#bonus stuff. it’s a reward for playing the first game

[rallamajoop]

The RE4 Remake and Luis Serra Navarro

I have a gazillion thoughts about the new RE4 remake, and a dozen different aspects I kind of want to talk about. But you’ve got to start somewhere, so let’s talk Luis.

I doubt it’d be controversial to call Luis “easily the most interesting new character introduced in this game.” We’ve got complex and questionable motivations, a bunch of plot-relevant backstory, and a bonus-serve of extra random details about his childhood – much of which is very easy to miss, and rewards you for paying attention. By the end of this game, I’m pretty sure I know more about Luis than I do about Leon, and I still have questions. He’s not just one of my favourite parts of this new game, he’s a perfectly little microcosm of all the ways the remake has reworked awkward aspects of the original – mostly for the better, but not without creating new problems in the process.

But to get into all that, let’s start back with the original Luis from 2004.

So, for context, I haven’t actually played the original RE4. Since getting into the franchise, I’ve been consuming past canon instalments mostly by the lazy strategy of watching cutscene compilations on youtube. I am fully aware of the important place RE4 has in gaming history, the way it defined 3rd-person-shooter over-the-shoulder-gaming (or, to use my preferred term, lookit-the-booty-shooty). I have watched Jacob Geller wax rhapsodic about multiple different versions of this game.

But for all that people remember about the original RE4, the plot rarely seems to be more than a footnote. And for my own money, all I can tell you is that either this is just not a gaming experience well-served being experienced through the youtube-only medium (hardly the stuff of serious critique), or me and the original RE4 just aren’t clicking somewhere. I’m all for campy horror (see everything I’ve ever written about the Hammer films just to begin with), but RE4’s sense of humour largely leaves me cold. And Luis is – again – a pretty good demonstration of the kind of record-scratch moments that made it so hard to get into.

You can find a compilation of all Luis' cutscenes here, for reference. Like the remake, Leon first finds Luis tied up and gagged in a village house – apparently the only un-infected person in the vicinity. His first act on being un-gagged is to ask for a cigarette – a decent little character-moment. Luis claims to be a former cop from Madrid, who quit because he felt his work went unappreciated. Given Luis’ general demeanour, it wouldn’t be surprising to learn he was actually let go for taking bribes or something, but that’s more of a vibe. When Leon admits he was a cop back in Raccoon City, Luis claims he ‘might have seen a sample of the virus in a lab at the department’, and… hang on, Madrid PD has T-Virus samples lying around? The hell? Where’s this going?

But we don’t find out, because the conversation is interrupted, and Luis makes a break for it.

As in the remake, Luis’ next scene is to show up for the cabin siege scene, where he backs up Leon with a handgun. Cool, that tracks with the whole ‘former cop’ backstory.

Luis gets two further appearances, though the first mostly consists of him running up to say “I’ve got something for you guys! What… oh, shit, I must have dropped it,” and going away again, and it’s exactly as awkward as it sounds. But he does at least establish that the ‘something’ is a plagas-suppressant, as he knows Leon and Ashley are infected, and wants to help.

His final scene has him return with the suppressant, only to be stabbed in the back and killed by Saddler. As he lies dying, he admits he was really a researcher working for the Los Illuminados all along, only lately turned traitor – and we’ve officially hit our record-scratch moment.

So what was all that stuff about being a cop? Luis has good reason to lie about being a researcher, but ‘unemployed former cop’ is a heckuva cover story for a scientist, and what was that about Madrid PD having T-Virus samples? Luis-the-researcher might well have seen the virus somewhere, but why bring it up at all?

More than anything, these feel like leftover artifacts of a character who’s been substantially reworked somewhere in development, just without actually rewriting the start of the script to match. Luis’ story, like so much of this game, feels badly in need of a second draft.

Luis goes on to get something of an afterlife in collectable documents, and another scene in Ada’s DLC campaign. He’s still trying to get a plaga sample to her in this version, and he’s still responsible for the lab that cures Leon and Ashley of their infections. Ada's commentary on his character is interesting, and documents suggest he had a grandfather who used to hunt in the region, but he doesn’t get much more backstory.

Regardless, nearly 20 years later, Luis has finally got his second draft, and there’s a lot here that’s improved. (Have a new cutscene compilation link for reference.)

To begin with, any talk about being a cop is gone (an easy win). We find out he’s a researcher much earlier too – Leon is a lot less trusting of Luis this time, and calls in for a background check. He’s informed Luis used to work for Umbrella, and reacts as you’d expect. The cabin siege scene still goes off in similar fashion (though this time, Luis doesn’t feel it necessary to comment on Ashley’s tits the moment he meets her – another definite improvement).

This time though, Ashley starts coughing up blood immediately after they escape, and Luis’ offer to help remove the parasites happens right after the cabin siege, rather than being left for some awkward whoops-I-dropped-it moment later. The new scene actually finishes with the very same exchange (“Why are you helping us?”/ “It just makes me feel better”) – but this version, similarly, feels so much better. A+ revision work so far.

The remake also spells out Luis’ deal with Ada sooner too – her first proper scene in this version is her first contact with Luis. Again, Luis’ story ends in the castle with a stab in the back, and the stolen sample he was carrying being reclaimed by one of the villains (Krauser, this time, since Saddler apparently likes to delegate more in this version). But in between, things get a little odd.

Having already offered to help them, Luis contacts Leon by radio a couple of times during the castle chapters – firstly to say he’s waiting for Leon and Ashley in the courtyard. But Luis isn’t in the courtyard. His next message claims that he ran into trouble, and he’s had to retreat to the ballroom. But he’s not in the ballroom either. No further calls happen, nor does Leon react to his absence in either location.

Leon finally runs into him, apparently by chance, after being thrown down a hole and wandering for some time through tunnels deep under the castle. How did Luis end up down there too? No idea.

I’m glad he does though, because the following chapter you spend with Luis as your cabin-siege-style partner is a very good time. Though Leon is still distrustful and Luis still evasive, they exchange some great banter and generally make a good team. We encounter Luis’ love for Don Quixote, he admits he was working for Los Illuminados… and then Krauser stabs him, and Leon lights one last cigarette for him before he dies. It’s touching and very well done (not to mention dense with slashy subtext, if you want to take it that way).

Exploring Luis’ lab during the game’s final chapter adds some nice details too – equipment pilfered from Umbrella, an old photo with his colleagues, and naturally, text documents everywhere. But it’s his email logs with “A.W.” (Ada, obviously) that will most reward anyone paying attention – particularly the line you still remember the code phrase?

In this version, ‘got a smoke?’ is still almost the first thing Luis says to Leon. But you might notice it’s also the first thing he says to Ada. And this time, we’ve got a whole new explanation as to why.

Admittedly, the execution is still a bit lacking. Luis calls Ada by her first name just a few lines after using his ‘code phrase’, and seems to know her well enough not to need a code phrase, so what's going on here? If Luis knew Ada herself was going to meet him, why try his code phrase out on Leon? Alternately, if he suspected Ada might have sent someone like Leon instead of coming in person, how did he know it was her when they met? Maybe we could still have used another draft. But it’s a otherwise a fun little easter egg to recontextualise something from the original in a creative way.

Much more has been added to Luis’ backstory hidden in documents from the village. You can find photos of 'a boy with his grandfather', an old diary left behind by said grandfather – and if you’re paying really close attention, a label on another copy of that photo naming the pair ‘Navarro’ – Luis’ last name. You might also notice that the boy in the story has Luis’ fixation on Don Quixote (another character trait added by the remake).

But young Luis’ story ends in tragedy, the conclusion picked up elsewhere in the village elder’s records: the grandfather is bitten by a wolf, begins experiencing what seem to be known symptoms, and tells the village elder "you know what to do." The old man is killed, and his cabin and everything in it burned to the ground so the infection can’t spread.

Now, the idea the village has been quietly dealing with plaga-infected wolves for generations despite the fact that the plaga were supposedly sealed under the castle until recently has problems of its own, but that’s a bit beyond scope. The more relevant problem is the idea that Luis comes from the same village where all the action takes place – why? What does this add to the story? With Luis’ new Umbrella-Europe-backstory, making the village his birthplace seems like little more than meaningless coincidence, thrown in without anyone thinking it through.

But there is one intriguing possibility buried in the subtext of Luis’ story, and it’s an angle I’d love to see explored.

The village records end with the scene of a young Luis watching in silence as his childhood home burns to the ground, his only family still inside, then walking away, never to be seen again. Now, suppose that’s the very moment that inspired him to go into medical research, driven to understand infectious agents like the one that took his grandfather’s life, that the people he grew up with only knew to treat with medieval superstition. Suppose that’s what made him seek out shady employers like Umbrella, the only outfits with the interest and funding to delve into that area. The drive to find cures, to find proof that what happened to his grandfather didn’t have to be treated like a ritual witch-burning could’ve fuelled a lot of denial in Luis about where the funding was coming from. And after Umbrella’s collapse, you can only imagine how he might jump at the chance to work on the same parasites that had infected that wolf from so long ago.

If that was the intent, though (and damn do I want it to be), I honestly think it’s a little too buried in layers of subtext to carry. I can only hope maybe we’ll be seeing more of Luis in DLC to come – in Ada’s Separate Ways, if not his own – that might expand on those parts of his history a little more explicitly. Or at least cover what he was actually up to all that time he keeps messaging Leon from different parts of the castle (did he genuinely run into trouble? Was Ada pushing him to keep Leon moving for her own purposes? How did he wind up down in the mines?)

