#like. the town got destroyed so the townsfolk just. Built a completely NEW one

[beardedhandstoadshark]

Genuine question because I‘ve seen this hc around…not frequently enough to be fanon per se, but often enough to notice it-

Where did the whole "8bit Link lives in a wasteland/Hyrule is a barely livable wasteland“ thing come from?

As in, nature is dead, the water is toxic, Link‘s shunned by the people, that sort of Mad Max/Fallout type wasteland. Because if you play the games or even just look at the maps, that’s not the case at all? Like, here’s the Zelda 1 map:

Those parts circled in cyan? They’re almost all trees. Out of all screens, only 4 don’t qualify as woods, 2 of which are Fairy Fountains. The other two areas are a clearing in the woods and a pathway to the (extremely tiny) desert, respectively. Both however still have very green trees. Ironically the most "dead“ part of the tree areas is the Lost Woods of all places, on the very right just under the graveyard lol.

The upper half of the map doesn’t have trees because it’s a giant mountain- a giant mountain with a waterfall leading to the giant lake and presumably where the woods underneath get their water from, so probably not murder-juice, and the lower right corner‘s a beach that (Just like the desert) still has some sort of functioning ecosystem going on given the enemies are probably just in their natural habitat there.

But the real kicker is Adventure of Link.

The light green‘s grasslands, Hyrule Field style, and the dark green tiles are very dense, lush woods. But then there’s a third type of green tile, the ones circled. Stretching acres of plants that have grown so big they not only hide enemies from sight, but even slow Link down.

Those are flower fields. (Swamps. Turns out they’re swamps! Not as conventionally pretty as flower fields, but just as much filled with life!)

I don’t think there’s a single other version of Hyrule that has as many flowers as this one, bar perhaps the Switch games. But even then, proportionally speaking AoL‘s got more percentages of land covered.

Maybe the water isn’t poisoned but the opposite, because there’s definitely fish living in those ponds and just like the plants, they’re very big. May I dare say they’re chonky bois. Very annoying ones, probably the enemy I died most to, but very chonky, and presumably getting a lot of food. Plus, the towns have fountains, and there’s a cave with a healing water spring somewhere.

Speaking of towns! Links not being chased out at all, quite the opposite in fact! My man’s getting premium healthcare, for free! And sometimes the people you can talk to call him a hero! Teach him sick moves and cool spells for his quest! One even gifts him a magic container! That’s like a whole heart container, but for magic! Also, once again, some of the towns have fountains. Therefore, they have a properly working water system of some sort, which means the structures gotta have been in place for a while.

That fact is further cemented if you look back at the map, as those yellow lines are roads. Real, actual roads where monsters can’t fight you. Every single town minus one is connected to the road. (And Old Kasuto is connected). This land is better connected than every other place in this entire series. Half of them don’t even have roads!

In many ways, 8bitrule resembles Switchrule a lot- most likely because it was a deliberate choice to go "back to the roots“, not just to the beginning, but also to the only other open world games in the series.

And just like its grand tech-filled counterpart, the Kingdom of Hyrule might be in ruins, but the land of Hyrule- it’s not a wasteland, it’s thriving.

[wheremytwinwatches]

[Where My Twin Watches]: Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood Episode 6

Road Trip! Since the Elric’s need repairs (mostly Ed, since normally I think he could fix most anything with his Alchemy, but without his arm he can’t do it), they’re off to visit Winry. Let’s get started!

