#but def worse than the prior three games

[jojolimons]

just finished apollo justice

alas i do not have a favorite part of the game to quote

[crystalelemental]

Sync Pair Retrospective - SC Teatime

It's a bit late, but I kinda fell off of doing these retrospectives for a while when I felt like I didn't have much to say at one point.  But, I’d like to get back to it, and that means there’s catching up to do.  So, let’s start with what’s still up: Special Costume Teatime.

SC LILLIE Upon arrival, Lillie was generally cited as the best of the four.  In some ways, she's a direct upgrade over SC Jasmine from six months prior.   Similar buffing kit, but generally stronger tools.  While Jasmine had special defense drops, Lillie had a 60% flinch rate.  While Jasmine has Gradual Healing, Lillie had passive team healing every time she took a hit, and Potion.  By their first sync, Jasmine had +5 Sp Atk, +6 Sp Def, and +3 crit, while Lillie has +6 Sp Atk and +3 crit.  The decision between them was, for most, in Lillie's favor.  I will always advocate for my girl Jasmine though, and insist that the special bulk and application of Safety Net on sync mattered.  But...yeah, Lillie was largely better.

The drawback of Lillie is that without her full grid, she's actually kinda terrible. Without All Ramped Up and Crit Squad on her trainer move, she can't buff special attack to cap, and takes a separate three turns for crit rate.  Jasmine suffers similarly, but not as severely.  Even with full grid, SC Lillie is...messy. She can't get much of what she wants in a single grid, and has to make difficult concessions regarding what to take.  Jasmine's is immaculate, with nothing wasted and nothing missed.  So I do feel like it was a bit more even than people made it out to be.

Of course, they both get blasted two months later as SS Kris waltzes in.   Seriously, how do you compete with that?  Kris did everything they did, but tossed in Special Moves Up Next for good measure.  Oh, and the whole Rain thing that made her unchallenged in an entire archetype.  Kinda hard to keep pace with that.  Jasmine, I feel, got entirely bodied by Kris.  Kris handled everything except special defense drops, and had an actual physical defense stat.  Lillie managed to keep up in part due to higher flinch rate, being the faster draw, and not needing first sync.   Jasmine wanted sync for Safety Net.  Kris needed it for MP Burst.   Lillie...could ignore it.  This let her have a little bit more depth to her game that the others couldn't quite match.  And because of the compression of her trainer move, Lillie had everyone to max offense by turn 3, unlike the other two who could be just short of the mark.

SS Brendan came in, but it was a similar sort of deal.  Yes, he could perform a comparable role with incredibly valuable special defense drops and comparable Potion benefits, with a better grid.  But he also needed first sync for full crit benefits.  Lillie didn't.  And so Lillie's kind of remained as a Special Attack/Crit buffer who doesn't need first sync.

That said, there's a reason Kris and Brendan tend to outrank her, and it's because Lillie rarely has everything she wants.  Her bulk is a lot worse off due to the lack of easy special defense buffs, and her passive healing isn't as strong as you'd like.  Grid constraints also mean she's not getting double MPR like ever, so Brendan serves a more valuable defensive role.  I'd argue that even SC Jasmine has stood the test of time better, as the AoE meta that came about from modern CS put a lot of value on team Endure.  And with her whole flinch rate...well, Lodge Blue is completely free, and has a comparable 60% rate, with some really nice passive healing.  So like.  Pretty much every niche Lillie occupies has pretty significant competition.  Not to say she's bad now.  But it is to say I think I use her least of the four.

SC SONIA Sonia was the last winner of her day, and remains last winner.  The problem is really just that Grass isn't hard to shop for, and having Hit the Gas with a low speed stat is a recipe for problems.  Just ask SS Giovanni, who showed up the next month.  And speaking of next month, the introduction of SS Morty was a mixed bag.  Sonia appreciated the bulk, speed, and Sun he could offer, but so did every other Grass type, most notably SS Erika, who completely popped off once Lyra dropped.  Sonia could compete, but just wasn't as considered, given her limited status compared to SS Erika's general pool designation.

Effectively nothing changed for Sonia throughout the year, until...well, three weeks from now.  SS Acerola offers the combination of Grassy Terrain and Sun at once, all while massively powering up physical moves up next, and freeing up a spot for SC Steven, who stacks damage to the moon.  SC Sonia was one of the few, truly elite beneficiaries of this comp.   Unfortunately, she ran smack into the same issues, as Acerola's attack buffs meant not only was SS Erika keeping pace, but now Mallow legitimately joined the race.  Heck, even Selene competes in this comp, and she doesn't even need Sun; Steven's just that good a partner to her.

