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scover-va · 2 years ago

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Generally when you reblog things I feel like I ask for ???/Carla/Chandrelle a lot. So I’m going to switch it up and say Rust for the ask meme

My favourite old man!!! And my favourite, dare I say, babygirl

Favourite thing about them:

His fucking CHAPTER oguhgguughggugh i could talk about him and his experiences for HOURS OGUGHGUGUH. Hi. I am NOT normal about him. Tho genuine, less vague answer is probably just. Like. His personality? Like he is SUCH a good dad and i just wanna see him and Weasel Kid bond post-game yknow??? But also like. His entire life is the wastes, people wanting to kill him and his son around every corner, yet he still tries and avoid violence whenever possible?? I dont know if it's more of a genuine pacifist thing or if he doesnt want his son to experience all this death, but like. I kinda wanna lean towards the second option considering how quickly he resorted to killing and shooting on sight when Rocky wasnt there. And I know thats mainly bc of trauma and determination to get to his kid but. I mean. Shooting Jeremiah in the chest was NOT necessary. Anyways also hes silly and goofy and I love him <3

Least favourite thing about him:

Maybe not about HIM specifically but like. I wish the mind control serum was explored more?? Like it kinda feels like a useless plot. Yes it triggered Carla's hardcore mod, but unless she or Sado were in contact with Reggie and Jeremiah somehow, then that mod could've just...been triggered differently. And like. It's mostly Sado's actions that drive him to that brink of insanity. I cant remember if Jeremiah told him to go to the inn, but the ONLY reason i can see the MC Serum being important is just to get him to the inn. other than that. He joins in on the ritual because he thinks it'll get Rocky back. He's already a player character, he doesnt NEED to be controlled by the player. And also I think the potential of him being the dead body up during Junior's lil assistance section of VG2 is unexplored

Favourite Line:

Not even the full line, but. Mayhap. I quote it all the time. (Full line is something like "Can't fit in there. Someone smaller, mayhap" idk I'm not pulling up the game to find it) Mayhap mayhap mayhap. Hes so silly I love him <3333

brOTP:

Again, I think he and Weasel Kid should have a father-son dynamic, as seen in one of my fics. They both lost what the other is, and I just mmmmm!!!!

OTP:

My number of Rust ships is. Low. Admittedly. But him with Bryce and/or Lazarus <3

nOTP:

Obviously The Hex has like 10 fans, and the number of Rust ships is. Low. But I'm just gonna say the obvious notps; Weasel Kid, Sado, or Rocky. Thank fucking god this fandom is small because weirdos would use Lionel's voice line about never figuring out Rust and Rockys exact bond as an excuse for proshitting. So. Yay small fandom moment <3

Random Headcanon:

I dont know how random BUT while in the Wastes, he's fairly thin and doesn't eat much, only eating up to half of their food rations, often less, saving the rest for Rocky. But he had slight muscle to make up for it, because I'm sure carrying around supplies and a bigass shot gun all day every day + walking all day every day at least builds up SOME muscle. Once he gets to the inn, however, he loses his gun and doesn't walk around too much. After all, the inn is MUCH smaller than the wastes. So, he ends up losing muscle. Not to mention he's probably eating less (especially after the possibility of fully coming to terms with what happened to his son), so. He grows thinner. Though he DOES go down a road of recovery (probably with Bryce's help tbh, knowing how Bryce is) and ends up regaining some body fat! He eventually gets healthy enough that he slowly develops a bit of a dad bod :-) I wanted to draw out this hc but couldn't get the anatomy to look right so I forgot about it, but I am VERY happy I get to ramble about it now <3

Unpopular Opinion:

There are like 2 or 3 other people who talk about Rust enough for ANY sort of 'popular' opinion to form. So. That sucks. Does him being the skeleton in the GameWorks base count? Can I say he's smart just not conventionally smart? Like he can hotwire a car and picked up some German thanks to a certain nuclear sandworm and can aim with perfect accuracy despite having poor vision, but he can't read or do math or write or-

Song I associate with them:

I. Have an entire playlist for him. Whoopsies. ANYWAYS. Grief from The Devil's Carnival (ive never listened to the musical i just found it in a playlist a while back) and Still Here by Digital Daggers. Mostly Grief tho. But like. It's from Sado's perspective about Rust. If that makes sense

Favourite Picture of them:

His steam emoji <33333

It looks even goofier on my phone bc of how blurred it is

#the hex #rust mcclain #other characters mentioned but im not listing em all #scov.txt #hey did i mention i love rust /j

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zombiescantfly · 4 years ago

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Halo and the Burden of the Extended Universe

Halo, as in the initial trilogy of games one through three, has been about one man, known only by his rank, traveling to exotic alien superstructures hanging in deep space, traversing their surfaces on foot and in a variety of human and alien military vehicles, and mowing down literally hundreds of enemies per level. Throughout that trilogy, we’re supposed to believe that these aliens, the Covenant, pose a great risk to all of humanity. We’re told, by way of the instruction manuals and some NPC chatter, that these aliens have pushed our own species, at the time a massive space-faring empire, back to the singular planet of our birth.

In all three games, we just barely make our way to the latest superstructure, clawing our way there against what's said to be insurmountable odds. We're constantly told that we're low on resources, low on time, we barely have a foot in the door while the Covenant have already made their bed. And yet, every single game, we win. Effortlessly. Constantly.

And not only do we win, but we prevent the total annihilation of all life in the universe no less than once per game, sometimes more! Untold hordes of enemies fall at our controller-wielding fingertips, but somehow we're meant to accept that this one is our last chance, for real, we swear. Still, problems come and go at the whim of an inattentive scriptwriter, built up to be the most important thing we've ever seen, left perfectly resolved at the end of a 20-minute level.

In every game, the goalposts are constantly shifting, pushed further and further back by writers who realize, sweat on their brows, that they've started with the destruction of all life in the universe and have to somehow amp it up from there. For three games.

To put it mildly, they are not successful.

What do we have to be afraid of? Not the Covenant, because even the worst weapons we have available to us can tear them apart. All life on Earth, the last bastion of our species, is put at risk a full three times over the course of two games, and every single time we, as the protagonist, turn our back on the problem and are promised it will be solved when we aren't looking. If the Halo rings are fired, all life in the universe dies! Except when it was fired in Halo 2 and only sent a standby signal before being deactivated. Except when it was fired in Halo 3 using a never-before-heard-of "tactical pulse" that is at perfect odds with everything it was stated to do in all three games.

There's no threat that sticks, no threat that matters. Everything the games have told us to be afraid of are continuously revealed to be utterly inconsequential. Even the moment-to-moment threats become routine, the moment-to-moment losses, unnoticeable. How many times have you gathered a squad of friendly Marines only to lose them all in the next gunfight? Well, don't worry, here comes a Pelican with four new ones, no questions asked. Yes, we're running low on fuel and men and supplies, but here you go Chief, you're special.

But why are we special? Who is The Master Chief? We know some things, but not a lot. We're a supersoldier, a Spartan. We have a ship's AI in our head who tells us what LZs to clear and does all the talking for us. Across three games, approximately thirty hours of gameplay, our main character has a mere sixty-eight lines of dialogue, and most of it doesn't pass the five word mark. Cortana, in comparison, has nearly six hundred spoken lines. Our hero is characterized only by lines like "boo," "green, sir," "I need a weapon," "understood," and "we'll make it."

Truly, a fascinating and deep character to go down in the annals of gaming history. A man brimming with all the personality of a cardboard box, all the empathy of a brick, and all the motives of a potted plant.

And yet, every Halo fan out there will tell you how cool he is, how haunted by his past he is, how deeply he feels the loss of his comrades, and how much he cares for his tiny blue Garmin.

Why? We played the same games, right? With all the same plot holes and haphazardly shifting priorities, the miniscule cast of named characters that never do anything to extend past their paint-by-numbers archetype? What are they getting out this that I haven’t?

Well, they read the books.

To them, Halo has an excuse. There aren't any plot holes, none at all, because you can just read this piece of licensed fiction to plug it. Are you still uncertain, well over a decade after the fact, just how much time passed between Halo 2 and 3? There's a graphic novel to answer that for you. What about the Arbiter, why didn't he stick around to try to form a proper treaty with humanity after the end of Halo 3? Read the book to find out. Okay then, the Flood invasion of Earth, how'd that get cleaned up so fast? Don't worry, watch the animated short.

This isn't how storytelling works.

You don't get to present a player of your game, a buyer of your product, with one third of a story and then tell them the rest exists as multiple books. You don't get to ignore key plot points that would bring your story together just so they can be sold off years later in a different medium.

External media, should your property have it, should be to expand on things the primary property has no room for. Hinted-at background events. Formative character experiences. Something tangentially related that still ties in to the main story. If it's really that important, tell your writers to make room for it in the main product.

Halo has the room for it. Each game will probably take a first-time player around ten hours for a first playthrough, and far less time on subsequent runs. These games are short, but they attempt to tell a story many times larger than they make room for. So make more room. End the focus on getting players in and out in a single weekend sitting. Let your characters talk to each other beyond exchanging stiff one-liners in cutscenes. Stop making every level a bombastic, breakneck setpiece and give the story room to breathe, to actually be told. If it’s the end of the universe we’re dealing with, surely you can spare us more than nine measly levels? Let us actually see the larger situation rather than being told about it. Do you really think Halo fans would complain about a campaign taking fifteen to twenty hours to beat? They love Halo, they want to spend time with it. Capitalize on that, and take the opportunity to finally, actually tell a story with all the parts in it instead of just a third.

Which brings us, finally, to Halo: Reach.

Certain Halo fans, largely the same group of them that defend the poor storytelling because “it’s in the books,” have a reaction to Halo: Reach that can best be described as ‘vitriolic.’ They don’t like it. Why?

Because it’s not like the book.

You see, while Halo: Reach came out in 2010, a book by the name of Halo: The Fall of Reach came out some months before the first Halo game in 2001. They are both about the same event, but with quite major differences. This caused quite a lot of contention at the time of Reach’s release, mainly from the part of the fanbase that believed they were going to get a one-to-one retelling of this book in videogame form.

They didn’t get that. Halo: Reach is an original story that tells the tale of a world’s final hours and one team of elite supersoldiers as they attempt to do anything they can to help delay the inevitable end. It’s not the most compelling story ever written, or even the most compelling version of that story ever told, but it’s effective. Even though we’re dealing with the imminent destruction of an entire planet, the story manages to stay small. Reach’s ultimate destruction is a common piece of wall graffiti or NPC combat barks, so the ending is known, leaving room for smaller objectives to take the spotlight. Rescue civilians trapped behind enemy lines. Delay an invasion force to buy evacuation efforts another hour. Clear the skies so supplies and medivac can go out.

