#it is a farming game ffs

[dabihawksluvr]

If you're gonna target CA and his game Stardew Valley for being 'not inclusive enough'...

do y'all just NOT have an imagination?

[novrium]

Every time I check the steam store and see mixed reviews for Harvestella I die a bit on the inside because half of them are undeserved and simply written because people expected the wrong thing from the start </3

That's at least the feeling I get when I read through a majority of them.

Square is literally calling it first and foremost an RPG with the farming sim elements being there but not being the overall main focus for the story as it's in Stardew. A majority of people however expected something akin to Stardew from what I've read (as in a pure farming sim with the battle system etc. being the add-on instead of vice versa) which it was never meant to begin with.

Additionally - I think people expected the game to have a similar character creator as FF14 (as I've seen a lot of complains about how limited the CC is), but what's overlooked is that FF14 is a online game so it makes much more sense that it'd have a character creator with vast options so that everyone's not running around looking the exact same due to what the game is at its core: a online MMORPG. I agree that it would've been neat to have a character creator for Harvestella but I can also see why they opted for something more simplistic.

I saw a review on the store that practically sums things up perfectly

This entire thing bothers me because sure, some things that are pointed out by people could be better (e.g. I really hope there'll be a QOL update soon because the daytime does feel relatively short), but I really hope that people having the wrong idea when they buy it which leads to them now leaving mixed reviews won't lead to a negative impact in the future.

It might be because I wasn't expecting something akin to Stardew Valley from the beginning when Harvestella was announced, partially because we're talking about Square Enix here so a pure farming sim didn't even come to mind as a possibility to me exactly because I'm used to games like the Final Fantasy series from them, but I'm personally really liking the game. It's solid for what it is and it's a lot of fun to play.

[kotoal1011]

sophia gush sophia gush sophia gush sophia–

(seriously this is just me showing 30 pics from the new event and incoherently gushing, scroll down if you don't wanna get bored with this)

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH SOPHIA I DON'T CARE IF THE WHOLE FANDOM HATES YOU <3<3

I hope she stays the way she is smh. She's a freak and I love her because of that. Development arc? Fuck that shit. I want an arc where she gets worse.

Anyway! She's quickly become one of the characters I relate to the most and that just makes me love her even more (compilation of her panicking at literally everything)

ANDDDDD SHE'S A MASOCHIST STALKER WHICH MAKES THIS EVEN BETTER (I do not relate to this side of her do not take me wrong y'all)

just. just please look <3

I have 23k diamonds ready for her please D4D.J realease her cards already I'm begging

[noxtivagus]

i've been listening to more of arknights' ost n i love it so much

[ign1ted-ember]

Damn I need more friends on warframe these t5 necralisk bounties while solo can suck my transgender balls

[blarrghe]

because I've had a lot of trouble understanding what genres the videogames I like are over the years and have learned some Proper Words, here's a better poll

[luminecent-sky]

universal mirror

Tw: cursing, but that's it.

A/n: yeah I've been sitting on this one for a bit... oh and Pollux is the trailblazer.

The player hadn't been paying them any real attention as of late, logging on only to do their dailies, events and just to fuck around the world. Their vessels had been understandably worried, that was until they saw what had been pulling them away. A game they called Honkai Star Rail?

It was just another uneventful day, the same old routine on loop. Dailies, domains, teapot, explore, events, and leave. 

"Hey lemme borrow the computer. i need to play Star Rail." The player suddenly yelled, startling the characters currently active on the party select screen. Sounds of a small spat and some shuffling until an unfamiliar tune entered their ears.

"—yeah, yeah, I'll keep it charged, ffs." The screaming finally ended as they saw…. A floating train? It seemed to be a starting screen, and soon, they were looking into this new world.

After a bit of a wait, it loaded in, showing some red-haired woman? Before they could even inquire, the player answered their query. "Himeko! My wifeyyy!" They drawled, a clear tone of joy seeping into their voice, "—fuck it's forgotten hall today, then crimson calyx, synthesis, and a photo…. Cool, cool." What was the forgotten hall? A calyx? For what? The questions kept on piling as they saw the players do their dailies.

