#i think the weakest part of the game is that you dont really get to know class 0

[nekucreates]

I'm slowly getting through Final Fantasy Type 0 and I like Kurasame but I was disappointed with what happened to him.

[dreamsy990]

i think its so fucked up that theres no fandom for plvspw. like its this beautifully written story about grief and how we cope with loss and try to move on despite how hopeless it may seem. it's about love and how much you would do to help the people you love. it's a story where it feels like it's leading up to a sad ending, because there is no way for this to end happily, but in the end it's okay, because as long as you keep moving forward things will be okay. its this beautiful story and theres no fanbase for it and that is so fucked up

[jellophoid]

finished yakuza 3- gay people aint shitttttt

okaaaay finished yakuza 0, let us see if we can watch the rest before the new game comes out👩‍🍳

[radioroxx]

Hiiii I love your mal du pays thought. Yea I know I’m supposed to be sleeping but the sickness woke me,,, ANYWAYS do you think maybe it were first created in the headspace as a way for Siffrin to cope with being alone? Do you think that maybe Siffrin was able to be with it in their dreams and maybe doesn’t even really remember because Siffrin blocks so many things out and it only comes to Siffrin in their weakest moments when they NEED it. Siffrin as a child was lost and alone and scared and needed a friend and the only person he knew was himself so, because yeah. I never saw mal du pays as an exact extension of his sadness but more like. A reflection of all their lost memories and a reflection of his weakest moments. I think Mal is there as a protector. To keep them safe from themselves and THATS why it appears during the kings fight. “You’ve been doing this long enough, let me talk some sense into you” type thing but. The sense maybe wasn’t exactly what needed to be heard. Yknow? Does this make sense? I’m still eepy but <3 wanted to quickly say this 2 u before I forgor. (Ps yea I knew there was a limit 🥰 dummy)

ITS FUNNY U SAY THIS BC. AFTER I POSTED THAT I STARTEF THINKING. i like as well the idea that mal came first? i dont know at what exact point sif wouldve split, possiblyyyyy late teens? makes sense to me… would be neat

in that way i think i could see it working opposite to the way u put it. siffrin offering company to mdp instead! aaand years go by mdp fronts a lot less etc etc. stealing things from the very quick notes app i created el oh el

i personally am interpreting the mdp scene in game as more of a… freakout on mals part. big ol panic attack you get the idea, which came about through these. twisted thoughts about their family. for funsies ofc. since i already established my belief of mal as much Younger more prone to getting afraid like this. sorry im also tired so words arent working with me very well atm. but yes i do think ur idea is p interesting too :0

[locuas642]

Having played a bunch of CRPGs lately, something I have really come to appreciate about Dragon Age: Origins is the different playable origins. Something the later games in the series never carried over.

And I get it. That is a lot of time and effort that probably can be put somewhere else. And also something that can limit you if you want to have your own personal origin for your character (Like I dont think Pathfinder: Kingmaker need that, for one). But as someone who always finds the prologue of a CRPG as the weakest part (the slog you have to get through for the part you actually care about), Dragon Age Origins stands out as the one game where that doesn't happen to me.

Which I believe is because the different origins helped make all my characters and the game feel more distinct, even if the vast majority of the prologue is the same area.

[maxinethevampirequeen]

LIS DE left me feeling weird? SPOILERS!!!

so i just finished the new life is strange game and wooo its defo the weakest in the series there will be spoilers in this so idk read if you wanna i just need to get this off my chest somewhere (also sorry in advance if stuff does not make sense this is just for me lol)

so the game opened really well i think the first 2 chapters that i got to play like 2 weeks ago because of the early access did get me hooked and i was really interested in who killed safi but that almost instantly lost its spark around the end of chapter 3 i think

safi being revealed to have powers is cool i think but i dont like how it kinda completely drops the murder plot for this weird revenge story for a character i hardly know thats been dead way before the game starts???

like cool i guess i care about safi so i want to help thats fine but how we never really get and answer for why max shot safi the first time idk if i missed it or whatever and how the detective guy was just kinda use as a fake threat to set up max to be scared of touching the other version of herself which instantly dosent matter because they fall and grab each other??? like why did he even have to die then also the fact that your choice to save him or let go does nothing he dies either way

and dont even get me started on how chloe is just teased through out the ENTIRE FUCKING GAME and then just fucking used as sequel bait!!!!! i really really like some parts of the game but i also really really dislike a lot of the parts

its not that i dont think the game is worth playing i think its okay but like ughhh it feels like the game was writen by a person who didnt play any other life is strange games and does not know anything about any of the characters

if this game was just a shitty sequel to life is strange 1 where we do gay shit with chloe i will admit i would have gobbled that shit up no matter how shitty the writing as long as the characters feel like the characters they were in the first game

i know max is older but god she does not seem like max at all its like we are playing a shell of max and the only thing that ties her to the old max is the very rare reminders of chloe and then they have the AUDACITY to have chloe text you at the end of the game!!!

like they know how much these characters mean to people and it just feels so fucking weird to not have the interact at all! they even have this thing half way through the game where max almost calls chloe! its like they were writing the game and were like

