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[airlock]

mathematically determining the best cooks in Fire Emblem Engage

I need to keep my hands busy to focus in class, and the way I usually accomplish this is by punishing them with some inane statistic exercise. in my most recent one, I calculated the odds of the meal outcomes from every FE17 character, and then took a stab at ranking them accordingly

these are, do duly note, not objective rankings per se; some subjective judgement goes into deciding what kinds of chance spreads are better than others -- plus, while these are ordered within the tiers, many characters do tie against each other numerically, meaning I can only tiebreak between them by basing myself on textual information

in any case, below the cut I'll provide a more in-depth analysis of each blorbo's cooking proficiency, as well as a short explanation of how the cooking roll works

so, what's cooking, good-looking?

I'm citing information from Serenes Forest, which in turn has pulled mostly from the official Fire Emblem Engage guidebook.

the basic odds on a given cooking session are thusly:

55% chance of one of the character's personal Meal Titles

35% chance of a D-rank meal

10% chance of a E, F or G-rank meal

each character has 3 personal Meal Titles assigned to them -- you know, those prefixes that run the gamut of "Firene-Style", "Spicy", "Your Favorite", etc. each of those titles is also affixed to a specific rank of meal, which can potentially vary from as high as SS to as low as G (although none of them are D-rank).

effectively, this means that the meal titles available to a character determine if and how often they'll ever soar high with their cooking. thusly, the quality of the characters' meal titles determines where the chances fall for them.

(actually using meal ingredients, and/or having the character cook meals they're Expert, Skilled or Capable with, increases the chances of landing a personal meal title and decreases the chances of a forcibly D~G-rank meal. if they're Eager with the meal, the chances of a personal title AND the chances of an E~G meal both increase, with the chances of a D-rank meal plumetting.)

with that out of the way, let's get in-depth!

X-TIER: The Master Chef

1st place: Bunet (40% S-SS, 0% A, 15% B, 35% C-D, 10% E-G)

shocking news for us to start with here: lit oventops are hot, and Bunet, the guy whose literal job is to cook excellently... can, in fact, cook excellently,

the specifics are somewhat worth enumerating, at least. Bunet is, for starters, the only character in the entire game with more than one S-rank or higher personal meal title, which makes him likelier than anyone else to hit the absolute highest marks. speaking of which -- the absolute ABSOLUTE highest mark, double-S-rank, is only available at all to two characters in the game, of which one is, naturally, Bunet here.

and of course, all the chance spreads I'm providing here assume a meal with no ingredients given and with which the character has no expertise; cook more normally, and you'll be inching ever closer to the point where he bangs out a meal to die for as often as 50% of the time.

S-TIER: Great Cooks

2nd place: Clanne (20% S-SS, 35% A, 0% B, 35% C-D, 10% E-G)

3rd~4th place: Goldmary, Zelkov (20% S-SS, 20% A, 15% B, 35% C-D, 10% E-G)

5th place: Gregory (15% S-SS, 20% A, 20% B, 35% C-D, 10% E-G)

we start this one with a slightly more unexpected outcome! yes, Clanne is indeed the second best cook in the entire game, ahead of Goldmary, and actually not so far behind Bunet that the comparison would actually be as crazy as it sounds. let's take stock of it.

all of Clanne's meal titles are either S-rank or A-rank. therefore, even if you're making him cook unfamiliar recipes without a single ingredient, there's a 55% chance he'll come out of the kitchen with a culinary miracle in his hands -- better than Bunet's 40% chances in such a scenario (as he has one B-rank personal title), and indeed, better than absolutely anyone else's chances. although he can never hit the elusive double-S-rank, Clanne's chances of cooking wonderfully only increase the more you don't subject him to utterly ridiculous conditions.

long story short, this kid makes a good fucking pickle.

narrowly yet still decisively behind comes along Goldmary -- and, numerically tied with her in another interesting twist, Zelkov. they're both capable of landing an S-rank meal, and also bat at A or higher a very solid 40% of the time. comparing the two to each other, naturally the text is far more supportive of Goldmary's cooking ability, and besides, the A-rank title that she can hit, Decadent, just sounds better than Zelkov's, which is Trendy.

inching just behind those two we have Gregory, with a very similar chance spread, just weighted 5% less in favour of hitting S-ranks.

A-TIER: Solid Cooks

6th~7th place: Framme, Timerra (40% A, 15% B, 35% C-D, 10% E-G)

8th place: Céline (15% S-SS, 0% A, 40% B, 35% C-D, 10% E-G)

9th~13th place: Merrin, Louis, Amber, Rosado (20% A, 35% B, 35% C-D, 10% E-G)

one tier down, we start looking at characters who (with one exception) aren't capable of coming through with an S-rank meal, but nonetheless have outstanding odds, etching high results frequently.

Framme and Timerra share an excellent 40% chance to make A-rank meals, as well as an overall 55% chance of batting at B-rank or higher (technically the same as Bunet, you may recall). comparing the two of them, I go off their A-rank personal meal titles -- Framme's "Divine" sounds best of all, although "Your Favorite" doesn't speak to much being that I don't know what kind of food Alear likes actually; whereas Timerra's "Courageous" and "Audacious" have me thinking that A-rank might be a pretty generous way to describe what sounds less like cooking skill and more like... inventiveness.

Céline figures here, another one boasting a 55% chance of making B-rank or higher meals. she doesn't often exceed B-rank, but when she does, it's for the S-rank.

and lastly, we have a close tie between Merrin, Louis, Amber and Rosado. not only are their chance spreads identical, but they have quite similar personal meal titles as well, with all of them potentially hitting their local "[country]-style" meal -- which is non-indicative -- and with all but Rosado also sharing the "Extremely Rich" B-rank title. comparing A-rank titles, Merrin's best is "Tasteful", Louis and Rosado share "Dainty", and Amber comes out with "Robust". and to the best of my knowledge, the only one whose cooking abilities are further remarked on textually is Rosado, who falls noticeably short of Goldmary (but still valiantly tries to make up the difference).

B-TIER: Cooks with Potential

14th place: Anna (20% S-SS, 0% A, 15% B, 55% C-D, 10% E-G)

15th place: Boucheron (20% S-SS, 0% A, 15% B, 55% C-D, 10% E-G)

16~17th place: Saphir, Alcryst (15% S-SS, 0% A, 20% B, 55% C-D, 10% E-G)

our next several cooks are -- again with just one exception -- the last few in the game who are capable of landing S-rank meals. they just aren't quite as consistent as other characters who can do so, though -- so while they're not bad, the stars have to align for them to really show off their best.

Lady Anna firmly leads this tier as she is, in fact, the one character who shares Bunet's ability to make a double-S-rank meal -- "First-Rate", as it were. Boucheron has a very similar chance spread to her, but his absolute best is only S-rank instead of double-S.

Saphir and Alcryst tie for the spot beneath those two, being just that last 5% less likely to make miracles happen in the kitchen. between the two, Saphir is textually put up as an experienced-if-not-fancy cook, capable of going head-to-head with Goldmary on a good day -- whereas Alcryst's cooking skills do not, to my knowledge, ever directly come up in his supports, but we all know that at heart he's our failgirl even if he's doing surprisingly well here. (in fact -- better than diamant! pew pew peeeeeeew)

C-TIER: Decent Cooks

18th place: Seadall (55% B, 35% C-D, 10% E-G)

19th~20th place: Jean, Lapis (20% A, 15% B, 55% C-D, 10% E-G)

21st place: Nel (15% A, 20% B, 55% C-D, 10% E-G)

22nd place: Jade (40% B, 50% C-D, 10% E-G)

23rd~25th place: Lindon, Kagetsu, Fogado (35% B, 55% C-D, 10% E-G)

by this tier, we're looking at characters who can't possibly cook an S-rank meal, but still have fairly good chances of pulling out A- or B-rank meals; they are, thusly, some of the last characters on the roster that we could fairly describe as "good at cooking". indeed, this is also where we'll cross the 20th and 21st places, and therefore, the line past which we're looking at the bottom half of the list.

Seadall heads up this tier with a sterling 55% chance of producing a B-rank meal (although he is the first character we're looking at who can't possibly make something A-rank or higher). he'll get solid results more often than not, even when if you make him cook Florida Man-style. not bad for someone who's probably shaking and crying over the smell rising out of the cookpot the entire time

and speaking of filling up on smell alone, Jean and Lapis tie for the next spot with surprisingly robust rates. their personal meal titles both generally sound humble, even at A-rank, but at their most unremarkable, Jean's C-rank meals are described as "Fresh" (or "Carefully Crafted"), while Lapis's are "Kind of Odd" (or "Delightful"). my gut tells me that in Jean's case, the more unpleasant meals you're getting just taste too much like spearmint and cough syrup, but in Lapis's case, you might have to explain that no, actually, people don't normally add that crunchy finish by pouring on ground pebbles.

Nel is just narrowly below those two, being 5% less likely than them to land on an A-rank meal. she is pretty much the most bog-standard cook in the entire list, with her chances spread pretty evenly across the most normal outcomes.

Jade is similar to Seadall in her solid chances of managing at least a B-rank meal. that's what writers are well known for, after all: consistency. anyway, wow, look at that over there! it's a guy falling off a llama to distract you from me kicking my WIPs under a rug!

Lindon, Kagetsu and Fogado, being that precious last 5% less likely than Jade to make a B-rank meal, are where our chances having a nice meal are starting to get shakier, which they'll only get moreso as we continue going down the list. Lindon is ahead of the pack here textually; his culinary experiments might not be safe or entirely ethical, but surely he's learned a thing or two from performing them. the other two are very closely tied, and so once again, my best bet is to vote against the one who's sometimes coming out with "Kind of Odd" meals (and in this case, it would be Fogado).

