#then there's also bug fables which i played the first chapter or so of and definitely want to get back to at some point

[eri-blogs-life]

Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth

This has definitely been one of the games that I played this year.

So I have... a lot of thoughts about Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth and I wanna talk about. These thoughts might not be super contiguous or all track logically, but honestly, that’s just kind of the same as the experience that I had playing Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth (I’ll just say CS for short going forward). CS is a good game, and I enjoyed my time with it a lot, but it also is a bit baffling at times and so it’s like... I like it, I had a good time with it mostly, but there are bits that made me just feel confusion as to whether I could actually call this a good game. 

So... I’m gonna try organizing my thoughts here based on the game’s title to start, cause that seems like a fun way to start out with this writeup of my thoughts.

The Digimon

So, I’ve attempted to play through this game 3 times now. The first time, I picked up the version on PS4 second-hand from gamestop and made it maybe 4 chapters into the 20-chapter story before a better big game captured my attention. The second time, I bought the Complete Edition when it came out on Switch and attempted another playthrough. I think that time I made it 6 chapters in, but issues with the game’s difficulty and my bigger interest in other games that were out at the same time made me fall off of it. Lately, I’ve been on a kick of playing through really big JRPGs on the Switch, and I figured this was the time to really push my way through. But to do that, I had to find the fun. Because my previous times, I didn’t find it to be a ton of fun - the story was meh, the experience was extremely linear, the difficulty had weird spikes and valleys all around, and it just didn’t seem that fun. But I was recently watching a retrospective on the digimon franchise (shout out to Billiam on youtube for that if you’re interested), and while watching I came to the realization that the fun of digimon has always been different than in pokemon (the comparison to pokemon is, unfortunately, always inevitable when talking about digimon - the two were so closely intertwined in popular culture in america in the late 90s / early 00′s that it’s hard to deny there’s something to connect them)

Pokemon’s about catching them all. Digimon’s about raising a partner. Digimon started as a tamogatchi brand marketed towards boys, with cool monsters you could fight with each other. The fun of digimon has always been seeing your partner(s) grow and become new forms. And that’s where I finally found the fun in Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth.

The fun is in bonding. I found out in my second playthrough how to nickname digimon, and that became my go-to when I would get a new digimon on my team in this playthrough. Every digimon had a nickname. Early on I had a team consisting of Willis, Stinky, Specty, Babby, Evil Babby, Big Bird, Tomato, Axey, and Beedril. Over time, I got to watch these fools grow - Willis from a Terriermon into a Gallantmon CM, Stinky from a Guilmon into a Diaboromon, Specty got fused with someone called Shellby and went from Specty the Patamon to Shellspecty the Cherrymon, Babby fused with Big Bird and the two ended up as an Aeroveedramon, and so on. 

The fun of the game was in watching as these monsters I’d bonded with became stronger and changed into new and different forms. And that was the fun of the game for most of the early game for me, and continued throughout the game, mostly.

Ultimately, the game has some weird difficulty spikes at times, especially in some of the sidequests, which feel nearly impossible. I ended up focusing heavily on trying to find all my digimon final forms that had penetrating moves (moves which ignore the enemy’s defense or intelligence when calculating damage), because a lot of the game’s main story bosses are heavily focused on having high defense, and relatively low HP. So, that meant that I couldn’t just use all my favorite digimon. Some just didn’t have what it takes to hold up against certain fights, and I had to move them away from forms I really liked to try to find them stronger forms so I could complete the sidequests. It was still entertaining to play, and did have me continuing to see my digimon grow over time and we bonded, but it also felt a bit lackluster that some favorite mega-level forms just didn’t have what it took to deal with some of the late-game sidequests (at least in hard difficulty, which I played through on - thankfully you can change the difficulty during a playthrough, so I could have dropped it to try to do the sidequests, but I didn’t opt to do that. I just still haven’t beat all the sidequests, instead focusing on the main quest). 

the game doesn’t have a lot of animated cutscenes but those it does have come out strong

The Story

CS’s story is... fine. I think it’s probably a decently good story that’s just told confusingly. And I think there’s a couple reasons for that, but one of the biggest is that the translation is not the best. It’s passable, but it doesn’t always feel like things were translated in a holistic way to the whole game, rather it feels like each line was translated on its own, which leads to things feeling like they don’t all track together naturally at times, and a bunch of mistakes like the Eaters being referred to as Bakemon (a digimon name), because in Japanese they’re referred to sometimes as bakemono, which is just the Japanese word for a monster.

The other big issue I feel I have with the story of CS is that it feels like it’s all over the place, at least early on. Early on in the game, the story starts to set up a lot of different characters and plot threads that don’t seem to really connect with each other until much later in the game. That kind of story can be told well, but in this case, I just feel like the execution left a lot to be desired. For a long time, it felt like I was just playing through a bunch of different unrelated stories rather than a singular story. I’m not sure exactly what would be the right way to implement the idea to help keep the early game’s story interesting, but as it is, it felt a little lackluster.

