#instead it is central to the gameplay loop and it Sucks

[stylishanachronism]

On one hand, Unheard (best described as a detective sim) is *extremely good*, like, half a step down from Obra Din good, they nail four out of five cases hands down, and the fourth would probably be just as good if I hadn’t, y’know, actually worked backstage community theater for a number of years (got myself confused about a major clue because Opening Night Doesn’t Work Like That, among other things), but. On the other hand.

For a game that’s literally All About the soundscaping they have remarkably shit soundscaping.

[lobautumny]

Reviving this intermittently-active blog yet again to make another post chronicling this toy's thoughts on Hot, Relevant Discourse:tm:, this time about Rivals 2.

For those not in the loop, we'll start with background info. Rivals of Aether is an indie platform fighter with very unique recovery mechanics, no shield or grab (instead having a parry mechanic), and a generally very fast pace. However, interestingly, they made the decision to give nearly every character some kind of persistent area control gimmick that's central to their gameplay. While this toy never really clicked too hard with Rivals, it appreciates how unique the game is.

A few years back, the dev team for the game stopped adding new content and announced a sequel, Rivals 2. Eventually, a Kickstarter was made to fund this sequel, and 16,408 backers would raise $1,076,198.

So why is everyone angry and yelling at each other? Well, basically, Rivals 2 is not going to be remotely similar to Rivals 1, outside of the general concept of being a platform fighter and having similar movesets. The entire mechanical landscape of the game is different. There's ledge grabs, there's shielding and grabs and no parry, there's a getup state... Even the DI works completely differently for seemingly-arbitrary reasons.

Now, this wouldn't necessarily be a problem, but it's left a very bad taste in a lot of people's mouths in the community because for many, many people, the game simply is not what they thought they were putting money into. And it's not like it was a matter of people just putting in money without reading anything. There simply wasn't that much information about just how different the game was going to be on a fundamental level at that point. Keep in mind, through all this, that the average backer spent ~$65.60 on the Kickstarter campaign.

In addition to feeling like they spent substantial amounts of money under false (or unclear) pretenses, many people in the community also feel burned by the fact that this game appears to be aiming to completely replace Rivals 1 while not being remotely similar to Rivals 1, meaning that if any given member of the Rivals community doesn't like the sequel (which many of them won't), then they simply won't have a game to play at all anymore unless they keep hosting official Rivals 1 tournaments, which seems very unlikely.

So, a lot of the core community for Rivals of Aether feels burned and lied to and disrespected, and this toy feels like most of this discourse could've been avoided if Aether Studios had simply been more up-front from the beginning that they had no intention of making a game remotely similar to Rivals 1, and that Rivals 2 is meant to be its own thing and not an outright replacement for its predecessor.

It's also not helping anything that Dan Fornace (the games' lead developer) has been spending a lot of time getting into Twitter arguments about the game and showing that he either genuinely has no clue why people are upset or understands and simply thinks that their reasons for being upset are stupid.

It's a really dumb, shitty situation and Dan's been handling it with all the grace of a crane fly that got stuck in someone's living room. And like, it sucks, because Rivals 2 looks like a perfectly fine game, and there's no reason they couldn't have just brought a team on to keep content updates and tournaments going for Rivals 1 indefinitely to keep the game alive so that both it and its sequel could co-exist. And if they did that alongside being more up-front about how different the sequel was going to be, this toy thinks nearly everyone would've been happy in the end.

[crystalelemental]

Voting is complete.  Now to wait a week for results that will be utterly predictable, in which no major shifts in popularity occur at all, and not a single one of the new characters, who all seem really cool, will break top 20 because god forbid the fandom collectively stops sucking EoSD’s dick for one year.

Anyway, my picks for everything’s under the cut.

Characters:

Okina.  I really love Okina.  I don’t get how she’s so (relatively) unpopular.  Like I really don’t.  She’s so much fun!  Like, every time she’s in the spotlight, you’re constantly caught between what she’s telling you and what you think her hidden motivations are.  And oftentimes, I think both are true.  I also just like how she operates.  She’s drawn to ambition and willpower.  It’s why she likes Marisa so much and is determined to get Marisa to work for her, and why she’s so insistent that Aya take pride in beating her, even when she was holding back.  It’s why she helps Sumireko in Violet Detector despite having nothing to gain from it.  She love ambitious, strong-willed people, and seems to motivate those qualities in others.  She wants to see people overcome hardship on their own merits, which, after the reveal in Visionary Fairies that she is disabled and sometimes needs a wheelchair to get around, adds a great new layer of context to this aspect of her character.  Okina is a fantastic character, and my only wish for future works is to see her play a bigger role.

