#just for the sake of gameplay limitations

[phillipsgraves]

loghain mac tir + words of affirmation

(ambrose is not my hero of ferelden, please don't tag as amell!)

[k1rishiki]

going from "i like ayaka but i'm going to pull for her brother instead bc i already have a cryo sword user + i want to replace my barbara w a 5*" to ayaka's biggest wanter and a ride or die barbara stan who doesn't even use ayato. every day i regret my decisions made during 3.5

[waywardsalt]

ok since tears of the kingdom is coming out like. insanely soon i figured i’ll just dump how i’ve been feeling abt it here. i wont tag for them and i dont intend to share any but because i have been actively seeking out spoilers i will vaguely reference them here so… idk really long musings on this game and my feelings abt it

(im just writing this out mostly for myself since i really kind of just. want to really figure out how i feel about this)

i… am not excited for totk?

i’ve figured out a bit ago that my severely waning interest in botw and general anxiety and discontent surrounding totk is just that… these games arent for me. i dont enjoy open world games with half a million things for you to do like it’s basically a sandbox. i struggle to really enjoy singleplayer minecraft. the space stage in spore gives me genuine anxiety, both when i played it as a kid and again when i reached it as an adult.

botw and totk are not games for me, and that’s cool. i’ve figured that out.

so why am i getting so damn anxious about this new game?

i am getting totk- not entirely of my own volition, i live with someone who is very genuinely excited for it, so it’s pre-ordered digitally on our switch. i am going to play it and complete it at least once.

the gameplay and world of botw never really got to me, and even what snippets of gameplay i see for totk dont really entice me. it just makes me anxious to think about the sheer amount of new stuff i’ll be dropped in the middle of and how i really dont care about this version of link or zelda or anyone else in botw’s hyrule

and some of the story spoiler stuff and general direction this game is going in has me just worried that the zelda series is moving away from what it used to be into an entirely new direction, that being a direction that it seems like i wont enjoy as much as everyone else seems to

so then i guess my main worry outside of totk is that i just end up struggling to really feel connected to the rest of the community about this? being a contrarian is fun until everyone is enjoying something you for some reason can’t get yourself to

i dont have a lot of hope in the story of totk to harken back to… ANYTHING of worth that past games have built up and made to be so important and interesting. hype is a dangerous thing for a not-yet-released game, and while i think the insane amount of speculation and theories and hype around totk will cause a lot of people to be disappointed with the final story, i dunno if i really wouldve liked it even if the story actually piqued my interest

maybe totk’s gameplay will really hook me. maybe i’ll enjoy the massive open world and gmod-ass gimmicks. but what ive seen of the story makes me less interested and the snippets of gameplay i see just make me remember how bored i now am with botw

at the end of the day this is just a video game with tags on this site i can blacklist and videos i can ignore and lore i can brush aside because at this point loz canon is a suggestion more than anything

i just cant shake the discomfort of once again being an outlier as everyone i see loses their mind about this new game while i just feel overwhelmed by it. i have played botw for a long time and have long since worn it out. i played age of calamity to completion and have not touched it or cared for it beyond the music since. i am not excited about totk and i feel like i am in the wrong due to my opinion

[dbssh]

you can tell i think theyre actually interesting tho because i have things to say about them other than heehee cowboy funny evil lady sexy. like woahhhh an overwatch character thats actually a memorable person with interesting traits and lore? that im invested in seeing more of? that feels like there was effort snd creativity put into more than checking boxes on a flowchart? wow...

[utilitycaster]

Daggerheart Character Build thoughts!

I am actually out at work and haven't checked the version that's since come out, but I did participate in the character build beta, and the NDA is officially lifted, so here's my thoughts from that! It's definitely limited since I just made a L1 character and didn't go through gameplay, though I surmise about some aspects of gameplay.

Overall, it clearly seems to be made by people who love a lot of things about D&D 5e but wanted both more flexibility and more simplicity, which is difficult. I think they succeed.

To that end, it takes away some of the crunchier aspects (precise positioning, exact amounts of gold) and I think for some people that will be a problem, and that's valid, but ultimately this game wants to both allow for interesting mechanics in and out of combat while also not being terribly math/map/resource management heavy. It is a hard line to walk; most systems either go hard crunch or go entirely gooey.

The dice mechanic (2d12, Hope and Fear system) is fantastic; look it up but I think it handles mixed successes more gracefully and interestingly than a lot of games.

The playtest was not super clear on armor and evasion choices (or indeed what evasion means; it seems to be sort of initiative but sort of dex save, or maybe more like the Pathfinder/old school D&D varying ACs by scenario?). It was much, MUCH clearer than D&D on weapon choices (part of why I play casters? Weapon rules in D&D are annoying and poorly explained and many people rightfully ignore them) so I'm hoping this becomes clear when there's a full guide rather than just the character creation info.

The character creation questions by class were fantastic and in general, and this is a theme, this feels like it guides people towards collaboration. FWIW I feel like D&D has that information, but the way it's presented is very much as flavor text rather than a thing you should be doing. Daggerheart makes this a much more core part of creation. The Experience mechanic is particularly clear: you better be working with your GM and really thinking about background, rather than slapping it on as a mechanic.

The other side of character creation questions is that it really encourages engagement with the class, which is something I've talked about. I think either subversion for the sake of subversion, or picking a class for the mechanics and aesthetic but not the fundamental concept, will be much harder to justify in Daggerheart, and I think that's a good thing because when people do that, their characters tend to be weaker.

The downtime is designed for you to write hurt/comfort fanfic about and this is a compliment. There are a number of mechanics that reward RP, particularly one of the healing mechanics under the Splendor track. I feel like a weakness of D&D is that when you try to reward RP it's really nebulous because there's not actually a ton of space to put that - you can give inspiration, but, for example, the empathy domain Matt homebrewed actually feels kind of off because it's based on such fuzzy concepts amid mechanics that are usually more rigid. Daggerheart comes off as much cleaner yet still RP-focused, and I'm excited to see it in action.

A judgement of Candela and I suppose Daggerheart might be that it's designed for actual play. I've mentioned before that I know people who are super into the crunch and combat and numbers of TTRPGs and are less story-oriented, and again, that's valid, but actual play is just storytelling using a ttrpg and so yes, a game that encourages RP while also having mechanics to support that and influence it is an extremely good goal. I am not an actual player, but I do like D&D games with a good plot and not just Go Kill Monsters, and I want to play this. (I also have some real salty thoughts about how if you modify an existing game for AP purposes that's staggering genius apparently, but if you make your own game how dare you but that's another post).

And now, the classes/subclasses. I am going to sort of use D&D language to describe them because that's a point of reference most people reading this will understand, but they are not one-to-one. A couple notes: everyone can use weapons and armor. HP is not totally clear to me but it seems to be threshold based - everyone has the same HP to start but people have different thresholds and armor, so the tank classes have the same amount of HP but are much harder to actually do damage to.

All classes are built on a combination of a subclass and two domains. There are 9 classes and 9 domains. This technically means that if you wanted to fuck around and homebrew you could make up to 36 classes (27 additional) by just grabbing two domains that weren't otherwise combined, which is fun to consider for the potential. Anyway I cover the classes and briefly describe domains within them. You can take any domain card within your domain, regardless of subclass.

