#orbs are like a mini boss fight

[envosu]

totk dragon edit

they attack you in the air with their orbs before you can get on

#longan dragon cookie #totk edit #dragon cookies #orbs are like a mini boss fight #if you win against the orbs then you can walk on the ivory dragon! harvest fur or scales or gold or branches... #but if you stay on the head too long they will turn you to stone 🗿 #envos draws #*edit

[shuttershocky]

I tried playing Nioh 2 like a year ago but it seemed… Kind of absurdly difficult? I couldn’t get past the first boss, and just Ran from all the mini-bosses. I’m considering picking it up again, but do you have any tips for what the game expects from players?

Let me start out by saying that Nioh 2 is the complete opposite of minimalist game design. There are mechanics behind mechanics behind mechanics behind shit that only gets unlocked in your next playthrough, so I'm just going to let you discover most of that for yourself.

Okay so first off you're going to see people call Nioh a Soulslike. This is false.

While it has shrines to act as campfires that respawn enemies, you should be approaching Nioh far more like a 2000s action game like Ninja Gaiden: you have to be fast and extremely aggressive. You don't wait for an opening, you make one, and when you've got an opening you don't just attack, you do as large a combo as you can manage.

How do you do that when you have a limited stamina (Ki) bar that you need for dodges and blocks? You learn how to do Ki Pulses. When you attack, you get swirling blue orbs that surround your character. Tapping R1 lets you do a Ki Pulse, refunding part of the Ki you just spent. Tapping R1 at the perfect time (right as the blue orbs enter your character) refunds you a lot.

Mastering Ki Pulses is what makes Nioh a different beast from any Soulsgame. Nioh assumes you're using it and fighting with deceptively far more stamina than you actually have, because you do. Some of the weapon skills you unlock also grant you bonuses for good Ki Pulsing, such as letting you swap stances with a bonus, buffing yourself up, etc. Ki pulses also purify the air around you, so if you find yourself inside the Yokai realm that slows your Ki regeneration, a Ki Pulse cleanses in the air in a small AOE, allowing you to fight monsters properly in spite of their dirty tricks.

Master this simple concept, and even if you're in unfamiliar territory (which is 70% of your Nioh 2 experience) you should be able to defend yourself no matter what. Enemies also use Ki in battle, so if your Ki management is better than theirs you can wail on them for free once they're tired. You can also grapple exhausted enemies to stun them and really make them free kills.

Also at the start of the game, you choose a Guardian Spirit. This Guardian Spirit determines your Burst Counter, which is a special kind of parry move that lets you outbullshit enemy bullshit. Basically, enemies will glow red when they start up an unblockable bullshit move that will end you. This is only unblockable with your human parries, but if you use your Guardian Spirit to Burst Counter (R2 + Square) you hit the enemy with your own insanely powerful move that also stuns them, though how your Burst Counter works depends on your currently equipped Guardian Spirit (one gives you an attack with super armor, another is a dodge with an after-image the enemy can attack to trigger the burst, and the last acts as a standard parry but much flashier).

Burst Counters work even on bosses, meaning you can instantly turn the tables on a boss pummeling your face in if they get greedy and pull out their super moves.

____

Without sugarcoating it, Nioh 2 can be a really difficult game. However, its secret is that you are powerful, so much so that Nioh players doing challenge runs like to play the whole game at Level 1 without upgrading themselves. Once you get into the mindset of tapping Ki Pulses to the rhythm of your violence, you realize you're actually stronger and faster than most enemies in the game. You CAN get punished for overstepping, but the lesson isn't to tame your greed, but to refine your aggression. You can dodge in the middle of combos in this game; you can afford to make one more slash at that boss.

Also, unlike a Souls game where bringing in a friend is limited, Nioh 2 can be played in true co-op. The whole campaign, end to end, both of you progress and you can play together as soon as you finish the tutorial. With how powerful you can get, co-op isn't exactly balanced, but it IS extremely fun, if you're here for the over the top ninja-wizard-warrior shenanigans and not for the challenge.

#Also one last thing: there are a huge variety of weapons and you are encouraged to try them all #But the kusarigama is filled with stupid skills perfect for cheesing the game #Including a jump in a game that assumes you cannot jump

[nightynite]

Could you draw Princess Shroob and Elder Princess Shroob as Mario Party bosses (preferably as the mini-boss and boss, respectively, of the same board)?

sooo hi! i did in fact draw them, but uh. princess shroob ended up looking like a paper mario enemy so i ended up just winging the other little dudes. anyway. uhh. well! ive only played a couple mario parties, and none of them have had bosses! so i watched a video of the fights, and i can tell you some thoughts maybe about mechanics! i think the board would maybe involve collecting the pieces of the cobalt star, which like halfway thru, princess shroob fights u, which is the miniboss. probably some sort of like, avoid her lasers and orbs and stuff and then make it up to a button behind her that hurts her in some way? and you do this 3 times before the throne falls apart and you win! then the final boss, when all the cobalt star pieces are together, Elder Princess Shroob appears and it would be a sort of cannon battle, potentially involving a memory game of some sort? i like memory games personally. maybe have something to do with her UFOs, like in her actual battle. anyway, hit her with cannons until her health goes down and you win :) plus, shroobs would be around the board to help/hinder you! theyre really cute. anyway hope you like the concepts + art of the girls!

#my art #fanart #mario party #partners in time #mario and luigi #mario and luigi partners in time #m&l rpgs #m&l #elder princess shroob #princess shroob #mario #shroob #mlpit #request #super mario bros #mario bros #super mario #mario brothers #super mario brothers #smb

[hyper-newt]

Comet Hook devlog #3

First prototype done !!!

-----------------------------

Other devlogs : 1 - 2- 3

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New devlog !!!

I finished the prototype and you can play it :)

(it is bad though, but that's the point ! i can see what works and what doesn't)

Here's what new down below :o

So first, i'm sorry for the lack of devlogs, I actually finished the prototype a month and a half ago, but I needed to tweak some stuff before releasing it. And uh college stuff and I had to study. But I have a break right now so here we are :)

I wanted to lock in to finish the prototype, it is quite rushed but it helps to fail faster. That's why I removed a bunch of animation and simplified some stuff so i could work more on the gameplay loop (and now it's your problem >:) ).

And so, here are some notable changes : (also some gif are from old builds of the game, so stuff are a bit different on the public prototype)

Fusing comets ! Replaces having multiple comets at the same time (Having multiples comets should be an upgrade, but heh too lazy to code it)

There's three type of upgrade right now :

D -> Defense (bunch of extra health)

A -> Attack (extra health + extra damage)

S -> Speed (extra health + extra speed)

The little number under the letter is its health. So when you hit a fish with the comet, only the first upgrade will be hurt.

You can have up to three upgrades at once.

Catch multiple fishes

Catching multiples fishes at the same time grants you a bigger and stronger comet ! Isn't that cool ? But now if you do bad at the minigame, it will end (you can see the fish health at the right, and yours at the left).

Also fishes stay stunned for a limited time now, so you can't catch all of them at the same time

The Shop

I will not speak about how it looks

But anyway, take a comet, throw it in the sell box, and take an item like a comet and throw it in the buy box ! easy

And if you want money outside of selling, there's some gold fishes swimming around that you can KILL for money <3

Mini bosses

You see these little red orbs ? Destroy all the fishes around it and it will be unlock.

Attack it again, and !!! A miniboss !!!

Catch them all and you'll finish the level

A map to explore with upgrades

These little thingy make you stronger (health, speed and attack), collect them !

An actual boss ! (no spoilers hehe)

niark niark you'll have to suffer through the whole prototype

Now that the prototype is done, here are my thougths on it

I think it's a bit too hard and not that much intuitive, it also doesn't feel that much like a fishing game :/

The fishing minigame is also kinda boring, but that's because I didn't bother coding something smart. Though I think I can make it better in an other way.

I'm not a big fan of the gameplay loop, having to fight some minibosses could be cool but the way I did it doesn't really work

And finally comets can get annoying ! At the end you have too much of them and that's a waste of performance + no one will go get the comets they left behind, so I do need to work on it.

