#not one who thinks we need the same cutscene 5 times and more if you count flashbacks

[ganondoodle]

i guess in that sense totk really delivered on the botw2 thing

if you see botw2 not as in "direct sequel that builds on the previous one" but as in "this game again but different" (and worse) that is

so much is repeated, or replaced with things functionally the same or worse but with a paintjob, sometimes even just the same thing again (like the luminouas stones and sonanium (zonaite) and the special horses) often times essentially the same thing but worse or without any background or even both (i didnt even like revali, but man having his efforts to create the updraft cheapend by tulin, a waht, 10 year old? doing the same just vertical without even havign to try bc hes jsut that talented tm- not only worse as in its less useful and often annoying with the bad control scheme, but also has basically no background, no struggle, and makes revalis seem kinda stupid)

and in the end, instead of uplifting each other, the games cheapen each other, its not interesting anymore, nothing means anything and there was no intention behind it, any mystery that was intriguing in botw has ceased to have meaning, its either nothing or answered with 'the sonau (zonai) did it actually' which is not jsut boring, but frustrating, and .. sad ... i dont think it will ever not make me sad.

[curtain-caller]

So I'm looking forward to seeing all the interpretations and headcanons people make for The Lucky Contestant (who I will also join in calling them "Lucky"), but I'm curious... Okay, raise of hands, who else here also pictures Lucky as a crafty, greedy, overconfident, sassy, morally bankrupt little shit (affectionate)? Or is that just me? Idk I just get those vibes from their choices in the game (elaboration below)

Like... the implications that they were combing through hundreds of boxes to get a tape to join the show??? That they were counting the boxes and keeping track??? The fact that the only way to escape at the start is to run PAST the giant fucking beast mauling another contestant instead of running AWAY from it??? Not to mention them leaving the other remaining contestants behind in doing so.

The fact they didn't hesitate when Deputy Duck pecked at them, fucking grabbing him by the neck and throwing him against the wall??? That screamed "I'm not fucking around, are you going to cooperate or not?" kind of energy. The way they barely move when they come across the Real Frankie in front of the monitors??? Like, I know you can't move during that segment probably so you don't just miss the cutscene, but in-universe, Lucky has ample opportunity to turn and fucking run, and we know damn well their fear response isn't freeze, it's flight.

Just. The entire noob noob section. I feel like they flinched one time during that and that was when they caught the first one, but only because the explosion caught them off guard. That slowed them down for 1 second, maximum. Hell, I've seen a few players laugh at that part, I feel like Lucky would too. The fact that there's no objectives to even try to escape Frankie's great value Parkour Civilization??? Like, in a game like this, I'd expect at one point for there to be an attempt to just escape the game entirely once shit hit the fan, only for the protagonist to realize the only way out is to begrudgingly play along and win. But nope. Lucky came here for the money, and they're getting that money. AND THE FACT THEY DO??? AND THEY'RE THE FIRST EVER ONE TO DO SO??? The way they just strut back into Frankie's office after their 57th near-death experience and look him right in the eye??? The whole ending segment where they go for another season??? It's not framed at all like they were forced to go again, because the Real Frankie just offered his hand out, and when we cut back, Lucky is casually looking at the ratings screen while standing on top of a pile of corpses. There are open gaps on the floor they can be standing on instead! But nope, just chilling on top of some dead bodies. Obviously we can't tell what their facial expressions are with the mask on, but they don't seem afraid or even all that tense about their situation either. To me, Lucky is the type of guy to go "I'm not gay, but 20 bucks is 20 bucks". Lucky is the type of guy to go "No, I'm taking the 5 million" only to sprint through that fucking door when Frankie whispers "Double or nothing". Lucky is the type of guy to walk past an old dead competitor and mutter "skill issue" under their breath. Lucky is the kind of guy to roll around in the glass money ball for enrichment like a hamster in a hamster ball. Lucky's the type of guy to keep going for season after season, for more and more money, until eventually they're not even doing it for the money anymore, relishing in the adrenaline rush and the glory instead. I just really love the idea that the reason why Lucky made it to the end so successfully was not only because of their skills and quick thinking, but because they also match Frankie's freak. Frankie was right: They need each other. They compliment each other. They enable each other in the worst ways possible. One wants to put the other through gradually more elaborate and deadly situations to increase ratings, and the other runs headfirst into those situations with the same energy as someone going cliff diving. It's like enrichment for them.

[dontfollowme-kay]

Dante's love towards Eva

You can hate Kamiya for the yucky yuck romance potential between Dante and Trish in DMC1, I don't blame you (even though iirc he denied that accusation somewhere on twitter lol). But the thing that Kamiya did well is he actually included cutscenes showed Dante loves his mother, really. In just one game Dante spent about 3-5 times talking/thinking about Eva

"My mother always used to tell me that my father was a man who fought for the weak. He had courage and a righteous heart. In the name of my father I will kill Mundus!"

"Don’t come any closer you Devil! You may look like my mother but you're nowhere close to her. You have no soul! You have the face but you'll never have her fire!"

Mundus: "Those eyes... deep in them I see the same light as in Sparda's eyes."

Dante: "...Why my mother?"

Mundus: "That useless being? If you need a mother, I can create it as many as you want. Just like I created Trish."

Dante: "Silence!"

(You know what he's gonna say next here)

But when Dante was in Itsuno's hands, that "mommy" trait of him somehow was "reduced" post DMC1. The times Dante mentioned Eva ingame became incredibly sparse, and when he did, Dante used Eva to have conversations with Vergil rather than talking about her in a personal way for Dante himself

"So... my mother's amulet is the key that unlocks the door to the demon world. Good plan, pop." (DMC3)

"Yup, this is where it all started. The day mother saved me and... left you behind. The thing you don't know is, she tried to save you, too. She kept searching and searching... Until it killed her..." (DMC5)

"Well lemme jog your memory. A little Vergil crying in the corner because mommy got mad" (also DMC5 but Special Edition)

For a character who's supposed to have mother issues, it would be strange if that character barely was seen having anything to do with his mother. It's interesting if we think of Kamiya Dante as a "mama's boy", then with Itsuno Dante, both Itsuno and fandom seem to make him to be more "brocon" with Vergil entered the picture (please don't take this too literally, I just mean Dante's character focused more around his brother).

[penpinetree]

Rhythm Doctor's tutorials are perfect and why subdivision beats are my favorite mechanic (SPOILERS FOR ACT 5)

before we get into spoilers: Rhythm doctor is a one button rhythm game where you apply defibrillation to numerous characters who each have their own tempo, mechanics and stories as to why they're at middle sea hospital, the game has a great story, amazing characters, and a simple (at first) gimmick, push the button on the 7th beat. its a good game, you should totally play it, and I recommend not reading this post if you haven't, if you have played it, then listen to me word vomit for a minute.

