#world exploration. they don't want to bog you down too much if you're just trying to go play darts. but with dmc2 this is the main game

[skrunksthatwunk]

ok, again, grain of salt bc i'm barely into it, but i have a theory as to why.

dante's slash cycle w the sword doesn't change depending on the timing of pressing x, which is one of the things that most livened up the combat in dmc1, especially in the beginning when your moveset was very limited. it's also a bit harder to loop slash cycles into each other and generally feels awkward and slow

they opened the game with a decent range of abilities, but they often don't cohere well. the high time action description suggests you jump after knocking enemies into the air, but the wind-down animation for the high strike means that it takes quite some time to jump afterwards. By then, enemies have fallen to below your jump height, making anything but shooting at them somewhat useless. this is further exacerbated by oddities in the mid-air moves. dante stays in midair for a few hits if you're locked on to a target with rb, but does a ground strike when not. but the locking-on reticle is always present when enemies are nearby anyway. it's kinda weird

so far, the enemies have very little health. while i understand the impulse to make early-game enemies "easy", i think the actual solution is to give them a decent amount of health, even if their attacks aren't very strong or are easy to dodge. in a game like this with combos and moves changing based on various inputs, i.e. stick movement relative to dante's/the enemies' position, timing of button presses, etc, it makes sense to give early/new players room to figure that system out through experimentation. it's actually something i have a problem with in rgg's street encounters. it's really hard to get a feel for the breadth of your character's abilities if the enemies die/go flying out of range in only a couple of blows, whereas an attack sponge kind of enemy gives them more room to play around and familiarize themselves with the fight system. that way, players will have more tools to approach problems with, and your fighting system will be more fully utilized. dmc1 does this excellently with its marionette enemies. they take a decent amount of hits before dying, but they're not difficult enemies. you can manage getting an A or S rank combo reasonably, enemies are tightly packed so they're easily in range (as opposed to the dmc2 enemies, who're spread out in wide environments), and your moveset is far more limited, meaning the timing element of sword/gauntlet moves becomes apparent to the player without needing to be communicated explicitly. in a game like dmc2 that starts with more moves available, attack sponges might be even more important to have (though the timing-based x combos thing being gone does simplify things in a disappointing sort of way).

anyway i'm not That used to this kinda game, but these are my impressions so far

ok ive played 15 minutes of dmc2 and my current impression is that it's like dmc1 but if the combat felt bad

[super-kristuff]

Day two of Kingdom Hearts 3 live-blogging. Just finished the world for Tangled, and it was a very different experience. Without the strong unintentional sexual tension between Buzz and Woody, we find ourselves with the equally strong but much creepier sexual tension between Rapunzel and Flynn.

Like, I think there are a lot of reasons why Buzz and Woody's relationship is honestly well constructed as a standalone experience in kh3, and I'm a bit disappointed that Tangled seems to retreat to the more traditional KH story motif of "the movie but Sora is there". The Toy Story world wasn't modeled after any movie, and so, the story could focus on the character development and even include Sora as a driving force for that development. The Tangled world keeps the transition from introducing Flynn as an untrustworthy outlaw to Flynn and Rapunzel getting together, but like, Flynn is entirely absent for most of the story?

Playing through the world was a bit anticlimactic at the moment, but looking back, I think it was an intentional attempt to highlight Rapunzel's character. The story elements were much smaller: Rapunzel discovering dandelions, Rapunzel asking you to fetch some birds by slowly sneaking up to them, Rapunzel making a rainbow in a pond. But like, although it's not as action driven as fighting giant mechs, I think it is more subtle appreciation for the details of the world and how we can interact with them. I think it's rare to see games exploring this kind of space, and OH HEY Flynn doesn't do shit during any of it. Like, I think you can talk to him, and he says the bog-standard, "We should get to the castle!" quest pointer stuff.

