#you can get through the main game fine but the postgame is where the real archaic shit comes up

[solidandsound]

Etrian Odyssey - Notes on a Journey

THE PARTY

Surge, Alchemist (portrait three)

Surge is a citrus-flavoured soft drink advertised as having a ‘hardcore’ edge.

Surge is only seventeen, but that makes him the oldest member of the group. He left home at eleven years old in response to his mother’s neglect, having already been cooking and caring for himself for years at that point. He ran away as a test, to see if his mother would notice or come looking for him. She never did. His years on the street have left him cynical, but not unkind.

Pepper, Medic (portrait five)

Pepper is named for Dr. Pepper, a soda developed by a pharmacist.

Pepper’s parents were doctors who spent their time travelling to conflict zones to help the injured, leaving him with his feeble grandmother. He idolized his parents and sought to be a doctor of renown like them, and is extremely knowledgeable in the medical arts, especially for a child his age. When he was eleven, his parents left for a war zone and never returned. His grandmother passed shortly afterward, leaving him with nowhere to go and no one to turn to. It has been a year since then.

Root, Dark Hunter (portrait three)

Root is named for root beer, historically made from a root now known to be a carcinogen.

At twelve years old, Root confided in his parents that he thought he might be gay, sure that they would support him no matter what. They didn’t. For the two years since, he has been on the street. His experience left him extremely closed off; he rarely speaks at all, let alone to share anything deeper than surface level about himself. His confidence is in tatters.

Cherry, Protector (portrait four)

Cherry is named in reference to various cherry beverages, such as Cherry Coca-Cola.

Cherry found herself drawn to femininity at a young age, and took great joy in curating her hair, make-up, and fashion. Unfortunately, this made her a target for men who took her prowess in these subjects as a sign of sexuality—one such man being her father. When her mother didn’t believe her, she left home. She is fifteen now, and spends much time protecting other girls from the gendered violence they are sometimes subject to on the streets. Through it all, she has refused to give up her femininity, holding it as a source of strength. If she can still look good in the situation she is in, she knows she’s doing okay.

Mirinda, Survivalist (portrait five)

Mirinda is a soft drink brand originating in Spain; the word roughly translates to ‘admirable’.

Mirinda is a mischievous 13-year-old girl with a penchant for petty crime. Unlike the other members of her guild, she has somewhere to which she can return, but her parents are so exasperated with her behaviour after multiple failed attempts to correct it that they no longer try to keep track of her and do not blink when she is missing for days on end. She has developed a kinship with the other unhoused kids, who engage in similar activities as her, though out of necessity rather than enjoyment. Her safety net gives her a relentlessly cheery demeanour that can sometimes be irritating, but she is a true friend.

BEFORE THE LABYRINTH

Having been on the streets of Etria from such a young age, Surge is loathe to see kids even younger than him out on their own, and ended up serving as a sort of guardian to many of them, especially Pepper, Cherry, and Root. The four of them, with the occasional assistance by and accompaniment of Mirinda, scraped together the means to survive, day by day. It was difficult, and dangerous, and tiring. It wore Surge down, but for the sake of the kids, he has never given up.

There was one other person Surge was close to, an older man named Leed. Having been homeless for over a decade himself, Leed taught Surge and the kids lots of tips and tricks for survival. Surge also knew that Leed engaged in more dangerous activities that he never shared the details of. One rainy day, Surge turned down an alley and found Leed on the verge of death, having been stabbed. Surge never got the details of this incident; when Leed saw Surge, he smiled, and passed. This was not the only time Surge saw someone die on the streets, but if he could help it, it would be the last. He raided Leed’s belongings, finding that he had stolen some cash and basic adventuring gear from someone. Perhaps he chose the wrong rookie adventurers to ambush...

Living in Etria, Surge always knew that tackling the labyrinth was a career option, but it was one he dismissed as too dangerous. He knew many homeless people who entered the labyrinth and never left it. Now, though, he was tired of life on the streets, tired of the daily suffering, of seeing those kids suffer.

He brought the gear to Cherry, Pepper, and Root, not expecting Mirinda to be there as well. When she heard the plan, she insisted on joining. Surge hesitated, not wanting to subject her to that danger if he didn’t have to, but he knew they would have a better chance at success with a fifth party member, so he relented. He was surprised to see small Cherry pick the bulky Protector gear, and shocked to see the reticent Root choose the bold Dark Hunter equipment. For himself, he wanted power, and thus chose the Alchemist’s glove. With everyone on board, Surge made it clear: they go only as long as they need to, and once they’ve made enough money, they’re out. All geared up, the five of them entered Radha Hall.

FIRST STRATUM: Emerald Grove

While the labyrinth is harsh at first, Surge and the kids soon fall into a rhythm of pushing into the labyrinth, killing some monsters, and returning to sell the materials, while also picking up some odd jobs here and there. However, it is far from lucrative at this stage; they are barely scraping together enough on each excursion to fund the next.

They soon come upon two intimidating women who claim to have been ordered by Radha Hall to guard the way forward. If Bubble Guild wants to progress, they must take it up with Radha Hall. When they do so, they are told that a wolf pack has made the proceeding area too dangerous for rookie explorers, and Surge and his friends must wait until someone else takes care of the problem. To Surge, this is infuriating. All he’s accomplished so far is moving from one meagre lifestyle to another. They need to go further. Without consulting the others, he accepts the mission to take down the leader of the wolves.

The guild is allowed past Ren’s blockade and advances lower and lower. They face tougher enemies, but do so with growing confidence. In Fenrir’s nest, they take down a few of his wolf lackies with ease, lure him into a corner, and work together to take him out before reinforcements arrive. When it’s all done, they report to Radha Hall and get a nice chunk of change for their efforts. It’s the kind of money Surge has never seen in his life.

He consults with the kids. This money isn’t everything, but it’s not nothing. It’s enough that they could get a cheap place, get cleaned up, get jobs—for the older kids, anyway—to sustain themselves. Things would still be tight, and it might not work out, but they wouldn’t be fighting monsters anymore. Or... they could keep going. It’s only going to get more dangerous, but also more profitable.

Root speaks up first: “Let’s keep going.” That’s all he says, but Cherry pipes up to agree, as does Mirinda. Surge looks to Pepper, tells him, If you want to, we can get out of this and get normal lives, but Pepper shakes his head. He knows that the others need him. What’ll they do if they get hurt?

Surge reiterates their goal from the start. They’ll make enough to be comfortable, and then peace out before they get themselves killed. With that, Bubble Guild descends into the second stratum.

SECOND STRATUM: Primitive Jungle

Shortly after first entering the Primitive Jungle, Bubble Guild picks up a job to slay a spider monster that has been causing issues on the fifth floor. It is a fairly easy task for them, but afterwards, Valerie at the bar tells Surge (who always goes in alone, letting the younger kids wait outside) that all the younger explorers are looking up to Bubble these days. Surge is concerned about what ‘younger’ means. Are there other guilds filled with literal children?

Soon the next task from Radha Hall comes in: to steal an egg from the terrifying Wyvern on the eighth floor. Pepper feels weird about this task. Stealing an egg? That doesn’t seem very nice. It’s Cherry who tells him to suck it up. They’ve been killing loads of creatures out there anyway, this is no different.

When they turn the egg in, they are graced with an audience with Visil, the Chieftain of the Radha. Visil congratulates the guild on their hard work, and says he has high hopes for their progress, as few explorers these days make it as far as they have. The kids seem thrilled with the praise, but Surge is unmoved. Something seems sketchy about this guy...

