#what a cool game and what a fun IP

[aurum-k-chatters]

i love neopets. u_u

[emdotcom]

Hisuian Zoroark is one of the sickest designs in pokemon, but the model on that bloke is FUCKED. It's really bad. If they bother to port her over to other games, you know they ain't changing that model, either, 'cept to make the textures paler & duller.

I continue to despise pokemon, despite being a pokemon fan, I fucken guess. At this point, I gotta go all in on summat else, like Cassette beasts.

[itsrhodi]

yknow as fucky as Nightreign feels in terms of presentation and just like. how it's Soulslike But Absolutely Not At All in terms of gameplay/mobility/combat/etc. (assumptions im making purely off the weird-but-cool acrobatics of the reveal trailer), i'm completely charmed by it ngl.

from what ive been reading it's looking like it's not canon to actual Elden Ring lore, which is why there are so many copy-paste bosses from Dark Souls. so thank god for that, but i was kind of expecting it. Miyazaki wouldn't let Bandai fuck up his IPs that bad if he could help it.

it really looks like a product of a small team with a small budget being told to go off and run with silly goofy ideas. that's a good sign to me, i love that a lot. sure, make ER a roguelike! and why not, give it a sekiro parry mechanic and a stupid anime mobility system! who needs horses, let's try a BOTW-ass bird glider! even better, let's just throw some old FS bosses in there too! the more the merrier! throw shit at the wall, see if it sticks!

Nightreign reads as just good fun, like the devs are playing with action figures and telling us we get to do the same. in spite of the very real possibility Bandai is trying to milk the Elden Ring IP for all it can, i think this is low-stakes, low expectations. Nightreign is going to be a Video Game, and that's okay with me. the vibes are good so far imo, im not worried about it

[websitestargirl]

type of traditional arts and crafts i think my fav cod characters would do because im crazy and all i think about is sex, video games, and fine arts

ghost:

wheel throwing. getting good at it is extremely difficult but rewarding (even though i picked it up immediately; non-humble brag). its one of those things where you can just sit and do it for hours and hours and hours non stop with very little variation of what youre making. like yes you can make pot or bowl or plate but they process of creating is rhythm and requires focus. its hypnotic, watching it go round and round. sensory heaven. its like giving him a chew toy

price:

man idfk this man doesnt have a creative bone in his body. he should learn how to conduct a marching band or something. oh but- but- delia! music isnt Traditional Arts its Music SHUT THE FUCK UPP SHUT UP SHUT IP SHUT UP (arguing at the wall)

soap:

i think he needs to be shown how to use a printing press. i think he needs to be taught lithography. i think the process would its his brain with the etching and chemicals and crayon and the fucking 6000lb block of limestone. soap is more of a drawer than anything else, and lithography is so drawing based itd cater to his skill set. also printing in lithography is easy af and quick so i think hed have fun just doing it again and again and again and again and-

gaz:

i think gaz should make books. he should learn all of the folds and cuts and make accordion style books and learn japanese book binding and all the other ones (im not a bookmaker so i dont know but i look at books). sequencing, collection of materials, and assembly can be done at any range of speed depending on what’s being created. it’s a tactile skill that uses dexterity, strength in the hands, precision, and planning. idk what hed make but he should make books.

this is actually all i can think of

honorable mentions:

graves should do film because hed make campy marvel captain america shorts where hes basically just jerking himself off for 5 minutes but disguised as an indie american film about War and Hardship (what the hell, sure)

nikolai should learn to play the flute. also welding maybe. idfk anything about welding but i know people who make pretty cool things. maybe he can make tiny

omfg wait a second im so dumb

nikolai should learn jewelry slip casting cause then he could make little airplanes out of precious metals

okay thats all

[dergnblaze]

Finished Dragon Age Vielguard.

Here are my thoughts... spoilers ahead. I romanced emmerich. he became a lich.

You could REALLY TELL they fired all their writers.

I loved how beautiful everything was, the combat was delicious. But so much of the game felt filler or forgotten.

There were many many opportunities to make compelling story moments that were just lost to happening off screen. Like they were afraid if they tried to animate them they would get made fun of if it didnt look right or something. But just lost all their power bc we didnt SEE them happen.

Lots of moments with bards in the environment that I think SHOULD HAVE HAD music! Maybe not voiced music! But a musical change would have been nice. Hell I would have been happy with the music from the inquisition even.

Its also the shortest Dragon Age game I've ever played. And I hate that. I hate it.

