#in making this we also came to the conclusion that the more melee is involved the less realistic movies tend to become

[neonacidtrip]

I’m developing a new chart system

[fehspinning]

The Happy Husbands Are Finally Good To Go!

So seeing as they are now a ship that is taking over my free thoughts I HAD to make a team with Dimitri and Alfonse on it. Problem is both Alfonses are not that great; but at least bunny boi Alfonse can reach 40+10. My main modes of gameplay involve me whooping the AI, as opposed to being a PVPing machine so I wanted a pair of boys who could withstand any form of multi-battle setting as well as be able to shrug off a lot (not all) player created glass canons so I can grind out my week requirements. 

Given the fact that they are both cavalry it made me want to try to make an all horsey team that existed to optimize these two as much as possible. So here we are. 

Dimitri

Pretty straight forward big a big beefy tank, some minor debuffs sprinkled on and use Savage Blow to help guarantee that Noble Lance triggers more often.

Being the strongest boy on the team means he gets the benefit of Eliwood’s Ardent Durandal bonus doubling as well as his Vision of Arcadia bonus to Att & Def.

In combat when standing next to Alfonse my Dimitri’s stats are as follows: Att - 53 + 2 Ally Support + (6x2) Visions Doubled Spd - 32  + 2 Ally Support Def - 41  + 2 Ally Support  + ( (6+6) x2 ) Visions + Fortify Calvary Doubled  Res - 24  + 2 Ally Support  +  (6x2) Fortified Calvary Doubled For totals of: Att - 67 Spd - 34 Def - 67 Res - 38

**There is a Goad Calvary on the team that can be positioned to benefit him if needed as well.

Alfonse

Dimitri’s weakness is magic so I wanted an Alfonse that could take care of most magic issues that came up. I sacrificed a LOT to make this Alfonse be strong enough to stand next to his love starting with Greil’s axe to help give this boy as many stats as possible. 

The rest is straight forward, Distant Counter, A Res boosting seal and Vantage to maximum his chances of surviving and killing magic users. While there are mages that can probably still one shot him I haven’t found them yet.

With the cheap and dirty healing of Noontime Alfonse hasn’t died yet upon being complete. 

Both boys have Reposition so they both have the option of pulling the other to safety if the field requires.

In combat when standing next to Dimitri my Alfonse’s stats are as follows: Att - 49 + 2 Ally Support + 3 Greil’s Axe +5 Att/Res Bond Spd - 33  + 2 Ally Support  + 3 Greil’s Axe Def - 30  + 2 Ally Support  + 3 Greil’s Axe  +6 Fortify Calvary  Res - 22  + 2 Ally Support  + 3 Greil’s Axe +6 Fortify Calvary +5 Att/Res Bond For totals of: Att - 59 Spd - 38 Def - 41 Res - 38

The Res is down a little right now but when I get one with a Res asset I will be merging into that one. This Alfonse is IV neutral, which brings about all the sadness but once that merge happens and he gets that extra +3 to his Res he will definitely be an absolute magic user destroying beast!

**There is a Goad Calvary on the team that can be positioned to benefit him if needed as well.

Yarne

Eliwood needs a beast or dragon to be deployed in order for Visions of Arcadia to go off. I wanted a unit that could walk the rope between clean up crew and healer/hp manipulator and this timid guy fit the bill perfectly.

I'm not looking for a super healer because I want Dimitri to be hurt most times, but I like the idea of if the princes get too low there is a ready  health restore waiting in the wings.

Reciprocal Aid with Wings of Mercy allow me to be able to heal when needed. Renewal allows me to be a health battery over extended gameplay modes. There is even a Goad Calvary on him to help 

All the while taking advantage of the fact that he’s a beast so on this team of humans he needs to be alone to pump his stats. With potential help from his weapon to super fuel his Galeforce Yarne can kill a LOT of guys if given the opportunity.

I won’t lie I forgot to Ally Support his with Eliwood but that is a thing that will be happening.

Eliwood

I KNOW HIS SEAL ISN’T MAXED OUT YET! I just ran out of Sacred Coins so that will be fixed next week.

Between buffs and debuffs I made an Eliwood that can survive while on clean up or offshoot duty. It is far more important to me that he survives to hand out those stat alterations than it is for him to be a lean mean killing machine. 

That is why there are such odd choices such as Steady Posture to help reduce the number of people who can double him and Escutcheon to help against those melee units that still can. 

He also has Shove to help knock the bunny around when needed to help with positioning.

In Conclusion

I know it isn’t the most optimized team but given the fact that I HAD to use an Alfonse I am really happy with the results.

If you want to know “what happens when one of them dies and you lose most of your bonuses?” The answer is every time it has happened so far it’s been near the end of the fight and I win the next turn anyhow.

This team also makes me want to write a drabble the next time Easter rolls around. Alfonse comes out in his Spring Festival costume and has that really awkward moment where he locks eyes with Yarne for the first time since getting dressed.

I think we all know how dorky Alfonse actually is, and how that would probably go down. 

Anyhow how did I do? What do you think?

[lasorciereviolette-blog]

On Witch

(So RP’s are a bit slow right now so I might as well continue down the saltapalooza that has been opened up due to a post on how Sega’s flanderized Amitie over the years. 

This one’s kind of all over the place, because it’s not a strict flanderization argument per se and since Witch is my favourite I like to gush about her. I’ll try to keep on topic as much as possible though.

So I’ll start by saying that honestly, this could be a lot worse in several ways. Sega’s done at least a little homework on Witch. It took them nearly a decade to put Witch in one of their games (no, 7 does not count since she has no lines) but it looks like she’s here to stay seeing as she was kept on the roster for both Tetris and Chronicle.

But... Now what? See, my analysis has led me to the conclusion that Sega have absolutely idea of what to do with Witch.

I didn’t always have that viewpoint. At one time I thought Sega had done a pretty good job with Witch. She showed up, her story was reasonably funny, and she was actually allowed to behave like a selfish jerk unlike certain characters. 

However, a little while ago I came across a translation of Yon’s cutscenes. And I came across an unfortunate discovery: Witch’s campaign in 20th is nothing new at all. Nope. It’s just a copy-paste of her few scenes in Yon, and one cutscene in Sun.

Let me elaborate. See, in 20th Witch is trying to collect ingredients to create a potion in one of Wish’s spellbooks. Collecting these ingredients involves taking parts off of certain cast members, namely Draco’s tail, the Acorn Frog’s eye, an imp’s horns, a ladybug, a dark wizard’s hair, and a fish’s scales. On the surface this isn’t a bad premise. I didn’t mind it too badly before I knew anything about Yon. Except in Yon, Witch’s goals are almost identical. She needs Draco’s tail and Seriri’s scales, and wants to collect Carbuncle’s finger grime (... somehow) just in case she ever needs it. When she comes across a sleeping Dragon, she also tries to seize the opportunity to grab some snot.

The details aren’t exactly the same, at least. Which is nice, because if the scenes were word for word the exact same I’d be even more peeved. I can at least give the writers that much. The thing is, after waiting so long for a beloved character’s comeback, why did they decide just to recycle half the cutscenes from other games? I suppose this can be forgiven since it’s an anniversary title, but it’s still a little odd.

And then we get to Tetris, where Witch has a total of... One scene. When DLC was released, she got another very short scene. While these were both original, there... Really was nothing to them. All she wants to do is perform an experiment with blocks in one, and in the other she mocks Draco, which would have been absolutely unsurprising if you had played either Saturn or Yon in the past. Witch’s appearance is very much a token one and she doesn’t even really interact with other characters besides Draco Centauros when there was an opportunity to have her bounce off of the members of the Starship Tetra, or Amitie, or Ringo. Or maybe to put her in Primp and have her hang out with some of the people she used to. Talk about a waste. Witch is a fun and dynamic character who has been allowed to remain a bit of a jerk. There was plenty of room to have her interact with new characters, but instead they threw her into space and called it a day. Hell, she’s a comet witch and she doesn’t even notice she’s in space!

Which leads me into the next part of this rant, the fact that Sega only really seemed to look at Yon and one cutscene in Sun and determined her entire character from there. Before Yon Witch was primarily a comet witch. While she did make potions in Seriri’s Happy Birthday, Witch’s gameplay was focused more on flight and spellcasting. Based on her moveset in other games, Witch not only shares most of Arle’s spell set (being proficient in fire, ice, and lightning magic, as well as being able to cast Brain Dumbed and Jugem) but has her signature Meteor spell and a few other comet style magics such as Big Bang. These spells have a distinctive star theme when she casts them, distinguishing her from Arle.

Pretty cool, huh? She is also somewhat of a melee fighter, not being afraid to swat people with her broom. (this isn’t the greatest of examples but it’s cool so)

Coming back to her broom flying, a whole game was built around it called Comet Summoner. It didn’t have much of a story, but it did feature a bunch of cute levels and a powerful boss that may or may not have been Witch’s future self. And this future self was strong, with a huge red aura, several health bars, and the ability to not only zip around the stage at high speeds, but cast spells of her own and combo you with a mix of melee and magic if you fuck up and get too close to her.

Witch would make a good fighting game character. 

This is getting a bit off topic, but point is, Witch is versatile. But unfortunately it seems that apart from her spell names Sega can’t be bothered to remember her versatility and just wants her to make wacky potions. I’m not opposed to her making wacky potions, it’s not necessarily bad, but at one time she was a lot more than that.

She was more complex as a character than she seems to be in 20th or Tetris. Maybe not in Yon, where she appears very little, but in Madou Monogatari she got some attention. Yes, Witch is selfish. Yes, she’s pretty power hungry. Yes, she’d probably sell quite a few people out for a single corn chip. But there are some people who are dear to her, like for example her grandmother Wish. While again, I can’t read Japanese, Witch Leeroy Jenkins’s into a room when she sees her grandmother’s body on the floor in Tower of the Magician. Afterwards, Witch’s body language is pretty clear to see.

She’s clearly very worried about Wish and does not appreciate any harm coming to her. Even jerks have loved ones, I guess?

Let’s give Sega the benefit of the doubt, maybe that one trait just hasn’t come into play yet. After all, Wish hasn’t appeared (but she has been mentioned). Sure. However, there are other traits that the Sega games ignore when it comes to Witch’s character.

First, Sega has arguably made Witch into an even worse jerk. In Compile’s games, Witch is often abrasive and rude, but she will defer to an expert’s judgment in a situation she doesn’t understand. Case in point, Saturn. Upon coming across the Yog smoke, she avoids possession because she immediately listens to Arle and Rulue’s advice. She doesn’t argue, she just does it. 

Contrast this with 20th. 

In general, Witch is crafty and rather full of herself in Saturn, but not so much as Rulue. She has a low opinion of martial arts and so that makes her play well off of Rulue (It probably also explains her animosity towards Draco), while she has a high opinion of her magical skill and loves to soak up praise. Witch also shows little ill will towards those who quit the tournament after a Yog presents itself, which might hint at some sensibility the character doesn’t tend to have much of after this. 

Witch is also a bit of a snarker in this game:

There’s character here besides her excitability, or getting pissed off when things don’t go her way. Now Saturn does bring up Witch’s legendary temper, but we don’t really see the results of that in-game. 20th really pushes that informed attribute into the spotlight, where all her thoughtfulness and cleverness go out of the window for her to make a bad potion that obviously contained too many substitutions, to the potion not being useful in the first place, to her beating up Lemres for stating the blatantly obvious. Witch doesn’t really come off any smarter than Draco at the end of this, because all of this was obvious! She just comes off as an even worse ass than usual because of Sega’s wackiness mandate.

I also really don’t get what the point of her fighting Lemres even was. Lemres seems disappointed at the end that he didn’t get to talk to Witch more, but the story just ends. There isn’t any kind of payoff or character growth here. Just... Nothing. Again, a total waste of potential, having the two comet mages meet and then do absolutely nothing of value. Love it, Sega.

Oh yeah, there were two more things Sega forgot about. First, this.

Witch is probably an actual pervert, to contrast with Schezo’s fake perversion (which may or may not be real perversion too sometimes, because Saturn’s fun like that). So that’s another thing Sega forgot, for better or for worse.

Which leads me to the last bit that Sega’s forgotten. This too I can’t really say if it’s a good thing or a bad thing. I like that it exists in Compile’s games, but if Sega remembered it would likely devour what remains of Witch’s personality. In certain games, there are implications that Witch may have a crush on Schezo. She fawns over him in athletic clothes in Puyolympics and as seen above, asks if he’s cool and wants to touch him in Saturn. Then of course there’s the whole “I want you” scene that solidifies the thing. For all I know there could be evidence for or against this in Tower of the Magician, which is a game where the two spend quite a bit of time interacting with each other, but since I haven’t learned to read Japanese in the last few hours I can’t comment on that, as much as I want to.

Now whether this is a good or bad thing for Sega to ignore really depends on your interpretation of this trait. I’m personally torn, because again I’m glad that Witch has not been reduced to a lovesick one-note failure. On the other, it’s a facet that a more competent writing team could have explored with some success. So it sucks that it’s been abandoned completely, but the end result could have been really terrible had Sega noticed this, so... Yay?

Okay, so I’ve written blocks of text. What does it all mean? Well, it means Witch isn’t immune to being flanderized in Sega’s works. It could be a lot worse, but there’s plenty of Witch’s character that’s been left out of current Puyo and plenty that has been aggrandized into a worse person. Right now Witch reminds me of a mixture of herself and Saturn’s take on Rulue, which... Really sucks, because no wonder Sega can’t figure out how to make Rulue stand out if they give her traits to other characters! Poor Rulue. Give her some love, Sega. She doesn’t deserve this kind of shafting.

As for Witch, you’re not going to get a total sweet kindhearted girl out of her. She was never that kind of character and that’s not a bad thing. But throwing on Rulue’s most boastful traits and making her a worse jerk, then giving her cameos because you don’t know what to do with her isn’t a good way to characterize her. Return some of that sense into the mix! Like I said in my Schezo comments, not everyone needs to be a wacky joke 24/7.

[unforgetabelle]

Update time :D A new chapter of Shift is up!

Gabriel watched the two teens in awe. So young and powerful, and clearly not even at the height of their power yet. Such potential... And his son...he could kick himself for not seeing it in him sooner. Adeline had been a force and Adrien was clearly his mother’s child.

When his son threw the metaphorical first punch, he grinned wider. Perhaps he’d inherited a bit from his father too.

The melee continued, the two seeming to discover that by attacking each other, it kept the room from attacking them. At least they were quicker than most dueling pairs to come to that conclusion. That private school education his son insisted on hadn’t all been for naught. It was mesmerizing really. While his son’s aim left something to be desired, Adrien was only  newly activated and far more powerful than anything he’d ever seen. Allowances must be made for his lack of skill in the presence of such obvious potential.

It was curious, really. The girl was undeniably miraculous. She was a protector after all and had no doubt been training for some time at honing her powers. And, of course, there was the added detail that she had the benefit of all seven pithoi. Gabriel’s métamorphes, with only the indirect influence of the pithoi he’d absorbed, tended to be...less. They were powerful in their own way, but they never grew, they never achieved more. It had been a sore spot ever since he realized what was happening. Protectors gained their initial powers immediately, but over the course of one or two years, they came into their true potential. His métamorphes were all protectors in their own way, his power not only forcing their activation whether their gene would have surfaced or not, but also partially enacting the ancient ritual of the protectors. For that reason, all of his métamorphes were extraordinary, possessing some extra ability, but they were nothing like the girl. Gabriel wasn’t too proud to admit where his experiments fell short.

