event

Ya skipped the story. Otherwise only the challenges for the final mission were the stumbling block. Otherwise, same as Thundering Livestream Event except without reading the story.

⋆Exception Protocol

I think I hate it. Like I kind of hate how its either min max the rarity for the only benefit or get every doll to 50 and skill level 5. Like I want to out level the content especially since its bi-weekly.

Got fixed up and it lets you use your own dolls now, and made the points a daily thing.

⋆Quenching Operation

TLDR LAMO. So, ya skipped all the text kind of hat the cant auto my way through the story, oh well the hard farming quest is interesting. It’s just the skill data one but still neat.

⋆Heartfelt House of Coca

Oh, I love this. This is an interesting event. Feel a bit egg on my face for getting all that minigame point faring done on the first day with how often the daily was get points in the minigame. Not sure how much I care about the use dolls only from one company. Like at least the event missions are free. Still kind of hate challenge modes.

⋆Inverted Mordent Resonance

Well, this is a neat event. Not sure if I care for it but it is neat, but the event has its own personal upgrade tree is a neat idea. Having come from Girls Frontline I was wondering how much they could do with their mission set up but things like this are neat. Admittedly I still expect at some point they move back into a grid style map even if it’s for a single event. Once again skipped the story.

⋆Fool’s Duality

                Okay neat event wish what was in the shop was actually the big head mode as a free skin but whatever. Also, hard difficulty can go to hell whenever it was a tank character otherwise what an oscillating difficulty.

⋆Chromatic Spiral

                Ya if I wasn’t skipping the story, I would care more about these types of events but oh well. It’s a simple low intensity farm time event.

⋆ Eager Fist, Dawning Fray

They Really like this type of event don’t they. Like it is Just works and is fine and it’s great to give every new character an event. It’s just Like I kind of wish there was some more variance. Might just be an appearance thing compared to F/GO having a new map every event even if they default to the same 3 currencies for most events compared to this one story page + farm mission for a single currency.

⋆ Aberrance’s Chain

Well, this was a nice chunky update. Always love a temp ‘tech tree’ for an event alongside its currency being farmed outside node specific missions. As for the missions was able to do all the challenge nodes too since I am finally at that point for how strong my teams are.

⋆ Divergent Shadows

Love it. Not only have I finally reached the strength pinnacle to not worry about difficulty too much, but that Matrix Challenge was fun. The point ladder is simple and straight forward. Yes, I am still skipping the story.

⋆ Snowy Encounters Opening Promotion, Free To Play!

Love it. Nice Simple Minigame compilation from all the previous events not too hard to do.

�� Gastronomic Journey

Another classic character story event where I skipped the story. Ain much to say. Especially since the story is hidden in the character’s profile/Bio.

⋆ Wishing Starbridge Workshop

Nice to see the coca event set up back. It is simple but it is a nice diversion from the normal event rigmarole.

⋆ Midnight Machinations

Another classic character story event. Except this time, I pulled the character and got to say I feel like I will actually use her. Will also take this point to note a bunch of inscriptions have come in and getting fragments really feels like the true progression bottleneck in this game.

⋆ Critical Cascade

Oh, an event all about these sorts of stages awesome. Is how I started off with it but it kind of dragged on with a completely new set of functions and the daily missions requiring additional completions and I did all the stages day 1. Otherwise, it was a good event with a nice new unit.

⋆Ruintop Song

Oh, another one of these character events. Tempted to start skip mentioning them cause it’s all the same cause I skip the story.

⋆ Inverted Mordent Resonance RERUN

Second verse same as the first. Also, they really decided to do a rerun. Weird.

⋆ Joyful Reunion

Story event has the neat little Matrix nodes and has a point ladder for its rewards.

⋆ Twilight Requiem

Story event has the neat little Matrix nodes and has a point ladder for its rewards. I like this formula more than the grind currency events, but like I am still skipping the text so like I am just vibing with the gameplay.

⋆ Strange Blue

A big Matrix node event. I kind of hate it even if it’s very simple stages being done one after the other. Maybe because I like this game for the auto in auto-battler and Matrix stages are the opposite of auto making me dislike it. Alongside all the large impact changes of function sets being entirely a different set when I don’t even understand the min max choice for the normal sets. Mostly because I haven’t bother to read them in the tier-list/min-max guides I’ve read.

⋆Divining The Heart

                Once again, it’s the new format for a character event. As for the doll introduced looking at the guides, I feel no need to pull her it’s probably simpler to use then I am thinking but by god that just looks overcomplicated.

⋆Perilous Advancement

                Well, if that isn’t interesting intro to the next story chapter. I would probably care more if I was reading it, but auto battler go burr. Over all this has an issue I’ve been feeling that there really is a thin line between can trivialize the content or get hit by a wall. Like I do love them experimenting with different deploy layouts but what the hell are the red enemy variants smoking. Like just activating the challenge mode instantly makes my teams be blown up and without I am the one that instantly blows up the enemies. As a side the defend the core is neat in both the objective and the arena being larger. Matrix stages are nice simple one room floors even if they keep doing the rule of three, but sticking to the chess mechanics is neat.

⋆Symphonic Reprise

                Again, character event. The character is neat in being unable to attack. I did not succeed in pulling her tho. Also just realized that Turning summonses dinergates I want to pull her now.

