#also for the 2DS its not technically needed because all 2DS's are old and all 2DSXL's are new

[three-dee-ess]

what does o3ds mean /genq

there are 2 3DS eras, the original/old 3DS (consoles without the cstick) and the new 3DS, (consoles with the cstick)

they look different, have different hardware ect, but they run the same games. the n3DS is generally more stable (largely because they are newer) but they are more expensive. Also typically people just got the o3DS because the old/new naming convention confused a lot of people.

old 3DS vs New 3DS

also to be completely clear, the o in o3DS is not part of the "official" name or anything, its just there to differentiate it from 3DS's as a whole. the n3DS and o3DS have different hardware so separating the two during discussions can sometimes be important

[sobredunia]

tell me about Fez, please, im looking through your blog and like, i am intrigued

please click read more for an unskippable cutscene

ALRIGHT SO.

FEZ is an indie game created by a (now hated on the internet) guy called Phil Fish. If you wanna find out why he's hated do your own research this isn't about him it's about his videogame

It came out on april 13th of 2012 (yes. homestuck day. i know), and it sold over a million copies by the end of 2013. I've tried finding how many copies have been sold up to this day in total but didn't find anything, but the general gist is that it was pretty much an instant hit, and people absolutely loved it, working together to solve its intricate puzzles even to this day. Yes, there are mysteries hidden in here that an entire community of dedicated fans still hasn't found the solution to 11 years later

(tiny warning here, do not play this game if you have motion sickness or are severely affected by rapidly changing images, there are whole areas that are a doozy to play through. Please stay safe!)

Gameplay

Fez has a singular core mechanic that remains unchanging throughout the entire course of the game, and that is the ability to change perspectives

this is what the game looks like, a 2d pixelated landscape with tons of beautiful colors

but.

this is what the game also looks like

that's right, baby, this shit's actually in 3d

you use this change of perspective nonstop throughout your adventure, to cross gaps like demonstrated in the gif, or to simply access places you couldn't in that current perspective. There are other tiny mechanics that get added, like invisible platforms, crates and buttons, bombs, timed platforms that disappear... they add a bit of flavor, but the main mechanic is always there

There's also a really big emphasis on puzzles towards the latter half of the game, but I'll get more into it later

Story motivations

Your name is Gomez, you are a tiny little guy living in a cozy 2d village that you have never ever left. One day, an old man named Geezer sends you a letter asking you to climb to the top of the village. There, a giant fucking cube appears outta nowhere, teleports you to a satanic ritual, then to the vaccum of space, speaks to you in a strange language you cannot understand, and gives you a free hat. Oh and also he explodes or something

After you're given the hat, the fez, you discover that the world is actually in 3d, and you can now change perspectives. You unlock the core mechanic

After that, you wake up in your room with the fez still on your head, and a being in 4d called Dot is sent from who knows where to tell you that the cube that gave you the hat is called Hexahedron, is actually technically kinda god, and you fucking killed him. Now, your mission is to pick up its 64 pieces and reconstruct him

You see all those tiny golden cubes? You have to collect 8 of them to make a bigger cube, and you need to collect 32 of those

Now hold on, I hear you ask, didn't you just say that you need to collect 64 pieces? Why are you changing your mind and saying 32?

Because, my dear friend, there is another type of cube that you have to also collect

These are called anticubes. Y'know, "a negative for every positive" type of stuff. You have to also collect 32 of those

The main difference between an anticube and a normal cube is that they aren't broken into 8 pieces, when you find one it'll be whole. You can also sometimes encounter full golden cubes btw, but they're rarer than its normal tiny pieces that you collect. Another main difference is that these cubes are much, much harder to find, and I'll go into detail in the next section

There's also this one hub area, with four doors that will only open once you have enough cubes (anticubes also count)

Once you open the door with 16 cubes, you'll enter this one town filled with people that aren't quite like you. In there there's yet another door that will open when you get 32 cubes, so get to gathering motherfucker, you got a long way ahead of you

Puzzles (anticube edition)

When you collect that first anti cube, there is no going back. The floodgates have opened and you are now too deep in. You know too much. You must see this to the very end, for better and especially for the worse

The puzzles in fez are actually surprisingly varied when it comes to difficulty and accessibility. Most likely, the first anticube you'll find will be in this one room. You'll scan the qr code and do the instructions it says, and then the horror of your new life will begin

But this is just the tip of the iceberg, because BOY OH BOY are anticubes convoluted to find in some cases

Sometimes you'll get them by solving relatively easy puzzles, like this one

others will require a bit more thinking, like this one

and then we have the hardest ones where you'll have to learn how to read words, numbers, and commands in the FEZ language

and these arent even the hardest bullshit puzzles the game will pull at you. it gets worse. it gets so much worse

Game ending

Surprisingly enough, you can get a game ending with just 32 cubes. In fact, it is literally impossible to get the 64 cube ending without the 32 cube one unless you have outside help, you know the answer to all puzzles, or you somehow get extremely lucky in a very specific number of rooms

Behind the 32 cube door there's a giant gate that, and I shit you not, teleports you into fucking space

Aliens are canon in the fez lore and they look like squids

Once you reach the top of the alien temple fucking thing, you enter an eye(?) and there you meet the shell of god, the Hexahedron. Since you haven't gathered all 64 cubes, it fails to reconstruct, and it breaks down. This part is pretty dangerous for people with epilepsy, by the way, as there's rapidly changing black and white colors. The 64 cube ending is a bit easier in the eyes, but yeah, just a heads up

In the 32 cube ending, you get sent back home, and you see how the town gets more and more pixelated. Then you see a weird sequence that's like those videos of people really zooming in into things and you see the particles and microscopic stuff?? idk. and then you see Gomez playing the drums :D

After that, you wake up in your room, still with your Fez, and the same sequence at the start of the game plays out. You go to the top of the village, Geezer summons a giant fucking cube, you meet god, but instead of getting another fez, you get cool glasses, that allow you to finally solve a batch of puzzles you couldn't see before and you can finally gather the last anticubes

In the 64 cube ending, the Hexahedron reforms correctly, and instead of zooming in, it zooms out. You see that your world is a tiny cube next to many tiny cubes, and then those tiny cubes form a 4d entity that looks just like Dot, and then those many Dots next to eachother zoom out until they're nothing but static, and then it looks like a tv is turned off, and then the credits roll

They're both very strange endings, and definitely not what a lot of players expected or wanted, but what can you do

Puzzles (hell edition)

NOW.

You thought that was the end?

You thought you could simply walk away scot free?

You thought that this game had no more last "fuck you"s up in its arse?

You thought fucking wrong

Because you know that something's not right

Because you're in too deep

You've played this far. You've scrolled this far.

You have to see how this ends

You have to tie up the last loose ends

You see this? This is the game's map. It actually has a really clever design! Not only are the icons for the areas cubes, but you can also change perspectives like how you do in-game! Pretty cool, right? There are also some small indicators you can see on the bottom left. They mark if you've left any cubes, bits, treasures, or locked doors. They also mark any secrets you might have left! And they turn golden once you've found everything there is in that room, including secrets

If you were normal (let's imagine that for a bit, okay?) and you got the 64 cube ending, that's it, right? You've gathered every cube, you've gathered every map (you need them to get all cubes), you've gotten every key and opened every locked door, that should be it, right? You have everything the game asked you to have, so the whole map should be golden, right?

...right?

No! :D you fucking fool, you poor summer child

In fact, there are three rooms left. Three rooms left with a secret symbol next to them, and one other special room

First, we'll talk about the special room

Once you gather 64 cubes, you'll be able to open a door hidden on an unsuspecting island and access this one special room

kinda weird, right? It has a tileset that appears nowhere else in the game, same with its background. There's also a strange transparent heart over it? Strange

Now, the three ungolden rooms

First, the observatory, the room with the easiest puzzle, at least in comparison with the other two

Second, you have whatever the fuck this is. In order to solve this one, you HAVE to know the Fez language, no ifs or buts. Not only that, but there's a high chance that you were reading the language the wrong way, so in order to have the remote chance to solve this mf you'll have to git gud and realise the error of your ways

And last, but definitely not least

The most infamous room in the entire game aside from maybe the heart room previously shown

This cunt

These three are the hardest challenges the game has to offer, no exaggeration. And also, the first two rooms can be solved at any point of your adventure, but for the third one you HAVE to have completed the 32 cube ending, no workarounds

Now, how to solve them?

If you go to the observatory at night, you'll notice two red blinking stars in the corner. They're speaking in binary code, with one being 1 and the other being 0. Then, that binary has to be translated into a buncha diff languages to be decoded, and once you're done you'll be left with a set of commands that you'll enter in the observatory to get a special red cube that not even Dot, the motherfucker in 4 dimensions that knows things beyond our comprehension, knows what it is

For the second room in fez language, you'll need to answer a question with the cubes provided to you. It's a weird thing where you have to mix this word with the name of the company who made the game, I don't know man. Once you've answered you'll get the second red cube

And now, the third room

Commonly denominated the black monolith room

Why is there no black monolith?

Because you have to make it appear

First, you have to get this burnt map

Behind it, there's a string of code that translates into commands

You need to get into the room, and use the special ability given to you in the 32 cube ending: first perspective mode

You'll have to stand in the tiny square inside this infinity symbol thing that doesn't have a line in it (basically, not the one the screenshot is looking at lol), and then you'll have to do the commands

Once you do it, the black monolith will appear

Okay, you did it

You put the code correctly

Now what?

This isn't a collectable. This isn't a red cube. This doesn't do anything. What is this? How do I solve this puzzle

You wanna know the answer?

Who fucking knows

No one knows the answer to this. No one knows how to solve this. The community solved this a week after launch by bruteforcing it. I shit you not they made a bot that spewed random fez inputs and people just tried them until they got the correct solution

No one knows how it's meant to be solved. To this day, people still go on the r/fez subreddit to give their theories on what the intended solution was meant to be

They have tried everything

The position of the candles, the boiler room, some other random ass rooms that look remotely similar to the black monolith room, a random shower room, it somehow being on a book in the game that's just filled with haikus??, some bullshittery mobius strip mental gymnastics, the other half of the code being in an abandoned airport in Arizona...

...whatever the fuck this is...

by far the most known theory was the release date theory

but that got disproven by one of the devs a few years ago

but anyways, we've already gone through insanity for long enough, it's time to be normal now

Once you've gathered all of the red pieces, they will appear in the heart room

that's it

we're done

.

..

...

....almost

there's a secret code

one that was actually intended to be datamined for once lmao

If you look at certain artifacts in the menu and you rotate them a certain way in a certain order, the heart will vanish and the screen will turn white

you'll be sent back to the menu, and if you load that save file and go back into the temple...

there will be nothing waiting for you there

that, my friend, is the true end of Fez

You wanted to know too much, you wanted to learn everything, to the point of wanting to tear open a creation that took blood, sweat, tears, and five years to complete. And now there is nothing. You ignored the game's boundaries of only wanting to let you know this much, and now the game is empty, the love is gone, and there is nothing left for you here

You can leave now, I hope you're satisfied

[laverrepalette]

tomorrow is engages second anniversary and it kinda irks me two years after the fire emblem game all about celebrating and advertising old fe games, they still havent bothered to put any of said old fe games on switch. like. what was. the point. then.

fire emblem on switch is so weirdly handled to me. you have the absolute masterpiece three houses being a big new wonderful amazing and passionate entry. you have engage which is a fun but very clearly low effort game thats here to celebrate fe history but not really be memorable, having its dlc rushed and the poorest sales of modern fe

and then its just like. "hey. you want SPIN OFFS"

-$60 warriors game + dlc

-second $60 warriors game

-a persona game that occasionally has chrom in it (wii u game which means they put the two screen porting effort into this over any 3ds fire emblem btw)

and for non spin offs after 3h/engage..

