#these are select snippets of a very long b-plot but it’s all very good

[sawboans]

did you know there’s a trek novel in which scotty and bones spend 100 pages or so living in a two person shuttle and adopt a cat together. because, well,

[advernia]

F and M for the ask game? 😊

reply’s late but thank you for asking, anon! happy new year to you! (ﾉ^ヮ^)ﾉ*:・ﾟ

F: Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

dialogue scenes… (ʃ⌣́,⌣́ƪ) i skimmed the last 10 fics i posted for this, and i think this wins:

“Though the thrones are numerous and never vacant, the crown still remains unworn.”

i think i’m proud of this bc it was one of my favorite results of thinking about different angles to see the black army’s meritocracy system, haha! i’m awfully fond of thinking about stuff like this… anyway, the beauty of the system is that you base worth on skill and ability, rather than other given factors (wealth, bloodline, etc). in-game, the approach is pretty straightforward: it seems that anyone(?) can claim the title of the chosen thirteen, given that the individual can beat the current titleholder in a fair one-on-one fight. it’s still vague to me and tbh i hope there’s more explaining to this, but this seems to be the case presented in ray’s route……

for the person speaking though, rather than seeing the system as something like champions defending their titles, he sees it as a matter of choice - the black army’s thrones are created by the hands of those who wish to be chosen, not the black army creating the thrones for the chosen… and while the crown does go the strongest soldier, does it belong to the strongest throne? no, not necessarily… and why is that? who decides this?

…. the choice falls onto the soldiers of the black army themselves. if the throne of the strongest soldier doesn’t appeal to the majority and is built on lies, is there a reason for an army to support him? if the throne of the weakest soldier is as weak as his body but as strong as his will, is there a reason for an army to support him? if the throne of the king has been built alongside his fellowmen and its foundation is made of his hard work, is there a reason for an army to support him? it goes on and on, and on………

… thrones are made by choice, but ultimately, it is the army that decides - who chooses - whose throne they will and shall serve.

that is because the soldiers - the black army as a whole - form the crown, and if it is left unworn… it means that there’s yet a throne to fascinate them, or there hasn’t been a throne worthy enough yet to serve in their eyes.

M: Got any premises on the back burner that you’d care to share?

Σ(゜゜) b-b-back burner premises!?!?! got a lot of that…. but two premises have been bugging me for months tho, so here’s one of them!

it’s an ikerev mafia!au, inspired from the game’s actual mafia cards! i saw the posts about them pretty late but still, bless the kind souls who posted those cards bc wOW…. my eyes???????? they have been cleansed + my crops have been watered??????? ( ꒪Д꒪)ノ

i guess it clung to me pretty bad bc 1) i like mafia themes, 2) it reminded me that otomate’s piofiore no banshou is gonna be localized and i’ve been pretty interested in it despite polarizing opinions, and 3) those gacha cards look great???????? i was half expecting cybird to make an event about it lolol!

anyway, here’s my outline about it! excuse the odd formatting, i wrote it to be play-like the day i plotted it out!

…

welcome to cradle, all you ladies and gentlemen gathered here today! here, in this seemingly quaint crescent-shaped city, the citizenry live like they’re dying, so watch your back! always think twice before you act, or else you may end up in a sack!

what’s the reason for that, you ask? well now! you see, here in cradle, families run rampant! and we’re not talking about some happy household kind of family… we’re talking about men, women and children of all ages unafraid to spill blood, if only to protect their families or their families’ interests! are they noble, or simply selfish? are they justified, or simply paranoid? was this for survival, or for profit? all the lines have blurred!

what interests are we talking about, and why exactly has this beautiful city turned this way, you ask? tsk, tsk! you’ll never learn if all you do is question others for answers! so instead, why don’t we look around first? do follow me closely as we observe this place we call cradle, this city that is our stage!

enter stage left!

there goes a raven-haired lad and with him his band of merry men, forming a renegade group that bows down to no family or any other ruling power in cradle (except the government, what model citizens they are!). 

it’s been at least three years since the group has entered + made themselves known in cradle, and sometimes the citizens start to think they’re a family, too - they’re the good kind, though!(?) they help the powerless citizens, watch over clueless tourists, assist the government in maintaining order (in their own ways - while they help, they also refuse to be fully bound to the government), and even go as far as keeping tabs on all the families present in cradle! 

but why are they here, and why do they do what they do for cradle? it turns out the lad who appears to be their leader is searching for answers about a certain major incident that happened years ago in cradle. not everyone in the group knows about this purpose of his, though - refusing to get the whole group involved in his business, the lad allows only a select few to (grudgingly)assist him in his search for the truth.

one day, things get complicated: unfamiliar men are suddenly after the lad’s head! this was not an unusual occurrence for him or in cradle, but what throws everyone off is that these hitmen are different and dangerous: they’re incredibly skilled, annoyingly hard to brush off, and will do anything to complete their task… and that includes killing themselves off with their own blade / poison / hands once they are defeated / failed their mission.

the lad’s been on the run for three whole months without rest until he finally discovers a lead about his pursuers… deciding that it’s better than nothing, the lad and his trusty men follow this lead… even if it would make things more complicated, because the lead points the way to investigating five certain families in cradle that they’re not too keen in getting involved with at all.

will the lad ever find the answers to both his old and new questions, or will he eventually end up dead? will he ever know why he’s being hunted in the first place and discover who’s after him? where will this lead bring him: who will he meet, who will he trust, what will he do? destiny has quite a lot in store for him and his friends….

enter stage right!

if you cross paths with a beautiful man with hair spun like fine gold threads but with eyes as cold as ice, it would be wise not to offend him - he is the son and the future boss of a highly respectable family in cradle! this family has a long history and is still the leading voice in the council, an organization created by the government that enlists the aid of five special families in maintaining a semblance of balance and order among the many families and powers in cradle (think something like one piece’s shichibukai).

everything is fine and dandy until one day, the son’s father is found dead in cradle’s central square, his mutilated body hung up in the fountain for everyone to see……… naturally, this becomes a very serious issue + hot topic in cradle: who would do such a thing, why a man from the council from all people, and how mad was this person to display a corpse in such a gruesome  fashion? so many questions….

but the son has hardly any time to pay attention to such whispers - his family has suffered a grave loss + a blow to their reputation and is now seen as vulnerable, the four other families of the council see an opportunity to claim the power of the leading voice, and there are no leads about his father’s murderer. hardly having any time to mourn, he takes up his father’s mantle and goes about to set things right.

in the short span of four months, he succeeds: he picks his family up again and gives no one any doubt that their family is stable and still not to be underestimated, manages to maintain the position of the leading voice and keeps the greedy hands and prying eyes of the other council members at bay, and also restores the public’s respect for his family.

while he was busy doing all that, he had ordered a handful of his men to search for any clues about his father’s death - it seemed like the search was going nowhere, until one rainy day one of them discover a tattered letter stuffed away haphazardly in an unsuspecting dark alley - it bears the family’s rose seal and a single word is spelt on its surface through messy, bloody fingerprints: jabberwock.

