#you had to nerf me to an ea

[s-rosie]

TIG CRACK

helllooooo!!!! i hope you like these hcs and please let me know how i can improve. tysm

nash and jameson did the wap dance at his bachelor party

one time, xander put on a really dirty song on (like mad at me by sexyy red) in the car and gray almost had a stroke

the brothers, ave, libby, and max once had a nerf war that lasted for 72 hours straight (avery and jameson teamed up and won)

avery’s go-to karaoke songs are obsessed by Mariah Carrie, NO by megan trainer, etc. and jameson was like “is this targeted?” when they first did karaoke

one time max was listening to a spicy audio and it accidentally connected to the car with just her and avery and now she blackmails her with the memory

when they were younger, nash paid xander in ice cream to keep quiet about a hickey he had

libby always has to pee on road trips like im talking every 30 minutes and everyone debates on leaving her at the rest stop

ave once had a dream (if you know what i mean) about jameson before they were dating, and she couldn’t look him in the eye the next day

grayson once failed cooking so bad, he had sauce splattered on his suit and had to awkwardly walk to his room to change (while everyone made fun of him)

xander and jameson will randomly break out in song like they are in a musical or sum

libby and max watch anime together

rebecca once yelled because she was mad and everyone stopped in their tracks because she never yells

nash loves legally blond because it was alisa’s fave movie before she was a lawyer and she got him into it

grayson watches the golden girls as a guilty pleasure

nash watches soap operas and always gasps dramatically at every plot twist

thea only drinks black coffee because she thinks it makes her ✨qUiRkY✨ (she doesn’t even enjoy it)

rebecca and xander hold the world record for largest blanket fort ever built because of a sleepover they had when they were kids

max says things like “im just not like the other girls ✨💖😝🤪🤩🎀💝” ironically

jameson knows swear words in almost every language

one time, jameson started to tickle avery, so she pulled out a swich blade on him

max and avery have a system where they cover for each other no matter what, no questions asked (it saved both of their asses more times then they can count)

libby, max, and avery make up code names for everyone (code name list on next post) (jameson eventually figured out who all the code names were for and now listens to the conversations and gets all of the tea and the girls have no idea)

avery is flexible, and one time max said sum like “ave, your flexible, right” and avery eas like “yeah” and jameson started to think some not-so-g-rated-things (nash then elbowed him and told him to knock it off)

libby once messed up so bad dying her hair, a chunk of it came out

xander once made a robot spider to scare jameson (becauae i hc hes deathly afraid of spiders)

those are my hcsss! i hope upu liked them. please give me tips on how i can improve and please give me hc suggestions and recommendations so i can make more. tysmm!

[xxcrystalinerose]

EA Patch 2 dropped!! I'm so happy we finally get more UI icons, every visual update makes the game feel a bit more complete. I hope we get new portraits soon!

Some thoughts about the patch:

1. When I first downloaded the patch I immediately went on an Underworld run on Persephone aspect (Skull) and Surface run on Moros (Flames). Glory gain only on Omega cast feels like a major nerf to me and makes the aspect clunkier, while the Moros aspect is straight up cracked now after the basic update to Flames in general. I was clearing entire rooms with 60% extra mobs settings in under 20 seconds lmao

2. Flames in general are doing much better! The attack speed majorly helps to incentivize me picking any other Attack-oriented hammer upgrade than the one that adds channelling speed and attack speed. Moving while firing is also MUCH easier and now I'm no longer an Umbral Flames hater. Even with the nerf to special base damage, the Flames are still good!

3. Fucking finally they adjusted that real annoying vulnerable window between the Axe's block ending and the Omega Special landing. More incentive to use the Charon aspect and specials in general! Slightly-but-noticeably faster Omega Attack channel speed + basic tuning to crit buff proc makes Thanatos aspect EVEN BETTER too.

4. Momus aspect got reworked, so goodbye 1k Omega Specials lmao. Haven't had the chance to test it though.

5. As of currently imo the weakest weapon overall (playstyle, aspects, base damage, etc.) is the Argent Skull, while the strongest is the Moonstone Axe. My favorite is still Sister Blades though.

6. No wonder I haven't finished Original Sins yet, because apparently the Barren Chaos curse is really rare.

7. Reworked chance to encounter Boon rooms helps in steering my builds better. Now I don't have to use the same keepsake across 2 different regions just to rarify too!

8. Wolf Howl's reduced Hex cost makes it EVEN MORE SPAMMABLE. Pro tip: always pick up the Path that lets you use it twice in a row and the one that makes you Impervious for 2 seconds after using it. Easy.

9. Gatling lasers from Moneybags are less annoying; conversely Mourners are even more annoying. Balanced as all things should be. Queen Lamia is no longer a pushover.

10. Funniest patch note of all time. Nuff said.

[theearloftophats]

i get so nervous reading about other people's thoughts on BZ cus im so protective of it </3 but this is actually really good and puts some things into words ive been struggling with. The ending in particular, with the shield and the threat to the station are waaay more interesting to me.

if youre genuinly wondering, iirc someone heavily involved with the EA story left the team during development and the story changed as a result when they hired someone new. Thats all the context i have rn/can remember but it really was just a series of unfortunate dominos to get where we are now.

The EA storyline had sooo much potential and it sucks so bad that it got scrapped. I love al-an to death hes super important to me but they REALLY nerfed his character. The difference between his EA and Full release voice lines/personality is huge when you look at them side by side. Im not sure why they decided to give him such a passive roll both personality wise and plot wise, makes me a little sad though.

Robin too, she was so much more engaging when she was british. which sounds so odd but My God. I don't know why they changed her va so drasticly but i miss her. I miss robin Goodall </3

Tbh, I miss the Early Access version of Below Zero. I'd be curious to read to see if the devs ever gave any explanation for the major story changes - killing off Sam before the game begins, removing Serik, disconnecting Al-An from the Alterra storyline more - because (even though I enjoy the story of Below Zero) the EA version intrigued me much more, and I think distinguished the game from the original Subnautica more successfully.

In the original Subnautica, you are completely isolated (up until you find the Sea Emperor Leviathan). While you do have AL-AN in Below Zero, seeing the planet teaming with Alterra employees would have made for a much more different experience than the abandoned world you explored in Subnautica. Below Zero also lacks the urgency of the original Subnautica (you're trying to get home, then you need to disable the quarantine, then you're infected and you need to find a cure, etc.). Having Serik as an antagonist, along with Alterra as a constant surveilling presence (along with Sam, alive and up in orbit and in danger) created a much stronger sense of urgency than what we ended up getting.

The Al-An and Sam storylines are also much more disconnected than they were in Early Access, where the villain was actively trying to capture Al-An and putting Sam in peril as a result. It's odd that they divided the story so much in later updates; you're investigating your sister's death, you get an alien in your head...and the alien's only real connection to the events that happened are "I recognized Alterra was looking for me and I hid." That's it. Which is wild, because Al-An was part of the research team looking for the cure to the Kharaa Bacterium and Sam was trying to cure the Kharaa Bacterium herself! There's a connection there, but nothing comes of it! Al-An doesn't even make a fuss if you don't cure the Frozen Leviathan, even though you know by now that Alterra is trying to mutate and exploit the bacteria!

I still enjoy the game, but as someone who did play Early Access it baffles me how drastically they changed the story. What happened? Was it too ambitious for what they could do? Were people complaining about how much more active the story was (compared to the original Subnautica, which relied almost entirely on environmental storytelling)? Why did they remove so much of it? Why is everything so much more fractured now?

[hasarjunadoneanythingwrong]

what's that insane theory about archer juna's np?

ok. so

you know how this is titled pashupata and the game treats it as pashupata and everyone refers to it as pashupata?

i dont actually think its pashupata.

cause here's the thing: i KNOW that hindu mythology is heavily nerfed in fgo but arjuna never even used pashupata when he was alive. like not in response to ANYTHING. even when ashwatthama killed his unborn grandchild he used the brahmashirsha astra in response-that was still incredibly deadly and powerful, but it was also still LESS powerful than pashupata. this is the personal weapon of shiva and kali that he only managed to get through completing heavy penances-no one else in the mahabharata had it and in other texts iirc only rama and a sage, Vishvamitra, also possessed it.

it was easily leaps and bounds stronger than vasavi shakti, despite what fgo may say, and could literally destroy the universe if used carelessly. id honestly say if we were putting up a comparison to a fgo weapon to it ea would be the closest thing-it was basically unavoidable, unresistable, and destroyed everything in it's path. and he knew this and so didnt use it bc in the context of the wars he fought in it wouldlve been massive overkill, and he was pretty responsible all things considered with the weapons he used

but like, hes ok with letting mages potentially command him to use it against their enemies? this incredibly powerful attack gifted to him by shiva that could obliterate the universe? like ignoring the logisitics of the fact they'd probably need a boatload of mana, and that the earth has protections in place to prevent gil or whoever from going 'lol' and laser beaming it in twain, why would mr 'thanks for the wmd but i will not be using it' suddenly ok the use of it for a bunch of backstabbing self-serving mages who would sacrifice their own children for a chance at upping their magical power?? like 'oh yes zouken, i'll use pashupata to blow up that orphanage for you right away. clearly this is a good use of this holy astra bestowed upon me by the gods :)'

imo he looked at his legend, looked at the fact anyone who looked into him would know about the fact that he'd have that astra, and renamed one of his less potent attacks 'pashupata' so that when he was ordered to use it he could follow their command WHILE also not fucking. using pashupata for incredibly petty and asinine reasons. like do we really think the average mage can tell the difference between the different astras anyway? no. hes gonna do that so when they pop their command seals and yell at him to use pashupata he can be like 'of course master :)' while also not going against his principles as like. person who was given a turbo nuke and was like 'yeah theres no reason to use this against normal people' like COME ON

though tbh i do still think he has access to pashupata as an archer-like when he blew up the 18 demon pillars that. that seems more like something he might actually have used it for.

i know that this theory has no water bc every time he's referred to it there's been nothing to suggest his np wasn't pashupata, its been described and treated in his materials as pashupata, plus parvati ALSO makes note of him having it and it being pashupata. it just bugs me that they shoved it on him as his generic np and also massively undersold it when he has like 4000 other big explody attacks that couldve been slotted in just as well, and when its a legitimately interesting fact that he never used it in his lifetime.