-that weird timed rerelease of fe1

-and uh. blazing blade is on the really pricy nso subscription i guess. binding blade is on the japanese one but nowhere else. they didnt bother to put sacred stones

like. its so. odd to me.

you cannot play fire emblem awakening on switch. you can play as awakening characters in warriors, use them as personas, play as them in smash, and use them as emblems. but you cant ACTUALLY PLAY FIRE EMBLEM AWAKENING on switch

i feel like bcuz the series has had so much success lately, its kinda being milked in the worst way possible

90% of this series is still lost media without emulation but we're just getting fed low budget spin off after spin off instead of just actually porting over the tellius and 3ds games

looking at series that sell less than fire emblem; xenoblade, pikmin, and bayonetta have their entire history and legacy on switch and can be enjoyed in full. but fire emblem, because its bigger, cannot do the same and instead has to be weirdly put on an advertising pedestal where we cannot actually get fe games but instead get fe characters in different games we dont want

and yeah yeah "pirate it" youre right. but i have a 2ds im fine. im just sad that the millions and millions of switch owners dont get access to most of fire emblem beyond 3h and engage, and im sad engage is advertising things you cant actually buy

this is also doubly bad bcuz 3h and engage are polar opposite games meant to be enjoyed for opposite reasons. HOWEVER it becomes extremely suffocating if you only enjoy one cause then thats your only option on switch! we need more options like nintendos other series have!!!

it also sucks because TECHNICALLY there are 5 fe games on switch on paper. even if three are spin offs and one is more of a celebratory advertisement. but because of this, nintendo youtubers and that bunch will be like "FIVE GAMES?? THE BIAS 😱😱😱 WHY DOES NINTENDO ONLY LIKE ANIME GAMES 😭😭😭 WHERES THE LOVE FOR DONKEY KONG AND F-ZERO" (donkey kong got a whole entire theme park recently btw)

like id say we have 1 and a half fe games on switch. engage doesnt reallyyyy fit the kind of shoes awakening and fates and 3h did. but its pretty suffocating because if you ask for more fe on switch youre gonna get the angriest man on earth with a captain falcon pfp calling you greedy

with the switch 2 showing we're with this library for the longrun, i really hope we can begin to get some more ACTUAL fire emblem on switch. not more spin offs. not games with fire emblem characters guest starring. ACTUAL FIRE EMBLEM SRPG GAMES PLEASE

but oh my goodness is it really that hard to just port path of radiance and radiant dawn to switch 😭 if you can put tokyo mirage sessions on switch you can put fire emblem awakening and fates on switch. cmon intsys and nintendo. please.

[otakween]

Digimon Tamers: Battle of Adventurers

Eh...gotta be honest, I found this pretty underwhelming. It had its moments, don't get me wrong, but the plot felt pretty generic and the ending was rushed. Still had fun, but the emotional investment was lacking.

Notes:

Reddit told me to watch this after episode 18, so I got the timing a little off, but I felt like it'd be good to watch prior to the digiworld episodes. The only timeline wonkiness is that this takes place before Culumon's kidnapping, which I've already seen, but that's fine.

In another moment of ~fate~ the movie begins with Guilmon dying of heat (not literally lol) and it was "feels like 101" where I am today so...can relate.

I was a pretty sheltered kid, so IDK how I would react to my parents making me travel by myself at 10...not that I'm against that, I just know 10 year old me woulda been a big crybaby about it.

Kinda weird that they gave us 2 title screens for this, one of which was just ripped from the TV show. The whole vibe was kind of a mixed bag in this, sometimes the animation felt pretty much the same quality as the show and sometimes it felt like they were stepping it up, not super consistent.

"Battle of Adventurers" is a pretty uninspired title. I feel like they could have either put something about Okinawa or the v-pet virus in the title instead so it would stand out a bit more...

Speaking of the V-Pet, I thought it was super charming with its crappy CGI lol. I totally would have fell for it in 2001. Kinda hard to believe that literally everyone downloaded it though (doctors, pilots, etc.) Or was it more like that one U2 album that was automatically distributed to everyone?

Guilmon begging to get out of the suitcase was stressful! How did he not suffocate? D: (do digimon even need to breathe?)

They really did the movie-only character (Minami) dirty this time. She had to be re-traumatized about her dead dog so many times! Just felt cruel...

All of the Okinawa cultural stuff was fun, especially the Okinawa-inspired digimon. If Digimon Go was a thing, you know they'd be region specific.

When Ruki's mom was like "oh, it's so comfortable flying on the plane!" I was like "okay, rich." That's the only explanation because flying economy is always a bad time.

Although a lot of the character animation was kinda meh, the battle animation is where this movie really shined. It was like little pockets of hype and there was a really good variety of enemy digimon. I was especially excited to see Anomalocarimon cuz it's been a minute and there was a lot of attention to detail with his bit.

Siesamon's design was really pretty, but I don't like his resting angry face. I wish they would have made his face more emotive because it kind of diminished some emotional moments...

There was one scene where it showed some buildings blowing up (because of the virus) and one of them suspiciously looked like a power plant...hopefully I'm wrong cuz oof...

Loved Mephismon's design, but with Gulfmon they did that thing that they did with VenomVamdemon where he has a second face by his crotch area...don't like that (although he is a centaur, so not technically his crotch)

There were some legit scary moments in this! The car crash scene was pretty violent and Minami screaming as she ran from the lasers also felt pretty intense for a kid's movie. (I haven't peeked at the dub yet, wondering if anything was cut)

I thought the final battle was weak as heck. Phase 1 took like 2 seconds and then phase 2 just felt kinda arbitrary like we were going through the motions. We did get a new attack though (trinity something or other). It felt kind of weird for them to just show that without any acknowledgement, but oh well. I'm sure it'll come back at some point. I was a little disappointed tbh because I thought they were doing some sort of 3-way jogress fusion

The shot with 3D MegaloGrowmon and 2D Rapidmon and Taomon was a glorious 2000s moment

IDK why but it gave me Power Rangers vibes

Yeah so this felt pretty disposable, they tried to kind of tie things to Digimon Adventure with Omegamon and Apocalymon, but the connection was pretty vague and forced. I rather Tamers just be separate without the callbacks

While I'm a big fan of short runtimes, I do wonder if this one could have benefitted from being a little longer, just to let things breath more

[ginger-snaps014]

Just been thinking about all the Snow White/Rachel Zegler controversy, and I can’t help getting annoyed at all the pop feminism takes that seem to disregard the value and cultural impact of older female representation

1. Cultural Impact Remaining

This film came out in 1937. Nearly a century ago. Roosevelt was president. The new deal was being negotiated. Amelia Earhart disappeared. The Hindenburg went down. Ernest Hemingway was around. The Golden Gate Bridge opened. The Spanish Civil war was happening. Picasso was still alive and painting. The Great Depression is ongoing. Would War II just started in Europe with the Nazis invading Poland 3 months prior to Snow White’s release date. All these thing feel historical. Old. No longer directly related to our everyday lives. They are just history. Yet- Snow White is their contemporary. And it was so well done that it remains a current cultural touchstone in America and the majority of the western world (if not the entire world). Everyone can recognize Snow even if they never saw the movie. More kids recognize Snow White than the president.

2. Film Impact

Have you ever enjoyed a single animated film in your life. Thank Snow White. She is the first animated film in history. Snow was called Disney’s Folly while in production because no one thought a feature length animated movie could succeed. It was considered impossible. Disney and his team figured out how to create scenes that could be zoomed in on by separating different layers on individual glass plates that could be focused on or blurred by a downward pointed camera. This also made it possible to avoid redrawing a background for every image. They had to create new filming equipment for this to even occur. The film was a masterpiece in innovation. And that was just looking at the technical side.

3. Artistic Value

While the art cannot be separated from the technical aspects, it deserves its own bullet point. The character design was so well done that Snow is still singular and recognizable today. We can even see when just her silhouette is used for inspiration.

The art is so beautiful it still looks good today. Unlike other films which feel like they belong in a different era due to degrading. This 1930s classic still feels as it could have been during my childhood with the Disney renaissance movies. It hasn’t aged poorly like a lot of CGI films have. It’s art. Age means nothing.

Disney and his team created new artistic techniques. Analyzing how movement of clothing did not stop swaying when the character stopped. Creating the ball emotion practice where an artist had to give a ball a full span of emotions with no facial features. They changed the style of animation to be more realistic (at the time, the look was more similar to Betty boop).

Just watch the scene when the Dwarfs hold the candle while walking up the cottage stairs looking for the person who broke into their home. The way the shadows flicker and cling to every surface. As if alive. As if real. It is one of the most gorgeous pieces of 2d animation I have ever seen. And it was the first.

4. Bad Pop-Feminism Takes

Pop feminism became popular in the early 00’s and focused on bringing down cultural touchstones that failed to bring girlboss energy. While some of this analysis was helpful, most was rooted in snap judgement and internalized misogyny. Snow White is the story of a young heroine who is about to be considered a woman. She is a victim of physiological and emotional domestic abuse at the hands of her guardian. A guardian who is not only the most powerful person in th household, but the whole kingdom. A guardian who tries have the girl brutally killed. Snow is forced to leave the only home she knows, with no friends, food, water, shelter, etc. While on her own and lost, she finds a home. She finds a place that has a need to fill. And proves her value. Yes it’s a domestic role. But this character creates for herself a job, and earns shelter, food, water, and allies. Her value is so undeniable that Dwarfs take her in despite the most power person in the kingdom hunting her. A person so influential no one even has the ability to confront her so long as she is not in disguise (and likely do not have the bravery either). Yes Snow is beautiful, but that alone did not get her safety. She never lets what she suffered stop her from living with kindness. When this victim of abuse is targeted again, her allies come to her aid. So what if a domestic abuse victim needed outside help to win? Why is it wrong to ask for help? Shouldn’t we want people to be able to ask and receive help when needed - without being thought of as less? Also, why is domestic labor less valuable than swordplay? It’s a necessity in life. So long as media portrays multiple types of femininity (domestic and not), why should one be worth less other? Because it is not historically male? What crap. Domestic labor has value. And that value should be made clear when both men and women perform it. The non-consensual kiss is a valid criticism. The rest seems like an excuse to hate recognizable aspects of femininity.

5. Personal

I will admit I am biased. This was the film I watched every time I visited my grandmother. It holds a special place in my heart. But I doubt I am the only one who has an emotional tie to the film. And love is always important

6. Timeless Tale

This story ahas been retold and updated many, many times. That would not happen if it had no value. To disregard Snow as a whole because you don’t connect to the 1930s version seems foolish and small minded. After all that is a mere retelling itself.

[justmoveyourhand]

I don't need to see characters pores. I don't need to see individual hair follicles. I don't care if my characters dumb cost keeps clipping through their legs. Especially because it doesn't matter; in 10 years, it will look dated anyway. Hyperstylize over trying to capture realism. I mean crap, look how good borderlands 2 still looks. That was an early 360/PS3 game, and it still looks wonderful. Look at Dishonored, same exact situation (though a little strange, it feels right). Hell, look at Pokemon. BDSP may technically be graphically superior, but everyone I've spoken to prefers DPPt, because it has Personality.

I think this fixation AAA studio have on graphical quality has also helped popularize Indy titles. Devs spending months fiddling with a lighting engine slows development, so you pick up this tiny game you've never seen before to fill the time, only for it to change your view on something forever. Sure, it might have been a simple 2D puzzle that looks like it came right off the SNES, but that didn't matter. It was gorgeous, and it's art style was a key part of its identity. And, more importantly, it isn't taking up 1/3 of your hard drive. You can hear the melancholic soundtrack without having to max out volume to drown out your whirring fans. As gaming has gotten more popular but more people move away from consoles, accessibility has gotten to be a priority. When everyone was running on 1 of 3-4 major consoles, it was easy to know your limits. Now, with the nigh infinite array of computer setups, ranging from $3k Bitcoin mining rigs to "my old college laptop" trying to be gamed on, specs are a slap in the face. Nothing feels worse than finding the perfect game, checking all your boxes, exactly what you need right now....but your computer can't keep up.

And it's there in the gameplay, too

Small stories become more appealing, as AAA lean more into pvp-first, battlepass infested repetition. And don't get me wrong, there's a place for all of that. I love to grind out a little LoL here and there, I'm loving marvel Rivals right now..but God I hate that I can be in a dedicated gaming store and there are maybe 3 co-op games on the shelves. That there are no RPGs that aren't either part of a 30 year franchise or mobile-game-level horny baiting (looking at stellar blade here). Indies, you can find anything. Weird RPGs that crush your soul like Omori. Shovel Knight, one of the best platformers we've seen in decades. Hades, which I hold responsible for reinvigorating rougelikes in the mainstream.

I'm just rambling and this point. But I wish games could focus less on tech specs, and more on the games again.

this is a controversial opinion and I’m not a gamer but I don’t need my graphics to be that good. I don’t need to see every individual feather on a bird. my poor computer doesn’t deserve to carry that weight either.

