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a-plethora-of-peters · 3 years ago

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*CRASH* *BANG* *CAT YOWL* *FACEPLANTS INTO YOUR ASK BOX* HIIIII PETERRR! In regards to your headcanons; in your version of Hermitcraft, only three people are human, yeah? Who are they, and what is everyone else? What can all the non-humans do? Was there an event that caused them to become nonhuman or were they born that way?

Well @felicityphoenix5 I can't reveal exactly what *everyone* is because that would make this post longer than it already is. Not to mention give everyone some spoilers lol

That said, here are some spoiler free things about the humans/past humans of the server that I can share: (More under the cut)

Human is a fairly subjective term in this universe. Arguments can be made that beings that look like humans completely but have powers (like Keralis) aren't human but compared to most non-humans, powered humans aren't that... well powerful.

In "I Am Creation" there are 5 humans among the Hermits at the start of Season 8. They are/were: Beef, xB, Iskall, False, and Keralis.

Mumbo was counted among the humans until due to unforeseen circumstances between Seasons 4 & 5, he got Turned into a Vampire. Every Season since then he has been slowly discovering a new ability or aspect to him being a Vampire. In Season 5 he discovered that drinking human Player blood worked best for him in terms of healing/feeding and that if he drinks blood from non-humans, he temporarily gains powers based on their species/powerset. Thanks to Demise in Season 6, he learned that he has an alternative form that looks like a massive black bat creature that has a white/grey pattern on his furry underbelly that makes it look like he's still wearing a formal suit. During Hermit Challenges in Season 7 he found that as long as he was confident in what he was saying he could Charm people and influence their actions. Recently in Season 8, he figured out how to shapeshift though his moustache always gives him away lol.

Cub and Scar arrived on the Season 4 server as humans but left Season 5 as Changelings (half-Fae beings that will turn into full Vex upon their permadeaths). Cub before joining Hermitcraft, had been cursed to physically be a few decades older than he actually is. Long story short, an event happens at the end of Season 7 that breaks the curse on him, resulting in his change from Old Cub to Young Cub in Season 8.

There are many joking debates among the Hermits if Iskall counts as human because they are a cyborg with a cybernetic right forearm, left eye, and various internal enhancements to help him power said cybernetic parts.

False is Blessed by the Blood God. Which is a fancy way of saying that Techno congratulated her after her second MCC win and accidentally made her his Champion since he's still relatively new to this whole Blood God business. This means if she’s in trouble, she can call upon his aid a’la the God Boons in the Hades videogame.

xB is the most human human to ever human on Hermitcraft until [REDACTED FOR SPOILERS] and becomes [REDACTED FOR SPOILERS] in Season 9. A small spoiler that I will give for the above is that the in-universe reason for Mumbo’s absence in Season 9 is that he needs to find an entirely new source of food since xB was his primary source due to the others becoming other beings or just being a bit much for him normally.

Keralis' whole family is full of Empaths who can read your emotions and surface level thoughts as well as show you their own. Accidental connections are considered okay by his family but purposeful connections must have some form of indicated consent before being initiated. The ways they are viewed is like the differences between knocking to see if someone is in the bathroom vs trying the doorknob to see if it's locked before asking vs breaking into the bathroom while someone is actively in there.

There have been other humans on the Hermitcraft server (please don't ask who, I am not familiar enough with most of the old guard so to speak to make any solid calls about them) but time and circumstance has whittled the humans on the server down to their current numbers.

#hermitcraft #hermitblr #my stuff #my writing #IACBHAH #felicityphoenix5 #peter speaks #please ask me more #i love gushing bout lore

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mayflowers07 · 3 years ago

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Some fun facts and behind the scene notes about the ICBTOYC series because the next update is taking a bit longer then I would like, so here’s something to hold down the fort:

The title of the series comes from a lyric in the song Brother by NEEDTOBREATHE and Gavin DeGraw. It’s sort of the theme song of the series in my eyes and if you check out the song, you’ll understand why

Actually all of the fics have a song that inspired it. For most fics, the song’s lyrics ended up in the title, but some didn’t- Doc’s is Brother by Matt Corby, Iskall’s is Belong by X Ambassadors, Etho’s is False Confidence by Noah Kahn, Keralis’ is Two by Sleeping at Last, Cub’s is Guillotine by Jon Bellion, False’s is The Fixer by Brent Morgan, and Zedaph’s is Dreamland by Glass Animals

My favourite quote from the whole series so far is a tie “Apolllo you bitch, I never wanted this gift of prophecy. Take it back you coward” and “Mumbo tried to stop him and Ren just straight up barked at him, Mumbo looks so offended”

Some very early foreshadowing that may have been missed is that in Iskall’s fic, they say that Jevin doesn’t go with them to the party because he doesn’t like big public spaces. Jevin doesn’t like those spaces because- as we learn in his story- he hates his body and constantly feels different and judged

Speaking of Jevin’s fic, in it Wels says “we all have our own demons” and Hypno says “your brain has a way of distorting the world against you,” both of which are foreshadowing their own stories later on

In Cleo’s fic, False tells her “I’d give you all the time in the world if you needed it.” This is a direct quote of what Xisuma tells False in her fic, showing how what Xisuma told her and how he helped her really stuck with her and how she wanted to help Cleo in the same way

Yes, I do have the fics for Pearl and Gem planned out. It might just take a bit before we get there

Many people noted that ‘Zed’ was acting out of character in Hypno’s fic, but eagle-eyed readers may have been able to figure out that it was actually Ex before the reveal because Ex (under the disguise of Zed) tells Hypno in chat “you need help and I can’t be the one to give it to you” which is very very similar to when he told Zed in his fic “You need help from people who can give you what you need, constant support and love. I’m really not in a position to be that friend for you.”

The whole thing with Helsknight’s first episode did actually happen in this AU, it just never made it into the main series because no one used the code during it. The reason Wels didn’t use the code during it was because he was scared that no one was going to answer if he did, just like last time. This is also why Wels is so quick to trust Ex, because he thinks Ex is Xisuma’s Hels equivalent and Hels hermits are basically the darkest, most hidden away part of a person’s mind. Wels thinks X is the best person he knows, and there’s no way X could be that evil, so Ex can’t be that bad himself. Neither the assumption that Ex is a Hels Hermit, nor the assumption that Xisuma doesn’t have dark, twisted thoughts is correct.

Here are some alternative versions of stories that I almost wrote before I changed them for whatever reason: Keralis’ was going to be about him feeling like the other Hermits assume he’s stupid and getting upset by this before I fully started fleshing out the Ex storyline and decided to link it in, Scar was going to be the Vex fic instead of Cub, False’s was about her getting struck by lightning and nearly dying during MCC training and Cub having to use the code for her then feeling guilty about what happened in a two-parter (this idea later developed into Joe’s and Cleo’s), and Hypno’s went through many changes, first being about him feeling forgotten and alone because of a prank someone played on him, then being about him having a psychotic disorder and experiencing depersonalization and derealization

The reason Beef’s fic went how it did was because I knew I wanted a Canadian to get hypothermia for the irony but I had already picked Etho’s prompt so it ended up being Beef, which I think is hilarious

And in Beef’s fic, the reason he says his favourite song is Here Comes the Sun by the Beetles is because of the lyrics “Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter, Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here” and “Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting. Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear.” Think of this as gentle foreshadowing from me that everything was going to be okay by the end: the winter may have seemed cold and lonely and almost deadly for Beef but the sun was going to eventually come and a happy ending was on the horizon

3rd life is canon in this world but because it’s a permadeath AU, instead of it being a murder game, it’s essentially a giant game of lazar tag

My favourite fics in the series are Beef’s (was super fun to write) and Mumbo’s (still relatable af and a message I often have to remind myself)

#i can be the one you call #long post

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i-love-writers · 3 years ago

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RP Rules

18+ only.

RP accounts only.

Respect me and I’ll respect you.

DMs are preferred to threads.

I expect some effort. Must be literate and write a minimum of 4 sentences per reply.

Tell me if you’re uncomfortable with something and I’ll do the same.

Kinks (not mandatory)

Beastiality/Pokephilia

Mommy Doms

Non-Con (very rarely)

Dub-Con (rarely)

Excessive pre/cum

Lactation

Public Play

Limits (non-negotiable)

Vore

Intense gore

Sexual gore

Permadeath

Vomit

Bathroom things

Ageplay or Minors

My OC Muse

Name: Luna Nova

Pronouns: She/Her

Sex: Futanari

Orientation: Lesbian

10% Dom/90% Sub

Age: Unknown

Species: Unknown

Special Ability: Shapeshifting (Mastered)

Appearance:

Her preferred form is colored as the above picture, including the horns and glowing features. She has a 2’ long tongue (prehensile) and a 1’ long penis. Her body type is pictured below as well as one of her usual outfits. When Luna’s mouth is open there is an additional dull glow from her saliva, the same color as her eyes and tongue (orange).

Personality:

Luna is a shy girl who opens up rather quickly to those she trusts; that being said, she often trusts people too quickly. She’s an introvert that wants to be loved and almost any form of kindness endears her to the person giving it, assuming they’ve met before.