"We should build Luocha while we're here… and I'm going to beat the shit out of SU Cocolia…" The player continued, opening a character screen and enhancing someone, "Okay we need a lot of Abundance mats…." They opened a map and teleported in front of this…. Red plant, interacting with it to farm the materials within, 

Did this place not have domains? They wondered as the player selected their team, the aforementioned Himeko, Luocha, and two people named Jing Yuan and Pollux. They even summoned someone named Seele? And then it began. The characters seemed to battle on their own, not needing the players' interference as they went through wave after wave of enemies.

Time flew by as the player continued doing their dailies, fighting a myriad of enemies one could compare to the Abyssal creatures that roamed Teyvat. 

The action stilled as they collected their rewards, explored, and they farmed a bit more before they ran out of resin? Ah, no, it was called energy here.

After they exhausted the last of their energy, they logged out, returning their attention towards them. They hoped, yearned that the player would spend more time with them— 

"Eh, i already did my dailies here too…" — the connection was terminated as they heard this.

[sir-adamus]

RWBY takes its inspirations from a lot of places

it's no secret that RWBY wears its influences on its sleeves - it's characters are all based on fairytales/myths/legends/memes and is a series created by someone who wanted to make his own anime. and while it does make a lot of nods to specific things (and is dogged on for that by some people despite that it isn't new or even exclusive to RWBY - see the episode of AtLA where Aang dreams about being Goku and Naruto), the show itself draws or seems to draw so many elements from so many different sources and arranges them into something new

putting the rest below a cut because it got lengthy

like i think i've seen the claim that Remnant's four Kingdoms are a ripoff of AtLA's four Nations... except the Kingdoms aren't elementally themed and these places are so important because most of the planet is uninhabitable, which isn't the case with AtLA, and each Kingdom has thoroughly different theming that it's barely similar. it's such a surface thing that it's barely a nod because the world setups are so wildly different

Dust is clearly inspired by Materia from FFVII (or more broadly, Magicite, which recurs through the FF series and has a similar function); a resource mined from the earth that allows the wielder to do magic (though Dust is more limited in its function where materia/magicite can allow for non-elemental and abstract stuff like time-stopping or summoning). the four Academies are almost definitely a reference to the three Gardens in FFVIII (and one of them, Balamb Garden, is where teenagers are trained to become SeeD, a mercenary force for hire that conducts missions around the world, which likely was one of the points of inspiration behind the Huntress/Huntsman career in RWBY)

Aura, being a personal protective shield, both visually and purpose-wise, is a reference to the personal energy shields used by the Sangheili in Halo

the Maidens seem to be a cross between the Sorceresses from FFVIII (who unlike normal people can do magic naturally, and each Sorceress passes on her power to another individual upon her death) and the rule basis for the Sirens from Borderlands (only 6 Sirens can exist at a time and their powers transfer to another individual upon their death, similar to how there can only be 4 Maidens at a time) - Sorceresses, Sirens and Maidens powers can also only be exclusively passed on to women (Troy Calypso in Borderlands 3 has partial-Siren because he was conjoined with his twin sister Tyreen in the womb, and has to leech off of her in order to survive; it's made clear both by the appearance of his Siren tattoos that he's an aberration to the normal process)

Grimm are so obviously inspired by the Heartless from Kingdom Hearts - dark beasts of destruction that are defined by their lack of something (the difference of course being that Heartless come from the nebulous 'realm of darkness' which is separate from the other worlds while Grimm are very much a part of Remnant). Kingdom Hearts has a lot of influence thematically, as it similarly presents itself as a bright and cheery story with a lighthearted, stylised aesthetic, only for that to be an artificial facade for a very dark and often brutal story that becomes more obvious as each series continues. and in terms of specific Grimm, the Apathy (and the Brunswick farm story in general) are a direct reference to the short story Bartleby the Scrivener, but the Apathy's emaciated, skeletal appearance and paralytic scream draw from the ReDeads of the Legend of Zelda series

the Faunus being part animal could be inspired from any number of different shows or games, but in the BlazBlue series, demihumans (who are also part animal) are also noted to face discrimination (though the series doesn't touch on it much by nature of being a fighting game)

in terms of characters, Ruby is obviously Red Riding Hood, but she wields a scythe like Maka from Soul Eater, was initially presented as a completely silent, gun-wielding protagonist in a high octane fight similarly to Black Rock Shooter (the 2012 show also served as an influence on RWBY's animation style, and BRS's flaming blue eye is similar to the Maidens), and her bladed weapon also being a gun brings to mind Squall's Gunblade from FFVIII. plus, positioned as the protagonist and falling into the leadership role and it continuing to weigh down on her is something she has in common with Sora from KH

additionally, the visuals for Ruby's Semblance are inspired by something similar Vincent Valentine does in the FFVII Advent Children movie, with the addition of rose petals (which may be inspired by a similar thing the protagonist of FFXIII, Lightning, has)