There are six stats. Presence, Instinct, Knowledge, and Strength map roughly to Charisma, Wisdom, Intelligence, and Strength. Dex is split into Agility and Finesse; Agility covers gross motor skills (jumping, most ranged weapons, "maneuvering") and Finesse finer ones (lockpicking and tinkering, though also it does cover hiding). The really big wins are first, no CON score, so you don't need to sink stat points into something that grants no skills but keeps you alive. The second one is that the "hybrid" classes spellcast from their physical stat. This is fucking fantastic. The thing about ranger or paladin or the spellcasting subclasses of rogue and fighter in D&D is that if you don't roll pretty well you're locked into the core stats and CON and nothing else. (This also doesn't have rolling for stats: you assign +2 to one stat, presumably your main, and then distribute two +1s, two 0s, and one -1.)

Your HP, Evasion, and Thresholds are set by class, and there's a core ability; the rest is all from the cards you take for subclass and domain.

Leveling up is very much based on taking more domain cards (abilities) but has a certain degree of flexibility. It's by chunks: in leveling up anywhere levels 2-4, you can, for example, increase your proficiency by +1 once, so if you wanted to do that at level 2 but your fellow player wanted to wait until level 4 and take something else at level 2 instead, they could. It allows for more min-maxing, but also everyone has the same level up rules and differs only in the abilities on the cards, which is very cool.

Bard: Grace (enchantment spells) and Codex (learned spellcaster stuff; the spells available are definitely arcane in vibes) based, Presence is your main stat. The two subclasses map roughly to lore-style stuff and eloquence. Core class ability is sort of like inspiration but not entirely. It's a bard; I like bards a lot, and this is very similar vibes-wise to your D&D bards. If you like D&D bards you will like this.

Druid: Sage (nature spells) and Arcana (raw magical power spellcaster stuff), Instinct is your spellcasting/main stat. The two subclasses are elemental but frankly cooler than circle of the moon, and a more healing/tranquility of nature focused one. I really think Marisha probably gave feedback on this one, because the elemental version is really strong. You do get beastform; it is quite similar to a D&D druid under a different system, as the bard, but the beastform options are, frankly, better and easier to understand.

Guardian: Valor (melee tank/damager) and Blade (damage). Strength based for the most part (Valor mechanics assume strength) though you could go for like, +2 Agility +1 Strength to start. This is barbarian but like. 20 times better. It is, fundamentally, a tank class, and it is very good at it, with one even more tank-focused subclass and one that is more about retaliatory damage. You do have a damage-halving ability once per day, but really guardian's questions are incredible. I think Travis and Ashley likely gave feedback. Also rage doesn't render you incapable of concentration as that doesn't seem to be a thing, so multiclassing seems way more possible (you are, I think, only allowed to do one multiclass, and not until you reach level 5 minimum, which I am in favor of). Yes, you can be a Bardian.

Ranger: This is what I built! It is based on Sage and Bone (movement around the field/dodging stuff) and it is Agility-based, including for spellcasting, which is a MASSIVE help (as is, again, the fact that CON isn't a thing.) The subclasses are basically being really good at navigation, or animal companion. Most importantly to me you can be a ranger with a longsword and you are not penalized; Bone works with either ranged weapons or melee.

Rogue: Midnight (stealth/disguise/assassination spells and skills) and Grace-based. Yes, rogue is by default a spellcaster, which does help a LOT with the vibes for me. One subclass is basically about having lots of connections (as a spy or criminal might) and the other is about magical slinking about. Hiding/sneak attack are also streamlined. I will admit I'm still more interested in…almost everything else, but I think it evened out a lot of rogue weaknesses.

Seraph: Splendor (healing/divine magic) and Valor. This is your Paladin equivalent. It is strength-based for casting, again making hybrid classes way less stressful. Questions for this area also incredible; you do have something not unlike a lay on hands pool as well. Your subclasses are being able to fly and do extra damage; or being able to make your melee weapon do ranged attacks and also some extra healing stuff, the latter of which is my favorite. Yasha vibes from this, honestly. Single downside is this is the only class where they recommend you dump Knowledge. I will not, and I never will. Now that I don't have to make sure CON is high? I am for REAL never giving myself less than a +1 Knowledge in this game.

Sorcerer: Arcana (raw nature of magic/elemental vibes) and Midnight based. Yes, sorcerers and rogues now share a vibe, for your convenient….less enthused feelings. Instinct-based, which intrigues me, and the core features are in fact really good. The two subclasses are either one that focuses on metamagic abilities, or one that is elemental based. I would play this for a long-running game, though it's not my favorite, and I can't say that for D&D sorcerer (except divine soul).

Warrior: Blade and Bone, and the recommended build is Agility but you could do a strength build. Fighter! One subclass is about doing damage and one is about the hope/fear mechanics core to the game that I have NOT talked much about. I will admit, the hybrid martials and Guardian are more interesting to me but you do have good battle knowledge.

Wizard: Codex and Splendor. Wizards can heal in this system; farewell, I will be doing nothing else (jk). Knowledge-based, and you can either go hardcore expertise in knowledge, or be a battle wizard.

Other scattered thoughts: healing is not as big a deal here; there is no pure cleric class! There is also no monk, warlock, or artificer. There is not a way to do monk as a weaponless class really though you might be able to flavor the glowing rings as a monk weapon and play a warrior. Wizard, meanwhile, with the right experiences and high finesse, would allow for some artificer flavor. Cleric and Warlock are the two tough ones and I will admit those are tricky; I feel like you'd have to multiclass (which you cannot do until level 5) between perhaps seraph and a caster class and you're still going to come off very paladin.

[rassicas]

If a future Splatoon game absolutely HAD to add another playable species (even though it's really not all that necessary) which would you like to see most?

a new species would have to be... -capable of naturally producing ink. weve seen some other species capable of producing "ink" (salmonids, i dont think its literally squid ink but its functionally the same. big man can, but its his toxins and implied to be a special ability for his family and not something rays can normally do. idk what the deal is with master mega and the eels) -have thin skin that lets them shapeshift between 2 forms. we see salmonids and big man dive in ink, and sheldon can hide in his shell but this inky transformation is exclusive to inklings and octolings so far, as they have evolved to be ink based, and have thin skin that allows for this transformation. the evolutionary trade off to this is that they can't go in water because of this thin skin. this is why shapeshifting salmonlings literally cannot exist btw -capable of respawning. splatoon team has been consistent about this being something ONLY the ink-based inklings and octolings can do. when big man and the smallfry "die" they do not explode nor do we see a ghost (in contrast, frye and shiver do die and respawn) . it seems that being truly ink based is what allows for respawning.

