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roc-thoughtblog · 4 years ago

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SSBU SEPHIROTH DLC THOUGHTS PART 2 of 2

The second post on what I think of the Sephiroth DLC, this time on Sephiroth himself. Moveset, playstyle, etc. The first post has my thoughts on the music, stage and trailer.

tl;dr: Sephiroph seems to join Byleth in an oddly specific new archetype of explosive, long-reach, shield-disrespecting swordsmen. Shadow Flare is uniquely mad and I think its incredible. I have no idea how good One-Winged Angel will turn out to be. 90% chance Mkleo will take him through tournament and I’m looking forward to seeing the carnage.

CONTENTS:

General Playstyle

Shadow Flare

Octoslash

One-Winged Angel

Final Smash

Overall

GENERAL PLAYSTYLE: The most obvious comparison to make here would be with Byleth. They share three key similarities that are otherwise uncommon in the 78 strong cast:

Their forward and backward aerials have notably similar function, with extremely long horizontal range and an extremely deadly sweetspot. The two characters will likely be spacing similarly in neutral, and will likely rack safe KOs in similar scenarios, spacing back air very safely against cornered or frametrapped opponents near the edge of the stage. While many characters do this because back airs are generally strong and fast and a cornered opponent is an easy target, these two are the ones who will be doing it while occupying a very specific stage position that they don't share with many other characters.

They can both create extremely deadly situations at the ledge at very early percents, with the key similarity that they can both cover many options at once while also safely threatening below the ledge. Byleth with their forward smash trap with the sweetspot that can potentially KO you at 40%, Sephiroth with Gigaflare, and to a lesser extent their down smash.

They both seem to have an ability to absolutely decimate shields baked into their movesets in a way most characters do not. Both of them have sweetspots on their spacing normals, and projectiles (special note should be made of Shadow Flare), that do hefty shield damage on their own accord. To build on this, both of them have normals designed to utterly shatter any shields that are even slightly damaged, being Byleth's Aymr normals and Sephiroth's down smash. And on top of that, they both have charge specials designed to be able to KO at very low percents. All characters can punish bad shields with grabs to various levels of effect, but these are two characters which are designed to prey on bad shields at range as a regular part of their gameplan, with an ultimate reward on success of near guaranteed KO at any percent.

Together they seem to be forming a new moveset archetype of swordfighter in smash, characterised by sacrificing general attributes of mobility and/or weight for a deadly combination of extreme horizontal sweetspots, devastating traps, and a predatory disrepect for shields at their optimal range. Which, personally I think is really cool. It seems reasonable to expect that they will function fairly similarly outside of One-Winged-Angel form.

Of their differences, outside of the obvious general differences that Byleth is heavier and Sephiroth is more mobile, and leaving aside unique properties of Shadow Flare and OWA, the other difference is that where Sephiroth has greater range coverage in general, Byleth is less vulnerable up close.

Byleth's arcing hitboxes on their tilts mean they lack blind spots that Sephiroth has to move or jump to cover. Also, their longer-lasting multihit neutral air has better defensive properties up close, due to more shield pressure and having a landing hitbox mixup. From this we can probably make a basic inference, before any specific factors, that Sephiroth's will likely start with a similar matchup spread to Byleth's, albeit slightly more polarised.

SHADOW FLARE: This is Sephiroth's most unique attack, and likely the one that will come to define Sephiroth's general playstyle. What it affords Sephiroth, no other character has. No, not even Megaman's crash bomber. It comes the closest, but it's just not the same.

Shadow Flare is a powerful offensive autonomous disruption tool. On a superficial level, returning projectiles like Belmont's Cross or Link's boomerang can situationally be used to trap and autonomously disrupt opponents. So can timed projectiles like bombs and grenades, for a given space. However, those all involve situations that can be escaped by the opponent through movement. Only Shadow Flare and Crash Bomber force the opponent to stop what they are doing and interact with attack through a defensive option. And of those two, while Crash Bomber is another useful tool in Megaman's kit, Shadow Flare is instead uniquely devastating in the context of Sephiroth's moveset.

Shadow Flare is a tool that, at any point in the future when it sets off, immediately has the potentially to turn the game around for Sephiroth against most of the cast. If Sephiroth is under attack or in disadvantage, it forces the opponent to relent. If Sephiroth and the opponent are in neutral or are at a stalemate, it immediately gives Sephiroth an opening. And if the opponent is in disadvantage, is trapped, or is on the run, it immediately makes the situation worse. Against most of the cast, this is already an amazing move that fulfils its purpose with 100% reliability just in its ability to force a shield, a dodge, counter or an escape to the ledge.

But then there's its power, and Sephiroth's moveset, to consider.

As the Shadow Flares pile up, dodging stops being a reliable option, or just flat out stops being an option, as the attacks when the Flares explode start outlasting dodge invulnerability. As soon as the opponent is made vulnerable, or as punishment for dodging, Sephiroth's powerful sweetspots enter the picture for big hits or a potential KO from a variety of stage positions. Octoslash is even available if Sephiroth really needs the burst movement to reach the opponent, and is itself quite powerful. And when shielded, at higher numbers the Flares absolutely shred shields on top of trapping opponents in shield for a while. And given Sephiroth's propensity for high shield-damage sweetspots on his normals, and moveset that capitalises on broken shields... you get the idea, probably in the form of a Gigaflare.

I think every player interested in Sephiroth needs to be immediately aware of the sheer power of this move. I don't think I am overstating its significance when I say that it can be a win condition in and of itself. Due to the relatively short range and low hitstun on the base projectile, it may be difficult to safely land in neutral without trading, but honestly? In many situations, as long as you're not getting KO'd or put straight offstage by the trade, that trade is probably worth it. Sephiroth is a character with the raw power to snowball a KO with a single opening at almost any percent, and provided you're not in heavy disadvantage at the time, you've just set yourself up that opening in a few seconds to the future. Outside of neutral, it's probably an attack you would want to land at almost any available opportunity after combos or during strings or tech chases, to set youself up for beyond the current string.

Being such a powerful and potentially centralising tool though, it will be interesting to see how Sephiroth will fare relatively in matchups where its application can be shut down, or even a detriment. I can already see Shadow Flare being a detriment in the Joker matchup, being incredibly potent Rebel's Guard fuel; and I suspect Arsene is already extra deadly to Sephiroth due to his light weight, and due to Eigaon giving Joker the option to fight Sephiroth from outside his range. Other notable such matchups might be Game and Watch for bucket, anybody with an absorb, and potentially Hero for bounce. Incineroar could be hilarious but given Sephiroth's range I don't see it being much of a problem.

OCTOSLASH: Octoslash very good. We've seen it's type before. It's just extra big, extra strong, extra disjointed and extra damaging now. It's a lot.

It's just so much extra bigger, stronger, disjointed and damaging that I felt the need to draw extra attention to it. Also it scoops at least some characters from their ledge-hang, so it's potentially yet another deadly, wide coverage Sephiroth ledgetrap option.

Imagine if Sephiroth's massive up air could be used to ladder. Octoslash finisher ladder combos would be hilariously upsetting, I would love to see it modded. It would be completely in character for Sephiroth to upset everyone with blatantly broken combos on obscene moves.

ONE-WINGED ANGEL: I have no real comments on how I think it will affect his playstyle as I really don't know, and we probably won't know exactly for a while. Sephiroth will of course be overall better in every dimension, but it's hard to directly quantify the specific effects of the movement speed enhancements and an extra jump brings beyond the obvious: better recovery, slightly wider combo windows, better strings, better tech chases, better spacing. It'll take people a fair amount of labbing and experimentation to see full potential, and then even more time to see how much of that potential is practical. The super armor on smash attacks is very nice though.

What I wanted to note was that, of the comeback-styled character mechanics in smash so far, One-Winged-Angel is probably one of the better designed. This is mostly for the fact that as it's only supposed to be received once per stock, and only last until the opponent's stock is taken, it's the one least likely to snowball. Having said that I am a Joker player and I do like my Arsene. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

FINAL SMASH: Supernova is completely over the top and I love it. One of my favourite out of the new cinematic final smashes. Some of the previous DLC ones have been slightly disappointing in an "overly obvious .jpeg" way, so it's nice to see this one go all out.

OVERALL: Very cool character. Flashy glass cannon, and Shadow Flare's unique properties interact with Sephiroth's moveset to take any similarities he might share with other characters and add a new level of threat to them. I also personally find Byleth's archetype to be very fun to play and watch, because who doesn't like a meaty sweetspot or a good shield break? Sephiroth seems very much the type of character that Mkleo will give a few tournament runs, and I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do with him.

#ssbu #ssbu dlc #sephiroph #super smash bros ultimate #ssbu sephiroth #oh hey rad like 1600 words #goes to show sometimes i have opinions #video games #fighting games

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wolven0ne-universe · 6 years ago

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Updated Piranha Plant Impressions

So after playing around with this guy for a day, I’ve got a few things to add to my first initial impression. First, holy-crap, this character is way more powerful than I thought. Second, I don’t think he’s very casual friendly though.

PP has a lot of moves with a ton of range and hit like a truck. But a lot of these moves require you to read a few seconds into the game in order to make good use of them. You can’t be a purely reactive player like you could with say, Fox.

Then there’s this guys recovery. Holy-crap, PP’s recovery is insane. Last time I said he had a good vertical recovery. No, he has a really good recovery period. I’m fairly sure Kirby and Jigglypuff can still go a little further laterally. But PP comes really close to matching it. Between that as his vertical, he can recover from almost anything. You can literally be off-screen at the bottom of the stage and still recover.

He ascends through the air like a recovering angel!

His Final Smash is pretty darn good too. It has a huge hitbox, and will usually cause some damage even if you escape the primary attack. The only real downside is that you can still take damage while it’s going, so you need to be aware of your surroundings while the big-flashy-animation is playing out.

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toasttz · 6 years ago

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How to make games: Hero Shooters

So, class, today I posit this little question to you all: Do you want to be the next Blizzard? Fuck no, you don't want to be "Don't you guys have phones?" Blizzard; you wanna be Blizzard from 5-10 years ago when they were at the height of their popularity. But that's not what I'm shooting for here. Do you want a fount of endless revenue? Do you want to do the absolute baseline minimum in terms of engine and game design to actually create a game but aren't creatively and ethically bankrupt enough to make a gacha game? Do you want to build a game whose rules, designs, and themes were just stolen from the effort of others? Do you really like Rule 34? Then it sounds to me like you want to make a Hero Shooter game! Hero shooters are easy to make on account they fundamentally have only three gameplay modes: push a payload, kill the other team, and kill the other team while standing on top of a glowing circular thing. They're also equally easy to design as they require no thematic consistency whatsoever and what little writing you'll be expected to bother with will simply be character bios, which you can keep so vague as to be virtually meaningless. There's never a 'story' in a hero shooter game and what semblance of one does exist is pretense for the non-canon aforementioned three game modes you'll be forced to build around. Best of all, the individual mechanics of each hero are easy to design - just steal them from whatever games came before. Now create about three or four maps with some different sorts of themes, but don't make them in any way mechanically varied - the most complex obstacles on any given map should be walls and maybe elevators that move at a very low speed. We're making a hero shooter, not Mario Party, dammit. If anyone asks why you are essentially just reskinning the same maps you can explain that it's to ensure that the game remains a "test of the players's skills" even though that's a bold-faced lie for the same reasons people who play Super Smash Bros as "tests of skill" are full of shit. Meta-gaming retards make games algebra homework instead of fun, but that's precisely what you'll be banking on in this genre. Once you have that, we need to get into the most important thing about hero shooters: the Heroes. Heroes in these games take one of three major roles: 1) The retard scrub DPS heroes - who will be played by the vast majority of your one-trick glory-chasing mentally-stunted community under the pretenses of being 'the most fun' and will be where the better part of your "cool" themes and motifs will be dedicated toward. These work under the key principle of "Shoot everything until it stops moving" and requires zero brainpower whatsoever. 2) The under-estimated doggedly persistent Tank heroes, played by those with either the willingness to learn something other than "Shoot bad guy with gun" or those who find pressing and holding a single button for the duration of the 10 minute match time to be the highlight of their bleak office-job lives. Though, on the other hand, some of the really cool designs will ultimately end up in this family. 3) The unsung gods among men known as the Support heroes, AKA: the ones no one will actually play. These characters will never be given cool or interesting mechanics or designs, but you'll be at liberty to make as many sexy nurse outfits as you can come up with and no one will be able to tell you otherwise. Like an ungodly amalgamation of tanks and DPS, your gameplay experience will boil down to pointing at your target and holding down the button the entire match - except unlike DPS heroes, you'll be shooting at the blue team and not the red team. Now, some might argue that there are technically other families of heroes, like flankers, zone controllers, pseudo-supports who can debuff enemies, but remember that the key to any good hero shooter is keeping everything rock-stupid. Every hero should have only enough abilities to fill a role for the left and right mouse buttons and the Q and E keys. F or R can be for reloading where applicable, but if you demand anything more of your players, you're going to lose their interest because Hero Shooters are hugboxes for sociopaths who care for nothing more than getting that sweet, sweet 5-second long "Play of the Game" replay at the match's end. This is why the character who invariably rips off Team Fortress 2's Demo Man and can kill people he doesn't have direct line of sight with will always be the most popular, without exception. I mean, sure, you can have 30 or 40 heroes, each with incredibly detailed outfits, backstories, kits, and personalities but everyone will just play the Not-Demo Man so you might as well accept that your userbase is going to be the only thing more toxic than a puffer-fish or a modern-day feminist. But I repeat myself. I don't have the time nor particular inclination to tell you exactly what you need to make but I can give you some character types that are obligatory by law to be in any hero shooter game. This will at least give you a start before you realize that being creative is hard and just steal kits from better games than your own. Call of Duty Man - The main DPS hero and usually the face of your game. Typically a grizzled war veteran man and almost exclusively an American if your game is set in the real world - remember, creativity is hard! He'll have a medium-ranged assault rifle and precisely one movement skill and one healing skill in his kit making him a jack-of-all-trades. Will either be loved or hated by your community with no room for in-betweens. Sexy Healer Lady - The main support hero who is literally just TF2's Medic reskinned and with tits. You really don't need to do anything more with her, as the fanbase will handle the rest. And the less said of that, the better. Big Knightly Dude - The main tank hero who has a big shield that, regardless of origin, will be transparent so Call of Duty Man and Not-Demo Man can fire through it while guarded. Probably wields a melee-ranged weapon even if in a modern warfare setting. By law, they can never be shorter than 6'6" (or 7200 cm. Pretty sure I did my conversion right on that). Flamethrower Guy - Literally just TF2's Pyro. Mechanic - Literally just TF2's Engineer. Sniper - Literally just TF2's Sniper. Probably also a voluptuous woman in a tight suit because creativity is fuckin' hard, man. Not-Demo Man - The cancer in your fanbase you will never nerf. Doesn't matter that he can party-wipe the enemy team single-handedly without being anywhere near them because Hero Shooter maps are literally just a set of narrow corridors so his kit is extremely OP. No, better just nerf Sexy Healer Lady again, since your DPS fanbase is pissing and moaning about her again and, this time, not in the same way a cat in heat does. Next, just make characters around elemental themes. Once you have 30 or so, you can get around to actually doing really mechanically interesting and varied heroes, since there's really only like 10-15 good FPS character ideas to begin with. So don't be surprised if you have some overlap. But by then we should hopefully have completed the next major step after the game is made: alienating your fanbase! This step is easy and requires no particular skill or coordination on your part. First, make some events seasonal, such that you have at least a major event every other month. Any more than that and your fans might actually think you're trying to be anything but another generic Korean eSport event, so be sure to space them out and have at least half of them be terrible. Valentine's Day is a good excuse to dress your female heroes sexily, summer games are a fun and not-at-all tired motif, and of course you need some kind of Christmas event. Just make sure these events only run maybe 2 weeks out of the year, have lots of stuff that you can only get during those times and, as said, that most of them are terrible and not fun at all to play. And don't -EVER- make any of them PvE, as that requires coding AI characters and effort and shit - what do you think think this is? Warframe? No, terrible gimmicky PvP events will be a good start because there is no frustration quite as severe as being told you didn't grind hard enough for: Loot boxes! Shit yeah, your hero shooter's gonna have loot boxes in them! Remember, we want maximum money for minimum effort and there's nothing like a Skinner Box within the hugbox that is the sweet dopamine high of popping a loot box open only to get common drops every time! If MMORPGs have taught us anything it's that Sub-1% drops are TOTALLY good game design and aren't at all unethical and an artificial, cheap tactic to keep people hooked on your game. This is why, in addition to the e-peen bolster that is your arbitrary profile ranking also drip-feeding a loot box upon level up that you have "Weekly Resets" for additional loot boxes. This runs on essentially the same principle as a cell phone games making you wait for additional tries to make it more a habit than a game - but that's okay! You can just rationalize it away as "it was the player's CHOICE to buy 300 loot boxes for the low, low price of 799.99 USD!" and not at all a psychological compunction found in human psychology! You're not an unethical douchebag in the slightest! And speaking of douchebags, it's time for the third and most important step in alienating your fanbase: Balancing the Game! What do I mean by that? You might think it's something like "Oh, this one character has an attack that is way too powerful and so it should be retooled in such a way that it either isn't available as-often, or maybe make its hitbox narrower to make the game more skill-based" but you're dead wrong. That requires actual effort and we all know how we feel about that. So, instead, just start an eSports team. Why? So you can listen only to the DPS players from each team and only implement THOSE changes. That way, only tanks and supports get nerfed into irrelevance and since no one in eSports is ever going to play those roles anyway, who cares? Who needs healers when you respawn to 100% after 7 seconds of dying?! Who cares if the majority of your fans hate these changes and that you end up completely destroying the kits and frameworks of their favorite heroes with needless, superfluous, unwelcomed tweaks? God-damn it, the Not-Demo Man needs to be able to wipe out an enemy team with a 3-second Time to Kill! No questions! I have a very specific vision!! Once your fanbase has been alienated - congrats! You're no longer obliged to release new heroes and levels! The responsibility of server upkeep and releasing new content twice a year are lifted! Now, just reskin the entire game top-down and release a new, better hero shooter founded on the same grounds to re-capture your fleeing audience and fleece them all over again! Now repeat ad infinitum and gain unlimited money. Congrats, you're now another Chinese game manufacturer that shits out products with no care for their fans or reputation but you get to go whaling every single day and fill your bathtub with money. You're ready to work for actual Blizzard now! You're welcome.

