#and also if i can be bothered to make this more of an RPG system or purely choice based!!!!

[tchaikovskyed]

i've been deep in the trenches (trying to outline my imperial china if that still has no title) and if I can pull this off it has the potential to be so fun. or a complete flop.

[imsobadatnicknames2]

top 5 ttrpgs for beginners

Sorry that this one took me a bit longer to answer than all the other Top 5 asks :p i wanted to explain a bit of my reasoning behind it and this gave me q chance to ramble a bit about something that bothers me lol

So, first of all I want to talk about what TO ME makes something a good beginner RPG.

Ramble:

I've talked a bit in the past about how I have sort of a bone to pick with the way so many people, when asked for recs for beginner TTRPGs, immediately decide to recommend extremely rules-light/minimalist/one-page RPGs (Hacks of Lasers&Feelings in particular seem to be somewhat popular on this front), when IMO these types of RPGs are at their best when played by an experienced group (or at the very least with least one very experienced player/GM who can provide some guidance to the others). I think a lot of ppl seem to have the impression that simpler mechanics inherently make a game more beginner-friendly, and that thus the most beginner-friendly games are inherently gonna be the ones with the simplest mechanics. And while this is true to an extent (a 700-page RPG with tons of complicated mechanics to remember is obviously gonna be inaccessible to beginners), when you consider that mechanics exist to DELEGATE decisions about the fiction away from the players and the GM so that they don't have to manually arbitrate them every time, there is point where less mechanics are gonna make harder for new players because it means there's more thing they're gonna have to find a way to arbitrate on and decide by themselves, and that's a skill that takes time to develop. An experienced group can probably get a ton of mileage out of a system that essentially ammounts to "the GM describes the world. The players describe what their characters do, and the GM describes how the world reacrs. When the outcome of a player action is uncertain, then [simple resolution mechanic]" but a beginner group is gonna be a little lost. Especially if the game, like many of these types of games, includes practically nothing in terms of GM tools. So I think recommending beginner RPGs solely on the base of how simple they are is well-intentioned but misguided.

(Ramble over)

So, some of what, to me, makes something a good beginner RPG is

Rules provide enough support that the group won't have to constantly be figuring out how to adjudicate stuff on the fly, but they're simple and flexible enough that they're easy to remember and learning them doesn't feel like a daunting task like it does with a certain game (*cough cough* D&D)

Relatively short and uni timidating. Maybe between like 20 and 100 pages. Players should be able to read through the rules and mechanics in one sitting.

Plenty of examples of play, often a good example of play is what makes a game's rules really *click* for a new player.

Relatively quick and painless to start running for the first time. Character creation should be quick and snappy, and if possible a short pre-written adventure (hopefully with some room to be expanded into something larger) should be included within the same book and ready to run out of the box. Even if your group doesn't like using prewritten adventures, having a *good* prewritten adventure can be a huge help in understanding how to write/design them.

Solid set of GM tools and resources (if it's a game with a GM, of course)

Optionally, plenty of compatible material to either use or take inspo from.

So, I think my recs would for beginner games would be...

Mausritter

If any of you have EVER heard me talk about RPGs you knew Mausritter was gonna be here TBH. I've repeatedly talked about it being one of my favorite RPGs and also that I consider it pretty much an ideal introduction to the hobby. I think the woodland critter theme is extremely charming and attractive for people of any age, while the slightly darker elements that rear their head from time to time keep it from feeling too childish.

The mechanics are simple and flexible but still provide enough structure that even a new GM will rarely if ever be at a loss about how to resolve a particular action. They're familiar to anyone who's played a dungeon game while still being extremely streamlined. 3 stats with the main action resolution being roll-under tests, no classes, characters are defined mostly by their inventory, all attacks auto hit and initiative is extremely streamlined, which keeps combat quick and dynamic, etc. And the mechanics are pretty short and esy to digest too, the players' section of the rulebook only takes 18 pages, including stuff like inventory tables and examples of play, and the website features a handy one.page rules summary (which also comes with the box set)

It's super easy to get running: character creation takes a couple minutes at most, and it features both a simple adventure and hexcrawl that can be used right out of the box with plenty of interesting directions to expand for further adventures.

Now, Mausritter takes most of its mechanics from Into The Odd, so a lot of its virtues come to it, but I think the few changes it made DO make mausritter most beginner-friendly, such as its inventory system which makes inventory management into a genuine challenge without having it devolve into a slog of tedious book-keeping, and the incorporation of a streamlined version of GloG's magic system, which manages to still be simple and easy without being as loose and freeform as the magic system from a lot of OSR games of similar complexity (which can be initially daunting to new players)

But what REALLY makes mausritter shine IMO is the extremely solid set of GM tools. In just a few pages mausritter manages to provide simple rules, procedures, generators and advice for running faction play, making an engaging hexcrawl, making adventure sites, and generating stuff like treasure hoards, NPCs, an adventure seeds and overal just a ton of useful stuff that takes a huge load off of the shoulders of any beginner GM.

Cairn

Lets say you're into Mausritter mechanically but your players aren't into the whole woodland creature theme and want to play something more traditional. Cairn is also built on Into The Odd's system, and takes inspiration from some of the same sources, so it's very similar mechanically. It does feature some significant differences regarding magic, character advancement, and how injury and healing work, but overall it's still mostly the same system under the hood, so a lot of what I said makes Mausritter a great introduction to the hobby mechanically still applies here (quick and flavorful character creation, dynamic and streamlined but dangerous combat, etc). It's also a classless system that features msotly inventory-defined characters, but aside from the option to randomly roll your gear, the game also offers the option of picking a gear package in case you wanna emulate a particular fantasy archetype.

Now, Cairn is a much more barebones document, and doesn't even feature examples of play or an explicit GM section with resources for running the game, which breaks with the things I said I look for in a beginner RPG. However, in this case I'm willing to forgive this because, first, Cairn's website features a plethora of first party and third party stuff that isn't featured in the book itself, including examples of play, GM procedures and tools, modular rules, and a wealh of conversions of creature stat blocks and adventures from D&D and other fantasy adventure ttrpgs.

And Second, something different that specifically distinguishes Cairn as a good example of a beginner RPG is how it explicitly outlines its philosophical and design principles, and the principles of play for both the GM and the players before it even shows you any rules, which is something that I think more games and ESPECIALLY begginer games should do. IMO the whole book is worth it just for that little section.

Troika!

Troika is a game built on the Fighting Fantasy system (which originally was less of a TTRPG system and more of an engine for a series of choose-your-own-adventure books) with a really interesting pseudo-victorian space opera weird gonzo setting which is a load of fun. It has very simple 2d6 mechanics, with characters having three stats (Stamina, Skill, and Luck), and being mostly defined by their inventory and the special skills from their background. Character creation is quick and snappy. The game gives you 36 weird and extremely creative character backgrounds, but creating a custom background is as easy as coming up with a concept and the names of a couple special skills that support that concept. It also has a very unique initiative system which might be a little divisive but which I DO find fun an interesting.

While it lacks many of the GM tools I praised Mausritter for, it makes up a little bit for it with an initial adventure that does a wonderful job at naturally introducing the weirdness of the setting, and which at the end presents a ton of opportunities to segway into a variety of urban adventures.

Now, a lot of beginners come into RPGs specifically looking for a D&D-type fantasy game (which is a problem because D&D is a pretty bad option for a beginner RPG) so for those types of players I would recommend

The Black Hack

The Black Hack is probably my favorite game for doing D&D-style fantasy roleplaying. It's a game that at its core uses the original 1974 white box edition of D&D for inspiration, but modernizes, reimagines, and streamlines every aspect of it to be one of the most simple yet elegant D&D-like experiences out there. For example, TBH uses the six stat array that all D&D players know and love, and with the same 3-18 point range, but does away with the attribute score / attribute modifier dichotomy, instead building its entire system around the attribute scores, with all rolls in the game being roll-under tests for a relevant attribute (including initiative, attack/defense rolls, and saving throws). It also innovated some extremely elegant mechanics that went on to be very influential for other games, such as its Usage Die mechanic as a way to streamline keeping track of consumable resources. Basically, it's like if D&D actually played the way it looks in cartoons and stuff: character creation doesn't take 3 hours, every combat encounter doesn't take five hours, and you can place some emphasis on resource management without the game making you want to tear your hair out with boring bookkeeping.

And one of the coolest things about it is the way it handles compatibility. Despite taking loose at best mechanical inspiration from D&D and playing very differently from it, TBH is intentionally designed to be compatible with a wealth of old-school D&D material. While it very clearly stands as its own distinct game, it's designed in such a way that you can prety much grab any creature stat block or adventure module written for any pre-3e version of D&D and use it in The Black Hack with little to no effort in conversion required.

The first edition of the game is a pretty barebones 20-page booklet that just describes the basic game mechanics, since it was assumed you'd probably be using D&D creature stat blocks and adventures with it anyway, but the second edition was significantly expanded with a bestiary, expanded GM procedures and advice, and tool for creating anything you could want: Hexcrawls, towns, dungeons, quests, treasure hoards, NPCs, dungeon rooms, traps, secrets doors, etc. plus a short premade adventure and even a few premade unkeyed dungeon maps that you can take and key yourself if you're in a pinch for a map, which as you all know, I think GM tools are an important part of a beginner game.

The game only includes the 4 basic classes from old-school D&D (fighter, thief, cleric, magic user) but the community has made several supplements adding back more modern classes.

Now, if you're that type of player that wants a D&D-like experience and you want an alternative that's still beginner-friendly but doesn't deviate as much from D&D's design, I would suggest:

either Basic Fantasy, or Old-School Essentials (or any good retroclone of Basic D&D tbh)

BF and OSE differ a bit from each other but at their core they're both attempts to repackage a relatively faithful but slightly modernized version of the 1981 Basic/Expert D&D set, retaining mostly the same mechanics while ditching a few of the aspects that might seem counterintuitive to a modern audience (such as descending AC, which I personally don't mind but I udnerstand why a lot of people find it confusing). I'm recommending these bc I think if you're gonna play any actual D&D product, the B/X set represents D&D at its most beginner-friendly (character creation is at its quickest and simplest, combat flows faster and remain itneresting due to doing side initiative rather than individual initative, the mechanics forsurprise, stealth, and dungeon exploration actions such as looking for traps are streamlined to simple D6 rolls) while still being recognizably D&D and these retroclones put in a bit of an extra effort to make them even more accessible to modern audiences.

Now, just like The Black Hack, these retroclones are limited in their race/class choice to the classic old-school D&D human/halfling/elf/dwarf and fighter/cleric/thief/magic user, but in the case of Basic Fantasy, the community has made several race and class supplements, some of which are showcased on the official website, and in the case of OSE, the OSE: Advanced addon reintroduces many of the modern classes and races that were originally introduced in the Advanced D&D line.

Have in mind that this list is pretty limited by my own tastes and experiences. I'm very aware that the very specific type of game I tend to play and like and experiences inroducing some of my friends to the hobby completely color the scope of what I can recommend as a good beginner RPG, and that that scope is significantly limited. I also like more narrative storygame type stuff, and I don't doubt that some of them would also make a fantastic introduction to the hobby (some PbTA stuff like Ironsworn, Dungeon World and Monster of the Week comes to mind) but my experience with them is not significant enough for me to feel confident in telling which of them are good beginner RPGs.

Also note that there are several games that I consider to be more MECHANICALLY beginner-friendly than the ones I listed here, but that I avoided mentioning specifically because they offer extremely little to no support in terms of GM tools, which I think is an important and often overlooked aspect of beginner-friendliness for any game that includes a GM! But they still might be worth checking out. These include games like DURF, FLEE, OZR, A Dungeon Game, Bastards, Dungeon Reavers, Knave 1e, and Tunnel Goons.

[theresattrpgforthat]

Are there any TTRPGs with a focus on weapons and weapon customization. I've been poking around and haven't found anything that was quite what I was looking for. There are a few about making weapons but those usually don't involve using them outside of recording their history.

Theme: Weapons / Weapon Customization

Hello there friend, I had a bit of a hard time trying to nail down what you were looking for, but I figured I could give you a few different approaches and hopefully something here works for you.

RIG, by NotWriting.

"You’re alive. Good."

"What do you remember? Do you know your Mars songs? Were you born on real ground? Do you remember Earth's hand reaching out to steal from the stars? Hmm. Endocortex must have some rot. Don’t bother with the local infonet, your soft is too old. I’ll find something. I’ll be your Local Admin. You have a rig, a mech. It’s a good one, a Dead Core. Good way to hop the gaps of the firmament, deal with threats."

"And we have problems aplenty right now."

RIG is based on the Rune RPG system designed by Spencer Campbell, perfectly tuned for capturing the difficult and disciplined design decisions of video games inspired by Dark Souls. Instead of quick reactions, each round of combat builds tension and rewards creativity and patience by giving you windows of opportunity and weaknesses to exploit. High risk maneuvers give high rewards but can build up dangerous amounts of heat that can damage your rig. Active your core, unsheathe your core blade, and sink that heat into your enemies, or risk death. Experiment with different builds as you refit your rig between encounters, or push your luck to delve deeper and deeper into the dying heart of Recombinant Earth.

The first thing I thought of when I saw your ask was mech games, and RIG is a solo game all about piloting a mech. Your rig is highly customizable, and the designer described it as rogue-like, allowing your character to try out new configurations using different pieces. Much of the building is a balancing act: you’ll be assigning dice to various modules and some modules take up more dice than others. Your mech also comes with a resource called Heat, which can be marked to give you short-term effects, but must be strategically dumped before it fills to the point of causing you problems. If you want a solo experience that allows you to progress cyclically, I recommend RIG.

Reclaim the Wild, by Elemental Knight.

The Legend of Zelda: Reclaim the Wild is a freely-distributed tabletop roleplaying system made by fans, for fans, of both tabletop games and of The Legend of Zelda. It was designed from the ground up to enable players to create all new adventures in the world of Zelda, and specifically the hit game Breath of the Wild.

