#also the gameplay looks so fun from what ive seen

[abyssruler]

baldur’s gate 3 is so expensive for a broke college student like me but…gotta romance that one mf

[mythalism]

frame by frame analysis making sense of the new release trailer >:)

major spoilers below including clips from today's trailer, clips and info from previous trailers, and mention of information from broken NDA's/leaks

everything i mention here is basically new footage or footage given new context within today's trailer. most of the trailer is stuff we've already seen, but there are a few completely new clips and honestly some major reveals if you're looking closely and are generally INSANE like me :D

starting at the top is this same scene we have seen several times now, originally from the (controversial) reveal trailer back in like june, but we are seeing it before whatever ritual happens begins. ive been trying to figure out where exactly this takes place but im honestly not sure. it could be the black city in the fade, though the sky doesn't really look fade-like and theres a distinct presence of gravity and logic that the fade doesn't have. plus, the moon can be seen a few seconds later, and she's usually not in the fade.

these statues are similar the ones from solas's ritual site in the prologue of the game, but area is slightly different. the evanuris statues seem to be in the same order, however.

i honestly dont know where this is. or what the fuck this thing is.

lyrium idol????? titan heart orb?????? no clue. its red though!

next we have a new dragon we have seen very little of over in rivain. we have only ever seen this dragon in shots of rivain, such as taash's introduction in the original reveal trailer. it seems to just be a dragon, but the audio that plays at this moment says "it's been feeding on the blight!". i think this is an editing fake-out, and would bet that this dragon is just something we slay when we recruit taash.

we can see them being sexy and fighting it in the reveal trailer:

next up is a shot of a blighted minrathous, featuring both the andraste statue we saw in the gameplay reveal and the famous floating panopticon, being taken over by blight cysts and tentacles, under a red sky (seemingly caused by that ritual happening with the red ball in the first pic). remember this one because its arguably part of the biggest reveal of this trailer :)

next we have some venatori nonsense. to be honest idgaf about these losers but they are up to something, possibly working with the evanuris if i were to wager a guess, considering it is effectively confirmed that the evanuris are the old gods, and there is no way they are not capitalizing on that worship and loyalty by manipulating the venatori just like cory did!

what is interesting is WHO THE FUCK IS THIS?

my heart wants to say andruil so bad. its probably not its probably some venatori or something but what if. WHAT IF!

next we are back in minrathous with..... some massive skeleton feet stomping around?

we know this is minrathous for a few reasons, mostly because of the magic glowy barrier wall in the background that we see later in minrathous with venatori walking past but also with our entire group of allies:

this is extra interesting because the only time we've seen anything about giant skeletons are of course this dude, who we have seen now here and in the release date trailer

THIS guy is clearly in the grand necropolis however, so the question is how did he get his big skeleton feet to minrathous? of course, there could be multiple big skeletons running around causing havoc. we will find out in a week. heres another shot of the skeleton feet because i find this fun

next!

we know this is ghilan'nain's archdemon because we see it referred to as that (could be marketing manipulation, tho) and see it in the gameplay we have seen of the weisshaupt quest. this seems to also be in weisshaupt or the surrounding area of hossberg, due to the cute lil griffon statues behind her head

next we are back to the giant skeletons; this time i think this guy is in minrathous rather than the necropolis due to the architecture behind him. this could be the top part of his body while his bottom half is crushing rook beneath his big skeletal toes. im already obsessed with this

next we've got something else that i have no fucking clue about: ???????? all i have to say is notice the distinctly elvhen ear. ghilan'nain's creation perhaps???? why are they stabbing a rock and why is it bleeding??? why does this look identical to the skyrim dragonbone armor??????

next we have mother ghilan'nain being a freak in a new scene with a massive serpentine monster <3 this seems to be in weisshaupt because of davrin, the steeples in the background, the lighting, and the griffon statues on the right.

we see the serpentine monster again later in the trailer and it honestly looks so fucking sick. this is a creature we have never seen before and i cannot wait to see it in action. it seems like the above scene takes place after this one, perhaps after the creature is defeated?

NOW REMEMBER WHEN I TOLD YOU TO REMEMBER THE MINRATHOUS PANOPTICON BEING BLIGHTED????

whats that? in the corner?

pookie is free and walking around minrathous <3 <3 <3 also notice he has his dagger on his hip....

speaking of the dagger.... we also see rook taking it out of a stabbed ghilan'nain

we saw the first half of these scene earlier in the release date trailer, as rook tries to get close to her and large waves of power burst out of her body:

im gonna put it into the universe now because why not..... i think this might be an attempt to cure ghilan'nain of the blight. MAYBE! im just saying. we know a stab to the heart with this isnt neccesarily fatal because we know varric survives something similar. or, this is one of the few ways to effectively kill a blighted creature that can just hop bodies, like we know cory and archdemons can do.

next we see a familiar dragon in what seems to be a new setting?

this is the same dragon from the snowy, warden fight scene we've seen several times now, with this dragon and then the blue one that we saw the boss fight of. but the architecture on the right is clearly tevinter, the statues are ???????, and the spine off to the side kind of looks like what we saw above with that massive serpentine creature. i wonder if the mish-mash means that this is in the fade.

next we see a follow up to a moment we saw above, all of your assembled allies together in minrathous:

this seems to happen moments after this:

i think this is probably the finale of act 1, and all of these scenes of your squad running through minrathous lead up to the other ones we have seen of a massive dragon fight under a red sky, with solas in the dread wolf form. this one, from the release date trailer:

this is also the same environment where the skeleton guys are stomping around earlier, so part of me wonders if they are actually on our side against whatever evanuris/dragon/eldritch horror we are fighting here and just a bit clumsy <3

also - shoutout to carly @arlathen for noticing it looks like there is an executor in this lineup

thats all folks! partly because im done but also because i literally hit the 30 image limit LMFAO. my biggest takeaway from this is that solas is freed from his prison fairly early on, because i really thing this is the finale of act 1. they have said that everything we've seen in marketing is from act 1 and i dont think that would have changed for this trailer.

happy 1 week left and please go crazy speculating in the replies and reblogs xoxo <3

[livestock-and-bibles]

VERY curious about ur mouthwashing thoughts but also it’s been a while since ive seen the game so ive gotta rewatch a playthru augh

There’s a couple of reasons as to why I don’t have much interest in the game!!

1. Gameplay

I honestly cannot stand this new trend of horror games that are just the player talking to people, walking around, occasionally finding an object. I dislike this in the game Bad Parenting also. I’m like. Why does this have to be game? There’s no gameplays so what’s the point? I think it would’ve been more enjoyable as a novel or an animated series with the graphics it already has! It would be very striking. So yeah I find the actual gameplay very dull. Also the controls look really wonky from when I watched gameplay of it

2. Characters

I found myself not really caring too deeply about anyone? Like Curly is okay I guess, I like his design and the disability theming but his actual personality is so meh to me. Jimmy has potential but it never really explains why is inferiority complex is so deep so I’m just like ??? Barely any of the characters ever get and of their backstory or family life discussed except for Daisuke and Swansea but even then it’s very little (but those two are my favourite characters and I have very little criticism for them lol. They carried the game). I have so much hatred in my heart for the way they wrote Anya. It just feels so misogynistic to me. Like ofc the only woman on the crew has the rape as backstory + pregnancy plot. I’ve never seen that before /s. I’m just so tired of that being the only plot line women get in horror media. I understand the pregnancy is supposed to parallel with Curly’s disability but it’s still a very tired trope. Also her design is clearly ripped off of Wendy Torrance from The Shining lmao. There’s also a lot of other design elements that are kind of ripped off from Evangelion (the text on screen resembles the the title cards, Curly post accident resembles an Eva, etc.) so I just don’t really care about most of the characters and their relationships except for Daisuke and Swansea, and they don’t get enough screen time anyway lol