My point being that game is built around Rapunzel and emphasizing the unique joy she finds in the world around her, and Flynn gets no character development until they need to shove him into the position of love-interest. Idk. Maybe I'm reading into this too much. Maybe it's fine for Flynn to a cardboard cutout of the Prince in Shining Armor purely to fill that role in Rapunzel's journey? Like, I also want to explicitly state the game makes some innuendos at the end and makes sure to bring up that Rapunzel is 18, and like, I just found that whole facet creepy.

I also wanted to talk about level design here because it was another element that detracted from the experience. Like, one of my absolute favorite elements of KH is it's puzzle-box level design. I think Alice in Wonderland is an iconic example of how KH1 manages to use and reuse space in a level. I think the tea-room has 5? 6 entrances? It's big, small, upside-down. You're on the table, above the ceiling, in the fireplace. It's fun and enjoyable to become familiar with a space and discover that the solution to a puzzle required you to enter the room from a different perspective.

KH3 seems to abandon that philosophy entirely. It's levels are complex, but often-times, just large enough that you can't get a grasp on how all the pieces go together. And, I'm not sure you're supposed to? The game takes its Line-Attraction-Gift shop philosophy quite literally. I've revisited Hercules' world, and although it felt more like classic KH, it was also extremely linear? The levels just don't fold in on themselves except in the most obvious of ways.

I don't know. In short, Tangled was a fun experience, but not as flashy as Toy Story. But, it's not trying to be flashy, which is its greatest strength. I'm a bit worried that KH3 is married to its design philosophy, but I'm also hoping we'll see original KH worlds with more creative level design. (Traverse Town, Hollow Basion, etc) (I'm also hoping there is more to Twilight Town? Like, it is literally a crime that the world is technically one area. It is also a crime that they removed skateboarding from TT.)

Anywho, it's late here. Goodnight.

[bookwyrminspiration]

hi quil. im here to talk about the inherent intimacy of letting down a metaphorical and or physical mask again in the context of ravioli, since weve never seen ruys face.

ive been thinking of him using the blur thing i forgot what it was called in english even within the neverseen facilities, and dropping it around alvar at one point

[disappears back into my minecraft bog]

that is very true. we don't know a lot about Ruy considering how much he's impacted the story (he's not huge, but he does affect things and is one of the few Neverseen members we know of)

I have to admit I didn't may much attention to all the ravioli posts when they were circulating (shipping isn't really my thing but I'm vaguely aware of it!) so I don't have a lot of knowledge on the perspectives and avenues explored when it comes to the two of them, so if i miss something that's why!

Not only have we never seen Ruy's face, but he's always got an addler on him. I don't think he's ever taken it off, which is why we don't have a description of him--and I certaintly don't think he would've taken it off when Keefe was part of the Neverseen. So if he were to take it off, it would be someone private, alone, and anyone who saw what he really looked like would be highly trusted. Trust comes alongside a lot of intimacy, so were he to remove the addler in Alvar's presence...that's a big thing.

Like yes it is a physical thing that he has on in order to protect his identity and keep people (and possibly even himself) from seeing what he looks like, identifying him. But!! I think there's more to it than just not wanting people to physically see him. His actions are irredeemable, so perhaps there's anger and shame wrapped up in that and he's trying to distance himself from the person he is, and the best way he can do that is making it so no one can see what he looks like. If he's irredeemable, there's no way back for him so there should be less consequence for people knowing his face and name, as it's not something he needs to preserve as tarnished as it already is. So something about it is keeping him hidden, is important enough to him that he needs to preserve it.

Maybe he wants to preserve his name, so by hiding his identity he's trying to save that little piece of himself he has left that hasn't become someone against the world, always bitter and angry, instead just him.

So taking off the addler, letting down that mask...that has so much behind it. Letting Alvar see who he truly is/was, the pieces of himself he's hidden from the world, ahhh! The intimacy behind it, the vulnerability, how completely bare he would be feel for the first time in years. He's worn that thing constantly for so long, and to let it down to let someone in...