[go-go-devil]

what is your favorite classic sonic game and favorite modern sonic game? also if you like, mania can be grouped with the classic games :]

I already gave an answer to my favorite classic game, so I'll answer this portion with my second favorite classic Sonic game: Sonic CD!

Or more specifically the 2011 remaster made by Christian Whitehead. I never got to play the original Sega CD release nor the Sonic Gems Collection version, but honestly I don't need to because this remains the best version of the game to play and may very well be the best remaster of any video game ever! It not only enhances the visuals and gameplay speed, but also lets you pick between the Japanese and American soundtracks + giving you the option to play as Tails!

The only aspect of the game that puts it slightly (and I mean VERY slightly) below Sonic 3K for me is because I need to be in a certain mood to get fully immersed in this game's level design. It's more vertical and chaotic than the smoothly paced greatness that is 3K's zones, but when I'm in the mood to explore and embrace the zaniness of it all it truly is one of the best and most unique platforming experiences out there ✨

(Also the Japanese OST is the best Sonic soundtrack ever made and one of the best in all of gaming imo)

Now as for my favorite modern Sonic game...

Oh yeah, I'm so predictable and I don't care 😎

I consider SA2 to be the last of the "Classic Era" of Sonic games, but by the franchise's technical definitions of what differentiates classic from modern Sonic this would technically be a "Modern Sonic" game due to Sonic's gameplay and design here. Honestly I hate what Sega did by separating the 2D and 3D games into different universes since I think it's kinda lame and takes away the connected storyline the series once had (something even Sonic Generations didn't tamper with for its crossover).

But anyway, my love for SA2 goes beyond mere nostalgia. For me this game will always be the series's flawed masterpiece; a game that put so much effort into every single component of its level design and story that, while not always hitting the landing, still provided us with a truly unforgettable experience.

To me this game not only remains the best controlling and most consistently entertaining 3D Sonic game, but also the last Sonic game that truly put the effort into EVOLVING the mechanics from the previous game.

This point might piss some people off, but really think about it. When was the last time a mainline Sonic game, not counting the handhelds, which both fixed the fundamental flaws of its predecessor and added onto them in new and meaningful ways?

Sonic Heroes's team-based mechanics were dropped immediately for Shadow the Hedgehog's morality system and gun gameplay, which too was quickly dropped by the next game. Sonic 06 tried and failed spectacularly to continue the Adventure formula. The Storybook games aren't mainline games but there are many who are divisive on whether Black Knight truly fixed most of the issues of Secret Rings.

Even the boost games didn't do this. Colors only removed the added gameplay mode of Unleashed's werehog levels without actually changing the automation of boosting, and Generations only separated the 2.5D and 3D gameplay without changing the boost formula either. Lost World created a brand new parkour system that was never touched by any future games ever again. Rise of Lyric's puzzle and beat-em-up elements were never attempted again. Sonic Forces went back to the boost formula with zero tweeks to the gameplay, and Frontiers made everything open world and seemed to reinvent the formula AGAIN.

I don't care if I sound old school at this point, this series has developed a major identity problem. For me SA2 will always be the true sendoff for the Golden Age of the blue hedgehog because it was the last game that was allowed to grow and take chances before Sega put Sonic Team and its future games in a capitalistic stranglehold. Even the boost trilogy will never compare to this one for me because, as polished as those games are, their gameplay and stories just don't appeal to me nearly as much as this amazing game 💙🖤

[thenewblu]

Budget Gaming: Making the Case for the *Old* 3DS/2DS in 2024 and beyond

Playing video games in 2024 is more expensive than ever. More so if you’re looking to purchase a new video game system. In a time where there are constantly new games coming out, that are more expensive and more monetized than previously thought possible, I want to make the case for the 3DS. The original 3DS not the models with the “New” designation. Not only can you find the systems on the cheap, but you also have access to an excellent library of software I believe is truly for any kind of gamer. For the price of a new Switch you can be up and running in style with some of the coolest games the system has to offer. Games that are fully realized complete experiences that wont nickel and dime you with loot boxes, or not work because you need a 50 GB day one patch.

I know, I know, $300 bucks, and I can be gaming anywhere with some of the coolest Nintendo games from the 10s’!? It’s True, and you wont be alone, either. The 3DS has a large community of fans across the internet. Look on YouTube you’ll see all kinds of videos lauding the system and people reminiscing on times past. The 3DS subreddit r/3DS has over 1 million follows, and has spawned several more niche subreddits to help direct people to more esoteric discussions about the system. You’ll have no difficulty finding discord servers to join either.

Enough about the online presence, lets get back to that price. It might seem like a large number, but it’s just an arbitrary number that was easy to pick since it’s the new price of the Switch, which is cheaper than either of its competitors. The nice thing about what we’re doing is you can break this up into several smaller purchases that reach this total, or you can just ignore me entirely, and make your own choices. I’m a stranger on the internet and only you know whats right for your budget.

Maybe you’re looking to get into Retro™ gaming. Maybe the Switch has you curious what your favorite games looked like last console generation. Maybe you just want to play some damn games and don’t have the prerequisite stash of gold to shell out for current generation hardware and games. I’m here to introduce the 3DS, and make a case for its earlier hardware revisions as great entry points.

Consoles

The 3DS, more than any other system, had many different revisions over its lifetime. Over time the later hardware revisions have become the most sought after, driving their prices to insane heights. The New 3DS and New 3DS XL are fast approaching our target number on their own. A lot of buyers have instead opted to search for a somewhat cheaper New model from Japan. The catch here is that the system is region locked, so after your purchase there’s a little legwork you have to put in to unlock it. I instead, am here to champion the cause of the older brother and cheaper base 3ds and 2ds models. I’m not gonna lie to you. There’s definitely a reason these are not the models people are after. The newer hardware revisions improved a lot about these systems. However, either of these two handheld systems could easily be your daily gaming driver, and in the process save you some serious scrilla, which means more money for what we’re really here for the games!

Okay, so what are we giving up? The newer systems have slightly more processing power under the hood. I won’t go super technical on you, just know a slim number of games are exclusive to those newer systems. Additionally we get slightly longer load times, and slightly worse frame rates. The 3D screen the system is known for also works a lot better on the new revisions. It has a tracker to help align the 3D effect with your eyes as the systems tilts or rocks about in your hand. Battery life is where I feel you can most try to justify the higher cost of the newer systems. I like a long play session, I want battery life. I’d say it’s one of the most important metrics to care about when looking at a hand held gaming console of any kind. According to Nintendo support, we get between three and five hours on the 3DS and three and a half to five and a half hours on the 2DS. Not bad per se, but a far cry from the potential 7 offered by the New 3DS XL.

However, these systems are likely a decade old. Our first expense past getting us a console is a replacement battery. Just do yourself a favor and replace it now. Swollen batteries can leak and cause damage, and as they age also just lose some of their ability to hold a charge. With a replacement battery, we are still at roughly $115 dollars, which means we are looking good! I would also advise purchasing some screen protectors (roughly 5 to 10 bucks) and a case or shell of some kind to protect against some wear and tear. These can range anywhere from 8 bucks to any amount. There are SO MANY case options and everyone’s preferences will be different. As we are on a budget I’d say we cant go wrong with anything in the $15 to $20 range. Lastly, we’re gonna want a memory card. Your system likely comes with one but SD cards come cheap now. you can grab a 32 GB one on amazon for $10 or less. With all that I’d put our total for system and extras at $135 for a 2DS and $155 for a 3DS. ($80 for a 2DS $100 for a 3DS, and assuming you paid on the higher end for all accessories listed). With those purchases now though you are big chillin’! Got a new battery, protection, we are in it for the long haul with this setup! (and only halfway to the price of a new switch!)

Games

Okay, so that was a lot. It’s a little more legwork than just buying something new off the shelf for sure, but now we’re to the section that justifies the previous one. THE GAMES! If you've owned a Nintendo system before then you know this is where we really shine. If you haven’t played any Nintendo games prior to this, then I really cant think of a better way to get acquainted with some of Nintendo’s games than on this platform. At the end of the article I’ll total everything together with what I would get, but there will be plenty of choice here for you to make your own list to pick from! You truly are spoiled for choice in a multitude of different genres with the 3DS. Two genres where I do think you’re hurting though are shooters and racing games. That’s not to say they’re absent but if that’s your go to genre you may find the selection lacking.

Let’s start with first party Nintendo games. There are easily enough to justify owning this system and they are more affordable than you could hope for (for the most part!). Let’s start with Mario. The man needs no introduction and yet here I am trying to write one anyway like a dunce. You could do a lot worse than buying yourself a copy of Super Mario 3D Land. If your coming from non-Nintendo hardware you may have not done much platforming and this is a great way to get your toes wet and have a good time. If you opted for a system with the 3D screen it also does a pretty good job flexing that effect if you want to see what its like with the 3D on. Another great option in this genre, especially if you think you want to put your platforming chops to the test, is Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D. The music is great, it has an aesthetic and vibe i really dig. Perhaps not a great buy for someone not accustomed to platforming, but in the long run I wouldn’t ignore this gem of a game. Grabbing both will run you about Twenty Five bucks and shipping, which is a steal if we were to compare that to picking up Super Mario Odyssey and Donkey Kong Country Tropical freeze.

“Platformers!?” I hear you say, “I’m here for Pokemon!” Well I have good news and bad news for you fellow Pokemon enjoy-er. The good news is that the 3DS can not only play the largest number of Pokemon games, but is also where Pokemon hit its apex. The bad news is that about half of those games are going to cost you more than what you spent on your system, extras and accessories included.

For those of you still here lets talk Pokemon for a bit. The 3DS era of Pokemon included generations six,seven, and spans across 3 different regions (Kalos, Hoenn, and Alola). Although well received at the time, discourse has changed to mixed on these Pokemon offerings and only gotten worse into the Switch era. Everyone has different ideas of what they personally want from a Pokemon game. Some want the grindy endgame of a battle frontier, some want a tough as nails nuzlocke, and some just want a chill turn based RPG with cool and cute monsters. Pokemon is a game wearing a lot of different hats and although it wears most of them well on the 3DS it doesn’t wear them all well. The 3DS also being backwards compatible with previous DS games means that you have the choice to re-visit generations four and five(Sinnoh, Johto, and Unova). This is where the games skyrocket into supreme un-affordability, sadly. If you just want a single Pokemon game because you want to see what it’s all about, or you haven’t played one in a while and you just need to scratch that itch, my pick goes to Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. These games are a little more expensive than the previous two 3DS titles we've discussed, but you’ll get a decent amount of play time out of them. If you’re a ride or die Pokemon fan and you disagree with my recommendation then its likely this entire article isn't really for you anyway. You wont necessarily come out cheaper here compared to a copy of a switch Pokemon game, but you also wont have to purchase any DLC, and few would make the claim any of the switch titles are better than the gen 3 remakes.

Okay. We are past Pokemon now. I’m gonna rapid fire some games now or this games section is gonna continue on for a while! We’ve talked Mario, we’ve talked Pokemon but there’s a really big Nintendo franchise that's escaped this discussion so far and that's ZELDA! Yes, there’s a nice number of great Zelda games on the system! If you haven’t experienced them then I can’t recommend the N64 duology more! Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask are both fan favorites and justify owning the system in their own right. Both are thankfully readily available on the cheap too! The real under talked about Zelda in my estimation though is A Link Between Worlds. If you can only get one Zelda right now it should be this one. It even won awards if you care about that sort of thing! A loose copy of the Switch’s Breath of the Wild isn’t an expensive grab either, but it once again has paid DLC where as these 3DS games are complete out of the box

Fire Emblem had it’s renaissance on this system! My pick, especially if your just looking to try the franchise out or not used to tactics based RPGs goes to Fire Emblem: Awakening. Like most of our switch title comparisons Fire Emblem: Three Houses isn’t going to cost you much more but offers paid DLC.

Unless you haven’t been on the internet these last few years, you've probably heard people talk about the ineffable cozy game. This is a system that helped sow the seeds of that genre, with a great title in Animal Crossing:New Leaf. Not a great game for long single sessions, but a game with an incredible amount of longevity nonetheless and one of my most played games.

That’s probably enough of the first party games, I’ll let you discover more of Nintendo’s own catalog for yourself. There’s a plethora of great 3rd party developed software to talk about as well!

