#And some monsters locked to melee too I guess

[slanax]

Man, hacking lets you cope with so much nuisances this game throws at you

Bonus:

bad and naughty village smashing pirates get put in the Timeout Basin

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #242

Today on Fate and Phantasms we're building the patron goddess of rules lawyers everywhere, Lady Justice herself, Astraea! And also Luvia, a lil bit.

She's a Monster Slayer Ranger to pick up some of Luvia's physicality and a goddess' mental defenses, plus an Order Cleric to weigh the scale in an impartial manner. And mete out punishment.

Check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Next up: A mask of my own face: I'd wear that!

Race and Background

Around here we turn gods into Aasimar, and Luvia's no exception. as a Protector Aasimar she gets +2 Strength and +1 Wisdom (thanks to Tasha's), plus Darkvision, Celestial Resistance against radiant and necrotic damage, Healing Hands for some touch and go healing. Astraea doesn't really heal, but you'll have plenty of options as a cleric anyway, so it's not a huge break. Besides, you're a god; of course you'd be able to inspire mere mortals. You also learn the Light cantrip, courtesy of Light Bearer. You like light, even if you can see in the dark.

Gods rarely have backstories, but I guess Acolyte is pretty much the most god-related of the bunch so pick that. That gives you Insight and Religion proficiency. You're a god, you know when people are bullshitting you. Easy.

Ability Scores

Start with your Wisdom as high as possible. Gods of judgement have to be observant, after all. Your Strength should come next, neither Luvia nor Astraea are known for their feather touch. Your Dexterity should still be pretty good though, an evening gown is not armor. After that is Constitution- if you're gonna wrestle, you have to survive long enough to get that bell. Your Charisma isn't high- turns out gods of strict morality aren't good liars. Finally, dump Intelligence. You deliberately refuse to pick sides in fights you really shouldn't be a centrist on- not particularly smart.

Class Levels

Cleric 1: Starting off as an Order cleric gets you some neat stuff in your proficiencies, like heavy armor! Not that you'll use it, but it's good to know. You also get proficiency in Wisdom and Charisma saves, as well as History, Persuasion, and Intimidation. Gods are scary. Gods that'll piledrive you into the ground? Terrifying. You also have a Voice of Authority, inspiring one of your allies to take action after you cast a spell targeting them. They can spend their reaction to make one weapon attack against a creature you choose. Speaking of, you learn Spells this level too! You cast and prepare them using Wisdom. This means you can swap them out on long rests, so don't get too worked up about taking the right ones. For cantrips, Resistance will make you tougher than the average bear, Thaumaturgy will help sell the "god" motif, and Tol the Dead is a good option to take the place of a melee attack while your fists are getting ready. For leveled spells you get Command and Heroism for free, using your godly aura to cow your foes and inspire your allies, respectively. I also highly recommend any spells with "Evil and Good" in the title, and Shield of Faith doesn't hurt either since we're not picking up physical armor.

Cleric 2: Okay, that was a long level one, fortunately this one's faster. You can Channel Divinity once per short rest, with two flavors. Turn Undead forces a wisdom save on undead, if they fail they run away for a minute or until you slap them. Order's Demand Forces a wisdom save on every creature you want to hit in a 30' radius, charming them for a round or until they take damage. You can make any of them drop their items when they fail. Both are an action. Boom, just one paragraph.

Cleric 3: Before we hop over to ranger, let's pick up some second level spells. You get Hold Person to lock down one human that fails a wisdom save, giving melee attackers advantage to hit them and also granting automatic crits when they do. You can also create a Zone of Truth that forces charisma saves on creatures inside. If they fail, they can't lie. You can't make them swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, but at least everything they say is honest. Also, pick up Enhance Ability for better pins later. You can also use it to empower other creatures and other ability checks, but we want it for pins and lie detection. You also have a Radiant Soul, which means you can spend an action to transform, gaining a flying speed an extra radiant damage once per turn for a minute, once per day. I don't think flight is super in character, but it will make it a lot easier for you to piledrive people without dying.

Ranger 1: Speaking of pins and lie detection, bouncing over to ranger gives you proficiency in Athletics and the Deft Explorer feature, which gives you doubled proficiency in Insight. You also gain a Favored Enemy, a group of creatures you have advantage over when it comes to tracking and recalling information. Pick any two humanoids; bar the occasional theft from a rat, a vast majority of crimes are caused by people.

Ranger 2: At second level you learn how to cast Spells, again. They still use your Wisdom, but they aren't prep spells. Also, multiclassing spellcasters means you need to use the special table, counting every cleric level as 1 level and every ranger level as 1/2 a level. Right now you can use Hunter's Mark to track lawbreakers more easily and deal extra damage to them which every attack. You can also cast Zephyr Strike to move more monk-like. Oh right, speaking of attacks, you get a Fighting Style, and while the Unarmed fighting style is only in a UA it's weird that the wild characters need civilized tools to fight. Buck that trend and get 1d6 per unarmed strike, or 1d8 with two free hands. You also deal extra damage to grappled creatures. (If your DM doesn't like using outdated UA dueling is fine too, it just gives you less options to work with.)

Ranger 3: At third level your innate godliness kicks in and you become a Monster Slayer, giving you Protection from Evil and Good for free as well as a Hunter's Sense. You can spend an action to size up a creature, learning its resistances, immunities, and vulnerabilities. You can do this Wisdom Modifier times per day. You can also turn one creature into your Slayer's Prey as a bonus action, dealing an extra 1d6 damage to them on the first hit each turn. This lasts until your next rest, or until you target another creature. You also gain a Primal Awareness, giving you even more spells each level. Pick up Ensnaring Strike to give someone the ol' Jacob Marley treatment, and you can also Speak with Animals now.

Cleric 4: Bouncing back to cleric now for the Tavern Brawler feat. You can now use improvised weapons with proficiency, for those times you find a steel chair, and if your DM isn't cool with UA fighting styles you can deal 1d4 damage with unarmed strikes. Also, if you use your action to attack someone, you can use your bonus action to grapple them. And you get +1 Constitution. I know it's odd now, but we'll fix it next time. You can also give people Guidance now, that's nice.

Cleric 5: Your turn undead can now Destroy Undead if they're CR 1/2 or lower, and you learn 3rd level spells like Mass Healing Word and Slow. You can also Bestow or Remove Curse, light up even further with Daylight, or power up your punches further with a radiant Spirit Shroud.

Cleric 6: Sixth level order clerics are an Embodiment of the Law, quickening their spellcasting. You can cast an action enchantment spell as a bonus action Wisdom Modifier times per day. Hold someone down, and punch them in the same turn. Nice. You can also Channel Divinity twice per short rest now for even more demands.

Cleric 7: Seventh level casters get fourth level spells, like the freebies Compulsion and Locate Creature. You can literally just say "a lawbreaker" and it'll lead you to the nearest criminal in a 1,000 foot radius. Maybe. Also, check out Banishment to chuck evildoers back where they came from, if they came from another plane. Otherwise they bounce back after a minute.

Ranger 4: Use this ASI to bump up your Dexterity and Constitution for a stronger defense. Told ya we'd fix it.

Ranger 5: Fifth level rangers can finally attack twice per action with their Extra Attack. You also get second level spells. Beast Sense is a freebie, you get Zone of Truth again, plus you can now cast Silence to quiet down fools bothering you.

Ranger 6: Nothing really new here, just a rehash of level one. You get another Favored Enemy, so two more humanoids. You also get another boon from Deft Explorer, making your walking speed 35', and giving you a swimming and climbing speed. Toss in your Radiant Soul's flight speed and you truly are an all-terrain god.

Ranger 7: Our last level of ranger gives you Supernatural Defense against your foes. If the creature you've hit with Slayer's Prey forces a save or grapple check, you get an extra 1d6 to the roll. Almost like once you're aware of your foes wrongdoings you grow in power against them. Wild. Also, pick up Magic Weapon to make a weapon more magical. You tend to use your fists, but a sword's in character too. Or help a party member, either or.

Cleric 8: Back in cleric now, we can finally use an ASI to bump up your Wisdom for stronger spells. Enchantments are really save heavy, you'll want this +1 to the save. Destroy Undead hits CR 1 now, and you can use Divine Strike once per turn to deal extra psychic damage when you hit someone with a weapon attack. It's not smite, so your fist is fine.

Cleric 9: Fifth level spells! Your last freebies are Dominate Person and Commune. The latter lets you communicate with... yourself, I guess, to ask three yes/no questions. Casting this multiple times per day is tricky since it gets more likely to fail each cast. Also check out Dawn and Hallow for more lightness and to create your own little pocket where you are the most powerful creature around.

Cleric 10: Tenth level clerics get their most powerful ability, Divine Intervention. Once per day you can ask your... you... for help. The sky's the limit if your DM okays it, but it only has a 10% chance of working. Once it succeeds, you have to wait a week to use it again. Also, your party's probably whining about you not healing them by now, so pick up Spare the Dying. That'll teach 'em.

Cleric 11: Sixth level spell time! Forbiddance further cements your rule in an area, and Sunbeam is the closest we'll get to throwing stars around. Sadly Crown of Stars isn't a cleric spell.

Cleric 12: Use your last ASI to bump up your Strength for better grapples and punches.

Cleric 13: Your final level grants you the boon of seventh level spells! Use Temple of the Gods to create your very own temple wherever you'd like, or Plane Shift to head back to Mount Celestia for a vacation.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

Like most clerics, you can do a little of everything. Fist fights, buff and debuff, utility spells, and healing are all at your command.

Thanks to your various buffs, your punches hit really hard, even with just a first level spell slot. With Slayer's Prey, Hunter's Mark, a grapple, and Divine Strike up you deal 3d8+2d6+2d4+8 damage in two punches. ~30 damage a round isn't flashy, but it is consistent, given how little you're spending.

You're also great on defense against magic, with high Wisdom and Charisma scores bolstered by various spells and a supernatural defense.

Cons:

Playing to character, you've only got an AC of 12. That's bad for KP whose got over 200 HP, but you're sitting in the 150 zone, so it's even worse.

Having so much to do means you'll never have time to do it all. Be careful your party doesn't rely on you too much or you'll be bound to fail that plate spinning challenge.

It takes time to ramp up to your top speed in damage dealing, time you might not have, especially if you need to keep stopping to help out your party in other ways.

[teruthecreator]

sweet surprises

lord forgive me for the cringe i’m about to post. i fully blame this post and this post for planting the seeds of berdley having a crush on kris in my brain. also shouts out to izel for listening to me go insane at 3 AM about this. 

anyways, here’s a thing. 

______________________________________________________________

Excitement is in the air.

Unlike the usual calm monotony of life at school, things recently have been quite...electric. Not because of the portal to the Dark World hidden behind the door of the closet, or the adventures had by a select group of students through the portal in the Librarby a few days ago. No, this isn’t about that.

This is about the Sadie Hawkman’s Dance. The once-a-year phenomenon where the school puts on its best interpretation of a formal dance for the incredibly small number of students who attend class. Students buzz in excitement for the event, preparing their most formal outfits and getting ready to dazzle their friends and fellow classmates with their dramatic entrances into the auditorium.

And, of course, there’s the all important ritual of asking someone to the dance.

There’s already been a few proposals made this week. Jockington rolled into class like a hula hoop and asked Catti to be his “best bro” for the dance, to which she happily agreed. (And by that, I mean she looked up from her phone, smiled, said not a single word, and went back to typing.) Temmie loudly announced to the class that she would be taking her egg, which was somehow...embarrassed that she mentioned it. And, of course, Noelle finally managed to work up enough courage to ask Susie to the dance. It was done in an incredible display of candy canes that spelled out the phrase: “CAN(E) YOU BE MY DATE TO THE DANCE?” Unfortunately, Susie was about halfway through scarfing the display down before she realized what it said. She then began choking on one of the candy canes out of disbelief, which wound her in the nurse for the rest of the day. But, when she could speak again, she very quietly agreed to Noelle’s proposal (and, if you happened to be a fly on the wall in that room, you could hear a tail thump rhythmically against the doctor’s bench as she did so).

Kris was pleased with everything. They were happy to see their friends so happy together. A long time coming, if you asked them. And they’d be just as happy attending the dance solo, since they’ll undoubtedly be dragged along by Susie. They’d never gone to the dance before--never had a reason to, truth be told. But with their newfound friends, they may just enjoy being a wingman for the night.