Narrator’s talking about how Scar went after Ed, and how our little baby was ready to accept death (cue heartbreaking shot of Al struggling to get up and stop him), but Colonel Roy Mustang intervened (or rather, Riza saved the Colonel's life and The Mighty Armstrong distracted Scar). The Elric Brothers realized the joy of being alive and were filled with Determination and decide to head home for a patch job. Episode 06: “Road of Hope” About time we had an optimistic episode, these last few have been depressing as all getout. Camera pans over a train-station (what, no [chugga chugga choo choo] caption? You disappoint me, show), Hughes raps on the window to Ed’s car to get his attention. The rest of Eastern Command were tied up with work, so the Lt. Colonel came by in their place. Ed’s grateful, but- YESSSSSSSSS! The post-credits didn’t lie, The Mighty Major Armstrong is indeed “sharing” a bench with Ed. And may I say that the man cleans up nice, that is a snazzy suit. Hughes says that The Mighty Armstrong’s there for protection, in case Scar comes after him again. Ed’s in no shape to fight, and hey that’s a nice touch, showing Ed’s empty sleeve wave around when he takes offense at being called a child. Speaking of, where’s the little brother? Oh. Oh my Leto. You stuck him in a box with the sheep?! Why?! Ok ok, maybe a half-wrecked suit of armor wouldn’t really fit in among the other passengers. But sticking him with livestock? Really? “I thought he might get lonely without a little company. *sparkle*” ...you are just the most peculiar mix of sense and cluelessness, aren’t you Armstrong? I mean, you’re not wrong, but still. Sheep, dude. One final salute between the three, and the train’s off. Away through the picturesque landscape we go, Armstrong reading while Ed takes a nap. The train makes a stop, Ed’s just starting to wake up when Armstrong notices someone walk by the train and crushes Ed in getting out the window. A Doctor Marcoh? Marcoh… does not look very happy to see Armstrong, goes sprinting away. Look, I know the guy can be a bit bombastic sometimes, that’s a bit of an overreaction. Armstrong says that he’s a talented State Alchemist from Central, who was researching into possible medical applications of Alchemy. But after the Ishvalan Civil War, he went missing? Like, he defected, or retired? Ed insists on disembarking, as a doctor might know some useful things about bio-alchemy. Fingers crossed it doesn’t end up like the last bio-alchemist they visited. The State Alchemists are in the city now, seems Armstrong’s the one carting around Al In A Box. They’re looking for Marcoh by showing a picture of the man, one that Armstrong drew? I’m as surprised as Ed that Armstrong’s such a good artist. Strong, a skilled Alchemist, reader, and now an artist? Is there nothing that The Mighty Armstrong cannot do? Ah, of course, “the art of portraiture has been passed down through the Armstrong family for generations.” The townsman they’re questioning says it looks like a Dr. Mauro to him. All the town’s previous doctors got drafted for the Civil War, but afterwards Dr. Mauro came. Further interviews with the townsfolk are all positive, about how he’ll see anyone and heal them with a big flash of light. Sounds like alchemy to me. Ed and Armstrong (and Al, he’s been pretty quiet so far) arrive at a house, Ed goes to knock on the door- What the Leto, dude?! Ed just opened the door, and Marcoh shot at him! He stands there with gun shaking, ranting that he won’t go back, that they’re here to silence him. Armstrong tries to calm him down. Then when that doesn’t work he flattens him with Al’s crate, to Ed’s displeasure. Now the four are sitting around a table, Armstrong’s talking about how when Marcoh left he took top-secret material with him. So he did defect? Marcoh says he couldn't handle it anymore, order or no order to “dirty his hands researching that thing”... What “thing”? Ed has the same question. The Philosopher’s Stone! Houston, we have confirmation that it exists! Marcoh took his research documents, and the stone itself. Does he have it?! Uh, dude? That’s a vial of liquid. You understand the difference between a solid and a liquid, right? Oh. OH. “The Sage’s Stone, The Grand Elixir. The Celestial Stone. The Red Tincture. The Fifth Element” The Stone is supposed to ‘create’ a liquid that grants eternal life, isn’t it? Along with the whole “lead into gold” thing. Nobody ever said that it was a solid, did they? Marcoh’s saying that just as the Stone has many names (Ed, don’t poke it! That’s a highly powerful substance!) it can take on many forms. But it’s not a complete product? Ah, so this liquid is an imperfect Stone, amplifying power but still having a limit. Like Cornello’s Stone, able to amplify his power but still fracturing in the end. Ed seizes on this knowledge, demanding access to the research materials. Marcoh is taken aback, and further shocked when Armstrong explains that his “child” is a State Alchemist. He tries to explain how many State Alchemists turned in their certifications after the War, and now a child… Ed insists that he has no choice, that if it’s a mistake then it’s a mistake that he has to make. Now the doctor’s examining Al, remarking how incredible it was that Ed could transmute Al’s soul. Maybe Ed does have the skills to produce a complete Stone. But still, Marcoh refuses to show his research and continue the Devil’s research. Not even Ed exclaiming that he’s already been through Hell can change the doc’s mind, who finally asks them to leave. Sad faces all around, the three SA’s walking away while Marcoh sits on a bed and thinks over Ed’s last words. At the train station waiting for their ride, Armstrong asks why Ed didn’t take the Stone from the doc, even if it was incomplete. Ed says he wanted it, but he and Al agree that they don’t want it badly enough to deprive the town of their only doctor. Aw, they’ve still got their empathy! And hey, we know now that it’s possible to make different forms of the Stone, the Elrics’ possibilities have expanded considerably. At least some good’s come out of this. And Armstrong’s not going to report back to Central? “I met a simple, small-town doctor today. I can’t see any real reason to report that.” Good for you, Armstrong! Oh hey, Marcoh’s here! And he’s handing over a map to his materials? This day keeps getting better! Doc wishes them luck, hoping that they will be able to restore their bodies. ...ok, what’s the catch? Way too much is going right for our characters. Is Marcoh secretly evil, setting up an ambush with the Goths? Did he already destroy his research out of guilt from the War? Will they find it, only to decipher a recipe for Ovaltine? What’s the catch? According to the note, the research is stored in the National Central Library. That’s not a bad place, one book in what I assume is a huge library would be difficult. But they have a clue now! Marcoh gets home, sighs- aw crap! Lust! I was kidding about a Goth ambush earlier, don’t tell me he actually is working for them! Well. I’m guessing this is the last we’ll see of the poor doctor. Sorry buddy! Now we’re at a familiar house, Automail sign out front. Granny, who I guess is actually Pinako based on the captions but I’ll keep calling Granny, calls for Winry who’s working away at a desk. At a mention of their “best customer”, Winry looks up. Outside, Ed and Al are greeting Granny, who just asks what they’ve done now. A common occurrence, this? Ed introduces the Major as- hey, the dog has an Automail left leg! That’s a neat touch! Armstrong’s shaking hands with Granny, then she steps back and remarks that it’s been a while, but Ed’s gone and grown- smaller. Hah! Still getting in the height jokes, eh Granny? But why would she say something so clearly untrue? Ed starts shouting-

Seems like Ed needs to work on the Five D’s. Here’s Winry! Yelling about how Ed’s supposed to call first when he’s heading back for maintenance. Hey Winry, looking good! Still got the aim from Episode 2 I see. She’s happy to see Ed again, even as Ed grouses about his head.

Uh oh, Winry is no longer happy when she sees the damage to her work. “A little smashed up” is a bit of an understatement, Ed. Winry is shaking in fury over her creation- wow, really Ed? “It’s basically the same; it’s just in smaller pieces.” Yeah, like you’ll be if you don’t stop antagonizing your mechanic, Ed! Winry gives that line the only response she can, and while Ed groans on the floor she asks Al how he’s doing, what trouble they’ve gotten into. Then she goes and kicks the Giant Suit of Armor in the helmet, sending Al down with Ed. Yeah, I gotta agree with you Armstrong. Best to sit quietly and drink your coffee. Granny’s checking Ed over, seems he needs adjustments to his leg too. Cue height teasing from Winry. But the arm’s busted, that’ll have to be built from scratch. Ed asks if it can be done in a week, Granny asks for him to give them some credit, says three days. Three days to build a new mechanical arm? I like this setting! Until then, Ed’ll make do with a spare leg. Winry gripes a little bit about this taking three all-nighters, but says since they need to get to Central ASAP she’ll work her butt off for them! (Aw, Ed’s blushing!) She does expect a fortune in rush order fees. Outside- well, Armstrong appears to subscribe to the Steve Rogers School of Log Splitting.

