#just feel like they try it a little too hard. The core gameplay will still hold a special place in my heart

[nickeldalm]

Seeing sky fanarts reminds me of how much i love Sky. I wish I can have that feeling back.

[felassan]

Some snippets from DA dev Luke Barrett on the unofficial BioWare forum, cut for length:

DA:I -

User: "I am still convinced that Bioware cut the healing spells and went with barriers instead because of the Multiplayer." Luke Barrett: I can't speak to any other games directly but I can give a bit of historic context for DAI. The game was initially a more dungeon/linear delving - see how far you can get - experience and there was no barrier of any kind. As a side note: healing has always been a hot topic in design because as soon as you include it there are many other conceits you now need take into consideration for the gameplay - one of which I will call 'the Anders problem'. Anyway, as DAI got the date moved and shifted more into the pseudo-openworld the concept of attrition (see how far you can get before having to return to camp) became less relevant and we needed to help the Players have more moment-to-moment agency around their survival. Unfortunately for various reasons (one of which is the sad reality of designing a game with a shifting timeline) the healing couldn't be re-added so we ended up with more of a mitigation strategy in the barrier system. It went through a lot of iterations but eventually landed on what it shipped with which I would call... acceptable (but just barely). Now, I will concede that a part of the reason it didn't return after that shift was an aversion to holy trinity gameplay specifically for MP but it wasn't the core reason. As a side story, trying to balance the game (as that was my job on DAI - and yes, it could be much better haha) we had to all but force Players to take barrier. It is intentionally the first skill in the first tree for the Mage and all the autolevel (I also handled that) is designed to get it right away." [source]

User: "Merry Christmas Luke! Sooo what was the hardest class you had to balance? [DA:I]" Luke Barrett: "I feel like anyone who was around for the post-launch content will already know the answer to this as it was the bane of my existence when I got put exclusively on MP after launch but the Knight-Enchanter barrier absorbing was a pain. Stuff like that is very challenging to feel good without being broken as they are relative to damage so scaling is fairly open-ended. Too little and the casual players won't get use out of it, too much and the character builders will be wildly OP. We actually had a 'no nerfing' guideline for the SP side so it was a hard battle to fix that silly thing 🙃." [source]

"As a fun fact, I did all the logic for autolevel on DAI and the guideline I was given was literally "make functional builds, but don't make something optimal that you'd play"." [source]

DA:TV -

User: "If you can, say thanks to the people making the no die option possible." Luke Barrett: "Done! My team handles this stuff so I let them know 😊" [source]

"Comically, I designed the majority of the items and skills and I am still finding it fun making awesome builds (been almost entirely doing playthroughs lately" [source]

"Was really important to the team that everyone could play the way that felt best to them." [source]

"Each specialization has a focus around a few specific mechanics, some of which are the weapons or damage types but you can go off script and make it work for sure (this was intentional in the designs)." [source]

"I designed all the skills and so they're each enjoyable to me to some extent. I have been playing through the game over and over the last couple months for balance purposes so I've played them all fairly extensively." [source]

User: "Necrotic sounds like it could be either Spirit or Nature." User: "For Rogue, it replace "poison". For Mage, it replace spirit (Spirit bomb). For Warrior, it's more spirit (especially Reaper), but some skills could work as poison too. So basically they merged spirit and nature." Luke Barrett: "Thats pretty close to spot on. They were actually heavily iterated on throughout development - I can't (at least currently) go into specifics as to why though." [source]

"the target for the progression vision is that you can make a viable build out of almost** any aspect of the gameplay." [source]

"As for timelines, We started DA4 in October of 2015 roughly. The entire team was moved to MEA for about 3-4 months to help it ship and I also spent all of 3 weeks helping out on Anthem. But otherwise I've been on some incarnation of DA4 for about 9 years now - pretty ready for it to release 😅." [source]

"yes, years of working on the same thing can cause some burnout but I've played through the full game probably about 8 times in the last few months and it's still fun (though some of the specific levels that haven't changed in a long time I've done 50+ times easily and I could do without ever seeing them again 😂)." [source]

User: "I do kind of feel that at this point the DA team has put so much work into creating and improving their tools and learning the ins and outs of Frostbite [...] But who knows what the devs in the trenches really feel" Luke Barrett: "I will say it does some things very well and some things poorly, relative to other engines. Personally I really enjoy Frostbite but I've been using it since 2012. In an ideal world, many engines would be viable and developers would make games suited to the strengths of a specific engine." [source]

User: "Since this game is much more stat heavy than prior titles, specifically when it comes to skills and gear, there's likely a need for some balance changes to be made post-launch. Does the game being playable completely offline hinder the data capture side for your team (in terms of analytics), or is this a non-factor?" Luke Barrett: "Generally speaking, most people leave data analytics on so we get more than enough data coming in. Additionally, I'll personally be watching several channels for things that are underperforming (relatively speaking) and not have to nerf anything. The rpg side is vast though and I'm sure people will find OP combinations/synergies that might need 'adjustments' but as long as it's fun and not an "I win" button that trivializes combat I'm pretty cool with it." [source]

Luke Barrett: "I can safely say there are many builds for each class that will feel very powerful if you're not on the highest difficulty 😉. What I'm really excited for is when the guides comes out that show people the fastest way to get some of the uniques that unlock 'special' gameplay 😊. Let's just say I love the feeling of rushing to Patches in DS1 and kicking him off the bridge for the Crescent Axe (iykyk)." [source] User: "Speaking of guides. Will there be a guidebook like there was for DAI? " Luke Barrett: "Not that I'm aware of but I'm happy to help feed info to somewhere like fextralife or the dragon age wiki after a week or so to help with those pursuits. Have to leave some time for exploration and discovery before the optimizers streamline the experience 😉" [source]

"Effectively, at least until the game launches (and likely a week or so after), you won't get anything interesting out of any of the devs save Mike Gamble or John Epler. Longer term I hope to be very active, at least for build mechanics and all the combat/rpg nuts and bolts conversations." [source]

"I started "da4" in October 2015 and so after 9 years of effort (minus 3 months on Andromeda) I'm quite excited for tomorrow and the launch week. I don't know if I'd say nervous, I feel pretty confident in the product, but definitely that eager kid before Christmas feeling 😊" [source]

"As the person who did all the balance, I will say that if you are comprehending how to make a cohesive build and understand the combat mechanics, you should play on Underdog. One of the downsides to having a lot of power growth vectors is the difference between people who engage vs those that don't becomes a chasm quite quickly. If you start blowing enemies up rapidly, turn up the difficulty (or play on nightmare where that will not be the case) - basically if it ever feels super easy or like enemies are health sponges you're probably on the wrong setting for your skill level. The custom difficulty settings are there to make the gameplay enjoyable (for whatever that means to you)." [source]

"As a tip from me, the balance is subtly tipped in the players favor until the last fight of the 3rd combat mission. Be warned if it's feeling too easy you may want to wait until after that to decide." [source]

[on DA MP] Luke Barrett: "It was actually pretty fun but very much not what most people wanted us to make (including internally). Also we had, let's say, limited staff who had a passion and background in MP so it was definitely the right call to go SP only. Now, it would have been nice had we just started that way but so it goes sometimes." [source] User: "You still play it yourself from time to time (DA MP), or have you left it be?" Luke Barrett: "After playing variations of DA4 for so many years (9!!!) it's hard to go back to anything with DAI controls/gameplay speed. Even the initial Joplin prototypes I was doing were much more snappy/twitchy - for everything good about DAI the combat was definitely in the middle of two different styles." [source]

[on aiming bows] "we actually used to have separate buttons for ADS and ranged attack but it was wildly overloading the controller. These RPG games need controllers with at least 2 more buttons (fingers crossed for the next gen)" [source]

User: "After the last few games, I'm really surprised by the current skill... tree?" Luke Barrett: "I call it a skill graph - aside from the beginning where you have 3 choices the entirety of it is 2 choice splits and it'll essentially make a build for you. Just go a little at a time and aim for whatever specialization seems most fun to you 😄" [source]

"Loot is not random so theoretically guides with drop locations should appear pretty soon." [source]

"Yep, Spellblade is the only spec that directly impacts fire damage but you can get benefits from most of them and still go fire. As for the specs, yes it would have been nice to support all of them but just wasn't in scope unfortunately. Mage has Mourn-Watch, Shadow Dragons, and Antivan Crows specializations - only the Rogue has a Veiljumper one. Deathcaller left side you can go beam based and use a Fire weapon. Evoker you'd likely need to do a hybrid ice/fire build." [source]

User: "Bit of a side question, but for those who intend to make more characters, is BioWare considering upping the amount of playable character slots you can have (currently at 3)? Or is there a hardware restriction here given the game is offline playable?" Luke Barrett: "Don't quote me as I don't handle the technical side of this but my understanding is we have to allocate a specific amount of HD space on the consoles so we basically have to pick a limit, relative to our save file sizes, and then divide that by number of careers. I'll inquire if this is something we can increase with an optional download or something but I suspect consoles are stuck that way, unfortunately." [source]

