#there's also so many ds sequels i'd want in the game but also the sequels they did include are all amazing

[puppys-rhythm-heaven]

so many sequels would've been better to include in megamix than figure fighter 2. micro-row 2. cheer readers 2. love rap 2 even if you include love rap in the main campaign. literally anything other than fucking FIGURE FIGHTER 2 would be better. it already gets so much special treatment in megamix-

[lavolamp]

Too late to make a blog?

Hello. In a conversation with friends I decided to start using this Tumblr blog as a means of, well, blogging. I would use some website like Wordpress, Neocities or even Blogspot, because those tend to have features that make organizing blogs by tags a little easier, but I will admit I am a bit vain and don't want to feel like I'm screaming in to a void when I could instead reach out to the remains of Tumblr's userbase post-porn. This is absolutely the best website for it at the moment. And this would also make it easier for people to reach me for whatever reason. I kind of thought of blogs as outdated, because everybody's lives have become so consolidated in to websites like Twittex and Instagram and even this one that leave little room for larger scale personal thoughts and travels. I remember the Myspace or Geocities or Blogspot days where everyone had their own cute little website, and the internet was much smaller so it was easier to find people posting things that fit your interests. Nowadays things are just too huge, so apart of me thinks blogging might be a little ridiculous. But I think there is still a use for these, because I would ultimately like to use this blog to organize my thoughts on things and document my progress on my projects, mainly so that I don't just end up bothering my friends on Discord about stuff, because I'd feel bad. Maybe one of the goals of this blog is to find out if there is a reason to blog in 2024.

I suppose I should introduce myself. I've posted a few pieces of art on this blog before, so as you could guess I'm somewhat of an artist. The medium I primarily work with are comics, because not only are they a very accessible medium to work in but I also just have a deep appreciation for the medium. I'm working on many comics at any given time, but at the moment I'm focusing down on two. A comic made for the Webtoon platform and one that I would like to be published as a book. I'm more enthused about the book than the webtoon. Maybe I'll make a post about that later. Otherwise I'm big into cinema, animated cartoons and especially video games, and one of the two things I pretty much only think about is storytelling. Whenever I am not thinking about that and the other thing, everything in my life kind of feels like a dream. So I suppose this blog will primarily be focused on storytelling, but that's just a means about talking about my opinions on art in general. Otherwise, I think people would tend to describe me as very passionate in my beliefs, which is to say when I like something I really like it, and when I hate something I suddenly transform in to one of the world's leading professional haters. And I guess I'll make you know it. I'm bad about making impulse and useless purchases and I really like chocolate. Don't ask me how many video games I have on Steam or how many tubs of chocolate ice cream I've had stacked sitting in my room at some points.

Anyway, to kick things off I'd like to talk about the last thing I did, which is beat the game Alan Wake II from Remedy games. They've done a few things like the Max Payne games and the critically acclaimed Control, but the Alan Wake series in particular holds a special place in my heart. It was one of the first "triple a" games I ever played, because at that point I had mostly played Nintendo games on GBA, DS and Wii (I played Gamecube games too, don't worry) and adventure type games on my computer. Games outside of PC classics and Nintendo games were a new frontier for me. Earlier in 2010 I got an Xbox 360 in order to play Modern Warfare 2 with the other kids at school, in which afterwards I found out that they all had PS3's instead. But at least I could play Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing with Banjo Kazooie, whom I didn't even like or even ever had played his games but his design is fun so whatever. By the way, no spoilers for Alan Wake or it's sequel here aside from me saying how I felt about the ending.

The original Alan Wake game came out in mid May of 2010. I was about 11 at the time, but I was about to turn 12 as my birthday was at the end of the month. Around when the game came out I ended up catching a lot of press footage and playthroughs showing off the game, and I was just enchanted by it. It was a game that was really nothing like I'd ever seen before. It was dark, gritty, moody, realistic, and revolved around shooting but unlike other 360 games it had this incredibly unique and eerie vibe that pulled me in, and while I didn't really understand the story very much, I thought Alan was a really funny protagonist because he just kind of came across as a dick. Kid me's mind kind of rationalized it as Sonic but he's basically just in the real world. I also thought the main mechanic of the game was also really cool. I guess it sounds too convenient to be true, but I've always loved flashlights. It's a device that's just a beam you can turn on to dispel darkness. I feel like a detective. It's fun to wave them around and point at things, I always kind of thought of them like a really cool sword. I especially love the big ones because it feels like I'm holding a cannon in my hands.

But anyway, everything about the game was just really interesting to me, and in a way it also kind of made me feel a little more adult because of the graphics and tone. So with my birthday at the end of the month, you can imagine what I asked for. In the days leading up to my birthday, I was kind of obsessed with the game and I spoiled much of it for myself. But eventually my birthday came and I finally had the game in my hands! I've still got that copy next to me as I type this. It's in far better condition than my other 360 boxes too, cause my Sonic Unleashed box is in real bad condition. Maybe it's an object of power. Anyway, I played through the game, loved it, loved the twists, scares and turns, surprisingly hilarious characters and utterly beautiful music, and how unique of a protagonist Alan was. But then, I beat the game. I won't spoil the ending, but it's the kind of ending where I'm still not sure how it's designed to make you feel. It's basically a cliffhanger, (and while there eventually was DLC that continued the story I never got around to playing it and none of it really took the story anywhere) and it left a longing in me. I wanted more. I wanted to see what happened to Alan and the people in his life. But the game didn't provide any real closure. Afterwards I scoured the internet for answers, reading other people's theories and consuming all the lore in the game that I missed, obsessively trying to get a a straight answer, any kind of meaning. I desperately wanted someone to tell me anything so I could know how to feel. Nothing else before really left me like this! You know how a lot of people, especially in the past decade enjoy watching videos that explain the lore of their favourite games, like Dark Souls or Five Night's at Freddy's? That was me with this game. But it wasn't just for the sake of consuming content, I needed closure. But I couldn't find it. I guess like Alan I was left wandering in the darkness fruitlessly searching for a way out of this headspace this stupid game got me in. Sonic had fucking closure. I was happy I had the experience, but other games had closure!

