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cornelius-sfm · 5 months

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Order of the Awakened Mystic

Intro

To see how good a subclass is, I've decided to try and go through Tactician solo and see if it's possible for that subclass to beat the game, and if not, how far they can make it. The only restrictions I gave myself are to not multiclass and to not abuse Elixirs of Hill Giant Strength. Multiclassing would defeat the purpose of seeing how good the class is, and using Elixirs of Hill Giant Strength take away some of the impact of planning ability scores.

I decided to keep going with Mystic for the fun of it, deciding on Order of the Awakened (simply Awakened going forward). This is because I felt it would offer a different kind of playstyle to the Immortal Mystic, focusing on using Psionic powers instead of being a martial.

For race, I went with Githyanki for two reasons. First, I felt that it fit thematically since they were already a psionic race. Second, and the more metagame-y reason, they get proficiency in medium armor which I felt would be helpful in the early game. They also get access to useful spells during their level ups and Astral Knowledge, both of which are just useful.

The Acts

Act 1: For this run, I decided to forgo using weapons (for now), instead focusing on the Psionic Talents for most of the game. That made the early game quite difficult as my damage wasn't great. Thanks to being a Gith, I was able to steal and equip the +1 Breastplate Armor from Dammon. After that, I just traveled and talked through my encounters, gaining exp. At this point, I had a build idea in mind, but the necessary gear wouldn't be available until late Act 2. One thing that stood out, even after hitting level 5, was that this subclass was extremely long rest heavy. It didn't help that most of the AOE's were locked behind level 7, so I wasn't the absolute strongest. Regardless, I was still able to take on most of the Act 1 fights. The Grymforge fight was somewhat easy, though I did have to use a Potion of Invisibility to drop out of combat once. The Creche was also mostly easy to clear out, but things still didn't feel great. Every fight cemeted just how heavy this Order relies on Long Rests/Partial Rests, even after hitting level 7, where I unlocked Psychic Blast. It was around the time I hit level 7 that most of Act 1 was done, and I then moved onto Act 2.

Deaths: 10

Act 2: This Act had the last few pieces of gear for what I was aiming for as an "end game build," however I actually had to get there. Most fights were easy if I simply Psychic Blasted everything to dust, but if I wasn't doing that, then large groups were tough. On the other hand, solo fights were a breeze. This was very evident in the Kar'niss fight. While it usually is tough, I managed to wipe out the entire group except for him in 2 blasts, and proceeded to Ego Whip him to death, as he kept failing my saves. After that, I talked most of the bosses to death to hit level 8. I then headed to the Gauntlet of Shar, where I grabbed the Callous Glow Ring (after using Knock to have the Justiciars kill Balthazar). With this, I was one step closer to my end game build. To alleviate the future Assault on Moonrise, I headed back there and killed a good amount of NPCs, including Zrell. After I was satisfied with the bloodshed, I headed back to the Gauntlet of Shar again to finally free the Nightsong. I cleared some trials and convinced some devils to kill themselves, and headed to the Shadowfell, which got me to level 9. Once I freed her (and lost Shadowheart), I long rested to prep for the massive fights ahead. I went to get Shar's blessing to boost my Intelligence, then finally went to finish Act 2. After the easy assault, I headed up to Kethric where I proceeded to die. After another attempt and another death, I said screw it and just unloaded all of my Psi Points to Mind Crush Kethric (and also Dame Aylin by mistake), stunlocking him. Heading down to the Netherbrain, I grabbed the Braindrain Gloves and the Resonance Stone, both of which were essential to the build. I freed Us then headed to Ketheric, dreading the final fight. Before the fight, I summoned Us and an Earth Elemental with a Conjure Elemental Scroll and kept them outside of his line of sight. After convincing Ketheric to kill himself, I managed to get surprise thanks to a Greater Invisibility scroll. Dropping a Haste Spore grenade and using a Psychic Blast, I managed to burst down the Mindflayer and freed Aylin. Finally, I had the Earth Elemental to block a ladder to keep the Necromites away from Myrkul, and bursted him down. Thanks to Psychic Crush + a Wall of Fire Scroll, I was able to keep him locked down which allowed Aylin and Us to stay alive. With the three of us, we were able to take care of him rather quickly, but it took all of my Psi Points and more scrolls than I'd like (Greater Invisibility, Conjure Elemental, and Wall of Fire). With Ketheric down, I headed to Act 3.

Deaths: 4

Act 3: During my first night of rest, I immediately got jumped by some Githyanki. While they're typically resistant to Psychic damage, my Resonance Stone took care of that, allowing me to burst them down with Psychic Blasts. After that, I simply went around completing quests as I wanted to hit level 12 before I fought any of the bosses. After a lot of wandering and a lot of killing, I eventually hit level 12 as well as collected all the gear I needed (which will be covered later).

Act 3 Bosses:

Viconia: I decided to not make the mistake as my first solo run and fought her first to get the Mirror of Loss buff first. I sipped an Elixir of Bloodlust and headed right into it. As soon as combat started, I ran back to the door, creating a choke point with a Scroll of Evard's Black Tentacles. The next turn, I used Eldritch Evolution and started just blasting everyone to death. Thanks to the Psychic Focus: Psionic Distortion, Darkness was also a non-issue. The fight was actually so easy, I took zero damage and could have done it easily without the scroll.

Gortash: Similarly to Viconia, this was more annoying than difficult. I died once during the fight, however it was due to me being both Lethargic due to a Potion of Speed and at 3 HP due to Eldritch Evolution running out. The second try went easier, killing him by turn 2 and running away to wait out the Potion of Speed. After this, I took a Long Rest since the Steel Watchers were hostile, but they become allies after a Long Rest when Gortash dies.

Mystic Carrion: Neither difficult nor frustrating. Thanks to going first, I was able to use Eldritch Evolution and stunlock everyone. It took about 3 turns to take everyone out using Psychic Crush.

Lorroakan: Somewhat harder than previous fights. I was brought down to near low HP, but that was mainly due to bad positioning with my AOE's causing me to miss Lorroakan twice. Despite that, I was still able to take him out, even without Dame Aylin's help (she died turn 1 to my first AOE).

Raphael: Next I decided to take on Raphael because I felt like he would be the hardest and man, this fight cemeted how powerful this subclass is. Thanks to Victory Before Battle, I went second in initative (Yurgnir went first and did basically nothing). My first turn was spent doing some damage and using Eldritch Evolution. The real fight started on my second turn, where I just kinda... stunned everyone. Even Rapahel kept getting stunned, and I just kept using Psychic Crush, occaisionally refreshing my Eldritch Evolution. In the end, I beat the battle without even taking care of the pillars.

Cazador: I was somewhat worried about this fight, but once again, simply using Psychic Crush + Eldritch Evolution proved too much for the vampire lord who only lasted 7 rounds.

Ansur: Probably the toughest fight so far. He was able to do a good bit of damage to me, even with an Elixir of Lightning Resistance, and he had a high Intelligence save, meaning he wasn't constantly getting stunned. Despite that, he was still getting stunned enough to beat him first try.

Orin: The final battle, and just like all previous bosses, she simply fell to the massive stun AOE that is Psychic Crush. Honestly just not much to say about it.

Deaths: 3 (Including the bosses and final fight.)

Final Fight: The final fight was honestly quite difficult, at least compared to earlier fights. Because of the nature of the arena, I couldn't get close enough to the Emperor to wipe him out fast by using Steeped in Bliss, so I had to use Psychic Crush + Orpheus' Illithid powers to take care of them before heading up. I used a Globe of Invulnerability scroll to get to the brain, and then promptly died to a platform breaking. After doing it all again, I got to the brain and with a Potion of Speed, blitzed them with good ole Psychic Crush.

Final Build:

Combat with this build was pretty simple and very offensive based. I'd start the day with an Exlixir of Bloodlust, then when combat starts, I'd use Eldritch Evolution. With those two active, I'd typically shred through most fights, and enemies who didn't die to my attacks were usually stunned or debuffed enough to not matter. My bonus action was mainly used to shoot Gondiva to get Psi Points back so I could use Eldritch Evolution again later. If I didn't manage to end combat in those 4 turns, my only option was to pray that I could stun everyone before my HP dropped and I could heal up.

Stats: Str (9) Dex (14) Con (15) Int (17) Wis (8) Cha (10)

Head - Fount of Endless Knowledge: Eases the heavy usage of Psi Points a bit. Helm of Balduran is also a good alternative that I ended up switch to near the end, but honestly didn't notice a difference.

Cloak - Cloak of Psionic Interference: Makes enemies more likely to fail their saves, leading to more stun chains

Armor - Armour of Persistence: Just good for survivability.

Bracers - Braindrain Gloves: All our damage is Psychic + our strongest options are mental saves.

Boots - Boots of Stormy Clamour: We're always proccing Mental Fatigue, so this is also always going to proc.

Necklace - Amulet of Mental Fortitude: Leads to massive saving throw bonuses.

Ring 1 - Ring of Mental Inhibition: Further helps with stun chaining.

Ring 2 - Coruscation Ring: Helps debuff enemies even if they pass their save. There are probably better options

Melee Weapons - Markoheshkir: Just the best staff to have.

Ranged Weapon - Gandiva: A nice bonus action damage option thanks to Spectral Arms.

Feat - Heavily Armoured: Lets us wear Armour of Pestilence.

Feat - Resilient (Constitution): Lets us use Strength of Mind on other stats + boosts Con.

Feat - Ability Score Improvement (+2 Constitution): More health.

Hag's Hair: +1 Intelligence

Mirror of Loss: +2 Intelligence

Overall Thoughts: Early on, this subclass felt super weak. I didn't have many good offensive options and it felt like the damage wasn't ever there. It wasn't until I got Psychic Blast and eventually Psychic Crush. Both of these abilities, especially when combined with Eldritch Evolution, make this subclass an offensive behemoth that is only limited by it's terrible defensive options. Overall, I'd rate this an B tier subclass.

Pros:

Very strong burst potential.

Good at locking down enemies and making sure they can't take turns.

Massive AOE attacks in the late game.

Can spam Psionic Disciplines at later levels.

Cons:

Extremely long rest heavy in the early game.

Very good risk, but very dangerous reward

Strong offensive abilities are Psychic only.

No good ways to boost defensive abilities.

Psionic Disciplines: Here is where I'm going to rate each Discipline from 1-5, and give a small thought about each one. This is coming from the viewpoint of a Lone Wolf Run, so some that are more support and ally based will rate lower.

Aura Sight: 2/5

Psychic Focus: A good skill to have advantage on, but need to remember to use it before entering conversations.

Assess Foe (2 Psi Points): Not a bad option for enemies who have a rather high DC.

View Aura (3 Psi Points): Another good ability that is hard to remember you have.

Percieve the Unseen (5 Psi Points): Once again, an ability that is good, but by the time you'll want it, it's too late.

Infinite Abyss: 4/5

Psychic Focus: Same as Aura Sight.

Glimpse of the Void (1 Psi Point): Not great damage, but the only AOE you get at early levels so not the worst.

Symbotic Link (3 Psi Points): Useless in Lone Wolf runs.

Psionic Disturbance (5 Psi Points): Good for when you're fighting a lot of spell casters.

Eldritch Evolution (7 Psi Points): Insanely strong, but also can just be the death of you if you aren't smart about it.

Intellect Fortress: 3/5

Psychic Focus: This will almost never be relevant.

Psychic Parry (1 Psi Point): Nice way to avoid those pesky save-or-suck incapacitation spells.

Psychic Backlash (2 Psi Points): Basically psychic Hellish Rebuke. I'd honestly prefer if it didn't give disadvantage and was only the damage.

Psychic Redoubt (5 Psi Points): The advantage on saves is nice, but once again, the damage resistance is next to useless.

Mantle of Awe: 2/5

Psychic Focus: Same issues as Aura Sight.

Charming Presence (2 Psi Points): Good in the early game, but by late game there are better ways to stop enemies attacking.

Center of Attention (2 Psi Points): I don't see the point in this in a Lone Wolf run.

Invoke Awe (7 Psi Points): Not really worth the action.

Mantle of Insanity: 4/5

Psychic Focus: Very situationally useful.

