#i will probably be updating this every now and then with new rpgs that i get

[localghostgorl]

I recently compiled all the RPGs that I have on my computer into a google drive. If anyone wants to peruse, here's the link! I have a bunch of the D&D 5e stuff, as well as a few other systems (including but not limited to Blades in the Dark, 13th Age, and Vampire: The Masquarade 5e). Go forth and have fun :)

[slarpg]

itch.io's 2023 Halloween Sale is here! You can currently grab Super Lesbian Animal RPG on itch.io for 30% off!!

PLUS, we've got a new patch with a handful of bug fixes! As always, Steam players will get the update automatically, while itch players can get the latest build from the store page. Full patch notes for v1.2.3 below.

Skill changes:

Melody's lower level Woodland Paladin spell, Woodland Healing, has been reworked and buffed. Rather than scaling with Melody's Magic stat, it now heals for a flat 20% of the target's max HP every turn for four turns. For most builds, this should be a notable buff. It should also no longer make a damage sound when the healing is applied. And, while I was at it, I threw in a new version of the healing spell animation that displays the Woodland spec's symbol.

Music fixes:

Returning to the Sapphire Coast early in Act II and fighting the enemies there should no longer cause the Basement Dungeon music to play afterwards.

Exiting the Neon Labyrinth while the dungeon remains incomplete will now no longer make the Neon Labyrinth battle theme play for battles in the desert.

Exiting the Flurry Mountains and returning should no longer cause the incorrect battle music to play in the area.

Other fixes:

On the Hiking Trail, Melody's sprite will no longer disappear for the slightly different version of the scene that plays if the party is defeated by the Hole Hound. (The fact that it took me so long to receive a bug report on this goes to show how rare it is for people to see that dialogue lmao)

The KO status no longer displays a popup when removed, mainly in an effort to deal with rare cases where the popup was remaining on the screen after the battle.

On a related note, there's no longer a popup for the Guard status being removed at the end of the turn. Both of these were probably unnecessary visual clutter.

Addressed an error in Act IV where Melody could retain the original version of a spell after learning its upgraded replacement. Changing Melody's paladin specialization via the method unlocked at that point in the story should now properly remove the old spell from her skill list.

Other minor fixes.

[loopy777]

It’s unbelievable that the Maiko Breakup Subplot has lasted for 13 years. It’s unacceptable that the last update we had with Mai and Zuko was 10 years ago. 50% of Maiko fanfics have been the “Getting Back Together” trope. It took over 10 years for them to be cordial after the breakup, so now it will probably take another 10 years for them to begin dating again. Why do you think Bryke is dragging this subplot for this long? 

Either it's the highest priority on their list and most lavish sequence in the upcoming Adult GAang Movie will be the Maiko reunion, or it's the lowest priority on their list and the Dark Horse team is like, "Ooh, I just had an idea for a comic: Iroh and June faff about for 80 pages! The fans will love that! Better push the next Mai comic out another 6 months."

But that's also part of the problem, isn't it? Monthly comic books are 24-32 pages. The 'graphic novels' we're getting are 80 pages and come out roughly every 6 months, and the stories could honestly often be refined down to a smaller page count and actually end up hitting harder. So even the illusion of progress we're getting is so slow that the multiple generations of the young target audience have come and gone.

It doesn't help that this plot is from an era in the franchise when the comics had the priority for the continuing adventures of the gAang, and now we have animated movies and an RPG getting continuous expansions and Little Golden Books and maybe someday a videogame that will tell a real story. So I really do think that Avatar Studios might be rejecting any pitches that don't have enough faffing about in them.

I do have to note, though, that whatever the reason, I don't blame the Mike and the Bryan for most of this. I would honestly be a little surprised if both of them even know that Maiko is currently broken up in the comics. Not 'shocked,' exactly, but I'd actually say out loud, "Huh. They do know about it. I guess they do read those memos."

I would keel over in shock, though, if I learned they've both actually read the finished versions of the comics and not just a list of plot points in approval emails. I can't get coworkers to read emails directly relevant to the work they're responsible for, never mind stuff a bunch of affiliates are doing for a relatively tiny customer-base. And Bryke are overseeing both at least one animated movie and one animated series.

(Which now makes me wonder which has more readers: the YA novels or the Dark Horse comics. Or is the cookbook beating them both? What is the true lowest priority in the entire multimedia franchise? The books, comics, and RPG get a New York Comic Con panel every year, so maybe it's the statues and toys.)

[tiredfoxtf]

No, Minecraft haven't gotten "worse" over the years. No, new updates haven't "killed" Minecraft. No, Minecraft itself didn't become "boring".

If it was a case, everyone would be still playing on idk a 1.12.2. But no one does that. With every update it gets more painful to play on old versions. I could never reverse to playing without gorgeous mangrove wood, new beautiful terrain and ever useful elytra. And I am not alone. There's a reason people play on newer versions of the game, why modders continue to update their mods newer versions. There's a reason why people are excited for Trial Chambers and new wolves variants. Minecraft only gotten more fun.

I'm sorry to be the one who breaks it to you, but if you think Minecraft is boring now it's one of the two: 1) You're playing Minecraft wrong or 2) Minecraft is not a game for you.

1.You're playing Minecraft wrong. Which is, admittedly, a pretty hard thing to do in my opinion. Minecraft is a game about getting resources and using them to create your own world. It's a sandbox of which you are the sole player (or not, if you are in multiplayer), where you challenge yourself on what next amazing thing you can create. You can be a builder, making castles and spaceships, you can be a redstoner be it a practical redstone or logic redstone, you can be a modder making your own little elements, adding them to the game in a way you would like (a bit of a more advanced hobby than the others). You can join public servers to play entirely vanilla mini-games. Become a parkour master or pvper on the different public servers. Call your friends and make a private multiplayer world, where you race each other in resources or work together to create something, prank each other, build elaborate traps, escape rooms anything and everything.

The goal of the game is NOT to kill the Ender Dragon. The goal of the game is NOT to get maxed out netherite gear. The goal of the game is NOT to get every achievement even, but achievement hunting CAN be a fun game to play with your friends. Or speedrun all of the achievements/to kill end dragon, trying to optimize your skills.

Otherwise killing the ender dragon, getting a full gear and equipment are just part of the experience. Just like fishing, mining, getting wood. Minecraft is Not an rpg, where you go on quests to finish a main plotline, where you level up and monsters get harder, no. All hard content is Optional. That's the point. Not to say irrelevant when we talk minigames servers. Minecraft is a sandbox, survival is just one of the gamemodes.

2.Minecraft is not a game for you.

