#looks like the two games twt accounts have a similar number of followers

[sasaranurude]

Okay. I've been playing Tokyo Debunker today, since the release happened to catch me on a day when all I'd planned to do was write fanfiction. I just finished reading the game story prologue (it was longer than expected!), so here's a review type post. If you're reading this post not having seen a single thing about this game: it's a story-based joseimuke gacha mobile game that just released globally today. It's about a girl who suddenly finds herself attending a magic school and mingling with elite, superhuman students known as ghouls. If you look in the tumblr tag for the game you'll see what appears to be a completely different game from 2019 or so: they retooled it completely midway through development, changing just about everything about it due to "escalating competition within the gaming industry."

I'll talk about how this looks like a blatant twst clone at the end.

Starting with the positive: The story is charming. I enjoyed it thoroughly the entire time and am excited to read more. The mix between visual novel segments and motion comics was really nice--it broke things up and added a lot of oomph to the action or atmospheric scenes that visual novels generally lack. I like the art in the comic parts a lot. the live2d in the visual novel parts is... passable. Tone-wise, I think the story was a little bit all over the place and would like to see more of the horror that it opened on, but I didn't mind the comedic direction it went in either. The translation is completely seamless. The characters so far all have unique voices and are just super fun and cute. Of the ones who've had larger roles in the story so far, there's not a single one I dislike. It's all fully voiced in Japanese and the acting is solid. (I don't recognize any voices, and can't seem to find any seiyuu credits, so it seems they're not big names, but they deliver nonetheless.) Kaito in particular I found I was laughing at his lines a ton, both the voicing and the writing.

He's looking for a girlfriend btw. Spreading the word.

The problem is like. The gameplay is the worst dark-pattern microtransaction-riddled bullshit I've ever seen. Hundred passive timers going at all times. Fifty different item-currencies. Trying to get you to spend absurd amounts of real world money at every turn. There's like five different indicators that take you to various real-money shop items that I don't know how to dismiss the indicator, I guess you just have to spend money, wtaf. Bajillion different interlocking systems mean you have zero sense of relative value of all the different item-currencies. I did over the course of the day get enough diamonds for one ten-pull, which I haven't used yet. Buying enough diamonds for a ten-pull costs a bit under $60 (presumably USD, but there's a chance the interface is automatically making that CAD for me--not gonna spend the money to check lmfao), with an SSR rate of 1%. BULLSHIIIIIT.

There's like a goddamn thousand-word essay explaining the dozen different types of character upgrades and equippables and equippables for the equippables!! Bad! Bad game design! That's just overcomplicating bullshit to trick people into thinking they're doing something other than clicking button to make number go up! That is not gameplay!

In terms of the actual gameplay, there is none. The battle system is full auto. There might be teambuilding, but from what I've seen so far, most of that consists of hoping you pull good cards from gacha and then clicking button to make number go up. There's occasional rhythm segments but there's no original music, it's just remixes of public domain classical music lmao. I'd describe the rhythm gameplay as "at least more engaging than twisted wonderland's," which is not a high bar

At least there's a cat in the rhythm bit.

And like, ok, I gotta remark on how derivative it is. Like I mentioned in my post earlier, this game is unabashedly aping twisted wonderland's setting and aesthetic. (That said, most of the stuff it steals from twst is magic school stuff that twst also basically stole from Harry Potter, so...?) However, it isn't exactly like twst: in this one, the characters say fuck a lot and bleed all over the place and do violence. Basically, the tone is a fair bit more adult than twst's kid-friendly vibe. (Not, like, adult adult, and I probably wouldn't even call it dark--it's still rated Teen lol. Just more adult than twst.)

Rather than just being students at magic school, the ghouls also go out into the mundane world to go on missions where they fight and investigate monsters and cryptids. Honestly, the magic school setting feels pretty tacked-on. The things that are enjoyable about this would've been just as enjoyable in about any other setting--you can tell this whole aspect was a late trend-chasing addition, lmao. So, yeah, it's blatantly copying twst to try to steal some players, but... Eh, I found myself not caring that much. Someone more (or less) into twst than me may find it grating.