3. Plot

Most of the base plot is pretty good and interesting. It’s a solid premise. But I feel as though it’s kind of meandering until you get to the big twists. I was just watching like. When are we getting to the meat of the story. I do like the dual / non linear narrative, that’s always fun. Definitely some enjoyment was lost just bc I saw spoilers online, but I think a game is pretty weak if it’s enjoyment is completely lost because of spoilers, like I replay The Dark Descent all the time even though I know the ending because the story is that strong and the gameplay is fun. That’s where the game kind of suffers because the gameplay is so weak. Also I think the ending was kind of dragged out. I was watching the playthrough and I was just sitting there like. When will this be over. I get it Jimmy is terrible. We do not need five more scenes about this. There are some really fun moments though, like when he eats Curly’s leg or when Swansea mercy kills Daisuke (That’s always a trope I love) Though those are the only scenes I can remember where I was genuinely enjoying the game.

Overall I feel that the game was more style over substance, and a lot of it just wasn’t really my cup of tea when it comes to games. Don’t even get me started on how the fandoms seems to ignore Swansea (an old fat guy) and Daisuke (the only person of colour). Like y’all’s ageism, fatphobia, and racism is really showing guys. I see how y’all favour the white, conventionally attractive characters over these two,

I really wanted to enjoy the game. I really did. But alas. It just wasn’t really my vibe when it comes to horror games and I can be picky so it’s not to say that my opinion is the only correct one, it’s just how I feel. It was mainly the gameplay that I had a problem with, I just can’t get into walking simulator games lol

[dare-to-dm]

Hello! I saw your post about Assassin's Creed and wanted to ask more. I was a fan of the series too in its early days for the exact reasons you describe: the meta story, lore, and cultural touches that tended to feel so very real. I fell out after ACIII and after the series emerged from the Unity debacle was told that they'd abandoned (or at least back-seated) those elements.

To hear they've survived in some form is encouraging, but what are your thoughts on the meta story since then? Is it worth giving the series a shot or like you said just an endless trail of breadcrumbs?

So, I think the series started going downhill in AC Origins when they introduced leveling and other RPG mechanics. To me, that was the turning point when the games shifted away from the classic formula in order to chase broader appeal and more aggressive monetization strategies.

Despite this downshift, for me every single title that I've played has had at least some redeeming features that made it worth it.

If you haven't played it, AC IV is actually one of my favorite of the series. That one is well worth a playthrough and I can recommend it without reservation. Fun gameplay, interesting story in both the past and future narratives, and stunning setting.

AC Rogue is also an underrated title that does a lot of interesting things with its story and better fleshes out the dark side of the Assassins and why someone might choose the Templars over them. And if you like the gameplay of IV, it's all the same here (though the setting is mostly frozen northern seas instead of the glorious Caribbean).

AC Syndicate is not as good in general, but does implement some nice features. It's the first (major) title with a playable woman protagonist, and the free running gets a refreshed feeling from updates to the setting. Like, they introduced major traffic in this one (moving trains, carriages and boats on the Thames) and once you get used to it it adds an interesting element to navigating around the setting. Plus your homebase is a train, and I think that's really nifty! And the DLC is pretty good. No really huge plot revelations, but the modern day assassins get better characterized.

AC Origins is another downshift (like I said, they introduce levelling and RPG elements here). I like the main character(s), but honestly, if you're looking for one to skip, I'd probably skip this one. The gameplay is meh and the story doesn't introduce much that is interesting. It's supposed to be about how the Assassins started as an organization, but there aren't really any stunning revelations here. It's more of a personal tale of one man seeking justice for his child. Also, the new modern day protagonist, Layla Hassan, is not very likeable IMO.

AC Odyssey is very similar to Origins, and it's just such a bloated game. It's soooo big. And more action focused. BUT it does introduce a major interesting plot element that I won't spoil here and you also learn a lot more about the Isu. Layla gets even less likeable.

And you've read my review of Valhalla. Layla is still the modern day protagonist, but she's at least getting a little more relatable. I haven't finished it yet, so I can't give my complete impressions. I'm certainly hopeful that I'll learn more about modern day factions within the Templar order and maybe some more about the origins of humanity itself, but that remains to be seen.

[gear-project]

Annon-Guy: What makes or breaks a Guest Character for you?

I know you focus on the main cast and all, but when a Guest does show up, how do you feel about them?

Feel free to use the Guests from Soul Calibur as an example. I know Link and Ezio are the most well received while Yoda, Dark Vader and Starkiller get shafted on.

Honestly, I haven't had much reason to complain about the guest characters I've been presented.

In Soul Calibur's case, we actually got VERY GOOD representation for a lot of guest characters (Bandai Namco and Project Soul were pretty skillful in that regard).

I'd argue that Spawn's presence in Soul Calibur is actually dwarfed by how he was presented in Mortal Kombat 11, to be honest.

If they managed to sneak Spawn in Guilty Gear, I'd go crazy... hahaha...

Samurai Shodown's Guest characters (i.e. Baiken/Warden/etc) were "simplified" to better suit the game's mechanics, and while that's something some people might complain about... in Samurai Shodown's case, "simpler is better" in a lot of ways. Even for Baiken in that game... she felt very solid in the game itself (well maybe not as versatile as she was in Accent Core or Xrd, but those are the peak of GG, and are hard to compare to).

I'd argue Soul Calibur IV's DLC wasn't the problem... the gameplay elements and mechanics were the larger issue.

Yoda is... well he's a mild amusement... Soul Calibur IV got mixed responses on a GOOD day... but people still loved Starkiller and Darth Vader regardless.

Yoda is the "Kliff Undersn" of Soul Calibur, if you can believe it... tiny character, awkward hitboxes, silly hits and combos... but DESPITE ALL THIS... he is very lore-accurate to the films that depicted Yoda in Combat in the Star Wars series (which is funnily ironic.)

I'd argue that they could've chose Boba Fett or the Mandalorian and got a stronger response, but that's Star Wars for you.

Honestly, I'm a huge fan of Jedi Survivor and Jedi Fallen Order, but that's a different story.

Soul Calibur IV itself suffered under its own mechanics and features, the Tower of Trials it had was some of the hardest content ever seen in an SC game, to be honest... not nearly as fun as Libra of Souls.

I'd say the character DLC wasn't the problem with that game... the mechanics of the weapons and the unlockables needed more to be improved upon.

In terms of visuals though, Soul Calibur IV is still one of the prettiest SC games (SC6 wasn't nearly as bright, but it also had a lot more stable features and played at a faster pace like SCII and SCIII are better known for being).

SCIV also didn't have an extensive museum/library like SC6 does, so that right there should tell you something.

Also SCIV had a ton of guest characters beyond the DLC and many of which looked nothing like standard Soul Calibur cast, some were straight out of an anime (Angol Fear), which was jarring to compare to at the time, since most SC characters look semi-realistic.

My standard for guests boils down to how well they fit in with everyone else in the roster... if they stand out like a sore thumb but can still scrap well in a fight, I guess that's fine for some people, but for me I don't necessarily want to be embarrassed by my friends when I decide to pick a character.

Angol Fear definitely stands out, however a character like Ashlotte was inspired.