In relationships the shapeshifter is extremely loyal and will do anything to protect her partner, even if that means breaking rules or laws. She’ll endlessly love whoever’s with her, sometimes to the point of being a nuisance! She is also obedient to her “mommy,” sometimes doing as told without thinking if the relationship has been going on long enough.

Bio/Backstory:

Luna doesn’t know much about her childhood. She’s been alone in this world for most of her life, only knowing a “family” of any kind from age 8 until the end of her teen years. It certainly wasn’t traditional, though! She lived in a forest and was raised by the creatures there; both the magical and the mundane took part in her upbringing, led by the forest’s guardian. That was a water dragon, one who cared deeply about the girl and made sure to teach as much as possible after finding them as an abandoned baby. She learned about magic thanks to this guardian and honed her natural shapeshifting abilities, sometimes guided by fairies and nymphs when there was trouble the dragon had to solve. During those times she also learned about sexual things and they became way more interesting after reaching puberty.

Alas, this peaceful and cherished way of life ended when the girl became an adult. The guardian learned about a curiosity Luna had and sent her off into the world. Hopefully she’d find out the answer to this persistent question: what was is she? Luna has been searching for the knowledge since being sent away, following myths and stories about anything possibly shapeshifting. It didn’t matter if only one person believed the story or a whole community, this futa would search for the source.

Now it’s been decades- or even centuries- since she left the forest once called home. Luna’s used her power to regenerate and repair old cells, infinitely prolonging her life. Any injuries can be solved the same way. The woman is tired of a lonely nomadic life and wants to settle down with someone. It’d be fine to travel after that, but it was accepted long ago that her species will never be found or maybe she’s the only one; either way, Luna’s done with it.

Important Misc. Muse Info:

“Mastery” of shapeshifting means Luna can alter her matter on the sub-atomic level, practically making her a small-scale god. Things like chemicals or complex objects can be produced as long as she knows what materials there are and how the things are composed. Luna must eat to compensate for any matter “used up” this way.

Luna’s body is naturally hot as are her bodily fluids- tears, saliva, semen, etc. The fluids are literally steaming when exposed to the air surrounding her. This does not harm other living beings or her surroundings if Luna thinks properly. She can alter the temperatures before releasing anything and cools her skin the same way so it’s only a little warm to the touch.

Bodily fluids glow orange to varying degrees. Sweat is only noticed in pitch blackness. Pre, Saliva, and Tears can be seen in a darkened room. Semen is much brighter, just as bright as her tongue in fact.

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ciathyzareposts · 6 years ago

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Crusaders of the Dark Savant: Career Changes

My party, members now in their permanent classes, confidently marches out of New City.

When I started this blog, if I referred to “rose-colored memories” of past games, I would have been referring to times I played games in the 1980s or 1990s, when I was young and the games were new. These days, on the other hand, I could use the phrase to refer to games I played at the beginning of this blog. Writing today, I haven’t played any of the pre-Bradley Wizardry games in almost four years. Are my memories accurate? Is my admiration valid?

What I remember most about the original Wizardry, and to a lesser extent the second two scenarios, is a marvelous sense of tension in exploration and combat. Particularly since I was adhering to the series’s use of permadeath, every step forward felt like a risk. The further you got away from the safety of the town level, the more your hit points dropped, the more you depleted your spell slots, the greater the odds were stacked against you. These considerations created a tactical landscape that went far beyond the strict combat mechanics. In deciding whether to try to wipe out your enemies with just a MAHALITO, or to double it up with a MODALTO from another caster, you had to think beyond the immediate combat. You had to worry about the next combat, plus all the combats in your backpath on the way to the surface. Your spell slots were precious resources. You wouldn’t waste a high-level spell on an easy party, just to make combat go more quickly–you needed it for the unanticipated high-level group down the hall.

Wizardry VI completely upended the nature of combat tactics in the franchise while not significantly changing the combat mechanics themselves. You still plan everyone’s action ahead of time, then execute them (in tandem with the enemies’ actions) all at once. You still have limitations on spells, though “slots” have been replaced with magic points, and the spell system in general has been expanded. You still have a lot of variability in the difficulty of enemies that you encounter. The big difference is that you can save, and usually rest, in between combats. The focus is thus entirely on the individual combat rather than the entire landscape. It pays to err on the side of over-use of powerful spells just to make victory certain.

More about combat and magic in a minute, but let’s take a moment to check in with the party, which has undergone some changes since I last blogged. Last time, I was wrestling with the game’s class-changing system, including when and how often. Based on your comments, I realized that I had been thinking of it all wrong. I hadn’t shaken myself out of Dungeons and Dragons (second edition) mode, where dual-classing can create powerful characters, but it pays to get as high as possible in the first class before dual-classing because afterwards you can only level in the second class. Here, that’s not true. Once you acquire skills and spells, they’re part of your repertoire forever, and you can keep adding points to them even if they don’t make sense with your current class. A Dungeons and Dragons fighter who duals to a mage at Level 10 isn’t a fighter at all anymore until she reaches Level 11 as a mage, and even then she’s only kind of a fighter. In this game, even if you only spend one level as a mage, you’re at least partly a mage forever.

(The one big exception here is that your current class defines what weapons, armor, and items you can use. Thus, it doesn’t make sense to build someone’s sword skills to high levels and then dual to a mage, who can’t use a sword.)

Having been through several class changes, Esteban has a lot of weapon skills at his disposal, only some of which he can actually use as a bishop.

Thus, I began to think of my party more in terms of what skills I wanted the characters to have rather than literal classes. I spent some time changing, grinding, experimenting, and changing again, in some cases limited by minimum attributes, but generally able to acquire what I wanted. That included at least two characters with high-level mage abilities and at least four characters with healing abilities.

Ultimately, I wanted to end this session with my characters in their “final” incarnations (at least for most of the game). Every time you change a class, you reset the character’s attributes to the minimum requirements for that class. It’s tough to give up all that strength, speed, and so forth, and I imagine it’s particularly tough later in the game, when your foes are harder. As thrilling as it is to level up, I’d rather do it less often but in pursuit of more heroic characters.

One of my first changes was to make my thief a samurai. I can’t really remember why. But once I did, she acquired the “Kirijutsu” skill, and I absolutely fell in love with it. Every point in the skill makes it more likely that the character will strike a critical hit in combat, instantly killing an enemy. I don’t even care if the chance is really small; I just love that the chance s there. Thus, I cycled all my fighters through classes that imparted that skill, at least for a few levels. Three of them were able to change to ninjas for a while, which is a great choice because it has such high attribute requirements that, if you can make it in the first place, you don’t lose as many of your accumulated points.

Gideon strikes a critical hit on a Savant Guard. This never gets old.

I advanced in my new classes mostly by grinding in New City. At first, I did this primarily by sleeping in the street, which seems to attract an enemy party about 25% of the time. Later, I realized that if I used the wrong item to try to open a door in one of the buildings (I don’t even know what the right item is), it would reliably send at least one party of Savant Troopers or Savant Guards my way. These guys offer quite a bit of experience, but the problem is that they’re tough enemies. Troopers have lances that can drain stamina and paralyze party members. If I got three parties of 5 Troopers each, I was toast. Nonetheless, it was worth the risk, and I learned a lot about my available spells during the process.

When I was done (and this all took me maybe 8 hours combined):

Gideon had cycled through several levels as a monk (that was a waste of time) and several levels as a ninja before ending up as a lord again.

Noctura got some mage spells as a samurai for a few levels before she had high enough attributes to change to her permanent ninja class (she had been a thief originally)

Bix went from a bard to an alchemist to, finally, a mage. I know that’s not a lot of diversity, but the alchemist position at least afforded him some healing spells.

Svava went from a Valkyrie to a ninja to a ranger (that turned out to be mostly a waste) and back to a Valkyrie. I had to take her all the way to Level 9 as a ranger because it took forever to reach the Valkyrie minimums.

Esteban went from a priest to a ninja to finally end up where I wanted him as a bishop.

Prenele, who was already where I wanted her (alchemist) spent some time as a mage and a priest before returning her her original class.

I might have missed some. I seem to remember having someone as a psionic for a while before realizing the spells just weren’t very good. In any event, I realize that not all of these changes made sense or ultimately served any strategic goal, but remember I was just experimenting, and the best part is that there’s no real harm in trying out a class that doesn’t ultimately work out. The worst that happens is you gained some skills that you don’t bother to develop any further.

My Valkyrie mulls a class change. Her stats aren’t good enough for lord, bishop, ninja, monk, psionic, or alchemist.

Just before I started changing classes, some of my higher-level fighters started to achieve extra attacks in combat. They had already been at a point where they often struck twice during a single attack, but eventually they reached a level where they’d get an extra couple attacks at the end of the combat round. The odd thing is that they retained these extra attacks even after they changed classes and were busted back to Level 1 again. So I’m not really sure what governs these extra attacks. I don’t know, it’s probably in the manual somewhere, but the frigging thing is 70 pages long.

The exercise accomplished my primary goal of making a stronger party. Now I have four characters with Kirujutsu, and thus a chance at critical hits every combat round. More important, I have three characters capable of some mass damage spells.

