#the game used it as tutorial for a mechanic but there were better ways to do it

[i-love-zelda-16]

just beat spirit tracks. and oh my goddess, i love this game.

listen to this song while you read this.

my honest thoughts. will be writing Spirit meets the chain. it is obligatory.

holy hylia this game is absolutely incredible. i played this game at one of the most difficult periods of my real life and it brought so much joy to me. who knew that a “silly” little zelda train simulator game could’ve made me so happy.

each area of the world was developed and none of it felt empty whatsoever. i literally never used fast travel/portals because 1. the overworld theme is such a bop, 2. i just love traversing the overworld because it is fun. there are always places to stop, bunnies to catch, and things to do along the way!!

speaking of the overworld theme, the music is my favorite music in the entire series, maybeee tied with skyward sword. nintendo, i am begging you, give my train simulator a full remake with an orchestral soundtrack, this game is incredible and it deserves it.

okay spoilers ahead!! read at your own risk!!

some part of me broke and will forever stay broken when Zelda mentioned Tetra. that’s really when the tears started (although they started much earlier too) and never stopped.

the character development of all the characters is absolutely incredible. Link isn’t just a silent Hero, he’s an engineer and full of funny actions and facial expressions. as much as i like botw Link, these kinds of Links will always have the #1 spot in my heart. Zelda is silly and fun and by no means useless or a damsel in distress whatsoever. in the final battle, she is the one stunning Malladus (with Link’s help). Link would be 100% dead without her. NOT TO MENTION BYRNE, HOLY HYLIA. what the character development; this man is incredible. so is his theme. he literally saved Zelda’s life. he may have saved Hyrule. Anjean, my beloved. Linebeck III, my sweet little bratty guy.

and can we talk about zelink?? they are the cutest. i like them 1000x better in this game than any other i’ve played (i’ve played about 16 games). absolutely adorable relationship, nintendo really got to flesh them out since Zelda is literally link’s companion for the entire game.

the mechanics are also incredible. train maneuvering is easy, but not too easy that i can just sit back and relax while i listen to the bop of an overworld theme, i still have to pay attention. blowing the whistle is so fun. train design and even lore is so peak. during that first segment where you have to sneak Zelda out of the castle, i didn’t even realize until after that it was a tutorial for the Tower of Spirits. think about it. patrolling guards (phantoms), winding corridors, distracting guards, drawing a path for Zelda to follow on the floor, the guards can see Link but not Zelda (reversed in Tower of Spirits, they can see phantom Zelda, but not Link). what an incredible tutorial, didn’t even realize it was one in the first place.

Tower of Spirits was probably the only part of the entire game that i have to criticize, amazing idea, and it was executed fine, but it could’ve been so much better. first of all, each segment was like a dungeon within itself, and i think they could’ve made each one a lot smaller. i was in Tower of Spirits 4 for like 4 hours 😭. probably something similar with Tower of Spirits 6, although i played that over the course of multiple days so it wasn’t as bad. the staircase leading up to each level was absolutely genius, made so much sense lore-wise and it was also just fire as hell.

the connections to Wind Waker absolutely broke me in the best way. Zelda mentioning Tetra as i said before, the stained glass window of Tetra in the castle, Hyrule encyclopedia states that the guards in the castle wear green after Link from Wind Waker, the ancient gold coins having the Triforce on them; the Triforce and Master Sword are irrelevant in this story because they were lost at sea at the end of Wind Waker. this game is not in Hyrule but New Hyrule, a landmass which Wind and Tetra found after the events of Wind Waker and more specifically Phantom Hourglass (which i haven’t played, let me know in the comments if i should!!). so because of these differences, you would think it would be very disconnected from the rest of the timeline. yet somehow, it feels so unbelievably connected in such wonderful ways that make my Zelda lore brain go absolutely insane. i want to scream of joy when i think of what the devs gave us with this game. these connections are exactly what i wanted and what i try to make with Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, but the devs just refuse to give them to us and it’s annoying as hell. the royal crest of their kingdom does not have the Triforce, but has the symbol of the Spirits of Good because that makes so much sense. everything makes sense in this game and i love it.

the boss fights are fire, especially the final ones. the final sacred duet is so epic and beautiful, seeing everything you’ve worked for, all the Lokomos, it’s unbelievable.

and finally, the post-credit scene. this scene will change based upon what answer you choose to Zelda’s question before you head off for the final fights. she’ll ask, “what do you want to be when all this is over?” or something like that. Link has 3 options: engineer, warrior, or “dunno”. each one of these options will change the final cutscene that plays after the credits. personally, i chose “dunno” because, 1. realistically, how is Link supposed to know what he wants to be yet? he is just a kid, and although he has studied to become an engineer, he has learned of his (debatable? sure, Wind made his own destiny… hmmm…) destiny intertwined with Zelda’s, so he’s a warrior too. which leads me to my second point, 2. he’s an engineer and a warrior. (ARGHH I KEEP TYPING WARRIORS, IT’S ENGRAINED IN MY MUSCLES XD). he doesn’t have to decide, he can be both. but… that’s not an option soooo “dunno” it is.

this game is beautiful beyond words. i’m debating to say whether this game is my favorite or not, but for now, let’s just say it’s tied with Skyward Sword for my favorite. i cannot understand why someone couldn’t see the joy and hilariousness of this game, not mention the absolutely way-too-epic-than-they-have-to-be-but-the-devs-gave-us-this-amazingness-so-i’m-not-gonna-refute cutscenes. like, seriously, the camera angles, facial expressions, everything, it seems like something out of a movie rather than a DS kids train simulator game. this game is one a kind, so freaking special to me, and i will never forget it ever.

may you rest in peace Anjean, Byrne, and the rest of the Lokomos. can’t say the same about you Cole and Malladus.

Spirit will be meeting the Chain soon. stay tuned folks <3

[guys-in-distress-database]

I’m playing A Plague Tale: Requiem and I think it takes the cake for the dumbest plot convenience escape I’ve ever seen.

Because not only did the villains not restrain Amicia and Lucas, they also just so happened to take all their stuff EXCEPT the one item Lucas could use to escape.

Lazy writing! Drives me nuts. I don’t care if you’re a video game and need a way to progress gameplay; write a solution that makes sense, not the easiest one.

[gerbithats]

The sims 4 is not a lost cause, it just needs some love.

SO i recently came back to playing sims 4 after a long hiatus and i have to say i'm surprised. I'm no EA apologist, they are indeed cashgrabby. But to see that lots of new features were integrated over the last few years that facilitated different styles of gameplay actually surprised me.

It seems tho that a pattern has been set, were they will release the most lackluster pack (whatever it is) and keep fixing it over the next few years. Pack reworks became a thing and thank god for it, since the releases don't seem to be stoping in order to give us better results.

It's a bittersweet feeling for sure. The game has more than 70 packs released and somehow it can still feel dead when it comes to live mode. And that's what this post is about: how could they bring the love the other games had for live mode in a base game that's so purposefully made for cas and build/buy?

Part 1: Nostalgia driven gameplay

Seeing the UI from the sims 1, 2 and 3 brings me back a lot of memories. It was a staple to this series that was lost due to a cleaner redesign. Not only that, but a core mechanic was also changed: the wants and fears system.

I believe that what makes me so nostalgic is TO KNOW that this worked so perfectly and hardly needed any refreshes.

Your sims now have emotions and yet, they rarely feel like something integrated to a goal or something you can truly affect while in gameplay.

Bringing back the wants and fears system would not only make our decisions during gameplay more impactful to our sims emotions, but also help to choose the direction any story could go.

An aspiration meter that's connected to the rewards shop would make decisions much more impactful (rather than getting them just by working through what is currently known as the "tutorial aspirations").

Your sims moods should be important, and so what makes them feel that way.

Part 2: World overload

With the amount of packs released, the world selection menu quickly became a problem. When seeing that screen, it all just feels like a blur of information that's been set in a certain way for convenience.

Maps such as these became popular in the community for a reason. The experience of playing needs to be inviting from the get go. It's clear tho that the reason behind not giving us something like this is no long term planning and pack exclusive experiences.

So what if it just became a larger sims world? A concept were you wouldn't select the city at frist, but the entire region were it is located in order to acess the one you prefer.

That would also make this refresh friendly to a future create a world tool (whenever that may come).

Part 3: Pack refreshes are the bread and butter of the future

Let's face it: we're stuck with this game for another 10 years at least. So other than dwell on the fact that we don't have open worlds or things of that nature, we should look at what can reasily be solved, and that's pack refreshes.

From seasons coming out without properly made textures and snow depth to functions that will simply not work as they should, I like to believe we do have a voice in this community. I made this post several years ago and now, looking back at it, I see so much improvement over things that we were desperately asking for.

Don't get me wrong, by that I don't mean that EA developers are searching through my page or yours to find what we think and expect for The Sims 4. But talking about these things openly as a community is what makes the difference.

Part 4: Simmers Unite

In conclusion: uniting our voices to ask for these things to come as refreshes and revamped features are crucial for the next few years. Let's, together, avoid a "my first snowdepth pack" or similar things that could yet come our way.

I created a blog called @sims4-communitywishes to reblog rants and wishes such as these. Our blogs and separate voices may be small, but a repository of it is much more impactful.

So thank you for reading this all the way through and in case you want to share your wishes for the future of The Sims 4, tag it as #s4comunitywishes

[talenlee]

Game Pile: Civilisation 1 (Video)

Watch this video on YouTube

Script and thumbnail below the fold!

In 1991, Sid Meier released Civilisation, starting off a habit that didn’t really get kicked at any point after that. It’s kind of hard to underestimate the legacy of Civilisation as a game, as a genre.

It isn’t that no game of its ilk happened before, that’s not how history works. We rarely are given hard ‘starts’ for some thing, since, you know, there were all sorts of games being made by developers and never ‘released’ to a greater market, so instead we have to kind of point to places where specific, defined, observed events based, annoyingly, on markets and capitalism.