was this some sort of code? did the word actually mean anything to the family, to anyone? was this the name of a family, a person, or the murderer? was this even related to the murder, or a different issue entirely? it’s a pursuit with not much to start with………..

finally, center stage!

enter the algarde, cradle’s “most notorious crime” family. why the quotation marks? simple: despite being a prime suspect in perhaps every crime that happens in cradle, they have never been caught. all evidence against them always happens to be circumstantial and never incriminating enough to pin them to the crime….. how was this even possible????

the algarde is one of the oldest families reigning in cradle, and going against them is a guaranteed swift trip to death. both the government + council have never been able to tame the algarde, nor have they been able to keep proper + regular track of their movements. one thing is really for sure about the algarde, though: once you get directly involved with their business, you might as well start to treasure + be thankful for each day you’re still alive…

their current head is an odd middle-aged man known for his sharp silver eyes - his name is farlan, and he’s really quite charismatic as he is elusive. he’s said to have the whole of cradle dancing on the palm of his hand, but he claims he’s not that influential… what a joke. he’s constantly on the move to find something that amuses him and depending on his mood, the whole of cradle can be subjected to his whims - what a fearsome man!

what role does the algarde family play in this story, you ask? who knows! are they the ones after the lad’s head? do they hold the key to understanding the word jabberwock? better yet - are they responsible for both incidents, or are they shockingly unrelated to them? the plot thickens….

ah, before i forget! you didn’t hear this from me, but it’s said that farlan has a child, of all things! a son or a daughter??? who cares! it’s a joke, a made-up tale on the streets!

………………………………… or is it?

[bluboothalassophile]

Quick! Hide the Baby!

@raven-melanin, I do hope you enjoy this snippet!

To everyone else, this is a snippet in the Hopes for a Bastard Universe, BIG Spoilers Here! This story is going to be a side project, slowly worked on, but it is all plotted out, and has been for quite some time. I have been aching to share this since Rock Meet Bottom so I do hope you all enjoy!

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE HOPES FOR A BASTARD UNIVERSE!

Okay, so stranger shit had been known to happen in the Wayne household, and he was talking off their fucking rockers, send them to the asylum, level crazy. However, in a house of world class escape artists, he very seriously doubted there was a prison, on or off, earth which they couldn’t bust out of. It was a defining trait to be a Bat, to be… insanity hyped up on caffeine, caught by mom in this horribly awkward situation, whilst hiding an infant behind your back; that shit was normal; wasn’t it!?

Duke didn’t know as he struggled to hold onto the baby, while Tim and Damian flanked him, and they smiled nervously at Cat who was peering at them suspiciously.

“What did you three do?” she asked levelly while she shut the fridge; it was eleven at night, a normal time for a Batfam member to be up, but it was inconvenient right now.

“Nothing,” he quickly supplied.

Tim and Damian nodded vigorously. Selina frowned as she walked over.

In the near four years since Duke had been adopted into the insanity, he had found with unwavering certainty the following:

Alfred Pennyworth, and his daughter, MI6 (Julia Pennyworth), were most certainly divinities of some sort as they stoically embraced this madhouse.

B was a functioning mute, and he was a pretty good, overprotective, helicopter dad, but a cool dad all the same.

Selina was a goddess, and nothing got passed her; also, she was totally his mom, he was cool with that.

Kate was a bitch, but cool.

Dick was the hug monster.

Kori was amazing, and a star in the darkness of the Batfam.

Jason was family, despite protests, and Jay could and would kick their asses simultaneously if provoked.

Cass could get away with murder and B would still think her perfect, the rest of them couldn’t get away with shit without getting the stink eye.

Stephanie was the glitter loving, ask kicking, waffle queen of spoilers.

Tim was a caffeine addict who suffered extreme sleep deprivation and could take over the world in less than an hour if provoked.

David Zavimbe was a badass new element in the family, who could almost out swear Jason in different languages.

He was middle child, and stuck as such, while seeking to keep the peace.

Damian was a vegetarian, raging ball of animal loving right, and would totally stab you if you annoyed him, but would totally kick an enemies’ ass if they threatened anyone in his family.

Alina; while totally adorable and a sweetheart, was proof B couldn’t keep it in his pants, and Selina was too good for B.

Terry was Duck Dodgers.

Lian was Jay’s honorary daughter.

Helena could rob you blind, and get away with it, while she smiled sweetly at you.

Mar'i was far too pure for them, and somehow, she was a Bat, he didn’t know how it was genetically possible for something so perfect to be a Bat, but she was.

Thomas was King of Hide-N-Seek.

B Jr didn’t understand gravity, nor fearing gravity.

These were the facts of life. Irrefutable in his mind, however, as he struggled to hold the baby behind his back and keep the smile up, he knew they were so dead when Cat found out.

“Uh-huh, where’s the body?” Cat asked, folding her arms as she lifted a brow and cocked her hip.

“Have we mentioned how wonderful you look mom?” Damian asked with cheer.

Selina’s eyes narrowed on them.

“Absolutely lovely, what did you do with your hair!?” Tim tried, nervously, whilst rubbing the back of his neck. Duke could feel the sweat rolling down his temple as he felt the nervous smile waver under the unwavering green eyes of his mom.

“Who’d you kill?” Selina asked flatly.

“NO ONE!” “Not Luthor, I mean, might’ve blown up his labs!” “Damian Did It!”

Both he and Damian snapped their attention to Tim. “Habit.”

The baby squealed, and they all paled as they nervously glanced over at Selina who was now blinking. The baby did it again.

“Shut up Lug!”

“We are so not naming him Lugh.” Duke snapped at Damian then.

“McGinnis is Irish, I see no qualms with the name I have selected,” Damian retorted. “Lugh was a King and Hero.”

“Not happening!” Tim and he snapped.

“Please tell me you did not take after your father and abduct a baby?” Selina sighed.

“Is it abducting if it’s technically his kid!?” Duke asked, pulling the baby they had found around to be against his chest, the six month-ish old baby smiled at him, and Duke smiled back. Kid was kind of cute.

“Oh You Have Got To Be Fucking Me!?” Selina sputtered and groaned as she dragged her hand through her mused curls. “Sit down, and gimme the damn kid!” she snapped as she walked forward.

Duke relinquished his hold on the ivory white baby to Selina’s grasp, and watched as his mom blandly look at the baby who was curiously assessing her. Duke hastily took a seat at the kitchen island.

“You have precisely two hours before B will be back, start talking,” Selina stated as she started pulling out the supplies to make the baby some formula. “And you were supposed to be touring colleges! Not getting into trouble,” Selina stated.

“We were!” he and Tim hastily assured.

“Besides, I’m going to Princeton, then Georgetown,” Duke defended. He knew exactly what he wanted to do with his life, and he would do it. It would work.

