#this thing will have an audience of perhaps 2.5 interested parties

[see-arcane]

In which a Creature feasts and teaches another would-be Prometheus some painful truths he learned for himself a century ago. This Prometheus being one with considerably fewer scruples when it comes to getting creative about human experimentation and insisting his captive revenant spills the secrets of life, death, and cheating the latter.

Ah, well.

Some lessons bear repeating. With emphasis.

Merry Christmas, have a reanimated Victor Frankenstein getting grisly with the dramatic irony. Figured this needed a more serious counterpart to the meme-flavor version.

The placeholder title for the thing this scene hails from is, Was Frankenstein Not the Monster? I thought this was going to be another novella. Tidy. Petite. No bigger than The Vampyres.

But.

I am on chapter 5.

And I haven't even gotten to the laboratory yet.

Help me.

[viveetvivant]

WIFE OF MISCHIEF - Chapter 4

CHAPTER 1  |  CHAPTER 2  | CHAPTER 3 | CHAPTER 4

Words: 2.5 K

Story Summary: A retrospective into the relationship between Loki and Sigyn, his wife from Norse mythology, as if existent within the bounds and canons of the MCU, with a few twists of my own, naturally.

Part summary: Getting to know you.

By its own accord, for neither of them had requested it nor made any particular efforts to make it so, their relationship had become a secret. Whenever they did anything outside of arguing, they did so in private, be that in their chambers or else in a secluded corner behind a curtain. Truth of the matter was Sigyn had no one in particular with whom to speak of their secret rendezvous in the first place, with the exception —perhaps— of Einar; at the same time, however, Sigyn felt very strongly about that particular bond with the Prince of Asgard, respecting it too much —maybe to a fault— to be speaking about it with any third parties. Loki, on his part, hadn't told a soul either; as far as everyone in Asgard was concerned, the younger Prince had simply outgrown meaningless and rather public flirts overnight, all of a sudden nowhere to be found amongst his brother and his dimwitted friends as they chased after potentially interested parties.

Another contributing factor to their secrecy could have been the fact that they found something accelerating in all that stealthiness. Now they had found an alternative to sharp comments, the only way they had had up until then to get into each other's nerves, which was to subtly tempt each other in public. Occasionally, for a ceremony or an event, Sigyn would wear a backless dress and very conveniently end up spending most of the day standing with her back turned to the youngest of Odin's sons. And occasionally, when nobody else was paying close attention to where his hands were, Loki would engage in conversation with somebody else, acting naturally, as if he wasn't tracing the length of her bare back with the tip of his finger in an attempt to make her shiver. The only thing they found more entertaining than inspiring that energy build-up within each other was releasing that same energy later on.

Despite having believed she already knew him rather well, Sigyn soon came to realize she still had plenty more to learn about Loki. For instance, for a considerable amount of time in the beginning, she usually tried to keep her hands to herself, for the God of Mischief was quite reserved when it came to physical affection himself, which had led her to believe he was simply not very fond of it. Eventually, nonetheless, she discovered that, in fact, the opposite was true.

One day in particular, Loki stormed into his own chambers in a rampageous rage after an audience with the All Father. Sigyn was already there when he arrived; finding her in those rooms, after all, would not have been an odd sight to anyone, since the maiden was known to borrow a number or two from the Prince's private library from time to time— not to mention she had foreshadowed that he would need some soothing down after that encounter. Needless to say that she knew better than to ask how it had gone; instead, she devoted her whole attention to his inevitable rant, listening to him as he complained and listed every way in which his father favoured his older brother over himself. Whether she herself believed it or not, Sigyn thought, was irrelevant, since what mattered was the fact that Loki perceived it so.

Through that entire harangue, she did not agree nor disagree, for there was no telling how much of it he actually meant and how much of it was just a projection or simply due to an outburst of anger. She only listened, allowing him to get all of that toxicity out of his system as efficiently as possible; after all, the sooner he did, the sooner he would be able to look back upon that audience with a less clouded and biased perspective. Analyzing things in his current state would have been, the maiden believed, counterproductive.

"Feeling better already, are we?" she ventured with a gentle smile when the God of Mischief had paused at last and exhaled a heavy sigh.

"Hardly," he disagreed.

Wanting to make herself useful, she took him by the hand and led him to a nearby chair so he would take a seat. Loki let himself be led, which might have seemed surprising to most, if not everyone with the exception of Sigyn.

"Your Mother will make him see reason, doesn't she always?" she sweetly reminded him, slightly lifting the skirt of her dress so she could take a seat across his lap.

"Asking my Mother to fight my battles for me?" Loki retorted with an elbow propped up on the armrest, his temple leaning against two of his fingers as if he were nursing a headache. "Not necessarily an orderly way of earning my Father's respect."

"Would you prefer I fought them for you instead?" she playfully suggested, daring to poke at his cheekbone with the tip of her nose while she offered him a smile.

"I'm in no mood for banter," he half-heartedly protested, while still offering her a faint smile in return.

After having apologized in a whisper, Sigyn set aside all intention to jest. She left him to his thoughts for a while longer as she provided him with supportive company, a loose arm around his shoulders being as far as she was prepared to go in terms of physical affection. For some reason that remained unbeknownst to her, she had the constant, irrational fear gnawing at the very back of her mind that expressing herself as openly as she would like to would somehow result in Loki's withdrawal, as if a sudden demonstration of affection would be enough to scare him off. Off of what, of course, was not clear to her, although she supposed that was why they called it an irrational fear.

"I cannot be trusted, can I?" he abruptly mused, and Sigyn suspected he had originally intended to keep that statement an inner thought.

