#i just want to play the new granblue fantasy game...

[faxeysama]

Someone anyone please send me some shiny hunting luck! I've been hunting for a shiny jumbo Applin for what feels like forever, and every single one I've caught is just below the mark 😭

[dany36]

🫠

[goldenteaset]

New year, same old shockingly large word count once I check. XD; Anyway, Chapter 2 of Bimbo Princess Training Vacation is here!

Chapter Title: "Vacation Start, Whether Cammy Wants It Or Not! Let's Get You Ready To Play"

Fandom: Granblue Fantasy

Rating: E

Pairing: Belial/Original Characters (Cammy)

Tags: Princessification, Bimbofication, Dress Up, Womb Tattoos, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Dimension Travel, Fairy Tale Elements

Summary: Camomile has a strange affliction, an even stranger Happy Holidays present, and she insists Belial and his "vacation plans" aren't helping with that first one.

Preview:

“[The new closets are] in the way of the bookshelves, to me. S-Sorry.” At first Camomile eats out of shame, but soon it’s out of sheer joy; Belial’s baking skills are second-to-none, in her opinion, and the waffles are the perfect consistency between doughy and hard, and the blueberries have the sweet-sour taste she likes.

“Oh, don’t be. I want this to be just as you like.”

“Wh-What is ‘this’?”

Belial’s smile turns even sweeter, and twice as dangerous to her constitution. “Let’s play pretend like adults for awhile, okay? It doesn’t have to stay pretend, either.”

That explains the princely outfit. “Um, okay?”

He chuckles, the sound unexpectedly tender. “It’s a deal. I do hope you're prepared.”"

[rimeiii]

While putting myself at risk from backlash from the majority of the WHB fandom, I have this to say about the current situation with the news of a potential boycott, as well as the login bonus + raffle announcement.

A friendly reminder that, like the Molar Office IDs login bonuses back in Limbus Company that were announced + released amidst the Vellmori debacle's fallout, the Christmas/NY login and raffle campaign in WHB is highly likely a planned promotional event before the player backlash happened, not a response to the backlash. Having a holiday promotional campaign is normal for most gachas, after all - and is likely already a part of their roadmap, even if in WHB's case they never revealed their roadmap.

If you really want to see change in the game state then make your voices known by not playing the game anymore, not just halting in-game purchases - and definitely not by harassing the devs, because harassment would only make your main message be ignored. Because when it comes to gacha games, another metric devs use to gauge how successful and profitable a game is would be player retention - because existing players, despite being F2P, represent an opportunity for them to make more money by potential future purchases from these current F2P players.

(Continued under the cut for length)

There's a reason why, during the Project Moon boycott, many players downright stopped playing and uninstalled the game, calling for others to do the same thing. It was only after a large dip in both profits and active player count that Project Moon started adressing the issue, and let me remind you that their initial statements were really fucking bad - even more so the doubling down, tarnishing their reputation to this day.

As someone in my crew server said:

As for the actual fallout of the shitty response, which was mirrored by a large majority of players (and keep in mind many players had already stopped playing and creating content for Project Moon games at this point): people uninstalling the game completely. And now Limbus Company has to make do with a tarnished reputation, lower player count, and lower profits overall.

The other way to make your voices known is to be loud in social media, though this is very dangerous in a sense that it could devolve into all-out fighting between players. And it also needs to be a united front between all players. My mind returns to the Summer Fortune debacle back in Granblue Fantasy, which was an entire fucking mess of bad decisions. For a tldr of the campaign, written as I was trying to make sense of the campaign (which may also include incorrect calculations):

And the fallout, which happened the moment the lottery results were announced:

As much as there were conflicts in the game between high-tier reward winners and those who only got the lowest tier (highest tier is basically a choice of any fucking unit you want, lowest tier are just some upgrade mats), everyone was mostly united in the sense that their anger is for the most part directed towards Cygames, the devs. People filming themselves getting rid of everything in their account (grid burning), quote tweeting the announcement tweets, getting Granblue trending - all to make a statement. And it paid off, because the very next day...

Cygames not only compensated everyone with a higher tier reward (T3, the second lowest tier that only has roughly a ~26% chance for a player to grab - free Gala limited unit. You can see how unbalanced the reward tiers are and how it sowed frustration and anger in the playerbase atp), they never released a campaign as bad as Summer Fortune. However, it did turn a lot of players away from the game - this was the start of most of my server just not really caring about GBF anymore.

People boycott and protest to make a statement, to make their voices heard. And sometimes you need to go to such an extreme length to do so - including deleting your account and your game, as well as sacrificing your enjoyment of the game. It's like the Korean VGC Nationals for Pokemon (basically competitive Pokemon) - they risked it all to protest the bad treatment TPC Korea gave towards the Korean players by playing top 4 using full Metronome teams as protest (a movement backed by most, if not all Korean VGC players), and while the players did suffer from it (their invites for Worlds got revoked), the damage has been done (the entire Nationals tournament got canceled).

TPC lost a lot of respect from VGC players worldwide, and after the mess that was Yokohama Worlds with the sudden rule changes (increased hack checks announced a few months before the event, which included a note for all players to be safe and use their own mons without trading with others - at a state where players were still testing out teams before making them in-game, commonly with the help of others), many players have expressed that they wanted to quit competitive Pokemon. A lasting impression, especially in the competitive scene, as detailed below.

And do you want to know why no moves were made on Pokemon, yet actions were taken for both Limbus Company and Granblue Fantasy?

VGC is one of if not the tiniest part of the Pokemon franchise. Most of the money Pokemon gets is from merch sales, if I'm not mistaken. VGC players complaining won't make a dent in their earnings - especially with how obscure VGC is.

Different case with Limbus and Granblue. Players dropping the game, getting rid of all their core equipment, uninstalling the game? They all directly impact the game and potential profits - so, they eventually addressed their respective situations. I could go on about other forms of protest that resulted in concrete actions, which end up benefitting the game (the Passenger buff situation in Arknights, Punishing: Gray Raven's rocky launch with an apparently P2W campaign), but in fear of this post getting too long, I shall stop.

Am I being harsh? Yes - perhaps to some people, overly so. But unless something drastic is done, I don't see the devs planning to fix anything massive in this game, and I wouldn't be surprised if paywalled seasonal gacha units with high prices will eventually become the norm.

[stekken]

Almost exactly two years ago, I purchased my first fighting game. I had technically played fighting games before, when visiting friends, but I played them like party games, and they were designed to be played that way. None of us were especially competent with the controls, and the games were built to be flashy and exciting in spite of that. Thanks to Core-A Gaming, a YouTube channel covering fighting games and the culture surrounding them, I was aware that this wasn't really the fighting game experience.

Fighting games are a treasure trove of interesting subjects, and Core-A Gaming is very good at exposing and sharing them. What the videos inspired in me was envy, I think. Lee, the voice behind the Core-A Gaming videos, said that a good match in a fighting game feels like an engaging conversation. My feeling, then, was that of looking in the window of a locked room at a conversation I couldn't be a part of.

I remember dropping 60 dollars on my game of choice, but having looked at the Steam price history, it was apparently only ever 20. This error in my memory is likely because it was a big purchase for me at the time, more than a 60 dollar game would be for me today. I remember thinking "If I'm going to put this much money into this, I better follow through and make good on it."

The game was Granblue Fantasy: Versus. It was new, so I could count on being able to find matches quickly, and it was supposedly beginner-friendly. Not wanting to embarrass myself, I tried to become competent before ever fighting another player. I worked my way up to being able to beat the highest difficulty AI, at least some of the time. The scope of what I wanted to accomplish before entering my first match kept growing. Eventually, I was aiming to beat every character at the highest difficulty with my main, and to beat my main on the highest difficulty with every other character. After less than 30 hours playtime, I dropped the game, never having fought a single real opponent. It wasn't a conscious decision, I just stopped feeling the pull to replay it.

Fighting game culture isn't only unique among gaming cultures, it's isolated. Fear creates a boundary to entry, and attempts to circumvent the boundary circumvent the very appeal of fighting games. The source of fighting game's value to me was the same as the source of the fear: other people.