-would have to have the same abilities as octolings and inklings, and basically be a reskin of them for the sake of gear. in-universe other species CAN play turf war or ranked, but considering respawning is something limited to inkfish, other species cannot inkily transform, and are fine with water, i'm sure theres some modifications to the rules. like this is fine in-universe, but to splatoon as a game? this sounds like a nightmare. especially if this new species has different abilities than the inklings and octolings? if species choice is no longer fun and cosmetic, but something to consider for meta, thats horrible! btw they wouldnt even put the suckers on the topside of the tentacles for the octolings in swim form despite it being like that in concept art, and it being inconsistent with the humanoid forms. also the tentacle lengths are inconsistent with the enemy octolings. im convinced they made these choices so the swim form wouldnt stand out too strongly against the inklings. so in what universe would we get something like. a playable fishling. lol taking established lore into account as well as gameplay, cuttlefish, another ink-producing cephalopod, are quite literally the only new species id be ok with. keyword "ok with" i dont want a new playable, i just want more customization options for the guys we have

[dailyadventureprompts]

Homebrew Mechanic: Fixing D&D’s Gameplay Loop with Item Degradation

Normally I have snappy titles for these, but in this case I wanted to be super upfront with what I was getting you all into. 

Some people are not going to like the idea of introducing item degradation into the game, and they’re ABSOLUTELY right to be hesitant. Just about every attempt I’ve seen (includig both RAW versions from previous editions, examples from videogames, and those I’ve put together myself in the past) have been horribly clunky exercises in beancounting that only ever existed to needlessly slow down gameplay for the sake of joyless realism. 

I’ve come at it from another angle however, but to explain we’re going to need to get into some game design talk. 

The basic gameplay loop of D&D is supposed to be: 

Seeking adventure leads you to face challenges

Overcoming challenges leads you to rewards

Rewards Help you get stronger 

Getting stronger allows you to seek tougher adventures

After a while this system starts to break down specifically with regards to gold as a method of reward. Even if you’re the smart sort of DM who flouts the rules and gives their party access to a magic item shop, there’s an increasingly limited number of things to spend gold on, leading to parties acquiring sizable hordes of riches early on in their adventuring career, completely eliminating the desire to accept quests that pay out in gold in one form or another. This is a pretty significant flaw because adventures that centre around acquisition of riches ( treasure hunts, bounty missions, busywork for rich patrons that will inevitably betray you) are foundational to storytelling within the game, especially early on in a campaign before the party has gotten emotionally invested.  Most advice you can find online attempting  to solve this problem tends to dissolve down to “let them pour money into a home base”,  but that can only really happen once per campaign as a party is unlikely to want more than one secret clubhouse. 

TLDR:  What I propose is the implantation of a lightweight system that forces the party to periodically drop small amounts of wealth into maintaining their weapons/armour/foci. The players will be motivated to seek out gold in order to keep using their best stuff,  giving value to treasure drops that previously lacked it.  Not only does this system act as an insulation against powercreep at higher levels, it also encourages a party to engage with the world as they seek out workshops and crafters capable of repairing their gear. 

The System: 

Weapons, armour, shields, and caster foci (staves, holy symbols etc) can accumulate “ticks” of damage, represented by a dot or X drawn next to their item entry on the character sheet. Because you get better at handling your gear as you level up, an item that exceeds a total number of ticks equal to its bearer’s proficiency bonus breaks, and is considered unusable until it is repaired. 

Weapons and Foci gain a tick of damage when you roll a natural 1 on an attack made with them, or if they are specifically targeted by an enemy’s attack.

Armour and shields gain a tick of damage when you roll a nat 1 on a saving throw or when an enemy beats your ac by 5 or more. A character equipped with both can decide which of the two items receives the tick

Creatures with the “siege” (or any “does double damage to objects” ability) deal an extra tick when attacking gear. 

A character with a crafting proficiency  and access to tools can repair a number of ticks of damage equal to their proficiency on a four hour work period. This rate is doubled if they have access to a properly equipped workshop.  A character with access to the mending cantrip can repair ticks on any kind of item, but is limited to their proficiency bonus per work period.  

Having an item repaired by an NPC crafter removes all ticks, but costs vary depending on the rarity of the item:    5g for a mundane item, 10g for a common item, 50g for uncommon, 250 for a rare, 1250 for a very rare, 6250 for a legendary.  The DM decides the limit on what each crafter can repair, as it’s likely small towns have access to artisans of only common or uncommon skill, requiring the party to venture to new lands or even across planes if they wish to repair end game gear.

As you can see, degradation in this system is easy to keep track of and quite gradual, leading players into a position where they can ignore obvious damage to their kit for the sake of saving their now precious gold.  It likewise encourages them to seek out NPC crafters (and potential questhooks) for skills they do not possess, and encourages the use of secondary weapons either as backups or to save the more potent items in the arsenal for a real challenge. 

Consumables

Everyone knows the old joke about players hoarding consumables from the first adventure past the final bossfight, it transcends genre and platform, and speaks to a nature of loss aversion within our shared humanity.  However, giving players items they’re never going to use amounts to wasted time, resources, and potential when looking at things from a game design perspective, so lets work on fixing that. 

My inspiration came from witcher 3, which encourages players to make frequent use of consumables by refreshing them whenever the character had downtime. The darksouls series has a similar feature with the signature estus flask, which provides a limited number of heals before it must be refreshed at one of the game’s checkpoints.  When the designers removed the risk of permanent loss and the anxiety it creatures, players were able to think tactically about the use of their consumables confident in the knowledge that any mistakes were just a resupply away from being fixed.  

My proposal is that while the party is in town they can refill the majority of their consumable items for a small per item fee. Just like with gear degradation, this encourages them to seek out crafters and do quests for the hope of discounts, while at the same time encouraging them to explore new realms in the hope of discovering higher level artisans. 

The price for refills is set at: 5g for common, 25g for an uncommon, 125g for a rare, 625g for a very rare, 3125g for  legendary.  I encourage my own players to keep a  “shopping list” in their inventory with prices tabulated so they can hand out a lump sum of gold and have their kit entirely refreshed. 

Characters with a relevant skill and access to their tools can refill a number of items equal to their proficiency bonus during a four hour work period. With access to a proper workshop, this rate doubles.   ( At last, proficiency with brewers supplies, carpenters tools etc become useful) 

I encourage you as a DM to check out this potion flasks system, which I’ve found adds a delicious factor of uncertainty back into the mix.  Attached is also my super lightweight rules for tracking gear and supplies, which I absolutely refuse to shut up about.

Artist

[inbarfink]

One of the major themes of ‘Ace Attorney’ has always been trust, obviously. Like, this is the most important creed that Mia Fey passed down to Phoenix and from there to anyone he has touched.

As well as just generally being one of Phoenix’s most important positive qualities.

The entire arc of the first game hinges on the idea of the Power of Trust, with it being a core pillar of Phoenix's relationships with both Miles and Maya.

And even the main gameplay themes of ‘turnabout’ and ‘turning your thinking around’ are linked to this theme of Trust. The whole idea around the narrative of a ‘turnabout’ is that the Defendant seems obviously totally guilty, but the defense attorney proves them innocent by Trusting in their innocence. 

And ‘turning your thinking around’ is generally framed as - rather than the general mystery-solver mindset of trying to deduce what has happened from the evidence given - trusting in your client’s innocence and looking for evidence that should be there if they are innocent/that other person is the culprit. Using the Trust in the client as the foundation to build your logic from.

