#or. perhaps. even a romhack? goodness me

[antirepurp]

oh dear. the overwhelming urge to design a pokemon region is upon me again

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 03/04/2024

Battle Theme - Zeno Blade Chronicle X

Season 1 Featured on: GilvaSunner's Highest Quality Video Game Rips: Volume 7

Ripped by turdl3

A lot of the time I spend on here is dedicated to explaining things in SiIvaGunner's history that I feel like I have a good grasp of. That is part of the intent with the blog - both to highlight noteworthy rips to people already deep in the sauce, but also to try and convey to people outside of the bubble, more casual fans, just how fascinating this whole channel and its goings-on are. But even though I consider myself to be very well researched on the channel, there are still times I'm caught off guard: I still don't know what to make of He is Back., I was taken aback by everything I'd missed in regards to waterwraith pokos, and rips like If Pazuzu Sneezes Do You Still Say Bless You? have sent me down little detective hunts for parts of internet history I'd entirely missed. But even amidst these, Battle Theme - Zeno Blade Chronicle X still sort of sticks out in my mind - because I've been baffled by it ever since I found SiIvaGunner back in Season 1.

Xenoblade Chronicles X is a game with a lot of history on SiIvaGunner, most evidently due to its lead composer, Hiroyuki Sawano. Channel oldhead dante has been taking cues from his incredibly distinct style of music for a majority of the Christmas Comeback Crisis' soundtrack, such as with 9​来​4s, and several rippers have followed suit from Season 1 and beyond with rips such as Kill & Learn (Recut Ver​.​). Xenoblade Chronicles X was just one more game to rip Sawano's music through - yet, as you might have already noticed, Battle Theme - Zeno Blade Chronicle X *isn't* using Xenoblade Chronicles X. "Zeno Blade Chronicle X" is a fake game, of which we see plenty of today, but back in March 2016 it was an odd one out. Just two months into the GiIvaSunner channel's life, it was (to my knowledge!) the first time that all the pretense of a rip being of actual video game music was dropped. Its unfortunate that the original comments section was lost with the GiIvaSunner termination, but I'm certain it was gleaming with confusion even back then.

But like...what *is* Zeno Blade Chronicle X? The joke died out within Season 1 after just three rips, and since then it's only been referenced within Season 3's nostalgia week and Season 7's April Fools day event that I covered yesterday with Our Sweet Pastry. The three rips made during Season 1, and the Season 3 throwback rip, all follow the same joke - arranging music from Xenoblade Chronicles X in the style of...EarthBound, of all games? I suppose there's a lot of context here I'm missing out - perhaps its a sly jab at ROMhacks such as the EarthBound Halloween Hack that Toby Fox made before Undertale, perhaps its poking fun at the many mediocre "(song) but in SNES instruments!!" arrangements that are all the rage especially nowadays...or perhaps EarthBound in particular just has such a strange sound to it, one so unbefitting of the tone of Hiroyuki Sawano's music, that it sounds very funny arranged in that style?

Either way, its what gave us Battle Theme - Zeno Blade Chronicle X, and through all of my confusion and feeling as if I'm not getting the joke, it is still REALLY funny in isolation. The thumbnail's abhorrent crunchiness, the "Megalovania" guitars contrasting so harshly with the bleep-bloopy main melody instrument, the harsh cymbal crash that stays throughout the song as a layer of percussion - it sounds like its falling apart on itself throughout the whole thing, yet carries itself through the entire battle theme in an oddly charming way. I mean, the lead instrument sounds kind of similar to the one used in Collision Clouds, there's something so oddly charming about that particular form of melody! There's so many reasons why the Zeno Blade Chronicle X rips have stuck in my mind, but its mainly just that I'm puzzled by them...like, are they meant to be rough around the edges, or is that just due to their Season 1-ness? Are they poking fun at anything in particular? What led to this becoming popular enough with the team for them to officially begin ripping Fake Games just two months in?