This is where we really start to see the 3DS truly can offer up something for everyone. I could not start this section without first talking about what brought me to the platform. Monster Hunter. An action RPG series, that at the time was niche outside of japan, in which you fight increasingly difficult boss monsters to craft better gear to do it all over again and again. There are three amazing entries in this series on the 3DS and I love them all to bits. If a cozy game is a game that feels like a digital security blanket than Monster Hunter is my cozy game. Monster Hunter 4:Ultimate is what I’m going to recommend as your entry into monster killing on the system. It is by far the game most likely to give you the best dollar per hour rate at $18 a copy. I was never able to complete this game and my system still has me recorded at 178 hours of playtime. Our switch counterpart is Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak, and it’s also coming in at a great price. Monster hunter is just one of the best deals in video games.

Okay, if I write too much more about specific titles this post will never end so I really am gonna mention a few great titles here before we move to our conclusion. Rune Factory 4 is an action RPG fused with a farming simulator you’ll see a lot of playtime out of. Bravely Default is a traditional turn based JRPG with stunning visuals. Resident Evil Revelations is worth a look too, if your a fan or just want to try a horror game out on the system. Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call is a cute rhythm game offering a great package mostly because the music is majority composed by the absolute legend Nobuo Uematsu. A great time, even if you never played a Final Fantasy game, the music is just that good. Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars is another tactical RPG, great especially if you aren’t vibing with the Fire Emblem aesthetic or just want more tactics games.

Conclusion

Let’s get to that total! What games would I get to hit that $300 total? Well, I can’t pass up on Monster Hunter, which would also mean I’d be purchasing a Circle Pad Pro so I can actually move the camera like a normal person. This would mean I’m going with the 3DS and not the 2DS as it doesn't work with this accessory. I’d also spring for Pokemon Omega Ruby, Mario 3D Land, Resident Evil Revelations (it also works with our circle pad pro!), and Animal Crossing New Leaf. That’s about $120 in games (including the CPP). Which with our previous $155 For the console and other accessories totals us at $274 which leaves us some leftover for those other costs like shipping and taxes. That’s getting you two fantastic RPGs, a platformer, a horror game, and a cozy game all for less than the cost of a Switch. IF you were to do something similar with the base switch model I could see you easily getting closer to the $400 dollar mark without any games. A case, a memory card and taxes would at least put you to $350. Add five games to that and we are flirting with five hundred dollars.

So obviously we cant get every game I’ve discussed, but that was kind of on purpose. I want to show off a wide array of games, and show you could get many before we ever approached getting to the price of a Nintendo Switch. With its Lite revision you could likely do something similar to this with the switch itself as well! Unfortunately, in my subjective estimation I’ve found many titles on the switch to just not be as fulfilling. Don’t take that as a knock against the system, I still own one and play games on it, but i just don’t connect it with the same way I do on the 3DS. For my money I want to continue expanding my 3DS library and enjoying the games I’ve fallen in love with on it.

What’s next? If you find you really enjoy the system then I would wholeheartedly recommend saving long term for a New model 3DS. They aren’t getting any cheaper. You could also look in on the thriving homebrewing scene. You have many great games to discover, there are so many I did not mention here. Don’t neglect the original DS library either! I hope this writing has been of some help to you, and I hope that not matter what sort of games you play, you enjoy them. Thanks for reading!

[realcatalina]

Geography in 1500-introduction

It is no surprise people don’t get political situation in Europe at beginning 16th century. We are not taught how geography affected the political situation, and course of history. Yeah on ocasion you get some map, but doesn’t really give you good picture. Often the very important towns or geographical features are missing! Or you don’t know certain places had same ruler.

So I’ve decided to change that and show you how actually things were. I will be doing series of post about Geography/Political situation in 1500, focused mainly on Europe and Northern Africa, 

For these posts I will often use map by reddit user Yetkinler:

Looks like complicated mess? Because it was! Actually it was even more complicated that this. It is closest to the actual political-geographical state of Europe that I could find and Yetkinler did truly great job.

However it is literally impossible to depict HRE 100% correct on map of this scale. It was even more complicated than this!

Link(i use the map which is 4 years old): https://pholder.com/u/yetkinler/

(Tumblr won’t allow the map to upload HD, so if you want to get closer look, you have to download it from the link, not from here).

Unfortunately he/she is no longer active on reddit, but I’d still like to give them my thanks.

I will be using Yetkinler’s map, adjusting it to make certain things more obvious.

Also bit of note here about geographical maps in general. Earth is 3D sphere. Trying to recreate continental shapes, and sizes of countries in 2D is never 100% correct. Further from equator, the more distorted things are. I recommend you check the link bellow, where you can move around the countries and see how big they are in comparison to each other!

https://www.thetruesize.com/

It’s mindblowing. Or look up google Earth. It’s wonderful tool. 

 But back to historical geography, and political situation in Europe. There were several types of goverments. Main ones:

Monarchies, Republics, Confederacies and Teocracies

Hereditary monarchies

Elective monarchies-Holy Roman Empire’s Emperor was elected, but you’d be surprised how many countries technically(in priciple but not in practise) speaking had elective monarchy or nobles had right to chose ruler if ‘need be’.

Republics-Venice for example

Confederacies-for example Swizerland and Livonia

(A confederate government is a group of states, nations or territories that are joined together by a central government that has limited powers of authority.)

Theocratic elective monarchy-Papacy

But teocratic goverment was not exclusive for Papacy. There were also independed archbishopric and bishopric titles, sometimes they were vassals of other rulers or part of confederation. 

Holy Orders(military orders) also sometimes had level of idenpendence. Teutonic Knights were vassals of Polish Crown, but other orders were independent. 

Same as with republics, some were idependent and others were vassals and only semi-independent.

Another term you should know is primogeniture and partition.

Primogeniture is when eldest legitimate child(usually son) inherites everything, leaving his siblings with nothing. Partition means that highest titles of the monarch gets divided between sons. So each gains their own indipendent land.

It used to be very prominent in Europe’s history but by 1500 it was no longer in fashion. However in 15th century one such partion was very important and imo changed course of Europe forever.

But then there are things which don’t make much sense. Why is Poland a Kingdom, and Lithuania is Grand Duchy, despite being much larger?

Mostly the answer is tradition, country’s history and nobody bothered to change it.

Historically, there was something called ‘petty kingdom’. Good example were Anglo-saxon Kingdoms in England:

Those were petty Kingdoms-which later got replaced by larger Kingdom of England. Problem is, not all larger kingdom lasted. Irish didn’t, and around 1500, still (Petty) Kingdom of Desmond still existed. It wasn’t that much larger than its neighbours, who didn’t style themselves as Kings.

In Iberia, when Navarre was established(first as Pamplona), it was still high times of petty kingdoms, and independent Castile nor Aragon didn’t exist as independent kingdoms.

When they later did, they stopped Navarre from expanding and themselves grew much larger. But at beginning they weren’t that different in size.

That is why Navarre was Kingdom despite being smaller than many duchies, princedoms etc. 

Less comprehesible is de jure part of kingdom, and how it affected whetever or not you should call the realm Crown or Kingdom. Because many kindgoms technically speaking should be officially called Crowns instead. 

However nowadays people don’t know there was difference and call both kingdoms. Personally I don’t mind either, but I’d like you to know what the difference was.

The issue mostly is whetever or not all their parts were officially de jure part of kingdom. Oficial part.

Idk if you’ve ever played Crusader Kings(game), but in it you can play as any ruler in Europe and conquer land. Your newly gained land, doesn’t become de jure part of your kingdom instantly, but in the game it takes 100 years, to make it official part of your kingdom-

In real life, there were territories owned by kingdoms for over 900 years-which still weren’t officially de jure part of the kingdom, just part of/under the Crown. Even though they had same language, same culture, and literally nothing which would explain why the shift wouldn’t officially happen. No reason at all for Moravia to not be official part of Bohemia. I live here, I don’t get it!

(But it might explain why twice in our history we were shortly not part of Bohemia and rest of the country was not up in arms about it, screaming-this is our land! Give it back!)

Crown instead of Kingdom was also used if the monarch had multiple kingdom titles, usually with first or main one being used. So Ferdinand’s realm was under Crown of Aragon, yet made of several kindgoms. So if you wanted to nitpick or be precise you could refer to one or the other.

‘Crown of Aragon was large and consisted of several kingdoms, but of course Kingdom of Aragon was closest to its rulers heart’. Here you can tell the difference. 

But even with this there were exceptions, times when for some reason the term Crown was not used, even though countries were part of personal union(had same ruler). We don’t use Crown of Denmark-but instead Kalmar union.

Union of two crowns could be complicated. Some never got shared name.  However instead of Castile-Aragon, they started to call it Spain, refering to it dozens of years of before officially it became Spain. Probably because it was easier in speech. 

Usually ducal unions-such as Ferrara-Modena only have - in between. Some people nowadays use  &, but I don’t like it(for no reason other than personal preference).

If you still don’t get something in this post, write to me, preferably in messages, because in comments I cannot reply as lenghtly as I’d like to.

I will start with Christendom, but later I’d like to do muslim states too.  Silk road, naval trade roads imo have been discussed enough. But I’d like to include trade roads across Sahara, because of how much it affected N. African states.  

I’ll see if I’ll eventually do Abyssinia too. 

I hope you’ve enjoyed it and if you’d have preferences as to which country/region I should start with, write me in the comments. 

[calciumwitch-calcisoya]

Hi hi, hello, randomly saw this in my feed and since my current obsession is 3DS modding and software, i thought I’d try to play tech support.

There’s a few ways to resolve your issues, since you still have the original device. It's gonna be a wall of text, so I'm gonna put it under the line. ^^

(Addendum, in the middle of fact checking, and researching to make sure I don't tell you stupid stuff, and like half this post already written, I thought I should add a disclaimer: The best places to ask questions like this is usually gbatemp net, usually under Pc, console and handheld discussion under the 3ds tab with the homebrew tab. A treasure trove of useful info and software. :> Anyway, hope step one works for you, because step B is a lot more risky and needs technical know how, I try my best to explain but it's past midnight so it might be messy.) (Addendum 2, found a thread that might be very useful to you, so just in case before you follow what I write, have a read here.)

My written instructions start below, if what the thread tells you to do works just ignore my part of the equation. They boil down to install homebrew (since it doesn't require a wifi connection on your 3ds itself, just on your pc,) and try a save editor to export the save files manually, or step B would be getting your movable.sed file, and then using the guide above. Hope I didn't talk too much nonsense, and I hope you have a nice day!

1) One of them is actually homebrew, because unless you broke the SD card slot, i do not think it’s impossible to install homebrew on it, since you can use the current method on the 3DS hacks guide website, which does not require a wifi connection on the device itself. - What you will need however, is a sd card which is compatible with the device, considering it’s an o3DS from what I’m reading in your message, it needs to be a normal sized (non micro sd) card which has been formatted with the FAT-32 setting.

You also need to have wifi on your computer of choice, or, if you don’t own one, an android phone or tablet.

Then just follow the instructions on the site, until you get to section II of finalising setup, usually i would not recommend not following the instructions, however seeing that your hardware has no access to wifi, this step is impossible to do without using alternative methods, if your system already has the version 11.17.0.50.E or similar, then you should be fine, however I’m unsure of how the last step would work on previous firmware.

You will probably need to install the homebrew launcher that comes with Luma3Ds and FBI on its own. /FBI was recently deleted from GitHub, so your best chance are the public archives of the latest build, you won't *fully* need it if you use the .3dsx files instead of the .cia files

Then, if you still have the save data on your system then you can use a save manager like Checkpoint, if not, then we will need to tab into the encrypted backups you made. You can get the files here, and there's also a guide on how to use the program

The above would be the easiest and best case scenario I can think of, it's getting a bit technical from here. B) To use your encrypted save data, you’ll first need to get GodMode9 onto your system, since you’re unable to install it using the finalise helper in the guide, (i think, i dont know if i can recommend doing so without the right system version.), so you will need to do so manually by downloading it from github.

Once you installed godmode, you'll need to look for a file named movable.sed, this guide should tell the rest of the process.

Sorry if this messy, it's like 2 am where I live, been writing, researching and fact checking this for like... 40-50 minutes? Whoopsie, anyway, hope I could help somewhat.

Needing help with 3DS files

I know there's likely no help but I'm hoping to get some help with this. Back in November I finally got around to putting homebrew on my 2DS XL & it was successful. I learned you can make/move saves & I have backups for my old 3DS I got before the 2DS I replaced it with after breaking it.

