#i got the manual with the game and?? it comes with minigames too???

[darkdragon768]

I'm so Touched! that I have to start this new game immediately.

[otomechuchu]

Personal walkthrough/how to play - Love and Producer EN (Mr Love Queen’s Choice)

Here’s my personal walkthrough/how to play, Love and Producer EN (Mr Love Queen’s Choice)

This is my first attempt to write a “How to Play” guide, so it’s a little messy and all over the place. I tried to make it sound connected and divide it into sections, but it could need some cleanup. It would be nice to add pictures to make this look less like a big block of text, but we’ll see. Maybe I’ll change it later...

I have played this since it launched in China back in 2017!

*Will/might update, but it’s kinda finished* <-- I realize some things feel “normal” to me, but might be confusing to others, so I’ll try to explain them step by step when I get the time!

CLICK HERE FOR MY DETAILED, COMPLETE GUIDE WITH PICTURES!

Want to support the blog? Feel free to Become a Patron for as little as $1/month~   Or Buy me a coffee ~

Check out my other walkthroughs here

PLEASE DON’T STEAL, COPY OR POST ELSEWHERE.

THIS IS WHAT THE HOME SCREEN LOOKS LIKE WHEN YOU START. AS YOU PROGRESS, MORE THINGS WILL APPEAR: 

Before I start, I would like to point out that although there are a lot of functions and things to do, it’s not as intimidating as it seems. It looks intimidating at first glance, but if you take your time instead of rush through the game, it will be easier. I would like to point out that the mechanics are very much like Love Nikki (another Chinese game also by Elex). It has almost all the same functions, plus a few extra. So if you already play Love Nikki (or played it before), then that will help a lot.

NOTE:  After progressing to a certain point, you will unlock more features. That means, not everything is unlocked when you start, so it’s not too overwhelming.

HERE’S THE HOME SCREEN. I ADDED SOME TEXT/INFORMATION TO MAKE IT “EASIER” TO UNDERSTAND. I ALSO ADDED THINGS THAT DOES NOT YET EXIST IN THE ENGLISH VERSION (it’s only up to chapter 10)

CHARACTERS

First, what is the “point” of the game?

You (main character), 22 years old, takes over your fathers TV production company and you wish to produce amazing TV shows. It’s not doing well and the sponsor is pulling out. Along the way, you get the help from four men (love interests): a 28 years old CEO named Li Zeyan (Victor), a 24 years old police officer/agent named Bai Qi (Gavin), a 26 years old scientist named Xu Mo (Lucien), and a 22 years old idol named Zhou Qiluo (Kiro).

Ok, so even though the game is Chinese and released by the original Chinese company, the English version does not include the original Chinese voices! It’s dubbed into English. But once you start playing, you can download a Japanese voice pack? Makes no sense. So here’s a list of what the characters are named:

Li Zeyan - Victor - Zen Bai Qi - Gavin - Haku Xu Mo - Lucien - Shimon Zhou Qiluo - Kiro - Kira

CITY WALKS & DATES

In addition to the main story, you have “side stories” (kinda) for each guy. These happen by going on “City Walks” where you help people or do other types of missions. This will make the love interest like you more, and will result in more “Dates.” These “Dates” are dates/romantic scenarios with him. You need certain cards as well. NOTE: There are different types of “City X”, look further down the page.

SHOOTS

As for the main story, you have to do “Shoots”, as in you shoot episodes of your show. This is where “Karma” (cards) come in. You collect cards and other items to advance. You want to make successful TV shows, and getting good cards is the way to go. These are ranked as N (normal), NH, R (rare), SR (super rare), and SSR (the most rare and best). These cards can be evolved, star up, and lvl up. As for the story, you can go back and re-read/watch the story any time you want. See “Missions & Rewards” for more information.

COLLECTING KARMA (CARDS)

Cards, called Karma, are your units to do everything in the game. You use them to “fight” and progress throughout the story. 

Collecting cards can be done through different ways, but the “easiest” way is by paying real money. I’m not saying you have to pay money! You can easily play the whole game for free. I’m just saying it’s nice to support things you love, right? You can also pay a monthly subscription fee, it’s $3,99 USD (30 yuan). Other than that you can get them through the gacha (Wish Tree), special events, or merging Shards together.

These cards has a lot of functions. You need to level them up to make them stronger. Every 10 lvl will give the chance to Star Up that card, giving it bonus stats. When reaching the cap, you can Evolve the card, increasing the lvl cap and changing the appearance of the card. 

EXPERTS

Then there are “Experts” you can hire for your company to finish quests. You get these by either reading the main story or by exchanging “Medals” in the “Talent Market.” These can be upgraded with coins/gold (free in-game currency), and will up the score of your company, which is useful in “Shoots.”

MISSIONS & REWARDS

All “Shoots” and “Footage” will be rated with 1-3 crowns (3 being the best). You will always have the chance to re-do to get a better score, or all the crowns if you didn’t get them all on the first try. When you succeed one, also have a chance to receive special items. These also costs stamina (hearts) to do, which are replenished as time goes by. Doing one once costs 5 stamina. Also note that they got “Keywords” or “Strengths” on the description. Selecting Experts with those Keywords, or cards with those Strengths, will up your success. This will also give your cards exp. Rewards are items to star up cards.

ELITE MISSIONS

This will unlock after Chapter X (forgot which). This is just like the normal Shoots, except they’re harder and give “better” rewards. These rewards are items to evolve cards. Each has a limit of 3 per day. In terms of Love Nikki, “Elite” is the same as Princess Stage. These are more difficult but will give greater rewards. Each costs 8 stamina.

FOOTAGE

Footage is like Shoots and Elite. It has a cap of 10 but will regenerate one every hour. Each stage has a max of 3 and there are 6 parts so far. Doing these will give Shards as rewards. 

MISCELLANEOUS

Sometimes you get “Shards” and when you have enough shards, you can combine them into a card. These Shards can be obtained when doing “Footage” or from the gacha. “Footage” has a limit of 3 per day. However you use Film, not Stamina, and that has a max of 10. It regenerates every hour.

After progressing to a certain point, you will unlock more features.

When reaching Chapter 3, you will be able to do “Training.” Once you finish training a Card, you receive rewards and lvl up. You can also Train your company stats. 

SHARDS

Shards are given from “Footage” or from “Wish Tree” (gacha). You can combine them into a card (Karma) for gold (free in-game currency). 

R card = 15k gold

SR card = 30k gold

SSR card = 60k gold

COMBINING SHARDS

When you have a certain number of shards, you can combine them into a card (Karma). Combining them costs Gold (free in-game currency). Here are the requirements:

R card - 30 shards - 15k gold

SR card - 50 shards - 30k gold

SSR card - 80 shards - 60 gold

PHONE

Then there’s the Phone. You can call, send messages, and post on social media or comment. Doing these things will increase intimacy with the love interests. Remember to check your phone often to see if there are new posts on social media or text messages. Phone calls will be notified. You do not have to be awake at specific times to receive these and you can open them whenever you want without them disappearing. 

GACHA

The “Wishing Tree” is the gacha. There are two types of gachas, the “Gem Karma” and “Gold Karma.” The Gem one is free once every 48 hours and will cost Gems otherwise (Gems cost real money). The Gold one is free once every 24 hours and will cost Gold otherwise. Also, each time you do one, you will get  “Heart Petal” (think of it as a shard) and when you have enough, you can combine them into a “Flower”, which can be exchanged for limited cards.

WHAT TO DO WITH CARDS YOU DON’T WANT

Sometimes you get more than one of a card, or you simply don’t care for it. When this happens, you can “shred” it. Basically, you can exchange it for Memory Stardust, which is used to Evolve cards. Just press the Karma Pass button (it’s yellow).

DAILY REWARDS/QUESTS

Achievements give you daily rewards for completing specific requirements daily.

Just like Love Nikki, you will also recieve free Stamina twice a day, at 12-14 and 18-20. This is either 30 or 60 Stamina! And like all mobile games, there are daily login rewards.

BOX OFFICE CONTEST

Lastly, there’s the “Box Office Contest” and “Achievement.” The “Box Office Contest” is like a PvP where you “fight” other players and receive medals. There are 5 free tries every day. The next day you will receive a gift depending on how high you ranked.

CITY NEWS

You need to finish ch X to unlock this (I forgot which). This is a minigame that depends on your 3 strongest cards (Karma). You pick 3 (they will be by default, so if you get stronger cards later, you need to switch them out manually), and they will give a combined score. When “News” pop up, you go to investigate and “help” people. You get 3 questions and you click one of three choices for each. This can be re-done unlimited times, so don’t worry if you answer wrong. Between each question you have to tap the screen as quick as possible (repeatedly, think of a gauge bar, where each tap will fill it). As you finish more and more of these “News”, you lvl up your detective? skill and receive items as you progress. As your level up in detective skill, you can unlock even more experts, get better rewards, and you can use more than just 3 cards. 

CITY CRUISE

You need to finish ch X to unlock this (I forgot which).

EVENTS

Events happen often enough. In the beginning of English release, it might be slow, but it should pick up over time. During events, you can get free SR cards and maybe SSR cards if you’re lucky. Events vary in content and are done differently. Some can be limited Wish Tree cards, some can be collect items from doing Shoots, or from doing Strolls, etc. or other things. It really depends on the event.

EVOLVE

You need to finish ch X to unlock this (I forgot which). 

In order to Evolve a card, you need a certain amount of items, Memory Stardust, and gold. Here are the amounts: 

R card - 30k gold

SR card - 60K gold

SSR card - 120k gold

CITY WALK/STROLL

Your avatar walks around meeting the love interests and other citizens, helping people or having mini scenes with him. Helping people will increase his fondness of you (intimacy), which lets you go on dates more often. It also gives you bonus rewards and items. No need to rush with this, it refreshes once a week. 

24 HR CHALLENGE

Challenge 24 other players around your lvl/strength. Each stage will give rewards. When clearing at least 12 stages, you can quick clear, meaning you can skip X number of stages but still get the rewards from these. Doing this will not weaken your cards either, making it possible to clear stages that were too hard. You can only Quick Clear a specific amount, at max it’s 16 stages or 18 stages (VIP). Any more than this you have to fight manually. 

These battles are done by using 1-3 cards that are at least lvl 20. Look at the requirements (card strengths) to know what cards you should use. Doing these battles will “damage” your cards, meaning their strengths will decrease. When reaching 0 strength they will be 100% damaged and can no longer fight. 

You can reset this once every day, doing so will put you back on Stage 1, and all rewards you didn’t claim will disappear. 

VIP Supply (Monthly Subscription)

Pretty cheap, it costs the same as a cup of coffe. For $3,99 USD every month, you get this:  - 30 gems every day, lasts 30 days.  - double rewards on the login card - 20 max stamina increase - 50% extra exp  - 300 gems instantly

BESIDE YOU/WHATEVER THEY RENAME IT IN ENGLISH

So far only chapter 1-10 are out in English, so this doesn’t exist yet.

PANDORA

So far only chapter 1-10 are out in English, so this doesn’t exist yet.

HOME

So far only chapter 1-10 are out in English, so this doesn’t exist yet.

LIMITED FOOTAGE

So far only chapter 1-10 are out in English, so this doesn’t exist yet.

“NEXT” SCREEN”

So far only chapter 1-10 are out in English, so this doesn’t exist yet.

Want to support the blog? Feel free to Become a Patron for as little as $1/month~   Or Buy me a coffee ~

Check out my other walkthroughs here

[xb-squaredx]

Astral Chain Review: Popo’s Bizarre Adventure

Life can be funny sometimes; I started out 2019 hoping that I could play a certain PlatinumGames-developed Switch exclusive, and while I did eventually get such a thing, it wasn’t Bayonetta 3, but instead Astral Chain. The last time Nintendo and PlatinumGames worked together on a brand new IP we got The Wonderful 101, one of my favorite games of all time, so I was pretty pumped about Astral Chain from moment one. A game where you control Stands like Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, but you’re a hot anime cop! The kinda game you didn’t know you needed! Now that it’s finally here I can definitely say with confidence that I really love…like half of this game.

C.O.P.S: ANIME EDITION

The world of Astral Chain is in a bad way. Set in a future with Earth on the brink of collapse, most of the planet has been corrupted by the Astral Plain, an alternate dimension. With the remnants of humanity confined to a man-made island, an elite police force, Neuron, investigates the invisible cause of the world-ending corruption, Chimeras. Armed with enslaved Chimeras of their own, Legions, Neuron fights back against Chimera attacks, all the while searching for a way to save the world before its too late. Players take the role of a newcomer to Neuron, rising up the ranks alongside their twin sibling, mastering their Legion as various villainous factions seem intent on bringing about the end of the world.

I’ll be blunt here: Astral Chain’s story is passable, but didn’t do much for me. It’s not exactly bad, but predictable and doesn’t really take many risks. The game has an anime aesthetic, and in many cases seems more content with paying homage to various sci-fi anime than telling a unique story, so I’d say it’s quite by-the-numbers. That’s certainly fine, but what really shines in most Platinum titles are their larger-than-life characters, and I find them lacking here. Most of Neuron gets the shaft as time goes on, with only a scant few characters getting much development. Maybe I’m a tad spoiled by the likes of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, but the fact that so little of the incidental dialogue is voiced also keeps most of the Neuron officers from sticking out to me. Some characters, like Hal, Marie and Kyle, DO stand out and are pretty great, but that’s about it.

Thankfully, everything else about the game’s presentation is stylish. From the UI to the enemy intro cutscenes, to the sound design and battle animations, Astral Chain is a delight for the eyes and ears. The futuristic setting allows from some sleek visuals, and the lighting and particle effects stand out among most Switch titles. I’d daresay that at times, Astral Chain is Platinum’s best looking game. This does come at the cost of performance though. The game is locked to mostly 30 FPS, though you’ll see some dips in some frantic moments, but not too often. Resolution can also dip in some instances too, the performance at its worst in bigger areas with tons of NPCs around, but most combat sections cut down on clutter and the performance remains solid when you need it, so it mostly works out. Music’s also pretty stellar, and completes the anime-aesthetics with legit opening and ending themes too. Looks can only do so much though, but Platinum is never one to get by purely on outward appearances.

CHAIN PAIN

Combat is where Platinum shines, and that’s definitely true for Astral Chain, though you do have to wait a lot longer than usual to get a good feel for what the game’s trying to do. The first few hours leave a pretty bad first-impression honestly, with lackluster combat options and clunky movement, but once the game shows it’s hand everything starts to really click. By the endgame you’re drowning in options, to the point where it would have been overwhelming if the game threw it all at you right at the start. Best to ease players into the game, but it’s risky to not start the game off on the right foot.

The defining feature of this game is controlling two characters at once, your officer and their Legion. At the start, your officer’s options are limited, and Legions mostly attack on their own, but over time you gain more Legions to swap between on-the-fly, as well as more manual actions you can perform alongside them. Sync Attacks, for one, require you to tap the Legion button at specific points after attacks, which will have the two of you team up for big damage. Your officer gains a shape shifting “X-Baton” weapon that can take a few different forms to vary up their own combat, but the five Legions you gain are your most important tools. Sword, Arrow, Arm, Beast and Axe; each Legion has their own uses in and out of combat and in many cases feel like extended nods to Platinum’s entire back-catalog. Sword can enter Raiden’s Blade Mode from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance to cut enemies on a specific axis, or sever connections between specific doors or objects. Arrow can take out enemies from afar, or be brought in for an over-the-shoulder shooting experience right out of Vanquish. Arm is like an extended nod to Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, pounding foes with a flurry of punches, as well as being able to pick up and throw objects. Beast is just Bladewolf from Revengeance, letting players ride atop it for mobility, and digging up items or following scents like a real dog. Lastly, Axe is a powerhouse that also grants players a powerful barrier that can protect them from various hazards. Certain enemies require specific Legions to take out, and with all five at the press of a button, things can get hectic, but in a good way and advanced players can do a lot with all of these tools.

Each Legion has their own skill tree that can grant them special moves or increase stats as well, and similar to the chip system from Nier: Automata, players can equip special passive skills onto each Legion, provided they have enough slots open for them. The chain connecting officer and Legion also comes into play too, being able to move the Legion freely and bind enemies up (bringing Wonderful 101’s Wonder Liner to mind), or send a charging enemy flying back with an Irish Whip straight out of wrestling. Legions can’t stay out forever though, their Sync Gauge slowly draining as they fight, huge chunks of it taken out if they get hit by attacks, but it recharges pretty quickly, especially if your officer stays aggressive. Compared to past Platinum titles, there’s a lot more emphasis on using items and having “builds” when going into fights too. Healing items alongside combat-oriented items like drones or shields are encouraged rather than penalized, as is the standard. There’s more I could go into, but this hopefully gives you an idea of how much is going on in this game’s combat. Comparing the first few hours to endgame is night and day, more so than almost any other Platinum title.

Generally, the combat is up to the Platinum standard, but unlike most games by the developer, there’s actually a LOT of gameplay that isn’t straight combat, making this Platinum’s most varied game yet…for better or for worse.

STYLISH BUSYWORK

Here’s where things get kinda tricky. On the one hand, it’s good for a game to have at least SOME variety, right? If a game is nonstop action, it risks becoming stale, so having some slower moments makes the bigger moments more impactful. It’s a question of pacing more than anything else, and unfortunately the pacing in Astral Chain leaves a LOT to be desired.

To say it as succinctly as I can, the levels in Astral Chain drag on far too long. A typical level in Platinum’s catalog is roughly 20 minutes, give or take a bit of backtracking or some story bits. In Astral Chain, a full level, or “File”, can take four to five hours by comparison, and when you lay it out like that, you realize there’s an awful lot of filler to sift through to get to the good stuff. You have investigation sequences that are laughably easy for one. Using discount Detective Vision from the Batman Arkham games, you “find” clues and then fill in the blanks to form a lead, but these sequences are impossible to fail. Solutions are highlighted and even if you come to the wrong conclusion, the game will just correct you and you’ll move on regardless. Then you have platforming sequences that are mostly fine, though hampered by being unable to use the camera most of the time (since the right stick can also manually control your Legion). At times, honest-to-God sidequests can be found that are usually not combat-focused, and we can throw in some awful motion-controlled minigames for good measure. On their own, these extra bits aren’t too bad, kinda boring in some respects but otherwise fine, however for someone who just wants to progress the story and get to the next fight, they become barriers you’re forced to contend with before you can get back to having fun.