All those thoughts race through my mind every time I'm reminded of Battle Theme - Zeno Blade Chronicle X - all the while I'm banging out to the tune itself. Xenoblade Chronicles X's Battle Theme itself is already fantastic, and this silly goofy take on it keeps that spirit underneath all of its crust, preserving the game's legacy in the strangest of ways. This is one mystery that I don't know if I'll ever truly *wholly* understand (though I'm sure making this post will lead me on the right path at least!) but it, at the same time, embodies so much of the fun of Season 1's unpredictability! None of us watching ever knew what to expect from the channel, and I'm sure nobody watching had "SNES Bootleg of Xenoblade Chronicles X for the Wii U" on their Bingo card. That unpredictability was so novel then, and still lives on today - and in some ways, it all reached its first new high with Battle Theme - Zeno Blade Chronicle X.

[radramblog]

On Pokemon Difficulty Hacks

When romhacking Pokemon first got big, you saw many an attempt to make proper fresh experiences and truly new games. Naranja, Quartz, Ruby Destiny and the like. The ambitious attempts of people who didn’t know just how much effort would be required to finish anything remotely resembling a finished product, though in fairness. Romhackers didn’t have teams, usually, maybe a couple helpers for spriting or beta testers, but the majority of people just wouldn’t have the time, energy, or lasting ambition to make something like that work.

In this era, where tools were limited but popularity was growing, it was perhaps unsurprising that many other hackers went for the “386” style of hack. Because, frankly, one of the first things someone is going to think of when it comes to making a Pokemon fangame is “what if you could catch all the Pokemon in one game?”. And from there, the train of thought naturally continues- if the player isn’t as restricted in teambuilding as the usual Regional Pokedex system makes them, why not have that for the NPCs as well? And while I’m at it, the games are usually really easy, and everyone playing them is going to be an enfranchised Pokemon fan, so why not pump up the difficulty a bit? Hence, the difficulty hack was born.

I suspect you can attribute much of the root of this to one man- Drayano, easily one of the most well-known romhackers around. The creator of Sacred Gold/Storm Silver, Fire Red Omega, Blaze Black/Volt White (and BBVW2), and of course, Renegade Platinum. I don’t well enough know if Dray popularized this kind of hack or just followed an existing trend, but (with the exception of FRO) the versions he created ended up being, and probably still are today, the definitive difficulty romhacks for their respective original titles. They weren’t just difficult, but they had a level of effort put into tuning their difficulty that most were unable to replicate- especially considering how difficult DS hacking was at the time and especially in Renegade Platinum.

Dray’s hacks were the only real hacks of their kind that I can think of getting major attention. They’re difficult but fair, making for a good gameplay experience, and thereby a good watching experience as youtubers, let’s players, and streamers flock to do playthroughs and catch ‘em alls and Nuzlockes. The nature of this kind of project means that only one version is really going to stand tall- sure, you could play Bloody Diamond or Obsidian, but why would you when you could just play Renegade Platinum? I will acknowledge that Obsidian was possibly the best Platinum hack before RenPlat, but its age is showing. The only exception I can think of is Fire Red Omega- owing to Gen 3 hacking being significantly easier and better explored, it had competitors, such as Yet Another Fire Red Hack by DoesntKnowHowToPlay or Fire Red Advanced by Z-nogyroP, among many others.

For the record, I have no doubt that with DS hacking becoming easier and better understood, SGSS, BBVW, and even RenPlat will be replaced in time. Possibly even soon- the scene got much bigger last year on account of breakthroughs and also people being stuck inside.

I would have thought, in 2021, that difficulty hacks would likely have died out, that they would have been replaced as resources such as disassembly/decompilation and the CFRU make more complex projects significantly easier. I was, surprisingly, wrong, though the nature of the games has changed a lot. Previous hacks in this discussion served as more difficult versions of existing games, with more freedom in teambuilding and some added features. But the modern “difficulty hack” is another beast entirely. The two I’d like to highlight in particular are Radical Red and the Kaizo games.

