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ohthehypocrisy · 9 months ago

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Breloom for Pokemon Unite!

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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Generation 3 had some top tier Pokemon designs, with Breloom being one of the shining examples of this. Now sure, it doesn’t make much sense for a grumpy little mushroom to turn into a kickboxing kangaroo, but Breloom is such a charming little character that you can’t help but adore it. In fact, we all love Breloom for these quirky oddities, and it highlights the joy of pokemon designs, that they can be funny and endearing without having to make too much sense.

But will this be enough for Breloom to bounce into Pokemon Unite? Let’s punch it in.

Breloom impresses with an extremely high Attack stat, more than doubling what its previous form, Shroomish, was packing. Unfortunately, Breloom’s other stats pale in comparison, mustering up a meager 80 Defenses and declining everywhere else. It lacks the range or the bulk to take hits and it isn’t very speedy either, and yet it is described in the PokeDex as having fighting skills comparable to pro boxers. Now, talk about a glass jaw, but you don’t remind humans of a professional pugilist if you can’t dodge a simple hook or straight. That gives me the impression that Breloom, in spite of its poor speed, is exceptional at dodging attacks and taking advantage of openings to deliver bone breaking uppercuts . For this reason, I designate Breloom the role of a...

Speedster

Basic Attack - Melee/Attack

Becomes a boosted attack after two hits, during which the pokemon deals rapid fire strikes to the enemy. The basic attack button can be mashed during the boosted attack to increase the number of hits.

The boosted attack has Breloom unleash a flurry of punches in the direction of the target. This flurry lasts for 1 second. During this time, an additional attack is dealt for each button press you mash. The more you mash, the more additional damage you can deal.

Shroomish has less range with this attack, but the same effect can be produced. Shroomish attacks by spinning and hitting with its fungus flaps.

The pokemon can move while unleashing this attack, but it will not change direction. Other enemies can be caught by this attack.

Starting things off, we’ve got a veritable fury of fungus power for a basic attack. As a boosted attack, Breloom and Shroomish have the ability to launch a flurry of multiple hits, capable of damaging an enemy, or enemies, multiple times really quickly. And I mean, really quickly, as you can choose to mash the basic attack button during this rush to inflict more damage.

This is a really useful effect for your Ability, but before we move on, we just need to clarify some things. You only have 1 second to mash as much as you can, which sounds meager, but you would underestimate how exhausting this would be on your thumb, or fingers, I don’t judge. It’s rare for a game mechanic to put stress on your physical body, so don’t wear yourself out just to get the MVP. Do the bare minimum, and let your moves do the heavy hitting for you.

Speaking of which, let’s talk about why you’ll want to deal as many hits as you can in the first place.

Ability: Poison Heal

The pokemon spreads poisonous spores to the enemies it deals damage to. When that enemy is KO’d, the poisonous spores are absorbed, healing the user relative to the amount of spores left behind.

The Poison Heal spores accumulate onto the enemy for each attack they receive. Each attack adds a random amount of spores, between 1.0% to 2.5% for each hit.

The degree of infection is calculated as a percentage and maxes out to 100%. The amount of spores accumulated is not shown to the player or enemy, but a pokemon infected with any amount of spores will have a cloud of dust around them.

When an enemy infected with Poison Heal spores is KO’d, the pokemon restores HP equal to the percentage of infection.

The Poison Heal spores disappear when the pokemon is KO’d or after 10 seconds without receiving damage from the Poison Heal user.

Healing abilities on squishy Attackers and Speedsters may seem counterintuitive, but believe me, on any other archetype, this would be broken. I mean, look at Trevenant and Goodra and tell me that they don’t heal themselves too much.

Breloom has the ability to infect enemies with Poison Heal spores through damage dealt through its attacks and moves. These spores then end up powering up the effectiveness of your moves, making it easier to KO them. In essence, you’re wearing down the enemy to make them vulnerable to a KO, but as a Speedster, you need to deal that damage very quickly, which is why the basic attack functions the way it does.

If you do score that KO, then congrats! Not only do you do what is to be expected of a Speedster, but you’ll restore HP equal to the percentage of infection the enemy is afflicted with. For a frail Speedster like yourself, it may not be much, and sometimes it isn’t, but it changes the dynamic of your matchups against other pokemon. For example, you won’t expect to heal much from KO’ing an Attacker, because you’ll need less moves to KO them. Against Defenders and bulky All-Rounders, however, they have the ability to tank your attacks and fight back, so the reward for overcoming that challenge should reflect the effort you put in.

Most Speedsters are prone to becoming easy to KO when they’ve exhausted their moves, but Breloom is a little different in that regard. You’ll see.

At the start of the game, Breloom will start out as Shroomish. You can choose between Headbutt and Stun Spore as your first move. By Level 3, you’ll have learned both.

Move 1: Headbutt (Dash)

The user charges headfirst into the enemy, dealing damage and Stunning them briefly. The more Poison Heal spores the enemy is infected with, the more damage this move deals. 7s cooldown.

Headbutt Stuns enemies for 0.5 seconds.

The damage dealt by Headbutt increases equal to the percentage of Poison Heal infection on the affected enemy or enemies.

Headbutt is a decent attack to start a fight with and to make your point in the middle of a scuffle. While it does Stun enemies, it can deal extra damage the more Poison Heal spores the enemy is afflicted with.

Now granted, the options available to you in the early game are very limited. It can be difficult to spread Poison Heal spores with just your basic attack and this move. That’s why, if you want to stand a chance in a real fight, you should come equipped with Headbutt and the other move you can learn.

Move 2: Stun Spore (Area)

The pokemon scatters spores all around itself, Stunning all enemies in range. For a little while afterwards, the user can spread Poison Heal spores much more easily. 8s cooldown.

Stun Spore blasts dust and pollen all around the user quickly, Stunning enemies for 0.5 seconds on hit.

For 5.5 seconds afterwards, the amount of Poison Heal spores you can infect enemies with increases from 1.0%-2.5% to 3.5%-4.25%.

Without access to Stun Spore, you spread a measly amount of Poison Heal spores with your moves and attacks. Stun Spore not only paralyzes nearby enemies, it drastically increases the production of Poison Heal spores in your body, dropping way more spores than normal. Now granted, you and your enemy don’t actually know how bad the infection is, as the game won’t show you the percentage of spores an enemy is afflicted with. But that’s fine, as all you need to know is that you’re producing triple or even quadruple the amount of Poison Heal spores through your attacks.

This ensures that not only will Headbutt deal increased damage, you’ll heal more HP through Poison Heal if you manage to KO an infected enemy. Of course, you need to actually hit the enemy by getting up close to them, so be sure you plan to finish that fight.

When the time to evolve comes, you’ll graduate from reckless head hits to disciplined flying fists.

At Level 5, Shroomish will evolve into Breloom. At the same time, Headbutt becomes either Mach Punch or Counter.

Move 1a: Mach Punch (Melee)

The user stretches its arms out to deal a swift strike to far away enemies. This move deals more damage the more Poison Heal spores the enemy is afflicted with, and has a chance of Stunning enemies, becoming much more likely to Stun the more Poison Heal spores the target is afflicted with. 2.5s cooldown.

At Level 11, Mach Punch becomes Mach Punch+.

Damage dealt is increased.

Mach Punch deals more damage to opposing pokemon equal to the degree of infection of Poison Heal spores they are afflicted with. The base damage of Mach Punch+ increases by 75%.

The chance to Stun enemies on hit is equal to the Poison Heal spore degree of infection.

The PokeDex has mentioned numerous times that Breloom are equipped with surprisingly stretchy arms that allow them to deal surprise punches from afar, yet they don’t have a unique Move to highlight that. Nowadays, they’d give Breloom some sort of special Grass Type move that punches enemies with its fists covered in spores or something. Guess that’s what happens when you get introduced a game before Gen 4, when they started handing out signature moves like candy.

Well, we can give its stretchy arms some special attention here. In a demonstration of its pugilistic perfection, Breloom uses Mach Punch to strike enemies from afar, hitting farther than Headbutt but without sacrificing its footing. It keeps the same effect too, dealing more damage the more Poison Heal spores the enemy is infected with.

Mach Punch has some notably unique boons, though. On top of its lightning fast cooldown of 2.5 seconds, the move has an additional chance to Stun enemies depending on how much Poison Heal spores the enemy is infected with. At the start of the fight, the odds are basically 0%, but leading with a boosted basic attack covered with Stun Spore increases these odds dramatically. It’s still only a typical chance between 20% to 40% and it requires that you aim the move, but it’s still a solid choice for dealing with opponents near and far. That said, you don’t want to take this move for granted, as lingering in footsies with the enemy invites bad luck and opposing backup to show up and ruin your day. Remember, you’re a Speedster, don’t stay in one place for too long.

If you’d prefer to engage the enemy evasively, the other option is equally efficient.

Move 1b: Counter (Melee/Sure Hit)

The pokemon sidesteps in the designated direction, evading damage and attacks. If this move is used to successfully evade damage from an opposing pokemon’s Move, the user counters with a swift strike, resetting the cooldown of this move. The user also restores some HP relative to the amount of Poison Heal spores the attacker is afflicted with. 6s cooldown.

At Level 11, Counter becomes Counter+.

Damage dealt is increased.

Counter can only be used to dash in the pokemon’s left or right direction. During this dash, the pokemon is invincible and cannot receive damage or effects, similar to Cinderace’s Feint.

If Counter is used at the same time an opposing Move would be received, the pokemon retaliates with a stretching punch that doesn’t miss, only failing to deal damage if the enemy is too far away. This will also reset the cooldown of Counter.

Counter will only work against Moves, not basic attacks or Unite Moves.

Counter will also restore your HP relative to the Poison Heal spore infection the attacker has, plus 5%. Even if the attacker has no infection active, Counter will still heal you by 5%.

If multiple attacks are dodged, Breloom will target the enemy with the most Poison Heal spores.

Counter+ increases the damage dealt by 75%.

Float like a Butterfree, sting like a Beedrill, that is the motto of bruiser boxers like Breloom. It basically means to stay light on your feet in order to retaliate against any slow attack with a quick and deadly punch. While most users of Counter are trained to take hits and return the damage, Breloom can't afford to stomach any blow, so it opts to bob and weave before delivering a sneaky straight.

With a quick jump to the left or right, Breloom will dodge all attacks and damage heading its way. If you time it just right that you evade damage with this move, Counter will have Breloom return fire with a quick crack of its stretchy arms, dealing damage and restoring some HP depending on the amount of Poison Heal spores the target is infected with. This won't be as effective at the beginning of a fight, but if it gets drawn out by opposing Defenders or Supporters, you can expect gradual returns on your investment in the fight.

While the cooldown may be higher than Mach Punch, Counter prefers to reward players for their evasive maneuvers when they hit it just right. A successful dodge resets the cooldown of Counter, allowing you to use it again and again if you need to. Just keep in mind that Counter will only work against opposing moves, so you'll only get the hit off properly two or three times, depending on which opponent you're fighting. Plus, it might be a little more difficult to pull off against multiple enemies, but you shouldn't be putting yourself in that situation as a Speedster in the first place.

There is a range limit to Counter, if it isn't apparent that Breloom's arms can't stretch very far. It's still a solid choice against ranged attackers with predictable moves, but be careful not to get taken by surprise. The healing effect is a decent compromise when it comes to engaging an enemy for an extended amount of time, but your primary focus as a Speedster should be to secure KO's when you can.

To that end, you must improve your ability to spread spores much more easily.

At Level 8, Stun Spore becomes either Spore or Seed Bomb.

Move 2a: Spore (Buff)

The user scatters a cloud of sleep inducing spores all around itself. The user can spread Poison Heal spores much more easily while Spore is in effect. When an enemy is afflicted with a specific amount of Poison Heal spores, the enemy will fall Asleep. Opposing pokemon deal reduced damage to the user relative to the amount of Poison Heal spores they are afflicted with. 11.5s cooldown.

At Level 13, Spore becomes Spore+.

Opposing Pokemon fall Asleep for much longer.

Spore creates a cloud of dust around Breloom and its attacks, but this is only a visual effect to confirm the Move is active. Spore lasts for 7 seconds.

Spore increases the amount of Poison Heal spores you can infect an enemy with, increasing from 1.0%-2.5% to 4.0%-5.75%.

When an enemy receives 30% infection from your Poison Heal spores while Spore is active, the enemy will fall Asleep for 1.25 seconds, waking up after receiving damage from allies or Wild Pokemon. Spore+ extends this status effect to 2 seconds.

Spore cannot cause an enemy to fall Asleep again until the Move is used again after coming off of cooldown.

While Spore is active, opposing pokemon deal reduced damage equal to the infection of Poison Heal spores they are afflicted with.

