#as a tutorial boss?? EH???

[tarnussy]

why does the very first boss go so hard already in terms of OST and moves and shape and everything

OST is beautiful, and they went and put a dummy thicc knight that grunts and they expect me not to be all "heart eyes motherfucker"

[chisungie]

.

[dr-spectre]

So.... This game is 2 years old now huh?

Honestly... I don't think i have a TON to say about this game. It's just a great ass fucking video game that has given me a lot of fun and great memories!

This game came out during my final year of school, which is kinda funny considering that Splatoon 3 acts like a "finale" to a trilogy. It's interesting how those kinds of things work out eh? Splatoon 2 came out at the start of my secondary education, and Splatoon 3 came out at the tail end of my final year.

I remember thinking before the game came out, "why do we need a Splatoon 3? This is pointless, it's just more Splatoon 2." And then my mind was quickly changed once i got to play the Splatfest test fire and the actual game itself.....

I completed ROTM in such a short amount of time and i documented my reactions to my friends. Although i was spoiled in that Deep Cut had boss fights and Mr. Grizz was the final boss, ROTM still gave me a giant smile to my face all the way through. It was so fun, so charming and just a really good single player experience.

One of the things that i LOVE about Splatoon 3 is the vibe. I just love the location of Splatsville, i love the aesthetics, the lighting, the model improvements from Splatoon 2, the music, it's my favourite art style/aesthetic out of any of the Splatoon games by far. It just feels so polished, i don't know how to exactly describe it.

Also the fact that this game won best multiplayer game of 2022 over CALL OF DUTY! OVERWATCH 2 AND MULTIVERSUS MAKES ME SO GIDDY AND HAPPY!

PEOPLE GOT MAD ABOUT THIS AND THAT MAKES ME WANNA EVIL LAUGH! All of those fucking depressed and sad Call of Duty players who whine and complain about how "wahh modern gaming sucks!! There's no good games anymore wahhh!! It's all microtransactions wahhh!!" BITCH! SPLATOON 3 IS LITERALLY THE GAME YOU'VE BEEN ASKING FOR!! Yet you won't play it because it's on Nintendo huh? Yeah... You're a fucking PUSSY!! YOU'RE WEAK!! You're SCARED to be seen as less of a manly man!! You only wanna play games with oily dirty buff men.... Yet you call others who play games like Splatoon gay? Hmm..... Sounds like you're a wittle insecureeeeee!!!!

Have fun rotting in microtransaction hell you LOSERS!! GAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyways.... uh.... sorry....

I also fucking love Deep Cut too. I thought i wasn't gonna like these guys and i remember thinking when i first saw them "oh... okayyyy..."

But now? I love these bastards.

I love their dynamic and how they are bandits but they actually wanna help the people back in Splatsville. That is such a cool and unique take to have for Idol characters. The Squid Sisters are very cutesy and so are Off the Hook, but Deep Cut aren't. They are loud, messy, chaotic, in your face, rude, etc. They are about contrast and the character designers did a phenomenal job at conveying that theme via their backgrounds and looks.

Another thing that i love about Splatoon 3 is that it also acts as a celebration of things that have come before, Inkopolis Plaza and Square return as hubs, old colour combos from previous games act as loading screens, most of the music returns in the jukebox, it rewards long time fans for sticking around and for a long running franchise IT'S SUPER IMPORTANT to have that stuff!!!

Seeing the improvements in the model quality from Splatoon 1 to 3 genuinely makes me kinda emotional, it shows how far we've come in just a little under 10 years...

It really homes in on the point that... These characters, have grown up with us.... The Squid Sisters are about to reach their mid 20s, Pearl is nearly 30 fucking years old!!!

And the last thing i wanna bring up before i talk about the Grand Fest...

...Is Side Order.

This fucking DLC... My god... Being able to experience it by myself and just enjoy the stuff i was seeing, being able to SCREAM AND CRY AS MUCH I WANT WAS SO IMPORTANT TO ME DUDE!

When i got to the 10th floor in the tutorial and i saw Marina Agitando staring me down.... I did the loudest gasp a human could possibly do and my jaw was hung to the floor for a solid MINUTE!

Marina's first fucking dev diary made me cry and scream, THAT IS NOT A JOKE!!!! THESE CHARACTERS ARE THAT IMPORTANT TO ME!

And the final boss.... Made me cry, it broke me down, i was singing along to Ebb and Flow as best as i could, it felt like i was brought back to 2018, being in my room, listening to that song on repeat... I feel like a kid again....

I love this song... i love it so much... Like it's not the most hype finale song ever, but, the emotion behind it, the build up from Splatoon 2... The power this song has in it's meaning... It's some good shit man...

So yeah! I love Splatoon 3!!! It's my favourite game out of the series and anyone who is gonna jump into this game now is gonna have a LOT to chew on.

And... It's both sweet and sad that we're at the end. This is it... The moment we've been waiting for. The final Splatfest to end them all. The event 9 years in the making.

The Grand Festival...

I am extremely excited and so FUCKING NERVOUS for this Splatfest!!!! I know i am going to cry and be so overwhelmed with joy. Seeing the Squid Sisters and Off the Hook perform their old songs again after all of these years is gonna make me sob so loudly it's not even funny.

These characters genuinely mean the world to me and it's gonna be so fucking hard for me to watch their final major appearance and say goodbye. Cause after this, we don't know what's gonna happen. I know they will come back, they have to but... In what capacity? That's what I'm scared about...

So yeah, let's savior this moment when it eventually arrives, take all the time you need to be engulfed in the Grand Fest.

Thank you Splatoon 3, you have given me so much.... It's not time to say goodbye just yet but, i wanna watch you as you walk into the sunset with your head held high....

[andrbllts]

Comfort Zone: Pepetiks petiks ka ba?

Tagalog naman para maiba. Sabi sayo boi eh gagawan kita ng blog. Shoutout sayo kung mabasa mo 'to! At sa mga pinagsamahang walang papantay! Kapatid habambuhay!

So eto na nga! Usapang comfort zone tayo! Aminin na natin, tol—comfort zone? Sarap nun, pre! Chill lang, wala kang stress, wala kang hassle. Parang everyday rest day—puro Netflix, walang tuldok sa petiks. Pero eto catch: kapag over ka sa petiks mode, para kang halaman na nakatunganga lang sa araw—nabubuhay, pero walang level up! Eh sino bang ayaw maging blooming plantito o plantita, diba? Pero kung hanggang “leaf” level lang palagi kasi takot kang lumabas sa paso, aba, tapos ang story mo, p're!

Narinig mo na ‘yung “Growth happens outside your comfort zone?” Alam ko, gasgas na ‘yan, pero pakinggan mo ‘to: Ang comfort zone mo parang paboritong sando—yung butas-butas na, medyo basa pa ng pawis, pero suot mo pa rin kasi pakiramdam mo astig ka. Pero tol, kung gusto mong mag-upgrade, minsan kelangan mong bitawan ‘yung sando na yun at mag-risk mag-suot ng masikip na hoodie kahit medyo di pa fit sa’yo. Hindi nga lang kasi s'ya laging swak, minsan kailangan pang hilahin.

Oo, cool yung chill, pero kung lagi kang safe mode, para kang stuck sa tutorial mode ng game—paulit-ulit, walang thrill, walang boss fights! Asan na ‘yung thrill ng level up? Yung epic loot? Sayang, pre!

Masarap ang petiks, pero masaya din ang may risk! Para kang nagse-skateboard: una, puro lagapak, puro gasgas sa tuhod. Pero kapag nakuha mo na ‘yung balance, iba na galaw mo, pang-kanto vibes! Ganun din sa buhay, tol. Kung gusto mong umangat, minsan kelangan mong ma-semplang para matuto. Bawal ang maarte, lalo na kung pangarap mong mag-level up.

Eto nga, tol, kagabi lang magkakwentuhan kami ng tropa ko mula high school. Alam mo na, usapang mga batang-gala na akala mo walang future dati, pero ngayon? Grabe. Yung tropa ko, basketball superstar na, may sarili nang fans club at cute na family goals. Ako? Eh chill lang, nagso-solo flight pa-Korea, pa-Japan, kung saan saan lang kasi finally afford ko na magpakabundat sa ramen at sushi sa mismong bansang pinanggalingan nun.

Dati, pre, kulang na lang mag-ala Fast & Furious kami tuwing uwian. Yung tropa, paborito ng teacher sa guidance office, ako naman, swabeng laging late, alam mo na. Pero sino mag-aakala, tol, na tayo pa pala ‘tong makakarating sa ganito? Sabi nga niya, “Tangina, pre, nakakatawa ‘no? Yung dating baliw na puro sablay, ngayon bigatin na.”

