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miloscat · 2 months

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[Review] The Last Guardian (PS4)

Ico 2 & the Colossus.

The Last Guardian (bad name) had a messy development, with Team Ico working on the game since 2007. Struggles with the PS3 prolonged its gestation, and Team Ico disbanding and leaving Sony can't have helped. But Director Fumito Ueda formed a new studio, GenDesign, with many of the former staff, and they decided to continue collaborating with internal Sony studios to finally get the game finished in 2016.

I feel like knowing this game was in development hell for almost a decade helps me understand some things about the final product. The movement and mechanics have the same kind of clumsy jank that Ico and Shadow of the Colossus do, but somehow it doesn't hang together as well. The big new gameplay ideas end up in player frustration way too often. The overall story is full of enticing mystery but leaves off with too many lingering questions.

Describing the game as Ico 2 fits it well, I think. You're a little boy (unfortunately nameless this time) clambering around an old mysterious ruined castle solving puzzles to proceed through the environment, and avoiding capture by . This time instead of an enigmatic girl as your companion (or a horse, in SotC's case) you have a gryphon-like creature named Trico. A more apt comparison might be the Anzû of Mesopotamian mythology, as there's other inspirations from that culture in the looks and plot (thanks to my friend Gibbon for pointing this out). Sidenote, Trico is usually referred to with male pronouns, which breaks the pattern of male protagonist and female companion in the previous games. And yes, I feel like constant comparisons are warranted with this series since there's a fairly distinct throughline.

Anyway. The Ico continuity is clear, while Trico represents a kind of friendly Colossus, as you often have to climb on them... and try to manipulate their wilful behaviour the way you had to in some Colossus fights. A key technical goal and talking point of the game is Trico’s realistic animal behaviour… well and good but having a character you rely upon be consistently recalcitrant and obtuse did not make for a consistently enjoyable gameplay experience for me. You soon learn to issue commands to Trico and while it can be thrilling to ride them around and fight alongside them, the delays and misinterpretations really added up to frustration for me more often than I’d like. Add to this that it’s not always clear what you have to do next, and that progress sometimes looks like failure in this linear story-driven game, the result can be confusion.

The dynamic between the two is the heart and soul of the game, so when it breaks down you can feel helpless. But when it works it’s incredible, this big feathery kitty coming to trust you and helping you solve puzzles, while you work to heal Trico’s hurts and traumas. This is a really strong concept that the whole game is built around, it’s only let down by some clumsiness in the execution.

As you venture around these crumbling chambers and towers, there are a few optional things to find. Trico is fed via glowing barrel; they attract glowing butterflies of the same colour so I figured that’s what they contain but the truth may be more sinister. Finding out-of-the-way rooms with barrels adds up to costume unlocks… a limited form of cosmetic customisation that sadly is only enabled for subsequent playthroughs. Unless you’re planning on multiple runs, you’ll have to settle for finding them being its own reward. Especially when you can’t get Trico to eat the damn things, or your discovery of them gets reset when you die on a platforming section.

The Last Guardian (still a bad name) is an uncut gem, it could have been so brilliant if not for the roughness that pervades the experience. As with its two predecessors it has strong art direction, the ancient land you find yourself in the perfect place for an adventure full of mystery. But with as many cool and interesting ingredients as there are, there's aspects that are clearly not ready for primetime even after so long in the oven (to mix a metaphor). Even things like Trico's appearance I feel are representative of the game as a whole: they worked hard to give each feather individual rendering and physics, but look at it as a whole and it's a big flapping mess. Eight years on, TLG doesn't seem to have had the impact and staying power as Team Ico's other games have, and that's a shame... but I understand why.

#the last guardian #team ico #gendesign #review #ps4

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aimasup · 2 years

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THIS IS AN APPRECIATION POST AND ATTENDANCE IS MANDATORY

MY FACE IS SMASHED AGAINST YOUR WINDOW AND I'M SHOUTING THIS THROUGH THE GLASS

YOUR LIL COMICS OF SUN AND MOON ACTUALLY DOING DAYCARE STUFF LIKE PLAYING WITH KIDS AND DEALING WITH CLUELESS PARENTS ARE THE BEST DAMN THING I'M SO GLAD SOMEONE DREW THEM DOING DAYCARE STUFF IT'S ALL SO REAL AND HITS SO CLOSE TO HOME I USED TO BE A NANNY AND A SWIMMING TEACHER AND THOSE COMICS MADE ME FEEL COMBINATION KID NOSTALGIA AND FLASHBACKS FROM THE PARENT TRENCHES

THAT ONE PICTURE OF SUN PRETENDING TO LOOK FOR THE KID HANGING UPSIDE DOWN OFF HIS BACK AND GIGGLING UP A STORM? I AM BLESSING YOU WITH A THOUSAND DAYS OF WATCHING PUPPIES NAPPING IN THE SUNLIGHT.

MOON BEING GOOFY AND PRETENDING TO BE THE BEDTIME MONSTER? YES YES YES YES I AM PHYSICALLY MANIFESTING IN YOUR HOUSE AND MAKING SURE EVERY PENCIL YOU HAVE IS SHARPENED EVERY PEN IS UNCLOGGED AND EVERY STYLUS NIB IS FRESH.

AND!!! I JUST WENT ON A DEEP DIVE THROUGH YOUR ART AND IT WAS LIKE BANGER AFTER BANGER JUST NOTHING BUT THE HITS LIKE HALF THE OLDER ART I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WAS YOURS LIKE THE ONE WHERE SUN AND MOON ARE CLIMBING ON EACH OTHER LIKE THEY GOT SPOOKED BY A MOUSE ON THE FLOOR? THAT'S BEEN A FAVORITE OF MINE FOR AGES AND I HAD NO IDEA IT WAS YOURS UNTIL LIKE FIVE MINUTES AGO LIKE LOOK AT THE JANKED-UP POSITIONS THOSE GUYS ARE IN YOUR GRASP OF ANATOMY AND BELIEVEABLE-BUT-EXAGGERATED POSES IS HONESTLY BREATHTAKING ARE YOU ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO CAN ROTATE A HORSE IN YOUR MIND YOU SEEM LIKE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO CAN ROTATE A HORSE IN YOUR MIND

NOT ONLY THAT BUT APPARENTLY I'VE REBLOGGED YOUR STUFF FROM OTHER PEOPLE'S REBLOGS BEFORE I EVER GOT INTO SUN AND MOON AND FOLLOWED YOU

MOST OF YOUR CUPHEAD COMICS! THE CORPSE BRIDE AND NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS CROSSOVER! THE OZZIE X FIZZAROLI COMICS! AT LEAST ONE OF THOSE BLACK HAT COMICS! YOUR ART HAS CHARMED ME OVER AND OVER WITHOUT ME REALIZING IT WAS ALL MADE BY YOU EVERYTHING YOU MAKE IS SO GOOD AND YOUR BRAIN IS SO WRINKLY

YOUR NEVER EVER GETTING RID OF ME ANIMATIC SINGLEHANDEDLY REIGNITED MY OBSESSION WITH LEARNING THE AERIAL SILKS AND I FOUND A STUDIO IN MY AREA THAT DOES CLASSES AND I'M HOPING TO START THAT AFTER I FINISH ACTING IN THE HAUNTED HOUSE THIS YEAR AND I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT WHEN I MANAGE TO TIE MY RIGHT HAND TO MY LEFT FOOT TWENTY FEET OFF THE GROUND I'M GONNA BE THINKING OF YOU

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1. YOU'RE THE HUMOROUS PINEAPPLE PERSON. I'VE SEEN YOU. AND NOW YOU'RE IN MY INBOX. @ordinarydoodles. FUCK. /pos

2. WHAT THE FUCK THANK YOU I'M GLAD YOU WERE SO AFFECTED? I THINK? THANK YOU FOR LIKING MY SHIT. HAVE A GOOD ONE.

#submission #art stuff #thank you again! I hope your fingers are ok. this is practically an essay.#the fact that you were a swimming teacher and a nanny and worked in a haunted house is very intruiging

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sonic-spirit · 1 year

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OKAY, STAR STABLE, LET’S GOOOO!!!

So a week ago I started playing the MMO Star Stable Online. Which by all accounts is an awful idea, because it’s a clunky, overpriced trainwreck. And I am having so much fun.

Okay, maybe “fun” is a bit strong. I absolutely can’t recommend it. But I’ve got a long history of, “It’s terrible, and I LOVE IT,” with various media, and this is falling firmly into that category.

:readmore:

The premise of Star Stable (or SSO, but I’m gonna be stubborn and call it Star Stable) is that you are a girl (and you can only be a girl) who’s gone out to summer riding camp, because you both really like horses, and because you feel a faint mystical draw. And like, haven’t we all, right? So you’re this girl, you’re assigned a horse that the stable later “sells” to you (your only free horse) because their owners moved far away and don’t really come out to them anymore so it all works out for everyone.

You create your avatar from the super limited stock hairstyles and makeup designs that look like Bratz rejects, pick your horse’s coat color and name, and away you go into a janky World of Warcraft clone of your horse girl dreams! And no joke, apparently the original name of the company that owns Star Stable was “World of Horsecraft”. So yeah, loooots of very WoW game mechanics without some of the quality of life improvements that that game received over the last 10 years.

Cuz yeah, Star Stable Online was initially released in October 2011 (in Sweden, it went worldwide in June 2012). It was also actually a follow-up to the Starshine Legacy, Star Academy, and Star Stable games…but I’m still gonna be stubborn and keep calling it Star Stable.

Like most games targeted at horse girls it’s full of superficialness and jank. But it actually has some interesting story going on and isn’t just about putting bows on vaguely unsettling horse models! It’s a win!

I really like the story so far. There’s some evil industrialists doing shady shit for real estate schemes and environmentally terrible oil drilling, and ALSO the EEEEVIL horse girls with EEEEVIL horses, naturally called the Dark Riders.

And DUDE. So like, I understand that the long-time fanbase is upset about the character re-designs and apparently there were some personality changes too, and that absolutely sucks on characters you know and are attached to. But as someone coming in from the outside?

WHAT a glow-up. Like, new style Sabine has SEVERE dark mommy dom energy. And fuuuuck, those arms, tho. Like, that’s not even usually my thing, and I’m all damn. ^_^ Though I do like pretty boys that can beat me up, so pretty girls that can beat me up is not really a stretch.

And like, LOOK AT THIS BEAUTIFUL CANONICAL LESBIAN! I love her! I love Alex!

So yeah. I do see the charm of the old art style, especially the more of the 2D art I see. But the new 3D models are SOOOO NICE. Just A+

But not all the characters have been updated yet! Or even most!

Ya wanna see Mario next to Ydris?

Because there’s a scene where you ABSOLUTELY do, and it’s hilarious.

^_^ Yeh, Ydris is on his way to Tumblr daddy-itude, if not there already.

Fun fact: The first NPC you meet, Justin Moorland? NOT ONE OF THE UPDATED CHARACTERS YET.

Look at him. Glorious.

So yeah. The player avatars are apparently set to be getting an update soon-ish, like, there’s a closed beta going on, apparently, but yeah. Not there yet.

So here’s my dude:

Yeah. It’s a whole thing.

Sooo, I don’t love that you have to be a girl. Like, there’s just no option, and the game’s writers have stated it’s not gonna change—that the story is about a young girl, and since plenty of games are locked as stories about dudes they don’t see a problem with locking you in on that.

So, if you happen to be a transmasc enby, as a very non-random example, you get to run around a game world with everyone calling you she/her, girl, my darling, that sort of thing. Like, for me it mostly just feels not great, I don’t mind the rapidly over-affectionate endearments people throw out to girls, though I’d rather do that while calling me a boy, but it could def be p triggering to some trans guys. If the game stokes any kind of interest and you’re transfem, though, I could see it really scratching a nice gender place.

But yeah. I don’t see the push-back to games that lock your character in place as a boy being to lock you in place as a girl instead, actually. The real push back is options. Give us options. Let us swim in the wild ocean of gender, adrift in ways only we can imagine. Give us some customization when that’s already the point of the game. We’re not playing as Sally from Stockholm. We’re playing as You, the MC. Hell, I’d honestly be good with the same character model but you can get different (ie flat chest) looks with clothing items and a field to enter in pronouns to be plugged in by the system. Bonus if you let me select endearments I’m okay with. Like, I’m stoked they’re gonna be updated the avatar models, and when that happens I SERIOUSLY hope they include build options, and honestly when they do roll it out I’m gonna have way higher standards than I would about simply making the current models easier for trans and nonbinary players to live with. I’m mostly keeping my requests to NPC interactions, because it’s a lot easier to edit text than character models.

That being said, locking the hair and makeup options behind the “This is the in-game currency you can only get with real, actual money,” is scummy as hell.

Which brings me to the predatory aspects of the game, and why I absolutely shouldn’t be playing it, and why I absolutely will not recommend it, no matter how much I enjoy/end up enjoying it.

