#gameplay? great. weapons? great. armours? great

[maranull]

how can you make something so good, add so much lore and flesh out so many characters so well

and at the same time have the most underwhelming, boring ass conclusion to a story line THAT YOU COULD HAD MADE INTERESTING, AND WAS, UP UNTIL THE "SOMEHOW, RADAHN RETURNED" SCENE

fucking. s8 of game of thrones looking ending

[hollowtones]

ayy monhun fan! what are you thinkin of what we've seen of wilds so far?

The initial trailer they dropped months ago was pretty cool. "World" is my least favourite game that I've played (even thought I liked it a lot!!), and 90% of why I felt that way was "this is the first time they're making a game of this scale / scope / direction", so it's exciting to see them make a successor to it now that they're not also learning how to make a game like it from the bottom-up & not also building the tech side of it from scratch.

Big desert environments have me excited!!!! I love the way these games do deserts. I'm always dreaming of Val Habar. I love the colour palette they're using for this area. Big fan of Yoshi being a new mechanic. In general I'm noticing a lot of things in "Wilds" that feel like a really cool mix of ideas from "World" and "Rise" in a way that feels a little more grounded. It's cool that they're bringing back a buddy you can ride around on & control. I wonder if they'll let Yoshi fight with you. I don't remember if they showed that off already. Getting to hotswap between 2 weapons without having to run back to base camp feels like a big deal that I haven't really wrapped my head around yet.

The focus mode thing seems fine. More granular control over aiming sometimes seems neat, & the footage we've seen makes it feel like positioning & animation commitment are still a part of it, which I like. Expanding part-breaking into "opening wounds that take more damage & enable special attacks" seems cool! (There was a similar-ish tenderizing mechanic with the Clutch Claw in "Iceborne", and I fuckin hated using it. Loved the idea of it at first. Having to do this whole separate action that interrupted the flow of the fight in a weird way to enable more damage felt awful after a while!! And they designed all the fights around the fact that you have it & use it! So I'm glad they're seemingly taking what I liked about it & chucking out the rest, haha.) I remember there was some hubbub about focus existing at all when news was first dropping. Some people were mad about it? I feel like this happens every time they announce a new Monster Hunter. They reveal a new feature, and a couple guys crawl out of the woodwork to go "THEY HAVE MADE THE VIDEO GAME PITIFUL AND EASIER - THIS IS THE DEATH OF THE FRANCHISE!" The franchise has died every game since the first one, by my count. (They end up buying the game anyway, of course.) I hope they put out a demo soon, though. I wanna get my hands on it & see how it works in the middle of a fight to see how I actually feel about it.

Weapon & armour design so far has been great. Happy about that. The bits of NPC designs we've seen have been cool. I don't really like the smith's look very much. Which makes me sad because I'm pretty sure she's supposed to be Little Miss Forge. LOL

When they first showed the game off I remember thinking "yeah, that's cool, I'm looking forward to this, but it's coming out Next Year & we're not even halfway done with 2024." Well now we're almost two thirds of the way through the year. And they keep dropping gameplay trailers. And they look hype as fuck!! And now I'm feeling more impatient!!! I wanna try this shit out soon!!! I wonder if they'll drop a public demo after Gamescom or something. I wonder if my computer could even run it...

I liked the way Hunting Horn played in "Rise" but it's cool to see the more traditional recitals back. (But faster!! And with new combo paths!!) I think I've spent a cumulative hour or two watching that horn trailer over and over again for little details. The funny bubble reminds me of bead of resonance but it seems like it might also be some kind of AoE team buff? It could also just be extra damage like bead was. But I loved bead. So I'll take it. Being a Hunting Horn fan is accepting that you'll be playing an entirely different weapon in every subsequent game, so I suppose I fuss less about whether or not it plays like any one specific game. But mannnnnn it looks cool as hell this time around.

[rosymourning]

The Pride of Creche K'liir - a Lae'zel build

"Eager for battle."

She hits. Hard. Lae'zel is a Battle Master Fighter, commanding the battlefield and striking fear into the hearts of her foes. This build is a very basic fighter, but a ridiculously strong one nonetheless.

[check out my other builds!]

Gameplay Notes

Listen, it’s pretty standard. Get the biggest sword you can find and hit people with it as often as you’re allowed. You’re not here for a never-before-seen gameplay loop, and I’m not pretending that’s what I’m writing, either. The lore section will be more fun. [to be clear, I LOVE Lae’zel, but this is not my most creative build by any stretch of the imagination]

Stats and Leveling

Final build: Level 12 Battle Master Fighter

Lae’zel’s (default) stats: STR 17 / DEX 13 / CON 15 / INT 10 / WIS 12 / CHA 8

Level 1 - Fighter Level 1

Fighting Style: Great Weapon Fighting

Level 2 - Fighter Level 2

Action Surge [my love, my light, the love of my life]

Level 3 - Fighter (Battle Master) Level 3

Manoeuvres: Disarming Attack, Menacing Attack, Riposte

Level 4 - Fighter (Battle Master) Level 4

Feat: Great Weapon Master

Level 5 - Fighter (Battle Master) Level 5

Extra Attack

Level 6 - Fighter (Battle Master) Level 6

Feat: ASI+ STR>18, CON>16

Level 7 - Fighter (Battle Master) Level 7

Manoeuvres: Pushing Attack, Trip Attack

Level 8 - Fighter (Battle Master) Level 8

Feat: Alert [remember when I said this build was obvious? I’m not reinventing the wheel here]

Level 9 - Fighter (Battle Master) Level 9

Level 10 - Fighter (Battle Master) Level 10

Manoeuvres: Goading Attack, Rally

Level 11 - Fighter (Battle Master) Level 11

Improved Extra Attack [Lae’zel will now shred enemies, which is hype]

Level 12 - Fighter (Battle Master) Level 12

ASI+ STR>20

Items

Armor - Psionic Ward Armour (2 Reithwin Town)

Melee Weapon -

Soulbreaker Greatsword (1 Creche)

Silver Sword of the Astral Plane (3 Kith’rak Voss) [obvs]

Ranged Weapon - Githyanki Crossbow (1 The Risen Road)

Amulet - Aberration Hunters' Amulet (1 Creche) [this is a great example of gear that’s kind of nonsensical to choose from a mechanics point of view, but I think Lae’zel would love that it’s Githyanki specific. also it looks dope on her]

Helmet - Circlet of Psionic Revenge (1 Creche)

Ring 1 - Ring of Protection (1 Emerald Grove) [tip: you can steal the idol after the Goblin Camp is cleared out and it will no longer start ww3]

Ring 2 - Ring of Free Action (2 Moonrise Towers) [OR if you’re feeling fancy/didn’t equip it on a Rogue in your party, I really really love Risky Ring (2 Moonrise Towers) on Fighters with Great Weapon Master]

Gloves - Hr'a'cknir Bracers (2 Reithwin Town) [kinda useless for this build but the #aesthetic wins out for me… Battle Master Fighter is plenty strong already so idc]

Boots - Boots of Psionic Movement (3 Knights of the Shield Hideout)

Cloak - N/A [hot take, the cloaks are mostly good for casters, and since I don’t like the vibe of Fleshmelter in this build, I’m skipping it. and also I feel like I never see Gith with a cloak? so no cloak lmao] [but if you insist, Cloak of Protection (2 Last Light Inn) is standard for a reason]

Lore and Flavor

Part of the reason I’ve been dragging my feet about writing up this build is that it’s so… obvious. But, instead of just prioritizing the best possible armor and weapons across the board, I’ve continued my commitment to character and lore by picking Githyanki equipment as much as possible. Yes, in a good playthrough, Lae’zel turns her back on Vlaakith, but she remains deeply proud of her people. So yeah, I recognize it’s not the best armor set for an optimized run, but it’s the most fun armor set for Lae’zel!

