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todayimgonnaplay · 7 months

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Today I'm gonna play: Final Fantasy I (PSP)

The origin for my love of RPGs, FF as a series, anime style characters and fantasy settings all originate from this game. Originally played on a friend's PSP as a child, I got my own copy a few years later.

The combat is your typical simple turn-based RPG. Nothing too out of the ordinary for an old game. Though it's interesting to see how the magic system back then was divided into levels, and you could only learn about 3 for each level (depending on white/black/red mage classes). Luckily if you choose white or black mage, the choices given allow you to take everything that's provided. That's not the case for red mages as you'd have to choose what exactly you'd like to specialize them as and cannot cast the highest tier magic. Additionally the job evolution system is also pretty neat, unlocking potential magic for some classes like Knight (white magic) and Ninja (black magic), and the rest just being stat upgrades. Despite its simplicity, there's a decent amount of customization on how you want to form your party and mold them based on their roles. I actually love that you can choose names and classes for your party and set out on an imaginary grand adventure. I'm quite surprised that apart from FF3, and maybe Dragon Quest 9 (which I heard is customizable), there's actually not many games out there that follow the same structure as this one, considering how so many JRPGs tend to have self inserts, including in this series itself up to 10.

The graphics are the biggest pros in this version (I also like the original and pixel remaster versions too!). They're so pretty to look at and it's probably how I got invested into this series and genre. Not many other JRPGs on the PSP look as good as this when it comes to spritework (if there's a possibility that I've missed a hidden gem then I'd really love to get recommendations). In terms of sound, it's classic. Nobuo Uematsu doesn't miss. There's not many tracks though which makes it repetitive, especially the battle theme. But there are two tracks I loved in particular which I'll link.

There are some cons though. One is that this game is VERY grindy. It's expected for this genre, but by the time I beat this game, I was quite burnt out. Items are expensive early game but if you're like me and grind like a maniac, it's pretty easy to get rich to the point that I max'ed my gil amount by the time I reached the final boss. Another issue is that the dungeon design feels like an afterthought. There's no sense of pattern on how to navigate especially if at some point the entire room starts to look the same, so there's no landmark or similar telling you where you are. I've had to use a visual guide multiple times to get through instead. which made it more fun for me since it was like having a map. In addition to that, the game is not great at truly guiding you on where you should go, other than giving a few vague hints. In a way I like it since it's like listening to rumours while on a journey, but it felt quite hard to keep track. Apart from that, I wasn't fond of the amount of random encounters, but I knew that coming into playing this. I've seen some games that allow the player to make notes, such as The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for the DS. A space to mark important locations on a world map or dungeons would be great (and if they want to immerse the exploration aspect, then make the map reveal areas as they pass through them, like in FF13 or Persona 3), I believe Genshin Impact does this? As for the NPCs giving hints part, FF2's keyword system could come in handy in an altered way, such as being able to register keywords or phrases that you can access in a menu and read about, so that you can remind yourself at all times anywhere. And for random encounters, I think more modern JRPGs nowadays have enemies in the overworld that you can voluntarily fight. Early games like Chrono Trigger to modern games like Persona 5 are both iconic examples that implement this well.

But overall, I'm glad I finally beat this game for my younger self. In fact, I actually wouldn't mind playing more games like this. It's nice to go old-school (seeing as Square constantly releases remasters of 1-6), but I'd also like to see some quality of life updates that could breathe new life to titles/systems like this, and also open them to more audiences rather than only sticking to a tried already formula for nostalgia.

youtube

#final fantasy #ff1 #ffI #jrpg games #game analysis #youtube #final fantasy 1 #final fantasy I #PSP #PSP games #retro gaming #Youtube

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overnightshipping · 2 years

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Version 1 - Kirby's Adventure (1993) / Kirby: Canvas Curse (2005)

The very first ability of the Kirby series, it's Beam! Waddle Doo, one of the enemies in the very first Kirby game, has an iconic attack where it creates an electric beam and waves it in an ark. Though Kirby could not copy his enemies' abilities in Kirby's Dream Land, when the copy ability was created for Kirby's Adventure, it only made sense that stealing this notable enemy's moves would be within Kirby's grasp!

Kirby's Adventure created copy abilities, but the now-iconic hats that came with them would come later - so, for now, Kirby simply got the iconic beam whip and no hat to go along with it. Other Kirby games without ability hats typically did not include Beam, instead opting for Spark as their zappy ability of choice, but this version of Beam would return in the hatless Kirby: Canvas Curse much later.

Version 2 - Kirby Super Star (1996) / Kirby Super Star Ultra (2008)

When Kirby Super Star added hats to Kirby's abilities, Beam gained this jaunty little jester's hat covered in stars. Interestingly, though the original ability simply had Kirby swing the beam from his hand, Super Star also gave him a magical scepter to summon the whip from. Beam Kirby also became a cute yellow! Notably, the sprite of Kirby in both Super Star and Super Star Ultra only has the star detailing on the orange side (visible as dots on the sprite), but the artwork for both games have stars on both sides of the hat. Also notably, the coloration of red on the left and orange on the right follows how the sprite appears when facing to the left, as opposed to how later games would switch them for how the sprite appears facing to the right.

Kirby Super Star had a number of hats that were shared between abilities but recolored, and Beam Kirby's hat would be shared with Mirror Kirby. Perhaps this is why Beam Kirby had a scepter added to it, as the scepter is similar to that wielded by the enemy Simirror which granted Mirror Kirby when swallowed.

Version 3 - Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land (2002) / Kirby & The Amazing Mirror (2004) / Kirby: Squeak Squad (2006)

When Kirby's Adventure was remade as Nightmare in Dream Land in 2002, ability hats were also added to most abilities. Beam was no exception, gaining a hat that matched the Super Star design, albeit based on the sprite facing the other direction. Interestingly, the scepter would not be included in sprites or in official art, and would remain completely absent for the "single attack" Kirby games on the GBA and DS. Also, though Nightmare in Dream Land included abilities changing Kirby's main palette, something that would be largely dropped from the series starting with Amazing Mirror, Beam Kirby's yellow was not carried over, keeping him pink.

Though many of Kirby's most famous abilities showed up in the anime, Kirby: Right Back At Ya!, Beam would never make an appearance. Mirror would, though. Go figure!

Version 4 - Kirby's Return to Dream Land (2011) - Present

The much-anticipated return to the Super Star-format of abilities with multiple attacks, Kirby's Return to Dream Land merged the Super Star and Nightmare in Dream Land designs by keeping the Nightmare in Dream Land hat but adding on a newly-redesigned scepter. An extra little detail was added onto the hat's headband, too.

Funnily enough the enemy Gemra was also included in Return to Dream Land, which gives beam and has a head resembling Beam's jester hat, including the star pattern. Retroactively, does this mean that Kirby's hat comes from the Gemra enemy? Is Gemra the "pure" version of an enemy that gives Beam, despite only showing up in one game?

Notably, while Beam was not shown off in the trailer for the cancelled Kirby Adventure GCN, Super Smash Bros. Brawl's trophy for Beam Kirby gives us a glimpse of what the ability likely would have looked like in that game, and it is very similar, including the redesigned scepter and Nightmare in Dream Land hat, but lacking the headband detailing. It also brought in Super Star's yellow palette, though with orange shoes as opposed to Kirby's usual red.

#kirby #beam kirby #kirby's adventure #kirby series #overnightshipping kirby project #My art

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hilltopsunset · 3 years

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I Regret Buying Pokémon Shield

I told myself I wouldn’t do it. I’ve seen time and again the lack of innovation from main-series Pokémon games, and I insisted nothing would convince me to buy this latest atrocity. Yet here I am, reviewing the game I said I’d never purchase. I should have listened to myself. I KNEW BETTER! Strap in, ‘cause this one’s pretty long.

Pokémon has been around for a long time—like, a long, long time—and I’ve been around for every single new main-series game that’s been released since the franchise’s first arrival in North America back in 1996 with Red/Blue. I was not yet 10 years old, and I still remember the childlike excitement of finding rare, never-before seen creatures, the stress of trying to catch a wily Abra or elusive Pinsir, and the challenging first encounter with the Elite Four and the Champion, a 5-man gauntlet of trainers with powerful Pokémon rarely (if ever) seen in the game prior to that moment. It was exhilarating in a way that keeps me coming back for more, hoping to rekindle those same flames of wonder.

While the main gist of the games hasn’t changed much over the years, one of my favorite parts of playing a new Pokémon game is seeing the improvements each game brings to the series. Many of the initial sequels made huge leaps in progress: Gold/Silver introduced a plethora of new mechanics like held items and breeding; Ruby/Sapphire introduced passive abilities and was the first to include multi-battles in the form of double-battles; Diamond/Pearl was the first generation capable of trading and battling online and brought us the revolutionary physical/special split so elements were no longer locked into one or the other. These changes all had significant impacts on how players approached battles, formed their teams, and used each Pokémon.

Those changes, combined with the addition of new Pokémon to catch, regions to explore, and enemies to fight, were enough to keep me interested. But I know I wasn’t alone in imagining all the possibilities of taking the franchise off the handheld platforms and moving the main series games over to a more powerful home console. In the meantime, each generation that followed Gen IV highlighted a new, troubling pattern that became more and more prevalent with each addition to the series.

1. Gen V: Lack of meaningful gameplay innovation

By Generation V with Black/White, not only was Game Freak quickly running out of colors, they were quite obviously running out of ideas for significant gameplay innovation. The bulk of Black/White’s biggest changes were improvements on or adaptations to existing staples to the franchise: many new Pokémon, moves, and abilities were added, and the DS platform allowed for greater graphical quality where Pokémon could move around a bit more on-screen during battles, the camera wasn’t as rigid as it had to be in previous games due to machine limitations; perhaps most importantly, they FINALLY decided to make TMs infinite. Thank goodness. While the updates were nice, they were nowhere near as impactful on the game as previous generations’ changes were and served more as needed quality of life adjustments.

I would also argue Gen V also had the least inspired Pokémon designs (like Vanillux and Klinklang) with the worst starter choices of any Pokémon game, but that’s a discussion for another time. Excadrill and Volcarona were pretty cool, though.

2. Gen VI: Gimmicks as the main draw

Pokémon X/Y (See? They ran out of colors) continued this new downward trend in innovation. Mega-evolution—while admittedly pretty cool—wasn’t enough to carry the new generation into an era of meaningful improvement because it was equivalent to adding new Pokémon rather than developing innovative gameplay, ushering in a new era of gimmicks in lieu of substantial updates.

Though the gameplay innovation for X/Y was minimal, the graphic updates were substantial: Pokémon X/Y was the first generation to introduce the main series to a fully 3-dimensional world populated by 3D characters. However, since X/Y was on the 3DS, it was a ripe target for the 3D gimmick seen in almost all games on the console, which I personally used for all of 5 minutes before feeling nauseous and never using the function again.

Despite the fresh look of the new 3D models, the battle animations were, to be frank, incredibly disappointing. Pokémon still barely moved and never physically interacted with opponents, nor did they use moves in uniquely appropriate ways. To my point, for years now there’s been a meme about Blastoise opting to shoot water out of his face rather than his cannons. I was sad to see that they didn’t take the time to give each Pokémon’s animations a little more love. But I figured, in time, when or if the franchise ever moved to a more powerful machine, they would be better equipped to make it happen, right? I also convinced myself that the lack of refined animations were kind of charming, harkening back to the games’ original (terrible) animations.

3. Gen VII: Focus on Minigames

The main innovation (gimmick) that came with Generation VII, Sun/Moon, was the lack of HMs in lieu of riding certain Pokémon. Sun/Moon also added Ultra Beasts (essentially just new Pokémon) and Z-moves (just new moves) which only added to the number of gimmicks present in the games. These changes, which provide some mild adaptations to gameplay from previous generations, don’t fundamentally change the way players go through each game, the way that updates in the earlier generations did. I personally played through the entirety of Sun/Moon without using a single Z-move or seeing a single Ultra Beast outside the one you’re required to fight to progress the main story. Ultimately, these changes were not a significant enough experience to warrant an entirely new game that is otherwise full of more of the same stuff with slightly different creatures who have slightly different stats and occupy a slightly different world.