And that's OK! Although Minecraft is a beautiful game, it may not be for you. The games that are for everyone, are for no one. Not all games born equal in the eyes of a player. You probably like other games! Like Terraria or Starbound, maybe you enjoy Zelda games, maybe you are a Genshin player. They are very different games, if you bored playing Minecraft, it's time close it and to play something you enjoy.

[winterwolvesgames]

Indie games and funding

Today, I’d like to dive into a topic that we game developers often debate in our private discussions, though it might not be something players are fully aware of.

Up until around 2016 (if memory serves), I was creating games without relying on crowdfunding. Then that year, I launched a Patreon, which provided support for my projects through 2020. That year was a turning point for me, not just because of everything else going on, but because I released what remains my most ambitious game to date: Planet Stronghold 2 (though Thieves of Dingirra is about to “dethrone” it!).

Lakadema was one of my favorite characters from Planet Stronghold 2

After the success of my 2018 RPG Cursed Lands, which left me feeling optimistic, I had high expectations for Planet Stronghold 2. I’m the kind of person who always braces for the worst-case scenario. For this game, I set my baseline at a very modest sales figure—less than a third of what Cursed Lands earned in its launch week. (Of course, long-term sales are harder to predict, so I was mainly focused on that first week and month.)

Little did I know that back in October 2018, Valve decided to roll out an “algorithm update” that effectively tanked visibility for anything that wasn’t a AAA title or an indie darling. Over the next three to four years, I watched about a third of the developers I knew either quit the industry or turn to publisher funding, sacrificing what I’d call their “true indie” spirit.

So when Planet Stronghold 2 launched, it was an absolute trainwreck. Even now, five years on, its sales don’t come close to touching Cursed Lands. The thing is, I eventually realized it wasn’t about the game’s quality—it was all down to Steam’s new rules.

Cursed Lands’ most popular characters were surely the two nagas, Sylrissa and Enok

This shift didn’t just change completely my business, it hit nearly every indie dev I knew. The only ones who dodged the fallout were those with an established fanbase or enough money to fund massive ad campaigns.

Here comes the money

Later in 2020, I decided to try crowdfunding for my first game in the Tales From The Under-Realm series, and it went really well. I might’ve mentioned this before, but I like to figure out my “virtual salary” by dividing the money a game makes by the months it took me to create it.

I’ll always have fond memories of Hazel, my first crowdfunded game

Well, Hazel’s virtual salary was about four or five times higher than Planet Stronghold 2’s! Mainly thanks to the fact that Kickstarter’s commission is only 10% vs 35% of Steam (they say 30% but with various fee and refunds it’s closer to 35%). Of course, it doesn’t always work out that way. Some projects, like House of Chavez, barely broke even, mostly because I wanted to make the game better and ended up spending extra cash from my own pocket.

That’s when it hit me: crowdfunding isn’t just nice to have; it’s a must to keep going. It doesn’t mean you’ll automatically succeed, but it helps you avoid losing money and lets you plan better.

Here’s why: if I know I’ve got a set budget for a game, I can figure out all the costs ahead of time. Then I can decide what’s really important to spend on and what I can skip if it’s not essential to the game.

Pre-production phase and conclusion

Unlike many indie developers, I don’t hold off on starting a game until all the funding is secured. Waiting for full funding can cause serious setbacks (think of all those Kickstarted games delayed by years!) and it’s tough to convince people to back you without something tangible to show. You can’t just pitch “I’m building a town sim with RPG combat and blah blah blah” without at least a working prototype or screenshots/gameplay videos to back it up.

making the map work decently was probably the biggest task of this game! took about 1 month!

That’s why I made sure Thieves of Dingirra had its core gameplay nailed down before launching its Kickstarter. It’s also why, even for a basic visual novel crowdfunding campaign, I aim to have a full plot outline, the main cast’s character art and a few CGs ready beforehand.

But then comes the tricky part: once the funding’s in, do I call it done, or do I spend an extra month or two—and more cash—adding new features or content? It’s a tough call, and honestly, there’s no universal answer. With House of Chavez, I went all in, pouring way more money into it than I raised because I wanted it to be the best it could be. Looking back, it wasn’t a smart financial move, but sometimes pride in your work outweighs the bottom line.

Conclusions

There’s a huge difference between blindly sinking a year (or more!) and a ton of money into a project like Planet Stronghold 2 with no guarantee of breaking even, and investing a couple extra months and a few grand to polish something you’ve already fully funded and you do it only because you want to make it the best possible. That’s the line I try to walk.

By the way, even if Thieves of Dingirra’s Kickstarter has ended, it’s still possible to do late pledges to add more one-night stand scenes to the Traveler’s Delight! Check it out.

[familiaralien]

Giant monster tamer megathread

Decided for the sake of education and my own neurodiversity to make a post including every video game series or stand alone title I know of that focuses on creature capturing competitions that isn't Pokemon.

One big exception: the game has to be a reasonably playable state. So no games that are effectively or literally lost media (like Micromon) or games that only playable state is currently a short demo (like Bestieball). With that in mind here we go:

Digimon

This one is pretty obvious. While more of a multimedia franchise it has tons of games to its IP. The one that probably would appeal most to Pokenerds is Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth and its sequel as they're turned based RPGs with a monster capture mechanic.

Monster Rancher

Another one I think a lot of folks have heard about or least millennials would remember. I haven't personally played any of these titles myself but from what I gather they're raising sims with tournament combat. For a while their availability was mostly limited to emulation but Monster Rancher 1 and 2 have been ported to modern systems like the Switch.

Yo-kai Watch

A mid 2010s franchise that had a whole lot of initial success in Japan. Its an RPG series that doesn't take itself very seriously with cute and goofy monster design based on the Japanese folklore creatures called... well yokai. Has real time combat instead of turn based and more luck based capturing mechanics than Pokemon.

Palworld

Brand new game that's only in its alpha release as of now. Its effectively a parody of Pokemon where you're stuck trying to survive in the wilderness so you must build a base and farm resources to survive. Game did have some initial controversy due to some of its designs stepping a little TOO close to being outright ripoffs of existing designs. Also you can capture and enslave humans which may not vibe with some folks.

Temtem

Basically Pokemon meets a MMO lite. The game can be played mostly as single player campaign but does unfortunately still require a constant internet connection. Battles are turned based but 2 versus 2.

Shin Megami Tensei

What could be consider the original monster tamer game. The series is aimed at a somewhat older audience and the plots tend to be more philosophical then like "gotta be the best *insert title here* ever". Focuses a lot on fusing monsters as well as trying to convince them to join you. You actually battle alongside your monsters.