"Your father trusts you," she assured him, giving his shoulder a tender squeeze.

"As much as he trusts Thor?" he challenged.

Perhaps Sigyn herself was biased but she could not sincerely state that Odin treated both of his sons equally. She wanted to believe it was Thor's age and nothing more, which in turn granted him the immediate right to the throne of Asgard, which inspired the King to treat his firstborn the way he did in comparison to Loki— she had to admit, nonetheless, that what he lacked in Odin's favour he more than made up for in Frigga's.

Her initial intention had been to extend to her companion's cheek a mere brush with her thumb in the form of a fleeting caress. The moment her hand had gotten close enough to his face, however, —though not without a fair share of hesitation— Loki tilted his head in order to lean into her palm, his own hand rising to hold hers in place. It was then that Sigyn realized just how much he seemed to long for loving, caring contact rather than, like she had so foolishly believed until then, being repelled by it. Now that the Prince had chosen to expose his own vulnerability, the young woman decided to do the same. She leaned in to press a lasting, soft kiss to his temple right before she whispered her confession:

"I'd trust you with my life."

She had seen him cry before, but never had it been voluntary on his part. As a matter of fact, the few times she had ever witnessed him shedding a tear, he had done so without even realizing it himself. That was the first time, nevertheless, when Loki had in fact felt a tear or two streaming away from his eyes and down his face yet made no effort in concealing it. Sigyn did not brush them away; instead, she hugged his head to her chest, extending a light, constant caress to his cheek with her thumb while whispering warm reassurances into his hair.

Eventually, and not too long after that day, Loki made a realization of his own: He knew Sigyn enough to tell when she was lying, he knew her enough to sometimes foreshadow what she'd say or how she'd react, he knew her enough to be able to recite her interests, her likes and dislikes— that was, however, quite literally all he knew about her. That conclusion immediately became haunting once the Prince had thought of it, deciding to act upon it the second after it had dawned on him.

"What was your mother's name?" he asked out of the blue.

He was seated on the ground, his back propped against the trunk of a tree. Sigyn was seated beside him, though most of her was leaned back into his chest. Both were reading, each a book of their own, although Loki had lowered his onto his lap some time ago when his train of thought had become too absorbing for him to be able to concentrate. Sigyn was, to say the least, taken aback by such an unanticipated question.

"What?"

She tilted her head back so she could see his face; Loki, in turn, looked down at her as well.

"Your mother. You've never told me her name."

"Oh, of course I have!" she disagreed, lowering her gaze onto her book once more. "I must have."

"Not to my recollection," he insisted.

Sigyn glanced up from the page and stared at nothingness as she tried to recollect a conversation between the two of them in which she had referred to her mother by name. To her surprise, no matter how fervent her attempt at remembering, she could not come up with a single occasion in which she had. She was not exactly sure how she was to feel upon that realization, but something told me that whatever emotion she experienced from it would require a lot of time and energy to process, both of which she was not prepared to spare at the moment. She therefore decided to repress it behind a facade of indifference.

"—oh." She gave her head a quick shake. "I could have sworn you knew. Well, for what it's worth, it was Dagmar."

"It's... worth plenty, I hope," Loki ventured to comment. "How could I have possibly known? You never talk about her."

It was Sigyn's turn to put down her book once and for all. She adjusted herself, taking a proper seat next to him. Her companion, in turn, for he did not want to renounce that physical closeness, locked an arm around her waist which kept her near enough, yet still at a distance where they could look each other in the eye, the least such a sensitive topic deserved.

"Well, to what do we owe this sudden curiosity?" wondered she with a smile.

"Sigyn, if you'd rather not talk about it…" the Prince offered, worried that he might have brought up a particularly fragile subject of conversation.

She hesitated, but only because she had not expected him to be so accurately perceptive of the discomfort she was trying to conceal.

"No, no, I do!" After all, she had to admit she found it rather endearing that her companion was taking an interest, as odd as it struck her to be asked about topics she could not remember having ever discussed out loud with anyone else before. "You've just caught me off guard, is all. What would you like to know?"

"Anything you'd like to tell me. What do you remember about her?"

"To be sure, not much. I barely knew her, I was quite young when she died."

"What happened to her?"

"Oh, please, I know you know that much," Sigyn remarked, because she herself had received the news of her mother's demise together with the Queen.

"Where could I have learned about it?" Loki demanded.

"Surely, your mother's told you," she assumed.

"Do you honestly believe she and I would just tittle-tattle about your life behind your back like that?"

"Oh, don't pretend to be so scandalized," said the maiden with a laugh, extending a gentle nudge to his side. "You've asked her about my family before."

The Prince, on the other hand, did not appear to be amused. "On one occasion, perhaps, two at the most, but never about your mother."

"Is that so?"

"Why would I lie about that?"

"For the same reason you've always lied about everything else, I presume," Sigyn suggested, all of a sudden stuck in a tendency to answer with teasing alone, unable to formulate a serious reply.

"Well, I would never lie to you."

"How do I know that right there wasn't a lie?"

Once she had a moment to catch her breath, looking away momentarily, Sigyn realized she was deflecting, noticing she had succumbed to a defense mechanism. Accusing Loki, even jokingly, of being capable of lying to her, being dreadfully aware as she was that trust was a very sensitive topic for him in particular, had broken its spell, allowing her to think clearly for a change. When she turned her head to look at him again, rather than finding any vexation upon his features like she had expected, instead she found a patient, gentle expression, as though Loki had realized a lot sooner that she was simply avoiding the topic of conversation and was waiting for her to perceive it as well. Wanting to apologize for her reaction as well as show appreciation over the fact that he did not give her any grief about it, she extended a tender squeeze to his chin.

