#rng isnt a mechanic

[inbedby1am]

Cant wait for a tripple A action rpg with the quality of Baldur's Gate 3 but with mechanics

[salemoleander]

I completely understand the annoyance with this series having such an obtrusive cascade of gimmicks

My extremely biased personal hunch is that Grian was using this season to test a bunch of frameworks for gimmicks at once. Not These Exact Gimmicks but different levels of RNG; if knowledge/skill/etc-based gimmicks were acceptable or equitable; how players & viewers would react to obviously intentional assignment of 'random' traits.

If the next series rolls around and its also crazy & unbalanced, or doesn't take any lessons from this series¹, I'll be annoyed. but rn im like Okay Sure. One wack season to avoid the drip-feed of one mechanic at a time that keeps a whole season locked into Obvious Game Structure Problems is a fine sacrifice.

¹ the key lesson imo being EVERYONE LOVES NON-RANDOM SHIT not that we want a plot on rails, but assigning things to suit players is fine and extremely interesting!! The players' superpowers were THE most interesting session of the whole series, please Grian it's okay to play to the strengths & interests of your friends on purposed

[arolesbianism]

Y'know I generally like all the sephirah core suppressions but Man I wish Binah didn't have the no pause mechanic. She was going to get it anyways later, why did she need it right next to the guy who's main meltdown mechanic involves limiting your ability to pause.

I also just feel like the fight is actually genuinely pretty fun in the way it pushes your micromanagement skills to their limits, and I feel like removing the ability to pause just makes the fight go from a fun management challenge to just kind of stupid. Maybe that's just a skill issue on my part, but still I think her suppression would be a lot less stupidly hard for no good reason and more of a fun challenge if they just removed the no pause part

[neros-left-pec]

GAMING WITH THE DMC MEN

🌷 pairings: dmc men x fem!reader 🌷 warnings/tags: just fluff + probably OOC 🌷 author's note: i have really bad dmc brainrot but ive never even played the games (don't ask how this happened) LOL. i kinda see these as crack hcs since im not actually familiar with their canon personalities but i hope u can enjoy it regardless!

DANTE SPARDA

always picks the worst/unhinged dialogue options bc he wants to see what happens

starts laughing if it ends up with people getting mad at each other, bonus points if they start fighting for real

"Ooooh no, he didn't like that! OH SHIT, HE PUNCHED HIM! GET HIM!!"

refers to every protagonist as dude, regardless of gender or species

adores mariokart. gets waaaay into the motion controls and nearly destroys the living room coffee table

sits behind you while you play and narrates everything to piss you off. makes a big deal when you mess up to tease you

"In a world... where she messes up every single quick-time-event-"

absolutely cracked at rhythm games, just dance is his SHIT. also really enjoys osu!

loves playing coop with you and distracting u with tickles or kisses till you get mad

he loooooooooooooooooooooooves making you mad bro is a master at ragebait

VERGIL SPARDA

he says games are a waste of time, but once he finds one he likes he will memorize every mechanic almost instantly.

huge fan of strategic games. his favorites are fire emblem, civ and mahjong. mahjong counts right?

loves playing mahjong online with other losers and beating them. however is sooo annoyed at all the fan service in mahjong games. he likes playing riichi city but had to turn on the family friendly setting and only plays with the default character.

hates RNG. avoids gachas like they are the plague

you normally game in the living room while he sits next to you reading a book. if you start to get emotional over the story, he will arch an eyebrow. he ever so slightly leans into you to comfort you

you definitely notice and give him a pointed look. he sees you staring, but keeps his eyes focused on the book. but damn him, you can see a little smirk form in the corner of his mouth

pretends like he isnt paying attention but definitely is. gets invested if the story is really good

makes a surprisingly good partner in coop games. he'll act annoyed but will carry you anyway lol

teaches you how to play mahjong so you both can play

you love it when he explains things to you

whenever he catches you staring lovingly when he explains the rules to you, he blushes a tad and his eyebrows kinda raise in surprise. but its sooooooooooo subtle.

he catches himself pretty quick but you dont miss it hehe

NERO SPARDA

loves horror games but jumps at EVERYTHINGGGG LOL ITS SO CUTE

screams like a bitch honestly

gets weirdly competitive about mario kart. he will not hesitate to obliterate you with blue shells but he'll give you lots of smooches after to make up for it

always wants to name his character something stupid.

"I'm calling him Boob lord" (he would name a pokemon this)

teases you if you get flustered over flirty game characters

"Is your face red?? Oh my god, it is, are you serious? You're gonna fall for that? It's so corny!"

thinks he can do better hehe gets a bit jellyyyy

loves couch coop. will sit way too close and will flick u in the forehead if you cause him to lose

"No you forgot the- oh my god, fine, I'll get it!"