Sonia's an unfortunate case of a sync pair that cannot escape the curse of an oversaturated type.  There are plenty of strong physical attackers in the general pool, and Sonia doesn't offer anything truly unique.  Sure, Defense Crush, but with SS Acerola/SC Steven, Steven's already debuffing defense to -6 anyway, so what value does that hold?  Sonia's decent, but "decent" doesn't cut it for a limited pair.

SC INGO When Ingo released, Zones were still relatively fresh.  We only had a few, mostly from the Sinnoh VA, and Bug in particular was in rough shape.   Having someone to finally apply that Zone felt great...right up until you looked at the kit. See, for the other Zone setters, there's...an understanding that they're supportive in nature.   Renegade Cynthia gets Sundering to boost either form of damage, but emphasizes special with On a Roll because most Ghost-types are special. Lucas removes his gauge cost because Dragons tend to have high gauge.   SS Marnie focused on physical debuffs because they're mostly physical, but tossed in Team Sharp Entry for Raihan.  SS Cyrus...okay look, Cyrus was just insane broadly.

Ingo didn't have that.  His support was a Trap condition for some reason, and Defense Crush 9.  He leaned entirely into physical.  At a time when the best Bug...was Alder.  Special.  Even among general pool, Lusamine and Burgh were the better options, and they're special.  Ingo didn't help them so much, and it was a pretty significant problem.  As a sync nuker, Ingo was momentarily top dog, but had absolutely no self-buffing skill, which hindered him in that regard as well.  Buffing evasion and accuracy is cute, but it's about all he did.  And he did it, because that's all Emmet would need.

Ingo was a case that happens too often, where DeNA designs a support to help a specific unit, rather than a particular meta niche.  He's also a case where, if invested, he's just stronger than the people he's trying to help.  Why bother with Bugsy as a damage dealer when Ingo has infinity billion damage over him on sync and DPS?  Ingo...is one of the worst Zone setters.  He's still a Zone setter and therefore has use, but there's a very, very strong case to be made for SS Hilbert being better with the rebuff and special defense drops.

SC EMMET The other half of the twins is a Bug striker, and I initially almost said we don't get many of those before realizing they're almost all strikers.  Hey Bugs?   Aren't you supposed to be about status?

Anyway, Emmet comes in as an odd kind of Striker, having very solid base power on his attack, but mostly emphasizing sync with Rising Tide.  This makes him an excellent EX clear for CS, but Gauntlet tends to be a much, much rougher time, due to his poor gauge management.  Upon release, Emmet was pretty immediately the best in class.  His only competition was Alder, who was an older unit with very little supporting him.  Certainly not Ingo.  So Emmet was kinda top dog for a while there.

But the times change, and PokeFairs are getting grid expansions.  Alder comes in with a pretty damn good one too, offering yet another 30% multiplier on Hyper Beam, and easily overtaking Emmet's DPS.  He even gets Dismay to help set up his Overpower, and Impervious to negate the trainer move drawback.  Then, he gets SS Hilbert.  Another PokeFair that can debuff special defense, and apply the new rebuff for greater damage?  Now we're talking.  Alder's damage begins to soar.  But there is another, as Lodge Dawn enters the fold, carrying gauge control, Team Sharp Entry to speed up his self setup by a whole turn, and best of all, Satisfied Snarl on Struggle Bug for some of the most aggressive special attack debuffing you can find, on a support.  Alder suddenly has an entire team comp that rivals Emmet's.

At present, Emmet has not been strictly dethroned.  SC Ingo/Sonia are a great combo for him that gives everything he requires, but Alder is keeping pace.  And unfortunately, that means there are dark times ahead, because Alder will one day receive a 3/5 expansion as well, while Emmet is currently not expected to get anything ever.  It's a waiting game.   In time, it's very likely that Emmet will lose out to Alder.  They're already neck and neck, and if Alder's expansion drops something big like half-cost Brainpower?  Now it's just over.  But, for the time, Emmet is keeping up.  It's a tough battle, but it is kinda cool how the top bugs are both Unovan, Home of Cool Bugs.

[gascon-en-exil]

From my personal experience, Wyverns are OP in All games, with their very worst appearance being FE4 and that was only due to Altenna & Gaebolg coming in late & not being quite as awesome as the other Holy Blood units. Whenever a game has reclassing, I find almost everyone ends up being a wyvern eventually. That was definitely how it was in my New Mystery run and Wyverns had terrible speed/Resistance there.

Fliers are generally OP and their weaknesses aren’t common enough or can be played around most of the time. It’s hard to compare Archanea dracoknights when they’re the only promoted fliers (I think there’s only one Elysian Whip in FE12, and they’re not legitimately obtainable at all anymore in FE11?) and in the remakes their bad stats can be built up when the units are pegasus knights. As for the rest:

FE4: Yeah, Altena comes late and her low RES hurts, but she’s got a holy weapon and you’ve only got one other flier so she can definitely put in work.

