#it’s fun to be playing a classic story driven rpg… where i personally am having fun with the story

[maletofujoshi]

feels kinda bizarre that the main criticism i see levied against smt v is an uncompelling and sparse story, since like, i’m like fully gripped by this snes game lol.

[jennaflare]

Nextfest Game Demos You Should Try

I've been playing a ton of demos during nextfest (going until 10/21 if you want to try any of these yourself!) and figured I'd spread the good word about some games worth checking out. Naturally, all these demos are free. I trawled mostly through the "story-driven" section, but there's a range of genres I tried. If you like games like Disco Elysium, Pentiment, In Stars and Time, or Night in the Woods, we might have similar taste! (Here's a longer list of games I've enjoyed)

Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector

The sequel to the fantastic sci-fi RPG Citizen Sleeper (which if you haven't played it yet, what are you doing! go! play it!). This game is a Discolike that has its own identity and mechanics. Big emphasis on space capitalism and how awful it is. This one introduces an actual crew to the familiar gameplay of the previous game, which I'm very excited about. I love the idea of actually having my own ship + people aboard it who are a continuous presence in my game. Check! It! Out!

The Rise of the Golden Idol

An extremely good puzzle game where you collect clues and fill in the blanks (literally). I still haven't played the first one (only played the demo for that too) but man! The game mechanics are fun and I love the art soo much. I love solving puzzles and I love how these are decently challenging without feeling like I'm beating my head against a wall.

The Scarlet Deer Inn

An adventure game inspired by Slavic folklore where you play as a mother and innkeeper. All the characters are embroidered!! It's so cool!!! Visually, it evokes Ghibli and Pentiment. The story quickly took a dark turn in the demo, and I am extremely intrigued to see where this project goes. Highly highly recommend checking this one out.

Keep Driving

A lowkey management RPG with great pixel graphics and fun music. You're a young person on a road trip, so you need to maintain your car, work odd jobs to buy gas, and most importantly, have fun! I can easily see myself losing entire days to this game. Fun little gameplay loop. Give it a try!

Mushroom Musume

Raise a mushroom daughter in this pixel RPG! Just in the demo, there's something like 30 endings. I've played through three times and gotten three different mushroom daughters, and the final version (out later this year) will have double the content that's in the demo. The art is great and the game is well-written. I'm going to keep playing this demo until I've exhausted it!

Loco Motive

Point-and-click murder mystery comedy on a train. Great voice acting, fun & bouncy pixel art! Had a great time playing this one. Not a lot to say about it aside from it's fun and made me laugh.

Urban Myth Dissolution Center

Ooooo it's spooky! Another pixel game with really, really fantastic art. You're a new investigator for the Urban Myth Dissolution Center and it's your job to look into rumors of urban legends. This one's also a point-and-click investigation game, though with a bent towards horror. Really looking forward to getting to play the full release for this one.

The League of the Hustlers

A point-and-click adventure game set in 1700s France. You play as the members of a group of rebels who rob & murder nobility, specifically those tied to an organization called the Sons of Sun (I think they said that was the name anyway). I'm intrigued by this one! The demo was short and some of the mechanics are stupid difficult (looking at you, swordfighting minigame), but I was able to skip the section after a few failed attempts. There was very little in the way of instruction on the minigames, so I hope they add that in. I like the art style.

The Edge of Allegoria

Pixel turn-based RPG that takes inspiration from classics of the genre. It goes a little too hard on delivering on the steam store's page promise of "this ain't no f@#%ing kid's game" imo. Like ok I get it, you say fuck a lot and murder squirrels. That said I did have fun with the mechanics, and the humor could probably work for some people. Feels like the kind of game I really would have liked between the ages of 16 and 20 because it was "edgy" and "not for kids." ymmv.

Button Man

Set in 1920s Nova Scotia, you play as an enforcer for a local gangster. I love the vintage comic book art style with the halftones and comic book panels. The controls were a little weird (for some reason I couldn't use WASD for movement) and there's like two different interact buttons and they don't explain either? Didn't get to see too much of the story, but I had fun with it.

My Party Needs an Alchemist

Extremely cute. You play as an alchemist struggling to gather ingredients in a dangerous world. Luckily, you find a party to help you out, you just have to keep them alive! I have been craving an alchemy game that I actually think is fun (aka something that breaks up the monotony of making potions with story or some other minigame or whatever) and this looks very promising! The characters I've met so far are sweet and the art style is adorable. Looking forward to the release for this one.

Rooster

Another cute one. You play as Rooster of the Chinese zodiac, sent back to ancient China to learn a lesson. About being a decent person, I think? The art is cute and the music is nice. It's a very casual experience and feels like it's meant for a younger audience.

Polismos

An ancient Greek citybuilder. It seems very intricate and could potentially be fun! The UI is a bit busy, but that's kind of how citybuilders tend to be. I didn't play too much because I always WANT to like citybuilders but I never find them all that fun. Worth a look if it's your genre, though.

Demos I played so you don't have to

Divinastros - Card game using tarot suit cards & zodiac influences. You're fighting against Olympus (often mispelled in the game as "Olimpus," though the misspelling is inconsistent). I never really figured out how to play because it felt like the rules and objectives were poorly explained. Mediocre art and the game is rife with misspellings and grammatical errors I would have overlooked if the game had been fun. Maybe you'll get the hang of it, though.

Grimfield Mystery - This one was sooo disappointing. The art & vibe of the trailer made me think of Gravity Falls, but the gameplay was clunky, poorly explained, and not really fun. Maybe the full release will improve upon what's here but for now, I don't recommend it, and I'm not wishlisting this one.

Ad Agency Simulator - Another in these weird specific simulator genre. Fun enough, if that's the kind of thing you like. Drag-n-drop ad maker thing. Possibly uses AI art but I really didn't look that hard or play that much so. shrug.

[mamaito]

What are your favorite videogames?

Thanks for the great question, I have so much to say! I will avoid mentioning any VN as I don't consider them games really..

I am a fan of surreal and weird games in general, if it's out there then I will be interested and play it; I also constantly search for raising sims where you raise a character (Typically a daughter or son.) till they turn into an adult.

Menagerie Series -> I love this series, I am very thankful that it exists as I love the game's art style and atmosphere it gives:

Presentable Liberty, I consider this game as one of the best, it is a first person story driven game where you play as a prisoner that has no choice but to wait for someone to send you a letter and play through the games given to you just to pass time. It is part of a Menagerie series created by the creator.

Years ago, this game changed my god damn life. I was so invested in it, it is rare to find something that understands what it feels like to actually be helpless and depressed. The need to tell those few people left that you're still alive and can't is a frustrating hurdle.

Exoptable Money, Another part of the Menagerie Series, this time it is a point and click format. You play as a business man trying to find ways in how you earned your fame and piece together what happened to the world in itself. I also recommend recommend as I do like the creator's style.

It is also quite depressing but if you like strange visuals then I'm sure you'd enjoy it.

Menagerie Archive, The last part of the Menagerie Series, another point and click format. You play as an archivist in a dystopian world where you are forced to share your earnings between three citizen from each status. If you don't have enough funds, they will go hungry for a week while at the same time, keeping yourself also fed.

There are multiple endings, and it is also part of the worldbuilding from the two games, Presentable Liberty and Exoptable Money.

Mogeko Castle -> RPG, just pure unfiltered dark humor.

Hylics -> RPG, just straight up surreal and aesthetic fun.

The witch's House -> RPG, a good horror game, I consider it a classic so you should play it, I don't wanna spoil the fun.

Zelle ->  Occult Adventure, 2nd person dungeon crawler/point and click game where you are a young boy trying to escape the grim reaper's castle in order to get back to your mother.

TMGS Series -> Otome, a stat raising dating game where you have 3 years in high school to get close to the guy you like; (I also want to play the original ones where you date the girls eventually.)

LovePLus -> DS, another stat raising dating game where you have a virtual girlfriend. My sister and I used to fight over the DS because we wanted to collect dreams and go on dates with the girl we chose lol.

Princess Maker Series -> Raising sim, stat raising game where you raise a girl till she turns into an independent adult, either from a princess or any job you want her to get.

Teaching Feeling -> Raising sim, you take care of an abused girl and have a relationship with her. (I am still upset to this very day the creator blocked me all because he had a tantrum over his english speaking fans and that I was speaking in english.)

My Child Lebensborn -> Raising sim, story driven where you're raising a child of a german soldier in norway after the war and try your best to give him/her the best childhood as much as you can.

Harvester -> Point and click adventure, classic surreal and just weird game where you play as a man who has amnesia and has to figure out the world he's in.

LION -> Life sim, dosbox game. You just play as a lion lol

WOLF -> Life sim, dosbox game. You play as a wolf, that's it lol.

PETZ -> Life sim, old game where you just take care of pets till old age in your desktop. That's it. I cherish this game to the bottom of my heart.

Creatures Series -> Life sim, my favorite of all time as possibly the best out all life simulations. You take care of these alien creatures, teach them how to talk and watch them interact with their surroundings. The person who made this is an actual roboticist btw, and it has a complex system where the activities in their brain are monitored to even their genetic make up. I remember one of my norns kept calling me mama and then taught it to the others to also refer to me as that.

Yames Games -> Best horror games out there, there's a lot to say but I suggest you check it out yourself if you're into the eldritch variety.

Rimworld -> Colony sim, a sci-fi management game where you try to survive the planet and get out of there with the rest of your colony. It is also a classic, especially with mods.

Crusader Kings Series -> Strategy game where you try to keep your dynasty from dying as much as you can. I play it to see how far I can turn my family into a family circle, basically incest. But the fun is making your own story and messing around. Be warned, to this fucking day the devs cannot be bothered to fix their shitty loading screens. A spreadsheet of a game shouldn't be asking for large fucking specs just to play.

Tale of Immortal -> Open world sandbox game, Wuxia shit and cultivation.

ELONA -> Rougelike game. You can do so many things in this game that I can hardly list it, just go play it.

Amazing Cultivation Simulator -> You know what it's already about based on the title, wuxia and cultivation shit except it is a colony sim this time. Inanimate objects can come to life, your furry will turn into a literal demonic animal and grief you if you take too long to cultivate him/her, your character will turn into a loli/shota when turning near immortal. It is fun but fuck that chat mechanic. You need mods.

I don't think I've listed all of my favorites but these were the ones I thought from the top of my head. If you're ever interested in any of them just try it out.

Virtual Villagers Series -> Real time simulation management game, you take care of a bunch of people in a lone village and do your best to improve their life. You act as a god, at least in some of the other sequels, and try your best to find ways to find better food resource and unlock the mysteries of the island.

Be warned as this isn't the kind where everything you'll be able to unlock everything in one go as it where you'll need to wait real time for it to unlock on it's own.

