#but I attribute that to being a fan of the game since its release date

[renyen808]

A Date with Death: How is this Game FREE?!

Lately, the video game industry has taken a turn. When it comes to purchasing high-end games, instead of the $50 amount that I used to pay, I find that now games can cost upwards of $80, which to me is ridiculous. I mean, clearly with the success of Baulder’s Gate 3, they show that they can make an amazing, complex, and fun-filled game for $60. I can already hear people saying, ‘Well, if you want the Deluxe version, that is $80.’ Yes, it is, but it is worth it when you can play the game over and over again and have a different adventure each time. I will write a blog post later about Baulder’s Gate 3, but let’s just say I am a huge fan. Unlike games that require you to not only buy the equipment, but the game itself cough Spider-Man 2 cough. I personally never played Spider-Man 2 and I heard it is great, but it is absurd to me that I have to have a PS5 in order to play one game. Anyway, I am getting off topic a little, the point is, games are getting expensive in the mainstream and I just want something fun to play with me having to pay little to no money. I was searching through Steam when I found it, the game I am about to talk about: A Date With Death.

(Credit: Steam)

A Date with Death, which was released on December 7th of last year, is a texting and chatting based game where you are talking to a Grim Reaper created by Two and a Half Studios. You are able to communicate through text messaging and video calls for the majority of the game, with at least one chat and video call per in-game day. You can customize your own character, choosing from an array of different outfits, skin tones, hairstyles and colors, facial attributes and accessories. You can also choose your pronouns, your first and last name, and pet. You can also customize your in-game apartment with all sorts of things, such as polaroids or plants. 

(Credit: Two and a Half Studios)

At the point I am writing this, I have completed the game, obtained every ending, and got every Steam achievement available. I played the game a total of four times and received a different ending each time. There are many different requirements that you have to do to complete each ending, and while, during the game, it could seem confusing, once you figure out how Grim, that’s what I will call the Grim Reaper, reacts to your words, then you’ll be able to change the course of the story. Although this game only goes for seven in-game days, they find many ways to pack it with content. I have a total of 26.6 hours on the game (honestly, some of it is from it being idle), but that shows you just how much I played it. Before we continue, I also want to add that this game does have swearing and some suggestive content, but I think that can be assumed because this is a romance visual novel. Nothing NSFW shows up in the game. 

Also, before we continue, I have to admit that I got the DLC for this game, which was $7. It adds more dialogue and different choices you can make in your character’s appearance, so there is that. However, I can tell what was a part of the base game, thanks to a little star next to the new dialogue (I honestly thought it was saying he likes those the most, that is not the case for some of the choices). What I am saying by bringing up that I purchased the DLC is that you do not need it in order to enjoy the game. It really is great without it at its core. 

It helps that Grim himself, to me, is pretty cute. I love his snark and charm and instantly understood that that is what the developers were going for. His outfit is also unique. He is wearing a jacket, but it’s around his shoulders. He also has white hair (LOVE) and red eyes, because of course. He is video calling from his bedroom, and he is usually slouching like he is in the image on Steam. Sometimes he will perk up and blush and stuff, but he is normally guarded when he is on call with you. He will also message you in different styles since he is learning to talk with a mortal, so there is that little bit of information. Oh, I forgot, you can also completely customize your in-chat profile, changing the image and name, but only after an in-game event. 

(Credit: Steam)

The artwork in this game is absolutely stunning for a free game as well. I cannot believe how gorgeous it is. They give you a gallery, which shows all the different images of Grim and what the previsuals looked like before the in-game counterparts. They give a lot of artwork and put a lot of love into the game and I appreciate it so much. I really enjoy when I see people put their heart and soul into games they create because it shows that they love what they do. It doesn’t feel like a cash grab, but rather a passion project that they can build more off of.

(Credit: Two and a Half Studios)

Speaking of that, currently, there is a DLC expansion planned for the game. There is currently no release date at the time of this post, but I can assure you, once it comes out, I will be one of the first ones to purchase and review it! 

A Date with Death, a free game where you chat and romance the Grim Reaper was a lot more fun than I anticipated it to be. I found myself going back and wanting to complete everything instead of it feeling like a chore to achieve all the endings and achievements. While I don’t think I’ll play it again right away, once the new content comes out, you best believe I will return to Grim and our adventures. In the end, play this game. I honestly think this is a well made game for FREE, and I believe anybody will have a fun time with it. 

Also, sorry for the lack of images this time around! I don't wanna spoil anything for you all ;)

[lightns881]

DTeam Tumblr Demographics Survey Results (Part 2):

What does DTeamblr look like, what does it have to do with MCYT history, and why does it look like a rainbow?

I’ll make an educated guess here and say y'all enjoyed my last post (totally unrelated to the way I gained almost 50 followers overnight). Anyhow, thank you so much for the overwhelming support! I’m so glad a lot of you felt you could relate to my deep-dive into the leading personality type on DTeam Tumblr. It took me so many hours to write and research, and as a math major and honors student, it’s no easy feat, so I’m so grateful for the attention it got!

Today we’re discussing the general demographics of DTeam Tumblr and why they might look the way they do. Number 8 will blow your mind! So make sure to keep reading and hit that little grey heart and arrow at the bottom if you like it, so more people get to see it! Thanks for your support! Now, let’s jump straight into the post!

Your Daily Dose of Data

From the 449 responses we received, these are some pie charts displaying the gender, age, and sexuality of all respondents.

Image Description: Female (52.8%), Non-Binary (37.4%), Male (9.8%)

Image Description: 16-17 (37%), 13-15 (31.4%), 18 and over (29.4%), 12 and under (2.2%)

Image Description: Bisexual/Pansexual (54.1%), Homosexual (16%), Asexual (14.7%), Other (7.8%), Heterosexual (7.3%)

Mmhm, delicious! Y'all ready to dig into these stats? Because I don’t know about you, but they certainly don’t strike me as what the general population looks like!

Welcome to Tumblr, the Only Community Where Straight Men are the Minority

So these statistics certainly didn’t take me by surprise. Mostly because the DNF Shipper Survey I took some time ago revealed a similar trend. Not to mention, Tumblr is probably the QUEEREST internet community on the planet. 

Funny enough, the survey revealed a shocking number of ZERO heterosexual males respondents. I’ll say it louder for the people in the back. ZERO straight males were recorded out of 449 respondents for this survey!

Now, this isn’t surprising for the Tumblr community by itself, but I can say I’m somewhat surprised in terms of the MCYT Tumblr community. (Obviously, the survey specified DTeam Tumblr, but there is a big overlap between both communities, so I will be using them interchengably when it seems relevant.)

Let’s break this down. The survey reveals the largest age population is 16-17, though it’s not by a great margin in comparison to 13-15 and 18 and older, which doesn’t surprise me either. Some of the major critics of the DTeam Fandom and other MCYT Fandoms love to claim the fanbase’s majority age range lies with children and pre-teens. While it’s an undeniable fact children are drawn to Minecraft, it’s also a misconception to paint it as solely a community for younger viewers.

In the MCYT Tumblr and DTeam Tumblr communities, specifically, we see this is not the case. Only 1/3 of the respondents of this survey are under the age of 16 (you could attribute part of it to the fact younger people might be less inclined to participate in this survey, but it is still a notable difference). I can’t say these age ranges are similar in other parts of the community like DTeam Twitter, Tik Tok, or Reddit, but if I had to make a guess, I’d say Tumblr lies toward the older of the bunch, with Reddit being the oldest and Tik Tok being the youngest (I do hope to perform this survey on some of the other communities, so please stay until the end if you want to help with that).

One of the likely explanations to why the ages for DTeam Tumblr look this way is the fact a big chunk of the community has likely been watching MCYT for a long time (even with breaks in between). I, myself, used to watch channels like PopularMMOs, Aphmau, and PrestonPlayz as a kid, and I presume many of you are familiar with them as well. With the resurgence of MCYT in the past year, it likely drew a lot of the older viewers in addition to the new ones.

But enough about age. What I really want to highlight on this post is the attraction of queer individuals to DTeam Tumblr and MCYT as a whole.

Why is the current MCYT Fandom so queer in comparison to the previous generations?

This is a huge open-ended question and considering I can only capture so much of the DTeam and MCYT community, the rest of this post should be taken solely as a theoretical analysis as opposed to fact.

With that out of the way, let’s start by discussing the shift MCYT has undergone over the years (I promise this will circle back to the question of queerness in the MCYT fandom, but we need some background before we can come up with a decent theory).

When Minecraft was first released, it proved to be a monumental change in the gaming industry. This simple little indie game took the world by storm. It was so vastly different from what the general population generally viewed gaming as (first-person shooters, story-driven games, action games, etc.) Not to mention, it didn’t exactly solely appeal to only a small margin of gamers, those being white cis males.

The gaming industry has notoriously been known in the past for its heteronormative community and general prejudice toward minorities. Though it has gone through a significant change over the decades, we certainly can’t say it’s fully gone.

Yet for whatever reason, the recent MCYT has taken the interest of so many queer people in comparison to other gaming YouTube communities. Why? Why are queer people so drawn to this community? And, more precisely, why does it feel so different than the old MCYT? Lastly, how does this relate to the conclusion about the leading personalities of this fandom we made in the last post?

The Niche Communities of MCYT Over the Years

MCYT has always been a huge, over-saturated genre of YouTube with content appealing to a variety of audiences. It’s dominated gaming content for years, and I think we can all safely say it’s never been bigger than it is today.

So why is it that just now it feels like the queerness of the fandom is popping off? Why now as opposed to say five years ago when MCYT was at another one of it’s strongest stages?

It seems like the community has made a tremendous shift in relation to breaking gender norms and LGBTQ+ subjects, not only in the fans but within the creators themselves. Was flirting and calling a pretty-boy streamer pet names as normal in the past as it is today? Were straight gamer guys putting on dresses and a full-face of make-up as supported back then? Were “marriages” and “pregnancies” within Minecraft boys an everyday occurrence like they are now? How is it that MCYT has dominated a Twitch dating show where flirting with the gay host and among straight contestants themselves is just another bit of entertainment? Where is this all coming from?

Recently, I watched a 2 hour documentary depicting all of the stages of Minecraft YouTube and how it has changed over the years. If you haven’t seen it and you have some time to spare, I HIGHLY recommend it! It’s very informative, and it honestly gave me such a strong sense of nostalgia that makes me choke up every time I think about it. I’ll link it below.

The documentary does a great job at exploring the different niche communities that dominated MCYT since it first took off. Some of such communities include the basic Let’s Players, the team-based Let’s Play channels like How2Minecraft, the roleplay story-centric ones like Aphmau and Samgladiator, the tutorial, building and technical side like Mumbo and Grian, the PVP-centric Bedwars or Hypixel channels, the Machinima community, the comedy side like ExplosiveTNT, the parody music videos, and so many more. All of the mentioned communities have dominated Minecraft at one point or another, many of them still having a rippling effect and/or a loyal community today. All of these communities have certain aspects that define them, some of which parallel the current overtaking content in the present.

How can we compare MyStreet to the Dream SMP?

Taking Aphmau as an example, her MyStreet series had a TREMENDOUS success a few years ago, racking in millions of views and bringing in a lot of money that eventually allowed her to hire voice actors and increase the production of mentioned episodes. The roleplay series was so successful it ran for six seasons!

Now, let’s compare that to the Dream SMP. It seems like a big comparison to be making considering they appear so different at first glance. For once, Aphmau is just one channel whose audience caters toward girls and younger people who enjoy romance. The series is set-up in an episodic-format that resembles more of a TV series than actual Minecraft videos.

Meanwhile, the Dream SMP is a collection of content creators with a mix of improvised storylines and the occasional regular video that resembles more of a Let’s Play series than a RP series.

You could say the only true comparisons to draw out of these two are the popularity they had/have and the profit they brought to their respective creators. 

However, there’s two other key similarities that you’ll find not only within these two specific examples, but many other channels and communities as well. Story and characters.

MyStreet’s story aspect is fairly obvious seeing as it’s a episodic series that focuses on a fictional story. The Dream SMP’s story aspect isn’t as clear, but it’s evident there is a story playing out in the foreground and background, whether intentional or unintentional, or improvised or not.

Character is where some of you might start to question me. It’s obvious MyStreet has characters. I mean, it is a fictional story, after all. But the Dream SMP? Light, they’re obviously people!

Well, my answer to that is yes and no--sort of. The Dream SMP’s story heavily relies on roleplay, bits as you might call them. Events that aren’t necessarily planned out as a fictional plot like the typical MyStreet episode is, but they aren’t exactly real. Schlatt is obviously not a villain in real life, he just likes to impersonate as one for the narrative. Wilbur isn’t crazy, but it’s a way to spice up the heroic story surrounding Tommy and him.

It’s video-game improv. Except the actors behind the content just so happen to be real people playing off the personalities and “brands” they have obtained. 

Brands. It all boils down to this. In the entertainment business, without a clear vision of your project and a clear way to brand what your consumer intakes, your project will likely not find a lot of success.