Delirium (2 Psi Points): A good early game way to get an enemy to go away for a bit.

Hysteria (3 Psi Points): Useful if there is only a few enemies in the battle.

Paranoia (5 Psi Points): Probably the best crowd control option you'll get.

Unending Torment (6 Psi Points): I'd rather use one of the earlier abilities.

Precognition: 4/5

Psychic Focus: A nice and useful little boost.

Precognitive Hunch (2 Psi Points): Basically just Bless, but you'll likely have better things to concentrate on.

All-Around Sight (3 Psi Points): A shittier Psychic Backlash that also costs 1 more Psi Point.

Danger Sense (5 Psi Points): Super good as it lets you forgo the Alert feat, but does require concentration.

Victory Before Battle (7 Psi Points): A worse Danger Sense imo since it doesn't prevent Surprise, but doesn't require concentration.

Psychic Assault: 5/5

Psychic Focus: Useful in the early game, but useless by the mid to late game.

Psionic Blast: Literally guaranteed damage as it has a 100% hit rate (but the damage sucks.)

Ego Whip (3 Psi Points): A concentration free control option, but the damage doesn't scale so it falls off rather fast.

Id Insinuation (5 Psi Points): Slightly more damage than Ego Whip, but also a worse control option unless you're fighting a caster.

Psychic Blast (6 Psi Points): A bunch of damage in a massive AOE, what's there to say?

Psychic Crush (7 Psi Points): A bunch of damage in a massive AOE that also can stun and targets Intelligence, a usually low stat, what's there to say?

Psychic Disruption: 3/5

Psychic Focus: A nice bonus to a good skill that you can reliable utilize in conversations

Distracting Haze (1 Psi Point): Not a bad option for screwing over spellcasters.

Daze (3 Psi Points): A worse Ego Whip imo.

Mind Storm (5 Psi Points): A good AOE for before you get Psychic Blast, plus stays somewhat relevant thanks to its secondary effect.

Psychic Distortion: 4/5

Psychic Focus: Great if you want to abuse Darkness strats.

Obscuring Veil (2 Psi Points): Not a bad ability, but it doesn't really fit the playstyle of this subclass.

Psychic Double (3 Psi Points): I literally never used this ability however I'm sure there are some shenanigans there with the teleporting.

Mirage (5 Psi Points): Once per turn disadvantage is nice, but stellar.

Illusory Horde (6 Psi Points): The only way to buff your AC, plus it pairs well with Mirage.

Ethereal Shroud (7 Psi Points): I could never get this ability to work properly for me.

Telepathic Subjugation: 5/5

Psychic Focus: This alone makes the Discipline worth taking (damn near a must take).

Broken Will (2 Psi Points): Concentration free CC, but there are better things to use your action + Psi Points on.

Psionic Grip (3 Psi Points): Once again, there are better things to spend your action on.enemy.

Psychic Grasp (6 Psi Points): Useful if there is one big monster that is very threatening and a few small mobs you can wipe out next turn.

Psychic Domination (7 Psi Points): Domination abilities are almost never worth it.

Transcendent Form: 5/5

Psychic Focus: Useless since this subclass is almost exclusively a spellcaster.

Transcendence (2 Psi Points): A strong ability, but the drawback just isn't worth it.

Psychic Brand (6 Psi Points): Insanely good ability that just lets you not have any bad stats.

Spectral Arms (7 Psi Points): Even when casted on yourself, it still gives you a solid bonus action if you have nothing else to use.

#bg3 #baldurs gate 3

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lazzledazzler · 3 years

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Lazzle's Rune Factory 5 Review

Alright so here are my thoughts and experiences with RF5! This is a big boy so buckle in earthmates...

Obviously this review will contain spoilers, read at your own risk.

Initial thoughts upon playing...

Great opening! I enjoyed the jazz music~ I did feel like it leaned a bit more towards the male player though. It definitely feels like a rune factory game. It's familiar, and controls are easy to get accustomed to for the most part. The mold is there and rf5 doesn't stray too far from its predecessors which is comforting for veterans. That being said, I'm not going to pull any punches and will critique this game harshly. Keep in mind as updates for the game are released not all things discussed in this review will be as relevant overtime!

Let's hear some thoughts on...

The story/plot. The plot is enjoyable overall. I'm not crazy about the whole Seed organization thing but it was a neat idea. They address the Sechs Territory and it is confirmed that the game takes place some decades after RF4. But by the end of it, I didn't feel like I really accomplished anything because it felt like I barely did anything really. Also they left a lot of stuff unanswered. I'm not even sure I understood the message they were sending, if they were trying to send a message at all. The main story is too short, and it doesn't involve enough of the townsfolk. You're basically doing everything yourself in secret the whole time and the townsfolk barely know what's actually going on. Out of the love interests, Lucas plays the largest part in the story, followed by Priscilla and Scarlett. The story feels targeted at male audiences--at least that's how I felt. You, the player, have a larger role in the game, much like in RF3 and I was glad to see this. As of right now there are only two arcs. Praying for DLC 3rd arc...!

Protagonists. The latest protagonists to join the crew of Earthmates are...decent. Their designs are nothing special unfortunately, though I appreciate Alice's more than Ares's. Appearance-wise they lack personality and creativity. Personality wise I am pleasantly surprised with how sociable they are. They're not exactly quick witted and sassy like Lest/Frey were in rf4, or as endearing as Micah in rf3, but they have a certain realness to them that makes their reactions to things believable. I'm certain Xseed will see to making them a bit more sarcastic in their localizing efforts, so let's all look forward to that. Overall though, while I appreciate their mannerisms, they don't really measure up to all the previous amnesiacs we've grown to love over the decades.

Characters. Overall I enjoy all the characters introduced in Rune Factory 5! I feel like there is someone for everyone in this game on some level. The voice acting was pretty good for every character. The designs are very much Rune factory. Like OG runefa, compared to rf4 ( 4 kind of strayed from their usual style) which I like. Characters still have their own signature quirks that you find endearing. Although I would have liked to see more variety? Like we've had mermaids, univir, half monsters, vampires, etc in previous titles but rf5 only gives us the usual (half) elf, dwarf, and then a succubus (physically she doesn't have unique features aside from the ears and heart eyes), and some were-people. I was hoping for something more unique to really give that classic runefa vibe.

Dungeons/Battles. I'm pretty split on this one. On the one hand, the dungeons have more depth due to the 3D aspects. They've included more contraptions that are very fun to see even if they aren't executed that well. So I'm grateful for that. On the other hand, the dungeons are insanely short imo. It doesn't take long at all to get to the boss. The puzzles are also pretty subpar and few compared to RF4. Fighting monsters is similar to the other games. You can lock on now but I only use it when I'm trying to use my Seed Circle. The lock on feature is actually counter-intuitive and makes it harder to dodge. Weapon mechanics have shifted a bit. There’s a feature that makes you invincible to damage if you time the R button dash correctly. Axes and Hammers are significantly slower than in older games? Like. I thought I was in slow motion it was so slow. Lances are also harder to use as well? I'm questioning my sanity here. I don't know if it's a bug or intentional either.

Farming. Not much has changed from previous games mechanics wise. They added new types of special crops which is neat. The camera view changes to overhead when you go near your fields though, and it can make you dizzy/uncomfortable. It actually makes it a bit difficult to see at times so I wish there was a way to adjust the angle. If you are tilling corn or dried weeds to improve the soil, you need to place them separately if you don't want to use the entire stack. Otherwise, it will till the entire stack on the land if you place them all down at once. The flower shop is unlocked late in the story. Weird thing to do considering you need flowers to make medicine. Not to mention the fact that you wont have access to the fertilizer that increases defense against typhoons? During typhoon season? Thinking emoji...

The town. I have to say Rigbarth's design is poor compared to Sharance, Selphia, etc. It's too big and it takes too long to get around. Everything is too spaced out and there aren't enough warp points to make it easier on players. I don't want to walk an entire mile up a hill to talk to one person and then walk all the way down to the beach to speak to another. It doesn’t really feel like a ‘town’.

OST/BGM. Music was good, though nothing really stood out to me where I'd go "damn this slaps" or something. I think they might've had some old soundtracks from rf2 or something because it felt really nostalgic at times.

We need an exterminator. (Bugs Bugs Bugs)

Marvelous, I don't know how to tell you this buuut...your customers are NOT your testers. When you release a game, you need to make sure it's not littered with glitches because customers don't enjoy dealing with them and will drop the game!

Here are some of the types of glitches I encountered:

Crashing. Game would randomly crash or freeze and close at any moment. Sooooo frustrating! Sometimes you get lucky with the autosave feature, but the autosave only activates every morning at 6am in your room and then when you warp to a dungeon level/floor. So when you're in the middle of your daily tasks in town and it crashes, you have to start all over. Marveloussss no one enjoys losing their progress in a game I promise you that much.

Lag. The dialogue bar is seriously slow, especially after loading your file. Crafting/Cooking screen lags. When you press the Y button to skip through dialogue it lags like hell. Pretty much after every time you load the game will lag, the audio will lag if you're in a battle, everything is just. so. slow.

Repeating dialogue. So if you close your game entirely (or if it crashes) naturally you'll reload your file to continue where you left off. There's a bug that will cause all NPCs to repeat the last dialogue that occurred from whatever plot related thing you did last. So for example, if the last thing you did in the story was unlock Ludmilla, everyone in town will naturally have some dialogue about her. But even after seeing all this dialogue and even saving, if the game is closed and reloaded you'll have to read all that dialogue again from townsfolk. It got really annoying after a while.

Monster taming. One time I tamed a monster but once I named it and hit 'ok' the monster never showed up in my barns? Just. gone. Okaaaay then...? Additionally, I expanded one of my monster barns but all of the monsters I tamed wouldn't appear in the added room. You get 4 monsters for each room but the monsters I tamed would show up in the original room. Meaning I had like 7 monsters in one room! I tried to bring them into the newly added room but they would just warp back to the other room. Sad.

Pond Glitch. I fished in the pond located in Sasayaki Forest and left the fish I caught but didn't want laying around the water's edge. If you leave fish around the pond's edge and go to sleep, the next morning you will be teleported to the pond and trigger the fairy dialogue as if you had thrown all of the fish into the pond??? So the dialogue of her telling you she wants 'X item, not this!' will trigger over and over for all of the fish you left at the water's edge. RIP.

Party member Bug. I had Martin in my party and I made him leave. Then when I went into my monster barns to get a monster pal to join me instead it showed me Martin's portrait???? Also I've encountered a bug where I can no longer ask anyone to join my party for some unknown reason. The R &L button prompt was just gone when I reloaded.

Errors. When cooking or crafting, the dialogue box shows up sometimes...

Typos. Random average typo here and there. Not a real biggie but there is one instance where the heroine will use the japanese male pronoun "boku" instead of "watashi" which really convinced me that this game was completely intended for men lol.

Let's talk about Pros

The good stuff. The stuff that makes you all warm and fuzzy inside.

Plot Advancing. Now I'm gonna put this as a pro because I'm certain the average player will enjoy this even though I do not. There are now markers on the map to show you where to go to advance the plot. This is all well and dandy, but it also made the story less appealing for me because you don't need to go around town and speak to residents for clues or assistance to advance anything in the story.

3D Graphics The 3D models are all amazing. The interior designs of the houses/buildings are also incredibly detailed and realistic.

Collecting items. Now there's a feature that will allow you to collect items into your inventory just by walking over them. This is pretty neat and welcome for the most part. Once the item is sparkling, you can walk over it and it'll go into your rucksack automatically. This also makes lumbering and mining go much faster. Yay!

The miraculous L pocket. Now you can customize the categories that appear in your L pocket by going to the rucksack tab in the menu. This is a super neat feature that makes things easier on players who want to manage their items in a format that suits them.

Weapon/Tool Toggling. You can now toggle between your equipped weapon and tool by pressing the left or right buttons on the trackpad.

Collecting lumber/material stone. Oh lord this is probably the most welcome improvement moving forward from the previous game. You can now put all of the lumber and material stone from your inventory into its storage at once. This also applies to fodder for tamed monsters. Well done Hakama.