Act 5 is about subversion, even before the act officially starts the game tricks you into thinking it'll be a fun little baseball themed act

the entire act takes place in a new (to you) ward where you've overheard from two other patients that a popular baseball player has just been admitted there.

immediately you'll notice that this is not a ward in a hospital, this is a baseball field, strange, but whatever, doesn't matter. this song introduces a new gimmick, subdivision notes, which are a type of SVT beat (i realize i didn't explain those, basically you're given a get, set, go count and have to hit the beat on go) subdivision beats are simple (at first) where all you need to do is listen for a queue and hit more than one note.

they look like this (it was so hard to time snipping tool to get these). the top image is for a double subdivision and the bottom is for a triple subdivision the tutorial for these notes is really good at getting you used to these types of notes being matched with each other and regular notes respectively and you'll have a good grip on them by the end of it.

the song starts out in the same field that going into the physiotherapy ward brought you to, and the music is nice, mostly just a test to see if you have the subdivision beats down by now.

that is until you reach this point and a baseball suddenly flies into the screen, putting the song to a pause and pulling away the curtain.

it was a dream, this is lucky, the baseball player who was admitted to middlesea hospital for tearing their rotator cuff during a game. after a quick cutscene the song starts again, cutting back to the baseball field, except it's no longer a dream, it's a nightmare, its pouring rain, baseballs fall from the sky in larger and larger amounts, every now and then you can see the eyes of Lucky's fellow teammates staring at you from the dugout. and then it happens, my favorite part of act 5, the one queue that made me fall in love with this game for a third time.

FOUR! TONK-TONK-TONK-TONK

all of the sudden you're hit with a quadruple subdivision beat, they didn't teach you this, lightning strikes in the background as its called out, normally this would be bad game design, throwing something at you out of nowhere without explaining how you're supposed to deal with it. but you hit the notes anyway, because by now you've learned to ignore the visual cues and go based off of the game's rhythm, because the queue's "Tonks" are also in tempo with how quickly you have to hit the divided notes, so without making a sweat you hit the notes perfectly, even while the nightmare sequence starts to fall apart, telling lucky to wake up, you still hit every note perfectly until the end of the song

at the end of the song the screen zooms out from lucky, and you're shown the real physiotherapy ward, this room will no longer look like the baseball field unless you go to it on a new save, act 5 is such a good example of why this game is so dear to my heart (haha) and if you still somehow haven't played it, please, just buy it, give the developers your money.

[lulu2992]

Hey there!

After reading your great insight on what to keep in mind when, say, writing the Seed brothers in fanfiction, I was wondering if you wanted to cap things off on what to keep in mind when writing Faith?

You don’t have to do it immediately, just when you have the time.

Hi! Sure, let’s conclude this “series” with the last member of the family, Faith Seed :)

First, while she’s referred to as a/the Siren by Dutch, a couple of NPCs, and in promotional material, this isn’t her official title in the Project. And as you probably know, Faith Seed’s real name is actually Rachel. However, unlike what the Far Cry Wiki claims, I’m quite certain her full name was never Rachel Jessop. Unfortunately, the biography on her Wiki page is partly made up and based on that incorrect assumption, so I really don’t recommend trusting it. This advice goes for all Far Cry characters, and I don’t think the Far Cry 6 Season Pass is a good reference, either, since the DLCs were written with the help of the Wiki.

In Far Cry 5, in addition to the story cutscenes, she has three sermons (here, here, and here), four answering machine messages (here, here, here, and here), and can also be randomly encountered in the Henbane River region as a “specter” (term used in the files). When she appears, she either hums the song “Oh The Bliss” (here and here) or talks to the Deputy. I think what she says really is worth listening to and adds a lot to her character. @teamhawkeye has done a tremendous job recording and compiling all her appearances in 9 videos (1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9)! As for Marshal Burke’s “apology video”, in which Faith also appears, it’s here.

I wrote a summary of what other characters say about her here (masterpost here), and all the NPCs’ comments about the Seed family are available here and here.

Faith isn’t in Far Cry Arcade and doesn’t have the same “combat lines” as most other characters, but you can still listen to everything she says during the final fight against her here.

Her deleted lines are here, and she has even more here. Most of them probably aren’t relevant anymore, but they’re still interesting and make me wonder what they originally had in mind for the character!

If I’m not mistaken, there’s only one note in Far Cry 5 written by Faith: the “Note for Tracey” (Hope County Jail). The note “A Confession” (Throne of Mercy Church) was also written by “Faith”, but it seems to me the author is one of Rachel’s predecessors.

Indeed, in-game evidence indicates Rachel wasn’t the first woman who took on the role of Faith Seed. There were at least two others before her, Lana and Selena, but we barely know anything about them or why they were replaced. Two letters, written by people who knew and loved them, can be found in the game in the Horned Serpent Cave and the King’s Hot Springs Hotel, but that’s pretty much it.

There was another note written by Faith, apparently cut from the game but still available in oasisstrings. It was supposed to be in her bunker, Faith’s Gate:

To my guardians, Because we have each other, we are already strong. But when the Collapse comes, this gate will need to be the heart of our strength. Guard it with your lives, knowing that any sacrifice you make will be for the future of humanity's greatest ideals and dreams. Jacob and Joseph have chosen you to guard this gate. You should be very proud. I know you serve me with love, but never forget that this will be your home, too. If you falter from this purpose, remember the bliss is there for you. With love, Faith

It’s worth noting that, in the game’s files, Faith (or the Henbane River) is sometimes referred to as “Selena Seed”. To me, this suggests that her identity and her backstory went through many changes during the development of Far Cry 5, and that might explain at least some of the grey areas surrounding the character.

Since she isn’t the Seed brothers’ biological sister and they weren’t raised together, The Book of Joseph doesn’t give a lot of information about her life before Eden’s Gate aside from what the game already tells us: she was a broken person, addicted to drugs, and was “adopted” by Joseph as his sister and Herald. When she joined the cult, since drugs are forbidden by the rules, she first had to overcome her addiction, and the book says she succeeded with the help of scopolamine (basically Bliss). It’s also explained she then worked with a geneticist named Peter, probably on developing Bliss. That said, in the game, he’s never mentioned, cultists never use the word “scopolamine” (always “Bliss”), and nothing clearly indicates it can be or has ever been used as a substitution treatment, so I’m not sure what’s still canonical...

Faith also appears in the short film Inside Eden’s Gate (not entirely canon to me but still good) where she’s played by Mackenzie “Kenz” Lawrén Johnson. I must admit Faith is my favorite Herald in the film; I really like Kenz Lawrén’s interpretation as well as her opinion on the character, which she gave in this interview!

Weirdly, Faith has often been referred to as the “half-sister” by the game’s main writers (such as here or here) even though she isn’t related to the Seed family in the game. It’s possible that she used to be but that was changed at some point. According to the Lead Writer, “Maybe she isn’t liked by the other two brothers as she didn’t grow up with them” (which is hinted at by NPCs and John himself in Far Cry 5). In a now-deleted interview for GameCrate, he also described her as “more of an outsider” and “probably the most fervent believer in Joseph”.

Greg Bryk, who co-created and played the Father, said he believed he needed Faith because “the maternal aspect of the feminine energy is missing” in his life even though it’s something “essential for Joseph to have”. He thinks there have been several Faiths because “when [Joseph] would lose faith, [he] would find another Faith.” And according to him, “she doesn’t need to have a specific energy because there’s something of an essence that [he needs] as opposed to a person”, and she almost has a “mother earth energy”.

While she does give a bit of information about her past life as Rachel in the game, saying she was “ostracized by her community”, “bullied by friends”, “abused by her family”, and “wanted to die”, it’s not always easy to know what’s true and what’s not when it comes to Faith because she’s known for being a master manipulator; lying is canonically part of her modus operandi. In a way, because Faith Seed is a role, I would say she’s also always performing. Unlike what a few NPCs claim, I don’t think that means she never tells the truth, but she’s still undoubtedly “very skilled at twisting the facts and turning any situation to her advantage”, as the game’s Narrative Director put it.