“Uh-huh,” Selina said blandly. “And how do you explain this cutie!? You are cute,” she added, looking at the baby, who laughed bubbly as he grabbed her pendant and sucked on it.

“Uh… that’s a long story,” Duke said nervously.

“You have two hours, start talking.”

"So we went to Metropolis, not to blow it up, but MTU is there and I did say I would tour colleges, Tim had a meeting with Luthor, and Dami... Dami? Why were you there?"

"Because someone needed to supervise."

"We had everything undercontrol!" he and Tim snapped.

"What. Were. You. Doing. In. Metropolis. Exactly.?" Selina grounded out pointedly.

"Uh... would you believe me if I said there was a record there I was after?" Duke offered nervously.

"We were hunting a meta-human smuggling ring which has deep ties with Luthor's old associates." Tim stated.

"Oh this is going to be good," Selina sighed. "Continue." It was in Selina's 'I dare you, do it, so I can say I told you so' voice.

"I feel like this is a trap," Duke stated.

[doktorpeace]

Top 5 Games Of The Year #1

[Downside Ballad - Pyre OST] 

Pyre is something really, truly, special and let me prove that to you by just describing it in the most literal sense. It is, essentially, a Basketball RPG and Visual Novel about escaping Purgatory. Not only is it wholly unlike any other game I’ve ever played or, really, even heard of before but works; it takes such a wild concept and turns it into absolutely one of the best, most unique, most touching games I’ve ever played in my life. To sum it up here right at the start, because this is going to be very long, Pyre is a game that combines a beautiful visual aesthetic and tangible, easy to parse, always expanding lore to build a cohesive, believable setting for its world and inhabitants. It then fills that world with fully fleshed out characters, so fleshed out in fact you will miss content in your first go round, because of the nature of the game it is impossible to see all of the content for every character in a single run which I’ll get into more later. It conveys itself to you in the style of a visual novel for the most part, giving a lot of time for character interactions, dialogue, and a conveyance of the world at a pace that keeps the game continuously fresh and easy to digest. It caps off each set of interactions with a gameplay segment, called a Rite, which are the ‘Basketball’ segments I mentioned before. While that’s a bit of a simplification of what all the gameplay has to offer in terms of depth and strategy it’s still a pretty apt way to describe it. Cap everything off with a unique and memorable piece of music for almost every major NPC and major part of The Downside and Pyre takes so many seemingly disparate elements and so many ostentatious ideas and turns it all into a cohesive whole basically without error and for that it deserves so much love and praise. The Downside and every location therein is so distinct and memorable it’s incredible and I think it’s helped by how colorful it is despite the narrative purgatory and harshness it has. Every location stands out from one another based solely on color palette and design. I’d like to just post a few examples:

This is helped by each Rite arena having a unique layout as well, integrating the uniqueness of the overworld and carrying it over into gameplay. The geography of The Downside has an almost dreamy, impossible to exist feeling about it from start to end which contrasts in a good way with how well realized the setting is. Part of what helps each location and every Rite feel unique is that every single place the party travels to is in and of itself a monument or major landmark of some kind. Be it the largest ship to ever crash in the sea, the remains of a titanic scorpion which once wandered the deserts near the beginning of the game, or even just where many of the Downside Imps reside every location has a tangible existence to it. This is helped by one of the smartest conveyance features I’ve ever seen in a game, and it really takes advantage of the visual novel style presentation of Pyre. Every single time a proper noun is used in conversation the text is highlighted in a bold red text and highlighting that text, be it about a person or a place or an event, the game will reveal just a snippet of information which clues the player into key information as they play in a non-obstructive way. In fact, this is used for one major character to convey the meaning of all of their dialogue, as they do not speak english.

Then, once the player has met said person or been to that place, or heard a bit more about that event in another conversation a full page or more gets added about it to the Book of Rites the player has from the beginning of the game, giving the player an optional chance at more reading to invest themselves further into the game world. Some of these pages open solely through gameplay challenges as well; Lore about the stars which you follow and the constellations in the sky and the major locations will only unlock by playing the game in ways relevant to that information. All of this information can be obtained in a single playthrough and, to me, represents what a ‘100%’ run is for this game, a great reward in my opinion. The more you want to interact with the world the more it opens up to you, 179 pages of optional text in all and as someone who read every last drop of it I promise you it’s interesting and worthwhile as a reward, it would take far too long to go into detail about here.

[Strange Voyage - Pyre OST] The inciting incident for the plot is that the player, yes you as the point of view character is intended to be literally you, has been breaking the law by knowing how to read and keeping books. The game lingers on this only in an opening cutscene, showing your collection being burnt before cutting to you exiled and sure to die in The Downside. Being as the player themselves are intended to be involved in the world and setting the game never asks for a name but instead only asks for your pronouns. He/Him, She/Her, and They/Them are all options and as a minor details I personally like that She/Her is the default, most games with features like this assume male as default. Regardless, this changes nothing mechanically about the game every character interaction with you stays the exact same, they just use the proper pronouns used to refer to you by. It’s a nice little option. Your importance to the characters who save you is immediate and thus your ability to be invested is as well and your importance comes from your crime: You can read. You, the player, are literate in a world where literacy in illegal and that allows you uniquely to read The Book of Rites, a magical book in the possession of the other protagonists (the reason they have it at all is explained later, it’s not just a Way Too Convenient happenstance though I will not reveal why here in order to avoid spoilers) which can be used to determine the next location a Rite will be held. Thus, from the very start putting the onus of deciding exactly how to get from point A to point B on the player. This immediately gives the player a reason, but a mundane and believable one, to be special and to have decision making power in this situation. You’re not some god touched, ultra special, prophesied savior. You are defined by this literacy so strongly that your special title is ‘The Reader’ which carries different connotations to different characters. Ultimately you’re just you. It’s good writing and I love it. The game then focuses on the journey you take with the other starting characters Jodariel, Rukey, and Hedwyn travelling from the furthest point south in The Downside, hitting all of the major locations along the way to conduct the Rites being held there, and travelling as far north as possible to the place where special Liberation Rites are held. These Rites are always between your team The Nightwings, and the best scoring team in that Liberation Cycle. The lore based reason for your team always competing is given in the song played during these Rites and is expanded upon through other lore, including a major plot twist at the end I won’t spoil but in short The Nightwings are the team all others are measured against. The writing surrounding this works well enough as a means of never excluding the player from the most important content in the game, while also giving good reasoning for your team to be unique. As their name implies, these rare and special Rites are used to determine the worthiness of a single individual, one selected from each team, to ascend back up into The Commonwealth with all of their crimes forgiven. As one could imagine this can result in some INTENSELY bad blood between members of The Nightwings and other team’s players. Imagine you’ve worked your ass off succeeding in these Rites, surviving a downtrodden and harsh purgatory with little in the way of food and you get ONE STEP away from finally being free, only to be rejected at the last minute. It’s gonna sting and it’s GOING to change how these characters feel about each other. Since everybody in the plot has been here longer than you have and they’ve all got relationships and opinions regarding each other. Some as simple as hating a whole team and some deeply nuanced and seeing them slowly open up to the player is another nice treat that helps the world feel oh so real. [Vagrant Song - Pyre OST] The pacing through this first half of the game is absolutely superb. You’re introduced to every playable party member you’ll receive, of which there are 9 in total, given an extended opportunity to interact with them and learn about who they are, their motivations, the crimes they committed to end up here, just a whole lot about them though not all join quite yet. While you won’t learn all of this immediately and, oftentimes, can miss major information on a character if you manage to have them Liberated that’s a purposeful part of the game’s structure. You can’t always see everything or know everything about someone, even if you really want to. It drives home the quality of the writing just a little bit more while also giving the player real, meaningful reason to play through the game again. From here on though, the game’s pacing enhances dramatically and the player is really given the reigns to decide a lot of things. I won’t go into too much detail since it spoils a big part of what makes the latter half of the plot special but basically a lot more Rites than normal begin occurring at once. Typically only a couple can happen in a night, since it is based on the glow of certain stars imbuing their respective landmarks with the magical power needed to perform Rites at all. Since so many are happening at once the player can really dictate what characters they get to see and where they get to play a lot more and that’s great from a gameplay perspective. While I felt the pacing of the game got a bit too fast compared to the first part and initially found it jarring Pyre never loses its poise and the player will quickly get into a groove with their newfound freedom. Plot events are still meaty and there’s a lot of unique little dialogues the player can miss simply by not bringing certain party members to certain locations against certain other teams. It’s all very granular and means no two playthroughs will be alike. Before I forget a little thing I love about this game is how The Blackwagon, the home you all share, starts kind of plain and bare but every character you get adds a little personal something to the interior and as you travel through the world it gets filled with all sorts of nick-nacks. It helps flesh out your party members and the world while also making the Black Wagon feel genuinely lived in, it’s nice. Also, if you highlight any given personal item of a party member it’ll tell you what they’re currently doing, so even if you can’t talk with them that day you can still get just a little bit more flavor text out of them.