Character-wise, eh, sure, yeah, they're a bit derivative in that aspect too, but it's a joseimuke game, the characters are always derivative. Thus far the writing & execution has been solid enough that I didn't care if they were tropey. If I were to compare it to something else, I'd say the relationship between the protagonist and the ghouls feels more like that of the sage and wizards in mahoyaku than anything from twst. There's some mystery in exactly what "ghouls" are and their place in this world that has me intrigued and wanting to know more about this setting and how each of the characters feels about it. I have a bad habit of getting my hopes up for stories that put big ideas on the table and then being disappointed when they don't follow through in a way that lives up to my expectations, though.

So, my final verdict: I kind of just hope someone uploads all the story segments right onto youtube so nobody has to deal with the dogshit predatory game to get the genuinely decent story lol. Give it a play just for the story if you have faith in your ability to resist dark patterns. Avoid at all costs if you know you're vulnerable to gacha, microtransactions, or timesinks.

[kerbaldevteam]

KSP Loading... Deep Dive on the Breaking Ground Enhanced Edition Expansion

Welcome to our official newsletter, KSP Loading…!  If you want to learn about all the current developments of the KSP franchise, then this is the place to be!

Kerbal Space Program Update 1.9 on PC

The KSP team is so excited about the features being worked on for Update 1.9. Similar to the last update, 1.9 will focus on furthering the performance and graphical improvements to the foundations of the game. These improvements include: new textures and mappings for Celestial Bodies, new shaders, optimizations, additional revamps and much more. Our goal for update 1.9 will be to continue to build upon the foundations that make KSP great.

Terrain Revamp for Moho and Dres

We’re continuing to revamp our celestial bodies, and in 1.9, Moho and Dres are getting fresh high-quality texture maps & graphic shaders. Take a look!

KSP breaks ground on consoles!

As we announced recently, Breaking Ground, the second expansion of Kerbal Space Program Enhanced Edition is coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on December 5th and it will have 100% feature parity with its PC counterpart.

Kerbal Space Program Enhanced Edition: Breaking Ground is all about exploration, experimentation and technological breakthroughs. With this expansion console players will be able to discover mysterious surface features across the moons and planets of the Kerbolar System. Players will also have the ability to collect data with brand new deployable experiments and design complex crafts with the addition of robotic parts.

Deployed Science

This feature will allow you to deploy experiments on the surface of celestial bodies to take measurements over time. You will need to bring these experiments with you, unpack them from storage containers on your craft and set them up to run. In order to do so, you will need to place a central station, one or more power generating devices and possibly a booster antenna to get your science base set up. The experiments and power generators will run better if the right kind of Kerbal sets them up, thus giving you more reasons to bring Kerbals with different professions on an adventure.

Click here to see the different experiments that will be available in Kerbal Space Program Enhanced Edition: Breaking Ground 

Surface Features

Surface features are items of scientific interest scattered across all celestial bodies.  These features include meteorites, craters, mineral formations, and even stranger planetary oddities. Surface features vary in size and Kerbal astronauts will be able to pick up and return the smallest of them to study back at KSC. However, larger specimens will need to be scanned and analyzed on-site by the newly developed Rover Arms. The Rover Arms come in three levels that you unlock via Research and Development, each of which have more sensors and tools that allow you to collect more science from the same surface feature.

Click here to see more images of Surface Features and the Rover Arm in high-res. 

Robotics

With Breaking Ground, you will see a number of robotic parts including: hinges, pistons, rotors, rotational servos, propeller blades and turbo-shaft engines. Available in a range of shapes and sizes these new parts operate under realistic physics, with real forces and torques, electricity consumption and even motor mass accounted for. 