[on Patch 1] "It's been awhile since I actually did the content for this patch so I'd have to check but I have a pretty anti-nerf policy for SP games. I know I fixed up a couple enemies that weren't as hard as they were supposed to be and definitely boosted a bunch of synergistic things though. I'll take a look tomorrow but for those that don't know, the turnaround time on these things is about a month of it's not an emergency due to certification process with consoles. Longer term my goal is to keep an eye in telemetry of any underused abilities and items (or enemies with too many kills under their belt) and audit them just to double check if they need a boost or if people just haven't figured them out yet 😉." [source]

"The equippable items are all predetermined with a minor exception*. Some items are class specific (all the weapons, a small amount of armors and accessories, 2 runes) so when you play a different class you'll see your classes 'version' of that item. Things that are random (from a table/pool) are valuables. Exception: Near the very end of the game we do a few checks on what equipment you haven't acquired. A bunch of those final drops, and inventory on the final merchant, simply find stuff you don't have and give it to you. That's basically the only major RNG we have with loot. If you notice even 99% of the skills and item mods employ an effect after a condition is met X times rather than a more traditional 'proc chance'." [source]

[on modding] "Once this starts to pick up, feel free to PM me if anyone needs help 'finding' assets or has questions about how one might mod something. We don't officially support mods buuuuut we don't have any kind of anti-modding stance either" [source]

"To give the high level gist of the resource economy: - each class starts off with minimal ability usage, this is intentional to force people to learn the other combat mechanics as they're a necessary skill and it's easy to lean on a crutch like ability spam and kiting - abilities are designed to feel powerful on use, thus they all have a decent cost and can't be spammed* - weapon attacks generate your resource - in the bottom right of the center skills area is a node to make each class's resource easier to manage - halfway down all starting segments (N, SW, SE) there is always a node that boosts generation - there are +max nodes on all sides of the skill graph for each class, this is particularly important for the Mage as they start each fight at max - each class can build into being ability focused but starts intentionally rounded - loastly, the first ability is always a resource spender and 1 or 2 of the next available ones will be cooldown gated. It is recommended to have at least one cooldown based ability slotted" [source]

"So loosely the rogue momentum works like this: - each ability costs 50 momentum - hitting enemies generates ~2 momentum per hit (base), you get extra for bow weakpoints - when you are directly hit, you lose 15% of your current momentum, this means the more you hold the more you will lose (this loss has a small cooldown so you don't lose a whole bar when you get hit rapidly) - momentum carries forward between combats (compared to warrior rage which decays when out of combat) If youre having issues, make sure you get that skill in the middle section that reduces momentum loss when hit. As a helpful tip, the Quicken buff generates small amounts of momentum each second so it's a good way to get more if you're having issues." [source]

"I highly recommend using the belt that grants Quicken early game until you can generate momentum faster yourself. And yes, the time dilation affects everything in the world except the Player so all your buffs and things still tick at normal speed" [source]

User: "If I knock an enemy off an edge, if they were supposed to drop something will it appear on the edge, or is it lost for good?" Luke Barrett: "It should appear on the ledge. I will say the 'real' loot from enemy drops are all hand placed. The actual random stuff is just valuables and materials." [source]

" The way it actually works is very complicated with a lot of necessary exceptions but loosely - each ability has a base damage and ones that hit multiple times have an offset multiplier. - That value is multiplied by the sum of all your stat bonuses, conditional bonuses, resist and layer modifiers. - We then subtract enemy defense and multiply by 1-resist (with penetration being calculated here). - this new damage then gets multiplied by 1+crit+weakpointpoint (so those bonuses always feel meaty) and then multiplied by a random number between .95 and 1.05 just to give a little range to the floaties (basically just a presentation thing) - we then multiply again for buffs and debuffs so they, again, always feel meaningful - lastly, we take all added damage and add it flat on top" [source]

"Specific enhancements make enemies immune to the matching affliction. For example, Fire Enchanted enemies are immune to burning. Juggernaut enemies are immune to being staggered but otherwise it should work in everything." [source]

[crescentfool]

i've been doing a bunch of tartarus runs in reload lately, and it got me thinking about how i miss certain ways FES's clunky gameplay can characterize minato… (ramble about the great clock mechanic + leveling up party members in reload vs fes under the cut)

when i got to yabbashah block in tartarus (block 3), i remember commending the developers for adding the great clock mechanic. it's a much more convenient way to keep party members at the protagonist's level- so when you think about p3 from the perspective of trying to make it easier for people to play, the mechanic succeeds in this respect.

but now that i'm in adamah block, and that i've done lots of my once-a-month tartarus runs… i think that i got a little too dependent on it, and the way that i played through reload feels like a vastly different experience from how i played FES.

in reload, my party's levels are very lopsided. minato, yukari, akihiko, mitsuru, and fuuka are all level 90+, meanwhile junpei and aigis are at level 79, and then… poor ken and koromaru are at 71 and 64 respectively. (i never got to have a great clock for them…)

meanwhile, in FES, my party's levels were much more evenly distributed and were at least level 90. i did all of this manually for every monthly tartarus run because i enjoyed having options available for the taratarus guardians and monthly operations.

with how i perceive minato, i feel that the way i played FES feels more in-line with his character than me dawdling around waiting for the great clocks in reload.

FES's gameplay loop left me with the very strong impression that minato has to work twice as hard as everyone else in SEES does. it makes sense because, yeah, he's the leader, but something about having minato run through tartarus multiple times with different groups of people just to make sure that they are adequately prepared speaks volumes about his character, to me.

and while the tired mechanic is present in reload to some degree, most notably with allowing you to freely raise your courage stat when you visit edogawa after school… the tiredness system doesn't hit the same way that FES does, i think.

the way your party members in FES will call it quits when they return to the entrance floor at tartarus when they're tired, versus minato, in spite of all his tiredness and sickness, still pushes through tartarus because it's his responsibility…. idk!!! i miss that! i feel like this really hammers home the difference between minato and the rest of SEES, how minato doesn't really see himself as a human with needs worth respecting as long as he's useful to someone.

i don't think that tartarus being tedious (in FES especially) is not what most people would describe as fun, and i can respect people thinking it's a slog. but, regardless of how it feels to play, it doesn't change that FES's gameplay loop is a fundamental building block in how i perceive minato…

of course, i do recognize that you can just opt to NOT use the great clock in reload (and it's great when players are offered the choice to not partake in mechanics)! i definitely think that if someone really wanted to, they could manually level up party members, but i do feel that kind of playstyle isn't necessarily "incentivized" to the type of people who are into playing games for Having a Good Time. it's kind of like… "why would you do that when there's a much more convenient option available to you."

in any case! despite my woes, i do want to emphasize that i'm glad that reload has a much more smoother gameplay loop than the original P3 did, because it does make the game more accessible to people. having played both FES and reload, it feels very strongly apparent to me how the core gameplay formula of persona has really been refined in the past 18 years (to think og p3 was 2006 and reload is 2024.. time flies!). and reload has made revisiting a story that i love so dearly much, much easier because the gameplay just bops!

at the same time, due to my "i miss characterization informed by weird and dated FES gameplay quirks" woes, i still think that playing FES is worthwhile. (really, i feel this way about all iterations of p3! i think it's worthwhile to see what each version and side media has to say even if it doesn't Land™ for you.) but i also understand why people wouldn't want to play it, so i will keep writing posts about things i liked from FES's gameplay because i'm still very fond of FES (especially in respects to minato. these mechanics are so telling about him!!!) 💪

[pixelrushiguess]

I don’t think anybody asked you this. But what are true thoughts on Sonic Dream Team?

Any praises? Any criticisms?

Well given the awkward nature of Dream Team, I’ve never actually played it so I can’t really comment on its gameplay. I will say I think the character animation is really nice, better than the official games to be honest.

Unfortunately that’s where the positives end for me because the story and writing is really REALLY bad.

I remember really worrying that the writing style of Frontiers would carry over to future instalments but I gave it the benefit of the doubt that it might’ve been a one time thing. And while Dream Team isn’t as miserable as Frontiers, it’s still pretty damn dull. No one acts like themselves, no one talks the way they usually talk. They all just stand around and make small talk like they met at a bus station. There’s no charm, no energy, no fun, nothing. Sonic is boring, Tails is smart and that’s it, Amy is...nothing, Knuckles is just there, Rouge is the only one with a hint of personality and Cream doesn’t really add anything. I really want to give Ian Flynn the benefit of the doubt, but if this is how he’s going to write going forward, I don’t think I want him writing for the series at all.

I’m no writer, I don’t know the first thing about it. But these are not hard characters to like. Every member of the cast is oozing charm and personality. You have to actively TRY to make these characters boring and somehow they did it. The writing in the 2010s sucked, but it at least made me feel something, I could still see the characters in there.

Ariem is nothing, she does nothing and means nothing. She’s a plot device, that’s it. There was no thought or effort in making her interesting, charming or likeable. There’s literally a million things you could’ve done with this premise and this character to tell a great story and it feels like nobody could be bothered. The game isn’t even about anything, like Sonic is a series that tackles a lot of different themes and the best Sonic stories are the ones that have a core message or allegory at the centre.