Dati, inaatraso lang namin yung deadline ng homework, ngayon, inaatraso na ng mga tao deadline nila para mapanuod yung games niya o mabasa yung travel blog ko. Sabi niya, astig daw na kahit ilang beses kami madapa noon, bumangon pa rin kami at tuloy pa rin sa takbo. Nakakatawa lang, tol, na dati kami ang kinukutya, pero ngayon, tingin sa atin parang next level na.

Tawanan lang kami habang sinasabi niyang, “Pre, kung nag-petiks lang tayo nung high school, siguro hanggang dun na lang tayo. Pero buti na lang, nagrisk tayo kahit nung sablay pa rin tayo sa dulo.” Dito namin na-realize na ‘yung tunay na swag, di sa chill-chill lang. Nasa mga sumubok, nabigo, pero bumangon at lumaban ulit na mas astig pa! Kaya ikaw, tol, kung feeling mo petiks ka na masyado, lakasan mo loob mo. Malay mo, dun mo pa matagpuan ang tunay mong swag.

At syempre, sa gitna ng tawanan at kwentuhan, hindi namin nakalimutan magpasalamat kay Lord. Sabi nga namin, pre, kahit anong sipag at tiyaga, kung walang blessings mula sa Kanya, wala ring saysay lahat. Sobrang blessed namin na kahit puro sablay nung una, binigyan pa rin kami ng chance bumangon at magtagumpay. Lahat ng ito, mula sa Kanya. Kaya, shoutout kay Lord, tol, kasi kahit sa dami ng semplang, di niya kami iniwan.

Kasi sa dulo, tol, ang buhay ay hindi para sa mga petiks lang—para ‘to sa mga handang magtry, magfail, at bumangon ng mas solid! Kaya tara na, p're, sugal na tayo. Show your moves, swag ka pa rin kahit may sablay, basta bumabangon ka ulit. 🚀💥

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Playing with Fire

Part 1 (ft. Riddle and Silver) I Part 2 (ft. Trey and Kalim) I Part 3 (ft. Jade and Lilia) I Part 4 (ft. Deuce and Jamil) I Part 5 (ft. Malleus and Ruggie) | Part 6 (ft. Cater and Rook) | Part 7 (ft. Sebek and Floyd)

In which Gordon Ramsay-kun is isekai’d into Twisted Wonderland. Part Food Wars, part Hell’s Kitchen, all Master Chef—Night Raven College isn’t ready to take on this Michelin Star celebrity!!

As the age-old saying goes, “if you play with fire, be prepared to get burned”! Will Idia and Ace be able to withstand the chef forged in the flames of hell’s kitchen?

asdhbasildsb PRETEND LIKE THIS ISN'T BEING PUT OUT AFTER THE EVENT 😭 (At least I'm all caught up on Master Chefs now...)

Imagine this…

"Alright, let's start cookin'!"

"HOLD IT!! Where do you think you’re going, Trappola?!”

"Gack!" Ace felt himself being yanked back by the collar, forcing the air out of him. The Ramshackle Prefect had him in a formidable grip—one rivaling that of Riddle's iron fist. "What's the big deal, stoppin' a guy from makin' a meal?"

A drawn-out sigh came from behind Gordon. “Fwehehe… Leave it to Ace-shi to solo-rush the boss battle… He's the type to button mash to skip past the tutorial and jump straight into things."

Annoyance surged up, and Ace spat out his heated words. "Oi, can it! Least I'm not shaking in my boots before getting anywhere NEAR the kitchen!"

“Not looking like that you aren’t.” Gordon flicked the first year’s chef’s hat, setting it askew. “Fix your hair! We don’t want any of it getting into the food.”

“Yeees, sir,” Ace groaned with an eye roll.

Gordon glanced at Idia, taking in the few hair clips he had scrounged up to clip his bangs back.

“You, Shroud!” Gordon snapped at him. “All your hair’s got to go up.”

“E-Eh…? All of it? B-But Ace-shi doesn’t have to! Th-This is gamer discrimination!!”

“Are your ears not working? Yes, I said ALL of it.” Gordon pointed to the blue flames that sprouted from the dorm leader’s scalp. “It has nothing to do with your hobbies, you’re a walking fire hazard!! What’s going to happen when a drop of oil hits you?”

“B-But my hair doesn’t even behave like regular fire does…” Idia mumbled, earning a glare from his instructor. “E-Eeep!! I-I got it, I’ll do it already!!”

“Oh, how the tables turn,” Ace sniggered as he secured the last of his bangs. The rest of his hair was too short to maneuver under his hat, spiking out on either side of his head.

“Alright, I’m gonna go ahead! Smell ya later, senpai!” He threw a wink and a wave at Idia before prancing into the kitchen.

The cheek and cheer made Idia cringe. What little motivation he had for this class wilted down to cinders.

He sniffed and mournfully did away with his hair, tucking every last bit of blue out of sight. When he at last dragged himself to the kitchen entryway, he hesitated on stepping through.

Haunting memories plagued his mind—the booming demands, the door being bashed down with fists and frying pans. Two monstrous men hovering above him as he cowered in a ball. The darkly easygoing expression on Floyd, Sebek in an imposing, militant stance, glaring down at him.

“Oi, Firefly Squid-senpai. This all the noodles you got? You’d better tell the truth or else Crocodile-chan and I will squeeze you senseless~”

Idia's fingers trembled terribly at the thought. Clamminess collected on his palms. The room seemed to spin

Gordon materialized by his frozen student's side.

“In you go then!” He gave a firm smack on Idia’s back, propelling him stumbling forward.

Ace, already at his station, looked up from inspecting bell peppers. A rainbow of red, orange, yellow, and green filled several baskets-but when he saw Idia, the peppers’ bright colors paled to Ace's massive grin.

“BAHAHAHAHAH!!” The first year keeled over, unable to contain his laughter. One arm cradled his stomach to keep himself from collapsing, the other pointing a knife at his upperclassman. “YOU TOTALLY LOOK BALD!!"

Idia flushed, shrinking into his chef's uniform. Were his hair visible, the flames would have, no doubt, been tinged pink with embarrassment.

"S-Sure, go for the low blow and pick on the guy whose character looks like crap in the event exclusive armor... This is why I wanted to send my tablet for this course instead of coming in person!!"

"Not bloody likely."

Idia stiffened at their instructor's voice, and the sharp clap that followed it. The sound echoed like static tracing along his scalp. His culinary nightmares had only just begun.

"If you've got the time to fuck around, you have time to cook. Out of the frying pan and into the fire, you two!"

Gordon Ramsay made sure to plant himself squarely between Ace and Idia's work benches. Knowing what chaos the kitchen grounds could breed, he didn't want to take any chances by leaving either or unsupervised. Not again, not after so many sessions with NRC's various problem children.

Chop, chop, chop...

"Groan..."

How many times have I taught this course by now? Gordon mused to himself, dragging a hand over his face. The horrors he had witnessed brought back the beginnings of a migraine, the slow simmer of rage.

Chop, chop, chop, chop, chop...

"Groooan..."

They aren't all bad kids, he thought. Some were just misunderstood, overeager, or lacking the technical abilities. Patience, Gordon, patience. They're children. They have plenty of room to grow.

Chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop…

"GROOOOOOOOOOAN!!

He snapped.

“… Trappola, your task is to cut the bell peppers, not to complain as you do it!!" Gordon bellowed with a huff.

"But teeeach," Ace whined, "there's so many veggies!! Why do I have to be the one to chop them all, anyway? Just cuz it's easy doesn't mean I like doing this, y'know!! My hand hurts, it's totally cramping!"

"You have the talent to make them the same size and shape. That will help the peppers cook more evenly once we throw them on the heat." Gordon pointed to another basket full of peppers. "So suck it up!"

“Can’t you make Idia-senpai split this work?! He’s barely doing anything on his own anyway, and a cute little underclassman like me sure could use the extra helping hand!”

Gordon deadpanned.

“What?! I am cute,” Ace insisted, “and I wasn’t joking about wanting that helping hand.”

“And you’re not getting it.”

"Uggggh, fiiiiine.”

Ace unenthusiastically returned to his chopping board. As he brought his knife down, bisecting a crimson pepper, his expression lightened with a realization. “Hey, you know what? With so many peppers lying around, I could cram an extra helping of it into Deuce’s portion!!”

