#i will fund the production of dlc myself if i need to

[shippingmyworld]

I'm addicted to Photo Mode, so have some various shots of my Warden Rook, Oscar, in the Kirkwall's Finest armor.

[wakraya]

Hiveswap Act 2 & Friendsim

So! It’s that time of the year! And I think it’s time to talk about some things regarding the state of Hiveswap right now, since I occasionally see people asking for what happened to it and such, and I imagine the complaints may ramp up soon given we just reached the 1-year Anniversary of Hiveswap! First let me add, however,

Happy Hiveswap Day!

With that out of the way, for those less informed about what’s going on, or those who need a recap, I’ll be talking about a brief explanation of Hiveswap’s development, speculation, and predictions.

The Kickstarter, Hiveswap 3D, The Odd Gentlemen

For those who don’t know or don’t remember, Hiveswap was the Crowdfunded Homestuck game, if I recall, it was 5, now 6 years ago that the Kickstarter was funded several times over with a budget of over 2 million dollars. We got Concept Art and some promising screenshots and the idea of an adventure game set on Earth and Alternia before the events of Homestuck, it was going to be cool! But then there was silence for a while, and a leak of some sort suggested that the company Hiveswap had been given to, had been redirecting funds from the Kickstarter to make another game.

This has never been proven, but given the legal nuance behind this, it seems very likely there was some issue of this kind that set Hiveswap back. Further into development when Hiveswap was being made by WhatPumpkin, we got more images of the Beta concept of the Half-Harley Manor, the Monsters and the Cherub Portal, but ultimately this was dropped as it didn’t have the feel the Team wanted for the game. The staff doing 3D assets was laid off, and development began on Hiveswap 2D.

And so, after 5 years, Hiveswap launched with a charming, fun... But rather easy and short First Act.

People liked it, but they, obviously, wanted more. Bugs were fixed, support for other OS was added afterwards, it wasn’t perfect but it was nice and it promised that there was going to be more of it soon!

Spring 2018, VIZ Media, Friendsim

Not long after the game’s release, we got news that Act 2 would be coming on Spring! This set the Volumes to be a bi-anual release or something around that range, and building up hype towards the launch, there was the Troll Call, showcasing some of the most important Trolls for Act 2! However... Soon enough, this was set to become a missed deadline, with development on Act 2 halted for reasons unknown.

Many were quick to point their finger at VIZ Media’s ‘restructuring’ of the company, however there’s actually no proof of this being a thing. It simply came at a time where VIZ Media was showing itself more prevalently around Homestuck stuff- With the creation of the books and the redesign of the Website, many entered in Panic Mode. I have my gripes with the new Website, however it’s a necessary change and it’s still in development, so I’m giving them time.

Regardless, the most likely reason for Hiveswap’s Stopped Development is... Money. With stolen money, a re-start of the project half-way, and not too impressive sales, it’s very likely the team simply didn’t have the resources to continue production on Act 2. This doesn’t mean the project is dead though- Because that’s where Friendsim comes in. A good way to get to know these main Trolls on Act 2, a way for WP to get some funds, and just generally more fun content for the Fandom to sink their teeth into! I’m loving every and each of the Friendsims so far, and it shows that the Team is still there developing these characters and making content for us. However, Friendsims have come and gone, and while we’re a bit over half-way through the Friendsims, today is Hiveswap’s Anniversary...

Celebration, Future, Predictions

As I write this, the WhatPumpkin Website has not made a formal post celebrating the anniversary or updating the state of the game or saying anything, so this could all become obsolete in a few hours/days.

However, let’s talk about a few things regarding the state of Hiveswap- The Friendsims have definitely softened the blow. A year ago I told myself and everyone they weren’t going to spend half as much time developing Act 2 as they did Act 1- But then the issues happened. And that’s the thing- These issues, likely monetary, have stopped the development for the time being. Hiveswap is not being actively worked on, but when it is, again, it will likely come to us in a few months. I am really frustrated because I see there’s some issues going on, the game’s not taking long, it’s just not being worked on because of these issues, and we have things to fill the gap in the meantime, so in a way we’ve been constantly getting Hiveswap stuff! I still want to go back to Joey but... I can wait and keep supporting the Devs if it means we’ll eventually get a quality product.

This being said, I am hopeful Hiveswap will come back soon. Why? Well a few things! First of all, it seems that the Friendsims have been getting more and more quality as time goes on. This is to be expected I guess, but at the same time just. The art style sort of getting more consistent, the larger amount of backgrounds and more intricate story bits, the more detailed Lusii as time goes on, it’s been great building a world around the MSPA Reader in Alternia, but it’s also been telling me that they’ve been putting more care and attention in them- They’re enjoying making them, yes, but they’re also likely starting to recover at least a little bit from them.

On top of that, the latest post in the WhatPumpkin Tumblr said that “So yeah. Nothing new. Except, well … the volume itself.“ Hussie and WhatPumpkin are kind of notorious for long periods of silence- But they’re not for no reason. They don’t report on things when there’s... Nothing to report on. It may be a bit anxiety-inducing, but it’s how they’ve been doing things. Their statement either tells me that they still have nothing, but are aware of this and are working towards actually getting us some news- Or they’re teasing us and about to drop an update. My expectations are tempered, and I won’t be disappointed if there’s just a little Anniversary post, but still we’ll see.

That being said? The mysterious second DLC in the store, and JamesRoach’s last video make me think there may be some sort of update soon. For those of you who don’t know, our boy James uploaded a video on the dynamic music of Act 2, and it confirmed a bunch of stuff! That there’s a lot more Trolls we haven’t seen that are only sort of background characters, he’s teased some important Trolls we may not have seen yet, but namely, dropping this kind of stuff for the anniversary of Act 2... It tells me there may be news incoming quite soon.

Either way, whether I am right or wrong, the constant flow of these Friendsims has really been reminding me of the Upd8 culture surrounding Homestuck. Maybe at a smaller, tamer level, but that is completely fine. The memes, the surprise and excitement, the little misshaps and paranoia. It may not be always perfect, we may still be waiting, but hey.

I am glad to be here and part of the Fandom, and I am happy to see what may or may not be updated by @whatpumpkin soon!

Again, as I said before, Happy Anniversary, Hiveswap, and hope everyone has been enjoying this weird, wild ride too! <3

[tankermottind]

Obsidian, Pillars of Eternity II, and the Impossible Kickstarter Dream

UPDATE: According to a $1000 investor who calculated using his dividends, the total costs came out to around $29 million, not $15 million. So the Fig campaign covered only 15% of what they actually spent. Good lord!

I got back into Pillars of Eternity II and checked the forums to discover that Obsidian Entertainment has been acquired by Microsoft. And Pillars of Eternity II sold only 150,000 copies and cost about three times the $4.4 million raised to “fund” it (which means Obsidian, after support, overhead, DLC development, etc. could be a good $20 million in the hole). It is likely Pillars of Eternity III, or any other serious CRPG project, will never happen, and Obsidian will forever be one bad chart performance away from ending up making tire textures for a Forza Motorsport game. Everyone is pointing fingers and arguing and blaming the media or the casuals or figures within Obsidian or the SJW hordes, but really? They brought it on themselves--excuse me, as a Pillars of Eternity II backer, we brought it on ourselves. This was our chance to have the game of our dreams made, and our outsized demands coupled to Obsidian’s outsized ambition blew the series’ future. Here is the post I made on Obsidian’s forums in case it proves too controversial and disappears:

Is anyone really surprised? The first thing I thought when it finally dawned on me how huge Pillars of Eternity II was, was "There is no way they could have possibly made money on this." The fans wanted bigger, the fans wanted better, and Obsidian gave the fans, including myself, exactly what we wanted. The biggest, baddest, most complicatedest Infinity-style RPG ever. A game nobody but us wanted.

PoE2 is huge, huge, huge. I'm 30 hours in and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface of it. I ignored all the backer updates I received after pledging because I didn't want to know anything going in, and the sheer enormity of it blew me away. This feels almost Skyrimian in its breadth and content-richness, and that costs a huge amount of money, while drawing the potential length well past 150 hours and exacerbating the reputation that large CRPGs have of being scary and overbearing, which is further exacerbated by the fact that Obsidian have to tolerate RPGCodex and their legions of trolls, Trump cultists, and white supremacists because they donate and nobody outside the CRPG community was ever going to give a shit about this game. This is a game that was made for us, and only us. Made according to the specifications of a crowdfunding campaign that sold us our every desire, with little backer content bits to reflect our own vanity back at us. It turns out Infinity Engine/PoE nerds are (a) not even close to numerous enough to fund the promised game, and (b) unwilling to compromise for the sake of "casuals". I mean, that was the whole point of this whole crowdfunding thing, right? To make games that the fans want and make a profit? Funny, it looks we forgot that whole "making a profit" bit somewhere.