The game has variable endings in both major and minor ways. I would consider there to be about four ‘major’ variations on the ending, all of which are determined by your overall success in the Liberation Rites. There are then somewhere around Two Hundred Million end state variations depending on the player’s choices, successes in Rites, what they learned, who specifically they freed, and more. While the player could get all of the main variations in just a few playthroughs this sheer dedication to detail gives every player something to feel accomplished for that’s all their own. All in all, I could gush about Pyre’s writing for hours but I think that will suffice for now. I think it goes without saying as well that Pyre is a visually stunning game. The  almost paint-like models and dreamy appearance of everything is beautiful to see in motion. Every animation is clear, every particle effect stunning, every location beautiful, and every character expressive. Pyre is a beautiful, gorgeous game and I wish I could give it the description it deserves but frankly I don’t have the words to. Hopefully just the pictures I provide throughout this review will help sway you but trust me, if you like playing games for their visuals, their character designs, their environments, just how pretty everything is Pyre won’t disappoint you. [The Eight Scribes - Pyre OST] About the gameplay itself Pyre manages to build a Sports RPG that, at least to me, didn’t feel like a ‘Sports’ game in the colloquial sense. It felt involved, tactical, and had enough of a fantasy element to it to make it stand head and shoulders above its contemporaries. Pyre’s gameplay is deep, balanced, and most importantly fun. All 9 of your playable party members feel different from one another, in part thanks to the amazing variety of body types at play lending themselves to intrinsic gameplay differences, and they each add something valuable to the three man team composition that each Rite is conducted with. This combined with each map in the game being just a bit different also means the player is constantly incentivized to try new team compositions and to not fall into just a comfortable rhythm. 

Rites are contests with no time limit. The only goal at hand for each team is to extinguish the Flame of their opponents, which is essentially their basket. To do so each team must try and carry an orb that spawns in a neutral position to their opponent’s flame with any member of their team, leaping with force into it. The Flame of each team has a standard worth of 100 and most of the time your goal is to earn 100 Points or inflict 100 damage depending on how you look at it, though there are variables which can make this number higher or lower for both the player and their AI controlled opponents. Each character lowers the flame’s value by a different amount, usually inversely proportional to their speed and size. Your largest, slowest, hardest to navigate party member, Jodariel, can snuff an entire flame in just two or three scores meanwhile your faster, easier to score with units such as Sir Gilman and Ti’Zo typically lower a flame by 15 or 20 points.

[Talon Sheath - Pyre OST] Importantly, however, is to note that scoring with a character removes them from the field until another goal is made. This means the team that scored last must now play 2 against 3 and, if they continue scoring, will continue to play at that disadvantage for the entire game after the first score. This system, like so many others in the game, ensures the player never gets too comfortable relying on ‘old reliable’ strategies and must constantly think and play to their fullest. Alternatively, characters can both pass and throw the orb to facilitate team based play and allow for advanced strategies and unique abilities to be made use of. Throwing the orb into the Flame of an opponent takes a bit longer and is harder to do than jumping into the Flame and also nets less points BUT keeps the scoring player in the game, since they were not banished by the Flame. This opens up a lot of playstyle variety and strategy on its own and is a very smart feature in my opinion.  While playing a match each team can only move any one character of the three at a time, and while it’s nigh instantaneous to change who you’re controlling it does make for an interesting, almost chess-like approach to gameplay. To make this more clear there is no AI to control the teammates you’re not actively playing as, they simply stand there until you choose to move them around again. Some characters are only really good in movement where others can easily be useful just standing still it creates a unique gameplay feeling which keeps the tension high and thus player involvement up. It’s hard to describe exactly how it works, but trust me, it works quite well. [Path to Glory - Pyre OST]

Banishment is another major part of how matches are played in Pyre. Each character has a different attack or set of attacks that, if they connect with an opponent, Banishes them from the field for a time and it is possible to have an entire team wiped out at once, leading to free goals. In addition to their dedicated attacks characters also have a stat called Presence, generally tied to how large they are and their demeanor, which causes them to cast a flaming shadow in a circle around them. If any opponent so much as touches the ground in this area they are instantly banished, allowing large characters to function as ‘goalkeepers’ in a sense. Note that I said touches the ground, however, some characters can leap a VERY long distance to undermine all but the absolute largest of Presences given good spacing and timing. This mechanic functions well, but can sometimes be frustrating since the AI can be VERY good at making called shots or long distance snipes to take out characters. Just flinging the orb into opponents can banish them as some characters, that’s fun. Interestingly as well a character’s Presence Aura disappears while they perform an active attack which in and of itself is a good balance for characters with exceptionally large Auras.

