#The 3D models are ugly as hell. and the game plays great. That’s it. It’s Picross.

[talesfromthebacklog]

Tales From The Frontlog: Piczle Cross Story of Seasons

Rating: Sure if you like Picross. They’re all the same shit.

“Yup. That’s Picross.” ~ Tales From The Backlog

Nintendo Eshop Link: Click Here

[heroesxdemons]

Thoughts on the Disgaea 6 Demo

I’ve been a huge fan of the Disgaea series ever since I played 4 (my first Disgaea game), so naturally i was hyped for 6 when it was announced and now that the demo is here...well....i’ve got some thoughts about it. 

First off, the music. The music’s alright, nothing to write home about but the main hub’s song is pretty nice and I could see myself listening to it over and over again. 

6′s version of You Go Girl though? It’s fucking AWFUL. 

Visuals! 

Yeah moving to 3d was a bold move and uh...yeah it’s a pretty rough change. They’re not bad to look at, the 3d models anyways, but the backgrounds look ugly as hell. Also the skill animations have this awkward black screen cut that is sooooo not a smooth transition. Get used to see a black screen pop up frequently because that’s gonna happen a lot whenever you use a skill. Also the skills feel weak, like the hits don’t feel heavy or impactful which was something Disgaea used to nail perfectly. 

Story/Characters! 

I will say that I LOVE Zed and the rest of the cast. The VAs do a great job and honestly I think I might pick up Zed and Piyori as new muses whenever the game comes out. Zed reminds me of Laharl and Mao but even tho he has an attitude he’s way nicer than he sounds, good zombie boi :3  The king dood voiced by Youtuber ProZD is funny but his constant talk of money is a bit annoying.  The zombie dog is CUTE! I wanna pet him. 

Ivar looks cool but his evil laugh sucks.  The God of Destruction tho....boring. Meh. 

Gameplay!

Ugh I’ve been dreading this. Not gonna lie, I hate the gameplay so much. 

First off, the fact that they cut half of the beginning Generic Units is both insulting and detrimental for the game. My favorite Units were the Skulls and Valkyries and now I don’t get to see my favorites in 3d?!  Even though they were with Disgaea from all the way from 1 - 5!?  Also, wow the roster of creatable characters is so fucking small. I think the smallest it’s ever been in a Disgaea game. It really doesn’t give you a lot of options to make your own personalized team. Second, there are no more Weapon Skills. What’s the point of equipping weapons then? Weapon Skills were an important part of Disgaea, part of the ridiculous anime spectacle that made getting the strong skills worth the grind! And now they’re just gone, locked behind classes you might not even want! So pointless, and they didn’t even bring back the duel weapon wielding mechanic even tho they kept weapon resistances. I don’t get it. 

Third, I don’t know if it’s just me but now I can’t see the stat aptitudes of my units. That makes it so hard to figure out how to build my units properly. I don’t even know if the King guy is more a tanky offensive unit or a tanky support healer. Ugh! So confusing and annoying, I just want some basic info about the strengths and weaknesses of my units, that’s all! Fourth and finally, when you start out at level 1 you immediately have stats over 50000...and that kinds cheapens the feel of leveling up and getting stronger. You lose the feeling of satisfaction, seeijng your characters stats rise from single digits to the thousands and then into the millions and then the billions. Now it’s just needless inflation and makes it difficult to judge if you’re getting stronger or not. I guess it’s to put emphasis on Super Reincarnation but that just feels tedious. 

Anyways....yeah this doesn’t feel like a proper Disgaea game to me anymore. I think i’ll save my money for either the Complete edition or 7 if NIS can get their shit together. IDK. I’m kinda sad and disappointed in this half-baked Disgaea game.  

[blackhakumen]

Mini Fanfic #193: Bowser Doesn't Like Bowser? (Super Smash Bros Ultimate)

Bowser, who is playing as Mario, landed on a Bowser Space.....

Samus: (Rolled her eyes) Here comes the man of the hour......

Bowser: (Scoffs) Oh come on. I wasn't that bad...

