#the tanks feel so tanky

[impossible-rat-babies]

im leveling drk and the delirium combo gets an upgrade and ough. ough it feels so weighty

[chisatowo]

Quick doodle of Jonny! Might change his eyes a bit but overall I think this is a fine design for him :3

[yanderes-galore]

Yandere Gruesome Goregripper(Pet-Like)

Sure! Here's my take!

Yandere! Gruesome Goregripper Concept

Pairing: Platonic/Animal/Pet-Like

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Overprotective dragon, Violence, Blood, Rampage/Murder, Kidnapping, Sabotage, Possessive behavior, Forced companionship.

This dragon is a hybrid of a Deathgripper and a Crimson Goregutter.

It's a hybrid of one of the most aggressive dragons and one of the more docile dragons.

Gruesome Goregrippers typically inherit the personality of their Deathgripper parent, a violent/aggressive demeanor towards those around it.

However, if trained, they develop the more docile nature of their Crimson Goregutter parent.

These dragons are often trained through food and gentle interactions.

When you gain their trust they become loyal to their rider.

Now let's mention their physical capabilities before I get into their behavior with you.

Gruesome Goregripper's are capable of shooting acid blasts like their Deathgripper parent.

This dragon also has a venom stinger that causes dragons to react aggressively.

This dragon has retractable tusks just like a Deathgripper.

While these dragons inherit abilities similar to their Deathgripper parent, they are tanky like their Crimson Goregutter parent.

These dragons are tanks and would be defensive of their rider once they trust them.

They are large and would tower over you.

When you meet yours they act aggressive at first.

That is until you try to stay calm and pass them food.

They have their sting at the ready but you don't make any threatening moves.

You just watch as they eat their food, be it fish or some sort of mutton.

It takes time and a lot of similar interactions… but soon the hulking dragon begins to trust you.

I don't imagine these dragons are all that clingy due to their Deathgripper genes.

They are solitary and tank-like dragons.

They are loyal and have a soft spot towards you but aren't overwhelmingly suffocating.

I have a feeling their violent behavior shows through towards others.

While they aren't the cuddliest they are certainly possessive.

Your Gruesome Goregripper may keep their distance, but you can notice their stinger twitch as you speak with others or have other dragons.

If you had other dragons, imagine your Gruesome Goregripper frames them with their venom.

Oh no… your other dragons have gone feral?

It's time you get rid of them….

Who knows, maybe that'll drive you closer to your Gruesome Goregripper.

When it comes to humans they have to be more careful.

They can't just sting or kill them….

As a result they may just try to scare them off.

I like to imagine they act solitary and pretend they don't like affection.

In reality they adore it even if they don't beg for it.

I doubt wild dragons will be coming near you with this behemoth hovering over you.

They are strong, venomous, and extremely lethal.

They may be docile and slightly teasing around you, but they are still able to be a killer.

If you were ever hurt they'd snap out of their usual stoic mood and go on a rampage.

You matter a lot to this dragon, to the point that they'll sabotage others around you.

Despite their looks they aren't that dumb.

They know what they're capable of.

They just distract you from their plans by throwing you onto their back and taking you on rides.

Don't you feel safe with them as your main dragon?

They'll prevent any foe from harming you.

Your Gruesome Goregripper is fully capable of murder.

They try not to so they don't disappoint you.

But… a rampage?

Imagine this:

You get injured, maybe during some sort of practice or dragon training.

The sight of you being injured sends this dragon into a rage.

Sent into blind rage… this behemoth of a dragon doesn't look at what they destroy.

People… buildings… other dragons….

By the end of the carnage your dragon is covered in wounds and gore.

You're sent into complete fear when your dragon stumbles towards you, a look in their eyes.

They toss you up onto their back like you're nothing and take off.

Your village is nearly decimated all because you got hurt…

Now where are you? In isolation? Alone with a dragon who took your future from you?

This dragon may not be the most affectionate or open with their attachments.

Yet the moment you're injured…

They're ruthless with their rage.

[ghulah]

The Papas, DND and VTM

As some of you know, I am an avid TTRPG liker, watcher, player, etc. The idea of the Papas (and the Ghouls) playing a campaign has always been very fun to me, so I consulted with the council (my wives @bonesy-doodles and @parabunny).

And so, I present to you, the Papas and their set ups for Dungeons and Dragons and Vampire: the Masquerade!

Primo

So, Primo is overall very much the traditional Dracula of the bunch. He's all dark and mysterious and probably actually evil (by some metric), despite the garden tending and the (poisonous) plants he takes care of. He for sure is a roleplay guy but will kick ass in combat.

In DND, he would definitely attempt to play a Dhampir Warlock or Artificer. Artificer especially would allow for alchemy and a lot more fucking around with spellcasting - therefore making it both challenging and engaging and for Primo to pull some insane shit during session. He could also just multiclass Warlock/Artificer, definitely pact of Fiend, Undead, or the Great Old One. The Dhampirism is for vibes, okay. It just fits.

As for VTM, he would be Malkavian or Nosferatu, but the oracle aspect of Malkavian makes it all the more ominous. There is also Hecata and Tzimisce! Either way, he's one of the more ancient, traditional vampires. Primo would play VTM and say, "I am Cain." (bones said this) Much to the chagrin of the Master of Ceremonies.

Primo is also a dice hoarder, he has so many sets and he has a specialized dice bag for it too. It's embroidered.