[rpgmgames]

November’s Featured Game: Grimm's Hollow

DEVELOPER(S): ghosthunter ENGINE: RPG Maker 2003 GENRE: Indie RPG, Adventure WARNINGS: Discussions of death, losing a loved one, grief SUMMARY: Grimm’s Hollow is a spooky, freeware RPG where you search the afterlife for your brother. Reap ghosts with your scythe, explore haunted caves, and eat ghostly treats on your journey through death.

Download the game here! Our Interview With The Dev Team Below The Cut!

Introduce yourself! *BB: My name's Bruno and I did some of the music along with Nat! I’m super happy to have participated in this game! *NW: I’m Nat Wesley, a.k.a. Natbird! I’m a composer available for hire with a few projects in the works. I’m honored to have had the chance to work on the soundtrack to Grimm’s Hollow! *GH: Hello! I go by ghosthunter online; I started developing RPGs with a friend in school when we found out that we both enjoyed RPG Horror. I enjoy art, webcomics, cartoons and narrative-driven indie games a lot. I bought RM2K3 on sale and started pouring pixel art into it, before learning how to do things like chase scenes, cutscenes, etc. I used to fantasize about making my own game, drawing dungeons and ghosts in the back of my sketchbooks, before I finally started Grimm’s Hollow. Now I’m near the end of high-school, and I’m hoping the best for uni!

What is your project about? What inspired you to create this game initially? *GH: Grimm’s Hollow, originally, wasn’t as ambitious or personal. It was simply just going to be “my first game”, something that I could finally put my doodles and RM2K3 skills to. I wanted a game that a younger me would have enjoyed, back when I first discovered the classic RPGMaker games and replayed them constantly for those endings. That was my initial inspiration. It eventually evolved into an action turn-based RPG that relies on timing, yet it’s mostly narrative-driven. You traverse death in search of your sibling, and try to make an escape. There are unexpected pieces of me that ended up in this game, some of which I’m still noticing even now.

How long have you been working on your project? *GH: Since the summer of June 2018.

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project? *GH: Standstill Girl, OFF by Mortis Ghost, Undertale, Over The Garden Wall, and the animation medium in general.

Have you come across any challenges during development? How have you overcome or worked around them? *GH: Many! Making your first game is such a giant learning curve, that the list of challenges goes on. I would say that the most difficult issue I encountered (and that, in some ways, I am still facing after release) is working around the limitations of the game engine I am using. I wanted to see whether creating an engaging but simple 1-party RPG in RM2K3 (without going completely custom) was feasible, and I experimented with quick time events as part of that. I worked around the engine’s built-in formulae so players could see progress when they upgraded their stats - although the game might display as defence as “10”, in reality the game stores it as 40 since the engine splits defence by 4. Since I did not want to create an RPG which was too complex for my first game, I also scrapped traditional staples such as armour or weapons. There were also issues such as having an appropriate “game over” handling event which wouldn’t shoot you back to the title screen after you lost a battle; getting RM2K3 to play a small cutscene where you faint and respawn somewhere else was tricky. I felt that if the player had to reload after a loss, it would disrupt the game flow.

Have any aspects of your project changed over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept? *GH: Like I mentioned before, the game started off impersonal. I just had a soft spot for a spooky cute aesthetic, and I wanted to indulge in that. It was (and in its essence, still is) meant to be a short story, to keep the player invested for the short game length - nothing grandiose. The original draft did not have Baker play a role in the narrative - he was just an ordinary shopkeeper NPC. For a long time during development, Lavender did not even have a name. In the very first draft, she was a silent protagonist the player could name and customize. But she played a very active role in the final outline, so it was hard not to give her own unique voice when one emerged from the narrative naturally. I am glad I did; she grew on me quite quickly! Grimm was virtually unchanged from beginning to end. The only difference was that a close friend suggested that he seemed like he would be into drinking Oolong tea - so that’s what he offers you when you meet him. Timmy also did not go under massive overhauls like Lavender and Baker did, but his relationship with Lavender became much more fleshed out as I wrote the narrative. In other facets of the game’s design, there were not many changes to the original prototype.

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team? If you don’t have a team, do you wish you had one or do you prefer working alone? *GH: It was just myself, doing the art, writing, programming, etc. But halfway through creating the second cave, I realised I would need a very specific sound for Grimm’s Hollow. So, I contacted Nat for music, but I also created a post on tumblr calling for a composer since there were many tracks to make. I met Bruno as a result! I am very happy with their work and I am so grateful I’ve got to work with them! (Some players are asking for an OST release, which is in the works).

What is the best part of developing a game? *GH: I really enjoyed the early stages of development: creating new tilesets, sprites and maps and piecing them together in the editor, then taking a small screenshot and sharing it with my friend over summer vacation … It was nice to see the game’s world slowly come together. I think that’s what I enjoyed the most from beginning to end: that sense of world-building, that sense of relaxation from making a small cosy game. The latter started to disappear as work and other responsibilities started to intrude, and pressure began to seep into development time - but I never stopped loving making the world and characters. I also want to say that, by lucky chance, I have met a lot of kind people from making my first game. I’m very grateful for that, so thank you to everyone.

Do you find yourself playing other RPG Maker games to see what you can do with the engine, or do you prefer to do your own thing? *GH: All the time! Other RPG Maker 2003 projects are great inspirations for pixel art tilesets, as well as how to code harder features such as custom menus. They’re also just fun to play.

Which character in your game do you relate to the most and why? (Alternatively: Who is your favorite character and why?) *GH: Lavender and Timmy are relatable to me in multiple ways. I can’t elaborate on Timmy since that would go into spoiler territory, but I somewhat relate to Lavender’s insistence on managing her life on her own - sometimes to her own detriment. I’d say the most fun character to write for was Grimm. He can be unintentionally silly while speaking in the most formal way, but also very caring too. Everything he does and says was easy to write, whereas I had to think harder for the interactions between everyone else - especially for very crucial scenes regarding their development. That being said, my favourite is still the game’s central two siblings. I can not pick between them for the life of me.

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently? *GH: I wish I started testing even earlier! Not only does it give you a good sense of what’s missing, but seeing people enjoy what you’ve made yet get hindered by bugs is a very strong incentive to fix your game immediately. When I was lacking motivation or was stuck, I found that good feedback and support made me motivated again. I also wish that I could have pushed the deadline a little further, or perhaps released the game on Early Access since it will take me a while to refine post-release bugs - but as it is, the 31st of October really was the deadline for my game due to external circumstances (no, that deadline wasn’t just because it was Halloween!). Other than that, I wonder if using an updated version of RPG Maker would have produced the same game …? It’s hard to tell, but I hope people enjoy it for what it is - I will be working on that post-release patch soon!

Do you plan to explore the game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is? *GH: There are no current plans, but I would be happy to have the opportunity to improve and expand on the game. As it is, the game’s released for free and done as a hobby, so I would struggle to do that by myself.

What do you most look forward to now that you have finished the game? *GH: Earlier on, I was really looking forward to players’ reactions. Games are made to be fun, and I would have felt distraught if my game didn’t achieve what it was set out to do. Yet it was not just about the gameplay; it was about the narrative. I hoped that what I found funny, the player would too; what was heartfelt to me, was heartfelt to the player as well. Like sharing a laugh, or just a good experience together. I hoped they would enjoy the feeling that went into it, despite the struggle of making it against circumstance and limitations. Now, I look forward to resting and sleeping once this over. I want to explore my other interests, improve, and explore new media. I want to relax, and refocus again like I was before the heat of development.

Is there something you’re afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game? *GH: Bugs! Some are easy to fix, but others are harder due to the limitations of the engine (e.g an error in one ending is caused by an overflow error).

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs? *GH: Show your game as early as possible, to as many people as possible. As soon as you have something playable, it’s ready for feedback. You’ll see if that game mechanic you spent hours refining works, or if it doesn’t work and why. You’ll understand what players enjoy and what they want more of, but also what they don’t like or don’t enjoy. And you will definitely encounter bugs. You’ll be able to pinpoint and fix minor problems early on that can easily become a larger issue later. You’ll be able to fine-tune your game so its best bits shine, and the difficulty is just right.

Question from last month's featured dev @dead-dreams-dev: Is there anything you’ve added to your game for no other reason than because you’re hoping fans will get a kick out of it? Fanservice, fourth wall breakage, references to other games, jokes, abilities that are just ridiculously overpowered and badass, etc? *GH: It’s hard to say; game design is trying to find the intersection between what’s good for the player, what the developer enjoys, and what’s feasible to implement. Every decision made should be conscious of that … I think a lot of the game’s early light-hearted jokes was not only made because I enjoyed it, but I hoped the player would “get a kick out of it” too. But more so, I think it’s because I would struggle to write a story which is serious and bleak from beginning to end. The game is a little self-indulgent in the narrative that way.

We mods would like to thank ghosthunter & team for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved!

Remember to check out Grimm's Hollow if you haven’t already! See you next month! 

- Mods Gold & Platinum

[4colorrebellion]

4cr Plays - Piczle Cross Adventure (Switch)

I am a nonogram fanatic. I don’t know what exactly it is about the things, but I just can’t get enough of the little draw-by-numbers puzzles. Few games suck me in as intensely as a good Picross (or the indie equivalent). 

In the past, I thought I was more-or-less alone in this. Nonogram games were few and far between. I even found myself hunting down ROMs of Picross games released for the Satellaview broadcast service for the Super Famicom just go get my fix! Now, on the Switch, there are so many nonogram games coming out that I have actually found myself falling slightly behind! 

The latest twist are games that wed nonograms with a broader gameplay structure torn from another genre. The ingenious Murder by Numbers combined nonograms with a visual novel revolving around solving crimes. The recent PictoQuest merged nonograms with RPG mechanics. Now, we have Piczle Cross Adventure, which places the puzzles within a story-driven 2D adventure. 

If you have never solved a nonogram puzzle before, let me explain the concept. You start with an empty grid. Each row and column of the grid has a series of numbers on it. Your goal is to fill the correct cells in the grid to create an image. You can think of it as a form of “paint-by-numbers”, where you need to identify the right spaces to mark for form a pixel-art painting.

The numbers on a row or a column tell you how many spots need to be filled in. If you see a “5″, you know that a five-block sequence will need to be filled, while blocks before and after those five will remain unfilled. To figure out which five need filled, you need to look at the corresponding columns (if you are working on a row) and see if you can match the conditions placed by the numbers on each of those. You will often see multiple numbers, like “2 3″, indicating that there are multiple sequences that will be filled in. In this case, the row would have a sequence of two filled-in blocks, then later, a second sequence of three filled-in blocks. At least one unfilled cell must exist between the two sequences. Again, you need to use the other clues to identify where the two sequences lie in the row.

That’s about all there is to it. Identify the spaces to fill, mark off those you know will not be filled, and try to complete the picture as fast as you can without making any mistakes. As pictures get larger, this becomes a tougher task. Even as a novice, you can probably complete 5x5 or 10x10 puzzles without breaking a sweat. As the puzzles grow, you may find it a little harder to keep track of everything. Still, try not to panic. A great thing about nonograms is that you should never have to make a blind guess. There is always enough information to unravel the next spot - it just may take some searching to identify it.