#satire #games #video games #hero shooters #comedy

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bluerosesburnblue · 6 years ago

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Liz Liveblogs Bravely Second: Chapter 6, Part 1/2

Well, I said I’d shoot for Halloween, not that I’d make it. I legitimately wasn’t expecting the Yōkai sidequest to be so... dense. So, because of that, we’re splitting this chapter into two parts, too. I think the finale deserves an entry all on its own

We’re in the home stretch, folks. Get ready for Bravely Second Chapter 6, Bravely Second

Hey, welcome to my liveblog of Bravely Default. So Tiz, after the destruction of Norende wakes up... wait. Hmmm. Wrong brunet boy. How did we get to the Caldisla Inn?

Karl’s soothing voice is a welcome reprieve from... that scene

“Wait! Where’s Denys?” *noises of discomfort from Tiz, Edea, Magnolia, and me*

“We defeated Diamante...” No. We were denied the ability to defeat Diamante. Now it’s Denys’s burden, assuming someone can even survive at the end of time. The self-sacrificing idiot...

Magnolia is being called to return home, as the hero of her people... and the light of her communicator is clipping through her Black Mage hat. Whoops

Weird that Karl didn’t recognize Tiz until right now. What, was Yew the only one asleep? Was his hair so bad you couldn’t be sure until you heard his voice?

Even more insane that he recognizes Edea since I have her in her Ranger getup with a full face mask

“Me and Agnes and Edea and...?” “We always counted on him when we.. When we...” Tiz. Edea. Do you not remember Ringabel or the first game? I thought we just weren’t talking about him because it was a sore subject, but...

Tiz doesn’t even remember the king of his home nation. What happened to you kids?

Diamante’s bestiary states that when it fell, it destroyed a part of the Miasma Woods and split the continent in two. I assume that refers to the separation of landmasses between the Harena and Yulyana regions, since there’s... like... a crater there where I’m pretty sure there wasn’t last game. I never mentioned it, it’s just the spot where we keep boarding the Skyhold because Denys really liked parking over it?

Karl who are these two white-haired kids? Are they yours? They can’t be grandkids since Owen is...

Caldisla’s theme is still amazing. Feels like being home after a long journey. Love it when a game can do that to me.

Tiz really had forgotten his entire home and the start of last game. Edea couldn’t remember it either

Yew says he’s read about Caldisla, but he couldn’t remember what he’d read either

I am reminded of a plot point in the Korean webtoon Kubera: One Last God. In that, a person who uses time magic too much will “forfeit their existence” for a time. They disappear and don’t age, but as long as they’re vanished from existence, nobody can remember them. If someone tries to remember events surrounding them, they freeze up and then immediately think of something else, forgetting their original train of thought. I’m getting the same vibes here

I know that tinny tone, Alternis!

“I am the one who carried you out of the Skyhold and to safety.” But how did you get to the Skyhold in the first place? I can’t imagine it was still flying after we “defeated” its power source, so it must have crashed somewhere around the Yulyana/Florem area, in which case the party should be very, very dead. Dead beyond my ability to fix

“I would go to the very ends of the earth for you if you needed me, Edea.” Okay, Clearly-Ringabel, turn the charm down a notch and exposit for us

“That bloody witch... Yōko will pay!” So Yōko sealed everyone’s memories of Caldisla? How do you figure, Dim?

Ah, she gave him the cryptic message of “Go to Caldisla, the land of endings” and he had no idea what she was talking about but went anyway and his brain freaked out

He’s still wearing Edea’s bow! So at the very least it’s the same Alternis from the Geyser Grotto

You know, I’m just now realizing that it’s been two games and we still haven’t had party members from either the Yulyana region or the Eisen region. You know, one of the four main continents? Has a major magical artifact in the form of a capital-”C”-Crystal?

I mean, Tiz is from Caldis, Agnès from Harena, Ringabel from Florem, Edea and Yew from Eternia, and Magnolia from the Moon, which somehow got representation before Eisen did

...how dare they put a hidden item next to a child you can talk to. Do you know how difficult it was to get Yew to focus on the object and not the kid!? Yeesh

Hitboxes on hidden items are so finicky in this game I swear

And there was a Phoenix Down behind Owen’s grave. Thanks

Oh... oh no. Oh no I looked at Til’s grave. Oh god Tiz I’m so sorry

God he sounds like he’s gonna cry. “Til was a lot younger than me... Even younger than you.” I don’t think it ever occurred to Yew that while he was using Tiz to replace Denys... Tiz was doing the same thing back

And the Caldisla amnesia makes it worse oh no. Could you imagine? Walking through a town and slowly realizing that it’s your hometown. And then stopping in front of a grave and it’s your brother’s grave. And it only hits you while you’re looking at it that you even have a brother... had a brother

Til doesn’t get a big grave like Owen. His is one of the small, unassuming ones. The only person he meant anything to was Tiz

And Tiz is being lauded as the hero he deserves after his untimely coma after the defeat of Ouroboros. Can’t help but notice they aren’t celebrating Edea, who was also there, but eh. She’s got the entirety of Eternia to throw her a party. Let Tiz have his exotic cheeses

Heyyyyy, Egil! How’s my favorite kid who didn’t die in a mine!? Nice armor, buddy! Looking good!

Oooooooh a Junior Captain? Nice work!

A great beast at Lontano? It couldn’t be a Ba’al, could it? The only story-based one we’ve had so far is Urchin

That’s actually the one thing I think I prefer in Default over Second. The Norende Nemesis fights weren’t necessary for completion, which was good since I mostly played that game at college where my 3DS couldn’t connect to the internet thanks to how poorly set up the login information was. My 3DS just couldn’t handle it. I barely did them, and I really didn’t miss much because of it. Here, though, if I want to 100% complete the game I have to do the Fort-Lune Ba’al fights, and which ones I get are entirely up to chance. I have been doing them, though. Get a lot of Apparati (probably people sharing it because it’s the only one with a Catmancy skill), followed by Snowcap in terms of quantity. Heck, I only got my first Redshirt the night before writing this and the only Urchin I’ve seen has been the story one. Completing those Bestiary entries is probably the last thing I’ll be able to do just out of luck

“The Youth Brigade”? What, we doing child soldiers now or is this the Caldisla version of Boy Scouts?

“Tiz, would you care to introduce us?” “Of course! This is Egil. He’s like... um... a little brother to me.” Hey, Yew, meet your new favorite little brother. Egil’s family. Mostly because Tiz has chronic Big-Bro-itis, but still. He’s a good kid

Can Egil be a party member in Bravely Third, finally giving us our Eisen representation?

Tiz no. Don’t mention the Three Cavaliers. That’s still a sore subject!

Oh damn. “You must be, like, the best of the best! So why are you hanging out with someone like Tiz here?” Egil! Harsh! Tiz killed a World-Consuming snake demon, you know!

“Yew’s a good friend of ours. I guess you could say he’s like a slightly older younger brother.” These boys cannot stop taking in new brothers! It’s adorable! I love it! (See, Denys? This is what you miss when you needlessly throw yourself into a time vortex. You miss getting adopted by Tiz and having, like, 60 younger brothers.)

An earthquake? First reaction says it’s the “beast” but we are right near the Great Chasm. I hope it was just a rock slide, but it’s never that easy

It’s the Rubadub? Why the fuck did the Rubadub cause an earthquake!?

Damn, according to Sakura we’ve been out for over a week

Sakura is best team mom! She did the laundry while we were gone, fixed the damages from the Skyhold collapse, caught a ton of fish, and is already making dinner with it!

Oh... wait what? Wait. ...is that where Caldisla is? I... hrm.

So my poor geography sense ended up making the “Caldisla disappeared” plot point work because I misremembered where the whole continent was. I thought it was in the middle of the ocean between Eternia and Florem and just wasn’t on the map because the section it would be in would be cut-off and it wasn’t going to be relevant! I thought it was farther to the right! God, see, this is what happens when you change the orientation of the map on me. I can’t navigate for shit

So, hey, I read through my old Liveblogs to catch myself up for the finale just in case, and you know what I called out and had conveniently forgotten by the time I played the last chapter? Minette Napkatti is seventeen FUCKING years old. She’s OLDER than both Yew and Janne. I wrote everything last chapter under the assumption she was, like, 10! God, her being 17 is so much worse. Now it makes people treating her like a pet even creepier! How is Minette even worse than I gave her credit for! Stop enabling this girl and get her some serious mental rehabilitation!

Now, I should really look at that urgent Beast situation... buuuuuuuuut there’s a sidequest in Gathelatio!

Actually, Yew just brought up the Crypts in a Party Chat and now I’m curious. Where did the stairwell Denys was standing near... go? Does it just exit into the city somewhere?

Party Chat says Alfred said there was a secret passage between the Crypts and the Sanctum. I’m gonna go see if that’s what’s up with those stairs

“I’d rather we didn’t go blundering around the family crypts if we don’t have to” Sorry, Yew, I’m with Edea. It’ll be five minutes, max. Besides, it looks like the sidequest is in the Sanctum. I wanna sneak up on ‘em if I can

Uhhhhh... wh...

Denys? Denys did you leave this shadow-man ghost thing here? What the fuck is that?

Why is there a nondistinct shadow man near Foundar’s grave?

All it says is “Fear the Eye of Foundar... But I suppose it’s still too early for you to understand what that means. Heh.” Hey, don’t laugh! You aren’t the first person to give me awful, vague prophecies! Sylvie beat you to it by a whole timeline!

There are some bits of... probably hair dangling at the sides of Shadowman’s face. It looks kinda like Yew’s concept art hairstyle, honestly. Huh.

That’s it that’s unsettling I’m out

And hey, that was the secret passage into the Sanctum! I hadn’t even noticed a door there in my past visits. Let’s... uh... let’s just talk to Braev and forget that unnerving shadow boy

What’s the matter, narrator? “By what strange trick of fate do your paths cross anew?” getting too much for you? Braev’s been in the story for a while, I don’t think he needed an introduction

Ah. Well, the sidequest is still Edea-focused like all the others, but at least this one I can get behind. It’s Braev testing whether Edea’s ready to succeed him

And there’s still a choice, hm? Should you desire the power to cut down all foes, the Grand Marshal’s sword is in Everlast Tower. Should you desire the power to protect your subjects, the Grand Marshal’s shield is in the Central Command basement

I don’t suppose we could do both? They say the two are opposites, but I hardly see why. A true ruler knows how to balance the two. Knows how to change their persona to match the situation. To cut down your foes is to protect your citizens. To protect your citizens is to spite your foes. There’s no reason to limit your capabilities

Regardless, if they do make us pick one, I find the sword is the better option. A shield can only hold out so long without the opposing forces thinning out

“It’s a travesty! Ketchup is for burgers and fries!” God, Yew is a boy after my own heart. I’ll try any food or food combo once, but putting ketchup on a good steak seems like sacrilege

And Tiz is also a boy after my own heart. Keep it simple with your eggs. Salt and pepper is all you really need. Though I’ve never had hollandaise, so I can’t really comment on Yew’s choice

Aw, Tiz puts soy sauce on his oysters because that’s how Agnès did it when he first had them. Cute!

And it was all a ruse to distract them from the fact that she botched dinner! Oh, Magnolia, sweetheart. I appreciate the creativity but I think bringing up favorite foods was the worst thing to do

Edea thinks getting the sword was too easy... so she wants to talk to Elder Sirius? If I go, is he just gonna tell me to grab the shield as was my plan to attempt from the start?

Braev’s location is marked... but so is the shield still. I want both

“It’s what Heinkel would’ve done.” I have no problems believing that Heinkel would use an heirloom shield to grill food. That checks out

Aaaaand that’s why you ask Yew before you use his stuff to cook with. Leave my nerd son and his collections alone!

A true leader directly defies orders and grabs both heirlooms regardless! We make our own win states in the House of Liz!

And seek shield counsel with Goodman. ...screw it, let’s talk to Sirius and Goodman. I’m curious if either of them have new dialogue

Seems like they do! Unmarked cutscenes. Sirius warns Edea to be careful of all power, as any could be used for evil. But it can also be used for good. The power is not the issue, but the intent of its wielder. To cast aside any means of defeating all who would endanger those you seek to protect is foolish

And Goodman espouses the benefits of a shield. Separate the soldiers from the civilians, and have the soldiers become an unbreakable wall to repel all threats. The shield has no chance of endangering others (KH Goofy would like to have a word, sir)

Edea mentioned Dominus Harena, so I thought I’d check him out and lo and behold! He also has a scene. Ancheim makes weapons, but uses none. They fight instead with their knowledge, using the scholars of Al-Khampis to outbuild and outsmart their foes. And they can absolutely use those weapons if they want. “Don’t brandish a big sword - but be sure to have one ready when you need it” is pretty close to my life motto

Meeting Braev at Vestment Cave is the first relevant event in the Yulyana region, huh?

Vestment Cave is the place you were blessed with a daughter? Edea was born in this cave when Sage took you in? Did I know that or is that just some trivia you felt like sharing, Braev? Because if so uhhhh...? I don’t think I can get that out of my head

Oh? “I see you have the grand marshal’s sword AND shield. ...And yet you have equipped neither.” I... have Edea as a Ranger? Equipping either of those would do nothing for her. I was not aware you wanted those equipped

...you know what? Yeah! Have the big sword (and shield) but don’t brandish it! That is our answer!

“Justice must be supported by might and authority - but when it is delivered at the point of a sword it is naught but coercion. [...] A stout shield is needed to protect the people in times of war. Yet the true goal should be a world with no need for shields. The noble course is to believe in the ideal.” This sidequest is awesome

“But you have one more trial to face - together with the friends who stand beside you!” And you know what? Those friends are the only weapon a good leader needs! They keep you from swinging the sword with abandon or allowing harm to come passively! They balance you, keep you in check! Edea Lee, go and claim the position you have earned!

(I just wish that Edea was in a different outfit in that scene. Loses a bit of impact when her face is covered with an animal mask)

Damn! He revives more times than Diamante! You fucking hear that, Denys!? Edea’s dad is a harder fight than DIAMANTE

And now Edea receives the Stave of the Grand Marshall. She is, unquestionably, the Grand Marshall of Eternia. I’m so proud of my girl!

Ah! And we’re visiting her parents at Sage Yulyana’s old place! Seems Braev and Mahzer are moving out here to retire. Good for them

‘sup Alternis? ...still mad about the Grandship escapade?

Braev is taking up needlework, huh?

Okay, I love the way John Eric Bentley said “a new tea cozy!” He’s a good replacement voice for Braev in my book

That sidequest was EXACTLY what I had hoped the others would be! It was such a good character focus to showcase Edea’s growth from the beginning of the first game, and the actual elements of it were so nuanced! There were so many permutations of events. Did you obtain the sword, shield, or both? Did you talk to Sirius, Dominus, Goodman? All of them? None? Some combination of two of them? Were the items equipped when you talked to Braev? Ultimately, the structure was simple, but the narrative you got out of it was all up to you. I’d be interested to see every permutation of the talk with Braev, but I am so happy with what I got. And I’m so proud of Edea. She’s come a long way from the self-righteous, black-and-white girl of Default’s events. Eternia is in good hands

I love that Tiz being the king of cooking with leftovers is canon

...so I can’t help but notice that there’s a Fort-Lune Ba’al icon just sort of... floating there above Lontano. That’s weird.

What on Earth was that noise it made?

“I-it’s exuding a level of power on par with... No, even exceeding Diamante’s!” YOU HEAR THAT, DENYS? You didn’t even take out the strongest Ba’al!

“We can’t let Denys’s sacrifice be in vain!” Yew, honey. You’re sweet, but it was in vain the second he made it. We’re about to prove how useless it really was

Oh, it’s just a Turtle Dove? Not even, like, a special one? Alright

Not too bad. Only got close at the end there because Yew went down and I had trouble getting him back up

Certainly harder than Diamante, at any rate

So it seems the only two mandatory Ba’al fights in the game are an Urchin and a Turtle Dove, and I’m certain those were the only two that made appearances in Default as Norende Nemesis fights. So that’s why those two were added to the BD international release

Aw, Egil doesn’t understand how pendant-call works either and thinks we shoved Agnès in the jewel

Where is she? I can’t say I recognize that room. Wooden doors with a crystal-thing in the back?

And yet another person who just couldn’t remember Caldisla

I guess she was on an Airship?

And on the Magnolia Cooks sideplot: She’s really good! Her quest for recipes has led to her becoming a master of Luxendarc cuisine

“A bath has to be sot hot you can barely stand it!” I know Edea’s opinion is meant to be an extreme... but that’s how I take my showers so...

I will say I don’t jump out and douse myself in cold water, though. That’s a little much

I guess hot-bath-cold-bath followed by freezing iced lattes is an Eternian thing? Yew’s into it, too

Alternis and Agnès are already here talking to the king? We’ve almost got the whole family in one spot! (This Alternis doesn’t have a bow, though. Guess we’ve still gotta hunt down Ringabel and Denys if we want that family meetup. Why is it always the blond ones who are a problem?)

