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wainwrightjakobshammerlock · 9 months

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this flopped on reddit so i hope y'all like it more

So, hi. It's been a very long while since I've talked about my OC Vault Hunters here, and, well... things have changed. And I'm better at wording things.

Here's my... well, I wouldn't say propositions, more like full blown concepts for the entire BL4 VH team.

Basics

First thing: there's 8 classes, and not 4. The Watcher did say we'd need as many as we can get.

In my head, 6 of them are base-game, and the last two are DLC. Coincidentally, the last two are mechanically unusual classes compared to the rest of the team (and even to the rest of the Vault Hunters across games), and happen to essentially be multiple people in one playable character - to keep the gender balance, you see: the team already consisted of two dudes, two dudettes and two buddies before I realized I wanted to add more, so the last two are "multiples".

Second thing: I am a lore guy, so I know barely anything about game balance... but I do know some things about game design, and I do in fact have played these games (wow!), so I'd like to think I know what I want to see in these games... BUT I can't escape bias, and I love the way TPS skilltrees were designed, so if you don't like skilltrees encouraging you HEAVILY to use a very specific weapon type, this is probably not the post for you.

Third thing: This is going to be long, but I tried to make it as readable as possible.

Fourth thing: I will be using the BL3 multiple action skill/augment system here, since I like it a lot.

With that out of the way, let's actually get into it.

Lazarus as the Prodigy

Once an urchin scrambling for zir life in the alleyways, now adopted child and protege of the most notorious powercouple in the galaxy (Alistair Hammerlock and Wainwright Jakobs, if it wasn't obvious by zir Jakobs-style attire). Also, ze likes bugs.

Key Words: Sniper, "Soft" Melee, Non-Elemental, Bleed/Stun

Action Skill: Sheer Focus - essentially, an activated gun boosting ability similar to Fade Away, but instead of automatic criticals, it grants Laz the ability to focus shots for a duration. Focusing - or rather, charging - takes a bit of time, but when focused to the maximum, it can do insane damage. The catch is that the "Focus Bonus", even when charged to the max, will be divided by both the pellet count of the weapon and the burst-fire count if it has one, meaning you are heavily encouraged to use those good ol' semi-autos.

And let's not even talk about what happens when you use a fully automatic...

Gimmick: Swappable melee overrides. Each tree has one "starter" override, and additional ones are unlocked the further you go down the tree.

Sheer Focus has a long cooldown and pretty much just exists to boost damage - the overrides are where the real utility is, and are usually available more often. It's sort of like a secondary action skill that you don't really sacrifice a button for.

Do you want to reflect enemy fire with a single stroke of a rapier? Do you want to throw gunpowder in their face and watch them explode when you shoot them? Or maybe take out a banjo and smack them on the head? Lazarus can do all of that.

Additionally, Laz has two other somewhat unique things that aren't unique to specific skill trees:

something called Deadeye Skills, which trigger on crit (or crit-kill, if it's a Deadeye Kill Skill) and are grouped up in a manner similar to Fl4k's Hunter Skills.

great usage of bleed and stun status. Bleed is the same as it was in TPS, a non-elemental damage over time effect. Stun disables the enemy, preventing them from moving or attacking - for obvious reasons, badasses and bosses cannot be stunned and will simply take a bit more damage if they would be stunned by an attack.

Skill Trees: You're in luck here, because I actually made a full detailed skill tree for the Prodigy already. Read it here if you like walls of text.

If you don't, here's a summary:

Green Tree: Legacy - Critical hits. Loads of Deadeye Skills. Major bonuses to Sheer Focus. Not much to say here.

Red Tree: Tradition - Gun damage, heavily favoring non-elemental weapons. Get those FAT one-shots, as the slogan says.

Blue Tree: The New Path - Melee focus. Staying on the move, weaving melee strikes between gunshots, and the bleed/stun status effects I mentioned above. Maybe it's not fair, but who really cares when you can make your enemies into but a fine red mist.

Bartholomew as the Butler

An old model of Jakobs brand butlerbot, deactivated many years ago and only recently turned back on by an unknown variable. Took up vault hunting as a means of... venting his frustrations, so to speak.

Key Words: Berserker, "Hard" Melee, Support, Health Management

Gimmick: Everyone else has a skill-related gimmick, so Bartholomew's gimmick is not having one. Let me know if you can think of one for him.

Action Skills:

Gearshift - fully heals the player and reloads all weapons. Grants a movement and weapon swap speed buff for a short time afterwards

All Out Attack - a large dash with a punch at the end. Has multiple charges. Can be cast multiple times on the same enemy or chained to others.

Overclock - large damage and fire rate buff at the cost of constantly taking damage.

Skill Trees:

Green Tree: Servitude (Gearshift) - A very strange twist on a support tree. Servitude has an entire swathe of team support skills, all of which activate on (mostly) controllable actions such as reloading a gun or reviving an ally. The thing is, upon these buffs activating, Bart takes health damage.

Red Tree: Rage (All Out Attack) - Melee damage, with a focus on increasing melee speed, taking/healing/ignoring damage, not having a shield and mashing that V button into oblivion.

Blue Tree: Restraint (Overclock) - Remember Nisha's Order? This is basically that, to 11. Upon losing a percentage of health, Bartholomew will gain a Restraint stack. Stacks give a variety of buffs, and can even be spent for certain triggered abilities.

Scylla as the Siren

A member of Junpai-7's pirate royalty, disgraced from her home when she became a Phasesight siren. For many decades, she's been wandering the galaxy as a hermit wizard of sorts, and now in her old age she returns to find the Vault, in hopes of preventing some sort of war that she foresaw.

Key Words: Siren, Shock Damage, Crowd Control, Mobility~~, Discount Spellshot~~

Gimmick: Can equip two action skills at once at the cost of sacrificing her grenade slot. Unlike Zane, she has no real way to use grenades, because who needs them when you can electrocute your enemies to death with your bare hands?

Her skill trees also contain (sometimes radically different) variants of the tree's main skill just like Amara, so you can really customize your setup.

Action Skills:

Phasemancy - mind controls an enemy, making them fight for you for a reasonably long duration. Also makes them invincible, though they die instantly when the effect ends. Badasses and bosses can't be mancied, for obvious reasons.

Phasestasis - spawns a large dimensional field, slowing down everything in its radius for a medium duration and causing shock status. Can be re-cast in a different place as long as it's active, but you can't spam-move it.

Phasebolt - a simple shock damage projectile that is precise and deals high damage. Multiple charges.

Skill Trees:

Green Tree: Clairvoyance (Phasemancy) - Mind and some battlefield control, with a bit of sniping for brainy flavor - but rather than using sniping for damage, you'll be using it for utility. Tons of status effect bonuses. Stealing enemy shields and staying ahead of the battle's speed by manipulating it.

Red Tree: Storm Terror (Phasestasis) - Mobility, with a little twist. Rewards not just moving fast, but also staying airborne, jumping, sliding and whatnot. Double jump. Sprinting and shooting. Amp shots for free.