Autosave. This feature is a welcome addition to the series. The game will save your data every morning and every time you enter a dungeon. Autosave has really saved my ass a few times when I made a huge error in judgement so I'm incredibly grateful for this feature. And it doesn't save over your actual save file--there's a separate autosave file at the very top. So if you messed up something but already saved on your main file, you can still salvage your mistake by reloading the autosave! I just wish it activated a bit more often sometimes.

Warping. Now we can warp to each level in a dungeon as well as certain places on the map in town. It's pretty convenient for the most part.

Increased party members. Now you can have up to 3 members in your party! Hooray! Party members act more intelligently than in older games. Scarlett can use the Seed circle to assist you in fights. I think she also tosses healing potions at you occasionally. So far, no one has tossed a dish at me if I haven't eaten like Kiel and Clorica did in rf4. But I have been hit by a failed dish (from reinhardt?) and a healing potion (from scarlett). Scarlett, Priscilla, and Reinhardt are the most helpful when dungeon crawling in my experience. Some of them however, (looking at you Doug) don't shut the hell up with their one line of dialogue they have and repeat it constantly.

Seed Circle. This neat feature allows you to capture monsters. By charging it and releasing you can capture monsters for the bounty system or add them to your party temporarily. If you throw it without charging it, you can stun monsters in place momentarily or grab things from far away. When stunning monsters, it can also give you the monster's drop item occasionally. Unfortunately it uses a lot of RP so it can be difficult at times.

Combo attacks. This is a neat feature that I appreciate and use often for boss fights. They do some serious damage so it's good to save them for the bosses. The actual cutscenes aren't that impressive, and feel kind of subpar when you get down to it but I think it's a start in the right direction.

Farm Dragons. I'm listing this as a pro although I really just see it as a new feature. Farm dragons have fields on their backs that you can place monster barns on and farm on. Giving them certain crystals will give your fields boosts in certain criteria, like length of growth, soil quality, you get it. I personally don't use the crystals because I couldn't give a shit lmao I have men and women to woo here. But if you're into this kinda thing then it's a pro.

Storage. When opening your storage box, fridge, etc. you can actually hit the R & L buttons to switch between ALL of your other storages. Looooove thissss. Great addition. So much faster to put items away in their respective places.

Crafting/Forging. Now we can also use the R & L buttons to alternate between the different weapon types/accessory/gear types instead of having to exit the menu and going back in each time you want to make something different.

Cooking. More recipes have been added. Yay!

Days are longer now. More time to get shit doneeeee ayyyy

Fishing. They've added many more fish to the game! Now the player will shout something when you get a bite, making it easier for you to hit B at the right moment. Nice. Also if you fail or press B too early, the fish doesn't vanish most of the time. Also nice. There is now a feature to fish with another person's assistance. Once a day you can investigate the sign near the fishing station and someone might offer to lend you a hand. Press the B button at the right moments on the slider and you can get a rare fish that can't be caught normally.

Monsters. New types of monsters! Love the designs. Even the monsters that are the same but just have different skins are really neat. They look great in the 3D format too. You can even ride with up to two people on certain monsters! Some bosses had awesome designs while others...were bad.

New Types of Furniture. The carpenter store has a wide arrange of furniture you can buy for your home. It also has wallpapers and stuff which is really neat. Though unfortunately you can't even sit on some of the furniture so that's a shame.

Events. Now there is a system where events are triggered by approaching an icon on the map. This is probably an improvement to RF4's randomized system, though personally I found it annoying because it meant that I had to see the events before I could just enter a building normally. Sometimes I just wanted to get shit done and not have to read through walls of text for someone's love event when I just want to buy something.

Voiced Lines. The protagonist seems to have more voiced lines, as do other characters. Good!

Let's talk about Cons

Not including glitches. Oh boy. So many cons. Where do I start?

Dialogue. Probably the most notable con in the entire game. The dialogue is drastically minimal in comparison to previous games, especially rf4. There is probably a quarter of the amount of dialogue compared to rf4's insane amount of content if not less. Townsfolk repeat themselves. Often. Too often. Am I playing Harvest Moon? Originally I thought it was because the dialogue is randomized, but I think it's actually because more dialogue is unlocked as you raise townspeople's FP. Despite this, there's no linear build up where you start off as acquaintances and eventually become very close like in rf4 because of how sporadic the LP/FP is. Townsfolk don't even talk to each other. One of the greatest perks about runefa is the conversations townsfolk can have with one another. Residents randomly gathering in small groups to talk about anything. Previously you could add someone to your party and sometimes a dialogue will occur if you speak to the right person at the right time with that person in your party. This is nonexistent now. The only time they do this in rf5 is during the festivals. But, it will only trigger if you have unlocked all the characters in each marriageable lineup and they can't be in your party. The residents will talk about one another but that's pretty much it outside of town events. They got rid of all the minor dialogue that occurs too. Trying to sleep in someone's bed while they're right there? They wont comment. Inspecting objects in stores while the shopkeeper is present? Wont say anything. Take a character with you to a dungeon/boss fight? Their lips are sealed. Where's my sense of community? :(

FP/LP This ties into the dialogue issue. The rate at which LP/FP increases is sporadic as hell. You can go from 1FP/LP to 4FP/LP just by giving a gift sometimes. I wouldn't even speak to people and their affinity increased by like triple for no reason. Then it increases by like 2% for the longest time. Argh!!!

Graphics. I don't consider myself very picky when it comes to graphics. I don't really mind that the foliage and scenery are at the level of a ps2 game at best. I tried playing on my television initially, but the lag and camera operability was too much so I fully switched (haha puns) to handheld. One thing that sucked is that I literally cannot tell the difference between medicinal herbs, antidote grasses, and green grasses without the captions because the graphics are so indistinguishable. So when you're trying to pick up multiples of those items by holding the A button, you're just randomly walking over anything green in the hopes that you'll get the right ones...

Lack of Sound Effects. Something I noticed is they got rid of the sound effects that will play when you complete a puzzle or add someone to your party. When you try to brush a monster there's no sound for the '♪' they make when you successfully brush them. So it was hard for me to tell if I had actually brushed them or not. I was a bit saddened by the lack of cute sounds.

Too much free range. From the very beginning of the game, you're allowed to go pretty much wherever you want when leaving town. It was too easy to stumble into high enemy level territory without knowing, so when I was like level 5 so I got KO'd immediately.

Artwork. The portraits seem to be lower in quality somehow. Runefa has always had shitty portrait art imo but this time it's even worse. Many character's eyes looked fucked up. Though the 3D models are insanely good for mostly every character except Terry. Terry's 3D model looks Terryfying and I prefer his portrait.

Festivals. They've added some new festivals. Some I enjoy. Some not so much. They changed the format of the eating contest. It's horrible. Good luck with that one.

L pocket + R button? They got rid of the feature that lets you skip to the other end of your items when opening the L pocket by pressing R button. I really liked that feature because it made it faster to reach my items so I was bummed that they got rid of it.

Gotta go fast. Now when you speak to someone, it doesn't 'stop time' as you might say it did in previous games. So people are still moving about as you speak to someone, making it harder to catch up to people! Annoying!!!

Catch and release? Not in my farming simulator! Say goodbye to being able to toss a fish you caught back into the water. In fact, say goodbye to tossing anything you don't want anymore into the water. Now you just have an army of fish flopping on the ground around you. And with the auto pick up feature, they're probably going to end up in your inventory anyways once you try to move. There are still certain ponds with fairies that you can toss stuff into, but you'll have to deal with the fairy harping at you for giving her something she doesn't want.

Shop Hours. Oh god. The shop owners don't even open their stores at the correct hours? It says open at 9am. If you speak to them they won't open their store until like 9:07??? But Priscilla and Lucy will show up to work their part-time jobs at around 8:30am and you can buy stuff through them before 9am. So the actual shop owners (for the bread shop and general store) are pointless usually. Additionally, if the store is empty (but open) you can no longer add a shopkeeper into your party and then enter their store with them to buy things from them. Why. Just why. When you want to buy something that only a specific person sells (Only Hina sells fish, only Heinz sells misc items) you have to wait for them to finally decide to work in their own store. Wonderful.

Monster Item drops. Maybe I'm crazy but the monster drops are seriously a lot harder to get than in previous games. Especially boss drops. It's almost impossible to get the rare drops now. I don't even want to try anymore. And as far as I know, the only place to buy monster items is through Heinz, but his items are actually misc. items, not specifically monster drops. So you'll be lucky to check his store (whenever tf he decides to actually work) for any monster items you might want instead of farming for the drops. Sighs.

Difficulty. This game is too easy. There is little to no challenge whatsoever. I had to increase the difficulty setting to hard mode and it was still too easy. I beat it at level 139, never once did I need to grind or level. In fact, your character levels up way too quickly for the pace of the story. I had zero trouble with any of the bosses and even the final boss was a breeze. Quite sad. Though because I am not new to the franchise, it's likely that newcomers would have some trouble in the later parts of the story.

Fishing cons. Idk how you fck up fishing but they sure did. You have to stand further back now because the pole is so long that you'll miss the fish you're aiming for. In fact, it's seriously hard to aim period. You'll end up recasting more often than not. Fish come in the various sizes but they don't seem to have the darker or faded characteristics that can indicate whether it's a rare fish or not. The graphics make it hard to tell. The pros that i've already mentioned are welcomed but it doesn't negate the fact that I do not enjoy fishing like I did in previous games.

Mining/Lumbering Cons. You can no longer strike three times consecutively when mining/lumbering. This sucks lol. Even when you upgrade your axe or hammer, powering up the tool does nothing for getting wood and material stone--it only expands the area of your strike. So it takes longer to get wood/stone from stumps and rocks now since you have to strike the full 9 times but it's not too bad. It's also harder to aim now as well so that's also unfortunate.

Seasonal Fields? Kiss them goodbye! That's right, there are no seasonal fields in rf5 because devs are insane! You instead have the farm dragons that seem to look seasonal based on the fact that they are designed after elements like earth, water, and fire. But no, these dragons are simply extra fields for you to use. Here's a spoiler: you're not going to use those fields. You're just not. They're kinda useless unless you're obsessed with farming. Now you have to grow your crops out of season like the sad farmer that you are.

Farming cons. Seeds no longer tell you how long it takes to grow the crop. Why. As of June 29th, they fixed this with an update. But I still had to play the whole game without it so fuck you marvelous. The joystick is really sensitive? So when you're trying to use a fertilizer or something on your field you're likely to place it on the wrong 4x4 tile, wasting your fertilizer. So it’s best to hold down the R button when farming. Also the crops look uglie as hell.

Sleeping and warping cutscenes. Just like in rf4 there's a cutscene when you go to sleep that can be skipped easily by pressing A. In rf5, there's a cutscene to sleep and a cutscene when waking up. It takes a bit more than a second to skip these scenes so it gets annoying after a while. Warping is this new feature that replaces our beloved escape spell. Overall I appreciate the feature but I hate it for two reasons. One: there's an annoying ass cutscene for it each time you use it that could be much shorter. And Two: townsfolk now use warp even when inside the town. In previous games, someone exiting your party in town would just manually run to wherever they need to be. So you could easily chase after them if you need to talk to them or give them something. Now, party members use warp regardless of where you are at the time. So say you have someone at 7 hearts and you want to try confessing to them. You would have them join your party, save your game, and then have them leave your party and immediately speak to them and confess before they can run off. If it doesn't work you reload until it does. In RF5 this wouldn't work anymore because they will warp. Now you would have to save, run around town trying to find this person and hope they accept the confession. Otherwise you'll have to play hide and seek again because reloading your file will randomize the resident's locations (if they are not working in a shop)!!!! I often just waited until a festival day because then they will be at the plaza for most of the day and it has a warp point there.

Crafting/Forging/Cooking. They've removed the feature where you can press Y on the ingredients in the menu to add more of that particular item. I miss this feature :'(

Lacks incentive. There is no trophy room from my knowledge. The final dungeon that is meant to be like the sharance maze/rune prana isn't that hard to beat for skilled players and is only 20 floors. After you beat the main story and this dungeon there's not much else to do really.

Request Board. Unlike in rf4, you need to make sure you have accepted requests before you complete them or else it will not count. Previously, you could complete all sorts of tasks and Eliza would still recognize your work even if you accept their request after the fact. ie, shipping goods, harvesting crops, etc. So make sure you don't harvest your special crops before accepting the request it's for!