Because of this game’s inspiration, there is a lot of detail put into the different kinds of weapons your characters can wield, and more importantly, make. Weapons break all the time in this game, and if you want something a bit more sturdy, you’ll either need to trade with a merchant, or build something yourself. Characters that specialize in weapons crafting have to pick what kind of weapons they can craft, and the party will want to keep whatever bits and pieces they can salvage from fights in the wild, because those pieces will become essential in creating more durable weapons, more magical weapons, and more effective weapons. If you like inventory and record-keeping, then this game is for you.

Numenera - Destiny and Building Tomorrow by Monte Cook Games.

Terrible beasts. Abhumans. The iron wind. Ancient machines that lurch to life unexpectedly—or leave communities desperate when they catastrophically fail. The Ninth World is awash in dangers left by the prior worlds. But these ancient remnants also hold the keys to the future. Those brave enough to discover and study the amazing structures, weird devices, inscrutable automatons, and extradimensional gateways can unearth the knowledge and materials to build the future.

Discover new kinds of numenera items, along with the plans and materials to construct them yourself. Explore the ruins of the prior worlds, uncover their mysteries, and from their secrets begin to build a new tomorrow for the beleaguered people of the Ninth World.

Out of all of the recommendations in this list, Numenera is probably the biggest investment if you’re looking at complex weapon design. First of all, Numenera has some really unique, one-time use items called Cyphers, which (in this setting), are objects that your characters don’t really know the original purpose of, but which can be insanely useful in fortifying settlements, finding information, and doing a lot of damage in a battle. Not all cyphers are weapons, and not all weapons get the same attention that cyphers do.

However, if you really want to explore what these items can do, you’ll want to take a peek at both the Destiny and Building Tomorrow books for this game. Destiny is the first book after the corebook that I recommend getting, because it provides character options that focus on salvage and building, and because it hosts the bulk of the creation plans for Cyphers and more permanent objects such as Artifacts and Installations. Building Tomorrow expands on this crafting system, by introducing new crafting materials, salvage locations, and weird side effects that might come about when your crafting roll is less than ideal.

LUMEN, by GilaRPGs.

This is a link not to a game, but rather a System Reference Document for a family of games. LUMEN is an RPG system for high-action, high-speed, high-power games.

The character classes in many big LUMEN games are often differentiated by fighting style or weapon type. You can see this in Monster Guts, a LUMEN game inspired by Monster Hunter, and NOVA, a game about piloting exo-suits after the world has gone dark. There are also plenty of customizable options within those classes, allowing you to try out different combinations to find something that works really well for you.

This game can really sing in a small group, as each player can build their character to do some outstanding combinations, and then synchronize those combinations with things that the other players at the table do really well. There’s a lot of interesting things being done with this rules system, and if you don’t find exactly what you’re looking for in this collection compiled by Gila RPGs, then perhaps you still have the tools you need to make what you want for yourself!

Heartbearers, by Whimsy Machine.

It's a dangerous world of heroes and monsters. You play in pairs: a sentient weapon and their bearer. You go on thrilling adventures with other pairs. Be the greatest fighter pair through the ultimate feat of strength: making friends!

Long ago weapons realized that their bearers can get really hurt in battle, so culture shifted: the goal of combat changed to skillfully clash weapons, not harm bearers. Two weapons going head to head can show off their magic, abilities, and legends. Colors burst, sparks fly—it's intense!

In this game, players pair up and choose whether they will play a hero or a sentient weapon. Bearers and Weapons will have very different responsibilities in game; while Weapons focus on shifting their forms or concentrating their attacks, the Bearers will determine why they are fighting in the first place, ruminating on desires, emotions, and goals. Duels use d12s as counters to track actions, with a rest for all of the characters once their counters reach 0. Weapons can also aid their Bearers during non-combat parts of the quest, while Bearers will determine what alliances they will make (and possibly whether they will lay down their Weapon for good). If you want a game that gives personality and sentience to a weapon, or if you want to play a weapon yourself, this might be a game for you.

Lancer, by Massif Press.

In Lancer, players adopt the roles of mechanized chassis pilots - mech pilots - comrades together in a galaxy of danger and hope. Some groups will fight to rectify the crimes of previous administrations; others will fight for their nation,  pieces in a greater game of hegemony. Others will carry the banner of a corpro-state or mercenary company, working to advance private interests while lining their pockets. Others still will fight for groups acting in opposition to those in power - for the underground, for the forgotten, agents of entropy and agents of yet more radical revolutions. 

If we’re going to talk about mech games and weapons, I’d be remiss not to talk about Lancer. This is a highly tactical game with most of its rules focusing on mech combat, and a very exciting wealth of mech options that you’ll be toying around with after almost every section. Your mech will have distinct weapons, such as the Blackbeard’s Chain Axe or Omni-Harpoon, but there’s also systems that you can add for specific strategies on the battlefield, such as the Swallowtail’s cloaking field, which helps you hide both you and your allies, or the Goblin’s metahook, which allows teammates to share their systems and sensors, for improved e-defense and a broader range for electronic warfare.

Other Thoughts

If you like the high tactics and strategy of Lancer, but you want a fantasy setting, then I'd recommend Gubat Banwa instead.

If you want to focus on inventory and less on character class, you might want to check out the OSR side of things, including games such as Knave or Into the Odd.

If you like inventory but want to keep your character class, then Troika! might be for you.

[chase-omega]

Ever since I got into Dragon Quest, I've sorta preferred it over other similar RPGs like Final Fantasy.

Final Fantasy always wants to have some gimmick, force unrelated mini-games on the player instead of just letting you play, and constantly change up the battle and leveling systems to the point to where the games are barely even similar anymore. For some people, that's a positive. Not everyone wants the same game every time, I get it.

But Dragon Quest sticks to a formula that works, and only really makes changes when something genuinely needs improvement. For that reason, there's not really any bad mainline Dragon Quest games, except for MAYBE 2 depending on whether or not the game's second half bothered you.

Dragon Quest games also just focus on being a fun RPG to play and don't force minigames on you unless it's related to what you were already doing in the main game.

They don't really need gimmicks, they just focus on making the new worlds, characters and storylines of each game really good. The rare times these games actually have gimmicks is always just small stuff like "your wife and kids are your party members" and "explore 2 alternate worlds" or "you can recruit enemy monsters to join you" (and this was before Pokémon).

And this really might just be a me thing, I'm gonna show my bias a little bit, but I like Toriyama's artstyle, how each game can stick more faithfully to a fantasy setting without getting stale, and how the storylines can have an overall wholesome, light-hearted tone while still knowing how and when to bring the feels.

I've always loved RPGs, but ever since I got into Dragon Quest, I just can't put the genre down.

It's really such a shame this series isn't that popular in the west. I think it deserves so much more attention. I'm not gonna lie. I might just be a teeny weeny bit jealous of Final Fantasy's success here in the states… I'm not saying Final Fantasy doesn't deserve it, because it does. I just think Dragon Quest also deserves just as much recognition. I mean c'mon, it basically invented almost every single modern RPG trope and mechanic we know today. Without Dragon Quest, the only people playing RPGs today would be hyper computer geeks. I'm not underplaying any games here, but without Dragon Quest there'd be no Final Fantasy, there'd be no Pokémon, there'd be no Xenoblade, there'd be no Earthbound, and there'd be no Undertale.

Please, I'm begging you, give this series a chance.

[seeminglydeathlessredshirt]

Ramblings on Suzerain

Dialogue options that certainly don't foreshadow the events of my term.

Suzerain is a political visual novel where you play as the president of a regional power in a Cold War-era alternate world. Put bluntly, there is little else like it out there and what there is is…well, we'll get to that a bit later. The game also has an expansion where you lead a different nation in the region but I don't have it so if you want a verdict on it, you'll have to go somewhere else, sorry.

While the presentation is a bit basic, it gets the job done, mostly when it comes to visuals. Character portraits are all distinct without being distracting, the map is detailed and pleasing to look at, and the text is easily readable(this is especially important, there is a lot of reading.) Music is the same handful of tracks and I found myself getting a bit tired of them fairly quickly, although the "shit is going down" track did end up training me to focus even more on what's going on.

The gameplay itself is, unsurprisingly, very simple. What it lacks in complex systems, however, it more than makes up for in the RPG player's favourite phrase to argue over the meaning of: choice and consequences. You inherit a nation that is at the precipice due to the actions of your predecessors, and it's up to you to fix every last problem. You must deal with problems like recessions, ethnic tensions, foreign relations, constitutional reform, and much more. It's extremely overwhelming, but that's the point. Politics isn't easy, and even seemingly minor choices will come back to haunt you hours down the road.

Despite being overwhelming, a lot of the problems the nation will face will be very familiar. The Cold War of this world is almost identical to our own, and you can choose whether to side with the capitalists, the communists, or just go your own way. All your decisions are tracked on a political compass, and though the names may change, the ideologies are laid out the same. And even when there's something that just isn't clicking, every nation, major character, and organisation has its own codex entry that's just a single click away. The game will occasionally be a bastard and have a decision where the right course of action is something you'd only know from someone's codex entry, so be ready for that.

The writing itself, like the presentation, gets the job done. There were many moments where the prose felt exceedingly dry and only grabbed my attention because of the events that they were describing. This isn't the case 100% of the time and the writers do much better when a scene is mainly focused on character dialogue and conflict, but the rest of the time it feels like the textual equivalent of watching C-SPAN. Despite this, Suzerain is probably one of the best examples I've seen of this niche genre, and it's not even close. While something like The New Order will compensate with things like a wider range of nations to play as, it loses out on many QoL features, has a much narrower range of choices and consequences, and has to deal with the fact that it is a Cold War visual novel messily strapped to a WW2 strategy game.

Overall, I'd recommend Suzerain. It tackles a subject matter that not many games really bother with, and does so with a level of maturity that seems so rare in this medium. While a single playthrough will set you back about 10 hours, there are so many different impactful choices to make that all lead to unique endings. While I must set it away for now, I'm absolutely coming back to it in the future to see how things could've gone differently, whether I finally succeed at building True Communism™ or choose to go down a worse path. I'm just a regional power, it's not like I can end the world.

…right?

[s-che]

Dream Library: Night Witches

Last week (or, well — two weeks ago, this writeup has been a little delayed), the Dream Library’s little Office Hours RPG book club turned our flawless hearts and perfect minds to reading and playing Night Witches, Jason Morningstar’s 2015 Powered By The Apocalypse game about the 588th Night Bomber Regiment of the Soviet Air Forces, the all-woman regiment who flew continual nocturnal bombing runs over the invading German army between 1942 and 1945. We played over on Discord using a combination of physical and digital materials — including the free one-shot guide available on Bully Pulpit’s website — and, after starting a little bit slower than I would have liked, ended up playing for about four and a half hours. It was a great time.

All of that boring stuff out of the way, let’s talk about what we learned:

Night Witches revels in historical detail.

A recurring theme in the Dream Library’s sessions with these older PBTA titles has been their maximalism — the sense, which begins with Apocalypse World and lives on in more recent games like Under Hollow Hills — that the text of a game book is not just an efficient engine, but an object which you should be able to flip through for minutiae and inspiration. This is all downwind of what I talked about re: Barf Forth Apocalyptica in previous posts, of course, but it also stands directly in opposition to a tendency which bothers me in indie games. Many indie game designers (myself included!) have fallen into the trap of looking at bloated games like Dungeons and Dragons or Call of Cthulhu, getting frustrated with their inelegance, and deciding to make the most lightweight possible alternative. Some of this is also motivated by material concerns, of course — it’s easier to produce a one-pager or a zine than a book, especially if you’re working alone — but there’s a real way in which the dominant philosophy behind indie games has tended towards thinking smaller games are better simply by virtue of being smaller. Night Witches, like both Sagas of the Icelanders and Apocalypse World, follows another path: although the core mechanical engine is easy to understand, the book itself is chock full of extra shit that makes the option really lovely to read through. There’s information on the mechanical specifications of the 588th’s planes, queer histories, the timeline of the eastern front, quotes, illustrations, list of names — it goes on, and, frankly, makes the game better even if it’s also longer. It’s really nice to read a game that takes so much pleasure in its setting — which knows that you want more and gives you more. I hope that indie games can get back to looking more like this, as small publishers continue to grow.

Night Witches makes war an engine, not a playground 

One of the reasons I was particularly interested in playing Night Witches (in addition to the fact that the physical copy had been sitting on my shelf unplayed for a while), was the game’s famous (is it famous? or do I just spend too much time thinking about RPGs?) day/night system, wherein both the narrative and the basic moves are strongly delineated between what happens during the day (when you’re resting up, resupplying, and carrying on personal dramas at base) and the night (when you’re flying bombing runs over German targets). For those keeping count at home, this is also part of why Night Witches and Sagas of the Icelanders were pared together this month: Sagas, similarly, has a strong division between the thing men and women are allowed to do, which goes so deep as giving you different basic moves based on your assigned gender. As things turned out, though, that comparison may have been slightly off. Playing Night Witches and expecting the night (which is, after all, where the action happens) to be a phase of equal significance to the day nearly threw off our session’s timing altogether because — despite the fact that they each get their own sets of basic moves and their own expectations — night passes way quicker in this game than the day does. All it takes is two or three solid rolls (and there’s a much stricter scaffolding for how those roles are going to take place) to complete a mission and send you hurrying back home — and although the missions do have a way of going sideways there’s a sense in which those bitter, desperate, shot-down-behind-enemy lines stories are also abstracted by the rules of the game, allowing us to get back to what really matters: being lesbians at Pashkovskaya Airbase. 

In some ways, the actual bombing-nazis girlboss-in-planes chunk of this game feels more like Blades in the Dark’s downtime: i.e., it occupies a significant narrative role, taking up a major chunk of the character’s life, but exists mostly to provide mechanical feedback which will feed into the “main” action (next mission in Blades or the next day in Witches). Maybe I was just running things wrong, and things shouldn’t have felt so asymmetrical — but as things stood I loved the way it played. The war — our part in it, anyway — felt, appropriately, like this big dangerous invasive thing, threatening the community we were trying to build and putting us in danger, turning us against each other when things went south. The last twenty minutes of our session were taken up by an in-character argument back at the base, as a pair of exhausted soldiers turned on the only enemies they had close to hand — each other. Oh, and another player smoked a cigarette with a hot butch mechanic but that’s not important.