Dragon Quest Monsters

Monster Capturing mechanics do exist in the mainline DQ games as well (at least since DQ5 I think?) but its these games have them as the main gameplay. Much like SMT it focuses on fusing monsters as one of the main ways to expand your library off available species.

Nexomon

Franchise that started its life as a mobile game but has since gotten ports to other systems. Its very similar to Pokemon in terms of creature designs and combat but the worldbuilding is quite different as is its tone being a lot more comedic.

Coromon

Indie game with visuals similar to Pokemon Black and White. Its story was originally kinda so-so and its ending pretty abrupt but its since gotten a free patch that smoothed that out quite a bit. Also has a sorta unique "shiny" system where alternate colors are associated with higher potential which can actually be altered once. Also has a built in randomizer and "nuzlocke" mode.

Cassette Beasts

A pretty recent indie game. Unlike all the others you don't capture or hatch monsters but rather record them to transform into them yourself. Battles are always between you and a companion which there are multiple to befriend throughout your journey (including a dog!). Has some really interesting quirks with its type chart that adds a lot of extra depth. Will soon be releasing a mutiplayer update for anyone that's into that kind of thing.

Monster Crown

A game with visual based on the Gameboy era. It has some pretty fascinating breeding mechanics and a somewhat darker tone than Pokemon. WARNING: DO NOT GET THE SWITCH PORT! For whatever reason its especially glitchy and I have genuinely gotten entire save files ruined by game breaking bugs (such as my player character getting stuck in walls or clipping out of a bounds). As far as I'm aware the PC version is not nearly as much as a mess though.

Monster Sanctuary

Monster collecting meets metroidvania. Has a really fun skill tree type move learning system that allows for quite a bit of strategy. Also the monster designs are way less Pokemon and more inspired by traditional roleplay monsters (so there's like Goblins and stuff). My only gripe with the game is how you get monsters involves getting specific scores in battle which makes getting 1 of each monster way more tedious than it needed to be.

Fossil Fighters

Franchise is maybe dead since there hasn't been a new entry in it since the 3DS but its still easy enough to these games. Anyway this series involve reviving dinosaurs (and some other ancient animals) into new lifeforms called vivosaur and using them in 3 on 3 combat. Vivosaurs are obtained with a fossil digging minigame which is kinda neat.

Spectrobes

Another franchise that's been pretty dead for a while (it last entry was on the Wii). Spectrobes has a more sci fi like setting with its monsters being aliens you revive from fossils. Combat is real time and you participate alongside a couple of your monsters. I'm btw describing only the first game because I haven't played either sequel!

Evocreo

Mobile only monster game with a style similar to Pokemon Black and White not unlike Coromon mentioned above. Has a lot of focus on split path evolution. The devs are apparently going to release a sequel soon but its been in development hell for years so I'll come back and edit this if that actually happens.

Monster Hunter Stories

I have not played nor watched gameplay of this one so I can't really describe it that deeply all I know is its a spinoff of Monster Hunter involving befriending and using the titular monsters in combat.

Telefang

Its sad this game series is most famous for being badly translated and repackaged as a Pokemon game. Anyway these are Japanese only titles though fan translations exist. The gimmick of this game is that you call monsters up on your cellphone to get them over to participate in combat. This series this sprout out when cellphones were consider newfangled and hip so it makes sense.

Anode Heart

Pretty sure this one is PC only. Takes some inspiration from the Digimon World games and is semi open world. Sadly this one I don't know much about outside of that though it does have a free demo on Steam for anyone that wants to try it for themselves.

Ooblets

Extremely wholesome monster catching and farming game. Battles are actually dancing competitions instead of violent confrontations and monsters are recruited simply by beating them in a fight. Thing is monsters will only fight you if you offer them their favourite food so that's where strategy comes in.

Moonstone Island

I know very little about this one except its also a monster catching and farming game. I've heard that its really good though and I believe its PC only right now but has a planned Switch port.

Timenet

Probably the most obscure ass monster tamer on this entire list. This is a Japanese exclusive set of Gameboy games featuring very cute monster designs... and Hello Kitty. Yes Sanrio made a monster tamer back in the late 90s. I only learned this even existed after scrolling down a comment section on a random YouTube video.

Abomi Nation

I'm mostly excluding roguelike games due to most having nothing but battles an 0 plot but this one does actually has a story! You play as the actual monster as you make your way through somewhat randomly generated maps with lots of other randomized elements. The game allows for a lot of customization including turning off permadeath if you're not a fan of that. The visual style is a bit crude but its still a pretty cute game.

Jade Concoon

Another somewhat obscure entry but at least this one got an English release. Anyway its an old RPG for the PSX with monster capturing and a very fascinating monster fusing mechanic that uses an algorithm to determine the appearance of the fusion. The player character can also participate in battle and the plot is very complex. The game also has a sequel on the PS2 but I know even less about that one.

Robopon

Now if you thought Palworld was bordering on some copyright infringement this game is basically nothing but "Pokemon but the designs are robots". Still worth bringing up I think!

Ni No Kuni

Not sure how I got to mentioning several obscure titles and somehow didn't mention something that really isn't. Ni No Kuni is real time battles between you and 2 party members. You can both battle as the actual human characters or switch into a monster. Wrath of the White Witch's visual style in particular is very whimsical and even has some animated cutscene done by Studio Ghibli. I haven't played any other game in the franchise.

Siralim

I haven't played any entry in this series yet (there's apparently 4 games + a spinoff) but from reading up on the most recent entry these are basically procedurally generated dungeon crawlers with an insane level of depth. The story is apparently not that great but the games themselves apparently also make fun of it so it seems its an intentional dev choice. Battles are 6 on 6 and there's over 1000 monsters to collect.

Disc Creatures

A monster tamer with a visual style similar to the Gameboy and Gameboy Color. It has 3 on 3 combat. Impressively I'm pretty sure it was developed by just one person in the RPG Maker engine (I'm honestly surprised this is the first indie game made with ya know... an engine meant for turned based RPGs).

Monster Harvest

A Dungeon crawler mixed with farming. Its a bit shorter than anything else I've mentioned here and its a bit glitchy but its a cute little game worth picking up on sale at the least. Notably also only about a 1/3 of the monster in the game are combative with the rest being either used for farming resources or as mounts.

Loomian Legacy

A Roblox monster tamer.... yes there's 2 of those in this (I could even have added 3 but I think one is in still a pretty early state). Pretty sure this started as a Pokemon fangame and become its own thing later. It has your typical 1 on 1 turn based combat and all that. I think its free to play and there's like several hours of content on it so maybe worth a gander.

