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satoshi-mochida · 3 years

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Some thoughts on my last Gamefly rental, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot.

*Though most people are familiar with DBZ, especially the three main Sagas in this game, given how often they’re played out in games, I’ll put a spoiler warning here just in case. Also, I didn’t try out the DLC stories, yet, so this will just be about the base PS4 game with it’s current updates. I may buy the game and try those out in the future. I also say a lot about the game.

The game spans from the Saiyan Saga to the end of the Buu Saga(not counting DLC). Pretty much every important scene is played through, though a few parts are skimmed over or skipped, like:

Goku traveling Snake Way, his brief fall into Hell, and training with King Kai(shown a bit and mentioned but not playable)

Piccolo using Hellzone Grenade against Android 17(you can have him learn the move and do it yourself, though).

Future Trunks’ battle with Cell where he found out the speed-loss disadvantages of Super Saiyan Third Grade(that moment isn’t shown or mentioned, though he does still fight Cell in that form)

Vegito still attacking Super Buu after being turned into candy(which means we don’t get to see him beating Super Buu up as a high-speed jawbreaker). Also, Goku and Vegeta freeing everyone trapped inside Super Buu happens offscreen.

And possibly a few smaller moments. They aren’t too important in the long run, though, plus some were probably for better pacing or something.

There was some added stuff, too:

Several times, you’ll be able to meet, and occasionally do sidequests for, several older Dragon Ball characters, like Nam, Eighter and Launch.

A new fight for Goku against Kid Buu to end the main story before he launches the Super Spirit Bomb at him.

There's a fairly small amount of playable characters(who can also be put in a party as Support Members):

Goku

Gohan

Vegeta

Piccolo

Future Trunks(Android/Cell Saga and Epilogue, only)

Gotenks(only in two battles against Super Buu)

Vegito(in one battle against Super Buu, which, considering how powerful Vegito is, is more of an epic beatdown than a fight)

And a few characters that are support only:

Krillin

Tien

Yamcha

Chiaotzu

Goten

Kid Trunks

Android 18

All characters, Main and Support Only, have a ‘Super Attack Skill Tree’ that you can use Z Orbs that you find/earn to give them new skills and attacks. What you can get increases based on the character’s level and story progress(example, you can’t get Super Saiyan 2 for Gohan until he unlocks it during the fight with Perfect Cell).

Throughout the game, you’ll collect ‘Soul Emblems’ to place onto several ‘Community Boards’ to increase various ingame bonuses, like more EXP or cooking benefits. You get Soul Emblems both from the main story and side quests. They can be leveled up with Gifts to increase the Community Level, giving more bonuses. This seems to be the best setup for all of the emblems that I found.

At campfires and at Goku’s House, you can make food from items/materials you have to give yourself a stat boost. And Chi-Chi can be asked to make the party Full Course Meals at her home, which also increase the Base Stats of whoever eats them.

A certain filler episode from the original series where Goku and Piccolo are forced to get a Driver's License also happens in this game(though unfortunately without the outfits they wore in said episode). After doing so, you unlock the ability to make cars and battle walkers from Bulma, as well as Time Attacks for both types of vehicles(which I didn’t do much of).

Like the first Budokai game, this one has story’s events shown in cutscenes, which the later ones just had them happen in dialogue to speed things along, probably. And they did a really good job of animated said scenes, matching the look and feel of the series VERY closely.

The flying also feels well done, and true to the series. Aside from flying normally, which is fairly slow, you can hit L3 to start flying faster, at the cost of your Ki slowly going down and not being able to sense Ki with R1. This is the best way to travel the the large maps. Goku and Gohan can also use the Flying Nimbus, though you can’t pick up items that you need to hit Circle while doing so. Also, ramming into weaker enemies while flying will defeat them instantly and give you EXP. It’s a bit hard to aim yourself at enemies correctly, sometimes, though.

Going underwater functions the same as flying, except with an air meter to keep an eye on. If it runs out, you get kicked back above where you entered the water as the only penalty. Take a peek down under whatever bodies of water you find; there’s always stuff to see and collect, depending on the map, especially on maps with oceans.

You can also dash on the ground by hitting L3, and unlike when flying, you can still sense Ki while doing so.

I feel like this game’s flying controls are about what it should feel like for a Superman game. Probably might need a few tweaks to fit more with that series, but this feels like a good base for that kind of game.

The game’s many maps are pretty large, with lots to see and explore, including towns, caves that you need to be a certain level to enter, materials to gather, fishing spots, and more. They include plenty of well known DBZ locations, insulting Kame House(and the ocean around it), West City and Capsule Corp., Korin’s Tower and Kami’s Lookout, and so on.

Floating around these maps are enemies you can fight. They grow in strength as you do/the story progresses. If you’re strong enough and are fast-flying when running into an enemy, you’ll defeat it and gain EXP right away.

Speaking of Korin’s Tower, you can eventually unlock the ability to grow Senzu Beans there, which fully heal you. Once they’re unlocked, they will gradually grow and can be collected from Korin, with a Senzu Bean icon appearing next to it on the World Map if there’s any available. He will hold up to 9 at once, so check back once in a while.

Fishing is pretty easy to do; just hit one of the face buttons(X, Triangle, Square and Circle) when the marker is in a marked area, then hot one again when the closing circle is within another marked circle(this might make more sense when you see it yourself). You’ll get items for cooking from fishing, and some sidequests need them, or just certain types of fish, to clear. An amusing detail when fishing is that Goku and Gohan, even when he’s a teenager, use a fake tail as a lure while Vegeta and Piccolo fish like normal people(I forgot to check and see what Future Trunks does, but probably the latter).

After clearing the Frieza Saga, you can collect the Dragon Balls on Earth during Intermissions. They give off a small orange slow when sensing for Ki, and you’ll hear a low humming sound when you’re close to one. You can get several different wishes from them, with three of them always being for Z Orbs, Zeni or Rare Material Items. Other wishes are reviving certain dead characters to fight them again, and can only be done once, unlike the three listed above. At first, you can only make 1 wish at a time, but as the game goes on, it gets upgraded to 2 then 3 wishes at once. After making a wish(s), you ‘ll need to wait 20 ingame minutes before the Dragon Balls can be found and used again. They seems to have a couple set locations on whatever map they end up on(two locations are west of Orange/Satan City, for example).

Speaking of Mr. Satan...I know that his actually Japanese stage name, but I always end up calling him Hercule due to hearing that for so many years(and just liking how that sounds better). Also, ‘Satan City’ just sounds really funny. XD

You probably won’t need to really grind in the base game; you should get enough experience from doing sidequests and story events to get by. Gohan especially; he ended up quite a few more levels than everyone else just from the story EXP alone, and his Unleashed Potential ‘form’ from Elder Kai makes him do quite a lot more damage. Also, gained experience is shared among all party members, even those not currently set to fight.

One of the sidequests you can do throughout the game is defeating ‘Villainous Enemies’, who are fairly strong, and are covered in a red aura. You should at least be at or around their level before fighting them, since you can’t run from fights in this game. It may be best to do them during Intermissions when you can select your party members, and bringing someone who can stun with Solar Flare(like Krillin), can be really helpful.

In the epilogue/postgame, in addition to being able to play as Future Trunks(talk to him outside of Capsule Corp.), you can also use his time machine to redo Boss fights, and do any sidequests you may have missed.

The game’s opening has the old opening for the show, ‘Cha-La-Head-Cha-La”, and this is the first time I really listened to it. It’s really good, and kind of reminds me of the opening to Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon, too, for some reason.

There’s a few parts where there’s some nice attention to the series’ details:

At several story points when Saiyan characters are healed, like with Senzu Beans or the healing pod on Namek, they gain experience, while others, like Krillin, don’t get that bonus, which does make them, admittedly accurately, start lagging behind in strength.

If you use Ki Sense on Androids, and a certain researcher in Capsule Corp., you won’t see anything emitting from them.

If you have Piccolo and/or Android 18 in your party while eating a Full Course Meal from Chi-Chi, they won’t eat any of it. Saiyan characters(again, forgot to check Future Trunks) eat it ravenously(even Vegeta), while human party members eat normally.

Only Goku and Gohan can use the Flying Numbus.

These aren’t really important observations, but some events in the game made me think:

Did Piccolo destroying the Moon to stop Gohan’s Great Ape form have any effects on Earth? Or did nothing really happen?

How in the world did Supreme Kai and Babidi survive being so close to Majin Vegeta when he used Final Explosion while Piccolo and Krillin hightailed it out of there with Goten and Kid Trunks?

I noticed a possible(intentional) goof at the end. In the cutscene after beating Kid Buu and going back to Kami’s Lookout to reunite with everyone, Dende is a kid again for some reason. Apparently, both the original anime and manga made this goof too, so maybe it’s a nod to that? It is kind of jarring, though. XD

A couple technical issues I found were that sometimes when loading a map, and in some battles later on, the game would hang for a couple seconds, and one time it crashed while it was loading into an area after traveling to another. Thank goodness for autosave. Also, be careful using the stronger version of Goku’s Spirit Bomb attacks; it caused major lag for me a couple times.