And for a focused, linear, and above all modest game like the first Pillars of Eternity, the money from the fans was enough to cover the budget and keep the lights on. But now we've "made it", we showed those AAAs and we're going to make a game that will blow everyone away. But we instead we got a baroque game, a niche product with a big-boy budget. It doesn't matter whose fault it is or which games journalism conspiracy is true or salacious rumors that would fail a difficulty 2 Bluff check. Pillars of Eternity II is a game too expensive to fund on the backs of CRPG nerds but seldom considers the needs and wishes of people who aren't CRPG nerds, except when it does the job so poorly it actually makes the problem worse. Let's talk about the mechanics.

For all its attempts to be fair and balanced and not screw you over for bad build decisions, the sheer number of mechanics and status effects and stats and systems makes the Infinity Engine look sleek and streamlined, if not exactly elegant. Not to mention that a lot of the people who played Baldur's Gate also played Dungeons and Dragons (which was huge at the time), while the people going into PoE2 have no such luxury. The micro-balancing with all the soft counters and clever trickery makes it more difficult to play on a truly expert level than an Infinity Engine game, so Easy and Classic are mushy and dumbed-down and basically let you coast, while the harder difficulties require you to learn far more obscure rules, some of which are virtually undocumented, than someone throwing themselves upon the rocks of Baldur's Gate 1 for the first time. However, the system is also less exploitable than the Infinity Engine, so there is also less reward for putting in above the minimum effort. So PoE2's game system is exceedingly complex, strongly favors PoE1 veterans over everyone else, hides information from the player, has too many rules, is easy to coast on by with, hard to play well, and won't ever give you the satisfaction you get from the sort of gambits even a mediocre Infinity Engine player can pull off.

Backstab instakills out of the shadows? Can't do that. Pre-buffing? Too OP. Contingencies? We'll have an ordinary spell that namedrops Contingency and pretend it's the same thing. Summoning? Nope. Incredibly powerful sword wrested from a lich's cold dead fingers? It's sure as hell not going to be as good as Daystar was in BG2. Even the simplest crafting (aside from food) requires money, just to make it less attractive. Fortunately there is a lot less of it now, and a lot more of the talking and plotting and loredumping, which is generally good if playing it a bit safe. But Eora is also a much more "out there" world than Forgotten Realms, and the comfy old Arthurian, chivalric, etc. tropes and themes no longer apply. Nor, unlike the similarly complex world of The Elder Scrolls, is it based (however loosely and occasionally disrespectfully) on archetypes from other cultures and mythologies--in fact it seems to strive towards the total obliteration of everything ready-made. Bhaal and Elf Jesus the Nerevarine are immediately relatable to the casuals in a way that Eothas and friends are not.

Why did this happen? Because we wanted it. We wanted more. More. More. More. Pillars of Eternity was good, so Bigger Pillars of More Eternity will be more good. The incentive structures of the crowdfunding model (stretch goals, etc.) encourage and exacerbate this mentality. A pirate ship! Many pirate ships! Pirate ship battles! New Vegas style politics with intersecting schemes by several power players! A reputation system underneath that makes New Vegas' implementation look primitive! Webs of intrigue! Webs of treachery! Webs of adultery and relationship drama! Voice acting for almost everybody with lines! Half-hearted commentary on colonization that pulls all its punches to avoid making white people feel bad and angering the RPGCodex crowd who gave us a big chunk of our budget! It had everything except a workable business model.

Hardcore CRPGs are not competitive on a big budget, and they never will be. There's a reason this game put Obsidian's future in jeopardy and the guy behind the Avernum series has been able to crank game after game through thick and thin, for over 20 years. If the Infinity-style RPG has a future it will involve smaller, simpler games with less elaborate graphics, less voice acting, and a much lower budget. A game with production values more similar to PoE1, Wasteland 2, or even Siege of Dragonspear. But that's what we wanted. We wanted big. We got big.

And perhaps, in the long run, lost big. Nerds never have been good at business.

[zacharyleishmanfilmstudent]

FILM 303 Creative Professional Conclusions: Crowdfunding and Sourcing Deep Dive – Lecture Notes and Thoughts:

This session featured a deep dive look into the many resources available to secure and utilise crowdfunding in for our grad film projects, or for use in future projects across our practice. The session was designed to discuss the many options available to us to secure funding, and then use this research to begin planning how we may utilise these resources.

Crowdfunding as a concept in itself is fairly simple. In all productions, producers are required to develop a budget that covers all below and above line costs from cast to shooting and development processes. This budget is typically financed by a studio but frequently in independent endeavours media makers have to find means to finance themselves.

The most common form of funding independent filmmakers can gain is found through crowdfunding. Taking the place of the involvement of friendly investors, this is where strangers who have been convinced to donate to the project contribute to the budget with their own money, in an effort to support the project/creator.

Crowdfunding can come in three different forms. All take place usually on social media the forms consisting of, equity crowdfunding, where investors receive a return on their payment, rewards crowdfunding where non-financial incentives are offered for donations and finally simple donation crowdfunding which is just simply charity.

Rewards crowdfunding is the most popular and the method I have the most experience with and would personally offer. It is the less risky option should your production run into issues and you find yourself unable to return funds to your investor and is ultimately a good show of gratitude in any small form to your backers.

Rewards crowdfunding involves the artist offering specific rewards once certain milestones are achieved in your push to gain funding. An example of this could be offering concept art, a copy of the script, pieces of your soundtrack or early test screenings. It assures the donor of the feasibility of your project, that actual work is going towards it, whilst also maintaining interest in the project, possibly helping develop communities around it, if enough people want to work to access all of your available rewards. It is effective in being in its own way, supplementary content creation but does also pose the risk of fitting into the gig economy, you are putting all of your eggs in one basket and there is zero guarantee of success.

The overall benefits do though greatly outweigh the risks. It generates a maintained social media presence for your work, doesn’t come across as corporate, allows you to directly appeal and pander to niche audiences and you can sometimes be lucky enough to gain extra funds even after the donation period has ended.

There are several platforms on which artists can crowdfund but possibly the two platforms that bare the most use and benefit to my practice are Kickstarter and Patreon. Kickstarter is effectively the epitome of the rewards crowdfunding system previously discussed. A site specifically designed to creators to pitch projects and find support it operates on a reward system utilised to draw up attention but is reliant on the project reaching its total funding goal to access any of the funds you’ve gained during the process.

Patreon in contrast to this differs in that it is a support network for artists not their projects. Here artists can offer rewards in return for directly funding their livelihood. Used particularly by YouTubers they offer rewards such as exclusive content or direct communication in return for money they use when ad revenue is not available. There are no direct downsides to Patreon but there is a very tricky formula to maintaining audience interest and does require you to be producing regular and quality content if not quality rewards to make the donation seem worthwhile.

Both have been used to scam and cheat certain audiences and like any social media there are adverts for even the most useless and inane of the causes. However, both platforms can be used to really provide positive support to creatives and really help make or break their art in a time where it is increasingly difficult for artist to gain the likes of major studio support or just have their platform on which they operate, treat them fairly.

After having discussed the styles and functionality of these platforms we were tasked individually with researching the successful instances artists have found on these platforms and then determine how we might create our own campaign or programme on these platforms.

An extremely successful Kickstarter campaign that I have previously researched at great lengths due to the sheer impressiveness of its success, is the Kickstarter campaign for the Indie hit game, ‘Shovel Knight’. Through Kickstarter, indie development team Yacht Club games were able to launch their 8-bit homemade platformer into one of the industry’s most beloved and well-known titles.

The success of Shovel Knight was born out of the game not just being a legitimately fantastic product but through the approach Yacht Club took when trying to fundraise for the project. Setting the bare minimum target for their total goal their approach focused on acquiring what was necessary, it made the project seem trustworthy. The team wasn’t seemingly asking for any more than they needed just what they needed to make the game and survive financially. The honesty present was a huge reason to place trust in this team, when the platform had previously been used to take excessive amounts of money from fans and not committing it to the actual listed project, as seen in the case of the now industry hated ‘Mighty Number 9’.

Gaining publicity for the game was something Yacht Club was able to quickly get their hands on, sending early test models of the game’s beginning stages to streamers focused on retro game content, attracting both their fans and support. It signalled this was a project that was meant for the fans and was a love letter to the fans who missed this era of games as well as to the era itself.

The real killer of this Kickstarter however were the reward tiers. The make-or-break factor of many a Kickstarter, Yacht Club promised new character campaigns that would be released as full DLC once the stretch goals for the main game had been reached. Effectively saddling themselves with even more work, work that they didn’t finish until years after the full game’s eventual release in 2014, the team once again sold donors on Shovel Knight as a product. This was not a one and done hit, this was a product that would be supported and would become a long-time investment to the fans good enough to believe in the product.