A classic threat that gets thrown around is something to the effect of 'I'll knock your lights out!' or 'I'll knock you into next week!'. This means to knock someone out cold, or put them to sleep forcefully, but it seems like Breloom is able to do this quite literally, using Spore to sneakily lull the opponent into a quick slumber.

Spore has Breloom increase the production of Poison Heal spores, drastically increasing the infection rate of opposing pokemon. With Spore active during a normal boosted basic attack, the infection jumps to somewhere between 24% to 33%. That's a lot of spores, especially for what you get in return when you KO this infected enemy.

But more importantly, while Spore is active, if you hit the enemy with enough Poison Heal spores, you'll send the enemy to sleep, leaving them helpless for a short while and allowing you free reign with your next attack. It could be Mach Punch or a boosted basic attack, or even a Unite Move, but we'll get to that soon enough. For the opening Spore grants you, you can then either tack on more damage and spores or go for the KO to cash out quickly on your Poison Heal spores, however it happens.

Spore also provides a bit of a defensive buffer while it is active. Depending on how many Poison Heal spores the enemy is infected with, it'll dumb down their offensive power when it's used against you. Even though you're a Speedster, you can become quite tanky with enough Poison Heal spores spread onto the opponent. It will actually take a bit of work to get to that point, as the spores need to accumulate first, but it does drastically improve your matchup against Defenders and Supporters that like to drag out fights.

It might still be hard to deal with ranged attackers that like to keep their distance and use their moves to dodge your attacks. In that case, maybe you'd prefer the reliability granted by Seed Bomb instead.

Move 2b: Seed Bomb (Ranged)

The user flings a seed from its tail, unleashing an explosion of spores in the designated area. The amount of Poison Heal spores this move can afflict is drastically increased. Opposing pokemon will be Stunned on hit and can be Stunned for longer if this attack increases the Poison Heal spore infection past a certain threshold. Up to 3 uses can be held in reserve. 7s cooldown

At Level 13, Seed Bomb becomes Seed Bomb+.

The area of effect is increased.

Seed Bomb accelerates Poison Heal spore infection by an extra 12.5%-20.0% when they damage an enemy.

Seed Bomb will also Stun enemies for 0.75 seconds on hit. If this move increases the Poison Heal spore infection up to or beyond 50%, the affected enemy or enemies will be Stunned for 1.25 seconds.

Seed Bomb+ expands the size of the explosion by an extra 25%.

When Spore is used, it ramps up the infection process of Poison Heal, turning all of your attacks into asthma inducing clouds of powder. It's a powerful effect, but it doesn't deal any damage and relies on constant attacks to bring Poison Heal to its full potential.

When Seed Bomb is used, however, you launch a condensed ball of Poison Heal spores in the designated area, Stunning enemies on hit and afflicting them with a random amount of spores. The amount of Poison Heal spores Seed Bomb infects enemies with is a random amount between 12.5% to 20.0%, which is a wide margin but much more than what you can normally infect through your basic attacks.

It doesn't quite compare to Spore, but Seed Bomb has the ability to Stun enemies that are further away, and can even inflict a longer Stun if the attack infects the enemy and goes over a certain percentage of infection, 50% to be exact. Because Seed Bomb can be used through multiple uses, it requires a bit of luck but it is possible to land this extended Stun after launching 3 bombs. Though, for a move with multiple uses, the cooldown is a bit on the high side due to how persistent Poison Heal is, because an enemy hit with all 3 Seed Bombs is guaranteed to receive extended Stun when the move comes back online.

In practice, Seed Bomb is the best way for Breloom to handle ranged attackers, even if you are good at landing hits with either Mach Punch or Counter. You lack the ability to Dash with your moves, so any way to quash long distance fighting is to your benefit. All for the better, as all of your damage comes from accumulating Poison Heal spores through your attacks. As such, accelerating Poison Heal infection is the best way to fight, whether it be speeding up the process with Spore or through direct hits with Seed Bomb.

Because of how integral Poison Heal is to Breloom, you might assume that its Unite Move may be made better by the ability. And you'd be correct.

Unite Move: T.K.O. (Dash)

The user dances rhythmically while preparing to deliver a straight, evading damage. Afterwards, the user rushes forward with a powerful punch, dealing great damage and Stunning enemies on hit. The more Poison Heal spores the enemy is afflicted with, the longer the duration of Stun. If T.K.O. KO’s an opposing pokemon, their Respawn Timer is lengthened.

Breloom starts dancing like a boxer and playfully ‘weaves’ its head while preparing to attack. This dance lasts for 3 seconds and Breloom is completely Invincible while dancing.

All enemies hit by this move will be afflicted with 25% Poison Heal spore infection.

T.K.O. Stuns enemies for 1 second, adding more time relative to the degree of Poison Heal spore infection the enemy was afflicted with. For example, 50% infection equates to 1.5 seconds of Stun, 100% infection equates to 2 seconds of Stun.

A bell will ring three times when the attack lands successfully. This is just audio flair.

If T.K.O. KO’s an enemy, an extra 10 seconds is added to their Respawn Timer.

When it comes down to the wire, when your head starts spinning and your fists start feeling sore, you know it's time to make a break for that one final hit. You've been in the ring for less than 10 minutes, but it feels like days. With all your strength and focus, you start to shift your legs rhythmically and with such elegance, you're practically gliding. Step, step, sidestep, weave, and there, an opening! With all the remaining power in your body, you focus all of it into one big breath and exhale, you dive in and deliver a mighty punch. Contact! You hit your opponent so hard, they go down and stay there, down for the count. This is Breloom's T.K.O., otherwise known as the 'Truffle King's Onslaught', and not whatever else you were thinking.

Now, I don't mean to be dramatic, but Breloom's Unite Move, T.K.O., harnesses the power of that desperation and turns it into a skill that it can summon for its Unite Move. With a deadly straight, Breloom hits the enemy so hard they'll be seeing stars for a while, or 1 second at the minimum.

T.K.O. has Breloom perform a funny looking dance, but it is actually a boxer's flighty steps that make them move more fluidly, able to evade even fast hooks and rushes. Because Breloom fights on par with professional pugilists, it harnesses this fleet-footed guile and becomes completely Invincible to all effects while dancing. It's only for 3 seconds, but during this time, Breloom cannot be harmed or hit by any attack. It's definitely a useful effect to evade Sure Hit effects like Azumarill's Unite Move Belly Bash or Zeraora's Unite Move Plasma Gale.

When Breloom is done dancing, it goes in for the haymaker, a powerful straight that deals major damage and Stuns enemies briefly. Now, I mentioned that Poison Heal enhances the effects of this move, and that would be through extending the Stun hindrance this move deals. Any degree of infection will add a little bit extra Stun to this move when it hits, but it is relative to the percentage of infection. Something like 30% infection translates to 1.3 seconds of Stun, which isn't much. You'll be wanting to land this attack against enemies knee deep in Poison Heal spores, as 100% infection turns the Stun into 2 seconds.

For what it's worth, T.K.O. does deliver the most amount of Poison Heal spores you can infect enemies with a single hit, so this move is very good at starting a fight just as much as it is at finishing them. Perhaps you'd prefer to open with this Unite Move, then follow up with Mach Punch for fast, strong damage or Spore for easier sleep inducing attacks. Just be careful when flying into fights with this move, as Breloom respects the ring's boundaries as a boxer, and will not use this move to travel through walls, a dilemma Talonflame experiences difficulties with its own Unite Move.

Too bad that there aren't any referees in Pokemon Unite. And by that I mean, too bad for the opposing team...

Achievement

KO enemies afflicted with 60% Poison Heal spore infection 5 times in one battle.

Your moves are stronger the more Poison Heal spores you infect the enemy with, so naturally the Achievement reflects this. However, because you cannot see the degree of infection on opposing pokemon, deciding whether to go for the KO or to keep adding spores can become problematic to teaching players how to play Breloom.

That said, what players will end up not doing is engaging weaker bodied enemies for this achievement. By that I mean, because this achievement requires a high degree of infection, Breloom players seeking to achieve this will avoid extended fights with Attackers and Speedsters. Since such an engagement will result in a quick KO one way or the other, Breloom players will learn how to shorten these fights, to their benefit for the most part. This already conditions them to play Speedsters properly, to root out easy targets so that the ally team can better handle team fights.

To actually gain points for this achievement, Breloom players will have to learn to use all of their moves to their full effects. Opening fights with Spore or Seed Bomb, landing hits with Mach Punch or Counter, directing their boosted basic attack optimally, and using their Unite Move, T.K.O., at the perfect time, these all must be executed perfectly to achieve 60% infection or higher. It's not just to tack on damage, but to reward dedicated fighting by healing the pokemon afterwards, allowing them to engage another opponent right away.

This Achievement teaches Breloom players not only how to fight, but how to fight well. Each fight can be won, as long as it's one-on-one. Fighting hordes will result in disaster, so your moves must be used to disengage. These are the qualities of playing a Speedster very well, not just playing Breloom.

Wear your belt with pride, little slugger.

Holowear

You know, it's a good thing Holowear is just articles made of light, because I can't imagine a Breloom wearing any of these clothes willingly for long. It'll probably tear them off in frustration from being restricted in movement.

Speaking of, the first one is Traveler Style Holowear, giving Breloom a big hat, sunglasses, a backpack, and a little camera hanging around its neck. Outback Style Holowear gives Breloom a sharp looking outdoorsy hat, a necklace made of fangs, and some leather pants to protect it from the elements. Musician Style Holowear gives it some musical note hair clips, a necklace adorned with music notes, and a banjo strapped to its side. Party Style Holowear, gives Breloom a big glittery party hat, some streamers flying off of its frills, a party tooter in one hand, and some balloons tied to its tail. Lastly, Champion Style Holowear gives Breloom some patches on its body, a sweat towel draped over its neck, boxer shorts, and multiple champion belts hanging off of its tail, to really drive home how expertly honed its skills in boxing have become.

Strategy

All Speedsters are built to deal a lot of damage very quickly, but they do this at the cost of bulk, it's a quirk of the archetype. In order to be effective in dealing damage, Speedsters need to dive in and out of fights, especially when things get crowded, but some are perfectly capable of handling hordes. By analyzing the situation, they wait for the right moment to unleash all of their attacks on one or multiple enemies.

Breloom does this in the reverse order, due to how its ability Poison Heal works. It is just as capable of dealing high amount of damage, but only after it has infected the opposing team with enough Poison Heal spores to power up the damage it can deal with its moves and their bonus effects. It can still functionally dive in and out thanks to the guile its moves grant, so in that regard, Breloom is a unique kind of Speedster.

Firstly, it's basic attack is a deliberate design, allowing the player to deal as many hits as they physically can, not only increasing the damage, but worsening the infection of Poison Heal on the enemy. It relies heavily on position and timing, as the size of the boosted basic attack can easily damage multiple enemies.

But even with the boosted basic attack, it can be a little challenging to spread spores quickly, especially against resilient enemies like Defenders and All-Rounders. To this end, Spore and Seed Bomb are made the way they are to facilitate quicker infection. They won't stop you from getting destroyed in a 3v1, but Speedsters shouldn't be putting themselves in danger like that in the first place.

Breloom is supposed to fight like an Out-Boxer, keeping out of the enemy's range in order to attack and counter when an opening presents itself. Mach Punch and Counter are built to help Breloom maintain its footing against opposing pokemon by goading them into attacking so that it can then retaliate with one of these moves. With enough distance, Breloom can simply exhaust the enemy, going in for the KO when their moves are on cooldown, limiting their options to counterattack.

If done right, Breloom will have infected the enemy with enough Poison Heal spores that it can then forgo defense and safety in order to secure the KO. For this reason, Breloom handles Defenders, Supporters, and bulky All-Rounders much better than other Speedsters. It actually has a bit of trouble dealing with Attackers and Speedsters, as the trade hits between itself and the enemy are not in its favor. While it is vulnerable to losing chunks of its HP to big hits like Cinderace's Pyro Ball or Decidueye's Spirit Shackle, it will not see a lot of Poison Heal spores restoring its HP due to how weak the infection ends up, as these pokemon can go down in three or four hits, which isn't enough for Poison Heal to get a foothold of any kind.

For this reason, you must pick and choose your fights carefully and consider all options when engaging the enemy. If the opposing team favors staying close together when engaging objectives, Seed Bomb is the preferred move, with Mach Punch as a solid follow-up. Against more heavyset opponents, Spore is perfectly optimal to build up Poison Heal much more effectively, with the move's Sleep hindrance being very effective at safely engaging these opponents. Predictable attacks like Delphox's Fire Spin or Gardevoir's Future Sight can easily be countered with Counter, otherwise Mach Punch is the best choice to keep your distance and to fight from afar.