Now, a lot of this stuff IS optional, but you’re heavily encouraged to do them all anyway. You get locked out of getting good end-of-File ranks if you avoid optional ranked missions, and you’re given rewards for all of this stuff anyway. They’re mostly cosmetic rewards, but the game still seems to expect you to engage with this “extra” content…to the point that it’s clearly not seen as extra but a part of the whole Astral Chain experience. If you stripped out the non-combat portions, that’s like 2/3s of the game gone and it feels kinda messed up to skip out on so much of it. Rather…maybe the game should have made a point of having this stuff be engaging to do in its own right.

MAKING THE GRADE

I want to stress that there’s a lot I liked about Astral Chain. There’s plenty of charm hidden throughout here, and the prospect of a Platinum game that strives to do MORE isn’t a bad one. I enjoyed having NPCs to talk to, larger areas to explore that weren’t just combat areas, and little touches like getting points for recycling or being unable to jaywalk were appreciated. One thing I never touched on was its ranking system, which seems more emblematic of the issues I had with the game. Rather than rewarding and ranking one’s own play, it awards high ranks more so for variety than anything else. It doesn’t matter how poorly you play (to a point), as long as you do a lot of different stuff it’ll all work out. Thus, the game threw a lot of stuff at the wall regardless of how hard it stuck, and as such there’s a number of great ideas mixed in with some really, really weird ones.

Astral Chain is in many ways an experimental game for Platinum. They seem to be trying to move away from niche action games and offer up more for the consumer, but in doing so I fear they might be diluting their games. I’ve been quite a bit more critical of this game than I expected to be, and in the end I’m more just bummed that I didn’t enjoy it more. This game is the directorial debut of Takahisa Taura, and I can practically feel the passion he had for this product; he likely loaded this game with a lot of things that he personally liked, and it’s clear everyone involved worked hard to deliver the best game they could. The results vary a bit, as we have crisp visuals and unique, deep combat mixed in with some plodding segments that seem thrown in for variety’s sake. Astral Chain is ambitious, but maybe this once Platinum bit off a bit more than they could chew. I’d also petition that this game is a victim of certain expectations of what I think a PlatinumGames title “should” be. It’s possible Taura felt pressured to put in aspects of Platinum’s past output and was afraid to go further and make this game truly something new. I’ll also wager that if Astral Chain is someone’s first Platinum game, they’ll be able to come in with a fresher perspective and might end up enjoying it more than a diehard fan like me. There’s a solid foundation here for any future titles though, and I think this game’s issues could be ironed out if given the chance. At its height, the combat really sells this game for me, and action fans will find a lot to love…but there’s a lot in here that might not scratch that particular itch. I wouldn’t quite call this game the weakest link in PlatinumGames’ chain at any rate, and I remain a fan of the company and their future output.

Shine on Platinum.

-B

[scoutception]

Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light review: that which died so that Bravely Default could live

Ah, Bravely Default, Square Enix’s unexpected, but pleasant, little gift to the 3DS, an RPG meant to be a throwback to the days of the SNES, about a bunch of dorks bumbling their way into saving the world. With its great characters, fantastic music, downright gorgeous art design, and innovative battle system, it, and its sequel, Bravely Second, make for some of the best RPGs on the 3DS. I’m not here to talk about those, though, at least not quite yet. I’m here to talk about the Final Fantasy spinoff on the original DS that inspired them. This is Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light, itself a throwback to older RPGs, and easily one of the most obscure spinoffs in the series. Does it measure up to the standards of its spiritual successors?

Short answer, no. But since nobody reads these for the short answers, buckle in your seat belts, because this’ll be a ride.

Story:

The game follows 4 teenagers from the kingdom of Horne: Brandt, Jusqua, Yunita, and Aire, who, after defeating the local witch, Louhi, who kidnapped Aire, the kingdom’s princess, are branded to be the Heroes of Light by the planet’s guardian, the Crystal, who warns them of a darkness that threatens to destroy the world. Upon returning to their home, they find all its inhabitants turned to stone by the curse of the witch. Unfortunately, the Crystal could not have picked a worse group of people to task with saving the world. Brandt is an insecure idiot who blindly dashes ahead to try to become stronger, Jusqua is a lazy jerk adverse to putting in effort, even when it’s a good cause, Aire is a greedy spoiled brat of a princess concerned mostly with keeping herself well off, regardless of the consequences to other people, and Yunita is a knight with severe self esteem issues, which wouldn’t be too damaging on its own... if not for her companions treating her awfully and ditching her at the drop of a hat. Needless to say, these are not attractive qualities in a hero, and they split up immediately after discovering what happened to their home, and while Brandt and Yunita do try to find a solution to their home’s predicament, with Jusqua and Aire essentially giving up and taking refuge in a different town, most of the plot boils down to them wandering around trying to fix problems they themselves caused, while trying to fix the problems of all the towns they come across, swapping between themselves in parties of two, and picking up and dropping guest party members. It gets more than a bit frustrating after a while, and feels quite aimless, until things get a lot more interesting once they reunite in the floating city of Spelvia.

Major game spoilers from this point on, just as a warning

The city of Spelvia is home to the original hero of light, Rolan, who saved the world three hundred years before with the help of his dragon companion. After doing so, his father, the chief of the town Invidia, ordered him to create an empire in Spelvia. His dragon having died in the battle against the darkness, and left alone to create his empire, Rolan became filled with bitterness and resentment, refusing to help the new heroes despite being the only hope to save Horne. The heroes try to help him by freeing his soul of his darkness... only to, as usual, completely mess up and cause the darkness to cover the entire world, somehow causing time to roll back to 15 years in the past. As it turns out, however, this was the best thing possible, as the troubles of the various kingdoms, including Rolan’s own darkness. are revealed to be the work of 7 demons, Asmodeus, Belphegor, Leviathan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, Mammon, and Satan. After defeating them all, they traverse to the source of the darkness and destroy the mastermind behind it all, Chaos (this definitely isn’t familiar at all, huh).

While the plot definitely has interesting ideas and cool moments, it’s still not a great success. The plot for the first half of the game is rather thin and meandering, and the characters just aren’t memorable, with the lack of interaction between the main cast being one of the biggest flaws. Still, it’s an interesting effort, if nothing else.

Gameplay:

The 4 Heroes of Light is uses a turn based battle system that is somewhat reminiscent of its spiritual successor, Bravely Default, though still quite different. The main similarity is the use of AP. All your party members have a max of 5 AP they can store. One is given automatically every turn, and choosing to defend will give an extra one. AP is used for everything, from using abilities, to casting magic, to simply attacking, to the point there isn’t even MP. The stronger the abilities, the more AP they take to use, with high level spells using 4, and the most advanced abilities using 4 or 5. However, compared to Bravely Default, there’s a few major problems with this system. While not having to worry about having to keep your MP up seems nice, the trade off of having to use more AP for stronger abilities is actually rather damaging. If you, say, wanted to attack with Firaga, you’d need to defend twice just to build up enough AP to cast it once, essentially only being able to go once every three turns, which isn’t very efficient, especially when high level spells like that are one of your only methods for hitting multiple enemies, not to mention the problems healers face.

While using a lower level spell may seem like the obvious solution, it’s not that simple. TFHOL (I cannot type out that whole name everytime) uses a customizable ability system where, in addition to the basic three commands of attacking, defending, and using items, you have 6 free ability slots that can be filled with either job abilities, of which there are 4 each, and magic, which anyone can freely use. While this may sound fine and dandy, it’s actually a pretty restrictive number. Even aside from the job abilities, most of which are quite valuable, the sheer amount of spells available means a lot of spreading them out between your party members, who will likely be less effective at magic than others, and have duties to focus on besides magic. Even worse, in a move I can only call utterly baffling, there is no way to manually target in battle. Physical moves always hit the enemy in front, to the right, and magical attacks always hit the enemy in back, to the left, while healing and other support magic just goes to whoever the computer thinks needs it from a pure numbers standpoint. This can result in your meathead healing your paladin at low health for piddly amounts, while your dedicated healer heals your bard that already got off all their buffs off just because they now had a bit less HP, not to mention a dangerous enemy remaining in battle longer than you’d like just cause they’re in a spot that the auto target refuses to go for. There is absolutely no reason they couldn’t put in manual targeting. Aside from magic specifically, though, the ability system is flawed in how utterly restricted you are without it. For instance, the simple ability to run from battles, one of the most basic things in an RPG, is restricted to one specific job, one that’s rather poor offensively, to boot. Yes, if you get into a random encounter without said job, you’re forced to fight it, no way around it.

As mentioned many times, this game uses a system where your different characters can switch between various jobs. These range from the traditional white and black mages, the dedicated healers and offensive magic users, to bards and musicians, with job abilities to provide buffs to the party, to the more traditionally offensive rangers and bandits, to some very.... weird ones, such as the Salve-Maker, dedicated to enhancing the effects of items, to the elementalist, which manipulates elemental effectiveness and resistance, to, all things, the party host, which relies on psyching the party up, making them more effective in battle. They can get pretty creative, and they all have some kind of use in battle, regardless of how far in the game you are. They also all have passive abilities, such as the black and white mage reducing the amount of AP needed to use their respective types of magic by one, along with different stats that determine their effectiveness at certain things, such as using different weapons. The progression on getting them, however, is pretty slow. Other than the default freelancer, at first you’re only given the wayfarer, the aforementioned job able to run from battles, once you first assemble your full party, and afterwards, you unlock two jobs per city story arc, and while it’s not too awful a pace, it still takes a while before you’re given some kind of variety, though there’s a few that can only be gotten through minigames as well. This is only worsened by your party permanently being halved for half the game, or in some cases only being given 1 person to control. This limits your options even further. Trying to use more supportive jobs such as the bard can put all the pressure on your other party member, not to mention it’s a downer in general, having your creativity limited so.

Aside from the basic EXP leveling gained from defeating enemies, jobs can level up through gems dropped by enemies, unlocking new abilities. While fine in concept, in execution, it’s not well balanced at all. There’s 8 different types of gems, all of which are eventually needed to level up, and you need very specific amounts of each to level the jobs up. Additionally, gems are also your main source of currency for a while, since enemies don’t drop money, forcing you to balance saving them for strengthening your jobs, and being able to buy at least a few things. Gems aren’t guaranteed drops, and they can only drop a max of 4 per battle normally anyway, making it even grindier. Worst of all, the final type, the diamonds, are only dropped by bosses, which are obviously finite, with the exception of the respawning bosses in the bonus dungeons, which have their own problems, which I’ll get to in a bit. In the end, it’s just an unnecessary complication compared to enemies giving JP to level up your jobs like in Bravely Default.

No beating around the bush, this is a difficult game, and not for all the right reasons. Combined with the aforementioned difficulties such as no manual targeting, the encounter rate is pretty high, with enemies more than happy to wreck your day, and the game tries to do everything it can to spite you further. For instance, the inventory system works by each of your party members a limited amount of space to hold items. To equip equipment and spells, though, you need to physically keep them in said character’s inventory, which takes up quite a bit of space, and there’s no item stacking either; you want to have potions on hand, every potion you take is another space lost. While it generally doesn’t cause too many problems, from my experience, it’s still a pretty irritating wrinkle, especially when enemies can drop tons of items. Another, much more frustrating example, comes once you transition into the second half of the game, once the party reunites. The random encounters actually start scaling to your level, essentially meaning that your levels become meaningless. This is another detail that’s downright baffling to me, especially when them scaling means they give out more and more EXP as you level up, meaning you’ll hit the level cap pretty easily, and with barely anything to show for it. The bosses can also be huge roadblocks, especially the 7 demons, with special shout outs to Asmodeus, who has an attack that hits the whole party and has a chance of inflicting every status ailment in the game on your party members, including ones like stone, which pretty much kill them outright. Still, the bosses are also the highlight of the game, when they’re not making you pull your hair out.

You’re also restricted to saving at save points, which can be pretty annoying with how long and labyrinthine the later dungeons can get, especially with the final dungeon’s save point only being halfway through. You’re not even allowed to save on the world map. On that subject, the world map is extremely small and barren. While the early parts of the game sort of hide it with their extreme linearity, once you’re given free reign, and a dragon to ride, it quickly becomes apparent just how little there even is, with only a few optional locations, most of which are the bonus dungeons, which sane players are better off skipping. They’re 4 giant towers that go on for 100 floors, containing loads of random encounters, several bosses, and random equipment, and even jobs from the very last bosses. The problem is, everything except every 10th floor is a regular floor where you just have to find the exit, the problem being they get so utterly massive towards the end it can take half an hour to find the exit, not helped by the constant random encounters. Even with the rewards they offer, there is no word to describe them other than exhausting, and they’re easily some of the most miserable challenges I’ve gone through in a game. Even worse, you’re expected to farm these for gems and a special item that can upgrade your equipment. It’s a waste of time and sanity.

Overall, while the gameplay is a homage to older RPGs, it mainly captures the worst aspects of them instead. I’ve played many RPGs, and none have frustrated me anywhere near as much as this game.

Graphics:

The graphics of TFHOL are actually quite good. It was meant to have the feel of a popup book, and as a result, it has a bright and colorful feel to it.

It also has some pretty inventive location concepts, especially the final dungeon, the Star Chamber.

The biggest highlight to me, however, is the enemy designs, especially the 7 demons and Chaos. They tend to look inventive and distinct, and was even carried into Bravely Default, where it works even better.

Sound:

The music is simply fantastic in this game. It’s all in chiptune, and it works extremely well, even if it sounds a bit funny at first. From the blood pumping boss themes, to the creepy cave and dungeon themes, to quite a few that sound downright beautiful, like the dragon’s theme and Spelvia’s theme, being in chiptune does nothing to harm it. It also gets points for including night versions of every town theme, which sound beautiful in their own right.

Overall:

This is a game that does quite a few things right. The graphics, the music, even the story and the more climatic boss fights all work great. The base gameplay, however, is nothing short of a mess. I downright hated this game when I beat it, and while I’m not quite as emotional over it now, it’s still a very solid heavily not recommended. However, it did lead to the creation of Bravely Default, and for that, it deserves to be acknowledged. Till next time.

-Scout

[ladala99]

Spyro Reignited Countdown - Spyro the Dragon

Hey, as someone who only owns a Switch of the current console generation, and as someone who grew up playing Spyro on the PS1, I’m super hyped for the return of the dragon!

And I thought up yesterday, what better way to do that than by reviewing every Spyro game I’ve played.

Well, I’ve played... *counts* 22 Spyro games. Counting the 3DS ports of Skylanders games which are different enough to talk about separately.

Alright divide the number of days left until it comes out and...

Uh... one every two days, huh? Guess I better get started! (May space them out or have bonus comparisons/recaps at the end to deal with the extra days)

Spyro the Dragon

The first Spyro game! Also the first video game I ever played. One day, when I was 3, my dad plopped me down in front of the Playstation, gave me the controller, and started up some demo disk. The first one on there was this game called Spyro the Dragon, and he told me what the buttons did (since I couldn’t read the screen that told you), and let me play.

I told my mom about it (divorced parents), and we rented the game from Hollywood Video. *She* played it. She loved it. And I loved watching. And pressing buttons on a controller put into slot 2. I had a fancy Barbie controller. I don’t know what eventually happened to it.

Eventually the Hollywood Video lost the disc and we bought it for ourselves. We were renting it every week, anyway. I remember us going up to the video game counter and my mom going “We’d like to get this game, it’s about a dragon...” and I shouted “And he’s purple! And his name is Spyro!” I loved him so much.

Now I didn’t play through the entire game myself until I was a teen, but unlike any other game, I did see the ending as a kid because my mom was able to make it through the game, into 100%. It’s a series we bonded over, and I have so much nostalgia for it. I can’t wait to play it in Reignited and see what she remembers.

Anyway, stopping with the memories and onto the review! It’s just... really hard to be fair for a game like this. I have too much nostalgia related to it. Honestly, though, that’s the case for a lot of the series.

Gameplay

Spyro the Dragon is an early 3D platformer. Despite being early, though, it controls really well. I’ve played a few others from that era (Croc, uh... Crash? Maybe not a few) and none of them control quite as well as Spyro does. Spyro is extremely responsive, stopping and starting on a dime.

You have two attacks, spitting fire and charging with your horns. The latter can be used to move quicker, but you don’t turn as sharply when running. When to use each attack is well-conveyed, as large opponents are immune to your horns, but weak to your fire, and opponents with a shiny metal shield are the opposite. There’s a few enemies immune to both, but they can be beaten by ways that are broadcasted well.

Collectables

One of those ways is the dragons. There’s three main collectables in this game: Gems, Eggs and Dragons. Gems are everywhere, Eggs are only in a few levels, and Dragons are placed in key locations in each level. The Dragons are I suppose the main collectable, but all three are needed for progress. Dragons in particular also double as tutorial and lore pieces, as each tells you something when you free him. They also all look unique, with each of the five species having their own general look and each individual having his own textures. I go into a lot more detail in this blog post. This really makes the dragons in this game stand out amongst the series, as no other collectables are nearly as unique.

Gems I don’t really know what to say about. Many collectathon platformers have collectables like them: something spread around every level so you need to explore the entire play area. Gems are special in that each one has a different value: red being 1, green being 2, blue being 5, gold being 10, and purple being 25. And this spread shows approximately how common each was, with the lower values being more common and spread around, and the higher values being rewards for going into more out-of-the-way areas. Collecting them is satisfying, especially in larger amounts. Just watching the numbers spin is one of the highlights of this game, especially at the end of the bonus level.

Eggs are special. They come from chasing down blue thieves, which are the most annoying enemy in the game. Sure, now I can get them in one try, but back at the beginning the ones that don’t have a full circular path were the most annoying things, since if you got to the end, they’d just jump out of reach and taunt you.

Powerups

There’s two main powerups in this game: Superflame and Supercharge. Both have a couple of levels that use them extensively.

Superflame definitely is the weaker of the two. You get kissed by a fairy, turn red, and then for a limited amount of time you can use your flame breath to destroy metal objects and enemies. In the two levels it’s in, there’s an enemy you specifically need to use it on: the terrifying spiders and the enchanted suits of armor. The thing is, Superflame otherwise looks and works exactly like normal flame, just is usable on more things. While it’s cool to get the limitless one in Haunted Towers, overall it’s not a very memorable ability, and is improved dramatically in the sequels.

Supercharge you get from charging over lit arrows, and it enhances your charge to work on larger enemies and makes you go really, really fast. It takes a bit to master, but once you do, it is a very satisfying skill to use. Too bad none of the levels in this game have a limitless track to use it on. The levels that use it use it in very creative ways, including the one where I’m not even sure how you’re supposed to know the path you’re supposed to take. It really spices up the gameplay, to the point where Tree Tops feels like an entirely different game. And if you know me, you know that I love games that spice up the gameplay.