Return of the "Loli" Dragons... Yeah you read that right. We got more dragons in children's(???) bodies with skimpy clothes. I don't know anymore????¿¿¿

Can't marry the Milfs or Dilfs. Tragic.

Still no homo. Grow up Marvelous.

Reverse Proposal? Reverse Uno card-- Laid low by the patriarchy. You now have to buy the double bed and craft an engagement ring to propose to your man if you're playing as Alice. Marvelous this isn't what we meant when we said we wanted equal rightsssssss This can be seen as a pro if you're a softhearted babey who doesn't like rejecting bachelors' proposals because you feel bad :'( But this is a con for me because I don't want to spend money and materials on a double bed dammit!!!

Misc. Still can't stack dishes or fish. There's no green elemental fairy???All the other elemental ones are there except the green one? why??? Still can't tame the giant Wooly. Some bosses that have insanely awesome designs cannot be tamed and makes me wanna eat glass.

Let's talk about Love~

Relationships. We want them. And half of us only play these games for them. I've only played as the female heroine so far but I'll be updating this review as soon as I finish with the bachelorettes as the male hero.

Confessions

As usual, we must raise the love points of our beloved to 7 hearts before we can attempt to date them. However unlike in rf4, if you fail at a confession once, you will need to raise the LP up an entire level before you can try again with any chance of success. It's imperative you save before attempting a confession now.

Love Events

Each love interest has two love events that must be seen before you can date them. They're reminiscent of older game's style but I felt they could have been a biiiit more interactive or so? Or involved the town a bit more for some of them.

Dating

Once you get your honey to be your bf/gf, you get to choose the nicknames as usual. Then you can go on dates. The first three (non-festival) dates are actually events. You need to see all three events to get married.

Marriage Event

The final event you need to clear before you can marry your sweetie. In my honest opinion, so far for the boys, these events were rather disappointing. They lacked the drama and angst that sort of 'test' the love between the two when compared to rf4. Also this is a huge con for me personally and a minor spoiler but there are no special cutscenes at the end of the marriage event like in rf4. Instead, the cutscene takes place during your actual wedding. I was saddened by this because it took away the depth from the marriage events and the actual character? As it is just a cut and paste type of thing instead of an original cutscene for each person. They lack individualism this way. Also it kinda felt like a way for devs to avoid gay relationships and cut corners :^/....sus.

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes...

Children!!!!!! This is actually one of the coolest additions in the game. Just like in rf3, you can have up to 3 children again! Your first child will resemble you, and you will have the option to choose its gender as well as its personality. There are 6 different children, (3 boys and 3 girls), all with different hairstyles, mannerisms, and seiyuus. Your answers will determine which child you get. A year after your first child is born, you will get the option to have a second child. You'll end up with twins, both resembling your partner. You won't get to choose the genders (it will be a boy and girl) but you will get to choose the personalities once more. The children all have canon names too and each kid is incredibly cute. And of course, you're still able to take your kid with you in your party~ ...Though you can only take one kid with you at a time.

So is RF5 good?

Yeah it's a fun game! My theory is that Marvelous forced the devs to release the game earlier than they were ready for, and that's why it's so lacking. But that doesn't mean it's not worth playing! I'd rate it 3.5/5 stars hehe. Not nearly as good as RF4 (full stop 5/5), or RF3 (4/5) but enjoyable nonetheless. I wouldn't recommend it as a first game to play from the series for newcomers though, I feel it's best for vets who can overlook all the cons thanks to loyalty and nostalgia. By the time it’s released in the West, the bugs should all be dealt with too.

So! Definitely buy this game! We want the series to continue and we want RF6 to be better than this--and hopefully Marvelous will make sure of that next time. If you're not a picky person I think you'll enjoy rf5 a lot. If you're like me and have high standards then, well, still pick it up and let it run its course. Then dust off rf4sp and cleanse your gaming palette >;^)

#rune factory 5 #rf5 spoilers #rune factory #rf5 #spoilers #review #rune factory 5 spoilers

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jjaeong · 3 years

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The Heiress, And The Twelve. Act I.

Episode VI: To Be Deceived, Or Protected.

Series: KPOP Girl Group: 이달의 소녀 (LOONA).

Pairing: OT12 & Mafia Heiress Female Reader.

Summary: While the members residing with The Heiress in Eden managed to resolve her internal conflict about who she was and who she had deemed herself should be—Haseul, along with Sooyoung and Jinsol, discovers a certain string of information that could potentially lead to a much more greater complication than they had ever encountered before. And as Jinsol finally reconciled with Sooyoung after the incident, Hyejoo and Heejin find themselves stunned as they come across your room—realizing that something had been missing in the vicinity, with that something being you.

"Why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be with the members?"

Jinsol had just managed to set her foot on the top of the staircase when she met the sight of the distressed Ninth member who had lingered in the hall that led to the boss' office, pinching the bridge of her nose in clear disbelief with the disrupted idea that only she was called by Haseul for the meeting. It's been days since the Leader had regarded her request to be removed in any missions with the Seventh member, being that she was still sensitive over what had just happened with the incident—Jinsol had already been walking through thin ice with her miscalculation, but Sooyoung's projected anger towards the woman intensified when Jungeun had informed them of your order to be left alone. And as much as she was relieved that both her member, and her adoptive sister were safe—Sooyoung couldn't shake off her impression that you had not been unscathed, because physically, you and Hyejoo were well, but your order was the effect of the event which she had deemed also as her own error with being one of the Twelve.

The Seventh member, however, no matter how many times she had blamed herself for it, she had understood Sooyoung's hostility towards her and knew that it was absolutely justified—from all those years that the members had grown together, she knew well enough that the woman was as emotional as she could get, more so for the people she cared for the most. But the Seventh could only take so much, she had somewhat prepared herself for the the member's response—yet she still couldn't avoid condemning herself over it, for the most part being Sooyoung not wanting anything to do with her.

And as Sooyoung stood there, leaned back against the hall's wall with her arms crossed and her brows knitted in apparent frustration while looking the other way—Jinsol could only manage a hesitant smile as she tried her best to swallow down the bitter aura between the two of them, before directing her weary gaze towards the tall double doors at the end of the hall. Slightly taken aback by how isolated the scene had looked from their position, which meant that the Leader had not yet arrived—making Sooyoung the first person to have been called by Haseul, and Jinsol quickly becoming the second.

"Is it.. Just the two of us..?"

"She just told me to meet her here, and that she'll be arriving shortly from her visit with our guests," Sooyoung muttered, practically scoffing at the mention of the Lee Family that had been staying in the Mansion as they awaited for their Boss' recovery. The younger of the two winced at the recollection of when they'd first arrived at the infirmary with the Lee Family's Boss, and how Sooyoung raised her tone at Haseul for the first time since she'd been appointed as Acting Boss after declining Sooyoung's plea to head straight to Eden—which led to the Ninth member into defying the Leader's instruction and driving all the way to the castle, just to be pulled aside by a stone-faced Jungeun, "but you still haven't answered my question—why are you here?"

"I don't see why I shouldn't be..? Haseul did ask for me—"

"I specifically told her that I don't want to be in any operation with you right now—and for what? Suddenly she doesn't listen anymore?" Jinsol would be lying if she said that hearing those words come right out of Sooyoung's mouth didn't hurt her, she swore that when this member of theirs was mad she knew exactly how to do so—but to be on the opposite end of the woman's livid state, Jinsol had never experienced to be this ridiculed by her. The silence that had come after Sooyoung's sharp words even made the member glance at Jinsol from the corner of her eye, finding her head hanging low as she picked on her blue pin on her tie in deep contemplation—slightly irritating Sooyoung even further because the Ninth had known that the habit was common with the members since they'd acquired their pins, holding onto the object when they couldn't seem to find it in themselves to assess a situation in their own way.

"Maybe we're not on a mission as a pair, probably.. A reschedule? Change of posts? Haseul assigning you to my spot—and me with yours?" Sooyoung gripped onto the fabric of her sleeve as Jinsol began to straighten her tie, which she had done several times before looking behind her to the staircase below—as if Haseul would just magically appear out of thin air and cut through the tension between the two of them, saving them from possibly making it worse than it already was.

"That's great, maybe then Y/N wouldn't be in as much trouble as she'd be if she was under my range of security." Jinsol frowned at the malicious tone that the Ninth had suddenly switched into, making her turn to eye the member who still refused to meet the clear regret plastered all over her features—while Sooyoung continued to glare at the nothingness that had seemed to have kept her attention more than the member currently standing right in front of her.

"Sooyoung.."

"Just admit it, Jinsol—you despise her. You don't want her to be our Boss because she's nothing of what you expect her to be—it's a full circle to what happened the day we told her everything, you want her gone." Sooyoung spat as her member flinched, making Jinsol shaking her head in attempt to relay the message to Sooyoung that it was nothing of that sort.

"That's not true—I care about her just as much as you do!" the Seventh stammered, completely taken aback by how she had been suddenly accused for having felt something that she had not.

"She was in the lot! You could've prevented it even before he approached her—"

"And you think I don't go every single day thinking about that!?" Sooyoung's furious eyes snapped to connect with Jinsol's exasperated ones, the Seventh's demeanor looking as frustrated as she could get with her hands balled up into fists hanging by her sides while her eyes stayed connected with her member's, "We've never had any complications with our group since the beginning, and ever since Y/N came in the picture—it's as if the least we can do is not turn against each other."

"Oh, and that makes it her fault? Is that what you're trying to say?

"I'm trying my best to understand—alright!? I thought we can continue this Family without having her in the picture, but.." Jinsol tore her eyes away from Sooyoung's to think carefully about her next words, having an inkling that whatever she may say next would be enough to tip Sooyoung off the edge and tarnish her reputation completely—or in some sort of miracle, she'd be able to properly express what she had wanted to say, "I didn't want any of that to happen—I swear that if I could have stopped it in all the ways I've calculated it after, I would've. But it's already done, I messed up and the only thing I can do is try to make up for it with Y/N—for as long as she'll have me, and if she can't forgive me for what I've done then.."

Sooyoung lowered her eyes at Jinsol who shrugged her shoulders in defeat, sighing when she thought that the apology didn't go exactly as she'd expect it to be. She'd thought that once she laid her heart out, it'd go as smoothly and sincerely as she'd thought—but instead, she felt that the reason for Sooyoung's silence was that she had taken her words in the complete opposite. Her words being taken under the impression that she was over it, that she didn't care as much as she said she did—causing the gap between her and the members that had your well-being as the priority to broaden, when she had just warmed up to the idea that she had wanted the same thing as well.

The Ninth member eyed the struggling woman in front of her, it was clear that Jinsol was incessantly thinking through what she had just told her and continuously trying to criticize her choices of wording—but as much as Sooyoung hated the thought that had led her into blaming Jinsol for what had happened, the greater part of her that believes that the members would never do each other wrong was pushing past her projected anger. This wasn't them against a common enemy anymore, this was Sooyoung's protectiveness over you—against her protectiveness over her members, but instead of it mostly being directed towards the Lee Family's Boss, she had Jinsol to blame. And that was what caused her inner turmoil, Jinsol is her member and a member that had been one of the reasons that put you and Hyejoo in danger—but Jinsol was just as much as a member as the others, yet there Sooyoung stood, continuously reminding her that she had messed up and she needs to feel the consequences of her ignorance.

Sooyoung then realized that Jinsol had already been going through the motions just as she'd been, and it was unfair of how she was quick to blame her for it—when Sooyoung had no idea about what was about to come until Hyunjin had some sort of vision.

"Well—apologize to her, not me," Jinsol practically choked at Sooyoung's mumbled response, feeling the weight of her worries fall off her shoulders as she watched Sooyoung shake her head at her and detach herself from the wall—slipping a hand into the pocket of her dress pants as she placed the other to her neck, craning it as if to stretch in exhaustion. The member still had a pout set on her lips but her brows were anything but furrowed, just looking drained from the encounter—while Jinsol slowly started to fall apart in her position, "you can start by how you acted in our living room, then with whatever happened with the Lee Boss. She's not the type to hold a grudge, you know—yah! Jung Jinsol, get off me—"

"I thought you'd never forgive me! I apologized so many times and you were never this mad—"

"Let go!" Jinsol continued to wail as Sooyoung's pout threatened to stretch into a grin while she tried to pry the member's arms off her, opening her mouth to start threatening the Seventh. But just as she was about to, light footsteps started echoing from the steps behind Jinsol and soon after revealed an absorbed looking Haseul—which had seemed to be caught off guard at the sight as she blinked at the two who just froze in their spot and stared right back at her, Haseul's eyes softened only for a moment before they dimmed yet again.

