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cerastes · 4 months ago

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When Schwarz was new did people complain about her being too overpowered?

See, I've had this ask for two days, and I wanted to have a good chance to sit down and answer it properly, because it's a good springboard into something I find interesting, the zeitgeist back then and how it has evolved into current, modern Arknights. Let's do a little retrospective.

No, that didn't happen. As to why it didn't happen, well, there's a few factors, the first of which being Schwarz is not overpowered, she's a character with very evident flaws and very evident strengths, and these were, depending on the player, immediately understood or not really considered in depth.

See, Schwarz was the fourth 6* released after launch -- After Skadi, Ch'en, and Magallan, in that order -- and the absurd powerhouses back then were all launch Operators and arguably Ch'en: SilverAsh, Eyja, and Exusiai were the most popular back then, with Ch'en being a conditional potent burst damage dealer (her S2M3 was her main selling point, being an instant helidrop burst of damage that also hit air units). Schwarz was in a place similar to Ch'en in that she was conditional in how she blasted things; she has superior firepower but poor, strict range for a Sniper (back then, we had no such thing as categorized archetypes, so we just came up with nicknames, like "duelists" for what are now Dreadnoughts, "Schwarz-types" for Heavyshooters, "Enmity Guard" for Musha, and many others), and if you wanted to use her big killer skill, S3, she was only going to have a straight line worth of range to hit things.

See, the thing is, being strong wasn't an 'issue' back then. We wanted more and stronger units so we could break the monotony of SilverAsh swish swish, Eyja Volcano Hour, and Warfarin's Apple Pie Combo. A monotony that wasn't a monopoly, mind you, because it definitely wasn't the sole end way to deal monstrous amounts of damage and tackle hard content -- I myself was a dedicated Specter, Saria, and Angelina user -- but it was what practically all guide makers and tier lists suggested. Either way, the demand for Cool Strong New Units was definitely healthy back then, ESPECIALLY by the time of Schwarz' release, since Skadi and Magallan had been rather disappointing for 6*s; Skadi was the sole Abyssal Hunter buff that existed back then (Guard Specter had no Module, thus, no AH Buff), and without Modules or other AH buffs, all she could do was basically S2 Helidrop to kill something or use her S3 probably once per stage to become a raid boss and then sort of just stand there, offering nothing that other units couldn't since things back then were patently not strong enough to need her, as her 3* equivalent, Melantha, was pretty much enough to deal with anything that required a Dreadnought specifically, and you had other, stronger options that did more than JUST deal with strong enemies if a bomb of Skadi's caliber was needed, while Magallan suffered the unfortunate fate of being an early Summoner in a game where super instant DPS came free with your Xbox, leading to the vast majority of people to not really want to learn to play around her expensive Deployment Slot costs and dynamic gameplay, which also necessitated Mastery investment to put out numbers, investment that was not easy to make back then, as Masteries were something you REALLY rationed.

Another very important part as to why Schwarz didn't have to deal with this was because she was the only one of her type. She was a new way to play back then, so no one felt their favorite was threatened; Schwarz and Exusiai filled very different roles, with Exusiai being able to wreck high HP low DEF enemies with ease (which was basically 95% of enemies back then, notably All Bosses Except Big Bob, who has a DEF of 800) while Schwarz had HUGE chunky single hits that were meant to squash enemies even if their DEF was huge, but who ultimately would have less DPS than Exusiai in most cases. What's more, you would use Schwarz in plenty of set-ups anyways because she brought DEF Shred with her kit. People celebrated Schwarz back then because not only was she a cool new unit type, she could bring value to pretty much all sorts of parties with Physical damage, in a way that another unit I've omitted so far could for Arts damage, the support powerhouse of the early, mid, and modern game, throughout the years: Saria.

I make the specific comparison with Exusiai because eventually, the zeitgeist would change: Ash, from the R6S collab, made waves because she was strong, but also because it seemed like she'd steal away Exusiai's place as the Fast Shooter DPS Wrecker Supreme. Time would go on to prove that, no, she would not do that, because Ash is more of a Burst damage unit compared to Exusiai, with immense damage tied to a shorter window and the Stun condition, while Exusiai's DPS window isn't contingent on anything except "Does she do real damage or chip damage". But that was an early sign of things to come: Upstaging.

The initial fears of very strong units had more to do with "this unit is powercreeping an older unit" more than anything. Powercreep is inevitable, doubly so in gacha games where they gotta sell you the PNGs one way or another, and I'll always argue that Arknights has been incredibly good with handling powercreep compared to its peers (and just, as a game in general), but again, it's inevitable, so you end up with situations like Degenbrecher existing and Doctor Manhattan Exploding Ch'en and Irene right into niche uses (Ch'en nowadays being at her best as a support sub-DPS with her Module allowing for great party Offensive/Defensive SP charging, while Irene still has her powerful S1/S2/S1 loop combo with Dorothy) or, you know, Texas the Pale and Yato In A Fur Bikini completely obliterating Phantom out of the face of Terra.

All of this, in my opinion and perception, holds true nowadays: When a unit of a new archetype or playstyle releases and they are very strong, you only hear few people complaining about them being very strong, but when a unit could possibly powercreep an older unit, especially an older favorite, that number increases exponentially. Of course, creatures like Wisadel, Degenbrecher, and Ling exist, which blow other units out of the water entirely, and you've also had units like Surtr or Mlynar who aren't really directly powercreeping any specific units as much as powercreeping entire roles and concepts.

Arknights also does have more content creators now, which I also think worsens matters because they have an obligation and a blood oath to the algorithm to always make a video that goes something like "NEW OPERATOR EXTREMELY BROKEN?????" with a crappy clickbait thumbnail and since [GRUMP ALERT] most Arknights players hate thinking for themselves and love looking at The Content Creator to form their opinions on whether Unit Is Strong Or Not [/GRUMP ALERT], these sentiments, whether legitimate or not, tend to flare up more often. By the way, that's also not a good idea, because everyone thought Gnosis was an easy skip back when he released, and then it turned out Gnosis was cracked, and a shitload of CN players regretted not rolling for him, so hey, sometimes this does result in pretty funny things to occur, as it were.

But yeah, this has been a little retrospective of the zeitgeist throughout the years.

#long post #arknights #schwarz

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heyyallitsbeth · 8 months ago

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Kirito's Quest Reward

In Alfheim Online, a small party of friends were taking on a boss monster. The giant salamander itself wasn’t particularly threatening, even with it’s attacks leaving multiple debuff effects, but the party enjoyed taking on large bosses together, and definitely enjoyed the payouts from selling the rare Fang Daggers these beasts drop.

“Remember, the one to finish it gets whatever it drops!” teased Leafa, who had been dealing most of the heavy hits this rotation. She knew they always shared rewards anyway, unless there was only one unique item per quest. However noticing her health had decreased due to the monster’s poison, she was prepping to take defensive. “Now switch!”

In a swift movement the girl and her attacking duo Klein had fallen back to the defensive and support lines, and two new attackers came in, the romantic crossed sword duo of Kirito and Asuna. Between them 3 swords cut deep and heavily into the salamander’s HP. Flurries of shortsword stabs and rapier pierces were landed before the rest of the team had assumed their new positions. Leafa began supporting her teammates with spell buffs alongside the cait sith monster tamer Silica, and Klein took a defensive stance beside the mace wielding blacksmith Lisbeth, preparing to run in to assist the mainline attackers. As the HP of the beast faded lower and lower, a rain of arrows shot down from above as the cait sith archer Sinon unleashed battalions worth of arrows. Not to be outdone, the blackswordsman Kirito rushed in unleashing a devastating combo to the creature, taking it’s final health points down to zero.

“Hmmph, all that effort in the last moments and you still go and killsteal.” Sinon sighed and huffed jokingly.

“Heh relax Sinon, we’re all sharin’ in the rewards nomatter what” Kirito replied, smirking.

As the monster turned to glittery dust a gift box fell from it’s place and landed square on the battlefield.