By the way this is kind of irrelevant, but in case you're wondering why my parents would let me play games like this at a young age like that, I think my dad stopped caring after I had a little argument with him in 2008 when Super Smash Bros. Brawl came out and it had a T rating but then he saw the game was fine. Or maybe he just thought I could take it, or maybe he just didn't care. He let me play No More Heroes, which, for the uninitiated, is not a child's game.

Anyway, I eventually got bored of searching for answers and my interest in the game eventually faded into the background. As I grew older I didn't forget about the game. I still listened to the music from time to time, but it definitely became a second thought, and sometimes I felt it might have been because of the ending. Sometimes though, periodically, I would revisit the game. Watch the cutscenes, look at the ending again, try to formulate a theory. It was still a game I liked, but I couldn't kick the feeling of a giant blueballing. But as you grow up, you change, and experiences you just had become a nostalgic memory. I don't think you change as much as people say you do, I think it's more like you realize things about yourself as you're able to better articulate your feelings into words. As I grew up, and now I think I almost fully realize, is that I kind of love not knowing some things. Maybe not in like a, hell yeah I love not having answers kind of thing, but I find it's utterly intoxicating. Witnessing the rise of Dark Souls and Five Nights at Freddy's in the 2010s and also being able to think about storytelling on a deeper level, I realized something that seems kind of insane to me. Alan Wake is a video game with a definitive beginning and a definitive end. At some point, the game runs out of content to show you and you will have inevitably seen and done everything. But what if I told you there was a way to keep the game going even after it's exhausted it's digital limits?

You probably know where this is going, but I realized that it wasn't the fact that Alan Wake had an ending with a ton of closure that kept it going in my mind, it was the that it left a ton of things unanswered! There are so many pieces of media I've played, or watched where it just ends, and while I enjoy them I never really paid a second thought to them afterwards. They just fade. But Alan was a light that continued to burn bright in my mind. This feeling of longing that I had after beating it, in a way that's better than just a happy ending. Other works of fiction have used this to their advantage. I don't think it's any coincidence any time David Lynch gets his hands on Twin Peaks, which Alan Wake is teetering very close on being a ripoff of sometimes, it ends on things that leave you with a billion more questions than you came in with. Sam Lake and Lynch understand the power of planting a seed in your head. Because that not only lets the work of art live far past it's expiration, but that's where the imagination also flourishes. There are so many other people who come up with theories trying to interpret these works of art, and because of this I don't think they'll ever truly die. Now, I don't think every piece of art should do this, because I will admit, most of the time it is nice to just have a neat bow placed on something. But like every device in a story, it is merely a tool that is waiting for the right time to be used. Even in stories with closure we can use this to keep things going, the possibilities are never ending. It's so exciting to think about.

But like I said, as time passes other things take precedent. Other works of art and stuff, so these things, even Alan Wake will eventually fade in to the background. The game if I recall sold well and became a cult classic through word of mouth. Even some of my normie friends know about the game. But I never really thought it would continue. Mainly because of the open ended nature of the ending and the fact it isn't an uber popular game that exists in a gaming environment where the maximum amount of money needs to be pumped in to every game in order to make the maximum amount of money back, which is why to my absolute jaw dropping, during the Game Awards 2021, a fucking Alan Wake II was announced. When the trailer first came on, I had my suspicions it might be Alan Wake II, because even in my faded memory I could still recall the layout of the main town in the game. And then he showed up, it was fucking Alan Wake. Rocking a beard and looking very conspicuously a lot more like John Wick, but still, it was him. The title dropped and I couldn't believe it. It was actually happening. Now, this was already kind of insane year for me in games. Because it just so happened not one, but THREE other games I liked a ton as a kid got sequels I thought were utterly impossible earlier that year. In the same week no less, Psychonauts 2 and No More Heroes 3 came out! And then a couple of months later, a Metroid 5! Hell, Mega Man 11 also came out in 2018. What the hell was going on? Why are all these old ass games that I thought were just made for me getting sequels? Now, of all times? I guess nostalgia plays a big part in getting these made, but it's still kinda weird. Hell, even Shadow the Hedgehog is getting his own fucking game this year. If a Portal 3 happened, I think that might just be a sign of the end times. But, regardless, because of this, I also have to wonder if, just like starting a blog in 2024, if it's just kind of too late to make sequels to these kinds of games.

Admittedly, I don't think about this topic a ton, because at heart I'm a consumer of media and much of the time I like to see things I like get continued, but the adventures of Alan Wake is a weird one. This is a game that opened me up to the idea of never getting closure, but here we are with a sequel. It could either do two things, give us closure and kill the vibe or continue not giving us answers and leave us feeling the exact same way the original game did.

Because I'll finally cut to the chase, I think Alan Wake 2 is pretty much a perfect video game. The new survival horror gameplay that is apparently just ripping off Resident Evil 2 now was great, the puzzles were great, the scares were legitimately good, the music was still amazing, the game was funnier and had even more quirky characters and moments than the first one, and the story was very well thought out! I would recommend it instantly. Despite all the differences from the original game in gameplay, tone and even featuring a new protagonist, it still felt like a perfect followup. But I beat the game, got to the ending...and to what I suppose is not justified shock, I felt exactly the same completing Alan Wake 2 as I did completing Alan Wake 1 all those years ago. I feel a longing. Maybe not as painful, but it's still there. But for the record, I think this is a really cool thing, I think that just proves Sam Lake and the team at Remedy haven't lost it, that they can make a game that feels just like the original. But....is that even a good thing? It makes me feel good, on some kind of dopamine level to think that they haven't lost it, but do we actually want those exact same vibes? Is it healthy? Playing the game, I was ready for something different, something new, but instead I kind of just got exactly what I paid for...I got more Alan Wake. Like, you feel me, right? It's intoxicating to have a perfect recreation of those same feelings, but I'm also really conflicted here. From a consumer point of view, it's great that we just got more of what we like. And in a lot of cases, this is what a "good" sequel is considered to be. But here's my thing about that; I've never felt like that is sustainable. Assume a franchise keeps going forever with the same vibes, eventually it's just going to get stuck in it's own tropes and formulas and themes. You need to introduce new elements to the story to keep things exciting, I think that's just how it is. Some people might tell you that it's possible to do something new with a franchise while sticking to all the same things, but I think that's total bullshit.

