#OF GAMEPLAY I MEAN...

[saintadeline]

I FINISHED BLASPHEMOUS 2 BTW... game of the year game of the everything to me. Game of my heart. Smiles so wide

[elvyn]

Welcome back, master of the worst plans.

[lyss-butterscotch]

This game makes me ill. I've never had so much fun being oh so humbled by a video game.

Anyways PLAY NINE SOLS

[eledsart]

the gerudo outfits are always my favorite

[puppyeared]

id fumble him so bad

[rheya28]

“Trust me…”

[haunted-xander]

Catalyst is objectively the funniest weapon type because amongs the catalyst users we have:

BOMBS

*Throws rocks at you* *throws rocks at you* *throw rocks at you*

Stamp of JUSTICE

What? Catalyst? No, no. Gohei wand

Cast spell: THROW HANDS

Magic keyboard

Snake. (literally)

[pestopastaenjoyer]

“Advance takes place before both adventure games!!1!!11” my brother in Christ. If this was supposedly set before sa2 then why would Sonic stay Super in space by himself for DAYS & come back w a solemn expression before smiling at the player to congratulate them for beating the game

[kaasiand]

doing gamedev stuff rn because i think my brain struck gold :3

(you can't tell what the game's hook will be from this just yet and no i'm not telling you yet either. it's gonna be good trust me)

[my-thoughts-and-junk]

Watching a playthrough of dead plate and I'm at the dinner party part AND I think it'd be really funny if the attendees to the dinner party assumed rody was vincent's boyfriend and that's why he was helping out

[pixelbots]

"I need to spend more time in CAS and improve my sim-making skills"

Also me: LET'S MAKE A GOAT 😤👊🐐😜🐐😤👊

[rawliverandgoronspice]

I think what particularly annoys me with the "zelda was always gameplay before story" is that... it's not true? At least I don't think it's true in the way people mean it.

Zelda games were always kind of integrating story based on the standards of the time. When game stories were in game pamphlets, Zelda's stories was in the pamphlets. ALTTP tried to tell a pretty complicated stories with the limitations of the time. OoT was actively trying to tell an epic, cinematic tale packed with ambiance and expand what 3D could offer that 2D games struggled with. Majora's Mask is deeply character-driven in many, many ways. Wind Waker and Twilight Princess are both pretty concerned about their stories, down to the point that some people were bored by TP's cutscenes in particular. Skyward Sword, from what little I have played it, is very very invested in its characters and their journey (and 2D Zeldas have Link's Awakening, Minish Cap... None of them are visual novels, but they are concerned with emotional journeys, character arcs, mysteries about their own world...)

What is true is that the narrative wraps around the mechanics, and not the other way around. The mechanics drive themes, aesthetics, emotional beats and character journeys; and that's great. The world is a puzzle, and the world is delightfully absurd when it needs to be, full of heart when it calls for it, dark and oppressive when it suits the player experience.

That does not mean the games aren't invested in their stories. Even BotW has a pretty complicated story to tell about an entire world rather than one specific tale or legend --all of it at the service of the gameplay, which is exploration and mastery of your environment.

So. Yes, none of the Zelda games are million-words long visual novels that care deeply about consistency and nuance; but stories don't need consistency or deep lore to be meaningful and serve an emotional journey. Again: gameplay is story. The two cannot be so easily parsed from each other.

And Zelda as a franchise obviously care deeply about story, characters and setting (and still does right now --otherwise there wouldn't be a movie), even if it doesn't try to imitate prestige narrative-driven games, which is great and part of why I love this series so much. Doesn't mean it couldn't have done better in the past, it obviously could have, but I feel like pretending that nobody ever cared about story or character is just... false? It's a huge disservice to the devs too. Some of them obviously cared immensely.

The "gameplay above story", at least in the extent to which it is paraded today to defend TotK, mostly, is a really recent development. And I think it's one that deserves to receive some pushback.

[pixelglam]

Mornings together ☕

[jeeaark]

I wish the emperor in bg3 was as cool ( and hunky ) as you make them out to be, how you portray the gang and greygold is all so sweet 😭😭😭 but after finding out what he did to Duke stelmane... I'll just pretend your version is canon instead. I love your art!

Right, so originally I wasn't gonna abroach that topic with a 13½ ft pole, because sensitive subject, but gonna have to roll up my sleeves and acknowledge it was very much indeed a topic that Greygold had to consider and formulate their own conclusions on. Sure even though Greygold didn't find out the be-hella-mean way, there were concerned friends with mindful observations that had Greygold confronting the possibility that the Emperor and Stelmane's secret underground business practices might've had some uh...Problems!

The conversation went a lil everywhere BUT in short-

Greygold's philosophy is to hope for the best, but always prepare for the worst.

Case in point: Greyg's team. Maybe not everyone did shitty things in their past, but they certainly had ample opportunity to do shitty things on this journey that Greygold had to veer them away from. As Greygold sees it, if their teammates can change for the better, hopefully the Emperor can and will too. Everybody is capable of being awful, but also being awesome kind, so gotta give the squid a chance.

[aurorangen]

The Mini Vinnys

[thewastelandlosers]

Looking at me with them big ol' eyes