However, that really only applies to the early game. And the late game, though in a bit of a different way. Around chapter 8 out of 20, the story starts popping off, and the individual stories concerning all the side characters start coming together to reveal the bigger picture of what’s been happening in Tokyo and Eden lately, and what issues that’s leading to in both the real and digital worlds. And from about chapter 8 through 19 or so, it feels really good and strong and there’s a clear singular direction that the story is taking, and every new piece of information seems to feed into the major plot in some way. 

And then as you get into the last chapter, things start to feel a little less narratively tied together again. See, yes, the mysteries were building into a singular situation that was threatening both the real and digital worlds, but the game feels like it lacks a narrative throughline, or even multiple narrative throughlines for each major character. It feels like there’s no moral being focused on here, rather, it feels like there’s just a series of events that happen because it would be cool to have them happen. And they were cool. But... to really make a story feel good to me, I feel like there needs to be some sense of a complete narrative moral, and I just didn’t feel that way from this game. The closest I could tell was one line from the ending,

“You will now be the master of your own future.”

But... that feels weak. It didn’t feel like being able to control their own future was much of a theme for any of the main characters, except maybe Arata. And even then, it was a pretty weak theme. (I suppose an argument could be made that the game’s very linear story means your character doesn’t have a lot of freedom from a gameplay perspective, so the gameplay supports you not having control over your future, but... that’s a pretty weak argument.)

So, the story is interesting, but it’s also pretty weak. 

fusion evolution is apparently gay as hell and i love it

The Cyber Sleuthing

There’s not really any actual sleuthing in this game. It’s really just a narrative device to give your character a reason to help out with a variety of random situations. You very rarely, if ever, have to actually solve mysteries/puzzles during your journey. So... not much actual sleuthing. But the greater mystery of the story does get really interesting in the mid game, so I’ll give it that. 

Other stuff

Here, I just wanna talk about some other miscellaneous thoughts I have about this game, and then kinda sum it all up. 

I loved Persona 5. It was a wonderful game, and such a powerful turn-based JRPG, that it’s influenced my perception of basically every JRPG I’ve played since. And it feels weird to do that. Like I feel like CS is a really decent game taken on its own, but when I’m comparing everything in some way to Persona 5, CS feels like it sucks. Like there are so many aspects where I can see ways to improve upon the game - the translation is lacking, there’s no english dub, combat is fairly smooth but Persona’s combat always feels like it’s a puzzle to be solved but CS’s combat feels like it’s just ‘have the right type digimon in play’, add more social elements to let me grow closer to Yuuko, Nokia, Arata, and other characters. 

There’s this narration near the end of the game to explain how things change after the big final boss battle, and it’s narrated by one of the in-game characters, Nokia. And it’s amazing, because Nokia’s character can be kinda... ditzy, I guess is the right word? So there are parts in that bit of narration where she’s just like “and, you know... stuff changed” or whatever. It’s both funny, and leaves things fairly up to the player to have their own interpretations for what happens with everyone after things are over. There’s some small scenes after that narration that show some of what the main cast has been up to since the events of the final battle, but nothing that gives too much of a clue as to what happened.

----

There is a running gag throughout the whole game about how your mentor character likes experimenting with coffee, making weird blends like adding red bean paste or seaweed to her coffee, and she loves pushing this on other people who often react in horror. But there’s also this really nice scene in the finale where it shows the main character, without Kyoko around, drinking mayo coffee, and I think it’s just cute as heck

There’s a canon nonbinary character in the game, who complains about being forced to choose between either a male or female avatar when logging into the online system, and I absolutely love that kinda shit <3

My favorite status effect is one called Dot, where it converts your digimon into a sprite form and prevents them from using special attacks. And I love when JRPGs add fun unique statuses like this, which make sense within the context of the world

In Summary

So, to tie it all together, here’s my final thoughts:

I enjoyed my time with Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth a ton. But I’m a fan of digimon and jrpgs. I think the game has its fair share of problems that mean I couldn’t really recommend it to just anyone, but if you like digimon and jrpgs, it’s worth picking up. And the complete edition comes with two games for the price of one, so all the better. 

[nightmarefueler]

Okay, now that I've had ample time to gather my EXTENSIVE thoughts on Bug Fables, here they are. I'm going to go from what I liked the most down to neat little things, then minor nitpicks to more glaring flaws. Yes, I will be going over some spoilers, so click through at your own risk.

The first and most obvious praise I can give it, THE SOUNDTRACK KICKED ASS. Sure, not every song hit, and a couple of them had bits that didn't go on long enough (specifically the ending measures or so of Sand Castle and the level up fanfare), but other than that, I was being surprised left and right by the techniques each song used! Dynamic transitions between two versions, mismatched tempos for each instrument, playing off-key, a battle theme in power waltz time, I never knew what to expect! My favorite has to be the Forsaken Lands; the off-key notes being as subtle as they are drive home how dense and lonely this place is. It helped to make this my favorite area in the game, with Vi flying over this vast expanse of nothing to it after the Wasp King stole the artifacts was truly special.

