#if you pick the 'avatar>character from the game' choice you get a game over

[randomnameless]

Damn,

I finally got to the end (and start, and middle lol) of Baten Kaitos Origins because living in Europe meant I couldn't play it when it was released and -

First of all, serioulsy to all people who see a game and its prequel released later saying it's better to play the prequel first : fig you - if writers/devs designed a game to be a "prequel" they designed the story to flow this way, you learn about X and Y in the first game, and see how they were made into X and Y in the second game!

The experience was designed like this, you can choose to use a slide by climbing on the slippery side first, but it wasn't meant to be enjoyed this way!

Secondly, regarding a certain game I've been ranting about for the last 5 years...

(heavy spoilers under the cut)

Why the fuck did this game made around 12 years ago went so hard and masterfully tackled the "mysterious entity with amnesia is bound to a rando joe who was engineered to host the mysterious entity" thing?

The parts where you live through Marno's (who is U! The mysterious entity!) FB and how you were led to believe it was all about Sagi (the host) being "special" was masterful, especially that last part where both player and characters understand that no, the corrupted/slaughtered rando who was later fused with his siblings to create the eldritch deity you must defeat in the first game... wasn't Sagi, but the random entity you're playing as!

(bonus points for playing an unwinnable battle where you're killed at the end lol, by one of your party members who is also revealed to be 1k years old through this FB!)

And then, Sagi and Marno decide to work together - Marno lends his power to Sagi - and they save the world from another eldritch being.

Like, sure sometimes the time travelling through FB - but not really because you can bring stuff from the past in the present so it's not only FBs - is sort of confusing and yet I really really digged it, complete with the realisation that those people were fucked the second they were led to side with demons/whatever the dark brethrens are.

This past, that has consequences on this story (and on the story of the first game!) isn't just a footnote in an optional book, or delivered in an infodump without having anything nor anyone react to it, no. You play through those events, time travel shenanigans or not, you play as those characters and see what happened (rather, what led to the events that you learn happened).

You see were I'm going lol -

We could have had the same situation going on with Billy and Sothis - Billy being the stand-in for Sagi and Sothis being the stand-in for Marno, trying to recover her memories, living through them (while Billy'd believe they are the one having those "mysterious dreams") until the final reveal, the gremlin is the Goddess the Agarthans hate, the ominous lady with a strange hat seems to love and miss, and the one everyone prays to.

Sothis, who would like to finish the millenia(s?) old feud and asking for Billy's help, and Billy agreeing because this feud is also endangering the current people living here and the ones they grow fond of.

But no - if the devs went through this route, would the player still care about Supreme Leader?

As much as they want?

Well... Sure, Shanath and Baehlit aren't that memorable, but imo, you can't completely ignore them, what happened 1k years ago happened 1k years ago, but those people exist, and ultimately, Verus was the one who put everything in motion because he was an asshole (and parasited by Wiseman too?), in turn, pushing Geldoblame to, uh, well, do the things he does in EWLO and led him to seek power at all costs, even releasing an eldritch entity who will ruin the world.

Add the fact that BK also has, at its core, a story about people being turned into parts/merged/slaughtered but while the first opus didn't focus that much on them - even if the hero and the female lead mentionned they felt their sorrow and pain - the second game? Reveals their names, characters, designs, place where they lived, etc etc...

Meanwhile, in Fodlan, we know who Leif is, but we don't know and aren't supposed to care about the person who became Freikugel.

Malpercio, the Eldritch Entity fought in the first game, is an amalgation of five siblings who were corrupted and merged by sort of demons, each sibling was turned in a "part" of that entity, head, leg, thorax, chest, arms etc etc.

In the second game, you learn and meet the sibling turned into the "legs" of Malpercio, her name is Pieda (uh) Le (sure) Monarna (finally something that doesn't mean or is related to legs lol.

Thunderbrand?

After FE16 and Nopes, it's just... a shiny sword!

[my-current-obsession]

Something I both love AND hate about FF7 (the original game and everything after, including the Remake trilogy) is that it is just ambiguous and/or player-driven enough that no matter which side of the love triangle you fall on (assuming you do in fact ship Cloud with one of the girls), the majority of fans for that ship are 100% CONVINCED it's the correct/canon option.

Like, certain scenes are definitely up to interpretation, and people are going to thus have varying reads on those scenes and the characters/relationships the scenes are about. It doesn't help that several scenes change depending on the player's choices, which acts as a confirmation bias as you naturally get more time and romantic moments with the girl of your preference. It really seems to me that MOST people who ship Cloud and Aerith have one solid interpretation (with a plethora of supporting evidence) of the series and the romance, while most people who ship Cloud and Tifa have their own solid interpretation with plenty of evidence that is VASTLY DIFFERENT from the Clerith reading of the game.

This is not a case of "one ship is clearly, explicitly canon and fans of the opposition just like their pick better and/or think it made more sense narratively and WISH it was canon" - for an example of that, look to the Avatar the Last Airbender shipping wars. This is a case where both sides literally interpret the story just differently enough that they come to entirely different conclusions about which girl is Cloud's true love. And if either side reaches out to try and explain their viewpoint to the other, they're just met with "uh, no. You're wrong." Try and explain what Cloud might be thinking in a given scene with one of the girls, why he acts a certain way... "That's not it at all, where are you getting this? Are you delusional?"

Like, I am a Clerith shipper. I have played all the games in the compilation and watched Advent Children. I tried to be as completionist as possible, even. And I came out on the other side of really digging into the story of this game loving Cloud and Aerith's dynamic and pretty firmly convinced they were canon. Or as canon as possible in the timeline where she died.

As any Clerith fan who participates in the fandom would know, if you try and explain your interpretation of these characters and the romance to a diehard Cloti supporter... you're met with a lot of "you're misinterpreting! Cloud and Aerith were just friends! She loved Zack to the end and Cloud loved Tifa since childhood and never stopped! Also Aerith is actually BAD for Cloud because she's too pushy/abrasive. She's not helping him open up, she's just forcing him to go along with her and making him uncomfortable!"

All of this is of course infuriating, but I'd like to think I'm self-aware enough to know we are kind of guilty of the same thing. The majority of Tifa fans are SO happy about the kiss in Rebirth, while we're over here dismissing it because, one it's optional, and two Cloud is "obviously" using Tifa as a rebound or settling for her since Aerith is seemingly unavailable. But that's not how Cloti fans see it at all.

We can talk until we're blue in the face about how TIFA deserves better than Cloud because she shouldn't be the second choice - the one he settles for. But I think most people who really love Cloti genuinely don't see it that way. In their eyes, she's NOT second-best. Cloud loved her all along and this kiss is finally confirming that. And nothing we say will dissuade them, just as nothing they say will actually change OUR minds about Clerith.

It is honestly really difficult for me to try and see the story and romance the way Cloti fans do, but I know the reverse is also true. Both groups of fans interpret the characters and relationships differently. The compilation ALLOWS us to interpret them differently. And this is why the ship war for a game from 1997 is still raging on.

Because both camps are certain they're right, they defend their position viciously. Sometimes that means invading the "other side" to tell them how wrong they are. This discussion/rant was prompted by a Cloti fan on a Clerith vid who wanted to debate MY comment about how wonderful the ship was and how good they were for each other. He was "confused" and "concerned" because Clerith fans were reading the story wrong or warping it to suit our ship.

I wanted to tell him, "buddy that's what YOU'RE doing". I wanted to write a goddamn essay explaining why Clerith is canon actually. But considering in my INITIAL comment that he first responded to I'd already brought up why I thought Clerith was great, and he was IGNORING that... I knew it would be pointless. There is nothing I could possibly say that would change his mind. There is nothing he could possibly say that would change my mind.

