#bug fables × crosscode

[hardcoregamer]

10 Best RPGs You Can Play On Steam Deck

There are tons of RPGs on PC, even more if you're considering emulation, but for this list, I'll purely be considering ones on Steam that aren't very hard to set up on the Steam Deck. These games will all perform well, look great, and be fun to play on the handheld.

Check them out!

[jojolimons-arts]

I posted 9 times in 2022

That's 9 more posts than 2021!

9 posts created (100%)

0 posts reblogged (0%)

I tagged 9 of my posts in 2022

#limon arts - 8 posts

#vi - 2 posts

#spoilers - 2 posts

#fursona - 2 posts

#team snakemouth - 2 posts

#kabbu - 2 posts

#oc - 2 posts

#leif - 2 posts

#bug fables - 2 posts

#fecto elfilis - 2 posts

Longest Tag: 79 characters

#but for now just try and imagine what they look like as people insteada furries

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

cleaned up an elfilis sketch i started like, last month lol

10 notes - Posted May 13, 2022

#4

elfilis doodle i did at work

13 notes - Posted April 5, 2022

#3

decided to do the cartoon network color palette challenge with lea and emilie from crosscode :p

56 notes - Posted June 12, 2022

#2

my entry for the bug fables spring banner contest

alt pinker version under the read more

80 notes - Posted March 25, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

my submission for the bug fables discord server second summer banner contest!

222 notes - Posted June 25, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[veemo4]

EVERYONE GET THIS BUNDLE RIGHT NOW

I dunno about the third game there, Ara Fell, but I can say with the utmost certainly that Bug Fables and CrossCode are utterly fantastic and you all need to play them!

[legitimatesatanspawn]

Friends during every major season sale:

Not counting the one friend who looks at the sales and declares there's nothing good on sale every time.

As for me, I tend to compile a multi-page spreadsheet of items on sale and figuring out how to balance any of their existing packages/bundles on the site for maximum savings based on the order of purchase:

I'm serious by the way. For example the RPG Bundle containing CrossCode, Ara Fell, and Bug Fables it is cheaper to get that Bundle first then the CrossCode bundle for the post-game dlc by $2 than getting CrossCode then Bug Fables and Ara Fell (all three of which I highly recommend for different reasons and styles of rpgs). Either way you're spending about $20-22 for 3 games instead of $26 or the full price of $66. Admittedly it isn't a big drop but some bundles are actually cheaper than getting on game alone... like the insane fact that Octopath 2 is about $3.50 cheaper if you get the two game bundle containing Various Daylife.

We won't get into the insanity that are the Xenoverse games and 2's dlc sets, the Koei Tecmo titles, or god forbid Truck Sim games and their never ending pile of dlc. Fans of the Truck Sim games must be very happy but good god the sheer number of dlc is rather intimidating.

[eropandasennin]

Warning, incoming barrage of excellent indie games in different genres that are worth checking out:

Hades, Dusk, Ion Fury, Cult of The Lamb, Celeste, Hollow Knight, Teslagrad, Super Sami Roll, Hyper Light Drifter, Shovel Knight, Cozy Grove, Cuphead, Firewatch, Spelunky, Disco Elysium, Dead Cells, No Straight Roads, Moonlighter, Bloodstained, Crosscode, 13 Sentinels, Doki Doki Literature Club, Bug Fables, Coffee Talk, Oxenfree, Broken Age, Them Fighting Herd, Eastward, TMNT: Shredder's Revenge, Gris, Spiritfarer, Tangle Tower, Outer Wilds, Ghostrunner, Iconoclast, Eagle Island, Darkwood, Outlast, Chicory, Undertale, Papers Please, Untitled Goose Game, Journey, FTL, Carrion, The Stanley Parable, What Remains of Edith Finch, Inside, Owlboy, Stardew Valley, Bastion, Transistor, Little Nightmares and so many more.

Why do I tell people to play indie games?

K' so you may have seen that post I made a little while ago asking people reblog and put into the tags an indie game that they did NOT like.

I made that post because I wanted to hear about what indie games people had bad experiences with. There was another post I made saying "Tell me you don't play indie games without telling me you don't play indie games" in response to a ton of youtube videos saying modern video games are no longer fun. A lot of tags would say, "Well indie games can suck too!" This response was extremely silly to me and I wanted to know what games they could be talking about.

I didn't ask for it, but so many people starting explaining why they didn't like a certain game. So I decided to make a little pie chart with the reason people would give in the tags

There are some outliers not here. There were 5 tags saying a game offended them and some responses that were too specific to really count. Half of the posts also gave no explanations so I'm not going to act like this is representative of every response on that post.

