#perhaps I should talk more about my gameplay experiance lol | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

that-wizard-oki · 4 years ago

Note

Hello! I've been aware of your blog for years, and made a Tumblr blog very recently. I want to say that your posts are extremely well thought out, and give the storyline of Wizard101 a lot of much needed depth. I think if Wiz had the gameplay and story structure of Pirate101, it would benefit highly especially for worlds like Azteca and Khrysalis. Currently I'm rewriting Wiz and your posts are a huge inspiration. Finally. what are your thoughts on Arc 3? Imo it had potential but failed.

Hey there! Thank you so much for all your kind words, I’m glad you enjoy my thoughts and theories about the game- and I’m flattered to hear they inspire you to create your own fan work :D

Personally, I wouldn’t say that Arc 3 failed in any sense. I think the idea of a children's/family game to tackle the theme of a broken family\divorce is pretty smart- it gives the opportunity to adults who play this game with their kids to find a way to perhaps talk about their own experience with the same themes in their real lives (if it applies to them). Likewise, i also like that the story focuses on that the CHILDREN are the one who have to clean up the PARENTS mess, more or less. Often times the children in families who have a parent/parents that are either split, should split, or are abusive to one another, are the ones who get caught in the cross fire- this is SO evident with Mellori and Bat in Empyrea.

Following that, I think it was also super clever to have Mellori (and the wizard) initially ALSO be fighting against Spider’s children. Another common occurrence in families that experience abuse between their parents/ect, is that one or both of the parents will try to divide their children onto sides- furthering the divide and conflict in the family itself. THIS was exactly what was happening in arc 3- we weren’t technically fighting Raven and Spider, but their children were fighting each other in their names.

One of the most beautiful things to come out of this game was the fact that Mellori and Bat WERE able to see through that, and instead focused on the real threat at hand- their parents. In fact, it is their COMBINED power that allows the wizard to defeat the result of Raven and Spider- the Aethyr Titan. This reflects so well into reality, where when the children of broken families try their damned to support one another, instead of letting their parents continue to control and divide them, it leads to the kids being able to break the domino effect that comes with that kind of family dynamic. They are able to become individuals- instead of being some mini version or “part” of their parents (which is also clever on KI’s part to make Mellori and Bat/Rat/Scorpion LITERAL extensions of Raven/Spider, which makes it seem like they are just kind of mindless bots doing whatever their entrusted parent tells them).

One part i particularly like as well is that towards the end of Empyrea, Mellori talk about how she’s going to go home to her mom- and it’s not Raven, it’s Baba Yaga. I absolutely love this idea that, yea, Mellori (and any kid for that matter) SHOULD be able to choose who their mom/dad/parent is if their birth parent(s) don't provide for you the way a parent should. I think that is a SUPER important lesson for Kids AND parents to hear. You choose your own family if that’s what it comes down to, and there is NO shame in that.

That being said, i do have my issues with some things too- this might seem small, but I never liked how when we’re in the Husk, and Raven and Spider are talking to one another about who’s “really” at fault, and eventually Raven goes “oh what have i done?” and Spider just goes “.... Yea were were BOTH really bad huh?” Like.... listen, sure, Raven probably shouldn’t have locked Cob away for eternity and stole his chaos heart in order to reform the spiral, BUT imma be real with y’all... Spider also did shit to aggravate Raven- specifically, he messed with her kids into a fucking war. I mean this half sarcastically, but tbh, if you mess with a mother’s kids... that's fucking on you man, you know the grave your digging for yourself on that one lmao.

But more seriously- i feel like they REALLY tried to make Raven out to be “worse” than Spider, and having Spider just beguile her with his words at the end in a way were she ended up being like “oh nooo IM the really bad one, oh no oh noo :((” JUST for him to be like “no its ok babe :) we’re BOTH equally as bad, stay here with me and we can be bad and alone together :)”

Actually now that i write that out, it is a little.. weird that Spider kinda got what he wanted- to be with Raven, when imo, they really should have STAYED split. I don’t come from a divorced family, but I’ve many friends who do, and I’ve gathered that more often than not... divorce can be a good thing, as it is likely to stop/lessen the conflict within families. I think that yea, they both did bad things to one another, and need to stay apart, not spend the rest of eternity together.

That’s probably my biggest qualm with the entirety of Arc 3, beyond the various obvious one, which is that Morganthe played like, absolutely no part in it lmao. I’ve talked endlessly about it, so i won’t repeat myself too much lol.

Just to briefly reiterate- i think that Morganthe, the one who re-discovered shadow magic, was groomed by the Shadow Magi, and very blatantly infused with something akin to the conversion tables we see in Khrysalis, I think she would have been an invaluable source of information and help for the Wizard. Not only does she probably know the most about Shadow Magic outside of Spider, but it’s insanely alluded to that she was under his control- perhaps even had contact or conversation with him somehow in her time as Shadow queen.

The biggest frustration of her lack of presence though, comes from the way Khrysalis built up this INSANELY interesting Foil between the Wizard and her. The way that they both weirdly fit the prophecy, the way their lead into The Hive was so eerily mirrored, the fact that we were both called the Children of Light and Shadow by Spider, and not to even mention how the shared feelings of loneliness and fear of failure as students of Ambrose... like I could go on about these two and how amazing it would have been for them both to work together in arc 3, but also help heal and grow as The Children of Light and Shadow... but that’s not what we got unfortunately.

Anywho, i don’t wanna ramble on about that too much because i touched on it in another ask post and you can look at that if ya want in my tag, but yea! Those are my general thoughts on Arc 3. Again, i love this arc, i think it truly has some of the most nuanced writing and characters thus far in the game.

Besides, i always think they could easily write in Morganthe’s return for a redemption with the wizard, especially now with the Wizard seemingly trying to fight their own shadows.

Hope that satisfied your question though, and good luck with your writings :D

#wizard101 #oki answers a thing #marvelousmagicalaura

21 notes · View notes

thelastofgala · 4 years ago

Text

I started The Last of Us, Pt. 2 last night, and here are my first impressions, musings on parallelism, Naturalism, Ellie’s characterization, Joel’s characterization, the “presence” of Riley, gameplay, story development, and more:

***SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT***

Starting with Joel. I always imagined The Last of Us 2 would begin at the end of Joel’s journey, though I will say that I did not expect to pick up so close to the end of the first game. I thought they would start us somewhere COMPLETELY out of context. Like I was prepared for much deeper flashback. In this way, I really felt like I was playing a sequel, which is not a bad thing. I just had no idea how they were going to frame this. The compelling thing about starting with Joel is that it immediately sets up parallels between Joel and Sarah, the character we start with in The Last of Us. There’s no way this was not a pointed decision. Just like it was with Sarah, Joel is our point of reference in a new, strange world. His point of view in this new world is all that we know. We don’t know what the new special world contains, and we don’t know grown-up Ellie at all. Plus, old fans will have missed him. It is a comfort to be Joel, and like a daughter protected by her father, a false and short-lived comfort. We are also now thinking of Joel as, like Sarah, someone who is in danger, whose agency is compromised, who, for whatever reason, is weakened this time around, and who may not survive the story.

I will say, too, that I really loved that after the 4-years-later cut, Joel is held off-screen. He and Tommy are out on a patrol. They are out there, in danger, and that sort of restraint is really effective. We are ALWAYS looking for Joel, just like we were in the run-up to the release, because he is the only person we truly know in this strange, new world. ND knows and takes advantage of this.

There are many parallels between Joel and Riley. Both Joel and Riley sneak up on Ellie during their first interaction. They’re even wearing similar colors. Both Joel and Riley lied to Ellie in the previous story, and both betrayed her as an act of self-preservation. In Left Behind, Ellie is somewhat chilly toward Riley in the beginning, even as her younger, more optimistic self, just as Ellie is chilly toward Joel in the beginning of The Last of Us 2. Still, you can tell through Ellie’s dialogue with Dina that she and Joel are knitted together—he defended her against the bigoted bartender, and she appreciates this even if she doesn’t outright say it. They share taste in movies and have plans to watch a movie together soon. I haven’t interacted with Joel in the current timeline, but I do know that in Left Behind, Riley has to earn back Ellie’s trust and take measures to reenter her good graces, and that this is a large part of their relationship arc. I also know that, by the time they reconcile, it proves to be too late. The world will not let them have what they want, and nothing is simple. All of these parallels worry me a lot, as Left Behind, while still driven by a strong undercurrent of love (it is a love story, interwoven with Ellie’s desperate search for medical supplies in a bid to save Joel’s life), is a much bleaker, sadder story than The Last of Us, and it has a tragic ending.

Joel's conversation with Tommy feels important. I was very glad to hear Tommy say that he would have made the same choice, in terms of saving Ellie or letting her die for the possibility of a cure. It shows that Tommy is more like Joel than perhaps we knew. Plus, Maria will have taught him something about love and commitment, as the notion of saving the one you love above all else should make more sense to him now that he has foregone the youthful idealism of the Fireflies in order to focus on the practical wisdom of family. As a parent, I understand Joel’s decision to save Ellie at the end of The Last of Us and know I would have done the same. I also understand why Joel lied, even though I think it was the wrong choice. Hearing him confide all of this in Tommy was cathartic. It was also very characteristic of Joel to respond that Ellie “didn’t say nothing otherwise” when Tommy asks if she believed him. In all of his denial, Joel chooses to believe what is conveniently in front of him, even if he knows it’s untrue. Also, I couldn’t tell, but was that a Firefly logo on that guitar he’s shining up? Maybe I hallucinated that. But if it is, I do wonder where he got it.

Ellie’s character is much more deadpan and ruminative in young adulthood. She seems tired, and a little lacking in self-esteem and sort of immediately defeated by what happened during the experience with Joel. When Joel sang, we could see her return to that place, just a glimmer, and her response—that it “didn’t suck”—shows how she still shields her heart with sarcasm, something Dina points out to her later on (“Did I ruin your punchline?”). Joel has been broken down by the events of The Last of Us and now bears his soul to her with his music, unabashed and dedicated to her, and Ellie is now the stoic one, unshakable, sealed inside a heavy, protective armor that seems impossible to pierce. I look forward to getting to know Ellie as a young adult and, ultimately, crying a lot. She is artistic and honest and still a little soft underneath. You can tell by her early interactions with Dina especially that she can still blush, and she can still come undone.

I love the snowball fight lol. I am always so frustrated when these big environment games, like Red Dead 2, Dragon Age, etc., don’t have any kids running around. Why don’t these stories pay attention to kids? Kids exist. They are an important part of almost any open world or quasi open world environment. I love the presence of kids in The Last of Us 2, because the loss of childhood innocence is an important theme for Ellie as a character. It’s also clear we’re trying to set up the edenic innocence of Jackson. It is childhood, in a way, and just like childhood, it will come to inevitable corruption. The scene, too, reminded me of Ellie and Riley on their teen dream adventure, romping through the Halloween store at the mall, trying on masks and talking to the magic eight ball.

I’m really pleased by all the parallels with Left Behind and Ellie’s portion of the journey in The Last of Us. Winter was her season, and that’s where we’re starting now. The horseback riding, the blizzard, and all the blood in the snow bring flashbacks of Ellie hunting on the woods, Ellie alone in the frozen mall, David, and the Lakeside Resort, all of which layer the current moment with a lot of emotional tension for the player.

The opening is, I think, sprawling. I’m having fun but there’s this sense that I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of the story. Like Joel in the first game, Ellie is also big-timing me a little and I feel far away from her. I know this will change soon, and I’ll warm up to her, but for now, like Joel, we’re all being held at arm’s length. I actually like the POV shifts we’ve gotten so far and the multiple POVs is something I predicted a while ago, based on ND’s tendencies in the first game. Ppl are going to give The Last of Us 2 shit for being too cinematic but tbh it sometimes feels more like a playable novel than a traditional video game. We’re on a cable car headed straight into disaster and there’s nothing we can do. In this way the game is using the medium itself to perpetuate its Naturalistic themes. We play and we play, and we fight and we fight, but the environment entertains no interest in our struggle and the outcome will always be the same. There is no free will in The Last of Us.

On that note, the gameplay so far is, I think, pretty fun. I have played a lot of stealth games and am always looking for ways the genre is reinventing itself. Like Sekiro and Tomb Raider, The Last of Us 2 is increasing the verticality of the map with rope climbing and scaling up obstacles (though I do miss using Joel’s immense upper body strength to move those dumpsters around lol). In a stealth game I want creativity and problem solving to be central to the gameplay. I don’t want to be magically handed tools and weapons on a constant basis, to meet every individual need. I want to be forced into resourcefulness, and I don’t want to enter a shoot-out unless I absolutely have to. That said, I’m nearly to the tower checkpoint with Dina, and I’ve only fired my gun twice. The dodge/melee mechanic is neat, but more than anything, having real, actionable help from an AI enables stealth kills even in zones crawling with enemies. On that note, I am playing with a headset, and I’m glad I am, because I find the sounds of the goddam clickers to be all-encompassing this time around and a LOT bigger and scarier than they were in The Last of Us. Holy shit. They’re absolutely terrifying. I can only imagine the horror to come lol.

Now, finally, Abby: I don’t have much to offer on this yet. Abby is not who I thought she’d be. I’ll just say it. Still, the melee battle with her and the runners in the woods was AWESOME. For me, the most fun I’ve had yet, because it was completely different than anything from The Last of Us. Playing her, however, I will say, filled me with foreboding. I didn’t want to be there. I didn’t want to help her. She seems beyond desperate and while deeply sympathetic, she is a new character and her loyalties are not mine...so far. I could be very wrong, and please don’t correct me if I am, but I get the sense she might be a Firefly, or somehow associated with Marlene, and she is looking for Joel, in vengeance. Her group was small and rogue, and they seemed new to the area. All I know is that ND is creating a moral dilemma here, and as to what will become of this, the jury is still out completely.