Ravioli truly has a lot of potential in the avenue of intimacy and the core of a person, how intense their relationship could be emotionally.

[dissipates into silver mist as I'm swept away by the wind] hope you enjoy your minecraft bog!! I think you might've meant blog but it's too late. You're in a bog now <33

[spreadplaylist]

SPREAD CH.1 - ARTIST SPOTLIGHT... SPOTLeyeT <3

Hi SPREAD listeners! For those of u that don't know, the SPREAD blog will feature a monthly Artist Spotlight, an interview I have with an up and coming artist featured in that month's playlist. A core value of SPREAD is sharing music that u may not have heard, hopefully increasing artists' exposure and fanbase. The SPF 30 featured artist, LeyeT, is a dear friend of mine, and I can't wait for u to get a closer look into her music and her artistry. HERE WE GO!

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LeyeT: Hi! I’m LeyeT, pronounced "light." (: I’m from Orange County, California – reside in LA, and LOVE all things music. I’ve been singing for as long as I can remember and songwriting since I first picked up the guitar about 12 years ago. I recently began my new artist project as LeyeT and released my first single on 2.28. Can’t wait to bring you more music in the coming months

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

alright let's gooooo! time for senior year, aka "A Reckoning in Ruins"!

strixhaven has something called "the detention bog" which is frankly hilarious but between the fact that detention exists here and the high emphasis on pranking I'm sort of wondering exactly what the age range of students at strixhaven is actually supposed to be lmao

also early in this chapter there's a minigame involving enchanted teacups fighting each other and somehow if you win you can collect more gold pieces than most of the high fashion magical outfits in the last chapter were sold for, which. how???

there's a class you can take senior year called "extraplanar cryptozoology" and no further details are provided but I would personally like to enroll in this class immediately

anyway very early in this schoolyear it becomes clear that the plot of this chapter is basically the faculty deciding that the Big Bad has become too dangerous and that the only thing to do is excuse the PCs from all their classes for the year so that they can deal with it instead of, you know, the faculty handling an evil wizard trying to drain the life force of the entire student body? can't say I care for it.

the party fully leaves the school to search for Mr. Big Bad, which I don't love given that it's a school module and I want to STAY at the school, but it could make for an interesting summer or spring break adventure?

the upside is that the ruins you're exploring offer the most plausible way to find loot in the whole module. every other chapter is like. "you're in your professor's office and find a giant magic mace, do you steal that shit or what?"

then you return to campus (huzzah) only to IMMEDIATELY LEAVE AGAIN for a different set of ruins where the climax of the adventure will take place (boo!). I was okay with the climax of junior year not taking place at wizard prom even though it seemed like sort of a wasted opportunity, but this is getting ridiculous.

the final boss fight could be pretty interesting, although personally I'd want to activate more than one of the lair actions in order to get LOT of moving elements. that would make for a really dynamic battlefield that feels really appropriate for a level 10 party.

you can either win by reducing the Big Bad to 0 HP, or by destroying all 5 of his MacGuffins, which makes for some interesting choices for the players and how they prioritize their actions! I'm a fan.

unfortunately I do still think it kind of sucks shit that the finale to a college module takes place entirely removed from the school setting in a pretty generic dungeon crawl! boo!

I'm absolutely obsessed with the potential The Bad Guys Wins ending, which reads as follows: If all the characters fall unconscious or die in the final encounter, they fail to stop Murgaxor's ritual. Shortly afterward, the ritual deals 70 (20d6) necrotic damage to everyone on campus as Murgaxor siphons their life force. Hundreds of scholars die, and many more are severely injured. Murgaxor becomes immortal and one of the most powerful spellcasters in the world. If the characters survive, perhaps the Founder Dragons and the archaics can guide them as they attempt to stop Murgaxor in a dystopian new world.