[moonsidesong]

finished UT Yellow pacifist ! i really really enjoyed it! i will definitely be going back for the other runs but i'd like to let this sit for at least a few days before i go back in.

extended thoughts below!! yaayay!!!!

ok im sorry to open with a negative thought but if i can be a little mean. ceroba's fight suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks. visually its insanely cool, musically its insanely cool, the presentation overall rocks, but gameplay wise its the worst ive played so far bar none.

i think this game for the most part had pretty fun and interesting bullet patterns for the bosses and, especially in the case of Axis, El Bailador, and Guardener's fights, i really got the sense i was getting a little better each time as i memorized the attacks, which is exactly what i want from a UTDR boss fight! i heart memorization.

... but Ceroba's fight was the only one where i felt like the bullet patterns just had no rhyme or reason to them. i think using several simple attacks to make a layered complicated one is a good idea in theory but in the way they did it i kinda just felt like she was throwing random crap at me and when I did beat it (which took i think around an hour) i sorta just got the impression that i was lucky enough her RNG picked the easier ones a few extra turns in a row rather than feeling like i actually accomplished anything (anything with the gravity black hole added was just kind of a death sentence for me, maybe its a skill issue but i feel like yknow. im okaaayyy at bullet hell... wah...)

also, i dont know much about game design, but the overall momentum of the fight is set up to really only be good if you beat it the first time. which is not great. they make you watch a cutscene every time you die and although it is brief, it breaks things up just a little too long! you get really sick of hearing the first few notes of what are otherwise great songs in her fight, and it makes it harder to feel for her when watching her scream starts to become annoying. i think if it were up to me, it'd be best if when you died, there was no cutscene, and the game over screen didnt have music or text and was JUST the Retry/Continue prompts so you can jump back into the action quickly. if we wanna take it a step further, because the music opens with such intense notes, stop making it start over!!!! pick it up where it left off!!!! maybe even have the game over menu not even stop the music, just muffle it temporarily or something. i dont know. thats what id do if it were up to me but i did not make anything im just a guy writing a tumblr post

anyway hater hour over. i mentioned those three boss fights earlier because they were my favorites. i thought they were really fun. i can see how some people might think the shield mechanic during Axis's fight might suck but it was like easily my favorite actually HAHAHA idk i thought it was fuuuuun heehehe yaay i block the bullets and it makes a good sound sound makea me happy <- this is the hightest compliment you can get from a misophonic player

also the ending made me cry. this isnt saying much because literally everything makes me cry but it did in fact make me cry. u show me characters showing a moment of genuine vulnerability in a bittersweet atmosphere and uh oh

anyway.

i mentioned in my previous thought post that i was interested in seeing where the running theme of "jobs/employment" was going, and seeing it play out into meaning "forever unfinished business" was really good. Martlet quits the Royal Guard having felt like she never really did anything there, neither Chujin nor Ceroba could finish what they set out to do, and Clover never even saw the other human souls. theres probably more than that too thats just what i remeber my memorys actually kinda bad i never remember anything until i play it like three times oops. maybe i should start writing my thoughts as i go instead of making big unorganized writeups on tumblr after the fact.

also this is a really small personal nitpick that doesnt matter but i dont like ceroba's skirt. i think having such a regal traditional outfit otherwise and then just wearing a short skirt that goes above her knees makes her look more like a schoolgirl than it does someone who is like At The Minimum in her thirties. i get not wanting a long skirt to get in the way of her silhouette for her boss fight since shes all like stanced up but at that point just give her pants LOL

i don't care to comment much on the writing, on the whole i really liked it so i dont have as much to say, but i dont think martlet shouldve been there in the room with you for Chujin's tapes. i think that shouldve been a quiet moment with just Clover so it could Sit with you for a second. thats my only writing gripe in this very moment.

anyway GRAHHHH I ENDED UP WRITING A LOT OF THINGS I DIDNT LIKE AND I DONT WANT TO LEAVE WITH THE IMPRESSION I HAD A NEGATIVE EXPERIENCE SO:

MUSIC WAS REALLY GOOD!!! I LIKED ALL THE CHARACTERS!!!! I LIKED MAKING AXIS'S FUNNY ROBOT PARTNER I THOUGHT THAT WAS FUNNY!!!!!!!! ASIDE FROM THE FINAL BOSS I THOUGHT THE GAMEPLAY WAS FUN!!!!! THE MAIL MECHANIC WAS REALLY SILLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I PLAYED WITH MY FRIEND AND I HAD A VERY GOOD TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAAY!!! I VIDEO LOVE GAMES!!!!!!!!!!

thanks for reading! im sure ill have more thoughts to share by the time i do the other routes, but like i said at the start, id like to just sit on my thoughts and let the game simmer for now. my overall opinion is that i thought it was good! not perfect by any means, but very very good. i'm sure i will revisit it someday. and by that i mean right now im gonna draw and watch a bit of saltydkdan's video of it before bed.

if you read this far tell me your favorite hot drink :) lately ive been really obsessed with like, this basic ass cinnamon/nutmeg/coriander chai from target. i put a little honey and cream in it and its like my favorite thing ever i have some every morning. i used to think i only liked fruity teas but my eyes have been truly opened.