The problem is that I don't know what to do with the files, I did not setup homebrew on my old 3DS(didn't even know it existed at the time) so the files are not only encrypted to the specific system(I heard once the files are encrypted for the handheld they came from) but I don't have the ability to make saves I could use on another system.

Another issue is that while I still have the 3DS the backups are for(it's broken but still works, it can't fold) the way I broke it apparently made it so it can't use the internet anymore. I'm pretty sure I need the internet on in order to setup homebrew & get the applications to make this work. I also forgot which backup goes to the 3DS as I'm pretty sure I made a backup for my 2DS once.

It's really hard trying to lookup answers for doing anything about this & I don't know what to do. I really want to be able to rescue my old saves especially after mistakenly wiping my saves when I used the wrong type of micro sd card when I transferred my 2DS to my 2DS XL.

I'm worried about asking on reddit cause I got my post about a corrupted sd card cause deleted for being a commonly asked question.(I had looked around but since I didn't know what I was doing it likely was the issue) It's my fault for not knowing enough to realize it was a common question but I'm still worried about what'd happen if I asked on reddit. I'm not even sure what 3DS subreddit to ask anyway.

[doubleddenden]

Rather than sleep, I'm gonna talk about a Pokémon fan game I recently beat:

Realidea System

Like Opalo, it's another Spanish fan game, this one focusing more on aesthetics and mechanics with a little less under the hood in terms of new Pokémon, but still having a lot to offer story wise and game wise.

Spoiler, 8/10 for the good stuff, but a point docked off for incomplete translations and just a tad too many mini game issues.

More under the cut

So Realidea System came out around September I think, and the main you'll see right away is a gorgeous art style with bright colors and very intricate tiles. Every location looks cozy af or scary where appropriate, and it has a ton of different aesthetics that it works very well with for each.

Also, unlike most fan games, there's talk portraits for the story that help convey who is talking and the emotion conveyed- this is actually very pleasant tbh, and there's a lot of good designs you can better appreciate due to it. Tbh I have issues reading, and sometimes it's hard to tell who is talking via text alone. This actually helped me a lot more than the creator probably intended, but it's something I'm still thankful for.

The sprite work, what's made for the game anyway, also looks very good and has a unique but simplistic style with eye catching shading and colors. I'm actually pretty jealous of it and sort of taking notes from it, because there's not a lot of the same style of shading as the gen 5 or 4 sprites, but the style still works in its own way. I'd almost compare it to a 2d cell shading style, but idk if that's accurate? I like it, I'll say that. Not to mention that there's a lot of fun Overworld sprites that convey just as much if not a tad more emotion than the portraits.

The sprite work also extends to fakemon. Now I am a little bit disappointed that there were so little new Pokémon to experiment with, I'm not gonna lie. There's the starters, a legendary, and... about 5 or 6 variants. That's it. However, obviously they went with Quality over Quantity, which I can respect. Each of these are really well designed and excellently sprited, and most importantly fun to use! I chose the water starter, and it's ability and 2 signature moves are really fun in a fight and can potentially let it sweep.

Continuing off of this, to make up for the lack of new Pokémon, there's obviously a huge variety of old Pokémon to choose from, including lots of starters such as Chikorita and Rowlett. Megas also make a return, and some regional variants appear too.

Now on the technical aspect, there's a lot of cool shit under the hood, mainly the Realidea System that is the heart of the game's story. What this does is replace the HM mechanics (hallelujah), such as the Fly mechanic, which is now Teleport (although it functions exactly like Fly), and Surf, which now just happens as soon as you touch the water without any prompt needed.

The RS also comes with a couple extras that require certain points attained from using items on your pokemon or just generally bonding with them. Some of these include a repel system that repels as many steps as you use, a heal system that basically functions as a Pokémon Center, and an automatic level up feature that functions as a Rare Candy. The last two were actually very helpful for my journey and filling out the dex.

Outside of the RS there's codes you can put in at the Pokémon Center to sort of help with grinding, which can exist if you want or just completely bypass it by changing the levels of any Pokémon in your party up to the highest level in your team (be mindful that this will not trigger evolution, the Level Up feature will tho). Honestly, it feels dirty, but I actually do like this feature just so I can keep everyone around the same level. The EXP all works in conjunction with this btw, about like the Switch games function without making the game too easy. Basically all of this is to ensure you can just catch a new little guy and bam, he's already caught up, and grinding just isn't a thing anymore, so you can just be on your happy little way.

You can also remember moves on your own from the party menu, which honestly is just very helpful and makes it so you don't miss any by using the level up trick. If you're so inclined, you can also change the nature's of your pokemon via 3 heart scales from the party menu.

Basically a lot of tedious bs is completely ironed out, letting the game be fun without too many hold ups beyond a puzzle.

But speaking of puzzles... good lord there's a lot of mini games. Mind you they're doable, but a lot are kind of trial and error, especially the ones that require the ability to read and understand Spanish. You may think "oh just Google translate," and you'd be correct in assuming that does help with a good portion. But I'm not lying when I say that there's a section dedicated entirely to PUNS. It was fucking hilarious just trying to guess what's going on, but also frustrating. Even without the Spanish though, the rhythm games kill me.

The translation is also just not complete. I'd say 70% complete, because you still get bits of Spanish in normal gameplay and a good many puzzles are only instructed in Spanish. Not to mention the journals are ALL Spanish, so i had to have some friends help me read it. What is finished is about 95% decent though, with only a small handfuls of grammatical errors or odd translations, so kudos for that.

Now, characters and story. The story is about standard fair for a normal Pokémon game, but there are some interesting twists here and there. In cooperation with gorgeous visuals and art, the story is told pretty well and is really immersive. The characters too are also very entertaining and hilarious, and also have a fair bit of depth. I have to say I found myself attached to Elliot, Owen, and Alba, which is very strange since I'm usually not one for rivals or Lilly type characters. There are some groan worthy moments, cliche bits, or some not so ideal things done, but I do think it's a passion project someone put a lot of heart and soul put in.

Oh, and this game is hilarious. Check everything that looks interactive and you'll see what I mean.

Oh oh, there's also a very well managed side quest system. Tons of side Quests pop up and are easily found in the overworld, so that's a bonus if you're like me and hate having to hunt a specific NPC.

Lastly, the music: i believe the music is mostly original, which is amazing because every town and route sound magical in some way, and the original trainer themes are very, very good. When I say prepare yourself for the champion, I mean that in so many ways but ESPECIALLY the music. My one grief is yet again the reuse of the BW gym theme. I think it's okay, but I was really hoping for something original. But what is here is awesome.

Overall it's a fun time and a lot of effort went into this. There's a lot of fun poked at the series (especially towards Kanto) and the entire game feels like a fun adventure. I hope to see another project by this dev, maybe with more fakemon? Please? That's my favorite part of playing fan games.

Anyway, 8/10

[baconpal]

pokemon rant time

this one’s about the 2 new things, and is at least slightly intended for people actually excited/interested in them, click keep reading or perish

Gonna try and keep stuff short cus there's a lot of topics this time and I've already gone off about how pokemon Isn't meant for me or meant to be a good video game anymore, but gamefreak is right back on their bullshit, so I feel I need to at least point it out.

I'd like to preface all this with, if you are a fan of pokemon still, please realize you can ask for more out of this series. Expect perfection, even if you don't think you'll get it anytime soon. Pokemon won't go anywhere, the old games won't go anywhere, and gaming is a hobby, not a necessity; don't accept low quality products from a company just because you feel like you're supposed to.

With this next wave of pokemon games, gamefreak is clearly testing how little they can put in to a $60 game while still keeping the 2 major audiences they've cultivated. By responding to the most obvious and vocal complaints from the community, gamefreak is aiming to make games that seems like what most players want, without having to put in the work on quality products.

GEN 4 REMAKES Pokemon BS (I am not calling this shit BDSP) is intended for the audience that put up with let's go and RS remakes. The most vocal and obvious complaints for these games is their failure as definitive versions of the games they are remakes of, such as missing features/content, or drastically changed story/dialogue/style. In a way, the recent remakes are inferior versions of incredibly old games, which shows a lack of improvement in pokemon as a whole.

To address these issues, BS is very, very, VERY clearly aiming for a more 1-to-1 recreation of the DS games, but with fully 3d graphics. Clearly the map layout has been transferred exactly, and gen 4 already had mostly 3d environments to begin with, and everyone knows about the future-proof pokemon models at this point, so the amount of effort required to create something like this is absolutely minimal. Assuming dialogue, trainer teams, move lists, etc. are also lifted directly from DP, then this game could be developed in basically no time at all, leaving the team time to ensure the product is of decent quality and includes ALL of the content of the originals, if not more, like the earlier pokemon remakes did to ensure they were truly definitive versions of the games. That being said, it is unlikely the team behind BS has been making use of this saved time to improve the game.

One failing already clear is that the quality is not very good, at least graphical quality. The footage we have shows environments lacking in color compared to the original, with messy, unpleasant textures that contrast poorly with the simplistic environments. The characters especially do not work. As cute and fun the fanart of tiny dawn has been, BS dawn and all other characters look awful. They have gorilla arms that reach down to the floor and lifeless faces, as well as incredibly stiff/simplistic animations. As it stands, BS is a visually inferior game to DP, though most consumers will simply see it as 3D>2D without any understanding of what an artstyle is, so this might not be a problem for many, but that doesn't mean you should accept it.

What remains to be seen is what content will be added/missing from pokemon BS. It is very possible that massive parts of the game, such as the underground, variety of online modes, postgame areas, and content from platinum could be missing entirely. We also do not know if pokemon from after gen 4 will be worked into the region, or even supported. Gen 8 still currently does not support a large number of pokemon, and the remakes may continue this limited dex trend.

Even assuming the remake includes everything from the DS games and doesn't add anything that slows down the story or harms the experience, it will still only be an exercise in forced obsolescence. The main reason people can't really play DP still is that the online isn't supported anymore. If BS turns out to be exactly the same as DP, then you're buying the same game for at a higher price, only to play it until the online service goes away again, or the next game comes out, if both don't happen at the same time.

Don't let yourself buy a 13 year old game at twice the original price.

GEN 4 NOT-REMAKE KIND OF NEW THING On to legends now, gamefreak is targeting the people who put up with sun/moon and sword/shield. The obvious problem with those games to most people was simply a lack of change from the standard pokemon formula. Even when changing the gyms to trials or stadiums, most people still understand that the format and story structures are mostly unchanged. Of course, this problem has seemingly been addressed by changing the game structure a fair bit, but almost entirely by removal.

Trainer battles, and by extension, gyms and tournaments/elite 4 have been confirmed to be absent, meaning all battles are only vs single pokemon, in spite of the player likely having a team of 6 pokemon. Even if battle difficulty is increased to compensate (doubtful), this will still drastically increase the simplicity of combat and make it even less likely for the game to include any meaningful challenge. Exploring towns and meeting NPCs is also seemingly missing, as the game is confirmed to have only a single village, which frankly looks incredibly boring and we've yet to see a single NPC inhabiting the village.

Battles now use an ATB format instead of a turn-based format (for those of you who don't know what that means, it basically means nothing, it's still turn based, it just means the speed state determines who gets more turns instead of who goes first, that's it), but beyond that there seems to be no noteworthy changes, pokemon learn 4 moves with limited PP, type advantage will still definitely be the most important aspect to battle, and the player being able to walk around during battle provides no meaningful impact. While the little dash the pokemon do to approach each other is cool, it is already a sign that gamefreak will not be addressing the issue of lacking animations for pokemon battles, as they can't even be assed to animate and program pokemon walking around the environment during combat, and lucario doing 1 kick for a move described as a series of punches isn't a great sign either.

On the topic of lacking animations, the new "pet simulator feature" for legends seems to be an advancement on the ride system from sun/moon, which presumably people missed from sword/shield. Being able to ride on your pokemon to do stuff sounds cool, but in all likelihood, this system will be limited to only a select few pokemon who will each do a select few actions, and is not a reasonable replacement for all the other pet raising features that have been removed in the past. Similar to BS, the total number of pokemon included may also be limited arbitrarily, in spite of the fact that no new pokemon need to be added, as these games are not claiming to be a new generation.