that's a little bleak for me and personally as a DM I would pull out all the stops to prevent that from happening. still, if you're like my party and you're down to use a module as a jumping off point for a much longer campaign that could be a HELL of a prologue!

there's some really interesting stuff in Strixhaven that I think would be very fun to play, but ultimately for me the setting design and mechanics are a lot more interesting than the actual story. Magister's Masquerade is definitely the strongest chapter for me and even that isn't without the need for some edits. I'm also pretty fond of Campus Kerfuffle, the chapter for freshman year, which is a very cute intro and I think mainly just needs a bit of padding to feel more lived in. Hunt for Mage Tower would need significant reworking though, and Reckoning in Ruin would pretty much need to be redone from the ground up - or at least not used as the finale. like I said, it could make for a fun sidequest!

tl;dr I'm still interested in running Strixhaven, but not without some heavy story editing and reworking it to be tailored more specifically to the PCs my party creates.

if you want to give a look yourself, you can check out the whole book here!

okay so I don't normally fuck with playing d&d from a module or actually reading the WotC books but. BUT. I want to be able to DM eventually in my second d&d group where we alternate DMs and I think the most realistic way to DM three groups would be base one of them off some preexisting material, albeit probably heavily tweaked. so I'm checking out the new Strixhaven book, because wizard university is a super fun premise!

I just finished reading the chapter outlining the plot of sophomore year and I have Thots:

the five colleges are interesting and I like that a member of any class could very feasibly belong to any of them. I wish the color schemes of each college were a little more clearly outlined but oh well, it's not hard to piece together from the illustrations

there sure are a bunch of professor and student NPCs provided, which is very helpful for populating a large school and even more so if you like making weirdo NPCs and know you'll be inventing loads more.

having said that I'm a little confused about why so many NPCs who are supposed to be first years like the players are apparently already fully integrated into the school clubs and extracurriculars, to the point that they're hanging out advertising the clubs at wizard orientation? make it make sense!

also: it feels like despite emphasizing that you could meet anyone of literally any race at Strixhaven, NPC professors and students seem to be heavily weighted in favor of humans and owlin. I'd definitely be making some changes there.

the mechanics for studying and prepping for tests are interesting! I'm not 100% sure I really Get them, but I'd be happy to learn by playing them out with my party

mechanics for relationships are also shrimpteresting. I wouldn't incorporate the inspiration bonus from having a Beloved (aww) into a regular campaign for sure, but it seems neat to play out in a more short-form module-based campaign. having said that, I could stand to see a little more sauce on the negative flipside where you can have rivals? rivalries mostly come with minor inconveniences related to your rival's extracurriculars or campus job, and I really feel like we could get more spice in that.

the maps are very thorough and really neat! the designs for each specialized college's campus are so cool to look at, especially Prismari.

the adventures for the first year are pretty fun, and I can definitely see them working as events that happen with a few years between each one to let the full year pass by. that doubly works if you're sprinkling in personal interactions, extracurricular developments, and delving into studying as well as a few other classes that the characters are taking.

the biggest nitpick I have is that based on the amount of damage players can take doing the doll retrieval fetch quest, I really think they should be able to level up to third level before doing that.

but the extracurriculars are cool and I think could make for some great roleplaying, and ditto with the campus jobs. the jobs also represent a really good opportunity to integrate financial issues into the stories of PCs who are interested, as well as adding some interesting complexity to some NPCs as well.

sophomore year doesn't feel nearly as strong, especially since so much of the plot resolves around hoping that the party will want to take part in the magic sport du jour. if they don't want to it could get real awkward real fast, since you either have to bend over backwards to make them do it or just... improvise real fast on the fly. I'm fine with the latter, obviously, but I can see that being potentially sticky for a lot of DMs. if I run this, I'll probably do a LOT of reworking on the "Hunt for Mage Chapter" tower.

I'm heading into junior year/"The Magister's Masquerade" now, will report back