#I also saw one of the vas do a gameplay of it

[hawker-the-gary]

[arcadekitten]

[MY WISHMAKER Spoilers!]

.

.

.

.

.

I just played MY WISHMAKER last night and I loved it, so I wanted to give you my thoughts!

Arcade, you are SO SNEAKY AND CLEVER!!! I saw those promo images and was like "oh dear, he has a gunshot wound, what happened?" only to boot up the game and find out HIS WHOLE ARM WAS MISSING! You really can't tell when he's facing right, so I applaud you for hiding it so well.

I LOVE how sassy The Wishmaker is! I was expecting it/them(? I'll just go with them for now) to be kind of highfalutin and regal 'cause they're a deity and all but I really love how you went in this completely other direction! I think it does make sense since The Wishmaker obviously has to, like, grant people's wishes (in some way at least), so having a more casual manner of speech would probably make them less intimidated.

Also! I loved how you implemented the QTEs! I feel like it spices up the gameplay and is a nice little nod to your fans who played My Neighbor Enide. Even though I messed up all of them, though I SWEAR the Vas one was not my fault! I was mashing that Z button for dear life, but my laptop decided to type it into Edge for some reason!? I didn't even have it open!

Oh, and I see you were able to figure out the mouse movement? You said you'd have to move around using the arrow keys, which I was fine with, but I was pleasantly surprised when I booted up the game and I could move with the mouse too! It really completed the experience.

I don't really have much to say about the story, not because it's bad, but because it's so shrouded in mystery that my cogs are still turning as to what it could mean. I did really like the puzzles, though! And I did notice those key items you hid away...

I have plenty of theories I've been ruminating on even before MW, but I don't wanna put them here because 1) since this is an ask it might make you feel obligated to comment on them somehow which you are not and I don't want you to do, and 2) I think I would start rambling and make this ask a mile long LOL.

That's about everything I could think of off the top of my head! Overall, I really enjoyed it, and I hope you the best in all the other chapters and games you plan to make. I'm sure I'll enjoy them just as much, if not even more. Take care!

Haha yes! ♡ I know some people have been asking why Reginald has two arms in the promo images and it's like...it's meant to be a surprise, silly!

Also for our little Wishmaker character, yes! I adore them very much and I'm very excited for people to see more of them and learn their real name!! Another one of my favorites to be sure ♡ Not sure how I'll tag them in posts yet until their name reveal... clock, maybe? Just to avoid confusion? This character can be referred to with any pronouns, but for clarification that in games and in my posts they will only be referred to with "they" and the occasional "it"

I'm happy the QTEs are received well! (Granted they were a bit harder at first haha!) I'm happy to include them in future chapters as I feel future chapters will definitely be more linear and dialogue heavy and so I hope they can spice up the gameplay and keep things interesting and maybe just a tad more immersive! ♡

As for mouse movement controls it's kinda like a "Well yes, but actually no". You CAN move using the mouse if you really want to but you also have to be aware that you could accidentally hit an object's hitbox and activate its event. And you can't back out of an event once it has been activated like in typical point-and-clicks. (There's only so far I can push the engine with my experience level!) It's for this reason (and the surprise of QTE's!) that WASD/Arrow Key movement is recommended!

Thank you so much! ♡ I am so very happy to hear you enjoyed the experience and I love to hear what people have been brewing up regarding the story and the mysteries still unfolding (even though I can't say anything about it yet!) and I can't wait until I can have more to show you all! I'm really excited for it and I hope everyone will be too! ♡♡♡

[mliter]

Luke Sullivan.

"Beast mode, Baby!"

Character designer Kaname Fujioka mentioned that alongside Kimberly and Jamie, Luke is to serve as one of the big 3 to the new generation of street fighter fans. So, who is this guy? Is he supposed to be the new Ryu? Or something else?

He was revealed in Street Fighter 5 as the final DLC character. Back then i was expecting Makoto. I was quite disapointed, alongside other people who were expecting other things. But the development team had a lot of faith in him. Like a lot. Going as far to call him the future of street fighter?

in 5, Luke comes off as a cocky and arrogant young dude. Fresh off the army with a little bit of encouragement from Guile, he has a strong will to back it up. He's not too respectful to his opponents and doesn't seem to be taking this fighting thing seriously. he does seem to enjoy it though.

Also a cool detail about him in 5 is that some of his moves have this paint splash effect, alluding now to street fighter 6' whole aesthetic. They really meant this "future of street fighter" shit. How cool!

Time passes, and he's revealed to be included in Street Fighter 6. More humble and mature, he takes the role of the guide of the story mode of the game. Due to past experiences he seems more laid back. He seems like a really cool older brother now! This maturity is also shown to the rest of the cast. He's really endearing now.

He's also rocking a brand new design that a lot of people agree is much better to look at. It works with his MMA background very well. The t-shirt with the design meant to replace the tattoo he had in 5 coupled with the open hoodie makes for a fun look! And let's not leave out his forearms, one of his most recognizable traits.

His gameplay is pretty fun. I've found myself playing him more. He's a simple character to get down, being very easy for beginners to pick up. But at the same time, there's some depth to him. Here's him preforming one of the greatest comebacks in the past few years on the biggest stage of fighting games. I saw this live. Jaw on the floor. I wanna get good at him so bad now. His upbeat playful attitude makes for a character meant for the type of person looking to steamroll their opponents with a big dumb smile on their face. Chances are that the smile on his face will be wider.

Luke has shaped up to be one of The Dudes of all time. He's a walking definition of a gamble. Capcom took a huge one with him and when it look like it wasn't going well at the start, he's now well beloved through the efforts of the voice actor, who loves him just as much.

I think that through his journey, Luke is going to grow and evolve with the rest of the cast. I think one day, he's gonna be a respected and accomplished old master. But right now? He's gonna do him.

Let's go back to the voice actor. Aleks Le. This guy's efforts over the past few years have turned the perception of this character around entirely. Even going as far to implement it in his voice work between games.

He's been making memes and has been working with talented people online to make all sorts of content to really show the world who luke really is. This guy has a real passion for his character that i'm starting to see more and more VAs freely express and i love it all. What he's done for Luke and what Luke has done for him will be studied somewhere.

[itskikanow]

In honor of the DLC coming out tomorrow I’ve replayed Error 143 to enjoy the adorable dork that is Micah Yujin. So let me gush about him will ya.

Micah Yujin is the main character and only love interest of the indie dating sim called Error 143 made by Jenny Vi Pham and her crew. The main premise is that you, the player, lost in a coding/hacking competition to your rival (Micah) and you as the sane level headed person as you are decided to troll him by hacking his computer and leaving a note “Ha, whose the better hacker now”. In response Micah hacks you back and puts you in his not discord server that he made and from then on comedy ensues.

The gameplay is pretty straightforward, it’s like every other dating sim. There’s the occasional hacking minigame that is just hangman which is neat, but the whole design of the whole game is so cool. I love pixel art and not discord looks fantastic with it. I also find it elegant that the parts without voice acting look like chat conversations, and the conversations with voice acting to be video calls is fucking great!

Also his voice actor goes hard!!! Corey Wilder is a talented va and I wish nothing but the best for them!^^

Micah himself is a funny playful cheeky guy with a shit eating grin on his face. His banter with the player is honestly hilarious and wholesome at times. He doesn’t hide the fact that he thinks you’re hot and he starts being flirty around day one or two. Him and the player have some good chemistry and they really match each other’s vibe. (Oh yeah forgot to mention but the player character actually have a personality in this game. They’re not a fully fleshed out character but it’s more than what the player character gets in these games. The only other time I can think something similar happened was in The Arcana [also a great dating sim I do recommend that])

The story spans out 5 days (well, 4 actually cuz day 4 is pretty short). In those 5 days the player and Micah get to know each other pretty quickly and it’s pretty obvious you both really like each other. And Micah puts his money where his mouth is because on day 5 he makes your dream first date come true. I find that so wholesome and sweet like on my first playthrough my first thought ‘I wanna hug him’ and ‘AAAAAAAAAA!!!!!’ (And that’s just one of the sweetest things he does in game, there’s like two other one which I both adore a ton.)