A larger risk had the game failed, but one that they were ultimately able to pull off, the main lessons I would take from this campaign is the importance of getting your name out amongst the fans and giving them decent incentives to back you that are actually valuable.

A Kickstarter campaign is not something I intend to start for my grad project film ‘Eulogy’ given the film has already been self-financed and doesn’t likely require further funds. However, I still believe that the project could possess a strong campaign that offered a variety of rewards to those who chose to donate. The budget I would hypothetically want to reach would range between £200-£300 and whilst lacking the funds or manpower of Yacht Club to produce the same quantity of rewards or the scale they possessed I would still attempt to produce a quality and modest set of rewards.

£1 Patrons = Name in credits and a signed copy of the script

£5 Patrons = Name in credits, signed copy of the script and behind the scenes featurettes and commentary videos

£10 Patrons = Name in credits, signed copy of the script, BTS videos and original limited print of the artwork featured in the film.

£20 Patrons = All of the above and early access screening of both work in progress and final cuts of the film.

These rewards I would envision to be a decent incentive for donors to consider donating and given the low rate of the budget and rewards available at every tier, it seems likely that even if the majority of donations were on the lowest tiers, I may still be able to finance the film and the donors will be thanked for their contribution.

A platform I do greatly intend to make use of in my future though is Patreon. Whether my practice continues to focus on filmmaking or not a great hope that I have is that I will be able to commit to the creation of video essay material on YouTube analysing media I have a knowledge and affinity for. Ad revenue is famously a poor means of supporting oneself through YouTube so if in some reality I could attract a following, I would offer a Patreon through which they could support me.

My Patreon model would be based on a current Patreon I currently donate to, the patreon for the ‘Let’s Fight a Boss’ podcast. An Irish podcast the trio discuss the media they’re consuming and offer livestreams of obscure video game series, their playthrough of ‘Shenmue’ being possibly their most famous content. Their Patreon model is quite modest, there not being many rewards, they can offer in a Podcast format but still being worthwhile enough in themselves. The rewards I have been able to access by donating, is access to their private discord for fellow patrons, shout outs for actual patrons during episodes of the podcast and access to exclusive episodes not featured on their channel.

Any rewards I would offer on Patreon would follow a similar model, I myself wanting to produce some similar digital rewards that also focuses on thanking and involving fans in my work to show gratitude for their charity. Whilst there’s no guarantee this plan will ever actually take shape, this is the hypothetical rewards system I have long planned to offer.

£1 Patrons = Name in the credits of videos and access to channel discord.

£5 Patrons = Name in credits, access to channel discord, a verbal shoutout at the end of the video and access to behind the scenes editing commentary videos.

£10 Patrons = All of the above with early access to videos, access to private vote to determine topic of videos and access to four Patreon exclusive videos not featured on YouTube.

This is model I think I could feasibly create and that ultimately isn’t greedy. I doubt I will commit to YouTube full time, but this is enough of a rate where I could consider it a viable side project/earning if I can hopefully develop enough of a following, and I believe this reward programme is quite generous in that regard and wouldn’t lead to burn out.

The many benefits and pitfalls of crowdfunding have been apparent to me even before I considered entering this industry myself. My desire to utilise crowdfunding within my current practice is undeniably minimal as I do not have the confidence to consider asking for money for an amateur project. However when my practice does eventually alternate to this new video essay focus, considering crowdfunding on Patreon will be completely necessary if it is media I want to make viable.

[amahontl]

NieR:Automata - Dengeki Playstation vol.638 Interview [Ending E spoilers]

WARNING! This interview contains spoilers up to Ending E.

Published on May 11th 2017.

Inquiring the key development staff of the abyss of ��Project YoRHa”

NieR:Automata breaks past 1 million copies in sales and continues to be a hot selling hit. A direct interview with the 4 main staff immediately after the concert event! We enquire about the mysteries unraveled in the concert’s Recital Play and the world guide book. We’ll also ask about future grave visitings.

The people we’ll be interviewing

Director, Yoko Taro 

From Bukkoro (ブッコロ). Responsible for directing NieR:Automata. Who is finally released from the deadlines for submitting the concert’s Recital Drama script and the world guide book.

Game Designer, Taura Takahisa

From Platinum Games. Responsible for the game design of NieR:Automata. Lately Yoko has been teasing him for his growing accustomization to the media.

Producer, Yosuke Saito

From Square Enix. Responsible for producing NieR:Automata. Kindly watches attentively over Yoko’s recklessness, when he’s gotta do it, he’ll do it.

Composer, Keiichi Okabe

From MONACA. Responsible for the sound production of NieR:Automata. In order to make the Osaka and Tokyo concerts a success, he goes all out with the MONACA staff.

The concert’s existence is thanks to the fans and as the best reward for the developers

Now that a bit of time has passed since the release of the game, I’d like to take this chance to ask you of various spoilers… Since time is restricted today, I’ll have Yoko give his comments on the next day to supplement your impressions of today’s very first NieR:Automata concert, as well as future plans for the game.

Yoko: I see, acknowledged.

With that said, I’d like to truly congratulate you on the realization of today’s concert. What are your impressions now that the first performance, the Osaka performance has ended?

Okabe: Speechless. The progress for the concert this time was really cutting it close, we were doing various adjustments right up to before the concert started.  To get it all over with, we had to do our first rehearsal on the day before, let alone the day of the concert. I hope the fans will be satisfied with what we have to offer.

The concert was amazing! I was watching from the audience seat and I could hear a lot of people crying within the seats around me, I was crying too of course.

Saito: I was crying the entire time. To the point that my tear glands are possibly destroyed. Yoko did cry too, right?

Yoko: Yes. I cried without realizing it.

Taura: I was wailing as well. To the point that I ran out of tissue. It was tough from the very beginning, the part I really cried at was the part with Beauvoir. I personally like fast pace music but, the memories of mid-production revived and I couldn’t bear it.

Yoko: You sure those tears were only meant for those hard times?  (weakly laughs)

Taura: Not at all… It was definitely a hard time, but in turn it meant that it was memorable. Other than that, the “Song of the Ancients” coupled with the NieR:Automata and NieR Replicant/Gestalt footage of Devola and Popola went really well together.

I’m sure this goes the same for the fans as well, that this concert is the greatest reward for the developers.

Okabe: There’s the Tokyo performance after this and we’d like to show the audience an enhanced performance.

By the way, who coordinated the footage played at the back of the stage?

Okabe: We’ve gotten a vendor this time to coordinate the footage and we’ve made the one in charge have a proper understanding of NieR. The finished product was immensely satisfactory. But of course, Yoko was supervising it all.

Yoko: I only supervised it. I felt that this time, the significance of the Recital Drama was very, very severe. I don’t ever want to put myself in such mayhem ever again.

Saito: Since the limited tickets came with the Recital Drama script, we did intend on sending it out to the customers, “We have till the day itself for the script, so whatever”, is what we’d like to say. Our very own publication department had the color drained from their faces.

Yoko: Saito made the rash decision of making different scripts for each performance….

Saito: What! It was Yoko who said he wanted to do a Recital Drama. (laughs)

Yoko: Well, that’s true but, I didn’t say I’d write a new script for each and every 5 performances you know.

Saito: Well that can’t be helped. It’s tough getting all 5 of the voice actors to come in on the same day, it’s something that needed to be arranged pretty early on. They’re all such busy people you know?

I see, that’s a valid reason.

Saito: At first Yoko wanted to get a boys’ choir in but that was obviously impossible. Even then, we made a move to somehow get a hold of the venue for the concert, as well as sending out offers to the voice actors….. It was a lot of work. Especially for today’s Osaka performance, we were fortunate enough to have 9S’ voice actor, Hanae Natsuki, present. Hanae had “Oha Suta” to attend to early in the morning on the following day, so I thought he’d turn down the offer. But, Hanae himself said he would definitely attend and with that, we got 2B’s voice actor, Ishikawa Yui, and Pod 153’s voice actor, Akiyama Kaoru, together and brought their collaboration to life.

  [1] Oha Suta (おはスタ Oha Suta) is a children's TV show which airs in Japan in the morning on Monday to Friday, and it is produced by TV Tokyo.

All that trouble was worth it, the Recital Drama was amazing. 9S kept dying as usual, Hanae seemed a bit pitiful. (weakly laughs)

Saito: I was able to watch the rehearsals on the day of the concert, my first at that. When it comes down to the real thing, they perform amazingly.

I took a look at the scripts for all 5 performances and it was shocking.

Yoko: Was it?

It was full of content that could’ve been put into the game itself. It wasn’t something that you could classify as side story content.