...Speaking of wingmen, Berdly will probably be going solo as well. Unsurprising, but Kris makes a mental note to ensure the bird will be in attendance. As much as he is kind of a lot sometimes, he’s their friend. And Kris is going to make sure all of their friends are having fun at that dance!

They walk into class thinking of this (surprisingly early, for a change), which is why they almost miss the massive display sitting boldly atop their desk. They freeze the instant it catches their eye and, for a second, they almost believe it isn’t real. Like some leftover thoughts of the Dark World lingering in their vision. But, after wiping their eyes and seeing that it’s still there, they decide to approach and...investigate.

The display is expertly crafted by someone who clearly knows their way around a glue gun. It is a heart-shaped arch that is decorated with a myriad of printed illustrations of Super Smashing Fighters Melee characters, all having cut-outs to hold different bars of chocolate. There are also numerous origami hearts glued around the characters on the arch, in colors spanning across the rainbow. The arch is painted in swirls of blues, pinks, and reds and covered with a border of glitter that sprinkles onto the desk when Kris reaches out to pluck a chocolate bar from its perch. On the desk itself is a big origami heart that says “TO KRIS” in gold calligraphy. It is by far one of the coolest, nicest, cheesiest things Kris has ever seen.

They look up from the display to see if anyone else is seeing this shit, and that’s when it all clicks.

Because sitting at the front of the classroom, fidgeting way more than normal, is Berdly. He keeps interlocking his ankles underneath his desk before unlocking them and kicking the air, turning around every half-second or so to try and catch Kris’s reaction. From the brief moments Kris can see the front of him, they notice he’s not in his usual white collared shirt and black khaki shorts. Instead, his shirt is buttoned all the way up, with a nice blue bowtie tied around his neck. He also traded out his khaki shorts for a pair of dress pants that look to be a tad too long for his legs. He keeps reaching up to smooth out the feathers on his head, which immediately stick back up from stress.

Now, Kris may be a straight B student, but they’re not stupid. Context clues are a very good thing, and all signs point to Berdly as the culprit of this public display of...affection?

Beyond Berdly is Ms. Alphys at her desk, who shoots Kris a look of deep understanding and maybe...guilt? She looks at Berdly for a split second and shrugs her shoulders, indicating he was probably in here long before she was and so she had no way of stopping him from leaving it there.

Kris looks back down at the display and picks up the large origami heart. As they begin to unfold it, they see a sprawling letter written in the same flashy calligraphy. Kris squints at the letters--they’re dyslexic, so everything kind of just looks like spaghetti on paper. Still, they’re able to make out the largely printed question of “WILL YOU GO TO THE DANCE WITH ME?” with no issue.

Huh, guess they won’t be going to the dance alone after all…? It’s a little confusing as to why Berdly would want to go with them, though. Like, they’ve hung out a little bit--usually whenever Berdly wanted a “worthy rival” to play video games with, he would come over and Kris would whoop his ass for a few hours. And, of course, there were the recent events in the Cyber World; but Kris is pretty sure them and Susie had thoroughly convinced Noelle and Berdley that that was all a dream. So, why them?

They’re lost in this train of thought for so long that they don’t even notice the other kids enter the room until they suddenly hear:

“Yo, Kris???????? What the heck is this thing????” Susie’s voice doesn’t startle them, but it is loud enough to get them to look up. Susie is standing next to their desk, looking at the display with genuine amazement thinly masked by disgust. She’s also loud enough to basically stop the whole class (who were all muttering amongst themselves about it anyway), which gives Kris only a second to gaze around the room before--

SLAM!

The door to the classroom slams shut, leaving one seat unoccupied.

Berdley’s.

“This thing’s got chocolate on it????” Susie continues to marvel at the display while Kris looks at the door, frowning. They feel...bad. It isn’t Berdley’s fault for trying to fit in with the other kids' proposals; he admitted to feeling like he needs to do more just to stand out enough for people to acknowledge him back in the Dark World. And this thing is really...thoughtful! The characters are all ones Kris typically mains, or ones they know Berdley mains, which means he remembers things about Kris. And the chocolate is a given, but it is nice to be able to stock their personal snack stash with some fancy stuff. Ultimately, it’s very sweet, and Kris can’t help but feel a little guilty for not saying anything immediately.

They turn and lock eyes with Ms. Alphys, who looks extremely out-of-depth with this situation. She makes a number of gestures from them to the door in a flustered way of saying I have absolutely no idea what the hell is going on please help me Kris I know I’m asking a lot of you but I don’t know how to deal with teenage angst I’m like thirty-five. They sigh, standing up and walking past Susie (but not before giving her a stare that warns her if a single chocolate bar is gone that they will be holding that over her until the day she dies) and following Berdly out the door.

It doesn’t take Kris very long to follow the trail of labored breathing to where Berdley is--in the abandoned classroom, hyperventilating as he teeters on a breakdown. Luckily, when Kris opens the door, it seems to put a halt to his spiralling because he just kind of...freezes. Like a deer caught in headlights. Or a Berdley caught in Kris-lights. Kris takes this moment to let the door shut behind them, trapping the two in here. Together.

“U-Uhhhhh, hi--he--Um. H-Hello, K-Kris…” Berdly attempts to put on his usual bravado, but his voice betrays him brutally by squeaking and cracking on every syllable. Kris can’t help the smile that comes to their face.

“Uh, hey,” they reply with a wave. Berdley continues to stand there and stare (almost like he wasn’t expecting Kris to care enough to follow him) before the present circumstances return to his mind and he begins breathing hard again.

“I-I-I-I, uh...I was. Um. J-Just, uh. G-Getting some fresh air! Y-Yes! The classroom can be s-so stuffy sometimes, I’m sure y-you--you, uh...you agree?” Berdley makes a valiant attempt at hiding his panic, which Kris almost takes pity on. But they don’t think the monster will feel any better if they just pretend what happened back there never happened.

“Yeah. I liked the display.” Kris says simply. Berdley stands stock-straight at that, looking even worse for wear in the “being normal and completely cool” department.

“O-Oh??????? That ol’ thing????? I, um--well I just--y-you see, I--uh. Um,” You can really hear the gears in his head turning as he attempts to come up with an excuse. “I-I-I just thought you w-would appreciate the craftsmanship of!!! A t-true artisan, such as myself!!! So, I!!! M-Made it!!! COMPLETELY PLATONICALLY, OF COURSE!!!! I-I would never imply that my intentions w-were anything other than for bro-sies, i--You didn’t read that whole card, did you?”

“I can’t read,” They mean this as a joke, but they can see Berdley seriously consider this for a second too long. “Dude, I’m dsylexic. I can’t really read cursive…” Berdley freezes up once more, which makes Kris realize they haven’t really projected that as loudly as they might’ve thought.

“Oh! Right! How could I forget! That you’re! Dsylexic!” Berdley’s smile is stapled to his face as he begins to rhythmically knock on his head. “And I! Wrote! That! Entire! Note! In! Cursive! Which! You! Can’t! Read!!!” Kris steps forward in an attempt to keep Berdley from bashing his own skull in, but that only makes Berdley more tense, so they take a step back. “I-I just--The note isn’t important! None of it’s important actually can we forget this interaction ever happened okay? Okay yes that’s great have a wonderful day Kris I will be returning home to sitinmyroomandneverreturntothecorporealrealmalrightgoodbyeforeverKris--” He attempts to sidestep around Kris and out the door, but is very easily intercepted.

“Stop.” Kris grabs him by the shoulders, which seems to shut him up for a second. “Can you just tell me what’s wrong?” Berdley gapes at them as his face steadily grows redder, which makes Kris feel as if there’s something on their face. But he quickly shakes it off, going from completely neurotic to...dejected.

“I just…” He starts, trailing off immediately. “You deserve to have a big proposal, same as everyone else. I-I see you in the back of the class, just...watching. And I, uh, felt it was time to...give you the spotlight! But that was silly of me, wasn’t it?” He looks off to the side at the floor, smiling sadly. “After all, who’d want to go to the dance with me…? I-I’m alone every year, standing in the background. Just kind of...taking it all in...and th-thinking about how it’d be...nice to be a part of it. But that’s...not probable. It was just nice to think about taking you to the dance because you’re--well, you’re nice to me, and you’re funny, and you actually listen to me when I’m talking, an-and you’re a good person and an incredible gaming legend...but I shouldn’t have put it all on you in front of everyone...I’m. I’m sorry, Kris.” He won’t make eye contact with the human, but Kris can still see the tears collecting in his eyes.

“Berdley, that’s stupid.” Kris says, which Berdley cringes at, “Why wouldn’t I wanna go with you?” That part is...not what Berdley was expecting. He looks up at Kris, unsure of where to go from here.

“U-Um…? Because of all the previously stated things? Like me being a complete loser who nobody likes?”

“I like you,” Kris replies immediately, leaving Berdley’s feathers sticking straight up as he flusters. “And I like your display. It’s...really sweet.”

“E-Even if you can’t read the note?” Berdley’s voice cracks.

“I mean, I could read the: WILL YOU GO WITH ME TO THE DANCE part, so, like. Yeah.” Kris shrugs. “Plus, you got me chocolate. Nice chocolate. Nobody...gets me things like that.” They smile, a light dusting of blush across their face. “I’ll go with you.” Berdley’s entire body seizes up for the third time, eyes wide and mouth agape.

“W-W-w-W-w-w-w-w-W-W-W-w-w-w-Wh-Wha-wh-w-w-wha-wha-w-wh-Wh-Wha-wh-Wha-wha-w-w-W-W-W--” Berdley continues to struggle with the word “what” for a solid minute and a half before he’s finally about to manage a: “What?!” Kris can’t help but laugh.

“I said that, Berdley,” at this, they move their grip from his shoulders to his hands, “I will go to the Sadie Hawkman’s dance with you.”

The circuits in Berdley’s brain struggle with this frequency for an extended moment before his face erupts in the giddiest smile Kris has ever seen the bird monster sport. He even begins to jump up and down, taking Kris along with him, as he cackles. It is a surprisingly cute display that Kris finds themselves blushing a bit at. It’s nice to be this...cared about.

“I-I--We have to start thinking of outfits immediately!” Berdley blurts out, returning to their usual demeanor. “I was thinking of some complimentary color schemes on the way to school today which I will be happy to show you at lunchtime. I’m also a master with a sewing machine, so if you are unable to procure an outfit that meets the color requirements, I would be delighted to take your measurements and--w-wait, don’t read into that phrasing, I just m-meant that I could make an outfit for you! B-But I’d need your measurements, and--Oh, goodness, hasn’t class started already, Kris?! We should head back, but--” He looks from the door to Kris and back again a few times before finally settling on something.

“I’lltalktoyouaboutthislaterseeyouinclassKris!!!!!” He says this right before he gives Kris a solitary peck on the cheek before bolting out of the abandoned classroom, leaving Kris blinking at the Berdley-shaped cloud he left behind. Their hand gently grazes the spot on their cheek--luckily not actually pecked by his beak, but more of a quick-kiss kind of peck--and feel their heart skip a beat.

Huh.

That’s...different.

They elect to not dwell on that feeling any longer and head back to class. They have to make sure Susie hasn’t eaten all of the chocolate on that display.

They wouldn’t want to make Berdley go through the trouble of re-proposing  just so they could rightfully claim their other sweet surprise.

[paperanddice]

Rimefire Griffon and Thunderfury Boar

A few more advanced animals and monstrosities. There’s a few more fun ones to dig out as I keep reading through the book, and I’m looking forward to exploring a few more of them.

Rimefire Griffon Large elemental, unaligned Armor Class 17 (natural armor) Hit Points 152 (16d20 + 64) Speed 25 ft., fly 50 ft. Str 24, Dex 18, Con 18, Int 2, Wis 18, Cha 10 Skills Perception +7 Damage Immunities cold Damage Resistances fire Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 17 Languages - Challenge 8 (3900 XP) Keen Sight. The Rimefire Griffon has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight. Actions Multiattack. The Rimefire Griffon makes two attacks; one with its bite and one with its claws. Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (1d8+7) piercing damage and 16 (3d10) cold damage. Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d6+7) slashing damage plus 16 (3d10) cold damage. Rimefire Blast (Recharge 5-6). The Rimefire Griffon exhales blistering heat in a 25-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 45 (10d8) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a success.