“Ah crap.” Lisbeth complained “That special drop events still goin’ on. All that work and we still might get a freakin’ steel dagger out of it.”

“Shoot! And I just barely made enough yuld off of it to buy back the potions we used.” Klein huffed.

“Hey we still have a chance for it to be good, even if we haven’t had much luck with it” optimistically chimed in Silica.

“Well, in that case if nobody wants it, I’ll be the one stuck with it I guess” Kirito said, striding over to it. “I was the one who took it down after all~” He playfully taunted to the other partymembers.

He tapped on the box to open it and reveal it’s contents, fully expecting something mediocre.

“Hmm?”

A dialogue box appeared in front of him “1x Classic Maid Outfit added to inventory”

He closed the dialogue box before anyone else could catch up and see what it was.

“So whatcha get?” Asuna inquired looking right over his shoulder.

Kirito jumped from the sudden break in silence, hoping she hadn’t seen the box’s contents. His face flushed red and he flailed his arms. “N-NOTHING- NOTHING AT ALL HAHA-”

Real smooth there Kazuto. He thought to himself. You know how your friends are. That’s just inviting problems.

“Ooooooo~ somebody got something special~” cooed Lisbeth, now nearly hovering over the poor boy.

“So what rare item did you steal from me hm Kirito?” Sinon peered down.

“Heh- no. Th-there wasn’t even anything in it. Guess we got screwed by it haha-”

Next quest: Get better at lying.

“Oh nuh uh, you aint keepin whatever it is for yourself, if it’s worth a buncha yuld then we’re splittin it okay Kirito?” Klein tossed out.

Kirito wanted to clear his inventory, he would sooner lose Excalibur than reveal what he had received.

“Hey Yui, if Kirito isn’t gonna tell us, could you check his inventory for us?” Silica spoke between small giggles.

“Yui please don’t-”

But it was too late. The small navigation pixie had already opened up a tab to review Kirito’s items.

“Hmmm let’s see. Ah it seems Daddy received an event item from one of Alfheim’s prior Valentine’s Day Events”

Valentine’s Day Item? Well that’s not gonna arouse any suspicion at ALL. Kirito grumbled to himself, his face so red he was matching the color of the holiday itself.

“Spill the beans Yui, whats it worth?” Klein inquired.

“Hehehe~ I just wanna know what it is that’s gotten Kiri so embarrassed~” teased Lisbeth. “Is it some toy you’re gonna share with Asuna later?~”

“AAAA Nononononono it’s nothing like that-” Kirito stammered out.

“No it’s not a toy- it appears the item itself is a clothing item labeled ‘Classic Maid Outfit’” Yui innocently stated.

The group went silent as Kirito’s face went from a flush red to a stark white pale. Then they all started laughing. Lis and Sinon were all but banging the ground laughing at the mortified boy. It took countless agonizing seconds until anyone spoke.

“S-*snkr* So you gonna model it for us Kiri-Chan?~” Lisbeth managed out between snickers.

“Yeah it’s all yours oneesan~” Leafa joked out.

Sinon who had previously been laughing the hardest now had a more neutral but smug look on her face “Jeez if you wanna see him girly so bad you should join us in GGO sometime.”

GGO… Kirito thought. Yeah that model was quite something. I swear that there was something special in my eyes there. They just seemed brighter…

Kirito slapped his cheeks out of that thought.

“I’m not making it out of here without putting it on am I?” he sheepishly responded.

“Honey you don’t have to if you don’t want to. But I can’t say I wouldn’t mind seeing-” Asuna trailed off, imagining Kirito’s toned physique in a maid outfit.

Add that to the online shopping list later. She thought, her mind filled with devious thoughts.

“You’re just scared you’ll like it-” Klein teased before getting one of Kirito’s boots directly to the jaw.

“F-fine. Just- Everyone turn around. If anyone peeks as I change I’m deleting this account!” Kirito stammered out.

The giggles of the group grew louder as they turned away. His fingers fumbled with the prompts to switch outfits, as if the outfit itself was attacking.

You’re just scared you’ll like it.

The words echoed in Kirito’s mind as he hit confirm.

He got a good look at his reflection in the mirror view of the UI.

I look like one of those freakin’ anime twin maids Klein loves. Wait… Nononono- I look like Sugu…

Kirito wasn’t wrong, if it werent for his modest chest, he’d easily be mistaken as his sister. But like this, he looked like his sibling’s little sister more than her big brother. His face was soft. His hair had updated along with the clothing, now appearing more similar to his GGO avatar, with the only substantially shorter in the back. In addition to the dress, he had been gifted with a cute little hat and was adorned in ribbons and stockings. The outfit was a dark lavender, with the ribbons appearing a slightly brighter purple. The purple really brought out the color in his dark grey eyes.

“Everything okay Kirito?” Squeaked Silica. “I know we were teasing but if you’re uncomfortable you don’t havta show us…”

Why is she the only one with any decency here? He took one last look at himself in the mirror. Those lights are back in my eyes… He pushed down that thought and sighed.

“You can look now…”

He closed his eyes and braced for the worst. He expected laughter and mockery. What he got was… Silence? Silence for far far too long.

“Guys is everything okay?”

He opened his eyes and noticed everyone was just staring at him, shocked but… not giggly or amused… Almost confused? With the exception of Klein, who was frozen in place, and slowly tipped over before logging out.

“Jeez tough crowd” Kirito joked, trying to make the situation more bearable for himself.

He noticed as the slight breeze blew past, the skirt picked up a bit and waved effortlessly in the wind. Without thinking, he spun around, watching as his skirt effortlessly spun with him. He giggled.

Hmm. Not so bad… EH? What am I thinking I need to get this off-

“K-kirito?” Asuna quietly broke the silence.

“Yes ma’am” Kirito almost chirped out.

He was happy to see he was now taking it better than anyone else. And then the whole group pounced on him, tackling him to the ground with a hug.

“You’re so cuteeeeeeeeeee!” they all echoed.

Even Sinon, the most modest one seemed utterly infatuated.

“Jeez Sinon, you’ve seen me worse than this- And Sugu you’ve DEFINITELY seen me worse than this-” Kirito thought of playing dress up with her as a kid, but a memory that should’ve made him shudder now brought him a surprising warmth.

That’s not good. He thought to himself. Yeah I’m gonna have to do some serious thinking about this. Or better yet I should simply never think of this again.

“Okay funs over now” Kirito exclaimed, tired of being at the bottom of a pile of bosoms. “This has been exhausting and I wanna go to bed now.”

That night Kirito dreamt of his wedding in Aincrad with Asuna, only now he looked like his GGO Avatar.

…

Kirito woke up early the next morning and his heart ached. He sent a good morning text to Asuna, despite knowing she’d probably be sleeping in still. He paused before he knocked on his sister’s door to wake her up, and chose not to, just sending her a quick “running out for groceries, be back soon.” text before he got on his bike and left.

Maybe a little ride can clear my head.

Kirito cruised down nearly empty streets, trying to think of anything other than his dream and yesterday. He hadn’t lied about the groceries, he just walked through the supermarket picking up a few essentials for him and Suguha for the week, passing through on his way to checkout when a glimmer caught his eye. He had wound up in the women’s clothing department, and beside him standing tall was a mannequin wearing a basic black skirt. It was nothing special, it was cheap, it was just a department store clothing brand. He looked at his reflection in the black screen of his phone, seeing sparkles in his eyes. He sighed, knowing he was about to make a mistake and placed it in his basket and checked out. He rode home from the shops with his mind racing.

Why did I do that? I’m such an idiot. What the hell am I doing? What would Sugu say? What will Asuna say? I- I just need to try this once. I’m just gonna go home, try it on, nothing will happen and I’ll burn the damn thing.

Kirito tried to enter the home as quietly as possible, dropping the groceries on the table and tip toeing to his room with the bag with the skirt in it. He closed the door behind him, but in his anxiousness to try on the skirt, he neglected to lock it. He slid out of his black sweatpants, staring at his body in the mirror. His figure was slender, almost effeminate in nature. Years without hardcore exercise and barely eating while in SAO clearly took it’s toll on a previously toned figure.