Shit costs mad money. And it only gets worse from there.

There’s two ways to play: An $80 lifetime membership, or an $8 per month subscription. There’s subscription bundles, but they still charge you the same $8 per month, just in larger chunks. There is a trial free-play up to level 5, and I got to level 6 on it before running out of anything to do. Because it strangles you down not by kicking you out of the game when you hit the level 5 cap, but by not opening up new parts of the map, and by not generating additional quests in the places you can get to—despite there still being plenty of local quests you’d otherwise have access to, or even by giving you the quests you can’t complete because you’re locked into the first two or so areas. There’s also a one-time-option two-week membership for $4, which is what I’m currently on.

Because although I’ve all but made up my mind…I’m still making up my mind. Money’s tight. Is this worth the $80 to me?

Because I am not giving them a cent after that.

See, the most predatory part of the game is that there’s two currencies: Jorvik shillings, gained through quests and training, and Star Coins, made of real actual dollars (or krona, cuz Sweden). And there’s two ways to get Star Coins. You receive 100 per week in an “allowance” through your paid subscription (this is also true for the lifetime membership), or through buying them.

That’s it. No quest rewards, no ability to transfer Jorvik shillings into Star Coins, nothing. And though some items can be paid for by either Jorvik shillings or Star Coins, many items can’t. And guess where the horses land.

STAR COINS, BAY-BEEEEE! That’s right, you can get more, newer, shiny horses to love and play with. To bond with and ride. To become overly attached to the pixels on the screen cuz roleplay, bay-bee! And all it costs is a mere 900 Star Coins. Sometimes more.

Yeah. And again, you can ONLY use Star Coins to get horses, AND they’ve been releasing new horses every month.

Like, the point of the game’s story is not to collect all the horses…but it’s absolutely where the company wants their players to be looking at and thinking about. They promote and pump out these bright, shiny, beautiful things, and people snatch them up.

It takes 9 weeks to save up for one horse. Nearly 2 months. Unless you buy more Star Coins.

And it’s not just new horses that are locked behind a paywall. Remember how I complained about avatar customization? Well it’s BACK, bay-bee! You can change your avatar’s hair and makeup. You can buy new looks and swap them out. For Star Coins. And only Star Coins. Wanna change your home stable—the place you store the inventory you don’t carry in your bag, and the place you keep your horses, go back to to switch out your character customization, etc? Real Money Coins. Want to expand the number of slots in your stable? I think that’s also Real Money Coins, but I could be misremembering…it’s to their advantage to keep slots costing, but cheaper.

Everything you buy has the Real Money Coin option. Not everything has the shillings option. And again, some of the choicest stuff is behind that meat grinder, and wouldn’t it just be easier to just pay, rather than waiting weeks and weeks?

Yeah. It’s gross.

Holy micro-transactions, Batman! But the hole goes deeper.

So, there’s a mobile app. Well, technically there’s two, cuz the game itself was ported to mobile in 2020. You can do it, but I don’t recommend it. The clunky play is even worse on a touch screen, it’s pretty resource-intensive and suuuper drained my battery, and heated up my phone a significant amount. So yeah, you can. But it’s p bad.

But they also have a mobile app that’s designed to be a mobile app, and not just a 10-year-old game ported over to run on different hardware. It’s Horse Tamagotchi. That’s it. It’s just a Tamagotchi game, but horses.

Changing my thinking from “Horse raising sim” to “Horse Tamagotchi” is how I kept from bouncing right off, by the way.

You get a foal of your choice from the fairly large selection of horse breeds and raise it up to an adult. Once you get it up to level 10, you can use your Real Money Coins to transfer your new baby to the Real Game. As a level one. Of 15.

To be fair, it only takes three days to max level them, and you could probably do it quicker if you really wanted to. But why would you want to unless you already had the coins ready for transfer? Nothing you do after they reach cap is gonna affect them going over. Like, there’s a happiness meter, so theoretically that might transfer, but this is a game that dumps your quest log when you log out, so I doubt it.

Yeah, I didn’t mention that yet. If you have an in-progress quest when you log out or lose connection, no you didn’t, you haven’t accepted it yet, actually. So remember what you were up to, and don’t take more quests than you’ll finish in one session. This is honestly easy to do, most of the quests are short, and often are, running between two places or fetch quests. But it does go against most people’s WoW-taught impulse. I’m just lucky I started the game intending to pick it clean of content, and began with only taking one quest at a time. It’s been more enjoyable than grabbing every quest I encountered ever was, and helped me actually follow the story, unlike some of my WoW playing, but yeah. Not exactly the way you expect to play an MMO.

So back to Horse Tamagotchi. You get your foal, “Play minigames” with it (swipe up-down-left-right, drag and drop, or move your finger slow or fast over it to Do A Thing), level until it gets tired, then stop. There’s a gardening mechanic to get treats you can also sell for coins, and some dress-up and decorate mechanics that mostly cost Real Money. You can have up to 3 stalls for free, after that it’s Real Money. Like I said, there’s a decently wide selection of horse breeds, and some of the coat colors are app exclusives—so the only way to get That Breed in That Color. And different colored horse is what the community is About, soooo. Yeah.

I picked an Appaloosa, a Paso Fino, and a Welsh Pony, cuz there’s pony races only ponies can do, and I want in. My absolute favorite horse breed, cuz I’m basic like that, is the Arabian. And that’s not in the app (or possibly not in the app yet). So I picked my second favorite, a cool gaited breed I was also planning to buy in game eventually, and a pony for those sweet, sweet pony races. And I think all three might have app-exclusive coat colors? So that’s neat.

But that makes 3 more horses I’d like to bring into the main game. That’s 18 weeks of play, plus another 10 to get an Arabian because you bet your ass I’m getting my favorite breed, and Arabs cost 950 Real Monies, cuz they special. So that’s nearly 6 months for all these horses, and for me to either impulsively break down and lay out the money OR(and) get bored and drop the obsession entirely.

Chaos, and all this got kicked off because I learned about Alicia Online, a fully free horse MMO that I can’t play on my computer cuz it’s a Mac, but could totally ask to install on and borrow one of my partners’. I’m very smooth.

And all of this, and I’m over here like, “Damn. I wish I could be a horse trainer.”

#star stable #star stable online #sso #games #mmo #mmorpg #what am i doing with my time #horse video game

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allhailthesanders · 3 years

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Random JATP Headcannons: Bobby and His Passion For Knitting

Bobby is what I called #STRESSED ALL THE FREAKING TIME™

I mean like all the boys are stressed for different reasons (you know with the band, or familial problems, or you know anxiety just being a bitch)

But unlike the other boys he doesn’t have that many great coping mechanisms

He hates how terrified Alex and Reggie look when he beats the shit out of one of their harassers. And he hates how he can’t play guitar after because of his busted hand

He doesn’t have any drums to wail on like Alex, and he absolutely sucks at writing music (that’s why none of his newer music isn’t any good) so he can’t bury himself in songwriting like Luke

He tried smoking but boy oh boy does his asthma flare up for smoking and once Alex found out he worriedly started to carry an extra inhaler for Bobby

Mediating SUCKS it’s too quiet. it’s too still. he hates how he is just trapped with his thoughts

So with nothing left to him to do Mr. Bobbers turned to his lola (grandmother) for advice

She was a tiny old woman with a black and silverish bob she quickly patted on the floor next to the armchair that she was sitting in furiously knitting something that looked like it was supposed to be a sweater.

Bobby sighed plopping down next to her enchanted by the furious rhythm she had

“Goddammit apo pass me my switch-blade I need to cut the extra... the extra... the extra nakakayamot string”

“Whatever you say lola, but I still need your advice I am just so fucking stressed all the time and I don’t know what do.”

Bobby’s grandmother grabs the switchblade and quickly slices through the extra string before placing the blade back into his hand.

“Well Robert why don’t you calm down for a second. C’mon grab that ball of yarn and knit with me. I won’t teach you but just watch what I’m doing.”

“What you mean you won’t teach and how the fuck will a pile of string calm me down”

“Curse at me one more time, and I’ll show you another way this string can calm me down. Just watch and learn from me apo and keep my blade you’ll need it when you make a mistake”

“Okay Lola I’m sorry for that, I’ll shut up, but I can’t take your blade”

“Apo stop apologizing you have done nothing wrong, if anything you remind me of your father. Plus I have a spare blade in the flower pot now get your lazy ass off the ground and go and grab it for me”

And Bobby learned and learned and fell head over heels in love with knitting

After that day Bobby left his grandmother’s house with a shiny red and black switchblade, 4 brightly colored balls of yarns, and two sets of knitting needles one bamboo and one metal

AND THE STRESS KNITTING BEGINS

One time the Alex and Luke were fighting and over what to do with Reggie when he walked into practice with a black eye. And Bobby pulled out a scarf he was working on for Reggie and started muttering: knit knit purl knit purl knit purl knit purl knit purl knit knit knit he was working on it, completing it in 45 minutes.

Fun Fact: is favorite type of stitch and pattern is the Chevron Seed Stitch

When Luke ran away from home a week before his birthday and crashed at Bobby’s place and on his birthday he woke up to a present next to his mattress and inside the box was a slightly janked up knitted beanie that Bobby made for him, and it was obviously made with love

Luke cried a lot that day, but he definitely sobbed the hardest at Bobby’s gift

When Bobby was teaching Alex how to drive the van he to keep knitting needles in his glove compartment

Reggie and Bobby had found a dog during one of their hikes, and they took care of it together for like a week until the owner reached out to them to get their dog back and Reggie was devastated! Until... Bobby made knitted a little stuffie of the dog

Before every show Bobby would bust out his knitting and go through a couple rows

For Christmas Bobby made the boy special ugly holiday sweaters (two Christmas sweaters and one Hanukkah sweater for Reggie)

Reggie’s sweater was a rich maroon and yellow with a menorah,dredial,horses, and pizza

Luke’s sweater was a royal blue with music notes and mini beanies on ornaments

Alex’s was a pastel pink with drumsticks an inhaler with a Christmas tree on it

IT TOOK SO FREAKING LONG FOR HIM TO FINISH LIKE LITERAL MONTHS

At any given moment you could count on Bobby carrying his knitting needles in his back pocket

One time he saw Alex sleeping in the garage and made it his mission to make him the fluffiest and comfiest blanket

But then the boys died and Bobby stopped knitting. Even holding his needles reminded him of them. It would remind him of the guys, and it would stress Bobby out and give him panic attacks

UNTIL Carrie was born, and he knitted her a three-piece set of baby booties, baby romper, and little hat in hot pink string (Even at 32 weeks old Carrie was serving the looks)

He even made matching sweaters for Carrie, Julie, and Flynn when they were like 8

When Rose started to go through chemo Bobby started to knit her so many hats and blankets (but not the one he started for Alex)

Bobby did eventually finish that blanket, and he gave it to Carrie the day she left for college

@sunset-bobby I hope you enjoy this I realized how little I wrote about Bobby and I just wanted to thank you for your encouragement. I also hope that you enjoy my characterization of this amazing character.

@theobligatedklutz Here’s one of the headcannons I said I would write then like didn’t lmao. I have more coming but sometimes my brain just doesn’t want to write anymore.

Also, to anyone who is reading this if I get anything wrong about knitting or Tagalog please tell me. I have very little experience with both of these things and I would love to learn more about both topics :)

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scope-dogg · 3 years

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Long post about Mass Effect below

I noticed that there’s a big mass effect trilogy remaster coming out and it just made me think back on how badly the ball was dropped with that series. When the first game came out it immediately became perhaps my favourite game of all time, it was the kind of game where I was tearing up at the ending and then immediately started up a new playthrough the instant the credits got done rolling. The game was extremely jank and rough around the edges and it ran like total shit on the 360, but I loved it anyway because I fell in love with the lore of the universe, the characters and the story. It was one of those games where I’d play it in the most obsessively completionist manner possible, doing every singe sidequest possible, talking to every character on the ship after every mission, browsing the ingame codex for hours on end and dosing up on lore. When it was confirmed that Mass Effect 2 was in development I had such high hopes, of course I wanted to see the gameplay tightened up and the technical side of things improved, but more than that I just wanted to see more of the universe, get more of the universe to explore and learn more about it, and I was especially excited at the possibility that the choices I’d made, especially the massive ones in regards to the council at the end of ME1, would carry forward and really shake up the way the fate of the universe would pan out in the long term.