⋆Starchasers’ Concerto

                Eh it’s a nice little event. Like Matrix mode is kind of draining on me with the inability to just let auto battle go burr, and the functions feel kind of boring in most cases. Like a few of the new functions seem kind of neat its just the function economy is probably the iffiest part of the game and Matrix mode just kind of pushes it to the limit. Also, kind of wired how this is the summon and doge event.

Played For The First Time This Year.

★Duylst II [Off stream]

                I feel a bit of shame with how little I played especially since I went and played legacy mode for most of it. Haven’t kept up with it after the first week of release.

★Yoku’s Island Adventure [On stream]

Pinball Metroidvania is nice but makes me think my hatred of Pinball is equal to my love of it. Neat hearing from the speed runner “JKxWinG“ during my playthrough. Is the kind of game I would only play once to completion and any other time as an any% run.

★SteamWorld Build Demo [Off stream]

                Okay don’t play a lot of these types of game but old west robots are a fun contrast. Don’t think it’s too hard but just the demo vs then end of the game. Plus, it’s not trying to be something like frost punk. Still orb is suspect.

★WanderSong [On stream]

                Ya game is good. Honestly, I hate rhythm games and feel like I would have gotten a little bit more out of it if I was musically inclined but otherwise was a good game. It’s mostly a story-based game so like what could I say beyond I liked it. Like the only annoying thing about it was the fact I had to farm some achievements for it but that’s a me problem of being an achievement whore whenever they don’t go past my tolerance for them.

★Satisfactory [Off stream]

                I like Factorio more. Satisfactory is still in development, but I just hate the map traversal. like as much as it would get compared to “Minecraft”, “Infinifactory”, or “FortressCraft Evolved!” I really wish it was in a block world. Purely for terrain deformation. Like as it is now Factorio has more ability to modify the terrain with cliff explosives and land fill, or water fill with mods. That and while this might be just where I spawned and settled why is everything so god damn tall like everything could be halved in height and it would still would have felt tall to me, also am I supposed to make big giant sprawling factory or like just an make one offs of everything. Like the belts have no through put compared to Factorio just thinking about it the difference is per second vs per minute in the tool tip. Like it feels so needlessly large. I might just be dumb to be honest.

★Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons [On stream]

                Ya this is a nice short game. I was adamantly spoiled by the ending but not on the details. That or I forgot the details. Ya that control scheme is certainly a stroke of genius in story telling but like, I so kind of hate it. Like it such a reasonable idea for a control two characters each to a control stick but it’s so mind binding task because of how odd it is. Compared to only keeping track of one character like most games. However, that ending definitely was so effective because of the controls. That doesn’t mean I would want a longer game with this type of controls. It just was short enough to ‘earn’ its ending but not long enough to over stay its welcome. Even if maybe one more chapter would have been better so it wouldn’t feel so short. As for longer games Mario & Luigi has the better controls for a two character with dedicated button per character controls. Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons also now getting a remake so that’s neat.

★Pikuniku [On stream]

                A nice little game. Haven’t touched the co-op but ya I just went with the flow but is nice and short game. Going after all the achievements however seems to be a bit more difficult. I adamantly kind of hate not having functional hands but that is probably why the game was short as it was to not over stay it welcome.

★Aven Colony [Off stream]

                Ya this is a colony management game. They are neat and everything but not sure if I can bring too much enthusiasm for them, but they are still enjoyable. Mostly cause I unga bunga in games no thoughts only forward. Yes, I am aware how much that will backfire on me. Ya no, on second play this game is dumb have 12 greenhouses producing food and then all of a sudden, I have no food, and everyone starts drooping dead. like screw me, I guess. I don’t get it.

★Rise of Industry [Off stream]

                Okay Transport Tycoon style game. At least that’s my touch stone for it. Its fine I just don’t really care about these types of games I suppose. Not sure about the research but that’s probably cause it forefather before it are a multiplayer game so having a way to mix things up is probably why it’s there. Which for the type of game it is feels a bit weird for me, but I suppose the single player versions of this type of game would require more random events to be fun for me.

★Terraforming Mars [Off stream]

                It’s one of those Deck building games. They are fun. With friends. I still skipped the tutorial and got 11 victory points my first game. That was dead last despite being 4 more than the next amount I don’t know what type of logic that has victory points not be the win goal but okay.

★ DAEMON X MACHINA [On stream]

                Ya, I don’t care for this game between the grind for loot to just the damage output mix with the controls. The comparison to all the mech floating there like Dragon Ball Z characters was on point and with my main point of reference for mechs being Code Geass makes me feel off playing this since its bones are so close to being what I would want out of a Code Geass game, and yes, I am saying that in the context of season 1. The fact Code Geass also started to do that in season 2 is going to be ignored. Like all in all this game feels like it has good bones I just hate the Muscles and Tendons on it. So, ya this is just the game equivalent of a pet-peeve.

★ Subnautica [Off stream]

                Ya this really is we are not a horror game you just got thalassophobia bro. Anyway, finally got around to playing for myself instead of just watching lets plays of it mostly cause I’ve was watching RageGamingVideos series for it. Like I had it on the Epic game store when the released it for free. Ya it’s a good game I knew the story beats but even just playing it is the real fun of the game. Definitely the gold mark for the survival games for me.

★ Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles DEMO[Off stream]

                Okay this is a neat twist on the deck builder sub-genre. Like ya Slay the Spire popularized this type of rouge likes deck builders but it being with dice is neat. Like I do not have the mind to optimize this type of game or card games in general, but it is fun dice go click clack. As for the corruption purify thing instead of health kind of sounded pointless but they did something with it so kind of neat. As for the two in the demo the basic owl character seems more practical, but the shark bsoy seems like a high roller. Only did one run with each so can’t say too much on it. Will pick it up eventually.

★Tevi DEMO[Off stream]

                Well, this is a nice little Metroidvania. Also, neat how the artist put the bunny suit into the main characters design without it being blatant fanservice. The only odd thing about it is why does the DEMO have achievements for it. Definitely planning to play it eventually.

[stopgacha-addiction]

What are "Live Service games" and how can one stop addiction to them?

You've probably heard by now of a little-known game called Genshin Impact, especially if you're someone who uses the internet regularly.

Browsing TikTok, Instagram, Twitter....X?, whatever, even this site right here, you've probably seen your fair share of games like it as well.

Honkai Impact (by the same devs), Project Sekai, etc.

What do these games have in common?

3 things.

They all run on a server. When the company behind the game announces an End of Service (aka full scale shutdown, which can happen for many reasons), the servers go blank and the game is no longer playable after a certain point. These games need you to be always online. If they don't get numbers, poof, they're gone.

They all use a loot-box like, gambling system known as Gacha where players spend freemium currency to get stronger characters, weapons, etc. However, they're all luck based and the rates to get the strongest item are always low. This is how they enable you to spend money.

They're addictive. It could be the gacha, it could be social aspects, it could even be the games themselves. All live service and gacha games are designed to be such.

Which makes it hurt all the more when the inevitable end of service announcement strikes.

I too, play these games, and on many occasions have gotten so addicted to where it's all I care about.

However, what most people don't realize is that these games are awful for your mental health.

Look, even before these games have gotten popular, I think I can speak for everyone when I say even traditional console games can be addicting. And..yes, they are, but, you can always stop playing without having to fear that your favorite game is just gonna disappear one day. You only had to pay for the game once, and only once, ever.

It's not like that anymore.

But, how does one stop addiction to these games? It's not like you can just...put it down, right?

I mean, you can, but addiction isn't that simple.

Take breaks, put it down, uninstall it.

Most gacha games are mobile games, after all. While I may not know how to stop addiction, what I can say is that you have to realize..

Everything comes to an end someday.

That's why, with the time you have, you have to live to the fullest, right?

Of course, having fun with games isn't a bad thing! Not at all. But, when you have too much fun to a point where you're constantly spending money, that's when you should shut it off, take breaks, and maybe spend more time with your family and friends - those who care for you. Trust me, it'll only do you good in the long run.

Live your life to the fullest with the time you have, and when it does eventually come to an end - you'll be much happier.

Your life is more important than a simple little game.

[channoticedmeuwu]

FINALLY GOT THE MOTIVATION TO FINISH CLEANING/ORGANIZING MY ROOM TODAY ALSO (genshin impact warning) MY GACHA LUCK IS INSANE???? LIKE GUESS WHO GOT FOLIAR ON 40 PITY (ME‼️) TODAY IS BEING SOOOOO SO SO GOOD TO ME I LOVE THE UNIVERSE‼️‼️‼️‼️

ALSO IM SEEING TWICE 😽😽😽😽 IM SO EXCITED but also kinda scared that it’ll be overwhelming but it’ll be really fun so whatever idk what to wear tho 😐

RIP UR RAMEN PANTS AND SHOULD I WATCHED THE NEW SPIDER MAN EVERYONE SAYS ITS REALLY GOOD SO ILL PROBABLY PIRATE IT AT SOME POINT BUT YEAH

🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌹🌹🌹🌹🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻💐💐💐💐💐💐 FLOWERS FOR MY BB

- STORM ☄️ it’s the comet right i don’t remember exactly 😭

GIRL I HAVENT PLAYED GENSHIN IN SO LONG LMFAO I kind of am really bad but I'm also not playing enough, so I'm not advancing at all. I want to get into the gambling grind but girl seriously I'm so far behind that gambling is not possible.

YOURE SEEING TWICE??? CAN YOU SHIP ME TOWARDS YOU???? I NEED?? TO SEE???? TWICE?????

ooo if I were you I'd wear a dress w stockings underneath and go heavy on jewelry <3 ++ make up. and wear comfy shoes because I will be screaming crying jumping.

AND YES DEF WATCH THE NEW MOVIE ITS DELICIOUS. I came home and slept immediately tho it's super flashy and I'm comfortable with a lot of pop and color but I was so dazed after the movie, that I got a headache and fell asleep 😭✋ I ate at the cinema food court totally dazed and confused, came home dazed and confused, ate a pill and slept dazed and confused for like nearly 12 hours, woke up less dazed.

good ass movie, graphics were BEAUTIFUL, art was BEAUTIFUL, soundtrack is BEAUTIFUL, everything about that movie I LOVE.

THANKS MY GIRL STORMY THE FLOWERS ARE BEAUTIFUL MWAH 🐦🐦‍⬛🐓🐔🐣🐣🐤🐥🦅🦉🦜🕊️🦤🦢🦆🦩🦩🦃🦢🦭🦤 HERE HAVE ALL THESE BIRDS (and one seal)

[unholyeverything]

About Obey Me! apparently not being F2P anymore.

