#and the budget of the gacha itself

[nezumasa]

Octopath: Champions of the Continent sits in a zone where I think concerns of shutdown are fine since unless you’re a big name gacha like FEH, FGO, Honkaiverse, Grandblue Fantasy, Cookie Run, etc., shutdowns are always a threat. Especially for non-JP (ie. The OG server; replace with CN and KR as needed) servers.

However, people are being rather unreasonable about it (ie. Complaining 24/7) considering that 3-5 months is not long at all, especially for a team that is apparently split between Global and JP. You cannot spit out a new road map or change course easily considering how much coding, translation, testing, and general bureaucracy there is in companies. Not to mention submissions to Apple and Google Play to see if they agree with the version update and content.

[mostlymilkwood]

y'know nothing speaks louder to the amount of money going around in the 2000s anime boom than the fact that 2006 had three yuri anime's airing, two of which were 26 episodes, and all three of them got ps2 games.

Kashimashi and Strawberry Panic both got visual novels, and that's pretty standard as far as anime licenced games goes, it's still a lot of work to make but manageable under a certain time-frame and budget.

But Simoun? Simoun got a strategy RPG! which makes sense for the content of the show itself, it's a war story (with a lot of trauma, gender, and girl kissing thrown together) but how you know people were getting stupid with money is that Simoun... Was Not Even That Popular??? Like, even in yuri circles, which are niche themselves, it's not super well known!! you're way more likely to have heard of, and possibly watched, Strawberry Panic than you have Simoun. And listen, I say this as a Simoun apologist who has a soft spot for the series but it's truly wild that it 1. got a game at all 2. was not just a visual novel.

There isn't even a dedicated witch from mercury game on the horizon but the mildly well known within to yuri watcher anime Simoun has one?? honestly? bring back the this energy of 3 out of 5 licenced games, no more gacha tie-ins or games as a service, just games that are Totally Fine overall but fun to fans of a series.

[infrared135-36]

also the fact that a good amount of people are talking about kuro games like they’re some poor indie devs that just want their little game to succeed is insane. this is a billion dollar company creating one of the most exploitive types of game. and the people saying shit like this do NOT understand gacha

the person spending $100 for a weapon is “playing” the game AS IT HAS BEEN DESIGNED. This isn’t some random one-off moron. every part of this game is designed so you drop big money. the amount of freemium currency they give, how the game itself is played and the time it takes to play it, the rolls you need to hit “pity”, being able to see people’s builds in co-op, the gacha 5-star animation, these are just some of the ways these games are designed to get you used to spending money. The psychology has been studied extensively. These aren’t some random game mechanics the developers just decide to slap into these games. Your typical first timer who spends money will probably follow a process like this- get “just enough” freemium currency to sink into a banner(this is why I cannot see getting free currency as being truly generous) + “I want it now” (the game is designed to bank on this, it does not matter if you can “grind it out” over multiple days) + “I spent this much and I’m close, better just keep going” + the gambler’s high you get from seeing the 5-star animation that many people will get addicted to + “I spent this much, I might as well keep playing” (or sunk cost). then the cycle repeats itself over however many new gacha banners there are. You may feel disgusted with yourself after dropping a large amount of money for digital goods in what felt like an altered state. Again, these mechanics are implemented in a way that manipulates you into doing this. Some people may stop completely after experiencing this, some may put themselves on a tight budget, but many will become addicted and repeat the process over and over and over. That’s the game working as intended. This goes for not only all gacha but the more western loot-boxes as well. It doesn’t mean these games are some unique evil in the industry, it doesn’t make you an idiot for playing them and it doesn’t mean there aren’t talented artists and writers working on them. But you need to recognize how this type of game works if you’re going to engage with it.

[shinnyshining]

Things I brought today (mostly at the SE exhibition) and some opinions about the whole experience

I couldn’t get everything I wanted I over estimated how much cash I’ll need to have with me so I’ll probably will go again tomorrow

Which is the last day so I need to go early…

I also couldn’t get that one frame magnet I wanted…volume 5 my dads….no… I’ll….I have no choice but to get the whole set just to get them guaranteed cuz I cant go back to the shopping area onceI exit the shop 😭

And its all sold out in the second hand listings on mercari jp ,…hope the whole box is somewhat affordable

Anyway…if I get doubles, yall know how to dm me ;3

Also I got the kid ,liz and patty shikishi as you can see and I only hope to get soul and maka tomorrow cuz its so expensive on mercari I wont be paying 3000 yen just for a shikishi no waaay

WAIT

I FORGOT

I got the only cute exhibition keychain because ohkubo gave them very questionable angled illustrations which didnt translate well in merchs in my opinion ESPECIALLY on the acrylic stands they look nightmare fuels, but crona is fine (I sense some favoritism ngl) patty was cute too actually but I was on a budget

Anddd I got the badges from blind bags so its all gacha I like crona though Im happy and I will give the tsubaki one to a friend.

There were two entry tickets one was 2500 yen as standart

And the other was 3000 yen with limited goods which was this wristband , I think for 500 yen more it was worth it I might get another one tomorrow with entrance its high quality and soft

Lastly if you brought anything over 5000yen total you get this bag, but you wont get a double for every 5000 you buy, quickly learned since I spended around 11k with some goods I picked for my friend, so if anyone is interested in going to the Osaka venue, just so you know if you go with a friend you may wanna pay separately if you want a bag for every each one of you

Also tip from me: dont be stupid like me and bring more money with you if theres something you want that is not guaranteed and is in a blind bag…cuz the chances of you getting lucky is not reliable and if you are as desperate as me you’ll pay for another entrance😭😭😭

Especially cuz you cant go back there if it turns out you didn’t get what you wanted, you’ll need another ticket so…buying the box seems more worth it (only if you need and want something absolutely that you’ll go that far) (actually its not a super big deal for badges and limited shikishi boards and cards since there aren’t many designs. But the mangets…they have 16 designs so it is pricey)

