#These are just bonus qol stuff

[kelbunny]

Go update Triangle Strategy right now asdfghjkl

New Golden Route Scene! Wedding Scene :D

He's telling Frederica :0. And the fact he turned to his brother and made sure Roland was okay with it aaah these siblings

Anna, Geela, and Erador trying to have a nice conversation only to be intrupted by Lionel smh

Archibald trying to tell these two greedy merchants to stop being greedy lol

Anna also telling them to stop being greedy merchants

Milo being her cheeky nosy self trying to tell Lyla to go hug her son, he's literally been having visions of hugging his mom at the wedding

Asdfghjkl aaaaahhhhhh h u g

Quahaug hug

This one was really sweet. Two parents who lost their children realizing they need to carry the ardent dreams of the youth in their stead.

Roland finally accepting Avlora who's being an angsty butt bc she doesn't want to ruin the happy wedding

Serenoa wedding sprite?

FREDERICA WEDDING SPRITE!?

And I forgot up until this moment that you can check characters profiles when they're speaking and just... new art! In their wedding clothes!

I also want to rewatch just to see what everyone's profiles look like haha

Credits for the extra chapter had some art not shown in the Anniversary Livestream :0

You can now replay all story battles you've done as mock battles haha now you can get trounced by ng+ Trish and Travis whenever lol

You can also rewatch any Character Stories you've seen can't rewatch story cutscenes however

[vounoura]

the maister system and the new 'find vocations out in the world' system is...ok, but I prefer the old colour system

[steamberrystudio]

15/09/2024

Hallo everyone!  Tumblr devlog time. 

Summary:

Finished Daaz's play test

Finished Kav's play test

Started Asher play test

Finished the flowchart for Chapter 2

Set up all the unlock statements for the flowchart

Finished coding expressions through Chapter 2

Coded the expressions through the bonus scenes

Some QoL fixes to various screens

Finished Noel's CG

Coded Noel, Daaz, and Yren's CGs

Started Asher's CG

Writing/Playtesting:

Okay so I have still been working on my playtest and am currently finishing up the playtest of Asher's route - about half done with it.

For those wondering why the play test is taking forever, I always do a play test with the auto-voicing on. It forces me to slow down and listen, which helps me hear issues like word repetition as well as typos and things like that. I catch a lot more issues this way than if I try to read it.

A lot of times I'll reach a later part of the game and realise I need a conditional statement based on much earlier content. I find it easier to try to manage that as well as I can now versus later on. Especially with something like an episodic release, I think it's useful to try to catch as much of that stuff as I can at this stage.

So yeah!

I also finished writing and coding all the bonus scenes I mentioned last time.

Art:

Art wise I have...

Finished Cim's sprite. She is a minor character who appears briefly in Chapter two. Her sprite is created and coded now.

Finished Noel's Ch 2 CG...

Coded Yren, Raif, and Noel's CGs

Started Asher's CG (currently rendering the shading)

Received a new BG.

Other Stuff:

So I got the flowcharts finished and set up and the page functional. I also have set up the unlock statements (Just up to Ch2 of course).

I have coded expressions.

Coded in a ton of button fixes and QoL fixes and stuff like that. Most of that stuff is done. There are only a few small things I want to tweak.

I also made a ton of corrections offered up by an alpha tester who has been going through the game to help me out. So yay for that. 

Upcoming Weeks:

Finish Asher and Daaz's CGs

Finish Asher's play test

Once I am done with the CGs I will probably release the first episode to beta testers on Patreon. So.

We are getting really close to that stage.

Finally.

[ssspringroll]

Clean Slate CAS Overrides

Using this tutorial, I created 40 new CAS default sims. You know, the sims that pop up as soon as you open CAS? This turns them into custom ones. (Humans only, sadly)

They have no clothes, no accessories, no anything. All their outfits are a completely clean slate so you can get started creating with minimal clicking.

Preview the male sims here and the female sims here

Download the CAS Overrides here

They're also available as plain tray files here, so you can use them like any other family (if you don't want to use the overrides, or if you just want to pick a specific sim out of the pile. They're broken up into groups of 5 sims.)

I threw in an added bonus with the tray files, alien base sims! I don't know if there's a way to make occult CAS defaults, but I made some base sims you can use the regular way nonetheless.

All the tray files are also available on the gallery (username: exculis)

This is one billion percent optional, but if you're looking for more CAS QoL stuff, I also made a mod that prevents the auto-fashion choice filter, you can find that here

[cephalonserotonin]

Devstream 178 Notes

Megan has cool pants! Rebb has a cool earring!

Dante Unbound

next week!

"We wanted to bring lore! Important for us for people who want some texture… with their food…?" lol

Hence, even though there's no quest with this update, lots of lore! Drusus and other leverian stuff

Dante prex:

They mentioned no sticky corners and someone in the audience cheered.

Styanax deluxe

Nipple talk

Gauss Prime's little goofy run is gonna be an emote! for plat! "This is only a microtransaction panel" - Rebb

Banshee, Loki, and Nekros voidshells!! And some Loki QOL: some buffs, customizable invisibility, and an augment!

Easter bunny ears have FUR (using tech for the companion rework) and are now PERMANENT! "Nobody could stop me," - Rebb (Geoff boos)

Protea prime! Including her gear!

And Velox prime, Okina prime, Rhoptron prime syandana (this is GORGEOUS), a bonus alt helmet that moves, and an ephemera (no asset for this yet)

Yareli deluxe!, the Kompressa deluxe

"If you haven't played Yareli, maybe depending on where you get your warframe news…" LMAO the subtlest shade. I've liked Yareli from the beginning and definitely thought the initial backlash to her kit was overblown, so

blah blah soulframe

New update between Dante and Tennocon featuring the Stalker: Jade Shadows

Jade, our 57th warframe

Cinematic quest update from the Stalker's point of view!

J is the second to last letter we need to cover the alphabet, we're just missing U Audience member: what about Umbra? Rebb: No, that's Excalibur Umbra. If your arsenal said Umbra Excalibur you might stand a chance in court.

Warframe 1999

Very much a Warframe update, but a different style of update. New lore, lots of content, a new Warframe chapter. The gorgeous Arthur is our poster boy.

It's not a single player Warframe spinoff, a "Warframe 2" (I confess I was among those theorizing this). Those nipples stay on.

and now, waking up from his nap… it's Ben Starr! "Arthur is a very mysterious character who I am bound by NDA to say… VERY little about!" He's SO cool. and REALLY sexy. He's relatable. He's gonna be a badass, he's got a samurai sword.