Without the powers of all the pithoi involved in the activation, the raw power he’d only begun to see from the girl was impossible. Years of study and experimentation, and Gabriel had been unable to replicate it, all his métamorphes stagnating where they began. No matter what he tried, there was some hidden element he couldn’t figure out. It had grated on him for the last ten years.

But watching Adrien now, he wondered if it had more to do with the person that with his process. Protectors must be selected meticulously for various qualities. While Gabriel had come into his powers through...less conventional means, Adeline had not. Adrien was more like his mother than Gabriel ever wanted to admit, but if that was what made him more powerful, that elusive je ne sais quoi  that Gabriel had been hunting for for a decade, this could be the start of a breakthrough. It wasn’t the process...it was the person. His mouth spread into an even wider grin at the imaginings of how much more powerful his army could be with soldiers like his son.

Gabriel turned his eyes back to the scene in from of him, watching in glee as his son broke down barrier after barrier that the girl threw up. She was playing defense, but when Adrien sent a shot straight through the bars, knocking her out of the air, Adrien made it clear he was playing offense.

The girl fell the the ground, shifting into her human form, a faint glow surrounding her as power seemed to seep from every pore of her body. His son shifted as well and stood motionless. For a moment, Gabriel doubted. Why was he hesitating? They knew each other, but surely it was clear that she was the enemy. A statique-lover. A traitor to her own kind. Perhaps the boy was too much like his mother. This sentimentality…

Then Adrien lifted his hands, his powers seeming even more potent despite his human form and Gabriel felt giddy at the clear display of his superiority. Adrien screamed, a gutteral sound ripping from deep within him, and with a flash of light, all the monitors in the observation room went black.

“Wha--Nathalie!” Gabriel yelled shrilly and the woman jumped to start murmuring with the computer technician who spun around the room in a flurry trying to find the root of the problem. A few minutes passed before the younger man reluctantly turned to face Gabriel

“The electronics---They’re fried sir.”

Gabriel turned on him, vehemence in his eyes.

“Do you mean to tell me that I spent billions of dollars retrofitting this establishment and a simple burst of energy had completely dismantled it.”

“I’d say it was more than a burst of energy sir,” the man laughed nervously, but Gabriel continued to glare at him.

“Open the doors then,” he commanded.

“Well, when I say fried, I mean everything,” The man hedged with a wince and Gabriel turned the full fire of his glare on him, not speaking a word. Nathalie stepped in, grabbing the man by the collar.

“Fix. It.” She hissed, and the man nodded.

“Mainframe. Downstairs. 5 minutes.” He choked out and was sprinting away the second Nathalie released him.

Gabriel turned, and glared at the wall, a slow smile spreading over his face when no one could see him.

More than a burst of energy, indeed.

~*~

Marinette tentatively opened her eyes, taking in the destruction around her in shock just as she realized that she’d been completely spared from the hell Adrien had unleashed. She looked over at him, a cat again with his head cocked to the side in concentration, before he nodded and shifted back.

“Good, I fried it all. They can’t hear us now.”

“How--” she started shaking her head but gasped at pain that flared in her shoulder from the previous hit. Adrien winced too, his face in clear agony and started to move to her side but stopped, clearly unsure if it was where he belonged anymore. She couldn’t tell him if it was. She wasn’t sure herself. Everything about this was confusing to her. His appearance. His behavior. His motives.

Looking into his eyes, she saw her Adrien. The boy she started to let herself fall for, despite her best efforts to deny all that was between them. But then she remembered his face when they last met, and her heart was wary to make the same mistake twice.  Did he just not want to believe her? She could understand the impulse to protect your family, even if in his case “family” happened to be a psychopathic serial killer. If his reaction had been simply a gut impulse to protect the only family he had left, she could start to understand that, but then why was he here? Did he finally realize that she was right and his father was Hawkmoth or had he known all along? What was he playing at?

“Mari,” his voice called her back to the present as he glanced around the still dark room and took a few steps closer to her. “I don’t know how much time we ha--”

“Why are you here, Adrien?”

Read more

Get caught up from the beginning!

[dinoeggnog]

My Smash Bros. for Switch      Character Wish List

   You know It’s been awhile since I’ve made an article for my blog and with Smash for Switch having just been announced in the latest direct; I think it’s the right time to add a spot of fuel to the Smash Hype Train.  

  A few things of note in regarding this list before I begin, This list will be presented in a top 10 like basis but I will be cheating a little bit when talking about certain characters and scenarios. Also, most of the characters on this list will be first or second party and no veterans; I want to focus on the new. This list will be pretty lengthy but it’s Smash related so I believe it’s deserving of such pedigree.  

   With all that out of the way let’s begin.

   10. Part 1. Simon Belmont/ Castlevania 

     When It comes to 3rd party representatives in smash I’m of the belief that said fighter should have two qualifications. 1. Noteworthy as a franchise in gaming, meaning either Iconic or influential, even classic. 2. History with Nintendo. Many of the 3rd parties represented in Smash already reach such criteria in my opinion and Castlevania’s Simon Belmont, I believe is another well suited for battle. 

   Like Mega Man, Castlevania as a series has seen a wide variety of releases over the last thirty years but the main series has received a ton of love on Nintendo’s platforms. Now there are many faces that share the name Belmont in the series but like Mega Man, I see Sakurai pulling mostly from the original, classic trilogy with some exceptions. The Belmont whip is such an awesome and iconic weapon and Castlevania has many interchangeable secondary weapons, there are B moves just waiting to happen.  

   But how likely is Castlevania to be represented. That falls on Konami and yes we all know that they are a fickle sort to say the least. I suppose it would be wishful thinking but Hey! You never can predict the future when it comes to smash, only speculate. It would be a pleasure to see Simon break out of the Pachinko parlor and into the fighting ring, if you know what I mean. 

10. Part 2. Bomberman 

    Like I said I’m cheating a little with this but personally I group both Simon Belmont and Bomberman together on the same spot, both of which are owned by Konami although for Bomberman that wasn't always the case. Bomberman has been around since 1983, his first game having been developed by now defunct Hudson Soft and released on multiple platforms including Nintendo consoles. Today Bomberman has been featured in over 70+ games, spanning countless generations of platforms. 

   More recently Bomberman appeared on the Nintendo switch exclusive Super Bomberman R; a game that Konami surprisingly kept alive past it’s initial release. So unlike Simon Belmont, many would argue that Bomberman would have a better shot. However some would also argue as to what Bomberman could bring to the roster; he just throws Bombs right? Well to that I say, dig a little deeper. 

   While it’s true that his primary form of combat would involve bombs. if you’ve ever played a Bomberman game you’d know that there are many hazards and pick ups that could be brought to the table. Bomberman is no stranger to 3D platformers either, with both Bomberman Hero and 64 on the N64, there are multiple moves that could be incorporated into a viable move set. In addition he even has his own animal companions, one example being Louies. A race of rabbit like, kangaroo creatures that are essentially Bomberman’s answer to Mario’s Yoshi. Naturally There would be elements of Super Bomberman R featured as well.

   In conclusion I believe Bomberman has potential and between him and Simon; I think Bomberman would be the likelier candidate as a potential Konami representative. Thought honestly I would love to have them both. You know what they say, the more the merrier. 

9. Banjo and Kazooie

   I agree many would argue that Banjo Kazooie is really no longer relevant but there is one thing I want to address. To me a 3rd party character should have at least some relevance to Nintendo. Smash Bros. as a whole is a celebration of Nintendo and it’s many franchises. And no other 3rd party character has had a relationship with Nintendo quite like the Bear and Bird tag team.

    You know the story. Rare and Nintendo had a perfect chemistry together, releasing some of the most well acclaimed system sellers of their time during the Snes/N64 era and then Micro$oft came along and the rest in unfortunately history. Banjo Kazooie is considered by many to be their best work/outside of Donkey Kong Country. That’s were i’m coming from, this game was one of my childhood favorites and personally I don’t view them as third party, I view the duo more as long lost family. Like that cousin you never knew you had but just met at the recent family reunion. 

    Let’s face it Banjo and Kazooie would be perfect for smash,Their move set practically rights itself. Any number of Bottle’s moves from egg shooting to beak barging, flying across the stage in a barrage of feathers the list goes on. Not to mention any number of Mumbo’s transformations that could also play a huge role in their play style, including Final Smash. In terms of stages, naturally it would have to be Gruntilda’s castle, complete with the Witch herself as a boss. flying around and striking players with her magical spells and making them cringe with her rhyming quells. 

    Do Banjo and Kazooie even have a chance? It’s hard to say, Micro$oft’s Phil Spenser has publicly stated in the past that he wouldn’t mind leasing the Bear and Bird to the Smash team in regards to the smash poll. I wan’t to believe that I really do.If Banjo and Kazooie never do come back to their full potential I would at the very least love to have them here in Smash. I can dare to dream. 

8. Impa/ The Legend of Zelda 

         Lets be honest, Do we really need another sword fighter? NO! 

     But do we need more Zelda representatives? YES! 

   With Link sporting his new Breath of the Wild look and many jumping on board with numerous Zelda characters they wish too include in the roster, plus additional hopes of Zelda getting a coat of Breath of the wild Paint as well. I felt it only fitting to go ahead with my personal Zelda pick. Legend of Zelda naturally is a vast franchise with many unique faces over the years and it can be difficult to pick just one.

       Many want the Skull Kid from Majora’s Mask or Midna of Twilight Princess, Ghirahim of Skyward Sword or any one of the Champions from Breath of the Wild; the list goes on. But why Impa, well a few reasons; she’s awesome in Hyrule Warriors, I mean let’s be real that game can make a great fighter out of anyone in the Zelda Cannon but Impa stands out to me the most.  My second and most important point in this case is her relevance in the series. Impa has been in a majority of games in the cannon almost since the beginning, that can’t be said for many other charters in the franchise, aside from the hero of time himself, the titular Princess and the big bad. 

    While Impa has had drastic changes from game to game. In one instance being a frail, older woman or in another being captain of the royal guard, regardless she’s still there. That longevity and adaptability I think would have her recognized by Sakurai as a Series regular and worthy of a spot in the roster. Of course she is a sword fighter, many tire of that and I can relate but taking Hyrule Warriors into consideration I think she could be a lot of fun to play as and a great addition to Smash’s leading ladies. She’d be plenty more unique than Lucina that’s for sure. Also if it’s not to much to ask give Ganondorf an original move set this time around, Please!?!.

  7. Dixie Kong

     Yep, I want more Kong's in Smash and while I too support the King K.Rool movement; for this list I’m gonna be a little different. Unlike K.Rool many argue that Dixie would be way to similar to Diddy in terms of move pool but I have to disagree, at least to a point. Dixie naturally has a built in recovery with her pony tail which alone can be used in a variety of melee attacks and grabs. Like Diddy and his peanut pop guns, Dixie would utilize a weapon from DK 64, in this case the feather bow previously used by Tiny Kong. Dixie has also been one to dabble in musical arts with an electric guitar; maybe that can play a part in her moves as well. 

       I do think Diddy and Dixie would share similarities with each other but in the same way Mario and Luigi or Ness and Lucus would.They would both have unique spins on a familiar play style but incorporate separate elements from their franchise. Hey we still don’t have any sign of the animal buddies in smash; like Rambi or Squawks and the like.  Why not include them in Dixie’s move set or impalement them in D.K or Diddy’s, I’m just spit balling ideas here.

    So whether it be King K.Rool, Dixie, Funky or even Cranky and what have you, I and many others would love to see more Donkey Kong Country love in Smash Bros. 

6. Issac; Golden Sun

     When it comes to Nintendo R.P.G’s and Tactics games people have their obvious choices. Another Fire Emblem rep. (shudders) or a face from the recent Xenoblade Chronicles 2 to join up with shulk. There is one classic Nintendo R.P.G series that many overlook, that is except for smash fans like myself.

     Issac is an interesting choice, the Golden Sun series has seen a fun, little trilogy across Nintendo’s portable systems. Now Issac was an assist trophy in previous Smash titles but he’s so much more than that little forced push thing you saw there. Issac is Golden Sun’s equivalent to an earth bender, using a variety of landscape and plantlike magic to defeat his foes.

      There’s lots of potential for unique attacks here to be explored outside of the traditional R.P.G offerings. We’ve seen so many other elemental’s in Smash already with fire, Electricity and even Water; why not earth? 

   Golden Sun is a series that needs more love and Smash is no exception. I also wouldn't mind a new Golden Sun on the Switch but we can’t have everything now can we? 

    5. Takamaru; The mysterious Murasame Castle 

    I’m always a sucker for old school choices; I call them the 8-bit Ambassadors. You know the ones, Ice Climbers, Duck Hunt, R.O.B, Pit, Little Mac and so forth. There’s always one in each addition of Smash and my list is no exception and while choices like balloon Fighter or the Excite Bike Racer were tempting, I just had to include this guy.

   The final member of the Famicom 4 and an assist trophy in Smash 4, Takamaru could have a lot of potential evidence for his inclusion. Sakurai has actually considered him for the roster numerous times, dating as far back as melee. The biggest reason for his exclusion before was his lack of presence outside of Japan. Nowadays he’s more well known namely for said Smash appearance but in addition his game was featured in Nintendo Land on the Wii U and his original game was released on the 3DS’s virtual console, so there’s that. 

   Again some may grimace at yet another sword user but he’s a Samurai; A bloody Samurai. I don’t think anyone should complain on that subject alone. From his one game they could easily pull a satisfying move set and even then they can get get creative. Also have I mentioned yet;  He’s a fricken Samurai. I think I made my point.    

  4. Another Kirby Rep. 

    Much like Zelda and Donkey Kong, I think Kirby is do for another character spot. There are just so many possibilities that it can be difficult to pick just one and let’s face it, the recent Star Allies isn’t making it any easier. Favorite choices include Bandanna Dee, Knuckle Joe, Marx, Magolor, Gooey, Adeline, Susie, The Robobot armor and the list continues. But I have my own Ideas 

    I want to see Kirby’s Animal Friends Rick the hamster,Coo the Owl and Kine the fish as a collective one piece character. I don’t necessarily see them as a tag team but rather you would primarily play as Rick, Coo and Kine would assist in various moves. Examples include Coo being used in a up B special, as well as with aerial attacks and Kine being used for stronger smash attacks and a down B special; Kine would also allow Rick to swim and never drown in water areas in certain stages.

   As far as moves, simple. Thanks to Kirby they can perform a variety of moves that could be implemented quite easily into their respective move set. Rick can breath fire and produce spikes. Coo can throw Talons, be turned into a feather duster and produce lightning. And Kine could be thrown around like a weight, make shock waves and bust light bulbs. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. That’s my idea anyway. 

   In addition I also wan’t to highlight Marx for a moment. I think he would be the perfect villain to represent the Kirby series (even though he’s only been in one game) and I think they could have a lot of fun designing a move set around him. Though that’s just the Kirby fan in me coming out and saying “Hi”.

 3. Dr.Eggman

  My last 3rd party pic.

    Admittedly I’m not the biggest Sonic fan but I’m of the belief that at some point, in some way; Sonic is getting a second rep. I would much rather have another Sega franchise represented; we know that's not gonna happen but I would love to be proven wrong.