Actually that butch mechanic is important, because--

Night Witches is a game with no mechanical system for oppression 

The text of Night Witches is extremely clear about the fact that, if the historical misogyny and homophobia of the early 20th century (and, more specifically, the queer and feminist losses in the 30s in the Soviet Union) don’t sit well with your table, you can disregard them. The book contains overviews of what the institutional response might be to someone getting outed — state violence for men, medical violence for women — but they also encourage you to make your own decisions over whether or not you’ll involve any of this in your own game. I understand the value of having that kind of provision in the text, and of handing over agency to the players to determine their levels of comfort, but in the aftermath of playing a session of Sagas of the Icelanders and (separately from the Dream Library) quite a bit of Seven Part Pact, pulling this punch felt a little bit disappointing to me. My table was able to say yes to the things we were interested in seeing — and there was some casual misogyny in the game, although we didn’t go far into that — but part of me, when looking at a game about a specifically gendered experience of a specific moment in history, wishes that there had been some mechanical oomf to that, and not just an empty space that said something could or could not happen. Maybe I’m in the minority, there, but I would rather a game mechanize the nastiest parts of its setting — if only to give MCs and players clear guidelines on how the game expects us to deploy them.

Night Witches goes a different way, and... That’s fine. In the end, that’s just fine. Fine in an otherwise excellent game.

What’s Next?

Next month, the Dream Library moving on to a new unit on Monsters & monster-fucking with Avery Alder’s Monsterhearts. After that, Bluebeard’s Bride. After that — well...

I was going to have to play a World of Darkness game eventually.

If you’re reading along, thanks! There’ll be another session writeup coming soon. If you’d like to get in on these games and discussions, come do that! We’d love to have you.

[satoshi-mochida]

Leximan launches August 13

From Gematsu

Wordy adventure game Leximan will launch for PC via Steam on August 13 for $14.99, publisher Marvelous and developer Knights of Borria announced.

A “Digital Deluximan Edition” will also be available for $19.99, which includes the base game, the official soundtrack featuring over 100 minutes of music, and the “Basement Breakout” mini tabletop RPG campaign PDF.

Here is an overview of the game, via its Steam page:

About

In a stroke of good fortune, you’ve enrolled in the world’s most exclusive magic school: Academy Elementinia. But on the downside, this is a world in which magic is a bit embarrassing. Still, you’ve got something special. You alone have the ability to use Leximancy, a hitherto unimaginable power driven by something as fascinating as it is enchanting: language. Leximancy is an endlessly fun branch of magic, but it is also a risk of buttock-clenching magnitude. Years ago you caused THINGS to happen, and ever since then you’ve been banished to the school basement with the other failures- I mean learners. Your life as a humble basement-wizard is interrupted as Academy Elementinia is attacked by someone with a baffling agenda and a huge set of fireballs. Don your trusty hat, ready your lexicon, become the outcast that saves the school. Or if you don’t vibe with heroics, at least cause some more THINGS to happen. After all, you’re out of the basement now. Let’s see what you can do.

How to Be Leximan

Be Wordy – Cast Leximancy spells in a unique word-based encounter system, snatching word fragments from thin air to spell out clever incantations.

Be You – Unravel a surprisingly wholesome story about embracing and empowering the real you. I say “surprisingly wholesome”, because there’s also a bit where you kick a trout.

Go Rogue – Use your utter hooligan of a brain to figure out words, puzzles, and a variety of minigames. Summon. Soothe. Enlarge. Enrage. Explode. Have a little sleep. Succeed strangely, or sit back and enjoy your failures. There are hundreds of different ways to play this game, and the best way is your way.

Go Explore – It’s an absolute situation out there. The magical wilds are delirious with magic, the people of the cities hate wizards like you, and there are prisons. Wizard superprisons.

Make Friends? – Bother a chaotic cast of characters, from potion witches and sweaty musclemancers, to a bombastic policewoman and a pyromancer who’s just fed up to be honest.

Get Hats – Give hats to the hat goblins, please and thank you.

Watch a new trailer below.

Release Date Trailer

[miloscat]

[Review] The Legend of Korra: A New Era Begins (3DS)

A cromulent companion game.

Platinum's console/PC Korra game was accompanied by a 3DS release. Well I say accompanied; unlike that game, Activision only bothered to release this one in North America. Now I finally have a chance to play it thanks to custom firmware! I know developer Webfoot Technologies best for their Legacy of Goku GBA games, and now here they are with another handheld game based on an animated licence. But how does this tactics RPG stack up against its action sibling?

Despite the new subtitle, this game is built on the same story as the console game. Creepy old guy blocks Korra's bending, the alliance of Triads/Equalists/dark spirits, returning to the Spirit World via the South Pole. But this version has some additional details, like the inclusion of Amon's lieutenant as a miniboss, Korra seeking the advice of spirits in Republic City's spirit wilds only for them to turn dark and attack, or visiting Wan Shi Tong's library for help relearning spiritbending (complete with a boss fight against the big owl himself!) I also enjoyed entering the cosmic universal energy dimension for little puzzle challenges when Korra was regaining her bending powers. In addition to these additions, a big change in how things play out is the extended cast joining her on the adventure, an upside to the shift in genre.

From the start, Bolin and Mako are with Korra, then Tenzin and Kya join in, and finally Lin making for a team of six bending powerhouses. Bumi and, sadly, Asami are still conspicuously absent. But the extra tag-alongs make for actual conversation and more convincing bridging exposition in cutscenes, more appropriate elemental tutelage as Korra relearns her bending styles, and some choice quips. For example, we learn that Bolin named his fists Juji and Roh-tan after Nuktuk's animal sidekicks, and that he has become genre-savvy as a result of his mover career: "when there is fog, something bad happens."

There are understandable presentational drawbacks that offset this. Gone are the full animated sequences, replaced by brief motion comic-style cutscenes. There’s no voice acting either, which is fair enough. And gameplay just cannot look as flashy when you’re just moving sprites around a grid.

To be fair, the sprites look very good. And you get an adorable graphic of Korra riding Oogi on the menu screen. When it comes time to make an attack, the game cuts to a short (and skippable) 3D sequence showing the results, complete with decent little models doing mocapped martial arts moves. The spirits and the main antagonist Hundun can look a bit goofy in these but the mecha tanks are pretty cool if low-detail. The latter in particular have hilariously tiny sprites on the battle map, a stark contrast to their humongous chungus depiction in Platinum’s game.

The tactical gameplay is competent for the most part with decent map designs. The controls and interface can be a bit clunky but they get the job done. There’s a shield mechanic that’s a neat twist, as well as an elemental weakness system that lets you bypass the shields. I liked how each character had their own niche: Mako has many ranged attacks, Lin and Bolin get area effects, Kya can heal, and Tenzin can replenish mana energy points which I had him doing almost every turn once he learned it.

Any attack or even healing and support moves get you experience points which is nice, and every other level-up you get to choose between two skills. These can be new moves or passive bonuses but choose carefully because you can’t change them later! I found myself with a Korra who only knew waterbending for the vast majority of proceedings, and you only get one shot at each other element. Everybody was max level (15) a few stages before the end, but if you’re having trouble with a battle there’s a training stage you can do freely for some extra XP and money (used for buying healing items). You can’t replay completed levels though, even though you get graded on side objectives.

I was pleased by this little tie-in. I’m not a huge expert on tactics RPGs but this one seems good for intermediate gamers like me, not too punishing. There’s some amount of crunchy depth to the elemental system and using each character effectively. And as a Korra fan it’s nice seeing the characters and world rendered in a different style, especially those cute sprites. Not to mention the slight expansions to the storyline. If you’ve got a 3DS, there’s no reason not to head to your local flea market hShop to pick this up!

[explodingchantry]

After a few hours into my Dao replay I think I'm starting to really warm up to the gameplay trailer for dav, and indeed its more action oriented combat.

Something I think a lot of us, especially those of us who are a bit apprehensive, are struggling with is that we haven't replayed dragon age in... A while. We have this idea of what it was like but personally my last playthrough was soon after trespasser released. I think we ourselves, unless you're one of the people whose replayed all three games very recently, aren't the best place to decide what dragon age should 'feel' like

Dao is absolutely brilliant and it's combat system is so in depth, the fact that me and a lot of people always complain about how difficult it is just means that it was a system directed towards more strategy oriented people. The little strategy options for the companions, you know the menu not a lot of us use in Dao and da2, where you can tell a companion "if this happens, do that" is a fucking marvel, it's so smart, it's so efficient, it offers so much control it genuinely is amazing. But the thing is that I don't think the core player base of dragon age ended up being the players who used that a ton.

Something you feel a lot especially replaying Dao with modern sensibilities, is sluggishness. You have to remember that it IS a real time action rpg - this means that reactivity is pretty important and even though the other Dao systems make you feel like you're wholly in control, the animations themselves as well as hit boxes and general... Feel of combat doesn't bring that across. It feels like playing an old mmo. It's absolutely fine and expected for its time, but expecting something similar in our modern era is foolish.

If bioware was going to keep the real time fighting, which, I would've been shocked and disappointed if they didn't, they had to make it more snappy and reactive. Furthermore as a bunch of people have pointed out the trailer specifically shows rogue which is THE most snappy bouncy class there is, at least with the double dagger. But we still have our pause. We still get to tell our companions what to do. And with so much work put everywhere else to "get back to their roots" it would be strange of bioware to completely abandon it just for the combat system

Something that did bother me in the trailer is how few abilities seemed available at one time and also the fact you couldn't see your companions' health bar: it seems they confirmed you can see the health bars on discord, and as for the abilities and the hud... I think it might just be a product of them showing console gameplay, because I saw some Dao console gameplay earlier today and was like. Oh. That looks similar. And there isn't necessarily any worries to have about them choosing to show console gameplay - statistically speaking I'm positive the majority of gamers these days are console gamers, and with how beautiful the game seems I imagine it'll put most computers to their fucking knees, and the amount of people who have access to up to date gaming computers is lower than you think. It makes sense from a marketing standpoint to use console gameplay. Keep hold of your knickers

I've personally no problem with a more stylised approach to the graphics either because I've always been of the opinion that inquisition looks like garbage and it aged even worse than I expected. It's so fucking ugly bro I hate how frostbite engine looked back then it's disgusting LMFAO.

I've even seen people critiquing the look of minrathous even though it's fairly consistent with what we'd seen of tevinter so far... I think people forget that in Dao, dragon age really didn't have as much of an artistic identity as it has now - really Dao in many ways looks like usual your dark fantasy game. So many elements that would become emblematic of dragon age only came in later games. Do I really need to bring up flemeth or the qunari lol, or the many looks elves and their vallaslins have had over the years.

Like dragon age's visual and artistic identity has always shifted with every game. There's literally nothing wrong with that. It's just par for the course course. You can't have a long running series of fantasy games with lore as complex as dragon age without stumbling here and there over such a large amt of year, mediums and teams.

As for the fucking idiots complaining about the game not being dark enough idk replay any of the games for like 5 minutes and then come back. Well maybe not dai that game is boring as hell most of the time but either way dragon age was always silly as hell y'all are so fucking stupid. Go watch game of thrones or something instead

I think I'm saying all that because I've seen a lot of negativity for the sake of being negative. A lot of people went into this expecting to be upset, so obviously they ended up upset. And I know it's so fucking hard: inquisition was already a mess in many ways, most of the original dragon age staff left, there were major layoffs which we should not forget about, the game was restarted I think twice or something, and in general it's had a bit of a messy development. That and the horrors that were me:a and anthem, and of course people wouldn't have faith in bioware. But it's not the first time a game studio went a dangerous path only to have a moment of clarity and come back. I've personally seen it when a few years back devil may cry 5 came out and was the best game in the franchise, going back to its roots and bettering what was already there with bold steps towards modernizing its gameplay, when all fans thought the franchise dead and buried. I want to believe bioware is able to have such a comeback as well.

What is transpiring from many of the articles, from the little tidbits of the staff on twitter, from interviews - it's that there's heart in this. It's that they're trying. They've listened. And maybe I'm just falling for the marketing machine, but I'd rather believe and be disappointed than live with no hope in my heart man. Dragon age is a series that means so much to me. We've waited so long for this. I want this to be something I can love.

[zeldurz]

A rant about Bacta

For today's long and rambling meta, let’s talk about bacta, aka my least favourite part of Star Wars. The magical space healing goo that solves all your problems for some reason, with no considerations for anything that makes any amount of sense.

Once again, going to preface this with “I am not a medical professional and am by no means an expert in this field”

More happening below the cut:

To start, I will say that from a meta perspective, I understand why bacta is the way it is. We see it first in Episode V, where Luke is being treated for hypothermia and Wampa-related injuries - and I will give the GFFA that one. We often treat hypothermia with Luke-warm (haha) baths to raise the patient’s body temperature back to what it should be, and I could absolutely see a regulated, temperature controlled immersion tank being used for situations like this. I will even give them the “it’s a sterile solution that has antibiotic properties and promotes healing” thing, like it’s a giant vat of space polysporin or something. HOWEVER, it’s everything that came after that that I have an issue with.

You see, dear reader, the next thing that happened after the movies we all know and love was a tabletop RPG - the foundation of which all legends content is built upon. And in a tabletop RPG (like dungeons and dragons, for those who aren’t familiar), you need a system for tracking health (IE hit points, hearts, etc) and a way to quickly restore your character back to “full health”. Since Star Wars doesn’t have clerics or health potions, you get the magical healing goo that solves all your problems instead. And because you need this resource to be limited in order to give the game an element of risk, you make bacta expensive and sometimes challenging to get ahold of, but it has the power to fix any and all problems.

Now don’t get me wrong, I appreciate that in video games or DND I can drink a potion and suddenly my arm isn’t broken and I am no longer on fire, but Star Wars at its core is not an RPG (I do also, for the record, feel this way about healing spells and similar abilities in fantasy settings, but that’s for another time). I also want to make clear that I, an angst gremlin who thrives on fake science and making characters suffer, am not the average audience for this type of thing, and that narratively, action adventures like Star Wars would suffer tremendously with long, drawn out recovery times. With that being said, the gap between ‘I’m skipping over this because it doesn’t have a place in my story’ and ‘I throw the character in the goo (or have them ingest the goo?? Or inject it?????) and everything is fine now” is substantial, and I for one am really not a fan.