With a little more progress, the guild comes back to town to a further request: to kill Cernunnos, the beast preventing access to the third stratum. On their way to do so, the group runs into Ren and Tlachtga. Ren implies that other guilds have also been given the task, and that Visil expects most of them to die. The kids aren’t intimidated; Cherry insists that they’re better than all the others! Surge can’t help but think of how many kids have been sent to their deaths... Something is seriously wrong with this place.

Nonetheless, they take out Cernunnos and report its demise to Radha Hall. Surge goes into the Hall fully intending to get the reward and call it quits, but when they get the money in their hands, its not quite double what they got for finishing the first stratum. They could get by on this for a while, for sure, but can he really guarantee a future for these kids with this? Plus, they’re all so excited. Mirinda and Cherry are already talking about what they might get next time.

Surge resigns himself. One more stratum, and then they’ll be good. This time for sure.

THIRD STRATUM: Azure Rainforest

Surge gives the kids a bit of a break between strata. He needs a day to think about how far they’ve come and where they’re going. Pepper, Cherry, and Mirinda use the time to relax and hang out, buying some slightly expensive food and otherwise just chilling. Root goes off on his own. He’s heard about a challenge given out by the explorers’ guild, and goes there to confirm. Ganryu, the guildmaster, is challenging adventurers to venture into the labyrinth alone and defeat a Cutter in single combat. Ganryu seems apprehensive when Root shows interest, but does not stop him. Without telling the others, Root goes into the dungeon and challenges a Cutter. His plan is to land enough binds not to worry about the beast’s strongest attacks, but his binds don’t land, and it comes down to pure damage. When he emerges victorious anyway, he feels a great boost in confidence. He is proud of how far he’s come since he started this journey.

Bubble Guild is asked to properly map the 11th and 12th floors, as the Radha’s soldiers are having trouble with it. When the group returns with the maps, Quinn pays them, and also mentions that Visil seems apprehensive about pushing further to discover the labyrinth’s secrets. Mirinda is curious about these secrets, but the others are largely indifferent to them; they are here to get paid. The guild’s next task is to investigate reports of a humanoid creature seen deeper into the labyrinth.

Sure enough, Bubble has a run-in with a feathered girl named Kupala who makes vague warnings about not venturing further. But venturing further is what Bubble is being paid to do, and so they continue on. They make their way to the end of the stratum, where Kupala awaits. She claims that, by coming this far, they have broken some ancient pact. She calls upon a monster, the great Corotrangul, which attacks. Bubble defeats it fairly easily, however. When they do, Kupala is gone, but she has left behind a stone tablet.

The group takes the tablet to Quinn, who rewards them handsomely and encourages them to continue on to the fourth stratum. Surge had planned to tell Quinn that they would be quitting after this, but can’t bring himself to say the words. Despite spending much of their time knee-deep in the forest’s dangers, the quality of life for these kids has steadily gone up. They are wearing better clothes, eating better food. They could dip out now, Surge could get a more standard job, but he wouldn’t be able to sustain this for all of them. Plus, adventuring has been good for them in other ways, too. They seem happier. Root talks a lot more, even when not prompted. So, Surge agrees, and the guild makes plans to enter the fourth stratum.

FOURTH STRATUM: Sandy Barrens

Pepper has acquainted himself with Dr. Hoffman, who runs the apothecary. According to Dr. Hoffman, Bubble’s exploration efforts have already helped with the advancement of medicine in Etria. If they go even further, who knows what medical mysteries the doctor will be able to unlock!

Shortly into the fourth stratum, the guild finds a slot that the stone tablet would fit perfectly into. They return to Radha Hall for the tablet, but Visil is waiting to speak with them there. He explains that, for some reason, the forest folk will stop at nothing to halt humans’ advancement into the labyrinth. Indeed, many adventurers have been killed by them. If they will not stand down, they must be annihilated, for the sake of the town. After his speech, he hands the party the tablet.

The guild is understandably torn about what Visil has asked them to do, but Surge urges them to continue on for now. They do not have to commit to anything yet. A little further in, Kupala appears. Surge is able to ask her about her so-called pact, and for the first time she believes that they are uninformed. She clarifies that humans and the forest folk made a pact a long, long time ago. The pact states that the bottom strata of the forest are left to the forest folk alone, and that humans are not to venture there. Now knowing the truth about the pact, Pepper and Mirinda feel sure that some better solution can be negotiated.

They take this info to Visil. He is unmoved. The bottom line is that, if they obey the pact, Etria will lose its greatest source of income—and so, too, will Bubble. The mission to annihilate the forest folk stands.

The kids of Bubble are despondent. This does not feel right. Surge is the one who speaks up. There is no stability in the world of regular people. If they give up adventuring, they could very well end up back on the streets, scrounging for every meal. Surge is unwilling to go back to that. Cherry and Root silently agree. Pepper waffles, but Cherry reminds him that medical advancements depend on their discoveries. Pepper reasons that more people will be saved in the long run by them continuing to explore than will be lost in the coming conflict... probably.

Surge turns to Mirinda then, and tells her, firmly, to go home. She, at least, does not need to be complicit in this. She refuses. He commands her. She says no. He yells at her to go the fuck home. She cries and says no, no, no. Cherry steps between them. “She’s one of us,” Cherry says. It’s the five of them against the forest folk.

They make their way to a floor that is wide open desert. It is here that they face their first violent opposition from the forest folk. Perhaps the forest folk are out of practice, however... They are surprisingly fragile when put to weapons. The floor is soon littered with greenish corpses.

Bubble clears the way to the final floor of the stratum. Kupala appears here, clearly frustrated. She asks why Bubble would do what they’ve done when their own people want them dead, a statement that makes little sense to Surge and the kids. Kupala challenges the crew, saying that the forest folks’ toughest warriors are on this floor, as well as their guardian beast, the bird Iwaoropenelep. In a gruelling, multi-day showdown, the guild succeeds in eliminating the forest folks’ warrior class. Kupala emerges one last time to admit defeat and say that there is nothing else she can do to stop them, then vanishes.

Back in town, the guild is rewarded handsomely for their success, but this time the money feels foul despite its heft. Still, having come this far, there is no question that they will continue into the fifth stratum, where no one else has gone before. Quinn asks that, as they do, they keep an eye out for Visil. The leader of the Radha has vanished.

FIFTH STRATUM: Lost Shinjuku

The guild decides to take a bit of time to decompress, but Root can’t stand the quiet. He does down to the guild hall, where he learns that there is another solo mission being given out, this time to defeat a Killclaw. Root takes it and heads out without telling anyone. This task is harder than the last one, as Killclaws must be drawn out by the sounds of combat, so Root must take care to fight other creatures first, and not defeat them too quickly. When the Killclaw appears, it hits hard and takes little damage, so the fight is protracted and brutal. Root returns from it victorious but injured, and goes to Pepper for help.

Surge is there, and is shocked at Root’s state. He forces the boy to spill the beans about his solo missions. Surge goes from shocked to furious, and storms into the guild hall to demand answers. Ganryu simply states that he doesn’t prevent any willing parties from attempting his tasks, but provides no comment on how many people—kids—have died on these tasks. It turns out there is one more coming up, and Surge doesn’t want to see Root risking his life on it... so he takes it. He goes into the fourth stratum and challenges a Sickwood alone, blasting it with flame as he is eaten away by its poison. He wins, but barely, and limps back to town, satisfied that Root won’t die by any more of these foolish endeavours.

After the boys recover, the guild finally ventures into the fifth stratum. It is a strange place, filled with bizarrely huge buildings. When passing from one building to another, the guild is stopped by Ren and Tlachtga. Ren says that Etria depends on adventurers coming through, hoping to get to the bottom of the labyrinth, but, for that very reason, none must succeed. Bubble is getting too close, and now they must die.