There’s a reason why Tommy plays off his loudness, using an overexaggerated laugh that although may not be completely fake, it is likely not the laugh he uses everyday. Or why BadBoyHalo is this supposed innocent muffin who doesn’t understand the crafting table meme and other references that are fairly easy to google and find the meaning of. Or why Sapnap is this chaotic being who loves starting pet wars and we love to paint as an arsonist in the Dream SMP. While all of these personality traits may be a part of their true selves, they’re played up for the camera--for the story. They act as the personas that define their characters in the narrative.

They have a clear brand and vision that appeals to the audience and makes them tune in on the daily to see how they all come together. It’s like roleplaying a more extreme version of yourself, one that brings home the money.

Story and characters run across every entertainment outlet. They define their brand. Aphmau has her characters and series. Hermitcraft has a set of memorable personalities and episodic videos that formulate its own story that is less like a narrative and more of a history of the server. ExplodingTNT has his recurring cast and comedic sketches. Most of these niche communities have a form of story and character defining them. It’s how they achieve a clear sense of branding and cater to a specific audience.

Queer Theory in MCYT

Having said all that, why does the MCYT of today draw in so many queer viewers?

Let’s think about this. In my last post, I ended by mentioning DTeam Tumblr is a sort of safe haven for INFP and INxx types who might be placed in the “other” category by society. INFPs, specially, are predisposed for escapism--one common form of it being fiction and entertainment. Not to mention, INFPs are feeling types who, as introverts, seek a personable connection. It’s why it’s so easy for them to obsess over book characters or fall in love with content creators.

Now, let’s imagine a whole community of LGBTQ+ INFP and INxx types. Actually, scratch that, we don’t even have to imagine it.

It’s what our community looks like today.

And why are so many so drawn to the DTeam and Dream SMP of all things? It’s a personable storyline that essentially forms a direct tie to the viewer. Unlike pre-recorded fictional TV series you tune into on your device, the Dream SMP is a whole load of chaos that blurs the lines between reality and fiction where fans can directly connect to creators and get to know them as people through a storyline that features sub-textual queer themes and non-conforming behaviors.

The MCYT content creator community of today is more non-conforming than ever before, and knowing this whole fact, knowing that many of them might place themselves in the “other” category or at the very least aren’t afraid to break the norms and be seen in that light, is a comfort in itself for LGBTQ+ INFP types. Once again, it’s a safe space that helps you escape from the troubles of real life, one you relate to.

Okay. So although this does answer why the fans look like they do, what about the creators themselves? Are we really supposed to believe this all came through naturally? That a bunch of straight guys suddenly decided wearing dresses was something they wanted to do?

I don’t mean to sound cynical here, and I’m in no way trying to insinuate creators have solely some sort of corrupt ulterior motive. Things are never as simple as they look. However, the truth is, a part of it lies on the attention it’s gotten.

I’ve talked a lot about DreamNotFound and the way Dream uses it as a marketing ploy. I stand by my point. However, he’s not the only one who does this in the MCYT community. Why did Finn suddenly go from wearing a dress to cross-dressing as a girl for a whole week? Why are so many creators suddenly deciding wearing dresses is fun? Why does every freaking straight MCYT actively want to flirt with George nowadays?

Let’s just let Techno’s favorite word answer this for us: clout.

It gets attention from one of the largest historically underserved minority community in the entertainment business. We might not be able to see gay flirting in every Netflix TV show or guys not minding dresses and getting fake marriages, but you are certainly going to get at least one of those in every Dream SMP stream and video you tune into. It gets attention. It brings home the money. And do I blame them? Not really.

Interestingly enough, there’s a lot of analytical posts on the MCYT Tumblr community that discuss the dangers of these tactics and why gay jokes and the way queer subtext is treated by MCYT creators is harmful. Despite this, it still attracts such a huge community of queers. So why exactly would queer people actively watch something that’s offensive or harmful to us?

I have a lot more to say about this topic and the morality behind Dream’s tactics, but I’m out of breath for today, so I’ll talk about it in my next post. What better way to start the conversation about the DNF and Karlnap questions of the survey than a good ol’ discussion on the morality of queerbaiting and the likes?

If you got this far, I’d appreciate it if you liked and reblogged this post if you enjoyed it and/or learned something new! Also, important news, I would really like to perform a similar study on the DTeam Twitter Community to measure the differences in demographics across platforms. I would REALLY appreciate it if you guys could go like, retweet and share the link I posted on my Twitter about it (tweet will be linked in the reblog below) so it reaches more of the DTeam Twitter community!

However, if you filled out the survey yourself here or you associate more with DTeam Tumblr than DTeam Twitter please DO NOT fill out the survey again! I’m trying to make sure it reaches the audience that mains on Twitter, but I need a little help with that since I don’t have as big of an influence on Twitter than on here for obvious reasons.

Anyhow, thank you so much for all your support! I really appreciate y’all and make sure to hit the follow if you want to lookout for the next demographics post! <3

(Pssst, I’m releasing a MCYT DNF superpower AU longfic next month... You should totally go check out the post on that if you’re interested in it...)

[downloadgtavandroid58]

Grand Theft Auto 5 is re-released on Smart phone, too, such as Android as well as IOS. So GTA 5 Android is precisely comparable to the PC/Consoles variation, and the storyline as well as game mechanics are just made portable with the same gameplay, so it is perfect for the mobile players out there. Basically, the changes that are made in GTA V mobile is simply the control as well as video game device. Riding the automobiles appears rather very easy as a result of the easy control mechanism established by CRAZE especially for smart phones.

After each hazardous battle, gamers can quit anywhere to see the scenery of the city. Each scene in this video game is meticulously polished in regards to the image. So it is not only a disorderly area however also includes much poetic beauty. They once failed, however after that they found each other and also the distinction in their characters is what links them to becoming a team. Since then, they have actually been involved in numerous major objectives, showing resistance to the government and simultaneously damaging other distressing challengers in the underworld. Therefore, if you are a gamer that suches as to discover the criminal world.

Whenever a phone is seen on ads, it constantly has a battery life with one sector missing out on (the battery level appears to be at 69%, an additional reference to the 69 sex setting). However, personality's phones have unlimited battery life. In older versions of the video game, if the gamer has twin handguns possessed as well as gets a call, Carl will take out 2 phones. In the console variations of the video game, the phone can likewise be utilized as a type of "extremely handbrake", to instantly quit any type of vehicle, no matter the rate.

For example, the patrol car chase in the game has actually been completely redone, and also the bank break-in mission. The enhanced version of the video game likewise includes the new moped lorry, which can cross the countryside without excessive trouble. The storyline is based upon the renowned book/poem 'We Are Older' written by William Christner.

As GTA V go back to Xbox's preferred Game Pass from Thursday, it has actually additionally been revealed that the video game will certainly now be playable on mobile phones likewise. Make an entrance directly right into the activity ofGTA 5 Mobileby downloading and install the documents at this moment! You must just get break for Android catch and also you're good to go. Attempt not to waste your time on remote continuous communications or emulators with various layouts.

The video game is currently available for gaming consoles and also Windows COMPUTER. It will be launched for PlayStation 5 and also Xbox Series X in late 2021. There is likewise an on the internet multiplayer mode where up to 30 gamers explore the open world where each player can engage into a participating or affordable interaction between themselves. This game series is extremely well-known by gamers and also reviewers for it having a flexible story as well as loaded with action. This GTA 5 for Android has the very same attribute as the PC variation and also PS3/PS4 variation have. The only thing that differs in this version is you can not play this game on your android tools in the first-person mode. We are still trying to make it feasible on this version.

Bear in mind, you'll be play the preferred game only via Vapor Link, which is the electronic distribution service. Rockstar additionally said that although it may shed some "performance", it will certainly acquire brand-new features also. Rockstar defined it as being a contemporary phone, with Dan Houser saying that the player will certainly use it for things like "accessing the web",.

The various other one is created apples iphone, iPads, and also various iDevices that are fit for boosting the game. GTA BOOM is the initial source for all things Grand Theft Auto. We are the only site devoted to publishing everyday GTA information and also have the biggest collection of GTA game guides readily available anywhere. Using the invincibility cell phone cheat codePlease read our FAQ if you experience any concerns utilizing these cheats, or if you have any type of concerns.

Even more information was launched on the internet site on 24 August, 6 September, as well as 13 September. Superstar Games initially verified the video game's existence on 25 October 2011 in an announcement on its main website and also Twitter feed. Take-Two Interactive's share cost ultimately enhanced by 7 per cent. Journalists said the statement stired up substantial expectancy within the video gaming market, which they owed to the collection' cultural significance. The game did not fulfill its initial forecasted March-- May 2013 release day. By 30 October 2012, marketing posters had spread to the Internet, as well as a listing by the store Game had actually dripped the forecasted release date.

Superstar Games made their ton of money from this highly prominent in addition to debatable franchise. The entire series redefined the standard of open world gaming. Grand Theft Auto V is the current entrance in the schedule, originally introduced on PlayStation 3 and also Xbox 360 in 2013.

If you bought the video game from an additional Store, you would certainly need to add the executable data of the game to Heavy steam. The developer did a wonderful job on their parameters and also images. The programmer attempted to keep all the functions as well as move the video game to Android phones and also tablets without shedding capability. If you have not attempted the video game yet, after that we advise that you do it today. This video game is not a main growth of Superstar Games. The video game is improperly enhanced, so it will certainly be tough to run it on the majority of smart devices.

These two video games are additionally quite prominent till currently in the entire Grand Theft Auto collection due to a range of factors. In this contemporary gaming period, Graphics make a decision how effective any type of game is. There is no comparison in between the graphics of GTA 5 and also GTA San Andreas, GTA 5 functions excellent and top notch graphics that look even more sensible than GTA San Andreas. We understand there is a significant difference between the release day of both of these video games, but to be really honest GTA 5 is a clear winner based upon realities and logic. Hundreds of people are currently able to play this GTA 5 on their Android devices.

If you remember i have published GTA 5 Lite 100MB variation prior to yet this game is various. This video game is developed by MikeGaming who has a working YouTube Network. You will get to play Its GTA5 mod apk Objective with mostly all primary game information on it Grand Theft Auto 5 was released in 2013 as well as is still amongst the most played video games, many thanks to its ever expanding on the internet setting called GTA Online. As well as while the video game doesn't have a mobile variation, it's really feasible to play on your Android phone if you desire. The game first introduced on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, after that made its means to COMPUTER.

We will certainly update new functioning download links immediately. Feel free to ask your any kind of question related to this tutorial via comment section, we will reply you soon. After seeing lots of passion of Android users towards GTA 5, Superstar has actually determined to make this game feasible to operate on Android OS. SO they had developed and launched GTA 5 Apk in beta version.

Superstar in fact made it out of the park from the GTA franchise business. With the arrival of mobile video gaming, they have additionally released many games for Android and also iOS tools. Darrell is a blog owner who likes to stay up to date with the most up to date from the technology and also money globe.

The game welcomes you with wonderful affection to comprehend you for fairly a long time or even months. If you have ever play GTA 5 on your Computer system after that I don't think there is any kind of need to tell you features of this game. Yet you are playing it for the first time then allow you recognize what fantastic functions are included this brand-new game of Superstar Games.

But is is time to take pleasure in GTA V for all Android Gamings fans. One of the most distinguishing characteristic of GTA 5 APK is a revamped story play making up 3 varied protagonists. Michael De Santa, an outlaw that ran away being jailed as well as set himself in a spacious manor where he deals with locating a purposeful lifestyle. That introduction of three separate characters is absolutely something brand-new as we practically have separate storylines as opposed to one extensive plot aimed for one character development. By doing this the gameplay of download GTA 5 is way a lot more interesting.

Considerable adjustments have been made with the increase in the variety of tools modifiers and also the capacity to take turns. Consequently, you can actively switch guns as well as extremely versatile sources whenever you go anywhere. This game's new functions make it much more sensible and also difficult than previous Grand Theft Auto games. And like in various other games of this kind, you will be given numerous alternatives in terms of garments, hairstyles, and also facial expressions.

The storyline teems with twists and turns, and also it's quite remarkable how the entire video game plays out. I never get tired of soaring mobsters, driving about in my individual Lamborghini, and also viewing the property of the abundant as well as famous burn down around you-- all while earning money for it. First COMPUTER variation development started in parallel with PlayStation 3 as well as Xbox 360. COMPUTER growth later paved the way as emphasis shifted to the console releases however ultimately resumed. Since the team had planned a COMPUTER variation from at an early stage, they made technical decisions ahead of time to promote later on growth, like support for 64-bit computer as well as DirectX 11.

The sites asserting to offer you the mobile variation of GTA V are phony. We can only wait for Superstar Gamings to lastly re-release GTA V for mobile devices. Till then, we can take pleasure in the other titles they have currently launched. To get the complete version of the video game, you need to get the OBB documents together with the information documents. The GTA V APK data alone is not enough to permit you to play and also enjoy the premium variation of the video game on your cellphone.

The initial thing that you were going to need to do is confirm that your device hardware is set up as well as powerful sufficient to run the game in the first place. If you 'd enjoy absolutely nothing greater than to have the chance to play this innovative video game on your favorite Android devices, you're going to need to obtain your hands on a proper GTA 5 APK. No, the GTA 5 APK is not created by the main GTA engineer. Some video game designers have actually developed the mobile APK variation.