When the game finally came out, I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t really what I was hoping for. While the combat was much improved over ME1, I couldn’t help but feel like everything else was pared back too much - like, levelling and loot in ME1 weren’t all that well done but I was still really disappointed to see how they were all but stripped out in the sequel. I especially hated how crap sidequests on uncharted worlds were, they were basically just short combat sections with almost nothing in the way of meaningful dialogue or choices to make. Like, don’t get me wrong, uncharted worlds in ME1 felt like the maps were procedurally generated and the Mako had wacky controls, but they still managed to pull off the right atmosphere of going to these dangerous and remote places on alien worlds, and there was some legitimately intriguing stuff going on in some of those sidequests, and it was honestly a little infuriating to see all that basically get the axe entirely instead of getting some polish. I also just felt like the additions to the lore and story were disappointing. I was excited to find out about how society in the Terminus systems was different from Citadel space and meet some new alien races, but that didn’t really happen - I guess they tried with Omega, but that just felt like a mildly edgier version of the Citadel. The only new alien race aside from the Collectors they introduced were the Vorcha and I guess the Batarians if you didn’t play the DLC for ME1, but neither ended up being all that interesting. People remember ME2′s story fondly because of the characters, and I agree that the characters are great, Legion and Mordin especially stand out though all of your squadmates and major supporting characters on the ship are great (except maybe Jacob I guess) as are each of their accompanying stories that get resolved through their loyalty missions, but I think that the actual core plot of ME2 isn’t good at all. The whole thing about you dying and coming back to life seems like it was done just to have the excuse of having a timeskip happen, and I never felt particularly compelled by the Illusive Man or Cerberus as a faction - they were in a sidequest chain in ME1 technically but I still felt like they kind of came out of nowhere and never really fit into the grand scheme of things properly - there’s nothing that they really enable Shepard to do differently that wouldn’t have already been justified by you being a Spectre. The revelations about the Collectors and ultimately what they were doing with the colonists they were kidnapping felt really stupid and pointless apart from giving you an excuse to have a really cheesy and out-of-place final boss. The final mission was only exciting because of the tension of potentially losing one or more of your squadmates than because of what the actual consquences of failure for the galaxy were if you failed. There was no compelling antagonist to square off against like Saren in ME1, and ultimately the whole thing felt kind of pointless - it wasn’t until later after the trilogy was done that I realised that you could take ME2 out of the equation entirely and it wouldn’t make that much difference, but even in those moments as the credits were rolling after I beat the game for the first time, I was struggling to make up my mind about whether I’d actually enjoyed the game or not. I mean, it wasn’t like the game was bad or anything but I was thinking more about the opportunities that they missed rather than the good things they added. I was really missing that sense of discovery and exploring an alien galaxy that the first game had and got left by the wayside for the second. I did start up a new playthrough after that like I did with ME1 but IIRC I didn’t bother finishing that playthrough.

Then along came ME3. Everything about that game is depressing. The whole path of the plot and just the unrelenting apocalyptic tone of the game in general feels like it’s actively punishing you if you actually like the setting, characters, lore and so on and so forth. I know a lot of people like the Citadel DLC that they released because it lightened the tone a bit, but even with that I find it hard to set aside the fact that the universe is literally ending while you’re trying to take a break from it all with how hard the rest of the game beats you over the head with it. How bad the endings were even with the “fix” DLC that got added is a horse that’s been thoroughly beaten to death by now, but it’s not just the endings either. I already didn’t like the Illusive Man or Cerberus and had a hard time buying them as an organisation with the kind of reach and pull they had as portrayed in ME2, but seeing them turn into the Hellghast in ME3 not only betrays that portrayal of them as an org that works through subterfuge but also stretches my disbelief beyond breaking point, plus it brings you into contact with Kai Leng who has to be up there as one of the most obnoxious rival characters in any videogame ever. Otherwise, it did a few things that ME2 did slightly better and some things slightly worse, and didn’t really do anything to recapture the stuff that made ME1 so memorable to me that ME2 skipped out on. And then there was the way that Javik, the game’s most interesting new squadmate by far, was preorder DLC, and then there was the multiplayer that you were kinda forced into playing if you wanted the best ending in the singleplayer (for all the difference that made) and was riddled with lootbox microtransactions (the first major implementation of that in a AAA game IIRC.) The coup de grace for me was when dipshit vidya journalists circled the wagons around Bioware and were taking a dump on angry and disappointed fans who were demanding a change to the ending. Like, looking back I think there was a lot of histrionics involved with that from the fanbase, and let’s just say that the Bioware fanbase has earned a reputation for being particularly turbulent, but even so I really couldn’t stand the attitude that they were taking and it made me hate the game itself by proxy that much more. (I honestly think that entire saga set the stage for Gamergate two years later.)

Eventually when ME Andromeda ended up being a stillborn flop, it didn’t even really move the needle for me that much because ME3 had already set the bar so low. Worse though is that the first game was retrospectively ruined for me. Like I said earlier, I was a hyperfan for that game when it came out, but now I can’t go back to it without thinking about the disappointments that followed it, and its flaws stand out extra hard now. After I beat it for the first time it was my number 1, now I’m not sure it’s in the top 10. There’s probably the added factor that I played it to death and know it almost off by heart which takes the shine away, but that’s also the case for some of my other all-time favourites like Metroid Prime 1 and 2, Ace Combat 2, or Command and Conquer Red Alert 2, but those never really dropped in my estimation the way Mass Effect did. Honestly to this day I’m still waiting for someone to do another star-hopping sci-fi RPG in the same vein as Mass Effect and to pull it off well, because at this point I’m all but certain that it’s not going to be Bioware that does it, not with the new one they’ve got coming in the works or the trilogy remaster.

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macgyvertape · 2 years

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HZD liveblog

time to see how badly watching a friend play the first 10 hours and then the internet spoiling the whole GAIA/HADES and clone thing, actually ruined me for the emotional beats of the story

VERDICT: Not really ruined, the clone thing would have been fairly easy to guess early on and HADES’ origins didn’t have a lot of emotional weight

So much of what got me emotionally invested was the environmental storytelling of the old world and the audio/text logs. Like yeah Aloy’s arc and journey was good but the game would have been lesser without them

The “old world” being set in the not so distant future and dealing heavily with themes around nihilism vs hope with climate change and extinction, I found it really compelling with the robot plague being a fictional metaphor of real issues that are easy to get doomerist about

Gameplay wise

spent a fair amount of time adjusting the graphics, and yeah 2 min into controling Aloy i get what people were talking about with controls feeling jank. This is AFTER the patches, glad i waited. Also the agony of minute+ loading screens ocassionally which is why i finished this with so many notes

the notes were great when I took a break midway through playing this game so I could look back

dodging/evading felt really janky at times I don’t ever see myself doing the game on harder difficulties especially since the game is long enough without doing sections slow with stealth or having to take time to go gather resources

My playthrough is ending at around 60 hours, I don’t see myself doing a ng+ anytime soon, but I do hope the sequel eventually gets ported to the PC

Liveblog comments below the cut:

oh shit 3 audio logs in and it seems like the writing and sound design is gonna knock it out of the park. From happy birthday, to a new years party, to suicide by gun.

since i know the flashpoint personality choices don’t effect plot, yeah i chose throw a rock back at that kids head

Wow Erend is a smooth talker.

Its hard not to be really dismissive of all of Nora’s superstitious religiouness like “we will be forgiveness for the sins that brought such misery on the tribe”, due to my own experiences with Southern US religious conservatives

Especially after these past 2 years I just feel derisive of the Nora’s religious/cultural anti intellectualism but considering its very different circumstances when the game was made, I don’t think I really have the knowledge to deeply talk about how this game touches on stereotypes of native groups

I know this is a game, so there is a cost to rendering things, but how does the worldbuilding work? The Nora I don’t think can do a hunter-gather life style because they don’t leave the Mountain area, and it seems outside trade is extremely limited (if it exists) so do they farm and we don’t see it (except for berry picking in the beginning) Like the tumblr post where its like it takes 1 full feudal village to produce a knight, but I guess all the Braves double as food hunting too????

I know they went through a war recently but still no wonder having most of a hunting party + a large collection of the youth killed in a short amount of time would push the Nora near collapse.

The Forgotten quest, I did point out that Brom’s issues wouldn't disappear and he walked away. (the tribe continues to have members who are vocal about treating Aloy like shit, do you think 10 years of isolation would lead to them treating Brom any better?) I'm really sideeying that the first side quest you get is a mentally ill poc man who is killed before and the voices are driving him to kill again. Hmmmmmm, maybe i'm reading too much into things??? Idk…..

Easily did gold medal on the first hunter trials. Watching my friend play this on PS4 he really struggled here but i guess the difference is mouse+keyboard aiming

Nil’s pretty ripped, kinda hot…

Playing on normal is pretty easy with combat so im fast tracking my skill points so i can summon a horse. I don’t have time to just run all over the map

Lol the “ring of metal” sports arena is a forbidden place, Varl’s nice

Difficulty scaling in this game is bad. I’m at level the 20, and at lvl 18 i did cauldron Sigma that had a challenging boss fight (the dodge mechanics), and then I did Underequipped (just by running across it) that had some challenging enemy waves. Meanwhile I haven’t reached the Carja fort and I’m passing by a bandit camp that is lvl 9

Also i upgraded my outfit carrying capacity to 35. I currently have 6, SIX total outfits. This seems like overkill

Did the find the soldiers quest, fuck snapmaws

First thing i do on the other side of the carja fort is kill a lvl 27 stormbird as lvl 21

Wow the tallneck surrounded by the birds, actually difficult, reloaded several times. Adds just keep getting aggroed, until i waited to override a sawtooth and have it fight for me

My mount stopped and stood in the talknecks path and just got crushed, lmao

Whelp 12.5 hours in i finally reach meridian

Feel kinda sorry for Olin reading his journal

So the Carja have a whole religion too, that is easily interpreted to mean whatever they want. Namman seems to be the only reasonable religious official in this game so far

Did the rustwash tallneck right at level 23, just by riding past all the enemies and jumping on it

Did the last bandit camp pretty easy, now all base game map unlocked

Finally tracking Orin down, and i get the “Unknown Caller” and I immediately recognize Lance Reddick, I’ve listened to a lot of Zavala voicelines the voice is very recognizable

Didn’t want to play Aloy as someone who will kill for revenge in cold blood, not for someone like Olin. Chose the heart option to tell him to redeem himself.

Time to fight another Stormbird since one attacked me when i fasttraveled to hunter quest, damn igniting the blaze cannisters does OP damage but also wow that bird wrecks my shit if i get close to it while grounded

I really like the robot strategic dismemberment. Shoot off their weapons, their plates, shoot the blaze cannisters to make them go boom. I’ll never play dead space but I enjoy this

Finally went to Rost’s grave, it was actually touching

Did another Cauldron, and in between just running around the map and wow i do a lot of combat -> gather -> upgrading loop.

Im starting to consider the hunters lodge quests with their annoyingly precise quests, padding

Im fucking sure im not gonna do all the collectables edit: in the end i wound up doing the metal flowers without going too far out of the way and I wanted to get all the vantages. Didn’t finish the rest

Was wondering about farms with the Nora, here are farms right in Meridian’s walls!

Doing the Fatal Inheritance quest at lvl 30, I remember watching my friend play and him spending like an hour on this getting wrekt. Yeah I’m overleveled and my gear is purple

Looked up where to find the power cells: I don’t need that power cell shield weave armor, but i will grab the powercells as i go along i guess but not going back for any

Meeting up with Erend for main quest and i think its funny there recorded like 5 extra voicelines for if you take ur time looting and not talking to him

This feels very Witcher 3, use ur extra senses to play CSI, highlight some tracks then follow them to a fight. Like i know more games do it but

Got the message “i advise you against visiting sunfal…” from not!zavala. But nothing seems to happen as i ride on by

Stealth through Maker’s End and killing the big machine was super easy. The enemies dont notice corpse and sniping with Shadow Sharpshot bow is EZ

Love how Aloy just yells “mysterious stranger did u see that” and is salty about no answer

Got the voice log where Ted Faro is like “use the back door” and the coder is like “you explicitly forbid any and all backdoors” and Faro is “well figure it out”

I don’t like Ted Faro already he’s every shitty management boss who has is the buisiness man on a tech dev project but knows nothing of tech

Oh so they made the smart AI robots able to self replicate and able to eat biomass to better sell weapons. And the pivot to weapons after solving climate issues was Faro’s idea. Fuck Ted Faro, literally every hologram makes me dislike him more

Not!Zavala is Sylens, and actually a+ writing here with how Aloy’s priority questions are different and how hes salty her first question is his name

Chose the Heart response to Sylens dialogue and what a HOOT his “i don’t care” response was. Same VA as Zavala is somewhat influencing my enjoyment of the character but also this interpersonal conflict is fun

Rescued Olin’s family with him, i like this outcome vs rescuing his family and telling the wife I killed Olin out of revenge

Ok im doing the “A Daughter’s Vengence” quest and its too easy that combat is annoying instead of fun.