Adventure is about embracing positive emotions and dealing with anger and how anger can corrupt people.

06 is about love and freedom and allowing yourself to feel emotion.

Secret Rings is about healing from an abusive relationship.

Unleashed is about friendship and balance, seeing the world and experiencing new things.

Black Knight is about grief and mortality.

There’s tons of other examples but you get my point.

Oh and the voice acting is really bad too, everyone sounds bored or weirdly off and I don’t know why.

Anyway that’s my little tirade, didn’t think I cared so much about Dream Team, but there ya go I guess.

[miloscat]

[Review] Sonic Rivals 2 (PSP)

Does Rivals 2 really rival Rivals 1?

Almost exactly a year after Rivals, Backbone produced a sequel. Given the quick turnaround you can't expect too much has changed—we still have a 2.5D race-based platformer—but they've done a good job stuffing new features and content into the package this time around. Is the new stuff a worthy addition though?

First I'll address the general refinements. Characters' signature moves are no longer at the whim of the rotating pickups, but given their own button and a dedicated meter that fills by collecting rings. This is a great change that adds dynamism to play, and makes character choices more meaningful. The action feels faster paced, with shortened windows to execute vaulting moves, for example. Presentation is a little more slick and the card collecting more transparently tied to your accomplishments (although they don't factor into the plot anymore). Weapon use has a little more depth as it's possible to avoid hits, and stage gimmicks get more involved at times. All these tweaks make for a stronger game experience, but I did feel like the bot players were harder, and story levels took me more retries on average... especially when playing as the characters with weaker abilities.

So the headline feature is the new playable characters. Added to the prior game's roster of Sonic, Shadow, Silver, Knuckles, and Metal are Tails, Rouge, and for some reason Espio. They bring new abilities of varied usefulness; Tails's flight is rarely helpful and Espio's merely makes you disappear from the level progress bar, but Rouge's homing bat missile is great. Apart from these powers, everyone plays identically. Story mode is still split into four perspectives as the roster of eight pair up... you can pick either character within a pair but I think this only changes which order you play out events within a zone, while each character still has a separate campaign progress. It's an odd choice.

The story follows its predecessor's example of constant misunderstandings and miscommunications as an excuse for the characters to get into petty conflicts. It also reuses the "Nega disguising himself as Eggman" plot device, although this time Eggman has an actual role in the plot. Not content to rip off its own prequel, Rivals 2 steals shamelessly from Sonic 06, as it culminates in a city of the future devastated by a raging beast of elemental fire whose name is taken from Islamic folklore, Iblis Ifrit! At least this game doesn't completely erase itself from history. Anyway, more characters means more interactions and this time the cutscenes—while still just text boxes and portraits visually—are all nicely fully voiced.

A new world map screen helps to contextualise things well and the new environments are just as nice and colourful as they were in Rivals 1. Among the race levels and boss fights (whose quality is on par with the prior entry's) are new level types. Some just have you run through a level solo against the clock or trying to collect rings or Chao; not very satisfying. Others are head-to-head battles in small arenas, and despite pushing them hard in the story mode I feel like these are a dud. Even with the standard multiplayer-type variants of deathmatch, capture the Chao, bomb tag, etc. these always seemed a drag when they came up in the campaigns. It's a shame that all these attempts at adding new things to do end up not as fun as the core gameplay.

At least the soundtrack is a step up, catchier and more exciting. The exception is the addition of a key vocal track, which only plays on the title screen and oddly in level one. It stands out, and not in the good way that His World stood out in 06. This sums up Rivals 2 in a nutshell: the core is enhanced and refined, but its new additions and ideas are a real mixed bag. This leaves Rivals 1 as a purer if rougher experience, which I prefer. Unfortunately Backbone didn't get another chance with Sonic as a couple of years later after a flurry of acquisitions and mergers this particular studio was closed down. There wouldn't be another Western-made platformer in the series until Boom seven years later... well, unless you count Unleashed for mobile phones, Jump, Jump 2, Jump Pro, Jump Fever, Dash, the Sonic CD remake, Sonic for Didj... you know what, never mind.

[terriedirewolf]

Robots. Ight so I been able to play Armored Core VI: Fires Of Rubicon, and damns this series cleaned up nice. The only other games I've managed to play are the original, Project Phantasma, and Master Of Arena. Which are PSX games commonly refered to as first gen. I loved those games after messing with them and figuring out what they were going for. A lot of people complain about the controls, but honestly, nah, those are fine. I played enough megaman legends to where it felt normal and responsive.the first game came out before duel sticks, and they kind of just stuck with an all digital scheme well into the seventh console generation. Which is a bit long tbh, but i'm fine with it.

Anyhow, point is, it's like kitbashing your own robot to murder, explore, and job hunt your way through the war scarred future of planet earth. And it does some really cool stuff with narritive in the first game. Missions come and go, failing them can end with you not getting payed, but still needing to pay for the car sized bullets you wasted. And on top of that, the missions you accept and complete, tips the tides of the rivalries of the factions that fuel this merc economy.

The next two are more typically structured, which is fine, but it do be a little less interesting from a design perspective to me. Armored Core 6 does an interesting middleground. You can infinitely replay missions, and it's actually pretty hard to get into any kind of dept, but the branching paths and optional missions are still there. It's a very accessable and nice system. And being able to replay any beaten mission at any time is just, fantastic.

Another cool thing is the characters. Easily the most charismatic group of people ever put in an ac game. I love it. I do have problems with the game. I think a lot of the gameplay being focused into burst damage feels weird, and I don't like some stuff like reloading and being able to turn independent of the camera. Plus, the manual aim feature sucks with charge shots and back weapons. But man, the characters make up for it. There's a ton of art already, but I hope to add to this post regularly to try and display my impressions of these people. Cause there's some really great dynamics you can set up in this.

I might also sketch up some old gen stuff too, idk. Apologies for the very rough first couple posts.

[skqw]

Arid Athenaeum is a techless puzzle-routing map by Adam Korinek (Anzen_) focused around dash-refill dash blocks. The map is heavily inspired by Revita, entirely built with custom graphics and even adding some gameplay changes. The big change is no grabbing, and the elevators as goals carry over too.

The first thing to note is that the custom graphics are absolutely stunning. I haven't played Revita, so I don't know how closely the sprites replicate the original game, but it all fits so smooth in Celeste's pixel art style.

It's also -- thankfully -- unintrusive. It's just enough to be pretty and to give off the right vibes, and it doesn't fall in the category of maps so saturated with custom graphics that it's hard to tell what's going on. It feels like exactly the right amount of effort for what the map is going for, I hope the mapper thinks it paid off as well!

Gameplay starts off with a fair amount of easing into the new feel. There's new mechanics of course, but the no-grab limitation is just as much of a foundation to the map as the refill dash blocks. Platforming and movement is built around this, you need to know how to use walljumps to increase height and distance; it's not just a disabled-neutrals-style gimmick. It's emulating a different game, after all.

The refill dash blocks come in one or two-dash variants, and are paired with spikes and dash spikes. Interestingly, spikes on refill dash blocks are the only ones that can be sideways or downwards. Dash spikes only allow you to touch the block if you're dashing, functionally the same as dream spikes if those are familiar to you.

The core gameplay loop of the map comes down to figuring out which dash blocks to break in which order, often involving when certain blocks are accessible and storing a two-dash state for use somewhere else. Fully utilizing your dashes and planning ahead always feels very clever. Gameplay segments are almost always limited to the size of the screen, so the player is given the opportunity to pause and think about the room before they try it. Spawn points are plentiful as well.

It's one of the easier routing maps I've played, but it is a good exercise in the style of dash and refill-centered routing puzzles. The map is techless as I said, and I think I can get away with calling it red beginner. However, with as much as the map departs from Celeste, a decent intuitive understanding of the physics. Some segments are technically trickier than others by a decent enough margin that the difficulty ramp may feel uneven to players still getting the hang of the game.

I do have two gripes with the map. First off is just the camera, which does just stem from the style of map. Moving between gameplay segments moves the camera very quickly as it changes target, which is a bit jarring. This is really just an issue when gameplay is close to screen transitions, when the player might fall of a ledge or interact with entities they cannot see because the camera hasn't focused yet. This is more of an issue on downwards movement, where the camera doesn't move down until the player is near the bottom of the screen, essentially making it a leap of faith. I understand why it was done like this, but it did pull me out of the map a little and this is one of the cases where it's more important for the map to be Celeste and not Revita.

My second issue is the sprites for the refill dash block spikes. They look a bit too similar to tell apart from a glance, since dash spikes and regular spikes are mixed together a lot more as the map progresses.

It feels mild in retrospect, but not knowing the layout of the levels made it matter more. I just wish that the dash spikes were a little less spiky, I guess? More of a shape distinction, since the colors are pretty set in stone.

Don't let these minor complaints get in the way of enjoying the map, though! It has a great, unique theme that goes beyond visual style. It's really not only a Celeste map, and it doesn't feel like one either. It's comfortable for anyone who's beaten the game before, and it can serve as either a good starting point for getting into routing maps or as a reading exercise for experienced players. A couple strawberries and a fully completed debug challenge room are the cherry on top. What else can I say besides to give it a try?