And we are treated to some magnificent shots of Armstrong at work as Al sits quietly, watching chickens. Taking the wood inside (come on Granny, turn around. You don’t know what you’re missing!), Armstrong asks where Ed’s hanging, seems he’s gone to visit Mama Elric. Shots of peaceful village music and shepherds waving to Ed, as Granny asks the Major what kind of lives the brothers are living. Aw, you guys don’t even send them letters? Come on, stay in better touch with the Rockbells! Armstrong remarks how Ed and Al are well known for their Alchemy, even in Central. And sometimes that gets them in trouble. But they’re strong boys, and Granny agrees. Awwww! It’s a picture of the Baby Blonds! Baby Winry’s dragging a surprised Al and begrudging Ed in for a picture, a smiling Mama Elric and stoic Granny behind them. That’s adorable. Granny goes on to explain to Armstrong that she’s been watching them ever since they were born, as a friend of the family. Their absent father was even a drinking pal of hers! But one day he “up and left the village, abandoning his wife and sons.” Why? Granny doesn’t even know if he’s still alive. (Mysterious Father continues to be Mysterious. And there’s the picture of the Elric family, the dad’s face covered up. Rude.) Then Armstrong asks about Winry’s parents. Ah, so this is how it was done in the manga? We know from Brotherhood’s second episode that they died in the war, but I guess this is when Armstrong learns as the audience surrogate. We do learn that they both were surgeons. Granny mentions that it’s time for supper, overrides Armstrong’s polite refusal by saying that food tastes better with guests, and adding one more person won’t be any inconvenience. Then Armstrong asks about the house that the Elrics grew up in. It’s gone, since- wait, they burned it down? “My guess is they did it because with no house to come home to, there could be no turning back.” Later that night, Ed gets back- GAH! Emotional Armstrong! Moved by the tale of the Elric Brothers, The Mighty Armstrong embraces the poor boy, who struggles to escape as Al, Granny, and Winry look on. “What unyielding love to try and bring your mother back to life! *sparkle* What a tremendous sacrifice to give up your arm in order to transmute your brother’s disembodied soul! *sparkle* What determination to burn down your own house…! To make sure… there was no retreat! *sparkle sparkle sparkle* Come Edward! *strip* Allow me to offer you this comforting embrace!” “Just stay back! Don’t rub your chest on me!” ...stay awesome, Armstrong. Next morning Ed stumbles out of bed to a buzzing sound, sees Winry working away at her table. Ed heads over and compliments her working so hard in the morning- “Been up all night.” Later, heads over saying she must be almost do- “One more all nighter.” Next day, Ed skulks up, looks around curiously until Winry gets fed up and tosses him out. Al, Ed, and Robo-Dog are all outside resting on the grass, Al counseling Ed to be patient while the older brother waves his arm and legs in frustration at knowing there’s a clue out there. Then winry comes out, new arm all ready to go! Inside, Ed’s grimacing while Winry and Granny count down, grits his teeth when the new limbs are attached. Guess it’s painful for the nerves to connect like that. Ed’ll be happy to kiss that pain goodbye when they get the Philosopher’s Stone, Granny says she’ll be sad to lose her biggest source of income. Meanwhile Winry… has an Armstrong Moment over the perfection of her automail. “Crazy gearhead.” “You’re lost without me, alchemy freak.” Mechanical Engineering versus Chemical Engineering! Fight! Ed does some flexes, as Winry talks about how she used a higher percentage of chrome to prevent rusting. Nice, functional and decorative! Although it won’t be quite as strong, so he shouldn’t do anything too crazy- too late Winry, he’s already out the door to fix Al. Armstrong’s asking if Ed can really fix Al right there, Ed says he can do it, but he has to be sure not to mess up the symbol inside the armor that binds Al to it. One hand-clap later, and the Giant Fanged Suit of Armor is good as new! The brothers have a little practice spar, and agree to leave for Central first thing the next day. That night, Ed’s snoring away on the couch, Al griping that he’s sleeping with his stomach out again. Granny jokes that Al’s the older one, to which he just says that someone has to look out for Ed. Winry brings a blanket over, and we get established ages of fourteen for Al and fifteen for Ed. Man, how long has Al been trapped in that armor? So much of his life, stuck in metal. Winry remarks that someone as young and small as Al… can be used as a human weapon. Winry, that’s not funny! That’s depressing! I thought I told you to be funny again, show! Now Al’s formally thanking Winry and Granny, always welcoming them like they’re really family. And Ed may not say it, but he feels the same way. “Granny… Winry… thank you.” Yup, right there with you, Armstrong. Right in the feels. Ed and Al are heading out now, Granny’s there to see them off. Winry’s not, since she’s stayed up three nights in a row. Now that’s dedication to your craft. The State Alchemists make to leave, Granny tells the boys to come back for dinner sometime, and Sleepy Winry waves goodbye from the balcony. Ed turns away and rubs his head before waving back. Say goodbye to Winry directly, you fool! Eh, whatever. I’ll badger him about my ship later. Credits! Aw, that was a sweet episode, nice respite from the downers of the last few. I mean, it wasn’t completely sunshine, I’m pretty sure that Marcoh won’t be making another appearance and we had to revisit the absence of Papa Elric and Winry’s parents. But overall, very nice. And you’ll never hear me complain about more Armstrong. Next time! Wait, nevermind. Back to Sleepy Winry walking down the stairs, complaining that she slept through almost the entire day and now she needs to clean up after human-tornado Ed. Then she finds a screw? “Whoopsy?” Uh oh. Don’t tell me Ed’s gonna lose his arm again next episode? You do realize he’s getting into combat, right? Or does she? I mean, they don’t tell the Rockbells what they’re up to. Now, Next time! “Doctor Marcoh’s notes on the Philosopher’s Stone were indeed in the place he said. But nothing is ever that easy. Unfortunately for the Elrics the Enemy is always one step ahead, leading the boys ever deeper into the maze of “truth within the truth.” Next time, on Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood-” Episode 07: “Hidden Truths.” “The only way to reach the destination is to never turn away.”

[nelvana]

In which the dusknoir is taken around town

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: Intermission Previous: In which the dusknoir is met

    Dusknoir had never quite expected to see the sun, or experience other leisure of the past. He had always been aware that for his master, Primal Dialga, to thrive, that the dark future was required. It made sense anyway; what Master Dialga said had to be law, as they knew best. They would fix things in the dark future, even if it had to stay dark.

    Being here in the past now, made all that strange. The world was suddenly full of many simply beauties that deep down he longed to explore more, but he couldn’t help but wonder if this was really right.

    Regardless, he was here, and he would get answers soon. In the meantime, it was fascinating to learn more about what he could experience now, including the other pokemon in it. Somehow, that obnoxious time travelling trio had built more friendships, though in hindsight, it probably shouldn’t have been so surprising, and each new pokemon was almost more interesting than the last.

    Right away, Dusknoir was curious about the situation with that human, Nelvana. It didn’t take long for it to come out that she was, in fact, the cubone he had glimpsed fall behind the island table and then hurry up the stairs. He managed to learn that she had amnesia, but despite that still made the same choses and acted similarly to before; which, in a way, Dusknoir found odd. Apparently, Gardevoir had been involved in both the transformation and the amnesia, but past the fact that she had been able to do that because of a ninetales, he didn’t get much out of her. Strangely enough, even Gardevoir didn’t seem to have all the details on the situation.

    Either way, he didn’t have much more than the word of the others in the household. Somehow, she had found a way to never be caught in the same room as him, even when he thought there would be no way for her to noticeably run off. In fact, just when he thought he had cornered her in the living room so that he could try speaking to her, it felt like he had just blinked and she was gone, despite literally being in a corner before he even tried entering the room in the first place.

    Aside from that, most of the new pokemon seemed to try treating him with respect, but still otherwise kept their guards up. Evidently, that grovyle had been catching them up on all of his crimes. Sometimes Dusknoir wanted to laugh at that thought; he was doing his job, it was what was right.

    One pokemon though, was especially new to him. He had glimpsed her the first night as well for a moment, but she hadn’t even lingered for a moment before going back upstairs; of which he still hadn’t seen yet, though he wanted to. It took awhile, but she finally showed herself to him. He learned that her name was Tsuki, and that her species was an absol.

    “Ah… I see, an absol. That would explain it,” Dusknoir murmured, looking over the long-furred quadruped that stood uncomfortably in front of him.

    “Explain what, if I may ask?” Tsuki questioned, wincing for a moment but holding her composure.

    “Why I hadn’t recognized your species before,” Dusknoir answered immediately, “I have only heard of absols in passing before; I believe that they went extinct in the future.”

    “Extinct?” Tsuki repeated, looking at Ceebee, who also was in the room for this introduction.