Tales of Tonorio

Pretty sure this is the same basic deal as Loomian (Roblox game, started as a Pokemon fan game, etc etc) though its has its own world building and creature designs since I'm pretty sure its made by a completely different team.

So yeah that's all of them I can think of right now. If I learn of others and/or there's new releases I may expand this.

PS: There is almost certainly numerous typoes in this. This post is way longer than anything else I've ever made on Tumblr so I can't be arse to fix them you're just going to have to deal!

[theroseofconnaught]

Making a Unit

Before I can get started with Total Chaos, I'll need to make a mercenary unit. Now, most Battletech players probably already have a personal mercenary unit and there are countless ways to go about making one.

In this post I want to highlight what I consider the single greatest method for making a mercenary unit. To follow along you'll need a copy of Field Manual: Mercenaries (Revised).

You can buy a PDF from DrivethruRPG for about $11 or you could probably find a free copy online somewhere. Near the back of the book you'll find this form.

Step 1

This is what makes this my favorite method. Step 1 is to make a whole-ass RPG character to be the unit's founder. The book is written to use Mechwarrior 3rd Edition/CBT RPG but converting it to A Time of War is pretty easy since the AToW Companion includes tables for converting skills and stats between editions. If you are using a ruleset like Mechwarrior 2nd edition or Destiny that doesn't include life-paths you can still use the Fast Generation section to approximate your character.

So here's our commander. Benjamin Edgar, an LCAF marine turned mercenary. After nearly a decade in the mercenary trade, he's opting to form his own unit. Using his RPG stats to fill out Step 1 gives us,

The columns labeled Same,Comp,Dist are the types of troops you get based on whether their Role is the Same, Complimentary or Distant to the commander.

Since Ben is a Battle Armor trooper his role goes down as Infantry. This means a unit he creates will be mostly infantry and tanks with few fighters or 'Mechs

Step 2:

Next we pick a hiring hall and get recruiting.

I went with Galatea, I wanted to stay within the Commonwealth and I don't think Ben would visit Arc-Royal or Solaris to recruit.

Running the paths, The next step is alternating runs of recruiting and minor contracts to build up the unit. Because of the story I want to tell, Ben doesn't have long to prepare his new unit and they won't undertake any minor jobs before we start the campaign.

Step 3:

Now that the personnel pools are totaled we have to find out what they actually are.

We just roll on this table, moving left to right, until everything is worked out. Then we apply those results to a Random Assignment Table (RAT), I used the Lyran and Mercenary tables from Field Manual: Updates because it's about the right time frame. Which leaves us with,

*All this is heavily simplified. If you want every step and modifier, get the Field Manual.

[deebormzone]

Deeborm's Big New Year's Gamer Post!

Happy New Year!

Will it be a happy new year? Probably not. But as the Greek philosophers once wrote:

pls rember that wen u feel scare or frigten never forget ttimes wen u feeled happy wen day is dark alway rember happy day

And in the spirit of those wise words, here's some good stuff I've enjoyed recently, as well as some stuff to look forward to in the year to come.

Yet Another Steam Sale

It's been a long time since these sales have been anything special, but for Gamers like me, they're still good opportunities to scan for bargains.

I mainly look for indie games on deep discounts. Bonus points if they're relaxing. I'm an old man now, and if something on screen moves too quickly I panic and drop my mouse.

Wilmot Works it Out

The perfect game for me. You play as a happy square who puts jigsaw puzzles together and then has a cup of tea. I think there may soon be a too-close-to-home subplot about how Wilmot needs to go touch grass, but for now I am safe.

Webfishing

It's Animal Crossing but for fishing only. Also allows the player to talk to freaks online while doing the fishing. Very relaxing, and there's progression! Unfortunately fishing is dull so I can only do this for 5 minutes at a time.

Atlyss

I was pretty skeptical of this one despite hearing about how good an action RPG it is, but then it went on sale and I gave up trying to avoid it. Movement is fast and fluid! But you have to use that speed to skillfully avoid enemies. Harder than expected! Maybe I picked a bad class (rogue?).

Grindstone

I love Match-3 games! But it feels like nobody really makes them nowadays. The most popular one lately is, what, Huniepop? And I'm not usually about that life.

Grindstone isn't a Match-3 but it's close. It has the player drawing a line through colors of enemies, and then you get a bunch of points. Satisfying, but I wish they didn't use so much toilet humor. I hate that shit, literally.

Robo Quest

As part of my endless quest to find a Borderlands game that doesn't have Borderlands humor (see: toilet), I picked up this one. Great so far; despite the action it's fast and fun. Roguelites are favorites of mine since in those, even failure has its benefits.

Additional Gaming (Non-Steam Sale) (Real)

Palworld

I finally got an upgraded computer, so I can finally play this one!

I think I've finally grown out of Pokemon. It just feels dopey these days, and I suspect that's because it always was, I just never cared until now. But the disease (Pokerus?) still festers within me.

Thus, Palworld. It's been doing very well for itself lately! It's not really a Pokemon successor, but it does a lot of stuff with the concept that Pokemon won't do, and I don't mean the factory farming or automatic weaponry. Having your Pals use their powers to help with building and cooking really adds to the team-building feel of the game, while also reducing the tedium of base building.

Fallout 4

As part of my endless quest to find a Borderlands game that doesn't have Borderlands humor (see: toilet), here's Fallout again. I love the series but I've played it exhaustively. To keep things fresh, I'm trying the ultra hard Survival Mode, which should last about 10 more minutes before a roach kills me and I give up.

Against the Storm

This roguelike town-builder has had a bunch of updates since I played it last. For one thing, it's now possible to beat the game. I think.

There are also a bunch of new resources, like "tea". But it's not for drinking - the only use for tea is something called "treatment" at the "Tea Doctor". I don't know what that means, but the people in my settlement love it so much that I win games due to accumulated happiness. Until proven otherwise, I'll assume the Doctor pours it directly onto people's heads.

The Game Awards 2024

I got tricked into watching TGA again this year. I know it's going to be mostly crap, but I fall for it every time anyway. Fortunately they got the top shelf Muppets to attend this time.

I don't really care about the awards themselves. I'm mostly in it for the reveals. But there were some good ones!

Dog Game 2 is frankly astonishing. Team Clover's revival also means Viewtiful Joe could be back on the table as well, but I won't get greedy. This game will do for now, and I look forward to its release in 2035.

Project Century is also interesting. I don't know if it's Yakuza or what, but it sure looks like it. LaD Ishin was a lot of fun in its historical setting, and this could be similar.