It was Ito Ōgure who came up with her design, but as a result we got the Clockwork Doll character creation template later on in Soul Calibur 6... and many fans have appreciated it.

(By the way, Ashlotte is still one of my favorite SC designs as well.)

You could argue that 2B is the "next big step" in that aesthetic and genre, though in her case it's a bit more complex.

2B is also a guest character in Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising now, which is also nice to hear, I'd argue that Granblue is the 2D equivalent of Soul Calibur (and given the staff that created the game were former Project Soul Staff, that should be obvious).

Even if Harada once stated that Project Soul had to be disbanded in order to make a game like Tekken 8 possible, I still believe that everyone who was behind Soul Calibur as a series would love to work on something similar in the future... it was that great a concept.

Ultimately, when it comes to fighting games, you have certain themes you want to make present... and when including guests in to that theme, you want to make sure they mesh well overall.

Of course, that doesn't just apply to fighting games, but to every game that has that level of potential.

Despite the fact many might consider Soul Calibur dead and buried... MY SOUL STILL BURNS.

[robobee]

good morning i'm going to nerd out about my location choices in my silly henrydeclan fic because I know a lot of you aren't into games BUT i think the references are fun. note that none of these pictures are mine cause i dont have my game on me atm.

heclan land in a snowed-in backyard. that's a reference to the jacksonville, wyoming sections of the last of us (part 2). there's a snowstorm, too, so the environment is very dreary and foreboding. the interiors are about as decomposed as you'd expect.

(declan's mobile phone battery is at 7%, and goes to 6 as he uses it. that's a giggle to the FNAF style of "survive a week" gameplay)

once they come out on the other side, the weather is markedly different. it's still a/the same suburban area, but now things are looking a lot like the Hillcrest section in TLOU 2, overgrown and humid.

henry mentions that they keep looping back to the other side when they try to take a route that isnt directly down the street. that's because there IS nowhere to go: it's the classic video game thing of inaccessible areas being blocked by a stack of boxes that really SHOULD be jumpable. good old disguised invisible walls.

there's also a mess of cars blocking the path up the street, up to where henry has to specifically aim for inFecTeD breaking through the barriers of cars at the end of the chapter ^

now for the Ominous Looming Structure. henry misidentifies it at first, before amending himself as they get closer. the 'wall', so to speak, "pops in". that's a term referring to when assets just appear/load in out of nowhere as you're looking at them. a well-optimised game will try to avoid this, since it shows a lack of polish + breaks the immersion. if there's a lot of pop-in, it shows either the device running the game or the game itself is flawed severely.

the structure itself takes from silent hill (2 i think, but mostly the vibe of all the games). it's gross brick that's distinctly fleshy and grimy.

the "creepy hallway" is such a cemented trope in horror media that i could say anything from resident evil, to P.T., to the shining and still get the point across. specifically, though, i was referencing the evil within 2 (the right image is from a dark pictures game, you get what i mean when i say its a distinct trope)

they reach what seems to be a regular wall, before declan presses the pattern in a specific way that causes it to swing into another hall. henry does not notice this because he's trying not to have a panic attack. however this puzzle situation is a nod to the OG resident evil, which also has similar décor.

i didn't have a specific reference in mind for the locked door, but i was definitely thinking of some outlast vibes, like so

carrying on from that we are just fully in silent hill territory. just, bona fide nasty. places which look like they'll give you 4 never before seen strains of tetanus.

and we've about caught up to what's written out now! i didn't go too deep into the monsters/lore here, but a specific i want clear is that the whole place is a leyline-induced amalgamation of horror games, with a distinct fondness for the medium. things don't work cohesively, but that's kind of the point: it's a bunch of different properties stitched together.

of the two, henry canonically "watches video game walkthroughs," and declan is declan; so only one of them really has the background to even be able to recognise the patterns in what's going on. also, henry watches these games but he doesn't PLAY these games. he doesn't have that adrenaline/fear frame of reference either.

below i mention some thoughts about the arms used too. thank you for coming on this fun little journey with me! xx

obligatory mention that i barely know anything about g*ns ive never seen a pistol up close unless while getting mugged. BUT since we're going with a shooter game feel, i'll mention my choices for both of them.

i wanted henry to be a stealth/range build to declan's melee/close-range build.

henry uses a revolver with a long barrel and a very shiny finish. Declan uses a double action pistol, smaller for better concealed carry, and matte. probably a glock because i think GLOCK is the funniest word to say since it reminds me of chickens. his is a 9mm i THINK (i did the research but i forgot it so i WANT to say smth with 35, but i dont think that's right), so he's able to acquire ammo easier.

if i was held at gunpoint (lol) to pick a gun for henry, i'd go with a Korth because he would love to spend an obscene amount of money on things. accuracy over speed is the contrast between them: given declan's greywaren insanity i do NOT believe that man is a careful shooter.

if i DIDN'T have to be bound to like, relative realism, I would say Henry has a Mauser c96. it's a very funky looking ww2 era pistol that was very popular in China for a while and the base for Leon Kennedy's Red9 from the resident evil game. EYE think henry is exactly the type of person to have played re4 age 7 and decide to base his personality off of leon. side by sides of both below:

[minquiec]

since you were kind enough to like the song i recommended you, i wanted to send you more ZZZ items i found useful. i have a distany memory of you saying you wanted to learn more about ZZZ's lore before developing more of your OC that you ship with Billy Kid and i have provided two videos for you to potentially help you out! no worries if you dont want to watch either for any reasons, all optional obviously. im just trying to be helpful with what is p rapidly becoming either a hyperfixation or a special interest, and i love the content youve made so far about it!

(video 1:) https://youtu.be/WaW6Sy8o6dI?si=ldFSS7w9qLFaMig2

this (⬆️ video 1) is a video that explores the lore about ZZZ so far without going into spoilers. i hope there will be a part 2 that does include spoilers at some point. but, as is, this is really interesting. and really succint at just 14 minutes

(which i find to be short, but all the other ZZZ lore and theory videos i have seen are all even shorter (guess there isnt much to lore to unpack so far, no matter how much i want to have everything ever in ZZZ all analyzed and explained in one video already as is). so this is both a baby and a biggie. but i like how little guessing at what could be in this video, as we instead mostly analyze what is currently in-game, is my point)

(video 2:) https://youtu.be/mR0s11XrSlU?si=6FYAUtF6iq7OxBod

and this (⬆️ video 2) is a video that compiles all the cut-scenes so far (it was posted within the last week) of the animated scenes, the comic-book-scenes, and other voice-acted scenes within ZZZ so far. it's very long. but ive been watching it in pieces over the past few days and have found it fun, but that's just me. im on hour 7. wild that there is THIS many scenes in a video of an app-game, in a video that doesnt even include any gameplay no less lol

but yeah! watching through these two videos have helped me understand ZZZ better and develop my own ZZZ OC. im still looking into lore and theory videos about ZZZ that aren't fully based on conjecture, and if i run into any more then i can let you know? only if you want tho. i dont wanna infodump unwarrantedly lol

hopefully, we will eventually learn Billy lore. do you have any theories or hcs about Billy yet?