According to the king, the people of Caldisla forgot the rest of the world in turn. That’s some nonsense that’s going on

Bow-Alternis is absolutely Ringabel. Alternis doesn’t know anything about his arm being hurt or Yōko

It’s an interesting way of doing the Alternis-Ringabel thing. Last game they made them seem like the same person, too, up until the reveal by having them get injured in similar places and never on-screen at the same time. This game we’re able to tell them apart despite Ringabel actually trying to impersonate Alternis because of their differing injuries

Where do Ba’als come from and what are they? It’s a question that’s been forced to the background thanks to the immediacy of the Kaiser’s plot, but now with that settled it and Anne’s plan are all we have left to solve

I like how Yew and Magnolia got cut off in that shot, leaving only Agnès, Alternis, Tiz, and Edea. A version of the first party

Oh, Magnolia. She’s beating herself up because she never thought to ask what the Ba’als were, but still dedicated her life to stopping them. But no one knows what they are. She would’ve been asking a question no one could answer

I appreciate Yew trying to commiserate by telling her he didn’t know anything about the Crystalguard or Denys but I don’t think those situations are really... comparable? Magnolia is talking about unknowable eldritch horrors. That’s a little bit bigger than the Crystalguard stuff

“There must be someone out there who can give us a clue!” “Do not judge a carrot by its leaves, nor a man by his words alone...” Leave it to Altair to announce his timely appearance in the most dramatically dorky way possible

“It’s a ghost!” ...I mean, yeah? Technically? But we know Altair. Edea, chill. Team dad tire-man of the vegetable proverbs is here to enlighten us

So the Ba’als are Vega’s emotions given life. Born of her memories with Altair, and I imagine the fight with Geist back in Sagitta is what tipped him off. Diamante probably only confirmed it. I can’t imagine anyone else whose memories Diamante’s background could have belonged to

Altair theorizes that something found Vega’s regrets upon being left behind and gave them form to be used as weapons

And that just leaves one place the Ba’als could be from. The last place anyone saw Vega alive: the Celestial Realm

“Let’s go to the Celestial Realm!” Yew, if travel between Luxendarc and the Celestial Realm were so easy Vega wouldn’t be trapped there, Ouroboros wouldn’t have had to create a chain of worlds just to break through, and I would travel to Luxendarc just to hug you. It’s just not that easy

And Altair agrees. It’s just not... simple. Maybe not possible

“Never say never until you’re dead!” Okay, but Altair is super dead, though? He has every right to say “never” at this point

At least he’s got a good sense of humor about it

...3DS did the going black thing again

“Of course I do not... accept it...” This game does some interesting things with the concepts of acceptance and denial. To not accept something is similar to, but not the same as, denying it. I like that they brought it up like that

He’s getting desperate. Begging the party to help Vega. Altair...

“You’re our friend, Altair.” “Your... friend? Oh, thank you, my dear children!” Altair, I nominated you for team dad. You’re not a friend now, you’re family. We live to make the impossible possible. We have (or most of us have) defeated Ouroboros. Let’s go get Vega.

So who could help? As Altair said, Anne. A fairy who can control the Ba’al and who spoke of a Master. She clearly knows something about them the rest of us don’t, and I’ve still got a bone to pick with her

I’d know that place anywhere. She’s at Norende’s Great Chasm

Norende has a path between the Celestial Realm and Luxendarc... right where the Dark Aurora was... I should’ve known Ouroboros would use the weakest point in the barrier to get through

So that’s your plan, you little shit? Use this path as an express lane to get Ba’als to Luxendarc without interference from the Moon people? And then maybe get your boss in? Not happening. Nope. I refuse. Yew, Tiz, and everyone else deserve better

Funny you’re monologuing, Anne, since I know you know I exist and can, presumably, hear you. What’s their secret if it’s not the hourglass that let them keep their memories? I think you already know

They are directly using the fact that we, the player, saw that scene and now know where to go next and the party doesn’t. Party’s got no idea. That scene was for our eyes only

And the last sidequest has opened up. Yōko Yōko Yōko Yōko Yōkaiiiiiiiii

Oh thank god the Vampire Castle’s unlocked. I would’ve cried if they made me do the dragon fights again

Why should only Magnolia dress warm, Edea? You’re wearing about as much as her!

I don’t like Alternis’s helmet sitting at the door like that. Ringabel, you’d better be okay! You were my favorite last game, don’t you die on me!

Oh! My encounter rate is locked at standard. Guess I have to fight, huh? That’s... it’s never done that before

There’s a painting no one ever noticed before. Yōko in both human and Yōkai form, with a blonde child

And there’s the girl of the hour! You gonna pull a DeRosso and give us your backstory while we climb the tower?

I have never heard Vampire Castle called the Hall of Truth? Did I forget? It’s been a while. Hall of Exposition, more like

“Tiz! Do not think you can avoid the dangers that you encounter in this place.” AKA: no. You have to fight the encounters. Also, I forgot setting the encounters was a Tiz thing

“The powers of Luxendarc’s gods will not avail you.” So it’s a Celestial power Tiz was using. Assumed as much. And according to Yōko, this is Luxendarc. We play by Luxendarc rules this time (unfortunately)

So either Ringabel or Alternis can work the pendant call. He didn’t have the bow, but he talked like he knew what we were on about. Suspicious

So Yōko slept. And slept for quite a while. Twenty years ago an ambitious man came to wake her up, and with him came a girl with the Plague. The man in the painting is wearing Crystalguard clothes, and came to plunder the offerings at Yōko‘s shrine. The man was so determined to take those treasures home that he ignored the girl’s grandfather, who asked for her to be quarantined due to her sickness and pleaded with the church to let them sail. The church sent Geist. Once she was exorcised, the fleet could move. His ritual didn’t cure her at all, though. She doesn’t need to say it. I can already tell that the man was Yew’s father, Greide

Greide Geneolgia, whose greed sparked the Great Plague

She gave us his journals.

Foundar left behind texts for his descendants, texts that Greide managed to decode and use to locate Yōko’s shrine. The girl was the granddaughter of their patron from the church, sent to help them find the shrine that the Orthodoxy wanted so badly to find.

Greide used the girl to house Yōko’s soul, so she couldn’t stop them from raiding her shrine. It was there that they found the statue of Cú Chulainn that Bella would one day animate. The girl only fell sick with the Plague after the raid on the shrine. Griede’s writing comes across as paranoid. He thinks they’re being manipulated, and that his “enemies” are behind it

Judging by his outfit, the figure in this painting seems to be Geist

Hey uhhhh. Yōko? How long have you been staying here that you managed to replace a ton of DeRosso paintings?

Geist’s report went through, despite Greide’s attempts to stop it. The girl was put under quarantine and banned from travel. But another man and Greide decided to change tactics to get their plundered loot back. They asked to bring the girl to Eternia so that she could get the best medical treatment available to her. So they let her travel. And at every port they stopped at on the way back, they spread the Plague. To many continents. When the sailors began to freak out, Greide poisoned everyone aboard, including the girl. He was the only survivor, returning home with perhaps not all of the loot he wanted, but certainly enough. And one year later, Denys was born. Right on the heels of his dad murdering a whole crew of people for some sick loot

(I wonder if the timeline actually works out)

So Norzen and Braev were the ones opposing Greide the most, besides the elders. Greide looked into their pasts to see what he could use to... convince them to come over to his side

So if this happened in 2379... Denys was probably born in 2380-ish. Which seems about right? Definitely not 2384 like the Final Fantasy Wikia says. That would make him younger than Agnès and I’m very sure she isn’t over 23, which is Denys’s canon age as confirmed in the Bestiary (What are you guys doing, FFWikia?)

And this is just a painting of a huge area of gravestones with ravens.

The first deaths were in Eternia. “A sleepy border village.” And now we hear what we know from Default. Braev begged the church to help his home, and in return they sealed off all roads. Quarantined the smaller villages and left them to die. The incident that sparked Braev and the Anticrystalists’ revolt against the Orthodoxy. Braev gave Norzen full authority to investigate the Plague, where Minette’s mother would eventually discover a cure, but not before the first wave had killed more than could ever be counted

On the timeline: Greide’s 4/11, 2379 journal entry mentions a woman bringing her son and claiming he was Greide’s. Since he recognized her, he figured yeah, sure. Kid’s probably his and he can’t prove otherwise. So he took her and their son Denys in. So at the very least we can confirm that Denys was born before April 11, 2379. Unfortunately, I have no idea what year this game takes place in and can’t do math, so... I still have no idea if that date checks out?

And Denys’s mother... “left them” by 5/25 2380, and Greide became engaged to who I assume is Yew’s mother just over a year after that. And, like, jeez, Denys’s mom died when he was 1 or 2 years old? The way people talk about her it sounded like she was around for longer than that

Greide pretended to be loyal to Braev’s Duchy, but was appalled by how... businesslike they treated him. Like the idea of people not groveling at his feet because of his family name was repulsive

“There has been no warning from the Eye of Foundar...” God, is the Eye a prophecy machine? Why did a shadow man have to tell me about it in the Geneolgia corpse basement?

Hah. When Greide met with DeRosso and Sage Yulyana they called his ancestor a “sickly man” and a “monster,” respectively. And for the first time in his life, Greide felt true fear, but only at the potential loss of his status

Bestiary Tiz described DeRosso as “the pretend vampire with the baritone voice” which is really all you’d ever need to know about DeRosso

And here’s a painting of a burning Crystalguard banner. Greide disbanded the Crystalguard after Braev’s successful uprising, since the church was no longer in power and Greide wanted to keep himself and his allies out of the way of the rebellion. Houses Geneolgia and Camlann destroyed any who wanted to keep the Crystalguard together. Their biggest opponent: Janne’s father. His dying words were giving custody of his son to his squire, Angard. And Nikolai watched it all. After that, he tried to reinstate the Crystalguard and get himself and Janne a place in it. And just as Nikolai explained, the now unemployed soldiers went and looted the few villages left with survivors. And the Geneolgia and Camlann families formed private armies to save their own asses by taking down the bandits that they caused

Yew’s so shaken he collapsed. Hey, someone help my boy up? He’s having a rough day and I only see it getting worse

According to the Journals, Yew cried the whole night the attack on Jerome Balestra happened. Empathetic beyond belief, even as a baby

Seems Greide at least entertained the notion of choosing Denys as his heir. He says it himself: Denys had all the courage and skills he could want in an heir, but Yew had the superior bloodline despite his seemingly lesser talent as a kid

And he dies with some unspecified “promise” left unfulfilled

...I don’t even need to examine that painting to know who that is on the left. That’s Denys. I’d recognize him anywhere

Ah, a symbolic painting. On one side we have a young Yew grasping the Sword of the Brave, with Denys behind him. On the other side is Yōko and Danzaburō mirroring the Geneolgia brothers. It’s so obvious now that Danzaburō was just Denys in a hat and with two real arms. And I think with a different voice actor, maybe?

Yōko is a different kind of being. They called her a Yōkai, but that confuses her as she is the only one of her kind she knows. Her goal is simply to achieve true growth and lift the world into a higher plane of existence. True growth? It’s looking at yourself in the most open sense and accepting all that you are. By doing so, you become truly and fully realized, able to be the person fate wanted you to be

Girl, you didn’t have to switch forms on me

“Brave the dark depths within their heart”? Is that what you tried to do at the Geyser Grotto? Show everyone the parts of themselves that they deny to try and get them to accept those flaws and grow?

Yeah, I think that’s it. And she remembered that she never looked at Edea’s heart. Yōko... is absolutely right. Edea says she defected in the last game because she was appalled by their actions, and to an extent I’m sure it’s true, but it was also a ploy to get her dad’s attention. Selfless and selfish in equal measures. So often are actions both, and all it takes is a different angle to see it

And her other secret is exactly what I called out last liveblog: she misses Ringabel more than anything, and it kills her to see all of her friends and family and even enemies pair off while her love is probably in an alternate reality, loving an alternate her. Her love is a version of a man she should never have had the ability to meet if the worlds had stayed intact. The version of a man who wouldn’t have existed without that universal fabric being breached

“And what hurts most of all, is that he chose to leave you.” He did. He left the Edea he’d journeyed with to go try and save the Edea he’d failed. Just like Alternis is probably dismayed that she loves an alternate him, Edea probably can’t help but fear that Ringabel only saw her as a temporary replacement for her alternate self

Yoko’s being so mean since I am fairly certain she knows Ringabel is here. She called him interesting at Geyser Grotto. I know she knows who he is

OHHHHHH FUCK YEAH THAT’S LOVE’S VAGRANT

EDEA QUICK CHANGE OUT OF THE RANGER OUTFIT. GET SOME GOOD CLOTHES. UNLESS HE’S INTO RABBIT GIRLS? HE PROBABLY IS, ACTUALLY

That’s my last game fav! How’s it going, ‘Bel? Good to see I correctly identified his appearances, too. Geyser Grotto, then Florem, then Caldisla

Cute hug. CUTE HUG.

I don’t know why the revelation that it’s Ringabel means anything to Yew and Magnolia. I mean, it’s basically “You thought I was Alternis, but it’s actually me, his twin who you’ve never met!” but with the added bonus of “how did you dimension hop?”

A painting of Yōko fighting unidentified warriors. Ringabel calls them the Planeswardens, the group he’s taken up working for. They... warden planes. Which is to say they defend alternate realities. According to him, Yōko only wishes to create chaos, nothing more

“Growing as a human being is about more than drudging up old fears and traumas...” God, I missed ya, Bel

And the Planeswardens have classified Yōko as an S-rank Malevolent Spirit of Concern. So she’s dangerous, though I’m willing to listen to her spiel, at least. The most she’s done so far is emotionally traumatize us, right?

She’s over 4.6 billion years old? Because that’s just how long she’s been on Luxendarc, she’s actually older than that. Do... do you people know how time works??? (Evidently not because no one in the Glanz Empire did, but still) That’s a LONG TIME, GUYS!

No. NO. Do NOT cut to Ringabel, standing alone, going “No matter what the cost, I must defeat her!” I already had one unexpected favorite dumb blond boy sacrifice himself this game, I’m not letting you do it to the other one, too!

So Ringabel and Denys for Bravely Third party when?

And according to Greide’s journals, Foundar’s dying message was basically “If you have more than one son, have them duke it out. Winner gets his inheritance, loser is either his brother’s servant or dead. That applies to every generation after me. Have fun, losers!”

“Fear the Eye of Foundar.” What IS IT. What can it DO. Do I have to worry for my boys because I’m already worrying you don’t need to make it worse

To enter Yōko’s shrine, you have to decipher Foundar’s code using the symbols carved into the walls of the crypt. And you have to do it on your own. You cannot tell anyone how. Only then can you hope to know if you are even qualified

...Greide didn’t write “Fear the Eye of Foundar.” It simply appeared in his locked journal after he deciphered Foundar’s texts

YEEEEEEEEEW I think your family’s cursed. There’s some fucked up demon magic going on here and I DON’T LIKE IT. We gotta go get Denys. Like, now. I think you’re both doomed but he’s doomed and without Celestial guidance. And also trapped with a horse

Year AO 3. I think this is from Foundar. Proposed to by the pope’s daughter, then he spoke to Yōko at her shrine, describing her as “pitiful”

The “promise” was Foundar’s to Yōko. A task he needed someone with “the vast wealth needed to support a million souls, great military strength enough to strike down a thousand political foes, and technology advanced enough to grant a hundred men hundred-year lives” for. Greide suspects that those who failed Foundar’s request for his descendants gave up on the last part, with the Eye warning them of failure

Yōko was put to sleep to contain the first Plague. If you seal her inside the girl... the Plague returns because now the girl has it

Greide what... “Well, I didn’t get an ominous demonic message on the last page, so I should be good to go on the fulfilling Foundar’s promise thing!” N... no???

So first he wanted fame. Then he wanted the “power” Yōko bestowed on Foundar that caused his meteoric good fortune and rise through the ranks. Not a single shred of selflessness, as befitting a man named “greed”

Confirmation that Yōko had the Plague sealed within her and was put to rest in the shrine to keep it from infecting Luxendarc. I see we’ve got a morally grey fox demon here. For all she tries to help, it may do more harm than good sometimes

Greide was legitimately shocked that the Origin Plague spread as the Great Plague. His decision to poison those on their ships was due to a message from the Pope claiming he wouldn’t let any potential carriers dock

The Plague had one clear physical identifier on the effected: a star-shaped pattern on the pupil. He killed anyone he saw with that mark, and apologized to both the girl and Yōko sealed within her, who Foundar had wished to save and who he had failed

God, that star mark is just... ripe for a scene of someone turning around and having it in their eye as a dramatic reveal. If it doesn’t happen in this game I feel it’ll probably happen in a potential Bravely Third

“To my sons, and my son’s sons... I leave you this message: Blame me. Hate me. And then lead the church and this world on to a path which will ultimately eradicate the Plague that the fox girl so desperately wished to contain. To my sons... To all who come after me... Fear the Eye of Foundar. But do not fear failure.” And in the end... a moment of clarity. Who is right? Yōko or Greide, two tellers with biases that are different but no less strong?

I have never felt the pull of a sequel hook so strong in my life

Oooooh hello! Tent event with Ringabel!

And after giving him coffee, Yew and Magnolia make a hasty retreat so the Default crew can get some reminiscing done

Yes. Call Agnès. Get the quartet together again

Oh fuck Alternis picked up ABORT. ABORT.

So Agnès had him take her calls while she was in the bath, and now The Dim Twins are arguing

So Ringabel saved Braev and Alternis after the Kaiser’s attack during the first timeline. Alternis, did you not recognize your own damn voice when he saved you?

“Did you say Agnès was in... the bath?” *Edea whips her head to look at Ringabel faster than I can blink* Boooooooy you’re in... hot water now

...never change, Bel. Never change.