Halo: Reach has almost no connection to the series at large, and it’s quite the breath of fresh air. As a prequel, its ending is a forgone conclusion, but it does what it can with the time it has. The messy, convoluted politics of Halo 2 and 3 are far in the series’ chronological future, letting you fight two enemy factions at once for the first time in the series, away from the plot point that sees them at war with each other. The end of the universe isn’t constantly being dangled over our heads for the third time in as many games, so the characters have a chance to sit down and swap banter, tell us who they are. They aren’t anyone too terribly compelling - Bungie still hadn’t quite figured out character writing - but they’re tested archetypes played well enough for the story’s demands. The threat is known and static, the stakes grow higher by way of the ticking clock drawing us ever closer to the planet’s inevitable end. There’s no faffing around with “trading one villain for another” because killing the first one would have ended the story too quickly, so a new one has to show up with no lead-in.

Even at the very end of that original trilogy, Halo’s story was too big for the time Bungie gave it. Its own plot points were shoving at each other, jockeying for position, knocking parts off themselves in an effort to fit into nine half-hour levels until all that was left were fractions of what you’d need to find in the books afterward.

Reach suffers from its own short length, but not in the same way. It suffers in that you can point to the characters and they say needed more setup, more time with each other, maybe another level or two here or there to really draw the relationship out. It suffers by pushing a little too hard at the “imminent end” angle, hurrying you through and skipping over hours of in-world time that probably could have been their own level.

But surely even the superfans saw that this was preferable? That a standalone story was the best way to go about things? Surely they understood that attempting to simply recreate the book would have ended with them not seeing any of what Bungie came up with for this new game? There’s a lot to like about Halo: Reach, and a lot to do in it that you can’t do in any of the other games. Surely even the most fervent defenders of the extended canon ended up coming around and being able to separate the two for what they both were on their own.

Of course, that’s not what happened. See again, ‘vitriolic.’ And so here we are at the question this whole thing has been building up to. When a company leans as hard into external supplemental media as Bungie did for Halo, is it then obligated to play by the rules and plot points outlined in those external entities? It’s a tricky question, mostly because up until that point, Bungie had gone ahead as if every book and animated short and comic and webisode was one hundred percent canonical. The reason superfans tolerated those gaping plot holes in the games is, again, because they weren’t holes at all when paired with their companion media. So now, in the far-past year of 2010, Bungie has suddenly decided that one of those sacred tomes of external knowledge is incorrect.

I think the easiest answer would have simply been to...tell the proper amount of story in the first place, but I guess it’s a little too late for that, especially now.

So what, then, is the obligation put forward by such a slavish devotion to external storytelling? Were they wrong to do something different? Were they right to forge ahead with something new for the benefit of freeing players who had never read that book and any other related to it from the web of multi-author canon?

I’d say they made the right move. Let’s talk about Star Wars.

Star Wars and Halo share many a talking point, the most obvious of which is just the sheer amount of additional stories they have stapled to them. Great news for fans who are into it, but terrible news for the actual IP holders. All they do is get in the way when the primary vehicle wants to expand. Disney felt it more than Bungie ever did, but Bungie felt it first: cut away the myriad stories clogging up the canon or you’ll never make anyone happy. Try to appease the superfans and get burned by not touching on every single node of criss-crossing plot webs that is the result of decades of overlapping stories by as many authors, while alienating newcomers by being forced to pay lip service to concepts and characters they’ve never heard of and have no attachment to.

Disney made the right call, and so did Bungie with Reach. What came next in Disney’s case isn’t relevant, and Bungie washed their hands of Halo entirely afterwards.

If your story cannot survive without the propping-up of half a dozen pieces of external media, you have failed to tell a good story. If your answer to questions about this story is to tell the asker to read a book, you have failed to tell a good story. I understand the appeal of that expansion, of being able to have a celebrated setting grow and reach new places, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of the setup. The world has to exist before it can be expanded upon. The story needs to be in place for its offshoots to grow. And that’s what Halo fails at, so totally and repeatedly. Bungie was too excited by the prospect of having an extended universe that they forgot to make a universe to expand upon. As a result, the actual core universe exists smeared across half a dozen mediums and dozens of individual pieces, with no true convergence point someone can present a newcomer with and say, “Start here.”

The Halo games are a patchwork mess of uninspired characters, unexplored concepts, unknown stakes, and uninteresting locales. Because they rely so heavily on their companion media to fill in those blanks, there’s nothing there to entice a first-time player to do it themselves. If a character’s inspiration comes from one book, the exploration of a concept comes from another, the weight of the stakes is told through an animatic, and the otherworldly locales are shown in all their glory only in the pages of a comic book, what is the game even for? If everything you need to know about the Master Chief, the Covenant, the war, and the Halos isn’t in the games, what’s the point of them? What do Halo 1, 2, and 3 actually stand to add to a universe seemingly defined elsewhere?

They become wastes of time. Wastes of potential. Other people - artists and authors working under contract for Bungie, not Bungie themselves - did all the heavy lifting to create these worlds and these characters. Does Bungie even know who their own characters are? Could the original writer for Halo 1 tell me everything the Master Chief has become through the works of a dozen other authors over the course of twenty years?

The books might be good. I wouldn’t know; the games didn’t inspire me to read them.

#words about games #halo #master chief #Arbiter #cortana #Bungie #343

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mutantenfisch · 6 years ago

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Repost from deviantArt! This is actually an ass-old thing I made during Summer Break in 2016!

EDIT: Turned one huge file into 5 smaller ones and painted a quick sloppy and anachronistic sports-bra for Rel.^^

Anyway, I think it's pretty obvious for which panels I've actually used references and which were drawn less carefully. My vicious scanner adds to the trouble and not let us get started on my laziness....

I didn't have the room to put all my thoughts into the panels (and I'm quite sure there is already too much text), so be prepared for the off-commentary of each panel.

1. : This is basically my first attempt at drawing meric faces. I just didn't get her mouth right, though, so her expression is something like a failed attempt of a badass expression.

2. : Yes, that guy is supposed to be Hadvar. I don't know why he's blushing, maybe he just feels ashamed for his always-pissed commander. Or because Rel's wearing an amulet of Mara...

For Relmaris I had in mind, that she is probably the daughter of a travelling merchant/apothecary couple who left Morrowind during Red Mountain's latest eruption and didn't want to go to Solstheim, since they had "enough snow and ashes for more than one life". She grew up mostly in Cyrodiil and got into some trouble with the Thalmor there, because of how her parents raised her, religiously.

3. : This is, to be honest, the most fun part in-game - sneaking into camps, caverns and so on, taking out thugs while they can't do anything and increasing your archery and stealth abilities on the go.

4. : Yes, I really disliked Cicero when I first met him and it was exactly the other way around with Ulfric Stormcloak (whose body is supposed to be shown there, too...). During the progress of the game and the story, I began to sympathise with Cicero, even though he's ...difficult.... as a follower and my sympathies for Ulfric faded more and more. There are other people and factions I maybe dislike as much as him and his purpose, or even more, but since I wanted to bring in this Don McLean reference so badly, Ulfric was the one who took the shortest straw.

5. : Legate Fasendil. I think he is the dream of many Dragonborn characters (and their creators). For an Altmer he is incredibly sexy and I as a player really enjoyed seeing such a masculine elf. Revyn Sadri, on the other hand, was really cute when Rel first stumbled into his shop and she likes his straightforward fair-mindedness.

Biography-wise I imagine Rel to really fall for the legate, since they have many things in common (being far from a home they barely know/remember, hating the Thalmor, having seen many terrible things...) but on the other hand I think Revyn is better for her as some kind of anchor in her troubled life. I must say, because of the conversation you have with him, I think he hasn't always been a trader. His commentary on the size of the house (and Rel lives in Proudspire Manor) made me assume that he might know even better and probably more noble houses.

6. : I think this quest is everyone's favourite. I enjoyed the part about Gleda most. And Sanguine is such a cheeky trickster. I remember, back when my first Dovahkiin met him and joined in the drinking game, I was like "WTF? Why am I in Markarth now? And I did WHAT to WHOSE statue????". With Rel now, I experienced something new as a player: When Rel was hiking in the mountains of Reach, an Argonian called Deep-In-His-Cups approached her and brabbled something about a hat. She talked him down to 750 Septims for the worthless hat and he walked away. This guy was even stranger than the madwoman who wanted me to use Sheogorath's Wabbajack on her.....

7. : Whole-heartedly the College of Magic! Rel is officially Arch-Mage now and I think her former class-mates are just the cutest kids in Skyrim. Especially Onmund and Brelyna. And now, after installing the English version, I was very positively surprised about Onmund's voice. I didn't expect one so pleasing to my ears as his. And J'zargo, you suicidal little cleptomaniac, you. As a follower you were really cool, but would you please stop jumping into Rel's way when she's casting flames?

8. : There it is - hobbity, silver-eyed me, wearing a Bowie-shirt. Since I only just started playing Oblivion, I really have no idea, what would happen if these two met, so I chose the other option instead.

9. : I think this is really self-explanatory. Anyway, when I was wandering through the volcanic fields of Rift for the first time, I was laughing so hard at this sight. Unfortunately, back then my other Dovahkiin, accidentaly stole a piece of clothing from the hunters and had to kill all of them. Rel doesn't make this mistake, that's for sure!

10. : I admit, this is my favourite drawing of this whole thing and I do ship them. Very hard. I didn't want to put a mature content on this, nor cover their perfect bodies, so go with the Barbie-breasted version instead. If Mattel can sell nippleless adult-women-shaped dress-up-dolls to children, I can upload this drawing to tumblr. Or not, apparently. So here’s the ugly sports bra version.

11. : Khajiit. What else can I say. I love them. Their faces, their accent, their background (minus the Skooma smuggling) - they are the best invention for this game, ever. And I would be really happy, if The Elder Scrolls VI played in Elsweyr and we get to see more than just this one breed of Khajiit.

#art #mutantenfischart #nsftumblr #elder scrolls #skyrim #character meme #let's see if tumblr allows this #i'm still super proud of it #relmaris dralur #legate fasendil #cicero #khajiit #dunmer #altmer #brelyna maryon #onmund #j'zargo

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allyoucaneathaikyuu · 6 years ago

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Hello!~ I adore youre blog 🥰 could I request a matchup please? I’m a bi aussie female, I’m known as the mom friend or the person who you can vent to, I have a lot of insecurities about my body and being around crowds of people, but with someone I know personally I turn in a fun loving party animal, im a very awkward bean who loves to geek out and loves all their friends, i love gaming, drawing, having fun and dancing around my room, I hope this wasn’t too much info lol😅

Hi~! Thank you so much!! I hope you’re happy with this~~ And not at all, as much info as possible is always better~

I ship you with Bokuto Koutarou - that damn owl~ he’s absolutely mad. He needs someone responsible to stop him exploding. But he’s also so loving and gentle.

Both of you have your own things that hold you back, but that’s why you’re so perfect. You can help each other out, and bring out the best in each other.

Did you say dancing around you room? You’d best bet that Bokuto would join you. Singing in the shower? Nope, you’re a duet now. Gaming? You have a Player 2 now.

The pure energy in this relationship is so refreshing.

He’s the yin to your yang. Bokuto Koutarou can make anyone smile, no matter what the circumstance. He thinks you’re the most perfect person in the world, and would do anything to help you.

He’ll definitely geek out with you - with maybe some help from Kuroo to understand what the heck is going on.