Ike: Yeah well turns out, you were even worse here....

Zelda: And this is literally the first game of the series!

Mewtwo: (Crossing his arms) Do we even need to reminder you of each moments that you were at your worse and how it effects our actual enjoyment?

Bowser: Alright! Alright! Look.....I know that everything I did in that game was...pretty unforgiving at times....

Everyone in the room gave Bowser a "Really?" Glare.

Bowser: (Groans a little) Okay, maybe all the times here. But I think we could all agree that none of this would've happened if a certain Italian plumber should've invited me to his parties in the first place.

Mario: (From a distance) Are you seriously pointing the finger at me on this again?!!!

Bowser: (Yells back) You damn right I am!! I wouldn't have to make things bad for you all if you'd invited me like everyone else!

Mario: Well maybe if you hadn't cause terror in the Mushroom Kingdom and kidnapped Peach 24/7, I would've invited you sooner!! But I guess that's not the case now, is it?!

Bowser: (Got up from the couch) You wanna take this outside, Plumber boy?!!!

Samus: ('Heavy Sigh') We're not doing this....Mario! Finish cooking that Spaghetti before I call Peach here on speed dial!

Mario: Y-Yes, ma'am...

Samus: (Turns to Bowser) You. Sit your ass back down and continue the game. We don't have all day here.

Bowser: (Sat back down and picked up his controller) Fine.....

Four Minutes Later, everyone (Bowser, Samus, Ike, and Zelda) was able to get 90 or more points on Bowser's Face Lift.

Samus: Huh. So we all won that one....

Ike: (Smiles a little) It's pretty neat, not gonna lie.

Zelda: (Smiles in relief) Well, I guess we're all safe from this one. (Turns to Mewtwo with her hand held up) Up high!

Mewtwo: (Nodded and gives Zelda a High-Five) Well done.

Bowser: (Smiles Proudly) As long as we all got a Ninety, then we'll be just fine-

N64 Bowser: (On the screen) Everyone wins? Well I don't like you so gimme your 50 coins punk! (Takes away almost all of Bowser's coins)

Bowser: (Eyes Widened and Mouth Dropped) ..............WHHHHATTTT?!!!!!!!!

Zelda: (Burst out Laughing)

Mewtwo: (Starts Chuckling)

Ike: (Chuckling) Well that was unexpected....

Samus: (Smirks at Bowser) Who would've thought that version of you stoop that low?

Bowser: (Immediately Paused the game) Alright! WHAT IN THE ACTUAL HELL WAS THAT?!!!

Mewtwo: (Smirking) It appears that this poorly made 3D Model of you took away fifty of your coins. Even when you and everyone else won that minigame.

Bowser: (Livid) But fucking WHY though?!!!!

Samus: (Shrugged While Smirking) Hey, we weren't kidding when we said that you were at your worse in this one. Guess that's one of the moments that hits it right out of the park.

Zelda: (Trying her best to calm down....but with no prevail) Oh my gosh.....that was so funnyehehehehehe!!

Bowser: (Groans while Facepalms) I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm starting to fucking hate this version of me in this game!!!

???: Now you know exactly how I felt in that moment.

Everyone turns to the figure speaking to them was none other than the Phantom Thieves' mascot, Morgana.

Bowser: The hell did you come from?

Zelda: And what did you mean by "You know exactly how you felt", Mona? Did this actually happened to you before?

Morgana: Unfortunately, yes. It was back at Shibuya....Me and the rest of the Phantom Thieves were all playing the game that night. I was having a great time when suddenly (Points at Bowser) that N64 version of a madman took almost every coins that I had from that same minigame we all won from!....('Sigh') I could never forget the time that it happened.....the way he was taunting while doing that stupid looking dance of his........(Remember Bowser's dance perfectly)

Bowser: ('Sigh') Look, I get where you're coming from in all of this, but could we at least agree that this version of me is the worse instead of giving me the cold shoulder?

Morgana: ..................Yeah. I could do that.

Haru: (From a distance) Mona-chan! We're ready to go out to the movies!