Now as for the exhibition hall itself, most things were okay to photograph and its consisted of mostly manga panels and official arts,there were cool cut outs and giant volume covers on the walls. seeing the panels upclose was interesting especially cuz I do comics as well and aspire to do it professionally in the future

But I guess the coolest experience is that they fully voice acted a certain chapter from the manga (didn’t finish it yet so I don’t know which) but it was so cool cuz it was all newly voiced (manga only duh) and the visuals were in a dynamic video edited pretty well, there were some live 2d just a little but it was there, it was not allowed to film that there which gives me hope that they will upload it to socials after the exhibition fully ends nationwide. But you never know

(italso gave me hope for a possible remake but I don’t wanna get my hopes up)

Anyway I might make a google drive with everything I took pictures of later , Im kinda tired today

but I wanna say to those who have high expectations for this exhibition

don’t expect something revolutionary.unfortunately it was mostly manga pages displayed (the giant official art were cool though cuz you could see more details of them) and as for props, aside from some decorations hanging from the walls and cielings here and there there was a shinigami sama cut out and the mirror, but thats about it) so definitely a little underwhelming for a 20th anniversary exhibition , at least from my expectations

I enjoyed it because I like Soul Eater and Im pretty hyperfixated on it right now, but that doesn’t keep me away from criticizing it and I do just that CUZ I LIKE SOUL EATER

there were so many things they could do and honestly for 20th anniversary it was pretty small and the exclusive merchandise was just… meh??? especially the illustrations made specifically for the Exhibition itself (which wasn’t even that much just the main 3 duo/trio’s) Honestly I have to say Im quite disappointed with Ohkubo it seemed like he didn’t give his all designing the illustrations. they didn’t even performed well as various types of goods and ,sure, he made a design and its not that bad , but he could at least draw them again with no weird angling that only looks okay in a promotional poster, aside from that, you know the magnets are made from previously made official arts and manga covers, there were some cool stuff like kid’s skateboard and Soul’s jacket but those are made to order and you can’t even get them there at the time,

NOT TO MENTION THIS SUPER COOL ART WAS NI WHERE TO BE FOUND AT THE GOODS SHOP IT IS A MISSED OPPORTUNITY TO ME!!

A mini acrylic stand of this could be sooo cool 😭😭😖

The nuis are cool it was well overdue I hope they will make more characters in the future they should capitalize on them a bit more

Tote bags , hoodies and such were something to be expected from exhibitions like this Im not really impressed but they were nice as designs

But my opinion is set, they could’ve done so much more for this exhibition and it was a little underwhelming so only consider attending if you like to see official arts and manga panels up close, and if you like to interact with very limited props and watching the exclusive manga voice acting (to me that alone is worth to visit ngl) and of course the goods, only if you’re interested in

I do some theories why this exhibition was the way it is I mainly think, the budget was set and it was not much to do more than what we got especially considering the made to order goods, but it gives me hope, even after 20 years I think Soul Eater as a series is still profitable and I hope this exhibition does well enough for the higher ups to consider making more things in the future

Thats all from Shining today :3

[idollandhero]

I think in a year we'll look back at our time with Idol Land and think of it like a weird dream. A time when there wasn't a Pretty Series show announced and everything was in limbo. A time where King of Prism was a dead franchise. A time when songs were performed at Pretty Series live shows that wouldn't premier in the anime for years. The game teaser in every single Pretty Series announcement only for it to be delayed again. The YEARS long gap between episodes 2 and 3. The DISASTROUS launch. When we realized it was just a reskinned version of the switch game. Or when we discovered that it was mostly made by some unrelated dev who had only made one failed mobile otome game before Idol Land.

The Pretty Series' pivot to focusing on AiPri & KinPri instead of Idol Land & DanPri makes the past few years of Idol Land content, and the past less than a year of Idol Land actually being out, feel like an illusion.

It's frustrating because the concept of a PriPara mobile game sounds fantastic! When I play games like SIF2 or Idolish7 or whatever I think about what could have been. Was it money problems? or time problems? Or some combination of both. Regardless I can't help but yearn for a game with a budget that this franchise deserves.

And the web anime was great! But only 12 episodes, and its own budget problems, plus the games delay keeping it finished and in limbo for 2 years! (+ the lack of any western fansubs picking it up, seriously how is do we still only have subs for up to episode 6) meant that it never got the place in the spotlight it deserved. Some people speculated that it was meant to air on TV because the episodes are formatted as such, but with AiPri starting in that slot the same month the show is ending that doesn't seem to be true.

It's hard to say where PriPara is going from here. It's the series 10th anniversary and the arcade game is being shuttered to push players towards AiPri Verse instead. Idol Land's anime finale is going to air to little applause because it's stuck on an app with less than 20,000 active users, and in the same month as the launch of the new series that's slated to be a real PreCure competitor.

Idol Land's EOS hasn't been announced yet, but the missing Nino birthday coord, the April monthly update with entirely rerun coords, and the fact that Idol Land is getting very VERY close to running out of content from the switch game. Well, if not EOS I expect this game to go into maintenance mode pretty soon.