One thing that I love so ardently about Lae’zel’s character design is the differing interactions between her independence and her loyalty — to me, the two strongest facets of her personality — in her possible endings. Lae’zel’s best ending shows her independence and her loyalty to her people shining through as her greatest strengths. However, my heart breaks every time I see the dark side of those very same qualities as she ascends to Vlaakith and… well… :(

Anyway, my main point is that most of the references for Lae’zel wearing metal armor and swinging a great sword are so surface level that they’re hard to reference directly. It’s just sort of… fundamental to her character design. There are arguments for other builds, to be sure, and I plan to write something up for both a Monk build and a Psionic Eldritch Knight build eventually, but I wanted to put this out in the world before I started getting too creative.

[check out my build disclaimer for info about how and why I don't min/max or completely optimize builds, prioritizing lore and vibe instead]

[eruscreaminginthedistance]

Okay so. I've been sitting on my full first impressions of the game until after the gameplay reveal, cos I know shit can get twisted in marketing.

I was NOT a fan of the trailer. The vibe was off; I cringed a lot; it gave a off very bog-standard hero team saves the day kind of vibe which I inherently dislike because it seems like Dragon Age has just given up on giving you the freedom to be a bastard, or any kind of character that isn't on rails to be everyone's favourite boy. It also failed to bring any dark fantasy to the table. BUT I know from experience, namely the DA2 trailer (not the CGI one. the other one), that marketing is intent on making Dragon Age look like the goofiest shit possible to appeal to the dregs of society (normies). I watched it. Hated it. Moved on to life stuff.

Now with the gameplay reveal out of the way, I have some more solid takes on everything we now know about the game overall.

Things I liked:

The companions all look pretty cool; I've been excited for Devrin for years now, and seeing that he's a Dalish Elf as well as a Warden is quite exciting to see; everyone else are also not only well designed but don't feel like rehashes of our previous companions (apart from Harding)

The return of multiple weapon sets. Thank fucking god. This may even make archer a viable build again. Also I noted that you only have a set number of arrows which the UI tracks, which I'm a huge fan of

The look and style of Minrathous. I like that Bioware is showing their hard work in coming up with a unique area based entirely around magic-tech and I think the result looks great; I am really intrigued by the dark panopticon vibes and hope that becomes a major theme going forward

Different demon designs. I hope there's a bit more variation as the game progresses, but I liked little details like the Pride demons having some kind of armour aesthetic

Dialogue wheel. No notes; she's here, still the same comforting presence as ever. Praying with fingers crossed that it doesn't turn into a super bland protagonist situation like Inquisition

Choosing a faction in character creation that isn't locked to one's race; this one is a really cool idea and if origins don't come back it can be a decent alternative if the reactivity to your choice is the same as in the prologue

Things I didn't like:

Action wheel. Like. I'm a PC person, so I have no idea what the final UI will actually look like for me. But Bioware hasn't elaborated on their UI style at all and if Inquisition is anything to go by, I'm stuck with shitty console-centred UI for the whole game. I would rather just have the ability bar back, for my sanity.

The two-person companion limit. It automatically restricts people into a specific party build depending on their class and I hate that

The Mass Effect-style gameplay. Party tactics was a HUGE draw to the DA series for me, and is what got me into retro RPGs in the first place. Seeing it replaced completely to the point where we can no longer manually manage our party is a huge disappointment. I am willing to keep an open mind, just because I love Mass Effect that much, but it hurts knowing for a certainty I'm never gonna engage with Veilguard like I did with Origins or 2 as a result

The voice acting. Was this an out of date take, or did everyone sound super flat to anyone else? Especially Neve, who didn't seem to know what she was reacting to, just really wooden. It was disappointing, cos I love her voice overall. Wasn't a fan of Rook's voice but I don't plan to play a man anyway

The breaking pots method of looting. This is gonna feel like such a nitpick but I immediately pulled a face seeing that cos I could TELL some suit somewhere asked the Bioware team to "make it more like breath of the wild" and now for some reason it's not dynamic enough to just click on a crate and choose what loot to take; now Tevinters are storing exactly one (1) random health potion in decorative clay jars around the city (more likely than you think!)

The aesthetic of the veil and spirit stuff so far; it's just all a bit bright and noisy, doesn't really grab me as something fun to explore or fight (again, I'm an Origins girly so I'm biased)

Harding coming back. I know she's cool and everyone likes her and I like her too. In Inquisition. This is just a preference, but if I'm gonna start a new game as a new person I don't want to be inheriting pre-bought friends from the last protagonist ://

Things I HATE:

Why does everyone look like play-doh; it's disconcerting.

Like guys I know DA2 is having a renaissance but I don't think anyone was getting nostalgic over everyone's pudding faces.

Everything put out so far has basically crushed any hope I had for this becoming Dwarf age :/ No new dwarf characters, no mention of Kal-Sharok, Harding being the only dwarf companion basically confirms that dwarves will be unromanceable AGAIN. not a fan

TLDR: This is still definitely not a day-one buy for me. The series has just strayed completely from the genre and format that I loved about the previous games into a full action RPG derivative of games from four years ago. Without the focus on party tactics and the low-tech, dark and gritty worldbuilding from the first two games it just fails to excite me. It looks too much like other games for me to really register it as a Dragon Age game.

I love the story and the world of Dragon Age though, so I do still intend to buy it when it goes on sale, but this is definitely a "wait and see the reviews" situation for me, which is a first when it comes to this series :/

[lesbiansforboromir]

Just saw your posts abt the return to Moria songs - was about to ask if you'd got your hands on the game yet! After the trainwreck of the gollum game I'm rlly interested in your opinions/thoughts on return to Moria, lore wise and mechanically as a game, the trailers always looked great & development sounded like it was going well but since it came out I've mostly been seeing poor reviews. What's the lesbiansforboromir verdict so far?

RTM?? HAS?? POOR REVIEWS?? I'll- m. I suppose. People are entitled to be wrong. Anyway well I fucking love this game.

Honestly I dont want to talk about it as a game like the gameplay is fun, I like exploring and mining and making my little bases with all my friends okay, do you want to be a dwarf and do dwarf things in The Dwarf Place with 7 of your little dwarf friends?? Yes?? Good! The game is literally only 31£ which in comparison to most titles that come out these days is so emminently affordable I was honestly shocked I could get it.

I suppose to be clear I was a beta tester for this game like I've been rooting for it for ages so I guess I was primed to enjoy it but!! Like!! What I actually want to talk about is Return to Moria as a piece of art earnestly engaging in dwarven spirituality and narrative as something moving and poignant in and of itself. The mood and narrative of the game is built more on the experience of playing the game than any story or dialogue.

You have come from any corner of dwarvendom, at Gimli's calling, to reclaim Khazad-dum after Sauron's destruction. For some reason though, the doors both east and west are blocked, the pass code no longer works. In attempting to mine through there is an accident and you fall through the floor into Moria, alone.

Now, I would posit that there are two very different games within this game. On the one hand, you can play with friends. You fell through with a few other dwarves and after finding each other you begin to figure out what to do. You deligate tasks of resource collecting and exploration and base building, someone will cook breakfast for the group in the morning for you to all have together, when you mine together your voices join up into lovely shanty-like melodies and at the end of a hard day or some victory you have a mug of ale together and sing around a fire. If you fall, there is someone to pick you up and the burden of the shadow is born by all, it feels right. You can also distribute different 'masterworks' between all of you, so you are never in the dark, you can always mine swiftly through obstacles and someone can offer you a restorative if you need one. The feeling is so right, like this is simply how dwarves always should be, and as you more rapidly clear rubble and repair the world around you the sense of togetherness and reclaiming a home are very powerful. You still long for Durin's return, you sing his song together each time you mend his statues (all my group instinctively waited for everyone to be gathered before mending any of Durin's statues) but you also feel a part of the great dwarven whole and it makes the game a kind of hopeful determined experience. Like yes the damage of the past is great, and the future is uncertain, you have no guiding light. But you do, you have each other, the dwarves will endure and bring their own light to dark places once again. Together.

