#that being said i have a teams for most of the major NPCs (although not all of them have 6 pokemon)

[smilepebble]

I WANNA KNOW YOUR 8PATH POKEMON TEAMS!!!!!

here they are! this is very long as i put some story for a few of my pokémon choices, as well as an explanation on how pokémon fit into the lore of the game. there's also spoilers for the whole game in here, so because of that and the length ive put it all under a readmore.

in this pokémon au, i didn't replace any monsters or animals with pokémon. instead, they're defined as creatures capable of being tamed by humans, capable of evolution, and capable of using magic in some way, shape, or form.

humans are still able to use magic like in the original game, including the dark arts. humans who often fight (i.e. mercenaries and soldiers) still fight with weapons, and fight alongside and/or against pokémon. legendaries exist, but they are not very well known. pokéballs also don't exist yet in this au, so pokémon sometimes come and go as they please. trainers will often only bring 2 or 3 pokémon with them at a time, and very few people have full teams.

and here's the main character teams themselves, in the order i got the characters in during my first playthrough :) each character (for the most part) got 5 regular pokemon and one legendary. i imagine in a gameplay perspective that legendary would be summoned similarly to using a divine skill.

Tressa:

Main team: Meowth, Dragonite, Lapras, Pachirisu, Floatzel

Legendary: Lugia

Meowth: the family pet, who is especially close to tressa. she found it as a stray a few years ago, and has taken care of it ever since. it follows her everywhere.

Dragonite: received as an egg as a gift from Leon when she first set off on her journey. its the child of Leon's Dragonair.

Lugia: in ch3 when Tressa went to search for the Eldrite, she went alone, forgetting to consider the danger in her excitement. when the venomtooth tiger ambushed her, Lugia appeared to help her fight it off. when the rest of the party caught up to help her, Lugia disappeared. it appears again in ch4, and Tressa befriends it.

Olberic:

Main team: Lucario, Aggron, Hisuian Samurott, Arcanine, Staraptor ★

Legendary: Zacian

Lucario: Olberic's oldest pokémon, from his days as a knight. it's too old to battle anymore, so it likes to train the younger members of the party. it and Erhardt's Lucario are littermates.

Aggron: it lived in the Cobbleston area when it was an Aron and liked to follow Olberic around. despite its intimidating appearance, it is very gentle and a bit shy.

Zacian: it and Zamazenta used to fight alongside Olberic and Erhardt, but disappeared during the fall of Hornburg. they reappear when Erhardt saves Olberic during the revolt against Werner in ch4. it is more outgoing and playful than its sister.

Primrose:

Main team: Umbreon, Primarina, Oricorio, Mismagius, Masquerain

Legendary: Yveltal

Primrose does not have any pokemon in the beginning of her story. she used to have a Piplup as a child, but it was killed in the fall of house Azelhart.

Umbreon: a stray Eevee Primrose met not long after ch1. it evolves not long after Primrose comes to really trust her new friends and see them as family. (probably sometime between ch2 and 3)

Primarina: met in the coastlands as a popplio on the party's way to Atlasdam. it reminds her a bit of her Piplup. it gets along well with her Umbreon.

Yveltal: a pokémon that Primrose has kept catching glimpses of since she set out on her journey. she finally meets it face-to-face outside of Everhold expecting to have to battle it, but instead it speaks to her, lending her its support and it's power.

Alfyn:

Main team: Politoed, Meganium, Froakie, Azumarill, Audino

Legendary: Ho-oh

Politoed: a poliwag that Alfyn saved from an injury. it immediately got attached to him.

Meganium: was a gift from Zeph when Alfyn left on his journey, after switching satchels with him. its sweet scent helps soothe Alfyn's patients.

Ho-oh: replaces the ogre eagle from his ch4. instead of chasing it off, he befriends it instead, treating its injuries after the battle.

Therion:

Main team: Liepard, Mimikyu, Chimecho, Meowscarada, Alolan Marowak

Legendary: Lunala

Therion had a Glameow before Darius betrayed him. it fell to it's death when Darius pushed them both off the cliff. Therion later remembers it died trying to cushion the fall for him.

Liepard: found Therion at the bottom of the cliff as a Purrloin and tried to help him. it sticks by his side despite his hesitancy to have a new partner pokémon.

Lunala: when Therion was pushed off the cliff, a Cosmog found him and Purrloin and teleported them near a town so they could get help. it's very elusive, but he can often tell when it's around. it evolves into Cosmoem during ch3 and into Lunala during the confrontation with Darius in ch4.

Chimecho: a Chingling that often wandered around the Ravus estate. it, like Purrloin, decided to follow Therion. despite his apparent annoyance towards it, it evolves pretty quickly.

H'aanit:

Main team: Chien-Pao, Luxray, Braviary, Noivern, Sawsbuck

Legendary: Rayquaza

H'aanit, Z'aanta, and Susanna can all speak to and understand pokémon.

Chien-Pao: Linde!! the only one of her kind, and a reincarnation of one of the treasures of ruin, which were thought to be related somehow to the Gate of Finis. she and Hägen do not age normally, as they are soul-linked (as in the nuzlocke type) with their human companions.

Luxray: the ghisarma in ch1 attacked a pack of Luxray, Luxio, and Shinx. H'aanit saved a Shinx cub from being slaughtered during the confrontation. the Shinx's parents had both been slain, so it decided to stay with her and Linde.

Rayquaza: replaces the dragon from ch3. H'aanit chases it off to get to the herb-of-grace, but it returns in ch4 to help her defeat Redeye.

Ophilia:

Main team: Frosmoth, Chandelure, Togekiss, Alolan Ninetales, Gardevoir

Legendary: Zekrom

Frosmoth: a Snom that Ophilia has had for several years now. she and Lianna befriended their first pokémon together.

Chandelure: a litwick that Ophilia found in the cave of the first flame.

Togekiss: an egg that Ophilia received not long after leaving on her journey.

because Togepi, Litwick, and Snom are quite young and weak, Ophilia has to do most of the battling for her team at first.

Ophilia finds the dark stone during her ch3, after defeating the two cultists.

Zekrom: Matthias was planning to use Zekrom to help unleash Galdera and create his ideal world, however the dark stone refused to react for him. it reacts to Ophilia and is unleashed when she confronts him and Lianna. Zekrom is very levelheaded compared to its counterpart, and is a calming presence to Ophilia and Lianna, despite its intimidating appearance.

Cyrus:

Main team: Reuniclus, Ampharos, Decidueye, Espeon, Sigilyph

Legendary: Reshiram

Reuniclus: a Solosis that Cyrus has had since he started studying at the academy. it's very affectionate towards him, however it seems shy to everyone else. it is clumsy, and afraid of battling at first, causing Cyrus to get into a lot of bad situations. it gets braver over time thanks to Cyrus' patience and care for it.

Espeon: the child of Odette's Flareon. it was especially adventurous as a young Eevee, which made it hard for Odette and her pokémon to take care of it. Cyrus agrees to take care of it on Odette's condition that he be more careful in his investigations.

Cyrus finds the light stone after defeating Yvon.

Reshiram: the light stone was one of the many things Yvon had hoarded for himself. he planned to use Reshiram to exert his own power, however the light stone refused to react to him. it reacts to Cyrus and is unleashed when he confronts Lucia. Reshiram is very hotheaded compared to its counterpart, and Cyrus often has to calm it down.

[gascon-en-exil]

(Further) Beyond Dream Daddy: A Year of More Gay Dating Sims

Last year for Pride I made a video sharing my thoughts on a selection of gay dating sims, among them Dream Daddy - by far the most well-known title in that genre. My opinion of that game was rather unfavorable, to say the least, but nonetheless I had a lot of fun discussing the topic. Dating sims rarely get any significant analysis or consideration, so it was a novel experience on that basis alone.

Recently, a patron of mine expressed a desire to see me talk about dating sims again. To save myself some work on a project when I've already got so many others going on at the moment, I've opted to do so here on my blog rather than on my channel this time. This also has the added benefit of giving me more latitude to discuss the NSFW qualities of these games without needing to censor myself. When the majority of the titles in this space are explicitly erotic, that's kind of a big deal.

Anyway! Here's a selection of games that I've played in the past year that I thought were worth looking at in some more detail.

Dear Monster

As the title suggests, this one is for the monsterfuckers out there.

This is, sort of, the second time I'm discussing a project by Y Press Games. I've touched on an earlier game of theirs, To Trust an Incubus...but I found it so unimpressive that I never bothered to review it in-depth. In several ways you can tell that Dear Monster comes from the same creative team: there's a similarly large focus on plot with a bunch of variable endings including some very dark ones, all the characters are vers despite many of them playing into familiar top or bottom archetypes, and most obviously the main theme is monsterfucking.

In this case the selection is much broader, as instead of a single species of pheromone-emitting aliens you get your pick from a variety of fantasy creatures. I say "creatures" because Dear Monster isn't afraid to shy away from furry/scalie erotic content for certain scenes, although most of the time the love interests stick to their humanoid forms. There's

a Western dragon as the violent bad boy love interest;

an Egyptian-flavored god of the dead, whose alternate form resembles Anubis and who plays the standoffish tsundere role;

a kitsune for the mischievous and overtly sexual option;

a unicorn who comes off as the caring submissive choice...mostly;

and an orc, who's had a route announced as free DLC later this year but who currently exists only as a recurring NPC

As I said, like To Trust an Incubus there's a noticeable focus on plot here, with the protagonist being a young man newly introduced to the world of the supernatural and trying to locate his mysteriously vanished grandfather inside an obviously magical mansion. Also like their earlier game, there are some unexpected plot twists that I won't spoil here, and overall I'd say this game pulls them off more effectively even if the ending feels a bit unfinished currently. Maybe they're waiting for the orc character's route to properly tie off the story? In any case, Dear Monster is better written than its predecessor and comes with an appreciable variety of kinky scenarios, and despite the lack of voice acting (a very hit-or-miss topic when it comes to dating sims, as I've discussed) the production values are overall quite good. The animated character portraits have been advertised as a highlight but frankly don't contribute to much, and they have a tendency to slow down my computer. Luckily though, they're easily turned off.

Favorite route: A hard call. They all have their highlights, and I'll probably enjoy Slagathor (the orc) when his route comes out. Hikmat (the god of the dead) probably comes out a bit ahead of the others both for his story and for some unexpectedly adventurous sex scenes, like one that incorporates a variant of tentacle porn - points for creativity there. Faeryn (the unicorn) is the one I find least appealing sexually, but on the flip side his route has some of the most unexpected twists and is probably the most helpful for understanding the game's premise as a whole. There's not really a bad option here.

UPDATE: Now that the final route has been released, I can talk about it. It's fine enough, following similar tracks for its good, neutral, and bad endings. Slagathor is vers, just like every other guy in the game. As for the main plot, it does have a resolution once you've gotten satisfactory endings with all five characters, but because it has to be integrated into all of those route endings and doesn't actually impact any of them it feels rather inconsequential as a result. A bit of a shame, really, but I do respect the boldness of some of this game's narrative chioces.

Camp Buddy

Oh, dear. There are some things I need to make clear with this one from the start...stuff I definitely couldn't talk about on YouTube.

To state the obvious first: yes, the characters are all 18+. It's in their in-game profiles, on promotional material online, and on the disclaimer you have to click on whenever you boot up the game. The main character and all his love interests are specifically stated to be 18-20 years old. However...that doesn't always bear out in the writing. The premise is that they're all campers at a scout-themed summer camp, i.e. not something you'd expect of legal adults, and more than half the time these characters are written with the emotional maturity of boys in their mid-teens. That doesn't extend to the sex scenes, beyond most of them being virginal and clueless but somehow still capable of having mind-blowing sex with no lube and simultaneous orgasms and so forth - all of which is pretty standard for these sorts of games. It doesn't consistently affect their storylines either, as they range from adolescent issues like anxiety over losing a close friend to more young adult material like deciding on career paths and moving on from a bad breakup. Having spent a good bit of my own adolescence in an all-male environment, I found most of the character behavior relatable for that demographic. Outside the sex scenes, Camp Buddy is a sweet and sometimes heartwarming story about friendship and making good memories...but the sex stuff is still there, and I can understand why this game isn't listed on Steam based on the premise alone. It is not, as some online have hyperbolically dubbed it, a "child porn" game, but it can be awkward all the same, and if you, like me, are not into twinks/twunks those scenes aren't going to do much for you.

Leaving that aside, it still took me a while to get into Camp Buddy. I was mostly interested in its sequel, which I'll talk about later in this post, but I wanted to play CB in case I missed out on any context with the second game. This one does feel like a first project; the artwork isn't as clean or varied, the voice acting has some standouts but is overall just average, and the script occasionally reads like it was written by someone whose first language isn't English - where the writing isn't incorrect, exactly, but rather worded in ways that don't sound natural. Not all of the scenes are fully voiced, but I really have to wonder how some of those that are got through all those people without anyone realizing how inorganic the dialogue sounded. The humor at least is pretty consistently good, with a highlight being the one major female character who is an affectionate parody of yaoi fangirls leading to a lot of fourth-wall-breaking jokes. As I said some of the storylines work well, even if the main plot is a clichéd and sometimes treacly "save the camp" routine for most of its run. If you can accept the handwave on the characters' ages for the sexual content, it's not a bad time. Given my familiarity with Fire Emblem and its love of underaged-looking dragon girls, and knowing that there are surely far more dating/porn games that use a similar handwave for female characters, I can give CB a pass. I've never cared for how media directed at straight men never warrants more than a moment's worth of moral outrage while everything else gets endlessly scrutinized.

Favorite route: Yoichi is the twunk-iest of the love interests, and his route is easily the darkest as well. Surprisingly he's not the sole total top option...but the guy who is barely grasps of the concept of masturbation and needs to "research" sex after he fools around for the first time. I suppose someone must be into that. Taiga has the most distinctive route as it was added last and has the largest amount of story variance as well as both topping and bottoming variations, but I find the emotional beats of his story (both in and out of his route) to be paced a bit too oddly for me to give him first prize.

Camp Buddy: Scoutmaster Season

This is why I played Camp Buddy, because I saw its follow-up advertised on Steam and was impressed enough by the production values to check it out. I still bought it from developer BLits's website though because certain scenes are removed in the Steam version (for reasons similar to why Camp Buddy isn't there at all). Anyway, Scoutmaster Season is in just about every way a vast improvement over its predecessor:

Most obviously, the characters here look and act unambiguously like adults. Their storylines are also more mature, as is that of the main plot which concerns the camp expanding after it received a new wealthy investor at the end of CB. This maturity extends to the sex as well. These characters aren't experimenting adolescents but rather men who've been casually involved with one another for some time already (heavily implied in the first game) and whose romantic development thus concerns their relationships becoming grounded in emotional support instead of only hot NSA sex.

Camp Buddy is a decently kinky game in its own right, but the sequel takes advantage of its older characters and really runs with the concept. There's bondage, leather, voyeurism, softcore daddy kink, public sex, several varieties of costume role play including two that verge on pony play, threesomes, and a few types of size kink thanks in *ahem* large part to one of the love interests having such a comically oversized cock that in some encounters it can be seen distending the main character's stomach during penetration. I'm...pretty sure that's not physically possible, but I know it's a fantasy that exists. SS is just as unrealistic when it comes to things like (lack of) lube and refractory periods, but that's to be expected at this point.

I didn't talk about CB's minigames because they're frankly not that impressive, but SS's are both a bit more challenging and, in the case of the foreplay minigame, hotter and more interactive.

The writing is much improved, and flows more naturally. The voicework is overall of a higher quality as well, even with many in the cast reprising their roles. Particularly, the same voice actor plays the main characters of both games, but he sounds much more natural as the deeper-voiced lead here, in contrast to CB where he has to work to sound like a teen. The comic relief is about on par, so it's as entertaining as usual. There's even a yaoi fanboy in this one...who funnily enough never actually gets laid during the story, although the artists threw him a bone or six with a bukkake party crack scene in the extras.

SS's antagonist is both more compelling and more entertaining even though she never becomes a romance option - as should be evident from the pronoun alone. I predicted where the story was going to take her arc the first time I played, and while I was proven right the game didn't follow that thread to its logical conclusion. A bit disappointing, but I imagine that that would have obliterated the tone for the rest of the game and prevented it from ending with fluffy romance or celebratory sex.

There are enough small callbacks to CB that I'm glad I played the first game, but not so many that a newcomer would feel completely lost. As this is the only gay dating sim sequel that I can even think of, I appreciate the attention to continuity.

BLits is currently working on a third game called Jock Studio, unrelated to Camp Buddy but already looking to be an evolution of what they've learned from their first two games. The athletic university premise appears to be a self-indulgent excuse for porn - but I'm more than okay with that seeing how much the quality of their work has improved.

Favorite route: There's only two here, so naming one would be suggesting I dislike the other. In fact, both routes are really solid. I would say that Aiden's story hangs together a little better and feels stronger in its emotional moments (helped greatly by the best vocal performance in either of these games), whereas Goro's route appeals to me more based on raw sex appeal. He's a kinky daddy, what's not to love? Either way, SS is a ton of fun, and of the games in this post it's the one I recommend the most strongly.

Errant Kingdom

I'm of two minds about including this game. I really wanted to have one that would be drastically different from the others I've selected, but at time of writing I haven't done everything there is to do in Errant Kingdom. That's not for lack of time, as it's been released in chapter increments ever since last autumn or thereabouts and finally finished up in February. I've currently completed two of its stories so I feel like I have a solid grasp of what's on offer, but I realize that I haven't seen everything yet.

However, I had to keep pushing myself to play this one. It just doesn't have a very strong hook, in my opinion, but let's talk about the positives. If your main complaint about Dream Daddy is not the lack of hardcore gay sex but rather the inauthenticity of its representation then Errant Kingdom will be more your speed. Your character can be male, female, or nonbinary, and there are two love interests of each designation available. (That both nonbinary options are supernatural non-humans might arguably be a bit of a copout...but I'm not really in a position to judge.) There are also two options for poly relationships, as well as asexual dialogue options although the way the story is set up does still lend itself toward monogamous romance with occasional, vaguely-described (and never visualized) sex scenes. I'd also note that unlike every other visual novel with romantic elements I've ever played, dialogue options are explicitly marked as being romantic, asexual, or poly when applicable. This does make it much easier to get a specific outcome if you're looking for one, but in my view takes away some of the fun of these sorts of games.