FE5: It’s embarrassing for Eda that you get her the same chapter as her vastly superior brother. Deen’s great, but for whatever reason wyvern riders take the biggest dismounting penalties in the game and of course that’s a problem when the last 2-3 maps are indoors. I’d say he’s screwed by the game mechanics more than anything else.

FE6: I think both Melady and Zeiss get Hard Mode bonuses, but again there’s the problem of the younger sibling being redundant because of an objectively worse start. This game also has a route option that’s filled with mounted archers, but I suppose if you’re going to Sacae Melady’s definitely getting that Delphi Shield.

FE7: Heath comes in underleveled right before a fairly tough part of the game, although conversely that makes him good for the EXP rank and getting the gaiden in the desert map if you care about those. Vaida is lategame filler, albeit pretty good filler if I recall. Not a standout game for them as the pegasus sisters have a lot more collective availability and therefore more flying utility overall.

FE8: Same bit about the pegasi having more availability, but now they have a promotion option that patches up their CON and DEF better. Cormag’s still great though, even if he joins a bit late on Eirika’s route. 

FE9: Marcia and Jill split that invaluable midgame utility, but if you’ve got a mount you’re amazing in this game so Jill’s slightly rocky start and Haar’s filler status don’t really stand out too much. 

FE10: Probably their most overwhelming win prior to Three Houses, and might even be bigger. Haar destroys everything until the very end when his mediocre SPD catches up to him, while Jill is one of the few 1st tier units worth raising even on Hard and is invaluable to propping up her weak team - and unlike Haar’s she’s great in Endgame if properly leveled. The pegasi have worse availability for once and are slaughtered by crossbows, and paladins have likely never had it worse with all the hazards they have to maneuver around.

FE13: No idea about the main game on Lunatic(+) or whatever, but Apotheosis meta favors wyvern lords as strong and mobile physical leads slightly in preference to paladins. Snipers seem to be the closest thing to a truly OP class for that challenge, but wyverns are still up there. As a breeding/leveling class set they fare worse, with no really notable skills and griffon riders being utterly unremarkable. The default ones aren’t so great either; Cherche has some bizarre alternative class options, and Gerome is arguably the worst 2nd gen male.

FE14: Conquest Camilla is FE10 Haar with two eyes and [insert sex joke here], and all in all they’re probably better than they were in Awakening if not overwhelmingly dominant. Beruka never impressed me much, but Percy can be good.

I wouldn’t say wyverns have always been OP, but they have always been one of the better classes. It all depends on how each individual game balances them out with enough weaknesses.

[videogamesincolor]

The script for ‘Shadow of the Colossus’ is as bad (and as racist) as you think it could be

Shadow of the Colossus is considered by many within the Team Ico fanbase to be the video game that is neither suitable for film, or a story that could translate well as a script. Fumito Ueda’s “Design by Subtraction” approach, the intentional lack of clarity within the story itself, and the fact that the player is set against sixteen Colossi and nothing more, make approaching the idea of a movie difficult in the traditional sense where the feat might be easier to accomplish with games like Resident Evil, Tomb Raider, or Mortal Kombat, all of which take their cues from specific film genres.

Avocations for Guilermo del Toro to direct a Shadow of the Colossus film come and go because he is an admitted fan of the game, but the grand majority of SOTC fans remain unmoved from the position that it’s not a game that requires a film adaption.

Yet, there was an attempt. April 2009 Sony Pictures announced they would try to make a film adaptation with the cooperation of Fumito Ueda, yet nothing ever came of it. The next five years (most notable 2012 and 2014) would see talk of the SOTC film happening with different directors (Josh Trank, Seth Lochhead, Andrés Muschietti). Again, nothing happened, but, a script was actually written.

September 2017, a cinematographer named Dan Olson, chose to share with followers of his twitter account (@FormidableHuman) bits of a draft script for Shadow of the Colossus written by a man named Justin Marks (the screenwriter for the oft forgotten film, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, starring the late Michael Clarke Duncan and Kristin Kreuk, and Disney’s live-action remake of The Jungle Book). Marks was the screenwriter attached to the 2009 attempt.

He shared just a few passages he was willing to post in screenshot format. In his twitter thread (available below in readable paragraphs, or you can go to his twitter page linked behind the cut), Olson points out the racist presumptions of screenwriter Justin Marks, who envisions the society of Wander, Emon and Mono, driven by the economy of human and animal slavery. On top of that, their homeland is described in ways comparable to the X-Men’s Savage Land.