I just wanted to say something about this. Because I’ve seen so much outrage in the fandom especially about their recent anniversary celebration.

Sorry if this might end up being long.

It’s just, so many people cry and complain about the game allegedly not being free to play anymore. But that is where the lie is.

And that’s also what will bring down the game a lot faster. Them constantly getting complaints and feeling like they’ll lose their player base will make them start to milk the game out of the last cent a lot sooner then knowing they have a few more years. 

The game is free to play. You download it for free. You play for free. You have to pay nothing and to be honest, if you invest some time you get a lot.

This is a gacha game after all, you also need some luck, but in comparison to a game like Genshin Impact, that a lot of players seemed to have started to pick up as well you get a lot of materials to get the most out of your luck.

I’ve been playing for 432 days and those are all my cards. I haven’t given them a single cent. Did they get a lot of my time? Yes- but I was willing to pay that price.

I’m not trying to show off with that in any way, I just wanted to show that you indeed get a lot. As an F2P.

So it’s a lie saying the game is starting to become Pay to Play. Because it is not.

You don’t have to spend anything if you don’t want to.

Could they have handled the celebrations differently, like letting everyone chose their desired background at the end of the login? Sure- they could’ve done that. But they simply decided not to.

And that is their right as the company paying for the servers you use for free, paying for the artist that do a super good job providing about 14 brand new hand drawn cards per month, plus the voice actors, plus the animations, plus the story writers. That is a lot of work. That’s a new card every two days. They pay for promotions. They pay for all the IT working on the game, programming it, customer support, social media managers. Do you think this is free? Do you think that’s payable with just some advertisement here and there? Fun Fact: It’s not.

Small rant in the rant: A lot of people also make money off of their copyrighted materials and therefore take more income from them. As they would have to pay for usage right to be legally allowed to sell fanart. Just saying :D

How’d you like someone take your character and makes money off of them, not really, am I right? I don’t know why people think it’s okay since it’s a company. Their designers want to have a wage too.

So it is definitely not P2P.

I will however agree that the events are Pay to Win.

And apparently most of you don’t understand the difference of pay to win and pay to play. And listen, there is a big one.

I don’t know why the Obey Me! Fandom seems to think they are entitled to getting every single card that’s been put out there, to find it in their inventory. Like you can even see it and download the art from the Wiki. Heck spend 5 minutes on YouTube and someone uploaded the Devilgram too. The visibility of the Card is not behind a paywall. Is the additional story or animation that cost additional money sometimes behind a pay wall? Yes- and that is ok. 

I don’t know if you noticed, but aside from the Lucifer Paws and Claws UR there is not a single Pop Quiz UR in my cards. Not one. And I got Lucifer’s grinding my ass off in Lonely Devil, spending weeks doing my daily battles. Because that card was worth it to me. In the normal events I can max get the Memory SSR, spending all of my savings on nightmare beforehand. I have like two of those. Two of which we got completely free. Leviathans UR was completely free.  You realize they could’ve converted the points and taken the card from everyone, which tbh was the move I would’ve done but long term the realized it would make them lose more people and therefore money. Amos UR+ was completely free. Lucifer’s raindrop card I just got in this rerun, spending all of my savings from the past two months or more. Mammons was my guaranteed BDay card. 3 of those completely free so to say. The 14 were all I got with 432 days of playtime. That’s about a card each month. Doesn’t seem that much anymore don’t you think? Also most of the gacha cards I got from after they raised the odds to 3%. That also needs to be mentioned. They did that. 2 are character birthdays. Again with savings and time you got them. All the old cards I got doing that free pull you get every two days. That’s 4 of them as well. Only 8 of them being from limited gachas, in about 1 and a half years of playing.

But especially in gachas you should know that you can’t have everything. I don’t know why people got that impression? I don’t have every card that comes out because I don’t pull on every nightmare. I use the time there is a character I don’t like to save up. And with Obey Me! you can save up a lot.

Bringing up Genshin again: It’s fandom seems to be aware that as a Free to Play you just can’t get every character, and they seem to be fine with it. They save and manage their resources. I’ve been playing since 4 months and I have 2 5 star characters and one 5 star weapon. 2 of those I didn’t want and lost the 50/50. But that’s just how it is. I enjoyed what I got since I only spend my time how it is worth it to me.

I have to admit I had a lot of time to spend on games and if you don’t you won’t get as much, but that’s also normal. OM dailies take about 10 minutes and you get your 18 DP and can work on your cards. That is a lot to save up. And so far I pretty much got every card I wanted as long as it wasn’t an event card. And I could get those too if I invest even more time. I am just simply not willing to.

There is too much to do in this game already for me to keep up. So I really can’t understand what more you could ask for. I am home all day long and I can’t keep up with everything, so why are people complaining about not getting everything? There is so so much to get. Just focus on what you want and don’t turn into miniature Mammon’s that just want everything. And also like: Have you noticed? Most of my cards aren’t even close to being fully leveled. What do you want to do with even more of them? That won’t bring you anywhere?

But anyways I’m losing track of my own rambling where were we?

The fact that people here seem to confuse Pay to Play and Pay to Win, that was actually all I wanted to ramble about. 

Manage your resources and you get a lot. If you want an F2P game that has no aspects to generate money? Well go make one. Teach yourself how to do everything, consider how much time you spend on all that before even starting. And then not getting a single cent back. 