Secondo

Secondo is very - how you say - wild? He would bring chaos to the table I fear, but he does it in character rather than like being a frustrating player. While he does read the rules well, he does it to get around them I feel.

In DND, he'd play a fighter class, probably just straight up Fighter or Barbarian. And he'd play bigger species like Dragonborn and Orcs! So basically the tank and also main hitter. But for a little bit of religious aspects, an Oathbreaker Paladin would be perfect for him. It has those angsty, turned back on my god vibes as well as the tankiness of melee classes. a Barbarian Paladin multiclass would hit hard methinks.

VTM wise, he'd definitely be Ravnos. I considered Toreador and Gangrel, but I think Ravnos fits the best. He loves (un)living on the edge and rather than the high art vibes that Toreador embody, it's a lot more, well, wild! And also cool. Very rogue-ish and plays by his own rules.

I think he likes fun dice that are like, metal specifically. Some of them are more dark, gothic designs and then some of them are just super fun.

Terzo

Alright, this guy for sure is a roleplay-heavy player. Yeah combat is fun and all but only to get shit done. He loves taking his time curating his character's aesthetics and their motivations and all. He will stick to the bit, do not try him.

That being said, of course he's playing a Bard in DND. He would play either a Tiefling or something of the Elf variety. College of Eloquence would be what I'd assign to him. The bardiest bard to bard, you know? However!! He could also play a Warforged, specifically one with Art Deco elements and that could also reference Frankenstein. It always comes back to Frankenstein with him.

To riff off of the artistry of bards - Terzo would be a Toreador. They're known for being artisans. They're beautiful and charming, seductive...all of which fits the bill for the type of character Terzo likes to play. On the other hand, he could very well play a Brujah. They're known as rebels, warrior-scholars. Terzo would play a vampire that's very Vampire Chronicle-esque.

He's also pretty superstitious about his dice, like if one of them rolls badly he will retire it.

Copia

I think Copia also enjoys the roleplay aspect of TTRPG's a little more than the combat but he gets super giddy whenever he hits a critical hit or takes someone down.

For DND, he would play a Tiefling Cleric. He's got that vibe that he enjoys both the aesthetics and the idea of Tieflings conceptually! Personally I think he always has a Tiefling PC on hand at all times, like it's just his thing. Other than Cleric, he might also take Druid for Wildshape, so he could turn into a little rat. Otherwise, he might also enjoy Sorcerer (magic nepotism /hj). Who has time to learn spells? Not him!

VTM though, it'd be funny if he played a Lasombra. Definitely hilarious considering their whole social-climbing thing and the administrative aspect! Tangentially, the Ministry Clan would also be kinda ironic. I just think he plays that sort of vampire that is less Ancient but more like What We Do In The Shadows vampire.

He likes having dice for each of his characters, he might reuse some, but he prefers having one set for one PC.

Extra

They all play an Oops! All Tiefling Bard Game, at some point. It is so stupidly fun.

There have been fights over in-game choices. Many of them. It's okay, they get through it.

The Ghouls do play as well! I have not figured out their own preferences yet, but trust, they get to have their TTRPG time.

OC tidbits

My OC, Sibling Nephtys would run games like Monsterhearts (college ver) and Monster of the Week.

Bones's OC, Sibling Rigorian, would run Dungeons and Dragons.

Para's OC, Bunny, would run Vampire: The Masquerade.

[siren-nate]

I know it wasn’t the point of your recent Chosen post, but I’m curious what you identified as signs of power-creep 👀

I should clarify, when I said "signs" of power creep, I really mean like, the barest hints that are making me nervous. Episode V does a great job of juxtaposing the earth-shaking attacks of Chosen and Dark to give them a sense of scale, by showing how Second and the Color Gang are constantly blown away by the things these two demigods can do (and on that note, Chosen fans have it REALLY good compared to Color Gang fans when it comes to having your favorite characters meaningfully contribute to fights in the main series. It's like Piccolo fans vs. Yamcha fans). But there's still a few parts that irk me.

Chosen is constantly landing laser eyes on Dark throughout their fight, and Dark is always surviving because he blocks with his arms. Then he puts on the wristbands, and his first big demonstration of how much more powerful they make him is... tanking Chosen's laser eyes with his arms. I get that the difference is "being forced to defend himself" vs. "gliding down the attack to interrupt it with one of his own", but it still just felt weird. Part of it was probably the stylistic choice to change the laser eyes from causing massive explosions in 2 and 3 to actually just cutting and burning things in 5 and 6, which I think IS a good change that makes the laser eyes more distinct from his pyrokinesis, but it also means that they just don't feel like they have much meaningful impact anymore. The last time they did was when he sheared off one of ViraBot's limbs with them.

That's kind of the main thing - a lack of impact with a lot of Chosen's attacks. The Mercs are implied to either be tanky enough to survive his attacks or (in the case of Pivot) have some defensive options, but there's that one moment in particular where Chosen gets fired up and launches all three of the other Mercs off of him with a burst of fire... and that doesn't seem to hurt them at all. If you don't give these superpowers the impact they need on a regular basis to establish how destructive they are, it starts to feel like they're pointless; like he'd basically be doing the exact same thing by just punching and kicking with his super strength.