Yang is Goldilocks, her design evokes Tifa from FFVII (and her characterisation not being what you'd expect based on the initial impression of her design also borrows from Tifa), her original theme outright compares her to a Super Saiyan from Dragon Ball with her glowing, flaming hair when she powers up with her Semblance evoking the aesthetic appearance of the form (and her 'gets stronger every time she takes a hit' is essentially a temporary, low-level zenkai boost from that series; 'get stronger every time you almost die'). in fact, character-wise, her losing an arm and being characterised as fairly thoughtful and introspective, you could make an argument that she's meant to parallel Future Gohan specifically. however, losing an arm, growing up in the woods and having to care for her younger sibling when they were young also could be a reference to Ragna from BlazBlue (and to boot, Yang's weapon is named Ember Celica, Ragna's parental substitute was Celica A Mercury), and additionally, Nine the Phantom from the same series (Celica's doting older sister) also has heavy fire theming, meaning she could serve as another point of inspiration

finally, Yang may also be partly inspired by Nero from Devil May Cry. while it wasn't explicitly confirmed until DMC5, when Nero was introduced in 4, he is highly implied to be the nephew of series protagonist and demon hunter Dante (who typically wields a greatword) and the son of Dante's twin brother, Vergil (who wields a katana that he can open portals with). Nero's design from jump is asymmetrical, with one of his arms being demonic. asymmetry is a theme for Yang from her trailer (and culminates with her losing one of her arms), her uncle Qrow wields a greatsword and her mother, Raven, Qrow's twin, wields a katana and opens portals with them (that Nero then gained a mechanical prosthetic arm in DMC5 is a hilarious coincidence)

Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon is obviously the Wizard of Oz (his name comes from the acronym of the Wizard of Oz's actual name, Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmanuel Ambroise Diggs - OZPINHEAD), but he also draws from Cid Kramer from FFVIII (being the headmaster of Balamb Garden), as well as Gandalf in putting his faith in a 'smaller soul' (and his manipulative bs is clearly meant to analog to the guy from the bad wizard books, except in rwby it's clearly meant to be a bad thing that has actual consequences, and no more needs to be said about it)

Ironwood is clearly the Tin Woodsman as his main inspiration, a man who (thanks to a cursed axe) kept hacking off parts of his body and getting them replaced with metal until even his heart was gone (and at no point did he consider putting down the axe) - with the key point that he's a subversion of the Woodsman's story. but his descent could be inspired by Walker's descent in Spec Ops The Line (as it would've been in the public zeitgeist when Monty, Kerry and Miles were developing the show and writing these characters, and the game had been played on Achievement Hunter around that time), or from Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now, which inspired that game. his willingness to go to extreme and appalling lengths to achieve his goals may also be drawing from Director Leonard Church, from RT's first show Red vs Blue, who has the quote: "Have you forgotten sir, we were at war? A fight with an alien race for the very survival of our species. I feel I must remind you that it is an undeniable, and may I say fundamental quality of man, that when faced with extinction, every alternative is preferable." which feels very in line with Ironwood's willingness to compromise every moral and sacrifice whatever and whoever he thinks he needs to to win

Penny's fairytale inspiration is obviously Pinocchio but her robotic nature and relationship with a caring father also brings to mind Astro Boy and Mega Man, while her combat style is directly inspired by the Prime Field Devices of BlazBlue, who also fight with a floating array of many swords

the structure of the show honestly feels like a JRPG too - with the first few volumes being the lighthearted prologue where characters and concepts are introduced to ease you into the world, there's some hints to a wider world and a bigger story but there's very little sense that the protagonists are in real danger

until they are, and things go catastrophically wrong in a major way that shakes up the plot, throws the characters out into the world and gives them the main goal they're now striving toward (stopping Salem, in this case), with personal narratives developing in tandem with plot progressions that shake up how the audience and the characters see the world and reveal things to be more complex as things go on

you could literally go on forever; and it's not so much 'taking these disparate puzzle pieces and making a collage' so much as it is laying out the bones and building up something new on top of them through the way these bones intersect and interact in new contexts. RWBY isn't ashamed of its influences while still standing as its own story to tell

[christiansorrell]

Play Report: Tacticians of Ahm #2

Tonight, I ran the second session of an ongoing playtest of an upcoming starter Tacticians of Ahm adventure I'm hoping to get out in the February update (the game is itchfunding now). So, here's a play report (and here's a link to the first play report)!