Bosses

The one weak point of this game is its bosses. They’re basically normal enemies, just with a slight gimmick. And that gimmick usually involves a large battlefield where they will run away from you. It does make you feel powerful: after all, they’re running away from the fire-breathing dragon attacking them. But at the same time, they offer very little challenge. The only really interesting one is Metalhead with his electric-guarded power generators, but even then, it’s not like he can hit you or anything unless you’re standing completely still. And the final boss is only hard because of how many holes the stage has in it. Not at all because of Gnasty. He’s still the most likely to directly hit you of all the bosses, but that’s not saying much.

Levels

The levels are all themed to their world, which is pretty neat, but does get repetitive at times. Still, it made each world feel more real.

Speaking of things feeling more real, something I’ve noticed is that Spyro the Dragon doesn’t fall into the same pitfall of having platforms that are just platforms because this is a platformer. Every piece of land is connected to something, oftentimes even in Dream Weavers which is literally floating islands. Moving platforms are caused by wizards, dangerous platforms are caused by Gnorcs zapping them, and often random platforms in the middle of the level are themed to it, like the stumps in Beast Makers.

The game progresses from easy to hard very smoothly, adding more gimmicks and platforming challenges as it goes along. This is also shown by the Gnorcs getting more competent as the game goes along, beginning with no weaponry in Artisans, getting cannons in Peacekeepers, electricity in Beast Makers, and finally machine guns in Gnorc Gnexus. Too bad Gnasty never learned to use a gun.

Story

Gnasty Gnorc turns all the dragons into crystal for insulting him on live TV. And if you read the instruction manual you learn that he hates gems because he hates his own reflection because he is too ugly. Really, there’s not too much here, but that’s not the point of the game. At least it’s not a save-the-girl plot. You don’t really see save-the-adults too often.

Unique in the Series?

Truly what makes this game unique is the fact that it’s completely platforming-based. No minigames, few gimmicks, just the entire game is platforming and collecting stuff.

This comes with a lack of real NPCs, which many people find makes the game lonely, but I don’t mind at all. It’s definitely a different feel from later games, but it’s not in a bad way.

Also something I’m surprised is unique to this game is the fact that many of the secrets involve going onto parts of the level that look like they should not be accessible. You glide onto the surrounding hillsides in Stone Hill, you climb up nearly-invisible steps in Terrace village, and you use the walls that look just like random scenery to fully explore Misty Bog. This type of thing isn’t used in future Spyro games, and rarely (if ever?) in video games in general. Truly a unique experience that has since turned me into an accidental bug hunter because I keep trying to get out-of-bounds just in case in other games.

Conclusion

All-in-all, Spyro the Dragon is tied for my favorite video game of all time with its sequel, Spyro 2. I compare everything I play to these games. They’re just the standard. I love them. Nostalgia-bias? Maybe. But despite there being a few flaws, I can’t really find fault when I play it. It’s too fun.

[thearkhound]

Letters to the MSX

Letters to the MSX (MSXにおくる手紙/MSX ni okuru tegami) is an article that was published in the final issue of MSX-FAN magazine (dated August 1995), in which the publication sent out a questionnaire to various people within the video game, computing and consumer electronics industries (from companies such as Micro Cabin, Compile, Game Arts, Sony and Matsushita), asking them about their involvement with the MSX and their thoughts about the platform, which was being discontinued from the market after 12 years in the market.

Originally I only intended to translate Hideo Kojima’s answers to the questionnaire, but then I decided to do the whole article because not only does it bring a lot of insight to the MSX culture in Japan, but it also provides a picture of how the computer industry was back in the mid-90′s and where it was heading. This is why it took me a while to publish this translation (and why I have been inactive on Twitter for almost a month now), since it was not only quite a long article, but there’s also quite a bit of technical jargon and idioms that I wanted to make sure I would get right.

Anyway, I hope that you will enjoy it.

Introduction

We sent out this questionnaire to as many companies as possible who were involved with the MSX via fax or PC. We wanted to publish the thoughts of the people who were involved during that period. We do believe this will lead to our next step.

The contents of the questionnaires are as follows. Please read them fully and compare them.

The text has been printed the way it was sent to us, but editor’s notes have also been in parts that we believe might be too difficult for some readers to comprehend. The text after the red circle is written by the editorial department to introduce the developer who answered the questionnaire, followed by their answers to each question. If the answers to question 1 and 4 given by the person in the previous section, then “same as above” will written in its place.

MSX-FAN Final Questionnaire

Company’s name

Name and current department

Job(s) during the MSX era

Most notable MSX products by the company

Your most nostalgic MSX moment and why

Words you wish to impart to MSX-FAN readers

Bonus/ Secrets, inside stories or such you wish to share

Tokihiro Naito

We can’t help but feel from reading Mr. Naito’s comment that the MSX was a machine that everyone made good use of. With such powerful talents, his games have served as an inspiration to numerous players. Before long, people learn about the enjoyment of creating games just like Mr. Naito... We feel it’s quite a wonderful chain.

T&E Soft

Tokihiro Naito, Development Division

DD Club/Pattern Editor Programming and Manual Manuscript Creation, Undead Line/Game Design. Hydlide/Game Design and Direction, Hydlide 3/Main Programming, Rune Worth/Game and Direction. I feel there were more projects (I’ve worked on), but I don’t remember any of them.

3D Golf Simulation, Hydlide series, Laydock series, Daiva, Psy-O-Blade, Rune Worth, DD Club, T&E Disk Magazine, and more

Laydock/ The truth is that I want to talk about everything I’ve worked on, but this particular title left the most lasting impression. This had an unexpectedly short development time, meaning that it was released even before the new MSX hardware. However, the developing target was pretty unstable, and with the hardware and BIOS specifications changing everyday, it led to a difficult development period. The person in charge was all (^ ^;

The MSX was a very interesting job for me. The MSX was probably the first time I was introduced to the concept of a VDP at such an early stage. Since the MSX was also the first machine I’ve ever experienced the use of sprites with, it was personally very fun. Even though MSX-FAN might be gone now, I hope many people will still use the MSX as a starting machine for programming or for making CGI.

DD Club contained a tool called SPEN, which was not a product by the company. It was actually a hobby program I designed in my home for over two years. At any rate, the name stood for Special Pattern Editor for Naito. This program was given free of charge to T&E Soft as my dedication to them./During the development of Laydock, I received a new BIOS-ROM from ASCII almost everyday, but every time the BIOS was changed it would cause the game to stop running, and we had to cool out the prototype MSX2 computer with a paper fan while programming as soon as it was overheating./ The 800 kanji fonts for the MSX1 version of Hydlide III that were on a 7x8 pixel format were in fact created by me. Were they hard to read? I’m sorry if that was the case./ There are many more unrevealed inside stories, but... (Editor’s Note 1: We this much content, we can’t publish this letter without cutting off some parts. Hmm...) (Editor’s Note 2: Hmm, I wonder if the other editor has seen that one last sentence.) (^ ^;

Akira Misoda

In the MSX world there is Micro Cabin. Nothing else needs to be said. We are grateful to them for many things. We thank them for porting Princess Maker to the MSX. And in addition to providing software for our supplemental disks, we learned many things from Mr. Nakano as the lecturer for our Picture Story & Movie Classroom articles. Producer Misoda has made an effort to backup all the above. I don’t think the Princess Maker port would’ve happened without his influence.

Micro Cabin

Akira Misoda, 1st R&D Department

Producer & Programmer of Campaign Daisenryaku. Programmer of The Tower of Cabin. Producer of Princess Maker.

Fray, Xak, Xak II, Maison Ikkoku, Urusei Yatsura, Daisenryaku, Super Daisenryaku, Princess Maker, Illusion City, The Tower of Gazzel.

This doesn’t have anything to do with the MSX version specifically, but Xak was the first game I programmed desperately after I’ve joined the company. I gave the rough source code to Mr. Nakatsu when he joined the company to produce the MSX version, but I’m still impressed that such a difficult code to understand could be ported so well.

The MSX is a hardware that has raised many people. There are quite a few people at Micro Cabin who used to be MSX users before joining the company. With the proper knowhow, you could make games on the MSX without having to purchase any expensive add-on (compared to other platforms). In that sense, it’s such a great loss that another platform that has produced game-making geniuses (!?) is disappearing from the industry. I might be exaggerating a bit, but... I really feel that way.

I’ve worked on the MSX prior to joining Micro Cabin. I did around four outsourced jobs from three different companies, and two of them were for Micro Cabin.

Yasuhiko Nakatsu

Programmers are said to stay up all night, tend to run away and are all unusual men, but there is no one who makes good products that keeps his deadlines, sleeps on time, and provides gentle guidance to everyone. We at the editorial department asked for such a person to serve as our lecturer for our picture story show articles. We are grateful to Mr. Nakatsu for everything he did to us and we apologize for asking too much of him. We are truly sorry for that.

Same as above

Yasuhiko Nakatsu, 1st R&D Department

Planning, programming, writing

Same as above.

I have many fond memories of software that came out on the MSX. Among there was this software called Su**s Gri... Oops! I’ve almost mentioned something I shouldn’t. My bad. My bad. Personally, Illusion City was my most memorable game when it comes to the most hardships I have to endure.

Thank you for publishing my articles after such a long period. For those who are not good at programming at BASIC, please look up any back issues and try your best at creating a picture story. The MSX was a machine with many ways to enjoy oneself. I look forward to future activities with the platform.

I was the one responsible for raising the memory of the A1-GT to 512Kb. Thanks to that, the machine was able to play MIDI without the burden of access time. I’m truly grateful at everyone in Matsushita.

Hitoshi Suenaga

Rather than introduce the person, I thought it would be more fitting to introduce his projects. He’s a talented genius responsible for the character designs in Micro Cabin.

Same as above

Hitoshi Suenaga, 2nd R&D Department

Xak 1, Fray, Daisenryaku, Illusion City

Same as above

Xak 1, since it was the first MSX project I ever worked on after joining the company.

I am grateful to everyone who supported our work, as well as everyone answered the questionnaire. While it’s sad that the world will go on without the MSX, I will still use it for my hobbies and personal work. In fact the character units in the 3DO version of Konpeki no Kantai were drawn on my MSX computer and then converted to the console.

If you want to be honest, if ASCII had asked for my input, I would’ve balanced out the hardware specifications of the MSX turbo R a bit more and I think the platform would’ve been around a bit longer. When I learned about the MSX turbo R’s hardware specifications after unveiling conference, I began crying on my bed... I’m serious! The MSX2 was a serviceable upgrade from the MSX1, but after that...

Katsuya Nagai

Mr. Nagai made one MSX software after the other while in Micro Cabin thanks to his love for the MSX and the effort he made to program every day and night.

Same as above.

Katsuya Nagai, 1st R&D Department

Programmed the opening and ending of Xak I. Also made the fighting minigame in The Tower of Cabin.

Same as above.

I was involved with Xak I as soon as I’ve joined the company.

Even though we are no longer making MSX games, we hope you’ll still support Micro Cabin in the future.

The Fray vs. Pixie minigame from The Tower of Cabin was ported from the PC-9801 version and I got to draw the animation patterns of a special move that was planned for the game. However, not all the animation frames could fit into the game’s memory, so I ended up using the regular patterns instead.

Naoko Arakawa

When talking about the TAKERU software vending machines, there is Ms. Arakawa. She was always full of energy when we met her during events. She even worked together with our editorial staff on the Sorcerian port, which is a project that brings us deep memories. She also worked on Sorcerian Relay, which is included in this final issue. Since it’s just a relay race game featuring characters from Sorcerian created by the editorial staff, it might not be anything special, but... We would be grateful is she re-releases more classic MSX software via TAKERU.

Xing

Naoko Arakawa, TAKERU Executive Office (sales division G)

Sales promotion of MSX software for TAKERU

Sorcerian, BURAI Vol. 2, ect.

Thanks to the news announcement from MSX-FAN, our game reprinting project attracted attention from many users, which evolved into the TAKERU Meisaku Bunko (Masterpiece Library) series. We;re now re-releasing PC-9801 and X68000 games on TAKERU as well, becoming an important pillar of our service more than ever. I think it was all thanks to the planning of MSX-FAN and our MSX users.

I truly salute MSX users for their passion, enthusiasm and creative urge. While we gathered many games for our reprint series, there were still quite a few things that left a bit to be desired (like why we didn’t include games from a certain company or why we didn’t include a particular title). There were many games that did not come out on TAKERU due to various circumstances, so we apologize for that. From now on we’ll do our best to have software reach MSX users via TAKERU, even if it’s just a few game. Please support us.

I have strong memories of sneaking out to see the A-Bomb Dome while I was en route to the MSX Festival in Hiroshima. On another occasion, I was photographed by a professional for the first time when I was interviewed by Mr. Tokita and Mr. Sasaya. The photo looked like a portrait than any normal photo. It’s one of my most treasured possessions.

Akkii

Falcon is a company that undertook a substantial role in the porting of Sorcerian that MSX-FAN and TAKERU (Brother) helped produce. Their president, Ms. Midori Ito, while working for Yamaha to promote the MSX, unexpectedly ended up becoming a programmer herself and before long she ended up marrying Mr. Kazuhiko Ito, who was employed at Micro Cabin at the time. The two ended up forming their own software development company. Answering in this section is Mr. Moribe, who was the lead graphic designer.

Tierheit (aka Falcon)

Akkii, Planning & Development Department - Development Section 2

Pixel art, debugging, intermediary with TAKERU’s executive officer, and many other jobs

Sorcerian, Sengoku Sorcerian, Pyramid Sorcerian

All of it, of course. It was the first company I’ve joined and the first job I was employed at.

The ending of Sorcerian was very anti-climatic. I’m sorry about that. Of course, the MSX is a hardware that exists because of its users. Even if this magazine will no longer be in print, the MSX scene will remain active as long as there are users, especially when it comes graphic designing (personally). Good luck!

Well there’s something I want to say, but... Oh no!

Yoshihide

I often used to go to the MSX Fair. I used to work at Osaka, bu moved back to Tokyo along with my wife last year. I want to know if the secret title was Dragon Spirit or Valkyrie.

Namco

Yoshihide, Consumer Sales Department - Promotion Division

MSX software sales and PR activities (including planning). Since there weren’t that many people, I did a bit of everything.

Return of Ishtar, Xevious: Farland Saga, Pac-Mania, ect. We also did the Disk NG series too.

For Xevious, I remember doing a bit of everything ranging from joining in the planning, production, advertising, distribution, sales and public relations.

I wish good luck to everyone involved with the MSX at Namco (including our users).

There were many games that we announced, but didn’t get released. On one hand I think it’s regrettable, but on the other hand it’s a bit horrifying.

Masamitsu Niitani

It’s because of Disk Station magazine that the MSX became an interesting world. It’s because of them that we had the Puyo Puyo series and Carbunkle. With its low-price, the fun-packed Disk Station was a brilliant plan that managed to rejuvenate an industry that has hit a rut. It was always a pleasure to deal with President Niitani himself when calling the company, even if it was the middle of the night.

Compile

Masamitsu Niitani, President

Planner, Producer, Graphic Designer, Programmer

Guardic, Madō Monogatari, Nyanpi, Golvellius, Rune Master, Adventure of Randar, Disk Station

Disk Station

Let’s walk with the times

I want to talk to Mr. Nishii of ASCII about his thoughts on the MSX.

Yoichi Miyaji

The founders of Game Arts got their start as part-timers at ASCII back in the old days. Because of their talent, they quickly formed their own company, where they gave birth to Thexder. At any rate, we had a chance to seriously think about developing for the MSX with Mr. Miyaji.

Game Arts

Yoichi Miyaji, President

Producer

Thexder, Fire Hawk, the Gyuwamburaa Jikō Chūshinha series, the Sum series

The debugging of the MSX-BASIC rom was carried out back when the founders of Game Arts were employed at ASCII. I think the BASIC was made extremely well.

I treasured the MSX like it was my own child. I did my best with the belief that the MSX was a better hardware than the Famicom (NES). It’s been more than 10 years (ed’s note: 12 years precisely), the age of the Famicom is over now and it’s time to let the MSX go too. It’s truly been a long time.

Satoshi Uesaka

Mr. Uesaka was the one who originally created the card concentration game called Card Desu as soon as MSX-FAN started including supplemental disks on each issue. It had an edit function in hopes that it would lead to a series of edited works, but not many edited versions were made and the whole thing amounted to nothing.

Same as above.

Satoshi Uesaka, Section Chief of Development

Producer, Director, Programmer, Pixel Artist, Scripter... I did many things.

Same as above.

The Sum series ended with 14 games that were released in a span of a single year.

Never forget your dreams, even when they end. (plagiarized)

Kamiji

BIT2′s president Mr. Kuribayashi was observing various creative tools for the PC-9801 one day when said that he would make his own versions to surpass them on the MSX. So he ended up making the CGI tool Graphsaurus, the FM music tool Synthesaurus and the MIDI tool Midisaurus. Without these tools there would’ve been no CGI contest on MSX-FAN and no MIDI Sandogaza column. In Mr. Kuribayashi’s place, this questionnaire was answered by saleswoman Ms. Kamiji.

BIT²

Kamiji, Sales

Accounting

Graphsaurus, Synthesaurus, Famicle Parodic

When they started putting all their efforts into the Turbo R and GT was when the MSX started sinking.

We still wanted to make MSX software, but since not many people were buying them anymore, we had to discontinue them.

Toshikazu Awano

While persistently providing software for the MSX, he also provided his invaluable insights on the MSX during the MSX Symposium (see our June 1991 issue). It seems he got into this world from the records industry, but has since be transferred into KOEI’s U.S. subsidiary and is now busy selling English versions of the Nobugana’s Ambition series for consoles.

Koei

Toshikazu Awano, Koei Corporation (of America)

Head of Sales

Nobunaga’s Ambition, Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Nobunaga’s Ambition II came out when I’ve joined the company and since it sold pretty well, it left me with a strong impression.

Our company used to sell MSX soft until very late, but when we discontinued them, we suddenly receiving porting requests from MSX users. Many of them were specifically middle and high schoolers with a strong sense of appreciation.

Tatsuo Matsuda

As someone who greatly loves the MSX beyond all else, he aspired to turn it into a machine that gives everyone the opportunity to bloom their talents. That is, even if you’re not rich or you live in a rural area, you should be able to use the MSX to awaken your hidden talent by creating CGI and music or get the opportunity to express yourself.