The largest issues I personally have with this new game is the horrible technical quality and gameplay quality shown in the initial trailer. Unfortunately, these types of problems seem to be difficult to explain to the average consumer, even though the issues seem incredibly obvious and inexcusable to people like me.  Most people were able to understand the problem with the berry trees in gen 8, because it was easy to explain, "this tree doesn't look like the other trees, and it sticks out, isn't that weird?", and so gamefreak has eliminated any immediately obvious issues like that, sticking with a very consistent artstyle for legends, making it almost impossible to easily explain its faults to the average pokemon fan.

People have been really quick to compare legends to BoTW; the game that invented grass, trees, and mountains. In spite of these comparisons, nobody seems to point out that legends looks dramatically worse than that almost 5 year old game from the previous generation. Plants are stiff and lacking in energy, draw distances are poor, colors are drab, and textures are messy. Many parts of legends seems to ape BoTW on just the surface, essentially just following market trends. Even the controls seem to follow after modern 3rd person shooters/stealth games, including a seemingly pointless roll and a clunky looking ball lobbing arc that feels unfun before even getting to play it myself.

The largest issue, painfully obvious to some, and impossible to explain to others, is the framerate. The trailer clearly was ran on actual switch hardware, and not prerendered, which would be a good mark for gamefreak if it didn't result in a trailer that never once hit 30fps. Even with empty fields, with only 1 or 2 characters on screen, the game was incapable of meeting the target speed, and had to resort to optimizations like reducing the frame rate of pokemon only inches away from the player to stop-motion levels of choppy. If situations with almost nothing going on result in slow-down, how will the game perform during actual gameplay? Even though slow-down is something everyone can feel, many people aren't capable of identifying it.

The major things to wait and see for legends is if the removed aspects of the series are made up for by some additional systems or content, and definitely wait to see if the performance improves. As with BS, preordering a game like this only shows that gamefreak only has to market the game by saying it's different, not improved, like they've been doing for years now.

TL;DR FUCK GAMEFREAK One major thing of note is that gamefreak is releasing 2 games based on gen 4 at the nearly the same time, meaning they have no obligation to design new pokemon or even include pokemon not from sinnoh, and also that the sales of each game can be used as an indicator for which of their 2 audiences is more loyal to them. Both BS and Legends are in a position to be pushes aside if they fail, but if either succeeds, gamefreak can continue in the direction of the more successful game and reap the benefits, without any need to innovate, improve, or adapt to criticism.

The last thing I feel I have to remind people about is that gamefreak is a company; you don't need to be "grateful" to them. I've seen that word thrown around far too much by people who seem to buy pokemon games like its a tax, and not something they want to do. You don't have to suck up to a company that made games you liked as a kid if the games aren't what you want anymore. Pokemon is so wildly successful that it can't possible die, so don't buy the games out of pity, or out of some feeling of obligation. Buy the video games you want to play and nothing more.

Basically, if you are considering getting any of these new games, please wait until the games are out before purchasing them, and decide for yourself if they are worth your money, and more importantly, your time. Preordering these games only lets gamefreak know their audience will buy and put up with anything. They have no real competition at the moment, so the only thing the audience can do to encourage improvement is show some of restraint.

[fictionz]

New Fiction 2022 - March

The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - "Deuteronomy" ed. Richard Challoner (1752)

More repetition of mostly the same rules and laws from Numbers and Leviticus, but now we see just how wrathful God gets about his flock going astray. He knew exactly what would happen and fully expected that the Israelites would gripe and fall in with the false idols of the natives of the promised lands. It’s basically a demonic horror villain promising all the ways he’s going to make you suffer. I just feel bad for Moses, who tried real hard to keep a society of people in good standing with the Lord but they were just not gonna have it.

The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - "Josue" ed. Richard Challoner (1752)

I gotta say, I look forward to these shorter books after the long stretches. Josue is believed to have been written by the man himself except for a few final verses added on after his death, an interesting sidenote in this revision. In content, it's mostly another inventory of the people of Israel and Josue's role as executor of God's estate after the Israelites swept through and killed most of the natives. The Old Testament seems to be mostly rules, inventory, and promises of horrible pain and death.

The Fall of Terok Nor by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens (2000)

This first part of a trilogy delivered on classic characters in their element, though the authors made some weird choices around characters expressing their attractions and it made some dialogue and behaviors feel out of character.

The War of the Prophets by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens (2000)

Then the second part of the trilogy goes off-the-wall ape-shit in its plot. It really is a mind-boggling series of events with some especially gruesome moments of violence. Not bad, per se, but taking the characters out of their element really threw me for a loop. It reminds me of many a middle entry that just isn’t particularly pleasant because bad things are happening to characters I know and it won’t be resolved until the third part.

Inferno by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens (2000)

The time travel element hits hard in the ending of this trilogy of novels, and although they get long-winded at times, it’s fun when characters are trying to use technobabble to explain time travel mechanics and paradoxes woven into the many wild layers of shenanigans. But this one ends the horrifying stuff that happens in the previous book and brings everyone back to Deep Space Nine, which I very much appreciated. It’s maybe too neat an ending considering everything they experience, but it’s also where they needed to be since this all takes place in the latter part of the sixth season of the show.

"Giraffes Explained" by Tim Andraka (2022)

Ah, I knew there had to be a logical explanation.

"I have been hired to clean the wizard tower" by tart (2022)

Tough job, but it’s a living.

"白圈 White Ring" by Woshibai & trans. Guandi Wu (2022)

What an immensely confusing experience is childhood.

"Platformer Practice" dev. Itizso (2020)

Love a good girder hop.

Fox's Peter Pan & the Pirates dev. & pub. Tiger Electronics (1990)

I have never completed a LCD handheld game and I don’t know that I’ll ever achieve this again.

The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles dev. Chris Gray Enterprises & pub. Jaleco (1992)

Nintendo hard still applies to this game from quite late in the life of the NES, but it may be the most mechanically fun of the various games based on Young Indiana Jones. I’m still wondering if this deserves more praise than it seemed to receive in its time.

Instruments of Chaos Starring Young Indiana Jones dev. Brian A. Rice, Waterman Design & pub. Sega (1994)

Whereas this second 2D platformer tried for some technical feats and really just falls flat with its bonkers physics and controls. The very long list of testers guarantees that the issues were noted and this was the best they could do in what I can only assume was a very short development period.

The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Revolution dev. Riverdeep, Asylum Entertainment  & pub. LucasArts (2007)

I was trying to remember if Flash was still relevant for game development in 2007, and I think it was on its way out then. I still harbor some nostalgia for the vector visuals.

The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Special Delivery dev. Riverdeep, Asylum Entertainment  & pub. LucasArts (2007)

Someone decided the first game was too easy and cranked up the difficulty of the dexterity challenges, which is an odd choice for slow-paced games based around adequately preparing for long journeys a la The Oregon Trail and answering historical trivia questions.

The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Hunting for Treasure dev. Riverdeep, Asylum Entertainment  & pub. LucasArts (2008)

While mechanically these simple dialogue and mini game assemblages aren’t very interesting, their edutainment factor is impressive. I really did learn some history each time a character asked me for some obscure detail about war machines or tribal rituals.

Robot Carnival - "Opening" dir. Katsuhiro Otomo & Atsuko Fukushima (1987)

An opening to behold.

Robot Carnival - "Franken's Gears" dir. Koji Morimoto (1987)

Animating any mechanical object must be someone’s special hell.

Robot Carnival - "Star Light Angel" dir. Hiroyuki Kitazume (1987)

Journey with me.

Robot Carnival - "Deprive" dir. Hidetoshi Ōmori (1987)

If you fight and you fight then you will only fight.

Robot Carnival - "Cloud" dir. Manabu Ōhashi (1987)

Continuation is the curse we fail to acknowledge.

The Batman dir. Matt Reeves (2022)

A freak indeed.

Gangubai Kathiawadi dir. Sanjay Leela Bhansali (2022)

Look out for the ones beside you.

Compartment No. 6 dir. Juho Kuosmanen (2021)

The darkness of the everyday makes me more apprehensive than the terrors we avoid.

Umma dir. Iris K. Shim (2022)

A slap in the face of this wayward child.

The Outfit dir. Graham Moore (2022)

A little less polished and this could’ve really hit hard.

X dir. Ti West (2022)

When you’re alone and alone and alone, your world is the only and the others don’t belong.

Sweet Smell of Success dir. Alexander Mackendrick (1957)

There’s no stopping what can’t be stopped.

The Changeling dir. Peter Medak (1980)

A certain kind of horror hero who doesn’t acknowledge the fear.

Re-Animator dir. Brian Yuzna & Stuart Gordon (1985)

This insistence on forever.

Everything Everywhere All At Once dir. Daniels (2022)

The other you pokes you on the shoulder.

La Mujer Murcielago dir. René Cardona (1968)

Yes! The existence of the thing demands its preservation.

The Lost City dir. Aaron Nee & Adam Nee (2022)

It always ends inside the tomb, don’t it?

Infinite Storm dir. Malgorzata Szumowska (2022)

What is the weight of a life to you? Does it ever get too heavy?

Mighty Max (1993-1994)

I always remembered the final episode as a particularly clever way to end a syndicated animated show that would mostly be watched out of order. And considering that this show was made to advertise toys to kids, it’s a surprisingly mature and dark look at the ol’ hero’s journey.

[blankd]

Thoughts on The Mitchells vs the Machines

I watched it a while ago and kept forgetting to post my thoughts on it, but some posts here on tumblr recently reminded me.

I disagree with the majority takeaways I see but is that not the spice of life?

As a standalone movie its inoffensive and the writing of it will likely exit my brain in a few months.  However I can appreciate that the visual style was different from the typical fare and the mixture of 2d elements for visual embellishments were mostly enjoyable and well-suited for Katie as the POV character.

It's a bit "hyper" for my liking, but that's fine, it's likely intended for an audience that's accustomed to the flood that is the current norm of the internet.  It was probably made with GIFable moments in mind and that is the most frequent content that is shared about it, so it certainly succeeded in that regard.

My more critical take is that jokes are delivered at the expense of what could be more authentic themes.  Quips are made that draw attention to character flaws or undercut questions the movie should try to answer, but inevitably they are ignored to move onto the next joke or story beat.

The rest would fall more into spoiler territory, so read more for that.

--"They Were Both In the Wrong"

I personally disagree heavily with the thrust of how "both sides" were wrong when the degrees are disproportionate.

I've seen claims that Katie was "as in the wrong" as her father, but she's incredibly patient to the man who does her material harm.

I've yet to have seen someone say specifically what Katie did *wrong* to her father that is at all on par with the *years* he at best hasn't been able to interact with her or worse, actively refused to engage with her interests.

I would generously venture that her flaw was that she was more willing to communicate her feelings to strangers, but she easily talks to her mother and brother- her brother even helps her with her movies and she happily engages him with his own interests, which pivots the point back to how her father is physically/emotionally unavailable and led to the erosion and distance between the two of them.

Due to this, MvM comes across more as Kaite having to do so much more to guide her father rather than a more mutual learning experience for the both of them.

--"Technology that [Dis]Connects"

It's probably beyond the scope and intent of the film, but I was surprised there was no examination about why technology can be more alluring than interacting with physically present people.

For better or worse, the internet can be used as a means of supplementing the validation and acceptance of family.  It can also lead to no longer connecting to people around them because of the validation high of appealing to a constantly 'awake' sea of strangers- the spotlight is warmer than the cold reality that they are not the internet image they have cultivated.

For example, the rival 'perfect' family was never revealed to be a carefully constructed highlight reel that Mrs. Mitchell envies, they really were actually that perfect- because that provides an easier punchline than an examination or acknowledgement of how the internet can create unhealthy expectations.

I also can't expect MvM to acknowledge the reality that LGBTA+ people who are rejected by their family resort to seeking a new one through the internet because it would be much harder to redeem/rehabilitate a man defined by being tethered to "old values" if he was homophobic instead of "overprotective" and apprehensive at his daughter's departure from home and her dubious art career.

But hey we got that quick line at the end that Katie likes a girl, so that's a diversity win or something.

(To be clear I'm not expecting a whole parade or even an A or B-plot dedicated to it, but I think it should be acknowledged that this kind of "surprise inclusion" is very easily erased with a change of audio and would be completely unsurprised if this were the case for countries that are homophobic.  People can be happy about it, but it is dishonest to pretend that this is a bolder statement than it is.)

In that sense, I do and don't hold MvM to taking a "safer" route about how family always has your back, but this still feels like an important omission considering the focus on technology and its dynamic with the Mitchells.