“But Zeds!” you cry, “what about suspension of disbelief? Star Wars has impossible laser swords and impossible galactic travel and-”

I know. And obviously bacta isn’t a make or break it thing for me, because my one and only brain cell is devoted at all times to my poor little meow meows who have committed so many war crimes - but the thing about suspension of disbelief for me personally is it has to be logically consistent within the universe, and for me, bacta makes no fucking sense whatsoever.

(if you are bothered by potential injury/medical stuff and non-graphic discussion of bodily fluids, this is probably where you should get off this train of thought)

I have a lot of issues with bacta, but I can lump them into two broad categories: mechanism of action (ie the biology) and the Bacta Economy (ie the wider implications for healthcare and best practices). 

Mechanism of Action:

To quote Wookieepedia

Promoting rapid regeneration of organic compounds, bacta could be used in a variety of both critical and noncritical medical situations. Described as being warm to the touch, the bacta liquid could aid in the healing of concussions, internal organs, and broken ribs. Furthermore, it could be placed in small dishes to help regrow fingernails, mend cuts, burns, and other injuries. Due to its "one-size fits all" use in medical applications, it was a highly prized and commonly used medical treatment for most, if not all, injuries. Bacta could also knit together broken bones

Bacta can fix everything, apparently, with the legends page going so far as to state that “it's replaced most conventional medicine.” I am not a medical professional, but the idea that one single substance could fix every ailment ever in every species is ridiculous considering that a) we can’t even treat the same condition in different people with one substance (as anyone who has been on antidepressants can tell you), let alone conditions with widely different symptoms and presentations. I could maybe see if it was some sort of stem cell activator or something like that, but even then it seems far-reaching to assume that things like broken bones or concussions could be healed by the same substance. The fact that bacta is primarily applied topically (ie to the skin either as a gel or in a tank), but can also be administered orally or by injection only makes things weirder. Does it absorb into the bloodstream through the skin? How does it reach the injured organ in order to “promote healing?” Is it entirely unaffected by stomach acid???

Which, speaking of concussions, does that mean bacta can cross the blood-brain barrier? You’re telling me that there is one goo that is perfectly matched to every being in the whole fucking galaxy (considering how many different blood types humans have and how much care has to go into matching organs or stem cells for transplant in humans, I find it a stretch to believe that one size fits all for every human, let alone other alien species), and it can fix bones and nerves and everything else? Without side effects?????? What about longer term treatments? Are we not worried about muscle loss? Nutrition? Dehydration???

Not to mention the implication that it can fix broken bones without setting them - the whole thing reeks of hand-wavey space magic, which would be fine if it wasn’t explained in universe as ‘miracle bacteria fix things and we will not be elaborating further’. This is especially problematic since Legends mentions some people have a bacta allergy (which would leave them functionally without healthcare) and because having only one substance that fixes everything from a paper cut to life-threatening injuries is a huge risk to your civilization (from possible contaminants/shortages) as well as doing a disservice to every individual. Between the implications that there are relatively few other drugs (maybe this is why everyone seems to be awake for surgery all the time and no one uses any painkillers? Because they need the bacta for something else????) and the fact that no one is going to waste their precious goo on your headache, healthcare must really suck in a “we only have the goo” galaxy (even moreso than it already does).

The Bacta economy and the wider implications for healthcare in the GFFA:

Canonically, bacta is extremely valuable and nearly impossible to synthesize. In fact, I seem to recall a scene in one of the legends books where Luke has recovered from an injury, and after being treated in a bacta tank, the practitioner is siphoning the excess bacta out of his ears so it can be reused.

In real life, we are very careful to handle bodily fluids with care to avoid accidental exposure to certain diseases - but you’re telling me that you can just soak someone in some goo for days (or weeks!) at a time while they have open wounds, and then pull them out and drop in the next patient? Is there no concern for bloodborne disease or infection at all? 

One of the things I do use bacta for in my fics is recovery after surgery - the antibacterial properties, plus the analgesics and everything else make it a reasonable choice for standard post-op procedure - but the idea of having a patient come out of a sterile operating room and into the goo tank that might have held someone with gangrene a few hours ago is a recipe for disaster imo

And speaking of contamination - how are we deciding which bacta is injected/administered orally and which is topical? Are we injecting people with goo that other people have been sitting in (again, for days or possibly weeks???) Or is only “fresh” bacta used for that purpose? Maybe it’s a class thing, and the rich can afford fresh but the poor have to make do with stuff that’s already had someone in it for a month idk, the whole thing just feels really really grody and like a good way to ensure your entire population is HIV+

And on that note - if every injury and medical condition is treated with one limited, expensive resource, how are hospitals allocating it? If you have broken ribs, for example, would you be evicted from the bacta tank if there was someone who was in a speeder crash whose life is in danger? What about a premature infant? Even if we are assuming that the GFFA operates under capitalist hellscape rules and each patient has to pay for their own bacta treatment, the fact that there’s only one resource to treat every condition must make for an absolute nightmare of triage (I imagine this is only compounded on ships, where the resources are even more limited to stocks on board, and a disaster like an explosion in an engine room could result in massive casualties if the only option for anything is “treat with bacta”)

All of which is to say - bacta works great as a plot device, but as soon as you start looking at it even a little bit, none of it makes any sense at all.

For me personally, I mainly include the use of a tank for post-operative patients - particularly after a major surgery - along with treatment of hypothermia or other conditions with poor circulation or temperature regulation. I also use a gel for wound dressings, but I rarely would have a character receive it orally or by injection. I think it is a useful thing for doctors to have, but I refuse to believe that the entire Galaxy’s healthcare revolves around one substance (no matter how great), and especially that the Galaxy’s physicians have been replaced by it.

[game-boy-pocket]

Today I beat Final Fatnasy Adventure, AKA Adventure of Mana, AKA Sword of Mana, AKA Seiken Densetsu.

I thought this game just had Final Fantasy slapped onto the name to sell more copies in the west but no, it shares a little DNA in that the main character is basically just the fighter from Final Fantasy 1, with other FF classes making guest appearances, there's a status ailment that turns you into a Moogle that takes damage very easily, and you get a Chocobo friend in the game... I actually missed him unfortunately, he's required to progress the game so they have a random Chocobo you never met scoop you up after you take a fall.

This game shares a lot of it's DNA with another game as well. It really wants to be Square's answer to the Legend of Zelda. And it's a pretty good amalgamation of Zelda 1 and Link's Awakening, though it's still very much it's own thing. I very much appreciated this style of game. Especially on the Game Boy, there's just something about top down adventure/RPG games with Game Boy Aesthetics that I love so much that isn't really the same on the NES and I can't quite put my finger on it.

This game wasn't perfect though. Enemies often don't take any knockback... they do Knockback SOMETIMES but not always. And sometimes depending on your weapon, you pull them toward you, and you take damage... Also many enemies are immune to your weapons and you have to switch between them to deal any damage to them. This would be fine if it were a handful of enemies but there were so many, and I could not remember which enemies were immune to what, so often times when an enemy didn't take damage, I would just walk past them instead of switching weapons. There were practically no situations where I was required to kill all enemies so there was no incentive to bother with some of them.

Also, this game's door lock system is dog shit. You buy keys... specific enemies can drop keys but only in the early game, if you run out of keys, you have to leave to buy more...and guess what... Doors re-lock themselves when you leave. Sometiems they re-lock while you're still in the dungeon. It was absolute bullshit.

None of the flaws were deal breakers though. I had a great time with this game. I am definitely more inclined to start up Secret of Mana, I started that game on my SNES Classic Edition since it came on the stock console, but I never got around to finishing it. I think i'll look for a decent QOL patch though. As for my next big Game Boy game, I don't know. Maybe back to DK with either DK94 or DK Land 2... or something else.

[nullen-void]

A Random Skeleton Rates the Paper Mario Games

Paper Mario: 7/10

Paper Mario is charming and cute, but decidely primitive and unrefined compared to its immediate successor. I find the controls to be finicky and unreliable, but I admit my experience is only with rereleases and emulators, so perhaps on the original N64 it worked better.

Story-wise, it's the standard Mario story where Bowser kidnaps Princess Peach. It's not special but this particular execution is bolstered by the world it's set in. All the characters we meet are entertaining, the places we go start out simple but steadily get more interesting as we go, and Princess Peach: Super Spy is a delight.

It's a good game, but it's held back by ancient graphics and, in my experience, strange controls. If and when we get a remake that upgrades it to the same level of quality as TTYD, it might move up to a great game.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door: 10/10

Yes yes, it's obvious and my bias is showing. I grew up with this one, it was a Christmas present, and it's nostalgic.

But in this case the popular opinion is just true. The game plays like a dream, the partners are amazing characters, and the story is a step or three above Mario's usual fare.

Admiral Bobbery's story is simple enough for a child to understand but sincere enough for even adults to tear up, and I wish Goombella was my best friend in real life. I use to name the Yoshi Kid Gonzap because I was also playing Pokémon Colisseum at the time and I thought it matched Mario's stage name of Gonzales.

Princess Peach: Super Spy makes a return and her story with a lonely supercomputer is fascinating, and all the more so for how little we see of it. My only complaint is it needed more Bowser.

TTYD is a truly great game, and the fact it's getting a remake makes me excited to play it all over again.

Super Paper Mario: 9/10

SPM is without a doubt the greatest story in the entire Mario franchise. The only thing holding it back is the complete and total alteration to gameplay. The only real thing relating it to the previous two games is the artstyle.

But man. It's just such a good story guys. Luigi gets brainwashed, an entire world gets turned into an empty white void, Mario suffocates in space, an incomprehensible Scotsman is best friends with a little girl who turns into a spider and a clown comes within a hair's breadth of destroying all of reality on a lark.

There are no partners, no badges, no real RPG elements left... it could have easily been the most polarizing game in the series, and for a time it was. But its failings are all made up for and then some by the greatest love story in Nintendo history.

Paper Mario Sticker Star: 5/10

Some of you will think I'm being too kind (he said, knowing less than ten people will ever read this). But Sticker Star is a perfectly fine game.

I was never bothered by the backtracking. I was annoyed by the battle system but never to the point of frustration. Some of the puzzles were obtuse but I freely admit that I'm not afraid of looking up a guide when I can't solve something myself. It's fine.

But it's only fine. It's not great, and I hesitate to call it good. It can drag on and on. But I had fun with it, after I got over the fact that it wasn't TTYD2.

Because that's the real problem here. In a vacuum, it's a perfectly fine game. But compared to the other games in the series, it's just... not Paper Mario. There's Mario, and he's made of paper, but there's more to it than that that the game doesn't seem to grasp. It's sad really.

It's fine. It's okay. But it'll never be more than that.

Paper Mario Color Splash: 6/10

It's pretty good. It has a lot of the same problems as Sticker Star, but... less so. Huey is more tolerable than Kersti, the paint mechanic is more interesting than just laying stickers everywhere, the levels are all more well-developed than any of the previous game's, and it's actually very funny.

It is once again Bowser kidnapping Peach, but at least this time it's because he was possessed by evil paint. Luigi saves the day in this game, so that earns it a whole extra point right there.

And the music is phenomenal. It always is, even Sticker Star has A+ music, but Color Splash is especially good. This game has good vibes.

In the end though, while I can call it good, it's still bogged down by the battle system and the lackluster story. The characters are okay, such as they are.

Paper Mario: The Origami King: 8/10

Yeah I put it higher than the first game, what of it?

Origami King gets it. It wants to be a good Paper Mario game so badly, and it very nearly accomplishes it. Olivia is a delight, Bobby is a startlingly effective character, and the villain isn't even Bowser.

It's back to being a connected world instead of being level-based. It has an extremely simplified badge system. The story, while not on the level of TTYD or SPM, is still fairly gripping (though it takes about two-thirds of the way through before you get the big twist of what Olly's deal is), and I would actually argue that Mario the character is more expressive here than the entire rest of the series. He emotes! He feels sad! He tries to stop his friend from committing suicide and FAILS! I swear to God that's a thing that actually happens in this game.

Origami King has issues. All of the bosses are oversized office equipment, and there's just no coming back from that, but even still, it's a fun ride.

This concludes this essay. I hope the five people who will ever read this enjoyed, and please feel free to give your own thoughts in the comments.

[postgamecontent]

Nintendo Switch Weekly Round-Up for the Week Ending October 12th, 2024

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the Nintendo Switch Weekly Round-Up for the week ending October 12th, 2024. It's an odd week when you're in October and the biggest new release is a new RPG Maker. Business will pick up from next week, but for now we've got a curious mix of interesting indies and licensed fare to sift through. Let's check out this week in the world of Switch!

Select New Releases

RPG Maker With ($49.99)

I… somewhat question the need for another RPG Maker on the Switch, but it's here anyway. Turns out Shaun doesn't get to decide what is or isn't on the platform! Despite the name, you're still more or less on your own with this one. There's also plenty of DLC in case you want to expand the assets at your disposal. Make your RPG! Share your RPG! Play RPGs from others! That's the RPG Maker experience.

Faith: The Unholy Trinity ($14.99)

New Blood seems mostly known for its first-person shooters, but it has the occasional thing that ventures off that formula. Faith: The Unholy Trinity is a stylish horror game inspired by the Satanic Panic of the 1980s. You play as a priest and have to survive a variety of trials with only your cross as a means of defense. I wouldn't say this is the best-regarded game from the publisher, but if you're looking for something season-appropriate, this is surprisingly effective.

Thronefall ($12.99)

A deliberately simplified strategy game, Thronefall aims to offer a satisfying yet minimalistic take on base defense. You spend the day time building up your base, and the night defending it. This kind of set-up has popped up before, but it's particularly well-executed here. I'm not a big fan of this kind of game, but this one is alright.

Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire ($24.99)

This is a pretty obvious love letter to SEGA's Skies of Arcadia, and I think what I will say here is that it is important to remember how this kind of thing usually plays out. Don't expect a replacement for Skies, or a spiritual successor, or whatever else your heart may want to put on this. It's a vibrant indie RPG with plenty of open skies to explore and an interesting turn-based dogfighting combat system. I'll have to put some time into it to see if there's anything more to it than that.