Gordon frowned. “… Is that seriously what’s motivating you?”

“Haha, yup 🎵”

What a fast turnaround. Perked right up.

“All I need now’s a dish that’s easy to hide peppers in! What should I go with? A soup? Stir fry? Oh, ooor I could do an omelet—the ultimate betrayal!” He snickered in a self-congratulatory manner. “Deuce won’t ever know what hit him!!”

The master chef heaved a sigh and glanced at Idia’s station, leaving Ace to his mise en place. “And how are you doing over there, Shroud?”

Idia jumped at the mention of his name. His fingers, sticky and (aptly) peppered with pepper seeds, were fumbling with measuring spoons.

"I-I'm fine..."

"Well, what's taking you so long? In the same time Trappola's knocked out a few crates, you've been standing around twiddlin' your thumbs."

"S-So what if my stat growth is a little slower than Ace-shi's?! Cut me some slack here, this process couldn't be more inefficient if it tried!!"

Idia furiously shook his head. "It'd all be done by now if I had a machine to throw together a meal... instead, I have to tediously measure spices by hand and deal with this stuffy place. These steps could all be automated."

Gordon snorted, unimpressed with the dour attitude. "If everything were automated, you'd be putting a lot of people out of their passions."

"Jobs," Idia corrected. "You mean their jobs."

"No, I mean their passions," Gordon shot back. "A fire burns because it has fuel, and passions exist because of the spirit behind them. That's something no A.I. could replicate."

"Hihihihi..." A smug, challenging smile emerged on Idia's blue lips. "Try telling that to Ortho. Bet he could perfectly recreate any recipe you throw at him in record time. Think you could honestly take him? Heh, bring it."

“You certainly changed your tone quickly—but if you can talk like that about your own creation, then I’d better see that same energy in your dish.” The closest pan was gripped and handed to a slack-jawed Idia.

“B-B-But…!!”

“Let’s see you put your money where your mouth is.”

Gordon was already at the stove, cranking up the heat. A circle of flames erupted from the burner. In the glow of the fire, Gordon appeared not human, but like a demon chef from hell.

“I-I wasn’t built for this!!” Idia wailed in protest, only to have a spatula at him.

His instructor’s response was blunt and full of snark. “Perfect opportunity for you to ‘get good’, then. There’s no teacher like experience.”

Idia struggled to produce a counter argument—but his mind was moving fasting than his body. Gordon had seized the arm with the pan by the wrist and guided it to the stove, adding a splash of oil to it. The third year flinched as heat crept onto his skin.

“Peppers in, and cook until tender!!” Gordon ordered. "If you can’t take this much, you won't last long in my kitchen!"

Idia fearfully obeyed, tossing in a few of the peppers he had just washed. The water droplets crackled upon contact, and—

Crackle, sssszzzt, POP!!

“E-EEEEEEeeEEeEP!!” Idia launched back, dodging the flecks of hot oil that sprayed at him. Cook until tender? The apprentice chef would be tenderized sooner than the vegetables would!

“Hoo, boy. This is gonna be a looong class,” Ace muttered from his station. "Dude has no chill at all..."

“Haven’t I suffered enough?! J-Just put me out of my misery alreadyyyy!!”

“We’ve only just started, boys!!” Gordon barked. There was no mistaking the blazing passion in his composure and in his eyes. “Put your backs into it!! I’ll make men out of you yet!!”

[a-student-out-of-time]

Hello there its been a while since you heard anything from me eh? Well I’ve been busy with life and stuff, also Palworld is a massive distraction but that’s neither here nor there, but on more important news I’m making progress on the ASOOT Video Game draft idea. Inspiration struck me so I’m not only getting the writing out of the way but also the drawings of the various enemies and bosses.

And as a sneak peak, here’s one of the enemies, a early Quantum enemy I call the Clock Roach. You see enemies are divided into variious categories and as you can imagine Quantum enemies are in the vast majority of dungeons due to the very nature of the Quantum Zone. Its easier the list the dungeons they don’t appear in which off the top of my head is two and they’re tutorial dungeons.

All Quantum enemies will be based on various time travel concepts and tropes. I figured the Clock Roach is a good weak early enemy for Hajime and co to squish. Though as you would imagine from a loathsome insect they have some decent evasion, especially on higher difficulties. As the game progresses, they will phase out as bigger, nastier Quantum enemies come along. (I’ve been eying a certain beast from the Cthulhu Mythos which is said to hunt time travellers which would make a fantastic mid-late game enemy.)

Anyway this your enemy sneak peak. My next sneak peak is of a more important character, but this is something to whet your appetite before the draft comes out. Hope to see you all soon! - Review Anon

//Oh wow, that’s really cool! Ty for sharing ^^

//I love the little clock faces : P

//If you want another idea for a common enemy type, I’d suggest Time Flies, in reference to the saying “Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.”

[dollya-robinprotector]

dollyaaaaa ur art is so nice n clean always!! im wondering how u draw so quickly n consistently? bow much time does it take for u to draw stuff ö i love seeing ur art pop up on the tl always, its so inspiring!! have a great rest of ur day >:333

Not gonna lie, I usually avoid the ask related to my drawing time or process. I cannot count how many asks I have received on this same matter, but...

Well, I should clarify one thing: I am not uncomfortable answering these ask. I answer some if I can. I just don't know how to answer most of them. English isn't my first language so even if I want to write a tutorial it's just gonna be... "messy" I think? Also, I have this love-hate feeling when it comes to drawing fast.

As you can see I draw almost daily. To answer asks, to present my own ideas,... there are two reasons for my fast-drawing skill:

I think way too much. My trains of thought often crash onto each other and my brain is just purely chaotic, to the point I'm overloaded and stop thinking. That's not good. So before things get complicated or fade to nothingness I would draw them out. it's how I preserve my ideas, keep my sanity intact, and not shut down from thinking.

It's my practice. I grew up knowing practice makes perfect, so I kinda draw to train my muscle memory. A kind of habit as an artist. I remember coming across an interview with BL artist Hotoku and I saw their comment on how to get through a "slump":

and it was at that moment I realized there's nothing more important than to draw when you are an artist. A "slump" (or artblock, etc...) is a disaster for all art creators, so I choose to prevent and get out of it simply by drawing more.

I remember I doubted Hotoku's answer for some time, but now I understand them perfectly. I, too, love and think about drawing all the time, almost that I don't want to do anything else besides drawing. It's complicated to describe, but I think I gaslighted myself successfully into a drawing maniac.

After all, all that I'm capable of is drawing. If it's not for my artworks, I'd be nothing. I can not satisfy my parents, my coworkers, my senpais, or even myself, so at least seeing some strangers on the internet appreciate my drawing warms me up inside I think, ehe~

As for how long it takes me to draw, it depends. Some simple sketches to answer asks took from a few minutes to maybe some good hours. The asks keep coming and I'm delighted to it, but the most I can do is answer 5 - 6 of them a day, usually, I could only do 3 - 4 or least, so I have to admit and apologize because I can not answer everything sent to my ask box. I do the most I can. The asks are a huge part of my creative inspiration and mental comfort, so I always give them my best. Thanks for sending me these asks everyone~

I called off my work today and shut down all the notifications from my boss, so maybe I'll rest more. But I would get back to draw as soon as I can.

[gren-arlio]

We are BACK. Sorta. Welcome to Episode 3 of Season 2 of Waku Puyo Translations.

(I have too many pages.)

Hello, one and all, Gren here. Welcome back to Translations, a 2 month gap is finally done. Now why did that gap happen?

School. I'm in my final year of it before I go to college, and I've been focusing really hard on it recently, been studying a lot more as of late, which leaves less time to make translation posts, but normal posts tend to be just fine. I hope you understand.

We're finally back to doing one of these, I PROMISE I haven't forgotten about it at all. I've just been busy. The school year ends in June, so...maybe there'll be more posts? Who knows.

But anywho, we're back for a bit. Here's the video in question:

Timestamps:

Intro is obviously at 0:00 this time

Rulue Scene: 1:05

Schezo Scene: 2:05

3 Orb Opening: 5:20

Dragon Boss: 6:05

Dragon Defeat: 7:55

Sasori Man Scene: 12:05

Info Booth: 13:00

How To Use Traps: 13:50, 14:20 is the tutorial

End: 15:50

Let's see how much this hurts my hands again. I hope you enjoy.

Intro:

Arle:

Eh? What happened to you?

Skeleton-T:

Ocha!

A dragon and some little kid appeared and kicked me outta the place.