I go a bit more in depth in the itch.io description :

So I'll make another prototype (but I'll remove the boss at the end, it isn't worth it for a prototype, but for a demo sure! )

And for the youtube video version of these devlogs, I learning to write music to not rely on copyrighted content but it takes time :(

Anyway I hope you'll still have fun playing it though (three out of four people that tried the game liked it, that's neat)

Next devlog will be about another game, I want to try out some other games idea. I hope to be able to release it in a month or less, depends how I'm feeling (im sick of coding, drawing is easier and I can't even do that because it goes against the idea of prototyping argh !!!)

Thank you for reading this devlog and have a good day

bye byeeeee!!!!

#comethook devlog #comethook #devlog #game development #gamedev #indiedev #indiegamedev #game #fishing game #itch.io

[tuliptiger]

How cool would it have been if the gloom infected some of the shrines and you had to fight a gloom related boss at the end to get the light orb? Like a mini dragon or some variation of the gloom hands or like literally anything?

What if it related to the area it was in? What if you didn't have to unlock the shrine (but you could still teleport maybe after beating it?) And you came up to it and immediately knew it was different? What IFFFFFFFF

I know TOTK is my punching bag but like there were so many creative opportunities missed. Maybe the biggest gripe is they put a lot of the creative burden on the players inner world and less actual creativity in the game. They literally almost word for word just said, " the player makes the story that's why we did so little".

#I'll forever keep hammering on the fact #they PASSED UP DEPTH AND SKY RELATED MOUNTSSSSSSSSS #gdi dude #words #totk #totk spoilers

[retphienix]

You know, they weren't kidding on the random gamefaq thread.

Dragonlord is a huge pushover compared to the color orb quest boss.

Kinda wish I could easily just go rematch that guy with this team instead since it'd be a more fitting send off, but hey, there's still some very real appeal to this being the closing chapter in my Caravan Heart playthrough :)

The Dragonlord is like The guy for DQ, so it has that appeal for sure.

I do think it's funny how pathetic he is here when the color orb boss was properly scaled to be a real heavy hitter :P

I'd ALMOST go so far as to assume they realize they messed that up what with the entire preamble being that he's reawakening "too early"; Like in universe you can say that's why he's weak, but if I were to be sincere here I'd wager that's just meant to be meta meant to write off that he's here at all- not an explanation for his strength.

Though it could be Meta Meta and it was the devs saying "We didn't have enough time to rework the DL to be a challenge, our bads" but I really doubt that lol

Anywho, Caravan Hearts is Mid.

Early game is far too slow for no good reason.

Innovations on the formula often fail to positively impact the gameplay loop, instead slowing things down or being CONCEPTUALLY (caravan party) positive but PHYSICALLY lacking (no real options in main game, too much RNG to stay invested post game- not to mention their impact is lacking compared to the monsters themselves).

Base story game is overall "fine"- to me personally it was very "Basic RPG going through the motions" overall, it had some nice moments like collecting beautiful things being rather non-linear (aside from the ending) but overall it was "Here's your small sandbox, play in it then beat this tower/dungeon/boss to get to the next sandbox" which is Fine but it's also kind of the vibe I feel DQ usually presents itself as- and then surprises you by doing things Exceptionally well or by surprising you with a twist that beats your expectations- not here. It's JUST the paint by numbers RPG stuff.

Color quest is much more fun! It's also majorly flawed lol it feels designed from the bottom up to be a drawn out lengthy grind for max/min players in terms of mechanics (caravan members mostly) but gameplay wise it's thankfully not so harsh in what it demands of you, no "2 billion damage" boss fights or anything- even the final boss, while strong, is SUPER reasonable despite the mechanics of the post game implying "This is where you grind forever to get maxed stats and true recruits".

The color quest is way more fun than base game because the little dungeons are entertaining, the frequency of mini-bosses is a big plus on the gameplay, and you're pretty much just fighting nonstop. Mostly.

Because the main flaw of the color quest is the backtracking - it's just not fun or well handled. The quest does not burn you on it if you just want to win, but if you want to max stuff- oh buddy. You better get a true sage ASAP. But if you just want to win it's annoying but "fine", still the biggest flaw because you really do spend like 30% of your time in ports and then 70% having actual fun in dungeons, that's still not a great ratio.

Dragonlord was fun. EZPZ but I had fun- the dungeon has relatively fun fights in it and while it is actually VERY tiny if you go the right way, there are a couple wrong directions that trick you back to the entrance, it's simple and TINY but it's nice.

Beyond this there are from what I gather spirit fights for unique hearts and I can continue the color orbs forever I think. So if I was enjoying the grind for recruits (No thank you) I have endless content to smash into for stats I suppose. Kinda neat :)

Hmm. Already did more lengthy closing thoughts in prior posts.

Have a random thought instead:

Did you know that some people consider features being REMOVED from the prior releases to be a positive feature in this game?

Like they listed "Removed Personalities" as a POSITIVE feature in this game versus the prior two, because they emphasized "Having complete and direct control" as a positive- some people just don't get the appeal of the DWM personality + order passive combat system :P

Overall, I had fun. I don't know if I expressed that well in my random posts but I wasn't exactly keeping the most in-depth tabs on my playthrough so it probably slipped through the cracks.

The game is Not one I'd ever recommend since it doesn't fit my tastes on the formula- DWM and DWM 2 fucking rule and this is a GBA RPG I'll probably never touch again so go figure- but this was very neat, I guess is the word for it.

It was neat playing the black sheep of the series- one mostly known that way for its lack of a translation than for its quality- but one I'd wager probably deserves it on quality >:)

But it's neat!

It's different, it's trying to mash some mainline DQ ideas into the side series, it gave DQM an entirely new framing device- one "similar" (traveler gates and dressers are involved) but WAY different than the prior 2, and way different than Joker 1 (and probably the other Jokers). You're still from a different world, but it's not a watabou waraubou story- it's just- you go to the monster world and help out, also the monster world is DISTINCTLY the dragon quest world instead of being a weird dragon quest monsters island "world" with "Great" kingdoms duking it out and training in traveler gates-

This Is Different And That's Kinda Neat! :)

Not a fan or anything, but I don't hate it, it's neat :)

#Dragon Quest #Dragon Quest Monsters #Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart #DQM #DQ #RetPlays #Youtube

[desultory-novice]

What are your favorite Kirby boss fight osts? I think there are too few people discussing this.

First, you are absolutely right to want more discussion about Kirby boss fight songs because they are amazing! Whenever a "best of" discussion comes up, it quickly boils down to a debate between "CROWNED!" "Mind in a Program!" "Moonstruck Blossom!" and lately, "Two Planets Approach the Roche Limit!" which are all good songs (...we all know which one I'm biased toward) but there are so many others that get passed over in favor of the mega hits!

So, I'm going to take this time to look at almost all of the boss fight songs! And not just the last boss fights, but the major boss fights as well! (Sorry, mini boss battles. Maybe next time.)

As you can imagine, doing this will take a LOT of words. And it's also going to take more than one post. This post will be for the GB to DS era. I'll do Wii+ in a later post. A final note that I'm not really musically trained, in fact, I'm a bit tone deaf, so most of my reactions/descriptions will be based on feel!

[Kirby Boss Battle Music Breakdown Pt.1]

[24 Songs Total]

Kirby's Dream Land

[King Dedede]

This has to be one of the most famous songs in Kirby, next to Green Greens and Gourmet Race. And listening to it, you can hear why! Oh, it’s an incredibly short loop, with none of the fanciness that would get added to the theme later, but it’s still a bop, keeping you energized all throughout the final level, which it plays throughout. More than just a stage theme though, it captures a lot of Dedede's exuberant energy too! I mean, we're talking about a (self-proclaimed) king of generally indeterminate age but of a kingly size that gives him a definite weight-class advantage over our 16 pixel high hero! But this song isn't about a bully beating up a kid. It's about a big guy who's a big kid himself, at least at heart! The pure “rush” of this song (not urgency but vibrance) codifies that Dedede is Kirby's eternal rival, and it does so before the idea of a Kirby "franchise" was even a Twinkle (Popo) in NIntendo's eye!

Kirby's Adventure

[Nightmare Orb]

...Ugh, I don’t like this song at all. Partly because I hate this phase of Nightmare. I never manage to land quite enough hits on him and Kirby crashes into the ground while the orb escapes. It sucks. Also, this song is pretty one note. Or like...6. I guess it does its job of sowing the tension. I’d blame the NES’s sound quality, but there’s some really famously good tracks on the NES. Anyway, how much this song grates on me doesn't matter because...!