Wander is a slave with all the spirit and short temper of a [bad] YA protagonist (Olson compares Marks’ take on Wander to Tidus or Vaan of the Final Fantasy series. I don’t see that, but I’m also not in the “Wander’s a teenager” camp either).

Agro, a mean-spirited horse, becomes his companion through their shared experiences as slaves wanting to “run free”. 

Mono is a young and exotic sacrifice girl who speaks broken “Common Tongue” and is “moved” by Wander’s desire to defy fate (after she brings up the subject of sacrifice and the Forbidden Lands). Unfortunately, she is violently abused by a slovenly and drunkard of a father who kills her when he hits her hard enough to break her neck, thus triggering Wander’s journey to the Forbidden Lands. 

Also, Lord Emon is pure evil who tells Wander that he is less than nothing because he’s a slave.

For lack of a better word, Justin Marks, who might’ve had the right idea with attempting to flesh out the world with flashback for the purposes of film, gummed up the works when he envisioned a sparse world, completely uncomplicated by white and xenophobic ideas of foreigners, by otherizing the hell out of it. It’s like reading the Storm flashback segment in the Draft script of Bryan Singer’s X-Men, but worse.

October 2017, Dan Olson also took it upon himself to read the entire script that he happened upon on his Twitch channel. The video is four or so hours long and more than likely an exercise in torture. I have no intentions of watching it, but the video is linked behind the cut with the twitter thread.

All of this came to light through the community for a Lets Play group, Super Best Friends Play (also known as Two Best Friends Play) during their Lets Play of Bluepoint Games’ remake of the 2005 game. Woolie Madden (one of the three active members of SBFP) puts in the effort of reading Olson’s twitter thread during the fifth part of their LP and their Reddit community (also linked below).

Most of the time when things like this come out and it’s not exactly wide-spread, there’s reason to doubt it (and you def. take this with a grain of salt, though old news media rather confirms it indirectly). Yet, If the script discovery has proved anything, it’s that Shadow of the Colossus isn’t a concept that can be tackled without losing or twisting elements of what makes it a compelling game in the first place. And some things, that should have been forgotten were better lost.

Dan Olson reads Shadow of the Colossus (Draft Script)

Summarized by @FoldableHuman (September 2017) | Script Reading Video (Twitch, October 2017)  | SBFP Reddit Thread | SBFP Shadow of the Colossus #5 (Remake)

“Finally reading the Shadow of the Colossus movie script. I'm 30 pages in and I hate it. I hate it so much. I don't have reliable internet, so details will have to wait.But I want you all to know I hate it so, so much. I made it 8 more pages before I had to stop because the hate was coming faster than I could make notes.

Okay, so.

The opening is basically lifted straight from the game's opening cinematic, for example, and the colossi look and feel the same.

But That's About It

Wander gets to the temple, makes contact with Dormin, and we're tossed into ~~FLASHBACK~~ A solid half of the first 38 pages is flashback scenes to life prior to Wander arriving in the Forbidden Land and every single one is awful. This is hard to outline, because there's a lot of competing problems. Let's start with the racism.

[original thread]

There's a lot of this, where the things that are antagonistic are all but described as "exotic AF, like super definitely not-white". Second, you know how the punch of SotC hinges on a sort of moral unknowability? That Shaman Emon is an antagonist, but not villain? Please allow me to introduce you to Lord Emon Ba'ad'gi Putridus the Third.

[original thread]

Wander's speech super bothers me. He's basically a Final Fantasy teenage protag. He talks like Tidus or Vaan. I want to bust his teeth.

[original thread]

Oh there's also wankery going on with languages. Mono's alcoholic pig farmer dad speaks... ugh... "an exotic, completely- unheard-of tongue". o all his stuff is in italics, but Emon speaks "our language" (wording from screenplay) and Mono speaks broken "our language".  This is used for no other purpose than to make dickbag dad completely unsympathetic, and for godawful exchanges like this:

[original thread]

If you haven't picked up on it yet, Mono is every "sexy savage" ever written. Wander, in this script, is an escaped slave who happens into Mono's village and steals Agro from her dad. Agro is a mean horse that her dad apparently keeps for no other reason than to abuse. But Wander tames him b/c they're both escaped slaves.

[original thread]

Here's where I originally stopped to say "I hate this so much" (She has just explained the basics of her faith's afterlife):

[original thread]

Alright, not to drag this on toooo long (I need to get to bed) I'll finish strong. In the game it's implied that Mono's death is institutional in some way, that she's maybe even a sacrifice. It pits Wander against things that are bigger and older than himself: tradition, the hierarchy, the colossi, Dormin. Wander's actions in assaulting/aiding these Bigger Things have consequences that he *clearly* doesn't fully appreciate. 