It took me a while to figure out the spell system, and I’m a little fuzzy on parts. Each character has what amounts to a “mana” bar, but that’s a bit misleading because the bar is a composite of each individual status, and each individual maximum, within a variety of spell “realms.” The realms (fire, earth, water, mental, air, and divine) are different from the spell “schools” (mage, alchemist, priest, psionic), each of which has multiple spells in each realm. Right now, my mage Bix has anywhere between a maximum of 22 points (divine realm) and 47 points (water realm) in each realm. His actual spells are a combination of those learned during his time as a bard, an alchemist, and a mage.

When you cast a spell, the number of points available in that realm depletes. Your overall mana bar may look great, but if you’re out of points in the divine realm, there’s no more healing. It takes a long time, or several sleep sessions, to fully restore points in a realm, so my characters basically end up cycling through them. One combat, my mage will favor earth spells, the next he’ll focus on fire spells. It thus pays to have a couple of mass damage spells or a couple of incapacitation spells spread across multiple realms.

What I don’t fully understand is what determines the number of points available to the realms. It’s not based on your skills in the various magic schools, since those apply to all realms. (I think those points just determine what spells are offered to you at each level-up, but I’m not completely sure.) I think it has something to do with the literal number of spells you’ve taken in each realm. Thus, when leveling up, it sometimes pays to choose a spell you don’t really care about, but in a realm in which you want more power.

When casting spells, you have the option to specify a multiplier, from 1 to 7, which is a major consideration. A “Fireball” cast at the base level of 1 only does 2-10 hit points of damage to 3 creatures in a group. Cast at Level 5, it does 10-50 hit points of damage to 8 creatures in a group–but of course it absorbs much more magic. The consideration is there even in status effects like “Cure Disease” and “Cure Paralysis.” Not all disease, poison, paralysis, and other effects are created equal. You have to try to guess how strong it is and then override it with the right spell level.

Even here, there are things I don’t understand. First, you can’t cast a spell at Level 7 the moment you acquire it. But I’m not sure what determines what level you can cast it at. Your level in the class? Your skill? Your points in the realm? Some combination of these? It’s not even consistent. My Level 4 mage can cast “Chilling Touch” (a water spell) at Level 4 but can only cast “Cure Paralysis” (also a water spell) at Level 2. I know, I know: read the manual. But it’s really long and you guys will tell me what’s happening within 10 minutes of this posting.

Some of Prenele’s spell options. The dice indicate the spell level, including the nonsensical last die with seven pips on it.

During my grinding, I really learned to appreciate some of the non-damaging status effect spells. I had already been using “Sleep,” “Hold Monster,” and “Paralyze” quite liberally. The problem with these is that they only take an enemy out of commission for as long as you leave him alone. Once you attack him, the spell wears off. And since you can’t specify particular enemies to attack (just a group), it’s hard to keep everyone incapacitated. These work best when you’re facing multiple groups and you want to sideline two of them so you can focus on one group at a time.

Usually, I go right for the mass damage spells. I have a lot of those now, spread across multiple characters and multiple realms. My favorite is “Acid Bomb,” which damages everyone in a group and keeps damaging them for several subsequent rounds. But for causing more damage in a single round, I have (again, spread over multiple characters) “Magic Missile” (divine), “Whipping Rocks” (earth), “Fire Bomb” (fire), “Fireball” (fire), “Iceball” (water), and “Deadly Air” (air). I don’t yet have any spells that damage all enemies in all groups, but they’re coming.

A powerful mass-damage spell.

To get any serious power out of those spells, however, you have to cast them at high levels and sacrifice a lot of points. My spellcasters can only handle a couple of them before having to rest. What I’ve learned to appreciate are some low-level spells that cost less and greatly reduce the effectiveness of enemies. These include “Confusion,” “Blinding Flash,” and “Itching Skin.” Usually, I don’t like to waste time on spells that don’t show me the effects directly (which is why I never waste a round on “Curse” in D&D games, for instance). But here, those effects are not subtle. When an enemy party goes from a 75% hit rate to a 75% miss rate in one round, you know “Itching Skin” is dong its job.

A lot of single-enemy damage spells were also enormously useful during this process. As I moved from class to class, I didn’t always have the right set of weapons to equip my characters. Thus, spells like “Energy Blast,” “Chilling Touch,” and “Acid Splash,” all of which affect only one enemy at a time, became acceptable alternatives to melee combat. Because they only affect one enemy at a time, they have low casting costs, and you can get half a dozen or so before you need to rest.

So that’s been my last 8 hours. Now I feel better equipped to take on the unexplored areas. I’m still having no luck cleaning up those last few areas of New City, except one previously-locked door that yielded to a “Knock Knock” spell (and had a chest with some decent armor behind it), but by next entry I should have made a lot more progress on the main quest.

Time so far: 31 hours

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/crusaders-of-the-dark-savant-career-changes/

#retro games #dos games #retro #crpg #adventure #amiga #oldcomputers #8bit #16bit #blog #repost

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enterinit · 5 years ago

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New Xbox One Games for May 5 to 8

New Xbox One Games for May 5 to 8.

Pushy and Pully in Blockland – May 5

Pushy and Pully in Blockland is a cooperative arcade game with a retro feeling. Pushy and Pully are travelling through space when their spaceship breaks. They end up falling into Blockland, a planet full of blocks and monsters. The only way for them to escape is to move from room to room while defeating the monsters, until they find a boss that has a piece of the spaceship. Help Pushy and Pully get back their spaceship on their trip across Blockland. Push blocks to defeat the monsters, join blocks of the same colour to get power ups and defeat the bosses to recover the parts of your broken spaceship. Features: Play solo or with a friendClassic gameplay with never-seen-before twistsCombine blocks of the same colour to create the power up you need or the bonus points that will bump up your position in the leaderboardsEnd the stage by defeating all the enemies before time runs outDefeat more than one monster at the same time or pop more than two blocks to get extra combo points.50 lovingly handmade levels5 unique bosses to challenge youLeaderboards and stage rating. Can you make more points than your friends?

Emma: Lost in Memories – May 5

Poetic, surrealistic and melancholic, EMMA: Lost in Memories offers a unique experience in a strange and dangerous world where walls fade away as you touch them. The main character, Emma, is young, vibrant and intriguing: she leaves her home following an owl, and soon loses herself in a world which she slowly finds more and more dangerous. Features: One fast and simple mechanic: all the platforms and walls start disappearing when you touch them!The character runs automatically at a fixed speed! Control her special abilities (double jump, dash and climb) and do your best to react at the correct time.Minimalistic 2D artistic style completely drawn by hand.Dynamic gameplay in a poetic and eccentric world.Single-screen levels which combine skill and ingenuity with planification and strategy.Two game modes: Main Story and Memory Chest. Complete the Main Story first to enjoy the levels in the Memory Chest!Delicate reflexion on memory loss.

Reed 2 – May 6

Reed awakens… to the memories of the old supercomputer… Reed failed. The reboot failed and now the digital world is once again breaking down. Before the old supercomputer malfunctioned, it gave Reed backup files that must be delivered to the Developer. Collect information cubes once again in a desolate version of the last remnants of the digital world. Dodge floor spikes, razor blades, enemies, and wall arrows to reach the next stage! Find hidden survivors trying to escape from the new horrors of the corruption. The virtual world is now doomed, can you get to the Developer? Features: 52 levels to conquerDesolate pixel art graphicsAmbient chilling OST

Task Force Kampas – May 6

Arcade space shooter action reimagined! A team of outcasts who happen to be in the wrong place during an evil invasion must contain the breach, save their friends and defend the universe from corruption! Drawing inspiration from the golden age of Japanese shoot‘em ups, Task Force Kampas combines retro action with modern conventions, adding new mechanics and randomly generated stages with hand-crafted bosses. In a unique twist, the game can be finished, but skilled players will find a way to continue past the ending and claim even higher scores! Rhythmic gameplay and a pulsing soundtrack work together to create an intense audio-visual experience. Features: Blast through randomized stages with high-intensity gameplay!Challenge a variety of hand-crafted bosses.Test your skill in endless runs to claim the high score on a single credit.Kill enemies to boost your power or stop shooting to repair your ship.Get in the mood with a punchy techno/synthwave soundtrack!Unlock alternate color palettes and extreme difficulties.Save the stranded cocos for unlimited happiness!

Zombies Ruined My Day – May 6

This is the story of how the best day of your life can become a nightmare full of zombies. Survive in a hostile environment using all sorts of weapons. Defend your position with barricades, blow up groups of zombies with grenades, sweep the area away with a Gatling and more! All in a fully action packed game with colorful backgrounds and fearsome monsters. Show us that you're more than a snack for zombies! Features: 27 challenging levels across 3 distinct zones6 zombie types and 3 huge bosses8 weapons to unlockColorful cartoony graphicsAnd an amusing background story! Professional Farmer: American Dream – May 6 Live the “American Dream” on your ranch in the USA. Professional Farmer: American Dream – the latest spin-off from the Professional Farmer series – takes you to a ranch set in the captivating landscapes of the Midwest. Surrounded by towering mountain ranges, build your dream as a rancher in America with lush fields as far as the eye can see.