But if you are playing alone? It is an entirely different experience. And the singing is really the clearest expression of that difference. Whereas with friends your voice will be raised with your fellows and produce really pleasant melodies, alone there is only you. It seems obvious, but there is something about being on your own, mining an iron vein because you need weapons and armour to defend yourself against the orcs that you can see and hear watching you from the darkness, waiting to strike, and you begin to sing, just to yourself, in a voice that is often not particularly beautiful, but you have to do something just to make yourself feel less alone, to calm your own nerves when you feel like a wolf could silently creep up behind you and attack at any moment (a real threat that happens a great deal during solo-play). It is not joyful anymore, it is desperate, you always start off by humming as though you need to psych yourself up to actually raising your voice in the hollow halls. You are always running out of space in your inventory, one dwarf alone cannot carry everything needed to set up safe havens everywhere you want, and as for masterworks? You have to choose between easy light and a raft of other far more useful things like a cask of miruvor, an unbreakable shield, a pickaxe that cuts your mining time in half! You will still choose the light in the end. Where all the leftover dilapidated bases you find felt cosy with friends, now they feel empty, too much space for just one dwarf. You drink and dance alone now, at the end of a weary day, trying to buoy yourself into enduring another one tomorrow, there is no one to celebrate successes or commiserate failures with. And it FEELS wrong, a dwarf alone in here feels wrong, that community you want to turn too for guidance isn't there, and neither is Durin. The sensation that King Thorin Stonehelm III was right, that you should have waited for Durin's return before trying to restory Khazad-dum, is most powerful in soloplay.

The only time you feel that togetherness, that you dont feel alone, is when you mend one of Durin's statues. Whilst you start off singing the song of durin alone, as you continue other voices join you in an uplifting veneration that every dwarf knows. It's the only time in solo-play that you will hear more voices than just your own. It's like a way to connect to the great whole that is the dwarven people, that you are so cut off from right now but that is never wholly gone, as Durin is also never wholly gone. He is the conduit that connects every dwarf in the world and the longing for him is far more potent in playthroughs where he is the only dwarf you can turn too. Despair is a literal mechanic in the game that will slowly sap your life away if you spend too much time alone in the dark.

So a solo experience of the game more emphasises this fear of the future, fear of the unknown, of walking alone into a world that is dark and dangerous and full of pain and loss. You still have victories, but it is gruelling and each one feels more miraculous.

So that's my take, also obligatory mention of the coolest fucking multiplayer gaming moment of my life where me and three friends walked the pilgrim's road of Durin, found the source of the Kibil-nala where a great monument is built as shrine to Durin's passage, restored it and sang to it together (all of us deathly silent in voice chat just to listen) and the song ending just before we were attacked by a horde of orcs rushing into the chamber whereupon us FFFUCKING NERD ASS BITCHES turned around yelling (in our real human voices, not discussed beforehand) 'Baruk Khazad' and 'Khazad ai-menu' with our weapons raised and defeated the orcs at the threshold LIKE... Theoden screaming 'death' levels of adhrenaline and emotional investment I tell you.

Anyway I have to go now, LOTRO's Umbar update finally downloaded ciao

[terra-drone]

My gripes with Rift Apart

Consider this a review of Rift Apart (PC ver). After playing this game twice on Renegade Legend, I have... opinions. Being a fan of the franchise since Going Command/Locked & Loaded, I admittedly have some strong biases for both the PS2 saga and the Future Trilogy for various reasons. But before I go lambasting this entry into the franchise, a TLDR summary;

Pros:

The game is pretty and well executed on a technical level (for the most part).

The platforming and movement is refined and a step up from previous titles.

Cons:

Quite literally almost everything else.

Also has a propensity for crashing (both freezing and blue screen of death).

Movement & Platforming

One of the core aspects of RaC that I am happy RA got right. The movement is buttery smooth and chain daisying from one platform to the next using wall runs, dashes and rift pulls is excellently designed. The addition of the dash function adds an extra dodge ability that was absent in previous entries although granted we can still use the age-old side jumping while aiming/shooting.

I do wish however that the hoverboots were more integrated into the platforming since most of the time you only ever need it for super long leaps or the timed step puzzles. Something like the jump pads from ACIT would be nice to see paired with the new wall run and dash mechanic. You hardly need to use it outside of Savali and Torren IV and the last part of the Nef Mech fight.

What I wished they truncated however was the glide mechanic the hoverboots had. Given that the hoverboots could both glide and make you go fast, it makes this better than whatever Clank could possibly offer. @erablisme has done a wonderful breakdown on this matter (see here), but essentially having the hoverboots be an upgrade of both the charge boots and fulfilling Clank’s contribution to Ratchet’s mobility (gliding) renders Clank, from a gameplay standpoint, moot. It renders Clank into nothing more than a glorified backpack/exposition device, which beats the entire purpose of the franchise’s own title.

Gameplay

Weapons

The arsenal, while fun to use, is too bloated. A lot of the guns overlap in functionality:

Shotguns: Enforcer, Pixelizer, Void Repulser

Seeker/Turret weapons: Agents of Doom, Bombardier, Mr Fungi

Crowd Control: Topiary Sprinkler, Cold Snap

Grenades: Shatterbomb, Bouncer

Rapid fire: Burst Pistol, Blackhole Storm

Lock-on weapons: Drillhound, Richochet, Buzzsaw, Lightning Rod

Heavy hitter: RYNO, Negatron Collider, Warmonger

Do we really need multiple weapons that do the same thing just with different particle effects?

The level up mechanic, while a staple of RaC games, is frankly outdated by this point and actively hinders the game. If anything, it punishes players for sticking to guns they enjoy once they hit max level. It makes the motivator for using weapons not be its function but rather to chase that arbitrary level cap. Plus, there’s no telling what the level up actually did for a weapon aside from damage buffs.

It’s not like they couldn’t do away with this feature, Deadlocked made the guns increase so many levels it frankly deemphasises them in favour of choosing the best weapon for any given scenario, ItN decreased the max level to 3 (6 on challenge) in favour of more meaningful weapon upgrades, and ACiT had the Constructo weapons and mods (which Deadlocked also had called Omega Mods) that incentivises experimentation on what combos worked best while allowing you to spice things up post max level. Why not tie weapon upgrades to collectibles? They already had the Raritanium collection, sprinkling effect mods for weapons throughout the locations shouldn’t be too difficult. They already did this for the armour system, so why not do it for the weapons too? Heck, why not make all the weapons customisable like the Constructo weapons? It would solve the bloated arsenal problem.

Enemy Design

The enemy design in this game just isn’t great. While it makes sense considering you’re fighting an army so it’s obvious they’re gonna have standardised units, you would think they would spice up their combat stratagem when they know they couldn’t beat our protagonists by throwing the same old shtick over and over. Instead, we keep having to fight the same miniboss Juggernaut over and over and over again. Sometimes there’s two of them! Make it three during the Juice fight!

It’s not a problem with just the Nefarious troopers, it’s an issue across multiple factions too. Across all three factions (Space Pirates, Goons & Nef’s army), they all follow the same formula; 

the one with the gun: Pirate Corsair, Goon, Nef Lasertrooper

the one that does melee: Space Pirate & Shield Pirate, Goon Rusher & Undead Goon, Nef Slugger

the tiny short range/melee swarmer: Cutlassies, Robomutt, Nef Trooper

the vehicle one: Goon Dropship, Nef Dropship

the flying one: Zoom Goon, Nef Sniperbot & Blitztrooper & Sniperbot

the heavy flying one: Vroom Goon, Nef Peacekeeper

the rinse repeat miniboss: Pirate Marauder, Nef Juggernaut

While stylistically different, they don’t differ much from how they shoot/do damage at you. It would have been great if they did some things different from one another. Some really simple fixes;

While I think giving shields to pirates makes little sense, it is some variety at least. Expand on that. Maybe make the Goon Rusher actually rush towards you faster than the others, or make the Nefarious Slugger can do 360 attacks or have more range since it’s a) a robot, and b) basically has the Scorpion Flail for arms. 

