#gameplay-wise… it’s fine

[dobercorgis]

I did say before that I didn’t really want a dlc prequel and after playing fr I still do kind of think that. Even just thematically an epilogue seemed more fitting, but I guess not.

It did have some good parts! I think I understand N some more now (tbh I didn’t care for him in the main game) and family angst/drama is always spicy. Loved seeing Shulk and Rex again and I loved the interactions with them and their kids. Esp Shulk and Nikol just nerding out together. Also did not expect Rex to have that kind of parenting style haha. They really did go all out on the fanservice which I adored and found funny at the same time. And some of them were references to side quests or just lore which I appreciated so it wasn’t just all surface level references. Also they mentioned how Melia has been captured several times and Shulk never comments on it which is an interesting choice.

But I feel like overall it didn’t answer a lot of my questions about the main game and left me with more questions instead. Also it was much shorter than I expected. Even with the forced community padding in torna… it still feels like fr was much shorter. When I was fighting Alpha I was like this feels like a final boss but it feels like I haven’t been even playing for that long. Pacing was fine don’t get me wrong, it just felt… lacking. Also with how xc3 and to an extent fr was supposed to be the ending for the klaus trilogy, it doesn’t really feel like one? It’s not that there’s loose ends, I don’t really think there are any, it’s just that it doesn’t really feel “complete” ig and just leaves a lot of things unanswered. And while I don’t rlly like info dumps, xc does a decent job at them and is sometimes crucial for understanding the lore, and we just don’t really get one in xc3. I was kind of expecting a few scenes or maybe just a glimpse of the post-merge world of the xc3 or fr cast but didn’t get that. Which I get, but I still would’ve liked to see it.

I’m not really sure how to feel about how they handled Alvis. Man really did lose his melanin when he split but you never really see him in proper lighting so it’s not as obvious as in the art ig… Honestly with all the xc1 fanservice I expected more interactions with Shulk and A but uh nothing much happened other than Shulk calling A Alvis at the end. I get that he’s a computer and the logic behind how he became that way makes sense but it just seems so contradictory towards xc1 Alvis where he understood yes humanity shapes future with their own will, etc. Ik that part of Alvis became A but idk it’s complicated.

I saw ppl saying how Shulk and Rex overshadowed the rest of the cast when they were introduced, and I think I’m the only one that didn’t feel that way. I think the narrative just shifted course to focusing on those characters to focusing on the lore and world. And a lot of those were references to xc1 and xc2 which did give those two some more screen time since they’re one of the very few that remember those worlds. That being said, I do think Matthew is the weakest protag in the series. He just didn’t have a lot of time to shine and the story’s focus isn’t really on him. Glimmer and esp Nikol also felt lacking in the character department. They weren’t bad characters but they didn’t have much presence. At least they had connections to Rex and Shulk to work with.

The exploration was great though. Have a fully connected open world was cool, and I loved the little things you could look for like the ether, containers, relics, etc. Didn’t play X, but I think fr had the best exploration so far.

OH and the xc1 parallels! Like the zoom in on A’s eye at the end! And how you warped to the final boss similar to how you went to memory space after beating Dickson. And apparently it was intentional??? Like Alvis Alpha what are you cooking???

While the credits song isn’t my favorite, seeing scenes from all 3 games just made me feel stuff esp after seeing older Shulk and Rex. Like yes look at how they used to be, look at how they and we have come. And it was just AGH

Maybe I just need some time to sit on it, but I think it’s my least favorite dlc story so far. I think my expectations for both xc3 and fr were a bit too high which might be why I feel this way. Overall, I think I could’ve been satisfied which just watching the cutscenes or a let’s play.

[freakinator]

if yall would like to hear my weird lil flimsyass theory ive been sitting on that makes sense in my head but certainly not upon further scrutinization, based on nothing but the slightest bits of evidence that have nothing to do with each other cause whatever tf is happening on the server is being revealed at a snails pace (if even at all) and my weird lil brain that wants Some kind of lore explanation for the slowly changing format of the eps is that its slowly going from improv smp rules to scripted smp ones (in-universe cause its a staged smp no matter what lol)

wtf do i mean by this? am i saying that the chars went from improv smp content to scripted smp content? no, because we're seeing the (unstable) universe through the eyes of characters who dont even know the universe has rules at all cause thats just Life for them, there is no c/cc distinction cause wemmbu the mcytber is the exact same person as wemmbu the cubito

then what Do i mean? i have difficulty explaining it in any detail beyond *vibes* and *formatting* but basically have yall ever compared the differences between improv and scripted content? along with the difference between how the story plays out between them? thats not to say the rules will ever be Completely similar to more scripted smps like thats just not happening i dont think, but like. i think the closest thing i can compare it to rn off the top of my head is like. what happened to the storytelling style in the dsmp lmao, granted this can just be a natural consequence of a series where one of the main purposes is to experiment with and improve the storytelling styles of the main povs along with a story thatll only get more and moer serious and dramatic as the plot progresses

this doesnt Exactly refer to editorial tricks?? cause like earlier episodes had a lot more wide shots than later episodes did, im talking like. ''flavor text'' i suppose -- idk all i'll say is that the further down the list of episodes you go, the more cinematic videos get while their more... lets say "meta" gameplay traits (tab list, f3, etc.) become less prominent