Infinite: Beyond the Mind – May 7

Infinite - Beyond The Mind is a slick 2D action-platformer where you take on evil Queen Evangelyn Bramann, ruler of The Beljantaur Kingdom as she works towards her dream of world domination. Play as either Tanya or Olga, two girls who have the power to stop the Beljantaur Kingdom’s growing army and take down the evil Queen. Take on a range of different bosses in either single-player or co-op across a variety of stunning chibi pixel art style backdrops as you explore the Beljantaur Kingdom. Your agility is the key to your survival on the battlefield and your strength is what will prevent the Queen's reign of terror from taking over the world… Do you stand a chance against her Majesty?

Mecho Wars: Desert Ashes – May 8

A classic reborn! Casual, turn-based strategy in a land of fantastical creatures and deadly machines! In the aftermath of a great flood, a vengeful leader threatens to conquer the world with the aid of a once lost technology, and only a small but determined army stands in their path. Mecho Wars: Desert Ashes is the definitive release of the 2009 turn-based strategy classic, Mecho Wars. Fully remastered in high definition, it features new hand painted art, new visual effects, an expanded single-player campaign and six previously unreleased multiplayer maps.

Fury Unleashed – May 8

Fury Unleashed is a combo-driven rougelite action platformer - each kill you make increases your combo. Hit certain thresholds and your damage resistance and healing powers will kick in! It's a game you can even beat in one ultimate combo. Are you up to the task? ABOUT FURY UNLEASHED Fury Unleashed was created by combining inspiration from modern roguelite platformers, like Dead Cells and Rogue Legacy, with nostalgic memories of old-school platformers, like Contra and Metal Slug. We have spent five years polishing our creation to make sure that your experience with the game will be as memorable as the aforementioned titles and we wholeheartedly believe that you won't be disappointed. MAIN FEATURES • Ever-changing comic book – Explore the pages of a living comic book where ink is your most valuable resource and each room is a comic panel. Find out why is John Kowalsky, creator of acclaimed Fury Unleashed series, having a creativity crisis and see if you can help him deal with it. • Gameplay-impacting combo system – Kill enemies quickly enough to unleash your fury and rip through everything in your way without getting injured. Learn to play flawlessly and beat the entire game in one, epic combo! • Game customization options – Choose either challenging Hard mode, which will put your skills to the test - or Easy mode, where you can adjust the difficulty parameters any way you want. Beat the Hard mode to unlock access to even harder Incredible and Legendary modes. Disable blood and gore if you don't like it, or if there are young children around. Go solo or bring in a friend for a local co-op session. • Choose your hero's skills to match your playstyle and modify their appearance to your liking! • Roguelite with soft permadeath – Discover worlds created by a mix of hand-designed levels and procedural generation algorithms. Choose the best items to assist you in your playthrough and unlock permanent upgrades when you'll die for your subsequent runs. • Ravishing environments – Play through the pages of visually distinctive comic books and dive into the creator's sketchbook. Master each enemy's behavior patterns and overcome a total of 40 bosses. All that accompanied by epic soundtrack composed by Adam Skorupa and Krzysztof Wierzynkiewicz, the creators of music for The Witcher, Bulletstorm and Shadow Warrior.

SuperMash – May 8

SuperMash is a game that makes games! Mash together two game genres to get a completely unique new game each time, then challenge your friends to see how they do! Jume’s game shop is in trouble, and she needs her brother Tomo’s help to save it! Mash together iconic genres to create never-before-seen gaming experiences. Jump through classic Platformer levels with a tactical Stealth character, fight as spaceships in engaging JRPG battles, and more! Anything is possible with SuperMash’s emergent game system, which creates a unique game every time you play. You can even customize your Mashes with the help of Dev Cards! Think the Mash you made is impossible? Share its MASH Code with a friend or streamer and see if they can beat it! Features: The Possibilities Are Endless! – Pick two genres (or the same genre) and watch the game create a completely unique game each time!Six Classic Genres to Mix and Match – Platformer, Action Adventure, Shoot ‘Em Up, Metrovania, Stealth, and JRPG, but stay tuned for more genres in the future!Customize Your Games – With Dev Cards, you can customize elements of each Mash you make, like enemies, players, mechanics, and environments. Complete Mashes to collect them all!Sell the Next Big Hit! - Win Mashes requested by customers to unlock the mysteries of the PlayType machine and save the game shop from a nefarious threat.Challenge Your Friends – Every Mash generates a unique MASH code. Share it with a friend or streamer and see if they can succeed where you failed—or impress your friends by completing someone else’s!Let the Game Decide! - Glitches and dozens of goals and obstacles change up the gameplay to make every jump and shot meaningful. Plus, with three difficulty modes, you can choose the challenge!

Sin Slayers: Enhanced Edition – May 8

Sin Slayers is an RPG with roguelike elements set in a dark fantasy world, where your choices determine how challenging the fights and enemies will be. Create, equip and lead a team of heroes. Each unit will have its own abilities and weaknesses, so plan your combat strategy accordingly. You’ll journey through stinking primeval forests, boneyards riddled with crypts and the graves of fallen warriors, and other places even the bravest adventurer would fear to tread. Battles, traps, and bizarre enemies… Everything and everyone wishes to take your life, but don't succumb to despair. Between fights your party can take their rest at a fountain, or while on the road in an old church which leaves its doors open to the weary and wounded. Travel every path and byway of the Valley, obtain new weapons on the field of battle or by fulfilling quests, gather ingredients for magical elixirs and resources to craft armor and amulets. If a certain item is beyond your crafting ability, ask the blacksmith in the Old Church for help. The best gear will allow you to challenge the deadliest monsters.

Ultimate Ski Jumping 2020 – May 8

Ultimate Ski Jumping 2020 is an oldschool, pixelart sports game in which you play as a ski jumper. Compete in tournaments, beat your hi-scores. You can play in campaign mode or challenge others in multiplayer. Have a competition with AI jumpers on 5 difficulty levels! GAME MODES · Campaign – a set of ready to play competitions with a brief plot · Tournament – events taking place on selected ski jumping hills · Quickplay – you choose the hill, number of opponents, difficulty level, and start playing · Multiplayer Online – play with your friends and fight for a position in direct online games · Training – a place to hone your skills FEATURES · Old school graphics · Different types of ski jumping hills from summer and winter to jumping on the Moon and beach · Simplified and advanced jump models · Personalized jumpers · Multiplayer mode to play with players from all around the world! Features: Campaign – a set of ready to play competitions with a brief plotTournament – events taking place on selected ski jumping hillsQuick play – you choose the hill, number of opponents, difficulty level, and start playingMultiplayer Online – play with your friends and fight for a position in direct online gamesVarious types of ski jumping hills from summer and winter to jumping on the Moon

Duke of Defense – May 8

Get ready for a tower defense game that takes an uncommon approach to player interaction. Slash goblins with your sword, roll through waves of enemies, and build towers as fast as you can. Collect coins from fallen foes, but be careful not to get hurt when maneuvering through the action! Use nine powerful towers to build a strong defense, each tower more unique than the last. Upgrade your character as you advance through the story with a plethora of game-enhancing abilities. Anything unlocked in your skill tree will also apply in co-op mode, so everybody benefits! Unique towers, exciting abilities, and planned future game modes ensures you'll be back for more. Discover a world brimming with humor, interesting characters, and adventure. Interact with overly observant villagers and egotistical wizards. You'll find yourself in a role more significant than a knight could ever dream of!

Ghost Files 2: Memory of a Crime – May 8

The life of a private detective is tough, and no one knows it better than Arthur Christie – an ex-cop, effective and tough as a nail. This time he will face an investigation in which not only truth is at stake, but also his life in this hidden object puzzle game. Read the full article

#Games #XboxOne

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redthreadoflove · 7 years ago

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Modern fan plays old Fire Emblem games

I have played a lot of Fire Emblem the past few months and at this point it's obvious that I'm very obssessed with this franchise. I fell in love with the characters and the stories to the point I cannot wait any longer for Fire Emblem Switch. Over the last year I got very curious about the older titles thanks to the conflict between old and newer fans. As annoying these fights are I am quite thankful because without all the fighting I wouldn't have played any of other games! My friends who play Fire Emblem are all fans who started with the older games. I am the only who actually started with Awakening. It is painfully obvious that my knowledge is limited and I felt I needed to work on that. And playing the older games is the best method of doing so! ;-)

As for now I have played every single Fire Emblem game except for Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light and Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn. While this sounds like a lot I haven't beaten many of the other titles. I just have a habit of playing new games without beating the others. Nonetheless I did beat quite a few titles! Under the cut I will express my thoughts about the games I have played under the cut starting with Fire Emblem Gaiden.

Disclaimer: This is not a review and I am just merely writing my thoughts down and this might be a bit messy, especially since English is not my first language. Oh and also Spoilers for Genealogy of the Holy War, Thracia 776, Binding Blade & Path of Radiance!