As long as both sides of this war are fully convinced they're right, this war is going to be endless and brutal. And that's why my absolute biggest fear for part 3 is an open, ambiguous ending regarding the ships. Maybe it will canonize nothing. Maybe it will canonize BOTH by having the actual ending change depending on which girl the player favors.

Either route will offer no relief to this eternal battle. I would honestly prefer for Cloti to explicitly and unambiguously win than an ending where neither girl does. Because I can accept a loss. I can accept being told that actually I WAS interpreting the story wrong, but I'll only accept it from the text itself. If anything, a Cloti ending might encourage me to go through the entire compilation again trying to view it with that canon couple in mind. I'm sure I'd see things differently, even if I'd always have a place in my heart for Clerith. And I sincerely hope that if Clerith were to win that Cloti fans could do the same.

All I know is that I'm sick and tired of this ship war. I personally have never gone after Cloti fans or engaged in Cloti content with the intent to debate or hate on the ship. But I don't speak for all Cleriths. I'm sure at least a few fans of my ship are guilty too. I have seen many obnoxious Cloti fans invading our spaces to disparage us - mostly on YouTube and Twitch, less here on Tumblr - but I KNOW there are plenty of kind Cloti fans who just happily enjoy their ship and leave us to ours as well.

At the end of the day, regardless of how part 3 ends things, I just wish we could live in peace. Please enjoy your ship. Your interpretation of the text and romance is valid. But so is mine. If neither side can agree, then the best thing to do is leave each other alone.

[the-bus-called-graveyard-8]

Madagascar in Nickelodeon Magazine (part 4 of 4)

This last part is some miscellaneous Madagascar content that has appeared in various issues of Nick Mag. I used to keep all my Nick Magazines in big binders so I could reread them, but some years ago I decided to finally get rid of them. I only kept a select few (the Madagascar ones, of course) but before I tossed the rest I flipped through five years' worth of issues looking for any scraps of Madagascar. I don't know which issues any of these bits and bobs are from, but here they are nonetheless!

First we have a prank DVD cover for an absurd mashup of several 2000s animated movies called "Flushed Through the Hedge in a Happy Car". One of the characters parodied is Alex the lion, and several aspects of Madagascar appear in film's description. Full transcript under the read more.

Front cover:

"Flushed Through the Hedge in a Happy Car"

A penguin, a taxi, one wild ride...

Starring Will Smith, Tom Hanks, Ellen DeGeneres, Wanda Sykes, and Luke Wilson

From the creators of "Charlotte's Open Barnyard"

Back cover:

A break-dancing New York City Penguin named Happy (Wanda Sykes) is accidentally shipped to a zoo in Mexico City. The homesick bird escapes and meets a hilariously sassy taxi named Turbo McCab (Will Smith), who offers to drive her home. Along the way, they get stuck in the woods during hunting season, freeze solid during an ice age, and visit an underground rodent city, where they pick up a tuxedo-wearing mouse named Wobbly (Tom Hanks). Just outside of New York City, Turbo gets a flat. A nerdy raccoon named AJ (Ellen DeGeneres) offers to take Happy over the hedge to find a spare.

Once in human territory, Happy becomes obsessed with Dancing in the Suburbs. Will Happy find happiness as a reality show star? Will her lion dance partner (Luke Wilson) ever learn his moves? Will Turbo ever get to race in the Madagascar 5000? Can penguins really talk? And who is paying for all of Turbo's parking tickets?

2-Disc DVD Collector's Edition

Bonus features include:

A step-by-step look at the 350-day process of creating convincing CGI fuzzy dice.

Deleted scenes that were cut because they stink real bad.

Voice talent farting into the microphone during recording.

Trailers for other penguin movies.

Director's commentary.

Director's dog's commentary

Rated P for Penguin

Digitally mastered for superior penguin cuteness

Next we have three ads I snipped out of different issues.

Top left: Madagascar video games

"Madagascar and the all new Madagascar: Operation Penguin

Go from the zoo to a place that's totally new

Rule the city and the jungle in two hit games based on the hit movie. In Madagascar, play as Alex, Marty, Gloria, and Melman in a wild adventure. Available on all video game consoles. In Madagascar: Operation Penguin, play as Private Penguin in madcap missions, available only on GameBoy Advance."

Bottom left: Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa video game

"Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

For PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC, and DS

Play as all the main characters—including the penguins—through the story of the Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa movie.

Tip: In the soccer match in the In Madagascar level in single-player mode, Mort the lemur can be a tough goalie. Raise the Power Meter to the 75 percent mark and you can kick the ball over Mort's head and score nearly every time.

Zelda the roving reporter: Do you have a license to drive that?"

Right: TPoM world premiere

"What's New on Nick

Penguins of Madagascar

The penguins are back, and this time, it's for their very own show! Catch the premiere immediately after the Kids' Choice Awards on Saturday, March 28. And check out the first-ever Penguins of Madagascar online game at nick.com."

Lastly, we have this crossover comic of the Penguins with Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender. I don't have the cutout of this, but I distinctly remember seeing it in the Gag Station of one issue's Comic Book section. I was able to find it online but unfortunately I don't know the artist.

And that's every time Madagascar was featured in Nickelodeon Magazine!

[beelsnack]

Welcome back!

How about headcanons with some casual intimacy? Like demons guys of your choice just sitting on the floor for some reason and Mc just puts their legs over the boys shoulders? Just to chill and sit like that.

Sorry if it's confusing

No worries Nonnie, I got you!! I think I'm going to pick Levi, Belphie, and Mammon, mainly because I think they would be the most surprised by it.

-----

Mammon: It wasn't often that Mammon could be found concentrating so hard on something, even less so when the thing he was concentrating on wasn't money-related. But Levi had been ranting and raving about this new manga that came out, and the plot had been intriguing enough for Mammon to pick it up.

(Translation: Levi had left it on the couch in the living room and Mammon decided that meant he could read it.)

Usually the manga that Levi liked didn't have enough action to keep him entertained, but this particular murder mystery gripped him by the throat and before he knew it he was almost done with the first volume and contemplating asking Levi if he could borrow the second.

"Did Levi convince you to read that one too?"

Mammon felt a pair of arms wrap loosely around his shoulders before someone rested their chin against the crook of his neck. There was only one person with that much of a lack of self-preservation instinct.

"Jeez, human, you've got some nerve sneaking up on the Great Mammon like that!" Mammon huffed, twisting around in their grip to glare at them. It must not have had the heat in it that he wanted it to, because the human merely grinned and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"I didn't sneak up on you, you were so into the manga that you didn't notice me."

"Whatever," he grumbled, cheeks hot. "Most people would at least hesitate to hug one of the seven rulers of Hell without warning."

"Do you want me to stop?"

"I didn't say that!"

Levi: "If you hit me with that blue shell, I swear to - Levi!"

Leviathan cackled as the human's character spun out of control. "Out of my way, normie, I've got a Demario Kart race to win!"

"You suck!" the human whined, kicking at Levi's hip from where they sat sideways on the sofa next to him. "Enjoy your ill-gotten victory, you filthy cheater."

"It's not cheating if I use an item that the game gives you!"

"It's dirty!" Despite their harsh words, the human was grinning as they finally regained control of their car. "I hope you fall off of the track."

"Someone is a sore loser," Levi grinned.

"You haven't even won yet!"

They had been sitting with their legs folded for the better part of an hour, so the human desperately needed to stretch their legs. Instead of turning their body to sit with their feet on the floor like a normal person, they unfolded their legs and laid them directly in Levi's lap.