2 years later, I'm returning to fighting games. I've purchased a budget fighting game controller with directional buttons instead of a joystick, to lower my barrier to entry and avoid wrist pain. Incidentally, it cost what I remember Granblue costing: sixty dollars.

I'm attempting to connect with the community more this time, joining subreddits and Discord servers for my new first game of choice—Guilty Gear: Strive—and for the fighting game community more generally. I'll dabble in a variety of fighting games, including those gimmick games with only one mechanic, like Footsies and Divekick. I'll write down plans and strategies and practice guides and record my thoughts and feelings as I go.

Most importantly, though, I'm going to try and put the fun first. I'll start playing real matches early, record them, and use the replays to guide my practice.

To get used to my new controller, I launched Celeste. I've completed the base game and most of the DLC, and the DLC is where I started this session. In seconds, it became clear this was a bad idea. After a few deaths, I started a new save file instead. My bumbling around the early areas made me think of Razbuten's Gaming for a Non-Gamer series, where Raz's wife is so new to keyboard-and-mouse controls that every movement is a problem to solve. After about an hour, I'm feeling more confident, and continuing would likely just make me better at using my controller for Celeste, not better at using it in general. So, I switch over to Guilty Gear.

After completing a few tutorials, I go straight to an online match. I wonder if there'll be a messaging system, so I can share that this is my first match. There isn't. I pick the character I think is prettiest, which is this one:

I enter the lobby, make a lesbian-ass avatar,

and start a match. My opponent is using the same character the first tutorials did for my AI opponent, this guy:

I don't know my character's moves, and throughout the matches, it never even crosses my mind to use directional inputs like quarter-circles to launch projectiles. I almost never jump, mostly just dashing about, blocking, attacking, and occasionally grabbing. I do much better than I expected, actually, but that's still not very good at all. I was ready to be totally bodied in the first match and decide where to go from there, but that's not what happens. I was totally bodied by any normal standards, but my expectations for my performance were very low. The real goal was to inoculate myself to facing other people. There's some actual back-and-forth, though, and my heart rate goes up. After two games, my opponent declines a rematch, no doubt wanting someone who can actually play. It was fun!

I have high hopes for this. Eventually making friends through fighting games would be an incredible experience. I also want a broader view of video games both as a player and a as nascent game developer, and need to get out of my bubble. If there aren't growing pains, I mustn't be growing.

I plan to keep documenting my experiences with this, for a variety of reasons. I want to stretch my writing muscles and get used to putting myself out there online. I want to hopefully connect with other people who play fighting games, and play with or learn from them. I want to for my own views on fighting games, instead of trusting others to do that work for me. And I want to be able to look back on where I've been. Playing fighting games is supposed to be a journey, after all.

[nymphrasis]

Drawings are paused for a good bit, mostly because I want to both focus on working some gift art for Crimmus towards a few people ( I am hoping to possibly do more? Depends if I have the time to squeeze in more peeps to do art of >w< ) and I want to try to game more ( Since while I did play games this year, I have done a majority of my focus with art, game script, and irl life stress. Things have calmed down yesyes and I have slowly been gaming more this month, which has been a real good destressor! )! Esp since I got two new games, that being Eastward and Granblue Fantasy: Relink ^3^! Have yet to decide which to play first hehe >w<.

Really would like to try to do a bit less art for just a short bit! Mostly just to focus on other enjoyments nwn/. Not for super long. Just for a few days or so really!

I do want to say a few more things! 1) I am not ignoring any inbox messages! I have read them and didn't post just yet! I always read the messages that pops in whenever I log on >w<! There is already still one pending, which is to do fanart of another blog <3! I do still want to really do that one but I have been putting off on it ( It is a blogger who I super like too :D ). 2) Should all else goes well, later this month I should be able to move to my grandmother's place. I won't say the full details of what are the problems. Just feel that being away from something that hasnt been making me feel well mentally is a better move than to remain ^ ^". 3) I hope to make it a goal where I do more fanart and socialize with people more! I want to have that self improvement of talking with more new and old people ;w;! It has slowly gotten better and I hope to continue on with this process! Heck, I was even thinking of doing irl community activities to help with social confidence! I really want to rework on my groove, to be that social butterfly again ;w;. Because that was a trait that I really miss having like back then.

[zhiroaesthetics]

Writing Commissions 🔛🔝

I want to write more, but I lost all the outlines that I created in the past two years, in which most of them I had started their drafts. Naturally, my morale tanked, but I don’t want for that to stop me on the path to consistency. So I’m opening commissions, yippe!

Pricing $0.02/word; 500 words minimum. (500=$10, 1000=$20, 1500=$30, 2000=$40, etc.)

Type SFW and NSFW Pairings written in Second/Third Person. Most flexible with F(Reader)/M and F(Reader)/F. Open to OC/Canon. Least flexible with Male Reader/Focus and Genderfluid/Non-binary Reader/Focus. I don’t do Canon/Canon or M/M.

Series If they’re not present then it’s more than likely because I’d write a character from the series as opposed to anything from the series (i.e. Raging Loop, 91 Days, Mononoke) so just ask about a character if their series isn’t present.

Gacha Games

Fate/Grand Order

Genshin Impact

Honkai Star Rail

Langrisser (My ability to do the request depends on me having the character due to a lack of online material and the inability to backread)

Granblue Fantasy (I like enough of the cast to speedrun side stories to understand plot references/setting)

Arknights (I don’t play the game but I have two friends that do and I don’t mind annoying them about context. NGL it’s here because I pray for a Chongyue request-)

Fire Emblem Heroes (I can’t do anything story specific because I never read it)

Video Games

Fire Emblem (Awakening, Fates, knowledgeable about Sacred Stones and Engage)

King of Fighters

Anime/Manga

Jujutsu Kaisen (Anime)

Chainsaw Man (Manga - Part One)

Jigokuraku (Manga)

Record of Ragnarok (Manga)

Black Lagoon (Anime)

Baccano (Anime, Light Novels – 1-5)

Considerations

Communication. I have a computer science background, so I take everything literally and my mind blanks at “idk, do whatever you want”.

My Writing Approach. People talk a lot in my stories and though I do it to showcase dynamics, I also do it to pace myself. To prevent overlap and incoherency, I significantly limit my reliance on exposition. I rarely start my stories with it, and I will more than likely write in media res if the requested word cap is on the shorter side.

Expressing Limitations. No does not mean that the idea is bad or that you should be ashamed, but that I don’t feel confident in being able to properly execute it.

Hard Limitations. If it’s an idea that would be concocted by someone that is on Jeffery Epstein’s flight list, then please don’t request. If it’s an idea that would be concocted by someone who wouldn’t mind posting it on Live Leaks, then please don’t request. If it’s an idea that would be concocted by someone who would wave around a confederate flag, then please don’t request. If it’s an idea that would be concocted by a dark humor connoisseur, then please don’t request. I’m also very big on boundaries and trust, so please don’t request ideas with the following elements:

Rape/Non-Con

Drugging

Kidnapping

Payment ko-fi.com/zhiro

Delivery PDF in 12 pt Times New Roman. I’ll post (via ao3) if requested.

Process Please do not request for a commission if you’re uncomfortable with sending money before receiving the commission. Only send the payment once I confirm that I will be writing the commission; I will refund otherwise. It takes 1-3 months for me to finish works, and I’ll do my best in sending a progress report/the premise seven days after confirmation. My drafts are pretty messy, so I won’t be showing them, but I’ll give updates throughout. Please do not request for a commission if you’re dubious about the process.

References archiveofourown.org/users/zhiro/pseuds/Araceli%20Selkie

If any of the above changes, I’ll post the update and edit this post. Thank you for taking your time to read this. Please consider commissioning me, I like to think I’m decent enough.

[gear-project]

Once again touching on the Survey, if you were the brains behind GG Strive, what future aspects of the game would you want to see? You're the boss, so spare no expense and leave no idea out!