Keiki.  Surprisingly, I adore Keiki too, despite not having played WBaWC.  Keiki just...hits right, you know?  You have this world where everything’s fucked, and humans are used more as resources than as people by the powerful beast youkai in charge.  Keiki’s spawned into existence by their desperation, but all she can think to do is fulfill her role and turn everything static.  I honestly enjoy how she’s super well-intentioned, but her actions are questionable over whether they’re effective or the right thing to do.  Plus she was adorable in the Komachi manga.

Kanako.  Look, we all know I’m a Mountain of Faith person at heart, and especially love the Moriya Shrine, so I’m not gonna waste too much time here.  Kanako’s awesome, she’s the lowest ranked of the three, this had to happen.

Mamizou.  How a character who’s so routinely important to the stories and plays her role this well is so low ranked is beyond me.  Mamizou is such an interesting character.  She’s like this sweet old grandmotherly figure up until she reveals her master plan and desire for power.  She’s like an active version of Yukari and Okina, out in the open and pulling off her grand schemes, and it’s a ton of fun to watch.

Doremy.  My blood pact to vote for her aside, Doremy does sustain as one of my favorites.  She’s just...I don’t know how else to describe it but “unique.”  She’s different from a lot of the cast, in that she’s overall just really nice.  Like she genuinely seems to care about people, and her dream people especially.  She’s got her job to do and will carry it out, but mostly stays out of the way otherwise.  She’s a bit mischievous, but this is Touhou.

Junko.  I like Junko.  Vengeance mom who won over a part of Hell by swearing to bring chaos to the Lunarians.  I don’t have a ton to say, because unfortunately she doesn’t get much play.  I wish she did.  Maybe in the next Fairy-focused manga.  Everyone goes for a sleepover at Clownpiece’s mom’s place, and has to travel into hell and Junko’s just around.  That’s all I really need.

Sumireko.  While Sumireko’s fallen a bit as a favorite, and is almost certainly going to continue falling, I do like the kid.  She’s a bit of an obnoxious dingus at times, but I find her antics funny.  The way she sometimes just goes off on a ranting tangent that’s spot-on is just...it’s very in line for a super smart teen who’s just disillusioned with everything.  I dunno, I just enjoy her a lot.

Music:

Concealed Four Seasons.  Turns out, Okina’s not just a great character, but has a kickass theme song.  I love this battle theme, I think it’s my favorite.  It’s got such a good energy to it.

Desire Drive.  Best stage theme in the series.  It’s so catchy.

Lullaby of Deserted Hell.  I love this one entirely because it’s this soft, gentle music that plays as you’re traveling through hell.  And I mean that in the literal sense of it was once physically hell, and also this stage is a fucking disaster and I love it.  It’s like why the sixth stratum theme from Etrian Odyssey 2 is good.  Nightmare land with the most calming theme imaginable.

Heartfelt Fancy.  Listen, SA did good music.  I actually like the stage theme more than Satori’s boss theme.

Lost Emotion.  Kokoro’s theme is great, and one of exactly two themes I remember from the fighting games (the other is the Yorigami sisters’).  Fight game music tends to not be very good, in my opinion, but Lost Emotion hits all the right notes with me.

Shining Needle Castle.  Fun fact!  I don’t like DDC.  At all.  I think the cast is pretty boring, especially in the second half.  I don’t like the collection system.  The only cool thing visually, for me, was fighting music-themed enemies in a thunderstorm, which is cool as shit.  But goddamn this song is good.  It’s one of the few highlights of the game for me.

Dream Palace of the Great Mausoleum.  I really like just how grand it sounds.  Like it sounds awe-inspiring, and fits the area you’re in well.  I like the track on its own, but I really like when a track syncs up with the atmosphere of a place.

Fires of Hokkai.  Speaking of, good god this song.  This is probably the single best establishment of atmosphere in the series.  After everything else in the game, and all the craziness of the last stage, you hit the final destination and it starts out with a quiet heartbeat sound.  Then it just builds and builds into this powerful, driving theme that loops perfectly back to near silence as you encounter Byakuren herself.  Stage 6 is so fucking good, shame I suck at this game too much to ever get there.