Excalibur is a frame. Arthur is a PROTO-FRAME.

Just as an aside, Ben is adorable and hilarious, very fun to watch.

Stuff about Conflict between humanity and the non-human.. "you don't perceive humanity without how it reacts to others."

a first look at Aoi, our proto-Mag, and I am GAY SCREECHING

Bike: the atomicycle

Q&A

Audience member in a (Uniqlo?) metal gear rising revengeance shirt that Rebb recognized and appreciated: when is my man Caliban getting buffed? A: If Pablo were here, he'd say ask me at TennoCon.

Q: any other warframes getting reworks? A: Inaros rework coming with Dante unbound. Loki rework not planned.

Q: What inspired proto-Mag's design? A: Liger did Arthur and Aoi. We had a very specific vision for those two protoframes: Arthur being the "man scout," and Aoi we wanted a nice contrast to Arthur.

Q: Two questions very well worded I didn't get them down in time because I was nodding along. About stat sticks / pseudo-exalteds and trading. A: Stat sticks: we've talked about it but no changes planned. Trading: we've talked about maybe adding riven filters but not much more than that.

Q from guy in Dante DMC trenchcoat: Drifters? Maybe new outfits? A: In Unbound we are bringing one more operator outfit to drifter.

Q: I've been playing Warframe for 10 years, and I'm legendary 4. Any additional benefits for high rank players? A: The social benefits of being a high-rank player are unexplored. In terms of more mechanical aspects… we're thinking more social benefits. congrats on being legendary 4!

Q: When's infested liches? A: Steve is that you

Q In the second metal gear shirt: warframe 1999... dark sector? A: A lot of what Warframe was built on was the scifi part of dark sector that was never meant to be. So it's poetically coming full circle, that 1999 is dark sector inspired. Q: is there a plan for the dark sector remaster? A: 1999 is the dark sector remaster.

Q: Is there going to be fashion protoframes? A: Actually, yes… And that's all I'll say on that.

Q from Leon Kennedy: is squad link coming back? A: RIP scarlet spear. Not coming back in the way you might think, but we're experimenting early days with something you might like. It's in an urn. Geoff: that's pretty dead. Rebb: Someone hasn't played Baldur's gate 3! It's not totally dead, but mostly dead.

Q: Has anyone at DE considered a TTRPG or even a war game? you could blow games workshop completely out of the water. I'd rather give money to you than them any day. A: We're all fans of that kind of content, we'd endorse fan content, but we don't have the time to pursue it. Q: Has anyone considered modular ("kit") frames? A: We have considered it, but it didn't seem shippable. Seemed scope-scary.

Q: Are you, Rebb, personally happy with the way movement works at this very moment? A: Are you asking pre- or post- sticky corners? Q: Post. Also is Soulframe taking from the movement in Warframe? Geoff: Soulfame is very much in the opposite direction of Warframe, movement-wise. Rebb: I always thought it'd be fun to explore wall running in Warframe. But other than that, I love it. I think it's the best movement system in the third person games space. Every other game I play I try and bullet jump and aim glide. Questioner agrees.

Soulframe question I used to catch up on my above notes

Q: If you could go on a date with a warframe, which one?… me, it's Grendel. Ben: what would you do on that date? Questioner: just eat :) Geoff: Excalibur? (Rebb: that's very Raphael-coded of you. Little Baldur's Gate reference for you) Mag: Probably Valkyr. Rebb: why choose? All of them >:) Ben: pick one for me. Rebb: Mirage. Ben: What would I do? Rebb: Circus act. You are the circus.

Q: What was your favourite part of developing 1999, and Ben, what was your favourite part of voicing Arthur? A: Some stuff we haven't announced yet. As with most characters I play, there's something lovable about him despite his rough exterior… rough but he's nice about it. He's gonna do something to you, but he's gonna kiss you afterward. Rebb: I think it's quite sacred to introduce protoframes like this. We're being quite sacred about it (it's not Mag and Excal, it's Aoi and Arthur). Ben: The ways in which you're exploring that dynamic is very cool, and very 90s.

Q: Rebb, what are the things that plague you? A: My plagues are supported by the development team. I'm not alone; whenever I have an ailment, I have someone that to help support me with it. Geoff: I've genuinely never seen someone care so much. He gets teary. \*audience cheers as REBB DESERVES\* Same asker: when is my girl Titania getting buffed? A: Controversial question, she's pretty strong. I could see Tribute receiving some QOL to be easier to use (some Tribute). But those dex pixia, they do kill.

Q in a Warframe sweater with a Warframe backpack!: Which NPC would you be most likely to be besties with? Ben: Fibonacci Rebb: We love you Neil! Ben: If you don't have a cranky fish as a friend, what are you doing. Megan: I love Ordis :) especially little trash can ordis Rebb: you better say Lotus, Geoff >:) Geoff: Lotus. Rebb: Hard not to love Little Duck. We'd be besties for sure, drinking in the back room.

Q: if Teshin can have his head crushed and come back, what about Veso? A: He died a hero, I'm sorry.

Q: When can we get points to Dante his brother? A: ??? audience member yells out "VIRGIL!" Rebb: \*laughs\* maybe the bike is Virgil (This is a devil may cry reference)

Q: clan to clan interaction? Haven't had that since solar rails? A: Ok so in the urn we have squad link.. \*laugh\* We are trying to do more clan events. They work for by the book tasks. There's opportunity there we haven't explored. No leaderboards. I'll try to do more.

Q: I'm curious how you develop characters as a Warframe team. I've noticed a lot of references to mythology. A: it's a library of devs that have passions. The team is just really diverse and loves really cool shit. The amount of inspiration we get to name things thematically, we have touched lore I didn't know existed. When it comes to Warframes, we're still looking at old Keith Thompson drawings… he's built different.

Q: I'm sorry to take you back in the morgue. Void keys. Will there be a return to the old void and endless missions? A: We're not in the morgue here, we're in ICU. Visiting hours are open. I loved the old voidkey system. We did a soft tease with Dagath keys, it had wins and losses… There were user experience problems. But it's not totally dead. The omnia fissures are kind of that vibe. You can bring any relic to an omnia fissure and just haul ass.

Q: Can we get a toggle for Protea's visor? A: The rigging artist working on it talked about it. Maybe. You're right, it would be nice.

Q: Fashion frame question. Have you considered a DE color palette, like, Megan's greatest hits? A: That sounds like a great idea :) We're doing it.