    Ceebee nodded sadly, “yes… I believe that the others hadn’t brought it up before since they weren’t certain, and probably Keahi explained absols well enough to them…” she murmured, “but, in the dead timeline, many absols could not handle the constant disaster. Many went mad, and most ended up disappearing either into the dungeons or from the world entirely.”

    Tsuki merely hummed in response, accepting what sense that answer made. Exhaling and shaking her head, she made her way over to the door.

    “Well, at least that is not the case now,” she mumbled, “anyway, it was nice to meet you, but I must be going now,” she continued.

    As Dusknoir would later learn, he apparently gave the absol headaches because he “carried disaster”, which, to him, didn’t make terribly much sense, but he had also picked up that Edgar could sense that he had killed others before, so he supposed she too could pick up on that.

    For his first day with this rescue team, Team Galaxy, he reminded himself, he had practically been locked in the house, stuck on the main floor still even when no one else was up there, until everyone else could “figure this out”. Evidently though, they realized it would be ridiculous to try keeping him inside for too long, and Keahi decided to take it upon zirself to show him around Pokemon Square.

    Pokemon Square was a loud and bustling town, with townsfolk who were cheery and loud. They were all fairly friendly, though evidently intimidated by Dusknoir’s appearance, which he didn’t mind. He did his best to come off as polite and respectful, noting the importance of keeping his relationships here positive. Though, deep down, he found most of them too cheery and loud. He wondered if they had ever dealt with someone troublesome before. They acted as if nothing would ever go wrong, he found.

    Regardless, it was still interesting to him to meet all these pokemon. He had never met so many others at once that responded to him with such friendliness, and despite his mild annoyance at this naivety, it was still nice, in a way. The two kecleon brothers running a shop were polite, but he could tell that they were shrewd salesmen; that put them higher on his enjoyment list. Persian was the other who he actually considered to not be annoying. She spoke of Edgar fondly, but otherwise was actually a bit snappy and protective over her business. Otherwise, there was Kangaskhan, who Dusknoir felt came off as too sweet; Lombre, Snubbull, and Bellsprout, who Dusknoir figured only ever shared a single thought between them at a time; Whiscash, who astonished Dusknoir at being still around, at his age and forgetfulness; Spinda and Gulpin, who Dusknoir just found plain annoying; and Makuhita as the only other notable one, who Dusknoir found was far too lenient with his business. There were, of course, others around town, but he hadn’t gotten much of a chance to meet them yet, though grouped most of them under the same general category of “cheerful and loud” that he was gathering.

    It was fascinating how much pokemon in the past let their guards down around others. Part of him wondered how quickly he would get caught if he actually did do something, but he knew better than to do that. There was no point aside from curiosity, and that wasn’t nearly enough motivation, especially with how he understood the grave consequences of such curiosity here.

    Keahi led him off eastwards, the sounds of chatter from the town fading as they headed further away from town, being replaced with the noises of something pounding on the cliffs that came into view. As the smell of the ocean hit Dusknoir’s senses, he realized that that unfamiliar noise was water crashing onto the rocks.

    “Did you like the townsfolk?” Keahi asked hesitantly, zir voice pulling Dusknoir back away from the sound of ocean.

    “Yes,” Dusknoir lied, because for as interesting as they were, he still found most of them annoying; not that he was going to admit that, he needed to be more well-liked around here.

    Keahi frowned, making Dusknoir pause. He had always thought of himself as a good liar, not that he actually found himself lying that often, so how…

    “Look, my partner wears a skull over her face. I’ve learned to keep an eye out for body language and tone of voice more than facial expressions,” Keahi told him with a sigh, answering his unsaid question. “I’d rather not be lied to. Why don’t you like them?”

    Dusknoir made a mental note not to underestimate the other pokemon on Team Galaxy. Clearly, his old foes had done well picking other teammates. They weren’t like the citizens of Pokemon Square he had just met.

    “I am simply not used to them yet,” Dusknoir responded, “such volume and blind positivity was not seen often in the future,” he added.

    “Alright, yeah… Nel took awhile to get used to the noise too, I can only assume so did Alex when he first got here. Ceebee too, but she did get used to it pretty quickly,” Keahi hummed, zir gaze drifting off to gaze at a large board with papers attached to it. “This is the mission board. Pokemon needing help will post requests up there, and rescue teams will take them and complete them. Though, since the meteor was destroyed, there have been a lot fewer missions!” zir explained, “and over there is the Pelipper Post Office. We won’t go there today, but if we had a letter to send somewhere, we would give it to the workers there.”

    “I see…” Dusknoir murmured, eyeing the board and then the building by the cliff as Keahi mentioned them. “Is that it, then?” he asked.

    “Yeah, that’s most of the town!” Keahi answered, “I think I’m going to check out how the others are doing at the dojo, you can go back to the house if you’d like-“

    “Actually,” Dusknoir interrupted, “I think that I would like to go there as well, if that is no trouble to you.”

    Keahi blinked, but then after a moment’s thought, slowly nodded, “okay. We don’t want to really disturb them though, they’re probably busy.”

    Earlier that day, Alex decided to take some of the others on a training session. With the impending idea of another adventure to fix the world’s balance looming over them, he wanted to see about touching up some moves and battle techniques. He had the idea of doing this with Edgar in particular, who didn’t know many actual attacking moves. Tsuki came with him, and so did Damien; who was finally beginning to run low on chores to do around town. They planned on working in the dojo, while Ceebee took Gardevoir and Nelvana out to train a bit while Keahi started zir tour with Dusknoir. Nelvana was with the two psychic pokemon as they had discovered that Gardevoir already had the best psychic bond with Nelvana; it just seemed to be the best way to build up strength by training with her as well. Plus, at least in Alex’s opinion, Nelvana wasn’t in need of much physical training, currently.

    After a bit of warming up, Alex decided to start Edgar training up his pursuit move. It was one Alex was quite familiar with himself, and Tsuki as well. He figured that Edgar was at the right level for the move, so it was just a matter of getting him used to using it.

    “Alright, Edgar, have you ever used pursuit before?” Alex asked, stepping out further into the center of the large room.

    “No, I haven’t…” Edgar admitted, following the grovyle at a bit of a distance. “That’s the move that gets stronger when your enemy is running away, right? I’ve seen some of the others at the tower use it before!” he added.

    “Yeah, that’s the one!” Alex responded, “now, Tsuki and I are going to demonstrate first. You can hang back with Damien for a moment, okay, Edgar?” he continued, “actually… Damien, can you learn pursuit? I can’t remember if that’s in your movepool.”

    Damien shook his head, “nah, I don’t think so. I wonder if there are any moves we have in common…?”

    “Eh, you’re more likely to have common moves with Tsuki or Edgar,” Alex muttered.

    At being mentioned, Tsuki stood up from where she had seated herself over by the wall. Shaking her fur out first, she padded over towards Alex while Edgar spun around and headed back over to Damien.

