#the game is so so so boring and tedious at level 1

[death-rebirth-senshi]

Kind of annoyed I didn't actually buy that bioware bundle when I had the chance. I'd love to play dragon age games with level up everything mods.

[hishoi]

Moth outfit pattern

Hello, here's the pattern for the moth outfit. This post includes the basic cape pattern, basic mask pattern, moth hair pattern, base tunic pattern and the moth shorts! If you make something using my patterns, i would love to see it! Simply send me an ask, or tag me in a post! Now, here's the pattern!

Basic cape pattern

(This pattern is used for every base cape in game)

Materials: Yarn in the color of the cape you want, white yarn (for the stars), a 2.5 mm crochet hook, scissors, and a needle.

-Chain 26, and double crochet in the third chain from the hook. Double crochet in every stitch (24)

-Chain 2, *1 increase, 3 dc, repeat from * (30)

-Chain 2, dc in every stitch. (30)

-Ch 2, *1 inc, 4 dc, repeat from * (36)

-Ch 2, dc in every stitch (36)

Now, i think you can see where this pattern is going. You will continue doing one row of increase, and one regular row for a total of 16 rows. When you're done, you should have 72 stitches.

-(row 17) Chain 2, dc 9, then do 5 more rows with 9 dc each. Chain one, and fasten off.

This forms one part of the cape. This is how we will achieve the "cuts" in the cape. After you've fastened off, attach your yarn again, in the 10th stitch of the 16th row, continuing that same pattern again.

You will make 6 of these, 3 on each side of the middle. In the middle you instead make one with 18 stitches instead of 9. Here is a little guide for you:

When you're done, you can take your needle and some white yarn, and sew/embroider star shapes on the back, like the ones in game. You can make your skykid have as many wing levels as you want, but i only made the base 5 for simplicity.

Now, for the last part of the cape, the thing that will keep the cape on the skykid. I simply made a long chain, sewed it into the first row of the cape, and tied it around the neck. As simple as that!

Now, onto our next pattern!

Basic mask pattern

Materials: Yarn in the colors of the mask, a 2.5mm crochet hook, scissors, and a needle.

-Make 6 single crochet into a magic circle. Tighten the circle.

-Ch 1, increase in every stitch around, sl st in first sc (12)

-Ch 1, *1 inc, 1 sc, rep from *, sl st in first sc (18)

-Ch 1, *1 inc, 2 sc, rep from *, sl st in first sc (24)

-Ch 1, *1 inc, 3 sc, rep from *, sl st in first sc (30)

-Ch 1, *1 inc, 4 sc, rep from *, sl st in first sc (36)

Now, Make 5 rows of regular single crochet, 36 stitches each. Chain one, and fasten off. This is the base pattern, simple as that! Now, you can sew details onto it, like eyes, patterns, etc to match the mask you're trying to make.

But now you say, how will i attach this to my skykid without having to sew it onto it, because i might want to make more masks, and change them! Well i'll tell you!

If you're like me, you don't like weaving in loose ends. It's boring and takes a lot of time. Well don't you worry cause you won't have to do that! (for some at least, don't leave all your ends loose please) If you haven't weaved it in yet, you should have a thread of yarn in the middle of the back of your mask. This thread is very important. To attach the mask, you'll have to take your crochet hook, put it through the head in some way, making it come out of the middle of the face. Grab the thread with your hook, and pull it through the face.

It's a tedious process, and probably not the most practical way to do this, but hey, it works! It keeps the mask on the face fairly well, unless you're making your skykid headbang with all the energy in their tiny body. If you need to, you can attach more threads to the mask to secure it even more.

Moth hair pattern

Materials: White yarn, blue yarn, brown yarn, a 2.5 mm crochet hook, scissors, a needle, and you might end up needing an iron, to flatten the hair.

The hair can be split up in 5 parts. we will make on at a time.

1- the base (will be used to keep the hair better stuck on your skykids head)

This is a very simple pattern, and actually identical to the mask pattern. So technically you can just go look at that again.

2- The hair strands

-Ch 56, and single crochet in the second chain from the hook. Do 20 single crochet in total. Slip stitch in the next stitch. And chain 21. Single crochet in the second chain from the hook and make 20 in total. Slip stitch in the next stich of the base chain.

You will continue the pattern of chaining 21, making 20 single crochet, and slip stitching into the next chain of the base chain, until you've reached the end of the chain, and you should have 35 strands of hair in total.

When you're done, you might need to iron the hair strands, to match the in game look. Here's a guide for the next step, since i'm bad at explaining

3- The hair tuft

-Ch 2, sc one into first chain

-Ch 1, sc 2 into the same stitch.

-Ch 1, 2 sc

-Ch 1, 1 decrease

-Ch 1, 1 sc, ch 1, fasten off.

Sew this onto the top of the hair piece, somewhere in the middle.

4- The braid

This pattern is similar to the hair strands pattern, the only difference being that instead of 35 strands, we will only make 3. This means making a chain of 24, single crocheting 20, and slip stitching in the next chain, and making two more, so that you have 3 strands in total.

We will not braid it yet, because we need to make the last part first.

5- The hair tie

First, work with your blue yarn.

-Ch 10, sl st in first chain to make a circle

-Do 3 rows of sc, 10 stitches each. Chain one, and fasten off.

Now, take your brown yarn, and surface crochet around the first row and third row. And that's it!

6- The secret part (assembly)

Take the braid you've made, braid it, and pull it through the hair tie. Then, sew the braid onto the base piece (under the hair strands) and then you're done with the hair!

You attach it in the same way you attach the mask. I'd recommend one "fastening thread" in the front of the hair, and one in the back at least. add more if you need to.

Base tunic

Materials: White-ish yarn, a 2.5mm crochet hook, scissors, a needle.

This tunic will be used for every base outfit in the game, with the actual pants being a separate piece.

The tunic will also be separate pieces that are put together in the end.

1- Main piece(s)

-Ch 25, single crochet in every stitch (24)

-Make 18 rows of single crochet in total, with 24 stitches each

-Make 4 rows where you decrease in the beginning and end of every row. On the end of the 4th row you should have 18 stitches (if i've done the math correct)

-Make 9 rows of regular single crochet, with 18 stitches each.

-Ch 1, 3 sc, 1 dec

-Ch 1, 1 dec, 2sc, ch 1, fasten off.

-Attach your yarn on the last fourth stitch of the 31st row

-Ch 1, 1 dec, 3 sc

-Ch 1, 2 sc, 1 dec, ch 1, fasten off.

Now, make one more, so that you have 2.

2- Sleeves

-Ch 16, sc into every stitch (15)

-Make 26 rows of single crochet in total, with 15 stitches each.

Make 2 of these too.

3- Neck piece

-Ch 7, sc into every chain. (6)

-Make 50 rows of single crochet in total, with 6 stitches each

4- Assembly

Here, i've made a guide on how to assemble this. After that, you're done with the tunic!

Moth shorts

Materials: same yarn as the one you used for the tunic, a 2.5mm crochet hook, scissors.

-Ch 40, and sl st in the first chain to make a circle.

-Make 5 rows of regular single crochet, with 40 stitches each.

-Ch 1, 20 sc, sl st in the first sc.

-Attach the yarn again, and make another leg with 20 stitches. Both legs should have 5 rows each.

-Make 4 more rows of single crochet, with 20 stitches each. Fasten off.

And now you're done!

If you have any questions, or if anything was unclear, please do let me know how i can improve this. I am aware some parts may be oddly phrased but i hope you understood.

This is my first cosmetics pattern, please tell me if there's any cosmetics you'd like to see me make!

Here's the link to the body pattern/main post!

[unexpectedbrickattack]

Compiling some Peppino-centric hcs i have bc i would like to have something to look back on as a point of reference 😌 (this is so long. SO fucking long. Im sorry)

- starting w the basics: hes a short king; 5’2 (157cm). Hes like late 40s-early 50s to me. Hes got brown eyes i never draw bc i like drawing him w dots lol. Hes particular about his appearance and grooms very consistently. Has literally no issues w balding (exposed to balding bears in his youth; thinks they are hot now 😌) and it helps that he can literally cave someones skull in if they speak ill of him. He does have a couple of comfy hats incase his hair decides to be unruly in bad weather.