Q: Are we ever going to see new necramechs? A: I hate saying probably not. No new ones in 1999 at least. We're touching up the ones we have before we go to the morgue, and grab a skull, to make a a new one. Sorry

Q holding a Clem plushie: when more Clem??? A: We'll see. Clem holds a special place in our heart. He's not in the morgue, I promise.

Q: I've been coerced into asking a question on behalf of someone who's not here. He's made it clear if I don't get a satisfactory answer I won't see my family again. Are there any plans to look at spawn rates for loot and reactants? A: I'm gonna keep talking until you can get your family out safely, I'm filibustering. There's performance issues, we want to get safe on all platforms. The worst offenders we can probably fix. We can increase reactant drop rates. Loot rates is harder to solve.

Q: if you have Drifter selected, can you use drifter melee? A: We thought it was important to keep drifter melee in duviri, but… why not? We could try. Drifters can't mod though. It's not impossible, but it'd take some time.

Q: Warframe being predominantly PVE, has there been talk of collaboration among clans? A: I implied it with the other question, but a social benefit would be great. I'd love to see you make friends with other clans

Thanks to the DE team for your hard work <3 supporting us for 11 years!

visual assets are either my own stream screenshots or from DE's devstream overview

[sewmice]

Thanks for the reblog, I just hope people can clear this and come away still playing… this event is enough to make anyone want to scream into the abyss. I’m almost impressed at the thought process behind this design, no wonder Broccoli changed from Shining Live, this is so much more profitable… for them.

This event being...something. The previous ones all having issues. And up until this huge login bonus, rewards just not being enough for pulls has been not a great start for the game. And with the player base, and hell just Utapri fanbase, just being lower than back when Shining Live started, it makes a mistake way more likely to ruin the game's chance at thriving. Also having a harsher event after the Session Lives and Tokiya's were pretty nice is....rough. And definitely might run people off who are already getting annoyed with the other issues.

Granted, the fanbase is still kicking pretty well, more so in Japan. The whales are still whaling. Tickets are still a fight. But like...we know it's gone down.

The move away from Shining Live is obviously more complicated than Broccoli wanting more money. The game was getting stagnant. It was developed by KLab, who was well moving away from rhythm games and have their own issues. The player base was declining. The spark was gone. I kinda wish Broccoli had leaned more into what made SL great when they took over, but the changing of games was kinda necessary. And it got Heavens fans their boys. Adding them to SL would have required heavy changes. Easier to start from scratch.

I do want to point out what has been great about Live Emotion so far! Reasons why we should stay encouraged and hope Broccoli keeps making good changes (because they have! We just had a qol update! They're giving us the 5000 login bonus too!) And this post is gonna get long lol

The boys in SL....got bland? They were only their idol sides, because even the backstage stuff was on camera. We stopped really seeing their depth and personalities, and that's the whole point of Utapri! To see them and work with them behind the screen! The idol stuff was supposed to be secondary! But since season 4 ended, all we've had is SL, movies, and other side projects that are JUST their idol side (aside from the Starish OVA).

But Live Emotion has us as Haruka again! We're by their side when they're actually being themselves! We get to romance them again! We're seeing Utapri as it was again! And as someone who has been here since 2012, god it feels so nice?? Like old times?

We're acknowledging and even having other characters in the stories. Both presidents have already shown up! And while no one else aside from them is listed in the voice cast yet, surely others will show soon? At least Ringo and Ryuuya. (they should've been in Starish's chapter at the school but whatever) Fucking Rodriguez has a mention in the event?? Like, the world is alive again! It's not just our 11 to 18 main boys (depending on content)

Old content and outfits are being used which will help with the concept fatigue SL had. And also it's just nice to see really good old designs not just be forgotten! I'm not a huge fan as to how Ultra Blast is being handled. It feels weird to have some people get SRs. In the same way I didn't like Oodorokiman and Shining Romance/Force Live being mixed SRs and URs. But I've seen other people upset and in the same way SL stopped doing that, hopefully Live Emotion will too.

And again Broccoli has been listening to feedback and making changes. There's still...a lot of work to do. But SL also made a lot of changes over time. So hopefully they keep listening and things get better. Because there's parts of this game worth protecting and wanting to continue. I loved how SL did stuff too. I wish we had everything about how SL did stuff with gachas and event mechanics, but the story and character quality of Live Emotion. We just gotta...push Broccoli in that direction.

I really hope the event doesn't scare people off! We're on 2 full months of the game. The first of this event type. Stuff can still change!!!

[stelladess]

Since I am caught up with zzzero story now my thoughts so far....

Setting, art direction, character design, etc. Is all incredible. Music is also great, the gameplay is fun and there is some extra depth to it you can explore if you care enough but you can clear the game with just button mashing too.

Story is intriguing and the characters are enjoyable. It does have a bit of an issue of characters surface level traits sometimes feeling a bit forced but this is more of a nitpick then anything else. The siblings are great and the story improves a lot starting with the Belobog chapter.

I am curious to see where things go from here.

Now for some negativity; most of the side quests are extremely bland and dull, which is kind of a problem when you have to do so many of them to level up and main story and agent missions are both gated by level. Furthermore a lot of side quests and even the first event straight up does not alter dialogue to account for if you play as Belle instead of Wise, I have never had that problem come up in agent missions or main story missions, but it really enhances the feeling that side quests and events are kind of just thrown together without much care put into them. I suspect this is that the game was probably somewhat rushed to release. It is a very minor thing but it is constantly bugging me.

I have not gotten high enough level to do all the end game stuff yet, so cannot speak to how annoying the equipment grind will be overall. But judging from other hoyo games my recommendation is just get a decent set for each character you use and then do not bother, it is not worth grinding days and days for +2% higher crit dmg bonus.

The gacha is kind of the same as star rail but with the extra QoL feature of actually seeing how many pulls left until guarantee, this is a huge time saver and something I wish they put into their older games too, and something I think all gacha games would benefit from.

I also like the exploration segments but it feels like it was clearly designed only with hollow zero in mind, since they remove certain mechanics from it in story missions and side missions and such, which makes it feel a lot less interesting and removes a lot of the actual decision making from it.

Overall it has the potential to be one of my favorite games, but in its current state it has a lot of issues holding it back. I do love it though and am excited to see how it develops in the future.