The notion of Luis as a village native still has its problems though. The house you find him in seems to be the same one he grew up in – it’s a cabin by the lake, his grandfather’s diary and photo is there, etc. Only those old village records spell out very clearly that that cabin burned to the ground as part of a major character moment. Which is it, game? You can’t have it both ways.

Even if we ignore that awkward ‘burned to the ground’ detail, are we to take it the ganados caught Luis in his old house and left him tied him up in his own cellar? Wouldn’t they move a prisoner like him? Speaking of which, was that one guy banging on the floor supposed to be hammering the hatch shut? Why? Was Luis being left down there to die? Don’t they still need to question him about that sample he stole? This stuff does not stand up to scrutiny.

And the idea of Luis as a native still doesn’t completely work for me, because shouldn’t there have been some clue in the way he talks about the place? Chief Mendez is a man Luis knew from his childhood – when Luis sees him coming in a cutscene, his reaction betrays no more familiarity than ‘not this guy’. In that cabin siege scene, surely there must be faces in that crowd he’s firing on that he recognises. And fuck, how do you come back to the place you grew up, find its residents reduced to zombie slaves, and think, “sure, I could work for these people…”?

I do realise expecting this level of humanity out of characters in a Resident Evil game might be a little much, but this stuff throws me. It builds the impression the Luis who grew up in the village is a character that exists only in text files, largely independent from the cutscene-Luis of the rest of the game. When you expect your audience to notice minor details like a surname on a photo in order to put together a main character’s backstory, you’re demanding they pay close attention. And once you’ve demanded that much investment, it’s worth keeping track of whether the cabin by the lake was supposed to be burned down or not, why Luis should be able to call Ada by name but treat Mendez like a stranger, and other such confusing detail. And Luis’ story is still positively logical and consistent compared to that of Chief Mendez himself, or anything much else in the game’s lore.

Luis is genuinely one of my favourite parts of the remake – he’s complicated, interesting, and fun. But trying to make sense of him could be a more rewarding experience. Many things are improved from the original, but for my money, they could still have stood to go for a third draft.

#Luis Serra Navarro #Resident Evil 4 #Resident Evil 4 Remake #Resident Evil #meta #character analysis

[texasthoughtsaboutnothing]

Walpurgisnacht and how it ties it all together

So what is Walpurgisnacht?

Walpurgisnacht is a once a season fanservice event. It's a story thing with light character development. It's a banner with functionally an entire new rarity of ID. It's a game mode meant to demonstrate the power of those new IDs. It is a massive money maker for the company. And I believe it is kinda sorta the thing endgame players will align their behavior around.

That's a big claim at the end there, but I'll try to explain.

The key thing to focus on is the banner and the units that come with it. Walpurgis IDs are unique in that they are only available to purchase during a Walpurgisnacht, with the banner IDs being completely unpurchasable the first time they show up. Yes, you need to win the latest hype units from the Gacha or wait 4 months to buy them. These IDs are powerful, and, as this is a fanservice event tend to be referencing some of the coolest shit in PM's universe.

Needless to say demand is high while "supply" is dictated by a 1.5% drop chance or a 200 pull pity. This is pretty normal for a gacha, but a radical departure for Limbus, and it has some serious consequences on how we think about resources.

So in my last post I went over how Limbus' gacha after a certain point isn't worth it, and it ends up being mathematically better to convert premium currency to stamina to just grind out the units you want. There are several extremally important caveats to that statement, and the biggest one is Walpurgisnacht. I want to address that point here.

You want pulls for this, because you can't buy the unit until months after its arrived and you'll probably want it now. This changes how you might think about refreshing stamina, because you want to stockpile currency for a big pull session every 4 months. Counterintuitively, you want a lot of shards if you're new to buy the old Walpurgisnacht stuff, as unless the game powercreeps to hell and back a lot of these will be good forever (Regret Meursault EGO fundamentally changes how we think about his IDs and gameplay in perpetuity).

If we math it out (and use vague estimates so this doesn't become a wall of numbers), you can get 100 pulls from purely weekly Lunacy gains between Walpurgisnachts, but that number decreases for every refresh you do. if you refresh once every day, you're down to 85 pulls, and further down to 26 pulls if you double refresh. Ouch. However. there are other sources of pulls than just the 750 a week, and they add up substantially.

All of which is to say it's probably better to only do a single refresh to save pulls for Walpurgis, but if you do double refresh you will still have the ability to pull on this and maybe get the Banner ID.

But there's one other aspect to Walpurgis that has been met with some apprehension by the community, but makes me wonder at PMs intentions for the late game experience.

Gacha Announcers.

So Limbus has a system for Combat Announcers, There's no gameplay advantage for this, it's just to have your favorite characters comment on how bad you're playing, a nice little bonus reward that's easy to do if the VA is in the studio.

Walpurgisnacht slightly changed that, in that it added 2 Announcers to the Walpurgis gacha pool, Malkuth and Pierre/Jack. Malkuth is a major character from both Lobotomy Corporation and Library of Ruina and a fan favorite; the response to her being available was... significant. Pierre/Jack are also here. The Announcers are very rare (1.3%), and cannot be purchased, but are Pitiable (Malkuth most of all, heyyo). They take their rarity from the filler pulls, so nothing is actually lost as far as odds goes.

A big sticking point is you can roll dupe Announcers as they aren't removed from the pool like EGO, and many are upset they might not get Malkuth and instead the other guys. Undeniably that sucks, it's probably rare to save up 200 pulls for the pity and it might feel like a waste. But this decision also propelled Limbus on Steam's top 10 seller charts for the day, so PM rang in the new year with a smashing success of sales. It's also unclear if we can purchase the Announcers later, so that also is driving some fomo.

So that might seem bad, but one interesting thing is that dupe announcers give a lot of thread, 50 crates worth. Thread is the primary currency for upgrades and at endgame you want thousands of the stuff.

This creates this image to me of what an endgame player looks like, and I wonder if it's intentional. They have all or most of the game's available IDs and are now just spending Lunacy to stamina refresh to grind more boxes or thread or exp or w/e. That person now gets a second Thread bomb from Walpurgis separate from the seasonal turnover Thread bomb, which is the primary restriction of end game. I'm probably reaching here, but there's a logic to this that makes sense to me.

That's about all for Walpurgisnacht, but there's a couple other things I think are neat.

One, the game becoming one where you hoard gacha currency for a big dump to hit pity every 4 months is hilariously normal for this genre, albeit we actually get all the units.

Second, community engagement spikes with this as we get classic gacha posts like:

"Hey I just got every relevant unit in a single 10 pull, how wacky is that?" "150 pulls and nothing, it's so fucking over" "Can I get this unit in 3 single pulls? If not game sucks and devs are @%$#." "I STOLE MY MOM'S CREDIT CARD WE ARE SO FUCKING BACK"

Classic.

That's all folks, play Limbus Company.

#limbus company #project moon #limbus #gacha games #gacha #walpurgisnacht

[reccyls]

Ikemen Sengoku Birthday Event Guide

Starting from this year (2023 in JP, 2024 for EN), Ikemen Sengoku is implementing a new format for birthday events compared to previous years. This new event type is called a Banquet Event and it has a couple of quirks, hopefully I can explain how the event plays in this post.

Basically, Ikemen Sengoku is going to be taking some elements from Ikepri's party events, but not all of them. First of all, you can't earn the birthday CG for free: you still need to buy that from a 900 coin set as usual, and it comes with all the normal stuff: the story, the CG, some castle avatar items, etc. The main difference is that the story of this event is earned slightly differently from a story event, in that you do battles/lessons to earn points and raise your Banquet Level, which at certain milestones will give you the event story to be saved into your collection. There are other milestones like avatar items and item rewards (closet space, gold, castle gacha tokens, and boyfriend gacha tokens)

How to play is explained below:

Like the Ikepri and Ikevamp birthday events, you do lessons/glam-offs/etc whatever it's called in order to earn points to raise your Banquet Level. What is new to Ikesen is that owning certain themes will increase the points you get from doing battles, just like how having cards of the birthday character will give you bonus points in Ikepri's party events.

Differences from normal story events:

Uses its own stamina system; you can't use normal parfaits or shaved ice to restore stamina. Thus it will run concurrently with other events and not interfere with the stamina needed for those

There is no event friend system here

You do not read the event story and then pass checks. You will instead raise your party level, and at certain thresholds, the event story will be given to you and saved in your collection

The number of points you get per battle can be increased if you own certain themes

Similarities with normal story events:

Lucky time schedule works as normal. There are 2x and 3x lucky times

There are items you can buy that give you event points, as well as items to buy that refill your stamina

You can win or draw event battles like usual. Draws give you half the points of a win.

This is what the game looks like when you enter an event battle:

The deck of cards at the bottom is the list of themes you have that give bonus points. In my case, I only have 1 theme of Masamune that gives bonus points, which is this year's birthday story. As you can see, it gives me +3 points.

The game will automatically select any themes you have that give the highest point bonuses, so you don't have to worry about going through your collection to see if you have something or not.

One thing of note is that there are lucky times (currently there is a 2x lucky time active in the screenshot). As with usual story events, they double the points you get, but they only double the base points. Bonuses from themes are not doubled. To put it in a numerical example:

Winning a battle gives 100 points normally. So if I won a battle, I would get 103 points, since I have a +3 bonus.