In dire times, your Unite Move, T.K.O., is a solid move to escape from a tight spot or to get the lead in the team fight, since it also delivers the most Poison Heal spores in a single hit. While it would be preferable to hit multiple enemies at once, sometimes it may be better used to shut down dangerous enemies capable of dealing high damage very quickly like opposing Speedsters, especially since Breloom matches up poorly against them. The 3 seconds it takes for the attack to come out may be predictable and easy to counteract, but the Invincibility gained is invaluable in repositioning Breloom to a more favorable arena, preferably away from spread attacks like Venusaur's Solar Beam or Charizard's Fire Blast.

The fight never ends, little slugger.

And that's Breloom for Pokemon Unite! One of the many favorites from Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, I think it'd be really cool if we had a boxer like fighter in Pokemon Unite. I know, I know, why rob Hitmonchan of that honor? Well, it's not like they can't both be in the game. Besides, it might have to have a gimmick as a duo license with Hitmonlee, but for now, I would love to see Breloom enter the ring.

Anyway, that'll be it from me. See ya next week!

#Pokemon Unite #Breloom #Shroomish

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macgyvertape · 1 year ago

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BG3 Act 3 thoughts and liveblog part 4

I actually can't stand the inn music with the vocals, especially when it's really out of place playing during some cutscenes. I would mod the game to mod out that track.

From a player perspective I’ve done enough quests I’m worried about missing scenes if I don’t long rest, so time to do the kidnapping I guess :/

Lae’zel was the one kidnapped again, which is nice and in character considering my character cares about her much more than the orphan girl.

Ok I literally can’t kill Gortash first because he's linked to a bunch of other time sensative quests, nice that it fits that my character would rather go straight to rescuing Lae’zel than negotiate with Orin's demands.

The rescue squad is Astarion, Gale, and Halsin but first we have to catch the killer. Curious about Fevrokis, a kid with dead parents right by a murder site. Halsin had a reaction so I can’t tell if its a batman reference or part of the killer plotline.

While running around my character had an encounter with the blood drow and of course Astarion had some great dialogue, but shame there is no way to call her out for her experiments and murder basement

Im not sure if doing the murder tribunal and then going directly to Bhaal’s temple will lock me out of getting Minsc but I found his gimmic annoying in the previous games and I’d rather have Lae’zel back sooner

So my character’s past was ruined by hubris, seems a common theme. Also lmao that D!urge backstory is the special bloodline backstory and lmao intimidate works on Sarevok that I don’t need him to lead me in anything. Funny that Saversk is talking about the “eradication of its goodness” for the flying elephant cop that is maliciously incompetent at best who doesn’t give a shit about actually investigating a murder and just arrests a political scapegoat. Easy sacrifice for my D!urge character to make. Also Halsin was the right choice for my character to bring along vs Karlach, his response was he hopes what we’re doing is the lesser of 2 evils.

I also find it funny the cultists are chanting “Sicarius” and I’m reminded of “I Cato Sicarius”

Really my character is more unsettled by all these other Bhaalspawn bound after their deaths to serve Bhaal, and wonders how many of them were the favorite child back in their day.

Really like the environmental storytelling in the room full of zombies that activate if you touch anything in the undercity. (also apparently I didn’t need to go that way)

It was worth 25 minutes of setup trial and error to cheese the farslayer of Bhaal in 1 turn. Though Sceleritas has dialouge about how there was an easier way to get to the temple??

Poor Lae’zel in this play through, she developed feelings that my character didn’t return and then she got kidnapped while my character didn’t tell her she is Bhaalspawn. Even my character isn't immune from the awkwardness of the interpersonal dynamic

For the 1 on 1 fight with Orin I was getting my ass kicked because my character is built for debuffs/healing and range and not melee DPS. Then I reloaded and tried the 4 necromancy summons + Us + elemental summon + guardian of faith and then the fight was easy

When I was looking up how Bhaal’s chosen choice affects the ending I stumbled upon having Astarion’s quest done first really affecting the dialogue he has in response to your decisions. So for the sake of very horny dialogue I’m off to do his quest first and then spend a few hours playing around with dialogue differences.

You also get some unique dialogue and maybe a unique ending if you fail in 1 on 1 combat where you will be cursed with the Dark Urge forever. I really want to see if that gives a unique ending and hope dataminers will spare me spending 10 hours to find out.

I did a long rest first just to see if I would get anything, and I got vampire spawn showing up to kidnap Astarion! I think there’s a lot to dig into how the other spawn don’t believe Astarion’s lies unless your character also does [deception] vs they easily believe you if you speak up that Astarions lying.

The bunk beds in the spawn room vs the luxury of the favorite spawn room, its a subtle detail but effective in driving home the fucked upness. Also seems Daylira killed Leon’s daughter, so wonder if we can bring that up.

Oh wow stumbling upon Astarion’s former victims who are imprisoned not dead and its heartbreaking as Astarion is faced with regrets. Damn there are some good lines talking Astarion out of it “in another life you'd have led me to this crypt and not that pretty clearing in the forest”. I really want to do vampire ascendant for the evilish dark urge playthrough, listening to Sebastian and hearing the pain in Astarion’s voice makes me feel bad about being mean in a video game, but the game doesn’t let you avoid this part.

I cut out all the Astarion meta that started here and put it in other posts. He is such a blorbo for me, this is NOT a “I can fix him” playthrough but a “he can make me worse then I can make him worse” playthough.

Like my D!urge character is smiling as Astarion completes the ritual

I thought it was really interesting Gale was the one speaking up saying the cost of the ritual was too great. What's Gale's line in the sand for reforging the crown, like how many sacrificed exactly?

Not sure if its a bug or not that the Gur only show up now, far far too late

In universe my character would probably break up with Astarion temporarily with plans to get back together with him in the future since they’re such good partners. Pinnacle exes who aren't over each other and have to share a room. She doesn’t want to give up being in the sun and thinks it's a bit soon to be a spawn when Astarion just did the ritual that day. But the game limits the dialogue from Astarion if we do break up 🙁 so my choice is made.

Since I have to stick to that plot point for the romance, I can justify the decision that my character feels she and Astarion do belong to each other together forever and she can persuade him to make her a full vampire one day; at best this would give him means to prevent The Dark Urge from killing him, at worse she has backup in the form of her necromantic skills & Halsin, Gale, and Karlach who would help her with Astarion if he takes things too far.

(edit: I also realized that yeah the toxic ascendant!Astarion relationship is perfect for my character, I based them on Felix rvb and it almost matches the unhealthy codependant hot mess that is Felix/Locus)

My character wanted revenge on Orin more than she wanted to become Bhaals chosen, she’s been leery of gods after seeing how they treated Shadowheart and Gale, she doesn’t want to be owned by Bhaal or subject to his lash. She resisted in the past when the Urge pushed her to murder contrary to what she wanted to do, so she doesn’t want to give it more power over her and have less control. She also beat Orin handily without a slayer form thanks to her own skills and looking for outside powers like Necromancy, so she doesn’t see any power to be gained.

Very cool that Withers (Jergal) shows up to invest power in you and resurrect you after Bhaal kills you. Astarion (even Ascendant version) had dialogue about how my character had saved him more times than he could count. My character thanked Withers but also I like the line “your sins will truely be yours, after all, you have not been turned good”

Guess all the companions now know my character was a bhaalspawn, so much for secrecy.

Gale’s convo with Mystra, of course my character is going to encourage him to go after power, fuck the gods. She thinks Gale is certainly a lot more moral than her but would wish Gale wouldn’t believe in destiny so much (fuck destiny as well), but she’ll be beside him helping.

My character was definitely subtly rolling her eyes in The Emperor’s hideout when he went on about his poor dead dog and his old keepsakes and see he’s just like her

BG3 Act 3 thoughts and liveblog part 1

I couldn't stop comparing DOS2 act 3 and BG3 act 3, since act 3 is a bit underbaked in both games compared to the other acts, but wow BG3 just has so much more polish and content.

The prologue reveals my character is a Bhaalspawn, I feel like it's just so widely known at this point

Defining character moment for Astarion “the problem with what Cazador has done is he did it to me”. Since Asatarion really wants this she’d help him sacrifice his “siblings” what matters to her is that Astarion is safe, but she’s worried about the unknown details but is still planning as if its possible. The dialogue options of “a killer isn’t worthy of respect” is fucking laughable my character would never say that lmao.

When the narrator was saying you have a bunch of options what will you do, for my character it felt best to say “when the moment comes I’ll do what feels right”, since she's more of an opportunist

Ooof that fight with the gith was rough even on easy mode.

My character wanted The Emperor to prove he was the protector, but then tried to read his thoughts anyway. She’s also very grateful Lae’zeal wasn’t around when this happened considering Orpheus is real and a renegade mindflayer has him prisoner

Learning that the protection against the Absolute comes from Orpheus being trapped really puts a damper on my character’s plans to not get rid of the tadpole and associated powers. It's too dangerous to count on Orphues being imprisoned. Also the Emperor was a successful power player in Baldur’s Gate, so she’s more wary of his plans and agenda than the fact he is a mindflayer.

My character did turn down the Emperor’s offer to evolve her, sorry she just is too attached to how her body looks. She also thinks this is a line in the sand she’s not going to persuade her companions on, unlike the tadpole powers. (personally it's the fact that it messes up your teeth, huge personal squick). I guess had my character take on so many parasite powers it gave me a fucking 21 score roll to not evolve.

EDIT: the next day I got spoiled on the Emperor’s seduction scene and it’s friendly manners being all a front; real fucking surprise pikachu face moment for me. That my character who manipulates, lies, and seduces people might encounter someone who emotionally manipulates, lies and will seduce people. I didn’t fully trust it and thought it might have its own agenda, but still I was a little too trusting that there might have been some genuine emotion. Like DAMMIT I was rewatching Felix rvb scenes before I started the game and he has a line “Funny how an act of sacrifice like that [getting hurt] buys you so much trust”. Which is exactly what the Emperor did, where it knelt down and made a big show of how it trusts me not to hurt it and when it calls on us for that dramatic rescue that while genuine was an excellent opportunity for it to be revealed. Apparently the 21 roll is because I used so many tadpoles which the game treats as buying into The Emperor’s promises. Its repeated lines of “just like you” and “i’m on your side” to establish common ground and then presenting itself as a criminal with “a heart of gold” in its backstory. I/my character was skeptical on some details considering it also presented itself as a major power player, but bought into it’s use of “allies” when what he meant was “pawns”.

Gale had the comment “you’ve not taken this power for yourself… why offer it to me” and I wish I could respond like what Astarion said, that don’t want to sacrifice my body. Astarion had a whole lot to say on the subject but Karlach only had 1 line about being surprised I hadn’t taken the power/transformation. Funny to see how other companions had lines about how they hadn’t done any tadpole powers and they weren’t about to start now.

My character’s made an enemy out of the undead lich Gith queen, whom only Orpheus can oppose, and there’s an entire Gith resistance working to free him as well. So that really kills any plan of using the Absolute for herself because she’d be better off with Orphues fighting the Gith queen

Really Astarion and my character have come so far from act 1 where he was warning me about how easily Cazador could kill me to now where he’s saying if Cazador comes for him he’ll strike back and he’ll have my character along with him

The one group my character has been consistently nice to with no promise of reward is kids, so at this point she’s just resigned to them showing up at camp as long as there’s someone like Withers, Halsin, or Wyll to keep them from getting hurt.

My character is helping the strange ox yet again. It won’t reveal what it is but she’s really curious, and it hasn’t seemed to kill people, so she’ll help it because it might be a useful ally in the future

I love Biscotti what a GOOD DOG (love the animal writing in this and DOS2)

I think its funny that for a while I was thinking that Astarion wasn’t that pale, but in the bright light of Baldur’s Gate he really is. I think it's due to my monitor that has super high contrast

Surprised Halsin has the most dialogue in the refugee area mostly about how he’s rapidly becoming disillusioned with the city, and I tried a earlier save without him and the other companions like Astarion or Karlach don’t speak up if he’s not there.

Community meme about Gortash: I can excuse him being the chosen of an evil god and using his power to found a murderous evil cult but I draw the line at him and his PMC making surveliance cop robots. Bane is just the god of cops and Gortash works for Boston Dynamics

I like to think a bunch of the companions have been a positive force on my character so she’s helping the refugees in her own manner (lots of intimidation), and wants to see the Tiefling refugees make it after all the struggles. That there were explosives in toys justifies her being nosy and helping

Karlach really wants to go to the circus, unfortunately my character is a vicious murderer lmao. Thankfully she’s great at [persuading] and charming. Astarion, Halsin, and Karlach seem to be the best “go to the circus” group

Incredibly cool to hear my bard character perform along with the other bard in the circus

The dinosaur and the magic cat in the circus are being mistreated, Halsin is right to be mad about it. I used Astarion to pickpocket the key, then mage hand to open both cage doors

My character doesn’t like clowns and after she felt that murderous urge there’s no way she’s getting on stage. I watched the different versions of sending Halsin or Karlach up on stage but sending Astarion up on stage really is the best version. Role playing it as after he made that comment about clowns being a horror and with how both Karlach and Halsin approve of picking Astarion while he doesn’t approve if you pick someone else; its some light hearted group teasing of a guy who usually has a joke at others expense “You love the spotlight, don’t you… here’s your big chance”. Yeah he says he’s going to kill me but he’s not seriously upset.