[Nightmare Wizard]

...Nightmare's actual theme is GREAT! Who said the wizard with the gigantic chin and no backstory was allowed to have a theme that rocks this much?! There's still that tense, fast-paced beat from before, but the song is much more meaty now. And that little...oh geez, what are those? Flutes? I mean, they're highly synthesized, this being the NES, but HAL's sound team of this era loved flutes, so I'm going to assume it's a flute! Anyway, it's great?! It injects a sense of whimsy into the battle and I'm not sure whether its there to represent Kirby’s presence or whether Nightmare himself has hidden depths...? (Dess keeps desperately looks for Nightmare's hidden depths, knowing I won't find much.) Anyway, Kirby's already set up its legacy of great boss tunes just two games in!

(I’m a little sad this song didn’t get more airtime in the concert, btw.)

Kirby's Dream Land 2

[Dark Matter Blade - “Duel in the Darkened Sky”]

I love Dark Matter Blade a lot, but this song is verrrrrry close to Nightmare Orb's theme in that it kinda bothers me to listen to? What saves it in the end is that it has some really interestingly "character" vibes going on here. (Also, it’s got a great title. It’ll be a while until we start getting those Touhou-esque song names that Kumazaki himself was so proud of, but this is an early example of a name that evokes a feeling.) Anyway, the element of character was missing from Nightmare's excellent bop, but its nicely present here, if lowkey, so that scores it points. I say this because Dark Matter Blade comes out of nowhere to be this weird alien space invader type of deal? And the song is just discordant enough that it matches that feel of "Wait, what the heck?!?" that I think DL2 was trying to get across with the introduction of the first of our Dark Matter bosses.

(And Dess’s favorite to this day. Blade! Woo, yeah!)

And that discordant, alien-invader, “what the heck?! are we in some kind of space sci-fi now?!" feel is continued with the very next notes of...

[Dark Matter]

I mentioned in a different post when fawning about “CROWNED” that there's this opening reveal sting that becomes ironic because Magolor is totally NOT what he wanted to become. And here we see the very first use of that "Shock and awe" opening sting in Kirby as the cool space warrior, Dark Matter Blade, takes off his clock to reveal...he’s a giant eyeball?! Anyway, this song downplays some of the elements of “Duel” that bothers me, and so is a little easier on the ears, even if it's more repetitive in the end...

Kirby's Block Ball

[Brobo / Boss Theme]

...Okay, okay, this is actually the generic theme that they play for any boss that's not Dedede, but Brobo gets forgotten enough in this series, so we're going to posthumously (...Did I just kill Brobo?!) declare this to be the Forgotten Last Boss’s theme! Anyway, it's got some funky robot-like vibes to it, especially that siren-like noise at the beginning, so it suits them!

It’s another short loop. But heck if this one isn't a lot of fun! It's not going to stick in your head for years and years, like Dedede's theme, but you could put it on one of those hour long loops while doing something repetitive and barely notice, I bet! It does a fine job getting the competitive spirit pumping!

-

Note: I know I've skipped over a lot of Dedede themes to this point from the various spinoff games and I'm going to skip over more! That's because you could make an entire post out of Dedede themes alone and while they're all quite good, I want to get this post over with before the end of the year! Haha!

With that said, we're leaving the NES and Gameboy era behind and skipping right along to the SNES and Super Star!

-

Kirby's Super Star

[Gourmet Race]

NOT TECHNICALLY A BOSS THEME but we weren't getting out of here without me giving at least a nod to the famous “Gourmet Race” theme! Question! How many of you first heard this in Smash Bros and as its orchestral remix and thought it was the theme of the Fountain of Dreams and not a silly mini-game in which Kirby and Dedede race to see who can stuff their faces the fastest?!

Anyway, this theme is classic. It's sooo good! It has been lovely parodied/remixed a dozen times and may continue to do so, just because of how darn lyrical it is! Without lyrics!! You can just tell that HAL's sound team have been having a completely great time with the SNES's expanded sound opportunities and Gourmet Race is a perfect example! And that little springy SPROING! noise whenever it gets started! I really wish I knew more about music so I could praise this harder. But yes. Gourmet race!

[Meta Knight - “Battle with Meta Knight”]

Meta Knight's Revenge, origin of the grammy winning masterpiece by Button Masher and The 8-Bit Big Band, probably gets more attention as regards songs from Meta Knight's Revenge, and for good reason. (It’s really good!) But while the coolest knight in the galaxy’s first outing in the boss battle arena (err, with his own unique theme) is more lowkey and underplayed, I do really enjoy how much is going on in the back melody (...use your words, Dess...) of this song. The bass (?) drum (?) line...? Whatever it is, takes up so much of the song, yet you've got these moments of stronger sounds rising up slowly from the background. Also this wild riff type thing creeping up out of nowhere...

:takes a deep breath:

What I'm trying to say is that this song is surprisingly perfect for the MASKED Meta Knight, whose complex backstory and secret motivations, as well as his love of battle are all "disguised" by that beat, but those slightly jazzy elements (no wonder they had him play the sax! It was there in plain sight all along!) peak through constantly during the song, just like how you get a glimpse of Meta's face when you beat him! ...It's meaningful!!

[Marx - “Meddlesome Marx”]

:cheers wildly:

Every song I've praised up until now? You guys are great and all but “Meddlesome Marx” is here and now we have a new high bar for Kirby last boss songs! I mean it. Even over King Dedede's expanding leitmotifs. 

Meddlesome Marx is so amazingly good, I just ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. A-ahem. Not only is it beautiful to listen to, with HAL using the BEST sounds they've uncovered in their time with the SNES (that flute-esque sound in Nightmare's song has evolved to becomes this amazing little giggly woodwind here that is both gorgeous and haunting) and our key Kirby series composers just making something that isn’t just interesting, or “neat” but really pleasant too?!

Also, while I HATE "Marx is just crazy, that’s it" as an interpretation of his character, this song does has that perfect little bit of musical "sanity slippage" where you expect the initial melody to repeat nicely and whoops! They slip in another pair of notes to drag it out unexpectedly! (Again, I don’t know music terms. I apologize.) If “Dancing Mad” wasn’t already used for another famous video game BGM of this era, I’d say it’d be a good potential title for this one. (...Am I the only one with likes-to-dance!Marx HCs...?)

But that hitch, it’s like Marx is basically waiting for you to get into a rhythm and repeat the notes verbatim and is now rolling over giggling when you inevitably trip over it. The song itself is saying, "Haha! I FOOLED you!" I gather there’s also stuff going on with time signature changes here, which are presumably pulling a similar trick to the listener. Which I love for a lot of reasons? It plays into the song being a “jest” but also “time” = clock(work) = Galactic Nova.

Not content to be just playful, it's also TENSE and has these moments of creeping dread looming up, fitting for a last boss fight with the entire planet at stake! While I don't necessarily hear any notes of “Green Greens” (?) it does have that triumphant bridge (?) that will be inherited in many other boss fights in the future - something to represent Kirby’s part of the battle. And that bridge (?) will usually have some bit of “Green Greens” or other classic Kirby song in it.

...I think the number of feelings this song evokes in me is why I'm never really satisfied with any remix of it? Nothing quite surpasses the original to me. Try to make it too creepy? You miss the point. Marx is a gleeful villain! His song should be about that rush of acquiring the power cosmic and the giddy feeling of your plan being soooooo close to completion! And if you go all haunted house vibes with it, you're losing the discordant elements that make him so haunting. The bright colors and the energy he brings to the fight! Again, I’ve seen people question why we Marx fans care so much about a character with barely any dialogue. He's got no backstory, no “character”...

But Kirby characters are defined by so much more than what they say, as we should hopefully know by now. (It’s not like the series is known for its massive amounts of dialogue anyway.) A character’s theme music is as much a tool to understand them as their pause screen lore is. And I'd count Marx's as one of the first to go all in on "his true story is in his music." 

(...Something I'm going to not shut up about when I reach “CROWNED.”)