However, with the increasing interest of players in GTA V, it projects to locate a solution to download and install GTA V on mobile devices. Before downloading as well as mounting, you have to make certain that you have actually totally removed the previous version or cost-free variation of GTA5 from your Android gadget. If you missed this action, your installment will certainly be failed at any time and you will unable to set up and also play the game effectively. Pavlovich discovered that while Rockstar appointed the team objectives to compose songs for, a few of their arbitrary creations influenced various other missions and triggered motivation for further score advancement. He reviewed a "stem-based" system made use of to make music fit vibrant game variables where the group would certainly make up songs to highlight end results players could make quickly after completing objectives.

That song is a simplified variation of the GTA I motif's background songs. It was additionally the pager's ringtone in GTA III, and also remained in the GTA Vice City introductory under the retro Superstar Games logo design. If the gamer changes or fires weapons after a telephone call, the phone will certainly not disappear on CJ's hand. Changing to various other weapons, or entering an auto would certainly then eliminate this technique. If Carl has his phone out and also faces water being sprayed from a Firetruck, possibilities are that if he is just finishing a discussion and also is about to place his phone away, he instead will certainly maintain it in his hand.

[fearsmagazine]

DON’T LOOK BACK - Review

Distributor: Gravitas Ventures

Synopsis: Caitlin Kramer (Kourtney Bell) is a woman trying to overcome a not too recent tragedy that haunts her. Out for a run she becomes one among several people who witness a man being fatally assaulted in the park. A short time after the event the witnesses start dying mysteriously. Caitlin must discover what is happening, are they being targeted by a killer or something far more insidious.

Review: Just in time for Halloween screenwriter Jeffrey Reddick returns to the screen with a supernatural thriller that seems to rise from the depths of today’s headlines. Not only is Reddick the scribe on this tale of terror, Jeff makes his feature film directing debut.

DON’T LOOK BACK  is not your typical horror fare or what you might expect from Reddick based on his previous films. This is a bit more of a sophisticated tale that is rooted more in the thriller genre with supernatural overtones. It’s a wonderfully constructed plot with twists and turns, and a few red herrings, to keep the viewer engaged and on edge. Reddick is at the top of his game in crafting these characters and serving up dialogue that draws the viewer into the narrative.

Reddick has assembled an excellent cast that does a fine job of selling this tale of terror. At the center is actress Kourtney Bell as the character Caitlin Kramer. She is a fresh, new face with enough talent to carry the drama of this film. In some regards she is reminiscent of Heather Langenkamp (A Nightmare on Elm Street ‘84) or any of Hitchcock’s leading ladies in extraordinary peril.

An independent film, DON’T LOOK BACK looks like a bigger budgeted film, which I would attribute to Reddick, who spent every opportunity he had on the set of the films he penned. It at least looks as good as anything that has come out of Jason Blum’s production company, Blumhouse. I enjoyed the production designs, the costumes were nicely crafted, and the special effects had just the right amount of gore and provided several good scares. I truly enjoyed the score by composer Christopher Thomas. It added another level to the film, ratcheting up the suspense and terror. I was not familiar with his work prior to this film, but I’ve since become a fan.

With DON’T LOOK BACK Reddick demonstrates that he is equally adept at directing as he is at screenwriting. It also earns him the title of triple threat - director, screenwriter, & producer. The film has its share of scary and violent moments, so I’d say it is a PG-13, although the film has not been rated.  It’s a film of our times, just in time for Halloween.

Cast: Kourtney Bell, Bryan Batt, Will Stout, Skyler Hart, Jeremy Holm, Jaqueline Fleming, Amanda Grace Benitez, Damon Lipari, Han Soto, Dean J. West and Stephen Twardokus. Crew: Director/Screenplay - Jeffrey Reddick; Producers - Roman Dent, Ashleigh Snead, Andy Steinman, & Andrew van den Houten; Cinematographer - Andy Steinman; Score - Christopher Thomasi; Editor -Mike Mendez & Erik Rosenbluh; Production Designer - Jeff Subik; Visual Effects Producer - Chris Bailey; Costume Designer - Michael Bevins & Donald McFinley.

Official: N.A. Facebook: N.A. Twitter: N.A. Release Date: October 16th, 2020 Trailer: youtu.be/HSW4P4U5tCo

**Until we can all head back into the theaters our “COVID Reel Value” will be similar to how you rate a film on Netflix - 👍 or 👎 Reviewed by Joseph B Mauceri

[zerochanges]

428 - Chunsoft’s Sound Novel Perfected

428: Shibuya Scramble is an unequivocal, truly Japanese game, and one that nobody ever thought would come out in English--and the doubters were sort of right. The title was a Japan exclusive for many years since its original Wii release in 2008 but after a decade of being out of reach for the English market this cryptically Japanese exclusive was somehow able to be cracked and come September of 2018 made the journey to North American and European markets on PC through Steam and both physically and digitally on the Sony PS4. Honestly I still can’t believe it and I own the darn game! The journey to getting this game out is surely an interesting one, as localization director David Kracker recounted on the Playstation blog that he had to fight hard to get the game pushed forward for a worldwide release outside of Japan, but ultimately was able to do so by showing that appeal for niche games such as these have been increasing steadily since its original Wii release. 

For many people 428: Shibuya Scramble will be their first experience with a Chunsoft sound novel--especially since the localized Kamaitachi no Yoru (Banshee’s Last Cry) is downright almost impossible to play now. Last blog post I discussed in detail what the heck a sound novel even is, and went through a brief history of the visual novel market in general covering where Chunsoft falls in and how much they contributed to the genre. So because of that I won’t go into too much heavy details on sound novels today, but the short and simple answer I gave in my previous entry is that a sound novel is two things. The first of which was a dated term that Chunsoft used regularly (mostly on the Super Famicom and Sega Saturn) and has since fallen out of use in favor of adopting visual novel. The second of which is the more complicated answer that sound novels are both the aforementioned term that was used by Chunsoft for their brand of visual novels and also a certain style of visual novels that would follow years later by other companies that were heavily inspired by the early works of Chunsoft often aping their presentation and narrative style, with 07Expansion’s Higurashi - When They Cry being one of the most popular examples. 

If all that sounds like a bit much, or is just all greek to you, don’t worry--all you have to really take away from my rambling is that the Chunsoft seal of quality with 428 really means something, especially to fans of visual novels. You see, 428: Shibuya Scramble is actually a spiritual successor of sorts to Chunsoft’s earlier Machi sound novel released in 1998 on the Sega Saturn and later Sony Playstation. Machi was a highly well regarded game for its time that was a big hit both critically and with gamers, but despite its constant praise still sold poorly. Over the years people started to discover the game through its solid word of mouth and old fans and new fans alike were always clamoring for a sequel. After many years of begging Chunsoft finally delivered just that, and this is where 428: Shibuya Scramble comes in. By no means a direct sequel (so don’t worry you definitely DO NOT need to play Machi to understand the story) 428 is set in the same city of Machi (aka both take place in the same fictional version of Shibuya), and super fans will be able to spot some references and cameos from Machi sneaking in. 

428: Shibuya Scramble is essentially a dream game to many hardcore fans in Japan that waited anxiously for a return to form from Chunsoft. When it came out the game even famously got a perfect score of 40 in the well known Famitsu gaming magazine--and this was back when you could still count perfect scores they gave out on your fingers, only 8 games prior made that list; nowadays the magazine is known for being far more forgiving with its reviews. So basically, what I am getting at is this is yet another game that was pretty huge back in Japan but sorely skipped over worldwide. 

You may be thinking to yourself then, that’s all well and good, but what about the game itself? Well let me get into that. 428: Shibuya Scramble is as its name implies, a game about Shibuya, while you do take control of characters in the game, at large the characters themselves all feel like a part of the city. Shibuya is a living, breathing entity in 428, and you really get to explore the entire city from multiple perspectives in this one long, crazy day. Shibuya’s story is your story. There are multiple characters you get to play as and each one has their own unique, individual story to tell, but each story is interwoven into the others and they begin to overlap in creative and fun ways. This is where a large part of the game play comes from; finding out how decisions you made with one character affects the fate of another character. 

Say for example if you are being chased in one character’s story and decide to run into a busy city street to escape your pursuers thus causing a traffic accident, in another story the character you are playing now is stuck in said traffic accident and cannot progress their story leading to a bad end. Everything you decide to do with one character not only affects that character’s fate but may even affect the entire city’s at large and change the outcome for every other character you play as too. Finding out how to best affect the story by jumping around the multiple characters and getting everything to play out just right is a lot of fun and no surprise was also a major feature in Machi prior. 

There are a bevy of characters to interact with in Shibuya but the multiple residents in this major Japanese metropolis you take direct control of are Shinya Kano, a rookie detective trying to make his way in the force and crack a kidnapping case, Achi Endo, an ex-gang leader with a heart of gold trying to make Shibuya a better place, Minoru Minorikawa, an investigative journalist on a mission to save a life, Kenji Osawa, a brooding genius that just wants to be left alone but is trapped inside a corporate scandal that goes beyond anyone’s imagination, and Tama, a poor soul trapped in a big furry cat mascot costume that just wants to be free from the hell that is a terrible part time job. Each character has their own unique flavor they bring to the table and their own individual plots range from comedic to serious, romantic to frightening, and everything else in-between. Kano’s scenario is a pretty straightforward crime drama, while Osawa’s plays like a physiological thriller where you don’t know who to trust, meanwhile Tama and Minorikawa’s scenarios will have you on the floor laughing at the insane hijinks they manage to get into somehow, and Achi is kicking ass beating up thugs and saving a lost girl. 

428 manages to combine all these different kinds of smaller stories into one large story seamlessly and it’s an incredible experience jumping between all these fun characters and seeing how they eventually interact with each other as the plot progresses. It’s hard for me to even pick a favorite character in the game as all of them are so well written, and so different from one each other. If I had to pick though, I would say Osawa is probably the protagonist I relate to the most and a lot of his big story moments left me teary eyed and really moved on a truly genuine personal level (I don’t think I’m a genius like him though). 

I can praise 428 to the high heavens, and really a large part of me writing about it today is to do just that, but there is an elephant in the room I probably should address at some point. Something truly horrendous, something that prevents the game from ever being a true masterpiece, something that scares everyone away, the horror of … real life actors! Yeah, as I am sure it’s obvious by this point 428 uses real life actors and was actually filmed on location in the city of Shibuya. A lot of people are put off by this and honestly that kind of bums me out that so many are so unwilling to even try different things. 

To go off on a bit of a tangent, my own personal opinion is that I freaking love the way 428 looks. I’m someone that quite enjoys campy FMV video games; stuff like Night Trap or any Tex Murphy adventure game is solidly right up my alley. I also enjoy unique mixtures of real life and animation, so I love rotoscoping a whole lot--I’m always ecstatic when I find a cool movie or animated series that is rotoscoped, and that’s a large draw to me for games that use it such as Hotel Dusk. So no, I really think 428 is a beautiful game visually that was made by real pros who had to use guerrilla film making in order to bring their vision to life because of laws that prevent filming on location in Shibuya. What the team was able to do here, while also hiding it from “the man” is incredible work! 

Contextly Chunsoft’s sound novels opted to not use the now established format that predominantly is how visual novel look. Originally with Otogirisō this was because visual novels were still in their infancy and the now ubiquitous presentation where sprites are shown in front of background art had not yet taken off. Nobody really knew what visual novels at the time should look like. Otogirisō is actually commonly attributed as one of the earliest examples where a visual novel had background art to begin with and wasn't just mostly text or sprites presented over a black void. Chunsoft kept their games pretty consistent visually from that point, and characters were often not seen on screen, usually just presented through the use of silhouette if needed. This really helped the “novel” aspect of their visual novels, since you had to imagine the characters’ appearances mostly through the narrative descriptions about them just like in literature. 

Over time this changed with the advent of CD hardware which meant the use of still image photography and Full-Motion-Video could really take off, and Machi ran with this new hardware looking much like how 428 does. You can say these games really have a more broad appeal to them too as they are not just “anime” games but games anyone can enjoy just like a good book. This while true in Japan does get a bit tricky for a localized title as a majority of the actors are Japanese which is off putting to a general public not used to watching Japanese cinema or TV dramas. For better or worse 428 is an unequivocal Japanese game, but I really implore anyone who is even the tiniest bit interested to try it out for themselves (especially since there is a free demo) and stay open minded about the game, because if you do, you will find one of the best written, and best localized games in a generation.

428: Shibuya Scramble's predecessor; Machi on the Sega Saturn

428 didn't get a very fair shot when it came out in the English market. The month of September was jam packed with both Triple-A titles such as Marvel’s Spider-man and niche titles that could not be missed such as Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age. The release date really was setting the game up to go against some huge competitors and with its enigmatic overly Japanese sensibilities 428 lacked much of the charisma to fight them. I followed the localization process very closely and this was a game I dreamt I could play for many years, but even I had to pass up grabbing the game on its release date and waited about a month or so until I managed to pick up my own copy as I had poured all my attention into Dragon Quest XI at that time which as bad as I feel for 428 I still don’t regret. By the time I wrote my annual favorite games of the year list I had to exempt 428 from it even, only writing a brief honorable mention as I knew I would love it but hadn't actually gotten to play it yet. The end of the year was far too packed with excellent titles vying for my and everyone else’s attention and what a shame, as 428 is now easily neck-and-neck with my then favorite game of the year Dragon Quest XI.

