#anyways I’ll probably start cel shading and experimenting with my styles so i

[moszeel]

 Skadi and her crispy corrupting horrible vibes heart

Line art only version under the cut 

[sage-nebula]

Game Review — Blue Fire

One of my all-time favorite game series is The Legend of Zelda. My favorite game of all time is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. And my second favorite game of all time is Hollow Knight. So it would make sense, then, to think that a combination of the two would be the most amazing thing the world had to offer me.

Overall Score: 7/10

Well . . . it could have been better. It also could have been worse, absolutely, but it also could have been better. For more detailed thoughts, jump below the cut (and view on blog due to formatting).

The Pros:

The graphics and animation are beautiful. The specific Zelda game the graphics brought to mine (despite the color palette, which was clearly more Hollow Knight inspired) was The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Whatever reason the developers had for going the cel shaded route (maybe they had an artistic vision in mind, or maybe it was easier somehow) it was a good one to make. In particular, all of the glowing and flame effects were lovely, the shadows all fell in the right places, the characters were charming to look at, et cetera. Everything worked well with the acrobatics as well. Visually, the game is beautiful.

For the most part, the platforming is fair and even platforming challenges are doable with enough practice. This is particularly true for the overworld / main dungeons, rather than the Voids, which are more extra dungeons that you don’t have to complete to beat the game (although doing so certainly makes the game easier given that each completed Void gives you another life heart). While there were some areas where the game lagged for whatever reason and threw off crucial timing, as well as some Voids that were definitely more Platform Hell than simply platforming, the platforming puzzles were very well put together for the most part and were enjoyable to play.

The fast travel system, when unlocked, is incredibly convenient and takes a lot of the headache out of traveling around the world, particularly given that you use the shrines for a number of things (fast travel, saving, char—spirit equips) and there aren’t any maps present in this game whatsoever. It does take some time to unlock fast travel and you’re not exactly pointed in the direction to get it (in fact I had to look up to figure out where I was supposed to go to get it), but once you have it it’s a well-developed system that took a lot of pain out of playing that would have otherwise been there.

A minor thing that I liked, but (just like in Hollow Knight) when you die, your spirit or soul is left behind. Also like in Hollow Knight, it keeps all of the money you had on you when you died. Essentially, it is the exact same thing as the Shade from Hollow Knight, but white instead of black. Anyway, the minor thing I liked about this is that if you die in a boss fight, your spirit waits for you directly outside the boss arena, meaning that you don’t have to try to reclaim it while the boss is trying to kill you. It was a nice bone the developers threw the player.

While no tracks in particular standout, and while the OST doesn’t live up to the OSTs of the inspirations behind this game, there were times when the music was very nice, which is always a plus.

While the main quest is very short, there are numerous sidequests you can do even apart from the Voids that give you things to do in each area, making them feel a little less small and giving you a bit more time with the game, as well as unlockables as rewards (mainly in the form of new costumes, but still). There are lots of little secrets hidden around in each area too, which is nice to discover if you’re someone like me who loves exploring in games. 

The Neutrals:

The story. The story is . . . how do I put this . . . okay. So, it’s clear the developers wanted to write a story with the aesthetic of Hollow Knight (ruined kingdom, lots of shadow / light dichotomy, fallen kingdom, et cetera), but with an overt storytelling style like The Legend of Zelda. So you get a lot of exposition about what happened in the past, and what you as the main character are supposed to do now . . . but the thing about the exposition is that not only is the same thing repeated about fifteen different times (such as the constant harping on about how the main character contains both light and shadow within them), but also there are huge chunks of seemingly important detail that are just left unexplained. Like for instance: we know that the Fire Guardians from the Fire Keep were one of the last strongholds against the Shadow (who was also the sixth god and has also corrupted the queen yadda yadda). And we can extrapolate that the Fire Guardians were specifically trying to create a warrior that was both light and shadow based on the fact that the game starts with the main character breaking out of a test tube with a bunch of corpses that look just like the player scattered around, seeming to be failed experiments (i.e. just like how the Pale King created the Hollow Knight in Hollow Knight). But the only Fire Guard that we see around is Von. I think he mentions briefly once that the Fire Guards were trying to make the warrior, or had made the warrior, or something like that, but we’re never told why, exactly. We don’t know what processes led to that. We don’t know who was in charge. We don’t know why this specific type of warrior was needed except “since you have both you may be the answer.” And the fact that there were apparently a bunch of failed experiments is never really touched upon either. Furthermore, we’re told that the five gods had lifted Penumbra (the world) into the sky to protect it from the Shadow (a la Hylia raising Skyloft to protect the people from Demise), but that it didn’t work and the Shadow ultimately got to them anyway. So allegedly this is a post-apocalyptic land. But the only thing to really be ravaged is the Temple of Gods, where apparently the corrupted queen sleeps. Everyone else seems mostly fine as long as they avoid the monsters? It’s like they were going for what Hollow Knight did, but didn’t quite want to go the full route of having corpses literally everywhere on-screen at all times. Although weirdly enough, there is also a distinct lack of NPCs which makes the world feel more empty than Hallownest despite the circumstances . . . What I’m getting at here is that there definitely is a story, but it was told in a way that was pretty sloppy. It’s not so sloppy that it detracts from the overall experience, but it’s like too much was piled on in some areas and not enough was explained in other areas. Or like they took some things they liked from other games (e.g. making the creation of the “warrior of light and shadow” reminiscent of the creation of the Hollow Knight) without following through on what made those things work. Like it wasn’t just that there were a lot of failed Knights and that their corpses were tossed into the abyss and that The Knight had to try to claw his way out (as did Broken Vessel and others) while the “successful” Hollow Knight was raised by the Pale King. It was also that we know that the entire reason why the Hollow Knight was created in the first place was to contain the Radiance / the Plague. It was also that these hundreds or thousands of corpses were the Pale King’s children. It was also that the Pale King has a monologue over that segment saying, “no mind to think, no will to break, no voice to cry suffering” as requirements for the Hollow Knight to be considered successful. The horror didn’t come just from the corpses being tossed down the pit around you as you had to climb up in an attempt to get out, but also at all of the surrounding context, which was left entirely out of Blue Fire’s version with the warrior of light and shadow. Not that they should have copied it (although if they had it really wouldn’t have been surprising), but it’s clear what they were trying to do and where they failed because they didn’t have the follow through to go with it. I feel like the above paragraph is so critical I should move it to The Cons, but I do want to say that I don’t think the story itself was terrible. It borrows so much from both Zelda and Hollow Knight that it really isn’t original and it doesn’t follow through on things that made those stories work, but overall it doesn’t ruin the experience, even if all of the repetition gets old pretty quickly. Although as a final note, I’ll also add another thing that bugged me, which is that we never learn what the people of Penumbra are. Like we know the Shadow is bad, but they all look like Shadow people. We know there are creatures called “onops” but we don’t know what they are, or if everyone is an onop. Whereas in Hollow Knight we know that all the characters are bugs. It’s just another little thing that wasn’t explained but probably should have been.

On a less long note, the combat is also pretty mediocre. Again, it’s not bad. There is a parry system that, if you learn to time it right to actually pull off the parry, is pretty cool. But although you are given magic, which is useful for killing long-distance enemies, the magic can’t do a single thing for you in boss battles no matter how many times you upgrade your mana. Additionally, it is very much a “mash Y to win” type of game, where Y is the button you use to attack and you just mash that while jumping around. There’s no complexity to the combat at all or any strategy that is really required. It’s not bad, per se, but it’s nothing to write home about either.