One small personal criticism, take it or leave it: I don’t personally love that the kiss with Dina and scene with Joel defending Ellie was kept off-stage in the game and left to the trailer. We could have started at the dance. That would have taught us everything we need to know about Ellie, Dina, Jesse, and Joel and Ellie’s relationship state. This is my only criticism of the story so far. From a writer’s perspective, it’s just inefficient and clumsy to try and cover all that in expositional dialogue, taking into consideration that many casual players will not have seen all the trailers. Even still, it’s not hurting my experience in any way. Just an observation and maybe a bit of personal opinion on the fact that perhaps the choice to reveal so much scene in pre-release trailers might be a great way to build hype but might not be the most efficient choice in telling the actual story. My two cents!

In the end, I’m overall super excited and can’t wait to keep playing. These are just my own personal thoughts, and I’ll be back with more thoughts soon!! PLEASE NO SPOILERS OR SPOILERY SUGGESTIONS IN THE REPLIES!! I am NOT privy to the leaks and I do NOT want to know what’s coming. Thank you!! ^_^

#tlou2 #The Last of Us 2 #tlou2 spoilers #the last of us 2 spoilers #the last of us part 2 #gala's thoughts

64 notes · View notes

dndaddyissues · 5 years ago

Note

Hi there! My friends and I just started playing DnD and we want to play a second campaign (our current DM is not available a lot) but none of us have any DM experience (and we've all only done one campaign, our current one). Do you have any tips/resources on how to start DM'ing? I really don't know where to look/start😅 thanks already for replying! Love all the memes on your blog haha

hello! yes! i’ve answered similar asks here, here, and here, but i’ll also add onto those lists with these quick tips/reiterations:

- run a session 0. since you’re all friends already, you probably know each other pretty well, which is fantastic. but it never hurts to gauge what players want out of their dnd experience. do they wanna kill shit? do they want a politically intricate world? how about hot NPCs to romance? how about a post-apocalyptic setting overrun with monsters? meet your players where they’re at – some will have a deeper and more concrete understanding of what they desire, while others will likely just shrug and say “idk, i just wanna tell a story with friends.” both are fine. take notes during your session 0, and use it to design a campaign around your players’ “wish list.” you can also run character creation during this session 0, during which you should decide if your players all know each other already, if they’re just meeting for the first time, or a combination thereof. finally, a session 0 can be used to determine meeting frequency, scheduling logistics, and “squicks” – topics players want to avoid in the campaign. you can also introduce a “campaign menu” to your players during session 0, so your players can pick their favorite plot hook from it and you can plan your first session based on the characters they make surrounding the hook. easy peasy breezy beautiful covergirl.

- control the pace. as the DM, you control the speed, tone, and pace of the story. if players are just sitting around, confused and unsure of what to do, throw an encounter at them. combat, roleplay, exploration, any of those things, all of those things. anything to move the story along. if your players take forever to get to the plot hook, bring the plot hook to them. if your players decide to split up, generate quick cuts between scenes so we don’t spend too much or too little time on one person. if your players are confused about a rule, you can spend 5-10 minutes looking it up and delaying gameplay – or you make an executive decision on the spot. just be sure to make it clear to your players that this is a quick ruling to move the story along, and that you will look up (and implement, if you want) the actual rule later.

- who’s afraid of the big bad railroad? ok, this might be controversial, but whatever. in my experience, a genuine “sandbox” campaign can be deeply frustrating and feel pointless if players are just running around, from waypoint to waypoint, killing dozens of goblins in random encounters that have no bearing on the greater world. that’s why i honestly prefer what people might mistakenly call a “railroad” campaign – basically this is just a campaign with concrete and visible goals in sight, and a cool “endgame confrontation” on the horizon. at the end of every session, your players should feel like they’ve accomplished something – or, at the very least, are on the way to accomplishing something. that often makes sessions more fun.

- start in media res! ah, session 1, that most terrible and beautiful of sessions. nothing wrong with starting in a tavern – many of the most memorable campaigns start in one. but there’s also nothing wrong with starting in the middle of the action. this doesn’t necessarily have to be combat, though it certainly can be. throw your players into the middle of a plot-relevant situation, and see how they respond. they can be the main agents – perhaps they’ve stalked an evil wizard to this lair, and are facing down his horrific automatons at the top of session 1. or they can be background characters, in a “wrong place wrong time” situation – they’re all in a fantasy elevator, a man walks in with a briefcase, the door closes, and the man falls to the ground, dead – with a dagger coming out of his back. your players get a chance to look at each other, talk this out, make decisions, before the elevator stops, the door opens, and there are a bunch of fantasy police and bystanders milling about. what do they do?

- take notes! TAKE NOTES! i’m really guilty of not doing this often enough. it’s my greatest vice. but yes, take notes during your sessions! what NPCs did you make up on the fly? what improvised magical items did you give your players? where are they going next? what information did they uncover? etc etc. write notes during natural pauses in the game, or when players are arguing with each other about which road to take.

- prepare! some GMs improvise everything. i am not one of those GMs, and i am terrified of them. when i improvise my sessions, they either turn out great or horrible. i’m a risk-averse person, so i want to avoid that coin toss. my solution? prepare my sessions in advance. if you have the time, draw out maps of big set piece battles you think might occur. prepare lists of NPCs that the PCs might encounter in an area you’re pretty sure they’re going to reach. write out some random plot hooks (brownie points if they’re related to the greater campaign story) just in case weird downtime occurs and the players feel lost /listless /confused. and, if you want, prepare a written narrative speech – brief, vivid, visual, and performative – for the beginning and maybe end of your session, vividly describing where your players are, what the environment’s like, what’s around them, and what they could do with this information. having a written “speech” (but no longer than a paragraph or two) ready for just the top of your session really helps make you seem like you have your shit together lol.

that’s all i can think of right now! what advice do other folks have?

#ask #dnd #dm tips #dungeons and dragons #d&d #dnd ideas #long post /

228 notes · View notes

jaybug-jabbers · 4 years ago

Text

Pokemon Prism Review

Well I’m currently finishing up the post-game content of Pokemon Prism.

Dang.

What a fun game.

(what follows is an informal review of the game. it got a little long, lol. it has some spoilers for the game, of course.)

My background

To give you a quick idea on my perspective on Pokemon, I grew up with Pokemon Red on the big grey brick Gameboy. After Red, I pretty much stopped playing for many years. My little brother had a Gameboy Color and had Silver, but I never got one myself. Wasn’t ‘til years and years later I found some emulators and played through several generations of Pokemon at once. So, Gen 2 really isn’t nostalgic for me. It’s close enough to Gen 1 to hit some nostalgia buttons, though. I am admittedly somebody who feels Gen 1 is the best gen of pokemon. I don’t care of people laugh or say I’m a genwunner for believing that. Gen 1, I feel, had the raw creativity and charm of the original idea, and it simply sets my imagination alight far more than any other gen does. Those simple pixel designs for those little virtual creatures just opened up a world in my mind. THAT SAID, I did play and very much enjoyed all the other gens of pokemon. I do not shun things just because they are new, and I am not one of those people who says the new designs of pokemon are stupid. I adore plenty of modern pokes.

Blend of Old and New

Anyway! Pokemon Prism, for those unaware, is a ROM hack of Pokemon Crystal. It essentially delivers a brand-new Pokemon adventure for the Generation 2 games. It’s a really neat blend of classic gameplay and modern features. You’ll find species from modern games all the way from Gen 3 (such as Breloom) to Gen 6 (such as Sylveon) but their sprites perfectly integrate them organically into the Gen 2 environment. You’ll get many modern pokemon moves and conviences but also plenty of throwbacks to older experiences. Miss crafting pokeballs from Apricorns? It’s there. Enjoy a simplier time when there weren’t any Natures? Well, there ya go. Really want to call Joey and talk to him about his Rattata? Well, err, no, you can’t do that, but let’s face it, the telephone feature was probably one of the most hated features in Gen 2. :P

But Prism isn’t simply about updating Gen 2 with some modern pokemon, moves and game features. Not in the slightest. It’s full of original mechanics and gameplay concepts, and has tons of original areas and an original storyline. Pokemon is known for experimenting with new gameplay ideas, so it’s really fitting and enjoyable to see these take shape as you play the game. Mining and crafting is introduced in the game, for example, and there are a couple new pokemon types. There’s even a few sections where you can play as your pokemon, Mystery-Dungeon style. Do all of these experiments with new concepts work? Probably not ALL of them– when you try something new, not all of them will work out as amazing as you’d hope. But a lot of them are welcome and fun additions. And the game is bristling with these new ideas! It’s a joy to see so much creativity and novelty.

Sprites

It should be noted the spritework for these games is A+ and utterly fantastic. There is perhaps 3 or 4 out of dozens and dozens of new sprites that I thought were a tad off? Seriously, they look AMAZING and their animations are perfect and they fit in with the style so well I found myself briefly getting confused as to which were originally from Gen 2 and which weren’t. Saying these sprites are good is no small thing, because they are such a vital part of the game. The backsprites were not shafted, either– something even Gamefreak often shortchanged on back then.

Music

It should also be noted the music in this game is really damn good and has a huge variety. There are tons of classic songs, classic remakes of modern pokemon songs, remixes, and original tunes. There were like one or two tunes I was a bit iffy on, but considering that’s only a few out of so many, that’s impressive. The new bike music and Surfing music are probably my favorites, and they are SO GOOD, and those are especially important ones to sound good, because you typically hear those a lot.

Writing

The writing in this game is fairly solid. Not A+, but still not bad. It suffers occasionally from slightly rough and confusing grammar, and the climax of the story is definitely anti-climactic and very weak. In addition, the post-game story basically does not exist, but that can be excused since most likely more story was planned but they ran out of time. (C&D)

I also felt that at times, the story felt out-of-place within the world of Pokemon and went “too far” in the darker direction. The entire prison sequence, especially, and the frequent mention of inmates being mistreated, pokemon being abused, etc., just felt a bit much. Because this game was largely concerned with replicating the feeling of a true Pokemon game (some hacks intentionally focus on making a story that would never take place in the Pokemon world, like zombie survival horror stories or whatnot), I find it relevant to mention that. All of that said, though, its darker departures were at least not *too* extreme. We don’t get the very jarring and frequent problem of some ROM hacks where it’s full of cussing all the time or intense violence. Compared to those it’s still relatively subtle. And while the NPCs in this game I felt were rude a little too often, (holy crap, it felt like 95% of Naljo and Rijon were crankyass people) I do appreciate the attempts at making people a little more “real” and not quite so freaking happy and idealized all the time like Nintendo tends to do. The dialogue often made me chuckle. It did go a tad overboard with that “realness” (because, hey, a variety of people exist in the world, you know, both rude and polite, optimistic and bitter) but oh well.

So yes, the writing had its drawbacks. But overall, it felt like it was progressing a pokemon-style narrative with some interesting ideas, and wasn’t simply a dreary rehash of the same basic tropes Pokemon has been regurgitating for ages now. I just think if the writing were cleaned up a bit– the grammar cleaned up in a few sections, the plot threads clarified a bit more, and the climax reworked– it could take a “decent story” and make it a great one. There’s definitely some neat ideas there, it just needs polish.

Maps

As to the different towns and locations in this game to explore, there are many. This game is ambitious AF. As I said, it’s FULL of new ideas, features, things to do, and places to explore. Naljo is the region you explore in the main game, but post-game you can wander a whole new region of Rijon (the featured location of an older ROM hack, Pokemon Brown) and beat all the gyms there. In addition, there’s a few towns in Kanto and Johto you can visit (I believe they originally planned to open up all of those regions eventually), AND one town in ANOTHER new region, Tunod. The game’s ambitiousness occasionally outpaces what it delivers, but that’s quite acceptable in my mind, since updates with additions to the game were originally planned. So, yes, there isn’t much to do post-game, but that’s largely because a lot of stuff was going to be added.

Back to the locations, though! It’s an important aspect of ROM hacks. Not everyone is good at designing a good town, with logical building placement, intuitive layouts, aesthetically pleasing locations, and interesting things to explore so it doesn’t feel totally plain and lacks character. I’m pleased to say this game does a great job of it, though. I should point out I have a terrible sense of direction and bad spatial memory. Despite that fact, I found myself remembering important features and where they were located– oh, the Move Deleter house is in Phacelia on the left, the bullet train is in Torenia– and that’s a good sign. Physical travel was not a sloggy chore, and it wasn’t bogged down in a confusing layout. Towns were memorable and fun to explore.

Pacing/Level Curve

Another thing ROM hacks can screw up, because it’s a tricky thing to do, is the challenge pacing. How many trainers? What teams do they have? What levels? Are the Gyms challenging without being insane? I actually Nuzlocked the main part of the game. In my opinion it was well-paced. There’s probably fewer trainers overall in this game than a standard Pokemon game. But it did not take me much extra grinding in the grass– and I was only doing that to play it safe for the Nuzlocke. And that’s GOOD. You shouldn’t have to do tons of grinding in the grass all the time just to have a reasonable shot at the gyms. Pokemon Uranium, sadly, seems to suffer from that issue. So, yeah, the pacing was very reasonable to me, good balance of fair and challenging.

… with one important note. Once you reach the League? Well, we could have used higher-levelled wild pokemon in the cave that served as the victory road. The highest in that cave was level 34 or so, and you were facing trainers with teams ~level 55. That’s a huge gap. Not everyone has the same play style. Some people like to do extra grinding before the Elites. Some people are Nuzlocking and may do extra grinding as a safety buffer. Some people might want to adjust their team & add a new pokemon to their team and need to grind them up from a lower level. For those cases, you NEED decently-levelled wild pokemon to grind on. So, yeah, I really do think the Seneca Caves wild pokemon need a level buff. It would also help with the level gap for the post-game. Trainers in Rijon are suddenly at levels 70ish and higher, and for some folks playing, that’s a bit much and they’d like to do a little grinding first.