Blue Tree: Wizardry (Phasebolt) - Action skill damage spam, and rewards for doing so. The main deal of this tree is Flow stacks, gained upon using action skills. At base, they don't do much aside from bonus Shock damage - the deal is, you can spend them for other things. Electromagnetic flight, ignoring FFYL and various techniques too strong for those not versed in the arcane arts.

Samuel as the ~~Problem~~ Primordial

Before the incident, he was just a normal Tediore employee working in R&D. Now, he is a vessel of the Vault Monster Uyrru, a locust-like ancient horror. He seeks the Vault both for his "other self", and to figure out what the f/ck is going on.

Key Words: Wildcard, Radiation Damage & Status, Survivability/DR, Ammo Economy, Armor

Gimmick: In a manner similar to Moze, Sam has only one Action Skill, which at base does almost nothing aside from disabling all means of attack. But when you equip Mutations onto it, that's when it gets interesting.

Action Skills: Transform - turns Samuel into his Vault Monster-ish form. As said above, at base it only gives some damage reduction. But when considering Mutations, one can turn Samuel into a:

pestilent master of disease, spawning hordes of bugs from his body.

miniature black hole, hovering over the battlefield and emitting huge waves of radiation.

feral creature, slashing at the enemy with humongous claws.

variety of other things.

Transform does have augments too, but they are not specific to a certain Mutation.

Skill Trees: I have a full skill tree for him as well... but it's still a heavy work in progress, so I won't be sharing it here just yet. Here's the summary:

Green Tree: Resourcefulness - Ammo/grenade stuff. Unlike Moze's tree, this one actually somewhat encourages reloading. Instead of gaining ammo in your mag, Samuel simply picks up more ammo from pickups or even gains back a bit of a weapon's mag when he reloads. Sometimes you need to make most of what you get instead of summoning it out of thin air.

Red Tree: Eldritch Potential - Radiation damage and utility tree, with a bit of splash. Curiously enough it encourages Samuel to get statused, and keep rad status on enemies. Power at a price. But you do get immunity to Radiation!

Blue Tree: Perseverance - Survivability tree. Not that special, aside from the fact it tends to give DR instead of the usual health/shield capacity like most survivability trees. Tends to be more effective the closer to death you are. Also, allows you to gain armor, because it'd be funny to have a VH with three health bars.

Val as the Fanatic

Former member of the CoV, Valor was given the role of Saint of Sparks and Honor. Even after the Calypsos fell, they try to find spiritual guidance and enlightenment in the Vaults. Half blind, has taken a vow of silence and speaks through a floating drone which follows nearby and relays messages through neural uplink.

Key Words: Splash Damage, Support, Healing~~, BIG DAMAGE ALL THE TIME FOREVER~~

Gimmick: Has the option to equip two grenades at once, which synergizes extremely well with their skills, as many of them activate on grenade thrown.

Action Skills:

Battle Prayer - somewhat minor team gun stat buff, but lingers for a reasonably long time.

Dodge Roll - exactly what it sounds like, gives i-frames. Does not trigger "action skill start" effects, not that Val has any of those in their skill tree.

Deep Pockets - forsakes an Action Skill entirely for the ability to equip two grenade mods.

Skill Trees:

Green Tree: Spirit (Battle Prayer) - A variety of team-wide support skills that reward the team for actually sticking together and helping one another. Buffs Val themselves too, of course. Has a few health restoring abilities as well.

Red Tree: Faith (Dodge Roll) - Insane fire rate! Mag sizes that would make Moze weep! Melee damage! All for the low low price of your enemies' lives and all of your accuracy! Vault-Gods, take the wheel!

Blue Tree: Piety (Deep Pockets) - Splash damage, especially grenades. Mostly focused on radius and spamming rather than the splash damage itself being big. Insert Holy Hand Grenade reference here.

Alkimia as the Trooper

A mysterious, brooding woman who defected from an elite, secretive cyborg division of the Maliwan army upon being ordered to kill civillians. Is a poet-philosopher with an unusually calm demeanor for her line of work.

Key Words: Corporate Soldier, Elemental Damage, Status Effects and Interactions, Versatility, Gadgets/Utility, Mild RNG

Gimmick: May swap the element of her Action Skill, similar to Amara. Defaults to Corrosive, but can be changed to Cryo or Incendiary with enough skill point investment.

Action Skills:

Asclepios - a hovering drone shaped a bit like a snake which flies at enemies and attacks them with its elemental beam.

Reaction Globule - Alkimia throws a big ball of elemental sludge that bounces around and deals damage.

Traversal - dashes/teleports Alkimia forward like a Maliwan Flash trooper, dealing action skill damage to anything in her path. May ragdoll weaker enemies at the endpoint.

Skill Trees: I am also working on Alkimia's skill tree. Trying to figure out something really neat. Here's what I got so far.

Green Tree: Catalyst (Asclepios) - Elemental damage and status effects, with a small twist. Instead of just applying status, you want to combine status effects and react them with one another. Burn them with corrosive damage, electrolyze their skin, or abuse the laws of thermodynamics to combine Cryo and Incendiary.

Red Tree: Evolution (Reaction Globule) - General damage, with some Claptrap-esque randomness. The joke is that evolution is an organism trying to gain advantage in an unfavorable environment, and in this case the organism is the player. You better own a variety of guns. That's the price of experimental tech.

Blue Tree: Adaptability (Traversal) - Utility and some survivability (mostly elemental focused). Almost all of the passive bonuses in this tree change either with Alkimia's Action Skill Element, or with the conditions present on the battlefield.

Kat & Dawg as the Partners in Crime

A one-for-two Vault Hunter deal, Katherine and her tink wife Desmond have been sharpening their teeth (and blades) on heists big and small for ages, with Kat being the brawn and Dawg the mastermind of their operation. However, when they caught wind of the Vault, they immediately embarked on their biggest heist ever, the one that might just set them up for life.

Key Words: Pet Class, Inventory Management, Incendiary Damage, Stuns, Mild RNG

Gimmick: As said above, these two are a package deal, do not separate. While the player controls Kat, Dawg just piggybacks on top of her, occasionally commenting on combat or story beats.

The real deal is when these two enter combat. Kat may deploy Dawg with the action skill button, and the latter will stay deployed until she dies or is picked up. If she dies, she respawns back on Kat's back ready to be deployed again, somewhat similar to Fl4k's pets.

While Dawg is on the field, Kat can use her own action skill. (If Dawg dies, she can't, until Dawg is redeployed anew!) She has three, just like most others, but which one she equips also determines what kind of weapon Dawg will be wielding in combat.

Action Skills:

Trust Throw - summons Dawg back to Kat, then she immediately throws her back into the battlefield with a damage boost for a short time. Enemies hit ~~by THE TINK CANNONBALL~~ are stunned. Also heals Dawg back to full, because.... the power of love, or something.

Whirl 'Em - Kat gets out her trusty scrap-axe and spins it in a manner similar to the Brrzerker from Wonderlands, but with incendiary damage instead.

Mystery Bag - Kat takes out Dawg and her's bag of loot, and checks it for anything useful. The pool of what she can find is around 20ish different items with various small beneficial effects: free grenades that are thrown immediately, health hypos or even ancient Eridian doohickeys.