    “Did you remember to bring your TMs that you mentioned?” Edgar asked the gengar as he floated up next to him.

    “Augh, damn, I forgot… Should I grab them now?” Damien responded, glancing from the duskull beside him to the grovyle across from him.

    “They can wait for now. Right now, let’s focus on moves we actually should know already,” Alex answered, sparing Damien a look before focusing on Tsuki. “Now then, would you like to use it on me, or should I attack you?”

    “I resist the typing. You can hit me for this demonstration,” Tsuki decided, shifting her position to a more battle-ready crouch.

    Alex nodded, “great. Alright, so, like Edgar said before, this is a move that gets stronger when the opponent is fleeing. However, you can use it at any time. From experience, it’s easier to pick up when you fall into that instinct of attacking as they flee, so we’ll go straight into that,” he explained, turning back in Edgar’s direction again. “There are plenty of signs to look for and timing to get right, but we’ll keep things simple for now. Usually, someone only runs away from a fight if they think they are going to lose. Keep an eye out for that. They may start trying to look for escape options, and focus more on dodging than attacking, becoming jumpier.”

    “Okay!” Edgar called back, bobbing along in the air to confirm his understanding.

    “Now, we’ll demonstrate then.”

    With that, Alex made a lunge for Tsuki. He purposefully went wide though, and the absol barely had to sidestep to avoid the attack. Baring her teeth, she snapped at his head leaf, again, purposefully missing. They didn’t have to hit each other to make this a battle; the only attack that would be important to land for this demonstration would be the pursuit attack.

    After about a minute of throwing out various attacks and jumping around each other, Tsuki began shifting her gaze. She exaggerated nervousness, pawing at the ground as she moved around Alex. He wondered if he should point it out to Edgar, to be sure he understood what to look for, but trusted the duskull had already noticed just fine. Instead of speaking, he readied his pursuit attack, gathering dark energy in his claws. Normally he would try hiding his hand to keep his foe from suspecting anything, but it would make more of a difference to Edgar here if he made the move more visible.

    Sensing that Alex wasn’t about to say anything to add to this lesson and was instead going right for the pursuit, Tsuki turned tail and fled. She bolted across the room, using her full potential for the first time in this battle to put as much distance between herself and the grovyle as possible. As she began moving away, Alex crouched down and then lunged towards her, the dark energy only growing and pulsating around his hand. Then, he appeared upon the absol, striking her with the move. It was almost as if he had teleported, except his movement, while extremely fast, was still quite visible, as if a teleport had been drawn out instead of instantaneous. His weight threw Tsuki to the floor, though after a moment, she easily stood up again and threw him off her back, shaking her fur out afterwards.

    “And that’s pursuit for you,” Alex said, brushing himself off as he turned to look back at Edgar, who clapped quietly with his robed hands. “Would you like another demonstration or more explanation, or would you like to try it out for yourself?”

    “I… I think I’d like to see it again!” Edgar decided, almost answering instantly but hesitating to actually think about it before making his decision.

    “Got it.” He glanced back at the absol as he made his way back towards the center of the room. “Do you want to get to hit me this time? You’ll probably end up taking the brunt of the hits when Edgar gives it a shot,” Alex offered.

    “I can always take an oran berry if I get worn out,” Tsuki assured him, following him some of the ways, providing them with more space for the fight. “Thank you for the thought, though.”

    Alex only hummed in response, accepting her choice and preparing himself to fight again. This battle went similarly to the last. In a way, it was a chance to practice some of their own moves, even if they didn’t want to actually hit each other with most of them. Eventually though, Tsuki tired of the dodging and throwing around various attacks, and took the chance to flee again, earning another pursuit to the back to finish the fight.

    “Okay! I think I want to try now!” Edgar exclaimed, hurrying over to the others.

    “Alrightio,” Alex responded, stretching. “You’re up against Tsuki then. Pay attention to when you think she’s going to flee, and get your dark move ready. Dark-type moves work best with negative feelings, at least when learning, so channel frustration at her running away. Keeping in mind that you want to stop her from fleeing will help ready pursuit as well,” he advised.

    Edgar nodded, and Alex made his way over to sit beside Damien. Sitting beside the gengar earned him a chill, but he didn’t mind that so much. Instead, he focused his gaze on his two teammates, who positioned themselves for the battle. Tsuki continued giving more advice to Edgar before they began, and Alex distantly listened, paying more attention with his eyes rather than his ears.

    “Edgar mentioned that I should be able to learn confuse ray and night shade like him. I’ve used both in the past, but it would be good to touch up on,” Damien mumbled, not really looking at Alex as he spoke either, watching the battle about to unfold instead.

    “That’s a good idea,” Alex agreed, “the confusion status is good to have on our side. If you use it too, then that frees up time for Edgar to land a will-o-wisp instead in a fight.”

    With that agreement, Damien didn’t pursue any more conversation for the moment, and instead watched as Edgar and Tsuki began to train. It took a few tries of the absol running off and then returning for Edgar to get the hang of the move, but eventually he pulled off a successful pursuit, nailing Tsuki from halfway across the dojo.

    “Oh, hey! You got it!” Damien cheered, sitting up with a smile.

    “Yeah!” Edgar exclaimed back, doing a victory spin in the air.

    “That’s great! Can you ready the attack without the idea of attacking a fleeing pokemon though?” Alex asked, standing up on his feet and taking a step towards the duskull.

    “Oh, hmm… let me see!” Edgar responded.

    His eye flickered for a moment, before finally disappearing from the socket all entirely, and the dark energy managed to form around his hands. It wasn’t as much as Alex had been able to form in his demonstrations, and evidently took much more focus, but was still great progress for him.

    Alex grinned, “great job! So, do you wanna take a break for now, or do you want to practice that a bit more?”

    “I think I want to practice it a couple more times, but then I think I want to help teach Damien confuse ray!” Edgar responded.

    “That would be a good opportunity to train the rest of us how to snap out of confusion quicker,” Tsuki pointed out, strolling over towards where most of the others were.

    “Ah, that’s a good point! I didn’t think about that, but you’re definitely right. We should give that a try,” Alex agreed, snapping his fingers at the thought. “After Edgar finishes with pursuit, of course,” he added.

    Nodding along, Edgar turned back away from the grovyle and back towards the center of the room, where Tsuki followed. They continued this repeated training, but before Edgar could announce that he was ready to change to train something else, the door to the dojo opened up.

    Keahi entered the room, almost sheepishly as Dusknoir trailed behind zim. His large eye scanned the room, landing on the pair, who were still training without much of a pause. They had, of course, heard the door as well, but for now were not letting this bother them. Keahi hurried over to Alex and Damien, hopping up to sit up on the bench.