"I do know you'd never lie to me," she stated, wanting to make that specifically perfectly clear.

"I never would," he promised for good measure.

"I know."

In the end, they talked about everything she remembered, however little. More than once did Loki pose questions that she herself had never wondered, whose answers most definitely sounded like conclusions she should have drawn much earlier in life, had she only given herself the chance to actually think about it. The God of Mischief was aghast, utterly shocked at the amount of information Sigyn had been withholding all along, wondering how she had managed to keep all of that silent for as long as they had known each other.

Deep down they had suspected it for quite some time, but now that they had seen each other at their most vulnerable, having trusted each other with information they had never shared with anybody else before, it had become official and undeniable: Sigyn and Loki knew each other far better than anyone had ever known them, a rather awkward and yet distinctive experience for them both.

[askredrage]

Open up your EYE (Thoughts on MLP Movie)

Has the show gotten one of those characters that doesn't know what a sense of humor is and fights back with combat?  Or am I thinking of a lot of reformed characters from other media? Spoilers down below.  Haven't seen the movie?  Well the DVD/Blu-Ray aren't far behind.

Um...so that was the movie I had almost missed out on, huh?  Well it was.........something... Ok, so I'm afraid this "review" is going to be EXTREMELY difficult to judge because the night before I actually watched Disney/Pixar's Coco first (by the way, 10/10, would DVD/Blu-Ray again).  And sitting down to watch this movie second was probably a huge mistake as this movie left me with a rather sour taste in my mouth.  Perhaps if I waited to see Coco later, then I wouldn't feel this...negative.  I'm the kind of person that goes to the movies a ton so I'm pretty much judging this movie along with all the other movies I've gone to see in the past several years. So let's get an obvious good thing out of the way first; the movie's return to 2-D or 2.5-D animation.  Never in a long time since Princess and the Frog in 2009 have I been glad to see the return of hand-drawn styled animation.  It's actually quite interesting when you learn that the movie characters were actually made 3-D FIRST before becoming 2-D characters in a 3-D world.  Speaking of which, a major chunk of the pony characters don't feel like repeatedly used poses like in the TV show.  They've been given a similar design to the show but more expressive and created with greater, fluid movement in a few areas.  So of course Pinkie Pie would be the one to mostly get the spotlight in this area.  I think people were worried about the 3-D landscaping dampening the style, but I'll let it slide as they did create the landscapes beautifully.  Plus 3-D environments have worked for 2-D movies in the past.  Talk to a good chunk of Disney Renaissance movies like Beauty and the Beast's Ballroom. An interesting way to segue into this next part.  Whereas the Disney Movies were mostly the movie first and merchandise later, Hasbro's the company that will make a product first then get their animators to make an episode or movie around it.  Also I am aware that Hasbro has one hell of a leash on these animators.  They've probably had a ton of amazing ideas for a My Little Pony movie to appeal to all audiences instead of the targeted one.  But what I was given to view not fell into my low expectations...it went even LOWER!  Perhaps being exposed to Coco first had ruined my enjoyment for this as there was much needed room for improvement. See if I can sequence this a bit.  Let's start with the story.  Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship has created a massive party in an unusually-styled Canterlot that's looking a bit spacious than the busting city I'm usually seeing in the show.  Through some comedic introductions, a song and a series of show-related cameos we are given the things that the outside audience needs to know.  Things get shaken up when Tempest Shadow, an broken-horned unicorn visitor representing for the Storm King, arrives with an army to take over the entire kingdom in order to siphon the magic out of the four princesses.  Now it's up to Twilight and her five friends (not six, Starlight Glimmer got shoved out of the spotlight) to find aid outside Equestria and take back their home capital. Interestingly enough, the one hour and forty-four run time actually felt kind of long when normally I'm sitting for two to three hour-long movies...but then it quickly sped through the story in a poor pace to show off their new toys/playsets and have money left in their budgets.  I'm probably not the first to say this movie was poorly paced, am I?  From memory, I think the longest we've stuck with a setting outside Canterlot was probably the desert city of Klugetown.  You could probably argue that perhaps it was Hippogriffia/Seaquestria but events there kinda made me WANT to make it go faster.  Get to that part in a second. Songs?  As a 90's kid, you know that most of the songs are either set aside or forgotten (like the ones in this film) for the most important one:  The Villain Song.  And Tempest Shadow's Open Up Your Eyes (currently having its instrumental being spammed repeatedly during this typing) is indeed worthy of the title "Villain Song".  The setting, the lighting, the flashback made by a different team (according to the credits), I loved it all.  I'd say it reminds me of Unleash the Magic from Friendship Games but I rank this song much higher. Honorary note for Sia's Rainbow.  I'm being told by some reviews that the song felt a bit too somber for a finale but I don't know, this felt like a calm, perfect way to wrap up the movie with.  I haven't a clue what the problem with it was. Finally, how about the characters.  We've got your familiar TV show cast along with a ton of celebrity voices, including Sia as Songbird Serenade at the beginning and end of the movie who is literally modeled after one of her actual outfits.  I chuckled when I dug up her photo, I don't know how she manages to see through that hair.  Other noteworthy celebrities that got a good chunk of screen time were Kristin Chenoweth as Princess Skystar, Liev Schriber as the Storm King, Zoe Saldana as Captain Celaeno, Michael Peña as Grubber the Hedgehog and Taye Diggs as Capper the anthropomorphic cat.  Most have been given the appropriate amount of screen time while others (STORM KING, MAIN ANTAGONIST OF THE FREAKING MOVIE), were held off until the end.  Oh yeah, that one Parrot Pirate with the squawking and demolitions.  Loved that guy. Sadly, the weakest of the group was the Storm King himself and not just because he was saved for the climax.  Previous TV show antagonists have ranged from either self-motivated tyrants to strategic conquerors for their own kind.  This knucklehead is literally announced as "evil" from Grubber and there just wasn't much from him to label him as an awesome villain.  Even his own funny moments couldn't save him.  And this is coming from a guy who isn't very fond of Starlight Glimmer yet she's still WAY more interesting than this cloud yeti.  Oh well, maybe next time don't model your villain to be a lazy, wacky monkey. On the other side of the spectrum, however, is Emily Blunt as Tempest Shadow, the true antagonist of the movie, picking up all the work for the Storm King to restore her cracked horn.  Compared to "her boss" this character has her own goals and motivations, sort of like a bounty hunter or mercenary. Kudos there as those areas would reach up into the top three MLP:FIM villains on my list.  Sadly, as the movie is indeed called "Friendship is Magic", she's (OMG) reformed much like many of the other unicorns in this show (Anyone seeing a trend here?).  Regardless, when she was a villain, this was a skilled and probably self-trained fighter trying to regain her happiness through any means necessary, even serving a clown.  Even gave me a chuckle when she lost her cool in Canterlot in front of Grubber before realizing and calming down. The Mane Six and Spike are mixed in their performances and what they're given to do.  I'll have to rate them all from best to worst...you're not gonna love who's on the bottom. Pinkie Pie stuck out the most with previously mentioned animations and tons of interactions with the girls and the strangers they came across.  Side-note:  She is mean with a barge of cupcakes; had they been red-frosting, that fight scene might have been banned.  We even get a serious moment with her and Twilight where--getting ahead of myself.  Getting there soon, promise. Rainbow Dash, despite causing some extra trouble, gives the "awesome" the movie needs including getting the Parrot Pirates off their rears to face off against their former employers...that doesn't last long. Rarity's charm and generosity got Capper the cat to not only change Tempest's army's course but gather the other characters for a full on pledged climax fight. Fluttershy has hardly anything except the funniest moment in the entire film regarding opening up with a Storm King soldier.  Honestly want to know what became of those guys now. Spike, you trustworthy pal and weapon.  The TV show might have given you terrible episodes but who would have thought you'd become a necessary Pyro tool?  TF2 Workshop!  Make a mod!  NOW! Applejack...sold apple juice and roped a few people and rocks.  That's uh....that's about it. ....you all hate me now for this:  Twilight Sparkle ends up on the bottom heavily and deserves it all from actions, character writing and poor pace.  Our beloved Princess of Friendship is still the nerdy and orderly princess aimed at saving her home kingdom enough to act grumpy, annoyed and careless in her actions.  Said carelessness led to attempted robbery and created the biggest and most painful moment of the movie:  When Twilight angrily lashes out at Pinkie by saying she'd be better off without friends like them.  Not only was this stupidly painful, but it was the necessary tool for the whole "We're not friends anymore but then we get back together later" bit.  And said apology was being shoved in a climax to be ignored for comedic effect.  Now if perhaps both Twilight and Tempest were together during the end of the battle for apologies, that would not only be forgivable but an excellent moment for the movie.  But no...more like the Princess of Pace-dumping. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh....I know, I know, this is a movie targeted towards children, but so was Coco.  It would really help if some of that Disney magic could save the MLP Movie from its Hasbro chains.  I know if the team wasn't being held back, they could have gotten away with much, much more to save the film from me giving it a 4/10. Well, this is the West Coast Psycho, and in the words of Max G, "I hope ya hated it."