     That being said as to which character; many would love Knuckles or tails and many sonic fans suggest Shadow but as for my choice, Why not Dr. Eggman himself. Like K.Rool, Smash needs more villains, Smash needs more heavy weights and Eggman fits that criteria to a T. 

    Eggman or Dr. Robotnik I think would be a worthy addition to the roster. He would fight in a mech, much like Bowser Junior and would have the raw horsepower rivaling that of Bowser or Donkey Kong. As far as moves you would have a plethora of boss battles spanning nearly thirty years of Sonic games to choose from.

          Like King Dedede and his Waddle Dees in brawl, Eggman could summon his robot minions to do his dirty work in many instances and ranged projectiles like missiles and bombs are a given. Honestly I think this could work, fighting in a mech would not be out of the ordinary for him, just look at Sonic Adventure 2 or that Sonic arcade fighter. Shoot! I’m kinda getting giddy over this.

  2. Dillon; Dillon’s rolling western

    A personal pic more than anything else.

       As a causal fan of the downloadable 3DS series I think Dillon would be a fun addition to the roster. However I don’t really see it happening unfortunately, many would complain that he would be to similar to Sonic and personally I think Dillon could easily differentiate himself from the blue hedgehog by showcasing various weapons and other game play mechanics the series is known for but at the end of the day this one is really a pie in the sky choice.

   Although Dillon is a Nintendo IP and lets face it Nintendo is running out of options when it comes to newer franchises, We got the Splatoon Inklings and I’m sure an Arms fighter is on the way but then what? No matter the case I’m positive the Smash team has something planned up their sleeves. 

    I don’t know maybe it’s just me but I really like the western setting. We have fantasy and Sci fi represented in smash already and I think of the idea of having a cowboy in the line up and the thought just makes me smile for some reason. So yeah, maybe it’s just me.

1. Waluigi; Mario

   Whiter it be out of sheer stubbornness or innocent curiosity; I kinda want to see the purple clad mischief maker finally make his Smash debut. Much like Fire Emblem many would rather not have another Mario character make the cut after getting what? Three reps in the last installment and I can defiantly understand where you come from by that logic.

    However to end of this list I wanted to include a popular fan pic and it was a coin toss between him or Ridley so, there ya go. But to be frank I think a move set for this guy would be really interesting, to say the least. Like Wario his moves would be weird and Sporadic; Waluigi could even take inspiration from the sports and party games he calls home; utilizing various sporting equipment and referencing classic Mario Party Mini games. 

      Hell! in some games Waluigi’s proven himself to be a certified water bender and I’m not making that up. And if you’ve played Mario Golf on the 3DS or if you've seen him in action in the latest Mario Tennis coming to the switch; you know very well what his Final Smash has to be.  

   Also a Waluigi Pinball stage needs to be a thing. And let’s not forget his taunts; you know what I’m talking bout’ Strikers fans.

  Bonus. Poochy; Yoshi’s Island 

     Okay here me out on this. I want Poochy in Smash for one reason. His Final Smash, now hear me out on this; 

     His final smash would be Touch Fuzzy get Dizzy. He shakes the Fuzzies out of his fur like fleas and they would bounce around the stage until they’ve made direct contact with the player. Poochy’s final smash would be a remake of Luigi’s final smash in brawl; the negative zone. 

    Tell me that’s not a great idea, I NEED THAT.  

   And that concludes my Smash for Switch wish list. I hope you enjoyed this; do you agree or disagree with my choices? Who do you wan’t for the next smash? The hype train is once again leaving the station and it’s time for us Smash fans to rejoice. It’s going to be a short but wild ride, so let’s enjoy it while it lasts. 

[hydrangeathief]

The Great Halloween Party Disaster of 2017

(contains both canon egos and egos that have recently been invented at least in part by yours truly, which you can get by heading on over to my tags for ethan egos and tyler egos)

“This is the worst idea we’ve ever had,” Blank said, stretching to hang a black and orange strip of crepe paper from the kitchen cabinet.

“Nah, it’ll be fun!” Challenge insisted. He was perched haphazardly on top of the fridge, attempting to secure a plastic skeleton to the wall. Mrs. Thompson, at the kitchen table, frowned when Challenge leaned forward a bit too far for safety, but he didn’t seem to notice.

“We invited Wilford Warfstache to a party,” Blank pointed out.

Challenge stopped trying to pin the skeleton to the wall for a second and stared into the middle distance. “I guess we did.”

“We also invited Anti,” Blank continued. “And every ego we know.”

“Yeah, we did,” Challenge said. He sat back and dropped his hands into his lap. The skeleton, abandoned, slumped off the wall and onto the floor. “Fuck. Are we gonna get ourselves killed tonight?”

“Can we die?” asked Postman. He’d opted to relax on the couch instead of helping with the decorations, despite the general atmosphere of nervousness Blank was automatically causing because the party was supposed to start in half an hour and they’d yet to get any real decorating done.

“I dunno,” Challenge said. He shrugged and made to lean over the edge of the fridge. Blank opened his mouth to stop him and Mrs. Thompson even got so far as to almost say “no, don’t” but it was too late. Challenge dismounted the fridge by tucking and rolling into some sort of somersault that miraculously ended with him on his feet, perfectly intact.

“If you keep it up, you will,” Mrs. Thompson muttered, but she said it lovingly. She ruffled Challenge’s hair as he passed on his way to the living room. He flopped onto the couch next to Postman, who frowned at the disturbance.

“Please don’t jostle me,” he complained. Challenge bit his lip in an effort not to make the obvious joke about fragile packages.

“Party starts in twenty-seven minutes,” Blank broke in, and the others hurried to get to work before the creeping sense of lateness could sink in. 

“This was a mistake,” Blank muttered to Stone. The two of them were in a corner, leaning against the wall, as far from the thick of the party as they could get. 

“You’re not wrong,” Stone muttered back.

In the kitchen, Challenge seemed to have convinced Bing and Chase Brody to participate in something that probably could have been a wild drinking game, had alcohol been involved. As it were, there was simply a good deal of yelling and flailing. 

“Wanna take bets on how long it takes before something goes wrong?” Blank suggested, but even as he said it he knew the answer.

“Give it twenty minutes,” Stone mused.

Blank sighed. “You’re giving them the benefit of the doubt.”

Stone hummed thoughtfully and they went back to watching the party. Mad Mike, who’d gotten off work at the ice cream shop only half an hour ago, was trapped in a conversation with Wilford and Jackie, both of whom had clearly had enough sugar to last a lifetime. Marvin had somehow gotten the attention of Mrs. Thompson, Apocalypse, and Peevils at the same time, and seemed to be enthralling them with card tricks. The Host and all four of the Googles were clustered around Anti, who was clearly enjoying having their attention on him as he told some story, complete with sweeping hand gestures and full-body glitching. The King of the Squirrels and Robbie chatted pleasantly over a bowl of punch. Dark leaned on the far wall and seemed content to watch silently.

The party was a ticking time bomb, and Blank could feel the counter winding down.

“Oh, Wilford,” Mad Mike laughed, wiping a tear from his eye. Whatever Wil had said must have been hilarious to have had both Mike and Jackie crying tears of laughter. “You kill me.”

Blank felt his heart stop.

“I mean, I guess?” Wilford said, puzzled, and shot Mike point blank.

The room devolved into chaos. More than one person was screaming, more than one person attempted to flee, and more than one person rushed to Mike’s aid.

“Wilford, we’ve talked about this,” Dark admonished, which only served to spur an argument between what were arguably the two most powerful egos in the room.

“He told me to,” Wilford said. “You can’t fault me for doing what he wanted!”

“Guys?” Mike asked from where he’d fallen to the floor. “I’m bleeding? A lot?”

“I can help!” shouted Dr. Iplier.

“Let me take a look,” Dr. Schneeplestein said.

“Would you two knuckleheads get out of my way?” Mrs. Thompson complained, shoving the two doctors aside. She knelt next to Mike and put a hand on his forehead. She frowned, but straightened up. “He’ll make it.”

“And how do you know? Dr. Iplier demanded. “Are you a doctor?”

Mrs. Thompson looked him up and down with a raised eyebrow. “Son, have you ever raised a child? Because you don’t look like you have. Why don’t you sit back and let the real professionals deal with this?”

“Fight!” Anti crowed from where he’d perched on top of the fridge. 

“Control yourself,” Dark broke away from bickering with Wilford long enough to say.

Anti glitched hard and sneered. “Make me, you three-dimensional drama queen.”

“As if you’re any better,” muttered Kenny Loggins, who was still put out that they’d collectively vetoed his idea to have The Band perform at the party. “Glitch bitch.”

“Take that back!” Anti shouted, leaping down from the fridge. 

“What do you plan to do to him?” asked Google Blue. “Your murder success rates are abysmally low.”

“The Host suggests taking a step back,” the Host suggested. Blank complied just in time to get out of the way of the first punch. 

In the months to come, several stories would be told in increasingly elaborate detail as to who, exactly, threw that first punch. The story changed from person to person, from day to day, but one thing was consistent: it was Mrs. Thompson who threw the best punch, and Dark wore the black eye like a badge of honor for nearly a week.

In the end all it took to break up the melee was Postman shouting, “Fire!”

All heads swiveled to the kitchen, where the stove was indeed on fire.

“How did that even happen?” Turkey wondered aloud, smoothing his feathers.

“I dunno,” Anti mused, wiping blood from his nose. 

“Should we do something?” Bim Trimmer asked, holding a broken wrist.

“Probably?” said Postman around a mouthful of broken teeth.

“Guys,” Jackie broke in, forcefully relocating his shoulder. “The fire’s growing.”

“Should we call 911?” asked Peevils, whose makeup was still flawless.

“Dialing 911,” Google Oliver said. A small piece of his face had torn off, revealing sparking circuits underneath.

“We need to leave,” Blank said. He and Stone still leaned against the wall. The last thing a free-for-all brawl like that needed was a guy made of anxiety and a guy made of rock, after all.

“Where to?” asked Bing. He held his broken sunglasses in his left hand and his broken left thumb in his right.

“I think the only place safe enough right now is Mark’s place. He shouldn’t be home,” Blank said.

“Someone needs to stay and talk to the cops,” Apocalypse put in, hefting his sledgehammer, the end of which was bloodied. “Someone human, and not damaged.”

All eyes searched the room for anyone remotely unscathed, and the horror was palpable when they came to the collective conclusion as to who would have to stay behind.

“Wilford, promise me you won’t hurt them,” Bim pleaded.

Wilford made no promises, but they had no choice. Dark whisked the group into the void just as the first siren came into earshot.

The group tumbled out of the void and into Mark’s living room in one clump of battered, bloodied, beaten egos. 

“Nice place,” Anti mused.

Mark screamed.

[cyberkevvideo]

Throne of Night Theory Builds Extras Part 2: The Aquatic Drow and Companion

This build come about by pure coincidence. I had been searching around for more art by Michael and then I came across this. At the time it never dawned on me that it was without the Fire Mountain Games on it. All I saw that Michael’s name and website attached. As such, this is an extra build that wasn’t part of the “Throne of Night” AP. At least, it doesn’t appear to be. That didn’t stop me from coming up with a build though.

I honestly have no idea what this art was originally meant to go with. The site I found it on has since closed, but thankfully I found the art before it disappeared completely and  was able to save it to my Pinterest folder so I could use it at a later date.

If anyone knows, please tell me the origin of this picture/what its intended use was. It’s really cool to look at.

After looking over the build, be sure to read my final words regarding how things may or may not go after this and “Throne of Night” in the future.

I will say that I do have one more planned entry for the “Throne of Night” AP, but it’s not regarding a build or anything like that. It’s something I’ve been putting together with other game designers and a few players. It was something far too big for me, so I invited others I trusted the opinions of. I’m not sure how long it’ll take before I do that particular post though. We’ve already been working on it for a week, and it hasn’t seen much conclusion so far.

As always, for space reasons, I’ll be cropping the encounter build.

All images shared here were done by the forever fantastic and amazingly talented Michael D. Clarke, aka SpiralMagus

I do not have a Patreon or a Kickstarter, but I do have a Ko-Fi page (linked) for those who are looking to support me monetarily. There is no pressure or obligation to do so.

Finally, before I get to it, I hope everyone’s staying safe right now.

When I found this picture, I had just started up the builds for Book 5, when the PCs were traveling the Sunless Seas, and I absolutely thought this was someone who would aid the party in discovering what happened to all the kidnap victims, and not a random picture that was meant to be used for something else entirely separate from this AP. Well, for the purposes of this build, that’s its new intended designation.

The best part is because this build is completely extra, that means it’s entirely for fun and doesn’t need to conform to the OGL rules that the others would have to. To publish sources outside the official company, you need special permission to use non OGL material, or reproduce everything in its entirety. For example, a feat that’s not OGL would need to be placed in a side bar on the same page, a nearby page, or at the back of the book. In my experience,  when I first started, I unfortunately put a publisher or two in that predicament without realizing. I’ve since been told what consequences my actions have had with their books. It’s not necessarily a problem, but it does add unnecessary word counts to books that tight printing guidelines, so I knew there’s no way Gary would put himself in the position. But this? All bets are off, and it was fun to colour outside the lines, even if just a little.

I will say that had I not figured out that this wasn’t AP related, I had honestly considered doing a summoner build with the eidolon looking like a variant version of the hippocampus. Why? Because the drow had read up on them, they seemed cool, and she really wanted one. Instead, we get a druid and her actual hippocampus. I’m surprisingly happy about this change.

Despite this being a Book 5 build, she’s only a CR 15. The PCs are supposed to be level 14-16 during this time, and I didn’t want to make her so powerful that she’d be capable of possibly soloing encounters on the PC’s behalf. I mean, she is a controller type build with lots of summoning potential, and doesn’t really involved with fights personally, although she’s still capable in her wild shape.

Unlike the gug slave, who is meant to fight the party first, then be won over and unleashed upon its slavers, this drow is meant to be an ally right out of the gate. An ally that might be willing to share her discovery of a secret area that might just eventually lead to the sealed doors of the trapped demigod lich.

Slight tangent: Book 7 was going to be an “extra adventure” that was unlocked in the Kickstarter, where you discovered the demigod lich and apparently gained his phylactery and became a lich as well? Maybe stole the lichdom? I honestly wish I could say that anything regarding that encounter or discovery of location is mentioned anywhere, but sadly it’s not. At least not that I ever found. Just art for the phylactery, the lich, and the lich disintegrating? Losing power? You can see more of that in my Phylactery Guardian build. What was seen, however, was when Gary released the “world map”, there’s a spot all unto itself called the Hidden Sea. It’s my belief that that’s where the lich resides. Sadly, with the Fire Mountain Games site gone, so it the map. Thankfully, a much smaller, resized one was put up on /tg/, renamed “Underground Seas map.“

As for this drow’s story, she’s just a drow that loved the Sunless Seas, and felt drawn to it, and wanted to explore it during her younger years. A few years ago, she discovered a wounded hippocampus that had somehow been swallowed up by the above waters and dragged down the underground seas. She saved it, nursed it back to health, and they’ve been inseparable ever since.