The truth is it will be very unlikely we will ever see a game like 428: Shibuya Scramble come out in English again. This was a very unlikely localization to happen in the first place, and a very risky one, but it sadly was not a runaway success. Anyone interested in the history of visual novels, sound novels, or seeing one of Chunsoft’s greatest titles definitely shouldn't pass this game up though. And anyone willing, I really recommend 428: Shibuya Scramble hard. If you love good storytelling in gaming, there isn't any better than what’s here. The story in 428 is so heart felt, and uplifting that I found myself crying a lot during my playthrough. I laughed, I cried, I found tons of inspiration for my own writing, 428 truly is a game that changes you. I think those are far too rare nowadays. This is a game that should be in any niche gamer’s PS4 or Steam collection. 

[aion-rsa]

Metroid Dread Looks to Prove 2D Horror Games Can Be Scary

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The latest Metroid Dread previews include quite a few (mostly positive) words about the highly-anticipated upcoming Switch game, but the one word that’s jumping out at everyone at the moment is “scary.”

Granted, the Metroid franchise has always utilized horror elements (its revolutionary atmosphere can partially be attributed to the various ways it was influenced by the Alien films), but with a few possible exceptions (most notably the SA-X sequences from Metroid Fusion), it’s tough to say that the Metroid franchise has ever been especially frightening. Creepy, perhaps, but not really that more traditional kind of scary that makes you jump out of your seat or keeps you up at night. Yet, early previews of Dread suggest that the game’s opening hours feature moments of outright horror highlighted by your battles against the new E.M.M.I. robots: Terminator-like hunters that will stop at nothing to kill Samus.

So is Metroid Dread scary? Well, I sadly have not had the chance to play the game yet, and even those who have played the game have been quick to say that it’s hard to tell how consistently creepy the game will be beyond those opening moments. We’re all going to have to wait until the game’s October 8 release date to see if it lives up to its full potential in that respect.

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What’s really interesting at the moment, though, isn’t so much the debate over whether or not this particular game will be scary but the early concerns from some gamers who seemingly doubt that a 2D game can be scary in the first place.

In a way, it’s easy to understand why some people feel that 3D is simply superior to 2D when it comes to horror games. Our own list of the scariest horror games ever featured 18 3D titles compared to just two 2D/2.5D titles (Clock Tower and Darkwood), so I can’t easily argue against the suggestion that there are more memorable 3D horror games than 2D horror games. Besides, the rise of the horror genre coincided with the rise of 3D gaming, and, since then, most major developers have elected to make 3D horror games over 2D horror games when they’ve been lucky enough to secure the funding for a horror game at all. As such, there have certainly been more 3D horror games to talk about in the last 25 years or so.

Of course, it’s also difficult to simply point at some of the best 2D horror games ever and close the door on this topic. Yes, titles like The Last Door, Home, The Cat Lady, and the aforementioned Darkwood and Clock Tower are genuinely scary 2D games (in my mind), but this debate seems to be more about the viability of genuinely scary 2D games rather than a hand-picked selection of titles that exemplify that concept. Besides, convincing someone to play one of the scariest 2D horror games ever made is different than convincing them that genuinely scary 2D games (especially a 2D game published by Nintendo) are more than exceptions to what many see as a rule.

No the best argument for the viability of 2D horror is the fact that there have actually been countless intimidating/scary 2D games released over the years that have relied on the same concept that Metroid Dread looks to emphasize: the lingering feeling of inevitable defeat.

Long before Resident Evil revolutionized horror gaming and gave a generation of gamers nightmares, some of the most intimidating games in our collections were also the most difficult. Contra, Ninja Gaiden, Castlevania 3…our list of the hardest NES games ever essentially doubles as a collection of the games you almost dreaded to play because you weren’t confident you could beat them.

Indeed, the “Dread” part of Metroid Dread‘s title feels like a more revealing word choice than we previously suspected. While the decision to limit Dread‘s E.M.I.I. encounters to specific rooms that are marked on your map might feel like a poor substitute for the more chaotic encounters against video game stalkers in 3D titles (such as the Mr. X moments in the Resident Evil 2 remake), this doesn’t seem like a case of Dread‘s developers simply trying to compensate for the technological “downgrade” by making these encounters more structured.

Instead, the decision to “telegraph” your encounters against Dread‘s E.M.I.I. foes feels very much deliberate and part of Dread developer Mercury Steam’s desire to leave you genuinely dreading having to enter those rooms. Yes, you know that a battle against one of these enemies is coming, but are you properly prepared for it? Can you survive rather than just play through the scare? It’s the old Alfred Hitchcock “bomb theory” approach to suspense/horror in which you show the audience that there’s a bomb that’s about to explode rather than have it be a surprise. The latter may result in more of a “jump,” but the former makes the jump feel like more of a relief compared to the tension that came before.

The only thing that horror fans love more than watching horror is debating what is truly scary and what actually qualifies as horror. Through years worth of those debates, the truth we keep coming back to is that there is no universal horror experience and that the variety of the genre is part of what makes it so great. Some works of horror ultimately scare more people than others, but horror is sometimes more of a mood and a feeling than it is a tally of nightmares caused or time you jumped out of your seat.

So maybe Metroid Dread won’t lead to as many reaction videos as the latest VR horror game or give you as many nightmares as Silent Hill 2 once did. However, if one of the pillars of the horror genre is indeed that sense of dread you feel from the thought of simply having to experience the horror game/movie/show/book itself, then the fact of the matter is that some of the most outright intimidating games ever made have been 2D titles. The mechanical demands of many 2D titles and that feeling of being deprived of that extra dimension of movement have historically combined to grant 2D games a baseline level of intimidation that can certainly be turned into pure terror in the right hands.

If Metroid Dread can capitalize on that intimidation factor and combine it with some of the more “traditionally” creepy qualities we’ve seen from this series in the past, then it may very well not only show how uniquely scary 2D games can be but perhaps inspire more developers to pursue this style of horror that honestly deserves more love than it has historically received.

The post Metroid Dread Looks to Prove 2D Horror Games Can Be Scary appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[kmalexander]

Homann: A Free 18th Century Cartography Brush Set for Fantasy Maps

I’ve been heads down working on the edits for Gleam Upon the Waves, so it’s been a while since I’ve shared any new resources for fantasy map enthusiasts, writers, cartographers, game masters, table-top role-playing game creators—whoever you are. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have a few things up my sleeve. Today, I’m excited to announce the release of my latest free historically-based fantasy-map brush set, which I’ve named Homann.

Are you a fan of fields? Are defensive fortifications your jam? Then Homann is the perfect set for you. Based on L’Isle de Cadix du Detroit de Gibraltar, a 1788 map of the Strait of Gibraltar, by Johann Baptist Homann, a prolific German geographer, cartographer, and wig haver. (Yeah, click on his name. You’ll see what I mean.) It’s a unique map. One that seems to be at war with itself. It’s reminiscent of a battlefield map at first, but you can see how it’s mixed with the traditional cartography of its time. At the same time, it flirts with being a nautical chart, not something you often find on maps like this. But that jumbled confusion makes sense considering the messy military history surrounding the strait.

A unique map like this means the brush set extracted from it will be just as unique. The settlements are an unusual mix of pictorial illustrations and the traditional profile-style signs more common to cartographic maps of this era. Landforms are present but serve as a secondary backdrop to the strategic fortifications. Interestingly, a lot of effort went into detailing agriculture, and it’s not hard to see the amount of time the engraver spent on fields.

Since completing my Thirteen in Twelve project last year, I’ve been seeking out resources that separate themselves from the thousands of repetitive-looking maps from the 17th and 18th century. With all those quirks I thought Homann would stand apart while still working alongside any of my older sets, and I appreciate its attention to detail. It’s perfect for a wide variety of fantasy projects.

Homann is a medium-sized set of often VERY LARGE signs—some of the cartouches are over a thousand pixels wide—so, yeah… the detail here is fairly intense. With over 400 brushes, I’m sure you’ll find plenty of use in your work. The full set includes the following:

13 Tents

90 Houses

7 Towns

6 Elevated Towns

2 Places of Worship

20 Forts

7 Unique Buildings

45 Fields

5 “Shoreline” Fields (These are less detailed than their cousins and were mostly found along waterways.)

45 Trees

100 Mountains

14 Mountain Pairs (Basically, two mountains close together.)

6 Mountain Ranges

15 Anchorages

2 Battle Markers

5 Map Elements

3 Ships (They’re big.)

16 Sounding Marks

30 Unit Positions/Markers

The button below links to a ZIP file that contains a Photoshop brush set (it’ll also work with GIMP and Affinity Photo) as well as a set of transparent PNGs in case you’re using a program that doesn’t support Adobe brush files. I’ve separated them by type: Settlements and Flora, Landforms, and Cartouches. They’re black and on a transparent background, so they’ll look broken if viewed in Chrome, but trust me, they’re all there.

download homann

As with all of my previous brush sets, Homann is free for any use. I distribute my sets with a Creative Common, No Rights Reserved License (CC0), which means you can freely use this and any of my brushes in commercial work and distribute adaptations. (Details on this decision here.) No attribution is required. Easy peasy!

Enjoy Homann? Feel free to show me what you created by sending me an email or finding me on Twitter or heck, leave a comment below. I adore seeing how these brushes get used, and I’d be happy to share your work with my readers (let me know in your message.) Let us see what you make!

Homann in Use

Want to see this brush set in use? I put together a sample map, and you can see the results below. There are three versions, a black and white version, one colored, and a decorated sample. Click on any of the images below to view them larger. Perhaps this will inspire you as you get started on your own projects!

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Supporting This Work

If you like the Homann brush set (or any of my free brushes, really) and want to support my work, instead of a donation, consider buying one of my cosmic-horror soaked dark urban fantasy novels. The first book—The Stars Were Right—is only $2.99 on eBook. I think you’ll dig it. You can find all my books in stores and online. Visit the Bell Forging Cycle hub to learn more about the series. Tell your friends!

Not interested in my books but still want a way to support me? Buy me a coffee.

 More Map Brushes

Homann isn’t the only brush set I’ve released. You can find other free brush sets with a wide variety of styles over on my Free Stuff page. Every set is free, distributed under a CC0 license, and open for personal or commercial use. I’m sure you’ll be able to find something that works for your project.

Zatta: A Free 18th Century Cartography Brush Set for Fantasy Maps

This extensive hachure-focused set (those are the fuzzy caterpillar mountains) was taken from Antonio Zatta’s 1775 map of southern Portugal. Striding the line between the late-18th and early-19th century this set is perfect for flintlock fantasy, steampunk, or anything similar.

Janssonius: A Free 17th Century Cartography Brush Set

A topographical brush set with a nautical focus based on Johannes Janssonius’ 1650 nautical chart of the Bay of Bengal. Along with the standard symbols of settlements, flora, and landforms, I’ve also made sure to incorporated a whole host of maritime signs—rocks, sounding marks, shallows, and a whole bunch more.

Vischer: A 17th Century Cartography Brush Set

Based on the amazing Archiducatus Austriae inferioris, an incredibly detailed map of lower Austria created by Georg Matthäus Vischer in 1697, this is the largest set I’ve released. Loads of detail and a unique approach to rendering forests and landforms aids this set in standing apart. A perfect set for the right project.

Braun: A 16th Century Urban Cartography Brush Set

The brushes within this urban-focused set are based on the incredible work of Georg Braun taken from his Civitates orbis terrarum—easily one of the most significant volumes of cartographic antiquity. The detail and density represented in these symbols give an extra layer of texture and is perfect for the right fantastical city map.

Ogilby: A Free 17th Century Road Atlas Brush Set

Taken from John Ogilby’s 1675 book Britannia, Volume the First, this set allows the creator to recreate road atlas from the 17th century in stunning detail, placing the traveler’s experience front and center. With over 800 brushes, this is my most extensive set to date and useful for a variety of projects. Several bonus downloads are also available, as well.

Van der Aa: An 18th Century Cartography Brush Set

This regional map set is based on a map by Dutch cartographer and publisher, Pieter Van der Aa. It’s a beautifully rendered version of the Mingrelia region of northwest Georgia. While not as extensive as other sets, the size of the map allowed for larger brushes that helps highlight the uniqueness of each symbol. It also features a failed wall!

Gomboust: A 17th Century Urban Cartography Brush Set

My first brush set to focus on creating realistic maps for fantastical urban environments! Gomboust is a huge set, and its symbols are extracted from Jacques Gomboust’s beautiful 1652 map of Paris, France. His style is detailed yet quirky, isometric yet off-kilter, packed with intricacies, and it brings a lot of personality to a project.

Harrewyn: An 18th Century Cartography Brush Set

Based on Eugene Henry Fricx’s “Cartes des Paysbas et des Frontieres de France,” this set leans into its 1727 gothic styling and its focus on the developed rather than the natural. It’s hauntingly familiar yet strikingly different. If you’re looking for more natural elements, Harrewyn works well alongside other sets as well.

Popple: A Free 18th Century Cartography Brush Set

This set has quickly become a favorite, and it’s perfect for a wide variety of projects. The brushes are taken from 1746’s A Map of the British Empire in America by Henry Popple, and it has a fresh style that does a fantastic job capturing the wildness of a frontier. Plus, it has swamps! And we know swamps have become a necessity in fantasy cartography.