The problem is that Bubble have gotten this far by their own strength, and that strength is more than enough to smack down Ren and Tlachtga. The women accede. Ren tells the guild that Visil waits for them below.

Bubble chips away at the stratum while taking requests at the bar, as usual. While waiting outside the bar for Surge, Pepper sees a kid younger than him go in, and then, minutes later, emerge, visibly upset. Once Surge returns, Pepper asks about it. It turns out that the kid needs materials to help his sick mom, but only has 50 ental to pay for the quest, so Surge passed on it. Pepper is appalled, and begs Surge to take the quest. He doesn’t want the kid to end up like him, an orphan with nowhere to go. Surge relents, and they find the materials, which, predictably, does not pay well, but Pepper is happy anyway. Even Surge feels good after doing a good deed.

At the bottom of the fifth stratum, Visil guards a large, mysterious door. He praises the guild for being better than Ren and Tlachtga, as well as every other guild that has attempted and failed to get this far. He claims that if the guild simply turns back, he will pay them. This is a tempting proposition to Surge, but as he considers, Mirinda speaks up: “What’s behind the door?” Visil turns quietly furious. He will tell them, but only in exchange for their lives, he says, and then he passes through the door.

Mirinda is worried that she screwed up, and indeed, for a moment everyone looks at her with disappointment, but then they all relax. Surge admits that he wasn’t sure he could trust Visil’s offer. Pepper says he, too, was more curious about what’s behind the door at this point. Cherry is pissed that he had them kill so many forest folk, and now she wants to know why.

Past the door, they hear about the Yggdrasil Project, the civilization lost to time, and Visil’s own role in it all. It seems he felt that anyone knowing about it would put the project at risk, which is why he tried to have the team commit suicide via forest folk, and then sent his warrior pair to finish them. That concern stands: he does not intend to let Surge and the kids live.

However, all his attempts to kill them trained them too well. With Root’s binds, Mirinda’s arrows, and Surge’s flames, Visil soon perishes.

After the guild re-emerges from the labyrinth, they go to Quinn and tell him everything they’ve heard. No one is sure exactly what to do next. It seems wrong to keep what they’ve learned to themselves after everything. In fact, Root reasons that it is better that people know, so they don’t repeat the mistakes of the previous civilization. Surge’s concern is that Etria’s economy will dry up. People are driven to discover the labyrinth’s secret, but now that it’s been discovered...

No matter what happens, Quinn promises, the Bubble Guild will have the Radha’s support, as thanks for all they’ve done. The kids will never go hungry again. In return, Surge asks that some rules are made around who is allowed into the labyrinth. No more kids too young to know what they’re doing should die in the forest.

For a while, they relax, laze around, take in being comfortable for the first time. As they do, they observe the town. If anything, it is busier than ever. Somehow, finding out the labyrinth’s big secret has given rise to all sorts of rumours regarding its smaller, still undiscovered ones. How many have any merit? Surge figures it doesn’t matter, as long as people are exploring. Root starts to get excited. If there is anything left, who better to discover it than Bubble? The kids begin to get excited about going back down there. Cherry would like to find the forest folk girl, Kupala, to make sure she is okay.

And so, though they no longer have any financial need to, Bubble Guild readies themselves for another dive into the Yggdrasil Labyrinth.

#personal #etrian odyssey #i breezed through this game so quickly i decided not to break up the post #EOI is definitely lighter on quests and events than the other games so i had a little less to latch onto #on the other hand i knew the twists ahead of time from EOU #so i made my party with that in mind. i can't imagine how folks playing blind rationalize what they are asked to do... #oh and i'm not doing the postgame on this one. fuck that lol #you can get through the main game fine but the postgame is where the real archaic shit comes up

[dykedragonrider]

Finished Crymachina and I am so sad that a game that a game with that compelling of characters is attached to the most 4/10 action game I have ever played. It's like if Nier Automata was for formerly religious lesbians. Like. The gameplay is incredibly shallow and there are some important mechanics (backstabs doing more damage being the biggest example imo) that really feel like they shoulda been telegraphed better, you can just one button through the entire game, the scaling is fucked for damage and ExP, there's a lot wrong with it on a pure systemic level. The level design is also bad but in a way that I think adds to the narrative so. I will let that one go. The characters and their relationships are the real meat of this game IMO and that's mostly what I wanna focus on. The game is about lesbians, and they're both tropey and have legitimate depth? The plot takes a backseat for the most part, which is fine. It's not a particularly strong plot but it's good enough where it counts to work for its purposes. I guess first on the agenda is looking at Leben and Enoa, our protagonists? While the story mostly follows Leben, Enoa is the character the game is most *about* in actuality.

Enoa runs the Imitation Garden, AKA Eden. It's the main hub for everything, and she acts as the caretaker of both it and the E.V.E., because it's also where she lives. Having been broken down twice, the game is about her reconstruction and recovery on two levels, and I do think this is something the game's use of the Kabbalah adds to. As you unlock the levels in game, the main "nodes" you access are all named for the different sefirot of the Tree Of Life. As Enoa develops, you progress the Kabbalah. I think the fact that the game's main ending cuts off at Hod does undermine its use a little, but the sefirot of Malkuth, Yesod, and Netzach are also used in ways postgame that are clever, so I'll let it slide. Enoa is deeply caring, putting everyone above herself. She is earnest, incredibly emotional, and seeks to transcend her machinehood. She routinely invalidates herself and her experiences, given the fact she isn't an authentic human, because she has so much love for humanity.

To contrast that, is Leben. The first E.V.E. we get to see, and to some degree our player surrogate, but that's a role passed around and abandoned as needed, she just plays it the most given how she introduces us to the game. Leben is grounded, prone to flights of fancy but then often backtracking them upon realizing the full consequences of her actions. She resents humanity, and adores machines. Notably, Leben, unlike the other E.V.E., wasn't actually born out of Enoa simulating humanity. Leben was, at one point, Propator, but she's also not that person any more.

It's kinda hard to sell the dynamics in this game because well, it's their execution that carries it, but I still wanna paint the best picture I can. Leben and Enoa's relationship is very much them being lovey dovey, partially because they're fresh to it (I don't subscribe to the honeymoon phase as an idea, I think they're just figuring stuff out somewhat still), and partially because they're aware of their circumstances and are living their lives to the fullest despite that. There's a lot of care for one another in it, and their dreams are shared and centered around mutual joy for each other. It's very much a love that's still finding its feet, but the feelings they have do a lot of the heavy lifting.

For starting the other pair, we have Mikoto. A bona fide badass who values her appearance incredibly strongly. Not in a physical or vein way necessarily, she just values being cool a lot. She loves film as a medium, and likes ribbing other people, as well as sardonic jokes. Mikoto also speaks with her actions rather than her words consistently. She doesn't like being emotionally honest in words, despite the fact she also wears her heart on her sleeve. To contrast, Ami is a sweetheart. She's very cute and flowery in all she does, and is completely devoted to her family of the other three girls, but especially Mikoto who she consistently states her adoration for. She's also axe crazy as hell and is represented as an oni in her battle attire. Gap moe out the ass, basically. Ami also has to be wanted. If she can't be useful, she feels like she has no purpose. This, notably, isn't tied to her being in a wheelchair in her past life, but tied to her relationship with her family. Feels like a bare minimum thing but it still feels important to mention.

Ami and Mikoto don't ever label their relationship, but it doesn't matter because what they are is clear enough, maybe a little less to Ami given some of her anxieties, but you can know very easily. They've shared their existences in all the ways that matter, and at that point a label is set dressing. They've promised to spend eternity and a day together. They're like an old couple in how they talk and interact with the pair of Leben and Enoa, and it's super sweet.