That's a tough call... I can't really say I know much of the production talent involved to state their true potential as game developers, much less who else they outsource to, but assuming they did:

Most likely my favorite callbacks would be mechanics from Guilty Gear Isuka: namely:

--Boost Mode (Action Quest Adventure Mode, similar to Granblue Fantasy Versus, but in a beat-em-up setting, similar to Street Fighter 6's World Tour Mode). Journey by yourself or with Online allies, defeat random enemies or a powerful Gear boss! Some rewards will be hidden away if you look carefully.

--Robo Ky Factory (considering the fact you could make your own Street Fighter character in SF6, Robo Ky Factory did something VERY similar in the past, although it was limited to RK as a character... imagine taking that idea and just letting people run wild with it and make any character, robot, Gear, or human or Demihuman they wanted). Borrow moves from their fave characters, grab whatever items/buffs and stuff they need to fulfill quests and objectives, and so on.

--Isuka Mode (Crossed Swords Crossbill Free-for-All): Similar in concept to Team of 3 with its' 3 on 3 tag in system, only this time it's a game where 4 players play in a single field all at once (similar to Smash Bros, they can work in Teams of 2 or 3 on 1, and only the last one will be left standing). The Lane system could partially return, letting players escape from being cornered, back attacks are allowed, knocking opponents in to the background or foreground, or even the NEXT AREA... even for players who are surrounded on all sides, they would have a Positive Bonus granted to them and have an Automatic Gold Burst as an emergency tactic to fall on.

--Medals of Millionaires (M.O.M. Mode): Similar to Robo-Ky Factory, but built around Survival and earning Medals... grind hard and get rewards. Defeat strong foes, unlock new items and powers (which can later be added to the Extra Menu). Even if you lose, it's not the end, you can keep playing till you find what you're looking for!

--Guilty Gear Generations (Legacy mode): This mode will bring back all classic gameplay mechanics and concepts from previous games and even old attacks characters used to have... the idea being that every character's fighting style will evolve to its absolute theoretical peak in this mode. The only limits would be the rules set by the players themselves (GG Mode, GGX Mode, GGXXR, GGXXAC, GG2, GGXrd, and even Strive would be options). Instant Kills will take many forms in this mode, be warned! This is the mode that features EX versions of all your favorite attacks from older games.

--Extra Menu: Did we miss anything? Was M.O.M. or Survival Mode not enough? Want to have powers like a Vampire? Want to auto-parry everyone's attacks? Want infinite Tension? That's what this mode is for. Build your own Tournament Rules, build your favorite battle conditions, play online or offline and come up with any scenario you wish. Works with GG Generations Mode and Isuka Mode as long as fellow players agree to the online match.

IN CLOSING:

Basically, I think Guilty Gear boils down to a lot of this... add as many characters as you think would be fun, but it won't be complete without some aspects of these basic ideas... or at least, that's my broad take.

[icharchivist]

@haru-desune submitted:

Hello my semi annual "wth is gbf" ask But in all seriousness y'all look you're having fun 😁

DFKJDFMLFD HEY!!! Tee hee!

we are having a tone of fun over here yeah!! this year is the 10th anniversary of the game with new Triple A game coming out, so it's going to be a busy year and we've all been buzzing quite a bit. Though the way i ended up attracting a hive of anons discussing gbf is a mystery -- in the end the main game itself remains pretty niche -- but we're having a lot of fun bouncing out of each others.

Though to answer "what is gbf".... *looks at my blog* you will have to be more specific about what you want to know, because we don't even talk about the main story on here all that much---

Ok so for the fast crash course:

Granblue Fantasy is a browser game which can be played on any Chromium based browser at http://game.granbluefantasy.jp/ . It has a Japanese and an English version, running at the same time (it's not different servers, we get content at the same time as the Japanese fandom does)

It also has a Fighting Game called Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising, and will soon have a Action RPG coming out in February called Granblue Fantasy Relink. Those games are set in the lore of Granblue, though gbvs is slightly in another timeline/universe -- still those stories are stand alones meant to be different steps on the characters journeys

The gameplay is mostly Turn-by-turn RPG for the gameplay, and Visual Novel for the story -- and gacha to get the characters you get to use and meet. (note that today we just got 200 free pulls, and the opportunity to use those pulls will disappear in less than 2 hours, so if you want to play the game today is a good day for that)

For a crashcourse on the basic lore to know about + some vague Main Story Characters and spoilers information, you can go there to learn more about it!

but the long story short is that the world of gbf is a world of floating islands and magic, ruled by the absent God of Rebirth and Destruction known as Bahamut. (all the homies hate Bahamut.) Once upon a time Bahamut split into two, splitting the world as we know, and overseeing two types of people: The People of the Skies (The Skydwellers) who are mortals, and the People of the Stars (the Astrals) who are immortal. The Astrals tried to invade the Skyrealms centuries ago, but where pushed back -- but behind them they left Primal Beasts, immortal creatures who works as semi gods, dedicated to a purpose programed inside of them.

Our Protagonist, Gran if you play as a guy, Djeeta as a girl (you can switch gender anytime tho), was abandonned by their father when they were young as he went on a quest to find Eustalucia, the island of the Astrals -- and after years of radio silence, MC finally gets a letter about their father's whereabouts, and decides to go on a journey to find back their fathers -- travelling the skies and all of its perils.

accompanying them are Vyrn, the red dragon who raised us, who's memories have mysteriously been locked away, and Lyria, the Girl in Blue (well, with blue hair, but shh), a young girl who was held prisoner by the local Empire for her power to be able to control the Primal Beasts. As she attempted to escape thanks to Katalina, an ex soldier of the Empire who was so saddened by Lyria's situation she freed her and swore loyalty to her instead, she met our MC... and near death circumstances brought Lyria to connect her life to our own, connecting us together.

Both Lyria and Vyrn end up accompanying MC out of devotion and love, but also out of seeking answers about their own existence as well.

And on their way to Eustalucia, our MC becomes the Captain of a Crew, going from island to island, adding more and more people to their crew as it goes.

The Main Story follows mainly their struggle to go to Eustalucia, facing the Empire at the time, Primal Beasts going Bersek, and much more others problems.

But every months the game unleash an event story, which will pretty much be "a story on another island that isn't related to the main plot". Those events then disappear for a time before being added to the side stories.

And those events have their own casts. The overall lore builds to the main lore, of course, but each event stories will follow their own themes for instance. Sometimes the casts of those events crossover and spend time together.

On here we talk a lot about What Makes The Sky Blue: A Three Parter story about the first primal beast of creations and their quests to reexamine their purpose, their free will, and their connection with Bahamut as their creators turns out to be heavily linked to him.

wmtsb is also the doomed love story of Sandalphon and Lucifer, as Sandalphon was driven to madness and unleashed his anger on Lucifer, leading to strife when Lucifer tried to make things right no matter what. They're. so much.

(longer version with translation)

it's also the story that has Belial as a secondary antagonist, and it's the guy we talk about soooo fucking much on here because we're so unwise about him. the polar opposite of Lucifer, who yet was so dedicated to his creator he triggered various apocalypses and brought various issues to our protagonists to selfishly reunite with the man he loved.

Oh and, like, i'm not actually like, any type of hyperbolism about the LGBT+ stuff btw. Belial's feelings are explicitly romantic, and later Lucifer mirrors Belial's explicit words to address his feelings for Sandalphon for instance.

We also have various Trans rep (Ladiva and Cagliostro are openly trans women, Balurga is a trans man, Orologia is a genderfluid dragon who literally shift gender from one screen to the next and who use they/them, and the characters who, as a group, are named the 6 dragons, are openly nonbinary. There's also two others characters (Morilynn and Morgan) who use they/them pronouns. And also i'll include him but Lamorak who said he refused to be limitated to gender.)

We also have a lot of wlw and mlm, including a canon wlw kiss (but for that i direct you to my current pinned post, i love them so much they're so unwell) and a wlw engagement party. We're doing fine here.