Donia: A Free 17th Century Settlement Brush Set

While not my most extensive set (a little over one hundred brushes), Donia boasts one of the more unique takes on settlements from the 17th century. If you’re looking for flora, I suggest checking out other sets, but if you want to pay attention to your map’s cities, towns, castles, churches, towers, forts, even fountains, then this is the right set for you.

Blaeu: A Free 17th Century Cartography Brush Set

Based on Joan Blaeu’s Terræ Sanctæ—a 17th-century tourist map of the Holy Land—this set includes a ton of unique and varied signs as well as a large portion of illustrative cartouches that can add a flair authenticity to any fantasy map. Elegant and nuanced, everything works within a system, but nearly every sign is unique.

Aubers: An 18th Century Cartography Brush Set

An 18th Century brush set based on a map from 1767 detailing the journey of François Pagès, a French naval officer, who accompanied the Spanish Governor of Texas on a lengthy exploration through Louisiana, Texas, and Mexico. A unique southwestern set with a few interesting deviations—including three volcanos!

L’Isle: An 18th Century Battlefield Brush Set

A departure from the norm, this set is based on the Plan Batalii map, which was included in a special edition of The First Atlas of Russia in 1745. A detailed view of a battle during the Russo-Turkish War of 1735–1739. Canon! Units! Battles! Perfect for mapping out the combat scenarios in your fantasy stories.

Widman: A 17th Century Cartography Brush Set

A 17th Century brush set based on the work of Georgio Widman for Giovanni Giacomo de Rossi’s atlas published in 1692. A fantastic example of Cantelli da Vignola’s influence and a solid set for any fantastic map. This is the workhorse of antique map brush sets—perfect for nearly any setting.

Walser: An 18th Century Cartography Brush Set

An 18th Century brush set based on the work of Gabriel Walser with a focus on small farms and ruins and a robust set of mountains and hills. This is a great brush set to see how Vignola’s influence persisted across generations. It was etched over 80 years after the Widman set, but you’ll find a few familiar symbols within.

Lumbia: A Sketchy Cartography Brush Set

A sketchy style brush set I drew myself that focuses on unique hills and mountains and personal customizability. My attempt at trying to channel the sort of map a barkeep would draw for a band of hearty adventurers. It includes extra-large brushes for extremely high-resolution maps.

Lehmann: A Hatchure Brush Set

Named after Austrian topographer Johann Georg Lehmann creator of the Lehmann hatching system in 1799, this is a path-focused brush set designed for Adobe Illustrator that attempts to captures the hand-drawn style unique 19th Century hachure-style mountains. This set works perfectly in conjunction with my other sets from the late 18th century.

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[famicomclub-blog]

Final Fantasy ファイナルファンタジー

Release: December 18, 1987 | Developer: Square A-Team | Publisher: Square

I have been playing the Final Fantasy games ever since late 1990 or early 1991. I can’t remember the exact date, but there was snow on the ground and both Mega Man 3 and Final Fantasy were brand new releases.

My affair began innocently enough; with a botched rental attempt. I had picked Mega Man 3 up off the shelf and when I got home I found, much to my horror, that the clerk had put the wrong game in the plastic case. My parents refused to take me back to Acme Video, not understanding the full impact of being robbed of a new Mega Man game. I decided to make the best of my situation and give this impostor a try. The game was Final Fantasy, and I was hooked immediately.

Around this time my cousin, Neil, who remains one of my best friends to this day, was playing the game at his babysitter’s. The game became somewhat of an obsession between us, with many sleep-overs spent plotting strategies and praying that we could avoid the Warmech in that final, long hallway before Tiamat.

Today marks the 30th anniversary of the release of the original game in Japan, so I’ve decided to go back and revisit the original game, the one that started this massive RPG beast in motion.

So let’s start where it all began: the beginning.

With one chance left to save a failing company, Hironobu Sakaguchi was tasked with creating what could’ve been Square’s last game. After sinking all it’s money into the development of what was to be an epic title for Nintendo’s Famicom Disk System, as well as many other failed (and rightly so, as they were terrible) Disk System games and Famicom titles, Square was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Pooling their resources, Square decided that they could afford to create one final, make-or-break game. Hironobu Sakaguchi went to work and decided to develop a genre game. He settled on the blossoming RPG genre, an area with which competing Japanese developer Enix was enjoying a massive amount of success through it’s young Dragon Quest franchise.

Taking many elements from American computer RPG’s such as Ultima and The Bard’s Tale, and also borrowing heavily from Enix’s Dragon Quest (who, in-turn had borrowed heavily from pen and paper RPGs), Final Fantasy was created with an emphasis on story and character development. Instead of a true role-playing experience, Final Fantasy would start you off in a predestined role, and allow you to grow and develop your party within a preset story arc. Final Fantasy ended up a more complex and detailed game than it’s contemporaries, namely Dragon Quest. You had a party of 4 playable characters to DQ’s one, you could battle up to 9 enemies per encounter to DQ’s one. The world was bigger, it contained more towns, dungeons, and non-playable characters. You also had a much larger selection of weapons, items, armor, and accessories to find and collect. Final Fantasy is a hard game, to be sure, but not nearly as hard as Dragon Quest 1, and all though both games took a significant amount of grinding to advance, Final Fantasy was much more forgiving with higher rewards for both experience points and gold and more enemy variety. These factors make grinding through Final Fantasy some-what less soul-shattering than Dragon Quest.

Another key difference between Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest was the amount of battle animation. In Dragon Quest, the depth of the sprite animation on the battle screen is a shaking effect when a critical hit has been landed. In Final Fantasy your playable characters are visible during battle and they also share the screen with multiple enemies. Final Fantasy’s playable sprites step forward and perform an action when their turn comes. These actions range from swinging a weapon to performing magic attacks. In an impressive innovation, the weapon wielded during these animations, as well as the animated magic sprite, changes depending on what weapon is equipped or what magic is being used. Your character also slumps when critically wounded, setting up a precedent of character expression that Square would eventually go on to master during the glory days of the Super Nintendo.

These small innovations, when packaged together, ended up giving birth to the console JRPG and pushing it beyond the simple beginnings seen in the first Dragon Quest games.

These gameplay touches and graphical tweaks would become one of the most beloved and defining attributes of future entries in the Final Fantasy universe, as each subsequent game in the franchise not only advanced the genre as a whole, but took bold steps in reinventing the series itself with fresh stories, new characters, constantly shifting and tweaked battle mechanics, and an ever-evolving character class configuration system.

The story of Final Fantasy is pretty average on the surface, having to do with prophecies, Light Warriors, elemental fiends, and darkened crystals. When examined in detail, the story was actually a key step in paving the way for subsequent RPGs by taking the genre out of the swords-and-castle setting of 9th century England and transporting you to strange new worlds; worlds were technology and customs from past, present, future, and fantasy join together and co-exist.

You are initially led to believe that you are playing in a long-forgotten era of ancient Earth, or medieval fantasy world. However, toward the end of the game your preconceived notions are shattered as you discover and explore an ancient satellite orbiting the world and its mysterious robotic sentries. It is further hinted that game may, in fact, take place in the future of our own reality, after society as we know it has destroyed itself.

The game may be somewhat forgotten in the eyes of current day RPG fans, and even within the series, it spawned. Other Final Fantasy games spurred more memorable innovations, characters, and stories. That being said, there is no denying the original 8-bit adventure’s place in the history and in the evolution of not only the RPG genre but also the importance the title holds as being the among the first video games too so artfully marry visual detail and narrative structure.

[nbalockergenerator]

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Free Nba 2K20 Locker Codes

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[therighteousdingo]

Game Review: Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories (PS1)

So, as of the last few weeks, I’ve been going back and buying all the old PlayStation games that I grew up with and rebuilding the collection I used to have as a child, while I build a new collection of vintage games in the process. One of the bigger games that stands out on this list, is Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories. My best friend Kaire and I were huge fans of Yu-Gi-Oh growing up and this game was kind of the proving grounds for us. We burned hours grinding through duels to get the strongest cards, plowing through the campaign in certain ways so we can unlock certain sequences and even messing around with different monsters just so we can see them in action during the animated fighting scenario that you can activate when attacking during a duel. No matter what, in the end, it was all about the cards. Starting off with little to nothing and moving up to get our hands on the likes of Blue Eyes White Dragon, Meteor Black Dragon and even the Gate Guardian. But lets get this thing on the road.

The basic facts:

There’s really not too many to place here besides the super basic stuff like the release dates and some small trivial facts.

Released in 2002 in North America but released in 1999 in Japan, a relatively large gap.

The game was released in a dual-CD packaging yet only came with the one game disc. A reason for this is unknown, but I always used it to store a page with fusions written on it to remember them when I first purchased the game and was getting used to the fuse mechanics that I’ll go over later on in this review.

This one isn’t 100% fact, but I have realized over the years that the game is only vaguely based on the anime and manga of the show.

The gameplay:

Now here’s where things get interesting, so I’m gonna be covering the controls, mechanics and the other miscellaneous stuff that’s attributed to the game. To start off with a big one, the Fusion Mechanic. Now as I stated earlier, the game is only loosely based on the anime and whatnot so the basic stuff about Yu-Gi-Oh that we all may remember, is just tossed in the air, for instance, sacrifices; there aren’t any. If you have a 3000/2500 Blue Eyes White Dragon in your hand, you can just throw that monstrous sucker straight from your hand to the field much to your opponent’s avail. Now, to balance this system, they added this mechanic where you can fuse the creatures in your hand, rather half-assed, and create an even stronger monster. For example, a weak dragon, mixed with a thunder creature creates Thunder Dragon but if you add another thunder creature or another dragon, you wind up with Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon which is 2800ATK (I don’t really remember the defense, 2300 maybe?) and is pretty much your key advantage right off the bat once you start the game. Now the thing with fusing is, although some stuff is incredibly easy to fuse and come up with, some stuff just completely throws you for a loop for no reason, wasting the cards you were attempting in the fusion (oh yeah that’s a thing, if you’re unsuccessful with a fusion, the cards are just tossed away), which can be frustrating but isn’t that bad of a complaint since there’s a Free Duel option that allows you to freely duel, win or lose, against whoever you’ve played in the campaign allowing for trial and error which is definitely whats needed in order to master the fusion system. With this being in place, they start you off staggeringly weak but chock full of cards that give simple, quick fusions, so at least the game comfortably sets you into the system to quickly allow for you to learn it. 

The campaign is utterly straightforward. There’s the option to choose alternate dialogues sometimes, but these are rendered essentially useless considering the story unfolds in the same manner regardless of what option you chose. There’s even a moment very early on in the game where you’re set against Heishin, the primary antagonist of the game, but the game literally cannot progress unless he beats you. Granted, his deck is freakishly strong, to the point where his base cards are the fusion of fusions, if that makes sense, but if you luck out and manage to beat him (Kaire did this once but it was kind of on a fluke, nonetheless we freaked out considering we were about 10) the game doesn’t progress and Heishin gives a stock dialogue along the lines of “Agh! This can’t be! Again!” and you’re shoved right back into a duel with him and the game won’t move unless he beats you. I’d quickly like to point out that yes, every instance that’s life and death or will decide the fate of the world, is decided over a duel, but I digress. Eventually you get to play as the “modern” Yugi, playing against the antagonists from the show in a random tournament. Facing Rex Raptor, Bandit Keith, Mai Valentine, and even Pegasus, you wind up back in the past as the Pharaoh’s son facing Heishin and his cronies. You have to wander around and face mages in separate temples, each one correlating with a different type and deck (Meadow, Forest, Desert, Mountain, etc.) forcing you to be versatile in your deck building skills. Each mage has different, powerful cards that they can give up when dueled in the free duel option. All of this boils down to a duel against Heishin and then eventually his higherup, Nitemare, the game’s final boss. Its dueling, dueling, dueling. Not much more.

The Looks / Music:

The normal sequences of the game, in which you pick dialogue and such, are incredibly basic, to get the job done, The bottom half of the screen gives dialogue while the top half gives you a torso shot of the character speaking. This does have the potential to kill intense moments that they attempt to get across such as Simon Muran, your caretaker in the game, telling you that the High Mage Heishin has just killed your parents and that hes taking over the entire region and oh yeah, we’re about to have to hide in this millennium puzzle for about a thousand years, yay. It just doesn’t give tension whatsoever. The music continues as ever with the scene, which is normally just regular, tribal style music that bops, and they don’t have any staunch facial movements, leaving you reading it with a slight, boorish take back. So, the story is incredibly difficult to get into on a personal or emotional level like so many other games have done just before, but that doesn’t necessarily kill the vibe of the game; its a boat load of dueling, man. There’s an option for battle sequences while you’re in the middle of the duel, which is useless in the long run, but is a cool addition to both present the power of the PlayStation and see the different monsters in the game use their different attacks. It feels good to see your Red Eyes Black Dragon blast your friend’s Baby Dragon into oblivion, now that I think about it. That’s really the only instance in which the looks are truly presented and beyond that, its basic dueling (is that getting too old to keep saying?).