Though Sun/Moon was comfortably embracing the franchise’s affinity for gimmicks, it brought to the forefront yet another troubling trend: mini games. Between photography, the Festival Plaza, and Poké Pelago, the focus on and attention to detail toward mini games had grown considerably over the years. Pokémon games have always had minigames and other time-sinks—which is great! Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate having more to do than trudge through the main story. But it is apparent that, with each new generation, more time seems dedicated to development of these extras. Pokémon Contests, Secret Bases, Super Training, feeding/grooming; a lot of their larger innovations after Gen IV were centered on non-essential parts of the game, which results in diminished game and story quality overall.

Admittedly, Sun/Moon did have some of the best exploration moments of any of the Pokémon games, which I did very much appreciate. More on that later as it relates to Sword/Shield…

4. Generation VIII: You Can’t Be Serious

When Game Freak finally announced they were launching Generation VIII, Sword and Shield, on the Switch rather than a dedicated handheld console, I was beside myself with excitement.

And then I saw gameplay footage like this, and my heart sank.

What is the purpose of launching the game on a stronger console if they are going to continue copy/pasting their sprites and their animations? If they aren’t going to provide the Pokémon any unique flair or create more appropriate animations? It was disappointing enough seeing the same animations/models from X/Y for Sun/Moon, but that was sort of expected since the games were on the same console. But now that the game has moved to the Switch, this is unacceptable.

When I learned that they were significantly cutting the number of Pokémon available in the game, I thought for certain that would translate to more time dedicated to the ones that made the cut, to focus on adding animations and character to the critters to make them feel like real parts of the world, rather than avatars of a child’s imagination, unable to fully process how the world functions. Alas, what was I thinking?

I thought the Dynamax gimmick would be one of my biggest gripes because it’s so pointless, or maybe the Wild Area’s severe lack of organic belonging (all Pokémon are just wandering aimlessly, weather can change drastically after crossing an invisible line, trees look like they were cut and pasted out of Mario 64, you can’t even catch Pokémon if they’re too high a level) but honestly the most disappointing part of the game for me was the pitiful routes between towns/gyms. Previous installments of the game included routes full of trainers and puzzles you needed to defeat or solve before you could progress—in Sword/Shield, the only thing that ever prevents you from progressing are some Team Yell grunts barricading paths the game doesn’t want you to take yet, for literally no reason. It completely removes player autonomy and a sense of accomplishment earned through overcoming challenges—now instead of learning that you need to find an item that allows you to cut through certain trees to gain access to new areas, you simply follow the story beats and then, upon returning, the path will be open. It’s inorganic, it’s clunky, and it’s extremely lazy.

Speaking of lazy, the story itself was another massive disappointment for me. Pokémon games are not particularly known for having deep stories, but Sword/Shield takes it to a new low. Every NPC simply pushes you to battle in gyms, and every interesting story beat that occurs happens just outside the player-character’s reach. Any time something interesting happens, you are shooed away and told to let the grown-ups handle it while you just get your gym badges. There COULD have been some interesting story moments where your character gets more involved with helping fix the havoc occurring around the Galar Region, but instead we as the player are simply TOLD what happened, why it happened, and who fixed it (usually the champion, Leon).

I honestly think having the game focus on the story of Sonia, Bede, Marnie, or even Hop (was not a fan of this kid) would have been a much more interesting game, because those characters actually had some depth to them, some bigger reason for taking on the gym challenges than simply “I want to be the very best.” Albeit those stories would have required a tremendous amount of work to add depth and details, the potential for a better story is in those characters. There is just no story at all to the main character, who is ushered from gym to gym because…because? Because that’s what kids do? I’m not even really sure what the motivation is.

There are SO MANY exciting, interesting, innovative ways Game Freak could drive Pokémon into a new and exciting direction while still maintaining its charm and building on existing mechanics, but they instead choose to demonstrate their lack of interest in significant graphical and gameplay innovation. I imagine this is largely because the masses will eat up just about any Pokémon product produced so long as there’s a new bunny to catch, and Pikachu is still involved. I’m disappointed, and I wish the Galar region could meet the expectations of my 10-year old mind’s imagination.

When abilities were added, we suddenly had to consider whether our Earthquake could even hit the enemy Weezing and adapt to the tremendous changes the passive skills added, reconsidering how we faced each battle. When the physical/special split occurred, entirely new opportunities opened up and certain Pokémon who were banished to obscurity due to their poor typing and stat distribution, like Weavile, were suddenly viable. Some even became incredibly powerful, like Gyarados, who had been hit pretty hard by the Special attack/defense split. There were also already-powerful Pokémon (Gengar, Dragon-types) who became even more so through access to STAB moves that benefited off their strongest stats.

I want new games to include updates that feel as impactful as these changes. If you’re interested in how Game Freak can improve on the main gameplay, I have some fun ideas that will be fleshed out in another article: How to Breathe New Life into the Pokémon Franchise. That article will be dedicated to explaining what those changes are, why I want them, and how they can improve future games.

#pokemon #pokemon shield #pokemon sword/shield #game review #review #hilltop sunset #streamer #gamefreak #gen viii #gen 8

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gascon-en-exil · 4 years

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Hm, if you could, how would you rank the final maps across the series?

I can’t really rank them, but I can give my opinions on most of them. I don’t know how much value it’ll have though since I freely admit to not playing on the higher difficulties where gameplay conversations are seen as having genuine merit. Anyway:

FE1/11 and 3/12 - only reached the end of the DS remakes, and as is the case with most of Archanea I don’t remember them very well except that Medeus is a pain in both. Shadow Dragon’s last map is also incredibly long as I recall...assuming you don’t just warpskip to the boss of course.

FE2/15 - never got to the end of Gaiden, but Echoes’s last map is an interesting mix of entertaining and frustrating. The layout is certainly distinctive, as is the novelty of using Alm and Celica’s armies together for the first time. Jedah’s gimmick is a nuisance though and I don’t care for Duma and his AoE attack and invulnerability to most attacks.

FE4 - the longest map in a game infamous for long maps, but unlike Chapters 2 and 7 Endgame offers a decent challenge to help cover up the tedious distances and backtracking. There’s also a good increasing scale of difficulty from one castle to the next, with the only real letdown being Manfroy whom is technically optional although I’ve never skipped him. Hate fighting Ishtar and the falcon knight sisters and most of the Deadlords, and it does suck a bit that the sudden rush of enemies with skills and holy weapons makes a fair number of your units dangerous to field on the front lines.

FE5 - also don’t remember it too well. The map itself is a nightmare like most of Thracia’s maps tend to be, but Veld is a joke in more ways than one. Also more Deadlords...whee.

FE6 - all of the GBA games follow a pattern of a two-part final map with the first being a gauntlet ending in a major story villain and the second being your army rushing the final boss. Binding Blade’s is the worst in both regards. First you’re trudging your units from altar to altar fighting dragons and getting an awkward backstory dump after each one, then you finally kill Jahn at the end, and then you get to Idunn who’s a joke and isn’t even that hard to kill with Roy for the secret best ending. Three Houses gets flak for clumsy lore dumps in its lategame, but I think I honestly prefer them to what we get here. At least Rhea manages to be sympathetic.

FE7 - the best of this trilogy, mostly on account of it kicking off with a boss rush of Blazing Sword’s greatest hits reincarnated as OP morphs. Nergal is pretty standard, but the second part deserves comedy points for pitting you against a generic and calling it a final boss.

FE8 - the monsters of Sacred Stones aren’t the most engaging of enemies, especially if you play the postgame Creature Campaign at all since there it’s nothing but monsters. This drags down the last map in my opinion, since it’s just a monster map with some mildly creative architecture and Lyon waiting for you at the end. Fomortiis is nothing special either apart from the originality of his not being a dragon.

FE9 - may be my favorite final map aesthetically, in large part due to the ironic contrast between the still tidy and peaceful Crimean palace gardens and the massive Daien army awaiting you. Similarly it may be the most mundane final map in the series with nothing much supernatural going on unless you’re playing on Hard (or Japanese Maniac) mode where Ashnard goes berserk and you have to kill him twice. I never do though, and Ashnard moving with his colossal range in higher difficulties means you don’t get to experience a good half or so of the map. I’d rather not deal with that, especially since he’s got the same nigh-invulnerability issue as Duma going on.

FE10 - depends on if we’re talking only 4-E-5 or the entirety of the Goddess Tower. The true last map is kind of bland and is more about having a good setup and positioning than dynamic tactics, because Ashera and her auras and AoEs are nothing if not predictable. The maps ascending the tower on the other hand offer a nice mixture of quick challenges that let this game’s massive cast come together for the first time (so like Gaiden/Echoes only with a roster over twice the size) and show off what they can do at their best...on Easy anyway. In Normal and Hard it’s Ike and the laguz royals and maybe about a dozen other viable units all the way up.

FE13 and 14 - I barely remember any of these to be quite honest. Awakening’s is as mediocre as every other map in that game and ends with the horrible non-choice for Robin that underscores how FE13 is terrified to have any genuine stakes. Fates’s three final maps each approximate the general tone of their respective routes: Birthright’s is the most series-typical, Conquest’s is the most creative, and Revelation’s is the most gimmicky and tedious.

FE16 - probably what most people reading this came for, so I’ll go ahead and break it down further by route.

SS - horrible by every parameter but the music, which is nothing special since all three final map tracks are excellent. There’s no setup worth mentioning to explain why Rhea is suddenly attacking you, and you’re stuck fighting enemies on all sides including a ton of flying monsters that hit extremely hard and also have to be taken out to do any serious damage to the Immaculate One. The map architecture is more of a hindrance than a help, and Rhea’s long-range attacks are if I recall the most deadly of any of the final bosses. The NG Maddening LTC crowd can have this one.

AM - feels more dangerous than it is, until you realize that you can skip large chunks of the map including Myson trolling you with his HP-to-1 spell on the right. Funneling your units through the smaller chambers on the left skips the worst of it and lets you right off into the throne room, where the Hegemon is overall less threatening than the horde of magic users surrounding her. I dislike the non-final version of this map in VW/SS more, if only because you have to move faster there if you want to stop Dedue from committing suicide by gremory/mortal savant.

VW - deserves a nod as the only wholly unique final map in Three Houses, even if conceptually it’s just Deadlords in a swamp (that you can get rid of, a nice touch). Nemesis is without question the weakest final boss as the only one without multiple health bars, and it’s not like you wouldn’t have taken out all of the zombie Elites on the way to him anyway. At least he puts up a pretty good fight when he’s by himself, although it’s still not hard to swarm him.

CF - comparable to AM’s in that you can skip large chunks of the map to make it easier, in this case by concentrating all your forces right up the middle to kill the Immaculate One before the enemies on the side can get to you. The faster you do it the fewer enemies you have to fight and the less fire you have to wade through, which is all a plus in my book. It helps that the Immaculate One here is weaker than she is in SS, and instead of being surrounded by monsters and constructs the other enemies in her immediate vicinity are ones like Cyril and Catherine who are still a pain to deal with but nowhere near as durable.

So for FE16 specifically I’d probably go AM > VW > CF > SS.

#Fire Emblem

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starreddew · 4 years

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i've never played star dew valley before but it looks soooo cute. what would you suggest playing to get into it?? :)) (bonus points if you can suggest a good ds lite game because that's the only system i personally own. but i live in a house with... everything if you need to suggest something outside of that!)

It is very cute indeed and I really hope you can give it a try one day, anon! ♥

As for what games I suggest, hmmm. I have to say I’ve only ever played on PC and I don’t have any experience with consoles, so I’ll have to rely on Google searches. But!