Yeah idk what my point here was exactly, but man Idol Land really was a blur. Sometimes I think we understate exactly how inexperienced the devs really were. The game doesn't have any type of Google Play integration, and when the game launched the account recovery only lasted 15 minutes. I have a newer phone and the game isn't compatible with my hole punch front camera. There's just a black bar there. I only have this problem with older games, anything made in the last 4 years doesn't have this problem except for Idol Land. I honestly think the lack of region locking is because the dev doesn't know how to turn it on. Someone on discord reported that they've been buying gold, and then contacting Google and asking for a Play Store refund. It's worked multiple times and they are not banned. How is a ban for chargebacks not something they implemented day one. Also this game doesn't have any deals or discounts, ever. It's hard to believe that, like every game I've ever played has a buy two and get 50% off the second one bundle. But it's like the devs don't know how to implement anything past basic gacha mechanics. I could also ramble about how expensive the prices are, but I've done it before I won't do it again. Also the photo room, it's implemented pretty badly. You upload a photo for the background and it crops it weird and squishes it and makes it blurry. I didn't know this at launch because it was a paid feature for like six months. The pass itself was a horrible value unless you were buying it specifically to get the episodes early, you got exactly how the amount of gold you paid for. Why not just buy the gold then. But they either realized that, or were preparing for end of service; because they took it down. I'm rambling about things the devs messed up but I haven't even mentioned the first three months of the game. There's been so many points in this game's history where playing a promise was borderline impossible for one reason or another. This game didn't feel finished until that November update that included immediate promises. God there's so much more. The photo competitions just being about editing for some reason. Also they went away, so clearly those didn't work. The amount of coords they've implemented that were broken in some way. Sometimes it was the wrong coord entirely, sometimes the cylume didn't work. It's like the dev team is so small that there's no QA people. Also on that note, Open Dream Land was just fixed in the mid March update. The game went more than 6 months where one of its two unique charts was off sync. Also remember the voice bug, that lasted forever.

I'm sorry I just started rambling lmao. This is the problem when I write posts with speech to text, I say way too much. Ultimately I enjoyed my time with Idol Land, but it's existence feels surreal. Especially because 80% of the features from this game I can turn on my switch after end of service and play, and it's free because I already paid once and never have to pay again. I even have Waku Waku O'Clock on Switch. One day, probably soon from the way things are going, I'm going to wake up and not be able to play Idol Land on my phone ever again. But instead of reminiscing of this game, I will think about the game that could have been if Idol Land got as much love as Prism Rush did.

KASHIKOMA ✌️

[popsikul]

The idea of a housamo anime or manga adaptation sounds amazing; the engaging story and episodic VN format are suited for a series perfectly. There are a few issues however, such as how they would implement a main character who has no set appearance. Chapter 12’s revelations complicate this even further, to the point where there would have to be at least one big change to the plot when moving to another form of media. On top of that, the game’s main audience is very niche, having a small playerbase of some queer people in japan and the US, and even smaller audiences in other countries. The game has some political and complex themes in it, and with the character designs heavily focused on attracting gay men it would struggle to garner the attention of larger audiences. The event stories contain about as much content as the main story itself, with some of it being plot relevant or including things that aren’t in the main story — some would be INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT to fit into a series and others just outright impossible. Housamo could have some amazing visuals in an anime, but LW just realistically does not have the budget for that. Even if they used copious fanservice to gain more pull, they already do that with the gacha mechanic that is pretty much funding the entire game. Despite all that though, it COULD accrue its own audience as an advantage of having such a unique story (at least, an audience of people who accept seeing men in speedos instead of women in bikinis). Unfortunately, something like that is pretty far off as it is now. LifeWonders is probably already aware that the best way for them to grow is by keeping up what people demand and that they can supply, that being gacha games.

[blazehedgehog]

Thoughts on gacha games? Should they be banned?

I'm pretty sure I said it in a review of Sonic Runners or Team Sonic Racing a long time ago, but mobile games did not invent "random boxes full of upgrade equipment."

Play any classic console RPG, and you'll inevitably run across actual boxes full of loot. You don't know what's in them until you open them. Sometimes they have gear, sometimes they have currency, sometimes they have items. They are literally just loot boxes.

When presented in the right context, it can be fun! I'll never turn down a little slice of mystery and discovery.

In mobile games, however... I mean we talk a lot about "saying the quiet part out loud" as it refers to bigotry or white supremacy or whatever, but it can apply to a lot of things, and if you historically look at games like Overwatch or Hearthstone or whatever, developers like Blizzard have been very forthcoming talking about how they structure their gacha systems in terms that are easily relatable to slot machines and other types of gambling devices.

They are deliberately designed to exploit people with poor impulse control by featuring exciting animations, randomized results (often deliberately seeded to make important items more difficult to get), and small enough amounts of currency that it's easy to lose track of how much you're really spending.

They exist entirely inside of a loophole, which in itself is being intentionally exploited. It's not gambling because you aren't using "real" money, you're using in-game currency! (That they want you to buy with real money.)

And sure, you can buy the in-game currency with real money, but you can earn it for free, too! (But it's intentionally balanced so that free currency is a frustrating grind in order to incentivize real money purchases)

And the entire game itself is free, so, really, this is the only way it makes its money back! (Ignoring the fact that the most popular free-to-play games in the business often make 1000x more money than traditional paid retail games, even though these f2p games often have development budgets 1/10th of what most retail games take)

It is greed, obfuscation and deception all the way down.

Genshin Impact, probably one of the most robust and biggest budget f2p gachas out there, makes Mihoyo more than ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS every month.

To put that in perspective, Mihoyo could make an entire, brand new video game from scratch once a month and still probably have money left over.

The main justification being "oh well most players don't actually spend money on the game, a lot of that comes from 'whales' with disposable income to burn" isn't exactly great, either, because again, it's a bald-faced admission that they're preying on their most imbalanced and vulnerable users and are still making more money than they can reasonably spend.

If all paid gacha was outlawed tomorrow I would shed no tears.

[aztrareia]

[Queen of Swords | finale]

I call these art pieces those SSR gacha drops that seem to show up out of nowhere. I’ve had a really fun week starting from hanging out with family, eating, seeing lots of places, having 38-degree fevers—and this beauty right here showed up with no relevance to any of those, except maybe for a few songs I’ve heard? But at this point in time there have been more songs than just one that have helped me during the concept, sketching and lineart. Hopefully this is enough text to clutter the bird app preview so now I can go to the body of this wall of text, aka, the breakdown

[Optional reading below: I’ll give you enough time to run for the hills if disinterested]

There were several themes that I’ve taken from for the concept of this thing.