"Huh - wha - I - wh-wh-what are you doing?" Levi stammered, hands slipping off of the controller at the sudden invasion of his personal space.

"Stretching."

"Oh, and I'm playing dirty?" he grumbled, fumbling around until he finally got his hands back into the correct position on the controller. When he looked back at the screen, the human's character whizzed past him and over the finish line.

"That was cheap," Levi frowned.

"Womp womp."

Belphie: "Why is your sleep schedule so messed up?"

Belphegor had texted the human at 1:00 am with instructions to meet him outside because the stars were pretty and he wanted to stargaze with them. They never thought that the Avatar of Sloth would have sleep problems, but then again, he slept so much during the day that he was basically nocturnal.

"You could have said no," Belphie shrugged from where he was leaning against the wall of the garden.

"But then I don't get to spend any time with you because you nap the whole day," the human shot back, rubbing at their eyes groggily. "So you get sleepy human and you're gonna like it."

"Hm," he hummed. "I don't mind sleepy human, though. You're cute when you're sleepy."

The human mumbled something before shifting around. Belphie was about to ask them what they were doing before they rested their head in his lap.

"Can I help you?" he asked instead.

"Yes, by shutting up."

They kept their eyes closed, and Belphie was secretly glad because he could feel his cheeks getting hot. "Why?"

"You said you like sleepy human, so you're getting sleepy human."

"...Alright then," Belphie finally relented, bringing his hand down to idly stroke their hair. "I guess this is okay."

[cidthesquid]

More New Features/Update - Style Savvy : Styling Star #02

[Previous Post]              [First Post]              [Next Post] Aaaand we're back! Last time, All we really got to do was the prologue, restocking and setting up our starting outfit, So let's see what comes next:

So first I ended up using mods to edit my character a bit, Inital Design: | New Design:

The most obvious change is the skin tone, I'm not the biggest fan, of how darker skin tones work in the new art style, I would have preferred something in the middle, Or a slight tweak to the lighting, as the color of both can vary quite a bit in various conditions:

But I still think both look good overall, (emulator could be Affecting) So I haven't decided what I'll stick with long term. (I don't really believe that our avatar's need to look like us IRL, so I encourage everyone to try whatever you want, even other skin tones!) I also adjusted the eyes a bit:

I really like the 'cat eye' design from before, but I did not like that it was 'baked' into the eye shape. This really restricted some designs, and make eyelashes look a little weird imo. The lipstick is new for post 2 as well, and I think it's a nice addition, without being too flashy, but I may change it later. Any ways, even after all these blogs, it's still a little uncomfortable talking about physical appearance, even for my own fictional avatar, So I'll even the design choices at that, let's hop back into the game! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Alright, so another new feature for Styling Star is:

They actually announce when new people show up in town! It's another small change, that really helps add to the feeling of the town growing! If only they made it a little easier to find and talk to people, maybe the social aspect was a little over done in fashion forward, But it's a little weird to have a new entries that shows a bunch of people walkign around, with no option to talk to most of them.

It kinda feels like we've reverted back to the first 3ds game where you only have fixed NPC's in specific locations:

...and they only cycle through a small handful of lines. Maybe this will improve overtime, it's not a huge deal though. I also learned that you can change you can change your phone's wallpaper and background picture, that's pretty fun:

Yup, I'm pretty broke again! Time to go to work! And we just had a customer walk in and ask for a full outfit!

I guess that mean's we're near the end of the tutorial, And the dialogue choices even let us Savvy veterans skip the explanation! Again, they really nailed the prologue in this game! It's really good at giving players freedom in how to approach the start, while still keeping them from getting lost. So now it's time to make our first real outfit of the game:

I think it turned out well given out limitations, but maybe the hat as a bit too much,haha. There's also a neat little option to style from any outfit you've saved in your scrapbook. But for some reason, you can't save the outfit you're currently making So you'll have to design them in your apartment first, then you can suggest your custom design for customers. Any way, they were the only customer today, so on to the next... ----- The new girl from the prior day shows up at our shop:

(I guess they wanted to give us a days advance notice, or it overlapped with an event?) Anyway, she asks for a rock skirt, literarily the one item I did not yet buy in that style! XD So I head to the exhibition hall, buy way more than I need, and head back.

I completely forgot what she was wearing, despite having the other screenshot literary showing on my second monitor. (as I write this while playing) But it all turned out ok, as I picked up a really nice match:

And that was it, she bought the skirt, and left. I was expecting this to be more of an 'event' like explaining, if a customer 'really likes' an item, they can ask for a full outfit, but nope. They did have a cute little epilogue though, after they bought the outfit, her normally Stoic boyfriend complements her look:

A bit of an seemly fluffy ending, but kinda directly tied into a comment I made in my bonus post about not really being comfortable delivering complements, especially in regard to one's appearance, (outfit or otherwise) It may seem like a simple thing for some, and I don't really think it's worth going off-topic enough to explain why it's difficult for me, but it is interesting seeing some version of that shown in-game! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The rest of the day was also mostly filled with people asking for a single item, so a bit on the slow side, So I decided to work on a few pre-made (scrapbook) outfits to offer to customers, It was a little weird having to build them all on my avatar, as the hair and makeup don't really match the styles I was going for:

And once there were no more customers to help, I changed back into my standard outfit and decided to turn in for the night:

This game must have been a huge 180 for people playing right after fashion forward. No real time clock is a nice change, but with the limited customers and lack of npc's to talk to, (so far) it really feels like the days have a fixed end point. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ New Day, and a new brand unlocked!

Also, I think I forgot to mention the 'daily results' screen, I believe it's a replacement for the 'happiness gauge' From trendsetters, but improved to show a numerical rank rather than just resting with no trackable progression. This is the last day we'll cover in this post, it both seems like a good stopping point, (And I'm kinda hungry, and my ADHD's hyperfocus is forcing me to finish this haha)

I guess this game has achievements, that's pretty nice! So, I wake up and see another "new person has arrived in town" notification. So, I leave my apartment ready to run into them at my shop, and on the way, I literally run into them:

(Oh hey, an actual event!) They fell over, so after making sure they were okay, I'm introduced to Rosie and We're given the chance to name the city:

Oh, gees, I was not prepared for this, and I probably can't change it later, ahhh.

Sorry, I panicked, and just typed stuff unto Google Translate until something with a nice sound came out. XD Sorry to anyone who's french, I just think your words sound nice. google says "nouvelle vie" means "New Life", that sound like a reasonable enough city name. Anyways we learn she's from out in the country, and a little lost, She complements our clothes and mentions only ever seeing fashionable people on tv. She also mentions that she's interested in getting some new clothes, so we invite here to visit our Boutique! And now we've opened a few new events, But I've just been informed that I have already used up my 30 photos for this post, so I guess the rest will have to wait till next time! <Next Post> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for reading! I had a lot of fun making this, so I hope you had fun reading it as well.

As always, all comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome! (I'm also looking for feedback on this new style, how's the formatting, too many Gifs?)

You literally can't bother me, (unless you go out of your way to be a jerk), so post whatever you need to say!

[illarian-rambling]

Hello! I heard you like DnD!

What has been your favorite campaign so far? My current friend group is completing a 5e WotC one, but I have also seen some great homebrews done. Do you prefer WotC campaigns, or homebrews? What were some memorable moments? ✨

Oh god, you've got me started, now I'm never gonna shut up >:)

So, I've played in four games and ran one, all homebrew, over the course of my time. My first campaign I was a life cleric with a pet goat that I saved from being a sacrifice. I didn't really know what I was doing, as it was my first game, but I had fun. My second game, I was a rogue snakeoil (and crack) salesman, which started the trend of all my characters selling drugs. Game three, I played an evangelist artificer and fell in love with the class. I adore robots, what can I say? In my current game (which is an original story, but in the planescape setting), I play a barb/fighter hazily struck out of time. She's up to three mystery voices in her head now, one being the sword of Kas, sells drugs via cranium rats, and was in a pro-wrestling tournament.