The first that comes to mind is Undertale, for its cute pixel art style, catchy soundtracks, and the often surprising depth of the characters and story, all reminding me of Stardew Valley. It is, however, very plot-driven and the story follows a somewhat linear pattern, whereas in SDV you can do whatever you want, in whichever order you want. Which is not to say it’s not just as enjoyable! I personally found it very touching and entertaining and would definitely recommend it to anyone who’s interested in SDV.

Then there’s, of course, Minecraft, which we all know and love. I don’t really know what to say other than the fact that playing SDV and playing Minecraft give me the same warm-nostalgic-fuzzy-comfy feeling!

The Animal Crossing series is worth mentioning for sure. I’ll admit I haven’t played it personally so I don’t have much to say from experience but from what I’ve seen the Animal Crossing fandom greatly overlaps with the SDV fandom so if you enjoy one, chances are you’ll enjoy the other as well. Also! From a quick Google search, it looks like Animal Crossing: Wild World is available on DS Lite!

Another recommendation would be the Harvest Moon / Story of Seasons series, which actually inspired SDV! There are a ton of games on a ton of platforms, DS Lite included.

My Time At Portia is another game I’m planning to play (once I save up some money haha) that looks very cute and wholesome. There are some mixed reviews about it, but the premise is very similar to SDV and it seems fun to me.

And because this post already got long, I’m gonna wrap it up with a quick list from this article. These are all games I’ve only heard of / seen others playing, so, again, no personal experience to speak of, but they all look super cute and fun! :D

Moonlighter

Yonder: The Cloudcatcher Chronicles

World’s Dawn

Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale

Slime Rancher

Staxel

Ooblets

I hope this is somewhat helpful, anon, and that you find something to your taste! And maybe eventually get into Stardew Valley, too :)

If anyone has any other recommendations, please reply to this post!

#anonymous #asks #stardew valley #sdv #long post

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ivycrossing0101010 · 4 years

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100 Days to Animal Crossing Challenge!

In the spirit of the countdown to New Leaf (remember when? :’) ), and to help wile away the days, here’s 100 questions for every day until New Horizons is here! Enjoy!

1. Do you prefer making up a new name for your villager, or using your own name? I always name my villager after myself. I go for the immersion!

2. Do you use the first map you’re given, or do you reset for layouts? I used to reset for layouts, until I started hacking. In New Horizons, I'll just be resetting for fruit!

3. Do you use the face you’re given, or do you wait for guides and choose your favourite? I would look for guides. Even with hacking, it's easier to just start with the face you want.

4. Favourite town/island name?/Have you a name picked out for your town/island? My favorite town name that I've seen so far is Lunaire. I don't want to share my town name just yet. It's nothing revolutionary or anything but its personal I guess?

5. Will you be sharing with friends/family, or is your island going to be all your own? I will be having my own island! My husband will have his own island as well. He says we'll spend most of our time in my island though lol

6. What’s a new feature you’re excited about? T E R R A F O R M

7. Favourite fruit? Peaches!

8. Least favourite fruit? Pears!

9. Favourite area? (Beach, campground, shopping district etc, from any entry in the series.) My favorite place was the wishing well in ACPG. So cute and sweet. As much as I loved the plaza in ACNL, it's got nothing on the original!

10. Where do you like to like to put your house? Do you like that level of customization, or do you prefer to have some things decided, like in older entries? I like to put my house near waterfalls, its relaxing and good for fishing! I could never get my house near the water in older games, so it was a nice change in ACNL.

11. Favourite grass pattern? Personally, I never really notice the grass patterns!

12. Least favourite grass pattern? See #11 :v

13. Favourite villager/s? My fav villagers are Skye and Punchy 💕

14. Least favourite villager/s? I hate Elise the Monkey

15. Did you like doing Tom Nook’s chores, or did you find those to be a pain? I used to find them a pain as a kid but I miss them now. It was so much more engaging!

16. Favourite NPC/s? My fav would have to be KK. He's such a cool dude, he's just full of nostalgia for me.

17. Least favourite NPC/s? I don't really have a least favorite? I guess Katie's mom, her lipstick is tacky imo

18. Do you use paths? Are you excited about the new path tool? With hacking, I use clover paths so they're easier to see on the editor. I can't wait to have real paths, though!

19. Favourite feature from an older entry? The festivities! The neighbors were so much more engaged in ACPG, ACNL is sorta boring in comparison.

20. What was your first Animal Crossing game? My first was ACPG, the gamecube one!

21. Favourite activity (fishing, bug catching, fossil hunting, other)? Fishing was always exciting AND relaxing for me

22. Least favourite activity? Fossil hunting, but only because I don't get immediately results and I'm impatient lol

23. Favourite bug? Even though I don't like these irl, snails hehe

24. Least favourite bug? Scorpions and tarantulas, only because I've almost never encountered them in ANY game

25. A quarter of the way there! How’s the wait? Agonizing

26. Favourite fish? It's not actually a fish, but I like the softshell turtle!

27. Least favourite fish? The napoleon fish, that big blue one -.-

28. Favourite fossil? The ammonite!

29. Least favourite fossil? Don't really have one lol

30. Favourite furniture series? I've always liked the flower set you get from Leif and the mush set, so cute!

31. Least favourite furniture series? The holiday specific ones, they're so tacky and boring!

32. Favourite soundtrack? (Gamecube, DS/Wii, etc) Gamecube for sure

33. Least favourite soundtrack? Honestly, ACNL. Don't dig the steel drum

34. Favourite wallpaper? The ivy wall hehe

35. Do you have a nice memory of the games/community etc you’d like to share? I didn't really have too much interaction with the community until recently! I just gained a bunch of followers and it's super flattering lol I want to become more involved!

36. Least favourite wallpaper? Cheese...

37. Favourite carpet? I personally love the old board flooring, so simple and rustic!

38. Least favourite carpet? CHEESE

39. Favourite furniture item? The fairy bottle from the Welcome Amiibo update!

40. Will you be buying a Switch for Animal Crossing, or do you already have one? I'm trading in my old switch for the slick new Animal Crossing Switch!

41. Least favourite furniture item? The ultra things that you can get from Redd, so useless!

42. Favourite flower? Carnations!

43. Least favourite flower? Cosmos!

44. Favourite hybrid? Blue roses for sure

45. Least favourite hybrid? Any cosmos

46. Favourite shirt? The denim shirt, long sleeve

47. Favourite dress? I like the raincoat

48. Favourite accessory? Silver frames!

49. Favourite hat/helmet? The keroppi pins

50. Halfway there! How’s the wait going? Pretty numb!

51. Favourite shop? Dream Suite! So much fun visiting towns!

52. Do you collect amiibo cards/figures? Would you like to see them used in the new game? I have all the amiibo cards are all my fav neighbors, and about have of the total amiibo cards that exist. Idk if I'll use them right away and get all my favs or if I'll let my town naturally fill up and then switch folks out yet

53. Fishing Tourney or Bug-Off? Fishing Tourney, I like fishing more

54. Do you like making your own clothing patterns? I used to, but ACPC made me appreciate the already made in game clothes

55. Did you streetpass with many other ACNL players, or is it a feature you didn’t get much use of? I don't get much use out of it nowadays but I would always come back from conventions with a full showcase when I was younger

56. Favourite villager species? Cats!

57. Least favourite villager species? Monkeys

58. Favourite nickname from a villager? I don't really remember the nicknames I got

59. Least favourite nickname from a villager? I also always hated them!

60. Do you try to collect everything in the game, or just try to get your favourite bits and pieces? Bits and pieces for sure

61. Favourite villager personality? Normal and lazy

62. Least favourite villager personality? Jock

63. Do you “plot reset” for villager house placement, or do you let them move in wherever they want? During my first playthrough of ACNL, I didn't. Then I started doing it when I learned about it. Then I started hacking!

64. Are you excited to wear any of the new accessories (like the bags etc shown in the E3 trailer)? ACPC sorta spoiled that stuff for me, they're still very much appreciated though

65. What season are you most looking forward to seeing in New Horizons? Spring!! 🌸🌸🌸

66. What’s your favourite season? Spring again hehe

67. Least favourite season? Summer, kinda boring

68. Which game’s events/holidays do you like the most? Ones that are actually engaging with you and the neighbors

69. Which game’s events/holidays do you like least? Days like solstices, which just served as "Isabelle is unavailable" Days

70. Do you have another nice AC related memory you’d like to share (in-game, of the community, etc)? When ACPG came out, I was about 6. I had a DVD with those lame live action commercials and I was ENAMORED with them! Obsessed! I begged my parents for the game and they would hem and haw "well there's a lot of reading... you'll have to get better at reading... we won't always be able to help you read it..." and I swore up and down that I'd learn and practice reading. Obviously, nearly 20 years later, I'm still completely obsessed

71. Do you prefer the “live” versions of K.K. Slider’s Songs, or the airchecks? I like both but for different reasons. The live versions are nice and nostalgic and the air checks are closer to the aesthetic that they're actually trying to portray

72. An NPC you’d like to see more of? Farley and Serena!

73. An NPC you’d like to see less of? None in particular, everyone is pretty well designed imo

74. If you could have any piece of AC merchandise, which would it be? I once saw a cute bento box with pics from the movie, my soul died knowing I may never find it to buy anywhere

75. Only 25 days left to go! How’s the wait? Still numb!

76. Will you be downloading the game, or getting a physical copy? I'm getting a physical copy and my husband is getting a digital, so he can't be tempted to sell it!

77. Do you like coming up with your own town tune/flag, or using what the game gives you/something from a book/tv show/other game, etc? I like doing a sort of japanese "end of school" bell for my town tune, only for the town clock. Idk how I'm gonna do it in this game though...

78. Do you play every day, or every other day/when you feel like it/other? I used to play ACNL everyday, then it got a bit boring. I'm gonna play ACNH literally everyday forever lol

79. Are you the kind of person who starts over after leaving their town for a really long time, or do you try to get right back to it? I tend to restart a lot, but I recently decided to leave my ACNL town with no regrets so I hacked the crap out of it without feeling tacky or cringy

80. Do you remember how you got into the Animal Crossing series? It immediately caught my eye as a 6 year old and its had its grasp on me since

81. Do you like to make up a story for the town/character when you play, or do you just play as yourself? I play as myself but I sorta make a bunch of headcanons for myself and my neighbors and stuff to make it more interesting for me. Sometimes its embarrassing and sometimes I need to tell the people!

82. Favourite dream address / “theme” for a town (pastel, fairytale, forest, horror, etc)? My favorite town has always been Pastelia, although the mayor's name is escaping me atm >m<"

83. Do you like to have your house fully upgraded/paid off, or do you like keeping it smaller/having fewer rooms? I used to fully upgrade my house all the time but my current ACNL house only have 4 rooms and that's IT

84. Favourite hairstyle? The one with the middle split and it goes behind the ears

85. Least favourite hairstyle? The three ponytails, rip ACWW me

86. Favourite hair colour? I go either pink or my natural brown

87. Least favourite hair colour? That bright green...

88. Do you prefer wearing in-game clothes, or custom designs? In game clothes!

89. Favourite hourly track? 2 pm from ACPG

90. Just ten more days! How’re you feeling? Half paid off my new switch, so ready!

91. Least favourite hourly track? I don't think I have one!

92. Do you prefer to know all about the game before designing your town/island/house, or do you like to wing it? Bro, I've been glued to my phone since the direct came out

93. Another nice Animal Crossing memory? ACNL came out around the time my husband and I started dating, almost exactly at the same time. Now its 8 years later, we're married, and we're gonna play another animal crossing game together finally!