Astarion and my character both enjoy killing clowns, see we’re great together

My bard character was pissed about the Djinn scamming with the spin the wheel game so of course she went back to rig things to get the jackpot.

Ok so my character gets her meteorites back, that she’s a Bhaalspawn, she’s not surrendering to the D!urge or worried about atoning, but that she’s being encouraged to slaughter her line and that its the woman who hurt her before is a opportunity for power and revenge coinciding nicely

For now the only person my character is telling is Astarion, this is a big thing to confess and she wants to play this close to the vest for as long as possible. While she did have earnest suspicions since the oubliette, she’s more afraid about standing up to a god and the loss of control. I personally like how Astarion comforts you after that dialogue a lot more, especially the way he says you must try to beat Bhaal and not become a slave.

#mac play video games #bg3 #baldur's gate #liveblog

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octerminal · 4 years ago

Text

Avoiding the ME1 LI Romances

...And also what to do if you’ve already triggered them.

This is a post I’ve been wanting to remake forever, and with the remaster around the corner I thought now was a good time to finally get on it.

A few things first: I say “avoiding the ME1 LI romances”, but in reality this is mostly going to be about Kaidan and Ashley. While there are a few ways around Liara’s romance I’ve discovered, I have never been able to find a simple way to avoid triggering it. (I’ll get to that later.)

This post will be split into three sections: Kaidan, Ashley, and Liara. Kaidan and Ashley’s sections specifically will go over how to avoid triggering their romances entirely, and then the dialogue choices you need to take if you want to end the romance if it’s already been triggered. I have also included a few bonus things for the both of them, such as avoiding the flirting during the scenic view cutscene in the Citadel Wards. For Kaidan specifically, I have also included content about his mechanics in ME3.

Please note that most of these have been accomplished on console. I have gotten several PC users who do attest that, at the very least, Kaidan’s portion works for them. But on the off-chance that platform influences other parts of Kaidan’s, or Ashley and Liara’s, I thought it was worth mentioning. It should also be said that, obviously, these are all using the original games as a basis, though I am not expecting MELE to change any of this.

I will also be using both my Kaidan transcript and Ashley transcript as reference for their dialogue. I recommend following along there if you find Tumblr’s formatting confusing.

Final note before we begin: this post is not an open invitation to hate on any of these characters. ME1 is turning 14 this year and ME3 recently turned 9. Anything you have to say about these characters and their romance mechanics has already been beaten to death, brought back to life, and beaten to death again. No one wants to hear it, least of all me. Please keep your comments to yourself and be civil.

KAIDAN

“I WANT TO AVOID TRIGGERING IT ENTIRELY, WHAT DO I DO?”

Kaidan’s romance can be triggered after the first main mission has been completed. For many players, I imagine this is Therum, but it really doesn’t matter which mission it is.

Kaidan will prompt the conversation, as he will for every other post-main mission conversation so long as his romance remains active. This conversation will be about his time at Brain Camp. You can read the conversation in his transcript if you find it easier to follow along, though I have done my best to format this post as cleanly as possible.

KAIDAN: Commander, do you have a minute?

SHEPARD: (You can choose whatever dialogue option you want. It makes no difference yet.)

KAIDAN: Off the record, I think there’s something wrong here. This Saren is looking for records on some kind of galactic extinction, but we can’t get backup from the Council? Sorry, Commander. There’s writing on the wall here, but someone isn’t reading it.

SHEPARD: (Again, you may choose whatever dialogue option you want. It still makes no difference yet.)

>FIRST CHANCE TO AVOID THE ROMANCE<

KAIDAN: I hear ya. It - It just seems like a group that’s been around as long as the Council should see this coming. It’s funny. We finally get out here and the final frontier was already settled. And the residents don’t even seem impressed by the view...or the dangers.

SHEPARD (Renegade - Zip it, Lieutenant.): I’m sure your letters home are very poignant. Just keep this kind of sentimentality out of the CIC.

KAIDAN: Yes, ma’am. Sorry to have wasted your time. I’m right about the mission, though. I know it. (The conversation will end here and his romance will not trigger.)

>SECOND CHANCE TO AVOID THE ROMANCE<

SHEPARD (Paragon - Cute way to look at it./Neutral - An old-fashioned view.): Well, well. You’re a romantic. Did you sign on “for the dream,” Alenko? Secure man’s future in space?

KAIDAN: Heh, yeah, I read a lot of those books when I was a kid. Where the hero goes to space to prove himself worthy of a woman he loves. Or, you know. For justice. Maybe I was a romantic in the beginning. But I thought about it after Brain Camp - ah, sorry, “Biotic Acclimation and Temperance training.” I’m not looking for “the dream.” I just want to do some good. See what’s out here. Sorry if I got too informal. Protocol wasn’t a big focus back in BAaT.

SHEPARD (Renegade - Just be ready.): I trust you won’t have any questions when whatever’s coming hits the fan?

KAIDAN: None. I’m not questioning the mission. I’m just concerned. Sorry to have wasted your time, ma’am. It won’t happen again. (The conversation will end here and his romance will not trigger.)

The final chance to cut off Kaidan’s romance before it triggers happens after Shepard asks him about Brain Camp. This opens up a lot of investigation options and you may exhaust all of them. If you want to avoid hearing Kaidan imply that he thinks your Shepard is attractive, avoid the “Time to talk, then./Time to “get physical,” then.” investigation options. Once Kaidan is done speaking about Brain Camp, you will get one final chance to avoid his romance.

>THIRD CHANCE TO AVOID THE ROMANCE<

KAIDAN: Anyway. This was supposed to be a casual debrief, not a bull session about stuff that happened years ago.

SHEPARD (Renegade - You’re right.): I pretty much gave up waiting for the good part.

KAIDAN: Bad habit, ma’am. I do tend to run off at the mouth. I will work on it for my next review. Sorry to have wasted your time, ma’am. It won’t happen again. (The conversation ends and his romance does not trigger.)

You will notice all of these are renegade options. There is literally no way around this if you want to avoid triggering Kaidan’s romance. You don’t get any renegade points from them, and Kaidan does not treat you negatively in the ensuing post-main mission talks.

Here is an easy way to tell if Kaidan’s romance remains active. Conversations between him and Shepard will end like this:

SHEPARD: We’ll talk later, Kaidan.

KAIDAN: I’d like that.

“I’VE ALREADY TRIGGERED IT, HOW DO I GET OUT OF THIS?”

The good news is that getting out of the romance is fairly simple. The game gives you a lot of opportunities before it triggers the love triangle with Liara (assuming her romance has also been triggered, anyway).

If Kaidan’s romance was triggered, you will have an opportunity at the beginning of his second and third post-main mission talks. These are a bit more complex to transcribe, so I really recommend just reading them in my transcription if you need the exact dialogue options to understand.

But the gist: You can’t go wrong with choosing the renegade dialogue options. This is always the dialogue option that will end his romance. You are almost never going to end his romance with a paragon or neutral dialogue option. He will always prompt this conversation by wondering if he’s gotten his signals mixed up, if there’s someone else you’d rather spend time with, if he’s being too casual, etc. Once he does this, just shoot him down with a renegade dialogue option.

Again: you get no renegade points from this. He will not treat you negatively in the ensuing post-main mission talks.

Here is an example. This one occurs in his second post-main mission talk if Liara’s romance hasn’t been triggered:

KAIDAN: I’m just saying...try to leave yourself a way out. I’ve seen what cutting corners can do and I’d hate to have that happen to you, Shepard. Commander.

SHEPARD (Renegade - I don’t need approval.): I’m your commanding officer, Alenko. Are you questioning the way I handle things?

KAIDAN: No, Commander. Just concerned about the reception of the brass if things go sour. I apologize for bringing it up. I know we’re getting the job done.

SHEPARD: (You can choose whatever response you like; they all lead to the romance ending.)

If you have repeatedly not broken off the romance with Kaidan after a certain point and Liara’s romance is also active, it will trigger the love triangle scene. This is one of the last points you have to break off Kaidan’s romance, but it will lock you into Liara’s romance instead. If you are wanting a no-romance run, I recommend choosing one of the other options instead.

There is also a separate way to end the romance outside these three opportunities. In the third post-main mission talk, you must pick the dialogue option that triggers the argument that can “renegade” Kaidan’s opinion on the Council. You must not choose the charm or intimidate option here, and you must then pick the renegade dialogue options. The conversation should go like this:

KAIDAN: So yeah, I hated that turian. But he wasn’t “a turian” to me. He was Vyrnnus.

SHEPARD (Renegade - All turians are the same.): You can’t deny the turians are imperialists. And the asari, the salarians - they’re manipulators.

KAIDAN: Shepard, I outgrew the blame game years ago. If the Alliance is missing its chance, it’s because of men like Udina. Not the rest of the galaxy holding it back.

SHEPARD (Renegade - I’m not so sure.): When anyone out here listens to us, the Council starts up with their treaties and heel-dragging. We can only rely on ourselves.

KAIDAN: We’re not doing the galaxy any favors if we try to force our way into a seat at the grown-up table. They aren’t - malicious. They’re just slow to change. My story doesn’t get any better if Vyrnnus is a good guy.

SHEPARD (Renegade - Whose side are you on?): I don’t need you kissing the Council’s asses, too.

KAIDAN: Look, Shepard. You’re in command, and we’ll all follow your lead. But don’t ream me out for having an opinion. I thought we respected each other more than that.

SHEPARD (Renegade - I can’t respect this.): I can’t believe you’d side with aliens over your own kind. I think we’re done here.

KAIDAN: Yeah, I think we are. It’s--It’s too bad we...It’s just too bad, Commander.

This argument will end his romance. He will also not be renegaded. This is obviously a much more convoluted way to end his romance, but I’m throwing the option out there because it’s 1) hilarious, and 2) way more dramatic, if you want to roleplay ending the romance for whatever reason.

MISCELLANEOUS

Depending on the dialogue options you take for the scenic view on the Citadel, Kaidan will always flirt with you. This does not lock you into, or even trigger, his romance. It is entirely possible to not have him flirt with you at all in this scene, and still initiate the romance later. But if you do not want him to flirt with you, simply do this:

[image ID: ME1’s subtitles showing Ashley saying “Or maybe they just don’t like humans.” with the dialogue wheel below it giving the following dialogue choices, starting from the top: “What’s not to like?”, “Let’s move out.”, and “That’s enough, you two.” end ID]

When you get to this part of the scenic view cutscene, choose any dialogue option but the top “What’s not to like?” one.

Also, even if you’ve already avoided or shut down Kaidan’s romance, Liara will still ask if there’s something between the two of you if her romance is active. Tell her that there isn’t (because there isn’t). Her saying this does not re-trigger Kaidan’s romance.

Congratulations, you have now survived ME1’s romance mechanics. Enjoy experiencing unromanced Kaidan for the rest of the game.

ME3 BONUS: “OKAY, WHAT ABOUT HIM FLIRTING WITH ME IN THE HOSPITAL THOUGH?”

I have tested both of these personally multiple times and they have always worked for me, but again: see my warning about different platforms at the beginning of this post. If it doesn’t work for you, please let me know.

If you have not romanced Kaidan previously: don’t buy him the alcohol as a present. That’s it.

If you have romanced Kaidan previously: on Mars, tell him your relationship is over. It is a renegade dialogue option, but it is necessary to avoid the flirtation in the hospital. This route also means that you can buy him the alcohol and he will still not flirt with you.

Please note that going renegade on Mars does not lock you out of his romance. It merely prevents him from assuming you’re interested during your hospital visit.

ME3 BONUS: “OKAY, WHAT ABOUT HIS APOLLO’S PROPOSITION THOUGH?”

This only happens if you have not locked in your romance with your preferred love interest first. For Garrus, this is the bottle shooting date. For Tali and Traynor, it’s inviting her up to your cabin. For Liara and Miranda, it’s her Presidium date. So on and so forth.

This means there is no way around it if you romanced Jacob or Thane and do not want to pursue a different romance after them. If you do get this scene: again, just turn him down. It is never brought up again. He does not act like he’s in love with you going forth. You will get his unromanced date in the Citadel DLC, as well as his unromanced London goodbye.

ASHLEY

“I WANT TO AVOID TRIGGERING IT ENTIRELY, WHAT DO I DO?”

Ashley’s romance can be triggered after the first main mission has been completed. For many players, I imagine this is Therum, but it really doesn’t matter which mission it is.