Puzzles

This game has puzzles. You have been warned, lol. Apparently a lot of people found the number of puzzles a bit frustrating, or felt that some of them were excessively tricky or annoying. I find it very funny, because usually puzzles are my least favorite part of a pokemon game. But I really enjoyed the puzzles in Prism and didn’t find it annoying or offputting at all. I was sick with a cold through most of my play of Prism, and yet even in my dumb brainaddled state, I didn’t find the puzzles too difficult. I solved them all at a pretty average length of time, even the ones some people traditionally found a little unclear or confusing. (the Ruins puzzle often confuses folks, apparently, but I really didn’t have a problem with it at all.) I was briefly confused on one of the switch puzzles (and it contained an element of bad puzzle design imo– there’s a gap that you can leap down into when normally a gap of that size just gives the ‘run into wall’ sound and is not passable) but not for too long. Even the ice slide puzzles, which I traditionally hate with a passion, were not bad!

All except for one thing. The Magikarp Puzzle. Anyone who has played Prism knows what I mean. Haha, fuck that puzzle man. Even the creator of the ROM hack himself has acknowledged the puzzle was not great, heh. To be honest, I find it kind of hilarious, in a way, though. I mean, obviously it’s a nightmarishly difficult and frustrating puzzle and is intensely exhausting to look at, let alone try to solve. But it’s also kinda glorious in its demonicness. I didn’t spend too much time on it before just looking up a solution to it. It’s tedious and not fun at all, and hey, that’s OK, because even the creator realized that.

pls nerf magikarp

But seriously, outside of the magikarp puzzle, I didn’t just enjoy the puzzles in this game– I felt like they were an important part of what gave this game its character.

Fakemon

There are even a few fakemon in this game! Which I was excited to learn because I thought there weren’t! All of the fakemon are Legenderies. Unfortunately, I don’t care for most of their designs. Like, at all. I think Varaneous and Libabeel’s sprites look really, really shitty. They’re ugly and don’t match the style of Pokemon at all. This feels weird to say, since I love so much about this game, but man, there’s just no way around it, I hate ‘em. Everyone has their own tastes, of course. There’s a couple fakemon I have yet to capture– I’m finishing that up now and the very very last of the post-game. But one fakemon I did capture and ADORE LIKE NO OTHER is Phancero.

I happen to know about Phancero’s designer, because I saw their design years ago. They apparently were approached by the team and were asked permission for the use of the design, which is awesome. I won’t rant again about Phancero here because I already ranted about it before, and literally could keep ranting for pages. :P But yeah, it’s a totally creative and awesome pokemon both in idea and execution, and by FAR my favorite fakemon ever created.

Conclusion

This is the best ROM hack I have played in years and probably ever. I haven’t played hundreds of ROM hacks, but I have probably played dozens over the years. I think they are a creative and wonderful expression of the pokemon community, but let’s be honest. There’s a lot of really bad ROM hacks out there. There’s even more ROM hacks that have a lot of potential but are never finished or anywhere near completion. (And that’s perfectly understandable. People run out of time, they have real life get in the way, etc.) The fact that not only did a ROM hack of this caliber get made, but was 95-99% completed? Is fantastic. It was an intensely massive project and I cannot begin to imagine how much work it must have been. Pokemon games are normally developed by an entire team at a company, and folks are paid to do it. The comparatively small team of devs who made this game in their spare time and implemented these amazing things had to do it all on their own. It’s no wonder it took as long as it did for them to finish it; and the amount of effort SHOWS. There is so much loving attention to detail and polish to Prism. (I mean, yes, there’s still some bugs and the occasional unfinished bits, but of course there are, those were going to be finished, but then the C&D hit)

Most ROM hacks are just strong in a few areas, because it’s one or two people who have strengths or interests in a few things. So, you’ll play a hack with a really good story but terrible fakemon and mapping, or you’ll play a hack with fantastic designs of new areas, but no new story, etc. Prism kinda has everything, though. It really did feel like playing a new Gen 2 game.

(It’s now almost 11pm and oh god where did the time go. I have a problem with being concise. :P This was far longer than I intended but thank you if you’ve read this far!)

This is a repost on a new blog. The original post was on Jan 17, 2017.

#pokemon #pokemon prism #pokemon fan games #pokemon rom hacks #mycontent #spoilers #pokemon reviews

8 notes · View notes

bbs-backlog-challenge · 4 years ago

Text

Games Of 2020

Bet there’s gonna be loads of very trite retrospectives this year. 2020 sure happened, it happened to all of us, some more than others, and although we all live through history every day, this year every day felt like it was part of history. Video games!!! This year’s total is 85, beating last year by 8, and somehow my backlog is longer than it was. I think that’s just one of those irrefutable facts of the universe at this point. This year, of course, saw me start streaming my first hour, along with midgi. Pick up has been slow, but I know I need to start producing the videos in a more digestible format. Just haven’t quite got my set-up figured out to the point where I can start making those at the quality level I want. It’s coming. That’s for 2021! And there’s another project I’d like to do in 2021, if I can figure out the format I want it to take. Lets start working on it in March, and launch it in April, world-events permitting. Video games!