Did Yōko eat the team’s breakfast? The monster. Now she’s done it!

I’m gonna kick her ass and become a fox demon myself!

Yōko, that’s an amazing sword. I super love it. God, the pale pink fire theme? So rad

OH HOLY SHIT. Ringabel jumps in at random points in the fight to do his special attack!? THAT’S AMAAAAAAAZING. Love’s Vagrant may as well just be the battle theme at this point and I looooooooove iiiiiiiiiit

So, hey. Game. I see you can do this? Have a guest party member during a fight? Why couldn’t you do this with Denys!? Especially during the Diamante fight! It’s like literally every boss in Chapter 6 is designed to remind you how stupid Denys’s sacrifice was!

And Yew and Yōko‘s conversation is really something. She accuses him of bearing the sins of his forefathers, and when he tries to assert that he is himself, not Foundar OR Greide, and therefore shouldn’t be held accountable for their actions, she accuses him of denying his family. And that he sounds just like all the rest of them. Full of sentiment and idealism... and ultimately just as flawed and helpless and self-serving

So, hey, first of all leave my boy alone? Yew’s doing his best and has been this whole game. He’s the sweetest kid. You are not allowed to speak to him like that. I’ll kick your ass

Second, it just really goes to show how both Yew and Denys have spent their whole lives trying to fix a problem that shouldn’t have been theirs to fix. And it goes to show what great foils they are to each other. Denys instantly took the weight of their sins on himself, accepted them as a problem he had to fix, and dedicated his life to doing so by actively denying any good that came out of their actions and trying to undo it all. Yew is the one denying that it should be his problem to fix, yet he’s the one who accepts that what happened happened and is trying to fix the problem by looking at what went wrong and what went right and trying to smooth out the rough edges. It’s an interesting dichotomy of the acceptance-denial theme present in the narrative, where you could say that Yew’s denial led to a form of acceptance, and that Denys’s initial acceptance led to a form of denial that later had to be worked back into acceptance, but a less extreme kind

I LOVE YOU RINGABEL

God, he’s going, like, every turn! He’s using every weapon in the book! THIS MAN IS UNSTOPPABLE

Man, and a boss that doesn’t revive? I love this quest

And changing jobs back, I see we’ve unlocked something I’ve known about for a while: Job Level 11, the hidden level. 9999 JP? That’s actually not an awful requirement

The final truth. The song of Altair is playing (and his bestiary entry has him mention that Yōko is familiar). One day, two people appeared on a glimmering ship, travelers from another world. Yōko aided them, as they looked for a way back to their own world. But a disease from their world that they had been studying in their ship’s lab escaped, and mixed with a disease from Luxendarc to create the Plague. Yōko feared for the people of this world that she loved, so she sealed the Plague inside herself and then sealed herself away, so that none could get sick again. People began to worship her as a god and built her a shrine, until eventually they, too, fell (I imagine this is Wa, the nation that sank beneath the sea eons ago, mentioned in various weapon notes, most notably katanas and other Japanese weaponry. It would explain the Japanese aesthetic of Yōko). 2400 years ago, the subject of our final painting (maybe? Nice mustache either way), Foundar, found her (..heh) and promised that while he didn’t have the means to help her, one day he would have one of his descendants free her from the Plague and her self-imposed imprisonment. Greide sealed her inside the girl to transport her to Gathelatio so that they could use their medical equipment to cure her... and we all know how that ended. It all destroyed any sense of goodness and love left within Greide, the would-be savior of a doomed spirit whose overconfidence led to a Plague that destroyed half of his world’s people

Hey, somebody hug my crying boy? Somebody hug Yew for me? Please? ...please?

Yōko is grateful to both Foundar and Greide. Foundar couldn’t save her, but could inform her that an old friend of hers was safe. Greide freed her, and even though he killed her host and left them beneath the sea, he did help end the Plague as she always wanted

Yew doesn’t even have anything to say. It’s his turn to shape the future? It is. But I know he’s gonna make it a better place

And Ringabel has to go. He wasn’t even supposed to let us know it was him; his superiors forbid it. But Yōko essentially turned this castle into a pocket-dimension that she regulates, so he figured he could reveal himself without his bosses knowing

“Edea, I never left you and I never will. Wherever... whenever you are in peril, there I will be!” ...Edea has died more than anyone else in my party, to the point where she’s a full half a level down from everyone else, even in the mid-70s. You’re sweet, but you’re doing a terrible job, pal

And to Magnolia, a job: with Yōko gone, there isn’t anyone to hold her Sins back, and they have been unleashed. (Dark summons!) No one knows fighting unearthly demons like Magnolia!

And his request to Tiz: tell Agnès he says hi. She’s the only friend he never got to see again (thanks, Alternis)

Wow, way to just warp out in a flash of light. Later, ass! You couldn’t just escort us to the door? (Trash fav)

WOW that was a dense quest. Goodness. And it’s still technically not done! I’ve got Sins to snag! But holy shit, why couldn’t the other sidequests in the game be like this? I mean, there was plot relevance! Character focus! Backstory! I’m so glad the Chapter 6 quests managed to be so good, it’s just a shame there weren’t more of them!

So the Adventurer’s fox opened a high level magic shop and... taaaaalks? This isn’t Persona 4, why is there an entrepreneurial fox here?

Hey, you shadowy DICK. What’s the Eye of Foundar!? I read the notes, fess up! Do I have to start worrying for my two favorite boys or what!?

And now he says nothing. Cool. Thanks. If anything happens to Yew or Denys I’m coming after you first

(So I think the reason my 3DS screen goes black when I put it down sometimes is because I’m putting it down on on my computer, where there’s magnets to keep it closed when I fold the screen down)

Ooooooooh looking for the Sins I found the hidden village of Chompshire in the Yulyana region. That’s what that owl guy meant during the Grandship quest

I mean it’s really pretty. Seems like an easily missable area unless you’re going for completion. Not bad, just not super important

So let’s get this show on the road and see what these sins are all about, huh?

The first sin is Asmodeus, the embodiment of lust. I mean it’s freaking sick looking? Like a floating cloak with a bunch of snake heads? There’s a blood moon rising in the background. And the battle theme rocks. I mean that literally, we have wailing guitars and some riff that sound like old-school Final Fantasy songs. Which, I mean, I guess that makes sense, since I think these guys are supposed to be cameos from Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light (I have a friend who played that game a lot). The Adventurer’s a cameo, too, since Bravely was originally envisioned as a spiritual sequel to that game. Neat trivia

Okay??? It can imprison people in the Infernal Realm??? Not my boy! Bring Yew back!

Hey, he did. Thanks, you demonic monstrosity!

Guys, you look winded. That fight wasn’t that bad. Bit worrying, I guess, what with the Infernal Realm nonsense, but not awful

Sin 2 is Beelzebub, the manifestation of gluttony. I honestly have no idea how Magnolia knows what these guys are and their names, but whatever. It’s a head wearing a crown with some squid tentacles. The sky is red. He’s classified as a bug? Do enough damage while it’s in Gluttony mode (all attacks heal instead of hurt) and it dies instantly. Which is what I did. Later, doofus!

Next up is Mammon, the being of avarice (aka greed for non-pretentious folks). It’s a chick with wings, fox-like ears, and four, clawed arms coming out of her back. Her Avarice attack lets her steal the whole party’s BP, so it’s a bit of a waiting game at times.

Died the first time after getting very close and then getting wiped, level grinded everything to max in between then and the second time. I don’t forsee any more combat deaths, I’ll tell you that much

Oh, it’s a “he” according to the Bestiary? Alright.

And now we have Belphegor, a creature of sloth. And... hey, I thought I recognized this guy when fighting Yōko! It’s a weird furry guy sitting in a wheelchair. I fought this guy as a Norende Nemesis last game! He was one of the few I did. How do you like us now, man?

Okay, scratch that “no combat problems” thing this asshole absorbs anything that isn’t magic of the specific element he’s weak to. Yew? Darling boy of mine? Think you can Spellcraft Summon him into oblivion?

Atta boy

Well kids, let’s go kill Satan, the manifestation of wrath. With all the ranting I do sometimes, you guys sure I’m not the manifestation of wrath? I will say, this is probably the coolest depiction of a wrath-based foe I’ve ever seen? I mean, it’s a buff guy with four arms each holding swords, a torn black cloak, and his head doubles as a helmet and a full blown furnace! No wonder we’re fighting him near the Eisen volcano, he fits right in!

I looooooooooove Meteor Raiiiiiiiiiiin

And on to Leviathan, the manifestation of envy. AKA a bunch of wiggly serpents that go offscreen. Joke’s on you, jackass. I have Yew Geneolgia, destroyer of all on my side. Boy’s a terrifying spellcaster now

See, this is what happens when you let Yew do what comes easily to him instead of trying to make him be a swordsman like his brother. He becomes THE MOST POWERFUL BOY

Guess he had a turtle shell head? I dunno, he died too fast

And for the last one, no one’s surprised by their appearances anymore. Heck, the team’s enjoying it! It’s Lucifer, the manifestation of pride. Guy took the “fallen angel” thing and ran with it. It’s a suit of armor with a double angel wing on one side and a feathery sword-wielding arm on the other. And a dog head on its belly that bites? A’ight, man, you do you

I love my powerful magic son

And it seems Yōko’s left Yew a note thanking him. Good! You’d better thank Yew, specifically, because he did all the work!

That was an interesting sidequest... related thing? I will say, the most interesting part of it is the Bestiary entries, which take the real-world stories of these demons and comes up with Luxendarc analogues for the stories. It paints a really interesting picture of their world, but other than the references to real-world religious figures I don’t have much to say about it

Okay, I know Agnès’s hint line of “Yew... where are you going!?” is supposed to be referencing the fact that he shouldn’t know where Anne is and the player does, but considering that since we left Caldisla we’ve:

Trekked down to Vampire Castle and hung out there for a long while for seemingly no reason to an outsider

Flown across the world, stopping at various points to fight high-ranking demons in no particular order

Walked around in circles in Florem Gardens for, like, 10 or 15 hours to level grind (and bounced around to various shops to blow off the excess cash)

And gone in for a few last-minute Bestiary entries that I knew the locations of

I mean... it’s a valid question. Like, from her perspective we probably look completely insane. Or, since it’s Agnès, like we’re just as directionally challenged as she is. I didn’t do anything here I didn’t do with you last game, Agnès, but I promise. Next time...

We’re gonna go save Vega.

#bravely default #bravely second #liz liveblogs bravely second #denys may be gone from the narrative but he lives on in a dozen admonishments in the liveblog

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mrauthor3ds · 6 years ago

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Wild SSBU guessing

Just taking wild stabs at characters that might or might not make the roster. Most of these will be some of the popular characters that people have wanted in Smash 4 (as we’ve seen with Daisy, Ridley, Chrom, Dark Samus, and King K. Rool).

First, Echo Fighters of currently-confirmed fighters.

- Ninten (Ness): Likely uses Lucas’s PK Freeze for the standard special, since EarthBound Beginnings doesn’t have PK Flash. - Special moves: PK Freeze, PK Fire, PK Thunder, PSI Magnet - Final Smash: PK Beam Gamma - Black Shadow (Captain Falcon): I’m...not sure how to differentiate him enough from Ganondorf. Maybe just make him mostly like Melee Ganondorf? - Special moves: Shadow Punch, Dark Boost, Evil Dive, Wicked Kick - Final Smash: Black Bull - Impa (Sheik): Hopefully Skyward Sword design so she can use that blue energy to generate her tools. - Special moves: similar to Sheik’s specials - Final Smash: same as Sheik - Shadow (Sonic): Looking hopeful with Richter’s big reveal. Maybe use Chaos energy to expand the reach of his attacks - they could also be slower but stronger. Up special could be a teleport, like from Mewtwo or Palutena. - Special moves: Homing Attack, Spin Dash, Chaos Warp, Spin Charge - Final Smash: Chaos Blast - Celica (Robin): Main differences I can see are: use only Beloved Zofia (better than Bronze Sword, but weaker than Levin Sword), magic in special moves and weak attacks do some damage to herself, and use a variant of Marth’s Counter with Plenitude for refilling health. - Special moves: Ragnarok (like Arcthunder without charge), Seraphim (like Arcfire), Excalibur (pretty much just Elwind), Plenitude - Final Smash: Ragnarok Omega - Octoling (Inkling): The only real difference would be weapons. I’ll guess Octo Shot (which is exactly the same as a Splattershot, really), Octobrush, Range Blaster, Bloblobber (to add range to the smash attacks), Carbon Roller (faster than Splat Roller, but can’t bury), and Burst Bomb (explodes on contact with anything). - Special moves: Octo Shot, Carbon Roller, Super Jump, Burst Bomb - Final Smash: Tenta Missiles (works like Snake’s FS)

Now general newcomers (with possible Echo Fighters to go with them).

- Paper Mario: People have wanted him for the longest time. - He could take cues from all his starring games. Maybe Spin Smash, Tornado Jump, and Quake Hammer for smash attacks... - The spin dash from the first Paper Mario as a dash attack... - Specials moves: Hurlhammer, Paper Plane, Spring Jump, ??? - Final Smash: Fan Thing (mash button for more damage, like in Sticker Star and Color Splash) - Geno: Many found it suspect that the Geno costume in Smash 4′s DLC season got a special mention. Perhaps it’s a step closer to making Geno playable? Or Assist Trophy, but we all know what the people want. - Could be a projectile normal user for some attacks, like with Villager. - Special moves: Geno Beam, Geno Whirl, Geno Blast, Geno Boost - Final Smash: Geno Flash - Bandanna Dee: Popularity card. - Could primarily use his Spear, but might use some Parasol moves as well (like in Kirby Battle Royale). - Special moves: Spear Throw, Circus Throw (grab), Spear Copter, Parasol Twirl - Final Smash: Megaton Punch - Gardevoir: Some leak a month ago predicted King K. Rool, Richter, and Dark Samus (under Samus, he said) in some demo build, along with code names for “Mario2“, Gardevoir, and Gothitelle. Could have been coincidence, but I’ll humor it. Gardevoir does have the popularity card, after all, and can fill in that Gen-3 niche in the roster. - Side smash could be a “small black hole“, with a vacuum effect that draws foes in before sending them flying. - Special moves: Future Sight, Dazzling Gleam, Trick Room, Reflect - Final Smash: Moonblast (Mega Evolves) - Echo Fighter: Gothitelle: This would also fill the Gen-5 niche, I think. And this wouldn’t be the first time Gardevoir and Gothitelle were seen together (Black/White anime, with Anthea and Concordia). - Special moves: Future Sight, Dark Pulse, Trick Room, Reflect - Final Smash: Shattered Psyche - Primarina: Not ignoring the Gen-7 niche, either. Honestly, this could be any of the Alolan starters, but I personally REALLY want Primarina the most. - Special moves: Sparkling Aria, Disarming Voice, Aqua Jet, Icy Wind - Sparkling Aria could generate some water balloons, which Primarina can send flying around with attacks, footstool jump off of, or detonate by using Sparkling Aria again. - Disarming Voice would be a projectile. If it makes contact with a water balloon, it can split into three projectiles through it. - Icy Wind would push foes at mid-range, or freeze them at close-range. - Final Smash: Oceanic Operetta - Alm: Not a high priority, but since Ultimate brought in the lead three of Awakening, then I don’t think I could guess Celica without Alm as well. - He always has a shield, so he could use that for some super-armored normal attacks. And he might be heavier than any other Fire Emblem fighter (since he’s in full armor all the time). One special could also use a bow (which he can use as a Hero/Conqueror). - Special moves: Double Lion, Hunter Volley, Windsweep, Pavise - Pavise here isn’t a counter, but a shield bash that can parry direct attacks, leaving foes open, and maybe also nullify projectiles. - Final Smash: Scendscale - Isabelle: Popularity card. Though I’m not sure what she’d do...Maybe set things around the arena, like small buildings? - Rex: Xenoblade 2 development started in mid-2014, so there must have been plenty of time to acquire him, I’m sure. - Pyra/Mythra might not be on-stage all the time - just for certain moves, like smash attacks and throws (kinda like with Peach’s Toad). But since Rex can change their form in battle, he could use this to become a sort of stance-change fighter. - Pyra’s version of the Aegis Sword could focus on damage and range, while Mythra’s version focuses on attack speed and launch power. - Smash attacks can use Pyra and Mythra’s Blade Specials. - Side smash: Flame Nova/Lightning Buster - Up smash: Blazing End/Photon Edge - Down smash: Prominence Revolt/Ray of Punishment - Special moves: Anchor Shot (grab), Rolling Smash, Crushing Typhoon (with Roc), Blade Switch - Final Smash: Chain Attack - Wonder-Red: Popularity card. Also, there’s already two Wonderful 101 tracks in the game, so why not? - His main feature could be Unite Charge to buff up his Unite Hand’s power for certain moves, like smash attacks, throws, and at least one special. Using these moves, or taking too much damage, will weaken the duration of Unite Hand’s current level. - Smash attacks could be based on Wonderful Stinger, Wonderful Rising, and Wonderful Cyclone. A full-charged smash attack with max Unite Charge level could be dangerously powerful. - Special moves: Unite Hand Flame, Team Unite Morph, Wonder-Jump, Unite Charge - Team Unite Morph can cycle between Wonder-Red’s allies to summon for different effects (or hold to cycle through faster). - Wonder-Blue’s Unite Sword can use a broad reflecting slash. - Wonder-Green’s Unite Gun can fire a few projectiles. - Wonder-Pink’s Unite Whip can reel a foe in closer. - Wonder-Yellow’s Unite Hammer can deal a strong meteor smash. - Wonder-White’s Unite Claw can trap foes in a rapid claw combo. - Wonder-Black’s Unite Bomb can inflict slow status on foes. - Final Smash: Wonderful Forever - Spring Man: Eh, might as well throw this one in. He seems to be one of the more expected Switch characters to join, though also one of the most controversial. - Weak attack might operate differently, by throwing one ARM forth at a time and returning as soon as it hits a foe. You can throw the other ARM out while the other one is flying, and you can repeat this for a while. - Strong attacks could have variable range depending on whether you tap or hold the button. Tap deals a fast close-range punch, and hold deals a long-range punch with more power at the apex. - Smash attacks could use the Megaton ARM. Charge determines how far out it goes. - Special moves: Boomerang ARM, Grappling ARMS (grab), Bounce-Back, ARMS Charge - Boomerang ARM can be curved tightly on input. - ARMS Charge will give a temporary boost to Spring Man’s ARM attacks with different effects. The standard Toasty ARMS for his normal attacks gain damage power, the Boomerang ARM gains launch power, and the Megaton ARM becomes larger and stronger. - ARMS Charge itself can emit a shockwave to repel most attacks and let him drop quickly in midair. - Final Smash: Rush Attack - Echo Fighter: Ribbon Girl: I’ve seen so many people want Ribbon Girl either instead of Spring Man, as an alt of Spring Man, or with Spring Man. Well, with Echo Fighters, the latter could happen. - Main difference, I think, would be her Sparky ARMS and Slapamander ARM. Sparky ARMS, with ARMS Charge, wouldn’t gain damage but a light paralyzing effect. Slapamander wouldn’t curve as tightly as Boomerang, but its hitbox would be big, and its ARMS Charge effect would be extra damage. - Also, her ARMS Charge wouldn’t have the shockwave, but she could drop down even faster. - Special moves: Slapamander ARM, Grappling ARMS (grab), Bounce-Back, ARMS Charge - Final Smash: Rush Attack

And finally, a few third-party characters that I expect will be big picks.