There were probably videogames about running countries before 1991, possibly games with even more elaborate structures and systems and different ideological perspectives, and they probably had wholly text prompts and were run on some truly abysmal software system like COBOL, Decay mention for the bingo card. The thing is, most of them didn’t succeed to the degree that Civilisation did as a commercial product, and the upshot of that is, generally speaking, it’s a common way to see Civilization 1 as the ‘start’ of the genre.

That’s kind of the nature of the game, too. There’s a lot of stuff that just starts in it, around the same time. If you’re not familiar with the genre –

HOW?

but in this game you play an immortal leader overseeing a cultural identity that expands across territory, builds cities, claims land, trades, researches, all that stuff, and eventually retires at a ripe old age of 6,100 years old. The game lets you play a civilization from a small selection of appropriate civilisations, which have their own personalities and biases. Anyone not covered by these options – Romans, Russians, Babylonians, Zulus, Germans, French, Egyptians, Aztecs, Americans, Chinese, Greeks, the English, Indians, and the Mongols – is just… barbarian tribes.

This makes it a game where you can build Jerusalem, Mecca, or Brisbane, but not be any of the cultures that actually founded those cities, it’s an interesting unintentional statement. Still I’m not here to retread the old conversations about how Civilisation views the question of ‘who gets to be a civilisation’ or even ‘what does it mean to be civilised.’ That’s something other people have done, often better than me, and with a broader context of other Civilisation games.

I haven’t really played any of the other ones after the first. I’ve installed them, I’ve run a few of them, and even played through the tutorial on one of the more recent ones – five, I think? but they all bore me and I just find myself wanting to come back to this one, with its systems.

Part of it is just mental headspace. I don’t think I’ve got it in me to care too much about the specifics of each new game, the way things are almost but not quite the same. It’s just too much and I don’t really feel the absence of those things in the game I like to play. And I do not really understand what’s in this game at all – my knowledge of Civilisation 1 is pretty patchy for a game that I’ve played this much.

What is remarkable about Civilisation 1 is how it scales. When you start playing Civilisation you’ll be introduced to its wide variety of systems without a lot of clear explanation.

You start with some starting technology, some starting units, and a starting location that may or may not feature free resources, units or good terrain and you’ve got to make the life out of it. For example, I literally just before reading this learned how the corruption mechanic works, and that the enemy units were doing things I thought impossible wasn’t because I didn’t understand how to do them, but because the game just cheats.

One thing I remember from my childhood years was that developing technology seemed the best way to ‘succeed,’ because that’s what gave you military units you could use to fight and protect. I had this weird sort of hypermilitaristic state where all my cities would endlessly produce just defensive units, until most cities had sometimes six or eight military units guarding a population of 2-3. Which you might be wondering ‘what’s the point’ or, more likely, ‘what do you mean?’ because you aren’t familiar with a thirty-five year old videogame’s intricate systems.

Cities can be built, they can be defended, they can grow, and they have populations, and all of those terms bring with them a new subset of mechanical information that can be expanded on further, and which brings with it a new layer in the very specific way Civilisation, the videogame, thinks of being.

I came back to it as an adult, as a sort of idle game I can appreciate in a small window while I’m doing other things.

And y’know what?

Civilisation turns out to be a startlingly easy game to break. Not even with cheats or exploits – the game gives every single city square a certain ‘base’ advancement, meaning that making a new city will typically yield more results than letting a neighbouring city develop that square themselves. You need some limit on it because you don’t want to go haywire but the general idea is that if you control an area, you can probably get a really good output of all the stuff you want by ensuring that about a quarter of that area is covered in cities, rather than giving those cities the much larger non-competitive territory they can hypothetically control.

The upshot of this is that you can leap up the tech tree at a speed that makes even the most optimistic monkey wonder why they ever bothered throwing the bone if you’re going to mock the teleology of technological progress like that. In one such game, I had access to superconductors before we even hit the Anno Dominis, just because the game doesn’t do anything to slow you down. And why should it?

It’s just trying to let you play with emergent systems. Anything else would be ridiculous.

There’s no inherent reason any given slick of land should have another civilisation on it, meaning to meet with other cultures and engage in the hypothetically important civilisational struggle, you have to develop both transport boats and the units you want to send, and have a civilisation that appreciates that kind of military adventurism.

Even if you just want to go say hi and discover other nations and see how they’re doing, you have to construct something that can fight to do it. Even a humble settler!

And each city can only support so much in the way of units and their presence in the world, meaning that you basically have to dedicate a city or two to supporting the task of ‘finding someone else’ when all you can gain out of it is an opportunity to smush some loser underfoot. Why bother? You can wind up in the later stages of a successful civilisation, with heavily developed technology and nobody to talk to.

Then at some point, a trireme shows up to your civilisation which is developing the cure for cancer and they wonder if you’d like to learn how to do pottery. This is in cities that are doing nothing but making caravans to contribute to wonders, or building barracks that you sell, because buildings need upkeep and only change your stats in that city, and if you’re happy with only making enough and not making everything, then you suddenly don’t care about giving yourself 50% extra happiness off your temples or whatever.

Suddenly you’re left with no real reason to want to build most of anything in a city. People don’t need a coliseum to be happy, they need more people in the city doing the important job of making entertainment and doing cool art.

The solution to every problem in a city, more or less, can be developed by just growing more, and that rewards growth more than anything else, and the systems that let you grow the most are the ones that discourage you from doing anything military, but that’s okay because going and finding people to fight is a pain in the bum.

But and this is where things get really interface-weird, you can’t just sit back, develop tech, and goof around until the space race kicks in, because the way you build things in this game is to tell your cities to build them, and you do that through a menu. This menu cannot handle a game state where you have access to every piece of technology to build with, or even most of it. It splits into two menus when the menus get too busy, but if there are too many wonders and nobody’s built them… it just stops. You open up the build menu to make something – like one of those wonders – and you get a blank menu of nothing. You have been locked out of all production for the rest of the game, or until someone else develops your technology level, makes some wonders, and shrinks what appears on that menu.

But the AI opponents aren’t likely to do this because wonder building is really slow and annoying and a lot of the benefits are transitory, especially if you’re the tech powerhouse of the world learning the hell out of everything. The game rolls dice on whether it makes a wonder, and it seems to avoid making wonders that aren’t useful any more – It’s fine to have a Great Wall of Newark but if I’ve already developed gunpowder, the game’s not going to bother taking it off my plate.

The game doesn’t actually play by its own rules. It feigns playing fair in a moment to moment, looking-at-the-enemy way, but the enemy civs just behave in really banana ways that replicate the appearance of following the rules, but really don’t. They build faster, earn more, and in some cases teleport to ensure they can oppose you. That’s not even accounting for the way the game can have technologically outmatched units win in combat against seemingly much more powerful things. Ever seen a phalanx with spears destroy a stealth bomber? The math says it can happen so the game lets it happen. There, the game is willinng to ‘play fair’ with its math.

That’s the funny thing about this game, to me. All these years later, as I play it, knowing the game now, the priorities of how to play have shifted. I could make it harder by avoiding this strategy, but I like playing this way. I like how silly it makes history. I like going to space with a civilisation that doesn’t know what a king, a pot, or a horse are. I like the distorted way it works and the mid-game challenge of making wonders quickly enough to not break the end game menu.

Basically, Civilisation wasn’t a game made that ever expected you to be good at it. In fact, Civilisation was a game with a lot of expectations and assumptions about what made the world work in the ways it did, and those historical assumptions are… a thing.

Look, this is not a new observation. Back in 2002, Matthew Kapell wrote in Popular Culture Review the article ‘Civilisation and its Discontents: American Monomythic Structure as historical Simulacrum.’ It’s a short article, not really a paper proper, but it’s a good analytical examination of the game and assumptions that are evident in the text, particularly as they relate to how you tell the story of history and whose history you’re telling.

Kapell talks about the idea of CIvilisation telling a fundamentally American style of history, and not just history but mythic history. In Civilisation 1, know where the game talks about slaves across all the cultures it represents? ‘Cos I don’t, and I’ve played the game a lot.

What Kappell describes in Civilisation that many have observed since is that the vision of games Meier poplated around this time was fundamentally a treatment of the world as a frontier. There is free land and resources waiting for the person to take best advantage of it, and you do so only in competition with other equal parties trying to do the same thing. It is a place for capitalism, free enterprise, and a spread of progress.

This vision of the world as frontier, and the civilisation as a simple relationship to resources and one another does a great job of feeling like it’s about history while skirting around all the murder and genocide. That’s why monomythic: This is the story of America that America tells itself. All history becomes part of this, all of the story is not about representing the world as a place for America to be but rather a world that looks the way America needs it to for it to be correct in how it views itself. The leader of America in Civilisation 1 is Abe Lincoln, not George Washington.

I don’t even necessarily want to talk about civilisations and identity in this though. The thing that stands out to me about this game is the fascinating ideology underpinning how it thinks governments are run and the weird moments of cynical realism it expresses in that.

In this game, you can run your country under a specific system – despotism, monarchy, republic, democracy, or, supposedly, communism. These all have special rules that change the way you relate to resources in your cities.

To unlock Communism, you need to research Communism, which you get to after Democracy and Philosophy. Communism then gives you the government system of Communism, which works identically to Monarchy, but with a special, unique perk: Your people can be oppressed with military presence in the city, and, corruption is omnipresent and equal in all cities.

This is a vision of communism that is not about Communism – the description even takes time out to explain that it hasn’t improved lives for workers – but is really talking about specifically, Stalinism – and like, Stalinism of maybe the 1950s, which had a shelf life of Not Long because Stalin himself didn’t exactly rack up a high score in getting through that decade.