I think i will just stop doing stealth because on Hard I’m too much of a glass cannon, and i don’t have time to stealth takedown 5 machines when i need to clear a site for parts

Doing the Banuk side quest and whats with the cords/wires interwoven in their body. I’m surprised that wouldn’t result in infection/toxic shock

Lots of voice logs in the Grave-Hold actually well written great worldbuilding. You hear a lot from Ames, then you hear from his wife where she says that the letters she get are AI written and don’t refer to all the awful events as the military is obviously losing, and civilians know “the lights will go out”

Then i realize all the audio logs from Ames in that room say “edited” and have a lot of “...” gaps, meaning stuff was scrubbed

Love how Aloy is like yeah Sylens i know the Earth isn’t flat (also I can’t tell if the continents look different to deliberately show tectonic drift or how sealevels rose)

Oh wow that Kopesh can demolish the catwalk instakilling me

Got a plus 51% handling time to slap that on my Sniper Bow

Ok so I get it now, thx to internet spoilers. The robots WON. Dr Sobek just had the US military kidnap scientists to build a vault system (reseeding life was the part i was spoiled on), and had the Military arm all the civilians and lie to this that the war would be winnable with a “superweapon” Zero Dawn. But no, everyone died

Ran across a thunder jaw while trying to hunt foxes. It would have been a rough fight if not for the armor arrows knocking off 2 heavy weapons and destroying the tail doing crits

Where is Nil, im doing a side quest to clean out bandits from a scrap site and I just remembered I haven’t seen that dude despite his promise to fight bandits with me

Okay Heap of Trouble quest heavy weapon segment was fun, also the quest giver Petra is cool af

Level 36 and i finally FINALLY get a fox skin for carry capacity increase. Holy shit that took too much farming

I wiped out the last bandit camp and got a “farewell” quest from Nil, googling shows he was supposed to help out with 2 other bandit camps but i guess the game is bugged and those quests didnt’ trigger. Glad I can watch it on youtube

Nil seems so sad I didn’t kill him. Of course i wouldn’t, he’s a weirdo but a fun weirdo and i bet he’ll show up for the final battle as a cameo. Thats how these big AAA games with “rpg elements” go.

Bet people online are thirsty af for him (who am i to judge)

Wish we got a hide helmet option, I like the look of a lot of the lower tier of armor but not enough to buy extra versions for cosmetics

Bow life and tripwires here

I just acquired 4 mugs on my travels, turned them in and i just got a collection of resources. Not worth it IMO

WHELP my game crashed fighting Ravagers, this is the 2nd time the game has crashed in combat

Chose the compromise option with the hunter quest, like didn’t seem the good choice to fight the large group and kill them

I really like Talanah, her helmet chinstrap though looks uncomfortable

Wow Brin is kinda accurate with the machine blood predictions, but also like suffering from severe heavy metal poisoning atleast

Avad the king seems very open with Aloy, wow

Blameless Marad seems to be what's keeping the sun king going

I have the Warbow and Tearblaster, and for fucks sake gotta go find fish bones again

Just hit lvl 40 rescuing Ersa

I kinda hoped Ersa would live but that would be too much happy ending for this game

So serene is pretty self deprecating, the way he talks about always being drunk makes me think its borderline alcoholism if not flat out.

Kinda surprised there isn’t more substance abuse in this world, but I guess its hard to get substances to abuse

Well except for machine blood guy

Right about here is where I gave up farming for resources and just lived with small carry capacity for new weapons and bought resources from merchants

The Carja have prison, and like a reform system, wow that takes resources especially in a very fragile society. Sucks that like Carja don’t allow women to be soldiers unless they can literally maim the opposition until they shut up

Back on main quest line: I really like the “i serve my own interest” type antagonists especially when they are competent and especially when the team up to help to against another antagonistic force

Really Aloy spends so much of the game alone, its good variety to see her interact with a person who also understands machines but they don’t get along. Motivation to help others with Aloy vs motivated for himself Sylens

Wow maybe Helis wouldn’t have become a fanatic if his wife and child hadn’t died in childbirth. Stereotypical angst BUT its one of those preventable deaths if medical knowledge had been preserved (can’t believe i wrote this before the big Ted Faro crimes against humanity reveal)

Chase segment was GOOD

I like Vanasha

GLAD THE GAME TELLS ME I’M AT A POINT OF NO RETURN

I really liked the Uthid questline, though at the end even as lvl 43 i was spamming heals

Doing the other quest, Vanasha has a six pack she’s shredded

I like finding text entries that talk about how fucked the world was even before the killer machines, talking about mosquitoes going extinct during a period of time people just call the “Die off” with whole new pandemics. Really feelz too real rn

Its definitely at the top of the list for good worldbuilding writing, shame just so much of it is hard to find over the entire open world

Fuck the Spurflint trials, too much random chance and bullshit. Its not worth my time to do them

I really like how the Zero Dawn facility is laid out. All the notes talking about just the human resource problems from snatching people around the globe and telling them how little time is left until extinction. The logs talking about the different options people had, and you can find one of those small solitary confinement rooms

The tragedy of Operation Enduring Victory, all the lies that were told and the people sacrificed just to hold off the robots for a little bit longer to try to build Zero Dawn to bring humanity back after total extinction; like its good writing the way they build up to it

Herres: “please note I am sorry and i wish you well” good shit

Sylens with the big heroic moment! Promptly undercut by him being so dismissive of the first message Aloy saw with her focus, then an apology for being needlessly cruel before. On that note, damn Sylens really has got a lot of intel this whole time

A lot of feelings about how so many messages in the game are left by people uncertain if someone will survive to see them but hoping none the less.

Also the children raised by AI with obvious limitations forbidden from accessing the rest of the space, the area only takes a few minutes to get through but its great environmental storytelling. So roughly 700 years later they are the present day Nora

Sylens really expressed that horror, they could look down into space they couldn’t access and raised by AI who obviously had gaps until they were sent outside since there was no more food

All the feels: Rost’s tragic backstory, Aloy hugging Teersa

LMAO ran across sidequest “death from the skies” i think that previous point of no return wasn’t as NO RETURN as I thought but I did notice where dialogue would have differed

Listening to peoples final messages as they’re sealed in GAIA with no return, then Elisabet’s sacrifice, its genuinely moving. You meet them not to long ago in the Zero Dawn facility but the logs serve to really flesh out the characters and flesh out that time was up, especially since some of the people met before chose suicide

FUCK TED FARRO, WHAT AN ASSHOLE LIKE HOLY SHIT I HATE THIS GUY, LIKE HES THE REAL VILLAIN HERE DONT THINK IVE HATED A VIDEO GAME DUDE MORE

Without Elisabet there to “manage” him he fucked the world over a second time, classic entitled rich white dude talking about the fucking “innocence of man” after he ordered the Faro war machines that he refused to understand the risk of no shut off

I don’t think I’ve been angry at a fiction man, I had to get up and go get myself a drink to take a moment

Like the horror of seeing their preserved corpses and the holograms overlaying it for that <min it’s very good at building up suspense because you KNOW something is wrong

Like the way he STUTTERS on talking about women there, the way that all the deaths from basic preventable things that he doesn’t even care about like CLASSIC SILICON VALLEY FUCKBOY

NOT to mention not just the MURDER OF THE ALPHAS, but like all the deaths becuase the work wasn’t fully completed aside from Hades going rampant.

That Sylens founded the eclipse isn’t a super surprise, he obviously regrets what his ignorance served more so than just assisting them one time

Its very funny to do the Dervall quest and see Avad in his grief make a pass at Aloy then apologise for it immediately in the next quest dialogue

I do appreciate all the people showing up for Aloy (it’s cute how many of them flirt)

Chose the heart option with Helis, i kinda do pity him but not enough to not kill him

Crying at the ending where Aloy visits Elisabeth grave and there’s the pan out with the triangle shape of the flowers like all the other flowers GAIA had created

That post game Sylens scene, maybe I ignored how he literally said he would use Hades again if it gained him knowledge cause I just liked the character so much. Feels like I just got Solas’d and he’ll be the big bad of the next game

Doing DLC Dam quest, Gildrun really made it enjoyable hes just so enthusiastic. Wish i could have found a mirror to give him. Just people finding joy in music over and over

The DLC old world narrative seems to be Blevins is peak stereotype asshole middle manager

Really appreciate how i can safe spot snipe all these towers

Remembered those 3 hunters as what they were willing to fight for

I enjoyed the main DLC story, told Cyan to be honest with the Banuk. The sibling relationship arc was well written as were the tie ins to the larger Zero Dawn plot

OF FUCKING COURSE Sylens was snooping in and chimes in at the end

Theres that vibe where “only you get that warning” like Sylens definitely treats Aloy as better than everyone else who lives in ignorance

I upgraded to bluegleam bows, I’m not going to bother to do so for all my armor

#horizon zero dawn #hzd #mac plays video games #horizon zero dawn spoilers #liveblog

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superman86to99 · 4 years

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Superman: The Man of Steel #27 (November 1993)

Lex Luthor Jr. throws a party in honor of Superman's resurrection in his fancy blimp, but some Underworlders rudely barge in uninvited. Also, they try to kill everyone, which is even ruder. These buttfaced sewer mutants are upset at one of the blimp's VIP guests, Project Cadmus Director Paul Westfield, for flooding their home and drowning a bunch of them a while back. The Underworlders go to some mysterious S&M enthusiast called Bloodthirst to ask for a way to kill Westfield, and when he suggests blowing up the blimp, one of them is like "But innocent people will die!" Bloodthirst then demonstrates his blood thirst by killing that guy in front of the others, who decide to go on with the plan.

Meanwhile, Lois Lane investigates the strange fact that unprofitable buildings owned by LexCorp are crumbling or going up in flames, supposedly due to Doomsday's fault -- apparently, he punched Metropolis so hard, shit is still falling down months later. Surely good ol' Lex Jr. has nothing to do this! Lois attends the blimp party intending to talk to Lex Jr. about the exploding buildings issue. He's very eager to talk to her too because, hot damn, look at her.

(Not sure if Jimmy is drooling because of Lois or because he's just Jimmy.)

That's when the Underworlders (who snuck in using cloaking devices to hide their ugliness) start hassling Westfield, and soon all hell breaks loose in that classic Jon Bogdanove style. Superman makes his fashionably late entry to the party right in time to save Lex Jr. as he falls to his death. He also gets rid of the Underworlders pretty easily (despite the giant '90s weapons Bloodthirst gave them) and takes the blimp down safely.

The next day, Lois has her formal interview with Lex Jr. and he tries to get fresh with her, which cements her impression that he's just like his "dad". Come on, that's unfair! Then Lex sees her making out with some mild-mannered dweeb with glasses and a ponytail and decides everyone must "burn" so, uh, maybe she had a point.

Character-Watch:

First actual appearance of Bloodthirst, who was first mentioned (as "Blood Thirst") almost exactly one year ago on Man of Steel #18. Right now, all we know about him is that he likes to go around sowing chaos in cities around the world, and now it's Metropolis' turn. He won't stick around for long, but considering that we've got two major storylines called "The Battle of Metropolis" and "The Fall of Metropolis" coming up in 1994, I'd say he was pretty successful. (Also, just realized that Lex's "they'll all burn!" moment is probably foreshadowing that too.)

This is also the debut of a surprisingly much more durable character: Franklin Stern, aka "Frankenstern", the Daily Planet's publisher and an old buddy of Perry White. Looking forward to the issue with their youthful KKK-punching adventures.

Plotline-Watch:

This is actually the beginning of the end for poor Lex Jr. So far Lois and Clark have more or less been unaware of his shitty side, but now that she's got his scent, he's screwed. Ironic that after causing so many murders and supervillain terrorist attacks, in the end it's insurance fraud what will eventually cause Lex's downfall.

On top of that, Lex is losing his shapeshifting alternate dimension girlfriend, Supergirl. He's mad at her for going to fight the Cyborg in Engine City and then disappearing for a few days (because she was posing as Clark Kent), and then she gets mad at him for ignoring her to go gawk at Lois. You can do so much better, girl! Hell, even a caped horse would be preferable to this guy.

Another significant event in this issue: Lois gets a haircut! And it's Cyndi, the same hairdresser she visited almost four years ago in Superman #45, which pleases my continuity obsessed-ass.

After being the star of this comic for the past several months, Steel barely appears for a few panels, in which his psychic pal tells him "see you in Washington". Apparently she's been reading the solicitations for his solo comic. Speaking of solo comics, note Superboy staring longingly at a headshot of his friend Tana, who just moved to Hawaii...

Pa Kent is almost as heartbroken about the fact that he can't eat Ma's famous rhubarb pie (since he's on a diet after his heart attack).

Finally, this is also the fateful issue in which Clark Kent decides to become roommates with Jimmy Olsen, since his parents gave up his apartment while he was dead. Is... Jimmy tugging on Clark's ponytail? (Whit looks devastated that Clark didn't room with him instead.)

Patreon-Watch:

Special shout out to our very first Patreons ever, Aaron, Murray Qualie, Chris "Ace" Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, and Patrick D. Ryall! To be as cool as them, and gain access to two exclusive ‘90s Superman-related articles (with more coming every month), plus new Superman art from Don, click here: https://patreon.com/Superman86to99

And speaking of Don, stick around for his section after the jump!