Okay so what's the point? Why did I do this?

There's this one 30 minute video by Josh Strife Hayes that does a super good job showcasing all of the bad practices that happen with modern gaming. He talks about each issue thoroughly, but I'll list them here:

Microtransactions, Limited Progression, Invite Boosts, Premium Currency, Loyalty Programs, Selling Power, Battlepasses, and Selling Progression

He doesn't even mention other issues like games releasing in clearly unfinished states, games that are clearly chasing trends, and game developers being restricted by their publishers.

Why is this significant? Well answer me this: Was there a single tag response in my post that complains about an indie game doing these things?

Say what you want about indie games, but I bet you didn't pay $60 and got psychologically manipulated to spend more on that game. I bet you weren't getting manipulated by some free to play model to spend more money than you would on a normal game. I bet the game actually released in a finished state and even if it did, the game clearly communicated it wasn't done.

Sure, you could give me examples of indie games that do have those bad practices, but I guarantee you that you cannot prove that most indie games do this.

So yeah, play indie games. Don't support corporate bullshit unless you know the game was made with the player's best interest in mind.

[thetroupemaster]

Guess who got a new brainrot and made a crossover!

[destiny-smasher]

My personal 2020 GOTYs

1) Hades

This game, dudes. THIS GAME. A fraction of the budget, a fraction of the dev team size, reportedly HEALTHY development schedule and management...and imo it offers at least some of everything I want out of a single player video game. I have poured over 60 hours into this and I see myself putting in some more over time and ALL of the time I have spent has felt rewarding and edifying. Clever design, smart writing, organic voice acting, sharp gameplay, and all done at a fraction of the resources of these big budget, bloated games. You love to see it.

2) Final Fantasy 7 Remake (Part 1?)

I went into this year not caring much about this game at all. FF7 was a game I played as a teen, enjoyed, respected, and moved on from pretty easily. This Remake, so far, has done more than I could’ve expected in terms of actually REMAKING a game. It’s literally a new adaptation, and I as pleasantly surprised at just how hard it went. From realizing the world of Midgar into something so full of detail and plausibility, to reiterating and doubling down on its postmodern anti-corporation themes, to making Barret the character I loved the MOST somehow?? Combining everything I love about real-time RPG action with a tactical strategy element long missing from the genre, reimagining and fleshing out characters and concepts into something deeper and more meaningful...I’ve never considered myself a huge FF7 fan but this game was really something, and I absolutely cannot wait for more (and praying they do my girl Yuffie justice). I’ve been super skeptical of Nomura as a director given...the mess that has become Kingdom Hearts, but as it turns out, when he has others to reign things in, some surprisingly nuanced stuff for an anime game can come out of it. It has its flaws, to be sure, but it’s still the most enjoyable experience I had with a big budget game this year.

3) The Last of Us Part 2

I feel conflicted over this one in particular - I feel Neil is not longer a director I respect the way I did back with the first game. I feel Naughty Dog is falling victim to all of the late capitalist issues plaguing big budget game dev. But I also love this game. It’s much more flawed than the first, but that’s mainly because it’s more ambitious and complicated. It’s THE most flawed game on this game, honestly, but overall as a game I am compelled to respect its writing, its gutsier decisions, its art direction, acting, presentation, etc. It’s an impressive game and the most technically impressive game I played all year if not all generation. Props where they’re due, but at the same time, I think this game was poorly directed and I love it in spite of issues with its production, rather than because of some strong vision. That’s the big Sony bucks, I suppose, matched with a dev team willing and apparently somehow able to fulfil what they want to create. I still get the impression there was a bit of ‘design by committee for a mainstream audience’ kind of shit going on - how could there not with something this big? - and as a result I think the game is a bit bloated. Shave off about 3-5 hours from a few spots and it’d be a more focused game, and maybe I’d feel more edified and satisfied rather than weirdly conflicted. Even so, a huge accomplishment and I hope to see more games tackle premises as ambitious as this down the road.

4) Bug Fables

This game technically launched last year but it debuted on console in 2020, and I didn’t play it until then. This is as close to a follow-up to old school Paper Mario as it gets, while simultaneously doing a lot to forge its own identity and even improve on the formula presented in the previous games. Its rough around the edges but that’s mainly because it’s an independent game, and it’s amazing just how well the dev team was able to reproduce the scope and details of this specific subgenre of RPG, all while continuously implementing new game design elements and multiple features that make it feel more modern in its direction. Fantastic stuff, I’m still not even finished with it because I’ve been taking my sweet time, though I intend to finally finish it this month, and I have to say, it’s quite a special game in my opinion.

5) Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout

Absolute banger of a multiplayer game, really love the presentation, the concept, the overall execution, the way the team has been updating the game every month or so in response to feedback and implementing new content. So good to see the battle royale genre FINALLY pushed beyond just...arena shooting. Can’t wait to see where else this game can go over time.

6) Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Somehow this one slipped my mind when I first wrote this up, despite having poured well over 100 hours into it this year. I think part of it is that New Horizons did a lot of things I’ve wanted the series to do for so long, and yet is still far behind in terms of so many other things I wish they would do. Quality of life things prevent me from really re-investing into it, and yet despite that I have to admit it REALLY sucked me in for a solid few weeks and I continued to play off and on for months. It was the perfect game we collectively needed right when it came out and graphically I can’t think of how to really improve on that style. A really relaxing getaway I needed earlier this year, though like with previous AC games, I don’t find myself going back to it as much as I’d think I would.

7) Going Under

A surprise hit for me, this rogue-like swooped in from ‘heh that looks amusing’ to ‘oh wow this is legit just a great game.’ Its weird visuals, funky 3D gameplay, and surprisingly sharp storytelling make for a rogue-like unlike any other and one totally near the top for me.

8) Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Squeezed this in just this past week or so, and this one also satisfied me greatly. I wish we’d see more big budget open-world games like this -- laser focused, not wasting any time, and not being repetitious aside for completionists. So cool to see another team’s take on Miles after how much I fell for Into the Spider-verse, and very glad the team both homages that movie while subverting some expectations fans of the film might have, all while continuing to adapt Insomniac’s take on Spider-Man from a couple years ago.

9) Demon’s Souls (Remake)

As a big fan of FromSoft who never got too far into this one originally, it’s been great to visit it as if it’s a new Souls game with an alternate art style. And a very clean art style it has. This was a good pick to be remastered because many, even FromSoft fans like myself, missed out on it, and it feels unique from its predecessors while still showing a solid foundation they’d go on to build from.

10) Crash Bandicoot 4

An amazingly well done follow-up to the original trilogy, this game GETS what makes old school Crash games good, and it improves upon things in a number of ways, from making Coco the alternate hero, bringing back old faces in new lights, going ham with the visuals both in raw art and unique filters when replaying stages, and giving incentive for completion with so many great costumes. Well done, great old school platforming with modern design sensibilities. 

Honorable Mentions:

CrossCode

This also technically launched before 2020 but I didn’t play it until this year, and I don’t think it hit consoles until this year. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect going in, just remembering that I had enjoyed the demo well enough. This game delivers in most ways you could want from an indie game, with an expansive world of sidequests and RPG growth, a flexible combat system that can be nailbiting and engaging, and old-school dungeon designs with lots of environmental and elemental puzzles that really ask a lot of you. All of this capped with a surprisingly great narrative with characters I grew to love, including a much needed protagonist with a unique identity unlike any in games that I’ve played, as well as extra bits of detail and production values invested at JUST the right moments where the story needs it the most. It feels a bit tedious at times and part of me wishes more of the sidequest content involved direct interactions with the named, recurring characters, but it’s still one of the most impressive and well-done indie games I’ve ever played.

Katana ZERO

Razor-sharp game design, this one. It’s a brief but intensely focused experience that feels like the video game equivalent of a slick, experimental indie film. Could do with some more replayablity for those who want it but what’s here is just damn good and I gobbled this game down like a fantastic, hand-cooked meal at an atmospheric dive bar barely anyone knows about.

Necrobarista

Haven’t quite finished it yet but this is definitely one of the best visual novels I’ve ever experienced just due to how hard it goes on presentation and pushing for a more cinematic and thoughtful vibe than any other VN I’ve ever experienced. The characters and writing feel ripped out of an early 2000′s webcomic, for better and for worse, but all the same, it’s some fantastic stuff and it’s so refreshing to see a game set in Australia tackling a well-worn genre by giving it a new spin.

Slay the Spire

Another personal pick since this released in 2019, and I’m not quite sure which consoles it hit or when, but I didn’t get into it until early this year, and was totally hooked. Fantastically addictive, probably the most well-design deck-building rogue-like I’ve seen, certainly one of my favorite deck-building games in general. Apparently I’ve sunk 50 hours into it this year, more than most on this list, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that number spikes up again at some point.