It's a lot of fun seeing Balatro nominated for Game of the Year at the Game Awards (and elsewhere). The game industry nowadays is made of billion dollar projects worked on by thousands of people, all of whom get laid off five minutes before release. And this year, sitting next to them at the pinnacle of the medium, is one guy with a deck of cards.

The most dramatic depiction of this is the Game Awards GOTY medley, which is always a highlight of the show.

Nowadays the Game Awards gets more viewers than the Super Bowl, and here on the world stage is the main theme - and only song - from Balatro being played by full orchestra right next to fucking Elden Ring. That poor solo dev must feel like he's in a permanent, waking dream.

My one complaint about Balatro is that it means my beloved UFO 50, probably my own GOTY, got snubbed in every indie category. Mossmouth worked on that gargantuan collection for years and years, and deserved better. I hope it shows up again for a console release - it'd be perfect on Switch.

The Future Of Gameing

There's some good stuff coming up soon.

Firstly is Dog Game 2 (pirate edition). This will be short for an RGG game but I'm down for anything the studio puts out.

One day later is Civilization 7, which is currently PC Gamer's Most Anticipated Game.

This is actually a very big deal for me. I grew up playing Civ 2, back when you would earn fabulous AMVs for building world wonders.

And lately I've been playing a LOT of Civilization. It's the perfect old man game.

Of course Civ 7 screwed up the whole series formula and is going to be a lot more expensive, but that's true of any new installment of anything. It's possible the changes to core systems could actually make a more enjoyable game.

Also the playable leaders are getting real crazy. You get to be Machiavelli.

He claimed that his experience and reading of history showed him that politics has always involved deception, treachery, and crime. He advised rulers to engage in evil when political necessity requires it, and argued specifically that successful reformers of states should not be blamed for killing other leaders who could block change.

Speaking of which, the Switch 2 is likely to release this year.

I'm not too excited about having to buy another console. Nintendo hasn't been great lately - probably because they're getting ready for Switch 2 - so they'd need some solid launch titles to grab me. It would take either

A new 3d Mario AND a new 3d Zelda

or

Smash

In Closinge

This might be the year I get back to work on my own game, Evil Justice.

Right now, it's a story with 146,000 words, with about a four-hour playtime. I think it's the most successful project I've ever had!

But between the effort required and my demanding job, I've fallen off. Lately, though, I've been feeling some of that old drive... fingers crossed.

That's all for now. I hope everyone has a very good 2025! If I've learned anything, it's that self-esteem is the key, so make sure to treat yourself like a friend.

[apsupmix]

Apsup’s Top games of 2024

At the start of the year, I decided to start putting down games I finished, to make a little list I can look at the end of the year. I probably forgot to update it couple times, and it doesn’t have anything I didn’t “finish”, which means no matter how much I played Granblue Versus, it ain’t on the list. Ultimately it was something meant just for me, and now I’m using it to make Top 5 list. Bit late to the GOTY party, but that’s because everyone else is early, December still counts. Not an ordered list, I’m not comparing these to each others.

1. Trails Through Daybreak

I’m Trails fan, there was a new one, it’s really good. Loved the cast, and am looking forward to the sequel in few months. While I didn’t dislike the combat, I don’t think it was strongest combat in the series, and thankfully apparently next game improves on that.

2. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

I’m Like a Dragon fan, there was a new one, it’s really good. While not at good as the previous game, 7 was the best in the series, no shame falling short of that. And this game introduced Yukata Yamai, whom I liked and hope he could stick around in some form.

3. Sakura Wars

The fact that this doesn’t have official translation and western release is a shame, a disappointment, a crime. Cute girls and mechs, (quite simple) tactical combat, power scaling based on how much the girls like you, anime opening at start of every chapter, “in the next episode” -sections at end of every chapter. Sakura Wars is good and deserves more.

4. Ace Combat 3

I wrote a whole post trying to convey the impact of this game hitting my face, I’m not repeating that here. Ace Combat 3 is amazing. Every Ace Combat fan should play it, and anyone who isn’t Ace Combat fan, should fix that.

5. Demons Roots

I’ve seen people call Demons Roots the best written jrpg in last decade or something like that, and I don’t think it’s quite that. But it’s good enough that I understand some people getting that far in their praise. It’s just not “good for rpg-maker eroge”, it’s genuinely good. I do recommend it, just be an adult and know what you are getting into, it’s still rpg-maker eroge.

Bonus: Deadlock

In the handful of months it’s been out, Deadlock has become my third most played game, based on playtime, on Steam. I don’t understand this. I’m afraid it will be my second Dota 2, game I’ll pour hundreds of hours into, not getting particularly good at, but just playing match after match, chilling. I can’t even say if it’s “good” or if I “like” it, in this case those terms feel meaningless. But I have to give some respect on the time it has stolen from me.

[orange-ghost]

Something something election thoughts. Feels like the world is closing in on me. I keep having to steady my breathing & remind myself that, as of right now, I live on mostly safe & secure ground. I'm not enrolled in any sort of education, I'll be okay if the DOE falls apart. I live amongst a bunch of other racial minorities. I'll probably still be able to transition if I stay where I am & just... don't do anything risky or stupid.

It's his last term. If 4 years passed quick the first time, they'll pass again. Shitty elections & presidents just a part of growing up and adulting in the U.S. I can't get everything I want, after all. Come on, Jonah. You're 21. Be a man.

Feels kinda selfish to push all the Southerners and other countries and the younger people in my family out of my mind for a minute, but for the sake of not becoming a statistic & hopefully seeing a better world later, I think I gotta focus on what's still safe.

Most of the country is falling apart, but... right now, I still have myself. So I'm hanging on to that. I can still keep trying to access an education. I can still keep drawing and working hard. And as long as this roof stays over my head... it'll be okay.

Practicing some gratitude for the following:

A clump of cells & some literal dick's audacity won't get me killed on these grounds. Not yet. Hopefully not ever.

I still have access to all the music I'd like to hear. Haven't heard Cavetown's voice in a long time. That cover of "I Know A Place" has been comforting.

I'm not bound to book bans. I can keep reading about disability rights, queer people, herpetology, and any other animal science/sociology topic I want. Plenty of books in my inventory that I haven't got through yet.

I'm a skilled guy. Maybe it's time to lock in and take art more seriously. PB merch might sell? I could use half the money on me and the other half on the Recess Project or something. Update my comms prices a bit.

There's a gaming channel uploading Let's Play videos of one of my favorite Mario RPGs. They've been posting every day. So I always have something to look forward to :,)

I got a neat new outfit yesterday. I think I'll wear it. Boost my ego a bit.