    “What are you guys doing here?” Damien questioned, tearing his gaze away from Dusknoir to watch he torchic scurry over to them. “You already passed by the dojo for the tour…”

    “I wanted to come back to train with you guys!” Keahi explained, “and… Dusknoir wanted to come with too. If he’s going to bother you, I can take him back to the house first…”

    Dusknoir, overhearing the conversation, floated over to weigh in his own thoughts, “I do not plan on being a loud disturbance,” he told them, “and if it is the idea of me learning your moves and applying them to avoid later… Remember, we are unlikely to get into a battle against each other in this time. I was actually considering teaching a few of my moves. It would be best, after all, for a ghost-type to teach a ghost-type…”

    Alex narrowed his eyes and frowned, “I’d rather not,” he insisted, “I guess you can stick around here for a bit, just to watch though, if you insist,” he relented bitterly.

    “Ah, please, it would be no trouble. Edgar is part of my evolution line, and I happen to share a similar movepool to that of a gengar…” Dusknoir pressed, the corners of his stomach smile creeping upwards.

    “I said no,” Alex snapped, crossing his arms.

    “Is this really your choice to make?” Dusknoir questioned.

    “Why are you so insistent on this?” Alex questioned instead of answering, sending a final glare at Dusknoir before looking back at the battle, which Tsuki was about to flee.

    Dusknoir merely hummed in response to this, turning his own gaze to the remaining moments of the battle as well, “training pursuit?” he commented, “I have not used that move in a long time… It is quite handy though.”

    Alex muttered something under his breath. Dusknoir glanced over at him, but did not request for him to speak up and say whatever he was muttering to his face; not for now, at least.

    With this round of battling finished, Edgar headed over to join the others. Tsuki stared over towards them longingly for a moment, but instead proceeded to the opposite end of the room, where she began searching for one of the oran berries stored in the dojo. Edgar’s pursuit attacks weren’t doing that much damage, but too much of any attack can wear someone down.

    “Hi Keahi! Hi Dusknoir!” Edgar greeted cheerfully, “did you see? I’m learning pursuit!”

    “That’s really cool!” Keahi chirped, “now half the team knows it! That ought to be pretty handy!”

    “What move shall you be training next?” Dusknoir asked, staring down the duskull.

    The light in Edgar’s eye flickered momentarily, but it quickly returned to its usual brightness, “confuse ray!” he told him, “Damien and I plan on working on it together; I already use it a lot, but he hadn’t in awhile.”

    “Ah, I see. I’ve only used that a couple times myself, but I can see the use in it for others,” Dusknoir replied, “I was just talking about maybe getting the chance to train you and Damien sometime; I know a lot of moves you could learn.”

    “And I said no,” Alex spat, “don’t try to twist this like I had been agreeing with you.”

    “It is merely an offer, and it is their choice,” Dusknoir stated calmly, with almost a smug undertone to his words.

    “Oh… uh, I don’t know. I’m not that experienced anyway; there probably isn’t a lot you could teach me until I get stronger on my own,” Edgar murmured, glancing from the grovyle to the dusknoir. “Thanks for the offer though!” he added politely.

    Damien blinked, paling as he realized he would have to answer as well, “well… aren’t you a physical attacker? Most of your moves won’t be that good for me; I’m a special attacker, usually,” he said.

    Something seemed to darken from Dusknoir at these answers, but he let out a low hum and slowly nodded. They were fairly reasonable excuses. He would accept this, for now.

    “Very well. Let me know if you change your minds,” Dusknoir murmured, “don’t let me interrupt you, you may get back to your own training now.”

    “Come on! We’re going to need a couple targets for this move; no sense in confusing each other!” Edgar hummed, heading back towards the middle of the room once more.

    Alex, Keahi, and Damien all followed. Dusknoir stayed over by the wall to watch, and Tsuki stayed on her end of the room to watch as well, doing her best not to let her ability make her too bothered by the large ghost-type across the room.

    They trained for another hour at least after that, but then Gardevoir entered the dojo to gather up everyone to take a break and do something at home. Despite the interruption from Dusknoir, Alex considered that to be a good training session.

    As for Dusknoir himself, he was quieter for the remainder of the day, though he did not seem too upset either. It was strange, though not something for anyone to really comment on. Nelvana was quiet too, actually. Though, she did remain around the same room as Dusknoir to be with the others, so that seemed to be a step forward. Dusknoir noticed during this time, that a torn scarf that almost looked like a reaper cloth was tied around her wrist; a mobile scarf. Well, at least that answered one of his questions.

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: Intermission Previous: In which the dusknoir is met

[megacrustle]

My last Paper Mario odyssey partners.... had a lot of fun making these! even if they dont get very many notes lol

Part 1 [x] / Part 2 [x]

Oh Mario Baby, I know you're a big, ~strong~ man and all but let me handle these low-class goons~ Siren the Loch Lady. Siren is a former classical opera singer with a silky voice that can put others under her spell. Under the guise of a high-class and posh lady, Siren is actually a bit callous and has a pension for anything morbid. She has no patience for anyone who wastes her time and has no qualms in dealing with others in however manner she decides necessary. Leader of an intimidating "Informant" spy group, Siren and her associates offers help and information to anyone who needs it (granted they have the coins). However, for unknown reasons Siren offers Mario help completely pro bono. Despite her convincing and sadistic nature, Mario and Team have no choice but to accept her incredibly useful help. Siren's ability "Intimidation" is to make enemies on more likely to avoid Mario, meaning he has an easier chance of backtracking or traversing while on low HP? In battle she can give enemies the "cold shoulder" which deals ice damage, as well as charming enemies with her singing so they temporarily switch sides in battle. Attacks Cold Shoulder- Siren snubs a ground enemy and gives them a cold shoulder, dealing ice damage that might freeze enemies. *Siren's Song- Siren sings and has a chance of charming an enemy so they temporarily switch to Mario's side of battle. **Kiss and Tell- Siren plants a gentle kiss on an enemy, dealing damage that penetrates Defense and healing herself the same amount. ***Endear-Gives Mario another chance to act. It's not until later that it's revealed her Sister has disappeared due to mysterious circumstances and she believes Mario's journey is the key to uncovering what happened to her. After time and bonding with Mario and Party, she has grown a bit attached and decided to help him on his journey herself. On this adventure, maybe she will open up emotionally more to the group and in return become less cruel and spiteful.