This ended up being one of my favorite DBZ games that I’ve played, close runners up including

Budokai 3

Budokai Tenkaichi 2(mainly for just how many characters that one has, including most of the movies from around that time, outmatched by Budokai Tenkaichi 3, which I didn’t play)

Legacy of Goku 2(I didn’t get the chance to play Buu’s Fury back then)

Next game being sent is: Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel

#Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot #Dragon Ball Z #Thoughts on my rentals

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cosmic-navel-gazin · 4 years

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I just now realized that both Adam and Raziel are the small boys of their own duo. And by small I mean the other two are just insanely tall. This is just the second half of Part 4 of these ramblings that had to be split in two. Also, I really want Kain’s pants.

In which I chronicle my Legacy of Kain journey and bridge it with your boy Adam Warlock, and Thanos too for a bit! (Part 4.5 of many, not many SPOILERS for Soul Reaver 1 and 2)

Part 1

Part 1.5

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

I ended Part 4 talking about how both Raziel and Adam can’t stay dead for long.

In Adam’s case, whenever he is killed / is mortally wonded / just needs a bit of solitude and peace and quiet, this gross ass cocoon forms around him and keeps him safe (similar to the one that gave him birth).

He stays there dissolving and reforming, metamorphosing for an uncertain amount of time (could be an instant, could be years), and coming out a little bit changed every time.

He’s had other methods of resurrection but this is the main “normal” one.

And I want to follow that with a bit of a tangent on how this “undying business” translates into gameplay with Raziel. I think the devs made it into a very interesting mechanic in my opinion, present in both Soul Reaver 1 and 2.

Basically, if you lose all your health, you are transported to the Spiritual Realm - a more spooky and eerie version of the Material Realm, where architecture bends, passages open and everything gains a bluish tint. I let myself be killed here as an example:

If you get killed while in the Spectral Realm, you are transported back to the last checkpoint (in Soul Reaver 1, you would be transported to the bottom of the Abyss and have to make your way up to where you were killed). Another example:

In Soul Reaver 2, even the checkpoints have an in-lore explanation, which I think is awesome, Raziel says:

"These ancient obelisks were mysteriously attuned to my spiritual essence. By simply touching the symbol, I could safely preserve an imprint of my soul, and thus create a milestone to which I could return when weary, and from which I could resume my journey."

You can also just shift to the Spiritual Realm whenever you please without having to die. Useful to gain access to previously inaccessible places:

Yey stairs!

Here's a few examples of this mechanic in Soul Reaver 1 I found online:

But, even though you can go spiritual at will, to return to the Material Realm you need to be at specific marked points, and be at full health (done by consuming a few wandering souls):

I don't know if it is technically impressive or not for the PS1, Dreamcast and PS2 to pull this off, but I personally marvel at it every time. And I think it's an interesting way to represent immortality through gameplay, not just storywise.

I do wonder now how you would translate Adam’s resurrections into gameplay if Marvel had a game where he’s playable. I think some notes and ideas could be taken from Soul Reaver. Maybe while his body is being recreated in his cocoon, you take control of his soul, hanging out on Mistress Death’s domain, since he’s no stranger to that place. I don’t know, I guess I just want an excuse to see him and Death interact more:

Anyway... oh yeah! I spent so much time gushing all over the soul devouring mechanic in Soul Reaver 1 in my first post, that I forgot to show how it looks in Soul Reaver 2 in both Realms:

I'll be honest, I think I prefer the green flame look from the first game (probably because that was my first exposure to it), but I do like the Spiritual Realm version of the souls here with the little skulls flying about.

Ok, back to that scene between Raziel and Kain I started talking about in Part 4 when they’re at The Ruined Aerie .

I mentioned in Part 3, how it started to look like we might get a similar development for them to that of Thanos and Adam, in the sense of them going from sworn enemies to friends. And the tone of this meeting shows a nice little change in their relationship in that direction (yey! because I'm a huge unrepentant sucker for this kind of thing).

Whereas before their encounters were wholly antagonistic from Raziel's part, now it is much more ammicable. It's not sudenly smiles and hugs or anything, quite the opposite. Raziel does say that he will try and kill Kain if he even suspects that doing so will make things better. But it is noticeably different. Instead of it being all like "face me and die monster!", like usual, we get this exchange:

Raziel:

"Oh no. Every time you turn up something monumental and terrible happens. I don't think I have the stomach for it."

Kain: (laughs softly):

"No drama this time, Raziel."

Nice.

In the last couple of scenes Raziel even openly defends Kain when talking to others, which would be unthinkable during Soul Reaver 1. Our greatest enemy in the previous game is now an ally of sorts, or the closest we have to that. And our previous benefactor, The Elder God, who rescued me form the Abyss and tasked me with destroying Kain and the vampire race, may not be as benevolant as he showed.

Just awesome stuff here with your allies turning into foes and vice-versa the more we dig into this land's History. In fact, I'll just throw this out there, but the whole seemingly betrayal of Raziel, of Kain ripping his wings and throwing him into the Abyss...

I'm beginning to think that it may have been a necessary evil in Kain’s attempt to restore Nosgoth, and not so much a fit of jealousy as it was shown. But I'll reserve judgement. It kinda depends on when exactly did Kain stumble upon Moebius' secret lair and peered into the future. Like, if he knew that Raziel had to burn and become a wraith to help create the paradoxes. So for now it's just a random thought.

But yeah maybe Raziel's starting to see that Kain has been as much of a pawn as he is. Both forced to play out some part in a grand scheme, and both forced down a path of bad decision after bad decision. Just how Adam and Thanos get closer as they realise they’re more alike than they care to admit, especially in their flaws and shortcomings, and that each is the only person the other can really relate to on a deeper level.

I mean don't get me wrong, Kain is undeniably monstruous, but he seems to be genuinly trying to fix things and the raw deal he was given in life. So maybe we can get something like Thanos’ “redemption” years for Kain by the end of this cosmic drama:

Would like to see Kain getting out of this wiser (and Raziel too). Things seem to be pointing that way at least.

So once we do manage to travel to the distant past as we intended, to the big Vampire Purge Era (because Raziel wants to talk with this ancient vampire who supposedly knows about the Soul Reaver Sword, and is the only person who might tell me the whole truth), Soul Reaver 2 takes advantage of me and impales me through the heart:

I'll elaborate. On the next post. Where things will get very real again.

See you until then.

#the infinity legacy #soul reaver #legacy of kain #raziel #adam warlock #kain #thanos #soul reaver 2 #marvel comics #marvel cosmic #my fan art

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tokiro07 · 5 years

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There’s two DLC slots left (assuming there’s only going to be one season pass), and there’s a lot of ways it can shake out, so I’m gonna cast as wide a net as I can so I have a decent chance of being right

The one thing that we can say for absolute certain is that the two characters will either be from a Nintendo property (1st or 2nd party) or from a 3rd party property that has been on a Nintendo system before

Since this post ended up getting kind of messy, I’m going to be highlighting the ones that I think are the most likely from each developer or category

If it’s from a Nintendo property, then it’d either be:

Someone from a relatively long-standing Nintendo franchise that doesn’t have a fighter or Assist Trophy yet; the best I can think of would be the Wars franchise (probably Andy), the Excite franchise (probably Excitebiker), Chibi-Robo, Custom Robo (one of the models of Ray), or Rhythm Heaven (if Spirits are out, then probably Tibby or Marshall, but if Spirits are in, Karate Joe or the Chorus Kids)

A character from a recent game or series such as BoxBoy (Qbby) or Ever Oasis (Tethu) which have been gaining some attention lately, or upcoming Nintendo game, like Astral Chain (Akira Howard), Daemon x Machina (either the pilot or the mech), or some other game that we don’t know about yet

A character from an older Nintendo game that may have only had one or two games, like Balloon Fight, Mach Rider, StarTropics (Mike Jones), or any others that don’t have a fighter or Assist Trophy

For 3rd parties, it could be from a developer already represented in Smash:

Of the 3rd parties already in, Bandai-Namco is the only one that only has one series as opposed to two (not counting Bayonetta, technically 2nd party, or Banjo, a former 2nd party), which is especially odd given their involvement in the creation of the game itself; their new series could be Dark Souls (most likely the Chosen Undead), Klonoa, Katamari (the Prince of All Cosmos), Dig Dug (Taizo Hori), Tower of Druaga (Gil), Tekken (Heihachi), Soulcalibur (Nightmare), or the Tales franchise (probably Lloyd). Alternatively, Bandai specifically could get in on the action with either Tamagotchi (Mametchi) or its more action-oriented counterpart Digimon (probably Agumon), which both started out as Game-and-Watch style digital toys and evolved into video game franchises in their own right, though Digimon had a much greater focus on that

Sega, who technically only has one (Sonic), since Persona was an acquired property rather than an original property, could get Alex Kidd, NiGHTs, Super Monkey Ball (AiAi), or Virtua Fighter (Akira Yuki, who already has a Mii costume), though their most likely addition would probably be Puyo Puyo (most likely Arle), as despite being another acquired property (from Compile), it is most heavily associated with Sega and is currently one of their most popular franchises. They could also get other Sonic characters, like Tails or Eggman, but I’m mostly leaning towards new franchises. Also, though I don’t believe it has any real shot, Sega does make the Vocaloid rhythm games, Project Diva, so there’s a non-zero chance that we could get Miku.