[The Swords Suit of the Tarot]

I don’t read cards. I simply do not have the patience for it. But once before I heard someone say that the Queen of Swords is the so-called “survivor” of the 4 queens from the different suits. The Swords are meant to symbolize thoughts, and the element of Air. The Queen of Swords is seen as [go do your search for yourself or this post will be too long for everyone’s good] yeah, that, what you read. She is wise, but often cold. She’s intellectual but critical, yadda yadda. It’s a great read. But in her hand [going back to this art] is another particularly “popular” (?) card of the swords suit. The three of swords signify heartaches, sorrowful experiences, things that bring deep sadness.

[The Rose Colors]

When your innocence betrays you; When your friendships betray you; When even love betrays you. I’ve deliberately altered the colors of the roses to match their flower language meanings. I struggle to filter between sharing my own experiences this year and objectively explaining this part of the piece but it’s that. When everything you’ve believed in falls apart, and you know you have to rebuild that foundation that’s been shattered. When your friendships keep repeating a vicious cycle of loneliness under the guise of understanding. Like you’re constantly being emptied without being filled. Like you’re the only one who feels as though they are in that relationship. The last sword is when you think you’ve found love, but is it truly love? Or is it delusion? It’s a thing that I think is more dangerous than quicksand, when you don’t really understand why you feel a certain thing and why. That kinda shit. Don’t think it too much.

[The Queen of Hearts Color and Theme]

For days following before and after Christmas I was seeing the “Tart Adagio” ballet from Alice’s Adventures. Sadly I don’t think the Swords and Hearts have the same equivalent in Cartomancy but yes, this was the only reason why she’s red. The design of the outfit itself is maybe my projection of frustration from not being able to get a book I really liked—either from not enough budget to I can’t time the delivery for shet.

I think that’s it for now. I’ve tried to make it short, and without divulging too much.

[Wip dump]

From traditional draft to various steps I took screenshots of

𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘐 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 ♥️

[sequred]

the sad thing with gacha is that, for obvious reasons, you really do not "want" it to be too high-budget, too well-written, too competently designed. ending up in an adversarial relationship with artistic quality qua itself is really bleak!

[scarletrecords]

perhaps i’m really biased towards kaveh, but i want—demand—him to participate in a summer patch because i feel like it just suits his creative nature, and being someone who practices design and art, it only makes sense that he’d find the time (and budget, i guess) to travel around and enrich his knowledge and appreciation even more. yes, i’m probably just biased, which is why i toured most of the simulanka realm with kaveh.

(also, i could’ve cropped the genshin watermark on the photos, but i guess that’s just for another time. i do wish they can do something about that since hsr has an option to hide the game’s logo when taking photos. that said, i do think that between the three current popular hyv games, genshin’s camera option is the most optimal since it captures the scenery the way you last framed it, where as with hsr and zzz, i’d take a few minutes to set up the scene i want to capture just to get the desired composition.)

this summer patch isn’t really something that i was super excited about compared to the previous summer patches, but i really liked how the simulanka world was designed, especially with the origami characters of the forest of blessings! actually, it’s because of the realm itself that i kept on coming back every time i log in because i just like going around there and taking photos. in spite of feeling nonchalant about this, i do feel that sadness i always feel after summer patches because even in games, i am bad with goodbyes (T^T )

natlan patch is tomorrow, and i can already see how busy my week will be as a hyv games enthusiast (not sure if i should be proud of it because gacha is another form of gambling, and i play genshin, hsr, and zzz so what does that make me, right?).

[chireikiden]

Danmaku Kagura, the unofficial Touhou gacha rhythm game which launched on 4 August 2021, is shutting down on 28 October 2022. While I ended up dropping the game relatively early on due to rhythm games not really holding my attention, plus gacha rhythm games in particular being kinda baffling to me (and it being too much effort to do the daily/weekly quests for their own sake, and not having even a token reason to want to collect characters), I recently went back to read/watch all the stories that I’d missed while I was away, or unlocked but not read. Thankfully the game makes it very easy and cheap to unlock past event stories with in-game currency. Aimless rambling below the cut.

I’ve heard more and less serious remarks about the full professional voice acting for every cutscene being one of the things that made the game overspend its budget, but it (together with the Live2D animation, even if simple) definitely does a lot to make even otherwise plain scenes a lot more entertaining. While there are voices I like or find more memorable than others (I seem to be especially biased in favor of deeper voices over higher ones), all the performances are pretty solid, even the choices I personally disagree with. Some events are a delight just due to certain characters’ voices. Being voice acted also forces the writing to be a lot more condensed and the stories shorter, which perhaps ironically works to its advantage compared to e.g. LostWord’s writing that often seems a bit bloated and long without actually much to say. Though I’ve gotten the impression that they only feel long to me because my Japanese reading isn’t as fluent as English, and/or because LW dialogue sometimes goes out of its way to be a bit difficult. (When I compare it unfavorably to LW here, note that I have been reading every LW story to date regardless.)

DK’s stories also aren’t bound by some of the repetitive formulas that LW’s stories kinda fall into. They’re cutscenes that you unlock by playing the game normally rather than pretending to have gameplay attached to them (which forces LW to e.g. make up excuses to fight waves of enemies every five minutes), have no costumes or new characters to sell in the story itself (which in LW’s case means most stories require a merchandisable theme), and again, are incentivized to focus on a smallish cast in each story and keep it condensed rather than stretch it out with cheap padding.