I agree having a tightly wrapped up story is better to ambiguity and lots of moving parts makes things confusing, but everything felt rushed and nothing had room to breath.

I loved romancing Emmerich, and would have loved to see all of the companions have more reactivity with your choices and the enviroment. After every big choice in inquisition you got a scene with the companions it effected the most.

The ending of the game was done very well. I thought the lead up to the big boss fight was well paced, engaging, thrilling and satisfying. But I couldnt help but keep thinking 'Wow I wish the rest of the game got this level of care and attention.'

All the dragons were a mess. We need a big boss fight? Ok here is a dragon. Thats a cop out. I dont like it.

I like all of the companions a LOT more than some of the other games. In Inquistion I only really cared about like, three of them. And how hard would it have been REALLY to bring some of what you did in Inquision into this game? The Divine choice could have been an easy way to satisfy us with a line or two of dialogue, but just nothing?

I liked that there were bodies in the tentacles, that was cool. Belarra being all gross and blighted was cool. It was dark when I needed it to be, so Im happy with that. Elgarnan looked sick as fuck at the end of the game, and so did Solas for that matter. I really like that Emmerich was in lich mode the entire end game. That was hot. I'm sad Lucanis died in my run. I feel like other games would have had a funeral for our lost companions or something, but Harding and Lucanis didnt really get anything.

And Mythal just being some white lady elf was lame. She was an elven god! You CLEARLY have some amazing animators and designers working on the game, its beautiful. It would not have been hard to give us a large, beautiful, ethereal elven goddess instead of just this random white lady ghost. Just feels thoughtless.

SO much of this game felt thoughtless. Like, just the care and attention wasnt given to it that the other games had.

And I shouldnt compare it to Baldurs Gate 3 bc that game is like, magnificent.

But how can I NOT??

They are the same kind of game!!

idk, I feel like the studio maybe gave up on it. I love this IP but after this I doubt it has the legs to keep going. No hook for the next game in the epilogue. No real epilogue for Rook and their partner. Just them standing with their hands on their hips while like four people cheer for them. Lame.

[kerubimcrepin]

What do we know about Joris le Sans-Pouvoir (Joris the Powerless)?

Aka, addressing the "cancelled Nintendo DS game"-shaped elephant in the room.

While this blog has gone deep into the show and character dissections, I think it would be remiss to proceed without addressing the elephant in the room — the game, the myth, the legend, the 2007-2009ish cancelled game Joris le Sans-Pouvoir.

There isn't a lot that is known about it, and all the data in this post comes from two developers.

The only videos of it we have available are uhhh......,

...Please say "Thanks Ronik!" for this video in particular.

I spent hours trying to convert these two SWF animation video files, — which demonstrate how the game was supposed to look, — to something actually viewable. There were many issues, with at least seven different programs.

I suffered for crepinjurgenology studies, but I did it.

Instead of recounting the story in my own words and omitting anything on accident, I will simply present to you, what the portfolios of two different developers say (these two pages are the source of all the images, gifs, and gameplay):

Joris Le sans-Pouvoir is the main character from a feature film Ankama due in 2013. It’s a new character IP situated in the DOFUS universe. I had the chance to work on a platform game prototype that was all about delving into of the character’s backstory. We wrote a lot of background and had a lot of fun designing and developping a cute and quirky platformer with a hint of metroidvania elements and a dash of Grow gameplay elements in-between levels. It also was a great opportunity to work with Jono Takeshi-san of Radiata Stories fame who worked with me on the art direction. (SOURCE)

Joris was the first Nintendo DS project developed at Ankama (in partnership with Magic Pockets). I began working on the project as narrative game designer, then took on the role of Lead Designer and Project Manager. Game design on this project involved boss fight, level design, minigame design, UI… I also designed an original collecting system where collectible items were used in a minigame inspired by the “Grow” series. The developpement has been put on hold to match the release of the animated movie with the same character (scheduled in 2013). (SOURCE)

Neither the movie nor the game, survived their development, due to circumstances. (shorthand for: I have no idea what happened, man. Maybe one day I'll write a post about the history of the movie, and truly open that can of worms, but god, not right now. I don't want to spend more time on this.)

Eventually, The Wakfu film turned into three OVAs instead, and the Dofus film changed its plot a bunch of times, and became Livre 1 : Julith.

...For some reason, in some version of it, Joris had a tail. Yeah, I don't know what that's about either. Cool clothes, though!

We don't know anything about its plot, and unlike cancelled projects Dofus Donjons and Welsh et Shedar (which was cancelled for years, until its recent resurrection), the lore of this game carries no relevancy in modern canon.