"this shit sucks lets dangle hope of a chloe interaction so they keep playing" because i think it really falls apart around the end i was really just waiting for it to end around half way through chapter 5

i really think the game is pretty and like a step up from the older games (obv its like 10 years newer lol) i really dont wanna sound like just a hater because i did enjoy most of my time with the game and as much as i wish it had been someone else and not max

i'm glad she's back because she is my favorite lis character! sorry for all the ramble i just needed to get this all off my chest i did like most of the game and i'm still interested in seeing where the story goes since "max will return" or whatever it said at the end

i wouldnt say i'm excited for the next game but i'm still interested but i think thats just coming from the fact that i will gobble up anything called life is strange also don't nod's newest game looks cool i'm excited for that too anyways peace out and sorry for the ramble!

also i wanna add i did not care for safi at all in the game i dont know why but she was the only character the game couldn't make me care about

This is all a thread i did on twitter where i just wrote what i felt without really thinking so if it doesn't make sense that's why lol

[aerithistired]

Why Aeon is resident evils weakest ship (It's NOT cuz they're toxic for eachother DUN DUN DUN)

HII this was copy pasted from a reply to another discussion, but I'm posting it cuz I want to post my opinions <3I never understood why the fandom is so crazy over aeon when they have the most weakest writing in a ship I've ever seen but to each their own I guess.I'd love to hear your thoughts and expand on my argument more!

I dont ship anyone with Leon in general which is INCLUDING Ada. For me it doesn't have anything to do with the facts of the story, because its all perfectly sensible on paper ( also because it is clear they're the endgame couple and are each other's love interests), but mostly with the way the couple was written- and *especially* Ada.

I'm not too familiar with the old RE games but from what ive heard and seen- Ada was supposed to be a black cat/cat woman/ femme fatale character and have a Batman- catwoman relationship with Leon. Personally, im not a huge fan of the dynamic, but other wise i can still see it as a solid dynamic for a ship.

On the other hand, i feel like the remakes and especially the RE2R doesnt know what they want their relationship to exactly be because from what i have noticed, they've significantly reduced the Catwoman- batman dynamic from the og games (Lily Gao, the RE4R VA herself said she wanted to tone down the seducctive femme fatale persona In ada in response to backlash).

I feel like re2r tried to make their relationship feel like an angsty and serious slow burn but considering their limited screen time and development together, didn't execute well.

In the beginning of the game (RE2R) Ada is quite serious about her work and partnership with Leon and is very strict about not getting close with him- on her part that is(i believe leon leaned more towards trying to get to know her).

Chemistry wise, i dont see much happening between them up until the part Leon takes a bullet for her and she treats him and when he does the same for her afterwards. I really liked the "dont push it rookie" line she gives him after he offers to carry her(?), It was more warm in comparison to their relationship before, and i wish they delved Into that with more scenes like that before the kiss (basically build up their relationship with emphasis on ada).

Also i feel its important to note that the scenewhen Leon takes a bullet for Ada had SUCH GOOD POTENTIAL to open into her character and how she felt about Leon at that moment because its a clear turning point in their relationship but AGAIN we get nothing and Leon is literally asleep.

!!And please don't start the 'hidden subtle details of the scene' argument with me cuz those scenes cuz despite the small details, is still not enough to establish a good relationship development growth- and especially since we barely get any monologue from Ada's side on how she feels about leon.!!

If there were clear cut scenes of them developing in trust and proper teamwork AND OPENING UP OF CHARACTER DEPTHS (and getting past the one sided attempt at friendliness from Leon) EARLIER ON IN THE GAME this wouldve made the betrayal much more heartbreaking too.

I think those segments would've been an excellent START for DEVELOPING their relationship and getting closer as a team.

☆Most well written and beloved ships have enough screen time with them showing development of their relationship- esp in slow burns. This applies to video games as well.☆

However, the pair mmediately kiss (AFTER LIKE ONE SCENE OF THEM SLIGHTLY DEVELOPING), And that was when the ship lost me. It WAS too sudden from a writing point of view and had so very little build up about their trust and caring for each other.

I'm not saying you can't fall for someone in a short time, but the issue rather was how there was LITTLE chemistry portrayed with them UP TO that moment. YOU SHOULD GIVE ME SOMETHING WORTHY TO SHIP THEM, CAPCOM.

More scenes like the one i mentioned before (with more emphasis on Ada opening up, The hints of her teasing him, etc) would've been great.

i understand that the game is not a romance but if you are trying to pull a slow burn-esque type ship off, you should commit to it, either that, or make it a fast one with chemistry right off the bat (like flirting and banter) cuz THIS was just very messy.

And that was ALL we got of their relationship for the first game. CAPCOM could've made great use of them in the other RE games (re4r and re6) but the couple ended up on more of the yearning and longing for side than actually developing together on screen, which sucks. (which is also like kind of annoying cuz we didnt see much of how they felt for the other throughout the game UNTIL THE NEAR END OF THEIR FIRST GAME- Which also had very little on screen moments of development. SO THEY HAVE A LIFE LASTING IMPACT ON EACH OTHER?? MAKE IT MAKE SENSE!!!)

LIKE I GET THE POTENTIAL ON PAPER BUT IT WAS NOT IT IM SORRY.

And for the argument that Ada is *supposed* to be the mysterious character- i get that its a part of her appeal- but i find myself craving for her story to be shown in game than searching for crumbles of it from other RE material.

A well written character needs depth. And Ada HAS depth, its just shown subtle to an UNNECESSARY extent in the case that capcom tried to 'show and not tell' but it just doesn't execute well in terms of writing a romance where both characters need to grow and develop for a potential relationship or a ship.

(LOVED SEPERATE WAYS BY THE WAY). I ALSO DONT LIKE SHES IN EVERY GAME LEON IS- which just mostly reinforces she is his lover than a very vital part of the RE universe in GENERAL (which is why im so sad she wasnt in village) I really wish they put more focus on HER story.