Morgana: Coming Mo- (Instantly Noticed how everyone was starting to stare at him while he was about say a certain word) I-I mean, I-I'm coming, Haru-chan!!....(Sighed in Relief)

Everyone was still staring at Morgana silently.

Morgana: What?

Samus: Mona, were you about to call that Beauty Thief girl your mom?

Morgana: (Quickly starts lying) Whaaat? A-A-As if!

Bowser: Really? Cause I could've sworn you almost causally called her your mom just now.

Morgana: D-Don't be ridiculous! Haru-san is one of my closest friends. I could never see her as my-

Haru: (From a distance) Mona sweetie, please get over here! Futaba and Ryuji-san are already starting to get impatient and I don't want either them to yell at you again!

Morgana: I'll be right there, mom!...... (Noticed how almost everyone, except for Zelda, who is gushing over how cute this was, starts Teasingly smirking at the poor, blushing mascot)

Mewtwo: (Smirks) Care to explain that, Morgana?

Morgana: ..............................(Walks away embarrassingly) Enjoy the rest of the party game.....

Zelda: D'awwww~ He's so cute when he tries too hard to be all serious and whatnot.

Ike: (Chuckles Lightly) I know. This is actually the first time I've seen Morgana like this.

Samus: (Smirks) And I'm sure it won't be the last either.

Bowser: (Laughs Evilly) That was so priceless that I totally forgot what I was even mad about!

Samus: You're talking about the fact that an ugly 3D Model of yourself robbed you out of fifty coins?

Bowser: (Slowly turns to Samus with a glare) I was trying to forget that, thanks....

Samus: (Smirks Teasingly) No problem, your majesty.

#OGMarioParty

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[justalittlemango]

Entry #18 - 16/02/2020

Hey it's been a while!! And like wtf. I always am so inconsistent I hate it. But hey, I'm not ill anymore like my last post so this should be hopefully be a bit more cheery.

So what's been going on in the past two weeks? Uh. Good things! For the most part, I've been quite positive. Whenever I get negative thoughts in the night or sort of in general, I'll block it out with a scene from a music video that's like "positive energy only, pussy" so I'm like, yknow what, that surprisingly helps block out my negative thoughts. So that's been happening. Works somewhat.

University is going alright still, I feel a bit slow this semester not sure why . I guess it feels like I should be doing a lot of assignment work, and while that is true.. I don't think I have to worry about that so early on. I got two assignments, and they are two group projects... So far , it seems to be going all fine and dandy. So I'll keep on top of that.

I'm worried a little about the 3d modelling assignment which is a solo project, and 3d modelling is generally one of my struggles so I gotta keep on top of that. Then my final assignment is to create a 3d Game in unity. So that's not too bad.

Now that we got academics out the way, let's move to good times! On Saturday last week, we went out with a friend from uni and then spontaneously a few more friends came out with us. I got on really well this Canadian dude who I had been wanting to speak to for a while , because yknow, I love Canada and shit. So we did, I spoke to him and his girlfriend for like an hour about just Canada and chances of me getting there as an intern etc. It was really nice to just talk to someone comfortably on my own about a topic that I'm knowledgeable of! Most topics my friends speak about are things I know fuck all about, so this felt good..

Saturday night passed, and I felt bad cause I had a spoons meal and a pizza hut.. lol. But worth. Besides, my hangover would've been much worse without all that food! Then Tuesday this week came, and one of our friends from uni wanted us to come meet his boyfriend who happened to be out with his best mate. So we thought , heck it why not. So we did. And they were off their tits , like crazy drunk. But hey, they seem like nice people! I got on quite well with his best mate though as he's quite punky and I love punky shit.

So that happened. I didn't go to lecture on Wednesday cause I just know it wouldn't be helpful, plus I would've been slightly hungover. Fast forward to Thursday, and it's a friend's birthday! So we went out to spoons for some drinks. In my case, I had a lot of drinks lol. Then we went bowling, and yeah, I suck ass at bowling but it was so much fun. It was really nice to spend that time with friends and just feel happy.