Sometimes Bokuto really does act like an owl. He’ll wrap himself round you while you draw and just watch silently - almost intensely.

He’ll have to train with the team, but that gives you time to pursue anything you want to as well, but he’d love to have you there supporting him at games.

Dates are eccentric as all hell. Bokuto would go all out. Of course there’ll be the smaller casual dates, like going to get ice cream, or study dates, but he loves making an effort for you.

#Anonymous #matchup #bokuto #Bokuto koutarou #haikyuu!!#akaashi keiji #fukurodani #hope you like it

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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30 Best Nintendo Switch Games

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

After four years of the Wii U, we were eagerly anticipating its successor. While there were plenty of great games on the doomed platform, the Wii U just never caught fire with the public at large. But four years into the Switch’s lifespan, and Nintendo has turned things around dramatically.

Instead of winding things down, the Switch shows no signs of slowing down, with plenty of excellent third party games in its library, as well as more than a few innovative titles from the Big N as well. The platform has also been a great way to bring underrated Wii U gems to a broader audience of Switch adopters. With a rumored 4K upgrade on the horizon, there’s a good chance that the Switch may even have another four years ahead of it,

But for now, these are the very best games available for the portable-console hybrid:

30. Untitled Goose Game

2019 | House House

Anyone who’s even been to a pond can attest to one simple fact: Geese are dicks. Untitled Goose Game lets you finally live out the fantasy of being one of nature’s most annoying creatures, flapping, honking, and generally being a nuisance to the residents of a fair English town. The only thing missing is the goose poop covering everything in sight.

Untitled Goose Game is a short but sweet experience inspired by classic stealth games that adds just enough charm and innovation to make it one of the best indie games on the platform.

29. Dark Souls Remastered

2018 | FromSoftware

There’s not much more that can be said about Dark Souls that hasn’t been said about this revolutionary action RPG title already. Its tough-as-nails difficulty, foreboding atmosphere, and esoteric storytelling have made it a fan-favorite and critical darling.

The Switch port doesn’t change much. It’s actually a visual downgrade from the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions without the benefit of 4K resolution, but being able to play Dark Souls on-the-go more than makes up for that. This may not be the best version of Dark Souls, but the gameplay still stands up, and like a lot of Switch ports, being able to finally play the game on a handheld makes it a worthy pick up.

28. Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle

2017 | Ubisoft

“What if Mario starred in an XCOM game?” might sound like the basis for some very ambitious fan fiction, but somehow Ubisoft pulled it off with Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. The Rabbids actually fit into the Mushroom Kingdom pretty well and the Rabbid impersonations of Mario and company are hilarious.

Even if Mario games aren’t typically your cup of tea, the tactics featured in this turn-based strategy title add a layer of difficulty rarely seen in the plumber’s resume. If you aren’t careful, the corrupted Rabbids will repeatedly hand you your ass on a platter.

27. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker

2018 | Nintendo

The Captain Toad levels were the best parts of Super Mario 3D World, one of the few well-reviewed Wii U exclusives that haven’t yet made it to the Switch. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker delivered more of what people loved, this time for the 3DS.

Ignoring traditional Mario-style platforming for isometric puzzles that bar jumping, getting all the stars in every level of Captain Toad is genuinely challenging but rarely frustrating. Captain Toad also stands out as one of the better Wii U ports for the Switch, thanks to a number of new levels, although many of them are only available as paid DLC.

26. Starlink: Battle for Atlas

2018 | Ubisoft

Starlink: Battle for Atlas is a fun space shooter bogged down by a confusing and frankly unnecessary toys-to-life gimmick. The basic premise equates to a sort of smaller scale No Man’s Sky, but with highly customizable ships and weapons.

The big draw for the Switch version is exclusive Star Fox content, missions that feel like the animal-themed space combat game people have wanted from Nintendo for years. They’re certainly better than Star Fox Zero. The retail version even comes with awesome Arwing and Fox McCloud toys.

With gamers largely burned out on the toys-to-life phenomenon, Starlink didn’t exactly light up the sales charts, but it did sell best on the Switch and is scratching that Star Fox itch.

25. Hollow Knight

2018 | Team Cherry

Nintendo basically created the Metroidvania genre, but the company has been remarkably stingy about releasing new 2D Metroid games. Thankfully, Hollow Knight is here to fill the void with its insect-filled underground world. While there have been many takes on the Metroidvania formula over the years, a Tim Burton-esque aesthetic gives Hollow Knight a unique edge over the rest of the field.

Of course, Metroidvanias are only as strong as their maps, and Hollow Knight’s giant, secret-filled levels are easy to get lost in for hours. And then there’s the Dark Souls-inspired combat, which requires both patience and skill to master. We can’t wait for the sequel.

24. Xenoblade Chronicles 2

2017 | Monolith Soft

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is not for casual gamers. The main story alone takes more than 60 hours to complete and you’re looking at well over 100 hours of gameplay if you dig into the side content. Its systems, particularly the Pokemon-style Blade system, aren’t very user-friendly and require time to truly understand. But for those who are willing to keep with it, or who enjoy complex stories and mastering all the intricacies of a JRPG, there are few games of this caliber available on the current crop of consoles. And none of them are on the Switch.

23. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

2019 | Nintendo

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening is arguably the very best game for the original Game Boy, held back only by the portable’s lack of buttons and color. The Switch-exclusive remake easily rectifies those issues, and improves on this classic with so much more, including customizable dungeons and a delightful new art style inspired by children’s toys.

The core Link’s Awakening experience remains as enjoyable as it first was back in 1993, with the deceptively small Koholint Island giving way to nine labyrinthine dungeons and some of the best puzzles in the entire series. This is a great example of a remake done right.

22. Stardew Valley

2017 | ConcernedApe

There’s something oddly relaxing about farming games that Stardew Valley taps into better than any other game in the niche genre. Maybe it’s the especially calming music, the charmingly well-written characters, or just being able to live out your agricultural dreams at your own pace. Whatever the exact reason, Stardew Valley has garnered millions of fans since its original release.

Part of the appeal is the regular updates. Just when you think you’ve seen everything, ConcernedApe will add new content to keep the game fresh. And while Stardew Valley is a fantastic experience on any of the numerous platforms it’s currently available on, being able to play it anywhere on the Switch arguably makes it the definitive version.

21. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe

2019 | Nintendo

The Switch’s success has allowed many Wii U games to enjoy a second life. With their brief levels, Mario games have always been perfect for handhelds, and with its pitch-perfect controls and heavy nods to Super Mario Bros. 3, New Super Mario Bros. U is arguably the best side-scrolling Mario game of the last decade. The Switch port even includes all of the New Super Luigi U content previously only available as DLC and a new playable character, Toadette.

20. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

2017 | Bethesda Game Studios

We probably didn’t need another version of Skyrim, and the Switch port doesn’t look that much better than the original 2011 release, but as with other ports of older games, the ability to play one of the greatest RPGs anywhere is a good reason to double (or triple) dip. And there are a few cool unlockables though amiibos, like the Master Sword.

It’s impossible to ignore such a classic RPG on the Switch, especially now that you can play it on your lunch break or on the bus. But seriously, Bethesda, you can stop porting Skyrim now. Get to work on The Elder Scrolls VI and maybe bring that to the Switch.

19. Pokemon Let’s Go, Pikachu/Eevee

2018 | Game Freak

The Pokemon franchise has been around so long at this point that the Let’s Go games are actually the second remakes of the original 1996 Red and Blue games. That’s okay though, as even the last remakes were released on the Game Boy Advance in 2004. By 2018, it was time for a new coat of paint.

Let’s Go freshens things up with modern 3D graphics, wild Pokemon that are now visible in the overworld, and Mega Evolutions from more recent games. The biggest change is the most divisive: motion controls for catching Pokemon. It can be a little silly at first, but it actually adds to the game’s charm.

18. Luigi’s Mansion 3

2019 | Nintendo

Luigi has long played second fiddle to his more famous brother, but after three spooky solo games, he’s built up a successful franchise in its own right that ranks up there among Nintendo’s best. If the previous Luigi’s Mansion games had a flaw, it’s that they got a little repetitive. Luigi’s Mansion 3 thankfully fixes that problem with a massive 17-story hotel with plenty of puzzles to solve and ghosts to trap. And while Luigi’s Mansion 3 is a fantastic single player experience, what really gives it legs is its co-operative modes for 2-8 players, making it the best ghostbusting game since, well…Ghostbusters.

17. Octopath Traveler

2018 | Square Enix

Square Enix’s love letter to 16-bit RPGs might just be better than the classics. Octopath Traveler boasts an innovative battle system that tweaks the typical turn-based formula and unique “HD-2D” graphics that are unlike anything else in the genre. It’s easy to lose several hours playing in portable mode or at home on a big screen. And while the story drags a little bit at times, it’s still worth playing to the end to see how the tales of all eight protagonists play out.

16. Astral Chain

2019 | PlatinumGames

PlatinumGames’ streak of creating the best and most unique action games in the industry continues with Astral Chain. Everything that has made the developer’s past titles like Bayonetta and Nier: Automata instant classics is on full display here, from the massive set pieces to the bonkers anime-inspired story of humanity making its last stand against an interdimensional threat.

And while you’d think those previous efforts pushed combat in an action game to its limits, Astral Chain’s innovative gameplay finds way to introduce new twists to the Platinum secret sauce. Here, you control both your main character and a fully customizable tethered Legion to maximize combos. This is the perfect game to tie you over until Platinum finishes up Bayonetta 3.

15. Bayonetta 2

2018 | PlatinumGames

The first Bayonetta was a sexy, stylish take on action-adventure hack and slash games, with some of the smoothest combat around and a badass protagonist. Bayonetta 2 doesn’t mess with the winning formula but adds more combat options and some of the most ridiculous setpieces ever put in a game, like a battle on top of a moving fighter jet. If you’re looking for something a little less family-friendly on the Switch, look no further than this hectic action game.

14. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

2018 | Retro Studios

The original Donkey Kong Country trilogy is a highlight of the 16-bit era, but in hindsight, it was more beloved for its graphics than its gameplay. It was only once Retro Studios took over the series that the franchise began to live up to its potential, with super smooth platforming and levels more creative than even some of Nintendo’s Super Mario games.

While Retro’s first Donkey Kong Country game on the Wii was a little too punishing, Tropical Freeze got the balance between challenging and frustrating just right. The game was originally released on the Wii U, and the Switch port adds Funky Kong as a playable character. This is an excellent platformer to play with a friend, too!

13. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury

2021 | Nintendo

Super Mario 3D World is a top-notch Mario game, so it was always a shame that it released on a platform as underwhelming as the Wii U. The genius of the game is how it so perfectly combines the best elements of 2D and 3D Mario games. Levels have clear beginnings and endings, and ultimately you just need to climb the flag pole at the goal, but there’s also plenty of room for exploration to track down every last green star. Plus, the cat suit is one of the weirdest and best power-ups in any Mario game.

Everything that made the original Wii U release a must-have remains the highlight of the Switch port, but the addition of Bowser’s Fury, a new adventure where Mario and Bowser Jr. must quickly complete missions before the arrival of a giant, enraged Bowser, makes this one well worth a double dip.