Errant Kingdom's story is quite linear regardless of which if any romantic relationship(s) you choose to pursue, with the largest variance coming not from your choice of love interest but from your choice of one of three origins when you're creating your character: an ambassador, a knight, or a nomad. Having played through two of these, this decision greatly impacts the game's opening chapters but ultimately leads into the player characters being three different points of view on the same story, with all the same major set pieces. Errant Kingdom is occasionally clever about this, with the other two PCs popping up in each other's paths every now and then...unseen of course, because this is a game where the main character's physical presence is left entirely up to the imagination. On the other hand though, the different perspectives converging toward a single climax has the clunky side effect of dropping certain NPCs into the story lategame and acting as if you know who they are even if you've never met them in that playthrough.

The story itself isn't terribly fascinating, being a medieval fantasy conspiracy plot involving gods and magical weapons and an 11th hour Chosen One reveal (that isn't the player character, shockingly). If we're talking pseudo-medieval/early modern romantic visual novels, I find I prefer the Chess of Blades approach where each love interest gets his own storyline and so there's more overall variety and less tangled continuity. I've read in places that the later chapters suffered from deadline and creator burnout issues during development, which wouldn't surprise me with how much the pacing speeds up after a certain point.

Favorite route: For origins the ambassador angle suited me better and would probably be my pick overall. The choice of love interest is, as mentioned, actually not all that important, but disgraced former knight Erik hits most of my buttons. It's a shame his poly option is with a woman, because while Maja is my preference of the two female options I wouldn't be invested in her like that. This is the trouble for me with stepping outside the bounds of strictly M/M games.

[morathor]

Pokemon: Lancer Theory

That title sounds way too self-important but it is the phrase that stuck in my head.

I’m actually not sure why this concept is so stuck in my head, maybe it's what I've seen of Scarlet/Violet and gym leaders terastalizing their ace pokemon.  But I need to babble it out, so here we are.  I wanna talk about type-themed trainers like gym leaders, elite four members, etc having off-type Pokemon.

It seems like they try not to do this anymore, and I get that, because people complain about it whenever they do.  Which I also get, I guess.  But I dunno, I think it's kind of cool when even a themed trainer has a somewhat diverse team.  The central type should still be visible as a theme, of course, but I don't think it's inherently a bad thing if they have an off-type here or there.  It makes the battles more interesting, it makes the characters more interesting by introducing a little more nuance.  It also plays to the idea of these trainers being talented, which they are supposed to be--I think every pokemon game I’ve ever played has some NPC to tell you that using varied types is the best strategy (even though I recognize a lot of people just bulldoze the game with an overleveled starter).  But when gym leaders and even the elites ignore that beginner advice, it makes them feel a little less competent, a little less threatening.

That said, I think this is more effective if it is applied consistently.  So in the same way that every major trainer needs their "ace" pokemon, I would love to see every major trainer have a "lancer."  Just one off-type pokemon (and the team would need to be a minimum of three so that it's not an even split), probably their second to last/second strongest.  They might fit the aesthetic of the type without being of that type--like how Lance classically has pokemon like Gyarados or Charizard (although I'd want him to pick just one).  Or they might be more focused on the aesthetic of the trainer.  Bonus points if they're a type that helps cover the weaknesses of the main type, but that can be reserved for the higher ranks.

So because I am, one, bored, and two, Like That, here's what incorporating this lancer idea might look like in kanto games/remakes.  Just because they feel like the characters people are most likely to be familiar with.  (And also some other changes because why not.)

Brock's Team

Kabuto--I'm really on the fence about this, but there are other NPCs with fossil pokemon, and Brock uses Kabutops and Omastar both when he shows up in later games.  Besides, type diversity isn't just for the lancer.  And even though you can't catch Kabuto in Mt Moon, you can at least get the fossil there, so we're kind of still showcasing a local pokemon?  Ish?

Cubone--Not a rock type, but not straying far from the mold for this early lancer.  I thought about a Zubat to showcase a local pokemon (plus he has one in the anime) but it's too far outside his tanky preferences.  Actually, if we wanted anime influence, a Vulpix would be a great call, although haven't Bulbasaur players suffered enough?  Anyway, Cubone is neat because it's sturdy and looks ominous, fits the aesthetic, but when you find out more about its Inherent Tragedy it maybe makes Brock look a little more gentle in retrospect.  I think that's neat.

Onix--Ace unchanged, no notes.

Misty's Team

Poliwag--I actually prefer not to have multiple members of the same evolutionary line in one trainer's roster.  I won't always have a good alternative, but there are so many water types.  Also, when possible, I do want to have one mono-type pokemon on the team.  (Not possible for Brock, there are no mono-type rock types in the Kanto dex.)

Dratini--I'll be honest, I'm stupidly proud of this lancer.  Dratini is aquatic without being a water type, and aesthetically fits very well.  In Gen 1, I think Misty is the first trainer to get "good AI", which really isn't all that good but it still shows they wanted her to represent a step up in terms of tactics.  So giving her a lancer that specifically resists the weaknesses of her main type is very cool.

Starmie--Ace unchanged, no notes.

Surge's Team

Magnemite--Not a lot of type diversity for electric types.  But if this hypothetical game is a later generation remake, at least this throws in a steel type.

Mankey--A fighting type seems like a good companion for a military man, and as Surge likes his pokemon fast and hard-hitting, Mankey seemed a better choice than some of the other options.

Raichu--Really considered Electabuzz instead; the stats are incredibly similar, and I feel like it fits Surge's aesthetic slightly better.  But only slightly, not enough to change out such an iconic ace.

Erika's Team

Tangela--Don't know if I have much to say, other than please make sure this has grass moves.  Thank you.

Butterfree--A butterfly pairs real well with all these flowers.  Additionally Butterfree's access to powder moves and its special attacks make it fit Erika's strategy even though its not a grass type.

Vileplume--Really torn between this and Victreebel, since I'd rather not have two grass/poisons if I can help it.  I often here Victreebel presented as more of a threat, since it's more aggressive, especially in Gen 1.  But Vileplume is tankier, so it might hold out a little longer, and I think that gives it more of a presence.

Koga's Team

Tentacruel--Koga is spoiled for choice on poison types, and something menacing that lurks in the water fits his ninja theme pretty well.

Golbat--It was this or Beedrill, but Golbat's access to confusion moves makes it fit Koga's tactics better.

Magmar-- Originally I was thinking Scyther; as a fast blade-wielder, it's more of a ninja than anything else on Koga's team.  But for Koga, that theme is all about debilitating foes with smoke and poisons, so a pokemon that packs the poisonous fumes of a volcano is a good fit.

Weezing--I could easily have dropped Weezing and elevated Muk to the role of ace, but I don't feel strongly enough about either to drop his classic.  Plus, and maybe this is just me watching too many solo runs, the looming threat of self-destruct carries more menace than anything Muk has ever packed.

Sabrina's Team

Mr Mime-- There are so many psychic types in these games, I don't want a Kadabra and an Alakazam.  Honestly I don't even need two mono-psychic types, I could have gone with something that adds more type diversity, but strangely I do like Mr Mime for Sabrina.  Plus in later gens, leading with a screen setter might be a pain for the opponent.

Slowpoke-- There's that type diversity.  I considered a Starmie for that fast, hard-hitting feel that Sabrina tends to go for, but let's not step on Misty's toes.

Venomoth-- I thought about giving her a Haunter, but nah.  Venomoth is a non-psychic type that can pack psychic moves, and I can kind of see a connection to Sabrina's sort of aloof, otherworldly vibes.  Moths are creatures of the night, dancing on the edge of the light... it kinda works.

Alakazam-- Ace unchanged, no notes.

Blaine's Team

Vulpix--Thought about a Ninetails and an Arcanine, but I kinda feel like that diminishes Arcanine as the ace even if its higher level.  Still, replacing Blake's leading Growlithe with a Vulpix gives him a little more diversity in his team.

Rapidash--Speaking of diversity, I really thought about Charizard.  I did.  It and Moltres are the only Kanto fire types with a second typing.  And while there are other NPCs who have starter pokemon, I feel like giving one to a gym leader felt a little off.  So it's gonna have to be all mono-fire types except for the lancer.

Exeggcute--Eggs equals bald?  I dunno, Blaine doesn't have strong theming to me, but what he does have is a role as the second-to-last gym leader, one the game expects you to treat as a major threat.  Honestly we're here more for a move than a pokemon--solar beam, which both fits a fire theme and covers fire's weaknesses.  And Exeggcute is like the only Kanto mon to learn it at a level Blaine is likely to pack.

Arcanine--Ace unchanged, no notes.

Giovanni's Team

Dugtrio--Moving this to the lead, who needs Rhyhorn AND Rhydon?

Sandslash--I really thought about keeping both Nidoking and Nidoqueen, they're not quite the same evolutionary line.  But they're close enough, and I have... other plans, for her majesty.

Nidoking--I love how over the course of the game, this ground theme gradually crystallizes, without Giovanni dropping too many pokemon.  This started out as just a poison type, which most Team Rocket members lean towards, and only for this final fight is it evolved into a ground type.

Kangaskhan--You could go with Persian here if you wanted to emulate the anime, but in most of the games Giovanni uses a Kangaskhan prior to this point.  Whichever one you have him use for the rest of the game, I'd want him to keep it till the end, but now it's reframed as not even his final form--I mean, strongest Pokemon.

Rhydon--The fact that rock/ground doubles down on so many type weaknesses almost wants me to let Giovanni keep his old Rhyhorn and elevate Dugtrio (or maybe Sandslash?) to ace.  But neither of those match Rhydon's raw power, so I don't think we need to change this.

Now, as for the elite four...

Lorelei

Dewgong--Not a lot of ice types in this game, and Lorelei already has all of them (except the legendary).  So there's not much room for me to improve on anything but the lancer.

Cloyster--No notes, move along.

Jynx--Originally Jynx was the only break from the water types, and her psychic type could be a good counter to any fighting types giving you trouble.  Problem with that is, Lorelei's Jynx doesn't typically have psychic moves.  I know in Gen I the learnset was bad, but suck it up and give her psychic or something.

Nidoqueen--A surprise I'm sure, but hear me out.  As I just noted, three of Lorelei's ice types are also water types, and adding in Slowbro made it four out of five.  That meant that, one, she was just as much a water type trainer as an ice type, and two, water was her more exploitable weakness.  Grass types might have struggled, but electric types could sweep her pretty easily (Jynx isn't weak to electric, but she's a glass cannon and not too much of a threat).  Adding in a bulky ground type that can learn ice moves and fits Lorelei's color scheme seemed like a good call.  And yes, this is part of the reason Giovanni doesn't get to have the queen.

Lapras--Ace unchanged, no notes

Bruno

Hitmonlee--I'd have Bruno lead with Hitmonlee just because it's one of the more straightforward fighting types.  Hits hard, but doesn't have a varied move pool.

Hitmonchan--Obviously we can't separate Hitmonchan from Hitmonlee, so here we are.  

Poliwrath--Doing what we can to get some type diversity into this roster.  Plus Poliwrath's access to hypnosis and halfway decent special stats (sorry Hitmonchan) represents a pretty sizeable tactical shift.

Pinsir--This one does not represent a tactical shift.  Big and bulky, well known for moves like seismic toss and submission, Pinsir feels like an honorary fighting type.  A bit of a straightforward lancer, but Bruno's a bit of a straightforward trainer.

Machamp--Ace unchanged, no notes

Agatha

Gastly--Okay, this one's a problem.  Ghost and dragon are supposed to be rare, mysterious types, each represented by only one evolutionary line.  I don't mind that in theory, and I also don't mind showcasing the rare mysterious types within the elite four.  But boy does it make it hard to have a varied team.  Gastly's move set should focus mainly on spreading status more than inflicting damage--hypnosis, confuse ray, maybe toxic or in later gens will o wisp.

Haunter--Same evolutionary line, but now focus a little more on damage, and maybe coverage.  You can keep hypnosis and maybe confuse ray, but moves like night shade are keepers, and maybe throw in a TM move like psychic.

Haunter--Now we have two of the same exact pokemon and I hate it.  At the very least give this a different moveset.  Maybe mega/giga drain, dream eater, and hypnosis as its core?  Let its focus on life drain set it apart from the tactics of the first haunter.

Hypno--Finally a break from the same evolutionary line.  This team already has more poison types that Koga, so I didn't want to double down with Golbat or Arbok.  Hypno's emphasis on status moves and dream eater fits well into Agatha's theme, while providing a good wall against psychic types that may have been giving you trouble.

Gengar--In gen 1 at least, Agatha's final Gengar didn't have hypnosis, which kind of meant a sigh of relief when you reached it.  And while I do want the ace to be threatening, I kind of like the idea that you've gotten past the worst of the debilitating effects and are ready to square off in a more head-to-head battle.  Nightshade, thunderbolt, maybe keep dream eater even if you can't put things to sleep yourself.

Lance

Dratini: Yep, same problem as Agatha.  I have similar ideas for solutions, just trying to keep the movesets distinct.  Dratini's a little bulkier than Gastly, but doesn't hit very hard.  Dragon rage doesn't depend on stats, so that's a good attack.  Then throw around thunder wave, maybe set up a reflect.

Dragonair: I think Yellow had more or less the right idea for the Dragonairs.  This one can focus on electric moves, but make sure not to entirely give up on dragon moves.

Dragonair: And for this one we'll focus on water and ice moves, though again try to keep at least one dragon move.  We want to show off the diverse move pool of these mighty dragons.

Gyarados: There are so many pseudo-dragons to choose for the lancer.  No Charizard for the same reason I didn't give Blaine one.  Aerodactyl is really neat, I think it's something no other NPC in the game has, but it also really doubles down on the ice weakness, and if we're talking about a Gen I version it doesn't even have rock moves.  Gyarados offers good bulk and is at least neutral to ice, so a player just spamming ice beam or whatever will have to be a little more tactical for a bit.

Dragonite: We had one dragonair focused on electric and one focused on water/ice.  For the ace, pairing fire moves with dragon gives it solid coverage and a strong turnaround on ice types (though many of them are also water, but still a neutral fire blast from a powerful pokemon can be scary).

That's it for Kanto.  I uh.  My brain is already buzzing with Johto.  So that might be a thing.

[missnight0wl]

Unpopular opinion: I wish dating was never introduced to HPHM.

I was always rather open about the fact that I don’t have much interest in dating content in HPHM, so you might say it’s very subjective rambling. But I think I also have some more objective arguments for that statement, so… hear me out (or don’t; I can’t tell you what to do).

Some spoilers for the Festival Fun TLSQ, the Celestial Ball TLSQ, the First Date TLSQ, the Valentine’s Day TLSQ, the All-Wizards Tournament TLSQ, and “Cooking Up Trouble” SQ.

First of all, I want to address the most obvious counterargument for my wish: “but people want dating!”. Yeah, I know. But here’s a thing. A long time ago, almost at the very beginning of the game’s existence, when we were only speculating about any love interests, people were referencing one article. The article where the creators claimed that romance is planned for the future (among other things). And if you ask me, it was their mistake. It was a mistake because it created expectations which they had to react to. The problem is that they were never ready to introduce such type of content. I mean, just look at the past events. Andre mentioned dating when he was first introduced back in Y3 (!), and he said then that most people don’t date until they’re in the fourth year. And yes, the Celestial Ball was eventually placed as Y4 Achievement, but the main story was well into Y5 already! What I take from this is that at best, they had only a rough idea for the ball when they wrote Andre’s comment in Y3 (if it took them so long to actually create the quest). And so, I have to wonder – why they even talked about dating in Y3 if they were not ready? Now, I’m not saying that nobody would ask for dating if Jam City didn’t mention it in that article, or Andre omitted that topic in Y3. There’d definitely be people still wishing for some romance. But there’d be no actual reasons to expect that. Because HPHM was created as a mystery story (even if people don’t remember about it anymore), and a mystery story doesn’t really need romance.

The second thing I’d like to point out for the sake of this discussion is that the dating quests require quite a lot of work from the devs team. Admittedly, the quality of those efforts is sometimes questionable, but still. I’m also no tech or game design expert, but here are some things which I believe make dating quests more time-consuming than most of the others:

Designing outfits. Each of the datable characters is given a new outfit (+ new outfits for MC). I also want to notice that most of those outfits are one-time-use. Well, except maybe for the bundles available to buy for real money…

Creating new locations/characters. To be fair, some of “regular” quests require those too, although the majority uses things already existing and being used in the main story.

Creating new animations: dancing, holding hands, pecks on the cheek, more (new) dancing.

Creating multiple routes for different date options – and even if it’s mostly copy-paste, it takes time nonetheless.

To be clear, creating new things for the game is not bad. My point is that basically every dating adventure required ALL of that invested in one single quest – and pretty much none of that can be reused outside of dating. In fact, they’re not even reusing those animations completely for each new date. The kiss from the Valentine’s Day was different from the recent one, the Festival had new dances added to make it more diverse in comparison to the Celestial Ball etc. And what those unique quests have to offer? One cute moment with your date, which is… kind of meaningless. I’m sorry, but dating stories are basically irrelevant in the bigger picture. I mean, yeah, they’re adorable, but that’s it. And it’s just NOT proportional to all the work put into them. Because look…

The dating quests add very little to nothing to flesh out the characters – and if they do, it has nothing to do with dating.

The Celestial Ball did a pretty great job at adding to Rowan and Ben. People often criticise MC for “forcing” them to come to the party, but the problem was clearly about them feeling not good enough to go (not necessarily about them not wanting to go), and so I really loved working on their self-confidence. Bill also grew a lot in that quest, overcoming his rejection from Emily Tyler. Andre discovered his styling talent, so he was no longer “just” a brilliant Quidditch player. Even Penny had some insecurities to face as she wanted to prove that she’s not only popular but she can also create fantastic decorations. So… couldn’t it just be a quest about FRIENDSHIP and our friends growing? The whole dating subplot felt kind of forced to me, or maybe rather detached. Not to mention that THAT was kind of a dick move to leave Rowan and Ben after using the argument:

The next quests were more oriented on dating itself, but at the same time, they’re focused less on the characters’ individual personalities. Sure, there are some differences between dates, but it’s more about distinction than adding anything new. For instance, in the Festival Fun TLSQ, every character yells out loud that you’re on a date (unless you chose to keep it a secret), MC just points out that it’s unlike them in the case of Talbott, Jae, and Chiara. Next example: I thought it’s pretty amusing that Jae writes dreadful poems with cheap rhymes, but it turns out that the note with Butterbeer could also be left by Barnaby. I know that in MY playthrough, Barnaby didn’t leave it, but I can’t see it as Jae’s characteristic, simply because it wasn’t written for his character – it was written to fit Jae and Barnaby, so it’s kinda meaningless in my eyes.