[phightinghottakes]

im really new to writing stuff in tumblr and hot takes in general so apologies if this isnt a hot take at all

i feel like this years phrenzy is extremely grindy, despite the measures and mechanics aidn put to lessen it. getting a high enough total highscore for the 5% threshold is nearly close to impossible for regular/casual players (which im assuming here is those from lvl 0-175 and is at least 60% of the playerbase). as for the 1% threshold, thats like a dream and something i myself cant even achieve.

based on my own highscores, one would mostly need at least 17-20+ kills with 4 or less deaths and a good amount of assists on all three phighter highscores to reach the threshold without grinding all the way to 10k total points. (no offense but) its highly unlikely that those in the aforementioned level area would be able to do so unless their teammates coordinate and perform extremely well while the opposing team doesnt during katana or ban rounds, which leans a lot toward rng. as for other phighter rounds with more varying scenarios that isnt gathering around and dying like flies, its either team coordination and cooperation or just pure raw skill with the given phighter (with help from teammates from time to time), so it leans again on some rng.

the grind for 10k total points didnt bother me or seem like much since i was able to dish out an average of 100 points every round with almost every phighter and get around 1.2k points every hour (for reference im level 275-300). i had around 2.5k points before the thresholds were released, so i managed to get 10k points in 6 hours in one day.

having heard that someone grinded 10 HOURS only to get 580 points is both jaw dropping and extremely concerning, considering how there are also people playing in longer lengths with little to no breaks. it just shows how much of a grindfest this phrenzy really is for the majority of players, and its honestly saddening. i really hope people are taking the time to enjoy the phrenzy (and the game in general) once in a while without focusing too much on grinding their time and health away for difficult-to-achieve requirements.

to anyone out there still grinding during the phrenzy, PLEASE remember to take breaks and prioritize your own physical and mental wellbeing over a silly block game with in-game rewards. /srs

.

[b1adie]

the hp support will probably be for jade. i am confident theyre coming but who knows when. probably not until after firefly's DLC based on my perception of their popularity...

firefly's hp manipulation is like. the most nothingburger inconsequential mechanic ever. the only thing it does is force you to ult immediately after your 2nd skill for your 2nd ult, if you dont play aventurine/she outsped his shield/you dont want to RNG her not getting hit (which is unlikely at 125 taunt value). she has the highest base def and massive dmg reduction, so it doesnt impact her survivability at all. i am confident her hp manipulation is only for flavor, div uni/sim uni blessings, and destruction-path-isms.

also, her damage (60% of which is harmony TB superbreak lmao) isnt affected by traditional dmg% multipliers, only dmg% taken debuffs on the enemy, or break multipliers, such as break effect and efficiency. so a support that blade would want (especially an e6 hypercarry blade) isnt overlapping with what firefly wants, which is a support with even better superbreak than harmony TB, ideally with a break efficiency buff. unless you build break blade and then that goes hard as fuck.

sorry if you knew all of this and this is really annoying, please discard if so 😔

damn. well i guess he’s fine with sparkle. wonder if they’ll ever release any new enemies with wind weakness that DONT want u to fight them with DoT teams… got any stats on that?

[waffliesinyoface]

The fact that AWL is kind of the black sheep of the series, both in the original and remake, vexes me. Both because it's the one i grew up with and i'm annoyed that the other games don't take inspiration from it, but also:

there's zero fucking good guides for it.

Even the people who like farming games who make videos talked about it for like a month and then moved on to the next big thing. And a lot of those videos they DID make were poorly researched and/or just used data from the original, which were wrong.

