#lance route review

[tarticawhat]

Nameless Route Review: Lance - Tsundere? Kuudere? Anyway, Lots of Feelings

This review is NOT SPOILER FREE. BEWARE OF SPOILERS. *SLAPS POST* SHE CAN HOLD SO MANY SPOILERS. Ok, I warned you. SPOILERS. Second on my Nameless journey is the silver-haired tsundere? kuudere? certainly something-dere, Lance. From the beginning, Lance comes across as very aloof, uptight, and nitpicky. He pretends he only chooses to do things for Eri and the others in service of practicality;…

[ross-hollander]

The exercise was found...

...in Star League stratagem guides, explained as a fighting retreat drill. A poorly executed withdrawal could become a disastrous rout. Thus, in this exercise, a force equipped with minimal infantry elements and only UrbanMechs had to defend against an advancing attacker. Records show it didn't have much time between its inception and the Amaris Civil War to actually be carried out.

But, ever since its discovery by a hobbyist-historian in 3130, it was pitched as a concept for some kind of convention event. In 3138, the first Operation URBANSTORM was held, taking place in the territory of the Capellan Confederation, with a simple premise: a free-for-all simulated battle, with the stipulation that all contestants could use UrbanMechs and only UrbanMechs. The first year already had nearly thirty pilots enter, some from as far as the Concordat, and the operation was carried out with a great amount of training paint rounds and all the gravity of a Nerf war or cardboard tube battle.

URBANSTORM is now into its twentieth year, and has since expanded to allow other models, although all entrants are reviewed by a panel of judges to ensure they would not outcompete a stock Urbie. (The victors of the last free-for-all lance-on-lance were a jury-rigged combat-capable Powerman and Muckracker, an Ostscout IIC, and their mandatory UrbanMech.) The tourism dollars from hosting the competitors have led to significant dispute on which world gets to host it.

[keresacheron]

Pokemon Kalos Crystal Playthrough and Review

Kalos Crystal is the sequel to Unova Red. It has a very simple premise; that the pokemon of generations 5&6 take the place of those of in 1-2. It's a Crystal Version where Fairy is the brand new types instead of dark&steel. A shiny Elektrike replaces the Red Gyarados, ect.

It's a faithful adaption of Pokemon Crystal. It's got great sprites, being made by the Unova Red/B&W3 team that feel really appropriate for gen 2. It's very nostalgic and really feels like your playing an alternative timeline version of crystal. I once caught a Krookorok holding a black glassess, which was a real flavour win. All the legendaries have overworld sprites, which is great immersion, and the additional legendaries are placed in appropriate areas. There are additional evoluation stones, so that while still scarce they are more available than the base game.

I took awhile completing the pokedex, and the evolution changes and more importantly earlier evolution levels were great even if they were still fairly high. The level curve is somewhat improved while still feeling like the original game, with the exception of the Kanto trainers. The wild Kanto pokemon have thankfully been moved up to level 35. There is an Elite Four rematch where they start at level 60, which provided a good intermediate step between Blue and Red.

Some of the fights and team choices were great. Your Rival has a Sandile, which fits since he's son of Giovanni who uses one in Radical Red as his ace. Whitney was still extremely hard, as her new ace Furfrou could still outspeed and flinch stuff with Stomp+Attract. The Kimono girls used the Swords of Justice. Jasmine's Aegislash was hard, but fair as the lack of abilities was balanced by giving them a low special defence. The dragons in the Johto lategame all had dragon rage at the right time, giving the Team Rocket Admins and Blackthorn Gym a great theme. Will type was changed from Psychic to Fairy, showing off the generations new type. Lance was very tough but fair.

Red himself was a bit too strong. His team were the three Unova starters and the Tao Trio of Legendary dragons in their mid to late seventies. Without a fairy type to switch into his outrages he would be unbeatable by my lvl63 no legendaries team (Also his Samurotts horn drill never missed in multiple battles, sometimes koing 2 or more pokemon).

The games greatest strengths, it's faithfulness and adaption, is also it's greatest weakness. Bugsies ace was Vivillion without STAB. Pryce was a joke, as the physical special split robbed him of good STAB moves for his team. The Kanto trainers and gym leaders had levels that were mostly unchanged. Jasime was kept a poison type user, so she and Koga both had to substitute in bug pokemon into their team, despite the Fuschia gym now being dark. Dragalgae was overused, with Clair, Koga and Lance all using one. And Karen didn't use a Hydreigon since this was Lance's ace.

It was a good experience and executes it's vision marvelously. My team is below.

Darcy, my starter pokemon. I always wanted to use a Shiny Fennikin due to it's great look, so I used a code to make it shiny. Darcy was a great pokemon, hitting hard and fast with powerful moves. It's type combination played great with the physical/special split, and with the Dazzling Gleam TM he was even great against Lance.

Salem the Mandibuzz, caught as a Vullaby on Route 46. I had never used a Vullaby or Mandibuzz before, and wanted to try one out. She was extremly strong, both in the early game, and later on when it evolved to Mandibuzz at level 40 before the elite four. Due to learnign Swords Dance very early on, her bulk and physical stabs she had a niche as sword dance sweeper and still handily swept Morty with Swords Dance followed by Thief.

Ozma the Whimmsicot, caught in Ilex Forest as a Cottonee. I wanted a Fairy type for Lance, and wanted to try using this line as fairy types. She sadly doesn't learn sleep powder, but her stun spore helped me catch many a pokemon. For mid-to-late Johto she was my weakest mon, as I restrained from evolving her until she learned Moonblast at level 40. With the Champion and final two elite four members being weak to Fairy she was great against them, and vital to beating Red as her dragon immunity was vital.

Destiny the Stunfisk, caught surfing in Slowpoke Well post Morty. I have always wanted to use a Stunfisk, and seeing them flopping around Azalea town made me excited to get one early. I was disapointed to have to wait for Surf to get one. However, while slow Destiny hit hard and had very useful typing and abilties. She was great in mid-late Johto when the rest of my team need the help. She hit hard with a wide movepool, and while to slow to sweep she almost always took at least one pokemon down with her.