Piczle Cross Adventure presents its puzzles in a classic form, without additions like multiple colors or layers that have been used in other recent games. This is not a complaint, however, as the puzzles are well-designed. I’ve had a lot of fun chiseling my way through the game, and it has a lot of great little challenges in it. The primary enhancement on standard puzzles in Piczle Cross Adventure is that some larger pictures are broken up into a series of smaller puzzles. As you complete the individual small puzzles, you reveal that larger picture. In these cases, it may pay off to keep each surrounding piece in mind, as they will offer clues on where the borders of your current piece lie. 

The most unique aspect of Piczle Cross Adventure is the inclusion of a massive overworld and story to guide your puzzle solving. The story revolves around the evil Mona Chromatic, who has unleashed the pixel-powered robot under_SCORE on the world in an attempt to rob it of its color. Score-chan, pet/companion(?) Gig, and Professor Matrix - the ostensible “protagonists” of the previous Piczle games - have set out to restore the zapped items and put the world together again. 

This story is mainly a way to guide you from puzzle to puzzle. Each item is restored by completing a puzzle representing it. The overworld, presented in a 2D overhead Zelda-like manner, is broken up into a series of regions. Each region has a number of items to restore. Often, you will find that your progress is gated until you find a particular item from a different region. For instance, a fallen tree might block your progress in one direction until you restore a chainsaw in a different area and bring it back to clear the path. 

Exploration of the overworld is not particularly deep. Other than unlocking items for simple puzzles, there isn’t a ton to do. You get XP for completing puzzles, but levelling up doesn’t really grant new abilities - beyond opening up more difficult puzzles. Still, it is a pretty compelling twist on the standard formula. Some puzzles are well-hidden, inside trash cans or behind trees. Hunting down every puzzle and filling in that section on your overworld map is an addictive process. The story and exploration give a nice feeling of progress as you work your way through. 

As I mentioned, I played Piczle Cross Adventure on Switch. It is also available on Steam. I’d personally chose every time to play this kind of game on a portable system, so I’d recommend getting the Switch version. It looks nice on the tablet - though, I had to turn off the fake overscan. It also makes nice use of the HD rumble on the Switch. This is the kind of game that benefits from portability and being able to play a few puzzles in bed before you sleep. 

Overall, I really enjoyed Piczle Cross Adventure. If you like nonogram puzzles, the ones in this game are really well designed. I also enjoyed exploring the overworld, trying to hunt down those last few obscure puzzles. If you’re looking for that next puzzle fix, this is definitely a game to look into.

A copy of Piczle Cross Adventure was provided for this review.

Nintendo eShop

Steam

[hi-i-love-u-bitch]

Excuse me! But where is my Sanders Sides Gamer AU???

Voices in my head: Gee Bunny, it seems you have no problem writing a lot of other fics and stuff yet you still haven’t even finished the next chapter of your Spiderverse fic???

Me: SHUT THE FUCK UP DISEMBODIED VOICES IN MY HEAD!!! IF YOU WANT THAT FIC DONE SO BADLY TELL MY LOGIC AND CREATIVITY TO GET THEIR ASSES IN GEAR AND GIVE ME SOME GOD DAMN INSPIRATION!!!!

Voices in my head:.....

Me: Yeah, that’s what I thought! Anyways, idk if I just missed a memo or something but I haven’t seen any Gamer AU of my boys and that is a crime in and of itself! Like, how dare! But fret not, I am here to provide content (Read: headcannons) that you did not ask for! Let us begin! Or should I say start!

(please note that I am not a gaming expert so feel free to add or correct stuff)

NOW WITH A PART 2!!!!

MAIN SQUAD

Roman Rosewood

Obviously loves RPGs! Anything with a good story line really! Or has medieval fantasy aesthetic!

Skyrim, Diablo, Undertale, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Fallout, Red Dead Redemption, Undertales, Dragon Age, God of War Dark Souls, Assassins Creed, Earthbound, etc.

Played West of Loathing just so he could rip on it but actually ended up loving it and spending way to many hours playing. Then he found out there was a game called Kingdom of Loathing by the same creators and went down that rabbit hole as well.

He was iffy about getting into JRPGs but then Virgil convinced him to play Persona 5 and he absolutely fell in love with the music!

All the music in his phone is either from musicals or Video games!

Also really likes choose your own adventure games like Detroit: Become Human, Life is Strange, and Telltale Games

So much video game merch! Usually figurines because he likes to make little shelves and display cases for them.

He also really likes multiplayer games because he’s a social butterfly and likes to play with his squad.

Sucks at first person shooter games but still willingly plays Fortnight or Call of Duty or Left for Dead with his friends because he doesn’t want to be a drag and complain. But also they sometimes die in game in the most hilarious ways and it just leaves everybody wheezing.

Virgil Dante

Horror games, obvs!

All about that dark aesthetic!

Devil May Cry, Silent Hill, Fran Bow, Sally Face, Resident Evil, The Witch’s House, Amnesia, Little Nightmares, Bendy and The Ink Machine, Alice: Madness Returns, SCP-Containment, Pony Island, etc.

Yes, he’s played all the Five Nights At Freddy’s games. It’s a good series and it isn’t his fault the fandom is bat shit crazy and full of ten year olds! Fuck you Roman!

Every time the Walking Dead comes out he knows he’ll end up crying by the end of it. He and the squad make and event out of it.

Japanese horror games are usually his favorite because they deal more with the psychological aspects of horror instead of the jump scares

So, yes, he’s also a fan of Corps Party and Fatal Frame

Also really good at first person shooters because he has a really steady hand (you usually have to when playing horror games least you want to restart the level) and it pisses Roman off to no end every time Virgil randomly headshots him.

Usually likes to by merch in the form of posters, t-shirts, or beanies. He only buys figurines if it’s a game he really, really likes.

At first didn’t know why people kept bugging him to play Doki Doki Literature Club but then he finally caved and...oh...that’s why.

Logan Mill

My boy loves puzzle and strategy games yo!

Legend of Zelda, Portal, Tetris, Unravel, World of Goo, Inside, Limbo, Pokemon, Shadow of the Colossus, StarCraft, Command and Conquer, Age of Empire, Heart of Iron, World of Warcraft, etc.

He likes Overwatch but doesn’t like playing with people online so he usual solos or asks the others to play. But that too usually ends in chaos.

Hates rage games because he gets frustrated easily and has broken at least four keyboards and two controllers

He still plays them anyways because he can beat it damn it! Just give him a minute!

Enjoys the God of War series despite all the mythological inaccuracies

He plays a lot of Minecraft to relax or destress and has build beautiful works of architecture and sometimes entire cities.

He thought it was stupid and childish and was embarrassed about it for a long time until the squad came over to his house one day uninvited and caught him playing. He was getting ready for them to make fun of him but they instead gushed about how AMAZING everything looked and how TALENTED he was for building all himself.

Logan ends up showing them how to play afterwards and they work together to make weird sculptures and complex tunnels underground.

He likes practical merch like backpacks, coffee mugs, pencil holders, notebooks, ect. as well as a few t-shirts and novelty ties.

Yes, he does collect Pokemon cards!

Patton Adley

Silly dating sims, farming games, and any cute game really! Plus a few side scroller games!

Stardew Valley, Harvest Moon, Slime Rancher, The Sims, Dream Daddy, Animal Crossing, Kirby, Monster Prom, Hatoful Boyfriend, Scribblenauts, Night In The Woods, Ni Nu Kuni, etc.

Big Nintendo fan!

He made the mistake of playing Doki Doki Literature Club without reading the warning tags and regrets it immensely...still a good game though.

He did the same thing with Huni Pop but that one made him laugh more then anything and he kind of got addicted to it. Then he found out there was a sequel called HuniCam so he went down that rabbit hole too.

He likes a lot of phone app games too like Cut the Rope, Neko Atsume, and Candy Crush.

Loves trashy dating app games, he thinks they’re so funny and cheesy

He was addicted to Mystic Messenger for a long while

Just because he has his preference doesn’t mean he won’t try other games too, Logan got him hooked on World of Warcraft (though really he did that to everyone), Virgil showed him Hollow Knight, and Roman suggested he play Undertales.

Prefers merch in the form of plushies and key chains!

He likes to bake and decorate cookies, cakes and pastries in the form of his favorite video game characters.

RED SQUAD

Duncan [Deceit] Adley (Patton’s twin)

A lot of first person shooter and combat games!

Doom Series, Super Smash Bros, Mortal Combat, Halo, Fortnight, Grand Theft Auto, Street Fighter, Tekken, Soul Calibur, Half-Life, Team Fortress, Destiny, Wolfenstein, Bio Shock, Splatoon, PUBg etc.

Patton was the one that introduced him to Splatoon and he won’t admit that it’s actually super fun.

Doesn’t mind story driven games and RPGs but he really just wants something he can zone out to and relax

He likes to troll people online, mainly assholes picking on little kids who just want to play.

He once teamed up with a group of kids on Call of Duty solely for the purpose of collectively kicking the asses of this groups of so called “real gamers” that were being jerks.

Has memorized all the combos! He doesn’t have time to sit and look up a cool finishing move, he needs it now!

Always mains the weakest/most useless character in fighting games and still manages to kick everyone’s ass.

Doesn’t have a preference in merch and usually grabs whatever he likes be it figurines, t-shirts, posters, plushies, or whatever, so long as he likes the game it comes from.

Has several tattoos from his favorite games

Emile Picani

Classic retro games, cartoonish games, and Nintendo are his jam broham!

Mario, Classic Sonic, Paper Boy, Transylvania, Spyro, Pac Man, All the Saga Disney games, Duck Hunt, Mario Kart, Galaga, Mega Man, Donkey Kong, Secret of Mana, Banjo-Kazooie, Conker’s Bad Fur Day, etc.

Absolutely fell in love with Shovel Knight when it came out!

Remy got him into all the indie pixel games: Towerfall, Terraria, Owlboy, Hotline Miami, Papers Please, Celeste, One Shot, etc.

Duncan was the one that introduced him to Cuphead and the usually play it together and see how far each of them can go without dying.

The game is difficult but the art is still so breathtaking!

Likes the occasional psychological thriller game

Bet Virgil showed him Alice: Madness Returns and Doki Doki Literature Club (after he’s played it of course)

Likes plushies and figurine merch with the occasional poster and coffee mug.

Likes to doodle a lot of his fav video game characters and cartoons and is actually really good at it. He helped design most of Duncan’s tattoos.

Remy Knightly

Likes a lot of indie games and old online flash games!

The Stanley Parables, Oxenfree, Inside, Firewatch, Super MeatBoy, The Binding of Issac, Donut County, Henry Stickman series, Impossible Quiz, Crush the Castle series, Hyper Light Drifter, etc.