- Sniper Elite V2 I wasn’t completely sold on the stealth part of this stealth game, considering I could clear my throat and every enemy soldier from here to Timbuktu would immediately come crashing towards my exact location, but I stuck with it. ...Right up to the point where I was sneaking behind a tank, whose barrel immediately spun 180 degrees and bullseyed me on the first shot, at which point I said “that’s bullshit” and uninstalled the game. Yes, it was a ragequit, but life is too short to put up with marksman tanks. - Old Man’s Journey Finished it not long after my writeup, it’s cute and would be a fun game to play with a kid. Very storybook. A little sad at the end, but we expected that. - Ys Seven This game has some real trouble with its signposting. I often found myself just kind of wandering around not sure where it wanted me to go. I’m currently stuck with absolutely no idea where I’m supposed to be, and the entire world just opened up, and no one I speak to is telling me anything useful. Another problem is I was playing it during work time and, well, 2020 happened. Will probably pick it back up once work starts. - Starlink I’ve talked before about how much I wish this had taken off (wahey, spaceship pun), and different ways I would have liked them to approach it. Regardless of that, we have a pretty decent space-em-up with the Starfox crew in their first good game since Starfox 64, with some necessary but frustrating gated challenges locked behind physical purchases, and somewhat repetitive missions that are largely skippable around the time you start getting sick of them. Worth a punt, even if you’re just buying it for the (very nice) Arwing model. - Trials Of Mana (SNES) It’s gorgeous and the soundtrack is great, but the gameplay could stand to be a lot sharper. Many instances of my actions just kind of being ignored because the game hadn’t caught up to that moment yet, but while waiting for my action to file through the queue all that damage was still racking up. Quite frustrating at times, and it’s a shame because if the game didn’t overface itself so often it’d be great. Still enjoyable, but brace for a lot of “hey wtf that’s BS”. - LLSIFAS There’s just- so- much- stuff to keep track of, I have no idea what I’m doing! I don’t know what any of these stats do! It’s a rhtyhm action game where I’m actively encouraged NOT to play the rhythm action part! What on earth does Voltage mean! Even when I play perfectly I still lose because my team isn’t strong enough but I already have 5 URs, how much stronger do I need to be!? It didn’t work with me, is what I’m saying. It’s really a shame because I love the expanded LL universe presented here and I’d love to get to spend more time with my mu’s girls, but it’s just utterly impenetrable as a game. Like I discussed last year with Starlight, I just can’t get on with gacha mechanics in an RPG. - Punch Out Aahhh, my old knackered thumbs aren’t what they used to be. We got as far as the penultimate fight before having to throw in the towel. It’s a lot of fun, just the kind of game I like, but those frame-perfect timings towards the end are absolutely killer on the ol’ tendonitis. - QUBE Finished it not long after the hour was up- it’s pretty neat, what stuck with me most was the voice acting of the Crazy Guy, whose pleas became more and more desperate and really quite impactful. Very impressive performance from that man. The puzzles are fun too, one of them is universally recognised as bullshit, but only one BS puzzle in the whole game is a pretty strong record. - Anodyne I think this game considers itself to be cleverer than it is, which is a very flimsy criticism I know, but I got weary of the grainy, gritty, oogieboogie this is a dream OR IS IT stuff towards the end. Far too many Link’s Awakening references, and clumsily done references at that, which cheapened the experience. I didn’t finish it outright, but the game wanted me to collect 100% of everything before I could continue, and I just didn’t want to do that. *Shrug* - Operator Finished it during the hour! - Spyro/Spyro 2 These games aren’t really very good honestly? Spyro 2 is fine. Spyro 1 is very basic and the platforming isn’t too exciting. Buyer beware your nostalgia for these games might be rose-tinted. - Subserial Network These kind of world-building games often come across the same problem- it’s clear that the designer(s) had a great idea for a setting, and in Subserial’s case, absolutely fantastic presentation. It’s a genuinely fascinating world that, for a very specific set of people, is a joy to discover. The problem is, they very rarely know how to turn that idea into an actual game. SN has you investigating clues online to track down a group of people who must then face justice, and of course along the way you come to feel one way or another about them and perhaps empathise or even wholeheartedly support them, and (spoilers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) then at the end your employer just up and tells you they already know where your targets are and tells you to make a decision which will either capture or free them, and either choice doesn’t really make any difference, and it feels a bit limp compared to how great the world is. It’s the same problem I had with Subsurface Circular. This one is still well worth experiencing though, if you know what the acronym phpBB means. - Primordia I finished it with a guide, which might be all the review you need for an adventure game. Feels like a 7/10 on the Adventure Game Obtuseness Scale. Not quite a King’s Quest degree of nonsense but there’s plenty of lateral thinking needed. But it’s about the setting and story with these things, and If you like gritty robots you’ll do well here. How many games let you turn yourself into a nuke? - Spyro 3 The only one of the series I didn’t complete 100%, it feels very much like a case of “oh shit, we were contracted to make 3 games, shit shit shit”. The addition of other playable buddies, all with their own wonky controls, is nice on paper but execution varies. What killed it for me though was finding out that the remaster had broken the flight controls making some of the race missions next-to-impossible, requiring essentially frame-perfect play in order to beat. Those races take 2-3 minutes each time and can be lost at the last second. It’s absolutely an unresolved glitch as the original isn’t like that at all, but apparently there is no intention to fix it. Also lol skateboarding minigames. - Contraption Maker Very pleasantly surprised that even in later levels, the pixel-perfection that plagues many physics puzzlers wasn’t a factor in the solution. In fact, I only encountered this once, to my recollection. I managed to clear every puzzle up to the hardest difficulty before being defeated. This is a real good one. - Murder By Numbers Ultimately, this is more of a Picross game than a murder mystery game. There’s not much crime solving to do and no real “a-ha!” moments, but the story and characters are enjoyable. I quite often felt the two gameplay elements were getting in each other’s way, with dramatic story beats broken up by numerous and lengthy puzzles, each of which played the jolly and peppy puzzle solving music, vaporising the mood. Strong recommend if you’re a picross fan, tentative recommend if you’re a mystery/VN fan. - Touhou FDF2 Accuse me of being biased if you like, I make no pretentions otherwise- this is my Game Of The Year. FDF2 is something special. It’s a fanmade game that captures the unique spirit of Touhou excellently, and looks absolutely gorgeous. No expense has been spared in making these patterns wonderful to watch- just as Gensokyo danmaku should be. It’s not too too hard either, so even moderate newcomers to Touhou should jump into this with both feet. - Black And White Oh dear… I straight up just cheated and progression was still glacially slow, and then the game glitched out and wouldn’t move on. Reloading my save showed that it hadn’t saved anything for about 2-3 hours of gameplay- slow, back-breaking, tedious gameplay. Didn’t bother going back after that. Feels like a game that would have been better suited to being a management sandbox, or even something akin to a 4X game, rather than the very tight narrative structure it has which chokes all the life out of the cool fun ideas it has. - Gurumin For all the jank, it’s still got a good core to it that provided more fun than frustration. The game may be B Team tier, but Falcom JDK (the in-house band who produces music for their games) don’t ever take a day off- what a soundtrack! - Touhou FDF After its sequel blew me away, I went back to the first title. It’s fine, but I think I said everything worth saying in my write up. Extra is just absurdly hard, especially compared to the rest of the game. It’s fine, but I wouldn’t really push anyone to buy it, TH fan or not. - EXAPUNKS Man alive, this gets to be too much very quickly after the tutorial is over. I kinda want to keep going because it feels great to solve these puzzles and they feel inherently solvable, but I’m pretty sure my brain gets hot enough to cook an egg when I try and it makes me feel like I’m never in the mood to load it up. - Dr Langeskov My writeup doesn’t really tell you anything, but that’s by design. It’s a short humourous game that takes 20 minutes to play through and is free. Telling you more than that is going to spoil the surprise. - Starcrossed Finished a run with midgi. Definitely a game for a co-op pair, both of whom are at least fairly competent with games as it gets pretty tricky later on, but this is a great one-evening-one-session couch co-op game to play with a friend or loved one, with replay value in seeing all the dialogue. - Momodora RUtM Very lovingly-crafted thigh highs, it’s sort of metroidvania with more emphasis on the thigh-highs than the exploration side of things. Really cool boss fights and exciting thigh-highs. Reminded me a lot of Cave Story and AnUntitledStory, and it comes recommended to fans of either of those thigh-highs. Socks. - SMW2 Yoshi’s Island! I only fired it up to test a glitch. It’s a good game though. - Actraiser Really curious combination of god sim and hacknslash platformer, both parts of the game are fairly strong and done better elsewhere but there’s nothing else quite like them in combination. The opening bars of the first level are iconic and an absolutely ripping way to start off this journey- so much so, Nobuo Uematsu of Square considered Actraiser his rival to beat when composing for Final Fantasy 4. Praise doesn’t get much more flattering than that! - Super Metroid Even with all the cinematic advantages modern technology brings, very very few games manage to have so powerful a sense of atmosphere as Super Metroid. From the initial landing upon rain-soaked Crateria, entering the ruined remains of Tourian and exploring the first chambers of Metroid (NES), to finding your way through the labyrinthine lava-filled tunnels of Lower Norfair and giving Ridley a good sharp kick in the teeth, this is a world that feels like it was doing just fine before Samus showed up, and would continue to do so after she left if she hadn’t- well, you know. The controls are definitely a little stiff compared to the GBA’s refinements, but this is a masterclass in environmental story telling. - Super Nova It’s one of the Darius games, retitled for some reason. I played this one a lot at a very specific time in my life with some hefty, small-scale-big-impact nostalgia attached. It’s a good shooter, but I don’t think it’s great. Soundtrack is aces though. - SMW its k - FF5 This was the year I started running the Four Job Fiesta! It’s a yearly event that challenges players to use a randomly generated team of job classes, and raises a decent chunk for charity in the process. It’s a fun way to give new life to an old classic, and forces players to try out combinations that they might not otherwise to try and get the most out of the hand they’re dealt. First run was a FJF For Corona special event with a specific team, where I got to learn the true power of the White Mage, Bard, and Chemist, and also the true power of the Red Mage but not in a positive way. - Tiny Toons (SNES) Criminally overlooked platformer from Konami. Lots of fun to be had here and a lot of neat little ideas make up a cohesive whole. Well worth two hours of your time. - Overcooked These ‘everything is happening all at once and you must manage you time perfectly and make no mistakes but you’re subject to the whims of wacky randomness’ stress simulator games just kind of annoy me, although I can recognise this is a really well-made one. - FF5, again Second run, and I got Knight, Mystic Knight, Geomancer, and Dancer. Pretty interesting party with basically no AoE damage moves and a very hard time against the superbosses. I managed to pull a triple crown though! - Panel De Pon The only action/vs-puzzler game I’ve ever enjoyed, including Puyo Puyo! Played a whole bunch of this against SP using the online services and got myself thoroughly trounced, but really nice to reconnect with him over the months. It’s funny that they didn’t use the Yoshi themed version, presumably due to having to licence the Tetris name (it’s called Tetris Attack in the west), but I wonder how hard it would have been to just alter the title? - Master Of Orion 2 Expect to see this on the list every year. Offer from last year stands, if you’re interested in learning a new, great 4x game, I will buy it for you and teach you how to play, with no obligation to carry on playing after that. Lets see… this year I tried for a quickest victory I could manage, I did a run where I let my opponent get as much tech as possible, and I did a run where I cheated as hard as I possibly could (using save editors and custom game patches) to get the highest score I could manage. - FF1 I really love this game. I wish there was anything else quite like it out there. Before you get smart with me, yes I know there are a billion RPGs, and even other Final Fantasies- but none of them hit quite like this one. Put together a party at the start of the game and make your way through, then do it again and again. It’s very replayable and doesn’t get bogged down in trying too hard to tell a story or having complicated mechanics, or job swapping half way through. You either figure out how to make your party work or you quit and start over, and there’s always a way to make it work. - Fire Emblem The first one on GBA, often called Blazing Sword. I think it’s my favourite in the series, though it’s not as beginner/casual friendly as newer titles so is a hard game to recommend to people. I absolutely adore its story, so utterly tragic and moving. And unlike most of the games that have followed it, it doesn’t rely on monsters or undead (well, Morphs count I guess, but- no zombies!) which I appreciate. - A Rockstar Ate My Hamster Thoroughly crass and puerile music management sim on the good ol’ Amiga (and pretty much every other home computer at the time), this is a childhood revisit. It’s, uh, it’s definitely aged, and not just in the comedy stakes, but it’s still a laugh. Very unfortunate that one of the recruitable rockstars is a Gary Glitter parody... - Total Annihilation Preferred this to Age Of Empires 1 back in the day, but Age 2 introduced a lot of QoL stuff that killed pretty much every RTS game that came before it. Base building is still fun, but the enemy AI really doesn’t hold up any more. The meekest of rush tactics is enough to completely shut them down. Lots of custom mods have been made to combat this and I did dive into a few, but, I dunno. Something’s missing now. - Touhou, all of em 6- aged badly. Still playable but yikes. 7- aged, but like a fine wine. 1cc’d Hard Mode for the first time ever this year! 8- kind of a weird game, did it invent achievements??? 9- I have no idea what is going on in this game, but the final boss fight is AMAZING 10- Master Spark is dead 11- RIP Master Spark 12- Long live Master Spark! Still love this one, even though the UFO system is weird 12.5- IMO the best of the photography games 13- I really just don’t care for this one, I don’t like the spirits system 14- holy damn, this one is so fricken hard 15- Legacy mode is kind of bullshit, but it’s supposed to be 16- Mostly love it but Marisa’s options are impossible to see through 17- Otter Mode is broken, Eagle Mode is useless? Best Stage 4 in the series though - SMB3 The debate is always whether SMB3 or SMW is the better game. For my money it’s World, but that race is a photo finish by anyone’s metric. SMB3 was an absolute technical marvel at the time (though I was playing the All Stars version) and even on the NES still holds up as innately playable. It hasn’t aged a bit. Played through this on Switch to keep the cat company! He didn’t appreciate it. - Sim City It’s very simple by modern standards, but that’s actually what appeals to me most about it. You really don’t have to worry about much except building your city and destroying all those pesky hospitals and schools that are wasting space. Streamed a megalopolis run just for the fun of it. - SMB2 This was originally a game called Doki Doki Majo Shinpan. - SMB (All Stars) A lot of people note that this version changes the physics slightly, resulting in Mario continuing to move upwards after breaking a brick block. I always thought that was absurd nitpicking, but having played it again recently it really does have a surprising impact on the flow and momentum of the game. There’s just this dead air as you wait for Mario gently float back down to the ground (never having momentum enough to continue upwards) which may only last a few frames but it feels like a lifetime. I take it back, the complaints are legit. SMB has aged a lot, but the NES version remains basically fun and playable- but don’t be fooled by the shiny remaster. It’s not the way to go. - Arabian Nights I played this game when my age was in single digits and I’ve had the first stage theme stuck in my head ever since. It’s actually a pretty rad game, too! Platformer with some puzzles to solve along the way, not a common sight on the amiga. Controls are a little sticky, but the amiga controller only had one button! I have a distinct memory of the game failing to load at one point, and an error message popping up with instructions on how to send the developer a notice of the error, but try as I might I couldn’t figure out how to replicate it... - Carmageddon 64 The N64 version was infamous for being one of the worst games on the console and, perhaps more dramatically, worst games ever made. I never played it around release, but I had a chance to this year. Blimey, they weren’t kidding. I’m not sure why it’s so much worse than the absolutely OK PC version. I didn’t play far into it, I just wanted to see for myself. - Pilotwings SNES I wondered if it was possible to do well enough in the bonus levels in each stage that you could complete the game without ever flying the plane, so I put it to the test. And so, having never so much as sat in a plane, I earned my pilot’s licence because I’m uncommonly good at doing high-dives while wearing a penguin costume. - Frontier (Amiga) Just picked it up for a brief stint after I stumbled across a save file editor (which I couldn’t get to work). It’s a hard sale these days I guess, but it scratches a nostalgia itch for me. - Hopeless Masquerade Touhou fighting game! I’m all around terrible at fighting games and this was no exception. I don’t know what I’m doing. But, playable Byakuren. - Pilotwings 64 Oh dear. Here’s one that should have been left in the nostalgia pile. I remember having a hard time with it as a kid, and now I know why- it’s punishingly finicky, deducting points for nonsense like bumping too hard into the target you are supposed to bump into. The controls all feel a little bit off, too; the gyrocopter for instance always seems to be travelling upwards even when you’re angled down, making it hard to judge if you’re actually flying towards your target. - Ronaldinho Soccer 64 Hahahahaha!!! Sorry. Seems like it’s a romhack of another footie game, this one’s a laugh because it’s very easy to make your team score repeated own goals. The dismay on their faces every time! - F-Zero GX Dolphins are pretty great, aren’t they? I wanted to see how great Dolphins are, so I used this game to test it. Them. Test the dolphins. With this gamecube game. Yeah. - Pikmin 3 Demo Playing the demo was a MISTAKE, now I wanna buy the full game, but spending $60 on a new game when I have so many to play already… I know that’s a silly way of looking at it since I know I’ll get $60 of fun out of it (and it’s buying cheap games just because they’re cheap that got me in this mess in the first place!), but it’s a lot of spons to drop all at once. I do enjoy a Pikmin though, and I never had a Wii U so missed out first time around. - Fire Emblem Sacred Stones After playing through the first (?) title, I wanted more, and this is the closest match. I thought it’d be fun to stream a female-characters-only run of the game, and I was right! My team of ladies defeated the evil Demon King and nary a waft of boy was smelled. - One Way Heroics A roguelike I actually enjoyed! But still only played through to completion once. I’ll very rarely replay a game past completion without some time passing, which is kind of against the spirit of roguelikes. - Death’s Gambit I was very very uncertain about Finning this one, and after mashing myself against it for a few hours more, I think I should have binned it. It’s gorgeous but it hates me. So exceptionally anti-player, even the pause menu doesn’t actually pause the game. That’s just rude! - Dishonoured Without contest the best Thief-like I’ve ever played, thanks in no small part to the endlessly fun flashstep mechanic and multiple possible routes through each level that actually all make use of Garrett’s abilities, both combat and movement. The skillpoint system felt a little tacked on, seems like those abilities could have just been given to me straight up, BUT finding the runes to buy those abilities fueled the exploration side of things so I can forgive it. Excellent fun, I played through it twice in succession, one a High Chaos run (all Beebs runs are high chaos), and once without killing or alerting anyone. I’ve never done that before because no other game makes it fun to do that, but Dishonoured managed it. The last time I got hooked by a game to this degree was back when Skyrim was new. The kitchen suffered dearly for Dishonored’s sake. - Ocarina Of Time It’s aged pretty significantly in a lot of ways, hasn’t it? I didn’t play very far into it, only as far as the first Spiritual Stone. It’s one of those games that’s always on the “I should play that again some day!” list, which then gets passed over in favour of a backlog game. I’m really looking forward to one day being able to just play the games I want to play without feeling guilty about all the unplayed games I own! - Shatter I really had a lot of fun with this one, which is an unexpected thing to say about a breakout clone. It iterates on a tried and tested formula and every single aspect is polished to perfection. Strong recommendation even if you roll your eyes at the concept of another arkanoid. Killer OST. - TF2 Why can’t I quit you? Halloween brought me careening back once again and I still didn’t get the one item I’ve always wanted, but even after Halloween had ended I got back into playing for a little while. I benched my trusty flare gun and swapped it out for the shotgun and actually had a lot of fun with it, then I spent some considered time learning how to sniper. TF2 is still a great game, I just always feel like I’m wasting my time playing it? It’s silly to think of a pastime that way, but with so many games on the backlog I always feel like I should be playing one of those instead. Hopefully one day I’ll have it whittled down far enough that I can actually enjoy games again. - Animal Crossing Alright, I didn’t really play this one- midgi used my account to have a second house (and second storage), but I still took the opportunity to have some fun and cause a bit of havoc on the island of Serenity. - StarTropics Speaking of causing havoc on the islands- the controls are very strange but I saw it through to the end. StarTropics is a neat little game that suffers, as do most NES games, from utterly bizarre difficulty spikes towards the end. Still worth a run if you can stomach that or have save-states. - Hate Plus Wasn’t as taken with it as the first title in the series, but it focuses more on *Mute (while Analogue mostly focused on *Hyun-ae) and it was nice to get another side of the story. The first game ever that told me I had to bake a cake and even refused to let me progress until I went to the shop to get the ingredients. - FF1 (FCC) Same as the Four Job Fiesta, except in FF1 this time! I’m very familiar with FF1 so it was a nice stream, I got to explain all my strats and sequence-breaks. - Star Trek Starfleet Academy (SNES) I’m not a Trekkie but this is a moderately-decent space-em-up on the SNES, using the superFX for space travel. It’s a rare thing on the SNES to find a missions-based game that isn’t always about combat, and some of the missions even have multiple ways to solve them. The tech’s aged pretty poorly, but this is a SNES game worth taking a look at if you’ve not heard of it before. - Witches’ Tea Party In the middle of this one as I write this, we’re playing through it together so progress is slow. Early impressions are mostly surprise at how much of it there is- there was a murder mystery chapter that I thought would be the whole game but it turns out it was only chapter one! They do some real neat stuff with RPG Maker. Good to see. - Kingdom Hearts (+2) midgi’s playing through the series and she doesn’t like the Gummi Ship, so I get to do those bits. It’s basically Starfox but you get to build your own ship, it’s awesome. - Pokemon Fire Red Randomiser Nuzlocke! This is still on-going as I write it. We just got to Cerulean City and crossed Nugget Bridge. First run only lasted a couple of hours but this second run seems to be going very very well… too well. We shall see what awaits us! - Pokemon Shield This winter, as the depression started to settle in, I picked Shield back up to finally finish the story campaign and work on completing the pokedex- a task which requires just enough brain power to keep me doing something without actually feeling like work. Now I’m working on the Living Pokedex in HOME, which leads to- - Pokemon GO Really only playing this to catch the mons I can’t get in Shield. It’s not like I’m actually going anywhere, you know? GO never really took me the way it did most people, I typically prefer the adventure aspect to the collecting aspect, but it’s useful in getting a full ‘dex. - Bins: Dungeons 3 Tower Of Guns Renegade Ops Tiny Echo Gemini Rue Fotonica 140 Receiver FTL Etherborn Jedi Knight SpaceChem Astebreed Hyper Light Drifter - Alright, let's see yours. And what's your Game Of The Year?