Ryuugi the Clawitzer, caught post-Morty while Surfing then was coded. I always wanted to use a Clawtizer, liked it's Shiny, and though it would be interesting to play one in a very different way it would in future generations since it has no pulse moves. With early extreme speed and Aqua Jet he hit fast, and with his special attack and high power moves he hit hard. Due to take until level 38 to evolve he also fell behind mid-game and needed to have Surf and Icy Wind until after I became Champion. He was never the less devastating against nonwater mons and has a very cool sprite.

Ben Jerry the Bouffolant, caught Route 44 post-gym 7. I was getting desperate, as I needed a sixth mon without a type overlap that didn't share a weakness with more than two of pokemon that I hadn't run into before. So I settled on Bouffolant, who immidately got Head Charge and proceed to devastate everything in his path with overwelming physical power. As a Tauros counterpart, he felt very fitting for the game, and while he never got a good coverage moves he was so good against the rest of the game it hardly mattered (I spent my Earthquake TM on Stunfisk, since he doesn't get it by level and he really should). He did one thing, hit really hard, and did it really well from the moment I caught him till the very end of the games.

[cerastes]

Correct review, though I think I ended up liking engage's story more than 3houses due to feeling like it did what it set out to do/didn't have such a high potential that got kinda squandered in execution. I have a very specific question though; is berserker really that weak of a class?? Panette was one of my biggest carries through my first playthrough on hard, though I guess in retrospect that might've had more to do with her personal skill and Ike's ring. Are there any particular classes you think are on the overtuned side in case I try to take a swing at maddening?

I struggle to horizontally compare Three Houses and Engage because they are such different games and stories. I personally like what Three Houses has! I just wish they had the budget and/or time to actually do everything they wanted to do with it, and I also wish they hadn't gone Silent Protagonist with it because I hate Silent Protagonists. Byleth aside, I think it's a wonderful game, it's just, damn, take Edelgard's route, for example, it just ends. "Yippie you beat The Enemies, and then Edelgard and Company will eventually fight Those Who Lurk In The Dark!" while the mural shows on screen and you go directly to credits like ??? what a dogshit way to end the game? But in other aspects, they did a good job worldbuilding and establishing titles, cultural dynamics in each terrain, and intent. I mostly take issue with people claiming Edelgard’s route is flawless and that “Byleth’s sole meaningful decision in the game is being able to side with Edelgard” is some sort of meaningful masterstroke instead of the game obviously being half-baked and having been able to implement the one splitting route instead of the likely multiple intended for the other routes.

Besides that, Three Houses has hands down, easily, the superior narrative. Half-baked as it may have been in ways, it was fun and where it did deliver, it did a great job doing so, giving a very grey narrative that hasn’t The Right Way and lets you have good discussions. My favorite aspect is that Edelgard and Claude basically have 90% the same endgame, in different angles and words, and could’ve perfectly teamed up, yet don’t because both leaders don’t trust each other and are uncompromising to a degree that wouldn’t allow them to work together. That’s amore! So I think there’s reason to like either over the other, for sure (I’m more of a Three Houses guy narratively!)

About Berserker: Yeah, Engage single weapon advanced classes do not have innate Crit, and their class skills, caps and growths are kinda ass compared to the competition. Berserker has very low caps compared to Warrior, having only better Strength and HP by some points, but far lower in everything else that matters to them, Swordmaster growths on Speed and Skill are great but you end up Strength and bulk compromised, and that matters in a game with innate high hit percentages (meaning their high Skill doesn’t matter too much and their lack of bulk is risky). Halberdier is the exception, their skill lets you do easy quads with Brave Lance (and chunkier so with Eirika’s Ring). Warriors and Heroes are the best infantry (along Halberdiers), good caps, good growths, good skills (big Warrior damage on Broken opponents, dual chain attacks for Heroes, weapon variety).

Panette is good with Ike because Panette is good and Ike is good, so Berserker works out. Change her to Warrior and she’ll be even better.

[mx-piggy]

i'm trying to get used to the idea that i can have my own opinion of a movie even if people think it's kinda shit, so here's my little review of Grave Encounters, which i watched just now late at night/in the wee hours of the morning.

i loved this movie so much, way more than i anticipated. i've seen my fair share of found-footage horror movies, and i was expecting to like it well enough alongside films like Cloverfield and As Above, So Below, or think it was not very good but enjoy it nonetheless like most of the Paranormal Activity movies or the Taking of Deborah Logan, but i unironically enjoyed it and thought it was unironically good, too. it's definitely not as good as found-footage movies like the Blair Witch Project, Creep or Rec, at least in my opinion, but i'd say it's one of the better ones for sure.

it had plenty of slightly cheap jumpscares- like i expected it to- but was really good at building a sense of tension and dread throughout. it's like if you take the last 20 minutes of a Paranormal Activity movie and extend it out to feature-length.

unlike with most found-footage movies, i really actively liked the characters, or found them entertaining at the very least. i found it way funnier than i should have when the characters would tell Houston to shut the fuck up whenever he said anything at all.

i also really liked how the film crew had to experience the sense of entrapment and mental decline that the patients must have felt, and how you only really get to sympathise with Lance when he's gradually isolated and psychologically tortured by the hospital. the first thing that comes to mind when looking for a comparison to this movie is the Taking of Deborah Logan, which i feel could have been way better if they went down the route of her possession better reflected the gradual decline experienced by Alzheimer patients, rather than 'ooo she's possessed by the ghost of a child predator' or whatever it was. like, with Grave Encounters, you get to see a group of people who are cut off from the world and tortured by a mental hospital like the people who were once thrown in there.

so yeah. good movie. i've been watching quite a few horror movies recently, so follow me on letterboxd so i can feel like my opinions on movies matter.