And as for Cleon and other leon x ships- I don't know about them, since they barely interact throughout the RE universe. but i feel like if they did work together, potential for great chemistry could've been built for the pairing too. Shrugs

Again, i think Aeon had great potential but it went down the drain because of inconsistent characterization of her within the fandom, the game itself and the way it was written.

Everything Is there on paper. 'But she bandaged his arm. She helped him so many times when she didn't need to. She loves him and he loves her.'

OKAY, I'm READING what I'm supposed to feel about the ship, but it's not hitting. Why? Cuz it's badly written.

Im a bit annoyed when people try to argue that this ship is good in terms of writing cuz its NOT!!!! I dont really care if people ship them cuz they're attractive and the appeal is there *sort of*.

But if you're trying to argue on a story and writing basis, it's one of the worst ships I've seen in ANY media forms lol, you can't make a case for this ship and win im sorryヽ( `皿´ )ﾉ

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

I'm terrified of writing my opinions on ships on here so I'd like to emphasize this is just a silly fictional game and I've been meaning to write my opinions on it for a while. all in good fun! sorry for potential bad grammar english isnt my first language :DD

[lagiacrus]

god i have to get this out somewhere or i'll blow up

musing on the f/f media in fandom drama/yaoi discourse/etc (it is not a particularly Negative post i am just thinking aloud)

i guess in my eyes. i think both sides have very valid points if you extend nuance to them.

like. one of the big argument points i see is

a) if you want more yuri content in fandom, make it yourself!!

i don't disagree with this! like if you need to eat you gotta make your food. but also... i completely understand when people express frustration at the amount (overwhelming) of yaoi content over yuri content (or even het content, which is what gives me the 'hmm!' reaction, will explain further)

like... i dunno! it is really a fuckin' bummer when a media with at least 50% female cast is just kind of turned into a Yaoi Pool, i think that there is a lot of stuff to discuss there in that a lot of people gravitate towards male characters more than female characters. i have experienced this! many people i know have! and that just makes me think like...

is the onus of this to be blamed on the people or the writers for being unable to create female characters that aren't completely pigeonholed into tired tropes and stereotypes?

i think the writer thing is probably the idea i agree with the most. but i do think there is also still like... an internalized disdain for women in general, and we see it even outside of this discourse, we see it in blaming women for being 'gross fujos' etc and only talking about yaoi etc. but that's a cycle isn't it? like. you can't win. if you like yaoi you're labeled a 'gross fujo' without any level of investigation on if said fujo is a queer person, without any concept of the nuance that comes with that shit. but it's also like... damn!! why only men huh!?

i have been a #yaoihead for decades so like... i have Seen this, for years and years, i'm not just some yurihead on the outside looking in or whatever, it is really apparent how much people just do Not like female characters, and it's so like... idk.

so much of it really is like, so much media out there has the weakest fucking girls on the planet in terms of writing, and it's depressing as fuck!!!! it's why i'm hesitant to ever 'blame' content consumers because like. idk. i agree, i hate certain tropes for female characters and unfortunately those tropes are the ones that tend to Sell Copies, so i end up gravitating to the more filled out male characters.

but when i see a media with like really well written girls and such and it's still super overwhelmingly Male Oriented in fandom, it's like... man. it's a bummer, and like. back to 'even het ships are on the wayside', one could easily argue it's because everyone is exhausted with het (rightfully so) being the prevalent media in society. but i also just... idk. I Do Think The Women Aspect May Also Be Part Of It! idk. i'm an agender lesbian, i am the last person to go to bat for het ships, but so much of it stinks of 'kill sakura off for naruto/sasuke to be real' but with new, social justice wording that makes it sound like 'good person' discourse.

i dunno! i dont. my view is just like... i love yaoi and yuri. all is good. but it is very much a bummer looking thru someones catalogue for a game with over 70% female characters and seeing only men and the only characters they only acknowledge are men... not even as a 'there's no content of women!' but in a 'what is so disdainful about women that they cant even get an acknowledgement' way, i guess. i dunno.

at the same time tho do not get me started on the overwhelming new presence of gold star lesbian people in yuri fandoms lol. 'if you like a yaoi ship or ship this CANONLY (IN MY HEAD) LESBIAN WITH A MAN you are an EVIL LESBIPHOBE (EVEN IF YOU'RE A LESBIAN) and should KILL YOURSELF' like yeah okay i guess so lol

i'm not trying to start fights or anything i just really think this whole situation calls for more words than 260 characters on twitter allows and unfortunately it creates so much fighting and aggression when it comes up because no one wants to sit down and actually think about what causes these things to happen. iunno. whatever!

[kirnet]

🔥 :D

DING DING you are the winner of my blue submarine no 6 rant!!

For context: blue sub no 6 is a 4 part OVA from the nineties about a post apocalyptic world that was intentionally flooded by an evil scientist, leaving the vast majority of humanity dead and the rest living the best they can on the water. It kind of sucks? I am now obsessed with it. No one will know what the fuck I’m talking about.

Because there is only this OVA and an untranslated manga from 1967 that I can’t track down, another 5 part manga from the 90s that i dont think was translated either, and two untranslated video games, I am forced to scrounge the bottom of the barrel from fucking reddit for any sort of discussion. The following is my response to those overwhelmingly negative reactions.