But I couldn’t because the game ended! 🥲🥲🥲🥲 (Thankfully the dlc is coming and will probably give me that option and I honestly cannot wait!^^) It is a short game but it’s definitely one of the best ones out there!

I also remember when this game first came out it got really popular in just a few short days. And I also cannot forget how in just one night a bunch of twitter ghouls jumped on the creator and accused her of fetishizing black men, hiring a va who voiced in a pe** game and how her writing is actually very racist because….. she shared some old concept ideas for Micah’s parents that are not even canon. Back then I was pretty scared about those accusations because I myself am not white and thought “oh fuck what if actual black people found something actually problematic that I’ve missed”. In reality what actually happened was a bunch of racists didn’t like that there was a dating sim out there with the main love interest being a half Korean half African American. And they hurled shit on both Jenny and Corey. I even saw people whom I used to follow take those accusations seriously and write it of as “ah even when we get a dating sim with a black love interest there’s always a catch”. (I was honestly baffled by them cuz, ‘wha- you can’t be serious! There’s gotta be something more to this’.) Thankfully Jenny managed to resolve that drama in the end by explaining everything in a tweet longer? (idk the exact name of it but you know what that is) and addressing every main accusation while also addressing how the harassment has affected her. I’m honestly proud how she managed to still write on Twitter where most would’ve gone silent to take a break from that bullshit. But she and Corey shouldn’t have been subjected to that kind of harassment in the first fucking place.

Still, I’m so happy that things are better now. I don’t have Twitter anymore (and I’ve been much happier since) so I don’t know if anything similar happened since then (hopefully not).

Amidst all that bullshit tho there were some people who gave genuine constructive criticism, one I can remember is about Micah’s inconsistent hair texture. Since there are a lot of artists in the team they all drew his hair a little differently every time. Jenny responded to that critique apologizing and doing some research before deciding what Micah’s hair type is gonna be. Ever since then his hair has been consistent in official arts. The assets in game hadn’t been switched out but by the sneak peeks she posted on Instagram, it looks like they’re gonna be finally.

(Ok I originally wanted to write down his hair type but I’m actually not sure what she said cuz I forgor but comparing his hair to pictures on google, seems to his hair is either 4B, 4C or a mix between those two. I’m sorry I don’t remember 🥲)

My apologies for the detour there. My final thoughts about the game though is that it’s amazing, fun and I adore Micah a lot! If you like dating sims, fun and wholesome cheesy romance then I can recommend it to you wholeheartedly!^^

[freevoidman]

General bullet-point thoughts on the new SH2 Remake stuff we got today (and I'm ignoring how sad I am that we didn't get townfall or f news. rip)

Game looks MUCH better than in the combat reveal trailer. No QTEs in sight, combat looks reactive and fun. I was the least worried about this since combat in video games in general has improved much over the past twenty years since SH2 came out, but it's still good to see that it doesn't look terrible and definitely looks better than Homecoming.

Voice acting is actually really great! SH2's original voice acting was a definite charm point and added to the uncanny nature, but the new VAs are doing a great job. It doesn't feel melodramatic, it doesn't feel too much like it's emulating the original, and I think that's a good thing. So long as the delivery is good, I'm satisfied.

Already noticed some gameplay differences, such as the first Lying Figure going to a house, not an abandoned tunnel. I think this is great! I don't want a one-for-one remake, I want improvements or changes that look fun, and this looks nice!

Angela looks... okay well, everything but her face looks fine. Idk what they did to her face but it looks REALLY off to me. It's doing the thing I hate in video games where eyebrows look like a big colored brick instead of hair and it looks bad, but I think her VA performance and her general body acting is really well done.

In that same vein: why the fuck did Maria get redesigned lmfao. She's in a tube dress now--no leopard print miniskirt or showing midriff. Normally I'm kinda 'meh' on female characters getting less-sexy redesigns but this one really feels like it misses the point, Maria is MEANT to be ridiculously dressed and overly sexy. It's also based on a real outfit Christina Aguilera wore!

Laura looked fine and also sounded fine. She's a kid, she acts like a kid, and she LOOKS like a kid, thank goodness.

James definitely got improved looks from those first trailers, he looks fine now. RIP to the jacket tho that thing looks bland.

Where is Eddie. I live in fear of the Eddie redesign after seeing Angela and Maria. Did they Slimmify him.

All in all, I have more faith in the game now than I did a year ago, but there's some WEIRD changes. The moment I saw that SH2R wasn't going to keep the fixed camera angles, I knew I would have to accept changes (and I did! I'm actually pretty open to remakes changing things up a bit so they feel "fresh" in terms of gameplay), but some of these feel odder than others.

[visionthefox]

Yeah I hope they make Nice Eclipse a recurring character in the Lunar and Earth Show, I think that from when she was introduced to now she has changed a bit. I also saw somewhere in X that Reed (Moon’s VA) was the one to actually introduce the character Earth.

But yeah the episode is srly funny I love the interaction and of course Lunar reliving trauma, I think my favorite part is the part that’s floating around tumblr, but another one is earlier and Nice Eclipse says something along the lines of “Im not google search” I died laughing from that. The episode is funny.

Concerned for Lunar because he hearing a humming, it can be a response of trying to zone out (Im not a psychologist, therapist, etc) or it has to do with what we saw in one of the episode where Moon goes and looks at Eclipse’s lair and heard a recording about the astral bodies that want Lunar. Idk 🤷‍♀️ we will have to wait and see.

yea yea saw someone sharing his tweet about it, that he wanted to add her - and again, the VA? not at fault here I just dont like the character, how was written -at least in the start, she gaved me terrible bad vibes as I meet ppl like her and.. is not good.. but eh mmh.. I.. I mayyy mayy give it a try to watch that only ep- but I fear I may focus on "what is she doing wrong" what enjoy my man :/ .. but also, I KNOW I give her a lot of shit - but I really try not to, as the fans seems to adore her and find her way of working right..

but-maybe is my nerd ass- maybe I dont turn off my brain as I should while watching the show.. - maybe I let my trauma speak louder and put the blame on a character I just saw 4 clips of.. but so far, I rather not see her, not heard her.. I rather do something I enjoy (watch old gameplays of lore vids) than do something that I may not enjoy as much.. Aside from a rant- if if they add Nice Eclipse to that other show.. I may give it a try- maybe if they bring back the minecrat series!! also also! Lunar! he maybe is zooming out, but that is not fully a bad thing, I do it often when I get a bit distracted

Taking into account that he has gone through moments of anguish for not "feeling anything" and the fear of what happened, if what I read is true and Earth helped him to be more open with his emotions, then it may still be uncomfortable for him..for Lunar to look at Nice Eclipse in the face..

The times he sees Nice Eclipse were at not very happy times, and although Eclipse manages to make him feel calm, it must not be very comfortable right now, which is why he tries to distract himself or be calm with soft sounds.. buuut yea, maybe is the whole astral lights thingy too.. idk

thanks for you ask and time!! <3

[onewingedsparrow]

Holy Grail: Which figure do you want the most?

Crossover: Is there a series that you’d like to see a crossover of with Transformers?

Meet & Greet: If you could meet only one Transformers voice actor, which would you want to meet?