[seerofmike]

MY BAD I meant to put opinion on the current state of apex, gameplay and lore wise

I SEE OK

gameplay wise--just started playing again in the past ~4ish days, and i have witnessed this game in extremely broken states, but this one is somehow the most annoying. sure, not getting past the loading screen is obnoxious, but there's something particularly infuriating abt being kicked out of a match. i generally try not to complain about how 'broken' a game is/the bugs it has/server issues esp because of the pandemic right now but MAN. EA you are a billion dollar corporation who sees all of their customers as dollar signs SURELY you could afford some better servers???

other than time-out issues rampart fun. mobile shiela should fill you with fear. the octane nerf wont stop me because unlike caustic and seer mains i dont main my main because hes broken and op i main him because i think hes hot. rip to yall but im different

LORE WISE--

too many moving parts to address. i think apex has some genuinely good lore stuff buried in piles of heaping fluff. but not like the good kind of fluff. the fluff that sheds off your dog onto the nice couch you keep telling it to jump off but he INSISTS on sitting on it bad boy!!!! wait where is this anology going. right. bad fluff.

not to sound incredibly biased but i think octane's storyline so far is genuinely one of apex's best, which satisfies me because he's my favorite character. i think bangalore--my 2nd favorite character--also has some really strong lore/visible character growth that's both underrated and sometimes feels slightly undermined by the devs continuing to push her unchallenged attitude against wraith. i mean, they have a 'truce' right now but she's still horribly rude? okay apex.

aside from off moments like the bangalore wraith thing + octane's "invisible character arc" where tom casiello claimed his story so far was about him being closed-off and opening up to others (despite this not actually being Shown, like, anywhere) my 2 favorite characters have good lore. so i think i'm more satisfied than people whose favorite characters are, say, wattson or valkyrie.

that being said, a LOT of apex lore is just bad fluff. and honestly, i think it wouldn't be so bad if they had better time management. you and i talked a bit about the overtime comics being spoiled by current voice lines and potentially upcoming character moments. some panned storylines might not have been so hated if they hadn't been stretched out for so long (i.e. crypto and wattson literally being 'enemies' longer than they were ever friends).

this reply is getting SUPER long sorry but i think bad apex lore can be sorted into 3 distinct categories:

1. poor time management leading to arc fatigue or whatever the hell is going on with the overtime comics and the voice lines spoiling them

2. trying too hard to appease to titanfall fans or forcing itself into the titanfall timeline, thus fucking it up or throwing Several events into question

3. literally just soap opera tropes but without the 'stakes' or consequences of a soap opera. at least the soap opera would actually kill someone off for the drama

theres smaller sub categories but i think those are the major ones. aside from all the bad stuff, though, there are some ideas and concepts i like even if i think theyre being mismanaged. not to bring up the forbidden l*balore to u but i am a huge fan of their relationship but the love triangle just has me in a perpetual state of "get to the point already 🙄"

[rainofaugustsith]

SWTOR: Season of (Galactic) Change?

So I've had time to contemplate some of the information about 6.3 from the livestream. There will be no story spoilers, just the announcement of the format of 6.3. 

Complete honesty: I'm very disappointed it's another flashpoint. 

Complete reality: I don't think we're ever going to see a stand alone flashpoint again. For most of SWTOR's history, from Ilum onward, flashpoints have always been incorporated into main story. They don't want people to do what they were able to do in the class story, which was to stroll past all of the flashpoints (solo or not) without a second thought - missing some key story content in the process. I personally feel that is also one reason we aren't seeing planetary arcs anymore.  There are surely reasons of economy, yes, but I think they also want to ensure that all players have all story information. The planetary arcs and bonus series were again optional, and players could and did walk right past them if they pleased, missing everything from background to major plot points on Revan, the Dread Masters, the fate of Corellia, and the factions' roles on various planets.

Having said that, the issues with flashpoints have been described many times by many players. They can be really long and really tedious. None of the flashpoints from Umbara onward allow use of the combat assistance droid. There aren't any save points so you can't stop for the day and come back later. 

What do the flashpoints mean for the game overall? I personally think we're going to keep seeing the pattern of flashpoints alternating with more conventional story. What I also feel, though, is that there's a greater chance we may be getting more of that story. 

Before the recent shakeup at EA/BW, I wouldn't have thought things looked good for solo, story-based or more casual players.

The harbinger? Treatment of companions in gameplay. I'm not getting into story because I really am not up for that shit at this time of night, so please don't. But let's talk the combat settings. Companions were deliberately nerfed so they healed less. This wasn't conjecture, the devs said it was working as intended. Players started having to use forced "guest companions" in difficult flashpoints. This was something previously restricted only to story chapters, in both the class stories and KOTFE/KOTET. I personally do not think this was bad in Umbara or Nathema. Both required the player to use Lana and Theron, who were companions they knew and had likely leveled up, at least a little, through the previous story chapters. But then on Copero we were forced to use Raina Temple, who was level 1 for anyone other than Imperial Agents who had previously leveled up her influence. In both Meridian and Spirit of Vengeance players going through the story were also forced to work with one or two companions they had not leveled. The takeaway? They perhaps want players to lean less on companions, which is a common complaint among some endgame types. 

It wasn't just companions, either. Between the re-tuning of the Uprisings, the daily area and heroics of Dantooine that favored grouping, the difficulty at the end of Echoes of Oblivion and the mess that was Spirit of Vengeance, as well as the mats for new augments locked behind ranked group PvP and NiM Ops, I think the writing was on the wall. It was clear that they were going in a direction that favored raiders, as the main story became unplayable. Players were told they should just get 306-ranked gear to complete SOV, when they had only earned 268 gear by the end of Onslaught, something that's really not been necessary in the previous expansions (at least from KOTFE onward). 

But then Anthem folded. At the same time, it was noted that the single-player Star Wars: Fallen Order game had done exceptionally well. And then came the news that Dragon Age 4, which had been inexplicably developed as multi-player, would no longer have that format. Around the same time, SWTOR started soliciting suggestions for improved accessibility on the official forums. 

I think this may bode well for SWTOR. It may have finally gotten across the message that players are here for stories, and players come in many ability levels and game play preferences. Or from a more stark economic perspective, it may have clued them in that driving away everyone but the hardcore raiders does have negative outcomes. 

The fact that they even had a livestream for 6.3 was shocking to me. It's been about three months since 6.2 was released, and for some video games that might be a long time ago. But in SWTOR land that's an achievement. The most recent time the game had what could be considered regular updates throughout the year was 2017, when there were roughly three months between KOTET, Iokath, Umbara and Copero, respectively. 

Maybe they really are committed to doing better this year. I'd certainly like to think so. 

IMHO this next flashpoint will be a good barometer for the devs' intentions. They have a choice - they can do a repeat of SOV or they can make positive changes. Given that we seem to have two companions during the flashpoint, maybe they are already making those positive changes. On the other hand the companions are still "mandatory guests" rather than companions we really want to bring, and for all we know, the PC won't be questing with both of them simultaneously. 

 I'd personally like to continue my characters' stories, but I won't do it if it's going to be all tedious flashpoints that take hours and require endgame gear. So I really hope they are changing to a kinder and more open and accessible path, instead of just making "play your way" a really bad joke.

[kilyra]

Still Grounded

A/N: This is Part 2 to Grounded (you can find it in my masterlist). I’m a bit more nervous about this one, I’m not sure if I hit the mark but without it, Part 3 feels too rushed. Anyhoo…

Trying to keep your anger from your peers doesn’t mean it’s gone, a lesson Poe quickly learns when he tries to talk to you in your off hours.

Warnings: Kinda bad language and arguing . No spoilers but it takes place after The Last Jedi. I did do a bit of research so hopefully there’s nothing jarringly out of place, but I gotta say, with the swears…I did so much research for Star Wars fitting swears to replace bullsh*t but bantha druk or nerf druk just didn’t have the right feel. So I went with nerfsh*t. It’s wrong, I know, but…

If you want to be on my tag lists, (all or just a character) just let me know!

Although you told yourself you were all coming to the make-shift cantina for a good time, everyone's endless ranting said otherwise. You tried to keep your additions to a minimum because you didn't want your sharp resentfulness to rub off on everyone else.  But it was challenging.

Especially after you spotted Poe Dameron, the esteemed commander himself, walk into the cantina. No one else seemed to notice that he settled in a couple tables over with Finn and some people you didn't know by name. Probably for the best.

“I just don't get it, how can you be so calm? Doesn't it make you angry that you're stuck down here, playing mechanic?” The complaint drew your attention back.

Downing the rest of your drink, you let your glass clunk on the table as you sighed. “Well, first off, I don't play anything. I only learned to fly because I could fix up any clunker I got my hands on. And secondly...never talk down about mechanics, okay?”

“I'm not,” the pilot said quickly.

You weren't convinced. “Seriously. We're only up there in the first place because of them and we're damn lucky to have such a good team.”

Another pilot leaned closer as she waved you off from your rant. "No one is saying that, Y/n, the ground crew is amazing. But they don't need you...we need you, up there with us.”

It wasn't lost on you that Poe ended up within earshot. And if there was any doubt that he was listening, the stiffening of his shoulders as he straightened his back quickly laid it to rest.

Sighing, you thumbed the edge of your empty glass. She was right. But having everyone riled wasn't going to help this situation die down.

Pressing your thumb firmly against the glass, you shrugged. “Yeah, well, I disobeyed direct orders.”

“Oh, that's kriff-"

“It's not,” you said, cutting her off. Frowning, she raised an eyebrow, but your eyes dropped back down to your glass as you continued. “It's just the facts.”

The first pilot leaned forward, his voice thick from the many drinks he had downed over the evening. “Yeah, but-”

Your eyes snapped up to his as you cut him off just as swiftly. “Stop. Seriously. Whatever we might think about it, we signed up for the cause, pseudo-military junk and all.”