ASCII

Tatsuo Matsuda, Multimedia Department Promotion Manager

Promotion for MSX Sales

MSX

We have shipped over 4 million home computers to young people around the world, including Japan.

I want you to become smart Japanese people with unique personalities who could work around the world.

There are still many people using the MSX around the world. The MSX should be classified as a computer, not a game console. I’m very pleased that many people have learned about computers from this platform and have found employment through it.

Hitoshi Suzuki

Everyone who was involved with MSX has called him a genius. Without his genius, perhaps MSX wouldn’t had gotten such a good BASIC program. Nevertheless, he’s a truly wonderful person with a sense of humor who made Basic-kun as a side-project

Same as above.

Hitoshi Suzuki, Director of Digital System Division and Silicon Software Development

Listener to Mr. Matsuda’s complaints and causing uproars at parties.

I haven’t really done that much (Ed’s Note: He did a lot. Many of the programming for tools and systems used by the MSX were done by him.)

Yukiko Okada’s suicide haunted me. (Ed’s Note: At the time of her death, she was appearing in the advertising of a certain company.)

Our youth is a brief moment that only shines once. The memories that have gone through all of us at a rapid-pace will shine within me forever. And on my deathbed, I will utter “Em...Ess...Ex” as my last words.

There’s a huge mouse in Osaka. (Ed’s Note:It seems that the three main proponents of the MSX platform (Mr. Yamashita, Mr. Matsuda, Mr. Suzuki) once went to a business trip in Osaka. Nobody truly knows what happened there, but it seems that Mr. Matsuda was nicknamed Mr. Mouse after a certain incident. Don’t tell anyone, you meanie!)

Shingo Tamura

Mr. Tamura joined Sony at the midst of the audioboom. He was responsible for the famed live recording machine Densuke. Afterward, he became involved with the MSX and was in charge of the PalmTop. Even though Mr. Tamura is the section chief with a scary reputation, he’s actually a romantic who likes the stars, nature and soba noodles. We thought about what Sony means as a company with stuff such as sending mail through the internet in this day. Is it linked to their merchandising? We also wanted to emphasize the MSX’s side as a cool PC.

Sony

Shingo Murata, Planning and Development of Merchandising

Sales Chief of Planning and Development of Hardware, Software and Peripherals

The HB-55 was the first HiTBiT promoted by Saeko Matsuda. The HB-F1 was a budget-priced MSX2 computer that retailed at 32,800 yen. The HB-F1XD is an MSX2 with a floppy disk drive that retailed at 54,800 yen. In terms of games, there was The Wiz, which was perhaps a famed Sony original.

There was a software called Igo Club that was an online go game, and a Kanji Video Titler. There was also a BASIC-learning kit aimed at an industrial-level (after applying for the correspondence education, you would be sent an MSX with a handbook).

Every middle schooler who got their start on the MSX dreamed differently from Famicom owners. They could learn how to program or how to make a software run to their own accord. They continued in their creative endeavors now, even now as adults. If they can have home terminals like that in the 21st century, I think we can once again stir up some creativity. As long as people have dreams, we’ll embark on new challenges.

We tried to make and sell all kinds of products. The hardware is a business that really ought to make use of the software. With that in mind, we couldn’t make the DC machine (Ed’s note:a portable device) because the resolution was a bit overly optimistic and there were too many constraints. I would like to thank my subordinates, editor-in-chief Ms. Kitane and her staff, and my good friends at Sakurakai (Ed’s note: a liaison between multiple MSX hardware manufacturers that gathered once in every month, where they would improve on the good points, reflect on the bad ones and collaborate with each other. It was last held in May ‘95), even if they would normally be suspected of bid-rigging. And of course, everyone at ASCII. It was thanks to the MSX that I had a bond we all of the above people. And what would become of Mr. Kurami, our MSX historian at Sony who served as our walking encyclopedia? Thanks!

Naoya Kurami

Mr. Kurami is a delicate perfect fit for Sony’s corporate image. Everytime he received a call from our editorial department, he always winced momentarily whenever it was some kind of difficult call... Despite that, he seems to have what appears to be a poster of Saeko-chan...

Same as above.

Naoya Kurami, Vice Director of Planning and Development of Merchandising

Planning and Promotion of hardware, software and peripherals

Same as above

I don’t know if it can be said that its directly MSX-related, but do you know the stock-trading computer HB-T600 or the online go software Igo Club? Either way, studying stocks and studying go was a painful experience. And considering all that, the results were not quite good.

Well, for better or worse I spent the last ten years of my life working on the MSX. With this information now out on an MSX-related magazine, I feel a bit embarrassed. By the way, I own a train poster of Ms. Seiko Matsuda (advertising for our HiTBiT computers) as a souvenir from the past. I thought about selling it for a high price... I would like to thank all of editors at MSX-FAN and all of its readers. It’s been such a long time.

Hideaki Yagami

We, at the editorial staff, get the impression that the people at Matsushita are very serious and diligent. Both, their hardware and software are designed with the need to bring enjoyment to their users without betraying their expectations. Only Matsushita machines are strong against instantaneous blackouts and their PACs (Pana Amusement Cartridges) might had been a manifestation of that mentality. Under such circumstances, Mr. Yagami  (who is also skilled at skiing) was pretty good at gaining the trust of the software house (not just for the debugging meetings) and still is to this day.

Matsushita

Hideaki Yagami, Software Development Department of the Interactive Media Division

Development & Planning of Software at the Pana Amusement Production

The FS-5500F2 is famous for being the first MSX computer with 2 disk drives. The FS-A1 was a budget-pridced MSX2 that retailed 29,800 yen. The PACs were MSX cartridges containing S-RAM backup. Other products include the CF-XXX series, the FM-PAC, a Bowling System and an educational system aimed for Russia (that’s a secret)

The AshGuine series were a series of games starring the first character made by our company. We made the games all-night at the development site with the developers from the various companies involved to decide on the content of each game, their packaging and the posters.

When the MSX was brought to this world, a personal computer meant for the users something that could run the program they made, not just the packaged software they bought from a store. In today’s world, computers take many shape in order to support the needs of the world, but in spite of that it’s no longer easy to program by yourself, even if you own a PC. Even though PCs are becoming much closer to humans now, I can’t helped but feel a sense of nostalgia when the distance between them was more primitive, that is to say when a PC was just a programming tool. Back then the PC was the embodiment of a user’s dreams full of possibilities. It could be said that people who lived through the era when PCs were born are living witnesses of a valuable era that brought fruit to a trend of rapid creation and evolution. Keep those memories of freshness in mind and continue dreaming, seeking the possibilities of new challenges.

I wonder if there was any other unified effort between multiple home electronics manufacturers to promote a unified standard (MSX). MSX-FAN may have ended with this issue, but for the hardware manufacturers I think it was an era of everyone pursuing the dream of a single unified standard of PC. To all the companies that provided software, I’m truly grateful. I’m also grateful to Ms. Kitane and the rest of the editors of Tokuma for being there until the end. And finally, I would like to thank of all the MSX users who supported the platform.

Kazuaki Hiraga

Mr. Hiraga was suddenly put in charge of the MSX in a matter of months and became a familiar figure in ten years, leaving quite an impression. He has the personality you would expect. He plays Gekitotsu Pennant Race pretty well too. He also planned to lend out MSX computers to a culture festival. Thanks to that, he experienced a “ghost incident” in the Kanazawa Inn. At any rate, he held a mini-4WD competition to bring excitement to the event and played games with other users. In a sense, he was a familiar and energetic face to the MSX.

Same as above.

Kazuaki Hiraga, Software Development Department of the Interactive Media Division

As a member of the PAP, I’ve worked as a contact for various software providers and at the same time I was involved in the development of original software and peripherals (such as the PACs). I also planned  and managed nationwide events. I was Pana Amusement Club member no. 0001! By the way, the Amusement Club began business around the time Vampire Killer came out

Same as above.

At the beginning many hardware manufacturers created MSX machines, but in the end it became a fateful confrontation between Matsushita and Sony. Right now our Panasonic-branded products are selling quite well, especially our TVs and videos, but our no. 1 product in Japan is the “A1″. This symbolizes the magnitude of expectations that Matsushita applies to its products.

Looking at the current software industry, there are quite a few people who joined the industry from the MSX, so I feel it’s a big deal. in that sense, I appreciate all those people who are still passionate about the MSX and I’m eagerly awaiting even more people to become experts in the field of software development.

Thanks to the MSX, I have a nice family (ed’s note: Mr. Hiraga met his wife when she was the host of an MSX event. They now have a child together). It was also fun to go through various events nationwide and talk to representatives of software houses and magazines. Everyone gave it their best during the 4WD races in particular. (ed’s note:Mr. Naito of T&E Soft is known for using a turbo mode technique that connected batteries in a serial format.) One of the packaging illustrators for the AshGuine series was the now-famous Teppei Sasakura (who at the time was an unknown). Looking at the prices of Mr. Sasakura’s works recently, I tried to look for the original painting, but it’s nowhere to be found. Ah!

Masao Ito

Mr. Ito is an obliging person who planned out products he thought of while working on Matsushita’s hardware designs. If things are any indication, we believe he made the FM-PAC by embracing a headfirst approach. Within the people at Matsushita who supported the MSX until the end, Mr. Ito has been patiently answering various questions from our editorial staff up until this final issue.

Same as above.

Masao Ito, Planning and Selling of Foreign Software for the Interactive Media Division (I’m making 3DO stuff now).

First I worked on hardware designs. But then I acted as a jack-of-all-trades, examining the MSX standards at the same time. At the the end, I was responsible for product planning, as well as in charge of designing domestic and overseas systems.

Same as above

In Russia, I almost got arrested by the Moscow police one time after spending several consecutive nights bowling there.

The MSX was a cost-effective platform. It was useful in various ways if you knew how to use it well. While the MSX’s days are numbered, its ideal still remains true. The concept will surely be revived in the future (don’t hesitate to ask in which form).

I did quite a lot of things, but for some reason I am still an unknown in this industry. The PAC and FM-PAC cartridges were possible thanks to me! By the way, I’m still waiting to receive my own PAC and FM-PAC from the company.

Yuya Iwakiri

Mr. Iwakiri is a gentleman who organized many MSX events that gave us the chance to gather everyone. He supported up us until the end.

Same as above.

Yuya Iwakiri, Public Relations Department Editorial Department

As a professional, I’m a latecomer to the MSX when I was employed in 1989. In my private life, the first MSX computer I touched was a so-called King Kong word processor, which was a unique experience. Because I came from an advertising background, I focused on the planning and organizing of MSX fairs, where I involved in the creations of catalogs and advertisement (thinking about it though, the job was rather lonely since MSX-FAN was practically the only MSX-focused media remaining by that point), as well as the promotion and advertising of word processors (such as the UI series and the SLALA model).

Same as above.

For me, it’s perhaps the FS-A1GT, which ended up becoming the last MSX machine ever produced. The slight hopes of everyone who had an affection for the MSX, such as Ms. Kitagane, whom I have a strong rapport with, and the various celebrities (in every sense of the word) from all sorts of software house starting with Mr. Tanaka (director general of Micro Cabin), were gathered thanks  at the nationwide fairs thanks to this machine. Until the bitter end, there was hope for another model, hope for the uncertain future of the MSX... Even though I knew how it was going to end, I still couldn’t help but feel a sense of bitterness when it was over. It was like falling in love with someone you were forbidden to, like a feudal lord and a peasant or Romeo & Juliet...I thought about why I was given a job during such a moment.

There’s always one way or another to do things because of the mischief of the age. I don’t want to ponder any “what ifs”, “perhaps” and “if only”, but just like life, I still wonder if the MSX could ever return to the starting line... I’m sure everyone involved with the MSX is thinking this as well. In this age in which Microsoft is now threatening IBM’s grasp of the PC market, it would wonderful to imagine the MSX engine from Japan taking over the world.

My kids (ages 6 and 4) play all sorts of gaming platforms. The Game Boy, the Super Famicom and the 3DO. But they really like MSX games over everything else. Perhaps they inherited my preference and nostalgia for MSX games... DNA is quite a scary thing. Anyway, I’m truly grateful to all the MSX fans around the world! Until we’ll meet again.

Masayuki Takeuchi

“Study hard and play hard” is a saying that suits this person. That’s because studying and playing are truly above-average.

Same as above.

Masayuki Takeuchi, Interactive Media Division Software Development Department Promotion and Planning Section

Planning for advertising and sales promotion.

Same as above

Before PCs became widespread, we put out the first MSX word processor with a built-in printer, which was a pretty successful product. Another product we put out was the A1, a budget-priced MSX2 computer sold at 29,800 yen. In order to promote the A1 at the time, we did several publicity campaigns such as a truck that traveled all over the country and the advertising character AshGuine. They were pretty memorable ad campaigns.

I'm sorry that it’s over. However, I’m truly grateful that people still appreciate the MSX to this day.

There was a golf game from Hudson that was pretty popular where you could switch between a professional and amateur mode. There was also a shooting game called Zanac, in which I made a bet with another employee named S-kun, who offered me a yen for each point I made. He owes me 2.4 million.

Taro Sugimoto

Even though Panasonic has officially ceased advertising their MSX computers in our magazine, they continue to publish advertisement for their U1 word processors. Perhaps they did out of obligation, but I feel they cherish their users more than that. Some members of their MSX development team has since moved on to the 3DO, but they still demonstrate their power even in their word processors. Because my nickname among my seniors was also “Taro”, I would often ignore people calling me out during MSX events if they didn’t attach my surname.

Same as above.

Taro Sugimoto, I.T. Division Commercial Affairs

I was doing promotion and advertisement under Takeuchi, Iwakiri and Hiraga, all whom I’ve received regards individually. In particular I was in charge of the MSX game events that were held once in every season. Since I was employed by the sales and promotion department, I never got around to making my own product, but I did write a utility book for an A1 peripheral. As a freshman employee at the time, it was my first experience with a PC, so it was extremely memorable.

Same as above.

The above-mentioned event. While I still organize events nowadays, the MSX Festival was the basis for everything. I used to travel all around the country, ate various delicacies and became acquainted with various representatives of software publishers, including Ms. Kitane, all whom have become valuable assets to me. I still treasured the t-shirt and sweatshirt that were produced for those events.

I’m currently in charge of advertising and managing promotion for our word processors and MSX-FAN could help us out by published our ads in each issue... I think. I’m sorry.

While organizing an event in Osaka, there was lack of manpower, so I helped out while wearing a sweatshirt. I was already in my second year within the company and I ran into a college acquaintance at the venue and he asked me “you’re still working as a part-timer.” Anyway, please support our word processors.

Hideo Kojima

When one hears the name Konami, a mountain of memories pop up. Konami has been releasing software vigorously since the beginning of the MSX’s lifespan and they always had an amazing quality to them. We have wonderful memories of games such as the fun Antarctic Adventure and Space Manbow, which turned out to be a good game despite constant delays thanks to the commitment of the developers. It seems that Konami carries the philosophy during development that one has to observe games that are hits or duds, and understand why they sell or not. As a result, Konami has created the most splendid games in the world. In such circumstances, Mr. Kojima created a new kind of game with a scenario for the PC market that wouldn’t had been possible in an arcade environment.

Konami

Hideo Kojima, Development Section 5

Planning, writing, direction, and a few character designs

For Kojima: Metal Gear, Snatcher, Solid Snake. For Konami in general: the Nemesis series, the Knightmare trilogy, Yie-Ar Kung-Fu, Space Manbow, Penguin Adventure, The Goonies, and many more.

My most memorable project was the original Metal Gear. Back then I was a rookie who didn’t know to distinguish between his right and his left, so I didn’t know how to make a game at the time. I didn’t even know how to get assistance from people. I had no credibility as a planner (since my previous game proposal got rejected). I think it was pretty reckless of me to create a new type of game. I had nothing but enthusiasm to drive me.

With the MSX, there was a sense of “learning together” and “living together.” In particular, I was full of feelings that I shared with players during my youth. My game development career was never in the limelight, so I don’t know how much the sincere opinions of all my players have encouraged and supported me. Even now I’m still encouraged by the correspondences of players from those days. I think there’s some sort of coexistence that goes beyond the framework between a receiver and a sender.

Each year new talent enter the game industry. Among them are many people that choose this path by being inspired by the MSX. At the very the least they inherited a burning passion for the MSX. The users (receivers) and developers (senders) will always remember the “sensation” of that time. If they have “pride”, then I’m sure the game industry will move towards a good direction.

[osmw1]

Dimension Wave   Chapter 1—Gutting Knife and Shoddy Rod

Lurolona, the First City

“Huh…?”

I lost consciousness for only a few seconds. Well, if you think of in real life–time, I was out for maybe only a few nanoseconds. If you believe what the developers say, then from this instant on, time is passing by at two different rates—one in this world and the other in real life. And as explained earlier, I’ll be living in this world until the game is completed.

I look around to find an ultra-realistic setting. A Western-style castle peeks out in the distance and white paving stones line the streets. Call it realism or whatever, but if you look closely, the stones even have grime on them, like they’ve actually been trodden on. Around me are other players that have just logged on and reacting the same way. Some are even talking about it; their voices becoming the bustle of a thriving town.

I’ve played other VRMMOs before, but never have I experienced anything on this level. That’s probably one of the reasons why we’re directly connected to the servers, though I haven’t really thought about that until now.

“Alrighty then, enough with being moved to tears, let’s—huh?”

That’s weird. Why is my voice so high? Your voice is among the many things you can freely fine tune in the character creator. I’m sure I made my guy sound cool and stern. Even if I didn’t, I shouldn’t sound like a little girl. Did I mess up the settings or something? … I’ve got a bad feeling about this. I tilt my head down to look at my body.

“I’m definitely a girl. Thanks a lot,” I subconsciously mutter out.

I’ve got long black hair, a petite body, small hands and feet, and a chest that can be described as “lacking”. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s novice equipment, but I’m wearing a simple white dress. It’s a little breezy down there, as if I’m wearing a skirt again.

—Kizuna†Exceed, you have received a new private chat request. Accept?

I hear the voice directly speaking to me from inside my head. Though I don’t know who Tsugumi†Exceed, the sender, is. But judging from how awfully similar their name is to mine, I bet it’s the one who set me up. From just having the thought of accepting the chat request in my head, the game goes ding and I hear the girls’ voices.

“Hey, Big Bro!” “’sup!”

Both of their voices ring out. Are they using their real voices? It doesn’t sound like they’ve changed it.

“Big Bro? Wait a minute! Your character and your name too! Why’s everything totally different?! Oh, Big Sis is gonna regret it big time!”