The rimefire griffon is a very interesting monster, an elemental mix of ice and fire, though the fire is less immediately obvious. The original has equal resistances to fire and cold, but I decided to make it only resistant to fire instead of immune like cold, so that players who make a guess as to its weakness aren’t punished quite as badly. Rimefire blast in 4e recharged through the griffon landing bite attacks on creatures, which is a really cool idea, with the implication being that its siphoning the heat off of the creature it’s biting, but mechanically that seems more complicated than within the standard 5th edition design ideas. Their fluff is very heavily locked within the 4th edition cosmology, so it would need some heavy rewriting to fit.

Thunderfury Boar Huge fey, unaligned Armor Class 15 (natural armor) Hit Points 225 (18d12 + 108) Speed 40 ft. Str 24, Dex 15, Con 22, Int 5, Wis 12, Cha 9 Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage from nonmagical weapons Senses passive Perception 11 Languages - Challenge 10 (5900) Reactive Stomp. Whenever the boar knocks a creature prone, it can make a Stomp attack against it as a bonus action. Relentless (Recharges after a Short or Long Rest). If the boar takes 20 or less damage that would reduce it to 0 hit points, it is reduced to 1 hit point instead. Thunderous Charge. If the boar moves at least 20 feet straight towards a target and then hits it with a Tusk attack on the same turn, the target takes an extra 14 (4d6) slashing damage and 14 (4d6) thunder damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 18 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. Actions Tusk. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (3d6+7) slashing damage. Stomp. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 5 ft., one prone creature. Hit: 17 (3d6+7) bludgeoning damage. Thunderfury (Recharge 5-6) The boar unleashes a burst of thunder from its body. Each creature within 10 feet of the boar must make a DC 18 Constitution saving throw or take 36 (8d8) thunder damage and be knocked prone, or half as much damage and not be knocked prone on a successful save.

Thunderfury boars are native to the Feywild. They are too fierce for true domestication, but they are sometimes kept and goaded into battle by canny fey. I designed this monster so that if it gets off a charge it will devastate a target, and it has thunderfury for the next rounds, but without its charge its melee attacks are much weaker.

[st33d]

I’m not bored of RPGs

I would prefer to take my own screenshots but Steam has given me a big update queue and getting shots off of the Switch is a different kind of chore. Instead I will be using appropriate pictures of cats I found on shutterstock.com.

Pillars of Eternity 2

Almost all isometric computer roleplaying games are broken into islands. There is a campaign map operating like a vast sea, and within that sea one visits small places with a clearly marked border. Instanced dungeons where a poor laptop can muster a fireworks display for your heroes.

How refreshing that Pillars 2 leans into that. Islands within islands. Thematically a voyage across the sea, replete with sea shanties. I applaud the structure of this game. It is a delight to discover remote islands that hold illustrated text adventures in addition to the meat and potatoes combat.

And the combat really is meat and potatoes. You get to choose two professions, allowing really dumb combinations like my paladin who had to choose between summoning bats or tanking the front line. The benefit of all this is that you can find ways to entertain yourself if you get bored of all the murdering. I avoided the ship to ship combat as it is a weird mini game that I don’t like. You can largely do without it, and if you make enough allies during the main quest you can get to the final battle free of cannon balls or uninspiring melee.

The main story suffers from trying to have a connection to the first game. I really would have preferred to tackle this adventure without that baggage. When I go off the beaten track the game is a lot of fun. Fortunately the open sea has little in the way of tracks. It is a game weighed down by hubris and experiment but still manages to tread water in a sea of similar titles.

Tangledeep

This is a mostly classic roguelike. I say mostly because it has some very linear boss fights you’re forced to repeat, and it offsets the lack of a hunger clock by just dumping more monsters into a level. By “dump” I mean they’re just new things there without any logic or tactical threat.

However, Tangledeep has a lot of nonsense you can get up to: You can summon plant monsters. Multiclass into a soul drinking summoner. Plant trees. Keep pets. Visit bonus dungeons. Make food (mostly curry). There’s other stuff too, I just kinda lost track.

I got invested enough to come up with a specific build. One that would summon lots of monsters and teleport around the map with a combination of skills I’d pick up from two of the fighting professions. Eventually I died and I couldn’t imagine playing a different style of character. The new classes I was unlocking weren’t offering new pets or movement skills so I haven’t played since.

I enjoyed my time with Tangledeep a lot. Mining the powers from all the classes was a fun project to play out during the delve. Had I survived I’m sure I would have engaged with all the other features the game has. I want to say you should play the game without permadeath, because the structure doesn’t reward it. I think one should play their first game with permadeath on to get to grips with using skills, then turn it on to start a new game. Picking classes in the right order and taking only the skills you need. The game kind of expects you to do this by offering a tougher dungeon on future play-throughs. Some solid fun to be had here when you figure out what settings you should turn on and off. The developer has been kind enough to offer a lot of them.

Devil May Cry 5

Okay, it’s not an RPG but it’s really good. A pure expression of joy in videogame form. It dares me into thinking it’s gone too stupid, but then yes, yes I really do need to cut down this boss with two motorcycles, it’s the best tactical option.

I’m too old and slow for these sort of games and yet DMC5 encouraged me instead of frustrating me. From fans of the series I’ve heard it does its forebears credit. One can only hope that its creators have more games like this to share in the future.

Final Fantasy X

I’ve stopped at the Blitzball tutorial, I do not want to play this mini game. I don’t like any of the characters in this game either. It took The Witcher 3 about eight hours to win me over, which is kind of acceptable in a huge RPG. But I’m not even meeting NPCs that I like.

I’ll have to come back to this one.

Final Fantasy XII

Constraints do interesting things to games. In FF12 we have what wants to be an open world MMO type of game and it thinks it’s running on a Playstation 2. So the whole world is broken into islands.

Sounds like an isometric CRPG to me. It even leans into that constraint, creating strange geometries to navigate with a pace to encounters that you don’t really see in modern sandbox games. In an open world there must be empty spaces. To create immersion and to allow monsters to chase you for a reasonable distance before giving up. You need boring bits. FF12 removes those boring bits, creating a world that feels like a traditional dungeon on a massive scale.

Then it puts those boring bits right back in. All the way in.

FF12 is a real-time game. You assign commands and your heroes act them out. You can also set your heroes on auto pilot. The game lets you buy more specific commands from shops, allowing you to create an undying death machine out of your party. This starts out really fun. You unlock abilities on your character’s skill-tree-board-thing and continue to tinker with the death ball. But even though you’ve unlocked an ability, you have to first find it in the dungeon world. And some of the ways you find them are bullshit. Be prepared to walk in and out of an area to dice roll a boss fight into appearing (not a bug - that’s what you have to do). Be prepared to navigate a dungeon that has a 42 minute explanation on youtube (and it’s been edited). Be prepared to find Dispelga on route to a boss and only find Dispel after you looked it up on a wiki (it’s in the corner of a really easy dungeon that I already cleared). Unlocking abilities this way sets expectations. I know I’m missing something and I’ve paid to unlock it - I’m committed. As I got further into the game’s list of status effects and party buffs my frustration grew.

The story has a cast of amiable characters struggling against occupation by the Empire. It’s alright. I remember all their names but couldn’t honestly tell you how I got to where I am or what started it. In a game which is largely about exploration it works pretty well as a backdrop.

It’s a very unique game. A hybrid of MMO and isometric RPG made from the JRPG mindset. The modern ports of the game feature fast-forward buttons that apologise for the self-indulgences taken in its original form. It is a decent thirty hours of fun and a further ten hours of not much fun. I certainly recommend it to roleplaying game enthusiasts, but with caveats for completionists.

World of Final Fantasy

I experienced Pokemon Red on my then-desktop-PC whilst listening to the album Gran Turismo by The Cardigans. I couldn’t stand the high pitched beeps of the menu so I preferred to listen to the latest CD I had. The song Explode is burned into my mind next to stamping on a monster’s head and stuffing it into a ball. It’s not something you need to know, but I thought I’d tell you about it.

The conceit of why you are stuffing classic monsters from Final Fantasy games into balls prisms does not need explaining. Nor does one need to know why the two main characters help form two stacks of three creatures. Who cares why these stacks combine the powers of those within to create a hybrid JRPG avatar.

World of Final Fantasy cares. Oh boy does it care. There’s not a single button on my gamepad this isn’t getting away without two minutes of banter between the characters to explain it. Cutscene after cutscene rolls by. They often come in pairs so I pause and skip ahead just in case. Even after you complete a cutscene the characters lock out the controls and have a jolly good chat about what they’ve just seen. In its defence it lets you skip being waterboarded with the story and run the game at what feels like 1.5x speed. But there’s still a lot of busy work when it comes to skipping cutscenes. There’s loads of them.

I really like the combat. That is, I really like it when I have a monster that does the right colour damage for capturing a new monster. It’s a refreshing take on Pokemon that is utterly wasted on the Final Fantasy franchise, but I guess it needed the brand for this weird game to even exist. If you like the combat you found in Pokemon and want something with more nuance and challenge then you should pick it up and skip those cutscenes. If you need some story to wash it down with and don’t like a shockingly linear campaign map, then perhaps put it off for a while.

7DBL (7 Day Broughlike) Challenge

I’ve often been accused of making a Broughlike. To make a game that reminds you of Michael Brough’s work: A small grid with a turn based avatar that can cast spells. I’ve often refuted this because I tend to avoid having spells in my games. There’s just never a nice way to do the UI. Us iPad owners are fine, phone owners less so, desktop users get lots of keys to press, and hooray for gamepads if they aren’t awful for any type of menu.

Those more patient than I have stepped up to the challenge. Echoing the 7 Day Roguelike Challenge (7DRL, of which I am a yearly participant) developers across the globe attempted to make a small grid with a turn based avatar that cast spells. In 7 days. They also scheduled this challenge right before the gaming event called E3. Much like the 7DRL always gets scheduled before the gaming event called GDC. We can’t have a game jam making niche games and let reporters have time to talk about it. That wouldn’t be the done thing.

The results are above average. I say this coming from the 7DRL which is generally average, equal parts good and bad. The games produced in this jam are mostly good. There’s a few which clearly aren’t finished, and yet they show a great deal of promise. Even Brough himself submitted a game, one which is quite accessible and fun. Highlights for me included controlling a rather awkward squid that had to shoot in order to turn and a one dimensional roguelike that adds depth by throwing your weapons.

I hope they do it again next year.

My RPGs

I released my roguelite runner Bump 2 for the small audience that appreciates it. It’s one of those games that really appeals to a handful of people, and not to others in the slightest. In homage to my own select tastes and to unjinx my collection of unfinished projects, I resolved to make Bump 2 into its best form before walking away from it. And so I did.

I’m currently working on Kobold Dungeon Tester. This is my 4th (5th if you count Roomba Quest) interactive text project. I twice tried to write a novel in my youth and this project feel like a penance for my failures. Normally I would move on, satisfied the base idea works, like a puzzle, or a high score. A few kind words have convinced me that this one is different - it’s a story, it needs an ending. I shall try to finish it as best as I can.

[snugglyporos]

So! I decided to watch Super Sentai Jetman. I’ve seen a bit of sentai before, specifically a lot of Fiveman, but I’ve never watched Jetman before. Jetman came out in 1991, and the series that followed it Zyuranger, was adapted to Power Rangers. Now, I love me some cheese, and I’m a huge fan of foreign media from this time. I love this sort of weirdness, and even the stuff I don’t like, I can appreciate. 

But holy shit guys, I was not expecting the trip this series starts on. Let me make something clear, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a series that crammed so much insane shit into 18 minutes of footage. 

Like, within thirty seconds of the start, we have two characters, and there’s a robot shooting lasers everywhere, and then suddenly we’re on a space station, and a woman is tossing her baby up in the air, and our two main characters independently catch the baby and press a button which stops the robot from shooting lasers everywhere. Also, the male gets shot like four times and is fine, so I’m not sure why this required ninja police? But also the woman catches the baby, and I’m not sure if that’s sexism or not. The weirdness of living almost thirty years after this was made in another culture. 

Anyway, you might think that this man and woman are our main characters, because they’re immediately brought up to the space station to be turned into super heroes, using ‘birdonic waves’ which is wonderfully silver age comic for me. I’m all about stupid weird science stuff that doesn’t need to be explained, and a giant plexiglass tubes that glow and shoot lighting to give super powers. 

Anyway, the woman rather wisely asks ‘is this going to mess us up’ which is something comic protagonists should learn about before signing up with military outfits to get super powers. I immediately began suspecting something was up when they started mentioning like four times how these two never want to be apart and given this was 1991, this woman might as well have been wearing a giant sign saying ‘DEAD’ in big bold letters. 