Ashley will prompt the conversation, as she will for every other post-main mission conversation so long as her romance remains active. This conversation will be about her concerns about the aliens aboard the Normandy.

Note: Ashley has one less opportunity to avoid triggering her romance in the first post-main mission talk compared to Kaidan. You may also read the conversation in her transcript if you find it easier to follow along, though I have done my best to format this post as cleanly as possible.

ASHLEY: Commander. You have a minute to talk?

SHEPARD: (You can choose whatever dialogue option you want. It makes no difference yet.)

ASHLEY: I know things are different aboard the Normandy, but - I'm concerned about the aliens. Vakarian and Wrex. With all due respect, Commander, should they have full access to the ship?

SHEPARD: (Again, you can choose whatever dialogue option you want. It still makes no difference yet.)

>FIRST CHANCE TO AVOID THE ROMANCE<

ASHLEY: This is the most advanced ship in the Alliance Navy. I don't think we should give them free reign to poke around the vital systems. Engines. Sensors. Weapons.

SHEPARD (Side - You're out of line!): That's enough, Chief. You always second-guess your superiors?

ASHLEY: Sir! No, sir! I'm sorry. I was out of line. I'll get back to my duties, Commander. (The conversation will end and her romance will not trigger.)

If you do not pick the above option, Ashley will elaborate her stance further until you get to the dialogue wheel with the second (and final) chance to avoid her romance.

>SECOND CHANCE TO AVOID THE ROMANCE<

ASHLEY: My family's defended the Alliance since it was founded. My father, my grandfather, my great-grandmother - they all picked up a rifle and swore the Oath of Service. I guess we just tend to think of Earth's interests as our own.

SHEPARD (Renegade - Just shut up.): I expect you to keep your family politics to yourself, Chief. The mission will be difficult enough without you picking fights with aliens.

ASHLEY: Aye, aye, Commander. (The conversation will end and her romance will not trigger.)

Note: You can still pick the investigation dialogue options that discusses her service and family history. You just have to pick the renegade dialogue option outlined above afterward, instead of any other option.

Like with Kaidan, you do not get any renegade points for picking this option and Ashley does not treat you negatively in the ensuing post-main mission talks.

Here is an easy way to tell if Ashley’s romance remains active. Conversations between her and Shepard will end with the following:

SHEPARD: We'll talk later, Williams.

ASHLEY: Looking forward to it, sir.

“I’VE ALREADY TRIGGERED IT, HOW DO I GET OUT OF THIS?”

Admittedly, you have fewer easy opportunities to end Ashley’s romance than you do Kaidan’s, and most of the early game ones require Liara’s romance also being active. You are still offered multiple different opportunities out before the game ends, however.

If Ashley and Liara’s romances are both triggered, you will have an opportunity at the beginning of Ashley’s second and third post-main mission talks to end the romance. The gist is the same as Kaidan’s: You can’t go wrong with choosing the renegade dialogue options. This is always the dialogue option that will end her romance. You are almost never going to end her romance with a paragon or neutral dialogue option. She will always prompt this conversation by bringing up your relationship with Liara. Once she does this, just shoot her down.

Again: you get no renegade points from this. She will not treat you negatively in the ensuing post-main mission talks.

In both the second and third post-main mission talks, the conversation will go something like:

ASHLEY: Surprised to see you here, sir. Thought you’d be chatting up what’s-her-name. T’Soni.

SHEPARD: (Pick the neutral or renegade dialogue option here; they both lead to the same dialogue branch.)

ASHLEY: Scuttlebutt says you’ve got a bit of a thing for her. I could understand why. The crew’s off-limits, with the regs against fraternization. And at least she looks like a woman.

SHEPARD: (Pick the neutral or renegade dialogue option here. They both end the romance.)

One of the easier exceptions to this that doesn't require Liara’s romance being active is in the second post-main mission talk when Ashley gets Sarah’s vid-mail. It will go like this:

SARAH: - Oh, before I go. You said you’re serving with Commander Shepard now? We saw him on the news here. He’s cute! Later, sis.

ASHLEY: Tell me you didn’t hear that.

SHEPARD (Renegade - That’s unprofessional.): I don’t need to tell you it’s inappropriate to gossip about how “cute” your commanding officer is.

ASHLEY: No, sir. You don’t. Sorry about that. It won’t happen again. (Conversation and romance ends.)

Please note, however, that this will lock you out of the remainder of the conversation and you will not learn about Ashley’s family.

If you have repeatedly not broken off the romance with Ashley after a certain point and Liara’s romance is also active, it will trigger the love triangle scene. This is one of the last points you have to break off Ashley’s romance, but it will lock you into Liara’s romance instead. If you are wanting a no-romance run, I recommend choosing one of the other options instead.

There is also a separate way to end the romance outside these three opportunities. In the third post-main mission talk, you must pick the dialogue option that triggers the argument that can “paragon” Ashley’s opinion on the Council. You must not choose the charm or intimidate option here, and you must then pick the renegade dialogue options. The conversation should go something like this:

ASHLEY: But hey, once we save the galaxy, maybe the Alliance will get its act together. Start acting like an actual government.

SHEPARD (Paragon - The Alliance is all right.): The Alliance isn’t perfect, but it does well enough.

ASHLEY: Have to disagree with you there, skipper. Giving aliens the run of our most advanced ship? Kowtowing to the Council?

SHEPARD (Paragon - It’s not like that.): The Alliance should be able to stand on is own. We can’t. Yet. Why not learn from the races that have been standing for the last thousand years?

ASHLEY: How can you say that, given everything we’ve seen out here? They’re already acting like Saren is our problem. Already siccing us on the bear. The Council races will always think of themselves first. It’s - human nature. We can’t afford to trust them. Not if the survival of humanity is on the line.

SHEPARD (Renegade - I’ve heard enough.): Whatever feelings I might have for you, we have to work with the Council. I can’t let you second-guess our superiors.

ASHLEY: Shepard, I’m a soldier. You’re my commander. If you give me an order, I’ll follow it. I don’t expect you to treat me differently from anyone else under your command. And if you have been - quit it. I thought you knew me better than that.

SHEPARD (Renegade - Do I?): Seems like every time we run up against aliens, you whip out the “Earth first” card. I can’t have my authority undermined.

ASHLEY: I never intended to “undermine” you, Shepard. I believe in you. I wish you’d believe in anyone but yourself. With your permission, sir, I’ll return to my duties.

This argument will end her romance. She will also not be paragoned. This is obviously a much more convoluted way to end her romance, but I’m throwing the option out there because it’s 1) hilarious (that final line, oof), and 2) way more dramatic, if you want to roleplay ending the romance for whatever reason.

MISCELLANEOUS

Like with Kaidan, depending on the dialogue options you take for the scenic view on the Citadel, Ashley will always flirt with you. This does not lock you into, or even trigger, her romance. It is entirely possible to not have her flirt with you at all in this scene, and still initiate the romance later. But if you do not want her to flirt with you, simply do this:

When you get to this part of the scenic view cutscene, choose any dialogue option but the top “What’s not to like?” one.

Also like with Kaidan, even if you’ve already avoided or shut down Ashley’s romance, Liara will still ask if there’s something between the two of you if her romance is active. Tell her that there isn’t (because there isn’t). Her saying this does not re-trigger Ashley’s romance.

Congratulations, you have now survived ME1’s romance mechanics. Enjoy experiencing unromanced Ashley for the rest of the game.

LIARA

“I WANT TO AVOID TRIGGERING IT ENTIRELY, WHAT DO I DO?”

As I mentioned in the beginning of this post, I have found no easy way around Liara’s romance. If anyone else has, I genuinely mean it when I say I would absolutely be open to you telling me, because I would love to know.

The only way to avoid triggering Liara’s romance that I have found are the following:

Simply not talking to her for most of the game (not ideal)

Completing Therum only after you’ve done at least two main missions (also not ideal since it will require Noveria being completed without her)

Completing Therum only after all the other main missions have been completed (again not ideal, though every player should at least do this once if only for the unique content you get from it)

Okay, so what if you want to complete Therum first but still avoid Liara’s romance? I have found one way to accomplish this, but it requires you to be in a romance with Kaidan (or presumably Ashley, but I have only tested this with Kaidan).

After you recruit Liara, you may check up on her in the med-bay but do not initiate conversation after that. If she prompts you by saying, “I get the feeling you want to ask me something, Commander,” do not pick the yellowed dialogue option:

[image ID: ME1′s subtitles showing Liara saying, “I get the feeling you want to ask me something, Commander.” with the dialogue wheel showing the following options: “Investigate”, a yellowed option above “Investigate” labeled “I’d like to talk about you.”, and “Goodbye.” end ID.]

After you complete another main mission, you can check back in with Liara and speak to her normally. This conversation should be the one you’d normally get after Therum, where you learn about why she likes archaeology and how she finds Shepard fascinating.

After you complete another main mission, you must talk to Kaidan or Ashley first. To clarify: at this point you should be at the post-third main mission mark. For Kaidan, you will be getting the “Vyrnnus and Rahna” talk that you can read in his transcript; for Ashley, you will be getting the “Williams Curse” talk that you can read in her transcript.

After you speak with Kaidan or Ashley, you may speak with Liara as normal. This conversation should be picking up on where you left off last time. Liara will talk about how she’s looked into Shepard’s history and Shepard can press her for why she’s so interested in them. Liara should then say something like the following lines:

LIARA: I admit, your connection to the Protheans had something to do with my initial interest. But it has grown beyond that. My interest in you, however, is strictly professional. I want to make that clear. It is obvious you and Lt. Alenko already have some type of relationship. I would not want to come between you.

Her romance will not trigger for the rest of the game.

Please note: Again, I have only tested this with Kaidan. But it should, in theory, work the exact same for Ashley considering many of hers and Kaidan’s other romance mechanics are identical.

“THAT’S NICE, BUT HOW DO I END HER ROMANCE IF IT’S ALREADY TRIGGERED?”

You will follow the same steps as in Kaidan and Ashley’s portions. When she prompts you with whether or not there’s anything between the two of you, you must turn her down. You can never go wrong with the renegade dialogue options here. Again: you get no renegade points for it, and Liara treats you no differently going forth.

She will also usually bring up Kaidan or Ashley depending on what Shepard you are playing, and mention that it seems like there’s something between the two of you even when you do not have their romance active. If you aren’t romancing the VS, just tell her that she’s got it wrong, because...she does. It does not re-trigger either of their romances.

YES I AM ALMOST DONE TALKING

The game really does give you ample opportunities to avoid or end the romances (which is only fair considering how easy they are to trip), so hopefully I have outlined at least one you are comfortable taking.

There are other ways to end both Kaidan and Ashley’s romance that I did not mention (such as during the locker scene, or if you try to un-paragon/renegade) - the point of no return you mainly have to worry about is en route to Ilos. I imagine most players will have their romances sorted out by then, though, so I’m not sure it’s worth mentioning unless you’re wanting to do it purely for roleplay reasons. (In which case: you may read those in their respective transcripts if you’re curious.)

I cannot say I have tested every single romance cut-off, but I have tested most of the important ones players are most likely to take. I am assuming the romances are cut off based on the fact Shepard and the VS’ farewells will change depending on their romanced status (as I outlined in their respective sections), which I do feel is a safe bet. But if you try one of these and find that it did not end the romance: I’m sorry, and please do let me know (and also what platform you play on).

If you read all of this: thank you for your time, and I hope you find this guide useful!

#mass effect #kaidan alenko #ashley williams #liara t'soni #shenko #shepley #shiara #okay perhaps this post will show up in the tags eventually but it certainly is not for now #which makes this post utterly pointless but whatever hopefully it still gets spread around #edit: this post is showing up in the tags now thanks everyone who reblogged!

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tigerkirby215 · 3 years ago

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Ranking the Strixhaven Magic Items

(”Elemental Summoning” card artwork by Marta Nael. Source. God I fucking love the Prismari MTG cards.)

Got exams in a week so I’ve still been a bit too busy to make builds. (That, and LoL champion drought has made it hard for me to think of anyone to build.) That being said I do still want to make content for this blog, and between either this or the Strixhaven waifu tier list and one other post I’ve considered making this was the easiest.

Strixhaven didn’t give us many magic items unfortunately, but there were some nice simple toys from the school that I think are worth talking about. Despite the fact that there weren’t many additions in this book I think they all have a really nice place in the standard D&D campaign.

I did my best to avoid spoilers for the book but I will obviously be talking about content it added, so if you don’t want to see that don’t read this post. I’m not going to be talking about anything from the prewritten adventures, although that being said I did find one magic item that isn’t listed in the “magic items” section of the book thanks to D&D Beyond! I don’t think talking about it is a spoiler so I’ll be mentioning it too!