Beast Metropolis.  This is purely off sound, since I haven’t played the game.  But you may notice that, thematically, it fits in with a lot of my favorite tracks.  Softer vibe, stage theme setting the mood of an area that you’d expect to be crazy but turns out to be eerily...not that.

Faith is for the Transient People.  This was a toss-up, with a lot of options I was considering, but Sanae’s theme won out.  I do like it a lot, and I didn’t vote for Sanae in characters despite her being one of my long-standing favorites, so she got this one.

Works:

Hidden Star in Four Seasons.  Okay listen.  I get that this game is not popular among fans.  I do not get why.  Are you seriously going to look me in the eye and tell me this game wasn’t a relief to play?  After the last four games had bullshit collection systems for resources, having a game that just played lives based off score again isn’t a good thing?  Yes, it was easier.  Good.  Did you miss how bullshit LoLK was?  Sometimes you gotta backpedal, right into the range of things I can actually play.  I know some people don’t like the cast at all, some nonsense about “Why are they so familiar with characters if I’ve never seen them” or something.  But the cast is spectacular.  Eternity Larva’s a fun new fairy to add to the group, and her short-lived stint in VFiS was great, proving that she’s the only fairy who has her own reserve of braincells.  Aunn is precious and wonderful.  Okina.  OKINA.  This was easily my favorite cast since Subterranean Animism, and that was a strong cast.  I just do not get the dislike of this game at all.

Mountain of Faith.  Hey, look at that, I like the games that are simple and fun for me to play.  What a surprise.  MoF was the first game I beat, because Suwako was the first character I encountered and I had to one day git gud enough to beat her.  So I did.  After like three weeks.  That was an adventure.  Anyway, I think MoF holds as one of the best in the series.  Aside from simple gameplay that’s actually fun instead of painful, it had a great cast of characters, and honestly the best environments.  Like, this game just looks good.  Maybe that’s personal bias because autumn theme and autumn is the best season, but I loved the backgrounds in this game.

Forbidden Scrollery.  Hey, it’s the thing that got me into the written works!  Yeah, I really like Forbidden Scrollery.  It’s a fun exploration of things from within the human village, from the perspective of a human who lives there.  Plus we got some of the more interesting lore bits for the series from this work, which is valuable.  And of course...human disguise Mamizou.  10/10.

Visionary Fairies in Shrine.  While there are many fairy-focused manga, this one’s my personal favorite.  Because it’s got Clownpiece.  No really, that’s it.  I like the general fairy shenanigans that the trio gets in to, but I really enjoyed how this one almost focused on Clownpiece’s integration into Gensokyo.  I think it’s a lot more compelling to have that sort of arc for the character, and it really endeared Clownpiece to me as a whole.  My only complaint with it is that Eternity Larva didn’t stick around too.  I know she had less to contribute and that Clownpiece is the central focus of this one, but it would’ve been nice to have Larva stick around and get a bit of development herself.  Maybe next manga, eh?

Subterranean Animism.   I debated this and Cage in Lunatic Runagate.  I actually regret my choice.  Subterranean Animism won out based on my enjoyment of the music and characters in the game, and (if you can believe it) my enjoyment of the gameplay.  Yeah, it turns out when the game rewards just surviving, even if resources are more scarce, I do like 10x better than when resources are only obtained through flying headlong into a storm of bullshit like the next four games demanded.  FUCKING IMAGINE THAT.  Anyway, CiLR was a serious contender that, again, I kinda regret not picking.  Bougetsushou in general was a strong compilation, but CiLR is the one that made it really stand out.  SSiB was a fun silly story, and Inaba was hilarious, but CiLR was by far the most serious and poignant of the works.  It focused really strongly on the characters, something Touhou...hadn’t really done at the time, and still doesn’t always do, and expanded them beautifully.  We get a lot more insight into Kaguya and what her life is like, we get the backstory for the new Reisen, we get background on the Watatsuki sisters, we get the Mokou chapter, arguably the best character development in the entire series.  So it really comes down to a game that I like because I can play it, or a written work that also did a lot for the characters in it.  Both excellent but I locked myself into one or the other.