After the chaos of the griffin attack on the Academy's field day, everyone went back inside the Academy walls for safety. Both griffins, including the one carrying Von Lopesbane, flew off to the northeast, after getting hit by enough attacks from the professors and student tacticians below to be thoroughly annoyed.

Inside the walls, the party saw a number of scouts coming in from the north, west, and eastern roads, all with the same news: sightings and reports of imperial soldiers (even several skyriders - the empress's griffin rider legion) attacking Ahmian citizens - all while proclaiming to be fighting back against the corrupt1on!

Groups of Tacticians and their advisors began to form parties to go out and address these various reports - after all what's a better final exam than the real thing? Professor Dana Turr, an elderly naga woman and the Senior Term headmaster, gave the group an option (since their advisor, Von Lopesbane, was missing): Find Von Lopesbane on their own and it will earn them a guaranteed early graduation and exemption from the remaining weeks of exercises. The other Tacticians on site at the Academy are spread too thin with more violent reports nearby, but she can't abandon Von Lopesbane and if the imperial army is involved, this could be serious enough to actually mean he's in serious risk.

The group agreed and were sent off to Quartermaster Bormos to get field equipment before heading out: 5 rations, a healing potion, and a piece of equipment (under 25g) of their choice. Both Tacticians took Leather Armor. Quablin bought both of them backpacks for the road.

The group headed out, into the region northeast of the academy in search of Von Lopesbane.

The party was somewhat familiar with this region from their time at the Academy. To the north was Four Families, a collection of four family farms all housed very close to one another - the road eerily quiet. To the east, the village of Dodona - smoke rising up from that direction in the distance. To the far north, ruins of an old war watchtower, formally abandoned for centuries.

Helios pushed for the group to head to Four Families and then east towards Dodona. The road was strangely quiet on the way (no random encounters were rolled).

They arrived at the farmhouses and found it, again, strangely quiet. They approached the nearest house and a halfling farmer whispered at them out of the shrubs - There are soldiers in the house! They attacked the other houses and his family only just made it out in time.

Helios approached the house and tried to convince the soldiers inside that she was a higher ranking officer, but the soldiers were assured in their mission, claiming Helios to likely be an agent of the corrupti0n. Frustrated, Helios kicked down the door and rushed in!

Over a 4 round fight, the Tacticians faced 1 Lietenant (EL2) and 2 Spearman (EL1). Through a clever use of Stupor to stun two of the enemies followed by a perfect backstab from Helios the group took the fight but both were just a strike away from falling. The gained 1 XP, 1 RP for their combo and leveled their Relationship to Level 1.

They questioned the defeated troops, you seemed out of sorts, babbling about corrupt1on, being far from home, and the vile nature of the White Walled City - almost as if the concepts of D4RKW3LL and Ahm were swapped in their mind.

Next time, the party travels onward!

[Design notes: We were testing some changes/expansions here to overland travel as it is currently written in the published rulebook. It's more of a node-based pointcrawl than a traditional hexcrawl (like the FF Tactics overworld map). The other thing I'm focusing on going forward in playtests in holding myself better to the digital nature of the world and highlighting those aspects (and providing guidance in the rulebook for GMs to know how to do the same).](edited)

Tacticians of Ahm is itchfunding now and it currently at it's lowest price (just $15 USD) with monthly updates coming from February to September of this year (and hopefully beyond)!

[beyondtheglowingstars]

you said to ask more so I'm back

biggest to smallest tittys

Gladly bby ;) Again, ordered from biggest to smallest in proportion to their body size:

Time Like I mentioned in the ass size post, he has crazy genetics and all the farm work only made him get bigger than he already was. Not to mention that he also has a pretty good frame. The world may never be ready to see his boobs unclothed.