Make the Vroom Goons try to ram you instead of just having to avoid the taser things it shoots cuz that’s the exact same thing that the Nefarious Sniperbot does since all you need to do to avoid both attacks is sidestepping it.

Make the Pirate Corsair shoot high damage while the standard Goon does horizontal strafing rapid fire compared to the Nef Trooper’s vertical one

Make the Zoom Goons dodge your attacks, maybe give it a ground pound that opens it up to attack so it's at least somewhat different from the Nef Peacekeeper other than being a slightly squishier variant.

For a game so pretty it is bizarre they couldn’t put more effort into gameplay itself. The repeating minibosses get stale very quickly since once you’ve figured out a tactic that worked, it is rinse and repeat across the whole game.

Two Protagonists, Same Shtick

The gameplay doesn’t differentiate itself between Ratchet and Rivet. They play the exact same way, with the exact same arsenal, and the exact same progression. What is the point of having separate playable protagonists if they’re just gonna end up the same? You could replace Rivet with Ratchet and vice versa for 90% of the game and nothing would change. It would be something if they had separate weapons or separate movement gimmicks that make them distinct, but we didn’t get that for some reason.

Character Issues

The character writing is just abysmal, even when compared to the Future trilogy. While the Future trilogy (and by extension A4O, FFA and ItN) had plenty, and I mean plenty, of plotholes from a worldbuilding standpoint, the character writing was solid and fairly consistent. I cannot say the same for RA. Some examples;

Ratchet(?) & Clank(?)

I can hardly recognise Ratchet as the same character we had over the PS2 and PS3 instalments. He feels more like the 2016 reboot version just haphazardly retconned as the ItN version that RA was supposedly a continuation of. Being afraid of being a washed-up hero was Qwark’s thing, not Ratchet’s. Why would he even care? The man was downright tired of being a hero come ItN. And why is he even worried about meeting the Lombaxes? He saved Polaris multiple times and beat Tachyon, y’know, the reason why they left in the first place? The reason he gave up searching for the Lombaxes was because he had more going on with Talwyn and was assured the Lombaxes would do just fine without him. Why the sudden change of reason? What, is acknowledging Talwyn one too many female characters for Insomniac?

And why would Clank, despite knowing Ratchet not wanting to pursue the Lombaxes, go out of his way to make a whole ass parade about the Dimensionator? If he was just trying to cheer Ratchet up from his fear of being a washed-up hero (which, again, made no sense for his character) he would have just done the parade and given him the Dimensionator in private. The entire premise of Rift Apart hinges on the fact that Clank decides to give Ratchet what can be considered as a WMD since the Lombaxes used the Dimensionator to get rid of the Cragmites in an open public setting. Had he not done this, had he not told Qwark he wanted to surprise Ratchet, Nefarious probably wouldn’t have found out about the new Dimensionator, and the entire game wouldn’t have happened.

Another gripe I have with how Clank was handled was that his Zoni heritage was conveniently forgotten about. They could have tied the Zoni more deeply into the mysticism of the RaC universe and be the reason why he was able to fix the dimensional anomalies, but instead it was tied to Gary and... the Lombaxes. Huh.

Rivet, or as I like to call her, “Furbait”

There is so much missed potential with Rivet. Where to start? Instead of a grizzled, closed-off survivor of a robot dystopia, we just get miss middle-of-the-road, clearly made for pandering, furbait. Design wise, she would have been perfectly serviceable had this NOT been a robot dystopia. The only physical giveaway to show that she was a survivor/rebel fighter was her arm. It is the only thing that shows she’s a rebel fighter survivor. Her suit is well made, her eyelashes are on fleek, her hair is silky smooth, her tail is all fluffy and clean. Nothing about her says she was a survivor. No scars, no dirt, nothing other than the obvious robot arm. It is lazy. Lazy and stupid.

Her personality doesn’t make sense for the universe she supposedly inhabits either. Heck, no one in this franchise fits well in this robot dystopia, tbh. She distrusts robots due to past experience, yet  is chummy with both Clank and Kit (and by some extension, the Zurkons & Pierre) relatively quickly. For someone who should have gone through a lot of adversity, she hardly acts like it. She’s confident, has a lot of friends, and whatever negative aspect she does have (which is just distrust instead of the obvious robot racist she should have been) that would have given her an opportunity to grow as a character is watered down and conveniently forgotten, so she hardly grows as a character, if any.

Ultimately, Rivet boils down to being “What if Ratchet, but a girl?”. There’s work put into trying to make her her own thing, but there’s also the narrative yanking her by the collar to be Ratchet’s other self. She’s the last Lombax in her dimension, she also wonders where the Lombaxes went, and she’s trying to be a hero. At that point, how is she any different than Ratchet? They don’t even differ much personality wise for a version of Ratchet who never met her Clank, so to speak. One would think she would be the spunky RaC1 Ratchet since it was meeting Clank that got Ratchet to grow as a person. Instead she’s just your lovely neighbourhood Rivet, friend to all except robots except the ones she meets I guess. What is the point of having two main characters if they are just gonna end up the same?

Kit

While arguably the better other of the new duo, she has issues as well in the writing department. She had the most growth out of our titular cast, however how she got there is ramshackled at best. 

In comparison to Clank, he was a defective warbot, which made sense why he was small. Kit on the other hand was tailor made by the supposedly competent Emperor Nefarious, so why does she have a cutesy mode? Why does she even have a character crisis from hurting Rivet, for that matter? Stopping rebels was what she was designed to do, and she suddenly gained a conscience from doing her job? If Kit is so effective at what she did, why did Emp Nef stop at making just one of her? Shouldn’t there be multiple Kit models roaming about? She could mow down hordes of newer Nefarious Troopers and Juggernauts, so why didn’t Emp Nef expand on that?

These inconsistencies make Kit as a character start falling apart as soon as you give it more scrutiny than a surface level glance. The writers could have easily solved these issues by just alluding that she might have been an outdated model, or was damaged and abandoned on Savali where Gary and the monks fixed her up and gave her a new purpose — protecting the Archives. Instead of an exterminator, she became a guardian. They could have taught her how to be more “human” as it were, too,  which would tie up nicely to why she regrets her actions in her previous line of work. Instead, they went with the “Oh no, what have I done, I did my job and injured a trespasser, now I’m gonna be a recluse on Savali” route.

She doesn’t gel well with Rivet either because the only one actively having something to overcome was Kit. Had Rivet been written better (having to overcome her prejudices, letting go of her past trauma, solving her trust issues) it could work with Kit growing out of her self doubt and regrets, but it just isn’t there. Plus, there weren't enough scenes of them together to build towards that conflict resolution that would make their friendship more believable. She has more of a relationship with Ratchet than Rivet.

“EmPeRoR” Nefarious

He is boring. Simple as. There is no driving motivation to him other than “conquer everything”. We could have gotten an Ultron (which would make a perfectly sensible callback to the Biobliterator shtick our Nef pulled from UYA) but we just end up with a sassy English bastard with the personality of wet bread. There was no fun interplay between him and our Neffy, anything to make both their personalities shine as they work together or grind against each other, it just sucks.

The Plot(holes)

Imma just list it down.

How does a helmet clearly designed to fit a Lombax head is supposedly “one size fits all”?

How did the fish kid Rivet saved in the intro made it around Nef City in the first place if this was supposedly a robot dystopia that eradicated all squishies? What, was he just having a stroll, taking some fresh dystopian air? Could have made it that this was a fellow rebel she was tasked to save cuz he had some intel that he swiped and Rivet decided to use herself as bait to draw attention away from him so he could get the intel out of there, but no.

On that matter, why do planets like Savali and Torren IV still have organic inhabitants?

What was Skidd trying to achieve by hacking the propaganda blimp? This served no purpose at all narratively since it didn't even turn any robots against the Neffies.

Why was Skidd even in Nef City, for that matter? What was his original mission that he was going undercover for? Busting Rivet out of prison? Couldn’t be, since he made no mention of it.

