iheardarumorxxx

[kirbyddd]

my own negative totk rambling

TotK has so many arbitrary restrictions on its building it's not even funny. You can't even build a simple glider because wings despawn after 30 seconds of flight.

Aonuma's like a helicopter parent who suffocates their child with constant denial of freedom. His entire design philosophy unravels the moment you stop and ask the question, "Yeah, but would it be more fun if that restriction wasn't there?" It rapidly becomes obvious that the enjoyability and sustainability of the game experience was not the primary concern of its designers.

When you stop and ask "Why is this mechanic restricted like this?" the answer is inevitably "So we didnt have to account for more potential player actions."

Speaking from personal experience as a hands-on developer in a couple of professional-level games now, having seen a few design projects unfold from infancy to full product... The mindset of trying to address balance issues by simply cutting off gameplay implications at their source is such an easy pitfall to fall into. Before you know it, you're trimming more and more mechanics and forbidding more and more applications until you realize your game has been locked away from what made it so compelling in the first place.

You realize if you want your game to be an experience people look forward to and not just an arbitrary time waster, you have to put on the big boy pants and dive headfirst into those overwhelming implications of your systems, and lean into what empowers the players, rather than crippling their options to save yourself a headache.

It's baffling that Aonuma has now had nearly 30 years in the field and still systematically falls into the "just solve the problem by forbidding the system altogether" mindset. You have to wonder if he's gone back to not actually playing his own games. So many aspects reek of "Well I'm not exactly enjoying this, but this is my job. Surely other people will enjoy it once it's out there."

Good designer's rule of thumb is, if you aren't compelled and inspired by your own work, the only people who will be are the ones who project so much onto what they consume it doesn't matter what it actually contains.

TotK feels like wistful dayjob design, not "I'm doing what i was made for" design. When we finally get on-camera interviews, I somehow doubt the developers will be lighting up with excitement when they talk about it.

"Wouldn't the game be more fun if this restriction wasn't there?" "Well, yes, but that wasn't what we were going for."

Aonuma's no Yonebayashi.

[fumiko-matsubara]

hihi! i remember seeing you set hype boy by newjeans as the song that would fit chiba and kaho, and i was wondering what other kpop groups you see them (or 3e too) listing to! i hope you’re having a good day!!

I've got a couple of groups in mind but I first need to let you know that:

Realistically, not everyone in 3E would be listening to kpop + I hardly pay attention to other groups these days 😭

Kaho - EXO

She's the kind of fan who would go through any lengths to find and buy that rare but ridiculously overpriced photocard of Kai 😭

With the group not being as active as they used to be, Kaho would most likely casually hops between fandoms. Typically a boy group stan.

Chiba - Stray Kids

Kaho has been trying to get Chiba into kpop, mostly to have a shared interest with him, and her hopes are far up because kpop artists do any sorts of music genre so there's a chance he might find something he liked.

He barely budged though since his music tastes are so specific and far from what's common among kpop groups. He'd find himself liking a song or two from a group, or in the extremely rare case, finds himself liking a whole album (such as Dark & Wild by BTS).

And then Stray Kids debuted 😁

Nakamura - XG

They're not really kpop though, but they're seriously the only group I think Nakamura would actually care about.

(Especially with the old school hiphop + rnb feel they had and will still have going on)

Kanzaki - Dreamcatcher

Along with AleXa, Rolling Quartz, Pink Fantasy, and PIXY... you could pretty much tell what kind of girl groups she's typically into just based on their concepts.

Irina - HYOLYN

Honestly this is more of a strong association between the two rather than Irina listening to her songs (she totally would though, same for SISTAR as a whole).

Just that, Irina being Christian gives off the same vibes as Hyolyn randomly pulling out a bible in her "what's in my bag" video 😭😭

Maehara and Okajima - early TWICE

I just have this tiny headcanon of Okajima being a fan of idol groups in general, and TWICE's popularity in Japan can easily put them in his radar.

Maehara would also begin listening to them since he liked their songs enough and they are everywhere.

Megu - current TWICE

On the other hand, I think Megu would be more into their later music as their group image matures along with their ages. The classy feel they have in their recent releases seem to be more right in her alley.

Yada - LE SSERAFIM

Listen,

LS SSERAFIM's branding of being this gathering of strong and confident women who are fearlessly facing their future, not letting others bring them down and the past to pull them back, just screams YADA to me.

I strongly believe that she'll love them.

Plus I think she'll enjoy dancing to their choreo.