- very bulky build; think of olympic strongmen/ highland games but short. Visibly muscular arms and broad shoulder, fat chest and stomach, smoother legs (fat layered over muscle; v thick thighs and calves). Hes got surgery scars on his lower back from a bullet wound (only entry/no exit point). Debated giving him a scar around his sternum from heart surgery or some other crazy injury he had but im not sure yet; the bullet extraction scar is definitely staying tho.

-does NOT work out; he used to wrestle in his late teens/early 20s but otherwise he was (still is) a man who did lots of physical labor around his childhood home and grandparents shop. Continued the cycle when he got his own home and his own restaurant; cheaper to do his own (extensive) repairs than call for specialists/contractors when u are Fucking Poor.

- he DOES exercise; he is fond of jogging. He does this alot postgame, usually in the early mornings before he opens, and at the beach on his days off. He had it drilled in v early in his life that he Needs to stay active, so he will roll out of bed and do this almost daily. On his days off he will have random people come and join him; usually pepperman or noisette. Its too tedious/boring of a task for gus and noise, and vigi is out cold until sunrise at minimum.

- he owns a HOUSE; he does not rent an apartment. This is bc i think it would be reasonable to assume that anyone who OWNS a restaurant was at some point, well off enough to own a house instead of renting. And i like the idea of him using this house as collateral; if the shop goes under, so does his home (more stress for him…). (Ive seen other people treat his shop like a duplex ie shop on the lobby level and an apartment/living space on the second floor. This is ALSO v good and coincides w my want to have his home tied to his restaurant)

- the house is small; two bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, and a basement (where the 1/2 bath is located). BIG kitchen, small livingroom. It is surprisingly well furnished bc of his family donating things to him when he bought the house in his 30s. Lots of older wood based furniture. Hes not grossly messy (like food, bugs, etc) but he is disorganized beyond belief. Lives an ‘organized mess’ lifestyle bc of his high stress. Also extremely apathetic to his living conditions until postgame when his restaurant starts to take in profits again; less stress -> more positive time at home -> aware of the clutter as he spends more time at home.

- drives a beat up lookin car to and from work. Its his BABY; his ol reliable. He has to do lots of work to keep her intact and functioning. Eventually gets a newer car with his profits, but its rlly to help ease the strain on her so that he can take her out for drives occasionally.

-eldest of like 6 siblings; will not try to name them all just know that hes the only boy. Eldest daughter is only a year younger than him. Good relationship w all of them and his immediate family. Very matriarchal immediate family. Only a handful of uncles, his dad, and his grandpappy. Stubbornly cut off contact w everyone after the horrors (war) and refused to accept help w his failing restaurant (prideful). Eventually his (eldest) sister reaches out and he makes amends one at a time. (Gets an earful from his momma)

- works LONG hours. Awake by 4am, in noisettes cafe by 5am, in the shop by 6am. Preps and calls until opening at 9am. Closes at 9pm. Closes up FOR REAL at 10pm. Rinse n repeat. As the shop does better financially, he starts opening later and closing earlier (at the insistence of Gus). He still does his walks and his morning routine, just a little later, and he has enough time at home in the evening to cook for himself.

- on the topic of cooking, he is a good chef all around; pizza is just easier to market and consistently do Correct. Likes food alot. So much…..he isnt picky but he does go 😬 when eating something. Bad. And it happens Often.

- stress baked often. He felt bad about throwing out his food afterwards so he would give it away to his neighbors. No longer stress bakes but he will cook out of boredom which is not as bad but still not the best 😭 luckily he has so many freeloaders that will eat anything he makes (gus and noise)

- this is his second shop; the first one was in a larger city (think similar to pig city). Closed down due to insufficient payments, but reopened on the outskirts of the city (close to the forest) after putting up his house as collateral.

-first shop is where he first meets pizzahead. Hes offered a generous sum of cash to sell the business (which would then be converted into a ph brand shop). Obv declined. Later offered a position in pizzaheads business instead; nearly killed the man when scaring him out of his shop.

- Peppino is NOT some aggressive out of control beast (despite what pizzahead believes). He is vaguely neurotic and it is exacerbated by extreme stress and bouts of anxiety. So funny how removing the extreme stress and sources of anxiety makes him more Normal. (Somewhat encouraged by an official image i saw after i made this hc of peppinos attitude outside and inside the tower. He is relatively apathetic and inside the tower he is borderline manic. More hcs about that too)

- he is relatively fun to be with otherwise. He has some extremely dry humor. Hes incredibly sarcastic. He LIKES customer service…otherwise this would be impossible for him to endure. It helps that he Owns a shop, instead of only being a worker; he can yell at people who are rude and annoying to him and he knows (at least postgame) that he has loyal regulars.

- he is a bit of an asshole; he make snide remarks he shouldnt and hes been in his own fair share of fights bc of it. Has mellowed out drastically as he got a better grip on his emotions postgame. Only the most tolerant could really deal w him prior to postgame (gus) in part due to his anger (response to exacerbated neurosis and ptsd)

- also autistic. Extra stress bc of this. Easily overstimulated and the response to this is anger. Completely undiagnosed lmao but hes like late 40s; he just learned how to deal with it.

-common stress responses: bites on anything, usually his hand (Tried stopping this bc people would TOUCH him if he did that in front of others and that just made shit worse). Grinds his teeth. Jaw clenching. Making A Fist So Tight You Accidentally Cut Urself. Flappy hands, usually w hands balled up into a fist (specifically eyes closed; jaw clenched; head ducked, flappy hands over his ducked head). It looks ‘worse’ than biting but at least the excessive movement deters people from touching him.

- on a more positive note; knows quite a bit of magic tricks. Sleight of hand stuff is his forte. It is good for the anxiety and it keeps his hands busy. He is will consistently say that he is not good w kids but he loves entertaining them; they say the funniest shit and he likes being a bad influence on them 😈. Also teaching them tricks and letting them see behind the curtain is so fun for him; like they are so excited about silly tricks and it makes him feel a little cool….

- he is the kind of person whos like (dad voice) ‘not gettin a damn cat in my house’ and then has blackmail of him passed the fuck out with a cat on his stomach. He feeds the local strays by his shop and he cant help but feed the strays that end up by his house. He doesnt feel confident enough to take care of another animal when its so hard for him to remember to take care of himself so for now he just feeds them. But maybe soon he will take them inside…he also baby talks cats but if u caught him doing that he would kill u i think. (Pov u are the noise)

- silly hc that he has a real last name but he keeps it as spaghetti bc its funny to fuck around w people who ask him. No i dont know what his last name would be but i think it would be funny to have him ‘change’ it for branding and have people believe it. Also i think its funny to think of peppino saying this to ph somehow and he completely runs with it as gospel. Like ‘granny did u KNOW his last name is fucking spaghetti??’

- wrt young peppino, i say that w him being 20-23 in mind. Worked in his grandparents shop during this time. Worked as a line cook for some other restaurants as well (and saved up money to buy his own home while he lived w his parents and sisters). He was generally a sweetheart, just a bit odd (the Autsim and Anxiety), but that was (and still is) his charm point lol

- (SUGGESTIVE) cannot stop thinking of him as a little otter that hung out w older bears in the leather scene. He prob had his best years w them before he had to focus on other shit. He still keeps in contact w some of the peeps that were around his age postgame, and they meet up sometimes to hang along w vigilante. Now that hes older it is a bit surreal to now be the bear he used to look up to in his younger years. But its a bit flattering. Noise and Pepperman are younger than him and they both regard him w the same kind of wonder he used to give older bears. He thinks its cute lol (pepperman bc thats his muse and he sees his body type as PEAK human form, and noise bc i hc him as a bit sheltered despite the fame)

- (STILL SUGGESTIVE BUT THATS IT I SWEAR) adjacent to this; its weird for him to come back to this side of him bc hes been living in survival mode for over a decade. Got his house in his early 30s -> WAR -> comes back traumatized -> leaves family to cope -> dumps money into a restaurant to cope w leaving family. So he kinda missed it alot. Its fun to explore it w gus heehee and sometimes noise when he behaves.

-other things i wanted to mention but didnt know where to fit it. Peppino is a decent artist; he drew the logo for his shop and in general he is good at caricatures (another thing he can do to entertain a crowd; helps w anxiety to know how to not be awkward).