Bottle of Boundless Coffee

(common)

In the words of Reddit: the Cloak of Billowing has been surpassed as the best common magic item! Jokes aside this item is super flavorful (again: jokes aside) but essentially useless. Depending on your DM this will either range from a game-breaking survival tool, something to help with exhaustion, a neat option for roleplay, or completely useless.

But common magic items shouldn’t bring any huge power to them. They’re meant for roleplay, and my do I love this item for roleplay! It’s so cute for any character (overworked Wizard or otherwise!) to carry around an endless coffee thermos with them. Get a DM who allows some reflavoring and you can make this contain anything your heart desires: tea, juice, Monster energy drink, whisky, or even just plain old water.

I have a few small complaints: I feel like you should be able to fill some cups with the coffee but have it so that if the coffee is spilled it disappears. (This isn’t a common rarity Alchemy Jug!) I also feel like it would be fun if you could put something in the bottle to change its contents? I dunno: the aesthetic of a magic student pouring their favorite latte into their magical thermos to always have it at their fingertips is just adorable.

But I am picking at the tiniest of pet peeves with an item that’s entirely meant for fun roleplay. It’s absolutely wonderful and I think it’s the perfect gift for all you Barbarians and Rogues out there to give to your overworked Clerics who take care of you.

8/10

Cuddly Strixhaven Mascot

(common)

The fact that this item is arguably one of the strongest common magic items in the game is freaking hilarious to me. Fear is a very common debuff across all stages of play and it can be extremely debilitating, especially for melee characters. Having pocket advantage, even if it’s just for one saving throw is still huge, especially because of the wording of:

If the save succeeds, you can't use the toy in this way until you finish a long rest.

This means that this is a guaranteed once per day success against a frightening effect. Of course it’s not that simple (see the True Strike flow chart) but for the low low price of 100 gp (if you buy it from the Strixhaven campus store) this is an absolute steal of a deal.

I find it especially funny that this item is ironically best served on the typical “macho” classes. Fighters and especially Barbarians are going to want a cuddly buddy to help them face down the bad guys. Any Barbarian player can tell you how awful it is to be hit by a strong fear effect (it’s one of the few boons Berserker has over other Barbs) so having pocket advantage is really helpful.

Again a few small grievances: the fact that the plushy only stays attached for an hour is odd. Also why can’t you stick it onto your bag or something? Really feels like a missed opportunity to have a little plushy keychain or something. But again these are nitpicks: all I know is that I showed this item to my DM and we both had a good laugh at how adorable this item is. I love the “reluctant hero” character trope and having a character who carries their stuffed best friend around with them (Strixhaven branding not withstanding) brings a wonderful bit of lighthearted fun into what’s ultimately a game. It’s just the right amount of silly to me. Pass this to someone who’s trying to play Annie in your D&D campaign.

9/10

Lorehold Primer

(uncommon, attunement)

The first of many “Primer” magic items. I will start out by saying that these items are great at pretty much all stages of the game. Guidance on two specific checks (that stacks with regular Guidance!) and one first level spell of your choice from two classes. In almost all situations grabbing Find Familiar is the best pick but you can still opt for spells like Shield, Detect Magic, Identify, or even Mage Armor depending on your class. Well that is if the book gives you Wizard spells anyways: other schools do vary far more in power.

The restriction to spellcasters only does make it a little hard to use but it could genuinely be worth taking a 1 level dip in a caster class just to be able to use these depending on your build. (Rogues can get a lot of value out of a light dip into Warlock just to use these books.) Overall I think the Primers are A+ tier items, and I’m ranking them in comparison to each other.

With that being said: what does the Lorehold Primer provide?

A d4 to either History or Religion checks. These both come up frequently enough that this item will find its use in the average adventuring day.

Spells from either Cleric or Wizard. Seeing as the skills provided by this book are tied to Intelligence it’s likely that this book will belong to a Wizard, so having access to Cleric spells for a variety of useful utility spells is nice. Bane, Bless, Healing Word, Sanctuary, Shield of Faith; hell even spells like Create or Destroy Water and Purify Food and Drink can be nice to have in a pinch.

Lorehold coming in strong with one of the better magical textbooks. Brushing up on history is always useful, and the Cleric spell list has strong options if you don’t want to opt for Find Familiar.

9/10

(Lorehold Command Art by Jason Rainville)

Masque Charm

(common)

This is that unlisted item I found! And it’s... odd. It’s a once per day Disguise Self (DC 13) with an added option to pop it for 6 hours instead, destroying the magic item in the process. This item is almost identical to the Masquerade Tattoo from Tasha’s Cauldron with the exception of the 6 hour option, but an enemy can remove the charm from your character to disable the spell. One has to ask what the point of this item even is.

It’s not an attunement item. This is obviously very important. Not only can you keep attunement on all your items and still have this in a pinch but (if you use vanilla attunement rules) you can pass this item around quite easily. Does the Bard need to sneak in to butter up the guards instead of the Rogue hiding in plain sight? Just pass this pin around! I also think this item has very interesting implications for an Artificer who can essentially give one party member Disguise Self for 6 hours a day. I think that could result in some very interesting RP depending on if the DM allows it. Perhaps pick up the Faceless background from Descent Into Avernus and use this item to hide your true identity?

The 6 hour option also has some interesting implications but I don’t know how often it’ll be used in standard gameplay. I think this item is one that a DM has to design around because the limitations allow for a lot of fun gameplay. The fact that the pin can be removed to disable the spell creates some fun RP interactions. But I think every player has their one story of an amazing Disguise Self use that lead to some crazy problem solving. The only unfortunate truth is that this item’s usefulness plateaus hard if the party has a lot of spellcasters, becoming near-useless if there’s even a single Warlock who took the Mask of Many Faces invocation. But you’ll hardly ever have a D&D party that doesn’t have at least one Paladin or Fighter who can’t use a Disguise Kit and doesn’t have casting abilities of their own.

6/10

Prismari Primer

(uncommon, attunement)

Primer #2, this time for the art college. How does it differ from the last one?

Your skills are Acrobatics and Performance... Ima be real with you chief: unless you’re the type of player who likes forcing the DM to let you make these checks this will hardly ever come up. And it’s not like anyone other than Bards will be making Performance checks. Acrobatics at least has its use to escape grapples but there are better options than a book that a book on how to do backflips.

No Wizard spells... that hurts. Bard and Sorcerer don’t exactly have the best spell choice at first level, is the sad truth. At least Sorcerer still gives you Shield and Bard still gives you Healing Word, but there isn’t much that Sorc and Bard get which other classes don’t.

No shame in going to art college, but I wouldn’t buy any art textbooks. You’ll likely know how to do everything that this book could help you with.

3/10

Quandrix Primer

(uncommon, attunement)

Textbook number #3!

Arcana checks come up fairly often. Nature checks... lol no. That being said a pocket d4 for the occasional Nature check is very nice to have. If you’re dealing with Arcana checks often this item could genuinely be worth it just to boost those checks, with Nature being a nice added bonus.

The Druid spell list is about on-par with the Cleric spell list, but there are some notable outliars. That being said I think the Cleric spell list is better overall. Guess it doesn’t matter since you’ll probably be taking Find Familiar anyways.

Not as good as Lorehold but still useful in its own right, as long as you’re fine with being the nerd who carries a math textbook with them everywhere.

7/10

(Artwork from the Bace’s Sanctum Tumblr account.)

Silverquill Primer

(uncommon, attunement)

Textbook #4. This one makes you good at talking!

Persuasion and Intimidation checks are both extremely common, and being able to bump them in a pinch is a great boon. That being said the class that benefits the most from this (Bard) probably won’t need it, as they’ll likely have Expertise in those skills anyways. I actually think this would be best served on a Sorcerer, Warlock, or even Paladin: someone who’ll be doing the talking but won’t have a +8 to the roll.

See above for my thoughts on the Cleric and Bard list: Cleric is good, Bard less-so. No Wizard so no Find Familiar, but depending on your class you can take a bunch of nice utility spells from the Cleric spell list. As a Bard at lower levels I genuinely think it’s worth it to take a more powerful Concentration option like Shield of Faith or Bless. At higher levels a pocket Healing Word is still nice.

About what you’d expect from a book on magical writing and speechcraft. Very good to get over speech anxiety but it won’t help you if you have nothing to say.

7/10

Strixhaven Pennant

(common)

A common item before the last W-named Strixhaven primer. I may as well quote it verbatim because the description is literally two sentences:

While you wave the pennant, the symbol on it glitters, and the pennant sheds bright light in a 10-foot-radius and dim light for an additional 10 feet.

tl;dr it’s a magic penlight. Also doubles as a lighter if you’re at a concert and want to do that thing people do at concerts.

This is objectively worse than the Moon-touched Sword, and you can’t even turn it off! You can cover it more easily but you probably have a sheath for your Moon-touched Sword. It’s also worse than the Light spell, or just lighting a torch. Trying to figure out what use this item has other than lighting up a concert, especially in a world with Darkvision. I feel like it’s intentionally bad to replicate those dinky little pen lights which every university sells for like $2.

It’s harmless as a Common, but man if you spend 100 gold on this you’re being scammed lmaooo. Feel like Strixhaven should just give you these for free when you join the school. As a DM I’d charge 50 gold for these at most, and more likely charge something like 25 gold. But hey if you’re buying this you know what it does. And I guess you can reflavor it like the flashlights they use in Arcane.

(Source.)

2/10

Witherbloom Primer

(uncommon, attunement)

Our final primer and our final magic item. How does this item differentiate from the others?

Nature and Survival... These skills won’t come up enough unless you’re in the wilderness. If you are in the wilderness and you brought a survival guide I applaud you, but in the average campaign you won’t ever be making these checks.

Druid spell list is meh, but hey: Wizard is an option. So Find Familiar is an option!

The Quandrix Primer does practically the same thing but provides you skills that are going to be far more applicable in the average campaign. But if you’re going to go into the wilderness feel free to pick up a guide on the local plants and animals.

4/10

(Artwork from the MTG Wiki.)

I find it really funny that the commons are arguably the best magic items in Strixhaven, with the Cuddly Mascot unironically being S tier. But overall the magic items are all at an acceptable power level. Perhaps to be expected of overall low tier magic items but it’s still nice that the new toys in this book won’t be locked to Strixhaven, the same way that many magic items from Ravnica were too wacky to take out of that setting.

Overall I’m very happy with Strixhaven as a book. I think everything in the book is fun, flavorful, and MOSTLY balanced.

#dnd #dnd 5e #mtg #magic the gathering #strixhaven #curriculum of chaos #magic items #ranking

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oodlyenough · 3 years ago

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psychonauts 2 review!

I played the first few-ish (not many... I'd guesstimate under 4) hours of the original Psychonauts years ago, but found it unruly to control and never progressed further. I remember thinking the concept was neat, though, and when I heard a sequel was coming I figured I'd check it out, since it'd presumably be more polished.

The sequel is very very good. I think it is the best game I've played this year. It's also maybe the most creative game I've played... ever.

When Rift Apart came out, a lot of reviews said it was "like a playable Pixar game". Having played (and enjoyed!) Rift Apart as well, I gotta say while that may be true in image fidelity, in basically every other respect I think Psychonauts 2 comes closer. I would absolutely recommend it to anyone who's ever enjoyed this kind of platformer.

More detail and possible spoilers:

I'll start with the cons, because there aren't very many:

I posted early on that I found jumping kind of unwieldy/frustrating, which is bad for a platformer. Although I got better at it as I got used to the controls, I still did run into scenarios where I was creating a thought bubble while trying to wall jump, or rolling off the edge of a platform I'd just landed on, or otherwise just finding jumping clumsy. I turned off fall damage pretty early for this reason; it was infuriating to just keep dying because I couldn't make a clumsy jump, and then respawn with increasingly limited health.

(Also, fwiw, because I know gamers were losing their damn minds about this when it was announced, turning off fall damage doesn't allow you to skip out on executing all the platforming. You just don't respawn with a health penalty if you fail. You still have to eventually time it right.)

A few hours after turning off fall damage, I turned off combat damage too. So I guess I can't really evaluate the smoothness or difficulty of combat fairly, because uh... I was immortal. This is just me as a player though -- I played large chunks of Spiderman & Miles Morales & Rift Apart on immortality mode. Boss fights simply do not spark joy for me; I want to progress a story without repeating a segment several times. I will say, in this mode, combat was fairly repetitive, mainly just psi blasting and meleeing everything. I kept thinking about turning it off, to maybe appreciate the challenge or figure out other techniques.... but I really just wanted to keep progressing the story, so I never did.

HOWEVER... there's a ton of extremely profitable games where combat is literally just "shoot", so, even then I wouldn't hold it against Psychonauts much.

I'm an idiot I guess and didn't realize levelling up skills was a separate thing from buying pins to augment the skills. So I played like a good chunk of the game with every skill at level 0 lmfao.