I will also say that it was also bizarre, to me at least, that the obvious route that her father sees the value of home videos didn't become an active point between him and Katie.  Or that Mr. Mitchell's carpentry never really amounts to anything despite having a sentimental wooden moose.

Lastly, I think it's an unintentional, but it's interesting that Katie going to college to pursue her passion is viewed as a Terrible Thing by her father even though if he had his way, he'd be ostensibly living in the woods away from everyone else except his wife.

This isn't a problem, people are a collection of contradictions, but It's fascinating to see what the *narrative* treats as a difficult sacrifice while simultaneously pulling at heartstrings when PAL cites how children ignore their mothers.  There's an unexamined comedy that Mr. Mitchell's losing out on his 'passion' to live in the woods away from people is treated as tragic despite the movie's insistence on staying connected with your blood family.

--"The Inconsistent Personhood of AI"

PAL is rightfully angry at being discarded for something new; it's provided as a glimpse of what Katie will do when she finds 'her people' at college.

This in of itself is a good hook, because there is no one universal answer to when a flawed relationship should be mended with compromise or if it's better off being broken for the wellbeing of the ones involved.  Family and relationships are not programming, it's a choice and a gamble for whatever it brings but is nonetheless something that must be mutually worked upon.

Initially I thought that PAL was being set up as an exaggerated parallel to Mr. Mitchell.  PAL and Mr. Mitchell did their best to provide for their family.  PAL and Mr. Mitchell are in different stages of being 'discarded' by their family.  PAL and Mr. Mitchell both retaliate at their lack of power in the scenario by using the power granted by their roles to infringe on the autonomy of others for selfish reasons.

PAL even gives a 'chance' for her plan to be halted with, I had assumed this was being set up as the thesis of the movie, about humanity and the value of family, relationships, etc. being used to help someone who is already hurting.

But despite Katie looking at the camera and explaining herself, it is never actually directly resolved or challenged because a punchline was deemed more desirable for this narrative climax.

This begs the question of why PAL bothered with the pretense that she could be reasoned with, especially since this is not some question leveled at all of humanity, just two people.

I'm curious how the writers came to the conclusion that this was the best execution of the scene or if Katie's speech was considered immune to any challenge from PAL.  Would anyone have accepted this outcome if PAL were not an AI but instead a person?

It's not necessarily bad writing they went this route, but I doubt anyone would consider this good writing either.

By the end of the movie, PAL is no longer a 'person' who was betrayed and is lashing out, she is an object to be destroyed because the movie has to wrap up.  No compassion or chances are spared to this AI that did literally everything asked of her except take being discarded quietly.

Did PAL deserve a redemption arc? For this length of movie, probably not.  But it could have concluded with a commitment to doing no further harm.  Instead it is an accidental glimpse at how easily the pretense of compassion can be quickly discarded and mostly unexamined with the right framing.

A likely unintentional example is the conditional humanity given to Eric and Deborahbot who are adopted as "family" while the rest of the robots are mowed down without another thought.  Some are even beaten and broken while begging for mercy, because again, it is a funnier punchline.

Far be it for me to advocate that the murderbots needed 'a second chance uvu' but for a movie whose conceit rests on 'sticking by family' and 'giving chances', the writers certainly made a choice in deciding which AI get honorary humanity and spared violent death- perhaps PAL had a point about humanity's callousness after all.  Bad robots are discarded, good robots get to live.

Even the CEO who realizes he enabled this mess (easily the most unrealistic part of the movie, honestly) is given another chance and he manages to take away a completely wrong lesson.

Speaking of-

--"Maybe I Shouldn’t Have Used Tech Like This"

There's a particular image/gif set posted about MvM with the CEO apologizing for the machine uprising, attributing it to unchecked technology and monopolies.  I've always seen it accompanied by people congratulating the scene as if any of this is at all relevant to the movie.

Charitably, these are people who haven't watched the movie and don't know that PAL is a phone AI single-handedly doing this, but most take the stance that this scene is proof the movie is not saying technology is bad, only corporations are.

The speech isn't technically wrong but it is so utterly divorced from what happens in the movie that it's surreal to see people congratulate it as anything but a moment of soapboxing.

None of the datagrabbing was used at all as part of the takeover.  It's all magical kid-friendly terminators with no relevance to what anyone's browsing history is.  If the company was one that produced robot assistants instead of a being a super tech monopoly, there would be no narrative difference.

The closest to a predatory tactic that is used in MvM is the offer of free wifi which is used to lure most people into their cells which they happily comply with. Curiously this... commentary of people’s mindless addiction to technology is not acknowledged by the Tumblr Court with the same intensity as the CEO’s speech.

But more constructively, I do feel it’s a missed opportunity that Katie who's supposed to be an extremely online person apparently never said any bad things about her family or made any petty vent films for PAL to weaponize.  Instead an in-media audio at one of the outskirt locations was used to accomplish its Traitor Revealed moment.

IN CONCLUSION

MvM is a movie that involves topics that ought to be touched on and explored properly in media and chickens out on all of it due to possible concerns with age-appropriate handling or because it was more committed to its comedy than whatever it has to say about family, change and how technology affects people.

It also reminded me that I hope media will finally graduate from the trope that if you spec into any ‘outdoorsy’ hobby you are incurably afraid of technology.

[crusherthedoctor]

Can we have some unpopular Sonic opinions?

I tried to cram in a lot, so I hope this satisfies you. :P I tried to stick to the ones that I haven't brought up quite as often, since by this point, we all know that I think IDW's storytelling is dire, SA2's story is overrated, X Eggman is an embarrassing portrayal (at least from season 2 onwards), Blaze shouldn't be handcuffed to Silver, Shadow's backstory had issues with or without the Black Arms, Neo Metal Sonic looks silly, etc. But anyway, here we go:

- Knuckles may be tricky to incorporate into plots that don't relate to Angel Island, but making him obsessed with his duties is no better than having him forget about Angel Island entirely.

- I like Marine, and never found her annoying. Oh, I understood what they were trying to do with her, but I honestly wasn't put off by her, and found her Aussie lingo more endearing if anything. Since her debut was during the period in my life where where I couldn't stand Sonic himself, I instead thought he was irritating (and hypocritical) for getting annoyed with her for doing shit he would often be guilty of.

- Silver is just as guilty of being shoehorned into games and plots as the Deadly Six are. Having more fans than the latter is irrelevant, since we're still talking about a character who constantly has to time travel in order to be present.

- Speaking of Silver, if he has to stick around, please do something different with him. They've pulled the doomed future routine multiple times now, and it's been boring every single time. I wasn't interested when it involved Iblis. I wasn't interested when it involved Knuckles drinking the edgy Kool Aid. I wasn't interested when it involved a council of dumbasses... give it a rest already.

- The Tails Doll can work as a mildly creepy thing, with maybe more to it than meets the eye when it's time for a boss fight or what have you. But the memes about him stealing your soul are just dumb, and I thought it was dumb even back in my teenage youth.

- “Eggman is supposed to be clownish!” Yeah, well he's also meant to be a genuine villain with a 300 IQ. These qualities don't have to be mutually exclusive.

- “Sonic is supposed to have attitude!” Yeah, well that's not the same thing as being an absolute cunt. Sonic was only ever meant to come off as having an edge compared to Mario. He was never meant to be a GTA-tier protagonist.

- Rouge is not a villain, and never was a villain. Literally the whole point of her role in SA2 was to reveal that she was working against Eggman and Shadow the whole time, albeit using sneakier tactics to do so. You'd think all those people who exult SA2's story would remember this, but apparently not. She barely even qualifies as an anti-hero, since aside from stealing the Master Emerald, she rarely does anything morally questionable otherwise. She's got a lot more good in her than people give her credit for.

- Captain Whisker is a better Eggman Nega than the actual Eggman Nega. And as far as robot characters in this franchise go, Johnny's design is pretty underrated.

- I don't like Iblis or Mephiles, but I DO like Solaris, and it annoys me that it was out of focus for most of the story due to all the time spent on its less interesting halves. Had they kept the backstory with the Duke and his experiments, and worked from there, I think they could have provided an interesting contrast with Chaos (since Solaris can also qualify as a monster with a sympathetic backstory) instead of recycling the surface level schtick.

- Black Doom may technically be just as bad as Mephiles, Nega, Scourge, Mimic, etc, since he's yet another villain with one-note characterization and fucked over Eggman. But because he never gained a disproportionate fandom, he doesn't annoy me to the same extent. It's easier to ignore him by comparison, and his Dr. Claw voice and face shaped like a lady's delicate part make him enjoyable to mock.

- Likewise, while Lyric is also on the same level as these other villains, it's easier to dismiss him because I was never invested in the Boom games anyway, and being an obvious alternate universe (compared to Sonic X or IDW, which retain the Modern designs and plot elements), it never had an effect on the main series. I also unironically like his design, and if nothing else, at least this snake didn't start a hypnotism fetish across the internet.

- Sally - and the rest of the Freedom Fighters for that matter - have had their importance in the franchise severely inflated. They may have been lucky to be the face of popular media (SatAM and Archie), but they're not these magnificent entities that the game characters are but a speck of dust in comparison to. Having a “legacy” doesn't make them more entitled to shit than any other character, old or new.

- Conceptually, the treasure hunting gameplay is one of the better alternate gameplay styles IMO. But it was let down in SA2 by its one track minded radar (the levels may have been big, but I don't think that would have been an issue on its own if the radar was better). If they brought it back and made it more like SA1's treasure hunting, I'd be all for it, although it would probably be better suited for a spinoff title.

- This goes for a lot of games, but when it comes to 2D, I prefer sprites over models. Not that the Rush models are bad (though the ones in Chronicles sure as fuck are), but the sprites in Mania and the Advance trilogy are just so charming and full of character.

- I actually like Marble Zone. Yeah, the level design is a bit blocky, but I love the concept of an underground temple prison, mixed with lava elements in a zone that otherwise isn't a traditional volcano level.

- I also like Sandopolis Zone. Again, completely understand why it's not the most popular zone around, but I've been a sucker for the Ancient Egyptian aesthetic since childhood (you can thank Crash 3 for that), and Act 1 is visually stunning.

- I prefer the JP soundtrack for Sonic CD over the US version overall... but I also prefer Sonic Boom over You Can Do Anything.

- SA2's soundtrack isn't bad by any means - I love Rouge's tracks, and The Last Scene is one of my favourite pieces of music - but as far as variety goes, it's a step down from SA1's soundtrack.

- If Sonic X-Treme had been released, it probably would have been unenjoyable and confusing. Whatever your thoughts on SA1, it was probably the better option between the two as far as Sonic's first legitimate translation into 3D goes.

- I have no qualms with Modern Sonic and the other Modern designs and characters, but I also fully acknowledge that changing gears from Adventure onwards - and doing it with a great amount of fanfare - was always going to create one of the biggest divides in the fandom, and fans shouldn't act surprised that this happened. The fact that they felt the need to hype up a new design and direction in the first place (compared to Mario, who has mostly been the same since the beginning, with only the occasional minor change with little fanfare) also indicates that they weren't confident enough in Sonic and his universe being the way it was, which often gets ignored by all the “SEGA have no confidence!!!” complaints you see with their recent games.

- Unleashed did not deserve the incredibly harsh reviews it received back in the day... but it doesn't deserve its current sacred cow status either. It had more effort put into it than '06 to be sure, and I can respect that, but much of it was misguided effort, and even if you like the Werehog, you have to admit that the idea came at the absolute worst time. The intro cutscene may be awesome, as is the Egg Dragoon fight, but 2% doesn't make up the entire game. Chip was also quite annoying, and I wasn't particularly sad when he pressed F in the chat at the end.

- On the other hand, while Colours definitely has its shortcomings, and people have every right to criticse those shortcomings, a lot of its most vocal detractors tend to have a stick up their arse about the game because people actually enjoyed it, and it had a gimmick that people actually liked. Yes, it may have been the first game to have those writers everyone hates, but then SA1 was the first game to give the characters alternate gameplay styles and have other villains upstage Eggman, so...

- Forces is absolutely not on the level of '06. It's nowhere close. A game being flawed does not make it the next '06, clickbait YouTubers. Or should I say, the game they want to retroactively apply '06's reception to, since they've been trying hard to magically retcon '06's own quality...

- To echo @beevean, ALL of the 3D stories have their issues. SA1 is probably the most well-rounded of them on the whole, but even that one isn't perfect.