- Peppino is a bit of a mechanic (aka he learned bc he was broke and didnt want to call them for minor problems). Hes not a tinkerer but he likes the joy of creating sm and will make little. Creations. every once in a while. One of these creations is Peshino! He is a wooden windup toy made as a prototype for a more mechanical, mass produced version. He was intended to be sold as a cute little toy to help cement the branding for Peppinos shop but he never got the time or money for it, so peshino is collecting a bit of dust in his basement. Postgame, he takes peshino out and cleans him up; he feels a bit guilty about him….and the Big Peshino found in the tower plays music in Peppinos shop :) He also takes the time to clean him up and keep him functional.

Okay i think thats all i got for now byebye

[malkshake]

feel free to ignore if you got flooded with asks about Flight Rising—just another perspective:

Flight Rising is (imo) best enjoyed as a slow-burn, do-a-little-every-day game. The central premise is dragon customization which includes breeding dragons with specific colors/genes and dressing them up. You can also battle against NPC monsters in the coliseum for loot and some people enjoy participating in battles where you level up dragons to send to your god. Winning battles rewards you with food, trinkets that can be sold for profit, and rarely genes or NPC mosters you can decorate your dragon page with and earn treasure from. Dominance is calculated every week and the winning flight gets little bonuses like discounts on apparel in shops. Apparently there's active discord communities around it and lots of people enjoy the community. Personally I find it boring/carpal tunnel inducing but it really depends on where your brain draws the line between tedious and calmingly repetitive. If you enjoy shiny hunting in Pokemon it might be up your alley.

Personally, I prefer the breeding part of the game because you can design (skry) a dragon you like—which often involves discovering what genes (with their varied accent colors) pair well together—then trying to find dragons that can breed it based on color range. The color wheel is pretty big and dragons have long real-time cool downs (up to a month for rarer species) so projects can take weeks, months, sometimes even years. But the cool thing is (almost) every dragon was bred/hatched—so everyone's favorite dragon came from the effort of another real person. There's an exception in generation 1 dragons which have no parents and are a whole rare thing that people collect for aesthetics/enjoy the gamble. Finding the perfect outfit/accent (which you can design/sell) can be a lot of fun too. Granted the dressing room is busted rn so you can't rearrange the order of apparel but if you own the apparel that's not a problem. There's also a dedicated community of players who are happy to gift new players with everything they need to get started.

TL;DR Flight Rising isn't perfect, nor really designed around instant gratification but if you're the type to enjoy mobile games where you do a little bit every day it's kinda like that with a bit more unique customization. :>

Very thorough description and analysis, I appreciate it!

Like I mentioned around the comments of one ask, be it another time and era, I could've pictured myself getting obsessed with this easy, as much as I did with shiny hunting some years ago. But there's a reason that stopped being a thing in my life too, I just no longer have the patience for the slow grind or the need to subject myself to it.

[loopingpyre]

Yeah, fair enough on the needing more detail point, I sort of wanted to test the waters to see if you'd even care first, cause I wasn't gonna waste time typing out a whole thing if the notion of JRPGs being fundamentally flawed didn't interest you and then you deleted my ask. So I guess I'll now oblige and explain in more detail.

I've been playing a few of the SMT games because my girlfriend really likes them and I, being a good girlfriend (trying to!) want to show that I care about her interests. Prior to this I've only really played Persona 3 and 5 and Yakuza 7. For this, I played Soul Hackers 2, and Devil Survivor 1 and 2 (1 to Yuzu's ending, and 2 to Ronaldo's ending), and about an hour of SMT V, which I found boring, and she, having played the whole game (I'm pretty sure) agrees with me that it's boring, so I decided to not keep playing it (for now at least)

My main issue with most all of these games comes mostly threefold: the amount of time and commitment they take, the difficulty and in particular the manner in which it is imposed, and the heavily formulaic nature of their plots. These are sort of holistic issues, I guess, so I can't really neatly divide them, but I'll try.

First of all: the time commitment. Playing both Devil Survivors to a single ending took me around thirty to forty hours each, going off of my save files. (I was playing the 3DS versions, mind, and listening to all the voice acting, which surely extended the time played.) I understand that it gets faster on NG+, and in itself, this isn't exactly the biggest of deals, because video games in general take a long time (it's the way it is really), but JRPGs just feel like they take way longer than the average video game and this issue compounds when one considers the latter two flaws I've observed.

So, secondarily: The difficulty, and the way it's imposed. Soul Hackers 2 obviously is not a hard game, and there's not that much variance in its content, and it's not the longest of these sorts of games, either, so I wouldn't say it's the greatest offender here (using that term feels wrong...), but with Devil Survivor 1, I felt this the most. About 80 percent of the way through the game, which I'd generally found to be quite unchallenging for the most part, I found myself suddenly struggling against Belial (the fire demon). During a grinding session in which I was trying to level myself up so that I could weather my way through this (to my annoyance, as I found the grinding incessantly tedious, more on that later), my girlfriend looked over my shoulder, and said "why do your stats look like that?"

You see, my stats, at the time, all four, magic, vitality, agility, and uh... What was the fourth one. Strength! Yeah, um they were *all* at exactly 17 (give or take 1.) I explained to her, rather calmly, that I had done this because I couldn't really choose which of the four stats I wanted more of, and thought it would be best if I made all of these numbers perfectly balanced and equal.

This is an approach I almost always take in most any video game that offers any form of upgrade or skill tree: I struggle with overchoice, can't choose a priority to go for, so every time I have resources with which to upgrade, I just upgrade whatever is most recently neglected such that I have a generally well-rounded skill set and can do a bit of everything.

She, an SMT veteran, immediately went like, "NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO "

And explained to me that the way I was *supposed* to do this, was to specialize in one area or another, magic or strength or tanking damage with high health, or whatever. To which I said "HOW THE FUCK WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT!" She insisted I should have just known it, I guess? Anyway, I considered this a grievous design flaw that irreparably impaired my enjoyment of the game. As I did not have an old save file with which to revert my statting decisions, and did not wanted to restart the entire game, nor did I want to grind the same fucking goddamned shibuya battle over and over and over and over and over again for god knows how many hours until I somehow corrected my stats

I opted to use my (hacked) 3DS to install an external cheat which inflated my protagonist's level to 99 with all four stats at their maximum of 40. I did this because I had decided I hated how this game was balanced and wanted to finish it and no longer waste my time. I felt pleased with this decision, because I was playing through the bad ending in which the cast brute forces their way out of the lockdown and ruining the world, while myself brute forcing my way out of the game and ruining the game balance. *ahem* I mean, fixing the game balance

My girlfriend said "I'm glad you had fun ruining one of my favorite games :(((" In response, I opined that Devil Survivor would have been better if it were a straightforward visual novel.

While Soul Hackers 2 does not have this specific issue, given that Ringo's stats are all mostly preset by the game and you can only mildly boost them here and there, I did instead take umbrage with the way that the later floors of the Soul Matrix dungeon were organized around teleporters which teleport you from one island of the floor to another, with no clear sense of rhyme or reason to their routing. I considered these teleporters to be arbitrary and stupid, as they were frustrating, and demanded that I have the capacity for rote memorization of the layout and teleporter placement of an entire dungeon whose corners broadly look all the damn same. I called these a blatantly egregious example of "fake difficulty".

She warned me never to touch several of the older SMT games.

I booted up Devil Survivor 2, with my girlfriend's advice about specialization in mind. I enjoyed the game a lot more than Devil Survivor 1, but, for the sake of mitigating gameplay frustration, I pirated the DLC. I quickly realized I would not enjoy the grinding, even with the reduction of grinding that the DLC enables, and cheated to have infinite money so I could have more fun with the game. I went for Ronaldo's ending, because he's sort of a leftist and his voice acting makes him sound like Knuckles the Echidna from Sonic the Hedgehog, and I thought siding with "communist Knuckles the Echidna" was a very funny image

Anyway, across all three of these experiences, I generally wondered, "do I like these? do I like their stories? do I like their gameplay?" and I feel like the answer is broadly sort of... yes, sometimes, but generally no?

I kinda just don't really understand the appeal of being railroaded into repetitive tasks for the sake of increasing numbers that then decide whether or not you win, rather than like, your actual skill, which is just down to pressing the same buttons over and over. I get that part of the appeal is the long-term strategy of building your party, and that's valid and all, but I tend to very quickly get frustrated with it because often times I fail to intuit the correct strategy ahead of time, and the solution turns out to be "rewind the clock back several hours!" and I don't want to do that and have to redo all the work I did up to that point, and then potentially have to rewind again if I do it wrong.