Now the music, oh man, the music. Its pretty fantastic. There’s a few instances where the only mood enhancer for the entire scene is the music, its almost overpoweringly “soundtrack”. To listen to them by themselves isn’t as enjoyable as the Sonic soundtrack, for example, but its fitting for the game. The dueling music is moving and bouncy and goes with the fluidity of the dueling nicely. There’s even a cool sound that goes with the fusions of cards while they fuse and swirl. A good portion of the soundtrack for the game is entirely electronic sounding, and some even bearing a resemblance to European house music, which blows my mind; its freakin’ Yu-Gi-Oh.

The Cons:

What in the hell is up with the Guardian Stars system? Anyone whose played the game will most likely side with me when I say that this system is a wonderful idea and addition to the game but is confusingly laid out and sometimes mind numbing to decipher. The system is pretty much a temporary powerup system that plays out while dueling, giving the monster in the appropriate standing a +500 boost to AT and DF. So, for instance, fire is weak against water, right? Well is Mars weak against Neptune? Because that’s how the types and guardian stars are presented. Monsters have a choice of 2 guardian stars, which are all named after Roman gods, and some are easy to decipher; Flame Swordsman is Mars and I can’t remember the other, but that means that Mars is obviously resembling fire. This takes a whiiiiiiiiiiiile to get the hang of. Nothing is more frustrating than randomly losing an entire duel when a one-on-one goes against you because the computer knew the Guardian Star advantage and you didn’t. They could’ve simply put the type names in the system and named is something else to ease the confusion of system buts that’s retrospective. 

The other big one that I can point out is the grinding. When defeating somebody, the game gives you a card depending on a load of variables from the person you defeated, to the way you defeated them, and sometimes, how many times you’ve defeated them consecutively. When you defeat them using a lot of stronger monsters, or simply over power them, you get a POW win, which is essentially a “power” win. There’s other ways to win like TEC which is “technical”, and is difficult to do, but sometimes necessary in order to get certain cards from duelists, you have to win in other instances like, winning by your opponent drawing their entire deck. This can wind up in you dueling a certain duelist for hours just to get one card. I’ve dueled “Jono 2nd” over 60 times (W51-L9) and still haven’t received his ONE power card: Red Eyes Black Dragon. However, I’ve dueled the Meadow Mage just under 40 times and have received 3 out of his 5 stronger cards. That’s 2 duelists and roughly 4 hours later and have only progressed around 20% of the game, so you better hunker down.

This game was a pretty damn good choice when I was deciding to get the games of my past and rebuild my collection. I’ve burned more than 10 hours and will easily burn through more. But to look at is as a game altogether in comparison to other games and not with my childhood bias, 

6.5 / 10

[uniquequotesonlife]

Top 10 Most Viewed YouTube Videos in 2019

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Did you know, YouTube ranks as the second most visited social media platform in the world? More than 2 billion logged-in users visit YouTube every month and users watch over a billion hours of video every day. With these overwhelming statistics, it’s no surprise that YouTube is a top choice among artists and celebrities to share videos. Over 2 million artists showcase their talents on YouTube to engage their audiencesn From Beyonce’s live stream at Coachella to record-breaking videos like “Despacito,” YouTube hosts a range of unique music video content. It is where over 1 billion music lovers come to discover new music and be part of the trending music culture. But YouTube is not limited to music videos. It is equally favored by others for posting various types of videos. Some other popular video genres include gaming, tutorials, cartoons, challenges, and instrumental videos. Let’s talk about the 10 most viewed YouTube videos in 2019, according to the latest rankings by Statista. In this post, we will also cover a few interesting facts and figures about each one of these most viewed YouTube videos.

What’s Special About the Most Viewed YouTube Videos?

Let’s talk about the 10 most viewed YouTube videos in 2019, according to the latest rankings by Statista. In this post, we will also cover a few interesting facts and figures about each one of these most viewed YouTube videos.

1. Despacito — Luis Fonsi ft. Daddy Yankee (6.24 billion views on YouTube)

Spanish word, “despacito,” means “slowly” in English. Its rise is anything but slow. Soon after the launch, it became the most watched YouTube video in 2017. Ever since, the song has remained number one and its record has been unbeaten with over 6.24 billion views. The most fascinating part about this song is its international reach. “Despacito” has spread all around the world and created a global wave among music lovers. Erika, co-writer of the song, says, “The whole world is singing and dancing in Spanish. That is something really amazing.” Other than Mexico and Spanish-speaking countries, “Despacito” has become insanely popular in countries where Spanish is not even the second language! Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Israel, and Italy have witnessed the ground-breaking popularity of the song.

2. Shape of You — Ed Sheeran (4.24 billion views on YouTube)

Released in 2017, “Shape of You” won him a number of accolades, including a Grammy and Billboard Music Award. It was also awarded with NRJ Music Awards in the most streamed song and video of the year categories. So what is the reason Ed Sheeran made history with his song, “Shape of You”? Speaking to the New York Times, Sheeran said that the Steve Mac produced song was written during a brainstorming session. He also described how he created the song and how the melody, lyrics, and instruments played important roles in it. The melody used in this song belongs to the pentatonic scale which is already popular among musicians and listeners. Pentatonic scale has found its love in jazz, blues, and rock music from all over the world. And it spelled its charm again with Sheeran’s hit song, “Shape of You.”

3. See You Again — Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth (4.13 billion views on YouTube)

Currently the third most viewed YouTube video, “See You Again,” was sung by rapper Wiz Khalifa and it featured Charlie Puth. The song was written for the movie, “Furious 7,” from “The Fast and the Furious” franchise. There was an emotional touch to this song as it was meant to be a tribute to the late star, Paul Walker. The song has been a popular choice among music lovers and crossed more than 4.13 billion views on YouTube. Unlike other songs, “See You Again” does not have a dance crew or heavy music to make you swing to its notes. But it managed to dethrone Psy’s “Gangnam Style,” something that many didn’t expect with the latter’s huge popularity. And it managed to become one of the most viewed YouTube videos till date. Charlie Puth wrote a heartfelt note saying, “The song has taken on so many layers, layers that I never even fathomed when I wrote it.” There was another factor behind their 3 million views per day in 2017. A music video ad sales site, Vevo, which was owned by Universal Music and Sony Music, helped it. The site utilized YouTube’s algorithms to increase views, according to Billboard news.

4. Masha and the Bear: Recipe for Disaster (3.68 billion views on YouTube)

Masha and the Bear: Recipe for Disaster is a rather unusual contender for the fourth position on this list of the most viewed YouTube videos. It has received 3.68 billion views so far and it is the only non-music video on the list. The success of this Russian children’s animation can be attributed to its popularity among children. The video has a simple storyline based on traditional folklore about a little girl, Masha, who lives with a retired circus bear. And this particular episode is about Masha’s attempt to cook by herself, which results in a disaster. The characters are colourful and the plot is harmless. It is a kind of video that modern-day busy parents can let their children watch without worry. While it was produced for the local Russian market, it soon gained global popularity and became one of the most viewed YouTube videos. According to Moscow-based Animaccord Animation Studio, the creator of this video, two-thirds of the views come from outside Russia. Till date more than a hundred television stations broadcast this series, along with other platforms such as Netflix, Amazon, iTunes and YouTube.

5. Uptown Funk — Mark Ronson Ft. Bruno Mars (3.58 billion views on YouTube)

Although “Uptown Funk” is older than all of the previous music videos, it is still admired by fans and it continues to gain more views. The song performed by Mark Ronson featured Bruno Mars and made it to the top ten most viewed YouTube videos. “Uptown Funk” made its debut on YouTube in 2014 and quickly grabbed the attention of music lovers. Other than its regular fans, the song draws new viewers and maintains its top position giving a tough competition to other YouTube music videos. Bruno Mars was already a household name by then but Mark Ranson made his fortune with this song. Their song, “Uptown Funk,” managed to hold its number one position on the U.S. Billboard 100 chart for fourteen consecutive weeks. With catchy phrases, a great combination of instruments, and an upbeat tune, “Uptown Funk” received over 3.50 billion views on YouTube. The song also won two Grammys in 2016 for Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance categories.

6. Gangnam Style — Psy (3.36 billion views on YouTube)

The first YouTube video to reach a billion views, “Gangnam Style,” is currently the sixth most viewed YouTube video. It is the 18th K-pop number from South Korean musician, Psy, who was virtually unknown outside Korea till 2012. The sudden popularity of the song remains something of an enigma. Referring to the lifestyle from Gangnam District in Seoul, the song was a chartbuster in more than thirty countries including Australia, Canada, France, Russia, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Its popularity is attested by the fact that the likes of Barack Obama, David Cameron, and Ban Ki-moon have attempted to dance to the song. The song initially received mixed reviews. But it soon became popular due to its catchy tune and beats as well as Psy’s innovative horse trot dance that became a global sensation. The most viewed YouTube video from December 2012 to July 2017, “Gangnam Style,” still holds the record for being the most discussed video. HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT:

7. Sorry — Justin Bieber (3.14 billion views on YouTube)

“Bieber fever” never seems to stop. When Justin Bieber released his first song, “Baby,” on YouTube, it made him an international celebrity overnight. The song not only became one of the most viewed YouTube videos of all time but also won him MTV and Billboard Music awards. Over the years, he produced a number of hit songs and remained one of the most sought after celebrity. “Sorry” is a song from his fourth album called “Purpose,” and it currently ranks as the seventh most viewed YouTube video. “Sorry” easily managed to become one of the most viewed YouTube videos and has surpassed more than 3.14 billion views till date. It was released in 2015 and it stayed on top in thirteen countries including a seven-week top spot in Canada. The song also made to America’s first new chart-topper of 2016 pushing Adele’s “Hello” to second position on BillBoard list of The Hot 100.

8. Sugar — Maroon 5 (2.97 billion views on YouTube)

And that’s precisely the reason behind the immense popularity of “Sugar” by Maroon 5. It ranks eighth on the list of the most viewed YouTube videos with 2.97 billion views. The video was directed by David Dobkin, who had earlier directed “Wedding Crashers.” It was recorded as the band turned up unannounced at several weddings in different parts of LA. The shooting was apparently a fantastic affair for all involved with lead singer, Adam Levine, describing it as an “out of body” experience. Clearly the viewers loved this innovative concept and yet another music video became a superhit not necessarily due to mind blowing tunes and lyrics.

9. Baby Shark Dance — Pinkfong (2.87 billion views on YouTube)

The ninth most popular video on YouTube is again one whose target audience is young children. With 2.87 billion views, this music video once again affirms the growing importance of YouTube as a disseminator of content for children. Produced by the South Korea-based educational content creator, Pinkfong, the “Baby Shark” song deals with a family of sharks that goes hunting and is safe at the end. The dance moves that attempt the movement of a shark are simple and can be imitated and practiced by the tiny viewers, solo or in groups. The song has repetitive lyrics, fast beats, and a catchy tune, which makes it enjoyable and easy-to-follow for children. It was released in five languages including Korean, English, Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish, which helped increase its global outreach. Apart from the fact that it was marketed well, there were other factors that lead to its popularity. The first factor that helped promote this song were its covers, which were released in quick succession. Secondly, the Baby Shark Challenge added to its viral popularity. Other than being one of the most viewed YouTube videos, the song also grabbed the attention of environmentalists and animal lovers. The “Baby Shark Dance” song drew empathy of young generation towards sharks by depicting them like a human family.

10. Roar — Katy Perry (2.83 billion views on YouTube)

“Roar” is a song about overcoming challenges and treading over obstacles in life to emerge victorious. This song inspires viewers to continue to fight, no matter what the situation is. No wonder this positive message really resonated with viewers. But “Roar” is more than just a strong message. The chorus and instrumentation in the song has also been arranged in a way that conveys a sense of foreboding in the beginning. But they leave the listener feeling empowered at the end. Though it received mixed reviews, “Roar” was nominated for Song of the Year (2013) and Best Pop Solo Performance at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. When “Roar” registered one billion views on YouTube in July 2015, Perry became the first artist with two music videos with over a billion views. 3 WRITTEN BY

Shane Barker

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[aion-rsa]

Alan Wake Remastered Gives New Hope to Long Overdue Sequel

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Developer Remedy Entertainment has confirmed that they’re finally remastering their largely underrated horror masterpiece, Alan Wake. We don’t know much about the simply titled Alan Wake Remastered at this time, but it is currently scheduled to be released in fall 2021 for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC via the Epic Games Store, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5. Believe it or not, this will actually be the first time that Alan Wake will be officially available for PlayStation platforms since the game’s original 2010 release date.

While it’s easy enough to look forward to any chance to play Alan Wake again (or for the first time), it’s hard to look at this news and not ultimately see it as the best reason yet to hope that Remedy Entertainment might actually finally give us the proper Alan Wake sequel that the horror game’s most adamant fans have waited over a decade for. More importantly, it’s hard not to wonder if that potential sequel will also finally give us a real reason to hope that a Triple-A single-player horror game resurgence is indeed on the horizon.

Granted, the wait for Alan Wake 2 never reached Half-Life 3 levels of anticipation, but the sequel’s prospects have become a bit of a meme over the years. After all, it’s been 9 years since the release of Alan Wake‘s fascinating (if painfully uneven) American Nightmare DLC, and aside from Control‘s surprising Alan Wake-themed AWE DLC, we really haven’t been treated to a proper dive into the franchise’s compelling universe since then.