Why did none of Emp Nef's cronies question our Nef just popping in despite looking clearly different? He’s a whole head shorter and the wrong colour. What, do they not have colour vision?

How did Emp Nef know about the existence of the dimensional map? He barely knew about the Dimensionator so how does that make sense?

If Ratchet already has hoverboots, why couldn’t he dash/sprint with it until he gets to Savali?

Where and when did Rivet get a rift tether?

Where and when did Rivet get a pair of hoverboots?

Wasn’t the Space Pirates/Decadroids designed by Tachyon? Why do they exist in this dimension? Why aren’t they allied with Emp Nef since they too are robots? None of this is explained.

Where did the Lombaxes of Rivet’s dimension disappear to? Did they have a Tachyon-like threat in this dimension too? Did Emp Nef wipe them out? Don’t know, and the game doesn’t bother explaining it cuz Rivet is supposed to be girl Ratchet and nothing beyond that.

Why would Emperor Nefarious announce for the whole galaxy to see where he was going during the finale? Did he lose that much intelligence in the short timeframe we’ve known him? This is the guy who conquered the galaxy?

Why would he leave a portal for our protagonists to conveniently follow him through? 

Where did that telekinetic abilities of him suddenly disappear to?

Where was this dimension’s Lawrence counterpart? That stupid little secretary is so dumb as to not recognise her own boss she couldn’t possibly be the Lawrence replacement.

Environmental Storytelling & Worldbuilding

Environmental storytelling & worldbuilding has never really been Insomniac’s strong suit. RA is pretty and all, but aside from Blizar Prime, none of the other locales did anything different from Ratchet’s dimension. If this was supposed to be a galaxy where Emp Nef has conquered it all, you would think that there’d be more neon, more cyberpunk, more Emp Nef aesthetic, more robots flying about. Instead, we just got the same thing we had from Ratchet’s dimension, just in prettier graphics. It is set dressing with no story to tell. It's a puddle pretending it was an ocean. While I appreciate seeing the graphical glow up the locations got, it’s a missed opportunity to actually show the impact Emp Nef had. 

Take Nefarious City for example;

How was Ratchet able to move around Nef City without raising alarms? This negates the entire point of Rivet needing a robot disguise in the first place.

Why does a static statue in the middle of a city have a terminal that activates a platform that leads to Emp Nef's office in the first place?

On that note, why is an EMPEROR working from an office? Where’s the throne? The grand palace and palisades? The royal guards? If he’s an authoritarian that likes to take control, where’s the giant screen with a hundred monitors that watch every inch of Nef City?

Why does Emp Nef have a tiny four seater shuttle? If he needed to commute planet-side, wouldn’t he have something more posh? More grand? A Rolls Royce of shuttles instead of what can be considered a slightly pricier but still shitty Tesla model? They could have made Ratchet or Rivet have to steal a fighter jet and that would make infinitely more sense than what we got.

The same can be said with the inhabitants of this universe. They only exist to serve as plot devices or to point the protagonists to the next goal rather than actual people. There is no culture, no differing beliefs, nothing to tell you about what they are about or what they do. If all they exist to do is to be exposition devices/mission pointers, what was the point of even making distinct characters? Then again, the Future trilogy suffered the same problem with environmental characters being practically stand-in cardboards so points for consistency, I guess.

Verdict

Essentially, Rift Apart is a creatively bankrupt, designed-by-committee tech demo for Sony Playstation. What used to be a franchise that does satirical commentary on capitalism that later tried to delve into narrative/character driven sci-fi story, has ended up being the most capitalistic-designed entry imaginable. Which is unfortunate because I want to like this game. God, do I want to like it.

Did I enjoy playing it? When it works and doesn't crash on me, sure.

Do I like it enough as an entry to the franchise though? No, no I don't. The gameplay hardly expanded on the RaC formula, and the narrative just killed it for me.

But of course, that's just me. If you enjoyed RA, more power to ya. If you told me to play it again, I'll probably do it. It's just not for me for the long run.

[prototypelq]

I needed some self-therapy this month, and my chosen method has been a monster-hunter genre game, cause I've been severely missing it for the last two years at the very least. This time, I've decided to bite the bullet and give Monster Hunter World a try, despite my very picky and allergic reaction to most of eastern titles, cause I had the feeling I could stomach some of my frustrations with the incentive of monster-hunting, and I was not wrong. (though some things still greatly frustrate me)

Here be my impressions of the first 10 or so, hours into the game (strictly solo experience for Reasons):

The weapon variety is honestly overwhelming for a newcomer to the series, but the katana, bow and insect glaive have definitely caught my attention. Their movesets are a joy to fight with, the glaive especially, plus you get a bug buddy))) and insane mobility options, what's not to love about it. From experience, I can guess that the chargeblade would also bring me much joy to fight with, but that is a weapon for more skilled players, I can see myself trying to check it out later.

(I think this gameplay is mh rise and not world, but all of these moves for the glaive still exist in world)

I can finally see why the fans were talking so much about ecology. Just watching videos is not enough to really show it, but you feel all the little things when you play the actual game. Before playing, I was thinking that 'dino-dragons that breathe fire do not exactly fit your standard ecology', that people just didn't know much of actual ecology to speak like that and at best, they meant that the monster design was influenced by irl animals. However, I understood what those fans meant when I saw that Anjanath, whoose pink and bald skin greatly resemble a vulture, mostly just patrols around and steals food from other monsters.

(watch me hang on for my life when he came around xD)

Pukei, the horrible trashchild that I grew to adore, is quite nimble and agile to fit through the dense forest canopy, which it HAS to do, as there are bits of the jungle where the hunters have to force themselves through tight vines, a dragon of larger size has to be flexible. The chameleon and gecko inspiration is very strong in this little bastard, and it fits perfectly into the jungle, where it resides. Also, the game doesn't have to explain to you that this guy changes the colour of his feathers when aggressive, and it works not just on a gamedesign level, but on the creature-design level too.

Barroth (?I think?) lead me to a large mud pit, in the lowest part of the map, down the riverbed, which, is, y'know, Logical, as water flows down the slopes. It fits so perfectly into that zone, it was clearly the monster's lair or favourite spot, as that monster has a few mud-related attacks and an armour buff.

These little things really ground the weird dino/dragon whacky designs and make the whole world really vibrant and come together wonderfully, they also make the that ecology aspect really shine. You don't normally see this attention to ecological detail in games, and it is clear that a lot of care went into making them.

(btw the binoculars are great, they also work as intended, because the colours of this game, while muted a bit, still are very distinct and bright, unlike otheR games that haD binoculaRs in them)

So yeah, I've been enjoying exploration and the world of this game a lot. On that note,

look at this toad. he is perfect. he deserves the world. I am very happy you can keep little guys in your tent (it's also the only reason to visit said tent)

I also really love that you can make your cat into a literal little gremlin. I adore him now, he too is perfect.

Now for the things that frustrated me.

Controls. The inability to remap inputs and clutch claw controls are atrocious. Apparently the game has walrunning, but I have no idea how to distinguish which surfaces it works on and which it doesn't. No manual jumping is very confusing at times, there are a few very specific places that I'm sure I should be able to climb, but the jump is automated and it didn't work, which just leaves me shrugging. That said, vine swinging is cool.

There are far too many menus with very overwhelming rpg stats, it's very hard to make sense or reason of any of them.

For the amount of tutorials the game just keeps Bombarding you with, which is annoying as hell, the weapon&armour upgrade and progression system is not explained at all. The upgrades seem to unlock at finding specific materials, but not All of them. This makes me feel like some weapons have better viability for new players, because they can be upgraded with materials from early monsters, and my go-to weapons apparently don't fit into that category, though I can't be certain of this. There are no perk explanations, so I gotta guess which perks are more useful and which aren't, though I'm not that far into the building anyway, so for a beginner it's not a big problem.

These are just inconveniences the new player has to deal with, but they are not gamebreaking in any way. The ten hours I've spent with the game have been very enjoyable, and I'd love to play more of it.