Also, the chapter 1 boss theme is swing jazz. Your argument is invalid.

Speaking of Vi, she and the rest of Team Snakemouth worked wonderfully as main protagonists, both as individuals and as a group with genuine chemistry. Their banter was so good, in fact, it even helped to enhance the worldbuilding (which I was already invested in on its own) and vice versa! I never really bothered to use the Tattle command in Paper Mario aside from filling up the bestiary, but here, I was pressing that button CONSTANTLY in the field wondering what the team would say next, and it was entertaining almost every time. Any game that can pull off something like that gets serious respect from me.

The battle system is what The Thousand Year Door should have been the entire time. Not only did having only three party members make the experience more focused, there was just so much you could so with them! Team relay, free swapping, each character having their own unique properties? Vi hitting airborne enemies, Leif's ice magic digging up underground enemies, and Kabbu's defense piercing in exchange for only letting him attack the first grounded enemy in line? SCREW YOU, STICKER STAR, THIS IS HOW YOU DO THAT NO FREE TARGETING THING RIGHT.

Not only that, but getting new abilities through level up like a traditional RPG made me realize just how important that is when compared to Paper Mario. Getting new party members and upgrading them a couple times each over the course of the game is fine and everything, but I think I prefer this. Your strategy constantly evolves with the characters you're stuck with, and it makes even regular enemy encounters far more than just mashing the attack button to win, to say nothing of how the bosses test your knowledge of the system. If all of that's somehow not enough for you, then how about dual and triple techs a la Chrono Trigger??? Guys. You really shouldn't have. You already won.

Pacing was pretty spot-on the whole way through. The balance between story and side quests was in near-perfect equilibrium, and none of them ever dragged for too long. The story progression saw similar lengths for each of the chapters, and while similar in structure, had enough unique about them that it made me curious what would happen next.

The simple colors of the 3D environments are vibrant, clean, and pleasing to the eye, and the same can be said about the 2D characters. Their designs for the most part are pretty varied, and too many I can count where I took one look at them and went "I immediately love you now". Vi, Zasp, Samira, and the three chefs are all at the top of that list.

And now for the ugly part!

I encountered a glitch when examining the goddess statue from the Golden Settlement inn where the dialogue sounds stopped playing until the dialogue tree was finished. Thankfully, I could still tell who was saying what because of their distinct mannerisms, but that seems pretty hard to miss in play testing.

More than a few grammatical errors, especially missing commas between phrases. There were also a couple spelling mistakes, particularly "dawdle" as "dwadle" and "to" as "too". I might not be the best at that myself, but that's not gonna stop me from noticing these things. Be glad you're not a novel, or else this would be WAY worse.

My least favorite part of the game had to be the bandits' hideout. It's a stealth segment (because of course), but not only that, the stealth itself barely lasted 10 minutes, if even that. So I need to ask... What was even the point of taking my stuff away when I was just going to get it back almost immediately?

I do also need to know why Maki didn't appear again after the tutorial until chapter 5. He looked like he would be a pretty cool supporting character, so why not find more things for him to do?

Speaking of which, I was about to write off the Wasp King as a bad villain with boring motivations, but after learning more about him, I kind of understand what they were trying to accomplish. He's not even a wasp, he's a mimic fly whose unremarkability permeates every facet of him, even after becoming the Wasp King, which is reflected in his plain robes. I can respect that and the subversion of the whole "the benevolent ruler was evil all along" trope, and it was clever how anyone moderately versed in social insects would ask "Why isn't he a queen?" before the truth is revealed.

However, I think he should have had more presence in the story so it didn't look like he came out of nowhere. Have him do things off-screen that might look like something only Elizant could have done, but observant people would be questioning that logic. Make it more and more obvious there's something wrong with the picture, maybe make it ambiguous who the real bad guy is. Make him try as hard as he can to become someone who stands out, but fail at it while still being threatening. Just, something to build the Wasp King himself up properly. They did so well with Leif in that regard, so why not with this?

Overall, though, I had a good time with Bug Fables. However unlikely it may be, I do hope a sequel gets made at some point in the future and touches more upon the likes of the plant gods and the Dead Landers.