94. Are you excited about same-system multiplayer? Its gonna be great for a lot of people, kinda useless for me though

95. Five more days! Are you going to trade/use amiibo to get your favourite villager, or wait for them to move in themselves/make a new favourite? I think I'll put in my 2 top favs, and then see what comes. Maybe after a few months I'll put everyone in

96. Favourite emotion/Shrunk joke? I don't really like his jokes, but my fav emotions to use are the bashful ones

97. Least favourite emotion/Shrunk joke? Not a fan of his dopey dance

98. Is there a feature you’d like to add to Animal Crossing? I wanna be able to decorate for my neighbors so badly!

99. Is there a feature you’d take away? It kinda seems like a lot of issues were solved in ACNH, I guess we'll see what's leftover as an annoying feature

100. Final day! Any more thoughts? Midnight release at my local gamestop! Gonna be there with a bunch of DOOM fans too! Can't wait!!

#ac asks #personal

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doshmanziari · 5 years

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2019 Mega Drive Explorations [4]

A continuation of parts 1, 2, and 3. Click the link below to read the full post.

The NewZealand Story (1990)

This almost instantly became one of my favorite games for the Mega Drive. It was first an arcade release (1988), and got a ton of ports with, I assume, differences between each; Wikipedia notes that the version I played “had its levels based on the prototype version of the arcade game.” What that means, qualitatively, I’m not yet sure. This is some of the weirdest level design I’ve encountered in a platformer that’s not, like, a reactionary deconstructive work (in the way that the Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2 is). The only other somewhat contemporary title I can compare it to is Milon’s Secret Castle (1986). Each of The NewZealand Story’s stages is a sort of maze that’s completed when you reach a fellow kiwi and release them from a cage. What really lets the layouts grow as they do is that, once you get to the second zone (of four), you need to start making use of the various flotation devices which preexist here and there or are left behind by enemies you defeat. So the level design gets to, in a kind of freeform way, flip between “normally” accessible paths and platforms, and toothy stretches demanding aerial navigation. The flotation devices are distinct from one another, too, from how you adhere to it to the speed. What was especially fun about this to me is how, following a clear-out of enemies, you might have a selection of these devices to choose from, and there aren’t really comparative downsides between them (the closest you get to that are these things that look like, uh, torpedoes, which are slow, but they’re also the one device that can’t be popped by shooting at it or touching spikes).

Even if The NewZealand Story isn’t genre-/series-deconstructive, that doesn’t mean it can’t have whimsical moments. A standout for me is illustrated in the third screenshot, where a “room” you have to get to is surrounded by a barrier, and seemingly inaccessible, until you remember that if you are standing below platforms and walkways of a certain thinness and appearance you can jump through them. The solution is to get yourself up against that vertical band and jump through the bit where it briefly horizontally redirects. Cool!! The other thing I like a lot about the level design is that it’s not strictly economical, that some of the structural arrangements seem to exist to form visual patterns more than to control your route. So you have minor casual options for where and how to move through a space. Mercifully, amazingly, bosses are few -- only three -- and they have brevity: you can get rid of the final boss (see the screenshot above) within seconds by popping his balloon. I like looking at this game, too. A couple of stages reminded me of Falcom’s Xanadu and Faxanadu in their cute, flattish, compact representation of architecture or architectural elements within a screen’s worth of space and fortressed tiling. Once you’re past the first zone, loosely themed as a zoo, it’s impossible to tell if the zones’ apertures and voids admit further views or are all mosaics and/or props. It was an unexpected and engaging ambiguity: either interpretation has strange implications. Besides a couple of jumps over and under spikes which demand an inapt exactitude, this is pretty much a perfect game for me, and I wish it had gotten a handheld rerelease on the Nintendo GBA or DS.

Arcus Odyssey (1991)

As a Wolf Team-developed game, Arcus Odyssey sits snugly beside Earnest Evans and El Viento as a whirlwind of inexplicable plot points (rendered more inexplicable, and amusing, by an amateurish localization), lopsided pacing, and just a ton of baffling game design that doesn’t really care about you. Everything is exploding and the gravitas has no narrative grounding. It is at its best hilariously joyful and at its worst insensitively prohibitive. Environments, from a network of walkways suspended thousands of feet above the earth, to a colonnaded stepped complex that recalls John Martin’s infernal painting, Pandemonium, are set at an oblique angle and are swimming with sorcerers, skeletons, cockroaches, and other creatures who unendingly come at you from out of nowhere and half of the time spit projectiles. The palettes and narrow, minuscule tilesets give everything the veneer of a PC-98 title. Regardless of the character you choose (for me, it was the pink-haired Erin who wields a whip), the best strategy is to never stop mashing the attack button. This got iffy in one stage where a numerous type of flying creature left behind a crawling string of flames on the ground upon death. The best strategy for bosses? Use an invincibility-granting item you’ve hopefully snagged from a treasure chest, stand right next to the boss, and... yeah, mash that attack button. Which is fine! This is not a game where the mechanics could’ve yielded bosses who were interesting for reasons other than their appearance.

Arcus Odyssey has two serious, debilitating issues, though. The first is that you only have room in an inventory menu for six items (five, really; one of these items is permanent), and yet I have quite literally never seen another videogame with so many treasure chests relative to its stages’ sizes. You’ll mostly be passing stuff up then because you’re at capacity. Sure, you can consume the things you have to make room, but there are at least three items which have contextually valuable uses: the potion of invincibility, the lifebar-refilling lamp of life, and the resurrecting doll of life. Stocking up on one kind to the exclusion of everything else isn’t a sustainable plan. So the “economy,” as it were, is kinda fucked. The second debilitating, perhaps eventually paralyzing, issue is that Arcus Odyssey has the design of an early Japanese PC action-RPG like Ys or Rune Worth, where you are constantly harangued by waves of enemies who non-specifically occupy the level designs and bosses who may instantly unload multiple projectile-based attacks. That sort of design, somewhat haphazard as it was, could function (with degrees of success) in the context of the RPG part of the “action-RPG” equation, since you could reliably and incrementally level up (and save!). Arcus Odyssey doles out a few upgrades here and there, but it plays out like an action game that doesn’t understand the forms it’s borrowing. As such, it’s easy -- and become easier, the further along you are -- to get yourself into situations whose demands for superhuman, verging on omniscient, performance make no sense. Real shame.

Marvel Land (1991)

Like The NewZealand Story, Marvel Land is a Mega Drive port of an arcade game released a couple of years earlier. Also like the former, it quickly became a personal console-favorite. A few prickles keep me from fully loving it -- namely, the bizarre precision you need to have when jumping on enemies to not get hit yourself (and a hit here, as per usual with arcade games before the 90s, equals death), a few too many leaps of faith, and optional doorways which can send you back to previous levels, as far as the very first -- but the diversity of creatures, stages’ arrangements and themes, power-ups, and unconventional bosses have an individual and cumulative appeal that outweighs those problematics. I think I’m obligated here to say that I will almost automatically like any videogame that has a candy-themed environment, and Marvel Land has one of those, complete with waddling ice cream cones, gingerbread houses, and a maze built of cracker-cookies. The two main and most interesting power-ups are wings which temporarily give you a much higher jump and the ability to fly, and a string of self-duplicates which can be whipped around to hit enemies, collect items for score, and latch onto targets to swing from them. A later level surprised me when it both expected me to use the wings to progress and to be mindful about the height of my jumps so as to not skewer myself on spikes., denying the expectation that such a liberty would dissolve hard designs.

Bosses deserve a special mention because, god, by now I just hate bosses, they ruin so many of these games, and Marvel Land’s are designed as “minigames” -- a game of rock-paper-scissors, selecting an illustration in a grid that matches an example below, or Whac-a-mole (against a mole). It’s decent, clever, and properly playful. Despite this, the game is still compelled to have a “real” boss fight at the very end (were the developers anxious?), and I could’ve done without that; but, it was straightforward enough. The aforementioned bestiary, if you want to call it that, is wonderful and funny and can hold its own against any of the Kirby games’ rosters. You can see, for example, in the last screenshot that a feisty mallard duck who beckons at you with an index feather-finger is named COMEON. Other members include HEAVY, a chubby pink snake, and GIANTBURGER, a sentient burger. As a closing comment, I’ll say that it’s striking and odd how many videogames, from Japan, no less, were about restoring the rule of a Eurocentric fairytale monarchy. Hell, that’s what two of Nintendo’s most popular extant series are about (Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda). Why is this an international go-to for a premise? And how could anyone care about it? In some cases I think it’s fair to guess that the creator(s) did not care and simply went with a cultural trope that was within grabbing range; but the question remains of why those tropes are within grabbing range. We already know why these narratives are also fiercely heteronormative (even The NewZealand Story has to make the last kiwi you rescue be a girl -- wow, thank god!), but this prevalent medievalism that has an uncritical nostalgia for monarchy kinda mystifies me.

#sega genesis #mega drive #new zealand story #arcus odyssey #marvel land

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wlwofwaverlyplace · 6 years

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lab rats childhood headcanons

Douglas definitely went through an emo phase

Once, Donald gave Bree light-up sketchers for Christmas and she didn’t take them off for five years

Growing up, Adam, Bree, and Chase used to go on “camping trips” in the lab: trying to sleep in tents, turning off all the lights and gathering around a lamp, telling ghost stories, singing songs, in general just REALLY using their imagination

(Chase being super descriptive talking about the forest around them, Adam on the lookout for bears, Bree swatting at fake bugs, the works)

The only “fun” movies/TV (non-educational) that the lab rats were allowed were allowed to watch were the following:

Shark Man and Flipper Boy (Chase’s favorite)

the High School Musical trilogy (Bree’s favorite)

where she got all her unrealistic ideas about high school from

Goober the Spunky Caboose (Adam’s favorite)

Pig Zombies (no one but Donald liked these movies)

Leo Dooley was THE coolest kid in elementary school with all his trading cards, DS, and super hero comics, kids always crowding around to see his gadgets at recess and lunchtime.

He didn’t start to get bullied until middle school when the “cool stuff” turned into iphones and other expensive tech, which he didn’t have, and his stuff became nerdy.

Because of this, Leo has grown to associate popularity/likability with material wealth, which is part of the reason why he’s so ecstatic to accept Mr. Davenport as his dad at the beginning of the series and move into his house

Tasha was a popular cheerleader all throughout high school and she dated fellow squad member Fiona Mickeljock until college

Donald missed both of his high school proms for studying

Chase used have sensory overload meltdowns often as a child due to his bionic hearing. Even after Mr. Davenport made his capsule “soundproof,” he couldn’t sleep without additional ear plugs and noise-canceling headphones. He didn’t fully adjust to background noise until puberty.

Adam and Bree played the “quiet game” whenever their loud rambunctiousness became too much for Chase, Mr. Davenport chipping in with a “See, this is why you can’t leave the lab.”

Leo used to sleepwalk a lot as a kid, the weirdest instance being one night when he walked outside just to water the plants

The only kinds of pets that Leo was allowed to have growing up were hamsters and goldfish, of which he had many. He took great care of them too, a true responsible pet owner.

Hide-and-seek was no fun for Adam bc Bree could search the entire square inch of the lab in a second, and Chase could simply track his GPS

Adam wanted a dog so bad that Mr. Davenport gave him a dog stuffed animal for Christmas (are you sensing a pattern here), which he still has

#lab rats #Adam Davenport #bree davenport #chase davenport #donald davenport #douglas davenport #leo dooley #tasha davenport #feel free to add!!!#i may continue this if i think of more #headcanons

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leftwriteb · 5 years

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LeftWriteB's Loot Box: Original Game Soundtrack Discs & Their Stories

“LeftWriteB’s Loot Box” is a series that highlights the stranger parts of our gaming collection. Whether it be collectables, merchandise, custom creations or more, we aim to bring you a look at some items you probably won’t see on the shelves of every retailer. Today’s focus: a collection of the more interesting original game soundtracks.