[sol-consort]

I have no idea what Elcor are but that's the cutest thing I've seen in a while, I wanna gently place them into my pocket.

Also, I just got Mass-effect. Is there anything I have to brace myself for? Gameplay or story elements wise?

AAAA ilyyyy I'm so EXCITED FKNWODJWKS <3333 PLEASE TELL ME ABOUT YOUR PROGRESS AS YOU PLAY.

and eclor are the most adorable thing there is! They're like elephants and their speech is so cute! They use tone indicators before talking because their voice is monotone and they don't want the humans to feel like they're not being genuine

So for example if they're happy or grateful they won't just say "thank you" instead they're say:

"With great joy and sincere gratefulness: thank you"

My advice hmm.

First

You get different companions to take with you on missions and they each have different and unique dialogue on the said mission. You can take anyone anywhere on any mission so pick your favourite!

And if you want more lore, pick the ones that make the most sense for the mission. Like if you're going to X character hometown then bring X character with you.

Second thing

Ignore the main quest for as long as you can get away with. Whenever you get a side quest or a side mission, let it take priority over the main quest. I realised too late that mass effect let's you gun it from one main quest to another without nothing stopping you or any indications of the "point of no return" and side quests expire without warning too.

So unless you want the game to end in 3 hours, do the side quests. Most of them are very important and aren't just filler.

Here is a guide for the mission and quest order for all of the three games that has no spoilers! I personally used it.

Number three

Dialogue choices are important. They aren't just for immersion and aren't filler you gloss over, they can make or break a mission.

Don't stress over them. The game puts the "pragon" choices at the top while the "renegade" choices are the bottom. This order never changes but they might change from left to right.

Paragon depends on charm points. You're an optimistic who want people to work together and try to save as many lives as you could. Basically diplomatic and merciful.

Renegade depends on intimidation points. You're brutally honest, it's your way or the high way. Kinda of a human supremacist and always look for your own personal benefit and respect. This can make you lose people so sometimes you have to pick paragon options just to continue a conversation then switch to Renegade.

Save often before conversations or inbetween missions, you can't retract like in baldur's gate and the options you pick aren't always clear.

There are also options in the middle between the top and bottom. They can be neutral ones or inquiry ones that lets you ask a question to understand a situation better and then pick paragon or renegade.

In the second and third game, you gain charm and intimidate passively through your normal dialogue choices in conversations.

But in the first game, you have to level it up alongside your actual combat powers. You get a lot of points dw but I recommend prioritising the charm and intimidating over all other skills.

This is is a fps afterall, the only skill that matters is your aim.

Sometimes you get in conversations and realise you don't have enough charm points to pick the paragon option so it gets greyed out. And you miss out on looking cool :(

So save before conversations and if you don't have enough points then move along and postpone the conversation until you do. Even if it meant doing main missions.

Fourth thing

Your romance is very limited by your gender. If you like a character, consider looking up what gender they date.

Fifth

The game is pretty easy and forgiving in combat, decent armour gets you far and your teammates are better used for support than offence so prioritise yourself when it comes to upgrades and weapons first and give them your hand-me-downs.

Sixth

Modding really isn't that hard and fixes so much, especially the save filer editor because sometimes you realise you missed a very important decision in the first game but you're already in the third game and you don't want to replay the whole trilogy just for that one thing that's blocking your progress in the third game mission.

So save editor lets you edit your save file as easily as checking a box to make the game think you did do that important thing in the first game and now you don't feel like you missed out.

If you have any questions about modding, feel free to ask me. Even for a guide I'd happily oblige.

Seventh

There are different starting classes. They depends on how you like playing shooter games. They don't matter in the first game but they matter a lot in second and third when combat gets serious.

So experiment a lot. Some classes are built for short range knives or shotguns, others for snipers. Keep track of what works for you and note which class does what.

I recommend infiltrator. You have a sniper and become invisible and get a dmg boost.

There are also points and powers, put your teamates on auto leveling at the start if you want and only focus on your own character. The first game is very forgiving and it's best to understand your powers first then worry about your teammates in the second or third games.

Eight

Please import your character from game one to game two then to three. Trust me it is so worth it and an option ingame! So many things depend on your previous choices!

Ninth

In the first game, when you land on a planet in the car rover for a mission, Don't just head straight to the mission marker but also explore around! You find so many things and that's how you get the money for the armours and weapons by finding ore viens.

Same in the second game but instead of on foot exploration, you'll send probs to planets you scan. So scan the planets you come across for money.

Lastly and number 10

Have fun! Mess up! Level the wrong things and pick the wrong options. It's okay.

Explore the world, enjoy the beautiful views and interact with things. Touch everything you wanna touch despite the salarian scientist threatening to call the human embassy for your behaviour! Talk with everyone you wanna talk to.

Pick the armour that looks best even if it has bad stats, pick the decision you like even if it's a renegade one.

And if you ever like a character or want to request them <3 I am here and I am all ears.

[paracausalwraith]

souls asks 1, 5, 12, 35

1. What is your favourite boss gameplay-wise?

OOooh Friede and Maria I think. I like super fast paced fights where it feels like you're just up against an equal.

5. What are top 3 weapons and why?

Whirligig Saw. It's the whirligig saw.

Claymore. Ol' reliable. Sexy, balanced, in like every game. I have one tattooed on my arm :)

Friede's Great Scythe. My dex/magic build that I used this with is still one of the most fun characters I've played in ds3.

12. What are your 3 favourite armour sets?

Oh this is hard there is so much sexy armor across the games. Gonna try and pick across different games.

Armor of Thorns (DS,DS3)

Hunter's Attire (Bloodborne)

Carian Knight Armor (Elden Ring)

35. What ingame faction would you belong to?

Answered :). Bonus answer: Ranni's little conspiracy of weirdos.

[transneonneko]

Monster Hunter Rise is a lot of fun! A great starting point too if you’re new to the series since the other one that’s on Switch, Generations Ultimate, is more of a celebration title and goes in thinking you’ve played the previous games so it doesn’t really tutorial you around as much.

It does have online, and it works very well from my experience with it. Monster Hunter games aren’t really known for their stories, since it’s more of just a backdrop for the player to go around and hunt monsters, but it’s serviceable and gets the job done.

Don’t really know how familiar you are with the MH series but to break down the basic gameplay loop it’s essentially gathering materials like plants, bugs, ores all that sorta stuff, going back to your town to prepare and then going off to fight the monster. You then take the stuff like scales you got from defeating the monster to craft more weapons and armour. Certain weapons are better at damaging certain body parts. For instance the hammer is best used on the head since it does knockout damage, and if you consistently land hits it knocks them out eventually letting you do a ton of damage! Swords and stuff like that are better at slicing things like tails too.

Hoping this was… well, helpful!

Yes, this helped a lot actually!!! I was mainly asking cause I was watching ProtonJon's stream the other day and he played a bit of that and it looked really good for a Switch game??? Like I feel like I could have fun with it (after I finish up Majora's Mask, Fire Emblem Awakening, just got Bayonetta 3 and Crisis Core for Xmas and then also Pokemon today as a late gift lol)!! And I knew a friend of mine was playing it eariler in the year Am wondering if I should get it for Switch since I have the online pass for Switch which I don't for PS5, but it might run better on there???

[techtired]

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[rosymourning]

The Beating Heart - a Shadowheart Build

"My faith will guide me."

Shadowheart is a Life Domain Cleric, curing her friends and allies of whatever ails them. This build is a pure support build, with an emphasis on healing and on-heal effects.

[check out my other builds!]

Gameplay Notes

Pretty much a utility healer through and through. This build can have insane survivability if you keep Sanctuary up during fights, which is doable as a pure support. Even when your party is at full health, so many items have helpful on-heal effects (Bless and Blade Ward, essentially) that it may be helpful to throw out a Mass Healing Word regardless. This is a great build to cast Warding Bond with as well.