Capcom, who already have Megaman and Street Fighter, could potentially get Monster Hunter (as the Rathalos is already a boss), Ace Attorney (Phoenix Wright), Devil May Cry (Dante), or possibly even Resident Evil (Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, or most likely Leon Kennedy, since he has the closest ties with Nintendo)

Konami, who already have Metal Gear and Castlevania, could potentially get Frogger (an icon of arcade gaming), Silent Hill (unlikely, but Pyramid Head is a horror icon, so it wouldn’t be too far-fetched), Mystical Ninja (Goemon), or Contra (Bill Rizer/Lance Bean). If Bomberman weren’t already an Assist Trophy, I’d say he was a strong contender as a Hudson rep, though Bonk is still in the running there

If you consider Banjo-Kazooie a Microsoft property, then it’s possible that Microsoft allowed Nintendo to use it on the condition that they get another character in as well, though this seems unlikely. If that’s the case, though, they’d most likely go with Minecraft (Steve/Alex), since as far as I know that’s the only property of their’s that’s ever been on a Nintendo platform outside of other Rare properties, though maybe that hypothetical deal would open the gates for series that have never been on a Nintendo console, like Halo (Master Chief)

Square Enix most likely won’t get another one, but they do own Taito, formerly a major studio in their own right, and thus could reasonably get Bubble Bobble (Bub/Bob) or even Space Invaders, though I’m not sure how viable that would be. For Square Enix themselves, the Mana series (likely Randi) or even Kingdom Hearts (Sora) would be good choices, but I don’t see it happening

If Nintendo wants to keep bringing in other companies, though, there are still four more of the top 10 biggest gaming companies in Japan that aren’t in yet:

Tecmo-Koei has pretty close ties with Nintendo, co-owning the Fatal Frame franchise, which already has an Assist Trophy; chances are good they’d go with Ninja Gaiden (Ryu Hayabusa), since that’s one of the iconic classic Nintendo games, though they could also potentially go with Dead or Alive (Kasumi) or Dynasty Warriors (though for the life of me I don’t know who they could go with. Lu Bu?)

Level-5, who frequently gets help from Nintendo with international publishing, would most likely go with Professor Layton or Yokai Watch (likely Jibanyan), though Inazuma Eleven (Mamoru Endou) or Ni no Kuni (Oliver, Evan, or Roland) would also work in a pinch. Interestingly, Level-5 also owns Comcept, so Mighty no. 9 (Beck) is a possibility, but an exceedingly slim one

Sony, Nintendo’s most major rival, doesn’t have much to offer since most of their first party games aren’t on Nintendo systems, and their most significant viable IP, Crash Bandicoot, is currently owned by Activision, so even if Crash got in, it’s hard to say that it would be as a Sony rep. Still, Crash is a gaming icon and former mascot of Sony, which would heavily symbolize the rivalry between Sony and Nintendo even if ownership has changed hands. If being on a Nintendo system isn’t an issue, Little Big Planet (Sackboy), Sly Cooper, or God of War (Kratos) would all be excellent choices. Interestingly, everything I’ve said so far has been developed by Sony’s American or European subsidiaries. For Japanese studios, their most likely reps would probably be Ape Escape (Spike) or Gravity Rush (Kat). Sony also currently owns Q*Bert (formerly owned by Gottlieb), who would be a perfect representative of arcade gaming, though I don’t imagine Sony would pick Q*Bert over any of their original IPs if given the choice.

Marvelous, who happens to be making Daemon x Machina with Nintendo, frequently releases their games on Nintendo platforms; by far their biggest series is Story of Seasons (likely Pete with Sara as an alternate costume, though other player characters such as Mark, Pony, Toy, Claire, Henry and Holly would also work), or its spinoff, Rune Factory (likely Raguna), but Muramasa (Momohime/Kisuke) would be a fairly strong contender if only because of popularity. They also own Senran Kagura (Asuka), which got its start on Nintendo consoles and still remains there to this day. Its risque nature makes me hesitant to call it viable or likely, though that certainly didn’t stop Bayonetta, but either way Story of Seasons feels a lot more likely. There’s also Little King’s Story (Corobo), but that’s a fairly niche title, I think

More in line with Microsoft, there are also a number of particularly big Western companies with a lot of support for getting into Smash

The biggest is probably Ubisoft, who is definitely the Western company on the best terms with Nintendo; they would most likely use Rayman, especially since he’s had a trophy and a Spirit, though a Rabbid is also possible. Assassin’s Creed (probably Ezio or Altair), Prince of Persia, or even Starlink (Mason Rana) may all work, but Rayman is definitely the best bet

A representative from Bethesda, another major Western company which seems to be on at least friendly terms with Nintendo; since Bethesda owns Id, I’m inclined to say Doom (Doomslayer), though I would think that Bethesda would want to use one of their original properties, so potentially Elder Scrolls (Dovahkin). Fallout (likely Vaultboy) may work too, but that’s also an acquired property

Though mostly inactive now, Atari was once one of the pillars of the video game industry. Unfortunately, they don’t really have many iconic characters that are particularly viable, but as I’ve said in the past, the Centipede would make a really interesting fighter

Activision Blizzard doesn’t have much that’s been playable on Nintendo, though there are games from both Activision and Blizzard individually: Activision could potentially contribute Call of Duty (Private Martin?), but they did acquire Spyro and Crash from Sony, so that would probably be a better fit for Smash, though it’s hard to say if they’d use someone else’s mascot; on Blizzard’s side, Overwatch (Tracer) was recently announced to be coming to Switch, and Diablo has gotten a lot of attention from Nintendo, what with the Diablo variant Switch and the Loot Goblin amiibo, though I’m not sure who would be a viable representative

Warner Bros. Interactive doesn’t really have a ton to offer since it mostly does licensed games, but it does publish NetherRealm Studios’ Mortal Kombat (Scorpion or Sub-Zero), one of the most iconic fighting games of all time, and 5th Cell’s Scribblenauts (Maxwell). The latter certainly isn’t as iconic as Mortal Kombat in terms of video game history, but it’s at least a lot easier to associate with WB

The Tetris Company doesn’t explicitly have any characters of their own as far as I know, though Tetrominos are a surprisingly popular choice. I however propose that they could use Tee from Puyo Puyo Tetris, as he is the closest thing to a Tetris character that there is. Unfortunately he’s probably considered a Sega character since he was designed by Sonic Team, but who knows, maybe the Tetris Company co-owns him

EA has...uh...the Sims, which used to belong to Nintendo? Dr. Wright from SimCity is already an Assist Trophy, but Nintendo never lost the rights to the character, so that doesn’t really count. They don’t really have much else that’s useful. Plants vs Zombies? Need for Speed? Dragon Age...? Regardless, EA has said that they are distancing themselves from the Switch (though they immediately backtracked on that statement), which seems evident since they don’t appear to be putting the new PvZ on Switch, so it feels unlikely that they’d get any representation in Smash at all

CD Projekt Red is getting Witcher III on Switch, and people really love Geralt, so maybe? Doesn’t seem super likely, but not impossible

Take-Two Interactive has GTA and LA Noire, but I’m not sure if those are viable

Epic Games has Fortnite which...I guess could just have eight different outfits? I don’t know anything about Fortnite

Some smaller Japanese studios (smaller than the top 10, not necessarily indie) may also be decent choices, since they have games with enough history to warrant being in Smash:

SNK has King of Fighters/Fatal Fury (Terry Bogard or Mai Shiranui) and Metal Slug (Marco/Tarma). SNK has officially gotten Fatal Fury’s Terry in Smash, seemingly to represent the Neo Geo system, which honestly I should have considered would make SNK a stronger contender

Cooking Mama Limited has...Cooking Mama

Nippon Ichi Software has Disgaea (Laharl)

ArcSystem Works has BlazBlue (Ragna), Guilty Gear (Sol Badguy), and iconic beat-em-up series Double Dragon (Billy/Jimmy Lee) since acquiring Technos Japan from Data East

Grasshopper Manufacture has No More Heroes (Travis Touchdown), which has had pretty much its entire history on Nintendo systems

Natsume is probably the least likely of this entire post, but they have what is currently called Harvest Moon (Farmer?) and their more well known original title, Medabots (Metabee or Rokusho) which is surprisingly still going

And of course, there’s the indies, both Japanese and Western:

Nicalis currently has the rights to indie forerunner Cave Story (Quote), and are the current publishers of classic SNES series Umihara Kawase, but the real star for them is definitely Cave Story

WayForward’s Shantae is already a Spirit in Smash, so of indies, I think she has the best bet, but only if Spirits don’t preclude fighter status

Not technically indie, but Inti Creates broke off from Capcom several years ago and released Azure Striker Gunvolt (Gunvolt) before teaming up with various indie developers to help them with their projects, so I’m gonna go ahead and count them. They also have Gal*Gun (Ekoro), Dragon: Marked for Death (likely Empress) and now have the rights to Blaster Master (Jason) from Sunsoft. If they only have the license and the rights still belong to Sunsoft though, then chalk Sunsoft and Blaster Master up in the smaller studios category above

Toby Fox’s Undertale (Frisk) has a lot of demand, so it only seems fair to put it on this list

For the sake of acknowledgment, Yacht Club’s Shovel Knight is the only indie to have an Assist Trophy, so while I doubt Shovel Knight is going to be in the DLC, he could come up in a future Smash

Devolver Digital is getting pretty big lately and has a ton to offer, and with their flagship series Hotline Miami (Jacket) confirmed to be coming to Switch, their chances have certainly improved. The Messenger and Enter the Gungeon would both work too, but Hotline Miami is definitely the go-to for Devolver