Remember to leave a like on the GameBanana page if you enjoyed! It really, really helps.

[syrupspinner]

steam next fest 3 the finale maybe

i have recently become much less confident that nextfest is all one word, also

yeah, its missing some pizzaz, like music and sfx work, but the devs are pretty open about it being early so ill look past it. the gimmick itsself is fun! its simple and straightforward in a good way, and i like how it iterates on runs. the good items taking up more physical space and getting burried in your deck is a really good expression of balance. good little roguelike! wishlisted and played for way longer than i thought i would

straight up couldnt get this one to work. no buttons or keys do shit. i unplugged my controller, relaunched it, a bunch of stuff, still stuck on the first screen. shame, i was really looking forward to giving it a shot

this is a good demo! it does a good job at presenting the game and letting you know what its all about. i got the basics really solidly, and i see how the additional environments would iterate on the core gameplay loop. i dont think this ones for me, it seems a bit too sandboxy and score-based for me, but i recognize that this is a well made game and i think itll be really enjoyable for its target audience. check it out if you like simulator/management things, or if you want to try the genre out!

okay, just finished the tutorial, and im kinda split. first, the action feels great and the movement it stellar but yeesh this controller binding is messing me up. it only feels comfortable for me to keep one finder on the front of the controller, and i switch between the bumpers and the triggers with just my index. literally the only games that arent comparable with this approach, by expecting you to use bumpers AND triggers simultaneously, is this and hotline miami 2. the worst part is, i only figured out how weird this feels by the second-to-last tutorial, so i gotta redo all of it with kbm. after that, the game felt a lot more reasonable to get my fingers around (i probably wouldve switched spacebar and shift if i played longer), and i can confirm that the controller layout is my only obstacle to this kick-ass game. i will say that i wasnt expecting it to be a survival game? i thought itd be kind of a roguelike progression-through-a-dungeon thing, but its more about staying in a small space and defending. i already had this one wishlisted, and im glad i know what to expect now, this seems like itll be an interesting "kill 20 minutes before bed" game (in a good way! i love those)

right away, this feels like its to scotland what kisima innitchuna is to alaskan first nations. only its all stop motion and the entire ost sounds like a simon & garfunkle open house. maybe this comparison is stupid, the point is that this is awesome and you need to play it now. it may look like you get what the games about when you look at it, but it feels different to control. i dunno how to explain it, the artstyle makes the controls feel... different in a neutral way? please just try it, words fail me. this may very well be a once-in-a-lifetime game

game froze midway through the opening. man, bad luck today. it gotr working in the end, and MAN does this make me feel like a game reviewer. the game isnt hard per se, i can beat all the levels pretty easily, but the game asks you to be pretty damn talented if you want those a ranks. replay the level, route the best way to kill everyone as efficiently as possible. by the end youre gonna feel like harding. i feel like the full games gonna be a bit to tough for my blood, but im gonna have a stellar time watching the action from the sidelines. catch this at GDQ 2026

yeah i uh. went back to play more. damn this is more fun than i thought itd be, this is a good ass roguelike

before you read on, let it be known that this is objectively one of the best made and well put-together games ive tried this entire festival and all of my gripes with it are from personal preference. trying this game has led me to understand what people enjoy about punch-out (its clear inspiration) better than any 15 minute video essay could: its a puzzle game that relies on twitch reflexes and trial-and-error. its your job as a player to be attentive to the bosses's minute difference of animation to tell you exactly how to dodge and exactly when to strike. thats a great game! i feel genuinely remiss that i dont like trial and error and split-second weaknesses, or else i wouldve enjoyed this game way more. if youre on the fence about it, please give it an honesty try, this game knows exactly what to be and how to be it. the animation is great, both from the perspective of telegraphing attacks and just looking fantastic, the games vibe and personality is choice, and the gameplay itself is tight as hell. please just give it a shot

i guess thats the beauty of a demo, huh? it lets you figure out if youre gonna like a game before you commit to it. i hope if you take anything away from this 3-part... idk what youd call it, i kinda just gave my opinion about shit. look, im trying to tell you to try these games out yourself, hopefully this helped you figure out what is and isnt worth trying according to your own personal taste. and if youre not sure, give it a try anyway. demos are free, yknow

[wandringaesthetic]

Let's try to talk about Baten Kaitos some more (i think I'm near the end of it):

I'm tempted to say the plot is bad, or simple, or that it feels like it would have been brilliant in the 16 bit era but is made ridiculous with a lot more text and voice acting than it can support (and the fact the voice acting is Notably Bad doesn't help).

And I guess that's true.

But there is also some Really Interesting Stuff here. Take Magnus, the gameplay concept, the cards. When you are attacking a monster you are not hitting them with a sword but with a copy of the core idea of a sword, do you understand? (It's okay if you don't, I don't really)

We could leave this as a gameplay abstraction and it might be best to do so and not worry how or if this idea interacts with the universe of the game. But we don't. It turns out the protagonist's parental figure, his grandfather, was a researcher of these Magnus. It was thought that one couldn't capture the Magnus of a person (though you can apparently do it with an animal. one of your cards is a chicken don't think about it too hard), but he was trying to find a way. He didn't manage it, but he did create a Magnus, and from one of those Magnus he created the protagonist. Kalas was born from the idea of a person. He was supposed to be An Ideal, but he kind of sucks, actually. He's emotional and immature and impulsive. He sells his soul to the evil god for revenge or something. For a little bit he leaves your party and you have to kick his ass and save his soul with a magic mirror. In a world where people have two wings that are supposed to be some kind of reflection of their soul, he's just got one. (WE'LL COME BACK TO THIS) He was Too Much. Too Human. But grandpa took care of his little Frankenstein's monster accidental son anyway, until his past with the empire came back to bite him.

I can't talk about this game too much without talking about Chrono Cross. Masato Kato directed that game and wrote this one. (He also worked on Xenogears and Final Fantasy VII--this is about to be relevant) The games share some other personnel, but without going down a rabbit hole of interviews and game credits and writing some fanfiction about Squeenix and tri crescendo and MonolithSoft in the early oughts I'm not going to know who else to lay all this at the feet of, so Kato is going to be the assigned face.

Both games are both nearly perfect in presentation. Colorful and evocative in setting and music. They both have gameplay that is Probably Good But Weird Ideas that needed a few more iterations of refinement. They both have Very Lofty ambitions that they Do Not attain most of but still attain a pretty impressive number of.

Must a game be good? Can it not be a series of beautiful and evocative locations?

Both games also make a plot point of their gameplay abstractions. Chrono Cross in terms of FATE/records of FATE, i.e. save points (Xenogears does a similar thing), Baten Kaitos in the form of the aforementioned Magnus and the fact that you, yes YOU, the person playing the game, are a character in it, a sort of spirit that is accompanying the heroes on their journey and whispering in Kalas' ear.

And about those wings. Xenogears has IIRC an in universe creation myth where mankind originally had wings, but only one each, so that in order to fly they had to cling to one another. And then there's Final Fantasy fucking Seven, where, idk whether to lay "One Winged Angel" at the feet of Kato or not, (that probably has more to do with Nobuo Uematsu and Tetsuya Nomura). But Kato was probably in the room where Angel Wings But Just One happened at least three times now. That has to mean something. That has to be significant.

When it comes to boss design of the antagonist's super-powered monstrous form, much has been said and extrapolated about Safer Sephiroth and maybe it would be better to say less. Both "try to create a perfect being with imperfect hands and imperfect ideas of perfection and you create something useless and monstrous," and "we are made cracked and flawed and that's where the love gets in."

Just like this game! (Just like this transition!) Both this game and Chrono Cross have a sense of the unattainable about them. Chrono Cross deals with alternate timelines and the things that happen in some future or past that will never be. Beyond that it seems somehow yearning for something it can't depict. Gorgeous as it is it doesn't look like that opening FMV attract reel. Nothing in its story reaches the heights of "Time's Scar." With Baten Kaitos it's mostly in the strangeness and beauty of its world. People have soul wings that look like a peacock's or a dragonfly's or a hawk's. They live in islands in the sky. One of your characters is a simple fisherman--of a river that flows out of a pocket dimension and through the clouds. Another of your characters attacks with what looks like a futuristic gun, but are actually Magnus of brass instruments, and the structures of the imperial city he hails from recall the tubes and valves of the same. Villages look like storybook pages, or ice cream. But the lofty settings are pinned down by a pedestrian plot. The evil emperor is resurrecting the evil god with five macguffins because of.... Reasons. You must take revenge on your evil half brother.

But again. Must a game be good? Don't we need flaws for the light to get in? Maybe Kalas is perfect with his one mechanical wing and his mangled soul. Maybe that's the point.

[ihvcmplnts]

I hate the direction Poppy Playtime has gone in the past year. (Part 1)

Does anyone else hate the direction Poppy Playtime has taken this past year? and also not excited for Chapter 3? It really hurts me as I LOVED the first two Chapters! they felt really unique and special! I rarely get into new things, and when I do it's never as strongly as this!! So this may end up a little long, but I'd really appreciate it if people read this and understand the way I feel about this! (Especially you, MOBgames/MobEntertainment!)