The build feels like it comes online really early in the game (like before the Tiefling/Goblin party...), and it stays relevant throughout. Stronger items and taking feats help, but the primary benefit comes from good Channel Divinity scaling. It's simple, but effective, and probably a large part of the reason Shadowheart is such a popular companion.

Stats and Leveling

Final build: Level 12 Life Domain Cleric

Shadowheart’s (default) stats: STR 13 / DEX 13 / CON 14 / INT 10 / WIS 17 / CHA 8

Level 1 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 1

Cantrips: Guidance, Sacred Flame, Resistance

1st Level Spells [Command is useful throughout the entire game]

Level 2 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 2

Channel Divinity [the best one in the game, in my opinion]

Level 3 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 3

2nd Level Spells

Level 4 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 4

Feat: War Caster

Cantrips: add Thaumaturgy

Level 5 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 5

3rd Level Spells [Spirit Guardians is great even though the build isn’t optimized around it]

Level 6 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 6

Blessed Healer [a better version of the Ring of Salving]

Level 7 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 7

4th Level Spells [I don’t love any of the 4th Level Spells and mostly use this for upcasting]

Level 8 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 8

Feat ASI+ DEX>14, WIX>18

Level 9 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 9

5th Level Spells

Level 10 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 10

Divine Intervention [obviously SUPER powerful, I usually use mine in the House of Hope]

Cantrip: add Light

Level 11 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 11

6th Level Spells [Heroes’ Feast is awesome]

Level 12 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 12

ASI+ WIS>20

Items

Armor - Adamantine Splint Armour (1 Grymforge)

Melee Weapon -

Selune's Spear of Night (2 Nightsong)

Viconia's Walking Fortress (3 House of Grief)

Ranged Weapon - n/a

Amulet - Amulet of Restoration (1 Myconid Colony)

Helmet - Wapira's Crown (1 Emerald Grove)

Ring 1 - The Whispering Promise (1 Emerald Grove)

Ring 2 - Ring of Salving (1 Myconid Colony)

Gloves -

Hellrider's Pride (1 Emerald Grove)

The Reviving Hands (3 Stormshore Tabernacle)

Boots - Boots of Aid and Comfort (1 Goblin Camp)

Cloak - Vivacious Cloak (2 Grand Mausoleum)

Lore and Flavor

Moreso than any other character, Shadowheart's narrative begets a major respec at the end of Act 2 (previously, I build her like The Dark Justiciar), and it's not just a new hairstyle: "The Shadowheart I thought I was would never have even dreamed of defying the Lady Shar. I'm a stranger to myself." This build technically works from the moment you can respec into it... but why would you rob yourself of the true power of her character growth? The items with on-heal effects still fit her character throughout Act 1 and 2 without the full respec, so you're only missing the (albeit very potent) Channel Divinity Heal that Life Domain Clerics get. Worth it, in my opinion.

Onto the lore itself. The strongest (if not only) piece of identity that Shadowheart maintains throughout the entire game, regardless of narrative choices, is her skill as a healer. Part of that is inherent to being a Cleric, of course, but we know Shadowheart is considered a skilled healer even compared to other Sharran Clerics thanks to this note in the House of Grief. My allegiance to Life Domain reflects this natural skill as a healer as well as the fact that Life Domain is actually a domain of Selune (Light Domain is not, unfortunately). If we had a Twilight Domain in game, I would be tempted to make use of that as well.

A note about The Blood of Lathander: This is a very powerful item in Shadowheart's hands. If you can get over the fact that it's another deity's relic, then it's a great main hand weapon. I personally go back and forth about it, and decided not to include it here, prioritizing Selune's Spear of Night instead.

[check out my build disclaimer for info about how and why I don't min/max or completely optimize builds, prioritizing lore and vibe instead]

[govindhtech]

Assassin’s Creed Shadows: The Secrets of the Night

Assassin’s Creed Shadows: A New Chapter

Introduction

Assassin’s Creed, the genre’s flagship action-adventure game, has captivated millions with its intricate stories, rich historical locations, and thrilling gameplay. Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows is expected to be a major advance over prior games. The essay discusses why this game is vital, including its pioneering gameplay and thorough world-building.

Story and Setting

Assassin’s Creed Shadows transports players to feudal Japan, a time period rich with culture, politics, and samurai. Take control of youthful assassin Kaito as he becomes caught up in a clan power war. The game‘s story is set against Japan’s gorgeous landscapes, bustling cities, and calm temples.

The plot involves devotion, treachery, and honour. Kaito’s revenge for his family’s wrongs drives his personal path. He discovers a Templar scheme to use the warring governments’ disarray for their own gain. Meeting historical figures adds authenticity and dimension to the story.

Game mechanics

Innovative gameplay elements distinguish Assassin’s Creed Shadows from its predecessors. Shadow Mode, which lets players use shadows to sneak about, is a major innovation. This element makes stealth gaming more creative and strategic.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ combat is improved. A dual-wielding system lets players customise weaponry to their playstyle. The fighting system is fluid and responsive, whether you prefer katana strikes or wakizashi defence. A parry system inspired by samurai warfare adds skill and precision to engagements.

The Assassin’s Creed series’ parkour has been improved to mimic ninja agility.Kaito demonstrates remarkable dexterity as he scales buildings, bridges rooftops, and swings precariously from tree branches. Because parkour is so intrinsic to the game’s open universe, discovering it is an exciting adventure.

Exploration and Worldbuilding

The rich fabric of Feudal Japan is faithfully recreated in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. The game offers bamboo woods, serene gardens, lively marketplaces, and majestic castles. Each place is full of NPCs going about their daily lives, giving the world realism and liveliness.

The game emphasises exploration with several side quests and activities. Players can complete contracts to assassinate high-profile targets, fight samurai clans, and discover ancient temples. Players can gather resources and construct new weapons and armour using the game’s complex crafting system.

A highlight of Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the Dynamic Weather System. Weather changes in real time, altering gameplay and environment. An unexpected shower can conceal stealth missions, while dense fog can hide ambushes. Game immersion and unpredictability are enhanced by dynamic weather.

Voice and Characters Acting Assassin’s Creed Shadows features a diverse cast with distinct motivations and backstories. Protagonist Kaito is multifaceted and grows through internal turmoil. His relationships with his mentor Takeda and the mysterious geisha Yuki are crucial to the story and add emotional depth.

Amazing voice acting brings Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ characters and stories to life. The game’s outstanding performers capture their characters’ emotions and personalities with impressive performances. Each well-written discussion enriches the tale and setting.

Pictures and music

Assassin’s Creed Shadows looks great. The game uses next-gen consoles to provide beautiful graphics with complex character models, realistic lighting, and stunning settings. From ornate samurai armour to beautiful cherry blossoms, the game is meticulously detailed.

A famous musical team’s soundtrack matches the game’s setting and tone. Traditional Japanese instruments and sophisticated orchestration create a hauntingly beautiful score that increases the story’s emotional effect. Each piece of music is tailored to the scene, whether it’s a thrilling covert operation or a huge conflict.

Online/Multiplayer Features

A powerful multiplayer option complements Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ excellent single-player experience. Friends can team up for cooperative tasks, PvP combat, and seasonal events. Team-based stealth missions and large-scale samurai battles make the multiplayer mode fresh and entertaining.

The game has leaderboards, daily challenges, and community activities online. These activities boost replayability and lifespan by unlocking rewards and special content. Player transitions between single-player and multiplayer modes are easy because to the game’s internet features.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows release date

On November 15, 2024, Assassin’s Creed Shadows finally arrived, much to the excitement of lovers of the cherished series. It was made by Ubisoft Quebec and takes players to Sengoku-era mediaeval Japan. You command the formidable Naoe, a highly skilled shinobi, alongside the renowned Yasuke, a legendary samurai hailing from Africa. United, they traverse the ravaged territory and battle for a fresh era. Many systems, including Windows, Mac, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and more, are compatible with Shadows.