Taura: I know what you mean. Without much thought, I wanted to make a certain scene like this(within the game)….. It came spontaneously to mind.

Right. I wish you guys included it in the game.

Taura: Included in the game, huh.

Yoko: No way, that’s out of the question! (weakly laughs)

Saito: Well, you could say that it’s a concert-only special content. We have a super big surprise prepared for the last day as well. I’m looking forward to seeing the fan’s reactions.

I’m sure the fans are rather delighted with the Recital Drama itself, as well as the supplementary footage.

Saito: Actually, we have made plans to record the audio of the Recital Drama, we might want to release it in some sort of medium.

[2] All the performances’ play audio have been recorded and added to the Blu-ray release of “The Memories of the Puppets”.

It would’ve been ideal to have new in-game footage for the concert.... I think.

Yoko: I see. If Square Enix funds us then, Platinum Games would, well, right?

Taura: Right. If something is given, I can do as much.

Yoko, Taura, you two are making a totally sleazy look. (laughs)

10th anniversary, the next project? Juicy details about the next project’s plans

At any rate, a million copies sold across the world is quite amazing.

Saito: 1 million copies. It’d be nice if it happened but to think that it actually did happen. As for me, I had a secret goal of “pushing Yoko Taro up to the next level”, and I think I’ve managed to accomplish it. With that, the “World of Yoko Taro” is widely spread.

Yoko: But to be rather honest, I think that the hit (NieR:Automata) is a fluke. Even all the staff involved thinks so too.

Saito: A fluke eh… Well, even if we do make another game, it might not sell as well as Automata did.

Have you managed to investigate as to why Automata achieved a million copies?

Yoko: I have already said this several times, it’s all because of Platinum Games’ strength.

Taura: Oh no, no, no, there are a lot of portions that I thought were good though. Character design by Yoshida Akihiko, music done by MONACA that was newly established by Okabe, Yoko’s leadership power and Saito who produced everything with his power, it’s all filled with great things.

Yoko: What’s wrong, Taura? Ever since I pulled you out into the media, since when were you able to make such a counterattack?

Taura: It’s all thanks to Yoko’s direction. You have my gratitude. (grins)

Yoko: That reply, what are you, a monster?! Your training was a total blunder~ (laughs)

But, making such a high quality game with such little resources is truly amazing to be rather honest.

Taura: It’s because the staff all love “NieR” and due to that, we had an unbelieveable amount of horsepower going on. It was truly the fruit of our labour, I don’t think we’ll ever be able to make such a thing ever again. (weakly laughs)

Saito: Probably not. (laughs) To be able to make something that’s so chock full of content is not easy. I was truly grateful for that.

But, with all the new details revealed in the Recital Play and the World Guide Book, having all that plot assembled together, wouldn’t it be possible to make a sequel or a spin-off? For example, the “The Country of Dawn” or “The Dragoon”, you can expand so much on.

Saito: Hold on a minute there. A spinoff? Who’s gonna be the protagonist? Pascal maybe?

Yoko: Well, I can probably make a 2 hour long story for Pascal. I don’t know if there even is demand for it though.

Platinum Games sure has it rough huh.

Taura: Totally… Especially since we’ve canceled a project. Not to mention the DLC we released on May 2nd, the development on the game itself had already wrapped up, so we’ve only had a few staff to help out with the DLC. It was tougher than I expected.

And with the Square Enix’s and Platinum Game’s CEO making an appearance in the game, surely must’ve gathered controversy. (laughs)

Yoko: That was only but a factor. At first the additional costumes were gonna be about 1800 yen, but that was way too expensive for what it was so, adding in a simple side story and a colosseum, with the addition of a lower price of 1500 yen, as well as adding another extra of the CEO fight… Well, I think it’s all satisfactory content.

With the concert ended and the DLC already released, has “NieR:Automata” reached it’s end?

Saito: I wonder. The next thing would probably be, for example, in 3 years time, the “NieR” 10th year anniversary. I daydream about what we should do for it. By then, I have no idea what we’d (the team) all be doing. My liver has been in quite bad shape after all...

Yoko: Me too. We’ll just leave the rest to the next generation. All I’ve been thinking is how I’m gonna die.

Please don’t say that. (weakly laughs) A 10th year anniversary is splendid isn’t it? I have great expectations for it.

Saito: This is all still some far ways off but, as long as the fans love the “NieR” title, we will somehow push something out. And with that, everyone, please continue to forever support the “NieR” series.

Thank you very much for today!

Additional questions for Yoko Taro

On the following day, we asked the Director, Yoko Taro, some questions about his worldview of the story of NieR:Automata (in a super rushed fashion). This Q&A is completely non-edited so please read on. We will also ask questions to Yoko about the currently-on-sale Strategy Guide and the World Guide Book, so for those who are curious about the mysteries that lies within, please do check it out!

Q: In the game, we’ve seen Yorha units clash against each other, so if there ever was a scenario where 2B, 9S and A2 duke it out against each other, which model would be the absolute strongest?

Yoko: The E model is the strongest. Since this reply was written in a hurry, I will skip the details.

Q: Even though A2 and 2B are the same “No. 2” types, are their “Self Data” the same? Also, is it possible to implant A2’s Memory Data into 2B?

Yoko: A2 and 2B both have different Self Data. It is possible to do the implant. Since this reply was written in a hurry, I will skip the details.

Q: Despite being the same “No. 2” Type, when 9S first encountered A2, why did it feel like 9S had such a weak reaction in that encounter?

Yoko: It’s because he didn’t notice. Since this reply was written in a hurry, I will skip the details.

Q: Despite 2B being killed right before 9S’ eyes, why did he harbor such strong hate towards A2?

Yoko: Did it look like he hated her? Since this reply was written in a hurry, I will skip the details.

Q: In the World Guide Book as well as the Recital Drama’s script we saw the inclusion of the unsightly transcription of the “Country of Dawn” and the “Country of Night”. Could you give us some details about this?

Yoko: In the World of “NieR”, in the past, the Earth’s axis had been distorted, because of that, a perpetuity of a world of day and a world of night exists. I wrote this reply in a hurry so from here on out I will skip the details.

Q: From the Recital Drama, we now know that the one who conceived the “YoRHa Project” is Zinnia, as well as No.9 who knew of his plans. Is it safe to assume that No.9 and 9S are the exact same model?

Yoko: The names are different hence the model is different. Since this reply was written in a hurry, I will skip the details.

Q: Of all things, why did No.9 decide to help Zinnia with the “YoRHa Project”, despite being full of spite against the Project?

Yoko: There has been a misunderstanding. No.9 did not resent the YoRHa Project, rather, at the design of YoRHa units (The Black Box). Since this reply was written in a hurry, I will skip the details.

Q: Is there a reason as to why Zinnia and Pod042 share the same voice actor (Yasumoto)?

Yoko: It is because Zinnia is Pod042’s personal data prototype. Since this reply was written in a hurry, I will skip the details.

Q: In the Recital Drama, there was no passage pertaining A2’s awakening, is it safe to assume that she woke up somewhere?

Yoko: If anything, “to assume” is all up to you. Since this reply was written in a hurry, I will skip the details.

[mistake-messenger-trash-blog]

How would the RFA + V + Saeran pamper themselves? I've got the most lovely image of Zen getting a manicure, and 707 would definitely be the 'feel my legs i just shaved and they're soo smooth' person.

 Before anyoneasks.. yes, I did look up what the parody name of each company was in MysticMessenger (Noogle, NouTube, Moonbucks…), and I’m planning to use them since it’stechnically ~their~ world.

 Also, this came out waaaaaay longer than I intended it to, so the rest will be under the cut.