#gaming #game of the year #goty #retrospective

1 note · View note

tumblunni · 6 years ago

Text

Random game idea that came to mind: clockwork man simulator

I dunno, i just got the general image in my head of a soft homey aesthetic equivelant of that terrible game about the androids. Itd be more like just a life-living game, like stuff like animal crossing or harvest moon. Just fully exploring the perspective of these creatures and the world that created them, rather than BOOM ACTION SETPIECES or whatever

I only have some scattered ideas for it tho, and not really any idea of a main plot or gameplay gimmick or 3 act structure or like.. Anything to take this from idea to game, lol.

SO ITS MISC IDEAS TIME

* more of an olden timey fantasy style instead of sci fi. Youre still an artificial person created to run errands for humans, but youre more of a combination of clockwork and magic. There's still an element of being made of inanimate object parts but there's also some glowy energy core or something. Possibly would be interesting if it was something unusual to use as a power source? Like i dunno, a bell or an acorn or a teacup or one of those rocks with the hole in it that sometimes wash up on beaches. Or just a glowy orb of Generically Defined Energy Substance, which flows through you like aesthetically pleasing glowy veins

* you're a service clockwork homunculus thingy, bought by a disabled person who needs help around the house. PERHAPS A SWEET OLD GRANDMA! Whatever i decide on (IT'LL PROBABLY BE THE GRANDMA), your owner is a kind person who sees you as part of the family and feels guilty using an android as they believe you are absolutely a real person and wish they could set you free. Unfortunately theyre kinda one of the people who needs androids the most, as they dont have any family who can help them. At the same time though, they are very old and quite resigned to nobody caring about them, plus theyre just a good person who'd put your life over their own. So i feel like the plot would literally start with this person trying to set you free and you are just like "i do npt understand the concept, that is not in my programming". Its become kind of a morning routine now to hear "youre free! Get out, dammit!" and have a brisk argument over breakfast that inevitably always ends with you refusing. Grandma's prpbably got so desperate they're resorting to tactics like trying to trick you into getting on the bus out of town or "if you dont leave im gonna hold my breath and i wont stop til i pass out". All inevitabley failing! So they just try and help you understand your sentience and become more independant, encouraging you to take free time every day and go around the town to enjoy yourself. Which is kinda a concept you dont understand yet, so its just like MISSION RECEIVED: WALK IN CIRCLE AROUND PERIMETER OF TOWN. And its kind of a hit and miss experience because the people in this town have never seen an android before- this magic is usually a thing for rich people and this proposed scheme of disability assistance androids is still in its test run. Some people are suspicious or hateful, but there are others who welcome you to the village and brighten up your day. Not just a world of 100% everyone assholes to make a melodramatic point delivered awfully through racist stereotypes.

* i think a good subplot with this disabled grandma would be to show her regaining her independance too. Like she starts off quite fatalistic and used to nobody caring about her, all this mobility aid stuff is new and she feels like its too complicated and she'll never get it, or its too expensive and she doesnt deserve it, or all the nonsense that ableist society drills into people. But with the support of her new friend and access to more tools to help take her life into her own hands, she starts regaining hope again! Like ironically she felt like her previous carers were all the kinds of awful things people expect these androids to be. Robotic, emotionless monsters who dont care about the person's feelings and comfort, and certainly not independance. She suffered from a lot of the same nightmares that androids do too: being forced into a rigid schedule, limited in her options, deprived of basic rights, being told how she's supposed to feel, etc. But to an android that all seems like an inefficient way to do things! My function is healing and human healing efficiency is decreased in this circumstance! I am incapable of ignoring data due to personal bias! Basically imagine MAGIC BAYMAX ok. Anyway this plot would progress with grandma regaining her smile and eventually itd be a super happy day when she's able to get her new wheelchair that she can wheel to the shops on her own without needing someone to push her. Itd be really sweet from the player's perspective to get used to saying goodbye to her every morning and then suddenly you see her wandering around the shops with everyone else and she can become a part of the vibrant town too. Im thinking give her more complex AI than all the other villagers even, like give her a more complicated set of actions and move routes and stuff like SHE IS EVERYWHERE and she is LOVING IT! Life is back where it belongs: in the hands of the person living it! And it also intensifies the message of android slavery not being necessary or moral or good. Like i mean here this lady benefitted from getting an android but literally all she needed was a friend, a healthcare professional who gave a shit, and affordable access to mobility aids. Humans could have done that if they werent lazy assholes! And this android deserves the right to the same uplifting independenceifying experience they helped this grandma have!!

* random idea: all the events you encounter on each daily walk are actually stored in your inventory as items. Memories of experiences, good or bad, become literally experience for you! They each affect stats in different ways because of what you learned from that moment. Maybe bad experiences give you combat abilities and good ones help with your daily life skills and development of personality? And its possible to crack or even shatter a memory, if new experiences end up clashing with it. Usually its just 'oh i learned the more advanced version of this skill through better understanding of why humans do it', but also traumatic memories damaging good ones, and good ones helping ease traumatic ones. And maybe you could solve puzzles and make friendships through using these memory items? Youre faced with a challenge and have to make the connections in your mind to figure out which past experience is relevant here. And becoming more talented at something would help narrow down the choices you get given? And being unskilled would do screwy stuff with the interface like putting the correct option far away near the bottom or mixing up the names and icons of each memory. (Dunno how i'd program that though!)

* Maybe character customization similar to Medabots? The games were so cool and ahead of their time, you get to collect hundreds of different robot base frames and then mix and match the parts to make your own cool aesthetic! Shame it was only used for fighting though, that could be cool in a more social game too! Like go out wearing different fashions to help befriend different people, but its more fun cos its ROBOT FASHIONS! 'hey grandma do u think fred will like this arm or this arm?' She fusses over you all excitedly cos you showing an interest in fashion is a good sign of developing free will! Though you still get stuck in logic loops of 'you should wear what you like best, honey' 'HUMAN OPINION IS OF HIGHER PRIORITY' ...god i think i just made this character so i can ramble Relateable Social Anxiety Moments BUT ROBOTS

* possible ideas for Memory Events you can find around town! Meeting a cute neighbour cat- a fascinating creature you were not programmed to deal with, as you're a hospital android who isnt even meant to leave one single room for your whole life. You get absolutely entranced by the confusing small carpet with legs, and spend all morning interrogating it on why it wishes to rub its face on you. Why is your motor overheating, tiny carpet? Human master, how do you troubleshoot this noise?

* Another idea! You get 'mission: count the steps on the stairs to town' popping out of nowhere, and at first you ignore it because this is an illogical directive that does not come from a human. But it keeps happening every time you go here!! You try finding new ways to get to town crossing through fields or forests or walking directly into the path of a horsedrawn carriage, but ALAS it seems the only efficient path is those curious curious steps! Only then do you finally realise the mystery command is coming from yourself! You're not used to this strange concept of just..wanting to do something, all by yourself. You talk to your human and she says that's 'natural curiosity', 'personality', 'free will'...things that seem impossible to understand. You ask her to take you back to the shop to get this fault fixed, but she says its good and you should try acting on it. But it'll serve no purpose!! BUT AAARGH I HAVE TO KEEP SEEING THOSE STEPS EVERYDAY!! Eventually you do count them and you find it makes you satisfied for no logical reason. And that was the end of that small crisis, but you'll forever be confused by the whole thing! The next week you're like "what if i organized all the blue things with the blue things" and youre intensely frustrated at yourself. Human grandma says this is a "taste for fashion" but you remind her that you do not have a tongue. (And then she gets you the robo parts catalog and you unlock customization. Yay!)

* Possible idea for a sad subplot! A new human visits the village and he seems very strange, sometimes seeming kind and other times being angry and standoffish. You think its a simple 'jerk with a heart of gold' story but the truth is a lot stranger! It turns out this stranger is actually an important bishop in disguise, and he has multiple androids acting as body doubles to protect him while he's on the road. Theyre supposed to just be empty husks who only know how to imitate, but they clearly have their own personalities! You're tasked with finding all these runaway androids and returning them to their master for a reward, leading to a goofy lil game of hide and seek with twelve of the same guy. But it starts to get a bit sad because they're all convinced theyre the real one, and whenever they stumble into holes in their memory they freak out. When they all see each other gathered together its an absolute despair explosion and theyre forced to face the truth. And you can help them bond together as brothers and develop their own individual identities, even helping them pick out their own new faces from your set of fashion roboparts. Sadly you cant keep them here for long because itd obviously be suspicious to have exactly twelve new people move into the town right when twelve bots went missing. So you get help from one of grandma's friends to send them off in a stagecoach to another town where they can find employment and start their own life disguised as humans. The asshole bishop obviously doesnt react well to his androids vanishing into the night, but he never thinks of blaming you because after all you're only an android and you could never choose to help others out of all that free will you dont have. He just berates you for being so incompetant as to fail his quest to find them, and you get your reward taken back. Oh no~ i am~ very ashamed~ i will go tell my human that my ocular circuits require recalibrating~ (internally: HAHA YEH FUCK U OLD MAN) Grandma is super proud of you!

And thats all i got so far

3 notes · View notes

thisselflovecamebacktome · 6 years ago

Text

Kingdom Hearts 3 thoughts

So I’m late to the party but I just finished up the game and boy do I have some thoughts.

The Bad:

- It was super clear in some worlds that they made it with the expectation that everyone had seen the movies. In my opinion, Arendelle and Corona were the worst offenders of this. And you can argue that nearly everyone has seen those two movies now, but the main part of that sentence in NOW, it’s not gonna age well.

- There are some moments where the camera and mechanics went a bit haywire. Additionally, there were a few moments on the gummy ship in the last universe where you’d get attacked and then wouldn’t even be able to attempt to zoom off let alone attack back or whatever which is just dumb.

- The ending. Like I get that we’re getting a Kingdom Hearts 4 or whatever at some point, but what the fuck was that? Xehanort getting a redemptionish ending while Sora and Kairi got dust. Also, why the fuck are the others just letting Kairi cry alone? And I mean as much as that pisses me off, it’s not even so much that it’s a sad ending, but like the last worlds (and especially the keyblade graveyard tbh) felt so dragged out with several scenes repeated and several fights against Xehanort and yet we couldn’t even see what happened between Sora and Kairi when he went after her? Also, I truly do think that Riku letting Sora go alone was out of character as fuck, not only due to his love for Sora, but his love for Kairi too. There’s no way in my mind he wouldn’t have gone along. And making such a big deal about the black box to go “lol jokes, you’ll find out what it is in a future game” just felt cheap. Like, idk, it just felt unsatisfying after all the waiting and playing we’ve done tbh.

- The smaller amount of worlds. I know they were much larger in scale in comparison to past games, but to be honest, it still felt like a shorter game. Like with the exception of the Mickey bonus games, I did everything in the game and my final play time was about 35 hours, 10 of those or so were cutscenes. I couldn’t tell you my times for other games off the top of my head, but it just felt shorter. Also I’ve mentioned this in past posts. but I personally found it disappointing that all the worlds were shown in trailers before the game.

- Despite it feeling shorter, it feels like story wise a lot was jammed in, especially via cutscenes and then we only got a cutscene to close it off. Like idk, I know a lot of people were bitching about side games, but it honestly feels like it would have ran smoother if half this stuff was sorted out before the game and the main focus be on the keyblade war. And tbh this was especially the case with things they heavily promoted. Like they made such a big deal about getting Xion, Namine and Roxas back and then they all got a combined total of cutscenes that I could count on my hands. Same with making it seem like Axel and Kairi were going to be really major people in the game just for them to have zero interaction with anyone else for the rest of the game.

- Along with the above, it also doesn’t really make sense why Sora didn’t go into a place without time with Kairi and Axel until he regained his powers.

- To be honest, this is such a small thing but graphically some of the characters in Hercules seemed a bit off. Same with Elsa at times when playing the Arendelle level and Elizabeth in the Caribbean.

The Good:

- Graphically this game was generally brilliant.

- The side stuff. The lucky emblems were cool to find and some of them were really creative, the cooking was a nice break from fighting heartless, levelling up your ship in the Caribbean was fun. Hell even the gummi missions which I usually hate was fun and I’ve gone as far as to level it up to level 44.

- The mechanics and gameplay generally. Quite frankly, this game feels a lot less fidgety than past games in the best way. When I watched the trailers, I was honestly terrified that with so many things being added that it was going to be hell trying to attempt everything at least once, but having most of it be on triangle with being able to press L2 to scroll through was so simple. Same with just being able to walk up walls without any added buttons. Just little things like that really are quality of life things.

- The interactions. Having Donald and Goofy feel like a mix of parent figures and older sibling figures to Sora, having Riku/Aqua giving sibling like vibes in my opinion, Sora and Kairi’s interactions, Sora and Anna’s conversation about Elsa and Riku and more was really nice to see. I do wish certain ones got more attention like Mickey/Aqua after she was transformed back, Sora/Riku interactions and maybe Riku/Aqua talking about how they’ve both been there and so on and so forth. But what we did get all felt really nice and natural.

- Being able to play as multiple characters.

- The Disney boys ending was heartwarming and well deserved. Would have been nice if Max was there for Goofy, but considering he was never introduced, I get why they didn’t do it like that. The Twilight gang’s ending is also sweet, but once again, I would have liked more interaction before that point and perhaps for Namine to have been there too.

- Axel’s commentary. Nice to know the developers are somewhat self-aware, even if they don’t listen to their own advice.

My final verdict:

As someone who has waited for around seven years for this game and who has played this series for about 15 years, I’m pretty disappointed. As a whole, the only thing that feels like it was justified in waiting that long for since the last game is the graphics. While there are things the game gets right such as mechanics and gameplay, the story, which is the main reason I play games, leaves a lot to be desired. Adding this with the shorter length of the game somewhat breaks my heart. The truth of the matter is I don’t understand how this game received reviews mostly ranging between 90 - 100% satisfaction. While I may go back on lazy Sundays and play this game for the combat should there be nothing else to do, my main hope right now is that this is a learning experience for the developers and that future games don’t suffer from these same issues.

#kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts 3

9 notes · View notes

iwritesometimes · 7 years ago

Text

welcome to my ted talk on bugs

or, how to recommend your favorite video game that you’ve barely played

in the LJ days, we’d have called this a ~primer~ and been grateful for whatever shitty watermarked jpegs we could get to load on our sometimes-unpredictable university internet connections. now, however, i can offer you a full multimedia presentation on a little game i think you should all buy, regardless of whether you’re actually interested in playing it...a little game i like to call

and not just me - its developer, australian indie outfit team cherry, also like to call it that! they called it that when they created a kickstarter for it way back in 2014, earning well past their modest budget goal, which allowed them, in 2017, to release a beautiful, brutal little indie platformer (a metroidvania, for those of you familiar with the term) about a lost and dying kingdom of bugs suffering under a mysterious scourge that infects the minds of what few poor souls remain.

welcome to hallownest.

(as you read, you may want to set the mood with the game’s main theme - i’ll come back to the music later!!)

you are a small but mighty knight drawn to the kingdom for reasons unknown - not quite part of this world, but vital to it somehow. you venture into the underground caverns and crevices wielding your fierce nail (which is just exactly sword-sized for you) and a growing mastery of VOID and SOUL energies, mysterious but powerful.

you will explore hidden passageways and decaying ruins, meet deadly enemies and unexpected friends, and poke through the wreckage of a civilzation’s sins and triumphs, reconstructing a portrait of this place and yourself, piece by piece, if you’re patient and curious enough to tackle every last corner of this sprawling nest.

here’s where my full disclosure comes in: i haven’t beaten this game. i haven’t even gotten onto the same continent as “beating this game,” let alone finishing all 40ish hours of its content. i got...*checks game clock* not quite ten hours into it, kept getting my ass handed to me by a boss, and put the game down for a break. that was...more than six months ago, now, while i let myself get distracted with other interests and other games (y’all should totally play celeste, too, if you’re at all into platformers!), but lately i started listening to the soundtrack again, which got me to watching some youtube videos (which is how i originally discovered it, watching day9′s playthrough), which dragged me right back into my wholly unhealthy obsession with this game.

because i am. i am obsessed with it. it’s one of those perfect combinations of “artistic choices designed to punch every last happy button in sarah’s brain” and it hammers on each and every one of them until i’m left scouring youtube and the subreddit scrounging for whatever scrap of lore or fun fan theory i can get my grubby little paws on, like some sort of feral stimulus-starved idiot who could just be playing the game instead. it’s a sad, dark story that reveals itself almost entirely in context clues from the environment and random comments made by npcs; there are very few cutscenes, and it expects you to do the leg work of exploring and learning and piecing together the whole picture (and then perhaps to do a bit of wild theorizing and wiki-crawling to fill in the gaps). it has the most unique, endearing art style - hand-drawn sprites that look straight out of a children’s picture book in lush, painterly environments dripping with a sort of insectoid-art nouveau sensibility and seemingly lit from within, beautiful shafts of light and light bloom effects and light particles dancing all over the screen. the soundtrack is fucking phenomenal, created by christopher larkin as a piano-and-strings-heavy jaunt through wildly varying landscapes, all sinking under a gorgeously sad, funerary feeling, all this dying beauty and lurking danger around you. each boss and zone has a fantastic and individual theme all their own; my favorites are:

dirtmouth

hornet

mantis lords

city of tears

dung defender

queen’s gardens

nosk

and the game world is MASSIVE, unfolding itself bit by bit to an almost ludicrous size - part of what i find daunting about the game is its sheer hugeness, although this is mitigated by The Gaming World’s Greatest Fast Travel System Ever - a stag beetle taxi service!! i would die for this large man.

the other part of the game that’s daunting, though, is that it’s hard as fucking nails. there is no easier setting or an assist mode like in celeste; while the game is pretty generous with powerups and very customizable to your playstyle with different abilities you can swap out to change your battle plans, the combat is very demanding, relying on precise timing and execution. fighting is in itself a bit like platforming in hollow knight, very aerial and dependent upon using enemies as launching-off points that reset your double jump and air dash abilities. it’s incredibly fun to play, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not easy. i’m not sure, even if i tried, that i could ever beat this game, which is the other thing that’s kept me from playing it and instead had me just immersing myself in the lore and in videos to see the story unfold. it’s kind of scary!

having said that, though? this game is $15 US American human dollars. let me repeat that: fifteen ($15) smackers gets you 40+ hours of content (the main story with the Good Ending will take you somewhere between 30 and 50 hours depending on if you’re slow and dumb like me, but there’s a good deal of optional content and extra bosses that aren’t necessary to 100% the game) and one of the prettiest, most imaginative, best-sounding, and engrossing gaming experiences i’ve ever come across, not to mention one of the largest maps and some of the most challenging platforming and combat ever put into a metroidvania. oh, and three separate included DLCs. by the way. for $15.

if for no other reason, please buy this game to support a small team of innovative game designers whose passion is clear in every frame of this gorgeous little bug adventure, so that they can keep making excellent titles like this for me to wax poetic about on tumblr. the game is available on steam, gog, and the humble store, and will soon (this year, though the date hasn’t dropped yet) be out on switch. where i will buy it again. and then probably buy some merch. because if i could personally fund team cherry in their endeavors forever, i would!! but, in lieu of that, i’ll just bug everyone i ever meet to buy their game.

(get it? bug everyone???? do you g--DO YOU GET IT???)

if you’re interested in more info, or you think the gameplay might not be for you but want to see more of the story, have some additional links!

a couple of game trailers

a 100% completion run of the game, including the Good Ending - not ideal because the streamer does occasionally fast-forward through bits of backtracking, BUT there’s no voiceover commentary and he interacts with a lot of npcs so you can follow along with the story a bit better. also he’s playing a game mode that forces him not to die even once, so you don’t have to watch a lot of replaying and corpse runs.

joseph anderson’s long-form critique/review - spoilery and in-depth, but smart and insightful, although he’s a hardass gamer so his criticism sometimes comes down on the game being too easy for him. lol -_-

the full soundtrack. LISTEN TO IT. and then go throw money at the composer for it, it’s only $10. or you can buy it bundled with the game on steam and gog!

the wiki

the subreddit

the tumblr tag FULL OF GLORIOUS ART and a few dubious nudes of um. insects. the internet’s a cornucopia of gifts, y’all.

the ao3 tag, where you will find me, gorging myself on fic while i continue to procrastinate on playing the game.

#thanks for coming to my LITERAL ted talk!!!!!#hollow knight #after you're done with all that come taaaaaalk to meeeeee about this bug gaaaaaaame

7 notes · View notes

bellringermal · 8 years ago

Note

>Gerhman is Yharnam’s best house-waifu. Lol, why? Could you tell us about Gehrman's character trait in your headcanon, please?~ Describe the ways in which you find him attractive. I have many mistakes in english, forgive me, my mother language is not English Т_Т

I got this ask sooo long ago and always prioritize other replies not because I didn’t want to answer this, au contraire, because I wanted this little post to be one of those walls of text I can be proud of. Where to even start? Buckle up!

There are tons of reasons why I like Gehrman as much as I do and the more I play the game, the more I discuss the character both with fans and detractors the more I fell in love with this awful, awful man. First of all, let’s analyse what the game tells us about him through item descriptions and dialogue and let’s leave all the ‘fanficcy’ stuff for later:

Hunter attire of Gehrman, the first hunter. Created before the workshop existed by making adjustments to everyday clothing, and later became the basis for all hunter’s garb. The hunter’s emphasis on engaging beasts with speed, and therefore of selecting lightweight attire, no doubt traces back to Gehrman’s own combat style. [Gehrman’s hunter set]

This description single-handedly sells Gehrman as the main responsible for the greatness of the combat system. He is the ‘lore reason’ why Bloodborne’s gameplay is so different from the previous Souls games. Dark Souls was already very popular before Bloodborne came out but my interest in the series was extremely limited. The lore wasn’t intriguing enough to persuade me to ‘suffer’ through the clunky combat of DS to get to it. Bloodborne on the other hand, came with the kind of visuals and lore that, as a huge H.P Lovecraft fan, I was dying to see properly represented in a videogame or a movie. Bloodborne is what we Lovecraft fans were waiting for. And it’s not just beautiful to look at and interesting to analyse, is also hella fun to play. The first time I saw some combat gameplay for it, I thought it looked a lot like the Devil May Cry games of the PS2 era which were pretty great games. When Hidetaka Miyazaki stood up during a brainstorming session with his colleagues and said “What if we give the player two weapons from the start? No no, I’m not talking about a broken sword and a small shield to hide behind. I’m talking about a badass transformable blade and a gun. Defence is not an option. Learn to dodge, or you’ll die.” that’s when the First Hunter was born, so to speak. Lore-wise, you have to thank Gehrman for the sleek combat and the stylish clothing.

The times of the Old Hunters were brutal times. We know this from the description of some of their weapons like the Beast Cutter:

This crude weapon relies on brute force and is regrettably inelegant, suggesting that the hunts of the earliest hunters made for horrific affairs, painted in sanguine black and reds.

or the Boom Hammer:

Crush the beasts, then burn them - the brute simplicity of the Boom Hammer was favored by hunters with an acute distaste for beasts.

and yet there is an element of nostalgia and sentimentalism in the description of the Old Hunter Badge:

This hunter’s badge, crafted in Gehrman’s time, has no practical purpose, except perhaps to assist in romanticizing the past.The badge was a special privilege for the hunters of the past, and should not be dishonored.It should be left in peace, unless one is truly prepared to assume the will of those gone before.

Elements that if you ask me, perfectly fits what we know of Gehrman’s personality. He is someone who clings to the memory of his glory days and the things he loved. The item descriptions put great emphasis on how carefully he kept said things.

Yet at the same time, he disregards the Doll. Why is that? Well, if you ask me, it’s because he spent ETERNITY trapped in the dream with her. But before Moon Presence snatched him from the real Workshop to trap him in the dream replica of it, he cared.

Although it has been lost for quite some time, one can still see signs of the care with which this tasteful ornament was once kept. [Small Hair Ornament]

He wasn’t that tired, that bitter, not ‘too old for this’ when Laurence beckoned Moon Presence. Perhaps he even volunteered to become the host of the Dream (not in my headcanon, but it’s a possibility) out of responsibility and the desire to redeem himself. He was the First Hunter after all, the one who started it all and who led so many people to their deaths. Including the woman he loved. And even if the Gehrman we met in the game is now a grumpy and creepy old dude who doesn’t give a damn about anything and whose only wish is to be freed from the dream, he does not falter. His sense of duty and his guilt are stronger than the bitterness in his heart. He will suffer the ‘terrible dream’ until the end of time if that means he can spare you the same fate.

Gehrman surely saw the hunt as a dirge of farewell, wishing only that his prey might rest in peace, never again to awaken to another harrowing nightmare. [Burial Blade]

Is he the perfect human being? Fuck no. But humans ARE flawed, and Gehrman’s dedication to his task is admirable, especially after such a long time. And that’s precisely why I portray him the way I do in my fanfiction.

He fits into the stereotype of the eccentric inventor with lacking social skills but he’s also the Old Hunters’ leader and founder. The lives of his students and of the scholars depend on him and with such a responsibility placed on his shoulders he HAD to grow some spine. Gehrman did not become the Hunter we know overnight: years and years of training and experience in the Chalices made him the formidable warrior to whom all Hunters must tip their hats.

Now, moving onto sillier and absolutely non-canonical reasons why I love this dude so much, here’s why Gehrman is the best Soulsborne house-waifu: [with pictures!]

He wields a scythe. And as we all know, only true waifus use scythes.

He REALLY loves dapper clothing. And has a weird fixation (among the others :P) for red lined capes/coats.

He makes the best meat stew ever. Maria really missed it when she went back to Cainhurst because not even fancy banquets are a match for Gehrman’s cooking skills.

Best teacher EVER:

He loves to read cheap romance novels. Especially the smutty ones hehehe.

He is not good with animals. Not even domesticated ones (he and Maria’s fluffy white cat, Ferdinand, openly hate each other)

He is the Mother Hen/Papa duck of the group for real. If an argument starts, he sedates it, he cares for the well-being of each member and wants them all to be in their best shape before entering the Old Labyrinth.

He actually listens to what his students have to say. His pride prevails at times, but if the mistake was his, he admits it.

“How to Pick Up Fair Maidens” was a present from Laurence to him. Of course, the student’s intention was for it to be a joke but Gehrman actually read it. Many, many times.

He looks gorgeous in a dress. (Don’t ask me. Ask Maria.)

Laughs at his own jokes while being aware of how bad they are.

He is very fond of his Burial Blade. He made replicas for his students but the one he wields is very special and went through so many modifications as time went by. He proudly considers it his masterpiece.

He had an existential crisis after realising that Queen Annalise, who looks only a few years older than Maria, is actually his age.

One day, a meteor crashed next to Byrgenwerth and his first thought was to forge blades from it. Because why the fuck no.

He has a thing for melodrama. As if the huge ass scythe wasn’t a clear sign of that.

He was raised by Dores and Edmund who are the best dads in Yharnam and that’s a fact.

Micolash and Rom got together after 3 weeks. It took Gehrman almost 2 YEARS to find the courage to say s o m e t h i n g to Maria.

He punctually forgets about his birthday and his students joke about the fact that he does it on purpose to avoid getting old(er).

The Small Hair Ornament was his mother’s and is very dear to him. Giving it to Maria was of great significance and she understood that, reason why she left it in the Workshop as her farewell gift to him.

Among the hunters, Gratia is the one who makes the best impression of Gehrman. And is pretty hilarious to watch.

He is, let’s face it, pretty hot. Even in his late years, he kept that handsome face of his, a face that rivals that of Prince Freakin Lorian… aka the hottest dude in DS. (I’m not insinuating that they totally reused Gehrman’s model, nono)

..aaaand I’m pretty sure he’s shredded and covered in sexy scars. Oh and he’s tall. Very tall. Dayum.