Probably one of my most memorable moments was perma-killing my artificer, Gillaria. To start, Gillaria was a bit of dunce. She was smart, yeah, but had balls wisdom and even worse charisma. She tried to fly into a portal to hell once on a wooden broom so she could take an energy reading. She got kidnapped in like three separate alleyways and gave her full, legal name to a devil. This is all to preface with the fact that this character didn't make the smartest choices.

The other thing about Gillaria was that she was a priest of Relhan, the setting's god of innovation. She and her two robot buddies, Anatolius and Aenira, would preach the word of this dying god on street corners, since the main temple to him had been destroyed. Usually, given that the highest charisma score between them was an 8, this ended up with tomatoes being thrown.

Anyways, though the campaign was supposed to go a little while longer, our dm got a new job, so we had to end early. The party decided that our last hurrah would be to raid the Golden Trident, a rival faction we'd been eyeing for some time.

One Gillaria project she wanted to get done before the end of the campaign as well was the squirrel laser. The construction of such a laser is as follows:

The druid Awakens 6 squirrels with their magic staff. The squirrels are now sentient.

Our warlock signs these squirrels onto warlock pacts. The squirrels can now cast the cantrip Bonfire.

Gillaria has a Decanter of Endless Water and the spell Magic Mouth

Infinite steam power has been achieved

We did the math and we would've been able to power a railgun with this set-up, so our dm decided, fuck it, campaign's almost over, they can have a death laser. It was decided it would be a DC 16 dex save against being zapped into ash.

Anyways, cut to us raiding the Golden Trident. Our level 10 warlock is being chased by an anctient dragon, our barbarian fell off the airship (We had a dragon ghost powered airship. Long story, also Gillaria's fault) and we're being chased by the enemy's airship.

Gillaria tells Anatolius, her steel defender with an intellect headband that she treats like a son, to point the laser at the enemy skyship, ready to fire once it warms up in four rounds. Gillaria then flies over to the enemy ship, hoping to disable its engines. However, like any good artificer, she's immediately enamored by the engines themselves. At this point, I the player forget I have a four round count down.

Yeah, you can see where this is going... The dm has me pick high or low on a d100 to see what part of the ship my laser hits, and I invariably pick wrong. And that is how Gillaria got blasted to ash by her own automaton, wielding her own laser, atop her own airship. Her final consolation was finding out that her god was not, in fact, dead and being reincarnated into his steel and steam avatar.

This is one of sooo many dumbass stories for this character, she was a piece of work. Thanks for asking though, I love talking about dnd! Feel free to share a story of your own or ask any questions :)

[larathia]

(brief BSD meta thought)

I remember back when FFVII was new, there was this whole fan outcry about Aerith's death. And there were fansites and things all over the place about secret codes to bring her back, or theories about how she wasn't Really dead. I mean it was a Big Deal. Aerith died, and she stayed dead the rest of the game.

While Cait Sith has this whole dramatic self sacrifice scene around the temple of the black materia. And then you get out of the temple, pick up the materia, and wha-hey, here's Cait 2.0 bouncing up to greet you!

And the game writers did this on purpose, or so they said. They were Commenting on the cheapness of video game death, or something like that. So Cait Sith's death and 2.0-ness was playing it up, while Aerith stayed rock solid cold because that drove home the seriousness of the situation.

And I think about this quite a bit when reading BSD of late. Because in the beginning it felt like death was a real danger. We were even kind of afraid for Dazai, drowning in the river. But by the end of the Muersault bit it's become utterly dismissable. "Yeah, I know. He's drowning in a room without an exit. Falling sixty stories in a steel trap. Shot in the head on camera. He'll be fine."

And now it's "Oh. Yeah, they've been chopped into mincemeat on camera. I'm sure it'll be okay. Just wait a few more chapters and we'll see how the trick is done."

That has to be a deliberate narrative choice. Asagiri's spent a hell of a lot of time cheapening death more and more over the course of the series, and I can't help but think that the fact the main macguffin of said series is a reality-rewriting book has a lot to do with this.

Like...over the course of the series...they've all become like Dazai. No matter what happens to them, death isn't going to happen. Like Dazai's just...ahead of this particular curve. (And, like Fyodor, he would be. Most of the cast don't want to die. They wouldn't push that line. But Dazai's been trying to die since he was fifteen and yet nothing. ever. works....)

What happens if you realize you're a main character in a story, and the author doesn't want to let you die?

And Atsushi is if anything the avatar of that kind of story. Didn't Yosano say it? "It's not regeneration. It's like the injury never happened in the first place." Atsushi's had that kind of Wile E Coyote immunity from the beginning. He's the protagonist. He has literal plot immunity.

What if...what if Fyodor's goal this entire time has been to render the story so ridiculous that it must be rewritten?

[mitigatedchaos]

[ abilitiesconsideredunnatual ]

(what the fuck did you do to your avatar congrats I don't normally react to avatar changes that viscerally)

Both this and the original avatar are from the 2008 Thermal Wars TCG. The new avatar is from a rare lunar version from the OOPS! Lunar Coup expansion.

Each character card has three "classes" that represent their "natural interests." At the start of the game, after the objectives have been picked from the objectives deck, each player draws from their deck until they get four character cards, which constitute their initial coalition, which are placed face-up on the mat. They then pick one "ingroup" class from the characters in their starting coalition. (Each class has a few associated benefits and drawbacks not listed on the card.)

There is a second mechanic called "ideological tension" which is raised and lowered (most significantly by events from the events deck). When adding a new character card from the player's hand to the coalition, characters with at least one class in the ingroup add no ideological tension. Adding a character outside the ingroup adds one ideological tension for every class they don't share with an ingroup member.

Adding a variety of character types provides a more diverse array of abilities and resistances, but it increases the odds that either events or other players will push your ideological tension over 7, forcing characters out of your coalition (added to your discard pile), and allowing other players to take control of institutions. This encourages a style focused on ideological tension management.

Almost all the Neo-American Biomechanoid cards are good, but most of them outside of the OOPS! Lunar Coup expansion are colonials (space colonists), not lunars (lunar colonists). This can pose a problem for lunar-heavy decks, which tend to (ironically) be light on Neo-Americans. The lunar variants provide more flexibility with the choice of ingroup, providing an edge in tension-heavy game modes.

I recently received the rare variant, so I decided to update my avatar.

[alexissara]

Unicorn Overlord Demo - Quick Review

Unicorn Overlord is a game I was not interested in but given the demo was taking over my feed I decided fuck it I'll give it a shot like I did for the Project Triangle Strategy Demo. The presence of a dude main lord already is a massive turn off for me so I did go in with a negative feeling about the game and the game managed to not turn me around at all.

The story of this game is just bad, it's not good, it's not great, it's not good. We got no sense of conflict really, we get a fridge cool battle mom and then the good boy prince who is good and pure and perfect goes out to go fighting the bad evil emperor who took over the world. Turns out people betrayed his mom not because there was complicated politics or anything but because they were simply mind controlled. The game right away damsels another woman and then constantly fills it's plots with serious big boys. On my playthrough it took a long time for me to get any women at all to join my army outside of my starting character Chloe.

The game provides a choice system but the choices do not tell you what you get from either choice and the choices are simply "Do I murder this guy or do I let them live". It would really benefit from letting you know what it is your gaining on the gameplay side instead of having you go in without knowing as a means of trying to push or pull you in different directions.