All of the characters get criticized as shallow, which to some degree I can agree with because it is a short series (about 2 hours) with a lot of characters, but I think a lot of it is just a blatant refusal to engage with them in any meaningful way. Hayami isn’t a jaded asshole just bc his friend died, he’s a jaded asshole bc his trigger happy impulses directly led to his friend’s death! Because he’s actually a super sensitive and compassionate man as shown in the series even when he doesn’t want to be!! He’s an addict who has to self medicate to ease the pain because he cares SO MUCH. And a lot of blue sub’s characterization and world building is subtle, not a lot is really told to you. It has these beautiful moments of silence that just show you character and worldbuilding, which people hate bc I guess it confuses them? Did they pay attention?? And yes a lot of the other characters dont really get a lot of depth, but they still feel like real people in the little moments you get with them. It feels like a fleshed out world with real dynamics and real people that you were just dropped in the middle of, which many won’t like, but I think its better than spoonfeeding you every bit of information.

People also shit on the ending, which I get it is actually not an ending. It’s a very open ended end with really no conclusion. I think that fits with the uncertainty of humanity going forward in this world. There’s also a lot of criticism of the villain, who unfortunately is the the weakest part of the show when he should be the strongest, but I think a lot of this is bc of the above reasons. He’s an ecofascist who thinks that there were too many people on earth so he sped up global warming and flooded the majority of the world. Idk, maybe that hits closer to home now than it did in the 90s, but real communities are threatened by the sea and there are very real perpetrators of climate violence. His motivation is weak and kind of non existent- which is a fault of the story, but also like. what actual reason is there to justify something like this other than he was a rich powerful guy who could? Again, maybe it’s just because I’m looking at it in a very modern lens and reading too much into it (I surely am), but there’s a reason it doesn’t really bother me.

I’m gonna stop here before I explode. I dont think i can in good conscience really recommend it to anyone? but if someone does watch please tell me please

[narukouzumakinamikaze]

I finished playing hogwarts legacy(my brother got it for his birthday last year) , and while I enjoyed the game immensely, the main story really was the weakest part of the entire game. And it really hit me when I was playing the final mission and we get to the part where you have to contain the stuff with professor Fig. The only thing going through my mind, was that this would have been much better if Sebastian, Natty, Ominis, and poppy was here instead of Fig. And it got me thinking about the story altogether.

So the goblin rebellion. There was no point of the goblin rebellion. The game didn’t expand on it, nor did it affect the world in any type of way. The whole basis was to get you to isadora, but you could have got to her without the goblin rebellion. Because it didn’t matter at all to anything. You can still have a story without the goblins, because they didn’t add to anything

The game instead should have just been about Isadora and that power she had leaking and disturbing the world as a whole. If you want a main villain, you can have Victor Rookwood be the main villain and have him be the one who wants that power since that’s what he wanted in the main story as he believed it belongs to him. Or better yet, give Isadora a descendent and have them want to either continue her work, or want revenge for what the founders did to their family. These will be much better than Ranrock.

(now that I think about it, Rookwood didn’t need to exist at all in the current story because he also doesn’t add to anything going on with the goblin rebellion. He was such a pointless character)

What was the point of Sebastian seeing Isadora’s memory with us, if it wasn’t going to lead to anything. What was the point of the relic if we weren’t going to learn anything new. We dont even ask the founders about Ann’s condition. This is why my thoughts went to Sebastian first during that scene where we were containing the stuff. Because his side quest was the one that intertwined best with the main story. He should have been with us in the end, because it just made sense.

Which then goes to Natsai and Poppy. Each of them should have lead to a founder and a trial.

You can still find the map chamber with Fig, but the map chamber is empty. The portraits are blank because you have to complete a trial to unseal them to get more information. And each trial you complete, you bring them into the map chamber and they know what’s going on and want to help if they can.

One of the things I just thought about, would be that there are these magical hotspots(much like ancient hotspots) where you have to fight powerful foes who have been corrupted by this dark power and the MC has to use her ancient magic and find a way to separate that power from the host and then contain it. Sebastian gets corrupted by this in his desperate attempt to save Anne and he’s someone the MC has to fight to save. It can be a teamup with Ominis.

The story can pretty much stay the same with Rookwood or whoever finding the last repository and wanting to get to it, but there’s no goblins and your friends are part of it as well and helps you.

Of course I have other critiques of the game, but the story was my biggest one because I couldn’t care less about the ending. It felt really anti climactic. And while the story is generic, it could have done more with the side characters.

[metfell]

ok putting all my tears of the kingdom spoilers below the cut while i talk about everything i like and the stuff i dont like too:

okay oh my god first and foremost the story is fucking incredible. they took the critique of botw's story feeling lackluster because it all happened before the game, and threw you right into it. seeing the upheaval happen, knowing you were there at the start of it, seeing the effects it had on the cities around the region its all amazing its so impactful. combining that with the way the music changes from the stuff in botw, you really feel the weight of the damage done to everything. like the zora domain is a perfect example. the way the music sounds sick combined with the constantly raining sludge and seeing the people sick or cleaning it up is a great touch compared to in botw where even though its eternally raining, people just still kind of.... ignore it? at least you really dont see the effects as much as you do in this game.

the ending as well is incredible. getting to fight ganondorf feels so satisfying with everything youve been through in both botw and totk its in my opinion a perfect ending for that story. and its so... epic. as in like breathtaking and awe-striking. i sobbed my little eyes out during so much of this game. going in blind was amazing and slowly uncovering what happened to zelda, and then realizing what she did to herself is heartbreaking. i love the geoglyphs i think theyre one of my favorite aspects of the game and im glad i didnt spoil myself about the story so i could piece it together myself.