Twi Do I even have to say why he's here? Forget the main comic, his big boobs are fucking canon, just look at his shirtless model glory ffs. There's detailed shading, you can see the depth of those honkers, they are actually modeled in and you can see the difference in elevation from his ribcage to his tits. (Boobs so hot they can fry an egg and somebody made a TP mod where you can play as shirtless Link https://youtu.be/0js1NO8Gtsg?si=HSjSsia9rT4o6J8s)

Sky His are fairly similar to Twi's, but a little smaller since I don't think he works out his chest nearly as often or nearly as intensely as Twi does. He's got a little bit of fat on him and that adds to their mass, and his boobs are a nice blend of firmness and softness and they are the bestest of pillows and also double as stress toys.

Four (I DID NOT PLAN HIS PLACEMENT I PROMISE) Something tells me he's constantly using his upper body one way or another pretty often back at home (no I'm not talking about blacksmithing, I really don't think it's possible to grow boobs from that anyway), and he's also pretty strong! iirc in 4 Swords Adventures each Link is able to pick up each other like it's nothing, for example, so he's gotta have something to show for his strength. Would probably be placed higher than Sky if Sky lost some of his softness.

Warriors He has boobs, alright? Just not as big as any of the previous, but they are there. Not much to say.

Legend Always thought that he's more on the lean side rather than yolked, in an ottermode type of way (I mean look at his game models or official art and tell me that he's buff) but he has decent tits. Nice to look at, could probably model if he wanted.

Wild He has some boobs but they're not that big, skinnier ottermode than Legend.

Hyrule This poor boy is even skinnier than Wild due to the circumstances back at his Hyrule (I imagine he gets to eat better once he joins the Chain tho). I think at this point it can be said that he barely has tits, but you can catch a faint trace of them if the lighting is right. Doesn't mean he's not strong though, muscle size ≠ strength all that much.

God I really spent some time making all of this lmao.

[tamamita]

So for those interested in playing Xenoblade Chronicles 3, I'll answer some of the most common questions I get:

The games are self-contained, so you do not need to play the previous games to understand the third one.

Xenoblade Chronicles X is a standalone game and is not connected to 1,2,3 in any way. Personally, I haven't played it, so I can't draw any in-game comparisons.

XC3 is loosely connected to the previous games, but XC3 provides a narrative that helps you understand the general gist of what is happening without the need of playing the previous games.

I would still recommend playing XC1 (definitive edition); it's just a good game.

No, XC3 is not like XC2, so you do not have to worry about the anime tiddy jumpscare. It takes a 180 approach in that regard with fanservice stuff being kept to a minimum. This is not to say XC2 is bad, the game is amazing on its own right, and if you can tolerate boobs, the gacha mechanic and... Tora... then XC2 is a wonderful experience as well.

XC3 Tutorials are there, but they're far better written and not as repetitive as XC2.

If you are not content with the English dub, you can change it to the Japanese dub, however, the Japanese dub may not be consistent with the subtitles, but that's hardly a problem, imo.

XC3 is an open-world action JRPG, so this means that you'll engage in exploration, grinding, farming, and side quests. The side quests are extremely engaging and feel almost mandatory. The game has a job system not found in the previous games, akin to that of FF.

XC3 has a diverse cast of characters all of which you'll fall in love with, in fact, one of the characters is confirmed to be non-binary and respectfully referred to by their pronouns. My only complaint would be the villains that pale in comparison to the villains in XC1 and 2.

XC3 is very very long game and they're still pumping out new content; you're likely to spend up to 60-80 hours on the main story, and 200 hours on side-related stuff if you're a completionist

A sequel DLC is in the works and will be out next year.

[howlingday]

The Truth

Setting - It's the end of line. Salem is ambushed and cornered by Jaune, who has volunteered for a suicide mission. Strapped with an end-all-be-all magic bomb, Jaune will die a hero to save all of Remnant! But Salem has one last spell to perform.

Jaune: This ends now, Salem. Your lies and manipulations and murders end here!

Salem: Ohoho, yes... But what of my dear Ozma's crimes?

Jaune: What? W-What are you talking about?

Salem: Well, seeing as it is only us now, thanks to Ozma's decision to make you his martyr, I see no harm in showing you what you really want to know. (Casts magic)

Jaune: (Sets bomb on the floor)

Salem: (Chanting)

Mirror, mirror, crystal ball~,

Kingdom's rise and empire's fall~,

In children's war as heifer's raze~,

We cast our view to future's gaze~.