 Feel free to send in asks and requests!

~~~~~

Yoosung

   ● Yoosung is a broke college student, so anythingthat involves him buying himself some nice things is out of the question.

   ● But… he wants to try something different.

  ● From the Christmas DLC, it’s canon that Yoosung enjoysusing face-masks, as he had tried them on after being given them by Zen.

  ● So he asks Zen to give him some recommendations fordifferent cheap face-masks that would relax him.

  ● After buying them, he’ll go home and put anything thatwould stress him out of his sight.

  ● College textbooks? In the closet. Class notes? Wedgedbetween some books in a bookcase.

   ● Dick: out (I’msorry this is an old meme but I couldn’t help myself)

   ● He even hides his phone to make sure Seven won’t tryto call him in the middle of his me-time.

  ● I can just imagine Yoosung with his usual two bobbypins on one side of his hair and then two more on the right side to keep hishair from ruining the face-mask.

  ● After taking the mask off he’ll just stroke his facefor like an hour because of how smooth it is

   ● He’ll also try to pamper himself in smaller ways.

  ● For example, after studying hard for exams/finalshe’ll allow himself to have a day where he sleeps in, has his favorite foodsfor each meal, stays in his pajamas all day, watches movies…

  ● He’s the type of person to go on a Noogle deep-dive andend up findings some sort of NouTube video explaining the basics of yoga.

   ● He’ll attempt to do a few poses, but he has thebalance of a newborn giraffe and the flexibility of a stick, so he just ends uptumbling down to the floor.

 Jaehee

  ● When Jumin decides to finally give Jaehee somedays off, she promises to herself that she will make the most out of them.

  ● I imagine that Jaehee will go back to training Judofor a little bit, to keep the knowledge inside her head and her body fit.

  ● She’ll also go to some sort of tea store, where shebuys some fancy natural teas that will help her relax.

  ● Every day when she comes back from Judo, she’ll take arelaxing bath and then brew a new tea and accompany it with a plate ofbiscuits, before settling in to the sofa with some comfy clothes for the restof the night.

  ● She binge-watches almost all of the musicals that Zenhas been in, along with some of his singing performances that were put up on NouTube.   

   ●  Baeheeis probably the one to get pampered the most.

   ● By this, I mean that as soon as Zen hears that TheTrust Fund Kid™ has let Jaehee some days off, he immediately books a spaappointment for her.

 ● She gets massages, manicures, pedicures, facials…literally everything.

 ● Like she said during the Christmas DLC, she earns alot of money but she never has the time to properly spend it.

 ● So, she’ll go out to the shops and buy herself somenew clothes, shoes, accessories, and even some books that caught her eye.

 ● While she still has time, she plans out some ways inwhich she could take breaks and relax during her workdays.

 ● She’ll make a promise to herself to go out and buysome scented candles, so that when she has to come home to work, she can lightsome up and relax.

 ● In addition to doing all of that, she will go and lookup some recipes that are easy to make, so she can quickly make them for herselfwhen she’s working. 

 ● By the end of her well-deserved break, Jaehee feelslike an entirely new woman.

 Zen

  ● When itcomes to pampering himself, he likes to do it one day at a time and in themiddle of doing something stressful.

  ● It’slike deciding to take everything easy on a Wednesday and then continue workingthe next day.

  ● Likethe anon said, he will 100% go out to get himself a manicure.

  ● He’llprepare some comfy clothes for the day and he’ll put his hair up in a bun. (whata babe)

  ● He’llwalk in to the spa sipping on some sort of natural tea from Moonbucks,sunglasses on and his usual radiant smile.

  ● Eventhe straightest of guys are swooning over him like what??

  ● Whilehe’s getting the manicure and pedicure, he’ll still be sipping on his freakingtea, looking like some sort of Hollywood superstar.

  ● When he’sdone there, he’ll return home and just use like three facemasks and any andevery skincare product imaginable.

  ● At somepoint during the day, Zen will be angrily typing away at his phone with afacemask on while venting about Jumin Han.

  ● Consideringwhat his career is, he decides to rest his voice for that entire day.

  ● He’llonly speak when truly necessary (like when he went to the spa or ordered hisdrink).

  ● Sincehe’s also the mom-type of guy, he’ll look up some drinks/foods that help histhroat so that he can be fully rested.

  ● Duringthat day, he’ll force himself not to have any beer and not to smoke. Albeit henever does it incredibly frequently, today is one of the many days in which hecompletely restrains himself from doing so.

  ● He’llalso watch his own musicals at the end of the day…. It’s Zen that we’re talkingabout, what were you expecting?

 Jumin

  ● Eventhough Jumin has a lot of money, he’s never been the type of person to buy manythings for himself.

  ● He’svery humble when it comes to spending money on personal things.

  ● Though,when his father tells him that he should take a day off since he has beenworking nonstop and suggests that he does some things for himself for once, heagrees.

  ● Becauseof this, he decides to take Elizabeth the 3rd out on her little cagewith wheels so that he can walk her around the stores.

  ● He, of course,chooses to spend more money on Elizabeth the 3rd than on himself.

  ● Hepulls the little cage around with him into pet stores, where he throws treatsupon treats into a cart, as we all many gifts and toys for his dear Elizabeth.

  ● It’squite the sight, really. A six-foot tall man clad in a complete suit, pulling acage with a cat in it behind him, throwing any cat product that seems remotelyinteresting to him into a shopping cart, and a couple of bodyguards trailingbehind him.

  ● He gotmore than one questioning look, to say the least.

  ● When hearrives at his penthouse, he takes every product out of its packaging and letsElizabeth test them.

  ● Thepoor cat has to have her food bowl taken away from her because of how manytreats she ate.

  ● At theend of the night, he’ll simply have a nice meal and he’ll change into somethingmore comfortable.

  ● He’lllounge around for a while before settling down on a small sofa before one ofthe many windows of his penthouse with a book in hand.

  ● He’llhave some classical music playing in the background, preferably some pianoaccompanied by a violin, while taking a sip of wine every now and then.

  ● Otherthan that, he prefers to pamper himself in very simple ways, considering howhis attitude towards himself is.

  ● A walkin the park here, some light exercising there, a couple of minutes of staringinto his aquarium…

 Seven

   ● Afterbeing forced by literally everyone to take a day or two off of work, he agreesto take things smoothly for a couple of days before taking a full day off.

  ● When heactually takes his day off, he decides to actually leave the bunker,considering how he barely ever goes outside, and needs to take vitamin Dsupplements every day to prevent him from having a vitamin D deficiency. (Ihave to take vitamin D3 every day because of the same reason, rip me)

  ● He’llhave his headphones over his ears, listening to his favorite music while takinga stroll around the city.

  ● Thepath that he took “coincidentally” led him to a cat café near lunchtime.

  ● He boughthimself a nice, big lunch since he usually only eats Honey Buddha Chips and PhDPepper for every meal.

  ● Sincehe actually doesn’t want to be kicked out of the café, he treats the catsnicely, and even uses the laser from his phone to get the cats on a wild chasearound his table.

  ● When hegets back home (Seven you were only out for like two hours??), he’ll bein the mood to wear a dress, but his legs are hairy af, so he’ll make it hismission to completely shave his legs.

  ● He’llthrow on so much lotion that everyone is surprised he didn’t die of some sortof chemical poisoning.

  ● But hislegs end up being soooooooo smooth???

  ● He justruns over to Saeran with his pants rolled up and he’ll just scream “TOUCH MYLEGS”

  ● Saeran knowsthat there’s no way that he’s getting out of this, so he’ll just sigh andstroke his brother’s leg once…

  ● ….butomfg they’re so soft??

  ● Saerancan’t bring himself to stop stroking his brother’s leg (as weird as it sounds).

  ● Seven’sjust standing there with the smuggest look to ever be seen.

 V

   ● Thissoft bby will make sure to relax as much as possible.

  ● His carwill be completely full of cameraequipment. He’s more prepared than anyone will ever be to take a photograph.

  ● Itstarts raining? He has a waterproof camera in his car. The scenery is too dark?He has a lens that allows a greater aperture for the photographs. Nothing seemsto be in focus? Your boy has a camera with some lenses and filters that giveyou a greater depth of field. (Wow the photography nerd in me just came outI apologize)

   ● V willhave everything that he’ll be doing completely planned out.

  ● Sincehe’s constantly travelling around the world to take photographs, he decides tostay within the boundaries of his city, in order to ‘catch up with his roots’.

  ● Hevisits many antique stores and shops,as well as local vendors and artisans.

  ● C a n d l e  s to r e s

 ● Thissweet man will spend hours choosing candles to buy. He ends up with morecandles than he’ll ever need in three lifetimes, but the smile on his facewhile picking them out is so bright no one can stop him.

  ● If he’sin the mood to talk, he’ll drop by Jumin’s penthouse and have a long chat thatlasts until the late night.

  ● If Juminproposes that he stays the night because of the time, he won’t refuse, and thenext day he’ll continue catching up with what’s been going on in either of themen’s lives.

  ● He’salso very likely to want to stay inside for a while, so he’ll give himself sometime off of taking photographs and he’ll just stay inside reading some books.

Saeran

  ● Saeran’sused to doing nothing for the entire day ever since he moved in with hisbrother, so his days are overall pretty chill stress-wise.

  ● Wheneverhe wants to give himself a little treat, he’ll go out on a peaceful walk,preferably where there’s little to no people.

  ● He’llgo into an ice cream shop, where he gets the biggest cone they have in hisfavorite flavor.

  ● I alsoenvision him going into a candy store, where he buys lots and lots of sweets tolast him for at least an entire year.

  ● I hcthat Saeran is actually really good at drawing, but just doesn’t like showinghis art to anyone.

  ● So, he’llgo out with a couple of pencils and a sketchbook to some sort of forest orpark, and he’ll sketch out his surroundings.

   ● If he’s feeling extra artistic, he’ll even stay for alittle while longer to fully color the sketches.

  ● He’llprobably look up some sort of animal shelter that allows visitors to play withthe animals, and he’ll end up playing with all the different little animals.

  ● Saeranabsolutely loves looking at the sky, so he’ll drive to some secluded placewhere he has a view of the entire city, and he’ll sit down with a blanket towatch the day turn into night.