Kirby's Dream Land 3

[Dark Matter - Hyper Zone 1]

What they wanted and kiiiiinda missed the mark on with Dark Matter Blade/Dark Matter in DL2, they did a MUCH better job here! The otherworldliness? The space/alien vibes? All here. Yet with a much more interesting melody and a wider variety of fun instruments. There’s also a strange sense of divinity thanks to the crystalline instruments used. An excellent setup for the fact that we’re about to encounter what you might call the “god” of the Dark Matter.

Also, I love that little jingly noise mixed in there that gives you a strong sense of a starry sky. The Dark Matter you fight in DL3 presumably isn't the same one as Blade (unless we assume Blade to be re-absorbed/co-opted by Zero, which would be tragic...Poor Blade...Just wanted friends...) but I feel like the music trying to put us in mind of a starry sky is a nice callbacks to Blade’s fight.

Basically, this is a lovely “retake” of Dark Matter's theme, just like DL3 gave us a chance to fight Dark Matter in color! (And introduce them to a wider audience. It's sad when your best lore is tucked away in a Gameboy sequel!)

[Zero - Hyper Zone 2]

I really, really like the opening sting here! As much as I like Zero for the lore, I'm not 100 on the speed of this song though? Now, the whistling gives the song a really strong vibe of emptiness -- like the wind howling through an empty void. Get it, void? But I don’t know, the core part of the later bit of the song seems to focus on a heroic vibe: the presence of Kirby. While the heroism angle only surfaced for a moment in Marx's theme, it's slightly more present here for a longer period. Fair, because we're talking about a two stage boss, and by this point, you want to cheer the player on! I also like how those uplifting notes come in stronger at the end of the loop, showing that, as the two forces clash, Kirby's hope and positivity really is coming out on top. The care that gave birth to the love love stick (heh) shows that the loving heart will triumph!

Kirby Super Star Stacker

[Gryll]

Yeahhhhhh, Gryll!!

Sadly, this one has no flashy opening like in Block Ball, being just a solid, and sadly, an incredibly short loop! It's a really fun one though! I don't know how they pulled it off, but each time the phrase (?) in the song changes, it gets slightly more...claustrophobic feeling? An excellent choice in a game where the point is to save yourself from a rising tide of blocks before you're overwhelmed.

I imagine that, if you're unprepared, the possibility exists that you'll actually be right about the point of losing by the time the song has reached that part of the loop where it's beginning to crowd you! Each “bwoop” sound brings in another row. And another. And another!! A great way to bring tension to the game’s secret last stage and last boss that NEEDS ANOTHER APPEARANCE.

A-ahem.

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards

[Miracle Matter]

We return to that Dark Matter-esque phrase I'm not completely in love with, but I absolutely respect the follow-through! Tbh, when I first started out on this, I thought I couldn't say much positive about Miracle Matter's theme, much like Nightmare Orb. But after listening to my boss playlist enough, I've started to come around on it. Especially when you take the whole "boss music as character revealing" thing into account. Because Miracle Matter's theme has this almost...bitcrush vibe to it! I'm still not sure we know anything solid on what Miracle Matter even is, which makes the heavily remixed-sounding nature of the song interesting. Perhaps revealing of the boss's hollow nature...?

It’s a very action/shooting game tune. Maybe the most we’ve heard to date? Not a last boss, but a stage boss. Which is interesting when we follow it up with...

[Zero2]

...Now THIS feels like the last boss of a side-scrolling danmaku game. Something like Radiant Silvergun or Ikaruga, just without Hitoshi Sakimoto at the head. (In fairness, this is actually a shooting game boss fight! Hohoho!) The opening sting is BRILLIANT. Love it. Mystical and powerful and really brings you into the game for this moment. This one boss fight. (I say as someone who was just kind of playing Crystal Shards by the numbers till I got till the end. Getting all those shards and avoiding the bad ending is a TASK and it wouldn’t be weird to be a little exhausted depending upon how much back tracking you have to do. But this song immediately refreshes you and reminds you of the stakes.

Okay, so, I still refuse to put it over Marx's theme, but we're back into the really great character themes now, of the boss’s nature being defined by their music. I believe there's a mild argument going on over whether the "Zero 2 can't feel emotions or not" is false lore? (I haven't looked it up myself) But even if it is a mistranslation (?) I can see why it continues to gain spread, because this song is SAD. It pulls at your heartstrings, especially the longer it goes on.

I complained about my issues with Zero’s theme being that it was almost too triumphant? Too speedy? “Beat the bad guy, beat the bad guy!” But it’s worth it to have that, dare I say, misinterpretation of what it means to battle Zero there just for the complete emotional turn around here. 

Considering that what you're fighting is altogether likely the corpse of Zero, the shell potentially struggling to regain its lost innocence as a once upon a time pure-hearted Void Termina-esque being... (Confused lore or not, Void does share the Hyper Zone BG effect. That’s got to mean something.)

The consistent back beat that pervades all the other Dark Matter-related fights finally FINALLY takes a step back, again showing that Zero 2 is struggling to become something...or reclaim something of itself. There’s nothing triumphant here. There can be nothing triumphant. Only melancholy. A zero sum victory.

A really powerful song. Fitting for our last Dark Matter boss for a long while.

Kirby and the Amazing Mirror

[Dark Meta Knight]

Poor GBA sound quality. I feel like the chance to have some really expressive songs here is definitely hampered by the "hearing it through a pair of 10 year old earphones while also underwater" nature of the music. That said, Dark Meta Knight's theme still has some fun bits to it. There's the slightly discordant nature of it, which is a classic way of informing the listener "something is wrong." Then that crystalline sound in the back beat that comes in again stronger in the first bridge just shouts "mirror world" and I love it! 

The rest of it is just good, classic dueling music. Honestly, even though I teased the sound of it in the beginning, I really do like it. Meta Knight’s battle music is all “masked” whereas Dark Meta Knight, once revealed, is all in-your-face. The beat is almost aggressive and even the crystalline mirror sounds, normally providing an otherworldly or softening vibe in other songs, feel like being stabbed with a shard of glass here! DMK is a bit of a stabby one.

Also, this song is my favorite part of the 30th anniversary knight medley.

[Dark Mind]

HECK YEAH DARK MIND!!!! So, Dark Mind is probably the mirror parallel of Dark Matter, somehow? ("mind over matter" as another clever user figured out) but having a human face aside, there's a lot of parallels with Nightmare from Adventure too, including them both having an unfairly good bop! 

Unlike some of the other great last boss songs up till now, it doesn't tell us a darn thing about the Eye of Sauron...Err, I mean...the giant flaming eyeball. Then again, we know so little about the Mirror World and Dark Mind, maybe it will turn out to be super informative down the line?

Regardless, the emotional emptiness of the song almost doesn’t matter it's so good! Though I do like that you can hear a similar...uh, BRRRRRING sound here to BWWAWINNG sound in Dark Meta Knight's theme, telling you they worked together. A musical call and response! Not much more depth than that. But what a strong note to end on!

...Oh...Right. It doesn't end there...

[Dark Mind - “Fighting Dark Mind in the Sky”]

Annnnd it is followed up with one that just isn't as good. Or at least, not as catchy. (It's even longer too, damn you.) Okay, okay. I don’t mean to be unfair. Perhaps there's stuff going on here I'm missing. Song callbacks that serve to explain the mystery of Dark Mind and the mirror dimension. 

Maybe it’s beautifully timed. Excellent key changes. Great instrumentation? There is some cool techno-sounding stuff going on here, it’s true! 

But to me, this song just feels a bit...hrgh... Look, it's not bad, really! I just don’t love it as much coming after Dark Mind's phase two! To be frank, It's the opening I really don’t like. I don't have full on synesthesia, at least not to a strong degree, but that opening bit tastes like a burnt meal to me... It just makes it hard to pay attention to what’s going on in the rest of the song.

Kirby Canvas Curse

[Drawcia Sorceress]

With all the times I've complained about discordant elements in these songs causing them to lose me, is it weird that I completely LOVE DRAWCIA'S THEME?! Well, for one thing, opening up with that strong gothic-horror, pipe organs and abandoned church vibes is SO good, even on the DS's not great sound. Coming off of the incredibly creepy “World of Drawcia” stage, it’s emotionally the right choice. (Now if only you fought her in a ruined church or something. Like the opening boss fight of Ender Lillies...)