@novafire-is-thinking Heya Nova! 💜 Thanks for the ask! :D (For this ask game) Holy Grail: The giant, app-remote-control, talking Optimus Prime. Oh my goodness. I've seen videos. I've beheld it in store. He is SO COOL but my poor budget...! One day. But it is not this day :') Crossover: Oooh 👀 Lol I hope you don't mind multiple answers because here they come!!! A while ago I saw this amazing art and it blew my mind. I had never crossed-over Zelda with TF before but that was so amazing!!! I would love to see more of it! Twilight Princess Maximals are amazing. There are already robots in Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild so why not make some of the Guardians into Transformers? Maybe even Titans? Each dungeon could be a Titan! Your companion character could be a Cityspeaker! The King of Red Lions in Wind Waker could be a Cybertronian! The Master Cycle could be a Cybertronian! There is so much room for crossover potential! I know it will probably not happen in canon, but oh, fandom has so much room for ideas. Transformers with Need for Speed would also be so fun. Idk how they would incorporate robot stuff into it, but I really just want a TF racing game where I can go to Velocitron and pit 'Bee and Knockout against each other, to the background of epic electric guitar, with the actual licensed car models. AND because I've been thinking about StarFox a lot lately...a Transformers-StarFox crossover!!! Arwings versus Seekers! Landmaster vs tank Megatron! It'd be SO easy and DELIGHTFUL to blend these two. Put the vehicles on rails...they could be fliers, in the air like normal StarFox gameplay, to "DO A BARREL ROLL" and aerial tricks like normal, OR you could have grounders, but because they're Cybertronian and a bit more athletic than the Landmaster, allow them to partial-transform and do flips and other wild and fun moves. And IMAGINE the fun dialogue boxes that would pop up onscreen when the characters talked over the comm link. FOX: I'll go it alone from here. OPTIMUS PRIME: Are you certain of this choice? FOX: You sound kinda nervous, Prime. Know something I don't? OPTIMUS PRIME: ...One does not say those words lightly. I have reservations about your intentions. PEPPY: It does ring a bell, Fox. FOX: I'm coming back, Peppy. I swear. PEPPY: ...You'd better. FALCO (after his ship is shot by friendly fire): Hey, Einstein, I'm on your side! MEGATRON: Ah, how unfortunate. My mistake. SLIPPY: Whoa! Megatron's aim was off? Was that...ac...actually a mistake? SOUNDWAVE (in a different font): Affirmative. Original target: Starscream. STARSCREAM: What?! Why me? What did I do wrong? *Soundwave's text box immediately floods with lines of code detailing every single thing Starscream has done wrong (mostly treachery and assassination attempts against Megatron) and the text flows so fast that the Player can't read it all before it's gone 😂 Lol these are all crossovers with video games, but I like them all :D I think they'd be GREAT. Even though they may never happen. Meet & Greet: This probably won't surprise you at all :) Peter Cullen. Optimus Prime can be written however Hasbro or whoever sees fit, but Peter Cullen is the one who made Optimus Prime into who he is. The emotion and feeling and, especially, WISDOM that he pours into his voice for this character is unmatchable. You can practically hear the millennia of Cybertron struggle; the weight and honor of the Matrix of Leadership; the quiet, longing hope for peace; in his gentle-but-mighty tones. He can convey layers of emotion through this voice, which I think is so important to Optimus' character, because in my humble opinion, Optimus needs nuance. Side note: just so we're clear, I genuinely don't have anything against the other Optimus VA's...but Peter Cullen's Optimus is just...special. All that to say: Peter Cullen's Optimi truly inspired me and I would love to meet him to say a "thank you" face-to-face. I really want to meet him soon if I can. I know he's getting up there in years. Thanks again for the ask! This was really fun :D

[gachaparadise]

okaaay day 2 in the wu/wa trenches 🫡

got very verbose with this one... woops.

unfortunately i was under a time constraint once again today so i STILL haven't gotten to play as much as I'd like. everything here is initial impressions off 4ish hours of gameplay.

the movement is growing on me. there's no way to say this without sounding insane but. i just need to look at it more from a "this is a video game" perspective. like to compare, genshin is going for that immersive feel. sure it takes 5 minutes to get up this mountain but it feels RIGHT you know? whereas in wuwa it takes 3 seconds. why should it take longer this is a video game. we both know you have places to be get up there Rover :)

that sounds demented written out but I know what I mean so i'll leave it in i guess. i appreciate the expediency with which you can get around is the point i'm trying to make. it makes the animation a little clunkier and the world a little less immersive but from a moment to moment gameplay perspective it works.

the combat goes hard. its so flashy and feels good but... i need to test it against anything other then random mobs i found in the trash to see how deep it actually goes. i want to try parrying and stuff but everything keeps dying orz.

some of the button mapping on controller continues to be... eugh. the combo to get to the grapple especially i have trouble with. it's literally the same combo as the one for genshin but it just doesn't activate with the same certainty. sometimes it just keeps whipping out the sensor instead of the hook and i'm like. do you want me dead?

Scar gets his own paragraph. he came. he saw. he served cunt. he left. gamechangingly cute and charming. literally takes the game up a full point from a (preliminary)6 to a 7 he's so fucking good. his design ATE. his va SERVED. his message CRYPTIC. his little wink as he leaves CUTE AS FUCK. the way he called his little tête-à-tête with the Rover a date GAY. he's great. no notes that's a perfect man.

the va (with the exception of Scar) is just... okay. I really do not care for yangyang's voice (not her vas fault i just don't like it) and she's the person we've spent the most time with so far so that kinda sucks. i'm literally thinking about switching to jp instead orz. but some of the text boxes are still broken and there's no log function so i'm worried i'm gonna miss stuff, especially with how fast i'm whipping through some of this story.

on that note the story is just OK. it's not good, i can't say its really hooked me yet. its a little... generic. post magical disaster world wherein humans cling to life and have special powers. nothing wrong with that but so far it's just been a lot of throwing words at me. the characters themselves are also pretty bland (minus Scar). i really hope i will get to know them better in the future because chars are MAKE or BREAK for gacha games. the designs are also a little hit or miss. they're fine i guess but they don't really compel me.

also. they did just ape genshin whole cloth for like. basically everything. like the world puzzles where you follow little wispy things (seelies) and the glowing floaty things you collect (anemoculus) and the over world puzzles that are "get to the chest in time" or "shoot the targets" are just... from genshin. hoyo doesn't own those ideas! for sure! but. they're in THIS game because of genshin don't kid yourself. and thats not to mention the battelpass and banner and event and guide structures that are just. the same.

ARGH! all this makes it sound like i dislike the game. I don't!! i'm having fun!! it's just easier to catalogue things i disliked in detail. i don't have as much to say about the parts i liked. combat good. echoes cool. Rover cute. I'm having a pretty good time. thats about it orz.

i don't think I'll have anything new to report tomorrow? i can't see myself changing my mind on anything i've written so far. i might update in a week or two and see if the game grew on me or lost me completely. i could see it going either way. it's fun but i'm not sure i can see myself committing to it long term you know? but who knows. maybe it's just launch day growing pains and thing will look up soon.

[haldenlith]

*eyes the new Dreadwolf "trailer"*

Hmm.

(Cutting so that if you don't want someone raining on your parade, you can easily just keep scrolling. But I want to get this rant off my chest.)

Why on this green (for now) Earth are you all losing your shit?

Why?

For starters, it says reveal, not release. Curb your enthusiasm. Saying "reveal" means they're saying, "hey, we'll actually have a REAL trailer and game to show you guys! ... In 2024!"

They're building hype for... a trailer. (I'm assuming it's going to just be a trailer. I'll be genuinely shocked if it's more than that.) And probably (maybe) when they're intending to actually say a release date. Which... ugh. Reeks of a bunch of suits in a marketing meeting going, "You know what'll really get people going and maybe get them to preorder our game? HYPE! Hype up the trailer! Which will then hype up the game! The money prints itself!" And I hate to say that it seems to be working, given the response I've been seeing.

Second, that trailer is a giant red flag, in my opinion.

This whole ordeal that is Dreadwolf's advertising has been a red flag, honestly, but anyway...

Why? Well, for starters, they're still using extremely vague bits of art in their trailers. Bioware is being extremely careful to show, well, nothing. They've shown concept art and... an almost animatic? The Solas trailer was barely animated artwork. Artwork doesn't equal an actual functioning (or even half functioning) game. With this, we only saw some maps, some more location concept art, and we got some character(?) voice over.

The fact we are this far into (presumed) development, and they still have nothing of substance to show is, again, a red flag. The common criticism from folks like me that are jaded and cynical is usually "where's the gameplay?", because we've seen too often games that hide the gameplay because it's extremely rough and would hurt sales. Or, worse, they pull a Watchdogs or Anthem and use fake gameplay. (Note that the latter is a Bioware game.) However, shit, they don't even have a fancy pre-rendered story trailer to show us. They still have nothing. Still. Or, worse, aren't willing to show anything. Worse because what are you so afraid of that you won't show your progress?

The other red flag that immediately stood out to me, as someone with mild interest in the story, is that something seemed narratively off from the bit we did get.

I don't think that was Solas at the end, but it was clearly meant to be the antagonist. I mean, sure, on one hand, while it didn't sound like him, they could've gotten a different VA. But also it didn't sound like him like... personality wise, dialogue wise... I genuinely don't think it was him. So who is it? Who is this new Big Bad Evil Guy? And why?