Gears for Breakfast’s A Hat in Time (Hat Kid) is the latest indie darling making the rounds, and with its imminent release on Switch, its chances have only gone up

Similarly, Team Cherry’s Hollow Knight is gaining a lot of traction, to the point that its sequel had its own segment at E3 this year

Brace Yourself Games’ Crypt of the Necrodancer (Cadence) has a crossover with Legend of Zelda, an honor that I don’t believe I’ve ever seen an indie game get from Nintendo before

Choice Provisions’ Bit.Trip (CommanderVideo) had a trophy in Smash 4, making it the first indie to be acknowledged in Smash, although CommanderVideo did not receive a Spirit in Ultimate. They’re also the current publishers of Bubsy, which...I would hope doesn’t get in

Edmund McMillen has at least two successful indies, Super Meat Boy and Binding of Isaac, and while I don’t think either of them will make it, I felt that they were at least worth mentioning

StudioMDHR’s Cuphead is on Switch and ostensibly getting a physical release soon, and from what I’ve seen is one of the most hotly requested indies for Smash

Similarly to Cave Story, Kikiyama’s Yume Nikki (Madotsuki) was wildly influential for the indie scene and would be very interesting, though highly unlikely, for Smash

Speaking of influential indies, Team Shanghai Alice’s Touhou Project (Reimu Hakurei) is one that I see a fair bit of clamor for, especially now that it’s getting console games

Supergiant Games’ Bastion (the Kid) is yet another influential indie game, and also interestingly enough was published by Warner Bros. Interactive, so if Mortal Kombat doesn’t work out, this is another good option

And of course, how could I forget Matt Makes Games’ Celeste (Madeline), a game with tremendous pull by fans to get into Smash

If I think of any I missed that I think have a decent chance, I’ll add them in later

#super smash bros #super smash bros ultimate #smash ultimate #fighter pass

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davidmann95 · 5 years

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Some Kingdom Hearts future thoughts

Have to get ‘em out! Went into some thoughts with my psuedo-review of III, but I’ve got others and stuff worth expanding on. I’ll put them under the cut since it clearly goes into spoilers, except for my boldest, most controversial guess: along with being announced either this year or next (since Kingdom Hearts has never reached the end of a calendar year after a release with nothing on the horizon) I think Kingdom Hearts IV is going to be a 2022 release. I recognize that sounds like an intensely generous timeframe, but I have several reasons:

1. Above all else by far: once again, Square Enix and Disney are going to be on Nomura’s ass, nose to the grindstone, to get him to start delivering these on a consistent basis again. Do you think they’re looking at Kingdom Hearts III topping sales charts and thinking “well, it sure was worth the wait”, or do you think they’re going “gosh, these are some nice sales, sure would be nice if it came out years ago and we had a bunch more similarly-selling titles by now, let’s try and aim for something closer to that in the future”. Especially-especially since Nomura and the actors aren’t getting any younger and the series is at a point where the core fanbase for the franchise as-is is going to be the primary target rather than new audiences, which means it has to wrap up in a timeframe where that’s still a viable market. So rapid, priority development and few if any more spinoffs. I mean, not as if there’s really a handheld platform for them to be on anymore.

2. My understanding (and this is going somewhat into the technical side of things, so I’m going thirdhand here based on what I’ve heard from others) is that the lifecycle of the current console generation isn’t going to run out for quite a bit yet, so they can reuse a lot of the assets and whatnot from III.

3. A big deal was made about Dream Drop Distance coming out on the 10th anniversary of the franchise, and given 20 is a much wilder number for this series than most equivalents when it’s about a single cast of characters going through a single story, I can’t imagine they won’t want to push that as at least a similarly big deal.

4. Finally, when things don’t go as catastrophically off the rails as III did, these games seem to have a fairly consistent 3-4 year development span (even III, once they announced the beginning of development in 2013, would have come out 2017-early 2018 if not for switching from Luminous to Unreal Engine), and for the reasons I listed above I think this is going to be on the speedier end of that.

* Firstly: the main discussion I’m seeing at this point regarding IV is “it’s gonna be a Kingdom Hearts/The World Ends With You/pseudo-Final Fantasy Versus XIII crossover!”, and I really expect and hope that isn’t the case. Not that I’ll be pissed if it is, I’m sure it would still be rad, but it strikes me as both unlikely and the lesser outcome. I don’t know that I see the powers that be diverting resources in one of their biggest cash cows towards a sequel to one of their minor games - one that’s already been in Kingdom Hearts, meaning its inclusion here wouldn’t reasonably be a huge enough deal to base a lot of the full story on - and a way to reimagine another project. And for that matter it strikes me as conceptually small-scale given the setup. Nomura went with a name in Yozora that doesn’t just have the bent meaning of Sora’s name but actually literally sounds like him, went with a setting that aside from the one cameo sign mainly screams to viewers “Sora’s suddenly in the real world, holy cow”, and unless I entirely misread it Verum Rex was presented as a total self-roast in Toy Box. It doesn’t strike me as spot-the-reference (even though that’s 100% in there) nearly so much as establishing a tonal contrast to Kingdom Hearts.

I joked initially about this being a Flash of Two Worlds! (linking to a description for non-comics readers who are here because I tagged Kingdom Hearts)/’Kingdom Hearts goes to war with its own gritty fanfic’ setup, but...I actually suspect that’s pretty close to what’s going on here? This seems like a send up of Final Fantasy’s relative self-seriousness and over the top Super Cool characters, as a contrast to Sora’s goofy open-hearted sincerity and optimism. It’s the Secret Movie aesthetic that some want not just more prominent but as the actual main tone of the series morphed into an entire universe all its own, and Sora, out of place, has to find his way through and back home even as the real threat mounts, and probably has to save this world and get through to its heroes who aren’t likely prone to grinning through off-the-cuff monologues about the heart. That is not only entirely my kind of ridiculous meta jam, it feels like a logical next step for the series: if the first trilogy was in part about growing up, the next (and I suspect last, as the Master of Masters and his Foretellers have been set up as the primordial antagonists of the entire mythology and this is where they’re coming to the fore; my old theory of Eraqus being the big bad of an intermediary trilogy looks solidly shot to hell) could very well be about reaching adulthood, in which case it makes sense Sora would have to pass through a near literal fire of Adolescent/Adult Cynicism.

* Speaking of where Sora ends up: I kinda doubt he’s literally dead, or that if he is it’ll last past the opening of the game. They’ve already made a big theatrical production of Sora dying twice now, the second time in the most literal way possible and just a few hours prior to this, so while third time’s the charm I think there’ll be more to it than that. The again common thing I’ve been seeing is that he’ll have to play the Reaper game to win his life back (not something I’m much familiar with but I think I’ve got the basics), but again, while it’ll certainly be part of the game I don’t think TWEWY is going to be the big thing here (like they’d really make that a bigger deal than the Final Fantasy elements have been), and he just dealt with the afterlife and had to essentially play a game to win his soul back, and this wouldn’t even be a game he’s unfamiliar with. My impression is he’s incorporated back and whole - if likely powered down from the ordeal to justify him being back at level one - and the mystery is less whether or not he’s truly alive so much as how he ended up here and how to get back.

* On the other end of things - and I realize it’s a risky prospect to suggest after her getting a shockingly small role compared to everyone else in III was the damning weak aspect of its otherwise basically perfect finale - I think this is where Kairi is actually going to start to come to the forefront. She and Riku would be at the head of a search that everyone would be a part of (they were there when it happened, they know death is negotiable in their world, and they’re good people who all owe him), her especially since he’s her boyfriend - they may not declare it outright but there’s clearly no ambiguity between the two of them as to their situation anymore - and the one he sacrificed himself for, and she’s out there fighting now even if she’s inexperienced. And Riku seems like he’s going to end up lost himself on the search, leaving her behind as the sole Destiny Trio representative. So even if she isn’t a playable co-lead I wouldn’t be surprised if she was the one going on a more traditional Kingdom Hearts adventure searching with the rest while Sora and later Riku deal with the genre mindfuck. On the bright side if nothing else, she’s died twice now too and they’ve both been presented as dead in a “maybe this time for real” way for a finale, so while again third time’s the charm, I figure she and Sora are relatively bulletproof from here on out.

* Speaking of Riku, while this seems more like an old-school proof of concept trailer from I and II rather than the more recent actual scenes, meaning his appearance might well change just as Kairi was different in I’s Secret Movie than she really was in II, it’s very notable that he hasn’t aged at all. So likely instead of another tragic I to II scale timeskip of Sora being lost from his friends, it looks like IV will be picking up immediately and the search for him won’t take long to succeed. Also speaking of Riku, I seem to see people thinking he’s with Namine now? Not that that seems impossible, but while the scene as a whole is romanticized in that it’s basically a princess being carried away by chariot to her happily-ever-after, it reads to me less as an actual romance than Riku fulfilling his ‘brother’s promise. Though if Square/Nomura does want to really get into romance with the next trilogy, since Sora/Kairi is locked down maybe they’ll just say fuck it and do a whole Riku/Namine/Xion/Roxas Love Square situation.

* Actual prediction rather than analysis of evidence: I suspect this is the last major time the Destiny Trio is going to be split up, at least in the searching-for-each-other, not-knowing-if-everyone’s-alive sense. I was the search for Kairi, II for Riku, and now IV for Sora - that cycle looks to be completing. Wouldn’t be surprised if V and/or the finale was finally the three of them as the adventuring party as fans have wanted for so long, with III as the grand finale to Sora/Donald/Goofy.