These are paired with how boring Alian is as a protag. He is a proper good noble boy with proper good noble boy morals. You get to make choices for him but their either being a good boy who believes in people or being like a lawful guy who is still seen as good maybe more good who punishes enemies more often. He talks and has his own personality kinda outside of that but honestly he is so low impact he could have been a blank slate Persona protag who never speaks and it make no real difference. There was really no reason this character couldn't have been a selectable gender or customizable player avatar and kept basically all the work on the character already done, hell he is just ando enough you coulda just picked pronouns on him.

The other characters writing is not particularly exciting either the lesbian angel and her girlfriend are cute but they are no Aylain and Isobel even if they are functionally the same classes and similar dynamic they lack the passion and talent behind them. No one else really stood out to me, there were characters I thought were fine but no one felt stunning or particularly exciting.

Gameplay wise it's not super great it reminds me of so many better games. The RTS elements brought into an RPG make me think of Yugioh Falsebound Kingdom only idk for me it's less exciting. The maps so far are pretty boring lanes that don't get me to imagine a set piece very much with these wider war scaled battle it's painfully real of a setting for a plot that gives me no investment in the horrors of war, it's just fields and shit. There isn't a lot going on but also there is a skill system to dive into and honestly that seems like it's too in depth for me to give a shit about either since it wasn't really given the kind of slower introduction it should have been given to get used to adding skills and getting an idea of how that might improve a unit.

Overall, I guess it's fine but I really do not see what the hype is about. I'd play this game and probably do a full review if I was given a copy but mostly because I simply don't have other video games I'm looking forward to in the near future and I enjoy having something to passively do on my switch when I am feeling icky but I could also idk play my backlog or random gachas so idk. This could be a lot better.

[barilleon]

Actions Speak Louder: The Silent Protagonist

Sometime last year somebody published an article about how Mario has no characteristics. I got made and wrote this post on Silent Protagonists. I never published it, so welcome to the world premiere!

When we read or watch or tell stories, much of the action is driven by the characters, especially the main character. We watch them try, fail, grow, and succeed. We know them by their traits, and we love them by their flaws. Sometimes we project onto them. We relate to them, or we wish we could be them.

We know Bugs Bunny is a trickster because of how he constantly pulls the wool over the eyes of his adversaries. We know Jonathan Harker is clueless because it took much longer than is probably reasonable for him to realize Count Dracula wasn’t just a harmless weird guy. We know Captain America is sincere and stalwart because he puts everything into what he does and never compromises.

In video games, it can be tricky to write or pick up on the characteristics of a main character. The character is meant to be an avatar for the player, someone we can see ourselves in. Some games allow us to really customize our character. We decide how they look, what they wear, and what they say in response to NPCs. We have a lot of control in driving the traits of our character.

But even if we don’t have that control, even if they don’t speak, silent protagonists always have character traits. They’re defined by their actions—the actions you’re piloting—in the context of the world you’re playing in.

My favorite silent protagonist is Ness, from EarthBound. For a young kid, the journey across Eagleland and beyond was difficult, but Ness takes it anyway. When he gets homesick and wants to stop, he calls his mom and keeps going anyway.

When the journey requires him to put his soul into a robot and travel back in time with no guarantee of return, he does it anyway.

Ness is, in his own mother’s words, a “thoughtful, strong boy.” He keeps fighting for a better tomorrow, and he keeps going no matter how many times he gets his head handed to him. Even if it’s you pressing the continue button, in the structure of the game’s narrative, it’s Ness making the conscious choice to keep moving forward. Lots of silent protagonists share that trait.

Another good example of a silent protagonist is Red from the original Pokemon games: another young kid who embarks on a lofty adventure. We know that Red is capable of forming a strong bond with his Pokemon even at his young age, which means he's a very understanding and empathetic boy. We see him trespassing: pressing buttons he shouldn’t, invading hideouts he has no business being in. Red isn’t afraid to cause trouble for the right reasons.

We can also tell a lot about a silent protagonist by their surroundings, especially those they have control over. Red has video games and a computer in his room, which is a big deal for a kid living in the early 90s.

The best example of this, in my opinion, is Mario’s hotel room in Luigi’s Mansion 3. It’s a total mess: pizza left out with boxes strewn all over the floor, suitcase open and clothes hanging out. Mario’s a slob! And you can't blame the ghosts; not when all the other rooms are reasonably tidy.

Mario isn't exactly a "silent" protagonist. Charles Martinet voices his lines, which are usually a collection of "wahoo!"s and "yippee!"s. That's a look into Mario's personality as well, especially juxtaposed with other Nintendo heroes. This is fun for Mario. He enjoys this.

You don't hear Link yelling "wahoo!" when rolling around Hyrule Field.

[gautierprotectionsquad]

Reading an orv role swap au and it’s making me think about how i would imagine a role swap au. orv spoilers ahead but i did censor out the big stuff.

I think if dokja was a regressor, his path would be similar to gongja’s in suicide hunter. Dokja’s version of WOS will have dokja constantly dying to save his friends and starting over, not thinking about how his death in the previous rounds affect his companions and for that to come back to bite him.

My idea of a dokja WOS bad ending is most likely dokja committing suicide in some permanent way. That way he won;t regress and cause more aus with traumatized companions.

As for yjh being the sole gamer, first of all gaming is very different from reading. Gaming allows you to make choices and that character is essentially You.

In order to make a game that makes a distinction between You and The main character, it would have to have a lot of restrictions in game play. Esp since this is a regressor story with over 1800 lives lived, it means the game will force you to die over 1800 times without your input. Alternatively you can change wos’s plot a tad.

Instead of dying 1863 times exactly, you simply have the character remember every time they die in game and force the player to start over every time you die no matter your save point. Which would certainly explain away why there would only be 1 player. That sounds like an awful playing experience.

And why YJH is the only player is bc he is a perfectionist and a completionist so once he picked it up, he couldn’t put it down till he finished. Also, bc he’s intrigued. So even though yjh is not using the game for escapism, he’s still crazy enough to finish a game that is frustrating with a protagonist that insists on dying.

Then when the apocolypse happens and wos and yjh's world collide, he’ll end up helping dokja bc he spent years frustrated with dokja dying a lot and not being able to do much to prevent it that he can’t help but yell at him not to do stupid shit like he always did to his avatar.

Things start to break a part once you get near the end towards the big meta shit. So basically, it’ll be best to scrap that part of the world building. Yjh did not ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ (major orv spoiler), hsy did not ▇▇▇▇▇▇(major orv spoiler). That’s the hardest part for me to pass on in any orv au i imagine. Orv is just too intricately connected that removing or replacing a single piece fucks the whole thing up.

[randomnameless]

What are the odds of, 20 years from now, IS releasing a 3 Houses remake but with:

most of the “uwu” moments removed

Edelgard being constantly and explicitly portrayed as a villain with characters calling her out on her actions

Massively reduced recruitment options

deeper worldbuilding for Almyra and Adrestia

Claude explicitly adressing that Almyra's just as much at fault for it's bad relations with Fodlan as the other way around and swearing to work to get them to stop pillaging and taking child slaves

TWISTD not being so story-breakingly OP

CF not existing at all, or at least being rewritten from the ground up and being fully finished instead of a glorified reskin of another route

Dimitri's friends, especially Dedue, supporting him and being important for his character development instead of just Byleth

Byleth being fully-voiced and having a very clearly-defined personality and beliefs, being an Avatar only in the fact that the player can choose a different name for them but otherwise being a normal FE protagonist

Rhea's S-support being erased from existence, along with her getting new supports with her family and friends and more plot relevance post-timeskip

Sothis' S-support also being erased, especially if CF still exists, and having her be rewritten so that she only gets her memory back right before fusing with Byleth, apologizing to her children for leaving them alone again but refusing to let Byleth die, staying unambiguously dead for the rest of the game

I highly doubt any of this will ever happen, mind, but if it did, 3H might just jump multiple spots into being one of the best FE games lol

Oh, anon :(

I'm afraid this will never happen lol

FE16's main appeal is the uwu factor, you have to feel bad for Supreme Leader who is sekritly the red emperor, even if she does red emperor things.