Typing this I realize that I can't find the words to say what I want to say about this as well as I want to, because there's just a lot that I feel is done not through being able to communicate it, but the experience of it? Either way, the point is it's good. I just wish that the good relationship dynamics we have weren't attached to a middling action game that only goes on sale for 10% off and costs $60.

#tsunny reviews #crymachina

[nighttimepixels]

TALK TO US ABOUT MASS EFFECT I HAVE BEEN AN INSANE MASS EFFECT/SHAKARIAN TRASH PERSON SINCE 20-FUCKING-11 AND LEMME TELL YOU THOSE FEELINGS HAVENOT TARNISHED A SINGLE FRACTION IN THOSE TEN YEARS OH MY GOOOOOOODDDSSSS!!!!!!!

I DEMAND A PLAY-BY-PLAY UP TO THE MINUTE OF YOUR REACTIONS TO EVERYTHING!!!!

you are so valid and I totally see why everyone I've ever mentioned it to loves the hell out of it

aksdjlsdfj I meannnn if you want to hear my rambling about it then hell yeah

Okay, gonna put this below the cut to save everyone else XD also- since I'm not leaving this Mass Effect obsession anytime soon, if you're not interested in seeing occasional posts about it, please feel free to block the tag "night plays ME"~

(mild spoilers ahead??)

((also for real I mean it when I say this is rambling as hell lol, apologies and no stress if absolute no one reads all this))

OKAY SO Mass Effect 1-

Stars help me, I was honestly hooked right from the start?? Like even in Legendary Edition (the combined trilogy just re-released in one "can play it on one system + minor improvements", for anyone who doesn't know) where it's smoothed out, of course it's obvious that ME1 is a decade old... but the foundation for these relationships are all there and gods I love them already.

Like - Kaiden right off the top is a delightful good fightin lad, what the hell. I've heard that he's viewed as 'bland' by a good portion of the fan community but I dunno, he's a delight and even more complex by the time 2 rolls around and you encounter him on Horizon, it was honestly Ashley I was way more meh about - mostly because before you can learn about her family history/etc, she comes off as hella xenophobic and I was immediately offended for my growing space family that she didn't like/trust all the aliens around, pfff.

(she gets redeemed a bit through further actions/evolving thoughts, but I thought in retrospect it was a bummer that they didn't flip the order there, give her a chance to be liked before the complicating factor of being so rude about aliens >:c that then she could grow from... ah well. Apparently she has a good arc but uh, let's just say I chose Kaiden at the "key junction" in the latter part of the game so I won't be seeing anymore of Ashley uh... anytime soon, haha.)

Garrus??? Is??????? The ABSOLUTE best???????????

I liked him from the start, I'm always a bit of a sucker for a rogue-detective "the system won't bring this bastard to justice, so I've got to" type and all their moral shadiness XD But he just gets better, honestly, and where I'm at in ME2 (right before the Reaper IFF mission, as of typing this, with everyone's loyalty!) I am only digging myself deeper into this hole-

-*wheezing* okay anyways -

Wrex is AMAZING I love fightin' middle-aged krogan bastard, gods. Liara is great too, I'm a sucker for a wlw relationship (playing fem!Shepard, so) - buuuut I'll admit she's a bit more one-note in ME1. Last week while I was still on ME1 I remember hearing (while trying to dodge spoilers) that her arc is really good, though. I think they leaned a little hard on the 'innocent but sexy' sterteotype on her (so despite the yikes aspect of a few of the things I've learned in ME2, lol, I actually really like the complexity that's been added to her character.)

Saved Liara first, so by the time I got to Noveria and had the standoff with Benezia there was the chance to have emotions over Liara having to face her TwT and of course, I made the questionable but quality decision to free Queen Rachni heheh. no ragrets

More than a blow-by-blow of my choices though I totally wanna take the chance to say that even in the mild jankiness of ME1 (goddammit, the Mako.... please..... please just go up this impossible cliff I just want to resource hunt-) the way that the lore, both obvious/key to main plot and the lesser/filler/background/world-building kinds... I just love it. It incorporates it well, you can go ham in the codex learning more, or just dive into the basics - it's clearly a complex galaxy (and they do an even better job in 2 of fleshing it out further), and it never really felt overwhelming. It was pretty natural figuring it all out-!

Plus the interesting implications of resource hunting amongst the sapient races, and the little side missions you better bet I did every one of- there's so much rich depth in the story if you do 'em!! (And that lead with that Keeper side mission...? Looking back, damn, clever foreshadowing-!!!)

And oh my gods, Ilios??? hell yeah. I loved that mission so much, especially having Garrus & Kaiden with me when talking to the hologram/computer, and more than anything, that last sprint in the Mako trying to get to the jump before it closed-???

yeet the boi-

Also mannn I love a good setpiece, and having to go up the side of the elevator, space-side?? such a cool setup!!

Plus it felt good having been Paragon enough (as simple as the good v bad vibe system is, I don't hate it, lol) to avoid one of the Saren fights, ngl. And the er, "second fight" with Sovereign-Saren.... hell yeah

... I'll admit I had to double check my choice re whether to save the Council. I did in the end, but I swear, sometimes the way they phrase things I'm like ".... okay but Garrus is right, defeating Sovereign is more important than these few leaders??????" woops. Listen, priorities, is all I'm saying..... (￣ヮ￣|||)ゞ

'Course later they emphasize (in ME2) that there were 10,000 people on that same ship and I was like well I wouldn't have second guessed if I'd known that, I mean c'mon-

Also I did indeed romance Liara in this one, so I got that scene ;Dc But,,,, I also knew by the end that I was totally gonna romance Garrus in 2 since he's an option then finally,,,,, lemme tell you the guilt as I waffled over whether to romance Liara bc of it. hahaha.

Aaaaand Mass Effect 2-

So I'm only up to right before the Reaper IFF Mission, so I don't know the ending, etc etc lol. That said, I've just finished every side mission I've found with the exception of the Shadowbroker Quest and the Arrival Quest (I've heard the latter basically leads into ME3, and the former is best either right before the Omega 4 jump or in postgame).

So from the start - fuck yeah fuck yeah what a high adrenaline start Shepard noooooo but also yes save Joker aH-

The motion comic too hot damn nice job

I loved this setup, seriously - especially forcing Shep into this situation, having to work with/for Cerberus, and the compelling reasoning given behind "why" they do what they do (I especially found it a good point that the Salarians have the Task Force, the Asaris the Commandos, the Turians the- etc... like, true, when you put it like that, having a similar group advancing human interests/solving human interstellar problems is pretty reasonable...). That said, I love too that it really isn't shied away from how Cerberus is nonetheless fucked up - or its at least done fucked up stuff.

Listen, I still think some messed up stuff is gonna be revealed in 2's endgame......... after that Horizon mission and the Collector's ship???? TIM I SEE YOU YOU SHADY MF-

aaanyways lol...

I'm so so glad on a gameplay level they nixed the Mako style exploration. A few Hammerhead missions are fine and a lot more focused than the slippery ass navigation in that glorified ATV, pfff. The probes are a neat way of getting after similar resources - and more importantly, having good levels and some good hubs (the Zakera Wards, Omega, Ilium, etc) is way way more fun than having a more 'sprawling' space that is.... a lot of empty nonsense, lol.

Then there's the fact that we get Joker right off the bat and you can interact with him so much - and him and EDI??? Get out gods I love them. Kasumi is so right when she says they sound like a bickering old married couple lol. I have a terrible feeling that some shit is gonna happen with EDI..... but I don't think she's evil as-is, at least.