Oh and once you have Communism, you can unlock Labor Unions. Labor Unions let you build a tank.

That’s it.

That’s all labor unions are for, in the idea of Civilisation 1.

But let’s roll back and look at that world that breaks the game.

I’m building as many places as I can for people to live in. When populations grow, I make a new place, and immediately connect it via infrastructure. I don’t build military units at all – unless a place is being attacked, military units are bad, and I don’t want them. If I do have them, I can’t use them to go on military adventurism, sending them out to go beat people up, because that makes the people who are supporting them unhappy: my people don’t support a military exploratory force.

I don’t make money. My tax rate is zero, because I want to work on science instead. Cities grow close together so when the population gets too big, they can’t process more of the land around them, and instead are limited to only about 4-5 squares around them and everyone else in the city takes on jobs of being entertainers, artists, or scientists. And I’m not building the buildings that demand more resources to maintain; people are left with their own goods, so they can use them in their own community. If people are mad about the government for more than one turn, that government collapses.

It’s very hard to argue that the ‘democracy’ outlined here is anything like the democracy the game was sold under. Can you imagine if being mad for a year resulted in an overhaul of everything? Can you imagine being able to impact the military operations in your country and indeed, discourage them? Can you imagine a society that only turns to expressions of force when someone else comes in and takes over a city, turning it into a temple-building military outpost? Can you imagine a place without police where people vote and throw parades and have a nice time? Can you imagine a community that doesn’t know what kings are?

The irony is that the optimal strategy of this frontier strategy is a peaceful anarchism that both does no harm and takes no shit.

No, it wasn’t intentional. But that doesn’t stop it from being funny.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[csphire]

Hopes and dreams I had for Dragon Age 4 that we so did not get.🙃😢

An actual RPG game. Not Nice Guy, Nice Funny Guy, and Nice but Stern Guy. Let us screw up and piss off our companions.

No more dialogue wheel selection bait and switches. "Nooo I didn't mean that. I did not think they would say that! That's not what I thought that choice meant. I meant-fuck! *sighs* ...I guess I'll have to reload." Or more accurately, "That was the mean option? Are you kidding me!"

Letting the player be an asshole. Sometimes, it's just cathartic to punch a character. People in customer service especially need this at the end of a shift. Putting this in games is a public service. We needed more of those kinds of moments beyond the bloody tutorial.

More of our previous choices having an actual impact in DA4. Like the Well of Sorrows I was so certain would bite an Inquisitor in the ass somehow in the future. Like Morrigan with Mythal in her could force the Inqusitor to hurt or even try to kill Solas. So I agonized over that choice. The same goes for who we left in the fade. Honestly, the three or so that carried over I did not see any impact on DAVG at all. Am I wrong?

Who we left in the fade showing up or we find their body. "Where's Hawke?" Yeah... where's Hawke BioWare? Get's Hawke's clothes instead. Well, that's... depressing.

The option to play as the Inquisitor trying to be low profile or as a nobody aka Rook. This way, everyone is happy, right? For a lot of us, the Inquisitor going toe to toe again with Solas was important.

By playing as the Inquisitor we would have had one sweet Dagna-created prostatic arm-not from Bianca because screw her. Also, depending on our class each one would be a little different. Oh, and that prosthetic would also be customizable just like Varric's crossbow and every other weapon in Dragon Age Inquisition. I really thought BioWare would jump to help feature an amputee in an empowering way. True we had Neve but it felt like more of an afterthought to give her a prosthetic that honestly looks uncomfortable as hell.

Open worlds to collect mats, and kill things to craft gear and weapons for our team only better. It would have given us time to breathe and enjoy the scenery. Plus I like doing that kind of tedious shit and if you don't, fine go buy that stuff I guess.

Vendors that will sell us the goods if we got the coin and none of that faction BS.

"Knife ear!" You think at least the venatori would be shouting that at my elf. Nope! I did not feel like my character's race mattered in this game. I don't think Solas over a decade really put the fear of the gods into the North. We all know isms and slavery are bad but putting those things in a game's world helps people realize why they're bad and can even help people feel what it's like to be on the receiving end of such abuses which can help create a thing called empathy.

Blood! Where is the blood? Why is my character not covered in dirt and the gore of their enemies? Don't like that, fair but what about an on-off feature in settings?

Enemies that send chills down my spine. Instead, the ogres and darkspawn made me bust out laughing. I cannot take them seriously, especially the ogres. I see them and think, "Derp a durr... oh I'm an ogre and soooo scardy... rawr."

Dagna... because she's adorable and if any dwarf deserves magic it's her. Or at least let her nerd out, study Lace and help her understand more about her new abilities.

Sandal Cameo at least. Also adorable aaand... ENCHANTMENT!

Our companions can get hurt. I'm starting to think they made them immortal because they knew some of us would let them get hurt on purpose. There are no feelings of concern at all for them going into combat now, no pick-up mechanics it leaves me feeling only more apathetic about them.

Quicker cooldowns on abilities instead of spamming the left mouse button all of the time. And more than two fucking abilities on my hot bar. BioWare... what were you thinking?

Three or more companions traveling with us instead of two. It was the gold standard all throughout the franchise. How are we supposed to get to know them all when limited to-oh right most of them have a personality as deep as a kiddy pool, never mind.

Companions with personalities and problems deeper than kiddy pools. That tension between Cassandra and Varric, Dorrian and Vivienne, Cole and Sera, and so forth was... chief's kiss.

Control of all THREE of our companions traveling with us in combat. Look, I'm a control freak who likes strategy. Combat for the series has always been centered on strategy, pausing, builds, and gear. Am I still bitter that they dropped us to two? ...Yes.

If playing as the Inquisitor you get the option to romance someone new. Especially let us have the option for Lavellan to move on from Solas.

Better-looking hands and body proportions. Why are the heads so damn big? And honestly the hands in failguard genuinely creep me the hell out with tucking the pinkies away all the time. It's weird! Strange hill to die on I know but they just make me cringe and die a little inside.

Romance scenes that would make Larian and BG3 fans blush. This game was always meant for adults. Adults have *gasp* SEX!

Solas not being a total red flag d-bag for killing our favorite dwarf! Run Lavellan Run! You're probably next. And if not him, Bianca is going for your eyes!

Solas being less of a manipulative antagonist twat and/or the player has the ability to be more diplomatic from the start with Solas to get his help. I feel like Solas' character development sorta backtracked by a lot.

Solas once again is a romance option but this time to EVERYONE! That and I wanted to see Lavellan and Solas finally get it on.

They finally let us romance Varric. Oh they did you so dirty, baby... *ugly crying*

A memorable soundtrack that sets off all the feels and is not stuff that's reused from the Inquisition.

Last but not least, where the fuck is our Golden Nug Bioware?

I might add more later, but feel free to add more and comment below!

[galactic-mayhem]

ok now that ive had time to collect my thoughts here is my review of the minecraft movie. spoilers kinda but who cares honestly

- this shouldve come out in 2010

- jack black plays himself

- the characters arent characters and none of the dialogue is comparable to that of real people

- jack black and jason mamoa have gay sex halfway through the film

- also, JB and JM are the only people who actually want to be there (or at least they're the only people who want to entertain the idea of it) and it shows

- why did we need the piglins to be villians when illagers literally also exist in the movie and are shown to be villainous

- also, why is there a gay piglin

- the theme "creativity is good and you shouldnt be ashamed to be creative" is a decent enough message but this movie doesnt make that theme worthwhile at all despite it shouting it at you every chance it gets

- the fnaf movie did the trope of "kids lose their parents and the older sibling has to take care of the younger one" better because there were actual stakes to it outside of the a plot

- the entire movie happens in the course of a single day

- the transition between in game noises and stock sfx is jarring at best

- jack black has not one but three musical numbers, two of them come completely out of left field

- also, jack black's quirky "son of a biscuit"-style censorship never stops being out of left field

- dance party ending

- the mcyt cameos are not well planned at all

- enchanted golems are cool and should be added to the base game

- too many checkovs guns that go unfired (the literal nighttime, evokers, real world ingredients in crafting, diamonds and redstone kinda, many more)

- the movie refuses to decide on a main character

- the sister doesnt do anything at all

- to go even further than that, the female duo gets almost zero screen time by themselves when the male trio gets close to a half hour (likely more) on their own

- what the fuck was that exposition my friends and i were crying laughing about it

- green screen work is bad and obviosuly bad

- the only two ost tracks in the movie was an orchestral arrangement of Minecraft c418 and pigstep

- we gotta stop with the all 80s music movie osts. it worked for fnaf because fnaf is meant to be anachronistic and "talking in your sleep" gets used as a leitmotif, minecraft doesnt even attempt that

- we never hear about the end but steve has at minimum 3 elytras

- no jokes about any actual game mechanics

- the movie isnt even really about minecraft at all

- apparently charlie moistcritical said this movie could be a minecraft tutorial, hard disagree, this movie teaches nothing about how to play minecraft

- the c plot is a middle aged woman trying to get with a villager

- the villian's backstory is she lost a talent show. that's it. its also when we hear pigstep

- i hate to keep throwing the fnaf movie comparisons but it also did the dead-end town trope better. the limitations of living in bumfuck nowhere idaho are kinda sorta mentioned but in a tell-not-show way

- none of the jokes are funny for the reasons they want to be

- its an entire two hours long

- post credits scene introduces alex and nothing else

- no herobrine

- the literal children left disappointed

If you're gonna see this movie, do what my group and I did and sneak people into the theater. The film is not worth the movie ticket cost to see.

[ryanthecomic]

ZONA: THE PAFL RPG

For the past few months me and my brother were working on a tabletop rpg system based on Parties are For Losers, just for fun, and then we started trying out some graphic design adjustments, putting some cool images from the PaFL MVs and then boom, holy crap, we had an decent looking book, turns out that came out some time ago and i never did make a tumblr post on it, so here we go!