D-TIER: Mediocre Cooks

26th place: Ivy (40% A, 0% B, 35% C-D, 25% E-G)

27th~28th place: Vander, Diamant (20% A, 15% B, 35% C-D, 30% E-G)

29th place: Alfred (20% A, 20% B, 35% C-D, 25% E-G)

30th place: Hortensia (35% B, 35% C-D, 30% E-G)

31st~32nd place: Madeline, Etie (20% B, 70% C-D, 10% E-G)

33rd place: Citrinne (15% B, 75% C-D, 10% E-G)

34th~35th place: Chloé, Pannette (90% C-D, 10% E-G)

for the first several places on this tier, we're looking at our first cooks who have at least one negative personal meal title -- that is, one in the E to G ranks. our first order of business, then, is to understand what this does exactly to their chances.

the first thing to it is that, under our usual perfectly neutral and perfectly stupid conditions, these characters will be noticeably likelier to completely screw things up. moreover, though, you might remember that, if we give them proper ingredients and have them work with recipes they're skilled with, that increases their chances of making a meal with one of their personal titles -- including the negative one. when you crunch the numbers on it, the result is that having these characters cook properly will affect their chances of catastrophic failure minimally if at all (although their chances of putting out good results still increase -- as the chance of pulling out an underwhelming D-rank meal are also still decreasing in this case).

incidentally, a quirk of these conditions is that giving these character a shot at a recipe they're Eager to try is an especially risky affair. having them cook in the first place is already a form of playing with fire; giving them too much creative leeway as well is where we approach the point of playing with Bolganone.

and speaking of magic tomes, Ivy is the first one up here. a 40% chance to make an A-rank meal is excellent, meaning she's not overall a bad cook, but the chance of catastrophic failure is always just right around the corner with her.

trailing a few ways behind her we have the similarly screwup-prone Vander and Diamant. there's little going on to distinguish between them textually, but I'm just going to throw out a wild out-there guess that, on average, being terrified of fire can be a disincentive towards learning to cook.

on the surface, Alfred looks to have slightly better chances than those two, but there's a particular issue that weighs against him. so far, the characters we've covered have personal E-rank meal titles, which is true of the majority of characters who have negative personal titles. however, when Alfred screws things up, the result he's most liable to turning up with is a "Stomach-Churning" F-rank meal!

Hortensia doesn't fail quite that catastrophically, but unlike the other ones we've seen so far, her risk of failing isn't quite offset by a risk of actually making something amazing; she's the first one we've seen so far who can't make A-rank meals, although she still has a pretty decent chance of making it as far as B-rank, at least.

after this battery of adventure and danger, we come to the latter half of the D-tier: characters who generally won't surprise you with their cooking -- for better or for worse, as it were.

Madeline and Etie are overwhelmingly likeliest to turn up underwhelming dishes, at the C or D ranks; Citrinne is another 5% likelier than them both to make no impression whatsoever. between the former two, Madeline's personal B-rank title of "Well-Balanced" seems just a touch more inviting than Etie's "Mild".

Chloé and Pannette bottom out the tier; they are two of the only three characters in the game who cap out at C-rank, and never cook any better than that. comparing those two, Pannette is indicated in text to struggle with cooking (even under Goldmary's guidance), whereas Chloé might possibly serve something nicer if she simply doesn't insist that it should be washed down with civet coffee and snake wine.

F-TIER: Bad Cooks

36th place: Rafal (15% A, 0% B, 55% C-D, 30% E-G)

37th place: Mauvier (15% B, 55% C-D, 30% E-G)

38th place: Veyle (15% A, 0% B, 55% C-D, 30% E-G)

from here on downward, every character we cover has a negative meal title, as well as unimpressive chances of making something particularly good.

Rafal and Mauvier both have only a 15% chance of batting above C-tier; rather little to compensate for their naturally higher chances of screwing things up. at least, when Rafal gets it right, he makes an "Audacious" A-rank meal, while Mauvier's absolute best is a B-rank... "Firene-style"?? huh. I don't think I uncovered that tidbit about him anywhere else so far.

Veyle ranks lower than the both of them, in any case. that is because she shares with Alfred that special aptitude for turning up "Stomach-Churning" F-rank meals. possibly something to do with her affinity for inhumanely spicy food, which perhaps helps to paint an unpleasantly precise picture of how you'll feel when you try some of the worst she has to offer.

L-TIER: Horrible Cooks

39th place: Zelestia (15% S-SS, 0% A, 0% B, 35% C-D, 50% E-G)

40th place: Pandreo (20% B, 35% C-D, 45% E-G)

41st place: Yunaka (70% C-D, 30% E-G)

and here we are, at long last, in the absolute bottom of the barrel. boy, is there some and then some to be said for the absolute accomplishments in failure we're looking at here

Zelestia and Pandreo share a spectacularly unique dishonor: they have two negative personal meal titles. this not only makes them more likely by far than anyone else to screw things up, it also means that they actually become LIKELIER to fail if you give them proper ingredients and a recipe they supposedly specialize in. (although again, the chances of their unlikely positive results also go up in these cases, if much too little)

even compared to those two clowns, though, Yunaka lies down a cut below the rest. firstly, because unlike the two of them, she won't cook an impressively good meal even by accident, being that she caps at C-rank. what's furthermore notable, though, is that she is the only character in the entire game with a personal G-rank title -- "Completely Burnt". in other words, Yunaka will never surprise you with an unusually good dish, but she will, on roughly every fourth attempt at cooking, burn water.

go girl! give us nothing!

[wish-grantzed]

𝟙.𝟘 || Hello there! I’m 3-?-3... but most people just call me Postman or Victor!

ⁱ ˢᵘᵖᵖᵒˢᵉ ˢᵒᵐᵉ ᵖᵉᵒᵖˡᵉ ᵃˡˢᵒ ᶜᵃˡˡ ᵐᵉ ᵃ ˡᵒᵗ ᵒᶠ ᵒᵗʰᵉʳ ⁿᵃᵐᵉˢ... ᵗʰᵉ ᵉᵐᵇʳᵃᶜᵉ, ˢᵖᵉᶜᵗᵉʳ, ᵏᵉʸᵇᵒᵃʳᵈ, ᵗʰᵉ ᵖʳⁱⁿᶜᵉ, ᵖᵃᵖᵉʳᵇᵒʸ, ᵃᵘᵗᵘᵐⁿ ʳᵉᵛᵉʳⁱᵉ... ⁱᵗ’ˢ ᵃ ʳᵃᵗʰᵉʳ ˡᵒⁿᵍ ˡⁱˢᵗ﹗

But you can also call me Chuuya, Bun, or Fuyu if those suit your fancy more too! This is my edit blog where I do a whole host of fun source-based edits, which you can learn more about under the cut!

I used to run @kin-of-the-sheep​, and @kinning-business​ before that! Needless to say, I’ve been in the kinhelp and edit game for a while now! ☆

Since I wanted a bit of a fresh start, I decided to go ahead and make a charming new blog, so send those pretty letters my way if you’re interested in an edit! But please read the info below before requesting!!

Oh, and just so you know, all my work is free to use unless stated otherwise!

Requests are currently open!

𝟚.𝟘 || REQUEST INFO BELOW CUT

✉ || RULES

I may simply deny/delete requests if they don’t interest me, apologies! I’m going to do this in lieu of an overcomplicated blacklist/info page!

You may send in multiple requests at once, just please do them in separate asks. Requests sent in while the inbox is closed, however, will be ignored/deleted. (But you can always send asks just chatting or asking questions, even if the inbox is closed!)

I only do edits from my source list for now, apologies!

✉ || SOURCE LIST

Please note that ALL sources are technically somewhat selective, as I'll simply delete or decline any requests I don't wish to do! ^^"

Identity V

Bungou Stray Dogs

Genshin Impact

Cookie Run

Pokemon

Danganronpa

Doki Doki Literature Club

Honkai Star Rail (tentative, don’t know much about source yet)

Toilet-bound Hanako Kun (anime only in terms of characters, please)

Murder Drones

The Amazing Digital Circus

Assassination Classroom

Fire Emblem: Awakening

Food Fantasy

Helltaker

Steven Universe

Ib

Angels of Death

Animal Crossing

Vocaloid

Kid Icarus: Uprising

Sonic the Hedgehog

✉ || EDIT TYPES/TAGS

ALL EDITS CAN BE FOUND UNDER THE “COMPLETED EDIT” TAG!

Icon Sets (Tagged: Icon Set), default icons will be 250x250, square, and still frame. They can be any size, gif icons, or circular upon request.

Reply Icon Sets (Tagged: Reply Icon Set), reply icons; the default is 1000x300 (250x250 icons)!

Phone Wallpapers (Tagged: Wallpaper Set), you MUST provide dimensions when requesting. Otherwise, just please provide any specifics for aesthetics, themes, or what you want on them when requesting from me! I will not do computer/desktop backgrounds, unfortunately!

Tumblr Layouts (Tagged: Profile Layout), default Tumblr layouts will be three 250x250 icons and three matching 640x60 banners, but can be any size upon request.

Moodboards (Tagged: Moodboard), a set of 9 images to make an aesthetic image board surrounding a specific character(s) or ship. Please clarify desired themes/colors when requesting. May vary in style/template.

Stimboards (Tagged: Stimboard), a set of stim gifs in a board surrounding a specific character(s) or ship. Please clarify desired themes/colors when requesting.

✉ || SIMPLIFIED BLACKLIST/DNI

DNI if you ship pedophilic ships, are anti-LGBTQ+, or believe that problematic media cannot be consumed or kinned from even if done-so critically.

I will not do requests that contain the following topics:

Kuzupeko (Fuyuhiko x Peko) from Danganronpa

Kaeya x Diluc from Genshin Impact

Medcore/Hospitalcore/etc. 

Any content that is inherently sexual in nature

I also will not entertain Chihiro gender discourse on my blog; anything goes in terms of their pronouns/gender identity, as long as you clarify what you want in a request, and are respectful to alternate interpretations of the character and/or kin canons.

[olivine-ocean]

top 5 games and top 5 fave characters :^)

Oh boy both of these r hard bc I’m indecisive

Top 5 Games

Mostly based on nostalgia or otherwise, most were radio show eps I did

1. Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver

2. Kid Icarus: Uprising

3. Kirby Super Star Ultra

4. Fire Emblem Echos: Shadows of Valentia

5. Stardew Valley

Bonus entries go to Pokemon Legends Arceus and Splatoon

Top 5 Favorite Characters

Giving into the predicable kin picks… I’m gonna list some of my somewhat long lasting favs

1. Pit - Kid Icarus

2. Ethlyn - FE 4

3. Adaman - PLA

4. Meta Knight - Kirby

5. Risotto Nero - JJBA (can’t not include him)

Shout out to newer entrants Hector and Zelgius FE, and old faces just missing the mark with Bucky Barnes Marvel and Polnareff + Jolyne JJBA

[nowis-scales]

FE Liveblog Updates

Hey hey! It’s been a little while since I last did any live blogging — and maybe you care, maybe you don’t — but as I have… a lot of potential live-blogging to do, I wanted to give some updates, notices, and minor thoughts. So if you’ve been following along with any of them, here’s where you’ll get your info. Yay!