Maybe I do look like Sugu…

Back when they were little, Suguha and Kazuto were always mistaken for twin girls, despite Kazuto being older and not even Suguha’s blood sibling. He never minded back then, he just liked being close to her. They’d occasionally swap clothes to mess with their parents. Kazuto softly smiled at the thought. He slipped on the skirt. She slipped on the skirt.

His eyes met hers in the mirror. Where a dull grey void once sat, a galaxy of stars was now present, with shimmering highlights and purple hues never noticed until now. There was a subtle curvature to her hips. A natural softness to her face. Her slender physique made him jealous. He stared at the girl who looked back at him, she shyly smiled and as the words left her mouth, they followed in his. “So, this is me?”

She looked down, and the girl was him. The girl was her.

She nervously laughed and shook in place. She watched as her skirt flowed side to side with every subtle movement. She spun herself around, watching the skirt flare up. She giggled to herself. She spun herself again. And again and again. She was giggling to herself like crazy. There were no thoughts left in her head, it was just a pure moment of bliss. And it came crushing down as the door opened behind her.

“Yawnnnnnnn~ Kazutooooooo please could you make a little less noi-” Sugu entered the room with her eyes closed yawning, but her eyes quickly shot open as she saw what was once her big brother in a tiny black skirt.

“S-Sugu??? EH! Don’t Look! I’m not decent!” She blurted out, not realizing she was pitching her voice higher than normal. She scrambled behind her bed, trying to cover up her shame, hiding her blushing face behind her hands.

Suguha smiled softly and walked over beside her as she softly pet her sister’s head.

“Well, it seems like I’ve stumbled into something big huh? Listen Kazuto. Or… whatever you may wanna be called. I’m always gonna support and love my big sibling, nomatter who they are.” She kissed the timid girl’s forehead. “I’m gonna go make us breakfast okay. You can wear that if you wanna. It’s just us home today. You don’t have to worry. You don’t have to tell anyone else if you aren’t ready. You don’t even have to tell me if you’re not ready. But I’m here for you.”

She walked out the door, and Kazuto sighed, knowing she meant every word of that.

…

Kazuto followed not long after, choosing to wear the skirt downstairs to the kitchen. She was blushing the whole time, still unable to meet her sister’s eyes. She slid a stack of pancakes over to her.

“Here big sis, I made your favorite.” She smiled sweetly down at Kazuto.

“...I like that.”

“Hmm?”

“I think… I think I prefer being your big sister.”

Suguha smiled brightly.

“Yayyyyyy! Now we get to do fun girly stuff together! This is so exciting!- Oh and of course, thank you for trusting me enough with this sis. It means a lot.” Suguha felt a warmth she had never felt, and she felt like it was due to the beaming smile on her big sister’s face.

“So, what are you thinkin’ for a name?”

…

A few days pass and nobody outside the Kirigaya household hears from Kazuto. He seemingly vanished from the ALO party, and only returned a few texts with “Sorry I’m just busy, miss you too” or “I love you too Asuna”. Truthfully, Kazuto had been training up a new ALO avatar with her sister, creating a swordfighting cait sith, with a name she chose for herself, Kiriko.

“Hey I’m gonna head out and make some lunch for us okay Kiriko? Don’t go far, and I’ll meet you in town.” “Sounds good Leafa, thank you!”

While Sugu’s cooking wasn’t the masterpiece Asuna’s was, Kiriko was always happy to indulge in some of Sugu’s fine craftsmanship as well. Leafa signed out, and her model disappeared. And Kiriko was alone.

She strolled through the town, wondering what to do in the meantime.

“I could really use some sword upgrades…” She muttered to herself, knowing that the only blacksmith worth caring about was Lisbeth, and she didn’t know who Kiriko was yet.

“Ah well I can help you with that one!” A familiar voice made Kiriko jump, her ears and tail standing on end. “Heh, didn’t mean to scare ya, I’m Klein, and if you need some smithin’ done, I know just the girl for you.”

Kiriko did her best to pitch her voice up to not be recognized “N-nice to meet you Klein, but that’s okay- I- I think I might just wait until I get a better sword drop…”

“Nonsense, Liz is the best in the business, she can make a starter sword scale right alongside Excalibur” He laughed to himself. “What’s your name by the way?”

“K-Kiriko…” She embarrassedly managed out.

Great. I look like my little sister, and the name I chose is 1 letter off of my old handle. I am the smartest woman alive.

Luckily for Kiriko, Klein was the dumbest man alive, and did not question it at all, leading her to Lisbeth’s Smithy.

“Hey guys, I’m back, and I found a newbie who needs some sword help.” Klein announced to the full party.

Kiriko gulped. Everyone but Leafa was here. Asuna, Yui, Strea, Lisbeth, Silica, Sinon, Philia, Agil, even Argo.

With my luck, somehow Sachi is gonna walk through that door isn’t she…

“H-hi everyone, I’m Kiriko… Klein said that Lisbeth is a master blacksmith. At least I think he said ‘master blacksmith’ but all I really caught was ‘master b’-” She knew this was gonna be dreadful, so the least she could do was tease Klein before the whole thing fell apart.

“H-HEY! I said nothing like that- She is a master blacksmith though! She’s been working at it since Sword Art.”

“Yup yup! The best in the business!”

“It’s nice to see you again Liz, I haven’t had a chance to see you since SAO I suppose” Kiriko lied.

It’s not too farfetched to be another SAO survivor… Gives me some leeway if I mess up and say more than I should known…

“Ohmygosh sorry- I usually don’t forget my customers faces…” Liz pouted.

“Hey now, cheer up, consider us equal for me breaking your sword.”

Smooth one smoothbrain. Kiriko thought to herself.

“Eh?” Liz cocked her head. “I don’t think anyone but Kiri-”

“Y’know out in the field, I abused the poor sword, I should’ve taken better care of such expert craftsmanship” She smiled out the quickest excuse she could muster.

“Ahhhh I see. You just reminded me of my favorite customer hehe.” She took Kiriko’s sword from her and got to work on it. “Cute guy, but he’s dumb as rocks. Broke my best sword and made me go on an adventure to forge him a new one.”

“Sounds like a bit of a jerk to me.” Kiriko joked.

“Nah, he’s the sweetest guy, but he’s a little bit off.”

“Yeah, he helped me revive my Pina!” Silica butted in.

“And he saved me from the Hollow Area” Philia added.

“And he’s like, the sweetest husband ever” Asuna swooned.

“And he’s the best daddy ever!” Yui chimed in.

“He’s helped me in more ways than I’d care to say” Sinon said blushing.

Kiriko herself was now blushing and trying to stifle a smile, hearing all these kind things from all of her friends.

“Jeez, put the boy on a pedestal some more will ya? You’re just begging for this girl to be competition in that polycule you’ve got brewin” Klein sighed “Course, ya cant help but love the guy, after all, he saved us all so many times.”

She felt at home for once, the moment was so warm and peaceful.

“Hmm, you even look a lot like Kii-boy”

Crap.

Argo’s intuition was always top notch. She’d sniff out the fact that Kiriko was Kirito faster than anyone. She needed excuses and fast.

“Well, I’ve been told I do look boyish-” Kiriko idly fiddled with her skirt, kicking her feet a little.

“Nono- You don’t look boyish at all! Infact it’s more that Kirito looks girlish” Philia tried to console Kiriko.

“Yeah! He actually wore a dress recently and he was really cute!” Silica was practically meowing out the compliment.

“We’ve all been thinking, we haven’t seen him since he did it, we’re worried that maybe we teased him too much and now he got self conscious.” Sinon looked down shamefully.

Kiriko could barely manage to keep up her facade.

Focus focus focus. Think of things to say to make this go away.

Kiriko chose to simply say the truth. “Well, I think if they were willing to put on the dress, maybe they were just finding an excuse to try it out. Maybe they ended up liking it and has been taking some time for themself to work some things out.”

The room went a bit quiet. All that could be heard was Agil talking to customers and Liz hammering away in the background, but both were clearly listening in intently.