Side-eying the hell out of those "access forbidden" parts of her that she doesn't even know.... and the fact that her AI core has a locked door access................... something's gonna happen gdi LEAVE OUR ADOPTED AI ALONE.

(Also Joker pls stop fracturing your thumb on the mute button)

Also please save me there are so many hot aliens in this game,,,,, the xeno/monsterfuckers really comin' through strong in the sequels............... doin' the lord's work........................................

In general, I love how many levels ME stepped up in two with complexity and interwoven narratives!! Like, to the point it'd be almost a drag to replay ME1, even though it was fun going through it (if occasionally a bit tedious with the cookie cutter rando planet science/mine facilities, lol). Like, just from how fun and interesting ME2 is, mostly! more of all the pre-introduced races, plus new ones, plus more filling in of intragalactic politics, and more interesting implications of all these space-faring races mixing....

Also gods WREX and his planet holy shit,,,,, fuckin' hell yeah my man get their shit together and also adopt Grunt yes good-

And Mordin??? My singing semi-evil scientist best friend forced to confront his choices more than he thought he ever would have???? With some of the best ongoing general report chatter of all the companions??

(when I tell you I choked on my coffee when I talked to him after confirming romance choice w/ Garrus and that 'pamphlet' and 'anaphalactic shot if ingesting-' kajsldkfjsldfjk)

Like, fuck, the fact that they actually dive into the mixed morality and horrors of the genophage, and you can confront Mordin on it, for good reason, yet he still stands his ground, until finally some bits of his loyalty mission seem to... affect him, and I'm guessing might set up things for 3 with him? Unsure, but either way, damn, the fact that they start to dig into it...

And Taliiiii my beloved forbidden alien wife TwT her loyalty mission was SO GOOD. I love how varied they all are?? Getting to defend her and discover what she'd unwittingly been a part of-!!

Zaeed is a bastard but tbh I love that he is and that he's unapologetic in him - and Kasumi omg, best thief. A heist?? Gods, yes- I love our couch lounge chats XD

Samara is..... illegally.......... she's an illegally powerful and beautiful and eloquent MILF...........................

(.... listen I'm sapphic as hell and I'm kicking my own ass for picking her up last aksjdlfksjdfl - but her loyalty mission, damn. And seeing how there's this interesting cultural subset, and the struggle with the Asari in that they unquestioningly accept/respect justicars, but also know that the impact outside their culture is a diplomacy nightmare waiting to happen-)

,.,,,,,T,,, Thane,,,,,

I am weak for morally implicated murder dads okay?? And that voice??? His mannerisms?????? How you first see him, and that prayer after assassinating her...???????? And his history/his people's history with the hanar, gods I love how messy it is, it feels so much more real!

Also Jack is a mess and I love her (and want to get her some therapy, omg), and her and Miranda nearly duking it out after you've done both their loyalty missions??? so good and makes a lot of sense-! Honestly I would love more interactions between teammates on the ship, but there's already so much the devs had to balance I can't blame 'em for minimizing, heh. But suffice to say I also love Miranda and Jacob, even if I'm softest for my alien crew XD Hell yeah Jacob, we'll get loud and spill drinks on the citadel indeed TwT

.... I could write a whole essay on how much I love Garrus oTL Perhaps because he and Tali are the throughlines from 1 on your 2 crew, I have some of the strongest feelings about them... but genuinely, he was one of my favorite companions in the first game, and how you find him as Archangel in two? Getting to help him fight his way out after he's gone nearly 48 hours straight fighting off three gangs alone, jfc. His vengeance quest and what can happen there.... That line? fuck me, that line -

It's so much easier to see the world in black and white. Grey? I don't know what to do with gray...

How DARE you come for my heart like this, devs holy shit

(also, some other choice faves so far from the series from him include We can disobey suicidal orders?? and This wasn't in my training manual... [in 1, if you have him with you @ th Thorian fight] and his whole.... pop the heat sink - in his romance ;Dc)

asdasdfksadjfkl like I said I can write an essay on him PFFF suffice to say I'm very looking forward to his romance scene and where things go in 3

But yeah gods I'm just gonna keep rambling if I'm not careful lol. Gods I don't even know what to talk about it's all so good and while I can understand people roasting the obviousness of Paragon V Renegade (v neutral) choices/alignments, I think they do a pretty damn good job in 2 of pushing it further - to the point that there were some times that I accidentally got renegade points and I wasn't that mad, haha. There's so much fun in the interactions that I just have a good time anyways~

I have so many thoughts about TIM (The Illusive Man) and Cerberus.... theories evolving galore............... and like, what the hell!! Omega 4 going to the center of the galaxy is such a cool twist, goddamn - though my heart still breaks at losing Kaiden (his line if you haven't romanced him?? about feeling like he lost a limb when he lost you??? holy shit.... but I also can't blame him for not trusting Cerberus to the point of it affecting his ability to trust Shepard... like fuck Shep go after himmmm) I'm really excited to see where that goes since he comes back in 3, and what the fuck happens with Cerberus bc while I love the fact that obviously there are a lot of people in it for the right reasons, doing good work, there are those that are doing the opposite, and I have a very bad feeling about where TIM will end up landing....

All that said though I need to do the Reaper IFF mission (where I'm lightly spoiled as to getting That Boy, but not how/what happens to make it so - just that it's apparently wise to have all your side missions done before getting him...) and the actual Omega 4 jump. So we'll see what happens and what I think about it from there heheh!

.... major kudos and genuine props if you made it here to the end, I am so sorry for not editing on condensing all this, and appreciate you so much ;w;

#night answers #night plays ME #(yes that's a purposeful pun lol) #((i sure have played myself by starting this series its so good aksdjflskjfd))

[sage-nebula]

Thanks for the explanation! I've been a JRPG fan since the 90s and the changes made to the Let's Go games don't sound as though they'd be my thing either. Do you have a review of Gen 8 anywhere on here? I'd be curious to see what you think of Sword and Shield.

I don’t think I ever did a formal review of Sword / Shield because I wasn’t writing up game reviews at the time, but I’d be happy to give an impromptu one here!

Overall Score: 8.5/10

The Pros: 

— Gameplay was a vast improvement from the previous gen. Dynamaxing is a much more fun battle mechanic than a one-time-per-battle use Z-Move; the Wild Area is FANTASTIC, especially with the wild pokémon roaming around; the bike came back without annoying music to accompany it; the post-game Battle Tower provided actual challenge, and so on. I actually had fun playing these games, particularly with so much space to explore and things to find. I’m not someone who says that story is never important in games—I’m far from that person, actually—but gameplay will always be the most important component of a video game because it’s how the audience engages with it. The Alola games were not fun for me to play; the Galar games were, and that was automatically such a relief after a gen that felt like a chore to get through.

— The characters are all fantastic! Aside from postgame characters Shieldbert and Swordward, I didn’t dislike a single character in the games. The rivals were great, the Gym Leaders were memorable and involved for the first time since Gen V, and Sonia has one of my favorite arcs of any Pokémon character ever given how relatable her story was. (Having one of the main characters be someone in her twenties trying to figure out what she’s going to do with her life is almost like Game Freak was trying to speak to the young adult audience who grew up with these games, tbh.) I didn’t like the characters in the Kalos games aside from one, and the Alola games were a massive disappointment, but Galar really came through and shone with all of its characters. The fact that they’ve only managed to get even more spotlight and depth in things like the League Card bios and the post-game Galarian Stars Tournament only makes things even better.