Although the details are unclear, I believe it’s true Rachel was “lost” and “broken” before she arrived in Hope County and joined the Project. It’s also true that, as Faith Seed, she’s now powerful, dangerous, and not innocent anymore, as her former best friend Tracey Lader, who knows her very well and witnessed her transformation (but was unable to stop it), warns the Deputy. I neither mean nor think the situation Faith is in is normal, healthy, or the best thing that could have happened to her, but I do think saying she’s unhappy with it, helpless, in danger, or that she only wishes she could run away from the cult really is a misunderstanding of the character. Faith knows what she’s doing, and she’s very good at doing it. To me, she’s the most powerful Herald.

Since the lore is a bit inconsistent, we’re not entirely sure how the Bliss works and who created it, but we know it’s an almost magical, hallucinogenic and pacifying drug made from “bliss flowers” (heavily inspired by Datura stramonium) that Faith is immune to, can control, and uses to brainwash people. “The Bliss” is also a place, but once again, the details are unclear. It could be her bunker, or maybe just a distorted version of reality that individuals who are exposed to the drug “live” in. Wherever or whatever it is, most people never truly come back from it or fully break free from Faith’s influence, as seen with the Marshal in the game…

In the Project, Faith’s role is to lure (hence the nickname “Siren”) people into the cult and convince them to follow the Father, often with the help of Bliss. If they keep resisting or are “too full of fear and doubt”, high doses of the drug can be administered to them and turn them into Angels, who are comparable to zombies according to some characters. Bliss irreversibly damages people’s brains, and those who become Angels unfortunately can never be saved. Faith and her followers seem to think they’re beautiful creations because they’re faithful to the Project and unable to sin. It seems she has the power to control them (at least partly), and the cult doesn’t hesitate to use them as “shock troops” or “slave labor and beasts of burden”, as NPCs say. They’re indeed very docile and resistant... as well as hard to kill.

Again, there are some discrepancies regarding what happens to potential converts in the Henbane River region, but it seems people first have to walk along the Pilgrimage path and, at the end of it, take a literal leap of faith from the statue of Joseph, just like Faith explains she did (even though whether or not the statue already existed at the time is a bit uncertain). As unbelievable as it sounds, NPCs confirm it’s entirely possible to survive the leap. After walking the Path, some pilgrims become Angels, some simply join the Project, and others don’t survive, either because they don’t make it to the end or die when they jump (maybe because their faith isn’t strong enough, I’m not sure how that works).

In the Family, Faith can be described as “the favorite child” (and I think that makes John jealous), who saw Joseph as her savior when they met and wants others to experience the same feeling, by force if necessary. Just like her brothers, she basically weaponizes her trauma and makes people relive a sublimated version of her life story: she targets the most vulnerable individuals, gives them drugs to ease their torment, and sometimes takes their minds away from them. Even though Faith is fully capable of thinking for herself, isn’t mind-controlled, was a drug user before she joined the Project (not after), and left her old self Rachel “in the darkness” willingly to be reborn as Faith Seed, she still became a new person for the Father and expects the same from anyone she converts, even if that means she has to completely brainwash them.

In conclusion, we don’t really know much about Rachel and her backstory, simply that she was broken, saw Eden’s Gate as a chance to start anew, and happily took it. Since she was young, desperate, and therefore suggestible when she met Joseph, one can wonder if Faith is simply a manipulated, brainwashed victim; a poor, helpless soul devoured by a cult. But although that situation is far from ideal or normal, she and other characters confirm that she too has teeth, and she doesn’t hesitate to use them. Rachel should theoretically just have been a victim, but as Faith Seed, she’s transcended this status. She’s found purpose, power, and is committed to her beliefs. Not everyone in Hope County precisely knows who she is, but now, she does. She’s a multifaceted mystery whom people tend to underestimate, and it’s something she likes to cultivate because that’s how she gets them. She’s a Siren, but in my opinion, also a Phoenix, who was consumed completely and rose up from her own ashes to be born again. Rachel was broken, but Faith is strong. Rachel lost herself, but Faith was found. Rachel was nothing; Faith can be anything.

[triphimi]

❗️(quite) HEAVY INTO THE PIT SPOILERS❗️

So the minigames in ITP are neat additions. But besides the ones from arcades, there are more that you need to find and like

One is about "To be beautiful" and we play as Eleanor giving Sarah new body parts. Eventually after switching all of Sarah's body we can take the necklace and Sara turns into a pile of trash.

Easy, that's pretty much exactly what happened in the story (just simplified).

To get to it you need to call mom while in the Freddy's pizzeria on final night (or at least that's how I got to it).

Second one is about Millie from "Count the ways". At first I thought it was Charlie bc of gray sprite and green eyes but it makes sense to be Millie since CTW is also in the first book. Anyways we collect 5 items from the next room 5 times. First we collect 5 drinks, then 5 cupcakes, then 5 snowflakes are what these things are I think? Then 5 hearts each pierced by an arrow, and then 5 cauldrons. When we enter the room for the 6th time there's some Bonnie looking thing, for me it definitely looks like Bonbon. Also I'm pretty sure that the items we collect are referencing ways to die Funtime Freddy presented to Millie (dehydration, starvation, freezing to death, getting impaled, boiling alive if I'm not mistaken)

Again oversimplified and we only get to the part where Millie's already getting her death sentence (and we don't see Funtime Freddy but she's technically in his stomach so fair enough) but with context it's definitely easily connectable to CTW

To get it you need to spam the candy machine A LOT of times and I think it has to be on the final night too (I did it like that).

But there's one more you can get by inserting a voucher into a prize machine at Freddy's. When you do it it takes you to a minigame where you play as some black haired dude? a kid? Idk hard to tell from the sprites.

Golden Freddy is laying on the floor in the staring room (can't interact with him and touching him doesn't do anything either). We're in a pizzeria judging by the party rooms and the office (I can't tell if it's the same layout as the itp one bc my spacial awareness is laughable so I'll have to wait till someone makes a map of it).

We need to collect balloons, there's a counter I'm the top left corner of how many we have, after collecting 6th the number changes from white to purple and we can go to the room that had been previously blocked. Inside there's a white dog (mechanical one maybe) and some white box saying "prize" if I remember correctly.

After getting into the room we put the balloons on the floor and our character runs out of the room however the dog catches us in the next room and mauls our character I guess??

After that there are letters "C U" appearing at the top of the screen, then the minigame ends.

So uh, what the fuck does any of that mean I have no idea. First I tried to connect it to "Fetch" bc dog but it doesn't make much sense? Why is the protagonist getting attacked by a dog when in "Fetch" only Greg's uncle got attacked (who didn't have black hair) and Kimberly who's a girl.

Also why is there Golden Freddy in the location??? Like these aren't events of "Fetch". And I honestly have no idea what to make of it as of now.

It doesn't have to be done on the final night either bc I did it in earlier night so idk if you need that one for the special ending (bc after getting these minigames done you get a different cutscene and dialogue at the end)

Additionally I want to talk about one arcade minigame which is the balloon boy collecting hats one but I'll make separate post about it I think

[disabled-battlekukku]

If you were given the chance to write for a new Sonic, featuring the return of the kuku empire, what would you write? Where would you add world building and who of the main cast, and others, would you feature in it?