The charms in this game are called spirits, and while you can buy a majority of them from shopkeepers, you can also “capture” your own by coming across the spirit of a dead person and trapping it to use its power for yourself. This is made apparent when you go back to a young child who is dead the second time you go to see them, and capture their spirit for use. Also when you literally murder an NPC for a sidequest and then later capture their spirit to use for your own use. And aside from the sidequest giver being horrified you killed the NPC and telling you to keep it hush-hush (without even knowing that you can and will capture the spirit of that murder victim for your own use) this . . . is never really remarked upon. Ever. And the thing is, it creates a sort of dissonance, because your character is treated as a hero in this game. No one seems horrified by you, there’s never any question of whether your existence is moral or not, nor any reason to think that your character would be amoral. In Hollow Knight, the Knights were created to be soulless husks who were there to be vessels for the Radiance / infection. Hornet in particular calls out your cursed existence and how she does not like you because of it. But although you can learn “emotes” from statues (which is teaching your character either actions or emotions, it’s unclear), no such deal is made here. So this aspect of the game is strange, even if I can at least appreciate that they tried to make their spirits a tiny bit different from Hollow Knight’s charms. Though with that said . . .

The Cons:

It’s one thing to be inspired by other games, but the sheer amount that this game cops from The Legend of Zelda and Hollow Knight is, at least to me, incredibly distracting. Just a handful of examples off the top of my head: — In Hollow Knight, you have a Shade that lingers where you last died and keeps all of your money from when you died. In Blue Fire, you have a spirit / soul (again, it’s unnamed) that lingers where you died and keeps all of your money from when you died. You have to retrieve them before you die again to get your money back. — In Hollow Knight, you have different circular charms that each have a different design, name, and grant you different abilities. You can only have a certain amount equipped at a time (though you can increase how many you can equip at once) and you can only equip them at save points. In Blue Fire you have different spirits that are contained in circles that each have a different design, name, and grant you different abilities. You can only have a certain amount equipped at a time (though you can increase how many you can equip at once) and you can only equip them at save points. — Everything I explained above about how the main character breaking out of a test tube at the beginning, surrounded by corpses just like them, felt like an echo of the Knight’s creation in Hollow Knight (but again, not as effective for reasons outlined above).  — The default tunic has a hat that is exactly like Link’s from The Legend of Zelda. This is made even more obvious with the dyed green tunics. — The story segment detailing how the five gods created Penumbra was copped from how the golden goddesses created Hyrule from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. To compare the dialogue: Ocarina of Time: “Din. With her flaming arms, cultivated the land and created the red earth.” Blue Fire: “Dina, God of Land. With her mighty body of stone, Dina carved mountains, deserts, and landforms in the earth.” It’s in the exact same cadence, to the point where I half expected the artifact they created at the end of the story to be the Triforce (instead it was called the Oath of Sarana).  — In Hollow Knight, the titular Hollow Knight is housed inside the Temple of the Black Egg, and is in fact locked inside that Black Egg to seal the Radiance / infection. There are three locks on the egg, and each one will only be broken when one of the three Dreamers dies. You have to break all three locks to face him, a corrupted “final” boss. In Blue Fire, the corrupted queen is housed inside the Temple of the Gods. There are three locks on her door, and each one will only be broken when one of the three Shadow Lords dies. You have to break all three locks to face her, the corrupted final boss. — It’s implied that, especially in places like the Temple Gardens, that the humanoid enemies that attack you are not monsters, but are people who were once completely normal and even forces of good who were corrupted by the Shadow. This is exactly like how all of the enemies you face in Hollow Knight (with the exception of, say, Hornet) were also once normal bugs before they were turned into zombies by the infection. I could go on. The point is, it’s perfectly fine to be inspired by something. Hell, it would be hard to find an action/adventure game that wasn’t inspired by The Legend of Zelda at this point. But it’s one thing to be inspired by something, and another thing to completely rip-off your inspiration to the point where the similarities are distracting to your audience. And it’s not just me; when I was looking up the exact dialogue for the story of the gods from Blue Fire, I found others who were pointing out just how similar everything was to Hollow Knight in particular, including someone who, like me, realized that the Temple of the Gods was essentially the Temple of the Black Egg. When things are this blatant, it feels a whole lot less like inspiration and a whole lot more like plagiarism.