[clowngames]

What is a game engine? I see a lot of video about it, but a lot of them tend to skirt around what it is. They give examples like unity but not actually give details on the structures.

This is a great question! Defining a game engine is like defining a chair - most people just get comfortable in one and leave it at that.

The short answer is: a game engine is a series of libraries, tools and interfaces designed to make developing games easier. But lets break that down.

A library is a programming term for a bunch of functions and classes you can import into your project to make certain functionality easier. For instance, a default library for javascript is Math, which has several functions to let you do arithmetic, ie, "Math.sqrt(num)" returns the square root of the supplied number. "Math" is the library, and "sqrt" is the function that the library gives you access to.

A game engine will have a collection of libraries, or one large library, that adds a ton of functions. Unity has the MonoDevelop class that all objects belong to, which contains the Update function that is "automatically" (for all intents and purposes) called every frame. The developer can define what happens inside this function.

Unity, Unreal and so on have huge libraries designed to let you make a variety of different kinds of games but some engines are more specialized. Ren'Py is built to make visual novels easier and RPG Maker is built to make Dragon Quest clones.

There's an additional layer which is that game engines also have enough ground work set up that when you start a new project you can hit play and there is immediately a game. A game with nothing in it, of course, but there are objectively graphics and a framerate and things like that, which you would have to set up yourself if you were just creating a new project in Visual Studio.

A tool is software designed to make accomplishing something specific easier without (necessarily) programming. This and interfaces are intertwined, and these are probably what most people think about when they think of game engines, because they're the part people are actively using at all times.

An interface in this context is the thing that packages tools together. This isn't a technical term but the best way to describe them for non-programmers (interface means something different for programmers). You can think of an interface as the UI of a game engine. Through it, you navigate between tools and connect them with one-another.

In Unity, the camera system may be a library, but when you add a Camera into the scene editor, you're using the scene editor tool which is one of many tools in the Unity interface.

For a less traditional example, developer Tyler Glaiel always programs his own engines, and he always uses a tool he wrote himself (along with libraries) that recreates Flash's art pipeline since he and the people he works with loved the way Flash did it and it works better for them than modern proprietary engines' systems. Now, Glaiel tailors his engines to his projects' exact needs, so this works for him and his team while it might not work for someone who is used to Unity's art pipeline. As to what Glaiel's interface looks like... well, he would know and I wouldn't! I know he's shown off a bit but I haven't had the opportunity to look.

Sometimes the needs of your project necessitates adding to the engine in some way. Game Maker's room editor used to be notoriously terrible (while these days it's only slightly bad) so most devs would build their own room editor tools using Game Maker. As in, they made an in-game level editor which they then used to make the actual game levels. Most of these games included the level editor as a reward for being the game, since it was already a part of the project.

Unity actually lets you edit the Unity interface directly to add your own tools. Instead of making tools inside the engine, you can create your own libraries and tools and then import them into any future project. RPG Maker has a similar but worse system, where you can add and edit as many libraries as you want but you can't change anything about the interface which dramatically limits how you can implement user-made systems.

So, what all of this means is that even Excel Spreadsheets can be a game engine if you try hard enough - it has functions that can manipulate variables and the spreadsheet's appearance (libraries), and the ability to... make spreadsheets (singular tool + interface). I would not recommend using it as one, but I wouldn't recommend using a computer as a chair either, and someone will inevitably find themselves in a situation where it seems like a good idea.

[haus-mom]

pinned post

hello and welcome to guidingThulite's blog for reblogs!

here's my strawpage!!! send me something fun!

my name is alma (i also go by amaya!) and i'm 18+. not the blog, even though tumblr flagged it as mature?????? i rarely post nsfw and if i do it's mostly jokes, but whatevs. someday i'll go rogue and post female presenting nipples so they flag me for a reason

about my frequent tags and some more info below!

you want to commission me? here!

you just want to give me money? very much appreciated! here, too!

generally, for miscellaneous memes and stuff that i don't post about as often so i feel there's no need for a tag, i use #misc!

if i like a post a lot, i'll tag it as #fav!

if i go off in the tags, i usually add #alma rambles. it's also the tag i use for asks! though sometimes i forget and i use #alma answers instead. and sometimes i forget to use #alma rambles altogether

though me rambling on the tags is the norm but still

sometimes i reblog posts or speak in spanish, i use this tag for those (this tag is new so i'll add more old posts eventually)

i also have a tag for those cheesy and often badly photoshopped valentine cards. just because.

my fandom tags!

right now i'm hyperfixating on dragon ball. the tag is #dragon ball. you might notice a slight bias towards the son brothers. don't mind it <3

my project sekai hyperfix lasted at least 3 years, so there's a lot of it on this blog. the tag is #proseka. i mostly post about tsukasa, but kanade and minori are my other two favs!!! mmj is my fav group! i am also a big defender of rarepairs so you'll see like. a lot lmao.

i wrote an akks fanfic that i treat like my child. updates VERY sporadically but i talk about it often. because it's my child

it's probably because i've been a vocaloid fan ever since the dawn of time (2011). the tag is #vocaloid! i'd talk about my fav producers but it's honestly a p big list hehe

i also really like kagerou project. the tag is #kagepro! i'm a big harutaka enthusiast. yuukei yesterday makes me cry. also a shintaka truther. poly yuukei quartet in general (and by that i mean i ship everyone there with takane. i am not biased. she just deserves it)

if there's something you should know about me is that i have a very-not-healthy-very-not-normal obsession with anything created by game dev #parun. i played re:kinder when i was like 13 and it genuinely changed me as a person. the tag's not organized like at all but someday it will. maybe. click for me rambling about how much me playing re:kinder changed the timeline or whatever. i've also played heisei pistol show and gone through gote to handa and if! gote to handa made me experience shrimp emotions. BIG DISCLAIMER OR WARNING OR SOMETHING. EITHER WAY, PLEASE READ: this has happened to me before, so if you want to play re:kinder because i don't stop talking about it or anything like that, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE look up the trigger warnings or ask me, i don't mind providing them. it's a VERY HEAVY game and i don't recommend you play it if you aren't feeling well mentally. let's ignore that's what i did when i was 13 but hey! i was 13!

i'm a big nintendo as in the franchises fan, so i post a lot about it! i usually use the tag #nintendo for smash bros-related content and some misc nintendo franchises that i reblog less often

i have been posting a lot about super mario lately.the tag is #mario. mostly misc stuff but sometimes i'll get into A Mood and it'll be either super paper mario or the mario & luigi rpgs (esp superstarsaga, peasley my beloved)

the mother trilogy is my most beloved and mother 3 is my favorite game ever so yeah. the tag is #earthbound!