Eventually, you will hit a wall where there isn't a new topic to be explored without introducing some kind of tonal shift or alien plot element. I think that's just how stories fundamentally work. Everything is a runner that eventually runs out of track to run when it reaches the end. Why do you think so many sequels to things end up so repetitious? I think many creatives at heart are aware of this, and in today's environment of nostalgia and IP centric mania we have people attempting to do new things with certain franchises, but sometimes that just ends up pissing old head consumers of those things off! But we're not allowed to make anything new so what else are we to do?? Everything these days like fucking Star Wars or Batman needs to be beholden to it's own internal logic and rules and established characters and themes to work, but if you don't do anything new it's just not interesting! But if you be different you'll just make people mad! It pleases nobody! Hell, an example is Psychonauts 2. I've seen several people complain about Psychonauts 2 (one of my all time favourite games for the record) because of the tonal shifts from the first game (granted, a few other things too, like not focusing on the previous game's characters more, but that's also another thing that contributes to my argument). It's an incredible game that I believe is a true work of art, but would it have just been better if it were a new IP rather than a sequel? Maybe so. I think it manages to build upon the established lore, themes and rules of the first game magnificently while still retaining the same twisted sense of humor, but for some people, they just wanted a goofy cartoon game with interesting looking levels and instead got a careful examination of several individual's deeply held personal trauma. It's just a like, a different thing!

We don't need new IPs...no, new worlds, NOT because of new characters, or even new storylines. We need them because we need new rules for stories to function under. We need them in order to elicit new, different feelings in us.

I'm conflicted. I think having the same vibes as the original thing is truly intoxicating, but I worry that it's not healthy. I worry that this definition of a "good" sequel just creates a negative trend where we just can't allow anything new to be done with established franchises. If we will just hit a point where any change is instantly disagreeable on the basis of not fitting some perceived version of the original product. Like, it gets even more insane when everyone just has their own version of something in their head, it all depends on taste. I could probably go on about what I think makes a sensible evolution of something, or if we should even respect the notion of evolution in favor of a new creation, but this post is already excessively long so I think the easiest way to put it is that I think we just need a healthy balance of the old and the new In both established series and new series, and in what the big slop corporations feed us. I look forward to the day this trend of sequels pass and companies seek out new stuff again. Despite my complicated feelings on Alan Wake 2, I think it is almost an exception to this, because I feel it is a true work of art that came from a place of passion and hard work. It thoughtfully takes elements from the original game and expands upon them in ways that are fresh and interesting while also introducing crazy new elements that make it feel fresh! But I guess this sentiment could also vary from person to person depending on what the work of art is.

The point is, Play Alan Wake and Alan Wake 2!

and uhh, Alan Wake's American Nightmare. You can play it, I think it's cool too. Anyway, as a reward for getting to the end of this post, here's an old sketch of the main character from the comic book I'm working on meeting Alan Wake. Your reward is more reading.

[romaine2424]

Daily Blog June 29, 2023

So I had to stop my writing today because of bills. :( Paying them and being on the phone for hours with insurance companies. And then son called from SoCal (living down there for college) and wanted to FaceTime so we could search for his old DS games from years ago. We found about 1/2 but at least he got to see the kitties scampering about.

I will get back to writing after this post. The solution to my earlier problem, my Alpha helped get my unstuck. My muse perked right up! Now I'm anxious to get to that scene! LOL

What I'm reading:

I'm still reading The Ordeal of Being Known and only on Chapter 6. Usually I'd have it read and onto the sequel by now. It's not the fic, which I'm enjoying very much but its me doing my writing. :)

Tumblr Drarry Fic/Art Resource:

So I've mentioned @drarryspecificrecs and @drarryspecificrecsdaily for posting Daily Drarry completed fics on AO3 and then a monthly compilation for the longest fics and more. But there's more! So much more! On @drarryspecificrecs home page you will find much goodness. First there's a Theme link, which has some themes I usually don't see listed like Breaking the Statute of Secrecy or FrenchSpeaking!Draco!

But the most awesome thing is what comes next, a full on archive of all the fests that there is still access to since 2005. First a 2 part listing of fests is available. Part 1 is all the Drarry fests in alphabetical order (old and new) and the years that fest was held. Part 2 is the listing for all HP fests. If you click on the year next to a fest name, it will take you right to it. Or if you want to see all the fests held in a certain year, that is available too. This took some serious work to archive all of this. Just one note, that some years are covered on multiple pages so check the bottom for a next arrow!

Also you'll see 2023, listed and that link will bring you to the Drarry posts for 2023. Just scroll down a bit and you'll find the post for the Drarry Fest Calendar for 2023.

This Drarry Fest archive is a thing of beauty!

Note: We did discuss the category of Most Popular fics for the older fics. As it is listed it was done using Kudos, which is a good method but for older fics before AO3 and those that where the author didn't post their stories on AO3 but were brought over in The Hex Files transfer (2017), those fics started with Zero kudos, even though they might have been highly popular on other sites. It's unfortunate that so many HP and Drarry posting sites have disappeared so we don't have those stats. But, for now, we can only use the data we have. And we're all thankful that there is an AO3 archive and archivists like @drarryspecificrecs

So go play on @drarryspecificrecs and I'm sure you'll find many many hidden gems!