* It seems early to predict the main villain, but at the same time everyone was accurate in assuming a Keyblade-wielding Xehanort would be the final boss of the trilogy circa 2006, so I’m gonna go ahead and say Xigbar/Luxu is gonna be the end-all with IV. The Master of Masters is still the end of the road, and perfect for it because he’s a real-world normal savvy guy who can manipulate this world of straightforward classical adventurers with ease, while Sora at the opposite end of the scale is silly and sweet even by that world’s standard. But Luxu addresses the same ideas in a way that’d be perfect for this game in particular as it seems to be set up, he’d be the villainous connective tissue as this game moves from one trilogy to another, and he has the dangling personal thread of the ‘reward’ he suggested was coming for Sora. Or hell, since now it looks like she’s at least somewhat privy to what’s going on, maybe Maleficent will finally step back up.

EDIT: Ooh, just remembered, speaking of what Xigbar says to Sora, his Olympus conversation also predicts Sora’s fate? The whole “if you leap in to save somebody, you might just end up in the clutch needing to be saved yourself” lecture, i.e. the premise for IV. Maybe his teach isn’t the only one privy to future events?

* Not both, they’ll wanna space it out, but I’m like 70% sure this is where Marvel or Star Wars are gonna happen.

* Finally, while I’ve heard speculation that the Mystery Star is one of the Foretellers or the person who died in that Union X game, I don’t think she’s one of them given it’s a new voice actor and she cites a name Sora knows. More likely she’s ‘Subject X’ (I went ahead and looked up the Secret Reports, haven’t gone back and done all the bonus challenges myself yet and won’t I imagine for some time), who does seem to be from that time but is I think someone new.

#Kingdom Hearts #Kingdom Hearts IV #Kingdom Hearts III #Analysis #Opinion

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fnlrndcllctv · 3 years

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REVIEW: Nitroplus Blasterz -Heroines Infinite Duel- (2015)

Going into this review, I wasn’t at all familiar with the world of Nitro+, which doesn’t come as much of a surprise as the vast majority of their work has never actually been released outside of Japan.

So, let’s start this off with a quick background on the company and what kind of stuff it has released in the past. Since 2000, Nitro+ has been steadily releasing Visual Novel games, with Steins;Gate arguably being their most well known game in the west.

Most of the themes in these games are pretty dark, ranging from the more fantasy-based stuff like necromancy to some incredibly questionable material such as murder and rape.

In the mid-2000s, the developer released Nitro+ Royale -Heroines Duel-, which brought together thirteen fighters from their back catalogue of games in a traditional 2D fighter, and seems to be a pretty unremarkable, by-the-numbers doujin fighting game.

Almost a decade later, Nitro+ once again stepped outside of the Visual Novel genre to make another attempt at a crossover fighting game that included a who’s who of their games making appearances, only this time taking advantage of the various advancements in the fighting game genre had seen.

The resulting release was today’s topic; Nitro+ Blasterz -Heroines Infinite Duel-.

The question remains, is it any good?

Gameplay

The game uses just five buttons; light attack, medium attack, heavy attack, escape action, and heavy action.

The escape action button can be used to perform evasive manoeuvres and guards while heavy actions can be used to push an opponent back when players are feeling pressured during a fight.

The game makes it incredibly easy to chain together combos, and implements a whole bunch of other common elements that help to make the game feel like it fits in with the subgenre, and makes it easy for new players to get the hang of things.

Air dashing? You got it!

Super gauge-fuelled super attacks? Hell yeah!

“Lethal Blaze” ultra attacks that feel unique to each fighter and often look stunning? Of course they’re here!

Nitro+ Blasterz -Heroines Infinite Duel- feels very comfortable to play, while still offering enough of a challenge to encourage players to improve.

Story

The game’s main story mode is a standard 8-match arcade ladder in which players must battle through with their chosen fighter. The plot revolves around an evil being (a copy of the character Al Azif made from fragments taken from multiple different timelines where the Demonbane failed) who attempts to take over the final remaining dimension.

Instead of cutscenes, we’re met with the visual novel approach, which doesn’t do a fantastic job of engaging players and making them muster up any motivation to finish the story.

Upon finishing the normal story mode for the first time, an extra story mode becomes available, comprised of ten individual chapters. The mode is a(yup, you guessed it) visual novel adaptation of HP Lovecraft’s story “The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward”, and follows the games cast as they assume the roles of the story rather than themselves. This mode has more variety visually, but only slightly, and the scenes that do pop up are very questionable (one particular scene is very “non-consensual” in nature).

I guess it was inevitable that the game’s story would be presented in a visual novel-like format, considering the origin games for the majority of the roster, but they’re so difficult to follow thanks to a tidal wave of complicated terminology instead of any likeable dialogue or character development.

Roster

Nitro+ Blasterz -Heroines Infinite Duel- features fourteen unique playable characters, two of which are DLC fighters.

Al Azif - From the Demonbane series, Al Azif is the spirit of the Necronomicon (that’s the “book of the dead, for all you non-Evil Dead fans out there!). Her primary goal is to hunt down and destroy all unholy powers that are in league with the evil gods.

Anna - From the Gekkō no Carnevale series, Anna is an automaton doll that was found in a trash dump. She has amnesia, and now works in a workshop, fixing machines.

Ethica - One of the protagonists from the Tokyo Necro series, Ethica is a young "Private Special Living Dead Stalker" who practices a special kind of fighting style known as "Close Quarter Armed Martial Arts".

Ein - From the Phantom Of Inferno series, Ein is an assassin with such skill she was given the codename "Phantom", has no memories of her past and is incredibly apathetic towards, well, mostly everything except killing.

Ignis - From the Jingai Makyō series, Ignis is a demon hunter and the sworn protector of humanity who makes up for her lack of supernatural powers by mastering martial arts and being deadly with a kitana.

Mora - From the Vampirdzhija Vjedogonia visual novel, Mora is a vampire hunter who is armed with a massive hammer to beat down her opponents with.

Satsurikuin Ouka - From the same modelling agency as Super Sonico, Ouka is a confident, extroverted young girl who is constantly looking for her spot in the limelight. She’s also attached to a robotic metal crucifix for some reason.

Ruili - From the Kikokugai: The Cyber Slayer visual novel, Ruili is essentially a reanimated corpse/”soul transfer experiment” that contains the soul of a young woman who yearns to be with her brother (in a “way more than friends” fashion… yeah).

Saber - From the Fate/stay night visual novel, Saber is the personification of Arturia Pendragon (or, as he is more commonly known, King Arthur) and was created to aid participants in a to-the-death tournament called the Fifth Holy Grail War.

Muramasa - From the Full Metal Daemon: Muramasa visual novel, Muramasa is the human form of a tsurugi (a living soul forged into a set of armour). Also a demon?

Super Sonico - Nitro+’s mascot and lead singer/guitarist of the fictional band First Astronomical Velocity. Originally appeared in the arcade version of this game, but was made into a fully playable fighter for the console releases.

Saya - From the Saya no Uta visual novel, Saya is a being from another dimension who materialized in this universe for the sole purpose of reproduction. While she looks like an innocent young girl, in actuality, she is some sort of amorphous fleshy abomination that emits a putrid stench and produces slime, and eatanything from cats to human beings.

Heart - From the Arcana Heart games, Heart is the first DLC fighter in the game.

Homura - From the Senran Kagura series, Homura is the last DLC character.

In addition to the game’s roster of playable fighters, there are twenty different “assist” characters to choose from.

With representatives ranging from games/anime/manga such as Psycho-Pass, Guilty Crown: Lost Christmas and Phenomeno to Expelled From Paradise, School-Live! and Gargantia On The Verdurous Planet, each of these characters act in the same way as the striker system in The King Of Fighters ‘99. A player can choose two assists, and during a match, can briefly tag one of these assists into battle to do extra damage or change up specific stats.

The game handily makes things easier for players in this decision making process by informing you which duo of assist characters have an effective synergy with your chosen main fighter. With how likely it is that players will not be very familiar with most of (if not all of) these extra support faces, this is incredibly helpful.

Therein lies one of the biggest issues of Nitro+ Blasterz -Heroines Infinite Duel-, and it’s a problem that it seemingly shares with a great deal of anime as a whole; it’s full of fanservice, but actively alienates and overwhelms anyone who might be newcomers.

All of the character descriptions above were the result of me having spend hours delving into the story of each individual game for the purposes of the review, as this game doesn’t give you any information whatsoever. Throughout the dialogue of the story, each character makes references to their respective game, which is fine if you’re a diehard fan of any of these titles, but is absolutely bewildering for anyone who is out of the loop, and makes it tough to connect with any of the fighters outside of a technical level.

Look, I’m really not asking for my hand to be held through this, I just don’t think that it is too much to ask to include some basic information to go along with each fighter.

At least put the original game titles for each fighter in somewhere!.

Graphics

Nitro+ Blasterz -Heroines Infinite Duel- follows the tradition of many 2D anime-style fighters such as Blazblue, Under Night In-Birth and Arcana Heart, showcasing some very stylish fighting action.

All of the character sprites in the game are nicely animated, especially during assist moments mid-match and whenever someone lands a particularly devastating finishing move.