Before I get into this, I have to admit that I'm terrible at writing, so this may be a little messy, but I'll try my best. Right, so there are many things I adored about Poppy Playtime: Chapter 1 & Chapter 2. We'll start with one of the things shared between both Chapters: Gameplay.

The gameplay in both Chapters is basically like this: Start Chapter -> do puzzles -> encounter living Toy -> do more puzzles -> encounter Toy again -> Toy chases you -> Toy dies -> End of Chapter.

I LOVE this formula! it works really well and is what the core of the game is: A cute, colourful & sometimes creepy puzzle game! (Too many games try to play up the horror aspect. the fact that these Chapters are cute, colourful puzzle games first, and creepy second, is something I really liked, as I'm personally not a fan of games trying to be "scary". games that try to be scary almost never are, and the thing with things that ARE scary? scares fade over time. creepy things though? those tend to stay creepy and linger in the mind for a long time! so yeah, creepy is miles better than scary!)

Next is the story. One thing I've noticed with many games over the years, is they try too hard to make a complex story. it always ends up feeling like things are forced in purely for "lOrE" and getting theorists to talk about it. this just completely ruins the story. see FNAF as an example. originally the plot was just "Man wearing yellow rabbit suit kills kids and stuffs their bodies in Animatronic suits, causing the children's souls to haunt said suits" nothing too complex here. very easy to understand. this was good. I liked FNAF a lot between 1 and SL. I think SL tied up the story perfectly. after that though, things started to change. now we're at a point where theres books that are apparently somewhat tied to the games? and games made after SL just don't fit in with the story previously told. it just seems very confusing to me and honestly puts me off the series. its just too complex at this point, so much so that I have zero desire to get back into the series. people just need to remember: simple is best! now back on topic: Poppy Playtime's story.

Poppy Playtime's story in the first two Chapters is simple. obviously there are two parts to this, so on to the first part: The Player's story - The Player, a former Playtime Co. employee, recieves a tape, and a note that states that the other employees, who disappeared in the factory 10 years ago, are actually still at the factory somewhere, but no-one has been able to find them. so the Player decides to go to the factory to investigate.

The second part - The Toys story: Toy Company finds a way to make living toys through the use of poppy flowers. minus Poppy herself, who seems to act more human, possibly due to being older and picking up on human behaviours, the living toys are like animals. Playtime Co. tries to teach, train & tame the toys. some, like Huggy Wuggy, are tame from the start, and some, such as Mommy Long Legs, are mostly tame, but also need a bit of training. then there are others who are more like wild animals that cannot be tamed. with the events currently taking place, many of the Toys, having been abandoned for 10 years, have reverted back into wild animals due to lack of socialisation and food. they're forced to eat their own kind in order to survive.

(Just a note I'd like to add is that one of my favourite things about Poppy Playtime is that the world inside Chapter 1 & Chapter 2 feels plausible. everything in those two feel like things that could happen in real life. The Toys being created, and the Toys themselves, with the way they act and the way they move. it's so good!!)

The second part of the story is facinating to me! a story of creating life that doesn't naturally exist, and the process of teaching them about the world they're in, and the roles they're given. it's SO unique and refreshing! the Toys being real, living beings, and not just a bunch of humans or human souls trapped inside a body that's not theirs was AMAZING!! Humans actually being the monsters in games is WAY too common, and honestly extremely boring. definitely a trope I am absolutely sick of. I know many others feel the same. genuine monsters are just SO much better! (more on this later)

Next thing I'd like to mention, which will be short: The look of the games.

I LOVE the look of both Chapter 1 (OG) & Chapter 2!! they look unique and have an amazing aesthetic. from these, you can easily tell what game you're looking at! cartoony, with a bit of realism. I've never liked realism myself, but the cartoony style with a hint of realism seen here really works!! its just a shame they ruined Chapter 1 a bit with the update they put out a few months back.

I also LOVE the Toy Factory setting!! normally factories in games are really ugly and unappealing, but Poppy Playtime Chapter 1 & Chapter 2 managed to make a factory that is adorable and colourful!! seeing the character art and colours everywhere makes it so appealing! with those and other things like the way the pipes on the walls look, and just how cartoony it all looks, including the machines seen in both chapters, the factory itself looks like a giant toy! it's wonderful and magical and I cannot praise it enough!

Now I'm going to focus on the things I liked about both Chapters individually.

Chapter 1: Short, to the point. a great intro for the game. Huggy may have had little screentime, but what he had was perfect. he was basically "tutorial monster", which really worked for him. his role has been fulfilled. overall, just a nice little experience. 10/10 experience for the original Steam version.

Chapter 2: A longer, more story-driven Chapter. All of the Toys in this one were great in the roles they were given, but of course Mommy Long Legs stood out. I absolutely LOVE Mommy!! her playful, childlike personality was always so fun, and she's utterly adorable!! I love that she talks! it made her so much more interesting, really adds to the cuteness of her character, and is the sole reason why she was also a bit creepy. The minigames of this Chapter were great fun! and the green hand is cool! I miss the red one though. :( red and blue go better than blue and green! anyway - Chapter 2 really is amazing, and basically took what we had in Chapter 1 & made it so, SO much better!! 10/10!! honestly, Mommy alone makes Chapter 2 deserve a 10/10 score! she's THAT amazing!! (I also LOVE that Mommy is the baby of the living toys!! it's so cute! I hope it stays that way as being the youngest really suits her!! she's very cutesy, has a somewhat child-like personality & way of speaking, and is the smallest of the bigger toys, so its perfect! I like to imagine she's like a little sister to other toys like Huggy & PJ! and I think there's enough reason to think she may have been close to those two in particular, especially Huggy, which I really like as those three are my favourites! Huggy, Mommy & PJ were the original Playtime Trio too. I miss that group so bad!! I'd love to see merch of just those 3 together! a blanket would be the best thing!!)

Next: Toy Designs The designs of the main cast of toys (Huggy, Mommy, PJ, Bunzo, Poppy, Kissy, Candy, CatBee, Bron & Boogie) are all great in that their designs actually look like toys that could exist in real life! Huggy, Mommy, PJ & Bunzo are easily the stand-outs. they're the ones I think look most plausible, and most interesting. Mommy's design is by far the best! super cute & pretty. she's absolutely a toy I would've LOVED to have when I was a kid. she and PJ feel very nostalgic to me as they actually do look like the sort of toys that were about from my childhood! I haven't got anything more to say about Huggy or Bunzo, but they're just great designs! I also don't have anything else to say about the other main toys - Candy, CatBee, Poppy, Kissy, Bron & Boogie. again, just great designs! Candy in particular I have a soft spot for. she's cute!

I will say though: Huggy's & Mommy's designs were totally butchered in Project: Playtime. Ugly and no longer look plausible as actual toys. (same for Bunzo's design at the end of the Easter comic, and now Kissy & Poppy.) not sure why they ruined them so bad in that game. they should've left them alone! I was REALLY hoping they didn't use them again, especially not in the main game. The person who made the redesigned models completely missed the point of the characters: they're meant to look plausible as actual toys, be cute, and in some cases a bit uncanny. also the inspiration for certain characters is lost in the redesigns. The GrabPack also looks bad. more on all this later. probably in a separate post.

I keep hoping they'll change them back to their original designs in the spinoff, (and now the main game) as it is one of the major reasons I've been completely put off of ever playing it. because they look so horrible!! actually, there's a LOT about Project: Playtime I don't like. Its actually the reason Poppy Playtime started to go downhill for me, due to it making so many changes, retcons and just not making sense. I'll get to that in a bit. first though: The Chapter 1 update.

My main issue with the update is it made the game too dark, which really ruins the experience. how can a game be enjoyed properly when you can't even see anything? it just completely changes & ruins the atmosphere, which is sad. I have other more minor complaints about the update, but I won't bother with those here.

I REALLY hope they don't update Chapter 2. or at the very least, visually. I understand if they want to add subtitles like Chapter 1, but Chapter 2, just like the original version of Chapter 1, is perfect as it is. I'd be so devastated and heartbroken to see Chapter 2 ruined. It's very important to me.

also, I really hope they bring back OG Chapter 1 someday.

I'm probably forgetting something, but for now I think I'm done with the stuff I loved & liked. now onto all the crap that I feel is ruining the game, starting with what started the decline: Project: Playtime.

Project: Playtime, as previously stated, is definitely what started the massive decline in the series. it made so many awful, unnecessary changes & retcons to the main game. I'm surprise I haven't seen as many people as I thought I would talking about all the issues it (and Chapter 3) introduced. here's a list of the changes & retcons made in this game:

1.The living Mommy being made before her toy. So she only had a matter of days to bond with the other living toys, the ones that she was so attached to? and the staff only tried to train her for a few days before deciding to move her elsewhere so they could condition her into tolerating & looking after or guiding kids with the hope it MAY calm her down? such a stupid retcon that makes no sense. I figured they'd at least try working on her behaviour for a couple of years, or heck, even just a few months, before trying this method! also I'm pretty sure its impossible to create toys, and send them to stores in less than a month. (If anyone is confused: Mommy's toy came out 2nd of February, 1991. this means that with Project's retcon, which states the living Mommy was also created in 1991, was made somewhere between 1st January 1991 to 1st of February 1991. it just doesn't work!!)