[patrickmuldrew]

GAMING: Nintendo Switch Reveal

The Switch was finally unveiled in Japan and here is a complete recap of the conference.

Perhaps the most exciting part of this event was realising that the Switch is only about 6 weeks away. Nintendo’s president Tatsumi Kimishima announced a worldwide release date of March 3 for the console\handheld hybrid and a price tag in the U.S. of $299.99. This price point was fairly unsurprising to most who have followed the rumor mill of the console’s development. EB Games currently have their pre-order price set at $469.95 AU with other accessories added on top. The main accessory that people may be looking into is the Switch pro controller which is pre-ordering for $99.95.

Included in the console box is the screen\console unit, L and R joy-con controllers (which I’ll talk about more in a moment), joy-con wrist straps, the joy-con grip controller, the Switch dock, an HDMI cable and an AC adapter with USB-C. Two different skews of the console exist at this point - A grey controller unit and another with one neon red and one neon blue joy-con. Both versions will sell at the same price and there was finally confirmation of a “multi-touch capacititive touch screen” which can display in 720p. When docked and displaying to a TV, this resolution is switched to 1080p.

One thing that wasn’t mentioned at all during the conference was the internal storage of the Switch. Nintendo later released information on their website detailing that the console will have 32GB of storage, and while this is quite disappointing, the capacity can be increased by use of micro sdxc cards. The highest capacity in that format is 512GB, although there should be cards theoretically capable of holding up to 2TB in the next few years.

There will be no region-locking of Nintendo Switch software which is great news for many gamers around the world looking to get a hold of more obscure or Japanese-focused games. The other thing Nintendo have finally come to the party with is voice chat. Nintendo Switch Online Services will let users invite friends to play online, set play appointments and most importantly chat. Other features are to be announced at a future date. There will be a trial of these services post-launch and then a paid (possibly subscription) service starting towards the end of the year. Up to 8 Switch consoles can be connected for local multiplayer and multiple joy-cons and other controllers can by synced to the one system. A share button also exists of the Switch. At the moment it allows the sharing of screenshots but the promise is to have video sharing available in the the near future.