Another story i'm particuliarly found of personally is the Dragon Knights saga, but it's a 10 parters so it's like. A Lot. But it's basically about four knights who once served the country of Feendrache together, working together to uncover the sins of Feendrache's past and make sure the current country is willing to atone for their crimes, as they're trying to rebuild a proper future, while avoiding the threat of Merlin, a victim of one of said crimes who have been planning Feendrache's destruction ever since.

Or the story Marionette Stars, about people suddenly getting wrapped into a conspiracy as they are being led to connect with powerful weapons connected to the Horoscope, leading them in the web of an organization who is making sure conditions are met for them to awaken their weapons to lead to nefarious intentions.... it's where the kissing lesbians are from for instance, but also fair warning this is the gorest of the saga so far and it has a lot of unsettling stuff going on in it.

And there's so much more characters and stories and anything for the eyes to see. All with gorgeous arts, and a lot of recent stories have very deep themes which really are interesting to sit through, though keeping in mind that the game has a lot of disturbing content and doesn't hesitate to have you sit through extremely disturbing and gore scenes. #SurvivorOfTikohFE

here's some arts samples of various saga to give you an overview of some goodies here and there

and if you want to get into it because of Seiyuu? you're in luck! there's so many characters in granblue that your favorite seiyuu can POSSIBLY be in it!

like i did a list of a3 seiyuus in it for example:

and some of them have songs! as pictured above with Sandalphon's (Suzumura Ken'ichi) song, but also like, the Dragon Knights (Seiyuu: Eguchi Takuya, Ono Yuuki, Ryota Osaka, Kazuhiko Inoue) or Grimnir's song (by legendary seiyuu Megumi Ogata)

or also absolutely bonkers songs as OST, like the infamous Parade's Lust, Paradise Lost, Zero, Existence, Peace and Quiet, The Watershed Moment, or a personal fav with For You.

So strap in, give it a shot, and if you want clarification on literally anything, don't hesitate ;D

[nanjokei]

i know ive said it before a few months ago but even though i dont go there i feel like people are pretty meanspirited towards genshin fans. obviously one of the biggest games around is gonna attract people who are new to geek ish shit like video games and anime. which means its likely their opinions are likely to be unseasoned. i think theres an entire world that exists for teenagers and normies with smartphones that we arent seeing, maybe its a generational gap idk

like the people who are super into webtoons and genshin and god knows what else, younger people and normies, lack the etiquette that was basically beaten into our brains through years of frequenting forums and microblogging social sites (livejournal, tumblr) (this is a lie because most people lack etiquette to begin with) so they act unbecoming, get into fights, make claims about skinny twinks being daddy or whatever. mostly cuz they know nothing else. is it annoying? yeah, but it feels meanspirited to write all of them off, and all of genshin off. i dont play it, i tried it close to launch and found myself completely disinterested so after not even completing the tutorial i ended up dropping it, but i have a lot of friends who are normal and find themselves enjoying it unironically and theyre surprised that they do due to the overly exaggerated reputation it has. im just speaking in general, of course they have the same issues a lot of people have with genshin, in fact i think most people who Actually Play Games would...

in general i dont get the catastrophization of genshin. i feel like so many people attribute things to it that dont make sense, like how suddenly all anime character design, especially fantasy, has gotten worse. my own feelings on the designs is pretty neutral. but at the same time its like, a fucking anime game, idk, i dont have feelings on it to begin with because it just looks like most other anime games but hoyoverse flare is hoyoverse flare.

to begin with i don't think hoyoverse is to blame for fantasy designs sucking. i think that is completely dishonest to suggest. as a fantasy fan, i think that its an issue of decay and lack of interest in the genre. i wrote about my feelings in isekai before (hint: mostly positive) but its a fact that most people have no interest in fantasy anymore. its seeing a slight genuine revival recently, but i feel like most of people's exposure is from isekai that take a very minimalist and "modern" sensibility to the designs so as not to be cringe and over the top. here is a google search i did in november 2022 with the search term "anime elf"

i mostly use this cap to show that 1) this is an issue ive been concerned about consistently and 2) if you search "anime" anything these days you get a lot of ai art and that is just noise to me in this context. by the way, in nov 2022 if you searched "90s anime elf", the results are entirely deedlit lol. she's very pretty, and every anime aesthetic page on social media is eager to reshare her and erroneously go "80s anime is the best 😍😍😍" you know, the ova series and tv anime that came out in 1990 and 1998 respectively. its just a complete and utter lack of disinterest in the fantasy genre all around that leads to fantasy anime being swallowed up into nothingness and not being present in any zeitgeist. even tales of, a series that seemed inseperable from the conventions of the genre, has forsaken it. the super tropey anime fantasy jrpg doesn't exist anymore. even fire emblem keeps hiring artists that have no business designing characters in a medieval setting (kozaki, kurahana, pikazo). granblue FANTASY has entirely shed its final fantasy tactics inspo aesthetic and is increasingly releasing more characters distant from those sensibilities.

anyway, my point is that for over a decade now fantasy as us nerdy 20 somethings grew up with has been considered owakon and blasé. nu anime fantasy is either informed by wanting to smooth out the fantasy element as much as possible (see: rezero's character design sense. i have no comment on the story itself) or inspiration from anime MMOs that usually had more simple armor and clothing designs for most players who didn't pay up. its a whole issue from top to bottom, and frankly genshin has nothing to do with it. there are modern series clearly made by people who love the fantasy we grew up with. even those that have a different world view, like tensura, lampshades the protagonist's view of fantasy to the world he actually ended up in.

if anything genshin at least feels like its calling to SOMETHING. im not sure what, to be honest i dont really get the design thoroughline of it, and a lot of the designs are overdesigned, but i think some designs do feel reminiscent of a more familiar fantasy aesthetic (venti comes to mind).

of course its true that a lot of young artists take inspiration from genshin, you know, its one of the most popular games in the world, its like mind boggling hearing how big its install base is, but also i keep hearing that it had some kind of ripple effect on all character design in every game and anime ever. can anyone actually show me like even 3 examples of this? like, be honest with me. is that not peak catastrophizing? game has barely been out for 3 years, its not really enough for its ripple effect to suddenly change the world.

what you are complaining about is an issue that has been an issue since the 2010s. maybe you are only noticing it now that you have a new mediore hatesink to invest in. anyway yes this mediocre and halfhearted defense of genshin's fans was an excuse for me to rant about fantasy as a genre being on its death throes and how people are misattributing the tragedy to rant about some mediocre anime gacha game. i hope the recent popularity of series like dungeon meshi and frieren (i mention them bc theyre currently airing right now) makes people remember that fantasy can be good and pure soul. i hope we get a real tales of game soon also.

if you read this far please let me know what you think even on anon. its a topic that greatly interests me (anime fantasy, not genshin, i have nothing to say about genshin)

[tainbocuailnge]

i think one of the primary factors behind granblue fantasy’s continued success is that it’s a game that’s very easy to come back to. the barrier of entry for granblue has always been pretty high and has only gotten higher with the years despite repeat attempts from cygames to make the early stages of getting started easier, because in “streamlining” old content they ended up just removing a lot of it which means you have barely anything to do in the game until you hit rank 100 where all the actual content is. I used to really hate the “100 rank tutorial” jokes for being exaggerated but they’ve gotten increasingly real over the years.

however once you’re past that barrier and have a grid and are at the player rank where you have shit to do the granblue fantasy content schedule is very comfortable with you either playing the game nonstop for days or completely ignoring it for months, because regardless of when you last opened the game there will be like thirty little tasks you can juggle working towards and there’s a valor badge event coming soon if you need a more specific goal and all that’s really changed is there’s more characters now and more swag outfits to put on your player character and also they’re letting you skip over some of the more annoying chores now and slipped another 300 ap recovery items into your inventory. being a browser game means it doesn’t even hoard valuable storage space when you’re going through a period of not playing it. there’s going to be new jacked up endgame raids but whatever ol reliable team you set up a year ago is definitely still going to work in whatever raid you made it for, and that raid is probably still going to be relevant to you if it’s the last thing you were farming so you can pick up right where you left off.