A soundtrack can make or break a game. Just as solid gameplay can help you gloss over the other issues a game may throw at you, a solid game soundtrack can stay with you for years after you finish it. While many special editions of games now include a soundtrack CD or a digital download for the music, physical discs for game soundtracks aren’t exactly a common occurrence. Over the years I’ve been able to acquire a good amount of them for games that have left a lasting impression on me. Sure, many of them were rewards from Club Nintendo, but the likes of The Sexy Brutale, Little Nightmares, Bioshock Infinite, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle and The Witcher 3 don’t have as much of a backstory as the collected ones we are going to look at.

The Last of Us Original Score

The Last of Us is a game that many consider the best of the last decade, or one of them at the very least. Many aspects of the game were masterfully crafted; the story, the visuals, the voice-acting, the soundtrack. My lord, that score was something. The games main theme, which is retooled in various ways through the course of the game, is a haunting and beautiful piece of music that has stayed with me since the day I heard it but so too have other pieces. I didn’t own a PS3 at the time of the original launch, and instead went straight to a friends house on the day of the games release so I could simply sit and and watch him play. Months after, I watched the entire game via a YouTube playthrough and enjoyed it even more. The world captivated me even though I was yet to sit and play it properly myself.

It wasn’t until I bought a PS4 during the initial year of the consoles lifespan that I finally got to play it for myself and it remains one of the finest games I’ve ever had the joy to play. It is one of the most memorable experiences I will ever have and the lasting impression it left on me years after I’d concluded the story is certainly in large part because of the score. Thank you, Gustavo Santaolalla and those who helped make such compelling music.

Animal Crossing: Your Favourite Songs

A slightly more chipper soundtrack, this is actually an accidental favourite of mine. Animal Crossing is a series I’ve sunk literally hundreds of hours into over the years. I played plenty of Wild World on DS and, over the course of many years, had quite the time with New Leaf. I’d find myself glued to the latter solidly for months at a time before hitting a brick wall and putting it down. I’d tire of it and trade the game in. But, of course, 6 months later I’d want to play it again and would buy it yet again to eventually repeat this same cycle five times in the space of five years. Finally, I learnt that I should just keep it and not be such an idiot. One thing that remained pleasing through each binge I went through though was the ambient soundtrack that adjusted according to season, time of day and weather. Through countless hours playing, I always marvelled at how delightful the music was and how it always fit the mood.

When Club Nintendo were offering a whole CD of the ambient music, I jumped at the chance to grab myself a copy. Of course, I probably should have taken a second to think about it and read things properly. As it turns out, the CD was not a selection of the beautiful ambient soundtrack but instead a selection of K.K. Slider singing. Rest assured, his voice is not quite as soothing as tranquil tunes of a starry New Leaf midnight. Even still, the disc being covered in a cutesy Animal Crossing leaf pattern is a nice touch.

Super Smash Bros. Premium Sound Selection

Another item from Club Nintendo, the premium sound selection taken from Super Smash Bros. for WiiU and 3DS offered fans two discs of the finest pieces of music Smash Bros. had to offer. Having been introduced to the series so many years ago, Smash Bros. Melee was a cornerstone of the gaming time spent between me, my brother and our two cousins when we were kids. I stuck with the series for every iteration since and each one provided hours of friendship straining fun.

Not only was the artwork on this case great, but the two discs had a nice blue and red contrast with the Smash logo cutting through them. Given this was a selection from the WiiU and 3DS versions, these colours were undoubtedly chosen as they were the ones associated with the two console platforms. With Smash Bros. Ultimate having just been released, we’ve been treated to even more spectacular music and these two discs are just a small taste of what players get to listen to in the latest instalment in the series. More importantly though, Smash Bros. for WiiU and 3DS had the finest arrangements for Zelda and Luigi you’ll find.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D Soundtrack

Ocarina of Time is widely considered one of the best games ever created. It’s also one of my favourite games of all time and that might sound a little stereotypical but my reasons behind this are less typical. While I didn’t get to play it on the Nintendo 64 because of my age, the game still managed to take over a huge portion of my childhood. Having had a copy of the Zelda Collection thrown in to our bundle when we bought the Gamecube, I jumped into Ocarina after I’d replayed the Wind Waker demo roughly 700 times. The game completely hooked me but, as I was so about nine years old, it was a difficult game for me to conquer. In fact, it took me about 3 years to beat it. Every time I got stuck, I’d abandon the game for 6 months before eventually returning to it and miraculously solving what had stumped me for so long before. After a good few instances of this happening, I eventually defeated Ganon. Maybe I should’ve learned my lesson from this approach to games before picking up Animal Crossing: New Leaf years later - I should’ve just stuck with ‘em.

When the 3DS first launched and I was one of the few that bought them on day one and the news this was coming to the handheld in reimagined 3D made me just a smidge excited. To this day, the entire soundtrack holds a special place in my heart as the game was so present in my younger gaming years. This soundtrack came to Club Nintendo and was an instant acquisition. It was worth it just for the memories that the Hyrule Field theme can conjure, but the inclusion of everything else (and the Windmill Hut music) shows that the soundtrack is just as good now as it ever was.

The Legends of Zelda: Majora’s Mask Soundtrack (Japanese Import)

Also included on this Zelda Gamcube collection was the entirety of Majora’s Mask, the infamous Zelda release that followed Ocarina. I played this game in a very similar way, finding roadblocks that stumped me for what seemed like an eternity. I never actually got that far into Majora’s Mask and didn’t even manage to get past the first dungeon; the timing constraints were something I couldn’t overcome as a kid. What did baffle me though was how different Termina was to Hyrule. Everything was in a state of impending doom, people went about their days instead of standing still forever and the horrifying and mentally scarring image of the Moon hovered above you judging your life choices.

It was an experience, though small, that stayed with me. I’d never felt that kind of dread in a game as a kid, apart from perhaps seeing Ganon on horseback outside Hyrule Castle for the first time. Once again, when the game came to 3DS, I found myself eager to jump in and tackle the game with a brain that (as far as I could tell) was a little more well versed in puzzles, combat and gaming. But even having only scratched the surface years ago, the main title theme and clock tower theme still play in my head almost far too often. Having kept an eye on the soundtracks listed on eBay, I finally got to buying this Japanese import of the games soundtrack. While the music alone was a treat, the eerie artwork on the case and discs was so encapsulating of my feelings towards the game that it was a must-have when I saw it.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD Sound Selection

The thunderous success of the original Wii was what helped catapult the console into so many homes. While many, myself included, found themselves hooked on Wii Sports, the main reason I wanted a Wii was for Twilight Princess. As we’d already discussed, I had fallen in love with the series thanks to the collection I had on Gamecube and couldn’t wait to transition from wrapping up Wind Waker to a new adventure. I’d been nagging my parents to get me a copy for Gamecube before I owned a Wii but the scarcity and price made that a slightly unrealistic dream.

When we managed to get a Wii for my birthday (but opened it a month early because I couldn’t contain my excitement) I got a copy of Twilight Princess too. I only played through the game the once, but strolling through the shootout at the Hidden Village and taking part in the jousting match on the Bridge of Eldin were unforgettable in the most detailed Zelda game to date (at the time). When the pack rereleased in HD for WiiU and came with a soundtrack and awesome Wolf Link amiibo, I picked it up on day one. Sure, I didn’t own a WiiU at the time but the soundtrack and amiibo were worth it anyway.

The Legends of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds Original Soundtrack

Confession time: I’ve never played A Link Between Worlds. I bought a copy some time ago. I was and still am excited to play it. The thing is, my game library continues to expand as my time to play through it continues to shrink. Having enjoyed The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, a game that was a little controversial, I couldn’t wait to jump in to a new handheld Zelda game that was getting far more positive buzz. I actually lost track of how long I’ve had this game in my to-do list and with the Switch now having taken my 3DS’ place, I may never get around to playing it at all.

That said, I’ve had a great time with every Zelda game I’ve ever played and had confidence in Between Worlds. When Club Nintendo had the soundtrack available, I nabbed it before it was too late in preparation. At the very least, the artwork for the soundtrack was absolutely gorgeous and two whole discs worth of music is something no sensible person would turn down for what was effectively free. Like the Smash discs, it came with two of alternating colours though this time for to reflect the worlds of Hyrule and Lorule. With the Master Sword sitting peacefully in the Lost Woods adorning the cover, it’s just as great to look at as it is to listen to.

For more gaming oddities, stay tuned to “LeftWriteB’s Loot Box” for more gaming oddities.

#last #of #us #gustavo #santaolalla #naughty #dog #music #disc #discs #disk #disks #cd #album #scor #score #soundtrack #sound #track #nintendo #sony #animal #crossing #selection #k #slider #k.k.#k.k #a #ost

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mamthew · 2 years

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This is a review/musing on Assassin's Creed: Valhalla. I don't wanna bury the lead on that.

Assassin's Creed 2 changed my understanding of video games. When I found it on sale for $7.00 back in 2010, it was at a time when I avoided a class of games that I guess now might best be classed as AAA but at the time I just considered...I dunno, self-serious? Egregious? I believed at the time that most violence in video games was a sign that the games featuring them had to rely on shock factor to appeal to an audience charmed by the thrill of the taboo. It was a pretentious and small-minded opinion, born of being too young and too sheltered, and playing Assassin's Creed 2 was how I came to realize that. The game's story was beautiful. It tempered its cynicism with an unshakeable love for people and recreated renaissance art and architecture with such unnecessary attention to detail that it was impossible not to recognize that the game was primarily art, before it was a product. It seems obvious now that even violent video game stories are emotional because most good stories are, at their heart, emotional, but at the time it was a revelation. As soon as I finished it, I tracked down and played every game in the franchise up until that point - the first game, two DS games, a PSP game, and the brand-new sequel, Brotherhood. I've only done that with two other games: Kingdom Hearts and Metal Gear Solid.

The series followed a yearly release schedule for a time, and I devoured all of them. While many people took issue with the quick releases and few updates in gameplay between each of them, I didn't mind it. What I cared about most were the stories and the meticulously designed historical settings. As long as I got those, I wasn't too worried if they played pretty similarly. After all, I enjoyed the gameplay. I didn't see a need to change things I already enjoyed just for the sake of changing things. The problem with Assassin's Creed, of course, is that video games are a business, and no publisher seems more doggedly committed to reminding you that games are a business than Ubisoft. Assassin's Creed Unity was a beautiful game with a solid story that I couldn't finish. Even after they apologized and removed the price tags, the constant in-game reminders that every piece of this game was intended to cost extra were too difficult to ignore. I didn't finish Syndicate either. The series had simply been soured by just how much greed Ubisoft had accidentally let slip. The series rebooted with Origins, an absolutely gorgeous game with one of the best stories they'd done, but with a nearly unrecognizable game design. Climbing was no longer a puzzle, combat was completely changed to feel like a soulslike, even the world map exploration system was changed, with extras spaced out in a grid pattern and with a navigation bar instead of a minimap. I was equally enamored and put off by the game. Then Odyssey felt almost lazy by comparison. Its world was still beautiful and its story was fine, but I really disliked the ending, and the addition of a choice system infuriated me.

The choice system especially doesn't sit right with me, even now. The frame device of Assassin's Creed is that contemporary people can relive the lives of past individuals, through sci-fi means that don't really matter. The usefulness of this frame device to video games as a storytelling medium can't be overstated. When something happens in the game that would normally be immersion-breaking, right down to dying and coming back to life, the frame device allows it to be part of the simulation or the cognition of the one with the memories, rather than taking the player out of the experience. Ezio healing a stab wound with medicine bought from some guy selling leeches doesn't make sense to us, but we can understand that Ezio was never stabbed at that point in time, and Ezio believed that medicine bought from some guy selling leeches was effective, so when simulating his memories, we can use that medicine to heal. That combination works as a bulwark against the cinemasins ding. If a sidequest's dialogue implies it happened before a story event that has already taken place, the frame device allows us to understand that these events happened in a different order and we simply chose to simulate the memories out of sequence. When we're invited to make story choices by the game, however, the entire frame device falls apart. And yes, I am aware that there was some exposition that tried to explain this by saying the animus has some level of time-travel capability because of god magic, but it's hard not to look at this entire choice system and its mostly meaningless choices, and understand that it's really there because no publisher is more doggedly committed to reminding you that games are a business than Ubisoft, and they refused to allow the game to have a woman protagonist without giving the option to play as a man instead. They crushed...pretty much everything that had allowed a decade-long story to work as well as it had because of the incorrect assumption that games about women don't sell.