Tidbits:

It's HP canon not HP cannon

It's Ginevra not Ginerva (um....I might have made that error on my first fic. *blush*).

It's Lose if you've lost something and Loose if something like clothing is too large.

And in case anyone missed this amazing piece of artwork....Draco receiving the Dark Mark.

Okay, go forth and enjoy the last day(s) of June,

Rom

[dankusoofficial]

Hello! Haven't played Osu, Tatakae! Ouendan, but I have played Elite Beat Agents! Do you want to go off on Osu Tatakae Ouendan a bit, I would love to hear some things about it!

oh god .

hi ?? hello ?? this oddly feels like such an honor for you to be in my ask box - but putting that aside , sure ! playing both it and its sequel off and on for like the past two years really helps me here tbh LMAO

so . Osu ! Tatakae ! Ouendan was the first game of the series , releasing on the DS in '05 . it's what i'd call a little more ' primitive ' than EBA or the 2nd ouendan , examples being there's no unlockable songs , that you're not able to save replays of stages you've played , that you can't skip through the cutscenes that play while your stamina meter is filling up on the bottom screen ( which is persistently annoying for if you keep dying in one stage ) / outro cutscenes , that said stamina bar drains faster than in the other games , especially on higher difficulties , there's also only one ending song , unlike the other two games ( and also ! it's Ready Steady Go , which is the exact same song used in the Fullmetal Alchemist opening ) - but for this being the first game of the series that iNIS made , it's excusable .

Elite Beat Agents came out in '06 as somewhat of a localization of OTO , after seeing how many people were importing OTO to play it even without an english language option . an upgrade to the original OTO formula . you probably know the rest .

Osu ! Tatakae ! Ouendan ! 2 ( otherwise known as Moero ! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu ! Tatakae ! Ouendan 2 ) came out in '07 , which added a bit of a twist compared to the original - that being the fact there was now two teams , the Yuuhi Ouendan and the Asahi Ouendan ( also known as the Encouraging Nobility ) which rival against each other to be the top ouendan team . this game has similar features to what elite beat agents added , and even had a special distribution event / an early form of DLC where you could get a special mode where you could play as the EBA ( which put an EBA badge button on the difficulty selection screen , and was just a model swap . it can actually still be put into the game through cheats if you have it on something like an r4 card )

and sadly , that's where the curtain quietly closed on the series . they tried pitching one on the 3ds to nintendo , but they never greenlit it , and that's where it ends - i'd say , if it weren't for the pc game Osu ! existing . it at least , lives on through that .

[motherfuckermorgan]

kirby's return to dream land thoughts

didn't really go into this game planning to make a post like this, this was just a game i wanted to give a go but i ended up having a decent amount to say about this game that i can't really fit into twitter posts neatly.

modern 2d kirby games are really interesting. i think they are the most mechanically rich the series has ever been, though admittedly they do end up sacrificing some of the simplicity that it core to kirby as a result. though this also creates a contradiction where because you're given so many more options the games are now also generally easier. kirby games were always pretty easy, though i did find myself more likely to die if i was playing haphazardly in those. more options = easier yet less simple, but also allows the game to create a higher skill ceiling for its most difficult challenges in the postgame. i didn't really try any of these so i won't speak on them, but the main campaign of this game is relatively breezy. i had 80 lives by the end of the game and i'd imagine a kid could make it through with a fraction of those lives.

return to dream land is also the first console kirby game in a while, and in a lot of way it's really really safe. mechnically speaking the only thing they push outta the game that would've been unreasonably for the poor feeble DS was the addition of 4 player multiplayer. graphically though? this game takes full advantage of being on much beefier hardware. kirby character designs have, to me, always translated extremely well to 3d designs. some series do struggle graphically when making the transition to 3d, meanwhile with kirby? kirby 64 is by far the best looking game on the N64 in no small part to the simple character designs lending themselves well to a lowplay style. but i digress. i played the switch port for this playthrough and damn, i gotta be real, the thick outlines of the characters contrasting the levels really does look nice. it gives the game a nice bit of pop and does account for the fact that a lot of people are likely gonna be playing this as a handheld game. the wii original is no slouch in the graphics department, but the switch version is, in my opinion, the best that kirby has ever looked in 3d!

while it is a very nice looking game, in terms of theming... it's nothing that kirby hasn't done before. you got your beach levels, your volcano levels, industrial levels, grass levels, etc etc it's all very safe. i guess it makes sense given kirby hadn't been on a console in over a decade, but it does make this very odd to me, in terms of comparing it to the game that would follow it. the theming of the sequel games is STRONG. triple deluxe takes a more naturalistic approach, while planet robobot contrasts this with an industrialist approach. star allies ties together what is otherwise mostly a game for fanservice with a kid friendly cult. forgotten land takes you to an apocalyptic world, a world now overgrown but still containing many manmade structures that create a dark undertone that forces you to ask "What happened here". return to dream land, again, does not in my mind have this sort of distinct theming. we're just in dream land again. we're gonna see the same kind of levels we've come to expect, without much of a twist on them. perhaps this is being unfair to the game, and i would at the very least place it higher than star allies, but i can't pretend like this game left all that strong of an impression on me in this regard.

i cannot say the same for the game's villain, magolor. holy shit does this guy steal the show. if there's anything to remember about this game, it's him. in a similar vein to marx, he feigns being kirby's friend by laying a problem in his lap. magolor's ship has crashed on popstar, and he needs help repairing his ship to make it back home. of course, we're never given a reason as to why he came out of a big ass black hole far away from home, but kirby's just a nice guy and is willing to help out. we've no reason to be overtly suspicious about magolor, other than he's rather secretive about how he even ended up here. this, in my opinion, helps with the twist later. his true nature is revealed when, upon defeating the dragon that doomed his ship prior, it is revealed that magolor is another power-hungry maniac trying to conquer the universe. he is so nice to you up until this point, it is easy to get attached and therefore easier to feel the betrayal. marx doesn't really have this? he shows up once before deciding, actually, i want to take over the world. magolor is a constant presence, he IS the driving force of the game. he is the one you meet at the end of each world, and he is the one who drives you to slay the only beast keeping him from obtaining ultimate power.