i know his wiki confirms he is fully robot, just one who passed The Forbidden Fruit Test, but i was so convinced before that he used to be human lol and now i have a lot of hcs and curiosities about why he exists and who made him, but my biggest focus is the obvious "ohhh this bitch is functionally immortal, huh? he's going to outlive all his teammates unless he's killed or something" element. i wish we knew more about the Starlight Knights as part of said Billy lore, but as is i hc theyre like Voltron or outerspace Power-Rangers so that it can explain part of Billy's interest as then in part due to them using robots to save the world. maybe one or more of them IS a robot or cyborg even, idk lol

but i digress. i hope you have a good day!! 👋

OOOO THANK U FOR SENDING ME THESE that first one was insanely helpful 😭😭 bc half the time while I'm playing the game I zone out and just end up missing dialogue JAJDJS

Dw about infodumping JAJDJS I practically do that everyone bc I can't learn to shut up but YES FEEL FREE TO SEND MY WAY it's always a bit frustrating when a media is new cause there's just not that much confirmed information 😭 so hopefully we'll get more lore soon 🙂‍↕️

I'm not sure if you're seen but there's a character teaser released by hyverse where he talks abt being made from old technology and used to be part of a gang on the outer ring of new eridu (??) there's been some speculation it could be a new upcoming faction called sons of calydon since the insignia on their back is somewhat similar to the one on billys (?) but that's what I've seen other people speculate

I think he also talks abt being made as a combat android but its not clear who made him exactly or his exact purpose 🤷‍♀️

As for the starlight knight aspect from my personal opinion I think it's to play into his childish personality almost by giving him a silly interest akdjsk THIS PART IS A HEADCANON but in his teaser he also talks about 'gaining a taste of freedom' so I'm assuming he enjoys the show bc it's kind of him indulging in this freedom he's found if that makes any sense IDK KEFNKWKSN cause he's a silly character so they gave him some silly traits to make him an enjoyable character :]

But yea that's what I think so far I HOPE THEY CAN RELEASE MORE CONTENT SOON IM SO IMPATIENNTTT JAJDJJJD

This is the character teaser if you haven't seen already ⬇️⬇️

[i-rate-horse-games]

You should rate horse isle 3, It’s fucking wild.

agreed. agreed. agreed.

first of all, i was only able to stomach about an hour of this game, and as such this review is really just my personal experience & missing most of the game!

this is what horse isle 1 looks like

this is what horse isle 2 looks like

this is horse isle 3.

when i logged into horse isle 3 for the first time i was greeted with randomly dumped in some player built town with bad 8 bit music and traps set that punted my helpless virtual body into a sand flat with absolutely nothing there. just a low poly inescapable sand flat. i tried to ask for help in the global chat and was given instructions as to how to Start the Tutorial, as it doesn't start automatically and isn't super obvious, but then i couldn't say thank you because i had run out of the tokens needed to speak in global?? and then i got stuck in the tutorial because I needed to pick up a stick, and it was just infinite sand flat in every direction.

my goal was to find the trans train enthusiasts from the legends, but instead i got picked up by a town of middle aged moms who offered me free stuff. i accepted but then remembered the mission & also that i would likely not be playing much longer. then unaccepted. this was uncomfortable for everyone

the overworld reminds me of the low poly worlds game developers make when learning unity for the first time. not a horrible thing, but would be better if the gameplay were really good to make up for it or something. however i have no idea if the gameplay is really good! i never found any jumping competitions! i spent so little time online that my rental fully tacked horse never expired, but I did catch a few others and try riding them bareback and that is SLOW. traditional! i played horse isle 2 for a few minutes and it was just about as slow. i like the horse catching mechanic! it was fun getting the hang of it.

nothing is straightforward, so i had to google how you buy tack in this game. apparently you have to go to a player town and find a sign, click on it, and buy tack from there. but finding the sign was pretty rough for me. having only played an hour, every piece of furniture looked the same. i failed this mission.

i hear one of the main draws of this game is the silly horse breeding mechanics. i did not experience this firsthand, but ive seen some silly looking horses, so my complements do go there.

the soundtrack is pretty good! the badlands ost is groovy! the alpine ost is dramatic and ambient! black sands has a nice cello and some very dramatic drums! i'm listening to the ost here and it all seems pretty nice! a lot of this is perfect to study to! i'm jamming!

i rate this game 2 stars out of 5!

★★☆☆☆

the stars are for good soundtrack and big online open world! points deducted for the unwelcoming design, transphobia and homophobia of the developers & the drama about their rules and etc, and the fact that if you pet your horse they will make purring sounds!

next games to come will likely be 3ds games! feel free to submit horse games for me to try to '"'review'"' for funzies!

edit: here's part 2

[objectlovingobject]

Hungery >3<

They dont seem to lose their meter points when they sleep, despite what ive heard(im not sure what they were experiencing or maybe if they set the time wrong) which is a plus! They go to bed at a good time too, i think it was 8? Or maybe 9 and idr when they woke up >< i was at work hehe

I like that the games have 3 difficulties, and i think there's like 6 games so its p cool i think :3

Also this device is huge, like its bigger than i thought it would be and i knew it was a pretty big vpet from the get go >< but thats a good thing. that coupled with the buttons on the side and not the bottom make it feel like its a little game console and it has such good ergonomic feel >< at least for my hands lol i have small hands tho ><

I love the look of it soo much aaa it looks like a mermaid perfume bottle <3 also the speaker holes on the back make a little character! Thats adorable and such a fun detail <3

I can def make my own faceplates too, my friend can scan them and put the scan in his cricut thingie and make some or smth like that hehe ^^; i dont remember the specifics ><

Also.. the gimmick... <3 i love it! I love ocean and underwater sooo much lol and subnautica is my fav fav game so i love anything underwater <3 i love that it has liquid in it, tho mine looks like it has less than some of the old vids ive seen, and that makes me worry that it will all evaporate in a couple years. which will suck bc it cant be refilled but it wont change gameplay at all so i wont mind. besides, its just another state of wear and tear for it, and its another sign of it being well loved <3 to be loved is to be changed <3

Also it has some kind of gyroscope or accelerometer or something(idk the specifics of the insides of this particular device) so it senses the angle its being held at(upright, tilted left or right, and upside down) and i love that bc i love extra features in pets however inefficient they may be ><

Also on the topic of wear and tear and signs of love, my other vpet(one of my top 3 favs) my motchimaruzu kitty, has a lot of signs of love >< the case of the device is a squishy(like the bread squishies in Barnes and noble) and shaped like a kitty, and the paws nose and cheeks are the buttons. The case can be taken off so that it doesn't get messed up(if u squish it a lot the printing comes off and the spongey material starts to degrade) but like. Its part of the experience. The squishy is PART of it, and i want the whole experience, plus i dont mind the signs of damage/love bc its like. To be loved is to be changed, ive always believed this even before i knew the words for it. Not that im shaming anyone who takes the case off bc i get it, its a collector thing, but i keep it on most of the time personally!

[ajdrawshq]

Is there any non-spoilery way you could talk about how isat isn't just about timeloops? because like I do want to check the game out eventually for sure if only because indie fun times but I'm busy for a while before I get the time and tbh I'm just not as curious because I don't know how it's gonna break that formula (also ngl no colors makes me lose 50% interest because I like. looking at colors. lots.)