12. Pokemon Sword and Shield

2019 | Game Freak

Sword and Shield may not be the best games in the long-running Pokemon series. Arguably, the lack of some older Pokemon (even after two big expansions) is a pretty big mark against it, but the eighth generation still has a lot going for it thanks to more streamlined gameplay, a massive open-world, and the fact this is the first time a mainline Pokemon game can be played on a home console. That’s something that fans have been clamoring for since the series’ inception back in 1996.

So no, you can’t quite “catch ‘em all,” but you can still have a great time battling the gym leaders of Galar in the seemingly never-ending quest to become the very best.

11. Sid Meier’s Civilization VI

2018 | Firaxis Games

Despite the Switch’s early success, it’s still home to relatively few third-party console exclusives, but Civilization VI alone almost makes up for that deficit. This is an uncompromising PC port with 24 different civilizations available from the get-go, and all of the features from the original version. It also works great with either a controller or touchscreen controls. If you’re looking for a 4X strategy game on the Switch, Civilization VI is the one.

10. Diablo III: Eternal Collection

2018 | Blizzard Entertainment

Diablo III is one of the best games of the last decade. The Switch port is late to the party, but if you really want to slay demons on the go and don’t have a laptop handy, this is the perfect way to play the classic action RPG.

The Switch version adds a handful of Legend of Zelda items, including a Ganondorf costume. It’s not an earth-shattering exclusive, but it’s an easy excuse to sink a few more hours into this game.

9. Fire Emblem: Three Houses

2019 | Nintendo

Nintendo is still mostly known for accessible games that appeal to a wider audience. But then there’s Fire Emblem, a series of hardcore tactical RPGs where every battle can mean permanent death for you and your allies. While still true to its roots, Three Houses takes some liberties with the typical Fire Emblem gameplay. There are still plenty of battles to be fought, but the first half of the game largely takes place at a monastery where you’re a teacher preparing your students for war. And the long-used “weapon triangle” has mostly been replaced with the need to equip the best weapons for each character, adding a new layer of strategy.

As if all that didn’t make for dozens of hours of gameplay, the ability to choose which of the titular three houses you belong to has radically different consequences for the game’s story. It takes a very long time to experience everything that Three Houses has to offer.

8. Super Mario Maker 2

2019 | Nintendo

Super Mario Maker 2 is the definitive Mario game, building on its already near-perfect predecessor with new power ups, a world maker, and assets from Super Mario 3D World. The star of the show is the almost endless supply of user created levels that constantly surprise with twists on other genres and some of the most fiendishly difficult levels ever devised. And if you’re the creative type, the course maker remains one of the most intuitive modes in any game, allowing you to design perfectly playable new levels in just a few minutes.

Even if making Mario levels isn’t you’re thing, Super Mario Maker 2 includes a surprisingly fun story mode of 100 original levels that stand toe-to-toe with anything else in the legendary franchise.

7. Hades

2020 | Supergiant Games

Rarely do story, gameplay, and atmosphere mesh together as well as they do in the rogue-lite Hades. You play as Zagreus, the prince of the Underworld, with the simple goal of escaping from the monotonous life you’re forced to lead under your apathetic father. You’ll die a lot during this quest, but each time you’ll get a little stronger and gain new abilities from the gods of Olympus that keep the experience fresh. Hades knows exactly how to leverage its setting, perfectly capturing each deity’s unique personality and abilities.

The rogue-lite gameplay is also well suited for short bursts of gameplay or marathon sessions, making it a perfect fit for the Switch, which is currently the only home console its available on. It’s easily the best third-party game on the system, and one of the best reasons to pick up a Switch if you haven’t already.

6. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

2017 | Nintendo

Mario Kart 8 is the best kart racing game ever made. That was true with the original Wii U release and it’s true of the Switch port, which includes all previously released DLC and adds a few new characters and a completely reworked battle mode. Each and every track has its own challenges and the addition of anti-gravity racing is a nice update to the formula.

With tracks and characters from F-Zero, The Legend of Zelda, and Animal Crossing, Mario Kart 8 also feels like the most complete Nintendo racing game of all time. There’s really no reason for a Switch owner not to have this one in their collection.

5. Splatoon 2

2017 | Nintendo

Nintendo has never developed a multiplayer shooter like Call of Duty or Halo. Odds are it never will. But the Splatoon series is just as good as those shooters, especially the second installment. Like with the original, the focus of Splatoon 2 is to use a variety of paint-spraying weapons to cover as much of each level as possible. It’s actually a lot more fun and creative than most of the high-profile shooters out there.

Splatoon 2 adds quite a few new levels, weapons, and unlockables. There’s also a sizable single-player mode, and a ridiculously fun cooperative mode called Salmon Run. If that’s not enough content, Nintendo released the lengthy Octo Expansion DLC in 2018. A copy of Splatoon 2 could occupy a Switch gamer for months.

4. Animal Crossing: New Horizons

2020 | Nintendo

For a lot of people, Animal Crossing isn’t just a game. It’s life. New Horizons was always highly anticipated, but its release at the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdowns made it a much-needed escape for millions of people. Birthdays, graduations, and weddings couldn’t be held in-person, so many were celebrated within New Horizons. Even President Biden and Hong Kong democracy activists set up their own islands.

Even without the specter of Covid-19, New Horizons would still be one of the best games on the Switch. Nintendo has been perfecting the franchise for two decades now, but this version of Animal Crossing is easily the best yet, allowing for near-limitless customization of your own little world. And yet you’re still free to play at your own pace, without any of the pressure of the outside world. The ultimate appeal of Animal Crossing continues to be that it allows us to live our ideal lives.

3. Super Mario Odyssey

2017 | Nintendo

Is Super Mario Odyssey the best 3D Mario game? It’s hard to argue otherwise. Odyssey borrows its level structure and progression system from the beloved Super Mario 64, which Nintendo had largely ignored for the last two decades. Several new twists on the traditional 3D platforming formula, like the ability to throw your new hat buddy Cappy at enemies to take control of them, make Super Mario Odyssey feel incredibly fresh. There probably won’t be another platformer this good on the Switch.

2. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

2018 | Nintendo

Super Smash Bros. has remained wildly popular since it debuted in 1999, and there’s always been a lively debate about which title is the best in the series. Melee arguably has the best mechanics, while Brawl’s Subspace Emissary boasts the most complete story mode. The Wii U game looks fantastic, but the Ice Climbers and Snake were sorely missed.

Ultimate tries to satisfy the fans of each game by including every character who’s ever appeared in the series (plus a few new ones), more than 100 stages from throughout the Nintendo universe, a deep adventure mode called World of Light, and interesting tweaks to even the oldest characters in the roster. If Ultimate isn’t the perfect installment of Smash Bros., we don’t know what is.

Further Reading: Super Smash Bros. Characters Ranked

1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

2017 | Nintendo

Breath of the Wild is the perfect marriage of traditional Legend of Zelda 3D gameplay and innovative new systems. The world and story are unmistakably Hylian, yet the game puts a major focus on exploration and experimentation to an extent never before seen in the series.

Yes, the number of weapons have been cut down drastically, but the handful of abilities — like freezing time and creating ice blocks — create even more ways to complete the game’s challenges and traverse its world. And you will want to explore every last inch of Hyrule’s beautifully realized world.

For almost two decades, Zelda games closely following the formula established by Ocarina of Time, one of the greatest games ever made. Breath of the Wild throws out almost all of the concepts that Ocarina pioneered and redefines Zelda as something more open-ended and exciting that will hopefully continue to evolve over the next few years.

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dipulb3 · 4 years ago

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Amazon Prime Video review: High-end TV shows for a service that might be basically free

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/amazon-prime-video-review-high-end-tv-shows-for-a-service-that-might-be-basically-free/

Amazon Prime Video review: High-end TV shows for a service that might be basically free

Amazon Prime Video tends to come in third in discussions about streaming, behind Netflix and Hulu — maybe even fourth, with the massive growth of Disney Plus. But the tech and retail giant’s streaming arm is muscular in its own right with lots of high-quality original shows and movies, an impressive back catalog of older favorites (and B-movies you haven’t heard of) and NFL on Thursday nights. If you already subscribe to Amazon Prime for the free shipping, the Video offering is a really great included perk. And if you don’t, it may still be worth paying $9 a month for, especially if you’re interested in any of its Amazon Original shows or its large movie selection.

Included with Amazon Prime subscription

Wide variety of movies and shows, including many critically acclaimed originals

Large collection of 4K UHD shows and movies

Offline downloads and user profiles

Ad-free content

Don’t Like

Can’t watch shows as they air on other networks

Paid content mixed in with free content

Menus can be confusing

On the other hand, Prime Video is more of a companion service to Netflix and Hulu, and weaker overall than both. It can’t replace Netflix’s massive catalog of originals and hit shows, and can’t compete with Hulu’s vast collection of TV both old and newly aired. If you don’t already have a Prime subscription we’d definitely recommend choosing one of those two first — but chances are you already get the video part for free.

Select streaming services compared

Amazon Prime Video Netflix Hulu Disney Plus Monthly price $9 (or included with $120/year Prime membership) Starts at $9 Basic $7 with ads, Ad-free for $12, Live TV for $65 $7 Ads No No Yes No Availability Now Now Now Now Top titles Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Boys, The Expanse, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan Stranger Things, The Crown, Breaking Bad, The Queen’s Gambit Handmaid’s Tale, Catch-22, Lost, Bob’s Burgers The Mandalorian, WandaVision, Avengers Endgame, Toy Story, The Simpsons Mobile downloads Yes Yes Yes (on Ad-free plan only) Yes 4K available Yes Yes (on Premium plan) Yes Yes HDR available Yes Yes (on Premium plan) No Yes Number of streams: 2 1 (2 for Standard, 4 on Premium) 2 (Unlimited with Live TV + $10 add-on) 4

Prime 101

Amazon Prime Video — sometimes just called Prime Video — is Amazon’s TV and movie streaming service. Before the Prime Video we know today, Amazon launched Amazon Unbox, an online movie rental and download service, back in 2006 — just before Netflix introduced online streaming.

In 2011, as a way to boost the Prime subscription service, Amazon created Amazon Instant Video, with access to 5,000 streamed movies and TV shows for Prime subscribers. Unbox officially shuttered in 2015, and Amazon began marketing its streaming service as Amazon Prime Video. It became available as a standalone service outside of Amazon Prime in 2016.

If you are one of the 150 million-plus people worldwide who subscribes to Amazon Prime for the free two-day shipping ($13 per month or $119 per year), Prime Video is included with the service. If you don’t have an Amazon Prime account, you can still subscribe to Prime Video for $9 a month, the same price as Netflix’s Basic Plan, and a few bucks more than the Hulu Plus Ads plan. Prime Video subscribers can add on subscriptions to HBO, Showtime, Starz, Paramount Plus and several other channels for an extra monthly cost as well.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Critically acclaimed TV, and loads of movies that are… less so

Prime Video lists more than 200 Amazon Original Series on the site — larger than Hulu’s 100 or so originals, and smaller than Netflix’s collection of several hundred. Amazon’s Original series stand out for the amount of critical acclaim they’ve received: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Boys, Fleabag, A Very English Scandal, Good Omens, The Man In The High Castle, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, Transparent and Mozart in the Jungle all were nominated for or won Emmy awards in the past few years. These shows are typically made available on the platform a full season at a time.