Europa ($14.99)

You play as a jetpack-toting android exploring the moon Europa, looking for clues to unravel the story of the last living human. One of those chill exploration games, more or less. There's a demo available you can try out, but be warned that it is several months old at this point and feels extremely rough. We'll have to see how the final game turns out, but I found the demo pretty limp overall. Proceed with caution.

Transformers: Galactic Trials ($39.99)

Outright Games occasionally makes something decent, and I kind of like the idea of a Transformers racing game. Adding in robot-based combat bits to break things up sounds like a nice way to serve the license better, too. The developer on this one is 3DClouds though, and that gives me some pause. Previous efforts from 3DClouds include Race with Ryan, Blaze and the Monster Machines Axle City Racers, Gigantosaurus: Dino Kart, PAW Patrol: Grand Prix, PAW Patrol World, and Fast & Furious: Spy Racers Rise of SH1FT3R. That's a long and consistent history of iffy racers, and based on that I can't really recommend this one.

UFO Robot Grendizer - The Feast of the Wolves ($39.99)

The third entry in Go Nagai's Mazinger series is an odd pull for a game in the current year, but I suppose it still pops up here and there with new manga and anime series. This game feels very much rooted in the 1970s material, however. If you love Grendizer, then I think you'll find this game's clear passion for the material charming enough to carry it. If you don't, then I wouldn't bother with this. It's way too rough around the edges and thinner than it should be for the price it's going for here. It's also not running especially well on the Switch.

Nick Jr. Party Adventure ($39.99)

As ever with Outright Games, we must look to the developer. Here, it's Melbot Studios. Its only previous title with Outright was My Little Pony: A Maretime Bay Adventure, which was not terribly good. This might seem like it's going to be a party game featuring various Nickelodeon characters, but it's actually just another one of those adventure-ish affairs like the My Little Pony game from this studio. It also only supports two players. So, you know, a small party at best. Six different worlds to explore, and Dora, Blue, and the PAW Patrol gang are here. I could see the younger fans perhaps enjoying this, but that's about it.

Miss Rosen's Wowtastic! Marching Band ($11.99)

Here's another game for fans of the absolutely bizarre About An Elf. It uses a similar visual style, and sees you solving a variety of puzzles in a dozen different locations. Lots of luggage packing. You're probably not here for all of that, though. If you're here for anything, it's likely the off-beat and unique story. I don't think you'll be disappointed, if that's the case. It's just as charming and weird (in a good way) as About An Elf.

The Sekimeiya: Spun Glass ($14.99)

An emergency leaves eight people trapped in a tower for twelve hours, and they're unfortunately locked in there with a rather unusual artifact. This visual novel aims to please fans of mystery thrillers, and judging by reviews of the game on other platforms, it does a decent job of achieving that goal. It's not all sunshine and rainbows, though. Many find it to be excessively wordy and lacking in good characters. It seems to go over best with people who love the theorizing journey as much or more than the mystery's resolution. Maybe that's you?

Necro Story ($14.99)

You're a necromancer! How about that? You have the ability to catch the souls of your foes and put them to work for you. This is a creature-collecting RPG, and the main gimmick is the whole necromancer thing. You also have an assortment of magic to wield, so you don't have to rely completely on your undead army. It's a light RPG, but it has a lot of soul. Ha! No but really, it's decent.

Bloodless ($14.99)

An action-adventure game about a ronin who has vowed to never take another life. To that end, you'll use non-lethal attacks to defeat the foes in your path. It's a counter-heavy affair, so if you don't like that kind of response-based combat then you might not get on with Bloodless. It's very stylish and atmospheric, which helps make up for some rough edges in other respects.

Arcade Archives Power Spikes ($7.99)

We've had the other two games in this series for ages in Arcade Archives, and now we have the entry that originally released between them. This is generally the most well-liked entry, but be warned that you only get the Japanese version of the game in this package. Well, I suppose it's nice to get a game that isn't a platformer, beat 'em up, or shooter now and then. If you can't tell from the screenshot, it's a volleyball game. Enjoy!

EGGCONSOLE Templo Del Sol: Asteka II PC-8801 ($6.49)

The latest EGGCONSOLE release is a Falcom adventure game, and as usual the in-game text is almost entirely Japanese. And since this is an adventure game, that's going to be a problem if you can't read it. A particularly challenging one at that, so don't even think about it if you can't understand the language. This game was heavily modified and released on the NES as Tombs & Treasures, which is an interesting bit of trivia. Not much more to say here without excessively repeating myself.

Extra Coin ($6.49)

A girl seeking her missing parents steps into a virtual world that promises a getaway for those seeking an escape from the harshness of reality. Explore the virtual reality of The Arcade day by day, getting involved with whatever nonsense you feel like doing. It's not going to be easy for Mika to find her parents. She'll have to follow whatever clues she stumbles across and face her fears. It's certainly got some heart put into it, and it's rather affordable.

Son of a Gun ($9.99)

This looks to be a fairly standard take on the top-down twin-stick shooter, but that might not be a bad thing depending on your mood. There are seven different gun categories, and that adds up to plenty of different weapons to wield. Six different playable characters, lots of bosses to battle, and around twenty enemies to blast. Very meat and potatoes, but it will scratch the itch if it needs scratching.

Dagon: Complete Edition ($9.99)

This is a collection of narrative adventures based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft. It includes the original Dagon, plus three DLCs that each tell their own little story. Lovecraft fans will probably get into it, as it seems like it was put together by enthusiasts of the author. I'm not too big into Lovecraft's stuff, so I can't really judge it the way I'd prefer.

My Big Sister: Remastered ($7.99)

While I am not the biggest fan of selling a remaster on the same console you sold the original on, the low price combined with the changes here make it seem somewhat reasonable. You get some new story stuff, the art has been fully redrawn, and there's a new soundtrack in place. The original is still up on the eShop, so if you're buying one make sure you grab this version.

Massi ($4.99)

If you're hungry for more side-scrolling action and don't want to burn much money, here's Massi. It has a fair bit going on for what it is, and seems to have been inspired by Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap. It's been out for a couple of years on computers and mobile, so you can probably find more detailed impressions out there if you look.

El Panadero -The Baker- ($7.99)

A quirky action-platformer with a distinctive style. You can play alone or pull in another player for some local multiplayer fun. It's a relatively short game, and you can hit the end in around forty minutes. So, you know, keep that in mind.

Rogue Sentry ($7.99)

Another twin-stick shooter, this one using that monochrome-ish style that some games favor. 1-bit, as they say. Don't assume the 'rogue' in the title means this is a roguelike or roguelite game, though. Straight-up action with some traversal, that's about it. A little short, but challenging and enjoyable.

Camp Sunshine ($6.99)

Uh oh, a dangerous killer bear mascot is on the loose again. I've seen stories like this before, and it doesn't end well. It describes itself as an RPG, but it's really just an adventure game in the guise of a 16-bit RPG visual style. You know, like Corpse Party or To The Moon. It's quite well-liked over on Steam, and we'll have to take their word for it because you folks know me and horror games.

Kill The Crows ($4.49)

A top-down arena shooter with an old western theme. Not exactly the fanciest of TV dinners, but it seems to understand that its theme is its selling point and leans into it nicely. Affordable fun, and sometimes that's good enough.

That's all for this week, friends. We'll be back next Saturday with another Round-Up as we head into the back half of October. Lots of great stuff on the horizon right now, even as we're likely in the final months of the Switch as Nintendo's main squeeze. As ever, I will plug both my Patreon (where you can find lots of cool exclusive articles) and my Ko-Fi (tips help me run this blog). There, plugged. I hope you have a super Saturday, and as always, thanks for reading!

[retphienix]

I /think/ I'll start another playthrough for the blog- I need to shake myself out of my constant slumps or I'll go mad after all :P

So what about Dragon Quest Monsters? One of my favorite series.... if you consider being obsessed with 2.5 gameboy games and wanting to try all the others "favorite" material :P

So Joker was "fine". It wasn't my favorite by any means- most of the changes from 1-2 were "meh" to me, but I did enjoy it enough to complete it with a pretty decent amount of fun being had.

Joker 2's intro got me hyped! It really felt like something I'll love!

So how about instead of playing Joker 2 as I logically would- I go backwards a little and play Caravan Hearts instead lmao

I know very little about Caravan Hearts, as I've hinted at before on the blog (if you count mentioning it in passing like 4 years ago).

I "Think" it's one of those games I booted up in the early 2000s when emulation started getting more popular, in japanese of course being a japan exclusive and all, but I could be mixing it up with me booting up FF legends and the like.

The most I know is that a fellow DWM enjoyer said it was crap many years ago when I was playing some DWM stuff on the blog, and I took that to mean it's "probably" experimental and easy to dislike lol

Starting it up I'll say I'll be playing the fan translation, obviously, from kaioshin on Romhacking dot net. Any "funny business" in dialogue or re-interpretations of events is because it's a fan translation and I will be experiencing it as it is here, not as the original text defines the game because they never bothered to tell us this tale in english and I'm dumb and can't read the OG lol

Basic intro, we're a kid (10 years old) who craves adventure. Instead of being native to a monster world (2) or coming here because our sibling was kidnapped to be a monster master (1) we come to the monster world to escape punishment from our father- the king- after trying to escape the castle to explore the (reportedly) very tiny world we live in.

Basically we're a bored prince who craves adventure, and we stumbled into an opportunity to do that while hiding in our cabinet... a fun nod to DWM1 :3

Yada yada, in the monster world now, oh look a caravan lacking a leader:

What a coincidence, we just magically appeared here and listening to kids in RPG settings is normal as hell.

So right out the gate things DO appear rather different from the prior DWM games I love.

The caravan is key to combat for one, and our team appears to be entirely shaken up from how the prior games played it.

Instead of befriending and capturing 3 monsters to make a team and splitting up responsibilities among those 3 monsters for cohesive RPG party stuff- it /appears/ that we will always have ONE monster who takes the main stage for combat (kind of like DQ1?) and the caravan plays the role of... equipment? Passives? I guess you'd call them?

You have various adventurers in the party who don't directly participate but instead act as assistant abilities during combat- I am too early in to know how deep or how much control I have just yet, but I can pick what order they appear and from how the first encounters went it APPEARS as if the order determines when they get a turn to assist (if applicable), MAYBE.

Regardless it means I have a warrior who can swing an extra time for some more damage, a cleric who can heal if their "turn" comes up and we need it, and a map expert who can buff(?) our speed during his turn and also gives us the passive ability to use the map on the overworld.

This, could be neat.

It could also feel like a less hands on version of a combat system that was already kinda hands off since I'm only leveling up 1 party member and the other party members are not /real/ and instead are just passives that happen based on order (I think).

Hm. Looking forward to finding out!

I like that little wind effect :3

[humanransome-note]

Another Crab’s Treasure

If you’ve wanted to try Soulslikes but thought the barrier for entry was too difficult, this is the game I would recommend you try.

To me, (I’ve played Dark Souls, Lies of P, Elden Ring, some of Sekiro [I got the Mortal Blade] and some of Dark Souls 3 [my computer started acting up so the frame rate would stutter, not good for a game where frame timing is a major point of strategy) it was comparatively easy, that by no way means it was “easy” I still died to bosses at least 2-4 times before I defeated them, and the only one I didn’t need multiple tries for was an optional boss balanced for early game I backtracked to find before the final boss.

I prefer and excel at combat that’s parry heavy, makes me feel in control of the combat, so there’s one early boss I had more issues with because the parry is not available when you fight him… at least it’s not supposed to be.

The game is still getting patches and bug fixes, a consistently common issue is the geometry, both visible and not (clipping through walls, Kril or enemies reacting weird when in tight spaces, being able to miss the activation area for boss fights and cutscenes) in my playthrough, after a few tries at the first story boss, the cutscene just… didn’t activate, allowing me to skip that portion, get access to the skill tree, and return tactically OP because I could parry. (I joined Aggro Crab’s discord server just to report this specific bug, but I also have a notebook for video game stuff, so any other bugs I came across got noted. I plan to do another playthrough to see if the bugs happen again/I can replicate them, I’ve got nothing better to do with my time)

These issues were almost entirely graphical, with no real bearing on my experience. There were a few though, some areas in late game require platforming around obstacles, and with how the respawn system works (the last place Kril was able to get solid footing) you can get stuck in a death loop. However this is a known problem that is still being worked on with a temporary fix currently picking up the slack, it’s not obvious, it’s supposed to be a failsafe for a rare situation, and the only reason I know about it was because I got caught in a death loop and it happened to me.

The bosses!

Only about a dozen of them, but they each have very different attack patterns so it’s not like Resi7 or GoW’18. Honestly some of the mob enemies frustrated me more than the bosses. There’s one late game boss that felt very uninteresting (only like 4 attacks, didn’t move in the arena) but the phase 2 made up for it in spades, and you realize there’s actually a lore reason the boss can’t move, so Aggro Crabbo covered there bases there.

None of them felt unfair or difficult just to be difficult, (I very much enjoy Elden ring and the DLC… but some of those fights are just ew )

(And yes, one of them does use a hitachi wand in their fight. Like a proper plug in the wall one)

Story!

Unlike other soulslikes, AoT is very upfront with its story, other popular soulslikes, even the ones that are also Metroidvanias, tend to tell the story via item descriptions and encounters with NPCs that can be easy to miss. And it’s a good story too!

You play Kril, a Hermit of a hermit crab who’s shell gets ‘repossessed’ due to unpaid taxes. He doesn’t even know what taxes are! So he follows the ‘loan shark’ down to try and hash out an agreement at least. He doesn’t want to be here! He was just minding his little crab boy business! RPG story shenanigans ensue, and now you have to hunt down a treasure to get your house back.

As the story progresses, the tone gets heavier, but it doesn’t drag the vibes down with it (which might bother some people, your mileage may vary) but when those heavy story beats hit they hit HARD.