QUILDAN BAENERVS    (CR 15; 51,200 XP) Female drow aquatic druid 16 CN Medium humanoid (aquatic, elf) Init +2; Senses darkvision 120 ft.; Perception +8 DEFENSE AC 18, touch 13, flat-footed 16 (+4 armor, +1 deflection, +2 Dex, +1 shield) hp 111 (16d8+32) Fort +13, Ref +10, Will +18; +2 vs. enchantments Defensive Abilities deep diver, resist ocean’s fury +4; DR 8/slashing or piercing; Immune sleep; SR 21 Weaknesses light blindness OFFENSE Speed 30 ft., swim 30 ft. Melee +1 shortpear +15 (1d6+3/x3) Ranged mwk light underwater crossbow +15 (1d8/19–20) or      +1 shortpear +15 (1d6+3/x3) Special Attacks wild shape (level –2) 7/day Druid Spells Prepared  (CL 16th; concentration +22)   8th—earthquake, word of recall   7th—animate plants, heal, mass cure moderate wounds   6th—antilife shell, greater dispel magic, mass bear’s endurance, mass bull’s strength   5th—animal growth, blessing of the salamander, cure critical wounds, death ward, raise animal companion   4th—atavism, echolocation, freedom of movement, rusting grasp, thorn body   3rd—cure moderate wounds, greater longstrider, thorny entanglement (R-DC 19), water breathing (already cast on companion), wind wall   2nd—aquatic cavalry, barkskin, beast speak, resist energy, tar ball   1st—blend, bristle, goodberry, heightened awareness, speak with animals, wave shield   0 (at will)—detect magic, guidance, mending, read magic Spell-like Abilities (CL 16th; concentration +18)   Constant—endure elements (cold only)   1/day—dancing lights, darkness, faerie fire STATISTICS Str 14, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 8, Wis 22, Cha 14 Base Atk +12; CMB +14; CMD 27 Feats Augment Summoning, Divine Interference, Evolved Companion (cold resistance), Monstrous Mount, Monstrous Mount Mastery, Mounted Combat, Natural Spell, Spell Focus (conjuration) Skills Handle Animal +15, Heal +13, Knowledge (geography) +8, Knowledge (nature) +10, Perception +17, Ride +14 (+16 to stay in the saddle), Spellcraft +6, Survival +14, Swim +14; Racial Modifiers +2 Perception, +8 Swim Languages Druidic, Elven, Undercommon SQ aquatic adaptation +8, amphibious, poison use, nature bond (companion), nature sense, natural swimmer, timeless body, wild empathy (aquatic or water subtype only) +10 Combat Gear lesser extend metamagic rod, wand of air bubble (5 charges), wand of cure light wounds (39 charges); Other Gear +1 wild studded leather, darkwood buckler, +1 short spear, masterwork light underwater crossbow with 20 bolts, mithral dagger, belt of incredible dexterity +2, cloak of resistance +2, headband of inspired wisdom +4, ring of protection +1, aegis of recovery, assisting gloves, elixir of vision, polymorphic pouch, spell component pouch, diamond (worth 5,000 gp), 236 gp SPECIAL ABILITIES Aquatic Wild Empathy (Ex) An aquatic druid’s wild empathy functions only on creatures that have a swim speed or the aquatic or water subtype; however, she can improve the attitude of any such creature with Intelligence 2 or less regardless of type, including mindless creatures. Deep Diver (Ex) An aquatic druid gains DR/slashing or piercing equal to 1/2 her level. This damage reduction also applies against spells and spell-like abilities that inflict damage by grappling or crushing (e.g., black tentacles, crushing hand). She never takes pressure damage from deep water. Poison Use (Ex) Drow are skilled in the use of poison and never risk accidentally poisoning themselves. Drow favor an insidious toxin that causes its victims to lapse into unconsciousness—this poison allows drow to capture slaves with great ease. Drow Poison—injury; save Fortitude DC 13; frequency 1/minute for 2 minutes; initial effect unconsciousness for 1 minute; secondary effect unconsciousness for 2d4 hours; cure 1 save. Resist Ocean’s Fury (Ex) An aquatic druid gains a +4 bonus on saving throws against spells of the water type or the exceptional or supernatural abilities of creatures with the aquatic or water subtype.

--drow’s name means “sea strider, blessed of the depths” --companion’s name means “water ally”

BRIZABBAN    (CR —; — XP) Female hippocampus N Large animal (aquatic) Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +12 DEFENSE AC 32, touch 14, flat-footed 28 (+4 armor, +1 deflection, +4 Dex, +14 natural, –1 size) hp 97 (13d8+39) Fort +12, Ref +13, Will +9; +4 vs. enchantments Defensive Abilities devotion, evasion, improved evasion; Resist cold 15 OFFENSE Speed 5 ft., swim 80 ft. Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft. Melee 2 bites +17/+12 (1d6+8), tail slap +11 (1d4+4) STATISTICS Str 24, Dex 18, Con 16, Int 3, Wis 14, Cha 11 Base Atk +9; CMB +17; CMD 32 Feats Blind-Fight, Combat Reflexes, Bodyguard, Endurance, Iron Will, Weapon Focus (bite) Skills Acrobatics +12, Perception +12, Stealth +4, Swim +15; Racial Modifiers +8 Swim Languages understands Undercommon SQ link, share spells, water dependency Tricks attack, come, defend, down, fetch, guard, heel, perform, seek, stay, track Gear +1 studded leather barding, amulet of mighty fists +1, cloak of resistance +1, headband of inspired wisdom +2, ring of protection +1, beast bond brand, bit and briddle, exotic military saddle SPECIAL ABILITIES Water Dependency (Ex) A hippocampus can survive out of the water for 1 minute per point of Constitution. Beyond this limit, a hippocampus runs the risk of suffocation, as if it were drowning.

--------------------------------------------

And this concludes the planned builds for Throne of Night. Anything else would honestly be just the monster stats as they are, or something with a Simple Class Template, or the Simple Advanced Template. Sadly, it’s as easy as that. At least from what I can see.

If I do any other builds, it’ll be because I had some kind of epiphany and was asked/paid to do them.

Thank you for coming with me on this journey to theory build what may have been an amazing, award-winning, underground adventure path for Pathfinder 1e.

[gamerszone2019-blog]

Fire Emblem: Three Houses Directors Have No Clue Why The Series Is Popular In The West

New Post has been published on https://gamerszone.tn/fire-emblem-three-houses-directors-have-no-clue-why-the-series-is-popular-in-the-west/

Fire Emblem: Three Houses Directors Have No Clue Why The Series Is Popular In The West

“I don’t know.” I’m on the phone with Toshiyuki Kusakihara, one of the directors of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Shadows of Valentina, and an art director on many others. And that’s what he tells me through a translator when I ask what he thinks is the reason the series has suddenly skyrocketed in Western success over the last decade. It’s a pretty amusing answer. “I actually don’t know why it’s been so accepted by so many people all over the world.”

Nintendo’s turn-based strategy RPG franchise has been popular with Japanese audiences ever since its inception in 1990, but outside of Japan, few had ever heard about it until two anime swordsmen named Marth and Roy made an appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Following Melee’s release in 2001, a number of Fire Emblem games made their way to the West on GameCube, DS, and Wii. But it wasn’t until 2013, when Awakening released on the 3DS, that Fire Emblem actually exploded in international popularity, an occurrence that reportedly saved the series from imminent cancellation.

Lucina and Chrom, Fire Emblem Awakening (2013) for Nintendo 3DS

Maybe it was just the rapidly growing install base of the 3DS; the handheld was beginning to really hit its stride after a poor launch, and the new 3DS XL had recently gone on sale. Maybe it was a renewed interest in tactical strategy games; Firaxis’ excellent reboot of XCOM, Enemy Unknown, had also been a recent and popular release. But Kusakihara genuinely couldn’t point to anything remotely definitive. “We don’t have the confidence to say: ‘Oh! As long as we keep doing this thing, then the game will be popular!’ There’s nothing like that.”

Since Awakening, the development team at Intelligent Systems has pulled Fire Emblem in a couple of interesting new directions. First was the ambitious Fates for 3DS, a title that was divided into three separate products. Then came Shadows of Valentina, a remake of the second-ever Fire Emblem game from 1992, which stood out for its notable tweaks to the strategy combat mechanics and featured third-person dungeon exploration, of all things. There was Fire Emblem Heroes, which refashioned the tactical battles to suit a surprisingly good bite-sized mobile game with an all-star cast. Now, Three Houses has been released for the Switch, and its narrative flow revolves around a yearly calendar schedule, coupled with a military academy where your protagonist is a professor and your class of students are your troops.

“We don’t have the confidence to say: ‘Oh! As long as we keep doing this thing, then the game will be popular!’ There’s nothing like that.”

When Three Houses was officially revealed, I (and I assume many others) saw the academy component and instantly made the connection to another Japanese RPG which saw an enormous spike in popularity–the Shin Megami Tensei spin-off, Persona. Persona games always revolve around students in high school across the course of a year, so naturally, I assumed that the Fire Emblem development team looked at Persona’s incredible success and attempted to tap into that formula. Of course, like the foolish Westerner I am, I was wrong.

“‘Genealogy Of The Holy War‘ was what we directly drew inspiration from,” Kusakihara stated. “This was a game for the Super Famicom that released in 1996, and it’s the fourth in the Fire Emblem series.” It was never released in English, though a fan translation exists. “In this game, you have an Officer’s Academy where there are best friends who really develop their relationships there, and the story was centered around them. So [Three Houses] was kind of an attempt to create that kind of setting in more detail.”

Fire Emblem: Geneology of the Holy War (1996) for Super Famicom

Building beautifully aspirational lifelong relationships through an extravagantly romanticized depiction of high school life is a huge component of Three Houses. Across the course of a campaign, you’ll spend a couple of dozen hours with any number of students at the academy, sharing meals, training and fighting alongside them, getting to know each other through laughter, loss, and love. Later on, as Fire Emblem games typically unfold, you’ll go to war, and how the game’s bloody conflicts unfold and affect everyone might just change how once close friends see one another. Across the course of development, a number of different methods to help articulate this experience were explored, but the team’s natural conclusion just so happened to resemble the popular Shin Megami Tensei spin-off. “We had a lot of talks about how we could distinguish the passage of time at the monastery. If you have one year, we really want the player to feel each of those days passing and make them valuable to the player,” Kusakihara explained.

“We didn’t have a calendar at the very beginning of development. We did a lot of builds where we were trying to make systems that worked but it just wasn’t fun. So we added that and the element of activity points.” In Three Houses, a set amount of activity points, tied to your Professor Level, restricts how much one-on-one tutelage you can give students, as well as how many extracurricular activities you can perform on your days off. “[Activity points] would really focus the player on what they should do every day, whether that’s exploring or going on missions, etc.”

When Sunday rolls around in Three Houses and you don’t need to spend your day teaching your students, there are a number of valuable things you can choose to do, but you won’t have enough time to do them all. You can get your own one-on-one training sessions from fellow professors to improve your own skills, you can set off to the battlefield and fight sorties to complete side missions, you can fish, you can garden, you can sleep in and do nothing, but most importantly: You can hang out with your students and cultivate those personal relationships. Having a close-knit camaraderie in your class will provide a significant advantage on the battlefield, of course, but off the battlefield, these social links can blossom into deep friendships and sometimes the suggestion of romance, providing a wealth of insight to the backstories of the characters. Between the three different classes of students, the professors, and other academy staff, Three Houses has 35 characters with storylines that tie the majority of them together.

Professor Manuela teaches a class in Fire Emblem: Three Houses (2019)

Kusakihara breaks down the production of the social simulation: “There were three scenario writers from Koei Tecmo that helped out with a lot of the writing, and as you know the game is fully voiced. So we definitely had a lot of content to work on. The work took over three months and there was at least five times as much content as there was in Echoes [Shadows of Valentina] for the Japanese version.”

The involvement of Koei Tecmo (responsible for another enduring tactical strategy series, Romance Of The Three Kingdoms) in the development of Three Houses was already a known factor, but what was surprising to me is just how much of the legwork the studio was responsible for, especially because Fire Emblem is so closely associated with Intelligent Systems. Kusakihara: “With the composition of the team, I stood in as a director representing Intelligent Systems, and then we had Mr. Takeru Kanazaki working as a sound director. We had a few members helping with programming and also sound, but many members of the development team were from Koei Tecmo, so they really did a lot of the work.”

“…there was at least five times as much content as there was in Echoes.”

“I provided the world settings and the character settings and some of the systems and scenarios from the game, and we would hand this over to Koei Tecmo and then discuss further detail and develop from there.” It’s a curious revelation, if only because it invites speculation about what kind of projects the rest of Intelligent Systems might working on. It’s also interesting that Koei Tecmo, responsible for the Dynasty Warriors action series (as well as the spin-off Fire Emblem Warriors), was also heavily responsible in another Nintendo title that released a week prior to Three Houses–Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3.

Among the fresh new faces to contribute significant work to Three Houses was illustrator Chinatsu Kurahana, who served as the game’s new lead character designer. Kurahana’s previous work most notably includes designing characters for the popular Japanese romantic visual novel series, Uta no Prince-sama, a game revolving around a teenage girl’s budding relationships with a group of aspiring male pop idols.

Dating idols isn’t really that much of a far cry from the social aspect of Fire Emblem, and with the new direction of the series, Kurahana was an easy choice. “A lot of this game takes place at the Officer’s Academy and there are a lot of nobles there. So we want to kind of depict a glamorous, aristocratic society,” Kusakihara told me. “Kurahana, who we had already been in talks with, seemed like she would be a good fit, and she definitely had a big impact of the hairstyles of the characters.”

“We also wanted a bit of a refresh because we were putting this game out on the Nintendo Switch, which is a new platform and, well, we wanted a new image for the game.” Hairstyles aren’t the only huge makeover for the series, naturally. One of the biggest mechanical restylings in Three Houses is the removal of Fire Emblem’s Weapon Triangle, the rock-scissors-paper system that has been the core foundation of combat in every entry since, well, Genealogy of the Holy War.

That’s a pretty funny, serendipitous coincidence–the new Fire Emblem game, which returns to a relatively minor idea found in Genealogy of the Holy War, also completely discards that entry’s most influential and longest-lasting legacy. The reasons Kusakihara gives me are pretty understandable: “We think that the weapon triangle is somewhat of a stylized system, it isn’t really realistic,” he said. “If you have a situation where a novice axe user takes down an advanced lance user, well, that makes sense? Probably not. So, we wanted to make something that comes across as more realistic to warfare and have players develop their weapons skills individually.”

Caspar punches a monk in Fire Emblem: Three Houses (2019)

It also came down to the series’ continuing focus on its personalities, especially given Three Houses’ setting of an academy where teenage students are only just coming into their own. “We wanted to center on developing the skills for these characters, and also give them a lot more freedom in terms of how they develop. So we’re really creating a weapon system that is less restrictive than our previous games.”

That’s not to say that picking the right unit or weapon for a battle isn’t an important matter in Three Houses. There are still situations where one approach might give you a massive advantage, like using arrows against flying units. And, if one of your units becomes increasingly proficient in a certain type of weapon type or discipline, you might unlock an option to equip them with passive or active combat abilities that help give them the upper hand against other certain weapons types or disciplines–an advanced swordsman might have an “Axebreaker” ability, for example, which will increase both their avoidance and chance to hit against that weapon.

“…the weapon triangle is somewhat of a stylized system, it isn’t really realistic.”

But the new system of having the freedom to mold your combat units into whatever you like also creates some interesting social-level predicaments that might in turn ask you to rethink the long-term strategy for your troupe. During my first campaign, for example, I had Dorothea in my class. She excels in black magic and swordplay, her lifelong ambitions are to be a badass warlock, and she hates the idea of learning faith-based healing magic–it’s for weenies, after all, and she even harbors an innate learning disadvantage towards it.