RadRed is the culmination of the aforementioned CFRU (Complete Firered Upgrade), a demonstration of its capabilities in porting both the entire 2021 catalogue of Pokemon into a game from 2004, but in showing the advances in AI and modern Pokemon mechanics (with refinement) to push the limits of how hard a Pokemon game could be. Every major fight plays like a competitive match, with the average playthrough necessitating frequent team rebuilding, and dedicated EV training and IV breeding. Radical Red (aside from basically stealing the best name I could ever use for a Romhack) is extremely difficult, requiring both a tactical mind and a bottomless well of Pokemon knowledge to play well.

The Kaizo games, by one Sinister Hooded Figure, are difficult in a different way entirely. Blue and Crystal Kaizo are actually getting older by this point, both of them releasing in 2014, but 2017’s Emerald Kaizo is the one that is getting the most buzz as of late. The Kaizo games (named for Kaizo Mario World) are crushingly difficult, built to be Nuzlocked and make you suffer doing it. An accelerated level curve, NPCs featuring legendary Pokemon that you have no access to (including Blue Kaizo giving your Rival a Mew from the very first battle), and the earlier games having extensive edits to maps necessitating fighting every battle, churning through dozens of Wilds in extended endurance segments, and fighting bosses and accessing resources in extremely inopportune ways. Emerald Kaizo has less of this but adds difficulty in the form of expert-level AI and the game forcing you into loads and loads of treacherous double battles. In addition, while Radical Red adds future additions and competitive-style gameplay, the Kaizo games lean into their rage game roots, with many a trainer using high-variance moves or items like the Quick Claw. A Critical Hit is problematic in a normal game, in Kaizo they’re ruinous. RadRed is the culmination of the years of Fire Red development, while Kaizo presents vanilla mechanics pounding you as hard as possible.

It may come as some surprise that I’m actually not a huge fan of either of these.

As much as I love difficulty, the experiences these games present just fall on the level of unfun for me. Grinding is boring, and they often necessitate that, and I’m not a huge fan of every single opponent being a significant enough threat that I need to pay serious attention in every single battle. It’s frustrating, because I want to like them, but they’re just too much.

But these games remain popular, and I think a large reason for that is simply because watching other people play them is quite entertaining. Streamers and Youtubers have flocked to these games, challenging their might, and often failing to conquer them. They’re an experience best had while slightly removed, it appears- the approachability barrier broached by having a proxy.

I’m sure people exist that are superfans of this kind of hack. I know they do, since I’ve seen folks who’ve done multiple playthroughs of Radical Red, and those who’ve stuck it out to actually complete a Nuzlocke of each and every Kaizo game. But they aren’t for me, and that’s okay. I am not surprised that these hacks continue to stay popular, and I expect them to continue and stay relevant as long as Pokemon Romhacking continues. With that in mind, I think I’d prefer more Dray-style hacks at this point.

You can find all of Dray’s hacks on his Drive here. Radical Red can be found at this link, and here’s Blue, Crystal, and Emerald Kaizo. And….fuck it here’s YAFRH and Fire Red Advanced, they’re both classics at this point.

[altalksaboutstuff]

My Top 5 Games of the Past Generation Youtube Script Plus Notes

This is, more or less, the script for My Top 5 Games of the Past Generation video that I just published on Youtube: With the Xbox One and Playstation Four about to head out of the door to make ways for the Xbox Series X and the Playstation 5 respectively to lead us into the next generation of consoles were only Nintendo has been sitting comfortably with the Switch, the Wii U has been long gone and Nintendo also recently announced the official end of the Nintendo 3DS line cutting all the ties to this last generation.  With that almost everyone is now releasing their lists of the best games of the current generation, myself included, I couldn't help but notice a lot of same-soundy lists such as Game Informer's top 5 list.  I myself have to disagree with these, not to say that any and/or all five of those games on Game Informer's Top 5 aren't good, important or worth playing just that I don't think they are the best representative of this generation in terms of impact and wide appeal, so much as had the most money backing them. That these games on the list are more the best representative of the biggest Triple A titles.  The games that I had in mind are more impactful on how this generation swayed and set new standards.  I want you to keep in mind that while I liked some of these games, these aren't my personal top 5 of the past generation either but I think closer to what best represents our closing era of gaming, when I say the “best games of the current generation.”