The name, Joris the Powerless, as well as the log-centric gameplay, both seem to reference the early concept that Joris had log-based powers, — and that without his "magic wand," he couldn't do much.

(Joris and his weird fucking "magic wand" were, in turn, borne out of the idea of a warrior who had a woman's voice. Which makes me chuckle.)

(The following quotes are machine-translated and may contain errors)

(SOURCE)

This is, by the way, the reason why I personally headcanon Joris to be really bad at huppermagic. So bad that he dropped out of the Huppermage Academy, and almost never uses magic in combat. It's a homage to his original idea.

(Yes, there is an actual reason why I headcanon Joris to be godawful at magic, besides just projecting my neurodivergencies onto him.)

I suppose that, even at this time, Joris was meant to be a store owner:

The gameplay loop involves going from boutique, to missions, and so on, while those two pieces of concept art involve the said boutique section, and show a female character saying «Pas mal, boss !».

In my opinion, it might be this character. Proto-Simone, perhaps?

Since the store seems to be the centerpiece, and the Grow-style minigames involved collectibles, I would assume that the plot involved Joris going around and finding artifacts for the store. That would also explain the concept art gifs of him adventuring.

(Though, the adventuring would probably just be the inciting incident/a vehicle for plot development. Nintendo DS games loved using the jobs characters did for that purpose.)

This is the extent of what I can surmise about the plot.

The developer portfolios also included these example documents, but the image quality is too bad for me to make sense of or upscale. I am including them here solely for some French people who are very good at reading blurry text. (If you learn anything, let me know, okay?)

Overall, my verdict is that this game's cancellation was both a blessing (Joris without Kerubim and Atcham is like tea without water and a cup. How am I meant to drink leaves? Are you stupid? Why are you giving me leaves with nothing?) and a curse (THEY CANCELLED A GAME ABOUT MY BLUE-COLORED YOINKY SPLOINKY (who has a THIN, GRABBABLE WAIST)????? FUCK!)

Hope this was a fun read!

[theslimeologist]

what are your opinions on sandbox games

It’s a vague topic to tackle, but yeah I have some thoughts.

Sandbox games are fucking GREAT. But man. They need to be made right.

It is probably one of the genre’s i’ve loved most over the years, my personal faves being Minecraft and Astroneer.

Minecraft to me is immaculate in many ways conceptually. Microsoft has been pushing their luck with what they’re doing with the IP. The bedrock microtransactions are rampant and embarrassing compared to being able to get any of that and better for free on java. Older versions are available to play and mod compatibility is honestly one of the core things that has made Minecraft so versatile and everlastingly popular. but alas, a pit in my stomach forms when I think of what Microsoft has planned for the ip for years to come..

Astroneer is an interesting one for me to talk about, and is less well known. the concept for that game is that you have a solar system to explore, and every planet is planet scaled, and you can dig into the earth with a vacuum styled tool. How the world is shaped around you is through polygonal adjustments and alterations, making the world an incredibly versatile and unique experience to explore. It is encouraged in Astroneer that you dig all the way down to a planet’s core, where they’ve taken things like lower gravity into consideration. it is VERY COOL!

Yet, er- over a year ago the devs added microtransactions into the game. I havent played much since, as one of my points of pride in the game was that i had all the achievements and cosmetics collected. but then if i wanted to stay that way, id need to start paying for emotes, helmets, suit designs, suit colours. Boo!! I quit. But the devs have been tirelessly updating the game for years and years now. They truly love what they’ve made and it shows, I am just easily turned away from any series. It is a very unique and fun game!

One main thing that I struggle with in games like Minecraft is how building in a creative limitless mode appeals to me so much but once I’m using it, it is impossible to return to survival mode and enjoy it. Balancing in resource collection and gameplay to keep players interested is vital.

Sand box games are an incredible genre with a lot of potential. Finding one that’s executed properly and respects their players is a whole other ballgame, so if you know one, SHARE IT.

[minas-linkverse]

Ngl I was going to ask about Breath of the Wild but I’d thought you’d get a million of those asks lol. I was also torn between asking about Wind Waker, so whichever one you want to answer more is chill!!

haha yea I thought I'd get a million asks too! Somehow even now this remains the only botw ask, I guess people just figured it must've been sent already 😅

Now to actually share my thoughts on botw... Man I hope people don't get mad at me.