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):

We open with a great cover, echoes of my favourite Bogdanove image, his pin-up in Action #600. There’s just something about Superman rescuing kids from a fire that really works. [Max: Same! It’s why I love the panel below, too.]

Inside the issue, I was struck right away with what I viewed to be the start of Bogdanove’s looser, late style. Bogdanove’s art was always a little looser and more cartoony than the rest of the super books, but after what I viewed as top level effort during the “Death” and “Return” storylines, Man of Steel settles into a pretty sketchy, almost carefree style that really sets it apart from the more realistic art of the other books. As much as I think this could have to do with Bogdanove (I noticed a similar looseness toward the end of his Power Pack run) I actually think the layouts look more or less the same as the previous issues, making me think it might be the inking that is getting a little loose, relative to previous issues, with thicker, flatter ink lines than during the “Return” storyline, or certain issues when Janke was inking Ordway. (I say all of this with the caveat that everyone involved is about a million times better than me as an artist, these are just my observations—I wish I could be as good as Bogdanove, or Janke’s sloppiest work on my best day!)

That’s not to say that there isn’t still some amazing imagery in this issue. The full page splash, on page 5, of Superman soaring back to Metropolis with Lois in his arms is great—I love the lighting effects coming up from the bright city, as well as the motion created by the swirling cape. Nice, nice stuff.

The next page is a cute and intimate look for Lois in her terrycloth robe which was a highlight for me.

Page 12’s half-page spread of the cityscape, with zeppelin is very well done, and Supergirl’s transformation on page 13 looks great. The way she is drawn here also highlights the ongoing creepiness of her relationship with Lex II, as she looks very young, which she definitely is, especially mentally at this point.

Bog always excels at the more cheesecakey panels and the first look at Lois’ Teri Hatcher inspired haircut (and evening gown) doesn’t disappoint (though I could have done with losing Jimmy literally drooling!). The full page splash of Superman lifting the gondola is another great image.

STRAY OBSERVATIONS

Lots of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman stuff in this issue, as Max pointed out. They make reference to Lois getting her hair cut, and also hastily mention that Ma Kent is losing weight, and will cut her hair, perhaps in an effort to align the show closer to the look of Martha Kent as played by K Callan. [Max: Wow, I actually hadn’t noticed the L&C haircuts similarity but it makes total sense.]

We’re fully in the Tarzan-hair era (don’t call it a mullet) and Clark’s hair is never longer than when he’s being drawn by Bogdanove. The ponytail is tough to take, but adding a medallion, as Clark has on page 7, is a bridge to douchiness too far, for me. [Max: Maybe he got it from Jeb?]

Page 10 has a kid in a Sunsoft t-shirt, a reference to the video game maker responsible for the 1992 (hard as hell!) Superman game, and 1994’s The Death and Return of Superman.

I like that even someone as rarely seen as Lois’ hairstylist is still consistent, as Cyndi last appeared in Superman #45.

I find it interesting how long it took for Lois to get wise on Lex II—the original Luthor was so evil, I always found it a little unbelievable that he could keep up the act long enough to fool anyone, masquerading as his own son. [Max: I think the Jesus look helped make him appear more saintly.]

#superman #louise simonson #jon bogdanove #dennis janke #underworlders #bloodthirst #paul westfield #ma kent #superboy #steel #whit #allie #fran #franklin stern #supergirl #they're real #and they're spectacular

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kotlc--headcanons · 5 years

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Amy and Sophie things

Let’s say Amy is visiting the Lost Cities, because I like to hc her visiting annually so she can catch up and learn details or updates on the Neverseen situation so she can do what she can to protect her human family.

It’s not unwise for the council to allow that, and it’s better than an imparter that will “only be used for emergencies.” It would also settle Amy and Sophie’s nerves knowing each other are safe.

Anyways, they’ve grown up together, they’re sisters, there’s bound to be jokes and mischief between them.

The first visit was at Havenfield where the team was waiting.

As soon as Sophie and Amy saw each other, they ran forwards to hug each other, only for Sophie to holler out. “IS THAT A NOSE RING, AMY FOSTER?” and Amy immediately turned and ran the other way, Sophie shouting behind her.

It’s like the Marty and Alex reunion scene in Madagascar.

Sophie caught her.

Amy and her argue in English all the time, Fitz quietly sobs in the corner. He’s heard enough about something called furries.

(“So you’re part horse-bird-narwhal thing, right?” “Alicorn, Amy, but yeah.” “So you’re a furry?” “..bITCH.”)

Amy ran into a room, only to whip and go “yEET” before Sophie threw her homework across the room and jumped over the couch to chase her.

They quote random things all the time.

Ex: Amy interrupted an entire dinner shouting “SO NO ONE TOLD YOU LIFE WAS GONNA BE THIS WAY.” and Sophie dropped her drink trying to clap on beat.

Ex 2: Sophie stopped dead in her tracks when a road in Atlantis was blocked off and whispered: “Road work ahead?” and Amy screamed: “WELL YEAH, I SURE HOPE IT DOES!”

Amy teaches the gang how to Fortnite dance.

Keefe learns very quickly.

He once proceeded to default dance on Sophie, and because Amy has shown Sophie Fortnite and the cringe videos that came with it, she leveled Amy, who was trying her best not to laugh, with a tired glare and looked very disappointed.

Amy cursed ONCE and Sophie shouted; “HEY, WHO THE FUCK TAUGHT YOU HOW TO SWEAR?”

Everyone just kind of looked at her. Even the bodyguards.

Amy got Sophie to climb onto Sandor because she said “Bet you wont, poopy pants.” and Sophie got offended and climbed onto Sandor. “Eat my poopy pants, you big fat loser.” was how she responded.

Amy cornered a very sleep deprived Sophie with a ‘very important’ question and Sophie responded with “Suck my dick, I don’t care.”

Amy started laughing and asked how big it was.

Sophie, too tired to really listen, just said. “Your mom.”

Amy replied they had the same mom and Sophie, visibly panicked went: “No, you.” and fled to the next room.

Amy will never let her live that one down.

Sophie tends to speak a whole other language Amy has introduced as “Sophiese” and Amy is the only translator.

It’s really just a mash of old and current English slang that no one in the Lost Cities understands.

(“Like woof, love that for me babe. Even though I did the hokey pokey to get that jank turned in on time, but go at it, I guess?” “She means she hates the fact they’re going to pin the blame on her, even if it’s not her fault.”)

Amy and Sophie will have really hushed and rapid conversations in English around adults or other people they don’t want to understand them.

Alden and Grady have tried to listen in, but Sophie and Amy speak not only with their words, but with their hands and expressions.

They only get bits and pieces.

The two sisters tend to gravitate towards each other, and despite the random reasons they argue or goof off, they have a better sibling bond than Biana and Fitz.

They also help each other with Nightmares.

Ex: Sophie has woken up in a cold sweat, hands gripping the sheets and Amy will wake up because she’s a light sleeper and they tend to have sleepovers at Havenfield, but she’ll sit beside Sophie and Sophie will mutter she doesn’t want the bad dreams to come back. “They won’t come back Soph, I’ll fight ‘em off.” Amy will always respond with. “With what?” Sophie will whisper, even if she knows the answer already. “My bare hands.”

Sophie always sleeps better after that.

Amy loves her sister, and is so impressed and awed by the beautiful and strong woman she’s shaping up to be. She’ll never admit it to her face, but she looks up to Sophie in more than one way.

Sophie loves Amy too! There are times where she’ll wish she can strangle her younger sister, but once a sister, always a sister. When she’s with Amy, she feels lighter, more confident, freer somehow. Amy’s her rock and reminds her that while she might not know her elven donors, she still has biological family.

#keeper of the lost cities #kotlc #headcanon #sophie foster #amy foster

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harusha · 5 years

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Honestly, some of the Three Houses maps are kinda boring compared to Conquest and even Awakening, at least for Blue Lions. I get we’re running around the same continent, but I got tired of seeing the same field over and over again.

And it feels like I have to put everyone on horses or flying mounts or die of boredom from inching forward every few seconds...like Dedue is really lagging behind everyone else b/c he’s stuck in an unmounted armor class (his riding skill sucks and I’m not gonna raise Riding when it’s a bane). Like... I put almost literally everyone else on a horse/flying mount, and I only suffered during a certain chapter where you get sidelined by both opposing sides, and only b/c Golden Deer is full of archers.

And everyone is carrying around regular weapons which kinda sucks. I know it’s Normal, but it’s way too boring when everyone is carrying a Iron/Steel/Silver weapon when they could have things like Armorslayers and Levin Swords.

And the Mastery System combined w/ a chance based class change is honestly horrible, even with a Knowledge Gem boost. It’s 2 points per action, 4 w/ the gem, and Master class takes like 200 points. If you wanna juggle stat growths and abilities, it feels awful compared to the previous games.

I will be upping the difficulty in upcoming playthroughs but like...Normal shouldn’t be that bland imo...

And on the story itself, the four route split honestly both benefits and detracts from the experience. You get a ton of replay value, but it detracts from the story as a whole when the whole “Slither in the Dark” group runs off after like 2 chapters, and nothing really comes of it outside of a certain event unless you take Claude’s route. Or how you can’t get more answers/questions from Rhea unless you take the Church route and so forth.

I honestly feel like Fates did a better job in that department, not story-wise ofc but how each route felt self-contained enough to where it didnt make you question too much but still let you learn the bigger picture if you look at all 3 routes. Plus, a certain month is poorly integrated and disjointed. If I’m looking for someone b/c a student is missing, and I find the room, why should the month end immediately if I wanna see the story? And if I put it off, it detracts from the story b/c it doesnt make sense.

As a side note, I did end up hunting the other House’s students in a certain chapter with Byleth for their death/encounter quotes (and their tasty experience and drops). Honestly, I don’t care a lot for anyone outside of the native Blue Lions (and Lorenz+Linhardt). And I know that is very subjective and depends on how many supports you saw with them, but on one playthrough, you’re only gonna get so many supports unless you jank your own stats/gameplay.

And I get there’s 4 different routes, but if I have to play the game 2 or 3 times (for each House since Neutrals will follow you almost anywhere) to care for everyone, I feel as if there’s a problem. There should have been more obligatory idle events/cutscenes interspersed in the school year calendar to make the player feel more for killing them instead of relying almost entirely on the player not playing “optimally,” for lack of better word. As the calandar stands, it’s too empty imo outside of the occasional “do you wanna take part in feast day/choir day?” pop-up and the supports.

Plus, professor level points are awful on a first playthrough. I ended up fishing for like 5 hours to get an early Parthia forge... I just feel like the fish should be worth slightly more than what they are. Not 500 a pop, but a bit more.

#Fates may have been subpar storywise but Conquest had fantastic maps #it’ll feel better prob for new game+ b/c of the benefits but that doesnt account for first playthroughs and inpressions #three houses spoilers #you can get cross house supports but theyre harder b/c of the time limit #im almost done #i have 4 chapters left #i honestly feel obligated to bring those 2 with me to whatever house I end up in #im prob still gonna only care about the BL group on my other playthroughs outside of some standouts #and the irony of that being their abbriviation and having the most guys #but no native m/m romance is not lost on me

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halcyon-wra-blog · 6 years

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Operation: Endgame

“Alright boys.. this is it.” Volran's voice crackled through the comms, barely audible over the choppy waves and clanking, metallic gears of their transports. “We all know our orders. If we fail here today, our Crusade won't live long enough to regret it. Stick to the plan, follow your Captain's' orders, and you just might make it out of this alive. Teach these Forsaken a lesson they won't forget, Halcyon, and may the Light be with you.” With that, the comm clicked off.. and they were on their own, waiting in their bulky, armored, gnomish transport ships for landfall. With every churning wave, the ship “jumped,” its gears and cogs whirring and whining to compensate, water lapping over the lip of the vessel's raised metal flanks, sloshing down into the crew pit below. It was an uncomfortable, compact mess, with soldiers packed like sardines rather than warriors.. but perhaps that was the point. After all, their transport was just one of two dozen, and-

“-KA-BOOM!-”

A cannon shot rang out from behind them. Just one of the few several hundred – no, thousand? - they'd heard that day from their fleet, hammering into the towering walls of the Forsaken coastal fortifications, providing cover, both in the form of large smoke clouds and heavy shelling, for the transports to head inland.

At least, that was the hope. Before they'd even escaped the shadow of the Halcyon's fleet, the cannon fire had been matched with a second thunderous cry: The Forsaken's artillery. The Undead had more than just the small blight “grenades” they'd used on the Kingfish. They had cannonballs fit to bursting with blight, and for every shell the Halcyon threw at their sea wall, they fired two towards the transports. Some of them tried to escape, but they only succeeded in drowning themselves with their heavy armor. By the time they neared the beach, their two dozen transports had been trimmed down to a light seventeen.