2.While on the subject, Mommy's personality. part of her profile in Project states "Mommy is best described as a spider-like psychotic murderer who kills for fun." I have multiple problems with this.

To start, I don't see how she's spider-like. Sure, there are some references, but her design is clearly human, and her personality is more cat-like with the way she watches & plays with the player.

Next, how is Mommy psychotic? sure, it was obvious in Chapter 2 that Mommy is mentally ill, the way she behaves and speaks feel like a young adult, who acts very child-like. but looking at what I can see from a quick search of psychosis, most of the symptoms don't seem to match. I thought her illness was either because her handler(or whatever they call the person/people who takes care of her) didn't treat her very well, (which, along with being taken away from the toys she loved, also caused her to hate humans) or just a random, made up illness that would never be explained.

Also, it called her a murderer. how is she a murderer? as far as we're aware, she's only killed Bunzo and some of the Mini Huggies, which could be justified. bear in mind the main game establishes two things: 1.The toys are starving due to a lack of food, and 2.There appears to be multiple different sides, or groups, amongst the toys. Mommy could've made a deal with Bunzo & the Mini Huggies where she'd spare them and find food elsewhere if they killed the player, or maybe they'd share the player's corpse, as I'm sure it would be plenty for all of them. as they failed, and she was starving, she could've chosen to eat them, so of course killed them. in regards to "sides", it seems to me that there are at least two or three different sides that the toys are on. Huggy & Mommy seem to be on the same side, as there's quite a lot out there that suggests the two are close, and also that they both seem to dislike Poppy. Poppy herself seems to be on her own side, though it wouldn't surprise me if she was secretly working with the Prototype. speaking of which, Prototype seems to also have his own little group. but again, wouldn't surprise me if Poppy's on his side. people wonder why Mommy didn't kill PJ. there are multiple possibilities, though the ones I think apply: He's too big for her to kill as he's much larger than her. he could also have been part of her group, and her friend. It also could just be that she didn't get time or was too focused on finding the player, but I doubt that. I think its possible that Mommy could've killed Bunzo & the Mini Huggies because they were of a different group, though I find that unlikely as they live where she lives, and she set the Mini Huggies free. It could've just been pure rage, but even if that was A reason, I think food is probably the main reason she killed them. I wouldn't call her a murderer for that. It was simply survival.

It also says she kills for fun….. No she doesn't. In Chapter 2 she clearly doesn't want to personally kill the player, as she has them play games with other toys in the hopes that one of them kills the player instead. it was only when she was out of options that she went after the player herself. It's true that she threatened to kill the player during her intro scene, but I'm sure that was purely to scare the player into playing her games. So yes, she DID want the player dead, and she may have wanted to watch it happen, but she still didn't want to actually do the killing herself! and to be honest, even if Mommy DID decide to kill the player herself instead of having other toys try first, I still wouldn't say she's a murderer, or that she kills for fun. We know the player was a member of staff as Mommy recognised them. Mommy hates the staff. if she was actually treated poorly, and I bet she was, especially with her "conditioning", killing the Player would both feel like vengeance for how she was treated, and give her food to eat. So yeah, Project's info is false. I really don't know why they wrote it that way.

I won't delve too much into it here, but I also don't like the nonsense abilities made up for the characters in the game. The Steam page also lists how the characters play incorrectly, but that's a topic for a different post.

Other things I don't like are: 1.The change in art-style. I can't pinpoint exactly why it looks so different, but it looks bland and ugly. though at least it still looks cartoony, so I'll give it credit for that.

2.The locations. they don't make sense and do not fit in the world. though I don't think they were meant to be canon, which is good, but I think creators should take care with spin-offs in making sure they fit in with their main series.

3.Boxy Boo. I think his design is bad. he doesn't look like a toy Playtime Co. would make, and doesn't look plausible. He just doesn't fit into the world. he also lacks the "cute" look of the other toys. his name is also awful, but just "Boxy" would've been fine. He honestly just feels like a rip-off of both Huggy (combo of eyes, sharp teeth, furry.) and Mommy. (stretchy, even if done differently.)

I also HATE his fleshy mouth. He's a toy! why is his mouth fleshy?? I could say more, but I'll leave it there. I may delve more into his design in another post.

This game is also the thing that introduced two things to the series: 1.The Bigger Bodies Initiative (BBI for short) & 2.The possibility that some of the living Toys are made using human parts. some people also think that its suggesting that the Toys are actually not just made from humans, but ARE the humans they're made from. PLEASE NO. (more on this in a bit.)

The first of the two, the BBI, is just so silly to me. I hate the name. it sounds stupid. and the whole need for a special title for certain bigger toys, when there was no need for the smaller toys or previous bigger toys doesn't make sense. also the game suggests that Boxy was the first living Toy created, but that doesn't make sense either. Prototype was suggested to be the first of something due to his name. I have an idea of what it is, but I'll be saving that for later. Next, its heavily implied that Poppy is the first ever living Toy. why another "first"? what else could he be the first of? the only thing I can think of is he's the first that used human parts. though the game seems to have retconned Huggy & Mommy into BBI experiments too, which I do NOT like.

This leads me into the next one: that some Toys are made using human parts.

I HATE this!! it's SO unoriginal and boring. it was far more interesting with them all being created using only poppy flowers! (and I'd assume lab created blood. though it could also be the poppy flowers mixed with some sort of water to make it look & function like blood)

The whole "The Toys are humans" thing is even worse!! it doesn't make sense and it completely ruins the characters and the plot!! it also completely removes any creepiness from the games! how is it even the slightest bit creepy if the Toys are just a bunch of people?? pretty much everything given in the first two chapters basically said that the Toys were exactly as they're presented: Living Toys. stuff outside the game also heavily suggested this. If the Ch1 & Ch2 Toys are people now, it's definitely a massive (and awful) retcon! one that, again, makes NO sense whatsoever! The Toys being simply just living toys trying to adapt to and navigate a world they weren't naturally made for is so much more interesting! I'll be talking more about this in a bit as I'll be talking about all the evidence for both sides.

Actually, I'm going to make a part 2 of this post to go over other things in more detail. I've spent hours writing this out and I'm so tired. so I'll leave it here for now, but I'll try to get part 2 up soon. I'd love to post it today, but I think its more likely to be within a couple of days or so. maybe longer. we'll see. anyway, if anyone had read all this, thank you! if anyone does read this and agrees with anything I've said here, please feel free to add your own thoughts on what you agree with as it's always nice hearing from others who share opinions. :) or alternatively, make your own post about your thoughts on the series! or both!

Just quickly going to add: I'm VERY disappointed in the Console version of Chapter 1. I was hoping for a normal port of the OG Steam version with the Steam picture for the console menu icon. this version doesn't look very good and the icon used for it is hideous!! bring back the iconic steam picture you cowards!!

I also have much to add about Chapter 3 aswell, such as:

1.The Smiling Critters have a bad design (why 8 identical designs with minor differences though??) and also don't fit in. (Especially the bigger ones)

2.How ugly the game and characters look.

3.The new hands are bad and again, don't fit in.

4.The fact that CatNap seems to be confirmed to be a human, which is a massive retcon for the series.

Also a couple of other things related to both Ch3 & Project:

1.How MOB have clearly lost sight of what Poppy Playtime was meant to be & what made it so special.

2.How MOB clearly doesn't care about pleasing actual fans and are only trying to pander to haters, and their clique of Discord users/Partners In Crime members/a particular set of theorists.

I've probably forgotten something, but I tried my best. I wish I could've posted this months ago (and also in complete form) but things kept getting in the way. Any questions? feel free to ask. bye for now.