A Tabletop RPG system based on already popular RPGs such as Call of Cthullu and Ordem Paranormal, we made ZONA share a lot of horror adventure mechanics from CoCthu, such as the six-sided die being the only you need to actually play the game, any proficiency just means you get yet another die, some threats are not supposed to be brawled through, like the anomalies. Anomalies, Mutants, Powers, Artifacts and everything that you could find in the Zone is possible in your adventure, the book has only been tested in quick 3 session campaigns which is when this system works best, since there is no way to progress your character without artifacts and/or special equipment. Zona is the type of book you pick up when you want to play spontaneously with your group of friends, but if you wish to add a very rudimentary sense of character power progression, there is a "Level Up?" section in the book where you can adopt to your campaign, making your characters *just a tiny bit* stronger!

Choose between 3 classes for your character, each with certain strengths and weaknesses, there is a tutorial along the book that will teach you how to make your character! If you choose to be a mutant, you will have access to a whole new feature called powers, your character has 6 points they can spend to make a power for themselves, that they'll use in the campaing, this power can either be an offensive power that deals damage and effects to enemies or an utility power that grants you bonuses when rolling for checks, healing people or even creating structres like ice walls or earth structures. Lets explain powers a bit more in this post, since the book will teach you how to make a Mundane Character.

These 6 points will be spent this way: Dmitry uses 4 points to make a 004 mutation called "Maximum Output Teleknysis", an offensive mutation that deals 1d6+4 paranormal damage to up to 5 creatures, and moves them in a direction he chooses until they hit a wall or get out of sight (very strong i know, but that is the point.) since its a 004 degree mutation, when using this power, Dmitry spends 4 humanity points (Read the book to understand this better!) Due to choosing a 004 power, dmitry also gains a mutation trick, which is Teleknysis, he can lift objects as if he could reach them with his hand, but since it's a trick, he wont be able to lift anything that he normally couldn't with his body strength alone. That leaves him with 2 points, which he will spend to make new uses for these powers of his.

If Dmitry exerts himself too much and goes beyond humanity's border, he will start to go insane, all the effects on the insanity table is made with the solely intention of retiring your character from the campaign, either making them crazy or just plain right losing them to the GM.

Thank you to everyone involved in the making of this book and making their drawings and assets available, you can download ZONA and check out the people who made this work possible in this link: https://ryanthecomic.itch.io/zona

Glad to be of use once again for the PaFL fandom!

[carlyraejepsans]

i feel like uty improves on things undertale did but it doesnt have the same strong foundation as the original. like all the qol tweaks and secret shit and meta flowey are all super impressive but as a whole i agree i didnt find it cohesive or consistent

eh, sorry but i don't really think UTY "improves" much of... anything from Undertale? you can make an argument for the visuals, which are more detailed and certainly better animated, but i would argue right back that undertale's rougher, retro, "kinda ugly" graphics are a deliberate design choice on Toby's part that he stuck to for a reason. not to mention, even in their ugliness, the original main cast managed to display more variety in shape language and size than the entire UTY one, which seemed unable to break past the "tall, skinny, anime proportioned humanoid" figure for anyone beyond the occasional side NPC (which, credit where it is due, DID have some really creative designs).

the secret shit is part of my critiques, actually! while conceptually cool, i don't think they appropriately distributed their story and lore at all. i feel like if we got to the end of the pacifist run and were wholly confused as to why dalv was even a character in the story, the whole "human attack" backstory was... not delivered properly. now, there's no problem with having secret lore, gaster is right there. but if you DO have it then it shouldn't be... yknow... tied to the main backstory conflict that literally set the story in motion? lol? it felt like a game with dataminers in mind, rather than players. which was unavoidably detrimental to its storytelling.

the bullet patterns and attack designs were very visually creative but what they improved from the original in their cleverness they tanked with their execution. WAYYY too unfair, counting too much on memorization and giving you no time to accustom yourself to the mechanics (shout-out to the gun tutorial that... didn't teach us how to shoot. at all. we figured it out on our own in the axis fight LMFAO)

the meta flowey stuff was a fun idea that only really delivered in the neutral run and didn't amount to enough anywhere else to justify his presence in the game imo. like, i lost my shit during his fight too, don't get me wrong, i like when fan stories let him be a little FREAK. but everything else was just so... wasted? i almost didn't see the neutral ending at all because the way pacifist handled flowey disappointed me so much.

uhhhhh running was a good addition and the music fucked hard. can't say anything against those two, nossir. not sure it'd go so far as to call them improvements tho, just nice touches

[tobiasdrake]

The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy 19 - Mad Dash for the Kitchen Asuras

Here we are on Day 4. Still awaiting word that will probably never come.

Are we ready to explore the probability that we've been abandoned to fend for ourselves yet?

Also, Hiruko talks about Alexa exactly the same way my family talks about our cat.

Yeah, that's my thinking too.

Also, Miss Amemiya. Very polite of you, Ima. Darumi deserves the respect.

Ooh, good catch. If Alexa isn't here then he can't get pissy about who eats what. Though I would still have some reservations by the possibility of an enforcement mechanism of some kind. We don't know what the rules are, so eating things other than dry bread might make you explode or something if you aren't using the Infuser.

We don't know what the rules are. There is a non-zero chance that all of the food in the real world is somehow lethal to anyone who hasn't Blood Cocooned themselves and the dry bread is actually for all-a y'all's safety.

Only one way to find out. I guess Now and Then have volunteered to be our guinea pigs. If you guys explode, while try to jab your corpses with Infusers and see if that's good enough for the Revive-o-Matic.

Gaku, you work for slave wages to support a family. How is something so basic as "A rule only exists so long as it can be enforced" lost on you? Have you never had to shoplift to get by?

Now and Then have definitely had to shoplift to get by. I did not miss the part where they're orphans or some shit.

But I also would have expected better of you, Gaku. Shame on you. Go outside and steal from the pharmacy until you learn.

There you go. That's better. You know, if you're this much of a stickler for obedience to authority, I bet you aren't working a union job, huh? That might be part of your problem. You're letting the capitalists take advantage of you. If you ever see your home again, you should considering unionizing.

And stealing from corporations where needed. Learn from the orphans, Gaku. They know how to get by in this cruel, cruel world. Unless they explode.

I'd at least give Now and Then like an hour to see if something happens to them. But if y'all want to dive in now then be my guests. Since we now have the full team eating, we all get to share in whatever fate may or may not await.

To be fair, that was a staged event for shock and intimidation. I don't think Monokuma could actually summon the Spears of Gungnir wherever he wanted. He just wanted Class 78 to think he could.

Now, AI Monokuma and the Exisals, THOSE were another story.

OH WOW I FORGOT YOU WERE HERE

Full team -1 eating, I guess.

Not joining the others in making a mad dash for the kitchen Asuras?

...I kinda think that's the point, Hiruko. He gave us the tools we need to defend the school and then removed himself to a place where we can't keep pressuring him for information.

We definitely aren't going to find him, but if it makes you feel better, sure.

In any case, while they're searching the school, I have one other tutorial I need to learn about.

I mean, I'm also going to be hanging out with peeps too. Sorry, Hiruko, but I refuse to only use my time productively.

VR Training simulations are practice battles for grinding XP. Yeah, that makes sense. Much bigger and more complicated than the little battles I ran into while exploring, too.

Darumi's MVP mugshot is fantastic. 10/10.

I don't know how the level system works but it could hypothetically also be good for bringing underleveled characters up to speed. That's a problem you run into sometimes in other TRPG franchises like Fire Emblem.

Aha, here we go. This is the level-up system and--

I FUCKING KNEW IT

That WAS what the Lv.4 and MAX at the end of her two skill names meant! Hiruko's fucking near-maxed out on two separate skills while the rest of us are level 1.

She has played this game before.

Alright, while y'all look around for something we aren't going to find, I'm gonna go find out what Darumi's crying about.

Well, shit. That is a crisis. In fact, it's a bigger crisis than Sirei's vanishing because we actually have a >0% chance of success searching for it.

Why would that matter, Takumi? Even if something is cheap, it still sucks to lose it. Especially if it's something you need to use regularly. Gonna flick your nose if you think like a capitalist again.

Relatable. Sometimes you just need to let it out.

Some people's problems can't be swept under the rug by running up and declaring, "I'm your Daddy now!" Take your anti-crying propaganda somewhere else, Takumi.

[ganondoodle]

I was at first in love with totk, and I still think mechanical wise, its quite impressive

And when I collected all the tears and saw the "story" I genuinely got upset in a good way (at first), because man! Did they really got the balls to go that far? Is there nothing I can do for her? Now I MUST do all the temples, see how it plays out and --oh, I've got this cutscene already. Why are all the people so dumb about Zelda, I KNOW where she is, Link say something-- Link??

After finishing all the temples and almost falling asleep, I stopped playing the game, looked up the last boss and remaining cutscenes and went "Thats it?"

Watching other people (including you) being critically about so many things, both character and mechanical wise, I've almost startled myself with a realization what the gnawing feeling I constantly had, actually was.

Totk feels like a fanfic.

And don't get me wrong, I love fanfiction, I think its great and important, I adore fanfic writers, I love finding gems, I love reading self indulgent stories, see new spins and interpretation of characters. I love the casual, the passion, the creativity!

But totk gives me the same feeling everytime I am reminded that Fifty Shades is a Twillight fanfic.