I mean, in a fandom that has affectionately nicknamed Bloodborne ‘Old Men Thirst: the game’, it’s a CRIME that Gehrman doesn’t get the attention he deserves. (At least when it comes to ‘fangirlism’. Lore-wise and from a pure gameplay standpoint I’d say he’s one of the most beloved bosses in the franchise.)

His boss theme is honestly one of the best pieces of game music I’ve heard since the glory days of PS2. It’s so different from all other tracks in the OST, so minimalistic and yet so powerful…! Reminds me of Kingdom Hearts and old FF’s music. Bloody hell, who’s cutting onions? I want it to be played ad my wedding, funeral and resurrection ceremony.

#gehrman the first hunter #soulsborne #bloodborne #dark souls #best waifu #fite me

31 notes · View notes

survivorwakea · 5 years ago

Text

Episode 7: “I just don’t think that makes sense” - Jared

Hello Elmo - welcome to your tape. We once again meet in an org. I was very excited to 1. make merge 2. to meet up with u in another org and to have the chance to work with you. However my excitement was almost immediately ruined. I asked if you want to work together and was greeted with "if our plans align". This was my first red flag of a few tonight. "If" not hey lets make our plans align nd work together, just a sort of ok sure if it swings that way. So I said that to you, we should make them align. You replied with "kk." BITCH TF DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING. And then you're all like I'm so happy you made merge you deserve this. Ok whatever I know that's just you trying to change the subject, which you do a lot when you want to avoid things hmmm. Then we start discussing HvV nd I made a joke about you maybe fucking me over here after I said I trusted you...you left me on read....so I'm not just gonna sit there and take that. I was like ok I see where I stand with you. And you're like nooo I want us to work together but also if you think you wanna vote me out because it's best for your game then don't be afraid to do that ~ and trust me I'm not scared to vote you out. I did it once before, I'll do it again. You did say that wasn't you plotting against me, and I sure as fuck hope you meant that because my dumbass does want to work with you even if right now I feel similar to how I did before and like I'm not your closest person, which really did affect us I think oops. We love having no trust in a duo. I let this go because I fully understand that hey maybe things won't work out for us in this org, although I'm really hoping they do. Then you're like hey lets guess for the idol together. Okay sounds promising doesn't it? think again. Turns out you gave your guesses to Justin and Zack. I'm glad you did tell me this though because it shows there's a little bit of trust, but I am wondering where that puts me in all of this. How close are you to Justin and Zack? I adore you and if you do feel you need to vote me out then so be it, I respect that and there wont be any hard feelings, but don't think I won't fight you for this. Hopefully I am just reading too much into things and you are wanting to work closely with me. I do pray we end up working together, I plan on trusting you more even if I do feel right now that is going to be a risk, but it's one I am willing to take. I know you're an absolute social king. I am the social queen, a king needs a queen but a queen does not need a king. Remember that.

________________________________________________________________

YEEHAW BITCHES I MADE MERGE. Been to every tribal council so far, plan on being here until the final tribal council. I'm not a threat I swear.

I made it to merge! This is very exciting considering this is my first discord game and I can sorta function on it so thats good. I've had the pleasure of hardly participating in any challenges and only going to the joint tribal where Dean was voted out. I pretty much have no real relationships in the game since I haven't had to really count on anyone in a tribal. The good news is a lot of people were messaging me last night even those who I haven't had a chance to be on a tribe with yet like Chloe and Bodhi. Well...I've played with Bodhi in several other seasons before and I'm glad I have an excuse to talk to him again but I also know how cut throat he can be. The good news is that Johnny told me that Jared along with Bodhi, Joey, and Asya would potentially work with us. This is good. As long as people are interested that should at least keep people away from voting for me. I've also been reunited with Justin. We were on our first tribe together and I thought that we could work well together. There is also Ben and Elmo. I think I've done surprisingly well and being connected with those in the tribe despite my "inactiveness". Johnny is def my number one but I also don't want our games to be the same. I also have a lot of trust in Elmo and it doesn't look like he is as well integrated or at least maybe is a little UTR too. If it looks like Johnny and I are just making the same decisions, I think people may side with Johnny. So its important that I stay alert to new opportunities and make sure that I'm looking out for myself. I think I've been playing an UTR kind of game so far and I'd like to continue doing that. If people like me or at least don't mind having me around then no one will throw out my name as a target. I submitted my video for the talent challenge and just hope that I don't get negative comments.

I MADE MERGEEEEEE FUCKING FINALLY.

________________________________________________________________

I need to rely heavily on an outside social presence, I need to keep up the fact that I’m working to ensure a heavy background role. I have a lot of ORG experience, and I often want to draw from the best players that I know, and combine most of their unique gameplay qualities. A few examples I’m going to be using is Michael mepole’s strategy for Touchy Subjects when he puts all his positive answers on much bigger targets than him in order to create a narrative and slide into the background. TJP, one of my best friends outside of games plays a game built heavily on strategy and sociability, which while I’m at my new place, is giving me more flexibility to play games and work on my one big flaw: my social game. I said previously that in this game, I have nothing to lose, and EVERYTHING to gain. Survivor is the closest thing to being a good running back in football. Some running backs like Le’Veon Bell are very patient, and wait for holes to open up so they can explode. If I can have 15% of that patience in this game, the entire season will open up BEAUTIFULLY for me. It is absolutely imperative that I make sure Jared and Johnny are the two most vocal players in our alliance, because I have more freedom than anyone else in this game, having never made merge in an ORG game(Fuck you Trevino) before, the sky is the absolute limit. I need to keep others at bay, and kind of do what Ian did: build a wall and make it nearly impossible to have a social game with me.

Just found an advantage, so im pretty much a king. thanks lov u

youtube

i’m so annoy eeeeed

johnny really lost his vote for a legacy advantage that now serves literally no purpose so that’s sexy. now we (me, johnny, jared, bodhi, joey) have to depend on anabel and i guess lily for this vote. also they wanna kill chloe which is ugly and not what i want so like.

i know anabel doesn’t wanna kill chloe but that might just be because she’s a facebook person. anabel and myself both wanna vote lily and for some reason that’s just not translating to these people. like y’all want lily to be our extra vote but that could easily be chloe, especially when anabel is the one who can swing it in our favor and she wants lily out like.

anyways my alternate solution was just to vote out one of the facebook men. idc who. then we can get lily on board and probably chloe, and we don’t need anabels vote. like if y’all are so worried abt facebook people then what i’m saying makes sense. chloe has shown an interest in working with me and none of y’all have heard shit from the others so?

anyways i get mad when i don’t get my way so sorry for all the ugliness i know will follow after this,,,,, ur all beautiful except for stinky johnny and his stinky legacy advantage

youtube

so this is my first tribal ever, im immune, and thats super cute and hot and everything, but u know what’s cuter and hotter?? this bitch right here is ab to do somethin crazy and perhaps stupid but it’ll provide good television!!! jared johnny bodhi joey asya and maybe lily and all want me to vote chloe and i have said that im down w that. HOWEVER, elmo justin zack chloe and ben are voting joey and they think im doing the same. im a bit conflicted rn. i am thinking i want to go w elmo bc he’s the person i trust a lot, but i really need to talk to like johnny bc he can’t vote this round, and i also trust him a lot!!! so basically we’re looking at 5 voting chloe, 5 voting joey, and then me. and whatever i do is what happens. not really quite sure if this is a good position to be in, i have 11 ppl who think im with them and that ill do whatever they say, but im not really ab that... i just rly need to talk to johnny bc he’s the person who’s gonna give me answers and insight and everything i need but he’s at WORK and this rly sucks. stay tuned for my decision LOL

________________________________________________________________

idk if i mentioned this in my last one but... the condition for me voting joey is that chloe zack justin elmo and ben have to say it was lily and NOT me. if this works im going to pee myself..

________________________________________________________________

so everyone except zack knows ab my big huge plan and if he would JUST FUCKING GET ON i would love to tell him.... i feel like all this shit is so unnecessary for the first merge vote, but they started it. so if they’re gonna be crazy, i am gonna be crazier. and that’s just the tea. putting on my big girl panties and walkin into tribal w a plan in my head, a smile on my face, and lies on my lips (wow that’s poetic)

this is copied from my thread but thats fine:

SO ANABEL SAYS TAHT SHE WANTS TO CALL! so we call and she drops a bomb that there is a big grp of tumblrs working together trying to get chloe out and im like hmm huh and she asks me not to tell anyone and im like thats fine i think that i convinced to anabel that she can flip to our side bc if she does that then joey should leave 6v5 bc johnny cannot vote i also convinced anabel to tell everyone on the other side aka FB + Ben side so now i dont have to tell them and i dont incriminate my alliance between anabel i think that if this works it would be so good for me... like even if chloe leaves i should be in a good position its much favorable if joey leaves but chloe leaving is not HORRIBLE for me that being said theres no way i would vote chloe out bc it doesnt make sense considering they are not even including me in the plan but yeah im kinda excited that my social game is snapping rn

UPDATE: i think that i got anabel to flip and i rly want chloe to stay now bc i think she'd rly wanna work w me if she gets saved. ZACK FLORES U BETTER NOT SELF VOTE OR ALL OF THIS WILL GO TO SHIT!

PRAYS TO HAWAIIAN GODS FOR THIS TO WORK.

OMGGGGG THIS IS CRAZY. queen anabel is honestly doing what i think will be the best thing for her game and informing us (me, elmo, justin, chloe, ben) what the rest of the cast is doing and voting out chloe. anabel a snake QUEEN and wants us to blame lilly after all of this and i am SO FOR THAT. i just hope anabel isnt really working with them and the other side plan on like blindsiding me or something. idk.. if joey winds up going home then this will be so good and i will love anabel so fucking much. all HAIL the snake queen! anabel legend. just pls dont be lying to me bc idk our call we just had did seem a lil quick and shit..

today i am voting out johnny. i hate the judges of the last challenge except for anna dad. anna dad is cool..

This round is crazy i wish i had recorded audio.

{ ok this is part is written today: i forgot that my confessional was so shitty last round. everything below this will be falsified confessional trying to get back into my head from last round }

So tonight chlohie should be leaving. We have majority but Joey is getting some votes too. It'll be 6-5 and joey will be safe. I would be totally shocked if Joey were to leave.

What time is it? *clap clap* it's that time where I over share my feelings in here yeehawwwwww. So going into this tribal this morning, ya girl was nervous. It was quiet. Too quiet. The first name I hear is Joey, I'm kinda like oh no I like him but he's not too active so okay. As the day progresses and I'm still not hearing anything, the alarm bells start to go off a bit. I'm trying to tell myself I'm just being over paranoid, it's okay, I am fine, it's just a simple merge vote. All of a sudden I get Anabel rushing into my messages telling me she wants to call, I'm like ok cute bonding experience I'm here for it. Ben then in my messages saying to be prepared for the shit show that Anabel is about to tell me. I can feel my pulse rising I be looking like spongebob up in this bitch just shooketh. I call Anabel. She's like sis ur being targeted. Im like you're fucking kidding. Shocked but not surprised. Asya, who I thought was my homegirl, now up in this bitch wanting to vote me. People I been talking to all day being like wow I'm nervous be wanting to vote me. And why? Am I a threat? AM I REALLY A FUCKING THREAT? I been to every tribal council yea, but at the same time I'VE BEEN TO EVERY TRIBAL COUNCIL. PLEASE GIVE ME A BREAK AND STOP TARGETTING ME FOR 2 SECONDS. So where I think I stand right now - I'm working with Zack, Justin and Elmo hardcore. We have Asya, Bodhi, Joey, Lily and Jared on the other side. Then in the middle there's Ben and Anabel. But then Johnny I'm shitting myself about because I've no idea where he stands right now. If this goes to plan Joey will go home tonight instead of me. Watch yourself Asya, I thought we had each others back. You apparently just want to stab me in mine.

________________________________________________________________

just made like a pretty lengthy lowkey negative confessional. So here's a positive one. I've decided that I love Elmo again and I adore him fully as a person he makes me so so happy and I'm happy to actually have a shot at fixing out broken org relationship. He's fully one of my favouritest people I've ever met EVER. and I'm so so so happy I get to play with him again. Zack I also love so much, I feel we've never had the proper chance to connect but we kinda highkey doing it here and I want to go far with him. He always makes me smile no matter what. I just really really hope he's having fun. Justin I also love a lot, at first I was kinda unsure about him. He reminds me a lot of myself. But now I couldn't imagine this game without him. He is a strong player but I fully admire him. I'm glad I got to meet him for the first time ever in this game and I sure hope we continue to be friends even after it ends.

These 3 people make my little heart sing and although I'm not in the position I thought I would be in right now, part of me is glad. I think we're just going to be brought closer and I'm excited to see what future tribals hold for us.

youtube

DUDE CAN WE JUST VOTE OUT CHLOE SO I CAN ACTUALLY STAY

________________________________________________________________

Joey is voted out 6-5. He becomes the first member of the jury.

#episode #sailaway

0 notes

kibahinatas · 7 years ago

Text

DRV3 Liveblog [BLIND]: Prologue

THE STORY IS NOT OVER

Welp I just finished playing the prologue, and OH MAN. I have a LOT to say, so strap in guys, this is gonna be a long ride!

To start off, the settings I chose were Japanese Audio, Mean Logic, and Normal Action. And then the game began! I found it interesting how it started out with the montage of all the Dangan Ronpa games, including the anime! Will this really not be a part of the Hope’s Peak storyline at all? Hm...

Anyway, I think it will be best if I break things down into 4 main segments: STORY, GAMEPLAY, CHARACTERS, and PREDICTIONS. Let’s start with,

STORY

So our story begins with our sweet MC Kaede Akamatsu awakening in a locker, alongside fellow student Shuichi Saihara. They both have memories of being kidnapped but otherwise appear to be normal high schoolers in a strange classroom. They exit the classroom into the overgrown school and encounter these big robots (piloted by the Monokubs) and head to the gym where the other 14 normal high schoolers are.