- Shantae: With Shovel Knight in the Assist Trophies, I think Shantae is the biggest indie pick now. And WayForward has publicly given support for Shantae for Smash. - Banjo-Kazooie: There’s quite a bit of Rare stuff in Smash now - King K. Rool, Klaptrap, and Krystal in her Adventures appearance. So this duo seems quite likely. The support has also been given Microsoft’s blessings. - Sora: ...I mean, if Disney allows it, then he could happen. He’s been requested ever since Brawl, after all. But I suppose Final Fantasy would take first priority for Square-Enix in Smash - now that Cloud’s in, anything else from them goes, I guess. - Since I know so much about Kingdom Hearts, I can actually think of some Smash moves for Sora. He’s got a lot of combo steps that he can use for normal attacks and stuff. - Special moves: Strike Raid, Tornado Strike, Flowmotion, Ragnarok - Final Smash: Salvation - Echo Fighter: Riku: My wildest Echo Fighter guess, I know. Still, the two games where Riku co-starred with Sora as a playable hero debuted on Nintendo handhelds, so that could be enough significance to make him an Echo? - Special moves: Spark Raid, Gravity Strike, Flowmotion, Dark Firaga - Final Smash: Dark Aura - Amaterasu: Just another Kamiya pick thrown in just because. Okami was pretty popular on Wii and now Switch, after all, and I’ve seen her requested a lot. - She’ll likely just attack with Divine Retribution for most of her moves, but could use the Devout Beads Rosary and the Tsumugari Glaive for a few other attacks, along with Power Slash. - Special moves: Firestorm, Cherry Bomb, Greensprout, Solar Flare - With Firestorm, draw a path to set off a trail of fire. Or, draw an infinity symbol around Amaterasu to use Inferno, a strong attack focused around Amaterasu’s vicinity. - Greensprout has different effects on the ground and in the air. On the ground, it grows a small tree in front to block attacks. In the air, it uses a vine and a Konohana Blossom to pull Amaterasu to safety. - Solar Flare is primarily a reflecting move, but if it intercepts a direct attack right at the start, she’ll counterattack with an explosive flare. - Final Smash: Sunrise (might be somewhat like Rosalina & Luma’s Power Star)

...And, that is my nonsensical ramble on characters I’d like to see in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Obviously, I don’t expect ALL of these in. Just some of them, at least.

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wendip-week · 6 years ago

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Wendip Week 2018 Part 3: Combat

Hey guys, sorry for not posting these here during Wendip week. Let me give you a run-down of the background: I made my Wendip Week in context of the Kamen Rider Weird series I’m writing, which takes place in the future of SuperGroverAway’s universe (with ddp456 influence….yes, I had permission from them both). As a result, the main characters - including Phoebe, their daughter - from my series are co-hosts for this week. I’ll post more of Wendip Week here, but for those of you who want to read the main story, follow me on fanfiction.net or leave a guest review. Now, then, here’s part 3 of Wendip Week 2018:

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“So, Ken, since you’re a fighter, let me ask you what you think about my Dad’s capabilities in a fight?” Phoebe mischievously grinned.

Ken, however, was ready for the comment. “With or without this?” he shot back as he moved his jacket to flash the Journal Driver on his waist.

Phoebe shrugged “Touche, but I’m not revoking the question. Well?”

Ken started counting fingers as he listed. “Skinny body and arms makes for small hitbox, that magnet gun gives him good range on electrical enemies and anything that can be knocked back, but not much muscle power and therefore not really good for melee purposes. He’s more like Ford in that his fighting style just doesn’t work without tech.”

“You’re forgetting one thing….” Phoebe leaned forward in gleeful anticipation.

Ken sighed and revealed several bruises on his forearm before continuing. “Be advised; do not hit him while his wife is around, even during a practice match. Learned that the hard way.”

Phoebe leaned back as the two entered memory lane again. “Spoiler Tag, but…You sure did…”

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Ken and Dipper stood facing each other a good twenty feet from the Mystery Shack, the younger of the two with raised fists in a battle position while the elder fingered a metal device next to his hip.

“You sure about this, boss?” Ken said anxiously, his face betraying his concern for his teacher. “I’ve known how to fight even before the Journal Driver existed. You’re not playing with an advantage here.”

Dipper was uncharacteristically calm. “You engaged Practice Mode like I taught you, right?”

“Yeah, nothing lethal.”

“Good, then we’ll be fine. Besides…” Dipper said, rocking back and forth like he was once again in a live version of Fight Fighters. “I was supposed to wear that. I kinda want to know how I would have done.”

“Alright then,” Ken whipped out the Chapter labeled 00. “I’m not holding back!” With that he clicked the button on it, unsheathing the metal contact tip as the indicator light on the drive turned green with a satisfying PING. As he inserted it into his Driver, the Driver began the chant:

“NEW CHAPTER!”

Ken’s hands went high above his head before he rolled them into fists and slowly brought them down in front of his face. As the Driver continued - “WHO IS. THE STUDY TODAY?” in an upbeat rhythm - he crossed his hands and opened them to the fingers were on either side of the faceplate.

“Henshin!”

The second he spun the plate and it clicked, a giant brown page grew out of nothingness and hid him from view.

“GO WEIRD! I’m a Kamen Rider for the uncommon writer!” The belt exclaimed.

Rider armor was sketched onto it before it drifted backwards, the middle becoming stretched as it reached Ken and tried to keep going. Finally, the brown and yellow Rider burst through the page as it shattered, the black buglike eyes on his mask giving the appearance of a man ready for a fight.

He raised his hand to the left as his Driver called out, “Quill Saber!” Instead of the normal silver blade, however, an orange plastic facsimile appeared in his hands. With it in hand he charged Dipper, who did not hesitate to shoot off three blasts of the magnet gun’s pulse setting in the meantime.

TSEW! KA-SHING!

Despite being only a mock version of the Quill Saber, it proved durable enough for Ken to deflect all of the incoming blasts. Within seconds he had cleared the distance between the two and was rearing his arm to strike - with the flat, of course.

But Dipper had been in enough fights to know what to do. He leaned down and rammed his fist straight into Weird’s gut, forcing the Rider back a foot. The bought him the precious second needed to roll out of the way and shoot one more time. Weird was not prepared for that, and with a THUNK the Quill Saber fell and stabbed the ground.

Weird jumped into the air and kicked down to where Dipper was, but the explorer deftly crossed his arms and absorbed most of the impact. It still caused him to fall with Weird on top of him, but Dipper had seen this exact position some time ago and simply had to copy a certain redhead. “Get off me!” he demanded as he kicked Weird off.

Inside the suit, Ken rolled a few feet and winced. “God, I hate practice mode! No enhanced strength…this armor actually has weight to it now!”

As Dipper got up, Ken knew he had only one chance. Without hesitation, he kept rolling until he got to where his makeshift blade had fallen. Springing up, he had just enough time to see Dipper raise the magnet gun once more. With a mighty heave, Ken used the flat to knock it clean out his hands before delivering a sidekick. Dipper and the gun fell at the same time, but one was too far away from the other to make any difference.

Before the archaeologist could move anymore, Ken’s blade was at his throat. As the Kamen Rider asked “How’s that for you, boss?” Dipper couldn’t help but grin.

“Well played, Ken. I guess you really do make a better Rider than I would have.”

“Then I guess the game is mi-”

TWANG! CLANK!

Suddenly Ken felt the blade being ripped out of his hand. As it fell to the ground, the two males noticed something else now sticking out of the grass - an arrow.

“Someone roughing up my dork down there?”

Ken gulped as he looked up in the treetops. Sure enough, there Wendy sat, crossbow in one hand and hatchet in the other, with a face filled with only fury. Looking down at Dipper, noticing for the first time how bruised he had gotten in the fight - complete with two scratches and a swollen eye, somehow - he panicked

“Wendy, it’s not what it looks like - ”

“Save your apologies!” With that, the lumberjill jumped off the tree and swung the axe at poor Kamen Rider Weird.

He was no fool and immediately began stepping backwards, dodging and ducking as Wendy continued to walk forward and swing at him. For all he knew he had just awoken a sleeping giant. But for all that rage, he never guessed that she had still kept her wits about her. For when Ken prepared to fend off another blow, Wendy rapidly switched to her crossbow and fired a bolt straight into the shoulder of his armor. Weird moved to pull it out before feeling his body stiffen. As he felt the tree trunk behind him, he realized what the lumberjill had been doing - she tricked him into backing up straight into a hard surface so she could trap him and show no mercy.

“I’m ripping that armor off you, Ken!” With that, Wendy began hacking at the chestplate, sparks flying as she made no progress but did leave the poor boy in quite a lot of pain with each blow.

From where he lay, Dipper looked up. “Glad I told you to put the belt on for this, huh?”

Ken could only reply between buffets, “OW! Yes! OW! UNCLE! UNCLEE!”

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After a few minutes of cleaning and a half hour in the healing chamber in the lab, the two main combatants of the day felt almost like new. Dipper had gone before Ken, and as the boy stood up after his turn, the elder of them turned to look at his unabashed wife. Grinning like an idiot, he said “Well, you sure were a big help today, but I think you had a little too much fun out there.”

“Sorry, Indiana Jones,” she teased in reply, “but watching you get beat up like that left me unable to think for a minute.”

“You know,” Ken said, rubbing a spot on his shoulder that was still sore - no one said the machine was perfect - “If you’re going to keep calling him that, at least buy him a whip so you don’t have to intervene next time.”

Wendy laughed. “Fair enough. Sorry about the bowshot, by the way.”

“Eh, that’s alright. Now I know to keep an eye on my blind spots for potential enemies.” Ken offered his hand.

Dipper and Wendy took turns shaking it as the former replied. “Good effort, but I hope you learned something else too. Something that’ll make you seem more native to the region.”

“What is that?” Ken smiled, confused but amused.

Dipper put an arm around his wife. “Hell hath no fury like a ticked off person with Corduroy blood.”

“Or the Pines name, it seems.” Ken added as the three laughed together.

#########################################################################################

“I’m sorry, what?” Phoebe said, unaware that she was balling up her fist and crushing her Pitt Cola can in the process.

Ken looked alarmed at the amount of soda dripping over her hand. “Hey, I only said the second half of that! Your dad made the joke, blame him!”

“I don’t even…why….Dad…” she calmed down enough to noticed the crushed can in her hand and the resulting mess. “Huh.”

Ken pried, “Who were you mad at just now, me or him?”

Phoebe sighed as she got up to get some tissue to clean up. “Honestly, I don’t even know anymore…”

#wendip #Combat #Wendy Corduroy #Dipper Pines #Gravity Falls #WenDipWeek #fanfic #older!Wendip #older!Dipper #older!Wendy #submission #wendipweek #wendip week #wendy x dipper #dipperxwendy #gravity falls #dipper pines #wendy corduroy

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thelongestdamnreviews · 6 years ago

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Mega Man Network Transmission

Mega Man Network Transmission is one of those games I've had forever due to buying it at GameStop back when they actually regularly stocked GameCube games. It took about six and a half hours to finish. Through the magic of emulation, I used an Xbox 360 controller and had to play around a little with the controller settings in Dolphin since the GC and X360 layouts are a little different.

Nothing serious, considering you never need to use either stick. Jump on Xbox B, fire on A, use chips on Y.

TLDR The Good

Callbacks to the Classic series - From the disappearing block puzzle in Ice Man's stage to having reversed gravity sections in Gravity Man's stage, people who are familiar with the Mega Man Classic games will see some nice references to the Robot Masters here in the stage gimmicks. Some viruses come straight from the Classic games and aren't found in the other Battle Networks!

Great music - Even the "basic Internet" theme is high-energy and gets you in the mood to beat the crap out of some viruses. Every other stage has its own theme and I found myself not really liking only a handful of tracks...amusingly enough, the remix of the home theme from MMBN was one of them.

Flexibility/Customization - Much like the BN games, you can stick whatever chips in your Folder, but there are no Chip Codes and copies of a single chip stack to a set limit instead of each taking up a Folder slot. Chips also helpfully tell you in what situations they can or can't be used (on the ground, in the air, on a ladder, while using a wire hanger) as well as how many MP each use burns. PowerUPs return for the Mega Buster to boost its damage, its rapid-fire capabilities, and enables/quickens charging too.

Shh, I X series now. The wire hangers show up in a few stages but there aren’t any vertical ones at least.

TLDR The Bad

Early-game hell - Your Mega Buster starts out horribly weak, you have a small variety of chips that are also weak, and said chips are your best means of actually killing viruses to get more chips. The first boss in the game can kill you in about four hits with the right Armor and mercy invincibility is extremely short. It's not that bad afterwards but it's far from the easiest sidescroller Mega Man game, potentially worse if you're not used to how chips operate in the context of the gameplay. Like having an MP meter but also so many uses per chip.

Some grinding required - You'll need to kill viruses quick and with little to no damage taken to get them to drop chips, and you'll need to pick up Zenny coins in the field to fund increasingly-expensive upgrades and other chip purchases. This ties back into the hard start but at least you can immediately use chips you pick up if you’re already using them, or once you shuffle your Folder if not.

RNG screwage potential - Just like the core series, you can still end up with a bad draw of cards in the Custom menu. You'll have to wait longer than in the BN games for the Custom gauge to fill due to the more actiony aspect of the gameplay, but you can get up to ten chips to show up on future draws and you can eventually find/buy FastGauge and FullGauge consumable items.

Trying something new here with the review format. Why not put some TLDRs on top?

It's been a month since Lan and MegaMan.EXE defeated the WWW's Life Virus and peace has returned to the land. But now there are rumors of an even worse virus making the rounds and a tainted vaccine that's making Navis go crazy. Time to jack in and uncover the mystery of the Zero Virus! Huh, where have I heard that term before?

TrustMe.exe has encountered a problem and needs to restart.

Mega Man Network Transmission is a mashup of Classic Mega Man platforming with elements of the Battle Network series. MegaMan.EXE runs, jumps, shoots, and slides through a variety of stages while navigating around traps and destroying viruses in his way. You place chips in a Folder and these are randomly selected when you call the Custom screen and you can then use said chips a limited number of times, limited both by what you find and buy but also the arbitrary limit the game sets. I didn't play one stage long enough to see if completely-expended chips were made reusable when you burned through the rest of your Folder, however. There's also an MP bar that limits your chip spam but at least it constantly regenerates. The elemental strength/weakness system is still in place and since this takes place before Battle Network 2, you still have elemental Armors to mitigate damage instead of Styles.

Hitboxes are pretty tight so I’m unfortunately eating the shock in this picture. I need a better system to take screenshots.

I mentioned earlier that the Mega Buster is lackluster at the start and it's telling when it takes you ten shots to kill a basic Canodumb, or three with maxed Damage. It gets better with more levels in Charge, to the point it almost becomes a gamebreaker because of how quick it is at max Charge, limited by a full-power charge having annoyingly short range and you losing your charge level when you take damage. When aura-equipped enemies start appearing near the end, your Buster won't be able to make them vulnerable so try not to neglect your Folder like I did.

Chips mostly behave the same as they do in their core series with several adapted to 2D gameplay, and there are still Program Advances too. Even a basic Cannon + Hi-Cannon + M-Cannon combo gives you ridiculous firepower that also makes you invulnerable for several seconds--and it only uses one copy of each chip in the combo! You can only have one active chip/PA at a time of your ‘hand’ of five and you use L/R to swap through them, or you can trigger Standby Mode and freely swap while the game is halted (though the Standby Mode notification blanks out most of the action).

Unlike the regular Battle Network games, you don't play as Lan at all. He shows up in the story and he tools around in his room when you're not jacked in, but that's it, no skating through the overworld this time around. Several characters show up in portrait form but otherwise aren't even given models. And speaking of models, every Navi you beat creates a toy figure in Lan's room of that Navi which I thought was a nice little touch. And because I don't really have anywhere else to fit in this complaint, the Japanese-only audio kind of got on my nerves and very little of it is actually subtitled.