The world is there. The faces I know and grew to love are there. But everything is ever so slightly different, uncannily so. Just how some characters talk, how they act, how they were placed in the story. The Zonai appearing out of nowhere, but no, they always had been there you see, they were these super magical advanced people but they all died, the king is so tragic. And you see, the king is super cool and powerful and-- oh I dont get to interact with him outside of the tutorial. Did they try to do another King Rhoam-- but wait, that only worked because we didn't knew he was a ghost-- totk wait stop why do you take him out of the story, why couldn't he be a companion, he IS ABLE TO TALK THROUGH THE ARM LET THE OLD GOAT COMMENT ON STUFF?? If you bring up all this ancient stuff and you still got a ghost lingering, let him talk?? (I never ended up getting Mineru but I smell wasted potential as well)

Im not even mad, I am disappointed. It feels like the devs saw what all the lore hunters got attached to and talked about and then just... took the "cool". All the Zonai stuff could've easily been Sheikah tech, but got just reskinned to look more exciting instead of being its own thing.

Like... at this point I prefer what fans are doing over what Totk gave us. The characterization of Rauru (and everything Zonai), projects like you do of what totk couldve been, the little nuggets of actual highlights and details of love fans find in the game. I found much more enjoyment in these concepts than I got from a 70bucks game. And thats depressing.

I love fanfiction. I dont love it when my corporate 70 dollar, six year development, console exclusive game feels like a story that passionate fan couldve written miles better in a week (and I've already seen much cooler and interesting rewrites and ideas).

Zelda has been a huge part of my childhood and its depressing seeing it treated like that. It always was about the story, the epic, its The Legend of Zelda for crying out loud. To be courageous to enter a dungeon, to be wise and solve all the riddles. To become powerful over the journey you embarked on. Zelda to me is the campfire story you tell to others and go into the woods or the beach and imagine what monsters you would slay. Zelda is not the sandcastle you build in the sandbox and then add dinosaurs and star wars ships because you didn't had any other toys, and just stumble into and over some story to entertain yourself until lunch is ready.

I'd have an oracle of seasons over another totk any day at this point. They should've just make the mechanics of totk its own thing, but I guess they were scared it wouldn't sell if it doesn't have a Mario or Zelda skin straped over it.

Anyways, sorry for the mini rant - love your art, love your thoughts and insights, and I am looking forward to see more of it - Zelda related or not (your original characters look amazing, I adore your style sm)

Hope you have a great rest of the day!

*nods along through this entire rant*

idk how many of my rants you have read but yeah ... yeah ... and the further you think about it the further it all falls apart, the wasted potential of it all and the goddamn audacity of them to do those interviews in which they make it EVEN WORSE is just

i know the expectation for a direct sequel to botw was huge and understandbly so but i really REALLY think it would not have been that hard to make it a good follow up even taking into account that totk was originally a DLC, pretty much all of botws aspects could have been developed further, i dont know what could have happened to make totk have turned out like this .. literally it feels like something had to have gone wrong, its like someone who doesnt know zelda nor botw at all was given a few prompts and then just made some generic fantasy story while the rest worked on ultrahand for 5 years

the technical impressive things ARE technical impressive, but i dont think it was necessary nor served the game well in any way (and i LOVE building games- however totk is neither a building game nor a story game nor a zelda game nor an exploration game nor a sequel imo) but zelda, this zelda, is not made for that and i cant help but think it was mainly to encourage people to make some ridiculous mechs so it can go viral on tiktok (not trying to discredit them, it IS cool what they are doing but i .... have my doubts if zelda is the right place for that)

ill stop there bc i have ranted so much about everything i dont wanna repeat it here again; it just doesnt feel like a real game (derogatory), it feels extra bad bc i was not really into zelda when botw came out and while i did get it as soon as i could (months after release since i just started a minijob and didnt have the money) i only over time grew to love zelda this much again, devouring any theories and anything about it bc i loved it so much- i was never into it like this when a new title was announced and dont own any special editions so i bought the totk collectors bc i was just so damn excited for it after the 2019 trailer dropped (god i want that time back ... it looked so much more like it was going to be an actual sequel) even if i was already worried it wouldnt be good at that point given how much i started to sense stuff i dont like about the newer trailers

i recently sold it at our local gameshop bc it was like a thorn in my side given how expensive it was and how dissapointed i was in the game, i genuinely think that, technical impressiveness aside, totk is the onyl zelda i truly cannot stand (for alot of reasons) and im genuinely worried for the future of the franchise

i bought an Oki (Okami) figurine for what i got back and i feel much happier with that :3

(also on a note, i did finish the game two weeks after release but stopped playing it right then and hadnt touched it since, i also streamed all of what i played and its still up if you want to see my slow descend into madness fjkdhkdhjk though its been a long while since then and i by far did not talk about everything back then, just what my most immediate frustrations were while still playing)

(also the gameplay isnt as good as people make it out to be, so much is so frustrating and punishing to use i am kinda baffled it got through like that and most people call that its best aspect ..... though i guess if the rest is so much worse even mid gameplay can seem good ooooooooh how dare i)

also thank you for liking what i do!!! <3 it means alot to know it is appreciated by someone :D

[dailyrandomwriter]

Day 688

Another past indie game that has clearly influenced this year’s set of demos is Unpacking. Unpacking was a fun little game that leaned into the mechanic of unpacking moving boxes and putting it away, all while using this as a vehicle for storytelling.

By the way, narrative storytelling through game mechanics and visuals is actually really hard to do, and was one of the strong points of Unpacking despite the simple idea.

That being said, it has resulted in people taking that idea, and expanding upon it. There were three demos this year that had some form of packing or unpacking mechanic to it.

The first was The August Before, a story about a young woman getting ready to go to college and she is packing up her life, and through the objects we learn more about her. There is also a mechanic of keeping or leaving behind certain objects that may change the narrative (this is something one other game has also done but that one didn’t have a demo yet). It’s an interesting concept, though the ability to move around in a 3D space means there is some jankiness in the controls at the moment. Hopefully that will be solved.

The second was Camper Van, where you unpack to live in a Camper Van. This means you’re trying to figure out where everything is going. Judging by the album in the game, there is probably a narrative involved, but the demo focused more on the decorating and unpacking aspect of the game. While I have it on my wishlist, I don’t know yet if this is a game I would really want to commit to.

The third was Urban of the Jungle, which is technically more of a puzzle game with some unpacking elements. In each stage of life you are trying to unpack and rearrange your belongings to fit as many plants as possible into your living space. It has a point system similar to Islands, in that you need to reach a certain number of points to complete the level. Points are gained by putting plants near other preferred plants and making sure they have an optimal environment to grow in. So it’s far more playing with the idea of space than the other two demo games. This one was particularly fun, though I hope for a better tutorial because I’m pretty sure I could have moved the camera around but didn’t know how to.

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Dangancember 2024 - Danganronpa Top 24 Class Trials - Number 10: Danganronpa 2 Case 1

//It was very very difficult to decide what between this case and the first case of Another 2 would be the one to manage to breach the Top 10, but ultimately, I had to give it to the OG series because of how significant an impact this case had, and how it set itself apart from the opening case of the first game.

//And it largely has to do with how much better than SDRA2 it does at setting up what a sequal can offer, even if its not by an awful lot.

//Personally speaking, I think if you take a step back and look at all the opening cases of this main series and the Another games, this is definitely the most engaging mystery and narrative of all the opening trials.

//And I know what people are going to say in response to that. And yes, we do still have one more opening trial to cover. And LORD KNOWS what that could be (he said sarcastically.)

//But I feel the need to remind people what this list is about. I am not ranking these trials based on how good I think the mystery is alone. I'm ranking them based on how much I, personally, feel they resonated with me. How much I cared about them.

//I can reflect upon myself and say that 2-1 is a better mystery than 1-1, V3-1, A-1, and A2-1, but that doesn't necessarily make if my favourite because maybe there are others that I felt were more impactful for me.

//But for what it's worth, 10th place and second favourite opening trial isn't bad.

//Right out of the gate, I think what makes this trial so much more impactful to me as an opening is the simple fact that, DRASTICALLY unlike Case 1 of DR1, it's a tutorial case, but it doesn't feel like one.

//Ergo, it doesn't give you a painfully simple mystery and/or hold your hand throughout the duration.

//It instead introduces both old and new gameplay mechanics organically, almost tricking you into learning while you’re too busy untangling the chaos of all the wacky shit that goes on here. Like being fed your vegetables but disguised as a pizza.

//The game sprinkles in trial mechanics and investigation tools gradually, so players grasp concepts without realizing they’re being taught. For example, the glowing paint on Nagito’s knife not only advances the plot but doubles as a clever way to demonstrate how evidence ties to crime scene analysis.

Plus, the setup; a pitch-black room full of panicking Ultimate students; makes the case feel dynamic and complex, while still being manageable for a first-timer. It's a much more complicated and thorough mystery thanks to the not-very bathroom-like liminal space that the first game had.

//By the time you’ve solved the mystery, you’re already an expert in piecing together alibis, reconstructing timelines, and using testimony against suspects, all without a giant neon sign saying, "Press this button now."

//In contrast, the first Danganronpa case felt more like a guided tour of Murder Mystery Land, complete with monotone Monokuma hints. Here, Danganronpa 2 tricks you into thinking you’re a genius detective right out of the gate, when really, it’s just doing a great job at teaching the ropes. It’s the difference between a boring school lecture and a fun, chaotic group project where someone (probably Nagito) brings a flamethrower. The result? A tutorial that feels like part of the narrative instead of a checklist.

//The large reason why I think DR2 leans way more into the chaos is that it assumes you've already played the first game, so you already know what's at stake here.

//In Danganronpa 1, the rules of how the Killing Game work are different than most other iterations, because you're walked through it one step at a time. Monokuma introduces the fact that you're stuck here, and murdering someone might be your only way out, but it isn't until AFTER Sayaka dies that the concept of the Class Trial even comes up.

//Monokuma introduces it immediately in Danganronpa 2, and explains it quite thoroughly, if a little suddenly.