And being such a core theme of the franchise, the games started reiterating on and deconstructing it almost immediately. “Farewell, My Turnabout'' having a Guilty Client feels like the most obvious example, maybe. But actually the game starts casting suspicions on Engarde pretty early on, and most of the emotional turmoil related to him is more of the, like “will Phoenix sacrifice the truth for Maya’s sake” hostage situation stuff. 

I think the more important stuff in that case is more about the Phoenix-Edgeworth drama. How Phoenix’ sense of trust, which seems like such an unwavering and unbreakable virtue in the first game, does actually have limits. Phoenix feels that Miles has betrayed his trust by, y’know, running off to Europe and making him think he was dead - and it takes him time to learn how to regain this sense of trust in him.

Meanwhile, Matt Engarde, he considers himself strong because he trusts in no one. In contrast to Adrian, who both he and she herself see as ‘weak’ because of her tendency to blindly trust the person she is dependent on. But at the end, it’s Matt’s distrust in everyone around him that brings on his own downfall. 

And the game after that adds in Dahlia Hawthorne who is, as Mia Fey’s nemesis, a sort of representation of the dangers of trust. A character who uses and manipulates those who put their trust in her.

“Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney” establishes its more cynical and deconstructivist tone compared to the original trilogy in part by always putting some sort of element of distrust between the Lawyer and the Defendant. With Apollo basically unable to really have a decent conversation with any of his clients, many of them being antagonistic towards him or hiding things from him. Phoenix Wright was basically the only defendant Apollo went into court actually 100% putting his trust in him… and we all know how that worked out.

And this moment is especially effective because… if you’re playing this game unspoiled after finishing the Phoenix Wright Trilogy, you probably trust Phoenix as well! The emotions Apollo feels as he sees who Phoenix had become are meant to mirror the emotions the Player probably feels at this very moment. And the hints and questions about what Phoenix did in the trial seven years ago are a challenge to the trust of both Apollo and the Player. Both of them are stuck between what they knew of Phoenix before and the revelation of what Phoenix confessed to in “Turnabout Trump”. Apollo’s uncertainty is the player’s uncertainty as well. 

And even if Apollo’s image of Phoenix is somewhat improved by “Turnabout Successions” and it’s clearly established that, no, Phoenix never knowingly used forged evidence as an attorney… There’s no big reconciliation that fixes everything like with Phoenix and Miles. It’s clear that Apollo’s sense of trust, in Phoenix Wright and in general, never quite recovered from the events of AJAA. Later games do still reiterate that he’s a lot more distrustful than other playable attorneys.

(And that’s also a point where the Player-Player Character Synergy from ‘Turnabout Trump’ kinda diverges, since I think most Players do regain their trust in Phoenix by the end of AA4 at least. Especially as unlike Apollo, we actually got to be inside his head again - that’s not exactly an experience Apollo will ever get to have. )

But, well, maybe it’s because it’s just really fresh in my mind, but I just think what ‘The Great Ace Attorney’ Duology does with this theme is just… really cool!

These games really play on the idea of challenging the trust… not just of the Player Character Ryunosuke, but also of the Player themselves. Because Ryunosuke also gets to have a Guilty Client… as his very-first actual client who is not himself. And since the game doesn’t lay on the suspicion quite as thick as with Matt Engarde, and since there’s no hostage situation of course… This plotline can have emotional synergy between the Player and the Player Character and focus a lot more about the emotional repercussion of putting your trust in someone totally absolutely unworthy of trust. 

And how this betrayal of trust haunts the characters moving forwards. How Ryunosuke now finds himself being held back by his doubts due to the memories of this terrible trial, and... not necessarily a lack of trust in others as much as a lack of trust in himself. How Susato is driven to do something she considers unforgivable - tempering with the Crime Scene behind the police’s back - because that trial had made her lose trust in the entire British Justice System.

The entire climax of the first game is thus a reaffirmation of the power of trust. By unwaveringly defending Gina - a girl they have bonded with, but has also been extremely uncooperative, shady, dishonest and literally involved in what went down in the McGilded Trial, in a very grueling and seemingly unbeatable trial  - Ryunosuke and Susato rediscover their ability to trust their defendant. Because, yeah, trust is a leap of faith - you never know when you’re gonna meet a McGilded or a Dahlia Hawthorne - but it’s also absolutely worth it.

And then with the themes of conspiracy strawn throughout the games and especially ramping up in the second game, that’s really kinda a thing that’s bound to sow seeds of paranoia and distrust in the Players about… all sorts of characters. Like, okay, I am fairly sure that pretty much every player who first walked into the Lord Chief Justice’s office and saw Mael Stronghart was like “Oh look! That’s the Final Boss!”. But with the hints for there being some sort of web of intrigue being hidden in the shadows, there’s plenty of other characters that skirt the line between feeling suspicious and trustworthy. The reveal that Seishiro Jigoku is actually a culprit was one of the best-done reveals in the whole franchise. And on the other hand, there are many reasons to be suspicious of Yujin due to the amount of secrets he clearly keeps, and yet he turns out to be a very straightforwardly heroic character. 

And then there’s Kazuma. And Mael Stronghart might be the Obvious Final Boss to the Conspiracy and Murder Mystery parts of the game, but within this thematic throughline of the challenges of trust, Kazuma is pretty much that part’s Final Boss. 

Initially designed to be someone both the characters and the players intently trust, both in terms of the meta-perspective of how he’s set up to be a kinda Mia-Miles hybrid and any Player with knowledge of the previous games will know that’s a kind of person you can rely on. And in general, even to newcomers, everything he says and does in the first two chapters of the game make him feel like just a very upstanding guy you can trust.

Then, when he comes back in the second games, he comes back with a new attitude that feels colder towards Ryunosuke (and thus the Player) and that’s also coupled with a whole bunch of mysteries about him that were hinted in the previous game, but are now coming to the forefront. 

And as the Trial of Barok Van Zieks progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that Karuma has, theoretically, all the possible motivation to kill Greyson and frame Barok for it, that he was one of the last people to see Gregson before his death and that he literally brandished a sword at him. And despite how cagey and shady he acts, he still insists he never killed anyone.

And the reveal that he has knowingly participated in an assassination plot behind the backs of both Ryunosuke and Susato is bound to cause a feeling of shock, confusion and betrayal not just in these characters - but also in the Player. The Player and Player Characters are in a lot of emotional synergy through this entire Kazuma storyline. These feelings of conflict between wanting to trust Kazuma after seeing him in his best and all the mounting suspicions due to all the revelations about him are really felt by all three of us.

And in the end the challenge for Ryunosuke and Susato is not to abandon Kazuma completely, and it’s not to continue blindly trusting their old idealized view of Kazuma - it’s to face the fact that he has kinda lost his way for single-minded revenge, while also still trusting that he is deep-down the same good not-murdery man they have known him as before.

[shuttershocky]

Guy who was the one who said ideally if Iori yadayada, I get what you mean. Just was throwing out an idea on 3 hours of sleep. Hypothetically, if Nasu himself came to your house, and said you have to give an explanation for how Iori is a Servant (or living person, whatev) in FGO, how would you go about it?

I wouldn't.