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Why has Remedy waited so long to pull the trigger on Alan Wake 2? Well, “bad sales” seems to be the most commonly cited culprit, and there does seem to be something to that. Alan Wake‘s initial sales were reportedly quite bad, and while it’s believed that the game has sold just under five million copies to date, the modern gaming industry sometimes demands even more than that to justify the production of a Triple-A sequel.

However, the Alan Wake franchise’s biggest hurdle has always been the rights to the franchise itself as well as the rights to the content associated with the original games. Not only was the series briefly removed from digital storefronts due to music licensing issues, but Remedy’s reported interest in developing an Alan Wake sequel has previously been stifled by Microsoft (who initially owned the rights to the series).

Remedy did acquire the rights to Alan Wake in 2019, but fans still doubted that they’d ever release a proper sequel. Some of that doubt can be attributed to gamers not wanting to be hurt by disappointment again, but the fact is that Alan Wake‘s historically troubled development and subsequent release (as well as the cost/risk of making a narrative-driven horror game in the modern industry) have always been enough to cast reasonable doubt over this sequel’s prospects.

Mind you, the quality of the series itself as well as the creative potential for a sequel have never been limiting factors. Alan Wake was a masterpiece of horror design that may have been incredibly rough around the edges but made up for most of its flaws via amazing atmosphere, genuinely great scares, and the best Stephen King-esque story in horror game history. As anyone who played Control‘s AWE DLC knows, Remedy is also still clearly excited to dive back into this series’ lore and tie it into their ambitious (if still mysterious) plans for a kind of shared universe between some of their games. Creatively speaking, Alan Wake still has a lot to give.

The hope at this time is that this upcoming remaster is less of a chance to do something (anything) with the Alan Wake franchise that Remedy now controls and is instead, at the very least, a chance for them to test the waters regarding how interested people are in spending money on an Alan Wake game in 2021. Recent rumors suggest that the development of an Alan Wake sequel is indeed finally underway, though I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Remedy is at least temporarily holding off on fully committing to a sequel until they see exactly how well this remaster is received.

On the other hand, Resident Evil Village has proven to be one of the year’s biggest successes and EA is finally revisiting the Dead Space series via a long-awaited remake of the original game that is set to be released in 2022. Maybe studios are starting to realize that they’ve been underestimating the market for modern, Triple-A, narrative-driven horror games. Perhaps such games will never be the next Call of Duty, but at a time when video game production is rapidly reaching unsustainable levels, there certainly seems to be something to say for the future of more traditional horror games from a sheer market standpoint. Even if such titles end up relying on Game Pass to a degree to become profitable, now does feel like the best time in a long time for studios to rely on the “invest small, sell big” profit strategy that has practically defined the horror genre for years.

If that is the case, then Alan Wake deserves to be one of the leaders of this potential genre resurgence. It’s a franchise that’s always been a victim of circumstances that have prevented it from being played by everyone who would instantly recognize it as the brilliant piece of horror game design that it very much is. Alan Wake fans have been trying to keep this series in the conversation for over a decade now, and Alan Wake Remastered might finally give them the support they’ve long needed to continue fighting the good fight and convince as many people as possible to finally play one of the most fascinating and creative genre titles of the last few gaming generations.

The post Alan Wake Remastered Gives New Hope to Long Overdue Sequel appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2YzTDLT

[rtf393q-latina]

Journal 4

Commenting on Tumblr’s release of top discussed mobile games in 2018 on their platform, Polygon pointed out that 3 of the top 5 were from small studios, marketed to women, and were in the genre of choose-your-own-adventure visual novels. Tumblr’s own user base might skew toward female users, so it is important to be skeptical about what these findings say about culture at large. However, I am interested in this supposed recent rise in popularity of visual novels as a research topic for this class, so I thought trying out these top 3 games might be a good place to start. As an aside, I need to sort out how the different terms I’ve seen floating around these games (visual novel, chose your own adventure, dating sim or game, otome) relate to and differ from each other.

Top 3 visual novels on Tumblr in 2018. (source)

This week I played The Arcana (middle image above; story inspired by Tarot cards), which launched on Kickstarter in October 2016, and released in chapter increments beginning a few months later. Since April 2019, the game is currently releasing chapters for 3 new romance routes (now that the stories of the original 3 have ended). I played the prologue and began the romance route of the mysterious, emotionally unavailable character who I felt the prologue was most pushing you to be interested in. Once I moved past the prologue, I quickly found out that you can essentially only read 3 chapters every 3 hours. Perhaps this wasn’t an issue if you were following along as the game released. You could get excited and turn on the app once you saw an update notification. As a player arriving at this game several years later, hoping to get a general survey of the game over a condensed period of time, I felt viciously stymied and I never got very far romancing my brooding depressive nightmare boy. The overall problem was that I hadn’t found anything that hooked me into the story yet, making the waiting time turn into a total stopping point.

Arcana’s home screen, showing 6 different narrative paths. Minigames, features, and other monetizable parataxets available from the tabs at the bottom. (source)

Furthermore, the amount of paid options was egregious. Anytime someone dragged me somewhere, or I stumbled into a new room, yet again I would be forced to select (because I did not have enough coins, nor would I pay for more) some variant of, “oh never mind, I’m too tired,” as if I would ever willingly choose that option in a game…what I’m trying to say is, I believe they very purposefully made the free option seem as uninspiring as possible. It’s not really an option, it’s just a way to end the scene suddenly and rub in your face that you’re missing out on something. I am also not convinced that the paid options are just bonus material that’s not central to the story. It seemed like the most interesting potential plot developments had a paywall. What do you mean that after transporting unexpectedly through a magical fountain to see my romancee, all of a sudden I have to pay if I want to explore the mystical dream world he’s in with him instead of just going right back through the fountain to sleep? As a whole, playing this game was a very frustrating experience and the intrusion of monetization everywhere I turned made it unpleasant and deflating. How can you get excited when the game keeps trying to pry money from you?

Examples of in-game monetization. (source)

A question I should perhaps have led with is whether Arcana and other games of the visual novel variety would be considered games at all in the conceptions of the readings this week. I did wonder what Frasca would make of this game. Simulation is a part of the name (dating sim) and this genre encourages players to keep trying out different choices so that they can collect all of the different possible endings. (In addition to having different character romance paths, Arcana also has two different endings for each character. Also, each character has a gallery section with black squares to be filled in once you discover them in the story. Other similar features encourage you to play over and over.) This exploratory format, where the player is an author of what happens, seems as though it would appeal to Frasca’s ideas about the possibilities and specificity of games compared to representational media. On the other hand, visual novel is an alternate name for these games and they have the qualities Frasca associates with ludus: a 3-part story structure, an Aristotelian ending with closure, a world that has simple definitions of good/bad, winner/loser. Though I cannot comment on a full story arc in the Arcana, the game has a very clear goal of seeing the story play out to its end. Frasca does however admit that games might have a ludus structure.

In Grodal’s work, I found a very apt description of why Arcana did not interest me as a game. Grodal writes that third-person stories in video games often fail because “In films and novels (third) persons are infused with the life and agency by authors and characters, and most readers and viewers will attribute that life to the characters, not to the ‘storyteller.’ In the video game, it is the job of the player to create ‘life’ in the third person, and failure to do so will create feelings of a mechanical lifelessness, eventually perceived as due to the designer and his or her system” (152). Beyond not feeling like my choices had an impact on the story, I could not really insert myself or a character I gave life to much in the story, which did give me a feeling of mechanical lifelessness as I jumped through the hoops of the narrative. I think for this genre of games to work for you, you need to be imagining the character; I didn’t and the narrative felt blank and unfulfilling. Meanwhile, fan reddit and tumblr accounts often make fan art of their insert character. The Polygon review also claims that being able to control the personal pronouns in use and add a character name added a lot of enjoyment to the experience. But it’s just not something I invested in. I wanted to experience the story in a third-person way.

I’m not sure I agree completely that games best describe a first-person perspective and first-person emotions, as Grodal lays it out. Grodal links exploring, fighting, sex, eating, and laughing to first-person, active experiences, and other emotions stemming from empathy, like pity and admiration to third-person, passive experiences. This seems problematic to me because I enjoy reading novels and experiencing the emotions of the characters second-hand, an (active!) experience Grodal also recognizes in watching movies. While I do not have proof, it seems wrong to say that video games cannot also function in this mode.

Finally, Grodal suggests that emotions related to sex are ideally suited to video games whereas Juul argues that games resist complex themes like love, because you cannot really implement them in the rules of the game. He disparages the connection between simple mechanical tasks and the love story in Myst. Meanwhile, Grodal leans in to the aesthetic of repetition in video games, how they mirror the gritty, repeated, procedural actions of everyday life. Whereas I agree with Juul on the one hand, that dating simulations might be a rigid representation of romantic relationships, I do definitely agree on the other hand with Grodal that a relationship functions like a task that requires a repeated set of interactions, moving from unfamiliarity and challenge, to mastery, to automation. There’s something about how games represent relationships that really rings true to real life. Or rather, dating sims make sense in their representation of fiction through rules.

[itsawackyworld]

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[cap-tainwesker-gone]

some incoherent botw thoughts! contains spoilers so proceed with caution.

i've been watching a walkthrough of the game on and off since yesterday. i just got done watching the main story cutscenes and man, oh man, do i have some #thoughts (a majority of them positive, a few not so much)!

i think this is one of my favorite zelda reincarnations to date. unlike the zelda we see in previous games (the perfect and sure character that knows and takes control of her destiny), this zelda is one that struggles with her role and, as such, is very conflicted and unconfident in her abilities. she struggles with forming a connection with the goddesses and calling upon their blessing, which is absolutely crucial to stopping the great evil of ganon, and as such, she feels she's a failure and grows very disillusioned.

seeing this journey and her overcoming this obstacle, seeing her rise and being able to take the bull by the horns in the end, is really freaking refreshing. rather than the usual one-dimensional character she's painted as, this zelda feels--and is--human.

the champions are great. i don't think i dislike any of them (even revali, who is, admittedly, a huge asshole). i really appreciate each one of them and how they approach their destiny, zelda, and link.

mipha's relationship with link is really freaking cute!!! the fact that she crafted a zora tunic to propose to him with after everything was over kills me softly, and it makes it that much bittersweet after he releases her spirit and everything is all said and done. you could tell they genuinely cared about one another and imho i would've loved for them to be end game,, thanks nintendo for ruining my dreams

urbosa, of course, is fabulous. i expect nothing less from the gerudo. the gerudo is my favorite race in zelda by far and urbosa is just... i love how compassionate she is. i get the vibe that she has romantic feelings for zelda but i can also interpret their relationship as maternal and tbh, i'm fine with either one. the reference to nabooru she makes, as well as her talking about ganondorf and how revenge will be far sweeter because he was gerudo in legends of old, hit such a sweet spot for me i'm crey

(another sweet spot hit: crossdressing gerudo link. yes yes yes. give me more of that.)

daruk reminds me of darunia in many ways. i love love love the trope of goofy fatherly gorons, and daruk fits that so well.

like i said -- revali is a dick. i enjoyed the ribbing he had with link but i appreciated it even more that he admitted link was a better man than he was, and that being zelda's knight was his rightful place.

i'm simply amazed at how well they handled the npcs. everyone is unique. i'm even more impressed with how women were handled -- we had buff ladies, thin ladies, fat ladies, tall ladies, short ladies, ladies with hourglass figures, ladies with apple figures, ladies with pear figures, small breasts, large breasts, large thighs, thin thighs... you see my point.  but it's not just about their physical attributes: we had women proud of their sexualities, women who were chaste, women who were explorers, knights, researchers, etc.

which tbh zelda's always been pretty good about crafting interesting npcs but man oh man i just. this game takes the cake for me

there were, however, some things i didn't like so much, which is bound to happen because nothing is perfect

the biggest thing i didn't like was ganon's role in the game. he wasn't a character as much as he was just a mindless monster you were tasked to defeat.  all the game gives us is that ganon is a great evil who was tired of taking on his human form and decided to just attack hyrule straight on, which is okay but that doesn't give the player too much incentive to care about actually defeating this so-called "great evil".

in wind waker (and arguably oot) ganondorf was a great villain because he was sympathetic. all he wanted was to help his people. i feel like this game really could have benefited from a similar narrative (despite the fact that the gerudo are now striving), with monster ganon in the present and ganondorf in the past. knowing a villain makes a player care about that villain, and caring about the villain ultimately gives the player a greater incentive and a stronger urge to defeat said villain.

i also didn't care much for the voice acting.

it's not that i didn't like the implimentation of voice acting -- i actually love the idea of voice acting in the main cutscenes, and think it's a step in the right direction for zelda -- but that the voice acting was... bad?  there were only three voices i liked (the king, daruk, and urbosa) and the rest were... pretty cringe to me. it was very anime which i guess makes sense because it's zelda but mmm.

i'm pretty surprised how quickly i fell in love with this game. growing up with zelda, i'd like to think i'm a pretty big zelda fan, but i have to admit that the trailers and even the demo left me unimpressed and disinterested. i'm very glad i decided to give it a chance because the game proved me wrong on so many fronts.

other things i like but aren't really important enough for me to go into detail:

- confirmation that this is part of the child timeline, post-twilight princess. the child timeline is my favorite so !!! - sassy link. HE'S SO SASSY HERE?? - the divine beast designs are pretty rad - so many sexual innuendos oh my god. looks like zelda is growing up with its fanbase

other things i don't like but aren't really important/are just me being petty:

- stamina bar - can't keep horses as far as i can tell?? - stamina bar - can't date cute girls in game - stAMINA BAR

[mister-69]

CUSTOMER DEMANDS OR DEVELOPMENT TRENDS?