I also probably forgot half of what I wanted to say again, my body can’t keep up my big brains idk. 

[uh-e-rinnie]

drafting a tss rpg/fantasy au pt 1 (no actual plot yet, just for design purposes!), notes below

lowkey genshin inspired, even though i dont play the game cause i dont have time i watch a lot of vids

for context in my tiny tiny brain, i imagine that they aren't all born with magical powers (except actual magicians/descendants of magicians), i think its something that they are gifted with at some point in their lives by some all powerful being. or idk. im working on it. this is just a draft.

Roman would definitely be a sword user, was wondering if he'd have a greatsword but considering he has a katana in tss, a regular old sword should fit it. contemplating giving him a shield, probably would just cause of his emblem. Fit will be very princely, I want to say I'd give him fire-based powers but I'm also contemplating earth or light. Fighting style would be the usual close combat sword fighting, so a lot of upper body usage. A prince from a kingdom, rebelling against the "stay behind the walls and rule the kingdom from there" ways, seeking for the thrill of adventure. Probably our main damage guy

Logan would be a mage/magician for sure! His weapon would definitely be a spellbook that floats around him. Because of this I'd say he'd work well as a mid-position fighter, as his elemental powers might be able to go both long and short range. Thinking electric powers for the teach. I'd think he'd be one of the smartest magic users from his kingdom/nation/'s academy.

My friend suggested I make Patton a catboy lmao. But, Patton would be either a summoner or a beast tamer! Anything that has to do with animals, with the ability to call upon his fluffy and feathery friends into battle or stand by his side. Maybe a species of human-animal hybrid that has a hunt-to-survive background, but after developing a bond with one of the monsters his kind usually hunt, he learns to befriend them. Possibly a bow user with some really good healing skills?

Bless this concept that came to me late in the night; Virgil is a non-human but human appearing creature, born where "dark and light meet". I'm on the fence if I should make him another magic user with a catalyst like Logan, or a rouge-support with dual blades or a polearm. Either way, I think a special ability he'd have is to morph into two other forms (1) that of a monstrous beast with claws and fangs (2) that of a bird-like creature that can speed through with ease (fight or flight, am i right?). As a side-effect of these abilities, he has wings on his back in his normal form, and hands with sharper claws that match his monster form.

Janus is a magician as well, but use it more as a tool in his main gig which is alchemy. After all that's a lot of work and could needs some extra hands, which Janus just so happens to know how to make through his magic. Ofc his weapon is gonna be a cane, the magic and potion part is his main method of fighting. Human-Animal hybrid, snake. His backstory I'm still not too sure what to do with, other than he's a man that you look at and it just screams mystery.

Remus is Roman's twin brother, a prince who abandoned the royal lifestyle in exchange for a more adventurous and chaotic one. A thrill for adrenaline, charging into fights and getting into mischief. Maybe a bit too much mischief. Either way, he loves the energy of the fight. The team's tank that hits like also hits like a truck! Gotta give this man his morning star, and maybe a really big real heavy looking shield. His powers probably have a big hand in his ability to take so much damage so easily.

Some notes for if and when i actually draw it.

Each character gets a specialized emblem

Gonna make them all pose like they are characters from a gacha roll thing

Each character is drawn individually!!! this is not a group piece!!! but then all the individual drawings can be put together like they are one piece

[dropintomanga]

I Give Up on Anime (Almost) - A Discussion on Anime vs. Manga

Over the past few years, I started to enjoy anime a lot less than I used to. I used to watch quite a bunch of anime series around 2013-2015. Since then, my anime viewing has went down to almost zero while my manga consumption increased steadily. I sometimes felt I was the only person left behind as almost all my friends and peers talk about what’s hot and not each and every new anime season.

I don’t know if it was a sheer coincidence, but I found a Reddit manga thread that spoke to me and maybe some other people. A user on the platform honestly asked “Is anyone else literally unable to watch anime since you got into manga?”

The premise behind the post was that the user felt like anime takes too long to get going while in a few short minutes, plot development in manga ramps up. There were about 750+ comments chiming into the discussion. A majority of fans do feel that anime wasn’t worth their time as manga is still serialized even when a 12-24 episode anime season ends. Some fans feel that a lot of anime adaptations tend to be subpar. There’s also still the argument that anime adaptations are just advertisements for the source material that is the manga. Some discussion about clever usage of manga panels telling a quicker story was mentioned as well. And of course, multiple fillers is another big reason for fans’ preference of manga over anime.

But when I think about the argument about anime adaptations being ads, isn’t that a good thing? This is true especially in America, where most fans tend to read/buy manga after noticing how hot an anime series is. In Japan, a decent number of manga sells well before an anime adaptation is announced. However, even constant “ads” become annoying over time when the novelty wears off.

It doesn’t mean that certain series are necessarily better as manga though. The best example I can give is Gintama. Sunrise, the studio behind the anime adaptation, goes balls-out on the series. I love how all the Gintama voice actors take so much pride in their roles. I sometimes find Hideaki Sorachi’s art to be lacking in certain areas and Sunrise helps to enhance it. It’s funny because reading chapters of the Gintama manga made me enjoy seeing its eventual anime adaptation. I think it depends of the kind of series you want as anime. I don’t think every seinen series should be anime as a good number of them are much slower-paced even if there’s action. Certain slice-of-life series (Yotsuba&!, a much-demanded series for an anime adaptation, comes to mind here) might have pacing issues when put on a TV screen versus a drawing board. 