Times like these makes me just wanna pull out my guitar and strum some mellow jams. Got some good vibes comin' your way, brothuh, I believe we can make it through anything. Morris the Moe-Eye. A world famous retired musician, Morris has traveled to every kingdom playing sold out concerts and spreading the cheer covering a wide range of genres including blues, country, and folk rock (as well as the universal charm of his smooth, golden voice). His music focuses on themes of adventure, self discovery, and other introspective concepts that make those listening stop and *really* thinks bout whats going on in their lives and the lives of others. Morris has a very open minded view of others, he believes everyone and every location has its own story to tell, and in his youth he has traveled the globe and experienced many things in order to gain inspiration for his music. Like other Moe-Eye, Morris has the ability to view invisible and unseen objects, but Morris is capable of seeing also invisible attributes of people and objects, such as emotions, which helps him bond and relate to others exceptionally easily. Morris's ability is to use his shades to reveal hidden objects in the overworld. In battle he can strum rancorous cords that deal damage to enemies or strum a silky lullaby that might lead some to fall asleep, Attacks: Rowdy Twang- Morris plays an unpleasant cord that damages any enemy. *Spectacled- Morris equips his sunglasses which allows him to see enemy weaknesses, which may boosts his attack or defense. **Lullaby Blues- Morris strums his guitar gently and softly, which may cause enemies on the field to fall asleep. ***Rockapalooza- Morris performs a concert which boosts the spirits of the party, temporarily increasing his own and Mario's Attack and Defense as well as replenishing some star points and filling more seats in the audience. Morris joins Mario because he's grown bored of the retired life and decides to relive his old days as an adventurer and helping others, and maybe get inspiration for a come-back album he's planning along the way. How does he even play a guitar without fingers? Does he use his toes?

Come Captain Mustache, with our help we will destroy suffering and evil once and for all! In the name of truth and justice, all villains will experience the mighty power of ROBOT RABBIT RANGER: CYBROOD! Cybrood the Robot Rabbit Ranger. Originally built by a mysterious and unknown scientist, Cybrood was originally 3 individuals of a team of 100 other Rangers who were created to solve problems throughout the world. But when one of these Rangers started strafing towards the side of villainy, re-branding itself as Rex λ, it decided to end the group once and for all by destroy every last Rabbit Ranger. All but 3 Rabbit Rangers were slain, their bodies destroyed and their minds incorporated into the evil singularity of Rex λ. The 3 remaining Rangers; Ranger X, Y, and Z; attempted with all their might to stop Rex λ from wreaking havoc across the cosmos, so they lured it back to their place of origin and used their collective powers to trap it in an indefinite prison. Rangers Y and Z, however, were mortally wounded during the fight. The only way to save them was for Ranger X to assimilate their minds into its own mainframe just as Rex λ had done to the other Rangers. With the assimilation complete, all 3 rangers were no longer individuals, but a new single entity now known as Cybrood who has taken it upon themself to guard Rex λ from escaping its prison. Cybrood has been in guard for many, many lonely years which has given them time to think about themselves. They love being heroes and helping other but more importantly they look back at all the times they were able to give others joy and see smiles on their faces. Perhaps when they're finally back out into the world, Cybrood can find new ways to make others truly happy. Cybrood's ability is an Elemental Blast: Using a concentrated laser that cycles through shock; freeze; or burn, Cybrood can solve numerous puzzles and advance through a multitude of obstacles. In battle he can defeat enemies with simple chopping attack, high kicks, and other similar martial art attacks. Attacks: Bunny Hop-Cybrood quickly hops over to an enemy and kick them with their powerful robotic legs. *Elemental Blast-Cybrood blasts an enemy with his powerful laser, which may leave it shocked, frozen, or burned. **Over the Moon-Cybrood grabs an opponent and flies them high into the sky. A turn later they come crashing down onto the field like a meteorite damaging other enemies on the field. ***XYZ Star Rush-Cybrood produces a myriad of holographic stars to shower over the enemies, causing massive damage throughout the stage. Cybrood follows Mario because, after Mario helps them defeat their demons both literal and metaphoric, they are not only just able to finally return to their original objective of helping those in need and saving the day but also now has a chance to possibly explore new career paths and find new ways to bring joy to others.

HUMAN MARIO, IT IS WISE OF YOU TO HAVE FOUND COMPANIONSHIP WITH A SPIRIT SUCH AS I. WERE WE ENEMIES ON THE BATTLEFIELD, I WOULD BE UNABLE TO DETERMINE THE VICTOR. Ja-Shi the Jaxi. A benevolent and ancient spirit, she has protected the denizens of a small village for thousands of years but has become ambivalent of outsiders. But when a danger comes to her village not even she can handle, she realizes she needs to team up with Mario who she did not initially trust in order to keep the townsfolk safe. Ja-Shi's ability is to carry Mario over deadly and hazardous obstacles such as spikes, poisonous water, or lava(similar to Lakitu or Carrie). In battle shy can trample enemies, burn them with spectral flames, or pull them into the spirit world for massive damage. Attacks Knock Back- Ja-shi slams onto the closest ground enemy, launching them to the back of the stage. *Trample- Ja-Shi rams through all ground enemies, possibly launching some out of battle completely **Spectral Bark- Ja-Shi roars and inflicts an enemy with fire damage, possibly leaving them burned. ***Spirit Warp- Ja-Shi attacks and drags an enemy into the spirit world, dealing massive damage as well as leaving a guarantee burn. Ja-Shi joins Mario because she wants to put an end to a greater threat that could cause possible harm to her village or its inhabitants. Maybe on this journey she can learn to have more trust of outsiders, and be more accepting of receiving help and friendship from those outside her town.

Zap Bang Crash and Pow!! Have no fear, Powup is here!! Powup the Bonneter. A quirky little ghost from Bonneton, but unlike the other guys who possessed hats she had the ability to possess and take the powers of power ups! She is a super secret bonus partner, so Mario has to do some work to get her amazing benefits. Outside of battle, Powup can help Mario locate hidden and secret objects. In battlem Powup acts as a 3rd partner: Mario just has to activate an item and Powup will take its powers. She only has 1 attack and it varies between item, but a 3rd partner can help with Mario's strategy as she can damage enemies, defend herself or her teammates, and appeal to the crowd to increase SP. Mario can change what powerup she is currently possessing anytime as long as he has the item in his inventory, and if she falls in battle he can bring her back. She's a bit of a trickster and hid herself behind multiple difficult objectives to see if anyone could find her. After Mario succeeds and reveals her from her hiding place, she devotes her loyalty  to him for being such a clever player.

[slapegg]