UHM OK WELL UM. hm. how DO i do this without spoiling anything. im very not good at describing things especially things i Really enjoy so how do i put this . hold on i might need to look at some reviews so i know how to words. ok

as a disclaimer i havent fully interacted with a lot of (if any??) media that has timeloops so i cant say for certain what it does differently from similar media that makes it stand out from others. at the same time ive never seen something that is so directly About Timeloops in this way even if i consider stuff ive heard about in passing but i could be wrong (madoka n utena come to mind ?). ill try to think abt the things that arent Just timeloop related plus the stuff u mentioned and hope that helps it feel more interesting and less generic?

i think one of the main things i can say is that it Really makes you feel what the protagonist is feeling. more than anything ive ever watched or played or whatever . and thats saying a LOT given how much i empathize with protags in games. and its not even just an empathy thing here. both the story progression and the gameplay work in such a way that you experience pretty much everything the same way they do, while still having their own personal stuff u can learn about of course

on that note tho. that is actually something to be careful of for a few reasons. i know ur generally pretty good with darker content so i doubt thatll be a problem for u here (its not that bad tbh but there is IS a warning when u open the game/look at the steam page and it aint lying) but. due to the nature of timeloops. it CAN get tiring and this is very much intended. and this helps a lot w the story and themes in a way that its. like. think how kh days does repetition on purpose. its a lot like that (although i had way easier of a time getting thru isat than days? i cant remember how u feel abt days' gameplay but i think it was positive ? either way getting thru isat was way more bearable than days imo). it does do a good job at balancing this with a couple mechanics that mean u dont have to repeat everything all the time (i had like. Very few actual full loops by the time i finished) and theres ALWAYS new things happening, even if ur super thorough with everything. its pretty easy to do things at whatever pace u feel like and if u wanna focus on the main story only to make it easier it wouldnt take too much away from the experience (tho i do encourage talking to the npcs at least a few times), and theres always a goal to work towards. also dialogue skipping and the banana peel are ur best friends

sort of adding onto that. it really, really helps that u are sharing the experience with the protagonist. not only does that help u relate to them (even if u dont share as many traits w them as i do akvdjsn) but theyre probably the most beloved character in the game and for good reason!! its really fun to see their interactions with the rest of the main cast and the npcs, and watch them all develop in different ways throughout the game. and my goodness all of the characters are beautifully written - at first ur kinda thinking ok its a ragtag group of sillies in an rpg whats new. but their personalities and relationships and hobbies and problems and everything about them is just so well done.. they feel so natural. human even. every conversation feels real to me. one of the main themes of the game is the concept of change, and each of them represent and approach it differently, both positively and negatively. its hard not to fall in love with them as individuals and as a group because they just have so much going on, even the ones i didnt expect to like at all!!

the worldbuilding is also a fun spin on fantasy rpg worlds. it mostly revolves around the area u play in bc well. of course it does. but its vv interesting to learn about all the different cultures within the world and how they interact with and build on the themes of the game. theres all sorts of queer stuff going on and its all handled like a love letter to people who relate, and i can feel it even with what i dont relate to at all!! the way "magic" works and the ways people use it in battle and everyday life is super cool too, makes the whole thing feel a lot more believable and realistic :3 i dont wanna talk abt any specifics bc its more fun to learn abt this stuff ingame

OH AND THE TEXT.. EFFECTS?.. idk what to call that but the way dialogue (both internal and external) is written and programmed is funky as hell (affectionate). it was weird at first bc oftentimes (mostly for humor) its like. almost the way i type actually?? which feels strange in a legit game but it Works. it works so well and adds tone and vibes and a Voice in a way u usually cant get in a game without any voice acting. deltarune is also good at that but this one does it differently enough for me to consider it unique

HAVE I MENTIONED THE ART STYLE i love the art style . its so charming and expressive especially all the talking sprites n battle portraits. simultaneously silly n adorable while fully capable of being serious. and creepy. anyway look at the sillies i love them n their designs dearly (especially Siffrin (1st on the left) and Mirabelle (2nd on the left))

also on that note, the lack of colors....... i both totally understand being put off by that (i also love looking at colors n this part made me feel weird abt it when i was thinking abt getting it at first) and personally enjoy it? without saying anything spoilery (bc its really not), its just another part of the worldbuilding and themes that i now find really fun :3 should be noted that i usually have an anti blue light filter so it mightve been easier to look at w the yellowish tint going on. maybe it even looks better that way ? kinda reminded me of old films now that i think abt it.. neat!!

as a last thing i couldnt quite insert somewhere else. it is equal parts a comedy and a tragedy, and it is so, so effective at accomplishing this. the humor is fantastic and adds to the games' and characters' personality, every tragic moment is . for lack of a better word or phrase. absolutely fucking delicious. and i adore how well it can shift from one to the other gradually or in an instant, or just be both at once!!!! yippee!!!!!!!

aaand thats all i can say. i have no idea if that cleared anything up BUT i encourage u to give it a try bc i do think youd like it in the end. u probably wouldnt finish it as fast as i did but that might be a good thing jfbskndj but yeah!!!! in stars and time!!!!!! its good and i love it!!!!!!!!

[shiawase-rina]

hey i saw youre playing limbus company, is it a good game? / what kind of game it is? ive only seen some of your screenshots and they look interesting but i have no idea what kind of game it is lol

if u dont mind, could u tell me a bit about it?

I'm not as deep into the whole series as others but I'll try!

Limbus Company is the third game by Project Moon an indie game developer. So I will some basic background info first:

All their games are set in the same dystopian world.

First they released Lobotomy Corporation which is a hellish managment game where you have to direct your poor employees to farm energy from monsters (abnormalities).

The second game is Library of Ruina which is a turn based card deck builder. It follows the aftermath of Lobotomy Corporation.

Lastly is Limbus Company which is a gacha game for mobile and Steam. You don't need to play the other two games first to understand Limbus Company, but it makes a lot of references to them.

Here you have to manage Sinners based on classic literature. Like my guy Gregor is based on Kafka's Metamorphosis. The original works is heavily referenced and are not just used as aesthetic.

The amnesiac Dante (the manager we play as) tries to keep the roudy group together to fulfill the missions Limbus Company gives them.

On the way we get some nice deep dives into the characters! I think anything more about the story is better experienced yourself.

Limbus Company is rather unlike most gacha games and feels more like a regular PC game with one gacha element. The base character versions are perfectly viable and may even overpower rarer versions.

It is similar to Library of Ruina with it's complex turn based team building gameplay. Some people have critisised it for being too complex, hard to understand and boring.

But for me it's fun to try out different stuff and find out how it goes! This type of gameplay is my stuff even if I need to dedicate more time to this game than my other gacha games. The concept of the other "identities" of the characters is interesting too. You basically pull for the alternative reality versions of the characters!

As a gacha game it is still very fresh and the devs are still fixing a lot. Bugs, Performance and Game Design are still being worked on. So If you want a more polished experience you might want to wait a bit. Or try it now and get all the apology gacha currency lol

I think it has a lot of potential, especially for the writing and character work! The gameplay will also only get more interesting as you get more identities of the characters.

I hope this helped a bit!