The Voids all have a star rating to indicate how difficult they are. These star ratings are completely meaningless. Granted, partly it’s because everyone is going to have different abilities and so it will be hard to create an overall difficulty scoring that will be accurate for every player, but it’s also telling when a four-star course is miles easier than a two-star course, which I found to be the case on more than one occasion due to level design that was, at times, kind of bullshit. 

Although there are NPCs, there are none who are memorable or standout, despite the fact that most of Penumbra’s populace is (maybe?) still alive. Unlike in Hollow Knight, where there were characters like Elderbug, the Last Stag, Hornet, Quirrel, and so forth that were memorable and lovable, all of the NPCs in Blue Fire feel rather the same and are pretty easily forgettable.

The world itself is incredibly small. While the fact there are no maps makes this kind of a good thing, on the other hand it’s a bit disappointing that there are a total of two towns and then a few small connecting areas. It doesn’t really make it feel like the kingdom that it’s supposed to be. 

On that note, why aren’t there maps? The fact that there is fast travel is really more of a necessity than mere convenience because there are no maps to help lead you around. If you put down the game for a while and then go back to it, you might not remember how to get to different areas in the game, and if you haven’t unlocked fast travel yet (since it is something you have to unlock) you’re going to be pretty much boned due to the lack of a feature that is in basically every other game. 

Overall, while this is not a game I think I would ever go back to, it also isn’t one that I regretted purchasing and playing. It could definitely have been better, but it also could have been worse. My only hope is that the next game this studio makes is more original, rather than copying so much from other, more successful titles. (Or at the very least, that they study why certain things worked in more successful titles, instead of just copying at the surface level and calling it a day.)

[cabhonours-blog]

Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator

This is going to be one of my biggest inspirations, reference points, and bases for my project due to a multitude of reasons. 

First and foremost, we have to address what it is. This was an LGBT dating sim created by Game Grumps, giving it media recognition and pushing it into being a mass commercial success. Don’t get me wrong, the game has issues. But a huge group like Game Grumps producing LGBT content of this level was a massive step for LGBT normalisation and inclusion in games media.

Moving beyond that, I’ll start to breakdown the game bit by bit. The obvious first thing to speak about is the art. This is the kind of art we generally think of when we think of dating sims; cel shaded, clean, with non-obtrusive backdrops that don’t pull too much focus and simple UI. It’s the bread and butter of the dating sim world; tried and tested. Due to this, I’m unsure if I want to stick to it - don’t fix what isn’t broken - or experiment with alternate styles like Cing’s games. This is something to play about with in.

One of the biggest successes for the game was before you even got into the story, on the character creation screen. Now, first off, their character creation was... bad. For some reason, the art style felt completely different, and so your own persona became gimmicky and looked out of place. If you’re going to have character customisation in game then it needs to fit to the overall style. Outwith that though, it did one thing really right - you can be transgender.

The option to have your dad wear a binder or not was so unexpected and so brilliant. It was never questioned or treated as something special, your dad isn’t treated any differently in the game if they’re trans by the other characters. In fact, even one of the characters is trans themselves - the one pictured above, Damien. Yet, this is never given some crucial attention and is instead mentioned in passing if you pursue his route, with him saying;  "To be able to wake up in the morning, pick from my closet a variety of cloaks, top hats, and even binders that are period appropriate feels amazing...". This comment about binders was treated so normally that it practically slipped under the radar, and that’s what it should be like; being trans doesn’t have to be some spectacle. People don’t constantly have to be on display and going enough or presenting enough or being loud enough to be recognised. Being trans is a perfectly normal, perfectly valid thing and trans individuals deserve to see themselves in characters or given the option to see themselves in the characters they create without it feeling anything other than completely and utterly normal. Trans people are not tokens, they’re not there to earn brownie points, and that’s exactly how GG treated it. Their ‘Dadsona’ maker might look like... that, but hey, this was an A+ move.