Salem: Ask your question, dear.

Jaune: Uh, what do I ask?

Salem: When did you fall into the Ever After?

Jaune: March 27th, six years ago.

Salem: Oh, really? Then ask what REALLY happened.

Jaune: Fine, I will!

Oscar: (Via comms) JAUNE, NO!.

Jaune: Wait, how do I know this will really prove anything?

Salem: (Looks to the pool) How did I, the Salem casting this spell, really break my hymen?

Pool: Ha ha! I kicked you in the balls, Ozma! Oh, don't act so mad! Here, you can kick me, too- OOOOOOH!

Oscar: Jaune, we don't have time for this! Stop screwing around and escape before the bomb goes off!.

Salem: Oh, of course, of course. Waste what little time you have left attempting to escape when you could, instead, learn about how you were roped into Ozma's little game?

Jaune: ...What happened to me, Jaune Arc, on March 27th, six years ago?

Pool: Clarification request! Are you Jaune Arc of the timeline FF-1083 or Jaune Arc of the timeline A03-2719?

Salem: He's from this timeline, you oversized plot device! Get on with it!

Pool: (Swirls)

Pool: (Jaune running for the gate, Bridge falling apart)

Jaune: (Gasps) That's me! ...God, I look so fat.

Pool: (Makes it to the gate exit, Ozpin standing right behind him)

Jaune: Huh? Ozpin? I thought he was dead- Wait! What is he doing?!

Pool: (Ozpin magically pulls Jaune, Jaune falls into the Ever After)

Jaune: I... (Steps away, Pulls out scroll) I don't understand. You made me fall down?

Bomb: Detonation in fifteen seconds.

Jaune: You... bastard! You made me fall down! I spent years, decades down there! You took away my life!

Oscar: Jaune, I can explain.

Jaune: No, you can't! Shut your adorable, stolen farm boy face!

Oscar: I had no choice. You were the only one who could become The Rusted Knight. What is one life weighed against all of Remnant?

Jaune: ...But it was my life. (Sniffles)

Bomb: Detonation in 3... 2... 1... Will the owner of a yellow, black, and orange motorcycl- Oh, nevermind. ZERO!

[aotopmha]

This is my random Dawntrail thoughts dumping ground post, stuff I didn't find enough to say about to make a separate post about.

Some general area spoilers!

I mentioned this briefly before, but I think Dawntrail might have a bunch of my favourite zones in the game.

I think Tuliyollal is most certainly my favourite city next to Radz-at-Han and Kugane.

I adore the Crystarium, Ishgard, Ultima Thule, Amaurot and Garlemald narratively, but they're also not exactly locations I want to be in "constantly".

I adore Lakeland, Il Mheg, Rak'tika, Thavnair and the Azim Steppe because they're pretty and they definitely fulfilled this role previously for me, but I just enjoy hanging out in Kozama'uka, Urqopacha, Shaaloani and Yak T'el so much more as "locations" and in terms of atmosphere, not for story reasons.

They're great "MMO" zones for me.

I'm almost done with maxing out the Shared FATEs and even the last two zones aren't exactly ones I just want to chill in, either, but the others?

Great stuff and a niché that hadn't been specifically filled for me before this expansion.

I'd farm FATEs for eternity here with or without battle music.

Next, I think Dawntrail might also have my favourite soundtrack so far. So much variety and with the exception of some vocals, it's all great.

I love the other soundtracks, of course, but ShB and EW in particular were much less diverse in terms of styles at play, mostly leaning into lyric tracks, traditional orchestral or piano arrangements with some outliers.

They're amazing at what they're going for, but DT has great jazz, great traditional orchestral stuff, great techno, great rock.

And it's all really, really good.

And HW and StB are somewhere in the middle where they have a bunch of different styles of music, but not quite as much variety within them.

HW has Alexander, which is very different from any of the base game stuff and StB has lots of old FF music in Omega and Ivalice, but outside of that also mostly leans on traditional orchestral music with a touch of the cultures you encounter and lyric tracks.

And obviously, only the base expansion and first raid tier are out, but DT had a track in a different style for every single floor of the first raid tier. The variety is unmatched.