Arle:

...What? A dragon and a kid, you sure it wasn't Kodomo Dragon?

Skeleton-T:

No, the dragon wasn't that cute.

And the kid looked like he was on an adventure rather than just riding it.

It reminded me of you two.

Arle:

Hmm... (What does that MEAN?)

What happened to the dragon?

Skeleton-T:

They went even further into the 5th floor of the PuyoPuyo Dungeon.

Arle:

Eh? There's more floors in there?

Skeleton-T:

Without 3 orbs, you can't enter there.

You're prohibited to go in there otherwise.

Arle:

Aha... I see now.

Hey, I got business with that dragon, so can I enter?

Skeleton-T:

Eh, I don't mind at all.

Arle:

Alright, thanks!

-----

Rulue Scene:

Rulue:

Oh dear, it's Arle. Seems like you've cleared this place too.

Arle:

So I guess you also cleared this place as well?

Rulue:

Of course I have! This place was such a cakewalk.

Arle:

Err...I had a pretty tough time myself.

Rulue:

Oh-hohoho! Is that so? Maybe it's because you're so pathetically frail.

One little nudge, and you're done for.

...Honestly, it's quite a miracle that someone as frail as you got through the first two dungeons.

Arle:

Thats outrageous! Why would you say that?

Rulue:

I'm not wrong. Best of luck to you, though.

Arle:

I know I'm not a fighter compared to Rulue, but...

You didn't have to go THAT far, did you...?

----

Schezo Scene:

Arle:

Oh, Schezo!

Schezo:

Hmpf, Arle...

Arle:

Hey, I cleared this place as well!

Schezo:

Uh, great job, I guess?

Arle:

...Are you sure you're happy to hear that?

Schezo:

Why should I be THAT happy to you?

Arle:

Because we're friends, right?

Schezo:

Us? Friends? What're you on about!?

Arle:

I dunno why you're so against it...you have no real friends, don't you?

Schezo:

Friends are just a waste of time, and I'm not really one to hang out with people.

Arle:

Aw, don't say that... you're lonely, aren't you?

Schezo:

You're a persistent one. Even if I could, I won't hang out with you...

Arle:

And he's gone... Schezo's a strange one, isn't he?

----

3 Orb Opening:

Arle:

Hm? What does this say...

(They who have 3 orbs, raise them to open this door.)

Arle:

Open? I have 3 orbs, should I bring them out?

(Arle raised the 3 orbs.)

Oh, yay! It opened! We can go in now!

Carbuncle:

Gugugu!

---

Dragon Boss:

Arle:

Oh, I found ya! I didn't know we went here at the same time...

Dragon:

Grrr...

Arle:

What're ya scared of? It's okay, I'm not scary.

Dragon:

Graaaa!

Arle:

Oh, he's angry... Why do I have to fight a dragon now!?

---

Dragon Defeat:

Arle:

Phew, guess I win. C'mon, let's get you home!

Dragon;

Mmmmm...

[Panotty enters the fray. Somehow.]

Panotty:

What did you do to my friend!?

Arle:

What the!?

Panotty:

I've been looking all over, but I finally found him...

You're awful for beating them up!

Dragon:

Graaaa! [Like I know how dragons sound. Imagine like. Rayquaza.]

Panotty:

What's up, buddy? It's me, remember?

Dragon:

Grrrr...

Panotty:

...Hey, listen to this!

[He starts to play the flute]

Dragon:

(ROAR) [...Fun.]

Panotty:

W-wha... Normally, the flute works at calming him down.

Arle:

...Hey, are you two really friends?

Panotty:

Eh?

Arle:

You were using your flute to control him, weren't you?

Panotty:

... ... ...

Arle:

... They didn't want to be here.

Yet you forced them here with your music. They're scared, you know.

Panotty:

B-But...But...

Arle:

If you can't friend him without the flute, then you have no business calling him your friend!

Panotty:

... ... ...

Arle:

...Come on. Let's bring Dragon back home.

Panotty:

No, not yet! Even though we just became friends... [I guess meaning the dragon.]

Arle:

Fine, I'll bring him myself.

Then again, if I was the one to separate you two, then you'd never have the chance of becoming proper friends.

Panotty:

... ... ...

Arle:

...You okay?

Panotty:

I'll bring him back. Because we're friends...

Arle:

Really? You sure you can do that?

Panotty:

Yeah, I sure can!

Dragon:

(ROAR) [In a more happy tone IG]

Arle:

Those two... I hope they become true friends!

Carbuncle;

Gu!

----

Sasori Man Scene

Sasori Man:

Hey, the dragon's back!

Arle:

Wait, it's back?

Sasori Man:

Yeah, but they're doing better, thanks to your help.

Arle:

Err... that kid ... did you see him as well?

Sasori:

Oh, Panotty? They were together, yeah.

I was shocked myself when I saw how well they got along.

Now, they're working near the gates.

Arle:

Ah...that's good to hear!

Sasori:

Rather than just thanking you, I wanna give you this.

Arle:

A VIP card? What for...?

Sasori Man:

Now you can enter Wonder Jungle.

I got stuff to do, so I'll leave ya be.

Arle:

Nice, now we can get into the new attraction!

Carbuncle:

Gu!

---

Info Booth:

Man, I translate this screen so often.

[Menu opens

Listen

Ranking

Bulletin <-

Back

After clicking Bulletin, the following options appear. The number next to them indicates the order.

Horror House (1)

Wonder Jungle (2)

Peddler Fufufu (3)

Bottling Reccomendations

How to Use Traps (4)

Back]

Horror House:

Bulletin:

I await you at the Horror House, sorry to keep ya waiting.

I mean, you can go if you want, but it'll be a vastly different experience than the other dungeons.

If you're not prepared, just quit now.

Wonder Jungle:

Bulletin

I have a VIP ticket for you, since you're becoming an expert here.

Would you like to test your might in the unexplored Wonder Jungle? True survival awaits you.

Just be careful of the boss and their little minions.

Peddler Fufufu:

Bulletin:

Momomo's rival appears!? The mystery merchant Fufufu appears!

He's a shady merchant who tends to sets up shop in PuyoPuyo Land.

If you want rare items, he's(?) the person to go to!

How to Use Traps:

Arle:

Oh, You're...

Bikimora: (Black Kikimora. Or Biki.)

Do you need something?

Arle:

Well, yeah...I wanna be able to learn how to use traps...

Biki:

...Follow me.

---

How to Use Traps: (Cont.)

Arle:

What the!? What're we doing here...?

Biki:

You know, even traps can be very powerful when put in the right hands.

For example, if you use a Scroll of Sealing, you can trap enemies where they stand.

Arle:

Oh, that's cool! I never knew that...

Biki;

...Then you may as well learn it by trying it yourself.

(She leaves and enemies spawn)

Arle:

Hey, where are you going!?

Geez, there's no way I'll be able to beat such powerful enemies!

---

End:

Biki:

...Congrats, you did well.

Arle:

Not really, no...

Biki:

...

Arle:

...Uhh...

Biki:

...We're done here.

Arle:

Eh?

Biki:

I said we're DONE here!

Arle:

(Why did THAT make her so upset...?)

----

Oh, it feels nice to do these again. Free time is the BEST. But that'll be all for now.

Adios.

[joshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

Okay I feel about ready to talk about Shadow Gens. Please assume spoilers. I've like 99.9% completed it btw, literally just the hard mode bosses and like a straggler S rank or two that I'll actually need to try for, and then I'm like done done. But yeah no I think this game is really fucking good lol. Gonna do bullet points for this since I have a lot to say and no idea how to segue any of it into one another

Shadow feels... I think the best that any character has felt in the boost era? Like they just got his controls and his physics and stuff so right. I've never felt so confident controlling a character in 3D Sonic since the Adventure games.

The level design I would sort of describe as being like a fusion of Unleashed and the Frontiers cyberspace stages. There aren't quite as many brancing paths as Generations proper and you're typically being tasked with reaction obstacles to end up on those other paths, although it's not as demanding as Unleashed. Bit wider and better feeling than Cyberspace too. You will often end up in pretty different parts of levels by finding and capitalising on shortcuts and stuff. Kingdom Valley is the best stage in the game, it's just so sprawling and expansive and so fucking pretty.