“Whatcha mean?” Silica asked.

“W-well… There’s this thing I’ve been reading about on some MMO forums. Apparently some guys will dress up with female avatars as a joke, and then realize something, that maybe they were girls all along. Maybe your friend is doing that?”

Kiriko was stuttering out almost every word. There’s no way they wouldn’t catch on.

“Well, then I’d be the luckiest woman in the world to have the best wife in the world.” Asuna announced.

“Yeah, and I’d get to have the two best Mommies!” Yui said, with Strea nodding along with her.

“Nomatter what, they’re always our Kirito. We’ll always love them nomatter who they end up being.” Sinon added.

“Yeah, and I can have my own big sister instead of a big brother” Silica giggled to herself.

“Well, she already has a little sister, you sure you can compete with that role?” Kiriko pet Silica’s head and then she realized what she just said.

“Wait… how do you know Kirito has a sister?”

“W-well I’ve been playing with a girl named Leafa whose been teaching me everything- and she keeps talking about her brother Kirito so I just assumed since you both brought up the name.”

Next quest: PLEASE GET BETTER AT LYING BRAIN Kiriko screamed at herself internally.

Argo mischievously laughed. “Yknow Kiriko, I have gotten some inside scoops that Leafa’s been playin alongside a new account and callin her ‘big sis’. Now aint that somethin Kiriko? Or rather Kii-gal?”

Crap. That’s Argo for ya. She knows me better than… well even me probably.

As the tension grew thick enough to cut with a knife, Leafa walked through the door to the Smithy, and Lisbeth returned to listen to the gossip more intently.

Hopefully Sugu can tell I’m blinking an S.O.S. to her…

“Ah I see you’ve met my friend Kiriko! She’s really sweet right?”

Kiriko shifted in her seat.

“... Fine ya caught me. It’s me…” Kiriko mumbled out.

No escaping this one chief.

Leafa glanced down a look of “are you sure Kiriko?” to which Kiriko could only nod.

“While you’re about to lose some polycule points for forcibly outing me Argo-” “Polycule points?” Lisbeth inquired.

If I can earn those I’m taking them- Liz thought to herself

“Yes it’s me. I… I just couldn’t stand being Kirito anymore.” The small catgirl looked to be near breaking point. “I.. I didn’t wanna lose any of you. I never had friends until now. And I was so so so worried I’d lose you all. I’d been keeping this down since GunGale. That avatar stuck in my head like a parasite. I couldn’t stop thinking about having long hair, and cute outfits, and twirly skirts, and- and after I tried on that stupid maid outfit, I couldn’t go back. I couldn’t be that same person I was anymore.”

She couldn’t stop the tears anymore. She just balled herself up on the couch. But then she felt a warm soft embrace around her. And another, and another, and another.

“Kiriko, I’m so proud of you. And trust me, you’re still the person I fell in love with in Aincrad. I’m not gonna leave you because you found out more about yourself. That’s just more of you I get to love. I get to fall in love all over again with a wonderful wife.” Asuna held Kiriko tight, and rubbed her cheek against the girl.

A hand was placed on Kiriko’s shoulder. “Heh, you’re so used to playin with chicks that you became one yourself, good for you.” Klein smiled every word out. He may not have been the best with words, but Kiriko appreciated the meaning behind each one.

“We’re all gonna love you nomatter what Kiriko…” Silica was gripping onto her even tighter than Asuna.

Yui and Strea held onto Kiriko for dear life, trying to make their new mommy happy.

“Yeah, you’re our favorite gal to tease, and now we can tease you even harder and in new ways!” Lisbeth smirked devilishly before hugging Kiriko with one arm and poking her cheeks with her free hand.

Kiriko felt another hand on her other shoulder, and looked up to see Agil.

“I’m proud of you for finding out who you are. I’m blessed to have met ya.”

Kiriko’s tears turned from fear and sadness to joy and love.

Sinon came walking up to where Kiriko was sat and hugged her from the front then pet her head. “Truthfully, I thought you were trans the moment you said you were actually a guy in that avatar in GGO. Every time we fought there I saw that light in your eyes you’ve got now. I’m so proud of you.” She kissed the girl’s forehead. “And now we can confirm that two GGO Winners are girls too” she smirked.

“Hehe, sorry for gettin ya to come out if you werent ready” Argo tossled Kiriko’s hair. “But ya know I’m just like ya too! I just wanted ya to rip that bandaid off hehe. Makes it better in the long term.” Kiriko could only smile at the rat in front of her.

“And can I please have my polycule points back”

“T-there’s no such thing Argo. And if there were I wouldn’t take them from my favorite rat…”

“Hey I know we already talked Kiriko” Leafa held onto Kiriko’s hand “but I’m so proud of you and I’m so happy to have a big sister.”

All Kiriko could do was smile, she was finally herself, and surrounded by all of the people she held dear.

And in the back of her head, she heard the faint singing of familiar christmas music, and relaxed.

Heh. I guess even Sachi was here afterall.

“I love you all. Thank you so much. All of you.”

#i told you id make this yalls problem #this might go on ao3 later. id need an account tho #sao #sword art online #kirito #trans kirito #transfem kirito #fanfic #fanfiction

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entropy-game-dev · 2 months ago

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The large enemy rebalance

It's such an infamous trope in video games, the super hard enemy joins your party, and is now utterly underwhelming. That's not so much of an issue in monster collecting games such as pokemon or SMT, as the enemies and players are fairly symmetrical in terms of their stats.

However, the enemies you fight in Stellar Terminus have fixed stats, and yet you have the ability to recruit almost any robot you fight (bosses and summons excluded, for now). Thus there was always the potential to fall into the strong enemy, weak ally trap.

The way I have tried to overcome this, is by using the enemy stats as a base, divide them down depending on their tier, so that everyone is scaled to the same amount, then calculating what their stats would be at level 100. The aim is to keep your recruited robots' stats true to their enemy stats by keeping everything in proportion with each other.

The rebalance

So recently as I was playtesting I realised that enemies bigger than 1 square were too weak for their size and rarity. Enemies at Tier X will have an absolute maximum of X*100 HP, and X*10 in their attack, defense, and speed stats, depending on how they are specialised. However, giving those stats to a multisquare enemy made them inordinately weak as they still only get 1 action per round. This plus the fact that you can target multi-square enemies with AoEs, doing even more damage to them, meant that I had to buff these enemies, otherwise they would be less threatening than I intended.

For now, I have increased their HP by 10*[excess squares] and their other stats (except speed) by 1*[excess squares]. I had to then make a similar reduction when calculating their player stats, as all units are treated equally when recruited.

Time will tell if that'll be enough to balancing, or if that makes them too powerful/weak to fight! Naturally I'll be listening to any and all feedback when the demo releases - message me here or go to the forums, whatever works for you guys!

#indiedev #gamedev #gaming #pixel art #scifi #space #gamemaker #programming #rpg #robot #devblog #videogame #codeblr

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hananoami · 3 months ago

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Rafayel's Directional Orbit: Fire - Stage 130 Clear + VOD

And finally, the last 130 post clear write up on my list is with Rafayel. We cleared his Directional Orbit: Fire - Stage 130 on July 24th! This one was lowkey kinda sketchy towards the end because the game decided to suddenly freeze on me.. ( ˶°ㅁ°) !!

Rafayel's Stage 130 requires two teams. Team 01's Protofield Stellactrum is 5-Violet and 1-Ruby. Team 02's Protofield Stellactrum is 5-Pearl and 1-Amber.

Matching the Protofield Stellactrum will grant you additional bonuses to your team. By matching the colors completely you will have a ’perfect match’ which allows you to break 2 protofield shields in a single strike. This saves you time by quickly bringing those wanderers into a weakened state. You also get an Attribute Bonus (up to 30.0%) for every color you match - increase DMG boost 5.0% and DMG reduction 5.0%. Of course, you could opt to go off color and try to brute force it, but I didn't here.