I saw someone claim that Chosen lost the fight against the Mercs because he's going through a moral crisis and wasn't trying to kill them, and I have to wonder if that person watched the same episode I did - if Chosen wasn't trying to kill the Mercs before he started fleeing, why the hell would he go and grab Second Coming explicitly because he remembers how ungodly powerful she was with her powers awakened? It feels like a poor excuse for Chosen just feeling too underpowered lately.

Sidenote: The Box is not an example of this. The Box is genius, displaying that Victim is so underpowered compared to Alan's other creations that he needs to be buffed ten times over and have his opponent reduced to about 1/10th of their own strength, and Chosen still gets the upper hand a few times because he's A) just that strong and B) far more experienced fighting people his own level than Victim is. Seeing how his pyrokinesis completely renders his clones helpless and incinerates them within seconds did a lot of good work towards re-establishing how dangerous Chosen is, not to mention how his ice-defense trick demonstrates how he's not the dumb brute a lot of the fandom thinks he is.

TL;DR: It's somewhat a symptom of Chosen losing so many fights, which really isn't even that valid of a criticism when we're only two parts in to the sixth installment. What bothers me the most is that he keeps fighting people who can seemingly just shrug off his powers, which makes his powers feel pointless.

[cerastes]

could you help me understand how to use muelsyse effectively? I feel like I'm almost understanding her kit but it never feels like I'm using her slot well compared to bringing an unga bunga operator in her place and I'd love to watch her shine :(

Muelsyse is a high versatility utility unit that can provide sustained, straightforward utility with S2 options and crowd control with S3 options. What her Skills 2 and 3 do depends on what kind of Clone (Ranged or Melee) you are using: Ranged Clone will generate more copies of itself every 10 attack, while Melee Clone will Steal enemy ATK and DEF each attack, 10 each to a cap of 250.

What Skill and Clone you want depends on what you want out of her:

S2 Melee makes the Clone tanky with Shelter and HP Regen.

S2 Ranged gives the clone good sustained damage with multihit; since the Clone will be multihitting, it will generate extra Clones twice as fast in most cases.

S3 Melee will have a Weak Pull effect every 2 seconds, and Stun all blocked enemies until the Skill ends.

S3 Ranged immediately generates as many Clones as valid tiles allow and attacks will Bind for 1.5 seconds.

Additionally, all of these Skills generate DP (15 at M3)

Basically, Mumu can do a ton of things, so you have to properly understand what it is you want out of her in any given map before she can actually do it. Do you need tanking? Stalling? Extra DPS? Bind? She's a very versatile slot.

Now, another important factor of Muelsyse is that, in part, she's as strong as your roster is, since she'll be copying Operators for her Clone. Dorothy and Aak are great and popular Ranged options because they have strong, fast autoattacks out of Skill. Mudrock and Penance are effective Melee Clones because it lets you put out a HUGE stat stick with 3 Block for practically free early in the map. In general, consider the Ranged Clone offensive and the Melee Clone defensive until you understand the Mumu Tech and how it is informed by your roster.

And, don't forget, Muelsyse is a Vanguard. She's meant to be used early to start getting your more expensive units out. Vanguards generally won't be your shining damage MVPs, because that's not what they do (with some exceptions), and Mumu is definitely more on the utility and convenience end of things. Which isn't a downplay or anything, in fact, quite the opposite: She's really damn good at making the rest of the map easier.

[ganondoodle]

you know, a plothole (kinda, its one to me) i havent even talked about before is .. how is there basically no sonau tech in the past, or isnt shown nor used; the only thing i remember is that weird half assed way to try and make us care about the apparent time zelda had spent there and tell us in a tiny text you have to find scattered above the sky that she "tamed a construct beast" which .... could be anything bc its so vague and non-interesting and .. maybe one or two non-combat constructs in the background in a few of the cutscenes

but given how many constructs there are alive in totks present, and more are broken down that were probably working back in the past, did they even use anything of it against ganondorf? like, i know its called a war but we only see ganondorf charging on that badass horse we never see again and that bit lasts like .. 5 seconds? and he just ... somehow ends up in that cave so far below the earth with the other sages? HOW did he even get there

the constructs you find in the game can be pretty tanky and packing quite a punch, theres auto-targeting mini tanks, lasers and fire/electric/ice throwers, bombs and otherwise explosives, couldnt they have easily fought against some bokblins even if they were miasmafied

or am i supposed to believe ganondorf became THAT strong just through that little magic pebble (isnt that a little insulting too?), while all the other stone having people are so much more inferior AND have gans bossfight not be that hard is kinda ... weird? i know link is special an all, but he doesnt have a stone and the sages dont really add to his powerlevel, the msot they do is distract gans little clones for a bit

doesnt that, and how irrelevant the whole sonau tech actually is to the plot, feel even more like its a thing put in there just to showcase that they could do it (like ... a tech demo) and like its an unfitting sandbox element just for some very dedicated players to build entire war maschines for viral videos out of but the vast majority will not have that kind of patience nor fun with that (i for one do not care to laser explode or otherwise terrorize little enemy camps with otherwise overly ridiculous weapons bc its not fun and really not worth the effort to me)

[charleecat-bat]

Big in my SU/Gem AU

Nickname/s: Big A, Ams, Ame, Big guy. Auralite, Auralite 23 Gem Location: Naval Weapon/s: Hook Chain (That looks more like a fishing rod strangely...) Rarity and Status: Super Rare Working MIddle Class Role on Homeworld: Defective Warrior/Tank Gem Unique Powers/Abilities: Extreme Endurance and strength, Aura Sense/Empathetic abilities

History:

In Homeworlds society, Quartz's of all kinds have something to do with strength or battle. Some types are tanks that are huge and made to take massive damage (mostly Jaspers), some are scouts made to be quick and run ahead of the battle, and some were made to be the head of troops or something of a drill sergeant to get newer gems into shape (agates) and outside of battle, some were made for the heaviest and most dangerous construction. But a majority of the generic quartz's are made to be all-around loyal soldiers.