During a 2x lucky time, only the 100 points are doubled. Thus I get (100 x2) + 3 = 203 points. I do not get (100 + 3) x2 = 206 points.

Bonus Themes

So, which themes give bonuses exactly? Here is the list for Masamune's birthday event:

(yes I haven't done Masamune's route yet, sssh)

To summarize, you can get the bonus themes from the following:

Buying themes included in special birthday sets

Prize themes from previous years' birthday events (these are ranking rewards for JP, but I believe they were turned into Early Clear rewards for EN?)

This year and last year's birthday story CGs

Pulling them from the special birthday boyfriend gacha

Main route CGs (only the main route counts, the eternal route CG, the extra CG added to the main route, and sequel CGs don't)

So, what are the rewards and the milestones? I don't have a super clear idea of the number of points you need for everything yet, but here is the list of rewards for each party level:

I saw someone on Twitter imply that you need around 25,000 points total to reach the 4th part of the story, but I'll be back to edit this (and reblog with an update) if/when I get close in order to confirm it.

Meanwhile, here are all the avatar items for each level, as well as the early clear bonuses:

Early Clear Bonuses:

Is it F2P?

From my experience and a bit of guessing, I think that it'll be possible to achieve all 4 parts of the story as F2P. However, I'm not sure how much further you can get beyond that. Getting points can be pretty difficult, especially since you can't use normal stamina or glamor items to raise your banquet level.

I'll update here at the end of the event with how far I managed to get, simulating what it'd be like as someone who only played Masamune's route and didn't buy any sets/stories or get any themes from the birthday gacha.

I don't feel like I explained this very well at all so if anyone has any questions or if there's anything about this event that's unclear, please feel free to ask!

#ikemen sengoku #birthday event guide

[lonepower]

@curlyparmesan replied to your post “hi! guess who's alive! this is just the page from...”:

You made that?? It's so good!! I know nothing about Hollow Knight but it looks so pretty.

​BWEH THANK U 😭-

but also oh man okay now i have to yell because this game. it's like. ok. so the game is about this little bug

(absolute creature. unauthorized fucking thing.) known variably as "the knight", the "little ghost", "pale thing", "small friend"- the point is they don't really have a name, or an identity, or any memories, or any personality, or anything. (spoiler alert: they have all of these.)

the game starts with you entering "Hallownest," a deteriorating subterranean kingdom of bugs that has been slowly rotting for an unknown amount of time as a mysterious infection consumes it from within. the king is missing; the queen has barricaded herself into her home out of an unspecified grief; all but a handful of citizens are dead; and nobody wants to sleep, because if you do the infection will come to take over your dreams and drive you mad. and dying doesn't free you from this because it just fills you with goo and puppets your corpse around! fun.

so your job as this little creature is to find out what's causing the dreaming sickness and put a stop to it.

there is a way you are supposed to put a stop to it. this is the easiest, worst, and most horrifying ending.

describing the story any further would delve into spoilers that are absolutely more fun to discover (and going lore-hunting is at least half the fun of the game - make sure to explore everywhere), but like. these little 16 pixels will RIP your HEART from your BODY. they will cause AGONIES. you'll be on the floor crying about bugs and you WILL like it.

as far as gameplay goes, it's a 2D sidescroller/metroidvania style, which put me off it for a long time because i haaaaaaaaaate metroidvanias. i actually started it, got past the first boss (which is a testament to how good it is in and of itself, because usually i get to the first enemy and am just like "nah"), went "oh right I hate metroidvanias," and gave up. and then about three days later i was like, "...but I want to know what happens next." as it turns out, it's actually highly moddable, so I stuck god mode on and played through the entire thing three times in about a month. I've actually weaned myself off of it for a couple of encounters, which is even more impressive! Troupe Master Grimm also headlines my very very very short list of "bosses I not only tolerate, but actively enjoy" (alongside essej from control + tom and hel from ghostrunner. that's the entire list.) combat is... still hard, but can be rewarding - it's mostly timing-based and there's a parry mechanic whose window is so fucking microscopic but actually managing it is really satisfying.

(also, like-

-i can't even go into details because it's BIIIG spoilers but like. the way two of the characters parry. like their stances and stuff. i'm screaming and wailing and tearing out my hair over the Implications of that-)

and the MUSIC too. the THEMES and MOTIFS. the way certain characters' leitmotifs creep into different areas or into other characters' themes... POETIC CINEMA. i could, have, and will continue to listen to the main theme, dirtmouth bgm, and city of tears bgm on repeat for hours. (also bonus favorite boss theme. the fact that this man is not a Tumblr Sexyman(tm) continues to boggle me-)

another thing I really like is that you're not the only adventurer in the world. there's not really a companion mechanic (though there are some upgrades that will give you little minions, and you can kill a clown and he'll give you his son as a reward), but there's a couple of other characters you can encounter periodically across the game who are on their own quests, which depending on your actions you can help bring to fruition or not. it just feels like the kind of thing you don't see very often? but this kingdom is known in-universe to draw adventurers, and there... actually are other adventurers. idk. it's neat.

anyway. play hollow knight. it will hurt you but you won't regret it.

#curlyparmesan #replies #hollow knight #THIS GAME. THIS GAME MAN- #it literally broke six uninterrupted years of art block. i hadn't so much as doodled in half of a decade and this little bug came along-

[tricitymonsters]

TCM Fourth Quarter Update!

Gamedev

Straight to business!  The introductory chapter is 99% written.  At this stage I’m making minor edits and content adjustments + adding polish.

Atlas is pretty much on schedule for art, so we’re in good shape there.

There have been- unfortunately- some setbacks with UI design and this is slowing me down.  At this point, we’re looking at the possibility of minor delays to release (I’m thinking like a few weeks) but I’ll have a better idea after the holidays as to exactly what kind of impact we’re looking at.

There is a silver lining to this however.  I have been using this as an opportunity to get ahead with individual chapters and will continue to do so while I wait for assets + implementation.  So… bad news: possibility of minor delays, good news: it won’t impact chapter releases once the intro is out.

Some bonus features have made it into the game, including Steam achievements and a Music Player option to listen to the soundtrack in-game!

Kickstarter stuff!!

I am still waiting on 2 pinups.  I have touched base recently with both artists and have had good progress updates, I’m just waiting for final delivery and I can start releasing them to digital reward backers.  (Sounds like this semester was pretty rough for everyone)

Akello will be first, then Amir, and then Mori.

I have ordered the first of the merchandise samples for testing!  They haven’t arrived yet but I’ll be sure to promptly report my findings when I get my hands on them!

If all the merch passes inspection then I’ll be proceeding onto production in early January as planned!

And that means!! SURVEYS~!

I will be sending out surveys right before I begin manufacturing.  Please make sure you are receiving emails from Kickstarter/getting push notifications/etc.  It is very important you respond to the survey with your shipping address quickly and accurately!

I will, of course, be following up with any stragglers but you will help me a ton with timely responses!

Your information will be securely passed on to my third party logistics team and orders will be getting packed and sent from their locations once they receive the goods from the manufacturer.

One of the reasons it’s so important to ensure your shipping information is accurate is because I do not have storage space in my home for products that didn’t make it to the right backer nor can I afford to re-ship packages (especially internationally) out of my own pocket.

If for some reason, a package gets bounced back to me I’ll reach out via DMs to work something out but we’re aiming for a 100% delivery rate lol!

Going in to 2024

My partner and I will be doing our annual business meeting in early January to go over what went well this year and what we can improve on, as well as set new goals for development.  Stay tuned for a write up on all that entails

Community

Still playing catch up with Tumblr asks, i’m down to about 30 something lmfao

My pal Pidge / @bosspigeon has agreed to take up the mantle of Playlist Prince and is now in charge of curating TCM’s Spotify playlists!  Please feel free to make suggestions here (once I open up asks again) or in Discord!

Marcel’s playlist has finally been added!

You can check out the playlists here or in my pinned post!

Mori - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/54oskF4oslywTT5nX2dVjL?si=27e8d711d6a44384

Amir - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0JOsWraUbNRTwoQuDdoYKz?si=bfe734f9ca7147d4

Akello - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4j0MkcrHl6VZTmp8eUQotH?si=cf6d0f7038aa4421

Kazu - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/164jGOpXVsdviDMCKIHTZw?si=928026edbf634a5a

Raath - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/51j2PAeBvFAdDhNKdqZT5J?si=d21e17c2648f4718

Marcel - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3t1kd2wXzlBg5yitsHQSa4?si=7c546588d1cb467b

#as always thank you for reading!

[dragontamer05]

Things to know about Okami before you play;

It is HEAVILY to the point of entirely based/inspired by Japanese folk lore, myths and legends. Like that shit is everywhere from the like characters right in your fave and the obvious things to even tiny details you wouldn't think.

If you don't like or other wise have a fear of Spiders I have to say I'm sorry this is not the game for you (unless you think you can handle it) as there are Spider creatures in the game the crop up. Heck the very first boss is a big ol Spider creature.

One thing I love about it how much like choice you have, from the different weapons you acquire to Praise ability. You can actively choose whether or not you want to use any praise and how you want to use it. If you wanna try going the whole game with only like 3 life / never increasing it via Praise go for it.

There's lots of fun side stuff to fill out or you can just barrel on through the story ignoring it all.

And best of all it does a carry over, once you beat the game you can carry everything over into a new save plus you'll get bonus stuff for anything that you've completed- a lot of it is cosmetic fun stuff but still you get rewarded for beating the game and then continuing it into a new file - it doesn't feel like your completely losing progress or just have to scrap everything you did.