Because you (Bioware) spent an entire game (and arguably background bits of DA:O and DA2) AND DLC building up and into Solas being not just an antagonist but The Antagonist. What he intends to do is an immediate threat to the entire world. Or, spoilers for Dragon Age: Inquisition, he is again endangering everyone with his schemes.

So... why are you changing it? In a game that is a named after him? I could be wrong, as I'm speculating from the tiny, tiny, itty bitty speck we got, but something felt... different. Solas previously stated he was looking to reunite the two realms and undo what he did only to fix his mistake (destroy the Veil and reconnect the Fade and... whatever the normal realm is called, I don't remember right now), because he felt it was best for everyone (mainly the elves), and that he knew it was going to kill a lot of people. Hell, this is re-established in a different trailer for Dreadwolf. He wasn't doing it to take over and reign over anyone, so the "peace and comfort of my reign" line at the end of the trailer is what's making me go, "wait a minute." Like I already had low expectations and apprehension, and you somehow made me more apprehensive. Damn.

That said, it wouldn't surprise me if they're changing things last minute. They did lay off the veterans of the team. I would think they'd lay them off after they've written and done everything important, but these days, with what we've seen with the gaming industry, the suits/management don't seem to always be too bright. Shit, we know with Bioware that management is a shitshow, after all the exposes after Anthem crashed out.

I guess, given the track record, I'm extremely critical of Bioware right now. It feels like they're the guy that's trying to sell you a grift, going "oh yeah, this car is the bestest ride, it'll give you everything you're after!" "So can I actually see it or -" "NO! No no no, it's, uh, getting the tires changed! Haha! It'll be great though! Trust us!"

I don't know, man. I hope the game will be good, but the flags are all real red to me.

(Also, for the record, I will melt into hysterical laughter if the reveal next year doesn't even show a release date. Like it will be the biggest case of "leading you on" I've seen in a while.)

[0poole]

I LOVE No Straight Roads

Honestly it’s hard to keep me away from a game with great visuals and even greater character design. I knew from the INSTANT I saw these characters that I was going to love it. I just finished it because it’s (unfortunately) pretty short, and even though I cheesed the final boss through it’s very lenient death mechanics (Instant respawn at the cost of a good rank) I actually appreciated that it wasn’t a pure cake walk. I’ve yet to rematch all of the bosses, but since I had genuine trouble with the later ones I’ll hold off on that.

But who cares about gameplay, am I right? I sure as hell don’t. I would’ve bought the game no matter what the hell it was. I wanted the characters (and the music, although I realized that second) and that was it. 

First of all, I love any world that is super fantastical but cheesy in its concept, ala a city powered by music, and battles between artists using music. Ideas like this only spawn from a mind that wants to create a fun atmosphere, if nothing else, and it was sure as hell fun. I genuinely love when someone goes so far into a crazy idea and doesn’t waste your time explaining it with real world logic. Wanna know how a city can be powered by music? Shut up and look at the cute virtual mermaid. Lord knows I did. Every once in a while, it does you good to just let the player/reader/viewer just revel in the idea without having to go out of your way to make things seem realistic. It’s not about “turning your brain off” or whatever, it’s picking your battles.

Also, I can seriously love a world with great background characters to it. Any game with the right situation to insert the random nobodies you find onto the streets into the art in the credits really played into the greatness of the world’s less important characters, and that’s always a good thing. It’s technically world building. But, since I always love to pick favorites, I’d have to say my favorite background character is easily Mia, the NSR infodesk assistant. It’s funny, because you can literally search “nsr characters” into Google and she’s the third image result. I love how jumpy she is when you first interact with her, since NSR probably spread the word about B2J suggesting they’re rock thugs who’d beat up anyone, so for all she knows she could die right then and there with a guitar lodged in her skull. She’s probably just some intern trying to pay for college. She don’t want trouble.

Also, I just realized that 90% of the characters in this game have the same body structure that I always love, that being having arms/legs that sort of fan out in width into relatively large hands/feet. It’s a kind of limb structure I fall into so much because it just really hits me right for some reason. I really can’t explain why.

Anyways, I gotta talk about the big boys individually:

Mayday and Zuke are an amazing duo. I’m always a sucker for a cute and crazy girl, but honestly Zuke hit so many of the right notes too. I will say it’s weird to pair the martian Zuke with the humanly-skinned Mayday, but honestly it doesn’t even matter because he looks so cool on his own. I love his weird blocky blue dreadlocks, and his weirdly shaped shirt which bares his chest in the weirdest way... And, oh my god, Mayday’s weird Spongebob background flower eyes? It’s little tidbits like that that really make me jealous. How could I have ever thought of that? It looks so perfect, and I don’t know why. And her little booty jig she does in her idle animation? Adorable. I played as her as much as was reasonable not only because I’m a filthy button masher with little strategy but also because she’s so damn cute. I can also appreciate how she has a tough-as-nails persona while still keeping a semi-girly attitude, like with her falling for 1010 and Sayu. Characters are so much better when they’re a perfect blend of characteristics, instead of being all one-note, like how Zuke is the quiet one but gets heated against DK West, and all. 

Honestly the voice acting for every character is great, but I love when Mayday’s VA’s accent shows through. It’s a perfect twang to accent (consider this the only acknowledgement of a pun in this post) her snarkiness. 

DJ Subatomic Supernova was going to be an easy favorite since he’s all space-themed. Also, I don’t know why I always end up liking the egotistic characters. Not in the sense that I like their egotistic-ness, but in the sense that I like everything else about them and they just so happen to also be egotistic. The same applied with Empoleon (maybe like my 2nd favorite Pokemon) and Rarity from MLP, probably among others. Either way, I’ll never not love space themes. Not to mention he’s got a funky disco theme, and I’m slowly starting to realize that I am in extreme love with techno-funk styles of music. The instant I heard his music he cemented his place into my playlists. 

As for design, I still have no idea what the fuck he is. Clearly AI is at human levels in this world, but if he’s a robot why does he still have hairy legs? But, if he’s a human, is that weird orb his head? Is it just some sort of puppet which he controls from inside his giant jacket? I know I dissed explaining things realistically but I actually want to know with this guy. Even the wiki doesn’t say. Either way, he’s clearly the logical extreme of “being at the center of your own universe.” Even his jacket depicts a solar system, with his hood being the sun. Didn’t see that until I tried to draw him. I really wish this guy wasn’t so tied to his DJ stand so I could reasonably draw him without it. I don’t want to draw his hairy ass legs. It is a great touch for his design though (although I prefer his beta look with pants and long boots, another design trait I tend to gravitate to) since DJs could reasonably not wear pants, since they’re always behind a table.

Sayu is my favorite. It’s so plainly obvious. It’s weird to say that sometimes, because some characters like Sayu are so clearly engineered to be as adorable as possible, to the point where they’re basically a parody of whatever they’re supposed to be emulating, but then they do that so well that they are still likable for what they’re trying to parody. Also, even though I’ve never looked into any vocaloid superstars myself, the fact that they exist and are loved in real life is absolutely perfect to be used as a character design in a world like this. It’s so weird conceptually, but we all know it’s normal and realistic. But yeah, she’s a giga-cutie whom I’ve already drawn and I’ve listened to her theme on loop on many different occasions. Favorite character, favorite track, favorite weapon of choice (What did I say about Empoleon?), which, and I wouldn’t have noticed this myself, looks like the USB symbol you see above USB ports on computers. How crazy perfect is that?

Even apart from my unbridled love for cute monster robot(?) girls, her boss fight is probably the 2nd greatest of them all, at least conceptually. She’s just a hologram, so you can’t touch her, but you CAN disconnect the artists which control her in order to defeat her. It’s the kind of concept for a boss fight that could only work for this type of character. I’m a sucker for the cute girl that provides her voice, but I love how the animator (video editor? the yellow one) actually attacks you with a mouse and lowers the brightness of the setting once he appears. Also, the mocap guy being the deeply-voiced type but still providing the adorable movements of her body. It’s such a great combo of characters, and their little extra art in the credits makes me like them even more. I just wish we could interact with them individually.