The “main” story of DK, or at least how I remember it, is an uninteresting and stylistically out-of-place attempt at an adventure plot with some high concepts it doesn’t really commit to, but the ~15 “location” storylines and especially the ~35 event storylines (totaling about 330 cutscenes, before even getting into all the short “character” scenes) have a lot of room for variety. Some are just game retellings with a twist (at least there’s always a twist), some rather generic or otherwise unmemorable, some pretty standard slice-of-life, or alternatively very out-there stories that I can affectionately call fan shitpost plots. Most have tones and structures reminiscent of “Saturday morning cartoons” as they say, but that’s actually a very broad range. That still leaves many that have interesting concepts, are actually fun comedies, or to the contrary, dare to actually be serious in a way I’m pretty sure not a single LW event story or even Cannonball ever did. (LW only has two modes: completely goofy romps for its event stories, weirdly high-concept and pseudo-serious for everything else these days.)

This isn’t really going anywhere in particular. It might also be silly to say that I’m going to miss DK for its stories when it’s been a long time since I actually “played” the game. But whether or not it actually contributed to their business being unsustainable, I have to be kinda glad that they decided to spring for the full voice acting, to make the stories really stand out and have a longer shelf-life even where they otherwise wouldn’t. I guess it’s a bit like how the fandom has to fixate on whatever voice acted fan animes it gets, even when they’re otherwise not so great.

I’ve found at least one YouTube account that has a full collection of every story in Danmaku Kagura, for however long it stays up. It’s not a bad idea to check out if you want to read some of the stories (in Japanese), or just hear the voice acting. As a particular favorite in recent memory, here’s a silly one focused on the Animal Realm cast doing some petty villainy. Saki and Yachie’s voices are both favorites of mine.

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 3/1/22

in which we have a very measured and calm look at crypto in games

listening Boyfriend by Dove Cameron, a fellow bisexual. listen this one’s not great but it’s thoroughly stuck in my head. in like peak michael buble popularity years, there was a sort of slinky big band quality to some top 40 hits, and that’s sort of present here? there’s a sort of budget off-brand James Bond-theme quality to it that’s really dug itself into my brain?

there’s probably a better music discovery method than tik toks my sister sends me but i have not yet found it.

reading okay listen i cannot be vocally anti-crypto at work but i CAN be vocally and vehemently anti-crypto on here, my personal blog. this is a nice overview of why the video games industry is (seemingly) at such odds with itself over this shit. it’s been a lot of vice articles around here recently in the tuesdayposts but they’re the most leftist mainstream gaming outlet out there and they also tend to play and review the kinds of games i like to play. so here we go

some more background: the vast majority of money in video games is from mobile games, which are built around two things: selling ads, and taking advantage of gambling addictions. even in console/pc spaces, lootboxes, gacha, microtransactions and battle passes are in nearly every free to play game and many games that would have been standalones with some dlc six to seven years ago. this godforsaken industry is a house of cards built on squeezing as much money as possible out of “whales”, or people who spend a lot on in-game transactions because they have gambling addictions. crypto bullshit is the next logical step because it is basically free money for companies. they aren’t producing anything of value to exchange with you for your money. you get a receipt for a space on a ledger that also might point to a jpeg hosted somewhere. this is not to devalue video game art, but to point out that there is almost no artistic labor put into these little procgen pieces of garbage.

nobody plays those play-to-earn games like axie infinity because they’re fun, they’re playing them because they can make money. having a “leisure economy” game whose only gameplay features are there to squeeze more money out of players is (imo) antithetical to the concept of play. video games do not exist to morally improve people in some manner or to teach them new skills. their first and (usually) only purpose is to entertain. this is like trying to pay you to watch TV, but those garbage viral youtube cooking videos that don’t actually work and don’t actually make anything edible.

i’m not going to end with some sort of moral imperative call-to-action against crypto games here, because the entire industry is rotten, and the only way to actually fix it is burn it all down. however, this is a particularly troubling trend that i hate so, so fucking much because i think there’s a lot of short-term gains being made here to the detriment of all the cool shit that is going on around things i care about like accessibility and different voices in storytelling. all this money suddenly coming out of the woodwork could be going into making sure more games have the accessibility features of the last of us 2, which is i think the only AAA game blind and low-vision people can play. i don’t know of a single majority-Black studio that’s at double-A/triple-I status (your midbudget devolver-published stuff, for example), and this is my dayjob.

watching unrelated to the previous section, i strongly believe that you don’t need a reason to dislike something. the vibes can simply be off in an unquantifiable manner. i also believe that you never need to explain why you dislike something. that’s none of my business.

i fucking hate cop shit and that’s the background i’m bringing to this week’s move and the lens through which i am viewing it. i have a very limited tolerance for some noir, but Un Flic (1972, Melville) is not really a noir. at best it is a moody little cop movie. it’s not really tense enough to be a heist film, and it’s not melodramatic enough for me to associate it with noir, nor does it have any ex-cops disillusioned by the system. it is a straight up cop movie, switching between an up and coming gang of criminals and the cops they’re pitted against. mostly this movie wants you to root for the cops, except for a few moments at the very end which simply is not enough to subvert the rest of the movie.

the other melville-directed film starring alain delon ive seen, le samourai, was so tense and bleak the whole time, and i had a clear person i was rooting for, juxtaposed by the extreme and often illegal lengths the police went to in order to confirm a vague vibes-based suspicion. un flic is a sequence of barely strung together scenes. i do not know how or why many of the characters have the information they have. i do not know how or why many of the characters even know each other. i am comforted by the fact that many other people are confused by this film, which was apparently melville’s last.

this movie managed to make a train heist using a helicopter boring. the otherwise milquetoast heist filmed with a model train and model helicopter charmed me beyond belief tho holy fuckin shit i wish more movies did miniatures again.

they put a little guy in the little helicopter above the little model train!!! look at this shit!!!

anyway how’d i stumble into this one? needed to use up some kanopy credits before they vanish at the end of the month, following a chain of heist movies that danger diabolik kicked off near the beginning of the year, and alain delon is in my little mental bucket of “dudes i don’t want to fuck but do want to observe” along with lee van cleef and daniel craig. there’s probably a better way to phrase that

playing b-e-e-t-l-e by piratetune and viv lun. free browser typing game/short experience, you’ve lost your beetle and have to go poke around pretty little floating islands to find her. this one is just cute! the use of punctuation as inputs for little bonus actions is delightful

making not fallow, but nothing photogenic. hopefully i will finish these ~*fucking*~ kitchen curtains at some point before i die

[carminite-wyrm]

A Genshin Impact Hermitcraft AU Idea, God Help Me

Last year, on September 28, a particular gacha rpg game was released and I, occasionally regrettably, fell straight into playing it. In honour of the fact that this will mean I have lasted nearly a whole year (I got the game a week after bc uni) determinedly not spending any money on Genshin whilst also trying to roll good characters…here’s a bunch of Hermitcraft Genshin AU ideas that I initially came up with at roughly 2.40 am.