To end the introduction of the Switch, battery life was discussed and it wasn’t fantastic. Users can expect 2.5 to 6 hours of battery from the device, depending on the game being played and the conditions in settings. 3 hours was an estimated figure given for a title like Zelda. Hopefully battery issues can be negated somewhat by the use of USB-C as the method of charging. USB-C is known for rapid charging of products. Apple use it for their laptops as do Google for their new phone, the Pixel. It should be interesting to find out how long a full charge will take and whether first or third party battery packs are introduced for people on the go. 

Joy-Con Controllers

One of the best parts of the presentation was a segment recapping the different consoles and handhelds over the years and what each of them brought to game controls. The piece ended by hinting that there is a piece of every former control scheme in the joy- con controllers and it left me thinking that these devices are perhaps more complex than anyone realised. 

For starters, motion control is part of the Switch experience, making all games of all generations potentially playable on the Switch. Also spruiked was an “HD rumble system” allowing for a greater sensitivity and immersion in gameplay. The joy-con R has a motion-IR camera that can sense the shape, movement and distance of the objects in front of it. Finally, Amiibo will definitely be supported with the joy-con R including an NFC reader.

Games Announcements

“1-2 Switch” can be played even without looking at a screen. It works as a competitive multiplayer motion-controlled game and is available at launch. “Arms” is a new fighting game IP that will release in the first half of the year. It reminds me a little of “Wii Sports” boxing but with more mechanics to it of course. However both these titles are definitely looking to appeal to a more casual\party audience, perhaps trying to rekindle the success seen with the Wii.

The first big title announced was “Splatoon 2″ - I think most people were expecting a re-release of the Wii U game rather than a full fledged sequel. Interestingly it was mentioned that gyro control aiming would be available in al playing styles and all controllers. It is clearly a big franchise moving forward for Nintendo.

The biggest franchise of them all was up next. “Super Mario Odyssey” is a completely new 3D Mario game in the vein of “Mario 64″ or “Mario Sunshine”. It is all about Mario “journeying to an unknown world” including a modern ‘real-looking’ city. The game also included more familiar things like forest and desert settings. “Super Mario Odyssey” will be released in the final quarter of 2017. Expect to see much more of this game ay E3.

Over 80 games are confirmed to be in development right now from up to 50 third party partners. As strongly hinted at in the October teaser trailer “Skyrim” will be coming to the Switch. Hopefully the third party support will stay strong over the life of this console.

Finally a brilliant new trailer for “Zelda: Breath Of The Wild” was shown finally revealing more of the various geographical locations and boss battles that we can look forward to. The game will release on day one with the Switch (March 3rd)

Verdict:

It seems that Nintendo could be on to a good thing with the Switch. By being transparent about price and any shortcomings (battery life) I think they will be able to build goodwill from a gaming audience that wants to see Nintendo succeed in the industry. It was a little disappointing not to hear anything about the future of virtual console, but perhaps they didn’t want to muddy the water too much. There will be plenty of time for that in future Nintendo Directs. Time will tell if they will be able to form a viable third option with Sony and Microsoft. The one thing that could potentially harm their chances is artificial scarcity. It is something Nintendo has been doing for quite a while now. We’ve seen it through the Wii, Amiibo and recently the NES Classic. There must be stock early in the life of the Switch to get momentum back into the sails for Nintendo. Having Zelda ready to go on launch was a massive plus, maybe the biggest positive of the entire presentation, so there will absolutely be demand on day one. Hopefully Nintendo don’t fumble their chance.

[vgjustice]

VG Talks Games: My thoughts on The Switch (Jan. 14th, ‘17)

Really just a basic rundown on what I’m seeing from the various bits that have been officially released and what should be known if you want one of these systems. Buckle in, this might be a long one.

So, just for simplicity’s sake, I’m going to be using North American pricing when I’m talking about the system, games, and accessories. I know these prices are different in different regions, but the basic idea will still be the same when divorced from hard numbers. Okay? Okay.

And on that note, let’s talk cost. At $300 this thing is going to be more expensive than either an Xbox One S or a PlayStation 4 slim. And if you’re only looking at the Switch as a home console, that’s bad. You’d better really want those Nintendo exclusives to justify spending that much more on a less powerful system, and it is a less powerful system. But, that’s kind of the thing, right? It’s not just a “home console”. It’s not really much of a portable either, what with the 2.5 to 6 hour battery life (my New 3DS XL gets considerably better than that), but it can be taken on the go and that’s really the point. Much like the controllers have some motion control to them, even though people were really very much done with “waggling” before the Wii bit the dust.

From what I saw in the Switch Event it looks to me like Nintendo is trying to capture two very distinct audiences with this console. The first group are the casual market they captured with the Wii. That’s why games like 1, 2, Switch! and Just Dance 2017 are launch titles, it’s why they talked so extensively about using the console and games more like a party game that doesn’t need the TV. And I have no idea if that’s going to work. The Wii casual market clearly didn’t want the more powerful Wii U, even when it was explained to them on a personal level. Maybe Nintendo can hit pay dirt again, and it’s pretty obvious that they’re trying. The second group is the long time Nintendo loyalists. Which is why Breath of the Wild is a launch title and why the Switch Event wrapped up with that game’s release date. It’s why they focused so much on Super Mario Odyssey, and also announced Splatoon 2. They’ve got a pretty good idea what that demographic wants and have been good about pleasing them (us) for the past few console generations. And to be perfectly honest, that’s not really enough. Every loyalist lost is a major blow since I don’t think Nintendo is replacing those customers very easily. Really, the Switch needs a unique lineup to attract new customers, but they need something that either younger customers can grow with much like the current loyalists did with the NES/SNES/N64, or they need to please the major console fanatics and convince them to pick up this new device. But with underpowered hardware that doesn’t feature a lot of the things their less expensive counterparts have (Blu-Ray players anyone?) it’s going to be a tough sell to say the least.