Easily my least favourite level is the first one, which I think is a bit unfortunate... I don't have, like, a dental phobia and I was still not really enjoying that part, and compared to how colourful and cool and imaginative the other worlds are it just seems like it starts the game off on a weird foot.

I know some purists are reading this like SO YOU PLAYED A GAME WITH NO DAMAGE AT ALL? Yep and I appreciate DoubleFine allowing me to do so. ✌🏻

And then onto the pros:

Like... everything else?

Playing Rift Apart this summer made me feel like a kid again, as a someone who grew up on cartoony platformers like Spyro and who still craves the satisfaction of first discovering you can charge that cracked wall and find an orb behind it. Psychonauts 2 had all that fun of exploring maps and finding secret, hidden locations and collectibles... on top of having the most creative and varied level design I've ever seen.

Seriously the levels were gorgeous. I was constantly spinning the camera around to take in all the little details, and there were SO MANY different levels where the gimmick would surprise and delight me. Almost every level for me was like "omg how did they think of that". Even when I was getting irritated by (for eg) the unruliness of trying to steer a giant bowling ball down a precise ramp, I was at least marvelling at the ingenuity involved.

The script was wonderful. Funny, charming, clever in its use of metaphor, and genuinely touching at times. If ever anything felt a little bit simplified, well, it's a kid-friendly game... I can't be too mad about that.

Raz is so endearing! It's very easy for the plucky young kid character to uh, become grating, but I always found Raz charming and I was rooting for him. Richard Horvitz is so good.

TBH all the characters were super lovable and funny. In a giant cast of cartoons I don't think there was a single one where I'd be like "ugh, this guy again" which is quite a feat honestly. They were all charming and well-acted and bursting with dialogue.

Even the random NPCs around the motherlobe who have their own progressing storylines via conversations... I love that detail! It was one of my favourite parts of Life is Strange: True Colours and I was delighted when I realized it was happening in this game too. It was fun to check in on some of your faves as the game progressed.

I'm pretty thorough, and I love exploring maps, and boy do these maps have a lot to explore, especially the hub areas. I STILL haven't figured out how to get everywhere in the Questionable Area, lol, or gotten every psy card, etc.

I like the music, especially the music in the quarry area that absolutely makes me feel like I am walking around Epcot. Perfect vibe. (And the Small World knock-off music in Nick's brain lmao...)

As soon as the projection started talking I was like, "this is GIR, right? This is intentionally a Zim and Gir thing?" So I felt validated by checking IMDB after lmao.

Ummm... I think that's about it. Honestly great game. I might give Psychonauts 1 another go... although I'd say there's a high chance I instead watch it on YouTube, lol.

#psychonauts 2 #psychonauts

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baphomet-media · 3 years ago

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Sword Art Offline - A CrossCode Review

Genre: Adventure Subgenre: Action RPG Developer: Radical Fish Games Publisher: Deck13 Platform(s): PC, Playstation, Switch, Xbox (Reviewed on Xbox Series X) Release Date: July 9th, 2020 Time Played: 60 hours

CrossCode was a game that I knew next to nothing about going in. I heard some faint praise for the title online, but I really had no idea what to expect. The game’s description bills it as a Zelda-like, but offers little else in the way of explanation. The vibrant pixel art environments convinced me to give it a shot. So is CrossCode a success, or is it just a glitch in the system?

Story

In the distant future, humanity has colonized the galaxy. On one remote moon, a company called Instatainment decides to create something unique. They create a one-of-a-kind MMO where the locations in the game are real physical places, and players can log in and explore them using avatars made of something called “instant matter,” a kind of extremely light and insubstantial matter that can be quickly and cheaply conjured up for all sorts of purposes, but cannot meaningfully interact with the physical environment. This MMO is called CrossWorlds, and has become very popular in the world of CrossCode. Despite the fact that the game features an in-universe MMO, CrossCode is in fact an offline, singleplayer game. The different meta layers can be somewhat difficult to explain at times, but I found it to be a novel and interesting setting.

You take control of Lea, a player of CrossWorlds who has seemingly lost her memory. While being aided by man-at-the-keyboard Sergey, she must infiltrate CrossWorlds from the outside and play the game to recover her memories. But all is not what it seems, as a strange flying blue avatar seems to be pursuing Lea.

Along the way, Lea will participate in the game of CrossWorlds alongside other avatars such as the feisty french Emilie (AKA Emilienator), the nerdy Toby (AKA C’tron), the braggadocious Apollo, and many more. Each character has a vibrant design and personality that make them stand out and feel loveable.

The game’s plot is quite intense at times and drips with intrigue, keeping you playing for hours on end. In one of my play sessions, I played the game for over 7 hours in a single sitting, which is a testament to how hooked I was. There are plenty of twists and turns throughout that keep you guessing, and many different layers to ponder over in between sessions. Unfortunately, I feel like the ending falls a touch flat, as it feels like the game just kind of stops and all the conflicts resolve at once, but it’s a small issue.

There is a bad ending to the game, obtainable by missing or failing a single optional story event, but if you’re paying attention and exploring you’ll have no trouble finding it. There is also a DLC epilogue episode that continues from the true ending, but unfortunately this epilogue is not yet available on console at the time of writing. It is currently slated for a ‘Summer 2021’ release, so perhaps I will be able to review it shortly.

I wish there was more I could say about the story because there’s a LOT going on, but unfortunately it would ruin the experience, so you’ll have to discover it for yourself. Suffice it to say that the story kept me intrigued and hungry for more up until the very end. The writing is often witty and funny, and I noticed various references to other series, such as Kingdom Hearts, Gurren Lagann, and Ace Attorney.

Gameplay

CrossCode at its core is a top-down action RPG. Lea has a number of different moves that can assist her in combat, such as melee attacks, ranged attacks, dodging, guarding, and special attacks. Additionally, once you complete the game’s dungeons, Lea will be able to switch into different elemental modes. Each mode has its own stats, special attacks, and affinities, and it pays to be vigilant about which elements are effective against which enemies. Plus, using elemental modes for too long builds up an overheat meter that, when filled, locks Lea out of elemental modes until it depletes. Due to all this complexity, it pays to think on your feet and be conscientious about how you approach fights.

On top of that, there are different consumables that offer timed buffs, different equipment effects which offer different buffs, as well as the Circuit, a skill tree with different trees for each element. Every time Lea levels up, she gains one Circuit Point for each elemental tree to spend on permanent buffs and unlocking special attacks. Some nodes on the circuits require multiple circuit points to unlock, so you’ll have to weigh which nodes to unlock when. All of this combined makes Lea highly configurable, but versatile enough to where you can completely change her build at any time outside of combat.

As you play the game, you will typically have allied characters fighting alongside Lea, which makes tough groups of enemies much more manageable. However, there are many areas which are “instanced” to where Lea must complete challenges alone. These are some of the game’s toughest challenges, and typically involve puzzle solving and/or combat. There are various dungeons around the Playground of CrossWorlds, the in-universe playable area, and most are quite extensive. These are the moments that the game somewhat feels Zelda-like, though really only in that you have to progress through dungeons with various puzzle and combat rooms in order to unlock a new element. Each dungeon adds new mechanics to master, and many dungeons bring back old mechanics from prior dungeons, requiring you to figure out how multiple mechanics work together. I found these sections a ton of fun, even if some of the puzzles were real head-scratchers.

Where would an RPG be without its sidequests? CrossWorlds, and by extension CrossCode, has plenty of sidequests for Lea to undergo to gain experience, money, and items. Most of the quests are your bog-standard fetch quests, but many have the player find new areas, face unique encounters, or even engage in minigames. Fortunately, a lot of the monotony of questing that you’d expect from any other game is mitigated by the fact that you can teleport back to any discovered landmark at any time for free.

As you explore the world, you’ll find yourself engaging in minor platforming. Essentially, areas of the game map are on different elevation tiers, and there are a ton of chests that are locked behind finding out how exactly to manage the elevation to reach a chest on a high ledge, often traveling on high elevation across multiple maps for a single chest. It can be a bit frustrating for people who constantly see chests that are seemingly out of their reach, but I found it fun to hunt them all down. Additionally, using a charged projectile to ricochet off walls and obstacles are quite common. One downside to the platforming is that it can sometimes be difficult to determine the heights of different stage elements at a glance, as the game doesn’t seem to have any sort of visual indication of the different elevations aside from just looking at the relative vertical distance between the floor and the next level. This often causes you to jump into walls or off cliffs during drawn-out platforming sections, which can be frustrating.

Overall, I don’t really agree that CrossCode is a Zelda-like. To me, it’s more like a 2d hack-n-slash without aerial combat. Still, that isn’t a negative, and I feel like CrossCode manages to create something that feels its own and not heavily derivative. I only wish the marketing had played more to its strengths instead of just bragging about how much the game was like Zelda and how many different genres they think they mashed together. I probably would have given the game a shot a lot sooner.

Presentation

The environments of CrossCode are gorgeous, with high detail pixel art that is hard to believe is based on a tileset. The character designs are bold and emotive, and really give you an idea of what each character is about at first sight. The game’s soundtrack is also a banger, with plenty of different tracks in many different instruments. It’s the kind of soundtrack I’d happily listen to outside of the game, and instantly becomes familiar to you.

Conclusion

Aside from a bit of platforming jank and a slightly underwhelming ending, CrossCode is a real gem of a game that anyone who likes RPGs should check out on their platform of choice, and especially if you have Game Pass. This is a game that deserves the same level of cult following as other indie gems such as Celeste and Stardew Valley. I look forward to the coming DLC, and whatever developer Radical Fish cooks up next (hopefully a sequel!)

Score: 9 / 10

#gaming #review #article #crosscode #Radical Fish Games #Deck13

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utilitycaster · 4 years ago

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I gotta know your opinion on this dnd thing my dm has allowed my wizard to do, which I think is cool but im curious with your knowledge of dnd as to what you think. What do you think of a wizard using spell components as improvised weapons? Like my wizard has a lot of spells that use sand as a component so our dm will let me roll a melee attack to momentarily "blind" the attacker by throwing sand in its eyes allowing her to move without risk of opportunity attack, or another component she has are bottles and I can make an attack roll for i think 1d4 damage. What do you think of that if you don't mind me asking?

Okay this reminded me that among the many podcasts I meant to listen to today and then just...did not, one is NADDPod’s D&D Court, in which people bring DM-Player conflicts to the court and they resolve them in a funny way.

Anyway...seems fine! It sounds like you and your DM are in agreement, which is the most important thing. Like, there are things that make me say “I’d prefer to not have that at my table” but the key word here is “my table”; you can and should do what you want. This goes for everything; I have lots of opinions and I don’t shut up about them, but also I am a stranger on the internet and my approval is not needed for anything in your games.

With that said I think this is pretty good and I would be open to doing it! Here’s how I’d handle it if it came up, but also, again, your DM sets the rules for their game.

I would probably rule that a wizard with a bottle is just doing raw strength modifier roles (ie, no proficiency bonus) unless they take tavern brawler, as one normally does with improvised weapons. I believe 1d4 damage is the default for improvised weapons unless you can successfully argue that the improvised weapon is close enough to a regular weapon to count as such (the example they usually give is a table leg as a club), so I agree with your DM on the damage.

For the sand, I’d probably either set it as a saving throw with a fixed value (and probably not super high tbh, like 12 or something) or else treat your attack as a DC (like, if you get above a certain number they’re blinded for the whole round, if you get okay but a little lower number perhaps they can’t take a reaction against you but they recover in time for their turn, and if you’re below a certain threshold you miss and they’re unaffected).

Finally I’d also definitely be something of a hardass on components and the retrieval thereof. Probably not a big deal for sand, but if you throw something and don’t retrieve it and it’s not something that you can easily find, that component would be gone.

#d&d #mechanics questions #florallychaotic

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miloscat · 4 years ago

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[Review] Conker: Live & Reloaded (XB)

Let’s see just how well this misguided remake/expansion holds up. This will be a long one!

Conker’s Bad Fur Day is my favourite N64 game. It’s cinematic and ambitious, technically impressive, has scads of gameplay variety with fun settings and setpieces, and when I first played it I was just the right age for the humour to land very well for me. A scant four years later Rare remade it for the Xbox after their acquisition by Microsoft, replacing the original multiplayer modes with a new online mode that would be the focus of the project, with classes and objectives and such.

First, an assessment of the single-player campaign. On a revisit I can see the common criticisms hold some water: the 3D platformer gameplay is a bit shaky at times, certain gameplay segments are just plain wonky and unfair, and some of the humour doesn’t hold up. It’s got all the best poorly-aged jokes: reference humour, gross-out/shock humour, and poking fun at conventions of the now dormant 3D collectathon platformer genre. I also am more sensitive these days to things like the sexual assault and homophobia undertones to the cogs, or Conker doing awful things for lols. Having said that, there’s plenty that I still find amusing, and outside of a few aggravatingly difficult sequences (surf punks, the mansion key hunt, the submarine attack, the beach escape) I do still appreciate the range of things you do in the game.