//I genuinely believe the tension among the characters and their reactions to being thrust into a mutual killing game feel much heavier in Danganronpa 2 compared to other games. I even think the stakes are automatically higher than V3, despite how terrifying things seem right from the get go in that game.

//Right from the outset, there’s a palpable sense of unease, and the characters’ behaviors reflect that in spades. Take Kazuichi, for instance. We know this to be common with him now, but his paranoia is cranked up so high at the beginning that he flat-out refuses to attend the morning meetings. Something that everybody agreed to do in Danganronpa 1, and didn't get broken up until halfway into Chapter 2 earliest when Byakuya went off to do his own thing and Toko started following him.

//This isn’t your average "we’re all in this together" camaraderie; this is "I don’t trust any of you, so I’m staying put" energy. Moments like this amplify the weight of the situation and make the entire atmosphere more ominous and unsettling than its predecessor. Even though Jabberwock Island is way more out in the open than Hope's Peak was.

//The setup for the murder itself is also quite clever. Byakuya, a returning character from the first game, (or so we think at the time) decides to host a party to keep everyone in one place and prevent a murder.

//Because what could possibly go wrong with that plan?

//Well, everything, as it turns out.

//Fuyuhiko refuses to attend, probably because he’s too busy being the resident jerk, and in a twist dripping with irony, Byakuya’s noble attempt to maintain order directly leads to his demise. The dramatic irony here is so thick you could cut it with Nagito’s glowing, conveniently placed knife.

//Which we will get to.

//What really elevates this case is the setting and investigation. And as I already eluded to, the first case always takes place in a typically liminal setting, and that applies to the Another games too. Makoto's bathroom, the Old Building, the Library, the Girls' Bathroom, and the Belltower are all very simple areas, with the SDRA2 Belltower being the most vast.

//But in DR2, the quirks and layout of the Old Building are taken full advantage of, more than any of those other places where they contain at least one minor nitpick that insinuates there's more going on than there appears to be.

//Instead of snooping around in someone’s private bedroom, as we did in the first game, we’re exploring an old, creaky building full of mysteries and logistical challenges. From the blackout setup to the hidden compartments, every element feels like a classic whodunit sprinkled with that signature Danganronpa flair.

//Sure, there are death flags waving furiously, but the execution makes it all worthwhile. It’s a standout opening case that sets the bar high for tension, creativity, and character dynamics.

//But yeah, let's start talking about how this case pans out, starting with the first death itself.

//If you were to ask me who I think, of all of the first victims in the series, was the most shocking to me, I'd probably say Rantaro, but Byakuya in this game is definitely the close second.

//And Rantaro's death wasn't as emotionally captivating as it just was shocking, given how the game REALLY set him up to feel like he might be important, then went a different route than what they had already done with Kyoko and Hajime.

//Sayaka, Yuri, and even Kiyoka in contrast were raising so many death flags, and although it became obvious to me from the fact that Byakuya wasn't there by the time the lights came back on that he was dead...Good lord, it got me regardless.

//One of the best ways to kick off a killing game is by hitting players with a truly unexpected victim, and Danganronpa 2 nails this in its first case.

//And then Kodaka just went mad with this idea with V3 and Rain Code later.

//That aside, Byakuya was already so important from the get go because he's a (seemingly) returning character from the previous game, and even though he's gained a lot of weight since then for some reason, he's also gained a newfound dedication to leading everyone to safety.

//Upon reflection, he’s practically dripping with death flags, because he gets so much significant screentime in the same way Sayaka did in the first game. But even so, it's because he's been through this already that when he ends up as the first victim, it’s still a huge shock.

//Of course, the twist that he’s not actually Byakuya but an Impostor pretending to be him adds another layer to the surprise later on. Obviously, we as Survivor writers and readers know him as Ryuji Mitarai now, but I'm just gonna call him "Imposter" here so we don't get things twisted.

//Impostor is a surprisingly likable character in spite of his short screentime, especially when you consider he’s imitating someone who’s iconic for being, well, a complete jerk. Unlike the real Byakuya, Impostor exudes a level of care and selflessness that makes him stand out in the group.

//His decision to host a party in an effort to bring everyone together and keep them safe is a solid plan, at least on paper. As said already, the irony that his attempt to protect everyone results in his own death is just the kind of cruel twist that Danganronpa loves to serve up these days. However, because we don’t know at this point that he’s an Impostor, his actions reflect more on the character he’s pretending to be than on himself, leaving him feeling a bit thin as a character in this particular moment.

That said, Impostor shines in other parts of the franchise, particularly in the Danganronpa 3 anime. Now, we all know that DR3 kind of sucks, but Impostor’s moments are a rare highlight. His actions there show more of his true personality and make him one of the few redeeming elements of the show.

//So while he doesn’t get as much depth in this first case, his later appearances prove that he’s more than just a stand-in for Byakuya. In hindsight, his role in Case 1 is both ironic and tragic, but it sets up an intriguing foundation for his character.

//The investigation begins quickly after his body is discovered under a table, and it's already off to an amazing start.

//I found this investigation surprisingly enjoyable, and honestly, it felt oddly realistic to me. Maybe that’s a weird take, but hear me out.

//Whenever I go to indoor parties or events like that, I tend to get flushed and a little lightheaded, whether it’s from the heat, the crowd, or the questionable air circulation. Even though I wasn’t physically at the old building, the atmosphere was so immersive that I actually started feeling that same wooziness.

//The setting, with its dim lighting and creaky vibes, reminded me of places I’ve been to for dinner parties, which only added to the mystery’s engagement factor. It’s like my brain decided to simulate party-induced fogginess just to make the experience more authentic.

//Now, I’ll be the first to admit that this might be a "me" problem. I’m not claiming to be the sharpest tool in the shed, and maybe I’m just a bit of a dummy for letting myself feel this way over a game, but still, the sense of immersion here was real. While the investigation itself wasn’t anything groundbreaking, it had this subtle charm that kept me hooked.

//There’s something about piecing together clues in a claustrophobic, slightly disorienting environment that made me really feel like a detective, albeit one who probably needed to sit down and drink some water.

//Genuinely, this setting makes this case the most "clue-like" case in the series for me. Someone is murdered at the party, now you simply need to find out who did it, where, and what with.

//In the grand scheme of things, the mystery in this case isn’t exactly revolutionary, as solid as it is. But the combination of the setting, the clever use of the blackout, and my own personal haze made it a uniquely enjoyable experience.

//Either way, I had a great time racking my brain, even if half of that effort was spent fighting off imaginary dizziness.

//And as I kind of said already, both in this analysis and the previous one, the sequence of events here is just generally super cool and clever.

//The use of the blackout during the party as the centerpiece of the murder setup is a stroke of brilliance that emphasizes both creativity and logical deduction, despite being very simple on paper. In a scenario where vision is compromised, spatial awareness and timing become the key elements in unraveling the mystery.

//With that being said, one major reason it falls short is that the actual murder mystery itself can feel a bit contrived. While the blackout during the party is a clever setup, the sequence of events that leads to Teruteru’s accidental killing of the Impostor feels somewhat forced.

//Teruteru’s motivations, though sympathetic, still hinge on some rather convenient coincidences, like Nagito's manipulation and the unexpected turn of events during the blackout. It's a little too convenient for the sake of shocking twists.

//But even so, that's still a very minor problem, and not one I think about too regularly. Sometimes you need to take a few leaps in logic, and DR is famous for doing so. It's only with cases like 2-3 that do it a LOT that makes it kind of questionable.

//The trial builds on this foundation by introducing innovative mechanics that align perfectly with the unique circumstances of the case. For instance, the glowing paint on the knife becomes a pivotal clue, as well as a Chekovs (I've definitely spelt that wrong) Gun that at first seems like a red herring and not part of the case, only to be an integral part of the real scheme later.

//Similarly, the use of sound adds another layer of depth. Unlike 1-1 where you literally have to use your eyes and the culprit is just spelled out for you, here, they do basically the exact reverse.

//What makes this even more effective is how seamlessly these mechanics double as a tutorial, as I've kind of already gone over, but I want to elaborate on. The game gently introduces players to its more complex investigative tools without making the process feel like a chore.

//You’re not just learning how to use Truth Bullets or analyze contradictions, you’re actively piecing together a mystery that feels compelling and genuinely challenging. By tying these mechanics to a clever and memorable setup like the blackout, this case manages to be both instructive and immersive, making the trial a standout moment that’s as fun to play as it is to solve.

//And then there's how it all critically ends with "ON-THE-MEAT-BONE!" And speaking of which...

//One big issue that I see a lot of people take with this trial is who ends up being the killer, and...yeah, I understand why.

//But in case I haven't made it clear so far with this blog, I actually don't dislike Teruteru at all!

//Again, just as Imposter is my second favourite victim for an opening case, Teruteru is...well...he's technically my FAVOURITE first-case killer, but assuming we count the killer of Danganronpa V3's first case as Kaede, then he's my second favourite.

//Teruteru is, understandably, one of the more polarizing characters in Danganronpa as a whole. His behavior often crosses the line into outright predatory territory, making him difficult to defend.

//But, if we’re being honest, he’s also a more entertaining and complex character than certain other franchise favorites like Yasuhiro or Hifumi . While those two often devolve into comic relief without much depth, Teruteru has layers to his personality that make him more interesting to watch, his involvement in this case be damned.

///...Even if those layers come with a side of sleaze.

//I genuinely think that every killer in Danganronpa 2 has a certain degree of sympathy and likeability to them regardless of their motivations, and that includes both Mikan and Teruteru.

//What sets Teruteru apart is that, despite having traits like being short and uncomfortably perverted, he’s nothing like your stereotypical perverted, touchy anime character.

//My Hero Academia’s Minoru Mineta, for example. That character gets a lot of flak for being a one-note pervert (and, let’s face it, deservedly so), but Teruteru has an actual backstory, genuine character motivations, and even some moments of surprising emotional depth.