[madame-cookie]

janthir wilds thoughts

im having a lot of fun. i dont really have a lot of nice things to say about it except the maps are fun to play in and the housing is cool. but that being the case i dont want to come across as coming away from the expansion feeling negatively. bc despite not liking a lot of details about the expansion, it was still as fun as others. i think i maybe even liked it more than some of the larger living world plots and its just started.

mostly, im just not interested in many family-based narratives. i dont have a family so it just usually takes a more... impactful relationship to make me interested in the dynamics. it being a whole cast of new characters and a new fantasy group of people made me even less inclined to invest myself in their issues bc i was still trying to figure out the context for these characters and this place.

it did explain why caithe went with us though. i thought that was so random but then it went on to be the unresolved mommy issues chapter and she is like the grand champion of mommy issues bc she just made them all up in her head. like... i always thought it was SO WEIRD how caithe treats aurene so much like a mother to child. like except for weird dragon bond magic i dont really understand how or why her character has gone from being calculated and cunning to just like, doting and brooding over a child that was really the player characters' if anyones. she says like "our daughter"or some shit to you at the end of this one and i was like ooooooooo ehhhhhhhh about that. i love u caithe... and i think u rule.... but you are my least favorite member if every group we are in together so its a little weird for you to talk about the baby u have with me sorry.

malice it was like. cool to remember she exists. she is still just an extension of other characters and not really speaking for herself in a way that matters. just too shy about her position to do much. dont know where thats going but it could be cool to see her become important as a character for how important she was in specifc parts of the story. shes neat! i wanna be excited to see her but rn for her and caithe i was just like. oh :/ was literally everyone else busy? lol

poky is weirdly just like braham. i kinda wish braham just came bc i think its crazy we just sort of touched base and that was it. like dude whats up!!?

omg real quick. Stoic Alder. i am so sorry. you talk WAY. TOO. SLOW. i cant stand it. i never do this but his was the first time playing in 12 years that i actively sought to miss a character's dialogue. i was getting drinks etc every other time he talked bc it was largely summative in nature and soo. slowwwww. all the lowland koda sort of talked that way but his was so hard for me. do they pick leaders based on who talks slowest? lol. the council was dope i like them. but especially when it was all about his estranged relationship with his son bc of his dead wife or whatever. like thats sad bear stuff i guess but it happens bro lol. i dont think the first 5minutes of Up is said either bc like they lived a happy life together ppl die and thats normal.

but thats beside the point. i guess it just felt a little like we were mostly dealing with slice of life issues while what could very well be a devastating threat was brewing just north all the while.

i didnt think titans were ever coming back tbh. sort of a deep cut while being relevant no matter what bc of lore reasons. its kind of cool bc pretty much everyone has a potential stake in it. if their people werent directly affected by the titans of the past, the actions of the peoples they manipulated were pretty much felt by everybody.

im not happy about having to wait to unlock the rest of the core crafting disciplines for my housing since im fairly certain there will be many future ways to craft expanding on that. diverting the access to the last (better, likely) half of recipes is kind of frustrating. i missed when they manipulated our gameplay in more subtle ways. there are a lot of things about this and the last expansion that really make it seem like theyre trying to negotiate with your willingness to waste your time. and i dont appreciate it lol. but its not a big deal. im mostly excited about future expansions.

like i loved in the prologue how they walked us around the room to tell us more or less the next things the alliance would be dealing with. v excited to go back to elona in the future. and the tengu... how long must i bang my fists against the walls of the dominion of winds before they let us innnnn. in my truest fantasy its bc theyre going to let us make tengu characters. but i know its delusional dont worry. the hope keeps me young.

overall i LOVE the spear skills. huge spear fan here. i really wish they hadnt just stopped making underwater skins for black lion weapon lines bc a lot of them would probably have nice spears we could be using. its... a little silly of them when you think about it. im starving for a better variety of spears! and i did sort of expect more than like 4 when the expansion came out. the spear expansion with a spear on the cover.

whispering sorrow is a very complicated character that i still feel as if i have learned the most about from lore documents despite having met her. i want to like her, and i think she's really cool because of what she can do. but i want to like her because of why she does things too, and im just sort of waiting to see why that could be. or at least to hear it from her mouth.

also just bc i remembered it. i hope poky joins our little guild. i want to like him bc i like braham and theyre so much alike. i wanna see how theyre different too. but i feel he hasnt had as much time yet to banter with us bc we have been mostly dealing with his personal issues. and rightly so! but we got to play w braham a lot before his life fell apart so idk i just think it would be cool if in like a year i was drawing poky and braham doing karaoke together or something lol

[farfromdaylight]

i have a 600 person queue to chew through, so let's make another post.

i'm level 95 and have finished the third solo instance, plus a few quests after it (but not that far.)

this expansion feels very political in a way that's different from the previous expacs. ff14 doesn't really hide its politics and never has; it's always been a story about the power of friendship overcoming the most terrible of foes. and in that respect, it's very simple and straightforward. a little basic, maybe, but the core theme of "you should actually listen to what other people want" is very honest and true to itself.

wuk lamat wants peace. and peace is a wonderful thing to want, but what does it actually mean? it means looking at how your society is set up. it means looking at who has advantages, and who doesn't, and why that is. and then when you find out, you have to do something about it. a truly egalitarian society is a pipe dream, but it's the thought that counts.

that doesn't mean it's not worth trying. and even if you fail, you'll have learned valuable lessons in the attempt. this, too, is a constant refrain of ff14: you have to try, even if it's hard, even if you're not sure you're going to succeed. you have to put in the effort.

it's interesting how the claimants each display different parts of this struggle. koana's lust for innovation is all well and good, but there's no depth to it. bakool ja ja wants power for the sake of power, to justify but not right past wrongs. zoraal ja — well, i suspect we'll be getting more into him soon. i do not think he will accept defeat so easily.

and wuk lamat is so clearly meant to be the victor. this entire setup is perfect for her, and while she's plainly struggled along the path, she's still tried. she's given it her all, and she hasn't backed down even when it's tough. it's admirable, i think.

on the whole, i'm really liking this expansion! it feels very reminiscent of stormblood, in that the warrior of light is kind of just There and not particularly integral to the actual story. but after all the drama of the past two expacs this is nothing short of a relief. god knows we needed a rest.

some misc thoughts:

how the fuck is kenteramm still alive, lmao. i stopped msq right before going to his house (sidequests spawned and i had to do them) so i guess?? we'll find out?? most HD roegadyn i've ever seen tho, damn

i can Feel a twist looming. with the rite of succession nearing its end, there's gotta be something beyond "search for the city of gold" to carry us five more levels.

on a gameplay note, i have no idea when to use vice of thorns. it seems as though i have the freedom to use it whenever, which is nice, but i like a slightly more rigid burst window... i suppose i'll just use it after party buffs go out. other red mage changes are v good so far.

i did a leveling queue as summoner this morning to try and keep pace with red mage and lucked into the level 93 dungeon (the top one i could do, nice). these dps queues tho. killer. (i'd comment on summoner changes but l o l)

THE VALIGARMANDA TRIAL WAS FANTASTIC. i did it in trust (what a surprise! i never thought they'd do a trust trial again) and died when the boss was at like 12% health because....... i was trying to RDM LB3 and the avalanche got me and none of the NPCs broke me out of the snowball. THANKS A LOT, ASSHOLES. went fine the second time though.

as a red mage main, alisaie as your trust healer is fucking hilarious.

this goes without saying but the game looks so beautiful, goddamn.

i still have 83 in queue but i've run out of things to say. LET ME IN

[owlixx]

Kirby Copy Ability Thoughts

Animal - Pretty cute, useful for digging, decent in combat, would love to see it come back

Archer - Perfect, wonderful, amazing. Love varied movesets.

Backdrop - Great when merged with fighter later

Ball - I hate this one, yet I would love to see it return

Beam - A classic, prefer it when it has a more diverse moveset. Love the dash air attack and the infinite air spin

Beetle - One of my favs, super fun and fluid to use

Bell - Again, slept on, really enjoy the dash attack and the look

Bomb - I always avoid this one, it just feels very plain jane to me

Bubble - Gets a little overwhelming to have to manage all the bubbled abilities, but genuinely interesting. Would love to see a way for it to return.

Burning - Great when it becomes merged with fire later

Circus - Not a huge fan of this one, doesn't feel like I am in control

Cleaning - Interesting how it is worthless for Kirby but good for his friends, and love that Star Allies uses it to reference those games

Cook/Crash/etc. - I barely ever use these unless they are obviously offered right before a boss fight

Copy - Such a funny one. Niche, but I wouldn't mind seeing it return. The Tac is such an iconic enemy too

Cupid - bring him back! Feels like a downgraded UFO, which I like. More abilities like this that really change the way Kirby moves, for better or worse

Cutter - A classic, maybe my favorite of the core abilities. Great for bosses once you can aim and charge it.

Doctor - Not a huge fan. Cute theming but feels like it lacks a gameplay purpose

ESP - Good on the mech for that one double boss fight, but otherwise cute theming and underwhelming power.

Fighter - Love to see it every time. The original varied moveset. Lost a bit of its uniqueness as other abilities also gained varied movesets but its always fun to see the flashy animations

Fire - Very reliable, love it for safely bashing bosses. Love the fire dash, love the flame wheel drop in Triple Deluxe

Freeze/Ice - I miss when he would turn blue for this one but the Parka is cute too! Love the ice blocks, the air attack, and most of all the iceball roll from Return to Dream Land. Always a fun and cute one.

Ghost - Never unlocked it but seems odd

Hammer - I mean, the king of weapon abilities. Always try to hold it as long as possible. Great for bosses. Love the dash air attack

Jet - Love using this in enviroments designed for it, fun that it turns the mech into a shmup

Laser - Really like this one for unique puzzle solving but less so for boss fights. Bring it back! I'd love to see this mix with other powers or an Ultra/upgraded version too

Leaf - A little underwhelming for such a late addition, but I really like this one for hitting aerial enemies. Feels situational. Bring it back.

Light - LOL I forgot about this one, its funny. Bring it back for the lolz

Magic - Enjoyed this in Squeak Squad, felt wacky but usable. Bring it back.