I did not like it!. The first play through I had was mildly exciting simply due to there being a whole unknown world to see, but after a while that gimmick wore off. I knew that if I made my way to the cool looking mountain or interesting abandoned building I'd just find a bokoblin and/or a chest with a gem. Whats the point of a gorgeous expansive world when all I find is the same...! 😫

Oh wow! A town with a whole new atmosphere and culture I sure wonder what I'll get up to h- Ok they have the same shops with slightly different items. Ok cool. There's like a few small quests for more inventory filler I don't really need. Cool cool.

I understand that the game is really fun for some people, they'll do quests just to get to play more of the game. They want all that extra stuff to upgrade armour and really get into the nitty gritty mechanics of the game... But I did not. It was not for me.

Also ouugh the puzzles...! My favourite part of Zelda games is the puzzle solving, but these were in no way satisfying and often more fun to just break. Why would I bother even trying to get into the devs heads when A) I could just break it and B) I have too many options to consider! I can't possibly get a clean eureka moment when everything from monster guts to just climbing could be the solution...! Where's the engaging simplicity of knowing exactly what you have and following the devs' clues to reach the solution!! Waaaaaaaaaaaaa--

I also disliked the story, all the interesting bits in it happened a 100 years ago and I feel like I arrived late with a starbucks. I also will not get over the weird ending cutscene!! After countless fascinating memories of Zelda having very complex emotions at Link... What do you mean you're just going to have a vaguely romantic "Do you still remember me?" YEAH I DO, I thought u disliked me! Which is a fascinating story direction I would've loved continued but OK! I guess we're ignoring that! Women cant be angry that makes them less cute and marketable, I guess!!!!

I... Sorry this is so ranty, I've been holding it in a long time. I think there's a lot to love in botw and I wish I wasn't so sour about it. Other people's love and excitement for it is wonderful and I hope they keep making the art they love. If its your first game in the series and got you into it, that's nothing to be ashamed about. I'm just a grumpy old man waving at cloud /ref.

Honestly I think botw could've been wonderful if it was a new IP. It feels all the Zelda stuff was sort of glued onto a concept that wasn't prepared to carry that mantle. It would've been better off with a new exciting world and cast of characters. It still wouldn't be a game I much care for, but the freedom that could've granted the developers would've been a treat to see.

It's worth adding that even though I dislike botw, I want to treat the characters of that game with respect and care in my comic. I may not love them in game but I can see the passion others have and I am committed to make something worth their time. Your special guys are safe with me. I have 0 desire to dunk on them, and instead wish to honour the love you all have. In a way I'm learning to love them myself through that.

[ectogeo-rebubbles]

fanfic end of year asks!

a fic you didn’t expect to write

something you learned this year

fic(s) you completed this year

fics you’ll continue next year

Thanks for the ask! ^_^ (For this ask game.)

14. a fic you didn’t expect to write

speech is silver, silence is golden, lmao. I really truly did not expect to write Garak/Morn smut. But when my friend requested it, I knew exactly how to write it lol. <3

15. something you learned this year

I may have already learned this, but exchanges with delayed fic reveals and then author reveals a week or so after that are BRUTAL on me, and I may (or may not) just avoid them from now on hahaha. The usual fic-posting waiting-for-comments anxiety but drawn out over a muuuuuch longer time period (finish the fic before the deadline to submit, wait a million years for it to even get revealed anonymously, then wait another whole week before I can even link to it on my blog...).

16. fic(s) you completed this year

27 fics finished this year!! Wooooo! (...And I may update this post later if I post any more hehe.)

completed fics posted:

the looking-glass war (Past Prologue Sisko POV, background Garashir)

and if you don't love me now, you will never love me again (Garashir, Broken Link getting together fic)

lockstitch (Sloanshir, embroidery as torture, sometime post-IAESL)

partners in crime (Siskarak, post-ITPM smut)

kiss me hard before you go (Garashir, Extreme Measures getting together fic)

Unlikely Weapon (Garashir, Julian killing Sloan = Garashir getting together scenario lol)

a contract is a contract is a contract (Quark/Brunt smut set during Body Parts)

me and the devil walking side by side (Siskarak smut about devotion and corruption and recognition of the self in the other and all that good stuff)

you're a criminal as long as you're mine (Siskarak smut set during Second Skin, about crossing and setting boundaries, and the homoerotic relationship between a weapon and its wielder)

speech is silver, silence is golden (Garak/Morn smut with pre-Garashir feels. Garak obvs gags Morn during the sex lol.)

every breath you take (Sloan records Garashir having sex)

going up, going down (cracky Siskarak smut, blowjob in the turbolift during ITPM)