And those consequences are meant to be ambiguous b/c we're meant to consider them on a time scale of eons. This is supposed to be deliberately contrasted against Wander's very *now* teenage concern of "hot girl is dead but I want living girl 😢". 

Screenplay Mono gets Million Dollar Baby'd by her daydrunk dad.

[original thread]

Goodnight.”

[starwarslegacies]

Survey Says Part II

               Survey Says, Part II            

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been trying to get people to fill out a survey which I do 1-3 times a year, these often do have impact in choosing how the sim moves forward.  Last segment covered the first couple of questions now moving on to the next few which involve the Chimera system.

Question 3 was; Our combat system (CHIMERA) is still considered beta as it's often tweaking for balance as well as adding new features. How do you like the combat system OVERALL?

As you can see 80.5% seem to have a favorable view on how the actual combat works, while 12.2% dislike it, 4.9% hate it, and 2.4%indifferent or unsure.  Meaning 17.1% had a negative view.  These numbers are fairly similar to prior surveys on our last combat system.  In Sept 2014 SWT was seen as 85% favorable, 6% negative, 9% unsure/indifferent. In Feb of 2015 SWT was seen with 84% favorable, 14% unsure/indifferent and just 2% negative. Then in Nov 2015 SWT was given 71% favorable, 11% negative, 18% indifferent/unsure.  In May of 2017 it seemed to poll worse than it did in prior years with 61% positive, 18% negative and 21% neutral/don’t know.   I seem to be missing the 2016 results.  I am curious to hear from those who had negative feedback on what parts of it they dislike.

Question 4 asked; One feature of it is an economy that what you and other players do can effect. How do you feel about this feature?

Fairly mixed reviews, though not to many flat out negative.  It’s one of the features that I’d still consider very beta as we try to tweak things and make gradual improvements.

Question 5 asked; Another feature is crafting, crafting is still fairly "alpha" but what is your current view on it?

Can certainly understand the “unsure” here.  I’ve been asking for some time for more documentation on it.  Though from the time this survey went out I have noticed an increase in people participating in it.  One of the nice things is it’s an optional feature, it’s absolutely not needed to be used in order to play here.

Question 6 asked; Any suggestions for changes to Progression as we've been seeking a better way to do that?

I’ll list some of the responses without naming names...

“Characters who play non-combative/non-confrontational characters [as are necessary to keep things varied and interesting] should have more opportunities to participate in events, as they tend to fall behind everyone else in Progression who have point-and-shoot events geared towards their needs. The rest of the players who don't play active fighters are left to stand around on sim for points, or hope they get a recommendation from another player. “

More none-combative events are definitely a possibility,  we are very open to player ideas and giving players chances to run events.

“I liked the rec system, though I do think there should be boosts made available to faction leads and their officers, given the status/power of whatever faction is being considered. “

This is also something that has been discussed, having status play more of a role in things.  The downside with that is that people can often feel friends of a group lead are promoted without merit.

“ Incorporate a "clock-in" prim or item for business factions which would indicate when they are actively performing their job. This prim could time-out for the individual at about 5 hours a day or when the player leaves the sim. This could be used to determine pay for business employees via the system; using a set pay rate dependent on the employee's title within the faction, or a set *stipend* rate payable to players by the sim since payment based on item sales is an inefficient system.

Secondarily, presence on the sim could be the most fair way to offer progression points. It has worked in other sims and though it can encourage camping, that could also drive up traffic. Offer a 0.1 point for every 2 hours a player is on sim, meaning they would need to be on sim for 20 hours in order to receive 1 point. Likewise this could also be tied in to a "stipend" system, offering players perhaps 400 Credits for every 20 hours they are on sim. In order to balance out the economy, one could incorporate randomly rezzed "muggers" around the sim that appear in a similar manner to the trash system. If one is targeted by a mugger, they have to engage in a series of rolls to either escape or fight off the mugger. If they lose, then they also lose their money. “

I love the mugger idea.  It may be something we’ll look into when Renward has more time which likely won’t be for awhile. :(  Unless we do this with staff and some kind of random roll to determine whose targeted, def has potential.

“ Make it easier for newer players to level up in the system. “

I feel it’s pretty easy as it is, a very active player can hit the first tier after a couple months, if more casual maybe three.

“ Well , in certain groups , people mostly waiting and waiting to be a part of group such as jedi. In this circumstances , It is really hard to enjoy the game for example , i have to work as a [redcated to preserve identity] until the jedi group solves it's problem and then they will have time to find me ... You can prepare tasks for force users , if you ask to me .. So people wont have to wait inactive jedis to come and make them jedi... “

Jedi are one of the groups we’ll be looking more at for chapter 2 as to how to increase people’s ability to progress/join.  Chapter 2 is pretty much much 2BBY as that’s when the “War” pretty much starts.  We’re in 3BBY right now for reference.