Quick Critique: Steamworld Dig 2

Steamworld Dig 1 was a neat game with a pretty unique take the exploration genre. It combined the exploration and upgrading of the usual fare with some platforming challenges and paid off with short bursts of the kind of happiness you get from clicker games. Heist didn't interest me, so I was happy to see Image & Form revisit the Dig world. Dig 2 is a lot of tweaking and updating what Dig 1 started but some of the changes are great, some don't really create meaningful differences, and others bring the game down a bit. You play as Dot this time and she levels up by killing enemies rather than gaining resources.  Leveling up is still a way to gate high level upgrades but this time, it also gets Dot a bonus on how much she can sell resources for. I'm jumping ahead a bit, but while this sounds good, it's actually a major annoyance. Unless you seem to spec out for all the money skills and grind out levels before you cash out digs, there aren't enough resources to get all the upgrades. I beat the game without dying and collected every resource I could outside of a handful that got destroyed in enemy chain reaction explosions leading to the resource being crushed or fall into a pit and I have a few upgrades I still can't afford and I'm not at the level cap. In Dig 1, if you play the game well, you finish it was a lot of extra cash and a few dozen extra Orbs. In Dig 2, as soon as you find some enemies that pay out decent XP, spend a bunch of time farming them to boost your levels and get the sale bonuses early and then spend all your money and upgrade points on the abilities that lead to extra money or else you're going to come up short. A huge appeal of exploration games is unlocking new abilities and maxing out your character, so coming up so short here is a huge letdown. I could understand that if you played sloppy, died and lost resources, or didn't go back to clean out old caves, but for a player invested in the game, that's just misguided construction. I actually started a second save file and bought the upgrades that grant more money and farmed a bunch of levels to get my sales bonus up before collecting resources, and I was swimming in extra cash by the end of the game. So that definitely looks like the intended way to play or somebody just didn't check their numbers/balancing for players that want to play with the fun upgrades rather than the money ones or that explore the mines early rather than only doing a clean up late in the game. Beyond the actual number balancing, Dig 2 has a much more robust upgrade system. Instead of using Orbs to just buy new parts like Dig 1, Dot can find "Cogs" to unlock new skills and abilities for items you've bought/unlocked, and some of them can majorly change how you play. You also aren't locked into what you spend them on and you can respec any time you return to town, so finding Cogs becomes a huge reward. The ability unlocking is also sped up to get you back to where you were when you finished up Dig 1. One of the earliest skills you get allows you to hit blocks above you or at a distance, like Rusty's rocket punch, and you eventually unlock the ability to fire that while in the air, which is a major game changer. The control scheme has also been greatly improved, so there's a lot less fiddling around to swap equipped items because they removed the consumable items.

Dig 2 has a lot of nice quality of life improvements. Your water and life automatically fill up when you return to town, so there's no needless farming of easy enemies to get back to full health. The map ticks off caves if you've found every secret in them so it's a bit friendlier for doing the end game cleanup than Dig 1 was. The map has a guiding arrow to point you to the next objective too. You have the option to turn it off but I left it on to see where NOT to go so I could explore more. I get oddly stressed out in games when I accidentally progress the story before I've had a chance to look all over, so having the arrow was a nice way for me create a lot of mini points-of-no-return and play how I like to. There are a lot more little things to find while exploring, which means more secrets as rewards for exploring and then more upgrades as you cash in the items you find squirreled away in odd spots. A couple of them are kiiind of BS in the way they're hidden though. It even has a nice touch where when you go to quit the game, it gives you the standard warning that any unsaved information will be lost, but then it actually displays a timer for when the last autosave was. It's small things like that that let you know this game was made by people that care

While a lot of the quality of life work has been improved, I'm not sure if I like Dig 2 better than 1. Dot isn't as "neat" as Rusty as a protagonist. Rusty's design is exactly what you want from a steam-powered Wild West explorin' and diggin' old timey robot. Dot is too humanoid. There's also a character that looks like a more bulked up version of Cronenberg dimension Summer from Rick and Morty and it bugged me every time I saw her. Can't really fault the game team for that one, but just know... that's there. I found the ending of Dig 1 to be super disappointing and Dig 2 doesn't really do much to redeem it, so Dot and Rusty's stories don't really come together in great ways. Seeing what Rusty was up to between Dig 1 and 2 seems like it's far more interesting than what Dot experiences. Steamworld Heist wasn't my thing, but I appreciate how the games all tie together. It's not in your face, but you'll appreciate some minor things more if you know their other games (or just read a wiki page) and Dig 2 connects the "lore" together in a fun way.

The combat still sucks. There's no way around that. Fighting enemies in these games is not fun and when you reach the boss that can teleport around the arena while spamming projectiles, the combat just feels shoehorned in because games "must" have combat. The final boss is absolutely lousy due to this. Dig 1's final boss felt more puzzle-y than action-y and that's what made it work in a game that wasn't super fighting focused. Rusty had an objective while a thing was fighting him. Dot has a combat experience that feels like it was taken from a rather different, and much worse, game. Heck, the post game content is also super lousy. It's such a massive disappointment that the game closes with such awful moments. They run so counter to everything that made the game fun that it's baffling that a team that could make a game so good would sully it by adding such awful, awful segments. They're moments built around having you fight with the worst of the game's controls and combat problems so it's shining an extremely bright spotlight on combat that's awful, chase sequences that kind of just come down to luck unless you come equipped with specific abilities that you weren't warned about and that weren't needed in the main game, and bad platforming/camera combinations. And just to twist the knife even more, it has a Portal "cake" reference. It's hard to even know how to react to that in 2017. Anger seems to have washed over, so I guess we're just up to despair on "the cake was a lie" references.

I've tried to avoid specifically mentioning specific game elements because in an exploration game, that's pretty close to being the only thing you can spoil, but I do feel the need to talk about two new upgrades and how they change the game from Dig 1. For the good side, you eventually get a hookshot in this game. And it's awesome. It's the perfect natural progression from Rusty's abilities. It lets you zip around the mines and creates some really fun challenge rooms and for some reason you can negate fall damage by grappling to the floor right before you smash into the ground. Hookshots are so awesome they defy physics. For the bad side, you shortly earn another mobility-based upgrade and it all but completely negates every other mobility ability. From that point on, challenges are focused on using that one power and the mines are built for navigating with it. It's so overpowering while not delivering any of the fun of a double jump or hookshot, that kind of ruins the back end of the game. You even get an upgrade that removes any skill or challenge in making sure you don't overuse your power, so the end of the game is just you using that one thing to solve any issue and ignoring all your other abilities.

Much like Dig 1, your enjoyment for Dig 2 will be heavily dependent on how laid back you're willing to have the game be. There's a despondent zen to the Dig games as you go alone into a mine, slowly break away at blocks to get deeper while your light burns away, and you head back through your path to leave the mine barely having gotten any further and barely having made any money but knowing that your next trip in will be that touch easier. Most exploration games ramp up the power fantasy as you gain amazing new powers and strength, but the Dig games are more chill than that. You unlock tools that allow you to progress but it's not until late in the game that you feel any sense of power. But that's what makes them interesting and fun. Steamworld is almost depressing with the state of the land, the townsfolk and their issues, and even the music, but it's never a slog. I appreciated its downer nature right up until I got those final upgrades that changed the whole feel of the game. Dig 2's jump to a $20 price tag just isn't worth it. The game is very short and features a lot of padding on the back end, so unless you want to find 100% of everything, it's going to be a brisk experience. That was fine with Dig 1 where the game was half the price, but Dig 2 suffers for it. If you do want to 100% everything, prepare for a lot of backtracking and grinding, which may sour you by the time the credits roll. It's rough to say, but Dig 1 and Heist go on sale seemingly every month, so maybe wait for Dig 2 to do the same. I had a gift card with store credit sitting around, so I'm not upset about the purchase, but I'd have been more willing to overlook the problems in the last act of the game on a cheaper and shorter but tighter game.