A Professional Interest (augmentphobic Sloan interrogates Julian)

Deserted (Garashir stranded on a desert planet)

touch (Garashir IPS/BIL missing scene multichapter fic)

fics for events/exchanges that had restricted word counts (250 words or 300 words):

gaslight gatekeep girlboss (Kira/Winn and Kira/Ziyal, exactly what the title says lol)

the pros and cons of being possessed (Kira/Keiko, argument about what happened to Kira in The Reckoning and what happened to Keiko in The Assignment)

feels so right (Jadzia/Kira, Kira's fun way of coping with her internalized homophobia)

both lips on the mirror (Intendant/Kira, mirror Kira is obsessed with her counterpart)

not unfaithful but I'll stray (Kirawinn, Strange Bedfellows)

chirality (Intendant/Kira smut, Crossover)

drabbles (100 words):

lying down with dogs (Siskarak smut)

i think we're alone now (Garashir, IPS/BIL cuddles)

The Descent (quodo, The Ascent smut)

never loved nobody fully (Disko, two alternate versions provided depending on which Cardassian you want Sisko to actually be into lol. also some amazing people made a podfic of this, which is just so cool!!!)

The Mole (Sloan vs Kukalaka >:3)

sunshine bouquet (Garashir fluff, DBIP)

aaaaand, not fics, but while I'm rounding everything up, here's links to the two amvs I finished this year too:

Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls - Garashir (tumblr, youtube)

meet me in the pale moonlight by Lola Violet (tumblr, youtube)

17. fics you’ll continue next year

Sleep Awake is my only partially posted wip, but I have many unposted wip documents that I intend to post next year (or whenever I finish them)! These include wips with document titles such as: siskarak strip poker, Sub Rosa sloanshir, soulmate sloanshir, aphrodisiac sloanshir, Inquisition in the Abscess 'verse, julian jealous of imagined siskarak, and garak jealous of imagined sloanshir. :) (P.S. - Anyone can always feel free to ask me about any of those and I will immediately go write/edit at least a sentence on it. Trick me into making incremental progress on my shit, please!)

[messydoodles]

Favorite MK character?

They’re are two categories I have for favorites

Ever since playing the game I work best with characters that have close range special moves or teleporting special moves. Ermac and Smoke are fun to troll AI’s in invasions with because I can spam teleport 24/7. While Jacqui is also nice to play because I can do close stuff to give my opponent no air to breath and like mid range stuff if I need to make some distance away to reorganize myself

Li Mei is my ride or die. This woman is just so fun to play with because for me she’s easy. Her special moves are cool and easy (except that lantern one), her fatalities are fun to watch, and she’s got some sick ass brutalities. I saw her IP Man inspired brutality where she caves in the other character’s skull in and I immediately wanted the chance to play her. She is arguably why I wanted to get MK1 and what pulled me into enjoying the gameplay, not just character stuff. Even though now I maxed out her levels and am trying new characters to level up, she will always be my favorite character no matter what.

The second category for favorite is coolness. My definition of coolness is either design or powers. Nightwolf is a cool motherfucker. MK11 this guy is eye catching with his face paint and powers he gets from “The Great Spirit”. And his like end cinematic thing where he howls and it transitions into a wolf howling to the moon is tuff as hell. Like if I got jumped by Nightwolf I would be shitting bricks because this guy has the biggest aura imo

Skarlet I like because of her original MK11 skin. Something about it gives a cool ass bounty hunter vibe or sci fi Star Wars/Dune look to it that makes her look badass. Also she caught my eye because of her blood mage powers. Imagine fighting against someone who can control blood, like blood bending in Avatar. That’s both scary but an awesome power. That’s why I tried playing her when I picked up MK11 (I didn’t like the long range special moves)

Kung Lao. I’m gonna be honest it’s the hat. Like cmon the man is fighting with a razor hat. The only person I can think of off the top of my head that uses a hat in a fight is Mario in Super Mario Odyssey. Imagine you just get beat down by someone with a razor hat. It’s so wild it’s impressive. I saw an edit once of Kung Lao’s actor for the sprites in MK2 or MK3 and he just looked badass, so I drew the MK3 version of him.

Drew a bit of bonus characters too. Sheeva from MK3 is more cool looking than the MK11 version imo. Geras (MK1) gets cool points purely because he’s voiced by Phil Lamar and is a way better fitting design in MK1 in my eyes. And Kabal is cool cause he’s fast and got sharp hooks

And those are the types of favs. Nothing else, nope!