Fire Emblem Gaiden (1992)

I start out by saying that Gaiden and Echoes as well as Genealogy of the Holy War are my favorite Fire Emblem games so far. The setting and the story are very intriguing and I really liked the backstory and the conflict of Mila and Duma. When I saw the teaser for Fire Emblem Echoes during the Fire Emblem Direct I was under the impression that Alm and Celica were going to be enemies but thankfully I was wrong. Personally I love Alm a lot. he might be very impulsive at times but due to his upbringings he is actually a very down to earth lord. Celica is currently my favorite female lord. Her pretty design and the fact that she uses both swords and magic made me love her even more! I played Gaiden because Fire Emblem Echoes got announced and I really wanted to play the original before playing the sequel.

It's been a while since I played a game as old as Gaiden and I am really proud to say that Gaiden is, in fact, the first NES game that I played. As a lover of all things 90s Gaiden's old art style and graphics really appealled to me. However it is also painfully obvious that a few of features are very archaic (for example you cannot see your unit and enemy's movement range, so you have to count them down). I also loved that this game takes place in the same world as Shadow Dragon (which is obvious - the titles means side story after all) and thus certain characters would return. The soundtrack too! Very retro and classic! My favorite tracks are Alm and Celica’s first map theme. So far I only played to chapter 3. With this game I had my first permadeath experience and I was bitter for the rest of the week. I am sorry Silque, I failed you... My favorite characters are Alm, Celica, Lukas, Forsyth, Mathilda, Genny and Zeke.

Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem (1994)

Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem is one of the last Fire Emblem games I have played. My first impression of this game was very good, especially since I can't help but compare it to Shadow Dragon. It is very colorful and because it doesn't have the prologue chapters you are able to see the story right away which is something that I really appreciate. If you prefer to see Marth's past in detail then Shadow Dragon makes a good job in doing that but to me the many prologues chapters made me tired and I would rather jump to the main story. But I will write more about it about it on the Shadow Dragon part. In my opinion this game is very interesting because it is both a remake and a sequel. Strangely enough the character sprites are more charming than in Shadow Dragon but like I said before I am a sucker for the 90s and 80s anime aesthetic.

I can't say much about this game because I have just started playing but I already feel that Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem might be the best game featuring Marth. Marth is my favorite lord, so I am very sad the he didn't get represented well in the West. I hope Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light will get the remake it deserves. By the way, this is the only game Japan only Fire Emblem game that I played in Japanese.

As I wrote in my About Me page I am currently learning Japanese and even though I somewhat reached intermediate level playing games is difficult for me because I am really bad with Kanji... I keep using an app to look up the characters and this is slowing me down but my goal is to beat this game in Japanese! Knowing this is a remake I am pretty sure my favorite characters have not changed and out of the Archanean characters I really love Jeorge, Marth, Caeda, Navarre, Palla, Catria, Merric, Linde, Lena and Julian!

Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War (1996)

Oh boy, where should I start with this one? Out of all the Fire Emblem games that I have not beaten I am closest to beat Genealogy of the Holy War. This game got me hooked! I know I am not the first one to say this (and this opinion might be overrated) but I honestly think that Genealogy of the Holy War has the best story. I really liked that the story is very political (at least in the first five chapters). Not only that but the big maps help to build up the atmosphere. It really feels like there is war. Yet playing through these huge maps can be tiring, at least for me. And if you are as bad at tactical games as I am then you might get overwhelmed by armies that come your way. But playing the same map a few times really helps getting used to the unique gameplay.

The love system was great and the decision on who you want to pair up greatly impacts the gameplay in as much as the children are not optional, unlike Awakening and Fates were having children are not a must. I wished there were more conversations between them but it is understandable that there aren't more because the support system didn't exists at that time yet. If Genealogy of the Holy War ever gets a remake I hope more comversations will be included!

Sigurd, the first lord in this game, is one of my favorite lords. Especially from a gameplay perspective. I always wanted an older lord. Sigurd gave me exactly that. A mounted pre-promoted lord at that! And a lord who gets a Silver Sword in the prologue at that! Named after a Norse and Germanic hero Sigurd is a character who fits perfectly in this epic tale. The story was written very well and I was hooked from the beginning. The medieval setting were not white washed and so the games addresses controversal topics such as human traffling and incest which makes the story more believable. And while there were many memorable events the chapter that impacted me the most was chapter 5, obviously.

You carefully raised your army only to have it massacred have way through the story. Sigurd faced so much hardship and in the end it seems like there was a glimmer of hope only to have crushed seconds later. His wife married another man and she doesn't remember him at all. Not only that but becuase of the fact that Sigurd is accused of killing Prince Kurth (who turns out to be his wife's father) his wife sees Sigurd as her father's murderer before he got excecuted... Thank goodness his son is there to clear his name! My favorite characters are Sigurd, Cuan, Lex, Ethlyn, Finn, Lewyn, Shannan, Ayra, Seliph, Bridget, Ares and Ced!

Thracia 776 (1999)

I played the first chapter yesterday because I could not wait until I beat Genealogy of the Holy War. In the last few months I have developed a love for everything Jugdral, so I knew I will have to play this one eventually. What really makes me reluctant to play this is my non-existing tactical skills as I already hinted before. However this will not stop me from playing this game, especially since one of my favorite character is included! If Finn is there then have to try this out! Cuan and Ethlyn were also one of my favorites and watching them get killed made me upset... I was surprised in a good way because Thracia 776's gameplay seemingly resembles the majority of the franchise more than Genealogy of the Holy War.

The capturing mechanic is great because it ties in neatly with the story! Since Finn had to flee with Leaf and Nanna there were penniless and the only way to get their hands on weapons was to steal them from their enemies. I think this was done very well. Because I only played through chapter 1 I had no chance to deal with fatigue. My units in Fire Emblem Echoes were not always fatigued when I explored the dungeons fortunately but I heard that Thracia 776 is actually very merciless when it comes to that. And thus, I was and am still scared of playing this game... Not gonna lie I was VERY happy when I saw Eyvel because I know very well who she actually is. I hope she gets a happy ending... I am not familiar with the characters obviously but as I said before I really love Finn and I like Leaf and Nanna as well! I am looking very foward to see Leaf as a lord, I am sure he will be awesome!

Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade (2002) & Fire Emblem (2003)

Finally moving onto the infamous GBA games! My friend is a huge fan of them and they are beloved by many Fire Emblem fans whether it's due nostalgia, the lovely characters or the well-written stories! I never owned a Gameboy Advance myself, so playing any of these game were a fresh experience for me. I always thought that GBA games in general had very nice graphics (I remember playing one of the Harvest Moon games with my friend and the game was cutely done, the Gameboy Advance was made for vibrant games like these!). The three Fire Emblem games were no exception. I put Binding Blade and Blazing Sword together because while I did beat Blazing Sword I only played the first 5 chapters of Binding Blade.

To me Blazing Sword is one of the most satisfying Fire Emblem to play. It has everything great gameplay, a good story and lovely characters! I was very happy when I beat this game and I would definite play again! I loved playing through Lyn's story and I was sad that she kind of lost relevance to the plot after the first chapters of the game. Lyn is a charming character and she definitely has an impact on the player because she is the first character that you meet. The idea of a mymidon like lords is a very good idea and Lyn stands out the most amongs the other lords due to her fighting style and her ethnic background. I hope for more new ideas for the lord that are different from the classic Rapier yielding royal.

Blazing Sword and I am pretty sure Binding Blade as well are the first Fire Emblem games the address xenophobia and racism. I never really expected the Sacae to be discriminated by other people though this is a very realistic scenario. Lyn handles her hardship very well and this adds more to her character. The Sacae are very refreshing and I hope Intellgent System will include more non Western inspired cultures in their future installments.

Eliwood is my favorite lord after Marth. I do feel that I prefer the mild and moderate lords more than their passionate and combative counterparts. Hector is great too (especially as a unit!! Which makes his death even more saddening...) but I cannot help but love Eliwood more.

Binding blade is very similar to the other two Gameboy Advance games but for some reason I can not get into this game. I play it more regulary but it did not get me hooked yet. The same goes for Roy as a character. Even though he is the protagonist he didn't really stand out to me... I hope I can open myself up to this game as I play through it. My favorite characters are Eliwood, Canas, Pent, Ninian, Kent, Sain and Raven. As for Binding Blade I enjoy Lance, Alan, Dieck, Wade and Rutger!

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (2004)

Everything I said about the other 2 GBA applies to this game as well. Therefore I will not write to much in detail about this game. The Sacred Stones resembles the Binding Blade and Blazing Sword very much but I also feel that it also has its own charm. For some reason it differs to the other two games (it kind of feels a bit more "modern", maybe? Probably modern is not the right word in the context of Fire Emblem)and I wonder why. Maybe it's due to the fact that Sacred Stones is the only Fire Emblem game that has no connection to any of the other games, maybe it is because the character designs seem different to me. To be honest I don't know why.