so even though my relationship with granblue has been rocky the past few years to say the least, whenever some seasonal campaign comes around I often end up playing for a while again anyway because even if the state of the game progresses it doesn’t feel like i’m left behind. whenever the mood for some number go up strikes my ex game dot granbluefantasy dot jp is ready and waiting.

when it comes to long running live service games and especially gacha games that can’t easily go back on having released something before that’s actually a very hard balance to strike so i think granblue really does deserve high praise for managing to not leave players that don’t actively keep up behind. and I think especially the past year or so they’ve made a lot of respectable efforts towards making sure the older stuff that you put a lot of effort into back when it was the best you could get still remains relevant as the game progresses which is part of why i have a more positive attitude towards the game again lately too. the extra grid slots for bahamut and ultima weapons in both sandbox (casual content) and revans raids + super ultimate bahamut (hardcore endgame content) are a great move when there’s always more new fancy weapons fighting for a grid slot that these former endgame must-haves couldn’t compete with anymore.

the class design on row V classes and recent mastery bonuses for row IV to go with it are a good example too because they clearly made an effort to have row V be both a clear upgrade but also more demanding to use (stricter mainhand requirements due to aux weapons, high commitment for farming shields and manatura) so there remains reason to use the row IV counterpart that you put all those masteries into to get row V in the first place. class design in general has been genuinely really good lately both in visual design (slutty gran outfits) and how it plays. so here too coming back to game dot granbluefantasy dot jp after a long time away you won’t find that everything you worked so hard for is now obsolete but rather that you can just keep playing your favourite class forever and make it fuck even harder if thats what you want

and i say things will be mostly the same whenever you get back but i also think introducing battle system v2 and the recent change to qilin were pretty ballsy moves and good signs that cygames continues to think about the long term health of the game even though they blatantly always wanted to be a console game dev and it felt like they’d put all the competent people on GBVS and relink for years. actually maybe the fact that relink is finally coming close to being a real game is why mobile granblue is getting better again recently. anyway. lord forgive me but i’m back on my shit (playing granblue fantasy again)

[wysteir]

Wisteria's FG Journal

S1 In Review

Around the start of this year I decided to try and get into fighting games! This post will have notes about my journey and learning experiences in the first 3 months

My first* fighting game was Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising! Asterisk because it was the first game I actually wanted to try to learn all the ins and outs of fighting games seriously.

Before this year the bulk of my experience was whatever odd fighting games we had lying around, including Samsho V, One Of The Mortal Kombats, and One Of The Dead Or Alives. Later got Skullgirls and Street Fighter 4 but never got deeply into either, and I'll include any time I played playing Whichever Versions of smash.

Either way, having fun with them casually, but never really thinking about actual strats. I wanted to fling specials at people and hit then with heavy buttons hahaheeheehoohoo

Granblue stood out to me because

1) A bunch of folks I knew were playing it

2) It touted a relatively low skill floor

3) Fox gal with huge fluffy tail

So I steeled myself for losses, and dove in, except - where do I even start?

Well thankfully my friends had my back on that one. I got linked copious amounts of resources, and of them the most important ones for me personally were the ones related to keeping a healthy mental game.

Fighting games are hard to learn because it's a skill like any other. Learning an art is hard- music, visual arts, writing, dance: all of these are skills that take time and have difficult aspects to learning them.

They should also bring joy when engaging in them, both through the fun of doing, but also the satisfaction of honing a skill. This is where healthy mental comes in. I didn't want to be stuck in a bad mental state learning fighting games. That would cascade into my attempts to learn and would spoil my fun- and at that point why bother?

Staying realistic while taking as much pride as I could in my progress contributed a huge amount in how smoothly I ramped up. In many ways I benefitted from being almost entirely new, and starting with upholding mental first. Note that it was also important to me to not dismiss my feelings or bottle them up. These things linger in the subconscious, they are mind killers and they need to be treated with care.

Immense damage was dealt to me by the North American Education System and Familial Expectations. Part of my journey in fighting games involved a continuation of dismantling the shame in perceived failures. I would let nothing stop me from finding joy in learning, and being silly with it. A key thing for fighting games is that for better or for worse, there's a common perception that the failure state is getting KO'd. After much deliberation, I personally refuse to view it as such.

Winning is merely a side effect of good play.

Losing is an opportunity to hone my skills.

Success to me is the 50/50. I'm a performer by heart, I love the drama, the thrill, the narration. And over and over again, I see my goal in others' replays and tournament footage- it's the 50/50. Being evenly matched with my opponent became an immense source of positive vibes, and as I improved, and got closer to it, the joy I got grew more and more. Most notably, I hit a point where even fighting players who could 10-0 me wasn't even daunting anymore, because every round we played I got just a little bit better, and I knew it was only a matter of time before I could turn it into a 10-1.

Mental is the most important thing because it determines how efficient you are in terms of learning, performance, and inspiration. Once mental tanks or ges overwhelmed, it's time for a break!!!

The next important thing for me was defense and taking back my turn.

I thought about it, and realized that at my skill level, I would probably be on the losing side of the fight more often than not. What I needed wasn't the most damaging combo, what I needed were the skills to get myself out of an inevitable scenario.

A dependency comes about from this then:

1) If I'm knocked down or in the corner, my priority needs to be taking my turn back. I can't do anything else if I'm under attack with whatever mix tape my opponent is blasting on loop.

2) If we're in neutral, I need to find the best way to get into a position to establish offence (or just establish it outright)

3) If they're blocking, I need to mix them and watch out for when they want to take their turn back

4) If I'm hitting them I either won or I'm about to get sent back to 3

Combos ain't shit actually!! They kinda fucking suck for a new player!!!! Combos and Complicated Hornswogglery won't save the new player from the situation they'll be in most of the time, ie- blocking in the corner

Second most important is playing neutral to try and prevent getting hit and cornered in the first place.

When I first started playing Granblue the most I could do was a basic baby auto combo into 236L and easy input super for offense, but I learned how to jab out of pressure, I learned how valuable reversals were, as I spent less and less time in the corner I learned how to approach and counter in neutral, and everything else was the fun fancy stuff that most resources list in great detail.

So! Behold, my power 9!

0) Preliminary research on game specifics

1) Learn how to maintain good mental

2) Learn how to block/evade/tech

3) Learn how to escape pressure

4) Learn how to skip/hold neutral

5) Learn a basic midscreen combo

6) Learn Okizeme/counter reversals

7) Learn a basic corner combo

8) Learn the advanced mechanics

Throughout the discord server I'm in I have lists and lists of things I felt I wanted to learn and some little victories and eureka moments

The 9 things above basically cover the gist of things

As I learned more and more granblue basics I also ended up playing guilty gear strive more often, and applied the same principles. Strive has more mechanics/resources than granblue so some of them came hand and hand with the 9, but I'm sure you'll find they slot in easy

By the end of March I was at a relatively low Mental and was taking it easier, but by then I was also playing in a way I didn't see myself being able to do for at least 6 months.

And now, even only 2.5 weeks since then? I could deck the halls with my March self

And if you've ever been interested in fighting games, you could learn them well too!!!