But like any gem type, some of them come out and are nothing like the others wether that be a good thing or a bad thing.

When Amethyst came out (or as he was called by Homeworld, Auralite 23) he frightened a lot of his fellow quartz soldiers due to him being so huge, almost being on level to the tanky Jaspers. Since the kindergarten he came out of was only for the regular quartz soldiers. This already made many of the supervising gems raise a brow at how this massive gem came to be.

He was quickly taken to Yellow Diamond, the most scientific of the Diamonds, who took an interest in the gem calling him a most fascinating freakish specimen... Auralites were not a common occurrence, in fact they were incredibly rare and only a few have ever formed in homeworlds time. They were so strange for the simple fact that these gems have an interesting blend of 23 different gem types, hence their name. It made them a mess of a gem but a very unpredictable and possibly very powerful gem... Auralite was quickly taken to his labs to be tested and studied.

And for a long, long time, it was the worst series of experiences Auralite could ever fathom. It would've been much worse off if Yellow Diamond himself had taken the experiments into his own hand, but he gave it to one of his most prestigious scientists to do so instead. Most of the testing mostly concluded that, as usual, gem abilities, this particular Auralite had an extreme strength and a level of endurance that no other gem could meet. If this gem was pushed in the right direction, it could be the perfect tool for whatever Yellow desired.

Eventually, it was time that Yellow wanted to take Auralite on a test run and see how he worked with tasks outside of the lab. He was put on the next ship to one of his colonies. He was put in a cell for safety reasons, mostly to make sure if he got stressed enough he wouldn't damage the ship...

The skittish Quartz remained in the cell, silent and stewing in his anxiety over what he could be made to do or what would happen to him the moment he stepped onto the planet.

Alarms and flashing began to go through the whole ship, it beginning to shake violently through a meteor shower, something was wrong, he didn't know what but it still made him panic. He wanted to get out, to flee. The destabilising barrier stopped Auralite from leaving the cell, but what stopped him from just breaking the ship's wall? Sure he'd be facing the void of space... but he'd rather that over whatever homeworld had in stall for him. It seemed Foolish, but Auralite was desperate...

With only a few strikes of his fist and his pulling the hole open, the air pocket soon dragged him from the ship and flung him into the endless abyss of deep space. It wouldn't take long for him to lose sight of the ship. Very soon, Auralite was completely alone, drifting helplessly.

He wasn't sure how long he drifted for; he spent most of that time stuck in his thoughts. Sometimes feeling regret, other times relief... and then the occasional dread of Homeworld somehow finding him. Eventually though, Auralite drifted into a planets orbit and crash-landed...into water. In fact most of this planet was covered with water. There was only small speckles of lush green land. When he reached land Auralite finally had a moment to collect his thoughts. Well... he was here now and he figured he may as well make the best of it... and he did.

The planet would be very peaceful for Auralite; the seed of anxiety was planted at the idea of fearsome natives of the planet, but there wasn't any of that here. The only creatures were these small aquatic creatures that would come to see him on land. They were so nice, he loved to play with them and talk to them. One he particularly got close with. If he wasn't spending time with the planet natives, he would be exploring the beautiful water or just relaxing in a self-made little hut, napping his days away. (When he figured out how to.)

Auralite did get the surprise of his life when he found a small gem on his chest one day, waking him up from another nap of his. He went into a panic at the very horrible idea that homeworld finally found him and was going to bring him back. But that was quickly shut down when he realised this little gem was harmless and didn't want to hurt him... the cycle would repeat when the others eventually found them.

It took some convincing but Amethyst (as he decided to name himself to separate from that horrible time on Homeworld) did eventually agree to come with the group, bringing his own close friend from the planet with him after refusing to leave his side. He has kept his own story from the group a secret, finding it to stressful to begin even talking bout... not nearly as much as the fear of homeworld somehow finding them... the worst thing imaginable is being forced to go back. Amethyst hopes it never has to come to do that

[howlingday]

(can't remember if I sent this one before so sorry if I did) jaune Arc is a proud member of the arc sword lords a combination of a noble family and knight order devoted to mastering the sword. Though he's the odd one out of his family. Instead of relying on twitch reflex and aura and charisma jaune devoted himself to the basics and a strong body with full plate. Between the family's sword style ( the steel net) which focused on the seven strikes and how to block dodge counter and parry them and crane style a martial art all about balance footwork and defence leading to a brutal counter and jaune's own mastery of the disarming and armor sundering. Well the end result is that jaune's basically impossible to touch in combat and every mistake ends in a counter that either takes away your weapon your armor or your life. A style so perfect jaune's armor shines like new because he's never even taken a scratch. But is a tank enough in this world of bloody evolution? Or is the shining knight of remnant due for a greater fall when his skills fail to match up to the power of the soul?