You start off as a kid being forced on an adventure, and by the end the story has said “complacency in the face of injustice and cruelty is an act of cruelty in itself. Your actions may not fix the problems, but unlike inaction they at least do something to make the situation better. Your intentions do not undo the damage you may cause and you must take responsibility for it. Do not stew in your anger, but do not smother it either, use it to fuel doing and being better.” Which… considering the state of the world the message felt, not encouraging, but validating.

There are a lot of meme references and jokes in plain view (the scenery is largely made up of trash, like actual bits of garbage, and if you have the texture setting high enough to read the packaging, you’ll probably get a chuckle, if not a reluctantly amused sigh) as well as some of the shell descriptions.

Some of these references are easy to understand, they were/are viral to the point of being recognizable to someone not chronically online… but some were so very chronically online and made me snort scream.

Accessibility features! (Assist Mode)

These aren’t your usual subtitle settings, color blindness correction (something that has been sent in the suggestion channel) or haptics.

These are settings you can access at any point during the game to modify the difficulty. Either through changing the overall preset, specific condition changes (decrease enemy health, increase your HP, don’t lose micro plastics (money) upon death) and… you can give Kril a gun.

Not a little crab sized gun, not a rubber band gun that’s also a pen that you get from a gag gift shop. An actual, semi automatic pistol, that Kril wears on his back and takes up a good chunk of the screen. It one shots everything even bosses, so if something is pissing you off, you can just get ‘em with the Glock. (It does actually look like it was modeled after a Glock, but I’m not a gun guy so I could be wrong)

I used this throughout the game, for me it was mostly for when I had died and needed to get my dropped junk back. Because run backs can be the worst and really demotivating if you keep dying in the same spot. Also there’s a very late game area that has basically the guardian stalkers from breath of the wild but somehow worse??? They’re like 20-30 times kril’s height with a high defense stat. They’re based off of Japanese spider crabs and both scared and pissed me off. I got through to continue the story sans gun, but when I went back for possible items (an upgrade component is in the midst of all these bastards) I just popped them off and tbh it felt so much better than I think killing them off “properly” would have.

The game obviously still has some buffering that needs to be done, the state of modern games development is one that frustrates me to no end, but I will accept studios releasing an acceptable/playable project that they intend to fine tune post release. Not finish post release. Also Aggro Crab is a team of like 15-20 people I think? Which is a super small team! And they’ve released a game with lovely set pieces and environmental design, snappy and responsive gameplay, with a compelling story that feels poignant and fun characters who never left me bored.

Also the way they wrote Kril’s character arch felt much more real/relatable than other characters in his position have usually been written.

His motivations are selfish (he wants his house back) and that’s what’s driving him for the entire story ath the halfway point there’s a scene where characters are discussing what they’d do with the treasure they’re looking for, everyone said “something something. Share with the rest of you/community” and Kril just says, I’m keeping it all I need it to get my house back, even when confronted with questions that make him ask himself if he really enjoyed his old life, he recognizes that he wasn’t exactly happy, but it’s what he knows and since he’s been on this adventure everything has been obviously WORSE, it’s not until the penultimate boss that his motivations turn to helping another person and that’s a life and death situation.

His arch ends in the “expected” way, but it feels more naturally done. His purpose isn’t adventure, he’s searching for a new goal, if he goes on an adventure while doing it that’s just happenstance.

[chemicalbrew]

2023 game list, part 2: more like one game six+ times 🥉

I'll be honest: I separated this year's list into two parts mostly for ease of editing (the first part had ten lengthy entries I got tired of scrolling past long ago), but also... I thought it would be nice to have a clear divide between games I was not quite happy with and the few games that managed to impress me this year. If for some reason you want to see me being salty first, you can click here, but other than that... we're good to get this show on the road!

Ys IX: Monstrum Nox (PC, 2019; 2021 port) [♪ New Life]

This one will be more of a rapid-fire ramble, because, even though I enjoyed the game and am willing to defend certain aspects of it, there's little doubt that it's one of this series' weaker outings. Really, it making it onto the second half of the list is mostly due to bias and the fact that this series' core systems (most of which any Ys fan is painfully familiar with) are consistently good, mindless fun. Anyway, here's my more scattered thoughts I can't be bothered to stitch together:

The soundtrack is mostly an obvious downgrade and largely forgettable - literally the only tracks that stayed with me even a little are the one linked and, surprisingly, Marionette, Marionette, but that's to be expected of nu-Falcom :(

The amount of references to past games Monstrum Nox has shows good self-awareness and is something I was absolutely not expecting. I'm just familiar enough with Ys to pick up on most of them, so I wonder how subtle they are for those without the knowledge.

I actually loved being confined inside Balduq and forced to explore every nook and cranny of it, even more so because of how it contrasts with the openness of Ys 8. They pulled no stops when it came to committing to the aesthetic, and I was caught off guard with how much I liked it all. A highlight to me is the graffiti you can find all over the streets!

The new gift abilities greatly expand traversal options, even if implementation of them is not exactly free-form. A bold idea and one I enjoyed greatly. Otherwise, there isn't much major change in how exploration and battling works from 8, but there really doesn't need to be, I think. They fixed the fucking raid mechanic, and that's all that matters - even if the equivalent of it feels horribly tacked on.

Most people would say the Monstrum designs are over the top, but I personally don't care. They all slap, especially Doll and Adol himself, of course (I was ogling that long hair even before the game came out, hell yeah). As for their personal arcs, nothing really stands out the way Dana did in 8, despite each character getting their own time to shine, but I can forgive an Ys game for not bothering with complex characters. In particular, the development surrounding Jules and the conundrum with his disabilities, while somewhat barebones, didn't feel disrespectful at all and was a super pleasant surprise.

(screenshot that doesn't have much to do with anything, I just liked it)

The homunculus twist at the end of the game came out of nowhere and ruined my final impression of the story greatly. That's all, really.

Chained Echoes (PC, 2022) [♪ Standing Tall]

One of my clearest memories of Chained Echoes is the amount of people I'd seen among circles of RPG fans crying out last December that this is the game that was going to snatch the title of GOTY right from everyone's noses. Admittedly, this is one of those silly cases where I recall being intrigued by the name of the game alone (how often does that even happen these days?), and the rest was just a bonus - yes, even the impressive pixel art and soundtrack.

This makes me think I'd had healthier expectations of this game than most people, but even then… The truth of the matter is that Chained Echoes will never leave the shadows of the classics from the 90s it proudly claims to be inspired by. In trying to make itself stand out and match its own ambitions, it forgets itself and fails to leave a lasting impression - I can certainly say I enjoyed the time I spent, but when I remember more about fighting sentient vegetables than how the game actually ended, something is obviously wrong.

Now, I loved smacking the hell out of those vegetables - the battle system is decently refined for the most part, and values your time greatly. To me, the most notable features of the process are those shamelessly taken from Chrono Cross, and for good reason: if there's anything that game nailed, it's the on-field enemy encounters, automatic resource restoration between battles, and what's probably one of its more well-known ideas - lack of EXP in a conventional sense. Chained Echoes wholeheartedly embraces those conveniences, almost as if to ask 'Why isn't all this standard yet? It's the 2020s!', and I find myself agreeing. The unique systems this game presents on top of everything are hit or miss (particularly the mech combat, the part that remains grindy through the dumb proficiency system), and combat may not be perfectly balanced (if you weren't shredding through mobs with Sierra, what were you even doing?), but… Everything surrounding combat just felt so full of fresh potential, and took so little time besides, with the already quick animations whooshing by at the press of a button, that it was extremely easy to forgive any faults.

There are many creative changes made out of battle as well - the most interesting of them being the reward board. It's simple to explain - very early into the game, you unlock a list of objectives spanning the entire world map, laid out on a grid. The tasks themselves range from 'enter the area' and 'beat this specific monster type' to 'beat a miniboss without taking damage' and 'open every single chest you can find'. The cool part is that, while each square provides a reward on its own, there are bigger fish to fry, as there's a separate list of items you get by filling out squares adjacent to each other! It's genuinely impressive how effective this elegant system is at getting you to engage with the world you explore… at least until you realize how ridiculous the late-game tasks can get. And even here, there are misguided ideas that threaten to ruin the gameplay flow - for example, the gem system, that was likely inspired by its simple and functional counterpart in Xenoblade 1, is exceedingly convoluted and involves lots of boring fishing for item drops for somewhat negligible advantages.

It's when the game stops copying the greats that bigger cracks begin to show, though. As a whole, Echoes' writing is a weak point - both because it seems to favor shock value and piles of barely logical twists over anything coherent towards the finish line, and because this game's sole creator took great pains to write the script entirely by himself, in a language that's not his own (guy's from Germany, if I remember correctly). Being bilingual myself, I'd like to say I can imagine how much of a struggle that must have been, and you seriously have to respect the hustle, but it doesn't mean that the end result of all those efforts isn't faulty and should be safe from criticism.

This is a game that very clearly would have benefited from just one more person looking over the script and flow of the plot - if practically every main party member winds up traumadumping to keep the player's attention as tropes they'd probably seen in Chrono Trigger before play out… once again, something has gone terribly wrong, especially since most of said characters weren't too appealing in the first place. This makes Chained Echoes one of the RPGs where the G part is stronger than the RP part, for better or for worse. But it's fun while it lasts, and not the worst way to spend 40 or so hours!

Pokemon Black (DS, 2011) [♪ Relic Castle]

Everything went precisely as I predicted, with the exact problems I imagined I would have, but I finally managed to find the mystery of what makes the series tick for people, both on a general and personal level. Pokemon has spat on some of my detrimental gaming tendencies (as in, the urge to explore everywhere that exists and obtain everything that moves) and in the same breath provided an experience that, in all its flaws, either objective ones or stemming from my own misunderstandings, proved to be surprising at every turn. It's, uh, really cool.

Now here is a funny thing: I cheated. In the literal sense. And I did that a lot. Here's what I used in Black, just cause I can put it out there:

full exp share without needing to swap your whole team in (they should just make this a toggle in the settings, the fact that they never have, not even in newer entries, is baffling.)

forcing any Pokemon within the regional dex to spawn. I probably wouldn't do it ever again, cause now that I understand what Pokemon wants to be, I also see there's really no point to forcing Pokemon to appear just to box them - it's harder to get any sort of bond with your creatures going that way. In addition, a lot of the alternate Pokemon at least get shown off in mandatory fights, so there was no point fretting over not getting to see them (you have no clue how happy I was to see N with Reuniclus, it just felt so right). The series is lying to you - the real joys are NOT in catching them all.

Season switcher (since I played 90% of the game in December, and it took less than a month to beat, it kinda sucked seeing the dreary winter variants all the time. I don't really blame the feature itself, it's just that I don't like real-time-sensitive things in games - especially when they're linked to unique rewards. I loved Deerling and the concept behind it, but just because it was December, I'd have been robbed of its illegally adorable spring variant without cheats! Boo.)

Spawning phenomena and random encounters at the press of a button. Probably the key improvement to the experience! Call me spoiled by modern RPGs, but I have grown from disliking pure random encounters to disdaining them, and this allowed me to segregate area exploration (which was enjoyable in its simplicity and layering through the dowsing machine) and making sure my catching and leveling is up to par while I chill out listening to different pieces from this game on loop or catching up with a stream - two goals that, to me, kinda don't mesh that well on their own. Especially with the normally horrible phenomena appearance rate.

Suffice it to say, my experience with this game was not quite the intended one, but I am still glad for it - it allowed me to get over my preconceptions and expectations of this storied series and, at least to some extent, prepared me for whatever entry I will choose to engage with next (likely Black 2). Next time, I won't be bending the game to my whims quite as much, but I feel like my frustrations with this series heavily relying on missable content will always remain.

With this silly kind of disclaimer out of the way, let's try to talk about Pokemon Black itself. The first thing I remember is just how linear it was - you walk through route after route and claim one badge after another until you find yourself facing the champion, which is where the game finally pulls its rug from under your feet. By now, it should be obvious that I enjoy not having to fuss over what to do next, so I found this to be a boon, but I could absolutely understand longtime fans being irritated by how little choice you have in matters.

Speaking of which, Unova robs you of choices in another infamous way - for the duration of the main story, you're forced to use the new additions to the Pokedex. Once again, this is something that bothered me less than it would most people, doubly so because a lot of the seemingly commonly hated new (for their time) designs actually appealed to me a fair bit. If there's only one Trubbish and Vanilluxe fan on this earth, it's me, or however that meme went - I would give my limb and soul for object Pokemon, I think that's one of the best ideas of the series ever.

The graphics certainly aren't much to write home about and didn't truly age gracefully, but nonetheless, they likely stand the test of time better than the entries following would, and are more than serviceable. With sweeping camera angles, detailed Pokemon sprites and larger-than-life vistas greeting you as you bike from town to town, it's clear this game wanted nothing more than to impress players, and I'd argue that it succeeded, given the timeframe of release, and especially the region Unova was inspired by.

The music, however, is where the game really shines - with town themes ranging from sweet and cozy to ones that end up never quite leaving your mind (remember how Driftveil City became a huge meme? Oddly, I feel like that's enough proof of how awesome the soundtrack is), character themes that feel tailor-made and convey more about them than their own dialogue sometimes, and sufficiently catchy battle music (with the standouts, of course, being reserved for the more… legendary encounters).

When it comes to the story, I... appreciate it existing. It was what I came to this game for, but I ended up staying more so for the team that I lovingly chose for myself and that carried me from dungeon to dungeon. It's not bad by any means, and I can see why people want the series to even try something like this again, but what's bold for this series is overdone for many others.

That said, they really nailed basically everything about N, dear god. I love him so much. And while I might not be familiar with how the series usually handles rival characters, I enjoyed getting to compare and contrast between Cheren and Bianca's personal struggles. Cheren's theme is a banger, to boot.

PS. I hope whoever decided Volcarona should evolve at level 59 explodes somewhere, that was NOT worth it.

Shin Megami Tensei IV (3DS, 2013) [♪ Aboveground Urban Area C]

BEHOLD, MY DEMONS! (pictured: not demons)

Holy shit, an actually fun dungeon crawler from the company behind the ever so boring Etrian Odyssey that I decided to play only thanks to Tumblr memeing on the glorious Black Market theme? Who woulda thunk.