Their transports jerked, bucked, and stopped at the shore. Outside their sardine cans, the guttural, vitriolic spat of Gutterspeak roared over the din of cannon fire. The Forsaken were preparing themselves. Horses whinnied, dogs barked and snapped.. and then.. silence. A sickly, still silence that seemed to go on for an eternity. This, perhaps, was what some might call “The Soldier's Minute,” where time all but stops and coalesces at once in one euphoric cacophony. Their last minute sane; whole; alive. After their loading ramp opened.. there was nothing but death.

The craft's pilot stood up, toying with his communicator, “T-Minus, five..” he counted, “Four… Three.. two.. one.” With the tug of a lever, their door janked, clanked, groaned, and released itself from its holdings. It flew down into the beach below, clouds of sand rising high into the air, revealing the absolute nightmare that awaited them: A battle line of Forsaken Dread Guards, dressed in royal red, replete with plague hounds and warhorses, ready to meet the invaders head on. Scores of barbed wire and entrenched pikes stabbed towards the transports, and short, quick fix defensive walls loomed near the back.

Their pilot turned towards them, gesticulating wildly towards the open bay ramp, “Go! Go! G-!” An arrow, shot from an archer behind the walls, landed squarely in the pilot's neck, his breath catching in his throat, blood already staining his white armor. He staggered, slumped, spasmed, and fell dead on their transport's floor. But there was no time for sentimentality. Already, the battle cries from the other transports rose like a hymn, the sounds of boots, paws, hooves and wings rising to meet the song of cannon shot. To either side of this concerted Hellhole, the battlements and towers of the Forsaken's sea wall rose high along the craggy Hillsbrad cliffs, the plague cannons still firing relentlessly at the fleet, just off the coast.

Arrows went wide, pinging far into the hillside as Forsaken were bashed in their fetid heads by Holy Hammers. Undead gurgled and fell into the sand as magic blasted through them, rotten gore and decayed ichor splattering across the beach. As their guts and entrails smattered the beach, Forsaken sinew turned into catalysts for explosions that rocked the entire seaboard, sand flying in chunks in every direction. An overzealous Crusader stepped forwards, and at a moment's notice, his armored form was nothing but paste, at least five of his fellows joining him in the afterlife.

A shrill cry rang out over the hills. Then came a snapping, a howling, and from behind the Forsaken line a horde of rancid plague hounds sprang out, skittering and pawing their way through the barbed fences, arrow shot and mines. They scampered, mouths slavering hungrily, and descended upon the Halcyon like a wave. They bit with cruel intent, their teeth lined with bile and etched with blight. They bit, ripped and tore, eliciting pleading screams and terrified cries from the more unlucky Crusaders.

The Forsaken assault was relentless. Wave after wave of hounds lashed out from behind the wall, the mounted dread guards all too content to wait the conflict out and let the living exhaust themselves on their pets. Overhead, the Forsaken engineers kept dutifully loading their cannons with blight bombs, their shots thundering out into the evening sky. Yet, the plague hounds were overzealous in their work, and they had accidentally triggered at least a quarter of the Forsaken mines in their charge.

The hills were covered in Undead flying and rolling down it in droves, tumbling down to the base in craggy heaps. At the top, two death guards holding tight to plaguehound leashes, were there to greet them. The dogs snapped, barked, and finally, the death guards simply let them fly. They bore down on the Halcyon, jumping and chomping at plate like it was aluminum foil. They thrashed, their necks jerking side to side, wrestling like they were in a death spiral.

Just as the Forsaken charged, a giant ball of Light flew headlong at their cannon. It shot through the air with a burning light, hissing, fizzing, sparking like a Fourth of July firework. It screeched headlong into the cannon, hitting it square with a thunderous "BOOM!" that rivaled any of their ship's cannon shots. The metal apparatus bent, groaned, and sloughed off the battlements, tumbling in a giant pile into the choppy seas below. The death guards were blown far and away, screaming as they were rocketed into the aether.

A cannon lost, the Forsaken rallied, their plague hounds retreated at their masters' whistles, scampering back behind the defensive walls. The mounted Death Guards took up their positions, blades drawn, shields ready for a charge.. and another ear piercing screech rang out across the hills, the very air taking on an icy mist, the Halcyon Crusaders' breath going cold.

The line of royal deathguards tightened, forming an inhuman wall in front of the archer line as the Halcyon's ragged line of crusaders charged towards them. Arrows nocked, bow strings drew back, "Ready!" A high, silky voice called over the din. It wasn't gutterspeak. Thalassian? "Aim!" A pause, waiting until their prey had run -right- into their line of fire. There was a glint of red, furious eyes, shrouded by a black hood. A dark ranger! "LOOSE!" With a twang, a snap, a clap, a volley of tight-knit, white feathered arrows sprang towards the oncoming charge.

"READY!" The voice called again, only to be drowned out by the clash of steel on steel. The battle had been joined, just in front of their line. The royal red of the dead guards' cloaks rising like a tide to meet the white of the Halcyon, sword against sword, axe against axe. The hounds converged, sensing weakened prey.

The death guards on top of the hill stepped forward to meet a crew of soldiers, their blades drawn.. and quickly lost to the ground as their heads fell from their shoulders from the onslaught of Halcyon soldiers. The engineers about the cannon gave each other terrified looks, and without a second thought, both rose their hands up in surrender. The cannon was silent.

"BANG!" "BANG!" "BANG!" "CLANG!" The cannon snapped, groaned, cracked and bent under a soldier’s merciless assault. By the time he was done with it, it indeed looked more like a smouldering, singed soda can than anything that could ever have been used for artillery. "Whoever did that is getting a damn -MEDAL,-" Volran's labored voice crackled over the comms, resisting the urge to let out a cheering laugh. "Excellent work, boys! -Excellent!- Reinforcements are coming in hot. I repeat: reinforcements are coming in!" And almost on cue, should any of the Halcyon look behind them, they might spy the armada of skiffs departing the motherships, trundling through the ocean towards their landing site.

A shrill scream rang out across the hills, crackling directly into the Halcyon's ears. The comm abruptly went silent, and from beyond a far hill, on some other beach along the coastline, the terrified, roaring screams of an entire regiment of the Halcyon's best and brightest rising to meet the screech. The chilly mist around the valley grew. The shrill, shuddering cry over the hills reached a crescendo, a trio of ghastly, flying revanents rounded on them. They were robed all in black, tattered robes, each clutching a scythe in hand. They swooped low, their mangled, scarecrow-esque faces contorting into wide, hungry maws as they sighted their next targets.

The death guards staggered, their lines breaking. They folded inwards, the onslaught of the Halcyon and their reinforcements all too much for them to bear. They fell in droves, regal armor clattering in dusty heaps in the sand. Archers shrieked, their arrows flying in disorganized waves as undead monstrosities ate their fill of rotten flesh. It was a slaughter, and a slaughter the Halcyon were winning.

From the pits of her fallen comrades, the dark ranger leapt up, her bowstring snapping in rapidfire patterns, neat, feathered pinpricks embedding themselves in the foreheads of those unsuspecting. She landed with a roll, interjecting herself into the sea of Crusaders, her bow discarded in lieu of two sharp cutlasses. They sang a siren's song, snapping side to side, slicing, chopping, cutting through the thinly-chained necks of crusaders before they could even reckon what had come. And not only that, but those three monstrous revenants were bearing down on them from behind.

With one voice, they let out an ear piercing roar, burning, icy breath blasting from their gaping maws, coating the back lines of the Halcyon's forces. Soldiers froze solid where they stood, looking more like popsicles than soldiers. The revenants were merciless, their shrill, freezing cries rattling across the valley, turning sand to crystalline silica, bodies into frigid cadavers, and soldiers into statues. One by one, the Dark Ranger followed up on each of their conquests, her cutlasses slicing clean through frozen flesh, coagulated blood oozing from every cut. Wait.. how was she not freezing? There, around her neck! A bright, orange glowing orb clanged against her leather armor, bouncing free from her cloak with every pirouette, every twist.

Finally, their freezing breath over with, the revenants descended to flank the Ranger, their scythes in hand, dead, empty eyes staring at their handiwork. With one body, one mind, they marched forwards, hands gripping about their scythes. Scythes rose and fell, chopping through the remaining cadre of Crusaders, harvesting them like wheat. The revenant on the left made its slow, careful march forwards. Its scythe raised, and with one cruel, downward swing, it acted to snuff the faint heartbeat out of those in his wake permanently.

The center revenant stepped forwards, spindly, boney fingers wrapped about its scythe, and trudged forwards. Unlike its brethren, it made no move to slice her or cleave. Instead, its ghastly, haunted maw opened wide, wider than any jaw would allow, and the beginnings of a concerted gust of frost coiled about its charred and cracked lips.

The revenant on the right turned, marching forwards with its brothers, dead eyes locked forward. It descended, scythe raising.. and then, from the inside out, its icy exterior went golden. Its eyes flashed, mouth agape as it let out a low, shuddering vibrato roar that rose up to a tenor, then a falsetto, until the creature practically -POPPED- from a Light overload cast by one of the Halcyon’s Knight-Captains.

The ranger yowled, recoiling away from the pain of the Light inflicted by the Halcyon’s Paladins. She scampered away, rolling her shoulder, shaking the pain off. Her red eyes flicked from the Halcyon to the revenants, then back again. "I let you get away once, pigs. I'm not about to make the same mistake twice." She dashed away, her light footfalls padding against the sand.. only to feel the flat end of a blade slap against her ankles.

Her arms threw out in front of her, her entire body sailing forwards with an 'Uhnf!' of effort, and she landed face first in the blood soaked sand, staggering, trying to regain her balance. She rolled hurriedly up onto her back, red eyes blazing furiously at the offending paladin and runic knight. With a snarl that showed teeth, she leapt up to her feet, drawing her swords once more, spinning, pirouetting, one slicing toward the rune-knight, another towards the Paladin.

"When will you humans LEARN?" She snarled, her legs kicking out, attempting to bash against plate, "This is our home, not yours! NEVER yours!"

The revenant on the right was violently shunted, sending the gigantic beast staggering to the left. They stumbled, colliding with one another, their frozen breath cracking against one another, snap-freezing them together. They were trapped. They couldn't move! They..! ACORN! In unison their heads looked up, and saw the small, teensy tiny little thing fall between them. Within the span of two seconds, the haunting creatures had been replaced by a giant oaken tree, their wizened, craggy faces jutting out from the bark, their scythes sticking out at odd angles.

The ranger let out a huffing a breath as soldiers charged into her, sending her sprawling onto the ground.. and then again, just as she'd tried to regain her composure, another came to knock her down. Swords went flying in either direction, arms going wide to either side, her body "puff"ing into the soft sand beneath her. Swords, bird pecks, punches, nails.. it was all she could do to bring up her arms to try and ward off the blows.

She felt a sword descend upon her neck, driving clean through her pendant.. and straight into her heart. Then slowly, almost peacefully, her arms fell to her side, no longer even deigning to resist. Instead, her red eyes gazed peacefully up at the paladin, druid, crusader and she smiled.

"We.. will.. never.. surrender," she blurbed, congealed, black blood oozing from her lips. "We will fight you.. wherever is needed. We will.. kill you.. we will.. never.. give up.. our homes.." Gingerly, sickly, her left hand reached to the pendant, which began to crack and splinter around the sword, glowing a bright, rich amber color.

"Glory to the Forsaken.. Glory.. to.. Sylvanas.." Her eyes widened with manic glee, and the pendant began to let out a soft chiming. The light growing more and more intense, the noise ringing in their ears. "We will.. never.. be.. slaves-" The pendant blasted the ranger to smithereens, and, hopefully for her, might just take some of them with her. Yet, the Halcyon prevailed. They had won. They now had their foothold in Hillsbrad, and it was only a matter of time before they expanded further inland.

#It's a long Read #Combat Event Recap #The Halcyon #Op: Endgame #IC #Guild Plot

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st33d · 3 years

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All These Worlds Are Yours (Except Europa)

It’s been a while since my last CRPG report and I have played quite a lot of CRPGs in the meantime. I’m going to keep it brief. It’s by no means all the games I played over the past year or so, but it is all the games that are worth playing in some fashion or another.

Yet again I didn’t really bother to get decent screenshots so you’ll have to endure some tangentially related Shutterstock photos.

Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk

It’s like Etrian Odyssey but made by horny 14 year olds. Monsters take the form of purple-black eyes that move only when you do. Colliding with them triggers a JRPG battle with your team. You must conquer around a dozen or so dungeons to defeat a mysterious evil whilst learning about your protagonist’s horny hubris.