SLAMS TABLE. BIG BREATH.

(Biiiiiig thread comin' ahead!)

First of all, if Sega had ever had the balls to bring the Kukku Empire back, it would probably be a Mania-inspired game. And if it did, I think it would have the same, if not very similar plot points and ideas to it.

Old and new stages, with the old ones being from Game Gear and Master System games (y'know, Tails' home console!). Instead of focusing on speed, it would be much more on the exploration aspect, as that was also a great aspect of those. Maybe focus more on the "high flying" aspect. It would be interesting to see how more grounded characters like Sonic and Mighty would deal in this sort of environment.

If we REALLY pushed our buttons farther, the Witchcarters would be there as well, although probably as mini-bosses. Sega seems to favor them anyway. Limit a little of Eggman's appearance, though. Maybe let him cameo at an ending cutscene.

For story? I don't think the Kukkus would be that interested in pursuing the Chaos Emeralds after that, erm, first attempt, hehe. Maybe the Warp Topaz to keep the "modern-trinket-goes-to-classic-world" gimmick they did with the Phantom Ruby. If not, then either the Chaos Rings or Time Stones! Keep the same old shit of Speedy as the "Metal Sonic" of the game and Great Battle Kukku as the typical final boss.

If I was in COMPLETE charge?

I probably wouldn't take it. I can't code a game, hehe.

In all seriousness, I'd probably try some things that the fans wouldn't like it all that much. After all, I love it when Sega tries to experiment and go a bit off the rails with Sonic gameplay (Tails Adventure and Knuckles' Chaotix are my favorite games, after all!)

Sticking to what I said earlier, exploration is kind of an important aspect of Tails Adventure, and I'd proooobably bring back some classic trinket or thingamajig, like the previously mentioned Chaos Rings.

One thing that CERTAINLY wouldn't make the fans happy, judging that I was a massive Pokemon gen 5 fan, is that I'd probably limit gameplay to only Tails and Speedy. Make it a godamn Sonic Adventure 2/Riders split story thingie! And since Sonic Frontiers happens to have Tails implying to be going on an adventure of his own, maybe the game would happen right after that!

For a setting, I don't really know what I would put it. Probably an entirely new setting, as Flicky's Island was already taken by the Witchcarters in the IDW comics! A new place that the Kukkus decided to conquer, but their luck is just used to attract foxes, huh.

While I said that I'd limit main gameplay to Tails and Speedy, there could be a Sonic 06 thing and find others of Tails' buddies to play as. I'd prefer the child characters like Cream, Charmy, and maaaybe Ray since they all seem to focus on flight anyway. For Speedy? Fuck it we ball, introduce new characters! Give my mans some friends, godamnit!

I'd pull a Rush Adventure, where we would be focused on finding resources and building things to maneauver through the place, kind of replacing the need for a shop like most modern overworld Sonic games have.

Honestly, if I had to say everything I'd think for a Sonic game (or a Tails game, as it seems to be getting like here), we would be here for HOURS!

[nyaawn]

Adding to my previous 'Graphical Update and Derplander's face' post now that the benchmark has been updated, and overall it's an improvement. Rejoice user of hyur face#5, your WoL won't suddenly turn into old man anymore!

It's rather hard to take pic with similar light for ver1.1 because they had revamped their lighting placement big time, especially the indoor one. But hoo-boy ain't it look good. It register multiple light sources now? Making things like his collar and ears cast subtler shadows from different angle. They fix the fading facial hair and eyebrow too. Nice.

While face#5 regain its youthful visage, players who DO want their WoL to age can look to face#7, which retain its middle-aged-man look from previous benchmark, that stubble come complete with nasolabial folds, wrinkles, lines and all intact. Heck, you can argue that it look even more rugged now.

(note: When the first DT benchmark released I was on break from playing XIV and didn't have access to in-game Character Creator, so I used EW benchmark for comparison pics on my previous post and the updated ones above. They were captured on PC and labeled from patch 6.0. Since then I had subbed again, so part of pics below was taken from current-build CC, captured on PS5 and labeled from patch 6.5. I thought it wouldn't differ much, but 6.0's shadow is much darker compared to current (6.5) build. Huh. Is it because of different hardware? Different setting? Benchmark fault? Idk)

Yep. Same face structure, different direction. One brings youth, one brings the age. Two-toned echoes tumbling through update.... Well, anyway, they did a good job distinguishing face#7 from #5 with this graphic update. And it's nice to have more options. People who like this face type (and it feels almost every male hyur player use this one) but want 20s or youthful 30-something WoL can go with face#5. Those who don't mind 40s or 30-something-who-spend-too-much-of-his-life-standing-one-millimeter-from-blazing-inferno-or-toxic-fumes-AoE-too-keep-his-uptime-resulting-in-rough-skin WoL can go with face#7. That's me and I'm happy with this update. I just wish we can turn that stubble on and off without need of fanta($$), like every other facial hair options... But I guess that ship has sailed.

Looking at updated benchmark cutscene itself, there's improved lighting but all in all the change is minimal imo. And I'm sad to say that villain-esque eyeliner I mentioned in previous post is still there. Not as thick as previous, but still appear anytime I use hairstyle with bangs that drop shade on his eyes. Sigh maybe I should use that new DT hair afterall...? But ngl I don't really like it...

Don't get me wrong, it's great! ....It just doesn't compliment this face type.. On my previous post I wrote about how they add highlight to this face#7's forehead, and in theory I understand why they did it. But in practice and with this hair, I found it make his forehead distractingly bright and plastic-like and flat compared to the rest of his face that's carefully detailed and contoured. It looks odd, is what it is. That bright forehead also highlight (hurhur) how the front hair and roots don't have shadow at all, and my brain can't help thinking how wrong it look like every time I put this hair on him. Also I deliberately capture the above pic with indoor lighting, because in outdoor that forehead shine like lighthouse, good lord @_@. Being a Warrior of Light doesn't mean you have to become literal sun, dude.

So yeah that's my main wrinkle with this expansion, his hair and forehead. (first world problem) (while a throng of BLM and AST have a meltdown out there (*´・ｖ・). Tho I do feel pretty miffed right now regarding how they replace many gap closer with no-damage skill. Like, I can't surprise enemy by poking their head from above while laughing maniacally anymore?? HOW DARE YOU--- but this aimless rambling post already hella long without those rants. I'll keep it for another time..)

[sibyl-of-space]

It's time for me to go to bed. And that means everybody gets a Procrastination Essay No One Asked For About Sonic Adventure 1 for the SEGA Dreamcast!

This game is one of my super mega ultra all-time favorites. Every single time I revisit it, I am so afraid that my love for it is entirely nostalgia goggles and it will lose its charm this time around, and every single time, I just have the time of my life because the game really is great. It is so fun. It does some very cool things. It is kind of stupid but it takes itself seriously, and that is very endearing and a million times more interesting than a game that's too afraid of being perceived as cringe to be sincere.

I love basically everything about it. I painted Big the Cat on my Dreamcast and even that is not enough to communicate my vast love for this game.

MANY WORDS BELOW CUT. Visuals, audio, gameplay, I love all of it.