And later this year Amazon’s Lord of the Rings prequel series will debut on Prime Video as well. Amazon reportedly paid nearly $250 million for the rights, which would make it the most expensive TV series ever.

Original movies include Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, The Big Sick, Manchester By the Sea, Late Night and The Report. You’ll also find exclusive original comedy specials, kids’ shows, documentaries and reality shows.

Another area where Prime Video stands out is its selection of kids’ shows. You’ll find favorites like Sesame Street, Spongebob Squarepants, Shaun the Sheep, Thomas and Friends and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, along with originals like Clifford the Big Red Dog and Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny.

Prime Video also includes an extensive catalog of B-movies that are pretty terrible and super fun to watch — just not necessarily with the kids.

While Prime Video is great for binge-watching original shows and older favorites, one downside is that there’s no option to keep up with current shows like you can on Hulu, unless you subscribe to one of the channels for an extra cost.

Now playing: Watch this: The best terrible movies to watch on Amazon Prime

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Not everything in Prime is Prime

Unlike Hulu and Netflix, Amazon sells TV shows and movies separately from its Prime subscription content, for rental and/or purchase, including new releases like The Croods: A New Age and Freaky. As the pandemic forced movie theaters to shut down, in March 2020, Amazon also launched Prime Video Cinema — a hub full of movies that would have otherwise been shown in theaters, like Trolls World Tour and Minari.

These pay-to-rent (or buy) titles can show up on some Prime menus too, mixed in with stuff you can stream “free” as part of your subscription. The mingling of content is confusing and can even seem like another incentive to buy something. But Amazon has since changed the Prime Video layout to make it clearer what’s included in Prime (which typically has a blue Prime tag) and what’s paid for (which has a gold dollar sign tag). But this appears differently across different devices.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Otherwise Prime Video’s interface is pretty similar to those of Netflix and other streaming services. At the top, you’ll see tabs for Search, Home, Originals, Movies, TV, Kids, Purchases & Rentals, Watchlist and Settings. As you scroll, you’ll see personalized categories like Movies based on your viewing, Popular movies and TV shows we think you’ll like, followed by more typical ones like Trending TV and Top-rated movies.

Prime Video’s nested menus operate similarly to those on Netflix. Click a title and you’ll see a description, an IMDb score and the ability to Watch Now if it’s included with Prime, as well as check out other rental or purchase options. If the title you choose is not included with Prime, this page will show you how much it would cost to rent or buy on the platform.

You can watch Amazon Prime Video on your Amazon Fire TV ($34 at Amazon), Fire TV Stick, or Fire Tablet, as well as on Apple TV ($180 at Best Buy), Roku, Xfinity X1, smart TVs, Blu-ray players, game consoles, iOS devices or Google Chromecast ($15 at eBay).

Prime Video’s best features

One cool feature that differentiates Prime Video from other streaming services is called X-Ray. Thanks to Amazon’s ownership of IMDb, you can scroll up while playing a given show or movie and see information on cast members, the music playing and trivia — helping you avoid “wait, don’t I know that guy from somewhere?” syndrome.

Another perk: Prime Video is generally ad-free. You may see a short promo for an Amazon Original before a show. But Prime Video doesn’t run regular advertising, so you won’t see ads for things like soda or trucks during any commercial breaks in your programming. The exception is the IMDb TV category, where you’ll find some popular network shows like Lost and Friday Night Lights free with ads.

To aid your binge planning, Prime Video does tell you what new shows are coming up for the month, which Hulu does as well but Netflix does not.

Most Amazon Original movies and shows along with several others are available to stream in 4K Ultra High Definition with HDR. This is great news, since in our experience, HDR actually delivers a more noticeable picture quality improvement, especially on a good TV, than 4K resolution. You’ll need a 4K UHD display and a streaming device that supports the format, including 4K-compatible smart TVs and streaming players like the Amazon Fire TV or Fire TV Stick, the Apple TV 4K and the Roku Streaming Stick Plus, among others.

Up until recently, Prime hasn’t allowed you to create separate user profiles, like Netflix, Hulu and Disney Plus do. But that feature has now rolled out on most devices, with users being able to add up to six different profiles, including kids profiles, on one account.

You can download Prime Video titles to watch offline if you have a Fire tablet, or the Prime Video app for iOS or Android.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Is paying for Prime Video worth it if you don’t have Amazon Prime?

Depends on what you’re looking for in a streaming service. If you’re a big fan of movies (good, bad and everything in between), a Prime Video subscription might be worth it for the extensive film catalog — especially if you can use it to replace pricey digital rentals. The growing collection of quality Amazon Originals is also a big draw — especially since there are no ads in any shows. And the large number of 4K HDR offerings is a plus for those with 4K TVs.

But if you’re more of a TV show binge-watcher and the Amazon Originals don’t spark your interest, you may be just fine with your Netflix or Hulu subscription. Either way, you can try out Prime Video free for 30 days — just make sure you cancel before it auto-renews.

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bataddictedloony · 8 years ago

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Little Nightmares theory

[SPOILERS & LONG AS SHIT POST]

So obviously the theory goes around that Six is the Lady’s daughter or at least they’ve known each other before the start of the game. Here’s why I think that theory is 100% true and why I think the family ties are canon.

Let’s talk about the Prison first. I think a lot of people agree that it’s simple and plainly a prison for children, either kidnapped or orphaned or left behind by their parents. They’re being kept there, more or less cared for because they have playrooms and a library (which obviously isn’t meant for the Concierge), they have beds, some even have their on rooms and there’s a mess hall. All of them are, of course, in a prison environment, there are bars everywhere, the doors are meant to be locked and some of the bars are even electrocuted so when the kiddies are playing, they don’t get any strange ideas of trying to escape.

All to keep the kiddies safe and watched over, of course!

So now that that’s established, the next question is why. Later in the game we see the Concierge wrapping up some of the kids up to then transport them up to the kitchen where the Chefs do whatever the hell hey want with them. So you’d think they’re fattening the children up to be nice meat for the Guests way upstairs, right?

Actually, I think they’re doing the opposite. I think they’re keeping them fed and entertained long enough until they’re old enough to become the next happy meal. Look at the picture again. When seeing the game for the first time, I thought the kid was regular sized for, let’s say, a 7 year old and that Six is just really teeny tiny. It turns out they’re not! The kid is about the same height as Six, they just look slightly larger because of perspective and because they’re standing on the bench. All the kids we come across, including Six and the kid in the mess hall are also all unbelievably thin, unlike the Guests and the Chefs, nothing you’d expect to be a strong delicious meal. It would also explain why everyone is so small and why the kids are limp when the Concierge wraps them up, they don’t struggle even a little. I think they’re being kept from a very young age, letting them sleep together for the first few years (when we see the Concierge for the first time, he’s patrolling a room with children even smaller than Six!) until they become older and need to be separated more often (that’s why there are also single bedrooms). They’re being malnourished to the point where they don’t grow anymore and stay small, until they’re eventually so malnourished they lose strength, and that’s when they’re put into cages until they die and are ready to go to the kitchens. The libraries, the tv room and playrooms are all there to keep them distracted and the eyes, the bars and the locks are there to make sure they don’t run around when they’re not supposed to. They were obviously being watched by someone (not blind) and I bet it was the guy who hung himself, whom we come across very early in the game, who couldn’t take it anymore and decided to end it.

I have no idea though as to why they do it this way instead of fattening them up. Maybe I’m just looking to much into it and I should move on.

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

SO SIX! How does she (and the Nomes) come into play?

Children are escaping the Prison. All the time. But they’re in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by nothing but water and enemies that want to eat them. So they have no choice but to stay on the Maw and hide, and that’s how eventually turn into literal fungi, the Nomes, who strongly resemble mushrooms. This theory is solely based, though, on the comic that isn’t out yet. If you look up some previews, you’ll see a circle of children in similar coats like Six sitting around a fire in one of the rooms behind the walls. They also seem not very fond of Six but I’ll get on that detail later.

Oh yeah, also, Six was part of the prison. I 100% believe this because of this room:

The size of the bed doesn’t really matter here, ALL the kids have a bed this size, how ridiculous it may be. I think this is Six’s room simply because of the drawing of herself. I believe it was in the corner where the porcelain doll is, you can find a drawing of a tiny person in a yellow jacket. You literally can’t misinterpret that drawing, it’s Six, loud and clear. Now, as I’ve said before, the other kids aren’t particularly fond of Six, so I’d find it strange that one of them would make a drawing of her. So I have 2 theories:

1. Six made the drawing herself. She stole ink and paper, was discovered and got into major trouble, got into a really bad fight that resulted in spilled and smudged ink on the floor and the door being broken down, but it got her to escape.

2. The drawing was made by a friend. To add drama, Six’s one friend in the prison. They were very fond of drawing and stole ink and paper, until they were discovered and got into a fight that ended badly if you rather see the smudges as blood rather than ink, and the broken door. This might’ve been Six’s last straw that compelled her to escape and set a goal for herself: find her way upstairs and cut the snake by it’s head.

-----------

Are you feeling the drama? Good, let’s keep it going! Let’s talk about Six’s relations to the Lady and who she possibly could’ve been before she ended up in the prison. Now we’re coming to the part why I think Six knew the Lady before the prison.

First of all, the obvious one: Six dreamt of the Lady before the start of the game. I think Six was trapped in the prison until right before the start of the game. I’m gonna go on a whim and say the children in the prison never meet the Lady. Why would they? They’re never meant to survive past the Concierge and the Lady doesn’t look like the type who goes all the way to the bottom of her ship to be all Ms. Coulter and be a symbol of comfort to the kids. So why would Six dream of a women she never met? One theory could be that she had a premonition to the end of the game. Another could be that the Lady is the one kidnapping the children, using her singing and beauty to lure them to her. The third one is that Six and the Lady just knew each other. To conform to this theory: because they’re daughter and mother.

Next up is the paintings and photographs in the Lady’s quarters. Almost everyone who’s played the game noticed the painting in the corner of the Lady’s bedroom and the paintings of the little girl in the yellow dress, all of which look suspiciously a lot like Six.

But the one piece of evidence I find the most compelling is the soundtrack. In Six’s theme, you hear a little girl, presumably Six herself, humming. Hmm hmm hmm, hmm hmm hmm. Sol Fa Mi, Sol Fa Mi. Doesn’t that remind you of some other humming we hear in the game? The lady hums to herself: Hmmmmm, hmmmm hmmmm. Do,Si, Mi. Not quite spot on but very similar. The Lady’s version is just stretched out.