So when Assassin's Creed: Valhalla came out in the hell year that was 2020, I ignored it entirely. Much much more had come out about Ubisoft since Odyssey, and I didn't feel comfortable giving them money, especially after Odyssey. I recently bought it marked down enough that I was willing to give it a shot, and I have a lot of thoughts about it. I guess since my two most important facets of Assassin's Creed are story and the beauty of the recreation of the historical setting, I should start there. The story is both really really good and only fine. The graphics, too, are both really really good and only fine. The issues I have with the graphics are probably just the result of playing a PS5 game on a PS4. Everything is gorgeous from a distance, and when everything works as intended, the game looks great, but textures will often....just not load in. Faces and hair will look hideous probably 70% of the time, simply because hair physics and skin lighting never get around to kicking in. But the world is still colorful, striking, and imaginative, and I have found it fairly easy to understand what they were going for and what the game probably looks like on something powerful enough to run it. A theme they've pushed in their world designs from Origins on is the sheer mind-boggling length of time of antiquity. Origins takes place in Ancient Egypt, but there are still Egyptian ruins from centuries past, so old that no one even remembers their purpose. Same for Odyssey's Ancient Greece. This is also true of Valhalla's England. None of the fairly new towns of the Saxons or Danes feel new, because they incorporate the centuries-old Roman ruins surrounding them. Valhalla constantly reminds us that there really is no earliest time; there's always a before.

Valhalla's story is paced oddly as a result of its continued use of the fucking infuriating choice mechanic from Odyssey. The story is broken into segments you can tackle in any order, and since you choose the order of events, each arc has to be self-contained and the protagonist Eivor has to behave consistently throughout. This means Eivor goes long periods of time without really...developing all that much as a character, with big leaps in development after each set of arcs is complete, giving the whole thing a weird, stilted, stop-and-go feeling. The arcs being self-contained make for some very fun short-form storytelling, though. Each arc has its own set of characters and its own rise, fall, and conclusion, and most arcs feel pretty unique and fun. It gives the story a light, fun, popcorn quality. If one arc comes off as contrived or uninteresting, it'll be done soon and the next arc will be entirely different. Some side arcs will even straight up introduce entirely new small world maps to explore, providing a change of scenery as well. One sent me to Scotland, another to North America, and several especially imaginative and beautiful arcs retell stories from Norse mythology, where you play as Odin Assassin's Creed-ing his way through beautifully conceived mythological locales. The story is also very thematically rich, as Eivor is forced to confront her deep-seated cultural notions of religion and the afterlife. Several characters cause terrible, irreparable damage because they believe they will only enter Valhalla if they die heroically in battle, and it's engaging and rewarding watching Eivor realize just how unsustainable this need for conflict really is. Assassin's Creed: Valhalla has the most meaningful subtitle in the entire series. It's honestly made me wish they'd brought in more of the present-day storyline, since reliving the life of this long-dead assassin is itself a sort of afterlife, and I think that parallel is worth exploring.

Where this game shines most, though, is in its level design. It's been difficult over the years watching Assassin's Creed develop a need to be all things to all people in the name of sales, and diluting much of its own identity in the process. It's true that much of the games industry has "ubisoftified," becoming more and more like Far Cry and Assassin's Creed to their own detriment, but the same has also happened in reverse. Assassin's Creed has consistently tried to incorporate disparate parts of other popular games, from tower defenses to grapple guns. To me, Assassin's Creed Origins, with its Breath of the Wild climbing, soulslike combat, Witcher quest system, and Far Cry navigation, was the point at which the series wasn't recognizably...itself anymore. It was simply a number of elements of other games combined with recognizable story elements and sound effects. Despite retaining many of these elements, Valhalla still feels like a solid and commendable attempt to pull back from that and reclaim some of Assassin's Creed's lost identity. The combat is much more unique and flows much better, sidequests that aren't "arcs" have been shortened to five minute vignettes, and they've spent a lot of time adding and expanding on climbing puzzles, with most collectibles requiring some pretty intensive puzzle-solving, using climbing, bombs, and breakable environments. This game is the most I've felt like I was playing something like AC Brotherhood in a very long time, and it's managed that while still keeping most of the changes I'd really disliked, and simply tweaking them to feel more right. It feels a bit like the Tomb Raiders from 2013 on, which is especially welcome given how long it's been since the last Tomb Raider. The game also has made gear meaningful again. The previous two games had gear with a bunch of different rarity levels, with chests feeling like lootboxes, with the items you got from them seeming entirely random. I would often have to go through and purge my inventory of gear below a certain rarity level. Valhalla has only one of each piece of gear, and it allows you to level each one over time, meaning you can mix-and-match and take any of them to the end without worrying that they'll be underleveled for what you're doing. It's such a welcome change after two games where opening chests felt more like a chore than a reward.

So while it's certainly imperfect, I...kinda want to hail this game as a return to form. This is the best Assassin's Creed game in a very long time, even with its flawed story and bad graphical glitches, and it doesn't feel like it's trying to fleece me out of money, which is a welcome fucking change. However, I don't know if any game by Ubisoft deserves to be hailed for anything, while they continue to wave away credible accusations of rampant abuse, engage in constant bald money-grabs, try to get into fucking NFTs, and generally keep changing the video game industry and medium for the worse. This is a really good game made by clearly passionate and talented artists and developers. I can't wait to see what they do next, but I will probably still wait two years or longer to see anyway, simply because the money won't be going to them. It'll be going to some real monsters instead. Assassin's Creed 2 changed my understanding of video games forever, and the success of Assassin's Creed 2 changed the industry and its own publisher forever, in much less positive ways. There's an inescapable ambivalence when playing this game - or really, at this point, most games - that I think will never lift. So I highly recommend Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, but I also can't recommend it at all.

#Assassin's Creed #Assassin's Creed valhalla #ubisoft

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robbiejohnsonyr3ax3021 · 3 years

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AX2001 - University - Character Mash-up – Professor Layton meets Chowder (Summer Project)

So far on this blog regarding my summer project, I have discussed the creation process of two of my character Mashups. These include “Mike Wazowski” mashed-up with the 1930’s version of “Betty Boop” (AX2001 - University - Character Mash-up - My thought process for each character and Mike Wazowski meets Betty Boop (Summer Project)) and “Darkwing Duck” mashed-up with the character designs from “The Fairly Odd Parents” (AX2001 – University – Character Mash-up – Darkwing Duck meets the Fairly Odd Parents (Summer Project)). In this post I will be discussing the third and final character I tried to character Mash being the Professor Hershel Layton from the 2007 Nintendo series “Professor Layton” and the 2007 Cartoon Network show “Chowder”.

Professor Layton Meets Chowder, why?

When coming up with my third and final character, the first though I had was to add a character from different source of media, as my previous characters have all been in films or on TV, so I decided to investigate video game characters. After considering my options and taking into consideration the complexity of some characters and how others may blend or clash with each other’s character designs I finally settled with these two characters.

I came across the idea of using Professor Layton in a similar way, I came across using Darkwing Duck for the previous character Mash-up. I was looking through one of my local video game retailers and they had one of the newer Professor Layton games on sale. (it was called “Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy Deluxe Edition”). After seeing this I was reminded of the past games for the Nintendo DS, Layton wasn’t even on the box, but his design seemed so distinct to me I could remember his design well, from this moment I had settled on my character.

For choosing Chowder, it took awhile to settle upon the idea. I vaguely remembered the show, but seemed to remember the character designs quite well, with characters having their main piece of coloured clothing (or body parts) filled in with artistic patterns, whereas the rest of their clothing would be a solid colour. I also liked how the patterns for the characters would sometime represent what the characteristics of said character was. For example, the character “Endive” is a character of high standards, so her clothing was red with designs like dragons added in to show off her attitude and sense of power. Whereas characters like “Gorgonzola” have their patterns looking like their cloths have been stitched with different coloured clothing, representing him as a poor and rough calendar. With this approach in mind, I was interested to see if this pattern-based design would work with a character like Layton, so I began this character mash-up.

Drawing the character Mash-up

To begin, I wanted to take a deeper dive into the character designs for chowder, sure the pattern-based design was the main draw for me, but I wanted to try and create other aspects of the characters from the show for Layton. After researching the characters, some of my main findings included the following:

1.) Most of the characters in Chowder have their legs as their smallest body part.

2.) The characters arms are mostly around the same length of the characters body.

3.) Most characters feature an exaggerated feature to their design such as large hats or large noses.

With these findings and some more, I began creating the Mash up.

For drawing Layton, I decided to work with the same approach as I did for my previous character Mash-up with Darkwing Duck. I began by drawing one of the professor’s defining features, his top hat. It took a few attempts to decide how far apart each edge of his top hat should be, as sometimes I had drawn them too close together, or too far apart. After a few attempts, I found a distance I was happy with and this became easier to judge, each time I drew the top hat. I then made the head inline with edges of the top hat, so it seemed like a perfect for the professor’s head, I made his chin curved and created to little lines for his neck.

When creating the body, I had to take into consideration the professor’s coat. The professor’s coat was something I wanted to try and focus on, as due to later making his legs very short, it would make the professors coat look huge on him. To begin, I made the outline of the top of the coat around his neck/ lower head area and worked my way downwards from there, this included his arms which, I wanted to try make them roughly finish just before his waste and have his hand pop out at the bottom. The same process was done for both halves of the professor’s coat/ body and I then began working on the legs.

The legs were interesting at first, the professor could be seen as quite a thin, slender character, especially his legs in comparison to other characters, so coming up with the right length took a few tries and some tinkering with the Marquee tool. I was originally going to make the professors waist the same width as his coat, but then decided against this as it would help give scale to how large his coat is, as well as make creating legs easier to draw and make them closer together. Once this was created and legs where finalised, I created the professor’s shows and added his orange shirt underneath his coat.

When adding facial features to the professor, it took me a few attempts to land on one design. The professor’s eyes are two black dots with no pupils inside them, the results looked quite creepy. With the character designs of chowder, the eyes are usually quite big and connected to one another with their outline. After looking back over the chowder designs, as well as some other characters from the “Professor Layton” series, I realised he is one of the only characters to have his eyes as two black dots, so to make him fit in better, I gave him two regular white eyes with pupils in the middle of them. The nose and mouth where then added, keeping the professor’s small triangular nose and gentle smile as well as his hair and ears with one line being made for his inner ear (this is another detail some characters in chowder have).

For Layton’s side view, I decided to make his coat stick out past his head and stretch out from where his body would be, this was another detail to emphasise the size of his coat for this mash-up. I also decided to make the nose poke out small bit, as when Layton faces forward, sometimes his nose is only represented with a line with a small triangle at the bottom of it and being more visible when seen at a side view. I tried to keep this feature in line with his original look, as well as his hair line being more visible from a side view (with a complete piece of hair at the back of his head).

For the facial expressions, I tried to stick as close to the rules of “Chowder” when it came to character expressions. The professor doesn't have eye brows, so matching his facial expressions was best linked to the main character of Chowder being Chowder himself. This is why the only a few of the expressions I made for the Professor featured some kind of eye line such as the angry face, as when Chowder’s angry a crease line in the shape of eye brows appear above his head. (Chowder is on the left in the image below)

The Professor's character pose, is based on one of the Professor’s more well known poses. In the games after submitting your answer to a puzzle, three images appear of the professor thinking before informing you if you got the question right or wrong.