The jack in sequence is kinda impressive the first couple of times, but you can’t seem to skip it--and you have to watch it in reverse when you jack out!

Stages are pretty basic Mega Man fare. Flat sections, sections you can slide through, ladders, enemies, spikes (that actually only deal 200 damage this time around so you can survive them after several HPMemory upgrades), instant death pits, the works! Work your way to the end of the stage and face the boss in a battle to the death. You're given a confirmation before entering the arena and almost all of them have a big health recovery behind the portal so you can heal up before duking it out. I oddly got Mega Man ZX vibes with the way you enter new stages from the central Internet stage (ZX) and where you pick from stages without knowing who the boss is beforehand (Advent). I mentioned the Classic Robot Master stage references but not every stage has them (SwordMan's doesn't seem much like the one in MM8) or the boss doesn't match the stage (ShadowMan's stage has the platforms from Guts Man's in MM1).

I generally get frustrated when taking on disappearing block puzzles, but none of them in this game were all that bad.

Progression starts you against FireMan.EXE as the first boss, then you have to track down GutsMan.EXE, and you're given small batches of stages to choose from before getting railroaded again. Navi difficulty is kind of all over the place--BrightMan was my bane yet SwordMan that came after him was no problem. Interestingly, you can slide between the legs of some Navis and come out unharmed. There's an area on the map where you can refight defeated Navis for their chips based on your performance. Some bosses have gimmicks like BrightMan’s shield and a counterattack, or GravityMan having a tiny vulnerable area while you manually switch gravity by jumping.

I found the game to be pretty hard, a bit more than the average Mega Man sidescroller. I've played every Classic game apart from Mega Man 11 and I still had a bit of trouble, like QuickMan's stage having instant-death lasers that never turn off once activated. There are other parts where you need pretty good timing on your jumps and your slides to avoid unnecessary damage. I wouldn't say the game is unfairly hard other than at the start so if you can soldier through that, you might be able to enjoy yourself. Lan will always notify you when you hit zero BackUps, so you should probably jack out to not only refill your extra lives, but also to keep everything you picked up during this outing. Having to work back to the boss room is a chore, but being able to exit a stage before defeating the boss is very rare in any Mega Man game.

You can’t seem to jack out during a boss battle and you can only save in Lan’s Room, so try to be careful!

And I did enjoy the game. Great music and fun familiar gameplay were a great combo, and it didn't outstay its welcome. Farm 10 DoubleJump chips off of the flying penguin enemies in WaterComp's starting area and you'll be able to explore a little more in the cyberworlds since there are no Mega Man X-styled permanent upgrades or anything. I found the controls to be pretty tight and there are a lot of chips to collect, a secret boss to unlock, and a variation on the ending too. If you're a fan of 2D platformer Mega Man games, you'd probably like this one. And even if you're more into Battle Network, the game isn't so hard as to be unfair.

And if you’re emulating, you can abuse savestates to get through the bank lasers. Cough.

More like, “I can feel wanton cyber-murder coming on!” in my experience.

#gamecube #recommended

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dlamp-dictator · 6 years ago

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Allen Rambles about Cross Tag Battle

So I already did an Under Night In-Birth Rambling a few months, and I don’t feel like retreading that game again for the sake of another half-baked Rambling like the Persona 4 Arena one. No, I’ll talk a bit more about Under Night In-Birth and it’s Light Novel elements another day when I actually have the drive to do so. Instead, I’ll jump straight into talking about about Blazblue Cross Tag Battle, namely, expanding on my initial thoughts of it.

I had a chance to play the beta of the game when it was available, had a lot of fun playing it, and left it feeling confident this game could sell well, but a bit uneasy as well.

But first before I get to explaining that...

The DLC Issue

It wouldn’t be my Rambling unless I got out of the elephants in the room straight away, now would it?

So... that DLC, huh?

I’m not gonna’ bother defending this, but I’ll say this much in its defense. The season pass and the game is about 70 US dollars all together. That’s 50 bucks for the game 1 dollar for every extra character. That’s not a bad deal on paper. Let’s be real here, Dragon Ball FighterZ has more expensive DLC than this and much more expensive season pass combo pack, Blazblue Central Fiction had more expensive DLC than this, and several other fighting games have done worse practices. Dead of Alive has cosmetics that total up to hundred of dollars. From what I’ve seen and played Street Fighter 5 has a handful of costumes can only be purchased with cash rather than the in game fight money, among a few other practices I’m not cool with. And we can probably go on and on about EA’s DLC practices. Worse has been done, and if an extra 20 buck for 20 more characters on an already decent rooster seems bad to you, then... well I think you haven’t been playing fighting games that long to not see this coming.

However, that’s on paper. In context, this is just flat out shady and I’d even say exploitative.

I’m not going to pretend that what Arc System Works is doing is okay. Let’s be real here, a lot of the assets we’re seeing are being ripped and reused from each character’s respective game save for some new animations, the gameplay itself is very simplified, and the fact that they announced such a large amount of DLC before the game was even released is already shady business. I hate it when companies do that, and Arc System Works shouldn’t get a pass for it either.

Not to mention the fact that a portion of their EVO line up is DLC characters. That just kills me a little. I’ll admit that I have a negative opinion of the FGC and competitive fighting game community as a whole, and I’ve already talked about my opinion of EVO in the past, but I really don’t think this game deserves to be in the EVO line up when it only has a little over half its full cast in the game for competitive play, with about a fifth of that cast being DLC. That means you need to shell out at least 6 extra dollars just to have an idea of certain match ups and playstyles, or worse, play your main. That’s no where near fair on a competitive level, that’s a scam and I hope someone more familiar with the competitive side of the fighting game community calls Arc System Works out on it. If your main is locked behind a paywall then you have a right to be angry and even go as far as to boycott this game for this kind of practice.

I’m not happy with the idea of paying to just to play as Orie and Naoto, but as I’ve said, worse has been done in the gaming world. If you aren’t buying this game for the reasons I mentioned, then I respect you’re opinion. However, I’ll also ask you to at least try and get this game on sale otherwise, as there is a good fighting game here, just one that needs to shake off a bad first impression.

Ah, and speaking of the game...

This Game is Simple

Like I said, I took some time to play the Beta, and I have to say this game is a little too simple for my liking. Not that I’m some genius fighting game player that could tell you all the frame data and hitbox nonsense, but I feel like I’m grasping this game’s controls a little too fast for someone of my skill level.

Let me explain.

In the majority of fighting games I play I usually maintain a 10%-20% win rate, so I usually win 1 out of 10 matches. For a casual fighting game player that’s not bad considering I’m usually fighting competitive players, but with Cross Tag Battle I left the beta with a 50% win rate. That’s... quite a jump, but I don’t think that’s due to my skill, but how simple it is for someone that’s familiar with fighting game mechanics to understand the system. Now I’m also keeping in mind that everyone was learning the ins and outs of this game along with me during the beta, but this still.

This simplicity isn’t a bad thing. It works in the game’s favor and makes it much easier to grasp how all these characters works, which is needed for a tag-team style game, but it is something that makes me wonder how long this game will be popular. This game has two auto combos, for every character, and all the characters that aren’t from RWBY have a diluted moveset of their original game. It feels like you know everything about a character in about an hour of practice.

I had similar feelings about Dragonball FighterZ, all the character felt too similar to each other outside of some special moves. Cross Tag isn’t as simple and not all characters feel the same, but one of the big appeals of a fighting game is being about to learn a character for months and still find new techniques and strategies with them. Cross Tag Battle doesn’t feel like a game I’ll be able to do that in.

Again, that’s not a bad thing, but it’s just something that has me wondering about the direction fighting games are taking... or maybe this is just a product of team-based fighters. That simplicity might be needed for the sake of everything meshing well. I mean, if Ragna could do all his rushdown stuff and have an assist to reset combos he’d be a nightmare to fight against. And Nu... don’t get me started on Nu.

But then again, Skullgirls has a good balance of complexity, and the potential for 3-on-3 combat. All their characters feel and play in very unique ways too, so maybe my worries are founded in some ways...

But speaking of...

How Characters Play/Feel

Like I said, this game is very simple. These characters only play slightly like their original games. I've only played with a few people, namely my mains, but Yosuke doesn’t feel like the Yosuke P4A with his 48 mix-up tools, Linne and Hyde feel like themselves, but with less combo options than in their original game. Sadly, none of my Blazblue mains are in the current roster, so I can’t say much about them, but Ragna feels like a watered down version of himself at the very least. I think that goes for most of the cast. They all feel very watered down. This isn’t bad, it’s just different, and I’m not sure how I feel about that yet.

I’m excited to know I’ll have Orie and eventually Izayoi in the game to play with, but I’ve seen gameplay of Orie, and she doesn’t play the way I play her in UNIEST. I get the feeling a lot of people are going to be playing around with the cast for the wrong reasons.

That said though...

The RWBY Characters

The RWBY characters play the best too me, but that should be obvious. They were made with this game in mind from the ground up. As such their combo animations are smoother than the rest of the cast, their sprites are a little nicer, and I can really see a lot of love went into make them feel and play like how they are in the show. The references and callbacks are great as someone that’s a fan of show, and I honestly think their voice acting improved a little in this game... then again, I’ve been hearing their voices for a few years now so I might just be a bit numb to how they’re directed in their series, but I’m surprised how well they mesh with the overall cast. I can see the shipping possibilities and fanfics already. I’m definitely going to have Blake in one of my presets when the game comes out, probably pair her up with Linne or Hyde.

Speaking of voice acting...

The English Dub

Thank God we have a dub again. It’s great to hear Patrick Seitz as Ragna again, and the rest of the cast as well. The Under Night In-Birh cast sounds great too, my favorites being Linne and Gordeau. Seriously, the UNIEST cast sounds great and their voice actors really capture their character well from what I’ve heard so far. It really makes me wish we got a dub for that game so those overlong light novel portions didn’t feel as long.

I did little blurbs about voice actors when Elsword and Persona 5 voice actors were announced, and I’ll definitely do the same kind of blurb for Under Night In-Birth once all the voice actors are known. This game gives me hope that the next Guilty Gear will have a dub and then I can finally care about the story again.

But moving on...

The Roster (AKA Allen Gloats About Being Right)

So we know the full rooster of the game thanks to data miners (the buzzkills), and it looks like I can safely, confidently, and haughtily state that I was right with a few of my calls when I made my speculations. For the sake of maximum gloating I’ll give you all the breakdown from my Rambling on the matter.

Charge Characters

Mitsuru

Kagura

Vatista

Puppet Characters

Carl

Relius

Chaos

Ken

Required By Popularity

Tsubaki

Adachi

Yuzuriha

Required by Tier List

Izanami

Margret/Elizabeth

Seth/Merkava

ArcSys’s Persona OCs

Labrys

Sho

Looking back, I wish I stated Nine instead of Izanami, but Izanamis were kicking my ass by the time I wrote up my speculation and I was very salty about that. I also wish I added Mika into my curve ball list instead of my wishlist, but... well, I can’t predict everything. Speaking of that wishlist, a few people made it like Izayoi, Hakumen, and Akihiko, but that was my personal wishlist and not a speculation, so I won’t count those.

Anyway, I got 5/14 right. I’d consider that pretty good for pure speculation.

My Hopes

I’m just gonna’ list these down, as now we’re getting into my unorganized thoughts.

A simple, fanservice-y story mode. Like I originally said, this game is Arc System Works fanservice incarnate. Frankly, trying to tell a serious story with all these properties, while possible, will just be a giant mess, especially trying to deal with all the quantum mechanical, timeline jumping, dimension hopping nonsense of Blazblue, so I really hope this story will be more like Super Smash Bros. Brawl’s Subspace Emissary where the story is simple and more fanservice for fans of all these series and just see everyone interacting with some fights in between. From what we’ve seen of certain cutscenes CGs being released this just might be the case.

Free DLC. I already bought the Season Pass because I’m a degenerate, but I really hope this game does what Skullgirls did and have all their character packs free on at least the first day of their releases. I have major issues with this kind of business practice and completely understand if you guys don’t buy this game because of it. I’m hoping Arc System Works will realize this and make all the packs be free for at least their day-one release to try and dowse the flames a little. And hey, the first pack and the rest of the RWBY team is free for the first while, so I think that’s exactly what their doing.

...

I’m gonna’ feel like a chump for waste twenty buck if that’s the case, but hey, I do like the series.

A Good Single Player Experience. I know it’s a fighting game and all, but I hope it’ll have something that’ll make this game fun three years from now when the online community is dead. Something BBCP’s Abyss Mode (because CF’s is garbage) or Persona 4 Arena Ultimax’s Golden Arena Mode. Something like that. I doubt that’ll happen, but it’s a hope for a reason.

Overall, despite my mixed feelings, I hope the best for this game. And as we count down to the final days before release, I hope you all enjoy this game as much as I will.

Unless you roll out with Team UNGA. If you do, then fuck you, fuck your family, fuck your house cat, and everything you stand for.

#blazblue #blazblue cross tag battle #your dictator is speaking

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monelite · 7 years ago

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Not sure if any of you have heard yet, but Mercy got nerfed into the ground. Here are the patch notes (I won’t link the official one, since it only highlights the first bullet point, everything else was undocumented and were proven by people playing on the PTR):

Mercy’s resurrection no longer resets after ulting, and it instead doubles resurrection's range.

The resurrection cooldown now stays at 30 seconds while ulting.

The momentum from guardian angel has been removed (Otherwise known as ‘b-hopping’), making it so Mercy can’t slingshot around by cancelling guardian angel mid-flight.

There’s also one for Lucio that I hope is a bug (but probably isn’t):

Lucio no longer gets an additional speed boost while jumping off of walls.

These changes to Mercy (and Lucio) are AWFUL. Mercy was very fun to play after her change, and I felt like she made a huge impact on teamfights. But, as a Mercy main I’ll be the first to admit that she WAS op at the time of the changes’ release to the live servers. She was going to get nerfed, no doubt about it, but the direction that Blizzard took with the nerfs just don’t make sense...

What Blizzard has done is so shitty for Mercy and Mercy players. Because of the PTR changes, she is LITERALLY just a 30-second Rez bot now (One of the best Mercy players, EeveeA, has literally said he would quit Overwatch if these changes went live [ x ]). Mercy’s b-hopping was the only thing she had going for her in terms of actual mechanical skill to pull off, and now that they’ve removed that she’s back to being practically sentenced to death for EXISTING.

You could argue that the b-hopping/guardian angel momentum was a bug, but Blizzard knew about the bug and purposely left it go to the live servers because they liked it. To suddenly flip-flop on it like this makes no sense whatsoever.

Mercy’s current ult (live servers) was useful for big plays and it had a HUGE impact. But with the changes made on PTR, Mercy is ‘back’ (’back’ being debatable) to a state of ‘sit back, and hold left/right click’. It’s stale and boring.

Blizzard doesn’t seem to understand how to balance their characters slowly, in my opinion. It’s all in giant buff/nerf cycles instead of tweaking the parts of characters that are OP/broken over time. The only exception I can think of to this would be the changes Blizzard made to Orisa, which were gradual over the course of a few months (give or take).

Making it so Rez doesn’t reset on cooldown is not only stupid, it’s downright hypocritical of Blizzard to do, seeing as how Genji can reset his dash on kill (ON KILL! Mercy’s is activated by using her ult, which she can only get every 30s-1m depending on how much you’ve done). Making it so her Rez doesn’t keep the 10 second cooldown and instead making it so her Rez range is doubled is even worse. How are you supposed to get use out of the Rez range if it doesn’t reset on cooldown anyway? Doubling the range won’t do much regardless, given that you’re only upping ~5 meters to ~10 meters. She still has to be REALLY close to somebody in order to Rez them.

Blizzard seems to only listen/cater to the DPS players of Overwatch and balancing around lower-tier play when it should almost EXCLUSIVELY be balancing around high-tier/pro play. They never seem to listen to the feedback the community is giving, and if these changes go live it’ll be even more evident, because right now the PTR feedback section on the forums is 95% of people saying these changes suck, and 5% saying they’re fine with it or talking about something else. [ x ] Just have a look for yourself.

Blizzard should have focused STRICTLY on nerfing Valkyrie’s regeneration rate, time it lasts, and chain-healing instead of focusing on the Rez. Removing the regeneration rate during Valkyrie would have made it so Mercy isn’t impossible to kill unless you have a good Widow/McCree/Soldier, but it still allows survivability with the flight. They could have also compensated this by making her hitbox bigger, given that the wings don’t count as hitbox (which is understandable, but Mercy’s hitbox is small to begin with, so when she’s at the skybox it’s hard to hit her). You could have had chain-healing have 100% of healing on your beam target, and only 50-75% of the healing would chain to everybody else. You could have also reduced the time that Valkyrie lasts. Instead of having it last 20 seconds, why not 10-15 seconds?

But if Blizzard MUST nerf the Rezzes, they could have tweaked the cooldowns and left everything else alone and gone from there.

And as for the Lucio changes, if they were going to make that change, they should have done it months ago when they reworked Lucio. I don’t know why they suddenly decided to change their minds and revert it.

TL;DR: Mercy changes suck and make no sense, same with the undocumented Lucio change.

#lena.txt #this is So Fucking Long god im sorry im just really pissed about these changes #overwatch

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lpagkyu-blog · 7 years ago

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Icons, Inspiration Vs. Plagiarism, Platform Fighters, and Character Archetypes

Right, so before I say anything, I want to establish that this is just my opinion, and I’m not associated with Wavedash Games. I haven’t played Icons yet, so most of what I say is all based on gameplay footage and what the developers have said.

Also, this is super unorganized and I’m not proofreading it because I’m lazy.