He always gets everybody hooked on one game or another

He convinced everyone to play Undertales so for like a month they all went through a HUGE Undertales faze.

Was the actual, ACTUAL one that showed Duncan Cuphead because he knew the dork would be reminded of Emile because of the animation and would want to show it to him and play multiplayer (*cough* subtle matchmaker *cough*)

(Do not be fooled, he is a pinning boy himself)

Is up to date in all the gossip of the latest games and consuls, indie or mainstream! He’s in the know, know and if you need to know something chances are Remy probably knows it.

Weeds out through all the indie horror games for Virgil and recommends what he thinks are the best ones.

Same thing with Logan and his puzzle games, he’s usually is able to find very strange ones and Logan seems to likes those best.

Obviously has a lot of merch in coffee mug and thermal form as well as a few key chains.

Occasionally streams on Twitch with Duncan and Emile (sometimes inviting the main squad too), they’re commentary is usual hilarious.

[notpreparedblog]

Introduction and Story

The Fire Emblem series, for me, has been one of those things that’s always been in my peripheral, but never really close enough to gain attention. I knew of a slew of characters from the Smash Brothers series, that it was a tactics style RPG, had knights, and horses, and magic…and that’s about it. Fire Emblem: Three Houses is the first traditional Fire Emblem game on the Nintendo Switch, and the first game of the series I sought out.

After just finishing my first play through of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, I really didn’t know how to review this game. I typically like to delve into each major mechanic and give insight into how it all ties together, but the idea of touching on everything is daunting for this game.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses is massive. I was initially amazed at how little I actually did after playing for three and a half hours.

Your three choices, Claude in the yellow, Edelgarde in red and Dmitri in blue.

By nature, there’s three different story line routes for you to take, each with their own twists and turns; The Alliance with Claude, the Empire with Edelgarde, or the Kingdom with Dmitri. There is a mid-point of the game where decisions must be made that drastically impact the rest of the game and splitting off into different forks. For that main reason, you will absolutely need to (and want to) play through multiple times.

With the branching story, each path you take gives you a different experience. My first go around was with Edelgarde and the Empire. I felt that some of the story beats were visible from a mile away, but they were never unsatisfying, and the characters actions in-story always made sense.

There’s a rich history in the world of Fódlan where Three Houses takes place, and I felt the game does a great job in reinforcing that, and making the world feel lived in.

  Gameplay

At the start of the game, you’ll be met with a few different difficulty options. First, you have the option of choosing hard or normal difficulty, which is self explanatory. Second, you must choose between classic and casual. Classic means that when one of your character perishes in battle, they are lost forever. Casual means that they more so retreat from battle when defeated, giving you access to them again the next mission.

I originally wanted to go for casual just so that playing the game felt less stressful, because I definitely wouldn’t be able to let one of my students die throughout the game, but I’m happy I didn’t. Going with classic made me rethink how I was going to utilize my team. If there is no risk of permanently losing a member of your team, all you have to do is throw characters at enemies without repercussion and overpower every battle. Part of the fun is treating the battlefield like a chessboard and trying to make smart decisions for that particular round of moves, and a few in the future.

Rhea, Archbishop of the Church of Seiros as well as her second in command, Seteth.

I also went for normal difficulty, but I felt that it was a bit too easy. I never did any grinding and completed all of the story, auxiliary and paralogue battles that popped up. With just that situation, I was consistently over leveling missions I was participating in.  It wasn’t until the final two battles that I felt the difficulty spiked.

Aside from difficulty, the gameplay of Fire Emblem: Three Houses is split into a few distinct sections; character development and the actual battles.

The overall template of Fire Emblem: Three Houses ends up feeling like the following; Begin month, instruct your students, build support and relationships between your students and other inhabitants of Garreg Mach, complete quest/auxiliary/paralogue battle, repeat the previous steps 2-3 times per month then complete the month with a story mission between weeks three and four.

You take on the mantle of professor after arriving at Garreg Mach Monastery, choose a class of students to oversee, build relationships with them through different actions that you take, then lead them on the battlefield.

With that in mind, don’t come into the game expecting endless battles and action. Battles become more fun because of the investment you put into your students, your team and goals in terms of selecting future character classes for them to excel at, and eventually become.

  Battles

Speaking of battles, the real action in Fire Emblem: Three Houses, comes from the different battle types. If you’ve never played a tactics-RPG game, battle fields are broken down into a grid system similar to a chess or checker board. Each battle has rounds where your team, allied teams and enemy teams are able to move all of their units once. During these rounds is when you would attack, use items, heal team members and so on.

  General battle map view, showing you the grid, obstacles, enemies units and more.

Story Battles: These battles, which usually occur once a month in-game, progress the story and usually offer the player the most unique setups. They feature more named characters, which are typically deadlier and require more thought on how to approach them, and more unique side objectives other than ‘rout the enemy’ or ‘defeat the enemy commander.’

Paralogue Battles: These battles hold the best content other than your basic story battles and are always character driven, with a particular conflict or goal in mind. One may require you to block four escape routes for thieves while another has draw bridges in the middle of the map that need to be re-taken. Many of them also reward you with one of the heroes relics and are always worth doing.

The unique aspect of this paralogue battle puts you in the middle of a battlefield with fog of war surrounding you. You can seek out enemies in the fog, or act defensively and wait for them to come to you.

Auxiliary Battles: These battles also soak up a battle activity point and are a step up in difficulty from basic battles. Many of them include rare beasts and reward you with various meat or resources to continue upgrading or repairing your weapons.

Quest/Basic Battles: Throughout your time at Garreg Mach Monastery, you will get a number of quests that involve a battle, many times rewarding you with another gambit battalion. There’s nothing much else to say about them. They are usually uninteresting and just require you to defeat a number of non-threatening enemies.

Basic battle list along with activity points on the top of the screen.

The downside of this aspect of the game, is map variety. Too often is a story map revisited for a paralogue battle or vice versa. The auxiliary battles or basic battles also pull from the same pool of maps. There were multiple times that I played through the same map two or three times in a row just completing quests, paralogue’s or even story missions. It would have been nice to have a larger map selection pool so that battling becomes less dull outside of the over-arching narrative.

  The Monastery

Garreg Mach Monastery acts as the central hub for most of Fire Emblem: Three Houses and feels like a character on its own. During the story, you’ll slowly unlock areas of the monastery to explore, and subsequently, give you more to do.

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On top of leveling up your characters in battle, you’re really expected to invest equal time during the following activities to better improve overall.

Professor Level: The professor level allows you to do more actions during the explore phase of the monastery, and gives you more battle points for when you decide to battle instead. You increase this by participating in extracurricular activities that I’ll talk a bit about below, building relationships and completing quests.

Training Grounds: Houses a tournament every month featuring a different weapon type. You choose a character to enter into the tournament. Winning nets you gold, an item and experience towards increasing your professor level.

Dining Hall: Various options available to sit down with other characters and build your relationship with them. A sound strategy would be to eat meals multiple times on the same day to increase the motivation of your students, so when you go to instruct them, they gain greater experience towards the selected skills.

Fishing Pond: Exactly what it sounds like. You use your bait to catch fish to use for meals at the dining hall. Each successful catch nets you a small amount of professor level experience.

Greenhouse/Harvesting: You have the option to plant seeds and cultivate them. Doing this will yield more seeds, items and again, professor level experience.

Tea time is another activity you can use to build bonds between yourself and the others at the monastery.

While overall I like the idea of the monastery, it’s design really leaves something on the table. I really don’t care much about having the best graphics, but environments look very blocky and outdated next to the detailed and interesting character models. Everything has a jagged edge, sort of like it was out of the N64/PS1 era, except with better textures.It’s a strange contrast that’s very noticeable.

  Characters

One thing I was not expecting, I guess being a newcomer to the series, was how large the character roster is. At first, I was worried about this because how is it possible to get really in depth with everyone and have it not feel superficial? There are always some characters that are developed more than others, and some that are forgotten. This really isn’t the case with Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

I really am blown away with how much personality each character is packed with. The house I chose for my first go around was the Black Eagle House. By the end of the game, following these same characters for nearly 50 hours, I could correctly answer any question they had, have perfect ‘tea times’ every instance, answer their queries correctly in the church and more. I felt that the amplified feeling of knowing they can die in battle also helped me get more attached to them. I never left a character to die, it just didn’t feel like an option.

Couldn’t help but think of animated Link saying ‘Excusssse me Princess Zelda.’

Aside from each character having distinct personalities, the voice acting is also superb. I usually read quickly and scroll past text but here, I waited and watched every conversation because of how much I enjoyed the voice acting.

Support Conversations: The more two characters get to know each other, the better their relationship gets. When that happens, support conversations unlock between those two characters, and they are lengthy. I started getting in the habit of waiting until I was eating breakfast to start activating these support conversations because they took so long to go through. At times, I would sit for 30-45 minutes strictly just listening to characters build relationships with one another. It sounds boring on the outside, but it really was a nice change of pace sitting back and enjoying these conversations.

The main growth of a character besides straight leveling up and support levels, are leveling skills and becoming classes that excel at those skills. This is mostly all done during the classroom sessions that you will be setting up for your team. Classes are all visible from the outset, so you can, and should to a degree, plan ahead for certain characters and see what you’d like to be.

An example of instructing a student on a particular set of skills.

If you really want a Dark Knight on your team, you really need to select an appropriate character, then focus on Reason, Riding and Lance skills. The same goes for any of the other few dozen classes that are obtainable. It’s really an open book, and although certain characters clearly excel at certain skills, you’re never truly bound to those skills. Get creative, and work on what fits your style as a player.

  Other Points

Cutscenes: I really enjoyed all of the cutscenes I’ve seen in Fire Emblem: Three Houses. They stand apart from the rest of the game, enacting a more anime style than what is presented elsewhere. Many of them included some unsettling images that reminded me of the feeling I have watching titans contort in Attack on Titan, or even some of the imagery from Berserk.

There are some unintentional comedic elements as well. One cutscene in particular shows three armies rushing towards each other for this grand battle. When it’s over, you head to the battle screen and everyone is standing around waiting for their individual orders.

The animation is top notch whenever given to the player. Unfortunately, cutscenes are sparse.

Online Recon: Another addition to Garreg Mach is online recon. When unlocked, an NPC as well as four other characters from other players appear. They each sell you one item at a small discount from just purchasing it in store, and you have the option of doing a mini-game with them. The mini-game scatters them across around half the monastery, and you have to find all four of them within 90 seconds. Rewards for completion include basic food items and one time, a battalion. It’s just strange and super laggy whenever you get near that section of the monastery.

One of the online recon travelers from other players games.