White Space pulls from Frontiers' open zone style in being a 3D hub world playground thing, although it's a lot smaller and more congested which fits this game really well. It's fun to run around in and looks really nice, and I think it actually has enough memorable locations to where you don't even really need the map that much to know where you're going (although that's more true after you've done the missions since then colour is restored and stuff)

The missions are pretty decent, I'd put them above Generations proper - they tend to do a solid job testing you in your ability to use Shadow's various skills and stuff, although they are perhaps a little on the shorter side. I was going for 100% from the get-go so if you're just speeding to the end I don't really know how the missions do progression so no comment there lol.

Biolizard is a fairly boring boss, but also the first one so sort of a tutorial. Metal Overlord is really fun, and has a surprisingly tight S rank I enjoyed going for. Mephiles is a little repetitive but honestly his dialogue in the fight is so good that I wasn't caring - he's actually more endearing in this game than he ever has been. Our final boss, Devil Doom, is a Metal Overlord reskin at first which is eh, but turns original and is then pretty fun. Final phase is a nice twist on the usual Super form final boss, although ngl you get the Doom Wings like a stage prior and all they do is glide so it took me like a solid minute to realise I was able to move up and down in this phase. This isn't a criticism but I'm kinda disappointed Shadow didn't finish Black Doom off with a Chaos Blast, it just would've been raw as fuck is all.

There isn't actually much of a story here but what is there is fine. Maria is really likeable. Could've been cool to spend a bit more time in Gerald's head. Shadow's the best he's been since 06. Black Doom does his job well enough. I think in a more filled out version of this story we could grapple more with Shadow losing control to the Doom Powers as well as his conflict regarding staying with Maria and Gerald, but it's all good. The fake Emerald ploy was funny to see although it was a bit of an odd pull. I made sure to talk to the NPCs constantly and everyone's got a lot of really good dialogue, Big and Omega especially.

Chaos Control is very fun, I almost wish the game contrived more excuses to use it.

I like the Doom Powers a fair amount, although they lead into my biggest and only real issue with this game, and it's that the Doom Powers are all very... maybe situational is a bit harsh? But you can only really use them in the contexts the game wants you to use them.

I was really excited for Doom Blast I imagined you'd get to do some like crazy speedrunning shit where you throw an enemy somewhere crazy and teleport to them and shit - and technically you can do that but the range is limited and they're never really positioned in a way that accomodates that - instead there'll be like one or two highlighted areas to blast them to, and it's definitely fun I enjoy doing it a lot but it has potential for more.

Chaos and Doom Spears it's sort of the same - they activate some context-sensitive buttons and disable enemies for a short time, except the latter one only really matters if the enemy can't be attacked for some reason anyway. Again, fun - it feels like the sort of Unleashed reaction based press the right button thing, train your eye to see an enemy with like an electric barrier or something and you know you gotta Doom Spear before you homing attack - I do like it. But I think there could be more.

I think Iizuka said we might get more Shadow games or playable Shadow in Sonic games or something if this does well, and it seems to be doing well. With that said then I hope Doom Blast and Spears are iterated on. They don't feel tied to the Black Arms in the same way as the other Doom Powers so you could just give them to Shadow without it feeling weird and it'd be very fun and stuff.

Morph, Surf and Wing are all a lot more specific to this game and this setting and I don't really need them to return. Morph is actually quite hard to use, I don't think the game does a good job teaching you how its swinging vs propelling itself thing works. I like Surf. Wings are rather overpowered for use in normal levels but you don't unlock them until right near the end so hey. But just playing the levels normally is more fun than gliding over them.

Everything I said about liking the levels earlier is true but I do think they're a little easy and could stand to be on the harder side. Like the Doom Powers and Chaos Control and stuff are supposed to enable cool shortcuts but they're so telegraphed and reactable that instead of it feeling like "if you're good at the game you're rewarded with shortcuts" it feels a bit more like "as long as you can hold a controller you'll probably always be on the fastest route" which is a little sad.

The White Space treasure chests and rocket parts are quite fun to collect although I sort of wish they had like a radar or something because by the time you've gotten most of them you're just gonna have to start running around the world aimlessly until you chance upon whatever you missed. I spent 40 minutes on the last 2 parts.

Collection room is kino.

I think Iizuka said the Terios skin would almost make you feel like you were playing a different game but it has all of Shadow's animations down to the skating so it looks a little awkward. Neat bonus though.

I am considerably excited for the Movie Shadow DLC

I think that's it. tl;dr very good game, very little in the way of like meaningful flaws, they cooked so hard with this Shadow they have to keep him going forward, this is the best control in any boost title.

[beevean]

And onto Rush Adventure now:

-Tbh at first i wasnt sold on the materials grinding for ships but later liked how it gives you a reason to improve your scores on the levels so you can get more. Idk i usually dont care abt scores but w the external motivation? Yea

-Same w the misions, good way to have lil extra stuff to do (that said why did they block the sound mode songs behind misions. Game pls my internet makes opening youtube an odyssey and now this too? Cruelty 😔)

-Oh and also the ship minigames! Its fun to have a map you can explore, and the races w Jhonny for the chaos emeralds are way better than the Surely Existing special levels (also srry if i got his name wrong lmao)

-Onto the soundtrack; its more broad compared to rush, and each song does matches well the enviroment. I like the tropical coastal vibes of the main town n training level, and oh man. Sky babylon and deep core my beloveds who literally got engraved in my neurons so hard i was struggling reading hours later bc the darn tunes kept playing in the background of my skull. Well scratch that all the tunes keep playing on the bg of my skull rn, what kind of eldritch curse is this). So yes good ost 👍

-Overall the aesthetic n vibes are also more broad with that tropical relax overtone, its quite nice. The difficulty is also way more forgiving (i mean i played on easy but that's the mode the game came in) and the tutorials with the controls are helpful (yes i struggled with the jump dash in the previous game how can you tell)

- The story is also more calm and silly goofy but in a good way (can def see what ppl mean by the diff eras in sonic writing there). I also liked Whisker being the main but kinda dumb villain for funnies vs the eggmans being a bigger threat)

-I liked the scene in the coral cave where Blaze appears bc my mind was half "haha i knew we were in Blaze's world, neat" and " weeee hi Blaze, game of the year :D"

-Marine was also neat, liked her silly dynamic of cheerful kid who is a bit too full of herself and is kind of a brat abt it, and how she later learns to admit her own limits :) And the koala villagers were neat too i like their designs :)

Overall thank you for letting me ramble into your ask box abt these games, its been fun :D

lmao yeah it's a nice incentive! I think the only other game that gives you a reward with higher ranks is Unwiished (another Dimps game), where the higher the rank the more medals you get.

also sonic 🤝 hector:having to earn their crafting materials

The missions are a good way to extend the gameplay, but IIRC some of the Sol Emerald missions were brutal... I have flashes of the Blizzard Peak mission.

The waterbike was genuinely really fun and I hated that it was considered the "worst" vehicle for travel :( I don't like the submarine, let me travel the world on my tiny waterbike while the best music plays :( also yeah the Special Stages with Johnny are original! Certainly more than Half Pipe 50.0

SRA'S OST was composed by veterans Tomoya Ohtani and Mariko Nanba while trying to recreate Naganuma's style. Definitely unique and underrated. Sky Babylon used to be my favorite too! But there are so many tracks that IMO deserve more love, like Haunted Ship, Blizzard Peaks, the boss theme and Whiskers & Johnny <3

Funny to think SRA came out one year after '06, widely criticized at the time for being too melodramatic :P Whiskers is also a nice case of Eggman being the twist villain for once! Although the credits of the "bad" ending spoil him and Nega, lol. Not that Whiskers looks mysterious himself... eh you get it.

Marine seems to have been reevaluated recently, like many things from the 2000s. I remember that back then no one could stand her and her Aussie accent lmao, precisely because she was an annoying brat. She is still mildly underrated, but I think the modern fandom generally "forgave" her because they understood that she was meant to be a foil for Tails, who is more insecure.

(two fun facts: in some countries, SRA initially got a 12+ rating because Marine says "bugger", which is pretty mild for Aussie slang but is much stronger for American standards. Also, Marine is Australian because in original she speaks in Kansai-ben, and I guess that was a way to recreate the cultural connotations! That and koalas :P)

You're welcome, you're free to rant at any time <3

[noddytheornithopod]

Started playing Jedi: Survivor! Gonna post miscellaneous thoughts I’m having as I play through it. For reference, I’m also playing on Story Mode (I just want to be safe cuz I have no idea what will be thrown at me lol).

And of course, if it wasn’t obvious, spoilers under the cut.

So we begin with Cal being “captured” and taken to this Pau’an senator (the same one as in the first teaser). He seems to be like a big shot... or at least is hoping to become one, since he’s hoping to gain the Emperor’s favour by saying he caught a Jedi. It’s really just a ruse (the cops holding Cal are actually fellow rebels working for Saw Gerrera), and well soon stuff gets crazy.