— The music was excellent. While there were a few tracks that weren’t especially memorable (such as the standard trainer battle music), there were many more that were absolute bangers (the Gym Leader battle music, the Battle Tower music composed by Toby Fox himself, Marnie’s Battle Theme, etc). I especially love the music for the northern part of the wild area, with how the bagpipes come into full crescendo. Absolutely spectacular.

— There was so much to explore! One of my primary complaints with the Alola games is that they were so small; only four tiny islands, without being able to explore the sea. Galar made up for that, though, with more towns, a huge wild area, and to cap it all off, extra locations added with DLC that allowed you to fully explore the ocean and many other areas. There were so many little hidden things around and I LOVED discovering everything, ignoring the plot while I did so. That was my jam. 

— Speaking of the DLC, I cannot speak highly enough about Game Freak’s decision to release DLC with new areas / content rather than just releasing a slightly modified third version with different postgame (coughUSUMcough). Yes, the DLC still cost money, but it was half the price that a third game would have been, and honestly the DLC stories adding to the postgame (though you can do them at any time and the levels scale) added to the richness, depth, and overall playtime that the Galar games offered. I really, really can’t express how much I hope that this is the business model Game Freak takes with future releases. Please give us new stories via DLC rather than making us shell out for a slightly modified third version.

— Honestly, this is an unpopular opinion, but I really liked the way the story was handled. I LOVED the model for the Gym Challenge being a regional tournament that you have to be sponsored to enter, how the “gyms” were stadiums full of people, how it’s something that really affected the region and encompassed everything you did, story-wise. I loved, too, how the adults in the game ACTUALLY DID SOMETHING FOR ONCE instead of wanting to rely on literal children to solve their problems for them. Sure, it means we missed some instances of disaster, but honestly, I’ve been cleaning up the PokéWorld’s messes since 1998. I’m tired. I want to just have fun gallivanting off into the wilderness in-between doing a fun Gym Challenge. That’s all I want. So while some didn’t like the fact that the story wasn’t super deep, I liked it, especially since if the Kalos and Alola games taught us everything, it’s that Game Freak fails spectacularly at handling tough topics, to the point I’d really rather they not try at all.

The Cons:

— I’m still disappointed about the Dex cut. I’ve accepted it at this point, we won’t get the full Dex back unless Game Freak somehow gets more time to develop the games, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t find it disappointing. I think all pokémon should be included in the games at least once the main campaign is over, and it’s disappointing that they aren’t.

— I don’t know if it’s a fault of the game or thanks to my internet connection, but I experience severe lag when wifi is turned on in the wild area, which is again disappointing since it was promoted how you could interact freely with other players this way. 

— I MISS MEGA EVOLUTION. My Charizard was bred and trained specifically to mega evolve into X. I really hope we get Mega Evolution back at some point because I’m angry that it’s gone.

— While I was glad to see following pokémon back in the DLC, it really wasn’t implemented well. They can’t keep pace properly at all. Again, I wonder if this is tied to the time constraints that went into development, and if it is, I hope they can smooth it out in the future. 

— I was kind of disappointed in the way Rose ended up being depicted as the game’s Big Bad, because of the role they gave him in the game. In the game, he’s the CEO of a mega corporation that controls all energy throughout the Galar region. Given that we currently live in a world where CEOs of mega corporations who control everything are actively destroying the planet and don’t care that they’re doing it, it fell a bit flat for me for the games to be like, “no, it’s fine he controls everything that everyone’s lives depend on, the real problem is he summoned a legendary pokémon he couldn’t control.” Like, my dislike of Rose is far less about what he does versus what he is, and I feel like Game Freak chickened out of criticizing what actually needed to be criticized.

But yeah, that’s all I’ve got! I really enjoyed Sword and Shield; they gave me some hope for the direction the games might be taking in the future.

#pokemon #pokemon swsh #Anonymous

[chacusha]

Trials of Mana remake liveblogging (3/...)

From the last benevodon to the postgame:

I like how the original handled the Jungle of Illusions and Pedda a bit better. I liked having enemy encounters in the jungle (in fact, I spent a while in the SNES version grinding here). I also liked the dreaminess of stepping into an area and the screen going wiggly (uh I don’t know how to describe it) and suddenly you see more signs of a town that wasn’t there before. Having the town be blocked/inaccessible until you defeat 7 benevodons and then you sleep at a ruined inn (why would you even do that...?) and then the town appears isn’t as trippy/dreamy. I don’t know how you would convey the same effect without the screen wave effect (maybe things materializing in front of you?) but it’s very effective on the SNES at conveying that your senses might be deceiving you or that you’re only reliving a memory/dream.

I got very excited seeing young Prince Richard and Duran with a pencil mustache Loki, though!

I’m a bit confused by what exactly happened to the Darkstone here. Shade said it was destroyed and Zable Fahr was released. But Belladonna said the Darkstone was in Mavolia and they brought it back to this world. And we see the Darkstone shatter in front of our eyes right before encountering Zable Fahr (whereas the other Manastones shattered earlier). So is it that the Zable Fahr was re-sealed in the Darkstone after being defeated and then unsealed (again) in the real world after Belladonna and co. transported it? Or are the Zable Fahr and Darkstone we encounter from the past?

The Darkshine Knight encounter was less “feelsy” than the one in my Collection of Mana playthrough, since Duran wasn’t in my party. But I like how he also alludes to the fact that Angela is Richard’s daughter.

Ooh I got a rainbow item seed. I have no idea what that does.

The Crimson Wizard was a bit of a tedious boss fight with his teleporting and spells that knock you down. But ultimately, for both him and the Dragon King, I was basically never in any danger of dying despite not being very leveled up, and only having a partial set of ultimate equipment (especially not with the Crimson Wizard’s link ability equipped on Kevin - so much free MP!).

I feel like the original SNES ending feels both a bit more bittersweet and more incomplete. In the original credits, rather than seeing how the world is coping with no mana (largely it seems like everyone is doing fine), you just see Flammie flying mostly all alone. It’s a very beautiful ending but it also feels rushed/incomplete and very lonely. The remake ending feels a bit more fleshed out but also less sad.

This is the first time I’ve seen Kevin’s ending and I really do not like it. While I like the fact that Karl is in fact still alive (Kevin deserves it) I feel like the whole ending gives a pass / extremely rushed moral redemption to the Beast King, and that’s not what I’m here for! The Beast King is one of the most interesting characters in this whole game because he’s the only protagonist-related antagonist who isn’t being brainwashed into being eeeevil. That makes him one of the legit most grey characters in the game and his psychology and motivations fascinating! But the game just glosses over that, and it and Kevin forgive him too easily. I would have liked to see the Beast King begin the journey to redemption and show at least a bit of remorse for his actions, while also implying that journey is longer than what can be shown at the end of the game. They skip this redemption arc and manage to make Kevin look like an idiot in the process -- I definitely don’t think it should have been done this way. I’m mentally rewriting this whole scene.

That said, Kevin training with Ludgar in the ending was adorable.

I thought I multishipped everyone in this game, but I was wrong. I really did not like the Hawkeye and Jessica interaction in the credits (I’m just pretending this is platonic), nor the ending scene where Angela blows a kiss at Kevin (he’s too young/innocent for her! ToT). It’s actually really funny -- I saw someone on the /r/secretofmana reddit being like “Why was I led to believe that Hawkeye/Riesz was the big pairing in this game when they barely interact and Hawkeye is thinking about Jessica all the time” because like, yeah, I get that there isn’t a lot of interactions and that they’re fairly subtle, but also these games are very platonic, which makes even a tiny hint of romance Very Significant, as well as ANY time there is character-specific interaction or dialogue -- it seems very HMMMM. (Also, I think the remake, when it had to fill in dialogue, played it “safe” by giving Riesz only Elliott-related thoughts and (I assume) Hawkeye only Jessica-related thoughts, rather than drop shippy hints.)