First off I'd like to make an honorable mention of PT.  PT or playable trailer was supposed to be a demo for the new Silent Hill S game that unfortunately never came to be for the Playstation 4 from Konami.  A joint venture between film director Guillermo del Toro and the famous creator of Metal Gear Solid, Hideo Kojima, this demo spooked the pants off of everyone and was probably the reason a lot of people decided to buy a Playstation 4.  Unfortunately Konami let Hideo Kojima go under less than favorable conditions and the demo vanished with him in time.  Since then the immersive, first person perspective horror game demo changed the landscape of what survival horror could be.  We then saw Resident Evil VII by Capcom, the Park by Funcom, Layers of Fear by Aspyr and Death Standing by Hideo Kojima's new studio Kojima Productions that were all heavily influenced by PT (this point made more obvious for Hido Kojima's Death Stranding) and the future of Survial Horror / Suspense games seems to be headed there with upcoming games like Resident Evil VIII: The Village.  The only reason this isn't officially on the list is because, well, it was sadly never a game but its influence was too important for me not to mention.

Number 5: Sonic Mania.  Ok so Sonic Mania isn't anything new but it is very important in the sense that it is a major franchise, Sonic, by a well established publisher, Sega, and they had officially given the keys of Mobius to the fandom to make a new game and it was fantastic. While that's oversimplying things a bit errr a lot, since Sega just didn't come out of the blue offering that opportunity.  Rather Sega saw a Sonic game pitched by Christian Whitehead, aka Taxman, who worked on porting previous ports of Sonic games to Mobile platforms. Why I think it is important is that this validating the bridge between fandom and passion projects in world where game hacks and fangames are traditionally shut down almost immediately after gaining the slightest attention.  While Sonic Mania isn't a fangame, its roots were deep from the Romhack community.  This represents cracking the door between what the fandom produces and what the corporate offices allow being available to consumers in a world were popular fangames and hacks result in cease and desist orders - which is why I think is very important to put Sonic Mania as the number 5 game of this console generation.

Number 4: Rocket League.  As of today, Rocket League is a now free to play game for better or for worse.  Rocket League is high-octane fun, blasting balls across various courts and fields such as basketball and football with fast automobiles but what it is most well known for is basically soccer with cars.  Rocket League is a lot of fun to play and has a large audience of  in the streaming and esports field which would be reason enough to put this game in a top 5 but what this game marks maybe even more importantly is cross console online play. While other games have and do continue to have online play across systems, back in March of 2016 Microsoft was very interested in allowing online play between Xbox One and other consoles them being extremely hopeful for Playstation 4 in particular, however Sony was holding out.  Sony was hesitant, citing their emphasis on providing a certain quality online experience but finally came to the party and in 2019 you could finally play Rocket League online with all your friends whether it be on PC, Xbox One, Switch, or Playstation 4. Since then we have had other games slowly roll out this feature such as Wargroove and the trend seems to be expanding.  I hope to see all games adopt this in the future and since Rocket League “birthed” this concept coming to the table for cross console online play for us all to enjoy, this is why I think Rocket League deserves the number 4 slot.

Number 3: Bloodborne/Dark Souls III.  This past generation and hell even to some extent decade, spanning to the PS3/Xbox 360, has lead us to compare every challenging game that comes out to Dark Souls.  Cuphead is the Dark Souls of run and gun shooters, Dead Cells is the Dark Souls of Metroidvanias, Celeste is the Dark Souls of platformers, etc.  While the meme of “X is like the Dark Souls of” is hard to find a concrete start, according to Google Trends this first seemed to spike in April of 2015 around the release of Bloodborne, the PS4 game created by FromSoftware.  While not technically a Dark Souls game, it was made by the same team and the game play and feel is very Dark Souls in the sense that I feel the phrase is used today, in contrast to the first two Dark Souls games.  Then we can see that in/and around October 2017 the trend has risen to its peak a little after a year and a half of the release of Dark Souls III.  While this justification may seem more flimsy and ultimately the Dark Souls brand was established in 2011, I do think Bloodborne/Dark Souls III is more in the zeitgeist, if you will, of the “X is like Dark Souls” comparison that has shaped the conversation of so many games today.