[dany36]

the deed is done! after 84 hours, finally got through the true ending in dragon's dogma 2. as a new dragon's dogma fan, i gotta say...what an amazing game, loved almost every minute of it, and despite its many flaws, it's in my top favorite games for sure now that i saw the ending mostly did not disappoint and had some time now to think about it. there's been a few other open world games where i've spent 60+ hours playing them only for me to realize that wow, i did not have a good time at all with this and don't ever want to touch them again, but dd2 is definitely not of them. i honestly can't remember the last game i played that just had such a fucking grip on me, maybe horizon zero dawn which is like in my ultimate games ever: if i wasn't playing dd2, i was thinking of what i was going to do once the weekend came around and i'd be able to play it again. in fact, i was thinking of going back to granblue fantasy relink after this but i think i'm just gonna have to do ng+ to get some of the quests i missed + increase my pawn affinity (yes i know i'm a bad arisen lol).

i think i saw someone else say that it's hard to explain why they love this game because my god it has its flaws, but i'm gonna try to explain in my usual long-ass junk thoughts below, with endgame spoilers:

ok first of all, the gameplay and the vocations. holy shit. not gonna lie, i was at first a bit intimidated by this game because it seemed elden ring-ish and that game never really got my attention because of people saying how hard it is etc so i just never bothered to play it. it took a bit for me to get the hang of dd2's gameplay because i mostly just stick to jrpgs like tales, xenoblade or games like horizon, tomb raider which...aren't really hard games at all? so personally this was a pretty big switch for me. even if at first i was getting beat up by simple goblins, i was enjoying the hell out of it. i stuck with fighter for like...the first 45ish hours because i like being at the front of the fights and the use of the shield provided me a way to defend myself from attacks since there isn't really a dodge button here so it's what made me feel most comfortable. but man, exploring the other vocations and Seeing Number Go Up to maxing out your discipline in them is probably what kept the gameplay so fresh for me even though i pretty much went through the overworld twice: once normally, then another time when i realized i was close to the "first" ending and i was like oh shit better go back and do everything else that i might have missed.

but yeah, pretty much of the four vocations that i tried (fighter, archer, magick archer, mystic spearhand), the gameplay just felt so fluid and fun even when i was fighting my 10th griffin or my umpteenth goblin swarm. finding different ways to fight off enemies even as i was towards the end of the game is probably what made me not feel so bored with it. like, i remember i had just switched to MS and i ran into a drake, so even though i had defeated one as an archer and another time as a mystick archer, going against this one as a mystic spearhand felt like a new experience since i obviously couldn't do the same type of attacks i had done before! really glad i got out of my comfort zone of just sticking with fighter to explore some of the other vocations.

and speaking of the gameplay, i absolutely loved the pawn system. being able to have your own customizable companion that follows you along your journey and is loyal to you no matter what is just such a great concept, and on top of that, you get to also form bonds with other people's pawns as you're forming your own party! i'd get so sad when i'd have to dismiss a pawn that i had been traveling with for weeks in-game, and even more so that when i tried to rehire them, they completely changed vocations so i couldn't get them to rejoin my party since they were no longer what i'm looking for :( also, i had been wondering how people were getting their pawns to blush with them, which i mean for mine i didn't really mind because my main pawn was male and it seemed like some people wanted their pawns to be romanceable so i was like eh that's fine, that's not what i'm going for. HOWEVER it looks like if your pawn affinity is high enough, you get a slightly different speech from your pawn at the end when they help you kill the dragon! so that's also a really neat detail that the developers added, so i'm for sure gonna go for that since oof, when my main pawn was delivering his speech at the end....it was breaking my heart but i was so happy for him that he had gained some free will of his own, so hell yeah i wanna see what other things he says at the end with a high enough affinity!

the overworld exploration. ok, i don't know what it is about this overworld that made exploring every single corner and (almost) every single cave a joy to explore. having played botw/totk i hated the overworld so much because of how empty and unrewarding it felt, and how repetitive the caves got. i'm not saying that dd2's overworld is perfect, but seeing a golden trove beetle stuck to a tree of a ledge or finding a ferrystone at the end of a cave felt more rewarding than whatever the hell totk tried to do. i will say though that towards the end it was a bit disappointing how the treasure chests with weapons were containing equipment that was weaker than i already had, but i mean, considering i went through the overworld twice, i think that one is on me. i know some people complain how..."narrow" or "restricted" the exploration feels sometimes because at times you're just walking down a path and there's just huge cliffs on either side of you so you don't really get like to see an expansive view of the overworld, but honestly that never really crossed my mind. i actually didn't discover the elves' home until towards the game, even as i was making my way to it, i was just looking around taking in my surroundings because of how new and fresh it felt to me.

sidequests!!! ok this is another thing i've heard people complain about and how "shallow" they seem and i'm like....excuse me? did we play the same sidequests??? sidequests are like one of the things i love the most about any game (huge xenoblade x fan where the sidequests make the most content of the game), so having come from playing big games like granblue fantasy relink, botw/totk, xenoblade 2&3 where the sidequests are just soooo fucking boring, they make no attempt at getting me to care about the NPCs involved, have no interesting sidestories, or are just boring fetch quests, dd2's sidequests were a breath of fresh air.

like, are the people complaining about the sidequests just not care about daphne being abandoned as a child and now living in the slums but she actually has a twin rich brother (oh and seeing the maid that brought this all up now in the slums because she was fired for it?? oof!!), that one nun that was poisoning her patients at the giving hand under the guise of helping them, saving dorieann and then helping her save the sacred arbor (i'm sad i left this sidequest for last!), ulrika being fucking chased out of her village and being unjustly blamed for the dragon attacks (this part pissed me off soooo much and i was so happy to go back and kick all of their asses!!!), pawns being sold off to battahl via some weird human trafficking oxcart, helping hugo lead a more honest life after being imprisoned for having been part of that one desert gang, OH that one girl that wanted to learn magic and then loses control and almost kills her fucking grandma?? WILHELMINA'S SIDEQUEST??? (honestly one of my favorite sidequests in a game ever tbh, that end reveal was just too damn good) I mean i can go on and on!! SURE not all sidequests are winners and some are more shallow than others, but i'll be damned if the majority of these sidequests didn't have me invested in the NPCs and i'd be devastated if i were to mess them up somehow. so yeah, i mean i can maybe see them complaining that some characters' sidequests should have been more developed, but i think that takes me to my next point...

the story. i gotta say, the first part of the game's story just had me hooked and i couldn't wait to see what was going to happen. the whole thing with disa's plot and the false arisen and you trying to uncover the truth with captain brant's help so you could take your rightful place as the sovran, like...i was invested! but then like many people rightfully complain, once the coronation happens and you get to battahl, all of this kind of....falls off?? like it doesn't really matter anymore idk? i was so shocked when i opened that one door that phaseus goes through and the pathfinder was like "oh yeah go here and that's where you'll find your journey's end" i was like no way! over so soon? i mean, again, as an xcx fan, i'm fine with like, stories being interesting enough that keep you engaged but are not fully fleshed out, the gameplay and the sidequests in dd2 were enough to keep me playing. but like, it's kind of weird that nadinia takes like, a third of the game's coverart and i felt like we barely got to know her or that she was relevant enough for the story?? there were like what, two sidequests she was involved? the one where you find out who is trying to kill her, and then when you are guiding her in vernworth. i just loved her design and i was looking forward to seeing how else she would fit in all of this. same with ulrika, after you finish her sidequest, for someone i thought was going to be more important to the story, she really does disappear after you make her the chief of harve village. hell, apparently her whole quest is missable if you don't go back to melve to help out with the dragon fight! so i mean, yeah there's a lot of characters and story plots that i feel could have been more fleshed out, and the whole world lore didn't really click in for me until i got to....

the ending and the postgame world. man, that really made sense on how or why the pathfinder was able to change ambrosia's mind about handing over the godsbane sword so quickly. i was so confused by that and it honestly annoyed me cus i was like, what the hell, are the developers that lazy?? but no!! turns out we were just all characters in the pathfinder's little fan fiction world where everyone had a specific role and path to play in his little game!!!! fuck!!!! rothais my guy!!! this honestly just blew me away, no wonder all his victories and accomplishments felt empty after finding this out!! it was all a game to the pathfinder! defeating the dragon and becoming the sovran would have been a meaningless victory! i fucking LOVED how the pathfinder takes you back to your battle with the dragon to make you realize hey, you're stuck in a loop unless you do something different, which the dragon alludes to when you take too long to figure it out and he says "you're too late...!" and the fight begins again. damn, i just, love it when games do shit like this. i have to admit i had to look up what i had to do after fighting the dragon twice. i knew i had to do something while flying with the dragon because of the heartbeat, but i had completely forgotten i had the godsbane still with me (and thought it was weird how it only highlighted the item menu!).