Our older sister’s name is Kanata†Exceed. Whose bright idea was this anyway? All our names are structured the same way—Japanese first name, a symbol, and a random English word? This is some late-stage terminal eighth-grader syndrome shit.

“All your older sister ever wanted was another little sister…” “I’ve always wanted a little sister too!” “Ugh…”

I reflexively let out a groan, making my character groan out loud too. Now that I think about it, she never did ask me what I was gonna look like. She must’ve edited my character yesterday.

“And, y’know?” “Hmm?” “Since we’ll be in this world for months or even years, I wanted us to all get along…” “Kanata…”

Seems like she’s got reasons of her own. Wait, I can’t just say whatever and look the other way. She totally accessed my data without permission and changed me into a girl. That means until the game ends, I’m a GIRL—Guy in Real Life! … that’s just great.

“And, y’know…” “What?” “’Two sisters and a brother’ is kind of a mouthful, don’t you think?” “…”

What, was that a joke? Anyone else would be steaming mad by now.

“Ugh, okay, I get it. Whatever. I’ll live my second life as the other sex.”

It’s not like it’s the first time I’m getting screwed over by my sisters. Such is life for being the only brother. I’ll hold my tongue. If I get mad, I’ll just spoil the fun for everybody.

“What are your plans, Big Bro?” “Mm, I was thinking of leveling up my fishing skill, so I think I’ll try it out.” “Starting off with a minigame, huh, Big Bro Kizuna?” “Big Bro Kizuna…”

… being called that just does not sit well with me. It doesn’t seem like I have much of a choice though.

“I was just gonna go hunt. How ‘bout you, Sis?” “I haven’t decided on my equipment yet, so maybe I’ll go take a look in the shops.” “So, we’ll split up then?” “It looks like it. I’ll phone you guys later—err, rather, I’ll send you a chat later.” “See ya.”

—Private chat ended. Returning to regular chat.

Alright, let’s go fishing like I planned from the beginning. If I remember correctly, it’s a skill I have to learn. By focusing my thoughts, I open up the menu screen and click the “Status, Skills, and Item” screen.

Name/ Kizuna†Exceed Race/ Spirit Energy/ 1,000 Mana/ 50 Serin/ 500

Skills/ Energy Production I, Mana Production I

Items/ Novice Weapon Chest, Novice Energy Potion ×10, Instruction Manual for Spirits

I select Instruction Manual for Spirits from my inventory. As soon as I do that, a book about the size of a paperback novel appears in my hands. I flip through the pages and see it written in some foreign language. But for some reason, I can understand it. I think it’s the Spirit language.

“Let’s see…”

—Unlike other races, Spirits do not have levels, HP, MP, STR, AGI, INT, MIND, DEX, or LUK. Instead, the stat “Energy” replaces them all. The more Energy, the stronger the character. While—with enough Energy—Spirits can withstand any attack from enemies, be careful that any damage to HP or consumption of MP will result in a corresponding usage of Energy.

I see. That’s pretty unique. In short, if I have a lot of Energy, I have a lot of attack, defense, HP, and MP. On the other hand, I’ll be super weak if I don’t have enough. I don’t totally understand it, but let’s see what’s next.

—Like with other races, acquiring or upgrading skills costs Mana. Using them costs Spirit. These are the two things consumed by Spirits.

—Performing actions will unlock skills, the same as other races. For Spirits, acquire skills by spending Mana once they are unlocked. Acquired skills may have a passive drain on Energy. As such, players can choose to level down skills, refunding 50% of the Mana spent on acquisition. Furthermore, skills will be leveled down at random when Energy goes below +1.

It seems like it’s important for Spirit players to manage their Energy. Well, I’m sure I’ll learn along the way. I slam the manual shut and put it back in my inventory. Next, I selected Novice Weapon Chest. Lots of different weapons are in the box. They’re all pretty normal-looking and they all have Novice in the name.

I grab a one-handed sword. You can’t go wrong with one of these. As soon as I make contact, a simple explanation of the sword pops up. But I threw the sword back in the box without reading the text. Even though there are descriptions of them all on the game’s official site, both Kanata and I reserved our judgement to see how they’re like in person.

“Oh?”

I caught a glimpse of an interesting-looking weapon and take it out of the chest.

Weapon/ Novice Gutting Knife Description/ A knife made for field dressing game.

—Detailed description: A weapon made for breaking down game and plants. Causes monsters to drop items upon their death.

That’s a brief explanation. If I choose the one-handed sword, I can equip a shield at the same time too. But this one’s more interesting. It even has a bonus effect. I choose the gutting knife.

So, do I just grab it with my hand to equip it? I’m not too sure. My status screen lists out stuff like my Energy and Mana, but there’s no equipment section. Well, that’s how you’d usually do it in VR games anyway.

Anyway, I must have a rod to fish. I wonder where they sell fishing rods. It’d be appropriate to sell them in a general store or something. I open up the menu and select the map. Lurolona… that’s the town I’m in right now. There’s a place with a bag symbol showing on the map, so I’ll head over there. It’s closer than I thought. I mean, I had my head down reading the Spirit guide. Luckily, though, I’m standing right before the shop.

It’s a grey rectangular building. A sign with the symbol of a bag juts out from the wall. All of a sudden, a lot of people appeared—Humans, Lycanthropes with their dog ears and tails, pointy-eared Elves, and Jewels with blue gemstones embedded in their chest.

… I’m the only Spirit in here. That’s just a coincidence, eh?

Inside the general store was a bunch of different stuff. They’ve got restorative potions, seeds, scrap paper, copper, hammers, pots, pans, mortars, pestles, hoes, pickaxes, shovels… and fishing rods. Oh, goodie. But this is just a wooden stick with a bit of string attached to the end. It’s a shoddy rod that look like it’s ripped straight out of a comic book. But how am I going to fish without it? Let’s see how much it is.

—600 serin.

Oh, so that’s what serin is. But I’m missing 100 of those. Is there anything I can sell? I have my brand-new gutting knife, Novice Energy Potions, and the clothes on my back. It feels like I’ve got underwear too. I could always buy more clothes later… Seems like Novice Energy Potions sell for 20 serin each.

“I’d like to sell these.” ‘I can give you 20 serin for each Novice Energy Potion.’

I’ve heard the shopkeeper’s voice before. From an anime, maybe? His voice actor has definitely voiced a bunch of different characters before. Hmm, whatever. Gotta deal with the matter at hand first.

‘That will be 100 serin for five Novice Energy Potions.’

I hear a ka-ching as my wallet ticks up to 600 serin. I go grab the fishing rod and come back.

‘That will be 600 serin for the Shoddy Rod.’

Hey… You can’t call your own products “shoddy”… One of the Humans browsing through the shop lets out a chortle. If this is what shops are like in this alternate universe, then I’m never shopping again. Dang NPCs making fun of me. I stop myself from lashing out at the storekeeper and then grabbed my Shoddy Rod.

previously: /prologue/ /ch001/ /next/

(please support me on Patreon or Paypal)

(check out the other title I’m translating—written by the same author!)

[1wngdngl]

Let's Play Crash Bandicoot 3 - Part 1

So, rather than make you all wait until I had totally finished Crash Bandicoot 3, I thought – why not make smaller posts about each section of the game as I go through it, since it’s all a new experience for me?

[cut for spoilers]

Packaging

First off, I really like the holographic cover :) My old Crash Bandicoot 2 game had lost its cover/instruction manual ages ago, so I don’t even remember what that looked like.

Speaking of instruction books, I really miss when games came with them. Modern games are all about “intuitive controls” and “pop-up hints”, but I do kinda like having all the important info in one handy reference guide, especially since they are often humorous and feature unique artwork.

Opening cutscene

So, this is the game where Uka Uka makes his first appearance. What, you didn’t know that Aku Aku had a brother, and that he was secretly giving orders to Cortex all along? In terms of narrative it’s pretty similar to Crash suddenly having a sister in CB2. Also, Aku Aku can talk! I don’t know if he talked at all in CB1, but he certainly didn’t in the second game. But now he provides exposition and gameplay hints, and address Crash and Coco as “children” like a kindly grandfather.

Crash and Coco now have a house too, whereas in the intro to CB2 they were just hanging around outside. There’s at least one other house nearby, so do they live in a human village? Maybe that’s where Tawna lives? I do wonder why the siblings have the baby polar bear living with them – is it because we made its parent fall into a pit during the chase level in CB2? Also – and I had this question in the last game – but where exactly did Coco get her laptop? Is there a Circuit City out there in the jungle?

Time Twister

Why doesn’t Uka Uka have any minions guarding this thing? The bandicoots were able to just waltz in and start using it!

…Anyway, the hub level is very similar to CB2. You’ve got different worlds/areas, each with 5 levels, and a boss at the end. There’s no real consistency to the levels in each world – you might be in medieval times first, then underwater, then back with the dinosaurs. CB2 was a bit like that too, and I guess it’s designed that way to maintain variety, but I would probably like it more if each world had a unique theme that applied to all the levels in it.

One thing that’s a bit different from CB2 is that you are actually notified - right at the start of each world - of which boss you’ll eventually fight, and the boss will sometimes send the player messages. I do like that touch, as one of the problems I had with CB2 is that the bosses largely came out of nowhere. CB3 also represents the crystals, gems, and relics as already being in the enemy’s hands at the start, and each one you win gets moved from their side to yours, which is a satisfying feeling.

The basic movement controls are very similar to CB2, and the music has a similar vibe too. I like Crash’s new idle animation where he plays with a yoyo and gets tangled up in it ;)

I’ve finished the first world, so here’s my thoughts about each level:

Level 1-1 Toad Village

This is a medieval-themed world, with a very different setting and music from anything I’ve seen in CB2.

You can check at any time how many total crates there are in a level, rather than having to wait til the end.

There’s more background animations than in the past, with butterflies and birds flitting about, banners waving in the wind, smoke rising from chimneys, etc.

The “rotating” crates are a new experience. From what I understand, they’re a kind of roulette where you can pick what you get, but take too long and the crate becomes unbreakable.

The whole level design feels more open and you can see a lot more of the landscape than in CB2. The camera will pan to highlight views like the castle in the distance.

The Bonus platform has a new red/white/blue color scheme.

Bounce crates only have 5 bounces that give two wumpa each. I did think that bouncing 10 times could get a bit tedious…

Lab assistant appear right from the start, whereas in CB2 it takes a while before you see any.

While Crash largely controls the same, he does seem to have more forward momentum when bouncing on crates than I remember.

The crate gem was quite easy for this level – I wonder if there’ll be lots of hidden crates or split paths later.

Crash still does the Crash Dance when you get a gem :)

This is my first experience with the legendary Crash Bandicoot time trial relics. I wish it was a bit easier to keep track of how you are doing during the level – there’s no ghost to race against, and you can’t check the target time until you finish.

Time trials disable the bonus room and checkpoints. Fortunately, if you die you can start right again without losing a life.

After a few tries I was able to get the Sapphire relic. I’m not going to bother with the Gold relics right now, as they seem very difficult – maybe I need the speed boost power up for that?

Level 1-2 Under Pressure

First underwater level! I’d heard about these. The controls are a bit less precise, more “floaty”, than in the normal platform stages, but at least the steering makes more sense than CB2’s jetpack levels.

The music in this level is subdued and ambient, almost a bit eerie.

I’m not sure what time period this is supposed to be – the design of the tunnels is a bit Jules Verne-esque.

The jet sub is very fun to control, with its high speed and powerful torpedoes. I like blowing up the crates and sharks with it, and it produces a nice “bubbly” vibration while you’re riding it. It’s hard to come to a full stop though, and really frustrating when you lose the sub, as there are certain crates you can’t break otherwise.

There are eels and sharks and pufferfish enemies in this level. I wonder if we’ll see any cyborg animals at some point?

I was sure the Sapphire relic would be a huge pain on this level, but it actually wasn’t too bad, as the Aku masks and sub allow you to power through enemies.

Level 1-3 Orient Express

First level with Coco! This one takes place on the Great Wall of China, with very “oriental” music.

This is a “animal ride” level. The baby tiger is ridiculouslycute, and I feel so bad whenever it gets hurt o.o

The normal level isn’t too bad, but the only way to get the Sapphire relic is to use the “boost” button the whole time, so you’re playing in super-fast speed. Dodging obstacles with barely enough time to react, so you basically have to memorize them, isn’t how I normally like to play, but it is rather exhilarating.

Level 1-4 Bone Yard

This is the first prehistoric level. It alternates being chased by a triceratops with normal platforming. I’m not usually crazy about dinosaur-themed levels, but this one’s pretty good. It has a pretty unique aesthetic, where the ground is black and shiny like it’s obsidian (or oil?) interspersed with bright red lines of magma, there’s big mangrove-like trees towering above you, giant dinosaur skeletons littering the ground or buried in the walls…a bit creepy actually.

I found a red gem silhouette here, so I guess colored gems are making a return.

There’s also weird enemies that look like lab assistants, but they’re hiding out in the water? Are they supposed to be fish?

I like how there’s a separate crate tracker for bonus rounds, since once you leave them you can’t go back.

Level 1-5 Makin’ Waves

This is one of those Coco jet ski levels I’d heard about. The jet ski goes really fast, which makes it tricky to control, but makes jumping over ramps and doing flips very satisfying. This is the first level so far where the camera follows you as you turn, making the world feel dizzyingly large and open. Fortunately, there’s different colored buoys on each side, and even a giant arrow at the top of the screen, to make sure you’re going the right way.

I’m not sure why Cortex has an island cave shaped like his head, or why he has pirate ships with his face on them – are we to assume that the scientists actually spent months conquering each time period in order to get the gems/crystals?

I was sure this level would be another one where the Sapphire relic was a pain, but it wasn’t too bad!

World 1 Boss – Tiny Tiger

For some reason, this takes place in a gladiatorial arena, where Cortex watches on like an emperor. Tiny is also wearing gladiator armor. There’s even a crowd of lab assistants in the background who boo whenever Crash is winning.

Tiny starts the fight by jumping around trying to catch me, like in his CB2 fight, but this time I find it harder to predict where he’s going to land without the defined platforms.

He alternates that with sending out hordes of lions to attack us, and those can be a bit hard to dodge too. It reminds me of that one Mario Party minigame where you have football koopas trying to run you over.

Speaking of Tiny, why is he working for Cortex? I thought he was a boss sent by N. Brio in the last game…

After beating Tiny, I got the “Super-Charged Body Slam” powerup. Not sure how useful this will end up being.

Okay, that's all for now! We'll see if World 2 ramps up the difficulty ;)

[blazehedgehog]

How did you learn to code?

I ramble for a while, so rather than have people scroll past a novel on their Tumblr dash, I’m hiding the full story behind a “Read More” tag.

The short answer is: I taught myself.

I took some computer science stuff toward the end of middle school where I learned TURTLE or whatever it was called, on the old Mac II’s they had. Then, I can’t remember if a computer science class in my Freshman year did some light programming or if I actually saw another kid doing it (making basically a “Hello World” equivalent) in BASIC, but I understood the rough idea of what was going on there.

From there, my Mom had taken a computer correspondence course back in 1988 or so -- she wanted to become a legal secretary. She got a computer and a bunch of software with it, this big Hyundai PC. No hard disk, not even support for color graphics. But it came with GWBASIC. Around high school I ended up getting a 33mhz Windows 3.11 machine (the first computer that was purely my own) with QBASIC, so I used my Mom’s GWBASIC manuals to goof around in QBASIC, since they were so similar. the first program I tried to write was a Pokedex, but I got stuck trying to figure out how to get it to draw graphics. Displaying text was easy, displaying simple geometric shapes (circles, etc.) was easy, but I wanted to have it draw, like, PokeBalls and stuff, but couldn’t figure it out.

High school meant we had to get graphing calculators, usually of the Texas Instruments variety, many of which come with their own programming language called TIBASIC. Most of my friends had TI-83s, I had a TI-82. So most of their games wouldn’t work on my calculator because the software was incompatible. With what I knew of GWBASIC and QBASIC, I ended up figuring out enough TIBASIC to start making simple text adventures. I called them “MovieGames” and usually it was a choose-your-own-adventure short story based on whatever I was thinking about at the time; Men in Black, Jurassic Park, Independence Day, etc. So you’d get a scene, like

A dinosaur is chasing you! Where do you go?

> Jungle> Plain

Perhaps for teachers doing tests, TIBASIC actually had a whole system built in for these kinds of multiple choice questions, so it was really as simple as making it print text, bringing up a multiple choice, and then branching the story from there. I did 4 or 5 of those.

Finally, I found another kid who had a TI-82, and had games he could share with me over the link cable, so I ended up with INDY500 and DRUGWARS. Both were my first real experiences with game logic. DRUGWARS (sometimes known as “Dope Wars”) was mostly a text-based game, and probably one of the most famous games out there, given how it’s been ported to everything under the sun. It even formed the basis of the drug minigame in GTA Chinatown Wars. The idea is that you buy drugs from one place, resell them at another, and make money by traveling around dealing to the right people and dodging the police.

The second game, INDY500, was a “real” game. It had scrolling and very basic graphics -- it used ASCII text to represent cars on a race track. So you’d drive down the course, going from left to right, avoiding cars down a straightaway as things got faster, and faster, and faster, trying to go as far as you could. Simple stuff, but a TI-82 didn’t have a lot to work with.

The TI-82 came with a massive instruction manual, most of which was a very detailed glossary for all of the TIBASIC programming functions. So basically, what I ended up doing with these two games, is go through them, line by line, looking up every single function in the instruction manual’s glossary. I’d mess with their parameters, see what they did, and basically ended up deconstructing both games and putting them back together again -- that was literally the case with INDY500, where once I understood how the game worked, I essentially re-wrote the entire game from scratch by memory.

With DRUGWARS, I ended up taking what I learned about the multiple choice selector in my “MovieGames” and turned it in to a sprawling text-based RPG based on Final Fantasy. It had a very basic story (loosely based on Final Fantasy VII), you could travel between towns, you’d get in to random battles while traveling, level up, learn spells, fight bosses, and even equip Materia for summons. It was so big and complex, if you played it for too long, the TI-82 would actually crash with an “OUT OF MEMORY” error because I’d used up all the system RAM -- with a text adventure.

At that point, I hit kind of a crossroads. I started making a real, actual, complex game on the TI-82 -- a side scrolling shooter that was based on Star Fox, but held more in common with Gradius. The TI-82 had a “graphing” mode that let you use a smaller font so if you were using ASCII graphics, you could fit more on screen, and using per-pixel precision (as opposed to per-row precision). Around this time, I also discovered Corel Click & Create, aka The Games Factory, aka Multimedia Fusion, aka Clickteam Fusion.