The difference having a Duo R1 of any solar pair is wildly insane. Duo Rank 1 boosts Ardent Oath charge by 20%, allowing you to to equip a different beta protocore for something that is focused on either strength or expedited energy. I was totes excited to finally get another copy of [Deep Sea Promise] during the Pulse Hunter limited-time banner since for some un(sea)godly reason his [Deep Sea Riches] just loves to grace me with his presence instead -- I currently have that memory at R3.

For the first half of the fight I tried to keep all of the wanderers grouped up together. Thankfully, Abysswalker's Resonance Skill, Fantasia Shark, pulls in the enemies before it bites and burns them. I'm not gonna lie... my game play is kinda sloppy here too since I had to collect the Fish Tail beacon he dropped anytime I used his Eclipse Rend Support Skill. I also had to keep track of the marked wanderer in order to use my Abyssal Rapid Fire charged attack for more damage. It's totes easier to keep them grouped up in a corner that way Sharkie can reach all of them when pulled in.

One thing I do want to improve on are my perfect dodges. In this case for Rafayel's Abysswalker he would drops another fish tail beacon for an additional charge to speed up his Eclipse Rend support skill. While watching my clear vod again I noticed I had the opportunity for these perfect dodges, but didn't do them because I was afraid of getting hit. I should just go for it going forward, just to get more practice in.

My overall rotation with God of the Tides could have been better. I kept forgetting to press my active skill, Tides, for the small buff window before going into Rafayel's resonance skill, Surging Tides. The boss locked its HP at around 75% health on the final bar where you can't do any damage to it. So you would have to avoid the cyclones in order to not get frozen and lose out on some time. Also, this would be the perfect time to get a perfect dodge in, as seen in my clear video, hehe~

You can probably notice where my game decided to freeze during my fights in my clear vods... it was actually a real struggle that day and kinda stressed me out since this was all time sensitive content -- not that there was a rush to clear or anything. I just knew I was able to clear the fights, if only my game wouldn't hold me back with the lag. I ended up fixing by setting my graphics to the lowest setting.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

TEAM 01

Companion: Rafayel’s Abysswalker [ Burst | Single-target | Pull ] Weapon: Phantasma Sands (guns) [ DPS | Single-target | Sustained ] Attribute Bonus For each matched stellactrum, increases DMG Boost 5.0% (currently increased: 30.0%) and DMG Reduction 5.0% (currently increased 30.0%). ♡ Affinity Bonus: 106 (Rafayel’s Protective Skill) When you take a fatal blow, Rafayel teleports to you, blocks a hit, and counter attacks. Enemies will be knocked back. [ HP xxxx || DEF xx || ATK xxx ] Pair Bonus [AB] -- Starting Effect: increases team DMG by 8%, reduces DMG taken by 8%, and increases Crit DMG of Deepsea Persuit by 30%. -- Duo Rank 1: boost Ardent Oath charge by 20%. When fighting together with Abysswalker, increases DMG taken of enemies inflicted with Burn by 20%.

5☆ DEEP SEA RICHES (violet/solar) Lv 80/awakened rank 2 using +15 SSR protocores

5☆ DEEP SEA PROMISE (violet/solar) Lv 80/awakened using +15 SSR protocores

5☆ FLORAL PROMISE (violet/lunar) Lv 80 using xx SSR protocores

5☆ WHISPERS (violet/lunar) Lv 80 rank 1 using xx SSR protocores

5☆ YOUR FRAGRANCE (violet/lunar) Lv 80 rank 3 using xx SSR protocores

4☆ WHALEFALL LAMENT (ruby/lunar) Lv 60 rank 3 using xx SSR protocores

TEAM 02

Companion: Rafayel’s God of the Tides [ Sustained | Buff | AoE ] Weapon: Tidal Embrace (staff) [ Sustained | Buff | Aoe ] Attribute Bonus For each matched stellactrum, increases DMG Boost 5.0% (currently increased: 30.0%) and DMG Reduction 5.0% (currently increased 30.0%). ♡ Affinity Bonus: 106 (Rafayel’s Protective Skill) When you take a fatal blow, Rafayel teleports to you, blocks a hit, and counter attacks. Enemies will be knocked back. [ HP xxxx || DEF xx || ATK xxx ] Pair Bonus [TP] - Starting Effect: increases team DMG by 8%, reduces DMG taken by 8%, and increases Crit DMG by 10% when fighting alongside Sea Spirits. - Duo Rank 1: boosts Ardent Oath Charge by 20%. The starting level of Sea Spirits rises to Lv. 2, and Sea Spirits will last for 5 more seconds. - Duo Rank 2: increases Energy Charge cap by 1. During Heavenly Rain, recovery rate of energy charge is increased by 30%.

5☆ TEMPLE'S PROMISE (pearl/solar) Lv 80/awakened rank 2 using xx protocores

5☆ TEMPLE'S SUNSET (pearl/solar) Lv 80/awakened rank 2 using xx SSR protocores

5☆ PRIVATE TRIP (pearl/lunar) Lv 80 using xx SSR protocores

5☆ TIPSY INVITATION (pearl/lunar) Lv 80 rank using xx SSR protocores

5☆ FIREWORKS VOW (pearl/lunar) Lv 80 using xx SSR protocores

5☆ UNFORGETTABLE ADVENTURE (amber/lunar) Lv 80 rank 1 using xx SSR protocores

signal boosting: @hunters-association

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darkdemeter · 3 months ago

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Child Reader hcs! If S/O was playable, I could imagine her being like some low HP and ATK but speedy rogue-like person due to Strife training her with a knife and stealing items from enemies. She could also be used to crawl small places and be lifted up by War or Strife to reach high spots. And she could even have her own little bag of collecting souls that she uses not for herself but to gain some discounts on amount of Souls the Horsemen would need on upgrades. Such a sweet cinnamon roll! 🥰

CHARACTER CINNAMON GUIDE HER WAY HOME ─ THE GAME HEADCANONS

◤✘DARKSIDERS REQUESTS | CATALOGUE (Platonic!) Strife and War x Female Child!Reader

NOTES ↳ ANON ANON ANOOOOOON! YESSSSSS! OMG I LOVE THIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSS! This is a concept I'm absolutely obsessed with -- that being the reader is a playable character in the Darksiders franchise. I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thinks like this and I finally get to put these ideas into a post! I went a bit crazy with the hcs amount that I had to stop myself.... there is so many ideas I have with this concept alone...

────────────────────────

✘ Nicknamed Cinn/Cinnamon.

✘ Your size is used to your advantage. Being so small, you are able to sneak past enemies (unless their level is higher than yours or they're a boss).

✘ If you have enough skill points put into your stealth, you can also utilise your "Deft Mittens" ability - this ability will morph into "Deft Hands" and then "The Phantom Hand" the higher your level is and the more valuable loot you'll be able to pickpocket from higher level enemies.

✘ You're also quick and have a short but 2 charge evasion sprint ability much like Strife. A very rogue-like build that utilises stealth and the element of surprise. You're armed with a single dagger that can eventually be upgraded to dual wielding through Strife's training.

✘ When War and Strife near a small crawl space, they will beckon you over to have you travel through and reach whatever objective you must accomplish.

✘ If you find a spot you can fit through but it's higher up and out of reach, you can call over either War or Strife to lift you up, your character delivering the voice line, "Uppie!" and you'll be hoisted up.

✘ you have the cutest voice lines... hands down. FACTS.

✘ If your health gets down to 1 point, there is a chance that either War or Strife will use an ability called "Guardian Wings" that flies them to your immediate aid to either block an attack combo or to grant you a healing potion if they have any.

✘ If you lose all your health or are inflicted with a powerful debuff that compells you to be stunned or paralysed while very low on health, this can potentially trigger Chaos and Anarchy for several seconds. If the enemy is downed within a certain time frame, then you will be resurrected without needing to start from your last save point. If not, then you "pass out" and need to load from your last save.

✘ A cute little mid-combat cutscene will occur if you have a healing potion and give it to Strife or War. Yes, you will want to stack up on potions just to see it because it's so cute.