[4pondsinabox]

I posted 754 times in 2022

58 posts created (8%)

696 posts reblogged (92%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@swanthief

@ceylinerguvan

@pitynostars

@gothamgirlgayngs

@of-monsters-and-werewolves

I tagged 743 of my posts in 2022

Only 1% of my posts had no tags

#dw fanart - 66 posts

#lot spoilers - 62 posts

#em rambles - 46 posts

#otp: old married couple - 35 posts

#dw spoilers - 35 posts

#lot fanart - 31 posts

#dw edit - 29 posts

#ouat edit - 26 posts

#outlander spoilers - 23 posts

#zari tarazi - 23 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#she’s very entertaining and i could not believe one of her shows lined up with my year abroad in sweden when i had listened to her for years

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Me: :(

*The Disenchanted Trailer*

Me: :)

*The Little Mermaid Trailer*

Me: :D

14 notes - Posted September 9, 2022

#4

Legends of Tomorrow characters as Eurovision 2022 songs

Sara Lance - Hope

Stefan, Estonia

Ava Sharpe - Eat Your Salad

Citi Zēni, Latvia

See the full post

29 notes - Posted May 15, 2022

#3

There’s nothing more healing than watching the River Song fandom collectively lose their sh*t over a 12 year old behind the scenes photo they’ve never seen before

35 notes - Posted March 1, 2022

#2

I’m just going to say this once because I need to get it out there

But I am SO tired of the Doctor/Companion romance trend - even if unrequited

44 notes - Posted January 2, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

It’s become pretty common in fandom spaces to discuss different portrayals of love but one thing that I keep thinking about from this latest Legends of Tomorrow episode is how amazing it was portraying different kinds of romantic love.

Of course we have Sara and Ava, who represent “old love” after being well established for several seasons and who solve problems as an old married couple would. Then there is Nate and Zari 1.0, who have also been together for awhile but are still figuring out the technicalities of a long term relationship. They’re out of the honeymoon period but just enough to be comfortable being apart for an extended amount of time, which allows those reunions to feel all the more special. Then we have Gideon x Gary and Behrad x Astra, both of which are very new couples but in completely different ways. The former decided to dive headfirst into their relationship, while the latter is taking the much slower route. Both are equally valid takes when writing budding romantic love. Whether you like any of these pairings or not, it’s wonderful to see a tv show as wild as Legends of Tomorrow understand how differently romance can take shape for different people.

85 notes - Posted January 22, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[eriellesudario]

Epic Snails on iOS – First Impressions // Review

Epic Snail is a mobile and PC game created by RocketSnail Games where the goal is to shoot your other snail opponents. The game is currently in its open beta stage so it’s not fully completed yet.

The game concept was created by Lance Priebe (aka RocketSnail), one of the co-founders and creators of Club Penguin. In an interview with Adam Hamilton, Lance said that he grew up with G.I. Joe and wished that Club Penguin went on a ‘darker route’ with the snowball shooter aspect.

“I’d love a darker side. I always wanted to add the wars. Like, where is the tactical snowball combat? Where’s the trench-fighting? Where’s the snowball forts? The buildings, the bunkers, WHERE ARE THEY?!”

Recently, the game was released on iOS and I took the time to give the game a shot. I will be reviewing the mobile/iOS version of the game. All of this will just be my first impressions as I only played it once… which was today.

First look

The whole concept of this game reminds me about this other mobile game which involves worms. It was a 2D (and in some cases, 3D) battle royale game where you take turns placing mines and shooting the opponent using missile launchers and other forms of guns and firearms. But despite the concept similarities, it also has massive differences such as you play as a snail, it’s not turn-based, and the weapons of choice.

The art style reminds me of the TV show Veggietales. Just the 3D look of the snails just reminds me of the cucumber character, Larry.

It’s clear that the snails are to resemble Lance’s animal mascot, the Rocket Snail so that’s really neat to see.

The Gameplay

This game is a multiplayer battle royal game, where the max players per session are 8. Unfortunately, you can’t choose which session you want to battle at and more players can get added when a current game is in session. There are no private rooms so you will be pitted against other players in the server.

There are currently 2 kinds of battle arenas (which get selected in random): The Snowforts and The Backyard.SnowfortBackyard

There are also 3 types of weapons you can choose. The Missile launcher, the assault cannons, and the canon.Missile Launche

Assault Cannons

Cannon

The most popular weapon of choice from players I’ve faced are the assault cannons due to its rapid-fire capabilities. The missile launcher doesn’t seem to work over on the mobile version of the game and the canon is really powerful but you only shoot once and have to hide just so you can wait for it to recharge.

Controls

The controls are not the ones you’re used to.

It’s like a joystick control but you can only move forwards and back, and moving the stick left to right just rotates you but you don’t move until you point the stick forward or backward.

This will take a lot of getting used to.

Art and music design

The music is very, very quirky!!!

It’s this innocent military game that reminds me of that tanks mini-game over in Wii Play. Very quirky and cute and doesn’t sound that intense compared to other shooter games like Halo.

The 3d art looks really cool. Kinda reminds me of Club Penguin Island but if it’s more military… and snails… But it’s child-friendly and a lot of. the design is REALLY cute.

While this game is Lance’s way to steer away from what Club Penguin was and create a child-friendly war game, he puts in these tiny easter eggs for Club Penguin fans to recognise.

Cross-platforming

This part doesn’t really work well for me at the moment.

The issue was (at least for Mac), I’m unable to log in my main account and just ended up creating another account. And to top it all off, I couldn’t log off or apply with a spare email to save the username of the 2nd account.

Hopefully, this part of the game would be fixed for Mac versions of the game.

My exeprience playing the game

Currently, the game is being played by people who are in the Club Penguin community (with probs a few of their friends). Remember Perapin from my previous post in my side blog? He plays the game… AND HE’S REALLY GOOD!!!

The fact that people in the Club Penguin community are playing the game makes it more welcoming for me to engage with them and the game. Like, being able to recognise each other in a world outside of Club Penguin is such a surreal experience.

Also, having the honour to verse Rocket Snail mano-to-mano is also cool as well (until the battle arena keeps adding more players).

I’d wish there were more customisable options as I don’t want to be green forever.

Overall thoughts

I’m not a fan for shooter games, first person or third person, not a fan. People who know me know that I’d be hiding in one location in either Halo or Counter Strike as I don’t enjoy running around and getting shot constantly by other people.

Epic Snails is a good introduction to the shooting game/warfare genre. It’s child-friendly so don’t expect blood and gore or music that makes you feel stressed. It’s quirky and innocent, and it’s made by the guy who created Club Penguin.

The only thing I dislike at the moment is the controls and me being unable to log in to my main account over on the mac. Hopefully, that gets fixed.