I go to look up a list of the hybrid crops to see which ones grow in which season, and all of the videos are like "HOW TO UNLOCK HYBRID CROPS REAL NOT CLICKBAIT"

the best guides are like. compiled datasheets on various reddit posts, which are really annoying to sort through!!

and in contrast to something like stardew valley, which has very simplified mechanics:

(seeds need water once a day, quality is determined by farming level/RNG, crops need [x] amount of days to grow, you can automate basically every part of the farm except for day 1 of each season, etc)

(this isnt a criticism, it has those mechanics because its more focused on farm customization and seasonal events and the community center and whatnot)

AWL actually benefits way more from a guide because its much more obtuse:

Plant growth speed depends on how often you water them, a plant that grows "quickly" can grow in a minimum of 5 days or it can grow in a minimum of 7 days, if you don't water it consistently it might take up to 10 days. Some crops that grow in multiple seasons need to be planted on day 1 of the first season because they wont be ready until day 5 of the second. to get max quality you either need to use fertilizer twice a day (not always guaranteed, fuck you) or they need to be crossbred with a certain flower that only grows in winter one at a time (you only get 10 flowers per year), the only way to make the best crops and actually be able to afford all the upgrades is to crossbreed them yourself and balance selling them with how many you need to make into seeds for next year, there's no such thing as ancient fruit or a greenhouse that lets you print money from fruit that grows year round, etc. etc.

this isnt even getting into things like cow breeding or tool upgrades or raising your child or cooking (some recipes sell for more money! some recipes restore a lot of stamina! some recipes do neither!! figure it out yourself!!)

this isn't a complaint, i like it more because it is more in depth. but also. i would like to be able to look shit up sometimes. why is it that cooking 1 banorange makes banorange jam but 1 peach makes a plate of burnt charcoal.

[ragnar0c]

Ough yeah I don't like this part.

But then again there's always a patch in every EO game main story I dislike. EO1 first and fifth strata, EO3 third stratum (and floor 15 🙄), EO4 SECOND AND THIRD STRATA *cough*, eov 3rd stratum.

It's Usually bc there's a difficulty jump or smt.

For EO2 its Auburn Thicket. It's what everyone thinks Primitive Jungle is (it's a pretty fair stratum compared to this). Its got the spawning foes in places you can accidentally walk into, then when you do the game turns you in a direction you DID NOTTT walk in so you can't escape!!

So I leveled up and can kill most of the FOES. I must be ready for Hellion. I had heard Hellion was... Easy (?) NO. My party isnt built for her ❤ I have to grind but I also dont like the common encounters here bc so many enemies have the instant blindside.

The enemies that get instant blindsides are crazy. Sure enemies in EO1 did that. But it was only the post game FOEs you are supposed to avoid fighting... here it's like. All the strong regular encounters do that (while alone, usually at the start of a floor) and instantly execute one member that you probably needed the most (rip Hina)! I heard you can't even block it with a survivalist... so it's really fun when the quest says "no one is allowed to die!" And this rng based encounter throws it off!!!

Anyway not a real rant I still like this game, its mechanics are a lil frustrating here tho. It would be a lil dishonest of me to only post when i win against stuff/ have a good time. I actually lose a whole lot 💀

[vyrim]

Having put 30+ hours into Fear and Hunger 2 with two completed runs amidst the carnage, I can say the game is a strong "I fucking hate it and love it" kinda deal.

The world involved in both it and its predecessor are so cool, and are a great blend of fucked up but really beautiful art. Alot of the designs are wonderful range of horror and gore, but theres also some really cool ideas of how the gods are portrayed by man and what they look like in physical form. If you dont find all the penises and weird coochie monsters running around unbearable to look at its a pretty great gallery that you wont really find anywhere, let alone a video game.

The concept of gameplay is also pretty brutal, every action has a risk to it, a price. You see this the most in combat. Most enemies are equipped with weapons or magic capable of outright dismembering your party if they dont simply die, and this has real implications because it stops you from sprinting or holding weapons. Both of your characters legs are gone? Crawl. Arms gone too? You dont die, you lie there and have to CHOOSE to die. It makes every combat against a new enemy a huge danger since you have no idea if a single attack from one of their limbs is gonna reduce you to a meat cube.

This isnt even touching on the fact that alot of enemies and the overworld itself have insta kill mechanics that can only be circumvented by a calling the right side of a coin flip, which in turn can only be reduced in rng by adding a lucky coin you may find to the coin toss. Theres nothing as humbling as having a well equipped character simply die because a coin flip failure led to a giant ghost owl pecking there head into a blood mist, or realizing that theres no coin flip for a pitfall so failing to see past the fog and camouflage is just insta death.

The game is a learning experience in the harshest way possible, you are expected to die, and even then it doesnt tell you shit about anything. Some stuff outside of death are hinted at, but even those are easily miss-able. Theres nothing that tells you that getting 16 agility gives you two actions a turn, or that theres not one but two different types of fast travel that need to be unlocked by gaining favor with the gods through scarcely designated ritual circles.