The others fell quiet for a moment, knowing better than to argue that point. As you let your gaze wander to the side, Poe's stare sought you out as though he knew exactly when you'd be glancing his direction. A sudden flutter started in your chest as his dark eyes pulled you in. You hadn't spoken since the mission, other than both being present during the debrief the next morning. His heated look bore into you like he was trying to silently talk.

But you were having none of it.

Forcing yourself to look away before anyone else noticed, you ignored the small ache that came with breaking free. You were still angry.

Tilting your head, you pointedly gave your fellow pilots your full attention. “Besides, I'm sure that when it matters, I'll be right up there with you anyhow...but for now, if you'll excuse me, I need another drink.”

Your light dismissal of the situation earned a couple chuckles, effectively breaking the tension as you heard the chatter start up while you walked away. Not that you felt it. Even as you worked to convince your peers that everything was fine, the lump in the pit in your gut grew heavier.

Blowing out a long sigh as you reached the busy bar, you stood to the side to wait since you weren't in a rush. You only came out to keep up appearances, and you weren't in a hurry to get back to the table and put on a happy face. But it occurred to you, far too late, that it would have been a safer place to be.

It was just a movement you spotted out of the corner of your eye, but you knew, you just knew, it was Poe settling in beside you. Staring forward, you refused to acknowledge him.

It didn't stop him. “So...hey. I just wanted to thank you for defending me back there, I can't imagine that was eas-”

“I didn't,” you snipped, not letting him finish.

There was a pause as he ran his hand over his curls, letting out an awkward chuckle. “I mean, I wasn't trying to listen, but I did hear-”

Turning to face him, you forced all of your anger to stay in your chest and not leap out of your mouth at him. Your words had a biting edge to them all the same. “I wasn't defending you. But the Resistance can't afford to have an entire squadron turning sour.”

A small grin broke from the corner of his lips as he sharply nodded. “That's fair. Still though, can I get you a drink? I'm having another round sent to the table to try and help smooth things over.”

A bitter laugh huffed through your nose. “Ha! You really don't want to do that.”

The crease between his eyebrows deepened as they lightly drew together. Hesitantly, he looked over at the table of pilots and back to you. “And why is that?”

“Because if you get me a drink right now, I'll probably just throw it in your face.”

His furrowed eyebrows lifted. “Oh.”

Nodding, you continued as you spotted a server dropping off the drinks at the table. “In fact, all I want to do is go back to the table, grab all of those drinks and throw each one in your face.”

Following your stare, his features smoothed back into place as ran his thumb across his forehead. “Right.”

“And after that, move on to the next table, grab all their drinks and-”

“Yeah, right...right in the face. Subtle pattern, but I get it - you're still mad.” He was slow to bring his gaze back to you, and even then it was only for a brief moment before he focused on a spot past your shoulder.

“I'm still grounded.” The seething accusation hissed past your teeth. He truly was lucky there wasn't a drink in your hand.

Your words seemed to shatter Poe's momentary meekness as his focus jerked back onto you. Leaning forward, his voice dropped. “You think I'm happy about that?”

Curling your hands into tight fists, your jaw clenched so hard that you didn't even bother trying to throw out a retort. Spinning on your heel, you made your way back to your table, forcing a smile over your tight lips. By the time you stopped behind your chair, everyone was staring. Including Poe, who was still frozen in place by the bar.

Grabbing your coat and quickly throwing it on, you shrugged it into place. “So the bar was taking too long and I'm going to call it an early night. But I'll see you guys tomorrow, yeah?”

There was a chorus of confused agreements, but you didn't slow long enough to hear anything more significant before you continued onto the exit. Had you slowed down, even a little, you might have noticed Poe slipping out of the side door.

You were halfway across the dark field towards the living quarters before Poe caught up to you. Jogging up beside you, he fell into step and continued right where you tried to leave off. “You didn't give me much of a choice, you know. Everyone heard that order to abort.”

Heat rushed to your cheeks as you continued your determined march across the field. The last thing you wanted was to have this conversation again, especially not out in the open where everyone could hear it break down into another shouting match.

“Would you just wait a minute?” Poe growled as he reached over and grabbed your arm, breaking your stride.

Snapping your arm back, you easily broke his grip as you glared at him. He didn't put up a fight and let his hand drop back to his side while his eyes scanned over your moonlit face.

“Unless you're going to apologize, there's nothing more to talk about.”

His eyebrows shot up, and he blinked as though you slapped him. Sputtering, it took a second before he could actually get anything out. “A-a...apologize? A-are you serious? For what?”

“For that nerfshit call!” Your voice echoed over the field as it raised. Just a few moments alone with him, and you were already yelling again.

“I...wait, what?” Frowning, he narrowed his eyes, causing small creases along their corners. Rocking back on his heels, his hands found their way to his hips as his frown deepened.

Taking advantage of his confusion, you continued towards the living quarters as your heart tried to pound out of your chest. “You heard me.”

With a few strides, he easily stepped ahead of you, smoothly blocking your path. Spreading his hands apart in front of his chest, he tilted his head and carefully studied your face again. You felt a new wave of warmth rush to your cheeks under his scrutiny. His attentive stare alone would have almost been enough to stop you, nevermind that he was in your way and ready to dart either direction you moved.

“A nerfshit call?” Dipping his chin lower, his stare refused to let you look anywhere else.

“Mmm,” you hummed in agreement.

“So, let me get this straight. You're telling me that aborting the mission when a dozen First Order ships show up and dive for the drop point where my pilots and the informant are...was a nerfshit call?" Despite his attempt to speak calmly, you could hear the tension rippling through each word.

With effort, you pulled back from his entrancing gaze and looked over the field. “But they weren't just heading towards the drop point, were they?”

Poe's throat worked as he swallowed heavily, his hands slowly lowering. He didn't push you to clarify, but you weren't about to stop now.

“You said if Ello or Nien had stayed to finish the transfer, you wouldn't have grounded them. But honestly? I don't think you would have ordered them to abort in the first place." Somehow stating your mind didn't make you feel better. Deep inside you knew there was at least a kernel of truth there, but as you watched the muscles of his cheek roll from his firmly clenched jaw, it just tightened the knot in your stomach.

His voice was strained when he finally spoke. “You seriously think I only made that call because it was you?”

You couldn't tell if he was about to explode, but it didn't matter. “Tell me I'm wrong.”

Pinching his mouth into a tight line, his eyes darted to the side as he sucked the edge of his lip between his teeth. As he stared off, the earlier flutter in your chest came back full force and made its way down your arms as your nervousness grew. Quietly, you stuffed your hands into your coat pockets while you waited.

“And if the situation had been reversed – if it had been me in the middle of it, and you watching those First Order bastards bearing down – you would have made a different call?" His tone was hard like he was challenging you, daring you to answer.

But there was a softness deep in his eyes.

Even just imagining helplessly watching the enemy surrounding him was enough to sink your stomach. Your mouth was dry, and it was almost hard to croak out an answer. “I didn't say that.”

A cautious smile ghosted his lips.

“But even if I would do the same, that doesn't make it better. It's still a nerfshit call.”

The faint smile dropped as you sidestepped him and carried on across the field.

He didn't try to stop you.

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[animebw]

Binge-Watching: Pokemon Master Quest, Episodes 32-36

In which, for once, I’m upset that this show didn’t drag out a subplot, though it mitigates the damage later by saving me from cringe hell.

Missed Opportunity

Well, folks, this is a new one. After all my bitching about there being too much filler and sidetracking in Johto, I suddenly find myself disappointed that we didn’t take an obvious excuse to sidetrack for a few episodes. Ash gets transformed into a Pikachu at the end of episode 32, and it looks like we’re gonna spend a few episodes with him still as a Pikachu getting into shenanigans. But instead, he just turns back to normal right at the start of the next episode and it’s never brought up again. Can you imagine how much fun we might’ve had with Pokemon Ash? There’s so much potential in that concept! Surely we couldn’t spent a few episodes having fun with it before going back to business as usual. But nope, it literally might as well have never happened for all the stuff we do with it. What the heck, show? Why of all times do you choose now to breeze through a story idea before it can even get started? Why even have the episode end with Ash as a Pokemon if he’s just gonna go back to normal right away next time? It makes the audience think there is gonna be something done with it, because this show never does inter-episode continuity unless it’s actually doing a multi-episode storyline... until now. Man, what a wasted opportunity. It’s so disappointing I can’t even get that disappointed about Zapdos showing up and predictably being absurdly nerfed from his movie appearance while also having his movie appearance scrubbed from canon. You have cashed your disappointment chips, show. You’ve tapped out on disappointment. Now be a good boy and wait for your disappointment meter to recharge before you sty disappointing me again. I want to be properly disappointed when you try to disappoint me, you hear?

Almost Pain

For those of you who don’t me well, nothing makes me cringe out of my skin more than a live performance gone wrong. I’m a huge theater geek, and my deep love for performance makes the thought of someone messing up on stage almost unbearable. So when episode 34 started building up Jigglypuff’s jealousy mucking with a live dance show, I could feel my brain curling up in self-defense so hard it might as well have turned into a baseball. God, I hate plotlines about shows being interrupted. I hate the kind of overpowering anxiety is brings out of me. And it doesn’t help that Britney’s clearly supposed to be an idol in the original Japanese (she’s got the fan club and everything), and the specific aesthetics of idol performance do not translate gracefully to a heavily localized English dub. Thank god, then, that just as things were about to start making me want to bash my skull in to numb the pain, Team Rocket showed up out of nowhere and saved the show with an impromptu Takarazuka-inspired song and dance. I cannot express how fucking relieved I was to be spared that agony. What can I say, Team Rocket never lets me down.

Best of Team Rocket

-”I may be catty, but I’m not Meowth!”

-”Thanks, your earsplitting yell is very encouraging.”

-”It’s from the kingdom of Pokemonia around the time of the third king.” James knows this world’s deep lore? What a surprise!