Metal - Superior to stone in every way (except cute references). Bring it back NOW

Mike - I never use this but I think it is funny that the mech version isn't single use

Mirror - THE GOAT, my all time favorite copy ability. Useful for all occasions, especially when they add the pillar attack. Only reason to leave it out of a Kirby game is to give the other abilities a fighting chance for my attention

Missile - I like that it is hard to use. Bring it back

Needle - Sucked until you could shoot the spines.

Ninja - Never connected with this one much despite its ubiquity

Parasol - A bit situational, but a reliable one that ages well as the moveset grows

Plasma/Spark - Was never a huge fan of these until I learned their boss-killing potential late into Return to Dreamland, but I still hate wiggling the stick. RtDL helped by allowing motion control for charing up

Poison - Not bad, its cute, great for boss killing, deserves to return

Sleep - I like there being one bad ability

Spear - Really like this one being included as bandana's weapon!

Stone - Actually never liked this one, maybe it got a better moveset at some point that I never picked up on

Suplex/Throw - Great but prefer when merged with Fighter

Sword - Not really a huge fan except for the dash aerial or mixing with elements or underwater

Tornado - Great for bosses, great for levels. Love its power being counter balanced by its difficulty of use

UFO - I never understood why this is such a rare ability when it seems like it just slows you down

Water - This one seems like it should've been included sooner. Love the dash attack

Wheel - Adore this one, always improves a game by being present. Lends itself to unique platforming level design. Great when you can ride an ally. Hate the mech suit version though

Whip - Never connected with this one, seems like it doesn't do enough damage to be worth using on bosses but isn't mobile enough for level clearing

Wing - Really enjoy this one, I love any ability that changes Kirby's movement options

Yo-Yo - So rare that it really reminds me of Super Star, and I love Gim's design. Really glad this one is in Star Allies.

Overall, I basically just like the abilities in Super Star especially since Mirror and Yo-Yo are two of my favorites. But I also really like Archer, Beetle, and Bell introduced in Triple Deluxe. Shout out to Return to Dream Land too though for Spear and Water. And the last shout out goes to Squeak Squad for having the guts to replace Stone with Metal.

[kroklay]

1. I don’t like playing online because I see bloodstains, and it becomes hard to tell which messages are place by player or by the devs.

It wasn’t my intention to make this argument about trying make Dark Souls as hard as possible, I was trying to make the argument that a pause button would upset the flow of gameplay.

For instance, I think Bloodborne is incredibly easy, like just laughably easy at some point. The Hunter is really strong, bosses have little health and few abilities, and dear god parrying is so strong. And this is for thematic reasons, you are literally a hunter hunting beasts, of course you are stronger. But the core gameplay of Bloodborne remains the same, and adding a pause button would alter that. It would make it easier too, yes, but that’s not the point I’m trying to make.

2. I used the term “struggling” just to mean overcoming a difficult obstacle, maybe that is I what that word means, and it certainly doesn’t mean that to you. But we have devolved into arguing about semantics, so I’m just going to stop.

3. I find it funny that I described an exhilarating heart-pounding experience, and your reaction is “what about people with anxiety” Honestly, it would do most of the anxious people I know some good to get their heart pumping through a positive experience. And for people with heart problems, idfk, stand up and take a break in between boss fight attempts? You know, like how the game is intended to be played?

I think that games shouldn’t be trying to accommodate every play style, I think it’s one of the biggest faults of modern gaming, and is too complicated of a topic for me to talk about right now.

Some games have a feature where you can disable or enable pausing, much like disabling or enabling flashing lights; but I get the feeling you meant “just don’t press the pause button”. The only specific game I can think of that does this isTerraria, but I’m sure other games do it as well. And for a game like Terraria, pausing is very conducive to the flow of gameplay. I still don’t personally do it, but I absolutely understand using it, and see nothing wrong with it. And honestly I think Terraria is harder than Dark Souls. So once again, I’m not making this argument about difficulty.

4. Are you even reading what I’m saying? When there is an emergency, screw the game, stand up and go deal with it…

Also it’s pretty rude to assume I don’t have any responsibility just because I want to enjoy playing video games??

[protagonistheavy]

Finished Mario Wonder and yeah, it was an average Mario sidescroller experience. I really don't feel like this is inherently a better "direction" than anything the New series was doing, in many ways it still very much still New with a better coat of paint. It felt like the whole game was lacking something, at least considering just how short it is.

I love all the new enemies but so many of them appear in just one or two courses before never being used again. Many of them have fun and unique mechanics that would have been fun to see mixed together in different ways, but you usually only get just the one course featuring that enemy. I do like the enemies that play-out like standard enemies, like goombas and koopas, but with their own special quirks that mix up gameplay just a little. But beyond that it's more disappointing how often enemies will just disappear from the game once you've gone past their stage.

There's also a significant lack of challenge anywhere in the game. With how easy of a time I was having getting through each course, I was really expecting there to be a hard mode unlocked by the end, or even a whole other circuit of challenging courses to go through. But there isn't. I still have a few stages left to 100%, and a few that I straight-up haven't found yet, but I'm not particularly encouraged to go and finish everything when it doesn't feel like there'd be any real reward for it. Maybe I'm still missing some obscure secret ending...? But I sort of doubt that.

I don't think it's that mean to compare Wonder to Mario Odyssey, and on every metric, Odyssey is the better game. The 3d environment allows for more engaging puzzles and enthralling worlds, the capture mechanic was a superior substitute to plain power-ups, and there were far better secrets to discover that made exploration and replays more valuable. Wonder is a very, very traditional experience, which really stands out with how "wEiRd" it really wants to be -- it's sometimes embarrassing how wacky Wonder thinks it is, when most of the Wonder Seed moments are pretty par for Mario games. The only thing Wonder has over Odyssey is multiplayer, but I'm not so convinced that having friends to goof around with would make my experience any better lol.

So in the end I guess I'm kinda let down. I was hoping Wonder would be a bit braver in trying new things but in some ways it feels even paler to a normal New Super Mario game. Aesthetics have been improved, but core gameplay is still way too simple without any options to make the game harder or more compelling.

[kieuecaprie]

KieueCaprie's List of Games Finished in 2023: Entry #12 - Armored Core 6

So, technically, I could've called it good after finishing the game once but it kind of asked me to do it again another two times. So, I obliged it and I'm kind of glad I did. Hit the read more if you want to hear me ramble about it.

The teal deer of this is that this is one of the best games I've played in 2023 so far despite all the FromSoft Moments™ and the FromSoft PC Port Moments™.

Initially, I was somewhat excited for this game, well, about as excited as I can be (it's a little hard for me to be excited for things these days, don't think I have the energy to spare I guess?). Although, the first hurdle was figuring out what edition I wanted... I picked the digital deluxe one since the other editions, while nice, were expensive and I don't have much room, ESPECIALLY with my plushie pile that slowly increases in size overtime.

The game is GREAT, I loved the visuals, though I had to turn down the effects at one point because it was getting to be too much, the gameplay felt like a significant upgrade from AC4A, which was the last AC game I played before I retreated back to AC1 to do Project Phantasma, and while the combat felt fast, it wasn't ridiculously fast as AC4 and AC4A, despite having Quick Boosts and Overboosts (okay, Assault Boosts) in the game, plus I had the benefit of playing on PC which meant I could bind gyro to the game via Steam, which I did, although it did mess with the hardlock function as I found out incredibly late into my NG1 playthrough.

However, the game was prone to technical issues as I was playing a FromSoft game on PC. I was one of the lucky ones to not have to deal with constant crashes but instead, I was rewarded with a time limit where if I play too long, the game will eventually crash. I don't know if it was connected to the game having a memory leak, the GPU having a fit over shaders, or my undervolting of GPU and CPU both, but I barely had any issues with any other games besides this.

On the topic of difficulty, I thought the game was... okay with its difficulty but I feel like there were too many spikes in the earlygame. The helicopter proved difficult at first until I actually got a handle on the new controls and Balteus was absolutely not very fun until I found a build that could handle him (and then I immediately shitstomp him twice more with the same build, although I swapped to another build on the third go-around and shitstomped him with that to prove I'm not a one-trick).

The story was probably the most involved I've seen it being in an Armored Core game what with the chatter in missions from the gung-ho Redguns to the Vespers who harbors one of the best and one of the worst characters in the game (Redguns also has another terrible character, this isn't to say I think they're bad, they're just hatesinks) and the endings are pretty great, reminds me of all the endings in... AC4A, I think? Although probably without the whole... you know...

Also, I loved the fact that melee is actually viable in this game. In older AC games, melee kind of felt like an afterthought where they were very clunky and slow and didn't track very well. Sure, they HIT LIKE A TRUCK when they hit but you're better off using something else. It was pretty bad to the point where I relished the chance to use MOONLIGHT since that meant I had a melee that shot laser waves, making it not as useless.

Between Laser lances, pulse blades, pile bunkers, and even your own core, I loved trying out all the melee options although I did just go with the blades with the occasional lance on one build, and of course, I still made a build with my precious MOONLIGHT!

All in all, I think this is a very solid game, although the game is prone to the typical FromSoft PC Moments™ supposedly. I enjoyed it. Anyway, here's all of my AC builds I used throughout the three playthroughs:

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