If you say you play this game for the plot, I will not believe you. I'm here for the character design (equal parts silly and god-tier, which, going by my opinion on Xenoblade 2, is just what the doctor ordered), the surprisingly exhilarating kill-or-be-killed battle system designed around finding and capitalizing on weaknesses, coupled with the distinct gameplay loop of fighting, coercing and fusing demons, the incredible atmosphere every grossly pixelated texture seems to ooze, and most of all, what might be one of the greatest soundtracks in all of gaming, to me.

The music is what single-handedly turns what would otherwise be a forgettable, convoluted and at times almost offensive experience into something outstanding. Combined with the broad strokes with which SMT4 sets up and gradually expands its setting, it's jaw-dropping just how big of an impression the game can leave you with while utilizing what feels like the bare minimum in terms of visuals (I mean this in the best way possible! I love when games make the most of their limited resources). It's a shame, then, that these two qualities practically carry the game on their back, riddled with flaws as it otherwise is.

Seriously though, the storylines manage to be simultaneously straightforward and messy somehow, to the point where even the self-proposed 'golden' route is easily questioned by a player who's willing to give it a minute of thought. There's enough to latch onto here for impressionable people, but the truth is, SMT4 loves to oversimplify complex matters in favor of haphazardly committing to extremes, which in turn ruins its leading characters - each in their own way, as they refuse to grow and develop most predictably, even if you go out of your way to give them a chance.

(how the fuck are you supposed to take a game that has this textbox in it seriously? This is divinity talking, you know)

The worst part about it all is that while it's you, your player character, influencing the world, you're not really given an explanation of how your actions change things until it's already too late and you're left on your own to gape at how you trying to be nice to people actually led to what's functionally an elitist genocide. That is, if you weren't like me and didn't end the game prematurely with the ending that wipes out everyone instead of most people that are baselessly declared filthy and unclean. And if you want to see a path that pretends to be more reasonable, you have to use a guide and jump through hoops and fetch quests beforehand. Yeah, sure, that's fine.

I'm sure there are many more things people more familiar with SMT could critique when it comes to this entry (especially since I mentioned nothing about the Chaos route, which I frankly don't remember), but the fact that even me, a complete newcomer to the series, ended up less than impressed with SMT4's overall message... has to say something, no?

And yet, the experience remains unique and, in the most literal sense of the word, addictive. Maybe it's just my monkey brain willing to give games a pass if their mechanics click with me hard enough, but... It's fun to explore a kingdom and city in turn, to uncover bits and bobs on your map as you hunt for relics, to overwhelm your enemy in a single Press Turn, and even to get lost in the horribly designed Domains, all the while the literal coolest music you've heard in your life keeps playing. And soon enough, you come to feel that strange familiarity and comfort as go through the motions and backtrack to Mikado for the 100th time.

I'll be honest, this shit is why I yearn for more dungeon crawlers to love (that aren't just Brandish...) all the time. Hopefully I'll eventually man up and play another entry in this series, so I can better understand what the core fanbase appreciates and wants from Shin Megami Tensei as a whole.

Octopath Traveler II (PC, 2023) [♪ Cait's Theme]

(Someone tell me who had to sell their soul to make such gorgeous boss sprites...)

I missed my chance to engage with OT1 back in the day (mostly because I was put off by middling reviews), so to see the series spring back to relevance this year was actually a lovely surprise, especially with me gaining appreciation for HD-2D after playing Live A Live. It really felt like everything had aligned for me to get the most out of Octopath 2! Even more so because this game is a shining example of how to iterate on a sequel.

Most fans say there's barely any reason to return to 1 after playing 2, and they're frankly right. It would be harder to say what 2 did not improve on than to list all the positive changes! But here I am, trying to explain just how many elements had to combine to create my actual favorite RPG of the year. Here we go!

First off, this is the prettiest HD-2D game yet, pulling all the stops when it comes to polishing the style. There are more refined details in the scenery, every sprite looks buttery smooth, and with the new day and night cycle, OT2 is extremely eager to show off just what its lighting engine is capable of. This game is simply a treat to look at no matter what you're doing, and the soundtrack matches the ambition it exhibits.

There are more voiced cutscenes than before and you can let them autoplay - a small but vital quality of life change. The main stories have a decently varied structure compared to the previous game's rigid formulas, and the sidequests generally value quality over quantity (though they're still not much to write home about, and they're a pain in the ass to actually find and keep track of - this game has the most useless journal of any RPG).

One of the core elements of the battle system - the jobs your characters can use - are rebalanced and made easier to understand, and there's more of them to discover for yourself. As a whole, the tools you get to use in battle are greatly expanded, but more on that in a bit.

Lastly, it's easier to witness the cast interact, because they fixed the travel banter system! (Can't believe they made so much of what makes these characters likeable so easy to miss before...) There's more of these interactions to see, too - Crossed Paths, quests tailored to specific character pairings, are a genius addition to the game, if somewhat underutilized. They actually bothered to try and tie the eight stories together, as well, compared to the pathetic whimper the first game ends with! Though whether the attempt was successful is debatable, what's there is not half bad.

While I do believe I would have laid my eyes on this game eventually no matter what, due to the praise it's been getting in circles of RPG fans (I wish OT was more recognized than it already is, even if it is decently popular. The potential the series has is off the charts), what really pushed me was Hikari's very existence. One look at him, and you just know he's gonna be involved in an epic struggle and have to fight for his friends - and that's exactly what he does. It's glorious, and fits the overall message\vibe of the series - that is to say, getting to go on a journey and find new friends for your cause and new experiences - exceptionally well. This is why I, and most people, would probably recommend you start with him, though of course, you're free to do what you want.

Being relatively free to explore instead of roped along to go places like a traditional RPG would is a double-edged sword, especially because Octopath locks in your first chosen character, so they usually get overleveled, but at the same time the game expects you to have a functional (evenly geared and leveled) party of eight by endgame, which you might not be aware of and only have four peeps prepared. This could be solved with a simple toggle to give benched party members the same amount of EXP, or - and they literally do this in the endgame, so why not before?! - let us freely swap any time instead of only getting to do it in towns.

On the other hand, getting to watch eight (seemingly) disjointed stories unfold makes for a refreshing experience where you never know what (or who, at first) you will find. The travelers are divided half and half between two continents, but on my run I screwed it up - I got really curious about what's up north, which led to me finding Osvald early (and his chapter 1 warning scared the crap out of me for no reason, lol), so three characters were from the west and one was from the east. It's not nearly as big of a deal as I make it sound, especially later on with more options available, but before you discover such things and adjust yourself to what the game wants from you, it can feel quite challenging.

Speaking of challenging, I loved how the battle system in this game works - even if it's your typical turn-based bells and whistles with a job system attached, at least at first glance. The jobs themselves, while probably not groundbreaking or anything, still succeed in giving the party members their own ways to shine and even diversifying their movesets, thanks to the mechanic that lets you freely mix and match jobs! You can optimize to your heart's content, or mess around and go with the prettiest outfits.

(look at them!! just look!!)

The bread and butter of this series, however, the Thing it does to distinguish itself from myriads of other turn-based games, is the Break and Boost systems.

Break is simple enough to explain - each enemy you face boasts a certain number of shields, and before you figure out their weaknesses and break through, you're unlikely to deal any significant damage. Finding weak points can be cumbersome at times, especially if you don't have a Scholar to reveal them for you (I admit to looking them up occasionally instead of wasting SP\BP with Analyze), but it still doesn't take too much time, even less if you know the one trick to it. And your reward for doing so is getting a free turn to dish out damage (or set up buff combos)!

Boosting is an entirely different matter, though. In addition to the usual health and skill points, your party members gain a boost point each turn (provided they didn't use them on the last turn). You can have up to five points in reserve, and you can use up to three in a single turn to augment your chosen move - from simple damage increases to attacking multiple times in a turn (to break shields faster) to making buffs and debuffs last longer… basically everything gets much better if you boost. There are even special moves called Divine Skills that require 3 BP to use in the first place, and funnily enough, they range from game-breaking to actually kind of pathetic.

What's more, each character has special actions in and out of battle that are mostly unique to them - for example, Castti, the apothecary, can concoct powerful brews to aid you or damage the enemy, and in towns, she can chat up NPCs to get information by day or put them to sleep with specialized herbs by night. Meanwhile Hikari, the warrior, can learn skills no one else can by fighting NPCs one-on-one, which can be extraordinarily useful or... something like this:

The NPCs themselves don't seem too impressive at first, but as you make use of your characters' Path Actions, you realize that most of them have a small story to tell almost entirely through game mechanics, reminding you how vital worldbuilding is to an open-ended game like this. Robbing children of candy with Throne or getting to uncover short, but ridiculously dark backstories with Osvald never got old.

OT2 adds a cherry on top of all these layers by giving each party member another unique move in Latent Powers, which, too, can be either ridiculously overpowered (hello, free concocting?! why yes, I want to give my entire party 2000 HP, 200 SP and 1 BP at literally zero cost!) or incredibly niche (Osvald really got the short end of the stick here - you're better off boosting his actual spells than using his latent, which at best is only useful when Mugging and feels like an afterthought.).

And before all of that even starts, you have to pay attention to how you kit out your party. It's not just about what equipment has the bigger numbers - you need to consider its secondary effects, too, but more importantly, you need to pick the right secondary jobs to have a party that's truly well-rounded. If you explore the world thoroughly enough to unlock lots of job licenses, the sky's your limit, really - but the idea is to have a healthy balance between weapon types and skills while playing into each character's natural strengths.

You'd think having to make so many choices would feel overwhelming, but there's plenty of opportunities for the player to acclimate to the system and make it work for them. And they better learn the ropes quickly, because in boss battles, Octopath expects them to use every one of the tools they have. The game doesn't really go out of its way to explain how your skills can synergize to wreak havoc upon anything that stands in your way (sometimes before the enemy even gets a chance to act!), lending a sort of simple and pure joy to the moment when it all just clicks, when you begin to try out one bonkers combination after the other (does Critical Scope work on magic spells? Just how powerful is poison in Challenge fights? If I make Osvald a thief, will he still hit the damage cap with Aeber's Reckoning?), and they all just… work. Before that point, the game isn't afraid to kick your confused ass to the game over screen, but if you experiment, it won't be too long before you emerge victorious every time. To be rewarded like this for taking in your every option is immensely satisfying.

I also have to give a shout-out to the voice work done for all these battles specifically - every character gets a unique line for every move in every class, and they react to fellow party members breaking enemies or getting low on health. Really, the amount of detail in this one specific regard is just insane. Add to this the fact that you can fight at double speed with a press of a button (sure, this is nothing compared to how 6x turbo mode in Trails spoils you, but it's better than nothing, and for a game like this, it's enough), and battles in OT2 flow like a spring breeze, especially since, due to gear mattering more than level, you're not really encouraged to grind throughout the main story… or stories, as it were.

You'll have to forgive me for spending so long rambling about gameplay intricacies before getting to the game's actual draw - the eight different plots it offers you and the open-ended structure that comes from it. The truth is, most of these stories start out with a bang, but few of them have really enjoyable resolutions, and even less will manage to impress seasoned players.

Not to mention that, aside from the skit-like travel banter, they're completely isolated from one another, further lending to the feeling that your party members are less characters and more movesets. This is likely the most common complaint the series gets, and I have to say, it felt odd at first to me as well, but by now I'm a little tired of seeing people rag on the lack of connection between the stories. Having smaller vignette-like stories instead of an overarching plot is something you never see other RPGs do nowadays, it's one of Octopath's selling points, it's practically its beating heart, and it's something done with purpose. An artistic choice not being something you're used to is no reason to completely disregard it, even if there's room to grow and improve.

And plenty of room there is - while the stories have enough meat to them to enjoy what's happening in the moment, the boss fights in them are as cool as always, and the voice work accompanying all of the scenes is just lovely (though it can be poorly mixed on occasion - looking at you, Ori!), the core of the individual tales is usually somewhat basic and a little underdeveloped, if not downright nonsensical. Ochette's story could probably be put in a Pokemon game with very little changes, and, sorry to say, I don't mean that as a compliment. Having the plot revolve around catching legendary creatures to save the world had me mostly snoozing, controller in hand.

Or take, for example, Partitio and his charming, resourceful butt. It's hard not to love him, but if you think about what he's doing for more than a moment, it doesn't quite make sense - how do you go about squashing capitalism on the entire continent on your own, much less by ushering the world into the industrial era? Isn't that having too much faith in people?

Even Hikari, who started as my favorite and ended just the same (Howard Wang killed it as his voice actor, let's be real), doesn't have a particularly compelling plot going on. His story of having to take off to reclaim his kingdom is, I'd wager, one with more wasted potential than others, given how the whole cursed bloodline subplot just went nowhere. And don't get me started with Throne - I got spoiled on what happened at the end of her story and refused to believe it until the farce was staring me right in the face.

The exception to this would probably be Castti, whose tale of self-discovery and determination, while still playing out by the books, ended up genuinely touching all the same, with a natural escalation of the stakes in it and a wonderful conclusion that integrates gameplay mechanics particularly well, having you personally concoct the remedy to save a whole region and give them peace.

The one thing that elevates every one of these plots, every failure and success of this game, is its soundtrack. I'm not sure if I wholeheartedly prefer this OST to the first game, but they're both just outstanding. While it was easy for me to pick a single favorite to show off, it's hard to overstate just how awesome Yasunori Nishiki's work is as a whole, and we'd be here all day were I to keep pointing out the majority of the music as the masterpiece it is. The themes for various locations are lovingly crafted to suit the mood, with an awesome choice to add ethereal vocals for some of the night themes to make it more atmospheric (my favorites are Roque Island, Tropu'hopu, and, of course, the kingdom of Ku), and the character themes are particularly well thought out, expanding on their personalities in ways the text never quite could. Shout-out to both Agnea's theme and her Song of Hope, and the ways they tie her whole plotline together!

Octopath Traveler II turned out to be my sleeper hit of 2023, and has done so much more for me than I expected it to. Now there's nothing left for me but to yearn for an even more polished and expansive continuation to the series!