I’d give this a 3.5/5. Since it’s currently on beta, the expectations of bugs and other mishaps are expected but so far, I’m enjoying it!

What are your thoughts on this game? Will you play it? What do you think should be added in this game? Let me know in the comments below!

[f1]

FP2: Leclerc tops extended practice session in Austin as drivers test 2023 Pirelli tyres

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc posted the fastest time in FP2 for the 2022 United States Grand Prix – this session lengthened from 60 to 90 minutes for Pirelli’s prototype 2023 tyre test. Leclerc clocked a 1m 36.810s during an early stint on the 2022-spec medium tyre, having been allowed to run his own programme at the start of the session after sitting out FP1. READ MORE: Sainz leads Verstappen as four drivers make their debut at COTA With weather conditions hot and sunny at the Circuit of The Americas, it proved to be an ideal session for Pirelli to gather representative data on their work-in-progress compounds prior to a planned post-season test for the definitive versions in Abu Dhabi. Alongside Leclerc and Ferrari, several other drivers and teams conducted bespoke programmes for a portion of FP2 before focusing on the tyre test, with McLaren, Alfa Romeo, Williams and Haas also given dispensation for running ‘rookie’ drivers in FP1. 1 Charles Leclerc LEC Ferrari 1:36.810 2 Valtteri Bottas BOT Alfa Romeo +0.715s 3 Daniel Ricciardo RIC McLaren +0.817s 4 Carlos Sainz SAI Ferrari +1.422s 5 Mick Schumacher MSC Haas F1 Team +2.697s Indeed, FP2 marked the first laps of the weekend for Leclerc, Daniel Ricciardo, Valtteri Bottas, Nicholas Latifi and Kevin Magnussen – the latter looking to recover lost mileage at Haas after Antonio Giovinazzi’s crash in the opening session. Behind Leclerc, Bottas and Ricciardo made use of the 2022-spec soft compound en route to P2 and P3 for Alfa Romeo and McLaren respectively, the pair finishing over seven tenths away from the Monegasque's benchmark. READ MORE: Perez and Zhou receive 5-place grid penalties for US Grand Prix FP1 pace-setter Carlos Sainz led the pack of drivers restricted to prescribed runs (which included set stint lengths and fuel loads) on the unmarked Pirelli tyres, ending up around 1.5s adrift, with Mick Schumacher completing the top five for Haas. Lando Norris took sixth in the other McLaren, narrowly avoiding the wall after a wild slide at the pit entry, followed by Red Bull's Max Verstappen and the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton. Pirelli gained some useful information with their unmarked prototype 2023 tyres in FP2 AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez were the final drivers to lap under the 1m 40s barrier in ninth and 10th respectively, with the aforementioned Magnussen placing 11th in his repaired VF-22. George Russell was almost a second down on team mate Hamilton in 13th, splitting the other AlphaTauri and Alfa Romeo machines of Yuki Tsunoda and Zhou Guanyu, with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll dropping from P4 in FP1 to P15 in FP2. READ MORE: FIA to implement procedural changes after 2022 Japanese GP review Alpine team mates Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso wound up 16th and 17th, the only moment of drama for the team coming when Alonso got stuck behind Hamilton on an early run and lamented over the radio that his rival “has no mirrors today”. At the back, Williams drivers Alex Albon and Latifi sandwiched Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin – the field covered by 5.5 seconds around the 5.513km Austin venue. Free Practice 3 begins at 1400 local time on Saturday before qualifying at 1700. Head to the RACE HUB to see how and when you can catch the action from Austin. Who’s going to score in the 2022 United States Grand Prix? Pick your dream team before qualifying and take on the world to win huge prizes with the Official Formula 1 Fantasy game. Sign up, join leagues and manage your squad here. via Formula 1 News https://www.formula1.com

[tarticawhat]

Nameless Route Review: Tei - Not the Barista of My Dreams

If you don’t know by now – SPOILERS! Fourth and penultimate in my Nameless route reviews is Tei: the kind, level-headed mother of the group. He stops fights between Red and Lance, encourages Yeonho, and makes even Yuri wary. He was a limited edition doll that, similar to Yeonho, was slightly damaged – and due to being a limited run, couldn’t really be repaired or replaced. I won’t get into too…

[hummingbird-games]

this review/gameplay account will contain spoilers for Gilded Shadows so here’s your first and last chance to run off 😂

Y’all.

Y’all.

Y’ALL!!!

LOL I literally kicked other things to the curb so I could play at least one LI route and I’m so, so happy I could enjoy it all in one sitting!! (Ignoring the part where I can’t romance Rueben or Quill yet SKSKSKSK)

I don’t even know where to begin?? Esh, you wonderful soul, oh my God, I have been watching you in awe from afar for a LONG while now and I feel brave enough to say that I owe you my LIFE!!! Your mind?!? First Changelings and now Gilded Shadows?? AND we’re getting more content technically??? 

*sobs happily*

Final thoughts after my Lance route/first playthrough?? 

First off wanna pout that I did not get his “passionate” ending and my sister will never hear me shut up because I’m literally distraught because I made the choices that lead me to getting the “sweet” ending instead...

So after this post I will be going back through save files and making different choices just to have some passion in my life 😭😭😭

I’m too stupid for this game. LOL!! No but for real, there’s such an attention to detail with the codex entries and how much richer it makes the lore and world of this game and I will definitely be spending the next few months reading over every single entry and making sense of how it relates to my MC and outside of her

CGs?? Gorgeous. Frigging gorgeous and I’m not ashamed to go back into the main menu just to pull up the images again to stare at like a whole ass goober 🤧

I adore MC. Many games where you play an MC with a loose or well-defined one, sometimes you run the risk of getting annoyed or angry with them and their personality as a player but that was so not the case with GS!!

Caleb can catch me in the Walmart parking lot, I’m for real. 

To think I was actually gonna try his route out and man am I glad I didn’t BECAUSE I WANT TO FIGHT HIM!!!

I’ll eventually try everyone out, but the petty in me might get his bad ending on purpose just to feel vindicated ☠️

As for other (available) routes I’m dying to try out?? The Crimson guys for sure. I think Endgame boys just trigger my fight response, and the writing is so well done that it’s easy to form an opinion as the player as to where you stand on in-game issues concerning the Espers and soceity and so on. AND I THERE’S STILL SHIT I DON’T KNOW!!! I love it here.