You also get to keep all the Praise you gathered and even some of the weapons from what I recall.

#Okami

[miloscat]

[Review] World of Demons (ATV)

Okami 3???

I occasionally browse Apple Arcade to see what's been added; this time what leaped out was a title heralded as Platinum's first mobile game. Platinum of course is known for their character action games and as the successor studio to Clover, creators of Okami for Capcom. This has a very similar setting inspired by Japanese folklore and mythology, and almost identical graphic style inspired by traditional Japanese arts. After enjoying Okami and Okamiden so much, I wanted to see if this recaptured their magic at all.

It's important to reiterate at this point that this is very much a mobile game. The control scheme is simplified compared to other games from the studio to remain accessible on touchscreens, a priority for many Apple Arcade games that must be platform-agnostic. (I did play it on an Apple TV with a controller, which helped it feel better... although there's no helping the dodgy camera.) The level design is more or less simple corridors between battle arenas, with some interaction along the way: it felt like a very stripped-back Okami without the overworld.

The overall game structure too follows trends of the platform. The game encourages replaying levels with ratings and random drops, and grinding is required at times to progress or at least make your numbers go up enough. A bonus level requires a premium currency to enter, a likely vestige of a free-to-play microtransaction-driven business model which many Apple Arcade games retain even after being retrofitted for the paid service. It never fails to give these games an uncanny feeling of being neither fish nor fowl.

Anyway. The game feels good to play, those well-honed Platinum mechanics in a more accessible framework. There's one main attack button, although different weapons have tweaked attack strings and unique special moves. The dodge button gets a lot of play with well-timed activation giving you a counter. You unlock new characters for a total of four, and they each play quite differently (I favoured a combo of the fast, range-focused shrine maiden Sayo and the cursed Buddhist monk Dohzen who is slow and strong).

But the main gimmick of the game is the recruitable yōkai. These spirits and creatures of legend are the main enemies of the game and a constant stream of new ones keeps the battling fresh. When defeated they drop orbs which let you summon them for a one-time attack or effect. You also unlock permanent versions which can be enhanced, and each level lets you pick two per character to bring with you. (I usually made sure to pick at least one that would draw enemy aggro.) This is a fun way of customising your playstyle and experimenting with combinations, although with the length of the levels it's better to keep experimentation to the short sidequests lest you be punished for a poor choice.

The yōkai also have some use outside of battle, as there's a limited version of Okami's environmental puzzles. Some objects can be interacted with for a few items or an extra battle, but only if you have the right type of yōkai equipped. Since choices are restricted, and you might not get the right drop or know to save it, it's easy to be stuck without the right tools for these and feel left out; and replaying levels can feel a chore. It feels like a half-baked system, often punishing you for poor luck rather than rewarding you for smart play.

The story is pretty standard demon-and-samurai stuff, with a series of amusingly improbable revelations about character relationships as you go on. It's decent enough with a bit of flair, much like the character designs. It must be noted that after four chapters building to a climax, there's a cheap undercut seemingly setting up an Okami-style next phase (complete with a "to be continued" screen as with all the other chapters), only for the game to just not have any more content. I guess they released the game unfinished, expecting to add more story in later updates, as with Castlevania Grimoire of Souls, or Shantae and the Seven Sirens? But with over a year since the last update, who knows when or if it will indeed be continued.

Either way, what's here is a neat package. In fact I'm glad it didn't drag on too long as Okami did at times. The heavily cel-shaded art style invoking traditional ink painting is a great look, and the game systems are solid save for the yōkai interactions. It's not quite an Okami 3 but there's enough DNA here for it to be maybe an Okami 2.5, and for that reason it was a cool novelty for me.

#world of demons #platinum games #review #apple tv #apple arcade

[owlyteas]

Alright guys this is gonna be a big chunky update on the Digimon fan game stuff

First up: Title screen! I swear I'll make it prettier later it just needs to function right now. Got saving and loading working, and yeah I couldn't think of any better name than "Digimon Quest" so I guess that's what the game's called now

After showing off the Data Bank and Clothing Shop last time I got a couple other important NPCs with jobs.

Cerberumon runs the Item Bank where you can put inventory items into storage. I might add a way to add more storage but right now it's 100 extra slots which seems like a lot but I always hate it when a game is really stingy on item storage so I might have gone a bit overboard lol

Ganemon runs the Bit Bank which is pretty simple. You can store and withdraw your Bits. That's it.

Bulkmon runs the Training Gym and will exchange a Digimon's Training Points (or TP) for a chance to increase their stats. There's three different difficulties for each stat to train (Attack, Defense, Max HP, and Max SP), with higher difficulties giving bigger stat boosts but are harder to succeed at. As mentioned before if you've played Digimon World 3 it's a lot like the Training Gym there, except you can refund your TP to lose any stat bonuses you've gotten but will get all your TP back to try again. Digimon get 1 TP each time they level up and the higher difficulties require more TP per attempt (1, 5, and 10 respectively). Your Digimon gets three attempts to succeed at the training with a bonus fourth attempt if they succeed all three attempts. Even if they fail an attempt, they'll still get a little stat boost, just not nearly as much as succeeding.

I don't need to show every single training type but just to show a couple examples here's the lowest difficulty for Attack.

...And the highest difficulty for Defense. We chose violence today.

HATCHING! This is the best part right getting more Digimon to use. You need to get a DigiEgg, which is a rare drop from enemies or can sometimes be found in the overworld or as quest rewards, plus a shop where you can buy some eggs, though I haven't decided if it uses Bits or maybe data yet. Each egg requires a certain type and amount of data, and once you have enough all you gotta do is put it into the incubator and hatch your new friend. :D

In this example a BlackAgumon DigiEgg needs Dragon, Devil, and Fire data to hatch.

Digimon also now have a bond level that can be increased by doing things like leveling them up or giving them treats they like. I haven't put in any benefits for a high bond level yet but I've got some ideas. Max bond level is 500.

And since I've got Digivolving working, I added a tab to the Digimon menu to view all of their possible evolutions.

If you want to view more info on an evo and their evos you can just click on the information button. You can also set a default Champion, Ultimate, and Mega level Digimon that will be more easily accessible on the sidebar or from a button press so you don't have to navigate through menus every time you wanna Digivolve.

Unfortunately Ultimates (and Megas) probably won't be available right away since I've got enough artwork to get through with just Rookies and Champions to worry about. The framework is in though.

Quests are implemented! I've still got a couple things to mess around with to make sure I can do different types of quests but yeah. Your quest item inventory doesn't run out of room and doesn't take up your main inventory so you can collect as many quests as you want and you'll always be able to get the right items. The quests here are just a bunch of test quests obviously.

Also got a couple things pertaining to enemies/combat. There's now buffs and debuffs that some attacks can have a chance to apply, like Agumon's Pepper Breath has a chance of applying a Burn. I've got a few debuff/buff types right now and I can always put more types in if I feel like it's needed for some type of attack.

The debuffs are: Burn (damage over time), Poison (damage over time plus lowered attack & defense), Leech (steals health from the target), Drain (steals SP from the target), Glitch (prevents use of Special Attacks), Weaken (lowers attack), Enfeeble (lowers defense), Stun (prevents movement), and Paralysis (lowers movement speed).

The buffs are: Heal (heals health), Restore (restores SP), Strengthen (raises attack), Bolster (raises defense), Shield (prevents damage), Counter (attacks enemy when attacked), and Speedup (raises movement speed).

If you don't remember all of those you can see what buff/debuff your partner or your enemies have by hovering over them so a little tooltip pops up. You can also see the duration for each buff/debuff.

I can't tell if we're screwed or not.

I also put in a small feature where you can click on an enemy to focus on them and keep their healthbar at the top of the screen. It won't make attacks automatically aim at them or anything but it's nice to see all the info of whatever enemy you want to focus on.

Aaaand I've got a storage system working for extra Digimon you don't want in your party. You can freely swap between party and storage and organize them however you want. I don't have a hard number on how many pages of storage you would get but I'll decide that soon, right now it's only 4 pages. You can probably unlock more somehow. Clicking on a Digimon will also bring up a little info window that doesn't have as much info as the Digimon Menu but it's info you might want to see at a glance for your Digimon in storage.

Oh and I either totally spaced on this last time or hadn't implemented it yet, but I've put in items that can be equipped to your Digimon. Each Digimon can only hold one of each type of item but there's two slots to use. I've only put in items that can give you a close-range attack (gloves) and a long-range shooting attack (wand) but there'll probably be all sorts of items that won't necessarily give you another type of attack but will do something else when equipped. Both of these items give you a Neutral element attack but other types of gloves and wands can give you elemental attacks.

OKAY I think that's everything whew. The next things I'm going to work on is a framework for achievements and maybe something along the line of Tamer perks that you can use to get upgrades or bonus stuff as you level up. I don't know if I'll be fully implementing them but I at least want to get the framework ready for whenever I do put them in.

And then after that it's time to knuckle down and DRAW DRAW DRAW and start building the actual game wow exciting!! I'll keep showing progress on sprites once I get back to them. :D

#Digimon #fan game #my projects #game dev

[torihakaraublog]

Cookie Run Witch's Castle Review pt.1/3

I had totally forgot this game was coming out till I accidently clicked on the reward chart in CRK and apparently I pre-registered :0

I get super frustrated/absorbed with block braking games so don't typically play them, but since I really wanted the CRK rewards I decided to grind through ch.1 to get the rewards (please note as of writing this the CRK prize event is over) then delete the game (still need to do xD). I've only played a little bit of Oven Break so keep that in mind character knowledge/lore wise.