DK West was probably one of the most interesting characters visually, especially since I knew of every other NSR member long before the game came out, but I only just heard of him closer to the release. I wasn’t sure where he was placed, but I definitely assumed his gig was the weird shadow demon we saw in the trailers. When I finally saw him in game, I was shocked to hear him speak an entirely different language most of the time, which was really cool. Also, finding out he was tied to Zuke and wasn’t strictly an NSR artist really made him more interesting. You know, if his fucking shadow clone magic didn’t make him crazy cool enough. Even though I suck at his game and am not especially fond of his raps, the visual of him rapping with this giant monster behind him and dozens of weird shadow wingmen by his side hyping him up was probably one of the coolest in the entire game. The dark way they were hyping him up too gave such a bizarre atmosphere, especially since it parallels his seemingly chill and smiley demeanor. 

I definitely hope they’ll introduce new bosses as DLC in the future, and make them sort of in the same vein as DK West, where they aren’t the biggest artists ever, but they want to pick a fight with B2J. I’d kill for any extra content this game can provide.

Yinu is obviously special since she was the subject of the demo they put out for the game. Even though I knew all her bells and whistles, she and her mom still beat me a few times in the full game. Considering she’s semi-tied to story-ish spoilers I kinda want to go more into her in a separate section. It is worth considering playing the game first since it’s not hard (with the easy going deaths) and it’s short length.

1010 seriously grew on me as I learned more about them and interacted with them. I got their shtick when I first looked at them, but after seeing that animation of them touring the city on Youtube I was kinda falling for them. Then, I learned that they’re apparently repurposed navy war robots? I mean, maybe not them specifically, but it seems to heavily point in that direction, with the warship cars and “attention!”s and all. It took me a bit to get into their music too, but once I actually fought them and put their actions to the music I fell in love with it. I swear, Neon J’s weird dancing can has some of the smoothest moves in all of gaming. I don’t know whether they mocapped out those movements or got one of the greatest animators ever, but it looks so impossibly clean his part of the song gets me like 30x more hype than it would normally. 

Also, their little art piece of them looking at fan mail in the credits is probably one of the most adorable things ever. Even if they’re just Neon J’s puppets, that piece of art really makes it seem like they love every one of their fans. I’m not gonna lie, I might swoon a bit too if they picked me out and gave me some special attention.

Oh yeah, and the fact that Mayday was super sad in her showstopper against them was adorable and hilarious at the same time. The little tweaks they made to the showstopper for each fight were great.

Eve just has to be Lady Gaga, right? Like, an even crazier Lady Gaga. DJSS is Daft Punk (or any artist with a helmet persona, you know what I’m talking about), Sayu is Hatsune Miku, DK West is Kanye West, Yinu is a generic child protege, 1010 is a KPop boyband (just pick one) and Eve is Lady Gaga. That’s just how things are. But, again, this is the kind of boss fight that only this type of character could provide. It’s not just surreal imagery, it’s ARTISTIC surreal imagery. The fight is so mesmerizing in every way, especially by how it starts off so slow and calm and progresses to insanity, as well as the increased emotional investment in the fight making you feel so much more into it than just “That’s the boy band. Let’s fight.” Not only does it get you more invested, but it makes her artistic persona go deeper than just “she looks weird.” She is genuinely conflicted about her relationship with Zuke, and naturally that leads her to literally split him and Mayday apart. That mechanic specifically was the coolest, although I do wish they made it more obvious when you needed to switch over to a different side. I was getting pulverized by her fight too, since there were so many things to pay attention to. Her fight was definitely the best one. 

Tatiana and Spoilers:

Let’s be real with ourselves, the twist was so obvious. I do also think, though, that obvious twists aren’t bad if they’re just good reveals. At some point, a person just has experienced so many stories that “only pretty good” twists are easy to spot. It doesn’t mean that the twists are bad, it just means you yourself experienced.

I feel like her transition from rock to EDM was pretty understandable, even as a non-musician. She was so caught up in what she assumed was popular that it basically consumed her. It’s easy as an artist to want to forgo what you truly want to make in favor of what makes you popular, and clearly since her transition to EDM made her the CEO of the biggest company in the city (world?) that probably made her think she truly needed to change her outlook. Then, when she saw B2J try to bring it back, she sort of coined them as being as misguided as she was and knocked them down a peg. Plus, they were kinda being jerks about it.

It’s kinda like the Trolls sequel, where everyone pegs rock music fanatics as being too stuck up in their own heads to appreciate other types of music, which honestly seems more like the case than the alternative. When I first heard of the story of the game, I was seriously hoping they did put an asterisk on B2J’s ambitions because they were a bit sketchy from the start. 

That’s kinda where I want to talk about Yinu, because she was the true turning point in what they were doing. She’s literally 9 and yet she’s getting dragged into all this BS. When she said “I hate you all” at the end of her fight, and played a somber tune on her broken piano after the fight destroyed it, you kinda got a kick in the face to realize you’re kinda being an asshole to some of them. Sure, they fight back, but they wouldn’t fight in the first place if they didn’t have to. They are just people who play music under a joint name that B2J just so happened to get in hot water with. 

Then, of course, there’s Kliff, who also reeked of surprise villain, and who’s basically the embodiment of the bad side of B2J, where he just wanted to destroy for his own sake and not for the actual greater good. Once B2J realized their mistake, they backed off, but Kliff was so hard pressed to do what he planned on in the first place he wouldn’t stop. I kinda wish he got a bigger fight to his own since he’s clearly a big enough tech genius to divert a whole satellite into one specific building. Maybe the Elliecopter chase bit was his thing, but I do kind of wish he was there to fight against them too.

Even though Tatiana did kind of reform a bit quick, It’s still not too crazy to assume she could see that B2J was just misguided and the fact that they worked to revert their wrongdoings for her sake would make a pretty strong impressions. They clearly can hold their own, so it’s not like she wouldn’t want them to join NSR too. 

Oh yeah, and her boss fight was clock/time themed. If there’s a theme under space that I love, it’s clocks/time. 

And If I am to be respected by the internet, I must provide a negative opinion to balance out my positive one. I will say that the character model physics (like Mayday’s braids, DK West’s vest thing, Neon J’s fluffy neck thing, etc) got kinda funky at times. Especially DK West’s vest, which was completely messed up for every scene he was in... Also, even though the voices are mostly great, some lines felt a bit off. Just a bit. That good enough? Good.

But yeah anyway that’s another favorite game to add to the pile. Eventually I’m gonna have to compile a true list of my all-time favorite games/movies because I do kind of want to have a solid idea of what my all-time favorites are.

[leonicscorpio]

Y'all, I'm so excited for Gotham Knights.

Both as a batman and bat family fan. This game is looking to offer a lot in terms of both gameplay and add an extreme amount of story. I especially am excited to see what they end up doing with Jason.

Right off the bat (lol) I love his design. They show that he's large and imposing. Physically intimidating. As well as bringing back his white streak with a clean short haircut and s scar that extends from his mouth all the way up his head. His design is just *chefs kiss*

However upon looking at his promotional information I was immediately grabbed by his bio. They mention something very specific about this universe's Jason that is very unique and peculiar.

The top text pretty much establishes what is already canon and what we know about Jason to be true. The death, Lazarus Pit, his anger, etc. This also poses the fact that we will probably see a Jason in-game that is very volitile and easy to anger. (That's hot) but what's most interesting is the bottom text. "After reconciling with the Batman Family, he's embraced Batman's non-lethal combat methods" what's so striking to me is that Jason and Bruce seemingly made up prior to the events of Bruce's death. As Jason got the message of Bruce's death, and as seen in the image prior (the one with Jason's face) we see Jason is visibly hurt and shocked. He's taken aback by the announcement. While I think any iteration of Jason (Pre-New 52 straight up-villain Jason or New 52 Anti-Hero who is half trying to get Bruce to love him, half telling Bruce to fuck off) would be shocked of Bruce's death announcement. We get to see Jason's reaction first and foremost and it's very personal and emotional. This brings up a point that's been bugging me ever since I saw the announcement of Gotham Knights.

What happened to Jason that made him reconcile with Bruce?

This post is speculation as to what I think may have happened to Jason to cause him to turn around and be welcomed back into the Bat Family.