A Hat in Time (PC, 2017) [♪ Heating Up Mafia Town]

I feel like I owe much of my enjoyment of this game to my inexperience. 3D platforming is one of those genres that is practically integral to gaming itself (and collectathons, more specifically, are niche only in the most technical sense), yet before playing A Hat in Time I'd refused to engage with anything of the sort out of sheer principle. "What fun is there in getting perpetually lost while trying to hunt for pointless thingamajigs scattered all over?", I'd think to myself. I'd see people online wax poetic about the old classics like Banjo and Spyro and such and find it all completely incomprehensible.

In comes Hat Kid, and from the word go it's obvious that the name of her game is… silliness. After all, the question isn't 'why should you sow fear in mafia goons and crash onto filming sets', it's 'why shouldn't you do that?'. And as you get roped in by the absurdity of these subplots thrown at you, with so many NPCs having a goofy one-liner or three to say, you realize that behind these layers of charm are solidly crafted sandboxes for you to just enjoy yourself in, coupled with delightful sections that are, for all intents and purposes, obstacle courses.

I enjoyed the latter much more, as I tend to do, but they're two different sides of the same great coin, so to speak. And aside from a couple specific levels that gave me a headache (like the long-ass parade level, the infamous Alpine Skyline hub with how long traversal takes in it, and ESPECIALLY The Twilight Bell. Holy shit, that one just wasn't fun for me after a while), exploration was rewarding, and pretty smooth sailing - with good variation in level structure and near endless attention to detail (be ready to sit there like 'they made a unique animation just for that?!').

A part of what made it so easy to enjoy was how simple the movement in this game is - what you have at your disposal is, essentially, a double jump and a dive, which can be canceled out of. That makes it great for someone like me, who still fears being forced to get acquainted with a complex control scheme in a game with movement as the focus (the 'why press three buttons when one would do' approach), but at the same time… it means that there's only one optimal way to move through the world quickly, so dozens of hours in, I felt as if I could repeat the button combination endlessly in my sleep.

Sure, there's badges that can change your experience substantially - making you dash faster, or turn into an ice statue in lieu of a ground pound, or use a goddamn hookshot, or a bunch of other things, but… having only three slots for them, and knowing one of them will probably be always taken by something like the No Bonk badge (which feels like an essential quality of life feature) is severely limiting. I would love it if there were more slots to prevent constantly having to compromise and switch badges around… or a slightly expanded base moveset for Hat Kid.

On a more positive note, I loved the more tightly directed and difficult experiences that the optional Time Rifts offered. Finding them might not have been half as fun as clearing them, but the reward was more than worth it almost every time. And that's to say nothing of the game's presentation, which is sublime in how stylish it is. I could see people being set off by how the art style feels purposely crude at times, but personally, I couldn't care about that less - it only adds to the charm, in fact.

The music, meanwhile, is peppy and upbeat every step of the way, and fits the mood of the game perfectly. Even though you find yourself revisiting the same levels numerous times, there are always new versions of the tracks you've come to like, and neat twists to the traversal process - it's obvious how much A Hat in Time wants you to relax, be entertained, and enjoy the ride. That might come at the cost of it not telling a particularly gripping story, but it's hard to hold that against the game. Sometimes you just want to bonk mafia goons on the head for a while, you know?

Tower of Heaven (PC - Flash, 2009) [♪ Indignant Divinity]

There is no prize as precious as that which you have lost.

Tower of Heaven, to me, is about going back to the roots - in the literal sense, as your character gets cast down and smitten by lightning over and over, and in a sense that's more meta, as there's definitely a sort of through-line puncturing the developer's offerings; one that presents itself in subtle ways, but is plain to see regardless with every game you boot up, and every death that makes you chuckle at your own subpar execution. So, in essence, me playing this platformer (on my birthday, no less! good to know there's something you can rely on even on otherwise middling days) became this experience about paying respects to foundations laid in the past so I could better appreciate the legacy they leave in the future.

It's kind of a tall ask for a game this small and niche (and Flash having been murdered in cold blood absolutely does not help! Everyone say thanks to that one post about Flashpoint that was making rounds back in the day, it made my mission to experience this game that much easier!!!), and I do admit to over-exaggerating the feeling, but still, it's hard not to feel affected in any way, as insignificant as it may be, while playing Tower of Heaven. The presentation is subdued and few words, and hours, are spared to explain your situation. It's just you, the blocks and doors that comprise simple levels in front of you... and a godly force seeking to work you hard as you try to go ever higher.

But as you walk through the first door on your way, the soulful music kicks in and begins to swell (if I were any more nerdy, this game would have probably become my favorite example of leitmotif usage at the drop of a hat. People who complain about this soundtrack are cowards), and your journey starts to grow more complex, little by little. As the levels slowly expand, so do the rules the mysterious force encumbers you with - combining to demand you make a singular, perfect path forward for yourself. This feeling of honesty and straightforwardness between designer and player is one of the key things this developer simply never fails at, and a part of what made me fall in love with it all in the first place.

The twists along the way may be small, but none of them feel like a waste, and as the game comes to an end, a familiar theme of standing up for yourself and facing a world unknown comes to the surface, and you can't help but feel... accomplished, if only a little. It was you who started this journey and you who brought it to its inevitable end, after all! But when you see the credits, plainly stating your basic stats, you might gawk a little. Secret rooms? What secret rooms?

With that simple move, you're encouraged to spend just a little while more - looking around, polishing your movement, paying more attention. It's not like the secrets are hard to find (or are, indeed, worth anything - it's incredibly fitting that the rooms contain treasure that is of no tangible worth to the player), but it's the fact that they were there all along that elevates the experience.

Tower of Heaven might not have much to say, but it says what it has to gracefully and concisely, in ways that many other games simply do not. And even as you inevitably fall, it makes you remember - there's always somewhere to go. Always a place to make for yourself. No matter who might be saying otherwise.

Pause Ahead (PC - Flash, 2013) [♪ Hiatus]

In many ways, this game is treading familiar grounds, but it manages to expand upon them gracefully. There's a greater sense of mystery to this one, and a lovely meta-narrative that never feels overbearing - not to mention the obvious difference in presentation and the gameplay change Pause Ahead is named after.

With a light tap of the Shift button, you can ground the level to a halt... while retaining momentum yourself. Knowing when to stop and go is key to making your way forward, as you're, once again, at times belittled and at other times besought by a mysterious voice. And, of course, you're free to simply abuse and spam this feature just to see the small easter eggs and jokes it hides. As should be by now expected, the little things like this make it feel like no time or space is wasted executing a small, but powerful concept, and iterating on it over time.

As you clear a stage, you are treated to a quick playback of all attempts you've suffered through to get this far, reminding you of your persistence and the power you wield in this strange, somehow lonely world. This may be little more than an escape attempt, but it's uniquely yours, and you're free to take your time with it as you please. This, coupled with small, but consistent details like the messages in the fake pause menu I mentioned, leads to a pleasant feeling that you're getting as much out of this game as you put in, and it's relishing your time spent with it as much as you do.

Just like I said before, there's something about the tight design of these compact experiences that is hard to find elsewhere - a sort of wordless understanding that gradually forms as you experiment with the small pool of options given, and manages to stick in your memory long after you put the game down. And that's to say nothing of the tiny, yet meaningful and insanely catchy soundtrack this game boasts, and the return of secrets to haunt you, this time even more expansive.

In just about every way, Pause Ahead is a solid hidden gem that doesn't ask much of you - at least, not outright - but gives you plenty in return: a challenge to overcome, a moody setting to enjoy, a feeling you'll be seeking and failing to find elsewhere for all time. ...or maybe it's just me?

OverPowered (PC, 2014) [♪ A True Hero and More]

I honestly think you should close this page right now and go beat this thing - I left you a link right there. I promise it won't take long, and I'm sure you'll come back with a smile on your face.

Obviously, the one thing that makes OverPowered really impressive is the time constraints it was made under - without them, it's probably just a blip on most people's radar, not even worth looking over.

Fortunately or not, I'm not most people, and I simply came into this little game looking for more of what I'd come to expect from the dev - enjoyable platforming, music that sounds like a balm to my ears (I still remember when I was doing research and I audibly went 'THAT flashygoodness?'), and witty humor that aims to subvert expectations - and succeeds every time. I got all of these things and a hearty chuckle or two, so I have no complaints.

Katana ZERO {again 💿💙} (PC, 2019) [♪ Silhouette]

Killing is the only time we're able to touch that thing we were never able to have.

What can I say? Katana ZERO is significant to me on a personal level, to an extent very few games, if any, ever have been at this point. A lot of this comes from the fact that I… knew it would be so, but at the same time had no clue. It's hard to explain - call it a gut feeling, but even in 2021 I knew there was something outstanding here, something I was tapping into, and even resonating with, but not quite as deeply as I could have been. That knowledge lingered, buzzed in the back of my mind like white noise - even as my hands would begin to ache from how much I'd been playing, how hard I'd been trying to open myself up to the game, even when the memories began to fade a little.

While I was playing, however, I was constantly aware I'd been ignoring the fine details, afraid to rise to the mechanical challenges the game offered, sometimes afraid to admit to myself how much I enjoyed KZ at all - as if it'd been a crime to recognize how it left me yearning in a haze few things can hope to match. When I tried to look back at it, I almost felt desperate to find some flaw, some excuse to lie to myself and mask the passion this game had awakened in me, for a time; and even then, I could only point to how the game's plot fizzles near the end in an attempt to set things up for the future that still hasn't come yet, eager to leave you with a feeling of uncertainty that stings all the more with how pointedly efficient KZ is about nearly everything else.

(see also: images that get funnier with time)

And even now, putting it to words, I just feel silly and dramatic - probably because, despite everything, a small part of me still feels inexplicable shame, thinks I ought not to be obsessed with something like this, something small and unfinished. An experience that some people (who are very wrong) would say is trying too hard.

It's not silly, though, and I have to remind myself of this often. Every time I come back to this game (and I've come back many times over the year - so many I lost count, including the refresher run I did last week, before writing this. It's amazing how much a passing, almost laughable thought can end up haunting you, but that's neither here nor there), I remember how much there is to love about it - how hard it is not to love it, when you realize just what it is you're dealing with, when everything slots into place and the world before you whirs to life in an almost literal fashion - and live it does, no matter what.

This is a story about finding choice where there is none. It's about discovering the truth, staring it in the face just as it has been watching over you, and resolving to do something about it - with whatever little means you have. Because what matters is trying. Without that, what can you do but remain trapped, objective unfulfilled?

But here's the thing: to most people, it's probably not quite like that. It's hard to describe something that hasn't finished telling itself, after all - but these days, that bothers me far less, if at all. If nothing else, it's hard not to appreciate the irony of it - not knowing the future when once you'd thought you'd all but had it. Even if this story's ending never sees the light of day, I feel like I've come to understand it far better, in its current state.

The unquantifiable, almost mythical extent to which KZ goes to immerse you in its world (or, at the very least, in Zero's shoes), if you let it, is one of its most important qualities. Everything this game does, from the more obvious mechanics like slightly branching dialogue options (with the lovely twist of being able to interrupt people) to the subtle touches like the way KZ uses vibration (one of the very few games to do it right, and I'll die on this hill), hides its (surprisingly plentiful, given its length) secrets in almost plain sight, or takes great care in the details of its entire user interface or goddamn dialogue formatting... it's all in the service of immersion, and that goal is masterfully achieved.

Even after spending more hours than most people would with this game, I keep discovering minute dialogue changes, tiny graphical touches, or new options to try that I can't help but smile at. Yes, some of it stems from the strange sort of fear I had that just... kinda prevented me from exploring, but not all - you'd be surprised at just what you can see if you pay attention to your choices.

And that's to say nothing of how pretty KZ manages to make everything look (and sound - you know you have a problem when you get attached to sound effects), how it perfectly walks the tightrope of letting every happening on screen breathe and speak for itself while still allowing it to remain a spectacle (look, I might not be an expert, but I love how this game frames its cutscenes and uses lighting to enhance things further). It tells you that every moment is precious - simply by wasting nothing itself.

Of course, there are more obvious ways the game respects you and your time: interrupting dialogue doesn't just lead to interesting results, but can also save a bit of time; there are a few clever skips (tied to secrets, as well) built into the levels themselves, and you have an option to respawn instantly when you restart a room (or at literally any time, if you bother to assign a quick restart button). This last thing I want to bring special attention to, because I think it spoiled me beyond belief (just look at me complaining about Celeste earlier!).

On top of this, something awesome that makes a return to Katana ZERO from its predecessors is a dedicated speedrun mode, allowing you to engage with the gameplay and practice on your own terms. And like in the other games, using it is in no way a requirement - while there is an achievement tied to speedrunning the game, nothing in the interface itself urges you to push yourself if you don't want to. The ranking system is as important as you allow it to be, and for my part, I'm mostly content with the meager results I got (bet you were wondering why I put that emoji in the title... hopefully it's clear now. If I get a silver ranking one day, I'll be beyond content.). More action games should aim to be as instantaneous and responsive in all aspects as KZ is, and I'm completely serious about this.

The last (but absolutely never the least) thing I want to bring up is the soundtrack. It's the piece in this elegant puzzle that makes everything come together, it makes every moment shine on its own merits and stay in your heart. It's easy to point to the more obviously appealing tracks that accompany you as you actually play, and the way they perfect tension and release (i.e. Delusive Bunker or the ever-so-awesome Overdose), but there's something to be said about the subtler pieces too. End of the Road never fails to tug at my heartstrings. Hell, hearing Come and See at the end of every run still makes me want to explode. And beyond that, well...

Have you listened to Chemical Brew yet? - Tumblr user chemicalbrew

To conclude, Katana ZERO may lack the universal appeal that true classics have, but I believe that at some point it will have carved out enough of a niche of itself to become a cult classic. I would love nothing more than to have a reason to feature this game on my list a third time (we'll have it one day. I'll keep waiting, this much I know), that's how much my love for it has grown. And, really… I hope it never diminishes.

PS. Believe in yourself! 👹 Also, if you're one of the people who has supported me this year as KZ made me descend into insanity, if you're one of the (surprisingly many) people who I managed to convince to give it a chance with my passion, thank you ever so much. And have a nice 2024!