I like how it automatically fills in the in-game map, only drawing tiles you have stepped in. Stairways also connect perfectly on most dungeons, leading to some detective work to solve them. The combat is passable. The story is PG13 with random suggestions of poop and sex without really showing any. It’s… a good game with a lot of simple mechanics that it layers up over time to make something quite complex. I really enjoyed solving the dungeons but it’s such a multilayered ball of weirdness that I hesitate recommending it.

Dragon’s Dogma

It’s like Skyrim but with less items, less map, and decent fights. Like, really decent fights. You can climb on the back of beasts and hack pieces off of them or shoot magic arrows that do a host of cool things. The story is pretty anime - I can’t get into why without some major spoilers. Safe to say that after the first (and honestly entertaining) chunk of the game you get an overlay of falling ash pinned to your screen and the monsters become hit point sponges. That’s around when I stopped playing because it felt like I’d reached “an” ending and the rest was about beating as many dead horses with whatever sticks I could upgrade enough to hit them with. Last time I fired it up I got in an hour long fight with an off-brand beholder that basically respawned all its limbs eight times because of its egregious hit points.

You’re joined by some enthusiastic AI companions called pawns who have no story and just kinda throw themselves at enemies whilst repeating the same phrases over and over. I’m not really sure if they’re a blessing or curse. The game overall is pretty jank with terrible traversal (don’t explore, the quests will send you to every corner of the map anyway - twice). Despite all my complaints it’s a lot of fun - at least until the 1st ending. It’s cheap and I recommend it.

Sky Rogue

It’s like a lot of aircraft dogfight games but a bit random. I’ve played this a bit on single player and it’s alright. However I have played many, many, missions in the 2 player mode with a coworker. It’s just very satisfying doing the whole Top Gun team thing taking on a bunch of enemy planes whilst working on upgrades.

Disco Elysium

It’s like Planescape Torment but without the tedious combat or problematic writer behind it. There’s a video of one of the devs explaining how the dialogue is laid out like Twitter in tabloid format for easy reading. This is revolutionary. I want every computer text game to use this format from now on.

I cannot stress how important it is to enter Disco Elysium unprepared. To have no grasp on just how far you will be allowed to explore, who you will meet, who you will travel with, or what you are expected to do. It is a game about amnesia and becoming someone new - if that is at all possible.

I have two pieces of advice however:

Don’t start with Psyche or Physique stats below 2, they’re both your health and the game will surprise you with damage to either in the most unexpected places.

Do every quest. Explore every nook and cranny. Not knowing is the very essence of the game. You’ll have lost that feeling after the ending.

I don’t need to tell you how good the game is. Just look at most reviews.

Everspace

It’s like Descent (that 1st person spacecraft game on the PSX) but in space and it’s a roguelike. Everspace has you mine, salvage, fight, trade, and quest - but you do it all from the comfort of a spaceship that has responsive controls and interesting weaponry. I had a lot of fun skulking round wrecks to salvage parts whilst avoiding patrols of hostiles until I had enough kit to take them on.

It has a substandard storyline but great meta-progression, asking you to grind cash from each run to unlock parts for a better ship on the next. I put in a great deal of hours into this game and I’m looking forward to what the studio does with the sequel.

Horizon Zero Dawn

It’s like Shadow of Mordor but good. My only major complaint was how constant use of the bow had the camera staying uncomfortably close to Aloy’s arse and burying itself in grass during frenetic combat. When the camera wasn’t trying to kill me the combat was astoundingly good. You fight lumbering robo-dinosaurs with special weak spots and various attacks. The quests are also good with a surprising amount of cutscenes and dialogue for a lot of completely optional content.

I was also amazed at how they managed to pull off an almost believable backstory for a world full of robot dinosaurs. Despite some frustrating combat encounters I had a good time exploring its large and very pretty world.

Pathfinder Kingmaker

It’s like Baldurs Gate but not as good. Only on my 3rd attempt at playing the game with the newly patched in turn based mechanics did it start to make sense. It uses Pathfinder’s rules which are deep and tactical - as tactical rules go they’re pretty good. However when those rules fly by at real time speed you don’t learn how opportunity attacks work (they’re more complex than modern D&D) or how to utilise charge and positioning.

The story is pretty forgettable and the encounter design is relentlessly dull. A lot of areas are just simply fight after fight after fight. In turn based mode the fights are pretty good but too many of them are identical. The ones that weren’t I found inscrutable and impossible to pass. If you like min-max fighting and little else then have at it - but I warn you that the UI is lagging behind most popular CRPGs. You can’t even check the world map whilst in a town.

Metal Gear Solid V

It’s like an RPG. Despite not having a main character with stats, in this open world game of hide and seek you kidnap soldiers who in turn become your stats. Through them you gain access to new abilities. Through them you are drip-fed the resources you steal, only becoming able to spend all that you’ve stolen by having enough accountants to do your taxes. It is a brilliant work of roleplaying economics and a thoroughly enjoyable open world game. One where I can completely ruin a mission yet chuckle at my attempts to save what’s left of my dignity.

It also fails to stick the landing. At around the 20th mission the game starts committing to its plot and the rot sets in. Bit by bit it becomes worse to play. There was trouble at Konami when the game was made and it feels like the end of the game was hit the hardest. This was the part that was tested the least and had the worst ideas thrown into it. Metal Gear Solid V is still worth it for the 1st half of the game.

Final Fantasy 8

It’s like the other Final Fantasy games but poorly paced and balanced. The junction system is incredibly interesting in that it tries to sidestep the whole issue of items by gluing your characters to guardian angels. It’s built in card game Triple Triad is simple and engaging. The story is kinda interesting with some time travel shenanigans going on...

But it’s pacing is dreadful with endlessly copypasted rooms. The magic draw system is miserable (and yes I know you can get GFs to convert items to magic but then it’s more tedious busy work to upscale all the magic into something work attaching). The world map is shockingly empty. And the characters are just yawn, yawn, yawn.

Pick it up on sale.

Torchlight 2

It’s like Diablo 2 but not quite as good. Still worth playing though. I got it on the Switch and found that playing it with a gamepad was a pleasant experience.

It has a few balance problems with the Engineer class being ridiculously overpowered compared to any of the others (and way more fun). And there’s some annoying bugs that prompted a few reloads. Still pretty entertaining however.

Pokemon Shield

It’s like every other Pokemon game (surprise surprise) but easier. As much as I like how they’ve removed a lot of busywork from this entry, it makes it feel like the only challenge in the previous titles was the busywork. When really it was the busywork that held you back from just kerb-stomping everything in your path.

It’s not until the final DLC that you’re given some pokemon that are needlessly tedious to catch and some group battles using randomly selected pokemon that test your knowledge of the game’s systems. The only real challenge in the game is in the online multiplayer against humans where your pokemon level is normalised and encyclopedic knowledge of the title’s history is required.

My internet is terrible so the online gameplay is dead to me. It’s a very fun game, but also a very disappointing one.

Burnout Paradise

It’s like a sandbox game for cars. Except that you’re not really driving a car, it’s more like you’re driving a bobsleigh with a rocket attached to it. Unlike most driving games you aren’t given terrain that slows you down. Even if you hit a wall you’ll skate off it so long as you collide sideways. The game just wants you to drive like an arsehole and go faster and faster - to the tune of Epic by Faith No More (literally).

I mean yeah, it’s not an RPG by any stretch but it’s one of the best sandbox games I’ve played. Even when you’re not doing a “mission” you can just drive around the city finding back alleys and ramps to fly off of. It’s just a massive playground with very little negative feedback.

Cyberpunk 2077

It’s like a bunch of different games you’ve played before but not quite as good. The story is the best bit. I really liked the characters I got to hang out with. I guess I would have enjoyed the gun fights if I hadn’t been playing Doom 1 before I played it. And I would have enjoyed the stealth if I hadn’t already played Metal Gear Solid V with its superior A.I. It has cool Obra Dinn style brain movies to explore for detective work but I enjoyed the spectacle of them more than the execution (though I did enjoy them more than Obra Dinn which I found tedious to navigate or understand).

I saw one review say it was the most backwards view of the future. Not imagining what could be but endlessly paying homage to cyberpunk stories of the past.

I see other reviews say play it when it’s fixed. When the myriad of bugs (and I experienced enough to impact gameplay) are solved.

I say play the sequel. It’s worth experiencing but there’s too much going on that’s playing catch up to other titles.

Shiren The Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate

It’s like Rogue. I first played Shiren 2 on the Nintendo DS and was amazed by its deep systems and story meta progression - various tales progressing in the game only after each death and subsequent replay.

This entry is technically Shiren 5. Holy shit the content in this thing. There are 15 optional dungeons with different rules. Over a hundred block pushing puzzles using various mechanics of the game that you can just walk up and play in the 2nd village you enter. A minesweeper minigame. Loads of tutorial levels. All of these give you rewards which you can take on your main adventure which is a wholly different set of dungeons. I’ve unlocked several companions to adventure with and the game is hinting there are even more later on. It is obscene the amount of value there is packed into this title. And it’s fun. A little unfair at times, but as with all roguelikes the later depths require knowledge and a lot of caution. Strong recommendation for roguelikers.

Dicey Dungeons

It’s like Dream Quest but with dice. I played the prototype of this at the 7DRL after party. Terry was quite bashful about his creation and didn’t want to submit it. I honestly didn’t see why he shouldn’t as many of us had made far worse in the past.

I put off playing this until it finally landed on the Switch as complete as any roguelike can hope to be. It’s quite different to Dream Quest in that it requires a bit of math to do well in. If you’re not prepared to do basic sums then it’s hard to make progress. Also unlike Dream Quest it’s very balanced. There’s definitely some cheesy tactics you can pull off to get cheap victories but not without some thought and planning.

In a sea of deck building roguelikes, Dicey Dungeons is quite simply refreshing. There’s a lot of good ideas in here you won’t see elsewhere - give it a go.

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hollowedskin · 7 years

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hey birds here's an update on my shit. it's maybe 8 weeks now that I've had a headache intense enough to make me sick. time is hazy so it could be a week out either direction. I can't remember. it's a weird pain, not throbbing or anything. more like a brain freeze except it doesn't stop. ever. not for sleep not for hot showers not for anything except opiates... and even then. it's just dulled. I got a CT scan earlier in the week and got my results today, the good news is that it looks like they can get rid of this fucking pain. but they're going to have to jank my face up for a while. honestly by now I don't care if they cut my whole face off and replace it with a horse mask so long as it doesn't hurt any more. the scan shows that I've grown two bone spurs in between my eyes and they're stabbing into my septum, causing me excruciating headaches. they also found that I have a deviated septum which is making what would have already been painful, worse. I haven't seen the specialist yet but from what I understand they need to go up in there and saw off the bone spurs and then cut up my septum and straighten it out so it doesn't keep putting pressure on everything. I do not know when I'm getting that done or how long recovery is. I've got an appointment to talk abt it with the ear nose and throat guy at the end of the month. but for the next... till then? few weeks I think? I'm going to still probably be in a pain haze. I'm going to try my best to do painting and shit on good days. ive got some sterioids which we are just trying to see if they do anything to help w any inflamation related pain, but rn I've got maybe 3h max worth of spoons a day for literally everything I need to do to continue being alive before everything gets so collosally painful I have to knock myself out again. anyway. still alive. miss u all. actually I miss fuckin doing anything at all but at some point I will return when shit doesn't hurt so much. in the meantime stay safe and be kind to each other

#personal #Hollow update #medical

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meitanreax · 4 years

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day 4

hi bebu!!

hope you have a good day exploring town tomorrow!! im excited to see what tea and little sights u see ^__^ please send some photos and tea over hehe! i love you lots !! so much, forever, more than anything, with all my heart!!! <3 _ <3 every letter is one step closer to seeing u!! we only have 10 days left WOOO after tomorrow we’ll be in the single digits ^.^

im excited to call u tomorrow!!! also THANKS FOR ADDING SONGS TO THE PLAYLIST LOL majority is still me so u should catch up:3 ive been listening to clear & our playlist next to you, nonstop!!! im probably gonna listen to it a lot too the next day since it’s gonna be a 7-8 hour drive back to my cousin’s house...RIP

so in response to ur challenge: i want u to draw us on the phone talking to each other, u with pupy and me with buny!! or us in japan or us reuniting in the airport...LOL theres a lot of options but ^_^ HEHE U CAN CHOOSE!! here’s my doodle for the first prompt :3 pls send me ur photo when u r done!! i look forward to it!!

ok!! so here’s for my day!! so i woke up around 530 am cuz of jet lag..and cuz i slept at like 930 LOL so it wasnt too bad!!! i got breakfast and stuff and then left the hotel around ~945 am? here’s some photos before i left!

this is the little garden/plaza in front!! p cute!!! so literally....like i said our 4 hour drive ended up taking...7 hours..LOL we arrived at like 445 instead of ~130-2 RIP LOL but like i said!! everything that couldve went wrong on the trip, went wrong!! and i was like wtf hmph!!! first the baby yacked, so it was YACK SEAT, and then it was a flat tire!! like bro!! and i kept needing to pee, even worse!!