Well anyway, then some guy with half a cone face shows up and broadcasts himself across the world. Not just with like, illusions in the sky, no that’s not extra enough. Guy fucking broadcasts through people’s coffee cups and stuff. Like bro, all they can see is your eye, why are you broadcasting through there? 

Anyway, which you should get used to, because this entire episode is basically ‘anyway, scene transition,’ suddenly he blows up the space station! Oh no! It only had two days till retirement! But also, the girlfriend of our protagonist doesn’t just die, she gets like, horribly sucked out a fucking air lock into space. The protagonist is understandably broken up, and our chief character punches him in the face and carries him to a plane and they fly out back to earth. 

Also the chief is a woman. Don’t know if I mentioned that yet. She’s a badass. Also, she beats up our protagonist like three times because he keeps wanting to go find his love who got sucked out an airlock. Anyway, apparently destroying the SCIENCE! machine caused waves to go hit random people, and now they also have powers? 

So it’s off to find them! Now we get our varied cast! Which begins with the pink one, which is fine, who is apparently like, a closeted housewife character? But she immediately goes disney princess on us and is like ‘I’m so glad I can save the world because my life is so boring!’ and I’m like shit you realize you’re signing up to fight aliens and shit, right? Well, alright then! I’m not sure I like her. Though I do like the fact that she keeps calling what they’re turning into ‘gentlemen’ and not ‘jetman.’ Also, I’m pretty sure she keeps saying ‘gentlemen’ in english for some reason. 

Then it’s off to find the yellow guy, who at present might be my favorite character. Red is a bit too emotionally distraught constantly, and chews scenery like you wouldn’t believe, and Pink at present seems like her character isn’t geared towards me. Yellow meanwhile is a slighty overweight farmer, who literally does not give a shit about saving the world. Like this guy has his rake, and his vegetables, and the world can fucking burn for all he cares, he’s got farming to do! 

Red immediately gives up on him. Like, no second attempt, just is like ‘welp he said no, guess it’s pointless!’ Pink on the other hand is like ‘I think I can handle this.’ Which I for one give her props for, because she’s clearly used to winning people over. Yellow and Pink go eat some of Yellow’s cucumbers, which apparently are very good. So farmer Yellow over here is pretty good at farming. Good to know. 

This is where I realized that Yellow is my favorite so far. He mentioned in no uncertain terms that he hates violence and doesn’t like fighting. he’s just a humble farmer who wants to farm his crops. Well, apparently for whatever reason, I assume because the plot says so, the bad guy sprinkles some foot soldiers onto the guy’s farm. Also, the bad guy brings out monsters and foot soldiers by super imposing his hand through reality and then like, sweats onto the world, I think? 

Anyway, seeing the foot soldiers ruining his precious vegetables, Yellow immediately forgets that whole ‘hating violence’ thing, picks up a rake, and starts going to town on alien foot soldiers. Just like ‘I was going to let the world be taken over by extra dimensional alien horrors, but then they ruined my vegetables, and now it’s a blood feud.’ 

Now the fight scenes are... weird. Mostly because there’s a lot of green screen. Also there’s an untransformed explosion where it looks like neither of the actors were prepared for the explosion right behind them. In any case, this is perhaps the first time where I realize yet another difference between sentai and what they adapted for power rangers. 

So there’s this trope in the west with super powers where like, you have a normal person who can’t fight, and then they get super powers, and then they can fight. Not in this series. They toss yellow and pink off a god damn cliff, and then they morph, and then yellow just straight up face plants into a fucking tree. Like that’s his first entry into being a hero, just straight face checks a tree and I laughed so hard because it was entirely not what I was expecting. I fully expected the trope, and no, there’s no trope. 

Also, the red guy, the only guy who actually has any training, is the only one who fights, while the other two basically try to survive, because again, they took two untrained civilians and tossed them into combat, and the expected result occurred. Remember in power rangers where they went to extreme lengths to show that they all had like, basic combat training? Yeah, fuck that. These two got nothing. And it’s actually... endearing? Pink acts like you would expect an upper class woman who just got thrown into a melee would act, and yellow survives by virtue of him being himself. At one point he accidentally hugs one of the foot soldiers, and like, stares him straight in the face, yells, which causes the foot soldier to yell, like neither of them were entirely prepared for any of this shit. 

Meanwhile, Red is off kicking everyone’s ass. Because he does that. Also, he’s got like, major problems with the interdimensional alien david bowie fanclub. So he fights the monster solo, and for some reason the bad guy gets scared and... saves his monster? That’s new. Usually villains don’t give a shit about their monsters. This guy goes ‘oh no! Mild resistance! quick, grab him and take him back!’ 

Also this guy is apparently eating people. Including children! That’s new. 

Anyway, then we cut to disapproving female boss who looks like she is eight kinds of done with all of this, likely wondering how the hell they’re going to make this work, and also if the other two are going to be as big a pain as the current two. 

Then we cut back to the david bowie fan club, and introduce our villains, who are all introduced by having the camera be at weird angles. Also, I’m pretty sure the one called ‘Maria’ is the Red guy’s girlfriend that got sucked out the air lock. Just a theory. 

And that’s episode one. All of that happened in 18 minutes. That’s insanity. I’ve got 52 episodes to get through. We haven’t even met Black and Blue yet! I’m honestly a little surprised about how much they play up the fact that basically only one of them is at all useful. Like he’s gotta fly a giant flying bird, and I’m just imagining the rest having to go through flight training on top of combat training and just... 

Man this series starts well. This is everything I love about weird ass silver age comics in a tv show. It’s madness and it just works. 

[howtohero]

Weapons as Part of Your Anatomy

Weapons can be highly useful in fighting crime. Sometimes you need a little extra help or sometimes you’ve gotta stop a crime that’s farther away from you than your fist can reach. So it’s no surprise that many superheroes use them. But they can also be clunky and unwieldy at times. They’re definitely a pain to keep track of when you’re jumping out of an exploding aircraft (we would’ve just said “plane” but as of last week, hot air balloons have actually surpassed airplanes in “aircrafts that are most likely to explode in the midst of a super-battle” according to a study conducted by the local chapter of Super Hot Air Balloon Enthusiasts International) or diving into the ocean to punch an evil sea turtle. So some superheroes bypass all of those problems by having weapons as part of their anatomy. They take being armed to a whole new level. (Just so it’s clear, they’re a group of international air balloon enthusiasts that are ridiculously attractive. They’re enthusiastic about air balloons of all temperatures the normal amount.)

One obvious advantage of having weapons for limbs is that wherever you go you’ll always have your weapons. Guys like Super-Sonic-Plasma-Ultra-Cannon Man never have to worry about being ambushed by Terror-Raptors or attacked randomly on the street because they can have their weapons locked, loaded and ready to shoot some supersonic plasma at a moment’s notice. Superheroes of this variety (this variety being the kind who have weapons in place of parts of their bodies) are usually robots or cyborgs. Robots who have cannon arms or harpoon hands or knockout gas kneecaps generally carry around an additional weapons or two and only rely on their arm blasters or knuckle rocket launchers as a last resort. The reasoning behind this is twofold. 

Onefold: Have you ever tried shooting hardlight from a cannon built into your arm? That jazz is exhausting. It requires a lot of energy and when you’re surrounded in a forest by a bunch of other robots who are not your friends, you want to save as much energy as possible. (This is the only reason most robots aren’t blasting sick battle-music while fighting crime, it takes up a lot of their already limited energy reserves.)

Twofold: I don’t know about you but if I’m fighting someone who is shooting at me with a gun I’m going to assume that if I take the gun away from them, they’ll stop shooting me. These robots rely on their foolish human enemies to make the same assumption thus giving them a secret advantage. The bad guys will foolishly focus all their attention on our robo-hero’s weapon that they’ll be completely caught off guard when it turns out they didn’t even need it!

Organic shapeshifters on the other hand, tend to only be able to morph their hands into melee weapons. Swords, hammers, that one guy who can turn his hands into chainsaws (his name is Rip Mason and he protects the president!), the reason being that shapeshifting into a ranged weapon is mad difficult. Guns are mad intricate! Turning your hand into one is hard, and then you gotta put bullets in your hand? That seems unsanitary. (Granted I guess it isn’t more unsanitary than sticking your sword arm into some dude’s chest but whatever.) There are a few advanced shapeshifters out there who can do it but it’s certainly not very common. 

Then there are other heroes who take this concept to their logical extreme and use their actual limbs as weapons. We’re talking about guys like Dismember (distinguished member of Member Dis? The organization that helps amnesiac superheroes recover their missing memories) the guy who can detach his limbs and use them to bludgeon people over the head. Then there are your various Headless Horsemen who sometimes use their decapitated heads as projectiles or as weapons of fear. There’s Countdown, the heroine who can turn any part of her body into an explosive, including her nails, teeth, and even hair. Then there are heroes whose powers are more conventional but who are creative enough to know that they never need to carry a weapon again. Pyrokinetic? Congratulations! Your arm is now a flaming club. Are you a spikykinet... a spike manip... uh a spike-sling... no dang it, you know those spiky guys? The guys who can sprout spikes from their skin and shoot them at people and stuff? Should we just call them spiky sorcerers? Would you guys be down for that? I’m just going to go for it. (Spooky spikey man!) it’s too late we already decided! If you’re a spiky sorcerer you can turn your fist into a mace! If you’re an element absorber you can turn your arm into a blunt object made of anything! 

But having a weapon as part of your anatomy is not without it’s downsides. For one, if your armature is permanent, nobody will ever really be able to relax around you. Think about it, would you be able to drink your morning coffee in piece if there was a bloke on the other side of the cafe with a tank cannon sticking out of his chest? Presumably not! (If we’ve presumed wrong don’t email us, we don’t care.) It’s hard to give somebody a consolatory pat on the back when your hand is three knives attached at the hilt. You get the idea. You’re also going to be banned from a lot of place. Like a lot. Movie theaters, museums, that cafe that we mentioned before. I hope you can fly or have access to a teleporter because there’s no way you’re going to be allowed on an airplane with a machine gun for an arm. You’re also going to have a hard time maintaining a secret identity. It’s unlikely that your enemies will think that there are two people in your town with battle axe arms, one who fights crime (with axes?) and one who just wants to finish his novel. If you’ve got a weapon attached to you, I recommend finding someway to cover it up. Like always wear bulky hoodies. Or a trench coat! Everybody ignores a guy in a trench coat! Sure it’s not going to help with the making-people-uncomfortable-in-the-coffee-shop thing but how much did you really like coffee anyway?

While having weapons as part of your anatomy can be incredibly useful to you in your war against crime. They’re not super great for when you’re not actively fighting hedgehog smugglers or monsters under the bed. So if you’ve got flame throwers in your armpits or razorblades for finger tips don’t worry, we still like you, and hologram projectors are relatively cheap these days. But if you read this because you were looking to sew a gun into your own arm (that’s not how cyborging works!) maybe hold off for a bit and just get a holster or something. A holster is basically like having a weapon be part of you. Or better yet, a utility belt! That’s like a ton of holsters!

[howtofightwrite]

Q&A: Bloodborne's Rakuyo

nate2247 said to howtofightwrite:

Quick question- was the Rakuyo from Bloodborne modeled after a real life weapon? I’ve seen similar designs in other things. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s pretty much a sword, with a partially hollow hilt that you can attach/detach another knife in.

The blade itself is based off of a Japanese military sabre. To be clear, I’m talking about the primary blade, not the detachable dagger. The second detachable blade is something of From’s own creation (or it’s a Berserk reference.) The second blade may be based off a 19th century Japanese bayonet, but that’s mostly an educated guess.

Spiked pommels are quite real. When fighting in quarters too close to strike with a sword, bringing your pommel down on your foe’s face is a valid tactic, and spiked pommels build off this idea. I can’t remember seeing a full dagger attached to a pommel before, but the idea isn’t particularly strange.

As a detachable weapon? Not that I’ve ever seen. In general, Bloodborne‘s weapons are implausibly complex, to the point that most simply wouldn’t function in the real world. There are a few exceptions: While real Pallasches didn’t incorporate firearms, combining a single shot firearm onto a sword wasn’t, completely, unheard of in the 17th and 18th centuries (which is when the Pallasch dates to.)