✘ Uhmmmm especially in the genesis type cutscenes -- you are the cutest ray of sunshine. Anything and everything you do is the fucking cutest thing.

✘ You have a very shallow health pool and a weaker attack rate compared to your Horsemen counterparts. This means you will need to be very careful about your strategy going into fights. The more you rest at camp and train your abilities, the stronger you will become.

✘ Eating food at camp grants you buffs.

✘ Tool tip! remember to always search for treasure. Relics found in these chests can be traded into Vulgrim for health upgrades.

✘ If you go to Dis, she can also upgrade your gear and potentially grant you buff if you complete little return quests for her.

✘ Being human has its advantages. You have a passive "tinker" ability that's very weak to begin with but can be upgraded further on with your levelling and your story. This ability allows you to craft useful tools and gadgets.

✘ Dialogue options with Strife and War when you're out and about on your adventures are worth the many playthroughs! You get choices (much like DS2) where you can ask them questions about your surroundings, battle advice and special banters can be triggered in certain places and areas and if you do the hidden misc questlines.

✘ SPOILER HC! You can use the snow sphere given to you by Samael to use as a light source in dark areas. Go to Samael to upgrade this sphere and it can grant you a clairvoyant ability that can either lead you to higher level loot or if you're stuck, show you onto your current objective's path.

✘ You have a little satchel/drawstring bag that has a default number of 5 inventory slots. These can be upgraded at higher levels by Dis OR you can partake in small misc quests by Strife who will teach you the passive ability to increase your inventory space.

✘ You can also collect souls into your little bag that can give discounts for Strife's and War's upgrades on their armor and their abilities.

✘ War can also teach you a few abilities the higher your level is and if you put skill points into your strength but by default, you're role is a close ranged rogue type.

✘ You can choose whichever Horsemen you want to ride with and this gives you control over the movement. There are chase sequences where you can only evade oncoming attacks, but you can learn horseback combat that will allow you to either throw your dagger or cast a spell/ranged gadget.

✘ You can pet and feed Ruin and Mayham. Cause if the developers didn't allow you to do that, then that's just cruel.

✘ When travelling through swampy areas or anywhere that is too dangerous for you to traverse by yourself, you can engage War or Strife and they will carry you across.

#headlinesxcomics publishing #happyfic hour #darksiders #darksiders genesis #darksiders 3 #darksiders 2 #darksiders x reader #darksiders war #darksiders strife #platonic darksiders strife x reader #platonic darksiders war x reader #darksiders headcanons

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elendsessor · 3 months ago

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nocturne and vengeance are definitely both amazing games in their own right but ngl of all the things 5/5v doesn’t take from nocturne’s dna, i’m so so grateful the bosses were actually mostly well designed.

only issue with them at least generally was level scaling in base 5 but that’s a general game design flaw.

smt is definitely unique compared to a lot of jrpgs even within its own franchise especially once the press turn system was introduced. it actually rewards players for learning the game. sure, other jrpgs technically do the same, but it’s inconsequential if you buff or debuff or exploit weaknesses in most games. at best, it gets you through the fight faster.

the thing about nocturne’s bosses is, at least for all the additional labyrinth of amala stuff, it doesn’t take that much advantage of press turn. way too many bosses have no weaknesses, and while that does influence the usage of skills like bright might and dark might, pierce, and almighty moves, it’s not really that good a design because it encourages very specific builds. by the end of the game, you’re gonna have demifiend as a main attacker, have his build be physical based, maybe one extra attacker, but everyone else be support. this doesn’t count how much pierce does end up being relied on in the end.

yes there are gonna be meta sets, yet this doesn’t excuse the real lack of flexibility despite the entire system being based around flexibility except when it feels like it doesn’t want to.

this really becomes a noticeable flaw with lucifer. yes, luci’s a cool fight. music’s fantastic, arena even cooler, but it does boil down to what smt tried to avoid with its bosses, which is the same old same old “hits hard with inflated hp” thing, which is a real shame.

4 and 4a definitely tried to divert from this and had a few gimmick fights, but most of the actual unique fights came from the dlc portion. at least the bosses had actual weaknesses, though, and let’s be real 4a’s home to probably the best combat system in the franchise so far.

5/5v hits different though, since it feels like everyone’s on an equal playing field. a lot of the superbosses in particular use multiple team members like the protag, and every enemy can use omagatoki skills. heck, a few normal story bosses and subquest bosses do this.

my favorite designed boss is definitely satan because of how much he messes with omagatoki skills and makes you have to memorize what does which, what weaknesses the demons he summons have, what the order is, and how to combat megido ark. it’s challenging, it’s fun, the reward is more than worth it.

while there are significantly more cheese strats because of how much has been added, they don’t guarantee being satisfying. it already takes a lot of creativity for some of these to be made in the first place so that’s an extra bonus. yes you could abuse strategize, and you have every right to. doesn’t make the fight entertaining.

only boss i can think of that’s genuinely badly designed is masakado but even then he’s a challenge. if you don’t know how scarlet blade works, yeah he can be a problem, and he does at least have attack variety to check if you covered weaknesses.

not every boss needs to be a gimmick, but it’s a shame a lot of turn based games take advantage of the systems put in place, and that’s why a lot of them end up being not very fun to play. the tools are there, just use them.

but vengeance is home to significant examples of good boss design and has actually surpassed the other games in that regard. they may be technically “easier” because most bosses end up having weaknesses, but it doesn’t cheapen the experience and it’s a lot better than how nocturne does it.

#vengeance also is home to the best luci fight so far don’t @ me #i don’t like luci but nocturne and 5/5v nailed him #wish truci was a proper superboss in the og tho. should’ve been scaled to level 99 :(#shantien rambles #smtvv #smtvv spoilers #kinda?#smt #megaten

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drabblesandimagines · 2 years ago

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Syrup

From an anon request - thanks anon! :) Pairings: Rei x reader Fluffy fluff

You’re sat up on the counter, cross-legged, staring up at the television screen suspended from the ceiling, mashing X as if that would make a difference. It’s a slow afternoon in your workplace of four years – Mr Kyoshi’s Joypad – a shop purely dedicated to video games and consoles. It’s a great place to work, combining your love of video games and recently you’d entered into repairs as a side hobby. In quieter periods, Mr Kyoshi had no issues with you passing the time by gaming yourself, as long as you still attended to the customers, of course. There were sample consoles dotted around the place with recent demos installed, but the one above the counter is where you’d mainly play to show off the most recent games.

The bell dings as you reach a critical part of the fight. If you pause, you’re going to lose momentum and you always die at this point. “Welcome to Kyoshi’s Joypad where we cater to all your gaming needs!” You say almost robotically, before adding, “I’ll be with you in just a second…”

You mash X again, hoping maybe you’ll get another attack in before the boss’ big attack but it’s not to be – your character’s HP drops down to 0 and the screen displays game over.

“Ugh!” You put down the controller and hop off the counter, before spinning round. “Sorry about that, I’ve been trying to beat him since yesterday…” You trail off at the sight of the man before you. He’s tall and lean, shaggy black hair and he looks like he didn’t sleep the night before, but you’d be lying to yourself if you didn’t admit he was attractive. He’s dressed in tight black jeans and has a blue hoodie zipped up, with a tote bag in hand.

You realise you’ve trailed off and you’re just staring at each other, so you laugh before starting over. “Er, hi! What can I do for you?” You smile, warmly. You’ve had your experience with a lot of socially awkward boys and men in your time working here – some more painful than others – so you’re aware when you might need to lead the conversation some more.

“You need to buff up your defence with iron heart when he powers up.”

“Huh?”

He points to the screen behind you.

“Oh! I’m so bad at remembering that’s a thing, you know? I just like to hit everyone with the big sword.” You scratch the back of your head – a habit when you’re nervous – and grin. “But thanks! I’ll try that next time – I’ve been stuck at this bit for ages.”

He nods and then there’s another pause.

“So, er, can I help you with anything in particular, or did you just want to browse, or…?” You could ramble enough for two.

He puts down the tote on the counter, hesitating before retrieving the contents. “I read online that you do repairs?”