Probably the most notable issue so far is framerate? Like, for reference, I’m playing on PS5 and am using Performance Mode (it would be pointless to do anything else since my TV only has a max 1080p resolution). It’s not exactly bad, like it definitely isn’t the nightmare that PC players seem to be experiencing, but I find that especially between the transitions between gameplay and cutscenes it can get kinda choppy. I get why the cutscenes have a lower framerate, it’s so they look more cinematic, and honestly I’m more than fine with that, but the transitions and even a few gameplay moments feel slow.

Also maybe it’s just because I already know how Fallen Order played and I’m also on Story difficulty, but I think the opening level dragged out a bit too long? It makes sense it’s an easy and simple level, but eh, who finds tutorial sections fun anyway, lol.

On the other hand, being in the Coruscant underworld was a pretty cool opening setting. There’s a lot of narrative parallels to Fallen Order already, and there’s parts of Coruscant that actually remind me of Bracca in some ways. Many parts looked a bit dark, but IDK if that’s just my TV or what, but that aside it all looked cool.

Nerd moment: the first enemies you fight being the patrol troopers from Solo was fun. What’s more fun than killing stormtroopers? Killing COP stormtroopers.

Bode seems cool, I guess. I do feel like them emphasising the monetary involvement he’s working with Saw for is gonna come into play later on though, like if someone offers him more to pay for him and his kid he could pull something on Cal. Also they introduced the buddy AI system, which lets you tell your friend to do certain things, and command them to help you in fights. IDK how effective it will be (especially on Story mode where so far I’m cutting through Stormtroopers like nothing lol), but it’s still cool to have your pal show up and fuck with some enemies.

Cal’s already got some fun quips, but I’m also interested to see he already seems darker. Like, when they eventually capture the senator, he basically makes a death threat, but what really stood out to me was when you learn the confusion power. Like, he literally says something like “I don’t think Cere told me to use it like that”. And like... that line only made me think of Ezra at the start of Season 3 of Rebels even more than already recalling Ezra puppet that walker off that base. Two Jedi who feel like they need to do more to stop the Empire and Dark Side, but are flirting with darker tactics to get there.

So Ninth Sister returns. The way she talks almost makes it sound like she’s some recurring enemy Cal keeps running into. KESTIIIIIISSSSSSSSS!!!!! But yeah she’s the first boss (which feels a lot like the first Trilla fight on Bracca, speaking of which another parallel has Cal pull a Trilla on one of the gunships surrounding them). Cal... fucking decapitates her. It’s an interesting moment to me, another sign he’s darker of course, but I’m getting a lot of different feelings here. Like on one hand, he doesn’t seem to relish it at all, even trying to reach out to her, even calling her Masana Tide, her original name before she turned dark. But on the other... he’s like “I’ll set you free” and decides who must live or die. Like sure, Masana wouldn’t listen to him, she’s just full of rage and pain, but still, playing executioner like that was still a dark moment to me.

I should also mention the lightsabre stances, because the boss is where you first lean dual blade. So far... I’ve barely used single blade, lol. I’m fine using double and dual blade for now, honestly. IDK how it is on harder difficulties, but I think they compliment each other nicely. Double blade for crowd control and more defensive fights, and dual blade when I feel like being more offensive. Also, nerd brain just thinks it’s neat to have a sabrestaff you split and put back together.

Controls are mostly similar, there’s some slight changes here and there, I’ll get used to them with time probably. Force powers still work as expected. I’m a monster that loves using confusion to make enemies fight each other, lol. It IS cool that it can’t work on all enemies though, like purge troopers are immune since they’d obviously be trained to resist mind tricks, some creatures you can’t seem to affect I guess because they’re just too weird or whatever, and you can’t use it on droids because they’re not organic. Making Bedlam Raiders kill their own droid underlings they’re in charge of is funny.

Oh yeah, Koboh. Only gotten up to Greez’s cantina and I just stopped right after I found the part we need for the Mantis, but it already feels massive. Interesting scenery too, like it reminds me of a savannah in like Australia or even Africa. Also, I’m guessing the bogling population came from the Mantis stowaways in Fallen Order, lol.

The minimap is much more helpful actually. Still a bit complex, but there’s a lot more notified to tell you where you can go and even traces where you’ve come from, and it helps give clearer directions on where to progress too. It’s not so easy like say Lego Skywalker Saga where the default just lets you follow markers that tell you exactly where to go, you still need to look around sometimes to find how to progress or solve a puzzle, but for someone like me who can get stuck for pretty stupid reasons, it is handy to have these extra hints.

So the scene with Cal and BD looking at old footage they had of the crew together was definitely sentimental. It seems to be around or soon after Fallen Order since the characters still have their looks from that game, but it’s nice to see the times they spent together, and you can tell how much Cal misses them all even if they all parted ways.

On the other hand... we got TWO Greez salt jokes within the span of a few minutes. They KNOW and they really want to remind us, lol. First, one of the videos displayed has Greez say to Merrin say something like “too much salt is bad for you”, which well, yeah, the irony is obvious. There’s also what used to be the Mantis’ terrarium now holding some old belongings, and one of them was Greez and salt related, I think it was his salt shaker? But yes, salty Greez fans, you will not be disappointed.

The locals at Koboh seem interesting enough so far. Little frog due and big Klaud dude! Rayvis had an... interesting first impression. Like at first he’s all shouty and dramatic to the point where I found it a bit much, but after Cal kills his enforcer, he actually starts acting more honourable and subdued? Hard to read guy, I guess. Sounds like he’s building to something, though I have no idea why harassing people on some Outer Rim world is necessary for that. Like, the people in the bar talk like they just show up and cause trouble because they can. Cal stepping in to defend the frog dude was cool though, nice reminder that at heart he’s still a Jedi even if I have... questions about some of his new tactics, lol.

Greez reunion! Was a pretty sweet moment, honestly. And there’s also a sassy droid at the bar who co-runs the place (I think their name was Monk?). Greez is rightfully concerned about Cal though, like Cal misses the crew but it sounds like his own obsession with fighting the Empire was a key factor in what caused the rifts to form in the first place. Something definitely seemed to happen with Cere especially, like when Cal talks about Merrin Greez is like “actually I was asking if you’ve spoken to Cere”. Cal does lose it for a moment, too. He feels like because he might be one of the only Jedi left, he has to shoulder that responsibility to fight the Empire. It’s kind of like the opposite to Obi-Wan’s situation - right around this time, Obi-Wan has given up hope and thinks it’s pointless to do anything, while Cal is so into the fight it seems like it’s consuming him. Like, Greez made this room for Cal to chill in even for a bit, but Cal’s all GOTTA GET ON THE MOVE. Also, for more parallels, a callback to the sleep talking scene, lol.

Anyway, stuck underground and Cal noticed something weird, I’ll get to it later and we’ll see what else happens!

[basilquesadilla]

My Thoughts on Pokemon Sword/Shield

Hi everyone! Thought I'd do something a bit fun out of boredom and just give a very casual review of Sword and Shield(mainly Shield since that's the one I played). I was gifted it by a friend who didn't want her copy. She didn't have the DLC(nor did I feel like dropping extra money for it) so that'll be excluded from this. Thought I'd go ahead and do this in a "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" type format.

The Good:

Quality of Life Improvements/:

When I say quality of life, I mean two things. Firstly...FINALLY WILD POKEMON ARE IN THE OVERWORLD!!! Listen, is there a single person out there that enjoys random enemy encounters in RPGs? If you do like those, pls seek help/j

Ok but seriously, these were so nice. Never felt the need to stock up on repels, and finding a lot of the Pokemon I wanted to catch was easy. I did kinda dislike the mystery mons that would appear too(especially since some mons only spawned from those, like Applin). But that was a minor flaw. Overall I'm happy to see this, and if they ever go back to random encounters I will be fighting them.

The other is in how the tutorial section of this game feels. After Sun and Moon's tutorial feeling like it was never ending, I feel like this one was actually quite nice. Telling Hop "Yes I know what a Pokemon Center is," and having him actually go "Oh ok, then I won't explain anything" was very nice. I overall didn't feel like the game was aggressively destroying the pace with tutorials, and I appreciate that. Considering the fact that Sun and Moon's first island is something that holds me back from wanting to replay it lol.