The “least” realistic trick weapons in Bloodborne tend to be the ones that are articulated or include detachable components. Things like the Threaded Cane, the Kirkhammer, Ludwig’s Holy Blade, or the Blade of Mercy, would all be grossly impractical or impossible to produce. The guys at Baltimore Knife and Sword made a replica of the Saw Cleaver, which illustrates a lot of the engineering challenges inherent in trying to replicate Bloodborne‘s weapons. You can find the youtube video here.

The game is a, literally, a nightmare, as the various characters attempt to deal with elder cosmic gods, of the Lovecraft variety, so the fantastical elements blended into the gothic art style do serve a legitimate purpose. The melee weapons are, without exception, an extension of this concept. They’re twisted, vicious, creations, designed to tear people (and monsters) apart in singularly unpleasant ways. That many of these same weapons are wielded against you by bosses and other hunters just cements the horror.

That said, the idea that someone would have taken a Japanese Guntō and attached a bayonet in a reverse grip isn’t completely insane, while the bayonet’s locking lugs could still allow a quick release option, converting the weapon back into two distinct pieces. I mean, it’s possible, and in comparison to some of the other weapons in Bloodborne, it’s almost plausible. Would it work? Probably not. I doubt it would hold up in combat. But, this would be relatively easy to rig up as a display piece.

So, the short version is, you could make one you’d use for cosplay, but making one that would actually work as a combat weapon is a lot more questionable.

-Starke

This blog is supported through Patreon. If you enjoy our content, please consider becoming a Patron. Every contribution helps keep us online, and writing. If you already are a Patron, thank you.

Q&A: Bloodborne’s Rakuyo was originally published on How to Fight Write.

[odogaronfang]

Ember, elegant, and danger.

[[i’ll do these as separates, just cuz, but i guess i’ll keep em along the same span of timeline in the botw au]]

ember;

Going on adventures alone is difficult and, though she’d be loath to admit it, really not so enjoyable. They’d agreed about a week ago to split up, to get some information on the behaviors of the divine beasts, and she’d been tasked with traveling to Gerudo Town- they only let women in, after all, and Zelda would be busy in Hebra, so she was the immediate choice. She’d agreed, because the climate of the desert was more like her hometown than Hebra’s, or the Eldin region’s, and she’d been vetoed for the zoras’ domain because Green had “called it”. At least it wouldn’t be cold, she’d said, and in the vast emptiness of the desert she laughs, then.

“Yeah, at least it isn’t cold.” She snorts, gives two middle fingers to the cool, implacable moon and pulls the thin blanket tighter around her. As soon as dusk had fallen she’d begun to notice the temperature drop, and now, halfway through the night, it’s near-freezing and miserable.

She has no wood, why would anyone bring firewood into a desert after all, so she’d gathered as much nearby foliage as she could and settled with her back to a boulder, knocked a rock against the head of her spear until a spark had caught, and she’d managed to kindle a little fire. It had lasted, for a little while, and she savored every second of its warmth.

But it’s out, now, little more than embers, blown to tiny fluttering red-orange bits by the vicious winds, and she’s near-freezing and growing desperate for something hot. She resolves to beat Green into the ground for not warning her once she gets back, if she survives this night.

(She does, and she’s welcomed, shivering and angry, into Gerudo Town just before dawn, by a group of laughing eight-foot tall women; she isn’t sure whether to feel dwarfed and insignificant or grateful and, perhaps, smug.)

elegant;

The zoras’ domain is one of the most beautiful places Green has ever seen in his life. He’d been astounded even at the simple grace of the towers posted just along their borders, and the bridges that spanned the paths across rivers were no less stunning, but neither fully prepared him for the heart of the domain. It’s breathtaking, awe-inspiring, gorgeous- he’s seen a wonderful handcrafted rendering of Hyrule Castle in its heyday, and it can’t hold a candle to the wrought silver and sapphires of the soul of the zoras’ homeland, small though it is.

His zora guide seems amused and proud at his expression.

“It’s wonderful, isn’t it?” Tula, as she’d introduced herself as, says, and pats him on the shoulder. “It’s the pride of our people, right here.”

“It’s incredible,” He agrees, and tries not to stop to admire every little arch of the bridge as they walk by. Vio is the one with words, not him, but… “It’s… elegant, if I had to put it in a word.”

“It’s elegant and more- there isn’t any single word that can really capture it. Which is why calming Vah Ruta is so important to us. Or one of the reasons, anyway. If Ruta floods the domain… centuries of work of our skilled artisans, gone just like that. King Dorephan has worked himself into a terrible worry over it.”

Green can’t help but cast a nervous glance at the waterspout looming behind them, a beacon to the raging beast. “Especially if it killed Champion Mipha…”

“Rest her soul, we don’t think that’s what happened, exactly,” Tula says, hastily, “Princess Mipha’s control over Ruta was absolute, and their bond was unshakable. Nothing could have changed that save interference by another being. Of course, we have to prove that theory- which is why we need Hylians, like you, to get in there and find out.”

“It’s a lucky coincidence, I guess. A few friends and I have been looking for information on them, the divine beasts I mean, trying to see if we can do anything about them.”

That seems to excite her, and her pace quickens (though it isn’t difficult to adjust, their legs are so short). “Friends, you say? Hylians as well, these?”

“Well, some. One’s a sheikah, and another half sheikah, and I’m half gerudo actually so I don’t know if I count, really.”

“That’s wonderful news!” She tugs insistently at his wrist, past the smooth silver of the memorial of Champion Mipha and to the stairs that lead to the king’s chamber. “To think- sheikah, and one of gerudo blood, this will be even better than just hylian. Tell me, are any of you skilled with a bow?”

“Uh, the half sheikah is, his name’s Vio-”

“Come, come, save the details for the king, he’ll be just ecstatic to hear this, this is better news than we could have hoped for!”

He’s rushed with all haste into Dorephan’s audience chamber, and is met with a king the size of a house, and a prince hardly up to his waist (both of whom he bows to, unsure of how to handle himself in presence of another’s royalty). He introduces himself and, at Tula’s prodding, offers details on himself and his friends, and that goes into strategy discussion and something that sounds suspiciously like an agreement of some sort, and he leaves to his special luxury guest suite in the domain wondering what he’s just gotten himself into.

danger;

Vio is very aware of the dangers of Hebra, mundane and otherwise. Zelda makes sure to remind him- mind thin ice, check for solid footholds, hollow a space in the snow in the event of an avalanche, check your hands and feet every hour or so for frostbite, if you hear a howl get somewhere inaccessible to quadrupeds.

She’s known Hebra half a lifetime, and she’s wary, so he’s wary; it’s all in good sense, of course.

“Do monsters run as rampant here as they do in the warmer regions?”

“Yes, but in a different way, I guess. The camps aren’t as frequent, but they come in bigger groups.”

As they discover hardly an hour later.

It surprises Zelda- “I’d never seen an encampment here before”- and it puts him off a little. Bigger groups is no exaggeration: it’s a dozen of them, at least, but probably more, bokoblins and moblins and pale blue lizals clumped around a fire comically small for their group.

“We will find another way,” Vio murmurs, takes her arm and pulls gently, and she goes to turn, and her foot cracks a crust of ice and all eyes are on them.

It’s chaos from there, too many against too few, a seven to one ratio at the least, and Vio is ill-suited to the terrain and Zelda’s too outnumbered to be effective with her small quick weapons. Quickly she takes the role as diversion, gives Vio time to pick them off, it’s the safest option, or it is in theory.

“Get back,” He calls to her, when no more than half have fallen, dead or otherwise incapacitated, “Far back, go down the slope if you must!”

She’s not sure why he says it but she does it anyway, favoring the probability of surviving a slide downhill over melee against six monsters twice her size. She takes one with her as she goes, knocks it off balance and sends it careening down, locks her feet in the straps of her shield and follows it. Just as she reaches the bottom she hears a crackle, and then a loud noise that sounds almost like a parachute catching the wind, and a burst of heat sears her face even at that distance.

A fire arrow, she thinks, clever, at least against the lizals, and drives her knife into the moblin’s head when it tries to rise. It’s a little while before she chances to move, because it’s too quiet for her liking, not a word from Vio since he’d let the arrow fly. She picks her way up the hill- it’s easier now, with some of the snow melted to reveal footholds.

“Vio?”

“I am alive.”

It takes a moment of looking around, but she finds him, sitting against a log the moblins had been resting on, checking his bow for burns. She’s wary, as she crosses the snow, but no ice chus burst from the drifts, so she sits beside him, sighs and slumps against the damp wood.

“Hell of a fight,” She says, and scrubs at a spatter of bokoblin blood on her leg with a handful of snow.

“Hell of a fight,” He agrees. Satisfied with his bow’s condition, he frees it of its string and stores it for the time being, takes out the first aid kit he keeps tucked in his pack. “Need anything?”

She agrees to a bandage; she’d missed a good dodge by a fraction of a second, and the little slice on her stomach stings against her undershirt. It’s only when she’s handing back the roll when she notices Vio’s got one hand shoved into the snow, the surrounding sleeve alarmingly blackened, and when he pulls it out the ice is stained pale red.

“Vio, what happened?”

“I was careless with the fire arrow is all. Not enough time to take proper precaution.”

“That’s a bad burn.”

“It looks worse than it is, fortunately.”

She’s skeptical, watches as he smears some bitter-smelling salve on it and wraps it in bandages and eases his glove over it. “That didn’t burn?”

“I suspected this might happen. I took it off before I got the arrow.”

“We need to get that checked out by a healer. There’s a stable not too far from here we can go to.”

“Tomorrow, maybe. We ought to get our rest while we can. The danger is past, for now.”

[itsbenedict]

i just finished Horizon: Zero Dawn, which holy dicks, might have been my game of the year if persona 5 hadn’t also come out this year. spoiler-heavy impressions (in the form of chatlogs with zero) under the cut:

god damn this game is just fun to play all the sneaking around and shooting stuff is really satisfying, and it feels great encountering some new machine that you don't know how to handle, and figuring out how to deal with it the balance is just right- strong machines can fuck you up, but nothing's a one-hit kill- if you fuck up, you get to chug health potions and run like hell until it loses interest, and then you try again it welcomes and rewards experimentation you organically develop strategies for taking them on stuff that seems intimidating and impossibly hard at first eventually becomes easy- not because you leveled up and got stronger numbers than it, but because you've done this before, you know how to dispatch these things in a matter of moments the giant crocodiles- scary, but you can knock off two thirds of their health by igniting their blaze canisters, and then play keepaway with their easily dodged ice blasts while you chip off the rest with easy headshots the swarms of hawks- overwhelming at first, but they completely flip out if you shoot two fire arrows at them, and you can keep them all downed while you work on taking them out the giant charging desert bulls- a couple ice bombs from the sling more or less immobilize them and make them take massive damage you always start terrified, trying different ammo on different weak points until you find something that works and then you feel like an invincible badass despite not really being any stronger in absolute terms

Zerovirus: that's the good shit

Benedict: it reminds me of the witness, in that you progress and gain abilities by learning systems and getting good, rather than by getting abstract experience points and leveling up i mean, you do level up, but it's just more health mostly

Zerovirus: health, more inventory, better harvesting abilities is what i think it was? and some jump ambush skills

Benedict: it's health and skill points the skills are pretty cool- none of them feel mandatory, but they all make something slightly easier like one gives you a few seconds of bullet time to line up a shot- it doesn't let you do anything you couldn't before, but now you're more likely to succeed and then there's the stealth melee takedowns that i barely use because everything in the fucking game notices you if you get too close no matter how quiet you're being for the same reason, i haven't used overriding since the game made me for a quest early on my advantage is in staying far away and hidden and able to disengage at will getting in close is always such a bad idea

Zerovirus: on the other hand, i'm pretty sure eventually you can override t-rexes and just watch kaijus fight

Benedict: oh yeah the cauldrons the first time i encountered one of those was incredible like, okay, here's a post-apocalyptic wilderness, but OH GOD TETRAHEDRON SPACESHIP ZONE

Zerovirus: were they disorienting for you as a player?i kept getting lost watching the lper navigate them they were really damn cool though what a great total environment change

Benedict: no not really so far they're pretty linear anyway they'd be cooler if the reward for completing them wasn't "now you can do that thing you never do to more things"

Zerovirus: just do the one that lets you do that thing to t-rexes it's entirely viable to go for an override playstyle with sufficient bolas and big boss monsters to hax i mean, you have the bolas, right the.. i mean, the ropecaster the thing-what-lets-you-tie-robots-down-and-make-them-easy-killings

Benedict: oh, right i uh haven't used that either like at all, i haven't tried it yet

Zerovirus: dude try out the ropecaster the ropecaster is what makes override viable as a playstyle it's basically 'shoot it three times in any part of its body to totally immobilize it for a few seconds' (bigger ones might need more than three i think)

Benedict: honestly i haven't thought about it much since my other weapons are so cool, but huh i think the reason i didn't try was because it seemed too good to be true "yeah, this thing you just shoot and it stops the enemy"

Zerovirus: no dude the ropecaster is easily the coolest weapon really locking down enemies is super effective well, that and setting up wire traps and just letting your enemies walk right into them that one never gets old either

Benedict: i use the tripcaster... probably not as intended

Zerovirus: ==>?