Another thing is that even if those dates added something individual, it’d be relevant only for a limited audience. Like, I’m really happy for people who wanted to date Badeea, but for me, she barely existed in this quest. It added NOTHING to her character. During the First Date quest, Tulip revealed that girls in her family are being named after flowers (her cousin is called Marigold), which is a pretty neat fact, but I wouldn’t know it if I didn’t put extra effort to see different options. And believe me, there’s a big part of the payers who don’t do it. I’m still seeing on social media people being surprised that Rowan’s gender and House are connected to MC’s.

And speaking of that already: this is why the dating options are being cut off. And honestly, it sucks, but I get it, I really do. The devs have to spend the same amount of time on a character dated by 6% of the players as on a character dated by 36% of the players. Let’s add real money to that, and let’s say that 10% of all players buy gems/energy on TLSQs. Jam City will make more money out of that 36% than out of 6% - it’s as simple as that. At the end of the day, they are a business. Would it be nice to make all players happy? Of course, but it’s easier to keep the majority happy.

The dating quests don’t really matter for the main story – and they won’t matter more in the future.

Why? Because it’d be too complicated at this point. All we’re getting (and what we’ll ever get) are subtle differences in dialogues. And you know what? Even that doesn’t matter much. For example, in Y6, there’s a scene where Talbott calls MC to the Owlery and offers his help in searching through the letters. He talks then about their friendship, and if you took him on a date, he mentions it as well. The thing is that Talbott is pretty heart-warming here in general, how he opens on us being friends:

Sure, that one additional line is pretty cute, but again, is it really a satisfying pay-off from the dating quest, considering how much was put into it? And I don’t think they even can do more because they always have to keep in mind the players who didn’t manage to finish TLSQs in time or just didn’t want to do it.

I don’t want to be only negative about dating because that’s not really my point, so here are some ideas on how to invest all of that time better (and no, it’s not just the lore and in-depth history of the Cursed Vaults because I know I’m in the minority who cares about it):

More outfits for NPCs which could be used for variety. I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of seeing characters like Penny, Merula, Ben, or Talbott in their full school robes ALL THE FREAKING TIME. Ideally, I wish every character to have three outfits: full school robes, some variety of a uniform (so something like Tulip and Barnaby) used in the school but outside of classes, and something totally casual used outside of the castle.

More animations between characters like hugs, patting on the arm etc. Anything which could be used almost on a daily basis, and which would make our interactions looks more natural and less stiff. Seriously, I’ll take a supportive hug instead of a peck on the cheek ANY DAY.

More character-centric quests. So many of our friends need their own SQ: Tulip, Badeea, Liz, Diego. The rest could probably also use them to expand their characters – because those SQs do a great job at this. Like, I took Jae to the festival, and it was alright, but to be completely honest, his “Cooking Up Troubles” SQ was SO MUCH BETTER for his character. We learnt new things about Jae, we had some really cute friendship moments (like this and this)… And it was a super simple quest with only seven parts in total! It just needed to be written: no new locations, animations etc. Yet, the pay-off was just… better, more meaningful.

Another thing that could be done in those character-centric quests is more focus on the relationships between our friends because, in my opinion, this is needed as well. I want to talk here a little about the “All-Wizards Tournament” TLSQ, which I think is really underrated. This is probably because of people claiming that Jam City is reaching too much to reference the books events AND because of Rowan’s absence. And don’t get me wrong, those are valid objections. But when it comes to the characters… this TLSQ was pretty great. We saw a lot of our friends' insecurities (Barnaby, Jae, Liz), we saw their more competitive side (Andre, Badeea)… Badeea was especially interesting to me as she showed that she can be quite cunning when she somehow learnt about the first task. She also didn’t reveal that information to Merula and Ismelda because they were occupying the training dummies, but she did share with MC (meaning that you really want to have her on your side…).

It somehow made me think about the situation from Y5 when she admitted that she tricked Jae into thinking that she knows Apparition by using an Invisibility Cloak. It’s nice to know there’s more to her than meets the eye, which was also cohesive with the main story (even if we don’t see it much). The TLSQ also showed some dynamics between our friends, like Jae and Andre (which I mentioned here). And of course, I really enjoyed the ending conclusion: that some tasks can be dealt with only when you work together. Again, I’d love to see this theme being explored more because it creates such a compelling contrast between Jacob and MC. Jacob didn’t have many friends at school. We only know about Duncan and Olivia, and it’s still unclear if Olivia was an actual friend or a colleague they worked with. Not to mention that it was implied that for some time, Jacob was working all alone. Meanwhile, MC has basically the whole army at this point. It’d be interesting to see that this is one of the things which makes MC stronger than their brother.

Now, the reason why the “All-Wizards Tournament” TLSQ could focus on all of that is because we didn’t waste the time on all of “secret admires mystery”, “oh, who should I choose” etc. So, just as a thought experiment, let’s think about how the Festival Fun could improve if we’d eliminate the dating aspect. First of all, more characters could get more screen time, like Badeea, maybe Tulip… Liz? Diego (our dancer!)? Ismelda? Even Talbott didn’t have a big role unless you chose him as a date. The plot could also be more dynamic instead of a whole bunch of stalling. I’d leave the investigation with Andre because I think it’s a great addition to his character, but it’s also fucking sad that any development he’s getting is around dating. Like, the boy deserves so much better. So, let’s change that! Let’s say he asks MC for help because he’s styling some summer outfits for the upcoming festival, but one of his fabrics is missing. Perhaps it’s a bit more expensive material, so they suspect that Jae might’ve “borrowed” it to make some money. Jae, of course, is deeply insulted because he’s a smuggler and an occasional cheater, but not a thief! They argue with Andre, but eventually, they come to understanding. Then, MC remembers that Badeea wanted to experiment with painting methods, so perhaps she decided to incorporate some fabric into that. We find Badeea and Barnaby, they don’t have what we’re looking for, but there’s some action going on there, maybe including Talbott… Long story short, it turns out that Tulip needed it in preparation for Cruppies race or something. I don’t know, I’m coming up with it pretty much as I write. The point is that the time spent on talking about dating could’ve been used on something more specific, individual, which could be more meaningful in the light of the main story. And since there’d be no routes, all of that would be relevant for everyone after completing the quest. Want it to be even better? Make it a regular side quest, not time-limited.

All right, but couldn’t we just have both: characters development and dating? Of course, that’d be ideal. But as I said before, Jam City is a business and rarely any business is ideal. They’ll always prioritise a limited number of things, and since people whine about dating, we’re getting dating. And again, I’m not saying that dating is totally worthless, and I get that people find it cute and whatnot. I just believe that what dating ultimately adds to the game is not proportionate to the time and effort those quests require to be created. That it could’ve been invested better. Dating is basically stopping us from getting better content (at least in some areas). And we’re kind of asking for that…

[melias-cimitiere]

Ontological Cores

Every person (ego) has an inner core, what they feel as the soul (core). A particularly insightful explanation is met in Vodou (West Africa/Haiti) as petit-bon-ange and gros-bon-ange; this is equivalent to the KA and BA of the Egyptians respectively. Now here comes the treat; all humans possess the ego part / the I (which lives only once and perishes after - some of this remaining only as energy field) and the deeper part which is eternal. This "Being" is not always human! Think carefully what I'm saying; here's where it's gonna get weird, but hear me out. There is a set number of categories of Ontological Cores (OCs) that were created. In the Golden Age of Mankind, or even before that, upon this planet lived a huge variety of beings that now have come to pass into myths and legends. Some of them existed for real, others were amalgamations of truth and wild stories, later distorted and through superstition, became nonsense. This planet has seen terrible wars in the past, as it most likely see more in the future; unfortunately Strife is part of living in the Material Universe; in any case, after the last War that changed the continents irrevocably and plunged mankind into Stone Age (again), several of these Beings ended up being incarnated into human bodies. So that cycle started for millennia since. You realize that I don't talk about Buddhism here; this is a different concept, and relates to fragmentation. When an angel or a demon is "destroyed", (s)/he fragments. The shards enter human bodies and live independent lives, as independent beings, with the sole yearning to reunite with their totality. This isn't some fluffy New Age crap; it's dead serious. In any case, let's assume a shard makes it to become self-aware. Only then can the process truly begin; he/she will seek initiation or some form of regaining lost power, thus what I told you about re-capping will take place at an accelerated speed, compared with normal humans. Like I said, we are all humans on the outside; but the inside, that varies. The majority of Mankind are in fact humans, so their OC is human. But the other Beings, also exist in small proportions. Any serious initiation work starts with Awakening the core. Without that, a person lives life like an automaton, having no real sense of purpose, no deeper meaning other than perhaps an educated animal. So if they mocked or ignored the initiations, that's their loss. A pity about the lost opportunity though.

The mortal self is expendable and cannot manifest; it is only the core that Manifests, through using the body as puppeteer. Co-existence across time works only for people truly advanced in spirit; there's the same principle of economy in the universe, like there's no point of infinite iterations of the same base energies - only those beyond a certain limit may stack such parallel "appearances" as you said. The middle scenario is more plausible, and quite close to what I said, regarding how the higher self, appearing again after death... certainly this happens to 99% of the people who are uninitiated, however those that are Awakening (enabling the core) will experience Higher Self activation while still in life, and this in my opinion is the best possible from all angles.

It is important to be able to sense both the angelic and the demonic in all things; this constant change of perspective can sometimes exhaust, and you would certainly feel like a battleground within. For those of you with demonic OCs, your OC is giving you benefits as well: You have keen insight for opportunity and your mind is sharp and effective. The demons are certainly more "practical" when it comes to matters on this earth than the angels (although there are always exceptions).

My heretical view is that neither side is "to be banished"; both have a role to play, much like when you go to watch the games, and there are two teams, thrashing each other. If we hate one team so badly that we go shooting them, there won't be another match next season, or ever again. But let's suppose that both sides are needed in the grand scheme of things, in order for it to move into phase B. So you got the angelic forces on the 8th and on the Sephirothic Heavens, and you get the demonic forces in Daath and the Qlippothic Shell Domains. Both are needed for the system to move properly; it's like a car where opposing forces are necessary in order to guide it - turning the wheel on the left all the time isn't going to do much in the long run, same as turning on the right would equally suck if done all the time. In other words, a mastermind (like Thoth, who played both sides supporting Set and also Horus in their struggle opposing each other) maintains a delicate balance through opposing forces. That the name of the game: conflict! But not brutal, idiotic conflict; but something to generate enough change and synthesis. Angels play it by the book, citing rules and opting for Order; demons are down-breakers of change, forces of opposition and teaching through adversity.

I believe there might be some confusion between the two large category of demons and what happens when they are defeated.

There are the shells, who are trillions and trillions, comprising of the ground troops; these are little more than programmable automatons, built like in demonic factories. Some of them are capable for independent thought and behavior but again, this is programmable, much like NPCs in a roleplaying game. They are mass-produced by the second category, the Actual Demons. These are Empowered through the Black Flame, they possess a mighty flaming Core and are millions of years old. When defeated, the shells like their name, shatter and perish. But that's hardly an issue because they are mass-produced anyway. Actual Demons (including their Legions who are also actual demons) when defeated they cannot die; much like an angel or a draconian entity cannot perish, their form breaks but their Essence remains; worst case scenario means that the vanquished Demon takes a period (varying from demon to demon) to reform or re-substantiate. Hence if someone, a human for example, checks at a demon's status in 1500, maybe that Demon suffered a defeat, but if another researcher says the same in 1600 simply by copying the other human; that could be a mistake. The demon is alive and well in 1600, and the same could go for any age/era, because Demons are alive and hell is in a state of flux; trying to determine its current status may be hard at times, but to say which demons are fully active due to some old grimoire is folly. In any case, when investigating this in person your instinct will serve you well. Other investigators may also confirm the same.

[satoshi-mochida]

Tobyfox has provided a status update on the second chapter and beyond of Undertale sequel Deltarune in celebration of Undertale‘s fifth anniversary today.

First, here are the latest screenshots from Deltarune‘s second chapter:

Get the full update below.

Introduction

Hi everyone.

If you’re reading this, you must have been sticking around for about five years.*

I want to express my gratitude for everyone that has supported and encouraged me over this time.

Thank you.

I’ve said it many many times before, but I didn’t expect the simple game I made to receive so much attention. Because of that, many interesting things have happened, and now I can even spend my time making another game.

It seems both of us received a lot of happiness from this occurrence.

If it’s okay, I would like to keep striving to do things that make both of us happy.

Let me know what you think about that.

*Since the Undertale demo released in 2013, the game has really existed for 7 years. It’s already been more than 25% of my life…

Deltarune

I will make another.

I am making a game called “Deltarune.” It is the second game in the Undertale series.

The game will be released in many “Chapters,” the first of which I released two years ago on Halloween. Since that time, I’ve been working hard to figure out the rest of the game.

However, it’s a game that’s much harder to make than Undertale.

Graphics are more complicated and several times more involved.

Systems are more complicated.

Exposes the weak points of my creative and artistic ability.

Plot is much harder to tie together (more characters, more important locations).

Significantly more content than Undertale in one playthrough (especially cutscenes).

I have only made one game ever.

Unlike Undertale, this is the type of game that would normally have many designers working on each aspect of the game.

A story writer, a composer, an audio director, a map designer, a battle designer, a minigame designer, and an overall director. Instead, all of those roles end up handled by me.

The good news is that a few months ago, I completed a significant milestone regarding the game’s design. I completed readable outlines for every chapter in the game, including first-pass dialogue for almost all the cutscenes, examples of the music, etc.

Although certain details are still hazy, the flow of the game and all major events and battles that take place are now clear.

In summary, I largely spent the past two years writing, composing, designing, and drawing. However, that’s not the whole story.

We had actually attempted to develop the game since the time too. Development started around March 2019 and a 99% work was spent on investigating engines alternate to GameMaker, which I used for Chapter 1.

Without getting into the details, I decided a few months ago to go back to GameMaker after all. It still felt like the best fit for the project. So using Chapter 1 as a base, we’ve started creating Chapter 2 since May 2020.

A lot of progress has been made since that time. I believe we can complete this chapter, content-wise, before the end of the year (not accounting for translation, bugtesting, and porting).

I feel very confident. And the strange thing is, even though we ended up using the original engine, I don’t regret the lost time, either. Not only was I still busy designing the game, but during that long period, I was able to think of many ideas that make the game’s story and characters better.

I’m glad that I’m making the Deltarune that I have now and that we are making healthy progress.

Deltarune Status Estimate

■ Chapter 2 (04.15.20 – 08.13.20)

Phase 1: Design

Main Design: 100% (dialogue, etc.)

Initial Setup: 100% (stuff involved setting up people to make the game, adding debug tools, documentation, etc.)

Phase 2: Implementation (05.01.20 ~ 08.13.20)

Art: 90%

Cutscenes: 80% (90% are started, needs 2nd pass)

Bullet Patterns: 70% (enemies are mostly completed, bosses are about 40% done, needs 2nd pass)

Non-Bullet Battle Elements: 30% (Some ACTs are done and enemies are fightable, but interactive ACTs need to be completed and polished and the bosses aren’t programmed outside of bullet patterns)

Audio: 80%

Maps: ??% most are started or placeholder, most need 2nd pass. NPC interactions are completed in all spots where written.

Other: 65%

Phase 3: Finishing

Balancing: 0%

Bugfixing: 0%

Translation: 0%

Porting: 0%

(Honestly, a lot of stuff FEELS like 80% to me, but the truth is that what’s there is quite rough now. Polish ends up taking a lot of time, so the real actual time value may be around 50% done…? We’ll see what happens. It’ll be a lesson for everybody.)

■ Chapters 3 and Beyond

Phase 1: Design

Story and General Game Progression (first-pass): 100%

Cutscene Dialogue (first-pass, lacking cutscene instructions): 95%

Map Design (textual): 70% (varies per chapter, earlier chapters totally completed)

Map Design (drawn): 0% (this takes a lot of wrist energy so I don’t do it until we start programming)

Enemy Design (conceptual): 90% (all bosses are known)

Enemy Design (bullets / visual): 80% (varies per chapter, earlier chapters totally completed)

Music (concept): 95%

Music (completed): 50%

Visual Design:BG Concept (first-pass): 75%, Important Character, Bosses (first-pass): 100%

Phase 2

Sprite Art: 20%?

Other Content Creation: 0%

Phase 3

Release Readiness: 0%

(These numbers can be somewhat deceptive though. My true design style is to reach the moment where we have to make something, then suddenly think of something different at the last minute. This is always how it’s been with me and my work. It feels like no matter how much I plan, everything comes down to what I think of at the last second…)

Team and Disability

You may have noticed from my phrasing, but yes, there is a team helping me create the game. Other than me, there are about three active team members working day-to-day, with a few other people pitching in from time to time.

Their roles of the main members are overall content implementation and organization, bullet pattern implementation (part-time), and art (Temmie). Other than designing, I still have the role of system programmer.

I’m extremely grateful to have a team helping me carry out my design especially because of my disabilities, which have also made development more difficult.

Although I have long suffered from wrist and hand pain, about five months ago my wrist was the worst it’s ever been. I could not play the piano, use the mouse, and barely could use the keyboard. I navigated everything through voice to text.

Through weightlifting, exercise, and various equipment I have been able to somewhat increase the stamina of my wrist to an extent. Various solutions have included trackball mice for each hand, using voice to text whenever possible, using a foot pedal to click the mouse, etc.

Now I can use the mouse and keyboard for a certain amount each day provided I take frequent breaks. I wish I could work without stopping. Once the world situation improves I would really like to take physical therapy again and/or investigate surgery to repair my wrist.

Future Plans

Once we finish Chapter 2, I would like to use it as the base to create future chapters from. After gaining experience from this chapter, I think making future chapters will be easier.