[hoshinokaabiivevo-blog]

A META KNIGHT’S TALE/META KNIGHT AND THE MYSTERIOUS ECLIPSE

No cover art this time! Might update this later with it.

It was pretty difficult trying to make this game work as a stand-alone, but still have the Kirby charm. That applies to both the storyline and the gameplay, for the record. Any and all criticism is encouraged! Just like with Kirby’s Inferno, this is not meant to be speculation on a future Kirby game, this is solely made for fun! If there ever is a Meta Knight spinoff, you didn’t hear it from me.

STORY

It’s an average peaceful day in Dreamland, and Captain Vul is overseeing the Meta-Knights’ training. They’re all doing pretty well, except for Sailor Dee, who just can’t seem to get a hang of his bow and arrow. Vul is most proud of Meta Knight himself, however, and lauds him when he shuttle-loops a training dummy into stuffing. This exercise is interrupted when a strange meteor crashes down about a mile away, and Sword, Blade, and Meta Knight go off to scope it out.

Upon further inspection, they see that it appears to be a small escape pod of some sort, and there’s a person covered in stars inside of it. Without warning, he bursts from it and lunges at Meta Knight, thrusting a nodachi at his face. They clash for quite some time until Sword and Blade take over, and the other Meta-Knights sans Sailor dogpile on as well. As Meta Knight catches his breath, a small fairy then exits the pod, dazed and weak. She shakes it off, and gasps at the sight before her.

The man manages to break through the barrage of attacks and tries again to strike Meta Knight, but their blades clash and they struggle to maintain their own ground. The fairy girl then yanks the guy away by his ponytail and shows him a picture of a certain spherical hero. It’s actually Kirby, but due to the picture having no color (or any other identification, WTF, Tara?), he believes it to be Meta Knight.

They apologize for attacking and explain themselves. Orion comes from the planet of Aurora Cosmos, which is currently under attack by a mysterious moon-like structure known as the Eclipse Castle. Being the gentlemen that they are (and a little sheepish for attacking an innocent guy), they agree to help him and lead him to the Halberd. Sailor Dee finally hits the target dead on, and Tara cheers him as Axe and Mace guide him into the ship.

Upon reaching Orion’s planet, they can safely affirm that the massive crescent moon-shaped object above the shimmering green planet probably isn’t supposed to be there. I mean, usually, it’s a bad thing when half of the planet’s coated in a gross blackish tar. Landing on the planet proves difficult as well, being that they’re attacked by shapeshifting beasts (which Tara refers to as Morphix) and nearly crash.  

Unfettered, the band of knights marches on through the land, slaying these freakish creatures and saving the natives from a gooey torment. But, something seems to be off about Orion. Even for the Meta-Knights, he seems a bit too aloof and unattached, only focusing on the mission at hand and refusing to take a load off.

This reaches a head when after defeating a massive Morphix that begins ripping the place to shreds, Orion does something obscenely reckless. He nonchalantly leaps off of a cliff, and Meta Knight dives after him, catching him and flying him to safety. When they land, the poor guy is in a state of utter bewilderment at what just happened. Apparently, Orion should be able to fly, and is pretty shocked at his sudden inability.

Later, when the crew is roasting marshmallows around a fire, he stands alone and ponders what could be happening. Much to his horror, the answer is made clear when he sees that the stars on his arms are disappearing. He quickly yanks his arm guards over the now-blank spots to hide them as Meta Knight approaches.

Meta Knight can tell something’s wrong but doesn’t pry; instead silently reassuring him that he’ll be fine if they stick together. They hear a scream of terror and turn to see that Tara’s marshmallow has caught fire, and she’s flying around in a tizzy trying to put it out. Sailor Dee helps her out by chucking it into a pond, which gets everyone to laugh and finally unwind.

Once all the countries of the planet are nice and monsterless, the knights turn their attention to the Eclipse Castle. Something goes horribly wrong when they bring the Halberd to the surface. Not only are they immediately grounded by black spires and crash land, Orion suddenly yells out and collapses, the stars from his body rapidly dissolving. The crew rushes over to him and a tearful Tara reveals that they haven’t been exactly honest with them. 

Many years ago, Orion’s people were cursed by a vengeful and chaotic mage named Pitch Shadow, who threatened to destroy their planet if they did not submit to his will and give him their magical power. Orion knew that going after him alone would mean certain demise, but he didn’t care as long as his planet was safe. It was only with Tara’s urging that he changed his mind and decided to seek out allies.

Orion is true and fully dead. Furious, Meta Knight leaps through the portal to destroy him, the hesitant crew following suit. Inside the Midnight Castle, they find a massive crystal ball chained to the ground with thick glowing chains. Upon breaking it open, they realize their horrible mistake, as it turns out that the chains were what was giving it it’s energy.

Now fully freed, Pitch begins to siphon all the life out of the planet. They’ve got to turn around to the Halberd and use its cannons to shatter the chains before pummeling him into a pulp once more. With the mage blasted into oblivion, the Eclipse Castle itself starts falling to pieces, and they bolt out of there as fast as they can.

The Halberd continues its journey back down to Aurora Cosmos, while both Meta Knight and Tara sadly gaze upon Orion’s body in the sick bay. Meta Knight turns to leave, but something catches his eye outside the window; a vast collection of golden stars has appeared where the Eclipse Castle used to be, and they’re heading right towards the ship.

As they fill the interior, the markings on Orion’s body reappear, and he awakens. Tara is overjoyed, fluttering around him, and cheering as Meta Knight stares in shock. Overcome by emotion, Meta Knight rushes over to him and embraces him, Orion taking it in stride as he pats Meta’s head.

Triumphant, the knights and Orion land to a cheering crowd. Orion’s wings reappear, to which he responds to by challenging Meta Knight to a race. But as the two take off and dart around the city, it becomes less of a competition and more of the two simply having fun! 

GAMEPLAY

Each member has their own personal move set and stats, which can be paired up with another knight to create exclusive moves (and to help with puzzles)

However, they all share one move; they plant their weapon in the ground and clutch onto it, preventing them from being blown away or sucked up by enemies. (ha-ha, wow, that’s dark)

By defeating enemies with combos, you fill up a meter called “boost points”. This gives you the ability to call on Tara so that she can give you extra help with a quick nuzzle or a beam of light from her horn.

These powers include temporary invincibility, stronger attacks, more health, or heightened speed.

Pieces of armor can also show up in hidden crates across various levels, all randomized.

You can mix and match different caps, armor, and weapons, but there are exclusive sets that can permanently boost your stats if completed.

There’s a daily roulette wheel (à la Miitopia) that can give you brand new armor, more boost points, or Maxim Tomatoes.

The game’s map operates the same way that Amazing Mirror’s does, with an open world you can freely move around to which level you’d like and replay them at your leisure. They’re connected all by a central hub in the Halberd, which has a training room and an armory that you can enter at any time.

There’s a boss at the end of every level, not just the worlds! Admittedly, they’re still about the same difficulty as midbosses.

LEVELS

Sable Shores

Tornado Terrace

Energy Expo

Lachrymose Loch

Lit Landing

Ablaze Alcove

Roaring Reaches

Eclipse Castle

Tara’s Dialogue (hub)

(answers to "Greetings.")

You're so cool, Meta Knight! I know you can save us! I-I-I mean, help us.

(post-game) I knew you could do it! Thank you so much for all your aid.

(answers to "Let me see the armory.")

Want to see what armors you've got?

(50% or higher completion) It's getting pretty packed in there! Watch your head!

(100% completion) Brings back memories, doesn't it?

(answer to "I want to try the roulette.")

It's time to play some roulette!

(answers to "What do you think of the crew?")

Captain Vul is astounding! But he's so tall, it scares me a little bit.

Sword Knight is great! His helmet looks like a yummy loaf of bread!

Blade Knight is so brave! He looks up to you a lot, you know.

Mace Knight is so funny! That guy always knows how to cheer me up!

Javelin Knight is very smart! I've never met a robot before!

Axe Knight is so loyal! You two remind me of Orion and me!

Trident Knight is pretty mysterious! But he's good fun!

Sailor Waddle Dee is so cute! ...um, that's all I have to say.

Orion is awe-inspiring! He's my best friend in the whole world!

(answers to "Do you have any advice?")

Have you tried out the training room? It never hurts to brush up on your skills!

Some knights mesh better than others. Try out a bunch of teams and see which works for you!

You should smile more! ...oh, that's not what you meant, is it?

(answers to "Thank you. Goodbye.")

Bye-bye!

It's been a long journey so far. Why not take a rest?