Toshiyuki Kusakihara

But, if you’re dedicated enough, by spending a large amount of your class time to some serious one-on-one tutelage on Faith, Dorothea has the capacity to eventually uncover hidden potential. She’ll get early access to an ability that even advanced Bishops would covet, and eventually turn that learning disadvantage into a buff. There’s some contentious subtext in this example, but regardless, the system allows you to foster unique narratives for your class–it was a tough decision to give one of my favorite students (and my most effective magic user) a hard time in class for a couple of months instead of honing her strengths even further. But it was worth it.

Kusakihara doesn’t play favorites, though. Toward the end of the conversation, I tried to get the developers on the call to dish dirt on the team’s most hated students (mine’s Lorentz, he sucks). Everyone laughs: “As the director of the game, It’s almost like, you know, I am the teacher because I helped to create them. So I have to say that I love all the students.” Genki Yokota, the other director for Three Houses, representing Nintendo, was the only one who threw me a bone: “You’re supposed to be helping out the students, so it’s hard to say that I hate any of them. But outside of the students, I can say that I really like the character Shamir.” I like Shamir too, so this was a good answer.

It’s pretty common to hear stories about developers responding to audience feedback and using that data to shape future projects. Kusakihara left me with the impression that his team is on the other side of that coin. They don’t know why their game has attracted the fanbase it has in the west, so they’re just going to just keep doing what they’ve done since Awakening. Changing the structure. Reinventing foundational mechanics. Welcoming the talents of new teams and artists. “When we develop the game, we just strive to make it something beyond what people can imagine,” he said. “That might help in making it popular.”

Source : Gamesport

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How Esports Teams Decide to Expand Into New Games

The recent decimation of professional Overwatch teams is a dramatic example of what can happen when esports' expansion goes wrong. Failure is not even necessary; the mere potential for problems can be enough to send players out the door. Ironically, it is the forthcoming, publisher-designed league for Overwatch which seems to be causing the culling.

Franchise fees for Overwatch publisher Blizzard's professional league have been rumored to be as much as $20 million. While that figure is potentially variable and unsubstantiated by Blizzard, the high cost has been high enough to cause squads to shutter before the publisher's league even gets off the ground. Compete's Nathan Grayson reports that that pro Overwatch events have yet to be much of a draw on spectator platforms like Twitch, raising concerns among esports teams that the Blizzard league may not be able to pull in the large live audiences that allow teams to make additional money.

Esports teams function more like European sports clubs than franchises in the major North American leagues. Just as Paris Saint-Germain fields men's and women's soccer teams and a men's handball team, all under the PSG name, a single esports team competes in multiple games. Team Liquid, for example, competes in Counter Strike:Global Offensive, League of Legends, Hearthstone, StarCraft, Dota 2, Halo, Overwatch, Street Fighter, Smash Bros., and Heroes, all requiring different skill sets and strategies and encompassing a wide range of game types, from shooters to multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBAs) to fighting games.

However, the challenges and opportunities facing an esports team looking to expand are unique. In traditional sports, it typically takes a long time for an activity to rise to the level of soccer or handball; honing the game, stocking the talent pool, and building a fanbase can require decades.

In esports, there are a vast number of games that teams can choose to compete in—and new games arise all the time. Streaming platforms like Twitch have put games in front of millions of eyes faster than ever before. Technology and tastes move quickly in the video game world, and if a team is too late entering the fray on the Next Big Game, it can find itself competitively disadvantaged, as well as missing out on funds and fans. When a team passes on something like Blizzard's Overwatch league, it isn't just calculating that it can't afford to make a move—it's betting that it can afford not to.

So how do esports teams handle expansion in a chaotic sporting environment which practically requires it? The answer is complicated.

"When Team Liquid thinks about getting involved with a particular game, there's a number of different factors, and it's kind of adding those factors together to come to some sort of conclusion about our involvement within a game," Team Liquid owner and co-CEO Steve Arhancet told VICE Sports.

Team Liquid's first factor is evaluating the game's competitiveness as a professional sport. Not all games are suitable for esports; aside from the obvious outliers like single-player games, all games with multiplayer components are not destined for professional play. To start with, Arhancet and Liquid look for games which not only have an already-thriving competitive community, and which are as enjoyable to watch as it is to play.

"In order for those things to happen, the game has to be balanced; it has to have some sort of spectator quality to it," Arhancet said. "The type of thing where, when you're watching, you're on the edge of your seat, or you see a certain play and you kind of scream and shout because of how awesome it was."

Super Smash Bros Meele has the spectator quality esports teams look for. Photo by Rafael Suanes-USA TODAY Sports

The size of the game is crucial; if Team Liquid wants to be taken seriously, it needs to be involved in the most popular games. Games like Dota and Counter-Strike are the "heavy-hitters," as Arhancet called them, and Liquid "absolutely want to be the esports organization that's represented across every major competitive video game."

Liquid also evaluates itself with regard to the game: what can Team Liquid add to the game and the community of players and fans supporting it?

"We don't want to just be there for the sake of sponsoring and supporting players, while that's a good reason in and of itself; we want to do more." Arhancet said. Take Team Liquid's approach to StarCraft, the game on which Liquid cut their teeth. According to Arhancet, Team Liquid founder, owner, co-CEO, and StarCraft player Victor Goossens knew that the game's players and fans needed a place where they could gather and talk shop. So Liquid built TL Forum, which became, as Arhancet characterized it, "the go-to destination" for talking about the game and professional scene.

"And so we delivered on a value-add for the StarCraft community, in addition to sponsoring and supporting athletes within the team," he said.

The same approach is being taken to Team Liquid's move into Civilization, which mainly took place because of the lack of support for competitive Civ. What the game needed were a few mods and some regular events, infrastructure which Team Liquid stepped in to provide. In the right circumstances, expansion can not only boost a team's prominence but an entire game's, with all of esports reaping the benefits.

Adding a new game to a team means adding new players. That means considering the same kind of playing style and chemistry issues NBA general managers and soccer coaches take into account. Immortals co-founder and CEO Noah Whinston's is currently looking into adding a Dota 2 team. Given that the game is already one of the most prominent esports in the world, the question facing him and Immortals is whether or not they can find the right players to make that expansion work in-line with the rest of Immortals' roster.

"This is a little different from earlier on in our history," Whinston said. "The first few teams we picked up, we more targeted scenes based on the games we wanted, rather than allowing compelling players or compelling teams to lead us into games. But at this point, with our Dota 2 investigation, it is more about, 'is there an opportunity in Dota 2 that really reflects our philosophy and our values?' And if there is, then we feel like the game, and that ecosystem, is ripe for expansion."

Whinston characterizes an Immortals team as aggressive and dynamic; think gunslingers and riverboat gamblers, not clock managers, no matter what the game. Finding the right players—in this case, ANTi and Shroomed—was the reason why Immortals went into Super Smash Bros. 4 and Melee, respectively, and a similar fit must be found for a Dota 2 team to come into the fold.

Player-and team-driven expansion is possible in part because Immortals is smaller than some of its competitors, but mainly because of Whinston and the team's organizational philosophy: have fans deeply identify with Immortals because the team engages with their game, rather than just seeing them compete all over the place.

"In general, I think any esports organization that views adding a team as 'growth' is maybe not looking at it in the right way," Whinston said. "We don't think of ourselves as an esports organization that wants to expand horizontally, into multiple titles. We look at [expansion like] an organization that wants to expand vertically, by deepening our connection with the fans and players in the titles that we already have."

Esports teams want fans to connect with players as well as games. Photo by Turner Sports-USA TODAY Sports

Any expansion team needs events to compete in, and expansion at the event and organizer level is perhaps what has the greatest impact on the esports landscape. A game will only pass Arhancet and Team Liquid's first test—a thriving scene which is as fun to watch as it is to play—with some sort of competitive framework in place. Whinston cannot find teams and players which fit Immortals' style without places/events to see those players play; in fact, his interest in competing in Dota 2 came from the unparalleled experience of watching The International last year in Seattle.

When determining what games to support, the ESL's criteria changes depending on the level of competition it's looking to field. An ESL event can run the gamut from a small, one-day-only online event under the ESL Play umbrella to a massive, arena-filling spectacle like the Intel Extreme Masters. This tiered system means that any game which is competitive, fair, multiplayer, and skill-based has a chance at finding an online platform, said ESL managing director of pro gaming Ulrich Schulze.

"We do lots of different games, even the smaller ones, on the platform," Schulze said. "If we're going to the bigger ones, then it typically has a few other elements. When we decide to go to an arena with a certain title, we need to be reasonably comfortable that that title can then draw enough audience into that specific arena. So, those are typically only the really biggest ones in the world. A couple million active players every month, lots of people watching streams online; those are the games that then can potentially fill an arena, and those are also the ones that we will then look at to, say, host a league in or create more regular tournaments in."

ESL Play's team is constantly looking for new titles, and the dragnet only widens considering that many of ESL's employees are gamers themselves.

"Naturally, everyone [at ESL] plays all kinds of games, so whatever new game that could potentially be interesting pops up, someone in the company will have played it," Schulze said.

New titles by established publishers and games with regular iterations, like FIFA, are shoe-ins, said Schulze. Other titles, like Rocket League, sell well and build enough of a following to earn their way onto the platform. The ESL also talks with publishers to find out what games are coming, and some independent publishers, Sculze said, are building games with esports in mind as their business and marketing strategy.

Larger tournaments and events with physical locations have more difficult hurdles to clear. They must be easy to spectate and follow, even for first-time watchers, and should have a base of interesting players and teams.

"It's not just the game that makes people go to an arena or stadium, but most of the time it is the personalities and the organizations," Schulze said, adding that most games large enough to be considered for this level of competition usually meet this personality factor organically.

Geography plays a key role in determining what games to play where. According to Schulze, ESL considers their physical events more like music festivals than sporting contests; their research shows that people not only travel, but stay for multiple days. They do not only consider the player base of a game within miles of the arena, but within hundreds of miles; in Germany, they tend to draw spectators from all over Europe. If the ESL wants a good turnout, they must tailor their offerings to where they are.

Any contest in the Philippines, for example, is going to feature Dota 2, which is the country's dominant MOBA; in Poland, they prefer League. This geographic information cuts both ways, though: Schulze said that the Middle East is tough to hold major events in—despite fan interest—because the player base is relatively small.

Location, location, location: the 2016 EVO Championships in Las Vegas. Photo by Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

While they are faced with a dizzying and daunting array of options, esports teams also have an enviable advantage over their traditional peers: the risk factor is considerably lower. Any expansion which requires physical infrastructure is most dangerous, with the ESL's arena events are a prime example.

"When you decide to put a game in a bigger environment and you expect people to show up for it, that's something that you can't 100 percent predict, and that's also where a lot of the costs come in," Schulze said. "So taking a title from being relevant and good on the online platform to then being something that can drive people to attend an arena event, that's when it becomes a little more risky."

Adding titles to ESL Play, meanwhile, is fairly simple and costs relatively nothing; games can be added or dropped without much time or effort on the ESL's part, and there is no chance of finding themselves in the red after putting on a spectacle with a million-dollar budget. For teams like Team Liquid or Immortals, ill-fated expansion may not be spectacularly punitive from a financial standpoint, but can be damaging in different ways.

"Most of the damage of being involved in a game that is difficult to support is time: distraction from other areas of the company that we could be focusing our energy and investment into," Arhancet told VICE Sports. "The amount of damage would vary dramatically based on the cost to get into said game, too. For Team Liquid, we are already in nearly every esport, however for a team that perhaps invests into League of Legends, but then does not manage to produce consistent results, they could see significant financial losses." Still, in the rapidly red-shifting universe of esports, expansion is not only an opportunity, but also a requirement.

How Esports Teams Decide to Expand Into New Games published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

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IvX Threatens To Kill A Blossoming Romance In All-New X-Men #17

SPOILER WARNING: This article contains spoilers for “All-New X-Men” #17, which is on sale now.

The war between the X-Men and Inhumans as depicted in “IvX” has only increased in intensity over the past few months. When last we left the battle in “IvX” #2, the X-Men had stormed New Attilan and detained many of the more powerful Inhumans (and some of the Inhuman citizens) in the hellish dimension known as Limbo.

RELATED: IvX Takes A Hellish Turn As Some X-Men Give In To Their Demons

In addition to the main event series, the battle has spilled out into several other series in the form of tie-ins. This week’s “IvX” tie-in, “All-New X-Men” #17 by Dennis Hopeless and Mark Bagley, shows just how personal this war has become for one young X-Man in particular.

Months ago in “All-New X-Men” #13, Iceman finally found himself a guy to date. After being dragged to a club by his teammates Idie and Evan, Bobby struck up a conversation with Romeo — an Inhuman. While subsequent issues shifted focus as Madelyne Pryor unleashed her demon hordes on Earth, we learn in this month’s issue #17 that Bobby and Romeo have already been on quite a few dates.

Date #1 involved running — except not the kind of running that Bobby was used to. You know, the kind of running that doesn’t involve hills and the outdoors.

“All-New X-Men” #17 interior art by Mark Bagley, Andrew Hennessy and Nolan Woodard

Bobby chose the second date, a one-on-one showdown in a laser tag arena.

“All-New X-Men” #17 interior art by Mark Bagley, Andrew Hennessy and Nolan Woodard

Romeo was a bit surprised that laser tag was even still a thing, and also surprised that Bobby — who’s just a little younger than him — even knew what it was. Of course Bobby’s a time-displaced teen, plucked from the past just a few weeks after he joined the X-Men. And while that means this Bobby comes from the early 60s in publication history, Marvel’s sliding timescale — and teen Bobby’s affinity for Run-D.M.C. and laser tag — probably means he really comes from the ’80s or early ’90s.

Bobby and Romeo’s third date was a group outing to a water park, with fellow X-Men Idie and Evan and an Inhuman named Sasha. That’s where Bobby realized that Romeo was similarly head over heels for him.

“All-New X-Men” #17 interior art by Mark Bagley, Andrew Hennessy and Nolan Woodard

“All-New X-Men” #17 opens up with the conclusion of Date #4, which concluded with a ride on Bobby’s ice slide. The two said their goodbyes upon reaching Bobby’s motel room (where the X-Men are hanging out after the destruction of their mobile home). Iceman promises to call Romeo, but he soon kicks himself for not seizing the opportunity right then to kiss him.

“All-New X-Men” #17 interior art by Mark Bagley, Andrew Hennessy and Nolan Woodard

Unfortunately for Bobby, that fourth date leads right up to the start of “IvX,” as the teenage Beast had just returned from the mutant summit seen in “IvX” #1. It was decided there that the X-Men would have to attack New Attilan and get the Inhumans off the table for a bit. Since Romeo lives on New Attilan, Bobby didn’t take that news too well.

A short time later when the X-Men launched their attack, though, Bobby was surprisingly right up front leading the charge.

“All-New X-Men” #17 interior art by Mark Bagley, Andrew Hennessy and Nolan Woodard

As the rest of the X-Men attacked the Inhumans, teleporting them to Limbo (as seen in “IvX” #2), Bobby slipped away in the melee to pursue his own agenda: find Romeo. After getting a tip from Sasha, Bobby found Romeo and, amidst the chaos, made the move he wanted to make a few nights earlier.