Part of me wonders if we could make the game faster if we increased the size of the team and did something insane like create multiple chapters in parallel. However, another part of me understands that, adding more people doesn’t guarantee that the game will be created faster if it’s not done properly. I’m already just barely avoiding becoming a bottleneck on development even with a team of this size, due to my physical limitations.

To that end, I am interested in making a list of people that could potentially help me make the game. I’m not 100% sure if I’m going to ask anyone to help, but I think if I could find just 1 person that works well with me, it’s worth asking.

Chapter 2 is proceeding at a good pace, so if we do take anyone on, it will probably only be for Chapter 3 onward. So please understand that anything you send in may not have an immediate result.

People I Am Looking For

Feel free to send in your portfolio if you have the following qualifications:

Worked in the game industry before

Worked under NDA before

Have professional references

A degree of creativity while also being okay with just following directions

Fluent in English

People I Might Actually Use

Music Transcription / Basic Arrangement (Part-Time)

I usually start making songs by playing the piano and singing. An important step after this is to take this basic outline and transcribe it into melodies and chords. Though there are not too many remaining songs to transcribe, it would still help my wrist to have someone else start this process for me. Although I know many musicians, I’m sheepish to ask for help to them, because the main role is actually just to help me compose my own music…

Helpful qualities:

Good at transcription.

Can stand listening to me sing.

Optional: can use an old version of Fruity Loops.

Bullet Pattern Programming (Part-Time)

I’m looking for someone to help me program bullet patterns into the game. These people will work from text and visual designs to create fun battles that match the feeling of the game. I already have one person helping with this, but I think a second person would help a lot. You have to be able to use Gamemaker Studio 2 to manipulate objects on the screen / okay with using pre-existing scripts to accomplish this.

Helpful qualities:

Sense of fun and understanding of player perspective and gameplay balance. This aspect is [many times] more important than programming ability.

Reliable.

Able to make patterns based off of visual/text instructions.

Fine working with a poorly made battle system.

Able to sprite bullets.

Good visual / timing sense.

Minigame Programming (Part-Time)

There are a few minigames and small interactive events in the game, which appear in and outside of battles. These could take any kind of form… who knows what I’m thinking! Have you made a game before?

Helpful qualities:

Same sense of humor as me.

Some level of spriting ability is useful.

You have to have made a game that is fun.

Ability to work together with me.

Unlikely to Hire, But Send Me Your Information Just In Case

Cutscene Programming (Part-Time)

Besides the battles, the largest amount of content in the game is definitely the cut scenes. You will have to understand Gamemaker Studio 2, but the majority of the work is simply using a scripting system that I created to make characters move around the screen. The most important quality you can have here is not programming ability but the ability to efficiently use the system in order to create scenes with a good sense of humor, timing, and emotion.

I’d strongly prefer to hire someone I know to do this because it involves the story. So I most likely won’t hire anyone else.

Helpful qualities:

Can take text instructions and impart a proper sense of timing, humor, and weight to them.

Fine working with a custom scripting system (or smart enough to make something better that makes the game easier to make).

Art (Part-Time)

Sprite art—Temmie has already drawn a massive amount of art for the game, and continues to do so. And I actually already have a few other artists that have helped me that I’m more than happy to keep working with if things become more overwhelming. So currently I actually don’t need any more artists.

However, personally, I’d really like to build up a portfolio of available pixel artists and even concept artists. It’s not as if this is the only game I will make during my life. Anyone chosen for this game needs to be able to match the style of the game, but I’m interested in seeing people with different styles as well. Knowing that I have different options can open my mind up to different creative pathways.

Helpful qualities:

Can take bad looking sketches and turn them into art that looks good (magic).

Don’t mind if your work gets completely drawn over or thrown out.

Anyone that can draw cute or cool poses is good.

Uninterested in seeing people that have an art style outside of the scope of the game.

Write (Full-Time)

Someone needs to transform into a new wrist for me.

Helpful qualities:

Flexible.

Doesn’t hurt.

Musical sense.

That’s everyone I’m looking for. The only other kind of person I might hire would be a single jack-of-all-trades type that can do any sort of things such as cutscenes, bullets, or even system programming, with a good degree of visual flair. (But if you can do those sorts of things, aren’t you busy making your own game already!?)

Anyway, I’ll show you the e-mail now. Just make sure you read these rules first:

Don’t send in e-mails about anything else!

Don’t send to other team members, Fangamer, etc. about helping out!

Got it? Then please send your information to this e-mail address:

deltarunejobs@fangamer.com

Since Fangamer will be sorting through the e-mails for me, we’ll stop taking e-mails at the end of September so they don’t get overwhelmed. Ultimately, I’m only looking for one or two people, and to make a list of the rest of the potentially helpful people in the world.

Undertale is available now for PlayStation 4, Switch, PS Vita, and PC via Steam and GOG. Deltarune Chapter 1 is availble for PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC via Deltarune.com.

[super-famicom-star-inactive]

Throwback Tuesday

December 29th, 2020

The very last Throwback Tuesday of the year!!

For this week's episode, we will not only celebrate the recent anniversary of Sonic's major outing into 3D but also dive into one of my favorite video game guilty pleasures

Just a heads-up, this will be a two-parter as we will look into Sonic Adventure 2.

May I present

Sonic Adventure (1998)

Production History

Original Release: December 23rd, 1998 (JPN), September 9th, 1999 (USA), September 23rd, 1999 (PAL)

Future Releases: Gamecube (June 17th, 2003, USA), Windows (September 14th, 2005, USA), XBox 360 (September 15th, 2010, USA), PS3 (September 20th, 2010, USA), Steam (March 4th, 2011)

Developer: SEGA

Publisher: SEGA

Director: Takashi Iizuka

Producer: Yuji Naka

Artist(s): Kazuyuki Hoshino, Yuji Uekawa

Designer(s): Takao Miyoshi, Takashi Iizuka, Yojiro Ogawa

Programmers: Tetsu Katano, Yoshitaka Kawabita

Writer: Akinori Nishiyama

Composer(s): Jun Senoue, Kenichi Tokoi, Fumie Kumatani, Masaru Setsumaru

Inspiration

Due to the cancellation of Sonic X-treme on the SEGA Saturn, Sonic Team immediately went about trying to develop the first 3D Sonic game. With the release of Sony's Crash Bandicoot and Nintendo's Super Mario 64, they needed a killer app to sell the Dreamcast and tension was high. Production started in 1997 where Sonic Team famously traveled to Latin America to study on the culture and architecture of major cities like those found in Cancun, Guatemala, and Peru to use for the environments in-game.

Story

In this game (a first for the series), you have the option to play six different stories of six different characters: Sonic, Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Big, and E-102 Gamma. When a mysterious humanoid monster made entirely of water shows up out of nowhere, Sonic and the gang team up to retrieve the seven Chaos Emeralds and use their power to halt Dr. Eggman's plans of summoning an ancient water monster Chaos to unleash havoc. Throughout each of the six quests, the characters uncover clues about the origins of Chaos and how Chaos became the most feared monster.

Gameplay

Sonic Adventure is a 3D platformer spread across multiple environments from Station Square to Windy Valley. In between the various maps are hub worlds (like Station Square) where you can talk to NPCs and TV screens to learn tips and tricks. Although the characters differ in story progression, the tracks for the platforming segments are times and your final score is ranked on how fast you complete the track as well as your number of rings and how many enemies you attacked. When you want to take a break, there is a separate hub world called the Chao Garden where you get to raise cute little creatures called Chao and take care of them.

Reception

At the time of release, it was well-received by critics and gamers alike, making it the best-selling title on the Dreamcast. Particular aspects that were praised included the music and the visuals as Sonic Team strove to create the most realistic visuals possible to showcase what the Dreamcast was capable of. Some drawbacks, however, were just as noticeable with the weird camera angles and glitches that were present. The reactions to the voice-acting were mixed.

Legacy

Although the game has received less positive reviews over the years due to it aging poorly, it is still considered one of the best Sonic games to date for its high replay value, music and other extras. It even received a Gamecube port known as Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut a few years later that improved the original version. It is still remembered fondly by Sonic fans to this day.

Thoughts from the Head

Although I didn't play SA1 until recently (I played SA2 first on the Gamecube), the influence that Sonic Adventure had was immense, even a decade later thanks to the Internet. The soundtrack alone is one of the best-remembered OSTs in gaming history and its staying power is a force to be reckoned with in the gaming world. Has it aged poorly? Yes. Is it still worth playing? Also yes. Sonic Adventure is a fascinating game in terms of development history and scope. Sonic Team really did try to show what the Dreamcast was able to do graphically and, while it may have aged, it also carries a certain charm as well that you really can't be mad at it. That all being said, if you have a Dreamcast, Gamecube, or Steam, I would encourage you to give the game a chance. Personally though, it's better to play it either on the original Dreamcast or Steam as the Gamecube version, while improved on the mechanics, is horrendous graphics-wise. Best bet? Play the Steam version as it doesn't require a lot to power to run it and the graphics and glitches have been fixed.

I actually do a Dreamcast copy in my possession, however it is in the dorm so I don't have immediate access to it. I also have the Steam version I bought from a sale a few years ago (as of this post, it is on sale for $1.19 and the sale is good until January 5th. The normal price is $7.99).

Check it out!

[rpgmgames]

February’s Featured Game: Ressurflection

DEVELOPER(S): charlottezxz ENGINE: RPG Maker MV GENRE: Fantasy, Cartoon, RPG WARNINGS: Paranoia, fear and tension, mild swearing and blood. SUMMARY: Ressurflection is a Fantasy/cartoon RPG set in the fictional universe of the Arbvar and taking center stage primarily at the coastal city of ‘Horizon Bluff’. Its story and game play are heavily character driven, with its narrative divided into two parallels told both within and outside the mirror itself. Ressurflection’s core themes draw from our inevitability of fearing death, and that at some point or another, we all must accept it, and to treasure what’s really important in the time that we have.

Our Interview With The Dev Team Below The Cut!

Introduce yourself! *charlottezxz: Hiya this is Charlotte, lead game developer for Ressurflection! I’m some silly, overactive drawing monkey who works a lot with Narrow on Ressurflection! I’m always sketching and conceptualizing monster bois, taking a lot of inspiration from various games, primarily monster hunter! I’ve had avid interest in the Indie scene for a while now and a lot of the great friends I've made have been due to it and a lot of my recent favorite games have come from it! I would have had Narrow say a few things here but he’s hiding in a corner somewhere!

What is your project about? What inspired you to create this game initially? *charlottezxz: Ressurflection started out as what can be described as two separate stories. Myself and Narrow wrote our own stories and every so often we swapped over ideas or combined them together with each other. One day I said to ourselves ‘You know what? This could work quite well as a game rather than just a story’ so eventually Ressurflection was conceived, around the idea of a mythical mirror capable ‘Ressurflection’ the title of the game. We’ve gone through quite a few iterations of the story before it came to its current form and to be honest if we even showed or compared them side by side they’d be pretty unrecognizable as the same thing except for certain characters, locations and the mirror itself to identify its primordial form having any kind of ancestral relevance to how it is today. As for what Ressurflection is about, I think our synopsis can get that across quite nicely! ‘Horizon Bluff has always annually held its ‘Legend of the Wyvern Glass’ festivities. The Wyvern glass was a long lost mythical mirror, once fabled for its power of ‘Ressurflection’ and coveted by a kingdom now all but gone. That is quick to change however with the arrival of the Roulette Runner’s circus to the coastal city of Horizon Bluff. Trouble is soon to set in motion not just the kingdom’s sudden reappearance but the entrapment of one of their own acrobats within the mirror silver. Yet things are soon to worsen...with the spread of a purple ‘corruption’ across the city and the fact that our most unfortunate trouper is far from alone within the mirror, finding himself at the mercy of its ‘Mirror Maiden’. > The apparent all powerful manipulator of its realm…’

How long have you been working on your project? *charlottezxz: Conceptually we have been working on it for 4 years which is hard to even fathom, however that’s more tinkering around the idea for the story and conceiving it as we learnt the engine. The blog itself is hitting its 4th birthday in February! Ressuflection’s development went on as i attended university, so its always been a side lined hobby of ours.Steam says 108 days worth of hours in the engine and most of the game progress other than concepts has been done in 2019. So I could say 4 years for the ideas/stories and concepts and a year of that for actual game making!

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project? *charlottezxz: We each have our own inspirations, Lost Odyssey, Final Fantasy 9, Xenoblade Chronicles, Monster hunter and many older PSX titles such as Medievil, Tomba and Heart of darkness are great influences and inspirations to me personally. The dark, dangerous environments of Heart of darkness contrasted by some innocent characters, the monster designs in capcom’s franchise and the storytelling and themes with a cinematic approach to cut scenes found in some of FF9, Xenoblade and Lost odyssey, a lost game stuck in the recess of the xbox 360. There are many more but these spring to mind first and foremost. Narrow himself draws inspiration from games such as Earthbound, the Persona series and FF10!

Have you come across any challenges during development? How have you overcome or worked around them? *charlottezxz: We started the project in VX ace to begin with, until MV released. It was in Ace that I experimented learning RPG maker and in the early days of MV too. Although before Ressurflection’s time i also dabbled a bit in XP. MV seemed more in line for what we wanted, as i really wanted to try animating beyond SV sheets and do more, with Java being a bit more flexible and the scope of it being able to allow dragon bones later. However it hasn’t been without its hiccups! Part of that is the sheer amount of time you underestimate games and certain elements to take in their development. That and everything that comes with it, streamlining, trimming the fat...in the past week alone i spent days optimizing pictures, sounds and music in the game to cut down the staggering file sizes they were. So far they have retained their form without being as costly on the MB! Since I do the vast majority of the game development myself, everything takes a lot longer to develop. You underestimate all the little things to consider and that you may need later. By the end of development, I hope to have the vast majority of the game consist of custom assets and be able to truly call it something that is ours. Though that path is long ahead we won’t stray too far from it.

Have any aspects of your project changed over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept? *charlottezxz: The game itself has always been a story-driven RPG at its heart, although certain game mechanics have been scaled down or developed further from puzzles to battle flow. As mentioned previously, the story has changed considerably which changed the direction of the overall narrative and gameplay as a whole. Certain characters and scenarios have been culled completely too. At its start the story wasn’t as heartfelt nor was the scope of the story all that big - Oh and the game had a time limit, a bit like Majora’s Mask! But it is a lot more meaningful now and we hope that you will enjoy it when the time comes.

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team? If you don’t have a team, do you wish you had one or do you prefer working alone? *charlottezxz: It has been just myself and Narrow for the majority of the development but we reached a point where we wanted to reach out to find a musician for our game. We eventually came across Geoff who has done the majority of our music up until recently. However we have had friends help and contribute along the way such as Harry helping sprite some NPCs for me, Bart helping formulate and do some math balancing, Vaijack has also contributed to music making him our second musical boi and more on the way, our preliminary demo testers( it would take a little to list them all) and more peeps i’ll be sure to credit!

What is the best part of developing a game? *charlottezxz: For me it has to be conceptualising all the little ideas we have and bringing them all into being. This is especially so for any monster and character bois! I spend a lot of time visualizing and planning the design of areas, locales and creatures. Would this thing live here? Why would it be this way? If this is a historical town wouldn’t it have x and x? Then when we ultimately put it together, and all the pieces of the puzzle line into place and then you can just...experience, the final thing, that for me is the best part in developing our game for me.

Do you find yourself playing other RPG Maker games to see what you can do with the engine, or do you prefer to do your own thing? *charlottezxz: I learn best by doing, so more often than not I just dive into things, including the engine blind and tussle around with it. It’s a silly way of doing it, but I've often found myself learning more that way than following tutorials. Although in any game I've played, RPG maker or not, i do like to ponder and deconstruct scenes within them. The Witch's house, Pocket Mirror, Dreaming Mary, Mad fathers and Ib are all wonderful games that are great to learn from, dissect and understand what makes and made them tick. This applies across any game I've played or intend to play! I look at game making as one giant puzzle with lots of intricate little details that need to be solved, it’s more fun and engaging that way!

Which character in your game do you relate to the most and why? (Alternatively: Who is your favorite character and why?) *charlottezxz: There’s some characters I like a great deal, but i can’t talk about as it would be spoilers to the plot, that and it’s hard to pick any overall favorites. Charm comes across as a fun character to write for as she’s quite witty and sarcastic, the kind of dialogue that comes a bit too naturally to me. She’s a budding magical prodigy of the circus under the tutelage of Jerine. She bigs herself up a lot but isn’t quite ready to deal with the problems of the adult world just yet, as much as she strives to get into it. Then there’s the likes of Ashley as well, she’s the loudest circus member and a close friend to Zakai, its ringmaster. She’s a super hard working down to earth country girl who isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty and jump into the thick of things. Honestly I love all the cast, but there’s those two for now!

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently? *charlottezxz: I would say ideally we should have had all our ducks in a row before we dove into development. My development style is very messy, especially since when we started development we had a lot of learning ahead of us. That combined with focusing on a lot of coursework and real life things meant I often forgot how we made things for consistency. This has improved considerably since i started getting more organised now, keeping lists and things tabbed for reference. My desk has bits of paper kept with it with information I need to retain. I forget far too many things for my own good, but now I'm taking better count measures! I would advise anyone to keep tabs of important information about your game such as consistent sprite style sizes, resolution size, x and y positions of certain things and important variables and switches.

Do you plan to explore the game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is? *charlottezxz: There’s a few ideas bounced about to do side stories for some of the cast of characters in the circus, such as before they became one and the origins of how certain members joined the circus essentially the ‘First Stringers’ and ‘Second stringers’, these being those that joined afterwards. These would be great to do as small little episodes added onto the game post development, but currently they are just ideas and won’t be given too much thought until the game is either done or close to fruition.

What do you most look forward to upon finishing the game? *charlottezxz: My most hopeful thought is for people to enjoy the game and have as much fun and interest in it as myself and Narrow have had in creating it. It’s the kind of game we want to make and hope that the characters and story chime with people enough for people to see the journey through to its end! It’s a big scope of a project but i have endless enthusiasm for it, no matter how long it takes it will get out there at some point!

Is there something you’re afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game? *charlottezxz: That the games story and overall feel doesn’t quite hit the right notes, it's always a little back concern. From a technical perspective I would say that the game might have some oversighted bugs or critical crashes that slip under the radar or not run as smoothly on other PCs on release. We will do our best to optimise the game as much as possible for MV and squash those pesky bugs during testing, but it is on our minds often as a niggling fear.