Story

Off the start the little introduction animation was amazing. Loved the puppet like vibe! This game also seems to take place between CROB and BRK? Basically the witch is baking cookies to eat.

Then when Gingerbrave wakes up in the oven the animation turns to the more familiar cookie run style. Gingerbrave escapes the oven...

In the walls he meets Witchberry cookie who shows him the window, but refuses to help. She is such the embodiment of a cat. Purple cat with magic powers is just *chefs kiss*.

The next cookie we meet is Gingerbright. She teaches us about the importance of life potions. Gingerbright is...really unnerving lol feels like she has hidden intentions. Gingerbrave is so positive and onboard to making new friends even if they are a bit sus! If you don't take a life potion you become stale *horrified gasp* (Gingerbright thinks it wouldn't be too bad...)

I just saved this screenshot cause I like the talking door xD reminds me of Gandalf.

Strawberry and Wizard cookie are up next. Wizard cookie is so sassy/sarcastic in this. Bro got stuck in a chest and said he wasn't stuck just not ready to come out lmao Strawberry is best girl. This 'room' generates life potions and some other rooms produce gems and soul stones.

Will talk a bit more about this in pt.2 but there is a boss battle against the witches cat where Gingerdozer appears (dozer like sleeping I'm guessing?) They are suspiciously interested in the witch. Very SUS.

Chapter 1 ends with the characters leaving the tower where the window can be seen because they smell something good and are hungry. A cookie dressed in white watches them from the window.

The story moves at a pretty good pace I think and its not too hard to complete most levels without boosts (of course it helps a lot to have boosts if you mess up). Lots of bonus prizes can be won by doing things such as competing to complete a certain amount of levels first against other players. However, there is A LOT to unlock and stars can only be required through playing levels which makes it a bit tiring.

Game Play

I pulled a pretty good cookie (vampire cookie) right off the bat from the gacha, his special skill helped a lot to progress through levels quicker.

The gacha has two sections 'basic' and 'season'. Basic can be achieved with tickets - get these as rewards quite often. Or with 1,000 coins. Not too bad a price I think as you do get a lot of coins in game. Season can only be rolled with special purple coins. I'm not really sure how these are acquired. Each pull costs 100 of these special coins and after completing chapter 1 I only had 90 of them.

When you roll in the basic gacha three dice appear. The pictures on the dice match up with the 5 images above + there is a bonus dice/roll image. Each image you roll gets added to the edge of the boxes above. When a box is 'full' you get to spill a wheel for that type of prize.

Furniture items can be used to decorate empty rooms. There is also cookie specific rooms you can decorate. If you get items for a specific cookie you have to wait till you get that cookie to place the item.

Not 100% sure how mole shipping works? Think you complete missions then can send packages?

A lot of the functions are the same as CRK - changing name, icon, season pass, etc.

Everything you complete can be viewed in collection + prizes are redeemed there for completing stuff.

You don't have to unlock sections to play more levels. Just click the yellow triangle in bottom right to play more levels. Prize unlocking on sections will be shown with a single star with a number beside it or a present box with a star above it (not pictured).

Story sections are shown with a book + star with number beside it. (shown below)

Hopefully that all made sense lol In the next part I will talk about game levels.

#cookie run #witch's castle #cookie run witch’s castle #game review #game guide

[yyumemika]

A Premature Burial Episode 7

A Premature Burial 

Episode 7

Season: Winter

Characters: Mika, Shu

Mika: Even if yer tellin’ me to do my best… Wouldn't it be better if I could give him a luxurious funeral? 

Shu: My grandfather’s request is plain and simple.

First, each family member is going to submit their “best funeral plan” one by one. 

My grandfather will then choose the most extravagant funeral among them, and he will perform the chosen living funeral.

That’s all there is to it, so to speak.

Although it's extremely impudent. It seems designing and selecting outfits appropriate to the project is no different to the work that we often do.   

Mika: Haha, that’s why it’s a “funeral contest”…?

Shu: Yes. It's a general assembly by my grandfather, for my grandfather, to think about his own funeral.

I suppose it's just like my grandfather to make everything a fuss. 

Honestly, a funeral should be conducted solemnly, not turned into an event that one looks forward to. 

By the way, those who proposed my grandfather's chosen funeral, in other words the contest winners, will receive a generous reward. 

In his own words, it will be the largest amount ever paid. 

Because this is his final play, all of the remaining selections will be performed on a grand scale.

Mika: Is it really okay to decide on who gets the inheritance like that?

Shu: That's exactly what one would expect from my grandfather's insight. Most of the spoils have already been distributed among the family members during the past games.

It's hard to express dissatisfaction if it's a win-win situation. 

And under the guise of a joke, my grandfather distributed his own enormous inheritance while he was still living. 

Fairly, equally and appropriately. 

Mika: Haha... I can't really think of anythin' to say but, he's an important guy ain't he. 

Shu: Yes, well, he is a great person whom I respect very much. 

In any case. Although it's said the performances will be grand scale, if you look at the overall perspective— That's just a small bonus.

That’s not to say it’d be a problem if we weren’t to get it. I want it because it’s a big deal.

Even though I’m shunned among my relatives for being unusual, I’m proud to be the one that understands my grandfather the most, who is similarly non-conformist. 

No. I, Shu Itsuki, am the most suitable to be my grandfather's successor. 

 I want to be the one to receive my grandfather’s final gift.

Mika: I see. Ya don’t gotta worry.

‘Course, I’ll cooperate an’ give it my all too. Although it’s obvious, I ain’t never planned a funeral on my own before—  

Is it really okay if I don’t know what I’m doin’? It ain’t really the same as our usual stage plannin’ is it?

Shu: No, but the thought process is the same as usual. Think about it that way, we are planning a stage for my grandfather's funeral service. 

The leading part of that performance is my deceased grandfather. The audience that gathers will be everyone involved who wishes to have their final interaction with the lead actor, in other words mourners.

Even though this is an extremely private matter. It’s no different to the structure of being an idol, and the fans that gather for them.

Mika: I see… ‘Course, since it’s a funeral it’d be better not to have stuff like flashy smoke-burnin' or spotlights.

Shu: You would think. My grandfather likes flashy things… Ultimately it's my grandfather that chooses, therefore it’s a must to analyse his preferences and make calculations.

Mika: No matter what ya say I still don't know yer grandfather very well.

Shu: That's right. You need to start researching from the beginning in order to understand the organiser's preferences.

It's an unfamiliar behaviour to me, who is always imposing my own preferences and my own circle.

You're always getting frivolous work, so you should be accustomed to it.

Please teach me how these things are usually done. 

Mika: Ah, okay. I see, so that's why Oshisan asked fer my cooperation.   

Shu: Of course, I have faith in your craft and sense after all. Don’t misunderstand, you’re no longer a marionette— You’re an artist and my equal.

Working together as a group as always, let’s create the best funeral.

Mika: Yeah. It really does feel like an unreasonable demand huh, ain’t there limits whether it’s art or a funeral? 

Shu: That’s right. Moreover, there are a few troublesome circumstances involved with this project.

Because of that, discussions within the family became complicated, and it took me some time to return home to you.

Mika: Troublesome circumstances…?

???: “—I should explain from here on out.”

Mika: Nnaaah!? Huh, what? Mado-nee— That ain’t right, the Mado-nee look alike spoke!?

Shu: Perhaps I should introduce you. I’m yet to comprehend it myself.   

The mysterious person talking through this adorable doll claims to be my grandfather’s illegitimate child.

Mika: Illegitimate child!?

Shu: I suppose to me, he’s my uncle. I’m not sure if it’s his real name or not but he calls himself Rafaello. 

Rafaello: “Fufu. Nice to meet you, I’m Shu’s uncle, Rafaello.”

Mika: Eeeh…!?

#raison d'etre #ensemble stars #enstars #shu itsuki #mika kagehira #english translation

[dangan-kagura]

Things I Wanted to Include for My V3 Rewrite - Part 1

So if you’ve been to my AO3 and read my fanfic Alternative Danganronpa VE, I’ve gotten as far as Chapter 4 Daily Life where everyone arrives at the Virtual World. Since I haven’t had any motivation in wanting to continue writing it, I decided to make a series of posts that’ll narrate the things I wanted to include that’ll probably never happen. I'll try to highlight some of the most important things.

To briefly recap, my OC has been placed as the leader of the group so that everyone can work together in order to find another hint about the outside world.

Now here’s the new stuff, as soon as they start heading east to where the chapel is, they suddenly get warped into a battle with Monokuma-like enemies.

The scene then plays out like a turn-based RPG and after winning the battle, they start to think that the Virtual World feels like an RPG.

My OC complains about the idea as he ends up saying that he doesn’t like the RPG genre and abandons the group and returns to the mansion.

When he arrives at the phone, he thinks back to the dream he had where he remembers Miu saying that saying your name on the phone will return you to the real world. But it doesn’t work. Kirumi then walks in asking if he is ok and if he wants to talk. My OC gets embarrassed out of concern that Kirumi wouldn’t understand him, but gently explains that he doesn’t like the RPG genre because he’s bad at the genre and is bothered by the amount of peer pressure surrounding the genre’s popularity. Kirumi assures him that things will work out however, and the two of them walk back to the group.