----------------------------

That’s it for part 2, hope to get to part 3 soon but as per usual I’m buried in work.  Don’t be too shocked to see more staff changes soon as I need some people to really step up. 

[footyplusau]

Midweek Fantasy stocktake: round ten

THERE have been plenty of surprises in AFL Fantasy this year, but few have been bigger than Ben McEvoy’s emergence as a genuine ruck option.

The big Hawk seems to be thriving on the added responsibility thrust on his shoulders with Jon Ceglar being out for the season and Ty Vickery struggling to find his feet in brown and gold. 

McEvoy (RUC, $559,000) is averaging 97.4 points per game this year, a number he’s never got close to before, save for his 2011 season for the Saints when he tallied an average of 90.5 through 21 games.

Usually, McEvoy has shared the ruck load with either Ceglar or, prior to that, David Hale during the Hawks’ era of glory.

However, in a patchy 2017 for Alastair Clarkson’s team, McEvoy would right now be in the conversation for second place in the best and fairest, behind teammate and freshly anointed Fantasy Pig Tom Mitchell (MID, $723,000).

Apart from Toby Nankervis (RUC/FWD, $502,000), McEvoy’s name stands out among the nine ruckman in Fantasy this year to average more than 90. One of those, Tom Bellchambers (RUC, $354,000), has played just one game and is out of favour at Essendon, although he could return to face the Tigers on Saturday.

Otherwise, it’s the usual suspects – Stef Martin, Brodie Grundy, Sam Jacobs, Todd Goldstein etc. who are the default options for your two on-field ruck slots. They’re the dependable scorers who rarely miss a game.

But you could do worse, at least until Max Gawn returns next month, than to consider Big Ben for a spell in the engine room.

Note: With the Thursday night clash between Geelong and Port Adelaide, Cats and Power players will be locked into your side at 7.20pm AEST that evening. All other players will be available to trade in and out until 7.50pm AEST on Friday when the Swans and Hawks face off. 

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Top five price rises

Nic Newman, Sydney (DEF, $413,000): +$53,000 Michael Walters, Fremantle (FWD, $426,000): +$44,000 Tom Boyd, Western Bulldogs (RUC/FWD, $366,000): +$40,000 Dan Hannebery, Sydney (MID, $591,000): +$37,000 Connor Blakely, Fremantle (MID, $491,000): +$37,000

Top five price falls

Jack Newnes, St Kilda (MID, $503,000): -$36,000 Kurt Tippett, Sydney (RUC, $378,000): -$35,000 Claye Beams, Brisbane Lions (DEF, $316,000): -$35,000 Anthony Miles, Richmond (MID, $477,000): -$34,000 Rory Sloane, Adelaide (MID, $627,000): -$33,000

Get ’em in

Hugh Greenwood, Adelaide (MID/FWD, $180,000): Nothing says money-maker like a three-goal, 93-point debut. His spot could well be safe until after the round 13 bye.

Scott Selwood, Geelong (MID, $402,000): A useful mid-priced option if you only have $400,000 to play with. His 119 against the Dogs last week was a real shot in the arm for long-time Selwood watchers.

Travis Boak, Port Adelaide ($521,000): His bye is done and dusted and the Port skipper averages 123 at Simonds Stadium where he’ll play this Thursday. Consider. 

Bye for now

Jack Newnes, St Kilda (MID, $503,000): A durable (if patchy scoring) Fantasy player, Newnes is in doubt this week after a hit from Callum Mills and his breakeven is a prohibitive 142. 

Christian Salem, Melbourne (DEF, $451,000): Copped a one-match ban from the MRP this week and can thus be ruled out until after the Demons’ round 11 bye. 

Jack Watts, Melbourne (FWD, $434,000): Struggling to bring home the big scores as his team struggles for consistency. Hard to see him reaching his breakeven of 120 up in Alice Springs this week.

The post Midweek Fantasy stocktake: round ten appeared first on Footy Plus.

from Footy Plus http://ift.tt/2rQgtd5 via http://footyplus.net

[crystalelemental]

Ten Months Later - Special Costumes (PokeWars)

It’s not quite a full year, but I figured I’d present this now since their rerun is occurring.  Special Costumes were this weird thing that DeNA introduced as “unique outfits that aren’t sygna suits,” but apparently didn’t qualify as seasonals either, and were just some kinda thing?  Which I guess now we know meant “We can rerun them whenever we want rather than a strict once yearly schedule.”  Neato.  But ten months later, how are these old Special Costume units?  Are they still worth getting, or has time and powercreep taken a bat to their utility?