[saintadeline]

Sometimes i swear people really do not get the living failures and how integral they are to everything about the dlc, both lore and general themes. The amount of people ive seen clearly view them as "an unnecessary boss" or "irrelevant" lore-wise (since they tie into maria's backstory) pisses me oooooff nobody gets it. It IS important and we are showing the horrors of the church Through The Victims instead of only the depressive people in charge who are fucked up by the fact they did horrible shit (laurence, maria, ludwig... Dont get me wrong theyre great but if you only showed their side of the story and did not give a second thought about their victims, idk i think it says something with the way people romanticize them. Which, fair, theyre fictional characters. But if you wanna talk about their lore, talk about all of it and not just the parts that make them look good). The orphan of kos is visceral because it shows that pain directly. The living failures are that exact same thing. The difference is that they live with that pain and show it to us the player by just existing whereas the orphan is a more quote unquote "metaphorical" representation of all the rage and pain of Kos and the hamlet. Thats kind of part of what i mean when i say the research hall is like chronic pain. Its a constant and you get used to it thats why it doesnt seem as extreme. And they are literally tied they are parallels one could not be complete without the other. Things would not hit as hard if you didnt see the research hall firsthand !! Argh

[perenlop]

okay so as a gen 5 stan who does adore the story in bw and bw2, and now that gen 5 has experienced both a vicious hatedom that wouldnt hear a single positive thing about the games, and now a super protective fandom that insists they were perfect and had zero flaws... can we admit now that the bw1 story at least was. a little mid.

[verflares]

forgot to mention that i beat echoes of wisrdom :] i thought it was Okay. a very cute little game

[axolotlelle]

oh this expac is going to be the stormblood 2.0 of discourse with extra transphobia isnt it

90% are just hating wuk lamat bc of her VA and also not being able to stand not being the main character for once. i don't even like wuk lamat!! but she's not all there is this expac!!! just see past your transmisoginy damn

[mememan93]

Zonai? you mean walking retcons?

[softietrait]

DAY ONE: first impressions and mingling on their own,

♡ sadie's impressions: finds omar and javi attractive. kaleb, silas and joshua as basic looking. & oliver and jae hahn as unattractive. (miss ma'am why are you being so picky for? omg) ♡ kaleb, silas and oliver all found sadie very attractive while omar, javi, joshua and jae hahn all found sadie as just attractive.

sadie & oliver ended up becoming good friends by the end of day 1 and their romance is already on 16. jae hahn is always singing lol, stopping mid conversation to do so. oliver is the only one who even attempted flirting - which sadie accepted despite her finding him unattractive lmao. joshua ended up finding kaleb swoon worthy instead xD and by the time night one began, they all sat and watched a movie together! ‹𝟹

[violasgamingpalace]

Oh no Uchikoshi is involved in another game (and It looks like ass but I gotta play it).

[cheriafreya]

watching my sister play Honkai Star Rail for the first time reminded me of why I stopped playing the game twice before finally staying lmao

[death-rebirth-senshi]

Wonder if I'd like Dark Souls 3 if I went back to it or if I'd just be like "where's my ashes of war" "where's my jumping attacks" "where's my stance breaks"

[glfry]

I love the m2 references in m3 a whole lot but the lack of almost any specific m1 rep slays me

[zoekrystall]

Did that fav pkmn thing on a whim and I'm sorry for all my babies I didn't choose bc I really like too many by some.

Love how it's mostly pretty ones and then there's clodsire. Even tho I got it in my team since the beginning of violet do I continuously forget its name bc I just call it by the nickname blobby (one of the rare times I didn't spend hours googling the perfect nickname but it nonetheless is a perfect one)

And for fun without any legendaries as fav

Reg nicknames I even write all down so I only spend decades once for each pkmn (unless I don't like the prev one anymore). Need to update that someday since it's mostly old revolution ones but hey. Blaze do I use for arcanine nowadays more and ninetails got others. Gardevoir got soteria nowadays which I prefer more. Etc.

[theonpilled]

x

[unxpctedlygreat]

Finished the New God DLC, finally

Just disappointed that they just put you back into the world and don't like. tell you anything.

Beside finding the last shards to get my bow upgraded, I don't have anything left I think

[cynical-cemeteries]

is there ANY way for me to finish day 149 in the book of strife without having hippolyta and/or arkanath die in wave 3?????? that's literally why i can't bring myself to do the next stage