So, the appeal is supposed to be the strategy, I guess, which just takes a lot of dedication that I don't have in me, but if I dial that down to make it easier, then the game's reduced to pressing more buttons, and, just isn't really fun at all in the way it's supposed to be. And that all might be fine if the story was worth the effort, but... is it?

All of these games have very thin narratives which all more or less boil down to "humanity good" vs "humanity bad" vs "humanity bad but sometimes good so it's worth it (sometimes)" ideological conflicts that all end up with killing one or another divine or cosmic entity with omnipotence of one or another variety, and like, cool, I guess, is that worth 50-100 hours of effort? Is that something I'm invested enough in to throw myself into an entire series, hell, an entire genre, of games for? I'm not really sure that it is, to me, so. Weh?

Is that really all that there is to this entire game genre? Like, outside of indie games that mostly have their own issues (they're all very derivatively ripping off Mother 3 and/or Undertale and/or Chrono Trigger and not generally bringing a lot of new mechanical ideas, and even still they just kinda find their way back to the issue of the grind not being that fun most of the time)

And my girlfriend has just argued to most of this that maybe I just don't like the games, and I shouldn't force myself to like them, and she'd like to please stop rehashing this argument with me, and maybe she's right, maybe I just don't enjoy JRPGs, and that's okay, but uh...

I don't know. I want to try and see what she sees in them and find out if I can really care about them the way she does. She has a Jack Frost plushie that I sometimes play with, and it's cute, and I want to care about him more the way she does, not just because he's cute but because I've played these games and had fun and know who he is and definitely don't hate his stupid little face aaahh I love him so much

and I keep inventing fun little lore for Frosty the Jack Frost plushie (she calls him Frosty) about how he sells stuff he stole to the Black Market which is owned by Black Frost, and he's planning to kill King Frost and overthrow the Frost Monarchy, and all that, and she seems to find that cute even though she keeps contradicting it with lore and trivia from the games and I keep going "well I dunno *in the back of my mind: but maybe I want to know*" and like

I'm sorry if this seems like an insane unhinged rant but I just really love my girlfriend and I think it'd hurt a little to have to give up on something she really loves, even if I know, intellectually, that she loves me more, and that that won't change if I don't like SMT, and it's okay if I don't like them.

But I want to like them. I genuinely do. I don't know how to like them and I don't know how to tell her I want to like them and am not trying to start a fight with her over something she loves. I don't know. Am I missing something?

for the record I kind of like a lot of things Soul Hackers 2 does and I think I'd like it a lot more if it was finished but that's a can of worms I maybe shouldn't open....

Holy shit this is so much and thank you so much also for caring enough for my opinion because i have a whole lot to say here, and I adore these games.

Let's break it down point by point.

Belial is fairly challenging, the game is hard. And I think your girlfriend has done you a severe disservice. If she wanted you to min-max your stats in a certain direction, she should have told you about that straight up. I can understand her immediate reaction due to it being uncommon, but how is that your fault? The game is actually designed for it anyway.

You're given party members that focus on different niches, Yuzu and Midori and Keisuke can all perform powerful magic offensive roles, Atsuro is a strong tank, Kaido has powerful offensive stats, and you share a skill pool, so having a less specialised build is really only going to make it that much harder if you try to make your protag the main attacker, which some SMT vets seem to instinctively do in these games. Having a mix means you could play the healer, carry an extra element or phys attack or status condition to cripple a foe.

I personally would have leant towards a code that lets you boost levels faster, but I think her response to cheating was unreasonable. I think the game is balanced well even if you make an even spread but you're trying to have fun and try her thing. Kind of rude to you really, because sometimes you just need to cheat, these games are HARD. Remember that escort mission earlier on? Kind of needlessly tricky.

There's a reason that new versions of these releases have additional easy modes. In some of their PS2 game promotion, Atlus PR famously said 'we get off on your tears'. That mentality has somewhat changed since. Whilst some, like I, say that the difficulty is kind of part of the point, there's only so much you should have to put up with. I actively reccommend cheats in some games as a way to ease you in, when they are so challenging.

(Were you playing the DS version? The Yuzu ending certainly isnt a 'bad ending' on 3ds. The 8th day makes it one of my fave endings. Trying to complete every ending is a fool's endeavor in my opinion, and you should only lean towards what you think is best. Maybe look up an ending guide on the offchance the cool ending you want is hidden in some way so you never have to touch the game again unless you actually want to. The point is about you making Your Choice.)

Moving along, Ronnie my beloved. Love that guy, his route is easily the best. I love Soul Hackers 2 despite it's frustratingly flaws of 'they ripped half the game out and sold it as day 1 dlc' and 'the fucking soul matrix', and a lot of people just dismiss it out of hand based on early dungeon design and miss out on the way it deals with it's cast. Im so glad you can SEE IT.

Within many Shin Megami Tensei games, the stat grinding difficulty is the point insofar as you are fighting a world that is falling apart and wants you dead. And even so, you keep fighting and surviving. These titles can be rather samey as they go over their various aspects of humanity over and over, but thus can they really be made a representative of the JRPG genre? What about Pokemon, which is about adventuring and bonding with your creatures? SMT has a distinct theme they stick to that they repackage in different flavours. Fuck it, play old ones and cheat in them. Load up on macca and buy a gazillion healing items to cut down the grind and overall playtime.

I've noticed a distinct absence of the Persona games too? Which is strange given how they all differ from traditional smt in terms of theming.

My favourite RPGs are 'The World Ends With You' and 'The Caligula Effect 2'. Entirely different from SMT and dont focus on 'humanity' in that way at all and they absolutely aren't representative of more mainstream JRPGs.

(sidenote, what are your favourite RPGs out of curiosity? I can probably help you hunt down some specific titles that you would like more?)

I adore your Jack Frost lore. Why can't that work in canon? Little fairy friend SHOULD overthrow the frost monarchy!

(and that sort of stuff is encouraged in Atlus' other series Etrian Odyssey, which is a dungeon crawler where you make a team of customised guys (you can start anywhere).

I think the only thing you can really do is play more, but i dont think you should push yourself either or you could burn out and appreciate it less. I'm sorry that I don't have magical advice that will solve that conundrum.

Thank you so much for coming to me though, it means a lot and I hope this ramble does anything for you. Im trying to check on my phone that I covered everything in your post and Im so sorry if I missed anything (please point it out if so).

Best of luck?

[archoneddzs15]

Super Famicom - Joe & Mac

Title: Joe & Mac / ジョー&マック 戦え原始人

Developer/Publisher: Data East

Release date: 6 December 1991

Catalogue Code: SHVC-JT

Genre: Platform Action

No. of Players: 1-2

It's not surprising that it became highly successful in the arcades when Joe & Mac was released in that circle. So successful was it that it eventually saw a healthy amount of ports for it, namely the NES version, as well as an equally competent Sega Genesis version developed by Eden Entertainment (published by Takara). This Super Famicom version isn't a straight port of the arcade though; rather it is a reworked game that features an overworld map used to choose the levels (unlike in other versions where all of them have to be played), which were longer, plus some bonus stages (either in the levels or out in the world map). Some of the weapons are missing and can no longer be charged up. The final boss is also different, and there are only two endings. The gameplay is an interesting combination of platform and beat 'em up to start off with but its shallow nature soon shows through and it all becomes very tedious and boring far too soon. Still, worth checking out.

[happyfroggames]

Failsafes in score attack games

So, Super Infiniboss is a score attack game, right?

Well, this time, unlike the first game, there's levels. And like... well... it's a score attack game.

So, to prevent the player from stalling on one level to score more points in it the slow, boring, tedious way, I've added failsafes. Two failsafes are relatively tame, still being possible hypothetically but really really hard.

So... here's failsafe 3, activated with a debug key (importantly this means failsafe 1 and 2 aren't active in this until failsafe 3 is), just to make sure the player dies no matter what if they take way too long on a level.

Yeah.

I don't think anybody's surviving this very long.

[thesimquarter]

Jade Pingree is the all-business (and pretty rude) head of the Barkersville Companion Club.