For me the Sacred Stones has it's own charm and every single piece in this game (be it the story, the characters or the soundtrack) comes together quite nicely. In my opinion the selling point of this game is the wonderful set of characters. This game is one of the few games (together with Gaiden/Echoes and Genealogy of the Holy War) where I like most of the characters! There is probably only one character that I dislike which is great! The story is nice too but I feel it does not stick out as much as some of the other games. Luckily, I am more of a character person and if I love the characters I do not care about the story. Unfortunately, the two lords did not stand out to me as well. This is one of the rare cases in which I can honestly say that I did not know what to think of the twins. I did not dislike them but I did not love them either. Eirika did grown on me and I do love her very much now! I have to confess that I have not played through Ephraim's story and hopefully I can have a better opinion of him in his story (since he is actually in the focus). The characters that I love the most are Seth, Joshua, Innes, Natasha, L'Arachel, Eirika and Saleh!

Path of Radiance (2005)

I played this game up to chapter 8 which marks the turning point in Ike's life. Almost all of my friends recommended me this game (not once but several times in fact!) and reading so many good things about this game I finally decided to give this one a try! Path of Radiance just like Blazing Sword strikes me as one of the most balanced games. It is really easy to play and I am very happy that Intelligent Systems kept a few features of the GBA games (like the rescue command). Tellius seems to have its own special athmosphere that makes it unique.

The story also deals with racism but in a different way. In this game there beings that are called Laguz who have their own distinct features. Because they are so different from humans they are called monsters and are treated accordingly. I was shocked to see Shinon one of the units call them sub-humans as I did not expect the racism to be displayed so frankly. I am very excited to see how Ike will change the lives of the laguz for the better. Unlike others he is very ignorant about the laguz yet he is not prejudiced (he even apologizes to a laguz for calling him a sub-human - he only learned of them recently and this was only term that he knew).

Ike himself is definitely very aloof and seems detached at first glance so even though I really loved his design, his personaltiy did not strike me as interesting. But whenever I see him interact with his sister (and his father) a very private part of him gets revealed which makes him very charming. I have the two versions of Ike in Fire Emblem Heroes and he is one of my strongest units. He was the one got up to level 40 the fastest. I love using him! Among the Tellius characters I like Titania Ike & Oscar the most so far! I cannot wait to see more of this game!

Shadow Dragon (2008) & New Mystery of the Emblem (2010)

Unfortunately Shadow Dragon has quite a few problems in my opinion. Compared to the GBA games the graphics seem very dull and and washed out. As a DS game it is understandable that Intellegent Systems tried something new but the 3D graphic just feels out of place to me. FE1, FE3 and naturally FE11 and FE12 suffer from the big cast as it is very difficult to characterize so many people. The result is that a lot of the characters are easily forgettable but maybe this is just me. I can remember most of them if I mentally make connections to other characters. Support conversations should have been the standard but they did not include them which makes it harder to recognize the characters. Marth and a few others stand out but it would have been nice to get to know these characters better. Nonetheless Shadow Dragon is still a Fire Emblem game that enjoyed and I would replay it anytime. In fact I beat it a few weeks ago...

Unlike Shadow Dragon I have not beat New Mystery of the Emblem yet simply because I wanted to finish Shadow Dragon first. Just like its predecessor the prologue chapters felt like a chore but things got interesting quickly when I got to the main story line. Kris is the first avatar character and I must say I do not like him/her. When I customized Kris I had high expectations back then but now I know that I should not have high expections whn it comes to the MyUnits. Even though I only played up to chapter 4 but Kris has no personality whatsoever. Kris likes to train and this is not even a personality trait. Marth is the sole purpose in Kris life and Kris is unable to do anything unless Marth orders him/her to do so. I do enjoyed customizing Kris (I love avatars for this reasons) however. If the MyUnit becomes a standard I prefer to choose their base classes. It was also nice to choose their family background (it does not make a difference whether Kris is a noble or an orphen though). As for the story I do not have much to say and I will have to see how the story unfolds (though it is very amusing to see Camu- I meant Sirius as early as chapter 4, haha). I am going to asume that my favorites are the same (Jeorge, Marth, Caeda, Navarre, Palla, Catria, Merric, Linde, Lena, Julian and most like Sirius as well!).

Originally I wanted to write something about Awakening, Fates and possibly Echoes as well. But I wanted to write my impressions of the older pre-Awakening titles. Personally I hope that more new fans give the older game a chance. They’re really fun to play! Hopefully Fire Emblem Switch will become a game that will satisfy both older and newer fans!

And I apologize for this mess I wrote this for myself mostly but I really hope to connect with other fans!

#fire emblem #genealogy of the holy war #awakening #path of radiance #fire emblem echoes #blazing sword #Sacred Stones

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thefreelanceangel · 7 years ago

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IC Consequences–the Result of IC Actions

con·se·quence ˈkänsikwəns noun plural noun: consequences 1. a result or effect of an action or condition.

Effect follows cause, yes? Reaction follows action. If you pour too much water into a cup, the cup will overflow. Your action–pouring water without paying attention to the amount–results in a consequence: water all over the counter and floor.

In the Land of RP, understanding that a reaction follows an action can be tricky. You are, after all, not dealing with absolutes but with people, story, plot and creative writing. However, the basic rule of “cause, effect” stands.

What is an IC Consequence?

When you say something thoughtless to your best friend and they become upset, their emotions are the reaction to your action. In essence, the apology you have to make for being thoughtless is the consequence you suffer for your actions.

A character also has to deal with consequences of their actions. We like examples, don’t we? So we’ll grab a random character–come here, Chessi, you’ll do nicely for this–and put her through a few instances to demonstrate what we’re discussing.

For our first example, we’ll pick something as clear-cut and dried as possible. Let’s start with the action.

Without looking ahead, Chessi bolted down the street, a frog clutched firmly (yet carefully) in one hand. She ducked around the corner and slammed right into a Seraph. As she stumbled back, blinking in confusion, the frog escaped her grip and jumped, smacking right into the Seraph’s face.

The actions here are: Chessi ran heedlessly, didn’t look before she ran around the corner and didn’t keep her grip on the frog. So what are the reactions to this?

Sword clattering to the cobblestones, the Seraph stumbled. Already thrown off-balance by the impact of blonde-to-chest, he flailed a moment. When the frog smacked him in the face, sticky feet clinging to the edge of his helmet, the Seraph scraped at it, slinging the frog back onto the blonde. Glowering at her, he retrieved his sword and grabbed her arm. “...let’s go.”

The reactions here are: the Seraph dropped his sword and became angry at Chessi for her carelessness before utilizing his authority to command her to come with him, presumably for punishment.

Assuming the Seraph’s player is a reasonable individual with an understanding of RP, the punishment would likely be a little community service or a lecture on the importance of being careful. Chessi would apologize profusely, hang her head and either go about her community service or listen to the lecture before being more careful for at least a couple of days.

Consequences for IC actions are not always punishment, physical injury or death. If your character is snappy, sarcastic and unpleasant to someone asking where the tavern is, the consequences of your character’s actions are that the person is going to steer clear of them. Perhaps even talk about them to other people and spread rumors that they’re someone to avoid.

For every action, there is a reaction to consider–even something as simple as refusing to help someone carry a basket has consequences.

If a character doesn’t like yours because they’ve been unpleasant to them, met them at a bad time, were interrupted by them, etc, etc. then the consequences of your character’s actions are that character’s reactions. A consequence is not always punishment; it is the reaction to your character’s action.

When IC Consequences Aren’t Simple

It’s not always a simple incident, is it? A character gets into convoluted situations and is often involved in plot. By its very nature, plot involves consequences–if it didn’t involve consequences, the story would be extremely boring.

So how do you handle more complex and potentially damaging consequences for your character?

Do not get your character into a situation you’re not prepared to write.

Do not “retcon” or duck out of a situation you wrote yourself into just because you don’t like the consequences.

Keep in mind that a story is fluid; bad consequences are not the end of the story.

Let’s look at a more damning situation and examine how those consequences play out for Chessi, shall we?

Although she’d been told to stay at the fort, Chessi’s desire to please outstripped her self-control. Rather than handle setting up the clinic area for potential wounded, the blonde strapped on her rifle and ran out after the mercenaries. She hadn’t heard the briefing and didn’t know what was going on. Which was, of course, why Chessi ran into the line of fire. Eric bolted out of position and tackled her before she could be hurt, but the plan had utterly fallen apart.

The action here is clear: Chessi disobeyed direct orders and ruined a combat plan that had been carefully orchestrated. Not only did she put herself at risk but she created a level of distraction that the mercenaries didn’t need. People are now likely to be hurt, and she’s obviously going to be in a LOT of trouble.

Once the last wounded had been seen to, Eric stepped aside to explain to Jules what had happened. The captain, none too pleased, bellowed for Chessi. When she crept up to him, Jules backhanded her hard enough to send her into the nearest wall. Shouting about idiocy, Jules took away her rifle and ordered Eric to throw her into the cell normally reserved for captives held for ransom.

The reaction that Chessi received for her actions wasn’t unreasonable. Considering she put quite a few people at risk of injury or death and disobeyed a direct order from the captain of a band of mercenaries, it’s no surprise that she got smacked and locked up.