Looking away from the two, Haseul motioned over to the end of the hall before starting to make her way past them.

"You've made up, good. Follow me." the youngest of the three started to walk down the halls, which made Jinsol release Sooyoung from her hold before they both hurried to trail behind the Leader—eyeing each other in question about what had the member in such state, Sooyoung could only hope that it was just something connected to the Lee Boss and nothing more.

As Haseul pulled the key out of her pocket, Sooyoung had remembered that the last time all twelve of them were inside the office was when Haseul had first sat herself into the Boss' chair—how she carefully laid out what specific orders the previous Boss stated before he had passed, and how they would slowly but surely make sure you were well acquainted with a few members. Haseul also swore that it would also be the last time that she were to set foot inside of the office, not finding it comfortable how she would occupy the room as if it were her own when her purpose was to have you settled into your rightful place.

And as if Jinsol could hear Sooyoung's thoughts coursing through her, they could only wonder how much trouble the Family had caught themselves into for Haseul to break her own word.

"Shut the doors behind you, I've asked to keep this floor vacated until one of us leaves the room." Jinsol quickly turned to shut the doors behind them as Sooyoung followed behind the Leader to stand in the middle of the room while Haseul circled behind the desk to open one of it's emptied drawers, reaching far into the compartment as if rummaging to find anything that had not been in there in the first place.

"Are you looking for something?" Jinsol question as she stood beside Sooyoung who eyed the Leader suspiciously, the two watching Haseul shut the drawer to then move to another.

"What are you even doing, Haseul?" the light sound of a click echoed through the spacious, and moonlit office that had Haseul tensing up on her spot. Jinsol made a move to approach to the woman and lend her a hand but Sooyoung grabbed ahold of her arm before she could even do anything, the two members carefully watching as Haseul pulled out what seemed to be a thick stack of papers—jaw clenched while she placed them on the desk before looking up the puzzled expression on her members' features.

"Lee Seokmin has returned to his conscious state today, he refused to speak with the doctors and requested to speak with the one he perceived as the Family's Boss. And so I paid him a visit," Haseul shut the drawer to fully grab the stack from the desk, eyeing the papers before walking over to the two and meeting them in the middle of the room, "he was convinced that I was Y/N, stating that he couldn't believe that the previous Boss' plan worked—how he kept the Heiress safe by letting her live a normal life outside of the Family, all while being protected from the other Families."

Jinsol paled as Sooyoung let go of her arm, eyes widening in alarm while Haseul stood in front of them with a vacant expression on her face.

"He asked me if I knew about it, when I found out about it—confessing that he knew about the documentation because he had overheard it once from the Jeon Family that the Heiress was being watched."

"We were watching over her, but I thought the documents were supposed to be discarded after the Boss' passing?" Jinsol barely questioned as her voice failed her, switching her eyes from Haseul to Sooyoung who could only look at Jinsol with wide eyes as well.

"It was, I saw through with it. Haseul, Vivi-unnie and I were the ones present when it was erased."

"He wasn't talking about our documents, he was talking about this." Haseul motioned to the papers in her hand, it didn't take too long of the three to stare at each other before Sooyoung reached over to grab the papers and start inspecting each and every page—feeling lightheaded at the information that she had read from it, how as if every page she had skimmed through just continued to reveal a deeper story behind the minimal observation reports that they had set for you.

The papers dated back up to four years prior to the previous Boss' passing, several pictures of you, Jungeun, and Jiwoo were practically on each page of the stack—the lightest conversations, passed homework, your every move was typed down as if they were studying not a living human being but a test subject. Through the documentation, it seemed as if you weren't the Y/L/N Y/N that the members had made a point on learning to care for and to believe that you'd lead them into a better future—but rather a statistic in which would demonstrate if you were fit in becoming a Boss for the highest ranking Family there ever was, and ever will be if you had truly had what it takes.

Whoever had created this document, only had that particular version of the Heiress in mind—and it made Sooyoung feel sick to her stomach.

"Who.. did this? How did you even know this exists!?" Sooyoung's voice started to raise as she looked up at the torn expression on Haseul's face, making Jinsol take a step in between the two to try and calm the Ninth member down while also turning to glance at the Leader behind her—but as Sooyoung started to prod Haseul with questions while waving the papers in her hand, Haseul swallowed sharply before looking up to meet the the concerned look on Jinsol's face.

"I didn't."

Haseul's words echoed in Sooyoung's head, and before she knew it—she had let the papers fall onto the ground, pushed past Jinsol to reach for Haseul's collar to aggressively grab ahold of her. However, Jinsol was quick to recover after staggering back—attempting to pry Sooyoung off of the Third member by wrapping an arm around the Ninth's waist and tugging her off the Leader.

"You—you're our Leader! You can't just tell us you have no clue! our lives are dependent on your choices—and you have the audacity to tell us you don't know!?"

"I thought I had properly vacated this room after we all left—that was the last time I've been here, it was all the previous Boss had instructed me.." Haseul barely whispered, crumbling under Sooyoung's hold to the point that it was the member that had been keeping her up on her feet—making Sooyoung snap out of her fuming state to watch the dread sink into her member's features, "he told me where everything was, the archives we needed—I thought he told me everything I needed to know, I was appointed Leader for this."

"Sooyoung, she doesn't know." Jinsol dragged out slowly as she loosened her grip over her member, walking towards Haseul and prying the Ninth's hands off completely from the Leader—all while keeping Haseul up on her feet by wrapping an arm around her shoulder, leading her to the desk so she had a place to lean on.

"The Twelve, Y/L/N Y/N—that's all I know, you have to believe me."

"We do, Haseul—Sooyoung's just in shock, we'll figure this whole thing out. Right, Ha Sooyoung?" the Ninth continued to stare at the two, absolutely mortified that they were currently easing themselves into uncharted waters—completely unknowing of what would come, but only to prepare themselves for whatever it may be. Sooyoung caught Jinsol switching her gaze from Haseul to the papers on the ground, the Seventh seemingly the more composed member out of the two—and as if moving completely out of practice, Sooyoung bended over to grab the papers and walk over to Jinsol to hand it to her.

"What do you suggest we do?" Jinsol's eyes widened at the blank, yet expectant look that Sooyoung held as she offered her the papers—glancing at Haseul who had now held onto the desk as if her life had depended on it, before she caught onto what exactly it was that Sooyoung was trying convey. With Haseul's Leadership position becoming nothing of aid to the members as of her current state, Sooyoung wanted them to work it out as a group instead of letting the woman carry all of this on her own. So Jinsol grabbed the papers from her hand, eyeing the front page and skipping to the last as she followed her gut—having a relieved sigh escaped her lips as she pointed a finger at the signed letter 'R' initial at the end of the page, it's ink shining under the moonlight while she directed it to Sooyoung's view.

"We can start by tracking whoever this is?"

"Alright." Jinsol gave Sooyoung a small, yet grateful smile before looking back down to scan the papers while Sooyoung turned to Haseul who sat still on the desk—completely frozen as she tried to recall every bit of information that the previous Boss had passed onto her, fingers gripping tightly onto the pin on her tie. The Ninth member reached over to place an consoling hand on the Leader's shoulder, halting mid-way but somehow going through with it—which made Haseul visibly tense but when she had found that it was Sooyoung from her peripheral vision, she just looked back down to return into her state of recollection.

"I shouldn't have lashed out, Haseul. I'm sorry."

"You have every right to be mad, I'm the appointed Leader and I can't even uphold a simple task. Even I'd be mad at myself." Jinsol snorted from behind her which made Sooyoung glance at the member, finding Jinsol eyeing Haseul from the side before flipping another page from the stack.

"You mean tracking down this profiler from just one initial? Haseul—you can't even find the right curtains to hang inside your room without Yerim." Sooyoung's lips broke into a grin which made Jinsol release a laugh, making the Leader turn to look at her members who were now laughing amongst themselves as they eyed the paper in Jinsol's hands. Haseul then looked up to find Sooyoung's careful eyes directed on her, the member giving Haseul a determined look in contrast to the Leader's downcast expression.

"You might be the Leader, but we are a team, Haseul. We'll get through this mess, with or without the previous Boss' help." Haseul tore her eyes away from Sooyoung to look back at Jinsol's thoughtful expression as the member continued to inspect the page—until she found Haseul watching her, so she gave her an encouraging look before raising a fist in the air.

"Damn right we are! Fighting!"

"If you use that language in front of Y/N—I swear, Jung Jinsol—"

"Your sister is a year away from graduating High School—she's old enough to know if cussing is bad or not."

"You don't tell me how to raise my sister!"

"She's our future Boss! She can decide that for herself!" Sooyoung placed her hands on her hips as she continued to banter with Jinsol as the member continued with her task, the two completely back to the way before their feud—while Haseul watched them silently, feeling the anguish of her assumed failure as a Leader slowly dissipate as Jinsol and Sooyoung continued on. The interaction had somehow eased the Third member's worries, the sight reminding her that no matter what happened—they were still the Twelve, and with that, the world would still be turning for as long as they'd stay like this after whatever may cross their path.

"Until we've figured out who this person is, be that they're in this Family preparing for another coup—or from outside, this stays between the three of us," Haseul stated, making Jinsol's look up to clearly try and object but one pleading look from Haseul—she had known that her intentions were nothing but for their safety, "please, the more people that know about this—the harder it will be to find them. One word about this from anyone but us.."

"They'll know we're onto them—got it."

"But what do we do about Lee Seokmin and his members?" Sooyoung crossed her arms on her chest as Haseul turned to look at her, more composed than a few moments ago.

"They'll be returning to the village that Jeon passed onto them in a few days, I made sure that he didn't recognize that I wasn't the Heiress he was talking about. All he can pass to whoever he pleases is that the Y/L/N Family's Heiress is back in her rightful place." Haseul concluded as Sooyoung released a heavy sigh, looking at Jinsol yet again but this time—Jinsol had lingered over one specific page.

"What is it?" Sooyoung leaned over to check at what the member was staring at, which made Haseul completely turn to peek as well when Jinsol practically gripped onto the stack in worry.

"From the beginning of the document, they never mentioned any names—they even labelled Jiwoo and Jungeun as Upperclassmen A, and Upperclassmen B," Jinsol placed a finger on a specific sentence on the paper before looking up at Haseul and Sooyoung, "'4:35PM: The Heiress returns home. Property under the name of 'Ha', a civilian household consisting of two adults and three daughters.'"

"Don't tell me—"

"Who ever this 'R' person is—they know exactly which one of us is the Heiress."

Hyejoo had just shut the door to Jungeun's empty room, signalling the end of her morning rounds which consisted of surveying the vacated rooms of the members that typically headed to school approximately two hours before her—when she had realized that today marked the fifth day since the incident, which made it Wednesday. And Wednesdays were different, because in that specific day Yeojin and Yerim would accompany Jungeun and Jiwoo for early morning Student Council. With Yerim being the President of her class, and Yeojin being her own—Jungeun had briefly talked the two into either occupying their roles once they've graduated, or at least being part of it.

The two Maknaes were quick to take her up for it, being that they had fit the credentials well—they'd agree without a doubt, but that had meant that every Wednesday, Hyejoo would only have to drive her and Chaewon to class. And it wasn't that she wasn't on good terms with her Gowon-unnie, it was quite the opposite—because every Wednesday morning would be Chaewon asking Hyejoo about how she's been, and how she had felt about whatever had happened the days before. Somehow, it had slightly bothered Hyejoo that she had always started off their conversation in that manner since Yeojin and Yerim rode with the two Unnies—but the ride had seemed to grow on her once she realized that the Eleventh member wasn't shooting up a conversation to fill the silence, but to genuinely ask Hyejoo how she's been.