Thursday night after playing bowling, I wanted to play Splatoon with someone who I've been really wanting to play with for a while cause they seem cool. We'll call them Alx for now. We played Splat for a few hours and had a really good conversation going and it was great. They seem so lovely. Though, the convo kinda abruptly ended, I assumed they fell asleep or something since they were high asf. I said it was rly nice meeting them and they seem awesome but even now they still haven't replied.. I'm worried I scared them off. Because I was crazy hyperactive. I hope I didn't get scare them off , I was just excited to finally play and speak to them. Oh well.. if I did scare them off then that's sad. But this is my anxiety speaking, I'm sure it's fine. Lol

Friday, it's valentine's Day. I'm hungover, safe to say. My boyfriend buys us pizza hut and I'm like... Fuck yes!! I was happy. Though, took over 2 hours to deliver... Clearly we weren't just the only couple with that idea lol. But it was good. Had the chicken sizzler which was spicey ! Spicey pizzas are gooood asf. Unfortunately I am a poor boi, so couldn't buy anything for my bf. It's why I'm insisting he keeps his gifts to himself.

Saturday? Didn't really do much. Watched videos. Yeah. Did my workouts though! So that's good. Overall, a fairly productive week despite me missing two lectures. But apparently they weren't too useful in terms of the assignments anyway so I don't think I was missing much.

I'm now trying to work on my confidence. I only just realise I'm anxious as fuck about everything. Too anxious to get a haircut, to go in the kitchen, to go anywhere on my own.. hell, too anxious to even speak to Alx on discord initially which is why I wanted to be slightly intoxicated to do it..cause I was too afraid I would piss them off or be a bother.

I'm tired of being anxious about everything! And I'm not happy with my appearance either, and my ass won't be until I go for a freakin haircut. So I gotta do it. Monday. For sure. Because I think once I can be happy appearance wise, I can feel a bit better about myself and not feel too anxious. In situations like the kitchen, it's not so much the social interaction that worries me, but more so how ugly I feel.

I want to keep a schedule and actually maintain my routines. I want to stick to my workout plan, I've done two of them this week, and I want to keep going with it to build my muscles up. I will spend more time with working on my assignments bit by bit in the week, not spend so much time watching videos, help my bf in the kitchen more, keep reading my French book and finally take a day to self-care for my body (so shaving, all that gross stuff) I gotta keep on top of shit. I need to stop letting myself fall into pits.

Tomorrow starts a new week, friends! Let's try and beat tf out of anxiety. At the end of the day, Vern wouldn't be acting like my bitch ass huh. Lolz

Til next time. ~mangie

[gameotheque]

‘And so ends Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. With a shot that I assume to be the growing Mila Tree, which appeared in Fire Emblem: Awakening. A beautiful and significant shot that matches the adventure we just ended.

This game was a real mixed bag for me, in a way that no game I’ve played lately was, even. I’ll attempt to write down my thoughts on it, though I still need some time to digest the game fully, as it usually takes me a few days to do so.

I’ll preface this all by saying three things: One - Yes I did indeed play Fire Emblem Gaiden, aka the game this is a remake of. Two -  Overall I have to say I absolutely, undoubtedly enjoyed this title, and finally, Three - I’m not really seeking to have arguments or discussions about the thoughts and opinions I’m about to post below. If you disagree with anything, then great! You’re your own person and I’m in no way attempting to sway everyone who reads it to think exactly as I do. But that also comes with the caveat that I ask you not to send me any messages trying to tell me why I’m wrong. I really don’t... care.

Firstly, it’s important to state that I consider this game muuuuuuch more playable than Gaiden, so that’s a win on that front. The original game felt much like a chore through most of the campaign, and the weak-to-nonexistent characterization, combined with the unimpressive budget did nothing to alleviate that impression, specially when coupled with the erm, dubious map designs.