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs? *charlottezxz: Gut everything from the base project that you know you most definitely will not be needing and give all your files smart tags and naming conventions. It would be great if MV allowed for sub folders, but it does not so naming your files smartly is key to finding what you need. Any of these files you know you will use often in certain ways, make them common events and call for those in events and cut scenes. This saves you mass editing them later. With naming conventions this could be Actor_1_Hurt or Chapter_1_NPC. Anything you want at the top of the list name it with _ to begin with. The bigger our project gets, the more important this has become for us and we hope it serves other inspiring devs well all the same.

Question from last month's featured dev @rojisroomrpg: How do you keep yourself happy and healthy when making your game? *charlottezxz: I’m normally a happy-go-lucky person, so I'm rarely not happy when working on Ressurflection. It's the happy little hobby I devote most of my spare time to. However, recently i would say my hands, wrists and neck have been hurting from spending a little too much time drawing assets and pieces for the game. Taking more breaks and spreading that time with other activities in between has helped to ease that pain and i would like to advise any dev to do so for their own health, including always having one or two bottles of juice, water or whatever beverage always at hand to sip at as you dev away!

We mods would like to thank charlottezxz for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved!

Remember to check out Ressurflection if you haven’t already! See you next month! 

- Mods Gold & Platinum

[mysmashplaythroughs]

Pikachu Playthrough (Fire Red)

Fighter: Pikachu

Game: Pokemon Fire Red, Game Boy Advance. First Released on January 29th 2004.

Fighter Bio.

Pikachu is a species of Electric Mouse Pokemon which is the evolved form of Pichu and evolves into Raichu through the use of a Thunderstone. It is found most often in forests but also has been seen in urban environments such as towns and power plants. Pikachus raise their tails in order to monitor their surroundings and have been known to use their electric power to shock berries in order to tenderise them so they can eat them. They store electricity in the pouches on their cheeks and when many Pikachu gather, they can build their electricity to the point they can cause lightning storms. Pikachus charge electricity as they sleep and therefore will be weaker if they have been unable to rest. A Pikachu holding a light ball, an item that only it can use, will have its special and attack power doubled which can make it stronger without evolving. Pikachus sometimes tend to have a rivalry with their evolved form Raichu and have been known to refuse to evolve.

There have been a few specific notable Pikachu in the game series, the most famous being Red’s Pikachu who has been the highest level Pokemon in the game series used by an NPC. Cosplay Pikachu is another specific Pikachu, in this case a female Pikachu who can be dressed in different ways. Outside of the game series, Pikachu owes most of its fame to the anime series where it is the main character (who is based on Red) Ash’s starter Pokemon and is the only Pokemon that has travelled with him through every series. Due to this, Pikachu is considered the mascot of the entire Pokemon series with it often receiving a new variant, move or form in each Generation of Pokemon.

Crossovers with other Smash characters: As with many Pokemon there haven’t really been any crossovers of Pikachu appearing in other game series. The closest to any sort of crossover is Mario vs Wario being referenced on a tv screen in the Copy Cat’s house in Saffron City. It’s an interesting coincidence that this city is also the one where the Pokemon stage for Super Smash Bros 64 takes place.

Why this game?

I decided to go for this game with regards to Pikachu for a couple of reasons. The first and simplest reason is that this is its debut generation with it being from the Kanto Pokedex. I chose Fire Red as I find Fire Red and Leaf Green to be the best versions of Gen 1 to play, with them having the majority of improvements that had been made to the series by the time it had reached the GBA as well as having a lot more content available such as the Sevii Isles and Pikachu’s pre-evolution Pichu for example which wasn’t in the original game. I also have a lot of nostalgia for these versions of the games which I will detail in Pokemon Trainer’s (Red) post later when it comes to the game specifically. There are later games that would have been just as good to have Pikachu on the team in, however the reason I went for this specifically is that a lot of Super Smash Bros Pokemon content is influenced by the anime, with Pikachu being based a fair bit on Ash’s Pikachu. Therefore, I felt as Pokemon Fire Red is the story of Red’s journey that it made the most sense that my choice for the game to represent Red’s Pikachu, which was based somewhat on Ash’s Pikachu. Finally I’d like to note, I did play Pokemon Yellow later on my list which has Pikachu as the starter and is based on the anime more, however as I wanted to go for the game which is more in line with the overall game canon I decided to stick with this choice for the standard Super Smash Bros Pikachu.

My past with this Pokemon.

So I suppose, although I have long denied it, Pikachu is in a sense my favourite Pokemon of all time. The reason for this is not because of Pikachu as such however, but because my favourite Pokemon of all time is Raichu. As I personally tend to look at Pokemon as the whole evolutionary line overall by extension it would make Pikachu and Pichu (and definitely Alolan Raichu) my favourite Pokemon also. When it comes to me specifically with Raichu, back when I was in school and Pokemon was becoming extremely popular, I remember for some time I hated it, mostly as it was everywhere and I guess I was determined to be a non-conformist. I’ve always been a big fan of figurines however, and I remember when I was at school, seeing someone with a Raichu figure, which really interested me. I forget now but I think I asked them a fair bit about it and they let me have a look at it. I always put that down as the moment I decided to finally give in and look at Pokemon, granted knowing how much of a Nintendo fanboy I am I know it was inevitable I’d probably have looked into it regardless, still I’ve just always found Raichu cool, and that it was the less popular evolution of Pikachu appealed even more to the non-conformist in me I guess. Since then I’ve always been a huge fan of Raichu and I’ll admit it’s made me somewhat tired of Pikachu getting all the glory, so when Raichu finally got something new with its Alolan form I was ecstatic.

Anyway, that’s enough about Raichu, when it comes to Pikachu, I think my favourite element of it has always been that despite its popularity, overall it’s not a huge draw in the games. Pikachu has over the years seen various upgrades such as the Light Ball which powers it up, various alternate forms and unique moves, however in the original Red and Blue it was a fairly simple Pokemon that was somewhat uncommon and would appear not too far into the game, in Viridian Forest. I think that’s always been my favourite aspect of Pikachu when it comes down to it, that it’s not a special event Pokemon, or even a starter Pokemon (barring games like Pokemon Yellow of course) but really just a cute and fairly useful Pokemon you can come across or just totally ignore if you want. I’ve personally often caught a Pikachu during my playthroughs of Gen 1 not just as I want Raichu, but I’ve just always liked finding it, it’s the main thing I tend to look out for in Viridian Forest really. Despite all I’ve said here, I did like however the starter Pikachu in Pokemon Yellow who follows you around, to the point as a kid I’ll admit I’d have a Pikachu plush that I’d like to pretend to go on adventures with. I guess my final comment on Pikachu is simply that whilst I like the current design, I’ve always preferred the chubbier Pikachu design, which coincidentally was the design used in the very first Super Smash Bros before the later games went with the more streamlined version.

My Smash Playthrough.

My Pikachu was Level 56 when I finished the game, with a Bold nature and having been met in Viridian Forest at Level 3. It has the ability Static and the moves Thundershock, Quick Attack, Thunderbolt and Thunder. I remember due to its unevolved form it would struggle a fair bit later in the game with its low defences. If it could pull off an attack however it could still do a fair bit of damage so it didn’t struggle as much as some of the other Pokemon I used in the playthrough. The Elite 4 were the biggest challenge as they often are, however more so in this playthrough than usual due to me using a fair few unevolved Pokemon. Pikachu was able to hold its own against certain Pokemon due to its type advantage following a lot of training, taking down a fair few of Lorelei’s Pokemon and doing well against Gyarados. Beyond this however there aren’t a lot of events related to Pikachu I can remember in this specific playthrough.

Specific aspects about the game relating to Pikachu in Smash.

When it comes to Pokemon it’s usually not too difficult to replicate their portrayal in Super Smash Bros. Pikachu had the moves Thundershock, Quick Attack, Thunderbolt and Thunder in my playthrough of Fire Red. Thunder and Quick Attack are directly used by Pikachu in Super Smash Bros, however in the Smash series, Pikachu uses an attack called Thunder Jolt which does not exist in the Pokemon series. Due to the attack not doing a lot of damage I therefore felt that Thundershock was the best alternative for it. When it comes to Pikachu’s other move from Super Smash Bros, Skull Bash, this move is only learned by Pikachu in Gen 1, and is not available for it in Fire Red. Due to this, I felt that the best move to give Pikachu based on its attacks in Super Smash Bros was Thunderbolt, which I feel can be seen as a stand-in for Pikachu’s forward smash attack, where it releases a large orb of electricity right in front of it from its cheeks, causing more damage than Thunder Jolt and therefore I felt matched Thunder Bolt. I can see the argument due to Pikachu’s forward smash being more close range that it should be a physical rather than special electric attack, however the only physical electric attacks I know of all involve Pikachu charging forward, except for Nuzzle which matches the description but does very little damage and is more used to paralyse opponents, something the forward smash doesn’t do. Volt Tackle, Pikachu’s final smash is only available through breeding and therefore I felt would require me to use a different Pikachu to the one I would use throughout the game’s story, so I decided against going for that set up. Finally, when it comes to matching the aesthetic of the Super Smash Bros version of Pikachu, I used a regular Pokeball to catch it, which is what is used when Pikachu enters battles in Super Smash Bros.

I would like to note that in later playthroughs of other games, I have managed to specifically replicate the Pikachu from Super Smash Bros, by bringing one from the Virtual Console release of Pokemon Blue to Sword and Shield, meaning it was able to learn Thunder Bolt, Quick Attack, Skull Bash and Thunder. This Pikachu is the closest in setup to the Super Smash Bros incarnation and is the one pictured in the screenshot from Pokemon Ultra Moon in this post which it was in before I transferred it to Pokemon Sword. With that said, the Pikachu I have been talking about in this playthrough of Fire Red is the closest I could get to playing through Gen 1’s story with Super Smash Bros Pikachu overall.

Credits.

For information on this game including dates of releases I must give credit to Bulbapedia.

The screenshots in this post are taken by me using Pokemon Ultra Moon and Let’s Go Pikachu, the reason why is because I am unable to get screenshots of Game Boy Advance games which weren’t ported to Wii U, also the events of Let’s Go take place in Kanto, so I felt they were the best alternative.

[acabang]

Nerding out on the Borderlands

I finally got around to playing Borderlands 3 and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Personal order of preference for the franchise: Tales ≥ BL2 > BL3 > BL1 > TPS

Depending on how the DLC goes though, 3 could be just as good as 2 for me. Unlikely but it’s possible.

I really enjoyed playing all the Vault Hunters, Zane in particular, even if it seems like he lags behind the rest of them. And while she’s fun as just a straight up gunner, my only real bummer is Moze. For me when it comes to the playable characters, it’s all about their Action Skills and if I don’t find myself using it regularly then I hope they have something fun in their skill trees to make up for the lack of it other than shooting guns exceptionally well (ie. Gaige with Ricochet-Anarchy stacking abuse, Krieg with Flame of the Firehawk-Raving Retribution Hellborn madness, etc.). The idea of Iron Bear is rad but vehicles have never been useful outside of a means of map traversal, which this mech isn’t for, and if I’m gonna give up the benefits of my gear then it better be fucking OP or at least viable, especially at the highest of difficulties. So far it’s not looking like it is and I don’t expect it ever will get to that level. For the most part though, she’s still a lot of fun to use as a Plain Jane FPS character.

Overall, I actually enjoy all four initial characters pretty much equally which I can’t say about the other games. I still had fun with them but I didn’t like Roland, Salvador and Nisha as much as their fellow Vault Hunters in their respective games. I’m really looking forward to what DLC Vault Hunters they have in store though, they’ve all been pretty solid and just plain fun to play as.

                               -SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT-

I liked the story well enough and felt engaged the entire time. I didn’t really feel bogged down throughout and enjoyed the pace. Even the sidequests I thought played along well with the storyline missions, they didn’t feel as jarring with too much backtracking or as tediously boring as The Pre-Sequel had it. Although, all the games are guilty of this, the Underdome/Circle of Slaughter missions are still lame.

I loved pretty much most of the new NPCs, however major or minor a role they played. Lorelei was interesting and I want to know more about her, the same goes for Clay, who I could both see becoming Vault Hunters themselves (hopefully) in a future game. The Katagawa-Rhys dynamic was fun, as was BALEX and GenIVIV. I loved Wainwright Jakobs and I especially loved Typhon DeLeon, two of the more likable and wholesome characters in the entire franchise. They don’t hold a candle to Loader Bot & Gortys from Tales but still very admirable in a universe full of assholes and psychopaths. Even some of the minor villains were fun, the Traunt Brothers and Pain & Terror specifically.

Now it’s going to be unfair to compare the Twins to Jack but... they still could've been written better. Brats with god complexes and one with an inferiority complex to boot is fine, not the most compelling, but wait! They’re also streamers because *nudge, nudge, wink, wink*. Despite that, the VA performances of what they were given were both still very well done. When they start to actively antagonize each other is when they started to turn around for me, especially with the power corrupting Troy to the point of almost killing off Tyreen. The Twins being the children of Typhon is a neat twist reveal but I feel like if you’ve been discovering his logs throughout the maps you can put two and two together long before they outright state it.

Though I should probably give credit to the Twins for being a part of why I love Typhon so much. With him being revered the way he was, especially by Tannis, as the first Vault Hunter, it’s refreshing to see a fabricated myth actually turn out to be mostly a myth and not a 100% accurate depiction or historic event like most other games usually do. Even the damn posters of Typhon got him all wrong which I loved. He’s endearingly flawed and his admittance to not being the best father to Tyreen & Troy after they lost their mother actually really got to me. He wasn’t around for long but it was smart of Gearbox to have built up his backstory through those logs, it allowed his character to make some sort of impact like it did on me which made his death actually quite poignant.

Thus leading to probably what I can only assume, since I haven’t bothered to read other people’s reaction to it, is the most controversial part of the game. I love character deaths, especially for ones I adore. When done properly it brings more meaning to them and for the character that may have taken their lives. Bloodwing and Roland helped build Jack up to be even more of the villain that most people love (to hate). Hell, even Sasha’s death in Tales actually had me crying... then immediately laughing because I totally got baited by it especially after already losing Scooter.

Now, like I said, I love character deaths and I’m totally fine with Maya being the one we lose but the way she dies was more of a pathetic wail than whatever Gearbox was hoping to achieve. And for what? All I hope for in a character death is to have more meaning to it than a passing of the torch to a cipher of a character that was basically just introduced and I have no real connection towards, good or bad, because going forward from then on certainly isn’t going to be positive at all. Who knows, she could end up being a favourite character of mine in the future as she develops more but as of right now, no, the only reason for her existence in this game world so far was to take the place from two beloved characters that hasn’t been earned yet.

The other character being Lilith as she sacrifices herself to keep Pandora closed. I don’t believe she’s actually dead, gone for now but at least not dead. It’ll probably be the main focus of the next game, if not in a DLC, in figuring out a way to get her back from Elpis, if she’s even stuck up there. It’s sad to lose her immediately after regaining her powers back but at least she went out with Alicia Keys singing her a fire swan song. Unfortunately, before going off to save the day and Gearbox not being entirely satisfied yet with shoving Ava down our throats the first time, Lilith hands over protection of Sanctuary III to her. Hopefully Ava is given an extremely satisfying character arc in the proceeding games because woof, that’s going to be a tough mountain to climb especially if it takes another 2-5 years for the next game to release.

I don’t actually hate Ava, I just don’t care about her. Also our Vault Hunter(s) were right there, technically, and as was Tannis. She may not be able to fight but she’s more than capable of leading the Crimson Raiders. She’s also the most consistently well written character that’s shown growth over the games that she’s been a part of in the franchise, in my opinion.

As for the rest of the characters, I’m good with moving on from Vaughn now. He was unexpectedly funny to okay during Tales but yeah, he’s already worn out his welcome for me. Rhys was fine, not as good as he was in Tales but he wasn’t really even my favourite character from that game anyway. Who I was missing was Fiona, I really wish that she had shown up but hopefully that might still be a possibility in DLC. Maybe she’ll show up alongside Athena & Janey, continuing her VH training somehow saved from wherever she disappeared off to. Preferably with Loader Bot and Gortys as well. It’d also be nice to run into Axton, Sal, Gaige and especially Kreig considering the whole Maya situation and her promising to see him again.

Then there’s also the B-Team, which a part of me wanted to interact with more but another part where I think I’m okay with what we got. I was disappointed in Tina’s development however, I didn’t expect a full maturation of character but I also hoped she wouldn’t be the spaz that she was when she was a young teen. Even in Dragon Keep she showed a little bit of growth with her acceptance of Roland’s death but I guess they wanted to keep her annoying, which was fine back in 2 and TPS when she was basically a kid but I believe she’s supposed to be at least 18 now? I guess it’s fine as long as it fits the dynamic between her, Brick and Mordecai. I will also say that Mordecai’s side quest to attend his protégé’s birthday party was really bittersweet, I loved that brief respite from the chaos that is the rest of the game and a stark reminder that Pandora sucks.

Aside from the actual plot and characters, I thought they did an even better job at world building the rest of the universe. The mega-corporations side of Borderlands has always been fascinating to me and I feel like they often take a backseat by most fans since they’re just these ever present entities in the universe and not actual characters themselves, despite each of them having quite unique “personalities” in the products they manufacture and the individuals that represent them. We had Commandant Steele & General Knoxx show off a militaristic side of the original Atlas as The Crimson Lance, then there was Jack as the face of the Hyperion we knew, and the fallout from his demise during Tales. There’s also Tannis giving us slight tidbits of how Dahl operated on Pandora between the first & second game and, of course, Mr. Torgue with, well, Torgue and I guess now he’s in charge of the battle arenas. Now we get insight on the current incarnation of Atlas with Rhys at the helm, Maliwan with Katagawa Jr. and Wainwright as the heir to Jakobs. It’s just fun to see these corporations steadily being fleshed out with each game and I’m interested to see how Tediore, Vladof and maybe even S&S Munitions, if they ever make a return, will turn out.