Meredith is part librarian and part party girl. She’s serious during the day, and playful at night.

v - ramblings under the cut - v

I almost never see people talking about the characters from the Sims 2 Pets GBA. I mean. that's understandable. Sims 2 Pets for GBA was not only released two years after the DS was released, but it was also bad.

The Sims 2 Pets for GBA takes a lot of inspiration from the other GBA Sims games, with an isometric artstyle and a mixture of adventure elements and simulation elements. Howeverrr, the problem seems to be that it doesn't feel like it actually knows what to do with it.

The minigames are tedious and boring. Aforementioned minigames pay peanuts and rely on an NPC being in a specific location to do them. Characters have little personality; 70% of the dialogue in this game is completely exchangeable. There's no way to easily find NPCs that you need to find (read: phone call), even though they all have schedules and move all the time. The game doesn't keep track of missions. There's like three different kinds of burglars, and there's no way to stop them from coming to your house (what the fuck). Training your pets is so tedious and repetitive and yet everything else feels like a distraction from it. You can randomly, and frequently, get sick, from fully cooking your food with eight levels of cooking skill and using good kitchen items. Everything breaks down and is dirty all the time. Eating dog food is safer than cooking. This game is having me eat dog food because just cooking feels like a risk. And there's just so much more that annoys me about it.

Okay, I'm done complaining. There's not much to compliment about the game. It does have its charm but wears off as the tediousness of all of its various mechanics settles in. I mean. I'd like to know more about the characters, but also... I don't care.

I really wanted to make Jade. Unlike nearly every other character, she does, actually, have a personality. Even if it absolutely sucks. Meredith is my favorite character in the game. I can't explain why, but her design is neat and she seems really nice and likable. I was considering doing more (read: Elza and Hugo) but after I finished these two I. couldn't be bothered.

I feel as if Meredith brings the Blue Hair and Pronouns to Barkersville. She also has this kind of warmness that I haven't really gotten from other characters in this game. And I believe she's close with Kirk (... Carbon?). I'd suspect they were dating, as they both have positive reactions when they mention each other and I caught them going on a Graveyard Date at 1:00 AM. But when I talked to Kirk he said even though he's with a girl, he thought Celina was hot. So I can only make one conclusion: leave your shitty boyfriend, Meredith!!!

And on Jade: She's definitely on the Barkersville HOA (and Barkersville definitely has one!). She's just that kind of demon. It's mentioned that the Pingree's are a wealthy family. So, I don't think she has a job. Instead, she just torments her community with her influence.

Anyways. I don't actually know anything else about these characters beyond this. So. Um.

I had a lot of fun making these; I'm planning on doing something similar to this for all the Sims 2 GBA characters. I remade them all a few months ago, wanted to do renders to show them all off, and I want the excuse to write things like this about every single character. :) (and. I tried to do them all at once. but um. hm. that's just a little too much.) It'll take a while to actually finish anything w/ that because i need to experiment with format. I gave some of them outfits in other categories than 'everyday,' so I'm thinking about rendering those out, butttt that's up in the air.

[theworldvsyoshiko]

Well, this newest camp is drawing to a close. I know I haven't said much about this one, but here's the thing: Long Night is an awful fucking garbage event if you are playing non-farming nomads. It's not so much 'challenging' as it is 'a borderline automatic game over.' You have no plants to forage. You can't graze your animals, which you're dependent on for moving from base to base. You can't make kibble for the animals unless you have plants to make it with, and if you had plants you wouldn't be in this mess. You can get food for your colonists by hunting, but meat won't last long when you're on the move... unless you make it into pemmican or packaged survival meals, which you need plants for.

If there was a geothermal plant on this map, I would have seriously considered setting up a sun lamp just so some small area would be able to grow grass.

So yeah, this camp has mostly been a long tedious slog to keep all the animals alive, with a side of too many raids. On the upside, the kids have... not amazing gear or anything, but they're not going into combat with hand-me-down clothes and garbage weapons anymore.

Since Lewis hit 13, this seems like a good time for an overview of the current state.

Overall

Thanks to the fucking Long Night, the kids have plenty of food, but less than they had when they left the last camp. This was another great climate, so it would've been a good place to stock up before moving on, but instead the supplies have been slowly evaporating. Still, the ship's actually not parked that far north. It'll be sub-tropical or temperate climates the whole way, so the biggest hazard food-wise is going to be areas where it's too dry to grow much.

Not a lot of trade goods left, but with 10k silver saved up, trading goods is kinda optional anyway. They can just buy shit with cash. Now if only anywhere had shit to buy. They'll be making another round of shopping trips on the way out of this area, so here's hoping. This isn't their last chance to buy new gear, but there are only a few opportunities past here. I could have them linger in this area for however long it takes to find quality gear, but that would be 1) boring and 2) probably overkill.

While the ship is expensive, these ruin maps are pretty expensive, too. Dev mode informs me that the current map, in fact, would currently get raids of 950 raid points. The ship shouldn't be too much worse than that--if the kids dump a lot of their unneeded possessions and there aren't fancy ruins around the ship, the ship raids could go as low as 500. So, the fights they're having right now might actually be pretty representative of what they'll need to be capable of handling.

That's all banking on nothing bumping the raid point level a lot higher on that map, though.

I haven't kept things to three pawns for any strong reason. Good candidates have just been hard to find. As Lewis showed, preteens aren't a good fit for this lifestyle. Hussars and Wasters are automatically disqualified, because they're just going to die to a lack of psychoid. I've also only been looking for recruits who are younger than Umeko, which limits it further, and thanks to the nomadic lifestyle, prisoners are only a great option if they capture one early enough to recruit them before they have to pack up camp.

So, just the three kids for now.

Umeko Keith

Now she's great at fighting and construction, the two main things she does. Construction is the big one, really--it's not a full-time job in most colonies, but this group has to build a new base every 20-30 days. She's also the group's de facto crafter, but... crafting isn't quite as important here. Researching something like gunsmithing would be a long-term project. The only things to craft are trade goods and clothes, really. Fortunately, the herd of alpacas and all the hunting for meat means that she has an unlimited supply of leather and wool.

She's got an archotech arm, a bionic leg, and a sterilizing stomach. The sterilizing stomach was an instant buy when I saw it. Umeko and Choco are both good at cooking, so food poisoning is rare, but... the last time it happened, it was an outright existential threat. When you only have three people, two of them being nearly downed by illness is an absolute disaster if anything actually dangerous happens.

Umeko likes both of her companions a lot. This might be the most tight-knit group I've ever had. Umeko and Lewis are pretty much always at 100 relationship in both directions.

Choco, though... Umeko has like a near-paralyzing crush on her. Choco, on the other hand, is straight. Way Better Romance (I think? I don't believe this is core, and I'm not sure what else would do this) seems to make it so sexualities aren't absolute, so while Choco is straight, she's like... an 0.4 on the Kinsey scale. She can conceive of a circumstance in which she might possibly have a relationship with another girl, and thus has like a 1.4% chance of agreeing to romantic things with Umeko. That's good enough for Umeko. She asks Choco on a date at basically every opportunity, and gets politely shot down every single time.

At this point, Umeko's wearing trooper armor and a flak helmet, with a sniper rifle and carbine. Since the group usually doesn't have good defenses set up, having her snipe enemies on the edge of a pack before they attack the base has been vital to continued survival.

Curca Choco

Choco's taken over cooking duties, and she's the group's default medic. She's also pretty good at killing, and psychopath + masochist is admittedly a really nice combo for that. She doesn't mind hauling the bodies away, and if she gets hurt in combat that only makes her happier.

She also doesn't mind needless killing or violence. I have a policy that when somebody needs to, say, run outside and spray bullets at the cavemen next door until they stop trying to hunt the alpacas for dinner, that's Choco's job. If a bullet goes through one of their eye sockets, she can drag the body off and it's no big deal. Umeko doesn't need to know the dark price of her alpacas' continued safety.

That's true friendship, right there.

With double passion in shooting, I've been setting her up as the main general combatant, so Choco's got recon (!!) armor, a semi-automatic rifle, an assault rifle, and an SMG.

And a... look, the group only had two flak helmets. So instead, Choco wears the next-best head protection we've got.

A hyperweave bowler hat.