Conclusion

Assassin’s Creed Shadows will be a franchise milestone with its revolutionary gameplay, rich world-building, and thrilling story. The game’s lush environment in Feudal Japan and polished combat and stealth features make Kaito’s adventure compelling. Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a must-play for aficionados and beginners because to its beautiful visuals, voice acting, and dynamic universe.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows shows Ubisoft’s dedication to developing video game storyline and design. No matter your level of familiarity with the series, Assassin’s Creed Shadows offers an amazing experience.

Read more on Govindhtech.com

[an-aussie-button-masher]

Breaking Good - Five Games That Scratch the Destructive Itch

   Some games are all about creation, building up the world and the people around you. These are not those games. Have you ever had the urge to just break something? Has a rough day got you feeling frustrated and needing an outlet? Don’t want to blow your actual house up, and are willing to settle for a virtual version? Try out these games! Here, you can tear apart everything from cars and buildings to entire cities and global populations without even getting out of your seat. Get ready to channel all those destructive urges into this handful of games all about the art of annihilation. Read on to break it down one game at a time - enjoy!

Besiege    Good news! Someone has entrusted you with the construction of medieval siege engines. A master architect like yourself must build deadly war machines to destroy your enemies - assuming your creations don’t accidentally just tear themselves apart the moment they start rolling. You have countless weapons and upgrades at your disposal - flamethrowers, saws, spikes, cannons, bombs, rockets, armour plating, and more. Manoeuvre around traps and the environment with steering (or just blindly flailing around) to launch attacks upon the panicking enemy forces, their camps, their castles, their own machines, and so on. There’s also plenty of “eh, that’s good enough” moments where the scorched remains of your construction just happen to flatten one last bit of the enemy camp to earn a technical victory. Finally, you can enter the unlimited-resource Sandbox mode to make some truly staggering behemoths that will bring everything in its path - including your PC - to its knees.

BeamNG.drive    Strictly speaking, this is merely a driving-themed physics simulation, with a handful of driving challenges for some more standard gameplay. Of course, we all know that “physics simulator” is just code for “how fast can I mangle this car?” Enter Beam.NG’s sandbox, and you’ll be able to answer that question and more with a wide-open playground, littered with obstacles, ramps, half-pipes, bot controls, gravity options, and everything you could need for all your automobile abuse. It’s a great way to spend some spare time answering all the important questions, such as: What happens when this hatchback is struck from all sides by five trucks accelerating at Mach 5? Which sports car fares better under Jupiter’s gravitational pull? How many lamp posts do I need to hit to peel this tour bus like a banana? The sky's the limit - literally, because I once propelled a limousine straight up like a rocket before it flattened against the map height limit like it was made of paper.

Plague Inc: Evolved    Global pandemics are the last thing anyone wants to dwell on at the moment, but there’s nothing wrong with enjoying a bit of virtual virus-spreading! In Plague Inc., you can pick your poison, choose where your patient zero appears, and let yourself feel like a cackling supervillain for a little while. Carefully select your methods of transmission to spread across the land, skies and seas around the globe before anyone realises what’s wrong, then hit them with the symptoms all at once and watch chaos unfold! It’s highly satisfying to watch those population numbers dwindle and the world turn red as newly-infected dots consume entire countries. Eventually, humanity tries to fight back and you’ll need to battle the world’s efforts to concoct a cure - no laboratory will be safe for long! In this game, you can wipe out the planet’s entire population with careful planning and ruthlessness, all from the safety of the digital screen - no need to wash your hands after playing with this particular plague.

Teardown    What’s this game about, you ask? It’s in the name - tearing everything down! Playing as a legally-questionable demolitionist, the player is hired to destroy buildings (and sometimes steal stuff from the rubble), then make a hasty getaway before police arrive. There are plenty of tools of destruction unlocked over the course of the game, from the reasonable (sledgehammers, welding torches, and so on) to the overkill (dynamite and other explosives, and even a shotgun). Use the tools of the trade to strategically - or randomly - knock out the load-bearing supports and watch as the entire mansion, shopping centre, docks, or whatever you’re demolishing crashes down and shatters into millions of little voxel bits. The modding community really cranks up the destruction to a whole new level: slice entire cities in half with a flick of the mouse, punch whale-sized holes through skyscrapers with giant cannons, or go full Majora’s Mask and flatten the whole place by bringing down the moon. Another job well done!

Goat Simulator    Behold, the original and definitive “mischievous wildlife enters city and causes problems on purpose” video game: Goat Simulator. Why is a goat so intent on trashing the town and bending the laws of physics to its will? Who knows? It’s a goat, it - and the player - can do what it wants. As you unleash your hoofed havoc across the unsuspecting town, you’ll discover unique hidden interactions that transform your goat and grant new abilities - flying majestically through the air, scaling skyscrapers with your stretchy tongue, or summoning demonic powers to drag every nearby loose prop (and pedestrian) towards you. The game truly embraces the hilarity of ragdoll physics; nobody in this game seems to have a cohesive skeleton as they flail about like a wet noodle at the slightest headbutt. In Goat Simulator 3 (yes, it’s so big they had to skip a second game), the goat is set loose on a brand-new sprawling map, now with friends in co-operative mayhem!

   Okay, put down the sledgehammer - that’s enough destruction for today. Unless, of course, you know any other games that might fit this list that you’d like to share; if so, feel free to let me know! Feedback, reblogs and likes are all much appreciated!   Thanks for reading!

An Aussie Button-Masher

[ei-mugi]

the OTHER thing about being a disgaea fan is that the majority of the fans are just regular gamers who like to watch the numbers go up. lijke the main appeal is meant to be the gameplay and getting up to lvl 9999 and minmaxing all your weapons and innocents and armour and characters and all that bs. so there is not a great amount of creative fanwork. theres not nothing there is some stuff but again not a great amount

[littlemomentsofgold]

1, 17, 18, 28, and 30!

(ask meme here)

(my Tav is a wood half-elf named Lannatha, a ranger/druid. A highly impractical multi-class for gameplay, but fun to write and role play)

1: Where in the Faerûn is your Tav from?

Lannatha spent her childhood swapped between her mothers’ secluded elven community in Cloak Wood, and her father’s family in Baldur’s Gate. Both are ‘home’ to her. She’s been dancing between the two vastly different worlds all her life.

17: Do they enjoy life as an adventurer?

Very much! Prior to the events of the game, she earned a decent enough living escorting people between Baldur’s Gate and Waterdeep as a scout and ranger. It was the perfect melting point between her love of the outdoors and her love of people. She expects she’ll settle somewhere and further her education eventually, but she’s in no hurry.

18: What would your Tav be doing if they weren’t kidnapped on the Nautiloid?

She was about to leave her father’s home on another scouting job. She’d already equipped her armour and weapons, and was just giving the usual reassurances to her dad when she vanished. Right there in the living room. It’s still unclear whose reaction was loudest – her father’s, or the bonded hawk that got left behind.

28: Is your character the de facto leader of the party? Or do they consider someone else to be the leader?

Her role as party leader was heaped upon her on the very first night, when it was revealed she was the only one who knew how to put up a tent. She’d thought nothing of it at the time – after all, she’d helped plenty of city folk come to grips with the great outdoors in her travels. But it doesn’t take long for the others to recognise her real leadership was in how she managed people, even unconsciously. Oh, sure, they all had their charms. But folk liked Lannatha.

30: What’s your favourite thing about your Tav?

She has so much love to give. A love of life and a love of people. She grows to love and adore every single one of her companions through their passions. She’ll dance with Wyll and listen starry-eyed to Lae’zel’s tales of the astral plane, allow herself to indulge her sense of fun and mischief with Astarion. She’ll dabble in arcane magic with Gale, and share primal spellcasting in turn. Admire the rarely-examined beauty with Shadowheart, and match Karlach’s zest for life. She could be mistaken for a social chameleon – but she isn’t. She just loves people who are invested in their truest selves. And they are all going to be reminded that a gentle heart can still be a very strong one.

If it weren’t for the tadpole, she would have touched many lives and not even made a footnote in history.