Number 2: Undertale.  Undertale is perhaps the darling of this generation. A game chock full of charm with multiple ways to approach it.  Will you save everyone, sacrifice everyone, or something in-between?  This game does look next gen, current gen or even comparable to past gen games until you hit perhaps the SNES or even late NES.  Maybe a number 2 spot is too high on list – this game didn't revolutionize the industry in ways that the other games on this list did nor was it the first anti-RPG of its kind, that would probably go to MOON, but Undertale just had such a powerful impact on gamers when it came out and became so unforgettable.  I feel like Undertale will be a game that we remember for a long time and to not include it in this list because its an indie game would be a real tragedy which segways me to my number 1 game.

Number 1: Shovel Knight.  Shovel Knight is the indie game that, I think, lead to the current boom of retro inspired indie games we have been enjoying.  A love letter to the NES games of the past such as Castlevania, Mega Man and Ducktales to name a few.  Shovel Knight wasn't the first retro inspired indie games but I feel like the attention to detail in trying to stay as true to what the hardware could run in terms of look, color, sound and pixel art with its overwhelming success showed that there was a market for these type of games.  Its success kickstarter in 2013 also showed that Kickstarter could be used as a viable platform to create indie games for a wider audience without having to rely on that Triple A model of good gaming synonymous with big budget corporate funding.  I firmly believe that we wouldn't have the great retro inspired games like Celeste and Dead Cells or the Kickstarter'd Yooka Laylee and Bloodstained or games that did both like Blasphemous if it wasn't for the hard-work and ingenuity that Yacht Club Games paved with Shovel Knight.

To use a popular Youtube cliché to conclude this list, “At the end of the day” I didn't make this list to put Game Informer or anyone's personal preferences down.  If you believe that they got the Top 5 games of the decade right that's perfectly ok and valid too, to have as your opinion.  I also want to reiterate that those five games – The Last of Us Part II, the Witcher 3, Red Dead Redemption 2, Zelda Breath of the Wild and God of War are all important to this generation coming to a close as well in their own way.  While this list isn't my favorite games of the past generation, maybe I'll do that in the future, they are my subjective “best games list” of the past generation for what I think they did to the industry and you are free to agree, disagree, pick and choose between my list and Game Informers list or make a completely different list of your own.  I'm personally excited to see what the future of gaming has for us in this coming generation and optimistic for what's both around the corner and late into the next systems' life-cycle.  Happy gaming to you however you play.

Webpages noted: https://www.polygon.com/2020/9/17/21443683/nintendo-3ds-discontinued-lifetime-sales-hardware-software-units

https://www.fandom.com/articles/sonic-mania-just-nostalgia

https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/15/15807138/sony-playstation-cross-network-play-xbox-block-response

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/were-ready-microsoft-says-about-xbox-one-ps4-cross/1100-6438654/

https://www.rocketleague.com/news/full-cross-platform-play-now-live-in-rocket-league/

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/yachtclubgames/shovel-knight

https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DavidDAngelo/20140625/219383/Breaking_the_NES_for_Shovel_Knight.php

Games shown/referenced in the video:

The Last of Us Part 2

God of War

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Red Dead Redeption II

Witcher 3

PT / Silent Hill S

Sonic Mania

Rocket League

Blood Borne

Dark Souls III

Undertale

Shovel Knight

Shantae: Half Genie Hero

Cuphead

Celeste

Yooka Laylee

Mega Man 2

Ducktales

Castlevania

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Blasphemous

Dead Cells

Resident Evil 7

Resident Evil 8

Moon

Layers of Fear

The Park

Death Stranding

Bonus Footage:

Xbox Series X reveal trailer

PS5 reveal trailer

Also note: I messed up in the original video and said the phrase, “X is like Dark Souls of” spiked in April of 2015 when I should have said first peaked in January to April of 2015.  I noted it in the video but wanted to note it again, sorry.