omg also on the road there was A BUNCH OF “road work ahead” signs and i literally thot of drew gooden’s “road work ahead? uh YEAH, i sure HOPE it does” LOOOL and there was like another sign that said “end road work” and i was like NOOO THE ROAD IS BROKEN NOW LOL

here r some photos i took on the road! we drove through a bunch of little towns idk what was going on and it sucked the road was literally one lane the entire way...LOL and we passed by the ocean at one point!! it was really pretty

we finally arrived around ~445!!! i took some photos of the place we’re at. it’s a place called vigan (pronounced like vegan LMAO) and we’re staying at a bed and breakfast...the wifi is hella jank so i ended up using the fucking hotspot again RIP..oh well at least it works p well ^_^ LOL

i ended up getting my own room with ez!! so i can talk and stuff and do whatever without my parents being loud or annoying LOL (fcking thank god)

so after we settled down and stuff, we went out to walk around, and see the cobblestone areas, cuz this town is supposed to be an old spanish settlement so they made it more like europe and added cobble stones and stuff, and there are some spanish architecture here!! it’s SOOOO fricking humid though and im fucking DYING i literally started sweating 2 minutes out there

i think this town was actually one of the coolest ive been to in the philippines!! anyways yeah we just walked around looked at the streets and stuff. there was a bunch of horse drawn carriages o.0 and like a lot of tourist pop up shops LOL bro i got annoyed at some r00d filipinos who kept walking in when i was trying to take a photo!! i literally sighed so loud and they looked at me so i think they got the hint LOL ;-;

but anyways, we walked around, got some water at a 7/11 and i got nutella bueno snacks and pepero and ferero rocher :3 i wanted to get cup noodle but im like hMMM LOL

here r some cute photos of me that i took today LOL ^.^ just in case u missed my face hehe ( i sure hope u do!! )

after walking around and stuff, bro...we walked to a church and theyre like leTS go InSIDE LOL and im jsut ??? EVERYONE STARTED KNEELING AND PRAYING LOL and im like uh...ok..so i just walked around like i was looking around instead of prayign LKDSJLFKDj dude i found the lil chair the priest sits in during confession and i was gunna sit in it until my dad yelled at me and i was like o

LMFAOOO ;-; i thot it was funny cuz i was speaking through the screen like “helLloOOO” LOL my fucking dumb ass dude!!!

we went back towards the place we were staying at, and then ended up across this cute lil cafe!!

i also found a CUTE japanese cafe called sweets forest or something and the inside was soo cute there were little vines and flowers everywhere and fairy lights and a little neon sign and i was like sigh ;-; just like cali..and they had japanese crepes!! i wanted to go but my mom was like no we go to church n i was like wtf LOL

but yah across this cafe was a lil bakery, and i got coconut/taro mix ice cream in a lil tub and it was p good!! i gotta say!!

we walked back to our hotel now and now im just chillen here waiting for u hehe :D gonna shower and stuff then just relax!!! excited to talk to u !! thanks for putting in time to wake up early just to talk to me ;_; i rlly appreciate it bebu!!!

ok for tomorrow’s challenge:

do the piccrew drawing :3 LOL also! take photo(s) of something interesting in the town and tell me fun facts or something interesting about it o.0 give me some information!!! be the tour guide :D

thanks for making the break more bearable bebu!! love u so much!! it really warms my heart knowing how much effort we’re both putting into making this work over this long break ;_; im really glad i get to see you soon and i rlly rlly look forward to it!!!! hehe IM EXCITED FOR THE TEAS TOO AND THEN ALSO JUST HOLDING U IN PERSON <3

i love you so much!! forever!! MORE THAN ANYTHING WITH ALL MY HEART BABY!!! i love you soo much!! T-10 DAYS LEFT!!! we got this!!!! POWER THROUGH!!!!!

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vjdarkworld · 7 years

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The Witcher 3 Review (NO SPOILERS)

Score: Recommended, for people that enjoy Storytelling

Best:

Storytelling

Adult content

Difficult Choices

Embodiment of Polish folklore

Quests

Good:

VisualsOnce you have a lot of good tools to use, gameplay is funExploration and Open World

Observations:

Lots of tools but all singular use, instead of few tools with dynamic usage.

Bad:

“Slavic jank”

Requires playing of Witcher 1&2 OR read the books

Performance

Best:

Storytelling

This not only includes how the stories unfold, but as well the characters and world they inhabit.

One word to describe it would be believability. Of course, it’s fantasy but the way standard fantasy things would be handled is done well due to the characters.

A plot is a series of character interactions, so ultimately a story is only as good as the characters it has. Truly what sells the world is how the characters interpret it, and they all have differing viewpoints. Some take the Dark Fantasy world seriously, others find it a chance for a Fun Adventure, and most attempt to drink their sorrows away. But my personal favorite interacts in the series is between Geralt and his friends.

This is where it becomes real for me, relationships. Throughout Geralt’s adventures he meets many people. He doesn’t get along with most, but there are some he actually befriends. And even though nearly all his friends are eccentric which contrast the stoic white wolf, he still has long and ongoing friendships with em. As the director of the game said, “friends are the backbone of your life” (he was talking about life not the witcher but oddly enough it connects to the witcher for me) and that is exemplified by Geralt.

All in all, the relationships between the characters make the storytelling real.

Adult content

While other games have sex in it, The Witcher series has been able to portray sex for what it is…. Sex. Bioware has the lovely dovey sex after you Romance them, but in the Witcher it’s different and more Realistic. Adults have sex for various reasons and it’s not always romantic. Most of the time it’s just for the act itself, having a single fling cus sex is Fun.

Since witchers shoot blanks they have the stereotype of being promiscuous. It’s up to the player (no pun intended) if they will let Geralt succumb to Hook Up Culture, or actually stay in a dedicated monogamous relationship.

Something like this just isn’t address in any other mainstream RPG.

Other serious topics are brought up as well related to sexual violence and racism. They are all handled well due to one simple theme present with each situation. That is the fact that you can’t be neutral, you have to pick a side.

Difficult Choices

It’s funny cus the white wolf almost embodies the “grey area” of neutrality that generally serious RPG fans walk the line of. That the player will be understanding for all Characters and trying to figure out a solution. But most situations aren’t like this realistically. Theoretically sure you can be critical of Both Sides, but in practice you HAVE to pick a side. Or maybe you don’t pick a side and “stay neutral” which can be the worst option cus you could be letting bad stuff happen that you could of prevented. This is why when choices pop up for Geralt, it’s pretty serious. Especially cus the effects of them happen way later in the game before you realized what you did wrong.

These choices impact the fates of certain characters, among other things. Choose wisely, or you may not be happy with what you did.

Embodiment of Polish folklore

I’m no expert in Polish culture, or of ye’ old slavic and pagan mythology, but the entire game reeks of something being different. It just doesn’t seem like your typical Tolkien fantasy. There’s a unique twist that is clearly the result of the entire game being developed in Poland, thus polish culture shining bright within it.

Some people joke that the Witcher series is Poland’s main export, but atleast for entertainment it seems quite true. It seems like a major group effort from creative minds of Poland, banding together to present their folklore to world. Major props and respect to the CD PROJEKT RED team!

Quests

Quests are designed like episodic content. For side quests and hunter contracts, they all tell a good standalone story from start to finish of the quest. Sometimes quests interconnect too, reference each other, presenting how much the world is connected. It makes doing the quests quite addicting cus you want to see what’s going to happen next in the quest, and then when you finish it you want another good story so you start another one. It’s almost like bingewatching a tv show. Having good stories for the quests makes even the most mundane tasks more appealing too. Trying to tell a story… WHAT A CONCEPT!

Good:

Visuals

They are pretty nice looking if you got the Specs for it. Sometimes regular real lofe animals like cats and dogs look weird but overall its good. Landscapes pretty, monsters spooky, humans all raggedy. The aesthetic sells the world quite nicely.

Once you have a lot of good tools to use, combat is fun

When starting out the game, you have limited options for combat. But through the course of the game, gaining abilities, new gear, etc etc, gives Geralt more tools to play around with. This is when the game opens up and you can mess around a bit. The white wolf can get pretty OP too if you play your cards right. To which if you think the game is too easy, you can always play on higher difficulties.

Observations:

Lots of tools but all singular use, instead of few tools with dynamic usage.

Due to how alchemy and signs work, signs, oils, potions and decoctions generally have only a Specific situation use. Some are more versatile, but most times you will be looking up the Bestiary to figure out what tools to use.

On one hand this kinda makes the combat seem flat, cus of the limited options you can do, BUT thematically it makes sense why. It makes sense why it’s like this for a hunter of monsters, there’s a lot of monsters and they all have different weaknesses so it makes sense as to why the design is like this.

On top of that, it’s kind of deceptive cus you CAN experiment but only when you have a LOT of the tools and you know what all their purposes are. It’s a barrier, but you can get over it.

But still, in the end the gameplay still isn’t as dynamic as other combat systems which is a shame in my opinion.

Exploration and Open World

Points of interest are labeled on the map. You get good loot and fight monsters at these points most of the time. It doesn’t truly make the game world feel Alive necessarily, it just seems more like extra stuff to do. I appreciate the effort of given the player stuff to do if they completed quests and are bored, and you get neat goodies from going these places but it’s really just There.

Bad:

“Slavic jank”

There’s a bit of a joke about games made in slavic related areas. They are often associated with janky games, but games with so much dedication behind them that even though they are janky it’s so unique that it’s fun. Something like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. for example. This phenomena is due to how the gamers in these territories are completely out of the typical western Triple A bubble. And generally dedicate their time to old CRPGs, which causes them to grow a fondness for more Detailed and Dense design instead of Simple and Elegant. This isn’t a bad thing, and this type of thing can be seen in The Witcher series, where it’s both Triple A BUT has that old school CRPG style to it.

All that is good in my opinion…. But I have to be honest and say that the gameplay can be too janky at times. Movement in general feels weird with its velocity and acceleration. Roach controls awkwardly and doesn’t feel like a horse, more like you’re on something sliding around. When you run into other animals or enemies on Roach you just push them away and not run them over.

Also, for some reason the controls completely change when in combat mode and you can’t control at all when combat mode happens. This causes awkwardness where you are not moving the same way as before, as in… an enemy triggers you to go into combat mode but they are too far away for you to hurt so you are stuck moving around weird. It’s just an odd system, which I prefer to have a full range of movement and attacks, not being arbitrarily pushed into combat mode.

Also, the inventory is a bit confusing to navigate especially if you are trying to find a specific item hidden in the Other tab.

The whole character upgrade screen too is not clear cus there’s clearly abilities that are better than others WHEN you actually know their potential, but unless you’re looking up guides and the wiki you won’t really know which are the good ones to actually invest in.

All these little things that kind of ruin the “game feel” make people not want to play it past a couple hours cus they think the game is “janky” anddd the game is actually kinda janky. I have to admit it, can’t lie. There’s other open world games that have better movement overall, and I wish that this game did.

Requires playing of Witcher 1&2 OR read the books

Now you may wonder, what’s so bad about that? Well, I was being critical about this games jankiness, but really it’s not in the slightest as janky as Witcher 1. Witcher 2 isn’t as much janky, but Witcher 3 improved on a lot of Witcher 2’s problems so Witcher 3 is in fact the least janky.

Now it would be a hard sell to say “you need to go through 50+ hours of the previous installments to play this?” BUT if the other installments were as polished as this than it wouldn’t be as much of a problem… But it’s like I can’t tell someone “Oh you have to play through these janky games to play this game, don’t worry it’s worth it bro” cus that’s disrespecting their intelligence AND worst of all their time. Not everyone has time to look play through decent games to get to an Amazing game just so they can understand the story… which is sad.

Cus don’t get me wrong, I adore Witcher 1 more than most, but I can’t lie and say it’s worth “slogging” through the awkward gameplay to see the amazing story unfold down the road.

Why? Even if it’s a unique OK… there are better games to play that are more than just OK.

And to the book point, you shouldn’t need to read a book series before playing a videogame, the entertainment should be as singular as possible. The witcher videogames too have a different storyline than the books anyways, so it’s a moot point of them being in the same continuity and being “required”… even though they technically can help if you didn’t play the other games. Still not fair though, so nah, just nah.

Performance

You need to make sure you have a midrange build atleast so you can run the game. But man do the frames drop in cities. Back on my old-midrange build I could play at around 50-60fps outside of Novigrad… but IN Novigrad I had 10-20fps due to NPCs and who knows what else. Also just some areas would lag on that build regardless if something was at low or medium. Very finnicky. I think by now with all the patches and optimization it’s probably better buuut I can’t say the game is well optimized. It’s serviceable with a good build… but ya get kinda screwed if you don’t and that’s a shame.

#thewitcher3 #thewitcher #review #nospoilers #geralt

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