//His perversion, while still off-putting, isn’t his sole defining trait. Instead, his actions and decisions stem from a mix of personality quirks, life circumstances, and emotional vulnerability.

//When you dig deeper into his motive for murder, you find a blend of noble intentions and tragic desperation that make him far more nuanced than he initially appears.

//Teruteru’s reasons for killing are multifaceted. He learns that Nagito is plotting a murder of his own and, in an effort to protect the rest of the group, he tries to stop him, albeit in the most reckless way possible. The murder plan was supposed to ensnare Nagito, but things go horribly wrong when the Ultimate Impostor ends up as the unintended victim.

//Beyond that, Teruteru’s desire to escape the island and return home is driven by a surprisingly selfless motive: his sickly mother. After realizing his school memories were erased, Teruteru becomes desperate to leave, fearing for her well-being while she struggles to run their family diner alone.

//His guilt over accidentally killing the Impostor feels genuine. He doesn’t wish he could undo his actions entirely, as his intentions were arguably good, but he deeply regrets the unintended consequences.

//And it's even more gut-wrenching upon reflection when you realize that not only is Teruteru's mother most likely dead, but that as a Remnant of Despair, Teruteru likely killed and ate her himself.

//I would argue that Ayame did the half-heroic, half-realistic goals for murder thing better, but hey, I can't stay mad at Teruteru for this, despite himself. His motives were noble, regardless of whether they were selfish or selfless.

//It’s easy to argue that Nagito manipulated him into this situation, making Teruteru’s downfall all the more tragic. Beneath the inappropriate jokes and questionable behavior lies a character who’s more human than he initially lets on...and that complexity makes him a fascinating, if controversial, addition to the cast.

//But of course, let's not beat around the bush.

//The characters are what makes these cases as great as they are, but even so, it's not the involvements of the Ultimate Imposter, or Teruteru's motivations that make this narrative as engaging as it is. No...We all know who the REAL highlight of this goddamn trial is...

//Nagito...fucking...Komaeda...!

//Arguably the best antagonist in the entire series, and this case perfectly solidifies why right from the get-go.

//Nagito initially seems to fit neatly into the archetype established by characters like Sayaka in Game 1. He’s the friendly companion who walks the protagonist through introductions to the rest of the group, acting as kind of the first true friend you make on the island, and the one that you feel like you can rely on, and he treats you with the same respect.

//It's incredibly interesting to think about how vastly Nagito and Hajime's relationship changes throughout Danganronpa 2, when what starts out as mutual respect eventually turns into shared animosity. But that comes much later.

//As of this moment, much like Kyoko in Danganronpa 1, Nagito keeps his true nature hidden until the first trial, when the cracks in his façade begin to show.

//And wow, do they show.

//We all know this by now as DR fans, but instead of being the slightly awkward but otherwise kind-hearted nice guy he appears to be, it turns out Nagito is completely, utterly, spectacularly UN-FUCKING-HINGED!

//Once the trial begins, Nagito transforms into a ENGINE of pure CHAOS, derailing conversations left and right and dropping bombshells like he’s hosting a fireworks show.

//The kicker? He's not even the killer!

//Nagito actually manipulated Teruteru into committing the first murder by instilling a degree of fear in him about what would happen. He openly reveals his plan to Teruteru, chancing that Teruteru's pre-established paranoia will trigger his hidden desire to murder and escape.

//Which is effectively the same tactic that we're used to seeing JUNKO use to light the fuses.

//But it's still somehow not as simple as that. Because in his warped worldview, starting the killing game was a necessary step toward creating a brighter Hope.

//And in his twisted logic, sacrificing both Teruteru and the Ultimate Impostor was just a means to that end. On top of that, he confessed to the crime, fully admitting his role, even though he wasn’t technically the killer.

//Which means the literal FIRST HALF of this trial is chasing after Nagito's actions that gets you no closer to the actual killer, and it's only in the second half that Teruteru's involvement becomes much clearer.

//I will say that this is kind of one of the reasons why I don't like this case as much as others, though it's an incredibly minor complaint for what it is.

//While Nagito’s chaotic presence adds an interesting layer to the trial, it does sometimes overshadow the actual clues. Rather than focusing on the specifics of the crime, the trial often feels like it’s more about Nagito’s antics than the methodical unraveling of the murder, and that kind of takes away from the actions of the Imposter and Teruteru.

//His erratic behavior, while entertaining, makes it harder to stay grounded in the actual mystery, and as a result, the case feeling more like a dramatic spectacle than a carefully crafted whodunit, due to how little focus there is on the actual specifics of the murder.

//With all of that being said, what the case actually does do with that wasted time, cementing Nagito's role in the story going forward, REALLY leaves you with some intense feelings. And again, if it had REALLY wasted Teruteru and Imposter's characters, then I wouldn't have nearly as much to say about them as I have done.

//Nagito is one of the most fascinating and complex characters in the entire series, and there's no one who can argue that. His dramatic shift from friendly companion to mastermind of mayhem is executed flawlessly, making his first trial a rollercoaster of emotions.

//Love him or hate him, you can’t deny that he makes a hell of an impression, and his antics in this case set the stage for his chaotic brilliance throughout the rest of the game. Whether you’re laughing at his absurdity, recoiling from his insanity, or begrudgingly respecting his intellect, Nagito manages to steal the show

//In summary, what makes this case such a compelling opening is how it immediately subverts the expectations that the first game established, and shows that this game is just a whole new beast.

//When you boot up Danganronpa 2, you most likely expect the sequel to follow the tried-and-true formula of the first game. You know the drill: a few quirky introductions, a grisly murder, and a trial where the guilty party is unmasked with relatively straightforward reasoning. But Case 1 here throws a Monokuma-shaped wrench into that structure right from the start.

//The shock of Byakuya’s death, the one character returning from the first game and someone who seems too important to die so soon, is a massive curveball. Nagito's unhinged behavior makes the courtroom feel more like a theater of absurdity than a place of justice. And yet, amid all this madness, Teruteru’s surprisingly heartfelt motives shine through.

//It’s a case that toys with your emotions, your expectations, and maybe even your sanity, which is why it stands out as such a brilliant opening act for this wild sequel.

[tribow]

I've been playing Rivals of Aether 2 and noticed the Steam reviews have become mixed. Curious, I checked why that might be the case.

It mostly just seems to be a coincidence that it became mixed. A good amount of people left a negative review around the same time. Some of it is because the game deviated from Rivals 1 gameplay, but like....the first game isn't going anywhere. You can still buy it/play it without any issue. Do you know how many fighting games would love to have that luxury?

A good number of the RoA1 crowd think RoA2 plays like Melee/Smash4/Ultimate now, but....no. Melee's gameplay is way more precise with way less emphasis on defense, Smash4 plays way slower, lacks movement options, and punishes unsafe aggression, and Ultimate feels like fencing....so aggression without the approach (if that makes sense). RoA2, to me, is a game that heavily revolves around counterplay. I never felt like I was in a situation where there was absolutely nothing I could have done to prevent a loss, albeit, that's because I'm actually aware of the game mechanics.

A large amount of review also complained about how the game feels to beginners and this is a criticism I couldn't counter if I tried. As of right now, the game severely lacks tutorials and singleplayer modes to help you get better. This is being addressed, but it's gonna be a while. Right now there's some very basic tutorials and an arcade mode, but nothin too helpful. This wouldn't feel as bad if there were casual multiplayer things to do...but there isn't. People rarely play free-for-alls and that's the closest thing to a casual multiplayer mode the game has. Unless you have friends who have the game, you're outta luck.

There also seems to be server issues. I haven't had problems myself, but depending on where you live, you might have problems. RoA2 uses server-based rollback with no peer-to-peer options as of now, so if you're super far from the servers they have, you might experience the lag problems I've seen other reviews complain about. It's something the devs are aware of and will likely address, but solving networking issues is a slow process and it might not be as important as finishing new characters on schedule.

Speaking of that schedule, RoA2 is a live service game, probably one of the best. There's no slimey predatory practices here. No FOMO, no P2W, no money-hungry nonsense. All future characters will be free, the singleplayer modes will be free, and stages will be free. Which is great, but it also reveals that this game isn't necessarily "Feature Complete". Like I said earlier, there's barely any singleplayer modes/tutorials. However, RoA1 released in a very similar fashion. I'd argue it was even more scuffed than RoA2, so I'm not surprised. Yet, some reviews are very surprised.

I'd blame communication for this one. I think some people expected the game to be completely done, but the team has a ton of work to do. It's work that they need money to get done while financially supporting their effort. It's why there's a live service model to begin with. Without support from the community this game's fate could end up like Rushdown Revolt (cool game btw).

This is what baffles me about many of the reviews. They need the community's support. They can't address a lot of issues without that support. Why not encourage people to give it a try anyway? Their support would go towards improving the game anyway. Most of the negative reviews aren't complaining about the game heading in a bad direction. It's just not currently in a state that they would call very good, but they believe it will be very good as long as the devs keep working on it.

???

Isn't that positive? I don't get it.

Look, if you believe in the game, give it support. If you like how the game plays and just need more features, give it support. If you never played the game and are new to the genre, I'd buy the first game unless you don't mind playing a game that's in active development.

Give it support.

[miloscat]

[Review] Sonic Free Riders (Xbox 360)

They made hoverboards fun and exciting, then the fans made it actually playable.

After Zero Gravity, Sonic Team were apparently not done with the Riders series. Not done using it for motion control experiments, that is. The next and final instalment was a launch title for Microsoft's ill-fated Kinect motion sensor accessory. This camera apparatus could track a player's full body and so you needed a large, empty area to play your games in, which has never been practical for me. So I considered this game essentially lost media as far as I was concerned, until I recently learned about a mod that reworked the game for traditional controllers that I could use on an emulator. The updated version of this patch was buggy but the original release worked a treat and I was finally able to experience this title.