-JAMES IS DOING RAKUGO. I REPEAT, JAMES IS DOING RAKUGO.

-”No tears for fears, remember?”

-”We call it the Meowth Massaginator Mark 3!”

-”To you, and you, and you and you and youuuu!” I see the musical theater tradition is still running strong in Team Rocket.

-”Maybe if we turn the other way, they won’t notice we’re here.”

-”We’re good today, this is our third escape!” “A couple of those were questionable.”

-”We tried the Dig a Hole and Wait plan about a hundred times, and it only worked for five.” “But those five times sure were great!”

-”I’m the wise and gorgeous Jessie.” “And I’m James, the less-inflated Team Rocket member.”

-”Perhaps you’ve heard the commonly used phrase: Eat My Dust!”

-”No way you’ll beat us at manual labor!”

-Are Jessie and James’ VAs doing those impressions? Because those are some damn good impressions if so.

-”They’re staring holes through me with those sweet and unsuspecting eyes!”

-”Wow, I didn’t knw tomatoes were actually fruits!”

-Of course James won poetry awards in high school. A man after my own heart.

Odds and Ends

-You gotta wonder what wild Pokemon think about humans just popping out of nowhere and asking for a fight. That must be so confusing.

-”Give me some tears, now!” Not a sentence I was expecting to hear outside a torture chamber.

-”Besides, Masty, you don’t need beauty sleep.” Damn, Ash, when did you get so smooth?

-”It’s always nice hearing folklore!” I agree, Meowth, ancient underwater temples are cool.

-okay but why does this bass line slap so hard

-holy shit I didn’t expect Brock’s flamenco act to win them over

-”This is the only song he knows?” I SPOKE TOO SOON ASKJDHASHD

-Okay, the narrator falling asleep from Jigglypuff’s song was inspired.

-Oh hey, actual Asian food on the table for lunch. Proud of you, 4Kids.

-the freaking kung fu wall slide I can’t

-Today, I have seen a Slowpoke catch a Gyarados with its tail, and it was good.

-Huh, I wasn’t expecting this episode to actually treat enlightenment with respect. Shows what I know.

-Lmaaaao, the sweaty otaku fan club is a nice touch. So many fun cultural touches in this bunch of episodes.

-”As a child, I played a lot of video games. I was known as Flying Fingers Sammy!” ...no comment.

-”Luck is on my side, so I’ll keep guessing!” “This guy knows his stuff.” pfft

-”Yeah, it’s so deep it’s a ditch.” We’re really going after the poets in this episode, aren’t we?

-”Sometimes, he even gets it to rhyme?” I’ve heard of backhanded compliments before, but wow. Nurse Joy is a savage.

Halfway through the season. See you next time!

[hildorien]

Colours and shapes are a thing of physical universe. Mortal souls, when they get close to their "natural state" (good luck seeing them like that tho) might appear as abstractions and colours and shapes when they are shedding their attachment to the world and unlike ainur (who are literal abstract concepts of universe and thus trippy and vast and mind-boggling but natural) they are quite alien and all their spiritual manifestations are result of retranslating themselves into Ea-friendly form.

Like, mortal men are creatures of contradictions. And of death that is for them natural (unlike for elves who gonna die for real once Arda dies apparently and need thus Estel to cope with their constant growing existential crisis). Like. The closest things in universe to which they are tied are: death (possibly manifested as eldritch abominations gnawing at the world and Aunt Ungoliant), change and possibly paradoxes (mostly Melkor). So what I am saying, Mortal men are mini-eldritch abominations 

Also the weirdest part is that although mortal men are guests in the Ea they are classified as fear (note that men do not really fit all qualities of fear half of time, at other times they are just immediately leaving for afterlife). As in, they need bodies to be complete when (despite implication that their poor harmony with their body is not natural but result of outside intervention) they are if fact not of the universe. What are the implications of this.

I meant to write out a proper response to this when I wasn’t swamped with homework but that hasn’t been the case and I know I have been posting so I didn't want you to think I was ignoring this. I really, really, REALLY, love this. It’s just (chef kiss), I think what you're saying about men probably appearing as “abstractions and colours and shapes” is so wildly fun to think about. Like can I just have a set of pictures of Elf and Human pairs in which the Elf is perfectly normal Elf and their humans is just an eldritch horror. Like pls.

Also: “Like. The closest things in universe to which they are tied are: death (possibly manifested as eldritch abominations gnawing at the world and Aunt Ungoliant), change and possibly paradoxes (mostly Melkor). So what I am saying, Mortal men are mini-eldritch abominations” Can I frame this, because I feel like in my soul? Men are mini-eldritch monsters that makes me laugh so much like in a good way. It this almost, familiar connection, between men and morgoth that always gets me. They are so similar, but like, also not. It’s like they start from the same place, they like change, they destroy, they like to make not within the bounds of Arda. (they have a totally horribly view of never respecting authority unless it’s their authority) But they also have huge differences, where Morgoth was the most powerful Vala, whereas the Atani are like the most constantly fucked with race in middle earth, no one has really ever controlled morgoth rather than his own fears, men have fallen under the control of morgoth, then elves, then even other humans. They both perform the cycle of violence differently, I guess. But they come from the same sort of space, that's why I think he was always afraid of Men while he hated elves, he wasn’t very afraid of them on the whole, generally, specifically yes, generally no. he saw little, mini versions of him, who had a miniscule version of his power and yet had more power than he ever would because he’s still a vala, he’s still tied to Arda. Unlike the Atani, Morgoth will never know what it is like to be free of Eru’s design in a way. I think out of all the creatures of Arda, Morgoth could have been the first to really envy men.  I think that's what gets me about men is how they...have that sorta special magic to PLUS ULTRA their way into making life better for themselves, they stumble, they fall, they scream, and cry and eventually they all must die but their lives are, in a way, their own in a way that Elves’ and Valar aren’t. There really isn’t a destiny there for them and that is a freedom, I really enjoy about the atani. It’s why I wanted to make that post about them being little candle fires. 

As in, they need bodies to be complete when (despite implication that their poor harmony with their body is not natural but result of outside intervention) they are if fact not of the universe. What are the implications of this.

Personally, if you want my opinion, Men are actually wholly suited for Arda Marred. Unlike Elves and Vala and Maiar, they are flawed, they changeable, mutiable, and they might be easy to kill but hard to break in an emotional sense, that their communities can still flourish even under so much shit being thrown at them. That mortal flesh is a ‘prison’ in it is flawed, but that’s the point of humans I guess. To be the flawed dissenting voice that wills the world around them to change because we don’t have all day. But also in that same vein, that’s why they can’t stay in this world, eventually, they have their next adventure to get too. I usually take a very romantic view on the human afterlife in Tolkien, where it’s more of a wonderland of thrills and paradise than garden of eden. It’s full of weird shit, void monsters, weird ainur, magic, but for humans it feels like coming home. A place full of paradoxes and constant change but it still feels like you’ve done something that matters. I don’t know if these thoughts make sense, but the thesis is basically, men are designed I think to be the perfect microcosm of arda marred made flesh, a paradox of good and bad and that which lies in between. That’s what I think the implication is for me, 

  BASICALLY: Eru Almighty had to nerf me with depression and back-pain or else I would have slayed Morgoth with my bare hands and the Elves would be out of a job — Edain Proverbs 

[askagamedev]

Do you think EA forced/influenced Respawn to turn Titanfall 3 into the free-to-play battle royale Apex Legends?

There’s a persistent myth among gamers that the evil publishers “force” the noble game developers to do stuff they don’t want to do. This allows gamers to concoct a mental narrative of good guys (devs) who only want to make awesome stuff and bad guys (publishers) who only care about money. That’s exactly what you’re doing with your question - it seems like you want to believe that the evil EA is forcing the noble and kind-hearted Respawn developers to abandon their dreams and force them to build an evil money sponge instead, so you asked me that question in hopes that I’ll say “yes” and confirm exactly what you’ve always suspected. I’ll tell you now - that sort of narrative usually has no basis in reality. The vast majority of the time, the relationship between developers and publishers is collaborative. We want to work together because we’re combining two related fields of expertise - making fun games and getting those games into player hands sustainably. If a dev studio ever enters into an adversarial relationship with a publisher, lots of people (or even the entire dev studio) tend to jump ship.

What really happens is that a development studio needs to develop stuff that earns money in order to keep paying its employees. Dev studios work collaboratively, hand-in-hand, with publishers to create games that they think will play well and earn enough money needed to keep everyone involved paid and happy. Several of Respawn’s senior devs had already been internally experimenting with different modes for multiplayer gameplay since before Titanfall 2′s 2016 release date and far before PUBG’s huge splash in 2017. Before acquisition by EA in 2017, Respawn had already been in negotiations with Nexon to publish an online multiplayer Titanfall game. That project and that experimental gameplay is what eventually became Apex Legends.

This project might have been considered Titanfall 3 at some point but calling it Titanfall probably wouldn’t have felt right without actually having Titans in it. Respawn’s designers have already stated that they didn’t want to nerf down the Titans to the point they didn’t feeling powerful anymore, but they also wanted to build a competitive game that didn’t depend so much on how swingy the powerful Titans made the experience. From what I understand, the folks at Respawn wanted to make a fun, engaging, new multiplayer shooter experience and had been working on carving that out since 2015, no matter who their publisher was. They weren’t forced to do this against their will. EA just gave them the best offer to help them do it.

The FANTa Project is currently on hiatus while I am crunching at work too busy.

[What is the FANTa project?] [Git the FANTa Project]

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[youngandhungryent]

HHW Gaming Review: ‘Madden NFL 21’ Is The Same Old Dog With One New Trick

Source: EA / Madden NFL 21

Thanks to COVID-19, there is a bit of uncertainty in the air when it comes to wondering if we will actually see NFL games played this year. With that in mind, EA’s annual football game Madden NFL 21 will have a more significant role in delivering football fanatics their pigskin action. But does this year’s iteration of the popular football video game franchise give the quality fans have come to expect?