(tldr: jaune's a super tanky build that lacks any magic or aura from a family that are either spell swords or monks what's life like for the black sheep of the arcs?)

"When I was growing up," Jaune said, leaning his head on his partner's, "I was kind of the odd one out."

Pyrrha remained silent as he spoke. The two had grown closer as of late, and though it wasn't the level of intimacy she'd desired from him, it was still nice to be this close to him. In the corner of her eye, she saw Nora and Ren turn the corner, only for the former to guide the latter back the other direction. She'd have to thank her later somehow.

"Dad was the best guy with a sword in town. And all I ever wanted to do was to be him." Jaune gestured with his arm out. "That tree? Split in half. These marble columns? Well, you wouldn't be able to tell from a distance, but he could slice them so finely, you'd have to use your finger to tell the difference." He chuckled. "And then there's Mom, and she was the best with magic. She could make anything happen with spells. The two of them made the perfect daughters." His hand fell to his knee. "And then there's me."

"You're good, too, Jaune." Pyrrha said, resting her hand on his. Neither could tell, because they refused to look each other in their faces, but both could feel heat rushing into their cheeks. "And you've always been good to us, too."

"But not good enough for my family." Jaune said softly. "To them, I was 'Big Jaune,' or 'Jaune the Jock'. Every time I tried to help out with something other than grace, or something smart, or anything that wasn't 'lift big heavy thing,' I was useless."

"But you're not useless, Jaune." Pyrrha found her courage to look him in the face. "You're smarter than you think, and you're more than just the muscle of the team." Pyrrha chuckled. "And to be honest, I thought Nora was more of the muscle anyways."

The two shared the chuckle while Nora giggled next to the quiet, yet smiling Ren.

[perfectlovevn]

Ah, honestly I'm not sure if my first ever ask got eaten in the ask box (since I've heard that it can bug, sorry if you saw the ask and didn't answer, feel free to ignore this ask! 💜), but here it goes:

I'm a fan of game/player themed mangas/manhuas/etc.. so!

What kind of powers would the Milos and Eris have, or weapons that they would use, if they were to be found in a world like Solo Leveling/TWSA? What would be their class (eg. Fighter, tank, bruiser, mage, monster tamer, etc)? Any special traits? Or fighting tactics?

That is a good question! I haven't really read Solo Leveling or TWSA, but I can understand the general concept. Let's see.

PreMilo I think would be a healer type. He seems to be more of a support type of person, and I don't think he'd be really good in battle. I think his size might make him a bit more tanky than most healers, but he would go down pretty easily.

Manipulation Milo is probably a mage. I can see him being good at spells and hitting people from a distance, but up close, he'd basically be useless. I was also thinking maybe ranger, but Manipulation Milo isn't physically that strong so probably not.

Violence Milo is probably a fighter. I was thinking about tank, but Violence Milo is more the type to give punches rather than take them. He'd either use his bat or just his fists to fight.

Eris I think might be an assassin. The type that hides and then attacks in the shadows. They seem like the type who chip away at you until it's too late.

[copypasteking]

Am I the only one who is really fed up with the in-game state of Orisa right now?

She has been more of a menace after her rework in general, with the golden rule being Don't Shoot The Horse, but I think it's been getting a bit out of hand. It feels like every update, the small indie developer Blizzard forgets what happened last time and just buffs her again.

You can't even counter Orisa properly as a tank. There are heroes that play into her weaknesses, yes, but the best advice on how to counter her still remains just Please God Do Not Engage The Horse. The only problem is that if an Orisa is smart and decides to just W into you at all times, getting so close she can smell the sweat running down your neck, there is virtually nothing you can do, or at least it can feel like that.

Like, there is a huge problem with tank counter-swapping in general, but when I load in just wanting to vibe as a Ramattra main and the tank swaps Orisa? I think tearing your skin off would be a more pleasant experience at this point.

This tank has two CC abilities, one that eats projectiles and pushes you away if she runs into you, and another that does decent damage (which they just buffed btw...) and stuns you for a good couple of seconds. But if that wasn't enough, she also has an ability that not only reduces damage taken, not only gives overhealth, but also makes her immune to all CC.

If she had one or two of these - you know what? I think she would be fine. Maybe taking one displacement ability from her could already do the trick. Or maybe make her just a little less tanky. But as is I hate the stupid Horse and I hope it gets nerfed soon because I have to play against it ever second game. Sorry to Orisa as a character btw. she's cute but let her reign end please.

[kaasiand]

It's kinda weird how, compared to Metroid Dread, Metroid Fusion was so much more blatant in

its prioritisation of linear story progression over exploration

its linear presentation (literally naming the areas sector 1–6), though it still does the classic "linear game pretending to be nonlinear" thing by taking you through them in a different, but still fixed, order

the way it literally directly tells you your every next step constantly

yet when playing the games, it felt to me that somehow, despite all of this, Fusion felt a lot less frustrating in its linearity to me than Dread. In Fusion it was immediately clear that I would just be sticking to a single sector for each part of the game and those sectors themselves would still be mostly freely explorable in a way that felt more similar to Metroid II, but in Dread there was just no telling AT ALL when the path behind me would be blocked off and it also felt wayyyyy less justified than in Fusion, especially with just how often Dread would be doing this.