Compared to previous entries, the plot is very low-stakes. Eggman is hosting another racing tournament in disguise, shenanigans ensue. The cutscenes are merely static character portraits, the dialogue nothing but banter and posturing with the framing device of Omochao reporting on the racing for a TV broadcast. But the strength this has over prior Riders games is including a broader range of the cast, with Teams Rose and Dark being involved and playable in their own story modes in addition to the usual Heroes and Babylon stories. Well, Team Dark is missing Omega and substitutes a random eggbot who is more than it appears in perhaps the only notable story development. And Team Rose is Amy, Cream, and... Vector... so Team Sonic Racing wasn't the first to randomly force him in to fill out another team, or to have a weird addition to Team Rose.

As for the racing, from what I could tell from the tutorial, there's a lot of actions you need to be able to do. It seemed complex and the pace of gameplay quite fast for something you control just with various body motions to an unresponsive IR sensor grid. In other words, compared to Zero Gravity it didn't feel as compromised by the control scheme, and translated reasonably well to a controller, so it's a shame they never officially offered that as an option. The game reviewed terribly at the time on the basis of its controls, but with a pad in hand I had a fun time. Sure it was easy most of the way through, but by the very last stages it did even offer a decent challenge.

There's no drifting, but a heavy turn assist helps with cornering. There's a boost function that drains your air meter, as well as a "lean forward (tilt control stick up) to go faster" mechanic. Stunts are done in Zero Gravity style, by jumping at the right time off a ramp, although you can spin to do a better trick (not supported in the original mod release). Arm flailing is a factor, where you can lean to grab rings that are just off the course, throw items that skew a little more Mario Kart in their effects while still being unique, rub steam or splatter off your screen, or grab poles to swing around and take shortcuts. As a power character you can punch to destroy obstacles, and flight characters have to have arms outstretched to remain airborne when necessary. It sounds exhausting but all these functions are mapped pretty well to a controller in the mod, and I got to grips with them quickly. And while it may sound overloaded with gimmicks, I thought it was a better balance than the previous games of keeping up your pace while doing them, or being ignorable entirely.

It may sound like I'm being contrary but this quickly became my favourite of the Riders games. Because it expects you to be flolloping around, it's so much more forgiving and I found I wasn't constantly struggling against the game and its demands. It integrates a mission-like structure into the campaign so most of the time you're doing various objectives and single-lap runs of the courses in story mode, which moves things along at a quick pace. It also looks gorgeous, the environments varied and ultra-colourful, helped of course by being in HD for the first time. The tracks have fun setpieces like toboggan or minecart sections, jumping onto rooftops, or surfing while being pulled by a dolphin.

Free Riders kind of fulfilled the promise of what I wanted the series to be, for the first time. Fast-paced and bombastic, not overly punishing or bland. It's such a shame that that lively energy had to be locked behind an impractical peripheral gimmick. The assets were all there for a potential conversion or fourth instalment that takes the strengths but makes it play like a normal video game that people can actually play... but alas. As is often the case in the Sonic series, it was up to the fans to fix what Sega had broken, and I'm very thankful to Rei-SanTH for doing so in this case (please fix not being able to turn right on v1.1!).

[jester-dragons-aus]

Ah fuck I've done it again

Amalgam AI AU

I've seen some AUs about the humans being AI instead of Caine and I thought that might be the simplest way to get this monstrosity to happen with a massive glitch without abstraction playing a part.

I think I just really like horror AUs and doing stuff like that is just so fun so I made another one with a better title than "Horror House" cuz c'mon what the hell does that mean lol

The only characters I don't have designed currently are Zooble, Caine, and Bubble but I'll add them soon. Caine will be a human, Bubble could be something to help him out and what not.

Inspired by AUs like Sm-baby's and The Horror Circus AU, but like, different ofc.

Think this: the game wasn't originally supposed to be a horror game, just a game you go through for fun. Like Undertale, I guess? But not quite

[WARNINGS: LOTS OF EYES/ARACHNID IMAGERY, BODY HORROR, EYESTRAIN]

So first and foremost, I think people would wanna see Pomni, though Jax was the first to be designed.

Pomni is supposed to be some sort of anti-virus or some sort of protecting thing. Supposed to fix bugs and glitches and prevent viruses from getting into the game. Like a firewall, I guess? I tried to make her look like "right/wrong" esc thing. She was the last to be designed and it was like 1 am when I designed her. I had no clue what to do with her, I'll be completely honest.

Story wise, she'd be trying to find a way to undo this massive glitch and get the game back to normal before she can even rest. Once Caine pops up to try and fix the game from inside, as a dev himself, she does her best to protect him and help him fix the game.

No there is no shipping in this AU, they're just helping each other basically survive. They might become friends over time but nothing more. :V

Next up: Ragatha and Gangle! I actually really like Gangle's design but Ragatha definitely needs a few tweaks I think.

Ragatha, before this massive glitch, would have been an NPC that would help a player out at the start but end up getting lost after a certain point, like a tutorial. She was the most caring character in the game before everything went down.

Gangle used to be someone who ran a little theatre thing in the game, as I've seen from other AUs and took inspiration from, but she's usually nice no matter what mask she has on. More arms means she can help more people at once, right? Game mechanics wise she was like a little shop keeper for costumes if they're needed and she can help with newer mechanics on stage if something new is added. Friendly NPC, you know? Love her design, too!

Now for the first two to be designed, Jax and Kinger!!

So Jax was like a reoccurring villain, I guess. Always trying to make the player quit the game or just scare the shit out of them, despite him not being very scary himself. He's more played off to be a joke character, if I'm honest, always failing with his antics and what not. It's part of the code! I actually like his design, small lil paws and just so shapey over all.

Kinger was like a final boss, I guess? The scariest of all of them at that time. He was a king, ruling over his pawns and such, all of which were also bug themed! I love making Kinger bug related it's so fun. He's a big softie in reality but hits like a train if you ever went against him. He had terrible vision despite all of his eyes and was very slow despite the amount of legs.

Now for what everyone has been waiting for.

The reason for the AU title.

The MASSIVE glitch that caused everything to go downhill.

The Amalgam.

I still think it needs a few tweaks here and there but this is one of four concepts I've had for it.

One time all four of these characters were together, which was relatively rare but possible, a glitch happened in the game. Pomni doesn't know where it started from and none of the game devs understand how it happened, but it did. Some devs think there's a hacker. A massive glitch pulled those four characters together into one terrifying being, always hostile and destructive. All the code of the characters were merged into this thing and somewhat scrambled. The game has now been broken to where once you're in, you can't escape until it's fixed, yet no one knows it, which is why Caine went in.

So much has happened and it's still being fixed, but a hostile blob of characters constantly attacking whenever it's near? It will be hard to fix.

It seems to be guarding something.

Concepts for the amalgam:

You can see in the first one I was going to put Zooble there but I still need a good design for Zooble. Let's see what they'll be.

[tornioduva]

A thought on Botw's items

So, first of all, if you were left dissatisfied and somewhat angry by Totk, go watch this wonderful video and enjoy your catharsis:

So, after watching this my mind started to fix upon this godforsaken series again and, a thought about how the wild saga handles things and why.

Now, i'm not a seasoned game designer, i don't know shit on how to deliver these massive projects, and i'll admit i haven't done proper research like in interviews, manuals, artbook, ecc., this is all very much a stream of consciousness.

What i reflected on is how many of us struggled to really bite deep with criticism into the structural exploration systems of this games, because it apparently "works", and in a somewhat elegant and cohesive way. It's much more difficult to critique the decision of adding shrines, of the dungeons, of the pad tools, of the rewards, because it easily justifies itself with the various "time limits, sacrifices needed to be made, streamlined exploration" and so on; it's much easier instead to go to the throat of the story, or characters, or the durability, because it's a much more direct frustration i think.

But then again, thinking about Botw: was giving the player all of their tools right away really the only right decision?

I honestly think that having the player roam around hyrule, letting them explore and find obstacles for which the tools are required, and then giving them said tools, would've been much better. You would accumulate small frustrations here and there, places to return to, for which you would use those pins in the map, and then you'd have the satisfaction of having finally found the solution to your troubles and a unique reward from wherever you might've taken them.

"Sure", you might say, "but then all the major dungeon and "story areas" should take into accoutn wether you have them or not". ....Yes. what's the problem in that? maybe a character, like one of the descendant could say something along the lines of "if only we had a way to freeze the water to resolve this issue that i feel might be present in the divina beast" or similar, that way the beasts would be centered around fleshing out one mechanic. i guess that might make them a bit more monotonous, but i think not; they are already kind short and boring, they might as well be a a dungeon designed around fleshing out just one of your tools in a satisfying way.

That to me would've resolved a good amount of issues i have with it with the game already, because part of the joy of exploring, at least in the first like 10 to 20 hours, would've been the anticipation of finding a tool and to finally use it! and i'd have something more memorable to remember while roaming around than just pretty sunsets.

Also, this would resolve the B I G issue i have with the intro of both of this game, of it being an unskippable slog. If you remove all of the tutorial aspect out of it, and outsource it to a later, further away area of the game, you can reduce all the time the plateau takes out of you to like, an introduction to combat, crafting, effects and that's it, you're free after that.

plus i always found stupid that the game won't let you have the paraglider before finishing it. like, just leave the tutorial there if someone wants it, but le me find the paraglider as an object and then let me go down, it's not an essential item, just a convenient one; plus, if players went around hyrule without the paraglider, you could just remind them in other ways later on that they might find one on the plateau, or let them find another one in other areas of the game. that could've been fun: "where did you find the glider? here? really? wow, these devs really thought of everything, i found it there instead, and mike down south".

i dunno, i just don't want to think about botw as the only correct way of doing this kind of game.