The New Pokemon Designs + The Soundtrack:

Gonna group these as they both have to do with presentation. This generation definitely has added some designs that I really enjoy. Appletun, CorviKnight, and Obstagoon are just a few of my favorites. That's all I can really say to be honest. It's wild that Pokemon was on it's 8th generation at this point and it's still churning out fun designs. While Dynamax/Gigantimax(as we'll see later) isn't my favorite gimmick, the Gigantimax designs were super fun and epic to see in-battle. Overall, Pokemon once again succeeded at creating a good cast of new mons, that's all there really is to say.

The soundtrack was also great to hear, as expected from Pokemon. I enjoyed most of the tunes that played throughout the game, not much to say about it. Some of my faves were the gym battle music and the pre-Leon fight music(iykyk). The latter was super epic and fun to listen to while doing the penultimate boss of the game.

The Gym Challenges(kinda):

This is an aspect that lean into being both good and bad. Listen, in CONCEPT, gym challenges are great. It's really fun to have some type of mini challenge to do before facing the gym leader. And it's nice to deviate from the typical "go through gym, fight trainers on a linear path" system of past gens. That was one of the best things about Alola's island trials. I think SwSh wanted to find a way to mimic that with...mixed success

Milo and Kabu's gyms(I'm not googling their names sorry lol) are examples of where I think they succeeded. Was the herding Wooloo one particularly challenging or anything? No, but that's ok cause it's only the first gym. They probably could've added some other obstacles/yampers to make it harder, but eh, it was fine, and trainer fights being optional was great. It made me expect to see other unique minigames in the other gyms. The fire gym's challenge did a great job at putting a twist on gym trainers. There goal is to stop you from catching the wild mons to earn points, not to take you out in a 1v1, and that was neat! Overall the gym challenges were a neat concept and had some good executions, but as we'll see later some of the other gyms were horrible at it.

Quick note btw, I really enjoyed the gym battles themselves as well as the final cup. Felt like the gym leaders were actually trying to win, and Leon in particular gave me a bit of challenge. With all of the major positives out of the way, it's time for:

The Bad:

Gym Challenges:

Alright yeah let's get this out of the way. For the most part the gym challenges felt....rather uncreative/like things you'd see in another game. Nessa's gym straight up felt like any ordinary gym from another mainline game. Raihan's was just....double battles. Seriously? That was such a disappointing and boring as a concept, they could've done something more creative than "but what if the battles were all doubles and focused on weather?" I feel like there were gyms in previous games that tried to do a similar concept to what gym challenges were doing, with similar or more success. Examples would be Fantina's dimly lit gym focused on making your way through a maze with the flashlight, or Clay's gym in BW2 also being a bit of a maze. Yeah, there really isn't much to say about the gym challenges other than "They thought they did something unique, but all they did was give Pokemon Gym layouts a new name."

City/Route Design:

Oh boy. These towns/cities have got to be some of the most boring things EVER. Listen, previous games have definitely had some "meh" towns. But jeez....not as bad as this. Spikemuth is literally just a hallway. A HALLWAY. REALLY?!? So many of the towns had me running around to find things to do, but I just couldn't find NPCs saying anything interesting or fun. After a while I just gave up on doing that. Ballonlea is the biggest offender here. Visually the town is GORGEOUS, probably the prettiest location a gym has ever been in in a Pokemon game. But there's like...nothing to do. Nothing to do other than take on the gym, that's how most of Galar's cities can be described. This will play a role later when we disucss the....*shudders* writing of the story in the game. But yeah, they suck

The routes aren't much better off either. Many of them are very linear paths without much to do than battle trainers. Which btw, is it me or did it feel like trainers were sparse in some area. Don't get me wrong, I hate when they crowd areas with trainers, and I like that many of the ones here are avoidable but....I felt like I wasn't doing much battling(though luckily the shared exp, something I didn't mind at all, was good at keeping me up in levels). Routes felt like they had no little secrets to find, and I never felt an urge to backtrack. I probably coulda gone back with the water bike, but route were so short I doubt I would've found much.

The Wild Area:

Based on what I've seen of Scarlet/Violet, this feels like it was basically there way of testing how something more open world in a mainline game would be liked by Pokemon fans. And well, it was....ok I guess. It wasn't horrible to go through, and I liked that the Areas had differing weather that changed spawn rates. But the whole thing just felt like a tech demo than anything fleshed out. I would've rather just had more routes throughout the region to make it feel like we weren't speeding it through the gym challenge at mach speeds. It's not as bad as the plain cities/routes since you're not FORCED to go through it much, but it definitely feels like there was wasted potential here. The amount of options it made for teambuilding early on was probably it's biggest strength.

The Ugly:

Dynamaxing:

Ok listen. It's not as horrible as the other thing I'll discuss below. But it's just SOOO BORING. This has got to be my least favorite generational gimmick. Megas were really badass, and Z-moves might've been plain, but the fun animations made it cool at least. I haven't played SV so I can't speak for the terra stuff there. But you wanna know what was cool about gen 6 and 7's gimmicks? THEY COULD BE DONE ANYWHERE, NOT JUST SELECT BOSS BATTLES. I know that the game does have you doing gym battles pretty often as a big part of its narrative, but jeez. Restricting the gimmick like that just feels bad. And it doesn't really feel like dynamaxing is anything strategic anyways. You know any given opponent Gigantimaxes their last team member, so you may as well just save your Dynamax till then so you can easily last out the 3 turns or KO it with your own superpowered moves. The Gigantimax forms at least had unique designs, which is the only plus I'll give this system. Otherwise I'd say the gimmick insanely boring.

The God Awful Writing:

Putting extra emphasis here cause dear lord....THIS IS THE WORST WRITTEN GAME I'VE EVER PLAYED! I'm gonna break this down into just the narrative itself and then get into characterization.

First off, the plot. Or more so, the lack of one. Throughout the game everyone is telling you "just keep doing the gym challenge, just keep doing the gym challenge, just keep doing the gym challenge." Even when an emergency happens and whatnot, they tell you to not get involved, and thus there's nothing breaking up the gyms. This leads to the gym challenge feeling insanely fast-paced. When Milo, Nessa, and Kabu talk to you and Hop, I feel like it should feel like something, because completing the first 3 gyms is considered canonically impressive. But the game makes you go through these so quickly that I felt nothing. The pace is just too fast. The only mild breaks you get are talking to Sonia about the ancient legends, but all of the info is just things you randomly stumble on or have spoonfed to you. They want it to feel like some kind of mystery you're unraveling, but it doesn't feel like it. Going through some ancient ruins or locations to investigate in between gyms with her would've been a good way to space out the gyms more.

Now, you know what typically handles pacing issues like this? The presence of an evil team. Unfortunately our villain team here is team skull. Except they're not even an evil team. They're just a bunch of losers who are aggressively excited about cheering on Marnie. Marnie, btw, is a big old nothingburger. She has a neat design, but her personality feels like nothing, and she didn't feel like a good rival at all. Her writing puts her on par with the XY rivals cast imo. As such, since all Team Yell does is occasionally battle you for dumb reasons, they don't break up the plot much. The game instead decides it wants to make Chairman Rose. be a "twist" villain, which only happens during the championship matches. Which means the game only gets most of its proper story development AT THE VERY END! And now, let's consider this. An "evil team" that isn't even really trying to do anything that insanely evil, and a twist villain from the region's main corporation....

Yep. That's right folks. They wanted to replicate Team Skull and Lusamine. Except they failed. Cause Team Skull was a group of actual misfits, not just some cringe fans of some trainer they idolized. They had a badass theme, and Po Town solos Spikemuth. And Lusamine was written much better. We're shown immediately that the Aether Foundation is sus, and they did well writing her to just be someone who's truly obsessed with her research and the Ultra Beasts. Overall, the pacing here just sucks. The game is 90% gym challenge, 10% other story. They could've easily fixed this via the suggestion I had for Sonia earlier, as well as by allowing us to help Leon alongside Hop with the dynamax disasters happening. But nope, they didn't want us to. At least I can say that the big raid fight alongside the box art legendaries was cool and had a fun theme.