I think that the events of Under The Red Hood still happen but either Bruce or Jason kill the Joker.

It's a stretch. But hear me out. We know the most defining moment in Bruce's and Jason's joint story is the confrontation between Bruce and Jason over the Joker and Jason trying to force Bruce to kill the Joker.

Bruce decides he cannot kill the Joker. Now the movie and the comic differs on how they handle the ending. In the comics, right as Jason is about to pull the trigger, Bruce reacts and throws a Batarang at Jason. Slicing him in the neck. Severely injuring him but not killing him. In the Under the Red Hood movie, Bruce, when faced with the option of having to chose between killing the Joker and just letting Jason kill him. Bruce turns and walks away. He readies a Batarang because he predicts (correctly) that Jason will retaliate out of confusion because he sees Bruce as rejecting him again. Not understanding that Bruce is simply chosing not to be involved in the situation.

I think Jason turning around to Bruce could happen most likely because the events of Under the Red Hood transpired differently. We know Joker still exists in this universe because Jason's death and resurrection is implied to be the same. But we also know that Barbara Gordon's paralysis during the events of The Killing Joke are still canon in this universe.

What if this universe follows the canon of the movie in that when Bruce turned away from Jason, either Bruce verbalized to Jason that he doesn't care what happens to the Joker, right now, he's chosing Jason, and although he doesn't want Jason to kill the Joker, he's letting Jason decide.

What if Bruce still throws a Batarang at Jason and instead of staying still, Jason brings the joker up and uses him as a shield? Killing the Joker or severely injuring him as a muscle reaction to protect himself from the Batarang. We know that the reason why Jason is so antagonistic towards Bruce is because Bruce didn't kill the Joker and let him continue to kill and injure people after Jason's death. And that inaction is directly what happens

The WB Montreal team (the team making Arkham Knights) hasn't confirmed if The Joker is in thw game. We know the confirmed villains are The Court of Owls and Mister Freeze. With Two Face being hinted at through promotional material. But there is no direct references that The Joker will be in the game.

I may be looking too deep into this. Jason may have just turned around as a result of Bruce's demise. But I like to think of the potential character interactions we could see in Gotham Knights. I want to see a Jason that has properly reconciled with Bruce and is trying to make amends. Only for him to lose Bruce and run the risk of falling back on bad habits. Is Jason still antagonistic towards Dick and Tim even if Bruce accepts Jason as The Red Hood and is able to help reform him? Is Jason still the bitter, almost acidiccly snarky and biting character his in Scott Lobdell's characterization of Jason if he reconciles with Bruce? Does he still call Tim "replacement" and such if he's accepted and recognized and given the support he needs? How does the rest of the family react to Jason? Are they apprehensive?

There's so much to look forward to with Gotham Knights and I'd love to know what other people think. With an exciting new take on Jason's character (as well as being able to play as Jason in an RPG based setting) we get to have an extremely diverse cast. All of the Robins are played by Asian American voice actors and Barbara is played by a Latin-American voice actress. Stephen Oyoung is a fantastic casting for Jason because he already has a lot of exposure as a VA who plays villains. Christopher Sean is going to bring so much fun as Dick (for those who don't know he voiced Kazuda Xiono in Star Wars Resistance and Ludwig in Epic 7) America Young is the current voice of BARBIE and is also going to bring so much to the role of Barbara Gordon. And while Sloane Morgan Siegal is the new face of the bunch, from what we saw from the promo he's bringing a great new take on Tim Drake that's going to be refreshing and exciting.

Let me know you're thoughts!

[rael-rider]

Unfortunately the Guardians run didnt end, it was confirmed by sources it was officially CANCELED by Marvel so I doubt Ewing will come back for the inevitable reboot/relaunch of the team with the movies starting production this year and also game (that is still influence style wise by the movies) soon in October. Sad truth unfortunately is that the Gotg in the comics dont have as much as popularity like the movies & marvel will be forever be trying to capture that in the comics for their benefit

It was cancelled but the thing is that no one knows why. A lot of the websites that reported on them had the last page as the proof and form what I've read even people who have insider info don't know what's going on. Until Ewing or someone that officially is from Marvel has announcements about it I'll believe it.

If you're implying it was sales wise? GotG sold above cancellation levels (and more than some current ongoings and characters that are now considered MCU A-lists but I'll get there in a minute). Because of Marvel leaving Diamond there aren't exact sales info but from what is estimated this comic was in the 30k and 40k range (issue #17 from what I heard was like 43k).

According to Comichron for the month of July 2021 Guardians of the Galaxy #16 is estimated to have sold 35,403 which was more than what was estimated for Captain Marvel #30 (33,737), Captain America #30 (28,190) and Iron Man (26,717).

Yeah Guardians was selling better than those titles and both Captain Marvel and Iron Man are still going and are still selling lower than Guardians.

Which brings me to this next thing

Sad truth unfortunately is that the Gotg in the comics dont have as much as popularity like the movies

Yeah and neither does Iron Man.

Iron Man is super popular in the MCU (the whole franchise was even built around him) but when it comes to comics he's always been B-list when it comes to popularity and sales (and a lot of this can be said for the other Avengers that they do OK to bad alone but sell like crazy when they're in a team). The true giants of comics with both Marvel and DC have always been Amazing Spider-Man and Batman. When it comes to Marvel alone it was Amazing Spider-Man at the top, then Uncanny X-Men (something that Marvel almost killed for stupid reasons), and Avengers started enjoying a lot of success after Bendis relaunched the title post Disassembled to the point that Jason Aaron's run can pretty well.

I can tell you having firsthand experience when it happened that whatever synergy was made with the comics and cartoon during the time GotG was at the height of its popularity didn't help sales wise for the comics and the Guardians cartoon had poor ratings.

Now Bendis' run, which is considered the most awful GotG run, sold really good (and there's a lot of reasons for that which would require another post) and yeah hype for the movie helped him but in terms of synergy Bendis didn't really do much of it (his run came out years before the movies did and was probably being written before Gunn was on board and if anything could have been based on the drafts which had Spartax in it) so it wasn't because of synergy that it sold, and besides MCU roster when he started (plus Iron Man and Angela) his comic couldn't be any more different from Gunn's movies.

Bendis eventually somewhat synergized with the movies after his X-Men/Guardians crossover and well after the movie was out and it was mostly cosmetic stuff and some personality changes like Drax getting flanderized as the guy who takes everything literally (and you could tell when Bendis saw the movie because that shift in how he wrote Drax was very noticeable). Even then he did things like include a lot of characters that weren't Guardians and he bumped Peter off for a short while to make Kitty Star-Lord and there came a point where his sales were going down but that had more to do with the fact that his popularity was going down, his style of writing was becoming predictable, and people realized he had no good long term plans for Guardians (he ended his run by having his last arc being a tie in to Civil War II and the Guardians being on Earth).

But everyone that synergized with the movies during that time just produced cheap imitation of Gunn's plot for the first movie, heavy character flanderization, and nothing helped their sales.

As for the Eidos-Montreal game, it has some movie influence,yes, but a lot of it's selling point it's also that it takes stuff from both the movies and the comics and it makes it's own thing. Abnett was even brought in to promote the game and he has no involvement in writing it.

And judging from the story in the game it takes from the MCU, Annihilation, the DnA era, Jim Starlin (particularly part of Drax's origin in the game), and other comic influences. One reviewer that was talking about the recent demo for the game that I saw even said that he didn't care about the Guardians outside of the movies and that he had no positive expectations for this game so the movie's popularity alone didn't help there with him. What made him like the game besides the gameplay was that the game felt different than the movie to him, that it had its own lore and feel and it made him interested in that particular universe. As a matter in fact one criticism he had was that Rocket's VA was trying too hard to impersonate Bradley Cooper and it was distracting to him.

MCU synergy also didn't save Marvel vs Capcom Infinite and all the shitty problems that it had and they couldn't replace the popularity the X-Men had with the gaming community.

So if Marvel Comics is truly wanting to synergize with the MCU again then they have learned nothing because that really didn't help them before when they tried it.

[felassan]

unsourced DA4 snippets under the cut:

(Please remember that these are just offhand comments, don’t read too much into them or jump to conclusions. The game is still years out, we know next to nothing about it and many things could change between now and release.)