Like I said before, you need a sufficiently cool reason to be able to forgive completely ignoring or even retconning the original themes of a work, and no matter what Iori would appear in FGO for the sake of fanservice, and I don't find FGO's brand of fanservice to be cool at all. The very act of making him a summonable character would be stepping on his original arc, which I could probably forgive if it was for something other than FGO—a fighting game, a pseudo-sequel like CCC, I may even forgive FGO Arcade (if he has to be there for fanservice, let it be on the version of FGO with actual gameplay), but not the mobile game.

Let me give an example to illustrate my point.

One of the last servants I raised before I stopped playing FGO was my NP5 Fujino. At the time, I joked "Man it's kinda fucked up that the animations imply they gave her back her appendicitis when she became a Counter Guardian" but they really did, because it's the most obviously recognizable part of the character that can be repackaged. Never mind that Shiki choosing to save Fujino when the former was actually hired to kill the latter by Fujino's own dad was a critical part of both their character arcs. Never mind that the reason Fujino would actually be remembered as heroic is for when she would talk girls out of suicide long after she had gone blind and had learned to walk with a stick.

Fujino's noble phantasm is twisting a bridge because that was her big moment of power in Remaining Sense of Pain, even if it's kind of weird that she now (metaphorically, as I don't suppose her NP involves creating a real one) summons a bridge to twist and collapse on to enemies when they could just show a big psychic blast. It's especially a missed opportunity that FGO portrays the bridge moment as the height of her power when the whole reveal that Shiki actually saved Fujino instead of killing her is done by Shiki explaining that Fujino's only going to get even stronger as she ages. She can be way more destructive than collapsing a bridge, she just never had to when her real strength was being able to reach out to girls looking to jump off a bridge.

I think an easier one that more Fate fans can understand is Lancelot (Berserker). His NP in FGO is the chaingun he ripped out of a fighter jet in Fate/Zero, his most famous moment in the series. But his NP wasn't summoning a minigun, his NP in Fate/Zero was being able to instantly master any weaponry put into his hands. He could grab Gilgamesh's projectiles and throw them back at him. He could use modern day weaponry like automatic guns that the other servants couldn't, and he could use them with deadly efficiency.

But again when you appear in FGO it's not about the character, it's about the character's selling points. Lancelot's NP is hijacking a jetplane even if there can be no jetplane that's actually present because it's THE Lancelot moment, and FGO is a mobage with very limited game design that's unable to actually interpret Lancelot's powers within the game's scope, so a metaphorical jet hijacking is the best they can do.

But then FGO's all-encompassing popularity has knock-on effects, so when Lancelot appears in another Fate title, like Fate/Extella Link, his moves there involve him whipping out the assault rifles and the jet plane too. It's not metaphorical anymore, he's just summoning these whenever he wants to now. And while a dark knight dual wielding assault rifles like he's in a Wolfenstein game is admittedly kinda rad, I still think it's not quite rad enough to be worth having left his original concept behind.

I don't want that for Iori.

[jetra4ivor]

Saw a video that came out within the past few weeks about Minecraft Story Mode. And I’m all like “yay! I’m so happy someone’s making new videos to get people excited about this dead franchise!”

Then I watch it.

It’s 38 minutes long.

It’s 38 minutes of shitting on MCSM and calling it “cringe” and “a failure.”

I make the mistake of reading the comments on the video.

Holy Herobrine…

What is wrong with people??? Why am I like the only person who unironically enjoyed this series of games? Why can’t people just have FUN and not be such pedantic pissheads about everything?

Is it just because it’s Minecraft? Is that it? Is it just people who hate Minecraft or think it’s for babies that they feel the need to shit on it so much? I don’t understand. It was made by TellTale games. At the time they were one of the top game developers. Everyone knew that if you got a TellTale game it was going to be special and unique. Why is this game any different? It really must be just the brand name associated that throw people for a loop.

Minecraft, a game about a infinite possibilities and imagination.. but apparently people have no imagination to believe that a story set in a Minecraft world could be good? Did you guys not grow up watching Minecraft YouTubers doing daily roleplay adventures? Did I just imagine this period of time when using your imagination to make the limitations of Minecraft come alive?

I just don’t get it.

Minecraft Story Mode is good.

It’s not Shakespeare, but it takes the Minecraft world and conventions and gives them life and rules and world building. It’s got a stellar voice cast, it’s amazingly animated and executed, and the stories themselves take a lot of twists and turns. And with the choose your own adventure style gameplay, there’s a lot of replayability.

I mean… it’s TellTale Games for yogs sake! How do you not like a TellTale game?

I’m just so tired of it all. I hate that this franchise is left in the dust and people only remember it to joke about how “cringe” it is.

F. U.

I love this game. I love these characters. I love the settings and environments they exist in. And I want more people to love it too.

Is that so much to ask?

[ms-scarletwings]

We gotta start accurately calling Sly Cooper a low fantasy universe at some point. It’s retrospectively wild how much supernatural shit is going on in front of your face that you don’t think about because it’s like… nothing to the characters that it’s happening to. People who have never played Sly Cooper have no clue how nonchalantly it grinds this rail between just “real world noire but furries” and straight up DC superpowers stuff.

• The surprising amount of undead, in hindsight

Black magic is just, you know, a thing…. and outside of when it’s the weapon of choice of the villain of the week, it’s not even really brought up. Tsao was building an army of honest to god vampires and Mz.Ruby has been fraternizing with homemade ghouls since she was a child. A second-game side quest involves descetrating a tomb, kidnapping a bunch of restless ghosts, and then unleashing them on the cops for a good prank. For Pete’s sake, Clockwerk, biggest bad of the franchise, is basically an eldritch machine possessed by the vengeful spirit of someone who became too petty and angry to die.

• There are people born with innate superpowers

So, there is no debate going on with the deal about Cooper abilities and this point, right? Sure, the Theivious Raccoonus has a lot of good pointers any thief worth their salt could gain from, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say somethings along the lines of gliding down lasers or turning invisible on command are a bit out of most readers’ capabilities. The 1st game’s humor in explaining off gameplay mechanics as in-universe phenomena had the unintended consequence of establishing that the Cooper clan members literally have a criminally inclined sort of spidey sense- literally hallucinating glowing auras and blue sparkles around anything both valuable and not nailed down. I think I also awkward appreciated the parallel to be spotted between the Cooper honer code and the self imposed limitations other media supers live by. That idea of “you have the gift of amazing power and you will choose to use it responsibly”, all the better here for the ways in which the clan’s premise subverts classic hero/villain dynamics.

• Ancient techniques of sorcery

run right alongside conventional weaponry

Some supers are born in this world, a lot of them are made. As if anyone with the time to practice and learn can just pick it up like karate. Religion has to be crazy in Sly Cooper considering there’s entire spiritualisms given demonstrable and epic power in what their followers are capable of. Murray literally can do some degree of magic from the third game and onward and there’s no telling what else he learned over the course of his Dreamtime training. Anyone with the wits and resources of the Contessa can figure out how to toy around with freaking mind controlling dark arts. Don’t get me started again on the whole “army of undead” thing which gets even weirder by the implication that the world does nothing to regulate these kind of abilities UP AND UNTIL the user starts to roleplay a cocky little warlord with their zombie friends. And Flame Fu is right there. A lot of what the panda king can do is closer to Bentley’s realm- very complicated and meticulous works of pyrotechnics, but Flame Fu is a whole something else that belongs in this discussion.