Lewis McLaughlin

For somebody who's been around since he was 4, Lewis's general setup is just sad. He could've easily had 5+ passions in a normal colony, but the nomad lifestyle's hard on a kid. Still, he's good at plants + animals, aka the skills that let them eat, he can shoot well, and he'll be the group's head researcher soon. Plus, with Iron Stomach, two out of the three pawns are immune to food poisoning.

Lewis likes everybody! Choco is 100% neutral on him.

He's got the least impressive combat loadout, with a flak jacket and helmet, a bolt action rifle, and Umeko's starting combat handgun. Good guns have been in short supply.

[starsapphire]

9, 8, & 20 for tha ask game o7

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

that tim hated robin!jason... i think we all just got so mad about the "jason was tim's robin!1!!1" thing that we went hard in the other direction but tim didn't hate him either. we see in canon that he had admiration for jason as his predecessor in the robin role, and arguably that admiration grows somewhat as tim learns more about jason. he didn't obsess over jason (not like he obsessed over dick) but he very much didn't hate him or think he deserved to die or whatever.

9. worst part of canon

welllllll i could give a lot of answers here but i'll go with babs-as-batgirl. we all complain but is genuinely insidious. i think simone tried to do it sensitively when it was assigned to her but the fact is there was really no way to write that story in a sensitive or acceptable way. and it's just killed so much of barbara's most interesting writing — i think that she had agency as batgirl, but she was so much more interesting and independent and powerful as oracle and grew so much as a person in those years. like her character development was fantastic. and her returning to batgirl is such a regression on so many levels. even if she went back to the wheelchair tomorrow it would take years to rewrite all of the damage done to perceptions of her character in the zeitgeist

20. part of canon you found tedious or boring

i'm reading johns' colour spectrum comics (ie 2006–2011) right now and i want to like them but... they're just kind of flat. johns very much ignores parts of canon that came around post-emerald twilight, but he also retcons and ignores things that aren't about hal and you can tell he just doesn't really care about any other characters or lore. his changes to star sapphire lore are especially annoying and i'm not even getting into it because it makes me so mad.

the writing itself is just. it's boring. sometimes it's really, really bad. the lantern oaths he wrote for each of the corps on the spectrum are just infathomably stupid. "how bad could they be?" you say. well,

[galactic-pirates]

So I picked up Lego Horizon Adventures yesterday because of course I did - it is Lego + Horizon!

I love the Horizon games. I have a bit more of a “love hate” feeling with the Lego games, but I always get drawn in because Lego. I think I always think I will like the game more than I actually do. I have a very fond memory of playing the first Lego Marvel Superheroes game. I still miss Marvel Heroes because there is just something soothing? I don’t know if that’s the word but I like running around places like Avengers Tower, or the X-Mansion. For Star Wars I like that I can be Hera or Sabine from Rebels because I don’t know, I feel closer to the media I love that way? It’s hard to explain.

Anyway I probably didn’t need this preamble ^^ but I just wanted to explain how I was both looking forward to the game but also expecting to be disappointed. All Lego games I have before I have dipped in and out of over long periods of time because I just feel so meh after the initial “shiny new thing” has worn off.

So what about Lego Horizon Adventures?

Exciting point #1 - EVERYTHING IS MADE OF LEGO!!

Seriously this is a big deal. The backgrounds are Lego (not true for the other games). I’m pausing to analyse what parts they have used and making notes on construction because I can do that with my Lego bricks!!

Exciting point #2 - NO BLOWING EVERYTHING UP!

The studs bar is something that annoys me in the other Lego games. Mindlessly trying to methodically destroy everything in sight it is tedious and it breaks immersion. I do it because a ridiculous number of studs are needed for the unlocks and also it’s necessary for the achievements, but ugh not a fan. Well this isn’t a thing in Lego Horizon!! You can hit a few barrels if you like for extra studs but it’s hardly a necessary.

Exciting point #3 - COMBAT IS ACTUALLY MEANINGFUL!

And we come to the point that made me write this post in the first place. Lego games have always been a huge mess on the screen, jump about, smash buttons, sometimes die (sometimes die a lot) but you instantly reform and just pick your studs back up. Death has no meaning. There is very little strategy. I honestly don’t know what the buttons do half the time. It’s button mash until it ends. Quite frankly it’s a boring diversion from the real game which is running around exploring, doing the puzzles and finding the collectibles.

This is so not the case in Lego Horizon. For a start if you die then you respawn at the previous checkpoint and have to restart the fight again. You have to aim. You have to not stand in bad. You get extra abilities and need to use them sensibly. I wiped half a dozen times on a fight and got annoyed and took it down from the highest difficulty (hero) to machine hunter (second highest) and I still wiped a couple of times after that.

So far there doesn’t seem to be the puzzles, or too much exploring to find stuff, but I don’t mind that much because the combat is a breath of fresh air. I don’t miss having to look up guides and go through step by step changing out my character a dozen times to find all the stuff because if I do it myself then I will invariably miss something and then have to replay the level again and again and that gets irritating.

Anyway I’m not saying this game is perfect. It is a little repetitive in places but I am saying it’s the best Lego game I have played. I can actually see myself finishing this one. Now excuse me I need to go take some screenshots and see if I can work out the parts to build a Sawtooth.

[pankomako]

someone i follow posting about pokemon got me thinking about it again so im just gonna make my own post. but like. personally? im so bored of playing pokemon. now i say this as someone whose first mainline game was sun/moon, but i find every time i pick up a pokemon game, i play it for maybe a month or two and then get bored and drop it again before i can even finish it. i own plenty of pokemon games but have only beat i think two. see the thing with it is i love the concept of pokemon - collecting creatures, battling with them and evolving them - but the gameplay and the repeated narrative formula are what im tired of.

i think what pokemon needs to draw me back in for real is to do a TOTAL refresh. clean the slate of pokemon and introduce new ones without bringing any back (except MAYBE a few like the obvious pikachu), have a whole new narrative, please no gyms this time but im ok with defeating bad guys; maybe even rework the battle system a little, have a way to level up mons that's not tedious and maybe even fun, have more ways to INTERACT with your mons oh my god. honestly just combine elements of pokemon interaction from the past 3 gens. i want to pet AND feed AND wash AND play with them. AND more character customization. especially body type and facial features for the love of fuck. and let us dress up our mons too that would be fun. it can be purely cosmetic. let my starter wear a little hat in battle. i would also love to see more prominent personalities in mons?? imagine if they had different behaviors based on their personalities instead of it just affecting stats.

actually, they dont need to nix gyms entirely, but i'd prefer they not be REQUIRED for progression. like i like how the last gen had the 3 different paths but you kinda had to do all of them for the story, right? i like the idea of having different options for doing things with your pokemon, but i think the best way to execute it is to have the player choose which one they want to mainly pursue and make the rest optional. like how some gens had pokemon contests but they weren't required for progress like gyms. i'd say keep gyms, bring back contests, maybe throw 1-3 more options in (one of those could be filling out the dex), have the player choose one to focus on to track progression while they work through whatever the main story is.

just, i want them to make it NEW, and make it FUN. i think their first mistake was choosing to repeat the basic plot structure of the first games anyway

(alternative idea though: pokemon game that involves traveling the WHOLE world. visiting ALL the regions instead of being contained in one. imagine that)

[thronk]

Minecraft is a shit game. Yes, I enjoy it, but I really don't think it's that good.

This recent update, I saw someone showing off features for it and I went "oh, this actually looks like a nice update with content that can be used and won't be flat-out disappointing nor busy work in place of actual content. I'll not get my hopes up because I know how these updates go" I was still disappointed.

So, they changed netherite tools now, you need a template from a bastion to do it. Bastions are ridiculously hard to get through sometimes, we only fight them after netherite and even then 1 out of 3 of us either dies or has to brick themselves in. Maybe that's just us being shit, it probably is, but it makes it so that it takes an unreasonably long time to get netherite stuff now, because that template costs 7 diamonds to replicate after finding the first one, because you don't want to use it up straight away, this means that, to make netherite armour, you need a full set of diamond armour and then 28 more diamonds to not use up the upgrade template. This doesn't make the game more fun, doesn't make it more interesting, it just makes it longer. Sure, it means you have to go into a bastion at some point, which is nice, they're now useful outside of their discs and soul speed, but with the added collection of 7 diamonds per upgrade, the game is just unreasonably long.