Visuals

The game came out in 1998. It looks like a game that came out in 1998. But the world and character designs are fantastic and the world is so detailed. I could genuinely spend hours just moving around on the Egg Carrier overworld map appreciating all the gadgets and gizmos moving around that are purely 100% set dressing. It makes up for what it lacks in polygons with cool textures and fun trinkets everywhere. The animated CGs genuinely look amazing, and you can forgive the rest of it considering the game came out in 1998.

I also love the splash screens you get after finishing each route. They're so good.

(It goes without saying that the game looks its best on a CRT. There are some really cool lighting effects CRTs just capture better.)

Audio

It obviously has an insanely good soundtrack of just nonstop banger after banger. It also has a very 1998 dub and the sound mixing and implementation are some of the worst you'll ever hear. Eggman has like 5 voice lines that are re-used in every scene he's in. But who can complain about that when they're listening to the likes of "Bad Taste Aquarium"? Literally nobody. Who cares. Every single song slaps.

"But Leo half the time the songs start and stop mid-cutscene because of how the game handles loading" who cares. I can forgive just about ANYTHING a game does in terms of audio implementation if it has a song as good as "Bad Taste Aquarium" in its soundtrack.

Narrative

Setting aside the fact that the story is kind of stupid, I really think we need to appreciate the way it tells it. The way this game has you play through the same story from everyone's different perspective, and how the scenes that overlap actually play out differently depending on who you play as, is so big brain. You don't get the full picture of what's happening until you've played as everybody, and there is no "big group of heroes collectively take on the bad guy" until the very very end Super Sonic story... until then, it's just different people having wildly different journeys that overlap here and there and are all part of a single, bigger story.

That's just cool ass storytelling. Everyone loves to bitch about my good friend Big the Cat but the entire point is that this extremely chill guy who loves to fish and just wants to save his friend was caught up in this Adventure, and he was a small but vital part of it, and it affected him differently than it affected everybody else because he had a different reason for being involved. But that goes for everybody! Everyone's story has an arc with a start and a finish, and most of them don't come close to being involved in the whole thing. Even SONIC doesn't see everything (he doesn't have a Hot Shelter level at all). Knuckles's story ends on a really cool note, with him going "I may never know the full story of what happened here, but maybe it's better that way." Or something close to that.

I also just love the concept of benevolent protector water god goes apeshit at people, as well as the concept of a ghost from thousands of years ago trying to right ancient wrongs. Chaos and Tikal are great.

Gameplay

The thing I love about Sonic Adventure is that every single character is really fun to play. This comes at the "cost" of what you might call "balance," in that half of the characters are broken as fuck and you can just disregard the very concept of platforming with most of them. I couldn't really care less about that because I just enjoy how fun it is to play as everyone.

Sonic Adventure 2 understandably put Tails in a mech because outside of it he is too damn broken. Sonic Adventure 1 lets you play as him anyway, and it rules.

The ONLY gripe I have about the gameplay is that Big the Cat does not have the means to harm robots (because he is too nice and chill to do that), but as a result he is unable to collect animals to give the chao. I cannot think of a single character in the Sonic the Hedgehog universe who would be better suited to raise chao than Big the Cat, but Big the Cat is unable to give them animals to power up. This is a tragedy.

Overall

Sonic Adventure is a masterpiece. Every time I play it I'm like "this is the greatest game that has ever been made." The parts of it that are clunky, awkward, kind of dumb, or very dated are still endearing because it tries to do so many things that you really just have to respect it. This is the kind of game that is fantastic whether you sit down and play it straight through from plot point to plot point or you spend three hours throwing that statue around Station Square into oncoming traffic.

Of course it's not polished. It tries to do way too many cool ass things all at once to be polished. It is WAY too ambitious to be polished. That's what makes it so good. It's perfect exactly the way it is and the fact that people will play this incredible game and go "lol, 3D Sonic sucks" is a good reminder that gamers will bitch about anything and you should never care about what gamers have to say when making games.

Big the Cat has glow-in-the-dark eyes. Game of all time.

[daitranscripts]

Leliana Cutscene: What Pride Had Wrought

Is It So Ridiculous

Leliana Masterpost Related Quest: What Pride Had Wrought

Leliana: I was pondering who might be Divine, and it suddenly occurred to me. Is it so ridiculous for the grand clerics to support me? Why shouldn’t they?

1 - Dialogue options:

Investigate: What would you do as Divine? [2]

Underworld: They should and they will. [3]

I’d support you. (Support Leliana as the new Divine.) [4] Divine: Leliana +1

You shouldn’t be Divine. (do not support Leliana as Divine.) [5]

2 - Investigate: What would you do as Divine? PC: If you were Divine, what would you do? Leliana: Change things. Change everything.

Leliana (if allied mages): Your support of the mage rebellion was a good start. We must build on this.

Leliana: No more Circles. The mages will be free. The Chantry will accept them as the Maker’s children. In fact, it will accept everyone. Elves, dwarves, even Qunari. Why exclude them? The Chantry allows our differences to tear us apart, instead of teaching us how we are the same. [back to 1]

2 - Underworld: They should and they will. PC: I think all the grand clerics should support you. I’ll find a way to make that happen. Leliana: Your familiarity with the politics of the Chantry often astounds. I won’t say no to your support.

4 - General: I’d support you. PC: I think you would make a good Divine. Leliana: I am glad to hear it. Your support may persuade the grand clerics to vote in my favor.

5 - General: You shouldn’t be Divine. PC: I don’t support this. There are better candidates. Leliana: I see. Then I should be glad it’s not up to you. It’s time for change, Inquisitor. The grand clerics know that.

6 - Choice dependent dialogue:

Personal quest not completed [7]

Personal quest completed, softened [8]

Personal quest completed, hardened [9]

7 - Personal quest not completed Leliana: Justinia wanted to accept the Mages. Our treatment of them made the mess you had to clean up. But perhaps it is not just mages we must accept, but all people. A nice dream, no?

Dialogue options:

General: It’s a noble goal. [10] Divine: Leliana +1

General: A nice dream, yes. [11]

General: Not according to the Chant. [12]

10 - General: It’s a noble goal. PC: It is certainly something worth working for. [13] ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤ 11 - General: A nice dream, yes. PC: It is nice, but definitely a dream. Leliana: (Sighs.) You’re right, of course. [13] ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤ 12 - General: Not according to the Chant. PC: That goes against the Chant of Light. It goes against Andraste’s teachings. Leliana: Andraste’s teachings have been used for ages to further the personal agendas of kings and clerics. [13] ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤ 13 - Scene continues. ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤ Leliana: Ah, but what am I saying? Justinia couldn’t find enough support for reform. Why would I fare any better? Perhaps I should stop filling with my head such foolish notions and get back to work. Scene ends.

8 - Personal quest completed, softened Leliana: The Chantry was a beacon of hope to me once, you know. In my years at Lothering’s chantry, we turned no one away from our doors. It was a refuge, a place of peace. I felt the Maker’s presence and His love, even when they told me He’d left us. This is the Chantry I know, the Chantry I wish the world to see.