‣ Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia:

Hmmm… what is there to say about this one? I need to continue it, first of all. It should hopefully be picking up sooner rather than later, finishing off Act 2 in Celica’s path, and then presumably switching back to Alm. I don’t have too much to worry about here, just making sure that I’m getting a healthy dose of support conversations! If I don’t by the end, I may just play again and see what else I can gather. Otherwise… I’m considering a more stack-em-up style to my posting like the other playthroughs, just so it’s less of a spammy feeling. If you have any opinions, please do let me know!

‣ Fire Emblem Engage:

Yep yep, I’ve already got a liveblog of this one set up! As I write this post, I have just beaten Chapter 3, so you will soon be able to find the liveblog under #koto plays engage , and avoid spoilers with #Fire Emblem Engage Spoilers. I’m very excited to share my thoughts so far, so it should be super fun to share! I don’t know when exactly I’ll get that set up, but probably towards the tail end of the next liveblog I’ll be talking about…

‣ Fire Emblem Three Houses: Crimson Flower: I think, with my desire to introduce an Engage liveblog, continue the Echoes one, and someday continue this one… I might get back to this one sooner than I anticipated? I’m still somewhat iffy on this one, just because… well, in the event that you’re new here, let’s just say that CF as a route is just very much not for me. That’s not to say that I look down on or would chide anyone who enjoys it — my rule is, forever and always, as long as you’re kind I don’t mind — but it’s just not the most positive playthrough. So while I’m leaning more towards yes to going back to it, I want to make sure that it’ll be an okay experience for everyone involved.

The good news is, I have newly set up some measures to keep all of the critical stuff contained where you want it. Firstly, I have a new tag I’ll be using to tag posts with the super critical stuff (#Fódlan Fault Finding) and of course I still have the tag meant for criticism in relation to EdeIgard’s character writing in the route (#Shut up about Del). I also have a series of emblems I’m going to be using, to mark each section of the post based on how critical it is. So for example, if you only want to read the positive stuff, you’ll look for a flower with both black and white on each petal, like this: ❃ There’s about four total, ranging from positive, neutral, joking criticism, and hard criticism. That way, you can pick what you like, and go from there!

Otherwise, I think I have about 12 posts already (some of them are leftovers I missed before I stopped before) built in a Google Doc just so I had time to organize my thoughts and review them for sharpness. I’m considering posting them twice a week just to get things moving along so I don’t have a gazillion playthroughs ongoing, but let me know if you have any good ideas! I could even intersperse the posts with live blogs of the other games just to keep things cheery, if that’s preferable.

‣ Fire Emblem Three Houses: Azure Moon & Silver Snow:

These ones, I am… stumped on. I’d like to chronicle them as well, I find live-blogging a super fun endeavour (even if I realize the live-blogs mostly entertain me instead of all of you), but again that’s something to run at the same time as all the other liveblogs. I could wait until Echoes concludes, I could just pick Azure Moon up once CF concludes, or I could intersperse playthroughs with CF and AM to balance out negativity like I just mentioned. It’s hard to know exactly what to do, and even in posting AM, I’m wondering if I should just post SS at the same time… I think probably not, as that would get really confusing, but it’s also the nature of just not having so many on the go. So… yeah, I dunno! Just like for the others, thoughts are welcome.

As you can see, at the moment, it’s all just a matter of figuring out where to put what!

[tocstshark]

List of names of EVERYONE before I forget them again

Main gang:

Red - current profile pic/red-haired ex-Hero

Yel - !nickname in canon! :| faced postman

Violet - your princess broke out of the castle

Mage - magic merchant mage

Deniz - ocean townboy npc

Elemental spirit person gang

Aoi- Water Spirit that somehow has pointy teeth

(Frede)Rika - NAME PENDING - forest spirit bug girl

Sema? Ciela?? Celes??- Windy winged pastel pal

Obsidian?? Idk I straight up do not have any name for the sad Fire man. Sorry dude.

Pixelart Gang

Iris - Pearl water witch

Pyra/Fye - NAME PENDING - classic oldschool fire witch

Deities

Sol/Neş - Sun goddess who desperately needs a new design

Ay- moon deity that‘s only based on the crescent one because I forgot moonphases were a thing and probs needs a hug

EXAM1 - NAME PENDING - not actually a deity but an alien that gets worshipped as one (or maybe it is?) aka someone take this concept from me please it’s too cool to be stranded here without ever getting used

Misc.

Koko- green gardening gal feat. Magic

Sakura- basic pink anime video game ninja

Chiro (NAME PENDING)- Lemon witch

Cursed

Kevin the desk job-spider centaur

Baby‘s first ocs

Tomato - baby’s first venture into oc-making. This is where it all began. With a humansona for a fruitgetable.

Mary(gold)- baby’s first venture into researching real-life stuff for oc things (in this case, what plants are good companions for tomatoes)

Etrian Odyssey

Arth- Hero 3 looks like a baby version of Marth Fire Emblem down to the blue hair but playing as kids makes me feel sad for them so Arth it is. Overworked guild leader just trying his best and barely keeping it together but turning into an absolute force in battle

Ferice- way too hyped Landsknecht (and basically beta-Red), very protective of guildmates and wants to make sure everyone’s ok (by bashing skulls in with her shield because its the only way she knows how to deal with negative emotions. Thinks Medic friend is cool af for doing medic stuff.). Also kind of a gourmet when it comes to food.

Lily- Arcanist done with life (the enemies‘ life, that is). Morbidly curious. Also just regular curious, but mostly morbidly. Loves experimenting both for murder tactics and food to the point of being lowkey sadistic. The latter is worse for Arth and Ferice. Outside of that actually pretty normal.

Kaze- Edgelord nightseeker whose greatest weakness is cute stuff. Tries very hard to come across as cool to hide it, which somewhat diminishes his otherwise naturally "cool and mysterious“ vibes he’s got. Has somewhat taken on a protector role to Lily. Does low chuckles more than smiles. Genuinely terrifying on the battlefield.

Meres- og Medic 4 my beloved, polite dungeon-medic, assigned money-hungry by random events involving money always picking her, across multiple games. Has so much patience it circles back to being downright uncomfortable in certain situations. Has the Head Bash skill and the entire guild is terrified of finding out what could ever make her it. Girl are you ok. This is the third ancient being inside a tree she‘s helped kill now, no she‘s not.

Honorary mention: Querty/Quartz- Alchemist who’s way too much into burning stuff with fire for someone who wants to fill out the monsterdex and has permanent -_- face. Also loves experimenting (Not with food though) Really interested in the Gatherings of the Labyrinth for its potential Alchemy uses, and the walking dictionary. Does most of the guilds‘ paper work, and surprisingly only mildly miffed about it since the others bring cool stuff back without her being in risk of getting trampled by murder deer.

[kirbapple]

South Park: The Fractured But Whole, but the characters are ranked based on how good they would be in Fire Emblem

Characters are not fully in order. Some details and explanations are under the read more.

GREAT

Butters/Chaos: Would function as a summoner (infantry unit) with exclusive utility of the Berserk Staff (not able to heal [tho in FE he could]). Summons are prioritized as combat targets over any other unit, and can be summoned back at the start of the next turn. Having the Berserk Staff means that Butters can clear out backlines (by having enemies fight each other) without having to lift a finger. He would also have access to Thoron, which grants him heavy damage in a pinch.

Kyle/Kite: Flying Unit with access to physic and fortify, and use of the rescue staff (bring distant units adjacent to Kyle). Would be able to cross any terrain and support any unit that he needed to. For his sheild move, an equivalent would be the ability Monk's have in Engage where they can sacrifice some HP to ensure that an Ally does not come to harm. The enemy unit would attack Kyle, but he would not take damage.

Bradley/Mint: A flying unit with exclusive access to features similar to the Batallions in Three Houses. Would prevent all damage to a group of units for a turn, even if he would lack offensively. (Should be ranked lower, but if he had access to other Batallions [like Stride], he'd have a solid spot at the top)

GOOD

Henrietta: access to physic (ranged heal) staves, but is an infantry unit. Would have access to a 1-2 range fire tome. Would be able to boost/rally the attack an ally (replicates/equivalent to bane heal, also the only rallybot in this group).

Wendy/Call Girl: infantry meteor mage (hit from almost anywhere) with ability to debuff enemy units' defenses. Access to swords and magic. Able to taunt an enemy unit, forcing them to target her while she takes no damage and (in FE) counters them.

Stan/Toolshed: infantry bow unit with ability to use the Fortify Staff (heals all units in a radius). Bow can counter at one range and can hit from up to 4 range.

Clyde/Mosquito: Flying Unit. Dark Mage with Nosferatau (regen health), able to tank hits. However, he would be shredded by bow units and wind mages (effective against flying units), as he would not be able to make up for the damage, limiting his effectiveness as a tank.

Craig/Super: infantry unit with the ability to taunt an enemy unit into attacking him and negate the damage. He would (in FE) be able to counter the enemy. Would have decent might and Defense. Has access to gauntlets (guaranteed to double hit on player phase, may quad if speed is high enough) for fist combat (lack of two range to hit from a distance, but taunt somewhat makes up for it).

OKAY

Tweek/Wonder: Infantry mage with access to Mend (big heal) and Slow Staves to heal allies and slow enemies movement.

Jimmy/Fastpass: Calvary Unit (high movement but affected by terrain). Has access to Physic and Rescue Staves. Damage is a little low. (Could be ranked higher because of his movement)

Kenny/Mysterion: Infantry, gauntlet unit (no 2-range) and bow unit (1-2 range, not as effective as Stan), can lower enemies' defenses. Cannot die permanently and will return to combat (where he died) after 5 turns, healing nearby allies within 4 spaces. (Could be ranked higher solely because he can't die in a game with permadeath, but you can do A LOT in 5 turns)

Cartman/Coon: Infantry, acts like a thief/rouge (minus the stealing). Can poison foes, like in FE Engage, it won't go away without an antidote and will make foes take more damage from allies.

OR

His poison is like the mid posion in other FE's which does minimal chip for a couple turns. (Could be ranked higher if following Engage rules).