• Magical items and mythical beasts

The Mask of Dark Earth, the guru’s special stone, an entire kraken, a whole laundry list of things in The Contessa’s possession, an enormous swamp serpent, haunted trees, whatever the hell kind of ring Dimitri was wearing in the second game, a giant stone dragon statue that turns out to be AN ACTUAL FREAKING DRAGON in dormancy, a supercharged ancient bamboo forest, potentially the Cooper cane itself, and the not-to-be-overlooked every single piece of Clockwerk’s cursed body. I know I’m probably forgetting something because that was just off the cuff. It’s kind of wild that most of what we watch the Coopers focus on stealing can be stuff like museum paintings in a world where magic flying carpets are confirmed to exist. The hell. Why was I ever mocking the pirates in Bloodbath Bay for their paranoia and superstition?? Best part was always that basically none of it phased the resident smarty pants nerd character like it usually would anyone who fills that trope. Because of magic is just an accepted and normalized thing in the world, why WOULD Bentley talk about it any different than he would the history of lumberjacks or combustion physics? Instead of conflicting against his understanding of science, it just tacks onto it as more additional info, you know… the way it would if magic was just another set of rules to study and understand.

[olistar255]

What do you think Leaflings are capable of? they seem to be fine if left underwater, would that be a gameplay thing, or could some perhaps have bits of Blue Pikmin in them? would that imply other hybrids are possible? wings? the White Sage was there for Ages apparently? wonder if they have an extended lifespan? also some have 4 eyes?

Thank you for the questions!! i always appreciate some Pikmin discussion

So… leaflings are a weird case in the Pikmin ecology. As far as i know, they are the only case where what the Onion absorbs directly influences what comes out (which was even already the case in Pikmin 1). We already know Onions' offsprings get influenced by environment and, through evolution, by the DNA of what it absorbs, but leaflings are unique in that Onions doesn't really decompose/recompose the creature, but rather simply attaches Pikmin attributes to the host, rejuvenating them and usually bringing them back from the brink of death.. which is very important.

I believe what sets the leafling apart is that all the people leafified weren't corpses yet, but either in deep sleep, comatose or about to die. Because the Onion may be too weak to decompose still-living creatures (hence why the Pikmin need to kill them first), it skips that phase but still implants the Pikmin seed/Hermikmin in them before spitting them out. I would even assume this was the same process that birthed Ice Pikmin, Rock Pikmin, and Bulbmins.

Now what does this mean for what leaflings are and are capable of? Well, the logical conclusion is that the leafified person gains Pikmin abilities along with the physical attributes; as seen ingame, the most important one being the ability to breathe PNF-404's air, and like you pointed out also being able to go underwater with no helmet (for the sake of discussion i'll just assume it's a real trait and not just the devs not caring about putting dandori challenges underwater :p)

The idea of leaflings receiving different attributes depending on which Onion transforms them is awesome (and would make for a ton of awesome OC concepts) but i do think those abilities would be limited because the Pikminification is limited. In my opinion, realistically the ability to breathe underwater would just be limited to the blue Hermikmin somewhat adapting the lungs of the host to underwater breathing (more on that later) while the leaves allow air breathing through their stomata. In a similar vein, i assume red leafification would allow for limited resistance to fire because the leaves would somewhat protect the skin, etc.

Not getting the full extent of the Pikmin abilities come with the perk of keeping most of your cognitive abilities (even if you do become dandori-obsessed) and the possibility of reversing the process with glow sap-based medicine.

Now i want to bring up the relationship between leaflings and time. We only have 2 samples of specimen who have been leafified for a while by the time we find them, Olimar and the Sage leaf, so the following more or less will be on the conjectural side.

First the most obvious part is how these two are much more coherent than recent leaflings; and while we don't have a ton of dialogue for the Sage leaf, we see how he's aware of concepts like pupils, leaving, the outside world, etc., while Olimar suppresses anything unrelated to dandori until we defeat him, so i think it's fair to assume a proportional correlation between time passing and the Pikminification brainrot ceasing.

Secondly - and this is harder to prove given the small sample size -, the older leaflings look closer to normal people than the recent ones, who all have the same body type with freaky eyes.

My theory is that because the Onion's attempt at turning a person fully into a Pikmin fails, those Pikminification effects (simple mindedness, modified organs like the eyes or the lungs) simply wither away with time, with only the beneficial effects sticking with the host: the leaves covering their body.

This is pretty much all i can think about when looking at the leaflings. In short they're a hybrid between a person and a Pikmin, down to how they think. I do wonder, though... Are they truly the result of the Onion failing to do its task completely, or is there some conscious decision behind them? Can the Onion choose to refuse to digest a creature, maybe even because they care about their wellbeing? or are the leaflings a result of strategic evolution? After all, their obsession with dandori is very beneficial for the Pikmin; what's the first rule of dandori any leafling will remind you of when you start a challenge? "Gather and make as many Pikmin as possible..."

[sonicreferencephotos]

Why I Dislike Sonic Speed Simulator

I sometimes see people in the notes of Speed Sim refs saying that maybe they should start playing it/get back into it. I want to ask, for your sakes, that you do not. The only reason I still play it is for this blog. I would love to stop. I keep going so that no one else will have to play to unlock characters for references. I will also be adding a disclaimer to future Speed Sim posts. Maybe this is a bit excessive, but this game is starting to break me.

I understand that some people like the game, and you all control what games you choose to play. In my opinion however, playing Speed Sim is really, really not worth it.

If you want a specific explanation of the problems, you can read it below the cut

Problem 1: Gameplay

The gameplay of SSS is simple, to put it kindly. There are a few different aspects of the game, each of which has only the bare minimum amount to do.

You can run around the world. This lets you collect rings and experience. You can also destroy badniks, which exclusively consists of doing repeated homing attacks until you destroy them. They can technically hit you, but all that does is knock you back.

You can do time trials. Actually somewhat fun. Not much more to say about them.

You can enter races. PvP races which are fine. Fun at first, get boring when you have to grind for race tickets.

You can fight bosses. By "bosses" I of course mean "Eggman" and "Eggman but with more health." It is almost exactly the same fight. You run around breaking shield generators, dodging the same two attacks, and then deal a set amount of damage to him before the shield returns. Repeat. Your prize is spins on (one of) the gacha wheels.

You can complete quests. Actually decent! At least until you run out of quests. Good thing there are daily quests to keep you "entertained" with their repetitive tasks. Also, ignore the fact that the tasks for quests are just engaging with the rest of the mediocre game.

All of the above mechanics grow dull and grind-y very quickly. Soon, every part of the game becomes a chore. The game itself even seems to have realized this, and thus includes an auto-run feature, so you can collect rings and xp without needing to do anything!

I am generally of the opinion that it's a bad sign if a game is un-fun enough it needs to add in the ability to skip the gameplay, but that's just me (that's part of why I stopped playing Star Rail).

Problem 2: Skins

We all know the real reason people play SSS isn't the game itself: it's the cool outfits! 95% of which are only available during limited events and/or by spending actual money. You can also expect to do a lot of boring grinding if you don't spend money. Speaking of spending money...