Each character has a few major stats: Glory, which determines the damage they deal to the Flame anytime they extinguish it. This is generally inversely proportional to a character’s speed, but some characters who are particularly righteous still score very well even while being fast such as Pamitha. Presence, which as mentioned before determines essentially their defensive capabilities. This is generally tied to the character’s size, though Ti’Zo the imp has an extremely large Aura regardless of being so small. Quickness, which determines their speed. Generally the smaller the better, but the fastest character of all, The Vagabond Girl (Who for the purposes of this review will be called ‘Fae’ from here on because LITERALLY everyone I know chose that name for her) is of an average size. and last but not least Hope, which determines their respawn timer after being Banished by an opponent. This is entirely informed by the character’s personality and thus has nothing to do with their other statistics. It is also the most fickle stat, being the one most prone to both temporary and permanent changes. These stats can be adjusted by Charms, each character can hold one and every character has at least one completely unique to them that no one else can use. Charms generally just raise stats to give an edge to a character, but they also can give access to unique options such as a farther leap, augmenting a character’s special abilities, the ability to cause earthquakes by jumping, the opportunity to instantly respawn after being banished once per play in each match, and more. Characters can also be adjusted as they gain experience, known as Enlightenment in this game. As you play through characters will slowly gain access to four permanent and major adjustments to their playstyle. There are 8 options with many being mutually exclusive. These are permanent changes with I believe only a single opportunity to respec a single character on any playthrough so the decision is tough especially since often all the options presented are fun and interesting. For some characters these upgrades push them to one role or another but for others, like Hedwyn, it can take a relatively mediocre and unspecialized character and make them into an absolute powerhouse. Other things that can adjust the character’s stats include your dialogue options with them and about them to other people, plot events, and who is Liberated at the current time. Most of these are temporary but sometimes you can have permanent effects on your teammates, for good or ill.

[Never to Return -  Pyre OST]

Now to get to perhaps the defining trait of the gameplay side of things, the event around which the plot revolves: Liberation Rites. As I touched on before these Rites are used to determine if a character is worthy to go free from The Downside and return to society at large with their crimes forgiven. This does have gameplay ramifications which are permanent in each playthrough, whoever goes free is removed from the game. Be they your teammate or your opponent they are gone for good. For you this means no more talking with them anymore, no more finding out about them except by secondhand accounts which are generally less detailed than the source, and no more using them in future Rites. Only your three most experienced party members are options for Anointment on any given Liberation, too, so don’t think you can just send your least favorite party member who you’ve been neglecting; You must give up someone of great value to you every single time. It’s a tough decision which, again, drives replay value AND the narrative along letting every last element of the game coalesce in a meaningful way. One might decide to keep their very favorite character around a little longer so they can help in more Rites and so they can talk with them more, since every character has unique dialogue all the way up through the very end of the game, but then you may risk them never going free as there are not enough Liberations to go around. It’s a tough decision every time and there are no right answers. It’s a great, amazingly considered concept from a narrative and gameplay perspective and it was well worth building a game around. I would like to talk briefly on each party member, but not too much since I want to keep them special. I will only talk about eight of the party members here since two of them are spoilers in and of themselves. Hedwyn is the closest thing to an ordinary person you get in your party. He’s a kind, level headed man who’s always there when you need advice. While initially he might seem boring compared to the other options Hedwyn ultimately surprised me with how much I liked him though in terms of gameplay he’s definitely the most plain party member. Not the worst, far from it, but definitely the most plain. His role in gameplay initially starts as an ‘all rounder’ kind of character but eventually he blossoms into a supportive role, acting essentially as a cheerleader for your other party members, giving them AMAZING boons just for taking the field with them and honestly that fits his personality so well. Jodariel is a Demon, she has managed to survive in The Downside for a very, very long time compared to most. She’s gruff, very slow to open up, and generally quite harsh and realistic. All that said she’s still quite personable if you have the drive to get to know her. As a result of being down here so long she’s also got a lot of ties to the other teams you’ll be facing giving her some of the most interesting relationships in the game. She’s kind of a team mom, too, and very self sacrificing over the course of the game. In terms of gameplay I think Sandra puts it best:

She is arguably the weakest party member you receive on the whole but she is far from useless. She’s a great auxiliary party member and slots well into just about any team of three characters. Defensively she’s a monster as well, her Presence stat can reach ludicrous levels, making it impossible for opponents to score in any way other than by throwing the orb or banishing her first. She’s quite fun to use on the whole. Rukey Greentail is a Cur (yes that is his species name) and is quite the rogue. He’s got that kind of disposition where you just know this jokester is hiding something from you but he’s very good at deflecting attempts to pry so he’s slow to open up. He, like Hedwyn, is actually quite kind from the get go though his snarkier more eccentric personality can make him harder to read and get along with at times. Ultimately though he’s a good guy, he’s just also kind of greedy. Early on in terms of gameplay he will absolutely be your offensive star. He’s fast, he’s got a long jump, and he can dart right through enemy defenses and only gets better at it as you go. I tend to find he has kind of a reverse bell curve of effectiveness. He’s incredibly good early on, then in the middle of the game most other characters overtake them as they can fill multiple roles on a team compared to his specialized speedy offense, and then he unlocks the ability to double jump and shit absolutely hits the fan. Rukey is a great long term investment and is the character most able to just ignore enemy defenses and terrain difficulties in order to seal the game for you. Fae is another human, like you and Hedwyn, though she’s a bit more in line with the world you find yourselves in in terms of personality. She’s very out there, having visions and a very deep interest in and almost idolization of The Eight Scribes and their lore, giving her almost a religious aspect other characters lack. She’s difficult to parse and doesn’t develop as much as the other characters but her relationships are developing at the same time yours are, since nobody knows her before she joins you. Seeing how the party members get along with her over time is a treat. She’s an endearing character, just a bit of an oddball. In terms of gameplay she has ridiculous mobility and overall really good stats. Though she doesn’t gain as much from her personal upgrades as most other characters she’s still consistently useful since she has can run VERY fast and leap VERY far. Like Rukey she’s almost entirely offense oriented, but she can be used for other roles more easily thanks to her superior size. Also you get to choose her name when you meet her and all of the options rhyme with ‘Gray’. Everyone I know chose ‘Fae’ and I gotta say it’s a very fitting name for her personality.

Ti’Zo is a Wagon Imp and a natural resident of the Downside. Having never been to the Commonwealth and also not of a typically ‘intelligent’ species he cannot speak in human language. Thankfully he is very expressive, so you can always understand him anyway.