ARMOR UNITS

(little movement, not going to get to where they need to as quickly as other Units)

Tolkien/Tupperware: Good defense and ability to affect terrain by creating short-range static ballista (3-10 range). (Could be ranked higher because of this)

Scott/Diabetes: Good offense and buffs his defense at the end of turn. Similar to Dedue in Three Houses. Access to gauntlets to fight with fists.

[gravitas-game-and-book-dev-blog]

Dev Diary 3: Battles

In this weeks dev diary I want to discuss the implementation I am working on for the turn based battles. I've pitched this game as a cross between Fire Emblem and Grand Strategy Games, so today I want to dive into the battles which will feel familiar to Fire Emblem, with several big alterations to the formula, the first of which is the distinction between Phases and Turns. Before I go into that, let's just describe the flow of a battle and army composition.

Battles will be initiated either by an Event or when 2 hostile parties meet on the map. Unlike in Fire Emblem, your armies will be composed of Troops, which represent a whole battalion of soldiers. Some Troops, like your Generals, will be named characters and some Troops are unique and lead by a Unique Captain Character, however the bulk of your armies will be made up of more, shall we say disposable, cadets. One Troop will usually represent 1,000 men and an Army can have up to 20 units in it, so that they have somewhat realistic numbers. Once a battle begins one party is designated as the attacker and the other as the defender and each side is given a deployment zone where they can freely arrange their troops before the battle starts. Once a battle begins, the Maneuver Phase begins.

Maneuver Phase

The attacker always gets to move first and during this phase they get to move 1 Troop of their choosing, but they cannot attack during this phase. Then, the turn passes to the defender who can likewise move a single Troop before passing it back to the attacker. Neither side can move the same Troop twice until all Troops have moved, which will end the Maneuver Phase and Start the Combat Phase.

Combat Phase

This phase progresses much like the Maneuver Phase, each side issuing one order and passing to the other until all Troops have their orders, except during this Phase Troops can't move and instead are told who they can attack within their range. Melee units can only attack adjacent enemies while ranged troops can attack between 2 and 4 spaces away or engage in a melee attack, though their melee stats are quite bad. Once all orders are set, Troops deliver their attacks in succession and we return to the Maneuver Phase repeating the process until the battle ends.

So why not just do things the way it works in Fire Emblem or other Tactics games? My reasoning for structuring turns like this is to encourage more aggressive play, which might not be immediately obvious. If you've ever tried or seen multiplayer Fire Emblem, it just doesn't work. Whoever is able to have a longer threat range via movement or other ranged attacks has such a significant advantage as they will be able to attack when they can inflict enough damage to kill something, forcing the other player to come forward and respond with potentially fewer units dragging them into a usually devastating follow up which ends the match. They revolve around turtling and there are limited options for handling the fact that the enemy will be able to move and attack with all of their units before you can respond. Structuring turns this way makes it so with each move, the opposing player is able to respond like a game of chess and not only that, by cleverly positioning your Troops, you can essentially force them into making certain moves, limiting their options if you're brain is wrinkly enough.

There are a few additional rules that add some layers to this, such as zone of control, which makes it so that if a unit moves adjacent to an enemy that will use up all of their movement. If a unit starts in an enemy's ZoC they can disengage and freely move away, but they will suffer an opportunity attack(1/2 normal damage) for doing so. This rewards aggression, as plunging into the enemy first can force them to get stuck into the fight, or suffer free damage for trying to pull away. On top of that, if a unit moves at least 2 spaces on the Maneuver Phase, they will deal additional Charge Damage on their turn which can be very significant. In practice this means, if you rush your opponent, they might not have the space to mount a counter charge, which might be enough to swing things in your favor.

The fact that everyone gets to move before attacking also limits kiting with ranged units as after they attack, they will frequently be within movement range of many Troops, meaning there might be an opportunity for your opponent to close the distance and get them stuck in melee or force an opportunity attack.

There are additional things like flank attacks, but rather than getting stuck in with details I want to take a step back and look at one of the other big changes, morale. Most battles throughout history have been decided by the ability of one side to crack the resolve of the other and seeing as we're representing full scale battles, we'll do the same. Morale effectively serves as a secondary health bar for a unit. When Morale reaches 0, a unit will become uncontrollable and will automatically begin fleeing to the edge of the battlefield. Once it reaches the edge, after a turn they will 'rout' fleeing the map. This gives you a chance to run down enemies as in history this is actually where the bulk of casualties are inflicted. Morale will take damage from attacks, but certain things increase morale damage, the number of nearby enemies vs allies, proximity to your General's Troop, flanking and more. Concentrating fire and focusing on breaking unit's morale will be key to secure victories you might otherwise not win.

That ends it for the day. Tune in Wednesday where I'm hoping to have a really rough prototype ready to demonstrate some of these things.

[codenamesazanka]

video games + fantasy and magic + quirk society + League:

*

“—So they’re all quirkless… But Shuuichi-kun just said some of them can shoot fire or shadow blasts.”

“Those aren’t quirks. It’s magic.”

“Like what Mister does?”

“No, it’s real magic. Er, well, real magic inside the story.”

“Sounds incredible! What the heck is real magic.”

“Ah, that. Magic is the stuff of dreams, of wonders, and grasping it within the palms of—“

“That’s got nothing to do with Insignia of the Inferno: Emergence. Don’t listen to him. Magic is a skill. It’s a supernatural power that performs ranged attacks which affects the stats of the target. You know, their condition, their health points, them as a character!”

“That just sounds like a quirk…”

“Well it isn’t! It’s fantasy. That’s how fantasy games and stories worked back then. Classical fantasy, about ancient and feudal times.”

“Ehhhh. All the stories I read when I was little had quirks. Like, Beauty and the Beast? The Beast Prince is a heteromorph, and Belle could touch mirrors to see faraway things! Or! Or like Momotaro can talk to animals, and Usagi had a transformation quirk—“

“Those don’t count as classical fantasy—“

“All those stories have all been changed from the original ones, to suit this modern extraordinary age. Remember, Toga-chan, no one had quirks back then. For most of human history until relatively recently, we were quirkless. In those original tales, the folklores and myths, the characters instead had divine blessings or otherworldly gifts… Magic, as it were.”

“Hmm…”

“Yeah, what Mister said. In Insignia, which is classical fantasy, everyone is quirkless. But! Some people, called mages, could do magic. And magic can be learned. As you level up, you learn more spells, you can use different types of attack depending on the kind of enemy. Back to the story, Alouet discovers a magic tome that contains the three ancient spells to seal away the—”

“That sounds unfair. They can do magic, but also have multiple magics?”

“Toga-chan is right, that’s cheating! And also sorta like your teacher, Shigaraki.”

“…Heh.”

“I told you guys, magic. is. not. quirks. And all mages know multiple—”

“Okay, okay! I know, magic is magic. So what happens next? Keep going, Shuuichi-kun.”

“I am! Alouet discovers the tome, and realizes that to seal away the Seven-Eyed Beast, they must travel to the each of the Three Celestial Dragons’ realms. At each realm, Prince Rhod - who has the Grace of Dawn that’s passed through the royal bloodline - performs the ritual to summon—”

“The Prince is a mage?“

“No, he’s not. Remember? The royal family had sworn to forsake magic—”

“But then how can he have this dragon summon power?”

“It’s not magic. This is something only the royal family have—”

“So they’re the only ones with a dragon quirk. I get it! I’m completely lost.”

“How many times do I have to—”

“It’s all game mechanisms, none of it has to make sense. Magic is just an attack that deals damage. Think of it as different types of weapons. Bow and arrows, throwing daggers, swords. You can get any one of them. You can use each one. That’s what magic spells are. Weapons.”

“Ooh, gotcha. And Prince Rhod?”

“Demigod. He summons dragons because they recognize him as a descendant of their former masters.”

“And then?”

“He gets the dragons, they kill the Beast, they retrieve the crown, and he’s King. The End.”

“…That’s it?”

“There’s more than that! And Prince Rhod isn’t—“

“King Rhod, now that he has the crown. Great! Wonderful retelling. Only took up…three-fourths of the hour. Now, it’s getting late—”

“Mister, I’m not finished.”

“He’s sick of your stupid video game story, Spinner! I liked it! But not really.”

“…It’s more fun to play it.”

“You’re just also a big nerd, Tomura-kun. You and Shuuichi-kun both are, classic-magic-quirk-fairy-tale-fantasy-whatever video games otakus.”

“Magic isn’t— You’re doing this on purpose, Toga! Hey—!”

“But don’t worry, I’ll still hang out with you guys~~”

*

tl;dr: Imagine how much nerdier Shigaraki and Spinner might actually seem when they have to explain historical conceptualizations of magic on top of the game mechanisms itself. RIP

[person8789]

Breakdown of Twst’s Opening Movie

Basically how it’s foreshadowed things so far and theorizing what other things it might be foreshadowing

Source from YouTube: Twisted Wonderland Opening Movie by Night Raven

Spoilers for the entirety of the game released this far, including the newest update in chapter 6!

Part 4/5

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 5

First we get a close up of Lilia with a smirk seemingly powering up for some kind of attack, then the shot pans out to reveal that Silver and Sebek are next to him on both sides, either acting as guards or aiding Lilia with the attack. The last shot is of the attack itself, weather it’s supposed to be fire or wind based…. I’m not really sure. Either way, it’s a strong attack that’s aim.. most likely somewhere past the screen.

This probably has something to do with those other shots of Diasomnia in the thorns and Malleus on the hill. I don’t think it’s unlikely for them to actually be attack against Malleus here, weather it be because he’s overblot or otherwise.

Next we have some kind of… dramatic shots of Crowley in the courtyard. The first features an upward shot from a behindish-sideish view. The next is a close-up of Crowley smirking (hrmm..) and the last is a pan out of him walking through the courtyard.

Um… suspicious?? Very suspicious?? I don’t really know what this could be about, to be honest. It’s definitely highlighting Crowley to be suspicious… I think. Especially with the smirk.