[triptychofvoids]

you don't need permission to infodump. go on ahead, speak until your lungs are inside out! fight the system !

ok maybe i will talk about the legend of zelda. what would happen if i talked about a link between worlds real quick. but im going to put it under the cut because i dont need to have a gigantic block of text on my blog xD

so i dont know exactly how many people have played a link between worlds, but from what ive seen its very rarely talked about and is incredibly overshadowed by the other zelda games. i mean i like all the zelda games because its my favorite series and is my special interest but i think that the zelda games on the ds dont get the attention they deserve

a link between worlds is probably in my top 3 zelda games if i really had to pick. it released for the 3ds in i think it was 2013, and it functions as sort of a spiritual successor to a link to the past, and i think that people who like a link to the past would also like a link between worlds. its the typical top down dungeon crawler type game just like the rest of the 2d zeldas are, and its !! a lot of fun !! the art direction is sort of fun and cartoony, the soundtrack is really good i think and it remasters a lot of songs from a link to the past. if youre looking for a really in depth story then you probably wont find it here, but the story that it does have is functional and. i dont know, i mean, i found it engaging. its good. i like it a lot genuinely. in terms of gameplay like i said its like the other 2d zeldas but like a link to the past theres also that dark world-light world dichotomy that is integrated into the overworld and puzzle solving and theres the new mechanic where you can merge into walls which also plays into how you navigate the world and solve puzzles its just so cool.

so um. yeah !! i know thats not much just because im not going to sit here and type out the whole entire game, but if you or anyone hasnt played a link between worlds yet i highly recommend it just because its one of my favorites. i think when people are looking for 2d zelda games to play they usually play a link to the past, links awakening, or the original. which dont get me wrong, those are all great, but i think that a link between worlds gets overlooked a lot in the same way that spirit tracks and phantom hourglass do. at least from what ive seen

neway i wanted to get my a link between worlds recommendation out of the way before anything else because if theres one thing i can talk about A LOT its the legend of zelda series. and god forbid im allowed to actually have a conversation with someone about ganondorf, no one will ever hear the end of it. i have so many thoughts about him (hes my favorite). btw my askbox is always open and i love the sound of my own voice and my opinions are always right so asks are always welcome xD

[theprojectreneblogger]

What are your hopes and dreams for InZoi ?

Ive seen the gameplay footage from an honest youtuber and was pleased with what i saw from this 1 year in development game. i’m gonna write down my hopes and dreams for inzoi, please feel free to state yours too :

accurate genetics. graphics looks great but i’m still traumatized from sims 4 borked genetics, i’m hoping the team at inzoi took that aspect seriously.

fun job days. they said work was a big part of the game and it indeed looked fun but a bit repetitive. i’m hoping they develop that aspect more. As an example, why not tie the advanced create an outfit mechanic to a fashion career ? Or since every character look so beautiful, a modeling job could be adequate.

meaningful relationships. i’ve not yet seen characters reject others people advances but i did see a proposal refusal.

engaging events. there is the schedule thing that is nice but surface level. since the IA seems rather smart in this game i’m pretty certain they can make events (mariage, girls night out, games night) memorable.

well thought out hobbies. i pray solo hobbies like programming, crafting, painting are immersive and engaging. i like playing party animals but loners too

Oh I have such a list, but its probably nothing wildly new. As a player that enjoys gameplay more than decorating/playing with styles in character creation, I'm really hoping that inZOI is more than just pretty window dressing and has some fun gameplay.

Robust AI. I would love for characters to autonomously pick their actions based on their personality, their needs, their surroundings/context, their schedule, and what other characters are around them. No dancing for hours on end despite hating dancing.

Mods. Whether that be simply adding in new clothing styles, hair, makeup, and accessories, adding new furniture and devices for the home, adding new jobs, or going further with more changes and even script changes for new functionality. The longevity of a game often depends on the ability to mod it.

Optimized performance and ongoing bug-quashing. Maybe its a given we all hope for this, but I really hope that on a computer that meets recommended specs (whatever those turn out to be) the game runs nicely, looks good, isn't bogged down in obnoxious bugs, etc.

Multiple neighborhoods/maps. Cities, suburbs, and rural spaces - and each one with LOTS of lots to use, at various price ranges for the character to buy/rent. The ability to build/decorate community lots is a must as well, and to assign what type of lot it is (cafe, gym, arcade, etc - hopefully a wide array of these). The city looks gorgeous, I'd love to see what they do with rural and suburban spaces. On that note, not everything needs to be pretty and glamourous. I'd love a run-down side of town with high crime, cheap property, trash in the street, etc for a rougher gameplay experience too. Please, give me a ghetto for my stories.

Diversity. I have admittedly become very spoiled with the way Sims 4 handles diversity these days. I remember Sims 1 when gay marriage just wasn't possible in the game (or IRL....) What the game does with gender and sexuality representation is the best thing I've seen in games to date. Some games are still struggling in this department. I hope inZOI doesn't become one that struggles, and instead is one where I can see the whole LGBTQ+ spectrum. As far as other backgrounds, I'm unfamiliar with Korean culture and kpop has gone over my head musically, but I'm really looking forward to exploring how it is depicted in the game - something fresh and new to me. But I'd also love to see other cultures represented in terms of locations to play in - particularly because the game is so dang pretty, how could we not want this?

Variety in clothing/styles. Hopefully that diversity extends to clothing and hair styles too. Give me your classic timeless looks, goth, scene, metalhead, country, in addition to the modern styles popular in Korea. At least a little bit, and if modding exists, hopefully the modders pick up the slack.

A wide variety of jobs, each with numerous tasks to complete during the day - and each day's tasks are different. A long list of possibilities, with a few picked at random to complete that day, would keep things fresh. The job types are hopefully a mix of 'flavors' from quirky and odd to serious and and intellectual.

A memory and relationship system that means something. Did your bully from grade school start a new job, and as it turns out your his/her boss? Time to decide whether to take the high road or low road with that jerk.

Flow of time that makes sense. Once more comparing it to the Sims, because we have nothing else really to compare it to.... tasks that are completed quickly IRL shouldn't take an hour or more to complete in game. That likely means some animations need to be simpler and shorter. As much as we love a well-done animation, I cannot watch my character take two hours to eat a grilled cheese and drink water while talking to one other person in their kitchen.

Consequences. If my characters cheat on their spouse, I want their spouse to react accordingly (furious, heartbroken, shocked, etc) and never forget this event. Consequences for poor work performance or bad actions (stealing from the cash register!) that lead to being fired, or even handed over to the police. Workplace romances and rivalries. School bullies. Crushes and unrequited love. Police and crime in general, even if that means your character is a victim (remember that car on fire picture?). Eviction or repossession when bills go unpaid. Homelessness. Children getting taken away for neglect. Strained relationships when personalities conflict too much. Mean, crude, evil characters. Sickness and health problems (maybe with a toggle for this in gameplay options for people who don't want it). The effects of drug and alcohol abuse would be great too but for ratings purposes that likely will have to come from mods.

Accurate genetics, with some guardrails. I'd like the kids to look like their parents and be surprised at how good looking (or bad looking!) the kids wind up looking when you couple different characters up, but genetics should avoid giving us things like randomly disappearing chins for no reason, or bizarrely glitched smushed faces, or weird potato bodies with no shoulders.

Wide range of skills, and increasing them provides some kind of benefit, bonus, or something else fun besides just profit or ticking a box to say you did it.

Pets! Cats and dogs but also smaller critters like fish, lizards, turtles, birds, mice, etc. Fun gameplay that makes them feel like part of the family, but without taking up a family character slot.

The ability to turn on/off aging and on/off neighborhood developments, or decide which characters/character households do and do not age or see progression.

Meaningful childhood and elder life states. Life states before being a young adult shouldn't exist simply to pick traits and wait out the age timer while occasionally watching the character do something cute or funny. The character's childhood should have an actual impact on their memories, relationship, and character - good or bad. Similarly, being an elder shouldn't mean the character just takes up space, waiting to die.

No microtransactions. I'm not paying $5 for a set of new furniture meshes and a hat.

Expansions worth their price point. A new expansion shouldn't cost the same as the base game unless you're literally doubling the amount of content. That doesn't happen these days, tbh.