So maybe, if the theory of mother daughter is correct, I think the humming comes from Six, having her own childish little melody, and the Lady, feeling guilty for sending her child down to the prison, singing it to herself when she’s alone. Might be another reason why she stopped humming it immediately after Six breaks the vase in her room. That and the fact that there’s an intruder in her goddamn room, but ya know, THEORIES~

Another reason I think this theory is right is because of Six’s hunger. Her going from eating bread to eating the flesh of the living comes pretty much out of nowhere. The players question whether this was her true colours all along or if she was driven to this. I think it’s somewhere in between. As the child of the Lady, who consumes the life force of others and definitely has some magic, Six might’ve inherited those traits. However, keeping her prisoner (oh my god I just realised another theory, but LATER) and malnourished, forced her to built up her metabolism to what she actually needs to live. From bread, to meat, to blood and eventually to life force again.

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

Now the question is - keeping to the mother-daughter theory - why send Six to the prison on the bottom of her ship where she’s either condemned to die either of starvation or becoming a piece of meat herself? Why keep her alive on her ship instead of just sending her away on another ship or throwing her overboard? What compelled the Lady to hate her daughter so much to leave her to such a fate, but not enough to kill her immediately?

A lot of people are saying it’s because the Lady was jealous of Six’s beauty. Going all Snow White on this shit, which is actually a cool parallel with the white mask and the black hair! And it makes sense! The Lady has a sort of vanity, surrounding herself with mannequins dressed like her, and dressing herself very luxuriously. But she also has shame, hiding her face behind a mask and surrounded by broken mirrors. It seems like she can’t even stand the look of her mask, because that’s how Six wins the game. Now, I’m wondering when the mirrors were broken. Before or after Six was sent to prison? If after, it could be the Lady can’t stand the sight of herself because of the guilt of what she did to her daughter. I have another theory.

In the Lady’s quarters, and even in the restaurant, you’ll see this picture of the Lady standing between 4 blacked out people. I have very little evidence to support this theory but I think the 4 other people are the Concierge, the Chef twins and Six’ father, making Six the sixth (eh???!!) member of this little family. (I’ve seen theories run around of the hanged man being Six’ father which, TOTALLY POSSIBLE IN MY THEORIES) The Maw was run as it is, the father keeping an eye on the children (literally, cough the eye chamber cough), the Concierge keeping everything in order and sending the children to the kitchen, the Chefs preparing the food and the Lady hosting her guests and controlling everything. And then little Six was born and the family became and even happier creepy disturbing place! Oh joy! But now it comes. I think there was an accident, disfiguring the entire family except Six. I’m even betting on a fire breaking out, melting the faces of the Lady - making her wear her white mask, the twins - making them wear those creepy-shit masks, the Concierge - rendering him blind because his face literally melted over his eyes, and perhaps the father too. Only Six was left unharmed, and that made the Lady jealous and angry.

----------

Now the other theory I came up with literally while writing this one, is this: Six became too powerful.

Think about it. What is the Maw for? To host a sort of inn for the regular citizen to enjoy and consume as much as they want? To make the consumer eat as much as they can so the Lady can take their life force for herself, to make her beautiful once more and keep her youthful forever?

Could be, but what if it WAS just meant as a resort for the regular citizen? The family kept their business going, Six was born and started showing signs that she had inherited her mother’s powers and slowly grew up to use that power to terrorize the guests, maybe even killing some of them. Maybe this is why the Lady sent her child to the deepest parts of the Maw? To make sure her slowly-becoming-psychotic child didn’t kill more of her guests?

Or maybe Little Nightmares is just meant to be a huge metaphor about how the big people literally feed on the little people!

#little nightmares #six #the lady #the maw #the chefs #the concierge #the hanged man #game theory #I'M NOT OBSESSED SHUT UP #long post #stuff #my stuff

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zippdementia · 6 years ago

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Part 71 Alignment May Vary: Into the Aether

Having left Hell behind, the players are about to embark on a journey through the planes, though as envisioned by me, the planes are actual planets and their vessel an actual spaceship. My plan is to take them through the four main elemental planes: air, water, fire, and earth, with some space opera adventures in between before we make it back to Toril, Faerun, and the finale of our three year level 2-20 campaign (probably four year by the time we actually finish).

Air is first on the list. For inspiration on each planet, I’m using the Manual of the Planes from 3rd edition and the brief bit about each plane that’s included in the DM’s guide for 5e. For air, I’ve envisioned the planet as a giant vortex of open air and atmosphere, filled with clouds and floating islands, frozen floasting caves made of air particulates, spires that rise from nowhere, and endless voids of currents and maelstroms. Civilization is mostly spread out and disparate, but there is one great conglomeration of cities that orbit the largest city of all, the fortress-city of the Citadel of Ice and Steel.

This citadel is a constructed thing, made of magic steel and ice that is cool to the touch but harder than stone. The Citadel of Ice and Steel consists of level upon level of gardens, courts, and labyrinths. It is a palace without stairs, and visitors who can’t fly get genie guides to escort them through the citadel. Smaller citadels orbit the Citadel of Ice and Steel, each the home of a trusted adviser or powerful lesser caliphs. At the heart of the citadel is said to be a prison cell for the grand caliph’s greatest enemy.

And somewhere on this planet is the Crystal of Air, which the players need in order to power their ship to move onto the next destination, for the crystals of Hell take them only so far as fuel.

This is a really nice break session: we have no combats, few dice rolls, and we get a chance to roleplay for about three hours as the players first move through interactions on board the space ship and then into interactions down on the planet of Air, known as Maseckael (Ma-Sec-kay-ale), where it turns out Star is originally from.

The interactions on the space ship are led by the player interests. We have a nice banter with the restored Fiona, who teases Aldric when he implies he’d like to try sleeping with her:

“You were the stupid one, right, who didn’t know what space was?” “No, I’m pretty sure I was the one you were madly in love with.” “Oh... Carrick! It’s so good to see you again! I didn’t recognize you” *sad facepalm*

Fiona also tells them, when they ask what went wrong with the spaceship in the first place, that her memory banks were erased but that there was a fourth living person on the ship. They don’t know how this is possible or what this means, and Imoaza becomes suspicious that maybe someone among the Hell’s Rebels was on their ship and sabotaged it. She decides to get a listing of all the crew from Captain Krisp. She asks Fiona to keep trying to repair her memory.

Some other fun things happen here. Hilariously, it turns out that Aldric got one of his goblin paramours pregnant and she is going to have quadruplets in a very short time (Goblin gestation period... I tell ya). He gives her possible names for them (Rodrick, Adam, Kyle, Bobbie, Sasha, Baily, Rebecca, Charlotte) and also she becomes his first recruit for his rebuilding of the Green Company, which Aldric is trying to promote. The promotion... doesn’t go the way he hopes. Captain Krisp doesn’t want to be involved in the Company (”too many captains of one ship, you know? And everyone would end up choosing me anyway.”) but he has no problem with Aldric recruiting for it, as long as it isn’t a front for a union. He even helps out with posters: the shirtless Krisp pointing a finger out at the viewer, with big bold letters: GO GREEN. No one really knows what it means, but Aldric’s goblin lady friend starts putting it around that it’s for the Green Company, a band of mercenaries that she and her children are going to give their lives for. Also, to be initiated, you have to have sex with Aldric (not true, but she misunderstands the circumstances). We all have a good laugh over this, but I really do intend it as well to be a solid downtime activity for Aldric, as his actions and rolls will determine over the course of this adventure whether his efforts to rebuild the company are successful or not.

We also try (and fail) to come up with a good name for the Surveyor’s ship. Imoaza favors The Dominion, but it seems a little domineering for the others (something Imoaza is like, “yeah, and your point is?” about). Carrick reaches inside his memories and says it was once named the Monument, but that doesn’t stick either. Puck finds the whole thing hilarious and suggests “Broken Dreams” as the name of the ship, which everyone ignores.

During this conversation, Imoaza asks Krisp if he ever met a woman named Karina in her travels, recalling that the tortured Bronze Dragon they met in the Yuant Ti temple had desired to give her a message. Krisp gets a distant look in his eyes and says it does ring a bell, but the details of his past life are hazy now, leaving him only with his old desires, not the reasons for them. He suddenly recalls the name of his old ship, the Mankey Bastard, but can’t remember how he died (”Probably saving this Karina from hordes of enemies! I leap into combat, two rapiers in my hands and a dagger in my teeth, thrusting and stabbing dozens of enemies apart before they finally bring me down, my last view of Karina making it safely to the longboat!”) He briefly suggests naming the ship the Swanky Bastard, but then determines it should really be the companions naming it as they, after all, are the reason everyone is making it off of Hell.

The rod of storms comes up when Aldric asks Otto the Warlock about it. Otto examines it and realizes it is tied now to Aldric’s lifeforce, wrapped around his soul in a way it’s not supposed to be, the result of Aldric forcing the weapon to work for him in the Demon’s Belly. Otto offers to help teach him to use it, or to help him break free of it, but he says breaking free does carry a risk of ripping Aldric’s soul asunder (he uses a minor illusion spell to illustrate hooks ripping the flesh off of Aldric’s body as a visual aid).

Carrick also has an interesting an unexpected encounter, after rolling a perfect 100 on a percentile die while looking for fellow paladins: he runs into Ramon, the young Paladin he killed during his evil days.

Time out: I’m actually not sure how much I’ve talked about Carrick’s past on these blogs? Carrick once was a corrupted Paladin who sought power for power’s sake and began to dominate and destroy villages and towns. One day, a young paladin (Ramon) hunted him down, believing as youth sometimes do, that they are destined for great things and are indestructible besides. Ramon found out the hard way that he could not kill Carrick when Carrick used his powerful dark spear to impale him and murder him. Yet in a way, Ramon did win the fight: After murdering the youth, Carrick was struck with sorrow and regret and this prompted him to put away his spear for good (though he still carries it) and to turn to a path of redemption. His meeting with Ramon now is a powerful character moment, as the two share a drink and Ramon absolves Carrick of his guilt, telling him that he was shocked he, Ramon the brave, ended up in Hell after his deeds and it made him question whether he had truly followed the will of the god of light in pursuing Carrick’s death. “Maybe the reason the god is shown with his sword always sheathed is not because we are meant to be that sword,” he ponders, “but because the god does not believe in drawing it. Perhaps true justice is not found in the blade, but in the heart.”

He tells Carrick he hopes they can fight alongside each other now, instead of against each other and ends by telling him that he recognizes that Carrick ultimately chose mercy even when fighting him, dealing him a blow that killed quickly, instead of slowly and painfully. That’s too much for Carrick: he breaks down into sobs, a conflicting wave of emotions pouring through him. Of regret for the man he was; of sorrow for the boy he killed; of relief at finding him again; grateful for the men they have both become.

As a break from all this sadness, one other ridiculous thing happens. Fiona bakes cookies and the group discovers an unknown flaw of Imoaza’s: she has a MASSIVE sugar addiction. Like, she gets high from sugar. We roll for all of this, which is part of the reason it is so unexpected and hilarious. Aldric eats cookies with her, though a little cautiously when he sees the way she attacks them (her favorite turn out to be these chocolate shortbread cookies with white chocolate swirls and candy baked into them). We also roll to see how many cookies she snags before she leaves the ship for the planet of air: it turns out to be around two dozen. I decree that each cookie heals her a hitpoint. But only for Imoaza.