I’m gonna keep it a buck, it’s been a while since a Madden game has pulled me in, and I was hoping that Madden NFL 21 would be that game to lure back into the franchise that I once loved as a kid going into my teen years. The game’s marginal improvements failed to keep me excited about the football video game franchise, and the new game modes did little to keep me playing. Sadly this is also the case with this year’s game.

Just by looking at the game, you come to appreciate how good it looks from the crisp animations, detailed player models, and the true-to-life stadiums, but that’s when you’re when looking at them from afar while zoomed out. Once you get in close, that’s when things get a bit underwhelming. The players and coach’s faces are lifeless, and the crowd, despite playing on a powerful console like Xbox One S, looks like the cardboard cutouts Major League Baseball teams are using to fill seats in the empty stadiums while they play.

Source: EA / Madden NFL 21

What’s really disappointing is how EA fails to bring the fantastic presentation that the NFL has come to be known for on Sunday and Monday to the game. Before EA gobbled up the NFL license, Visual Concepts NFL 2K franchise had that department in the bag and became a favorite among football video game players because of it. In Madden NFL 21, there is no extensive pre-game show detailing all of the in-depth-stats we would typically see before a football game. The halftime show is just a stat board with some narration from Jonathan Coachman and, don’t even bother asking about a post-game show.

As far as actual gameplay, there are improvements in that department. The new “Skill Stick” makes playing offense even more fun by allowing the players to pull over juke moves, spins precise. Running the ball is better than ever thanks to how fluid the “Skill Stick” feels when pulling off evasive actions to avoid defenders, and following blocks is even better than ever. Remember when players would just run you over all the time? That is a thing of the past due to the running lanes being slimmer and having to follow blocks more precisely.

Source: EA / Madden NFL 21

On defense, playing as a defensive lineman and putting pressure on the quarterback is much more fun thanks to the new Pass Rush ability system that features new moves to help you get around offensive linemen. Defensive backs are now more aggressive than ever when it comes to snatching interceptions, and it can become annoying, especially when playing on more challenging levels. You almost have to laugh watching them recover so quickly after they get beat by a receiver only to break up the play. Linebackers who were absolutely menaces in Madden NFL 20 have been nerfed, making it much harder to play the position in the game.

X-Factor and Superstar abilities, which were debut in Madden NFL 20 and quickly became a fan favorite, are back with some new additions. Superstar abilities are unique attributes that individual superstars have that make them stand out from other players. For example, Closer, allows that player to come in the second half of a game already in the zone. As for X-Factor abilities, think of it being a superpower for NFL players. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback, Patrick Mahomes has the “Bazooka” X-Factor, which adds 15 yards to a player’s maximum throwing distance, up to 80 years, as if Mahomes needs any more advantages.

Source: EA / Madden NFL 21

Now its time to get into the game modes.

Face of The Franchise: Rise To Fame

Madden NFL 21’s story-driven mode is very disappointing. Plagued by a bad story and choices feature that really doesn’t affect anything, the experience gets old really fast. Your created character starts off as a backup QB to Tommy Matthews, who is voiced by X-Men: Apocalypse actor Ty Sheridan, who quickly becomes a pain in the ass every time he makes an appearance. For whatever reason, the story revolves around Mattews heart condition and whether you want to be a good teammate and support him or capitalize on the situation.

You eventually get a shot to be a high school football standout, a star in college, and make your way to the Rookie Combine and NFL Draft. One pleasant treat Face of The Franchise grants is you the ability to play with college teams. The experience is merely cosmetic because your performance really doesn’t affect what happens in your career next. Once you get drafted, the story doesn’t;t end and you can continue to play the mode to acquire points for The Yard.

The Yard

Source: EA Sports / Madden NFL 21

Speaking of The Yard, it is easily the best thing about Madden NFL 21. The fun new mode brings backyard football to the game and is a fast-paced, action-packed experience. The 6v6 mode, which can easily be compared to NFL Blitz or NFL Street, features NFL superstars taking on each other in a backyard football game setting.

There are no quarters, no time limit, the field is 80-yards, and with each side getting only three offensive possessions to score. Kickers are non-existent, and each team begins on its own 20-yard line.

Source: EA Sports / Madden NFL 21

Players can hike the ball to any player on your squad and throw the ball multiple times while behind the line of scrimmage. The idea of the game is to run up the score on your opponent as much as possible, and you can do that by getting interceptions, which equals one-point. Touchdowns can also be worth more based on things like how many behind passes you did behind the line of scrimmage before the touchdown throw

The whole point of the mode is to grind, level up, and acquire as much loot as possible so you can purchase yourself funky looking football threads. While The Yard is fun, a lack of a franchise structure or league format hampers it. BUT, it’s still fun competing with random people online and is a welcomed distraction to the other glaring issues that plague Madden NFL 21.

Source: EA Sports / Madden NFL 21

Madden Ultimate Team & Franchise Mode

Both of these modes are very forgettable. Madden Ultimate Team, which will have you open random packs of cards that contain NFL players of past and present and will put them on your team, is bogged down with microtransactions. Franchise Mode, which is Madden’s most popular game modes, is screaming for an update, but for whatever reason, EA won’t fix it opting to leave it as is despite the many complaints about it.

Final Verdict

Despite enjoying the hell out The Yard, there is just not enough for me to rave about this game. It just feels that since EA has no direct competition, they have taken their foot off the gas with Madden, which is considered the crown jewel of the game studio. Being that it’s the only NFL licensed simulation football game, I expect Madden NFL 21 to still sell well and fans to “tolerate” it till next year. Hopefully, EA will take the criticism that is undoubtedly going to come from long-time Madden players and use it to bring the video game franchise back to the quality we have to go to love and expect. Unfortunately, Madden NFL 21 is not it, but I will say they are onto something with The Yard, which is the game’s most significant bright spot.

—

Photo: EA Sports / Madden NFL 21

source https://hiphopwired.com/902739/madden-nfl-21-review/

[luckykhuxguide]

What set ups would u recommend for axel quests 11-13?

(*´◒`*) Hi! The setups i can recommend vary a LOT per version of the game, so please specify which version you’re playing, or if you mean for both versions. I’ll be taking this opportunity to make this ask into a setup post, because i do not have a lot of time this week to make a proper post. Setups for NA KHUX AND JP KHUX down below!

Here’s some general tips for the last 3 quests.

~ For 11 & 12, I recommend bringing an AOE reset medal such as Belle [S] to negate the Barrier Master buffs. You may need to use 0.2 Kairi [S] and then Belle [S], or if you dont have 0.2 Kairi [S], you want to pop burst to trigger the buffing before resetting it.

~ For 12, if you don’t have 0.2 Kairi [S], you will likely need a fixed damage medal such as KH2 Kairi illust [M] or Beast [P] to deal fixed damage to the Sparkler heartless. SC2 and Guard (L?)/XL is highly recommended in case of tanking hits from Rush Rats. Rush rat does come with default PSMDD-2, but resetting it will also remove the negative buffs (which will have been compensated by the barrier master buffs regardless.) GDD-2 and other debuffing medals can do wonders for that.

~ For 13, You want to be mindful of the counter. The level in NAUX is lower than in JPUX, but the counter can still put you in nasty situations. Craft your deck while also looking at the number of hits you can deal. A medal with double act can help you meet a certain hit number, or mess you up entirely.

~ I REALLY wanted to share this video by Rhyme, since he does NO Kairi 0.2,NO HSE medal,NO EX runs of events like these, which are impressive and also a great (F2P) inspiration. Video is HERE! This is for JP KHUX, but might be useful for NA KHUX players too.

Moving on, here’s some example setups I received on twitter, which you can copy entirely or base setups on:

NAUX

By JoeTreasure Trove+25. EA HPO. Basically need lucky DB4 procs a few times. Pretty f2p friendly too.  

By Thundaza, vie en rose+25Max guilt on HPO, Xigbar B, and 0.2 Aqua. Double attack on HPO, and 108% guilt on KH2 Kairi. 

JPUX

By Salt, Counterpoint+35My own setup, which uses A&C [M] just for the SC. I didn’t use burst. Merely trigger Kairi, tap Alice, activate Sora and the copy KA. This will leave you with 1 hit left, which copying xion will exceed (but that’s fine. Revive and go through the same sequence again. This is a setup for JP KHUX, but may be usable what with the planning strat.

I will be adding more setups to this post over the coming week, so feel free to @ me your setups on twitter or submit them via our inbox. I did post a poll asking if there’s interest for setup post, and the result was very mixed. If you want to check if there’s new setups i haven’t had the time to add yet, i DO retweet them on my twitter account before adding them.

Luckily for NAUX, there’s some nerfs to the Axel quests. Most notably, the final Martial Ape has been nerfed from lv700 to lv450..!

-- Salt

[entergamingxp]

Why the Command & Conquer Remastered developers left in a 25-year-old exploit • Eurogamer.net

One of the brilliant things about Command & Conquered Remastered is how it remains faithful to the original real-time strategy classic while updating it in all the right areas.

But one area the developers left alone was a 25-year-old exploit. You’d think they’d want to fix it – but not this one, because it gave players a fighting chance against the rock hard AI.

I’m talking about Command & Conquer’s infamous sandbag exploit – aka the best strategy against the AI on the hardest missions.

For the uninitiated, Command & Conquer has an odd bug that causes the enemy AI to consider sandbags an impassable obstacle. And they don’t seem interested in blowing them up, either. Weird.

Back in 1995, players discovered this bug and used it to their advantage. They’d build long lines of sandbags, creeping out from their home base and stretching across the map to wrap around the AI base, effectively trapping the enemy in place.

This provided players with a crucial advantage: with the AI safely sandbagged in, the enemy couldn’t send waves of soldiers and tanks onto your position. Enemy units would simply sit still, like gormless ducks, behind your lines of sandbags, clueless as to how to proceed, paralysed by an inability to chart a path to your position, the thought of blowing one of the little sandbags up never popping in their little virtual heads.

This sandbag exploit is a broken, overpowered tactic that makes use of a bug – but given how hard Command & Conquer was and remains, it was for a generation of players their only chance of completing the campaign.