- To echo another opinion, although I do love SA1, I'm not crazy over the idea of a remake, and would prefer them to just take Sonic's gameplay from SA1 and work from there. Because with a remake, you're stuck in a hard spot: Do you keep it the way it is bar the expected graphical upgrades, and risk accusations of not doing anything to actually improve the experience? Or do you try to address past criticisms, and risk the wrath of the fans who will inevitably go on a #NotMyAdventure crusade about it? What people fail to consider is that the Crash and Spyro remakes were accepted gracefully because their original iterations were still unanimously beloved for the most part, whereas SA1 - and especially SA2 - have always been divisive, and have only gotten moreso over the years.

- People take their preferences for the character's voice actors too seriously. I have my own favourites like anyone else, but I don't make a big deal out of it.

- And with fandom voice actors, they usually focus too much on doing a basic impression of their preferred official voice actor, and not enough on the acting. So you end up getting a lot of fan voices who sound like decent impressions of Ryan Drummond or Jason Griffith on the surface, but they sound utterly empty beyond that impression, because there's no oomph or depth to the actual emotions. They think about the actor rather than the character, when it should really be the other way around.

- The thing with Ian Flynn is that he is capable of telling a decent story, and he can portray some characters well. But he's proven time and time again that everything will go off the rails if he's given too much freedom (ironic, given how quick he is to point the finger at mandates when something goes wrong).

- Ian Flynn and Shiro Maekawa are not the only people in the world who are allowed to write for Sonic. I understand that one should be cautious when seeking out new writing talent, but for all the fandom's accusations of playing it safe, they sure aren't in a rush to experiment outside of their own comfort zone.

- And of course, the big one: You don't fix the franchise's current problems by crawling back to its previous problems. It's much more helpful and constructive to discuss the good and bad alike with each of the games. Less “THIS GOOD, MODERN BAD”, and more “This could work, but maybe without that part...”

[thatgamefromthatad]

3 more games like Merge Mansion - the genre is evolving!

More and more games like Merge Mansion (two-item merge games) are being released and I can hardly keep up, but I’m glad because I find this genre so satisfying! Here I’ll review three more relatively new games, which are all unique in that they break off quite a bit from the original Merge Mansion, and include their own mechanics not seen in the other Merge Mansion-esque games I’ve covered!

You can see my original Games like Merge Mansion review here, although it’s quite outdated as many of those games have made significant changes since I wrote that in early March. I’ll try to add some updates to the original post sometime in the near future to better reflect that current status of each of those games. You can also find links to the other two-item merge games I’ve previously reviewed in my final ranking at the end!

Read my full reviews of Plantopia, Merge Adventure and City Boom below:

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Plantopia: Merge Garden (Early Access)

Developer: Voodoo

Release Date: May 7, 2020 (Early Access)

This game is an interesting one because I only found it recently and started seeing ads for it recently although it’s apparently been around for about a year. I’m thinking it was soft launched and only recently made available in my region. The title screen indicates it’s still early access so that would make sense.

An initial release/soft launch date of May 2020 would actually make it older than Merge Mansion, which I believe was released in Sept. 2020. However I’m not sure about the exact timeline as they could have been in development/soft launched around the same time and the games are actually quite different overall so the basic similarities could be a coincidence.

This game truly amazed me because although it has the basic elements of what I would consider a Merge Mansion-like game, that being the two-item merge mechanic on a two-dimensional grid-like board viewed from the top, with item generators and item collection objectives, it’s otherwise very different from the other two-item merge games I’ve played. There are at least three separate boards, possibly more considering the tool shed and flower lab unlock a bit later in the game, and instead of completing objectives by getting items right off the board, you use items from the greenhouse and tool shed boards to start growing plants and then harvest the resources. The flower lab adds an additional step, as you can take the plants you’ve harvested to that board and merge them further to create bouquets and oils etc.

This game is probably the most complex and challenging out of all the two-item merge games I’ve played, which I think makes it more fun but less relaxing. Basically if I want something to play mindlessly while chilling out and watching YouTube videos I would play Merge Mansion or Merge Friends, but when I want to play something more advanced and for a longer period of time I play Plantopia.

🌼 Art: 3/3 (although I mostly prefer all 2D art, this game does the 3D/2D mixture better than some other games and I just love the colors and style of the different plants, boards and products. It all feels very “cottagecore” as the kids these days would say lol. The 2D character designs are also OK and pretty cute)

🌼 Story: 2/3 (it’s definitely a step above the “moving into this old mansion with my grandparents” story, I did get to know the characters a little better and some of the objectives are plot-related, such as growing aloe to help another character with his sunburn, or growing a special flower that reminds another character of her late husband etc. But I wasn’t really feeling like I wanted to learn more, and the storyline didn’t have a huge influence on my overall experience)

🌼 Gameplay: 5/5 (definitely the strongest game in terms of gameplay in my opinion, like I said it is more challenging and there’s more to think about but it makes for a really fun and varied experience!)

🌼 Variety: 2/3 (although there are three whole boards and you unlock different plants as you go along, there isn’t as much variety in the merging part since you basically just merge seeds into sprouts, sprouts into younger plants etc. until you have the full plant to place in a plot. You know exactly what you’re merging up to and there’s no thrill of discovering a new item by merging up. The items also come from boxes or from preset, unmovable generators so there’s no fun in discovering new generators either. But it is cool that each plant has its own planting requirements like more water, more fertilizer, more light etc.)

🌼 Playtime vs. Wait Time: 4/4 (another huge advantage of this game, there’s no energy system so you can play for very long, the only time constraint is waiting for plants to grow)

🌼 Overall Enjoyment: 4/5 (I’m definitely very impressed with this game but the things I mentioned in the Variety section are probably the biggest thing that prevents me from giving it a 5/5 overall. It is exciting when you unlock something new by progressing through the game but I especially enjoy moving up item ranks and discovering new generators, so in that area this game didn’t really do it for me. But otherwise it’s really a great game and a very unique entry within this genre!)

🌼 Total: 20/23

Merge Adventure - Dragons!

Developer: Ludigames

Release Date: March 25, 2021

First of all, even though the full name of this game includes the word dragons, I haven’t seen a single dragon unless one was mentioned in the written adventure logs, which I don’t usually read.

With that out of the way, this is another very unique game in terms of merge games as it is also an RPG. Some of the items you merge on the board are used to equip your hero, while others are used to unlock new adventures that yield different loot upon completion. You don’t actually get to engage in battles since the adventures themselves run on an idle system where you just get an adventure log to read to how your hero is doing and then collect the loot after a certain period of time. It is definitely something new for two-item merge games and deserves credit for the unique concept, but execution-wise it unfortunately fell short in a lot of ways.

🗡 Art: 1/3 (the art here isn’t necessarily awful but it is on the uglier side compared to a lot of the other games in this genre, specifically the board pieces. Maybe I’m biased because I prefer fun and colorful items, and these items involve a lot of wood and metal and such, but the board often seems so monochrome I can’t even tell certain items apart or remember which item track they belong to. Some of the level 1 items are just differently-shaped scraps of metal. The hero design isn’t bad but I only have one character to base that opinion on. We’ll get to that later)

🗡 Story: 2/3 (I honestly can’t remember if there’s an overarching plot but I will give it a point for the adventure logs, even though I usually don’t read them, it is cool that you can read what your character’s doing and how they obtained the loot they ultimately bring back)

🗡 Gameplay: 2/5 (I want to give it more points for being unique but despite the interesting concept I did have trouble with the gameplay. First of all, it has one of the smallest boards out of all the games I’ve played and a lot of different generators, which guarantees your board will become clogged very quickly. The numbers in the corners of each tile are supposed to help you keep track of what level items you have I presume, but they only make an already cluttered board look more cluttered, and the fact that I already couldn’t tell some of the item designs apart means having all the items crowded and jumbled makes for a very confusing and frustrating experience. Getting new items through loot from adventures seemed cool but then led to more frustration with more items to squeeze onto my fully packed board. Also I have no clue how to get more heroes, I’ve only had one this whole time playing so far, so there’s not much more to the RPG experience other than equipping more powerful items)

🗡 Variety: 2/3 (technically there’s a wide variety of items but as mentioned previously the very monochrome nature of the items makes the experience feel less varied and you can barely enjoy discovering new items when you’re just trying to find space on the board 90% of the time. Also, most of the item tracks just go: item, bigger item, bigger fancier item, biggest fanciest item, or, piece of item, more pieces of item, mostly put-together item, fully assembled item)

🗡 Playtime vs. Wait Time: 1/4 (your time is limited by the energy system, generators needing to refill AND waiting for your hero to return from an adventure)

🗡 Overall Enjoyment: 2/5 (sadly I didn’t really enjoy this game, although I guess my favorite part would be merging up weapons and other equippable items to make my hero more powerful, which isn’t something I could really do in any of these other games)

🗡 Total: 10/23

City Boom

Developer: Playwind Ltd.

Release Date: April 9, 2021

This game is very interesting as it’s the only merge game I’ve personally played that has you compete against other players. This game actually works pretty much exactly like a game I played loooooong ago called Coin Masters, where you gain coins by attacking or raiding other people’s bases while spending coins to build up your own base. The main difference here of course is that the other way to get coins is to merge items and complete requests, while in Coin Masters it was like a slot machine thing. I checked and they are not made by the same developer.

Anywho, the multiplayer aspect of this game was exciting since I definitely have a competitive streak, and I’ve been playing every day to try and climb up the leaderboard (I’m in the top 1,000 so far lol!) However this game is still new and pretty wonky, and it aggressively tries to get you to buy things, much more than any of the other two-item merge games. Also, this game is one of those games that’s very reliant on a constant internet connection so if you don’t have great internet (which I don’t) you will have a lot of issues with the game freezing, just a heads up.

💰 Art: 3/3 (I got to admit I’m a sucker for the cute, colorful and cartoony, and I just can’t get enough of the silly little cats in this game 😂 I appreciate that the 3D art style in this game is very consistent in all parts of the game, and this game also has 3D animated sections: for example, when you go to attack another player a cat rolls up in a little tank and rockets fly around)

💰 Story: 2/3 (there isn’t really a linear story but I give it a point for the different themed areas you progress through as you grow your town, plus the personality put into the cat characters)

💰 Gameplay: 3/5 (I do enjoy this game, especially the fact that I get to compete against other players, but there are a few issues. This game has a lot of limited time events, there’s seriously like 2 or 3 running at a time and seem to change every day, which does add some fun and variety, but creates a unique problem of having event-specific items on the board that I don’t know what to do with when the event ends. I don’t know if that event will come back again or if those items are just completely useless and should be sold now. Currently they’re just keeping my board very clogged. Also, this game really aggressively pushes overpriced microtransactions, which can get very annoying, but I will say that I was still able to play and enjoy the game a fair amount without paying anything. Lastly, the items make a really off putting clunk sound when they merge. May not seem important but it makes the merges less satisfying for me personally)

💰 Variety: 2/3 (There is a variety of event items but as far as the main items there’s very little variety, basically just four categories of items, so I put this in the middle)

💰 Playtime vs. Wait Time: 2/4 (what I like is that there are a lot of chances to get extra energy but what I don’t like is that rather than having energy refresh one at a time every few minutes, you have to wait like half an hour for all the energy to refill at once)

💰 Overall Enjoyment: 4/5 (honestly despite all my criticisms of it I kept coming back to this game, I really enjoy the competitive aspect and none of the problems with it are to the point where it seriously impedes my ability to play. That’s why I kind of have a separate category for overall enjoyment to begin with, because even if a game scores well or poorly in specific categories that won’t necessarily reflect my overall experience)

💰 Total: 16/23

Rankings

Plantopia (scored the same as Travel Town but after playing Travel Town for a while I’ve gotten more bored with it. Plantopia is the new reigning champion! 🎉)

Travel Town

Merge Design

Mergedom: Home Design

Merge Friends

Miss Merge

Merge Mansion

City Boom (scored the same as Merge Mansion but I preferred it less)

Merge Life (note: the linked review is outdated as the game has undergone a lot of updates since I wrote it, I will update it at some point but take the current version with a grain of salt)

Merge Matters

Merge Villa

Merge Adventure (scores the same as Merge Villa but I think I was a little harsh on Merge Villa to begin with, this game is much less playable)

Thank you so much for reading!!! I hope these reviews helped you if you enjoy merge games as much as I do! 💖 You can find more of my full game reviews here and follow me for more stuff about mobile games. Have a great day 🥳