Dialogue options:

General: The world needs that Chantry. [14] Divine: Leliana +1

General: That’s not the Chantry I know. [15]

General: Keep dreaming. [16]

14 - General: The world needs that Chantry. PC: The world could certainly use the force for good you describe. Leliana: Yes, the Chantry should be a force for good, instead of what it is. [17] ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤ 15 - General: That’s not the Chantry I know. PC: The Chantry you describe is vastly different from the one I know. Leliana: But it could be this way, could it not? [17] ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤ 16 - General: Keep dreaming. PC: That’s never going to happen. Leliana: Why couldn’t I change it? [17] ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤ 17 - Scene continues. ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤ Leliana: The Chantry dictated where it should have inspired. It spoke of judgement instead of acceptance. It should encourage the good in everyone, rather than rebuke us for our sins. No one should be turned away from out doors. No one is without worth. Whoever you are, whatever your mistakes, you are loved. Unconditionally. “In your heart shall burn an unquestionable flame.” Scene ends.

9 - Personal quest completed, hardened Leliana: Justinia wanted the Chantry to grow, but her reforms never took root. She was held back by tradition and was too gentle to force change. I won’t make that mistake.

Dialogue options:

General: You can’t force change. [18]

General: Getting blown up didn’t help. [19]

General: Why does change matter? [20] Divine: Leliana +1

18 - General: You can’t force change. PC: You can’t force people to change their minds. Leliana: Then how will change ever come? People do not simply happen upon enlightenment. Most must be carried there. ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤ 19 - General: Getting blown up didn’t help. PC: You never know. Justinia might have succeeded, if she hadn’t been caught in a giant blast of magic. Leliana: I won’t make that mistake either. ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤ 20 - General: Why does change matter? PC: I don’t see why you’d bother. Leliana: Because I owe it to Justinia. She started the work, and I will finish it. ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤ 21 - Scene continues. ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤ Leliana: Justinia thought the Circles needed to change, by why stop there? The Chantry alienated potential allies by brutalizing elves and belittling dwarves. There are those who would cling to the old ways, of course, but they will see. I would make them see. Ah, but I’ve rambled on too long. I am not Divine. Yet. Scene ends.

[koieio]

I think a lot of people who go up for bat for Larian, do not understand what is is Wyll fans are talking about when they talk about his lack of content or needing more focus. They hear, "he lacks content? but look at how many hours he has in this youtube video!" And I'm not sure if they've never actually watched those videos', played with Wyll in their party, both(in fact going through it you see a lot of shit like Character A talking to the PC while Wyll is in the bg. Or Wyll has a single line of dialogue, and the rest is a conversation with someone else entirely.). Whatever the case is.

If you've ever watched those videos you come across 2 things. When Wyll is interacting with characters like Mizora or his father who are integral to his story. The PC is the one doing most of the talking. And 2. Wyll shares a looott of his spotlight with other characters to the point where he gets pushed to the side so another character can stand in the spotlight. Sometimes in his own story/quest missions.

Let's talk about Wyll's Wymway use to be main, now a side-quest since it's what kicked off this latest kerfuffle. Honestly this quest was never about Wyll. This entire quest is more about the Emperor and his backstory than it ever was about Wyll. It ends with you learning more about the Emperor. The Emperor is even the one who gets the special Act 3 cutscene, not Wyll. The only reason it's associated with Wyll is because his father will give him the quest to go find the dragon if he's alive, but Wyll's father will give that quest to the PC regardless of if Wyll is there or not. And if he's not there then Florrick will give it to the PC. So Wyll ties to this quest is paper thin. But maybe there's something Wyll could personally learn from this quest or insight he could dro-no. Wyll has the same lines of dialogue/contribution to this quest as Gale or Astarion has. There's no special cutscene if you bring Wyll(similar to having no Act 1 romance he has no special Act 3 cutscene dedicated to himself either).

This happens a lot when the focus is meant to be on Wyll. Act 1 we're tasked with finding and killing Karlach, but the focus quickly shifts over to Karlach and becomes less about Wyll. Once again he's forced to share the spotlight, and even on the day where he is cursed, the camp is more focused on Karlach's recruitment than they are Wyll's torment(this was kinda gets fixed in patch 4?5? Where the companions finally comment on this, but it's all told to the player and not Wyll himself.)

Mizora first appearance, and Wyll is forced into silence and it's the player character who then interacts with her from then on there. Wyll might quip about how much of an asshole Mizora is from time to time. But when it comes to Mizora. Everything, from negotiating his freedom, to bargaining for better rewards, to the final decision on whether or not you the player want to sell Wyll's soul in exchange for his father information is left up to you. With no input of any sort from Wyll.

"Oh, but the other characters also don't get to make decisions either." This isn't true. Gale and Astarion make their desires very well known to the player. It might not be the "right" course of action, but they make it well known what it is they want to do, and you can choose to either support them or try and talk them into making a different choice entirely. This doesn't happen with Wyll. The choice is always left to the player. Always.

And when you put Wyll next to other companions, this lack of care/quality when it comes to his content becomes all the more apparently. Extra lines of dialogue of Astarion and Durge. Meanwhile still waiting on Duke Ravengard to acknowledge his son's marriage.

They patched in a platonic options to Gale's magic lesson after people made a big fuss about it. It's up in the air if we can politely decline Wyll's mandatory dance invitation without breaking his heart in the process or leading him on.

You get to comfort Shadowheart after her parents death. Meanwhile, I still believe Wyll's Act 3 romance is bugged for body type 4s.

They patched in an entire ending for Karlach going to Avernus after people complained about her ending. Meanwhile still no Act 1 romance for Wyll. Hell, you can even miss his Act 1 kiss if you flirt with too many people before talking to him at the party.

7 months, 6 patches and $60+ since release and we still can't get something a simple a single romantic greeting correctly fixed. I think at that point people have the right to start making "demands" of Larian. Like sorry not sorry, if that's what bother you the most. That people are tired of being patient and promptly ignored. But it seems like only the squeaky wheels in this fandom get listened to, so do as the romans do.

[rontra]

persona enjoyer alert!!!! i’m so glad to hear that someone i already follow is also into it. i haven’t played p3 yet so this is my first go of it but i’m really enjoying it so far. what’s this game like from the perspective of someone who played one of the other versions?

HIIIII god i'm so excited for you...imagine getting to play p3 for the first time...<333

i'm so glad you're enjoying it thus far...!!! 🥰 it's my beloved game. WELL all of my thoughts on Reload are obviously extremely skewed due to my pure attachment to this game's story and characters, so i can't give a very "objective" comment on... anything... but i'm not finishing this replay of p5 any time soon to put it that wayDBHFJKM

basically what it's like is., its everything to me. heart

i'm nowhere near done with P3R yet obviously (i keep putting it down to rest my wrists or draw stuff hahsahbd) but so far it's been such a treat for me. i'm very happy 🥺

to ME, persona 3 is (and will probably always be) The Peak... nd the remaster is running more or less the same script (i think it's based on p3p's script??? i forgor 💀) just with, yknow, new graphics and voicework and stuff. so it's hard to really complain about it when it's more or less been "persona 3 running on the persona 5 engine" 😭

like that sure is My Game! with extra Unreal Engine Motion Blur (<- LOL)

it's hitting all the beats in the order it should what more can i ask for. the music has been remixed a bit (as always huh) but it's still recognizably homey to me. like even if i keep getting thrown off by changes like "new lotus juice verse about going to bed early" (Iwatodai Dorm) i'm still just vibing along lmao. i cheered out loud when i heard Deep Breath Deep Breath

SO FAR my "complaints" have been pure, yknow, "unreasonable superfan nitpicking", so they aren't actually worthy of being called reasonable critique. it's all shit like "they rearranged the order of shots when remaking this cutscene, and the original sequence was stronger...TO ME"

STUFF THAT NO NEW PLAYER WOULD BE THINKING ABOUT...

and of course neutered Tactics is a no-no. i'm gonna be huffy about that forever but c'est la vie, it's what the franchise has settled on... but as a Certified P3 Tactics Gamer i'm basically obligated to be a lil miffed about this Post-Tactics World we live in. and like cmon man you introduced baton pass but my AI teammates can't even see it...even though the "recommended move" scan logic CAN....!!!