however, in regards to the story, i wish that the bosses felt a little more set up. i wish there were carvings or mentions of the bosses somewhere in the world. they mention the temples obviously, but i just wish they didnt feel so sudden? like theyre good i enjoyed the designs and the fights- though i feel like the goron one is the weakest- but i just wish there was a bit more setup. like maybe while youre going through the temples, you hear them roar or something. because in the temples its not ganondorf trying to stop you, its the constructs. and theyre not even corrupted, their job is just to attack unauthorized enemies. so i guess i wish that the bosses and the dungeon felt more connected.

outside of the dungeons though the environmental traversing is INCREDIBLE. i really enjoy the new abilities link gets, and i like how the game encourages you to play around with the zonai devices and objects lying around the landscape. i personally dont use them that much because i just prefer walking around at my own pace, but the airships you can make are SO cool. which is why i loved the big volcano dragon fight!!! its a fighter jet you get to pilot around and fire yunobo at huge hydra heads thats sick as hell!!!!

honestly the approaching of the temples was more fun than the temples themselves. experiencing the climb to the stormwind ark for the first time with the trampolines was my favorite part of the entire game. nothing in the overworld compares.

and the way the game handles npc's is a miracle honestly. when i saw that the champion's spirits were changed to be summons that follow you instead i was so worried they were going to be clunky and always in the way. but they manage to actually hold their own in fights and arent annoying? its literally a miracle.

ranking the sage's powers i have to put tulin at the top of the list. the gliding boost ability is such a necessity and i really think its the most helpful. i personally haven't gotten riju's ability in my own game, but seeing that its like a controllable urbosa's fury is really interesting im putting it as number 2! then ill put mineru's construct solely for its ability to help you not get hurt by gloom in the depths and that it can be really customizable for whatever area youre in. then ill put yunobo's because its good for mining. and then sadly i have to put sidon's ability at the bottom. i just would use a shield. it's just a worse daruk's protection. which is frustrating because i was so excited to see sidon and i enjoyed the water temple decently enough! it just doesnt have much practical use for me besides offering me sidon eye candy while i run around hyrule.

continuing with bit's im not a fan of, i don't really enjoy the weapon mechanics of the game. like i get it? they want you to use your fuse abilities to make new personalized strong weapons. but i wish there was a way to repair the decayed weapons at some point. the way to find undecayed weapons is to break a decayed one, and then it will spawn in the depths. so you break a decayed traveler's sword, and a shiny fixed one will start spawning on the weapons pillars down in the depths. which makes gathering weapons frustrating. i feel like having a quest of trying to remove gloom from the weapons, and maybe you work with robbie or something? i dont know its just a thought. maybe it costs money and materials, maybe you need 15 sundelions for one process i dont know. but the fact that so many enemies spawn with shitty broken swords makes collecting weapons a lot harder.

another thing im not a fan of is the removal of the divine beasts. where did they go??? why are all of the shrines and guardians gone?? theres no mention of them anywhere it just feels like none of it even happened!! the divine beasts are HUGE i just feel like they should have stayed on the overworld and maybe you dont even have to be able to enter them just... put them back man!! i only have seen like... one mention of the calamity in this game, and thats really frustrating considering its only been a few years since it happened!!! was it just a gravity falls Never Mind All That vow the entire kingdom took????? i would love to almost get shot by a guardian again like show me decayed ones out in hyrule field or something!!

also i just. i miss revali's gale. i wish tulin's gust ability could also propel you upwards. i know the sage's wills upgrades their summons, but it only seems to increase their attack power in combat, and i wish it would give them a secret second ability. or maybe sidon gets an upgrade that lets him create his own mini waterfall to swim up!! i know we have rockets and balloons but i really do wish we had a quick way to launch into the air.

but otherwise ive had a really fun time. i like seeing the npc's growing up, and all of their dialogue is awesome. its a much better set of cutscenes compared to botw, which i enjoyed but dont actively seek out when playing it again.

so uh yeah great game made me cry really hard

[sneakyscarab]

touhou 19 time! this game was literally not even released when i started this, so this is really fresh! this post is probably the closest i will ever be to a real games journalist lol.

nina's thoughts on Touhou 19 - Unfinished Dream of All Living Ghost

the most recent touhou, coming out just a few weeks ago, so this review is hot off the presses! UDoALG (wild abbreviation by the way, this name is so long) is a pretty neat game, being a direct sequel to Wily Beast and Weakest Creature story-wise, and a sequel to Phantasmagoria of Flower View gameplay-wise.

UDoALG is another in the competitive-danmaku type gameplay, similar to PoFV but with a number of evolutions to make the gameplay more balanced and easier to control. i won't go over every little change, since theres quite a lot, but ill point out some interesting changes, mostly in relation to story mode. for starters, Ability Cards are back again from UM, although with a much smaller role. each character has 2 cards themed to them, and whenever you beat an opponent in story mode you're randomly given one of their two cards. the three animal spirits are added, but they work completely differently to WBaWC, now being stronger variants of the generic spirit enemies from PoFV. a change that i think is only in story mode is that a new win condition is added, where if you defeat your opponent's boss summon an amount of times then your opponent loses. this is also pretty much the only wincon in story mode, since the AI has insane dodging skills. i literally only saw them lose a life one (1) time across 19 characters' stories (if you're curious, it was in Chiyari's stage 1).