Fast forward to 2020, and I was surprised to find the sandbag exploit present and correct in Command & Conquer Remastered. Had EA missed the bug? Or, was it left alone on purpose?

And then I thought, if the developers left this bug in the game, what else did they leave untouched? What was their thinking?

I decided to find out, setting up an interview with producer Jim Vassella to get stuck into the nitty gritty of Command & Conquer’s bugs – 25 years after they were discovered.

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Jim Vessella: When we kicked off the project and we were speaking with Petroglyph – and specifically Joe Bostic, who co-created the franchise and was one of the design leads on the original game – we were trying to come up with pillars for what creative decisions we we’re gonna make and how we were going to make them. The way he was phrasing it as a guiding vision was, if it was an obvious bug that, had they realised it back in 1995 they would have fixed it, then that’s something we should consider fixing.

There’s a few things like some crashes and some other items, typos that occurred in the original game that we ended up fixing along the way. But if it was something that was more of a feel item, and had become part of the DNA of the game, and had a long-ranging impact on balance and on the feel, that was something where we had to really be careful about whether we wanted to change it or not.

And the sandbag exploit, which, frankly, it is because the AI doesn’t know how to react to sandbags – you can literally put them all the way across the map and the AI will consider it an impassable wall and they just won’t do anything, and that gives you full protection from the AI – that was something that was so core to the feel of the game, the game was almost balanced around that back in the day.

Even I remember as a kid, I had to use that exploit to beat the final mission of the GDI campaign. It took me over seven hours, I remember, to build an entire wall all the way from my base in the top left, all the way over to the right, then all the way down the right side of the map so I could run engineers behind that wall all the way down to where their tiberium silos were, and capture their money for like an hour and a half, until the AI ran out of money and it would just start selling its structures until they would finally sell enough that I could break through the base. That’s what I had to do when I was 12 years old. It’s stories like that, those are the ones that stick with us for 25 years. To take that away… we were really nervous about what kind of impact that would have.

This became even more evident, because there are a couple things we did try and fix. A good example of this is, there’s a bug in the game where when the AI uses an airstrike against you, especially in the Nod campaign, the code stated it would always target the top-left enemy in the map. And so, people discovered this and what they would often do is they would just leave a single minigunner up at the top-left of the map and the AI would always waste their airstrike on that minigunner.

Well, we we heard that bug from the community, and we’re like, oh, we should fix that because obviously that wasn’t intended. That was a bug, a miss-programmed thing. And so we fixed it. But we didn’t really understand what the ripple effects of that were going to be. And once we released the game, we started getting reports of the Nod missions becoming incredibly difficult because the AI was now optimally using their airstrike and taking out key base structures, taking out your commandos so you would lose the mission entirely.

All these things happened because we unleashed the AI to now be a lot wiser. And we’re still tackling that issue. It’s taken us two months to undo the impacts of that change. So, you just think about, okay, what if we had fixed the sandbag exploit? And now, in all these missions, wherever there’s sandbag walls the AI knows how to deal with them. It would have dramatically changed the feel and the balance of all those missions.

That was the main reason we didn’t change the sandbag one – it was so core to those stories of how people experienced the game the first time. And then once we discovered what was starting to happen when we changed just very basic things in the AI code, it became evident how fragile the entire campaign was. So I think that’s one we will continue to forever keep in the game. It’ll be one of those iconic things of the original game.

So what you’re saying is, Command & Conquer is too hard to beat without a cheat?

Jim Vessella: Haha! Well, for me when I was a kid it was! It was always a hard game. I think people will always tell you Tiberian Dawn was a hard game.

I remember it being hard, but going back to it now I think it’s really hard!

Jim Vessella: It is really hard! It is. And, you know, even with all the exploits, I remember I couldn’t beat most of the expansion missions, the covert ops missions, and I still can’t. They’re still really tough for me. But something additional we did is we added difficulty modes into the campaign for the remastered collection. A lot of core players and RTS veterans have been trying to play the campaign on hard, and the game was never balanced for that. It was never balanced to have a differential in terms of damage and health for the different units.

Some of those missions are just insanely difficult on hard. We were watching streamers play when the game launched, and people would have to restart a mission 40 or 50 times to try and get through a battle. That was another issue where it was just like, wow, we just kind of made it worse by making the AI that much more powerful.

Sometimes you do need those exploits to get through the campaign because that’s just how it was balanced around those back in the day. We nerfed the hard difficulty a bit in our patch at the end of June, and I think that’s made it a little bit better for people to get through that. But it’s just so fragile, that campaign. We would be a little bit nervous about changing anything major at this point.

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It’s pretty crazy to think a video game has this fascinating balance debate 25 years later, right? What other game has that after that length of time? The airstrike thing is a 25-year-old question!

Jim Vessella: It is. We’ve been tackling another one over the past week in our subreddit with the community, which is in multiplayer, one of the top tactics right now is to do the classic engineer, APC rush, and it’s become so abused… again, that’s just part of the feel of the original game, but it’s become so abused, we decided it would be worth taking some action on it. So we’ve put a poll out to the community about how they’d like to see us adjust this. We’ve been talking to a bunch of our community council members, a bunch of the community in Discord, and we came up with these three or four different proposals. And we put that out to the subreddit and had the community vote on it on how to tackle this.

For multiplayer, what we’ve decided to do, what the majority of the community voted to do, was to move the prerequisite for building the APC onto the repair facility, so it pushes it back in the game by a couple minutes. That’s something where it’s a balance issue we weren’t really planning on tackling but has become so prevalent that we wanted to fix that up. But it’s still debated. It wasn’t unanimous. There was still a chunk of the community that wanted it to stay the way it was, because that’s just what C&C has been the past 25 years.

So we’re trying to take all these changes very seriously and make sure we’re getting the community’s feedback on it before we do it. But hopefully it’ll be for the better. That change will be for skirmish and multiplayer only, so that we don’t uproot the campaign and cause any any major issues there.

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Is it difficult to want to rebalance Command & Conquer knowing there will be some people who think changing it at all will ruin their childhoods?

Jim Vessella: Yeah, absolutely. There’s a community project called C&C net – it’s been around for over a decade – they have been a lot of the stewards of the legacy feel of the game. They try and keep it as authentic as possible, and that was an inspiration for us as well. And so, we’ve included several of their developers onto our community council. So we’ve been bouncing ideas about the game with them for the past 18 months as we were developing the game, and then going through launch and even now, for adjusting some of these issues post launch.

There are definitely people out there who want it to remain exactly the same as it was. I would even say that us as the developers, we kind of lean in that way a little bit. That was one of our creative visions: to keep it as authentic as possible to maintain that feel. Each one of these is an individual case. We bring it before the community and sometimes they surprise us and everyone’s unanimously, ‘please change this because it’s just gonna make the game better.’ A good example of that, which is also in this balance discussion we’re doing, is to remove naval structures from the new victory condition, because people are putting a Naval Yard way off the coast, and that’s stalemating games because people can’t destroy it, and people are griefing it and it’s making a bad online experience. That’s one where even the purists are like, ‘yes, please change this because it’s just causing grief in multiplayer.’

Another one we’re changing in this balance patch is we’re normalising the landing time for the Nod cargo plane from the airstrip. That’s another one that’s been hotly debated for 25 years. Even the C&C net community has tried to solve this by speeding up the plane so it goes at lightspeed across the map and drops off the thing. There’s such a difference between where you spawn on the map to when you get your unit – between like, one second and 19 seconds – so it’s a huge impact. And obviously you would never design an RTS game these days with that sort of variance. So that’s something we had pretty unanimous support for from the community, and is something we’ve improved in the patch.

It’s not just balance in terms of what’s more powerful, or what’s better. In June last month, I wrote an article about a weird UFO-looking tile in the original Command & Conquer. I didn’t remember this from back in the day when I played the game, but I’m sure you’ll know all about it. For the remaster it’s been… is the word fixed? I’m not sure what the right word is to describe what’s happened to it! But it’s clearly not a UFO in the remaster. I’d love to get some insight into the internal discussion around that.

Jim Vessella: That was another one where there’s a lot of backstory and history to it, a lot of which I wasn’t even aware of when we kicked it off, but I learned about it myself as we went through the process. I kind of agree! It looked like a UFO to me when I was growing up. And when you look at the legacy game now it does, too. But there were apparently some statements from Westwood back in the day that, oh, it’s actually more of a crashed cockpit and the community has interpreted it differently.

We had all the tiles assigned out to Lemon Sky, our art developer. They took a pass at it, and they came back with this crashed Orca-looking helicopter cockpit. We thought it looked good and we felt it would match up with what some of the Westwood developers had stated back in the day. So we decided to go forward with that.

But at same time, I’ve really appreciated watching the community mod scene, and some of the community content that’s coming out. We’re actually starting to incorporate some of the community content into the official game – some of the maps. I remember one of the first mods that went up was a replacement of that tile to look more like an HD version of the UFO tile. I think that’s great! I think that is absolutely what this ecosystem should be about. It is for the community to have a voice, to create their own content and to define it that way. I think that’s just awesome.

I think it will still continue to be a hotly-debated subject about whether the original Westwood vision apparently of it being a cockpit, versus a hint of maybe something else to come. It’s just fun! It’s fun to have those things where the community can really get in there and put their own stamp on it.

When I was reporting that piece I was looking at what people thought about it back in the day, and there were some hilarious things people thought it was. Someone said they thought it was a toilet for years.

Jim Vessella: Haha! That’s the interesting thing about these old games. The pixellation was so smudgy, you could interpret a lot of these things as anything. When we were doing the war factory in Red Alert, there are these little blue barrel things or something. We were like, what are those? We don’t even know what those are. We interpreted them as drums with water in them and it was like, okay, sure. You have to take your best guess and try to find what some of these things are. But everyone’s got their own vision, and that’s what we love about the mods. People are welcome to do their own interpretation of it.