On the more techy side of things, I’m pleased to say that Nintendo might finally be on to something here. The replacement controllers might be expensive at $80 for a set (L and R Joycons), but it’s also pretty obvious that having more than one set synced at a time is not the way the system is meant to be played. The much less expensive Pro Controller is clearly the “couch co-op” controller of choice here. For the admittedly poor battery performance, the solution is actually a lot more simple than you might think. The system uses a standard USB cable to charge. Let me say that again because I’m just as incredulous as you are: The Nintendo Switch uses the standard USB type-C cable to charge. If you already have a phone that uses USB-C, you’ve already got a Switch charger. Worried about playing on the go? Bring a pocket charger and a USB-C cable. Take it to your favorite restaurant and plug in a USB wall adapter to the cell charger that nearly every place has now. That poor battery really isn’t that big of a deal and those chargers are going to be readily available from dozens of reputable manufacturers. That was great news to hear!

The system uses microSDXC memory cards, which is a standard memory card. Basically the same card that the New 3DS hardware uses. The only concern I have, and this is a small and nit-picky concern, is the question of memory limitation. A lot of devices have strange limits on the maximum size card it can recognize. SDXC tells us that it will work with cards AT LEAST up to 64 GB in capacity. But, might it also work with the 128 GB cards? What about the 200 GB cards? Larger? Who knows? This is one of the many tech missteps Nintendo took with that press release, and have still not corrected on their web page detailing what the system can work with. (Note: That web page is why I know it’s compatible with microSDXC specifically.) This will be needful information going forward and I hope we learn more before the system comes out in a little over a month and a half.

The launch lineup seems a little... sparse. My recommendation for any new game console is to have three to five games either readily available or shortly available to justify the cost of the system. Buying a game system for one or two games isn’t cost effective for anyone, really. (You’re free to reject that suggestion, of course. It’s your money.) But, the launch lineup I’m seeing doesn’t really offer a lot to work with. It feels like “The new Zelda game plus a bunch of tech demos”. That’s not a great feeling when looking at picking up a brand new, untested game system. Never the less, the upcoming titles do look promising. I’m excited to see a new Puyo Puyo game, even if it’s riding on the coat tails of Tetris to get there. (Some of my favorite puzzle games use Tetris to some extent, so this is not a bad thing to me at all. Tetris is awesome.) A new Bomberman game is exciting, but Konami has been so bad as of late that I’m worried about the game on principal. Arms is likely to be a huge internet joke for quite some time, but could also prove to be a good game. I expect it to be a flash in the pan party game that’s quickly forgotten. The controls just don’t look like they’re there, you know? Thankfully the system seems to be teeming with a variety of RPGs from several venerable studios. If you like those slow-burner games this could be a very good system. Plus, there are still rumors of a Mario and Rabbids crossover game in addition to a new Pokemon game, both of which are exciting for different reasons. People who remember the Sega Nomad and playing home console Sonic on the go might be more interested in the new offering, and it does look like it could be worth a chance. Which is more than I can say about far too many Sonic the Hedgehog games. (Come on, Sonic Team. You guys used to be better than this.) There are more than a few notable omissions from Nintendo’s list as well, and that has mixed feelings from me. Things like Mother 3/EarthBound 2 and anything related to Metroid not being there hurt a little, as well as Smash Bros., and makes me worry that either the titles are not going to be on the system or will take a long time to get there. Neither option is great for early adopters.

And finally, the big bugaboo from the event, Nintendo stepping into the realms of Payed Online Use. This is very much one of those things where it could either be the thing that saves Nintendo’s online presence or the thing that crushes the company. And I’m really more on the side of the former. When Microsoft introduced the concept it proved to be very viable, ensuring a much more stable network for it’s games and customers. When Sony finally bit the bullet and did the same, it didn’t feel great but they added the value of their PlayStation Plus to the mix, giving games every month to subscribers. That was effective enough to force Microsoft to follow suit. Nintendo has some big problems to overcome if they want to make this service charge successful. Offering free games every month is going to be a must, and as long as Nintendo gets their amazing catalogue of classic games onto the system fast enough they’ll have a great pool to pick from. I don’t expect them to do this, since they haven’t had a large number of games available at any time since they began offering the eShop with the Wii. This same issue could be even more troubling if they decide to offer rentals of whatever customers want. It would be great to offer that, but they need to have the library to support it first or it just will not be valuable. Next, Nintendo needs to offer reliable and effective online connectivity. Which is thankfully something I have not seen them have trouble with at any point in the Wii U’s life span, so this shouldn’t be an issue. I honestly don’t see a reason for Nintendo to change their policy in such a way since their online connectivity has always been exceptional, but perhaps they’re adding a service that would need some kind of payment option to make it viable. I’m just hoping it’s not a simple cash grab, since this would directly hurt the sales of the system if it’s not valuable enough. Or if it costs too much. More expensive system with the same cost for online play? Yeah, Nintendo won’t make any money on that if that’s the case.