Pacing: The pacing of the main story can feel awkward with the system they have built. They really want to do one main mission every month, with you as the professor, teaching, battling, exploring and everything else during the same month. This is fine for the first half of the game where you are teaching students, and as a class, are being assigned one major mission per month, but the same is not the case for the latter half of the game. I don’t want to go into spoilers, but I felt the system faltered a bit later on and pacing seemed either too rushed, or too slow at times.

  Final Thoughts

I’m happy that I took the plunge into the Fire Emblem series. Outside of enjoying the board game/tactics play style, I’m a veteran RPG player, so those long conversations or bonding moments between characters are very welcome and I got just as much enjoyment out of character development as I did actually battling.

The downside, is that map variation was rather boring outside of unique ones used for story or paralogue missions. Graphics are also blocky and seem out of place for this generation of consoles (characters models were a different art style and looked fantastic).

There are three distinct paths for you to choose in Fire Emblem: Three Houses. While the first half of the game may largely be the same for all three choices, the second half is drastically different and you’ll want to check out the other paths.

As long as you aren’t expecting a visual spectacle or non-stop action, you’ll find the same enjoyment that I did with Fire Emblem. Now, onto the second playthrough…

  Review: Fire Emblem: Three Houses #fireemblem #threehouses #nintendo #nintendoswitch Introduction and Story The Fire Emblem series, for me, has been one of those things that's always been in my peripheral, but never really close enough to gain attention.

[theultimateegghead-blog]

Gaming history and releases in 1990.

Welcome to a new series of mine, a celebration of video games over the last few decades. In this series I will be looking over some major events and releases based off of the year. We will start with 1990 and end with 2012. The reason behind this is because this series is not only meant to celebrate gaming, but also some of my friends as well. Thusly every year is dedicated to all my friends and readers born in that year. I am ending at 2012 because that was the year my sisters were born. If you were born before 1990, you are still an awesome person! Consider this prologue in dedication to all my pre-1990 readers. If you were born after 2012, then how did you get here? Regardless, without further ado, lets take a look at some gaming history!

Some major events include...

The first Nintendo World Championships is held.

The first Nintendo World Championships begins on March 8th, 1990. One of the first ever video game competitions, the world championship would make a nationwide run across the united states. (Somewhat defeating the world title.) Contenders would compete with various games that were made for the tournament and would win various prizes such as trophies, money and Nintendo products. The cartridges made for this tournament are considered to be some of the rarest, if not the rarest, video games. The cartridges were given to winners of a Nintendo power contest and they are estimated to be worth 150 grand!

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THQ is founded.

The video game company THQ is founded in April of 1990. Originally a toy company that occasionally dabbled in video game production, it eventually became a full-fledged game development company. The company lasted until 2016, where it filed for bankruptcy and sold its brand to Nordic Games, now called THQ Nordic. THQ makes licensed games based off animated movies and cartoons, but also has their own original games. Some of there most famous original IPs include Darksiders, Destroy All Humans and Red Faction.

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The Sega Game Gear Launches in Japan

The Game Gear was Sega’s response to the success of the Nintendo Gameboy. It was released on October 6th, in Japan, seeing a release in America in the next year. While it did support full color graphics and had a technical edge compared to the Gameboy, it also sported a cumbersome size, poor battery life, small library and minimal support from Sega. It was rushed in production and was not able to surpass, let alone match the success of the game boy. It would be discontinued in 97, having sold over 10 million copies in those 7 years.

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The Super Famicom Launches in Japan.

The Super Famicom, known in America as the Super NES, was one of the most well known and renowned consoles in gaming history. Taking gaming to the next level per se, it had new advanced hardware that allowed it to process games far better than the original NES. Some of the greatest games of all time, such as A Link to the Past and Super Mario World was released on this system. It sold nearly 50 million units and was available in retail until 2003.

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Some of the most critically acclaimed and important released of this year are…

Super Mario Bros 3

Super Mario 3 would be released to critical acclaim in February 1990. This platforming adventure boast colorful levels and plenty of new things that would become long standing tropes in the Mario franchise. It was one of the best-selling games of all time and had heavy promotion both before and after its release. It was featured in the video game themed move “The Wizard” and then afterwards it spawned a cartoon series that has amassed a cult following in recent years. It is considered by many to be the best Mario game.

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F-Zero

This Super Famicon/SNES game would see its initial Japanese release in November of 1990. While it was not the first racing game, it was in a way Nintendo bringing racing to home console and it was praised by many for pushing the graphical expectation of games to a new level and for spawning the F-Zero IP, which unfortunately has been left neglected for several years now. While it may not have been the first, it has been cited to be the game that set the standard for racing games to come.

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Dr. Mario

Dr. Mario was Nintendo’s attempt to create their own puzzle game. While they owned the rights to Tetris at the time, Tetris was not their original creation. Dr. Mario was released for the Gameboy and super Famicon in July 1990. It received generally favorable reviews and would establish Mario as a doctor as well as a plumber. While the series itself has not seen much flare since the 90s, Dr. Mario is playable in several Smash titles.

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Metal Gear II Solid Snake

Metal Gear II Solid Snake is the second instalment of the Metal Gear franchise and was initially released in July of 1990 for the MSX2. This game would not see an official English release until over a decade later. This game is praised for not only improving on the original Metal Gear game in almost every way, but also establishing the stealth genre. It is considered to be one of the most innovative and advance games of its era, and it was also praised for its more mature theme and story when compared to other titles of that year.

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Smash TV

Smash TV is an arcade game that came out in April of 1990. This game was one of the first twin stick multidirectional shooter and featured cooperative play as well. It was a game that pushed boundaries with its violence but would not spark as much outcry when compared to future arcade games such as Mortal Kombat. Nevertheless, this game did establish a genre that appeals to those looking for classic arcade fun, games like hotline Miami and Call of Duty Dead Ops could owe a part of their creation to Smash TV.

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The Secret of Monkey Island

Monkey Island is one of the most revered point and click series gaming has to offer. With various sequels and remakes this game defined a genre. It was initially released in October of 1990. One of the first major games with an emphasis on character and story, this took gaming narrative into a new spotlight, while it was not the only contributor, it was a major contributor to story driven games. It wasn’t half bad graphically either.

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Railroad Tycoon

The first game in the Tycoon series. This game was a simple railroad business simulator, where you built a railroad empire and try to maintain it. While the concept might sound boring to some, it did herald the beginning of a long running series and could be considered one of the origins of the simulator genre. While I cannot say it is solely responsible for later simulator games like the sims, it could be considered the grandfather of business simulators.

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Alpha Waves

This game is relatively unknown, but it does hold some importance. Released in August of 1990, Alpha Waves is one of the first ever full 3D games. This game was somewhat of an art project and is rather abstract and artistic in design. While it does hold significant importance in the evolution of graphics, it is more of an experience than an actual full fledged game.

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Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light

The Fire Emblem series is a long-lasting series of tactical RPGs that remained primarily in Japan until the 2000s. This is the first Fire Emblem game and it was released exclusive in Japan in April of 1990. This game was deep for its time, featuring a story and characters who could die permanently. While America never saw this title, they eventually got a remaster nearly 15 years later.  This game stabilized the tactical rpg as a genre and is considered to be one of Nintendo’s greatest series.

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This concludes my analysis on some gaming events and releases of the year 1990. If you were born in 1990, then happy birth year to you! See you in 91!

[geekysweetie]

Top 2018 PS4 Games For Girls

I did a lot of research for this list. So the 40 2018 PS4 Games below are not ranked in any particular order.

If I had to pick a few favorites it’d be Detroit Become Human, Kingdom Hearts 3, Shenmue 3, Stein’s Gate Elite, Atelier Lydie & Suelle, Yakuza 6, Your Four Knights Princess Training Story, Shining Resonance Refrain, A Way Out, FF7, and Ni No Kuni 2.

This is not a full release list for the PS4 in 2018, but instead a collection of games I thought would appeal to other gamers such as myself based either on story, anime graphics, cuteness, or gameplay mechanics.

Leave me a comment below and let me know what games you’re looking forward to on PS4 this year!

40+ PS4 Games for Girls Releasing in 2018

1.) Moss

A virtual reality game that features a mouse who knows sign language. The environment is beautiful and the characters are adorable.

2.) Ni No Kuni 2 Revenant Kingdom

Ni No Kuni Wrath of the White Witch is one of my favorite PS3 games. So it’s no surprise that I’m eagerly awaiting the sequel from Studio Ghibli and Level 5 on the PS4 in 2018.

3.) Red Dead Redemption 2

It’s not often that I enjoy a shooting game; however, I am quite fond of the original back on the 360. I enjoy the open world environment, myriad of quests, and choice and consequence system. The horseback riding was also fun.

4.) Detroit: Become Human

I think above any other title on my list, I’m most excited about this PS4 Exclusive from the makers of Heavy Rain and Beyond Two Souls. It’s a story driven game where the player must make choices at various points which will fork the story down different branches resulting in different endings.

5.) Shenmue 3

Shenmue 3 broke records when it debuted on kickstarter 2 years ago. Finally the wait is over as the title will launch in mid 2018. In case you missed the first two games, rumors abound about an HD remaster that will include both Shenmue 1 and 2 also arriving on PS4 in 2018.

6.) Knights and Bikes

This quirky cute co-op game aims to recapture the feelings of childhood innocence and fun. You can explore a colorful island, fight baddies with water balloons or race your friends on your bicycles.

7.) Bloodstained Ritual of the Night

This is basically a Castlevania game, except since Kojima left Konami, he’s not allowed to use the name Castlevania anymore. I’m also digging the anime style characters as opposed to the more photo realistic characters the series has been using recently.

8.) Final Fantasy 7 Remake

The wait is almost over for the Final Fantasy Remake with new stories, new visuals, and new combat systems. This is more than just an “HD Port” this is a reworking of the game from scratch, using the same characters, world, and story, but improving upon it in many ways.

9.) The Last Of Us Part 2

This story driven post-apocalyptic action game is finally getting a sequel.

10.) Death Stranding

Kojima’s answer to Konami cancelling his Silent Hills game. It looks creepy AF. So if horror is your thing, check this one out. I’ll be picking it up but I know I won’t be able to play it alone in the dark.

11.) Beyond Good and Evil 2

Fans have been begging for this sequel for years, and now finally, the wait is almost over. This quirky series is best known for its anthropomorphic animals and charming worlds.

12.) Kingdom Hearts 3

I am currently preparing for Kingdom Hearts 3 by playing the Kingdom Hearts 1.5 and 2.5 HD Remix which combines like 8 of the Kingdom Hearts games. I was a big fan of Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 when it first came out on PS2, and am excited to revisit the worlds of Kingdom Hearts again in KH3.

13.) Monster Hunter World

Open world RPG adventure game with huge monsters and a variety of weapons and equipment.

14.) Concrete Genie

Your graffiti creations come to life in this PS4 exclusive.

15.) Anamorphine

Another PS4 VR game. This virtual reality game puts you in the role of a young man trying to recover his memories and make sense of the world around him. The story is about his relationship and his wife’s depression.