i had a lot to say about the set dressing of the game, but how about the levels themselves? they're about as good as they've always been, i reckon. they also come with some of my kirby gripes. i've always felt a bit odd about how kirby games did puzzle solving for its optional areas. it makes sense that they'd want you to engage with a specific copy ability, but i always found this hard to come to grips with. kirby games are so easy, it would be most fun just to blast through the game with your favorite copy ability. this is actually how i often play through kirby 64! but it's also not practical if you wanna get the most out of the game. i'm not really sure what the solution is, it's not like i want the puzzles to be less interesting, but i can't pretend like it isn't a problem for me personally.

in general, the level design is pretty solid. they're nothing you haven't seen before, but then again, that's a reoccurring theme. i do think the expanded movepools give you more to do when you're going from level to level, as well as giving more depth to the bosses.

i will say also, the central gimmick of this game is... underwhelming. i think this is the BIGGEST issue with modern kirby games. often times the gimmick of the game is an uninteresting one. i think the only games where i'm fully on board with them is the robots in robobot and mouthful mode in forgotten land. the stronger copy abilities are... fine. i do think that they kind of make my problem of "Having to constantly switch copy abilities isn't the most fun" worse. i also think that a lot of them don't create the most fun puzzle solving. pretty much all of them just boil down to hitting the attack button in the right spot, which i suppose you could argue is how a lot of kirby puzzles go, but it feels more egregious when you have to watch a longer than normal animation every time. you're also just practically invincible during these segments. sure, you CAN get hit, but also, the second you see an enemy, it's as easy as hitting the attack button every time. shout out to the snow roll though, that one was genuinely fun pretty much every time i came across it.

seems like this game got me to bitch a LOT. but it's really much easier to nitpick a game like this than say "it's cute and i like it :)" over and over. this is a great game! it's just a game that IMO lives in the shadow of better games that have followed it since. more than worth playing, but don't expect this to be a big shakeup for the kirby series or anything.

[sanctaignorantia]

I think its more a case of amount of media/entries

I don't think I'd phrase it as one is more "real" than the other, and more so different pacing

Theres 10 or 11 mg/s games, and only one for death stranding (with DS2 upcoming) so far

Mgs covers well over roughly 50 years, and much of characters' relationships and interior thoughts are off screen/left unsaid

The relationships in mgs tend to be more "fast burn", character catch feeling/relationships develop far more quickly/ have room to breath off screen, vs ds "slow burn", its plot happens at a much slower pace than any game individually, but there isnt any room for relationships to develop on or off screen in the same way ig?

And mgs do quite a bit of jumping around in the timeline after mgs2, tbf

We definitely saw a bit of lisa, cliff, diehardman and briget's complicated realtionships towards the end of the game, but it doesnt help how far in the past/how closed off and distant most of those characters are

(How reciprocal cliff and diehardmans relationship was isnt clear)

We also saw the slow movement and development of higgs' infatuation/obsession with sam, and really only saw much acknowledged by sam near the end of the game, with the boss fight and final pizza.

But, if sam and higgs are loosely paralleling naked snake and ocelot, it took the later 2 playstation games before actually having them interacting on screen together finally in mgs3 (after 2 games of barely subtext that ocelot was gay/queer, and was infatuated with naked snake/possibly other male characters) And we only see them begin to reach an equal understanding (maybe) at the end of the game, because of the layers of trauma and cold war espionage/spy bs obfuscating it

They have several violent fights/soldier meet cutes where they beat the crap out of each other, ocelot falls hard and fast for an enemy, with classic movie troupes like gaussian blur being used to suggest a dreamy quality, and snake spares a a young upstart who causes many a problem like higgs, and he should by all intents and purposes just kill him, and not just be pleasantly impressed by this weird 20 something

WOW!!!! There's a lot in MG, really.

You're right, DS is much slower and has a lot of things in the past, we couldn't have the same amount of games that MG had, I don't think we'll ever reach that number.

But I'm surprised again at how crazy MG is haha

And I didn't mean exactly that one would be more real than the other, but in a sense that as the MG sequels arrived and more of this kind of information was put into the game, the more weight there was in Kojima's intention to talk about it. He wants to talk about how these characters relate and connect and also the way these characters find to love each other within their own complexities. I see him doing that in DS as well and so that's why it expands.

[hopeymchope]

My total score: 36-37% correct

Hey, that's not too bad. I mean... it's a failing grade by most measures, but damn, everybody makes predictions like this and everybody usually does terrible, so I'm just happy I got one of my crazier predictions right!

More than once yesterday, I said "There won't be anything about Pokemon in the Direct, of course. Because Pokemon always does their own 'Pokemon Presents,' they haven't been part of a Direct for AGES. At least, nothing beyond just showing an old trailer." And then the Direct opens with all-new DLC footage and info, like they specifically wanted to prove ME wrong. :P

...also? Detective Pikachu Returns was finally shown, which looks like it literally uses the same assets from the 3DS game (lookin' rough there buddy) but somehow is still gonna have taken 4.5 years since its initial announcement to come out, which seems weird to me. Like, what were you doing all that time - just writing it, or what? Is it super-long this time around?

Wow, Nintendo fired ALL their Mario-game cannons today, huh??? Even stuff as weak as "A remaster of a 3DS game that won't be here until next year at an unspecified time" got dropped, which I think is all because of the Mario movie's smash success. Mario is hot right now, and they were ready for that.

Speaking of SMB Wonder: The "Wonder Flower" is clearly just Mario doing drugs, right? It's like "TOUCH FUZZY, GET DIZZY" taken to the next goddamn level. Super Mario Trippin' Balls.