As said, my negative would actually be the lyric tracks because they just sound off this expac for some reason.

I've always found it to be the weakest part of the OSTs because when they're good, they're good, but there are points where they tend to be muffled or a strange kind of crackly or in DT's case just not sound good. Smile and the song for Arcadion M2 are solid compositions, latter is wonderfully catchy, but the singing itself is just kind of off to me.

I felt it to a lesser extent for M4, too.

But it's a very small part of the OST so far, so I think it barely pushes out ShB as my favourite OST.

Next, I want to briefly mention the job design.

I got all of the jobs I've leveled to 100 (so far 6 different ones).

To preface this: I'm entirely casual, so I have no idea how these feel in high-end play, but in terms of casual play, most just feel "streamlined".

I'll go down the list:

My enjoyment of Dragoon in particular increased quite a bit because, most simply put, some of it was just annoying to keep track of and keep doing. I'm so happy Dragonsight is gone because it was just annoying to apply it.

On the other hand, as smoother as I feel the gap closer is in terms of gameplay experience and as much as I love the new combo, Disesteem being a 2 min and there being no actual attack oGCD in place of Plunge somehow makes Dark Knight feel emptier.

Now that I reflect on it, I liked that you had another button to push, just not that it was a gap closer. Now it just feels like you just have less to do because a gap closer is situational.

Even as annoying as Blood Weapon was, it was a button to push.

Dark Knight is the job I've enjoyed playing the most out of all of the ones I've leveled and I still do, but it's the one I feel is the simplest now and not in a good way.

I think it actually really needs more oGCDs that aren't conditional procs or a resource skill or anything more than it currently does or something else going for it besides the gauge timer abilities and Delirium. It feels so simple, yet unlike Viper less satisfying.

It's my #1 pick for adjustments or a full rework for 8.0 or earlier, even if I might not like it afterwards.

I actually have very little commentary on Red Mage and Sage outside of it being neat that you have more attacks now.

I hear the new Manafication setup for Red Mage is pretty annoying in hardcore context. I'm pretty indifferent about it, so I wouldn't mind if they adjusted it.

Bard's new attacks are great and having the ability to use your songs without targeting is fantastic.

And Viper is 100% my new favourite melee, I think. You can just follow the shiny buttons or focus on trying to not overcap as best as you can, hitting all of the positionals the best you can and perfecting all of your button inputs because there are scenarios where you can lose a bunch of damage if you press the wrong button.

The ranged options and movement options are fantastic.

Awakening is a blast to try and use well mid-battle.

(Please don't remove too many of the positionals. They're a fun optimisation option.)

And I think that's about it for some of the scattered topics.

I have 90% of my Dawntrail thoughts out now.

I thought about it and I think separate dungeon posts are a pretty mild priority and I'll just enjoy the game and take a break from talking about it for at least a little bit.

Also depends on if I'll get any other ideas on topics I want to talk about, I suppose.

[b1adie]

well since i lost my stupid 50/50 (AGAIN) (AS USUAL) (FML) im not sure what to do. i have a lot of stuff farmed for ruan mei but like idk if ill be able to get her w whatever pulls i can get from the game (since it seems like i cant seem to get a character under 70 pity anymore) and like i have htb built so maybe i can just work with that instead… but like i wanted rm and ff and theres no way thats gonna happen without me opening my wallet but i do notttt have the money to spend on video game gambling rn 😭

[ratsoh-writes]

Masterlist 34

(****) = suggestive

General

the longest they've gone without doing the do (lf ot)******

most excited to go on a rollercoaster

SO wants company when upset, but doesn't want to talk (fs ut sf)

crush asks to pet their gaster blaster (lf st ul)

their favorite flower/fruit goes extinct (farmers + dt)

the rich boys have a SO who isn't used to money being spent on them (lf drt)

hogwarts houses (uw ht flt bt)

when their shop got broken into

his pet traps SO

crush accidentally burns themselves (ut uf ht)

SO is affectionate after he wrecks them (ut uf hf ht fsg)****

his pp gets bigger/smaller (gears maple)*****

alien invasion (sf hfm tt dt)

SO is temporarily blind

SO can flirt but cant be flirted with (mf lf lsf uf)