Benedict: like you're supposed to put it in an enemy's patrol path so they walk into it but the problem with that is they're usually around other enemies and if you go in to capitalize, you'll get ganged up on

Zerovirus: what the lper i watched did was set up like eight traps in a ring around himself and then make lots of sound and just watch the mobs walk into his death circle it was, frankly, really amusing

Benedict: i tried that once- it failed because i tried it on sawtooths, who, uh they jump. over. the wires. and kill you. oh my favorite enemy to fight right now is ravagers they're huge and scary, but it's so easy to kill them one tearblast arrow to the exposed gun pick up gun fucking annihilate everything in sight there's only a few things that really bug me about this game so far one is that the voice actors are way better than the writers, and it feels so weird hearing good voice actors try to breathe life into really fucking tedious dialogue there's been maybe two characters with more than one personality trait

Zerovirus: the plot of this game isn't super deep or anything don't worry about it too much it's very hollywood robot apocalypse scifi

Benedict: yeah, i'm not- i'm here for the cool robot hunting the game does some pretty ham-fisted stuff to explain why the player is the only one who can do a quest 90% of the time it's "this area is taboo, and everyone but you is too superstitious for some reason" also: the inventory screen is bugged out wrt the little exclamation points to indicate you have new shit i can't discern a pattern, they just seem to be placed at random 

SEVERAL DAYS LATER

Benedict: so zero you told me not to worry about the writing, the plot isn't super deep or anything but holy fucking shit almighty horizon zero dawn got so damn cool i think my gripes with the writing early on were a product of how the nora suck they're an offensive native american caricature, a bunch of nature-worshipping tribal dimwits with more superstitions than brain cells as soon as the writers stopped writing the nora, the writing improved immensely and i'm pretty much almost done with the plot at this point i reached zero dawn and went and heard gaia's message in all-mother mountain and holy fuck this plot got so cool i honestly wasn't expecting explanations for stuff the beginning of the game got me thinking they'd be more interested in treating the whole sci-fi backstory as a mythology for the world like yeah cauldrons make machines, they're like, some fuckin factory whatsit the Mysterious Ancients made instead of what i got, which was several extended sequences of crawling around in ancient ruins and getting a meticulously thought-through backstory through audio logs and stuff my jaw was hanging open for like the whole zero dawn facility section "no, they didn't stop the robot apocalypse halfway- they let it play out until the robots ran out of biomass to eat and reduced the earth to a lifeless hunk of rock, and then deployed a friendly AI to re-seed it with biological life" holy shit incidentally: holy FUCK was the Hades subsystem a phenomenally shitty idea hey gaia try this: if you fuck up, reset things yourself!! you don't need an autonomous ABSOLUTE DEATH GOD that fucking takes over your systems and fights you for control!! it was just such a terrible plan that it breaks my suspension of disbelief a little with all the audio logs in the zero dawn facility with candidates second-guessing and questioning the entire project, no one thought to bring up "hey, maybe the WIPE OUT ALL LIFE AGAIN adversarial subsystem we're building carries a few inherent risks" the conflict here kinda seems like a diabolus ex machina, honestly they could have easily just had Hades be an accidentally reactivated Horus unit- the Faro robots kind of already have a wipe-out-all-life directive that would make perfect sense technobabble your way into saying the Faro plague hacked Gaia somehow, and boom but fucking Hades the whole conflict driving the plot is the equivalent of the supervillain who builds a big red self-destruct button on his machine that aside, this game's plot has turned out to be really fucking cool i came close to tears a few times in the zero dawn facility humanity's best and brightest having various visceral reactions to the shock and despair of the project's nature god damn was that one of the coolest reveals i've ever had in a video game i'm really pleasantly surprised by how much detail it gave me- it really made "find out what the fuck is the deal" the player's central motivation i think the nora shit in the beginning got me expecting that their worldview would be more or less validated by the narrative but now i come back to the starting area to save all their asses, and it becomes abundantly clear that these people are small and backwards and the world is so much bigger than them likewise the moment where fuckin whatshisname dadmurderer captures you and puts you in the sun-ring right on the heels of all the huge plot reveals he's standing there monologuing about prophecy and the sun and how important he is and following what i'd just gone through, it was so, so pathetic to watch this half-naked thug go on and on about how this, this moment of knocking me out and capturing me for some gladiatorial shit, was the most important moment in the world and i'm just sitting there shaking my head at him like, dude, you ain't shit. you ain't even in the vicinity of shit.oh, you've got a corrupted behemoth for me to fight, totally unarmed? don't make me fucking laugh, i eat that shit for breakfast (sorta took the wind out of sylens' rescue at the end when whathisface sicced two corruptors on me) (like dude i had this. two corruptors is god damn child's play.) i'm so fucking overpowered right now, i've completed every single sidequest save the armor one, where i still need the core from the last area oh, corrupted thunderjaw pinning down the entire nora tribe? Y-fucking-AWN ice bombs plus actual bombs, dead in two minutes not that the combat has become boring- attacks still hurt, i have to dodge and get the fuck out of the way and heal off hits that take off more than half my bar, it's really tense- but i can always heal, can always dodge, there's a great rhythm to attacking and dodging and attacking and dodging

[ciathyzareposts]

The Legacy: Bad to the Bone

The enemies get more terrifying and grotesque.

       The Legacy is a much bigger game than I expected going in. I figured it would be a typical adventure game set in a haunted house with maybe three levels and a basement, all of them relatively compact, with all rooms serving some kind of purpose. But the creators of this game made a true hybrid, and from the RPG side, that includes enough levels, with enough space, to satisfy a Wizardry or Dungeon Master fan.

From what I’ve discovered so far, the main house has at least five levels. I’ve explored three of them, made a quick visit to the fourth, and read about a fifth. There are three separate basements, although only one is full-sized, and at least one sub-basement below that. And there are portals to other planes or worlds–maybe as many as one per rune symbol, which would be about a dozen so far. 

Given the size, my usual approach to adventure games–have one or more characters run around, map everything, annotate puzzles, don’t worry about whether they screw something up, then play the game “for real” with a final character–wasn’t going to work. Despite some reader warnings, I’m just going to have to trust that the game won’t place me in a “walking dead” situation. I’ve reserved two magic crystals (which regenerate spell points) in case I need a final bit of spell power, but beyond that I’m just going to have to trust my instincts. Thus, after taking Major Robert Kowalski into a few final areas, I re-started the game with the witch Irene Bolingbroke. I re-did the first level as efficiently as possible. Despite knowing the location of the Juju fetish, I did end up killing all the zombies. The CRPG player in me just couldn’t live with a bunch of enemies roaming around.

      I darted up to the second level long enough to get the bulletproof vest and then took on what turned out to be a shotgun-wielding zombie in one of the lower levels. It took me a couple of reloads, but I eventually killed him with my own guns and looted his shotgun and sunglasses. Between the vest, the shotgun, and the sunglasses, Irene looked pretty badass for most of this session. Late in it, I found an anti-magic tiara which replaced the sunglasses and changed her look entirely. It’s amazing what a little headgear can do.           

Looking at that portrait of Irene, you can’t help but hear the opening chords of George Thorogood’s guitar.

           The main basement, right off the entry hall, was a standard 22 x 22 level with a lot of one-way doors that funneled me along specific paths. The toughest monsters were these gray demons that I labeled “gargoyles.” They took forever to kill and hit hard but fortunately didn’t hit often. Irene ultimately found four different types of handguns and two different shotguns, a knife, a baseball bat, and an axe. I don’t remember what weapons I use to kill what foes, but I ultimately killed every one I encountered except for the “beholders” I described last time–a note indicated they might even be beneficial–and some others that I’ll note below.

    The basement also had some smaller demons that could poison Irene, but fortunately I found a healing spell before they became much of a problem.         

If they didn’t poison, they’d be almost cute.

           In one of the basement rooms, I found an electric toolkit, which turned out to be the key to fixing the fuse boxes. Every level so far has had a fuse box, and once I fixed it with the kit and turned it on, darkness ceased to be a problem. I was able to do most of Irene’s exploring without wasting the batteries in the flashlight. I ultimately found two more sets of batteries, too, plus an oil lamp, plus a spell that lets you see in the dark, so I think I’m all set on light.

In both the basement and second floor, I finally found rooms marked by triangles. Each had a bed and was thus marked as a safe space to rest. My character couldn’t rest, however, until late in this session–the game kept saying she didn’t need it. I was well into my sixth hour before she needed rest or food. Unless the game is vastly longer than it seems, I can’t imagine that running out of food is going to be an issue.          

Awakening after I was finally able to sleep.

        Beyond that, my primary find in the basement was a dimensional gateway that led me to a freaky area that I didn’t feel I was ready to explore yet. There was also a special room with a demonic skull and a ray of light, but I couldn’t think of anything to do there. I trust it comes into play later.          

I think I might be here a bit too early.

         The second floor had all those ghosts, and I ultimately found the painting that got rid of all of them with a single match. I wasn’t so lucky with the winged demons, but I was ultimately able to kill them all with firearms and melee weapons. There was one series of corridors where I had to walk in the opposite direction from the one I intended to progress, which was kind of fun to figure out.

The person knocking behind the locked door turned out to be the private investigator sent by the real estate agent to find out what happened to the previous owners. She hadn’t made much progress before the zombies and ghosts scared her out of her wits and she got trapped in the room. The room she was trapped in had a plaque denoting it as “Room 7.” To free her, I had to find the doors numbered 1-6 and walk through them in sequence (this was explained by another plaque in the southwest corner). She took off running after a brief conversation.         

I didn’t expect to find dialogue options in this kind of game.

            The third level was an insane asylum. The game’s story is that the owners of the house were running a private asylum on their third floor, complete with padded cells, sterile tiled floors and walls, and security doors. I guess they were taking inmates on contract from other facilities, but the owners were secretly feeding the hapless souls to demons (more on that in a bit). I’m left wondering how they got the inmates to the asylum–did they parade them through the main part of the house? There are no exterior entrances that I can see.          

One of the padded cells of the asylum level.

          The only inmate remaining was Ellen Prentiss, sister of the last owner, Robert Prentiss (we had a bit about her last time). She was wandering the halls in a straitjacket, wielding an axe, and she attacked me just as soon as I appeared, shouting that I had Winthrop blood so I had to die. I couldn’t find any way to reason with her or stop her, and since there was a puzzle later that required me to be wearing her straitjacket, I assume killing her was the right thing to do.             

I hadn’t yet found the fuse box when Ellen attacked.

         The level also featured numerous floating snakelike things with mouths at each end. They died in a few blows of the axe. Later, behind a secret door, I encountered blobs of living fire that defied all weapons, but fortunately died from the use of two fire extinguishers found on the level.          

Taking on a living ball of fire with a fire extinguisher.

           Behind one of the padded walls of the asylum, a human figure begged me to free him from the Ethereal Plane and not to summon “the Karcist.”          

Unless “the Karcist” is the local medical examiner, you’re fine.

         All of the levels I explored were full of items, some of which I had an immediate use for (first aid kits, magic crystals, ammunition), but most of which I have no idea what it’s for. Since inventory space is limited, I’ve mostly just been annotating the locations of unknown items and trusting I’ll be able to find them in their original locations if I need them. Such items include three demonic figurines, half a dozen “Chinese coins,” several runestones, and something called the “Hand of Glory.”