As soon as they started talking up the Metal Gear Master Collection being on the Switch, I was like "THIS IS IT! NINTENDO'S "TWIN SNAKES" IS GETTING ITS HD REMASTER, BABY!" .... and uuuuuh suffice to say that did not happen. If there was ever gonna be a time for it, this was probably the time. I guess Twin Snakes will forever be trapped on GameCube, huh? The inclusion of the NES games is kinda cool I guess, but I'd rather have the GBC Ghost Babel. Maybe if they ever get to making a "Vol. 2" of this collection, we'll have one more shot at it? But it feels like an extremely long shot now...

Do you know the last system to get two unique WarioWare games on it? It was the DS. So uh... this doesn't have a lot of precedent. Pretty wild this is happening. But I don't find "MOVE IT!" nearly as compelling as "Get it Together" was for me, personally.

Super Mario RPG remake will be a good opportunity for me to finally play that game. I did try to play through it many years ago, but I somehow softlocked myself in Nimbus Land. Never went back.

Super Mario RPG + Super Mario Bros. Wonder = "Super-Deformed Mario is here, please adore him!" And frankly, I do. Total adorbs.

Love to see Peach getting a new game of her own (Super Princess Peach is still underrated btw), she deserves the respect. But uh, was she... transforming into Rosalina there at the end of her trailer or what???

If the Batman Arkham trilogy is physical? I'm in. Still haven't played Arkham Knight, after all, and Arkham Asylum is one of the greats. (Btw, Arkham Origins > Arkham City don't @ me, woefully underrated title.) If it's digital-only? I'm out.

It was kind of funny how, during Sonic Superstars, the announcer felt the need to say "Sonic" then "Tails" then "Knuckles" and then "Amy Rose." Because like. Why does she have to use her surname to identify herself at this point? We know who Amy is. You didn't say "Miles 'Tails' Prower." Idk. Just me?

I've really been meaning to play the first and second Star Ocean games, and now we have the second getting a new full remake? Even more incentive to get on top of it. I'm a sucker for games that twist and bend based on your personal choices, and from what I hear, these two are dynamite at that! BTW, did they ever make a game that takes place AFTER the third one, or do all the later sequels take place before it? Because I've heard plenty about the much-despised twist in Part 3, "Til the End of Time." And it seems like they've run from ever following up on it...

Pikmin 1 & 2 HD is appreciated. More GameCube remasters plz, that is all.

I wouldn't have cared much at all about Penny's Big Breakaway based on just looking at it, but they said it was from the team behind Sonic Mania, so NOW I care.

By all accounts, Manic Mechanics is literally Overcooked with cars instead of food.

Last-minute Nintendo Direct predictions for 6/21/23

Deeper dive on Pikmin 4, obviously. That's a freebie. Probably opens the Direct.

Everybody 1-2 Switch gets some kind of trailer, but that's it.

Persona 5 Tactica and Persona 3 Reload both confirmed for Switch.

Fate/Samurai Remnant trailer with release date.

Mario Kart 8's Wave 5 DLC gets at least some info.

Tears of the Kingdom DLC gets teased a bit, but not much info yet.

Mario Sluggers (aka Baseball) returns for a new entry.

New 2D Mario game ("New Super Mario Bros. Switch"?)

Metroid Prime 4 finally gets unveiled... this is probably the end of the Direct?

There you go. First one is a freebie, next five make sense/have heavy-duty rumors or some plausible leaks, last three are more "out there" but seem to make sense to me.

Still crossing my fingers and toes for Kid Icarus Uprising to get ported, though. :P

[vg-sanctuary]

Picross 3D and Round 2

HAL Laboratory - DS, 3DS - 2010-2016

[images from nintendolife and worldofgames]

nonograms, Japanese crossword, "picross," Pic-a-Pix, the only number puzzle I actually like. I couldn't get my head around kakuro and sudoku felt like a waste of time. picross, though, makes a nice picture at the end and it's easier to tell when you've made a mistake, especially on digital picross that usually tells you outright. I think I prefer picross because you feel like you've made actually completed something once you complete the puzzle instead of just putting some numbers on a page in an array that's "correct" according to an arbitrary set of rules.

Picross 3D is one of the small handful of games I remember trying a demo of from the Nintendo Channel on the Wii when I was little. the Nintendo Channel was a wonderful thing and I'd never played any puzzle like the ones in Picross 3D, so I was hooked, but I'd never played the full game until more recently. honestly, I still don't think there are any puzzle games that offer puzzles that have to be handmade like picross, 3D or otherwise. a computer can't make a picross puzzle on its own because of the picture part. Picross 3D, adapts these age-old deduction-based color-by-number puzzles into glorious 3D on the DS of all things. it was appropriate because of the touch screen, it's just that the DS wasn't exactly known for its 3D capabilities. not that it's especially visually complex anyway. it's also a late DS game that's quite good and not really talked about. seems like those things go together.

the main ideas and strategies of plain 2D picross adapt to 3D beautifully despite the extra dimension. both kinds of puzzle ask the player to use limited information to figure which cells are and aren't filled in. you don't need to know 2D picross to play Picross 3D, but it helps a little. in Picross 3D, each puzzle is a grid of cubes where any side of a cube can have a number on it, and that number shows how many cubes on that line of cubes are painted instead of broken. sometimes there will be a circle or a square around the number. a circle means the painted cubes are in two groups separated by at least one broken cube, and a square means it's three or more groups each separated by at least one broken cube. some lines of cubes don't have a number, which just means you don't know how many cubes in that line are painted or broken, and you have to use the available numbers to figure that line out.