[rivalsforlife]

Official Website for 456 port is up, but it's pretty much just the trailer and early 2024 release date. No information yet on any kind of QOL improvements or bonus features, but I'm hoping for stuff like the TGAA port where they'll have concept art and music and stuff in there somewhere

[william-s-churros]

painful definitive edition thoughts from one playthrough lol

i mean its lisa, so am i gonna complain that much? the campfire conversations are a nice touch, but they're so sporadic and im not sure how to trigger them so i wasted a lot of time and resources trying to get the damn things to happen. as for the rest of the game tho, it really is pretty much exactly the same, just with an added layer of frustration to get bonus content thats like. fine i guess. the terry convo is obviously very charming and sweet but its kinda like i feel like the trailer/promo material kinda overpromised this feature lmfao

SPEAKING of overpromising... i was really hoping for more enemies lmfao.... area 3 has always felt extremely unbalanced to me and i was kinda hoping like. something would be done about that, but it wasnt, so whatever. i do feel like im the promo stuff it was stated there would be more battles but perhaps i just misunderstood?

anyways, its lisa! obviously i had fun playing it. i was just kind of hoping it would be like... harder.... or like maybe had an even harder mode than pain mode... outside of savescumming to bring back guys who died in battle and falling off a cliff once, i think i only game overed during battle once? i dont give brad joy and i usually play one-armed, tho i have beaten it armless and even then i still didnt struggle as much as i hoped i would... oh how i miss the highs of being killed by the mens hair club like 5 times before getting into the proper groove of things and the rush of finally defeating them... i guess this is just what happens when youve played a video game like 20 times.... you git gud as they say. sometimes i really appreciate the ability to stunlock (for ex, when fighting an enemy with permadeath moves lol) but sometimes being able to do that really detracts from the challenge ykwim?

who knows, tho. theres probably some kind of fanmod for masochists like me out there and maybe i should look for it. most of the ones i have seen as qol mods that make painmode easier which is basically the opposite of what i want lmfao.

anyways, all in all-- its lisa! most of the character information i got from campfire conversations is extremely compatible with my own headcanons already too so lmao. its validating i suppose! but its kind of on me i think for hyping it up in my own head. i am curious to see what becomes of this fandom as more people play this game this way.

ive heard theres a secret ending if you get all the companions that im gonna try for next. maybe its all worth it... we'll see.

also i still gotta play joyful! i do wonder if a lot of the changes made were to joyful bc that game felt like such an afterthought in many ways lmfao. we'll see igss! im probs gonna keep replaying these games forever because i love them, but yeah. i guess i was expecting more lmfao. but i still liked it! and im excited to try and get other things, but i do sort of feel like like easter-eggy character interactions is cheap in terms of replay value for me anyway, maybe id feel differently if i were still at that stage with the game that i found the battles really challenging and stuff, idk, lmfao

OH EDIT; super appreciated the toning down if not outright omission of the antiblackness in the original game, altho the american indian stuff was still pretty stereotypes, tho im not entirely sure what you could do abt that besides a complete overhaul of the blood moon area lol

[pattywagon2go]

Transit Talk Thursday

This week's Transit Talk Thursday is gonna be a bit different, mainly because I keep forgetting what to talk about lol. I just don't get the argument against transit projects in the United States, but not from the group you think. (Maybe a future Transit Talk Thursday?) I don't understand it when other urbanists love to go hail mary and say "North America is simply IRREDEEMABLE when it comes to transit!" and I'm like "Bitch really?". I absolutely hate this mentality because this basically conveniently ignores all the good that has been coming recently. Yes, there's a lot of work to get done still, but I do think substantial steps have been taken to get North America on the right track. (Pun unintended but we're gonna roll with it) So for this week's Transit Talk Thursday, I'm gonna do a little bit of a lightning round of different projects in North America and why I'm excited for them, even if they don't affect me personally.

First one in the shootout is the new Brightline route from Miami to Orlando. This one was making quite a number of rounds recently as the inaugural run happened on September 22nd, and it's a pretty big win for people who either live in Miami, Orlando, or are just visiting, as you now have a fast way to get from the two cities for just $79 for a one-way ticket. Say what you want about Brightline but the fact that something like this did make it all the way to completion and can now be used by people regularly is a big net positive, and it could help pave the way for more projects like it in the future imo.

Next up on the chopping block, Amtrak got a juicy $200mil grant from the FRA to improve various infrastructure on the NEC and a few other corridors. If there's something that Amtrak could always need, it's definitely more money. This whole "Shoestring budget for public service" model will almost always guarantee disaster (see my Transit Talk Thursday on the Big Dig and MBTA Commuter Rail), so it's super uplifting to see the government stepping in and deciding to give a sizeable chunk of cash to a public service, especially if the service needs it, and this is a prime example. The Northeast Corridor is undoubtedly where Amtrak is at it's best, but it isn't perfect, and while this won't be the be all and end all for the fixes to the NEC, this is a good starting point. QOL improvements shouldn't be ignored, and if you want to get more people on trains, making the service better is how you do it. Speaking of QOL improvements...

Next up, Amtrak is going to be ordering some new Siemens trainsets to modernize the current fleet. I love the Budd built Amfleet I's, but I'm not gonna mince words when I say that they're definitely showing their age, especially with how accessible they are. The new Siemens Venture passenger cars are most definitely a big step-up from the Amfleet I's, and as a bonus the trainsets are supposed to help fix the time-consuming switch from diesel-electric when going on a route that doesn't have electrification, like at Washington D.C. Union Station. This can easily cut down on delays in trips, which ties back to me saying that improving service gets more people to take the train. Doing a little bit of digging (aka looking on Wikpedia) does confirm the ones that are planned to run on the Northeast Corridor are going to be dual power, having diesel engines and pantographs. Good step forward I say, though the Empire Corridor getting battery-electrics is super stupid imo. Guess they can't all be winners.

Last one for this week, Caltrain has just done their first full speed test of their soon to be in service Stadler KISS EMU. As much as California gets a lot of stuff wrong, Caltrain getting actual modern electrification for it's mainline and good rolling stock to go with it is something that is genuinely awesome to see, and it's proof that the United States is capable of stuff like this. The current track speed allowed is 79mph, but the KISS's can go up to 125mph, so hopefully the main line has it's tracks upgraded to allow for those speeds to be possible. I'm hoping that the testing can wrap up soon so the new EMUs can go into service, because a project like this is a really good move forward for anyone who happens to rely on Caltrain and/or those who don't use Caltrain but may want to now thanks to the electrification. Alright, I think that's gonna be enough for this week. As you can see, a LOT of stuff has been happening in the United States...fuck I forgot Canada lol. Canada's definitely getting some stuff done, I'll remember them for another week. Point is, these are just some great examples of how the United States isn't "unsaveable" and "unsalvageable". There is lots of work to be done, yes, and it may be slow, but we shouldn't just look at that and shun the country as being unsalvageable. There is work being done, and there has been some real world progress seen from it. It will only be a matter of time.