The general idea of this AU is that the Hermits end up in a new world that has Genshin-esque mechanics, on top of the usual Minecraft shenanigans. So, Visions and stuff. Also, we’re gonna just…briefly ignore the actual Genshin lore in regards to how Visions and Gnosises (Gnoses?) come about, for this one.

Post-S8, the Hermits are travelling to a new world, ready for another season.

The moment they arrive, it is clear to them all that…something is different. Something is vastly different with this world, for all that it appears much like the previous servers that they have lived in and travelled to. There is something of a…presence to it, in a sense.

When the Something Different doesn’t appear immediately, being the demigods/almost-deities that they are, they go about their days, setting up starter bases, gathering the basic resources and tools, the usual beginnings.

Things change when Doc wakes up one morning after a hard day at work building a new redstone machine, to find a small glowing chess piece lying next to his head, crackling with an ethereal purple light

Upon picking it up, he feels a burst of energy, almost like that one time in the previous world where he and Ren built a lightning-summoning tower

However, the changes it has wrought become apparent later that day when Scar comes out of nowhere with the recording of a creeper’s tell-tale hiss and explosion, and Doc sends him flying backwards with a startled blast of lightning

At first, they chalk it up to ‘Something Funky With Doc’s Current Project’, but after some tests, some experimentation to confirm if it was a one-off reaction…they end up confirming that they may have found out what the Weird Thing about this season’s world is

The duo go to Xisuma with their findings, and, to their collective surprise, X can’t find anything blatantly broken in the server’s code, but he does find a few interesting lines within.

By all appearances, this is not a glitch, but simply an intended feature of the server

Seven lucky hermits, designated as Archons in the server code, will receive a Gnosis, an artefact of elemental power that the server can assign, given to the ‘player who best suits the element’

The server notes speak of how the power granted (and represented through the chess-piece-shaped item) will grant the receiver the capability to shape the land around them

By random chance, other players on the server will also be gifted a Vision, a somewhat lesser artefact that will still grant them a form of elemental power

Given that the Hermits are practically gods in their own right, considering they are already capable of shaping the worlds they arrive in as they see fit…are more curious than worried, at this point

They agree to keep an eye out, to see how chaotic the sudden acquisition of elemental powers will turn out

The next person to receive a Gnosis is Grian, who delights in the bursts of wind he can use to buffer his flight, gliding across the server with naught but the turquoise magic the server has seen fit to grant him

After that, most of the Hermits soon receives some sort of Elemental power from the server

A Summary of Who Gets What (That I can think of so far):

Doc: [Electro Archon]

Can summon lightning, without need for a trident, a thunderstorm, or a machine that can generate an ongoing thunderstorm for as long as its activated

Can also generate an Electro shield, though it does require his active concentration to maintain for longer than a few seconds. This shield appears like a charged creeper’s aura, except purple

Capable of generating a thunderstorm at will, but rarely does it on account of mob spawning dangers

Has found that by channelling a low level of Electro energy, he can in fact power redstone machines just by tapping them/being in close proximity to them

This has proven to both be a blessing and a curse, considering that on occasion, when startled, he has short-circuited some of his machines

Grian: [Anemo Archon]

Generally, uses his powers as a free rocket boost for flying around the server

Upon finding out that he can use the Anemo energy to create pockets of energy that can boost flight, he takes to leaving them all over the server, in convenient locations to make flight that much more efficient

Yes, he absolutely sets up a fancy elytra course that makes use of his flight-boosters to send players rocketing around a course at breakneck paces (poor Scar experiences many instances of kinetic energy)

Bdubs: [Geo Archon]

Suddenly, making mountains and other works of major terraforming is a lot easier

Certainly, he still prefers to sculpt them and detail them by hand, but bringing the basic shape of the mountain forth by brandishing the power of Geo is something that he can do with ease, in this world

A new shop pops up in the shopping district rather quickly after this realisation: Bdub’s Landshaping Service, Now offering quick terraforming at a budget price! (it is, in fact, a service that makes him quite the amount of money)

And when he wants to sleep, without the other hermits breaking his bed? A glowing shield of steadfast golden magic takes care of that.

Gem: [Dendro Archon]

The patch of the server that Gem has claimed for herself quickly springs to life as plants of all varieties grow to surprising proportions, energised by the power that she now can radiate

The effect is most notable in and around her home, of course, but wherever she travels, the plants grow more vibrantly for days afterwards

Adding a forest of birch around her house takes little more than a thought, a fact she uses to prank some of her friends, those who in the last world were rather vocal about their dislike of non-stripped birch

Another power Gem finds herself with is the ability to summon vines even without a surface for them to initially grow upon, and thus it is not uncommon to see Gem building or resting in a hammock of woven vines

Cub: [Cryo] (cannot make up my mind if I think he’d be Archon material or not)

Gathering powdered snow has never been easier, as instead of waiting for a storm to form and last longer than it takes a Hermit to get into the nearest bed, he can simply clap his hands together and a lump of snow shoots out from just above his shoulder.