Skill Trees:

Green Tree: Battle Bond - Buffs the living daylights out of Dawg, and makes it more rewarding + easier to coordinate your movements with her. Pretend you're playing co-op in solo!

Red Tree: Destruction of Property - General damage, mostly in incendiary form. Rewards hard hitting weapons and attacks, maybe with a melee strike in there or two. A few kill skills for good measure.

Blue Tree: Larceny - Damage buffs and other benefits... dependent on picking up loot, eridium and cash. Gives a new meaning to the word "shloot". Additionally, a few "underhanded tactics" such as lowering vendor prices and increasing backpack space (to fuel a damage buff scaling off the fullness of your backpack). Think Timothy's Free Enterprise, but even weirder.

The Triad

Actually a trinity of Guardians inhabiting a nanobot swarm body, a corporate experiment at controlling these ancient constructs gone wrong. It tries its best to get along, and find itself in this strange world.

Key Words: Stances, Jack-of-All-Trades

Gimmick: In lieu of an action skill, the Triad switches between its three constituents - Supplicant (highly loyal to the Eridians, to the point of fanaticism), Seeker (neutral, but also the most sapient) and Sorcerer (Vault Monster cultist, corrupted by their influence eons ago) - in a way similar to stances in other games.

The switch itself does nothing, unless a certain skill is specced into that provides a short burst of beneficial effect when it occurs. However, a lot of the Triad's skills have different effects, elements or drawbacks depending on its current stance.

Action Skills: Spirit Switch - see above for details.

Skill Trees:

Green Tree: Supplicant - Focuses on team support, usually at the cost of damage. Can still reliably solo, however, thanks to having crowd control options.

Red Tree: Sorcerer - Focuses on pure damage, usually at the cost of survivability. Has elements of health management, as no price is too great for dark power.

Blue Tree: Seeker - Focuses on survivability and utility. Fairly scrappy, can manage ammo and identify enemy weaknesses.

Closing Words

I hope you all enjoyed this little creation of mine. I'm not... really sure what else to say here besides I love this series, and I love making things for it even more.

If you're curious what these Vault Hunters might look like, I drew all of them a while back.

Thank you for reading, and if you have any feedback regarding these concepts, or maybe your own fanmade Vault Hunters, feel free to comment.

#my post #borderlands #text post #oc: lazarus jakobs #oc: bartholomew #oc: scylla von perun #oc: samuel hawking #oc: val #oc: alkimia #oc: katherine astrophe #oc: desmond astrophe #oc: the triad #long post

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howtofightwrite · 2 years

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I have a world which is mostly underwater and has life of all kinds, whether aquatic or not. That does mean a lot of weapons need to work underwater or held by someone who is underwater. What are the options for creating fictional melee weapons or fighting techniques?

So, I was originally researching an answer that didn't really match the question above. The short version if you've got three options, and you probably want to explore all of them to varying degrees.

The first is looking at the real world. This gets a little tricky in this case, because a lot of the ocean is unexplored. There's an entirely accurate cliché that holds we know more about the surface of the moon than the bottom of the ocean, so, while we have an idea what's down there, a lot of it is unexplored, and unknown.

That said, there is a lot of information on real sea life, and that gets even wilder if you start digging into the fossil record. (Incidentally, Earth does fit the definition of being mostly aquatic. 71% of Earth's surface is covered by water.)

Somewhat obviously, if you're looking at the real world, that will give you a lot of potential weapons and fighting techniques to consider. Now, when you're specifically looking at aquatic melee weapons, the list drops sharply. Knives, and various piercing pole-arms (mostly spears, tridents, and harpoons) account for the vast majority of underwater melee weapons, and a lot of that comes down to practical considerations. Water impedes your movements, and it makes weapons like swords or axes much harder to use.

Your second option is to look at fantasy or fictional examples. I spent some time skimming through a tabletop RPG Polaris for this question before realizing that the sci-fi elements might not be relevant to your question.

Tabletop RPG splatbooks can be very useful for this kind of prep-work, and it can help you finely tune what you're wanting to do. In most cases, these will provide a somewhat diverse toolbox for building a story within the range of the book. (Obviously, this varies wildly based on who wrote the splatbook, and what game it was intended for.) Usually the first place I'd look is GURPS, though in this specific case, that's not exceptionally useful. There was a sci-fi suppliment, “Under Pressure,” which is tied to their Transhuman Space setting, and an Atlantis supplement which spends a lot of time working through the details of Plato's, “ideal society,” that he assured the reader, he absolutely did not just make up on the spot to illustrate his argument. Moving beyond that, I don't have a lot of deep sea splatbooks sitting around. (I've probably only got four or five splats of any variety dealing with ocean based adventures. This is, legitimately, a pretty niche topic. And there isn't even that much pop fantasy lit on the subject.)

Also worth remembering that any rule-based system like RPG splats, are likely to have some assumed design limitations that might not work for you. For example: It's worth remembering if your characters are fighting in open water, then movement up or down is likely to also be an option, but a game designer might not consider that when writing up their splat.

Your third and final option is to wing it, and try to make something up. I mean, it worked for Plato. Fortunately, you can take what you found while exploring the first two options to start nailing down some more concrete ideas about what you want. You can also start pulling in ideas from outside of the scope of your initial research.

-Starke

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#Starke answers #how to fight write #writing advice #writing reference #writing tips

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farfromdaylight · 11 months

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with twitter being, as u know, Twitter, i think i might move some of my ff14 posting here... i will probably use a tag (i'll come up with one later) for all the random stuff i end up doing. unfortunately twitter is the easiest way to post photos from my ps5 but i can always repost them here, so.

anyway, for posterity, here's what i'm up to in ff14 right now:

working on various achievements for catboy... i'm close to high roller, i just need to go back to chocobo racing and like, ugh. also working on shb relics, in theory. i joined a group to do potd runs for the weapon achievements and it went quite well for our first attempt, so i'm looking forward to that. also like, raiding and stuff...

leveling dancer on reis 100% for the level 89/90 glamour. i have priorities. after that i'll probably finish leveling sage... then warrior or reaper, idk. i don't feel super motivated to level on her now that i have her amaro, but i do want at least one of each melee (striking/maiming/scouting) at max for glamour, so.

leveling warrior on rune so i can go back to my endwalker replay. i boosted and story skipped her only to realize i want to play warrior instead of gunbreaker, whoops. her canon class is def gnb, warrior is just so much smoother to play in dungeons.

idk i think that's it for now. i have other alts (...i have a lot of alts) but i'm not super jonesing to play the others right now. though i do want to go back to my lalafell at some point. mostly i like bouncing around because each one is a little different to play, immersion-wise.

i also want to do more gposing... i've been a bit lazy with it recently, esp after the gshade debacle. i'd like to really test out some of the newer filters i've gotten and experiment. i'm not adept with posing and i don't really enjoy that part of it, but i love love love shaders and making the game really pop. (i like gposing on console too, especially with how limiting it is and how that breeds creativity, but i wish we had more filters...! catboy always comes out the wrong shade of orange.)

man, i missed rambling about shit in longform posts. i do it on dreamwidth some (and i might do some crossposting) but i missed tumblr, despite its own mess. there's something cozy about being here.