Someone on the Reddit thread did point out a potential elephant in the room - isekai light novel adaptations. Isekai is pretty much everywhere and a lot of the series aren’t always of the best quality. But so many fans worldwide eat it up because of fantasy tropes. I remember reading a convention recap of New York Comic-Con one year and the writer, who is a manga reviewer, of that recap noted that while waiting inside a panel room for a manga panel, he went through a Sword Art Online panel. The writer found it somewhat depressing that there were a ton more fans at the SAO panel compared to the manga panel that happened later. I think he said what he said because the lovable diversity of manga titles out there is being passed over for an isekai series whose reception gets divisive pretty fast.

What to say about fantasy tropes? I remember trying out one of the hottest video games today, Genshin Impact. After playing it for a few hours, I just gave up and that’s not because of the gacha mechanics. I wasn’t invested in the story as it sounds like stuff I’ve heard over and over again. Genshin Impact plays up fantasy anime tropes that I’m mostly over at my age.

I think maybe my mind is not satisfied by tropes that are just easily rehashed. However, that kind of thinking has been challenged at times. For starters, I really enjoy Kaguya-sama: Love is War. I don’t like romantic comedies, but the way the story is told in Kaguya-sama and how it gives every character a good amount of emotional depth has left me impressed. The serious stories being jumbled in reminds me so much of Gintama.

Maybe the real elephant in the discussion is the usage of common tropes and how often they’re used to cater to the lowest common denominator. I know manga can be guilty of this, but anime adaptations make them a lot more visible. That’s because most people would prefer watching anime a lot more than reading manga. Anime is a more mainstream form of media. You need to appeal to those fans a lot more as they bring in more money via other means (The Demon Slayer: Mugen Train movie is a big case of this right now) than just manga volumes. 

Combine that with how consuming anime is more passive than reading a manga and you may have fans who just don’t stop and think about the media they consume. I sometimes feel that anime production committees view fans as mindless consumers of media and only think of them as such. I also wonder if fans reinforce that thinking since corporations enable them to do so.

Honestly, I think in my case, when you learn something that’s outside your comfort zone, you start to come down with uncomfortable truths. I’ll admit that there’s a little cognitive dissonance, but I’ve accepted that my mind has changed. Maybe I was never much of an anime fan in the first place. Maybe I realized watching anime takes up much of my time. A lot of folks stay away from certain truths since people are afraid to admit that they may be wrong about certain things. This is what happens when you begin to understand more about the psychology of crowds/groups and public opinion. I like being in solitude to reflectively gather my thoughts. Being outside of a “popular” group doesn’t subject you to certain cognitive bias that can become damaging over time.

I watched a panel featuring the digital manga service Mangamo and one of its executive editors said that he’s always been more of a manga guy. He said he doesn’t watch much anime with some exceptions (Japan Sinks 2020 was a relevant example, he gave). I’m still going to watch anime series here and there because hey, I got to preach some notable series worth everyone’s time.

I know I’m talking out of my butt here, but I feel that discussing a topic like “why manga over anime?” and vice versa (in a way that doesn’t become a shouting match) is warranted. Hell, I think it’s best to discuss both at the same time. It’s conversations like this that develop into newer insights. I wish more people realize that despite whatever you prefer, anime and manga are very much yin and yang to each other. I think experiencing both anime and manga worlds lead to a better appreciation and understanding of why Japanese pop culture media fascinates us and will continue to do so.

[iiasha-archived]

genshin anon! finally lol. i keep meaning to respond - tab has been open with your last response for two weeks now... lol. oh i put a lot of work into my weapons. especially if i use them a lot. oo the 20k+ is nice though! apparently i have hu tao built semi decently so when she gets a vaporize crit it goes quite well for me haha. yeah agree. and they have updates every 6 weeks. yeah not every update is the biggest thing ever but like... its okay. no need to rush. game development takes time.

hihihi lmao again no worries!

(2/5) oh oops I spend several hours a day on the game (when i have time). to be fair, i genuinely enjoy going into coop and finding lower ar people to help with bosses and world exploration and stuff. so i can spend a long time doing that. i know i appreciated the help when i was low. plus its fun to get to chat with others occasionally. oh yeah genshin def ripped off of botw very well lol. they took botw's complaints and went yeah i can fix that. but then made it gacha.

(3/5) i saw you say you have c6 noelle now lol. i am so so sorry ): you did get keqing though? was that on the banner? so are you guaranteed the banner character next beCAUSE ZHONGLI RERUN YES. oh yeah it was so cool seeing everyone! bennett and razor were just adorable i love that friendship. loved getting to see albedo again. hes like.. my fav and of course i missed him :/ rerun plz.. ahh yeah a lot of the claymores are more for their skills i guess. except razor. so i get that.

(4/5) i also tend to use the elemental stuff a bit more but just idk claymores are SO SLOW and im just not overly fond. oh yeah polearms do less damage ahha. i like their fighting styles though. theyre faster and just idk it just -works- for me. oh that is SO CUTE they wear friendship tassels )': ooo yeah the rosaria/kaeya/diluc trio is quite fun. would def love to see more of them! rosaria grew a lot on me over 1.4 and seeing her... not be so rude all the time... lol.