somehow Picross 3D got a 3DS sequel, simply called Picross 3D: Round 2, that improves on the original in practically every way. the biggest difference is that there are two colors of paint instead of just one, which adds an extra layer of depth to the puzzles. (for those curious, there are multicolored 2D picross puzzles too.) in the original Picross 3D, you linearly progress through puzzles that ramp up in difficulty, but in Round 2, the puzzles are sorted into books with themes like birds, sports, or trucks, and each book has different unlock conditions. every puzzle can be played on easy, normal, or hard, unlike the first game's strict difficulty curve. Round 2 is really nonlinear and you don't need to do every puzzle to progress, so if you don't want to do the time limit or one strike puzzles, you don't have to. it also allows as many hints as you want with no penalty. the less punishing rules and library theming make Round 2 feel really cozy and sort of zen, while the original has the distinct feeling of a late DS game. I personally love both. the only thing the original has over its sequel is the ability to create, upload, and download user made puzzles over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, but Nintendo WFC is dead now anyway so that doesn't matter.

usually I feel like I need something important to say about all the games I write about. I don't have anything like that for this one, I just really like this pair of games and think the puzzle systems are really interesting and fun, and of course, most people don't know about them. you do now, though, and I hope you'll enjoy these games if you're into puzzles.

[puppys-rhythm-heaven]

the lack of enjoyment i get from playing rhythm heaven just makes me want a new one even more tbh-

[fayesdiary]

On it!

GBA Trilogy

The GBA titles are one of the best places to start- they're easy to, er, get, their spritework is gorgeous, they have a good chunk of the many mechanics you'll encounter throughout the whole series and their difficulty is relatively tame.

Blazing Blade is considered the vanilla FE experience, but Sacred Stones is self-contained and feels a bit closer to modern FE titles, since it has a route split and multiple class promotions. And again, very beginner-friendly. I'd recommend you save Binding Blade for later though, I heard that game is a bit unfair and janky.

The Marth/Archanea games

If you want to start at the very beginning with Marth's games I'd reccomend playing Shadow Dragon on the DS - the original one on the NES has aged as well as you'd expect and I wouldn't recommend playing it unless you hate yourself, you're adamant to play Fire Emblem's very modest roots or have access to the 30th Anniversary Edition on Switch.

Fun fact I've finished Shadow Dragon like last week

Mystery of the Emblem obviously comes later since it's a sequel, and you can choose which version to play: the original on the SNES (it also has an abridged remake of FE1 if you want to do both in one go), or the Japan-only remake on the DS.

Be warned though that unlike FE11, which is a faithful remake of FE1, FE12 does take some liberties in remaking Mystery's plot- mainly due to it including the first playable avatar- and the changes have been controversial.

But assuming you play the two games on the DS- it is good and relatively beginner-friendly, but the presentation is shit and it feels a bit clunky at times with it having no ways to transport slower units besides Warp and being forced to visit the villages with Marth.

...Don't worry about permadeath, though- you get a truckload of characters in both games, most of them have two lines of dialogue at best and even if you somehow get everyone killed they give you generic units as a replacement.

Jugdral

Unless you've already some experience playing Fire Emblem, this is gonna be a big fat no for now. These games are not beginner-friendly at all.

Geneaology has a great world, story and characters, but it plays unlike any other game with its 12 chapters and gigantic maps. And worse, its gameplay is clunky and dated as hell (as one example, you can't trade items and weapons and to pass a weapon to another unit you're forced to use a workshop), and many times it feels like the game is deliberately wasting your time.

Thracia is a midquel to Geneaology and as such you shouldn't play it before Geneaology. Its gameplay is much better and closer to a GBA titles though, but be warned that it's really hard, especially if you're blind. The latest translation did include a lot of QoL changes, though.

I know I've made these two games look a bit bad, but I really recommend you play them one day- emphasis on play them, because their gameplay-story integration is almost unparalleled.

Just... not as the first games for a newcomer.

The 3DS games

I'd recommend you play Awakening first- it's a shorter, more streamlined experience, it's easy on normal difficulty, it lets you disable permadeath and lets you turn your units into unstoppable monsters if you're that kind of RPG player, and most important of all- it's really, really cool.

Fates' gameplay is much like Awakening's but with a lot more polish, and while the rest of the games are... divisive, it's way better than people give it credit for. The recommended order to play the games is Birthright>Conquest>Revelations, but you can play them in any order you want. You should still keep Rev for last though, the game itself says so.

As for which game to play first between BR or CQ: Birthright's design is a lot simpler and it lets you grind infinitely, while Conquest requires a lot more strategy, given that you have limited resources, the enemies are packed with strong skills and almost every map has a unique objective. Personally I found Conquest to be a lot more fun.

If you're still not sure, you can always decide if you feel more like Nohrian Scum or Hoshidan Filth.

But if you want to play all the three Fates games in a row, take a break in-between or you're likely going to burn out. I know I did.

Shadows of Valentia is the objectively best game in the franchise really good! Its presentation is one of the best and comes the closest to Three Houses, its gameplay is a lot simpler since you don't have too much stuff to keep track of but still a lot of fun, you can grind and rewind turns, and its characters are as charming as they get!

If you're a madman like me, you can try the original game on the NES, Fire Emblem Gaiden. Maybe after you play Echoes though.

TL;DR: The GBA and 3DS games are the best places to start, you should avoid the Jugdral games for now but absolutely play them one day, Marth's games are best played on the DS versions and you should check the NES titles only if you're masochistic or curious about Fire Emblem's beginnings.

Oh, also, I'm gonna assume you're emulating these games, so a word of advice:

Save states and the fast-forward buttons are your best friends!

so i now have the capability to play all the old fire emblems besides the ike ones. i don’t even know where to start honestly (this is me asking for suggestions)

Oh that's a good question, and it probably depends on your personal preferences!

If you want to see how the series got its start, there's always Shadow Dragon and New Mystery of the Emblem! They got a 3DS update at some point, if I'm not mistaken (though I haven't played them), but Marth's games were the origin of the series.

From what I understand, Gaiden is a lot more experimental in format than most other games: it includes actual dungeon crawling portions (which are faithfully incorporated in the 3DS remake) -- but this is another one I don't have first-hand experience with, so I can't say too much about it.