When they return, my OC suggests that Kirumi should take the lead. Because he got Kirumi’s motive video, he wants to see if Kirumi has any leadership skills, but Kirumi doesn't remember anything about being the leader of a country. So Kirumi ends up being the party leader.

When the group arrives at the chapel, at one point, I think I had an idea that someone in the group pushes that big thing at the end of the hall (sorry, I don’t know what it’s called) and in doing so reveals a secret underground passage.

The group then proceeds in a play style similar to Despair Dungeon: Monokuma’s Test.

It’s that bonus mode in V3 that plays similar to Final Fantasy. Anyways, after a series of turn-based battles from random enemies...

The group eventually faces the dungeon boss.

I had an idea for a scene where my OC tries to chicken out of the fight thinking that everyone is destined to lose. Kaede and Kirumi however stop him from running away and tell him to man-up or something and fight the boss anyway.

After defeating the boss, well, I haven’t had any ideas as to what they get for a reward, but it goes like this. The group keeps hearing a voice say the same thing over and over again. Something like a female computer voice saying, “There is an error! There is an error! There is an error! There is an error!” and then the screen just goes black like how a TV turns off. The group then wakes up back in the computer room alive.

No murders have taken place yet.

That was an idea I had in mind, they go to the Virtual World for the first time, but afterwards there are no murders, and everyone is confused as to why what they just saw as they left the Virtual World has to do with the outside world.

I’ve written that the group would also get a Flashback Light as a reward. In the original game, the group doesn’t get another Flashback Light until Chapter 5 after Kokichi showed everyone the outside world. Although I’m thinking that it probably would’ve been better if they got another Flashback Light in Chapter 5 after discovering the new locations in the school.

I think I had an idea for a scene where my OC looks in his pocket to find something like a flashdrive. He realizes that this is actually the reward they got for defeating the dungeon boss and that the flashdrive contains more info about the outside world. My OC suggests that Keebo should be the one to hold on to it. Keebo agrees and takes the flashdrive.

Monokuma would then tell the group that they have to go back to the Virtual World tomorrow to find more clues. My OC however complains that he doesn’t want to go back because he didn’t like how the Virtual World plays similar to an RPG.

I think towards the end of this scene, I wanted to include a scene where...

Kaito starts to vomit blood before the fourth trial.

Like you know the scene after the fourth trial where Kaito pukes blood? I wanted him to do so before the start of the fourth trial. Just like in the original, Maki is the most worried one in the group and everyone starts questioning why Kaito is suddenly vomiting blood. Kirumi is also worried and asks if she could help, but Kaito refuses to get help from Kirumi and goes back to his room to rest.

I’ll explain what happens next in Part 2.

#danganronpa #ndrv3 #fanfic #fan fiction #danganronpa fanfic #rewrite #danganronpa rewrite #blog #kaito momota

[purplekoop]

yeah as a Sicilian from Milwaukee, I've been really wanting an Italian character NOT MAFIA THO I HATE THAT STEREOTYPE ITD BE FINE IF IT WAS ORIGINAL MAFIA DEFENDING SICILY FROM EVERY INVADER BUT NO EVERYONE JUST DOES MOB BOSS anyways, that Firefighter idea. 575 HP. Passive is like Pharah but water jets and just to Hover like 5 ft up. Primary is water Cannon, 200 ammo,, pushes slightly & damages. Phoschek Fog Ability, Undoes Ally debuffs like burn. Axe Swing Ability, takes 15% hp from enemies or 50% hp from builds/barriers. Fireproof forcefield, I think 700 hp, curves like orisa old Shield but held. Ultimate gives all nearby allies +200 armor.idk I'm not the best at making concepts.

Oh yeah, I definitely see an Italian character as something that'll happen at least eventually. And I think the Overwatch team has a pretty decent track record about not playing too hard into broad harmful or tacky stereotypes. Like, Zarya's strong and Reinhardt likes beer, Widowmaker's a snob, there's some smaller stuff like that, but these tend to be natural parts of their characterization. I doubt they'd do something as basic and vaguely tasteless as making them a mob boss.

I guess it's worth noting that Rome is in Italy, so if we are getting a Roman gladiator character like a lot of people expect, then they would be the game's first Italian character on the roster.

As for the firefighter concept, hell yeah that's actually a pretty decent hero concept!

I like the idea of a more utility-focused Tank, with (what I'd presume at least to be) lower damage output relative to the aggro brawler tanks OW2 has focused on introducing. I like playing those tanks, but I think limiting the tank design space to those kinds of playstyles is ignoring the potential for more variety in playstyles and character-specific roles that a tank can fill. I imagine even a high-powered water cannon wouldn't be dishing out damage on par with laser beams or chainguns, so having it be more of a direct anti-aggression weapon rather than a weapon focused around damage would be interesting. A possible mechanic that comes to mind though to both reward aim and also make the pushback mechanic less irritating to play against would be that the push is more effective the lower the target's health is. A full health enemy barely feels a thing, but as the stream wears down their health then they get pushed back more and more.

A tank with a dedicated cleanse ability would be interesting, and obviously makes sense with the theme. We do already have Zarya's bubbles, capable of cleansing most debuffs that aren't outright stuns or sleeps or whatnot, so it's not totally unprecedented either. Cleanse abilities do tend to have some other benefits so they're not deadweight in matchups against enemies who don't apply debuffs, which is why Kiriko's Suzu has that contentious intangibility benefit and minor heal, and every other cleanse ability has it as a part of invincibility as well (recall, fade, translocator, zarya bubbles). I don't think that giving allies invincibility would be mechanically or thematically for... fire retardant foam, but it'd ideally have some other utility as well. Maybe the foam also slows enemies, or maybe gives allies a brief bit of overhealth (like the foam makes a protective layer around them or something).

The axe ability is also cool, an anti-build/shield ability is something I'm surprised OW hasn't tried more outside of an early concept for Pharah's knockback rocket, or Symmetra gaining ammo and shield health from damaging barriers. I think a normal ability also doing percentage-based damage could be interesting, making it stronger against tanks but less threatening to other players. Maybe a whole 60% of Symmetra's wall or Lifeweaver's tree (fitting as that would be) would be a bit much, so either the percentage it takes off is reduced for those, or the ability does normal set damage to all players and just does bonus damage to non-players. My hypothetical concern would be that it's too similar of a basic concept to Queen's axe swing, but I think with the lower damage to players and different functionality, it could justify being different by simply being a much faster swing. Ramattra and Doomfist both block with a big arm (or two) but the specific execution is distinct to where it's fine.

I think a barrier would be an okay addition to this kit, though I'd argue for something more distinct than just something like Rein's shield but only temporary or something. I admit it's hard coming up with unique defensive abilities for tanks though, to where I don't fault OW2 for retreading old ground with some of the newer tank abilities, or anyone else for that matter.

As for the ult... yeah ults suck for me too, don't worry. But it's worth keeping in mind that with Overwatch, roles tend to have only a few different categories of ults, and only dip into other roles' ult archetypes sparingly. Support ults tend to be major offensive boosts (Nano boost, Amp matrix, Kitsune rush) or big defensive saves (Sound barrier, Transcendance, Tree of Life), though sometimes can fall somewhere in the middle (Valkyrie, Coalescence), and often a defensive ult can be used aggressively, or an offensive ult can be used defensively. Damage ults tend to, predictably, enable more reliable means of scoring a kill with a big flashy single attack or a temporary boost to their lethality. Damage, being the varied role it is, tends to cheat and have ults that feel like they fit more in other roles. Symmetra's wall is more like a defensive support ult, Widowmaker's infra-sight is purely utility-focused and aids her entire team, and Mei's ult is so tank-like that I felt zero need to change it a bit with her Role Requeue kit.

Tank ults then tend to be very specifically focused around either zoning out space or setting up for a big team play. Whole Hog and Primal Rage make space very directly and literally by pushing back enemies out of your space, while Self Destruct and Minefield are potent means of area denial more than they are reliable for getting kills directly. Annihilation's main counterplay is also getting out of Ramattra's space in order to survive, more indirectly making it a zoning ult too. Then there's the more "supportive" tank ults. Earthshatter, Graviton Surge, Gravitic Flux, and now Cage Fight all limit the enemy's ability to move and thus makes them prime for followup from the tank's team. Rampage doesn't affect literal positioning, but puts enemies in a more figurative bad position with its lethal antiheal and bleed combo that makes just a bit more followup damage enough to secure a kill. Orisa's Terra Surge is ironically both a setup ult with its initial pull and slow, and a zoning ult with the following slam making the entire impact range a lethal danger zone. The only outliers are Orisa's old supercharger, which straight up is effectively replicated by a currently existing support ult (Valkyrie with damage boost) and Meteor Strike... which has a halfhearted slow effect that nobody ever notices, so it should be a setup ult but it sucks so it doesn't count.

I break this down not just because I find it neat, but also because I think it'll better inform what kind of ult would fit a tank better than a basic defensive buff more on par a support ultimate. It's a weird paradox of how Overwatch's tanks are designed that I wanted to elaborate on because it'd be helpful to consider when thinking about concepts like this, since I also find ultimates hard to think of unless I think it through first.

All that said, my suggestion is...