[flecks-of-stardust]

zasp be upon you (for the character ask)

(ask game referenced) [link to inbox]

oh shit i didnt even think about bug fables. Huh

First impression: i,,, honestly did not realize zasp was in the association in chapter one until i watched my friend start playing the game. sieve brain strikes again asfdgkjhs so first impression of him there probably was something along the lines of 'asshole. okay fine.' my first vivid impression of him would have been at the golden festival, and i just went along with team snakemouth's diagnosis of 'jerk' JKFKJ Impression now: i Love him. also a really fun character to explore, particularly in the context of his and mothiva's relationship. he clearly has some pretty interesting morals that he sticks to, which adds an interesting complexity to his character that i really appreciate. also hes just. cool. sdfgasd Favorite moment: im biased, but probably the moment when he shows up in chapter four (i think) and saves team snakemouth. you know the moment im talking about. i was not expecting it at All and probably watched him kick ass with my jaw hanging open. and again, character complexity! i kind of sideeye the canon relationship he has with mothiva but that aside, i really like how the devs fleshed him out Idea for a story: ,,,,,,,, i havent let myself work on any bug fables fics. because i know once i start, im never going to focus on my schoolwork ever again between my hollow knight au (dreamless) and whatever bug fables au i come up with. in the future though, perhaps i will write something. these characters are really interesting and i wanna work with them,, Unpopular opinion: i dont. think i have any. i havent put a ton of thought into him tbh. i guess i kind of see him as like,, lawful neutral? if i were to put something here? that's a fun alignment to work with dskgjkj Favorite relationship: i mean i dislike canon mothivaxzasp, but also fanon interpretations of that are really interesting from what ive heard. also outside of canon, whatever relationship he forms with team snakemouth would be really interesting to explore, but i havent found anything exploring that yet sfgjks Favorite headcanon: i aint got shit. idfk. i did notice that he has these little puff things on his legs though? which im assuming are from a past collection that mothiva produced. sometimes it looks like its a knee brace though, which 👀

[evajellion]

2020 vidya ranking: #1 Bug Fables The Everlasting Sapling

You already knew that I was going to tell you that this was the best game I had played last year.

Imo, this should have been indie GOTY back in 2019, but whatever, I guess I should explain why I ranked this one at the top.

Back in 2004, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door was released. I had sadly missed out on getting the original game on the Nintendo 64, but I was nonetheless very excited for the sequel. I got the game, still have my copy even years later… aaaand I got confused in Rogueport Sewers because I was a dumb eight year old, but I swear I picked up the game a second time. Got through all of the chapters, and had fallen in love with the game.

I loved the characters, the battle system, the story, the chapter progression, the cooking system, even the hidden lore and the amount of side quest scattered throughout the game. I even cried. It was the first time I had cried over a video game.

I wanted more, but then, Nintendo didn’t do it again. Sure, Super Paper Mario had a fantastic story, and a lot of people treasure that game the way I do TTYD-- I wouldn’t even mind if the series stayed in that direction. After that though?

Well, Sticker Star happened and stripped away all of the things I loved. Two similar games and one spin-off followed after that. Needless to say, me and several other fans of 64, TTYD, and Super weren’t happy about it. Seemed like I would never get another game like the one that was so dear to me ever again.

Cue me finding Arlo’s video about a cute little game called Bug Fables, just around the summer time. It had come out in 2019 and had been in development for some time by an indie studio. I was skeptic, but at this point I wanted anything-- besides, I actually love insects.

And after the first two chapters, which were a bit bland, I found it. I found the game I had been looking for. I was so afraid that this would be another Mighty No. 9 or Yooka-Laylee, but Bug Fables was anything but. Sure, it took inspiration from Paper Mario with its gameplay structure, but saying that this game is “just Paper Mario” doesn’t do it justice, because game can stand tall on its own.

I loved just about everything here in the same way I loved TTYD. Characters (except for two), the battle system, the story, the chapter progression, the cooking system, the hidden lore and the amount of side quest-- and there was even more than that.

“Gee what did Bug Fables have that Paper Mario didn’t?”

More than one super boss

A card game

Three party members in battle at a time

An entire side quest chapter that you can miss

An in-game randomizer

Higher difficulty settings

FREE DLC

Actual quality of life improvements

And finally, a villain who doesn’t just get a mere slap on the wrist as punishment for their actions. It’s one of the things Super did far better than TTYD because Beldam being let off scott free in the ending always pissed me off as a kid. The final boss is less ham-fisted in general too.

You have three characters at all times-- they’re your only party members and the only ones you need because they’re all perfectly balanced: Kabbu, Vi, and Leif. The third of which you won’t even meet until a bit into the first chapter. You don’t have to worry about wasting turns by switching your members out in this game.

The story starts off simple with the team of three collecting artifacts for Queen Elizant II, who seeks the Everlasting Sapling for an unspecified reason. About half way through the game and into the fourth chapter, the tone of the situation begins to shift, as the wicked wasps from the Wasp Kingdom also seek these artifacts for their lord.

This game doesn’t skimp out on being accurate to bug details either, there are little nods to how things work in real life, which is something I always appreciate. There isn’t really a dull moment in the story or a second where you feel stuck, because with the amount of Medals you get, there are plenty of strategies you can play around with.