It does hurt, getting hit by the sudden snow barrage that Cub is now capable of, but except for the occasional snowball fight, his newfound snow-creation ability is used for making increasingly more insane mob farms and snowy building decoration

False: [Pyro]

The magic her Pyro Vision grants her doesn’t become apparent, not for a while, until she visits the Nether for the first time in this world

A mis-swing in a bastion, and suddenly a horde of piglins and hoglins are chasing after her, and there isn’t enough time to pillar away.

She readies her sword and shield, ready to fight, and suddenly her blade crackles to life with bright flames, unlike the fire aspect enchantment in that it actually is on fire.

Every attack she lands, whilst her sword is alight, seems to invigorate her, return strength and stamina that was lost when she had first tried to flee the enraged inhabitants of the bastion

Xisuma:

The admin is one of the few to not receive a Vision or a Gnosis

Quietly, he does admit to being relieved, considering his powers as an admin are already much greater than that of the other Hermits, for all that they are still his equals

And then, one day, whilst X is placing his diamonds to sign up to one of Grian’s newest competitions, he feels a rush of foreign magic, so unlike the familiar ordered pulses of server code

The blast of wind that comes with a swing of his sword, much later whilst he is mob-farming, is greatly surprising, if not unexpected.

The funny thing about all these new powers, granted by the server itself in the form of artefacts that can easily sit in one’s palm, is that for all they are miraculous on their own, the natural capabilities of the Hermits are already enough to rival them

In the hands of an ordinary person, an ordinary player, the powers from this world would bring them close to the near-omnipotence of Creative, could even be the driving force of server-wide conflict.

Powers such as these, while they can build great things, can so easily be used to destroy, to cause war and destruction, and in other realities, they have.

Perhaps whatever trick of fate that caused the server to be capable of granting these powers hoped to create that conflict, to see what would happen when only a few of their number were gifted such strengths.

Later, when the initial surprise and rush to test out the limits of the server’s granted magics dies down, Zedaph approaches Xisuma, one of the few to not possess an artefact of elemental magic, with an observation

Zedaph notes that, from his studies of the Hermits’ new powers, almost all of them are oriented vastly towards combat, whether they be summonable blades of frost, elemental shields, or even the ability to soothe aches and hurts

And even though the Hermits have all found ways to make those powers work in the ways that they wish them to, it does not take away from the fact that the likeliest original purpose of this server’s magic was for fighting

Any other server, any other group, Zedaph quietly says, and there would more than likely have been bloodshed, given the inequality in the range of power granted

At the end of the day however, unexpected gifts of power or not, the Hermits, at their core, are a group that creates and innovates, a band of friends that shape entire worlds with naught but their own ideas and willpower, and regardless of what powers they now possess in this particular realm, that will not change.

[emblemxeno]

I go back and forth on my feelings of Fates’ voice acting.

Cuz on one hand, most of the performances I do love and Fates itself I’m so grateful towards for introducing me to lots of different VAs whom I love now. Cam Clarke, Rena Strober, Brianna Knickerbocker, Max Mittelman, Ben Diskin and Marisha Ray being big examples.

On the other hand... I was never the biggest fan of the direction. Some characters really sounded off at times and there were some that I just tilt my head at. Other things that point me to negative is how some characters were voiced by strictly union actors who were only able to work on the game because they liked the director, which pretty much guaranteed recasts later down the line if any of the Fates characters appeared again because getting that same director wasn’t realistic. 

Also just the fact that most of the voice cast were doing at least 2 characters really rubbed me the wrong way and still does. Like, that’s a lot for an actor to do, even if they are experienced and even if most of the voiced stuff aren’t full lines. Stanbra did like, seven different characters for Fates, four of them being playable. That’s insane. 

I don’t know if there were budget concerns or something else (maybe NoA was told ahead of time that an FE gacha was being made so they figured they’d cut down on future voice work) but IMO it ended up making things feel too... small? For lack of better words? The cast may be really big, but it somehow feels tiny and constricted at the same time.

Idk, I sort of wish Cup of Tea productions and a different director handled Fates instead. Especially since they handled Awakening and every FE related game after Fates.

[curestardust]

Dust Watched: Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story Season 2 - The Eve of Awakening

Genres: (Dark) Magical Girls // 8 episodes // S01 (x)

They really should release the game globally so that I could have the appropriate emotions they’re expecting me to feel. (Also when they actually realise that there are countries besides Canada and the USA, I know, shocking that region locking your game and not advertising it sent it to the junkyard in mere months).

✧  story  ✧

I’m going to be honest, I probably should’ve watched the recaps before watching this season because it sometimes took me half the season to realise that I’ve been confusing X character with Y character that whole time. But that’s not an excuse, to be honest. Unfortunately(?), probably half of the memory space in my brain is taken up by anime. I obviously can’t remember the slightest of details years later but S01 of Magia Record came out a year ago and I already couldn’t remember half of what happened in that season. Well, there’s a short plot about Iroha in the first half with Yachiyo and Kuroe (someone from the Wings of Magius) taking the center stage. With the limited cast and easy objective, this half of the anime was quite great and made me expect great things moving forward but Magia Record threw those expectations back in my face. The second half of the anime concerns the Wings of Magius and their big plot for how they’re going to make it so no magical girls turn into Witches. There’s some exposition dumping, a bunch of characters I’ve forgotten about from S01 show up and the issue is resolved in a very... anticlimactic fashion. Add the fact that this is going to be a triology thus making this the always weakest “in-between-story-set-up” installment and you basically have an anime that’s not worth watching by itself.

✧  characters  ✧

As I mentioned above, the majority of characters I was supposed to feel very strongly about (according to this anime anyway) I didn’t because I straight up couldn’t remember who was who. I know that the mobile game is a gacha and that means a shitton of characters but this is a SHORT anime. I’m also very much aware that fans of the mobile game would be throwing a fit if their faves were left out but dude... this is chaotic. Upon rereading my review of S01, it seems these characters barely had any meaningful screentime in that season either so it’s no wonder I don’t recall them. Imagine how awkward I felt when I thought a character was a prominent figure in the Wings of Magius only to find out during a conversation that she was one of the main cast in S01. Oops.