He’s been a member of The Nightwings for longer than almost anyone else and thus actually gives some good insight to the Rites themselves and the history of The Downside. He also has complex relationships with some other party members and enemy teams. He’s just a great wellspring of character and completely avoids the annoying ‘Mascot Character’ bullet. In terms of gameplay he’s the most different party member you get. His attack hits a MASSIVE area but also banishes himself, he has a huge presence, high hope, his Glory can be raised through his personal upgrades to great levels, and he’s fast! So what’s his downside? His movement is in set bursts. As you move around with him he jumps from place to place and you cannot adjust his jump mid arc. He takes a lot of commitment to play but I would argue he’s one of the strongest party members overall since he’s just so good at everything. Honestly it makes sense given how long he’s been conducting Rites, but still! [Knights of the Sea - Pyre OST]

Sir Gilman is a Wyrm Knight and he’s about everything you would expect. He’s honorable, a good and true person, and loyal to a fault. He’s also maybe a bit too forthcoming which can get him in trouble sometimes. Nonetheless he’s great to have around and is a funny guy, too. Despite his seemingly carefree nature he does a lot of introspection and worries about the choices he’s made in his life giving him a hidden bit of sadness that’s interesting to tap into. Gameplay wise Sir Gilman is a great, well rounded character. Though his presence is small he is great defensively, with perhaps the safest attack in the game, a teleport that damages everywhere between where he starts and ends. He can easily defend your Flame and wipe out whole teams. He’s also amazing offensively as he’s quite fast and has a good leap, but his orb throw is very slow and easy to intercept making his offense a bit one dimensional. Overall Gilman is a great party member who slots comfortably onto any team. Pamitha is a Harp with a troubled history and a great desire to make good out of the mess that is her life situation. She’s had a rough lot in life, growing up in a society that demands everything of you, something she still struggles with growing past. Despite that she’s got a fun loving personality and is pretty personable, she just has a hard time gaining the trust of your other party members, especially given the conditions she joins under. She’s an interesting nut to crack open and she’s got a lot of depth but I feel that goes without saying. In terms of gameplay she’s unquestionably the best party member in my opinion. Like Ti’zo she’s not really bad at anything but unlike Ti’zo she can fly. Flight is exactly as overpowered as you might anticipate in a basketball game. Once she has the orb she’s basically already scored. Pamitha is absolutely incredible and can do anything the player needs. She can win whole matches entirely on her own without breaking a sweat. There are two other playable party members, but I’ll refrain talking from them here. I’ll just say they were both among my favorites, one in particular holds a lot of context to the game as a whole, so getting to meet them will be a special moment for anyone who decides to play the game after reading this! All in all your party members are diverse, well balanced, and interesting. They truly are the draw for this game and though I didn’t anticipate liking them all so much truly they all, each and every one, surprised me with their depth and just how well realized they were. I love the cast of Pyre, well and truly. Additionally there is one quasi-party member, the above mentioned Sandra. Though never playable she does offer you help and advice through the game. She’s snarky and has a very negative personality though even from her you can eke out a friendship if you’re consistent in talking with her. She has an extremely unique perspective I won’t spoil, but she has character specific challenges, one per party member, which require you to beat her 1 vs 3 in a challenge built just for that party member. Succeeding unlocks a unique Charm for that character and they’re great moments of progress and inspiration for each and every one. Sandra’s a tough opponent though, so don’t take her lightly. While all of her content is optional, it’s good bonus content and I’d absolutely recommend talking with her anytime possible and taking her on with all of your party members as the chances arise.

[In The Flame - Pyre OST]

The last one I want to talk about is you, The Reader. While you aren’t playable in Rites directly you do control the Rites, and this game controls really well. Regardless of if you prefer a controller or a keyboard and mouse the game feels good. I played with a Keyboard+Mouse setup and was able to unlock every singleplayer achievement on my first run, though some did take multiple attempts. You have the option to restart Rites at no penalty at anytime as they’re being played, keeping the stakes from getting too high, but savescumming is obviously not within the intent of the game. Still, it’s an option if you wish to use it. Overall Pyre is not too hard of a game at default, but there are 12 Constellations which unlock over time, all of which make the game harder should you choose to make use of them. In exchange your characters get 3% or more bonus experience per each one in use. These range in effect from ‘Make the AI faster/better’ to ‘Damage your own Flame at the start of a match’ to giving opponents basically hacks, such as allowing them to keep their Presence Aura while holding The Orb, which normally is not allowed. These can add a severe challenge to any match in the game and are worth exploring, since winning a match with any given one active unlocks more lore in your book! Still, the customizable difficulty means no player should get bored or find the game too tough or too easy. As you may have noticed I’ve been linking to some of the game’s absolutely stellar OST throughout this review and, frankly, it’s one of the best OSTs I’ve ever heard in a game. It’s about 2 hours long despite the game itself being relatively short in length. The sound design of the gameplay itself is really great too, but again I’m not really skilled at being able to say why. Still, everything from moving around to scoring, to banishment sounds impactful and distinct. Even different body types cause different sounds while moving which is a great touch. The game also has a multiplayer mode in which you can play any combination of ANY named character from the main game including some who never showed up in a Rite! It’s good fun with a friend and a nice bit of extra content once the main game is finished. Really, there’s a lot more I could talk about. I haven’t even talked about the many, many NPCs but they’re quite lovely and distinct too, each readily coming back to my mind as I think about the game. Pyre is a game with so much depth, so much to it despite being only about a 15 hour game in total. Please just, play this game, it’s a complete package in every sense of the word: Great gameplay, stellar soundtrack, gorgeous art design, AMAZING writing, and an awesome concept all rolled together, it’s not often such a thoroughly and completely amazing game comes along just to blow you out of the water. It is such a special game with so much to give! It’s $8 dollars on Steam right now and its soundtrack is just an additional $3. Supergiant Games truly knocked the ball out of the park with this one, I truly feel Pyre is something special and stands head and shoulders not just above Supergiant’s other products, Bastion and Transistor, not just above other Sports games like Golf Story, not even just above other Visual Novels. No, Pyre stands above every single game I played in 2018. I love this game and you owe it to yourself to experience all of the great, unique, and amazing things it has to offer.

[ncttivagcx-blog]

it’s a bird !! it’s a plane !! no, wait, it’s lucy’s trash children !!