Lastly was Layton’s pattern for that chowder look, now truth be told, this feature of the character was made after I had created the “final look of the Mash-up”. But I felt it was more appropriate in this segment as there were some design choices needed. When deciding where the patterns should be, I thought it would be best to place it on any brown clothing, so this included Layton’s top hat, coat and pants. For the design itself, I experimented with some line drawing, but I didn’t think they really worked, make the professors known brown look appear white and not much like the original. So, in the end I decided to make the professors pattern a reference to his games and events that take place in them (if you’re interested, below is a list of each reference on the pattern). Although I had chosen white, I wanted other colours that blended with the previously established brown colour, so I used a mixture of light and dark browns, as well as some orange to detail the patterns featured in the professor design.

List of references featured in the Layton’s pattern

1.) Luke’s hat (the professor’s accomplice)

2.) Claire’s hat (From “Professor Layton and the Lost Future)

3.) The time machine (From “Professor Layton and the Lost Future)

4.) The Elysian box (From “Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box”)

5.) Two hint coins, which have appeared across the series.

Creating the final look of the Mash-up

When creating the final mash-up, I used the same approach as I had being using previously, only this time with a slightly thicker brush and placing each aspect of the character on separate layers. I began with the hat and at this point I had gotten used to drawing the width of the hat as well as the ring around the bottom of it, the red strip across the hat had to be adjusted, due to it being much bigger now than its previous smaller designs.

Next was creating the professor’s coat/ body which I tried to make slightly smoother and less angular around the neck/ lower head area, so I added a slight dip at the back of the coat where professor head would be to make it slightly more curved in its appearance, as well as the flaps at the front. For the rest of the coat, it was mostly following the same methods as I had previously, I did try to make the professor’s arms, stick out slightly at the bottom as to give his hands a clearer look instead of them looking like they have fused/ connected to the body of the character.

Once the coat was finished, I moved onto the legs which weren’t too bad to create, the main issue I had with making legs this time was due to them now being much bigger now in appearance, I kept making the legs uneven in size. This would make the legs look like one was wider than the other, to try and fix this issue, I made the professor’s waist more visible with a curve leading towards his coat, this in term I felt made the coat (again) look bigger in comparison to the rest of Layton. Once this was done the shoes where added, which I experienced a similar issue as I did with the legs, but this time with size of the professor’s heel as sometimes one heel would appear bigger than the other or make the proportions of the foot appear unequal/ disjointed. To fix this I began drawing from the bottom of Layton’s pants and created a slight inward then outward curve for the heel, instead of beginning with the fronts of the characters feet, as I had been doing previously.

I kept with the same principles I made myself for the facial features making it a fairly easy process to create and position the professor’s facial features, I did make one ear slightly bigger than the other this time, as I tried to create a quarter view of the professor whilst keep to the rules/ design of the characters in the show. I then coloured in the professor whilst leaving out the areas of the character for the pattern.

Lastly was adding the pattern which was implemented through trial and error. At first placing the pattern design on Layton’s top hat made me feel that there wasn’t enough going on, as for the most part only a few white lines and snippets of the patterns would appear on the character. To fix this I had to stretch and manipulate the pattern layer with the transform and marquee tool modify the shape of the pattern to mostly fit where it needed to go. I did try to fit the entire pattern in place, but I felt it made the pattern to busy when compared to the rest of the design, so I placed segments of the pattern in place and then erased the rest. This was done again for the professor’s coat and pants with more designs appearing on them than the hat, due to the coat being much bigger. I then added a light green background and with that the character mash-up was complete.

Overall, I felt happy with this mash-up, as in the previous two mashups I felt like I had to try and stay as close to the original features of the original character designs when it came to proportions. But with this piece I had to think a little bit outside of the box in order to make Layton and chowder’s design work together. It was also fun to experiment with layering different pieces of work on top of each other (The character sheets and the pattern sheets), instead of creating everything in the same document as I had been doing previously, so both improvisation and design aspects were tested on me for this piece.

Extra/ Un-used Images for this post

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comradecrossing · 6 years

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have you played happy home designer & if so do you like it?

I love Happy Home Designer!If you don’t like the decorating & landscaping aspects of Animal crossing you might not like it but if you like interior design, the home building of Sims, or are an artist and need help envisioning houses you’d probably really enjoy it :) If you have a bunch of amiibos lying around they are very useful in this game!

The game has Pocket Camp like decorating mechanics (think sims3/4) which I love, and you can build outside the house as well! It can really help you with ideas if you don’t want to waste a bunch of time collecting and mix matching furniture in ACNL for both interior and landscaping too! It's also great for making tooooooons of QR/patterns if thats you're thing.You can also upload the homes you design for others to explore and give you points and visit homes for inspiration. I have a tag for mine too.

I really like using it before bed to relax, and before my last cartridge broke and I got really invested in New Leaf again I used to play so much I just left my DS on for days at a time (i do not recommend it).

One last thing I will say is that the game is what you make it, you don’t have to follow what the characters want and you can make the houses what ever you desire. Make fantasy homes for all your dreamies, scan Wolf Link and give him the lovely series and a beautiful garden in cherry blossom season, you are the expert interior designer in their eyes and they willl love eveything you do, so play the game however makes you happy :)

#achhd #hhd #animal crossing #happy home designer #it also helps for stimming and dissociation #i used to get really stressed about the themes though #and so i gotta remind myself to just make #everyone a princess or farmer ¯\_(ツ)_/¯#blanca

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didanawisgi · 6 years

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Gabriel Guerrer, August 24, 2017

Abstract

Motivated by a series of reported experiments and their controversial results, the present work investigated if volunteers could causally affect an optical double-slit system through mental efforts alone. The participants task alternated between intending the increase of the (real-time feedback informed) amount of light diffracted through a specific single slit and relaxing any intention effort. The 160 data sessions contributed by 127 volunteers revealed a statistically significant 6.37 sigma difference between the measurements performed in the intention versus the relax conditions (p = 1.89 × 10−10, es = 0.50 ± 0.08), while the 160 control sessions conducted without any present observer resulted in statistically equivalent samples (z = −0.04, p = 0.97, es = 0.00 ± 0.08). The results couldn’t be simply explained by environmental factors, hence supporting the previously claimed existence of a not yet mapped form of interaction between a conscious agent and a physical system.

Discussion

The five experiments testing a consciousness-related form of interaction with a double-slit system resulted in a 6.37 sigma effect, successfully replicating the anomaly found by previous studies. In contrast, the control sessions conformed to the null hypothesis, showing that the obtained effect cannot be reduced to methodological or analytical artifacts. The effect neither can be explained by a temperature increase in the experimental room as shown by experiment 0 with a lamp producing more heat than a human body does. Experiment 0 also excluded possible artifacts caused by the participant/control sessions order. Care was taken in order to isolate the experiment from mechanical vibrations and electromagnetic waves, as well to monitor the magnetic field and the temperature over different places. The same differential analysis procedure resulted in no significant results for the monitored environmental variables, discarding those physical processes as the primary causal sources of the light measured intention/relax differences. The participants intended the feedback magnitude increase, which in turn was linked to a specific feedback variable and a test hypothesis. The variable was built by taking into account a model which predicted the most sensitive wavenumber regions in the case of a legitimate interaction. With this method, the participants indirectly intended the increase in the amount of light crossing through a specific slit. The results indicate a flexible interplay between the two degrees of freedom ψ and φ to achieve the desired variation, revealing a goal-oriented characteristic for the ψφ-interaction. As the light luminosity is conserved, the interaction can be pictured as Maxwell’s demon kind of influence, where intention plays the demon’s role by “steering” some photons to the desired left/right slit. 11 The observed effect cannot be explained as the consequence of a measurement taking place in the participants conscious awareness. If that were the case, one should expect to see a decrease in the interference component followed by a 50/50 balanced slit intensity ratio. Differently, the results reveal a probability modulation enhancing the light passage through the desired slit. Thus the presented results don’t provide a solution to the quantum measurement problem (a similar view is shared by [26] on commenting about Radin et al. conclusions). According to the experimental evidence, it is more reasonable to label the effect as an interaction adding complex numbers to the path amplitudes, which by interference leads to a change in the outcome probabilities. Instead of challenging the quantum mechanics framework and the traditional objective interpretations, the results are suggestive of a standard-model violation, pointing to the existence of a still to be elucidated fundamental force field. A pertinent question to be addressed is: if such an effect really exists how could it have lasted consensually undetected in spite the technological breakthroughs of the last century? First, it’s reasonable to expect a small cross-section; an effect too small it could go unperceived in people’s daily lives, that needs proper amplification and a group of people to be statistically detected in a controlled setting. Second, by being a function of the conscious agent subjective condition, it may rely on a specific state of consciousness and an individual skill to promote it, thus not being consistently obtainable by anyone in any situation. In particular, if the effect happens to be catalyzed by states opposed to rational faculties such as thinking and the use of language, it may lead to a paradoxical situation: the more one tries to exert control in a pragmatic approach, the less they cause the phenomenon. The third reason can be argued as a consequence of the sociocultural process described by [27, Chap. 1] that led physicists to shift from philosophical interests to a more pragmatic approach motivated by post world war II military interests. While it was not uncommon to watch the quantum physics founding fathers discussing topics such as consciousness and mysticism, after the post-war technological race, the interest in such topics not only became old-fashioned but something to be avoided while following a “serious” career path. As a result, the current consensus defends that consciousness is not necessary to describe the physical world, while not introducing consciousness per se in their experiments. Compared to the previous efforts to probe the phenomenon using random number generators, the double-slit system has the advantage of providing interference information across a spatial dimension as opposed to binary outcomes. Having more information available makes it more sensitive to the investigated ψφ-interaction. Moreover, as opposed to the usual random number generator physical processes, it allows final state interference, which allows the phase difference φ to play a role in the probability modulation. Regarding the double-slit variable of interest, the use of Fourier transformed variables is suggested in order to benefit from the full CCD frame instead of using the fringe visibility three pixels (the central maximum value and its adjacent minima). Future improvements to the current double-slit setup can be achieved by focusing on strategies to improve the signal-to-noise ratio in the interference pattern measurements and to provide clearer feedback information. From the theoretical side, refinements in the interaction model can be sought in order to provide sharper variable predictions. Regarding the profound implications in the event that the observed effect is confirmed as a legitimate anomaly, replication efforts are highly advised.

#Gabriel Guerrer #quantum consciousness #double slit experiment #photons #consciousness #Psi #Psi phenomenon #real magic #Magic #magick #quantum physics #quantum biology #Neuroscience #6 sigma

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dccomicsnews · 7 years

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DC Comics News has compiled a list of DC Comics titles and collectibles shipping to comic shops for October 25, 2017.

Check back every Friday with the DC Comics News Pull Box to see all the cool new DC Comics titles and collectibles that will be available at your favorite local comic shop! So, what titles or collectibles will you be picking up this Wednesday? You can sound off in the comments section below! Click on Comic shop Locator to find the comic shop nearest to you!