Park Chaewon had surprisingly seemed to have understood her even in that alley, which was something that goes over Hyejoo's head sometimes.

The Twelfth's eyes seamlessly connected with your door in the middle of the hall as the recollection of the alley felt similar to what happened that day, and being that only room in that specific hall was only occupied by you—with Haseul, Sooyoung, Jinsol, and Kahei being everywhere at once, the closest member that could reach you incase of an emergency was Jungeun, because her room was the closest to yours. Hyejoo started to make her way to your room almost subconciously to check up on you when she was met by the unusual sight of Jeon Heejin who was never usually awake this early in the morning, already dressed in her uniform—glowing as if she'd just awakened to the greatest sleep she's ever had, her eyes even widening in surprise as she found Hyejoo coming from the other end of the hall.

"Son Hyejoo! Good morning!" Heejin waved enthusiastically with both hands outstretched, making the Maknae scrunch her nose up in distaste as Heejin grinned adoringly—eyes turning into crescents while she continued to her venture into your room, the sound of her footsteps lightly decreasing as she neared. The First member carefully twisted the handle to peek into your room, her smile impossibly widening as she expected to be greeted by the sight of you laying on your side with Jeon Stitchie and Hyunjin's Shiba Inu—only for her to squint her eyes through the darkness to find the two stuffed toys but not even the top of your head revealing from the covers in sight.

"Y/N-ah~?" Hyejoo heard Heejin call from her position, slightly peeking through the door frame, making the Twelfth member furrow her brows and stand behind the member just as she had flipped the light switch on—illuminating the empty room before walking inside and making her way over to the door that lead to your bathroom, pushing it open to find it unoccupied as well. Heejin continued to scan the room, even getting down on her knees by your bed to check if you were under it as Hyejoo stayed put by your door—watching her Unnie's puzzled features slowly turn into concern just as she saw someone approaching by her peripheral vision, she turned to find an equally confused Chaewon standing next to her before the Eleventh turned to her.

"Have you seen Vivi-unnie?"

"Did you just come from the Surveillance room?" Hyejoo questioned in reply, but before Chaewon could even get a word out—Kahei appeared from the end of the hall, seemingly reading a book while doing her rounds as she donned her reading glasses. Heejin had managed to slide past the two members just as Kahei was about to walk past them, making the woman look up from her book to eye the startled trio in wonder.

"What's with all the worried looks? Did something happen?" Kahei asked softly, making Hyejoo and Chaewon exchange glances while Heejin looked at your empty room before looking back at Kahei.

"Unnie, Y/N's not in her room." Heejin stated in a tone that had slowly started to reflect her dismay, but as Kahei tilted her head at the three something flashed in her eyes before she stared directly at Heejin—as if she should've known.

"Of course she isn't, she already left with Jungeun and Jiwoo. Why? Is there something I should be worried about?" Hyejoo's eyes widened in surprise as Heejin mouth popped open at Kahei's nonchalant reply, Chaewon was the only one of the three who had managed to not be surprised—considering that she had been looking for the Fifth member to ask why she had been the one to send you and the other members off as she watched a replay of the cameras just as she had woke up.

"You let her go, just like that?"

"I didn't see a problem with it—she had me convinced, afterall," Chaewon raised a brow at Kahei, to which the member only smiled at before walking past the bewildered Heejin and Hyejoo and return to reading her book as she walked down the hall, "Heejin, it must be some miracle that you woke up before Hyunjin—but if you don't wake her up you'll both be late to class. You two should start getting ready as well, Hyejoo, Chaewon."

The three members watched as Kahei disappeared from the hallway, turning to face each other briefly before hastily doing as the member had told. Heejin switched the lights off and shut the door before speed-walking down the hall to Hyunjin's room—pounding her fist against the door the second she reached it and tugging on the handle as she followed by calling her member's name. On the other side of the door, Hyunjin had already been awake, she was just about ready to leave—all she needed was to attach her pin onto her tie which she had quickly finished, so she grabbed her bag from her desk to pull the door open and roll her eyes at the sight of her aggrievated best friend.

"I get it—you woke up before me for the first time in years, you don't have to shove it to my face." Hyunjin pushed past Heejin who was trying to catch her breath, breathing in deeply before stopping Hyunjin dead on her tracks with what she was just about to say.

"Y/N isn't in her room—she left with Jungeun-unnie and Jiwoo-unnie to school!"

"..She what?"

Greetings,

I hope this message finds you well—sike with the formalities, it's a tumblr post, there's no need for that. But what this Author's Note actually needs is.. An apology (even though I came clear with you all if you've read through the first chapter to not be too attached with this story) because it's been over two months since my last story update!

But in all honesty, I'm not even sure if it had actually been two months or.. A month and a few days—but still! Am I back? Maybe~ What could JJ have been possibly doing to go MIA for this long? Real life stuff, but mostly the overwhelming feeling of Orbit twitter that's.. Something, a true bit of love and hate between that.

It's actually funny how many Episode VI's I've wrote before properly settling with this one, the first draft had too many new characters involved (spoilers for who they are? I'm sure if you've read a few LOONA fics—it's just in between those lines), the second and nth were all too messy—and so there's this one! I think it's a nice turn, considering that this is the half of Act I. and I literally just wrote this in one go again, I really can't believe myself at this point.

Though I think most of our new readers that are following this blog is more into the OS spectrum—so I should maybe start leaving posts? Like.. Talk? But it's not really my thing, having posts up but it's just me talking about God knows what—I don't really know how to feel about it.

I'm getting way over ahead of myself again, so yeah. I truly hope you guys are doing well out there, what's happening outside of these social media platforms is absolutely petrifying—I made this blog as an outlet to express how much I love the girls but you can't escape the crippling truth that is reality itself. This world is unforgiving even to those who had never done anything drastically wrong, and for a writer to not have the proper words to express how they truly feel about what's happening around them.. Please take care of yourselves, and I'm sorry for not being able to find the right words for this.

Laters,

JJ.

>ovc: loonatheworld (200316).

https://youtu.be/U5z35vxC9bs

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retphienix · 2 years

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youtube

I think we're done? I mean, I've got dialogue to go through and some more posts including what will be my finale post and what not, but I think this marks the end of gameplay, and I'm pretty stoked to say that because this game's been sick :)

Anyways~

(I got so hyped at the music entering the palace again, but the game's done that to me so many times at this point lol)

Maruki's fights really did range from "This rules!" to "Hm. Kinda pointless." to "Yes, I'm very much aware of Metal Gear Solid, thanks for the two worthless fighters swinging on each other scene"

The first phase with the rejuvenating support arms felt great!

It had a nice balance of challenge even for this level 99 crew all while being a fight I could SUPER improve on if I had known it was structured like this from the start (be that team adjustments, items, or long form jazz club training in prep for this).

Honestly just a boss fight I thoroughly enjoyed.

Although.

I did not like the music during it.

It wasn't somehow garbage, and the slower segments had a tinge of nostalgia appropriate for fighting a foe we admire, it's just that P5 has had tracks that FUCKING SLAP and inject hype directly into my veins, as well as tracks that hit deep, and this failed to be either.

Kinda disappointing.

Segment 2 adding lyrics was a vast improvement, but the fight ended up being a let down since it's either an interactive cutscene, or it really was just a dps race with low thresholds, either way it just kinda ended.

And sadly.... this pattern continued, as the giant Adam Kadmon fight got me excited for another difficult multi phase encounter... only to be "survive like 3 cycles, you win". That sucked. Having 2 sections of this ongoing fight be fake made me sad.

And then you do the MGS slap fight which gets a pass because it, just like in MGS funnily enough, does well to include appropriate narrative ties to the fight seeing as throughout the game the PT have been offering a form of therapy to individuals to help them through their troubles, and in this fight you and Maruki quite literally form up under this guise and then he lets loose with his doubts and fears as you do a good old "Burn through every ounce of energy you have" bout.

That was alright, I wish the other 2 segments were as good as the first though.

All said, and not to drag on it, Kadmon let me down compared to what I was looking for. When the base game's end included killing a god with a kaiju size persona blowing a hole clean through them- this offered much less. I did get hyped at my friends blocking the blow, and at Joker landing the final shot on Kadmon, but considering this is the followup to a GOD it felt off, like it should have been content done before rather than after that.

Ah well, I'm being a stickler despite having thoroughly enjoyed what I got here.

~Appending some events that happen after due to technical difficulties~

With that we have returned reality to how it ought to be.

Akechi is dead, his sacrifice regaining it's meaning.

Our friends have returned to their lives as they were instead of their idealized versions.

Following this we had a few interesting moments:

Akechi, Joker, and Morgana were missing once they returned- obviously Akechi is dead, Joker- we quickly find out- is in juvie as Akechi wasn't there to take the fall. And Morgana made my eyebrow rise because I was struggling to recall if he reappeared before or after Maruki's influence- but don't get hung up on that- he's fine.

They do the same bit with him walking through the cafe door and everyone makes a sly comment about it being a repeat.

We get a short montage of all our confidants working towards getting us out of jail- it was genuinely super sweet and left me feeling touched- though I did spend the entire montage going "Oh no, literally everyone is going to work together except Haru and Yusuke, I'm gonna rot in jail because I didn't finish Haru and Yusuke, oh my god" but it was fine.

As far as giving a sense of growth to our cast this whole section was pretty sick!

More on that later, but this was a nice showing of our crew learning that they can change the world Right Now without needing super powers to do so, and getting results for their efforts, I really liked that! :D

Sojiro got so many good scenes of defending Joker's honor and being just a great dude overall.

Mishima called me his best friend :)

Joker was handed Za Warudo, I mean the world, and the velvet room disappeared.

Joker is going home soon- likely the end of the game.

Joker was given chocolate by everyone except Haru and I cried about not finishing confidants.

Makoto showed up and we had a romantic time together, she said there was someone extra special in her life and I answered "Who?"

I love my friends so much; Between Ryuji and Morgana ranting at each other, to Yusuke and Futaba doing the same- love them.

Along with Joker moving back home soon, everyone else is also vanishing it seems.

Haru is moving for college, Makoto is as well, Ryuji is moving to be closer to a physical rehab facility- he's trying to get back into track, Futaba has school upcoming, all told it seems only Yusuke is staying put and it's to work on his painting.

This whole scene of our crew admitting to each other that they aren't going to be sticking around was pretty sweet, all things considered. It was a show that all of them have grown and are redoubling their efforts in their personal lives, and it's just really nice, man :)

I do not know if this is because I screwed up his confidant too much, or if he generally stays for painting. The point being we're all splitting up :(

Sojiro offered me advice on taking a girl out on a date, I made the executive decision to have Joker say "The Bill?" when asked what he hands the girl at the end of the date- I think he's going to do just fine.

And with that we're caught up because as my game sits right now I am buying flowers for said date and saved to handle all this nonsense.

I dislike how I handled this post- going back to explaining what happened instead of sharing my thoughts, I don't find much enjoyment in doing that or find the result particularly interesting to view (which is another reason I do it, I mean I enjoy sharin' my thoughts and hearing others thoughts on the same stuff- just saying "Mario jumped" doesn't really entice much of anything) but I kinda had to with the corrupted video lol.

Glancing back at all that happened in the lost segment, I can mostly just say things have slowed way down and sped way up all at once. Nothing damning is happening anymore, but our lives seem to be rushing forward at a breakneck pace.

While every scene feels like a celebration and leaves me gushing about the friends we've made over the course of this adventure, every scene also builds on the message that "Now it's done. Now you leave" and there's certainly value to that but it leaves me little to say until we actually get to say our good byes- which should be upcoming :)

#Persona #Persona 5 #P5 #P5R #Persona 5 Royal #RetPlays

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captains-simp · 3 years

Text

Carol Danvers ~ Two Sides Of The Same Coin

Chapter 2: Owe Me

One

[ masterlist ]

Buy me a coffee ☕

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The explosion on your left was far too close for comfort. The shock sent your body hurling forward a few feet with a distinct ringing in your ears. The high pitched sound was all you could focus on for a few precious moments.

When the dust started to settle and the ringing got slightly quieter, you knew you needed to get up. You were vulnerable. And you were outnumbered.