“All-New X-Men” #17 interior art by Mark Bagley, Andrew Hennessy and Nolan Woodard

It turns out Bobby had no intention of fighting the Inhumans along with the X-Men, because that would mean fighting his first ever boyfriend (remember, Iceman just came out not too long ago!) and losing that relationship. With tears in his eyes, Bobby tells Romeo that he will “switch sides” if he has to, anything to keep Romeo safe and by his side. Romeo, in return, asks, “Can we just…go?”

“All-New X-Men” #17 interior art by Mark Bagley, Andrew Hennessy and Nolan Woodard

The issue concludes with Iceman (and Romeo) tapping out of “IvX.” For the time being, these two are content to let the adults fight while they hold on to their relationship. We know that Bobby’s X-sabbatical won’t last too long, though; he’s going to be a cast member in Cullen Bunn and Jorge Molina’s “X-Men Blue,” which drops in April. But for the time being, the teen Iceman’s done with “IvX” — and he’s got his boyfriend by his side.

“All-New X-Men” #18 arrives in stores on February 1.

The post IvX Threatens To Kill A Blossoming Romance In All-New X-Men #17 appeared first on CBR.com.

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Throne of Night Theory Builds Part 24: The Deep Dragon Queen of Book 3

Tonight’s entry is definitely a different one. Namely, I was going to make this dead last. Literally as absolutely last as possible. Mostly because I don’t have a proper picture for this one. Just a stock photo, and a picture that technically goes along with it.

But, beggars can’t be choosers, and this entry is entirely based around opportunity knocking/circumstances being what they are. I’ll get into that though in the next half.

As always, for space reasons, I’ll be cropping the encounter build.

All images shared here were done by the forever fantastic and amazingly talented Michael D. Clarke, aka SpiralMagus

Because it got brought up, I do not have a Patreon or a Kickstarter, but I do have a Ko-Fi page (linked) for those who are looking to support me. No pressure though. The economy isn’t the greatest at the moment, so some belts are being tightened more than usual.

Finally, before get to it, I hope everyone’s staying safe right now.

So tonight I came across old, old notes that gave a synopsis of Book 3, and it’s actually different/more detailed than the last update I’d read that gave you the rundown of Books 3-6. This is information I absolutely needed to know back when I did the undead dwarf king. Needless to say that this update is actually completely different than what I had originally intended because I had wanted my readers to know that the Golem Wielder entry had been given a massive update. Had to completely remove a bunch of feats in exchange of others, and revise the magic items, land speed, AC, etc. At least it wasn’t a complete re-write, which was what I was originally afraid I was going to have to do.

But that’s really about it. A dwarf doesn’t want to die, it uses dark pacts and forbidden magic, and it meets up with a deep dragon that can help with all of that. On top of that, this same dragon has the ability to corrupt and help give people their grandest desires. There is a lot to unpack here.

I’m now going to explain how I came up with this specific build. 1) It had to be a dragon. Namely, a deep dragon. Thankfully there’s a template for that. 2) It specifically had to be dragon that could shape change. Okay. Less options, but maybe there’s a way around it. 3) It has to be able to corrupt and grant the desires of others. Hmm. Again, difficult, but not impossible. Thankfully there’s a template for that too. 4) This dragon may or not be the reason why the “dark fire/black fire” existed and wiped out so many of the dwarves, causing ghosts to come up their graves and curse the mountain to be inescapable. Hellfire likely works for this one. Again, a lot to unpack. I will say that my build is likely very wrong as Book 3 of Throne of Night was supposed to come out in 2015, and Pathfinder Bestiary 6 came out in 2017. That said, this works way better than I had hoped. And with only adding a single hit die, it’s most definitely a CR 15 encounter. So glad I didn’t have to make it Young and add 2 class levels. I was so afraid I’d have to.

Not gonna lie. After talking to a lot of different users on the Kickstarter comments and the Paizo forums, the conclusion a few of us came to was the black flame was a result of either the prestige class that’s absolutely not OGL or radiation. If that was the case, I was leaning towards a solar dragon, but that doesn’t get channel radiation until way, way later, and there’s no way something that powerful would be in Book 3. Even if you added the Young template numerous times, that wouldn’t help, and would just get stupid. So this is where we stand.

Of course the real question is “how does an undead have progeny?” Well, when wishes are involved, you make sure to word it in just the right way. There were spells and items back in D&D 3.5e that helped with such things. There’s no reason a work-around couldn’t be in here too. I mean, dhampirs exist and it’s not all because a pregnant woman was bitten.

Also, anyone wondering, the shape change ability would default to looking like a female dwarf. When things go down, she’ll revert to her true form. And it’s preferable to not have her fight alongside her undead partner and the cannon golem. That might end up being an epic encounter for a 13th level party. Adding it all up together, it’s not quite an EL 18 encounter, but it’s definitely more than EL 17. The graveknight’s tactics are for it being paired with the cannon golem, but there’s no reason it can’t fight them separately, and the graveknight fight alongside his dragon queen.

As for the progeny and them having dark fire access too, Gary already released aid regarding that. “Way of the Wicked” Book 6 has the hellfire spell. It’s available to the magus, sorcerer/wizard, summoner, and witch. That’s still enough for the half-dragon children who are likely eldritch scion draconic bloodline and sorcerer draconic bloodline. Depending on the campaign, access to certain feats, wishes, etc, there might be other ways to get that or other variants of the spell. There’s definitely a 3rd party hellfire weapon property. Lots of possible options available.

And just before we get to it, the pronunciation for her name is, sin-dra-xy-ohs. Also, the dragon art is directly from Paizo’s Bestiary 6. This is what it looks like normally, but picture it without wings. Deep dragons lose their ability to fly and have a burrow speed instead.

DRAGON QUEEN CIDRAXIOS    (CR 15; 51,200 XP) Female unique corruptor young infernal deep dragon LE Large dragon (evil, extraplanar, lawful) Init +6; Senses dragon senses; Perception +21 DEFENSE AC 32, touch 13, flat-footed 30 (+2 armor, +2 deflection, +2 Dex, +17 natural, –1 size) hp 217 (15d12+120) Fort +19, Ref +13, Will +16; +3 vs. divination Defensive Abilities false mind, fiery acid blood (R-DC 25, 3d6), inscrutable +3; DR 15/adamantine; Immune acid, fire, hellfire, mind-affecting effects, paralysis, sleep Weaknesses light blindness OFFENSE Speed 60 ft., burrow 30 ft., earth glide Melee bite +25 (2d6+14 plus 3d6 acid and fire/19–20), 2 claws +25 (2d6+10/19–20), tail slap +19 (1d8+14), 2 wings +19 (1d6+5) Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. (15 ft. with bite) Special Attacks breath weapon (80-ft. line, 7d10 hellfire damage, R-DC 25 half), deep gaze (W-DC 24), fiery acidic spittle, mark of vice (W-DC 24), oppressive heat, shredding stone Spell-like Abilities (CL 15th; concentration +22)   At will—atonement (temptation only)   3/day—detect good, geas, helping hand, lesser geas, make whole, major creation, minor creation   1/day—sympathy (W-DC 25), wish (granted to a nonevil aligned mortal only) Oracle Spells Known (CL 1st; concentration +8)   1st (4/day)—bane (W-DC 18), command (W-DC 18)   0 (at will)—detect magic, guidance, read magic, spark (R-DC 17) STATISTICS Str 28, Dex 14, Con 27, Int 20, Wis 17, Cha 24 Base Atk +15; CMB +25; CMD 39 (43 vs. trip) Feats Blind-Fight, Combat Expertise, Improved Critical (bite), Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (bite, claw) Skills Appraise +22, Bluff +27, Climb +20, Craft (all) +13, Diplomacy +35, Knowledge (arcana) +18, Knowledge (history, local, planes) +20, Linguistics +22, Perception +21, Sense Motive +28, Spellcraft +20, Use Magic Device +25; Racial Modifiers +8 Craft (all), +8 Diplomacy, +8 Sense Motive; +3 to all Charisma-based checks. Languages Abyssal, Common, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Infernal, Skis’raal, Undercommon plus any 8 others SQ change shape 3/day (any animal or humanoid), compression, corruptor’s boon, imbue with ability, serpentine reach, what do you covet Gear amulet of mighty fists +1, bracers of armor +2, cloak of resistance +2, headband of alluring charisma +2, ring of protection +2, tome of leadership and influence +1 (read), Mithral Crown of Leadership (acts as a circlet of persuasion), treasure horde (gems, gold and silver pieces, mithral bars, and carved art objects made from various types of stone; total worth of 5,500 gp) SPECIAL ABILITIES Corruptor’s Boon (Su) Once per day, a corruptor can grant a touched creature a +4 profane bonus to one ability score for 24 hours. When the duration ends, the creature suffers a –4 profane penalty to the same ability score for the next 24 hours. Another application not only negates the penalty, but also restores the full bonus. Deep Gaze (Su) Buried suggestion (see below) 30 ft., Will negates (special). As suggestion, except the target need not understand the deep dragon creature and the effect is permanent until discharged. The dragon telepathically implants the suggestion into the subject. The suggestion planted must not take place immediately. When it occurs it must be based on an event or an amount of time going by. At least three days must pass before the suggestion compels the subject. During the period while the suggestion is buried, neither divination spells nor Sense Motive will reveal that the subject is under the effect of an enchantment. The subject does not attempt his saving throw until the triggering event occurs. The death of the dragon does not end this effect. Dragon Senses (Ex) Dragons have darkvision 120 ft. and blindsense 60 ft. They see four times as well as a human in dim light and twice as well in normal light. Earth Glide (Su) A young or older deep true dragon creature glides through stone, dirt, or any sort of earth except metal as easily as a fish swims through water. Its burrowing leaves behind no tunnel or hole, nor does it create any ripple or other signs of its presence. Move earth cast on an area containing an earth gliding deep dragon creature flings the dragon back 30 ft., stunning the creature for 1 round unless it succeeds on a DC 15 Fortitude save. False Mind (Su) This ability offers the corruptor the benefits of a mind blank spell. When an attempt is made to detect his alignment or read his thoughts, the corruptor can cause the magic to reveal any alignment or thoughts the corruptor creature chooses, even if he is not initially aware of the attempt. Fiery Acidic Blood (Su) Any creature that damages a deep dragon with a piercing or slashing melee weapon must make a Reflex save or be subject to the damage equal to Deep dragon’s spittle (see below) as it is sprayed with blood. Melee weapons with reach don’t endanger their users in this way. Fiery Acidic Spittle (Su) All deep dragon creatures have a thick, gooey spittle that is hot enough and acidic enough to sear and corrode both flesh and rock. Normally, as they tunnel through the earth they secret this fluid to soften stone. In battle, the deep dragon adds this additional amount of damage to their natural attacks. Half the damage is acid the other half fire. Hellfire (Su) Half of the damage from hellfire is fire damage, and half is unholy energy that bypasses fire resistance and immunity. Hellproof (Ex) The infernal dragon is immune to fire, hellfire, and mind-affecting effects. Imbue with Ability (Su) Once per day as a standard action the corruptor creature can grant a creature it touches one of its spells, spell-like abilities, extraordinary abilities or even one of its supernatural abilities in a manner similar to imbue with spell ability (no save). It loses access to that ability during this time; it can dismiss this benefit as a free action regaining the use of one or more of its abilities. Inscrutable (Ex) An infernal dragon gains a bonus on saves against divination spells and effects equal to its age category number. Mark of Vice (Su) This ability works like a mark of justice (Will save negates) but it is only triggered if the creature attempts to find a redemption to its corruption (subject to GM adjudication). The mark is also invisible and is always placed over the victim’s heart. Oppressive Heat (Su) A creature that fails its save against an infernal dragon’s breath weapon can’t benefit from morale bonuses for 1 minute. If the creature fails another save against the breath weapon during this time, it is staggered for 1 round. Shredding Stone (Su) A Deep dragon creature gains a +4 bonus to confirm critical hits with its claws. What Do You Covet (Su) Once per day as a standard action a corruptor can grant a wish to a nonevil aligned mortal (cannot be an elemental, fey, outsider, or nonliving creature).

------------------------------------ Sources: Corruptor creature - http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/corruptor-creature Deep dragon creature - http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/deep-dragon-creature

[gamerszone2019-blog]

Fire Emblem: Three Houses Directors Aren't Sure Why The Series Is Popular In The West

New Post has been published on https://gamerszone.tn/fire-emblem-three-houses-directors-arent-sure-why-the-series-is-popular-in-the-west/

Fire Emblem: Three Houses Directors Aren't Sure Why The Series Is Popular In The West

“I don’t know.” I’m on the phone with Toshiyuki Kusakihara, one of the directors of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Shadows of Valentia, and an art director on many others. And that’s what he tells me through a translator when I ask what he thinks is the reason the series has suddenly skyrocketed in Western success over the last decade. It’s a pretty amusing answer. “I actually don’t know why it’s been so accepted by so many people all over the world.”

Nintendo’s turn-based strategy RPG franchise has been popular with Japanese audiences ever since its inception in 1990, but outside of Japan, few had ever heard about it until two anime swordsmen named Marth and Roy made an appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Following Melee’s release in 2001, a number of Fire Emblem games made their way to the West on GameCube, DS, and Wii. But it wasn’t until 2013, when Awakening released on the 3DS, that Fire Emblem actually exploded in international popularity, an occurrence that reportedly saved the series from imminent cancellation.

Lucina and Chrom, Fire Emblem Awakening (2013) for Nintendo 3DS

Maybe it was just the rapidly growing install base of the 3DS; the handheld was beginning to really hit its stride after a poor launch, and the new 3DS XL had recently gone on sale. Maybe it was a renewed interest in tactical strategy games; Firaxis’ excellent reboot of XCOM, Enemy Unknown, had also been a recent and popular release. But Kusakihara genuinely couldn’t point to anything remotely definitive. “We don’t have the confidence to say: ‘Oh! As long as we keep doing this thing, then the game will be popular!’ There’s nothing like that.”

Since Awakening, the development team at Intelligent Systems has pulled Fire Emblem in a couple of interesting new directions. First was the ambitious Fates for 3DS, a title that was divided into three separate products. Then came Shadows of Valentia, a remake of the second-ever Fire Emblem game from 1992, which stood out for its notable tweaks to the strategy combat mechanics and featured third-person dungeon exploration, of all things. There was Fire Emblem Heroes, which refashioned the tactical battles to suit a surprisingly good bite-sized mobile game with an all-star cast. Now, Three Houses has been released for the Switch, and its narrative flow revolves around a yearly calendar schedule, coupled with a military academy where your protagonist is a professor and your class of students are your troops.

“We don’t have the confidence to say: ‘Oh! As long as we keep doing this thing, then the game will be popular!’ There’s nothing like that.”

When Three Houses was officially revealed, I (and I assume many others) saw the academy component and instantly made the connection to another Japanese RPG which saw an enormous spike in popularity–the Shin Megami Tensei spin-off, Persona. Persona games always revolve around students in high school across the course of a year, so naturally, I assumed that the Fire Emblem development team looked at Persona’s incredible success and attempted to tap into that formula. Of course, like the foolish Westerner I am, I was wrong.

“‘Genealogy Of The Holy War‘ was what we directly drew inspiration from,” Kusakihara stated. “This was a game for the Super Famicom that released in 1996, and it’s the fourth in the Fire Emblem series.” It was never released in English, though a fan translation exists. “In this game, you have an Officer’s Academy where there are best friends who really develop their relationships there, and the story was centered around them. So [Three Houses] was kind of an attempt to create that kind of setting in more detail.”