one really interesting aspect of this game is the storytelling. i usually don't bring up the story in these posts outside of how certain characters relate to it, the story usually is a fairly simple affair that just gives the characters a reason to fight, but UDoALG has a much more complex story, which im kinda mixed on. i'll start with the cool part: the story actually progresses as you play through and unlock various characters in story mode, every set of character unlocks represents a later time period of the story, so you don't get the full story and resolution until you play through it all. this is a super cool idea, and gives good incentive to keep playing different routes and see how it all plays out. its a cool idea that uniquely plays off of the large character roster and unlocking method of these competitive vs games.

unfortunately, in order to make this happen and make every character be relevant, the plot is needlessly convuluted, especially in the first couple campaigns. there are so many factions at play, all with their own motives and double-agents and subterfuge. by the end of the 19 story scenarios you will be absolutely sick of the phrase "this is exactly as i had planned", and yet i still dont fully understand What the "main villain"s plan was. i commend ZUN for trying something new with the narrative, both in doing a direct sequel with most of the same characters as a former game, as well as this way of unfolding the story over time through different character routes, but i can't say it was Good. maybe im just biased since it mostly revolves around the WBaWC cast, and that game already had pretty rough plot and characterization, but i dunno. i will say i liked the story more at the end than i did after doing the first couple routes, but some of that early confusion never really goes away, and characters like Ran and Tsukasa dont really get their stories resolved.

time to talk about the characters! UDoALG is furry city, pretty much every character besides the human incident resolvers is some kind of animal-person, plus a few Onis. for returning characters we have Reimu, Marisa, Sanae, Ran (from PCB), Aunn (HSiFS), Nazrin (UFO), Seiran (LoLK), Rin (SA), Tsukasa (UM), Mamizou (TD), Yachie (WBaWC), Saki (WBaWC), Yuuma (the 3rd Animal Realm leader, coming from a fighting game i think?), and Suika (also a fighting game, and SA). for the new characters, we have 3 new youkai who have each joined one of the animal realm families respectively, plus the 'main villain' Zanmu and her assistant Hisami. since theres only 5 new guys, ill just give them each a quick review.

Son Biten is a monkey youkai, based on Son Wukong, recruited to Yachie's Kiketsu family. she's pretty goofy, and has a really neat musical theme. i dont have much to say about her, besides that she has a cool inspiration, and some of her interactions are pretty funny.

Enoko is a dog-type youkai, loosely based on the idea of Cerberus, who was recruited to Saki's Keiga family. instead of literally having 3 heads, she has bear traps on her wrists that act as analogues to the jaws of two additional heads, which is a really neat interpretation of a cerberus concept, as well as having tons of comedic potential. i love all the jokes people make about her offering up a Totally Normal Handshake, dont worry about it. she apparently lived in the Forest of Magic as a dog before awakening as a youkai, so she joins the crew of Marisa's funny forest friends.

the third new Youkai is Chiyari, who is NOT a chupacabra, despite what everyone says. she's based on a Tenkajin, which is apparently an obscure youkai that sucks blood, obscure enough that i could only find a single source for it online, being a Japanese blog post written by who i assume is a youkai enthusiast. Anyways, nobody in Gensokyo knows what a tenkajin is either, so everyone calls her a chupacabra instead since its another bloodsucking creature who is 'pretty popular right now'. most of her interactions are her being annoyed by being called a chupacabra, and eventually coming to terms with it. poor tenkajin gets no respect. shes very funny, and also apparently completely broken in pvp. great character.

Hisami is a 'guide of Hell', who is also inexplicably based on grapes for some reason (or eggplants, depending on who you ask, but im in grapes camp.) she pretty much just finds people in hell and helps them find their destination, although 'their destination' is up to Hisami's interpretation, and multiple times in the story she leads characters somewhere else. apparently she does her job wrong because she wants Zanmu to notice her, and it doesn't work cause apparently that was part of Zanmu's plan all along, so she doesn't care. Zanmu is too busy playing 4d chess to give her suboordinate some attention, so sad.

speaking of, Zanmu is an Oni, and the 'main villain' of the game. i say that with quotes because, despite being the final boss in most routes, and being the chessmaster supposedly laying out the big plans and manipulating everyone, she also is simultaneously resolving the incident, kinda?? its a bit hard to understand her motivations. well i guess her motivations make sense, but its hard to understand how exactly she plans to get what she wants from this plan. like her plan involves getting beat up by Reimu multiple times? hello?? not a fan, and she doesn't even have a cool design inspiration to make up for it, shes just another oni.

alright, lets wrap this one up. i was surprised to see another VS type game come out, and it seems to deliver a lot more balanced and interesting combat than the first one (granted, story mode plays pretty differently from what i can tell). the story is weird though, and the roster doesn't really have many characters i'm excited to play as compared to PoFV, and the characters i do like are pretty bad. (Sanae in particular is really weak in this format, her homing snakes are a huge disadvantage against bosses since they turn as soon as they see an enemy, meaning they wont hit the boss unless every random spirit or fairy is dead first). complaints aside though, at the base level its still pretty fun, and im glad that this type of gameplay is being given another chance.

i said it in my PoFV review, and ill say it again here: if any of you reading this have UDoALG, and are interested in playing the PvP with me, hit me up! itd be fun to try playing this with another person (although i heard the online is rough so i dunno…)

thank you so much for reading, especially those of you that have stuck with me through each post! this is the end of the mainline series, but there's still a lot out there i havent done. im not sure where this will go from here, especially since my college semester just started so i'll have a lot less free time, but ive had a lot of fun working on this project, and i hope that youve had fun reading it! if i do keep going, i might do the PC-98 quintilogy next, or maybe talk about cool fangames like Luna Nights or Mystia's Izakaya, i dunno. whatever comes next though, i hope to see you again! consider this the end of 'volume 1' of my grimoire. farewell!