Several people decide to accompany the players down to the Air Planet: Alyss goes, as does Star (who knows this world). Puck flits along as well, riding on Carrick’s shoulder. Jacobs (recovered from his mental injuries in the City of Ghosts) flies them down to the Citadel of Ice and Steel and they land in an atmosphere of unease and prophecy: a great storm is said to be building, greater than anything the planet has ever seen. Indeed, dark clouds have been forming around the companions ever since their arrival and they begin to suspect it has something to do with the Rod of Storms.

Star is very nervous being back home. When asked why, she tells them she belonged to a crime syndicate here, the Whispering Way. If anyone can help them locate the air crystal, it would be them, but Star isn’t sure how happy they would be to see her. After all, she tells them, it was the syndicate which murdered her the first time around. When Carrick asks her what kind of crime the syndicate specializes in, Star tells him “accidents.” She explains that killing is not allowed in the Citadel of Ice and Steel on pain of death (or worse) so accidental deaths, or at least deaths that LOOK like accidents, become a bit of a commodity and a source of power and wealth for those who have the skill to arrange such things.

While wandering one of the Citadel’s many bazaars, they are greeted by a familiar face: Immerstal the Red, who says he appeared here after spending an indeterminate amount of time in his pocket dimension brothel after the Battle of Brindol and he and Aldric’s last rambunctious night together. He had to destroy the dimension in order to escape and has rebuilt a brothel here in the Citadel instead. He is extremely pleased to see Carrick and Aldric, both of whom he knew from Brindol, but has no idea how much time has passed since he left Faerun behind (albeit, accidentally). His manner changes when he sees the Rod of Storms: “Why would you bring that here? Here of all places, its power is going to be immense!”

But before the players can respond, they are approached by less friendly individuals: a group of pale blue Genasi, genie born half breeds, approach and demand they come with them. Star tells the companions that they shouldn’t fight, reminding them that killing is not allowed in the Citadel of Steel and Ice.

Alyss says she’ll wait at the brothel with Immerstal, and so the others accompany the Genasi to their leader, Lakosa, the head of the Whispering Wind crime syndicate.

Lakosa is a Genasi as well: her ears are pierced in multiple places and she has eyes of pure blue and shards of crystal growing from her bald head. The players are brought to a grand structure surrounded by beautiful pools and gardens, wherein Lakosa resides. Her fortress is draped with greenery: vines and ivy cover most of the surfaces and trees sprout at odd, but obviously deliberate, angles from the fortresses’ spires and battlements.

Inside, much is made of silver, crystal, and glass. Lakosa herself greets the companions from an ornate couch, where she lounges, her sleek blue body blending in with the azure cushions. Carrick looks around appreciatively. Imoaza is, as usual, unimpressed. Aldric smiles brightly at Lakosa, liking what he sees. Puck yawns. Star is extremely uncomfortable.

“You look great, for two hundred,” she tells Lakosa.

“Oh girl,” Lakosa purrs. “You’ve been dead longer than that. I’m nearly two hundred and fifty now.”

“And yet you still remember.”

“When you’re my age, time goes a lot faster. Doesn’t seem that long since you were last here. Definitely not long enough to forget.” “

Long enough to forgive?” “

Maybe. Depends.”

Aldric actually takes the lead here, rolling well on charisma for his interactions with Lakosa (despite the dampening influence of the Rod of Storms) and winning from her favorable words and flirtations. She remains calm and in control of the situation throughout the conversation, asking what the players need and considering their answer when they tell her of their quest for the crystal. While they talk, she drifts about her chamber, graceful and smooth in her movements as if she floats upon a cloud. She drinks from a pale yellow bottle a liquid the color of sunset and eats strange berries from a crystal bowl. When Aldric tries one, he finds it to taste oddly of milk and to make his lips tingle.

Here, too, we get Star’s back story. She was a famed air racer and ace flyer who dreamed of escaping off world with her lover, Feserania, in her own spaceship. One hundred years ago, she accepted a bribe to throw a race, costing the Whispering Wind and Lakosa (who sponsored her) a ton of money. She was going to use the bribe to buy a ship and get off world with Feserania, but before she could, she was caught by the Genasi and her ship was given bad coordinates: directed into a maelstrom. She managed to eject Feserania before they hit the storm. The last thing she saw was Feserania screaming and reaching for her before the maelstrom ripped her ship and Star apart.

She asks Lakosa what happened to Feserania. “Dead,” Lakosa tells her. “The fey born live a long time, girl. But not as long as that. Not when they have a broken heart.”

Lakosa tells Star that it turns out Star has returned at a fortuitous time. There is a race coming up and Lakosa needs a ringer. The champion of the races is named Heatstroke (“a gauche name,” Lakosa says. “That’s funny,” Carrick answers, “Coming from a group that calls themselves the whispering wind”). He’s unbeatable and probably under some kind of service to the Cloud Giant who runs the race. Whether a slave or a well paid racer, he has dominated the races and is making it hard for anyone else to make money off the races.

“Win this race for me, and I’ll give you a cut of the earnings and help you with whatever you need.”

Star muses, “if I’m going to race, I’m going to need a bird.” The races, back in Star’s day, were always held on large bird-like creatures called Aether Craws, great big feathered birds shaped a little like long horses, with huge necks and four mighty talons. Lakos tells her, though, that the rules have changed: now people can enter on machines or using magic. But she believes there is still no match for a well ridden Aether Craw. Technology is known to glitch out in the environments the racers pass through and the Aether Craw are fast, maneuverable, and vicious... all good qualities to have in the race.

“But my old Craw, Lone Star, has to be long dead,” Star says. “Where am I going to get a bird and train it so quickly?”

“He is dead. But his brood is alive. They roost on the Vortexian Spires, above where the endless waterfalls form from the mists. You’ll have to claim one from the nest in a show of strength. It’s the only way it will respect you enough to let you fly.”

The group knows now what they must do. They depart the Palace of Mists, Lakosa’s fortress, and plan their next move. Star muses, telling the group that Feserania had her own bird that she was raising from an egg. “It had a withered wing, which meant any sensible breeder would have killed it. A mercy, really. It could never compete. But for Feserania, well, that was the very thing that made her pick it! She was raising it to care for it, not to use it. She believed it could still live on its own in the wild someday. I think she thought the same of me.” Star reminisces silently for a moment. After Star died, she kept praying she would see Feserania in hell. “I guess, though, that’s why I was there. Anyone who would hope their lover would go to hell just so they could see them again. It’s a selfish thing. I’m glad she’s somewhere better.”

Carrick tries to comfort her, but cannot find the words. Star smiles sadly and the subject is dropped.

That’s as far as we get this session! Next time, we go to the Vortexian Spires to try and tame an Aether Craw and then we’ll have ourselves a sky race.

#dungeons and dragons #dnd 5e #Alignment may vary #Campaign Journal #Plane of Air

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cardandpixel · 7 years ago

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Nice & Easy Does It, Every Time

I was reading an article earlier this week that set out a number of 'landmark' years in your life that related to certain zeniths. I'm 50 next week and according to the doubtless click bait trash I was reading, that's the age where I reach the peak of my arithmetic prowess (just FYI, attractiveness to the opposite sex was 25 years ago and contentedness with life is still a good 10-15yrs away).

This would probably suggest why I'm starting to find that I'm becoming more drawn to games that have much simpler rulesets but actually give a surprising amount of game depth and strategy. I'm finding as the years go by that there is no greater sense of despondency than opening a game box and finding a mahoosive and bloated rulebook. Worse still, a 30 page 'get started' rulebook, with an accompanying 70 page supplementary explanatory handbook (yeah - we all know I'm looking at FFG here).

However, I've been delighted over the past few years to find a number of games that genuinely can be taught or learnt in just a few minutes, but offer an amazing amount of strategic depth. Naturally, more often than not, these games will be abstract in nature, but that's by no means a given. They’re also often quite inexpensive which is an added bonus.

So welcome to my quick round-up of a few of my favourite examples. No sense in spending longer on writing this than it takes to learn and play some of these games!

First up, there's a group of "chess-like" games, i.e. those where pieces are moved in differing ways per turn. However, unlike chess, most of these games either have a smaller range of moves, or if a wider range, ones that don't need to be remembered or have great cheat sheets.

Mijnlieff from Andy Hopwood, is a charming little wooden tile laying game where both players have matching tile sets. There are only four tile placement rules:

one forces the next player to place adjacent to the last tile:

one which forces placement NOT adjacent to the last:

One that demands next piece placed in a straight line

The last forces placement in a diagonal

And that's it and yet from these simple rules comes a very taught and closely matched game. The game has a beautiful ‘homespun’ feel to it, being engraved wooden tiles. The whole game fits neatly in a pocket for travelling too.

Hive from the ever brilliant John Yianni, of Gen42, is another 2pl game based around the movement of bugs. The game features slightly more differing moves than Mijnlieff and the goal is to completely surround the opponent's Queen Bee token. Though an average game can take only 10-15mins, two well matched players can make the game last much longer. The move variants are clever and can have you craving the availability of just one more spider or grasshopper. It’s elegant and beautifully produced and a great ‘while the ovens on’ game.

Also from Gen42 is Tatsu - players control 3 different types of 'dragons': vine, water and fire - each having a different type of movement and action within the game. Tatsu uses a very smooth chase and capture mechanic which ramps up the tension very quickly. Again, the game has a very simple ruleset that takes maybe 10mins to learn and the game takes about 30-45mins. It is also one of those rare games that makes you want to play again the minute you've finished.

One of my favourite games of 2016 was Onitama - it is astoundingly simple to learn, and virtually nothing to remember ruleswise. Possibly the most chess like of the list, Onitama uses a simple rotating card system to constantly change the moves that players have available to them.

At any point, players have 2 move option cards available to them. Once used that card is put into the centre and is then available to your opponent for use as after they take their turn. The goal is simple, players have 5 pawns and a king - a player wins if their opponent has no pieces left or if their king captures the opponents King's throne. It is a tricky game and rewards a bit of thinking ahead, though the ability of your opponent to choose either of their two cards to play adds a nice randomness to the game. And that's it - it's actually more difficult to write about the rules than demonstrate it. It is so simple and so elegant that no shelf should really be without it.

Similarly indispensable is the excellent Ominoes from Yay Games. Using a very thematic custom dice system and a very simple and brief ruleset, Ominoes is all about choices. A dice roll will never yield anything you can't use, but will always leave you with choices to help yourself, or make life difficult for your opponents. It's bright, simple and slightly dirty, and great fun.

Also in the fiendish but fun category, is the excellent Santorini, which is rapidly becoming my favourite game of this year. Santorini is a beautifully produced game featuring chunky almost lego-like blocks that fit together to form towers. Players must build and climb towers to win the game, which sounds simple enough but there is a healthy amount of player interaction that complicates and deepens the strategy immensely. Again a very simple one-sided rulebook get you playing very quickly. 'God' cards add to the gameplay and are the only components that rely on a cheat sheet as there are so many, but everything is on the cards as well. Santorini is a fiendishly tricky game wrapped up in an elegant and simple set of rules and it looks utterly fantastic, which never hurts.