Icons, Inspiration Vs. Plagiarism, Platform Fighters, and Character Archetypes

With the recent gameplay trailer for Wavedash Games’ first game, Icons: Combat Arena, many players have been skeptical of the games’ quality and design. The most common complaint outside of its early graphics and somewhat stiff animation seems to be that the game seems like a copy of Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Now, it’s no secret that Melee was the direct inspiration for Icons, with core mechanics of the gameplay being taken directly from both Melee and the Smash Bros. series as a whole, as well as many of the games’ developers being well known within the Melee community. Hell, they even named their development studio after a technique in Melee, the wavedash. Many great artists, writers, and even game developers can agree that seeking inspiration from a well made source is not only acceptable, but advised, but at what point does inspiration or parody become “copying”, and at what point are you simply remaking the original source material?

In its current state, Icons is both a perfect example of how to do this well, and how to do it poorly. For example, let’s take a look at the character Kidd. I think Kidd is a great example of how to do this sort of thing right. He’s inspired by the “Spacie” characters from Melee, Fox and Falco. His design is a perfect representation of this, as not only does it make references to the game it’s drawing inspiration from, but it references the community surrounding the game.

In Melee, Fox and Falco are often referred to by the community as “Space Animals, or spacies. This archetype, on top of simply pointing out the fact that they’re animals in space, implies that a character has a fast fall speed, linear recovery, and generally strong pressure. The biggest staple of this archetype is the shine, one of the most versatile moves in any platform fighter due to its utility in combos and edge guarding, its compatibility with tech such as wavedashing and jump cancelled grabs, and of course, its frame 1 hitbox. Within the Melee community, one top player known as Joseph “Mango” Marquez, uses both spacies, and is considered a fan favorite among many viewers due to his aggressive playstyle and American pride. He’s often known as “The Kid” or “The GOAT” (Greatest Of All Time).

With their background in Melee, it was only natural for Wavedash to include a Spacie-esque character, seeing as they’re some of the most iconic characters in Melee. So, they created a space animal. But not just any space animal; a goat, named Kidd. Not only is his name a reference to the animal he’s based on, but it’s a reference to the GOAT, the Kid, Mango. Kidd’s character concept is a love letter to the Melee community, and his moveset still reflects this, having similar moves to Fox and Falco. He even has his own shine, although presumably not as strong as spacies’ shine in Melee.

Of course, as I mentioned earlier, Icons has examples on how to do this wrong. Let’s take a quick look at the character Empress Zhurong. From looking at her design, she seems to be some kind of warrior with an aztec motif, but she seems to be using a fairly traditional double edged sword, which isn’t too characteristic of aztec weaponry. Looking at her cape, crown/headdress, and elegantly crafted sword, it’s pretty clear that she’s royalty as well. However, despite this unique design, the character her moveset is based on is Marth.

Based on her gameplay, she doesn’t just draw example from Marth, Zhurong is Marth. All of the moves we’ve seen of hers have been almost a direct copy of Marth’s. Although it would be nice to see some variation, this moveset doesn’t even fit with her design. In fact, her archetype of “sword user” doesn’t even fit in her design. The closest thing the Aztecs had to swords were one edged machetes, with their common weapons being macuahuitl or spears. They took a character design that could’ve brought a unique playstyle and moveset, and slapped Marth over it, despite it not fitting with the character’s design.

With all that said, i think Icons brings up an interesting concept: The idea of character archetypes in platform fighters. However, before we hop back into more platform fighters, let’s take a look at some traditional fighting game archetypes, specifically the “shotokon”

In the Street Fighter series, there are several characters use the shotokon fighting style, which has garnered them the nickname “shotos”. These characters include, Ryu, Ken, Akuma, Dan, Sakura, and quite a few more, with each character having similar movesets with variations on each move. The shoto archetype is defined by nothing more than a few special moves- the hadouken, a fireball projectile that travels straight across the screen, the shoryuken, an uppercut that can be used as both an anti-air defensive move or an offensive reversal move, and the tatsumaki senpukyaku, or hurricane kick, which is primarily used for some aerial approaches or as a combo tool. They also tend to have combos that vary greatly in difficulty, and average health.

After the success of Street Fighter II, many fighting games began featuring shoto characters in their roster. In fact, most fighting games have a shoto character, be it King of Fighters’ Ryo or Guilty Gear’s Sol Badguy. While Ryo is almost a direct “copy” of Ryu (at least in terms of special moves), his name even poking fun at this, Sol’s moves are all variations of the shoto staples. For example, Sol has a fireball, but it travels across the ground. He has an uppercut, but it uses his sword. He has a kick move that can be used for an approach or as a combo tool, but it doesn’t really involve any spinning, and has more utility for movement thanks to Guilty Gear’s Roman Cancelling mechanic. In fact, all of these moves, which on the surface seem incredibly similar to a classic shoto moveset, have different uses on top of their original intentions thanks to the game’s mechanics. Most people don’t even think Sol feels much like a shoto for this reason.

There’s two big reasons that this archetype works in fighting games. The first being that the design is perfect for a 2D fighter. Starting with the hadouken/fireball, a whole new level of depth is added to the game. Combat can now take place from anywhere on screen, you can try to make your opponent approach or hold their ground with their own fireballs (this was experimented on later with the introduction of EX specials, which for the hadouken, allowed you to spend some of your super meter to throw a fireball with more durability, which would beat out a non-EX fireball). Punishing a fireball required the player throwing a fireball to do so too close to the opponent, while still requiring the opponent to read this error, since it was still too fast to react. If the opponent doesn’t punish and gets hit, then he’s pushed back a bit, forcing them to inch their way closer. This makes the use of a fireball at close range a high risk, high reward strategy, while it remains safe at a long range. The shoryuken compliments this, but allowing a player to punish an opponent jumping towards them, meaning they not only have a normal defensive option, but a way to punish a slow attempt at a fireball punish. The shoryuken’s invincibility and early hitbox also allows it to be used as a strong reversal, but inputting the shoryuken requires you to stop blocking, which rewards faster/better execution while adding more risk to such a strong option. The hurricane kick allows for you to cross up an opponent from an aerial approach, which is a great tool to have for approaching and exerting pressure. At the same time, this move is easily beaten by a shoryuken or anti-air option.

The other reason this design works is because it’s easy to learn and familiar. If you’re new to fighting games, a shoto character has all the tools you need to learn. They teach you the projectile game, the defensive game, and introduce you to things like cross-ups. If you’re a fighting game player trying to learn a new game, you’ll have a familiar character to learn the game with. Taking a look back at Sol, he has similar moves to Ryu, with the same concepts and inputs, but tapping into these moves’ potential requires you to learn the games’ unique mechanics. This allows a player to learn these mechanics with a familiar moveset, while being rewarded for expanding their game knowledge and utilizing tools like Roman Cancelling

Now, with all that out of the way, let’s get back to platform fighters. There’s an inherent problem with platform fighters and archetypes, which is that they don’t really have archetypes. Based on platform fighters made from developers with a background in the competitive smash scene, like Rivals of Aether and Icons, it would seem many people consider the spacies to be the closest thing to an archetype, taking a role similar to the shoto. But should this really be the genre’s shoto archetype?

Looking at the spacies in Melee, which is considered one of the most iconic platform fighter archetypes, they play very differently. Fox is one of the fastest characters in the game, while Falco is fairly slow. Fox’s laser has no hitstun but comes out faster, allowing him to use his speed and avoid his opponent while tacking on damage. Falco’s lasers have low damage and are slower, but have hitstun, which compliments his slower speed by locking down his opponents and giving him control over neutral. Fox’s punish game revolves around getting short combos and laser damage until the opponent is at a high enough percent to up smash, while Falco’s punish game focuses on much longer combos that can lead to death off the bottom from down air. All of their moveset shares the same animations, but every move has different properties, to the point where each character has a different playstyle. Even their shines, which are considered staples of their characters, are completely different in terms out utility outside of pressure and reversals.

So, the only things that really defines the “spacie” archetype are that they should be fast fallers, they should have a linear recovery, they have a shine, they have a projectile, and a linear recovery. Looking again at Fox and Falco, where this archetype comes from, they lack any strong disjoint (compared to characters with swords, at least), and much of their punish game only revolves around one move. They’re also fairly easy to combo due to their fall speed, which allows them to get chain grabbed, meaning that making a mistake can result in the loss of a stock under the right conditions. In some matchups, they can even be considered glass canon characters.

Although I gave Icons’ character Kidd praise earlier for his concept being inspired by the Melee community, I don’t think he’s a perfect “inspired” character for this reason. He was advertised as the spacie of the game, with the devs saying that “Melee players would feel right at home with him”. With how they talk about him, he seems similar to a shoto in another fighting game. The problem is that he’s not a Sol, he’s a Ryo.

Icons was made to be very similar to Melee. So much so that they don’t really introduce any new mechanics. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it makes Kidd’s moveset feel kind of… useless. While many of his moves aren’t exactly Fox or Falco’s, his purpose of helping Melee players grow accustomed to Icons is somewhat pointless. What is there to grow accustomed to when Melee players would already be familiar with the system?

By making Kidd with this intention, they also have a lot of missed opportunity with the character. Again, outside of variations on his special moves, he’s almost an exact copy of Fox. There was no reason to do this if it wasn’t going to introduce players to new mechanics, especially when they hurt the character’s design in doing so. As of right now, Kidd’s up smash is pretty much exactly the same as Fox’s, which doesn’t make sense for a Goat to do, especially considering the fact that his legs would make it hard for him to do a backflip like that. Instead, they could have done something like having him ram his horns upward, and it would’ve fit the character’s design much better.

The same goes for Zhurong. Her inclusion is pointless, as not only does she not introduce any new mechanics to the game or the genre, not only does her design not make sense with her moveset, but she doesn’t serve the purpose of having a direct clone of another character, as there’s not much to “get accustomed to” for Melee players in Icons.

Of course, that’s not to say a character archetype can’t be used without the intention to teach new players. Characters like Zetterburn in Rivals of Aether or Wolf in Project M don’t really serve the purpose of being familiar or teaching new mechanics, as there’s not much to teach in rivals aside from parrying, and Project M already has Fox and Falco. Instead, these characters act as a variant to the spacie archetype, with both characters having a different projectile, shine, and recovery. On top of that, their aerials, tilts, smashes, etc… are all completely different from Fox and Falco. The problem is that Kidd and Zhurong (Zhurong especially) don’t bring anything new to the table.

As of right now, competitive platform fighters are still a mostly new genre. With large companies showing little to no interest in developing anything like them for competitive play, it’ll likely be a while before they get their own obvious archetypes outside of the Melee top tiers, especially considering the fact that the current character archetypes are still unexplored. If Icons does well, it’d be nice to see some new characters that could possibly be the first step in establishing new archetypes for the genre.

#super smash bros #super smash bros melee #melee #icons #fighting games #game design #ssbm #project m #ssbpm #ssb #rivals of aether

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listoriented · 7 years ago

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Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel

bAUderlands: straya

Where/When/Why: Borderlands: the Pre-Sequel is the first of the series that I didn’t run through with friends at launch. Instead, I got it during a steam sale in July last year for US$16.50 as part of a finish-your-Borderlands-collection package/bundle, with an eye to playing it when I got to it. Apparently I bought Rocket League at the same time? Momentous.

What/Who: It’s in the title, hey - a Borderlands game set between Borderlands 1 and 2. I’m struggling to think of other game and movie franchises that have done this, which perhaps why there isn’t a better descriptive term for it. The newish Baldur’s Gate expansion maybe? Rogue One? Anyway, instead of being set on Pandora - the fictional frontier planet where the previous two games were set - Pre-Sequel is set on Pandora’s moon, Elpis.

Elpis is a noticeably Australian place; it’s inhabited by Australian NPCs and full of parodies of Australian animals and stories (the main characters are all still American though - don’t worry). This is probably because the game was made by the 2k Australia branch [official site], based in Canberra, and so apparently it just kind of happened that way. The Pre-Sequel came out in October 2014. Sadly, 2k Australia shut their doors in 2015, which means there’s no AAA games development happening here for the time being.

Time Spent: 23 hours.

Completed: Yep, finally - we managed one. 19 of 63 achievements ticked. Oh that’s not a lot, hey. Oh well.

Notes: We had a pretty good time. That should probably be the main takeaway. The day after we finished it, Lauren said that she missed playing it. The mindless shooting, looting and questing loop of Borderlands 2 is well repped again here. The flow of it is quietly addictive.

We found the going a bit tough for a while, though, there at the beginning. We spent a lot of time hunting for mission waypoints through the larger moonscape areas of the game, which are not intuitive to travel around in vehicles (lots of dead ends, crevices, mountains, barriers), and awful to travel around on foot (too many things that want to kill you and/or distract you). A few times we went to bed mad at each other after having our patience stretched thin (**n.b. it should be added that while we did often end up playing this in the last hour or two before bed over the past few weeks, this game, like the other Borderlands games, is not something that actually benefits from being played while tired, despite this seeming like the natural state to play it in). One particular semi-optional mission for urchin NPC Pickle nearly drove us to the brink with its arduous navigational requirements.

The quaint fugue that Borderlands draws you into can be a hindrance too: if you don’t pay attention you can be tricked into fighting scores of creeps that could easily be avoided, and which don’t offer much in the way of endorphin release or in-game reward. The next time you come past they’ll all have respawned anyway, making the intervening grind feel particularly pernicious. Things improved immensely once we had more fast travel unlocked, and as we got better at paying attention to who we were meant to be fighting.

Pre-Sequel also has a couple of particular gameplay gimmicks. At first we were like “???”, but we came around to them. The game is set, as mentioned, on Pandora’s moon, Elpis, which being a moon has low gravity. As such, you can jump higher and further. Because the moon surface lacks breathable atmosphere, you carry oxygen tanks, referred to forever as “Oz kits” because Australia lololololol. These deplete when you’re out in the open (which you are for maybe half the game), causing you to lose health, but we found after the first half hour it’s something you only have to be slightly mindful of, so far as annoying gameplay factors go. More importantly, you can use these “Oz kits” to boost mid-air to reach far-off platforms. It’s pretty good! Any excuse to be able to jump a long way is an acceptable one: thanks, videogames.

The Australiana accents/jokes/parodies that pervade the game are, like, pretty cool...I think? I enjoyed the ironic Australia-for-market shtick tempered by its necessarily cringeworthy over-the-topness. Cliches and stereotypes can be funny too, sometimes. I’m also aware how rare representations of anything Australian are in games, good or bad, particularly home-grown ones; a feeling which is enhanced by knowing this was made by a studio arm that no longer exists. O’, state of thy industry. It’s not that I’m at all patriotic, and the construction of this nation and its cultural identity is as problematic as any other post-colonial state, and there are issues which this game, with its frontier-Western representations of “Australianness”, attempts to avoid altogether, leaving the giant wombat very much in the room. On the other hand is the essence of the game and its uncritical light entertainment sheen, a series of good-enough jokes that beg not to be looked at directly in the eye, the fact that this is what it is, the last of its kind, no more big-budget gaming in Australia or about Australia (no Forza Horizon 3 I’m not talking to you), no Australia at all; and that’s upsetting too. Lauren and I both particularly enjoyed the foul-mouthed shotgun, Boganella, who somehow never stopped making us laugh, and who I kept equipped all the way to the end. I certainly didn’t expect to get that much mileage out of it.

Lauren played as Athena the gladiator, while I played as Nisha the lawbringer. Neither of us particularly liked the special abilities of our characters. I found the auto-aim of Nisha’s “Showdown” a bit glitchy, with it sometimes locking on outside the enemy’s hitbox. We made do anyway without relying on them too much. Neither of us had played the DLC the Athena appears in, and I hadn’t remembered Nisha from Borderlands 2, so while playing we were unaware of these character’s other roles in the series.

One thing I did find surprising was how ‘epic’ the Pre-Sequel became in the final act. It almost seemed like it was speaking out of turn, I mean…it’s called “The Pre-Sequel”. That’s a title that screams incidental and unimportant if there ever was one. “This game is just setting the scene for the more important game that was worthy of a real number in its title”, is what it suggests. And for the most part as you play it, it feels that way too. You’re playing on the moon, for instance (and everyone knows moons rate lower than planets on the astronomical bodies ladder). And you’re helping the bad guy! Surely, none of what you do here should be as big, important or ‘epic’ as in the numbered Borderlands titles.

But then, as you approach the finish line, you find yourself fighting multiple boss battles (“surely this is it” I said, erroneously, each time), delving into a massive cavernous space with funky, brilliant colours, into a galaxy-esque background, fighting the forerunner guardians, while the stakes seem to go up and up. The ending is basically prophesy-esque, all bigger picture feels. It’s an odd match.

This is mirrored by the length of the game. We played for 23 hours, which was longer than my playthrough of Borderlands 2. Again, I find this surprising, not least because it also feels smaller at first, with the player limited to the same few compact (if difficult to navigate) areas for quite a while. I’d initially figured it for a 15 hour romp, maybe. This isn’t a complaint necessarily - the game was enjoyable enough for the most part to justify the time spent in it - it just seems structurally unsound to me that a “pre-sequel” should be as big or bigger than the game it’s foregrounding.

As for the story itself and how it goes about setting up the Borderlands 2 plot, it seems... well I guess it seems cohesive enough, not having recalled many details about Borderlands 1 & 2. You’re basically helping Jack, arch-villain of Borderlands 2, but he’s not evil yet - maybe. He just wants to stop the moon being destroyed by a group called The Lost Legion, while perhaps finding a vault and turning a profit for Hyperion in the process. You watch him do his Anakin Skywalker -> Darth Vader transformation as the game progresses, but because the protagonist vault hunters themselves are morally suspect, they/you don’t seem to mind too much. It's an unusual situation, to be playing the bad-guy, and it’s handled pretty effectively by the writers, if you take this game in a vacuum. That being said, it's also kind of...contradictory, if we do consider background events of Borderlands 2, where Jack’s evilness is established as being a more endemic, long-term thing. Whether the whole coheres depends on what you think/who you listen to, but I've enjoyed reading some forum-posted opinions on the matter anyway.