This brutality is its biggest flaw as well though because youre punished for doing anything and everything, this includes saving. You have three days to beat the game, each day divided up into a morning, afternoon, and night. There are only three means of saving: resting (which transitions the game to the next part of the day), a rare book, and/or using one of the special ritual circles to summon a specific god (which gives up a fast travel point), both being a one time use (or three times for the ritual on easy mode). You are punished regardless the method of saving, and alot can happen when the day transitions. The only way you'll know something bad has happened to a potential party member is through trial and error, and that means the game demands an immense amount of your time and patience. This translates to inbetween events too as party will stay dead after combat unless using a very specific ability, and they can lose limbs as well.

All this compounds into how problematic the engine is, everything follows a single script. If anything is done in contrast to that script, like saving a character or doing an event out of order, alot of the programming will react poorly. My last playthrough had a guy outright vanish until the ending screen because I told him about the newly discovered safe zone too early. So its outright possible to miss things because of how unstable the game can get from your actions.

RPG maker also just kinda sucks for overworld stuff. The angled perspective of the game and the various props littered around the overworld make it very easy to get caught on things when youre moving around, and can outright doom you when youre trying to outmaneuver dangerous enemies. Movement itself is also clunky as hell, good luck trying to move diagonally consistently, and that really puts you at a disadvantage against the ai that can move without issue most of the time. Its also buggy as hell, I watched a character die despite saving them from another npc because the game still played out their death scene had I ignored them instead. I remember being a serious problem with the the first game too, and I really wish they were both on a different engine because it was alot of frustration for very artifical difficulty.

I wont complain too much about the rng. I hate excessive rng in general, and this game makes literally everything rng, even the items you get from random containers. Theres nothing that takes the wind out of your sails than finally managing to commit to a run only to find out that you were unlucky enough to not get a single recipe book, bible, or even the ingredients to make fucking necessary healing items. It sucks, fuck that.

Anyway, final run I managed to get the best items, and while I didnt manage to solo my desired ending that allowed everyone to survive, the people I wanted to live on through my sacrifice did. The only guy who didnt deserves to be a fucked up monster in the sewer because hes a child killer and a rapist so good riddance.

The game sucks in the early half, but once you figure shit out, or do the smart thing like me by looking at the wiki because I cherish my mental health, then you can spend the time admiring the actual presentation of the game's art, music, and writing. I hope if another one comes out that its no longer in rpg maker but thats a little bit of a pipe dream given how complex the game is. Oh well.

[razette]

Anyway, I finished my practice runs and am now starting a play through of Love and Deepspace in earnest.

Im not terribly into otome-style games (apart from Touched Starved, pls release soon *dramatic sigh*) but the LaDS is scratching a nice spot in my brain.

My second start was way better than my first, and I almost regret letting it go because I pulled a myth card near immediately. but I fucked up the initial grind for upgrade materials so bad. SO BAD. I fully expected this to happen, since thats one of the ways they getchya in gacha, but it is still kind of embaressing.

Its also unfortunate that I restarted just as Raphael's myth cards did a rerun. Im not overly sold on Raphael's character, but I had JUST decided my personal goal was to collect the myth cards when I saw that announcement. the myth cards are personally my favourite mechanic in the game so far.

This play through is going well and Im hitting the level caps easily now that I know whats going on. I suck ass at kitty cards, tho? Like, its mostly rng but even when it isnt Im still bad? embaressing. I will say the claw machine one is fun, but why does the banter taking so long? it could use about half the filler banter in some places.

I went and got Sylus early so I could level him up with everyone else. I thought about nabbing caleb right away too, but I havent decided if I care that his text messages will be out of order if I do. I dont think so? but I dont want to start over again, so im putting it off until Im more sure.

[imunbreakabledude]

Ah I understand now, yeah i really dont like how theres no in between a one down or 'being punished' with having to do a two down. Or seeing one of the balls floating towards you and having to decide whether you want to tank the damage or get out of the way or do another down instead. I think that's a big issue with the toa puzzles and some of its bosses, it's somewhat feasible to do them perfectly like not using supplies on the bosses or one downing the puzzles. But I find them to be deeply annoying to do perfectly rather than rewarding to do perfectly.

Anything that isnt a perfect clear feels like an L, did you miss one hit on akkha puzzle? Well do it again. Did you let the crocodile just barely reach the tree in crondis puzzle? Sit there like an idiot killing it and do another run. Did you fuck up pushing the water jug during crondis fight? Watch yourself take a billion damage from the yell. Like I know it's a skill issue through and through but it just doesn't feel fun to do the bosses or puzzles most of the time, its like 'sick im all done i can go do the actually fun part of the raid now'. I kind of treat them like chores which is a me problem i'll admit but I think the gauntlet comparison is pretty apt. The prep/challenge rooms on their own aren't bad but they're separating me from doing the actual thing i want. But like you said there's not much interaction between the challenge rooms and the final boss fight, you just have to do them. Unlike gauntlet where the prep and boss fight directly influence each other and there's variance so its a bit more interesting to go through each kc. No hate to the devs I think they knocked it out of the park, its just a me problem when it comes to toa and that sucks

Not to be an old ass man but cox feels like the gold standard for this type of raid, with the puzzles and stuff rather than a boss rush like tob. Even with how jank some of the rooms are, muttadile my beloathed, I actually feel like im doing something skillful when i complete them relatively flawlessly or do a quick raid.