Bug Fables is also… surprisingly dark, which perhaps isn’t unfitting of a game inspired by Paper Mario, given the direction TTYD and Super would get into. I can’t really spoil anything in regards to that, because much like with Three Houses, I would rather someone experience that themselves.

In terms of the flaws in this game, I can only think of two. One is regarding a terrible Flappy Bird game that’s required for 100%. It just shouldn’t be there, or at least be easier on the eyes.

The other is that this game suffers from having too many characters, when only four of them get actual character arcs: The main trio and the queen. You have some characters that get more fleshed out in side quests such as fellow team members or NPCs, but I feel like other “major players” suffer in the process.

Neolith is a big one. Cute nerdy moth who just exists as exposition for the artifacts and is a part of Kabbu’s backstory, but he never really does anything besides that, which is disappointing because he’s very cute. I would have loved more lore to him and Kabbu’s past, maybe a future DLC quest can solve that!

Your “rival team” also suffers a bit in this department. The team leader, Mothiva, is a snooty diva who never properly gets her comeuppance or realization that she needs to stop making everything about herself. I guess that’s the point, to give that vibe similar to old Pokémon rivals. But we’re supposed to believe she’s an official couple with her partner; Zasp, who just seems to simp for her in a one-sided way. Perhaps this could also be fixed with another DLC quest.

The worst of the bunch is Kina, Maki’s overly protective and possessive sister to the point of it being creepy. Unlike Mothiva, who is your rival, Kina is supposed to be a supporting cast member, yet she has even less likable traits. She stalks her brother and constantly wants to be with him, gets upset at the idea of him needing space, threatens a small caterpillar character-- you could remove her from the story and it changes nothing. There’s not even a backstory reason for her to be the way she is.

Mind you-- these are very minor nitpicks that don’t really bog down the game. Some may say the main villain of the game suffers from this as well since he shows up halfway into the game, I personally think he was handled perfectly, because you can piece together his motivations and backstory through lore.

Speaking of lore, I hope with so much in this game, that we end up getting a sequel. There are so many questions left unanswered, so much more I wanna know about! 

Other than that thought? The trio of Kabbu, Vi, and Leif and their story is just about perfect. I can’t thank Arlo enough for introducing me to it, and I think this game will catch on more in the future since Chuggaconroy said he was playing it on Twitter, and Fatguy just completed his LP of the game.

I think… we’re entering an age where we should start expecting this level of quality from indie developers more often. This game didn’t feel like an indie game, it felt like a grade a RPG. Which is funny, because that’s what Paper Mario used to be.

God speed, Paper Bug devs. Keep up the good work in the future, thank you for bringing back a feeling I thought I’d never experience with a video game again. I know it sounds cheesy and stupid, but that’s.. just how much Paper Mario effected me back then. Even now, it inspires the books I wanna write, and it’s safe to say Bug Fables did the same.

By the way, can I talk about how delicious some of the food items look in this game? This is insect cuisine, and even I would eat these.

For recap on what the other games I had played this year were, just so you know how Bug Fables topped ‘em:

2. Fire Emblem: Three Houses

3. Animal Crossing: New Horizons

4. Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town

5. Super Mario All-Stars

6. Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and The Blade of Light

7. Final Fantasy VII

8. F-Zero

9. Star Fox

10. Puyo Puyo Champions

[notajinn]

Top 9 Games Played in 2020: Number 1: Bug Fables

Rising from the ashes of the once-great Paper Mario series comes a game I never expected.

A beautiful little game called Bug Fables.

Where It Excels

Bug Fables is thoroughly inspired by the first two Paper Mario games, and it shows. It uses a similar battle system, a Medal system similar to Badges, and even similar paper-like aesthetics. It would be easy to just say "wow, what a ripoff" and brush it aside.

But this is not a copy-paste of Paper Mario. This is clearly designed with love for those games, and for the people who enjoyed them. This is a game that says "yes Paper Mario was good, but how could it be improved?"

So let's talk about what it does differently (and arguably better) instead.

The story does not have the history of the Mario series to build on, so Bug Fables relies on having to be an interesting self-contained world. It does a good job providing lore as you move forward through the early story, and you can find optional Lore Books that give background into things like why some bugs evolved into intelligent beings, and the past conflicts between different groups. As someone who does not like most bugs in-person, they did a good job getting me invested. The tone is often lighthearted, but able to become serious when needed. The world feels more grounded than Mario, so there's a greater sense of danger during darker plot points.

I loved all three main characters (Kabbu the Beetle, Vi the Bee, and Leif the Moth) by the end, though some take longer to become interesting than others. Each of them feels well fleshed out, and get at least one important backstory sidequest.

And while it initially appears to follow the Paper Mario structure of "find the special items in episodic adventures, then go fight the final boss", it actually feels more like a traditional RPG because the story evolves over time.