You could handle something like four or five-to-one, but twenty was a little more than you had been prepared for. The fact that they were a heavily armed twenty made it worse. You were pretty sure you had seen Owen's logo on one of those weapons.

You turned onto your side to try to take in your surroundings better but visibility was still limited. The shoulder you had landed on protested against your movements but you were forced ignore it. There was no way you were going to get out of there without using it again.

You groaned as you finally got yourself onto your knees and pushed off of the ground to stand. You were extremely disorientated and unsteady but you continued to look around until you could make out distant shapes amongst the dust.

You shook your head and raised your hands in closed fists infront of you in hopes of it preparing you even a little.

Just as you managed to narrow your focus onto those infront of you, heavy footsteps were heard from behind.

You spun around to meet whoever was charging towards you only to stumble sideways. Much to your luck, the exact moment you moved to the side the attacker had swing his fist and ended up stumbling forward too from having not landed his punch.

You noticed this just in time and managed to swipe his legs out from under him while maintaining your own balance. The victory, no matter how small, made you feel more confident about the situation. Maybe you would be able to get out of there in one piece.

Just as you had that optimistic thought bullets went whizzing by the side of your head. You were grateful for the attacker's terrible aim as you ducked behind a large cluster of debris.

Your gun had been thrown from your grasp in the blast and to get it back you would have to run a few feet away from the safety of your temporary cover. Bullets continued to smack against the debris, the frequency and the amplitude both increasing to warn you they were getting closer.

It would hard - near impossible - to get your gun, shoot every attacker with the few bullets you had and avoid getting seriously injured, but it was that or wait behind the debris for a bullet to finally find you.

Your eyes locked onto your unharmed gun as you sat up gradually. Now or never.

You sprang up from your position and sprinted towards your weapon as the bullets relentlessly followed you. You swiped it in your hand and instantly aimed your gun towards the attackers.

They may have had bigger, much more intimidating guns, and there may have been a lot more of them, but they had no idea what to do with those guns or how to work coherently together. That made it easier for you to hit each target perfectly without a single bullet even skimming you.

But there was only ten of them down. The blast had disorientated you so much you hadn't noticed them scatter to surround you. Panic rose in your chest when you saw the remaining attackers spaced out in the distance.

That same panic was amplified when a small object came hurtling towards you, the small blinking light was enough for you to figure out what it was.

With all the energy you could muster, you put as much distance between you and the explosive device as your legs could give you. Your hands instinctively covered your head when your feet left the ground and the defeaning boom filled your ears.

You expected to feel bullets rain down on you. You expected everything to go completly dark. You expected the worst. Nothing happened.

You glanced up at the nearest attacker, your ears ringing once again, and saw him staring up at the sky. He was looking around frantically. You couldn't really make out his face, but you could tell he was scared.

You couldn't see anything in the sky either, leading you to wonder what they were all trying to look at. That was very quickly answered when something bright dropped down infront of you.

You were dazed for a brief moment until the familiarity of the bright light hit you.

The energy around Carol was far stronger than it was the last couple of times you had a demonstration. It was flowing over her entire body and although you couldn't see her face because her back was turned to you, the confidence and power she emitted was something you couldn't help but be in awe of.

The attackers backed away slightly however this seemingly wasn't enough for Carol. She shot her photon blasts faster than anyone could comprehend or get away from. Swirls of blue, yellow and red light was fired in every direction and it was over so quickly.

When Carol turned around to face you her powers were fading yet the soft glow around her made her look angelic, you would never admit that to her of course.

"You look like you need some help." The blonde smiled knowingly down to you.

"I'm perfectly fine on my own." You defied stubbornly.

"On the floor?" She gave a smug grin as you huffed and got off of the floor. You patted the dust of your clothes and tried to assess your next move while you tried even harder to ignore the hero and the fact she may have just saved your life.

"You could say thank you." The smirk was still present in Carol's voice.

"Are they dead?" You asked, avoiding the statement like the bullets you had just encountered. You walked towards the nearest attacker with Carol close behind.

"Just knocked out." As she said that, the nearest man groaned and tried to sit up. "I guess not all of them." The man startled when he heard Carol's voice and sat bolt upright as he legs kicked out to try and back himself away, it didn't work very well.

"Can we go back to our convosation before you started shooting at me?" You asked as you stood over him.

"I don't know anything." He stammered as he looked between the two of you.

"You're awful defensive for someone who doesn't have anything to hide."

"I've noticed that with a lot of people." Carol added. You didn't object to her presence this time.

"I don't, I swear! We were just told that if anyone came looking for Daexire we had to kill them." The man explained with a pleading look.

You smiled at his answer and nodded slowly, taking a step away from the two and glancing around at the other attackers, non of which moved.

"You're happy with that?" Carol questioned as her brows furrowed. Confused by your apparent contentment.

"It's actually quite relieving to hear. It means I'm on the right track. I much prefer people trying to kill me over people misleading me." You explained as you started to wander away.

You had been in that situation before, it always happened with the biggest bounties who had a lot of people defending them. The misleading happened first, and then the paranoia kicked in and everyone was told to go into full defense. It also meant you were getting closer, but with Daexire you were sure you had a way to go before you could truly celebrate any progress.

"So you know where to go next?" You cringed slightly at that. It did help, but the next place you had in mind was one you never thought you would return to. You had wanted to put it off for longer, but seeing how defensive the people in that area had been made it the logical place to go.

You didn't answer Carol, knowing what she was going to suggest. She seemed to know what your silence meant.

"You know...you kind of owe me now." She said slowly. You turned to her sharply and met her searching gaze. You hated that she was right. You also hates being in people's debt. "And don't say you had it under control because we both know you didn't." You still stayed silent but avoided her gaze this time, pretending to survey your surroundings.

"We're on the same side, you know?" She said. There was no arrogant tone to her voice this time. No superiority. She spoke as though it was genuinely something she wanted you to understand. You did.

"I have rules." You stated, looking back at her. Carol smiled hopefully, it suited her. "You follow my lead when we're talking to people." Carol instantly opened her mouth to oppose but you stopped her by speaking louder. "I know these people, you don't. I know how they work, how they think. You can fight, Danvers, I'll give you that. I know that you're a superhero and all, but what we're doing now is bounty hunting. That's my world. It'll only work if you follow my lead." You explained to her as best you could. You needed her to understand that. Carol considered your words as she searched your face for...well you weren't entirely sure what she was looking. So you took a guess.

"I know I'm getting money out of this when it's done. But it's about more than that with Daexire, I know what he's done, what he'll continue to do. He needs to be stopped, and we can only stop him if this is done right. I'm not even going to attempt to boss you around, you're far too stubborn, just trust that I know this better."

She continued to look at you carefully until, you weren't sure you even wanted to hazard a guess as to know what she was thinking. Finally, Carol nodded tightly, you knew she was still unsure. It must have been a while since someone had asked that of her, you just hoped she would understand early on.

"Great." You released a breath you didn't know you had been holding and ran a hand through your hair as you stepped back.

"Do I at least get to fly your ship?" Carol asked as a mischievous twinkle emerged in her eyes. You rolled your eyes to stop the smile that threatened to form as you walked back to your ship.

"Don't push it, Danvers."

#brie larson #captain marvel #captain marvel imagines #captain marvel x reader #carol danvers #carol danvers imagines #carol danvers x reader #captain marvel series #carol danvers series #enemies to allies to lovers #enemies to lovers

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the-faultofdaedalus · 4 years

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I love her- that right there is the stuff of legends if I've anything to say about it-

there’s SO many other batshit things that happened in that campaign, it was a really, really good time with really good people. i really lucked out on it, honestly

some Highlights:

- basically first encounter of the campaign the party fought a giant eel. this is where she got her ice-knife.

- first encounter with the BBEG was when we crashed his party, bran stole a magic metal detector from a guard, and when the fight happened she dropped a chandelier on him and nearly died. good times. also, stole an EXTREMELY cursed sword that became the barbarian’s favoured weapon.

- at one point the party had to do a quest inside of a magical painting. the people inside were being harassed by a giant obsidian owl that lived in the castle of a now-dead wizard (who, we later learned, had a leg kink) we, as a group, convinced the townspeople that our aaracockra mystic was the son of the big stone owl.

- bonus: the killing blow on the owl was dealt by bran herself, after it tried to flee, she got an oppurtunity attack to stab it w/ her ice knife, and then when her turn came immiedietly after that she cast ray of frost while the knife was still inside the owl. this is the most badass she has ever been.

- her title/nickname of “fire-stoker” (the first official one she got) was bestowed upon her after she had, while fighting a giant spider, pushed it down the chimney and got stuck underneath it. she almost fucking died being crushed by a spider while laying in a live fireplace. good job me 10/10. (this was also back when we could play dnd in public spaces with other people, and my favorite thing to do was to get my character to climb on top of enemies. this resulted in a drider/spider/bran stack 3 creatures high that was physically represented w/ the minis. good times.)

- her SECOND title/nicknamed was “hydra-slayer” and this was because she got eaten by a hydra, and while chilling out in it’s mouth she did some impromptu orthodonstristy and stabbed it in the brain. she also almost died here. good times.

- the mystic accidentally killed a dragon. this is Fine.

- we managed to avoid like 3 boss battles bc the illusion wizard would cast major illusion and convince whoever wanted to attack us that he was the BBEG. this worked until we tried to do this in the BBEG’s base, after the BBEG had just left.

- we also managed to thwart an army of darkness when the ice-based mystic covered a hill in ice and every enemy that came at us (your standard necromantic skeletons, Giant Shadows of Evil and Death, the BBEG himself) failed the dex checks to not slip and fall. this was on a hill. ALL THE ENIMES would slip and fall back down the hill and then have to climb back up and then fail the check again. it was glorious and im p sure we gave the DM a mental breakdown.

- we gave the mystic’s Backstory Villan the most insulting name ever and just. dunked on him so hard constantly. bran killed him once by stabbing him in the knee. we trapped him in a soul gem, it was great.

- i was unfortunately not present for this but there was a boss fight involving one of the aforementioned dead wizard’s creations (a big magic crystal with legs, because he had a Kink, and no, this was not the dm’s decision) and the BBEG, during which the party accidentally kind of sort of used the crystal to create the magical equivalent of a nuclear explosion. this was a TPK.

#it was so much fun. i miss all of them.#Anonymous

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kaz-astrophic · 5 years

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I think I've officially peaked as a GM. I got together with a group of friends this weekend and we played my campaign "Death of the Pantheon" and it also happened to be my spouse Kyrees' first session in this campaign and they play a witch. But anyways I had the group investigating a cult of Yhan D'ere (goddess of obsession, except it deals more with the obsession and love over ones hobbies than the original meaning) the cult were spreading misinformation about the Godesses true nature and using this misinformation to get students to kill each other and then using their souls to power and awaken the death gate underneath the college which is part of my BBEGs plans to bring forth the Une (pronounced like You-ne) great devourer of gods into the physical realm where he will destroy humanity and any deities that have started hiding out there. So while investigating this cult the party gets abducted from one of the college professors houses and imprisoned beneath the college to become sacrifices to the further empower the death gate. However the party escapes and makes it to the antechamber where they run into the BBEG who proceeds to call forth the gate guardian. The gate guardian is a two phase fight that gets immensely worse in the second phase. Its first phase is a massive scuttling mound draped in a tarp of sewn together flesh. Once they've done enough damage or light it on fire then the flesh cloak gets torn away and it stands to it's full height of 75ft and unsheathes 5 weapons one for each set of arms and then a bow and arrows for its third set. The gate guardian takes the appearance of thousands of skeletal remains crushed and twisted together into this massive 6 armed skeletal fiend. The head is made purely of skulls all formed into one with hundreds of ominous glowing putrid green eyes tracking the players every movement. Its name is Tsukiyama, Dragon of the wilted lotus and their first encounter with it was meant to just see how much damage they could do to it before it completely killed them(plot reasons) and sent them to the plane of judgement. This boss was so amazing and everyone fell in love with how badass the whole fight was and how even after death they still felt like champions that inspired one of my players to go home and immediately start drawing again which I have to say makes me extremely proud. My only complaint is they were more interested in fighting so I had to exclude some of my lore for that part of the campaign.