#adventures in eorzea #that's the tag until i think of something else #ffxiv

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hypersplice-archive · 1 month

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It has taken so long, but I finally wrote at least a tiny part of the story I've been making for the past 10 years.

A while ago, I made my Roblox avatar a catboy maid 'ironically' (who could've possibly guessed how that turned out). I did it because it made people target me and, either I'm too good, or the people targeting me are all really bad, because it was always just people spamming angry messages and then trying to fight me and dying. At that time, I was really into two games: Slap Battles, and KAT (note: don't play slap battles, it sucks).

One day, I noticed something interesting about how I played: I dodged attacks before they happened. There is a single weapon in KAT, and its hitscan. Adding onto that, it uses the Roblox 3rd person aiming, which literally means you just click on the enemy and they die, the gun shoots at whatever you click. The situation is a bit more interesting in Slap Battles though, because all weapons are melee, and ranged attacks are reserved the secondary fire. The thing that makes it really weird though, is that the actual fight is happening ~600ms in the future. You move in real time, and the animations are real time, but the attacks only happen like 600ms after you see them happen. This means that you can't actually know what your enemy is doing, because all their movement is also delayed, so you need to predict where your enemy will be 600ms in the future, and hit there. Finally, there is only one way to 'dodge' in Slap Battles, and that is to jump, but it doesn't work like a 'perfect timing' kind of thing, you need to jump 300ms before you get attacked, so that when their attack registers, your hitbox will be mid-air, over their attack, but you will have already landed, and you can hit them while they're on cooldown from missing. The most common attack looks like this:

Player A walks backwards in the direction of Player B.

Player A attacks the nothing in front of them, Player A's attack hitbox is now active.

Player A jumps backwards and turns 90 degrees. Player B had predicted this and jumped backwards at the same time.

Player A had predicted Player B would dodge the initial attack, and continues turning so their attack hitbox will reach Player B.

Player A reaches the 180 degree mark, their attack hitbox registers the hit. This will not have any effect until 600ms in the future. Player A's attack hitbox is now inactive.

Player B attacks Player A . The hitbox registers immediately. This will not have any effect until 600ms in the future. Player B's attack hitbox is now inactive.

Player A turns 180 degrees back, they are now facing forward again.

Both players land back on the ground.

Player A's attack happens, Player B is flung forward.

Player B's attack happens, Player A is flung forward.

If you are skilled enough, you can predict your opponents attacks further into the future, so you will always be one step ahead of your enemy. If Player B hadn't predicted the next attack, Player A would've won immediately. There is not enough time to react, either you dodge attacks before they happen, or you don't dodge them at all.

This got me thinking about how this would look like in real life, and so Vix was born. I realized you don't need to be faster than bullets to dodge them; if you know what path every bullet will take, you can avoid it and not get hit at all. In other words, a negative reaction time.

In-game, actions are instant, and movement is quick. So Vix needs to be agile. In-game, you use the walking and jumping animations to get your body parts out of the way of hitboxes. So Vix needs to be flexible In-game, the footsteps and jump sfx of other people tells you what they're doing. So Vix needs to have very good hearing. In-game, you need to see enemies who are very far so you can shoot them. So Vix needs to have good eyesight. One of my rules for making characters is that they all must be in the same story. The story at this point was set in cramped space stations. So Vix needs to be small.

As this went on, I made more requirements for what Vix needed to be, and in the end, I made a character that fit all the requirements. And he ended up beautiful.

He is a twinky catboy with thick squishy thighs and fluffy hair that covers his eyes (he can still see), who wears a black body suit, thigh high paw socks (also black), black arm warmers, a thigh garter only on his right thigh to tie things to (he has no pockets), a ':3' face mask with pink blush strikes (this covers the half of his face that his hair doesn't cover. you can't see his face), a titanium bracket that supports his spine for holding heavy objects, a platinum knife (infused with too many demons so it's pretty much indestructible) with a hook on it for stabbing people/deflecting bullets with the flat side, a thin carbon steel chain that connects the knife to the titanium bracket for reeling in the knife after throwing it/using it as a grappling hook/controlling the knife mid-air by moving the chain, a really big handheld plasma railgun for shooting people at a long range (held by an aluminium bar that connects to the gun, the bar is held by a strap that looks like a seatbelt), it can also be programmed to shoot in different patterns (for example, you can make one single really powerful and precise shot like a sniper, many precise but not so powerful shots like a submachinegun, or more complex things like a slow and big projectile first that is followed by a small much faster projectile which explodes the first one shooting the remaining plasma everywhere like a shotgun, or a lot of really fast but weak shots so you can use it to heat up pizza or something).

It gets a bit extreme by the end, and you've probably realized that he is not a weak submissive boy.

Now I get to explain some of the weird parts about his description, like the knife.

His boyfriend (who I haven't decided on a name for yet so I just call him 'G') committed suicide because he was depressed. G was a good guy, he was a very good guy, and he deserved to go to heaven. But G didn't think he deserved that, he went to hell by choice, and sat in a corner to cry for eternity. Vix and his friend Spec, (who is like a ghost or something like that, and while I could tell you exactly what Spec is, it would take way longer and he's not important enough for that) go up to heaven to tell God, and ask him to bring G back to life (the actual reason they want to bring him back to life is way more complicated but it doesn't matter right now). When they arrive at heaven, Vix being the silly little murderer he is, wants to know how hard angels are to kill.

God is disgusted by Vix, how he can be a mrrrp meow meow meow :3 and yet feel no remorse for the lives he's ended, for how much he has optimized himself to kill, for how much he loves the taste of blood.

God immediately sends Vix to hell. Spec stays in heaven to try and find where G's soul is, or to try to find something to bring G back to life.

When Vix gets to hell, he finds G's soul there, at the very bottom. At this point, his knife is just a normal (albeit very expensive and high quality) kitchen knife, but he must save G. So Vix picks up G (well his soul but who cares) and starts to walk back up to earth, killing every demon that gets in his way (and the ones that didn't too). In his journey, he encounters the Devil, who challenges Vix, and says that mortals are not allowed in hell. Vix kills him too. But the demons are corrupting him by now, and trying to take control of his body. In the meantime (this whole situation happens in the span of about a month), Spec has become relatively trusted in heaven, and found a kind of divine staff thingy (again, I could explain what it is but it doesn't matter). Spec steals it and runs away from heaven, back down to earth. With the staff, Spec goes to hell to find Vix, and when hi finds him, Vix has been taken over by the demons. Spec uses the staff to banish the demons, and seal them in the platinum knife. Vix gains some demonic powers, most importantly that the knife and chain are both indestructible now, and that he can now lengthen or shorten the chain at will. He cannot get rid of the knife. Knife lore over.