But about about dry protection and blm I certainly could have explained myself better, i just didnt want to vomit about rs3 mechanics but the short version of it is that there are certain untradeable drops or upgrades that start out rare and after a kill or successful action they go from a 1/1000 to a 1/999 drop or whatever. There is also for the archaeology skill when you get an artefact the chance for the next one you get is halved for the one you previously got, this is simplified but i think you get what i mean. There's only one boss where blm exists and its after a certain amount of kills the chances for a unique go up a tiny bit each kill but have a cap so it isnt guaranteed to get something after enough kills and then it resets to normal drop rate when you get a unique. There's still the chance to get lucky and know you got lucky because you'd still have to kill the boss x amount times for blm to kick in enough but those crazy reddit dry posts is way lower now. I was kinda tweaking with the capped uniques or whatever in my last ask but I think the gentle nudge blm that exists in some parts of rs3 could do wonders for limited time modes like leagues where everyone is playing iron.

But I understand that the rng and grind is like the soul of both games so there's a balance to be had here and testing it really lightly in a limited time mode could be a good starting point. Also maybe i'll beat up for this but i think both main games could use a little blm here and there. Like it already exists for mains in the form of the ge but we've both seen those insane iron dry posts on reddit, I don't think it'd be horrible for the game to be a little more respectful of your time. Like both runescapes are insanely grindy for modern mmos and thats part of the charm but it gets to a point when you're playing iron where its like 'ok please let me progress now'.

I hope I responded to most things though, maybe i should start annotating my response in a google doc copy lol because i feel bad not responding to everything sometimes but i just dont know what to say.

pretty much agree with everything here, the type of dry protection where it's not guaranteed but rather a slowly increasing chance for uniques you haven't had after more kills is what I would prefer IF it were to come into OSRS. but I do have to say I did a major double take wondering why you were bringing up Black Lives Matter before realizing you meant bad luck mitigation lol

Don't worry about responding to every little thing I say haha I just tend to say a lot once I get going typing a post. but you don't need to address every bit of it, of course not :)

[bdigfreakingwooper]

Game Mechanics

If we actually wanted to analyze this matchup... Joltik surprisingly can rig the odds in its favor. Tinkaton's strongest attack here is Stone Edge.

252+ Atk Tinkaton Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Joltik: 122-144 (40.1 - 47.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252+ Atk Tinkaton Rock Slide vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Joltik: 90-108 (29.6 - 35.5%) -- 24.5% chance to 3HKO

A "guaranteed" 3HKO. Realistically, that's more likely to be a 4HKO with Stone Edge's accuracy. Seems like there are advantages to being small and not having a giant hammer.

Joltik's also far slower than Tinkaton, which means Thunder Wave is always a viable turn 1 click. Tinkaton can counter with Substitute, but an offensive Joltik breaks it with Thunder, leaving it net neutral.

From there the game slips further into an RNGfest. Protect and Substitute can be used to burn PP; all of Tinkaton's most reliable options like Smack Down and Knock Off fail to break Sub, so even if it breaks through paralysis it's got poor odds to actually do anything.

Tinkaton can mitigate the RNG with Swords Dance, so it only needs to succeed on accuracy checks once, but that means Substitute gets even morevtime to mess with her.

All of that is meaningless if Joltik can't counterattack, though.

4 SpA Joltik Thunder vs. 4 HP / 252 SpD Assault Vest Tinkaton: 40-48 (12.8 - 15.3%) -- possible 7HKO

4 SpA Joltik Thunder vs. 4 HP / 252 SpD Tinkaton: 58-70 (18.5 - 22.4%) -- possible 6HKO after Leftovers

Joltik would need to generate 7-8 free turns to win (accounting for thunder wave usage). With Thunder Wave in play, it's looking like Joltik is expected to get ~5 turns to actually attack. Hence the Substitute shenanigans - assuming Tinkaton goes for Swords Dance, each usage has a ~40% chance to generate a free turn for Joltik. With Eviolite, it can only make 4 before running out, which gives it 1.6 more free turns. Not quite enough.

But... If Tinkaton can only deal 25% at a time, you don't need Eviolite. Leftovers lets you make 5 Substitutes - 6 if you also run Protect, and by the time you reveal it Tinkaton isnt able to capitalize on your lack of Eviolite.