DAO ‘LAHNNIE’ LAHN aka R E M.

introducing useless superhero #1, miss dao lahnnie !!

nicknamed ‘sleeping beauty’ cause well,,,,,,,,she Nap

her power is that when she sleeps, she can pull things from her dreams into the real world. seems easy enough, but sometimes things get a bit skewed if she doesn’t imagine every detail.

example: she could pull a car out, but if in her dream she didn’t think of the engine, then the car wouldn’t have an engine. it might still run though if she dreamt that she was driving it.

her superhero name is ‘rem’ because she at least has to reach the rem stage of sleep to start dreaming.

for the most part, she does more support than actual superhero field work. she dreams up gadgets and things to help out on missions. if she is on the field, she’ll sometimes pop out to go hide and get some shut eye and then just pops back up randomly, except now she has a giant hammer or something.

she has a pet crow. his name king richard the third, but everyone calls him dick. she does not mind this because she did name him when she was five, but it ruffles king richard’s feathers sometimes. he was the first ‘living’ item she ever pulled out of a dream and probably her favorite item she’s ever pulled out.

she,,,,,,really wants to be a hero but most likely knows that she’s only ever gonna be a sidekick or on a support team at best.

but she really is a soft and excited also sleepy baby and she just wants to help out in whatever way she can :))

KANG JINSUNG aka B A S I L I S K.

then there’s this medusa ass motherfucker.

what a tool

they straight up got like basilisk eyes so if you look at them directly in the eye, you become petrified !!

does wear off eventually,,,,,,,but also like its probs just terrifying and ptsd inducing as a whole,,,,,” i thought they were pretty and i met their eye and suddenly i couldnt move and i was down in a ditch ”

- actual quote from a previous victim

they probs murders people after they petrify em cause uhhhhh they a villain and uhhhhhh they’re nefarious and all that

idek what supervillain stuff they do besides like sitting in their super secret villain lair and plotting plots and stuff. give him a nemesis or something pls

wears a blindfold for the most part because glasses don’t block their power enough and they’re tired of having to replace petrified henchmen

other senses are heightened because they don’t use their eyes when dealing with other people unless they’re dealing with other people

they just a mystery villain that lives in a cavelike headquarters and probs just likes to fuck with people cause they’re an asshole

LYDIA CARTER aka S I L K.

they want to be,,,,,the very best,,,,,,like no one ever was !!

their power is fabric manipulation with a particular preference for silk !! hence the name lmao

anywho, they’re a talented aerial silk dancer and uses whatever fabric available to tie around posts and stuff highkey like spiderman and like,,,,,the real silk but also is also skilled in aerial combat.  

they’re like a circus performer if the circus performer kicked ass.

they’re learning to be a hero but really,,,,,,they don’t particularly care about heroics,,,,,they just wanna be famous.

they wanna be the absolute best of the best and hey, if heroics don’t get them there, then maybe villainy will.

they cocky as shit tbh

like, is highkey getting scouted by hero agencies to become a sidekick but they just Scoff - as if they’re working for anyone other than themselves 

will probably graduate at some point and just try to fight all superheroes to establish themself as The Best

Chaotic Neutral

BAE JOOHYUK aka R E F L E K T A.

i didnt have anything planned for him

i just wanted his quirk and i liked his face

so he can teleport through reflective surfaces even if it’s not a mirror !! so, that’s like windows, phone screens, uhhhh particularly shiny tabletops?? 

like imagine someone just cleaning a glass coffee table and hyuk just bLOOPS through

he always has a mirror on him. this leads to so many vanity jokes but he mostly just tosses mirrors everywhere and whooshes around and people are like dEAR GOD JUST STAY STILL JFC

loves just popping up through people’s phonescreens, but the surface usually isnt big enough so he’ll shove like a hand through or something

honestly just an asshole that is lowkey lovable but mostly annoying

just trying to past his regular passes cause he’s okay at best in hero training but english?? nah mate

Chaotic Good

RIDLEY VIDRARU aka V E R S E.

do i know anything about him ?? absolutely noT

i know that he’s got 24 gif icons and that i’m gonna stretch them as much as i can

also probs gonna give up at some point and use big gifs i just want hiS TWIN FACE

okAY DECIDED

his hero name is verse - short for versatile. his quirk is that he can mimic any surface/function of an item as long as he presses five fingers to it

think kevin levin from ben 10 but if kevin levin could also like touch a chainsaw and have a chainsaw for a hand

due to his Traumatic Past ( see: luca and or winnie ) he has ptsd induced selective mutism

he Quiet

not super dedicated to being a hero, but his sister is super into so he’s super into it as a show of solidarity

will square up to anyone who messes with his sister, even tho people probs gives him shit for not talking

“ how are you supposed to save anyone if you can’t even open your mouth ?? ”

if he really gotta get his point across then he Bumblebee’s it and just copies a radio,,,,,,fiddles with the stations until the lyrics from songs and snippets of radio shows forms the message he wants to give

he a versatile boy,,,,,,he Surviving,,,,

ASPEN KUMAR aka L A D Y  C Y A N I D E

WITCHY WOMAN

this one is a baddie i love her so much

literally just wants to set up a matriarchal society with her as the head in government

be that as president or queen, depends on how her takeover pans out.

currently, she set to inherit the hotels her father owns. she’s an absolute shARk when it comes to staking out claims on more lands and she really just gonna buy her way to the top. she’s got several blocks under her control already.

does evil villain stuff on the down low, probs got a bunch of henchmen. got a mask too cause masks are cute. she just goes around and kills people who refuse to sign over any properties to her.

she wanna own the whole goddamn street, then the town, then the world probs laskdfjadfl

okay so her power is poison generation. she can emit toxic gas from her mouth, but her blood itself is poisonous. so if she being flashy, she just blows out some toxic gas into her victims. if she being sneaky, then just a prick on her finger and bada bing bada boom she’s dripping her own blood into someone’s wine glass.

not super flashy as a villain cause she can’t get caught so she sends henchmen a lot and joins fights with heroes when she’s bored. usually skedaddles before the police show up and lets her men take the fall for it.

literally will just show up and start poisoning people

she’s fun at parties

at least one murder mystery at every party she’s at. her henchmen jokingly called her Clue

“ in the foyer/kitchen/study, the killer is always the lady, and the weapon is always poison. ”

[darkarm66]

Final Fantasy XV review-Please drive off a cliff

10 years. From planning to execution, the journey for Final Fantasy XV to get here was turbulent, to say the least. But it was finally finished and released. And this is probably as nice I'll be about it. Game making is very hard work and it becomes probably 100 times more intense for one of the biggest franchises on the market. So I don't envy the task the FFXV dev team undertook getting this game out. I envy the people who ended up playing this because this game is just a damn mess. From story, combat, and pacing, there were some great ingredients to make a great game that just never mixed properly.

To be fair, its getting a lot of high praise because there's an open world. A huge, sprawling mix of deserts, hills, forests, mountains, rivers, motels, and small towns....that are barely populated with any sort of interactivity. There's actual work to actually find an enemy to fight or find someone to talk to. It makes you wonder why it needed to be as big as it is. And as big as it is, nothing stands out or has its own distinct look. As beautiful as this game can look, its baffling lack of visual diversity can make a person feel like they're retreading the same places over and over.

Ultimately, FFXV's foray into open world shows that they've got some ways to go. Navigation feels too constricting. You're forced to carry around this damn car that apparently goes fast enough. You have to use it because the world is just too damn big to walk through, which isn't a problem by itself but when controlling the car is so bad you're glad to let Ignis do it, this was a feature that could've been scrapped. Worse, this car is restricted to the road, so getting around means driving until a location is found and stopping on that road. There's no shortcuts, no hidden paths, just long, torturous scenic drives from point A to point B and back.  Backtracking severely murders any joy you can have exploring these places.