Love that the customization became more robust since the demo, and it never ceases to make me smile when I can make darker-skinned characters for these type of story games. 

So in conclusion???? Play this game y’all. I know $30 is a bit steep for some so I encourage y’all to cop this when it eventually goes on sale. 

Also, prepare to be sick of me at the end of the year because GS is totally going on my review post!

[keresacheron]

Polished Crystal Review and First Playthrough

I did a catch'em all first playthrought. It was great!

Despite being still in development, this Romhack is great. Is Pokemon Crystal with so many quality of life enhancements it's not funny. There is tons of bonus content, later series game mechanics, anime cameos and enhanced difficulty boss battles.

There loads of bonus areas and extra trainers, largely solving the level curve problems of crystal at the expense of making the game slightly more linear. The spritework is incredible, with the new areas looking great and the in-team sprites and future generation move animations looking both great and like they belong. There are even custom shinies.

This is HGSS+ using the Crystal game engine, and it's great. I have unlocked the new game plus, and I intend to use it sometime.

Kyoko, my trust Sturdy Donphan who I meet as a level 2 Phanphy on Route 46. Sturdy works as a focus band, and with rollout and defense curl she was great early on and several early gyms need her help as my Chikorita starter was still even with the changes. Sturdy was great, as being able to ensure a knock off or earthquake was the key to several battles. She enabled me to beat the surprise level 80 Giovanni Mewtwo by heal spamming until it ran out of PP. I always wanted to use a Donphan in a playthrough of gen 2, and now I have.

Meet Sayaka, a Guts Ursaring and Sayakas partner, caught in dark cave as a level 2 Tediursa. She too was great early game, hitting hard with strong physical type moves and doing great damage. After falling behind she evolved and spent the entire game hitting hard for massive damage. While sadly a bit slow and rarely getting in multiple attacks, when she hit she hit hard. Flame Orb is an item you get prior to E4 in game, and while she only got Facade in Kanto her friendship powered return hit hard. Ursaring was another Gen 2 pokemon I wanted to use in a playthrough, and she did fine.

Originally Pearlshine, the egg Togepi with Serene Grace whose sing proved invaluable in catching mons and stunning bosses. After becoming the Johto Champion, I battled Cynthia and got a Shiny Togepi egg with Superluck, Aeroblast and Moonblast. Since regular Togekiss can't get Moonblast in this game, I swapped them and trained up Evanescence with an exp share. Both of them were great team mates, with Pearlshine being very bulky early on while Evanescence was far more offensive.

Hatched from daycare couple egg, was Pikablue the shiny blue Pichu who soon evolved into a blue Pikachu. Equipped with a Light Ball, I decided to evolve Pikablue into an Alolan Riachu as beating gen two with an Alolan Riachu seemed sweet. This took till after beating the elite four to find the item, but it was worth it. Rename Pancake, now with Motor Drive as the hidden ability and holding a focus sash, Pancakes was my fastest team member and could on rare occasion gets off a nasty plot to do massive damage.

Mastema, the Snow Cloak Glaceon was the Eevee I got from Bill. Needing to level up in Ice Path he spent a long time unevolved and doing poorly in my team. Upon evolving though he crushed Team Rocket and became a strong special attacker who spammed high power special moves. Using a Glaceon in Johto was fun, and with a choice band to actually outspeed late game opponents he was great.

Last, but certainly not least is Suicune, a pokemon I always wanted to use in a playthrought and my originally planned team member. She originally held an assault vest which worked well with Pressure, and was an extremely specially bulky team member whose final move was mirror coat. And then I beat Sabrina, got Calm Mind and she became my Ace Mon whose ability to set calm minds sweep is the only reason I was able to beat Red and Green, and was a key part of my rematch with Lance.

[steamberrystudio]

In the GS multiverse, how different are things in one route to another. For example, Lethe's actions, Brenin's actions and the situation on Sirre for example. Btw, I've finally finished the available routes. Absolutely phenominal work! Jack and Lances' routes in particular left me floored. I can hardly wait, until Quill and Reubins' routes are available. I promise to leave a full review, as soon as I am able on Steam. You truly have produced some of the most amazing stories I have ever read.

I don't really know - I occasionally made hints that events from one route are still happening in others (the Sirre conflict gets mentioned outside of Ari's route, for example) but quite possibly not in the same way or in the same timeline.

How different they are never really gets addressed directly. But...

You can somewhat guess that it's at least sometimes quite different given, say, the very different role of the antagonist in Caleb's route and the same antagonist in Jack's route. His plans in these routes are completely different.

In some case, I would say events from certain routes (like Magnus' route) probably would simply take place at a later point - like after the endings in Ari or Caleb's route (but obviously flow differently due to Morgan not being in a relationship with Magnus or in quite the same level of opposition to the council).

So yeah, in some cases things are happening quite differently. In other cases they are possibly occurring at different points in the time line as well.

[rachelbethhines]

Tangled Salt Marathon - Chibi Tiny Tales and Ever After

To finish off the marathon, I’m going to cover the last of the Tangled shorts. Including the theatrical short that the series was meant to lead into. And much like how I did with the Short Cuts and Shorty’s Theme Song Takeover, I’ll be doing a a brief look at each segment. 

Chibi Tiny Tales 

So first, let’s cover a bit of background info on what these shorts are before we head into the review for each one. 

The Chibi Tiny Tales series started off initially as just a series of shorts for the Big Hiro Six tv show that was running concurrently with Tangled. In many ways, BH6 is the ‘Aladdin’ to Tangled’s ‘Little Mermaid’ in this new Disney Afternoon block that the company was trying to get off the ground before the pandemic and Disney Plus hit.  Anyways, I guess they proved to be pretty popular because after 12 shorts in this format Disney started to make new ones for other properties they had on hand. 

Now the biggest difference between the Big Chibi 6 shorts and the rest of the Tiny Tales is the lack of voice acting. Which is convenient for Disney because that means they can make these shorts for cheaper and get a quick boost in ratings from utilizing cameos of beloved characters. This also means they can make shorts for series that are no longer in production like for Halloween Town and, you guessed it, Tangled the Series. 