Knight Diantha I just want to say Knight Diantha is the sickest design.  I’m sorry, if you don’t think this is cool, get out of here.  I know everyone’s like “Oh but Hilda should be the knight and Diantha the princess,” and I know over two thirds of Reddit users who play this game don’t read the story, but one of the like three lines Diantha gets in XY is about how she doesn’t want to play the same roles forever and this feels very much like a subversion of expectation for her role and it’s great so shut up.

ANYWAY.

Knight Diantha dropped as one of the best units in the game.  There is no embellishment needed on this, she was that good.  Only three months prior, we had gotten Lear, a unit who redefined sync nuking with one of the best in the business.  Knight Diantha kept up with that, but notably, didn’t have a field multiplier to do it.  She just...did that.  On her own merits.  And while Lear has accelerated access to sync nuke and Snatch, Diantha had Defense, Mind, and Speed Leech, for a -1 to foe’s Def/Sp Def/Speed every hit she landed, and a +1 to those stats for herself.  Oh, and in case you thought her move damage might be bad, her moves were Aura Sphere, undervalued utility at the time, and Secret Sword, which is a full power 4-bar move that also worked off foe’s defense, which meant Diantha could benefit from the far more prevalent physical debuffs in the meta.  Diantha was, for the longest time, the best Fighting-type damage, both as a sync nuke and as raw DPS.

“Yeah, but time must have made her a little worse, right?”  Wrong.  She’s still top sync.  Even more ridiculous now, in some ways.  While her DPS isn’t #1 anymore, it’s so close to the new top performer it may as well be a tie.  Diantha has not missed a beat.

In the old CS meta, Diantha was a nightmare.  Overwhelming sync, combined with high DPS, meant she could one-shot center and then one-shot sides no problem.  The transition to 10k slowed her down, but barely.  Now she had to perform a denial on the side to pull off a clean win.  How terrible.  It’s also worth noting that through all of this, she was a fantastic gauge generator, and bulky enough to take the AoE attacks from sides.  To say nothing of how simple her support needs were.  You know who salvages every stat boost she needs?  Roxanne.  That’s your big need.

And if you can believe it, that’s her weaker mode.  Gauntlet meta was the ideal for Tech nukes like her.  Diantha went from being powerful in CS and needing for very little, to having a mode where power was even lower, and her role as a Tech meant she could delete entire HP bars, bypassing entire phases of any fight, so long as gimmicks were checked.  And in one notable case with Latias, she checked her own box.  Aura Sphere wouldn’t miss.  Against Latias, that effectively meant performing as a -4 total debuff per attack, which is devastating.  Cresselia was slightly more threatening, but just as capable of being stopped, considering her Gradual Healing effect, and the fact a sync nuke in bars 2 and 3 was an instant kill.

Little changed for Diantha in all this time.  She came into the meta a champion, and she remained a champion.  Until this very month, with the inclusion of Aura Cynthia.  Many disparaged Cynthia for not allowing allies to hit sync nuke, but what did Diantha care about that?  She was already hitting damage cap.  All that changed was now her DPS went through the roof, hitting harder than some units’ sync nukes.  Diantha is just, legitimately, that good.  Her flaws are really just that the debuffing/buffing is kinda slow, but even mild support gets her multipliers firing away and she’s just borderline unstoppable.  Diantha remains ridiculous, and while she’s only gained one tool, it’s basically the only tool she even needed in the first place.

Princess Hilda One of the Big Three for Rock-type damage, Princess Hilda is my personal favorite of the bunch.  This is because she has Diancia, one of my favorite Pokemon.  So naturally, there is some bias here.

Hilda’s advantage over her competitors is staying power.  +2 defense every attack is huge, and really makes her stand out as a tanky offensive unit.  Her other advantage is Fuel Economy upon mega evolving, turning her four-gauge move into three-gauge, with no damage penalty.  This is huge for gauge control, considering her trainer move’s inherent +2, and was something she had over her competition.  Her drawbacks are that she’s ultimately weaker than both, and has notably worse setup.  Emmet and Classic Blue can self-setup immaculately, while Hilda’s entirely reliant on attack boosts, and ideally speed boosts, to manage her needs.  So she needs Halloween Caitlin, I’m just saying, score another for my girl.

Of the three, I am most drawn to Hilda, personally.  I think the Gauntlet meta favors her, generally speaking.  Blue is incredibly frail, and Emmet is dependent on Sandstorm to keep up DPS.  With AoE attacks and the longer duration of matches, neither of them took as well to Gauntlet as they had to CS.  Hilda went from being considered by some the weakest option overall in CS due to spread damage after already being functionally weaker, to having a much more demanded role in Gauntlet as a tanky offensive unit that can survive some shots, and wasn’t reliant on anything else beyond her immediate stat needs.