The problem with coding on a TI-82 is this was before the days of rechargeable batteries being in everything, so if the two AA’s inside the thing went dead, you lost all of your programs and everything else on it. Even just changing batteries, if you weren’t fast enough, the memory would eventually be erased. Three or four times over the course of a year or two, I lost everything I’d written on my TI-82, and by that point, I was learning enough about Click & Create that the TI-82 was looking less appealing by the day. CnC was simply more flexible, and faster to work with, and I had access to full-color graphics.

So I almost exclusively switched over to Click & Create from then on.

I did still keep up with programming a little bit here and there; I taught myself mIRC scripting, which at one point, I used to make an IRC-based MUD. That was, and maybe still is, the most complex thing I’ve ever programmed, and couldn’t even really be run because it’d spit out so much text it’d trip the flood protection on most servers.

Something else I started coding with mIRC scripting was a chat bot. For some reason I got it in my head that it’d be funny to prank my friends by writing a bot to detect when I’d been AFK and chat for me like I was still at the keyboard (I was a weird highschooler.) It started by spitting out pre-programmed messages, sort of like Eliza, but eventually I started to think about what would happen if I could record text from the chat, break it down in to individual parts, and then reassemble it back in to a coherent sentence. As it turns out, I had, completely by accident, stumbled upon the concept of a Markov Chain. (For the record, I also had never heard of Eliza, either).

So let’s say you’d submit a message to the chat that was like “Hello, everyone! How are you doing today?”

My mIRC script would break that down in to a bunch of separate pieces:

“Hello, everyone! How”“How are you”“you doing today?”“today?”

The script would take the last word of any given piece and try to match it to the first word of any other piece. In theory, this would correctly reassemble the sentence “Hello, everyone! How are you doing today?” -- but what it actually ended up doing was creating hilarious nonsense like

“Hello, everyone! How is it possible to be like Turtles in Time!”

The code was simple enough that many years later, I figured I could use this chat bot (which I called Gilliam, after the robot in Outlaw Star) and port it over to C++. Friends had been telling me for weeks how easy it was to make games in C++ using Allegro, so I figured it’d be a good way to get back in to “real” programming and get away from Click & Create.

Unfortunately, even just getting text to render in Allegro proved to be massively difficult for me as any given sentence longer than a certain length would cause huge memory overflow errors. I banged my head against it for a week, got nowhere, and eventually got so depressed and frustrated at my inability to grasp C++ and Allegro as easily as I did BASIC that I deleted the whole thing and have never touched “real” coding ever again. I���ve stuck to Clickteam Fusion almost exclusively, because it’s what I’m good at.

[lazodiac]

WhaMy personal guess on this is that she’s signaling to the tower she’d like in, is being fussy about it, and is providing her access code. Like <Fussy Tone Indicator> Entrance code 717 Into Unique Tower, maybe? Anyway hey, time for a lovely game of What Does These Graphs Means? Because something about these old style JRPGs that explain little about their systems (and often are translated wrong) entices me to work out how they actually function. So, lets take a look!

Now, you may be asking yourself some questions here; * What is Burst Variation and why does that line jump around so much? * What is Harmonics and what does the speed mean? * What the hell is “GD Regist” please help I don’t understand? And the game explains... functionally none of this. We’ve got items that make a mention of harmonics, equipment and spell modifiers that influence the GD Resist (not Regist somehow??) and GD Cost. We’ve got the words BURST showing up on screen every time our spells reach a higher tier of casting in battle (imagine if you’re casting fire 1 and after holding it for a few seconds it becomes fire 2). But we don’t have anything that explains what, necessarily, it all means, Best I’ve managed to come up with is the following; * Burst Variation is how fast the spells level up. You’ll notice that some of the Burst Variation levels are wildly skewed- near I can tell from testing it’s genuinely fast enough that it almost isn’t noticeable, it seems. * Harmonics is a fun little combat minigame to get the best rewards. Qwerty has touched on it there, but basically there’s a red gauge in combat above our combined purple/blue meter. The red gauge fills up whenever you cast a spell with your cyborg idol girl wizard, or gradually fills up when using over-time spells. This is the one that is the most noticable in my testing, and even then only slight. * GD Regist is................. the percentile bonus and-or unbonus to spell cost when charging? I think?? Maybe??? This is truthfully the most baffling one since it’s the one with the most realm of “this is just translated improperly”. The chart clearly says GD Regist, but almost every other time it gets brought up it says it is resistance. When modifying your spells it increases the GD, which is presumably the MP cost, but no testing has provided anything really substantial on this front. It’s too opaque to be sure- so much so I don’t even know what direction we want the number to be! But despite all that, I think it is wonderful. I love shit like this. Maybe the manual explains it in a way that’s easy to understand, but we don’t have that so... we’ve gotta figure it out. And there is something wonderfully fun about that, to me. Feel free to answer what any of these do if you have like, concrete answers though.

Time for more Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia (The Girl Who Keeps Singing At The End Of The World). Last time: we ended immediately after leaving the room where Bishop Falss (aka Kyle Clancy, apparently, and that's his name in the Japanese too) was struggling under viral assault, and immediately before charging back in to beat him up.

Hm. He's in a dramatic billowy cape. First move: Elemia Acceleration. Then he gets five turns in a row and occasionally warps his arm into a laser gatling. Unclear if the viruses won or he absorbed them. Music is excellent.

Also we've still got Aurica fighting in a bath towel, because this game's outfits are frequently dumb. Think we were

Aurica sings Life Warmth (enhanced with lightning, though apparently Falss resists that) while the rest of the party's using HP-costing specials, we quickly hit three crystals and wear him down fast. Try to finish him off with a two-person counter on his big called attack, but he survives with an invisible speck of HP and needs one more stab (not a scripted cutscene-fight, just how the numbers worked out) The main threat would seem to be that he gets four attacks in a row and breaks through before you can recover, but since we went with a plan of "use magic for a heal with extra boosts" and had decent max-HP, that wasn't much of a risk.

Final results: apparently this fight was worth 7777 money and quite a lot of XP and DP.

And some impressive-looking rank-4 crystals, Elemia Talisman (huge attack and defense boosts) and Protective Power (sizable boosts to all stats). And, yeah, wasn't kidding about that bath towel. Not sure if that harms the tone or emphasizes the way it ended up as a bit of a stomp.

Standard blather about how this is "the only way forward" and we deserve to die, and then he explodes and we leave. Radolf explains that he managed to help calm the fighting in Platina itself, and leaves to go organize repairs and otherwise help out. So now we're free to roam a bit (shops!). Inspection of our own equipment and where we can put the new crystals results in the conclusion: we're already plenty strong and getting more power might make it too hard to actually build up the meter for full loot in encounters before winning. Though we do give Aurica a new camisole and put the Virus Code in it for +900 MP at no disadvantage that matters. Some NPCs are talking about the destruction from the riot but none of it was drawn in the backgrounds anywhere we can go.

Progressing now to plot... Radolf is talking to Leard (not dead - what was that shoelace about, then?). Radolf is repentant, Leard is saying it wasn't his fault and that he (Leard) didn't realize Kyle hadn't died when he left Platina (he was an administrator up here, apparently - unclear if that's a high rank or if he was just some guy)... and Jack and Krusche show up. They're back from getting Misha CHRONICLE_KEY back, though she's still singing. Ayatane goes back to his duties assisting/guarding Shurelia, who has collapsed of exhaustion, Jack and Krusche rejoin the party (not having leveled at all), and Leard dismisses us with a complete lack of being-paternal-to-his-son-Lyner. No actual guidance on the next plot thing, but presumably it'll come up either when we leave the room or when we rest and come back.

[delcat177]

My Dinner With Garfield: An AppVenture

Just because you’re smiling doesn’t mean you haven’t drowned --They Might Be Giants, Dark and Metric

There was a time in my life where I genuinely enjoyed Garfield.  There has never NOT been a time in my life where I haven’t genuinely enjoyed free money.  I consider myself a warrior of fortune--you can daily find me dutifully filling out surveys and watching ads in various services that will give you gift cards for being a cog in the capitalist machine, and I’ll put my hand in toward anything promising semi-paid semi-labor.

This is especially true with ground-floor terribly-planned enterprises, which is how I was able to legally flimflam Bing out of $15 worth of gift cards by searching for pictures of animals once a day.  So of course after the initial wave of nausea and secondhand embarrassment over Garfield Go, I was installing it and ready to see how effectively I--and any other card-hunters--could grin and bear my way to some free Starbucks.

The Garfield emulation is so complete that you already know the punchline before reading it, but come along, won’t you?

WARNING: Yes I will be comparing it to Pokemon Go.  To be fair, it knows EXACTLY what it’s doing.

WARNING THE SECOND: I batch-edited these and Tumblr doesn’t like the size, but in keeping with the true Garfield spirit, I’m too lazy to edit them again.  You’re not missing anything.

The first thing I managed to do was break the app.  I disallowed AR, thinking that it would have a stock background similar to PoGo, because that shit eats battery like...God, I don’t have it in me to make a lasagna joke, just let it be said that rather than issue a warning, it went to an entirely black screen.  I fixed it manually and was greeted with Not Garfield on my coffee table, demanding food.  Contrary to his nature, he refused to eat anything I didn’t curveball directly into his dish.  My sister and warrior-in-apps commented on how I managed to land it in on my second try, and I realized I actually had an edge from never giving up on PoGo.  Not a lot of edge, and not enough to get it more than one out of three times, but it set my spirits moderately high.

I did some checking around in the app, and wasn’t able to find much to do while stationary except bake food.  I wasn’t sure what it was for, but when an app tells you to do a free time-based thing, you do it, and I threw a lasagna on.  I was offered the option to bake it immediately for more in-game currency than it cost to buy one.  I had a couple thousand free starter coins but also first-grade math skills, and declined.

The time was ripe.  After trading comments on how janky the controls were (you have to use two fingers in a twisting motion to change the map view, which is one of the dirtiest sounding and looking mechanics I've seen since jerk-off jogging in Wii Fit), my sister and I parted ways and the experiment began.

My nightly walks tend to be heavy on the “nightly”.  This led to the game’s first flaw disguised as a perk: While it’s true that it will gladly put its Pokestops anywhere (they’re Bistros here), “anywhere” includes “your neighbor’s apartment”.  They’re also full minigames, which means instead of giving your phone a quick swipe, you stop dead and play a lackluster Simon expy, because there is nothing less awkward and likely to get security called on you than standing in front of someone’s house at 11:42 at night silently tapping away on your phone for an extended period of time.  I threw the game, got some free food, and quickly moved on before I had to explain my motivations.

Things got dark fast.  I mean that literally.  One of the other reasons forced AR is a problem is that it isn’t built for nighttime play.  Every time I tapped a hotspot, it gave me a “Waiting For GPS” screen before dropping Goblinfield in pitch black, enticing me to appease him with baked sacrifices.  It’s a simple mechanic: If you successfully pitch food into his dish, Gerbfield will eat and then find a chest for you to open.  It’s also a highly broken one.  The food items are all made of lead that turns into rubber on the impact, requiring an unsatisfying Herculean toss to pitch a piece of cake that’ll most likely either miss or bounce back out again.  You get three tries, which is somewhat generous, but the sheer frustration nullifies it.  My frustration was amplified on the realization that GarGo does not allow you to throw high enough to even possibly hit Goobfield in the face.

"Hey kids, wanna see where I hid Lyman's body?  Tap the box."

One of the things that is admittedly sort of clever is having a button to tap to refresh hotspots.  One of the things that is not is not instructing the player that it's there.  I was a third of the way through my usual route before I noticed it and could begin playing again.  I stopped for a moment to relate the information to my sister. She replied that the app was claiming she was ten blocks from where she was and near an inexplicable horseshoe-shaped structure.  I took a side-by-side of where I was to relate GerBo's...relaxed attitude toward geography and also the laws of physics.

Novelty was running low, but I got a boost in determination from getting my first gift card...fragment?

Well, that explained how the gift card scenario was going to shake down.  I could guess how many first pieces of the promised $100 gift card were already being given out and how few of the next two would ever be found, much less that golden fourth, but that was fine.  I play these for the little prizes, not the big ones, because expecting to win anything that isn't roughly 1/80,000th the value they squeeze out of you is a recipe for disappointment.  I kept going.

The hotspots led me into the local Safeway, which happened to also house a Pokestop, and I ran flat against a new flaw: The game is NOT subtle.  PoGo can be played with relative normalcy 80% of the time, since you can turn AR off and keep marching staunchly ahead as you catch.  GerfCo requires either violently whipping around at 180 degrees or slowly turning the same distance with your phone up like a pod person, and I was quickly pressed to decide which was worse.  I ended up buying a candy bar as a social apology for looking like a jerk in a public place and hopefully as an unspoken excuse for being there.  Upon doing so, I realized I didn't have any cash on hand and was paying for a dollar candy bar at midnight in Safeway with a credit card, which made me look like a right pillock instead of a jerk, but now one hundred pennies deep into this venture, I soldiered on, chocolate in hand.

I had noticed by this point that the food system was tiered, so I switched to the one piece of lasagna starting the game had given me and stuck the landing. This gave me a "better chance" of finding the highest-tier chest, but I was unsurprised that it wasn't one.  I was more surprised by what was inside.

I hope you weren't expecting "that $100 gift card".  Ah, yes, Garfield's trademark white fedora, the one he's so known for wearing.  Compelled to take every chance available to make this experience as viscerally unpleasant as possible, I equipped it immediately.

This is why I need meninism.

Things weren't getting better.  The next refresh of the hotspots spawned absolutely every one on the other side of the street.  I was now adding "crossing the road in the middle of the night" to the list of fun-filled family activities GlorpNo had to offer.  I had run out of food and was now using the in-game currency to buy it fresh.  My iPod, which has slowly developed sentience over the years, kept shuffling up Mountain Goats songs.  I was starting to feel distinctly unnerved.

PoGo wasn't averse to getting its two cents in on the matter.

Standing outside of a dimly lit Pizza Hut where the cashier was closing out their drawer and probably wondering if the guy whipping around in half-circles outside the building was planning the world's illest-advised burglary, I won a comic strip panel.  Not a comic strip. A single panel.  Despite the ability to look up literally every Garfield strip ever made on multiple platforms with a casual Google search, I was being given a single panel of a single strip as a hallowed reward.  I pictured a small child working for days for the RNG to let them read a three-panel strip in full, staring bleakly at the one they had in the meantime and wondering if it was the punchline or the setup.  

I began redefining my understanding of the term "liminal space".

By this point, I was entirely out of food, nearly out of coins, and on my last percentage of patience.  As if sent by Jim Davis’ automated humorbot itself begging me to reconsider, I got a notification that the lasagna I had started making an hour and a half ago was done.  I hauled ass to the next hotspot and got ready to make good.

Yeah you all saw that coming.  You know, Globeel, if I tossed a fiver toward a busker’s case and it landed behind it, they would just pick it up.  I know it’s food but 1) you’re a cat 2) you are Garfield the Cat (question mark heavily implied) 3) at least the busker offers a return service.

I need to state that at this point I was actually going to stay with this game, despite my readily apparent feelings on it.  It's not fun, it's not a mentally rewarding experience, but I am by nature a patient person, and I was willing to stick with it for the eventual gains.  That's how you win at these things--being willing to put the time in for the gradual increments to stack up.  I was actually looking forward to going home and checking in on food I was baking and slowly going after the gold.

Then I decided to check what I had earned so far, and the entire thing came to a screeching halt.

Here’s the grift, folks, here's how the carnival game works.  Remember how the system is tiered?  You have to have the highest-tier item to get a chance of seeing one of those diamond chests, and there's no guarantee the piece will be inside.  Again, it takes an hour and a half to bake one piece of lasagna, or else 350 coins to buy one.  You get a small handful of coins from chests and a slightly larger handful if you finish a "trinket" collection, but unless you are willing to devote your waking hours to the game, your recourse is buying your way there.  And...how much are those coins?

Yyyyyeah.  It's Vegas, baby.  You pay to play and the house always wins.

So, friendly fast-buck-sters, this app definitely isn't worth it for money value.  If it was a matter of staying inside and rolling the dice while I multitask, I might be on board for chasing the golden ticket, but GlerbGubler demands all of your attention in public spaces and turns out Sisyphean as a result, if Sisyphus was constantly aware of how awkward he looked pushing that damned boulder. Play Lucktastic, join e-rewards, get into the sites that actually reward you consistently for a reasonable amount of effort.  Your time does have value, so make sure it's honored.

I uninstalled the app on the way home.  Deleted all the data I had, torched it. Stood on the sidewalk laughing, watching it burn, all tabby cat orange and lasagna sauce red.  Then I put on a top 40 station, got on the Hollywood Freeway, headed north.

Never could stand that cat.

[thelongestdamnreviews]

E.Y.E Divine Cybermancy

The title screen always shows these Artefacts with no context or apparent relevance to the game.  

I can't remember when I got EYE or how much I've paid for it, but it's been as cheap as 99 cents before and it was at one time given out as a gag gift for Christmas, like Secret of the Magic Crystals or Bad Rats.  Don't let that speak of its quality, though.  I also didn't record how long one go-through was, but I've also gone through this game around three times before writing this review, and I of course lost that save.  I played EYE entirely with keyboard and mouse.  

I've heard EYE be described as Deus Ex set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe (not officially of course), and though I don't know much about the latter series, it does kinda play a bit like the first Deus Ex.  There's a grid inventory, your crosshairs shrink when you stand still, augmentations, skills affecting performance like an RPG even though it's an FPS--that sorta thing.  You're one of the elite Culter Dei, one of the sects of EYE, which is itself a branch of the Secreta.  And you've just woken in a cave with severe wounds and amnesia.  Things are pretty bad elsewhere, too.  Looters are everywhere, the Federation is investigating your employers, you're in a secret civil war with another sect of EYE, and there's this Metastreumonic Force that's creating monsters out of our darkest fears and desires.  Plenty of targets...right?

Not...what I was going for there.  

EYE starts with you rolling stats.  Pick three genes and hit Reroll until they look good to you.  High Strength lets you hit harder with melee weapons, high Endurance lets you take more damage, high Hacking makes the hacking minigame easier, etc.  What I thought was kinda nice is that there are two ways to manage your stats:  The first is to manually assign your three stat points you receive on level-up.  You can play any way you like and you have fine control over how your character develops.  The second way is to let the game automatically assign your points based on how you play.  If you shoot enemies a lot, you gain points in Accuracy; if you get shot a lot, Endurance, and so on.  Most people would go for the first but it's kinda interesting to see how you develop with the second method, which I did this time around.  While there is a pretty big variety of weapons and augmentations and powers available by default, there are many that require specific stats on top of the need for research and money too.    