The three shorts we’re covering for today aired over a year after the parent series had ended, and they helped to briefly revitalize the fandom. While I’ll be looking at these with a more analytical eye here, please note that at the time these shorts were a godsend. 

Goatee Don't

Summary: While Rapunzel is giving Eugene a haircut, his goatee comes to life and runs away. It’s up to Rapunzel and Pascal to chase it down and return the wayward hair piece to its owner. 

Review: Out of all of the Tangled Chibi Tales this one might be the weakest. Now it is true that the Chibi shorts, regardless of franchise, rely on absurdist humor and aren’t meant to be taken as canon. However most of them at least have a form of cause and effect logic to follow. There's not much of that here. 

We don’t know why Eugene’s goatee, of all things, comes to life. We don’t know why said goatee would be afraid of getting a trim when Rapunzel was cutting Eugene’s hair, (Seriously, why does he keep letting her do that? Does Corona not have a barber?) and also surely the goatee is used to being trimmed by now because it’s not a beard. 

I would say that this is an instance of the medium hampering the the story because it’s too short and lacks dialogue for proper set up, only I don’t think that’s necessarily true. A simple scene of Varian showing off a new chemical, spilling it on Eugene, and having that bring the goatee to life would have done the job as well and been a stronger set up. 

That’s not to say that the episode isn’t enjoyable though, because it is. The humor lands most of the time. The designs are cute and the characters are likable enough. Of course the highlight of the short is all of the cameos. We get Feldspar, Lance, and our only acknowledgement that dogs exist within the TTS world. 

How To Make It Canon Now obviously these shorts aren’t intended to fit within the main series’ timeline and aren’t meant to be deemed as ‘canon’, yet watch as I try to anyways. After all, I gotta get my fun in somehow. 

Any explanation would of course be an off screen one. You could go with Varian’s chemicals or any of the magical macguffins in the show. Heck, you can even create your own and set it in the world. It wouldn’t be any less jarring then how the actual series handles such things. Of course, if you go this route you'll have to think of an off screen resolution as well since the short ends on a cliffhanger. 

Then there’s the ‘it’s a story within a story’ option. This could be a silly made up tale that either Eugene or Rapunzel is telling the kiddos for fun. It fits well too since they canonically narrate the whole franchise anyways. (Do we ever figure out who they’re narrating to, come to think of it?) 

Lunar Lunacy

Summary: When an eclipse happens Rapunzel turns ‘evil’ and terrorizes the kingdom. Only her pranks are more mischievous than harmful. 

Review: This is a much stronger episode than the last. There’s a simple cause and effect that’s easier to follow; one that fits this short’s own internal logic. ‘An eclipse makes Rapunzel evil’ isn’t overly complex and given this world’s take on magic is about as plausible as anything else. In fact if you are a fan of the original, this short parodying the main series’ lore is a wonderfully fun send up of the show’s own failed magic system. 

Another bonus of the stronger set up and conflict in this episode is that it also has a stronger and clearer resolution than the pervious short. Rapunzel’s reign of mischievous terror ends when the eclipse ends. It’s, once again, simple but effective. It even has her face, gasp, actual consequences at the end! She doesn’t get a ‘get out of jail free’ card just because she’s the protagonist. Gee, it’s almost like the excuse that ‘Disney’ wouldn’t let the writers portray Rapunzel as wrong is kind of BS. 

Of course, as always, its the little cameos that make this short feel like a loving homage to the parent show rather than a soulless cash grab. We get Feldspar again, Shorty, Xavier, and some random townspeople who feel vaguely familiar, almost as if they were easter eggs for the ultra extra fans. 

How To Make It Canon I’ll admit, the idea that Rapunzel doesn’t take Zhan Tiri’s warning of the ellipse seriously is because she lived through one before and it wasn’t that bad, amuses me greatly. However, you would have to explain why the two eclipses effect her differently... or maybe not because the show doesn’t explain why the characters’ powers over the rocks come and go at different points in the story either.  

You know what, I’m going to take a shot at it anyways. What if the power of the rocks fade in and out with the phases of the moon, like the tide coming and going? If Rapunzel gained a bit of the moonstone powers when she first touched the rocks, then the eclipse caused those powers to strengthen till they over took her here. 

However, when she touched the rocks again she gave some of that power back and it faded away during the low tide, like a new moon stage, which is why nothing happened during Vardaros. So she still has enough of the power to keep the indestructible hair, but not enough to have it come to life again or to control the rocks anymore. This is why during the finale her sun powers regress because there’s not enough moon power in her to go nutzo. 

It is however enough to effect Cassandra, which is why she loses her marbles in season three and why her powers keep fading in and out. The ‘moon’ incantation is either just a placebo that Zhan Tiri feeds her or an incantation to make the moon fuller unnaturally so that her powers come back to her. 

Holy sh--- Does this short retroactively fix the cannon of the main show? Or is this just another ‘story with in a story’? You decide. 

Hairpocalypse

Summary: After Pascal sniffs a newly revived sundrop flower he grows the same long hair as Rapunzel’s. In order to avoid getting into to trouble he tries the hide the flower only to let it lose into the whole kingdom. Through a series of misadventures the flower keeps changing hands and everyone’s hair keeps growing until Cassandra comes up with a solution to save the day. 

Review: This is easily the best short out of the bunch, and no I don’t say this just because its the only one that features Varian. 

Having this short air after the main series had ended gives the viewers a sense of emotional closure that the finale failed to do. Cassandra is seen saving Corona after nearly destroying it. Not because she has to, but because its the right thing to do. She finally becomes the hero she always wanted to be, and makes up for a past wrong while at it. 

Which kind of makes it all the more annoying that these shorts aren’t cannon, because they are a better epilogue to the series than the poor narration in the Life After Happily Ever After Reprise. 

It also has the strongest story over all because it’s slightly more complex than the pervious shorts. There’s more going on here plot wise while still being coherent with its own internal logic. 

If I have any complaint it’s that there aren’t more of these. I would like to see other characters to get same level of focus that Raps, Cass, and Pascal do in these. Sadly, I doubt we’ll ever get more TTS content from the Mouse.  

How To Make It Canon This one is the hardest to retroactively make canon. There’s a lot of contradictory things going on here, but lets see what we can do. 