[nolongerapileofashprobably]

It’s probably not a hot take to say that the past sages are the worst part of Tears of the Kingdom. Not only are they faceless personality voids with the same cutscene 4 times over, but their actual dialogue… hearing it again, I can kind of see why it squeaked some people out.

For starters, all of them say they “served Rauru”, and while that most likely means they served as his generals, some people saw it as them serving him absolutely, and including their races.

All of them also refer to them passing down their stones as the destiny of their races. I think you can kind of see how some people read that as “what, so these other races exist solely to serve Hyrule? R A C I S T ! ! !” Yes?

I don’t think any of this was intentional, mind you; I think it’s just how woefully underwritten they are that made some people think up this weird alternate story.

I definitely think the old sages are the WEAKEST part of the story. They have repetitive cutscenes, with the new sages and with Zelda, and are literally faceless. I do think there was an intentional choice to have their faces covered with masks— something I hope the DLC will cover.

There is a LOT about the Zonai and it’s culture that we still don’t know about, but we do see that the Zonai are considered ‘closer to the Gods’ than even the Hylians. That’s a LOT of unpacked lore. I can’t blame people for wanting to fill in those blanks themselves, but there is simply no evidence to prove anything. We don’t know squat about the Zonai, beyond what Rauru and Mineru show us. The last of their kind, access to secret stones… there is something that happened that wiped out the rest of the Zonai that we do not know anything about.

Passing down the stone is the destiny of the new sages, a responsibility passed on and one accepted by each of the new sages. We know they would have helped Link regardless, but this is a request from Zelda being fulfilled thousands of years later in order to support Link. I definitely think calling that ‘racist’ is simply misinterpreting the story and the intention.

The dialogue itself is pretty reminiscent of the Champions being appointed in the final flashback from The Champion’s ballad, honestly. Serve Hyrule. I think the change to have it be Rauru is because unlike King Rhoam, Rauru was the one facing off against Ganondorf. They would serve him in battle just as soldiers do for their commanders. And he was the commander 🤷‍♀️ I’m not all that bothered by the dialogue choice, but people can do what they want with it

Overall, I truly believe that we will get more answers in the DLC! I hope we will because I understand the focus was on the new sages, but the old ones were important pieces of the story too!

I also truly think a lot of criticism of Rauru and the Zonai is that we DONT have a ton of information about them… but this game was not meant to answer everything. It’s an introduction to a new era of Zelda lore. So while we can create theories and critique the game, there’s a plethora of lore we just don’t have access to yet.

That’s honestly why I haven’t really attempted to delve into Rauru and the Zonai, because canonically speaking we just don’t know much about the culture or their history. And until we do, I’ll remain pretty neutral about it.

[justalazytrashpanda]

if you don’t mind me asking, do you perhaps have a list of fangans that you like/are into and seen? And are we possibly allowed to make fangan recommendations? Just curious :0

Ahh sorry for the late reply!!! You are allowed to make recommendations but that doesnt guarantee that I’ll get into them. I dont have as much freetime as i used to im afraid… alas

Anywhere heres all the fangans ive gotten into ranked on a scale of 1-10, 1 being terrible, 5 being perfectly average, and 10 being the best thing ever written. If you want a more indepth opinion on any in specific just shoot me an ask X]. 

Complete fangans

Danganronpa another - 8/10, pretty good! Follows Trigger Happy Havoc a little closely in spots, but whenever it does that it’s trying to subvert whatever its mirroring in the first game. The cast is fun and bounces off eachother really well

Super danganronpa another 2 - 7/10, while it does improve in a lot of aspects when compared to the first game on both a technical and story level, I honestly preferred the first game to the second one. I was spoiled for most of the events in this game and the whole luck transfer thing was really convoluted. It’s still good tho! 

Danganronpa Lapse - 7/10, I really liked the unique artstyle, and the reduced cast allowed for everyone to shine a little bit more! The story was good as well, tho echos whole thing could’ve been explained more clearly. honestly this didn’t even need to be a Danganronpa game, it felt the weakest whenever it was trying to do that. Although I did enjoy the trials

In-progress fangans: have at least 2 chapters out

Danganronpa blowback: 6/10. Not the biggest fan tbh. It does have some cool ideas and characters but when it misses it misses hard. Granted this is one of the oldest fangans ive played, so some aspects can be forgiven based on that. I do wonder if it wouldve gotten better or worse had it gone on for longer

Danganronpa antebellum: 9/10. I had so much fun when playing this game its unreal. Its not perfect by a long shot, it definitely feels like a fangame, but thats whats so great about it. It doesnt take itself too seriously, which is an issue that can easily affect a fan project. The designs for the cast are super fun and i cant say that there's any characters i actively dislike. 

Danganronpa despair time: 9/10. Another really good one! It takes advantage of the medium its presented rather well. The story so far is really good and the parts “inspired” by the mainline games are changed up enough where it makes the tropes feel refreshing. I dont like all the characters but hey its rare to have an entire cast of faves

Just started fangans: only the prologue / first chapter is out

Project edens garden - 7/10. It’s got me hooked! I found the prologue very interesting. It set up the characters well and let them have a chance to shine while also setting up the main story. I found the animal theming interesting and am excited to see where it goes. I just also really like the art style. Each characters color palette is really distinct and i really like that :]

Danganronpa (he)artless deceit - 6/10. It’s alright. On a technical level it's very impressive, and it's clear the people making this really care about it! It just… didn't really click with me. A couple characters did interest me, but i wasn't very invested in the main two focused on in the proluge. I'll be interested to see where it goes but atm I'm more of an observer than a fan.