On the other end of the spectrum and more of an active danger to the universe are the Vaults, their purpose and the monsters contained within, one of them called the Timekeeper who we have yet to encounter. Also more insight into who the Eridians were, the siren Nyriad’s role with their eradication and warning of a seventh siren who shouldn’t be found. There’s definitely plenty of seeds that were planted, it’s just a shame that it’ll probably be a long time from now before any of them get answered unless they start pumping out these games which I hope they don’t. Oversaturation and fatigue can ruin a franchise.

This has been my TED Talk, thank you for reading.

[nagaia]

Good to see you!, where do I even start. I love this game, since 2014 I saw it and I started playing, I had fun and had good moments in the story with my boy every chapter. I will not make pure insults, much less to Chinomiko in this post, I clarify, because it would not show or change anything. We all have the right to comment on the matter, including Chinomiko as she commented on her Tumblr a few days ago. So I'm going to leave my opinion here too.

 The truth is that right now I am in of exams, but honestly seeing everything that happened these days I could not let it go that way, that's why I apologize that the guys are drawn weird and in a little of my free time, and the careers that I did chose to each one is not that I think they are the best for them, they just seemed quite adequate to the characters.

 Create a game of any kind, such as an otome, it costs a lot of time, money, you need a good fandom so that it can be maintained, in short it is not easy. But I'm not at all in agreement that something is modified just for money, then the plot of the game doesn’t matter? It only matters if it gives more money ?.

 Castiel entered because is the most popular in all servers apparently, or at least in the majority, then what is left to the other teams? feel bad because if your boy had been the most popular he would had been in the new CDM? In itself I’m not against a new roster of characters the truth, it does not seem bad at all, but if they change so much the routes I dont know if it can be called in the same way as the previous game, well yes, there are sagas as Persona  and they change the character roster always. But they change it completely, they dont leave anyone of the previous one, and if they appear this characters are very little time in it, like NPC's. and if one more boy entered the game on the 5 * route that we still do not know who it is, it would be worse for the 3 routes that were left abandoned because they did not leave enough money for the company. And that of reusing the name of the game to create a new one, sincerely it would seem to take advantage of the fame of MCL to have won by itself a good fanbase just because. Without having the routes that everyone was used to and their players.

 Yesterday I posted a question in groups, because I was doing this drawing, I asked if it would be good to see Kentin studying veterinary medicine, and everyone just seem happy with it, there were even girls who were not from his team and they said that they would still think about his route if he was studying veterinary, of course yes, who would not? He’s  so gentle and cute. That was supposed to have happened. At least it was what most of players were waiting for, to go back with their guys to college. To tell the truth I dont see anything boring or "leave little money" to the possibility of a plot  for example with:

 + Castiel, be part of his band and give tours while studying together.

+ Nathaniel, studying psychology, or law, and being an undercover police officer who may later become a detective. Could help the Su with their cases.

+ Lysander, composing songs and singing, maybe Su helps him

+ Armin, studying computer engineering maybe to then program and make own games that he loves so much! Your Su might be the first to test his games! And have fun with him!

+ Kentin veterinarian with the little animals he have to take care of and Su helping him.

 Besides that, the new routes that there are, could still be in the game, and be playable, but through spin-off, why not?

I dont know how many people could be interested in the teacher, the bar boy or Priya and Castiel. But I dont know if these new characters can really attract as much attention as to give more money to the company than the guys. Chinomiko talks about the "silent" players and statistics that we dont know, but seriously those characteristics are in favor of the new characters? That most of us dont even know yet? In all the groups that I am from MCL, including youtube videos, I see only people who are sad about the decision or angry. The truth is that if they exist and left much money these "silent players" would be good for them to speak for once. Do they really exist? Where? I know there are people who did not take the changes, neither sad nor bad, but from what I have seen, they are very few. In addition to that already there are few players who have reached chapter 40.

 I can understand the fact that the guys are not in the new game, although it was not what I wanted. But it was not just to take the guys out of the picture. She also got into their lives and gave them an unfortunate future. Let's see:

+ Castiel broke the relationship with Sucrette, and now they have to start the relationship from 0%? It is normal perhaps for those who are not his route and now want to conquer it, but and the poor girls who are his route and were with him for 40 chapters now are nothing ??? What is that???.

+ Nathaniel to be a star student, intelligent, good person now is a boy who does not care about his studies and only goes to parties ???. We, his team where supporters of him  all the time, especially after saving him from his father, he is supposed to have a free and happy life, not a disaster.

 + Lysander had to return to the farm because his parents died? MY GOD I am not even his route and this destroyed me inside, why? WHAT NEED OF DOING THIS? From that cruelty to the girls of his team who were supporting him for 40 episodes!

+ Armin left the studies and is a hacker, to see, it is not "bad" but it could have gone better.

+ Kentin went to the army even though the parents did not agree? I doubt it was the best for him.

 In all of these cases, they could have said that the guys just moved out of school or country or whatever, but they're fine. And making their lives quietly.

 Well in itself that was what hurt me most, all those cases does not seem more than a Bad Ending for the boys, while what could have been a beautiful reality, is now only a fantasy that we will have in our heads the players of the cute that could have been MCL in college with the guys, even moving as in Henry's secret! That look pretty!

 As I said above anyway I have nothing against the new routes but ... Especially Priya, you’ll have noticed that it is the only new one that I gave color, haha.

 I leave the post in Spanish and English so that you can understand me all or at least the majority who read this. Although I know that Chinomiko in her case understands Spanish and English equally, so, in the remote case that you read this, I know you can understand it even if you are only in one language or another.

 Well, I think that's all. Bye! Feel free to share this image and publish wherever you want. In fact, I did not sign it because I think that more than a drawing of mine this is part of all, part of many, this belongs to us. And for something I did it, to draw in physical something that we have in our heads, and unfortunately it does not exist, and most likely it will never exist (the guys in the uni).

[rosietommasi]

breaking point || self para

WHO: Rosemarie Tommasi ( NPC Charlotte Smith, Sky and Reed Tommasi, various others mentioned from past school )

WHEN: Junior year of high school

WHERE: Arlington High School gym, Arlington, TX.

WARNINGS: Violence tw, blood tw, mental illness tw

Things had been a little low for Rosie, a slow decline down to what was leading up to an inevitable crash. She was irritable, unable to shake off of her shoulders as it weighed down on her. And it was building and building through this practice.

When she first came to this school, her second school in Texas considering the large state, Rosie was already feeling a little off. The last school she was at was one of her favorites, one of the hardest goodbyes she’d had in a while. She still remembered pleading with her parents, begging them to try and stay, that she was so happy here but...she was only sixteen, what did she know? The girl knew her parents weren’t purposefully trying to hurt her, if anything they were trying to provide for their daughter in the only way they possibly could. But with that came the expense of her emotions, seemingly having to toss them out of the window as she stuck her head out of it, waving goodbye to the group of friends she’d actually grown so attached to. The only boyfriend she’d ever had standing there, never to be seen again.

It stung. And the whole ride to the next city, for a week, Rosie felt this flip of emotions in her chest. She went from sad, teary eyed in the back seat, to resentful at her parents for a good couple of hours before teetering back to sadness for getting upset with them on top of her being upset she was going somewhere else, to pushing it away when she got her hands on a sweet treat at a rest stop. A whirlwind strong enough to give her whiplash by the time they arrived in Arlington.

The town was known for football, the high school team making it to championships most years and winning it a handful of times. In Texas, football was king, and she had barely made it to the cheer try outs by the tip of her finger. But she did, and considering how much she loved cheering, she made it. Momentarily happy to be back in something familiar, although, it seemed the girls on the squad were a bit more.....standoffish than her old one.

Maybe it was her emotions, or her mind just playing tricks on her, but she didn’t understand why she felt so off. Like one second she was having a great time, laughing along with the girls, before the next moment she was snapping at them for joking around about something she didn’t like. There was no grasp of how she felt, like her mind had just gone blank for a moment when she shifted from happy to angry to regretful back and forth, making her dizzy.

She resented herself for it.

This day was a big practice, and at this point, the girls on the team started to just ignore Rosie’s behavior. Saying they were mood swings, maybe it was the birth control she was on, maybe that was it. Either way, she didn’t feel so peppy. And she wasn’t blind to the little nicknames whispered behind her back; Raging Rosie, Big Red, or their personal favorite Nutso. Which, for the record, lacked little to no creativity like the first two at least attempted to do. She kept convincing herself that the first two were just...fun, like little fun names that she could endure. But the last one? It struck fire in her that she didn’t think she could handle if she heard it again.

Running another routine, Rosie took her place at the front right, hands on her hips as the captain counted. “Five, six, seven, eight.....”

Charlotte Smith, head cheer leader and ultimate leader in the nickname situation. Rosie didn’t want to get on her bad side, cheering was all she grasped onto with hope and bright eyed joy, the one thing she couldn’t lose. Today, the blonde seemed to be feeling rather vicious, eyeing Rosie’s every move and step in the routine. Tutting her tongue with distaste as she shook her head, raising her hand, “Okay, everyone, stop....stop!” She shouted, cutting the music and crossing her arms over her chest as she sighed. “Nuts----” Pausing, as if she didn’t mean to say it, smirking a bit as some girl’s snickered, “Rosemarie. Sorry, you do know that you have to extend your arms all the way....right, dear?”

“I....was?” The girl commented, swallowing down the way her skin grew hot, hands balling into fists at her sides. She knew Charlotte was pushing her, trying to get her to snap to cause a little show for the fellow squad that were now watching like hawks. Eyeing her. They wanted to see her freak out, took joy in the way Rosie seemingly shifted her mood like the flip of a switch, and she took a deep breath through her nose, “I’ll, just, try harder next run through.”

“I think it’s best if you just....sit and watch. I can’t have a mess right in the front row, it’s a major eye sore.” The blonde’s tone was harsh, hands firmly on her hips as she tilted her head to the side. Rosie had seen this in movies, she’d watched Bring it On a million times, but she never dreamed it actually took place in real life. “Do you understand?”

“Really, I can just...try again. I promise I won’t let you down.” Rosie said as she bit her lip, almost pleading at this point, “Please, I promise I won’t embarrass you, it’s just a practice....”

“Too late, Red. Read my lips, off....the....floor. Got it?” She snapped at the red head, and Rosie knit her brows together, shaking her head, hands on her hips now as she looked at Charlotte. She didn’t understand, and as her body buzzed with anger, she couldn’t keep a filter on her lips.

“Why do you have to be such a fucking bitch?!” Rosie blurted out, not backing down, and she heard the rustle of her fellow cheerleaders behind her. Watching as the coach for their squad perked up at the sound of a swear, shooting them a look but that didn’t make Rosie move an inch.

“What did you just call me, Nutso?” The blonde spat, glare usually hard enough to strike fear, but at this point, Rosie didn’t feel fear. The emotion in her body was pure, hot, fueled rage that she couldn’t control. The worst she’d ever felt as it took over her body and the nickname was the final straw. She didn’t know where it came from, or when it happened, but Rosie pulled back her arm to connect a harsh punch right to Charlotte’s perfectly sloped nose.

CRACK!

It was a hard hit, connecting with a crack that had the coach rushing over, blood dripping onto the floor as the blonde held her face and screamed out in horror. But Rosie....she was smiling, glancing down at her hand to see the blood left over that was on her swollen knuckle. That felt amazing. And she knew deep back in her mind, the more rational part, that this wasn’t good. But in the moment, right now, with rage and adrenaline coursing through her at a million miles a minute, it felt beyond euphoric.

It didn’t take long for her to be hauled off to the principals office, parents called, and that was when she slowly started to crumple. What the fuck did she just do? It was obvious she was off the squad, you break the prized head cheerleaders nose and it went without discussion. Tears flooding her eyes as she shook her head, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to.” She repeated it about a million times, in the principals office, in the arms of her parents as they held her while she walked out, she felt like she was going insane.

Why did she do that?

Sitting quietly in the backseat of the van she grew up in, she wrapped her arms tightly around her knees, staring out the window. Never had she wanted to actually hurt Charlotte. Yes she did. No she didn’t. An on going battle back and forth in her head as she buried her face in her arms, and her mother reached her hand back to run through her daughters hair. “Will you....come back here with me?” She whispered. And it wasn’t too long before she was curled up in her mother’s lap, letting her play with her hair as she sniffled and just let herself fall apart. “What’s wrong with me?” Rosie asked, voice as soft and shaky as her body felt, glancing up at her mother now. 

“Nothing honey, nothing is wrong. Everything will be okay, we’ll figure this out.”

God, she hoped so. Rosie hated being so angry, so full of this red rage that it consumed her enough to hurt another person. She didn’t want to be like this, like something in her brain was broken. Like she was broken.

She didn’t want to be broken.

[kokichi-and-co-imagine-blog]

I would absolutely love to see more of that Naegiri PMD AU! It was great! Also, I want to know what Pokemon the other characters were, if you thought that out.

Anon: Mod kirigiri, what pokemon was byakuya and the others in the mystery dungeon AU if you dont mind me asking?

…This Mystery Dungeon thing’s gotten more attention than I anticipated.

Not saying that’s a bad thing, just… a bit overwhelming. With how much I love PMD, I’m actually kind of excited about it all. 

Given that I’m moving currently, this seemed like an easier request to tackle. I have a few others relating to it that I’ll get to once things have settled down a bit. Some of these will have more detailed/defined description than others. Keep in mind this is kind of a developing AU, so things are subject to change with time and refinement.

Some of these are based on a previous Pokemon ask I handled, actually the first ask I handled, (which you can find here) others are changed to fit them being a Pokemon more. I mostly tried to avoid Pokemon that were major NPC’s in previous games, but what happens, happens.

Mystery Dungeon AU Pokemon:

Detective Society: The Detective’s Society functions in a similar way to the Explorer’s Guild or Exploration Society does in the other games. Their primary goal is to help rescue Pokemon that have gone missing in Mystery Dungeons and to track down criminals. Despite the name, not all of its members are ‘detectives’ per se, but they all share a similar goal of helping other Pokemon through similar means.

(I don’t actually have names for all the teams yet, but the names bunched together are on a team together.)

Makoto: RockruffMakoto is this story’s human turned Pokemon. With a memory that’s hazy at best, he’s unsure of what he’s doing in this world, but wants to figure it out. By a stroke of luck, the first other Pokemon he meets is Kyouko, who is willing to help him out in investigating his missing memory in exchange for his cooperation in getting her into the Detective’s Society. The two of them get off to a rocky (mind the pun please) start, but the bond they form over the course of their adventure, as they discover Makoto’s purpose and lost memories, is undeniable.Kyouko: EspeonAn aloof Espeon that’s a detective by blood and shrouded in mystery. She has no interest in joining the Detective Society for usual reasons, rather they have information that can only be accessed by its members that she wants. She agrees to help Makoto with his missing memories in exchange for him forming a team with her in the Society. Her blunt words and sometimes cold attitude can sometimes turn others away (as was her intention with Makoto), but with time and patience, she warms up to Makoto to form one of the best teams the Detective Society has ever seen

Hina: BuizelAn energetic former athlete turned Detective Society member. Hina found herself finally reaching the top of the game in athletics and wanted a new challenge, so she decided her next goal would be to make a change in the world that she wanted to see. She’s not exactly the best investigator on cases, but actually taking down outlaws is no challenge for her and her partner Sakura. She especially loves to lead water based investigations and rescuesSakura: MachokeReferred to as the ‘Most Powerful Pokemon’, Sakura decided to use her skills to fight for a good cause. Being the slightly more level-headed of her team, Sakura is a good balance to the ever energetic Hina. Neither she or her partner serve as the best investigators, but are useful allies in rounding up and arresting running outlaws. Her team are some of the closest allies to Makoto and Kyouko.

Taka: RuffletTaka became a member of the Society in order to better the world and clear the air about his family name. His passion and dedication often frighten people off, which made him incapable of keeping a partner for very long until Mondo was assigned to him. Although they initially seemed like the worst enemies, one overnight case seemed to make them the best of friends. After adding Chihiro as officially a part of their team, Taka does his best to lead his team towards the truth on all their cases.Mondo: ScraftyMondo used to lead a gang with his brother, but an accident that led to his death turned him away from that life. Now he wants to use his position to help steer others away from such a path that he took in his life. He tries his best at investigating, but he’s willing to admit that the hunting criminals part is more his speed. Still, he and his team work to the best of their ability to solve the cases presented to them.Chihiro: JoltikChihiro isn’t much of a fighter, preferring to run some behind the scenes things within the Detective’s Society or help investigate some of the smaller cases. Out of the three, he’s the best at investigating, however lacks confidence in his abilities. Chihiro is also responsible for running maintenance on the equipment of the Detective’s Society, including the map, bulletin board, tracking systems, and computers. It seems like a lot, but he handles it all in stride.

Byakuya: PersianThe heir to the Togami family, Byakuya is simply a part of the Society out of necessity. His family funds the Society and is tasked with keeping a watchful eye on it’s activities. He’s certainly a competent investigator in his own right, but he’s much less invested in each individual case and less tactful about how he goes about things, and even has used manipulation in the past get things within the society to go his way (with the one exception seeming to be getting assigned a different partner) He finds Makoto “useful, but bothersome” and has occasionally forced him to go along with him on cases.Touko: SneaselA very timid Pokemon with a stutter, Touko doesn’t like to go out to the field often. She prefers to handle other tasks like filing through the requests to post onto the bulletin board and keeping records of completed cases. However, if Byakuya asks (or even if he doesn’t) she will run out to hunt down criminals without a second thought regardless from her. There are moments, however, when she seems to relish in hunting down criminals and even has to be restrained to prevent injuries to them. There are whispers of another, darker personality at play, although few buy into them.

Junko Enoshima: TeddiursaThe one exception to the Society’s team rule due to having lost her previous partner in a tragic accident. Despite the loss, Junko is a very happy and cheery personality, always willing to assist when she can. Often she surprises people with her own combat abilities and her powerful moveset. However, there are some that claim that there’s something off about her, often claiming to hear or see her in more than one location at the same time.Mukuro Ikusaba: ???The former partner of Junko who lost her life in a tragic accident long ago. Little is known about her beyond the fact that she was a powerful foe and not one to go down without a fight.

Not everyone is a part of the Detective’s Society! Some simply live in the town of Hope’s Peak and run businesses or have other jobs

Hiro: EggxecutorSimilar to his DR counterpart, he is a fortune teller (If this were a game he’d also serve the purpose of unlocking treasure boxes with his abilities) He’s not officially a member of the Society, he’s not really good at investigating, but his services are sometimes used by the Society on particularly difficult cases. He’s also on good terms with several members and can often be found lazing about with some of them.