The plants in the update, torchflower and pitcher plant, are decorative only and not even in an interesting way. To get them, you need a sniffer, to get a sniffer you need to raid archaeology sites for shit, nice idea... we were flying over our world with our elytras, looking for structures, we were on a realm if that makes a difference. We saw villages, a sand temple and two wells. This was over the course of 30,000 blocks. 30,000 blocks is a long time to be walking if you don't have an elytra, about an hour or 2, and there was fuck all to be seen. And we knew we'd have to go back home too, because our stuff was back there, we have unfinished builds. So we found 4 structures, all desert ones, over 30,000 blocks. And the sniffer has a low chance of spawning in a lot of them, no underwater ruins, where its meant to be more findable, no nothing. We went 30,000 blocks for some pottery shards for one single urn... this isn't more content making the game longer, this is long tedious shit making things take longer than they should.

The armour trims are nice :) yeah, they're expensive, yeah they're hard to find, but I don't mind that because they're just there. Plus, I can't see my own armour half the time anyway. It's unsubstantial, sure, sp is the rest of the update, but I enjoy character customisation, so I don't really mind too much.

When looking at everything added to the update, I grouped a load of shit together. Cherry blossom stuff, sniffer stuff, archaeology, etc etc. I got 7 things out of it. 7 things from an update is honestly pretty good if they're not incredibly tedious or if they feel like they affect the overall journey in any meaningful way... they do not.

This is what you're getting from this update the unique, non-retexture stuff.

As someone that's been playing terraria in recent years and massively prefers that, I've noticed minecraft is becoming more like terraria, and failing at it, horribly. Initially people said "Don't make minecraft too complicated, it'll ruin it" but now they're past that point, the best option is to add meaningful content, which they're not doing. The resource collection is incredibly boring a lot of the time, the building is slow and awkward which makes big builds a nightmare to do. I'll level entire forests and burn through the resources insanely quickly making something as simple as a bridge. Its not so much that the collection of stuff is boring, its that it isn't fulfilling, I spend 2 minutes cutting down a tree, I get 5 seconds of building materials, it doesn't feel worth it.

Maybe I've played the game too long, its been with me since me being about 8-ish, I hated it at first too, then it grew on me once I was 10. I liked watching new, important shit get added as we went, I liked the feeling of progress I used to think it had... then I played terraria and realised minecraft is lacking hard. I genuinely love this game but, like my parents said to their favourite under-achieving son, it has so much potential that feels like its being wasted.

Maybe I'm getting old and I'm not the intended audience any more, that's probably it... I know it's made for a new generation now, that doesn't mean it gets to be shitty still.

---------------------------------------------------

That was shit, one good thing to note:

Apparently this is what the trail outpost things look like, which is really fucking cool ngl. Honestly, I just want more structures in the game, more structures that are fun, or mean something, I like that they gave desert wells a use now, that's a great improvement and I'm really happy about that. The ancient cities from previous ones, fucking sick too, we love fucking about in them. Additionally, they made it so that magma slimes can't damage you whilst they're in their death frames any more, which is great news because I won't have to watch out for invulnerable, unpredictable enemies that don't work properly.

They did add good stuff in this update, its just overshadowed by the fact that it's all hidden behind elongating the game simply by making shit take longer.

I love this game a lot, I just think it has missed the mark way too many times.

[tameka05]

Platformer Postmortem

This is the Postmortem for my first prototype, a platformer game called 'Blade Quest'

The Design Process:

Both the lecture content and the textbook: 'Game Design Workshop' by Tracy Fullerton helped inspire the design process for my first game. In particular chapters 3 and 4 of the textbook helped me when creating my game, as these chapters talk about the formal and dramatic elements that make up a game. This helped me go into the game making process with a clear vision of what I wanted to achieve. I wanted my game to be interacted with a 'single player versus game' structure (talked about in chapter 3), where the gameplay is only focused on the player versing the videogames obstacles and enemies. The rules of the game where simple: hit the enemies to kill them, but if they hit you, you lose. While all these concepts are very simple, having a good grasp on them before I started making my game helped streamline the process.

In order to make the game fun and appealing to players, Dramatic elements (talked about in Chapter 4 of the textbook), and a concept called 'Moment-to-moment gameplay' discussed in my lectures where things I wanted to implement. Dramatic elements include a wide variety of topics, but all are focused on engaging and investing the player. The main element discussed from the textbook that I focused on including was the element of 'premise', which is basically the story or world you want your player to feel apart of. Instead of my game being just squares or placeholder assets attacking each other, I wanted to include a capable looking player charcters and some dangerous enemies to attack. Adding animations to the player and enemies made the game feel more fluid, and made the game much more enjoyable to play, even if nothing technical was added. Seeing your character move, or attack; or enemies dying after they are hit by an attack made the game more engaging and interesting for a player to interact with. I also wanted moment-to-moment gameplay in my prototype, where there is always something 'fun' in each moment of gameplay for the player. I specifically focused on interating this into my combat, by allowing the player to combo attacks, 'hitstun' enemies, and recquiring careful timing to avoid getting hit by enemies while striking them yourself. This made the combat feel fun to engage with as a player.

Takeaways and things to learn and improve upon

If I were to redevelop my prototype, there are a few things I would change about my design process. Firstly, I would of put more time into devoloping more gameplay elements of my game, instead of hyper-focusing on a couple. By the time I had finished implementing the combat system of my game, I did not have enough time to add other important features, such as player health, win and lose conditions, goals for the player to achieve, etc. While I am super pleased with the combat system in my game and all of its nuances, the fact that I wasnt able to include all of these extra systems in my prototype meant that these weren't able to be tested, and so I can't get feedback on them. Protoyping and playtesting game features is a key part of the playcentric design process outlined in chapter 1 of the textbook.

If had a chance to change the actual design of my prototype, I would have added more lof the core gameplay feautures, to try and have a more complete prototype, even if it is less refined. Another part of the prototype that I was not happy with was the level design. I wanted to create an expansive world that players could explore and adventure through, with platforming elements and world obstacles throughout. However, in the prototype the level is only a flat platform, with enemies preplaced throughout. There is no platforming obstacles, or anything for the player to journey through or towards. This hurt the moment-to-moment gameplay of my game, as doing anything other than combat was very boring and tedious. So if I were to spend more time on this project I would improve the level design and add more core features to the game

Conclusion

For this being my first game, I am very pleased with the final result. Even though it is missing features and game elements, I am very proud of the combat system I implemented. I look forward to working on more games in the future!

References

Fullerton, T. (2018). Game design workshop : A playcentric approach to creating innovative games, fourth edition. CRC Press LLC. from: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/qut/reader.action?docID=5477698

[iamgrowingstronger-blog]

Pikmin 2

In my previous review, I mentioned how the Devil is used as the very embodiment of all that is evil, and that, for me and my little video game hobby, the Hotel Transylvania Social Game is the embodiment of all that is awful, evil, terrible, and no-good in games. But, then what is my God? Who is all that is holy and virtuous, and everything I want in a game? And that brings us here.

Pikmin is my favorite series of all time, despite the fact that I've only played the first and second games. You play as a little man who controls tiny little leaf creatures to defeat enemies, collect valuables, and harvest nutrients to produce more Pikmin.

What I love about Pikmin 2 is how much more experimental it gets with the series. The first game was well known for its time limit to beat the game, which is completely removed from Pikmin 2. To go even further, while Pikmin 1 has you working under a ~15 minute time limit each day, the majority of Pikmin 2's gameplay takes place in underground caves which completely stop time above ground. Instead of collecting ship parts to get home safely, you collect licensed products to pay off your company's debt. There are new items you can use in a pinch called "sprays," or "potions," the game features a smorgasbord of new bosses. The list can continue for a while. Game sequels come in many forms, but easily my favorite is the one that throws a bunch of stuff at the wall to see what sticks. Pikmin 1 was, again, a fairly small game, and Pikmin 2 feels like it completely burst open at the seams with content.

Alright, enough talk about concepts. How does the game hold up? Well, it's got holes, that's for sure. The new Purple Pikmin type is obscenely overpowered. Though you can't get that many throughout the story, even just 10 of them is enough to flatten most enemies with ease. The game's dungeons can have just awful layouts that feel straight out of a kaizo hack. The game feels like it's being an ass to you, which is usually charming, but when you spawn next to 3 Decorated Cannon Beetles, or fall victim to a Spotty Bulbear falling out of the sky, it's pretty annoying. The game's lack of time limit in dungeons means that the most logical course of action is to go by yourself, with no Pikmin, and start punching the enemies on the floor. The punch is meant to be a silly input for when you have no Pikmin in your hand, not to be used to kill entire enemies. It's a major pace-breaker when it comes to that. Easily the worst pace-breaker is the Doomsday Appartus, a treasure that requires hours of very tedious, monotonous, boring grinding to obtain.