Overall, I’m honestly still pretty positive about the system. I’ve just got a lot of concerns and the Switch Event didn’t do much to inform me, and in some cases actually gave me more concerns than I had before. But hey, who knows? Maybe it’ll capture the casual market again and bring in core console players and we’ll all enjoy Splatoon 2 together. To make early buying as effective as possible, pick up a USB-C cable plus appropriate USB adapters, a 64 GB microSDXC card (at least), and a USB rechargeable battery pack to go with the system. A carrying case for on the go use would also be recommended. Extra diligence in watching for thieves in the first few months is going to be a must I fear. And also the very real possibility of a highly limited launch window aiding scalpers will likely drive the price up, so be vigilant in not supporting these individuals.

Be safe, be smart, caveat emptor.

[consilium-games]

New opportunities for consumerism!

At long, long last, I've published both Chamber+Circle and the pay-what-you-want supplement, Substitute Reagents! Go read up there, but to whet your appetite, Chamber+Circle is a standalone game in which you play as magical women with implausible weapons, fantastical vehicles, and a lot of ass to kick. Aeon Flux, Bayonetta, Witch Hunter Robin, Ultraviolet, and Underworld were big influences on the style, focus, and tone.

Substitute Reagents is a supplement with added rules and lots of detail on how to use them, together and singly. No real verbiage is put toward combining Substitute Reagents with Succession, or for that matter, Book of Sand. So, I'd like to get into that a little bit with this post.

First, What's Chamber+Circle (in five paragraphs or less)?

A GMful game with much the same framework and DNA as Succession, of no particular setting, in which one of the main foci is building the setting together as the group plays, while having action-packed, fanservice-laden scenes in which scary, competent women wield mystical power to defeat evil (or just anything they don't like).

The game doesn't come with Quests, like Succession does. Instead, it asks the group to answer questions together about the world at large, via 'Districts', 'Groups', 'Others', and 'Fixtures'. These serve much the same purpose as the 'Lots' page in Succession, but where 'Lots' is intended as a palette, and you have the assignment of painting a picture of the PCs' Adversaries (and scenery around them), the oracle page of Chamber+Circle is a bit more like a collection of concept clip-art. While a reader's (presupposed but likely) grounding with the trappings of Western fantasy will make things like "The Valley of Teeth" seem fairly straightforward to imagine, things like "so, the 'deuscientists' are a Group of some kind" will probably give less guidance.

This is intentional, and singled out right in the mechanics: where Succession gives each Adventurer two Skills, and gives everyone the means to Supplicate to their chosen God, Chamber+Circle gives every Witch the exact same Moves, across the board, lets them single out one as having a nifty side-effect, and gives a couple of narrative niceties (ie, non-mechanical, but asserted as facts of the game-world, making them relevant even if they don't directly reference dice and vice versa). And one of these Moves all Witches have is a pretty unique one: Remember or Cut is triggered by in-game events that differ for each Witch, and signal a kind of 'aside' scene, a flashback or jump-cut elsewhere, narrated by the player of the Witch who had Remember or Cut trigger. And almost the sole purpose and intent of Remember or Cut is to have a player take time to describe some of the setting, its history, and current events, outside of the Witches' immediate presence.

From the outset, Succession uses the Adventurers like mirrored balls, reflecting the world around them as much as affecting it. It uses Adventurers to explore the world. Chamber+Circle uses the world as a projector, to shine light on the Witches in all their glory. It uses its moments of worldbuilding mid-session to show how awesome are the Witches who bend that world over their collective and singular knees. This makes sense, as Succession took a lot of inspiration from Dark Souls, while Chamber+Circle took its cues from Bayonetta. (Maybe I should try to actually play one of them someday . . .)

And Book of Sand fits in how?

Short version: generic Western Tolkien-inspired fantasy isn't the only genre that Succession's engine can drive. Other genres work at least as well, depending on what one construes the genre to mean, and how one wants to explore and play in (or with) that genre.

Long version: Book of Sand is as much about teaching how to rulesmith as presenting prepackaged genre toolkits. It aims to pack a brief course on (very narrowly-applied) game design, into about a dozen pages, and give the reader something worthwhile even if they don't get anything out of the purported course. And I'll have more to say, probably in a future post, about the genres in Book of Sand and what you can do with them (spoilers: my next game is not really inspired by a video-game!)

So, Substitute Reagents?

Where Book of Sand gives you a kit of nice things just for Succession, and then some kits to turn Succession into something entirely else, Substitute Reagents gives you eighteen basically-isolated rules and subsystems, and guidance on what each can do. It's a bit like the difference between a gallery of model-kits (that so happen to have standardized fittings), and a gallery of tools with booklets on each for how to use them as tools. The nice thing about the former approach is that as long as you 'get' Succession, you get six very short RPG books, basically Batteries Included, No Assembly Required. The nice thing about the latter approach is, if you 'get' Chamber+Circle (for an even more forgiving definition of 'get'), you get a bundle of things you can use for most any game like Chamber+Circle (basically, any game using Ghost/Echo's framework, which Succession and Chamber+Circle both just give a more rigorous treatment of).

So what can you do with Substitute Reagents, say in light of Succession? Quite a lot, though as stated above, Substitute Reagents internally only refers to Chamber+Circle, with no real mention of Succession. Hence this post going into a little more meaty detail.

Firstly, Succession has some unavoidable gamespace overlap with games more to the tune of Dungeons and Dragons (though a lot more overlap with, say, Dungeon World). But, unlike either of those games, its combat minigame is . . . not a minigame at all. It's 2.5 Moves, and Misfortunes to juggle, and maybe Quests ticking toward Fates. No HP, or health-mechanics at all, no notion of range or cover or even numbers: on first principles, the rules don't know the difference between your desperate, wheezing, cowering tinkerer staring down an army, and your warcrying veteran leading a horde of vengeful berserkers on a felled and briefly-mortal necromancer. Succession, as a book, mostly aims to teach you and your friends how to make the rules care about the difference between those two scenarios, without feeling like you're puppeting the system, or fighting it, or having to ignore it and play Magical Tea Party.