And then they all go back out of hell, and God has sent angels to look for them. When they are found, Vix immediately hides, but Spec does not. He asks God to save G, and returns the staff. God replies that he admires the courage of Spec, of going against him to save his friend. God forgives Spec, and brings G back to life. God says that he knows Vix is there, and that his sins are not forgiven, but he has seen Vix's determination to get G out of hell, of going to heaven as mortals to ask him to save G. God does not forgive Vix, but leaves the situation in a sort of 'This never happened'

In the end, Vix and G have adorable gay cuddles and they fall asleep. Spec has more important things to do, but they are beyond the scope of this post.

happy ending :D

#tw: suidice #tw: death #my writing #hypersplice archive #oc

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lyrakeaton · 4 months

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Chronicling The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Continuing yesterday's post on enemy design, I wanted to touch up on one semi-consistent theme in Twilight Princess — that being enemies designed intentionally to be obnoxious, with a unique item that then renders them irrelevant / easily disposed of.

This is a tactic I find both interesting and a bit dull at the same time. On the one hand, it feels very cathartic to be given an item that can help deal with annoying enemies. But on the other hand, needing an item to make fights easier or more fun also leads to a lot of inventory management.

This sadly doesn't do the game any favors, considering how incentivized I've felt to ignore enemies. These ice wolves have caused little trouble, and haven't been worth fighting in human form due to how many hits they take. I've always fought them as Wolf Link and never really had fun doing so. Now I can smash them to bits with this chain mace I got, which feels really fun! But... it also leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, making me wonder "did they only design this enemy for the purpose of it being weak to the dungeon item?"

I had a similar thought previously with the armored armadillos. I initially thought "oh, this is where I use my back slice!", but the often tight corridors they found themselves in made doing that inconsistent. They don't drop anything of note either, so I'm just there wondering "why am I meant to fight these?"

Then when I got the Clawshot, I realized "oh shit! I can use that on the armadillo enemies!" which I did once for the novelty, after which I barely saw any more armadillos.

It's kind of a sad display, honestly. I love the idea, and it shows genuine care, if only the had stuck the landing. Makes me think back again on Breath of the Wild, and how its enemies were laser focused on melee combat against Link. Sure, there were little in terms of enemies with unique weaknesses (short of big glowy eyeball being weak to arrows), but it all felt better executed.

At the very least, it is cathartic to get revenge on these enemies for mildly inconveniencing me throughout. I just wish the game expected a bit more from me as a player and... I don't know, made me fight 10 ice wolves in a small room maybe? Something like that which would require me to master this new weapon type I got? Something to chew on.

#zelda: twilight princess #tloz: twilight princess #the legend of zelda: twilight princess #TLOZ:TP Journal #the legend of zelda #twilight princess #lyraposting

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snugglebuddyhan · 5 months

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Currently making builds for all the weapons in Warframe, since I have nothing else to do

This is a note to myself for which weapons I enjoyed playing the most for future reference.

Tested without the use of rivens or any other outside factors, except weapon arcanes

(Biggest r.i.p to me as an Ash main)

My favorite primary weapons:

Acceltra Prime (Already one of my mains)

Aeolak

Alternox (Have always liked it. Fun to shoot. Plus, it's huge and looks really cool. It's flashy and has one of the best designs in the game. It's reload animation is also fun)

Ambassador

Amprex (Long time favorite)

Argonak

Astilla Prime (Might main it. Edit: definitely maining it)

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Basmu (Stronger than I thought)

Baza Prime

Boar Prime

Boltor Prime

Bubonico

Buzlok

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Cedo (Used for a utility for melee priming, but realized it's primary mode is just as strong when you prime the enemies with it first. Eats through steel path enemies)

Convectrix (Fun to shoot)

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Dera Vandal

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Exergis (Can one shot level 200 heavy gunners without a single headshot, so might main)

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Fulmin Prime

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Glaxion Vandal (Fun to shoot)

Gotva Prime

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Hema (The heartbeat effect on reload is neat)

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Nagantaka Prime (Didn't like at first until I discovered its alt mode)

Naturak (I mean, I think?? I like it?)

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Phage (Move over, Astilla)

Phantasma Prime (Good steel path weapon)

Proboscis Cernos (It's fun watching enemies get snatched up. I mostly use it for a little crowd control)

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Quellor

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Sancti Tigris (Was my most played weapon for years)

Scourge Prime

Sobek (Was also a weapon I used for years)

Soma Prime (Another long timer)

Stahlta

Steflos (I'm in love with its reload animation. It's also fun to shoot, which I haven't been able to say about a lot of the weapons so far, even the ones I like)

Strun Prime

Synapse

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Tenora Prime

Tigris Prime

Trumna

Total amount of formas used: 561

Finished. Not listing Kuva and Tenet weapons until I re-farm them all with the proper elements. Same with incarnon weapon forms

The primary weapons I absolutely hated:

Afentis

Attica (Okay, it's not THAT bad)

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Carmine Penta (Any variant)

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Javlok

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Mutalist Cernos

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Sybaris (Any variant)

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Quanta Vandal

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Torid

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Zhuge Prime

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Pretty much every bow and sniper, except Daikyu or however you spell it. They aren't bad. I've made some pretty strong builds, so that's not the issue. I just don't care for them.....in this game

My top 10 most used primaries based on my overall profile stats:

Tenet Arca Plasmor (Haven't touched it in ages)

Ignis Wraith (I remember being called a noob in the squad chat by a legendary 1 player a few years ago for using this weapon and now as a legendary 4 I still use it. I don't get the superiority people hold above themselves, bc they don't participate in whatever the current meta is. It's never that serious. The weapon is good and it gets shit done. Of course I'm going to use it)

Sancti Tigris

Acceltra (Non prime version)

Amprex

Cedo (Used for priming)

Soma Prime

Sobek (Patiently waiting for a kuva varient. Edit: my prayers have been answered)

Phantasma Prime (Mostly used to kill eximus in steel path)

Alternox

My favorite secondary weapons:

Acrid (Corpus killer)

Afuris Prime (Saw a popular build on overframe say this weapon isn't worth it and is just mastery fodder and I have to respectfully disagree. It's extremely powerful. Can even shred steel path enemies, so.......)

Akarius Prime

Akjagara Prime (Really like this one. 10's across the board)

Aksomati Prime

Akstiletto Prime

Akvasto Prime

Arca Scisco

Athodai (Was worth doing railjack for)

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Catabolyst (I love it. I know it's early, but I'm thinking about maining it. Edit: Nope, my dumbass keeps forgetting I have to manually reload it. Just going around shooting nothing)

Cyanex

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Embolist

Epitaph (Perfect for disruption or slowing things in general)

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Hikou (Knew I was going to like it before I even finished modding it)

Hystrix

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Kompressa (Really fun. My equivalent to the Alternox and Steflos and how fun it is to shoot. Edit: It's the goat, actually. One of the strongest secondaries I've ever played with)

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Lex Prime (My second most used secondary)

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Magnus Prime

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Ocucor

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Pandero

Pox

Prisma Angstrum

Prisma Twin Gremlins

Pyranna

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Quatz

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Secura Dual Cestra (Been using the heck out of these bad boys)

Spira Prime

Staticor

Synoid Gammocor

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Twin Kohmak

Tysis

Total amount of formas used: 348

Finished. Just like the primaries, I'm not listing Kuva and Tenet weapons until I re-farm them all with the proper elements. Same with incarnon weapon forms

The secondary weapons I absolutely hated:

Aegrit

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Castanas (Sold them for credits immediately)

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Knell Prime (Yes, even despite how strong it is)

Kulstar

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Sancti Castanas (Joined his cousin)

Sonicor (Could be used for crowd control, but can't be bothered. Will probably sell it)

Stug (What the hell is that)

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Twin Viper Wraith

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Vaykor Marelok

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Zymos

My top 10 most used secondaries based on my overall profile stats:

Kuva Nukor (Used it for priming when I first got into steel path. Haven't touched it since. Plus, if I want to prime I'll use the cedo now)

Synoid Gammacor (Used it for years. Was my all time favorite weapon. Haven't used it in ages though)

Lex Prime (Was mostly used back when we didn't have exalted weapons we could mod separately, so I picked this weapon for Mesa's peacemaker ability)

Staticor (Obsessed with the way it shoots. It's charged mode is also cool)

Twin Grakatas (Don't remember using this tbh)

Akarius Prime

Tenet Cyrcon

Afuris Prime

Sporelacer (Okay, so this is actually my most played secondary. For some reason it's played percentage has been stuck on 1.3% usage for the past 2 years and won't budge. Really wish DE would do something about this, so my profile is actually accurate)

Pox (I like this weapon, but it's only here, bc it was the weapon I picked for an elite archimedea rotation that I kept going back into, so I could help people get the hidden sumdali. I didn't like my primary weapon rolls and I don't care too much for melee weapons, so I used this for my primary source of damage)

Favorite melee weapons so far. I'm not really a fan of swinging things around, but I'll try to make the most of it:

Argo & Vel

Arum Spinosa

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Broken War (Got me through steel path. Haven't really used it much since then)

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utilitycaster · 2 years

Note

how do you choose which new spells to learn? do you confer with your fellow players? I kinda want to play a bard soon but coming from druid + cleric, I am a bit stressed out at not being able to swap and adjust to the situation.

Hi anon! For the most part I don't confer with my other players, but I do need to warn you that I'm playing with an unearthed arcana rule that does let me swap out one spell per day. I specifically will coordinate with the druid player on that, and that also means I'm a little less locked in than most bard players.

I think beyond the basics (take one of the core healing spells, dissonant whispers*, and vicious mockery) it really comes down to essentially what I've been saying: what sort of game are you generally playing, what is your general role in the party/what gaps exist, and what do you want to do with the character?

It's also worth keeping in mind: the expectations for bard are not the same as cleric, usually. You are a full caster; you do have very powerful magic; you also are going to be talking or lying your way out of a lot of problems. So, I think it's helpful to remember that it's okay if you're not perfectly built for the situation (and, to be honest, even a cleric or druid can get caught by surprise). There's a core bard feature called jack of all trades and that is fundamentally the flavor of the class. You want to have a healing spell, some damage spells, probably some standard arcane utility although if you're in a caster-heavy party, you can forgo this, and a lot of buffs. No one expects you to be tailored to any specific situation. They expect you to have something that kind of works regardless of the situation.

That said: I think a lot of people do not take advantage of the fact that bards (and other classes/subclasses who know rather than prepare spells) can swap out known spells each time they level up in that class. If you have a spell that's not working? switch it out!

I realize this is more general advice than what I do but this is roughly what I do. I have healing word, most of the high utility spells like detect magic, identify, dispel magic, leomund's tiny hut, and sending, a few damage spells that are less likely to do terrible things to our paladin and monk/barbarian, and some combat utility with bane, polymorph, and dimension door. Much of my damage prior to taking scorching ray with magical secrets was either vicious mockery, dissonant whispers, or weapon damage. As a bard, unless you're swords or valor? You are here to make the assist. You are unlikely to strike the final blow on the dragon. You are very likely to be the reason why the rest of your party is still standing so that they can strike the final blow on the dragon.

*dissonant whispers is one of the few bard damage spells that can have a single target. The bard list doesn't really have attack spells, you will notice, so a lot of your damage is AOE, and if you have melee party members, that can get rough. Dissonant whispers is a saving throw that does half damage on a save, it won't hurt your allies, AND if the enemy fails they have to run from you which provokes opportunity attacks from your melee allies. It's GREAT and every bard should take it.

#d&d mechanics #hilariously to play a bard well is an exercise in humility #or at least forgoing personal glory

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atissi · 4 years

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What advice would you give someone who wants to play Pathologic but is also terrified of screwing up really badly because I've played just enough of it to feel like there's no way I can succeed without looking stuff up but I don't want to do that! Just basic tips and/or reassurances if you have any?

Updated: Feb. 27 2021 (since I've finished and am replaying P2)

See, the thing about Pathologic is that it’s not possible to “succeed” like you do in other video games. There’s no happy ending for everyone. In the same sense, you can’t really fail. The game accommodates a wide variety of deaths and mistakes—even in Pathologic Classic HD, you can get a character's ending if you hoard enough medicine by the end of the 12 days, no matter how many people get sick or die. In Pathologic 2, everyone can die, but you’ll still be able to get an ending. Even some of the "bad" endings are fun in their own right. Sometimes, the game will reward you with more content because you failed in the first place.

All that being said, I totally relate to your fears. I’ll start by talking about Pathologic 2 first, since I’m more familiar with it. Then there will be some tips on playing Pathologic Classic HD.

Pathologic 2 is incredibly punishing, both emotionally and mechanically. I’ve seen people adapt to this through 3 different playstyles. I’ll rank them in terms of “least close to the intended gaming experience” to “most close”.

1. Just cheat.

“wrt cheating, as a notorious cheater, id recommend trying to do the game as legitimately as possible regardless! if there are some aspects that you absolutely do not vibe with, even with reduced difficulty (for me that's hunger mechanics), i would say that you can load in items to mitigate this aspect. and, tying in with the second point, if you complete a run this way you can always go back and try it legitimately since you've (sort of) gotten an understanding of the mechanic.” - Onion

If you have really bad anxiety, or just dont have the time available to do the other playstyles, cheating is a way to engage with Pathologic 2′s excellent story. Fiddling with the difficulty controls is allowed. Spawning in endless food for yourself is possible. I can even get you in touch with someone who uses cheat codes in the game regularly to get game assets. If changing the game is what it takes for you to get through it, I think it’s better than nothing. But I’d personally at least encourage you to try an Imago playthrough first. Decide if it’s too difficult for you after that. And again: Pathologic 2 is constantly trying to trip you up. It’s meant to be difficult. Sometimes you’ll fail and the game won’t tell you if you could have prevented it. Just keep going. But like Onion said, cheating works as a supplement.

2. Replay, replay, and replay, until you get it right.

“You can always replay. You have more time than they do. Also save states are your friend.” - Alex

“reload as much as possible, do NOT look things up. your first playthru WILL be bad, and thats good!!! experience it fully yourself first. [and] “reload as much as possible” meaning like: [it] isnt a crime, you can do it as many times as possible. but dont get stressed about doing everything perfectly. its an experience!!!” - Zee

There’s no penalty for using your save states. If you get stuck in a death loop, go back as far as you need to in order to get things right. Hopefully this means starting a day over and using your time more effectively. Personally, I got to Day 7 before realizing I had to restart from Day 1, because I was doing that badly. Trust me, if you’ve gotten one miracle cure and 10 bottles of water by then, you’ll be doing better than I was. My friend Bee had trouble too, and took 92 hours to finish their first playthrough. A replay playstyle takes a LOT of time. But Pathologic 2 is so rich in content that replaying isn’t even as annoying as it could be. And this is also the best way to complete as many quests and save as many people as you want. Whenever you’re scared, just remember: you can always go back on your choices! (Other than the theatre’s death penalties. But nothing can help you with those.)