You know how things are overdone but they’re still being done? Like the same archetype you see over and over again in Japanime video games? Why do we still have 17 year old protagonists who are hotheaded and oblivious to the feelings of the female lead? Often, we are told “Because it sells. That’s what is hip and popular in Japan.”

But who is saying this? The actual Japanese players themselves? Someone who knows someone living in Japan? Or someone who thinks they understand Japan culture and tastes? You can single out something in the West and say “Oh, Americans are into twerking” when in reality,  there are many people who are just as ashamed or disapproving of this fad. And yet, the popularity is still there, for better or for worse.

But we don’t have someone saying “Well, there’s actually a lot of people in Japan who want older protagonists.” It’s easy to blurt out a plausible trend in other countries when they already exist, and then it becomes a convincing argument. But it’s much more difficult to dispute the trend, when the opposing voice could be ignored in Japan in the first place.

The point is, it’s dangerous to generalize the tastes and preferences of other regions just because there’s “evidence” to support it. There is a saying going around, that “JRPG genre is dying” or that the “Golden Age of RPGs has passed” but the reasons for this are not consistent. Are Western games gaining the edge because they are more accessible to the casual player, or are JRPGs just going out of fashion, or a combination of both factors?

Obviously, it’s a combination of both. Over time, JRPG developers have lost touch with how to make good games, causing the JRPG genre to shift inward towards the same identity—having the same protagonists, villains, plot, story, mechanics, illustration, etc. Even titles that strayed from the norm wrote themselves into a corner—Square released an unforgiveable trilogy, and Tales degraded to releasing low budget titles left and right. Final Fantasy XIV Online’s initial release was a disaster and Star Ocean was never good again.

Was it too difficult to keep coming up with original ideas? Did developers get complacent in the popularity of the JRPG genre? Because there are hundreds of developers, I don’t think we can pin it down to a one single correct explanation. But we, including the Japanese themselves, can all agree that the JRPG genre declined. Take a look at this excerpt between Iwata and Takahashi, who leads the development on the Xenoblade series.

Iwata: Oh, I see. The JRPG genre was able to attract game fans all over the world in the 1990s, but after that, gamers in the West didn't give soaring reviews to the genre like they did before, so you thought that they might not pick up Xenoblade Chronicles.

Takahashi: That's right.

Iwata: But that didn't turn out to be the case. It seemed that fans in the West felt they were finally seeing the evolution of JRPG. Why do you think that is?

Takahashi: Looking back, I wonder if it satisfied a craving they had.

Iwata: Perhaps the 90s game fans felt that the "future of RPGs" they envisioned was never realized, but that your Xenoblade Chronicles offered them hope for the future of RPGs.

Without a doubt, it was a combination of declining JRPG quality and the appeal of Western games that contributed to the dwindling popularity of the genre. As gamers craved for more of the same experience, developers felt they could get by on name and fame. With each passing disappointment, gamers turned to other genres (mainly from the Western hemisphere) that was worth their money.

With declining sales, JRPG developers were scratching their heads wondering why their games weren’t selling. They certainly took no time self-reflecting, because they continued releasing more of the same garbage! Why? Perhaps they attributed their loss to the changing trends and tastes of consumers preferring Western games, rather than the declining quality of their own work. And this perception is apparent in the interview between Iwata and Takahashi, who just realized and speculated that perhaps there was a “craving” that was never satisfied because JRPGs didn’t “evolve” in a good way.

So because they never took accountability for their mistakes, the genre became a negative connotation in the West. A lot of the cringe-worthy anime tropes that were more prevalent than ever in Japanime games were an instant turnoff to gamers. They wanted an original storytelling experience with innovative mechanics that the Japanese were known for, without the embarrassing tsundere moments or awkward implied incest.

And because of this dominant perception of JRPG games in the West, we suffered a period of time in which we missed out on Japanime games.  Gems like Tales of Rebirth, Destiny 2, Ao no Kiseki, Zero no Kiseki, Phantasy Star Online, Monster Hunter, and many more came and gone, never to seen in Western shores. It’s because both regions believed that bringing over such games would be a huge risk. The sales of the game have to justify the costs of localization, and that was not a risk they were willing to take. Remember how I said it was dangerous to assume the tastes and preferences of an entire region? Well, there you go. Even though there was a clear demand for these games, the overall perception of the genre led developers to believe that these games would not be successful.

Both parties suffered—the gamers who didn’t get to enjoy their games, and the developers who could have made more sales on their games. Every time a new JRPG came out, there was little hope of it ever coming over. Finally, with the release of Xenoblade Chronicles, the fans made their voices heard. They started petitions, created a website, and were loud and clear about their demands.  

Europe localized the game in their region, which further galvanized the call for localization in America, and finally the game was released 2 years later. The game gained worldwide recognition and sold out everywhere. This is not a one hit wonder that will be forgotten, this is a legacy that will be forever remembered. In 2015, fans voted its spiritual sequel Xenoblade Chronicles X, as the most anticipated game coming out on the Wii U. The game was shown in E3 trailers and from the start, was announced for localization to the West.

Fast forward to today with Xenoblade Chronicles 2, which has a worldwide release date, so that fans outside of Japan don’t have to wait as long. Even Shulk’s inclusion in Smash Bros. 4 made the internet around the world explode. Many have dubbed Xenoblade Chronicles as the second coming of Golden Age era JRPGs, describing as a JRPG that others should aspire to be. Ever since the release of Xenoblade Chronicles, we’ve seen two things: 1) an increased in localized games and 2) shorter periods between Japanese release date and localized release dates.

Xenoblade Chronicles isn’t just one of the best JRPGs in existence. It’s a trend-setter, a game changer, and its impact in the Western hemisphere should not be underestimated. It went from being a title that almost never made it over, to one of Nintendo’s biggest titles in their Directs. Monolith Soft’s open world designs are so wonderfully crafted and engineered, that they were enlisted in the development of Zelda Breath of the Wild’s development.

Before I get ahead of myself here, I’d like to throw out a disclaimer that I’m not attributing the success and localization of ALL JRPGs to Xenoblade Chronicles. Tales pulled itself out its own slump with its worldwide release of Vesperia and right now its games are consistently localized. However, there is a “return” of sorts with the JRPG genre and Xenoblade Chronicles is the center of that movement.

Unfortunately, JRPGs still have that negative connotation in the West. The genre is no longer an attraction like it used to be, now it’s a repellant to consumers. It’s easy to blame the “uneducated masses” who generalize the genre based on a few examples, but you also got to remember that they went through many years of bad anime games localized by NISA and Atlus. It doesn’t help that Nintendo is adding to this with their design changes and marriage system in Fire Emblem Awakening and Fates.

When you think about it, the genre is fighting against stereotypes. Fans of the genre now have to convince people who are on the fence to give these games a try. In a blog talking about Trails of Cold Steel, XSEED addresses the concerns of those who stay away from anime games.  The localizer described her efforts to have siblings and students using each other’s real names as opposed to “senpai” and “nii-san” but remained honest that the game is still rooted in Japanese culture.

Having played the game myself, I can assure you it’s an excellent JRPG. If you have an RPG craving, this game is definitely for you. Even if RPGs or anime games aren’t your thing, the localization and dub of this game makes for quite the amazing storyline that unfortunately, will never be widely known because of its genre.

I do not think there is an easy or possible solution to restoring the fame and trademark quality of JRPGs. Too much damage has been done and the stereotypes about the genre are out there. The decline of JRPGs as a genre, is only a cautionary tale in the larger scale problem I am about to address.

Retracing our steps back to the decline of JRPGs, I wanted to say that this decline didn’t just happen outside of Japan— it happened inside of Japan as well! Sales for even the biggest iconic brands continued to fall, but developers continued releasing the same product over and over again. Which brings me back to my original question of “It’s overdone, why do they keep doing it?”

After reading all of this, you can’t say “Because it sells” anymore, because it doesn’t sell. The answer to this question is not logical or economical. You may have remembered earlier in this article, that I speculated that developers attributed the decline of the JRPG genre to “the changing trends and tastes of consumers preferring Western games, rather than the declining quality of their own work.”

Whether this is true or not is not the point. The bigger point is that developer trends supersede customer demand. In this case, the trend of developing anime games with generic shounen protagonists superseded the customer’s demand for an original storytelling experience and innovative battle system. The idea is that “all of our competitors are getting on this, we can’t miss out!” so everyone ends up making the same thing, and it’s hard to tell the games apart.

All developers can be faulted for this, Western or Japanese. In the West, there is an abundance of shooter games, many of them taking place in a post-apocalyptic world (after Last of Us started the trend). And guess what? The dialogue is nearly identical in all of them—everyone speaks to each other in sarcastic insults. In the spirit of “your choice matters,” you can also choose between different dialogue options for different results. And the progression of the storylines? It always boils down to an ultimate goal but you’re constantly following a lead, doing favors in exchange for information, and getting intel on your next lead. In a lot of ways, these games also fall victim to tropes and checklists.

The problem for all developers, is that they see something successful and imitate it, with little to no regard for innovation and creativity. Then it becomes a trend, which replaces customer demand because developers see the trend as “this is what customers want.” And when it’s not successful, they wonder “What’s wrong? What happened? This is what you wanted isn’t it?” while conveniently forgetting that their game lacked substance and content.

Let’s take a look at Final Fantasy XV. Sorry to keep picking on you Square, but you promised a vastly open world game with a ton of things to do. But what do we get instead? Extermination quests and fetch quests that you see in every MMORPG with generic rewards. The inability to go off road with the vehicle, which destroys the point of driving it in the first place! And limitations to explore the open world at night. Oh, and the biggest crime of them all- fully rendered and detailed cities but only being to explore a fraction of it. Keep in mind, prior to the game’s release, they released concept art boasting about how there will be so much to explore in the cities.

Square picked up on the trend of open world RPGs without picking up on any of the characteristics that make it great. Because I’ve been using Xenoblade a lot as an example, let me defer to Witcher 3. So one day, I wandered to an empty village and that by itself triggered a side quest. Using the character’s senses, I followed a blood trail and deduced that everyone was killed. I found the only survivor of the village—a little girl, who saw everything happened. With her testimony, I found the guy who did it, and listened to his story. Turns out he exterminated a monster for the village but they planned to kill him so that they didn’t have to pay him. So he got angry and killed them all, and stopped short of killing the girl because she reminded him of his sister. After you listen to his side, you can decide whether to kill him or not. I decided not to, and he gave me the location for his hidden treasure. Afterwards, I guided the girl to her last living relative. This is just one of hundreds of side quests in the entire game—and your choices actually make a difference!

Even if you decide not to take any quests from NPCs, every nook and cranny to explore is filled with something of interest. You might run into someone who needs saving, find hidden treasure like rare equipment, or run into powerful enemies. Often times, you will find a letter that triggers a side quest. The letter also serves as world building, as it provides lore to the area in which it was found. They tell the stories of the dead people who were there and what they were trying to do.

It’s discoverable happenings such as these that make an open world RPG great. RPGs naturally have a big world because of the scale of their stories, but it would be a waste to create a whole world and not roam around in it. So obviously, the next step is to make the roaming worthwhile by filling it with meaningful content and substance.

Witcher 3 and Xenoblade both accomplish this, but each in their own ways. So why couldn’t Square do it? Sorry, but they’ve done open world before—see FFXI Online and FFXIV Online, and there’s Lightning Returns which was terrible but nonetheless, the expertise was there. The budget was there. There is no excuse for following a trend and not studying what makes it good.

Whether it’s mobile games, open world RPGs, fighting games, or post-apocalyptic shooters, there will always be trends and it is natural for developers to follow the hype. But along the way, developers lose their way—and end up creating something the fans don’t want. Falling into the trap of developer trend is dangerous to the gaming industry, because you run the risk of ruining your brand name, a video game series, or even worse—the entire genre.

So if I complain about something that is “overdone,” I don’t want a smart mouth telling me “because it sells.” I refuse to believe that developers are trapped into a narrow criteria that must be met in order for the game to sell, especially if the quality of the game has to suffer for it. The quality of the game is what sells the game, but I realize that this isn’t always true.

Ghost Trick on the DS was not promoted enough by Capcom. Radiant Historia released when the 3DS was phasing out the DS. And Yatagarasu simply didn’t have the advertising dollars in the face of more popular fighting games such as Street Fighter, Marvel, and BlazBlue. But Ghost Trick was later ported to the iOS, and Radiant Historia is receiving a remake that will be localized. But unfortunately… Yatagarasu just kind of… stayed dead.

The point is that if the game is good enough, fans will love it and spread the word. They will push for it and promote the game, just like what they did for Xenoblade Chronicles. One way or another, I like to believe that good games will succeed. Getting word out was difficult back then, but now it’s easier to communicate and spread the word.