16.) Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Hacker’s Memory

This prequel will reveal the events leading up to Digimon Cyber Sleuth as you play as Keisuke, a young man accused of a crime he didn’t commit. He must join a team of hackers to uncover the truth. Over 320 Digimon to discover.

17.) Iconoclasts

This game is full of intricate puzzles and a deeply moving story about faith, purpose, and the challenge of helping people.

18.) Dissidia: Final Fantasy NT

The characters from various final fantasy games return for this fun crossover fighting game.

19.) Past Cure

This story driven stealth game will let players use a variety of skills that blend dreams and reality as they try to help the main character master his new found powers while escaping from frightening horrors.

20.) Shadow of the Colossus

A story of a boy trying to find his lost love. Armed with only a bow and arrow you must battle fearsome giants.

21.) The Seven Deadly Sins: Knights of Britannia

Based on the hit Netflix anime, this beautiful looking brawler features all of your favorite characters in a brand new storyline.

22.) Under Night In-Birth EXE:Late[ST]

This new fighting game from the creators of Melty Blood and Tsukihime features not only great anime artwork, but an excellent story in campaign mode as well. The game blends story and fighting sequences in a similar fashion as Blazblue

23.) Crossing Souls

This colorful adventure game takes place in the 1980s in California. It features puzzle solving and fighting.

24.) Kingdom Come Deliverance

Kingdom Come Deliverance is an open world first person action RPG with non-linear story and stunning graphics.

25.) Secret of Mana

This gorgeous remake of the SNES classic will launch in February 2018.

26.) Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet

Based on the popular Sword Art Online Anime. This new title features gun-based combat and 4 player co-op or vs modes.

27.) Frantics

Cute animal characters star in this 4 player party game where you must bluff, battle, or negotiate your way to victory.

28.) Yakuza 6: The Song of Life

Yakuza is a spin off of the Shenmue Series. It features a deep lengthy storyline, intriguing characters, and of course crazy, fun, zany minigames, all in an open world. New to Yakuza 6 is the cat cafe and spear fishing just to name a few.

29.) A Way Out

A narrative game that can only be played with 2 players. Don’t worry if you don’t have any friends, you can play online as well as local co-op. The story revolves around 2 men trying to break out of prison. To do so you must make decisions in the story that will help build trust and friendship between the two inmates.

30.) Dollhouse

An interesting game that lets you create your own maps and stories. It seems to be about artificial intelligence. The multiplayer mode says you are fighting for control to be the “dominant mind”.

31.) The Lost Child

The Lost Child is an anime RPG in which you are able to collect over 50 different gods from various mythologies and train over 250 different skills.  It includes both English and Japanese voice overs.

32.) The Witch and The Hundred Knight 2

This cute anime RPG lets you craft new weapons and items as well as recruit minions to fight for you.

33.) Gintama Rumble

This fighting game is based on the hit anime and manga. It will launch in January 2018.

34.) Fist of the North Star

From the developer of Yakuza, this action brawler is based on the hit retro anime and manga by the same name.

35.) Stein’s Gate Elite

This is a remastered version of the original Stein’s Gate game using animation taken directly from the anime based on the first game plus new animation created for this game. The goal was to create a fully animated visual novel (as opposed to still images). The developers are said to have been inspired from Yarudora, a series of fully animated visual novels from the 90s. I would also compare it to School Days HQ which is also fully animated. (and that animation style is why it ranks among our top 10 games for girls). I reviewed the original Stein’s Gate here. I highly recommend it. And since the first and second Stein’s Gate games have both been released in North America, I’d say there’s a good chance we will see an English release for Stein’s Gate Elite as well.

36.) Your Four Knights Princess Training Story

A “Raising Sim” similar to games such as Princess Maker and Graduation 95. Gematsu has an excellent article detailing how you will train your princess. Basically it involves scolding or praising your princess at various times, for example during conversations or while exploring dungeons. The story and characters change based on your decisions and how you raise your princess. The princesses each have various parameters that you can train to unlock new skills or increase their stats to help them in battle.

37.) Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists & the Mysterious Paintings

Atelier games focus on gathering ingredients and crafting new items. As you can see from the trailer, they feature beautiful anime graphics, and deep stories. Their gameplay is often long, and at times it can get tedious, however, for those who love crafting and exploring, Atelier offers the ultimate crafting system.

38.) Super Robot Wars X

Gematsu indicates that there will be a southeast asian version of this game with English subtitles. For fans wanting to play these games in English you should be able to import the game from Play Asia. It appears to be a compilation of many different retro Super Robot War titles, better known as Gundamn in North America.

39.) OK K.O. Let’s Play Heroes

This colorful brawler game from Cartoon Network arrives in early 2018.

40.) Shining Resonance Refrain

This is a remaster of the PS3 Shining Resonance Game, part of Sega’s Shining Force/Shining Wisdom game series. The PS3 version was never released in North America. Perhaps the new PS4 remake will find its way overseas. In addition to new graphics, this version includes new story scenarios and gameplay modes.

Top 2018 PS4 Games For Girls was originally published on GeekySweetie.com - Geeky & Kawaii Anime, Tech, Toys, & Game Reviews & News

[aurelliocheek]

Book of Heroes: Making a new The Dark Eye game

A new Finnish studio is bringing the tabletop feeling to the screen.

The Dark Eye (original: Das Schwarze Auge) is a true classic. The roleplaying game was developed 36 years ago by the German Ulrich Kiesow and laid the foundation for hundreds of novels, board games – and video games of course. Since the last one, The Dark Eye: Blackguards 2 by Daedalic, five years have passed.

This summer a new game brings the players back into the fantasy world Aventuria. Like in the original Pen&Paper game, The Dark Eye: Book of Heroes is about role-playing together with your friends. Four players combine the specialities of the different species and professions to overcome enemies, puzzles and challenges in the myriad of procedurally generated maps. Twelve different professions and eight individual storylines should provide long-lasting gaming fun. Book of Heroes is the first game of new Finnish developer Random Potion in collaboration with publisher Wild River Games and DSA rights holder Ulisses.  We talk with Creative Director Arto ­Koistinen and CEO Kirsi Rossi about the development of The Dark Eye: Book of ­Heroes.

What kind of game is Book of Heroes? Arto Koistinen: BoH is an RPG for busy people. There are plenty of ­action games with similarly easy ways of dropping in and out, but no real roleplaying games like this. Kirsi Rossi: Book of Heroes is a game that consists of several shorter adventures that form longer stories. All the RPG elements are there but compared to the epic RPGs that require hundreds of hours playing, BoH gives you an easy way to play when you have time, or your friends are online and you’d like to play a couple of hours with them. It also doesn’t require a long time to get yourself familiar with the system, so it’s easy to start playing it but of course for the ones who’d like to immerse themselves into an epic RPG the experience is not that deep.

Only part of the Random Potion team is enjoying a summer day in Tampere, Finland, before working on Book of Heroes.

Please tell us briefly about your career in the gaming industry. And how it all started with Random Potion? Kirsi: I haven’t worked with games before. It’s been something that I have thought about earlier but because I don’t have a developer background there are less opportunities, though the situation has changed a lot recently when there are more big studios. I joined Random Potion when Arto asked if I’d be interested in to take care of the business side of the company three years ago. Entrepreneurship is something that I have wanted to try, so it was a perfect opportunity for me. Arto: I started in the industry in 2007 as a game designer for mobile games, the company worked solely on licensed games, so I did small games for big brands such as Star Wars and Pixar. After that, I founded my first company Dicework Games, where I did programming, design, writing and business, so pretty much everything else than art or music. I’ve also worked at Kyy Games, another local company, in multiple positions. We started Random Potion with a group of friends from the industry, mainly because we wanted to work together on new projects. Book of Heroes was an idea I’d had in one form or another for several years, and finally, the pieces for the design started coming together. In retrospect, it was probably too big a project for a new company, but fortunately, everything turned out well!

How big is your team at the moment? Do you hire? Kirsi: We have ten people at the moment in the company and in our team. We don’t hire at the moment.

How did the collaboration with Ulisses and Wild River come about? Kirsi: We met Wild River a couple of times at game events like gamescom where we showed our game demo and later how it as progressed. Later on, we started to talk about the collaboration with Wild River and got introduced also with Ulisses.

Arto: I also attended a convention hosted by Ulisses where I met both the Ulisses people and the fans, and it was a great experience, and especially awesome to meet all these people very enthusiastic about The Dark Eye.

How close do you work together? Kirsi: We have weekly meetings with Wild River’s producer, and we also use Slack, where we can chat when there’s anything to ask, comment etc. If we have questions of the Dark Eye universe, we can also talk with Ulisses, and they have provided us with a lot of material and also checked the stories that are in the game so that they don’t conflict with the DSA universe.

Unity is the main development tool. If for beasts, items, or entire portions of the maps — it will end up in Unity.

What are your sources of inspiration? Kirsi: Overall, for me, I love old-school RPG games. I remember when I was a kid and got often stuck to Mario or other similar games because I wasn’t that good and patient enough to practise. When I found RPGs, it felt like coming home because I didn’t get that frustrating feeling of playing the same setting over and over again (or asking someone else to play it for me so that I could continue the game).

Arto: Baldur’s Gate was a big inspiration in the beginning, especially for the core gameplay, visuals and controls. We opted for a different approach in meta though, having bite-sized adventures connected by personal stories instead of a big epic campaign. Of course, there is also a lot of influence from roguelikes, of which my favourite is probably ADOM.

Are you fans of The Dark Eye? Kirsi: The Dark Eye is not that well known in Finland. I like to play tabletop RPGs and also try different games, and it’s been great to get to know also The Dark Eye. I am a big fan of monsters, and there are many that I like in the Dark Eye. I also like lizardfolk, and it would be great to have them somewhere in the game… (smiles) Arto: We are now! (smiles)

Did you play previous TDE games? Arto: I had played Chains of Satinav before the project and when we started also played Memoria and both the Blackguards games.

How did you get the game design process, what was your approach? Arto: We already had a vertical slice of the game that used a different system when we started working with The Dark Eye. In the pre-TDE project, we had a pretty ad hoc process where we knew the high-level design and where we wanted to go but did the concrete design as the project progressed, seeing what worked and what didn’t. When we started converting that base to The Dark Eye, we first took the rules and decided what would work for our game and how and what we had to drop out. I’m happy to say we got a lot of the core rules in and even some additional ones from the other sourcebooks! There was a lot of back and forth with Ulisses for the storylines so everything is canon for the setting. We’ve also tested the game with fans of The Dark Eye and integrated that feedback into the finished game.

Kirsi: I am not involved in game design as I am more of taking care of the company and project itself, e.g. schedules and communication with the publisher. However, because we are a small studio, I have tested the game a lot (over 100 hours of gameplay…). I also like to join the game design meetings and encourage everyone in a team to be involved because I think it’s important that everyone has a feeling of ownership of the project.