I haven't played the oldest games like Genealogy of the Holy War and Thracia 776, but I have heard generally good things about Genealogy's story and overall handling of its themes. It's also pretty brutal in its difficulty, from what I understand, so if you're particularly good at tactical RPGs in the vein of Fire Emblem it might be a good starting point -- or if you're like me and terrible at them, maybe skip them for now.

Blazing Blade was actually my first introduction to the series, and I really enjoyed it -- one of my favorite things about it is actually the sprite animations, which is just lovely. Funny enough, I never finished it (I got through the prologue with Lyn multiple times but never got more than one or two chapters further), but the characters were really fun and it's one of the games that pops instantly to mind when I think of "classic Fire Emblem," for better and worse (RIP me permadeath is mandatory and unit management is painful).

I have such a weird relationship with Sacred Stones because I know I have played this game. I have evidence that I have played this game. I remember absolutely nothing about it. I have the vaguest memories of Myrrh and running low on her dragonstone charges and that is it. Even so, it's another good game with strong characters and more of those excellent sprite animations (but also it still has the permadeath and units you don't use will fall further and further behind).

Unfortunately it wasn't until the 3DS generation that we started getting some major quality of life improvements: Awakening is where we got optional skirmishes to help with leveling units, making unit management easier since you can keep everyone roughly equivalent in level and have a wider roster to use; I believe it's also the first game where permadeath was optional rather than the default, so along with varying difficulty options it's a lot kinder to people that aren't excellent at the game like me, I am a filthy casual and I feel no shame. Later games like Shadows of Valentia (the Gaiden remake) even include an option to rewind turns so you don't have to make quicksaves and restart if you want to avoid units falling (which, yes, I do even if I have permadeath off I don't want anything bad to happen to my friends okay).

I know @fayesdiary has a lot of experience with the older games -- any advice for someone looking for a place to start?

[pelleas-at-castle-nox]

I'd say it depends on what consoles you have access to.

If you only have a switch, your only real option is playing 3 houses, and it's a good place to start, but be aware there's a lot of quality of life features that won't be available if you go backwards from there, most notably the ability to rewind turns. It's a great game but not really representative of the series as a whole.

If you have a 3DS, you have 3 more to choose from, but as others have Said your best choice is still Awakening. MANY people who are now die hard fans of the series started with awakening. It has great replayability, a fairly large cast that's fun and easy to explore, and it's fairly unique in that once you beat the game, you're able to keep your save file going and continue doing harder and harder fights so you can really sink a lot of time into it (most fire emblem games are much more linear, and do not have any sort of post game content). If you have a modded 3DS go wild.

If you have a GBA (EMULATOR) then the original FE game released in the west that's just titled "Fire Emblem" (also referred to by it's JPN subtitle blazing blade or FE7 cause technically it's the 7th one) is a fantastic place to start as well, especially if you're not looking to just play one game, but get into the series as a whole. FE7 is the most distilled experience easily available that has all the trappings that FE has come to be associated with while still being a unique spin on the series so it won't get stale to move on from it. The cast is very large and has a lot of fan favorites, and the character driven story is a good base line for quality in the series. The game is rather difficult, featuring permadeath with no option to turn it off and quite a few characters with somewhat esoteric recruitment conditions so it wouldn't be a terrible idea to follow a chapter guide to learn about secrets along the way (the only dark mage in the game is locked behind rescuing literal nameless soldiers whose AI is highly suicidal) and has no easy mode but does feature an unlockable hard mode and an extra scenario to replay the game from a slightly different perspective if you beat it and want to keep playing in that space.

Honorable mentions to Sacred Stones as it's easily the easiest of the classical fire emblem games. Not only does it feature easy normal and hard difficulty from the very beginning, it also allows for grinding to let your party simply become so overpowered that nothing can stand in your way.

If you don't want to start at any of the classic starting points, and are willing to go further into the emulation zone, I'll list the relevant starting points there as well.

If you have boat loads of cash or are just emulating like a normal person, path of radiance on the game cube is a fine enough place to start. The story is at once character driven while being very grand in scale, and is the only one with a no strings attached direct chronological sequel. If you just really like Ike from smash then you can't go wrong with actually getting to meet the guy and learn what a gruff but sassy dude he can be. It does feature an easy normal and hard difficulty as well!

If you really want to start at the very beginning, you have 2 options, 3 if you for some reason scooped up the switch release which is no longer available for purchase, thanks Nintendo! The original NES game is old and when I say it's missing quality of life features, I mean like it doesn't even show you how far a unit can move when you select them, it just expects you to feel that out. The series was still being figured out at this point so while the game features a sizable cast, most of them have... 1 or 2 lines they say in the whole game, and some aren't even so lucky. The DS remake added many many QOL features, including a class changing mechanic that allowed any character to be any class which is fun to play around with, and while it did add some new dialogue and invisible support features, the game still doesn't have a proper support system to get to know the characters.

If you want to start with either SNES game... Good luck, they're tough as nails, especially Thracia, and have next to no tutorial. They are terrible places to start.

Also, I didn't mention FEs 2 3 6 12 14 or 15. This is because they are all kind of not good to start with for various reasons. Fates (14, 3DS) isn't irredeemable, but it's pretty close. The story is terrible and the gameplay is either way too hard or too easy depending on which route you pick. 2 (NES) and its remake 15 (3DS) are literally defined by how unlike the main series they are, and while I think they're good games, you'd be shooting yourself in the foot to start with either of them. 3 (NES) and its remake 12 (DS) are a direct sequel of 1 while also having a weird book 1 book 2 thing going on, some people swear by them, personal opinion aside it's just not a good place to start. Binding Blade (6, GBA) is also just... Not fantastic. The game has never been officially translated, and while fan translations do exist and are generally considered pretty good, they can't do anything about the fact that the story and characters they have to work with aren't great, and the game has some notorious balance issues.

What’s a good place to start if you want to get into Fire Emblem?