Sayaka: MeowsticSimilar to her DR counterpart, Sayaka is a well known pop idol in this world who befriends Makoto. She ends up being the first client of Makoto and Kyouko after they form their team together and afterwords tends to assist them when she can with her own abilities. Kyouko isn’t entirely trusting of her though, although she’s not quite sure why.

Leon: Monferno Leon is the first criminal caught by Makoto and Kyouko when they are officially Detective Society members. After he’s caught and revealed his intention was only to try and afford reaching his musician aspirations, he is given a chance to reform himself by working with Sayaka. Although a bit brash and hot tempered, he tries his best to help out those in need when he can.

Celeste: GothitelleShe runs a popular cafe in Hope’s Peak known mostly for it’s strange atmosphere and excellent teas. It’s a popular hotspot for Society members to find work when the bulletin board is a little sparse.Celeste herself however, is rather elusive. Those that have met her have described her with one key word: Frightening, and highly recommend to watch your wallet around her.

Hifumi: SmeargleHifumi is a popular artist the frequents Celeste’s cafe to gather inspiration for his work. He’s most well known for creating exaggerated tales about some of the Society members adventures that he overhears while at the cafe, but he dabbles in other works too when commissioned. (If this were in game, he’d probably serve a similar role that Smeargle does in the rescue team games with the flags and such)

As I said, details on this are subject to change and refinement, this is just what I have upon my preliminary drafts for all this. I’d like to also eventually include the SDR2 cast in this AU as well, but I’m not quite sure how to work them in yet.

...The Mystery Dungeon AU is kinda becoming a thing now, so if you have a request that isn’t part 2 of the original post (and I only say that because it’s already being worked on) then shoot em at me.

[ainchase]

Strongest Character in the Story

If everyone can achieve their “final,” their most “ideal” form... Who would be the strongest?

And let’s leave out the NPCs...

How do I define “strong”?

In this context, being strong means that they have the potential to be a powerful character. They might not be particularly strong, but they could have the potential to be. You’ll see what I mean as we go down the list.

What do I mean when I say “final” and “ideal”?

I mean that it will most likely be their “canon” class, so it excludes classes such as Code: Nemesis line, because for Eve, her most ideal form is becoming the Queen of Nasod to rule over her race after its revival. Apostasia is excluded for the same reason; because that would not be his ideal form.

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s jump straight in!

1. Elsword

Obviously, he is the main character, but his strength has already transcended the limit of a mere human. He can do things even Ain cannot do. Hell, he can do things even ISHMAEL couldn’t (wouldnt?) DO. Remember that even Ishmael couldn’t completely restore El to its former glory. The best she could manage was to restore the rampant Giant El to a point where it won’t destroy all of Elrios, but it still ended up in a state where it requires constant check and service from periodical human sacrifices and messengers from the heaven coming down to recharge the battery every once in a while. But God-tier Elsword not only restored the completely shattered and EXPLODED El, but put it back in its perfect state which requires 0 sacrifice, excluding himself, of course. And his energy punched a hole through Henir’s timespace to save Ain. What the hell

And, now, this was all before he had even reached his “final” form. Imagine if he did.

I think the question of whether Elsword would consider his actual human power to be his ideal or this obviously Elia-related power to be ideal is... debatable.

2. Luciela R. Sourcream

Now, I had to think very carefully about who would be stronger... Ain or Lu? But I had to hand it over to Lu, because Ain’s main purpose, if not the sole purpose of his existence, was to simply restore energy to the unstable El. That was it. That may require a lot of energy but having a lot of energy that you’ll eventually have to give up in the end doesn’t mean much, especially Ain wasn’t exactly supposed to survive long enough to see the aftermath of the explosion of the Giant El...? I mean, he wasn’t equipped with the best tool to handle the situation. His job was supposed to end very briefly.

Whereas Lu... Lu was one of the lords of demons, and judging from the strength of demon commanders we’ve seen so far, and the remarks they make about her... I can only assume that her power must’ve been great, before she lost it all. She would not have been defeated if she was not betrayed by someone she trusted. She was in captivity for god knows how long, she survived AND had enough energy to escape and travel to another world, wow. We know from the story that one cannot simply just travel between dimensions and worlds. To do that, it requires an enormous amount of energy, and she managed that. By herself. Holy shit.

I know this is debatable but even with majority of her power lost, she can still hold a candle to the rest of the El Search Party members. Yeah, she probably needs Ciel to be just as good... as them... maybe...? But that’s probably just because of game design and I’m guessing story-wise Lu can fight alright on her own even without Ciel. Otherwise that would just mean Lu is half as good as other members without Ciel which... doesn’t make a lot of sense.

3. Ainchase Ishmael

Ain is no human, but a Celestial, sent by the Goddess herself. Although we’re not exactly sure who would be stronger, Ain or Lu, but even in his most ideal form, Ain might not be stronger than Lu. NOW, this can change, definitely, because we don’t know what Elia has in store for Ain, but with the information on Ain we have so far, he is strong, definitely strong, but probably maybe not stronger than Lu. What can he do? He’s managed to survive the full blast of the El Explosion, stayed in Henir’s Timespace for eons(?) without dying, closing dimensional rifts, blocking demon god’s attacks to save Elsword and many more...

4. Aisha Landar

Genius Magical Girl Aisha! I have ranked Aisha the strongest human in El Search Party team (minus Elboy for the obvious reasons), because... despite losing majority of her power to the Ring of Mimir... She can still fight and manage to pull her weight in the team without being a burden. Imagine if she can get her whole power back...

Before any of you say “Okay but what if she was only like.. strong as a Lv50 can get when she was Lv1, now she’s like Lv99, so even if she can get her power back, it might not be much to make a huge difference now because she’s stronger than she was before”...

This has been disproved by Hennon, our charming member of the Order of Henir. He stole the Ring of Mimir that contains Aisha’s magic, and said he’s already passed it to his superiors who will put it to a “much better use”. It reminded me of the scene from Starcraft 2, where the Xel’Naga artifact absorbed Kerrigan’s power, which was used to resurrect Amon, the Dark God. The Order is definitely up to no good, and they’re a group who wants to return everything to nothing (aka destroying the world?), just as Henir would’ve intended. If a dangerous group like that will put Aisha’s magic to... “better use”... then it’s definitely significant enough. She might never recover her old magic (otherwise she’d be way too OP by herself), but one can dream.

5. Elesis

The one who could have been the next Lady of El... I guess the question for Elesis is... Would being the Lady of El be considered her most ideal form? I’m guessing no. For her, her most ideal form would be to just... be a really strong knight. She became the captain of the Red Knights when she young, and even in the animated adaptation, you can see that she fights against monsters without breaking a sweat. She’s an experienced veteran, and commanded soldiers on the battlefield. She also has her own special ability, that’s apparently different from Elsword, to resonate with the power of El. We’re not sure how strong that can make her, but we all know the power of El in this universe is the be all, and end all of all power source. Why is she still weaker than Aisha then? Because Elesis did not lose any power or suffers from any sort of handicap unlike Aisha, aside from the minor headache she suffers in Elysion because of her connection to Harnier.

Also I like to think that, in the fictional world, the power of “magic” is almost limitless, whereas the power of you swinging a giant sword around definitely has its limits... Magic > Physics

6. Prince Seiker

Chung! He’s still a boy or at least he seems like one, but he has an extremely high potential of being very powerful. It has less to do with him and his own strength as a human, but more to do with his guardian stone. From the Hall of El epic quest, it is made clear that the guardian stone helps Chung manifest his will into power that he can wield. His guardian stone will help him become as strong as his will. The only reason I ranked him lower than Elesis is because, most of Chung’s motivation revolves around getting his father back, and protecting Hamel. I guess you can say now his motivation has been extended to protect all of Elrios, but you can see throughout the story that he’s motivated by the sole chance of saving his father and restoring Hamel. We all know Chung will probably accompany Elsword and the team to the end of their journey, but it’ll probably be out of duty and obligations (and a dash of friendship and gratitude). He’s still very attached and rooted to Hamel and consider the town as his identity. That is his limit. First and foremost he is a defender, a protector to Hamel and will always be one. I don’t think that can help him become as strong as he could be, but probably will not go after the whole “be the very best like no one ever was” idea. I guess I’m trying to say he wouldn’t pursuit stronger/more power for the sake of being more powerful.

But the power of his guardian stone cannot be underestimated...

It’s magic after all

7. Eve

Eve is not even human and she lost to the three 100%-confirmed-human characters on the list. Nasods can be powerful, because machinery can always be stronger and go above human’s physical limitations (realistically), but as stated earlier, Eve’s most ideal form is far from engaging battles. She wasn’t even created to be a battle-type Nasod in the first place. Her canon class, Code: Empress, has her summoning other Nasods to aid her in battle. Now, as the Queen of Nasod race, maybe she’ll have an army of Nasods to command, but that doesn’t mean she’s not slightly below the other human characters, who are far more suited to the battlefield. However, she’s still above other members of the party because, being a Nasod definitely has its perks. Again, you’re not bound by the physical limitations of a human anatomy if you’re Nasod. You would be capable of doing so much more.

For those of you who are confused, this is basically what I think Unexplained incredible magic > Nasod science power > Physics

8. Edward Grenore

Add uses a lot of Nasod technology in battle, and that makes him very powerful. I guess by now you can see why he’s ranked below Eve, and that’s because... he’s still a human, bound by the limitations of human anatomy. He can die from food poisoning for all we know. But I ranked Add higher than other human characters below, because Nasod technology can be really powerful, and Add is an expert in the field. What would be his ideal line? My brain says Mastermind, but his canon class is Lunatic Psyker... Which doesn’t matter much, I guess. They’re both Nasod-related.

9. Raven Cronwell/Ciel/Ara Haan/Anna Testarosa

Skilled veteran fighters, though I guess you can say that’s disputed. Raven and Rose definitely had served their time in battle, whereas Ciel was mostly an assassin if I recall correctly, and Ara is literally just starting out.

Let’s get the pink elephant in the room out of the way

Or should I say a giant Fox Demon God idk wtf she is anymore

Eun is one of the sacred beasts of Elrios, but we all know having body taken over by a creature that’s been both revered and feared enough to be sealed inside a hairpin is not something Ara would consider “ideal”. After all, Sakra Devanam is Ara’s canon class, and that relies far less on Eun’s power than her other classes. So, without Eun’s power, Ara is just a very well trained martial artist who hasn’t seen enough battle in her life to make her a veteran. But that doesn’t mean she’s any less strong...

I always considered Blade Master to be Raven’s canon class but it’s Reckless Fist instead, I don’t even know how that works... Our half-Nasod man is a veteran in the battlefield, having served as the captain of the Crow Mercenary Knights. back in his heyday, and as captain of the Blackcrows. I think only Elia knows what Raven would consider to be his most ideal form, but whether it is just a skilled swordsman or his half-Nasod relying classes, he’s just a human... without an expert knowledge on Nasod technology, at least not like Eve or Add.

For Ciel... I know he used to be an assassin, but.. would he consider being Lu’s butler/royal guard his most ideal form? Hmm... If so, then he definitely wouldn’t stand out so much on his own. I think. Though, I guess if Lu regains her full power, Ciel as her servant would be more powerful too but.. just looking at him by himself, I don’t really get the feeling that he’s any more powerful than Raven, Ara or Rose.

What would be Rose’s ideal form? UHHH isn’t she almost similar to Ciel, just in terms of.. being someone’s servant lol... They wouldn’t necessarily set out to become the best/strongest version of themselves, because they have dedicated their lives to serve someone else instead. I think. I guess this is all debatable. Which is why I ranked all four of them equally...

10. Rena Erindel

Rena is more well known for her ability to communicate with the nature, with the spirits of the world, and much less for her fighting abilities. Elves in Elsword universe is definitely the “hippie” race, and although there are elves like the Night Watcher who are more specialized in combat, I don’t think Rena in general is particularly strong or stronger than the other 12 mentioned above. Wow finally a character whose weakness in the plot matches her weakness in the game. Yeah, Renas can use magic too, but they don’t exactly scream “IM GOING TO DESTROY EVERYONE IN MY PATH”...

How was the list? Stupid? Dumb? Can’t agree? Tell me what you don’t agree with! All of this can be thrown out the window when the 3rd jobs for all chars and classes come out, but I think it would stay mostly the same...

[scatteredmartianthoughts]

Why Persona 5/Royal means so much to me and how I view my bonds (ADDENDUM: SPOILERS WILL BE INCLUDED - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED)

As I am writing this, I am 7 years past from conventional Australian high school life and just about a year past from graduating from university life. With adult life, it is tough to create time for yourself, let alone for your friends. Each and every one of us have different priorities: work, further studies, family, kids, bills to pay, etc. In addition, an actual health crisis in COVID-19 on top of the already giant wave of cynicism that we’re facing about the world from years prior makes the future seem pretty bleak. Wearing masks, following proper hygiene and especially social distancing is consistent globally (or at least should be while we’re still dealing with COVID-19). Sure, we can use technology as a way to connect, and it undeniably helps in maintaining our bonds, but it is not the same as actually being in person and spending time with them. With the epidemic putting a worldwide stranglehold on everyone, along with the stresses of growing up, creating and maintaining our bonds became a lot more difficult. So random question: What do you think of when someone brings up Persona 5 (P5) or Persona 5 Royal (P5R)? A masterclass of dynamic visuals and flair that is distinctive and aesthetically and thematically fitting our striking and rebellious protagonists in the Phantom Thieves? Top tier soundtrack? A fantastic turn based RPG system based on combos, follow-ups and support? Or maybe the personas themselves being the manifestations of the inner self and reflecting one’s inner strife and turmoil like dealing with death and grief (P3), or handling and understanding our true self (P4) or rebelling against corruption as we mature in an unjust world (P5)? All legitimate answers. Just a small addendum: P5R is an enhanced version of vanilla P5 that adds more personas, tweaks the combat and level up system to make it more seamless but compensates it with more intelligent A.I. and especially added story content (we’ll especially get to this part later). Yet, when I think about this game, I think about the social simulator aspect that works in tandem and beautifully complements the RPG gameplay where we explore the supernatural world of that particular Persona game. In both games, it acts as a way to worldbuild the busy streets and areas in and near Shibuya. You’ll encounter many different key support characters, within and outside the main cast of your group, the Phantom Thieves of Heart. By getting to know these characters and ranking up each confidant (maximum rank is 10 for each), you will be able to access a whole plethora of special abilities such as: learning new methods to down opponents instantaneously, access to personas only available by maximising each confidant’s rank, access to immensely helpful combat and support items and methods and especially the transforming your team member’s initial Personas into stronger forms. From a narrative perspective, you will get to know each character better, as they vent and confide their hopes, dreams, fears and desires whilst each of their stories fit with the major themes of maturation, finding your own road, rebellion and corruption. Yet, you can’t just immediately get to know all of them at once. In game, you’re just a transfer high school student. While you have free time, similar to real life, you have to make a choice on how to use it. Should you spend time getting to know a person? Or maybe level up one of your social stats like knowledge or kindness? Or working a casual job to get money? Maybe tackle one of those side missions?  There’s no “correct” choice on how you spend your time. Heck, it is even more interesting that these are all optional. It is up to you whether or not you get to learn these characters and get to know them. Some are completely missable if you don’t explore hard enough. Essentially, on one side, you’re just a normal high student that unfortunately was dealt a terrible hand and on the other, you’re the leader of the Phantom Thieves. Codename: Joker. Since P3, the social link/confidant system I just described uses a very interesting motif: the tarot card system. As the protagonist of your story, you are the Wild Card - Arcana Number 0: The Fool. In order to attain a form of enlightenment at journey’s end, also referred to as the World Arcana, you will encounter many other Arcana before reaching said end. Each significant social link/confidant you meet in-game, regardless if they become a party member or NPC, are each represented by one part of the Arcana series.  This is due to symbolsing on what kind of individual and personality they have but also what challenges they need help overcoming and what they represent to the in-game protagonist of each game. Mind you, it has been stressed that any character that fits any of the arcana cannot be those who will only be friends or acquaintances within a superficial nature. It has to be a close, trusting friendship that grows with effort and time. Here are some examples. Those who represent the Emperor are often male characters who try to control their own surroundings but are troubled by something(s) very personal and don’t know how to deal with it. Characters that fit the Temperance are those who struggle to find the harmony and balance that they desire. And those who suit the Hermit arcana tend to the smartest people that you will meet but tend to be introverts or those who desire more supportive roles. We’ve definitely met people within our lives that fit the criteria of the noted examples. Yet, by meeting these types of interesting people within our lives, through that time and effort, both sides can attain a form of wisdom and learn from each other. I’ll use an in-game example: Toranosuke Yoshida. To Joker, this confidant is represented by the Sun Arcana. Anyone from this group tends to be people who are on the surface have a sense of confidence, hope and optimism but ironically find themselves in terrible situations that constantly hurts their self-esteem, self worth and constantly questions their own purpose in life. For this game, he is an optional social link that can only be unlocked after taking on two shifts within the Beef Bowl job at Shibuya’s Central Street. He is an eldery gentleman and a politician who hopes to make amends for his terrible and corrupt mistakes of the past but also to make a positive change in a stagnant Japanese political system. He is seen making an earnest effort in giving speeches in front of a crowd near a subway’s gateway. Although demonstrating impressive speech-giving skills, as soon as a critical voice in the crowd shouts out “No-Good Tora”, his past regrets and lack of self-esteem shows and loses the crowd’s attention as he cracks under negative pressure. By meeting him, he found a youth who is willing to believe in his message, support him in his live speeches and also a hope of a younger generation that is willing to make a change. While the MC found a redeemed adult, after dealing with corrupt adults, and who is willing to learn about his diplomatic and speech-giving skills. As you rank up his confidant, you get to learn to negotiate with downed enemies for more money, rarer items and to possibly join your team, alongside unlocking the fusion recipe for the strongest Persona you can obtain from this Arcana: Asura. In the narrative sense, he starts to gain his confidence and learn on dealing with voices that are critical or even adverse to his live speeches and even flip the momentum back into his favour, while still being respectful and charismatic. In the conclusion of his confidant link (Rank 10), after several distinct story content relegated to his arc (which I won’t spoil), Yoshida gives a heartfelt speech in front of a larger, excited, more supportive crowd than from the past. Not about the current government. Not about his desire to be a part of the Diet Building. But about how he met this young man, although with different methodologies, is trying to reform the world. Yoshida admits that it seems like a tough mountain to cross. His anecdote gives an impression to the audience that this young man reinspired him to go for his aspirations and reminds them to go for it as well. Even though they can’t share the same path, Yoshida confidently states that they “will surely meet at the peak”. He admits from a previous speech that his efforts may not be heeded now but will hopefully be a stepping stone for future generations. Before that final speech, in private, he deduced that you were a member of the Phantom Thieves but won’t meddle in your affairs. If anything, he respects their tenacity and vision. It’s not even the most emotional nor most dramatically interesting confidant or story. Yet, it left me with an amazing impression that through weird, random scenarios and situations, you can meet people who are worth meeting and understanding. In greater reflection, although I am blessed to have both quality and quantity in terms of my major friends, if I were to apply this motif in how I view my bonds, I could say that each of their personalities and stories can represent each part of the arcana, with definitie overlap in notable places. With just some examples, with the people I’ve met, I’ve learned to be a bit more confident in my skills, embrace my tastes and hobbies and understand from their faults and failures as they have from learning from my own errors and mistakes. You could say that in my journey through life, to evolve from the Fool and learn some knowledge of the World, I encountered and befriended many people from many different backgrounds, cultures, tastes, personalities and worldviews and appreciated every single one of them. I hope that maybe by spending their time with me, they gained some sort of food-for-thought advice that may help them moving forward in conjunction with knowing they have a friend in me.