Fire Emblem: Geneology of the Holy War (1996) for Super Famicom

Building beautifully aspirational lifelong relationships through an extravagantly romanticized depiction of high school life is a huge component of Three Houses. Across the course of a campaign, you’ll spend a couple of dozen hours with any number of students at the academy, sharing meals, training and fighting alongside them, getting to know each other through laughter, loss, and love. Later on, as Fire Emblem games typically unfold, you’ll go to war, and how the game’s bloody conflicts unfold and affect everyone might just change how once close friends see one another. Across the course of development, a number of different methods to help articulate this experience were explored, but the team’s natural conclusion just so happened to resemble the popular Shin Megami Tensei spin-off. “We had a lot of talks about how we could distinguish the passage of time at the monastery. If you have one year, we really want the player to feel each of those days passing and make them valuable to the player,” Kusakihara explained.

“We didn’t have a calendar at the very beginning of development. We did a lot of builds where we were trying to make systems that worked but it just wasn’t fun. So we added that and the element of activity points.” In Three Houses, a set amount of activity points, tied to your Professor Level, restricts how much one-on-one tutelage you can give students, as well as how many extracurricular activities you can perform on your days off. “[Activity points] would really focus the player on what they should do every day, whether that’s exploring or going on missions, etc.”

When Sunday rolls around in Three Houses and you don’t need to spend your day teaching your students, there are a number of valuable things you can choose to do, but you won’t have enough time to do them all. You can get your own one-on-one training sessions from fellow professors to improve your own skills, you can set off to the battlefield and fight sorties to complete side missions, you can fish, you can garden, you can sleep in and do nothing, but most importantly: You can hang out with your students and cultivate those personal relationships. Having a close-knit camaraderie in your class will provide a significant advantage on the battlefield, of course, but off the battlefield, these social links can blossom into deep friendships and sometimes the suggestion of romance, providing a wealth of insight to the backstories of the characters. Between the three different classes of students, the professors, and other academy staff, Three Houses has 35 characters with storylines that tie the majority of them together.

Professor Manuela teaches a class in Fire Emblem: Three Houses (2019)

Kusakihara breaks down the production of the social simulation: “There were three scenario writers from Koei Tecmo that helped out with a lot of the writing, and as you know the game is fully voiced. So we definitely had a lot of content to work on. The work took over three months and there was at least five times as much content as there was in Echoes [Shadows of Valentia] for the Japanese version.”

The involvement of Koei Tecmo (responsible for another enduring tactical strategy series, Romance Of The Three Kingdoms) in the development of Three Houses was already a known factor, but what was surprising to me is just how much of the legwork the studio was responsible for, especially because Fire Emblem is so closely associated with Intelligent Systems. Kusakihara: “With the composition of the team, I stood in as a director representing Intelligent Systems, and then we had Mr. Takeru Kanazaki working as a sound director. We had a few members helping with programming and also sound, but many members of the development team were from Koei Tecmo, so they really did a lot of the work.”

“…there was at least five times as much content as there was in Echoes.”

“I provided the world settings and the character settings and some of the systems and scenarios from the game, and we would hand this over to Koei Tecmo and then discuss further detail and develop from there.” It’s a curious revelation, if only because it invites speculation about what kind of projects the rest of Intelligent Systems might working on. It’s also interesting that Koei Tecmo, responsible for the Dynasty Warriors action series (as well as the spin-off Fire Emblem Warriors), was also heavily responsible in another Nintendo title that released a week prior to Three Houses–Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3.

Among the fresh new faces to contribute significant work to Three Houses was illustrator Chinatsu Kurahana, who served as the game’s new lead character designer. Kurahana’s previous work most notably includes designing characters for the popular Japanese romantic visual novel series, Uta no Prince-sama, a game revolving around a teenage girl’s budding relationships with a group of aspiring male pop idols.

Dating idols isn’t really that much of a far cry from the social aspect of Fire Emblem, and with the new direction of the series, Kurahana was an easy choice. “A lot of this game takes place at the Officer’s Academy and there are a lot of nobles there. So we want to kind of depict a glamorous, aristocratic society,” Kusakihara told me. “Kurahana, who we had already been in talks with, seemed like she would be a good fit, and she definitely had a big impact of the hairstyles of the characters.”

“We also wanted a bit of a refresh because we were putting this game out on the Nintendo Switch, which is a new platform and, well, we wanted a new image for the game.” Hairstyles aren’t the only huge makeover for the series, naturally. One of the biggest mechanical restylings in Three Houses is the removal of Fire Emblem’s Weapon Triangle, the rock-scissors-paper system that has been the core foundation of combat in every entry since, well, Genealogy of the Holy War.

That’s a pretty funny, serendipitous coincidence–the new Fire Emblem game, which returns to a relatively minor idea found in Genealogy of the Holy War, also completely discards that entry’s most influential and longest-lasting legacy. The reasons Kusakihara gives me are pretty understandable: “We think that the weapon triangle is somewhat of a stylized system, it isn’t really realistic,” he said. “If you have a situation where a novice axe user takes down an advanced lance user, well, that makes sense? Probably not. So, we wanted to make something that comes across as more realistic to warfare and have players develop their weapons skills individually.”

Caspar punches a monk in Fire Emblem: Three Houses (2019)

It also came down to the series’ continuing focus on its personalities, especially given Three Houses’ setting of an academy where teenage students are only just coming into their own. “We wanted to center on developing the skills for these characters, and also give them a lot more freedom in terms of how they develop. So we’re really creating a weapon system that is less restrictive than our previous games.”

That’s not to say that picking the right unit or weapon for a battle isn’t an important matter in Three Houses. There are still situations where one approach might give you a massive advantage, like using arrows against flying units. And, if one of your units becomes increasingly proficient in a certain type of weapon type or discipline, you might unlock an option to equip them with passive or active combat abilities that help give them the upper hand against other certain weapons types or disciplines–an advanced swordsman might have an “Axebreaker” ability, for example, which will increase both their avoidance and chance to hit against that weapon.

“…the weapon triangle is somewhat of a stylized system, it isn’t really realistic.”

But the new system of having the freedom to mold your combat units into whatever you like also creates some interesting social-level predicaments that might in turn ask you to rethink the long-term strategy for your troupe. During my first campaign, for example, I had Dorothea in my class. She excels in black magic and swordplay, her lifelong ambitions are to be a badass warlock, and she hates the idea of learning faith-based healing magic–it’s for weenies, after all, and she even harbors an innate learning disadvantage towards it.

Toshiyuki Kusakihara

But, if you’re dedicated enough, by spending a large amount of your class time to some serious one-on-one tutelage on Faith, Dorothea has the capacity to eventually uncover hidden potential. She’ll get early access to an ability that even advanced Bishops would covet, and eventually turn that learning disadvantage into a buff. There’s some contentious subtext in this example, but regardless, the system allows you to foster unique narratives for your class–it was a tough decision to give one of my favorite students (and my most effective magic user) a hard time in class for a couple of months instead of honing her strengths even further. But it was worth it.

Kusakihara doesn’t play favorites, though. Toward the end of the conversation, I tried to get the developers on the call to dish dirt on the team’s most hated students (mine’s Lorentz, he sucks). Everyone laughs: “As the director of the game, It’s almost like, you know, I am the teacher because I helped to create them. So I have to say that I love all the students.” Genki Yokota, the other director for Three Houses, representing Nintendo, was the only one who threw me a bone: “You’re supposed to be helping out the students, so it’s hard to say that I hate any of them. But outside of the students, I can say that I really like the character Shamir.” I like Shamir too, so this was a good answer.

It’s pretty common to hear stories about developers responding to audience feedback and using that data to shape future projects. Kusakihara left me with the impression that his team is on the other side of that coin. They don’t know why their game has attracted the fanbase it has in the west, so they’re just going to just keep doing what they’ve done since Awakening. Changing the structure. Reinventing foundational mechanics. Welcoming the talents of new teams and artists. “When we develop the game, we just strive to make it something beyond what people can imagine,” he said. “That might help in making it popular.”

Source : Gamesport

[gamerszone2019-blog]

Fire Emblem: Three Houses Directors Have No Clue Why The Series Is So Popular In The West

New Post has been published on https://gamerszone.tn/fire-emblem-three-houses-directors-have-no-clue-why-the-series-is-so-popular-in-the-west/

Fire Emblem: Three Houses Directors Have No Clue Why The Series Is So Popular In The West

“I don’t know.” I’m on the phone with Toshiyuki Kusakihara, one of the directors of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Shadows of Valentia, and an art director on many others. And that’s what he tells me through a translator when I ask what he thinks is the reason the series has suddenly skyrocketed in Western success over the last decade. It’s a pretty amusing answer. “I actually don’t know why it’s been so accepted by so many people all over the world.”

Nintendo’s turn-based strategy RPG franchise has been popular with Japanese audiences ever since its inception in 1990, but outside of Japan, few had ever heard about it until two anime swordsmen named Marth and Roy made an appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Following Melee’s release in 2001, a number of Fire Emblem games made their way to the West on GameCube, DS, and Wii. But it wasn’t until 2013, when Awakening released on the 3DS, that Fire Emblem actually exploded in international popularity, an occurrence that reportedly saved the series from imminent cancellation.

Lucina and Chrom, Fire Emblem Awakening (2013) for Nintendo 3DS

Maybe it was just the rapidly growing install base of the 3DS; the handheld was beginning to really hit its stride after a poor launch, and the new 3DS XL had recently gone on sale. Maybe it was a renewed interest in tactical strategy games; Firaxis’ excellent reboot of XCOM, Enemy Unknown, had also been a recent and popular release. But Kusakihara genuinely couldn’t point to anything remotely definitive. “We don’t have the confidence to say: ‘Oh! As long as we keep doing this thing, then the game will be popular!’ There’s nothing like that.”

Since Awakening, the development team at Intelligent Systems has pulled Fire Emblem in a couple of interesting new directions. First was the ambitious Fates for 3DS, a title that was divided into three separate products. Then came Shadows of Valentia, a remake of the second-ever Fire Emblem game from 1992, which stood out for its notable tweaks to the strategy combat mechanics and featured third-person dungeon exploration, of all things. There was Fire Emblem Heroes, which refashioned the tactical battles to suit a surprisingly good bite-sized mobile game with an all-star cast. Now, Three Houses has been released for the Switch, and its narrative flow revolves around a yearly calendar schedule, coupled with a military academy where your protagonist is a professor and your class of students are your troops.

“We don’t have the confidence to say: ‘Oh! As long as we keep doing this thing, then the game will be popular!’ There’s nothing like that.”

When Three Houses was officially revealed, I (and I assume many others) saw the academy component and instantly made the connection to another Japanese RPG which saw an enormous spike in popularity–the Shin Megami Tensei spin-off, Persona. Persona games always revolve around students in high school across the course of a year, so naturally, I assumed that the Fire Emblem development team looked at Persona’s incredible success and attempted to tap into that formula. Of course, like the foolish Westerner I am, I was wrong.

“‘Genealogy Of The Holy War‘ was what we directly drew inspiration from,” Kusakihara stated. “This was a game for the Super Famicom that released in 1996, and it’s the fourth in the Fire Emblem series.” It was never released in English, though a fan translation exists. “In this game, you have an Officer’s Academy where there are best friends who really develop their relationships there, and the story was centered around them. So [Three Houses] was kind of an attempt to create that kind of setting in more detail.”

Fire Emblem: Geneology of the Holy War (1996) for Super Famicom

Building beautifully aspirational lifelong relationships through an extravagantly romanticized depiction of high school life is a huge component of Three Houses. Across the course of a campaign, you’ll spend a couple of dozen hours with any number of students at the academy, sharing meals, training and fighting alongside them, getting to know each other through laughter, loss, and love. Later on, as Fire Emblem games typically unfold, you’ll go to war, and how the game’s bloody conflicts unfold and affect everyone might just change how once close friends see one another. Across the course of development, a number of different methods to help articulate this experience were explored, but the team’s natural conclusion just so happened to resemble the popular Shin Megami Tensei spin-off. “We had a lot of talks about how we could distinguish the passage of time at the monastery. If you have one year, we really want the player to feel each of those days passing and make them valuable to the player,” Kusakihara explained.

“We didn’t have a calendar at the very beginning of development. We did a lot of builds where we were trying to make systems that worked but it just wasn’t fun. So we added that and the element of activity points.” In Three Houses, a set amount of activity points, tied to your Professor Level, restricts how much one-on-one tutelage you can give students, as well as how many extracurricular activities you can perform on your days off. “[Activity points] would really focus the player on what they should do every day, whether that’s exploring or going on missions, etc.”

When Sunday rolls around in Three Houses and you don’t need to spend your day teaching your students, there are a number of valuable things you can choose to do, but you won’t have enough time to do them all. You can get your own one-on-one training sessions from fellow professors to improve your own skills, you can set off to the battlefield and fight sorties to complete side missions, you can fish, you can garden, you can sleep in and do nothing, but most importantly: You can hang out with your students and cultivate those personal relationships. Having a close-knit camaraderie in your class will provide a significant advantage on the battlefield, of course, but off the battlefield, these social links can blossom into deep friendships and sometimes the suggestion of romance, providing a wealth of insight to the backstories of the characters. Between the three different classes of students, the professors, and other academy staff, Three Houses has 35 characters with storylines that tie the majority of them together.

Professor Manuela teaches a class in Fire Emblem: Three Houses (2019)

Kusakihara breaks down the production of the social simulation: “There were three scenario writers from Koei Tecmo that helped out with a lot of the writing, and as you know the game is fully voiced. So we definitely had a lot of content to work on. The work took over three months and there was at least five times as much content as there was in Echoes [Shadows of Valentia] for the Japanese version.”

The involvement of Koei Tecmo (responsible for another enduring tactical strategy series, Romance Of The Three Kingdoms) in the development of Three Houses was already a known factor, but what was surprising to me is just how much of the legwork the studio was responsible for, especially because Fire Emblem is so closely associated with Intelligent Systems. Kusakihara: “With the composition of the team, I stood in as a director representing Intelligent Systems, and then we had Mr. Takeru Kanazaki working as a sound director. We had a few members helping with programming and also sound, but many members of the development team were from Koei Tecmo, so they really did a lot of the work.”

“…there was at least five times as much content as there was in Echoes.”

“I provided the world settings and the character settings and some of the systems and scenarios from the game, and we would hand this over to Koei Tecmo and then discuss further detail and develop from there.” It’s a curious revelation, if only because it invites speculation about what kind of projects the rest of Intelligent Systems might working on. It’s also interesting that Koei Tecmo, responsible for the Dynasty Warriors action series (as well as the spin-off Fire Emblem Warriors), was also heavily responsible in another Nintendo title that released a week prior to Three Houses–Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3.

Among the fresh new faces to contribute significant work to Three Houses was illustrator Chinatsu Kurahana, who served as the game’s new lead character designer. Kurahana’s previous work most notably includes designing characters for the popular Japanese romantic visual novel series, Uta no Prince-sama, a game revolving around a teenage girl’s budding relationships with a group of aspiring male pop idols.