But I'm glad that we finally get a gothic horror-y Kirby last boss track. To start with. But the main thing, and this is one of the reasons I love Drawcia so much is that she also goes straight for the "character interpretation via boss music" that you'd only really seen much of in Marx and 02 (and Dedede, a little) till now! And she's from a spinoff game! This is because being discordant is in Drawcia's nature! And the little, uh, how can I describe them except "pew pew" noises have this sense of slapping paint over a canvas (or hitting someone with a high pressure paintball gun) in the process of slowly painting over the word. Of course, Drawcia Sorceress is only one part of the package...

[Drawcia Soul]

Ahh, it’s back! There's that same "horrific reveal" note we first/last heard in Dark Matter's theme from DL2! Only this one has what I would describe as the audio equivalent of a VCR glitch. These two songs are excellent in show-not-tell horror. I mean, Drawcia Soul is a pretty creepy boss either way. One of the more creepy Soul bosses. Perhaps THE creepiest (....outside of Sectonia decapitating herself...) but the music is some jumpscare levels of horror! The fact that it drops low early on like it's whispering to you and then it has that section I can only describe as musical tinnitus. Alternatively, a SCREAM. And yet, it's not all distortion effects and jumpscares. There's a really good melody tucked away in there, that's swallowed up by that VCR effect again. A sign of the forgotten portrait's true nature, before it was corrupted, perhaps?

One of the least "listenable" songs in Kirby, but a really great one nontheless.

Kirby Squeak Squad

[Daroach - “Troubling Situation”]

Technically an all-rounder battle theme for the Squeaks in general, but it plays every time you fight Daroach too, so to the master thief, we bequeath this...wait, what's this?! He's already stolen the theme?! When did he-?!

Anyway, sad as it is to say, Squeak Squad's music is similar to the game itself. That is, it's not bad, but it gets outshined by the many truly sparkling entires before it. "Troubling Situation," which feels like an arrangement/variation/extrapolation on "Here Come the Squeaks" manages to carry the game's zany cartoon energy just fine. And a shoutout to the adorable squeaker chorus that's a consistent (but not annoying) presence in the background. 

It works as a boss theme, but as my boss fight music review should have made clear by now, we're several entries past "very serviceable music." Really, Daroach...or Dark Daroach, at least, should have gotten his OWN theme. Daroach isn’t lacking for character, thanks to Mass Attack, but the (lack of) music in this game is not doing him any favors, when it could have elevated him even higher as a character. Alas, it's at the end of the journey that Squeak Squad always stumbles. Speaking of a lackluster end game... The Starfish...

[Dark Nebula]

Dark Nebula's theme opens strong, giving us these intergalactic vibes that let us believe we're onto something big and COSMIC! Considering this game takes us through the Gamble Galaxy and into space (rare, when our games have been rather Popstar focused for the last few entries) it’s a nice aural-gameplay tie-in treat! And while the sounds of the main melody come really close to sitting shoulder to shoulder with the best of their SNES work, they just fall flat somewhere? I feel like the music could punch up so much higher, but it doesn’t finish strong. That, to me, is the flaw here. There's that nice bit at the end of the loop, but even that seems to give up at the end like "Oh, wait! I've got something good going here and uh....wait, I think I lost it." Ahhhhh, I hate to rag on this theme or any Kirby theme, really, but it lacks follow-through...

Super Star Ultra

[Dyna Blade & Wham Bam Rock - “Battle with the Enormous Boss”]

As if Super Star wasn't packed with enough good songs on its own, they come back with some treats for the DS remake, including giving us this tune to elevate Dyna Blade and Wham Back Rock into fittingly chapter ending bosses!

Err, that said, nothing really amazing, here, and its shared between the bosses, so we can’t even say it gives us many character notes, but at least it's a solid song all the way through, with a nice note of heroism + the journey's end vibe.

Sometimes it's good to have a song without world-ending stakes or an undercurrent of sadness and misunderstanding! 

Sometimes, you just want to beat up a giant rock...!

[Masked Dedede]

Just because I wasn't going to cover all the additional Dedede themes didn't mean I wouldn't cover any of them! And Dedede’s theme has grown so much, receiving a glow-up, becoming a more robust song to fit with the series going forward! There's more character in it, a few notes of, gasp, majesty injected into it in the beginning too before it breaks out into pure energy. 

(There's also a bit of a battle arena feel to it, which helps characterize the self-proclaimed king that builds a wrestling ring in his castle just for whenever Kirby should arrive.) But, after years of loss, we also hear a strong determination worked into Masked Dedede theme! He’s lost plenty of times (...every time...) before, but he’s remaking himself! More powerful, more of a presence! It works well with his new, scary battle mask and rocket-booster (!?) hammer!

It’s honestly great that Dedede’s theme grows, because character growth is going to signify Dedede in the games to come! (Especially since he’ll be a playable hero shortly!) So this remix on the old theme is the place to see the way he’s becoming more important to the games going forward!

[Galacta Knight - “The Greatest Warrior in the Galaxy”]

What's this?! (Synthesized) electric guitars in my Kirby game?! 

Err, and oh gosh, I hate to end this post like this, but I'm not a huge fan of Galacta Knight's theme, just as a piece to sit back and listen to, that is. It’s the pseudo-synethesia thing again. It’s a little...grungy-sounding? To me, Galacta Knight's song feels a bit like...

......kitchen mold. 

I'm so sorry! It's not meant as an insult!

Anyway, that kickass opening riff aside, what I most want to point out about Galacta's theme is how DIFFERENT it is to everything we've had so far. Whether it's because Galacta is from a time forgotten (the age of rock and roll, clearly) or because the sealed warrior is just in a class no one can hope to touch, their theme stands alone as well! I'm glad for it!

We never have gotten much about Galacta’s character. Almost as if its being avoided on purpose, but you can definitely detect the same “character” in this music of the knight who turns around and destroys Star Dream the second they’ve been summoned. This song also has those same “masked” elements where so much is hidden behind the rapid beat that Meta Knight’s battle does.

It’s truly fitting for them...!

-

And that’s it for now. No, I didn’t forget Mass Attack, but due to release dates, I’m saving it for the inevitable part two...

..Wherein I talk obsessively about “CROWNED” and how amazing it is! A-and a bunch of other really good songs too....!

(That said, part two is not going to be up immediately after this, just due to general business/intensity of writing these. It will happen though!)

#Kirby #Kirby series #King Dedede #Nightmare Kirby #Dark Matter Kirby #Kirby's Block Ball #Meta Knight #Marx Kirby #Zero Kirby #Gryll #02 Kirby #Miracle Matter #Dark Meta Knight #Dark Mind Kirby #Drawcia #Daroach #Dark Nebula #Dyna Blade #Galacta Knight #Dess Text Post #Dess Answers Questions #Long Post

[famouswolflamppaper]

I am done with my first Baldur's Gate 3 playthrough and it has been a hell of an emotional journey for me. I wanted to play this game just because of its hype and I saw the video which shows that we can seduce a druid in its bear form and thought wow that is incredible. I was in pretty depressed mode before playing it and the game itself did a fantastic job of lifting my spirits. I was like, wow so good things also are happening in life and the writing of this game is a living proof of that. Despite all of its ups and downs, it is evident that this game is made with love.

I loved each companion's arc and how they revolve around the theme of freedom, escape from a powerful figure, a tyrant you may say, and a very complex conflict about power. I got the good ending but it did not really help them with their problems that existed before this Illithid thing came around. I killed Cazador and freed Astarion but he is trapped in the shadows again. I convinced Gale to not go after Karsus' crown but then again he still has to live with the orb I guess? Karlach and Wyll went back to Avernus, a place where they hoped never to see again. Shadowheart saved herself from another cult but she has no idea who she was before and she also lost her parents. I did not discover the mountain pass route, so Lae'zel still believes her queen and follows her, but there is always the possibility she is going to be executed once she steps into Githyanki soil. All their character arcs come to what Raphael said before its legendary fight at the end: "Take away their free will, they will call you a tyrant. Allow them to indulge it, and they become tyrants." Oh man, by the way, let's take a moment to appreciate Raphael. This is how you construct a character who is "the devil." He is perfect, in every sense of the word. I loved every banter with him and his fight was epic. You don't see this kind of fight in any game. It was like a scene from a movie but also even better.