In battle, you have three full party members. Each of them have their own HP and specials, and can equip individual Medals. You can change the formation of battle to decide who is in the front (more damage but more aggro) or back (less aggro but normal damage). Importantly you can also pass a turn to another party member, which depending on the enemies and formations may be your best option. For example if you have a bunch of flying enemies, you can just pass an extra turn to Vi so she can continue grounding them. There are certain enemy types that can only be reached by certain character's regular attacks, but you can often use a Special to overcome a lack of reach at the cost of SP. There are even combination attacks that take multiple characters' turns in order to deliver especially devastating specials.Each attack and special also have a unique action command that lets you make them better with good button inputs.

Medals are your equipment replacement, and can give you new active or passive abilities, or just raise your stats. However unlike Paper Mario, most the especially powerful Medals (like boosting your attack) are offset with a weakness (lowering your defense). This means you need more strategy than "I'll just equip this attack-boosting Medal." I'd argue there's less active ability Medals in Bug Fables than Paper Mario, but the greater strategy to the passive abilities makes up for it. There’s even strange setups like giving yourself poison but having +1 defense.

There are two EXTREMELY important Medals that Bug Fables copies from Paper Mario, but in a better way. One immediately defeats weak enemies on the field when you touch them. The other prevents enemies from getting a first strike on you. And Bug Fables gives you both of these extremely early with low MP cost. These make backtracking significantly less frustrating. The backtracking was one of the worse parts of the Paper Mario games, so I appreciate this. You also still get a fast movement option after a few chapters.

Quests are very well organized. You'll find a quest board in every town, and can take as many quests at once as you want. There's a quest log in your menu to keep track of them, and it updates as you go through steps of multi-step ones. And often a quest-important NPC will have an exclamation over their head to make them easier to spot. A lot of them have fun interactions and situations, so they’re definitely worth doing. Only one is a particularly long fetch quest with item trading, but it feels like a purposeful parody.

A lot of strengths in this game come from convenience. For example, you can fast travel between towns almost as soon as you unlock a new town. And you have two-item cooking unlocked from very early-game. These were things that felt unnecessarily gated in Paper Mario. Every party member can also scan the enemy to get stats and provide some information, whereas Paper Mario restricted it to one partner. As a bonus, this means you get three unique pieces of dialogue for every enemy depending on who you have initiate the scan.

Dungeons and their puzzles feel much more involved. There is less emphasis on platforming, and more on using your characters abilities like creating ice blocks. It's a step closer to a Zelda dungeon, which is appreciated. Save stones are well-paced enough to not make exploring feel to daunting either.

In terms of design and sound, it's strong for an indie title. They can't quite compare to a big publisher like Nintendo, but the world and characters look pretty good. And there's at least a few songs I still have stuck in my head.

The game also feels much harder than Paper Mario, which is good because I felt those games were too easy. It can be rough early on when you're learning, but fun once you get the hang of it. The game never gets to a point where you just steamroll everything either, so you'll have to continue paying attention for the whole game. I know some people like to overpower enemies, but I think that gets boring.

Where It Falls Short

While I don't like steamrolling enemies, I do like a sense of progression. And Bug Fables has that in many forms, like levels, and field abilities.

But at no point in the story do your standard attacks do more damage. Paper Mario would give you upgraded boots and hammers and you progress for more damage, but you'll keep hitting for your normal 2 damage here outside of Medals or an optional expensive upgrade. I know that in-universe it may have been weird to explain why Kabbu's horn is suddenly stronger, but they managed to give reasons for Vi not to fly despite being a bee for a long time.

There's also a dungeon puzzle near the end of the game that I found annoying. The solution to one section was actually to defeat a particular enemy. Given I was avoiding enemies at this point looking for a puzzle solution, this took longer than I'd like to admit.

You can also optionally get a fourth sort-of-party member, which I only learned about by accident when looking up Medal strategies. However it is not from an official sidequest that appears on the board, and I honestly missed any hints towards it. I was expecting them to show up in the late-game, but as I was getting ready for the final chapter I still didn't have them. Only when I specifically looked up what to do was I able to find them. I don't mind optional party members, but you need a little more guidance than what Bug Fables provided.

My final complaint may be strange, but...the game does not have a cliffhanger ending. It's a self-contained story that resolves everything important. Which means I don't think they can easily get another game out of this. But I'd love to see another similar game by this team.

Maybe if they do a time-skip and follow a different set of characters, it could potentially work.

Final Thoughts

Bug Fables is yet another indie title that proves you don't need to be a big studio to make an incredible game.

If you like classic Paper Mario, or just fun RPGs, I highly recommend giving it a shot.