there's also kirby! who doesn't love kirby? i love that li'l guy. the tag is #kirby. i pretend i understand the lore but every day i grow more confused.

speaking of confusing storylines! i am, regrettably, a homestuck fan. the #homestuck tag could be completely replaced with a johnkat tag though. it's either johnkat or classpecting with next to no inbetween. i complain about canon a lot too lol

now, as for regrettable decissions: the pokemon tag is just #pokemon even though i post about mainline, mystery dungeon and other spin offs often. everything is mixed. oh god. explorers is my beloved and, as you can see, hau is my son. sinnoh has my heart.

i'm a big ace attorney fan, i've played all the games! though i left the crossover midway and never played again. someday, i guess. the tag is #ace attorney! i also have a separate tag for dai gyakuten saiban, or the great ace attorney, #dgs spoilers are tagged for the latter two as "dgs spoilers" and "dgs2 spoilers"

i am also a jojo's bizarre adventure fan! i've seen parts 1-6 and i mostly post about narancia. i love that funky little dude. the tag is #jjba!

now, for something completely different, osomatsu-san! i can't say i have something i post more than anything but i really, really like beni and i'm always talking about how they're my brother and i frfr. i don't post blm-tsu. the tag is #ososan!

i post about the disastrous life of saiki k. the tag is #tdlosk and i am very normal about akechi. i promise.

speaking of akechis! #persona is also a thing. 4 is my favorite but anything with hamuko on it is an instant reblog from me. i lied though. my fav persona game is q2. but only 3 people including me played it in the west. it's okay. that means i'm hikari's number 1 fan!

i used to be the biggest inazuma eleven nut back in 2018 and sometimes i miss it so i reblog spree until i'm normal again. the tag is #inaele! the fandom was really small so i just reblogged whatever i liked, but i have a really soft spot for hamano, hayami and kurama, aka inago's second year trio!

i also like yokai watch a lot! the tag is #yokai watch. i would kill for hailey and USApyon. my fav game is 3! you might see this red-haired catboy fucker around too. he's my son. regrettably.

things i don't really post about that often but they have a tag so might as well put it here:

#kingdom hearts

#twewy

#sonic

#warioware

#danganronpa

#parappa the rapper

#sam and max (slowly BUT SURELY getting into it)

#disney (doubles as an epic mickey tag ig)

#phineas and ferb and #milo murphy's law

#steven universe

#captain underpants

#hxh

#voltron

#rhythm heaven

#genshin impact

#puyopuyo

#haikyuu

#keroro gunso. or sgt frog. idk. frog alien man :)

#your turn to die

#rpg maker games

#wander over yonder

#undertale and deltarune (spoilers for ch3 and 4 tagged as "deltarune spoilers")

#one piece (currently on dressrosa)

#owari no seraph

#nintama rantarou (watched this when i was little (we used to get the randomest shows dubbed- i kind of miss it) and i'm currently rewatching what's available! i keep saying that every time i come across nintama content it's about guys i don't know (usually dressed in green) but i'll get there. maybe. kirimaru's my favorite, but when i was little it was rantarou.)

#lisa trilogy (the first, the painful, the joyful, you know the works)

#ffix (like a couple of posts or so)

#dungeon meshi

#bugsnax

#ocposting (self-explanatory. i'm open to questions about my oc's if you have any!)

#miraculous ladybug

#dandadan

#bsd (really sporadic but then i remember ranpo exists and then it's ranpoposting for an entire day)

#marriagetoxin

there's probably more i'm forgetting but i'll add them as i remember!

[hollerite]

My Pinned Post thing!

I don't usually do introductions, but I think I'll make one here just for the fun of it.

1: My name is private, but I go by Hollerite on the internet. You can call me Holly for short, or any other nickname you want I don't mind. 2: I am a straight transgender woman. She/her pronouns, Terfs and other transphobes DNI. Otherwise, I don't really care who interacts with my stuff.

3: Fanbases I'm in are:

HOMESTUCK! OMGGGGG I FUCKING LOVE HOMESTUCK! PROBABLY MY FAVORITE THING LIKE, EVER. (Also I literally just started reading it a few weeks ago, currently midway though act 6)

All 3 project moon games!

Five Nights at Freddys

Undertale/Deltarune

One Piece

Lisa the Painful RPG(Not really much anymore, but I might still reblog some fanart)

Portal 2

Warhammer 40K, but basically only the stuff about the Necrons and Adeptus Mechanicus.

Oneshot

Indigo Park

Vita Carnis

Vox(Not Hazbin, I dont like anything else, just vox)

Markiplier Ig? I just watch his videos, not actively in his fanbase, but he's my favorite YouTuber.

Over the garden wall

Signalis

Slay the Princess

Bill Cipher(not gravity falls anymore, just the new stuff with him)

But Really I'll probably be posting 90% about Project moon, that's my big obsession right now.

4: Other interests I have:

Robotics, which is for totally normal and not at all horny reasons(I will be hornyposting about robots, it is 100% genuine I love all of them so much)

Prosthetics, for similar reasons

Space travel, for not horny reasons

Data archival and media preservation! This is something I do pretty regularly, so if anyone has some lost/endangered media they want to see preserved, Let me know and I'll add it to my archives! Especially dedicated to preserving old Soviet media, that's fascinating to me. I also have full copies of Wonderlab and Unus Annus if anyone wants them.

Writing! I do at least some of it literally every single day for almost 3 years now, and while ive not gotten anything published yet I have finished drafts of two big stories. ill sometimes tag posts with stuff that reminds me of my characters, that's mostly for the few people on here who have read my stuff, but I'll happily talk about it if anyone curious.

Thats basically my deal. Will update this as things change

[jayextee]

Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap (2017)

The original Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap is, without a doubt, the SEGA Master System game ever. It looks, sounds, and plays every bit like the distilled very best of SEGA's 8-bit offerings and is arguably (both by myself and many other fans of the system) the best game available for the console.

Having opened this review with such high praise, I probably don't have to say that if any remake of that game were anything less than absolutely stellar and amazing work, I would not be kind to it. I would hold nothing back, show no quarter, take the gloves off, let rip, and tear it a new one. Luckily, it's absolutely amazing and stellar work.

Essentially that's because this is an emulation of the original Master System ROM with a pretty new skin running over the top of it. Okay, maybe a bit more complex than that, but the game logic running here is basically 1:1 with the SMS version even if, and this includes the game with retro visuals and sounds enabled, there are some changes elsewhere.