Occults, fantasy, and magic elements as optional expansion someday. I'm torn on this, because it does conflict with the realism I'm looking for, and sometimes I don't want to deal with it in a game. On the other hand, I have a feeling it would be utterly beautiful to see in this game and I know I'd eventually get a wild hair and feel like trying it out, just like I did with the Sims. At least as an expansion, people who have no interest can ignore it.

Education matters. Private schools, schools that aren't rabbit holes, universities, trade schools, etc. would be excellent as an expansion pack. Without the pack, all kids go to the same school(s) and its a rabbit hole. With it, you can follow the character to school just like you can follow a character to work. There are tasks to get through the day and opportunities to socialize, learn skills, get into trouble, etc. The better your character's grades, the better their future university prospects are, which not just increases what the character gets paid, but unlocks certain career paths (doctor, lawyer, etc). Poor performance locks out choices, and terrible performance or misbehavior leads to suspension or expulsion. Online schooling and night school for a GED equivalent (does Korea have something similar?) would be neat too.

Vacation locations. Beaches, camping, cultural/historical sites, ruins, mountain climbing, the list could go on and on. I'm especially interested in anything having to do with water and beaches.

[ji-lixie]

what happened in the new update??

so basically while i saw a few people say rhythm hive used to be integrated group-wise (i cant confirm/deny that, so i'm taking them at their word--i only started playing when svt was added), it went from being the four separate groups to being like... All Of Them together. no switching between groups (which imo wasnt even tht big of a hassle as someone who started playing for txt alongside svt a few months ago), they're just all together and also you can pull cards for literally All Groups now. so you could literally be playing for like... only bts, and pull an XR for enhypen, and so forth. like, i popped back in to check and there's no way to Only pull cards for a single group now--the card shop states you can only pull for all groups. if you're a multi fan, then i guess that part of the update isnt so bad, but i've seen So many people who only play for one group that don't want cards for other groups since they have no intention of playing those songs.

aside from that, they did a complete overhaul of how songs play. i'm not a game designer, so my knowledge is limited to just what i know as a person who, yknow, plays games, but i feel like the game doesn't give you any kind of time to react when you play? even when you slow down the rate that notes come at you, it feels like they speed up once they get to where you're supposed to hit them. it makes it kinda harder to hit them if ur like me and prefer the harder modes (like i stopped playing easy/normal within months of playing bc i like the challenge of hard mode + max speed). they've also implemented something i've seen in the superstar games where you only have so many notes you can miss before you fail. i think it works better in the superstar games because you don't play the full song in those, just short segments--whereas rhythm hive gives you the option to toggle between playing a full song or playing a short segment. having a health bar, essentially, basically makes it harder to learn a song all the way through. i used to play the chapters for svt before i hit roadblocks, but being able to play through the entire thing helped me get better and get through the harder chapters, y'know? having only so many hits makes it way more frustrating for someone trying to learn the song. games can be challenging, but they still have to be fun, yknow?

also ik it happened to other ppl but uh. i went from being like... level 50-something (maybe higher--im blanking) to being level 16 after the update. it was super jarring and im not sure if they explained why that is--i'd have to go looking.

UR cards don't rly mean shit anymore imo. i and a lot of other ppl on twt who play also expressed frustration that the scoring system seems way more confusing. ive accumulated a ton of cards over the past year to the point where i've hit all XRs for a couple themes in svt, and uh... i barely made an A rank on a song despite that and playing pretty decently throughout the song? like i didnt miss any notes and i still didn't rank that high when i finished the song. i've other ppl have questioned how you're supposed to score super high when they've got way better cards than me bc they've mixed theirs to get the better ones.

also minor thing because you can turn it off, but they did make it on by default that you hear this annoying sound whenever you hit notes in the game. took me back to when i used to play other games and while not awful, it's not what i rly enjoyed. you can turn that off tho, so minor points for that, and i'll admit that the UI is kinda pretty. i miss the old thing, but it doesn't look awful. cards def looked better in the old version tho, i miss how sparkly they were. they just feel kinda boring now.

tl;dr: you can't pull cards for a single group anymore, the scoring system makes sense + they ruined the gameplay by changing it up & adding a health bar system so you have limited misses before you have to restart entirely (or continue playing by paying gems, fuck that noise) + bad default noise that you Can turn off but why did they even put it in the game.

it doesn't feel like someone play tested it tbh like i'm sure Someone would have said "this feels bad to play" in some form. ive only seen a single person enjoy the update, and its purely bc they can trade in cards n whatnot. everyone else i've seen has been pissed to the point of either just saying "i'm done unless they revert it back" or calling other ppl to fully boycott it since its like... a major downgrade in quality.

(also ive seen ppl missing superstar bts and yknow what, cant blame em. superstar games are solid. i have my own gripes with certain aspects of them, but its exclusive to a single game out of the two i play haha)

smaller text bc this got long sorry!!

[kozykricket]

(2/2)

so i guess thats both a point FOR and AGAINST this stuff being given to the dark forest... but like, i dunno. i feel like this biome spawning next to dark forests just... makes dark forests feel way less interesting in comparison? instead of having 2 interesting-enough biomes, we could've had one super interesting biome! i guess its like they both have merit existing. i love the pale garden, because it gives us a fantasy biome in the overworld, and the vibes are special. if they give it fog, itll be a really fantastic experience but AGAIN its a... self contained experience, and like. why is that what mojang prioritizes. i dunno... still figuring out my thoughts. i can at least say that i think in terms of complexity, they did pretty well with... not overcomplicating it too much, but still giving it an interesting mechanic. i do feel like mojang "overthinks" stuff a lot, and sometimes overdesigns things to be like SUPER OMEGA DEEP AND INTERESTING. but also sometimes completely lacks any interesting stuff at all. i think the creaking is a good middleground i just... the moss. the precedents of hanging moss existing. why cant dark oak forests have that, huh??

i think the critiques ive seen that its dumb because its not USEFUL is like... i disagree. i think its fine not being "useful" like cmon its minecraft one last thing, maybe it truly would've worked better as a cave biome. then it wouldnt stand out from dark forests as much, but... then itd also... be yet another horror cave biome, which we already have. so uhh hm yeah, still developing my thoughts on this all. i love the mobs design, and i love fantasy biomes, but im conflicted about mojangs direction of developing the game. im happy for Drop releases, but im not particularly happy to see that right now we're getting... more sidequests added onto the game. at least bundles are certainly not sidequests by any manner

there is no feeling more conflicting than "god this content is genuinely high quality and well thought out, but ... why? theres other stuff to prioritize. why are you prioritizing designing minigames within minecraft?"

or as i put it to a friend:

its a very unique vibe for a biome, and the gameplay is fun and well designed but its like. honestly mojang just go design some platformer game or something lol you love designing interesting self contained gameplay like trial chambers or the pale garden

so all in all? i dont think it deserves to be critiqued for Lacking, but i do think it shines another light towards... mangrove swamp type situations. was 1.19 a swamp update? no. it gave us a brand new cooler swamp. mojang is averse to changing old experiences to become different. nether fortresses are still the same after the nether update. mob spawner rooms are still EXACTLY the same in look and loot after tricky trials. it'd be like if no kelp or cod spawned in normal temperature oceans !! what gives!!

well! about that mc live, huh?

im just gonna say right off the bat. you know that i am not a "mojang lazy" person. doesnt mean im not critical of them. gonna give my nuanced view in this post. itll be a long one!