“Yeah! Of course, this voids any warranty on the product, so if it’s still in that period we’d always advise going to the manufacturer first.”

“Mm. No, they’re out of warranty.” He pulls out two controllers. One looks crusted with a questionable substance and the other seems fine, albeit worn.

“Lemme guess – drift?” You point at the battered one.

“Yep.”

It’s a known problem with these controllers – just the amount of use over time wears them out and as a consequence your accuracy takes a hit as the joystick takes on a life of its own. It’s annoying for first person shooter games, as well as racing games – both genres you suspect this guy is into.

“And, er, what happened to this one?” You point, not quite daring to touch it yet until the mystery substance is identified.

“My daughter gave it a bath in syrup.”

“Ah.” You nod, and poke at it cautiously and find it to be horrendously sticky. The thought crosses your mind that this man looks a little young to have a daughter and there’s no wedding ring… You mentally smack yourself for prejudices.

“The other one has been drifting for a while, so I was mainly using this one until…” He shrugs.

“So, I can definitely fix this one for you.” You tap on the drifter. “Syrup one… Well, I can give it a go but I can’t make any guarantees on its survival.”

“That’s fine.”

You grab a repair form from under the counter and note down the make, model and status of the controllers. “I can do the both for 10,000 yen, if that sounds okay?”

The man nods. “Sure. How long will it take?”

“So, I do all the repair work from home where I have the proper set-up as there wasn’t any room in the store.” Mr Kyoshi was not an organized man – he loved retro games and consoles and the back room was overflowing with boxes. It wasn’t good to perform any repairs back there with all the dust, so you’d set up a dedicated space in your bedroom. “I can usually get the drift fixed in an evening, but I think I’ll need some extra time on the syrup, so it might end up being Friday. I’m probably going to have to use a combination of things to see what works…”

He frowns at the mention of Friday – probably the only controllers he owns.

“However, since we don’t want you to be without…” You crouch down below the counter and retrieve a controller from the box you keep back there for such occasions. “You can borrow this. It’s one I’ve refurbished for the shop and you can tell it’s seen a lot, but it still works great.” You slide it over to him. “And you can just bring it back when you come to collect yours.”

“Thanks.” He feels it in his hands. “Could tell I can’t wait that long, huh?”

“Hm, well, I know there’s a Morio Kart online championship coming up and that a lot of people are practicing… I might be way off here, though.”

A smile creeps up on the man’s face. “Hm. Maybe.”

You slide over the form with a pen and tap at the bottom. “Haven’t lost my touch! So, if you want to just write your name and phone number down there for me.” You grab a zip-lock bag to stick the sticky controller in – you don’t want to put that in your backpack.

“My phone number?” His face looks quizzical.

“Yeah…” You smile. “You know, so I can let you know when to pick it up?”

“Ah.” He scribbles down the two bits of information quickly.

“Great! Is there anything else I can help you with today?” He shakes his head as he puts the loaned controller in the tote bag. “Okay, have a good day.” You grin as he heads towards the door.

“Good luck,” he nods up towards the ‘game over’ screen.

Through extensive research (aka browsing numerous forums and checking videos), by late Thursday night you’d got the syrupy controller back to its best. It was a bit of trial and error with rubbing alcohol, a tiny toothbrush and a scraper to try and dislodge the sticky residue from every nook and cranny - the payment was probably not worth the amount of time you’d spent on the thing but you were a sucker for a cute guy. The other controller was an easy enough fix at least, one you’d done a number of times already for other clients.

You were covering the 12-8 shift in the shop on Friday – Mr Kyoshi liked to keep it open a little later ahead of the weekends, so as soon as you got in you dug out the form and rang the number the customer – one Rei Suwa – had left you.

It rang for a little too long and you were now expecting it to go to voicemail when suddenly the ringing stopped.

“Hi.” A curt greeting.

“Hi!” You answered cheerfully. “It’s Kyoshi’s Joypad here…”

A loud bang cuts you off. It sounded like a gunshot in the background. He must have one hell of a surround sound system.

“Yeah?”

“So, good news! Both the controllers are working, so if you wanna drop by…”

“What the hell, Rei?! Are you seriously on the phone right now?!” A voice screeches, before there’s another burst of gunfire. “Get to cover!”

You roll your eyes – you must’ve disturbed a Call Of Duty session with his buds.

“Thanks. I’ll be there later on today.”

“Dude!” The other voice hisses.

“Okay, bye.” But the dial tones tells you he’s already hung up. You place the phone back on the receiver, before and putting the fixed controllers underneath the desk along with the form to be collected later and get on with your shift.

It’s half three and you’ve been kept pretty busy. You’re sat behind the counter, finishing off the last of the stock audit when the bell rings again and you look up with your automatic greeting.

“Welcome to Kyoshi’s Joypad where we… Whoa.” You wished you hadn’t said that last part out loud.

The man standing the other side of the counter from you is in an incredibly well-fitted suit, waistcoat and red tie. His dark-hair is tied up on top of his head, revealing an undercut. His face seems similar but you can’t quite place it.

You manage to stop yourself gawking. “I mean, whoa-t can I help you with today?” You know as soon as it comes out of your mouth that it was not the smoothest save and the slight smile on the man’s face just seems to confirm it.

“I’m here to pick up the controllers…” He mumbles, and then you put two and two together. This is the same guy from the other day?! You found him attractive then, sure, but this look… Ooft.

“Oh, Rei! I’m so sorry, the suit threw me off.”

“You don’t like it?” He looks down at the fit with a frown.

“No, no! I just… It’s not what the average clientele wears in here, so I just didn’t put the two and two together. It looks good, really good…”

“I had a meeting.” That doesn’t really blend with what you heard on the phone earlier, but maybe that was a lunchbreak thing? You shouldn’t judge, you spend a good deal of your working day gaming and get away with it.

“Oh, cool. What do you do for work? I mean, you know I work here, so…”

“I guess you could say I clean up the city.”

“Ah…” You nod as if you get what he means, but you don’t. There’s an awkward silence and then you remember what he came in for. “Right, your controllers!” You bend down and retrieve them – they’re in a paper bag with the shop’s logo on. You slide the bag across the counter. “Should be as good as new.”

“Wow,” he peeks in the bag and retrieves one, then the other, looking closely. “I can’t even tell which one was the syrupy one.”

“Thanks!” You smiled. “I was pretty pleased with how it turned out too. I’ve tested them both out with a couple of games, but if something doesn’t seem right just bring them back and I’ll take a look, free of charge, of course. I like happy customers.”

“Thank you.” He retrieves the store’s controller from his suit pocket – you’re not sure how it fit in there. “And this is yours. I kept Miri away from it to make sure it didn’t come back in syrup.”

“Miri - is that your daughter’s name?” He nods. “That’s cute. How old is she?”

“Four.”

“She must be a handful.”

“Mm.” There’s a pause. “Did you beat the boss from the other day?”

“I did – thank you. Your tip did the trick. I promise I’ll remember about my status boosts from now on, or at least try.”

Someone stands behind Rei with a game in hand, ready to check out. You want to keep the conversation going, but Mr Kyoshi doesn’t pay you to flirt with handsome men – though he does bemoan why a nice young lady such as yourself is single…

Rei notices the person too. “How much do I owe you again?”

“Oh, yeah. 10,000 yen, please.” You enter the amount into the register as he passes over his card and you slide it through the machine. “Thank you. Here’s your receipt. Hope to see you again soon!”

“Thanks. Me too.” He picks up the paper bag and gives you a small wave as he leaves.

It’s Monday when you’re next back in the shop. The morning is very quiet and after you’ve taken the usual deliveries, you’re sat back upon the counter playing another quest when the bell rings. You immediately pause and slide off the counter, ready to greet the customer. “Welcome to… Oh, Rei. Hi!” You smile and he smiles back almost sheepishly. He’s in casual attire today and has a bag in his hand.

“Morning.”

“How can I help you today?”

“Er, I’m afraid Miri had another accident.” He places the bag on the counter and you peek inside. It’s soaked in syrup again.