Good changes, mind you -- what the kiddies like to call 'quality of life' stuff. Really though, how quality do you need your life if your biggest worries are what creature comforts and conveniences a videogame offers you? But I digress here, there's a whole-ass separate button for special weapon usage and the equipment menu is a much more pleasant-to-navigate affair. And, mercifully, they've got rid of that fucking 'charm point' system that I personally felt was an idea that didn't service this game style as well as it would a more-conventional RPG. And, in essence, all it meant was exiting a shop to remove the Goblin Mail, re-entering, seeing the stuff for sale that should've been for sale anyway. Yeah, that tedium's gone.

There are some small layout changes as well, presumably to even-out the challenge a little. But this is all piecemeal stuff compared to the aesthetic overhaul. Oh, wow, the aesthetic overhaul. Let me, frankly, gush.

Imagine a retro game not just upscaled, not just redrawn, but completely reimagined with the utmost passion, respect, and care for the source material. That's The Dragon's Trap right here.

It. Is. Fucking. Beautiful.

Featureless flat areas with naught but trees are now expansive meadows featuring a memorial to a battle long-since passed, continuing onto a valley with a tower hidden inside a forest by the lake. Standard platform gauntlets across a body of water are now a set of tropical islets in a luxurious ocean that culminates in a shipwreck telling a tale of caution and intrigue before the great offscreen unknown. And there's a little stool outside a hut by a lava lake where the owner has carelessly left some impaled marshmallows to toast in the heat. There is so much attention to detail here, and cute little touches, and visual storytelling, it's tough not to fall in love all over again. The game that was my adventurous escape in childhood, is equally so if not more in adulthood.

Music's amazing, too. Not a single piece feels wrong or updated without the full knowledge of what made the original tunes 'pop'. Particular favourites of mine are the desert and jungle themes, both of which have instrumentation that perfectly encapsulates their host environments and makes the adventure connect on an even deeper level.

I am, however, overlooking some of-its-time "flaws" in this game. I don't care. I even put "flaws" in those scare-quotes because, fuck it, they don't make games like this anymore so there's no reason to change it to be more like games they do make. That one Steam reviewer who says the controls are slippery and the coins bounce over the player's head, you're wrong mate. Couldn't be wronger. Maybe a dragon cursed that guy and he's typing with tiny mouse hands that can barely reach the controller buttons?

Anyway, my recent 2.5 hour afternoon playthrough of this game made me fall in love with it for like the hundredth time. Here's to a hundred more.

5/5

[tricornonthecob]

My legs have recovered

LK 110: Warshington Takes The Cake (and eats it, too)

(pt1)(pt2)(pt3)(pt4)

Don't be jealous because you only have one name, Striker.

This seems like a very pointed question for that century, and James is ready to kick the ass of a grown man three times his weight.

lol I love the sass on this gremlin.

Synchronized Duck And Roll

This frame is a delight.

Either these are the slowest grown men in existence, or James and Henri just have that much movement speed from being street urchins (likely.)

The first rule of Zombieland Colonialland is Cardio.

The expression work is really good in this episode, minus his Interviewing Face.

A Connecticut Standoff.

....I wouldn't hope for that, George, the man was decidedly Not Good at chasing children.

"Dearest mother, James spends more and more time each day in a very misguided way of reporting that will probably expose the Continental Army's doings. I sure hope this letter I will be sending through legal means won't get intercepted by our troops."

Lady Phillips:

I do like that she's keeping Lady Phillips updated on James' hobbies. Lady Phillips has probably figured out they're into each other by now.

Lol the moment James and Lady Phillips meet she'll be like

LP: "Ah! So this is the handsome penniless orphan yank my daughter's been canoodling." James: "OH! uh -" LP: "Sarah has told me all about you." James: "Well -" LP: "All. About. You."

James: Henri I stg you better not make jokes about eating my pigeon babies again.

James: ...okay, fair, that was a good burn.

...money, Sarah. They need money.

The continental army:

Liberty's Kids 110: James Hiller continues to have a Bisexual Awakening.

Henri is the trader caravan you dump your unwanted loot on in every RPG.

Okay but first off how was he able to swipe that british beaver cap, and second off he probably has so much buying power with the camp sundries wagon or whatever it was called. The camp followers must love him.

Fucking hell why did they store so much cannon in bumfuck New York when all the fighting was in Boston.

Oh my god he's bringing the pigeons lol

....good luck with that.

But I bet you he ends up with some killer racing pigeons later on in live.

Nods while still softly smiling. Goddammit stop being cute and gazing at each other like that.

[michaelsoft-binbows]

Fallout games

See, here's the thing with the Fallout franchise, that I sometimes take issue with.

The gameplay suuuuucks Fallout 1, 2 and Tactics are products of their time and I totally understand why my zoomer ADHD brain couldn't get into it.

Fallout 3 and New Vegas though, that's something else, with those games, I SO badly want to get invested, and when I was a lot younger, before internet and I even knew what a PS4 was, I played a ton of New Vegas on my PS3, and all was fine.

But in recent years, every time I try to go back and play New Vegas (or 3) I just cant get back into it. The combat sucks, the movement sucks even worse, and it really does just feel atrocious to play in my opinion. My most recent attempt was to play the game via Tale of Two Wastelands, which combines Fallout 3 and New Vegas into one game. And don't get me wrong the idea is awesome and through listening to hours upon hours of lore videos the stories of both games intrigue me so much, but getting through the slog of probably the worst first person shooter gameplay I've ever endured just isnt worth it. A few days ago however, I begun a new playthrough of Fallout 4. I've only ever beaten it once, and never did the DLC, and I decided that its time I should. Got all of the "essential" mods installed detailed in The Midnight Ride modguide, and got to it. And I forgot how nice to play Fallout 4 is!

the massive jump from NV to 4 in terms of game mechanics, RPG elements aside are astronomical. Now i know that it did remove a lot of things that were beloved about the first two Bethesda Fallout games but the moment to moment gameplay is just infinitely better. I wish that Bethesda would show the Fallout franchise some more love, give New Vegas the Oblivion Remastered treatment! (and Fallout 3 but that's also a lot of work) I saw some footage of a mod to port New Vegas into 4/Creation Engine and it looks pretty remarkable, from what was there but it seems that the project slowed to a halt, I really hope they can continue soon. Now enough of my senseless rant, hopefully soon I shall return with some Doccy Who "reviews" or maybe some more life updates, since things have changed a bit recently. Insert typical signoff here, love ya'll

Here's a little artwork from one of my closest friends, he's amazing, @ickysticky69 on twitter