That's the basis on which FE16 was built, a lot of parasocial pandering towards Supreme Leader, which will make the player feel "sad uwus" when they will have to fight her, always wondering if they couldn't have picked her route instead.

(I say "sad uwus" and not "feel bad", because Fates made the player feel bad, by having characters react to Corn's choice, and Corn, in turn, reaction to all the salt and shit thrown at their face, as the result of their actions).

And while we could think FE16 is also a story meant to challenge the players, and have them realise they're interacting with biased narrators so it's up to them to find the truth and make their own opinion about the world - imo this reading, while a thousand times more interesting than "uwu be sad uwu" is, imo, not the one the devs prioritized, hence the constant supply of Hresvelg Grey.

As I ultimately came to realise (when nopes was released lol), no Fodlan game can circle around and ignore the uwu factor. Uwuing about Earl Grey and always being a carpet to some lord characters is part of Fodlan's DNA - the faves will always take precedence over the world/lore's coherence.

Clout wonders about Fodlan's isolationism and if it has any relationship with Seiros's tenets? No one, not even Hilda, will tell him that Fodlan might not like its neighbours because said neighbours are always trying to invade them (as she could speak for Almyra). Leonie and Claude wonder if they will get some sort of retribution for saying out loudly they don't believe everything good in the world comes from Sothis... when the Alliance is later revealed to be a place where no one really gives a fuck about religion, and when no line, on-screen, has been thrown around that could justify their doubt and worries (not even a random NPC dissing people for being students in the officer's academy even if they are not particularly religious).

Supreme Leader is another can of tea lol, but you get the meaning.

This is also why, I believe, we will never get WoH meaningful content (and not Epi wanting to use the power of friendship to help his genociding fwends!) because we can't uwu about it -

Much like every story centered on the Lions (even if AM got the Parley scene...), a plot hax has to happen to make you forget everything about the red emperor emperoring because now she's a puppet and nothing has ever been her fault and what is even agency and accountability ?

So we got the general "good old academy days" that Engage tried to push, and the recent Heroes alts -to avoid talking about post TS Fodlan, because IS doesn't want to talk about post TS Fodlan.

I mean, if you're not in FE16 with the various "Rhea maybe BaD bcs Nader raids Fodlan every monday to show everyone how large his penis is" and unable to meaningfuly interact with that world, all the "Crust System + IdEaLs" nonsense just sound like Ashnard's battle convo, and while Almedha still seems to be fond of him, she's the only one on Tellius who still has positive feelings about Ashnard as a person.

Tl:Dr : Fodlan's DNA is "Supreme Leader uwu" + "Rhea BaD" + "don't ever question the characters and nod when they say something ridiculous".

If you remove even one of those core principles, FE16 crumbles, so at that point, it wouldn't be a remake that would be released, anon, but an entire AU to the game.

[panigamermauser]

Partch 2 announcement is here. Guess I won't be finishing the game atm. I only have the point of no return stuff left. And if they promise to fix Karlach soon, I'd rather wait than see several flavours of miserable outcomes I do not want to experience.

But the thing that really got my piss boiling is this part

One of the reasons why we trimmed the epilogue is because we were afraid the ending cinematics were becoming too long and would detract from the epicness of the experience.

REALLY? Really?! Have they MET a single RPG player in their life?

NO ONE cares for one big 'epic' scene more than the fate of their character or companions.

If it was a linear game with no variations, with one named character with their own personality that is not affected by player in any way - then sure, one big epic ending with no epilogue makes sense.

But the moment you introduce event variations, player-made avatar and companions - no one gives a fuck about one 'epic' scene, no matter how good it is.

Surely, it will resonate with some players. The ones who made the same choices devs wanted to show off. But anyone else will be on spectrum of upset to frustrated to angry.

And if they wanted to end on one big boom of a final setpiece... Make an epilogue as a post-credits section.

It will both give a feeling of conclusion that does not 'detract from experience' (whatever it even means). And then you get a separate gated epilogue a player can experience at their own pace. If someone really does not want more content - they are free to skip that part and stop at credits.

The very notion of one 'epic' scene being better than detailed epilogue - in an RPG - really breaks my mind tho.

It's not a movie or a book or even a _linear_ videogame. Yes. In those cases excessive epilogue can be a detriment. But in this case the story is passively experienced.

The moment you introduce player's active input ... I'm sorry, writers, but this is the moment most people stop giving a fuck about your overall vision and themes and whatsnot.

It is a collaborative storytelling now. And I do not know a single RPG player who cares for world story more than their character(and the moment you allow player input, it IS theirs) or companions they like.

What players want from an ending might be considered 'bad writing' by professional writing standards. But it does not make it any less valid.

You actively invited people who are not professional writers to participate in progression of the story. You WANTED to make a game with player's input (otherwise you'd be doing a linear game with predetermined main character). You should give them the ending they want. Even if it is 'cringe', or 'narratively excessive' or 'detracts from intended experience' or whatever.

The moment you override players choices in favor of the ending _you_ want - you need to be ready for fallout and accept that this is a direct consequence of your own choice. As some people like to say, you cannot have your cake and eat it too. It is usually said about players who want sunshine-and-rainbow ending in an RPG. But it goes both ways, you know?

You - as an RPG writer - also cannot have both purity of your vision and player choices at the same time. Go write linear games instead. No one likes a game master who does not accommodate their players decisions.

Majority of players want an option to save everyone and ride into sunset with love interest of their choice. Even if it is 'cringe' or a 'teenage fanfiction' or 'marysue bs' or whatever other reason so many professional writers consider those endings bad.

There's a REASON people keep writing those. Life is miserable for so many. They do not need their escapism to remind them they will never get a good ending. That their loved ones will die no matter what. They get enough of this shit already in their everyday life. They do not pick up a FANTASY game that promises control over their fictional lives only to be crushed mentally again.

If you want your 'shades of grey' and 'nothing is ever good' or 'no victory comes without a cost' endings - just make a linear game. Do not fuck up other people's escapism by false promise of control over their fate just to pull the rug.

Honestly, Bioware jumped on a grenade for all of you with Mass Effect 3 ending. They went all in on 'no victory comes without a cost' ending with very little player agency in it, and it destroyed 10+ years of a franchise with movie deals incoming overnight. All for one creative director hubris. It should have been a lesson for every single game-with-choices designer. A masterclass on player expectation vs writers vision.

If you give player choices - you must leave your own writing ambitions at the door. Sure, make the ending you want. But also make endings that will satisfy the spectrum from edgelords to unicorn-and-raibow lovers! THAT is what makes games-with-choices good. The feeling your choices both matter and are respected.

And for the love of everything you believe in - if you make a character romanciable and then make them die/leave the player no matter what, do not play surprised pikachu when this is the only thing many players will care about. No matter the narrative themes you want to introduce. No one cares for it more than the fate of their pixel person and their pixel person's love.

Honestly, linear games exist. They can be good. Some of my favorite games ever ARE. Precisely because of curated story experience. And they are the space for writers who want to be in control of the narrative.