“What – how?!” Your eyes widen at the sight of it.

“Blame Kazuki, he’s always giving her pancakes…”

“Kazuki, huh?” You try and ask casually.

“Yeah, my room-mate. We, er, co-parent. It’s a long story. Can you salvage it?”

“I think so. Leave it with me. It might be another two-day job, if that’s okay? I can lend you a controller again if you need two…” You grab another form and jot down the details.

“Thanks, but I wouldn’t want her to drench yours either. She can just watch me.”

“It’s sweet that you guys play together.” You smile. “Can you write your number down again for me?” You’ve already filled in his name.

“Sure.” He notes it down. “How are you getting on?” He points up to the screen.

“Mm, better! It’s my own fault – I’ll admit I like playing for the storyline more than the combos.”

“No, I can understand that.” His phone chimes with an alarm from his pocket. “Ah, sorry. I need to head. You’ll ring when it’s ready?”

“Mm-hm. Speak soon.” You watch him leave, disappointed the conversation was so short today. You let out a sigh and hop back up onto the counter, resuming your game.

You call Rei Wednesday morning after you’ve successfully eliminated all traces of syrup again – this time it’s quiet in the background on his side. He says he’ll be by in the afternoon and, true to his word, he appears with a little girl holding his hand.

“Hi, Rei!” You smile brightly as he heads over to the counter. Miri, you presume, is bouncing on her heels and looking around the shop in wonder, squealing as she recognizes different video game characters.

You bend down and retrieve Rei’s controller, placing it on the counter before leaning over it and grin down at Miri.

“So, syrup bandit, we meet at last, huh?”

Miri grins back up at you. “Oh, you’re the pretty lady that fixes them!” Rei’s face flushes red and he stutters, but you can’t help but find it adorable. Miri’s attention span drifts and lands on the Morio Kart display demo to the side. “Do you get to play all these games all day?!”

“I sure do! Sadly, I have to let the customers have a go too otherwise my boss gets kinda mad.” You wink. “Speaking of which, you can play Morio Kart if you like.”

“Oh, can I? Can I, Papa Rei?” She tugs at Rei’s arm again with a pleading look.

“Sorry, Miri. Papa Kazuki said we needed to be back by 4 today. How about we swing by another time, and we can play when we get home, okay?”

“Okay, Papa Rei.” She nods, though her eyes stare longingly at the demo machine.

“How much do I owe you today?”

“5,000, please.” He slides over cash this time and you ring it through the register.

“Now, young lady, please can you promise me not to cover this in syrup again?”

She frowns. “But Papa Rei told me to do it so he could come see you again!” Rei looks like he wants the ground to swallow him up in that moment.

“Oh, did he?” You laugh, feeling your own cheeks flush. “Well, here’s your receipt and…” You grab a pen and write along the bottom. “..my gamer tag.”

He nods his head frantically, grabs the receipt, the controller and Miri and speedwalks to the door. “Thank you! Bye.”

“Bye, pretty lady!” Miri beams and Rei yanks her out of there.

When you get home later that night, you make a quick dinner before collapsing on your bed as you boot up your games console. You logged into the network, and a notification beeped. One new request from ReiSuwa1.

You hit accept and see he’s still online, playing the game you’d struggled on the other day. Coincidence or deliberate, you muse. A few minutes later, another notification comes up. ReiSuwa1 is inviting you to voice chat.

Your stomach flips as you grab your headset and put it on, before hitting accept.

There’s a beep to show you’ve been connected.

“Don’t tell me there’s been another syrup incident.”

A chuckle fills your ears.

#ghostdogwrites #reader requests #buddy daddies x you #fluff writing #buddy daddies #buddy daddies fanfic #buddy daddies fluff #miri unasaka #rei suwa fluff #rei suwa x reader #suwa rei x you #rei x reader #suwa rei x reader

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leithanienwnt · 6 months ago

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youtube

This clear has it all:

1) Bassline solo holding the map for a solid minute while I wait to redeploy everyone;

2) Ebenholz soloing this boss without any blocking or assistance; and

3) In the process of soloing the boss, Eben hitting it while it's untargetable and in the air

There's a lot going on in this one, but I'll get into that below.

So, this isn't the first time I've niched this map. 11-20 adverse is one of my favourite maps due to how much fun I had putting together my first clear here, pre-zwillingstürme. Dealing with the ranged pressure and holding multiple lanes was a challenge with only one ground unit, but with Carnelian beside Eyja, working together to hold the top lane, I was able to manage it. However, to get it down to a four op, Carnelian was the obvious cut. She helped a lot both with the boss and with Eyja's laneholding, but she couldn't solo anything, and I knew I'd need that to get it down to four. But that also meant I had to replace Eyja, since she couldn't survive the artillery fire without Carnelian splitting the damage. And just cutting those two complicated things. Without them, I needed to replace their laneholding AND account for the fact that Carnelian wouldn't be helping with the boss and Eben wouldn't be getting the 22% attack buff from Eyja. But that wasn't the only change.

Viviana was a clear addition to the clear to help take over for Eyja and Carnelian. She's very durable, and on S3 can basically shrug off the boss's arts barrage. Plus, her S3's range lets her help out elsewhere. But the thing was, I'd need to reposition her, and she couldn't help the other lane until she moved. So, we reach the first thing: Bassline just holding the map for a bit while everyone else gets redeployed.

This wasn't plan A. My first thought was having Czerny there, as he's more offensive, and I hoped that with Eyjaberry's healing he'd be able to clear out the top lane on his own, and then Vivi would be able to help with the boss. But he couldn't survive the whole map, and Vivi could help with the top lane OR the boss, not both. So it was going to be Bassline for his durability and healing, and Vivi clearing everything out in both lanes. This meant the only option was (thing two) an Eben boss solo, and to do that, I'd need to maximize the time it spent in his range. Meaning I'd need to move him AND Eyjaberry along with Vivi (since Eyjaberry couldn't survive the artillery fire at the start if I opened with her in her second spot, and Eben would need to take her first spot). So, Bassline would need to hold down the fort while everyone else played musical chairs. And somehow, despite him doing basically no damage at all, he did it.

But even with the redeployments and the revised positioning, the Eben solo still wasn't working. I even borrowed a pot 4 Eben from a friend (thanks Yin!!!) and it still leaked with one HP. So I was left desperately trying to perfectly manage his skill timings in order to just eke out the tiniest but of extra damage so that I hopefully wouldn't have to desperately search for a whale with a pot 5 Eben. Which led to me accidentally discovering thing number three: the boss becomes untargetable while it launches itself, but it doesn't become invincible.

Now, as far as I can tell, I might be the first person to discover this. I can't easily search bilibili, but everyone I showed this to had never seen it. So, very tentatively, I'm going to say that maybe, maaaaybe I discovered this. And even if not, I never expected to uncover a tech this obscure in the process of any of my clears. But anyway, how does this work? If it's untargetable, isn't that the same as it being invincible?

So, Eben's S3 can be manually cancelled, and doing so forces him to ignore his lengthy attack interval and immediately launch an auto. This alone rarely comes up. I think my DoS C map "solo" was the only clear I've done where it was necessary, as usually one off-skill auto attack isn't going to be the difference anywhere. But the skill timings were so tight here that I had to cancel the skill early right then anyway so it'd be up again as the boss entered the blue box. And after a few attempts, I hit this. It relies on cancelling the skill the frame the boss takes damage, so as to launch an attack before it becomes untargetable. As far as I can tell, it's frame perfect, and largely dependent on the game's search cycles (which makes hitting that frame perfect timing kind of a roll of the originium dice), and it's incredibly difficult to replicate. But, with the extra damage from that, the on-skill auto at the end was enough, and the clear worked.

Anyway I have no idea if people read my descriptions, but I had to get this out somewhere lol. I hope you enjoy watching this as much as I enjoyed putting it together.

#arknights #niche knights #Youtube

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heyyallitsbethfanfic · 7 months ago

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Kirito's Quest Reward / Something Comforting