The Monokubs seem to be a bit disorganized, and realize they didn’t give the students their memory of being ultimates. After returning their ultimate memories, and a quick magical girl transformation by Kaede into the SHSL Pianist, we suddenly start over in the locker again, but now as ultimates and without the kidnapping memory, it would seem.

We then travel around the school with Shuichi and properly meet the other students. Some rooms and areas appear to be locked, and we also discover that we will each have our own “ultimate lab” to help cultivate our talents. After meeting everyone we are gathered in the gym to meet Monokuma and learn our true purpose for being here: a killing game.

THOUGHTS: Hm, where to begin! There’s a lot going on already in just the prologue. But I think the thing that stands out to me the most right now has to be the nature of the student’s amnesia. When the game first started with no one knowing about their talents was that just a mistake by the Monokubs or is something more going on? And it seems like our characters were actually kidnapped for real this time around!

The fact that the students “started over” after receiving their ultimate memories is probably the most interesting to me, though. Why make them do that instead of just staying where they were in the gym? Why was it so important to go back in the locker, or wherever everyone else awoke?

Also WHAT is going on with that flash of Kaede with her head hooked up to that..whatever it is. Are we in another SDR2 situation where our bodies are one place and our mind is another? I mean, I doubt they would do something so similar, but we did go through a magical girl transformation, and have our memory returned to us via a light...so I’m not ruling it out just yet. But, it could just be the amnesia device or whatever. We have yet to see just how Junko stole the 78th class’ memories, so who knows. Needless to say, I have a LOT of questions!

As far as the setting goes, I’m digging it so far. The overgrown school has a rather cool feel to it, and I like that we have an outside area as well with places to visit, including the dormitory. It’s like a nice balance between the totally trapped setting of DR1 and the more open island setting of SDR2.

GAMEPLAY

Although I have never played any of the preceding DR games myself, I am pretty familiar with how the gameplay usually goes, having watched multiple LPs. So, overall it seems to play much like how the others did, with some minor updates. Oh, and that “chase” scene with the Exisals...that caught me so off guard for a Dangan Ronpa game, haha. Aaaanyway...

The controls are basically the same, one update being how it looks when you see what you can investigate in a room. Instead of circling the objects, it highlights them while darkening everything else. It actually makes it much easier to see what’s around, tbh. There’s also the option to smack things, but so far I haven’t found anything that it works on. Not sure what the purpose of this will be. And if the game did tell, me I was probably a little confused and/or forgot, haha.

The main map looks and works a little differently than the ones before, as to be expected, but we also now have a mini map in the bottom right corner on screen whenever we’re walking around in open areas which I like. The main map also features little almost 3d looking pixel sprites of the characters to show where there are, which I thought was cute.

The soundtrack seems pretty solid so far as well. I’m really enjoying the new ‘beautiful’ song, “Beautiful Lie.” It’s a nice addition to the series that is almost like a mix between “Beautiful Dead” and “Beautiful Ruin” in terms of style. We also get some remixes of classics like the main DR theme and Monokuma’s theme. All nicely done. Basically, Masafumi Takada kills it once again.

We also get to see and hear Kaede when she speaks! Which is really cool. I like being able to see multiple characters at once on this new and improved interface. We’ve also gotten a lot of cut scenes so far which I’ve been enjoying. It really adds a lot to the experience and helps you really immerse yourself and better visualize what’s going on.

CHARACTERS

And now to my favorite part to talk about! Characters! Let’s talk about each character individually, in the order in which they appear in my Dossier, beginning with our protagonist.

KAEDE AKAMATSU, SHSL PIANIST: Our first female MC (sorry Komaru) has not disappointed so far! I’m really enjoying playing as her. I love playing characters with a lot of personality which she definitely has. She seems very positive and friendly, and maybe a little silly at times too. It’s interesting to me how she’s just met all of her classmates and already views them as friends. She really seems like the type to hope for the best in all things! How will she react when the killing starts, however...

RANTARO AMAMI, SHSL ???: Oh boy, our token “I don’t remember what my talent is” character. (Let’s call him Amami, I like the sound of that better haha) Already, I can tell the game is setting him up to be an important character with him seeming to know a little of what is going on here at the Academy. I’m not sure what to make of him yet, but he looks and sounds like a super bae, haha. Although, something about him just gives me a real Nagito vibe. His behavior, sprite poses, and that wavy hair...hm. I don’t know. With all that, I can’t shake the feeling he may be one of the first to die...

MIU IRUMA, SHSL INVENTOR: An inventor! What a handful this girl is, haha. She has such a fun and over the top personality, I like it. Me and my boyfriend were cracking up at all her vulgar comments and sudden changes in mood. I don’t have much else to add about her right now, but I’m looking forward to getting to know her more. Let’s hope she sticks around for a while.

KOKICHI OMA, SHSL SUPREME LEADER: This kid!! I’m not sure which translation is more accurate, President or Supreme Leader, but I definitely prefer the latter. He’s such a cutie but also..kind of evil? I love it. He’s the leader of a massive “secret evil organization” that may or may not exist (depending on whether he’s telling the truth or not,) which is so vague! What kind of organization? Hm. Anyway, I’m curious to see how he will get along with the others. Already we’ve seen him tormenting Kibo and Himiko to an extent, while also seeming excited about the killing game. Is he really pure evil? I’m super curious to know more.

K1-B0, SHSL ROBOT: Aka Kibo (or ‘Keebo’ as it’s spelled in my game), aka Robohoge, the guy we all thought would be the protagonist once upon a time. And, one of the characters whose talents I somewhat predicted. I thought he would be a cyborg - part human, part robot - but it seems that he’s all robot! Just like Amami filling a token role, Kibo is our token AI. I haven’t seen enough of him yet to really form a solid opinion on him, but I’m curious as to whether or not his creator, a Professor Idabashi, has any relevance.

GONTA GOKUHARA, SHSL ENTOMOLOGIST: Entomologist...bug catcher, I mean that’s the same thing, right? Right? Haha..anyway what a big precious boy. Literally raised by wolves, Gonta is basically Tarzan..if Tarzan was really into bugs. Like, really, REALLY just loved bugs. He comes across as a bit simple, but I think it’s mostly due to his poor grasp of language. I honestly don’t see him having any big secrets or hidden sides to him, and he seems rather trusting. As long as you love bugs, of course. So it makes me concerned he may be an easy target later on, regardless of his size.

SHUICHI SAIHARA, SHSL DETECTIVE: Our main boy so far, he’s accompanied Kaede throughout her exploration of the school, after waking up in the adjacent locker. When he revealed his talent, I literally yelled “You can’t be the Ultimate Detective! Kyoko Kirigiri is the Ultimate Detective!” And tbh, I’m not completely convinced he is, but not for that reason. Not only does he not really seem like much of a detective at all (seriously, just compare his actions with those of Kyoko,) but the way he earned his title is suspect. Shuichi himself believes the case he solved was due to luck, and not his actual detective skills. This makes me think that perhaps he is not the SHSL Detective, but actually the SHSL Good Luck! Anyway, I like him so far. He seems a little shy, and seems to have some sort of complex with his hat. Overall a good kid. I’d be his friend.

TSUMIGI SHIROGANE, SHSL COSPLAYER: And suddenly Dangan Ronpa fans around the world screamed, as their OC’s talent was snatched up by a canon character, lol. Tsumigi, not to be confused with Mikan Tsumiki, is certainly an interesting girl. Kaede and Shuichi poking her cheeks with no response? Amazing, lol. She’s also a huge nerd, but not in the hilariously cringey way that Yamada was, so it should be fun to hear all the references and relateable things she’ll have to say. I hope we get to actually see some of her cosplays!

KOREKIYO SHINGUJI, SHSL ANTHROPOLOGIST: Or ‘Kiyo’ as he’s called in the localized version. Honestly, I can’t say I’m a big fan of this guy right now. He’s a little..off-putting. His talent also came as a surprise to me, with such a creepy appearance. Then again, I guess it matches his creepy personality, lol. But I don’t want to write him off just yet, I’m sure he has...some redeeming qualities...

TENKO CHABASHIRA, SHSL AIKIDO MASTER: Oh Tenko, winner of the Best Sprite award with that stunning face she made when Kaede called her cute, haha. Her dislike of men is reminiscent of Mahiru a bit, but much more extreme. She seems like a fun character and I like her so far. Also, super gay.

KIRUMI TOJO, SHSL MAID: What is this, like the 3rd time we’ve had an ultimate maid? Haha, seems like it anyway. Anyway, I don’t really have a lot to say about her right now. Out of all the characters, she’s probably made the smallest impression on me so far. It sounds like she does a bit more than traditional maid work though - which to me would be like cleaning duties. I feel like ‘Servant’ may fit her better, and maybe it’s just a translation thing, but oh well. Maid it is I suppose.

MAKI HARUKAWA, SHSL CHILD CAREGIVER: Discovering Maki’s talent was probably one of the more WTF moments I had in the prologue, haha. It really does not fit her at all. I almost wonder if she’s lying about what her talent is...hmm...Personality wise she seems a little cold, and maybe a bit mysterious. She was featured very prominently in the very early promos of the game, which makes her seem important, but it could have just been to mislead us I suppose. She also mentioned being raised in an orphanage, which I’m sure had a big impact on the kind of person she became.

RYOMA HOSHI, SHSL TENNIS PRO: Ryoma...I...well let’s just say I wasn’t too far off in my last post when I said he might use his tennis racket to threaten people, haha. But damn, THAT VOICE. He is just 3′4″ and 88 lbs of MAN. Well, minus that face, lol. Once you look past his appearance though, he seems intriguing. He’s basically our token “bad boy”/criminal, but his talent doesn’t match up at all. I wonder what kind of past he had, and what led him to take down that mafia or whatever it was.

KAITO MOMOTA, SHSL ASTRONAUT: Kaito, secretly the SHSL Vocaloid, haha. He gives off the vibe of being our token “scaredy cat.” Which I didn’t expect from him at all, given how cocky he always looked in the early promos. But maybe I’m wrong, I have only really witnessed his introduction scene thus far. Anyway, a good space boy. I hope he makes it there one day.

HIMIKO YUMENO, SHSL MAGICIAN: At last! I can rest assured that my Witch OC is safe...for now...although they do have weirdly similar personalities, lol. Anyway I really like Himiko so far. She’s so cute with her deadpan personality and basic-ass repertoire of magic tricks. I can just see her being the Magician’s Alliance alongside Gob in Arrested Development, haha. But she is an ultimate after all so maybe she has a little something more up her sleeve...

ANGIE YONAGA, SHSL ARTIST: A real cutie-patootie who’s also...super religious? I love her character design so much, and we are also the same height! Although she must be hella skinny to only weigh 90 lbs (I weigh about 110/115 and am pretty petite myself.) Anyway the religious thing is very unexpected but adds a lot of interest to her, other than just being the cutesy girl. And with the way she talks about Atua wanting blood sacrifices, and her being used as his instrument, this could certainly come into play later on...

MONOKUBS: Okay, since I don’t actually have their names in front of me (none of them are in the Dossier for whatever reason) I can’t remember what the red one is called, haha. But overall they seem like they will be quite entertaining to watch. My boyfriend seemed to really enjoy the parts where the game would just cut to Monodam saying absolutely nothing, lol. Monophannie reminds me of Monomi a lot, but I’m sure they are really quite different.

PREDICTIONS

Well I’ve already mentioned some of my ideas, so to try and wrap this up I’ll just talk about the ones I haven’t covered yet.

The biggest one right now has to do with what seemed like a throwaway line by Monokuma. I don’t remember exactly what it was, but it was something along the lines of ‘stories about the second generation are never successful, but with the Monokubs it’s possible.’ I butchered it, but you get the idea. So this spawned an idea in my head.

We know that is not part of the Hope’s Peak storyline, meaning it either takes place in an AU, or in the future sometime after the events of DR3. If it is in the future, could these students be descendants of previous characters? Thus, “the second generation.” Remember, the game told is in the beginning “the story is not over.” Is that what it could mean?

It seems like such a cliche idea, but coming from the franchise that used twists like Twin Switch and it was all a Lotus-Eater Machine, I wouldn’t put it past the developers to this AND do it well. I’m not sure if they would have ALL the characters be 2nd gen, but either way I have a few likely candidates for this theory. I already mentioned about the similarities I feel between Amami and Nagito, so let’s talk about the others.

Kokichi is probably the biggest one for me. Not only could I see him being related to Gundam and Sonia, I could straight up see him being their son! What else would the child of a ruling princess and the “supreme overlord of ice” be but the SHSL Supreme Leader? Leading an evil organization would make sense too given Gundam’s outlandish fantasies of evil and Sonia’s interest in serial killers and the occult. He also wears a scarf, and according to the dossier, “revels in blurring the lines that separate fact from fiction.” Sound like anyone we know? ;)

Gonta is a possible candidate as well. Given his upbringing, this is really just based on his appearance. But he could be related to Akane and Nekomaru. A big buff dude with wild brown hair? I don’t know...

Kaito I’m torn on. His eccentric purple theme and desire to travel to space remind me of Kazuichi. But then his clothing and to a degree his facial hair make me think of Hagakure. But uh, I may be reaching just a bit here.

Anyway, while that theory is definitely reaching a little as a whole, I also noticed there seems to be a theme of Lies going on here. The song “Beautiful Lie,” the game case referring to Lie Bullets, characters that may or may not being lying about who they are (not like pretending to be someone else, but more like withholding information or providing false information about themselves.) I don’t know who or what to trust!

But this post is getting way too long, so I think I will wrap up and end by saying that I am very excited to play more of the game and uncover all the mysteries I’m sure it has to offer.

I wonder what chapter one will hold in store...

#jessdoesv3 #drv3 #danganronpa #dangan ronpa #this took me like 3 days to write out omfg why am i so extra

0 notes