These consequences have clearly not run their course. There’s no telling how long Chessi will be held in the cell or if she’ll be allowed to remain with the mercenaries. She could be thrown out of their group, demoted or even physically punished via whatever method the mercenary group has established as standard for them.

Obviously this limits RP possibilities while Chessi is incarcerated. However, this doesn’t mean the character is “ruined.” People can come to the cell to chat with her until her final punishment is decided, and this provides the player an opportunity to decide how Chessi will handle the punishment she receives or play an alt during the incarceration downtime.

The consequences stemming from her action will shape Chessi’s story. Maybe she’ll learn to think before she acts. If she’s thrown out of the mercenary group, perhaps she’ll find a new line of work. Perhaps one of the mercenaries will take her under his wing and try to teach her “how to mercenary” well enough that she’ll be promoted.

Action + reaction = story

When the Consequences Are Motivated by OOC Issues

People are people. They’re not always able to completely detach themselves from their emotions or overlook their experiences in order to approach a situation in a wholly logical manner. Maybe they have specific tastes and someone’s character or RP style just rubs them the wrong way.

Whatever the reason, it’s entirely possible that an IC consequence you’re dealing with has an OOC motivation. The trick is telling the difference and handling it appropriately.

What’s the difference?

This isn’t something you can look right at and go “Oh, they’re totally picking on me.” You have to examine context and make some educated guesses. Whatever you do, do not throw around accusations. It’s entirely possible that you misread something or that someone was having a bad day and didn’t put their usual ^^ or :) on a message that came off to you as blunt or dismissive.

However, RPers aren’t that difficult to read. And many of us keep character journals, guild logs and other writings that show our “average” style of play. We have to make connections with other RPers, so it’s not hard to sit back and observe how people behave in groups. And how they behave towards people they don’t like.

When the consequence is motivated by OOC issues, it will usually be disproportionate to the action and the person who has set the consequence will not be amicable about discussing an adjustment.

You, as an RPer, have the right to discuss what affects your character, including IC consequences for IC actions. While you are responsible for playing fair with everyone included, you have the right to speak up and mention “hey this particular punishment would be really bad for my character / I’m not OOC comfortable with this / I had an idea that would have more impact.” When the IC consequences being levered against your character are driven by OOC motivation, the other player is (quite frankly) not going to give a damn about what you want or think.

How do you handle it?

One of the best ways to handle dealing with consequences affecting your character that stem from an OOC motivation is a multi-step process.

Make your concerns known to whoever is either administering the consequences or is in charge of the person who is doing it.

Accept the consequences as far as you are comfortable while stating clearly that you’re willing to discuss adjustments.

Follow through with those consequences in your RP.

Dodging all consequences, ignoring what’s going on or claiming that no one can make you write your character any one way is going to make it incredibly difficult for someone to help you. It can also ruin any chance you had of someone examining the situation objectively. No, someone can’t kill your character without your consent. (But if you signed up for an RP guild/setting/plot where permadeath was labeled a possible consequence, you did it to yourself there, bud.) They can administer reasonable consequences for your IC actions; you can accept those actions and lessen the degree to which they affect your character if you have no other recourse.

And if you’re in a situation–a guild, a writing group, a joint story–where you are being actively abused, it won’t be limited to IC consequences. If that happens, leave. Pick up your toys and go home. There’s no reason for you to tolerate abuse over a hobby; there are other RPers in the world.

I Don’t Want This to Happen to My Character!

As the player/writer, it is your responsibility to know what you’re getting into with every character you play. Some are more likely to draw consequences than others. Chessi, our running example, is a cheerful, friendly person–obviously she’s going to get a good response on a social level. However, she’s not that bright and impulsive, traits which lead her to act in ways that aren’t always appropriate for the scene, story arc or characters she’s interacting with.

You, as a player, are responsible for knowing your character and what kind of storylines they can participate in, as well as knowing how their flaws could (and will) incite consequences.

Characters don’t pop up out of thin air, and they’re not a complete mystery to the person playing them. You know, after a very short time, what kind of situations your character is best suited for and what kind they’re likely to have a misstep in.

If you put your character into a storyline or situation where their actions are likely to lead to consequences, you have no one to blame but yourself. And trying to avoid the result of your decision is going to irritate the other players as well as slow down or even halt RP for everyone involved.

Do not play a character unless you are prepared to deal with the consequences of their decisions. Do not participate in a storyline unless you are prepared to handle the potential consequences of it.

Let’s say there’s a fancy dinner party coming up. I have two characters I could choose for it: Chessi or a noblewoman named Felicity. Chessi does not know formal etiquette, has no fancy dresses and knows nothing about fine dining. Felicity has been raised around that level of elegance and can comport herself masterfully.

If I choose to put Chessi into that situation, I have chosen to accept the consequences involved. Her inability to navigate a formally set dinner setting will likely draw the disgust of those around her. She may be asked to leave, thrown out of the house or even banished from ever attending such events until she’s proven she can behave appropriately.

Those are consequences that I have brought on myself by choosing to put a character that was not suitable to the event into play. I’d absolutely do it because it’s a new situation, a new chance to see what my character would do, but I’d also go into it fully aware that consequences may follow Chessi’s actions.

If I don’t want something to happen to my character–and we’re talking about expected possibilities, not “surprise I’m gonna stab u now” idiocy–then I am personally responsible for not putting my character in that situation.

This also goes for knowing what kind of consequences are standard for your guild, story group, writing group, RP circle, etc. If characters of a certain rank are allowed to permakill characters with the right IC reasoning, you have no right to complain if your character is killed for doing something inappropriate, stupid or dangerous. Know the rules of the RP group you are interacting with and expect consequences accordingly; complaining after the fact only shows you didn’t bother with necessary OOC communication.

The character is only responsible for themselves; the player is responsible for knowing when and where the character should appear, what is likely to happen if they’re in the wrong place and accepting/reacting to what happens because of that decision.

Utilizing Consequences to Your Advantage

The entire reason people RP is to participate in collaborative writing. It’s a story you don’t have complete control over; that makes it exciting to both read and write.

Consequences brought on by your character’s actions push your character’s story forward. They do much of the work for you.

Due to her “little mishap,” Chessi was thrown out of the mercenary group she had spent half a year trying to earn a position in. It wasn’t a total loss though. When she left, one of the mercenaries gave her a letter of introduction to his cousin, a brewer.

That letter of introduction didn’t get her a full-fledged job, but Chessi’s willingness to do anything earned the cousin’s acceptance. She even got to bunk down in the stone shed in the garden and meals came free with the position of gofer.

Due to the consequences of her actions, Chessi now has an entirely new situation to adapt to. New people to meet, new things to learn, new directions in which she can go. The plot was adjusted for me and allowed me to view Chessi in an entirely new light.

Consequences are not the end of your character. Even if your character dies, you have a solid story to look back on and inspiration for a new beginning. You learn from every RP story that you participate in, as does your character. Accepting that consequences–while usually unpleasant for the character–are great for you as a writer is the first step to finding enjoyment in every aspect of RP.

TL;DR

Consequences are a result of actions; remember that effect follows cause.

Those consequences can be simple or complex; they’re not always punishment or death.

OOC motivation for IC consequences is usually self-evident; any attempt at discussion to adjust will likely be shut down.

Don’t dodge consequences even if you don’t like them.

You are responsible for accepting the consequences when you put the character into the situation.

Consequences do much of the “plot” work for you; let them shape your character’s story.

#On RP #On Role-Playing #Writing Advice #RP Advice #OOC #Angel

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aurelliocheek · 5 years ago

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The Making of Everspace: Narratives in a Rogue-like

How to tell a story in which the hero dies all the time.

The decision to make Everspace a Rogue-like came first. We promised our Kickstarter backers that the pillars of the game would be a story-based 3D space shooter taking place in a procedurally generated world. Next came the challenge of finding an adequate narrative layer.

We knew that our playable ships, the actual “hero characters” needed a pilot, a hero with a soul and purpose. This hero should have proper motivation, a reason to be reborn after every death, some meaningful mission, and more than just mechanics like fighting and exploring stunning space sceneries in a rock-hard 3D shooter. We wanted a believable hero, compatible with the genre of a space shooter, a purebred sci-fi game.

Dealing with a sci-fi genre, we had a broad range of choices. Explanations and reasons for permadeath combined with rebirth or resurrection had to be found. A plausible and scientific approach to how a human pilot could immediately respawn after dying and keep the memory of his predecessors was human cloning in combination with memory/personality transplantation. Both are common features in sci-fi film and literature such as the cloned protagonist in the Oblivion movie or the transplanted memories from the feature film Total Recall.

A solution to this was that our hero should be a human clone on a secret mission who had to reach an unknown and mysterious destination in space – one of the gameplay premisses we borrowed from the FTL game. But we also needed an explanation for how the hero could remember what happened before he died. Just like in the feature films Edge of Tomorrow or Groundhog Day, where the protagonists experience their countless lives and deaths as one continuous existence and a line of learning, experimentation and self-improvement. A series of trial and error, an endless series of catastrophic failures, at times boredom and epic success, also the ingredients that make roguelikes so memorable. We didn’t want to explain the preservation of memory beyond death with magic or mystery but rather with science fiction. Such as a built-in military system that would transfer a dead pilot’s memories and experiences to a cloud computer and implant them back into the newly respawned pilot on the same mission, giving him the decisive advantage to learn from his failures. We called this system Aeterna, a military system used in the 3rd millennium in a distant interstellar conflict between the Human race and an alien opponent, the Okkar.