There’s the ‘it’s all a dream’ option. The short does have Pascal dreaming of having Rapunzel’s long hair himself before stealing the sundrop. Who’s to say that everything that came later wasn’t a part of that fantasy. While this is less narratively satisfying, it makes the most sense. 

However, if you want this to be post series so that Cassandra can get her big hero moment then you have to fill in some pretty big plot holes. 

My best guess that Rapunzel wanted her hair back cause she missed it and asked someone who knows magic to create a new sundrop. Not one that gives you any type of super powers but just grows your hair out and turns it blonde, and is easily cuttable for when you grow tired of it. Maybe Varian found the crushed up pedal of the old one and reversed engineered its dna with another flower to create a genetically weaker one?  He was just admiring his own handiwork and forgot what it did. 

Anyways, Cassandra is back from her banishment, uh I mean ‘road trip’, and finds that her ‘destiny’ was right there at home all along with her friends and family. 

I think that makes for a much nicer end than what we actually got. 

Ever After

Finally, last but not least, we have the wedding short that, supposedly is what led to the creation of the tv show. Or at least the tv show was made with the intention of leading into this short. As such I will be conducting this review through that lens first and then giving my general thoughts on the short by itself at the end.   

Corona Changed It’s Staff Uniform 

It kind of find it hard to believe that Rapunzel would switch from bright sunny yellows and soft blues just to force everyone to wear drab black and white all the time. Perhaps this just for the wedding and it’s a very formal black and tie affair... only I can’t see this being to Rapunzel’s tastes either. Maybe Eugene actually got a say in his own wedding and choose the formal attire?

Or maybe the TTS crew just didn’t let a pesky thing like cannon get in the way of their character designs. After all it didn’t stop them from altering Gothel’s model, now did it? 

This Once Touching Moment Is Now Robbed Of Sweetness Because Of The Show

This should be a heartfelt moment of reconnection, instead I only feel dead inside. Thanks Chris for ruining both characters and their relationship with your profound bullshitery. 

Rapunzel’s Wedding Dress Is Just A Recolor

The point of this short is to reuse assets that were already built for the movie in order to make a quick buck, but this feels extra lazy. All they did was a palate swap of her finale pink princess dress from the movie and added an extra long veil to allude to her lost hair. Big deal. Like at least model long sleeves for it and a high collar; just anything to make it look at least a smidge different.   

It’s extra insulting that they bothered to model a completely new outfit for Eugene here but not give that same level of effort for his equal. Oh well, I guess it evens out since Eugene only got a recolor of his main outfit during the movie’s ending. 

I do however like Arianna’s recolored dress. I think it works much better.  

She’s also the last TTS character to say any dialogue... even if it’s just a dream sequence. Unless you count this Pete lookalike... 

Speaking Of Series Original Characters.... Where Is Everyone? 

Of course the real answer is that the short was made before the show so it focuses on giving the film characters their dues; and for the most part it does just that. Hookhand is the wedding’s musician/pianist. The rest of the pub thugs, Rapunzel’s parents, and the little braid girls all have front row seats. Shorty is there being Shorty, ect. 

The only person noticeably absent is Cap and the directors of the short gave the very reasonable excuse that he would be busy with crowd control and managing security for such an important political event. Only for the series to undo all that. They couldn’t even let him be away traveling with his daughter as a decent substitute explanation. 

And as for Cass, why isn’t she here? Like, I joke about her being banished all the time but canonically that’s not the actual case. Why wouldn’t she travel back for this at least? Surely Rapunzel would want her there as her maid of honor. 

For that matter Lance should be here as Eugene’s best man. Surely Edmund would also want to see his own son’s wedding. Why would he ever miss it? Especially when reconnecting with his son was his main goal all series long. 

Then you would also need the rest of the Brotherhood in crowd at least, along with Varian, Red, and Angry to represent Eugene’s side of the family and to represent the Dark Kingdom in this momentous joining of two nations. 

And of course Hookfoot isn’t with his friends. Xavier, Feldspar, Monty and all the rest of the Corona citizens we got to know are missing. Stan isn’t with the Pete lookalike. Even Rapunzel’s own aunt isn’t here.... ect, ect. 

I wouldn’t be harping on to this so much, because as stated this short was made before the series, if it wasn’t for the fact that Chris himself said that one of the goals of the show was to lead into this short. He promised that the series would explain in universe why we don’t ever see these characters, and it just never does that. 

The only explanation that it does give is for why the Stabbingtons are at the wedding, and honestly was that even needed? 

I Would Rather Have Short Pieces Of Fluff Then Overblown Squeals That Fail To Miss The Point Of The Originals 

Listen, I appreciate the ambition that Tangled the Series started out with, and I’ll be forever grateful for the creation of Varian... one of the series’ few flashes of brilliance. However, it’s just not a good squeal. It actively works to tear down everything that you loved and appreciated about the original movie. 

Nor is TTS unique in this regard. Disney has spent the better part of a decade (even longer if you count the cheapqueals) churning out cash grabs of their most famous properties and often to diminishing results. Bigger budgets don’t save things like Ralph Beaks the Internet or Monster’s University from being bland films that miss the point of their parent films. Meanwhile soulless CGI remakes like The Lion King 2019 are insults to the very art of animation itself. 

When this short first came out Tangled fans complained about it endlessly because it just focused on Max and Pascal running around doing comedy antics, but honestly what else should it do? Watching the entire wedding with zero hiccups would be boring as there would be no conflict to hang a story on. Anything more, with heavier stakes and it wouldn’t be suitable for the shorter format. 

And what’s wrong with shorts I may ask? Disney was built on shorts. All your favorite classic characters came from shorts. Using the stand along short format is a great way of letting you see your favorite characters with damaging their story arcs by unnaturally dragging them out or reversing previous development. That’s why the Chibi Tiny Tales have been so successful. 

Conclusion   

I immensely enjoy these shorts, even more than the pervious Short Cuts. They’re a nice palate cleanser after trying to swallow all of season three’s BS. 

Anyways here’s some quick announcements.  