^^^ but this one is ALSO at its core a complaint that new players won't have comparison context for (because the Tactics in P3R is not the Tactics we once had). and . also many newbies will never even rub up against it if they prefer Direct Command to begin with (which lots of people do) so like. who cares . it doesn't ruin the game for me i just dearly miss the Epic Highs And Lows Of P3 Tactics HAHBDS

on the upside, adding more content for party members who didn't have SLinks in the original is Very Good. i'm really very much enjoying those new scenes and it's needed badly. sweet treats for diesel...❤ AND TARTARUS LOOKS SO GOOD HOUAHHH

AND that UI...so shiny.... ough... no i lovie. i really do

like at the end of the day i admittedly could never love P4, and while i did really enjoy P5 (and P5R) it was always "but it's no P3". so asking me for my thoughts on P3R is mostly incoherent nodding and pointing bc its very much My Game reincarnated. i'm glad all my friends have an easier way to play it all gussied up and shiny now so i can finally foist my old rpg upon them... 🥰

peace and love on tatsumi port island.

[slugdragoon]

Dungeon Appreciation Post #5 - Inside Jabu-Jabu's Belly (TLoZ: Ocarina of Time)

Like the Great Deku Tree, I always appreciated Lord Jabu-Jabu's Belly for having a form that matched the concept of the dungeon itself, in a way that the later-game temples miss by just being large buildings (though who doesn't love an unexplained mysterious tomb?). Even Dodongo's Cavern doesn't quite have this quality, since the nature of a cave dungeon is that it can easily be any shape.

However, with this one the dungeon map is so clearly a giant fish with a midsection, two major wings for the pectoral fins, and a fanning tail, and I love that! I think I was presented with this concept twice in this time period, where one was that episode of The Magic School Bus where they go inside Arnold's body, and this was the version of it that the fantasy adventure game I was playing presented me with.

You enter from the mouth, so the entrance is inside the head. Right away you're shown a shot of Link entering with the teeth behind him framing the shot to sell the effect, and upon entering you're greeted by a view of a narrow passage which essentially serves as an esophagus, which you open by shooting at a switch that resembles a uvula. There are bouncing bubbles which make this atrium appropriately grosser. Everything here is biologically themed, from the valve doors, to the pulsating switches and climbable walls that look like some sort of muscle tissues, as well as the parasitic enemies you find.

You're also ambushed by two Octoroks in the entrance, and later on we see a number of jellyfish that can shock you, and flying manta rays. It makes sense that Jabu-Jabu would swallow smaller sea creatures, so having the enemies be largely ocean based is a smart way to have a "water dungeon" without it being a "water dungeon", and this game really didn't need two. There is some swimming here, but most of the water is constrained to the lower levels, and gives the impression of reservoirs of stomach fluid.

You're forced in-game to escort Princess Ruto through the dungeon, who early on falls in a sinkhole to the lowest levels. Forcing the player to chase her is how the game emulates the impression of being swallowed, except you get to travel the straightest path down to the stomach yourself, then climb back up, instead of being swallowed in a cutscene or something. They pull the same trick again when it seems Ruto find the Spiritual Stone, and both her and the stone are shunted deeper into the dungeon without you.

Climbing up is made more arduous by Ruto's presence, and while players have long joked about her being annoying (escort quests are broadly unpopular), I think It effectively slows down the escape, and a design that fights to keep you down inside is a good one for a whale that swallows you whole.

The treasure of the dungeon is the Boomerang, which is a bit arbitrary and not particularly themed, but its use here is to throw and sever parasitic tentacles from the ceiling in multiple rooms towards the tail end, a trick you use again against the dungeon boss Barinade. Barinade marries the biological/parasitic and marine themes of the dungeon being the largest, beefiest parasite present with multiple anchor points to sever, which give the impression of siphoning Jabu-Jabu's life, while also being covered in giant jellyfish that act as adds. They actually seem to be themselves parasitizing Barinade, feeding off it's bioelectric energy. Barinade itself also looks like some monstrous heart, which is pretty cool.

Ocarina of Time's two "Inside" dungeons Inside Jabu-Jabu's Belly and Inside the Great Deku Tree are two of my favourites from a theming standpoint, and both happen to involve an attempt to save a great creature from the inside from cursed parasitic monstrosities. I think it's nice that you get a chance to succeed the second time after being doomed the first, which makes for a mini narrative arc I've not heard anyone mention before.

[electricprincess96]

I have gotten far enough in the third semester (right at the final boss) so I'm curious on why you feel Yoshizawa's story doesn't fit with P5? Given the overarching theme of facing reality head on, not running away from your problems/trauma and making your own decisions, I don't think she's a misfit in the game.

I didn't say it doesn't fit. I said it's executed poorly. On paper her theme fits fine. The problem is I don't know who Sumire is. We get like 3 scenes of the real Sumire and the rest of the time she continues to act almost identical or at least very similar to how she's acted the entire game when she believed she was Kasumi. The problem is we know that personality is Kasumi's because we see her in the flashback. I don't know who Sumire Yoshizawa is because her last 5 Confidant ranks make you believe shes meant to be more reserved and shy compared to her sister.... but the rest of the time in plot scenes she doesn't act like that, she continues to act the same way she has the whole game. I also don't like the fact that the last cutscene we see of her is her wearing her Kasumi ponytail and acting the way we know Kasumi acts. Atlus didn't want us to like Sumire, they wanted us to like Kasumi so they weren't able to let Kasumi go after it's revealed shes actually the one that's dead.

Also I don't necessarily think she was needed. I think Maruki's plot would work perfectly fine without Sumire's inclusion. You can get to that part of the game without ever having touched Sumire's Confidant which sort of proves her story isn't integral to Maruki's plotline because otherwise her Confidant would have been an unlock requirement for the 3rd Semester and its not (and don't anyone come and try and argue with me on this the only thing you need to unlock the 3rd Semester is Maruki's Social Link, no one else's, not Sumire's and not Akechi's).

So basically the reason I think its executed poorly is sure the themes are all about facing the truth no matter how painful and learning to live your life for you and not let someone else control it BUT I don't get a good sense that Sumire is doing that. It was a lot of tell and not show, the fact in her last ever scene she's still dressed liked Kasumi, without her glasses, with the same ponytail, and still acting the exact same way shes acted the whole game when she thought she was Kasumi etc. Does not give me the sense that she has moved on no matter how many times she'll tell me she has.

I like the concept of Sumire. She had a lot of potential, but she was not the priority when they were making the Royal content. She was added cause they felt they had to add a waifu cause they'd done that with previous game upgrades like Marie in Golden. The priority in Royal storywise was Akechi and Maruki, you can remove Sumire from the plot and you don't lose anything massively which I feel is a problem for a character they dedicate so much time throughout the game to.