Q.) Does DA4 have ray tracing? A.) All they can really say right now is that they are taking advantage of the new hardware. When they’re ready to show gameplay we’ll know for sure

A lot of dev creativity comes from them being able to play around with different ideas and such for a while in “DA Weeks”. These are internal periods when the devs can pursue different individual creative projects that in some way benefit DA, and were talked about in the 25 Year Book [ctrl-F “giants”]. In DAI for example the giant mobs were the result of one of these. A surprising amount of stuff from these weeks makes it into the games because they’re things individual people are really passionate about. Something in one of the DA4 videos that have came out so far was actually the result of a DA Week, but they can’t say what specifically

The timing for when to announce or show stuff is always tricky. They know people are hungry for as many details about the game as possible, indeed any, but until the game is done it isn’t done. This sounds obvious but [the point being made here was that] in game development, things can develop ‘out of order’, for example a vertical slice being made before the game’s opening act. And there’s a lot of times when things have to change during production, and different reasons for this - anything they show too early before release is at risk of becoming ‘cemented’ in fans’ minds, naturally, yet also at risk of being cut still. [My observation here is that this is what happened with the DAI Crestwood demo, as an example]

[Related to the above] They also don’t know what’s going to ‘fit’ - the game is taking a few years to make and the real world continues to change and witness events in that time [it sounds like this means that sometimes events which happen in the real world mean they end up reevaluating what storybeats/plotpoints they think would be alright to make use of in DA4]. The hypothetical example used here was of a pandemic [note that this was a purely hypothetical example only for the purposes of explanation, that’s all]: if there was a pandemic or similar plotline in the current draft of DA4, they would now be like “Hmm we probably shouldn’t do that storyline anymore, it’s a bad time to do a pandemic storyline” 

[More of a general comment] A lot of external people say “BioWare is dead/dying”. People have been saying that for like 15+ years now. At this point EA has owned BioWare longer than the time period when BioWare was not owned by EA. A studio being dead only happens when the studio actually closes and stops giving staff paychecks. When a good game comes out, people come for the good game. When a game underperforms, they don’t play it - this is how products should work. It’s okay to be displeased by a product. If you are, that’s okay, don’t buy it, that’s fine! It comes down to the exchange of money for goods and services

Q.) Is it easier to work on the Frostbite engine now that they have multiple games and DAI, which is on Frostbite, under their belts? A.) The more they work with anything the better they learn it and the more they get to know it better, so things do get easier [this echoes a Reddit comment made by Mike Laidlaw about the team knowing the engine for DA4]. Engines aren’t always a defining factor of a game though, it often comes down to what /technology/ is used. For example, no engine has the conversation/dialogue system/technology that they need. One of the “industry-leading” [quotation marks because this is a quote] things BioWare wants to do is the conversation system. This isn’t something they can just ‘get off a shelf’, as it were, because that wouldn’t be industry-leading, instead they have to do that development in order to make something unique. Consequently they have to invest a lot in their own technology. Whether or not the Frostbite engine comes with it is irrelevant because no engine comes with the level of tech that they need to meet the goals for their product. Hence, they want to make sure they focus in on specific technologies that are unique selling-points of their products and that they have to invest in

Related to the above, they also want their character creation to be considered industry-leading (representation, impactful)

[A comment which ties to earlier dev comments (cautions/caveats) about concept art, such as PW’s]: Concept art and similar stuff is just that, concept art/concepts/early stuff. Sometimes we look at concept art and start playing the game in our heads, or make takeaways like ‘I saw [this], which means [that]’. The example used here was of Varric voicing the recent trailer. The VA / character did the voiceover for the trailer, and so some people conclude “well this must mean that he’s a main character”. The caution is that well, that could be the case, or maybe they just needed someone to voice some lines

[More of a general comment] Looking back at BioWare history, some folks were once like “You have the Star Wars license and made KOTOR 1, why are you now making Mass Effect instead of another KOTOR?” The reason is because they wanted to. Some folks were also like “You have the D&D license and made NWN, why are you now making Dragon Age?” Again the reason is because they wanted to. This is always a factor, they have to have some say in what they make. When you look at anything, be it a movie or a book or a game, you can usually tell if the person or people behind it were enjoying themselves when they created it. If they were, the product is usually better. If people are happy to work on something and into it, it’s better. The point being made here is that the best way to make people work on something is to let them work on what they want. This stuff has an influence on the creative process

[More of a general comment] They love their fans, but a fair bit of decision-making has to come down to the fact that they are paid salaries by a company, which means they need to sell [x]-many copies. It means that if they don’t sell [x]-million units they are at risk because they are spending [x]-million to create a product. This unfortunately means that sometimes they have to make decisions which are impacted by UX reviews [I think this means user experience reviews?]. For example, they could have metrics/data which say that 80% of players want [this], but that [this same thing] is going to anger 5% of players. This sucks but that is good math sometimes at that level [I think “that level” here means in a studio of BioWare’s size which makes AAA games, as there was an accompanying note that in indy game dev they don’t have to do math of this kind as much, as indy games tend to be a lot more tightly-tuned]

[epickiya722]

for the bnha asks: midoriya, aoyama, mineta, shigaraki

I literally fell asleep and then woke up. Definitely going to be up for a while.

MIDORIYA: If Midoriya wasn’t the protagonist, who would you like to see be the protagonist?

Okay, last time I answered this one, I said Uraraka. Girl deserves more love. However, this time for a more 'humorous' answer. I want to see Kouda Kouji as a protagonist. The whole series in the eyes of the animal whisper.

"And this is the story how I broke out my shell and because the world's greatest hero somehow! With the ability to talk to animals!

AOYAMA: What is a quirk you couldn’t handle or hate to have?

Off rip, Mineta's. I could not have balls for hair. Couldn't. Just couldn't.

Also, this guy's.

WHAT THE HELL IS THIS QUIRK?!

MINETA: Least favorite BNHA character?

Ha ha, see I would say Mineta here. It's a typical answer and I will not lie, I don't like him nor do I care for him. If any of you do, that's fine.

But after I saw season 4? Overhaul immediately got the sticker for least fave. I know he has his fans or whatever, but I will never be okay will what he did to Eri and everyone. Man was just so cruel, you know?

Shoutout though to his VAs, because honestly? Killed those performances. Fun fact, for all you Sun/Moon Daycare Attendant fans out there, Overhaul's English VA, Kellen Goff voices him. As well as Glamrock Freddy (including some other variations).

I knew I recognized his voice when watching gameplays!!

SHIGARAKI: If you were a BNHA character, would you be a hero, villain or vigilante? Or just a simple citizen?

A vigilante. I would have said, 'simple citizen' but I thought about and the thought of throwing hands illegal but for the good of people is an entertaining thought to be.

BNHA ASKS

[korkrunchcereal]

WoW Q and A

Elaborate on the Chains of Domination cinematic: Story of Anduin and Sylvanas/relationship with the jailer is foundational to Shadowlands. Anduin was dominated. Jailer needed someone like Anduin to be able to walk into Bastion and claim the key. Brief moment of Anduin gaining control in cinematic, so still in there. Chains of Domination will explain more.

When he (Anduin) walks past Uther, did Uther know what was happening or did he feel bad? Couple things going on. His hand touches his wound, made by a weapon of the maw. Uther recognized on some level that power, as well as stirring memories seeing this blonde, kingly figure. Confrontation with Sylvanas in the raid one of the biggest moments in WoW.

Moving from classic to BC while keeping a copy. Whats it going to look like for gold, items/banks. Am I going to see differences or is it two separate entities for all time? Logging in at pre patch will snap a copy of your character. There will be an option to move onto BC classic, or stay in vanilla classic. Can pay a fee and activate “clone” to put them on BC classic if you choose to stay Vanilla. Beta is around the corner. 

How will high population  numbers be handled in TBC classic? How will you handle bottlenecks, sharding, dailies etc. Recognize high population, want to make sure experience is enjoyable. Optimization improvements to help stabilize servers. Experience of rare material and multiple people going is part of the game. Willing to make targeted changes if there is particular problems. 