Ok so once again this gives a series of shots of all of the characters that I’ll list out what’s going on in all of the shots before diving into it all:

First we get a close up with Riddle with the Heartslabuyl emblem in the background, then a pan out to the rest of the Heartslabuyl characters in cool poses a lineup:

1. Ace in front, bawling a fist

2. Riddle, looking to the left (possibly to Ace?)

3. Deuce facing away from the screen with his hands on his hips and looking the same direction as Riddle.

4. Trey facing and looking at the screen

5. Cater with his hand on Trey’s shoulder and looking to the left, not at Trey, but past him.

Next we have a close-up of Malleus with the Diasomnia emblem in the background, which then pans out to the rest of Diasomnia, all standing either next to or behind Malleus all in an upward shot.

The next shot is of the Octavenelle trio, no close up of Azul beforehand. Another upward shot, Azul is sitting down in a chair which Jade and Floyd are both leaning on the chair, all are facing and looking at the screen. Octavenelle emblem is in the background.

Next we have the Scarabia duo, Jamil taking up most of the screen in front, flashing a smile to (or maybe past) the screen, while Kalim, vibing giving a smile in the background, there is a Scarabia emblem here as well.

The next shot is of the Savanaclaw trio, Leona sitting on top of a big rock while Ruggie and Jack sit next to the rock below. Ruggie is holding something and showing it to Jack, Jack is looking at… whatever it is that Ruggie has. I can’t tell exactly what it is. Food, perhaps? Savanaclaw emblem vibes in the background.

Next we get the Shroud brothers standing back-to-back with Ortho in front. Idia is facing away from the screen but still half looking at the screen, with a bitter expression. There is some techy stuff and the Ignihyde emblem in the background.

And lastly we get a shot of the Pomefiore trio, with Vil taking a majority of the screen in front and Epel and Rook somewhat in the background, both giving side glances to the screen with Rook also giving a smirk. Vil is looking somewhat to the side and past the screen, and the Pomefiore emblem again vibes in the background.

Ok, now that we’ve gotten through that, let’s try to break it down:

First: the emblems. Say it with me everyone: they put the emblems with the dorm leaders and members so they associate those characters with that dorm.

The first dorm we see is, as usual, Heartslabuyl. The lineup of the characters here is intriguing to me, though, since it’s not what you would expect. You would expect Riddle to be in front with adeuce to be behind him then Trey and Cater, but here get get Ace first, then Riddle, and Deuce, and etc.. another interesting thing is how they shot Heartslabuyl as a lineup specifically, especially with the kind of power structure Heartslabuyl supposedly has, with Riddle at the top having absolute power. Here, though, Riddle is seen next to, and mixed in with the rest of the Heartslabuyl cast, and it’s apparent here that he’s a lot smaller than they are. Now, if you were trying to show a character with “absolute power” over their peers would you show him mixed in with the crowd so to speak? And with him… definitely not seeming like the most intimidating person in the room? Probably not, and this definitely wasn’t done unintentionally, considering the positions of the characters in some of the other dorms, so why show Riddle as an equal? This one might actually be foreshadowing for book 1… kind of. I believe Ace is in front because he’s the main catalyst for book 1, the main one going against Riddle, and the one who’s eventually able to reach out to Riddle. Ace was exactly what Heartslabuyl needed, and was the reason things were able to change. The placement of the other characters (specifically Deuce, Trey and Cater,) but there is one minor thing I wanted to mention about Cater and Trey here. I’ve seen some people mention how they think it’s like… a big deal that Cater has his hand on Trey’s shoulder. While I do think it’s (again) trying to get us to associate one character with the other (associate them as a duo), I don’t really think it means much more than that.

With Diasomnia (and with later shots), the upward shot is definitely supposed to give the characters an intimidating look. Malleus having the biggest presence, even when the shot pans out to all of the dorm members, is supposed to indicate that he’s more intimidating than even the rest of them. Lilia having the smallest presence (despite being the most powerful member of the dorm) is supposed to show that he is the one actively working to make connections with people from other dorms and trying to eliminate the stigma surrounding Diasomnia, like we see with Lilia in book 1. The fact that he is the closest to Malleus in this shot also shows that he’s emotionally closer to Malleus than Silver and/or Sebek, who are both standing off to each side, away from Malleus.

The upward shot for the Octavenelle trio is, again for the intimidation factor, except is slightly different than with Diasomnia. For Diasomnia, the fear the other students have for for students of Diasomnia is a stigma, everyone believes Diasomnia students are terrifying because of their power. Malleus specifically has to deal with this more than the other students because of his status as well. Even though this isn’t the reality of the situation, they almost seem… untouchable. It’s definitely not done on purpose, in fact, they’d rather not have this stigma surrounding them. Octavenelle, on the other hand, definitely is doing the intimidation technique on purpose. Just like always, Octavenelle is using fear to get people to do what they want. Something I find interesting about the specific positions Azul is in compared to the twins, is that I believe it’s actually somewhat of a false set of for the trio’s dynamic. In this shot, Azul is center attention sitting in a chair, boss style, while the twins are both to the sides of the chair. This is obviously supposed to send the message that Azul is the big boss, while Jade and Floyd are supposedly “henchmen”. In reality, though, this is far from true, and Azul has said specifically that he and the twins are equals, and that they are in no way serve him and may very well leave him if they see fit (weather they actually would or not is a completely different conversation..). Azul had said that Floyd pretty much never listens to Azul (or at least when he’s not in the mood to), and that Jade isn’t bound to Azul in the same way the other vise dorm leaders seem to be with their leaders. (He actually seems to be something afraid of Jade, as mentioned in Beanfest.) All of that said, why would they divert our attention from their true dynamic in this shot? Well, I believe it may be foreshadowing to book 3, since it does something similar. It sets up Jade and Floyd to do Azul’s bidding in the beginning, only to reveal throughout the book that they, in fact, aren’t bound to him and are part of the reason his plan fails.

Moving on, the Scarabia duo are in much different positions than the last time we saw these two, where they were both taking of half of the screen each. Here, Jamil is taking up the majority of the screen while Kalim is more or less in the background. This may be to highlight the kind of dynamic they have up until the end of book 4, where Jamil is making a majority of the decisions and is (quite literally) in control of Kalim. The fact that Jamil is smiling here despite the fact that he is normally a more serious-toned character might be a small foreshadow to the fact that he has a facade- even though he doesn’t use a smile as a mask specifically he still does use “politeness” as a mask.

Next is the Savanaclaw trio, in which Leona’s position causes the same upward shot to be there as with some of the other characters, while Jack and Ruggie are pretty level with the screen. Now, Savanaclaw in general is supposed to seem (at least physically) intimidating at first, but here it highlights Leona as such more than the others. This is probably a foreshadow to his nature of seeming cold in order to shut people out and seem more like a “loner” despite the fact that he actually does care about his dorm members. Ruggie and Jack are likely not in these positions to foreshadow that they are different than other Savanaclaw students.

With the Shroud brothers, there’s two likely reasons they are in the positions they’re in. One more simple explanation is the fact that if it was the other way around, we… literally wouldn’t be able to see Ortho at all and a back-to-back shot makes sense with being able to see all of the stuff in the background. There is another explanation though that I believe also makes sense. With the way that they are positioned here, even with his bright, blue flaming hair, Idia seems almost like a shadow compared to Ortho, who has a “brighter” presence on screen. I believe this is meant to symbolize and foreshadow the fact that Idia is living in the shadow of his trauma, the “Ortho” in this shot being a symbol of that trauma since he was created as a trauma response. That’s also most likely the reason for the bitter expression on Idia’s face.

And finally is the Pomefiore shot, which tbh I don’t think I have as much to say about this one. (Watch me go on for another long paragraph, calling it now). The upward shot here seems different from the others, I don’t believe it to be used for intimidation. I more believe it is trying to give a mysterious and “untouchable” air to the Pomefiore trio. I believe Rook and Epel’s distance, as well as Rook’s smirk and Vil’s “ignoring” of the screen to be working to try to achieve the same effect, as well. Vil likely has the biggest presence here to foreshadow the fact that he, as a celebrity and as a person, seems to leave a big impact or “presence” on everyone he meets.

Ok so I realize that this post is far from “short”, but I couldn’t make the image limit, so…

Have to cut this one a bit short since the next segment is 10 images by itself- yes, I’m talking about the ending segment that has a bunch of totally not spoiler clips that go by quickly!

On the plus side the next part should be the last!

[seer918]

Comparing MegaMan Robot Masters to their NetNavi counterparts; a thread in...probably a lot of parts

Because I’m hyped for the Battle Network collection’s anouncement I figured I’d shamelessly rip off a video by BumblesMcFumbles. Also it’s like way too fucking hot and I need something to hyperfixate over before I combust

Now just to note, I AM more of a fan of the Battle Network series compared to original MegaMan, hell my introduction to Megaman was the Battle Network anime so expect some bias.

(and once I’ve got the collection in hand and actually play more than just a version of 4 and 5, I’ll probably do a thread just talking about every named net navi)

Going in Robot Master Order (even if it will mean the quality of the net navi designs will go up and down as they got more used to the new design theme)

Cut Man and CutMan.EXE

Out of all the old designs that BN’s ocasional ‘chibi’ look touched, CutMan is probably the best. Never been too sure on the ‘ears’/handles on his head but the more sentai/super hero vibe I get from the BN design is rather cute. It’s a simple base design and they did all they could to it while still keeping the overal original vibe.

Though honestly I think it’s a tie because they’re just too similar and I’d have to start nitpicking to find differences. 1-all

Guts Man vs GutsMan.EXE

A complete overhaul of the original design, putting more of an emphasis on the construction equipment envoking yellows and greys than the original’s red and black.

The over pronounced chin and squaring of the head also invokes a loader. Not too sure on the backpack on EXE but I like how they turned the power crystal on the base design into the ‘emblem’ of EXE’s. The addition of green is also nice, just enough to pop but not enough to distract.

GM-EXE takes it, 1-2 in favour of Battle Network

Next is a pair I’d love to have right now to deal with the heat, Ice Man and IceMan.EXE

This one...did not take the chibification too well. And granted this picture isn’t...great for EXE’s head shape, I’m doing my best to ignore it....it’s like a ham chunk stuck in a glove...

Er, sorry. The shades of dark green and mint green aren’t really doing it for me, and are just making me wish for mint choc chip ice cream...The face swirls are...there, I guess...I like the contrast between the boots and gloves vs the rest of the design...

Yeah, classic takes it with a less is more approch. 2-2, tied up again

Bomb Man vs BombMan.EXE

...man, this was the coolest villain grunt from the show growing up, him and StoneMan.EXE introducing the concept of userless navi and how their looks are sometimes vastly different from ‘tame’ navi.