My only complaint regarding plots and characters is that Orin's and Gortash's plots are rather superficial compared to Ketheric Thorm's. Especially Gortash, I expected more from him I guess. All those glorious character designs are kind of wasted on mini-boss fights and the insights we gained about them are simply not enough to satisfy my curiosity. They just die at the end, and nothing happens.

The ending seemed a bit of haste to me, but still, it was a joyful and breathtaking journey. I am so glad to meet all of these characters and to be introduced to this universe. Thank you Baldur's Gate for making my mundane life bearable, even for a short time.

#baldur's gate 3 #now I am gonna play again #to learn more about the companions and their romances #especially for gale and astarion #cause their paths fit snugly into each others #and I would like to explore it more

[silverjayy6]

Chapter 1 Weird Route idea:

Ok, so we have no weird route for Chapter 1 right? However, here's an idea:

First, don't warn enemies about Susie's attacks. Let Susie attack them.

In major boss/mini-boss battles, with Susie, you can only either attack or defend. With Ralsei, you can only either attack or use heal prayer. To be done for all bosses/mini-bosses except K. Round.

In the battle against Clover, with Ralsei, you can only attack.

In the battle against Susie and Lancer, you must only fight, No other actions allowed.

In the fight against Jevil, with Susie, you can only attack.

When Jevil can be pacified, you must perform a Rude Buster with Susie and the Sleep Mist spell with Ralsei.

This will defeat Jevil in both ways, like both actions will take place at once.

Jevil will drop both his items, the Jevilstail must be equipped on Susie. The Devilsknife will be converted to a Devilscarf, which is to be given to Ralsei.

You must go back to the Field of Hopes And Dreams and must fight at least one of every enemy. The final hit on them must be by Ralsei.

Against the King, Ralsei will now have a new spell unlocked, called Chaos Orb. In the fight, the party can only use attack, or Red Buster or Chaos Orb. No other actions.

The last hit must be either by Red Buster or by Chaos Orb.

New dialogue:

Not warning enemies about Susie's attacks for 4 fights in a row causes Ralsei to say: Kris, don't you think should maybe warn the enemies about Susie attacking? Susie will reply: No Kris, don't you dare. Otherwise I will eat your face.

After defeating Clover, Ralsei will say: Kris, don't you think we should tone down on the violence?

After defeating Lancer and Susie, Susie will say: Alright , alright, stop. You defeated us, now don't gang up on Lancer. Also, it's nice that Ralsei has finally started to actually fight. Lance will say: Ooh hoo, who would've thought a softie like him could fight? Ralsei will reply: Hey, I am not a softie! (ok, maybe I am)

When Jevil is defeated, he will say: Wow! I haven't had this much fun, fun in years. You three truly are sharks, sharks who defeated me. You defeated me in more than one way. But a mischief, a mischief and a chaos, a chaos. Allow me to aid you for the future. Then the Devilscarf and Jevilstail will be received. Susie will say: Man, we really gotta teach you how to fight back. He literally attacked us, you know. Ralsei will say: Sometimes, violence isn't the only answer.

Equipping Devilscarf on Ralsei, he will say: I am not sure I like this scarf very much. But I will wear it if you say so, Kris.

After defeating at least 3 different types of enemies, Ralsei will say: Who would have thought, fighting is fun! Susie will reply: See? I told you so.

After defeating all types of enemies at least once, Ralsei will say: That was fun! Kris and Susie, let's go fight some more! Susie will reply: Heck yeah, it was. Now, its time for the king!

After defeating King, Ralsei will say: It's time to end this! Susie will say: Come on! Do it! Finish him! Lancer will come from behind and say: What're you guys doing? Don't kill my father! Susie will say: It's too late for that for now. Ralsei will have charged the Chaos Orb, but just as it would hit the King, he stops and says: Wait no! What am I doing? I cannot kill him. This isn't me. And then he deactivates the spell. Susie will try to encourage him but he will decline, and she will eventually give up. Susie will say: You were so close to finishing him off and embracing violence, damn it. But I guess next time. Ralsei will say: No, not next time, not ever. Susie will reply (in a friendly way): Wow, and here I was thinking that you were finally becoming cool. Well, I guess we will close the fountain now. Come on Kris. See you later, softie. Ralsei will say: Hey! I am not a softie!!

#deltarune #deltarune chapter 1 #deltarune kris #deltarune susie #deltarune ralsei #jevil deltarune #lancer deltarune #deltarune weird route

[lurkerguy65]

Wow, Sea of Stars sure is a doozy of a game to give my thoughts on. Mostly because I feel like it has a structure that goes against what I tend to like in the JRPGs I play, but the more I look back on the game the more of a positive impression I have of it but trying to describe that impression is difficult for me (but I'm going to try!).

First thing's first, it feels like the most actiony turn-based RPG I've played outside of some of the Mario RPGs, and I don't think that's a mistake because the Mario RPGs are a big influence of Sea of Stars.

I feel like the devs took some of the energy from the last game they made, which was a ninja action platformer (The Messenger), and blend it with the JRPG genre (as well as the Chrono Trigger and Mario RPG 'aspects' it's fused with) and I honestly think it works. The battles have it with a flow that keeps the action going between moves with action commands, disrupting enemy spells, slicing off magic orbs you can use to boost your attacks (to use magic without using magic) and swapping out party members (which is a free action!). To add to the actiony combat, characters can recover on their own if they are KO'd (and if the rest of your party survive long enough) and status effects are a rarity.

The journey itself is a rather straightforward one but the areas and dungeons you go through have lots of light platforming and puzzles to keep things interesting and to my surprise there's never really a lull in the game despite it being a rather lengthy one (It does have a slow start ). The last third of it really has some spectacular dungeons (that I sort of wish were a little bit longer) and boss fights and the soundtrack is quite wonderful throughout the whole game.

Similarly, the plot is also pretty straightforward but I found plenty to like in the game's cast of characters (especially Garl, and the pirate crew) it's bizarre bestiary, learning about things in the world that either added to the world or the characters or events that you learn about, or the spectacle of some of the things that happen in the story, or even the story reveals that I just did not see coming. I didn't even mean to write a mini-review about this game, I could've just said that Sea of Stars is a 'fusion' of Chrono Trigger & Mario RPG (or a fusion of those two influences, anyway) but it really is a fusion of the two and just saying it doesn't explain why it is (and I didn't really even touch on the Chrono Trigger half of it). I think it really is the 'action game' aspect that gels the whole thing together and makes it more than a sum of it's parts, and thus makes it a pretty cool and unique JRPG.

#liveblogging

[redlerred7]

Played the new Touhou game for like two hours as five of the nineteen characters. Initial Thoughts:

Only Reimu was unlocked from the start and a good chunk of my run with her was learning how to play. I've never actually played any of the Touhou Phantasmagoria games so it was pretty scuffed imo. Still, I think I understand the mechanics.

First, it seems like defeating enemies on your screen causes the equivalent enemies on your opponent's screen to start shooting bullets. Your goal seems to be to fill the opponent's screen with enough bullets to overwhelm them. Once you've run your opponent out of lives (or captured an arbitrary number of enemy spell cards, more on that later), you opponent drops an ability card which grants you an option that shoots the bullets used by your opponent's character.

Next, holding down the bomb button, creates a field around your character that slows down bullets. The size and shape of the field depends on the character. Any bullets caught in this slow field increases the maximum charge of the meter the bottom your screen. Holding down the bomb button also causes that meter to fill up, and if you fill it past certain thresholds, you can do a special attack. At the start of every level, you only have the tier 1 special attack available and to get higher tiers you need to increase your meter limit by catching bullets with your field, and every time you use a special attack higher than tier 1, it reduces you meter limit, forcing you to catch more bullets. The third and fourth tier of special attack will straight-up spawn bullets on your opponent's screen, with the fourth tier actually causing your character to appear as a boss with spell cards and everything! Not only that, those higher tier specials get stronger every time you use them.

And remember when I mentioned capturing spell cards earlier? Your opponent seems to periodically attempt tier 4 specials and, if you defeat the boss that spawns a certain number of times, the game seems to just give you the match win without needing to run your opponent out of lives.