 Will there be more race/class combinations? Player agency and choice is major theme. Customization key, but also want to reinforce differences. Want to maintain a world that doesn’t have exact symmetry. Have gone back over the years to change things. For now, think they’ve gone about far enough. Nothing planned, but never say never.

 Surprise on Covenant armor? Based on heritage armor. Pure aesthetic, want to give players more and more options. Gameplay reasons to not tmog the entire range (warrior wearing cloth for example)

Workflow change during pandemic? Happened very suddenly. Team reached to each other to find comfort. The isolation found purpose for devs. Making Shadowlands/games help to reconnect friends and people.

Any plans to address faction imbalance? What happened to cause it? Something talked about a lot. Know there’s a very real problem, particularly high end. What caused the problem? Imbalanced in racials allowed to persist too long. At this point, don’t think racials are imbalanced. People staying Horde however due to social reasons now; compounded issue from all the way back from MoP etc. No real answer. Social issue requires social answer.

Have you ever seen a swing in either faction direction due to story elements? Across the game as a whole, faction balance is pretty good. Its raiding/high end PvE that the imbalances really emerge. Have seen faction switches/more cross faction alts in BfA for example. 

If I play BC, when I decide to play on main char and a classic era realm at 60, will I have to name change? You have your name in both places. Ensure people don’t park on names forever.

Any plans to connect more realms? Had to do survey across all populations in all realms. Essentially have to copy an entire realms database onto another. Not a flip a switch thing, lot of work. Have been able to address a large amount of the very low pop. realms. Had to pause for Shadowlands launch due to launch and Shadowlands had huge effects on server populations. Last time they connected realms was right before WoD, and realms had a LOT of queue problems. Watching and waiting for populations to go down before making the jump.

Never gonna have cross faction raids, dungeons etc? Not gonna say never. Essential to hold onto identity but...

Will our amount of Anima be increased later? Is it possible for sanctum upgrades to be account wide? Lot to collect. Hotfixed Anima drops so far. Looking for new sources of Anima for next patch. Over all looking at the costs. Cosmetics are generally account wide. Anima is designed to span the bulk of Shadowlands. 

Sire Denathrius is an eternal one and imprisoned. What will he do? Will we see him again? Best laid plans can adapt. During BfA, intended Bwonsamdi to be a one off. There, but no big deal. Once they heard the VA they went “we need more of this character”. Planned for Sire Denathrius to be there, you kill him w/e. Then heard the VA and went “this guys awesome we love him.” Changed plan to keep Sire Denathrius alive. Will find some other role for him to take. Watch fan feedback to see how community responds/gravitate to. He is in that sword, there may just be allies of him that would be interested in liberating him from the sword...

When will we see more Heritage Armor? As each one was released, got more and more excited from response/enhanced feel of the game. Working on further Heritage Armor. Some coming to near future updates, some more in the future.

Any plans to bring back the AH app? Not as you know it perse. It got turned into a lot of automation. Revamp removed app, then change of the AH. Meant to be more of a socialize thing then accumulation of gold by automated system. Recognize however convenience factor. Consider getting back into some form, but not like how it used to be.

Will there be more new character customization options for Shadowlands? None in Shadowlands. Tend to be fairly big projects. Release them when it’ll be very good for players. Lot of work to juggle. Felt like they got good feedback and support from it. Want to invest going forward when it makes sense.

What are actual requirements for flying in Shadowlands? Where can we fly? Can we fly across the realms? Shadowlands pathfinder no rep grind. Just requires completing full covenant campaign (9.0 and 9.1). Cannot fly from zone to zone. Once unlocked, alts will be able to fly freely. 

In the BC classic, will there be class tuning that would make it notably different than 2007? Broadly no. Want to keep the authentic behavior of final patch, like classic had. Seal of blood

Is there work being done on new Torghast Anima Powers for later patches? Spec specific, when can we see? WIll be done through all patches/future patches. new powers etc. As for powers working outside Torghast, keep OP nature of them inside Torghast.

Difference between passage of time in Shadowlands and in Azeroth? Salanar the Horseman in DK order hall said he was in the veil for what felt like days and it was between WoTLK and Legion. Meet characters for whom time doesn’t seem to have meaning. What is time a construct of? Order. On Azeroth, understand the passage of time because of influence of titans/order. Outside of the influence of order, time loses meaning. A lot more fluid. Shadowlands about eternities. Can have it perceived differently by different characters even going through same thing.

Bringing back 10-man content, either as different difficulty or different instances for smaller groups to tackle. All raid basically is/can be 10 man. These days its the 5 player mega dungeons that fill the role. In BC, ZA and Kara filled that niche of the smaller group doing the BIG, raid like content. Fulfills the spirit of 10 man content.

Will summoning stones be available at launch of BC or come later? Will have them at launch.

What’s Bolvar up to and where is his story going? Will he have a major role to play? One of the fun parts of Shadowlands was getting Bolvar back into the mix. We saw him be pivotal in Torghast and getting into Shadowlands. Saw there was a price to pay for visions with Torghast. He will be front and center in Chains of Domination. Good rallying figure.  

In BC, how will pvp titles be handled without battlegroups? Originally, reward was made for the best player in each battlegroup due to technical reasons. Now that they have better technology, fair way is % based, though still want to keep it small amount. 

In Stormwind, Darnassus refugees mention going back once the smoke clears. Does this mean Teldrassil can grow back and become habitable again? The damage was pretty definitive/lot of lives lost. Don’t want to reverse on a whim. The story of the souls of the Night Elves however is not yet done, nor is Tyrande’s story going into Chains of Domination and beyond.

Will fresh classic servers be added in addition to TBC servers? For the timeline of BC classic, no new classic servers. Eyes on it however for the future. Will discuss once BC launches.

How do you get the Wandering Ancient Mount? Got to have Shadowlands. Will be in 9.0.5 patch update next month (March). 

[thejasondogman]

About today’s Nintendo Direct (mostly regarding the stuff that interested me)

   I would be more excited with the new Kirby if I didn’t have the unlucky to came accross a leaked promotional artwork while googling. Anyway. The concept of Kirby exploring a lost land got me invested and it’s very unique from Kirby standards. I’m bit concerned with how they will handle with the game’s exploration and I hope they show more gameplay with other copy abillities but regardless, I’m very happy we are finally getting a 3D mainline Kirby game. 

   Still pretty hyped with who will be the last Smash fighter and can’t wait to 10/5 :)

  Very glad they’re adding N64 games. They should have been on the service since the beginning. I liked a lot the selection (especially the other ones they are planning to release).Nice that they also added Sin & Punishment. I haven’t played yet but it’s a Japan-only so it’s good it’ll gain a little more accessibility.  Seen Dr. Mario 64 was very unexcpected honetly. But it’s a cool fun little game. Hope people will enjoy.

   You know what else was unexpected. The Genesis games. Castlevania Bloodlines speacilly was a nice pick considering it only have been rereleased once on the Castlevania Anniversary Collection and it’s a very good game (although I’m still planning to play the rest of Bloodlines). But I’m happy it was added. It also felt funny the timing this is happening considering recently I bought Dynamite Headdy and Vectorman on Steam to finally finish those.

   Splatoon 3 I can’t say about the gameplay cause I haven’t played other Splatoon games and I don’t remember all the weapons on the previous games. But if I’m not wrong they have added a lot of new weapons in this from what I remember. And I’m glad it doesn’t seem the story will be “zapfish got kidnapped” again and hope it will have the same ambition and care like Octo Expansion had. Can’t wait to see also how the new idols will look like and if Off the Hook will make an apperance.

  The Mario Movie news was..... something. I think I heard of Chris Pratt before but I don’t remember watching a movie where he was in. So I don’t know if he’ll do a good job dubbing Mario but the fact Charles Martnet will be in the movie not as Mario is just fucking lame. Can’t also say too much about the VAs for Peach, Toad and Luigi. Jack Black as Bowser seems like an odd choice and Seth Rogen as DK is just hillarious.  

I’m indifferent towards the presentation of the ActRiser remake. But the original is another game I never finished so maybe I’ll consider buying the remake.

   And I’m very happy for Bayonetta fans that Bayonetta 3 finally got gameplay footage.

   Overall it was a very solid direct. I’m pretty satisfied with most of the stuff they showed. And hope you guys enjoyed what you saw on the direct too.