Problem 3: Microtransactions

Time to talk about the true "heart" of the game: Robux. Now, I will give Speed Sim itself half a pass on this one, as from what I've seen, Roblox as a whole has what I would consider an unsavory emphasis on microtransactions, especially for a game with a playerbase of 50% children aged 12 or under, and another 15% between 13 and 16 (Statista: Roblox user distribution worldwide 2022, by age group). With that being said though, Sonic Speed Simulator doesn't seem to have any qualms about asking for money wherever they can.

I could make a whole other post about all the ways this game offers for you to spend money. You want more spins on the gacha wheels? Spend money! You want to get three gacha eggs for the price of one (certain vending machines only)? Spend money! You want to skip the animation you have to watch every time you buy an egg from said gacha machines? Spend money! You want to do less grinding for xp/race tickets/event objectives/candy/whatever? Money, money, money!!!

The game has a lot of the trademark warning signs for a cash grab gacha game:

Several different kinds of currency, most or all of which can be purchased with premium currency

Many different skins to unlock, using the assorted currencies mentioned above (including ones that are specifically only purchasable with premium currency)

Gacha wheels. Many, many gacha wheels. (Not counting the dozens of vending machines, I can think of at least four)

Grindy gameplay that can largely be skipped by spending money

Again, if a game is un-fun enough to have an option for players to spend real money to skip the gameplay, that's a bad sign.

Problem 4: Crunch

I haven't done much looking into it myself, but I've seen many people say that GameFam (the company that creates Speed Sim) treats its employees very poorly. The game advertises its weekly updates, which requires a lot of crunch in order to get content out quickly. This is obviously bad for the people involved, and also has negative effects on the game.

Many features are clearly rushed, and there's a general lack of polish. From glitching through the map, to races starting several seconds before or after the countdown ends, to untextured models, to many small bugs, it's clear that the developers are not given enough time to clean things up before they have to move on to the next week's content.

*

Thank you to anyone who actually read this far. This was a long post, but I wanted to be thorough in my explanation. This is probably the last dedicated post I will make about this, since this is really not what this account is for, but I still think it's an important one.

You are welcome to ask questions about any of this — preferably in the replies so as not to clutter the sonicreferencephotos feed — but otherwise the disclaimers are all I'll be saying on the topic for the foreseeable future. Take care of yourselves.

[lily-orchard]

Let's say for the sake of argument, you could add something to BG3, but you can't fundamentally change the game. What would you add?

Based on what I currently understand of BG3's mechanics: A Superboss.

Long brainstorming after the break

Mysterious Figure

Location: Accessible from a portal in the very first area in the game.

Recommended Level: 12

Battle Music: Bhaalspawn Battle

Major Changes to Gameplay

Party Size Increased to Six: You can take two more companions into this battle with you. You'll need it.

Character Limitations: Jaheira and Minsc cannot be in the party.

Priority Target: Missing attacks or having Spells saved has reduced damage/effects on the Mysterious Figure instead of failing completely.

Freedom: The party will be given 5 scrolls of Freedom.

Unique Mechanics

Just Like Old Times: The Mysterious Figure is from a different time. There are no environment mechanics in this fight, simply pure reactivity and positioning. Furthermore, Advantage and Disadvantage mechanics are disabled. Armour and Shield spells can be cast on characters even if they're armoured.

Speed Factor: The Mysterious Figure has three turns per round, and has two actions in each turn. Additionally, every party member gains an extra Action and Bonus Action.

No More Worthy Than You: Dark Urge cannot use their Bhaalspawn powers during this fight.

Psionic Dampening: Mind Flayer powers are disabled during this fight. Mind Flayer party members will have their stats halved.

The Magic Fizzled: Party members and Mysterious Figure aren't limited by Spell Slots and can cast their spells freely as long as they were prepared. Additionally, Gale's Arcane Hunger is disabled during this fight, as he is leeching off the Mysterious Figure's immense arcane power.

Dimension Door: The Mysterious Figure doesn't use regular movement mechanics. They teleport to their desired location every turn.

Cannot Be Caged: Immune to Crowd Control Effects

Cannot Be Controlled: Can cast spells without limit.

Bhaal's Taint: Party members are killed outright once their HP reaches 0 and cannot be revived during the fight.

Unique Spells/Abilities

Barrage: Cast 5 Magic Missiles at every enemy.

Cut You Down To Size: Teleport behind an enemy and backstab them twice before returning to the previous position.

Greater Malison: Cast on the entire party, reducing Saving Throws.

Spellstrike: Targets a single person and dispels all beneficial magical effects and incurs a 50% Spell Failure for the next two turns.

Set And Ready To Go - Throws several explosive spike traps around the room that will detonate if a party member gets too close. They must be avoided, disarmed or deliberately detonated. Disarming a trap will consume all of that character's actions. The Mysterious Figure will continue throwing traps at regular intervals, leaving the arena untraversable if ignored.

Mantle: Grants Immunity to all weapons except those of +3 or better. Lasts two turns.

Hand of Murder: For the next several turns, all of the Mysterious Figure's attacks will cause additional damage and heal them.

Flame Wreath: A party member is encircled in fire. If the party member moves before it expires, it will explode and deal damage to the entire party.

Major Mechanics

I'll Show You A Fight: On certain turns at the very start, the Mysterious Figure will teleport to the centre of the arena and start channelling a spell. On the very next turn, she will deal a large amount of damage to everything around her. The very edges of the arena are safe. The Mysterious Figure takes 70% reduced damage while channelling.

Comet: On certain turns, independent of their other actions, The Mysterious Figure targets a party member with a fireball that will go off the next turn. It will deal damage split between them and any party members near them. Striking only a single party member is fatal.

Done Had Enough of This: At 75%, 50% and 25% HP, the Mysterious Figure triggers a Chain Contingency which will cast Absolute Immunity, Greater Invisibility, and Ravager, making the Mysterious Figure untargetable and setting an angry Ravager on the party. Their invincibility is removed when the Ravager is destroyed. Mysterious Figure will continue casting spells and attacking during this time.

Imprisonment: The Mysterious Figure will imprison a party member beneath the earth, removing them from the fight. The party member will be returned when a different party member is Imprisoned. Freedom will bring the party member back, but those scrolls are in short supply.

[hopeymchope]

Danganlike, Ahoy: 'Inescapable' begins

I know it's been out for three months, but I only started playing "Inescapable: No Rules, No Rescue" just last night.

Most critics weren't very kind to this Danganlike upon its release; there were a lot of complaints of it being boring. But after a couple of hours with it, my initial impression is VERY positive. Before I get into that, though, let me give a detailed run-down of the basic setup.

A group of 11 Europeans (including our POV character, a Brit named Harrison) are abducted and taken to a tropical island loaded with cameras. There, a pair of "producers" broadcast to their phones to inform the group that they're now part of a reality show called "Inescapable."

Their situation is thus:

They are now part of a limited-broadcast reality show called "Inescapable."

They must live on this island together for the next six months.

There one rule: They cannot interfere with the cameras and broadcast equipment.