Reimu was pretty good during my run, even considering that I didn't know what to do. She has the standard homing amulets she's had since Hidden Star in Four Seasons, which have decent tracking and damage. Her tier 1 special is shooting four large ofuda in a wide spread. Her tier two is a mini-Fantasy Seal which can cancel bullets! Theoretically, that makes her the best character in the game, since no other character seems to be able to cancel bullets, but I'm not nearly good enough to take advantage of it. Her tier 3 and 4 involve her throwing ying-yang orbs at your opponent, but I wasn't able to use them much. This is the case for every other character.

Marisa is probably my favorite of the characters I've played so far. Her illusion lasers have great damage and always shoot in front of her. Her tier 1 and 2 specials are piercing lasers which she drops in place that shoot straight forward. The tier level seems to determine how long the laser lasts. I actually got a 1cc first time I played as her given how strong she is and how easy the bosses I had to fight were.

The same cannot be said about the next three I played.

Sanae had the homing snakes which seemed to do terrible damage. Her tier 1 is shooting homing snakes in a circle around her and her tier 2 is shooting explosive frogs in a circle. I couldn't seem to kill anything with the homing snakes so I had to rely mostly on the explosive frogs, which at least did better damage but left me relatively exposed every time I had to use it. It didn't help that Sanae's slow field doesn't extend very far away from her at first, then when her tier 1 is fully charged it suddenly becomes twice as big as Reimu's.

I played as Ran next and she has two crystals that shot bullets straight forward and remain in place when you hold down the focus button. She's similar to Remilia in Imperishable Night, and like Remilia, I really don't vibe with her shot type. Thankfully, her specials are interesting enough for me to say I don't dislike her. Tier 1 makes her shoot twice as many bullets, while her tier 2 temporarily gives her two more options to shoot bullets from. If you activate a tier 1 special while your tier 2 is still active, you can essentially have 400% your normal damage output for a few seconds. It was a little tricky to pull off during spell cards, but it was definitely worth it. It's a shame I'm so bad with her gameplay style. I think it'd be fun to play if I was good.

Finally, there's Aunn, whose story I didn't actually get to finish. She has a spread shot split into three streams when unfocused, with the shots merging into a single tight spread when focused. I actually quite like this kind of shot type, but the problem is that I couldn't seem to kill anything with it. Her specials weren't much better, here she spawns a bunch of bullets that spin around her, with tier level just increasing how many bullets are spawned. These bullets don't seem to kill anything either. It's not really helped by Aunn's really weird slow field, which is an ellipse that stretches really far vertically for a split second before squashing down into horizontal ellipse that has 0 vertical range. I only got to I think stage 3 before I was too tired of her shit to keep playing.

#touhou #touhou 19 #text #post #Youtube

[goggles-mcgee]

Hey, I heard that your a Dark Parables fan from someone I follow, and I has to ask. It's alright if ya don't want to, but I was wondering if you have any salt/ Hot takes for the series of Dark Parables just for fun.

Like how a plot could have been better, or how character detail could have been written to make sense for examples.

Thank you for reading, and glad to see ya back.

Hi! I have so many you don't even know my friend, I'm like legit in the middle of a re-playthrough of the whole series XD

I do gotta say one game that doesn't really feel like it "fits", feels off story wise and gameplay wise in the series to me and kinda throws off the flow of the games is Dark Parables: The Little Mermaid and the Purple Tide.

[SPOILERS AHEAD FOR DARK PARABLES: THE LITTLE MERMAID AND THE PURPLE TIDE]

I know it's weird to include gameplay mechanics in the salt list but (it sounds ridiculous I know) I have a degree in 3D Arts & Game Design so when I play games I tend to focus on game play as much as the story and graphics.

First off, I genuinely am always thrown off because for a game called The Little Mermaid and the Purple Tide....the Purple Tide had a minimal role. Like it was a thing but only in the first like 5 minutes of the game. At least with Ballad of Rapunzel, the flowers were a constant issue as well as the plant monsters. They made sense. Then we have the princess who annoyed me more than anything. Her reasons for being stand-offish or down right rude and somewhat a mini boss to get by were kind of....dumb. like usually the mini boss has a reason for what they did and why they fight the Detective until ultimately lending help, and the reason is usually sound (in the game Universe logic anyways) or good.

Of course you could argue that her reasons are the same as other game characters. Which,, yeah, but it felt weak in comparison. She wanted to find the last Elemental Orb to save her father, her father who was completely off his rocker. But she also thirsts to become human so like, she's doing it for selfish reasons and only after she basically gutted Pinocchio was she wanting you to save her and then willing to help you. If I could have left her to the piranhas or whatever they were....I would have.

That brings me to my issue with the godforsaken Elemental Orbs! They are supposed to be the King's only salvation after being cursed! Yeah? Yeah. Except they are also the treasures that broke the the curse on his daughters! Now you may be thinking this isn't really an issue or something to be mad about but for me it just infuriates me that the daughters broke their curses and yet the orbs were still powerful enough to cure their father....their father who they left so they could pursue their own lives. Like legit. They leave him even though they wanted to help cure him and his sanity but no. After they gained their legs they skeddadeled! Their stories were interesting! I give it that but the fact they left their cursed father and sisters to their fate never sat right with me.

Also it's never mentioned how the King got the orbs after the daughters broke their curses because it never says they went into the sea to take them back. So how does he have them???? If they used them I think they should be null and void and he should have just thought in all his delusion that one orb would be enough for him to experiment with. We're supposed to believe that this family is worth saving and I gotta say...I did not feel like helping at all during that whole game. I did it very reluctantly.

Then the mechanics are added in and yeah...least favorite game right here. It's honestly one that is very forgettable until someone asks me if there's a game I dislike from the series and then BAM! It comes rearing it's ugly head back in my face. The mechanic overall were very stiff, the accessing of your inventory to the change of locations all felt stiff and clunky as opposed to the others games in the series.

Also they didn't have to so Pinocchio like that. They really didn't.

Another point against the game was the fact we never got a scene hinting at the next game which was always part of the whole Dark Parables experience and to not have it really made the game not feel like part of the series. Maybe it's silly, but it was as much a part of the series as the collective parables themselves. Just having the statue in the Temple wasn't enough nor satisfying.

In the end all I have to say is I get why the Sea Goddess cursed everyone. I would have too. Both kingdoms were fickle people and honestly their whole backstop wasn't that intriguing. Like I'd get the tidbits of info and just be like meh.

I could rant about this game a lot but in doing so I just get more petty, especially stupid small things so I will leave this here.

In the end, all I can say is they could have made a better plot, one that was more engaging and made me care. Because I adore The Little Mermaid, in any font, but this font was my comic sans.

#dark parables #blue tea games #dark parables: the little mermaid and the Purple Tide #dark parables salt #goggles ask #goggles answer

[latin-dr-robotnik]

So what are your thoughts on the Guardian mini bosses?

My personal favorites are the Sumos and Asuras. Sharks are pretty cool as well.

And Striders. Well tbh I just feel bad for them.

Sumo was a lot of fun! I liked all the versions of Dennis' favorite "sexy obsidian lady" Ninja, though some of the hardest variations were a bit boring to fight. I loved Asuras and their theme, such a shame they don't return after Kronos. At least Squids return later on, and they're always fun to engage, same for Fortress in Chaos, except that one that spawns on top of a cyberspace portal and it takes so long to despawn it’s faster to just chase it, kill it quickly and then jump into cyberspace. A bit crammed.

Fun fact: the closest Strider to your starting position in Ares island killed me like 10 times the first time I played, those damn red orbs switching lanes as you do were so annoying! And a couple of those deaths also were because the guardian spawned orbs on top of my current position. Kinda unfair to be honest.

I thought Caterpillar was a quicker, sometimes better version of striders, you do some quick rail grinding to expose its weakness, then dodge bullets to attack it, cool, though the hitbox felt a bit janky at times.

The worst ones to me were the later versions of Tower, Tank and Ghost in particular. Usually, the longer the fight kept going the less I liked the guardian in question, and Ghost is just 4 platforming challenges. Also I didn't dislike Shark, but I felt like the excitement wore off quickly. Neat concept, could be used for something other than a guardian that'll respawn every X amount of nights. 