The new art style, from lead artist Hidari, is very pleasant to the eyes, and the official character art is super nice, all in all. The game’s graphics are very cool and the models have been refined from both previous 3DS titles, so that’s always good to see. The soundtrack is also fantastic, with a mix of new and old themes that are just excellent. The voicework, as is always the case with this franchise after the 13th installment, is excellent, but it shines even more in this one, owning to just how much of its dialogue and story beats are voiced. This really helps characters and plot points that might have otherwise been unmemorable to appear more fleshed out.

The gameplay, with the addition of features such as Casual Mode, Exploration, Mila’s Turnwheel, Supports and Skills is also a marked improvement, even if I personally feel that they could have been explained a little more clearly to the player, and that the support pools had been expanded more and that their overall writing quality was better. 

With positive aspects discussed, it’s time for me to delve into the elements that I consider big negatives to the experience. I’m sorry.

It pains me to say this, but I continue to be... baffled by how a game adapted in the year 2017 managed to include more sexism, misogyny, heteronormativity and a general lack of Care towards its female cast than its 1992 inception. That hurt my enjoyment of it more than anything else ever could. 

I’m not saying this to pretend that this series has ever excelled in those regards, no, all titles in the core series (as well as its spin-offs!) are fraught with similar issues, ranging from sexualized designs to mistreatment, unchecked abuse and lifting male characters up to the detriment of their female peers. But it’s hard to ignore that there was an upping to the ante of these last few beats in this title (except the sexualized character designs, which were fewer in number and less in-your-face about how blatant they were than the last title).

You don’t have to diminish your characters’ agencies in their world just simply because you choose to set your story in a misogynistic setting, and in fact a lot of dialogue in this game tries to do right by women... but all its attempts pale in comparison to how often it slaps you in the face with misogyny.

 This affects the stories of characters like Celica, who often gets relegated to second banana despite the fact that she should share an equal role with her co-protagonist. Faye, whose ONLY character trait is her obsessive love for the main hero. Mathilda, whose exploits and achievements are massively overshadowed by her ostensibly supportive husband and thusly end up as no more than lip service. Sonya, whose new ending for some ungodly reason sees fit to punish her? Clair, whose character largely gets treated as a prize to be fought over by two other male characters, as well as having most of her screentime devoted to her brother AND yet another unrequited crush on the main character. Tatiana, whose lover chooses to keep her in the dark regarding his past over fears of “burdening” her, whatever the hell that means, and Rinea, who gets the overall most insulting ending a character with her inception could possibly have. She is abused, mistreated, victimized and is then even burdened with the need to forgive her abuser. 

All of these examples, as well as others that I don’t want to keep discussing out of fear of turning this overview into a larger, uglier monster don’t help to paint this game as anything but inhospitable to women. Basically, the discussion of narrative sexism should go farther than ugly, fetishistic outfits of previous titles and people should care about these issues, too.

(I do have to note that it does, at least bring an advance in LGBT representation with the character of Leon. Who seems like an improvement over other queer characters in the series with his writing, even if there is a lot about it to improve upon again. Namely maybe not setting up his character to have an arc that revolved around unrequited love towards an ostensibly straight peer).  

I know a lot of those problems were already there in the original, but some of them were not... and even if they wanted to keep the game faithful to its original incarnation in tone, they should have at least cared enough to update the more unseemly elements it had for a new, modern target audience, and not magnify these problems with new inclusions. In doing that, it chooses to do the most boring thing a remake can do - remain stagnant.

As I said some hundred (thousand?) words prior, I DID like it, but it does worry me that a lot of people seem blind to its issues, which is just something I can’t wholly ignore. It’s absolutely possible to enjoy a thing while also criticizing its flaws, and this was something this fandom never had an issue doing, so I’m not entirely certain why there is so much silence regarding this title’s flagrant problems.

I still have to play the Sixth, post-campaign Act, though I’ve already fully spoiled myself as to what it entails, and I can already say it’s a huuuuuge positive aspect for me. 

I laughed, I got warm feelings, I nearly cried, and most importantly, I had fun with this title. I can already say I’ll replay it in the future, and this franchise still remains incredibly dear to me, despite its myriad of flaws, that I can only hope will get better with time. Hopefully.