As for general meta trends...oddly enough, nothing has changed.  Hilda has remained exactly as she was, and there hasn’t been much in the way of new tools that support her.  I’m kinda surprised by this, but I guess we’re really just waiting on Rock Zone.  Which, just saying, if they want to give me Lusamine and Nihilego with Meteor Beam and Rock Zone, I’m sure not saying no.

Samurai Guzma The only one of these I didn’t have until this month.  It’s hard to talk functionally about Guzma, but conceptually, he’s not too tough to understand.  He’s the worst of the four.  This is largely because they gave him the single funniest gimmick in history.  Guzma wants to miss Dynamicpunch.  Every time he misses, he gains three stacks of the then new Physical Moves Up Next condition, which was a 120% multiplier to his next move’s damage.  This stacked until something hit, or he reached ten stacks.  The problem with this was that ultimately, you did 0 damage one turn for big funny numbers the next, but your per-turn investment was like 10% more damage, no gauge recovery on misses and no animations to fill time, and ill-timed knock-outs that couldn’t be controlled.  It was thus a very sloppy alt, that was hilarious to see in action.  This remains the case, with the only serious change being the new Fighting Zone, which made Dynamicpunch one of the few moves that can actually hit the damage cap.  It also means his Haymaker sync can legitimately threaten, if Zone lasts that long.  There was also Summer Hilda, who gave defensive buffs, defensive debuffs, and some generally nice utility with matched theme skills.  But there’s...really not much to talk about with Guzma.  He is as he’s always been, just funnier now.

Kimono Jasmine I hope we all know why I didn’t go with Princess Jasmine.  I wanted to, but it really wouldn’t work out.

SC Jasmine was slept on.  And this is coming from a unit that was actually appreciated despite her designation as a support.  But even with an understanding of her utility, I think people underestimated it.

At a basic level, SC Jasmine was the first unit to buff special attack and crit for the team.  Granted, you had Falkner, but the buffs were separate, and you had MU Torchic, who couldn’t cap them.  Sabrina could, but only buffed special attack for one target at a time and had to get real lucky beyond that.  SC Jasmine didn’t need any of that.  She was set to go, with perfect game flow.  Trainer Move, Trainer Move, X Regen All, sync, spam Absorb/Flash Cannon.  In those turns leading to sync, you got +5 special attack, +6 special defense, +3 crit, gradual healing for the team, and Endure for the team, alongside double sync buff if she was EX.  Her spamming Absorb meant MGR9 to generate more gauge than was consumed with a 50/50 to lower special defense from Mind Games 4, while Flash Cannon was a guaranteed special defense drop with less gauge control.  To add to it, Jasmine also had built-in Vigilance, to take any lucky skill she wanted, with the notable best being Status Immunity.  Jasmine was an absolute powerhouse of a support, packing great buffs, a nice debuff, gauge control, and versatility thanks to Vigilance.

As a support, Jasmine only gets better the more options are added.  Anything that attacks from the special side of the spectrum appreciates Jasmine, and there are plenty of new options that have cropped up over time.  But what also cropped up was competition, and with nearly a year of powercreep, it’s expected that Jasmine’s competition performed better than her.

Except they didn’t.  One did, but it’s not exactly fair to say you did bad when you’re comparing yourself to the best unit in the game.  But the other two took one aspect of Jasmine and took that to the next level, while dispersing her other skills, effectively making them more efficient in one category while sacrificing other aspects of her utility.  SC Lillie has healing out the wazoo, and similar three-turn setup for buffs, but lacks the debuffs, Safety Net, and versatility provided by Vigilance.  SS Brendan has stronger and more guaranteed debuffs with better gauge control, and better pop healing with Potion, in exchange for much worse setup and lack of intrinsic methods to keep allies alive via passive healing and Safety Net, as well as the whole Vigilance thing.  While Jasmine, like Hilda, comprises a sort of “Big Three” in her niche, I feel that Jasmine still stands out as the best of them.  Her major flaw is being worse off against physical attack in the CS meta, where she can get overrun by powerful attacks.  But in every other category, she mirrors the utility of the other two in smaller ways while providing like three other traits they can’t perform.  I appreciate the breadth of utility over perfect utility in a single aspect, and Jasmine provides a huge range of effects that’s hard to replicate.

Final Thoughts There’s a lot of considerations this month, given how many spotlights are up.  And while the obvious draw will be the Master Fair units, and possibly SC Rosa for some, I think the next best thing after what’s brand new is the SC banner.  All four of these units are good, with Diantha remaining one of the best damage dealers out there, Hilda being one of the best Rock-type damage dealers in her class, and SC Jasmine being an obscenely good support.  I really love these units.  This was such a good event...