and like the whole feeling of being in the postgame world just took me back to my majora's mask days, and i fucking loved it. the world is ending and you have to evacuate everyone from the major towns you've visited, and apparently you only have a limited time to get it done because the fog will slowly consume the towns if you rest for too long. and talking to some of the people trying to get them to evacuate as they're still going about their daily lives and they're like, no, i refuse to, let the world end i don't care!! so majora's mask, amazing. really liked the one where henrique didn't want to evacuate until you saved the enslaved pawns as well....ugh so good! apparently once you defeat the last dragon from the beams, the fog will no longer advance and you can explore the unmoored world freely, but honestly, since i had already gone through the overworld twice, i had no intention of grinding my equipment and trying to get "the best gear" because honestly, some of that endgame gear is kind of ugly lol.

really enjoyed the new dragon boss fights at the end though because being at lv 60 even without all of my gear leveled up or dragonforged, the giant bosses or the drakes weren't really as threatening as before and these new ones gave me something more challenging and interesting again! and don't get me started on how badass it was to see my pawn overtake the talos and kill a dragon for me...that moment really had me with my mouth agape and just made me go "wow, this game is amazing" for the nth time. i think in ng+ once i get to the unmoored world, now that i know that the timer kind of stops with the last dragon defeated, i'll explore a bit more and see how much tougher the new enemy varieties are. :)

one thing i didn't like though and i think it goes back to my story complaints from before is that like, ok you have to evacuate all of the leaders you've interacted with. i immediately warped to harve after talking with rothais because i was like ok ulrika my girl, let's get you and your people the hell out of here, do you not see the sky!! but....no...? she's supposedly one of the major romanceable characters but there's no quest to evacuate her and her people so...i guess just forget about the harve village? hello? she IS technically a leader so i don't know why this just wasn't a choice. oh wait, i guess because her whole sidequest is missable so they didn't want to make the true ending missable in case you couldn't evacuate harve...? ahhh who knows. but this really annoyed me lol.

also, not sure why everyone is saying or concluding that both the arisen and your pawn are dead as part of the true ending. i mean, ok, whatever, i'm used to bittersweet endings and i don't know enough about the dragon's dogma games lore to know more, but honestly i'm choosing to believe that my character and her pawn got washed up in a remote island but will come back and hence why your highest affinity character is looking off at the ocean :) or am i thinking about xcx again... either way, that ending cutscene of the old man sailing out seemed like dlc teaser or something so we'll see what comes out!

alright this is getting kinda long so just gonna finish it off with a couple of other things i didn't like about the game:

the music?? i mean, coming from gbf relink which has such a banger soundtrack, not sure there is much to say from the music department in dd2. the main theme though? fucking amazing. i get so pumped up when it plays when you choose the game in the ps5 main screen or in the proper title screen, and i even got a little teary eyed at the ending theme. but honestly, nothing much else to be impressed here. i might change my mind once i give the ost a proper listen but yeah, just some initial thoughts.

enemy variety. took me a while to notice but, for such a big overworld and where the world is just so dense with enemies, the enemy variety in this game is.....not so great. i think i saw someone say that there are like 26 enemies in total? with goblins, wolves, harpies, saurians, and bandits being the most common that you'll encounter during your travels. it really is annoying when you're trying to get from one place to another and you just keep getting ganged up by mobs that really will just not let up on you even if you run away from them. and apparently there weren't really any new enemies coming from dd1/da so...it's really baffling

the fast travel. with how much back and forth some of these quests require you do, people's complaints about the fast travel options in this game are valid. i wish they would give you an eternal ferrystone as part of the ng+ cus yeah, oxcarts aren't foolproof from being destroyed by enemies that attack you on your way to your destination, and honestly i'm glad i saved my ferrystones for the postgame world because i just was NOT going to be walking about everywhere in the unmoored world or w/e. i really do wonder how much time from my 84 hours was just spent walking to and from destinations. i read this comment elsewhere but this game really doesn't respect your time as a player so i'm glad i got to play a big part of it during my week off work.

romanceable companions. look, as a lesbian i can't complain that the two major romanceable companions are both women, but i do feel bad for people who wanted to romance captain brant or literally any other male NPC and have more fleshed out romance scenes like we got for ulrika and wilhelmina. even so, i mean, it really does suck that the game makes this choice not matter in the end? i got both ulrika's and wilhelmina's romance scenes and after wilhelmina disappears i was going for ulrika, but in the end neither of them ended up being my highest affinity character and instead i have gywndlr of all people looking out to the ocean in the ending cutscene. and that's really it i mean, your highest affinity character has no bearing whatsoever in the story except if they're there clutched by the dragon's hand and the ocean scene. i mean, not to talk about an early 2000s game, but tales of symphonia did such an amazing job with its affinity system that i still have not played another game that takes your choice for your highest affinity character matter so much in the main story plot. (haven't played bg3 so please don't come after me--although if you made it this far then thank you i guess???) so, while yes the ulrika/wilhelmina scenes are cool, the concept of romanceable/high affinity characters just felt underwhelming when compared to a 20 year old game.

whew!!! ok i didn't except this to be so long but considering how, yes despite all of the flaws regarding the enemies and the fast traveling and the overworld and the affinity system and the story and underused plot points and seemingly rushed content....i still fucking love this game and can't wait to do a ng+ run of it and just catch all of the references that i missed (at the very beginning the dragon already spells it out that you need to like kill your soul and body to break the curse and reveal the true world....love it!!!). i don't know if i'll ever play dd1/da considering i've heard people say that the gameplay is a bit rougher and the pawns not as....great?? idk but for now i can't wait to do some fanart of this game and will look forward to any updates/dlc that capcom releases for it. <3

[helladventurers]

WOL outfits throughout my run of the game

I've been working on this character based on Zooey from granblue fantasy, and all of her outfits so far have been based on her ^o^ or well, at least the main ones anyway (also big shout outs to @dewpriism for the help in making most of them)

Tags:

Gui plays ffxiv (every post regarding the game, including opinions and reactions and anything in between)

Daughter of Dravania (WoL specific tag, including glamor, gpose pics and lore posts)

WoLtfits (glamor posts, once again with most glamour being inspired by zooey gbf)

Original outfit (slight recreation because I can't remember which gloves or skirt I was using at the time, the skirt used to fit a lot better with the top but I've since been unable to find it on my glamour dresser)

This one was the very first one I made, when I was still playing paladin in ARR, and for how limited my knowledge of the game was (and for how ugly a lot of the pieces in ARR are), I'm still proud and found of this one, even tho it's been since retired and it's not quite as good as the later ones

Dark knight outfit

This one was after I started getting more used to the game (and realized that gatherer/crafter items could be used by any class in the game), it's a bit darker than I wanted it to be, but it still looks cute imo (and fits a dark knight :V), the only part I didn't really like were the leg guard things, but I liked the shoes too much to put on greaves or boots, and sadly this game is extremely limited when it comes to skirts 😭

this also has the distinction of being the set I used the most of since I played through HW with it and used through the vast majority of my stay in free trial, only switching to the next one when I decided to play bard

Bard/gunbreaker outfit

Now THIS is the one that I feel like has been the most quintessential outfit so far ✨ it's the closest one I've had to Zooey's actual outfit (with the only downside being the fact it has sleeves), my friend did an amazing with the boots especially, since despite the fact they're made out of leather, the colors still makes it look like they're greaves without looking super clunky and heavy like in my first outfit

It's both by far the best one I've had thus far and extremely faithful to what Zooey outfits I had in mind when I started playing, while still having its own personality

Red mage outfit

This one is by far the most out of the rails one so far lol red mage doesn't really fit Zooey's aesthetic, but it's an aesthetic I, as the player, really liked, so I asked my friend to see if they could at least make a color scheme that would fit Zooey, and they knocked it out of the park once again, and once again doing a banger job of making leather boots look metalic~

While this originally was just the pvp version of the level 70 red mage set, I ended up adding the skirt once I realized how well it went with the rest of the set.

And that's it for now ^o^ overall I'm proud of these, and really happy with the results, despite none of them being 1-1 to Zooey's outfit, I still really like them, and the small differences that detract from the likeness to gbf Zooey ends up giving the outfits a bit more personality while still being reasonably close to what I perceive as her aesthetic. This is far from finished as each new expansion opens up more possibilities and chances to try out other outfits based on the new pieces I come across

[alexissara]

Looking back at the art I was most looking forward to for 2023.