With Fusion's extremely tense atmosphere being present throughout the entire game and so much of the story taking place and developing during the game itself, I was totally understanding of its structure and restrictions. Dread on the other hand just kinda made me feel nothing, except

frustration at the lack of exploration with every single door locking behind me constantly for no good reason. Even some obstacles don't *go away* but instead switch from blocking the path forward, to blocking the path back: the thermal doors, the lifts that go down if you stick to their spider magnet walls, the big boxes that you had to move with the charge beam (or grapple beam idk? or both?) it just gets soooo annoying

frustration at how you need to use 3 buttons simultaneously to perform one single god damned action

frustration at how abilities felt extremely underused in the level design—you rarely grapple your way across the ceiling to cross a pit like in Super (which is the kind of level design that allows for sequence breaks in completely natural ways that encourage player experimentation), no, you just open the grapple beam door lock with your grapple beam door key. Literally every single ability in dread relies on this WAY TOO MUCH in painfully obvious ways, including literally every single power beam upgrade

frustration at how missile tanks feel worthless because getting only 2 is just not worth my time (yet the total number of missiles is similar to the other games... a sign of the game being too long/padded compared to the old games)

frustration at how energy tanks feel worthless because every boss does 100+ damage per hit; you're just not allowed to be tanky and the game is forcing you to play in only one specific way. The full energy tanks are just straight up given to you at way too hard-to-miss points—it's not a reward for exploration, it's forcibly scaling up Samus's health so it can scale up the next bosses' damage accordingly and absolutely nothing ends up feeling different. And to make things worse, the energy tanks that you DO get to find on your own don't actually DO anything because they're fucking energy PARTS. They just deliberately made exploration as unrewarding as it possibly could've been

frustration at how almost every area looks the goddamn same and has no music to stand out with either

I must say Dread's final boss was actually really reasonable though, it was really generous with the heals/restocks provided in between & low damage numbers making it so that my collected energy tanks FINALLY felt like they were actually making a difference. I will hate that one arbitrarily locked door in the escape sequence though

[demon64]

So... since it has been on my mind for a good chunk of the day, I want to go over what classes I think Darksiders characters would in different MOBAs. This post will be starting with what classes I think they would be in League of Legends, and maybe in reblogs I will go over SMITE and then Heroes of the Storm. I'm going with League because that is the one I know the most about.

FURY: I have mentally gone back and forth between Skirmisher and Diver, leaning more towards Diver with the moveset I gave her in a previous post, it feeling more leaning towards Diver territory.

DEATH: I have also mentally gone back and forth between Skirmisher and Diver for him, leaning more towards Skirmisher, also just based on how I built his moveset.

WAR: He's a Juggernaut. He's big, he's strong, but not the fastest out there. He's hanging with the likes of Aatrox, Garen, and Shyvana.

STRIFE: He's definitely leaning more towards Marksmen, but I personally feel his abilities could potentially, even if very unlikely, land him in Specialist.

ULTHANE: Vanguard. He's an offensive tank like Ornn, one of my inspirations for his Passive.

SAMAEL: He is another I think could go for Diver. Either that or maybe Juggernaut. So either of the two subclasses of Fighter. His ability of lifesteal I gave him is similar to that of Warwick's, who himself is a Diver.

URIEL: Skirmisher. Her overall almost Riven-like moveset is why I say Skirmisher.

The ARCHON: I'm thinking maybe he could be a Catcher, considering one of the abilities I would give him is to root someone in place, akin to the likes of day Morgana. Either that or maybe a Battlemage akin to Swain.

The DESTROYER: I'm torn kinda between Juggernaut and Vanguard. Considering he is a big dragon, the final boss of Darksiders 1, I'm leaning a bit more towards Vaguard for the high-end tankiness, but, to me at least, he also feels like he should be a Juggernaut due to thematic connections to War and how it feels like he shouldn't be too tanky.

WICKED K: Considering my two inspirations for his moveset, Fiora and Jax, are Skirmishers, it feels fitting that our favorite zombie is a Skirmisher.

ABSALOM: I feel like Vanguard works very well, especially as a contrast to Death, his brother, his killer. If Death is a Skirmisher meant to shred through enemies, then Absalom is a Vanguard meant to tank as much as possible while disrupting enemies.

WRATH: Another Vanguard or Juggernaut. I want to lean towards Juggernaut, mostly because if I do basically give him the same Ultimate as Sion, I don't want to just make the guy a straight-up copy of the Champion from League.

AVARICE: I think that since in his boss fight in Darksiders 3 he is quite mobile, and despite me in a previous post saying he could have a similar moveset to Fafnir from SMITE, I do think Avarice as a Assassin could be fun. So if I do make him an Assassin, I think I gotta change up his moveset a bit.

SLOTH: I think he's one that could be fun to make a Warden, where a good chunk of his game plan could be essentially causing his enemies to exhaust themselves, hopefully allowing that he and his team survive.

LUST: I'm kinda torn between Enchanter and Diver, as I took some bits of inspiration for their moveset from Renata Glasc, who is the former, and Wukong, who is the latter. So, maybe with Hybrid champions like Yone and K'Sante, Lust could be a hybrid champion potentially?

GLUTTONY: I'm thinking another Warden, as I believe Gluttony's moveset I gave him could work quite well for a defensive tank. Or maybe Gluttony could be a Catcher instead?