Adam Roslin is getting the cytotoxin injection.

Visualizing the nature of the game Before we developed a more detailed story, we had to define the nature of the game, its tone of voice and overall atmosphere. We wanted players to experience the dark and disturbing side of a cyberpunk scenario such as the fate of the replicants in Blade Runner. The only one helping our hero along the way is a reluctant AI, a machine, constantly reminding him of his deficiencies. We put the hero in the role of a replicant and not the Blade Runner, in order to create an even more disturbing experience, being hunted by everyone and the desire to reveal the secret behind his existence.

The game world itself could have been like the overcrowded and dystopian scenario we know from Blade Runner and other cyberpunk movies and literature. But a war-torn and mostly depopulated region in space was the better fit for the story, for the gameplay and our limited resources back in the time. We even declared the region a demilitarized zone, so we had very limited and controlled activity from a developer perspective but at the same time a disturbing scenario telling a story of conflict.

Developing the story synopsis With such a premise, we didn’t want our hero to be just another mindless space marine on a standard war mission. We promised something else to our backers. We wanted something more mysterious, something mind-twisting similar to the feature film Moon, where the protagonist would discover his own clone existence at some point. We came up with the idea that the hero initially has no clue that he is actually a clone, created by a hacker, who illegally uploaded his DNA to Aeterna in order to replicate his own, dying body that he keeps in stasis.

The hacker, a victim of a deadly conspiracy, is waiting in a secret hideout deep in a demilitarized zone until finally one of the clone pilots he summoned would reach the destination. He would then use the new body for himself after transplanting his memory and personality back to his clone. This already sounds pretty complicated. But the hardest part of the plan is that the clone pilots have to traverse the demilitarized zone, a former war zone, being hunted by aliens and humans alike, but also threatened by extraplanetary life forms and natural hazards.

Initially, the hacker just wanted a body replacement. And usually military clones are produced without personality. But when he set up the exploit protocol in Aeterna and uploaded his DNA, he made errors, resulting in the clones having flashbacks of the hacker’s past and fragmented memories. The hero experiences these flashbacks each time he respawns. At first he thinks that they are his own memories, but slowly he realizes that the memories are those of the hacker, revealing with each additional death another puzzle piece of the hackers identity, past and motives.

Main- and side-characters (archetypes) in Everspace.

Evolving the cast of characters Besides the hero and the hacker, we wanted to have an interesting mix of story archetype characters from different backgrounds, diverse species and genders with distinctive narrative and gameplay functions.

HACKER (Adam Roslin): A scientist recruited and trained by the Colonial Fleet. He was responsible for the military cloning program during the Colonial War, thus his background with Aeterna and his skills in creating human as well as alien clones. He is the one who sets everything in motion but never appears in-game, only at the final destination in a Bladerunner-like “Tears in the Rain” cinematic.

HERO: One of hundreds of human clones produced on a wrecked clone carrier in the DMZ (demilitarized zone), sent on a secret mission to reach a specific location, the hacker’s secret hideout. Along with the game progression he gathers experience and improves with each failure. However, he is plagued and confused by his strange flashbacks and horrified by the discovery that he is experiencing someone else’s fragmented memories, those of his clone father, the hacker Adam Roslin.

HIVE: The military AI (artificial intelligence) installed on each ship the hero uses. It provides vital information on how to control the ship and how to survive in such a hostile environment, which is its purpose as military AI. Being obliged to help a rookie clone that has been hacked into its system annoys the AI and creates a field of tension between the hero and HIVE that slowly slackens as the hero’s skills improve. Besides the tutor’s function, HIVE will explain background information and lore related to anything worth mentioning in the game world, triggered by procedurally generated events and level creation.

FOE: A former partner of the hacker who wants revenge and who is chasing him. He doesn’t know yet that the hacker has created clones and is hiding somewhere. Every time the hero runs into him, the encounter would mean a difficult fight to the death but also more background information for the hero in order to understand the reasons of his existence. Eventually, the foe will learn that the hero is a clone and follow him secretly in order to settle the score with the hacker.

FRIEND: A friend who offers unconditional help by providing provisions and useful tips. The friend, an attractive woman, initially gives rise to even more questions but will provide the crucial answers at a later point and, being the hacker’s sister, shed light upon the hero’s past and identity. She definitely knows that the hero is one of his brother’s clones and sees them dying by the hundreds. Nevertheless, she will sacrifice her own life so that her brother can get his much-needed body replacement.

TRADER: An outcast Okkar, the opposing party in the Okkar War, who is willing to trade goods with our hero, providing interesting background info about the alien race and Cluster 34, the Beltegrades, the name of the game world. He gives the other side’s perspective of the two belligerent parties and will be the hero’s best trading opportunity, even after completing his questline.

SEDUCER: A furry alien belonging to an Outlaw clan and a rather comical character. He tries to involve the hero in dangerous missions he can’t fulfil himself. Outlaws are often organized in clans and populate the DMZ where they are relatively safe from Colonial persecution. They regularly raid mining and trading convoys and live from illegal mining and smuggling. After completing his questline, the seducer and his clan will become a permanent ally for the hero that he can summon in critical situations.

SHIFTER: A female human spy. She provides interesting missions and tries to gain the hero’s trust but is actually hired by the Okkar to eliminate him since he represents an infraction to the Colonial-Okkar piece treaties and thus poses a threat to the order in the DMZ. She will permanently leave the game world after completing her questline.

BOUNTY HUNTER: An incompetent android who is addicted to gambling. Another fun character who will pay the hero for chasing criminals/pirates for him. Ironically, after completing some dead-or-alive contracts for him, the hero himself will be on the bounty hunter’s most wanted list.

SCIENTIST: An alien scholar who is interested in acquiring knowledge. At once he knows that the hero is a clone and he sends him on exploration and research missions, like collecting samples of the extra orbital life forms in the game, some of them not being harmless.

ADMIRAL: The admiral is the actual antagonist of the story. The hero has been facing his warships each time when he stayed too long in one location. But the hero will only see his face and voice in the very final level after having reached the final destination and after having collected all remaining DNA fragments from dead fellow clones he needed in order to become a complete person. The admiral is the final enemy and the most epic and challenging opponent in a planetary scenario.

An exemplary game loop based on narrative events.

Refining the narrative structure Being a Rogue-like game with a live, die and repeat formula and with a mostly procedurally generated game world, it was hard to come up with a solid and meaningful narrative structure. What we did, in the end, was to design individual and independent storylines for each archetype character and to define a fixed amount of narrative events for all of them. Some of the archetypes like FRIEND and FOE had a common history and had to be designed with partly shared game events, for example, when FOE was killing FRIEND after the hero has reached the final destination.

Based on certain conditions like game progression, player stats, world and level state and character interaction, those story and mission events were triggered per character and in a linear progression. Some of the storylines ended because a character died or left the game world. Others are repeating indefinitely, such as trade opportunities or battle support (trader/seducer).

The narrative experience for a player during a typical run through several sectors then could be to encounter e.g. FRIEND, FOE, SEDUCER, SHIFTER and TRADER, each with a new story and gameplay event before the hero dies again and respawns.

The challenge here was to find the optimal formula for how and when to trigger events to deliver a balanced narrative and gameplay experience without flaws and logical errors such as encountering several of the archetypes in one game level.

In the end, one can compare the narrative structure of Everspace to an open world RPG with main and side-quests but where the quests or missions are delivered to the player/hero in a partly randomized way, creating a different experience for every player because the sequence of story events as well as the procedural level creation is always different.

One of the downsides here was that inexperienced players sometimes had rather long pauses between narrative events because they simply got shot down too often, had to start from scratch and didn’t progress fast enough in the game. To a certain extent common for most other narrative games, but in our case, the narrative hook can get lost more easily.

Following up with Everspace 2 All in all, we think that the narrative delivery of Everspace was a success, considering the limitations and difficulties that we had to master with a Rogue-like formula and with a 99% procedurally generated game world. For a Rogue-like game it was definitely interesting to have such a narrative structure, where missions are delivered to the player in a very non-predictive way.

We also think that the story of the cloned hero has potential for a sequel. What will become of our hero now that he has revealed the mystery behind his existence and earned his freedom? He has saved his life but still is a man with little life experience, a blank page with fragmented memories from someone else. What does it take now to become a real human? Many of his inner and outer conflicts remain and new ones that seem pretty common to us but the hero himself never even dreamed of are about to emerge. We think that this is going to be the narrative theme of Everspace 2. The story of the clone in the DMZ continues, only that we would build this game rather in an open world scenario with a fixed game world and procedurally generated levels being the exception. For the narrative structure, we would use a rather traditional main and side mission mechanics similar to many RPGs, delivered through cinematics, in-game cutscenes and dialogue.