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/08/why-the-command-conquer-remastered-developers-left-in-a-25-year-old-exploit-%e2%80%a2-eurogamer-net/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=why-the-command-conquer-remastered-developers-left-in-a-25-year-old-exploit-%25e2%2580%25a2-eurogamer-net

[jewelwriter]

My Two Coins:  Value Insulted

Disclaimer: "My Two Coins" are to be read as such, someone's two coins about the topic at hand. IF at any point you disagree with it or agree, remember they are just my coins about said topic and the value you have of it will differ from my own because of religion, upbringing, beliefs, and logic based on your own experiences. Do not assume my coins are the international equivalent for it may be considered of a lesser value in the bank of public exchange. Thank you.

Are you people sane anymore?  I really want to know since this is where I know this is getting close to ea and is in the realm of Bethesta.  Whom am I getting at?  Game Freak and Pokemon Company.  I think an introduction is in order. Welcome ladies and gentlemen of all ages. You've found a wild Jewelwriter.

And recently, we gotten news of BOTH Pokemon's Expansions (Frozen Tundra and the Isle of Armor.) and details of Pokemon home.  Allow me to explain this stuff to people who have been out of the loop or have held on for some good news. First going with the newest one. Pokemon Home has this kind of line up (Down below)

Home {=} Sword and Shield

Meaning you can transfer Pokemon too and fro from Pokemon Home to Shill and Slop (YES I said it, NO I won't take it back, you know I got opinions, or did you forget the warning label up front?) No problems there.

Home {=- Let's GO Eevee/Let's GO Pikachu

Meaning Pokemon you get in this game are likely going to never come back if they ever step a toe inside Galar.  Though as long as they don't they can jump back and forth between this and Let's Go.  Kind of a painful roll but then again I didn't by Let's Troll.

Home {= Bank (Generations 6 and 7.)

You'll need the Premium (Paid Plan) and in return...you'll be paying the tickets for any Pokemon you sent into Bank to NEVER return to Pokemon of the past generations, likely giving nerfs to them, and having their intelligence and power subtracted...if they can get into the games at all.  (There's more but I'll hold... until the ^ shows up.)

Home {= GO

There's not a word on this yet officially but Go might suffer the same as the Let's Go games at best.

=

Now we get into the features of Home.

The Wonder Box (iOS) is wonder trading without any big set up and can only be done... ON the application iOS variant.  (that's right, there's a switch one but I'll signal which is which as we go on.)  It'll allow you to trade for random Pokemon at the expense of having your Pokemon sent to whomever it can be at the other end of the world.  In the free variant you can trade as many Pokemon as there are heads on a Dodrio.  If you paid up for the bigger services, you'll be able to do add two more Dodrio and a Pidgeot to make that many heads as there are Pokemon you are allowed to trade.

Global Trade System (iOS) allows you to trade Pokemon for Pokemon with the exact things you need.  This normally means you were seeing legendary and mythic Pokemon being asked for ...at the prices ranging from other legendary creatures that are impossibles like a male Chansey or something at level 100 which is kind of specific but then again I can only imagine how chaotic this'll be.  By the buy... if you got the free variant, you can only get as many as a diglett face showing.  With the paid service, it's like that diglett evolved into dugtrio.

Room Trade (iOS) is a special room that'll allow you to trade with up to 20 people in a special “Wonder Room” where you won't know what you get until you start trading. If you are a free player you can only get into the rooms but paying up allows you to host such trolling houses.

Friend Trade (iOS) … seeing a pattern yet?  Anyhow this is where you can direct trade AND see what you are getting into.  Only difference is you can't use this under the age of 16.  (a thing understandable...to a point.)

National PokeDex (iOS & Switch) … FINALLY something found that belongs to both.  Anyhow, You can access the national dex in both and can filter things to find what is desired.  BUT... and here's the big one.  If you run the iOS variant, you'll get details like list by abilities, Moves, and maybe more.

Mystery Gifts (iOS) are special gifts for either Stuffing and Slime or for online which can be stuffed into a box.  Be sure you have the Best OS since some details won't happen.

Judge (iOS & Switch) ever wondered what your Pokemon's IV count is well this is where you can do it. Though if anything you can do it in the game too if I recall. JUST... you'll be able to do this if you paid for it.  YEP, it's a premium service if you want to do it in Home.

Room (iOS) This is where you can decorate a spot and fill it up with stickers...especially after doing certain tasks which might reward someone with more than that.

News (iOS)  You'll be updated on the battles that distributions, gifts and more in this variant.

Battle Data (iOS) This can let you see how the competition is doing.  Using certain Pokemon, seeing which are at the top, and more.  Though this won't be on release day...likely next month.

Home Points (iOS) by inserting and extracting Pokemon you can gain Home points to trans fer into BP (Battle Points.)  Screenshots provided... the exchange rate is (and I can be wrong.) is 30 points PER Battle Point.

=

Now that the features are out, how about storage and the differences of price?

With Pokemon Home's “FREE” system you can only...

Store a box of Pokemon (thirty), send three Pokemon through wonder trade, get one Pokemon worked on in the Global Trade System, Partake only in other's Rooms of trading, and can't judge a Pokemon online.

^Meanwhile on the “Premium” version of the system...

You can have two hundred times as many storage boxes (six thousand); which is double Bank's (btw, you'll need this to take Pokemon out of bank.), Wonder trade ten Pokemon, go for three Pokmon in the GTS at once, host and enter the rooms of trading, and judge a Pokemon.  Also this is where you can take Pokemon from Bank to home.

AND after hearing all this you are wondering the price.  Well let me set it up for you. (NOTE: this is all in United States currency.  Your prices may differ so please use the exchange rate to find this value in your homeland.  Also I added 1 penny since it makes it easier to figure out.)

There's three flavors to pick from.

The Monthly munch, a tiny but pricey three dollars.  If you are wondering why this is the pricey one. Paying this twelve months straight will lead to you losing thirty-six dollars a year.

Next is the Seasonal slurp, it's a bit higher but at the same price as the bank you get three months of this powerful 'service'.  And adding it all up to a year that's about the price of one year of Nintendo Switch Online Pass.  (though trust me that has a lot more value than what is given credit for by many, even if it can be better compared to what is next is a god sent.)

And finally the Yearly YUM!  For one year you get all this for the price of sixteen dollars a year. NOW keep in mind what I said before but also are paying for.  At worst... it's forty-one per year and at best it is twenty-one dollars yearly.  Why the price hike?  You'll need bank in order to use it fully if you aren't trying to use the DLCs (which are coming up.) for this service.  Which might work if you had to keep in mind that if you leave someone behind, you might lose them if you don't fork over the coin.

Now I can hear people saying this: “It's a service, they have to make money in some method.”

Thing is, it was free in the past and they are also the LARGEST franchise in existence.  And yet the small team split their focus and… fudged everything after their failure for fudging up every bit of this game.  Graphical fails, animation fails, interaction drops to barely petting them.  For what?  Empty Story that refused to allow you to go see what's going on and just allow you to see the next gym; a wild “area” that is as barren as get out with barely any real life with bad graphics, barely a lot of Pokemon or people for that matter, and wonky weather systems that can be as random as dice, and you're Safari Zoned since you can't catch a Pokemon over your skill level; EXP love for everyone... NO matter what; and the most BROKEN GAME MECHANIC that ever existed.  And yet...that's not all.  It's time to see about the Island of Armor and the Frozen Tundra!

=

The Island of Armor is able to allow the following.

You get a new location that is likely more of a wild area as far as seen in the tropics to the west side of the region, you'll gain a new Pokemon Kubfu and it can evolve into Urshifu which can become Water/Fighting (Rapid Striker) or Dark/Fighter (One Striker) the Power to evolve the starters to be the drum machine with party hair, Goku riding a Flaming Jynn that is enough to gulp a mansion, and double zero seven now becoming the role of TF2's Snipper, new LOOT to allow one to do more than ever before, Move tutors... which is a bit of a requirement FOR competition play, and restricted battle play which probably is a problem since we don't know how it is restricted in 'sparring'.

As far as story content, you'll end up encountering Leon's teacher (when did this get hinted at?), Mustard who has an apprentice too who is aiming to craft a gym of their own. Though it'll be based on which version you roll with. (Klara for the blade wielders, Avery for the shield barriers.)  This is so far all we got with this.

Now for the Frozen Tundra's gifts to the world.

You get a new location that is far FAR south in the world that is also in a wild area (Is that the south pole of Pokemon?  Seriously?  I really wanna know.) so you'll be tasked with exploring this chilly place, a Mythical/Legendary by the name of Calyrex which looks like a fusion dance of Sawsbuck or Stantler and Celebi and it kind of went south, and... just a Co-op Mode to explore a certain space which probably isn't safe since mythicals are said to be in those spaces.

Now for the NEW stuff both got.

New regional forms (*looking to her personal project.*  Gahhhh!!!!  I got more to do?!?), Pokemon of the past rejoining the battle (*Hearing #BringBackNationalDex cheers*)...but not all of them sadly (*Hearing #BringBackNationalDex boo hard*) for now, New Pokedexes, New attire to wear for all you fashion fowls to wear, and new Dynamax/Gigantamax battles to be ready for in the Max Raid Rumbles.

More information will be sent out but keep this in mind that so far they have proven that they CLEARLY removed this since it was MONTHS since the release and already releasing new stuff just to revive their LOST content that was in the base.

“BUT Smash has this kind of stuff too and you didn't complain.  In fact, you're likely buying that stupid game's second pass while hating on this game that is giving you more!”

Very cute but wrong.  Let me explain why I was saying that.

Super Smash Brothers has made clear what they are doing, and even announced that they are adding more but will take time to do it since it might not be out in time for launch and they took care to balance it to work with the fighters ALREADY in the game which have old and new faces and returning heroes.  They shown they CARE for their community and even at times troll them. (...I got hate hammers for two in direct range: Incenaroar, and K.Rool.)  And they have made the passes more fair than buying them one by one.  So far each character is six dollars if you go solo and together they were twenty-five dollars together which cuts a dollar off of each.  With the second one it can be the same and it'll be worth it since the full game already has a lot of heroes, villains, and copies to pick from.  Clearly Super Smash Brothers Ultimate will be one of the largest fighting/party game line ups in video game history! 