Even though Book of Heroes is a co-op game by heart, you can embark solo on the adventures and hire some henchmen for the quest. For a price.

TDE is known for it’s unique system of dicing samples. How did you implement this system to the game as algorithm for the gameplay? Arto: We have the skill system in the game pretty much as-is, the game handles the skill rolls when need and shows the results of the rolls to the player, along with all the three dice rolls and the final Quality Level. Some rolls are automated by the game (e.g. Perception), and some are initiated by the player (e.g. Picklocks).

In which area will the game take place? Arto: In the Middenrealm, mostly concentrating on the west, Kosh and Northmarches areas.

Book of Heroes is a Coop-RPG. Why is the multiplayer approach important to you, and how challenging is the implementation? Kirsi: We chose co-op because we wanted to make a game with a similar feeling of playing together like in tabletop RPGs. In tabletop RPGs I can still remember some game sessions many years ago, and I think that it’s players who bring the game alive. Multiplayer itself is absolutely more challenging technically compared to the solo game and also for a new team like us many people advised not to make a first game multiplayer.

How important is the story in Book of ­Heroes for you? Kirsi: There are several different stories, and also the players with whom you play have their own stories. I think the story is important, but for me, it’s also important to have fun instead of just advancing my own story. I hope that game can give a nice setting to meet friends or completely new people.

Arto: Theirs is actually more story in the game than readily apparent to the casual observer. We’re especially invested in ­player-driven stories, and the character creation takes a story-first approach, where every choice you make tells you a bit more about the character’s background. The personal storylines are also a very important part of the game, and while you can mostly skip them if you want, they contain a lot of lore and world-building.

Talking about the development process: What problems did you encounter in ­g­eneral, and how did you deal with them? Kirsi: In game development team the fascinating but also challenging part is that teams are multi-disciplinary where there are programmers, artists, business people etc. and everyone has their own way of working. It’s important to bring devs together because making games is teamwork and it’s important to understand how my work is affecting to somebody else’s.

Arto: One of the biggest challenges is making everything work together in a game that has as many moving pieces as we do – and in multiplayer too! Getting a feature or a piece of content to work is one thing; getting it to work in a multiplayer environment is a completely another. We’re also balancing between meeting the expectations of a multiplayer RPG and a TDE game, which can be tricky because those expectations can at times be ­conflicting.

The combat feels a lot like the tabletop original. Hence the dice symbols and the numbers.

Which aspects are the most difficult to ­i­mplement. Do you also have to leave something out? Kirsi: We had to leave a lot of things out, and I think it’s an on-going conversation because time is limited, but there would be so many ideas to bring alive.

Arto: Pathfinding in a multiplayer game with procedurally generated levels has proven to be a hurdle, but fortunately one that’s now behind us. Then there’s the adventure generation where we want to have maps that are interesting enough but should never be incompletable.

Which engine do you use? What advantages does it offer you? Arto: We use Unity. Personally, I’ve been using it for over eleven years, and it’s a fine engine that gives us most of what we need out of the box and also has great support in the form of community and available ­plug-ins.

How do you feel about crunchtime? What experiences have you had with crunchtime in recent years? Kirsi: I haven’t worked before in-game ­studio so I have only read about the crunching. We don’t crunch, and if a dev asks can s/he do work e.g. on the weekend, it’s always temporary solution and extra hours can be used later to have an extra day off. Personally, I am a bit of a workaholic, and it’s been tough to learn to take time off because being an entrepreneur work basically never ends, but I have also noticed that it affects to the quality of the work if I do long time work in the evenings and weekends.

How hard is it for you to deal with the corona crisis? Does it influence the completion and release date? Kirsi: We have been working completely remote one month now, and we have short daily meetings online every workday. When the crises started, one challenge was to get the computers to everyone because we have tabletop computers (gaming laptops are more expensive compared to the tabletop ones). Crisis doesn’t seem to influence to the completion of the project, but I keep my finger’s crossed that nobody catches corona.

Kirsi Rossi CEO

Kirsi is the CEO and Business Developer at Random Potion. Being a free spirit, she has travelled around the globe and lived on three continents. Professionally, she has worked in B2B marketing and events taking care of administrative tasks. She has a MBA in Knowledge Management and she about to graduate in MTech majoring in entrepreneurship.

Arto Koistinen Creative Director

Arto is a game developer who has been a game designer, programmer, CEO, writer and some other things in his 13 years in the industry. He has worked on small mobile games for big brands such as Star Wars and Pixar, made an award winning RPG Rimelands: Hammer of Thor, and written very punny jokes for Knights of Pen and Paper 2

The post Book of Heroes: Making a new The Dark Eye game appeared first on Making Games.

Book of Heroes: Making a new The Dark Eye game published first on https://leolarsonblog.tumblr.com/

[thehallofgame]

Review: Star Ocean: First Departue

Release: 2008 (Original, Japan only, 1996)

My Rating: 7.5

              Though now developer Tri-Ace’s flagship property, the first Star Ocean game didn’t leave Japan until more than 10 years after its original release. Announced in tandem with the PSP remaster of Star Ocean 2, Star Ocean: First Departure is a PSP remake of the classic, and at the time revolutionary, original game. The remake sees some brand new anime-style cutscenes, full voice acting and new party members all in addition to the game being totally remade with Star Ocean 2’s engine and control scheme. Of course, unless you’re fluent in Japanese or were devoted enough to track down a fan translation, you’d have nothing to compare the updates to.

              This game seems as of two minds about itself as I am about it. That is to say that, in many ways, it feels and plays like contemporaries of its day. Chrono Trigger in particular often comes to mind. Yet, though many of its ideas feel played out and repetitive, from a 2017 point of view, it still manages to intrigue enough to keep one playing.

              The first few hours of the game are pure, unpredictable insanity as it feels like the game begins a traditional medieval fantasy and then someone spins some wheel covered in possible settings and the player suddenly loses all context for the plot. Ultimately, the story settles into a discernable path… but only after several hours of dialogue and gameplay amounting to little more than moving the characters from checkpoint to checkpoint.

              Our hero is Roddick, a young man from the planet of Roak a few hundred years in our future. All the natives of Roak have animal ears and tails and commonly use magic. Everything is peaceful until a mysterious disease strikes the planet, and while on a mission to gather medicinal herbs Roddick and friends encounter a team of humans investigating the crisis. As it turns out the plague was caused by extraterrestrials and the disease had been harvested from a creature native to their planet several hundred years previously. Unfortunately said creature is currently only a legend. But! There’s a mysterious device that allows for time travel. And so Roddick and Millie of Roak, as well as Ronyx and Illia of Earth, make a daring trip back in time in order to harvest the original host of the virus in hope of making a cure for the future. At this point the game turns back into a familiar medieval fantasy, though with some scifi flavor thrown in at the edges of the world to keep the player enticed.

              It’s a quirky setting, and while it doesn’t provide the planet hopping one might hope, it does a decent job of creating a space opera that feels player driven. The goals of the game are usually simple, amounting to traveling across the world map to the next city. It is the characters along the way that provide the interest that holds the story up. The four time travelers take up only half of the eight slots for party members, the rest must be recruited as the story goes. However, there are nine possible characters for these four slots. And in all but one case there is no way to remove a character once they’ve been accepted into the party. Not only that, but which characters the player accepts change the story as well as which other possible recruits the player will meet or be available to recruit.

              This is simultaneously brilliant and frustrating because, while it lends great replayability and makes every playthrough at least slightly different, it also means the player must play multiple times to meet everyone. Some characters are simple to find, others require obscure steps and several specific party members to gain. And these people are just about evenly spread throughout the game. It can be tempting to fill out ranks early in the game but that might mean missing out on opportunities or powerful party members later.

              Each of these characters have their own affiliations and stories in the world. Sometimes these will be unveiled as part of the story, but most often occur during the awkwardly named ‘private action’. These events are activated outside of towns and will cause the party to enter and scatter into various locations in the town. They can then each be tracked down and spoken to. Sometimes this reveals short scenes and produces significant moments of character development. The implementation is a little sticky though because if a private action is used the party cannot rest at a inn, go to a port to travel or even complete quests until the player exits the town and reenters it.

              Backtracking turns out to be the order of the day in Star Ocean as multiple quest threads happily send the player right back the way they came over and over. Even merely travelling between adjacent towns can easily take hours due to very frequent random encounters. There’s supposed to be a skill tree devoted just to controlling the random encounter rate, but even when maxed out I found it didn’t do much more than give the player a false sense of control over the monotonous grinding. Rewards for these battles is limited to boot. Cash gain and level growths are steady and consistent, which is the one saving grace as there are few varieties of enemies and loot they can drop. The party can carry only 20 of each item, anyway, so it doesn’t matter how many healing potions the enemy drops because it doesn’t take long to top out the inventory.

              Combat itself, however, isn’t that bad and would even be fun if there was less of it. Star Ocean pioneered a system of real-time action RPG combat that still feels pretty solid. The party can field four people at a time, but the player can only control one designated leader. The other members are guided by a set of tactics parameters assigned to them outside of battle in a sub-menu. This system is pretty rudimentary, but it gets the job done better than many more recent iterations of this idea. While there’s no nuance the player can be sure that if they toggle characters between saving action/magic points or using their strongest abilities that is what will happen.

              The player’s party and the enemy will spawn at opposite ends of a large rectangular map and charge at each other. At this point the player uses the analogue stick to move their leader unit around the map towards enemies, away from danger or into a flanking position. The player can even do absolutely nothing and the battle will probably go fine. Units who rely on physical attacks need to close to the appropriate range at which point pressing the x button will launch an attack. Doing so will result in up to two follow up attacks in a chain, while hitting either of the bumpers will spend magic points to activate a powerful special attack. Meanwhile, however, the enemy is also free to attack in real time and needs to be watched lest it stagger the player and keep them from attacking, rather than the other way around. The circle button allows the player to switch the character controlled in battle. The triangle button opens a menu which, presuming the battle/game itself decides the party member ‘can’ do so at the present moment, allows use of consumable items, spells, changing assigned tactics and an option to try to escape a battle that’s going poorly.

              There’s no tutorial, so between combat tactics and the necessary mastery of the many sub menus to get the party set up, tactics decided and special attacks assigned, there can be a slightly frustrating learning curve.

              I mentioned previously that items, even healing items, may only be stacked to twenty like items. This means that in the field and long dungeon crawls the party need to rely on the crafting system. Much like other Star Ocean features this system is at once fun and a royal pain.