As for weapons, you have melee weapons, handguns, assault rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles, heavy weapons, and a couple of other categories.  Though there is a grid inventory, it is broken up into regions unlike Deus Ex's single big block.  What this means is that you are usually limited on the guns you can carry since several of them are only big enough to fit in your big 3x5 slot on your back.  Not to say you can only take one gun with you--handguns and the basic submachine gun can fit in your lower leg slots, but you'll likely be filling your arm/shoulder/upper leg slots with ammo.  And this game did something I've rarely seen in other FPSes though it does come up--if you reload, you lose all of the ammo in your current mag no matter how full it was.  You need to strike a good balance between literally wasting ammo and having enough loaded to take out your enemies without being forced to reload under fire.  There's also a weight system where your choice of light/medium/heavy armor and all of your current gear slows you down, but I was pretty much at the 95% encumbered limit anyway.  Several weapons have a firing mode toggle, like the HS010 submachine gun drastically boosting its fire rate at the cost of accuracy.  

Some enemies need armor-piercing attacks to kill them, like this Cyberdemon Deus Ex Machina.

I didn't really do much with the magic/powers, the enhancements, or even the augmentations.  There doesn't seem to be something like a basic fireball, but you can instead teleport into your enemy and telefrag him.  Or with one of the end-of-route powers, cause your enemy to get hurt when you do and you heal when you hurt him.  There weren't too many but you start with being able to make several weak clones of yourself that can attack the enemy and being able to convert dropped weapons and ammo into health.  Augmentations are things like invisibility, making your shots 100% accurate, being able to see in the dark, and so on.  Both powers and augmentations (and sprinting and superjumps) used your slowly-regenerating stamina bar, which refills faster by crouching.  I very often found myself running low but that was due to my build and the lack of upgrades.  Finally, enhancements are largely stat buffs, things like "run faster and jump higher with Cyber Legs" or "take less headshot damage with this upgrade" and so on.  

There are many Research projects to find.  Kill an enemy and they might drop a silver briefcase which contains a random project which you can then pay scientists to research for you, with an inversely-proportional slider for the speed of research versus the cost.  Thankfully it doesn't take real-time days and hours to resolve.  Once finished, you're given a notification and that research is permanently unlocked and you are able to move to the next thing to research.  There's still a bit of a random element since you cannot unlock the entire research tree without these drops.  But researching is always worth it, and I'd very strongly suggest researching the Medkit ASAP because it is the only other way to heal other than one of your starting spells.  You'll be using it a lot, believe me.  

I wonder what kinda work she does?  There are a lot of adverts up in some areas, and more than a few are suggestive.  

This game does have three different routes, though the split is pretty far in the game.  There are some different ways to approach mission objectives, but not to the extent of Deus Ex (the 'number of ways to solve a locked door' image doesn't apply here).  Several maps have optional sidequests though it's hard to tell what is and isn't required to advance the main mission since they all use the same marker/icon.  What's neat is being able to load a Temple HQ game and be able to visit any map you've cleared previously.  You're given a set of objectives, but you're largely there to farm enemies for EXP and money.  The maps themselves are pretty big and there are no loading screens except when you load them initially, like with other Source engine games.  The wait times on an SSD are pretty minor. 

Music is pretty ambient and voiced dialog is apparently not in any actual language, but it's there.  I had a bit of slowdown in graphics but I don't know how well the "Source game so you can run it on a toaster" applies here because the game can throw quite a lot of mooks at you in these huge levels--and there are even options to make it do just that.  Scenery isn't even what I'd call pretty because it ascribes to the "real is brown/grey" idea, but maybe that's the point.  Part of the backstory is that the Metastreumonic Force apparently cropped up because of aggressive ecological destruction and expansionism by human hands, so places looking dull helps with that.  A few areas were incredibly dark and I had to crank up the gamma just to see.  

No wonder your side wants to nuke their side.  The dialog options usually aren’t so vulgar, but...

As for low points, the story is there but it's pretty hard to wrap your head around.  I used to say that the story was incomprehensible, but it's just...weird.  Some of the dialog comes off as poorly-translated, but I don't know if the translation was improved in EYE's big update a couple of years ago.  You're probably not going to play for the story, though there's a pretty interesting one to dig up.  And I didn't really like the hacking minigame, though you're thankfully not pitted against hardy targets the few times the game forces you to do it.  And I had bad stats for it too.  You're able to hack not only machines in a radius around you, but people too, either letting you see the world through their eyes, force them to fight for you...or just outright kill them.  You select your target, your intended result, and you're given a choice of viruses that influence your/your foe's stats, with the goal of reducing their Cyber HP to 0 before they do the same to you.  You click, wait for a bar to fill, and click when that finishes while your enemy loads their own viruses and attacks.  Not very interesting, but I imagine it'd be completely trivial with the right stats.  And, this is one of the few games where an ATM can kill you by botching a hacking attempt.  

Achievement hunters might not like the "kill an X" achievements being entirely random, but all the more reason to just keep killing dudes, right?

I enjoyed it, though it's pretty rough around the edges and the difficulty is all over the place.  Even if it plays a lot like Deus Ex, it still does its own thing pretty well and there are zero non-fatal options here, though there's always the potential for stealth or different playstyles.  There's coop up to 32 players though I never got to try it.  It'll take a pretty long time to get max level and especially to boost all of the enhancements to max level, but there's always a bunch of mooks to go kill to fuel your need for power.  There is some replay value in just making different builds, at least.  It's certainly worth a try!  

[fatal-potato]

NieR: Automata - Demo Impressions

So after what was two hours on a single run of normal mode (from about 12:15 to 2:15 P.M. EST, 20th of January), I finished it while trying to experiment as much as I could (without outside help/research.) In all my years of interacting with action games, I have to say, I’m easily the most impressed I’ve been in years with this genre. Above all else, I want to stress that I acknowledge this is just a demo. I’m not expecting a single assumption here to assuredly be the case with the full product. I’m merely posting impressions based on what the demo thus far implies. We all played MGR’s demo and the release itself, I know not to overhype final expectations on first impressions. Frankly I hope nobody else does either. Obviously I’m not going to go over the most sheer basics of gameplay anyone that even touched the demo would know, so below are my thoughts on everything else.

POSITIVES (GAMEPLAY) Fundmentals of Design As soon as I started the game, it was easy to notice that whoever designed the gameplay got their fundamentals down to a dot. The attack cues from enemies are clear, have distinct visual and audio tells, and give plenty of time to react.

Though I’m not inherently opposed to the use of Quick Time Events, more often than not they’re done in terribly uncongenial methods. Kamiya had a massive raging hard-on for them, so it seems others wanted to follow his lead without knowing what can make QTEs good, natural, or even fun. Such “small” but jarring design elements are absent from this demo (hallelujah) so there’s no reason to believe there will be anything close to an abuse of them this time. Even if there was a Space Harrier portion (covered more in Setpieces), the demo hints that we should largely be free of any “that segment”s.

AND FINALLY, CUSTOM CONTROLS! I’ve always been a fan of default but goodness gracious, this should seriously be a standard. It was nice of them to give us three different schemes as it was but being able to customize one is something a fair number of their past games could have done super nicely with. Better late than never I guess.

Movement Movement (in my opinion) is one of the most underrated and untapped concepts of not just action, but games as a whole. Automata integrates movement through simple but versatile and exceptional means; to the point of creating a definitive crux for gameplay on its own.

I won’t waste time complimenting what good features of the dodge were already accomplished years ago in Bayonetta. What matters here is the straight dash that comes after.

Some of the most important assets to this dash are its free manual activation, cancel window, and wide ranges of direction. Free manual activation provides means for the tool to be much more universally applied. The ridiculous cancel window is probably its most unique aspect, as this helps positioning your moves to extents that would otherwise be impossible. Mixed with the wide ranges of direction, it completes your capacity to dance around your target freely during both combat and combo construction. The dash also goes and lasts quite the distance without being too slow to boot, giving further benefit to how the player can interpret the dash to their own playstyle, whether it’s basic or advanced. The fact you can apply all these perks both on the ground and aerially the same really makes the dash feel worthwhile. It’s an easy, but vital mechanic, and for one you’re going to be using a lot, Platinum made sure to make this one tool feel as exhaustive as can be.

Throw in attacks that can also affect your vector in similar ways, the game’s overall fast pace, and in unison with your moveset, Automata lends itself to likely be one of the speedier action titles ever made, bringing about what may be some of the coolest catering to movement ever wrought in the genre.

I will admit this part may be tooting the horn early (because even with all this I can still imagine even the most creative uses boiling down to essentially the same past results), but I’ve hardly come across singular movement options being able to cover so much on such a basic level, so do excuse me.

The Weapon System Not a lot to say here. The concept of weapons making different movesets entirely based on what button you equip it to has never been done before (to my knowledge, if done well at all), it’s moveset customization and instant moveset switching in the same package, and you get four different weapon types. The glory of this scheme only does itself justice.

Unorthodox Potential from Recycled Systems If there’s one thing I especially love about Automata’s gameplay thus far, it’s how it has the trademark Platinum setup (Dedicated jump button, X/Y = Light/Heavy, Dodge), but unifies the mechanics in such an unusual manner contrast to the rest of its peers; all in ways which point to nothing but positives.

The way the dodge and jump work in tandem with your moveset is without a doubt unmatched in exclusivity. Whether you’re paying attention or not, it’s easy to notice that many of 2B’s attacks revolve around throwing her swords akin to boomerangs. This is expanded upon when you realize this can be done with not just static dials, but with the use of jump and dodge cancels. For example, the AY dial (which is to say, jump off the ground then immediately pressing Heavy) gives the conventional Platinum Rising upper. When done using Virtuous Treaty, 2B stays suspended in a sword-spinning animation unless canceled. But when canceled in its startup window, you’re free to move again as the sword goes on to carry the rest of the attack without 2B having to do anything. Combined with what was mentioned above about dodging, you can see where I’m going with this. For reference, I believe I may have found around a couple dozen attacks that can be canceled the same way, and those are using the demo’s provisions alone. I haven’t seen this named anywhere, and though I’m not calling any dibs, for the sake of convenience I’ll be referring to this technique as Kara Canceling for the rest of the analysis.

Admittedly I am lost on the logic of what makes a move Kara Cancelable (as what research I’ve done yielded no such results for Fists), but I suppose it’s just something that will require the full game to conclude. I may not have time for it today but I’m considering a returnto Hard Mode and trying it again soon before release. There’s still a lot I have to test that I could neither confirm nor deconfirm on my first run.

Though I haven’t been able to (de)confirm this, I also have reasons to believe (mainly due to different animations) that dependent on the timing of your Kara Cancel, you can change the property of said Rising attack. Doing it in one half of the startup window (I believe) causes Virtuous Treaty to carry the enemy a set vertical distance while cutting the animation (and thus damage) short, as the other half of the window may cause Virtuous Treaty to go even higher while expanding on damage and lastability. Even if this theory on different Kara Cancel properties may be wrong, it scarcely matters, because the application of jump and dodge cancels is so ridiculously large due to their inherent necessity, that there will be plenty more tools to work with the same way by default. Added in with the fact we didn’t get to use any polearms or different weapons of the same class only holds a world of implication by themselves as it is.

I very much doubt Kara Canceling is a glitch either, provided how easy it is to discover. Complete with sprinkles of “nuanced” details (land into jump cancels for Helm Breakers having different timings dependent on weapon, Kara Cancel window timings for different dials, etc.), call me a man with reforged faith that Platinum is finally heading the right direction with technical creativity.

Altogether I appreciate the way these mechanics cohesively cooperate with eachother, because they spell a possible univese of long-awaited innovative advances for the genre.

Setpieces The first Nier has always had some funny schizophrenia between a Berserk-esque tone to its fights, and then sometimes just having Kaine run around as if she was outta some anime. Given that Platinum’s providing gameplay assets, but Taro is calling other shots, it’s easy to see the latter has come to embrace the former’s insane side in compatibility with their own. Unfortunately, said insane side has shown in the past to interfere with the better parts of gameplay when that love becomes an unhealthy obsession. But as far as setpieces go, giant brainless bossfights, such as the one at the end of the demo, can at least be justified to some logical extent.

It’s not too far off from how bosses played in the original; it just enhances what made them spectacles in the first place, with lots more interaction to boot. Additionally, the Space Harrier section at the end if anything shows that Platinum is learning quite well from their past sins. I personally would prefer if it wasn’t a part at all, but that doesn’t mean having to go through it is intrinsically as offensive just because past instances were borderline intolerable. It ended quickly, gave more freedom than most infamous minigames from the company tend to, wasn’t jarringly out-of-sync with the controls used for main combat, and was a decent, fast-paced extravaganza, placed at the absolute end of the level boss.

For something that lasted only a couple of minutes, I think this marks an unprecedented level of humility and restraint for Platinum’s record, compared to if they weren’t to add it at all. It shows their capability to learn from and fix previous errors, whereas not having the STG would have been a fix too, but would have shown less ways in which they learned.

NEGATIVES (GAMEPLAY) Enemy Variety Because this is just a demo, and because I didn’t expect it to, I won’t slaughter it for not impressing me in this regard. But it doesn’t. Based on the normal difficulty, I’ve only been provided the four most common enemy types ever-present in action games (based on properties and weight, of course). The mook, their elite version, the flying enemy, and the big bad boss that doesn’t undergo hitstun. As it should go without saying, there’s a high likelihood of way more types being present in the full game. It’s just nothing about these enemies stand out to me as particularly fun to fight. Hopefully that will change.

Technique Conveyance If there’s a recurring issue that plagues the best entries to this genre, it’s conveyance. It’s not that they lack tutorials, or don’t teach the bare minumum you need to beat the game. But when it comes to advanced techniques, you’ll be hard pressed to find any action game that teaches those good at all.

Maybe the devs just don’t care. But I’m going to go off on a limb here and say that maybe this to deliberately add a layer of longevity by giving its playerbase a period of experimentation. There’s a charm in that kind of thing no doubt, and for certain games that idea really does work. As a matter of fact, I used to lean towards the opinion that this route was more ideal. Yet over the years, it started dawning on me why that opinion wasn’t quite right, seeing the downsides that come with it.

1) It’s bad for the genre as a whole The greatest games continue being played even years after their release. But games that have the deepest gameplay will continue having the same dedicated playerbase for just as long. Why is that? It’s because those playerbases have found something worthwhile and lasting that keeps them coming back for more. Many multiplayer games retain this same attribute, mostly due to their innately infinite skill ceilings. A division of action games have contracted a similar kind of following, thanks to the countless different ways to express personalized play through ostensibly never-ending boundaries. However, what separates these two is that quite the number of multiplayer games are built to be competitively lasting, as even devs there know and support it. Action game developers give off the notion they don’t know how, or just don’t care to support the fraction that wants to take their titles more intricately. And with less advertisement to all directions, the audience receives less encouragement to participate in a characteristic unique to only a few, if not strictly this one single player genre.

2) It could easily be bad for some of the audience Straightforward and self-explanatory. Some people just aren’t labbers, but may totally be interested in playing at a high level.

3) Any intentions and priorities devs may have for longevity are in reverse Suppose Devil May Cry 4 had ChaserTech’s tutorials built into the game, or something similar. Do you think the playbase would’ve cut any noticeable fraction of the lifeline they provided it up until today? The answer is no, and that’s because in truth, longevity doesn’t come from experimentation to find the more general techniques; it comes from finding the nuances they may bring in and of themselves. Take DMC4′s Enemy Step as a very basic example. You don’t master it just because you know of its existence and can pull it off in succession a few times. There’s different move cancel timings, enemy hitboxes, other techniques it can help make a reality (Star Raving, Side Raving, Guard Flying), and so on. From the ground up, there’s an absurd quantity of things for you to master, or even get to grips with, based on this central, defining technique to the series. In no way was a large part of DMC4′s lifespan consumed by merely testing to try and learn of its existence. But maybe this isn’t a fair comparison, as it can be bought in the game’s shop and carried over from DMC3, which refined it from DMC1. Bayonetta as a more widely known example, has Dodge Offset (and its many variants) as the only game to do it right its defining Advanced Technique. It is somewhat taught to you in the game, but kinda cryptically through searching texts that only gives a description on how to execute it. In any case, you still have to come to terms with its dozens if not hundreds of its nuances, in fashion not too dissimilar with many deep games. If you have to center a significant chunk of your combat system’s lifespan in finding the general techniques, you’re probably either not setting your priorities straight, or are trying to hide how little your game truly offers if finding a normal AT creates a relatively big era for it. Or again, maybe you just don’t care.

As for those that like labbing, nuances will at some point require some form of testing or accidents to begin with, so these decisions mostly appear to shoot oneself and a good amount of others in the foot. Then again, maybe I’m just overthinking a relatively small problem that doesn’t matter. Who knows. I mean would it have killed to at least have a movelist or two?

Balance Concerns Again, not much to say here. I’m somewhat uneasy that the line between “I wanna do technical things” and “I wanna grind and mash” may lose its equilibrium in favor of the latter with its RPG elements. This is frankly a small concern though, as balance can easily be adjusted to the hardest difficulties. Or you could just be provided a skill that mitigates damage, so...?

QUICK POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES (OTHERWISE) +Music +Beautiful aesthetic +Great level design +Voice Acting is steps up from the original +Dual Audio +Superb kinesthesia +2B’S GREAT ANDROID BOOTY, STEP UP BAYONETTA -Didn’t get to ride a moose

CONCLUSION Even if every last one of these assumptions end up being wrong, I doubt I can sincerely be disappointed at this stage. The only thing I wanted at the very least with this sequel was “A well-written continuation to Nier with that isn’t a slog to play.” The well-written bit is gonna have to require some patience to judge obviously (not new with Taro). Even after all this, I still don’t think it needs the extra layers of refinement and depth, and am keeping standards as low but realistic as they initially were. Yet the madmen at Platinum went the mile to give us a grander experience anyway. So yeah, I can’t think of any plausible way the game could come to somehow brutally let me down .

According to a friend, Taro has always been a very wild card with his narratives. Ranging from what are essentially confusing comedies to heartbreaking adventures, so I don’t know what to expect in that regard for this game. But I do hope that it goes the route of and lives up to the emotional style that the original Nier bedazzled me with.