Giant pressure washer laser. I think that says it all.

oh yeah right they have a passive too forgot to comment on that

Honestly I think we should let at least one tank get a fun movement passive, damage and supports get so many of those and I think at least one tank deserves some freeform movement too. I think it also works for a concept that isn't as focused on direct aggro, as beefy brawlers with high self sustain and good damage typically have much more limited movement options, if any (sorry to Roadhog, who along with Ana is the only character in the game with literally no movement abilities, boosts, or tech besides basic walking).

So yeah, fun concept! Hope you don't mind me giving a... much longer than even I anticipated critique of it. I like talking hero design, it's why I'm making both an AU focused on it first and foremost and my own hero shooter just so I get to play with concepts from the ground up. y'know a firefighter character wouldn't be a bad fit for War Bots, but ehhh, feels kind of similar to other characters I already have on that roster, plus I'd feel bad more or less stealing the idea even with permission. Plus I think the specific ties to Midtown are what make me like this concept so much, it already fits into Overwatch's world in a really natural way, even if maybe a little more cheesy than most of the other existing characters. But look, if one tank is a hamster in a giant ball with guns, then I think a high-powered firefighter going into a warzone isn't that much more silly.

#overwatch #overwatch 2 #asks #I don't know what else to tag this as besides like #overwatch hero concepts #I guess? #is this an oc. is this an oc review. #I don't think I can answer that question

[themysticsword]

Genshin Impact Review

I've been playing this game for quite a while now, so I figured I might as well write down my thoughts so far, and dissipate some false assumptions about it.

Core Gameplay - pretty good, but not for everyone

It's a rather casual game, mostly limited by the fact that it's available on mobile, so they have to sacrifice some potential gameplay complexity to avoid making the mobile controls a mess.

The main things you do in the game aside from advancing through the story are exploration and fighting.

The exploration aspect is nice. Just check out every corner of the world and collect all kinds of things, all while admiring beautiful scenery and listening to calming overworld music, and get rewarded for it. (Or 100% an entire region just for the sake of it. I personally didn't even care for the rewards. I just wanted the funny number to go up.)

The combat system is interesting. You have a party of 4 characters that you can instantly switch between, with only 1 currently active character at a time. Each character has their own element that they inflict on enemies. Inflicting two different elements triggers an Elemental Reaction, with each reaction doing something different, e.g. fire + electricity triggers an AoE explosion, ice + fire triggers "Melt", doubling the damage from the attack that triggered it, water + ice freezes the enemy, and so on. Some of your characters will be more proficient at certain reactions than others, depending on how you build them. Therefore, if you want to get the most out of your party, you should also learn the best order in which to rotate the characters.

Lore and Music - extremely good

I don't want to spoil anything, so I'm not going to say anything about the lore. But it's very good. Trust me. It is kinda meh in the first half of the first region (because that part of the game mostly focuses on getting you acquainted with the game's mechanics), but it does get really good after that.

As for the music, well, I'll just share some of the more underrated tracks to avoid spoiling you on the grand ones.

Character and Party Building - very interesting!

This is an RPG, so, naturally, you are encouraged to make your characters' numbers as high as possible.

Characters have experience level progression, an upgradable Weapon, Talents that can be levelled up, and equippable Artifacts with set bonuses.

Artifact sets have a vast range of effects. Some of the more notable examples include:

Whenever this character heals a party member, a bubble grows near this character and pops in 3 seconds, dealing damage equal to the total amount of healing done

Increases healing by 15%, and whenever you use your Elemental Burst, increases healing by another 20%

Increases Elemental Skill damage by 25%, and by another 25% for the first few seconds after this character enters the field

Weapons have special effects in a similar fashion:

Killing an enemy with this will restore health

Repeated hits will increase damage

Even some crazy stuff like "This weapon will absorb healing equal to 10% of your max HP before you can heal again, but will also increase damage once that heal gate is bypassed"

Or "When you use your skill, a leaf will drop, and any other character that picks up the leaf will gain a stat bonus"

This adds extra layers of complexity to character building. Do you want them to be a very effective healer? Or maybe you want your healer to also deal damage? Do you want a general reliable stat-up on your DPS? Or maybe you want higher but conditional damage?

And it doesn't end there. Once you have decided on what your characters do individually, you put four of them together in one party. The ways you can mix and match various characters into different teams are numerous. And all of that is in addition to the Elemental Reactions system I mentioned earlier.

Daily Energy System - the only thing I hate

Fully building a character will usually take around 1-2 weeks. Not because you have to grind it out every day for 8 hours, but because there's an energy system (think of basically any modern mobile live service game; limited per day, refills over time). This prevents you from farming Domains (basically this game's "dungeons" that drop level-up materials and artifacts) for more than ~15 minutes per day, stretching out the amount of days that you'll spend on fully building a character. You cannot just blitz through it in one day.

However, keep in mind that this energy system affects only Talent/Weapon levelling and Artifact farming. Every other aspect of the game is unaffected by it, and you could, in theory, go through the entire game in one (extremely long) sitting if you wanted.

Gacha - not as bad as people make it out to be

The game does not require you to pay to actually enjoy it. Every character is viable, and the game itself is easy.

You get a lot of free pulls for literally just playing the game. Plus, you are guaranteed a 4-star character every 10 pulls.

I have ~300 unused pulls right now + ~100 pulls I've spent previously and 17 characters I've gotten from them. That amount of characters is more than enough to make 1-2 well-paired teams that you will use for the rest of the game. I have not spent a single dime.

The thing that some people infamously sink money on are 5-star characters. 5-stars have the rarest drop rate, and are only guaranteed once every 90 pulls. They are obviously better than 4-stars, but, remember, 4-stars are just as viable. Think of it like this: 4-stars are good, and 5-stars are extremely good. You don't get an advantage over other players for having a 5-star, because this is a singleplayer game - there's nobody to have an advantage (or a disadvantage) over.

Conclusion

You'll probably enjoy this game if you like a relaxing in-game experience and deep out-of-game character minmaxing. However, if you're expecting Dark Souls-level of difficulty or something, this game may not be for you.

Anyway, if you have any questions, feel free to ask!

#genshin impact #text post

[godtier]

so this is a very good question that was posed on my RE6 jake characterization meta post i put up a few days ago:

i DO have an explanation for this and where i'm getting that inference from, but i didn't think i could fit it into reply boxes on that post and not be obnoxious with the multiple replies SO imma write up a super quick (hopefully) bonus meta thingy to go over this question!

SO jake + drugs. this is smth that i feel like gets overlooked for a few reasons (mostly bc jake is not a very popular character in the fandom + playerbase overall) but also bc RE as a series is very... well. like a lot of japanese media that's meant to be more broadly consumed, they like to imply the usage of drugs vs overtly say "this is what's happening"

in jake's intro scene, he says to a newly infected j'avo: "this stuff doing anything for you yet? supposed to be some kinda energy booster but... i don't feel any different"

as someone who, let's just say, has seen drug use lmao the entire scene is "coded," you could say. i don't really like using that terminology because it feels like a cop-out in a lot of cases, but in essence, that entire scene and set piece looks like a flop house or drug den. also, an "energy booster" that you inject...? it sounds like doping to me lmao. also, the dispenser itself it looked more like an epinephrine shot, which people do abuse for the "energy boost" that epinephrine gives.

to me, i'm looking at this scene and going "yeah okay, this entire group of mercenaries (minus jake) all huddled in this room together are really there for a vitamin B-12 supplement party." the way the other mercenaries inject the C-Virus is just like... yeah they thought they were getting free drugs lmao

but just because jake wasn't huddled in there with them all antsy for a buzz doesn't mean he didn't likely also assume it was drugs. even jake's body language speaks to me of someone who was prepared to go on a "journey" so to speak lmao. sliding down against a wall, getting relaxed, etc. it just looked like a guy who was getting ready to shoot up. he's not nervous about it. he just does it, barely any hesitation. and right in his goddamn neck too, which made me think "is he trying to get this shit working faster... why didn't he just jam it in his thigh" etc.

and the way jake says the line about it being an "energy booster" felt really forced in, like capcom's writers were like "oh shit oh no this looks like they're in a drug den shooting up or abusing epipens we gotta reinforce the fact that they totally didn't think this was drugs oh god LOOK JUST MAKE HIM AWKWARDLY STATE THAT IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE A SUPPLEMENT OR SOMETHING"

but even if we just throw ALL of that away, just look at it at face-value... who takes free "supplements" in a war-torn area where there's most certainly a lot of illicit shit going down? someone who's like "hell yeah i'll get high for free," imo

jake's behavior is risk-taking for many reasons, obviously. he's a mercenary, so that right out the gate is a "risk-taking" position lmao. but to me, someone who just... readily accepts taking a "supplement" or "energy booster" from some unknown person without being coerced into it? yeah this man's done drugs before. otherwise, he would have turned it down, right? or maybe they woulda had to hold him down to make him take it? well, they had to show that jake was immune to the C-Virus for plot reasons, and this was really the easiest way to write it in without introducing a lab environment. it makes sense for what type of character he's meant to be: outside of the law and working in a high-risk/high-reward environment.

i'll admit i was kinda taken aback the first time i played the game because i was like OH WE DOIN THIS I GUESS??? and then they slipped in the "energy booster" line, and it just reminded me of the type of shit you'd see in a dub of an anime in the 90s. like pokemon calling the rice balls "donuts." just sterilized despite it being a very obvious implication in the scene overall.

i will admit that my use of the word "addict" probs was a bit too intense for what i think jake's life experiences are, so i'll edit that out of my original post.

das what i got! thank u for ur time

#resident evil 6 #resident evil #jake muller #cw: mentions of drugs #labeling this post as “mature” ig for drug use??? #i'll be honest idk if that's an appropriate use of the label #but just to be safe #meta post #meta analysis #text post

[benignsnail]

So Veggie: A So Flora Mini Challenge

A mini sims legacy challenge inspired by not so berry legacy challenge. Have fun!