Danganronpa mauve - 5/10. I dont know what to think about this one. Its only got one chapter out so its hard to judge it, but it just didnt really captivate me all that much. Its clear a lot of work and time has been put into this, and i can totally see how someone could like this! Its just not my cup of tea X]. Out of every fangan ive seen this definitely feels the most like a danganronpa game, but thats a double edged sword. The characters were alright, but it felt… odd to me how many of them resembled characters from other fangans or the mainline series (looking at you satsuki). 

[investigationcore2007]

and you know even putting aside a lot of the writing issues in s o j of which there are many the soundtrack is i think the weakest of the entire series. the versions they did of the investigation themes, court themes, were really not very good in that game. people rag on dd and i get why but dd had good fucking music. the court themes were pretty good, the investigations were decent, and the new themes they introduces were all pretty great. i think athena's were the best of the new character themes but they were all fine.

like you'll look in s o j's ost and the good stuff there is 90 percent from earlier games, and even then, the rearrangements of the court themes and investigation themes... pretty weak as far as im concerned. for me, that is the one game i cant get over. i know dd is the white whale for many fans, but i can reconcile myself to the parts of dd i dont like or agree with, because theres a lot more i did enjoy and was compelled by. s o j though.. i liked seeing pollys backstory and i liked a fair amount of the characters, but the insensitive writing re: the culture of his home was really egregious. the plot wasnt executed very well either though in theory the drama and the premise of the drama was fine.

oh well.

[markusleben]

I’m gonna give this as comprehensive of feedback as I can. For context, I’m a game designer, highly enfranchised magic player, pauper player, and former modern player.

First, the elephant in the room. Modern Horizons III is the first proper Modern Horizons set that exists in the context of Modern as a pseudo-rotating format. MH1 had some serious power, and even made some decks outright start existing, but didn’t do a lot post Gaak-winter to invalidate previous decks.

By contrast, MH2 was the set where modern arguably became a rotating format. The pitch elementals became the cards that were critical to maximally exploit. LotR did similar with the one ring and bowmasters, but the pandemic-ness of MH2’s release timing combined with huge spikes to a few decks and near invalidation of others made for a pretty big off ramp.

For MH3 I dont really feel like it’s much different. The free cards are less problematic, and there are more cards to supplement weaker decks like Merfolk, but stuff like Energy feels very pushed in a way that’s prescriptive. And the energy deck doesn’t even really care about Kaladesh energy cards? Why bother with them when the rate on the MH3 ones is so pushed that they’re better than most non-MH3 modern cards on their own?

This is really likely to contribute to a sort of “loudness war” where each modern horizons has to do battle with being even higher rate than the previous one. Personally, I’d like it better if more cards were printed with the intent of beating the strategies that have cropped up and breathing life into old cards than just being more choc full of rate. When Ragavan and bowmasters make birds of paradise obsolete I feel sad. When harbinger of the seas helps fish out I feel happy.

But, I understand that this is the direction the format is going, I understand if it’s something that’s not for me. All I worry about is that it’s not sustainable.

——

For the limited environment, what can I say? Whirring Chris is so loud, so head and shoulders above other stuff that it kinda makes the format about itself. I’m not sure if that was a late change to deal with 5 snacker decks or something, but it makes the context of stuff a little funky.

I like the mdfc duals quite a lot. They felt skill testing in a similar way to the artifact lands of MH2.

I felt like the green white signpost uncommon was somewhat underserved. You only occasionally get value out of either of his abilities in my experience.

——

For pauper, I’m left with a very positive impression. While Ponza is a bit of a villain deck, it was extremely behind and the handful of gifts it got are all pretty cool. Green was the worst color in the format so that’s nice to see.

Refurbished Familiar, aka Furby, is a potential mistake, but that’s more to do with the artifact lands than with it. The artifact lands are slowly lurching their way towards being unbannable cards like workshops in vintage or brainstorm in legacy, and I personally don’t mind. Some folks feel different and I respect that.

Snacker is cool in my book. The format having about a billion deadly dispute effects makes this fae a really cool build around. Massively positive addition to the format.

——

Overall I think the weakest part of mh3 is templating, and the current Nadu crisis is indicative of that. Nadu looks to me pretty clearly like a card that was intended to work one way and instead worked a very different way.

Similarly, Springheart Nantuko is among the worst templated cards I’ve ever seen, and I see a lot of custom cards with serious wording problems. It’s almost chains of Mephistopheles level bad, and it’s not difficult to re-template, even if you need a 100% mechanically identical effect.

This has been a growing problem for a while. In Lost Caverns of Ixilan the craft reminder text on all but the simplest craft cards was extremely hard to parse, and three different mechanics had essentially the same name.

There seems to be a recurring theme of templating problems. Maybe I’m just a dweeb and I’m the only one noticing them, but I think they’re a serious issue worth addressing. It’s not an end of the world level problem, but I think we’ve seen that it has knock on effects.

Feedback on Modern Horizons III

I’m about to write this year’s “State of Design” article, and I’m interested on your feedback of Modern Horizons III. What did you like? What did you not like? Tell me all your thoughts.