But the moment you introduce player choices - the game must respect all kinds of players. Even if you personally would never want a certain type of ending. Otherwise what's the fucking point of having the choices?

P.S. Maybe I'm an aberration, but I never gave a fuck about main plot of the game even once. It's not why I got the game. My reasons to get it were: to play a tiefling bard, and have Astarion, Lae'zel, Karlach and Halsin with me. I fell in love with other companions and NPCs too later on. But initial reasons were those five.

And I am very happy to wait for Patch 2 instead of actually finishing the game. Because I care about Karlach more than the plot. That's it.

Main plot is irrelevant. Just a framing for the things that truly matter. Something to deal with AFTER the things I care about (aka companion stories and favored NPC stories) dealt with. That's why I was so frustrated with Act3 really forcing Orin and Gortash interactions. They were always irrelevant to me.

So the idea devs cared about big brain confrontation scene more than main char and companions is just baffling to me. It's just the tool to make plot happen, nothing else!

[l-1-z-a]

The Sims 2 - Eurogamer - 7-17-2003

Seven expansion packs later we get the sequel!

Updated on 17 Jul 2003

Like it or not, The Sims is the biggest selling PC game of all time by some margin. It's not a success, it's a bloody phenomenon, and each and every expansion pack gets snapped up faster than chocolate drops dangled over the jaws of a slavering canine.

The Sims 2, then. An excuse to sell you the same game all over again with shinier graphics or a lovingly created sequel that'll drag in the few unbelievers that are still not convinced it's the greatest game ever? A bit of both really.

Eh, when I were a lad, it were all C64s around here

When home videogaming was a very small lad indeed, Activision released a wonderful text/icon based decision-making game called Alter Ego on Commodore 64 disk. Basically you went from the first stages of consciousness in the womb right up to (potentially premature) death, and could be as sickly sweet nice or as much of an unhinged arsehole as you wanted to be and everything in between simply by choosing your response to a series of typical scenarios. It psychologically profiled your 'individual' and really was one of the most compelling videogames experiences ever.

Just like Alter Ego, The Sims 2 lets your computer-generated creations grow from babies to children to adults and then to old age, also developing emotionally, mentally and physically. Apparently your creations will respond according to given situations depending on choices you make during your formative years. EA calls these 'Life's Big Moments' and your 'Life Score' depends on how you negotiate your way through these situations.

Included is the rather splendid 'Create-A-Sim' feature, which, shockingly, lets you customise the facial features to an almost infinite degree. On show at Camp EA were a few examples of how flexible the system is, with the ability to tweak everything, including the size, shape and colour of the eyes, width and length of the nose, hairstyle, and so on. Just to prove the point a pre-made Mr. T clone showed off the potential to tailor your avatar exactly the way you want it.

My disturbing offspring

Rather disturbingly, players can see what their offspring might look like if matched with a particular individual - and with aliens among the basic races available you can conceivably have a family of green-faced afro-sporting offspring running around. Thanks to the sure to-be-hyped-to-death DNA feature, your offspring will not only resemble the parents physically, but also pick up character traits, so if your Sims are a bunch of low life slobs, don't be surprised if the sprogs can't be arsed to tidy up either.

Another key enhancement is the much improved house building tool, which allows players to construct abodes spanning as many as four floors, with curves for the first time and various new objects to deck out your palace/slum exactly the way you want it.

Visually, The Sims 2's engine is a revelation next to the severely ageing original, with vastly improved, detailed character models sporting a pleasing array of incidental animations and individual touches that make the game a far more compelling prospect. Aside from that, the background detail and general style of artwork made even the various stills dotted around the presentation area look like renders rather than mere screenshots.

Don't hit on me!

The Camp EA demo session itself showed off a few typical Sims scenarios, with four teenage Sims (two boys, two girls) of varying levels of attractiveness and social skills. While the ladies man Bernie could charm the pants off both the ladies with his 'flirt' social skill, the slobbish Marty had no chance, hamstrung by his comparatively primitive 'hit on' skill. Similarly, the ladies don't appreciate infidelity - as evidenced by Bernie's dalliance right in front of his previous target resulting in a display of waterworks.

Upstairs in the Jacuzzi, we got to see the same foursome sharing the hot tub Big Brother style, with various examples of how the game allows players to engage in progressively complex activities the more they engage with one another. One such event was the ability to engage in some mock synchronised swimming, while later the use of a gym showed off the ability to spruce up the physical appearance of your Sim, and potentially win the heart of that shallow bint you've had your heart set on.

With the game still some six to eight months away from release, it'll be some time before we get proper hands on with the next blockbusting episode in this ridiculously large selling series [and it'll be muggins here who 'gets' to do it, I'll wager -Tom]. By then, the current relatively high minimum spec of 32MB graphics card and PIII 700 shouldn't be considered too high, especially when you acknowledge just how many expansion packs this will undoubtedly spawn.

More more more

Until then, there's another expansion pack to wade through (Makin' Magic) and, of course the more structured console sequel, Bustin' Out. As soon as we get a sniff of playable code, we'll let you know everything there is to know about The Sims 2 and its mutant offspring.

[gertlushgaming]

Taxi Life: A City Driving Simulator Review (PlayStation 5)

Taxi Life: A City Driving Simulator Review, Climb into the driver's seat of your car and your business, transport passengers across Barcelona, and grow your company! Can you help relieve the transportation challenges of a city that never sleeps?

Taxi Life: A City Driving Simulator Review Pros:

- Decent graphics. - 6.71GB download size. - Platinum trophy. - Controller settings - can remap controls, vibration intensity slider, and set controller type. - Character and company creator - name, avatar (four choices), company name, logo (twelve choices), and company colors. - Opening flyover of Barcelona with facts and points of interest shown. - You start by doing a driving school set of tasks. - Voiced narrator. - Four driving views including bumper and out of car behind. - In the car camera lets you look out the side windows, lean forward, and also look over the headrest behind you. - The full damage model is in play. - A radial dial can be used for easy access to menus and when open it slows down time. - A full 3D world with camera control. - After a job, you get a breakdown showing exp earned, cash earned, distance traveled, and a 1 to 5-star rank with a customer patience score. - The map allows you to select any available job. - When jobs and directions are given you get the route on your mini map to help. - The game uses the rules of the road and you earn exp by following it like indicating and braking. - During jobs, you can get Interactive prompts from the passengers. - Landmarks can be seen on the map and visited for bonus exp. - You can get a car wash and even watch it happen in real-time, what a treat. - Petrol stars ions let you manually top up or fill it all the way automatically. - The game offers petrol and electric cars. - Player progression is a series of skill trees you put your skill points into and they are split into - driving, proficiency, maintenance, law obedience, and company. - Garages are where you go to repair your car, customize your taxi, and buy new vehicles. - Full stats screen. - Three difficulties - Easy, normal, and hard. - Gearbox modes - Arcade, semi-arcade, simulation, and simulation and clutch. - Supports steering wheels. - Gameplay settings - acceleration sensitivity slider, braking sensitivity slider, and then both again at low and high speed. - Save and load when you want. - Speed cameras are dotted around and do show on the map. - Breaking any road rules takes money off you. - It's a chilled-out relaxing experience. - Accidents can happen and show on the map. - Bonus street graffiti to find around the world. - You can put your own map markers down. - Level up to get better exp rates including one for having no passengers. - Play how you want. - Day and night cycle. - Customizing your car lets you do the interior color and dashboard items like Bobbleheads and the gearstick nob. - Upgrade parts of your car like transmission type and wet tires etc. - Eventually, you can create and run your own taxi firm. - Great checklist gaming. Taxi Life: A City Driving Simulator Review Cons: - Can only pick four male avatars, no female ones, and no way to change or edit them. - Minimal controller settings until you actually get into the game itself. - No graphics settings. - The game encourages you to use your handbrake by having your car constantly moving backward, even in cutscenes and text prompts. - The voiceover sounds like a computer voice. - Driving is fine but it does need time to fit or a few weeks of the sensitivity sliders as out of the box it's all or nothing. - Road rules and all of that stuff only come into play when you have a passenger as it's only enforced by speed cameras and the occasional police seeing you. - The AI is really bad at times like not obeying the rules intentionally ramming you or staying at a green light. - No radio or game music. - The handbrake is ridiculously sensitive. - Hitting the points of interest for exp is not ideal as you have to hold a button down and on a particular angle for it to count. - It's possible to get stuck many times on other cars or the scenery. The only fix I found was to save and quit the game. - The camera shake for crashes is way over the top. - It's not possible to just take a fare, you have to select the customer on the map to trigger the fare. - Takes a while to get going. - Having to always name your save even when overwriting one is a pain. Related Post: As Dusk Falls Review (PlayStation 5) Taxi Life: A City Driving Simulator: Official website. Developer: Simteract Publisher: NACON Store Links - PlayStation  Read the full article