PRIDE: I guess you could say fitting for a Pride, I think they would be a Specialist. The moveset I gave her, especially with the small bit of inspiration from Kayle.

ENVY: I'm thinking Specialist, mostly because with three of her moves being copies of three of the Horsemen's, her game plan in a match could be a bit odd, in a sense. Like imagine combing Teleport Slash, Stoneskin, and World Ender for maybe something akin to going into a fight as Graves, who himself is a Specialist. Or imagine combining any of those with the Ultimate you copied.

AZRAEL: Enchanter. I imagine he would primarily be in support, so making him an Enchanter just feels fitting.

Alright! That is it, for the time being at least. I noticed as I typed this out that as I got to non-player characters, it became a bit easier to put them in certain classes, as well as it feeling like I leaned heavily into Vanguard despite me probably not even deciding all that many fit that classes. Next time I talk about the idea of Darksiders in a MOBA, I'm probably going to go over other characters that exist and some I probably gotta get really creative with for their moveset.

Also! Do any of you agree, disagree, have any different ideas for what classes these characters could fit in? Don't be afraid to share your thoughts if you so wish!

[muffinrecord]

Shitty Review of Uwasa Mikoto

I keep rewriting the big review post (the problem is that talking about Uwasa Mikoto means talking about Regular Mikoto and it's a headache) so let's do a little one with my thoughts that is less intimidating:

TLDR: Nice but not a must-have. If you don't have a good generalized attacker for things like Hundred Evils, you may want to invest.

I'd put this under a cut but you know what, I won't! I wrote all this, y'all are gonna have to read it or scroll by it cause fuck you

Uwasa Mikoto is a better version of Regular Mikoto.

Uwasa Mikoto is a Support/MP Support/Tank Support, just like Regular Mikoto, but now Uwasa Mikoto can actually deal out damage.

She gives the whole team Strengthened Counter which can hilariously kill enemies when they attack you. It's better (in some ways) than regular Mikoto, whose attack did fuck all when she would counter back.

Uwasa Mikoto can gain MP much more easily than Regular Mikoto through her SE which gives MP Gain Up and MP Up When Damaged, something that Regular Mikoto really ought to have had.

She also comes with a passive 40% MP Gauge on Start, and you can combine that with her shitty personal that gives 15% MP Gauge on Start (and Accele MP Gain Up). This makes it easy for her to hit Magia/Doppel on turn two just by taking a few hits from the enemy, something she can handle easily with her good stats.

VARIABLE makes her very interesting. She'll have it on herself for three turns and then can get it back for more turns on Doppel. Couple that with the Doppel's MP Restore and her penchant for gaining MP when getting hit, and you have a very tanky support who can whip out some damage fairly consistently.

She's more selfish a unit in some ways than Regular Mikoto. For example, she no longer gives the team 5 MP Regen for three turns and she no longer will give the following on Doppel: Reflect Debuffs/MP Up When Damaged/Strengthened Counter to the team either. Instead she gives herself Damage Increase, Reflect Debuffs, Variable, and MP Restore.

She DOES give MP Restore on Connect, which is always nice.

I was testing out Uwasa Mikoto and comparing her to Regular Mikoto for a while today. Both of my units only have two slots, which is kind of a problem for someone you want to tank, but I found that Uwasa Mikoto was still decent without her last two slots. I started off with a really silly but fun team comp for mirrors:

This actually proved pretty enlightening in some areas. For example, you obviously don't want to field two Mikotos, but also all these supports start to run into and interfere with each other-- not enough to keep me from winning, but enough that these girls who want to take hits just weren't getting them. But first off, some things I noticed, especially regarding both Mikotos:

First off, like mentioned above, all these girls but especially both Mikotos want to take hits and will end up stealing hits from each other. This is especially bad when Uwasa Mikoto has mp gain up when damaged and Regular Mikoto has Guardian, which kinda interferes with that.

Secondly, for Darkness Mitama at least, the whole Reflect Debuffs thing doesn't work when the enemy team is Skill Sealed, so it felt sort of like a waste.

After that, there was an unexpected issue that really should have been expected by me. Both Mikotos come with barrier-- Mikoto with a higher barrier for herself, and Uwasa Mikoto a smaller barrier for the whole team. Barrier will always choose the highest source, so it feels sort of like a waste to use both at the same time, especially since regular Mikoto will have Guardian and should take most of the hits.

This made me realize a small issue that Uwasa Mikoto will have on more established accounts (that prioritize good units)

All three of these gals can give the team barrier. Infinite Iroha will give 5k + 3% Regen HP on her SE Active, MadoIro will give it on Magia/Doppel (for 5k and 8k respectively), and Uwasa Mikoto will give it on her SE Active (5k + Str. Counter for 3 turns) and on her Magia/Doppel (8k and 10k respectively).

This isn't a bad thing and you can sort of play around it? But it does present a problem-- Barrier won't stack, so using all their doppels on the same turn feels like a bad idea, especially on punishing fights. But sometimes you really want to use all the doppels on the same turn, and you'll feel punished for that.

This isn't the worst thing in the world by any means, it just shows that Uwasa Mikoto has a lot of overlap with other units.

Additionally, as much as she can be compared to Regular Mikoto, I think you can also compare her to a lot of the recent fast mp magia units released. She'll gain mp quickly and can be firing off Magia/Doppels pretty easily, especially when she tanks like you want her to. That said, she does have a flaw-- she can't heal herself. The barrier is supposed to help with that (and her good stats), but eventually you'll want to use a healer... and some of the best healer choices come with-- you know-- barrier.