I like the overal, vaguely grenade like design for his armour decals, even if it cribs a bit from Grenade Man.

And I much prefer a ‘visable’ hammer space for pulling bombs out of-his shoulders-compared to them just appearing even though it’d make more sense for the virtual being to pull them out of thin air.

Obvious winner, 2-3 back into BN’s court

Fire Man vs FireMan.EXE

Doing my best to just let the designs do the talking instead of my love for .EXE’s user Mr Match, who was Scottish in the dubbed anime.

I really enjoy the colour inversion between the armour vs main body, with the splashes of blue and gold-y yellow adding more to the simple base design.

I can see why some wouldn’t like the head of EXE but since the clasic doesn’t have a mouth anyways, might as well go whole hog and create an imposing, slightly off-humanoid design

MMC 2-4 MMBN

And last of the first game’s robot masters, Elec Man vs ElecMan.EXE

Deffinitely my favourite change, and not just because I prefer the purple to the 4th robot master with red and/or black as their design

This took the concept of the digitized beings going more form over function (since so long as the code was good they COULD function) and ran with it. The tesla coil back spikes, the helmet mimicking the shape of the original’s...why does EM have a domino-mask, anyways?

Point being, a very imposing design and a superior one to the original

And so for this round, we end with a somewhat noticible gap of 2-5, and it would have been worse for MMC if I didn’t count draws as points for both sides. As we get further into the classic series it might even out a bit more

[theminecraftbee]

HOW DARE YOU HURT ME WITH SHRUB LORE. Its gonna hurt so bad when Joey sides with Xornoth. GOD. At least she's with Katherine they'll make a good duo, an archer and a tank. But GOD Shrub is going to have her first friend betray her for the one who destroyed her home OUCH MY HEART.

Crying about Shrub over is there any other FH mechanics that you think would be cool to add to the au? I only played FH so i don't know much about what cool things the other games had but like crests? I heard those were a thing in older games. Would any of the characters have one in this au?

so fun facts: i was intensely posting about this then i was finally let out of work after being on call for nine hours straight and i IMMEDIATELY passed out. like. from on 100% about this au to snoring on my couch in about five minutes. so this got left in my inbox and forgotten about.

HOWEVER. crests are... sort of a prior thing? but now i'm thinking about... personal skills. those would be fun to make up and assign. but before i get there i'll say that i haven't thought about crests much but if anyone had them it would be scott, lizzie, and jimmy. and that's probably it; scott's the one with a royal bloodline in this au, and lizzie and jimmy are both manakete and have Divine Dragon Powers.

so! a personal skill for each member of empires! i could probably come up with prfs (unique weapons) for each of them at some point too, THAT would be fun... i'll probably do that in a different post though because i can make that one "theoretically applicable outside of fire emblem". anyway these are all somewhat based on fire emblem fates personal skills. they also probably aren't balanced lol. some of these are better than others (scott's and joel's are the ones i'm proudest of i think.)

scott: snow prince - if scott takes damage, all adjacent units get -3 to skill and speed. (after scott's promotion, this changes to 'all adjacent enemy units'.)

jimmy: page's heart (renamed dragon's heart later in the storyline) - allies within 2 spaces take 3 less damage.

pixlriffs: prophetic visions - luck% chance of adjacent allies surviving a lethal blow with 1 hp.

lizzie: dragon's fangs - lizzie may calculate damage using the lower of the enemy's def or res.

joel: horseslayer - if joel initiates against a horseback unit, str/dex/spd + 4 and crit + 10.

fwip: explosive rounds - if fwip defeats an enemy in combat, fwip and all enemies within two tiles take 10% of their hp in damage.

gem: prodigy - if attacking with a different tome than in the prior turn, +4 damage.

sausage: stubborn pride - if sausage initiates combat and fails to defeat an enemy, +4 to str/mag/skl/spd until the next turn.

pearl: challenger - when an enemy initiates combat, pearl deals 5 additional damage, and gains crit + 10.

joey: featherweight - if joey's strength or magic is lower than the enemy's, hit/avoid +25.

katherine: flower gift - adjacent allies regain 3 hp at the beginning of the turn.

shelby: survivor - if shelby's hp is less than full, deal +4 damage.

[repentantsky]

6 Times Nintendo Asked for Too Much Money, for Too Little in Return, on Switch, or Despite It

I’m critical of anyone who I think is ripping people off, and Nintendo, sadly, espeically since it’s games don’t drop in price, has done that a lot. That’s not to say Sony and Microsoft have never done it before, but since the Direct was an egregious reminder of how they mishandle business, I thought now was as good a time as any to remind people, they kind of have a history. 

6.  Charging over $100, for a remake’s full content

Now, I will say, in most cases a remake can go full price. If it’s ground up like a remake should be, and adds extra features or content to sweeten the deal, that’s fair play, however, locking content behind a paywall is cheap. Enter Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadow of Valentia. While the base game was just full price, which was 40 bucks on the 3DS, it cost far more to unlock all of it’s extra content. A $25 dollar Amiibo combo back, which unlocked special content, and a $50 dollar season pass, which was mostly just new dungeons and weapons, brought the total to $115 dollars for all it’s content. Hey, I get it, DLC is a thing, but a season pass that costs more than the base game, is just a shitty thing to do. Nintendo even went so far as to alter how they added it up, to make it seem cheaper than it was. To make matters worse, they did all this while giving out free content like crazy on Nintendo Switch games, kind of telling everyone who wasn’t an early adopter of the system, to screw off. It was also the first real screw ball thing they did after Satoru Iwata-San had passed away. Talk about a spit in the face. 

5. Overcharging for MicroSD’s.

One of the major problems of the Switch, is that it has too little space for all the games Nintendo wants you to buy on it, and to be fair, that we also want to buy on it. While most first party titles are pretty small in terms of what they require from the Switch, it has a massive 3rd party library as well, and how does Nintendo handle that, by charging double for what anyone could get for MicroSD’s that do exactly what the Nintendo branded ones do. I mean, seriously, imagine paying 100 bucks for 256GB of space, when you could pay 50. Be careful about that though, some MicroSD’s couldn’t be formatted, which would mean you couldn’t you them on the Switch. While that seems to have calmed down more over the years, it still happened at the time, and it still sucked. Overcharging because your name is on a product, is shameful, and screw everyone that does it, Nintendo included. 

4. Charging for Nintendo Online. 

I get it, Microsoft and Sony do it, and I hate that as well, but at least in return, you can get some actually decent games, and better deals on products, espeically with PSN for the latter, and come on, Game Pass is worth it no matter who you are. Nintendo though, even though it’s cheaper, has thus far refused to release any games past SNES era, a large portion of games released on Nintendo Online are cheap 3rd party rip-off’s of first party Nintendo games, and it really doesn’t appear like Nintendo plans to make the service truly worth it any time soon. As much as I love Nintendo, it’s really hard to justify paying for an online service that nets you so little, but alas, here we are. 

3. New Super Bros U Deluxe 

Yeah, a full price port of a game is never a good idea, and this whole list could have been made of them. Instead, I’m only going to include a few, but this one might be the worst. I mean, Super Mario Bros U is a great game, but it’s not worth full price just because it got ported. There’s not that much content there, even with the added Luigi U content inspired by the year of Luigi. It’s a hard sell trying to convince a logical person that the same 4 hour game, with an extra hour to hour and a half of content, which is just levels you already played as Mario, is a good buy, because it isn’t. I don’t know what Nintendo was thinking with this port, and it’s sad to see it, but alas, like all Nintendo games, it’s still full price on their store.

2. Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE

I will put it on record that I love Tokyo Mirage Sessions, it’s a somewhat more light-hearted game than the it’s source material, at least from Atlus’ end, but that doesn’t make it bad at all, in fact it’s great. However, it kinda failed on the Wii U, quickly leaving store shelves and never being heard from again until it’s Switch version was announced. It’s still a great game on the Switch, but either Nintendo got greedy, or Atlus let them, and a game that basically a commercial failure, came out at full price same as before, and that was easily a deterrent for many, as it should be. Selling a port of a game that flopped on a system that flopped, isn’t exactly a good consumer move, and yet, it’s exactly what happened. 

 1. Asking you to pay more for Miitopia

Look, I get that there is certain difference between playing a game on a handheld, and playing it on your 4K TV if you have one, and I’ll admit the idea of play Miitopia on my 4K display is both appealing and hilarious, but it’s just a port. It’s not a remaster, it’s a port. And for that extra 10 bucks we get what, a horse and some makeup? How people can justify that is beyond me. The “Oh I didn’t play it on 3DS so this will be my first time buying it” is an excuse to hide behind because your love of Nintendo is too strong. If don’t call out a company for it’s bad practices, or buy into those practices, they are only going to do worse, and if this list isn’t proof of that, that I don’t know what to tell you. Charging more for a port than an original release is shady though. 

And that’s my list, did I miss anything you think was too much on the Nintendo Switch? Let me know in the comments below, reblog this post if it interested you, feel free to leave a note, and hey, if you think I’m biased against Nintendo, just look at the photo I post that’s coming directly after this goes live. Have a good freaking day/night whatever your time zone’s got you on.  

[puppyluver256]

[Image descriptions: Three Pokemon Trainers with the fan-made Pokemon Chikret, Calflame, and Haymuth. Three more images break them into individual Trainer and Pokemon pairings.

The first image is the feminine Pokemon Trainer. She has light skin, shoulder-length brown hair, and blue eyes. She is wearing a pink hat with button badges attached and a Pokeball design, a purple short-sleeved shirt under a creamy yellow shirt with ruffled trim, a green wristband, blue shorts with pink lace trim, aqua knee-high socks, and pink and blue slip-on shoes. She has a tan backpack with purple straps on her back, and as she is walking forward she is looking back and waving at those behind her. Beside her is the fan-made Pokemon Chikret, which is a blue egret-like creature with big blue eyes. It has its wings outstretched and is running alongside its Trainer.