[mbistuff]

Deltarune Analysis Part 1: Relation to Undertale

Hey, this is MBIadekindEyewear and today I’m going to produce the only good Deltarune theories on the internet. Throw me an ask or something if there’s anything you want me to theorise about.  Spoilers under the cut.

 Deltarune.

There is a prophecy.

The Angel... The one who was seen the Surface...

They will return. And the underground will go empty.

Part 1: What the hell is happening? What is the relation to Undertale?

Okay, so let’s start out big.  It’s pretty explicitly not a sequel nor a prequel. Asriel being alive and well, plus Undyne having two eyes rules out sequel, while the monsters that turned into Amalgamates having graves rules out prequel.

So, what is it?

First of all, it’s an Alternative Universe.  This much is pretty obvious. Many characters are shared, and a lot of events draw strange parallels with Undertale. Deltarune is an anagram of Undertale, a familiar but distorted reflection.

Well, that’s not quite true, but it’s true enough for now.

Deltarune is a meta-sequel to Undertale. And it’s a meta-prequel to Undertale. It’s a whole meta-ton of other things things, too.

First, I’m going to briefly go over what it isn’t, then I’m going to jump into what all that means.

This isn’t the “the next world” that Chara mentioned in Undertale. I think too many people have lost sight of what Chara actually is. More on this later, as the idea of Chara is very important, but “The next world” just meant “Whatever RPG you next play”. Hey, maybe that RPG is Deltarune, but that’s by no means a sure bet.

This isn’t an Alternative Timeline. This is a very similar concept to Alternative Universe, but there’s a slight difference in what this means. Alternative Timeline very much implies that there was an event or sequence of events that happened differently that led to this. I don’t think this is possible. Asriel died hundreds of years ago in Undertale, and yet he’s college age in Deltarune.

The idea of the Meta-prequel is perhaps the easier one to grasp. Even if you were to ignore Toby’s tweet that Deltarune was Toby’s original RPG idea before Undertale, there’s plenty of evidence to go around. 

When you dig deeper into Undertale, there’s multiple hints that the world was once different. Sans “gave up on trying to go back”, and there’s that one picture in San’s hidden workshop.

... don’t forget.

Further more, in Delta Rune itself, the main menu music is called Before the Story. While this seems like it’s just referring to the fact that the main menu is where you go before gameplay, the player doesn’t actually hear this music the first time they play. They get thrown straight into the story when they launch the program for the first time, meaning it’s impossible to hear Before the Story before the story begins.

Instead, I interpret this title to mean Before The Tale.

Plus, there’s all the Gastery stuff, a character who Does Not Exist in Undertale, outside of scattered fragments hidden deep in the code.

All this points to the world of Deltarune, however it exists, to not be just a meaningless alternative universe, but instead, a precursor to Undertale’s universe. I’d go as far as to say Undertale’s universe is the reflection of Deltarune, and not the other way around, regardless of release order.

The Meta-sequel is where things get a bit confusing.

See, Undertale is a very unique game. It draws you, The Player, into the world as a character. Chara is quite explicitly a part of the player, their desire to see numbers go up. Chara’s “canon” name is even the same as your own name. 

(can’t find Toby’s 2015 tweet telling you to name the character after yourself unfortunately, but this picture from Deltarune’s naming section should do.)

You, The Player, are a character in these games. A character who has played Undertale. You’re bringing out of game knowledge into the game world through your connection with Kris. This gets commented on a few times throughout the game, but the most clear example is when you tell Sans “It’s great to see you again.” Kris has never seen Sans before. You, The Player, have. This is Undertale knowledge being transferred directly into Deltarune.

This isn’t just a funny little easter egg either. Toby did say that the game was “for those who have completed Undertale”. By design, the player shouldn’t not have out-of-game knowledge. 