3. Just go through it.

Again. You’re not supposed to succeed in Pathologic. In the words of the lead translator Kevin Snow, “…I know [Pathologic 2’s] script and this is different from other games: there’s so much story locked behind failure and death. You’ll die, and you can’t save everyone. That doesn’t gate you from story; it gives you more. Resist, survive, but continue.” It’s only when you’re suffering that you experience the story so viscerally. That’s when the choices mean something. Sacrificing your own health or the health of others–saving tinctures for yourself, breaking into houses, killing people, choosing not to help people because you just don’t have time–these are impactful because you’re experiencing the mechanical repercussions of your actions. You are not a removed arbiter of the Town’s suffering. Everyone in Pathologic is having the worst 12 days of their life, and you’re dying right alongside them. Spoilers for Day 4, but I don’t think visiting the Rod and seeing the Tragedians would have affected me so deeply if I wasn’t actively starving for the entire sequence. It served as a reminder that I wasn’t the only one in pain; it was heart-breaking and heart-warming. Which I think is Pathologic at its core.

Try to see your failures in the game as another form of success. You’re experiencing the game as it’s meant to be played. And when you feel bad about all the people you’ve failed, remember that this is all a play. The game knows it’s artificial. You can replay the game after you finish–and feel free to use cheats or lowered difficulties on a replay–in order to get everything right. Your mistakes aren’t permanent! But on a first playthrough, try to tough through the hardships. You’ll have a more fulfilling time.

Other tips

You can use these 3 playstyles in combination if you need to. I let myself die when I feel like I deserved the punishment, or reload when I feel like I don’t. Bee managed to finish Day 11 by lowering the game difficulty in the final stretch. Just approximate the intended gaming experience as much as you can.

As for gameplay guides, I don’t think anyone I’ve met recommends it (at least for Pathologic 2). The game does interesting things with when and where it reveals information to you, often in ways that are deliberately inconveniencing. You want to experience that on your own. I also think Pathologic 2 is relatively good at telegraphing mechanics or quests. compared to Patho Classic. That said, I do have tips that I wish I knew before playing:

Sprint everywhere. I know the town is beautiful. But you’re on a hell of a time crunch. If you finish your quests early you can forage or trade for more resources, or just bottom out your exhaustion bar. Sprinting does not make your exhaustion go up faster, and water is plentiful in the first few days. Just do it! Save your own time!

Save a lot. Even if you’re not gonna die on your way in and out of the Broken Heart, this game is chock-full of choices, down to the resource management. If you waste a swig of twyrine, you’ll want a good save point to reload at. You can load any save point in your timeline, so save as often as you want. Keep track of where clocks are on the map--the game tags these in the building descriptions. (For that matter, keep track of where beds are. I didn’t realize I could sleep at Vlad Sr.’s place, which made me waste SO much time travelling between the Shelter and the Lair.)

Learn the trading economy. Everyone holds items at different values. Even the kids value certain nuts over others. There are also some interesting conversion rates between items, like peanuts to soap to pemmican. Make the most of the items you’re bartering. And for that matter, try to build up a cache of items valuable to little girls, in case you find one with a schmowder. The kid’s caches are valuable for trading too: twyrine can show you the locations.

This is also a good spoiler-free guide to Pathologic 2′s mechanics.

For Pathologic Classic HD, I haven’t personally played it, but I’m under the impression that it’s easier than Pathologic 2 because there are less character perma-deaths and no death penalties. The advice about reloading still applies. Here’s what Ally says:

“id recommend using a spoiler free guide (Bachelor, Haruspex, and Changeling guides) but other than that read the diary and letters carefully and try to keep track of npcs that could be affiliated with quests. also! some quests have different options for endings so there could be multiple ways to complete them. stock up on food on the earlier days, and after the inquisitor arrives because the prices drop. try to stealth kill with melee weapons when you can, and also reserve your bullets. …also make sure to trade with the children a lot! hold onto objects like the hooks and flowers [to get schmowders. Like I said before, to win the game you only need enough cures to heal the Bound.] …another tip is to keep a pen and paper around to take notes. like when i got the tincture recipes instead of keeping them in my inventory i just wrote them down.”

And that’s it! If you need specific advice or clarification, feel free to DM me! I love talking about this game. I can also get you in touch with anyone mentioned in this post (except Kevin Snow LMAO). Pathologic has an amazing story and I want everyone to experience it!!!

#inbox #beepbeep.txt #pathologic

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omigoshninjaturtles · 5 years

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Why it's great in Rise for Leo to BECOME the leader instead of STARTING as one

I've been thinking about this a lot and discussing this with friends in our private TMNT chat. I just wanted to share my musings about why I think it's actually a good thing. Not is it only a nod to the original Mirage comics, I think it's important to Leo's development as a character.

In Rise, Leo has shown different, but in some ways, the same insecurities that other incarnations of Leo have. In previous incarnations, Leo has always felt pressured and stressed about feeling incompetent and being unable to protect/guide the family. Rise Leo has that same issues, but it's enhanced by the fact that he isn't the leader.

"I'm useless." - Leo, Minotaur Maze

"I'm nothing without them [my brothers]." - Leo, Portal Jacked

Looking some Rise episodes like Minotaur Maze and Portal Jacked, Leo feels like he's the load to his brothers. He's the only one of the brothers who hasn't really mastered their weapon properly yet (Mikey and Raph have pretty good control of their new weapons while Donnie only has minor hiccups on his tech bo). He's getting better, but as Portal Jacked proves, he still feels like he's nothing without his brothers. Leo gets very eager in opportunities that allow him to step up or become 'better'. This is why he got so excited in Minotaur Maze to become a champion or why he embraced becoming a pro wrestler in Shell in a Cage. Although perhaps he knew inside that the title meant very little, he just wants a title to prove to others and most importantly himself that he’s not nothing. Inside, Rise Leo believes that he's nothing, useless, and he's desperate to prove himself.

In previous incarnations, it sometimes felt (to me) that being a leader was a heroic burden Leos had to take, that becoming one meant taking on the responsibilities no one else wanted; basically to take one for the team. I keep thinking back to 2003 Mikey's deconstruction of Leo's character:

“I think you all should just lay off the poor guy [Leonardo]. I mean, it can't be fun always being the responsible one. And we're the ones who really benefit: Raph's free not to think cause Leo does all the thinking for him, Don's free to dream, and I'm free to take it easy all because Leo's busy being responsible enough for all of us.” - Mikey, TMNT 2003

In Rise, instead of leadership being a burden, it's actually something that will build up Leo's character (not that the burden thing it’s bad, it’s just a different take). Not only will it give Leo purpose, but it'll also help improve the low opinion Leo has on himself that he keeps hiding by the classic Superiority Inferiority Complex / Sad Clown shtick. It will build up his confidence and it's great to see this development of a teen who suffers from feeling that he's nothing, something a lot of people face in life, to step up and realize, 'Hey, I am something'.