The visual flairs that pop up on screen during some of the “Lethal Blaze” attacks are amazing to watch, especially characters such as Ein, who leaps offscreen only to reappear in the distance with a sniper rifle, allowing players to quickly aim the gun at a foe.

At no point do the visuals in Nitro+ Blasterz -Heroines Infinite Duel- set the bar for the genre, but it’s still a great game to look at.

Stages

The variety of stages in Nitro+ Blasterz -Heroines Infinite Duel- is quite a mixed bag quality-wise.

When the stages look good, they’re great. The skyscraper-laden view from the rooftop stage is a highlight, as is the viscera covered grounds of the city (which feels appropriately Lovecraftian, when you learn about why it’s happening in “Another Story”).

The problem is that every stage feels very boring, even the ones that look nice. Everything feels so empty and lifeless, and directly clashes with the fast-paced action of the fights.

Every stage feels like a training stage, and is one of the more disappointing aspects of the game.

Replayability

Outside of the game’s standard story modes and score attack, there’s not really that much to do in Nitro+ Blasterz -Heroines Infinite Duel-.

In a similar way to games like Blade Strangers (read our review of the game here!), there’s not much of an incentive to carry on playing the game once you’ve gained the character art from the end of each character playthrough in story mode.

Even then, the gallery is lacking somewhat, showcasing art you’ll have already seen by the time you’ve unlocked it.

Training mode is as barebones as you could possibly get, offering nothing other than the ability to reset your position onscreen and a command list.

Online play is tricky too, as (at the time of writing) there was next to nobody to fight against, so it renders the option rather useless.

Final thoughts & overall score

Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel- is a solid and interesting crossover fighting experience that effectively offers an impressive fighter roster, fun to watch assist characters and easy to learn gameplay mechanics.

It’s a shame that the game doesn’t have the same depth as its peers, with two borderline nonsensical storylines, a range of disappointingly boring stage designs and a total unwillingness to offer any character context to players that aren’t familiar with the source material.

Do you agree with our review of Nitro+ Blasterz -Heroines infinite duel-?

Let us know in the comments section below!

#Review #Nitroplus Blasterz -Heroines Infinite Duel-#PlayStation 4 #Marvelous #Examu #2015 #Arcana Heart

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crimson-breath-blog · 7 years

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Interview with Raúl Vivar, pixel artist at Blasphemous and Crimson Breath

[Versión en español / Spanish version]

Blasphemous has become the most successful Spanish videogame on Kickstarter. It combines the best bits of the Dark Souls’ narrative with the folklore of the Spanish Semana Santa, creating a unique atmosphere. This milestone was achieved by The Game Kitchen, a development studio based in Sevilla and well known by its award-winning game The Last Door. One of the success keys of Blasphemous is its excellent pixel art. In this interview we talk with Raúl Vivar, one of the pixel artists of the project.

-How long have you been working on pixel art?

Maybe I should start by talking about my first contact with pixel art. I was 11 years old and my parents gave me an Amstrad CPC 6128 (I was one lucky child who enjoyed floppy disks). My neighbour had the same computer and we exchanged games and programs. That’s how I got in touch with The Advanced OCP Art Studio and I started learning pixel art with more enthusiasm than technique.

-How was the experience of taking part in a game jam? Would you recommend that to people who want to start in this industry?

Recommend it? It is a “must”! Taking part in game jams gives you the opportunity to learn a lot of things about professionals of this world, you can test your abilities, show them and learn a lot. If I hadn’t taken part on my first game jam, then lots of things which I feel really lucky today wouldn’t have occurred.

-How did you take the determination to work as videogames developer?

Before the decisive jump of faith, I was working part time in the foundations of Blasphemous. I combined my job as front-end developer with this shy flirting in the videogames industry. This way I tried this experience with a low risk, tons of illusion and few hours of sleep.

From the beginning, the public response [to Blasphemous] was very positive and I already knew The Game Kitchen had a solid experience so when I was given the opportunity to work full time on Blasphemous I accepted it right away.

-What is the best and the worst thing about working in the videogame industry?

The best part is my day by day, which is full of creativity and interesting challenges. Every sprite I make, every animation I finish contributes to an amazing story. Comparing it to my previous job, where I had to build a landing page for a client, with bringing to life The Penitent sword combo, is like night and day.

The worst thing is you lose some innocence and it is harder to enjoy the immersive experience of playing a videogame. It is difficult to switch from “developer” to “gamer” and stop thinking about which kind of AI has been implemented in the enemies, the color palettes, the resolution, etc.

-What caught your eye first about Blasphemous?

Its story, even when it wasn’t fully developed it was very interesting and the existing concept arts were really powerful. Besides, Enrique Cabeza has an special gift for storytelling, his narrative is amazing. He proved his talent in The Last Door and I was eager to get to know what he was planning for Blasphemous.

-Blasphemous takes the Christian religious imaginary from a dark, twisted perspective. Have you received any criticism from any part of the population due to the game’s theme?

Well, no, and even the non specialized press featured Blasphemous.

I think the reason why the game hasn’t received a flood of criticism is that we have always emphasized the richness of our religious culture and all its visual impact as a source of inspiration for the twisted and dark universe of Blasphemous. It has never been a mockery to religion but a kind of respectful admiration that has allowed us to give the game an unique identity.

-We have read that Blasphemous will have accessibility options for a wider group of players. Can you tell us about some of them?

As it was previously made with The Last Door, all the sounds in Blasphemous will be described by captioning so people with hearing loss problems can enjoy the atmosphere of the game.

In the same way the game will feature alternative font types to make texts more readable.

-How is working with The Game Kitchen team?

It is like having the best of the two worlds. On the one hand, you work with the passion and the closeness of an indie studio but using efficient processes and methodologies that pursue an organized and measurable work progress with short iteration cycles.

It is the perfect mix between heart and mind.

-Now we would like tol talk about another one of your personal projects, Crimson Breath. When did you come up with the idea for this game? How it has evolved over time?

Crimson Breath was born many years ago, more like a prototype than something else. It was my personal and solo bet into the videogames world but reality punched me in the face and I realized that I couldn’t do it on my own.

That way I shared this idea with everyone that would like to follow me and today it is a richer project thanks to the team’s contributions. The tone in Crimson Breath is the same I imagined in the beginning, but now it feeds off new approaches, mechanics and a context that magnifies it.

-Visually it resembles to the classic metroidvanias, but there are also some different elements at a narrative and playable level. Could you tell us something about this?

The scenary in Crimson Breath strikes up a communication with the player through the music and the sound effects, with cues and subtle signals that tell a story behind the obvious, always available for those with the spirit and the right senses.

-We are amazed by the precious style of your sprites and the fluency of your animations. Is there any artist with a heavy influence on you?

The truth is I don’t have any head artist but I am an eternal apprentice and I learn from everything I see. Any element and medium can be produce a spark; from other videogames, a movie… or even an advertising brochure. On the other hand my martial arts training helps me a lot to understand the movement and I use it on my animations.

When I do Julian’s animations or The Penitent thrusting with the sword, I do some testing myself (with enough space not to wreck something up and alone because it embarrasses me terribly), then I check the rotation of the hip, how the weight is balanced and the arc the sword describes.

-Which is your favorite videogame genre? And your favorite videogame?

I obviously love 2D-platform games, especially the Castlevania title for portable consoles. I also love survival horror games. I still have nightmares with the first Silent Hill.

It is really hard for me to choose only one videogame because there are a lots of them that have marked me throughout my life;

I spent my childhood throwing kicks with the Lee brothers in Double Dragon and throwing shurikens in Shinobi. When Street Fighter II came to the arcade salons I fell in love forever with Capcom. Castlevania SoTN teached me that a videogame can be a work of art. I worked a whole summer as waiter just to buy a Playstation to play Resident Evil. Left 4 Dead is the funniest way to survive a zombie apocalypse with your friends… and so many others.

-Is it possible to develop videogames and find time to play them?

Not only it is possible but is also necessary. It is a way to oxygenate the creative mind, find other sources of inspirations and not burn yourself out.

It is truly difficult sometimes (not to say impossible) and a lot of developers on a “crunch” period (working full time to meet deadlines) know that firsthand, but when it is possible you have to play, a lot. You have to know your surroundings.

#blasphemous #crimsonbreath #indiedev #gamedev #interview #pixelart

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wowheadquarters · 7 years

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Interview with Taedal

As a celebration for gaining (somehow) 300, For the past few days you could asked various questions which Taedal is supposed to answer in this interview. So, everything you ever wanted to know about him,or just to know what he knows, here it is! Additional warning: It’s long.

Q: Does Luxien is also a dreadlord or is she an other kind of demon?

Taedal: Both our parents are dreadlords, genetically speaking Luxien is also a dreadlord. Taedal: However, given her experiments with the Void, Twisting Nether, undeath and other things… It’s hard to tell what she is now. Taedal: Most of people settle with that she is still quite sexy when her form is stable.

Q: How does the Golden Torch react when you start to talk about Blizzard (Breaking the 4th wall, simply)?

Taedal: To quote one of my advisors, Corrazzale. Taedal: (In a very irritated voice with strong French accent) “Oh here he goes again, cursing the weather.”

Q: What make you take the decision to leave the Legion?

Taedal: The official version I give to people varies from “I saw the error of my ways” to “I hate being bossed around”. Taedal: The unofficial… Taedal: Look, in a game where players kill things, you don’t want to be a member of the All Evil Organization. Especially not one of the people in charge of something.