The TTS Survey is still open. Results will be announced on the 24th. 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfwg49ganF9T_b71Q8OkqM3L7Ipx97VeHR87KLpd9jix751Bg/viewform?usp=sf_link

Also on the 24th I’ll post the final Salt Recap, and finally I’ll be hosting the annual Varian stream over on my discord that same day at 9pm EST that same day. 

https://discord.gg/8Jz9WHWZPc

See ya then! 

[bluedemon1995]

Day 16 Road trip

She loves her brother but he can be annoying…which is why she left before he could stop her. They had planned this road trip for months, but then his job changed his vacation time and he thought she would just cancel the whole trip. Argument after argument ensued with no resolution. Each were sure they were right in typical Holt fashion. Yet, she could not change her vacation and she just didn’t understand why she couldn’t do the trip on her own. She had her Ph.d for goodness sake, she could take a two week trip by herself.

Which is why when she found herself in this predicament, she just could not bring herself to call him. This was just embarrassing. She tried calling Hunk, Allura, hell she even called Lance. All with no response. She sat in the car looking at her phone. Did she dare call Shiro. He was her brother’s boyfriend but he was really nice. Maybe he could help her and …no. Not gonna happen. Ugghhhh.

She thought absently of Keith. But, she didn’t really know him well enough to ask this kind of favor. Not to mention, she felt all tongue tied around him. He was just, too good looking for her to feel completely at ease around. Shaking her head, she refocused, well, she put a call into triple A so she’d just have to wait.

A few hours later, she moved beyond bored and annoyed into well and truly pissed. It was now dark and she was cold. She thought about just building a fire on the side of the road but she didn’t really want to walk through the forest in the dark. She kept turning the car on and off to keep it warm but she was dangerously low on gas by now. Again she wished she knew that the damn car didn’t have a spare tire. She wrongly assumed that every car had one!! Fuck.

Suddenly, the roar of a motorcycle sliced through the night She abruptly sat up. Crap. She looked like easy pickings for a serial killer. She frantically rummaged through her nap sack for her mace. Held tightly in her hand she saw the light from the bike in her review mirror and tried to sit up and look bigger.

Silence. She watched the light turn off and could vaguely see a silhouette approach on her driver side. Heart beat racing she debated staying in the car versus getting out. Either way she felt she was at a disadvantage. If she got out she could run, but honestly she wasn’t fast. If she stayed in, she could see him breaking the glass of her compact car. Damn. If she died, Matt would totally be proven right.

Tap, tap. Jumping slightly she looked up…to see KEITH?!?! She let out a tiny squeal and then frantically opened the door. “What are you doing here?”

Keith shook his head, “Some road trip, you got like four hours away before getting stuck with a flat?”

Pidge could feel her face getting hot, “Okay well, I went to a few museums and got a little delayed. Um, how did you know I was here?”

“Hunk saw you called but you didn’t pickup. Then he went into detective mode and tracked you. You hadn’t moved. So he called Lance, who got a garbled message about you having a flat. Luckily you shared your trip route with Shiro when you thought he was going. So I snuck in his room and sent it to myself.”

Pidge was still trying to take in the man in front of her. Wind blown hair, goggles pulled up, black shirt and leather jacket, dark jeans and boots. He was too hot. She blinked. “Okay, but why are YOU here?”

He looked down, rubbing his neck, “Yeah well, maybe I was the only one of us who had any vacation time to use. I rarely use it, so, um, I took a couple of weeks and decided to see if, um, you needed help. If not, it’s no big I could just ride it out, you know follow your trip, it’s not like I’m the best at planning anyways.”

Pidge felt her heart race again but this time, it wasn’t from fear. “So um, wanna go on a road trip. With me?”

Keith’s face breaks into a slow grin. “Yeah, hop on my bike and let’s get your car situated. We could either rent a trailer for the bike or I could store it for a bit.”

Pidge starts to turn, then stops. With her back to him, she queries, “Um, Matt didn’t ask you to do this di-“ when her voice abruptly dies off.

Keith suddenly held the door closed, and his back was to her front. With her body between Keith’s and the car door she freezes. He lowers his head and rasps out, “God Holt how can someone so smart be so dumb. Matt does not know. Shiro doesn’t even know. But somehow Lance figured out I have had a thing for you since high school and I’m done waiting for the right time. I’m taking my shot.”

[ijustluvvoltageguys]

This current event is Lance's first event route! I am done reading it, I will write a review about the event paths that I read later after the event itself passed so stay tuned!

[neilada-d6-meghah]

I posted 112 times in 2021

43 posts created (38%)

69 posts reblogged (62%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 1.6 posts.

I added 139 tags in 2021

#eldarya - 38 posts

#lance - 25 posts

#ashkore - 21 posts

#moonlight lovers - 12 posts

#fanart - 10 posts

#eldarya a new era - 10 posts

#eldarya fanart - 7 posts

#my candy love - 6 posts

#ml ethan - 5 posts

#eldarya ane - 5 posts

Longest Tag: 134 characters

#yeah please show some respect and hide him in his room for the entire route again as a sign of shame for the awful route he got thanks

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Only Lance didn't make faces drinking the potion xD

92 notes • Posted 2021-10-14 12:00:50 GMT

#4

I don't care what Beemoov or anyone says, for me Nevra's heart still belongs to Gardienne, which is why he never dared to go into any other serious relationship, but he was so hurt when she sacrificed that he's scared to get back with her either

95 notes • Posted 2021-08-12 06:22:02 GMT

#3

Missing those good old days when Leiftan broke his ally's neck and almost exposed himself, throwing away his goal in life just to save Gardienne :')

117 notes • Posted 2021-08-01 07:47:42 GMT

#2

Can the game bug and show me only this Leiftan for the rest of the days?

129 notes • Posted 2021-04-19 17:35:34 GMT

#1

Since this is going to be placed on the market, please, please, please, please, Beemoov, PLEASE, let Gardi make a big public fuss by facing him, and shouting at him right there, even throwing things if you will, but please don’t interrupt it before the chaos, I NEED IT, I was robbed of this kind of drama with Leif, let me have this one.

MY GIRL DESERVES A CHANCE TO BEAT SOME ASSES DESPITE THE FACT THAT SHE’LL END UP KISSING THIS ONE

168 notes • Posted 2021-01-17 21:21:25 GMT

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