I also think that this development for Leo is going to be an interesting one for Raph. Rise Raph sort of designated himself as the leader because he's the oldest. He doesn't like taking orders from anyone else, and he's happy that way. I don't think Raph is a bad leader, he's honestly doing good and the best he can, which is all anyone can ask for... but admittedly, he isn't super great. He doesn't think things through and he sometimes doesn't have that intuition that comes with decision making. In fact, Leo is doing a lot of backseat leader-ing when opportunities arise, having great leadership qualities and intuition, things which Raph unfortunately lacks as a leader. Even Donnie has shown that he trusts Leo almost unconditionally when he wasn't even paying attention in the conversation at hand, automatically agreeing with Leo in a debate between Raph and Leo (in Hot Soup: The Game).

I'd like to think that Raph knows deep inside that he may not be the best choice as leader for his brothers, so he feels pressured and may be prone to lashing out when tensions get high (shown a bit in Mascot Melee).

My analysis and prediction is that Raph will have to learn the hard heartbreaking and important lesson that will test the bond between Leo and Raph: Sometimes, being a great leader isn't about making hard choices or organizing the people, it's knowing when you need to step down and let someone else takes the reigns and lead. It’s a hard lesson to learn and Raph realizing that will be one of the most emotional and mature moments in the show, I feel it.

It's always said the real adventure is the journey not the destination; and I'm hella excited and happy to see Leo's journey to becoming more confident with himself and becoming leader, as well as the subsequent character development Raph has to go through about stepping down as leader. Also I'm not ruling out the possibility that Rise Leo might face some of the same stresses that come with being a leader in addition to the journey to become one.

These are just all my thoughts anyway :P

TL;DR - It's great that we see Rise Leo become a leader instead of starting as one since we get to see his development from a guy who has poor opinion of himself that he hides under jokes and a Superiority Inferiority Complex to a confident leader. Also having Raph learn the lesson that sometimes a good leader knows when it's time to step down and let someone else lead.

#i have a lot to think about #im very excited for the leo leader arc #don't fail me know rise i know you have the potential #leo #leonardo #raph #raphael #tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise of the tmnt #rottmnt #character analysis #character deconstruction #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #character essay

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superstarpower2000 · 3 years

Text

TimeSpinner. Nintendo Switch.

All Feats Unlocked

All Orbs Achieved

All Auras Obtained

All of the Maps explored

Usually, I like to post some gameplay pics of the games beaten at 100%, make a fast quip and move on. Today, I think I'll give a small review of Timespinner.

TimeSpinner. The flight from Virginia to California is one of the longest in the US. As such, I searched for a MetroidVania to play while on the plane ride. I chose TimeSpinner. Going into this game blind, I knew I wanted two factors in a game while on this long flight. It had to have MetroidVania gameplay. As such, TimeSpinner includes what you would expect from the genre; exploration, collectibles, upgrades, appropriate music and even subsequent lore. The other factor that attracted me to this game was Time. I'm a fan of time manipulation games so a game that had a time stop mechanic definitely caught my attention.

Let's dive in. TimeSpinner is inspired by 90's game art styles. It utilizes this art style really well. I felt while I was playing this that I was playing a game from the 90's. This is evident in visuals and even the gameplay menu. TimeSpinner does a lot with what little it uses. The backgrounds are interesting and eye-catching. The orb mechanic (which we'll get too) has orbs constantly flying around your character but instead of being in the way it just helps you realize where your attacks are landing and keeps the screen interesting as orbs change color depending on the weapon equipped. The backgrounds aren't necessarily detailed either but they keep the player engaged, ranging from strange planets in the sky to horrific creatures in test tubes while exploring a lab. There are plenty of unique character models with a lot of detail put into them. Characters have unique hair colors, hair styles, armor and even gestures. I know who I'm talking to before I speak to them as the models don't repeat and each stands out. However, TimeSpinners is mixed when it comes to the enemy models. At some point, the enemies become boring with repeated models showing up halfway through the game with no new textures, just re-colored enemies. Despite this, a lot of the boss fights in this game caught me off guard due to how visually surprising they looked. One boss, lfrit, caught me off guard as it stood out from the other bosses, in a good way. lfrit is bright, takes up a good portion of the screen and genuinely seems threatening. He/It? is by far my favorite looking enemy in the game.

The gameplay mechanics are also a mixed bag for me. With a name like TimeSpinner, I was hoping for a lot of time manipulation mechanics. TimeSpinner only uses one time manipulation mechanics and that's stopping time. The time stop mechanic is underwhelming. Despite having maximum sand power I felt the time stop mechanic didn't last very long. Even if it did, there was barely any use for it. There were very few obstacles in the way that requires the player to stop time for any reason. If I tried hard enough I feel I could get through the game without stopping time at all. And when you do stop time there's almost very little point as enemies are not affected by the mechanic through damage. If you stop time and attempt to hit an enemy, the attacks won't register. However, actually attacking in TimeSpinner is fun and engaging. In TimeSpinner, there are two modes of attack. Using orbs you find throughout your playthrough and through Aura attacks. You can equip two orbs at a time, one for each hand, and they act like melee weapons you can toss in front of you that immediately come back and literally orbit your character. Orbs naturally level up through constant use, so if you like an orb (or three) , repeated use of them will make them stronger. I was a fan of the Blade Orb, using it causes a sword to spawn in front of your character. Another common orb was the fire orb, which as its name suggests, causes fire damage when thrown at an opponent. Aura's on the other hand are attacks that deal heavier damage but have a charge time and are attached to a meter bar, so overuse means you have to wait to use these powerful moves again. As a fan of anything that has the name Blade in this game I used the Blade Aura, which after it's done charging releases a huge sword to attack enemies that almost takes up half the screen. There's an abundant amount of orbs and auras to obtain in the game and other than wishing they would have more unique situal needs for them in the games environment, these moves all cause damage in different ways so gameplay doesn't feel repetitive or boring.

My final point I want to make about TimeSpinner is the story. I know this blog is all about beating a game at 100% but if there's something else I love about a good game is a good story. TimeSpinner does not have one. The story for TimeSpinner is quite literally, all over the place. You start off with a simple objective of revenge and (spoiler coming up) by the time you're done, you end up being a literal God. The transition from revenge to God is not a smooth one, it feels the game jumped straight to 11 when it comes to advancing this surprise plot. A new enemy (if you want to call him that?) appears near the final hour with little to no build up, but defeating him ascends the main character to absurd heights. In between this enormous jump in story plot there are a few plot twists that feel like they game out of left field and were only put there for a shock factor that doesn't land. I'm not invested in TimeSpinner's narrative, but I will say its one of the few games I've kept playing due to being a fun game despite a story that's not well structured.

100% completion for this game took me nearly 15 hours. I give TimeSpinner a 7/10.

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