Don’t look at them please

I would not shut up or hold back if I talked about these hotties, so ima just leave it at that 😊

[xpiester333x]

Here's my review on Metaphor: Refantazio after being 5h in and not quite done with the demo:

First let me say if you're on the fence about getting this game or not, try the demo. It's available on Steam, PS, and Xbox. It's free. It's ~5h, more or less depending on how much you want to play around with it. The save data can carry over if you decide to buy the game. See if it's fun for you. I talk about performance and graphics on my PC, but see how it works on your system too.

And with that, on to my review.

Graphics & Performance:

I saw a lot of Steam reviews saying they were having a lot of performance issues with the game, even on high-end computers. I didn't really experience anything like that. There was one scene really early in the demo, like an intro narrator bit where it was panning over a map and for some reason that did have some dropped frames and stuttering, but it was only for those 5 seconds and I haven't had a repeat since. I did max the graphics settings and uncap the frames and still had no issues.

I should also say, I don't have a super high-end computer. However, my computer is still pretty nice so maybe on much lower end PCs there would be some issues. I tried min settings as well and honestly didn't see too much of a difference in quality. If you did need to run it in lower graphics, it would still look fantastic.

And it DOES look fantastic. I've noticed there is a lot of different art styles going on. There are animated cutscenes just like in persona where you kind of just watch an anime. There are gameplay cutscenes, where you are watching the 3D characters models in their scene. I noticed the surroundings take on the same level and detail as the characters in these scenes. Then you have the gameplay graphics, which have an almost stylized sort of living painting feel to them.

You'd think having that many styles going on would be chaotic and immersion ruining but honestly it's kind of seamless.

Gameplay:

As is typical of an Atlus game, I'm only just barely getting out of the tutorial, even being 5 hours in. Now that I'm kind of getting into the flow of combat, I genuinely really like it. I wasn't sure how I was going to like a combat system so different from their current IPs (what do you mean there is no demons??) But overall I think they've managed to keep the spirit of their games alive and well while still trying something new for them. I also love that they stuck with the P5R system of being able to kill enemies lower than you without having to go through the whole turn based process, but also made it slightly more involved. They're really leaned into the hybrid action/turn-based gameplay and it's very satisfying.

Archetypes hold the spirit of personas or demons in that you can level them up and build them to suit your characters, but they come with the advantage of your entire party getting to mix and match. Also like personas, you strengthen and enhance them more through social bonds. Thus far in the demo I've gotten as far as unlocking them so I'm not really sure how ranking them plays out quite yet.

By far my favorite part of the game play right now is that if your protagonist dies, it's NOT game over. In fact as long as you have 1 party member standing, the show will go on. Also at the end of the fight your dead characters will revive (with 1hp) and still gain all the xp from the fight.

Some really cool bits that I personally think make the game more fun and challenging: there are many different status effects, but they are divided into 2 categories, physical and mental. Mental status effects expire after the battle, but physical status effects persist. It's a cool little blend of old JRPG punishment with new age JRPG simplicity. (Ask me how I feel about it later when I'm suffering.) Also turn icons, like in SMT, are back. They work relatively the same, which I've always found to be fun, but does make the game a little more challenging. And finally, there is auto-battling if you want to engage it. It will repeat the actions you used prior to engaging it, so if you have a flow going, it does make that kind if easier.

My complaints so far are: for the first few battle areas, your party members are on auto. It's not really fun, and frankly their AI is bad. It's not a long time, but it's more than I liked to see. Also enemies can spawn in right in front of, next to, or behind you where they were not before. This makes it harder (impossible if youre me) to avoid getting ambushed, and honestly feels counterintuitive for a game that's primary gameplay design is strategicly deciding when to attack and when to engage in turn-based combat.

Story:

I am 5 hours in, which in the terms of Atlus games is like, .5%. So I can't really tell you a ton about the story yet. I can say it's interesting. The whole concept is something so fresh for Atlus, and I am eager to know more about the story, the world, the different races, the humans, everything. They have built a solid foundation I absolutely want to see the completion of.

And the characters? I would die for them. Atlus has proven they can write characters with strong bonds and beautiful friendships that will make me go absolutely feral and I can already tell this is where these characters are going as well. I cannot wait. Plus the character designing in this game is above and beyond.

In conclusion, this game has so much potential and promise. I can already tell it's going to be an experience to play though (in a positive way). It's doing a lot that feels very new for Atlus, while remaining true to their current franchises and what makes them so good. I had my doubts about their releasing a brand new IP for their 35th anniversary, but honestly this is perfect. This game pays homage to what already makes their games so good while also showcasing a broad future.