And so: This brings us to the end of our Borderlands sojourn. We finally finished one - hooray! Promises well kept. Paradoxically, finishing the Pre-Sequel took less time than it took to pass on Borderlands 2. All up, to sift, avoid and play through these three games has taken nearly the entire winter, which is...sub-optimal. My wish is to be done with the B’s by the end of the year. The letter grows stale; I yearn for a fresh beginning. As of now we've got fifteen games to go. Four months. Hmm. Addendum: My multi-talented friend Caro started a Tinyletter. It doesn’t have much to do with games but I’ve been enjoying it very much. Consider signing up! It will cost you nothing except your time.

up next is Botanicula

#game53 #borderlands: the pre-sequel #borderlands #2k australia #gearbox #take-two interactive #2k #agamewithguns #fps #first person #rpg #australian games #2014 #loot

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vice-s-assistant · 8 years ago

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Voices of the FGC: Andre/Dream Boy Purple of Skullgirls Latin American (SG LATAM)

Over the last five years, Skullgirls has been the “Lil’ Darling” of the Indie movement in Fighting Games. It the game that’s thrived when people said it was “dead”, multiple setbacks, from its former publisher, and various other hay-makers that come with its game development. Through all of that though, it has not only survived, but grown. Now as the actual final patch for the game comes out, the current call for the game, it’s a good time to look back and see it lasting effect on the fighting game landscape. I sat down with a friend of mine, Andre/Dream Boy Purple, who was the lead organizer for SG LATAM, a Skullgirls Latin American group, for his thoughts on Skullgirls, its effect on him, and his organization.

Vice’s Assistant: Alright let's start off with your name for the folks who don't know and what you do with Skullgirls?

Andre/Dream Boy Purple: Name is André, well basically I created and have been running SG LATAM a Latin American focused community for Skullgirls, as well as trying to use the group itself as a medium to spread the word of SG on other LATAM communities.

Banner from SG LATAM Facebook page

VA: How did you find out about Skullgirls?

Andre: Well, back in the day of 2011, I happened to stumble upon a trailer for Double, a character in the game before the game came out. It honestly left me pretty surprised: just the sight of the animation was pretty cool on itself, but it also looked like a really fun fighting game, especially considering I was into Marvel at the time. It was a no brainer (sic) that I soon got it for the 360 when it released.

youtube

VA: And when you first got the game, did it just "click" with you, or did that just come on later down the line?

Andre: Ha ha, that's actually a curious question. When I first got the game, I had my fun with it, but I guess there were a bunch of things that I didn't really enjoy with it. Things like the speed, the constant touch of death combos, the animation having to display the hitboxes for it to run smoothly, and even the netcode even though it was still rollback. It was in a rougher state than the one we have now, I endend (sic) up playing it casually during that time and no thinking much about it.

VA: After you spent time with it though, when did things start to feel like "I really dig this game"?

Andre: That was way down the line, after the whole fiasco with Reverge Labs having to dismantle and reform into Lab Zero, and the launching of their crowdfunding campaign. I started to take interest in the game again after all there were a lot of things that were issues of mine adressed (sic) on the game since then like the speed or balance patches (we didn't get those on the 360 at the time sadly), plus new characters and a PC port after hearing that I made up my mind of giving the game a second chance and ended up falling in love with it then.

VA: Nice. I kind of started to dig the game after I've spent time with a few months later. Skullgirls was my "burnout" game after I would do long sets in SSF IV AE. After a while started fooling around with Fortune and started to realized I like her rush down stuff...even though I was probably abusing some of her nasty damage stuff she had in Vanilla Skullgirls.

Andre: Yeah, damage was kinda ridiculous in vainilla (sic) I remember seeing some videos of Severin back in the day of him killing characters anywhere on the screen with just one bar.

youtube

Couldn’t find a combo of Severine killing with one bar but here’s a 100% combo. These were common (and annoying) in Vanilla Skullgirls.

VA: I couldn't do that kind of stuff, and still can't, but I remember basically using the head to trip someone, going to rekkas, blockbuster. It was super easy to do and boy howdy you could get some nice chunks of damage off.

Moving forward, what in you decided that you wanted to foster your local community to get more people into the game?

Andre: Well when I really started to get into the game once again I started wanting to play more against people and Quick Match did only so much. So I searched around forums and Facebook groups for a LATAM community only to find out there were really none. I found a couple that talked about the game, it's (sic) lore, and played casually but not really one focused to compete with each other. So I quickly took action into it. After all if you want something done you should do it yourself. I created a very basic logo in PS and started a FB group which I tried to promote constantly to friends and in FGC groups. Thinking back to it, it was probably annoying for them to see me do that but I was determined. Ha ha.

VA: Since starting it, how has thing’s gone?

Andre: Well it has been growing pretty nicely and steadily. We're around 600-700 unique members between the FB, Discord, and Steam groups. The Discord is pretty active every day and people are constantly talking and playing on it. We got an actual logo for our group and not just a photoshopped SG logo. We have done plenty of tournaments now under the name "Trifulca en el Ring" with custom flyers for each edition. We've also since have partnered up with Arcade Rumble (a FGC Latin American group) and they have helped us do things like have better production streams, bigger audience to announce our stuff, and in ocassions (sic) even give out money prizes for our tournaments.

Poster done by Abraham Rodriguez

VA: Beyond just the SG LA community, how do you think Skullgirls has grown within the last 5 years? The prevailing joke is "Skullgirls is dead," but the truth is the opposite: Skullgirls is one of Steam's best selling fighting games (CORRECTION: Skullgirl is not one Steam’s best selling fighting games, far from it, but there are a lot more people who have then you think) , showings a plenty tournies, and even a "mini" convention at AX in Phoenix, AZ (Correction AX is in Los Angeles, California, not Phoenix, AZ).

Andre: The SGC (Skullgirls Community) has grown a lot, right now we have things like the Skullgirls Tour which is basically or own version of CPT or KI's world cup with 12 tournaments both offline and online. A lot of people have also joined through the PC community, thanks to it being a complete steal at just 15 bucks for the game, having one of the if not the smoothest online in a fighting game beautiful animation, great gameplay, and the low specs it has. You see new people trying out the game constantly, be it the Skullheart* or Steam forums, as well as in the SG LATAM community. We get people who are new all the time and it also helps the abundance of helpful people and events that are run online by the community. Things like Skullbats, Monday Night Blockbusters, SG Brazil weeklies, and even our own "Trifulca en el Ring" series just goes to show that SG was never or ever will be dead. You'll always have people to play with, you just gotta look for them.

VA: With the last patch finally out, do you feel the game has finally reached its ideal state? Or are there things to feel still need worked on?

Andre: Well considering how Mike Z is, he will always find something to work on, but as it stands, the game is really balanced to the point where tier list are pretty universaly (sic) thought as a matter of opinion, and even then there isn't that much of a diff (sic) from the bottom to the top. Considering SG is pretty unique with it's (sic) focus on resets, I think in it's (sic) current state it will pass the test of time just fine.

VA: What do you think Skullgirls' lasting legacy will be?

Andre: That a community and it's game can last and grow as long as they keep pouring love into it. There's only so many big tournaments for SG (biggest being Combo Breaker) since the whole EVO ordeal of 2013, and barely losing to Smash SG hasn't really been a mainstream fighting game at all. Which to my eyes only makes more impressive what it has been able to acomplish (sic) thanks to the developer support and the constant effort by the community to run events; making tech, helping the devs find bugs, the community being so inclusive. I think SG will still be played many years from now, and until the eventual SG 2, I doubt the constant income of players will slow down anytime soon.

VA: Finally, do you have any advice for people still timid about getting into Skullgirls?

Andre: Well SG is a fighting game, and like any of them, it's not easy to get to certain competitive level. That's the first fact that you have to accept but there's so many resources and people willing to help: on Discord and the Skullheart forums as well as groups targeted towards new players that you'll have people around your level to play against. A lot of people get discouraged because they jump online first thing, and they get massacred since SG is a fast game, and also focused heavily on resets. Even people with past fighting game experience have a hard time when they first play against experienced people, but it really doesn't take that long to get the hang of it, and SG having such an amazing training mode also helps. To sum it up, I know it may seem overwhelming now, but there's so many people willing to help you, and it really is worth it to form (sic) part of such an amazing community.

VA: One last thing: Where can people reach you and be a part of SG LATAM?

Andre: People can reach me personally through my Tumblr or Twitter

http://dreamboypurple.tumblr.com/

https://twitter.com/DreamBoyPurple

For SG LATAM they can reach either through our (sic) FB group or Discord, Discord being the more active one of the 2

https://www.facebook.com/groups/SGLATAM

To both Andre for the interview and Yahoo’s E-sports’ Michael Martin (https://twitter.com/Bizarro_Mike) for advice with interviews

You can also watch Andre attempt to go against the world in a 100-man quick match kumite in Skullgirls today at 6 CDT on his Twitch channel:

https://www.twitch.tv/dreamboypurple

#Interviews #my written work #Skullgirls #SG LATAM #skullgirls 2nd encore #Skullgirls Encore #Skullgirls 2nd Encore+#lab zero games #dreamboypurple

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foxmain · 8 years ago

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Anything for luigi players? Besides "l2wavedash" ofc. Also, where do you think he stands in a less competitive scene? In a tournament setting? Last question, do you think an aerial based playstyle can suit him well in spite of his aerial mobility? Considering how many moves auto cancel and just how quickly they come out, I think it can be okay. Thanks for your time. I love this blog! Great tech information for players just picking up the game ^_^ keep it up

thanks and i’m so glad you’re enjoying it! it’s really fun to do and i love when people ask questions. my response got pretty long so i put it under a break:

so yeah, luigi’s aerial mobility is really bad. i think you definitely still need his ground movement (ie wavedash) to find your spots, if you know what i mean? like if you stay in the air all the time you’ll get completely overwhelmed in the neutral game, just due to your limited movement. also, going into the air to begin with is usually a very big commitment for luigi, just because he takes so long to get back down (make sure to make good use of fast fall because his ff isn’t that bad). this isn’t as much of a problem on stages with platforms because you can move between platforms and the ground faster than you can get back to the ground after jumping, and platforms provide a lot of different ways of fighting across vertical space in general, allowing luigi to stay slippery above the ground. another difficulty with an aerial-based playstyle is that luigi’s recovery is pretty bad, and it becomes much worse when he loses his double jump. if you spend a lot of time in the air, you’re more likely to end up offstage without a jump.

that being said, his aerials do have pretty nice frame data (including generous autocancel windows on ~all~ of them) and decent hitboxes, which i would invite anyone to explore here. you can use auto-cancelled aerials to cover your landings pretty effectively. i think jab is a pretty good option (in part because it’s luigi’s fastest attack from standing) if you think they’ll try to run in and punish your landing.

luigi’s jabs are actually really good. both his first and second jabs have very little cooldown, making jab->grab a good option. the knockback is 83° for both hits, so without crouch or asdi down, you’ll knock your opponent into the air and force them to go through normal landing lag before they can act, which actually gives you frame advantage against some characters��a lot of characters can double jump out if they’re ready, though. this works really well if you hit them when they’re just above the ground. luigi’s first and second jabs also have very low, set knockback so he can jab reset at literally any percent. his third jab is kind of like a weaker but much easier version of captain falcon’s gentleman. if they have to tech after the third jab, you can wavedash forward and jab reset if they miss it, or tech chase if they get the tech.

anyways, you wanted to know about aerials! i think luigi can benefit a lot from an aerial playstayle–in the right situations. for example, many people will platform camp against luigi because they’re afraid of his wavedash. they’ll shield a lot because they don’t think luigi can apply good shield pressure. luigi’s slow fall speed is often a disadvantage because he can’t always get to the ground when he wants to, however, because he stays in the air for longer than people are accustomed to, he can often surprise his opponents by getting an extra aerial out before landing. many top-tier characters will be forced to land after hitting a high aerial on shield, so many players have the automatic reaction of acting out of shield as soon as that happens. luigi will almost always be able to do another aerial after a high aerial on shield.

the best way to do this is dair->nair. because nair comes out early and dair comes out late with a lot of shieldstun, this gives your opponent the smallest window to counterattack–about 13 frames. that might still seem like a lot, but unless they’ve practiced reacting against this combination (unlikely since it’s luigi), your opponent will probably spend most of that time making up their mind to attack. additionally, you can place yourself in an out-of-shield blindspot, where they can’t easily counterattack. dair’s low hitbox is good for this. depending on how you’re positioned, you may want to use a different aerial before nair, or a different aerial after dair, or a completely different combination of aerials altogether.

luigi’s slow air speed also allows you to be more precise when attempting to shield stab. this is especially good if your opponent starts holding their shield for longer in response to your multiple aerials, or if they’re just bad at angling their shield. you can shield stab from above with falling aerials or from below with rising aerials without even really having to try. luigi can also do very effective platform shield pressure with jabs and platform-cancelled nairs. to do a platform-cancelled nair, quickly press down while standing on a platform then immediately release the control stick to neutral and press A. if done correctly, you should land on the platform again after doing your nair. keep in mind that you have to hit your opponent or their shield for this to work, and don’t forget to l-cancel! if they don’t angle their shield down, you can delay the nair a bit to shield stab. if they do angle their shield down, you can shield stab with a sh fair.

a lot of luigi’s aerials have good combo potential. his nair has completely vertical knockback, with a knockback angle of 90°. the lower hitbox of his dair has priority and is a good kill move, hitting at the sakurai angle, which is 45° at medium to high knockback (>32), and 0° at low knockback. dair also has a higher hitbox around luigi’s waist that is a meteor smash. it isn’t usually a good kill move, but you can use it to hit your opponent back into a platform or the ground after sending them up. they’ll usually miss the tech, but tech chasing on a platform is pretty easy either way. you can hit them with an aerial of your choosing on the way down. luigi’s up air hits at 55°, which is a little more vertical than the standard 45° sakurai angle aerial, making follow ups a little easier. additionally, because it isn’t the sakurai angle, it still has the same knockback angle at low percent. fair and bair both hit at the sakurai angle. here’s a graph of knockback vs damage for luigi’s sakurai angle aerials + up air:

basically, up air is the best combo move out of these (higher knockback angles and lower knockback are usually good for combos–not always though). fair is the best horizontal aerial kill move below 50% (for if you’re edge guarding or near the edge of the stage) and dair is the best horizontal aerial kill move above 50%. luigi’s fsmash might be his best overall horizontal kill move, while his grounded up B is his strongest vertical kill move (it does about 4/5 the knockback in the air). luigi’s fsmash actually hits at a different angle depending on how you angle it: upward is 65°, forward is 55°, and downward is 45°. the higher-angled hits have slightly more knockback because upward deals 1% more damge than forward, which deals 1% more damage than downward. i think a downward-angled fsmash is overall the best horizontal kill move, because the angle makes a bigger difference than the slight change in knockback. however, if your opponent’s DI is really good, you can use upward-angled fsmash as a DI mix-up to get vertical kills.

luigi is kind of like sheik in that he has a lot of moves with mostly vertical knockback, including upsmash, dsmash, uptilt, dtilt, and nair. here’s a graph of knockback vs damage for those moves:

angles > 90° hit slightly behind, angles

a few other miscellaneous things: if you want to do the down B mash in your recovery, you have to set it up earlier in the stock by doing an aerial up B and landing before it ends. many luigis will do this when they start a stock. misfires randomly occur 1/8 of the time, and the reason why it seems like many luigi mains “know” it’s going to happen is that they prepare for both possibilites, for example, aiming for their opponent with the misfire while also aiming for a safe spot to continue their recovery if they get a regular side B. also, here’s the first hit frame of luigi’s dair (you have to hit with only the top hitbox to get the meteor smash):

i don’t play luigi so that’s about all i can think of. i know wavedashing is very important, so “l2wavedash” is always good advice. beyond consistent technical execution, you need to know when to wavedash, how far to wavedash, and how to control the length of your wavedash. learning to use wavedash more effectively is actually one of the ways top luigi players are trying to push the meta (the theoretical highest level of luigi’s tech chases only comes when you can choose the direction of your wavedash halfway through the input, immediately before the shoulder button press). without wavedash, luigi is painfully slow, and honestly a significantly worse character. the problem with wavedash is that it’s 15 frames where you have no control at all over your character and you’re completely vulnerable. luigi’s wavedash can be overwhelming at first, but once your opponents realize its weaknesses and how to exploit them, you’ll need to do a lot more than spam wavedash dsmash to get by in neutral (which is honestly a good option, don’t get me wrong–the two hits and the amount that luigi slides after hitting a shield with dsmash can make it a very tricky move, and of course it can lead to big combos). so keep thinking about your wavedashes, when they work and when they don’t, and how you can make them better. luigis’ dashdance is also pretty good, so make sure you use that as well.

I think luigi can do well at the top level and sometimes extremely well against mid-level players. a lot of people really hate playing against luigi in tournament because they’re not used to his wavedashes, auto cancels, combos, and nair combo breaks. i think luigi has a deep combo game and a deep neutral, but he doesn’t have quite as many options as most top-tier characters. i think he has to make good use of his aerials, but his limited aerial mobility puts him in danger every time he goes into the air. if you’re focused more on fun than competition, i think luigi is an excellent character. while he may lack some of the versatility in movement required to keep up at the highest level, he still has interesting combos and enough tools to keep the neutral game fresh even when he’s outmatched.

as usual, sorry for taking an eternity to respond, and i hope this was helpful!

#ssbm #melee #asks #smashbros #luigi

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