[puniper]

Would you mind talking a little bit more about bug fables? I've been on the fence about getting it

mm..Well as you probably know the game is hugely inspired by paper mario and I might add also pokemon mystery dungeon, it revolves around ‘adventure teams’ that take on missions to help people, the game is p cute and charming but can actually getting pretty dark and even straight up scary at the end, without spoiling anything, I’m going to say that the game has a way deeper lore than what you’ll expect 

The battle system is essentially the same as paper mario but its got a few changes to it that actually gives room for strategizing and an actual hard mode that makes the game actually challenging

To begin with you play with 3 character at the same time instead of 2, you can rotate them, change their order of attack or pass turns between them (kinda like in smt/persona), the thing here is that whoever is on front usually deals extra damage in exchange of being targeted more often while the one at the back deals considerably less damage but is less likely to be attacked, if you pass turns your damage output also decreases so you have to be careful when you do it. 

If you play in hard mode like I did, just having the wrong order or doing one wrong attack can quite literally decide whether you win or lose..its the kind of rpg where even dealing ONE more damage can mean a huge deal which is rare in modern rpgs where damage outputs are in the thousands and you can’t even keep up with them.

This is subjective but I quite liked the writing too, the characters are pretty likeable and got attached to the main trio real quick, unlike paper mario, you don’t go collecting partners but rather are stuck with the main trio all the time but honestly its fun seeing them developing and growing closer through the entire game, I find it better than just collecting a partner that is relevant only for their particular chapter and then is just there existing like in paper mario.

There are negatives to it however, at the end of the day it is still an indie game that was made by only 2 people so there’s some expected jankiness (doing the overworld puzzles can be frustrating because of it) and also the art is a lil bit ugly, none of the 2 guys that made the game is an artist so you can tell a lot of the art looks like someone just learned how to use photoshop for the first time and the UI is plain ugly, but eventually it just grows on you to the point u don’t notice haha its a game with a lot of love and personality put into it and you can feel it tbh

also can I say the music is super cute and captures the feeling of early 2000s games perfectly?

Also the character on my sidebar is from this game

best boy

[gascon-en-exil]

I’m still holding off on the latest Paper Mario as I’ve heard mixed reactions to it, but coincidentally I picked up lauded indie knockoff Bug Fables again after setting it aside for a few months.

Now that I’m (I think?) a bit over halfway through the game I can see why it’s so praised, especially for the writing quality which is on par with and at some points better than the first two/three Paper Mario games that everyone loves. Still not a huge fan of the theme even if most of the bugs are cartoonish enough to ignore what they are, because sometimes it’s still creepy. The obligatory high-tech precursor race are roaches, which I hate, and apparently I’m one chapter away from a kingdom of termites and I do not like the sound of that either.

Also, I have to wonder why everyone who plays this game praises the higher difficulty; who ever played a Paper Mario game for that? It wouldn’t bother me if hard mode could be ignored entirely, but toggling it on for some boss fights is required for 100% completion which means I’m stuck dealing with it.

[radishfictiononlinecheat]

Radish Fiction Online Cheats

Radish Fiction Online Guide

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I foe the whole hour but can't find a way to access radish live and missed trivia for my favorite novel... When i first got the app, i really enjoyed how different it was from others that i have had. However, it recently became more of a frustration than anything. They haven't had an event where you can earn Coins recently. For a full time grad school student, i can't afford to pay for Coins every month and valued the free events. Genres and categories included on the site are romance, ya/teen, fantasy/sci-fi, general, mystery/thriller, lgbtq+, late night, and paranormal. I have found radish's ya content to be particularly robust. Although i haven't explored the community chat rooms, the app does contain that feature if you like the ability to connect directly with authors. For voracious readers, romance and ya in particular, i really can't think of a better app that allows you to utilize your smartphone for reading. The free content within radish makes it comfortable to explore the app, and there are new and exclusive books by really exceptional authors. They'll put you out there to publishing companies and other people interested in your writing. Maybe you get an advertising contract, things like that. But i weighed the pros and cons and decided radish was the better way to go." And so in february 2016, thier began to also post his stories on radish, where the latest in his series of historical romance novels, silence is golden, has been read over 650,000 times. Thier wouldn't disclose how much money he is earning, but lee says it's a five-figure monthly income. Their latest move is the release, on march 29, of omnibus versions of several of their collected serials (all featured below). 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[fablesradio]

Fables Radio: Meet the Cast (pt 3)

(written by showrunner Angela McCain, aka @darling-gypsum)

Hello, listeners! In anticipation of the release of Chapter 6, over the last few months, I’ve been highlighting the amazing voice actors who so generously offer their time and energy for this fan production. Just a small (and insufficient) thank you for their continued hard work and talent. And hopefully, some of our listeners will learn something new about our talented cast and continue to follow their careers!

Finally, in alphabetical order:

Griffin Puatu (Bluebeard)

Smooth and sophisticated and scary as all hell, Bluebeard has one of the coolest voices in the show. And that is all thanks to the absolutely fabulous Griffin Puatu. I felt so lucky to find such a talented actor for our ostensible series villain. He’s such an impressive range beyond the menacing lord Bluebeard, ex-legendary serial killer and patron of Fabletown. Please take a listen to his demo reel and feel in awe of this guy’s talent. He’s got a number of video game and media credits for you to take a look at! Thank you, Griffin, for joining us through this production journey, and for being a vital linchpin in our cast.