Oh and the soundtrack is absolutely insane. It's Shoji Meguro so of course it's great but I'd be remiss not to mention it anyway.

[sexhaver]

Idk what the fucks been going on here? Every now and then I see an AI take that I don't particularly care abt and scroll past, but now I've gotten curious with wtf is going on here cause of the unhinged asks so like, you're not using AI art for profit right? Cause that'd be fucked up. But using it as a tool to make fun images in your head real is fine cause like, it's fun? I draw and I like to try to make my characters in AI (after I've already drawn them but I could see myself making them in ai to get inspiration for the vibe they might have)

im actually fine with AI art being used for profit without disclosing that it was part of the process. ive already posted about how i findamentally do not care about arguments that hinge on IP law and/or ignore the concept of Fair Use, but more to the point, if you can get raw DALL-E output that's indistinguishable from hand-made visual art without any further tweaking or touchups, you've earned it. like Firmament was a really good game with a really cool visual style, and then people found out that AI was involved in the creative process and the developers had to defend themselves. out of all the takes to come out of this current round of discourse, i think "you should never profit off AI-generated content without disclosing it" is going to look the second-silliest in retrospect a decade from now, right after "AI art is just a fad with no real applications"

[juneberrie]

pre-relationship - marvel sanford

marvel sanford x fem!reader

author's note — ꩜ i literally am in love with this boy so enjoy my ramblings! also this is a no games/high school au

word count — ☆ 0.3k

warnings — ✦ none

so when you two met, he literally was just staring at you for like a hot minute straight

it was probs the first day if school and you were doing one of those ice breaker things where you stand up, say your name age and a fun fact ab yourself yk? so you were ip there doing that

"hi i'm [name] im [] years old and uh. i really like [thing]"

and marvel’s here practically like 😧😍 the whole twenty seconds youre standing up

cato pokes him in the back with his pencil and he jolts upright like "ooh oh shit"

cato is so gonna bully him about it <3

"oooohhh mar likes [nameeee] >:)"

he ends up telling glimmer and clove but he doesn't tell them who it is

so glimmers chasing marvel around the school yelling "WHY WONT YOU TELL ME" and clove already figured it out

we love a genius queen

anyways you two get paired together for a project

"hi :D i'm marvel!" and when you say your name he's almost like "ik <3" but he thinks that would be weird asf so he says "oh sweet! nice to meet you <3"

he invites you over to his house to work on it

idk what else to say except he obviously falls in love with you and you probably do too <3

when he confesses its actually really out of pocket 💀 the project was over so there wasn't really any other reason for yall to hang out anymore, but he wants u to be his gf so he keeps coming up with excuses

until he runs out of excuses so he randomly blurts out "i think youre really cool and awesome and you're like, super pretty and will you be my gf its okay if you dont want to oh my god im gonna shut up now. but i'd love it if you said yes <3 no pressure tho god im being so awkward "

all in one breath

anyways OFC you say yes and yall start dating <3

[kilobytten]

Crimson Crescent

A piece I did for #Artfight2024 as #TeamSeafoam!

This year I challenged myself to develop my style for one of my IPs. The character I picked had a lot of parallels with the world within it, so I felt it was appropriate to give this one a whirl.

Original Character Design by SpaceCataclysm!

More details below the cut 👇

The character had a cape and a feathery collar. I thought it'd be fun to combine the elements together to create a cape that felt like, if you squinted at it enough, a pair of wings.

Additional vibes of the cape was transferred to the scythe to keep visual consistency between the original design and the new one.

Having the shot at dusk was my second lighting idea. Later I played around with it and realized I really should have gone with to original: a night shot that had a big moon. I felt it might've been too cheesy, but sometimes Rule of Cool beats all.

I had to check the background perspective several times with other artists because I'm blind in one eye and have little confidence that it looks what I want it to feel like.

I used an old League of Legends splash art for the right dimensions, though I never intended for it to feel like a splash art for any video game. I just wanted it to have the same dimensions.

[sho-minamimoto]

twewy fans when and how did you find out about and get into twewy

For me the way I found out abt it was very silly it was through flipnote Hatena LOL. Flipnote animations weren’t the only thing on there and one thing popular artists there liked to do was post Question Games. In which they write down fun questions on each individual page of a flipnote and post it unlocked (meaning anyone can download and edit it) and encourage their followers to add their answers and then upload it for the creator to see.