So last year I made a post about all the art I was excited about going into 2023. I want to look back at this list and quickly talk about what I thought about all the art I was most hype about going into a new year.

Fire Emblem Engage: I wrote two different reviews one for the main game and one for the DLC. I've also written a one year later impressions on it. Over time I have come to like the game less and less to the point in which I basically just like the lesbians from the dessert. It's a game that every time I think about it I like it less even when I actively try and be positive I find more things I dislike. It is still a Fire Emblem game so not the worst way to spend time but I'd rather play a fan game, rom hack or an older game in the series.

Arcane Season 2: Didn't happen, 2024 is when we are told to expect to see more so we'll see.

Assorted Entanglements: Never read it, I had a chance to pick it up but I ultimately went with another manga over it.

Super Lesbian Animal RPG: Still playing it ever so slowly, I really like it, I think it's cute but I want to see the whole game before I cast a judgement and I guess that I haven't beat it yet could say something.

The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady: I fucking loved this anime so much, one of my top animes of all time, a true master piece to me, I am floored by it, I wish there was an English dub for easier viewing fun but otherwise I mean this really took my breath away.

Asumi-chan is Interested in Lesbian Brothels!: I've read all the current volumes now, it's a personal favorite series, I really love it, it's so much funnier and more charming and wholesome then I expected. It's sometimes sexy but mostly I just enjoy Asumi as a character and following her journey.

Street Fighter 6: Really loved this game, it was great, I had a great time in World Tour Mode but I do think the game was lacking in a lot of areas like more freedom with your avatar for more modes and the monetization is right under MK for worst monetization in a fighting game of all time.

Gwitch Season 2: Not nearly as good as season 1, It's still good but it is a big downgrade of boring forced drama and wasted character potential along with rushed plot elements. Still, the animation is great, the characters are still good, and everything is nice.

Walk With The Living 2: Only played a little bit of it, I'd like to play more but I wasn't totally gripped by it. It's cute but I hit a map that I really couldn't beat and I wish it had more in the way of sounds effects to give some impact to the actions.

I'm In Love With The Villainess [Anime]: A really great time, I mean I really loved every episode and I just wish they either confirmed a season 2 right away or made the pacing more tight. The show was still funny and cute and fun and charming and overall I had a great time watching it with multiple of my partners and had no problem rewatching on the same day where for many things I'd find that boring.

Granblue Fantasy Relink: DIdn't come out but I probably am not buying day one because the way steam users are getting fucked on in game gacha codes. The roster also looks far more pathetic than I had hoped for. This game moved from a must buy to a wait and see it go on sale type deal.

[goddessalexissara]

Granblue Fantasy Versus -Rising- Most Wanted Characters

Granblue Fantasy is a gacha game series published by Cygames, it had a fairly successful fighting game published by Arc System Works and now that game is getting a sequel. The series has a ton of characters would work perfectly as a fighting game character. The characters are original, flashy, and overall pretty fun. While Gacha's are just casinos in our pocket meant to fuck us over by getting us emotionally attached to a character, even I am only human and ya know enjoy GBF. So I wanted to go over the characters I want in Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising most because well, any time they make a video game about these characters it's better then spending time playing the Casino game.

This list isn't in order, just 10 of my most wanted characters explaining a bit about who they are, why I like them and why I think they could be fun in a fighting game.

Silva

Silva feels like she would be the ultimate zoner. Her skills with the gun are on par with her girlfriend Song's skills with the bow and she is said to be one of the most powerful people in the whole world. She's a plucky adventure, she is popular, she has a full family of characters who could make cameos in her move sets and supers. I think she could work similarly to a character like Happy Chaos but with a much more down to earth flare then the wildness he brings to the table.

Lunalu

I think realistic Lunalu's chances are the lowest on this list but I think she would be so funny and if they are gonna put out a new joke character I think she would be the coolest character to use. Her ultimate could have her turn each individual character into a drawing for one of her romance manga's serving up exciting and well loved moments like Faust gives to Guilty Gear. Playstyle wise she could be a character who needs to gather resources to prepare to fight then unleash her fantasy form to fight like a top tier but only after spending some time as the worst character in the game. I really just think this manga artist is so good and she is like the only Harvin I really really like.

Ange

I mean any of the sapphic characters not already on this list or in the game could be in this slot but I just thin Ange deserves more love. Her fancy dual blades yet fencer fighting style could make for a very fun Mid Range style maybe with a tip mechanic like Marth from Smash Bros want to hit the foe at the right spot of your weapon to deal extra damage. Her whole thing in the game series is that she was to impress girls and be a dazzling prince for a princess. So I imagine there would be a fun flashy flare to every single attack like a rose petal effect.

Gold Knight aka Alliah

While main story characters are represented to some extent, these are mostly early story characters. Gold Knight has the honor of being a main baddy of the second arc and also being extremally important to the current arc. Gold Knight is extremal powerful and her ability to copy buffs, debuffs and do double supers really gives her such a wide range to pull from. She could be like a Seth from Street Fighter stealing some moves from other characters either in the game or not in it or she could be like a heavier argo character.

Makura

Makura is one of the Zodiacs, the most recent one representing the year of the rabbit. If I ever saw a rush down character, it be her, she looks utterly perfect for a hyper agro play style dashing in maybe having her rabbit friends provide her with ways of getting in against zoning.

[Note I wrote this before the new zodiac character was announced, I think she is a great choice for the game, sheep woulda been like my 3rd pick but a very strong 3rd.]

Apollina aka Black Knight and Orchid

Black Knight was basically the main direct Villain of the first arc of Granblue Fantasy, the Darth Vader to the actual main baddies Emperor. Orchid is always by her side and both characters are intertwined in such a way that I think it's better to do them together then apart. I think BK and Orchid could easily be a sort of "puppet" fighter with Orchid and Black Knight fighting together on the battlefield, Orchid setting up defensive options while BK is the offensive hand. Proper positioning of both units being needed to fully use the character.

Fediel

Fediel is the dark Advent Dragon and is one of the most popular characters in Granblue Fantasy. She was released after the polling for rising so who knows what that means for her chance to get in, they clearly preplanned a lot about the Advent Dragon Story, it's very possible they talked to Arcsys and knew they stuck gold handing them the character. Regardless she should get in. She has cool zombie dragon powers, she would play unlike most other characters could with only a few other characters having comparable skills. I think she would be an interesting status fighter using status's to move forward an advantage.

Meg

The queen of Summer, Meg is one of the most fun characters the team at Cygames has ever written. I think she would be an amazing mix of joke character and serious character in a way that so few other characters can really bring to the table. She is serious and badass in battle but she fighters with a shark for a hand and is kinda a silly goofy girl. She would have funny little intro lines about getting ready for another great summer only to go all killer mode during battle. It be amazing, fantastic, stupendous even. I think meg is a hyper close range rushdown type. I think she would have the closest range in the game but higher combo potential as a reward. Getting in is hard but if you get in you can touch of death way easier.

Nier

The Evokers have plenty of great candidates for a character and I would be happy with a lot of them but Nier for my money is maybe the most fun. She is a perfect candidate to play like phoenix from UMVC3. She could have a reviving from the dead mechanic that puts her into a wildly powerful mode but also have the smallest health bar, smallest defenses. It's easy for weak characters to touch of death her and out of rezed mode she would not be particularly strong but in rezed mode she would have the most damage and most speed in the game.

Tikoh

Tikoh is two souls in one body, a young girl who was fused into her and herself. The pair dealt with a shocking horrifying event for the general tone of the gacha and the plural vibes plus general personality of these two really drew me in. Tikoh is the coolest healer character they've ever made and I think they can really represent healers in a fun way by using Tikoh as a more aggressive but more sustainable fighter. Perhaps she can switch between modes like in GBF where in one mode she deals way less damage but her bar is constantly healing meaning if you can't get in your fucked and then having a damaging mode where she doesn't heal but trades that for fighting like a normal character.