Other than that? No other rules or limitations apply, and no law enforcement will ever punish them for any action they take. They may manipulate, assault, or even kill without fear of repercussions.

The phones they are each provided can communicate with one other or the two producers, but that's it. Any other calls are blocked.

The production team will airdop necessary tools for survival (food, fresh water, etc.) regularly provided that the participants leave the broadcast equipment alone and keep the show "entertaining" for the audience.

Failure to be "entertaining" or otherwise non-comply will cause the producers to intervene in ways that make their lives more "interesting." Maybe they'll withhhold supplies to cause starvation/dehydration. Maybe they'll reveal private details about the participants that will generate conflict among them.

Similarly, those who make the show more "entertaining" will receive rewards. These can be new sources of entertainment for them, luxury goods, and who-knows-what else.

Everyone still alive/present by the end of the six months will receive 500,000 Euros. (For most of the cast, this is a princely sum. But for a few, it's a mere pittance.)

The two producers are available to the cast via their phones for any suggestions/requests, but said producers prioritize entertainment value above all other considerations. Requests for information on loved ones, jobs, or possessions left behind are ignored; they are only given the vague promise/warning that "No one will be coming to rescue you."

Admittedly, this setup does not inherently promise murder and betrayal the way that something that Danganronpa, Yurukill, Your Turn to Die, or Virtue's Last Reward all did. Instead, there's a pervasive unease around every action your character or the other characters take. If you see someone on the phone, are they bartering with the producers in a way that will harm your or someone else? If someone is wittholding basic info about themselves, why would they feel the need to do so — are they potentially dangerous for the sake of "entertainment"? If you see two characters whispering, are they conspiring? Even if you try to have a whispered conversation in the middle of the jungle, are you truly alone?

Most of the gameplay is essentially structured like Danganronpa's "Free Time Events." On most days, you get a morning, afternoon, and evening. You look at the map of the island and can see who is hanging out where; from there, you choose where to visit and who to talk to. These conversations each last one of those time periods, can reveal more about the characters in question, and can also include dialogue choices that will affect your "route" through the game. But even the decision of who you choose to talk with affects the route... and once that time period is up, there's no guarantee you can see the other conversations that you skipped out on at a later time.

Any given playthrough can wind up on one of four "routes" to a unique ending based on the conversation choices you make, the people you choose to speak with, and some other actions. For example: There are some side games in an Arcade setting that you can spend time playing. It's also possible to earn "points" with the producers based on your choices that you can use to unlock "gossip" or "dirt" about any character you choose, with each character having multiple items in both categories. Whether you choose to purchase any such items and which ones you get also affect your ultimate route. In fact, based on what I'm seeing online? The number of simple actions that can affect what path your character is leaning towards reminds me more of a Silent Hill game than a standard visual novel! We're seriously talking shit like "Spend X amount of time looking at Y in inventory" can have an impact.

Sadly, there's no easy signposting for how you wind up on a given route or what you'd need to do to get a different one. I'd really prefer they had a flowchart like a Zero Escape game, but this is instead more like a SciAdv visual novel where unlocking a different outcome is going to be dependent on either (A) blindly trying different approaches as you go or (B) consulting an Internet walkthrough.

Either way, the stress of daily decision-making and the quirkiness of the characters/their dialogue has me hooked RN. We'll see if it can carry me satisfactorily across the finish line.

[princevontwix]

(warning, LOONGG late night rambling post)

ok, so you know about Yume Nikki Online? that really good online multiplayer hub hosting both the original game and a collection of fangames? i feel like that idea could apply really well to OFF and its fangames too! and i got the perfect name for it, OFFline.

i imagine it can go with a similar premise of YNO but just allow people to talk and gather around in OFF-related games. but i see a lot of potential for OFFline to include some kind of PvP-dedicated fangame, which I'll call Engage. which, with how many ideas i have for it, might be best to not make in EasyRPG.

the basic idea i have in mind is that there's a central hub where people can just chat and hang out which has three divisions:

Versus

Team Battle

Arcade, subdivided into Campaign and Endless.

what all of these modes have in common is a shopkeeper. it'll probably be better to make them an original character, but basically, for Versus and Team Battle, at the beginning of a match, you're given a set amount of credits to purchase from a list of items, weapons, and armor. for consistency's sake, i think its best that certain items are locked for certain characters only (say, no one else can use weapons and armor for Home characters), but healing and damage items are fair play for all.

whoever hosts a room will be able to dictate which select fangame they'd wish to fight in (as in, which cast of characters both users must use), OR decide that anything goes and both users are free to make the party of their dreams (its also here that they'd be free to select which battle theme plays).

Versus mode is between two players, who have full control of their own parties. while Team Battle is a 4v4, where each player will have control over their selected party member.

as for Arcade, its basically just singleplayer fun; the intent is that with the large amount of enemies and bosses from the multitude of fangames present, it will bring something different each time via randomizer. Campaign i would describe as being similar to Smash 3DS's Classic Mode, where you're given 3 branching paths with varying difficulties. the more difficult ones you beat, the more credits you earn, where you can make a pitstop before each boss to stack up (with zodiac orbs being pricier). referring to the sketch above, yellow cubes are enemy encounters, red cubes are bosses, and purple is for the end-game boss (the final boss from the og game/fangame, if applicable). i figured that every 3rd or 4th encounter being a boss will help prevent the gameplay from being monotonous beatdowns of regular enemies. you'll get choices for enemies and bosses, but there's only one endgame boss and that's random each time.

and lastly, Endless mode is just that. this time, you're given a larger supply of credits to use and once you enter the first round, there's no going back. each round will supply a minute amount of health or energy items to use, but will progressively get more difficult. my hope here is that it isn't just more enemies each round, but for it to sometimes bring fewer but beefier enemies, and maybe even a miniboss. you progress through each round by clicking on the individual cube labeled with the appropriate number. i figured like this it'd be more reasonable to fit within RPG2k3's limits but at this point it would be bloated so oh well. and of course, once you die, it ends. a public leaderboard will be on display to show the top 10 players and their scores.

now to get the obvious out of the way, online functionality with this many features would be difficult, if not impossible, to implement. as such, i would not be opposed to taking an approach similar to the UT fangame Don't Forget, where OFFline will be developed on an engine like Gamemaker and attempt to re-create RPG2k3's vibe and the individual games being hosted, along with Engage. the problem with the latter is that i think its more realistic to just let EasyRPG do all the work in porting the fangames like YNO, rather than recreate each one in a more modern engine. but at the same time, that would be the only feasible way of having any of these planned features to work without any fuckups. of course, i suppose a workaround to having multiplayer work in RPG2k3 would be to have a Parsec session or something similar, but that'd only be a solution for Versus mode at best. it would definitely not work for Team mode and might conflict with general offline.

in fact, the idea of OFFline might take some mad wizardry to even make it work, and i wouldn't be surprised if it barely works. making it in EasyRPG and using 2k3 as the basis vs. making it in a modern engine is the double-edged sword of this whole hypothetical. i'd love for something like this to happen, but i imagine it would be too much work to not only develop, but to keep the servers online for an otherwise niche fanbase. still, i cant shake away how much potential and fun this could be.

with that said, rambling is now over!