What truly kills exploration is the fast travel. IT IS SHIT. SHITE. It is unbelievable how user unfriendly this fast travel system is. If you're in one place and you need to get to another, you just can't warp there, even in a game where the only avatar you can control has access to powerful weapons due to magic crystal, you cannot warp to the place you need to get to. You have to either go back to the car and select a spot to pay to go back to a spot you already discovered. It gets worse if you're in a dungeon, one of the few highlights of this game. You have to warp back to the entrance. Either the car or the last spot you rested, which could be on the complete opposite side of the map. AND YOU HAVE TO REPEAT THIS SHIT FOR NEARLY EVERY QUEST YOU DO.

And on the chance you find one of these hidden dungeons in plain sight, good luck playing them because the earlier ones you find aren't that bad. Then the high level dungeons really puts the screws to the player due to a horrible map, fussy door switches, and terrible platforming due to some design overkill. Some treks can take hours (and you can't save inside of them) because nothing in the design or UI gives any clue on what the player should do. Ironically, despite evidence that some content was cut, these dungeons can really feel like padding.

The quest themselves aren't all that bad: collect this or kill that. Which is pretty much standard RPG stuff. The exploration tedium, however, kicks back in doing hunts because you can only do one at a time, even when starting a new one leads you back to the same area you were just in! And this tedium bleeds into the other parts that are actually fun. Like combat. Sometimes  in a game, you just want to see an enemy just get bludgeoned with a shiny weapon you have and this game delivers. But due to its day/night cycle, whereas you have to rest your characters and eat recipes to get temporary boosts, you can get caught into long, time consuming battles because you're scrambling to find a nearby place to rest or camp.

The combat system proves that FF13's hate was a bit unjustified. Each battle became about actually trying to find an enemy's weakness and actually exploit it. Here: you're just spazzing from enemy to enemy, hoping to avoid damaging, praying an attack can be blocked long enough to parry. in 13, you can actually see teammates not be loads and in 15: shit just happens when it comes to Linkstrikes and chains. there's nothing that actually triggers them but sheer luck. All you can hope is to find enough equipment to just overpower enemies. Except in boss battles and some monster hunts. Because the lack of depth and simplistic whack-whack-whack flow of combat can lead to some lengthy fights, mainly because you'll just whack away until a bar fills up to use a special technique for your partners to use a technique that can make it go faster. Battles are just purely attrition. What makes the combat more tedious is that your levels ultimately mean dick because you will still get into long fights, no matter how stronger your characters became. Towards the end, I was level 73 and yet, taking down level 20 trooper scrubs felt like it did at the beginning of the game. You and your party doesn't progress or grow. Fights are just....here.

A shame because the creature designs in here are exquisite. There's amazing detail and form to a lot of the monsters you get to fight. These are just exquisite creatures that you actually wanna gawk at. 

I don’t wanna say too much about party because the game sure as hell didn't. They're just....there. Swap out two of the guys for one of the more pleasant female characters (Iris and Aranea, represent!), the story is told the same. At least with Aranea, she actually had some damn motivation. But the character development getting cut off at the knees is more to do with Square's insistence on taking a game's huge scope and chopping it up into smaller pieces and letting you put it together. Been that way for a while, especially in 13's case. Only one of them as an ability worth using, there's only one conversation worth giving a shit about, and during combat, you can't control them not to get killed, leaving you in the position of healer, even though one of them is a bodyguard. Like, how?!? Everyone in love with these characters love them for 'pretty' they are and think of the kissing they want to happen. There's zero depth to your party. And the moments that happen just feels thrown in. Like, they realized something needed to happen to these guys. You see cutscenes, brief snippets of the guys talking, but this is just a mirage.

Now for the camps: you actually have to rest to level up and earn AP. And you get to see photos, which highlights the biggest reason I hate this game in spite of wanting to love: I have to stop playing and enjoy the game presenting itself. You're not allowed to actually play this game because you have to see how pretty everything is. Allegedly, your party is supposed to bond over a road trip but that actually happens in cutscenes. The battle camera is so chaotic, you can't know how stylish the combat is until you see a photo of it. When going into a dungeon, you have to see the characters crouch and move cautiously through it. There's even a cutscene of them pumping gas! Who needs that? 

The vague plot wastes the amazing soundtrack, forcing the music to create the emotional resonance this game just doesn't earn. It wants you to feel the emotions the characters go through, yet doesn't do any build up or reconciliation. It's just moments. 

Which is why I don't mind they stop cutting the pretense and just made everything linear as fuck towards the end. They're gonna make you enjoy their visuals and cutscenes and anguish, playability be damned! This isn't just hand-holding to guide the player through, this game is a crazy ass aunt dragging you through the store when you already know what you want to buy. Yet, in its conclusion I just had one question: why they did I stay in that godawful, empty ass country if nothing I did there matter? Nothing, no theme, plot or character detail is told through gameplay? No sidequest I did made anything better for that world I spent hours in. Not even the conclusion gives a rat's ass about the world that was saved yet it made sure that it was saved. This divide in priorities is heartbreaking considering how much this game comes alive when the player is left to their own devices and actually making choices about how to proceed. And the end game content, frustratingly kept behind the final boss, is proof that if they built this game around some gameplay and made a world to actually exploit that, this could've been a belter.

And for all that was cut out of the game, what they left in was just baffling. Chapter 13 is just excessively boring and painful to look at. That stealth sequence in that building is just wasted geometry. My time would've been better off if Noctis just sat in a chair while text showed me what happened. The vague plot wastes the amazing soundtrack, forcing the music to create the emotional resonance this game just doesn't earn. It wants you to feel the emotions the characters go through, yet doesn't do any build up or reconciliation. It's just moments. 

Add in some wonky AI and the fact you can't save in certain places, I'm shocked that critics were barely that critical of it. But shout out to y'all claiming this is better than 13 because the reverse happened: a long open world segment with a linear conclusion vs a linear progression and brief open world part that didn't throw away all the shit you learned hours earlier. People who liked the combat in XV are just bellends who just love to play shit simplistically. In spite of all this, I did put 80 hours into this. And that's not even counting the post-game content, including the new dungeons and that flying car (don’t use it). But most of that time was spent getting to a place, doing a quest and coming back to complete it.

So, for all the high points, there are some severe low points. Even the things that work on its own barely qualifies as functional. It's shit as an open world game, it's horsefuck as a story, the combat is montonous, this is exhausted mouthdrool as an RPG. Had this been an other RPG, maybe I'm not as harsh. The much ballyhooed lengthy dev time and rebrand from Versus XIII to XV has long been publicized. And yet there didn't seem to be an actual cohesive vision present in the game. It's all in the different movies and anime shorts.  Problem with this approach is that you're well exhausted beyond the point of caring if you invest in these. And even then, nothing is concluded, wasting your time in the process.

This game will delight fans of pretty boys and running around. It will infuriate fans of well thought out game design. So it's definitely a Final Fantasy game after all.