So, yeah. Here’s what I believe to be the exact relation between Undertale and Deltarune.

Now that’s that’s settled, let’s have some fun. Feel free to stop reading now. The rest of the post is almost certainly going to devolving into shitposteing.

Flashback to 2008. Bloody hell, that’s an entire decade ago. A certain young man had a very busy 2008, creating a famous and later infamous romhack of Earthbound. Yep, that’s right, I’m talking about The EarthBound Halloween Hack.

For those not in the know, Toby created a dark, disturbing hack of EarthBound. In this hack, the player is initially greeted with an alternative Earthbound with familiar characters and visuals, although the protagonist Ness has been replaced with mysterious bounty hunter Varik, a character with many strange parallels to Ness. Things soon get dark and the player explores new areas, before entering the mindscape of a madman, playing through a jumble of Mother references.

The single biggest theme in this hack is the lack of player choice. No matter what the player does, the game has only one outcome. Their choices do not matter. Undertale explored these ideas to some degree (I’d love to talk about player choice in Undertale sometime, actually.), but Deltarune seems to be revisiting The Halloween Hack’s driving theme.

That, and the release date, leads me to suspect that Deltarune is The Undertale Halloween Hack, a spiritual successor to Toby’s old shame.

(Also Varik’s one defining trait is that he’s an alcoholic, and Kris apparently has an obsession with the “fruit juice” at the church that might be wine but jokingly censored and this miiight be a reference but I’m really reaching here.)

And now, we can finally stop ignoring the elephant in the room

Deltarune is a Homestuck reference aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaoookay I’m done

[pollux-ap-gold]

Recruitment For Fangame

So I got this idea about creating a sort of Homestuck x Pokemon Crossover. And I need helpers since I can't actually code or sprite or anything like that. I'll be working as a Script Writer.

Here's a small summary - You wake up in a forest not far from a town/city with nothing but a pokeball on your hip, a vaguely familiar symbol on your shirt, and 5,000 cash in your pocket. You soon realize you're in the Pokemon world! You don't know how you got here, and to be completely honest, you don't care. It was every Poke-Fans dream! You even already have a starter! Now you must set off to find out where you are. Perhaps a visit to the town/cities library is in order?

I already have some things written down, as well as ideas ans such I am hoping for. Wether the game is ROMHack or uses an RPG maker is up to you and whichever is easiest.

I don't think you need to know much about Homestuck itself, since I'll be doing most of the writing, and looking up cannon characters to see what they look like is rather easy. At most, you'll have to look up Homestuck Aspects, which will be explained.

Anyone who does end up aiding will get certain perks that will be explained.

People I'll Probably Need:

Script Writers - Not necessary, but not against, as this would help me decide some stuff

Mappers - again, I'm no good with technical things. And I'm broke so I cant buy any of those fancy stuff to attempt to learn.

Sprites (Pokemon and Humans) - I could help design any non-canon characters in a normal art way, but actually creating the sprites? I also plan on creating 12 legendaries for this Hack based on the Chinese Zodiac, but as I stated I cant sprite.

Actions - battles, what moves look like in battle

Sound: SFX - Sound Effects for the game, such as certain items being used, etc.

Cries - I suppose this could be under SFX as well, but I'll separate it just in case

Music! - I love music. I need some music makers, or people who know how to use/input music into the game.

Betas - For test plays and to make sure everything is working properly. (9/10)

Message me if you're interested. I'll explain the perks after you join. (Also, please tell me if I'm missing anything in this post so I can edit it. I also need to create a discord real quick. I did this before doing that.)

[radramblog]

“Pokémon is too easy”

It’s a relatively common complaint that the Pokémon games are just too easy for the majority of gamers. Particularly with some of the newer ones. And while I don’t agree in all cases, the complaint is rampant enough that hey, maybe there’s some worth in it. So here’s some ideas for if you think Pokemans are too easy but you still want to play them.