And hey, if you're bluffing Eviolite, you don't need all this HP and Defense, do you?

252+ SpA Joltik Thunder vs. 4 HP / 252 SpD Tinkaton: 90-106 (28.8 - 33.9%) -- 98.9% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery

Ignore the 252+ Atk Tinkaton Stone Edge vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Joltik: 288-340 (119.5 - 141%) -- guaranteed OHKO over there. If Tinkaton wants to call your bluff, it wasnt going to work in the first place.

Is this enough for me to say Joltik has a winning matchup vs Tinkaton? Of course not.

But gameplay mechanics were never the reason either of these competitors made it this far. It's silly to claim you care about that now when Tinkaton and Joltik have both been slaying gods via sheer aura.

Anime Depictions

As far as I'm aware, these two have never met in the anime. Most mons haven't.

But much like how swords in Nickelodeon shows never actually draw blood to maintain their show's ratings, hammers rarely get used to squish bugs like you'd expect them to. It'd be too brutal to depict. But when you think about it, it makes sense, doesn't it?

As fantastical as Pokemon is, real-life tactics often do prove effective in the anime - see Scizor vs Mega Kangaskhan, where Scizor places Kangaskhan's baby between itself and the mother, forcing Mama Kangaskhan to abort her attacks to keep from aborting her child. (There arent any gifs of that on Tumblr but you can youtube it.) Similarly, Pikachu vs Tobias's Latios shows that even extremely powerful pokemon can be defeated by simply latching onto a blindspot and hitting it repeatedly.

Tinkaton's usual prey is allegedly Corviknight (despite having no moves that are effective against it). Hammers are designed to crush armored targets, ones that are large enough to require that kind of force. Against something like Joltik, the only attack that would really work would be a big downward swing - a highly committal attack, one that leaves a massive deadzone right in front of Tinkaton. Splatoon players can relate.

That's assuming Tinkaton is even able to see Joltik's tiny little self coming. Either way, at point-blank range, a hammer is too unwieldy to attack with, and Tinkaton's stubby little limbs aren't helping.

Of course, that'd never depict this in the anime. They need to monetize their little cash cow; can't have it looking weak.

Joltik is not ashamed to admit that it is weak. That in itself is a strength.

It's quite shameless to complain about a weaker pokemon flipping the tables when Tinkaton has been doing so this entire time. But, any possible advantage must be taken when your favorite is in line to be crowned champion. As the gamers say, "we take those."

If it wasn't already obvious by now, my favorite is Joltik.

The effects of playthrough experience on favoritism

... why did I decide to make these big titles when I only had two in mind.

For a lot of people, Tinkaton was a must-have on their playthrough team. The idea of "pink girl thing with Big Hammer" was simply too appealing to pass up; Game Freak knew that when they gave it anime emphasis.

(You can see this same line of logic permeating other designs like Ceruledge. No shade if that's your favorite - it's a lot of peoples' for a reason.) From there you probably smash through most of the gyms with it, rotating between it, your starter, and everything else you decided to put on your team. It's a tried and true formula for an appealing pokemon - hook you in with the design, then grow closer to it as it destroys everything you point it at.

Joltik, comparatively, has a significantly narrower opportunity to become someone's favorite. Between being released all the way back in gen 5 and not becoming an Icon the way Gardevoir or Eevee did, it's not a pokemon in many peoples' minds - despite what Ingo and Emmet would tell you. Its native Unova places it in Chargestone Cave, perfectly poised to farm experience by destroying Skyla's gym. That's another classic Pokemon recipe, and for RPGs in general - make a boss that you can fight, and also give the player something that makes the boss way easier right next to them. But even the most classic example - Diglett's cave next to Surge's gym - doesn't make a pokemon particularly well beloved. Even then, Joltik's only one of several Electric-types you have access to by then. One with a unique typing at the time, sure, but it's basically just another pokemon.

Every pokemon is designed to have fans, of course. That's why they keep releasing more. But some pokemon get a bit more attention from Gamefreak in that regard than others.

What's the point of all of this?

"This is supposed to be about how well they fight each other, not which one wins a popularity contest, right?"

And yet both of our competitors have shown that the battlefield of the cartirdges means little in this contest. I'm not here to analyze that anymore. I'm here to analyze which wins the battle in the heart of the people.

Tinkaton, seemingly, has every advantage. It's got power, a dedicated fanbase, a powerful typing, a signature move that would be broken in the hands of any pokemon designed for it, a typing specifically designed to slay dragons, and an attitude that's perfect for any underdog story.

But that's exactly the problem. Tinkaton is not the underdog here. It's hard to present yourself as a David and Goliath story when you're 7x taller than your opponent.