(5/5) also im super excited, i did end up pulling childe! IT WAS SO CRAZY. I DID THE MAGICAL TWO 5*S IN A ROW. mona decided to give me c1 because i can never win the 50/50 and then childe was like its okay i know youve been working your butt off getting everything ready for me so here you go <3 and like )': i love him lol his playstyle is so fun and he works great with hu tao. also got rosaria and fischl (who i didnt have) which is great! were you pulling on childes banner at all or just saving?

ALSO thoughts on the 1.5 stuff??? I haven't gotten to watch completely everything yet but it all sounds so good! Zhongli rerun!!! And the housing thing seems super cool? And lower resin for weekly bosses! New world boss too! All the events seem pretty interesting as well so I'm pretty excited! -genshin anon (pretty sure tumblr still only lets you send 5 anon asks an hour or else i would've added this earlier lol)

genshin anon. lol it's okay! everyone is free to like whatever characters they want! yeah diona is.. not involved at all. although she is getting a hangout in 1.5! might be the first one i actually do. her story is pretty sad though from reading all of her profile. yeah you with noelle was me with diona. i was so mad at her at first since i pulled her like... 10 times on xiaos banner. after i got over it i tried her out and now i love her. also its okay! i took like two weeks to respond :P

but omg how do you have tabs open for two weeks.... i get stressed if i don’t leave my computer with everything closed LMAO. i mean yeah it definitely makes sense to put a lot of work into weapons bc they can be used by multiple characters so they’re a good investment!! i should start thinking about that as well......

nice!!! i’m guessing you’re having a good time with hu tao then eh :D my xiao is. okay lmao probably not doing the damage as expected of him but eh whatever <3 

if i’m like really in the mood i can invest a couple hours but most days it takes some self-convincing to even log in asfjdkldsaj like once i’m in the game it’s fine but for some reason the action of opening and loading it up is like hmm.... also most days by the time i do get to play i’m so exhausted from work </3 

omg that sounds fun!! personally i don’t like... playing with strangers that much afjdklasj so i tend to avoid co-op... but one of my friends might start playing genshin so i totally get what you mean about helping lower AR people with bosses and stuff because i wanna do that with her lmao :D 

lmao traded botw faults for the gacha system... you really can’t have it all unfortunately </3 speaking of botw my friend got my the expansion past like. literally last year lmao i’ve been meaning to play it. ugh i’m just so behind in general on all video games unless it’s genshin lmao

i wouldn’t have minded c6 noelle if i had GOTTEN ANYBODY ELSE WHEN I WAS PULLING ON THAT BANNER ;_____; like at least they could have given me a sucrose who i don’t have!!! but i did get keqing on my pity from that banner!! wait omg i didn’t realize that was how it works... i have a vague idea but if that’s true YES ZHONGLI PLEASE COME HOME GOD PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE i’m 100% skipping childe’s banner for zhongli sorry dude ajkdlfaj

ahhh yes getting to see albedo was nice too!!! even if only for a bit hehe it’s nice how they tried to rope in all the mondstadt characters somehow (except. diona jaklsdfja) 

okay mood. i love chongyun to bits but i admit after maining xiao for a while i’m definitely like why is chongyun so... slow asjfkldj but that’s literally just how it works </3 and same about rosaria!!!! she was still pretty like.... moody idk but she’s definitely better when she’s not just being straight up mean lmao

OMG CONGRATS!!!!! you seem to have much better gacha luck than me LMAOOO i envy that but i’m so glad you got everyone you wanted!!! and nah now that zhongli is definitely confirmed i’m DEFINITELY saving for him like actually the last time it was childe than zhongli’s banner was when i just started playing and i wasted all my beginner primogems on childe not knowing who was coming next........ i’m not making that mistake again LMAO

i didn’t watch the livestream but i did see the trailer and AHHHHHHH SO EXCITED omg with the housing i thought we were just getting a house but no it looks like they’re giving us a WHOLE FUCKING VILLAGE like as if i didn’t spend enough time in this game they’re introducing this like you KNOWWWW the hours about to be put into customizing our little house/villages.... 

ohhh i didn’t see the thing about resin!!! wow they really are giving it all. the previews for inazuma were also super pretty!!! and while the new characters have been known for a while this teaser definitely made me more excited for them hehe eula is so prettyyy

and yayyyy diona hangout! is she the only one coming in this version? but i’m glad to see they’ll probably add hangouts for all the characters (or at least the less story-critical ones like zhongli already has his story quest so idk if he’d get a hangout). it’s just nice to see more love given to those characters hehe <3

[smokeybrand]

First Impact

I’m not a fan of the Gacha. Never have been. I hate the RNG in my AAA titles like that weird Ultimate team sh*t in my sports games or the skin lottery in shooter titles. I don’t mind paying for extra content if there’s value in my play through but I'm a solo runner. I love solo games. If you got a DLC addition, a dope skin for party characters, or a way to enhance the gameplay loop, or some overpowered weapon for sale, I'll consider that. The second you put these types of mechanics in a multiplayer game or force the player into supplementing the vanilla gameplay loop with paid unlocks, you done f*cked up. I absolutely hate that sh*t. It’s why i bailed on the NBA 2K franchise after 2018. I love hoop. I love that game. I love My Player. But f*ck all that noise, i got two years to win as many titles as i can before the servers crash? Fine. Why the f*ck does it take me eight months and years in-game to grind out to a ninety rating then? It doesn’t have to, of course, as long as i spend another hundred or so dollars in stat points. I know. I did the math. I paid that loot for probably three or four years because f*ck the grind. I can afford it so why not? An then the caps came. That type of sh*t is where you lose me. If you’re going to force me to pay for this game two or three times over, i better become a Basketball God. Nope. In some title, you can’t even reach level ninety-nine, let alone one hundred. It’s designed that way so you can buy temporary boosts to get you over that hump. Constantly with the temporary boots because f*ck the consumer, right? That type of sh*t is f*cked up. Genshin Impact has f*cked up.