Pokemon Sucker and Pokemon Snot meanwhile... was able to lie about what was going into the game, they have shown quality drops year after year in an attempt to get more money with not only making their games almost so far that competitive players are paying out the @$$ but heaven help the completionist that wants to get it all for the price of each of these games that have added up.  The total of all the Generation eight content has so far hit four-hundred and twenty-one dollars and this is using the price of having it all for at least the entire year.

“HEY!  Don't forget the Nintendo Switch Online stuff since you are having to use that in order to get the Pokemon for free if you aren't going to by the-.”

STOP right there!  STOP right there you piece of ignorance.  Nintendo's online service has problems but in NO instance is that a part of Pokemon since they did offer you the power to trade and play against others on it's own, and UNTIL that price is shown the this price can be higher and trying to say that the Nintendo Online Service is it then sorry but that has more things to do than just Pokemon and thus THIS will not be added.  Period and Exclamation POINT!

And before I forget, THANK YOU REAR ENDS FOR MAKING THE ONLINE SYSTEM A PAID SERVICE SINCE I KNOW YOU'VE CRIED FOR IT TO HAPPEN!  HOPE YOU LOVE IT...

Now back on topic, and getting near the end folks...how it is @$$ that a system that has so called more power, more pixels, and more controls than the 3DS is able to give less Pokemon, less interaction, less story, and less post game than what was given on generation six which was the most insulted of all next to generation five.  I can't help but feel this is the true greed of Game Freak, of Pokemon...and it's disgusting to the very bleeping bone.  I will never buy that trash, I'll never put it into my switch, and if anyone even thinks of getting me that game it will go right into the nearest GameStop and I'll be getting coin off of your stupidity because I rather not own something that I would not even feed a Trubbish with.

I rather be playing a mobile game than ever touch that Cr@P willingly.  And I have no love, respect, or heart to give for someone defending all of those practices, all of the things removed to be put into pieces of other things... and think they should be called a gamer.  So help me I rather break your game karts of that sh!t so it never enters the hands of someone naive again.  Maybe I should use them, erase their contents and put a BETTER game in it's place, especially if they aren't going to fix the version they flipped up.

{|=|=|=|}

BUT... since this is the internet, I know someone's got something to say about this that I'll be likely arguing over but then again this is where I know I'll get it.  So as a believer of what I feel, COME AT ME!!! in commentary down below As for me... this wild one runs away to get a shower in to cool off.  F@<K you Game FrEAk!

[smokeybrand]

Smokey brand Game Review: Disappointed

It’s almost been a year since Andromeda has been released and i’ve finally beaten it. I would have don so sooner but i kind of sold my copy because it sucked. Out of box, straight vanilla, this game was near unplayable and it stayed that way for a long time. It took, what? three or four patches for this thing to be “fixed” and they didn’t even fix the actual lingering issues. This thing is still glitchy as f*ck but i muddled through. With a much better understanding of Andromeda’s strengths and it’s many, many weaknesses, here’s what i think of it.

The Good

I rather enjoyed the companions, especially Cora. Out of all of the available romance options, i found her to be the most endearing. Peebee is a close second but watching Cora interact with Ryder just upset be me. It’s so organic, so compassionate; It is the pinnacle of what this game could have been and it both endearing and mad frustrating.

This game is goddamn gorgeous. Graphically, i cannot gush enough about how great this thing looks. Environments and ambient details pop with all of the power the PS4 can muster. Character models are detailed and look fantastic.

There’s a ton of potential here. 600 years marooned in an alien galaxy sets up stakes that could be very real, very visceral and compelling. Thing is though, they squandered all of that. There’s real follow through. You’re just kind of there and it sucks. But the potential tales that could have been told? Mad profound, yo. Missed opportunity, for sure.

The Bad

Ryder is sh*t. Male Ryder is passable but Female Ryder? Oh my god! Chick looks like a monster, even after the patches. They did not help at all! More than that, though, Ryder is a stale analogue for the player. Whereas Shepard was this galactic badass who kept a cool head in the most hectic of times, they till felt conflicted and, at time, defeated. They felt human. They felt real. Ryder feels like a character of hat an SJW thinks a superman would be. They’re messy, unsubstantiated, and kind of drab by comparison. That sucks because Ryder is your POV character. They're YOUR analogue in-game. That means YOU are kind of a fart!

You spend entirely too much time in that goddamn Mako knock off! i f*cking hate the fact that i have to drive all over a goddamn map, searching for little hideaways and whatnot, instead of progressing relationships or developing my cast of characters. You’re in this goddamn car 90 percent of the time! How is that fun?? Who thought that nonsense was a good idea??

As dope as those character models look, even after the patches, they still feel like dolls. They still feel wooden and fake. With the exception of certain romance scenes, the facial animations are still sh*t. A year out and they’re still sh*t. I read somewhere in order to fix that, Bioware would have to take the entire game back to formula and rebuild all of it. That’s f*cking ridiculous. There’s no way you release a game like this, one that heavily depends of the characters endearing themselves to the player, look like emotionless, uncanny valley, denizens! Time and commitment could have fixed all of this. Andromeda 2 could have been dope. A lot of the complaints i have for this, i had for the first Mass Effect ad look what they were able to do with the sequel. Oh, what could have been...

Speaking of, there’s this undertone of SJW garbage that kind of paints all of the women as goobers. It’s crazy to me. Like, Male Ryder is gorgeous. Straight model caliber, which makes sense because they hired actual models to be the Ryder characters. Female Ryder, though, looks like Lena Dunham. The real life woman, the actual actress they hired for her likeness, is a goddamn beauty who looks nothing like a potato! Why is it okay for the dude to look like an Adonis but the chick can’t look like an Aphrodite? And it’s not just Female Ryder. All of the female characters have been nerfed. All of them look like butts. Coming off the initial trilogy where you had stunning characters like Jack, Jessica Chobot, Miranda, and Tali, how can you justify making al of the women in your net gen entry pugly?

peaking of facial models, again, there’s, like, 6. Literally all of the Krogan looked the same. All of the Angar look the same. All of the Turians and Salarians.  get that. Homogenized space genus. got it. But why do all of the Asari look the same? All of them except Peebee. What the f*ck? Sure, generic background characters i get, but the ones you interact with? they should have some semblance of individuality. When my ship doctor, a character i interact with regularly, has the same goddamn face as a background filler model, we have a f*cking problem.. Especially when that ship doctor is voiced and supposed to be modeled by Natalie Dormer!

This game is monotonous. There are next to no missions that i find fun. This thing feels like an FPS but it’s not. I mean, the first Mass Effect titles were definitely the same in that regard but there was enough variations for them to feel like their own game. They had their own flavor. Andromeda plays like f*cking Halo and that’s bogus as f*ck! If i wanted to play Halo, i would buy Halo.

Yo, 90% of this game is f*cking fetch quests. Every mission is a goddamn fetch quest! All of them. Even the goddamn loyalty missions! And there’s not even a goddamn payoff half the time! Just lapdog nonsense and a fade to black! Sh*t’s whack, son!

Speaking to that, the overall narrative is trash. If i had never played the masterpiece original trilogy, this game would be passable. But since i had and i experienced that story, this nonsense feels mad flaccid. Mass Effect had stakes. There was massive, cybernetic, Lovecraftian, horrors bearing down on the entire galaxy. In Andromeda, you’ve basically invaded someone’s home only to find someone else has ransacked it, and you spend the rest of the game basically trying to find a way to kick out the freeloader that beat out to the freeload. It’s kid of whack.

To almost belabor the point, the Kett are f*cking terrible as antagonists. They’re just awful. You can’t go from Reapers to Kett and feel like they’re a threat. Hell, you can’t go from the goddamn Collectors to the the Kett and feel like they’re a threat! As far as i can tell, the Archon is a petulant child who’s been throwing a galaxy wide tantrum because he can’t get his stolen toys to work. How is that compelling? How are those stakes??

I found myself not caring about anything going on with these characters. During the original trilogy, i was invested. I wanted to see the Normandy and her crew through whatever came their way. The Tempest assholes, i can care less about. That speaks to how poorly this characters were developed, how flaccid they are as companions. I like Cora. Cora is dope. Still, she has nothing on Tali. She has nothing on Liara. Cora, and her development over the course of Andromeda, would be tantamount an NPC on the Normandy; Someone on the Citadel after the Cerberus attack that you need to do something for, rather than an actual squadmate, in terms of quality. Cora, to me, is the best thing about Andromeda and she pales in comparison to everything about the first trilogy.

The Ugly

Electronic Arts. EA ruined this game with their greedy bullsh*t. Andromeda should have had another year  and a half of production but EA wanted their money so they pushed it out in a relatively broken state. It took half a year for it to get the necessary patches to make it palatable but Andromeda, to this day, is still a mess. EA f*cked his game over before it even had a chance and then shuttered the studio after it unsurprisingly failed. Electronic Arts is the corporate succubus stealing away the life of the game industry one brilliant studio at a time.

The Verdict

Andromeda is a tech demo. It’s basically Bioware trying to figure out the physics of the Frostbite engine so they can apply that knowledge to f*cking Anthem. Anthem ruined this game. It’s ill because Mass Effect as an entire franchise was a legitimate cash cow. If EA would have just committed to this game instead of trying to cash in on that bullsh*t Destiny hype, Andromeda could have been all of that and more. Instead, EA crippled it with a lack of resources, Bioware allowed a bunch of asshat SJW pressure ruin their production aspirations, and no one play tested this thing before it launched. Everything about Andromeda is a step backward from where we were at the end of Mass Effect III. There’s a lot of potential here but ultimately, Andromeda is a goddamn disappointment and that disappointment killed the entire franchise.

I’ll probably play Andromeda a few more times, mostly because i don’t have a proper Mass Effect remaster yet, and i don’t feel like hooking up my PS3 to play the original trilogy. But, the more i played this game, the more I missed Shepard.