✧  art  ✧

Now, I know I’m going to be reviewing a lot of anime that most likely has been heavily affected by the pandemic but the art and animation’s downgrade in Magia Record S01 is... very noticable. The problem is that this anime is already compared to PMMM which some even call a masterpiece. Season 1 was already a bit of a downgrade from that and THIS season is even more. The background and enviromental design stayed the most consistent and the characters the least, especially in far-away shots where they resemble stick figures. And PMMM/Magia Record likes to use the method where they zoom in and out constantly so the difference is even more jarring. There are a few fight scenes that they heavily focused on but while they’re very detailed, they suffer from choppiness due to the low framerate. To the point where I literally had no clue what was happening during a fight scene. No, no, no... I would rather they spread the budget out than focused on a handful of sequences.

✧  sound ✧

The OP and ED are quite great although they don’t stand out much. I thought the OST was pretty good as well but then Kalafina’s “Magia” started playing for like 10 seconds and I relaized that, yeah, it could be better.

✧  overview ✧

Don’t watch this anime until the last season is out!!! I realize now that the whole of Magia Record is supposed to be binged or you won’t know wtf is going on. This season also ended on a really important cliffhanger (you won’t remember what it was a year from now). I’m honestly quite sad cause I was looking forward to this sequel but when I saw that it was only going to have 8 episodes, I already knew we were fucked.

My Rating: 5/10

[storymodekat]

Genshin Impact Summoning & Economics Guide

I’ve been playing Genshin Impact since the 22nd of November, 2020. I have every character except Klee, Jean, and Mona. Tonight, Eula will be joining my collection. With that in mind, and roughly $600 Canadian invested into Genshin’s mesmerizing online world, I thought it might be a good time to talk about how I decide what I want to invest in when I’m playing the game.

The first thing I want to make abundantly clear is that while I have chosen to spend money--the funds I use to use to buy new dolls or vintage My Little Pony figures--you don’t necessarily have to. You can earn 60 primogems--the game’s equivalent of one US dollar--every day by completing four daily quests and then turning them in at the Adventurers’ Guild. There are also generally a few events each month that offer primogems as prizes, helping people stack up a nice amount with absolutely zero effort.

The Welkin Moon

Want to kick it up a notch? Invest $5 USD ($7 Canadian) on getting the Welkin Moon. You get 300 Genisis Crystals (which can be used for packs in the shop or converted into those sweet, sweet primogems) up front and then 90 primogems a day over a 30 day period. Meaning, you’re getting 3,000 primogems for $7. Considering that 3,200 gems--the amount needed for 20 wishes--goes for $50 USD / $70 Canadian in the shop, this is a solid value. It will also increase the likelyhood that you’ll log in each day--which, in my opinion, should be a big deciding factor in whether you want to invest in this game. 

The Battle Pass

Another potentially valuable purchase you can make is investing in the monthly battle pass. For $10 USD or $13.99 Canadian, you can receive a variety of wishes, mora, xp books, weapon crystals, a unique 4 star weapon at rank 30, and fragile resin which will make your in game experience run much more smoothly. To be clear: everything you can get in the Battle Pass--minus the weapon--can be found either in the pass’s free version or elsewhere in game. But as a long time player who has purchased the Battle Pass four times now, I find it to be an excellent cost-to-content value. 

Go Big Or Go Home?

Anything from here out is going to start costing a more sizable sum, which some will and others won’t be comfortable with. One of the most important things to recognize is that Genshin’s Gacha system has a fail-safe on its 5 star characters. But it IS an expensive one. Every 80 pulls, you will receive at least one 5 star character. When you receive a 5 star character, that will reset your pity to 0, regardless of what number of pulls you were at when you got them. 

At full reset, you have a 50% chance of getting the banner’s featured character, and 50% chance of getting (currently) one of five 5 star characters: Diluc, Keqing, Qiqi, Jean, and Mona. If you get one of the 5 alternate characters, your next 5 star will be a banner character. If you are pulling on the same banner, you will get its character. If you wait for a different featured character and pull, you’ll get that character instead. 

It costs $100 USD / $140 Canadian for 50 wishes. Which means that it costs roughly $300 USD or $410 Canadian to guarantee you will get a specific 5 star from 0 pity at worst case scenario. (I’m ignoring roughly 10 wishes total here, but odds are good you’d have those, so let’s keep the math simple.) Personally, the only things I’ve purchased in Genshin aside from Welkin Moon and Battle Pass are characters, with the recent exception of getting constellation c1 for Childe and for Zhongli. 

In Conclusion...

At the end of the day, what every person’s budget is going to be for a game like Genshin Impact will be different. The good news is that the game itself is technically free to play, and it does a great job at allowing a player to figure out whether they are really interested in it or now. 

I went into Genshin Impact figuring I’d try it for a week and be done with it. It’s not in a genre of gaming that I tend to natively gravitate toward. Yet here I am, almost six months later, and I have not missed a day. I actually run two accounts right now, because my BF is paused on Genshin and is busy fishing in Final Fantasy XIV.  For me, the time and funds I have invested in this game--and the passion I have for the game and for interacting with the community--are an excellent value.

However, that does not blind me to the dangers of any type of game that has a gambling mechanic of any sort in it from word go. If you are going to invest in Genshin--or any other game with micro-transactions--make sure you’re not spending money you cannot afford to lose. And do not let anyone make you feel bad if you can’t buy the latest and greatest character, weapon, or anything else. 

So, how do you guys feel about the Gacha system in Genshin Impact? Are you collecting each character like they’re dolls, like me? Are you f2p or a light spender? Do you have every unit c6′d? Everyone has had different experiences, I’m sure, and I’d love to hear your thoughts. 

Have fun and take care, guys!

Kat