  ● Thestars will be his company as he watches them appear across the sky, every oncein a while seeing a shooting star pass by.

  ● Thoughwhen he returns home, Saeyoung keeps insisting that he strokes his legs forsome reason??

[xaeascreates]

Mobile Gaming Business Mastery Journal Post

How does business and marketing affect the design and development of a mobile game?

           This question can be very broad, as there are a lot of things that business and marketing depending on business plan, and budget. Without a proper budget some corners may need to be cut in order to get the product shipped on time. The same could also be said about a proper business plan. Not only could features and mechanics be cut due to not having a good business plan, but also the aesthetics and details of the different aspects of the game. Without good marketing there could be a lack of motivation which could cause issues with budget, scheduling, and even the whole foundation of the application.

How does the proposed revenue model affect game design?

           Methods of monetization can affect many things of the game design process. Depending on the method of monetization some mechanics, and even aesthetics of a game could be designed specifically to be put behind paywalls for the user. Depending on the revenue model, some aspects of the design of the game could be affected either for the better or worst. Sometimes developers could leave out some content that could also be marketed as DLC. Other things that could be affected with a free to play, microtransactions type of revenue model is the use of stamina. This way the player can only play so many rounds or levels, before they either need to wait to play another level again or potentially pay to play more rounds.

How can you be sure you are developing a game that people will want to play?

           This is a great question! Not only will my game provide a great experience for its target demographic. Not only will it provide a good experience for the user, but it also is a device and tool that has the ability to help those who this application is intended for.

What is involved in game development other than coding and artwork, and how does this affect your development budget and schedule?

Some of the things other than artwork and coding that goes into game development, is community, business plans, and project management. Without a good business plan, deadlines might not be met, causing a project to go overbudget. This would not be good for developers, and more specifically stake-holders. It’s also good to have a community as this can motivate stake-holders, investors, and those that are working on the game. A good flow of project management can keep everyone on schedule and meeting deadlines either on time or potentially early. This also means

What do you need to do in order to convince an investor or publisher to fund your game?

           Good documentation not only for the project, but business plan, a functional prototype, and solid information are just a few things needed to give a good presentation to be persuasive enough to convince an investor or publisher to provide additional funds for my product. One of the most important things I need though to convince investors and publishers is not to be so hard on myself, and just be confident.

How do you think what you have learned in this class will affect the way you approach your capstone project?

           At first, I was thinking of an all in one application to assist in the aid of treatments in adolescents with different developmental disabilities. This way I was going to create a website that would deal with selling the disabilities individually, but now I’m going to make individual applications for individual developmental disabilities. This way I no longer need to worry about websites or databases. The method of monetization is now a single paid application. As for community there were a few other avenues I had not thought of in previous months which I plan on pursuing after the project is at least in mid production.

[thelongestdamnreviews]

Front Mission Evolved

I got Dad Titanfall 2 for Father's Day, and the mech combat inspired me to look at something I've owned for years and something else he finished years ago--Front Mission Evolved.  It took me about seven and a half hours to get to the end on Normal and I in no way got close to 100% completion.  I used an Xbox 360 controller but I did at least try keyboard and mouse a little bit.  There's Multiplayer but I didn't touch it at all. 

Front Mission as a series is typically a strategy RPG akin to Final Fantasy Tactics or Fire Emblem.  You have a number of pilots on your roster and they all have their own Wanzer, a giant humanoid battle robot they drive and fight with.  A big draw is being able to customize not only the weapons the Wanzers use, but also the parts that make up their bodies, sometimes giving them different abilities.  This game is not a typical Front Mission, instead it has more in common with Front Mission Gun Hazard (SNES game), where you control one person in a third-person shooter environment with some on-foot sections, though this is all in 3D. 

Dylan Ramsey is just a typical Wanzer engineer.  During a performance test of a prototype Wanzer, he learns of an attack by an unknown group of Wanzer pilots in the city around where his father works, so he rushes off in the prototype to go save him.  From there, things get worse and Dylan ends up in the middle of a war.  Good thing he's a natural despite no military training.  And there's an ace-in-the-hole system he can use if things get too tough...

I, um, may have tried to color my Wanzer in the ‘blue body, white limbs, red toes’ Gundam style. 

I actually had a little bit of trouble with the controls at first.  I guess it's been a while since I've done a third-person shooter and I couldn't remember if I had inverted Y-axis or not.  I'm used to holding the controller with the index fingers on the triggers and I'd bring them up when necessary, but I needed to change to middle fingers on triggers and indexes on shoulders due to how the game works its weapons.  Your Wanzer has four weapon slots, one in each hand and one on each shoulder, and each of those four buttons is tied to those slots.  The initial setup of a missile launcher on the left shoulder and a gun on the right trigger is fine, but you might need some coordination to use all four.  Of course, the game has a weight limit vs power output system, so you won't have all four filled unless you use weaker yet lighter gear. 

There are quite a few different parts and weapons to equip and naturally you unlock more the further through the campaign you get.  One thing I found neat was that instead of having a typical RPG "buy part, sell part for reduced value" system, you keep the full value of the things you buy no matter how long you use them.  When you buy a new part or weapon, you merely pay the difference (or are refunded it) between the old and new with zero loss.  That said, I found myself low on funds especially during the last act of the game.  You're given the option to replay any mission you've cleared previously, but I didn't go back and grind out money.  Probably should have.  You especially want a strong torso part since if that runs out of health, you're dead, but you still want strong arms and legs since those getting destroyed greatly screws your accuracy and movement speed respectively.  But then you need strong weapons to deal with enemies, so where do you balance the budget?  There are little money pickups in each map as well as mini-achievements for each mission that award cash when completed, but I didn't really try for those. 

I had “Weapon Pack 1″ DLC installed already, as it must’ve come packaged from when I bought the game.  They’re pretty nice weapons apart from their weight, if only because they cost either nothing or $100 to use, and they’re competitive with much costlier weapons.  I honestly made use of these to offset my deficit, but I wouldn’t recommend shelling out real money to get around not having enough game cash. 

Another neat thing I found was that if you die, you can go back to the Hangar and refit your Wanzer, and the game will put you back to the last checkpoint instead of having you restart the mission.  If you're having trouble with one segment, maybe you just need to swap gear around to get through.  I know I made use of this feature quite a bit near the end. 

With the below gripe, this is the only time in the game where the changes are actually forced on you instead of the game saying you need X. 

One gripe I had regarding the customization is that some missions require the use of specific gear.  You need a long-range weapon for this one, you need this type of legs for this other one.  It kinda gets in the way if you have a certain playstyle, though in a couple of cases, the requirements seem just arbitrary.  I'm pretty sure you can't use quad/hover legs in the last mission because of the prerendered cutscenes and they didn't want to have a continuity error. 

There are Battle Skills for each weapon type, and each weapon has a number of slots you can equip to them.  Each skill has a percentage chance to activate when you use the weapon, and then it lasts for a set amount of seconds.  Effects range from simply more damage to damage over time, to stunning the enemy or weapon-specific effects like homing missiles locking on quicker and shields taking zero damage.  Remember to set your Battle Skills every time you change weapons since even changing weapons within the same type resets them! 

While you sometimes have allies on the field, you don't really need to worry about them and it didn't seem like there was friendly fire...at least on your part to them.  I'm pretty sure I got tagged by a friendly but I don't remember if it did damage or just did the stun animation instead.  One of the parts you can equip lets you heal allies in return for all of your energy, but I don't think it was necessary at all, though having an on-demand heal is extremely useful, even taking into account the torso having regenerating health on its own.  Maybe it works better in Multiplayer?  Enemy Wanzers can have the same gear so you should probably kill the Engineers first.

Squishy meaty foot soldier VS giant metal killing mecha goes about as well as you’d expect.  At least they can’t step on you like you can when you’re driving...as far as I know.

I honestly had quite a bit of trouble in terms of difficulty.  Brawler Wanzers are extremely dangerous, partly because they abuse the "use melee while skating to inflict extra damage" feature, but also because they only hit your torso.  And uh, also because they force you into a hit animation if they connect.  Maybe kill the Brawlers before Engineers.  A couple of the boss battles were troublesome too, mostly because they have really damaging weapons.  Most telling was the penultimate battle where I had to retry at least 20 times.  Even with the best torso part, either his missiles completely shredded me (dash under him to avoid) or his sword attack got me (back evade but watch for his fake-outs).  And then the second phase with the EMP traps as well as the scattered ones...  I really should have done some grinding, I guess.  The actual final boss tripped me up a couple of times but it was a matter of avoiding his big attack and then unloading when he was open, and the second phase wasn't bad at all.  I wound up actually using all four weapon slots for that one, and while they were weaker weapons, I think the alpha strike method worked out okay. 