Anyway, I’m in the postgame content and really enjoying the new stuff! I like how the three characters have very different battles and content. Riesz gets a group battle against the guardian of the sphere and gets to talk to her dead parents again, which is really sweet (I hate King Joster’s voice though). Kevin gets a one-on-one duel with his dad which is kind of what I expected from his plotline because of how easily his dad pwns him in the beginning of the game which just sets up a rematch in his arc, so am surprised that this WASN’T an aspect of his story before. Angela also gets a one-on-one duel, but it’s with a copy of herself (apparently the Class 4 version of herself that she will eventually become), a nice throwback to Secret of Mana. Despite the fact that my characters are the three royalty characters, their stories play out very differently.

Riesz’s Meteorite class looks very... Aquaman.

Wow, this postgame dungeon is REALLY long. Interesting how you go through the castles of the six main characters. Lazy level reuse, but I appreciate the sheer length of content here, especially since it gives you the chance to try out the characters’ Class 4 skills.

There’s also Class 4-specific ultimate equipment too! Neat.

Anise wasn’t too difficult. I ended up getting game overed once on her second form because I wasn’t careful, but overall it was fine.

I went back for the Black Rabite boss in the Crystal Desert. I got pwned a lot -- that one-hit KO Jumbonk really gave me issues especially when the four Black Rabites come out and they’re all doing it, but I finally beat it after 20 or so tries. Ended up controlling Kevin again (my healer/fighter) to win this one but probably Angela did the most damage to the Black Rabite by spamming Ancient Curse. What I ended up mostly doing as Kevin was just being more proactive with the healing to prevent the other characters from being KO’d prematurely, as well as attracting the attention of the Black Rabite’s attacks and doing a better job of dodging them. Kevin had dark saber on his fists for maybe a third to a half of the fight so I didn’t do a lot of attacking, really.

New game plus time! To be continued...

#trials of mana #seiken densetsu #trials of mana liveblogging #video game liveblogging #seiken densetsu 3

[alizardjae]

lcaito

  Mmmmmm… a friend got me O ctopat h traveler as a...

I’d actually like your opinion on the game if you have time! I’ve been interested it, but not quite enough to buy it at the current price…

M’kay, this’ll be under a read more because it might get long and so people who like the game can choose to ignore this.  I am also writing the name of the game as O ctopat h to at least try and avoid the tag, though I’m not sure how well it will work.

But in summary, I like the RPG elements, not so much the battle system, and the story and art is pretty generic.

Disclaimer: I only finished chapter 1 and started Therion’s chapter 2, so I can’t say if it gets better or worse later on. 

The RPG elements are fun, kind of reminds me of the Pokemon Ranger series, with lots of sidequests that you can come back to at any time and don’t interrupt the main story. Each character also has a “Path action” that they can use on certain NPCs to various ends that adds an interesting dimension and elaborates on the stories of some of them; though the “reputation” mechanic for the “rogue” versions of the actions (stealing instead of buying, etc) is, as far as I can tell, more or less just a money penalty and a time waster.

I despise the battle system. It’s mostly the generic type of fantasy turn-based party battle you’d find in like an RPG maker kind of game with a few bells and whistles such as the “break” meter that is lowered by using super-effective attacks and renders the foe unable to attack for the rest of the turn and the next turn and lowers their defenses for that period as well. On the other hand, it means you’ll be doing pitiful damage most of the time for a turn or two of halfway decent damage at a time. 

You can’t see the enemy’s HP unless one character uses up his turn, and even then you only see what it’s like at that moment, and apparently boss character’s names turn red when their HP gets low enough, but I never noticed it. This means that you can’t really judge if your strategy is working or not. In addition, the bosses can have like twenty times as much HP as your highest-HP characters if you’re at the recommended levels and do two to three times as much damage as you do, with their allies also being fairly more powerful than you. For me, coming off the various Pokemon games and sidegames, Fire Emblem, Ever Oasis, and recently, My Hero One’s Justice, where the challenge comes from the bosses’ strategies, skills, and slightly higher stats, this is really annoying. So far the bosses don’t really have any sort of skill or strategy, they just have huge stats and take forever to fight, even if the whole battle is going well, as a result. The difficulty feels more like a slog than a challenge. I’ve heard the postgame is especially bad about this.

The characters are... fine. Nothing you haven’t seen before if you’ve played a fantasy RPG, but executed competently. Same for the story. The only kind of unique thing is that all eight characters have equal focus and their stories are tangentially related. From the spoilers I’ve read, they could have done a lot more with the “eight intertwining stories” idea. The story and characters are the sort of thing that, if you haven’t played this kind of game before, there’s no reason not to start here, but there’s no particular reason to start here either. All the writing elements are competent, but not spectacular in any way, and most of the plot is fairly predictable if you know the tropes, and sometimes doesn’t even go as far as that and just takes the immediately obvious route (though, I tend to be particularly good at guessing plot twists, so this might be a me thing).

The art is absolutely standard JRPG, with slightly better environments. The enemies have way more detailed sprites than the playable characters get at any point. Personally, I find the “scale and detail to indicate power” for bosses kind of works against the game because it means that bosses that are specifically supposed to look huge lose their impact because human bosses are just as big. The character sprites also kind of remind me of Pokemon Ranger, but not as distinct, nor as easy to read against the backgrounds. The monster designs aren’t particularly original either.

The overworld also has a tilt-shift effect over it that makes the whole thing look like a miniature model and takes away from any sense of grandiosity the game might have had. It’s a cute effect for a game that wants to be serious. This is exacerbated by environment effects such as water being larger for the scale than they should be, and, unlike Ever Oasis, in which the characters are quite small, this doesn’t feel intentional.

Also, don’t play this game if you have serious problems with sexual abuse, forces sex work, or violence directed specifically against women, as it’s a major part of one character’s background and heavily features in her first chapter.

Aside from the difficulty, this is a fairly standard medieval fantasy JRPG. If you enjoy the genre, you’ll probably enjoy this. If you’re new to the genre, there’s no reason other than the difficulty not to start here, but no reason not to start anywhere else either.

I can’t really recommend any alternatives for this specific genre, as this is my first experience playing them, rather than watching let’s plays, but I can offer recommendations for games with similar styles or mechanics that I do enjoy.

For a medieval fantasy setting with multiple characters that have associated plots, there’s always the Fire Emblem series, with turn-based tactics on a map for the main series, and real-time strategy for FE Warriors. Pokemon Conquest has a similar playstyle to the main FE series, but is set in a mishmash of modern science fantasy, feudal Japan, and the Pokemon world. English language Fire Emblem games can be found for the GBA through 3DS eras of Nintendo consoles, as well as one each on the Gamecube and Wii, though be warned that games before the 3DS ones have a permanent death system for your characters, while this mode is optional for later games. A new game is set to come out at the end of 2019 for the Switch. Pokemon Conquest can be played on the DS line of handhelds.

For a JRPG with a main plot and fun little sidequests, the Pokemon Ranger series should work, with a capture mechanic rather than a battling mechanic. “Shadows of Almia” is probably the best one to start with, as it has a medium difficulty and is a bit less frustrating than the first one. The Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series also kind of fits the bill, and has a turn-based battle system on a map as well, though, as the title suggests, most of the gameplay is in long dungeons with limited save points, and it also doesn’t show enemy HP. “Explorers of Sky” is probably where you’d want to start for this series. The Pokemon Ranger series can be played on the DS line. The Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series has one game for the GBA, several for the DS, and a few for the 3DS.