so... first of all, i just gotta say like, changing to having more "drop" updates instead of yearly summer updates is... thank god. i didnt wanna see mojang become gamefreak with yearly, formulaic releases.. hell, im kinda thinking. they're probably working on the big updates in the background now, while they can still keep people (and corporate people) satisfied, by delivering drops of content. and the other ideas they have? instead of being hecked over by priorities as much... they can actually just decide like "okay, we have more than a year to work on the big update. we can fit it in, so it doesnt get delayed back to the next big update" ...or, if its something small, then it wont be held up from releasing by like... waiting for the next Big Update. for example, if we had the drop releases back in 1.16, we could've had the ability to break leaves faster with hoes... waay earlier, instead of having to wait for the full nether update to drop. yknow? or, again using 1.16 as an example, if they have more ideas for the content in the Big Update, they can decide "yeah, we can put it in!" like how the allay was conceptualized for 1.16 but they didnt fit it in because well, they have more time to work on it! they can have bigger scope! more flexibility! ...but they're clearly still going for yearly key-jingling of shiny new content, i can see. like, as usual, its something new that is entirely self contained and doesnt really effect the rest of the game. its avoidable. which like, okay... i get it. i get why mojang doesnt want to make the game feel too different for people who come back to it after a while, but like. i dunno. i feel like- okay how about i actually just go over the features individually ...i appreciate the biome being a fantasy biome. ive kinda just accepted that mojang disregarded any plans to ever have non-real-life biomes in the overworld, unless they were underground like the deep dark. but nope! we can have weird white trees with freaky tree monsters!!! so, thats very nice. and the mechanics themselves seem really nice and interesting, its overall a very well put together vibe. weeping angels are overdone because theyre GREAT monster types !! theyre AWESOME!! and attaching the mob to like, having to destroy a block? thats prob the most interesting way to defeat a mob like the creaking! great gameplay and the biome has really cool hanging moss on the trees, and the moss carpets climb up blocks... but therein lies the problem -- its very self contained. its like, mojang. you just gonna.. keep developing really thoughtfully designed sidequests?? i'd like to see the main game experience updated... but alas this is a DROP and not an UPDATE, to be fair. its just like ...the new biome gets ambient sounds, which no other overworld biome has. now that sets the bar higher for updating older overworld biomes to also have that. i wouldnt have wanted it before, but now i do. same goes for like, new mobs having better animation systems, yknow? i wouldnt have wanted better animations, but now... you gotta update stuff even more , for consistency. adding so much to your plate, mojang and ... why does THIS moss carpet get to be cool and grab onto blocks?? why cant they have updated old moss carpet?? i feel like they probably WONT update it ... because ill be honest, my first thoughts were "this all couldve been in the dark oak forest" hanging moss? would look great on the trees moss blocks on the ground? would be great the creaking? yea, i think it'd be spooky as a dark oak ent! thing is the dark forest already has a pretty unique kinda vibe and playstyle to it, being a biome thats typically dark and spawns lots of mobs, and also. has lack of sight due to the big trees (1/2)

[beautifulterriblequeen]

Want more TDP canon goodies? Tales of Xadia has got your back!

Today's Role and Keep Twitch stream covered the Table of Contents from Tales of Xadia's upcoming rules handbook, which is scheduled for release in the first 3 months of 2022, before Bloodmoon Huntress comes out. Take a look!

The first chapter, Welcome to Xadia, is for those who don't know The Dragon Prince at all. It covers the basics, and there probably won't be too much in the way of stuff the TDP fandom doesn't know in there.

Chapter II, Welcome to Cortex, covers the gaming system. If you know D&D, try to ignore it. Cortex doesn't run terribly similarly, and the focus of the gameplay in ToX is very different, in a more intuitive way that really embraces cooperative storytelling.

Chapter III, Gazeteer of Xadia, is - ohoho fams - this is the good stuff, this is the grand prize! This chapter is the deep dive into all kinds of lore, culture, locations, myths, and other worldbuilding that we have not learned anywhere else before - and it's all canon, created in collaboration with Wonderstorm.

And there's art in this book. Glorious art. I am so excited!

Chapter IV, Player's Guide, is the meat of the handbook, containing a complete guide to creating a character from scratch and learning how to interact with the tale you're playing. I've participated in one of ToX's online character creation workshops and created a dozen or so catalyst and narrator characters, and it's very simple once you get the pattern.

Chapter V, Mage's Guide, goes more in depth on how magic works in ToX - and it's going to give us shiny new details on how Ocean and Earth magic work! Aah! It sounds like we should be getting a full explanation for dark magic as well as all the primal magics, except for Stars. Because someone has to be a mysterious drama queen in his mirror.

Chapter VI, Narrator's Guide, is all about how to be the person spinning the tale for your friends, and what you'll need to do it. I've been writing and running original tales for a few months, and it's still a bit wibbly without the full ruleset, but the online tools on the ToX website are really helpful and I always have them open for reference.

Also of note: I asked a question in the stream about whether we'd be getting any new pre-gen characters, or perhaps if there were character sheets out there for canon show characters that players might want to interact with or play. Cam Banks (Cortex's creator) responded to say that there are some characters from the show that are available as catalyst characters - I assume that's in this chapter, under Featured Catalysts - and that it's very easy to shift a character from narrator-character to catalyst-character to playable-character. Which, yes, it should be, because there are only so many stats you need for each of those three roles. So I guess we'll see who got into the book as a featured catalyst!

Chapter VII, The Tale of the Corrupted Core, is, I expect, the long-awaited playable tale set in Lux Aurea between S3 and S4. It's been a long time since anyone mentioned this specific setting, but I have been waiting for this for a while, and Cam confirmed that this tale is very much a Sun tale, just like Gloaming Glade was a Moon tale and Lost Oasis was a Sky tale.

The Appendix is where all the glorious lists are, for the good details like Distinctions and SFX, which will be so much fun to delve deep into for nosy nuggets on our favorite characters from the show! See, Cortex's first ever game was based on the TV show Firefly, (which has a Cortex) and its character distinctions were pulled from characters on the show itself. I have been assuming that ToX will do the same, from the few distinctions I've have seen so far - because Cortex has been delightfully coy with sharing these. I'm expecting that all the available character distinctions and SFX will have been created and included in the handbook because they belong to a character we know or will meet eventually. So if you want to piece together a playable version of Nyx, or Callum, or Amaya, or Corvus, or Ethari, or Claudia, or literally any canon character at all, and there isn't a character sheet for them yet, you won't have too much trouble crafting something that feels very much like them!

Also: ToX has released 12 pre-gen characters, thus far, for people to just jump into gameplay with. They're amazing, with humans and elves as mages and fighters and diplomats and adventurers and rogues and more. But in the Appendix, that little section there says a Baker's Dozen. That means 13, guys. Looks like we're gonna get blessed with one more secret playable pre-gen character! OMG WHO IS IT??

I am SO HYPE for this book, I have had it pre-ordered forever! But there's more canon fun to come, and it's just around the corner.

Every Wednesday at 3PT, Role and Keep has a live Twitch stream. And on December 2, 9, and 16, Cam Banks will be running a 3-part ToX holiday celebration ttrpg which will include new canon details straight from Wonderstorm about how various cultures and/or characters around Xadia celebrate - or don't - during the holiday season! That's right, Wonderstorm is gonna dump all the fun fluffy cuteness (and angst? maybe? I gotta go find out) we need for our upcoming holiday fics, right into our arms. Oh, I'll definitely be taking notes while I watch.

Hmmm. Maybe I can write up a tale that starts out as a perfectly innocent travelers' visit to one of the newly revealed locations in the handbook... until......... Bahaha. Whatever you do, don't touch anything.