Then again, I suppose she'd pair well with units like Scene zero Madoka or... Kako if you're lacking in good heals.

Really, if I had to compare her to someone... Yeah Regular Mikoto comes up, but so does Uwasa Sana? Both are self sufficient Balance types with a lot of defense and potential attack power. Like don't get me wrong, this is NOT the best comparison, but both feel like "brawler" types-- they can stand on their own and take a lot of enemies down with them.

I also felt like her Strengthened Counter was far more useful here. I outright saw her kill a tank after getting hit twice, which was hilarious and also made sense-- According to the Fandom Wiki, Strengthened Counter "has a base power of 120%", which makes her counter-attack pretty weighty. Is this a good thing? The benefit of Regular Mikoto is that she's not dealing a lot of damage, which is strictly good for stuff like the old version of Ranked Mirrors, meaning that you can prolong fights. However, Uwasa Mikoto should be more helpful for regular PVE at least.

I actually think that she might be a decent choice for things like Hundred Evils, if you don't have a good attacker already. The variable gives her a good way to deal lots of damage right away, she can easily earn MP, and her ability to reflect Debuffs should prove hilarious.

She's not as much a team player imo than regular Mikoto, and I kind of wish that her kit was either more selfish, or more supportive. For example, it's great that she gives the whole team Strengthened Counter now, but since you actually want to use her discs, it feels less useful.

Oh I should have done this earlier, but this is how Uwasa Mikoto stacks up when compared to other units, and this is considering a team with full SE and AE:

Higher than Kimochi Rabi (which shocked me), but under Konoha. Fairly middle ground-- but again, factor in her Variable and you can see how she starts to become a real decent fighter.

Basically, I think she's a decent brawler-type character who is a much more damaging version of her original version. She still functions well as a Tank and really wants to take hits, but her support is more limited than her OG version. Strengthened Counter can outright kill people which is HILARIOUS to watch.

The only other thing I'll say is that if you're getting her to use her, you want ideally 3-4 slots. My two-slot version is fine, but she's getting heavy carries from the rest of the team. Tanks in general suffer from needing as many slots as possible to equip both passives and actives, giving them as many beefy stats as they can.

Lastly, you want to equip her with Damage Cut, especially in mirrors, so she doesn't prevent enemies from attacking her.

[engietrans]

i absolutely love your concept for a shield class for tf2! i feel he fits so well in the artstyle and world. however, i would love to also hear how much youve delved into how hed potentially work in gameplay, if you have at all (aside from of course the general ideas of how the shield works). i think the concept of such a tanky, defense focused class is really fascinating, considering heavy is very much a more offense-focused tank than defense, so id love to hear how youd handle it!

prefacing this by stating that im not a game dev so my thoughts may not make sense 😭 (also he used to be strictly defense but i think he honestly works better as support)

but you know when youre fucking booking it trying to get away from the enemy, and the corner is Right There, and theres a Health Pack but you get mowed down at the very last second because medic is helping another team mate? wouldve been nice to have cover thrown down at your feet. just so you can get away.

or the push just isnt happening for one reason or another, no uber, no bonk to get around that corner. a guy with the equivalent of a riot shield whos not afraid to lead the charge could be helpful.

he could be played defensively by blocking enemy advancement, and he could be played offensively by running in with the front, but overall he's support by offering cover. similar to how medic is meant to give the team more uptime with active healing, he's there to help get the job done and keep people in the fight longer.

(i also like to think he could be a very good troll candidate by temporarily trapping enemies in corners or against cliffs. or even blocking exits and entrances on certain maps. a full team of shields could potentially create the equivalent of a rat maze using projections. that would be horrible.)

[tamedgod]

[ PIN ]:     sender pins the receiver to the ground and straddles them while training together. (huhuhu... from genji, for either tbh 👀)

sparring / fighting

he was good.

and while xiao would never admit that thought aloud, he could certainly not deny that @lctibule was a very capable fighter. sparring with him was akin to being at home, training with his older brother, jun — the two even seeming to have similar movement. they were both smaller than him — faster than him; technical skill versus tanky might. the smell of sweat hung in the air with each punch, kick, and push. xiao could feel the momentum — both from his own exertion as well as the other's — and how neither of them were holding much back.

grunts and groans of exhaustion could be heard low under his breath from the effort put forth, though no signs of backing down were visible. xiao was used to taking and tanking hits, sizing up his current opponent as they moved in for another bout. as he continued to monitor the other's movements and postures, he thought he could sense a pattern in the next strike — but it was a mistake. lunging forward in his overconfidence, xiao had opened himself up to be knocked straight down, genji immediately toppling him to the mat. a gust of air is knocked out of him as golden eyes land squarely on the ninja's red ones. for a moment there is a spark of rage within him, so brief in time that it would be hard to spot, before it settles into... satisfaction.

genji was impressive, there was no doubt. and as sweat glistened on xiao's face and features, he stared up at the man atop him, something... hungry in his expression. a lazy smile pulled at one corner of his mouth as he worked to regain his breath, relaxing a bit too comfortably beneath the other.

"don't get to see you from this position very often." he chuckled between breaths, golden gaze looking the other up and down. "it's a... good look on you."