Dating idols isn’t really that much of a far cry from the social aspect of Fire Emblem, and with the new direction of the series, Kurahana was an easy choice. “A lot of this game takes place at the Officer’s Academy and there are a lot of nobles there. So we want to kind of depict a glamorous, aristocratic society,” Kusakihara told me. “Kurahana, who we had already been in talks with, seemed like she would be a good fit, and she definitely had a big impact of the hairstyles of the characters.”

“We also wanted a bit of a refresh because we were putting this game out on the Nintendo Switch, which is a new platform and, well, we wanted a new image for the game.” Hairstyles aren’t the only huge makeover for the series, naturally. One of the biggest mechanical restylings in Three Houses is the removal of Fire Emblem’s Weapon Triangle, the rock-scissors-paper system that has been the core foundation of combat in every entry since, well, Genealogy of the Holy War.

That’s a pretty funny, serendipitous coincidence–the new Fire Emblem game, which returns to a relatively minor idea found in Genealogy of the Holy War, also completely discards that entry’s most influential and longest-lasting legacy. The reasons Kusakihara gives me are pretty understandable: “We think that the weapon triangle is somewhat of a stylized system, it isn’t really realistic,” he said. “If you have a situation where a novice axe user takes down an advanced lance user, well, that makes sense? Probably not. So, we wanted to make something that comes across as more realistic to warfare and have players develop their weapons skills individually.”

Caspar punches a monk in Fire Emblem: Three Houses (2019)

It also came down to the series’ continuing focus on its personalities, especially given Three Houses’ setting of an academy where teenage students are only just coming into their own. “We wanted to center on developing the skills for these characters, and also give them a lot more freedom in terms of how they develop. So we’re really creating a weapon system that is less restrictive than our previous games.”

That’s not to say that picking the right unit or weapon for a battle isn’t an important matter in Three Houses. There are still situations where one approach might give you a massive advantage, like using arrows against flying units. And, if one of your units becomes increasingly proficient in a certain type of weapon type or discipline, you might unlock an option to equip them with passive or active combat abilities that help give them the upper hand against other certain weapons types or disciplines–an advanced swordsman might have an “Axebreaker” ability, for example, which will increase both their avoidance and chance to hit against that weapon.

“…the weapon triangle is somewhat of a stylized system, it isn’t really realistic.”

But the new system of having the freedom to mold your combat units into whatever you like also creates some interesting social-level predicaments that might in turn ask you to rethink the long-term strategy for your troupe. During my first campaign, for example, I had Dorothea in my class. She excels in black magic and swordplay, her lifelong ambitions are to be a badass warlock, and she hates the idea of learning faith-based healing magic–it’s for weenies, after all, and she even harbors an innate learning disadvantage towards it.

Toshiyuki Kusakihara

But, if you’re dedicated enough, by spending a large amount of your class time to some serious one-on-one tutelage on Faith, Dorothea has the capacity to eventually uncover hidden potential. She’ll get early access to an ability that even advanced Bishops would covet, and eventually turn that learning disadvantage into a buff. There’s some contentious subtext in this example, but regardless, the system allows you to foster unique narratives for your class–it was a tough decision to give one of my favorite students (and my most effective magic user) a hard time in class for a couple of months instead of honing her strengths even further. But it was worth it.

Kusakihara doesn’t play favorites, though. Toward the end of the conversation, I tried to get the developers on the call to dish dirt on the team’s most hated students (mine’s Lorentz, he sucks). Everyone laughs: “As the director of the game, It’s almost like, you know, I am the teacher because I helped to create them. So I have to say that I love all the students.” Genki Yokota, the other director for Three Houses, representing Nintendo, was the only one who threw me a bone: “You’re supposed to be helping out the students, so it’s hard to say that I hate any of them. But outside of the students, I can say that I really like the character Shamir.” I like Shamir too, so this was a good answer.

It’s pretty common to hear stories about developers responding to audience feedback and using that data to shape future projects. Kusakihara left me with the impression that his team is on the other side of that coin. They don’t know why their game has attracted the fanbase it has in the west, so they’re just going to just keep doing what they’ve done since Awakening. Changing the structure. Reinventing foundational mechanics. Welcoming the talents of new teams and artists. “When we develop the game, we just strive to make it something beyond what people can imagine,” he said. “That might help in making it popular.”

Source : Gamesport

[gamerszone2019-blog]

Fire Emblem: Three Houses Directors Have No Idea Why The Series Is Popular In The West

New Post has been published on https://gamerszone.tn/fire-emblem-three-houses-directors-have-no-idea-why-the-series-is-popular-in-the-west/

Fire Emblem: Three Houses Directors Have No Idea Why The Series Is Popular In The West

“I don’t know.” I’m on the phone with Toshiyuki Kusakihara, one of the directors of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Shadows of Valentia, and an art director on many others. And that’s what he tells me through a translator when I ask what he thinks is the reason the series has suddenly skyrocketed in Western success over the last decade. It’s a pretty amusing answer. “I actually don’t know why it’s been so accepted by so many people all over the world.”

Nintendo’s turn-based strategy RPG franchise has been popular with Japanese audiences ever since its inception in 1990, but outside of Japan, few had ever heard about it until two anime swordsmen named Marth and Roy made an appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Following Melee’s release in 2001, a number of Fire Emblem games made their way to the West on GameCube, DS, and Wii. But it wasn’t until 2013, when Awakening released on the 3DS, that Fire Emblem actually exploded in international popularity, an occurrence that reportedly saved the series from imminent cancellation.

Lucina and Chrom, Fire Emblem Awakening (2013) for Nintendo 3DS

Maybe it was just the rapidly growing install base of the 3DS; the handheld was beginning to really hit its stride after a poor launch, and the new 3DS XL had recently gone on sale. Maybe it was a renewed interest in tactical strategy games; Firaxis’ excellent reboot of XCOM, Enemy Unknown, had also been a recent and popular release. But Kusakihara genuinely couldn’t point to anything remotely definitive. “We don’t have the confidence to say: ‘Oh! As long as we keep doing this thing, then the game will be popular!’ There’s nothing like that.”

Since Awakening, the development team at Intelligent Systems has pulled Fire Emblem in a couple of interesting new directions. First was the ambitious Fates for 3DS, a title that was divided into three separate products. Then came Shadows of Valentia, a remake of the second-ever Fire Emblem game from 1992, which stood out for its notable tweaks to the strategy combat mechanics and featured third-person dungeon exploration, of all things. There was Fire Emblem Heroes, which refashioned the tactical battles to suit a surprisingly good bite-sized mobile game with an all-star cast. Now, Three Houses has been released for the Switch, and its narrative flow revolves around a yearly calendar schedule, coupled with a military academy where your protagonist is a professor and your class of students are your troops.

“We don’t have the confidence to say: ‘Oh! As long as we keep doing this thing, then the game will be popular!’ There’s nothing like that.”

When Three Houses was officially revealed, I (and I assume many others) saw the academy component and instantly made the connection to another Japanese RPG which saw an enormous spike in popularity–the Shin Megami Tensei spin-off, Persona. Persona games always revolve around students in high school across the course of a year, so naturally, I assumed that the Fire Emblem development team looked at Persona’s incredible success and attempted to tap into that formula. Of course, like the foolish Westerner I am, I was wrong.

“‘Genealogy Of The Holy War‘ was what we directly drew inspiration from,” Kusakihara stated. “This was a game for the Super Famicom that released in 1996, and it’s the fourth in the Fire Emblem series.” It was never released in English, though a fan translation exists. “In this game, you have an Officer’s Academy where there are best friends who really develop their relationships there, and the story was centered around them. So [Three Houses] was kind of an attempt to create that kind of setting in more detail.”

Fire Emblem: Geneology of the Holy War (1996) for Super Famicom

Building beautifully aspirational lifelong relationships through an extravagantly romanticized depiction of high school life is a huge component of Three Houses. Across the course of a campaign, you’ll spend a couple of dozen hours with any number of students at the academy, sharing meals, training and fighting alongside them, getting to know each other through laughter, loss, and love. Later on, as Fire Emblem games typically unfold, you’ll go to war, and how the game’s bloody conflicts unfold and affect everyone might just change how once close friends see one another. Across the course of development, a number of different methods to help articulate this experience were explored, but the team’s natural conclusion just so happened to resemble the popular Shin Megami Tensei spin-off. “We had a lot of talks about how we could distinguish the passage of time at the monastery. If you have one year, we really want the player to feel each of those days passing and make them valuable to the player,” Kusakihara explained.

“We didn’t have a calendar at the very beginning of development. We did a lot of builds where we were trying to make systems that worked but it just wasn’t fun. So we added that and the element of activity points.” In Three Houses, a set amount of activity points, tied to your Professor Level, restricts how much one-on-one tutelage you can give students, as well as how many extracurricular activities you can perform on your days off. “[Activity points] would really focus the player on what they should do every day, whether that’s exploring or going on missions, etc.”

When Sunday rolls around in Three Houses and you don’t need to spend your day teaching your students, there are a number of valuable things you can choose to do, but you won’t have enough time to do them all. You can get your own one-on-one training sessions from fellow professors to improve your own skills, you can set off to the battlefield and fight sorties to complete side missions, you can fish, you can garden, you can sleep in and do nothing, but most importantly: You can hang out with your students and cultivate those personal relationships. Having a close-knit camaraderie in your class will provide a significant advantage on the battlefield, of course, but off the battlefield, these social links can blossom into deep friendships and sometimes the suggestion of romance, providing a wealth of insight to the backstories of the characters. Between the three different classes of students, the professors, and other academy staff, Three Houses has 35 characters with storylines that tie the majority of them together.

Professor Manuela teaches a class in Fire Emblem: Three Houses (2019)

Kusakihara breaks down the production of the social simulation: “There were three scenario writers from Koei Tecmo that helped out with a lot of the writing, and as you know the game is fully voiced. So we definitely had a lot of content to work on. The work took over three months and there was at least five times as much content as there was in Echoes [Shadows of Valentia] for the Japanese version.”

The involvement of Koei Tecmo (responsible for another enduring tactical strategy series, Romance Of The Three Kingdoms) in the development of Three Houses was already a known factor, but what was surprising to me is just how much of the legwork the studio was responsible for, especially because Fire Emblem is so closely associated with Intelligent Systems. Kusakihara: “With the composition of the team, I stood in as a director representing Intelligent Systems, and then we had Mr. Takeru Kanazaki working as a sound director. We had a few members helping with programming and also sound, but many members of the development team were from Koei Tecmo, so they really did a lot of the work.”

“…there was at least five times as much content as there was in Echoes.”

“I provided the world settings and the character settings and some of the systems and scenarios from the game, and we would hand this over to Koei Tecmo and then discuss further detail and develop from there.” It’s a curious revelation, if only because it invites speculation about what kind of projects the rest of Intelligent Systems might working on. It’s also interesting that Koei Tecmo, responsible for the Dynasty Warriors action series (as well as the spin-off Fire Emblem Warriors), was also heavily responsible in another Nintendo title that released a week prior to Three Houses–Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3.

Among the fresh new faces to contribute significant work to Three Houses was illustrator Chinatsu Kurahana, who served as the game’s new lead character designer. Kurahana’s previous work most notably includes designing characters for the popular Japanese romantic visual novel series, Uta no Prince-sama, a game revolving around a teenage girl’s budding relationships with a group of aspiring male pop idols.

Dating idols isn’t really that much of a far cry from the social aspect of Fire Emblem, and with the new direction of the series, Kurahana was an easy choice. “A lot of this game takes place at the Officer’s Academy and there are a lot of nobles there. So we want to kind of depict a glamorous, aristocratic society,” Kusakihara told me. “Kurahana, who we had already been in talks with, seemed like she would be a good fit, and she definitely had a big impact of the hairstyles of the characters.”

“We also wanted a bit of a refresh because we were putting this game out on the Nintendo Switch, which is a new platform and, well, we wanted a new image for the game.” Hairstyles aren’t the only huge makeover for the series, naturally. One of the biggest mechanical restylings in Three Houses is the removal of Fire Emblem’s Weapon Triangle, the rock-scissors-paper system that has been the core foundation of combat in every entry since, well, Genealogy of the Holy War.

That’s a pretty funny, serendipitous coincidence–the new Fire Emblem game, which returns to a relatively minor idea found in Genealogy of the Holy War, also completely discards that entry’s most influential and longest-lasting legacy. The reasons Kusakihara gives me are pretty understandable: “We think that the weapon triangle is somewhat of a stylized system, it isn’t really realistic,” he said. “If you have a situation where a novice axe user takes down an advanced lance user, well, that makes sense? Probably not. So, we wanted to make something that comes across as more realistic to warfare and have players develop their weapons skills individually.”

Caspar punches a monk in Fire Emblem: Three Houses (2019)

It also came down to the series’ continuing focus on its personalities, especially given Three Houses’ setting of an academy where teenage students are only just coming into their own. “We wanted to center on developing the skills for these characters, and also give them a lot more freedom in terms of how they develop. So we’re really creating a weapon system that is less restrictive than our previous games.”

That’s not to say that picking the right unit or weapon for a battle isn’t an important matter in Three Houses. There are still situations where one approach might give you a massive advantage, like using arrows against flying units. And, if one of your units becomes increasingly proficient in a certain type of weapon type or discipline, you might unlock an option to equip them with passive or active combat abilities that help give them the upper hand against other certain weapons types or disciplines–an advanced swordsman might have an “Axebreaker” ability, for example, which will increase both their avoidance and chance to hit against that weapon.

“…the weapon triangle is somewhat of a stylized system, it isn’t really realistic.”

But the new system of having the freedom to mold your combat units into whatever you like also creates some interesting social-level predicaments that might in turn ask you to rethink the long-term strategy for your troupe. During my first campaign, for example, I had Dorothea in my class. She excels in black magic and swordplay, her lifelong ambitions are to be a badass warlock, and she hates the idea of learning faith-based healing magic–it’s for weenies, after all, and she even harbors an innate learning disadvantage towards it.

Toshiyuki Kusakihara

But, if you’re dedicated enough, by spending a large amount of your class time to some serious one-on-one tutelage on Faith, Dorothea has the capacity to eventually uncover hidden potential. She’ll get early access to an ability that even advanced Bishops would covet, and eventually turn that learning disadvantage into a buff. There’s some contentious subtext in this example, but regardless, the system allows you to foster unique narratives for your class–it was a tough decision to give one of my favorite students (and my most effective magic user) a hard time in class for a couple of months instead of honing her strengths even further. But it was worth it.

Kusakihara doesn’t play favorites, though. Toward the end of the conversation, I tried to get the developers on the call to dish dirt on the team’s most hated students (mine’s Lorentz, he sucks). Everyone laughs: “As the director of the game, It’s almost like, you know, I am the teacher because I helped to create them. So I have to say that I love all the students.” Genki Yokota, the other director for Three Houses, representing Nintendo, was the only one who threw me a bone: “You’re supposed to be helping out the students, so it’s hard to say that I hate any of them. But outside of the students, I can say that I really like the character Shamir.” I like Shamir too, so this was a good answer.

It’s pretty common to hear stories about developers responding to audience feedback and using that data to shape future projects. Kusakihara left me with the impression that his team is on the other side of that coin. They don’t know why their game has attracted the fanbase it has in the west, so they’re just going to just keep doing what they’ve done since Awakening. Changing the structure. Reinventing foundational mechanics. Welcoming the talents of new teams and artists. “When we develop the game, we just strive to make it something beyond what people can imagine,” he said. “That might help in making it popular.”

Source : Gamesport