The second image is the androgynous Pokemon Trainer. They have somewhat light skin, short dark brown hair, and trey eyes. They are wearing an aqua green hat with teal accents and a blue Pokeball design, a purple button-up shirt over a darker purple shirt, a green wristband with an aqua Pokeball emblem, a green jacket tied around their waist, denim cutoff shorts with purple and pink leggings underneath, and purple slip-on shoes. They have a tan backpack with purple straps, and are scratching the back of their head nervously as they walk. Beside them is the fan-made Pokemon Calflame. It is a small calf with red fur and eyes, stubby horns, brown hair on its head, and orange and yellow hair on its tail resembling fire. It is running alongside its Trainer in an attempt to keep up.

The third image is the masculine Pokemon Trainer. He has medium-brown skin, short blonde hair, and green eyes. He is wearing a backwards-turned green and black baseball cap with a Pokeball design, a red collared shirt over a dark violet t-shirt, a green wristband with an aqua Pokeball emblem, denim pants, and green and grey running shoes. He has a tan backpack with purple straps on his back, and he is excitedly running ahead. Beside him is the fan-made Pokemon Haymuth, a yellow and green mammoth covered in grass-like hair. It is happily running alongside its Trainer to keep pace with him.

End ID.]

-----

Introducing the player characters for Pokemon Plow and Circuit! And yes, there are three basic options available, the "girly" one that people taking my survey decided was their favorite, the "neutral" one, and the "boyish" one. And I gave the players the design elements and starter Pokemon based on what shared their placement in that survey: everything with girly placed first, everything with neutral placed second, and everything with boyish placed third. ...Okay so there were a few ties in there, but I settled them with coin flips hehe. So how do they look? If you wanna draw 'em yourselves sometime and make 'em look however you want I can throw the base ref atcha that shows the basic options, though feel free to get crazy with the hair and eye colors as I can imagine that the realm of salon dyes and colored contacts could lead those bits to some wild fun hehe :3

While the players' skin, hair, and eye color can be determined by the hypothetical player (and the hair and eye color can be changed later), these are the looks I'm going to personally stick with for any Cantessy drawings featuring the player going forward.

For storytelling purposes only, each of these player characters has a hypothetical "real" person behind them who made them look as close to themselves as possible. The girly character is Mira, and she chooses Chikret when playing Pokemon Plow. The neutral character is Briar, and they choose Calflame when playing Pokemon Circuit. And the boyish character is Jake, and while he will eventually choose Haymuth, he is currently more focused on other games and will play either Plow or Circuit when he can get both as he'd rather have the full experience. Wait, why am I so specific on which version the players pick? Weellllll...if ya know, ya know. If not, you'll find out :3c

💖🐶 Check out my pinned post for ways to support my artwork, among other things! 🐶💖

~If you like, please reblog to show your friends! Likes are appreciated, but reblogs let more people see my content! If you have something to say, feel free to give feedback in tags/comments/replies as well!~

Pokemon and related concepts © Nintendo/GameFreak Cantessy player characters, Chikret, Calflame, Haymuth, the Cantessy region, and artwork © PuppyLuver Studios

[maine-writes]

Vonvon's Space Adventure, Part 3

Another resplendent scene of Beach City. The azure waves crashed upon the golden sand, darkening it to an earthy hue. Steven and Connie eagery awaited the crystalline vessel descending from the atmosphere. Its ivory body glimmered in the sun, its strking eyes looking ever onward toward the horizon. To them at least, their darling child's weekend went without a hitch. But little did they know of the horrors that transpired on a distant world.

It began on a Saturday.

"So, where are we going again?" Vonvon asked.

Shortly after waking up from a rather restless night, Vonvon was brought aboard White Diamond's ship; a massive, crystalline upper torso. All they were told was that the Diamonds had prepared a "game" of sorts. After all, children enjoy games, at least that was what Spinel told the Diamonds.

White Diamond sat in her command chair, supervising her bridge crew. The central viewscreen above was focused on a strange alien world. White clouds swirled around the northern hemisphere, a vast ocean covered a majority of the planet, which had only three major landmasses.

"Vonvon." said the Diamond, directing their attention to the planet. "This was Exoplanet D-23, one of Blue's. Despite initial findings, she deemed the planet unfit for full colonization."

"So what happened to it?"

"She decided to use it as an educational facility. Gems under her supervision were sent here for training." She continued. "This was once a place where Sapphires would go to learn proper etiquette and learn how to decipher their visions. If I remember correctly, the Sapphire you are familiar with spent some time here herself."

When the ship landed, Vonvon looked out an idyllic, tropical landscape. To their surprise, the seas were relatively shallow, no deeper than several meters. There were extremely deep pools, however, which were noticably darker as their depths descended deep into the limestone below. Strewn all across the landscape were sandbars and the occasional solid landmasses, with crystalline trees sprouting out from them. The combination of the warm sun and salty breeze refreshed Vonvon's little body.

They then looked to the distance, spotting great spires on the horizon. These were once the courts of Blue Diamond, where countless Gems would congregate and speak on matters and events from across the great dominions of Homeworld. These were places of culture and refinement.

"What do the Gems there do now?" Vonvon inquired.

"Whatever they desire, dear." Said the Diamond. "Blue still occasionally holds court here, mostly to hear about what they've experienced."

The child wondered if they were going to meet with these Gems. But it seemed as if the Diamonds had another idea.

White led Vonvon to a massive, dome-shaped construct that stood on crystalline pillars in the water. Inside, they were greeted by a crew of Gems and the other two Diamonds.

"Welcome to a Gem warfare command center." Yellow Diamond said, visibly excited for the day's activity.

"Command center?" Vonvon wondered.

"According to our studies on what sort of games human child enjoy," Yellow explained, "We've decided on allowing you an opportunity to command a small army for war games. Blue, White, and I will be commanding our own forces, while you try to take our command centers."

The Diamonds led the child to their small, human-sized command chair in the center of the room. It was elevated over a crew of diligently working Gems, who were making their final preparations and communications checks.

"Are the Gems okay with this?" Vonvon sheepishly asked.

"As you know, with the beginning of Era 3, Gems are free to pursue whatever lifestyles they desired." Blue Diamond assured them. "Some, however, didn't know what to do with themselves and so we organized a number of activities for them."

"Does Papa know about these sort of games?"

"W-Well, no." White Diamond said. "Your mother suggested that we not tell him of her idea."

Vonvon wasn't at all surprised that their mother suggested that militaristic Gems take part in these war games. But they did wonder if she took part in any herself. The more they thought about it, they began to wonder about the large rolls of paper that Connie kept hidden in the broom closet that somewhat resembled battle plans.

Vonvon was given an hour to prepare their forces as the Diamonds left for their command centers. The game seemed easy enough, command units to capture bases, and only after capturing all their bases can forces move on the command center. Units included artillery, cavalry, armored, infantry, logistical support, and air support.

As the Diamonds left, Vonvon excitedly waved them good-bye, joined by Spinel. But as soon as the doors closed, the child's demeanor instantly changed.

"Alright, Spinel show me what we have to work with."

Outside of the command center, Vonvon's grand army awaited. As soon as they saw the child, the thunderous echo of hundreds of Gems standing at attention and giving the child the old Homeworld salute filled the air.

"Good morning, General!" Said hundreds of voices.

Vonvon donned a pair of violently outlandish and dramatically pink visors, as pointy as they were outrageous, as they took a deep breath.

"Smell that, Spinel?" They said as they popped a lollipop in their mouth. "Smells like a good day for war."

Little did the Diamonds know, Connie had trained her child for this day. Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, Chess, Risk, Monopoly, years of playing strategy games and dealing with Connie's competitiveness were about to pay off.

"I wonder what Vonvon did all weekend." Steven said as he and his wife watched White Diamond's ship descend from the upper atmosphere.

As the door at the front of giant crystal torso opened up, the pair were greeted by Vonvon and White Diamond, the former decorated in military medals, flashy regalia, and a flowing, dramatic cape.

"Mama! Papa!" Vonvon laughed as they ran to their parents.

Steven was relieved everything seemed to have gone well, but wondered about Vonvon's strange outfit.

"Had a fun weekend?" He asked, looking up to White Diamond.

"Oh, absolutely!" She assured him as Yellow and Blue Diamond emerged from the ship. "They're a regular chip off the old Gem!"

"They remind me of myself when I was newly emerged." Yellow Diamond added, wiping an emotional tear from her eye.

"Huh?" Steven asked. "What did you guys do all weekend?"

"Pretty sure they just played games, hun." Connie quickly interjected.

"Like Battleship?"

"Sure."

While Steven was distracted with an excited little Vonvon, who was babbling what sounded like nonsense, Blue Diamond caught Connie's attention.

"They caused a little damage in their first battle." She whispered to Connie. "So our usual game will have to be postponed until the repairs are finished."

"What game?" Steven inquired, curious as to what the two were talking about.

"Chess." Connie said.

"Chess? I didn't know Blue played chess."

"You child is surprisingly sharp." Blue said, consciously failing to mention the sea of carnage they left on the distant world. "How was the colony?"

"W-Well..." Steven began as a distant, orange dot appeared in the distance.

Slowly, the dot came closer, changing into a large, humanoid shape.

"Steven!" Jasper yelled as she approached. "I formally request that you expla-!"

Vonvon noticed both Steven and Connie sigh while the Diamonds looked on in both confusion. They then had an idea.

"Jasper Facet-9 Cut-1T4!" They barked.

The big, buff Quartz stiffened up, straightened her back, and crossed her arms in salute.

"What is the meaning of this insubordination?!" They continued.

"I-It is not insubordination!" Jasper explained. "As Steven's bodyguard, I only wanted to do my duty and prove that I am as capable as Connie!"

"Elaborate."

"I simply request an explanation for what Connie can do for Steven that I cannot."

"Oh, that's a good question." Vonvon innocently noted. "You are a big, strong Gem. Mama can swordfight, but I don't think she can crush rocks with a headbutt."

Everyone, including the Diamonds, looked to Steven and Connie, waiting for an explanation. They could feel everyone's gaze piercing their souls, unblinking, unwavering.

"I'll handle this." Garnet announced, appearing without explanation. As she whispered something to Jasper, the big, orange Gem glanced over at Steven and Connie, then down to Vonvon.

"That's disgusting!" She screamed.

"It's what humans do." Garnet shrugged. "Rose did it."

Jasper struggled to process the information she was given. She then approached Connie.

"You survived what Pink Diamond could not." She said, deflated. "You truly are more capable than me."

Fortunately, Vonvon and the Diamonds weren't curious enough to ask Garnet about what she told Jasper. But more importantly, Jasper wasn't going to bother Steven or Connie again.