(Not pictured: Normal rayquaza getting whooped just as badly as Mega Ray)

Tinkaton won every single one of its matches by being the... Overdog? It had a massive type advantage either defensively or offensively against nearly all of them, and that's reflected in the percentages. Even with the type advantage, it wouldnt have won many of its later matchups - that difference is what we call the Power of Friendship. In all those matchups, Tinkaton barely had to break a sweat.

Joltik, on the other hand?

(Sorry if this is too fast but I couldnt figure out how to make it any slower on my phone)

At least half of those were actively disadvantageous to Galvantula. In other words, even without the advantages offered by all of Tinkaton's unique traits, Joltik pulled through. Joltik fought for its life against Slither Wing, against Alolan Ninetales, against Flutter Mane. And it's still standing. It's holding its ground against Tinkaton, the fan-favorite of the most recent generation.

Joltik is counting on YOU. The race is neck and neck - we can make it happen.

Tumblr's Pokémon Battle Tournament: Finals

We've finally made it! We're down over a 1000 pokémon, and there are two left who have made it all the way to the top, the final 2 of Tumblr's Pokémon battle tournament. In the left corner we have, standing at 10 centimetres tall and weighing 600 grams, Joltik, the Bug/Electric type Attaching Pokémon! In the right corner we have, standing at 0.7 meters and a whopping 112.8 kilograms (although I strongly suspect that the hammer is taken into account when weighing but that's neither here nor there), Tinkaton, the Fairy/Steel type Hammer Pokémon! Who will win this battle and earn the title of Tumblr's Pokémon battling champion?

[tunapesto]

i love gnsn tcg . tcg haters dni

[cwunchi]

do you ever have something click in your mind

[starrazors]

my thoughts on new weapons (that ive tried in turf war) + some extra thoughts:

painbrush

its nice. it threatens a lot of weapons and gets quick kills if you can get past the lag before the first swing. trying to use the brush roll mechanic to escape tight spots is pretty hard due to that lag, though. maybe i just suck at the game but every time ive tried it fails.

i like curling bomb on it, a bit finicky but it can catch people off guard well. quick movement alternative to the brush roll is also nice, though it doesnt work as well.

it can combo VERY nicely with wavebreaker. i believe it just straight up kills people on the first swipe if they took wavebreaker damage beforehand but im not 100% sure on that

s-blast

its definitely one of if not the best blaster out right now. it gets kills very quick if you can hit the direct, and abusing tech with jump shots allows for your shots to have little to no shot rng i think which is really good. technical stuff aside, its just really good at killing, though its painting isnt amazing. i think thats why they put sprinkler on it

sprinkler isnt good on this weapon. i just use it to paint and build special. if youre in a pinch it can paint your feet and briefly block an attack, but itd be better to try to get a quick direct with the main weapon

not sure how i feel about reefslider being on this weapon at the moment. it isnt bad, but it isnt good, either. couldve been worse

heavy splatling deco

i only used it for like, 3 games and i dont know how to play this thing, but i like it. it reminds me of naut, probably because it has point sensor and functions better at midline lol

kraken is interesting, it can do the job, though im not good at using kraken so i cant give a reliable opinion on it. i struggled moving from back/midline to frontline to activate it, but that could very well just be a skill issue so take that with a grain of salt

light tetra dualies

okay i used this once so my opinion will definitely change in the future, but i prefer the original kit atm. zipcaster is better but i dont know how to use it lol. i miss my autobombs..

it cant take advantage of sprinkler well, i wish it got literally anything else. im a bit of a sprinkler hater

big swig roller express

okay im a bit of a liar, i havent even played this one at all. but a friend said it combos really well with angle shooter for kills and with ink storm for painting

side note: i fought against someone using one on flounder heights splat zones and they were so annoying (i mean this in a positive manner). we traded zones like every 5 seconds and they killed me many times despite me having the favorable matchup (i was using naut) really fun and tense match

im not gonna main any of them BUT these are all good weapons, some better than others. not sure about the other new releases. still gotta wait for a new naut kit, though... hope it gets suction bomb+trizooka/inkjet 🙏 (it wont)

snipewriter 5h

why is this here? it got the biggest buff ive ever seen in salmon run: each shot from a full charged set deals 240 damage. to put that into perspective, it now:

3-shots steel eels, scrappers, and slammin lids

4-shots drizzlers (easier one-cycle from before)

can now one cycle and 5-shot big shots, armored flipper floppers

call me crazy, but this thing went from a charger that was good based on niche uses to genuinely being one of the best chargers in salmon run. used this in the most recent rotation and it perform REALLY well. when i discovered how quickly it can kill flipper floppers my jaw literally dropped mid-match. ive always loved using snipewriter in sr but, damn, its amazing now

thats all i have to say