We are also including a controller part that will let you coordinate the behavior of many different parts on your craft. Use Hinges to provide angles of rotation between two parts. Pistons give you linear motion. Rotors will allow you to generate torque around their axis. Rotational servos will give you precise control of angular position. Propeller Blades and Turbo-shaft Engines will allow you to build helicopters and other blade-propelled contraptions. 

The KAL-1000 controller can sequence the actions of all the robotics parts and a number of other fields.  It gives you access to a powerful track editor tool which lets you plan how parts will behave over time. Using this controller, you can set up complex cranes, walking crafts, disco lighting or whatever you can dream up!

Click here to see the Robotic Parts images in high-res.

The New Suit

This futuristic-looking suit was designed to match the spirit of Breaking Ground. It not only looks great on Kerbals, but offers customization where players can choose what color the helmet and suit lights will glow when in a darkened environment.

Click here to see the Suits in high-res.

Free Update for Consoles

Coupled with the Breaking Ground Expansion, Kerbal Space Program Enhanced Edition is getting a FREE content-filled console-optimized update that will bring all improvements, features, color variants and part revamps we’ve added up to PC 1.7.3 to console. These updates include:

Altimeter mode toggle

A long-requested quality-of-life feature that will allow you to toggle the altitude mode from Above Sea Level (ASL) to Above Ground Level (AGL) by simply clicking on the new icon to the altimeter. The KSP Team is optimistic that this will lead to improvements in the KSC’s survival rates…

Delta-v per Stage and Delta-v Tool App

Plan missions better and find flaws in your ship staging setup with this long requested feature that will let you visualize the Delta-v values along with a range of other technical data for each stage and the vessel overall. Plus, a Delta-v app that will allow you to get the vessel environment for how Delta-v is calculated in the VAB and SPH. Players will find this very useful!

Improved Burn Time information

The  improved burn time indicator will now calculate based on dV and not acceleration. Additionally, it will contain a staging indicator that shows which stages contain the dV needed to complete each part of the maneuver. This will show a red section at the end if there’s not enough dV in the current vessel to complete that maneuver. In the extended mode of the burn time indicator two extra lines are shown, allowing you to adjust how much time you want to spend burning before and after the node during the maneuver as well as showing you a countdown for when you need to start burning fuel to do so.

Extensions to the Action Group System

Along with those updates we’re also adding two extensions to our action group system. The first one adds another type of action group for controls that lets you bind input controls to fields - an axis group. The second adds Action Sets, which allow you to enable or disable sets of axes or action groups.  

This extends what you can do with a limited number of buttons, allowing you to put your craft into different modes of operation. You can even override the base controls with the action set feature, furthering how you can fine tune the interface between you and your craft. We developed these extensions to give players more options to control their robotics, but it certainly will be useful for stock and modded players as well.

Revamped Parts

A large number of parts have been given a fresh new look since the last update. You’ll be pleasantly surprised to find over 40 new part revamps, including the MK2 Lander Can, which like many other parts, includes a new variant for you to choose at will.

KSP 2 Developer Diary

In case you haven’t read through our latest KSP 2 Developer Diary yet, we invite you to check it out! Included in the post is an early animatic for the concept of our KSP 2 Announce Trailer, which was illustrated and narrated by Star Theory’s Creative Director, Nate Simpson.

To learn more about the effort that went into creating this trailer and how every bump, hiccup and cheer of triumph led to the final KSP 2 Announce Trailer, be sure to read our latest Dev Diary.

Apollo 12 Challenge’s Stellar Stand-outs

Thank you to everyone who participated in the #KSPApollo12 in-game challenge to re-create the Apollo 12 mission. There were so many amazing posts and we wanted to highlight 3 stellar submissions here: 

IG: ksp_space_agency

YouTube: Dronez

TWT: Punet Shrivas

Remember, you can share and download crafts and missions on Curse, KerbalX, the KSP Forum and the KSP Steam Workshop.

That’s it for this edition. Be sure to join us on our official forums, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Stay tuned for more exciting and upcoming news and development updates!

Happy launchings!