Unlike AA, Hotel Dusk or others; this story isn’t as far-from-home. You’re not a successful attorney caught in the action, you’re not a down-on-his-luck ex detective with a dark past, you’re simply a dad. A dad whose partner died and is raising his daughter, Amanda, alone; trying to provide a good life for her.

You sell your old house and relocate to a new neighbourhood, and that’s the bulk of the premise. You meet the other dads in the neighbourhood, you attend BBQ’s and make friends, you go on dates, and you help your daughter as she struggles with teenage problems; university applications, drama with friends, the usual. It’s all very, very normal. And that, that is exactly what made it so powerful. It was so, so easy to relate to. Sometimes, what people really need is something that gives a real insight to your average persons life. The kind of thing that if you were, say, a young gay man struggling with his identity, you could look at and go “Huh, maybe that could be me one day. With a kid, and a happy life, meeting other cute dads”. That idea, that small bit of comfort; self love; self acceptance; recognition; whatever you want to call it, can go a long way. It can be the first step to these people making the most of their life, or ensuring they have a future at all.

Spoiler alert for what’s ahead; I’m going to address some of the endings.

They also add in to the complete normalisation agenda of this game. The endings don’t consist of some overblown, horseback-into-the-sunset happily ever after. Instead, each ending happens at a birthday party for your daughter you throw with your neighbours; congratulating her and wishing her luck as she’s heading to university soon. A good bit of the ending actually focuses on your relationship with her and a very heartfelt, tear-jerking discussion as you get ready to watch your baby leave the nest. (We won’t question how easily they get us emotionally connected to a fake child when we don’t have one. I can’t imagine how it must tug on the heart if you’re a parent).

Anyway.

Alongside this, you have an interaction with your chosen suitor at said party. In this interaction, you feel out your relationship, accepting your feelings for each other and planning to see how things go. It isn’t some overly romantic conclusion but instead it’s a very real example of how healthy relationships unfold. Following this, you’ll get a photo of your dad and an explanation of how things start to go. For instance, Matt takes up being a musician again after having given up playing when he lost his partner; 

The only dad that this is noticeably different is Robert. This is because, with his ending, he decides that even though there are feelings between you he needs to focus on straightening out his own life first. He needs to find himself, sort his relationship with his daughter, and be a more stable person before he can bring someone else into his life. However, it’s left with the note that perhaps once he’s done that, you two could pick things back up, should the time be right. And this in and itself is something that isn’t done very often - acknowledging that sometimes the right, healthy thing to do is focus on yourself and finding happiness in your own life. The idea that you shouldn’t try to find happiness in another person, that another person can’t fill the holes in yourself and that instead you need time to work on you, is a message not given enough. A person can’t complete you - you should be two whole people who come together and better each others lives, not a crutch. That’s not to say you can’t depend on one another, but there’s a difference between comfort and dependency issues.

Roberts ending is probably one of my favourites as it shows the importance of self love, and second chances. He’s your stereotypical down-trodden bad boy that most would cast to the side, but instead he became one of the most beloved in the cast. 

Overall, DD is a giant example of how LGBT representation can matter in the most natural way. It’s so normalised it’s practically unnoticeable. At no point is it treated any differently than if this had been a heterosexual otome game, and the stories are so day-to-day that they allow anyone to put themselves in the characters shoes.

Obviously, I’m only one person, a student, and on a time limit. I can’t aim to create a project close to this. However, it’s the leading industry example of what I’m hoping to achieve. It had problems. A lot of them. It’s limited in length, at times the interactions can seem superficial, and there’s mini-games in it that are... less than brilliantly coded with no clear point to them. Yet, it did so much right and made a huge leap for LGBT inclusion.

So, it’s a reference point. A dream goal to create a condensed version of, or a pitch for, or something. It’s what I want to keep in mind.