[umbrahighpriestofgiratina]

Umbra Plays Pokemon Violet Bonus 1:

as promised. a lot of thoughts about Pokemon Violet and it being my first Nuzlocke:

OK I have a lot of thoughts about how this all turned out that I wanted to scream about. And I am going to split it in two parts: the game itself and the nuzlocke aspect

The Game: -Let's get this out of the way: I enjoyed this a heck of a lot. It's probably not one of my absolute favorite Pokkemon games but it's definitely up there and when it does something I like I REALLY like it

-The Iron Treads in the room is the graphics and performance. I had relatively little issues playing on cartridge, and moving update data to my system memory + a recent patch meant I had even less issues. I understand that wasn't the case for everybody, I'm sorry that took people out of the game because to quote a friend of mine neither they nor the game deserve that, but it still frustrates me when people overemphasize those aspects because there is genuinely a great game under that jank. Should this have been pushed back with Arceus as our 2022 game? Absolutely. These games deserve more dev time. But what we got is still better than some people are giving it credit for. 

-This probably has one of my favorite stories in a Pokemon Thing. I doubt anything will top BW because that was a coming of age game for me and N's character had a very pronounced effect on me but it quite possibly edges out Sun and Moon. And I REALLY liked Sun and Moon's story. The character writing in particular has been on point as it has been for a while now. 

-As for how it compares to Legends Arceus... I think qualitatively Legends Arceus is still better. And they did bring over a decent number of QOL features from Arceus but there were some missing I REALLY felt the absence of. But paradoxically this is closer to the kind of Pokemon experience I WANT. Just in terms of the actual game and features and gameplay structure besides the QOL stuff it's more of what I would want. I do think combining more elements of this and Arceus is good. Bring over more of the Arceus QOL features, remove the jank, bring things like actual sidequests back and this could be my perfect Pokemon game. Also Violet doesn't lock important things behind meticulous Pokedex quests or last second Dark Souls bosses so that's a point it has over Arceus. (The Arceus postgame scarred me OK?)

-I once again maintain that splitting gym bullshit, evil team bullshit, and legendary bullshit into separate plotlines was a good idea. It gives them so much more room to breathe. My one disappointment was they didn't do more with the Victory Road path - storywise it feels like a cheap fast food hamburger served next to some fine steaks and is only saved by the great stak sauce that is the great character writing I've mentioned earlier. It IS the most of a fun challenge due to the Terastalization mechanic gameplay-wise so I can't complain too much, especially when the other routes compensate for story

-Speaking of Victory Road I know I kept making fun of Geeta's design but it's grown on me and now I think she's kinda hot. I appreciate she's not evil or anything she just has a Weird and Intimidating aura. -The new Pokemon designs and names are really good. I wish I got to meet and do stuff with more of them myself. (more on that later)

-The open world is big and fun to explore and screw around, even if this run didn't give me much incentive to do that. (more about that later, again)

-Doing multiplayer has been a blast with my IRL bestie. And pretty smooth too. It helped me get in the "screwing around" quota I was missing doing the kind of run I was.

-Once again, overall, I had a blast, there is a great game here under the jank. 

The Nuzlocke: 

-So this was my first ever nuzlocke, and a wonderlocke/suprise trade nuzlocke at that. I mostly had a good time! Even if I had to cheat a little. Would I do this again? I'd be very open to. Would I do this as a first playthrough again? More debatable. (Ignore I tend to not have time or energy for multiple playthroughs anymore -looks awkwardly at his Brilliant Diamond egg run he still needs to finish-)

-See doing this as a first playthrough meant missing out on a lot of the exploration and discovery this game has to offer. I had no reason to screw around and find new Pokemon and catch them all because I could only catch the first Pokemon on each route. Going in blind was a great idea and I want to keep doing it going forward but some of the magic of it was ruined by finding a cool new pokemon and going "man I wish I could catch this but i'd need it to be my first encounter or gotten in a surprise trade"

-Also the difficulty curve of the Nuzlocke was... weird. At first it was about what I expected but then I slowly got... better at keeping my team alive? I was hoping for more of the deaths to be freak accidents like Denny and not the game being unfair to the point I had to bullshit clause it but as time went on I got less of either and no one really died much at alland it basically wasn't even a Nuzlocke anymore even before the point it was SUPPOSED to not be a Nuzlocke anymore? And I felt like that was boring to read? I don't know. This is my first Nuzlocke so tell me if this kind of thing is like... normal. 

-Overall though it was a really fun experiment with some fun moments and I'm open to doing it again! Just maybe I need to tweak some things... maybe as a second playthrough yeah... and maybe make Bullshit Clause less merciful, like, one Pokemon from those incidents still needs to be Suprise Traded even if not all of them do... that sort of thing. I definitely have increased respect and appreciation for Nuzlockes for sure.

[rsmrymnt-tea]

Sooo i may have downloaded gw2 because of you. This game is SO PRETTY.

Do you have any tips? I have exp with mmorpg but never played gw2. Take responsibility and share some wisdom!

:o!! omg??? Didn't think my recent constant gw2 posting would actually get someone playing sdhgjkdg I really hope you're having fun!! It's a gorg game with some flaws that are honestly frustrating at times but I heard most MMOs are like that? <-has literally only played Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 so those are my only as frames of reference

But tips!! Bit hard to think of some since tbh, I'm a filthy casual (and tbh not that skilled of a player, but recently I found out it's partially because of my ADHD?? It's weird lol) but I have some thoughts and tips and little QoL things I've picked up over the years.

Disclaimer though: I got the back when it wasn't free to play to try it out and idk if you're on the f2p right now since I'm guessing you're just trying it out (unless you went ahead and got End of Dragons which I think gives you both Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire now for free too?) so uh not sure if all these apply (also I mainly play PvE so)—

I won't talk too much about the Personal Story to not spoil anything, and I don't know if you've gone with the sylvari for your character/one of your characters. But trust me, if you haven't please give them a go for at least the first thirty levels because it gives a lot more—like way more to the point that I was surprised that people didn't get why He was so important to the story because I went with sylvari first—context as to why A Certain Character becomes heavily involved in the story when you reach level 60.

If you don't like your starting area, take the asura gate to Lion's Arch then head to Eastern Ward, from there you can take asura gates to all the major racial cities. Best layout for everything you need in one place is Rata Sum tbh but personally I live at the Grove

Get a nice guild!! Enhances the experience so much imo! And also LFG can seem hopeless sometimes because it tends to be empty but I find that parties for even Dungeons fill up eventually

Gameplay-wise, you can go with literally any profession and any playstyle you want, especially for open world and story. Try everything out! Iirc you can open your PvP tab and enter the Heart of the Mists to be temporarily max level and do whatever you want with your build to try it out.

Alternatively, metabattle.com is your friend for builds too. Though it doesn't really matter while you're levelling up.

And tbh a lot of core Tyria stuff (non-expansion areas) + Personal Story can be done while underlevelled and underarmored. Your best defense is actually your dodgeroll, so generally people go for gear that gives Power, Precision, and Ferocity (Berserker's). But for other modes you can take more supportive roles (boons, healing power, etc).

There's a wardrobe tab in your Bank that lets you try on literally any skin in the game, both armor and weapons. It'll use whatever dyes you currently have on and is great for Fashion Wars

Killing yellow mobs that haven't been killed in a while (usually found in map areas where there aren't a lot of people) grants a lot of bonus XP

This is such a grindy thing and I'm sure there's more efficient ways, but in your Dailies there's usually a map where you need to clear like, 4 events to fulfill. Those maps usually have a lot of people doing events and calling them out and I'd usually stay there and grind until I hit 80 lmao

I think you can also do this by doing a lot of WvW but I'm never in that area because my laptop can't take it. It's lots of fun when you manage to find a zerg though!

Iirc PvP also gives nice rewards and is really fun! I just handle the stress and my ping is too bad to be reliable hjkgdfg

Log in everyday for those Login rewards. They come in pretty useful and if you need quick cash, those Mystic Coins go for like 80+ silver each lmao And I think this is the only way to get Laurels for Ascended trinkets

Regarding the Unidentified Gears you get, I personally open them then salvage everything with a good salvage kit. The materials sell for more than the gears themselves, tho for Rare Unidentified gear you can take your chances with just selling them straight if you don't want the gamble of hoping for Globs of Ectoplasm (which sell for like, 1 more silver than each Rare Unid Gear but you can get multiple if you salvage Rare armor and weapons. But also none so yeah, discretion >.>)

The Personal Story absolutely does not take you through the entire map—I think when I did some Personal Story only runs on some characters I got only like, 11-13% world completion? So explore!

Speaking of, there's a lot of interesting little hidden spots around the world. Find some Jumping Puzzles, they are incredible and lots of fun and frustration >w< There should be a couple just in Lion's Arch, actually.

You can buy food and utility consumables on the Trading Post, and right now at the time of writing, you can go get a shit ton of useful food items for a little Zhaitaffy.

Breaking the text block because apparently there's a word limit for it now >.<

You can get full level 80 Exotic gear for Karma in Orr at the Temples of each god once you've beaten the meta event for them. Each Temple gives different gear. You can get Berserker's stuff at Grenth's.

That said, I think there's plenty of worth to doing Dynamic Hearts (those gold heart things around maps) and buying some of the stuff the heart vendors sell once you've done them? Some are even part of Item Collections

Your chosen server doesn't really matter except for who you can play with (NA can't play with EU and vice versa) and who you're fighting for in WvW

If you join a party or a squad and they're not in the same map instance as you, you can right click on their icon on the side or on their name in chat and choose to join their instance

Login whenever they release new Living Story!! It's kind of expensive to go buy them all if you missed them (you can convert gold to gems but it's still a hassle esp if you don't get to farm much and don't like grinding) and if you login you get it for free

the common and uncommon dyes are so cheap, feel free to just go nab each one of them for your Fashion Wars desires from the Trading Post

Personally, I don't really craft but there's some endgame stuff where you need max level in some of the crafting disciplines. Feel free to look into it since I honestly don't really craft >.>;; Bit expensive

Buy better inventory bags from the TP, like. Idk why it's never explained outright that there's a shit ton of things you can buy from the TP that are just never mentioned? Had no idea about sharpening stones and all that until I got bored one day and decided to look through literally every tab

Iirc you can lookup things in game really quick with the /wiki command then typing the thing you're curious about after it. Like '/wiki Dragon Bash'

You can do custom emotions by typing in /e though it doesn't make your character do anything. I think this was for roleplayers? You can target an NPC or player with the non-custom emotions by adding @

Hang onto your aquabreather whenever you get one and don't forget to use the same runes on it as the rest of your armor. it switches out your headpiece completely and ngl, it's so oddly hard to find an aquabreather for higher levels. Eventually you can get one in Orr, in Cursed Shore at Gavbeorn's Landing from Gavbeorn himself but that's like, late core game :/ not even Exotic too. I think you can land yourself a good Rare one from doing Tequatl the Sunless, but it's by chance and I don't think they're for sale in the TP.

Speaking of Teq, there are World Bosses you can fight everyday!! This is also something I don't think the game ever elaborates on, but they're usually the final stage of a map metal event and are huge whole events that give good rewards + stuff you need for high level/Legendary crafting. gw2timer.com has the timers for literally every boss worth fighting repeatedly and their locations too, I think.

I really really feel like not enough is said about taking time with the game to smell the flowers and do dynamic events that no one does. There's a lot of little stories and ambient dialogue from various NPCs in the world, and a lot of interesting little interactables in some places. Something I really like is that nearly every graveyard has epitaphs on each gravestone, and it's so interesting going through all of them. One of the maps, Drizzlewood Coast, gets a lot more... idk real? Shocking? And kind of depressing if you've played the charr personal story and pay attention to the names of the cache keepers at the end of the first half of the map's meta event.

Like. It's a really pretty game even if you don't go all out on your graphics, and there's a lot of details in the environment even in core Tyria that only get crazier through the expacs. HoT genuinely feels like a massive, massive jungle that you're lost in (also the enemies become several times more dangerous than in Orr), and PoF the desert really does feel massive, and the detailing where there's civilization is nuts. Can't speak for EoD since I don't have it yet, but Cantha was gorgeous even back in GW1.

Seriously like I feel like my biggest tip is to stop and appreciate all the details the devs have put into their literal world building. This isn't the kind of game where you should rush to 80, especially not on your first playthrough/character.

[rodem]

I started Smt5 on friday. it honestly feels kinda surreal considering how long it took to come out, wasn’t it first announced as like a switch launch title or something????? Well all the delays were obviously a good thing because the game seems really polished and the global release is amazing (and no one day patch, lol). I haven’t seen any spoilers beside the official pre-release stuff either so going into it mostly blind is really exciting. It’s the first smt where I didn’t do extensive research on “what build should I give the mc?” beforehand. (I’m doing magic because that’s always the safest bet for early game, which is usually the most difficult due to lack of good skills/demons. Though based on the Aogami essences I’ve collected so far it seems like the build the game wants the player to choose is more phys/support orientated...)

I guess here are some of my jumbled thoughts/impressions so far (I just finished the school and got to second section of the Netherworld)

When I first started I was like "omg the menu sounds from DDS are back." Gotta love those menu sounds.

The atmosphere of the Netherworld is soo good. The environment, the buildings, the music (having special sounds to notify the player of new/full moon was such a smart touch. and the full moon sound still gives me chills), the demon sound clips that play, demon npc placement, etc. all top notch. I feel like that desolate and isolated post-apocalyptic atmosphere that smt is known for (and prev best done in nocturne imo) has been perfected here. And the ability to like run and climb through mountains/dilapidated buildings really adds so much to the atmosphere. Like I really feel like I'm stranded on some demon infested post apocalyptic wasteland with only myself and demon allies to rely on! Such an amazing atmosphere!! It's strong enough to overpower the mc's very silly design that I have a hard time taking seriously lol.

And there's so much to explore and so many hidden things to find! I love climbing high places and then jumping straight down to an area only accessible through jumping down. There's actually so much to explore it gets overwhelming. And I'm def still needing to get used to it. Which makes me glad the world map icons are so helpful. I feel like I'm spending way longer in certain areas than I should because I keep getting lost or stuck or accidentally backtrack to somewhere I already went, lol.

So many good qol things were added to the battle and fusion systems. It's really helpful being able to see enemy weaknesses and health bars when you hover over them. And learnable skills being fully visible with even the level they are learned is one of the greatest new additions. (no more having to look up online what skills a demon learns and when!)

SMT games usually aren't that hard by endgame (for me, and on normal difficulty, at least) because you can just abuse buffs/debuffs. But those have been so nerfed this game. Even though I like doing tons of damage and not taking barely any due to buffs/debuffs, the re-vamp was for the best. Also do they only stack twice now? Because I've only seen two up arrows next to the icons. Though it seems the re-work of (de)buffs is balanced by the addition of the magatsuhi meter and new skills. The magatsuhi meter took a bit to get used to because at first I either kept forgetting it existed, or assumed it would take up a press turn. But it's really useful to have and it seems like fun strategies can be played with the magatsuhi skills. And there's always the sense of danger when the enemy is absorbing magatsuhi....

Essence fusion and miracles are also fun to play with. I was surprised fundamental stuff like demons begging for mercy had to be unlocked, but hiding stuff like that behind miracles makes alot of sense. Def the most useful miracle (besides like skill/demon slot increase), is the one that gives your demons bonus exp/levels depending on the exp/levels gained of the fused demons. Very useful for unlocking skills on new demons quicker and also doesn't make me feel bad for not fusing my demons as soon as they learn all their learnable skills. (Which is what I usually do).

The best moment I had so far was getting my revenge on that big bird for ambushing and killing me earlier, by changing my affinities to block force. (Which luckily was perfect for the Nuwa fight as well). The boss battles so far have been really tense. I feel like usually in these games my character is overleveled because I do a lot of backtracking to go back to save points. But since enemies are usually easily avoidable here, my character has been around the same level as the bosses. As my mc is like the only damage dealer I have so have, I keep having to use chakra drops during boss battles and my collection is being depleted. Which is honestly fun because I'm an item holder so I usually never use mp restoration items. Another function I've been using alot so far that I never used a whole lot before unless it was necessary, was swapping demons during battle. I usually do so if a demon I'm using runs out of mp.

In terms of story/characters, well I had like 0 expectations for the storyline going in so my view is already biased. The premise is very funny and probably requires the most suspension of disbelief out of megaten premises so far, imo at least. I do wonder if the whole "we, members of a secret gov organization led by goddamn angels and the prime minister, are relying on hs students to risk their lives and we don't feel bad or weird about it at all" premise will like actually lead to some sort of social commentary/critique. But based on experiences/knowledge of anime/otaku media in general it's more likely just meant to be played completely straight.

One thing I noticed is that the whole "my other half" thing has been brought up by three separate (demon) characters so far. So I'm guessing that concept will play a big role in the story. (and now that I think about it, I guess the mc is Aogami's other half or something....) Well I hope whenever Amanozako finds her other half she gets a new form that's less hideous. Like Amanozako from actual mythology looks so cool, and then the smt one is just "pixie 2.0."

In terms of the human characters. I expected the streamer dude to be really obnoxious and self centered, and he turns out to be the most down to earth one. His whole thing of wanting to fight demons and be a hero and not realizing the gravity of the situation until he's actually fighting and then he chickens out, felt very realistic and relatable haha. His "huge loser" background reminds me of the smt1 chaos hero, which makes me theorize he will be the alignment hero for whatever the chaos faction equivalent this game is (i have 0 idea if they are doing the traditional law/chaos/neutral stuff this game too, but so far that seems to be the case). Though I think his design already looks "chaotic" to me, so I'd prefer if he went against my expectations and become the law representative to me. Worst human character so far is def megane's sister. I disliked her since the pre-release info and she so far seems to be exactly how I expected, a very generic shy, frail girl who is entirely dependent on her "onii-chan." Though hopefully as the game goes on that perception will change and they will give this girl some kind of agency.

Also, I loved the cutscene where mc and Aogami first split and none of the other kids like make notice of or even react at all to Aogami just silently standing there at all. amazing stuff.

[doubleddenden]

Okay so we know on Wednesday that the presentation is gonna be about 30 minutes long and have info about BDSP, LA, and Unite.

My predictions

Nostalgia bait trailer

Word from either Ishihara or Masuda talking about how hard they've been working

BDSP shows some small clips that showcase the old games and new games side by side. Possibly some of those QoL improvements they claimed they were adding. If there's any proof that there's going to be something new here, this is the time to show it.

Word from the directors, release date, double package, pre order bonus, yadda yadda

Director for Legends Arceus is revealed. New trailer, gameplay showcase, New characters, and maybe an explanation on those weird blobs or critters in those pics that circulated before its reveal or possibly new forms or evolutions if there's anything of the sort in it

Pre order bonus, probably some incentive to buy it with BDSP or pre-order it with both

Some bullshit about Unite idc

Something about some side mobile stuff, maybe another concert

"That's all we've got for today. Oh, one more thing!"

Free space

There's some people predicting dlc for SwSh so they can keep the competitive meta going until the next game, but honestly I think people need to keep that expectation non existent if not lower than low. GF already made their money on SwSh and the dlc and they're working on LA while presumably also working on the next gen, plus whatever bs side project they're working on like Little Town Heroes. Not to mention they don't want any competition for the Sinnoh remakes or LA. If there's a free update that just adds the missing mons, I'll eat my words, but I highly doubt they care enough to even do that

[dailybayonetta]

so what dissapointed you with this year gane releases?

well, firstly there was animal crossing and re3remake back to back almost and i enjoyed both of these but:

animal crossing while lasted for a time, isn’t as content driven and fun as previous ones, there QoL changes but that’s pretty much it for me and my whole drifting on controller didn’t helped to enjoy it now with re3remake there is entire story about how re3 is my favorite title in both games aspect, in action-horror aspect, how it’s my favorite RE title without a doubt and i at least expected it get the same treatment as re2remake (not my fave, but there was a plenty of content to explore and it also kind of stole some re3 original gameplay elemets. looks at MRX)  and this when my problems start. In April, it WAS fun to play that and get all that sweet achievments in re3 but after that... it’s just not it, no that much bonuses, clearly untested harder difficulties (that actually requre you using bonuses). That wasn’t a case with original re3 ever. Like i enjoyed story changes and casting in this game, but nemesis turned into a bitch and just a boring tyrant instead of being a best tyrant in a whole RE. And I haven’t even started on the fact that you get 6 hours game AND multiplayer game for 60$ instead of them being separate titles for different prices, you basically paid for further development of RE:Resistance (which in a case i’m glad because people do enjoy it and play - but i don’t), but as person who preordered it and, again unlike re2remake, there was neither a Classic OST, no another bonus costume, no bonus stuff for Carlos and just, let’s say before that I enjoyed re2remake, but after re3remake, re2 pissed me off. And the fact that Capcom treats it as their child baby along with re4 and I just :////, have no words. Then ff7remake happened and this one actually brought me the most joy this year, it kept characters, it gave so many hints at original game, it has new stuff but it also respects it’s roots and have so many touches and nods to original that just make me cry tears of joy.  Music, characters, gameplay and basically everything was fantastic, I think that decisions made here at least justified and I can live with them (unlike re3). But oh no, it’s the classic decision now for Square Enix to make it two part, I don’t mind, but waiting is hard then you have no major release for you in between. Then tlou2 happened and oh.... sweet tlou2, which again, is a mixed case for me. Because I enjoyed visuals, I enjoyed characters -mostly-, the gameplay is superb, music fantastic both original ost and music choices. But then comes the content of a game (excessive violence, lots of blood, torture, suffering), like this expierence feelt like either it’s SUPER GOOD or SUPER BAD instead of being the one that grows the further you’re into the game. The ending saved overall my expierence, but the whole mess around it too affected somewhat. Now I feel about the game much much better, but at the first time it was quite the expierence that took some strength of mine for sure.  Then whole ps5 announcement happend and I’m so happy for DMC5 to get that special edition and it’s good, but the fact it’s console only??? And PC players only get character DLC (we don’t know still if one or more) but it’s clear why it happened and capcom obviously need money, but the fact that I probably will have to wait for bonus modes and features/or never have them because i’m not planning to buy ps5 in this economy.

At the moment the good thing is that new Crash Bandicoot comes out - that will probably give me some joy for sure, but like the rest... despite being good, was such a mixed bag that I feel completly out of touch and strengh. Sorry if this comes out as long rabmling, but at least I feel better.

[crystalelemental]

The DLC is actually pretty neat! The area is really cool and the side missions are fun. The bonus QoL stuff is fun and the DLC is still better than having to buy another whole game and start over just for some minor changes (looking at you USUM).

I’m gonna have to take your word for it, because I’m sure as hell not buying it.  But I will address that last part.

One of the biggest things that’s come out of the DLC discussion is that this is still cheaper and therefore preferable to a third game.  I...I don’t know if I entirely agree.  I’ll try to articulate these thoughts as best I can.

The main issue with the third game is that, for the most part, it’s the same game.  But historically, the third game was always the best part.  Emerald is way better than Ruby and Sapphire.  Crystal is way better than Gold and Silver.  Platinum is way better than Diamond and Pearl.  And those distinctions come from differences that are not exactly minor.  Ruby and Sapphire were good, but instead of just one team and one big Pokemon, Emerald included both teams as antagonists, and both major Pokemon fighting, and introduced Rayquaza’s role in the trio.  Platinum wasn’t just calling Dialga or Palkia, it was summoning Giratina, going through the Distortion World, etc.  Crystal was largely the same, but added the entire sub-plot for Suicine, and altered how to get Lugia and Ho-oh entirely.  Not to mention the difference in Pokemon made available and when, which is especially pronounced in Crystal, where you can get Teddiursa, Phanpy, and Poliwag really early (I’m still kinda salty that HGSS didn’t base its appearance tables on Crystal).

All that to say...yes, DLC can fix some of the issues that came with a third game.  You can add things like move tutors.  You can add things like the island after the league.  That’s a really small thing.  But you can’t change the story.  You can’t change the appearance tables for the entire game to reflect a different experience.  You can’t alter the entire story as it currently is.  Those things don’t change, and I feel like that’s important in this case.

It’s arguable that Ruby and Sapphire were good enough that Emerald’s story changes weren’t significant enough to warrant a third game.  Same on Crystal and Platinum.  Because their default games were still good.  But when you have Sword and Shield, which honestly suck, the knowledge that we’re just going with DLC instead of a third game means the story will always be like this, and will likely never have any elaboration or development.  It is what it is, and what it is, is shit.  Why would I buy the DLC for that?  And arguably, when the third game was an expected part of the formula, plenty of people just...didn’t buy the default game, knowing the third game would have more content.  Realistically, the solution should’ve been to add more development time to the games and just make the third game without the first two that are split apart.  Just make one game with everything in it already.  The earlier versions aren’t necessary.  Instead, they produced a bad game, introduced the idea that DLC is a solution to the “problem” of the third game coming out, but there’s no reason to buy additional content for a game that’s not good.  I would almost prefer a third game come out for this generation, because maybe they could actually improve the story or the gameplay or the issues in the Wild Area and make something decent.  Instead, this is all we will get of it.  A few new paid additions to what’s already the worst mainline game in the franchise.

Basically, which is more worth it?  Full price on a game that shares a lot of similarities but has a lot more room to improve?  Or half price on additional content to a game that isn’t very good?  I know what I’d pick.