Around early 2010 ish I found one of those from an artist I liked so I downloaded it and near the end of the flipnote the creator put in a quiz of naming random characters from animanga and games and having the person filling out flipnote write the name of the IP the character was from to test their Knowledge. A lot of them were from popular shows but the final one (which the creator called a Bonus Round) stumped me it was asking me to name what IP the character “Daisukenojo Bito” was from and I had No idea. Later after I posted my answers I went looking at other ppls flipnotes that were uploaded as a response and I found one where the person knew Every character from the quiz section (though in hindsight they probably just looked up every name online) and I saw the answer to what Daisukenojo Bito was from: The World Ends With You.

Just the title alone caught my attention bc I found it really cool. I thought it might’ve been the name of an anime or something so I looked it up and went on the Wikipedia page and got really interested to see it was a DS game. I tried to read through the article but everything (thankfully) went over my head and the only thing that Stuck in my brain was the one screenshot showcasing the dual screen battle system in the Combat section of the article. I was curious so completely on a whim I downloaded the game onto my TTDS card just to have it on there and started playing it a few days later. Then my life was changed forever lmao

anyways pls tell me how you got into twewy I’d love to knowe 🥺🙏

[alertarchitect]

So! A new Doom game got announced!

Here's the trailer for those interested, it will help with what I'm about to go into:

As a bit of a Retro Throwback Shooter Shitter myself, I have some Thoughts. Read on if you're interested.

So, first of all I like the premise of exploring the time the Doom Slayer spent fighting demons alongside the warriors of Argent D'Nur. It's a time period that was purposefully left pretty damn vague in Doom Eternal, and the Slayer's lore before waking up again wasn't even really talked about much - if at all - in Doom 2016 from what I remember, since they were trying to play it a little safe due to Doom 2016 being a soft reboot of a series that hadn't gotten a new game in 12 years at that point, with the last title (Doom 3 and its various editions that attempted to improve it a bit) being a pretty big departure that had a wealth of issues, such as it being a Doom game with one of the worst shotguns ever put into a shooter. So it's a cool idea to explore this time frame of the Doom Slayer's history, and possibly show the events leading to the Slayer's imprisonment in Hell before he was rediscovered and subsequently awoken by Samuel Hayden in Doom 2016, including the Makyrs' fall from grace.

Second, I'm actually kinda hyped to see id Software still working on making retro throwback shooters. I was worried they'd get shuttered and their IP sold off after Rage was such a flop back in 2011, and they didn't make anything after it for 5 years until Doom 2016 came out, so it's nice to see they've found their groove again - making some of the best examples of the retro throwback shooter subgenre. Doom 2016 started the BoomShoot Renaissance, and Doom Eternal is still one of the best examples of the genre, mechanically. They are masterclasses in using an old formula while keeping the level design and visuals fresh with modern game design principles that have improved a lot since the 90s, along with new game mechanics to keep the moment-to-moment gameplay feeling fresh as well (such as the weapon / stat upgrade systems, the movement abilities you get in Doom Eternal, etc.). Seeing them pushing that even further is a treat to behold, and I'm confident it's going to be a pretty damn fun game, as long as it doesn't get forced into being $70.

Final point, though, is a bit of a downer for me personally. Why in the fuck are they making a game in the Doom series that's going for a more medieval-ish feel, when the Quake franchise is right fucking there and begging for a better modern entry than goddamn Quake Champions?? Seriously, making a Quake game calling back to the first game in the franchise - with the Lovecraftian inspirations, the more medieval-ish setting, the unique monsters like the Shambler you didn't see much of past Quake 1 - would be a fucking money printer. But no, Microsoft wants them to play it safe so they can get a guaranteed blockbuster because Quake Champions hasn't done very well since it came out of early access in 2022, which is definitely a fault of the Quake franchise not having any consumer interest and 100% for sure not because Quake Champions pivoted into being a fucking hero shooter trying to emulate the feel of old arena shooter deathmatching!! It's not like a soft reboot wouldn't be sorely needed after the goddamn disaster of a story that was the Quake 4 campaign! It's not like a modern Quake game that actually relies on having a fun weapon sandbox instead of relying on taking your opponents off guard with fucking superpowers on cooldowns is something the fanbase they're trying to pander to would nut in our fucking pants over or anything!!!!

TL;DR: This game looks really good and fun, and I like to see id is still making banger games, but I'm actually kinda angry that they'd rather make a Doom game with medieval vibes rather than using that other fantastic retro shooter IP they own to make something that kind of vibe would actually fit into better.