Lastly, I just want to discuss the writing of Hop and Bede. Now personally, I love these two. I love their personalities and mannerisms, and I enjoyed getting to see them...but their arcs definitely needed work. The fast pace of going through the gym challenges makes it feel like we've barely even seen Bede before he's kicked out of the gym challenge and later taken by Opal as her successor. Hop meanwhile highlights why I think Pokemon should have some forced losses. If they had made Hop an unwinnable fight the first 2-3 times(by simply making his Wooloo/other mons he's used better) it would've showed how he's entering the challenge with more experience than us. Then as we(and Bede) defeat him, that starts him down a spiral. Which btw, they were kinda bad at highlighting his inferiority complex. It's wild to say this, but this is a game that NEEDED padding. It needed that extra story stuff between gyms, cause the aggressive way the game railroads you down the gym challenge just makes the pacing and characterization suffer greatly

Conclusion/Overall Thoughts:

Despite all of my complaints there, I did at least like playing this game. It was some good old Pokemon fun, and the QoL improvements made it so I could at least had good stretches of doing my own thing(though those stretches were probably too long). I think I'd give it a solid 3/5, maybe a 2.75/5. Do I think it's worth the $60 price tag? Fuck no, definitely get it from someone else or try to find it used. But I definitely don't think it's AS bad as people made it out to be. An overall ok game, but definitely one on the lower end when it comes to Pokemon's mainline games.

EDIT: Actually upon reflection this is more of a 2 or 2.5 out of 5 lol. Sorry to SwSh fans, maybe if I get the DLC one day it'll rise up a bit. But for now I'm just not feeling it.

[toyota-supra]

22, 28, 50

22 A boss that was disappointing Honestly I play enough 3D platformers and action adventure games to at this point kind of expect bosses in half the games I play to be pretty eh. Blue Fire, Lunacid, Mario games, Sonic games, it's hard to find games where bosses don't make me go "oh good, this again"

28 A game you love the atmosphere of Lunacid. Kira really fucking knows what they're doing

50 Do you look up tutorials, or do you like to figure it out yourself? Depends heavily on the type of game but I'm from the time where games were not made in a language I could read so "pressing every button to know what stuff does" and "finding out about important mechanics or plot details in my third time through a game" are quite common for me. Since I tend to play single player games I just want to get through once and move on to the next, games that "make" me look stuff up are generally a red flag. I'm not the kind for walkthroughs or like, studying tech

ask game

[unpleasant-ghoul]

Decided to try playing Hogwarts Mystery. Kinda eh. I mean, cool! A mobile HP game! But so far it doesn't seem to offer a whole lot of choices. You're a goody two-shoes whether you want it or not. You're friends with Rowan whether you want it or not. You reassure that cowardly kid form Gryffindor whether you want it or not (I don't. Why do I have to be nice to him? That's not what I joined Slytherin for!).

Hope later in game I'll get to be at least a bit nastier.

...

Why. Do. I. Even. Have to convince Rowan of anything? He ain't the boss of me, why can't I just do things on my own instead of playing friends with some random ass tutorial character that thinks showing me a few things at the start gives him right to stick around for more?

...

"But I don't want to hurt Rowan"... Yes I DO! The more the better. Stop deciding my opinions for me, game.

...

Why am I being nice to that Gryffindor boy, again? He says it himself, he doesn't belong in Hogwarts. Why can't I tell him that yes, he doesn't and be over with it? Why do I have to tell him to stay brave instead? Why am I forced to pretend that I'm afraid too?

...

Honestly, what is the point of creating your own character at the game's beginning, if all your friendships and opinions are pre-determined anyway? It's barely a game at all, honestly.

[handelplayssims]

Well, Gunther slept all the way right up until he needed to go to work. And his boss was still disappointed in him. Must be the fear of the dead end job thing. Also we received a notification that we’re using too much water in this household. -glances at the toilets that keep breaking- But still. I can set up some water collectors to try to offset our water utility tax. And if need be, we could set up a water generator.

Gunther goes off to work and hey, hooray! With his fear of dead-end job conquered, he gained a promotion and is now at the top of his career. Curator of the Finest Flavors. Congratulations to Gunther! Time to kick back and unwind with a good videogame and a nice bath.

But that’s not the bar I recommended in my personal headcanon! Either or, eh, we’re going to take time for ourself this evening. Work on that handiness skill, since that’s what Gunther wants to do.

Hmm. You know what these water collectors are very close to? They’re somewhat close to the buried remains of Lucas Munch. And these things run under the ground, yes? In order to connect with the main house’s piping? Meaning things were dug up and attached. Meaning we could have found Lucas’s remains?

...yeah I’ll integrate that into my story. In the midst of upgrading the piping of these water collectors, Gunther actually finds the remains of his brother. Now if I could actually influence emotion, I would actually make Gunther sad about this…

...time to look up ways to be emotionally meaningful from Snowy Escape, because that’ll give you a big moodlet once you’re emotionally mindful to be sad.

Hooray. We’re out of tutorial land for haunted houses! Now we have to enjoy our haunted home. For it’s our family’s home and we have to look after what remains of our family. And our reward? A coat.

I was going to continue trying to get emotionally mindful but alas, sleep must come first. It is a curse we all must bear. To bed with ye Gunther.

Neighborhood Watch!

Fiorella Navarro in the Navarro household is now a Cat Video Creator in the Internet Personality career.

This wasn’t very long so let’s continue onwards!

There is a good reason people might want to disable Guidry visits. He tends to put in a good word with the spectres that come visit the home that “hey, this dude is chill, be cool to him.” Considering we smooched and woohoo’d and made him a boyfriend, I don’t think that’ll necessarily matter to Gunther but, if you want the difficulty up a bit, might want to turn off those visits. You can do it via a certain hand object introduced in the pack!

“You know what they say is good for keeping calm. Meditation. Yeah! Let’s meditate.” Alas, he does not know what I have planned for him. Poor Gunther.

I’ll take what grieving I can get. Anyway, his first whim is to skill up and Handiness is just about level 8. You can make sad statues at the woodworking station so that’s what I shall do.

I do like this. I’ll stick it by the graves of Mila and Lucas. Gunther’s next whim is to read a book and so we do. It is by this point that the sleepiness from being roused early thanks to haunted house gets to him. And so he goes off to bed again, having a cry first.

Sidenote, I’ve put on quite a bit of Supergiant games songs at the moment. Normally I’ve just been bouncing through my music library on shuffle but songs like the orchestral versions of Lament of Orpheus and We All Become just hit that melancholic mood. Also, play Supergiant Games games. THEY’RE SO GOOD.

Oh yeah! It’s the weekend as well so we have NAPs available for voting. There are seven generated and one you can propose for yourself. Gunther likes his food so I threw in the Foodies Unite thing. But Supporting the Performing Arts seems good to me as well. I’m going to throw seven votes in for Foodies and see which one wins the passive vote, as more votes come in over the weekend’s course.

Gunther’s next want is to write a book and naturally, I’m going to go with a sad one, considering the mood. Hmm. But what should be the title? What do you do when you discovered your brother’s remains, and he was killed by your other brother? When you’ve lost your mother and now you are left with just this haunted home?

...I think he’ll write about it, but I’m not going to have it published. If it’s to be published, it’ll be in post-mortom. Guidry popped on over to chat. His chatting mood says flirty, but his ghostly aura betrays the fact he’s sad for Gunther’s sadness. I had Gunther “reveal a deep secret” and tell about his woes to him. They also hugged lovingly after that. It’s good to have someone to share in life’s sorrows.

I then sent Gunther back to writing. He finished off the book and I set it into the nearby bookshelves. Also you can give written books to specters. I however, just set to talking. Anyway, I checked the spiritual serenity of the house, still happily haunted, communed with the dead...which mostly just wanted to chit-chat. Nice! And then I notice the time and I’m like, alright. Let’s finally end this post.

Neighborhood Watch!

Stephen Cooke in the Cooke household has died. Stephen stayed in the sun a little too long and overheated.

Dylan Little in the Little household has died. Shockingly, Dylan botched a repair and was electrocuted.

Ian Moody in the Moody & McMillan household retired from the Actor career.

Aww man! Old man decided acting life wasn’t for him. Alas.

[apples-of-apples]

@high-lagaard I don’t mind the question at all!!

For things you should now before hand…. I guess that the ds games and the cyber sleuth games are pretty different in execution! The ds games are very much a grind to go through the first time, ESPECIALLY considering you’ve never played a Digimon game before.

The cyber sleuth games are very very easy to play and are half jrpg and half visual novel. People recommend these two most often but I wouldn’t…. They’re very much their own types of games compared to the other half of the franchise.

Since you’re a beginner I would probably say to start with the original Digimon story! It’s a fun and simple game that is like the only one with tutorials. The game can also be a bit grindy (as said before) but eh. Beware the final boss tho. Just, just beware.

I NEED DIGIMON STORY NEWS NOWWWWWWW

I CANNOT WAIT ANY LONGER GIVE ME INFOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO