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stupid-sloot-headcanons · 11 months

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Red Hair Pirates/F!Darling: One of the Crew

Commissioned by: anonymous

Word Count: 1200

TW: Minor blood mention, surgery, Darling is cross dressing/hiding her gender from the rest of the crew

*Part of a multichapter commission, so there's basically no smut in this one...yet. Basically they wanted a Darling who's revealed to be a woman after hiding their identity, and the crew winds up becoming a little TOO protective of her.

All those precautions, all this planning and effort…and it was ruined by three fucking bullets.

Yasopp had seen ____ take the first hit, then two more; without hesitation, he'd sniped the shooter before leaping to haul his crew mate over his shoulder as Shanks, Benn, and the others immediately quelled the other pirate crew as swiftly as possible. ____ had never taken a bullet before, with their worst battle injury being a few slashes and gashes on the leg. Now that had been replaced with one bullet in the stomach and two in the arm.

The Red Hair Pirates were strong, that was obvious enough (they WERE the crew of a Yonko, after all). But every crew had one or two members who struggled to keep up with the rest, and their mates would do their best to cover their weaknesses. It wasn't shameful, but natural; ____ was a damn good fighter, and they always pulled their weight, but despite their combat skills they were easily taken by surprise--and unlike Shanks thanks to his Haki, ____ wasn't bulletproof. If this other crew had wanted to take out one of the Red Hair crew during this false "parley" meeting, then he was the best target.

Shanks and the others had ended the fight after that first attack, but that still left ____ severely injured. The entire crew followed Yasopp to the medbay on board the ship, moving to grab equipment as Limejuice hurriedly washed his hands, tied his long blond hair back, and donned a pair of sterile gloves. "I need three others to help with this," he barked. "Wash your hands, tie your hair back, and get some gloves on. The rest of you need to leave so we don't contaminate the room. Grab as many warm blankets and heaters as possible and leave them outside the door, we don't want him going into shock!"

As he applied pressure to the large gunshot wound and stemmed the bleeding, Shanks, Yasopp and Benn silently nodded to each other and got prepared to help. The rest of the crew immediately left, leaving the captain, first mate and ship's doctor to tend to their crew mate. "Benn, grab the rolling stand over there and bring those close to the operating table--and the IV stand next to it. Cap, there's a heart-rate monitor in the corner. Bring it here and help me stick the pads on. Yasopp, keep pressure on his stomach wound as tightly as possible."

The men quickly worked together, with Limejuice reaching for a thermometer to check on ____'s temperature. "____, can you hear me?"

____ winced and nodded, and Limejuice hastily set the thermometer down after determining ____ wasn't going into shock yet. "Keep breathing as steady as you can," he ordered. "Eyes open, in…out…in…right, just like that." He turned his head to Benn. "Keep pressure on his arm and start wrapping it with the trauma gauze on the second shelf of the rolling stand. Shanks, you and Yasopp need to get his shirt off; I'll get the IV in his other arm."

Shanks grabbed the first heart monitor electrode with one hand and started to unbutton ____'s bloody shirt. He heard ____ inhale sharply and try to reach up towards his hand. "Wait," he groaned through gritted teeth. "Don't–"

Before he could finish, Shanks ignored him and tugged the column of buttons down his shirt; whatever reason ____ had for not wanting their shirt off, it didn't matter if it meant he'd be operated on. To his surprise, ____'s chest was bloody but not bare--a second, smaller and tighter top was concealing it, compressing a fair amount of his pecs. Given how boxy it was, both of the shirts helped hide the shape of ____'s waist. His…surprisingly shapely waist.

When Limejuice used a pair of scissors to cut the second top off, ____'s breasts fell freely now that they weren't being compressed. The four men goggled at his--or her--maybe their?--finally exposed body. When they glanced up and their gazes met, Limejuice spoke first. "We can talk about this later," he snapped. "For now, keep 'em stable while I get the bullets out. Shanks, give them this syringe to put them to sleep."

____ feebly shook their head. "No," they muttered. "I wanna be awake…don't…I can handle the pain, just–"

Shanks quickly injected them before they could continue. "We'll talk late, okay? For now, you need to rest."

____ opened their lips to try to protest, but their eyes fluttered shut and their body went slack before any words could come out. Limejuice set to work on removing the bullet from their stomach first; he was too busy barking orders and the others were too busy following them to talk about what they'd discovered about their crew mate. Saving them was priority one, and the rest could wait.

After a few harrowing hours, three blood-covered bullets were lying in a dish and ____ was fully sewn up. Their chest rose and fell slightly as the rest of the crew stared and waited for someone to say something.

Yasopp finally broke the silence.

"We should get him a change of clothes."

Benn nodded and grabbed the crumpled and bloodstained shirt that had been tossed to the floor during the chaos of the surgery. "I'll get them," he replied. "Cap, you should check on the rest of the crew."

"Do we tell 'em about him? Or…" Yasopp and the others glanced back at ____'s bare chest and waist.

Shanks shook his head. "Let's wait for ____ to wake up first and decide," he said firmly. "They kept this a secret for a reason, and I'm not betraying a crewmate's trust no matter what they've been keeping under wraps."

Benn and Shanks left the med bay without another word. Limejuice crossed his arms and sized ____ up, shaking his head slightly. "Y'know, it does explain a few things," he said slowly. "Always wanting to bathe alone. Never growing any kind of beard or stubble, even when we'd been out on the water for weeks."

"And never taking his shirt off, even on those days we'd be sailing past all those summer islands," Yasopp added. "I figured he was just hiding a scar or something he didn't want to talk about."

"Well, guess you were right after all," Limejuice replied glibly. "Still, it's not like we wouldn't have recruited 'em if they were a woman. Shanks knows that nakama's nakama, no matter what's between their legs."

The two of them felt a draft in the room, and goosebumps started to rise on their skin. ____ shivered in their sleep, and instantly their nipples hardened while the two pirates looked on. Yasopp awkwardly looked away and reached for a clean towel to cover their chest. Limejuice smirked and set to work cleaning his blood-covered tod and equipment.

"Maybe they didn't want to deal with us being too 'chivalrous' like you," he mused. "Might've been easier to be one of the guys than to be the only woman on the ship."

"Oh, c'mon," Yasopp protested. "I would've covered them up if they were a man too!"

Limejuice raised an eyebrow. "And if they were, would you still be hard, like you are now?"

Yasopp glanced down, and then back at Limejuice with a scowl. "I'm not hard," he snapped.

"But you did have to double check, didn't ya?"

"...fair enough."

#.one piece #.commission #.red hair pirates #.shanks #.myshit #fem darling

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plscallmeeren · 9 months

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DON‘T MIND THAT

Darcy Lewis x Reader

Request: Yep :) and it makes me very happy

Summary: you work as an on-the-field medic for the Avengers and are dating Darcy Lewis (your girlfriend of four years, lucky you) and realise that her combat skills could use some serious improvement. Training turns out to be more fun than expected

Warnings: Swearing; insinuations of sex; some touching and almost sexy stuff I guess; violence (not heavily depicted or anything)

Word Count: 3.1K+

Darcy cackled at a line Sheldon had pulled, not letting the smile slip from your face seeing her so happy.

With one more 'bazinga' the scene came to a close and Leonard and Penny were making out in his bed.

You looked down at Darcy who was sitting in between your legs, slowly munching on a musli bar, clad in only a lacy bralette and panties due to the fact that you had only recently woken up.

"That doesn't look too bad, does it, love?" you grinned, moving your thumbs in circles where your hands lay on her tummy.

"Mhm, no... 'M not satiated yet from last night," she teased, her words growing more clear as she spoke. She rolled around so that her cleavage hung around your groin and she could look up at you through those damned lashes.

"Yeah? You looked pretty tired when I was finished with you, I'd say," you smirked, your hands moving to grip her ass, encouraging her legs towards you as she placed a gentle kiss against you boxers.

"Ten minutes until take-off. New location discovered. Please meet at Quinjet in bay 16-A," came the annoying, annoying, annoying, annoying voice of JARVIS.

"Fuuuck," you groaned, throwing your head back and hissing when it hit the headboard.

"You want me to kiss it better?" Darcy offered, sitting a little more upright but not making the view any less inviting - or, for that matter, teasing.

"I'm gonna need lots of kissing better when I get back, yeah?" She kissed your forehead adorably in the meantime.

You quickly stood up, dragging the leather suit out of your closet and hurriedly changing into it while JARVIS opened the slot behind your mirror to present the armour-ish part of your suit.

"Hey, I know this sounds totally crazy, but- Could I come with you? Just to try it out. If it doesn't work, that's fine by me. I can offer some insight into which paperwork might be important, too, considering there's always the trouble of JARVIS not being able to scan everything fast enough. I've had some combat training, I might just survive," she spoke very quickly. You attempted a laugh, but you didn't truthfully find it particularly funny.

"Are you sure about this, hon'? No one here's really assessed you on your combat skills and even if we arm you to the teeth- Well, I suppose you'd be flanked at all times and you have fought, kinda, sorta, with Jane before, but..." You started mumbling at an inaudible pace and volume, arguing back and forth with yourself even though you already knew what you wanted to say and your unfortunate answer.

"Okay, give me a sec." You pressed the button on your suit connecting you via audio to whoever's name you spoke first. "Tony, can Darcy come? I'll cover her at all times and she thinks she can give some insight on the paperwork problem. Preferably, none of you get too injured, that's all."

"You sure about this?" came the staticky reply.

"Y-Yeah."

"Okay, your mirror will close again and give it like- I dunno, three minutes and JARVIS can make her a decent catsuit-type thing. We have all her sizes, obviously. Stay safe."

You sighed gently as you nodded at your girlfriend in confirmation. She beamed. "Does this mean I'm a superhero now?"

"Sure. I guess you were already an Avenger or whatever, generally speaking. JARVIS will have just a plain suit made in about three minutes."

"Oh yeah, they did ask me about my sizes when I first got here... guess they didn't wanna seem creepy and scan me." You smiled down guiltily and her brows furrowed. "They did that, too?"

"They do everything." You placed the two guns in their holsters and heaved your foot up onto the side of the bed to slip another knife into a thigh-holder. The medical attachments hung around your middle and on your back.

"You're so hot when you do that," she whispered, glancing once again at your thigh.

"Thanks, love."

The mirror opened, revealing a catsuit which looked like it was going to be very tight indeed. Darcy gazed at it in awe.

"Are you sure that's gonna fit me?"

"JARVIS knows you better than yourself." It was simple and black, not unlike Natasha's but missing a few key components that she had requested over the years. It had one gun holster, and that was about it for weaponry.

She exchanged her current attire for some sports underwear before pulling the suit on and finally turning around, asking you to do up the zipper even though she could very well reach it herself.

Just before you could turn the TV off as you handed a gun to Darcy, Sheldon walked in on Leonard and Penny almost having sex, and you chuckled at the fitting scenario before turning it off.

You could admire your girlfriend properly now. You knew her body inside and out, but to see the leather clinging to her every curve was another matter. You wondered desperately if you were going to let either of you get shot because you were so distracted.

You grabbed her by the hips and kissed her deeply, unfortunately aware of the timer ticking down to '03:00 minutes remaining'.

She whimpered slightly as you pulled away, still somewhat disappointed at what had been cut short that morning.

"C'mon, let's go. Bay 16-A, was it?"

"That is correct," JARVIS answered immediately, making you roll your eyes playfully and call out 'wasn't asking you' before you both left the room.

•••

"On your right," you yelled, too pre-occupied with three HYDRA agents of your own to properly defend Natasha.

It was funny how you had grown into a role you definitely didn't intend on signing up for. You were an agent of SHIELD who specified in medicine. Of course, when you were offered the job as a medic for the Avengers you weren't exactly going to say no. But it turned out that the most dangerous injuries they acquired couldn't be trusted to wait until they flew back, especially if they were further away. So, being quite close to them all personally, you offered yourself. The original plan was that you stay in the Quinjet and possibly run onto the field if the others can't afford to move whoever it is. But slowly, ever so slowly, you would venture further and further out on the field to keep look-out, and slowly...

You simply joined in.

Medical attention was still the priority, but they weren't going anywhere without you in the midst, anymore.

You sent a painful front-kick with steel-capped boots to the man right in front of you's solar plexus, presently spinning around and sending two fatal blows to each of the other agent's chests.

Not allowing yourself the time to regain your strength, you shot a woman holding a sword-like thing to Clint's back and turned to find Darcy.

Except you couldn't see her.

You frantically pressed the button on your suit, calling out for her as you ran around aimlessly.

With a stroke of luck, you turned into a part of the building you hadn't entered yet and found her with large eyes, surrounded by three large men and a woman, all equally stern as they held her at gun-point.

"Hey! Four to one, that isn't fair, is it?" you shouted, earning the men's attention, but the woman wasn't falling for it. In quick succession you managed to hit two of them, saving a bullet for the third and then finally turned to see the woman holding your girlfriend in front of her with the gun at her throat.

Your heart pounded in your ears, your lungs hurt from the abnormal intake that wasn't reaching very far at all.

How had you let this happen? Why had you agreed to let her come with no assessment whatsoever? How had you lost her?

"Drop the gun, or I'll use mine," she ordered, and you could see Darcy trembling as she opened her mouth to comment something quick-witted, but you gently shook your head as you lay down your weapons.

Well, not your knife, of course.

"Just hand her over. Please. I won't kill you." The woman hesitated, apparently contemplating if I was still capable of doing such a thing, then laughed as she decided.

"Come to me. I'll have both of you, and if you're lucky, you'll survive."

That's when you noticed that she had actually managed to cuff Darcy, making things just a tad more complicated. But she was presenting you with the perfect offer.

"Okay, whatever you want," you faked submission, approaching her with raised hands.

"Good. Now-"

You threw your leg up against her face, hearing the satisfying crack of her jaw as you pulled out your knife, wasting no time in ramming it into her heart. "That's what you get for touching my girl," you whispered, and you could see the shivers run up and down Darcy's spine.

"Are you okay?" you asked frantically, looking her up and down with scared eyes as she almost slumped against you.

"Yeah, just- just a little shaky. You know how it is."

You gulped, turned to search the dead woman for keys or the likes.

"If you're looking for keys- these things have a number code, (y/n)," Darcy interrupted your search and you cursed.

"Okay, let's get back to the jet, then. We'll laser it off back home if need be." She nodded, unimpressed, following you outside unhappily as you informed the others through the comms. "Lewis and (L/n) heading back to jet. Still available for specified functions."

A chorus of understanding or envious answers chimed through the speakers as you made your way through the forest, away from the fight. One guy needed putting down, but that was it.

Once you were safely back in the Quinjet, Darcy leaned on you, apologising profusely, but you wouldn't have it. Eventually the other Avengers filed in with only minor injuries and you were undoubtedly grateful for it.

•••

Darcy, in light of the red lines around her wrists, had taken your constructive criticism of her technique very well and gladly agreed to undertake some training with you.

So, there you stood, in an entirely empty Avengers compound, entirely empty training room, entirely empty fighting ring except for the two of you.

"You ready?" you asked, bouncing on your heels to get in the mood.

"Uh, ready as ever. Just dying to land a punch on you," she added playfully and you smirked.

"Okay, how do you punch?"

She moved her legs apart and held two fists in front of her chest unsurely, thumb beneath fingers.

"Okay, lie your thumb across your fingers like this," you demonstrated, Darcy copying easily. "Now, you either have to have offset feet if you want to hold your fists in front of your chest, or you stand like you are now, but with palms facing upwards at your hip."

"It's always chest or hip with you, isn't it?"

You grinned but otherwise ignored the comment, showed one variant, then the other, and the two of you went back and forwards for a while.

"You're gonna wanna...," you trailed off, standing beside her and leading her arms. Leading her body in a way that took the force from much more than just her elbow or shoulder.

"Oh," she chimed, and you chuckled as she toyed with the new position, coming to terms with how it felt and how much more power she could install in a hit.

"Alright, then... blocking."

"Or alternatively, unblocking my path to being a real Avenger."

You spent about an hour straightening out her basics and after a short break promised to reveal some of the more fancy side of close combat.

"So, you jump off of something nearby, could be a wall, could be a fence, anything that will hold you, and then push off, throw your one leg up, preferably not the dominant one..." You kept explaining the move, not noticing Darcy's eyes glued to your lips as you instructed, her gaze occasionally slipping further down where a river of sweat marked your shift down the middle.

"That all understandable? Sorry, I'm so warm, I've gotta-" You pulled off the grey singlet top and sighed in content as the cooler air hit your skin.

Your girlfriend stood slightly stunned, as if she had never seen you half-naked before, eyes raking repeatedly over your glistening body and specifically muscles.

"Start when you're ready."

Having only really heard what move it was and the first few words, Darcy half-heartedly jumped off one rope building the ring and sort of held onto you, trying to wrap her thighs around your neck.

You both fell rather inelegantly, forcing you to catch the fall, and turn in midair, ending with your face still between her thighs.

"Well, I certainly don't mind that position, love." She turned bright red and you laughed softly.

You stood, holding out a hand to invite her up, pulling her close and clasping your hands behind her waist.

"That's awfully close for a student-teacher relationship," Darcy commented, but you could feel the heat from her face, led alone her sweat-drenched body.

"I could teach you all sorts of things."

"Oh, yeah?"

"You know. The butterfly. Spooning. Missionary. Queening..."

Darcy wasn't anything short of daring in the bedroom, but it was very easy to fluster her talking about it.

"Or maybe...," you leaned in very close to her ear, hot breath not the only thing warming inside her, "cowgirl?"

You pulled away, smirked, asked her to try and do the move again if she could concentrate enough.

Body trembling, Darcy dared her body to do what she asked, did a miraculously good job until you were standing with her thighs around your head and she couldn't manage the hypothetical neck-cracking or hypothetical slam.

"Don't you want me on the ground?"

"Yeah, I'm thinking of learning that cowgirl move next. Or was it reverse?"

You smirked, lowering her legs to the height of your waist so that you could hold her by her ass and look her in the eye.

"But I don't know if I want the lesson to continue, you know. You might have to convince me of your subject-"

You pushed your girl against one of the four posts and led your lips to hers, ghosting them for a moment before pulling away again.

Her gaze was trained on your arms, steady as they held her up and so strong and those abs and-

"Are you listening, baby?"

"Y-Yeah. Always."

You pulled away, standing at the edge of the ring where Darcy couldn't bare having you, and gestures for her to come at you.

Not having the slightest idea what you said before, she simply ran at you, fist raised.

With criminal ease you swished her around and she landed softly (with you to thank for that) on her back.

"I think I'm getting too warm, too," she breathed, looking you in the eye as she slipped off the sports top.

You fixated on her breasts, admiring because you knew you were welcome, unaware that your mouth was slightly agape.

"It's only for practical reasons, you can close your mouth, now," she taunted, just as she pulled off her pants as well. You desperately attempted to pick up your jaw, but found it harder than expected. That wasn't the only sense, however, in which your body was betraying you.

Yet with that thought, your eyes wandered further down and you couldn't suppress a smirk.

"Having your legs around my head makes you wet, huh? I didn't even do anything?"

"It's just sweat."

"Right."

"Oh, stop teasing me-" She stood, ran towards you to hold onto you or so, but you swivelled her around so that her back was pressed up against your front, holding onto her instead.

"How am I teasing you? I'm just helping you train..." You trailed sloppy kisses down her nape, nipping at her ear as you passed it.

She moaned gently, caving in on your body to seek more skin contact.

An idea visibly struck her and she pulled away, much to your surprise, lifting her chin as she studied your expression cockily.

"What?"

"I want you to show me just one more move," she said defiantly. "How to get an attacker on the ground. Can you show me?"

You hesitated, wondering what she was up to, but deciding you didn't really mind either way.

Sparsely annotated, you showed her some possible steps and footwork and finally pushed her over, landing with your waist over hers and a hypothetical hand to her throat.

"That what you m-"

She cut you off, pulling you in for a passionate kiss that you gladly reciprocated. Teasing wasn't generally what the two of you did, so after what - in your understanding - was a long time, you were happy to give in.

The kiss started slow, longing, sensuous, but you were both realising it wouldn't be enough for long, quickening your pace to the point you could hardly keep up.

You pulled away shortly, earning a breathy whimper from Darcy, kissing her jaw and then her neck in silent worship. She let a high-pitched moan escape her and you smirked against her skin.

"Do you like this, love?"

"Y-Yeah, I fucking love this," she replied, unusually high and unstable.

Your kisses ventured further and further down, eventually swiping your tongue along the rim of her bra.

"C'mon, then, you can't tell me you've never wanted to fuck someone against the cold, hard floor," Darcy teased, and that was all you needed to hear.

——————

This is terrible I'm so sorry

Unedited bullshit but anyways it's too late to keep writing hope you enjoy anyway and this was a bit like you imagined from your request :)

Goodnight/morning/day/evening wherever y'all are 🌞

#darcy lewis #fanfic #fanfiction #marvel #mcu fanfiction #romance #the avengers #darcy x yn #reader insert

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prismatic-glow · 1 month

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Arlecchino kit explanation - how do you even play her?

Hello everyone! I hope your pulls have gone well. Unfortunately, I lost my 50/50 to Dehya but I don't really mind bc now I have guaranteed for Sigewinne. Just look at her ya'll she's actually so adorable T-T

Arlecchino came out yesterday and she has got one novel of a kit so I'm here to break things down for you

Starting off with her normal attacks! She has a 6 hit combo. After dealing damage with her charged attack, you can keep holding the button to move around quickly for a little bit. This drains a ton of stamina but might prove to be useful for quickly getting around the battlefield.

Now, onto her skill. I'll be breaking down each individual thing it does to make it less complicated to explain

Deals 2 hits of Pyro damage

Enemies hit will gain a mark for 30 seconds that deals Pyro damage twice

When Arleccino uses a charged attack/elemental burst, she will "absorb" any of the aforementioned marks nearby. Each mark absorbed grants her a (65%) bond of life (I'll be abbreviating this as BOL to make things easier for me)

These marks gain a few extra properties from her 1st talent

After an opponent that has been marked is defeated, Arleccino gains a large BOL (130%)

When an enemy's mark has been on them for 5+ seconds, the BOL gained from absorbing the mark gets increased (65% -> 130%)

Next up, her burst. It does a few different things

Clears nearby marks

Deals Pyro damage

Heals herself

Clears the CD of her skill

The healing is based off of her ATK and current BOL

Now, what do her BOLs even do? This information can be found under her normal attacks

Gains a Pyro infusion (BOL must be at least 30%)

Normal attack damage is increased based off of ATK and current BOL

Hitting an opponent with a normal attack consumes a portion of her current BOL as well as reduce her skill cooldown

And finally, her two other passives

Gains all elemental and physical res based on her attack

In combat, Arlecchino can only receive healing from her own elemental burst. In exchange, she gains 40% Pyro damage while in combat

So, to explain it all in just a few sentences, Arlecchino's skill marks enemies with a mark that can be cleared using her charged attack or burst. Clearing the mark grants her a bond of life that can infuse her attacks with Pyro. Using these Pyro attacks will decrease the current bond of life value, as well as her skill's cooldown. Arlecchino can only be healed from her own burst, an ability that also deals Pyro damage and resets her skill's CD.

I hope this guide was helpful! I might release a build guide for her soon if I feel up for it. If you have any questions, let me know! As always, asks are open.

#genshin impact #genshin #genshin ask blog #genshin help #genshin guide #genshin advice #genshin impact advice #new to genshin #˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ advice #arlechinno genshin #genshin arlecchino #arlecchino

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jeff-from-marketing · 9 months

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So I've had a pretty extended amount of time to sit down with Baldur's Gate 3 and mull it over in my head, and I have some thoughts.

Up front, the game is still fucking great, however it's very telling that all of my problems with the game actually stem from the fact that it's a D&D 5e game. It's hard for me to pick what the "biggest" issue I have is, so this will probably be a little all over the place, kinda like my general thought process.

Something that sticks out to me a lot is to do with spells, namely "save or suck" spells like Hold Person or Hideous Laughter. These spells feel awful to use. Because you either get an absolutely game changing effect that drastically changes the tide of the battle, or you get literally fucking nothing but you've still wasted a precious resource (a spell slot). Damage spells for the most part at the very least still do half damage, so you're always getting something out of your resource expenditure. The thing that makes this stick out to me in particular is because I've already seen this problem be fixed in other games and systems, including Larian's other games. Divinity: Original Sin 2 is built all around different armour types and tactical usage of crowd control abilities, because you can guarantee when they'll go off. It's honestly a lot of fun for a combat system. Pathfinder 2nd Edition also saw and fixed this problem with its Degrees of Success system. It's very rare that you'll spend a spell slot and get literally nothing out of it, you'll often get a weaker effect or shorter duration on control/debuff spells against enemies who make the save, but you still get something worthwhile out of it. Compared to BG3/D&D 5e where you get literally nothing, that's a massive boost in not just effectiveness, but in terms of how it feels. Nothing feels worse than spending a very precious resource and getting literally nothing out of it. But again, this was a D&D 5e problem to begin with, so Larian are stuck between "do we make a faithful D&D game, or do we make a fun game?" Personally, I would've gone for the latter on this one, but I know how some portions of the D&D 5e community are.

The other issue I have is the disparity between martials/spellcasters, and across classes in general. Now, to Larian's credit, they have done a lot of work to bridge gaps closer together. The discrepancy between certain classes is massive in base D&D 5e, so it's actually rather impressive the amount of work that's been done to rectify that. Things like Rangers don't suck by default, Berserker Barbarians are not only actually playable, but also just fun now, familiars and summons have interesting uses in combat and don't cripple your character, etc. But it's not all perfect. Monks still have some very glaring problems, like why do they need to spend resources to do the exact same things Rogues can do for literally free? Martials in general, even with all the things Larian have done, are still lacking in options and tools compared to spellcasters. Mostly because so many of them are tied to once per short rest, so unless you're doing a short rest after literally every combat (which honestly, sometimes it feels like the game expects you to do that, which is another thing I'll get to) you'll often end up in a situation where your only options are "how do you want to hit the attack button this time?" Again, this is a problem that have been solved already, and by Larian. Divinity: Original Sin 2 had so many warfare, huntsman, and scoundrel skills you could learn without going anywhere near flashy magic if you wanted to. And they were all just as effective! Pathfinder 2e gets around this problem by not only giving martials a bunch of abilities they can use, but also just saying "yeah go hog wild with them, use them as much as you like!"

Another aspect of this, that I think is just personal taste, is that I'm not super big on the "here's your daily resources, don't spend them all at once, the game will make sure you have to burn through them though" gameplay style that D&D 5e promotes. With so many abilities only recharging on long rests, to me it promotes being overly cautious with resources and just simply not using them. It's the "I have 900 health potions because what if I need them later?" and then never using them problem. Though adding onto this: this can mean that some combats can swing wildly in difficulty. Because there's no guarantee that the players will be at full resources, or just about to run out of steam, the same combat can be anywhere between "this is piss easy" to "oh god oh fuck we're all dying." Which I find leads to a lot more save-scumming, because you often have no way to tell if you don't have enough resources for a fight until you're actually in the fight. Hell, sometimes whether or not something actually is a fight is right down to RNG, which leads to my next problem...

Larian, I get that you're trying to emulate a TTRPG here, I really do. RNG for dialogue choices is not fun. There's a reason other cRPGs moved away from them in favour of binary "do you meet the skill requirement, yes/no?" checks. There's a reason you used that very system in Divinity: Original Sin 2. Because it takes agency away from the player, and means you sometimes just simply may not be able to do something simply because the dice said fuck you. If you don't meet the requirements for a check, you can just say "ah I didn't build my character this way, that's fair, I'll have to try that out sometime." or you feel rewarded for having built your character for speech checks by being guaranteed new options and solutions to problems. With the dice rolling system though, you can invest as much as you want into those skills, but you can still roll low and get completely fucked, making it feel more like "why do I even bother investing in that skill?" The reason the dice rolling works for a TTPRG is because you have a GM there with you to talk things out and apply some reason. You may roll low, but a GM can still adjust things, or you may have a character specific reason as to why the outcome should be different, or you can employ my favourite TTPRG tool of "yes, but-" A computer game can't do any of that. So it ends up feeling a lot harsher and a lot less fair and fun. This leads can very easily lead to a lot of save scumming, and it also makes spells like Guidance feel damn near mandatory to have in a party. Which means: I hope you like Shadowheart or playing a Cleric yourself, because you can't just not have a Cleric in the party.

This also extends to things like perception checks as well. Sometimes these are progression blocking, or at least feel like it, but I also think a lot of the issue actually comes down to telling the player too much information. If everyone in the party just failed a perception roll, well... I still know there's something there. The game is just saying "but you don't get to see what it is :)" I know the game doesn't do fake perception rolls (and I also think those are bad practice as well) so I instead know that there's just something there that's probably either about to fuck me over like a trap, or something that's near vital to progress something like a secret door or button, but I don't get to interact with it. If I was never told that the perception checks failed, I'd actually have no reason to suspect there's anything there at all, and the feeling of "well I may as well go fuck myself then" would be a lot lower. Though I think traps would feel extra unfair. I don't have a good solution for that one. This actually leads into a big tabletop problem of "oh one person failed a roll, time to get everyone in the party to make the roll even if they have no reason to" just to game the system. If you're going to keep this as something random as well (I'd argue that it's probably better to have the same "do you meet the skill requirement, yes/no?" binary system that Divinity uses, but that's definitely a debatable thing) I'd actually steal from Pathfinder 2e and hide those rolls from the player entirely. Secret rolls are so good for preventing the "well I rolled low, so I still know something is up, but I'm not allowed to act on it" problem that D&D 5e has.

Going further is a little bit of spoilers narratively, so I'll put those under a cut. If you don't want to keep reading though, I'll just put my conclusion here: I still love the game, you can still tell a lot of heart and soul has been poured into it, and Larian has done a lot of work to make D&D 5e a much more fun and enjoyable experience. It's just unfortunate that it still has some of the same fundamental issues that D&D 5e has on tabletop.

Though I think the real conclusion is: Larian, how much do I have to pay you for a Pathfinder 2e based cRPG?

Going on a brief narrative tangent real quick, and bearing in mind I'm only up to Act 2: I'm not fond of how certain aspects of the world are handled.

I think the goblins at the beginning are the biggest example of where my issues lie. They are, nigh universally, portrayed as quote unquote "evil." They're all raiders, pillagers, torturers, murderers, cultists, etc. And... I don't like that. I don't ever like portraying a race as "this is the evil race." I think it's not only boring and unimaginative, but I also think it's problematic. I get that a lot of people go to fantasy to escape real life, but surely seeing "every single member of this race you come across is defacto a bad guy" has to be raising questions, no? Even ignoring that though, it just stifles narrative creativity. By saying all members of a race are evil, you're removing a bunch of possibly very interesting stories. It's why I love Pathfinder 2e gnolls and goblins so much. They're so fascinating because there's so many facets to them, they're not just all evil. Hell, even whole ass demon lords can find redemption and become forces for good in Pathfinder. D&D has the problem of "evil is evil, and always will be evil" with not much room for the grey area inbetween. Which is a shame really.

I could also get into the problematic nature of "the dark skinned dwarfs are all evil slavers" and "the dark skinned gnomes are all used as slaves by the aforementioned dark skinned dwarfs" but... let's not. That's a debate that's been had a lot already, and it's not one I feel like having here.

I do appreciate that Larian at the very least tried to not fall into that entirely. The hobgoblin and illithid you meet in the underdark in act 1 were actually quite refreshing, it's just a shame (at least so far as I've experienced) there's not more like that. I'd love to have little goblin friends that aren't just The Worst(TM) people ever. And so far I've actually been quite intrigued by Lae'zel's (and by extension the entire Githyanki) storyline, I'm actually quite fond of how that's turning out so far.

That's not to say the writing is bad. Larian are still good at what they do, and there's still some very damn good stuff in here. It's just unfortunately still got to deal with some of the inherent D&D issues by nature of it being a D&D game.

#ttrpg #gaming #videogames #video games #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #still absolutely worth the money though and other game companies should be taking a long look at themselves for what they try to sell

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purplekoop · 8 months

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Oh yeah Sombra's Season 7 rework has been revealed!

Now, we don't know the exact specifications of these changes, like damage numbers and certain mechanical details, but I'll go over what we do know and elaborate on the specifics of that.

Starting off, Machine Pistol, EMP, and Hack, as the image suggests, are not getting any substantial changes. Possibly worth noting that Hack's description simply says "Hacked enemies cannot use abilities", which... may be implying that Hack will now lock out abilities for its full duration like in OW1? Uncertain yet, but it might make sense give the other changes...

...such changes include her original passive, Opportunist, being removed. As a reminder, this passive provides two benefits: enemies at low health are revealed to Sombra (and ONLY Sombra) through walls, and Sombra deals bonus damage to hacked enemies. Both of those traits are being removed. The low health wallhack part makes sense to me since she already reveals enemies with Hack now, so doubling up on wallhack mechanics feels odd, and the part of her initial OW2 rework where you hack to just deal a bunch of damage to enemies with your normal gun has always been contentious, and is being more directly replaced with something we'll see later. Instead, this all is being replaced in the passive slot with... Stealth?

Yeah okay this is the weird part. Now, Stealth automatically activates whenever Sombra is "out of combat" for a few seconds. That means without taking damage or attacking yourself, though I imagine hacking and reloading still don't interrupt it, as with before. A change not explained here but shown in a clip of reworked Sombra gameplay that's been shown is that there's now a visible ring around your feet to show where you'll be revealed to enemies when bumping into them while in Stealth.

Translocator is getting some juicy changes too. Instead of being passively available after deploying, instead it activates on contact, think like an Ender Pearl from Minecraft. I'm assuming you're also able to still "detonate" it midair, though this is unconfirmed. Curiously, it also says it reduces Stealth's cooldown after teleporting, which... I mean I'd just assume you go invisible faster after TP'ing, I don't know why they'd need to say "cooldown" for a passive but alright.

Last up though is a brand new ability, which is why Stealth had to get bumped to a passive in order to remain part of her kit. Virus throws a projectile that deals damage over time to an enemy it hits. Hacked enemies take an increased rate of damage from it, which is the equivalent to her removed Opportunist damage buff against hacked enemies I alluded to earlier.

Here's a link from the official twitter account that shows it in action:

The overall concept behind this rework was to make Sombra feel more active than passive, which I feel came from removing "lame" parts of her kit as much as it did from adding new proactive mechanics.

Now, my thoughts... are optimistic but with some caveats.

I think the changes to Translocator are great, the fun movement part is retained while the incredibly annoying "get out of jail free" card of a pre-placed teleport to safety is thankfully gone. If you catch Sombra in a bad spot then she actually has to do more than just press one button to instantly warp to safety.

The removal of Opportunist feels like a fine way to get rid of her kit's clutter to me, the low health wallhacks just end up being a cheap way to get picked off in Deathmatch, and the damage bonus to hacked players is just not a super great-feeling mechanic on either end.

Virus is gonna be an interesting ability to see how it plays out. The concept is super simple, but the key seems to be comboing it with hack and her main damage to shred targets. Overwatch in general is good at making satisfying "skill shot" abilities, and Virus seems to be no exception, so I feel like this'll be a better implementation of her prior Opportunist-based damage combo. My one concern is that the counterplay to this is gonna be very one-dimensionally just have Suzu or Zarya Bubbles to cancel it and neuter Sombra completely, but honestly I don't think it'll be thaaaaat bad. Again, tanks can just eat or block the projectile, and Genji deflect is gonna make things funny as always, so ultimately I think this is gonna be fine.

Stealth though... that's the weird one. I'm apprehensive to it just straight-up being turned into a passive that kicks in whether you like it or not after a few seconds, especially since permanent Stealth until you want to exit it is one of the things I'm not fond of in her current design. Honestly, I think they could get away with making Stealth just an extra component of Translocator, where it kicks in after the teleport like what I assume is the case here, but that might be a lot to dump into one ability.

Overall I'm very curious to see how this rework plays out. Gut instinct is that at minimum it's gonna take away a lot of the frustration when dealing with Sombra now, but I also appreciate how none of Sombra's existing iconography and traits are being removed. She does the stealthy and the teleporty and the hacky, but now she has another new tool to tie it all together.

Also general Season 7 recap post coming soon maybe eventually too!

#overwatch #overwatch 2 #overwatch 2 season 7 #sombra #sombra overwatch

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radiant-future · 11 months

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THE GAME

Radiant Future's gameplay takes place on a traditional Fire Emblem map with your usual assortment of units, terrain types, obstacles, et cetera laid out on a grid. The player and enemy take turns moving all their units, choosing what to do with them, yadda yadda yadda.

HOWEVER. The roster of playable characters is quite small compared to the average Fire Emblem game, and furthermore each character has only a small number of different weapons they can use (usually 4). Inventory management only matters for consumable items, as weapons do not break, and when a weapon is purchased for a character it becomes permanently added to a special inventory slot. When I start talking about individual characters I'll include the weapons available to them.

Each character has a Map Action - an active ability they can spend their turn on, like Rally Spectrum or Dance.

A form of Biorhythm exists as a double-edged snowball effect. Instead of fluctuating based on the individual character as a chapter progresses, your Biorhythm improves every time you pull off a combo of 10 hits or more, and worsens when you whiff 10 moves in a row in a single engagement, representing the character's confidence and doubt. Since Hit and Avoid are gone, Biorhythm affects Attack and Defense.

Stats and levels still exist. As mentioned, Hit and Avoid are done away with. The Dexterity/Crit stat determines the rate at which the Skill Gauge fills relative to damage dealt, the Speed stat shaves frames off the startup of a character's moves, the Luck stat extends the character's window for a successful perfect block, and the Movement stat has the same effects on the map as always, but also determines in-battle walking and jumping speed. Range still affects how far away you can initiate combat from, but there is no instance where one unit can fight and the other can't, unless there's an item or Map Action that can force a unit to start combat in a stunned state.

Promotions and class changes are done away with entirely, even for the Avatar, as this is a fighting game and it wouldn't be as fun if you could deal with every single enemy by throwing a General with super armor and a guard crush super at them. However, characters do still have stated class names, which can give you some idea of what they're about.

Oh, right, the actual fighting game side of things. Should probably get into that. THAT begins when you use the Attack command - at the same point where a real, official FE game switches into an automated sequence that plays out entirely by comparing stats and calling RNG. Instead of that happening, the unit you use to attack and the unit you attacked are thrust into a 2D plane with health bars at the top of the screen, three-segmented Skill Gauges (super meters) at the bottom, and a 30-second timer in the middle. The fighting units do entrance animations, pausing for dialogue if they have a special interaction, and then the fight begins.

There are five main button inputs: Light, Medium, Heavy, Signature, and Skill. Skill is used sparingly, primarily for supers, while Signature can be compared to the Slash input from Guilty Gear, in that you tend to get a 100% character-specific move out of it.

Your objective in combat is not necessarily to defeat your opponent. Your average unit can take substantially more of a beating than even some bosses in official FE. When the 30-second timer runs out, the game returns to the map screen and each unit's HP is set to what it was at the end of the engagement. This also applies if you KO the opponent before time runs out—the engagement immediately ends, the victor's HP is adjusted if applicable, and the loser disappears from the map. It may be worth it not to overcommit to defeating an opponent in one round, and to instead deal risk-free chip damage to soften them up for later. All units have their own separate HP meter, but the Skill Gauge is shared between everyone on the same side.

The Weapon Triangle exists in a form. Instead of hard number superiority, lances have the longest reach, axe-wielding units tend to have a lot of armored moves that let them push through lance disjoints, and swords have a way to beat super armor, whether with counters, command grabs, or just hitboxes that ignore armor. The Anima Magic triangle does not share this property.

Weapon types are not as strict as in real FE games—the Avatar's fighting style is best described as "sword with some unarmed street brawling thrown in"—but represented weapons include the core weapon triangle; bows; knives; at least two spells from each of the Fire, Wind, Thunder, Dark, and Light groups; staffs; gauntlets/martial arts; Laguz transformations and weaponized Creatures mimicking them; and guns that shoot non-elemental magic bolts instead of bullets.

Last thing for now: If you start combat while adjacent to an ally, you can make use of a sixth in-battle input: Assist, which is shared with a quick-select for your Map Action on the map screen. The Assist input summons the adjacent ally into battle to perform one of their special moves, just like in a tag-team fighting game sans most of the tag mechanics. If you start combat while adjacent to multiple allies, you can only choose one to be your Assist for the engagement.