If you’ve followed this blog long enough, then you know i play two Gacha games pretty religiously; Azur Lane and Fate/Grand Order. I play these games, not because they’re good, but because i genuinely love the respective franchises. I’ve written at length about my love for all things Fate and have a pretty substantial collection of love letters to the Iron Blood faction in Azur Lane. The former is everything i ever wanted out of the Fate series. It’s kind of a greatest hits of the entire Type-Moon stable and i dig that. The narratives therein are all very Nasu and, considering I've been on this tragedy train since it was just porn, I'm in for the long haul. It’s wild seeing how far this franchise has come. My love for Azur Lane is a bit more shallow. I just like the designs, particularly Prinz Eugen. She’s my Morded for the admittedly inferior series. That said, Azur Lane is a better gaming experience than FGO. Neither one is a real f*cking game but i have my reasons for staying and have definitely grown to love them, which is why i am so conflicted about Genshin.

Everything i love about FGO and Azur Lane, the reasons i keep coming back to those games even though i know they’re Gacha trash, i find in Genshin Impact. Like, i adore Fischl. I love her design and her play style. She’d be my Mordred if i actually played this thing. I’m a fan of the narrative delivered so far. Genshin is an actual, honest-to-god, good game. It champions an immersive world, one chock full of lore to buttress the grind, and had fantastic support. This thing plays like an open world, action RPG a la Tales, and I'm here for all that. Tales is probably my third favorite RPG franchise so this sh*t is right up my alley. The Gacha aspects were even borderline forgivable considering the free content available at the start. For all intents and purposes, this is how you develop a successful Gacha. This is how you walk that fine line between profitability and predatory. For a whole year, Genshin did that high wire act very well. After that anniversary, they definitely fell off the trapeze.

Genshin made two billion dollars in their first year, decided that was enough loot, and went full EA with their bullsh*t. What was once an attentive, interactive, executive community, has become the very worst of corporate shills. They’re erasing negative comments from forums and outright banning the most vocal of critics. miHoYo has decided to put that profit over the player base, the absolute opposite of their intent, a year ago. I was already on the fence about playing the thing because of it’s strong ties to the CCP but after this? Hard pass. These people have decided to just f*ck all of the players with sh*tty drops and insanely predatory mechanics during Genshin’s first anniversary event. An anniversary event in a Gacha game is a time of player appreciation. They cash you out with a bunch of premium currency and offer special skins or characters as a thank you to their fans for, you know, making them two billion dollars. miHoYo went in a different direction and tied all of that sh*t behind the worse RNG the game has seen so far. For players, this was the last straw and they are not only leaving, but review bombing the sh*t out of this game. It’s so bad, other Gacha titles are getting hit with Genshin hate shrapnel.

My beloved FGO has taken a hit because of this miHoYo f*ck up. People are leaving terrible ratings and then, in their comments, literally telling Genshin to f*ck off. miHoYo has released a rancid cloud of diarrhea in the pool and now every one is getting covered in sh*t. It’s wild to me because, as a game, Genshin is really good. I was so close to signing up because the quality was unheard of in Gacha. I watched a few playthroughs and the sh*t looked fun. It looked like a real game. There were fantastic production values and proper game mechanics. There were RPG elements and a forgiving grind to a certain cap. Now, the f*cking thing is broken, full of bugs, and eating player’s money in a near unresponsive roll; All things that started filtering in after the first six months. After that solid word of mouth started rolling around. After people bought into Genshin’s absurd quality. miHoYo hit everyone with the long con, bait-and-switch, only it did not go as smoothly as they wanted. The backlash has been insane and i think this might be the opening salvo to the fall of Genshin Impact.

Genshin Impact has a solid fan base in China who will support the f*ck out of it because of their fervent Nationalism and there are enough Genshin zealots worldwide to keep it in the top ten. Plus, sh*tty mechanics and slipping quality aside, it’s still a pretty solid f*cking game. That said, a lot more people have been pissed about Genshin for a lot longer than the current misstep and that vitriol is spilling out into the pubic eye for the first time. miHoYo has kind of sensed this and given the players apology bundles but that doesn’t matter. I think at least here in the States, outside of the die hard Genshin coomers, people are kind of over this game. Like me, there were already a great many individuals out there who were hesitant with this title to begin with and, after this anni sh*t, we were proven correct. Genshin Impact is no different from the worst examples of these games. They are Battlefront II. They are NBA 2K. They are everything we suspected but hoped they wouldn’t be. I really wanted to like this game. I really wanted to lay it. If this was a proper AAA title, i would have. Sell this thing as a ten to twenty dollar outing, and I'm all in. But the greed of miHoYo has f*cked that up and, maybe, f*cked up the entire Gacha game. Time will tell.