The game has a lot of flaws! I must confess... this game isn't a 10/10. It just happens to be the best game I've played so far in my life. The game can feel very irritating, but at the end of the day, the gameplay is still pretty fun. Most dungeon floors hit a very nice difficulty level to keep you on your toes, the overworld maps are still fun to explore even if they have been relegated to a small part of the game. Most of the games bosses are really enjoyable, the game's dynamic music is a phenomenal fit for the series.

Topic change real quick. I adore the writing the Pikmin 1. Olimar was this man who you would only see talk through the ship parts you find and his end-of-day writings, and they are some of the most heartfelt things I have seen in any game. You see Olimar as this very kindhearted person, curious about the planet he's on, yet feeling isolated and lonely at his situation, fearful that he won't escape. Pikmin is a very confusing game for new players, but these writings help let the player know they are not alone. You see Olimar talk about his family back home, about the new things he discovered about Pikmin, about his thoughts on life, and you see him grieve when his Pikmin fall in battle. It is hands down the best part of the first game.

In Pikmin 2, this feature is no longer in the game, instead replaced by a silly little email system. The reasoning is simple: Olimar has been through this before, his diary isn't nearly as impactful. But replacing it.... replacing it is my favorite thing in any video game, ever. The Piklopedia.

The Piklopedia records almost every enemy you find, every boss, every interactable object, and even the flora and fauna around the map. Each one of these is given notes from Olimar, and you start to see his nature as a scientist, and god, the way they are written sends my pilgrim heart aflutter. They're funny, they're intriguing, the wording they use is just absolute perfection, they're lengthy without feeling exhausting, and it all plays over some peaceful background music. After beating the game, you unlock Louie's notes for each one, providing even more insight into the game's frankly phenomenal writing. Pikmin 2's writing in the Piklopedia is no lower than a 10/10, it is absolute beauty and perfection. I could go on for days and days about it, something I have already done previously to my good friends, who for years have been subject to my passionate ramblings about the little things I like in life. I hope they don't get too tired of it. I just have a lot to say about Pikmin 2. Perhaps a Tumblr blog post isn't enough. It's hard to keep undepleted adoration at an acceptable length.

Overall score: 9/10. It's been avaliable on every Nintendo console since the Gamecube, go play it! Maybe one day I will find a game I truly consider a 10/10, but until then, Pikmin 2 reigns supreme. God bless it.

[kikuism]

sorry for posting a february wrap up in almost the middle of march but i read so many wonderful books that i just had to share!

i felt like last month i was drowning in words in a way i hadn’t in so long.....and i loved it.

1) the last unicorn by peter s. beagle. wow.....good lord. i started the month off with Such a beautiful book, such lush writing and beautiful descriptions with timeless characters and a charming story. this was such a charming read and appealed to something very deep inside me. this one will stay with me for a long time, it is one of my new all time favorite books. i feel like explaining what the book is about sort of cheapens it and could never fully justify the story anyway...the magic is in the reading, so you just have to go ahead and trust me on this and let yourself get swept away in the enchanting, stunning prose. please.

2) the scholomance trilogy by naomi novik. this is a series i've heard about for so long, started once before, and only now finally given it a proper chance. it did have a lukewarm start and took me some time to get into it, but i did, and it's such great fun, especially the second book, which was easily my favorite. more than anything i appreciated the developing character dynamics in this series. i love how prickly, isolated el grows and learns to trust others and eventually makes friends of her own :') and this manifests such a change in her to the point where she decides to save not only her own team but the entire fucking school on graduation day.....to love is to be changed etc. it's so good. she goes from being someone who staunchly believes she needs nobody and to only look out for herself to someone who comes to accept that there is strength in numbers and that there is value in seeking out other's company for reasons beyond ulterior gains. watching her make friends and smiling and laughing around with them was so wonderful. her character development was so, so good. her bond with adhya and liu was so :'))) those are her besties!!!! but one thing i will say though, and maybe this is an unpopular opinion, is that i just didn't care for her relationship with orion :/ they're a typical sunshine/grouch dynamic but i just....didn't care for it. i just found orion to be kind of a boring character i'm sorry 😭 and i usually adore the golden retriever type characters but he did nothing for me. sorry orion fans. also i think things got resolved way too quickly in the last book....if i had to rank the books it would be: 1) the last graduate 2) a deadly education 3) the golden enclaves

the inheritance games: this one was just....okay. everyone compared it to knives out but if that was really the case i would have enjoyed it more. we spent more time in this book examining trees and looking inside tables for secret compartments more than anything else ... it got tedious after a while. i know the whole point is about solving this grand puzzle the grandfather left her but it just....wasn't as fun or interesting for me as i expected it to be. i think i just also have something against very short chapters because i Flew through this but because of that i don't think i was able to really Get Into the story and characters the way i might have if the chapters were longer and i’d gotten to spend more time with them. side note, this is the same reason i didn't enjoy ari and dante but i digress. for the same reason, i also feel like i just wasn't able to connect to any of the characters properly because.....i was flying through the chapters. there were never moments where you just got to sit down with a character and like, actually get to know them. that's why the boys really didn't feel like anything beyond just mere tropes....they were just the bad boy and the brooding boy and the funny boy and i feel like i just didn't get to know them beyond a superficial level, so i just didn't care for them.

the thief: more of a character study than an actual story i would say, about a pickpocket who gets involved in a bad job and the choices he makes along the way. it's very introspective and spliced through with beats of tender character interactions. i appreciated the open ending and recommended this for anyone looking for a very quick read. so far, the translated japanese fiction i’ve read always leaves me feeling a little melancholic—even the wackier ones like convenience store woman and earthlings—and this one is no exception. they're profound in this subtle way that always leaves me feeling like a bowl that's been scraped clean.

mysteries of thorn manor: the much anticipated novella to a sorcery of thorns! it was really lovely getting back into this world and especially meeting these characters again. it's a cute, fluffy little story where not much happens in terms of plot, it's mainly the character interactions as they recuperate after the events of the first book and i was totally fine with that. i do love these characters and they're such a joy to read about. it was a cute fun little read.

jade city and jade war: the first two books in the green bone saga about rival clans struggling to topple each other to rule over their island .... is the official synopsis but it's actually so much more than that. the world is so incredibly rich and steeped in politics that stretch out from within and beyond the small island to international forces. the characters are fleshed out wonderfully and you really come to care for each of them as you learn more ... but for me, really, the charm was the world building. fonda lee covers literally everything; i felt so well cared for while reading these books. i learned So Much about everything from the operations of petty gangs to the largest corporations and how exactly the clans operate and function on a societal, political, and economic level. the scope of this story is huge but it is so accessible and so well thought out....the action scenes are heart pumping and there were many times i gasped aloud and had to put the book down. i especially loved the commentary about the espenians, who are the white people of this series, and their dealings with the kekonese, who are the main protagonists, and how the former views the latter as savage, backward warriors whose ways are antiquated, and how this viewpoint colors all their interactions—especially because the kekonese have jade, which is an incredibly powerful substance found only on their island and which the espenians greatly desire for their own gain. there was a line that was like: the espenians were incredibly innovative when motivated by greed, or something to that effect. and it's like, yeah, in that sense, capitalism really does breed innovation. there's also much discussion about identity, and what it means to be mixed race, as one of the main characters is, and what it means to cling to old staunchly held ideals in an increasingly modern world....there is so, so much and it is so so good and insightful. these books were just so incredibly fun to read. i just recently finished the third book and i can't believe it's over now....i'm genuinely sad that i've got to return them. i can't believe these books aren't more popular and that more people aren't talking about them.....they're fantastic, and i honestly feel like whatever i read next is going to mediocre after just coming off a series like this one.

february was a crazy month for reading because there were so many hits.....i usually have to wade through so much mediocre and meh books to find one really great read. i really hope i can keep that energy going in march. so far i’ve read dungeon meshi and jade legacy.....i’m wondering what to read next!