Suppose you added one or more rules that distinctly, intentionally handle combat, as a discrete event? You have your choice of several, now! Each focuses on a different thing you get out of 'combat'. One deals with "combat as a good excuse to make everyone look really wicked cool", and does this by letting PCs work in close concert to curbstomp opposition, at the expense of quickly wagering their asses. Another deals with "combat as a genuine Undecided with repercussions everyone disclaims ownership on", and that system does it by stopping a moment to frame the stakes of the conflict or crisis, and having everyone involved (ie not necessarily every PC) have to roll for these stakes to finally settle the conflict. And a third focuses on "combat as an exercise in itself, the planning-out and execution of it being as important or moreso than the outcome", and this plays out with simple but usable rules for tactics, positions, ranges, weapons that play into these, and so on.

Or, suppose instead the main deficit you find in Succession (or games to be released later) is they don't acknowledge very well the idea of learned skills a particular PC would bring to the group. There's a 'blank skill' rule and guidance on how to put it to work. Now, you can take that 'Post-Apocalypse' genre kit from Book of Sand, and make it less drastic, with a 'Hacking' skill and attendant presumption that there exist things to hack, and benefits to reap by doing so. And more naturally, you can posit a 'Medicine' skill someone else has, that lets them patch others up perhaps with a risk of exhausting valuable supplies. It's a small, simple tweak, one a lot of readers of Succession will probably have intuitively come up with on their own, but now it's official and has guidance on how to do it.

Or, for a big shift in style, suppose you want a mechanical advancement system, and possibly concrete 'stat-like' numbers you can twiddle with? Substitute Reagents gives a simple, malleable menu of things a PC can 'level-up' into, and a choice of XP systems, so you can decide what should grant experience and improvement, since that will strongly incentivize some things and discourage or ignore others. And of course, in tandem with some specialties in Substitute Reagents such as 'Powers' or 'Implements', and a bit of modification, you can craft a good catalog of "things a PC can get via experience", and not just "how they would get any mechanical improvement at all".

How about Book of Sand?

No verbiage exists at all for applying Book of Sand toward Chamber+Circle, for a few reasons. One, economy of prose: in order to have the most utility-to-wordcount ratio, every word that doesn't contribute a useful rule or guidance is suspect. And, more pointedly, two, genre focus: while "gunwitches" isn't quite a genre, it's like a genre. It comes with some implicit statements about a world, and possibly something to say about our world; it expects certain allowances and interests from the audience that, if not met, will consistently send the audience to the door; it fits itself to enough of a mold of beats, arcs, and microdramas that the Ghost/Echo Move structure can pretty well encapsulate "gunwitches" the way it can encapsulate "Western sword-and-sorcery dark fantasy", which is significant for my purposes. So, welding real genres atop the quasi-genre of "gunwitches"--ie, Chamber+Circle--would dilute the focus of purpose.

But that doesn't begin to make it a bad idea. And you can even see some shades of this in certain rules in Substitute Reagents which slant more toward horror, or specifically-fantasy, or that help with supporting more sci-fi trappings. So let's look a bit at Book of Sand informing Chamber+Circle!

First, setting your Witches down in any setting will guide you a lot on that whole "build the world as you play" agenda. Having an acknowledged starting point and a single page for everyone to be on (or at least, a rough chapter) means that when someone chimes in about the deuscientists, it won't come out too jarring in juxtaposition with demons or ghosts--there's some cohesive, in-setting understanding of what those three things would or could be.

More pointedly, applying genre 'model kits' on top of Chamber+Circle will, largely, mean adding "things that make Witches different from each other". Chamber+Circle pointedly makes Witches differ mostly in "what happens when they do something cool", rather than "what cool things can Witches severally do?" But, most people will come at the game from a background that posits PCs as substantively distinct in mechanics, and while that's neither bad nor good, having to fight a habitual lens while playing isn't fun. Thus, the rule/s each genre has in Book of Sand that distinguish PCs will make Chamber+Circle feel more like other games--again, not bad or good, but possibly desirable for some, especially when still getting settled in.

Lastly, simply bolting one or two specific, well-chosen bits out of Book of Sand in, like "Chamber+Circle+New Gods" for example, or "somehow adding Milestones to Witches' lives", can turn your story in a radically different direction. Where you would ordinarily have "Aoi, Boumei, and Chie beat the literal tar out of a coven of crime-lord demons", now you have "Aoi, Boumei, and Chie are chosen priestesses of a quasi-pantheon of lost gods, and beat the literal tar out of a coven of crime-lord demons threatening to unmoor the gods from Creation". It's the same 'genre' of gunwitches, the same intended playstyle and themes, but one added bit of direction can change everything, and take a good but generic story to some really unique, personal places that perhaps only your group will ever see, if you don't share it with others.

In conclusion:

Turns out, using a mostly-uniform mechanical system, with very few moving parts, means you can hotswap a lot and keep things basically coherent! Next time, I'll probably discuss my next standalone game, and probably muse on what would make for a good supplement after it. It probably won't be "a supplement specific to the standalone game", unless unforeseeable fortunes prevail. It might though, as the Next Big Thing uses one very specific alteration to the core that Succession and Chamber+Circle hew to, and exploring what else you can do with this One Weird Rule might make for an interesting exercise.