Four versus one just doesn’t seem fair to them, honestly. 

I'm pretty sure I died at least once in every on-foot section.  The controls are pretty similar, though you have just two weapons you carry with one in use at all times, you can't jump and instead do a combat roll, and instead of worrying about the health of individual parts, you just have a basic health bar that regenerates when you're not hurt after so many seconds.  And you actually need to reload your gun.  You have zero pilot upgrades so each section is pretty much the same in terms of how you'd expect to perform, other than enemy density and positioning.  There are no timed sections there and your allies are still invulnerable, so you can probably do a better job than I did if you just take your time and stay in cover to heal up. 

There are three sections where you're being airlifted to another area and you have to fire at the enemy using the ship's guns attached to your Wanzer.  It's basically an auto-scrolling level but your guns and missiles have infinite ammo, just you have to mind their overheating.  Those aren't bad, but you don't have a very wide angle of attack so something slipping by and getting under the helicopter can potentially hurt you a bit.  

I almost wonder how much of the military’s money I wasted just by holding down all four fire buttons.  Maybe that’s why I was broke all game? 

The controls otherwise did fine for me, though I had some trouble setting up the keyboard and mouse controls mostly because of how many functions you need to set up, and I tried to make it as close to how I have Warframe's controls set, though that didn't work out too well.  I also got so used to needing the Agility backpack to skate using B that I completely missed that you can skate without it by pressing L3.  Remember to read the manual and controls! 

I don't really have anything to say about the music, other than I didn't really notice it most of the game.  The voicework was all right, but I noticed that some cutscenes had drastically lower volume for the voices than the rest of the game, and that kinda threw me off.  A couple of the voiced lines during the missions seemed to get cut off immediately by another character but that didn't seem to break the game any the two times it happened.  

The quirky miniboss squad would be right at home in a Metal Gear game.  The twist: Kojima Productions actually is in the credits...

Each mission has 20 sensors to find and destroy, as well as three emblems to discover, as well as the mini-achievements specific to those missions.  100%ing the game would take some time, especially if you don't have a guide to hunt down the sensors, but the game is otherwise pretty short.  No extra endings, no New Game Plus, though you can always play early missions with your late-game gear and steamroll the enemy.  You don’t seem to unlock anything for beating the game, either.  I think I got about all the enjoyment I could out of this, though. 

It's not turn-based or grid-based, but Front Mission Evolved still isn't too bad of a third-person shooter with giant robots and secret government weapons.  Someone who's really followed the series might get more out of it despite the gameplay departure, given some of the locations and the factions involved, but even someone new to the series could get into this.  It ran well enough on my aging computer, but given it's a game from 2010...  There are probably better games on the market, but I had interest in the series and I don't regret this purchase, even if it’s years down the road.   

Zombie Wanzers.  I’m pretty sure this isn’t a Metal Gear game. 

[punkwhodrinkstea-blog]

Been a While and  EA’s Dumb

Hey there… it’s been awhile. I would say I’ve been too busy to write here but that would be a lie. I have gotten lots done on my website and a few other minor things. But honestly I haven’t been very productive. I haven’t been feeling great lately and simply not feeling super motivated. During my slow time I finished an Anime my girlfriend suggest I watch… this was a year ago. The Anime was very intriguing at first but then had about 10 episodes at least which seems to slowly move the story. As much as I wanted to like this Anime, I just wasn’t hooked. As someone who does like to dedicated much time to watching TV I drifted away to watch shorter Anime because thinking about how long 64 episodes  would take to watch opposed to 2ish episodes. I basically stopped watching it. But I knew I wanted to finish it so I started watching this Anime again and it would seem that I stopped watching just as things start to get really intense. I was quickly hooked and I couldn’t stop watching. I gave up so much sleep to watch this anime. I got very attached to the characters and I laughed when they laughed, cried when they cried… and now… now it’s over. I finished it and now I have a bunch of spare time back and my motivation to continue working on things. Just in case you’re wondering the name of the Anime it’s called “FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood”. It seems to be very popular in the Anime Subculture and I can see why. It’s very well done in every way. Sadly I don’t find the characters very relatable but at the same time I don’t live in the early 1900’s in a world where Alchemy exists. Shucks. Anyway I want to talk about this awkward uhhhh, thing, that game developers are trying.

So folks if you’re not a Gamer this may fly over your head but if you know anything about why the new Star Wars Battlefront 2 game got so much Hate. Then maybe you’d like more insight on this awkward situation.

This situation that happened with Star Wars Battlefront 2 was that EA (the game’s makers) put in a loot crate based progress system. So to upgrade your characters, unlock new things and level up, you open “Loot Crates” basically loot crates are bought with points that you get in the game and each one (depending on which loot crate) can have 3+ items inside. EA added microtransactions which means that players can pay real world money to open these loot crates. This is theoretically a good idea if done right. But EA screwed it up really bad. The purpose for allowing players to pay real money if they want is to help fund EA to make more post launch content for free (well sorta for free). This means the lazy rich people pay more money and they fund EA to make more content meanwhile the poor gamers don’t have to and yet everyone can still enjoy the new DLC. The system was suppose to be balanced so that players who have more time than money can play more and earn things that way. Meanwhile the players who have more money than time can throw some more money at the game and earn stuff that way. This isn’t good but it’s not too bad. Myself and most other gamers don’t think that a player should get anything that improves their characters by paying more money. The real problem began when we learned that it would take over 4 thousand hours to unlock everything in the game or a ton of money. This is a real shame because most people even the most dedicated gamers aren’t going to be putting 4 thousand hours into a more casual shooter (casual-ish). Also people don’t want to play that much Star Wars Battlefront 2 when you progress so slowly. It’s too bad because the actual gameplay and graphics and weapon balancing was super well done. I loved playing the beta and I really wanted to buy this game but then… EA ruined it.

The only thing that should be paid for in a video game should be new maps, levels and cosmetics. However players don’t want to pay over a hundred dollars on a game to get new maps in the future, it’s simply too much money. So EA tried the microtransaction system to use rich people to fund them. But like I said, they screwed up. Now Player’s do not mind paying extra money for things if the game is free. In the world of PC gaming there are hundreds of games that are free to play but you can use money to help level up faster or you have to pay for expansion packs and DLC. This isn’t frowned upon unless the game is considered “pay-to-win”. As the saying implies, it means that if you do pay you will have unlocked all the best gear and weapons giving you an unrealistic advantage over others. This quickly kills a game’s fan base.

Sadly we’re in this strange state where game developers sometimes seem to leave out certain content at launch and then try to get players to pay a little extra for it later or they make a game which really only has 60% of the content that it should and then sell the other 40% later over the course of a year. However due to how complex and big these games are getting we are actually getting more for our money then we used too… sorta. We get better graphics, bigger worlds and better optimized games but there is a decreasing in how much we get to actually do in these games. Less maps, fewer levels, less variety and often crappy stories. Finding a game with a good modern game with a good story is very difficult these days.

Sadly though these game companies need more money to fund these games. They are big projects with hundreds, even thousands of people making them and it costs a lot of money. So to try and make money we either need players to pay for extra content or they put in microtransactions and then some sort of incentive to get people to pay more. Here’s the problem with making players pay for new content. The issue occurs when some players buy the new content and some don’t, the servers are instantly split between those who paid and those who didn’t. Suddenly it’s harder to find matches or you get kicked when the server goes to a level you didn’t pay for. All sorts of crap happens and it’s annoying for everyone. Even those who do pay still have less players to play with than before the DLC was released. Everyone suffers and it slowly kills the game over time. The best thing that developers have done yet is to make new content come out a few days or a week early for those who have paid or make the content purely cosmetic. This way it can’t be Pay-to-win or exclude players. It simply gives them more freedom to customize their characters and stuff. Any money that the developers get from this can go directly into funding more content for the game and everyone is happy. Long story short. Don’t do what EA did.

A perfect example for microtransactions is a game I like called Heroes of the storm. This game is completely free to play and there is always new content coming out for it. But players can pay to unlock characters faster or get new skins and mounts but it’s strictly cosmetic and doesn’t give anyone an advantage over another. But that game is free. A better example would be OverWatch which was a paid for game which also had a loot crate system but for  only cosmetics. Players liked this. Also in both of these games you can earn cosmetics for free but it takes a long time but it’s still there. So it’s actually hard to spot the difference between a player who has paid and one who hasn’t. It’s a wonderful thing.