All in all I easily estimate from this that Automata has the surefire potential to be one of Platinum’s best releases (and one of Taro’s on virtue of actually having good gameplay). Even the idea of just merging Taro and Platinum is nothing short of a match made in Heaven. Taro’s games are known for great writing, scenarios, and music, at the cost of mediocre gameplay and necessary reruns. Regardless of what you may think of their lineup, Platinum has always been able to boast their unmatched strength in creating some of the best replay value in the industry, despite everything they made that isn’t called “Infinite Space” being pretty short. The two entities naturally seem to cancel out eachother’s flaws and bring about the best of eachother’s strengths at the same time. Furthermore, through the whole development process, they’ve had absolutely zero qualms or conflicts with eachother (as opposed to Kamiya against Microsoft), suggesting this will be top quality in every regard.

So consider me the most excited I’ve ever been in my life for a game based on a demo.

[williamsjoan]

DualShockers’ Game of the Year 2018 Staff Lists — Ben Walker’s Top 10

As 2018 comes to a close, DualShockers and our staff are reflecting on this year’s batch of games and what were their personal highlights within the last year. Unlike the official Game of the Year 2018 awards for DualShockers, there are little-to-no-rules on our individual Top 10 posts. For instance, any game — not just 2018 releases — can be considered.

2018. Seriously, what a year for gaming. I can’t remember the last time I actually had this many games to juggle into the top 3. When Sony blew their load at E3 2016, it was one of their best conferences and, incidentally, most of those games released this year, like God of War and Marvel’s Spider-Man. I didn’t jump on the Nintendo Switch hype until August of this year, and honestly, I’ve barely used it because of all the other titles shining instead.

I don’t usually compile lists in my head of ten games because only a select few titles really keep my enthusiasm by the end of the year. However, when thinking about my backlog and the games that did come out this year, it reignited a spark in me that felt these games needed recognizing. Here are my Top 10 games for 2018:

10. Far Cry 5

Far Cry 5 ranks at the beginning of my list for Game of the Year and it barely made it onto here. Let me tell you a story of how I even came to purchase this title. I’m a bad spender – give me money, it’s gone in a week or two. I had money around the time that Far Cry 5 was about to release and I thought “meh, why not” and pre-ordered the game. It’s a bad habit; help me. In doing so, I jumped blindly into a series which I had never really touched other than playing Far Cry 4 and Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon at a friend’s house in the previous years.

Needless to say, Far Cry 5 was a huge change from its predecessors – and I’m not sure I liked it. At the start of the game, it’s quite fun when you begin to learn about the cult and story of the world you’ve been dropped into. It had great potential from the get-go, with a cool concept. However, Ubisoft wasn’t the best at executing that later on down the line.

I’ll be honest – I didn’t finish the game because I lost motivation to do so. Either way, a game has its faults but can also be quite fun. I did have a bit of a blast in co-op free roam and running around this unique open world. As is with Far Cry games, I loved the times where wild animals would appear out of nowhere and help me attack NPCs. I adored Boomer and all of the other companions, but that’s about it.

Check out the DualShockers review of Far Cry 5.

9. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

Okay, this was a huge change for Call of Duty, at least in the sense that they barely changed any features from previous games. Black Ops 4 removed single-player, one of the series’ best elements, and replaced it with Blackout – an awful attempt at battle royale. That said, the multiplayer is surprisingly fun with its new additions such as manually-regenerating health, specialist-based combat, improved mobility and controls, and the change in game-modes.

It’s nice to see a Call of Duty game be fun again, and actually feel somewhat balanced. Blackout is another story – that mode absolutely sucks. Zombies becomes more and more complicated every year, so much so that I don’t feel like it’s a “casual mode” anymore. All I want is for me and my friends to jump into zombies and see how long we last, but the maps are too convoluted and you have to do a crap ton of objectives just to unlock the better weapons. I want Zombies from the original Black Ops back.

Either way, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (or IIII if you want to be difficult) takes players on a good journey into the lands of playing online. In short, we don’t care if you want to play a story – fight these kids instead. At least they actually made it fun unlike Fallout 76.

Check out the DualShockers review of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.

8. Deltarune

This incredibly good spin-off to my personal Game of the Year from 2015, Undertale, is just part one of a possible series, and I’m super excited. We’re finally into that part of the list where I stop half-criticizing games and instead showcase how bloody good some of them are. Deltarune was a fantastic revisit to the world of Undertale with vital mechanic changes, a unique story, and an all-new cast of characters mixed with reused ones.

Lancer’s design is hilarious; I love the thought of a chubby spade who rides a bicycle. I won’t reveal any of the plot details, because if you’ve played Undertale but not Deltarune you have to go jump into it right now. It’s a blast, and you should be playing it. If not, go play Undertale then this game. I’ll be waiting. I’d put this game as number 1 if so many amazing AAA games didn’t exist. Let’s get into those now.

7. Fortnite

Image by @ikcatcher

Yes, Fortnite is on my Top 10 list. No, I have no regrets. I’m putting it on this list less because of it being a good game (it’s pretty good, to be honest) but more because of the game’s significance this year and the impact it made on my life. I played Fortnite on the day they released the Battle Royale mode last year, purely because consoles (at the time) didn’t have a battle royale game due to PUBG being on PC originally. I found that it was decent, but never would I have imagined the absolute influence it would gain.

Aside from becoming the most popular video game on the planet, Fortnite actually helped me expand on my career this year. I started off the year at various other outlets before eventually branching out into writing about Fortnite. Writing about this game actually allowed me to open up my experiences in games writing, and I actually ended up here at DualShockers because of it. I’m happy at the journey this game allowed me to take, and the memories I’ll have because of it. As much as it can suck sometimes waking up early in the morning to write about patch notes, it gives me the motivation to keep going and not just lay in bed all day. Thank you, Fortnite. You can suck it if you blindly hate this game. That’s my two cents.

6. Detroit: Become Human

“Oh no,” you say: we’re entering Sony territory – and with a bang, as one of the most gorgeous games of this year is Detroit: Become Human. Detroit was a huge step forward from the previous titles from Quantic Dream and David Cage, and a game where choices actually changed the story. From the days of Telltale Games and Life is Strange emerges a game where the choices you make surprisingly matter, and the game lets you view what could’ve happened instead. I loved when I checked the choice map at the end of a scene and realized everything that mattered. Except for saving that goldfish at the start – that made no difference whatsoever.

That’s also not to mention how absolutely mind-bogglingly gorgeous this game is. The photorealistic visuals are mind-blowing when accompanied by those motion-capture performances of a lifetime. The star-studded cast of Bryan Dechart, Clancy Brown, Valorie Curry, Jesse Williams, and more perfectly brings each and every character to life to tell an enriched story of a very possible near-future. It’s a visually-appealing masterpiece.

Check out the DualShockers review of Detroit: Become Human.

5. Tetris Effect

Tetris Effect is a gem of an experience. With incredible, entrancing visuals that make you feel like you’re in either the next Star Wars combined with a mixture of audio that flies around your brain and sucks you into the dreamscape, Tetris Effect is a masterpiece. Each movement subtly synchronizes itself with the music playing in the background, with the BPM adapting to your placements and rotations. For something as simple as Tetris, this game really puts an Effect on you.

It’s also extremely difficult. As someone who had never played video games would say, it’s the Dark Souls of puzzle games. I should probably change the difficulty, to be honest. Either way, I’m having a blast with this game; I wouldn’t even call it a game – but an auditory and visual experience. Go play it.

Check out the DualShockers review of Tetris Effect.

4. A Way Out

A Way Out was such a good game, and a refreshing take on the co-op genre. I absolutely adore co-operative games, especially those in which me and a single friend can complete a campaign. This game from Hazelight Studios was an absolute blast of a time, with minigames in-between story elements such as Connect Four or Baseball being such a nice way to take a break from the story and just have fun. Me and my co-operative partner beat the game in a single sitting with how much we adored it.

I think I’ll forever keep coming back to A Way Out with new friends just to see their reactions to each element of this short, but sweet experience. The fact that it is developed for couch co-op but also allows anyone with a copy to invite their friend to play for free is something I absolutely admire, and Josef Fares’ dream came together extremely well. The game sold well, which I love, and I hope to see more out of this genre of video games. What a title.

Check out the DualShockers review of A Way Out.

3. Marvel’s Spider-Man

Marvel’s Spider-Man is the best superhero video game of all time. Sorry to the Batman: Arkham games, I love you – but this game is just so good. I’m kinda sad that it got snubbed at this year’s The Game Awards ceremony, losing to the next two games on my list (spoiler alert)…and also got snubbed at our own Awards ceremony. Boy, oh boy, this game got pushed under the rug.

The combat is magnificent when combined with all of the different variations of movements that the player can create; it is an utterly satisfying experience, one in which I keep coming back to. It’s rare that an open world game can keep my attention for so long (I have the attention span of a fetus), and Marvel’s Spider-Man achieves that magnificently. Well played, Insomniac Games.

Check out the DualShockers review of Marvel’s Spider-Man.

2. God of War

God of War is a masterpiece; a project with the absolute intent of demolishing any of its competition Kratos-style. The game was my first foray into the God of War series, and playing the original remastered trilogy makes me just wanna go back to the new one. It’s such a damn good game that if I went into everything amazing about it, then this article would never be finished.

The gameplay, the story, the music, the tone, the setting, the atmosphere, and everything – just everything about God of War is an absolute delight. My issue is that the game ended way too early. I absolutely cannot wait for the next installment. Bring it, Sony Santa Monica.

Check out the DualShockers review of God of War.

1. Red Dead Redemption 2

Red Dead Redemption 2 brings something new to the table; not in the sense of just being a fresh take on the open-world genre, but being a revolutionary landmark in the history of video games. Ever since the release of the original Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar Games has worked tirelessly on this project – controversially so, after the senior writers stated that they worked 100-hour weeks.

If you’re reading through each and every staff member’s Game of the Year lists, it’s pretty likely that most, if not almost all of them will include both God of War and Red Dead Redemption 2 at the forefront (assuming they played them). I’m falling straight into that trend – but you have to admit that there is an astonishing reason behind it. Both of these games are absolute masterworks, built detail-by-detail in order to transcend the normal experience of an open world game.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a thrill to play, and quite frankly is one of the greatest video games ever made.

Check out the DualShockers review of Red Dead Redemption 2.

Check out the other DualShockers’ staff Top 10 lists and our official Game of the Year Awards:

December 17: DualShockers Game of the Year Awards 2018 December 18: Lou Contaldi, Editor in Chief // Logan Moore, Reviews Editor December 19: Ryan Meitzler, Features Editor // Tomas Franzese, News Editor December 20: Scott Meaney, Community Director December 21: Reinhold Hoffmann, Community Manager // Ben Bayliss, Staff Writer December 22: Ben Walker, Staff Writer // Chris Compendio, Staff Writer December 23: Eoghan Murphy, Staff Writer // Grant Huff, Staff Writer December 26: Iyane Agossah, Staff Writer // Jordan Boyd, Staff Writer December 27: Max Roberts, Staff Writer // Michael Ruiz, Staff Writer  December 28: Noah Buttner, Staff Writer // Rachael Fiddis, Staff Writer  December 29: Steven Santana, Staff Writer // Tanner Pierce, Staff Writer December 30: Travis Verbil, Staff Writer // Zack Potter, Staff Writer

The post DualShockers’ Game of the Year 2018 Staff Lists — Ben Walker’s Top 10 by Ben Walker appeared first on DualShockers.

DualShockers’ Game of the Year 2018 Staff Lists — Ben Walker’s Top 10 published first on https://timloewe.tumblr.com/

[mrgameandpie]

So hey, one think I know people would possibly want out of a Sonic Mania 2, or perhaps Sonic Mania DLC, would be more playable characters. So I’m here to conceptualize what that’d be like.

The first most obvious addition for extra playable characters would be the Chaotix from Knuckles Chaotix. Mighty has a wall jump, Espio can stick to and run up walls and ceilings, Vector can launch himself in eight different directions and climb walls like Knuckles, and Charmy can launch himself in eight directions infinitely, effectively being flight, as well as hover about at the cost of a normal jumping capability.  Heavy and Bomb also exist, though they were only available as partners and could only be played as when certain leader/partner switch monitors were activated, and even then only briefly. They didn’t really have their own abilities, being more a hindrance to the player than anything, but hey, maybe they could get some new, appropriate, mechanics. Given that all of these characters already were in a classic game it only makes sense to include them in new ones should the playable roster be expanded.

The next choice would probably be the likes of Amy and Cream. Neither were playable back in the Genesis days (Cream didn’t even exist back then) but they did have playable appearances in the Sonic Advance games which generally operated much like the classics. Some new sprites for Amy would need to be made and a Classic design for Cream would need to be drawn up, but the playstyles they had back in the Advance games could transition over quite nicely to classic gameplay I’d say. The big difference here is in the presence of an attack button. Every character in the Advance games had attacks alongside the typical jumping and rolling. For most characters, these attacks were superfluous, the aforementioned jumping and rolling did just fine for about every challenge presented, but for Amy and Cream they were quite relevant. Amy didn’t roll into a ball like other characters, but instead had to manually strike opponents with her hammer, which could also be used for super high jumps to launch her higher than ever. Cream had Cheese, her chao, that she could launch at opponents. Cheese would home in on any enemy nearby and attack them.  Amy is already a large request from many, and I think both she and Cream could work pretty well!

Going in the opposite direction from Amy and Cream, we’ve got Knack, Bean, Bark, and Ray. These are characters from the classic era who each had minor appearances in side games. Knack being a recurring chaos emerald minigame boss, him appearing alongside Bean and Bark as playable characters in Sonic the Fighters, and Ray being one of the three playable characters, alongside Sonic and Mighty, in the Sega Sonic Arcade game.  These four characters already have designs and the like, but what they don’t have are playstyles for such platforming adventures.  As such, new concepts would need to be made. For Knack and Bean, they have projectiles in their guns and bombs that could surely be used effectively. Bark was a character that mostly focused on grappling and throwing in the fighting game, so maybe he could pick up large objects or badniks and toss them around to find new pathways. Ray isn’t just any squirrel, but a flying squirrel, so maybe he could have some kind of enhanced gliding ability.

Going a little further out there the last character that seems even remotely reasonable would be Blaze the cat using her Sonic Rush gameplay.  Sonic Rush and Sonic Rush Adventure were 2D games, but unlike the Advance games they were pretty different from the classics. Its where the boost gameplay that has come to define Modern Sonic originated, so bringing in Blaze with a new classic design with her own rendition of the boost gameplay could certainly be interesting, but would likely not sit well with many given that you’d essentially be playing as Modern Sonic in what is supposed to be Classic Sonic’s game, even if the character is technically Blaze. Still, I think it could be fun, and Blaze is a pretty cool character too.

At this point, the next best possibility would be a totally new character, or bringing back another character from Sonic’s Adventure and beyond days that doesn’t even have a 2D gameplay style (Shadow, Rouge, Silver, etc.) I don’t see either situation being all that likely, especially considering I just listed 13 already existing characters, but hey, if they got to something like Sonic Mania 6 I wouldn’t be surprised at that point.

[inb380-n9493841]

Office Wars Stapler Implementation - (06/03/17)

This is the culmination of what I managed to achieve for the week.

Getting the staples to act like normal staples when fired was the most challenging part, as you will see down in my code screenshots.

I had originally tried to use a simple, Projectile Speed and Projectile Fallout implementation that would be ran constantly while the staple is active, but I found that Unity had too much trouble trying to compile the code, so I scrapped it.

Next I tried to use vectors, and while that would work easily in 2D like I had done with my IGB100 Minigame 1 shmup, however, implementing the same mechanic in 3D doesn’t work as well, because I still needed to turn the object around as it fell, and vectors and quaternions don’t mix well. Finding out exactly how to use quaternions would have taken far too long for the time limit I had set myself, so I had abandoned the effort.

It was then I realised that I could just use a rigid body to simulate gravity much easier than with vectors. Instead of having a speed, falloff, and rotation variable, I could just store them in the rigidbody component. I then used the ‘AddForce’ method in the rigidbody class to make the staple actually shoot out. The documentation I used is here: https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/Rigidbody.AddForce.html

So, instantiate the staple, and propel it forward using the Rigidbody force, easy, but when staples collide with things, they stick if they’re soft enough. So, I made two boxes to demonstrate this effect easier. As you can see in the video, the box on the right is a ‘soft body’ box, that the staples will stick to when they land on them, and the box on the left is a ‘hard body’ box that the staples would just bounce off.

What I would like to be able to implement next, when I have enough time, is to make the staples stick to, and then move with the object they hit; but this would require further research.

I will now paste screenshots of the code I created, and the sources I used to help create it, mainly the Unity Manual:

Player Weapon Controller

This is a simple code added to the First Person Shooter prefab that comes standard with unity. It just looks for a mouse button press, and then runs the fire script attached to the weapon.

Game Manager Class

This just contains the variable used to determine the time it takes for entities to disappear.

Stapler Behaviour Class

This is the class containing the behaviour of the weapons, in this case, the stapler. The game object ‘ShootLocation’ is a little piece of collision attached to the staple part of the stapler, to store the location of where the staples are actually going to shoot out. When the Fire method is called, so long as the current time isn’t less than the shooting rate plus the last shot time, the gun will fire.

Staple Behaviour Script

This is when things got really hairy, the actual final implementation of the compiled code isn’t that long, but the commented out sections are all my previous attempts at trying to make the staple fly out of the stapler.

Read it as you will.

Disabled Staple Code

Otherwise known as ‘stuck’ staple, the staples that land in a soft body, and don’t bounce off.

Right now, the disabled staple is created when the active staple hits a soft body, and with it’s creation the hit sound effect plays, and then the staple just sticks in one location. I haven’t yet managed to be able to make the staple move with the object it’s stuck to, but at the moment it’s a fair call.

(Time spent: 6-7 hours)

Sources:

Helping with inputs: https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/class-InputManager.html

The different uses of Instantiate: https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/Object.Instantiate.html

The exact definition of transform.forward: https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/Transform-forward.html

How to use AddForce on a Rigidbody: https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/Rigidbody.AddForce.html

The Destroy method: https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/Object.Destroy.html

Some help on Quaternions: https://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/topics/scripting/quaternions

The used input command: https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/Input.GetMouseButton.html

How to make Audio run in Unity: https://support.unity3d.com/hc/en-us/articles/206116056-How-do-I-use-an-Audio-Source-in-a-script-

The code for Audio playing: https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/AudioSource.Play.html