As for the remake, I’m not sure it can be called an improvement by any metric. Sure, there’s some minor additions. There’s a new surgeon Tediz miniboss, the new haunted baby doll enemy, and the opening to Spooky has been given a Gothic village retheme along with an added—though unremarked on—costume for Conker during this chapter based on the Hugh Jackman Van Helsing flop. Other changes are if anything detrimental. The electrocution and Berri’s shooting cutscenes have been extended, thus undermining the joke/emotional impact. The original game used the trope of censoring certain swear words to makes lines more funny; the remake adds more censorship for some reason, in one case (the Rock Solid bouncer scene) ruining the joke, and Chucky Poo’s Lament is just worse with fart noises covering the cursing.

The most egregious change, and one lampshaded in the tutorial, is the replacement of the frying pan (an instant and satisfying interaction) with a baseball bat which must be equipped, changing the control and camera to the behind-the-back combat style, and then swung with timed inputs to defeat the many added armoured goblings and dolls carelessly dumped all throughout the game world. This flat out makes the game less fun to play through.

On top of this, all the music has been rerecorded (with apologies to Robin Beanland, I didn’t really notice apart from instances where it had to be changed, such as in Franky’s boss fight where the intensely frenetic banjo lead was drastically reduced as a concession to the requirement to actually play it in real life), and the graphics totally redone. Bad Fur Day made excellent use of textures, but with detail cranked up, the sixth generation muddiness, and a frankly overdone fur effect, something is lost. I’m not a fan of the character redesigns either; sure Birdy has a new hat, but I didn’t particularly want to see Conker’s hands, and the Tediz are no longer sinister stuffed bears but weird biological monster bears with uniforms. On top of all this you notice regular dropped details; a swapped texture makes for nonsensical dialogue in the Batula cutscene, and characters have lost some emotive animations. Plus, the new translucent scrolling speech bubbles are undeniably worse.

I could mention the understandable loading screens (at least they’re quick), the mistimed lip sync (possibly exacerbated by my tech setup), or the removal of cheats (not a big deal), but enough remake bashing. To be fair, the swimming controls have been improved and the air meter mercifully extended, making Bats Tower more palatable. And some sequences have been shortened to—I suppose—lessen gameplay tedium (although removing the electric eel entirely is an odd choice). But let’s cover the multiplayer. Losing the varied modes from the original is a heavy blow, as I remember many a fun evening spent in Beach, War, or Raptor, along with the cutscenes setting up each mode.

The new headline feature of this release is the Live mode. The new Xbox Live service allowing online multiplayer was integrated, although it’s all gone now. Chasing the hot trends of the time, it’s a set of class-based team missions, with the Squirrel High Command vs. the Tediz in a variety of scenarios, mostly boiling down to progressing through capture points or capture the flag. Each class is quite specialised and I’m not sure how balanced it is, plus there’s proto-achievements and unlocks behind substantial milestones none of which I got close to reaching (I don’t think I could get most of them anyway, not being “Live”).

The maps are structured around a “Chapter X” campaign in which the Tediz and the weasel antagonist from BFD Ze Professor (here given a new and highly offensive double-barrelled slur name) are initially fighting the SHC in the Second World War-inspired past of the Old War, before using a time machine, opening up a sci-fi theme for the Future War. These are mainly just aesthetic changes, but it’s a fun idea and lets them explore Seavor’s beloved wartime theming a bit more while also bringing in plenty of references to Star Wars, Alien, Dune, and Halo; mostly visual.

Unfortunately the plot is a bit incoherent, rushed through narration (unusually provided by professional American voice actor Fred Tatasciore rather than a Rare staffer doing a raspy or regional voice like the rest of the game) over admittedly nice-looking cutscenes. They also muddle the timeline significantly, seemingly ignoring the BFD events... and then the Tediz’ ultimate goal is to revive the hibernating Panther King, when the purpose of their creation was to usurp him in the first place! It expands on the Conker universe but in a way that makes the world feel smaller and more confusing. It’s weird, and also Conker doesn’t appear at all.

On top of this, I found the multiplayer experience itself frustrating. To unlock the full Chapter X, you need to play the first three maps on easy, then you can go through the whole six. But I couldn’t pass the first one on normal difficulty! The “Dumbots” seemed to have so much health and impeccable aim, while the action was so chaotic, obscured by intrusive UI, floating usernames, and smoke and other effects with loads of characters milling around, not to mention the confusing map layouts, the friendly fire, the instant respawns, and the spawncamping. Luckily I could play the maps themselves in solo mode with cutscenes and adjustable AI and options.

I found some classes much more satisfying than others. I tried to like the Long Ranger and the slow Demolisher, but found it difficult to be accurate. The awkward range of the Thermophile and the Sky Jockey’s rarely effective vehicles made them uncommon choices. I had most success with the simple Grunt, or the melee-range Sneeker (the SHC variant of which is sadly the sole playable female in the whole thing). You can pick up upgrade tokens during gameplay to expand the toolset of each class, which range from necessary to situational. But ultimately it’s a crapshoot, as I rarely felt that my intentions led to clear results.

Live & Reloaded is such a mess. The Reloaded BFD is full of odd decisions and baffling drawbacks, while the Live portion feels undercooked. I’d have preferred a greater focus on either one; a remake is unnecessary, especially only four years on, but a new single-player adventure would have been ace. And a multiplayer mode in this universe with its own story mode could be cool if it was better balanced and had more to it than just eight maps. As a source of some slight scrapings of new Conker content I appreciated it to some extent, but I can’t help being let down. I guess it’s true what they say... the grass is always greener. And you don’t really know what it is you have, until it’s gone... gone. Gone.

Yes, that ending is still genuinely emotionally affecting.

#review #conker #conker live and reloaded #Rare Ltd #xbox

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wayward-delver · 5 years ago

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Made in Abyss X Smash Ultimate:

(DLC Wishlist/Discussion)

This one was just for fun and shouldn’t be taken completely serious otherwise we’re all gonna lose our humanity. As much I’d love to see Made in Abyss somehow miraculously get into Smash, I am well of how impossible it is.

Ok, we all knew what was coming, no bother denying it; you joke about DLC, you might as well spill the beans and say what you really want. I’ll make it clear that of course, I don’t want Waluigi, he’s an assist trophy and at his core a rather dull character in the face of his brother. Steve holds no strong attachment from me since I do not play Minecraft and I feel like his moveset wouldn’t interesting enough to warrant my attention,(basically a 3D G&W).

Now that’s settled with, let’s discuss who I truly want for DLC despite the stupidity of it:(Left to Right)

1.) Ratchet & Clank: This game holds a special place in my heart for being one of the first game I’ve ever played and one of the only franchises where I faithfully played through every game in the main series, even some of the spin-offs. The amazing characters, brilliant writing, great stories, fun/engaging gameplay, and vast and creatively deadly variety of weapons. I’d go on all day about why I love this series so much and why the movie disappoints me so much,(I will say the remake was fun though). Now to move potential he’s got everything a fighter can ask for:

His omniwrench would the staple of his melee attacks on both air and ground,(with any one of his shotguns/whips as smash attacks). His dash attacks could incorporate the Razor Claws.

Recovery (Up B) is an easy pick, just use Clank heli-pack to gain sufficient height than slowly glide down for a period of several seconds over a far horizontal distance. Drawbacks being wind-up time and having no defensive qualities.

Grapples would be simple tethers and throws with Omniwrench.

Neutral B would simply a blaster shot with minimal flinch damage that continues fire if held.

Side B would definitely be his signature boomerang wrench throw, homing in on Ratchet on its return and doing decent knockback with either hit.

Down B would have clank throw of his time spheres down talk cause a 5 second AoE that slows down opponents caught in the blast while dealing zero damage or knockback.

Their Final Smash would see Ratchet calling his ship to strike his opponents, sending them hurtling into space to be bombarded by various weapons in their arsenal before getting by clank in his giant form.

Ratchet’s skins can be all of his default outfits through the serious ending with a robot version of in reference to Dr. Nefarious’s evil scheme.

The stage would be Metropolis city on Kerwan.

2.) Rayman: This one is a bit more realistic than the last one seeing the series has had strong ties with Nintendo consoles and even sporting a Rayman Spirit in-game,(take that as you will, at least it’s something). Rayman also falls under the nostalgia factor, but nowhere the extent of Ratchet since I was pretty late to the series,(My favorite game being Legends). No doubt he’s one of the higher picks among Smash players and I can see why; he’s funny, energetic, a great platformer/fighter, and has a truly unique/iconic character design.

I’m not too familiar with the entire series though, so keep it basic with the moveset:

Rayman is a fast lightweight fighter that primarily uses melee attacks such as fast punches and kicks on both the ground and in the air. His smash attacks would be moderately slow wind-up punches and kicks with exceptional knockback and range. Dash attacks would have him spinning forwards at high speeds with little damage and knockback, but great for setting up a brief stunlock.

His grapple is a far-reaching chain arm tether with decent throwing power.

Recovery is a simple helicopter hair flight with similar mobility to Krool, but deals no damage and goes much higher.

Neutral would have him shooting burning fists at his enemies and can be charged up for increased power.

Side B has him rapidly shooting from his plunger gun, which can be a great edge guarding tool.

Down B turns one of his hands into a guided missile that will extremely powerful, leaves vulnerable to attack.

Final Smash has him uppercut the nearest players sending them to a zone where they’re dog-pilled by all his friends before unleashing a synchronized charged strike sending them flying into the stars.

The stage will be set in the Rabbids colosseum, where the audience holds signs and banners representing characters and series.

Rayman's colors would be based on the many characters of the series.

His taunt will feature a lum.

3.) Okami, Amaterasu: Ok this is sure to please many fans since she’s quite often requested and very popular on her own. She also has a much higher chance than the rest since she’s a part of Capcom like Ryu/Megaman. Personally speaking though, I want her to join for the sake of how amazing and artistically beautiful the game the is. The mythology, characters, story, music, art style, and the gameplay just screams traditional Japanese culture/painting in the best way possible.

I list the moveset down here, but someone else already did a much better job than I ever could. @panaran

3.) Hollow Knight: Ok this steps far down in terms of likely solely because it’s an Austrailian indie game. Otherwise, this would be one of the biggest crowd pleasures in the line-up. A legendary title for its striking animation, unique world/story, deep lore, magnificent soundtrack, and memorable/diverse cast of characters. I love for all these reasons, but I truly support cause it’d represent to the newest milestone in gaming history, indie studios.

I’d go over moves again someone also solved that problem for me.

4.) Kid Icarus Viridi: Of all the characters, she has the most right to be a playable character. She and her home franchise are so deeply rooted in Smash that they literally are the commentary for the game. Don’t say no moves cause Palutena was never playable in their game, but she still got in. And about her being on a stage, Chrome is a Final Smash and piranha is a stage hazard. Mii costumes also don’t prove anything since many characters have them. This would also be the first in-person appearance she’ll make in any game, something she was denied in her in Kid Icarus Uprising. Personally, however, I want Viridi cause she’s basically the Peridot,(Steven Universe), or the Max,(Camp Camp), of Nintendo. The sassy, cynical, and destructive little gremlin that talks shit to everyone but in end is a complete tsundere with an adorable nerdy side and heart of golden amber beneath her thorny exterior.

(Not my waifu, goddess or not, she’s a ‘child’ and I am 19, it’d be messed up)

Her moveset would be difficult to decipher since she doesn’t fight in-game, but I can draw up a few ideas

Viridi won’t be as angelic/divine as Palutena, preferring to walk and run in a more grounded manner with a trail of plants sprouting behind her as she moves. She’ll be one of the lightest characters in-game due to her small stature, making her very nimble but easy to launch.

She’ll be more we versed in melee than Palutena, incorporating her staff/agility into her fighting style. Using many fast and disjointed blows at once like Mii swordfighter, but her smash attacks would instead unleash vines from the ground that would strike opponents.

Her grapple would be a vine tether she could use to constrict/launch enemies.

Her Recovery would be another vine tether that goes farther and does higher damage than Ivysaur.

Neutral B she’d fire a lightning blast at her opponents,(a reference to her ally Phosphora).

Side B Viridi would slash forward sending a small twister that can launch enemies,(Slower and larger Mii Sword)

Down B is a parry using Clobbler in a similar manner to Toad.

Final Smash is, of course, a rush down that sends foes into ground-zero of a Reset Bomb strike.

Taunts will be her making witty remarks and poses, often times waving her staff around like a wand.

So that’s my wishlist, do you like and if you have a character for smash. By all means, share it with me in the chat or reblog.

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