[katy-133]

Things that would actually get me interested in Nancy Drew game #34:

1) The return of Lani Minella as the voice of Nancy: The fan community and demographic of the game series have grown up since the late 90s. It's actually mind-boggling to me why they would recast Nancy with a younger voice than lean into the idea of Nancy ageing with the core players. Let Nancy be an adult even, or just college age. There are players who headcanon Nancy as being in collage (or a recent graduate) already anyway.

2) Using pre-rendered backgrounds over real time renders. The game engine Unity (which MID switched over to) has many great qualities, but it does not like rendering things like outdoor set pieces, object clutter, antique aesthetics (dust particles, woodgrain textures, etc), or other organic textures. It's why default set pieces for Unity you can download are often for plastic-looking sci-fi starship interiors. In other words, Unity is good at real time rendering the opposite of things we generally like in Nancy Drew locations. If you are going to use Unity for a Nancy Drew game, at least build the set pieces in something like Blender 3D (a modelling program that is freeware, has a vast plugin community, and allows you to save renders of what you make) and then take those renders as image layers into Unity. This will make the visuals look more appealing, speed up performance issues (many Nancy Drew fans play the games on laptops or other non-gamer heavy setups), and help the games age better and help future-proof them (even today, the pre-rendered cutscenes and backgrounds in games like 2002's Syberia still look jaw-droppingly gorgeous, while the 3D live rendered character models have aged due to faster computers and bigger resolutions).

3) Four suspect format: Bigger is not always better and this applies to the cast size. Four tends to work with the Nancy Drew games. Four is few enough to give everyone enough proper screen time, but large enough to keep the player guessing.

4) The meta puzzles: Like the first Monkey Island game, some of Nancy Drew's best puzzles use the player's (assumed) video game literacy to surprise them by subverting a mechanic the players usually take for granted. Examples include: (Minor spoilers ahead)

The Final Scene: Player is given too many keys at once that look exactly the same and has to find the right one to open a door before time runs out (messes with the inventory window)

The Deadly Device: Nancy's phone getting zapped unexpectedly just when she needs it (messes with the cell phone mechanic)

Treasure in the Royal Tower: The puzzle you use to get into the library (using the environment as the puzzle instead of a minigame screen)

Danger on Deception Island: Throwing the air tank into the water instead of throwing it at the character (using the obvious interact hotspot as a red herring and having the more obscure hotspot the correct answer)

5) Tomb of the Lost Queen's GUI: The user interface in TMB and DED are a good combination of diegetic design (wood panels, etc) and minimalist, intuitive GUI that doesn't majorly obscure the scene and background.

Note that these things I've listed do not ask for a more expensive budget than what HER is working with. Just design choices and thought during the pre-planning stage.

HER Interactive has had over thirty games worth of experience to make their next title something that pushes the envelope, which I think is part of why MID was such a disappointment to fans. The potential is there, it just needs to poke and prod at the adventure game genre like a detective, asking the question, "Why did past games make these design choices?"

[selenityshiroi]

FFXVI 13 hours in:

My answer to Clive having an angst attack is to make him pet the dog after because he obviously needs the free serotonin

I also get free serotonin from petting the dog so win win

Lady Hanna MVP. She gave me new drip.

I'm assuming (as I have done since awkward teenage 'not sure if I should hug her to warm her' moment) that Clive and Jill are intended. They aren't being TOO subtle about it but it's got that typical 'chaste but yearning' thing FF tends to do in their main pairings.

Which is hilarious because this game has also given us three scenes where people had extremely unchaste intentions and also naked Clive scene so the whole typical FF romance seems both wildly out of sync with the rest of the games tone but also quite charming BECAUSE it's against the rest of the game's tone.

Margrace=Joshua seems confirmed with the hood of the cloak coming down so called it (unless it's a deliberate red herring but doubtful...which I am very grateful for because one less guilt on Clive's shoulders eventually)

I am loving this game but SE level design is still prominently their weakness

And on that note: EVERYONE PRAISING THIS GAME WHO BLASTS FFXIII FOR BEING A CORRIDOR SIMULATOR OWES FFXIII AN APOLOGY. The only difference is a) you can actually go back to the corridors in this game and b) XIII at least had actual items at the end of their corridors and not just crafting materials and 5 gil

Combat is still surprising possible for someone like me who doesn't play many action RPGs. I've died and few times but the single reset with full potions has gotten me through each bit of content I struggled with (three times, I think?)

The only 'assist' accessory I'm using is pet assist. Because otherwise I will 100% forget to tell Torgal what to do. Otherwise I'm on action mode still

The times when I've managed parrys and precision dodge/counters make me think I'm actually good at video games lol but mostly it's probably luck as I spam combos and dodges

But it's getting me through

But, seriously, this game is the baby of FFXIII Trilogy and FFXIV so it's hilarious to me that this is getting so much love when XIII trilogy gets so much hate

The combat is basically LR combat. Right down to Eikons being paradigm shifts. The level design is pretty much the same as XIII but with the freedom to go back on yourself (so...like XIII-2). The UI and quest system is all FFXIV. The Active Lore is the XIII data log but presented easier. Staggering obviously started with XIII and had been a staple since.

And the plot...oh boy is there a nice sprinkling of XIII plot dressed up in XIV medieval fantasy dressing. It's still its own thing but this is clearly CLEARLY more XIII/XIV spiritual successor than anything else in the series

Again...as a FFXIII fan I'm super amused by this because, again, XIII is hated so much but there is so much praise for this and its not actually all that different! It's just tidier and adjusted to fix a few errors of the past which is pretty typical from a progression point.

The beginning was super cutscene heavy and then everything up until getting Jill to join us was very 'story/cutscene heavy broken up by minor fetch quests and take down a small batch of monsters'. It's only really opened up now Jill is here and we actually are out in the world on a mission.

Since I AM only 13 hours in I assume I'm still quite early in the game, though. So I'm assuming this sort of exploration is going to be more the standard going forward.

So, yeah, for all my 'I'm not sure if I'll enjoy the gameplay or the grimdark 'appeal to Western Audiences' bullshit that doesn't actually appeal to me in general' concerns, I'm enjoying the gameplay and the grimdark story is not as grimdark as I expected

Clive, in particular, pleasantly surprised me because he isn't a typical gruff angst machine as some of the promotional images implied

He's still kind and polite and careful with people and has a lot of compassion (which is also why he's hurt by what happened and is dwelling on it) but he's also letting himself be driven forward into looking for answers instead of JUST dwelling on it

Him taking plates around the Inn for people doesn't feel out of place because he does indeed seem like the good sort of boy who will just help out because he's been asked

So, yeah, much more my sort of character!

(Also if anyone wants to tell me 'but XIII was actually just a bad game' then don't. Because it isn't. It had a bad start (where you weren't even introduced to the actual battle system until like 3 hours in) and it required you to actually pay attention to the people around you and the things you heard and read in order to understand the plot fully. Which was novel at the time and is now kind of expected. THIS GAME even does it (no way would you understand half the background of the nations without the datalog active time lore). There is a reason a lot of people replay XIII nowadays and go 'wait...it's actually a pretty good game'...seriously, there are a crapload of people who replayed during the pandemic or when it went on sale on steam who are like 'why is this so hated???'.)