#pathfinder #table top #ttrpg #campaign #homebrew #fantasy

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retphienix · 3 years

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youtube

I Have A Lot To Say So I'll Read More This.

The short of it?

I'm glad I played Joker- I played it because I wanted to know how DQM evolved when it reached the DS and I got my answer.

It's mediocre. Not bad exactly, I enjoyed playing it, it adds some REALLY appreciated features to the DQM series and if you were playing it at release it had online play which plays well with the post game content which I haven't touched by the time I wrote this:

-but there are some engine/console specific things that made it a drag and there are some parts of the game that are just weaker than the previous games which is amusing since the previous games were simple GBC titles.

And finally, I don't really recommend playing through Joker 1. Can't speak on the sequels, but Joker 1 was a pretty middling experience for me so I'm the wrong person to get a positive recommendation from.

And since the opportunity presents itself: If you like monster RPGs and haven't tried it- go emulate Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 for the GBC, it's really good and also if you emulate you can fast forward the GBC era grind if that's your taste- really a win all around.

On to my rambling:

I debated on writing, rewriting, rewriting, and better presenting my thoughts on this game and the series as a whole but nah, Joker ain't getting that, I'm ramblin'- lol

I will split it slightly between "The ending" and "The game as a whole" though.

Ending:

1:07 - This is slightly a 'game a a whole' thing but honestly it's funny to me that you unlock a permanent repel in this game by doing the main quest. I entered this dungeon feeling strong enough to beat the game, so I just avoided 90% of encounters entirely.

5:00 - I genuinely got a laugh out of Sparkpug's whole deal in this finale. Not story wise, that's fine, no complaints- I mean that Sparkpug is clearly built to be a monster that can carry an ineffective team. He's clearly meant to be bred a few times and a god tier member of a potentially inexperienced player's team- but I literally never used him after the intro.

So during this scene it's supposed to be like "I'm a demi-god monster, you can't possibly beat me" and I'm thinking "Dude, you're like level 10 and shit tier, you can't win, this is hilarious."

Obviously it's a real boss fight and not 'face the monster you once had' but I was having fun roasting him behind the scenes of this recording.

45:00 - What an entirely unexpected change of pace.

Like, I had it spoiled for me by a screenshot that Dr. Snap becomes a monster or something- but I thought maybe he was always a monster or something, and also I got a bad look at him.

HE TURNS INTO A BODY HORROR BEAST, THAT'S NUTS.

Genuinely a highlight of the game.

52:00 - I fucking laughed what a meaningless exchange where the payoff is saying "He was stupid!", it's honestly just silly and dumb but not necessarily bad just dumb lol

55:00 - Not a great 'you won' victory lap. Like at all. Kinda feels like they should have just made this all a cutscene where I appear back at town and see that Solitaire is the leader now etc etc.

I kinda don't understand why it's a victory lap at all? Because all anyone says is "They picked a weird successor to Snap >:(" or "Snap went to the island? I bet he was stopping the calamity :)"

If you have 2 lines of dialogue prepared, maybe don't make a victory lap???

1:00:00 - What a fucking stupid payoff lol

Like sincerely, Solitaire does NOTHING the entire game! She's meaningless from start to finish! And the 'surprise' is that she's the new commish??? And she got the position because she's a rich spoiled brat??? Like LITERALLY that's why????????

What a stupid fucking ending lol

Now her proposed evolution of the contest is fair enough, I mean it's childish as hell, but to be fair- more contests is a fine idea especially since prior games and this game demonstrated the public's interest in watching monster fights. And the goal being to fight her as the final fight is fucking egotistical and stupid- BUT- it does play into the fact that the player didn't get to fight her the whole game so it's whatever?

1:03:00 - This is both the best and worst lol.

This game has no story, like at all, it's fucking empty front to back, and only explodes with like- 1 event at the very end.

This moment is a montage of memorable moments with your 'best friend' Sparkpug. It's cinematically very nice to be honest! Even includes a moment I don't remember at the arena which probably didn't happen lol.

So visually it's cool- I dig seeing the camera zoom out as we run across the beach, and the flashback moments intersplice over us making our way to the scout memorial- that's very well done.

The content is empty lol

As I said there's no story, these moments are nothing lol

And that's that.

All said the ending was a very nice challenge to face with my team- I had to abuse items like mad but I MADE IT! It was a GOOD fight.

The rest I've already said.

On to the game as a whole:

I have issues with this game, but there's good too. It's really like 4 steps forward 6-7 steps back it's weird, it's really weird.

Positives are neat!

> First and foremost- TRAITS!

Monsters in Dragon Quest Monsters have always had a problem with keeping their identity for long. The way I'd explain it to an outsider to the series is that Monsters DO have special stat variance and intended movesets and all that jazz- but the breeding system completely and entirely destroys that relatively early into the game.

While a monster might normally have really high defense and low other stats while knowing buffing magic- breeding, EVEN UNINTENTIONALLY, will have that same monster come out with 9 billion attack and all ice magic.

Monsters in DQM have a habit of becoming canvases for the breeding effects rather than their own mons- and this is undeniably a downside. It makes the game feel unique, it doesn't 'hurt' it, but when by mid-game monsters are more easily identified as sprites rather than strengths and weaknesses or even types (family) it's a slight downer on the series.

Traits fix this a lot by making every specific monster have unchangeable traits which offer things like "immunity to x type of damage" or "higher crit chance"- it's small, but it gives each monster more identity.

> Second and secondmost- SKILLS!

The older games didn't use trees, it used each individual spell as a potential pass on during breeding.

Each monster could have 8 spells, and when you breed two monsters you pass on all 16 spells to the offspring (they don't learn them all at once, they learn them as they level up) as well as the natural spells the monster would learn by level up.

So in the older games it is really easy to end up with a refined and overpowered list of 8 spells on each of your monsters.

Now spells are tied to Skill trees and your monsters can have 3 skill trees total (which are passed on as OPTIONS when breeding).

All to say skills do a lot for removing the "Master of all, weakness of none" spell lists that the older games made trivial to make, now you have to limit your builds and be more specialized- also they added skills like "Attack up" to add more variance to a build- instead of having spells you might just have high stat buffs as skill trees.

Overall I think Skills are an improvement because coupled with Traits it makes each monster feel much more specialized and unique and less like a sprite with no identity.

> Breeding is improved.

This is very much because of skills and traits- again- but also the system is just improved in general. Instead of being told "That's a monster you haven't had before!" and judging your decisions based on the name of the offspring breed, now you get to see a small sprite of the resulting monster to help you decide- ALSO instead of getting 1 result for every combo (to the point where you have to back out and choose Monster A + Monster B and Monster B + Monster A as separate options), you now get up to 3 results to pick between for every breeding opportunity.

It's just better.

> The engine is impressive.

At least to me. This is a DS title using (from what I read) a rework of the DQ8 PS2 game's engine- it certainly looks like it.

Combat models are nice, using moves looks nice, overworld exploration looks nice- it looks nice.

Now for some negative and general nonsense- all of which is more often than not 'weird'.

> I gotta be unfair and say "The Story" first and foremost.

DQM 1 and 2 are not intense story games. They aren't.

But they both knew how to handle their story well for what they wanted to tell, I can and will praise both for their narratives because they know what they are and do it well.

DQM:J does not. It's fucking bad.

Basically: The overall story doesn't exist- you're told to be a spy, but that comes up 1 time towards the end of the game and LITERALLY doesn't matter at any other moment INCLUDING the one time it comes up.

You have NO meaningful objective from the start up until near the end of the game. You show up and have no goal- so you get told to get some crystals with no meaning behind it (not even a lie because they are clearly evil- not even a lie to motivate you! NO MEANING IS PRESENTED! JUST DO IT! TO DO THE CONTEST I GUESS! WHY? SHUT UP!)

So 90% of the game time you're not doing anything meaningful. So what about the islands? Any small narratives to keep things moving?

NO!

NOT AT ALL!

So you go 90% of the game having no real objective, just kinda wandering forward mindlessly- and then the game suddenly goes "Oh! Guy who seemed sus! He's evil! He's gonna unleash the calamity that you were 'kinda but not directly' working towards with your dog! You know, that plot point that's kept vague and paid 0% attention to the entire game? Yeah it's happening! Aaaaand you're done! GG!"

Basically there's just nothing going on in this game, it's all background noise until the last 10% of the game. And that's lame.

DQM1 had a light story- but from the very intro cutscene you have a clear objective which makes every action you do seem relevant as you are working towards that goal.

From the start of the game you know "My sister is gone! The king says a magic wish can get her back! I'll go do that!" and then you do!

DQM2 has a much better story!

You have a goal from the start (The kingdom is physically dying and you have to save it by getting a new plug!) AND it has stories for each world you visit!

THAT'S MILES BETTER! THIS GAME COULD HAVE DONE THAT FOR THE ISLANDS!

Anywho. Story is lacking and empty and lame especially when DQM2 has a similar format but does every part better- you have a clear objective you're working towards AND side stories to keep the light narrative moving!

WTH!

The spy plotline doesn't matter! It could have been used to build suspicion on who's the good guy!

The islands are so empty of story!

DQM2 has a fun mix on how a rival character works which makes every world interesting to see how they get involved!

This game has a rival that does NOTHING!!!!!!!!!

It's just such a step back from the previous games, it's weird to see DQM 1 land a solid simple story and DQM 2 build a great format to expand the story going forward- and then DQM:J just slams its head into the dirt and wipes out.

> Game's slow.

The engine switch is a good thing overall, but it makes combat slower (a lot), adds loading screens to combat (primarily), and they didn't bother speeding up the grind from previous games.

Because of the grind still existing which isn't a problem in and of itself- the game becomes SLOW AS HELL because the engine makes that grind take longer.

Also world exploration is slow which is to be expected when moving from 2d to 3d, but this is countered by adding things to the world to find or do- and Joker tries but it's still noticeable. The world exploration isn't a problem, it just stands out alongside the combat being slow as hell.

The engine change was a great thing- but it feels like they should have put more work into speeding up combat to counter the slowdown of load times and flashy animations.

A GOOD WAY TO FIX THAT MIGHT BE XP!

> Music ain't great in my opinion.

DQ has amazing music. This game has some weak renditions in my opinion. The CELL HQ theme song is a pretty good poster child for the worst there is, but just in general even the better music is lacking compared to the chiptunes of the GBC or the better mixes of the main series.

Maybe it's unfair, it's a DS game, I don't know, I just know I ended up just muting most of the game because it didn't sound great. I played the GBC games OSTs instead for a large portion of my playthrough. I listened to videos instead for the bulk of the game.

It's just not pleasant to me, sorry to say.

> XP!!!!!!!

I'm being a spoiled ass on this but yeah!

XP SUCKS IN THIS!

There aren't good placed to grind until you beat the game! (apparently)

The first level blatantly has too low xp which makes you grind before you can tackle the boss of the island- and the late game has you mindlessly grinding low xp rewards in order to be ready to face the final boss.

It's WEIRD!

Why is it so low!

> Tech is weird!

I could ramble on this alone but here's the short version:

DQ has a unique fantasy world aesthetic that each game has explored in its own way. It's basically "swords, magic, monsters, and charm- things feel light but aren't afraid to get scary sometimes :)"

This game... doesn't.

This game has fuckin' tech watches, jet skis, TOWER PCS????

This ISN'T dragon quest on a world building level.

It's like, contemporary modern world but with slimes.

And that could be good I guess, but it feels so fucking weird to see PCs right alongside swords and axes and a dracky.

Like... why?

It's a poor aesthetic according to my tastes. Maybe I'm an ass for that. The tech is weird.

All to say, in a poor rambling "I gotta get this out of me" kinda way, is Joker was fine.

I enjoyed breeding. I enjoyed seeing the engine. I enjoyed the unique additions like a 'hero monster'.

But I also had to grind mindlessly on a slower game.

I had to endure a story that forgot to show up until the very end.

I sat there thinking about replaying the older ones the whole time.

It was fine.

It's mediocre.

I'm glad I played it.

I'm done now :)

#RetPlays #Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker #Dragon Quest #Dragon Quest Monsters #Dragon Warrior Monsters #DQM #DWM #DQM:J #DS #Nintendo

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