Then there is the ending of P5R’s 3rd semester. Exclusive to P5R, it can only be unlocked after meeting certain criteria. What I loved about this arc would be that it was largely teased and set up from previous moments in the game. Without spoiling the meat of the story of this arc, it added an intriguing layer of nuance and depth to the aforementioned themes surrounding the game and also added one more thought-provoking theme to the mix: stagnation. Before continuing, I think it is best to first address vanilla P5’s ending. Joker and the rest of the main cast finally helped stop a potentially world-ending crisis and retire from being Phantom Thieves. With the MC moving back home, instead of just saying one final goodbye, the group of friends offered to drive him back. On a near empty highway, the clear skies and the open breeze. The future doesn’t belong to anyone but ourselves and we can see how bright it is, together. Now let’s go to P5R’s two major endings. Yes, you heard me right. The final antagonist essentially created a world where the deepest wishes that a character has is granted and the greatest regret and/or wrong is corrected. For example: Haru has the close relationship with her father she always wanted...even though he died during the main story via previous events. Morgana finally got to be a human...even though it spits on his previous acceptance on what he actually is and his true role to the main cast. Essentially, everything seems so perfect yet everything feels so wrong. Before the final confrontation/boss battle, the final antagonist offers one final choice to the MC. Will you allow them to take over the world and allow yourself to live in their version of “paradise”? Or will you reject it, willing to go on and continue onwards and forge the path that you desire, even with problems persisting throughout? Let’s say you choose the former option, what happens? In summary, whilst on the surface seems like a joyous ending, is actually quite haunting on closer analysis. While the crew can still stay together, the MC doesn’t need to leave Shibuya, Akechi is alive and Kasumi is happy, it still seems off. Yes, the main cast gets their wishes but it also ignores the challenges and tribulations each member went through that built their inner strength and ideals. There's a group shot at the end at LeBlanc’s with everyone in frame. Everything feels right but the MC and Akechi are looking at you: the player. In this arc, they were the ones who, plotwise, were against the entire idea of submitting their future, morals and ideals for an easy way out. You gave up. Notice it says “END” at the bottom right? You chose a stagnant future. Nothing goes wrong but nothing progresses. A beautiful lie. There’s nothing beyond this. But what happens when you choose the latter option to reject? Post final battle, it is not only the final disbandment of the Phantom Thieves but also a parting of ways for the main cast. Ryuji is moving away in order to return back to the track team and have rehabilitation for his injured knee. Ann is planning to do some studying abroad for her future career. Yusuke has greater inspiration and motivation to return to painting. Makoto and Haru are planning to move away as well for their own higher education and individual career aspirations. Futaba finally breaks out of her shell and plans to enter high school and research cognitive psience in college. In his rejection of a false paradise, Akechi is finally able to rest in peace. Sumire, with a renewed heart, will no longer linger behind in her late sister’s accomplishments but achieve her own feats and achieve her and her own sister’s connected dreams. And finally, Joker will return to his hometown, with Morgana joining him. Instead of one final car ride together, Joker and Morgana, after saying their final goodbyes, take the bullet train home. To say that it is bittersweet and left me in shambles is an understatement. But yet, it is the perfect ending and an interesting twist to the original P5’s ending. It redefined the major theme of freedom. P5R took a bold approach in saying that we each have our unique path in life and must walk it, even if it may be “alone”. However, with the bonds that we’ve beautifully weaved, those that are true will always return to each other one day. In P5R’s true ending, it closes with “FIN”. Although it is finishing this story, there will be another tale right around the corner for us. It further re-emphasised and reminded me of my current viewpoint and situations with all of my friends as someone removed from both high school and university life and made their way into the real world. As I’ve explained before, it is nowhere near as easy as it once was. We are all no longer connected by a mutual place where we can easily just hang out and create random memories, where creating time is not a worry. That each of my closest friends, even with similar interests or dreams, have their own distinct aspirations and futures. Hell, I’ve made a lot of great friends but because of a number of reasons, I just felt time made us further distant from each other and making those fun times feel like several lifetimes ago. It feels disheartening and cruel but those who matter will find a way back or remain in contact. I want to share a small anecdote. I just randomly messaged one of my old childhood, primary school friends to see how they are going with life. What was supposed to be just a quick checkup between two old friends ended up being an impromptu, primary school reunion of up to 7 people (including myself). Mind you, I haven’t seen some of them in person for 5+ years. And yet, it is one of my favourite memories as of yet. We’re all walking different paths but felt amazing to see how each of them are going with their own personal journey and their growth. Just with this group, I have no clue when we’ll have something similar to this again but even if time may separate us for years, we’ll find a way back to hang out once more.

Another thing that this game helped reminded and re-emphasised me of, would be how important YOU play a part in your friend’s lives as they have to you. It sounds narcissistic but let me explain. In the game, at the very last day, you will say your final farewells to your teammates and all others who played a part within your journey. If you max ranked the confidants outside of the main cast, you definitely feel  the greater impact and appreciation of your effort. Kawakami is no longer bound to a double life and has her passion to teach again. Iwai doesn’t need to hide his Yakuza past nor how he brought in his adopted son and finally has a new chance to be the father he always wanted to be. Yoshida finally has the confidence to not only acknowledge and learn from his corrupt political past but also has the greater confidence to move forward and stand for the younger generation who aspire for a bright future. These are just some of the examples of your effort bearing fruit.  I will admit to doubting that my efforts are really helpful at all. I think for the most part, at best, I’ll just contribute a minor part to their happiness and/or growth. Yet, similar to the game, you will meet people that are legitimately grateful for your presence, time, effort and love. It is still crazy to me when someone affirms me and is grateful for my efforts when I spend time with them. That especially goes both ways as I feel immensely happy that there are those who are willing to take a risk and make time for some random idiot like myself and get to know me and who I am. Mind you, my love languages are Words of Affirmation and Quality Time. Regardless of whatever you believe in, may it be God, the universe or coincidence or dumb luck, it genuinely warms my heart and soul and eases my mind to know that effort to make time is worthwhile and to be acknowledged for my efforts; as if I met these people, and maybe even more, at the right place and at the right stage of my life. Regardless of when you met a close friend, do not underestimate your impact (something I still need to learn myself). You never know if what you do for them may be one of the things they need to see and hear.

Friendships and bonds are important.  It sounds so overly played that the moral goes beyond a cliche’ and became a meme. Yet, both iterations of Persona 5 was a game I needed for my post education life - entering the real/full time working world. In an era where the world seems so divided and that time has separated each of us to our unique paths and made each other so distant, P5 and P5R allowed me to reflect on how I viewed my own bonds with closest friends in a new era of my life. It made me appreciate my current bonds on a whole new level. I don’t know who needs to read this right now, but thank you for being there. Even if I just met you just the other day or we’ve been friends for many years, please know that I appreciate you for who you are and what you mean to me. Thank you for giving some part of your time to make mine feel just a bit more timeless. I hope, even in our twilight years, that we continue to make many memories and grow within our bonds. To those who I’ve failed, I apologise. I have no idea if we can reconnect and make it the way things as they were before or allow time to walk our own paths but I hope you will find the happiness you deserve. If we do reconnect, I’ll do my best to keep improving as a person and as a friend. Just know that you are not worthless and you’ll always have people that do desire to be with you. Even with more grim scenarios, I know you’ll meet people who WILL be there for you. It’s tough to execute in practice as we go forward but not impossible to make the time and effort. I want to end this blog with a quote from Ann to the player as the MC prepares to say goodbye to all his closest friends and confidants (via the new true ending from P5R): “I’ve gotta reach people. I wanna give someone hope - like you did for me. Thank you for all you’ve done. The days I spent with you were some of the brightest in my life. Once I’m a star, I’m gonna shine even brighter, though - so watch out for me!”

Addendum: Sorry for being so late on this post. A lot of stuff was happening on my end and I wanted to make sure whenever I write a blog post, I write with the right mindset as I want to make it as genuine as possible and speak from the heart. I hope you enjoyed reading through this one. Next to Super Mario Galaxy, Persona 5 (more so the Royal version) is one of my favourite games of all time (currently my 2nd at the time I’m writing this). I definitely wanted to discuss its impact on me, similar to Galaxy. Hope you guys are doing well and will look forward to my next discussion topics that lie ahead.

[rpgmgames]

July’s Featured Game: SLARPG

DEVELOPER(S): Bobby "ponett" Schroeder ENGINE: RPGMaker VX Ace  GENRE: RPG, Fantasy SUMMARY: SLARPG is a short, turn-based RPG following the story of Melody Amaranth, a kindhearted but meek transgender fox who’s decided to learn healing magic and become a paladin. She’s joined by her adventurous girlfriend Allison, as well as their friends Claire (a sarcastic, rule-bending witch)(she is also trans) and Jodie (a dependable, somewhat motherly knight). Over the course of the story, our inexperienced heroes will meddle with forces beyond their control and find themselves responsible for the fate of their quaint little hometown. They’ll also fight some spherical frogs, travel to a forgotten land in the sky, befriend a robot or two, and anger the local librarian. But that should go without saying. 

Introduce yourself!  Hi! My name's Bobby "ponett" Schroeder. I have a background mainly in visual art and writing, and I've been working in RPG Maker VX Ace since 2013 after being inspired to try making my own game by Splendidland's masterpiece Megaman Sprite Game. I'd always wanted to go into game development, but this was the first time it felt like it was actually feasible for me to make something fun on my own. By the end of that year I released a much rougher freeware version of SLARPG, originally known as Super Lesbian Horse RPG.

I do most of the work myself, but I have several people helping me with some NPC and enemy design work including my boyfriend Anthony Field (@exclamationpointman on Tumblr) and my friends Thomas Landon (@schloogywoog), Gee (@fattoads), and Thom (@sidewalkwitch). My lead composer is the incredibly talented BEATR!X @neutralnewt) with more music contributed by other friends such as internet pop icon blacksquares (@blacksquares).

What is your project about? What inspired you to create your game initially? *Bobby: Super Lesbian Animal RPG is primarily about a timid transgender fox named Melody. At age 22 she's sort of coasting along on autopilot with no clear idea of what she wants to do with her life. One day, she and her girlfriend Allison get roped into a new adventuring guild founded by their friends Claire and Jodie. Melody sees this as an opportunity to impress Allison and to make herself useful by becoming a paladin and learning healing magic.

At its heart, the game is about the relationships between four girls in their early 20s. They're all trying to define themselves as people, they all have their own personal baggage, and they all have their own motives for seeing this dinky little adventurer's guild as a life-changing opportunity. And now, thanks to the trouble they get themselves into, they also have to figure out how to be heroes. It's also a game where you can have an anthropomorphic rabbit with a mohawk kiss her girlfriend and then swing a sword made of zircon at a magic tumbleweed

As I said, the game was originally released in a much rougher form under the title Super Lesbian Horse RPG. It started out as a cute, goofy little game where Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic were dating (of course) and went on a bizarre adventure, but it soon turned into a genuine RPG with a more sincere story. It also got much, much more attention than I ever expected. My use of copyrighted characters made the game difficult to distribute, though, and in hindsight I was holding myself back by presenting it as a fangame. So in 2015, I decided to radically overhaul and flesh out the game with a new, expanded cast that I have full creative control over. And now here we are today, with a game that's probably got more new material in it than old, but still hopefully has the same charm if you enjoyed the original.

How long have you been working on your project? *Bobby: Work on the original project lasted the entirety of 2013, with me foolishly releasing the 1.0 version on Christmas 2013 (my 20th birthday—I spent most of the day frantically squashing bugs). I returned to the project in 2015 and have been working on the new version on and off for about two years now.

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project? *Bobby: The humor is definitely inspired in part by Mother and Paper Mario, although my talkative protagonists might make it closer to something like a point-and-click adventure game. I've also always loved really casual comedy that skews towards normal conversation in stuff like Home Movies or Homestuck. Adventure Time has undoubtedly been a big influence, too, as one of my favorite shows, with its "anything goes" fantasy world and colorful cast of characters—but also because of its focus on grounded, introspective character moments in a surreal, fantastical setting

Gameplay-wise, early Final Fantasy titles are a big influence for sure, and I'm trying to take a page out of Zelda's book when it comes to exploration and level design. But tabletop RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons are also having an impact on the way I design encounters. I think tabletop games are still the gold standard for RPG battles, because they're often less about stats and repetition and doing what the designer wants you to do and more about improvising a fun story. Of course, an RPG Maker game can't compete with having an actual DM there to run an encounter, but I'm trying to give players lots of fun little "hey, what if I tried this?" moments with unexpected consequences.

Have you come across any challenges during development? How have you overcome or worked around them?   *Bobby: Honestly, the big thing for me is always time management. As development continues and my skills improve, I often find myself polishing areas and assets I'd already worked on before. If I didn't force myself to work on new stuff too I'd probably spend three years just polishing Greenridge to a mirror shine.

Have any aspects of your project changed over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept? *Bobby: Developing the protagonists further has really broadened my horizons writing-wise. I always wanted the game to have a nice emotional arc on top of all the jokes and surreal dungeons, but over time I've fleshed out Melody, Allison, Claire, and Jodie more and more, making everyone feel less like charicatures and more like real people with relatable motivations. The graphics have also gotten a lot better after several years of pixel art practice, and the level design has gotten less linear.

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team? If you don't have a team, do you wish you had one or do you prefer working alone? *Bobby: It started out as just me. Friends on Tumblr quickly showed interest in contributing designs and music to the game just because they liked the project, and before long a lot of different people were putting their own little mark on the game. Some of my favorite characters in the game have been designed by friends, and I don't know where I'd be without the absolutely phenomenal soundtrack.

What was the best part of developing the game? *Bobby: I love designing characters, and writing in all these little details to make them feel real, and figuring out how they talk to each other, and seeing my audience pick out their favorites. It's a very rewarding process for me. The second best part is getting to listen to the soundtrack and realize "Wow... this is gonna be in a game that I'm making. And it's gonna be SICK."

Which character in your game do you relate to the most and why? (Alternatively: Who is your favorite character and why?) *Bobby: Without a doubt, Melody. She differs from myself in a lot of major ways, so I wouldn't call her a self-insert, but she was created to give myself the relatable fat bisexual trans girl protagonist with anxiety that no other piece media was ever going to give me. A lot of her insecurities in the game are even loosely inspired by stuff I've been through in real life.

I also have a ton of fun writing the villains, but they're spoilers.

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently? *Bobby: I wish I'd been more consistent about my work ethic in the past. I worked EXTREMELY inconsistently on SLARPG throughout 2015, and I probably could've gotten a lot more done back then. But hey, live and learn.

Once you finish your project, do you plan to explore game's universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is? *Bobby: Oh, I'm absolutely hoping to revisit this world! Part of the reason I'm putting so much effort into revamping a game I already released is so that I can work with this new cast and setting again in the future. I'm not planning too far ahead right now, but I do have some vague ideas for more games I'd like to make in this world, possibly through the eyes of characters other than Melody.

What do you look most forward to upon/after release? *Bobby: I'm looking forward to being able to play some longer games in my backlog without feeling guilty about it, haha. I've been dying to play stuff like The Witcher 3, NieR: Automata, and Final Fantasy XV, but I'm always worried it'll just take time away from my work. It's a wonder I managed to finish Breath of the Wild this year.

Is there something you're afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game?  *Bobby: This answer is gonna be a bummer, but I'm worried about is the harassment I'll have to deal with for putting out a game about LGBT characters. I've already dealt with this on several occasions, although thankfully it hasn't progressed past slur-filled anonymous messages. This toxic state of the gaming community is why I'm currently planning to release the game exclusively on itch.io, rather than exposing myself to Steam's hostile userbase. But it's a story that I think is worth telling, and for every piece of hate mail I get 20 messages from people telling me how excited they are, which is why I haven't given up.

Question from last month's featured dev: Is there any portion of your development that's gotten you outside your comfort zone? *Bobby: I think it's easy to say that most of it has been outside my comfort zone, actually. Working on SLARPG has really pushed the boundaries of what I previously thought I was capable of as an artist. When I first started I literally made a dungeon that was just a straight line with one 90 degree turn because I had no idea what else to do with the canvas. Now I can make dungeons that are actually slightly fun!

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs? *Bobby: Study the games and stories you love, and find out what really makes them tick. Don't just mimic surface level things, but study the mechanical, structural, and thematic elements that make them so memorable. Oh, and don't put too much effort into a fangame if there's even the slightest chance it'll get taken down, haha. Make something original loosely inspired by the things you love instead.

We mods would like to thank Bobby for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved! 

Remember to check out SLARPG if you haven’t already! See you next month! 

- Mods Gold & Platinum