@artsycooky13

[hopeymchope]

If you like Danganronpa, you might like...

I’ve discovered quite a few games/animes I’ve loved and even new fandoms by using recommendation engines/following online message board recommendations for people who already like the Danganronopa games or anime or manga, and I thought I’d give a quick rundown of how these things have worked out for me.

I’ve been wanting to do this for a while now, honestly... it’s just time-consuming to write it all up, y’know?

Today, I’ll focus primarily on the video game side. If I put “Danganronpa” (any entry) into a recommendation engine, these are the results that I see spit back at me the most... and now that I’ve tried all the most common results, here are my findings.

Persona

Why This is Probably Getting Rec’d: The storylines have teenagers in Japan having to investigate dark goings-on while counterbalancing that with scenes of daily life that are lighter and more humorous. There are also “social link” scenes with the other characters that could easily be compared to the “Free Time Events” in DR, wherein you learn more about the lives of your compatriots via some one-on-one time.

What I Played: Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden on my Vita, then Persona Q on my 3DS. And I watched the main anime adaptions for 3 and 4...

Did It Work for Me? Will it Work for Others? Persona 3 and 4 absolutely worked for me. Q didn’t so much; the Etrian Odyssey-style map-your-own-first-person-dungeon gameplay was a turnoff. Regardless, it’s hard to pin down exactly why there is SO DAMN MUCH crossover between Persona and Danganronpa fans - probably more than anything else I’ve got listed here - because they’re actually very different. These are RPGs with turn-based combat and fantastical story elements involving magic and mystical beings and other worlds. And yet... I do feel the tonal similarity, and the characters feel like they could be at home in a DR game or vice-versa. And I deeply loved 3 and 4. (The stories are individualized to each numbered entry with the exception of the two “Persona 2″ games, so you can jump in on any numbered entry without any problem). I am excited to one day play 5 (although it is so much easier for me to play portables so I really, really, really wish there was some portable version of 5 in existence). Also note that the “social links” didn’t exist UNTIL Persona 3, so you can’t really go back and find that aspect in the first few titles. I can’t say these will work for everyone, but the massive amount of fan overlap says something, so if you’re game for a turn-based RPG AND you like Danganronpa... have I got a soup here for you.

Zero Escape Series (”9 Persons, 9 Hours, 9 Doors” + “Virtue’s Last Reward” + “Zero Time Dilemma”)

Why This is Probably Getting Rec’d: Dark, complex storyline filled with twists, memorable characters trapped in killing game, a mysterious mastermind, visual novel-style presentation, off-kilter humor interjected at surprising times.

What I Played: All three games on the Vita (the first two are collected as “The Nonary Games”).

Did It Work for Me? Will it Work for Others? Yes and yes. Aside from maybe Zanki Zero (see below), this is probably the most obvious thing to recommend to Danganronpa fans, and I’m kind of surprised there isn’t even more of a fandom to it. I can see why it doesn’t have as big of a following as DR - I mean, the humor isn’t quite as widespread and the characters are a bit less quirkily odd - but it’s hard not to get sucked in and fall in love with these stories. The big point of separation for DR fans is that instead of “Trials” where you use logic to solve puzzles, you have to constantly do “escape rooms” and use logic to find your way out of those rooms by doing point-and-click style hunting for items and solving puzzles in those rooms. Just like in DR, however, you’ll find that the more you fail, the more the game gives you increasingly blatant hints as to what you’re supposed to be doing, so it’s not like anything should get you stuck for too long. There’s also the somewhat obtuse nature of how to progress at times, but if you use the branching storyline map whenever you get stuck to look for updated items, you’ll probably be just fine (I hear the DS version of the first game doesn’t have such a map - or even voice acting - so you may need to beware of that being the most obtuse version out there). I loved these games, even if my rankings for them are probably out of sync with how most of the fandom seems to feel.

Phoenix Wright

Why This is Probably Getting Rec’d: Visual novel-style plot and investigation scenes, murder trials with logic puzzles where you need to point out flaws in testimony/falsehoods using evidence, plenty of humor.

What I Played: All of the first game (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney) on the DS

Did It Work For Me? Will It Work for Others? Well... this is a little unfair, because I played the first one of these before I ever played Danganronpa, but... I didn’t like it. The humor was... lame for me? and I found the trials excruciatingly difficult because MY version of how the logic was flawed was never exactly how they wanted me to approach it. It was a matter of me attacking the wrong parts of sentences over the same general facts but... yeah... I didn’t get into this. Maybe I’m dumb, or was dumb, but it didn’t click for me and I only got through the first game using a guide and expending a lot of patience. I later tried out the anime because I heard it had a good rep (and this was after getting into DR and anime in general), and I didn’t care for that either. So I don’t know about this one.. it wasn’t up my alley. Will it work for other people? Well, clearly it DOES work for other people or this wouldn’t be considered a similar recommendation that comes up so often, typically in the top three of “if you like DR games” results! I do think the humor is FAR different than that of Danganronpa’s, and the characters lack the same kind of nuanced depth you see in DR (but again, that’s just from me playing the first game). But it’s easy to see from the “Why This is Probably Getting Rec’d” that there are elements that would definitely appeal to DR players. Give it a try for yourself if you aren’t already a fan, I’d say. My experience feels... esoteric to what most people think. I may need to try one again. These are on tons of platforms nowadays, many with demos, and often at discounted prices.

Zanki Zero: Last Beginning

Why This is Probably Getting Rec’d: It’s made by largely the same team using the same art style and presentation stlye and is an extremely dark story full of unique personalities and LOADS of weird off-kilter humor with zany mascots somehow overseeing apocalyptic circumstances and the characters look and act like they could easily be in DR and...

What I Played: The whole lone game from start to finish on my PS4.

Did It Work For Me? Will It Work for Others? HELL YES. Everyone who likes DR should really give this a chance. It gives off so much of a similar vibe despite being a “survival”-style game with navigation puzzles rather than logic puzzles, and you can turn off the survival/combat aspects entirely if that’s not your thing! And the story is excellent and the characters are excellent and really just please play this. Underrated game of 2019, and most underrated game that needs a fandom that I’ve ever played.

Fire Emblem

Why This is Probably Getting Rec’d: The bonding sequences you get when your units stand next to each other could be compared to FTEs. It’s got an anime design aesthetic, and the story can go pretty dark. Characters may suffer permadeath (even if other characters won’t react to this fact), so I guess there’s that...

What I Played: Awakening and Fates on the 3DS in their entirety (Yes, I did all three routes on Fates).

Did It Work For Me? Will It Work for Others? I can’t say I fully “get” this one. Fire Emblem is a turn-based strategy game that takes place in a medieval setting, so why is it always turning up in recommendations for people who play Danganronpa? Yes, I did enjoy it quite a bit. I became a newly minted fan of Fire Emblem. Success! And yet... I don’t know that the crossover is obvious to me, nor do I expect it would be a clear-cut case for most DR fans. I don’t even know that all of the traits Iisted under “Why This is Probably Getting Rec’d” actually apply to the whole series. I suppose that any game series that has a balance of darkness and humor plus a “character bonding” scene mechanic might just fall into the “if you like Danganronpa... “ pit, regardless of how incredibly different EVERYTHING ELSE is. But perhaps there’s a deeper connection here than I realize. Care to theorize?

[jesonomi]

Fate/EXTELLA Link Review

Judging this game by three different approaches: As a Warriors Game, a 100% completion game, and as an Astolfo game. 1. As a Warriors game, pretty alright. Would rate above One Piece 4 and Fire Emblem Warriors. Perhaps a bit below the Berserk Warriors game. In my opinion, less tedious than Fire Emblem, and more replay value than One Piece due to item collecting/ease of character swapping compared to One Piece's almost purely money-based progression system. Gameplay feels better than Umbral Star by quite a bit, although normal attacks feel weak and incredibly inefficient compared to your active skills. This unfortunately makes how good characters feel live and die by the skills given to them. Some characters just innately feel weak and clunky due to the hitboxes or functions of their active skills, while others embody the coolness of the Fate series. Progression is through levels and skill/item collecting. Characters can be leveled up to match your max leveled character through in-game currency, which is earned in extremely large amounts. The skills/items, referred to as "Install Skills" are general stat/effect bonuses, and you also earn a ton with each mission. Getting another of the same skill increases the level of it, creating a copy of it and starting the process over when reaching the max level for the skill. Some skills totally outclass others, but ultimately I liked seeing them roll in at the end of the mission. (Pro-Tip: Stack Defense and spam way higher level missions to level up quick. Would not recommend doing so if you enjoy challenge, however.) Plot is okay. You're most likely to get the dullest and most standard ending first, then the slightly more interesting alternative ending, and then after that ending you're able to go through the third route/ending which is more interesting, I guess, but also oddly disconnected with the other route. 2. 100% completion is tedious... but not exceedingly mind-numbing. There is a reasonable amount of repeats, but for the most part you are selecting different missions. Most missions will probably only need to get replayed 3 or so times (First playthrough, Very Hard difficulty, and Extra Mission repeats). Biggest time sink is having to go back and do missions again on Very Hard, and clearing all the Extra Missions. Biggest tedium is having to get ALL the servants to max bond level (repeating the same one minute mission and clearing their side objectives over and over) and then having to go to each servant later and clear out all their dialogue. And also crafting all the items. I definitely started to hit the mind-numbing wall around the last third of the hours. Swapping characters (better be choosing the smoother characters) alleviates some, but then eventually it might just be easier on the brain to pick one of the best and wiping through everything. Definitely recommend stacking defense and boosting levels to max ASAP as soon as you unlock Very Hard/all the Extra Missions. Leveling does not take that much time with this method. 3. As an Astolfo game, honestly, pretty mediocre. They star a decent amount in the plot, which is nice, but gameplay-wise they are one of the weaker ones. I think Area of Effect attacks are absolutely king in this game, and Astolfo has like... one and a half. The one is not that great. The half... is considered half for a reason. But at the same time is somewhat important for dealing decent damage to Servants. But also unreliably? Playing Astolfo for a bit early on is fun but other characters just feel so much better I never really wanted to go back. Very cute when you don't let that bother you, though. As a one and done: 7/10 Going through all routes and maybe some more: 8/10 Doing 100% Completion: 7/10 As Astolfo Appreciation: 5/10.