I’ve also found new spells at regular intervals, but I’ve hardly cast any of them. I started with “Flames of Desolation,” an offensive spell, and “Crimson Mists of Myamota,” a protection from physical harm. Over the course of the game, I’ve acquired “Aura of Mystic Defense,” “Shroud of the Dark Walker” (a displacement spell), “Sight of the Dark Walker,” “Belgor’s Mental Violation,” “Elixir of Health,” “Key of the Shadow Lord” (unlock doors), and “Dimensional Rift,” the last one only just acquired. I’ve put most of my spell points into “Elixir of Health,” probably getting less out of the defensive spells (and thus reducing the need for health) than I could have. They seem to last a pretty long time, too.         

Finding a key spell.

        That leaves the story. There are a lot of documents in this game, and fortunately a couple of “document wallets” to collect and organize them. I’m keeping an ongoing timeline, plugging things in as I learn them, rather than just updating myself with the latest, so some of this will be a repeat:

The issue here is less a haunted house than an evil ancestor; hence, the “legacy” of the title. Elias Winthrop was dedicated from the beginning to bringing evil demons into the earthly plane, and has guided his descendants to do the same.

            1599: Elias Winthrop born in Telbury, England.

1620: Elias Winthrop marries Ann Puttnam.

1639: Elias Winthrop builds Winthrop House in Longport, Massachusetts.

1662: Elias Winthrop burned in Boston as a warlock after confessing freely to his sins. He is said to have taken command of numerous demons and devils. The house passes to his son, Hildebrand Winthrop (1641-1699). Elias somehow cheats death and becomes “the Karcist.”

1665: Hildebrand constructs a number of “secret areas” attached to the basement.

1693/1694: Josiah Winthrop and Alaric Winthrop born to Hildebrand Winthrop. Both later take on new last names (Maitland and Mayhew, respectively). Josiah occupies the house but has no grandchildren, so the house eventually passes to Alaric’s line.

1699: Hildebrand dies in a fire after years of “debauched revelries” in the house. 

1727: Third and fourth floors added to the house, presumably supervised by Josiah Winthrop.

1729: Josiah Maitland tries to dig down into the deep cellars where his father held his debauched rituals but is repelled by the rock demons (what I called “gargoyles”) living there.

1730: A tunnel is built connecting the basement to some natural caves.

1780: Fifth floor added to the house, but with no access from the lower four floors.

1790: The Cult of Melchior forms this year or sometime before it.

           If the cult was going to worship one of the Three Wise Men, this painting suggests it would have made more sense going with Caspar.

        1792/1793: Lawrence Mayhew, son of Alaric, and Lawrence’s wife Grace both die. The house passes to Miles Mayhew. Grace’s ghost ends up haunting the house, and in trying to lay her spirit to rest, Miles ends up opening the house to supernatural forces.

c. 1827: Miles Mayhew marries Mary Locke. The have two daughters: Miriam (1828-1898) and a second one not named.

1841: Edgar Allen Poe visits his friend, Miles Mayhew, at the house and later writes about his terrifying experience. 

1841: Mayhew opens a Museum of Esoterica on the fourth floor of the house, exhibiting occult artifacts that Hildebrand had owned. The museum is continually maintained from this point, though not open to the public.

1843: Strange lights reported in the skies above the house, accompanied by disappearances in Longport.

1848: Miles Mayhew’s wife, Mary Locke, is possessed or goes insane. She claims that the Karcist is her new husband, and she torments Miles daily with demonic visitations. She dies the same year. Their unnamed daughter, the “Siren of Longport,” is hung as a murderess in Boston after killing a series of men. Miriam becomes a member of the Cult of Melchior.

1850. Elias Winthrop’s paternal line ends with the death of Miles Mayhew. The house passes to Miriam, who has married a Giles Murchison. They have a daughter, Abigail (1861-1925), born after Giles dies in 1860.

1861: The house’s third floor is converted to a private insane asylum under Miriam’s direction. It opens for patients in 1865.

1880: Miriam is running the insane asylum and giving some of its patients as sacrifices to Sea Demons. She puts a cult member named Anton Wisniewski in charge of the asylum.

1893: Strange lights reported in the skies above the house, accompanied by disappearances in Longport.

1899: Anton Wisniewski is still running the third-floor asylum, handing over its hapless residents to “Sea Demons” so they can be made into “Servitors.”

1900: Nathan Prentiss (d. 1964) is born to Abigail Murchison (1861-1925) and Tom Prentiss (1872-1931).

1902: Sarah Prentiss (d. 1970) born, sister of Nathan. She will later marry Alexander Cowley. The player character is the son, grandson, or great-grandson of this union.

1915: Karen Daniels born, who marries Nathan Prentiss sometime before 1940.

1920: Anton Wisniewski casts a spell to summon “hellions” to roam the lower levels so that the sea demons can no longer enter the house and demand human lives. 

1937: Nathan Prentiss learns that the runes scattered around the house appear every time the Rite of Opening is performed. A “lurker” (what I’ve been calling “beholders”) also accompanies each gate.

1940: Ellen Prentiss born to Karen and Nathan.

1942: Robert Prentiss born to Karen and Nathan. He will marry Catherine Rosemonde (b. 1950).

1943: Strange lights reported in the skies above the house, accompanied by disappearances in Longport.

1962: Robert Prentiss and his Acolytes of Doom complete the Rite of Forbidding in the Egyptian temple. 

1964: Robert Prentiss murders his father, Nathan, and learns from some documents about his heritage. He vows to continue opening gates so that the “Great Beast, Belthegor, Lord of the Dark Triumvirate, can enter the earthly plane.”

            From Robert’s diary. This is how I learned about Belthegor for the first time.

           1967:  Ellen Prentiss tries to burn down the house and is locked in its asylum.

5 July 1992: Robert Prentiss reports a growing number of incursions to the house from other planes. He notes that the time for opening the “final gate” will soon be here.

2 September 1992: The sea demons are apparently back, because Robert writes about driving into town and kidnapping a vagrant to appease them.

12 September 1992: Ellen Prentiss escapes from the asylum and murders Karen and Catherine. Robert becomes convinced that he is “The One”–the inheritor of Elias Winthrop’s legacy. He accidentally fills the asylum with fire demons when trying to cast a spell to locate Ellen.

Late 1992: Robert summons a “dark god” named Alberoth to patrol the lower levels of the basement. Ellen doesn’t find him a threat as she can just run past him. 

Late 1992: Ellen Prentiss kills Robert. Knowledge of the disappearances or deaths of Karen, Catherine, and Robert make their way to the outside world. Ellen dedicates herself to freeing Belthegor but needs to find Elias Winthrop’s heart and somehow get to the fifth floor “through the gates behind his face.”

1993: Marcus Roberts, an amateur paranormal investigator, takes it upon himself to enter the house. He sees Ellen but manages to avoid her. He finds portals to other dimensions and accidentally releases zombies into the main part of the house. He becomes convinced that he must find the Golden Torc in the basement, but he is (probably) killed there by a shotgun-wielding zombie.

1993: The realtor, E. Croxley, hires private investigator Dee Kirby to find out what happened to Karen, Catherine, and Robert. She is scared and locked in a room by some ghosts and basically discovers nothing.

1993: The player inherits the house and begins his investigation, just as the disappearances and strange lights are scheduled to resume.

           If you don’t feel like reading all of that, the result seems to be that I have to stop Elias Winthrop’s spirit, known as “the Karcist,” and perhaps his human agents, from completing the final Rite of Opening and bringing the demon lord Belthegor to Earth. To do this, I’m apparently going to have to travel to other planes. I can apparently do this by casting the “Dimensional Rift” spell where there are already existing glyphs on the walls of the house–the very runes I’ve been wondering about. There are already at least a dozen of them, so I don’t know if they go to a dozen separate locations or just separate coordinates in the same map. Either way, a note suggests that I’ll need to protect myself with the “jade god of the Mayans” before I go.         

Instructions on taking gates through other planes.

         (Incidentally, I think you get most of the experience in the game from reading notes, not killing enemies or solving puzzles. Hence, even players who have already been through the game once and know the story will want to stop and read everything to make sure they get the points.)      Quite a few mysteries remain. I don’t understand the relationship between the Karcist, Belthegor, and the Melchior and his cult, for instance. Nor do I understand the role of the Sea Demons–are they in league with Belthegor or just an ancillary menace? Who are the other two gods making up the “dark triumvirate”? Do these demonic statuettes that I keep finding–named Cartag, Pthark, and Skaruk–have anything to do with it?        As I end this session, the most viable way open for exploration is the fourth floor of the house, where there’s supposedly some kind of museum. I have several ways to access the sub-basement, but every time I go there, some floating ball of tentacles stops me and kills me pretty fast. It’s very hard to push around him. I wonder if this is supposed to be the “dark god” Alberoth that Ellen wrote about. She mentioned that he appears in the lower level and can seemingly be in multiple places at once, which explains why he’s always at the bottom of whatever staircase I take. I think the real reason I’m making the association is because of Aboleths from Dungeons and Dragons.           

A dark god, or just an annoying creature?

             Late in the session, I found a second way forward when Ellen’s note about finding a portal “behind Elias’s face” reminded me that I had yet to do anything about the painting in the entry hall, and I had just the thing–a green gem that seemed likely to fit into the hollow in the painting’s pendant. It did so, revealing a secret door behind the painting. (It tore the painting in half in doing so. Did someone have to re-paint the thing every time they wanted to close the secret door?)           

The secret door led to a special room with a portal.

         The secret door led to a room with a teleporter, which took me to some weird Egyptian-inspired temple. Unfortunately, the place is full of locked doors I can’t access yet (but that was before I got the “Key of the Shadow Lord” spell). There’s a guy hanging around one corner who looks just like a regular guy, not a monster, but he won’t talk to me.            

I don’t want to kill him because he’s a normal-looking guy in a suit..

          Other open puzzles and blocked ways are:

A locked door in the southern part of the second level. It defies every attempt to force it. I can’t remember if I tried the spell yet.

Two locked doors in the asylum, coincidentally right above the part of Level 2 that I can’t access (which, come to think of it, would correspond with the nailed-shut doors on Level 1). I have tried the spell on them, to no avail.

A basement room where every time I try to enter, my eyes get blurry (sunglasses don’t help), something screams, and I’m knocked back out and down the hallway.

A dimensional gateway in the basement. 

         As I was compiling the information above, I realized I never found anything that looks like the “catacombs” that Marcus Roberts was planning to explore as he headed down the set of stairs that led to the shotgun-wielding zombie. That area, as I mapped it consisted of a single hallway of eight squares plus three alcoves. Perhaps there are secret doors or something else I missed down there. I need to head back and check it out.

In short, I don’t know if I’m more than halfway through what is shaping up to be a very long, large, and interesting game. I particularly like that most of the lore is presented in epistolary form, found more or less randomly, and the player has to piece it together

Time so far: 13 hours

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/the-legacy-bad-to-the-bone/

[terryblount]

Daemon X Machina – Review

”Don’t worry Coop, I won’t forget our Adage”

“I dig giant robots, you dig giant robots. We dig giant robots, chicks dig giant robots”

”By the gods, I dig giant Robots”

-Provost Coop and Vicar Jamie

Giant robots just won’t go out of style. While they may never be pop-culture giants like superheroes, the fact of the matter is that for as long as there are niche interests, there will always be love (sometimes too much) for giant mechanized humanoids.

Daemon X Machina is game that steeps itself in the Real Robot subgenre of mecha. You play a mercenary who uses their giant robot to complete missions on behalf of three mega conglomerates and fight an army of AI machines. While the game is easily a good mech game, it oftentimes drops surprises so out of left field that it stops it from being a great one.

Design

Like many games designed specifically for the Nintendo Switch,  Daemon X Machina looks amazing. Bold colors mesh with Armored Core-esque mecha designs and interesting looking characters to make for a game that just oozes visual appeal.

The bosses in this game all look amazing too, with all of them taking on the form of futuristic vehicles. The faceless, bold shaped designs combine with their purpose-driven shape to give them an almost megaman-level of informative design.

One of the strongest features in this game is the addition of a customizable HUD. The entire HUD is fully customizable via the menus, allowing you to reposition, resize and even adjust the opacity for every item on the display.

All this comes together for a game that just looks good. The environment colors look amazing, and everything’s just the right amount of detailed to not lose your mecha in all the on-screen chaos.

Gameplay

At its core, Daemon X Machina plays really well. The handling of the mechs feel good, and the game’s own integrated lock on makes sure that you don’t need too much precision while you’re zipping around the arenas.

War In The Handheld

The game’s mission structures remind me a lot of games like Monster Hunter where there are story missions which you do once, while you have “Free Missions” to be repeated ad nauseam and co-operative missions to do with either AI partners or friends.