1. Challenge Runs

Pokémon is a series that people tend to replay over and over, and I think this is partially why people think they’re so easy- they know what’s coming because they’ve played the game a dozen times before. If you’re looking for a challenge where you can still apply that knowledge, however, consider a form of self-imposed challenge- you can combine that familiarity with the innovation required in a restrictive ruleset to great effect.

Of course, the most popular version of this is the Nuzlocke challenge. And to be fair it’s like that for a reason- adding an actual fail-state to the game, heavily limiting the available options, and nullifying many cheese strategies does make the game a lot more engaging. I’d also recommend prohibiting overlevelling in some way, since grinding isn’t fun and neither is breezing through bosses effortlessly. 

But, of course, other types of challenges exist. Monotype runs are pretty interesting, tightly constricting your team’s variety and making certain boss fights that you’re weak to much tougher than they’d normally be. It is worth noting, however, that these can vary wildly depending on types- a mono-water run is going to be a lot easier than, say, a mono-ice or ghost, with those being nigh-impossible in most games simply because you can’t get anything of those types early on and the games never have very many of them.

Other common challenge runs include solo runs, where you only use one Pokémon the whole time- these aren’t actually that hard from what I’ve seen, though, since you just end up massively overlevelled. There’s a huge variety of challenge runs available, especially when it comes to Nuzlocke variants, so I’m sure you can find something that suits your fancy for the next playthrough.

2. Competitive

Competitive Pokémon is almost alien to the main series games, but it’s easier to get into than it ever has been, and the depth of the strategy is frankly astonishing. If you’ve played much of the main games, you’ll be aware that Double Battles are substantially more complex than single battles, and it’s for that reason that the games’ main official competitive format, VGC, is exclusively doubles based.

Sword and Shield have made it profoundly easy to get into competitive battling compared to previous generations. The plentiful resources and good Pokemon available from the Raid Dens, as well as QOL features in the postgame and DLCs, make grinding up a team so much easier, and the Battle Tower is actually decent challenge now. Playing on the online ladder rewards you with relevant items and BP even if you barely participate. But more than anything else, the game now allows teams to be uploaded online and rented for use on ladder and in the Tower, meaning one of the biggest barriers to entry is null if you want it to be. Of course, this doesn’t work for IRL tournaments, but half the world isn’t getting those right now anyway, so.

Of course, if you don’t have Sword/Shield (or Switch Online, which tbh valid), then Smogon’s Pokémon Showdown is as good as it has ever been. There isn’t really a better way to practice and play such a wide variety of formats, including the competitive scene from every single generation each with its own still-developing meta and community. If you’re someone who used to play but fell off, that old OU is still available to pick back up again (man bring me back to Gen 7 monotype though).  And of course, Random Battles are just a blast. It’s a truly impressive program- and I’m shocked it’s still running after all these years.

3. Romhacks

Apparently, romhackers are well and truly in the belief that Pokémon is too easy- and to be fair, the mean age and Pokémon familiarity of a Romhack’s audience is higher than the main series. With that in mind, a huge number of the romhacks that exist do so with the intent of making a more difficult experience. One of the classic examples of this is Drayano’s romhacks- he’s done a set for HGSS, FRLG, BW, BW2, and Platinum off the top of my head, each of which was for a time the pinnacle of polished difficulty in Pokémon- Renegade Platinum is inarguably still the best Platinum hack around, and arguments could be made for Volt White/Blaze Black and its sequels.

I do intend to talk in more detail about the newer generation of Romhacking, but the tools available at this point to gen III hackers allow for the addition of all the features from modern games- Megas, Z-Moves, Dynamax , etc.- and with that comes a whole set of difficult hacks that dwarf old classics like Fire Red Omega or Yet Another Fire Red Hack. Radical Red is perhaps the most infamous of these- the best way to describe it is as a romhack where every boss fight is supposed to be like a competitive game, and you’re going to have to actually train/breed competitively to cleanly succeed. I’m actually of the opinion that hacks like this and Emerald Kaizo are too tough to the point of being unfun, but I have limited experience with them.

Regardless, between these options and more, there are plenty of ways to make Pokémon not too easy. So don’t fucking complain about it again, kthnx