[cidthesquid]

inZOI: Character Studio | Character Creator Critique

[Previous Post]              [First Post]              [Next Post] I was not planning on doing another CCC video, but this dropped A character creation demo for the upcoming game "inZOI".

I've seen a few videos of this game previously, and it seems like a more 'involved' take on the sims series, so let's try character creation! As the title, implies, this is not a gameplay demo, just the character creator. so after registering an account, we're able to start.

After a brief introduction, we're able to pick a first and last name, After that we can start designing our character. It's been a while since I'd seen the videos on this game, so I actually forgot that they go for a pretty realistic art style. While it's neat to see just how far technology has come, I think I actually prefer working with less realistic and more stylized designs. If you've been following my blog for a while, you've probably heard me talk about some anxiety and discomfort I have over how I decide to design characters, I've been working to improve that, but working with something a step closer to realism can resurface some of that. But as I've already spoken on that, let's get stared looking at presets:

There are currently 62 choices, offering a range of skin tones styles and outfits. Wow there are just so many variations in things like face shape alone To keep thing simple, I'll just be re-creating my style savvy avatar.

Aside from Age Group, and gender (non-binary option coming later) You can also add a 'trait' or to assign your character's personality.

Also be aware that some age groups have their own set of presets, So if you want to make use of presets, I'd set gender and age first. Next is face editing:

Here we have 79 presets with even more options. And I already see I have my work cut out for me, Simplified 2d cartoon designs just don't easily translate to more realistic models. As cheesy as it sounds, it sounds, it really helps me appreciate the amount of variance you can find in actual people, like very slight variations are what make people different, yet they don't define them. Hair's up next, 47 choices, with a full color slider!

They have a good selection of short, medium, and shoulder-length choices, but I would have liked to see a few more longer ones. (the only thing longer is the typical long ponytail/princess hairstyle) Next up is skin:

And this has got to be the most detail skin tone editor I've ever seen, You get six presets for 'skin' (complexion), 80 color presets. The full color slider allows for more flexibility and even non-natural skin tones, and facial lines, and shine, all have dedicated sliders. Next up is eyes:

30 pupal and iris designs, including ones with more fantasy styling. A great selection, but eyebrow (16 choices) and eyelash (5 choices) Feel a bit sparse. We end the face section with the makeup selection, This is broken down into a few sub-sections, starting with hilighter:

This is not really something I understand the mechanics of, so I have no idea how to use it, but you'll have options for color and intensity of the tone-up and contour, and you can adjust the glow. And you get just as many options for the rest of the selections:

(Sorry for the messy image, it's just for refrence) Hilights Blush and the follwing options all have 11 choices, each with color and three areas of adjustment. Blush allows you to add a beauty mark or freckles, and the others are self-explanatory, Eye shadow, eyeliner, and Lipstick. Each with roughly the same degree of flexibility. Next up is body shape:

No advanced options here, and the sliders probably would have been labeled better. I'd argue 'muscle definition' would have been better for the top. Next up is outfit:

They have tons of choices and presets And even subcategories to help you find what you're looking for! You can recolor various parts of each outfit item, and you can even import texture if you want a more custom look:

(I wonder if the 'import' feature is just for the demo?) I am a bit disappointed in the socks and boots selection, though:

The demo offers a fair amount of shoes, but this is it for boots? Nothing taller than standard combat boots? My inner punk is very sad. Also, no tights? Stockings or anything full length? the best they offer is thigh-highs? an oddly small selection. Next up is 'Customize Outfit':

This option is a little misleading, I won't let you further customize an existing item. But it does allow you to make a custom top, shirt or pants, by changing the trip of a few select parts. And the end result can be colored or textured. And the last option is accessories:

There were a few cute options here, but most of them seemed like standard trucker or baseball caps. Even my style savvy go-to choices like the (shown) newspaper cap, and the fedora, just look a little weird for some reason. So I'm not a huge fan of the ha selection, but they offer a better spread for eyewear (16 options, not shown) The jewelry options are pretty spare too, there are 'Hair Accessories' (5 choices, not shown) And lastly Nails:

You get a few different shapes, styles patterns and lengths, It was at this point that I learned I can save colors as favorites so I can easily use them on other parts of the character creator. As you can likely tell by my diminishing commentary, these are things I've spent less time messing around with in other games, so I don't really know if I have preferences or opinions on them yet. So any feedback on color matching, jewelry choice or whatever is more than welcome. It was at this point that I thought I was done, but I realized I never found option for custom face adjustments, But back on the main scren...

Turns out you can edit the facial features at any time! There are no sliders here surprisingly, you just click a point on the face you want to adjust, and you can adjust it using your mouse. Some can be panned, rotated and resized: You can switch from 'basic edit mode' with a more restricted control:

To a more detailed edit mode, with more points of adjustment:

I do like the ease at which you can make quick changes, but at the same time Sliders allow for a bit more precision, And it's easier to mark down what settings you used, so I would have preferred the choice to use either. Alright, now on to the last feature in the demo:

The studio allows you to adjust the background, expression and lighting. And photo mode allows you to pose your character with a wide array of poses and dances, and a wider range of expressions:

It looks like an option to record videos will also be an option later too. You have quite a few framing options in photo mode, but just like in studio and edit, You won't have an option to change the direction the character's looking or facing, an option I make great use of in FF:XIV's gPose. Anyways, here's the final Product and comparison:

---- So final Thoughts: I had a lot of fun playing around with character creator! I really loved how much flexibility they gave you in so many areas. There were a few lacking areas such has hairstyles, shoes socks and stuff, but I feel like that can all easily be fixed with updates, the core of the creation experience here is solid, and I think that's what matters. I think this may be the most detailed character create I've seen by a large margin! I've only spent a few hours in it making this post, and I already can't wait to see how it will improve with the game's release. ...Also, I accidentally closed the creator without saving them as a preset or to a family, so Cid is now gone. R.I.P But honestly, I was so overwhelmed with choices I'd never seen, that I feel like a few months or years from now when the game is released, I may be able to design a character even better! Next Character Creator Critique: Life Makeover ------------------------------------------------------------------------------Thanks for reading! I had a lot of fun making this, so I hope you had fun reading it as well!

As always, all comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome! (I'm also looking for feedback on this new style, how's the formatting)

You literally can't bother me, (unless you go out of your way to be a jerk), so post whatever you need to say!