You can find more from Griffin Puatu at: http://griffvoices.com

 Nicholas Shapiro (Lord Beast (Beast), Taxi Driver)

Nick had a really tough job from the outset of this project: play the role of Lord Beast in mid-transformation. He needed to be just coherent enough for an entirely audio-based performance, but also sound like he had teeth that were too big for his mouth. And boy, he really knocked it out of the park! Nick was kind enough to lend his voice for a second minor but fun role last minute, which Iam very grateful for. His stint as the disgruntled sarcastic taxi driver still makes me chuckle when I hear it on re-listens. Thank you, Nick, for giving life and relatability to Lord Beast and being a really great scene partner.

You can find more from Nicholas Shapiro at: http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/members/Applehound/casting-call/auditions

 Olivia Steele (Briar Rose)

Oh, this lady’s voice! Olivia did a fabulous job portraying the equally fabulous Briar Rose, aka Sleeping Beauty. I envisioned this high society New York fashionista character, and Olivia really brought that to life. I am also not ashamed to admit that Olivia and Eric’s performances as Briar and Flycatcher fueled the flames of my love of that little ‘ship. They had wonderful ‘on screen’ chemistry, and sold the heck out of their characters enough that I was compelled to write more scenes for them! Olivia, you’re a gem. Thank you so much for being a part of our series and bringing power and candor to the role of Briar Rose.

You can find more from Olivia Steele at: http://oliviasteelevo.weebly.com

 Melissa Sternenberg (Cindy)

I seriously just wanna be besties with Cindy. Her portrayal is playful, sharp tongued, and confident, and brings so much life to our cast. Of our trio of Prince Charming’s ex-wives, Cindy had some dramatic deviations from the text of the original comic. New scenes, shifted storylines, and pushing up the narrative a bit (for those familiar with the comics). And Melissa has been more than up to the task, with a great sense of comedic timing and grasp of her character. Melissa’s also got a number of professional video games and media credits to check out, which I highly recommend. Like so many of the cast, Melissa’s been really down for whatever my scripts threw at her. Whether it was sword fighting or witty banter, she brought such joy to one of my favorite characters in the show. Thank you for all your work, Melissa! The character of Cinderella, and our show as a whole, has been richer with you as a part of it.

You can find more from Melissa Sternenberg at:

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4408448

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/melissa-sternenberg/melissa-sternenberg-character-demo-reel-2016

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mippavoices

 Cliff Thompson (Bigby Wolf)

The frickin’ holy grail. Very professional and kind, with a keen intuition for acting and delivery choices, enthusiasm for whatever the script is asking of him, and one of those voices that just settles into your brain as canon. Like, just listen to this guy! Cliff, you legit are the voice of Bigby Wolf forever in my brain. Thank you for taking on so much responsibility and a heck of a vocal workload on this fan project. You were instrumental in bringing this show to life and I will be forever grateful. It’s been a great pleasure working with you on Fables Radio, Sherriff.

You can find more from Cliff Thompson at: http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/members/Cliff/casting-call/auditions

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4309529

 Angela McCain (Lady Beauty, Mary, & Narrator, Etc)

Well, that’s a wrap on my cast profile pieces! Though I guess I should plug myself a little, since I’m in the cast as well.

By sheer virtue of being the showrunner, I often found the need to fill in for a number of characters who I either didn’t find the right VA fit for, or that I just plum forgot existed (see diner waitress, cell phone voicemail robot, etc). I’m peppered all over the series in little roles, as well as Beauty and Mary, in addition to being the narrator on the front and tail end of each episode. What started as a production necessity turned into a hobby, and I’ve really caught the VO and audiodrama bugs. Thank you to all our listeners and followers for your kind words and encouragement. Not sure if I’ll attempt anything more than amateur work, but I feel so fortunate to have had the experience I’ve had with Fables Radio. This was my very first audio and collaborative project on this scale, and to not only complete it, but to feel so proud and excited by it after over a full year seems to be a rarity in the amateur industry. I threw this little pet project into the ether, and discovered some amazing, generous, and talented people who I am humbled to call my cast and my peers. I am so excited to continue following their careers, and hopefully work with them on other projects in the future!

You can find more from Angela McCain at: http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/members/singoutlouise/casting-call/auditions

http://soundcloud.com/darling-gypsum

https://www.youtube.com/c/darlinggypsum

https://www.patreon.com/darling_gypsum

Thank you so much for reading these, and checking out our cast. Our audience has been modest, but very fervent, and we appreciate you all.

You can find all our fabulous actors in our fanmade audio drama series, Fables Radio!

http://fablesradio.wordpress.com

https://soundcloud.com/fablesradio

 Episode 6 of Fables Radio is in production, and will be released soon. Stay tuned!

Ang M