And finally in this short round up of simple but groovy games, I'd urge you to check out Kane Klenko's beautiful dice chucker, Fuse. Not only does Fuse succeed in having very straightforward and slick rules, but the game is timed at 10minutes by the simple but deeply sarcastic AI app who can't resist telling all players how badly they are doing in defusing the bombs onboard your floundering spaceship. In this brilliant co-op, players draw dice from a bag to try and solve mathematical or chromatic 'fuses' on cards in front of them. Solve enough and the ship won't explode. That's never happened to our group yet, but we live in hope. This is a devious little game that encourages players not to think about winning, but celebrating how much less they failed than last time. Mistakes are punished harshly too, and that all adds to the fun. (Fuse has recently spawned a bigger and more complex sequel called Flatline which is again excellent, but for simple and quick gameplay, stick with Fuse).

So there we have it, if you want a game that takes minutes to pick up and whose rulebook doesn't have you running for the scales instead of your reading glasses, then you could do a lot worse than have a look at any of the games above.

Honourable mentions also go to any of the Play With History titles which are fine recreations in wood and leather of historical games or heavily inspired by long lost older games. My personal favourite is Defence of Pictland which pits two armies against each other over hills and bogland, using only knight and pawn moves.

For The Win is a massively overlooked tile placement game, similar to Hive but with the added bonuses of tile flipping to prevent opponent powers being used, and having as its tiles, Ninjas, Chimps, Aliens, Zombies and Pirates.

The Duke is a similar 2pl tile laying game, but here the tiles actually have the moves they are capable of engraved on them so you can never forget. They also feature a clever A and B side which varies the move slightly for each meaning you have to keep thinking ahead.

And for sheer simplicity, look no further than Steve Jackson's Castellan. Though the pack arrives as a fine 2pl game, I'd treat yourself and add another pack to build it up to a 4pl as there is much more fun to be had building castles and keeps when there are more people trying to stop you.

Happy simple gaming y'all! (all pics copyright Boardgamegeek)

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circlho333-blog · 4 years ago

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entergamingxp · 5 years ago

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The Definitive Ranking of Every Halo Story Campaign

April 9, 2020 2:30 PM EST

After playing through every mainline Halo game over the past year or so, here’s how every entry’s campaign stacks up against the rest.

For the past year and a half or so, I’ve been gearing up for the release of Halo Infinite by revisiting every mainline game in the series. Despite having played nearly all entries countless times, this was the first instance in nearly a decade that I was finally returning to some of these classic shooters. I also did this seven-game playthrough with fellow DualShockers writer Michael Ruiz, and speaking for us both, I think it ended up being some of the most fun either of us have had with video games in a hot minute.

Of course, now that I’ve finished my playthrough of the saga, there’s only one thing left to do: rank every game in order from worst to best. Using math, science, and my own objectively correct intuition, I’m going to let you know which Halo game is the cream of the crop and which ones just can’t match up. You’ve surely seen Halo game rankings, but I can promise you: this is the only one on the entire internet that is completely factual.

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Also, as the title indicates, my rankings here are only going to be based on the campaigns from each Halo entry. While I have spent a fair amount of time with each game over the years and can still recall my feelings of multiplayer, Forge, Firefight, Spartan Ops, and a variety of other features that have been present, we’re just going to be sticking to nothing but campaigns for this ranking. So before you go yell at me in the comments and tell me that I should’ve put one game higher or lower than another, keep this in mind.

7. Halo 5: Guardians

If you clicked on this article and expected to see Halo 5: Guardians in last by default, well, you weren’t wrong. Unlike a lot of other fans, I really didn’t remember strongly disliking Halo 5’s campaign before playing it again here recently. Upon finishing it up a little under a week ago, yeah, I can now reaffirm that it’s definitely not great.

Overall, there isn’t one major thing I can point to in Halo 5 that makes it a lesser experience than every other entry. Instead, it’s a death by a thousand cuts situation. Most notably to a lot of fans, myself included, playing as Locke and Osiris Team for 80% of the campaign isn’t as fun as it is to play as Master Chief. Then there’s also the fact that the squad-based gameplay that 343 tried to lean into with this entry just doesn’t work well at all. Since the game is more focused on fighting as a team, 343 littered the environments with way more enemies than in past entries, leading to me and my companions being downed in this installment way more than any other Halo campaign. Plus, I cannot begin to express how lame it is to have to fight one boss nearly ten different times over the course of the game.

There are some redeeming aspects of Halo 5, but those mainly are present in the game’s multiplayer offering, which, as I said, isn’t being taken into account here. As such, Halo 5: Guardians easily stands as the worst in the series and makes me somewhat nervous about Infinite‘s prospects later this year. If anything, I’m glad that Halo 5 at least prompted 343 to return to the drawing board and create an entirely new engine before continuing on with the development of the franchise.

6. Halo 4

This one was actually really tough for me because largely, I think Halo 4‘s campaign is pretty darn good. For 343’s first outing, Halo 4 ended up boasting a tight, concise campaign that feels excellent to play. Like, seriously, before 343 really mixed up the franchise’s control scheme with Halo 5, 4 was the best installment in the series by far with the “classic” shooting stylings. Not only that, but all the new additions to the game in the way of new enemy types, new weapons, and new vehicles all felt great to me.

I think the only reason it didn’t end up going higher on this list is just because I really cannot get invested in the new direction that Halo 4 took the series’ story. Look, I’m not a big Halo narrative guy by any means. I’ve never read any of the novels, listened to spin-off podcasts, and honestly, I don’t care if that TV show ever gets up and running. Still, I just find it hard to care about Master Chief’s current struggle with the Forerunners. DualShockers‘ own Steven Santana wrote a piece for us a few months back talking about how Halo‘s storytelling felt better when it was smaller, and I totally agree with that. For all of the qualities of Halo 4 that I like, I wish it was a bit easier to get invested in.

5. Halo 3

Despite being the game where Master Chief finishes the fight, Halo 3‘s campaign isn’t as great as I remember it. Yes, there are standout levels like The Covenant and Tsavo Highway that are excellent, but it’s the missions in between that I forgot were so straightforward and bland until this recent replay. This isn’t to say that the campaign is bad though, because it absolutely isn’t. Halo 3 has so many memorable moments, it ends on a high note, and altogether just wrapped up the initial Halo trilogy in a fantastic way.

Halo 3 is arguably the zenith of the franchise’s popularity and it’ll likely never get bigger than it was when it launched in 2007. Even though it’s my least favorite installment in Master Chief’s original three-game outing, Halo 3 is still excellent in its own right and is a game that an entire generation of players will look back fondly on for years to come.

4. Halo: Combat Evolved

It’s honestly wild how well Halo: Combat Evolved holds up. For a game that is nearing its twentieth anniversary (that’s so bizarre to even say), Combat Evolved still feels fresh to this day. Having played through the game countless times in my life already, I was really surprised in this most recent playthrough at how fun the game still is. This just speaks to how well-polished and realized Bungie’s initial outing was on the original Xbox.

Comparatively, Combat Evolved doesn’t reach the same highs as other campaigns in the series, but from front to back, it’s still a much stronger experience than a handful of other installments. As such, it slots in nicely right here in the middle of the pack.

3. Halo 2

In the opening hours of Halo 2, Master Chief prevents a bomb from blowing up his ship. He then drags that bomb with his bare hands to an airlock, jumps out into space with it, flies into the middle of a Covenant ship, and then detonates it before safely landing back aboard his own aircraft.

Halo 2 is far and away the most memorable campaign in the Master Chief line of Halo titles, which is crazy because you don’t even play as Chief in about half of the game. Bungie’s bold idea to place you in the shoes of the Arbiter, the initial antagonist of the first Halo, paid major dividends in this sequel. Not only did this decision help spice up each mission a bit and make them feel more varied, but it further fleshed out the world of Halo to great effect. The way that Master Chief and the Arbiter’s stories also end up crossing over near the conclusion of the game is also fantastic.

Halo 2 also just has so many little things that really put it over the top, too. The game’s score features the work of legendary guitarists Steve Vai and John Mayer, the ending cutscene is perhaps one of the most iconic in the history of video games, and the Anniversary edition which launched with Halo: The Master Chief Collection is a truly fantastic remaster. If Combat Evolved was the game that brought console shooters to the masses, this sequel is what made Halo a household name.

2. Halo: Reach

From the outset of Halo: Reach, you know how the campaign is going to end. Not only had Reach’s history been well-documented in Halo lore, but the campaign opening itself makes it clear that you will not be surviving this mission. And with this at the forefront of your mind, it makes Reach all the more compelling and intriguing to play.

Even though the entire Halo series is set on the backdrop of war, Reach is really the only game that captures that wartime atmosphere. Some of the missions within Reach are set on the backdrop of massive battlefields, reminding you constantly that you’re just one cog in this larger scheme. Plus, Reach is one of the few Halo entries that actually makes the Covenant feel threatening, unlike the fodder that they can sometimes be for Master Chief. Reach also makes you feel overwhelmed in the best way possible, with the epilogue mission really nailing this idea more than anything else.

Bungie really went out on a high note with Halo: Reach. Not only is the storytelling and journey of Noble Team perhaps the best single arc in the series, but some of the new ideas, guns, and mechanics that were introduced here worked incredibly well and are still present in the franchise to this day. Bungie was really starting to take the Halo saga in some interesting directions before its work on the series ended. At the very least, I’m glad that the studio gave us Reach before moving on.

1. Halo 3: ODST

I’m going to be honest: I’m shocked that Halo 3: ODST ended up reaching the top of my list here. To me, stepping into the shoes of an overpowered super soldier is half of the allure in playing each Halo campaign. For the best installment in the series to end up being the spin-off entry of Halo 3 that doesn’t have you playing as a Spartan and instead forces you to utilize a faceless, voiceless soldier shouldn’t work as well as it does, but here we are.

Compared to every other Halo entry except for maybe Reach, ODST just oozes a distinct tone and feeling that is never present in other campaigns. Backed by the best Halo soundtrack of them all, ODST‘s focus on isolation in a somber environment makes it wholly unique compared the loud, bombastic tone that is frequently found in other installments.

More than anything though, I think what I realized I loved the most about ODST was just how the campaign was constructed. Instead of just going from one mission to the next without pause, Halo 3: ODST is a semi-open world title for some brief portions. You’ll have to wander around the streets of New Mombasa and try to figure out what happened to the rest of your squad before being launched into a flashback sequence that details what they’ve been up to. It’s a simple idea on paper, but it’s one that makes ODST feel more cohesive in its storytelling than any other Halo campaign.

I’ve had a lot of ideas in recent months about how 343 Industries should look to construct Halo Infinite’s campaign and I really hope that they look to ODST for inspiration. While we don’t know what Infinite might look like just yet, if the game does go in a more open-ended direction, ODST‘s template blown up on a larger scale could potentially work out really well. If the Halo series wants to bounce back moving forward, 343 would be smart to borrow ideas from the franchise’s best campaign of them all.

April 9, 2020 2:30 PM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/04/the-definitive-ranking-of-every-halo-story-campaign/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-definitive-ranking-of-every-halo-story-campaign

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