              Each party member gains some skill points upon level up which can be shunted into dozens of possible skills with ten levels of mastery apiece. These skills are more or less split into combat and crafting skills. Skills are sold to the party in stores before they can be learned, in sets of ten or so skills. These provide several skills which vary from easy to understand descriptions of combat skills to extremely vague creative skills. Translation in this game can be a little spotty, and this is one of the areas it shows most, where a subjective and quite possibly culturally significant implication just doesn’t make it across in a coherent statement. A character will need points in multiple skills to develop a specialization. If multiple party members have the same specialization they can unlock a super-specialization which either allows stronger versions of talents or better crafting results. It can be utterly vague what’s needed to unlock which specialization, however. This leads both to pleasant surprises and ineffective point wasting trying to figure out how to do the one thing you need. The best items in the game are all locked behind this wall, though luckily they’re not needed to complete the story. They’re pretty handy for the optional dungeons though, many of which contain the world’s secrets.

              Star Ocean becomes a game of peaks and valleys, often highs and lows are intimately related and inextricable. For example, the music is excellent but the voice acting is, on-average, mediocre but sounds like it was recorded on sub-par equipment. The whole game is like this, fifty percent enticement and fifty percent disappointment. The tug and pull between boredom and the memory of a last tantalizing tidbit of world-building is constant.

              Ultimately I find that these highs and lows even out to a mediocre game, but more than most a player’s experience with Star Ocean will be utterly subjective. One person’s grind will be another person’s epic fight sequence and one person’s disgust at the party’s constant crushes on and jealously over one another will be another’s great time. There are great ideas in here, and a great world, the problem is that they’re buried pretty deep and it’s hard to say whether it’s worth the effort of digging long enough to find them.

[oathmmori]

FACK v2

New Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ, pronounced FACK), because a bunch has changed. Let's see what we can answer.

What's your name?

Ian. You can call me Ian. Or Oath. Hey. 'Sup.

How old are you?

At the time of writing this, 32. My birthday is October 7. I'm not very mature though.

Where are you from?

I live in Orlando, Florida, in the United States. It's okay, mostly warm.

What is your race/ethnicity/nationality?

I'm Filipino American. My mom and dad are from the Philippines, but I was born in Indiana. I look ethnic, but I got that radio voice. Throws people off. I like it.

When do you stream?

At the moment, really, whenever I can. I’ve tried setting a schedule and sticking to it, however, with being a bartender and in a long distance relationship, my professional and private life takes precedence over streaming, so I stream usually in the evenings when I can manage it. SORRY FOR INCONSISTENCY. 

What's with the bar and the drinks?

I'm a craft cocktail bartender. I was trained by Rene Nguyen at two of Orlando's best craft cocktail bars, Hanson's Shoe Repair and Herman's Loan Office. Currently in the bar scene, I work at the two aforementioned bars anywhere from two to five times a week. I've built a bar here for the stream due to my recent growing interest. I hope with dedication and time I can share my passion for craft cocktails with the Twitch Community. I tend to stick with classic cocktails, plays on classics, or riffing on classic bases, but I'm open to anything suggested within reason.

Do you take orders? How can I suggest a drink?

I do, so long as I have the stuff for it and it’s a classic cocktail in nature. Inappropriate drink orders, like a Redheaded Slut, Liquid Cocaine, or a Leg Spreader, for example, will not be made, nor will it be taken likely in the chat. Classic cocktail requests only, plays on classics, or a craft cocktail you may have tried, hell, if you wanna throw ideas at me, we can workshop on the stream.

What games do you stream?

I stream mostly the Sims 4. I'm pretty much a Sims 4 streamer, but I do play other things as well, mostly city builders, RPGs, survival games, sandboxes, anything with larger scope, long term gains aspect to it. I play story driven games on occasions, but not as often. Big indie game fan, so you'll see some of that. Not much of a FPS/shooters kind of guy, so you probably won't see me at the Call of Doots.

What're you computer specs?

I have an Intel i7-4790K Quad-Core CPU at 4GHz, 16GB of RAM, and an Nvidia GTX 970. That's the important bits, I think. You can gauge my computer's capabilities pretty much with just those things.

What do you use to stream?

Open Broadcasting Software. It's free and cool.

What's your audio set up?

I use an Audio Technica AT2020 condenser as a studio microphone hooked up to a Behringer XENYX Q502USB if I'm just playing games or for any guests on the stream. Usually I have a lavalier microphone on, an Audio Technica MT830cW attached to a Audio Technica ATW-T1001 System10 Wireless Body Pack Transmitter, transmitting to an Audio Technica ATW-R1100 System10 Receiver. It all sounds sexy.

When did you start playing the Sims?

I recall buying the first game when it came out, getting every expansion and stuff pack for that, and ever since then, owning every release for every version of the Sims for the PC since. so I guess since 2000, the initial release of the Sims.

Can I request a song?

It...kind of works? I use Ankhbot and it’s not the best at handling requests at the moment. Once I figure that out, sure, we can do that.

Can I be a moderator?

No.

Did you invent the Hunger Games for the Sims 4?

Yes I did. I created the Hunger Games in an attempt to weed out the population of my viewer sims town as best as I could. I adapted the rules from PopKell and her Sims 3 Hunger Games.

Essentially you’ll need an Arena; if you need one, you can search for me on the Gallery and I’ll have a few provided (OathD2C is my name on the Gallery, I’m fairly consistent like that about my username). Next, you’ll need 8 sims who all have one particular trait: Loves Outdoors. The other two traits and the aspiration don’t really matter, so long as they have this one. Next, you stick them in an Arena and...wait.

The idea of the Hunger Games is an attrition based, commentary heavy, specifically made for streaming method of gameplay. You don’t essentially do anything aside from streamlining the action and bringing back sims that teleport out by accident. Usually within 20 minutes to an hour and a half,  you’ll have a handful of the original 8 dead to some form of attrition, whether it be actual hunger, embarrassment, fire, or the usual drowning. The idea is that you do not control any of them, but merely observe. Hell, you can take bets or even make it a drinking game.

Do you have a YouTube?

Yes, you can CLICK HERE and it'll take you to my YouTube account. I update occasionally with Sims 4 content as well as my own gameplay of other games, so stick around for more updates!

What time is it there?

I don’t understand why this is a really heavily asked question. I live in Florida, which is Eastern Standard Time in the United States of America (EST), Greenwich Mean Time -5:00 (GMT), so that makes it something-o'clock. I get that you’re trying to gauge when and if the stream will end, but knowing what time it is where I am doesn’t really make a lick of difference. I start and end when I want, and I stream for as long as I want.

How long are you streaming for?

I seriously don’t understand questions like this. What’re you doing? Are you multitasking? did you put me on in the background while you’re doing dishes? Did you happen upon me, liked what you see, but have some engagement you’ve committed yourself to and are wondering if I’ll be on when you get back? I seriously stream of my own volition; simply put, the stream ends when it’s finished. I know that doesn’t tell you much, but I have ended a stream after 45 minutes and I have gone as long as 25 hours. I seriously don’t know how long I’m streaming for. Until I’m tired or done playing games for the night, truth be told.

When will the stream end?

When it’s finished.

What is HBnBM?

HBnBM, Headbang ‘n Buttonmash, was a editorial website dedicated to bringing you clever articles written by fans of metal music and video games. As of July 2015, the website has shifted focus to apparel and storefront operations, bringing you clever designs by metal and video game fans for metal and video game fans. When it was an editorial website, I acted as Editor-in-chief and wrote for the video game editorial column. I managed the HBnBM channel and Twitch representation for the site. As a storefront, I was a Community Liaison for Twitch and the video game section. They make cool stuff for you to drink out of, wear, and stick on your wall, so check out the store at - hbnbm.com.  

Where did your username come from?

“Oath” is short for Oathbreaker. I was an avid fan and player of the Warcraft series, in particular, World of Warcraft, where I played, since 2005, a Warlock, and as of late 2006, a Blood Elf Warlock named Oathbreaker on Farstriders Realm. I was an English and linguistics major in college, so etymology was standard, and the word warlock is Gaelic for oath-breaker, so it’s a literally translated name. I’ve used the name in some form or fashion ever since.

“D2C” is an abbreviation for “Dressed to Cuddle.” It’s an exacerbated inside joke that slowly ended up being a personal label, clan tag, and website. It’s also from my WoW days where I met a majority of my friends in the game from a level 19 twink guild called Dressed to Kill. Twinking in WoW consisted of stopping XP, back in the day, mechanically by not doing quests, currently by turning off XP by speaking to an NPC in a major city, and playing content in such fashion. Between 2007 and 2009, twinking was big on our server and our group garnered a small reputation in Warsong Gulch, Capture the Flag. Our rivals were Farstriders Elite (FE), and we communicated with them on the WoW forums constantly, sometimes competitively, sometimes just talking shop, and sometimes it got ugly. On one occasion, four of us, Mordypants, Mooj, Elegia, and myself, were in a Battleground up against a full FE premade group of 10, and we got our asses handed to us, needless to say. Queue after queue, we kept running into them, and it got to the point where we “gave up.” Giving up, to us, consisted of us taking off our clothes and dancing in the flag room. When FE realized that we weren’t really playing, not putting up a fight, they decided to have some fun with it, because capping the flag, getting honor, all when you’re already top geared and honor-point capped, is boring. So some of them took off their clothes, some of them danced with us, and then finally, all of us, nearly 20 Alliance and Horde (I say nearly because there was a handful of PUGs, pick up players, actually trying to fight and not getting what was happening) buck-ass nude walking to the Alliance flag room to cap the last flag of the night. FE started a thread on the forums, titled “Dressed to Cuddle,” sharing the experience for the rest of the realm, and what was meant to be slightly insulting ended up sticking. We treated our guild like a family and we genuinely loved each like brothers and sisters, so being a bunch of carebears, we took it in stride. A few months later, I bought DressedtoCuddle.com and I started blogging about the random shit I did in WoW. I keep the abbreviation in my username for all things I do to remind me that it’s all just a game, in the end, despite how competitive things can get, don’t get heated, have fun, and always remember that your friends are on your team and, sometimes, on the other team.

What game is this?

Read the title! Seriously, the whole “I can’t see the title” is bullshit. EVERY PLATFORM shows you the title. I’m usually good about putting what game I’m playing, if it’s not the Sims 4, in the title. Seriously, you’re lazy. How do you end up in my stream?

How tall are you?

I actually get this question a lot. I seriously don’t know why. I’m 5'7".

Do you play Minecraft?

Yes, not on stream though. Minecraft culture makes me nervous. I like the Sims Community, I like the culture and people it fosters, and I’ve seen what Minecraft does for and to streamers. While I can objectively say, sure, it could be ridiculously successful for the stream, it makes me wonder at what cost. At the end of the day, I like to think I bring in quality viewers, and even though I’d love a subscriber button and pull in those numbers, I don’t want to do it in any other way but my own. But then the question comes up, will I EVER play Minecraft on the stream? I dunno. If I get a pang to play it, sure, let’s toss out the idea that maybe I will. One day. Probably not.

What games have you finished on the stream?

Wait, aren’t you in the last game? Domina?

Yeah. I voice acted for it. The long speech about grandma is me. I’m also various grunts and hollerings.