[taco-night-frenzy]

Top 10 Favorite Games I played this year!!

Listen. I love video games. So. Much. I really like to look back every year and see what games really set a flame in my heart and made me feel something and HAPPY.  I did a more in depth list on Twitter with links to each game if you want to see: https://twitter.com/Taco_Night_/status/1341860604126973952?s=20 (I’m also more active on Twitter now if you are interested anyway) But here’s the short version 1: Bug Fables

2:CrossCode

3: Outer Wilds

4: Dicey Dungeons

5: Monster Hunter World + Iceborne

6: Hades

7: Yooka Laylee and the Impossible Lair

8: Legend of Grimrock 2

9: Ori and the Will of the Wisps

10: Monster Train

I love games so much and this year was no different. Video games, ESPECIALLY INDIES, are what kept me going this year. I hope we can all come to appreciate indies even more than we already did. Anyway, idk, talk to me about Bug Fables and CrossCode and those other games if you want because I love them??? I also love you bye

[flyingsquirrely]

Master Tag List

Finally finished tagging my entire blog!

General:

me – if it makes me go #relatable, it’s here

my posts – things that I am the OP of

original stuff – stuff about my original characters/universes/etc.

jokes/puns/fun – LARGEST TAG, ENTER AT OWN RISK. Full of jokes, puns, and anything I consider amusing that I couldn’t fit in another category

vine – a depressing number of broken links here, but there’s still a few vines hanging around

video – if it has a video and it isn’t tagged with vine or music, it’s here

music – is music. Ish.

cool pictures – may overlap with cool things, but generally more focused on the photo

cool things – does not always include photos, but always cool (occasionally overlaps with prompts)

prompts – writing prompts, or things that could be used as prompts

meta – talking about writing/reading/blogging/etc

useful things – informative posts, generally writing-related

art – art that I couldn’t stuff in another category

art theory – stuff about art and how to do it well (currently v small)

quote – quotes that I like

cats – posts primarily about cats

cute – 90% animals, but some other posts here too

dinosaurs - yes

all aboard the dragon wagon! – posts about dragons

lovecraft et al – from eldritch horrors to the void (does not contain only Lovecraft)

solarpunk – the best -punk

friendship – posts about friendship

good things – if you need a pick-me-up

recipe – recipes and pictures of food, mostly desserts

dnd – dungeons and dragons related

want – I want the thing

productivity – posts involving work/college and often the not doing of work/college

Oregon – posts about Oregon

nostalgia – trip

tis the season – posts about various holidays

conversation – conversations with people via post. Not really useful to anyone but me.

Writing:

30 Day Original Story Development Challenge – old and incomplete

My fanfiction - ehhhhhh

Subjects:

history – seriousness may vary

linguistics – languages and their development

math – I promise, math is actually pretty cool

science – fun

computer science – FUN (may include robots)

space – or SPACE

philosophy – fun when not dry as heck

politics – rarely informative, mostly trying not to think about hell

Fandom:

Yu Gi Oh

Fullmetal Alchemist

Detective Conan/Case Closed

Gintama

Osomatsu-san

Princess Tutu

Mob Psycho 100

Yuri On Ice

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure

Natsume’s Book of Friends

mspaintadventures – contains Homestuck and other mspa stuff

Avatar: The Last Airbender/Legend of Korra

Gravity Falls

Danny Phantom

Voltron

Miraculous Ladybug

Promare

Castlevania

Paranatural

Room of Swords

Ducktales

The Owl House

Tiger and Bunny

S-Classes that I Raised/My S-Class Hunters

When The Third Wheel Strikes Back

Dungeon Meshi

Phineas and Ferb

misc comics/anime – contains anime, manga, cartoons, comics, webcomics

disney – also contain pixar/dreamworks/etc. bc I’m a lazy person who found a disney post first

Zootopia

Big Hero 6

superheroes – contains Marvel/DC/etc. as well as non-fandom superhero/villain things

The Martian

Jurassic Park/World

Star Wars

Pacific Rim

Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit/other Tolkien

Kingsman

Knives Out

misc movies

Pokemon

Minecraft – also Mindcrack

Legend of Zelda

Ace Attorney

Overwatch

Tales Series

Flight Rising

Dishonored

CrossCode

Horizon Zero Dawn

Hollow Knight

Bug Fables

World of Warcraft

Runescape

misc games

Star Trek

The Man From UNCLE

Doctor Who

Merlin

Psych

Brooklyn 99

Firefly

Stranger Things

Schitt’s Creek

9-1-1

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency

Ted Lasso

Leverage

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries

misc tv

Harry Potter

Sherlock Holmes – all incarnations

Shakespeare

Pride and Prejudice/Lizzie Bennet – and related things

Warriors

Good Omens

Discworld

The Queen’s Thief

The Murderbot Diaries

misc books

Welcome to Night Vale

Slenderverse – anything Slenderman-related

Red vs Blue

RWBY

The Adventure Zone

Critical Role

Mystery Skulls Animated

Thrilling Intent

Dimension 20

misc podcasts

--end--

[thetroupemaster]

Maki, the moderator Triblader.