Q: What were you doing before you get the idea of the Golden Torch?

Taedal: Eh, you know. World destruction. Soul tormention. Sentient race conquering. Taedal: And also the Annual Volleyball Tournament. There were so many teams participating in AVT that when one ended, we had to start the next one right away.

Q: How did you convinced the others to became the Golden Torch?

Taedal: I didn’t really convince anyone. Taedal: Once I just mentioned to Cheret that I was really thinking about quitting and he asked me if he could quit with me. Taedal: And suddenly I had a bunch of demons eager to leave at my heels.

Q: What is your favorite(s) zone(s) in all Azeroth? (Outland and Draenor included)?

Taedal: Hm… The Forgotten Isle is easy to say, but there are better places. Taedal: Nagrand is beautiful. But I’m going with Zul’drak which is also beautiful and has one of the most awesome soundtracks. Taedal: And yes, I do hear soundtracks.

Q: If you could get high (as in height, no drugs) and sing, what would you sing?

Taedal: I don’t really sing. I am a terrible singer. Even if I could push my voice high or low, it’d be terrible, I am sure of that. Taedal: But if I have to say a song… When I Get Low I Get High.

Q: Tell us something embarrassing that’s happened to you.

Taedal: Alright, seat yourself, it’s story time. Taedal: Back in the Legion we were invading this one world, its name doesn’t matter as it no longer exists. And I come into a temple to destroy it. And there is this highpriest and bunch of bishops and acolytes. But most importantly the highpriest. Taedal: Now the Legion has the rules of epic, because when you are evil, you have to be evil with style. So dreadlords are pretty much expected to deliver a speech whenever there is even a minor chance of an epic battle or a boss-fight. Taedal: So I start the speech as I am supposed to do, I do the nice “cover mortals” and “kneel before your lord” and “your ultimate demise”. Now I’m getting to mention “reign of chaos will soar thorough your world”, which is my favorite part and this highpriest had apparently never heard of the rule of epic, because he banishes memid-sentence. Taedal: Irritating and embarrassing for it was in a crowded temple.

Q: I’m pretty sure you got an hidden talent, what is it?

Taedal: Whatever hidden talent I have, it is hidden so well I hadn’t found it yet. Taedal: But I’ve been always strangely good at locating lost and hidden treasures. Does it count?

Q: With which leader(s) you like to hang out the most? (And the one to not bring in your opinion)

Taedal: Ji and Anduin make for good companions to talk to, both show a lot of interest. Baine is less happy with me but the best person to play Hearthstone with. Taedal: And… Look, I have nothing against Velen, however he could be less… Less exorcising me on sight. Taedal: On the other hand, being around Thrall is even worse. He has a terrible paladin syndrome and is supper depressive person to talk to.

Q: How many walls did you broke?

Taedal: Ever since I managed to crash our nethership into the Labyrinth at Descension point, I lost count. Taedal: Before that it was 36. I get thrown around quite often.

Q: So, how was Argus?

Taedal: Dunno. Never been there. Taedal: My parents were from Argus, yeah, but me and Luxien were born after they joined the Legion. So me and sis are pure felbreed.

Q: What was the more surprising thing on Azeroth for you when you came?

Taedal: The variety of races. Taedal: I had visited a lot of worlds, you know. Most of them has one or two sentient races. Some of them has also some still-sentient-but-less-civilized races. Taedal: And then there is Azeroth with 17 playable races and some sentient but not playable races like the Nighborn, Nagas or Ramkahen plus some less civilized but sentient races such as Gnolls, Murlocs or those shrimpy things. Taeda: And I’m not even talking about the sub-races.

Q: Do you have a profession? Which one? Or which one would you like to do?

Taedal: NPCs don’t get professions like players do and even those we have don’t work the same way. They are more… Normal, less game-like. Taedal: As a hunter, I of course know how to skin a beast and cook it into something edible. Tame and train the beast as well, preferably before it gets skinned. I am a skilled arrowmaker too and as every demon with hooves I can smith a decent horseshoe. Taedal: If you want to give it a label… Skinning and Blacksmithing.

Q: Do you regret something?

Taedal: Yeah. I should have brought myself a glass of water for this interview, my throat is as dry as Tanaris. Taedal: Alright, let’s be serious. I sort of regret not bringing Luxien to the Golden Torch. On the other hand if I’d made her to leave the Burning Legion against her will she’d turned against me or maybe she would go insane with time, so we’d have to fight her anyway. Taedal: …I’ve mentioned to you that we have to fight Luxien as a raid end-boss, right? Taedal: Oh. I totally forgot. I’ll fix that. Taedal: Listen everybody! I have a really powerful sister and she is evil and has a working plan how to dissect this world to atoms so we have to fight her!

Q: Do you have a favorite mount?

Taedal: As a matter of fact, I don’t. Taedal: I mean, I already have a favorite pet and it’s unfair as it is to the other pets. Taedal: No need to be unfair to the mounts, of whom all are perfect.

Q: Do you like to live on Azeroth?

Taedal: Better to be living on Azeroth than to be dead somewhere else. So I am not complaining. Taedal: But if I had to choose a retirement resort, I would most certainly not pick Azeroth.

Q: How is your relationship with the other demons of the Golden Torch?

Taedal: They think I am weird but that I know what I am doing so they don’t mind doing what I tell them to do, as long as they have something from it too. And I think that strength is in numbers and there are not many people who listen to you if you don’t have an army. Taedal: So I think we have the “mutual trust and cooperation” relationship.

Q: Can you tell us more about Luxien?

Taedal: She is big and beautiful. By dreadlord standards anyway. She could dress more and her hair has its life on its own, I suppose. She doesn’t as much praise knowledge as experiments, she has to see everything on her own. Taedal: I mean, she is pretty much that kind of a person to whom you tel not to put a fork in an outlet because it’d zap you, and she’d do just that to find out whether it’s true or not. Or maybe even better, she’d find someone else to put the fork there. Taedal: She is also a skilled spellcaster. A fel-mage, if you want. Not really good with weapons, but she never needed them. She is clever enough to booby trap any place she lives, rarely anyone wanders onto her. Taeda: She is also lactose intolerant. No idea what are you going to do with this information.

Q: How would you feel becoming the main character of a fanfic?

Taedal: (Excited bat noises) Taedal: Erhem. I meant… It sounds quite cool.

Q: Your favorite(s) activity(ies) to do?

Taedal: I really love volleyball. And walks with my pets. Seriously, my pets and I spend a lot of time together, whether it’s walk, training, hoofcare, clawcare or things like that.

Q: Any fun fact(s)?

Taedal: My name is in fact Latin taeda, which means torch, with additional L so it looks like a name. Taedal: Luxien, as you have probably guessed at this point, is delivered from lux, which is Latin for light. And Czech for vacuum cleaner, which connects her to her experiments with Void. Taedal: A lot of demons that have to do something with the Golden Torch have light-themed names. When it comes to it, a lot of places on the Forgotten Isle follows the pattern too. Taedal: And Torchkeep is a play on Candlekeep - starting location in Baldur’s Gate. We have a lot of books there too. Just ask Cheret.

Q: One time, we ask you to draw something. You drew seven stickmen. Can we have an explanation or still not?

Taedal: Oh yeah, this… Those were the Seven Deadly Sins. Taedal: Considered my drawing skills, I was seriously thinking about drawing seven different sines, but that’d be too nerd.

Q: Did you and the Golden Torch tried another planets before coming to Azeroth?

Taedal: We had three ideas where to go, Azeroth among them as the Legion’s prime thorn in side. Me and the advisors were voting then with the resut 3:1:1 for Azeroth Taedal: Vand’tet abstained from voting as her idea was “we rush in and kill everyone within the Legion”.

Q: Is Illidan a good godfather or did the Illidari got a new member?

Taedal: Yeah about that… Taedal: I hate to tell you that but it was all fake news. You know, a shipment of damaged pregnancy tests can cause mass panic. Or celebration. Taedal: Illidan was really disappointed he isn’t going to be a godfather. Taedal: The only children we actually got were Garrosh’s 37 adopted ghost children for the simple reason that pregnacy tests have to effect on adoption. Taedal: Of course, Illidan asked Garrosh if he could be godfather of at least one of those children, but Garrosh, being Garrosh, was against that.

Q: How was it among the other Dreadlord?

Taedal: Quite good actually. The arguments could get quite heated and you don’t want to be in a room full of Dreadlords making angry bat noises setting each other aflame, but aside form that it was nice. Taedal: I miss the sleepovers. There is nothing like hanging upside down from the ceiling side by side with your fellows and whispering quietly not to wake the others up.

Q: If you get your own datadisc, what would you do with it?

Taedal: No spoilers, sweetheart, sorry. Where would the thrill of waiting be? Taedal: Well… I guess I can give you a little teaser, so you’re going to be angry with Blizzard for not making it happen anyway. Hold your hats and grab a good chair, here we go! Taedal: A playable demon race with 6 Classes. Hellfire Nights event, celebrated the last week of April and with its own event dungeon. 4 new raids, such as Voidforge or Ivory Sanctum, and 12 new dungeons, for example Cavern of Time: Descension, K’areshan Manaforge or Eternal Prison. Also 4 new big factions with which you may gain reputation. There is a lot of lore explained and some minor interesting things, like Ethereal or Wrathion, will once again be of importance. Not to mention the Fogotten Isle and some distant worlds added as a location. And also a new profession, Painting. Taedal: And I owe Lord Theron ten golds, ‘cause we had a bet going on whether I would or wouldn’t spill the beans. Damned Elves and their psychology.