COMICS

ACTION COMICS #990 (OZ EFFECT) $2.99 BATGIRL #16 $3.99 BATMAN BEYOND #13 $3.99 BATMAN THE DAWNBREAKER #1 (METAL) 2ND PTG $3.99 BATMAN THE DROWNED #1 (METAL) 2ND PTG $3.99 BATMAN THE MERCILESS #1 (METAL) $3.99 BATMAN THE MERCILESS #1 (METAL) 2ND PTG $3.99 BATMAN THE MURDER MACHINE #1 2ND PTG (METAL) $3.99 BLUE BEETLE #14 $3.99 DC HOUSE OF HORROR #1 $9.99 DETECTIVE COMICS #967 $2.99 FLASH #33 (METAL) $2.99 GOTHAM CITY GARAGE #2 $2.99 HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS #31 $2.99 HELLBLAZER #15 $3.99 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #17 $2.99 KAMANDI CHALLENGE #10 (OF 12) $3.99 MOTHER PANIC #12 $3.99 NIGHTWING THE NEW ORDER #3 (OF 6) $3.99 RUFF & REDDY SHOW #1 (OF 6) $3.99 SCOOBY DOO TEAM UP #31 $2.99 SUICIDE SQUAD #28 $2.99 TEEN TITANS #13 $3.99 WONDER WOMAN #33 $2.99

DCN Pull Box Triple Spotlight

BATMAN THE MERCILESS #1 (METAL) $3.99

Peter J. Tomasi (A) Francis Manapul (CA) Jason Fabok

As the events of DARK NIGHTS: METAL rock the DC Universe, the creatures of the Dark Multiverse stand ready to invade our world! How can even the World’s Greatest Heroes stop a horde of deadly beings that appear to be powerful, nightmare versions of familiar figures? Find out in these special tie-in issues!

FLASH #33 (METAL) $2.99

Joshua Williamson (A) Howard Porter (CA) Ethan Van Sciver

“BATS OUT OF HELL” part one! After the harrowing events of DARK NIGHTS: METAL #3, the JUSTICE LEAGUE has scattered around the world to find the only artifacts that can fight back against the invasion of the Dark Multiverse. The League thinks they know how to take back their world, but they are not prepared for who is standing in their way. The Seven Dark Knights of the Dark Multiverse. All the brilliance of Batman, but none of the morals. Barry Allen, The Fastest Man Alive, is the first to get a taste of their plan, as BATMAN: THE RED DEATH takes him on at the Fortress of Solitude.

DC HOUSE OF HORROR #1 $9.99

Keith Giffen, Brian Keene, Weston Ochse (A) Rags Morales, Bilquis Evely, Howard Porter, Scott Kolins, Dale Eaglesham (CA) Michael William Kaluta

An all-new, all-creepy one-shot set in the DC Universe-just in time for Halloween! Martha Kent fights for her life against a creature from a spacecraft that lands in front of her farmhouse. A young woman is possessed by the spirit of a murderous Amazon warrior. The last surviving member of the Justice League faces down a horror beyond imagining. All these and more are what happens when the most exciting new voices in contemporary horror fiction are paired with the talents of some of the greatest artists in the DC firmament! And if that isn’t enough to scare you, there’s Keith Giffen, too.

Variant Covers

Note: Variant Prices To Be Determined By Retailer

ACTION COMICS #990 (Nick Bradshaw Lenticular variant) $3.99 ACTION COMICS #990 (Neil Edwards & Jay Leisten variant) $2.99 BATGIRL #16 (Joshua Middleton variant) $3.99 BATMAN BEYOND #13 (Dave Johnson variant) $3.99 BLUE BEETLE #14 (Tyler Kirkham variant) $3.99 DETECTIVE COMICS #967 (Rafael Albuquerque variant) $2.99 FLASH #33 (Howard Porter variant) $2.99 HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS #31 (Barry Kitson variant) $2.99 HELLBLAZER #15 (Yasmine Putri variant) $3.99 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #17 (Doug Mahnke variant) $2.99 KAMANDI CHALLENGE #10 (OF 12) (Joe Prado variant) $3.99 MOTHER PANIC #12 (Joelle Jones variant) $3.99 RUFF & REDDY SHOW #1 (OF 6) (Mac Rey variant) $3.99 SUICIDE SQUAD #28 (Whilce Portacio variant) $2.99 TEEN TITANS #13 (Chad Hardin variant) $3.99 WONDER WOMAN #33 (Jenny Frison variant) $2.99

GRAPHIC NOVEL

BATMAN NIGHT OF THE MONSTER MEN TP (REBIRTH) $16.99 HELLBLAZER TP VOL 02 THE SMOKELESS FIRE (REBIRTH) $16.99 INJUSTICE 2 HC VOL 01 $24.99 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA MIDSUMMERS NIGHMARE DLX HC $24.99 LUCIFER TP VOL 03 BLOOD IN THE STREETS $16.99 NIGHT FORCE BY WOLFMAN & COLAN COMPLETE SERIES HC $39.99 NIGHTWING REBIRTH DLX COLL HC BOOK 01 $34.99 SUPERGIRL TP VOL 02 ESCAPE FROM THE PHANTOM ZONE (REBIRTH) $16.99 WILDSTORM A CELEBRATION OF 25 YEARS HC $29.99

BOOKS

ARROW & SUPERHERO TELEVISION SC $19.99

MERCHANDISE/COLLECTIBLES

DC BOMBSHELLS PX DECAL PACK 1 $36.00 DC BOMBSHELLS PX DECAL PACK 2 $36.00 DC BOMBSHELLS PX DECAL PACK 3 $42.00 DC SUPER HERO GIRLS HARLEY QUINN SOFT TOUCH PVC KEY RING $3.99 DC SUPER HERO GIRLS LASER CUT FIG KEYRING 24PC BMB DS $5.99 DARK KNIGHT RETURNS PX DECAL PACK $42.00 FANTASTIC BEASTS MACUSA CREST KEYCHAIN $9.00 FANTASTIC BEASTS MACUSA PEWTER LAPEL PIN 10PC BAG $4.99 FANTASTIC BEASTS NOMAJ PEWTER LAPEL PIN 10PC BAG $4.99 FANTASTIC BEASTS OBLIVIATE PEWTER LAPEL PIN 10PC BAG $4.99 FANTASTIC BEASTS REPEATER PATTERN LANYARD 24PC BAG $6.99 FANTASTIC BEASTS STUPEFY PEWTER LAPEL PIN 10PC BAG $4.99 HP HARRY POTTER SOFT TOUCH PVC KEY RING $3.99 SUICIDE SQUAD PX DECAL PACK $12.00

ACTION FIGURES/STATUES

JUSTICE LEAGUE MOVIE CYBORG STATUE $150.00 METALS BATMAN 89 BATMOBILE W/FIG 1/24 VEHICLE $19.99 METALS WONDER WOMAN MOVIE AMAZONIAN 4IN DIE-CAST FIG $10.99 METALS WONDER WOMAN MOVIE ANTIOPE 4IN DIE-CAST FIG $10.99 METALS WONDER WOMAN MOVIE DIANA PRINCE 4IN DIE-CAST FIG $10.99 METALS WONDER WOMAN MOVIE HIPPOLYTA 4IN DIE-CAST FIG $10.99 METALS WONDER WOMAN MOVIE TREVOR 4IN DIE-CAST FIG $10.99

CLOTHING

BATMAN SIGN T/S LG $19.95 BATMAN SIGN T/S MED $19.95 BATMAN SIGN T/S SM $19.95 BATMAN SIGN T/S XL $19.95 BATMAN SIGN T/S XXL $22.95 BATMAN YEAR ONE BY MAZZUCCHELLI T/S LG $19.95 BATMAN YEAR ONE BY MAZZUCCHELLI T/S MED $19.95 BATMAN YEAR ONE BY MAZZUCCHELLI T/S SM $19.95 BATMAN YEAR ONE BY MAZZUCCHELLI T/S XL $19.95 BATMAN YEAR ONE BY MAZZUCCHELLI T/S XXL $22.95 BUG BY ALLRED T/S LG $19.95 BUG BY ALLRED T/S MED $19.95 BUG BY ALLRED T/S SM $19.95 BUG BY ALLRED T/S XL $19.95 BUG BY ALLRED T/S XXL $22.95 DARK NIGHTS JLA BY CAPULLO T/S LG $19.95 DARK NIGHTS JLA BY CAPULLO T/S MED $19.95 DARK NIGHTS JLA BY CAPULLO T/S SM $19.95 DARK NIGHTS JLA BY CAPULLO T/S XL $19.95 DARK NIGHTS JLA BY CAPULLO T/S XXL $22.95 DNM DAWNBREAKER SYMBOL T/S LG $19.95 DNM DAWNBREAKER SYMBOL T/S MED $19.95 DNM DAWNBREAKER SYMBOL T/S SM $19.95 DNM DAWNBREAKER SYMBOL T/S XL $19.95 DNM DAWNBREAKER SYMBOL T/S XXL $22.95 DNM RED DEATH WOMENS T/S LG $19.95 DNM RED DEATH WOMENS T/S MED $19.95 DNM RED DEATH WOMENS T/S SM $19.95 DNM RED DEATH WOMENS T/S XL $19.95 JUSTICE LEAGUE GROUP T/S LG $19.95 JUSTICE LEAGUE GROUP T/S MED $19.95 JUSTICE LEAGUE GROUP T/S SM $19.95 JUSTICE LEAGUE GROUP T/S XL $19.95 JUSTICE LEAGUE GROUP T/S XXL $22.95 MR MIRACLE BY KIRBY T/S SM $19.95 WONDER WOMAN II MOVIE SYMBOL T/S LG $19.95 WONDER WOMAN II MOVIE SYMBOL T/S MED $19.95 WONDER WOMAN II MOVIE SYMBOL T/S SM $19.95 WONDER WOMAN II MOVIE SYMBOL T/S XL $19.95 WONDER WOMAN II MOVIE SYMBOL T/S XXL $22.95 WONDER WOMAN II MOVIE SYMBOL WOMENS T/S LG $19.95 WONDER WOMAN II MOVIE SYMBOL WOMENS T/S MED $19.95 WONDER WOMAN II MOVIE SYMBOL WOMENS T/S SM $19.95 WONDER WOMAN II MOVIE SYMBOL WOMENS T/S XL $19.95

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DC Comics Pull Box For 10-25-17 (New Comics and Merchandise) DC Comics News has compiled a list of DC Comics titles and collectibles shipping to comic shops for October 25, 2017.

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miloscat · 6 years

Text

[Review] Soul of Darkness (DSi)

Soul of Darkness is Gameloft’s attempt to copy the look and feel of a post-Rondo Castlevania game. And it does a decent job at that! But the review’s not over there, unfortunately. The game’s quite easy (with the exception of the one tedious dragon boss), and betrays its mobile phone origins with a limited scope and animations that don’t live up to the buttery smoothness of its inspirations.

You are Kale Belmont, whose girlfriend Lydia is targeted by Dracula Ritter the vampire. Lydia has amnesia because of course she does, and then there’s a twist which to be fair Castlevania never did: Lydia was a vampire all along. For as brief as the plot is, it’s not too terrible. An amusing feature after clearing the game is to take pictures with your DSi camera and insert your own face into the characters’ dialogue portraits.

The camera is also used at certain points in gameplay to give you a bonus based on the predominant colour of a picture you take. It’s a vestigial feature but harmless, as it’s not required. Other than that the DS does allow a map display on the bottom screen—big thumbs up, always appreciated—although the level design is pretty simple. This is following the older stage-based Castlevania format, but it does have pickups to boost your health or magic, and experience points to upgrade your weapons. Stages can be replayed to farm experience or find upgrades, but you really shouldn’t need to.

There’s a few gameplay innovations that are unlike the standard Castlevania format. Kale has a fire sword and soon gets an ice spear to swap between; each has a slightly different attack pattern, and can interact with environmental objects in different ways. For example, you might need to freeze a water spout or burn a wooden barrier to progress. He also can for some reason transform at different points, into a fish, a crawling bug, or a water elemental. It’s a neat idea that adds some puzzle-solving or otherwise breaks up the action.

It seems from this description that the game is packed with ideas, but each one passes by quickly and before you know it the adventure is over. For its length there’s a decent amount of variety, but one can’t help but feel that it doesn’t compare well when three amazing actual Castlevania games are available on the same platform. It would fare better on the phones it was designed for, where its competition is the dodgy Castlevania Order of Shadows, but even then there’s better options like Shadowalker. It’s a decent effort though, a little off-brand romp, worthy to be a footnote to the series it’s aping.

#soul of darkness #gameloft #indie #review #dsiware

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