The game’s story missions are particularly frustrating, especially once you start seeing the pattern to them. If the mission is story-driven, there will be a lot of dialogue both before the mission and during it. The start of the mission is particularly bad for this, as often times the game will load you into the mission but just give you nothing to do until the characters finish mouthing off at each other.

The game tries to change it up occasionally, most memorably with a mission where you play as your pilot without the mech. Unfortunately playing as your pilot is such an alien experience as there’s nothing particularly unique for you in that form, the game would have probably been better off without it.

Just Get In The Robot

But when you’re piloting the robot, the game is good. The boosters feel good to use, and there’s enough different equipment to build your mech to play up and down the tank-DPS scale.

Another gripe I have to bring up, however, is with the weapons. While the game has plenty of them, it suffers from a lot of balancing issues. Laser weapons, for example, cost both ammo and Femto (a special resource you generate or pick up) and don’t do all that much more than your standard gun, making them effectively useless.

Limited Blade Works

While my love of giant robots make me want to experiment with all the weapons this game throws at me, at the end of the day I end up using mostly machine guns because they are blatantly the game’s best weapons. Since so much of this game moves at high speeds, naturally a weapon that gets more dice has a higher chance of hitting its target. I’m not sure how I’d fix this, but I feel like there is an answer to be explored on how to fix this.

Melee combat is also uninspired, with not many options for the player who prefers to get in close. Most melee weapons have only one attack, except the light swords which will dash between targets. Again, I don’t know how I’d fix the problem, but I’m sure that there is a solution to make the melee combat feel rewarding to use considering the challenges of connecting to a mech moving way faster than you in the opposite direciton.

The best way to describe the gameplay would pretty much be an A+ on the basics, but falling apart when you add any kind of depth to it. While it gets the absolute basics- flying the robot and shooting bad guys- down, it does start feeling empty if you start wanting any more than that.

Content

Mono Build Fighter

Daemon X Machina has some form of communication disorder. While many of the bosses have cool motifs going for them, one of the most frustrating things you will encounter is a lack of any real way to apply those to your own mecha.

When you unlock the factory, you’ll find that there are some boss weapons, but not nearly enough. The truth is that the game has a second, secret factory which produces more boss equipment. While I always enjoy a good secret in a video game, I feel like the sheer ease with which to miss the secret factory puts it in a dangerous position.

I’m not going to lie and say discovering the secret factory didn’t drastically improve my thoughts on the game. Many of the boss weapons unlocked there are actually fun, from laser drills to giant jet boosters to several greatswords. My only complaint is that once again, I wish there was more.

Fashion X Machina

When it comes to customizing your mech, I feel like the game could have taken a few pages from Gundam Breaker. Eye colors are not customizable, for example, which really makes planning your Fashion X Machina game a lot less fulfilling if ultimately it has to look good with the game’s pre-set red visor.

Most offensively, weapons are not color customizable, either. For whatever reason the game decided this, making many of the coolest weapons look quite the eyesore if they don’t sync with your colorscheme.

Your pilot is customizable, too, with a variety of upgrades that slowly mechanize their body. While this is cool it is also very tedious if you screw up, as the only way to roll back upgrades is to start back at level one, meaning you should be fairly loaded with cash if you suddenly want to change your upgrades.

08th Arsenal Team

Equipment aside, the game also gets quite the mileage out of its cast of mercenary pilots. They exist to be unlocked as supports in Free and Co-op missions, and this can be quite the fun task. However the game doesn’t really explain much to you on how to unlock them, and it seems like their appearances also seem to be entirely random.

Again, while Daemon X Machina’s options certainly aren’t bad, they do feel like they missed a few obvious choices that could have been so much more.

Personal Opinion

I Dig Giant Robots

As a mecha fan, I quite like Daemon X Machina. The thought of high speed dogfights against other pilots is a seductive one, and the game nails it down quite well.

However, like a date that starts strong only to run out of topics partway through, Daemon X Machina does start to leave you wondering if there’s anything missing from the game as you get to the end.

…But I Also Dig Customization

The game plays it quite safe with its weapon options, with most guns being your standard assault rifle/machine gun / shotgun types, rather than play with the weirder stuff you can do with giant robots.

The shoulder weapons have a bit more variety to them with railguns and laser cannons, but ultimately you do wish there was a little more of each of them.

This Story Isn’t Just For Show

The story for the game isn’t that good, either. It’s charming at the start, with all the mercenaries having their own quirks and dynamics. However, the story seems very intent on being as dramatic as possible, leading to some truly frustrating plot points in the game (further compounded by the earlier mentioned delay of gameplay because of it).

There’s some nice callbacks to Mobile Suit Gundam, though, most notably with two of the characters in the game being voiced by the voice actors for Amuro Ray and Char Aznable.

Considering some of the dialogue said by the characters towards the end of the game and how you unlock co-op partners, I can’t help but wonder if there are iterations of this game with more Persona-like social elements. Some kind of fleshing out of the Co-op partners would have definitely been good, as some of them can be genuinely charming.

Conclusion

Daemon X Machina is by no means a perfect game. While certainly rough around the edges the game excels at its strengths enough to stand on its own two mechanized feet.

I guess the problem with being a niche game is that you will inevitably be taken apart, and have your individual components judged against games that did those well. This happens any time you try to look at the aspects of Daemon such as its hunting and mech building.

Daemon X Machina certainly zooms past the “Good” rating for a game, but to push it into “Great” does require some personal taste assessments on the part of the end user.

For all my gripes though, hunting a giant drill mech with my friends or going 2v4 against a mercenary squad is, well…

nice.

Copy Purchased By Reviewer and played on Nintendo Switch In Handheld Mode Primarily

Daemon X Machina – Review published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

[knifetrickseve]

Dungreed hardmode rant

What is it with single player videogames either being a snoozefest or near impossible to beat. Mainly talking about Dungreed here. As the normal mode is just really easy to get through unless you decide to turn your brain off for a bit.

Meanwhile hard mode decides to put you on either inhuman reflexes, or a very slow grind through the bosses (or you cheese it by getting wings and lara’s magical wand through the mystic skilltree). I don’t mind that mobs in regular rooms have their hp and attack scaled up, actually it forces me as the player to actually think which enemy to take out first and where to position myself further from there.

What I do mind is the few extra rooms they’ve put into hardmode only, where every enemy notices you immediately tagged along with the room having some sort of trap laid out.

(Zone 5 and 6 come to my mind with the lasers limiting your room to dodge so small that you essentially have to get iframes on your dashes to even survive, also that one giant bat room with lasers in zone 1 fuck that)

Now for the bosses:

Belial: Still fairly easy with his patterns just establishing how you are supposed to dodge these in the first place.

Niflheim: The most difficult boss when you start out with hardmode, most of her projectiles are unblockable and a lot of her attacks have been reworked to be stronger aswell. After a bit of practice I get it down a bit, but the hp on her ice pillars still manages to throw me off guard. Especially if she leads with the spinning attack while all 4 are alive.

Tunak: He spawns an additional lizard whenever he shouts now, which can be a pain to deal with. every other attack also lasts longer or has more projectiles. Not too difficult aslong as you focus on taking out the smaller lizards first. Spear->Chaser->Shielder

Envirok: His attacks are almost the same imo atleast in the way you dodge them. Aslong as your timing is right he is fine aswell.

Erta Ale: Same as normal mode I think? I couldn’t tell atleast his pattern was the same which once figured out makes this boss a cakewalk.

Slime Maker: He has an additional projectile which is hard to predict and dodge, other than that his attacks are a lot more aggressive forcing you to go back and forth aswell as up and down, in addition to that you want a melee weapon ready to destroy the homing missiles otherwise you will be in a very tight spot.

Lasley: I actually have no idea how you are supposed to beat him without having wings, you essentially deal so little damage to him that during the 2nd and 3rd phase you end up getting hit by his fire, forcing you to either play super slowly or rush him down which will result in your loss most likely.

Kaminela: Next to nothing changed here his attacks are just all a lot stronger so knowing how to dodge them/ practice in normal mode is a good start.

Locked up Thorn Monster: I haven’t attempted a run for true ending yet so I can’t even rant about that here..

my guess would be to have survivability ready.

tl;dr hardmode is a nice idea, but the game expecting you to have a lot of damage ready and forcing a loss if you don’t is not so fun.

[doylebuus03-blog]

Fallout 76: the Ultimate Convenience!

Make sure also you don't spray a lot of the remedy to the car to steer clear of damage on the electronic pieces. Landscape-changing nukes are another well-executed mechanic with a big flaw If you become disconnected, you can't return to the server you simply irradiated. There are, however, some easy methods to swiftly acquire a large sum of caps. The Hidden Facts on Fallout 76 Nuclear explosions would likewise cause immense fires. Once inside the silos, players may target certain sections of the map to destroy. Thus far, nuclear weapons are treated as a final resort. Here's What I Know About Fallout 76 The objective marker will lead you to each one of the components needed for crafting. You can discover the complete patch notes below. Virtually every encounter is hampered by some kind of stuttering, which leads to a frustrating quantity of input lag. If your workshop provides Nuclear for instance, then you'll have the choice to develop Nuclear Mineral Excavators. A human NPC seems to be residing in the developer room. A gray box is typically the phase after white box testing was completed. The Fallout 76 Trap There are additional people. Sometimes all 3 things are there. A good deal of people have said a great deal of bad things about Fallout 76. There are a lot of polls showing how folks view various professions for honesty and ethics. There are several contradicting articles from other dates, even closer to today, and it's worrying me. Sometimes whenever you have to figure out about the affair from somebody else (or even worse, the individual that has been cheating with your spouse) your reaction is much worse than whenever your spouse had the decency to inform you themselves. The War Against Fallout 76 With Fallout 76, you're leaving out a massive chunk of your dedicated players since they adore the solo adventure the story offers. Since you may see, the game isn't actually well-defined. Now the game is all about to acquire real! Whether you're fond of the genre, you will certainly find a great deal of fun in a Conan Exiles that guarantees a game for a short time. Among the most controversial details of the game is the dearth of NPCs. Things like how to find the most out of the game, stuff to stop from doing and what you definitely have to do. Games like rust also conduct scavenging a good deal better. So if your intention is on glitching Fallout 76, you most likely don't wish to glitch into the developer's room. Simply take a peek at Fallout 76 for a brand-new casualty within this gaming war. The Fallout 76 Stories So 76 will be like that. To begin with, it seems fantastic. Hancock is a little bit of a tough man to read. After all, high profits permit studios to continue to keep developers in employment and the budget to create more titles. Possessing a base is extremely handy for quite a few explanations. The skill to spot any ripe market is the main skill worth developing. Since you might imagine, that creates all sorts of problems. As a consequence, it's probably something that wasn't meant to be included. Regardless, the simple fact that Bethesda is banning people for actions associated with Fallout 76's developer room usually means that we're not likely to share how to go into the room or encourage anybody to find that information out unless they are well prepared to address the consequences. 4,Having wasteland whisper will make it possible for you to pacify creatures. You won't be using guns frequently, if ever, and so you will want as much melee damage as you are able to muster. It is possible to also use it in order to craft and mod weapons. Players can go through the complete game with the beta. A week later, everybody who holds a PlayStation 4 or PC pre-order is going to be permitted to learn more about the beta too. Yes, Into the Fire quest is just one of The Responders faction quests you will see in Fallout 76. The Birth of Fallout 76 Monster Hunter World made a lot of hype around it. West Virginia Tourism officials are hoping to market the state to a broader audience with the game's launch. You can get Plans in many of means. Power Armor Although now unavailable to pre order, it's well worth mentioning there is a Power Armor edition of the game, including the Tricentennial variant of the game, together with a complete scale, wearable Power Armor Helmet. If you're looking for the previous updates, you can discover the nuke codes for last week from here. Although, recently you could have noticed an increase in Toyota vehicles too. What Fallout 76 Is - and What it Is Not Work'll be the very first point to go. At the present time, Bethesda hasn't revealed the way the collection is going to be distributed, but we'll likely find out more details once the entitlement goes live. David Thrope is presently a scorcher and you'll kill him. Should you are unable to hack the terminal in the allotted number of guesses, you're going to be locked from the terminal for a moment. The font for the text you're reading is named Palatino. You are also going to be limited on which perk cards you may use dependent on the attributes you assigned while making your avatar. Unbiased Report Exposes the Unanswered Questions on Fallout 76