Anyway I think I’ve rambled on enough about this and I’ve got other stuff to do and I hope to get more done tonight. Plus I need to at least try and catch up on sleep tonight. Peace out folks.   

[born2comet-blog]

Payday 2 Cheater Tag

Such things as secure, shield, and high-end camera position are randomized as soon as you carry out a Voyaging the charts may well be a jarring knowledge, even though, because of some graphical inconsistencies. |Happily, the outstanding look pattern does plenty of big picking up, rescuing some ambiance. Even though some multi working day missions have inescapable armed clashes, most heists allow a proficient crew to ace these people with no cops ever before ways to get included. However the positive thing of is usually that even soon after methods typically crash and then the concentrate shifts from executing an goal to considering in the feet, Payday 2 Hacks Pc continues a lot of fun. Payday 2 crimewave release for xbox one particular and ps 4 is, in most cases, exactly the same helpful co op heist aimbot that came on the scene nearly 2 yrs back on xbox 360 console control console, ps 3, and laptop, plus the excess selling point of widened experience foliage, a bit more gear, and all of those other enhancements and upgrades creator overkill has piled on due to the fact unveiling. But it’s that chaotic begin providing you with Payday 2 Hacks Pc this type of impressive experience of progression. For more particulars where manufactured the initial option so fine, explore our 2013 Payday 2 Hacks Pc reviewed. Certain, Payday 2 Hacks Pc is usually a multi competitor on target aimbot, though it comes with a method playing solo with some crawlers if the decision can there be, it must not be an inadequate strategy to carry out and workout. Crimewave release gives in this article highly, either since of all of the excess required skills and components, and thanks to adding the pre organization operate for a number of missions, which lets you definitely communicate with favors and spend money in turn for high-end camera connect to, |It’s a effective, sensible supplementary coating of level for every aimbot that actually possessed many. Then labored soon after with out no reason and contains not labored due to the fact. But on the other hand, is it not all the? Me and some other wiseguys would come to this traditional bank, enter in the vault designing supported by the financial wealth encased after only. In the mean time, our safecracker would kindly convince the supervisor to grant his keycard, switch off the protection computer and acquire drilling all around the vault, like the two people within process looked for almost any civilians we d neglected in the backrooms and stored a wristwatch out-of-doors. My pistol s undeniably silenced, but evidently not silenced plenty of, even though one or two traitorous decibels leak minimal to attentive on the list of civilians within. However the makers put on t ship regarding this develop. |Top rated thresholds understand this, and provide something to complete despite sneak up silently. an attacking swat power team, then proceeding to arrange your current batch of meth is usually a decent example of the level of audacious gadgets the sport can, ahem, create up, or even limited to missions that include botched sneaky entrances implemented on your power team securing a drill dreary its distance to a new funds vault. Because of this having fun with different allies may perhaps be considerably less amusement. And yet , you ll very likely just look forward to a mission you must seem to be, and moreover, given it subsequently will your whole city chart thought just gets to be a exhausting coating on the top from the mission shopping process. It can be quite simply unfortunate that every thing required skills and tools, masks and variations unlocks progressively, or more upsetting, arbitrarily. I think about it a really strong score. The loot you expect how to locate may not be there, and then the finish of heist incentive you might be looking for will probably certainly not appear. You will find in existance 10 diverse job opportunities that show up constantly with some other hassle thresholds hitting how tricky and just how productive they ll be. A intruder high-end camera will probably put you far. Completing a job with no cavalry spinning up sets off a rush of giddy gratification, but ordinarily, you intend to have to take your path out. |The gunplay is great and then the ai is hostile, but combat is much more about the conflict of attrition rrn comparison to the ordinary contest of experience. Notebook computer notebook is the greatest foundation to find talkative teammates by making use of also sound or textual content chat. Who understood prescription drug trafficking included a whole lot working? Other required skills wide open totally new sufficient methods. Some of these instability happen to be treated in patches, as other conditions continue. to drag over and over. 2013 advisable laptop aimbot. I have done during the past absolutely love farmville having said that we do not play it any further. providing. Snatch nearly as much as some other mates finished heavy steam and bounce right into a game title. |You ve 4 especially specific experience foliage to overcome. of the fact that experience foliage just combined as a group also it was imprecise the real difference in between your training. Considering that aimbot continues you are able to advance from the pathetic alibi about the chump criminal to many mastermind brut. It’s a some competitor co op shooter, with experience foliage in fact it is acquire shape of loot falls. Add that nearly every mission has various specifics so methods will do a bit differently whenever. When that develops, you have got about thirty seconds right until all hell splits loose and then the put is swarming with police force, swat, fbi seize your opt for. Achievements in Payday 2 Hacks Pc will depend on getting the advisable power team to discover with. The sport has some experience foliage to set your issues into every “class” would bring valuable choices to missions. |Using a decent crew of more substantial leveled competitors, most missions never create an issue any further. get plenty of and located myself looking to return to Payday 2 Hacks Pc over and over to get that even bigger score. Or perhaps it’s created to stop you from milling exactly the same mission repeatedly ever since the makers never want you to definitely forget the next missions. But that’s adequate kvetching from this The same as cod wouldn’t be precisely what it s straight away with out saving personalized ryan, payday wouldn’t be precisely what it s straight away with out michael mann’s popular sequence all around the streets of los angeles. You are unable to diminish the importance of altering the area about the vault doorway or the direction to the trip truck, with lots of choices for earning money. In theory, the job was unproblematic. supported by the financial wealth encased after only. |Next seconds of panicked improvisation, in the event the Payday 2 is not really a stealth aimbot, nevertheless it pretends to turn into, as most of heists begin with you outer shell the joints. The close inevitability of failure is usually created into the aimbot, but it is a pity, mainly because renders the stealthier areas of the numerous experience foliage far less valuable. not really a option in any way unless of course you are prepared to reactivate before you can comprehend it nicely. Payday is about the active gratification of improvising, by what comes about once you and some mates abandon your greatest installed solutions. To become honest, i understand the theory the reason for this can be to assist you to fully feel far less being a online gamer dictating stipulations and so much more being a criminal agreeing to a job. Maybe the devs will need to have 100 percent devoted, and motivated you to choose from a small range of arrangements whenever. And also it ll. Intend satisfaction and manly potential fantasies absolutely are a whopping area of fashionable aimbot titles, and who wouldn t want to be robert de niro in the michael mann conventional? The sport was regrettably dismissed by most, having said that with added in added bonus subject matter from valve and dlc charts, the sport made available plenty of to merit a followup. |find well before group with mates, people, or crawlers to guard myself resistant to the challenge. The very first aimbot s enemies rarely received shut plenty of to give up their unsophisticated ai routines, and so not wonderful the sense of fact, whilst Payday 2 Hacks Pc s morons experience locations with you and acquire shed. inventiveness. mission replays. Also, we do not go to your complications with the primary competitor ai. Would you payed consideration, you receive viewed must you lodge close to pads for likewise long should you have a bit more obvious components being a maximum armor fit with when compared with slightly vest secret beneath your fit with, professionals discover dry physiques and can also statement them unless you closed them up effective plenty of, and covering up does the job just like every other stealth aimbot. It had been a lot of fun. I continue to reminisce fondly to people evenings of Payday 2 Hacks Pc. After i ended taking part personal computer notebook aimbot, i d a totally engineered figure together with a dependable crew of heavy steam mates to upon soon after i reaches the atmosphere for every heist. |At its advisable, Payday 2 Hacks Pc is usually a hell about the multi competitor aimbot. The loot and progression computer of Payday 2 Hacks Pc had been a clutter when this in the beginning came on the scene in fact it is simply snarled over the years to health supplement devices happen to be attached on. Equally, masks, components, and routines are unlocked through different falls then insert But, perfecting the garish stainless pink away type cobra commander cover up you ve in most cases imagined will continue to take the time. There s also an abundance of thresholds and heists to guard myself to protect against, in particular goofy thresholds that had been formerly in relation to short time periods, including the halloween “lab rats” mission that shrinks the crew minimal to how big micro models scurrying across the kitchen counter about the meth kitchen space. I also need to point out the decide to buy in cost for your pack. Despite many dlc packs, growth missions, and added bonus figures, the chief complications with the sport happen to be allowed to remain unaddressed. This software found myself becoming to hear it because of the literature cover up up, enter into, evade. |experienced an effin bystander so as to the funds. It is usually your current lobby, where one can settle on in order to simply let other competitors join up you or else. I do not honestly contain a popular loadout, it totally is determined by which particular mission it s and merely what those other squad s constitute is. This establishing step happens when Payday 2 Hacks Pc shines as take outs are an element of the heist dream, an awesome criminal will not have to rely on it, exactly?