The Spider one was pretty standard, nothing to add, but it has some pretty cool music, especially as you skydive your way down.

So far, the guardians are a welcome addition. Some of them would work better as actual main boss fight phases, but most of them are pretty neat challenges to tackle.

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic frontiers #sonic frontiers spoilers #ask latin dr robotnik #fun fact: i didn't know how to spawn or beat ghost the first time #i was like 'there's a guardian here but i don't see any enemy around'

[hyper-newt]

Comet Hook devlog #2

More things to game on

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Other devlogs : 1 - 2 - 3

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Hello, here's comet hook's second devlog !!!

I added a few new stuff to make the game a bit more interesting so let's check it out :)

Small stuff

First, a small graphical update on the player and the comets, they now have a small eye ! (And comets have a different sprite)

Still placeholder sprites but it gives a bit more personality to the game and that's neat :p

Throwing comets is also easier, I added a simple aim assist to make them go toward fishes when thrown and it helps a lot

But what would be the point of that if you can only use two boring comets ?

Bombs !

Introducing the bomb comet ! It does a big explosion when it hits a fish making it quite powerful

But how do you get it ? Welp with the bomb fish :0

This bomb fish can also explode so be carful, but you can trick them to explode on other fishes and do extra damage

That's good and all but you might have taken a bit too much damage playing with them, and you might want yo heal...

Environment

Here are some seashell to break containing healing orbs !

Also coming in big form

Each orbs recover 0.2hp which isn't a lot so you better destroy a lot of those seashells !

And also as you may have noticed, you can get some mini comets as a bonus :)

They don't do a lot of damage but they gather speed really fast

But now you might be like "oh no there's too much comets, how can I handle so many of them ? :("

And i hear you, it sure would be cool to use them all at once instead of leaving them hanging around...

So you can now ! Isn't that amazing ?

Get up to 5 comets at once and BONK all of them on the mean fishes to do a lot of damages !!

Making the mini comets more useful, as a small damage boost at the start of your game

And to make movement a little bit more interesting, I added some walls to the level : you can throw comets to make them bounce on it, and also protect yourself from fish's attacks

And that's all for now, the game is starting to become something a bit more interesting to play but still has a long way to go.

What's next ?

Next time I'll try to add a shop to upgrade your hook and buy other stuff

Maybe also add some mini bosses that you need to fight before fighting a big guy to finish the level (just like fantasy zone : destroy 10 bases and face the real boss)

And also try to improve the gameflow, some action don't feel good to do and that's a no-no for me

So thanks for reading this devlog ! Gamedev takes time so don't expect any consistency for devlogs upload

So maybe I should upload some small sneak peaks ?

Have a good day and byeee byeeeeee :)

#comethook devlog #devlog #gamedev #game development #game #indiegamedev #indiedev #bonk #video games #fishing game #artists on tumblr #pixel art

[gertlushgaming]

My Little Universe Review (Nintendo Switch OLED)

 For this My Little Universe Review, where we are stranded on a barren moon with nothing but your tools, fuelless ship, and celestial powers of creation, you are destined to recreate what was once lost and be the hero of your own Little Universe! Don't forget to call in up to three of your friends to join your journey in the Splitscreen Co-op Mode!

My Little Universe Review Pros:

- Nice graphics. - 851MB download size. - You can set actions such as attacking and mining to manual or automatic. - Horizontal splits screen option. - Controller settings - Invert axis and sensitivity sliders, manual switch tool, and manual actions. - Supports all types of controllers. - 3 save slots. - Unlock new characters to play as. - Local multiplayer support. - Opening tutorial section to introduce the basics. - A full 3D world with full 360 camera control. - Trees and other minable resources regrow over time. - To move around er the hexagonal world use resources to make new tiles and connect the already created tiles. - As you create new tiles, a random item or piece of equipment can spawn and be used. - Different tools make farming/mining easier or harder. - With auto actions on you can stand in a group of trees and just keep farming. - You can manually hold down a button to charge up your whack or attack doing a wider area of damage. - The Hud is very clear and easy to read. - Radical menu for quick access to things like inventory or the map. - The map fills in as you create the world. - Different resources are needed to build different tiles. - Earn EXP as you play, level up, and pick one of three upgrades. - A real-time sink of a game. - You can swim in the water. - Find random rewards around not only tiles but in the world already on both land and sea. - Machines will show a progress bar for every action. - Your health bar shows when you are fighting. - Simple hack-and-slash combat. - There is always a choice as to where you travel. - Find upgrade stations for improving your gear. - Overall game completion shows on your save file. - I like how I can almost play it like an idler and have my guy next to a resource and he will just go and go. - Nine planets to unlock. - Create a portal (stargate-looking ring) and fast-travel between planets. - Each planet has at least one hidden challenge room. - Boss and mini-boss encounters. - Collect ALL Gaia orbs on a planet to unlock a new character/suit. - Craft/buy new parts of your armor to increase your stats. - Planets may have you rescuing people to unlock new workstations. - You can farm/mine/attack with any weapon you like as sometimes a more powerful sword is better than a low level axe. - Dungeons start being more a thing, seperate from the world and usually housing a boss. - Plays like an interactive clicker. - The more upgraded a tool/weapon is, the more resources you get. - Full freedom to play how you want. My Little Universe Review Cons: - Cannot rebind controls. - No touchscreen support. - You can only create tiles in certain places, it's not a case of creating one anywhere. - The game teaches the very basics then it's all up to you to figure out. - Takes ages to get going. - The initial impression is it takes a long time for the game to express and tell you what it's about. - Playing with manual switching of tools and weapons is not that great especially when ambushed or you have a lot going on. - Never sure when it was saved. - Makes grinding a necessity. - Registering an enemy or resource seems to have an exact point otherwise nothing happens. - The Hud only shows three resources at one time. - Switching of weapons is so slow. - Every planet is just the same loop over and over. - Seeing a massive resource requirement fill in just one tile and the next four are the same, it's not fun. - Level up rewards start to repeat. Related Post: Islands of Insight Trailer Released My Little Universe: Official website. Developer: Estoty Publisher: SayGames Store Links - Nintendo Read the full article

#Indie #Nindies #NintendoSwitch

[retphienix]

A tiny bit of orb journey, I'm on my way back to the illusion castle to (if I were to guess) be told exactly what every NPC that got updated dialogue will tell me (not many got updated but all of them say around the same thing).

Collect the orbs, bring them to the statues, do a dungeon. I get it.

I don't know the specifics, but I remember reading somewhere that there are 6 colors and 2 of them are "bonus", no idea what that means. And I don't know the specifics but it sounds like a few spawned in the world (can confirm) and if I bring them back and do the dungeon then 8 more will spawn and I think I have to keep doing that until I have the 4 original colors and then the "correct" dungeon will spawn?

I'm not sure, we're just exploring lol

Got another wing for fast travel, VERY nice. Also stumbled into my first orb- it seems some (not all) of the orbs will spawn as tiny little mini-dungeons with a "boss" fight.

This one was obviously easy enough to just mash through, but it's worth mentioning that their poison coupled with their health WAS enough to make it hurt a touch.

Random pointless recruit who was not an upgraded unit or anything, and then another orb which I bought for a bit of gold.

And then... uh.

This.

So, Machua is one of the recruits you're not allowed to dismiss because of this event specifically. The thing is.... why the heck is this event during the orb quest and not the main game???

You CAN'T do this in the main game. This is a "reward" for reaching the orb quest.

Why is getting a WORTHLESS SHIT BAD SUPER LOW STAT BAD BAD HORRIBLE monster, a reward?

They DO realize monsters you're not actively using don't level up and as such can't ever breed to get stronger.... right?

So you would need, I don't know, ANY REASON AT ALL to actually use them but they provided none?

If I swapped to using this worthless Hork I would just be nerfing myself for like 5 hours of grind for LITERALLY no benefit.

Why is this game like this with monsters and breeding lol, bizarre. Give me a fourth wagon if you want me to feel rewarded. Or hell, just make wagon upgrades more common. This is a worthless reward and it feels double worthless being effectively a post-game reward instead of something that happens in the story (which is should have).

weird!

#Dragon Quest #Dragon Quest Monsters #Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart #DQM #DQ #RetPlays