For turn-based tactics in random and scripted encounters, the core Pokemon series should work fine, with varied strategies and a noticeable uptick in plot quality with each new generation. Games for this can be found on every handheld Nintendo console, and one for the Switch is coming out about a week after I write this, though with catching mechanics from the mobile game, rather than the rest of the series.

For the 3DS and I think on the Switch as well, I’d also recommend Ever Oasis as a game that doesn’t get as much attention as I feel it should. Ever Oasis is a fantasy game set in a desert, with heavy artistic influence from ancient Egypt. The gameplay is sort of like if you mixed Animal Crossing with Breath of the Wild, as is the art, honestly. The game is fairly short, but sweet and very cute.

And this concludes my thoughts (for now) on O ctopat h traveler and other game options. Remember that these are just my opinions, and it would probably be good to check out other people’s opinions to see what people do like about the game that I may not have covered here or that I personally disliked that others find fun.

#lcaito #read more #rambling #jae plays games #jae reviews things

[anadventurerisfail]

The Failed Adventurer plays FE:Echoes, overall thoughts

this ended up being a lot, so gonna put it under a Read More.

Stuff I liked;

except for dungeons, all characters you had recruited were on the map

how magic use was balanced

archers could counter in melee

the aspect of controlling two different groups

how the overworld map was used.  Especially with the roaming enemies.

weapons don’t break

the music.  Compared to Awakening’s grand and soaring opening music and title music, Echoes has a more grounded feel to it.  There’s a somber feel to it all the time, whereas Awakening only has one map where it has a somber tone.  That music following our two characters in the opening sequence, right when you boot up the game before actually creating a save file, making a promise to always get along with each other and the imagery of all the conflict, it’s saying that this isn’t going to be a happy romp through the countryside.

the characters reaction to getting a bad level up.  That was really good at taking the edge off of it.  Made the reaction go from a “sigh” to a “heh”.

the story through Act 3 was decent.

i like how the Necrodragons felt.  The first time you encounter them, they are big and scary, you need to use you one Defense tank to tank them while Celica is the only one with a spell that can deal heavy damage to them, and you need to keep those that can’t take a hit far away from their high move range.  The next time you fight them, you have additional characters with that spell and a few others can just punch hard through their high Def.

Stuff I didn’t like;

While I like how magic use was balanced, I don’t like how magic damage was balanced.  When a character levels up, each stat has a percent chance of going up.  The final chance is the character’s base chance and the class modifier (if any) added together.  Most character growths are somewhere in the 25 to 45 range, with the classes adjusting it by up to 10 in some direction if at all.  Resistance, the stat used to defend against magic damage, is in the 0 to 5 range for all but one character with an 8 (and no class adjustment ever).  Actually, only one character has a base 5 growth to Res (actually a 7 after class adjustments).  Only four clases raised Res growth; healer class and it’s promote by 2, and female mage class and it’s promote by 1.  When I finished the game, that 7% growth character had 15 Res, whereas a character I got a quarter of the way through Act 4 came with 18 Res.  What was considered my magic tank early in Act 1 (11 Res) didn’t grow ANY Res at all.  The common magic damage enemy had damage passing the mid 20s by the 4th Act.  This made Speed (not getting doubled) and HP the primary defense against magic damage.  It also forced the tactic to deal with enemy mages to be “burn them before they can touch you”.  The attack mages you get don’t get nearly enough Res to trade efficiently with the enemy mages, if they can’t blast their opponent away in one turn they can’t get used.  The only real use I got out of those magic tanks past Act 3 was to be a ward for the teleporting witches, who got up to 20 damage max, and they don’t teleport nearly often enough to be threatening.

OH MY GOD are Dread Fighters broken.  Dread Fighters come from the class line that gets high Attack, Skill, and Speed.  They hit hard (often with a crit), accurately, will often hit their opponent twice, and be hard to hit themselves.  Their weaknesses are magic damage and the bulky physical defense with high attack units.  Then they become the Dread Fighter, gain a flat +5 to Res, HALVE all magic damage received, and gets an increased move range.  Here is your goto squishy killer.  Here is your new magic tank.  Oh, and they can un-promote back to the Villager class, which allows them to potentially gain infinite levels (Villager > Mercenary > Myrmidon > Dread Fighter > Villager) and are the only class to do so without a DLC item.

I guess my main issue with how magic damage is handled is that your magic tanks don’t stay magic tanks, your magic users aren’t your offensive magic tanks, and your units that kill squishy mages just fine before become your defensive magic tanks as well.

Speaking of the Villager class, what they can promote into are different depending on the character’s gender.  Male units get the aforementioned Mercenary class line, as well as the Soldier (high defense and attack, low movement), Cavalier (horse back, high movement and speed), Archer (longest base attack range in the game), and male Mage (moderate magic damage, can heal on promote).  The Mage class is the only one there that doesn’t promote twice.  Female units get female Mage (higher magic damage, can use a sword and heal on promote), Cleric (healing class), Pegasus Knight (flying unit, low Def but high Skl and Spd and supposedly good Res.  supposedly), and Cavalier.  Only one of those can promote twice.  And I wouldn’t be surprised if Mathilda being in the game was the only reason they could be Cavaliers.

The story was ugh.  Alm never gets punished for anything.  After Alm and Celica have their spat, the closest he gets is when Nuibaba uses an image of Celica to get him into her trap.  But he gets Tatiana, and Zeke, out of that, and the death of someone apparently very high up in the Duma Faithful.  Celica walks straight into the lying antagonist’s hands and needs to be rescued by Alm in the end.  Does Alm ever really grow?

I swear I’ve seen/heard this before.  The Female MC and love interest to Male MC does what she thinks and believes is right without telling ANYONE ELSE about it, is drawn by the Antagonist into his lair to be revealed that the Antagonist is lying too late for her to back out and is turned on the Male MC who is forced to kill her except she doesn’t die cuz deus ex machina.

there were a couple times where the maps started out as...empty.  here is a map of the last map to really feel that way.  Half the enemies are teleporting witches, the other half are Myrmidons and the Dread Fighter boss to the far left.  2 witches and Myrmidons to the right.  Every map beforehand, you moved forward to engage the enemy.  Why would they give all that space behind you?  The only reason I can think of to delaying the arrival of the enemy is to give time for the witches to teleport behind you and to kill them off before fighting the Myrmidons and Dread fighter, but they don’t teleport nearly often enough, sometimes not at all, for that to really work out like that.  If we give 3 lines below the southern most notable thing, the ramparts we assemble around, we could easily drop 6 lines off the bottom of the map.

the game difficulty was...really easy for being on hard mode.  The only times it was actually difficult was in Act 2 when I was facing a Cantor for the first time and when I fought Jedah for the first time in Act 4.  Every other time it just felt like a puzzle that had an easy answer.  For that Cantor, NONE of my units could effectively trade with it.  My one unit with high Res only had an attack that wasn’t very accurate and didn’t have the damage output to counteract the healing it was getting, my offensive mages couldn’t effectively trade against it, and my physical attackers couldn’t efficiently trade as well if they hit at all.  What I ended up doing was to summon a bunch of disposable units to have the Cantor eat away at his health counterattacking them and then just blast him with my mages afterwards before he healed back up.  For Jedah I didn’t realize two things.  1) the map would be over in 6 turns anyway with no indication that it was a defense mission, 2) that the key was 4 separate units attacking, not 4 attacks total.  I didn’t even bother trying to attack him because he was doing that much magic damage, even to the Dread Fighters.

I like the game overall.  I look forward to potentially blinging out my weapons and stomping all over the postgame.

#fire emblem #fire emblem echoes: shadows of valentia #Failed Adventurer plays Fire Emblem #last part