Garlic: You grow up in Forgotten Hollow and find yourself reading one too many fiction books on occults. You aspire to have a book you write made into a horror screenplay. Your self-care consists of Scare Max and Sims of the Dead. And of course, you have a Midnight Massacre poster above your bed. Which isn't always the most romantic things to have looking down on you. Your partner insists on Woohooing in the shower more often than not, but you refuse to take it down.

Aspiration: Bestselling Author

Right a copy of every book before you publish it to pass down

Buy the great storyteller reward trait

(Optional) Spooky lot trait if you live in San Myshuno

(Bonus) Buy spooky stuff pack paintings

Submit to a literary digest

Win a starlight accolade

Read a book you wrote to the public

Never become a vampire (or make and drink the cure if you do)

Write primarily horror short stories (you are edgar allen poe)

Always have garlic wreaths up in the house

Go on a trip to Brindleton Bay for your honeymoon and get pregnant at the lighthouse

Peas: Eat your peas, kids. Then maybe you can have the refined taste palate of this sim. You love dinosaurs as a kid but not enough to pursue a career in archaeology. Instead you pride yourself on always eating your vegetables. You are determined to change the food world with this wonderful talent of yours, so not only do you join the culinary career, but you apply your knowledge as a food critic as well.

Aspiration: Master Chef [Does anybody else always read this as Master Chief???]

Traits: Foodie, Snob

Career: Become a Sous Chef, write a cookbook, quit and become a Food Critic

Bemoan lack of banana for scale while dining out [the same way I bemoan the lack of bananas in game, plantains are not the same thing]

Earn Health Food Nut Lifestyle

Complete Experimental Food photo collection

Live in Oasis Springs near the dinosaur

Black Bean: Be gross? Yes please. Drink the milk out of the carton. So what if you're lactose intolerant. Belch. Fart. Release the gas. You just can't help yourself-it brings a smile to your face. And it's actually a bit admirable. You truly live life to the fullest with no shame.

Master mental skill as a kid and make a stink drink on the Beakers and Baubles Science Set

Buy shameless reward trait

Aspiration: Live Fast Teen

Love spicy food, always get food during festivals

Eat lots of beans and franks

Lactose intolerant

Plant a stink capsule in high school

Have so much fun you wet your pants because you can't be bothered

Buy something anytime you see a vending machine

Complete MySims Trophies Simmies collection

Spinach: You are gifted a doctor doll on your first birthday, and that's all you can dream of after. While getting fit in an effort to be able to run rounds and crack open rib cages, you have a crisis of heart. Should you be a doctor or pursue your love of sports? You never do decide.

Aspiration: Extreme Sports Enthusiast

Career: Doctor

Earn the Adrenaline Seeker Lifestyle

Play with the doctor doll as a kid

Climb up Mt. Komerebi and build on the secret lot

Try for baby in the ice cave

Teach a Ski Class

Drink protein shakes

Make a wish at the Ema Board

Swim in Mt. Komerebi's river

Determine the gender for your grandchild(ren)

Carrot: If there were cars in the world you'd be a car sim. You love taking things apart to figure out how they work. Your house is littered with bits and bobs and upgrade parts. You had every car toy possible as a kid and it still wasn't enough. Because you could never sate your curiosity about driving a car, instead you turn to building things. Nothing fancy, nothing modern, just a chair here a violin there. And if you're going to make it why not figure out how it works?

Aspiration: Nerd Brain

Eat lots of carrot cake

Upgrade everything in your house at least once

Craft your own violin

Master the violin

Master woodworking skill

Write a song

Buy a re-traiting reward potion and change your sim's whole personality for their midlife crisis

Move to Tomorang as an adult

Mermaid Kelp: Do you know Emily? Emily! You want to be like Emily. You live surrounded by water, but why can't you breathe under it? Who cares about legs, the little mermaid had it backwards. Scales and tails and fins, oh my. But why stop with yourself. Spread the joy! (You may cheat here for number 6)

Aspiration: Beach Life

Traits: Child of the Ocean

Complete shell collection

Have a beach club

Find a treasure chest

Make everyone in your club into a mermaid (have a mermaid cult)

Play fetch with a dolphin

Live on an Oceanic Paradise lot

Survive off odd jobs only

Kava: You've always been curious about your heritage. You mean to research your distant ancestors but you get caught up right away in Sulani lore. When you realize you can summon the Elementals, you have so many questions to ask. It's a bit disappointing to find out they don't have all the answers so you look to the next best place of mystery: the bottom of the ocean. Everyone needs to let off a little steam after working so hard taking care of the world. And you know just the way.

Conservationist Career: Marine Biologist

Traits: Inquisitive toddler, Child of Sulani, Party Animal

Party Animal Aspiration

Interact with Elementals

Go diving every Sunday

Reach gold hosting a kava party

Master dance skill

Marry a coworker

Teach your kid to swim

Dip infant's toes in the water in Sulani

Prairie Grass: You stay up late reading under the covers all the time as a kid. It actually kind of messes with your sleep schedule actually. And while books are fun when you're young, they get a bit boring after awhile. Too late you realize you could have been playing in the mud and splashing in puddles. But hope is not lost. You can squish all the fruit you want while the rest of the house sleeps.

Nectar Making Aspiration

Live at home your whole life

Buy a Restaurant/Store

(Bonus) Use a grow fruit as a fertilizer

Buy night owl reward trait and make nectar at night

Simple Living/Wild Prairie Grass lot challenge

Live on a ley line

Basil: I think, in the end, you are just too smart. Smarts are something to value for sure, but the what-ifs, the quantum possibilities-they really get to you. School is really hard. You talk to yourself more than anything and eat lunch away from everyone else. You try to play games on your phone to distract yourself from your running inner monologue but it doesn't last long.

Child Aspiration: Whiz Kid

Adult Aspiration Master Maker

Traits: Paranoid, Erratic, Genius

Make money selling candles and fabricated furniture

Live underground (you may go outside occasionally)

Write in a journal

Write a book about your conspiracy theories

Get really good at the pipe organ

Must have lots of handcrafted candles around the house

Get into fizzing

#sims4 #sims 4 legacy #ts4 legacy #sims4 challenge

[turtleybeachin]

Hi!! Can you explain the gacha system if Obey Me NB? I didn’t get into the first game but been really enjoying the second so I’m not sure how the gacha works! Also, will new cards be added to the game as its updates? Thank youuuuu

Aaaah I'll do my best!

So the gacha system is the Nightmare 'app'. As a free player, you'll get one free pull from 'Chapter A' and 'Chapter M' every 48 hours, and one free pull from 'Chapter G' every 24 hours. (If you go VIP, it's every 24 hours for A and M, and every 12 hours for G.)

Chapter A is where you'll have a chance at the higher tier battle cards - those are the ones that give you the best boost in the rhythm game. UR+ and UR cards will give the most bang for your buck, so to speak, with the highest stats. SSR are the next best cards, with SR, R and N cards basically just filling out your pool.

(UR+, UR and SSR cards also generally unlock devilgram side stories you can read and play for extra lore, romance, or shenanigans. They often also have extra goodie unlocks in the devil tree like main screen backgrounds, background music, unlockable chats, and bonus items.)

Chapter M is where you'll get your memory cards. Those are kind of like backup dancers in your game -- they help a bit with the stats, and also provide little boosts from their skills. Same rules apply as far as tiers and what each card is 'worth'.

Chapter G is sort of the 'general gacha'. It gives you SR, R, and N cards, and has a small chance to give you pieces of higher tier cards. It's good to play for the free cards and the chances at slowly building up to better cards, but in the original game its best use was to get raven.

I'm not entirely positive if the same mechanic will apply in Nightbringer, but assuming it does, once you max out a card's skill level by getting it 5 times, any additional times you pull it from a gacha it would turn into some raven instead. Raven is a currency for akuber purchases of things like demon vouchers, joker cards, different outfits for the brothers to wear on the home screen, and surprise guest food gifts.

Do your free pulls whenever you get notified you have some! But I personally recommend saving your demon vouchers and demon points for events.

As far as adding new cards--

They do fairly frequent events themed around holidays, seasons, and just random stuff (fairy tales, steampunk, etc) that will come with limited time Nightmares with special cards. Also, each character has a birthday where they'll have birthday Nightmares of just their cards. I like to save my points to spend on that rather than on the year-round freebie gachas.

Finally, you can also earn cards no luck or gacha system required! Hard mode battles that are marked with card rewards will give you little fractions of UR cards that you can eventually combine into nice demon cards if you keep repeating those battles. (Once you earn at least an A rank, you can choose to skip/complete them daily without redoing the rhythm battle to get card parts. Hard mode lets you do three free battles a day.) You'll also be able to earn cards from events and birthdays! They generally have tiered rewards for participation that should net you at least one demon and one memory SSR, and if you really go all out you can earn a UR of each as well.

I hope that helps!!! If anything doesn't make sense let me know and I'll try to explain better.

#obey me nightbringer #aaa anon i hope this was helpful #it feels like a lot but basically do your free pulls when you can #and save your vouchers and points to spend on the Fancy Limited Gachas that will probably come soon