Q: As we are the First of April, a question of circumstance: Are you a trickster? Or something like that?

Taedal: I wouldn’t call myself a trickster, on the other hand a lot of other people do. For sure I am no such a person as, say, Loki, but I enjoy a good joke just like everyone else. Taedal: What I am trying to say is that from time to time I do a little harmless mischievous joke. But even I admit that making everyone else read 50 Shades of Gray was a kinda… Overboard.

Q: How is the average day for the Golden Torch?

Taedal: We start our day with emergency, because some Voidforge battlesquad has been bored and decided they need their ass kicked and go attack us. Taedal: Then we have a quiet and nice afternoon, everyone minding their own business. Handing out quests, taking care of pets and mounts, preparing lunch and such. Taedal: By lunch usually return the nether-stalkers, so we (and by we I mean I) update the map of the Twisting Nether along with the positions of the Void and Legion forces. Taedal: After that me and my advisors have an argument what are we going to do with it and usually settle with “sabotage but keep low”. Taedal: Later Khadghar pops in to see how are we doing and stuff, so we tell him that nothing unusual happened and there’s nothing to worry about. And so we can proceed to the dinner.

Q: If you could meet the anon who asked for you to exist, what would you do? :)

Taedal: I am not really sure. Maybe hug. Maybe thanks. Most likely I’d play it like no big deal. Taedal: ‘Twas you, wasn’t it?

#world of warcraft #wow #warcrat #Taedal #golden torch #luxien

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themythicalrejuvenation-blog · 6 years

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Games Updates and (Special) Mini Guide

Yo!

Been a long a time I haven’t posted any after the previous. I was really wondering what I should post for my next posting. If you guys readers have anything to suggest, I’m so open for it. Be it for the fashion, novels or maybe another game update.

For today’s post, again, it’s about the games’ updates and stuff. I wanna post the kinda different games for different consoles. I’ll try to varied every game console and update the news for you guys, so my post won’t be so boring, lol.

Actually, I’ve prepared some articles for you and I need to get rid one of them because it’s kinda outdated. So, let’s get started. ;)

1. Overkill’s The Walking Dead 2018 (PS4, Xbox One, PC)

So, post-apocalyptic gamers, another new zombie game from Starbreeze Studios and 505 Games titled Overkill’s The Walking Dead. The gameplay demo was on E3 and yes, Youtube has the videos of it everywhere. It’s made as a multiplayer games and I would say it is kinda similar to Left 4 Dead with different co-op features.

There are four playable characters: Aidan, Maya, Grant and Heather. Each has their own skill, role and background story. What makes this game different is your job is not just killing, but building camp defenses, upgrading weapons, even scavenging materials and crafting weapons or items. Also, the game’s difficulty will be varied based on the level of the player you’re playing with.

The game will be released this Fall, 2018. We can’t wait for the good news already!

I have another information that you guys could visit. Again this is made by the developer, so my credit goes to them. Go check THIS out for more details.

2. The Last of Us 2 (PS4)

Mmhm, one of my favourite post-apocalyptic games. I enjoyed playing the first series and can’t wait to play the sequel. E3 revealed this Naughty Dog survival horror game’s gameplay and it was amazing, apart from the trailer with Ellie on it. The sequel is still the same, fighting both bad people and zombies, and has more gore aspects in it. Since it may be disturbing for some people, so you might wanna play it on your own or have another friend that is not at all disturbed by it.

I think the game will be focused on Ellie more this time. Again, we can not be sure since it’s not yet released.

3. Dragon Nest Mobile SEA (Mobile)

Been playing this game for almost three months now and by far the game that I like. Well, there’s a PC version for this game that I haven’t played before, so I don’t how if this is different from the original version. As per update on 21st of June 2018, it has 7 different jobs to pick: Cleric, Warrior, Assassin, Archer, Sorceress, Academic and Kali.

I’m a mage player forever for the first time and will be like this for the rest of the game I guess. For this post, I’m giving you a guide about this game. Starting from what you can do, especially how to increase your Battle Points (BP).

What could you do? Lots of stuffs. I’m so amazed by how the MMO on mobile nowadays change into something more developed, almost like when we play it on PC. Including this one, not only just hack and slash, in Dragon Nest Mobile we could also do many things beside the main story like doing daily and weekly quests, upgrading your weapons and armors, PVP arena and other events held in the game.

Let’s see if I could explain them all to you slowly. Take a look at those picture shown and I’ll give you a quick tour.

1. This part tells you about your personal stats, carrier, settings etc when you click on the char’s icon bar. Other parts will show you other currency such as diamonds, dragon coins, gold, stamina and Battle Points (BP)—which I’ll explain it explicitly.

2. This part shows you what to do to get stronger (Strengthen), what you could get by simply logging in (Benefit), what you could get when you achieve something from the tasks given (Reward), what you can buy or sell (Bazaar), what you could exchange for point or items (Mall), what you could get by participating certain event (Events) and what/who do you wanna watch to broaden your skill/knowledge (Spectate).

3. I really do think that you guys could guess by looking, heehee. So, we have Arena where you could do the PVP here, to be exact. Then there’s Guild option, you’ll see the guild’s name above your name when you join one. Next is Daily, where you could find lists for doing your daily quests or weekend event ooor other intermediate hell dungeon to do. You could also find your activeness points here to see how active you could be.

4. In this part, we have Friend for your friend’s list; Home to visit you own house, fishing, cooking and farming; Rank to see your Rank in various dungeon, event and arena; Album to see if you’ve collected enough monster’s album and get more stats thru it; Moniker is the rank you get by using Battle Medal to upgrade them based on your BP.

5. This one will give you information about your hero in Character, you could see you gear to tittle here and decide what to do to gear up; Skill is what you need to do the PVE and PVP, arrange them here; Fairy helps you to increase your stats and gives you additional effects per fairy and its grade varied from C to S; Craft is used to make your weapons and armors, you’ll need certain materials to make one; Mount is your mount and it increases you BP too. You could get your additional mount thru events.

For nooow, let’s go to telling you how to increase your Battle Points (BP). I wasn’t that detail before, so I asked my kind friend to help me. He made this guide, so the credit goes to him, InnocentID (his in-game’s IGN). I will help by explaining a lil bit so that you guys understand more about this part. Okay, we’re starting it now. 😊

A. Level Up Gear

1. The plus number on the lower right of your gear is the number you get from Enhancing them, using Agates. The amount and the grade of Agate depends on the level and the grade of your enhanced gear. Enhancing your gear with the sum of 10 (+5,+10, +15, +20 and so on) will give you extra stat and an amount to your BP.

2. Upgrade you gear using the same materials when you first time making the gear, so be wise when you wanna sell them or keep them.

3. Refine your gear using DEF Refine Stone for the armors and ATK Refine Stone for the weapons. Again, the level of the stone depends on the enhanced gears.

4. Enchantment is the part where you add some effects inside you gears, it gives you stats that needed by your current class, basically.

B. Costume

Of course costume matters for the sake of our BP. The better the quality, the better stats they give. You could either buy or make the on your own. Here is the tips, you need to have Chess costume first, then upgrade it to New Campus or Crew and then upgrade them into Metal and/or Magma. Chess costume could be bought thru the Personal Shop. Well as for me, I succeded in combining my Magma only using Chess, with the 20% success rate. Let’s say it’s based on your luck.

C. Heraldry

Another essential part for your stats and BP. Heraldry could be found in the daily dungeons, Boss Rush or buy them thru the Bazaar. The sack randomly gives you different graded heraldry to craft and if you’re lucky enough, you could get the 3rd stat to identify (using your Dragon Coins).

There is also Skill Heraldry that contains additional attacks and decreasing the skill’s cool down. There are 8 slots for both stat and skill heraldry. Refine the stat heraldry using the stone to increase the every stat you need. Fyi, Skill Heraldry can not be upgraded manually, the effect is fixed.

D. Dragon Jade

Everyday you will get so many Jades to use. The slot give will tell you which Jade could be put inside, refine them using the same kind of Jades to increase your BP. Tips for you, try to equalize the level of your Jades per gear.

E. Dragon-Ware

You could only find your Dragon-ware in the daily dungeon, Dragon Soul. The rest will be upgrading using the Oven. For a starter, you’ll be given a blue graded DW, but eventually please make them into a full A graded DW. 😊

F. Album

Like I explained a lil before, you could get more inside the Exploration. Exploration doesn’t have any limit to it, because the dice will be regenerated every hour. I don’t really have any suggestion on this one, but you might wanna upgrade the most needed with the biggest amount of it.

G. Moniker

And yes, I explained this earlier. 😊

H. Fairy

Each Fairy has its own bonus stats. S is the best grade, still. But it’s not a must, at the very least, have 2 A graded and 2 blue, if you’re having a difficulty with your luck. There are two other features to upgrade your fairy, Awakening and Ascension. Awakening is used to upgrade the fairy’s talent stats, Ascension is used to upgrade the bonus attributes.

Thaaat’s all, folks! If you guys ever need some questions, do feel free to ask. I’m also open to suggestions, so lemme know if you have one. I’ll see you again in another new post!

- nikki

#last of us 2 #overkill's #walking dead #dragon nest #mobile #SEA

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