[thetroupemaster]

[thetroupemaster]

Loving the crosscode and bugfable posting shout out to the two crosscode fans

[thetroupemaster]

Spheromancer Vi!

[thetroupemaster]

HOWDY Y'ALL

Have you any interest in Bug Fables smashed together with Crosscode? Any at all? Well, check out the CrossFables, containing my dear friend who is writing a fanfiction detailing the crossover, my dear companion @nblynera, and... as of writing, that's it. Want to be the forth person in this extremely niche server? Well, here you go!

[thetroupemaster]

Yet more CrossFables, for your viewing pleasure:

H.B. and Crow work together as a dev team, with H.B. being physically present and Crow working remotely as an avatar.

Crow has two accounts, her official developer account (Hexacast) and her personal account (Spheromancer).

Leif is a Hexacast, Vi is a Spheromancer, Kabbu is a Quadroguard.

Vi is still physically at the Hive, playing CrossWorlds to scratch the adventuring itch.

Kabbu is using CrossWorlds to try to recover from his recent trauma - no better coping mechanism than repeatedly throwing yourself in harm's way instead of your friends suffering, right?

Leif's server crashed right as he got Cold form, resulting in an error where Cold registered as his new Neutral due to a packet not receiving. H.B. noticed this and decided "yeah im not gonna bother fixing that lol"

Leif has basically the same thing going on as Lea, minus Sergey, and plus speech. Sassy moths for life. (Yes, he does indeed have the same... condition.)

H.B. realized what he was, and has gotten very curious. That project was supposed to be abandoned, after all, so she may as well take some time to study him, much to his dismay.

The Roaches are the Ancients here! Spaaace buggggs

Crow and Leif are lighthearted rivals, often dueling for fun. A dev and a programming anomaly? Recipe for friendship!

Maki and Kina are both Tribladers, Kina choosing to use throw arts over melee, and Maki choosing to use melee over throw arts. Capable of deadly coordination together, and are both moderators! Kina isn't considered a mod as much as a helper by most though, which is... frustrating, to say the least.

Vermillion Wasteland is the equivalent of Snakemouth Labs. You know why.

[thetroupemaster]

Oh, they do, though in the lore specifically within CrossWorlds, they fulfill the role of "unseen ancient bird folk". Most of them are just actually off planet as devs and put their 'sonas in there.

Yet more CrossFables, for your viewing pleasure:

H.B. and Crow work together as a dev team, with H.B. being physically present and Crow working remotely as an avatar.

Crow has two accounts, her official developer account (Hexacast) and her personal account (Spheromancer).

Leif is a Hexacast, Vi is a Spheromancer, Kabbu is a Quadroguard.

Vi is still physically at the Hive, playing CrossWorlds to scratch the adventuring itch.

Kabbu is using CrossWorlds to try to recover from his recent trauma - no better coping mechanism than repeatedly throwing yourself in harm's way instead of your friends suffering, right?

Leif's server crashed right as he got Cold form, resulting in an error where Cold registered as his new Neutral due to a packet not receiving. H.B. noticed this and decided "yeah im not gonna bother fixing that lol"

Leif has basically the same thing going on as Lea, minus Sergey, and plus speech. Sassy moths for life. (Yes, he does indeed have the same... condition.)

H.B. realized what he was, and has gotten very curious. That project was supposed to be abandoned, after all, so she may as well take some time to study him, much to his dismay.

The Roaches are the Ancients here! Spaaace buggggs

Crow and Leif are lighthearted rivals, often dueling for fun. A dev and a programming anomaly? Recipe for friendship!

Maki and Kina are both Tribladers, Kina choosing to use throw arts over melee, and Maki choosing to use melee over throw arts. Capable of deadly coordination together, and are both moderators! Kina isn't considered a mod as much as a helper by most though, which is... frustrating, to say the least.

Vermillion Wasteland is the equivalent of Snakemouth Labs. You know why.