SO jokes his dong is too big (nt ft)****

SO wears thigh highs and his shirt (lf mf +brothels)****

they're cursed with the truth (marcelo papyrus captain chaos red)

the bauble and flavor siblings home

wedding vows (fsg fsr)

gaster comes back from the dead

doing a presentation (nt ff hfm fs sf)

gay sex wins, fatality (brothels + fsg lf)**

monkey paw clown nose

he's cursed to speak backwards for a week

board games (brothel + bf fs)

pigs blood (drf tht fs ss lf)

non sexual intimacies (brothel + fs bf)

kid comes home with disrespectful date

object becomes sentient (flt ss gt hfm bs)

voice actor SO (uf lsf mf lf fsg)

karen fights for them (basil Sugar, Pluto, Peaches, Cider, Compass, Sparks, Finn, Quill and Papaya)

their brother is lv sick (fsg sf)

first date (cash mutt weasel pesto gold coffee)

tv laugh track (tht ut)

SO has vertigo (bf + brothel)

SO has a cursed job (ut bbt os)

crush accidentally burns themselves (ht uf ut)

SO is dazed after getting railed lol (ut uf ht hf fsg)****

Interactions

how the ut uf us bros handled meeting their horror counterparts

Worldbuilding

what was wines and coffees mother like?

the horrorfell civil war

strongest and weakest ten update

other heat cycle species seasons**

more snail breeds

how the old farm aus are doing without the monsters

temmies children kevin

difference between fae born monsters and normal ones

night sky in ebott

can skeletons choke

Heat changes (all)****

How many fingers to kitsune have. And more wing info for birdtale

spunions axelaterals and lavender quarts

sky serpents, and what form do slime monsters take

how does one become a prince

pet taxes and registration

animal bias and needlecones

fire elementals dealing with rain and ebotts grade system

why is dual colored magic "ugly"

ogres swiftees bugbear

skeleton bones vs human bones + how breaks heal

how smooshable are the skeletons (featuring quill)

fortune telling?

most common ecto color (all monster types)

whos now the main mafia? (rps only)

common monster names

train system

EBOTT MAP first draft + where the skeletons live

more random monster behaviors

side characters

juniper devi argo

blight dwight their parents

more rich b*tches

Damocles Cassia (and vlock info)

Diane Swann (and vila info)

Royals

MEET THE ROYALS

what they look like

vamp and duchess' mates

Poseidon and Salacia's children

Undertale

sans kid is a changeling

fellswap red

mutt and oblivious SO

swapfell

mal and vila SO

cash and oblivious SO

Mafias

roulette comes back from the dead

angst

bruisers SO reveals they're a selkie

maid SO**

flavortale

taffy gets cheated on

Hadaltale

silex gets cheated on

outertale

Jupiter gets cheated on

fellswap gold

if wine and coffees mother had survived

coffees braces

the brothel

do they regret taking the lust serum?

did they have to take the lust serum

[eff-plays]

Fans of other companions get pandered to just as much as fans of Astarion do tbh, people just don’t acknowledge it. Like seriously look at all the random stuff they have added for Shadowheart for example (comments if you sit on her bench, the only companion to have interactions with Scratch and the owlbear, new idle animations constantly, adding the ability to hug her in Act 3 etc.) I mean ffs they literally added a new ending for Karlach and added Minthara on good runs to pander to those fans who begged for those things. There’s a lot of other examples with other characters too but it just goes to show that it’s the Wyll fans Larian couldn’t give a shit about. I don’t want to hear complaining from anyone else honestly 🤷

And the thing is also like ... even if fans didn't ask for it (and I know for a fact people have been, so it's really no excuse), isn't it just ... logical? To add more content to everybody, if you're adding new content to begin with? Like just from an RPG game design standpoint? Why are you adding more content to just specific choices and routes instead of spreading it evenly among everyone? If you're so invested in adding more shit that people have asked for, and you find that oops, perhaps people haven't asked as much for Wyll, so the new content won't be equally distributed among the companions, can't you still find the people who ARE asking for Wyll stuff but who might not be as direct and loud about it? And add those requests in, if your oh-so-talented and passionate writers can't come up with anything on their own on account of Personal Preference? Like. What is the excuse? Either they're ignoring people asking for stuff that's inconvenient to acknowledge, or they're totally aware of the disparity and are fine with cultivating this type of audience as long as it makes them money and farms acclaim.