#radiant future #fire emblem au #fighting game concept #if i miss something or change my mind expect me to reblog this eventually #i am a fickle creator who judges my own work harshly

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animehouse-moe · 1 year

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The Ancient Magus' Bride Season 2 Episode 10: Conscience Does Make Coward Of Us All II.

Well, we've shed that wonderful orange hue that stained the prior episode, and in its placed we've gained some things, being reminded of what this world is, and who our characters are. Though it's not all great news, as we're subject to the limitations of Kafka once more.

I'll get it out of the way first, action and scale are things that Kafka don't have the ability to tackle well. It comes off very dry and flat without much expertise in regards to it. If there was someone that was skilled with action sequences on any level, I'm relatively confident that they could manage something. But, well, as the episode shows they don't have a whole lot on that front.

I'm really just going in circles each week with this critique, but it's so hard to not say anything about when they have equally impressive and stunning visuals that make the best of what tools they have at their disposal.

Anyways, the episode itself. It starts off well, with Seth and Chise chatting and Lucy pouting a little that she's being left out, as she takes it out on Chise. It's cute, and does well to sort of hit a reset button on how viewers approach the episode.

Following the ice breaker for the episode with the trio, we get to see Simeon actually awaken in a nurse's office, which I found interesting. Leaving him alive seemed an odd choice at first, but we find out why later. The more curious part in the moment is Elias saying that Simeon was found in the yard, rather than the hallway that viewers had last seen him in.

For now though, the most interesting piece is actually Elias' character. Seeing him interact with someone that doesn't control the conversation (and isn't Chise) really is curious. His detachment from it is much more explicit, and the only things that interest him are those that relate to Chise. He doesn't care about sharing magical power with Simeon, but he also says he doesn't care to do it often either, both discounting Simeon's thanks for sharing and also in a roundabout way boasting while remaining reclusive.

His comment asking about what a friend is though was very curious. I thought it very interesting to see Elias branch out into asking those questions of other people, even if it was Tory that put the thought in his head. But despite his confusion and lack of understanding to what it is, he seems to grasp something deeper within as he moves to cover up Simeon while they rest on the bed. The behavior of Elias this season has been very curious, as still plenty of that apathy and lack of humanity remains, but emotions and understanding slowly creep into view with his character here and there.

From here, we return to our trio of Chise, Seth, and Lucy as they're intercepted by the Lycanthrope assassins that appeared in the prior episode. Not so great action and combat ensues, as I had mentioned earlier, but the best part by far was Elias' appearance.

The whole approach to it speaks on exactly what I was just saying about his character. They're reminding viewers just how divorced from sympathy and humanity Elias remains. He undeniably cares about Chise as his first reaction was to check to see if she was okay, followed by retaliating against the pursuers. His worldview remains very centered around Chise, and so things that don't directly pertain to her (like the whole friend conversation) are trivial and disinteresting matters for Elias to attend to. And he makes sure viewers understand that as he allows the Lycanthrope duo to follow after Chise and co as they flee.

But anyways, back to Chise, finally. I really like how much of her character is stained with regret and guilt in this episode, and that it's coated in that thin layer of fear as well. While most of the season has been about expanding upon and moving characters forward, when push comes to shove they easily fall into their past tendencies.

And of course, a good episode of MahoYome means fear and danger, not just from external forces but internal as well. Listening to that inner voice that has you taking a dark path to escape, for example. I really liked the concept for it, though the execution could use work thanks to Kafka's limitations. And this one still from the scene? Definitely the best part that drives home that fear while remaining in tune with the rest of the designs that pull these pieces of magic and fae closer together.

It delivers on that fear, on the fact that this is something one shouldn't interact with in the first place. That you shouldn't be anywhere near it. I just wish they could translate that discomfort even just a little bit better into the movement of these creatures. Though I will say, the overall appeal and interaction with them is great, their speech patterns and tone do drive home that discomfort really well.

Though the fear of these creatures doesn't last for long as the Lycanthropes catch up, only to be preyed upon by them. The real heavy hitter of it is Chise's reaction to it. Despite these people harming Ruth (and by extension her), and being after the life of both her roommate and the person who helped save her, she feels guilt. She can't follow through on the destruction of the assassins that decimated Lucy's family.

I think it's a really great piece, purely because it shows the limitations that still exist within Chise. That she struggles with death, and that she desires passivity when dealing with these things. Talking someone out of a heinous act, or stopping them in nonviolent ways. Chise is morally against violence, to the point that other issues from it arise. But even still, her guilt and aversion cannot spare her from it. She can try all that she likes to shy away from it, but in this dangerous world nothing will remain perfectly clean. And to that end, Joseph summarized it perfectly in the prior episode, "There's no going back to when you didn't know anything".

Moving forward however, we get a brief interlude with Seth and Chise, where Seth recants the past of himself and Lucy. Nothing special, but certainly important in gaining the full picture, and providing some more context into Seth's feelings towards his younger sister whom he rarely sees.

What's more interesting is what follows. Marielle, the one that got Elias interested in the Testament of Carnamagos, appears to help them in discovering what it is that ails Simeon. It's moments like these where I really wish Kafka had more behind them, because the art really is stunning.

As you might guess, as Marielle peers into Simeon, she's met with what feels like the Testament of Carnamagos, and explains that Simeone's magic is currently being sapped by something or someone out there. Suddenly, it makes sense why both Lucy and Simeon are still alive. They're acting as batteries for the person behind this. But why? Lucy has potential because of the affiliation of her family's history, but what role might Simeone potentially have versus any other person on the campus? I'm unsure of that, but I feel like we might get a glimpse of it in the next episode.

Before that though, we have Lucy finally confronting Chise after the Lycanthrope incident.

I really liked this piece, as it directly calls Chise out. Lucy lost her family to those monsters. All she had was reduced to a puddle of limbs and blood, and when she met those murderers next? She was powerless, without magic, without any way to retaliate or express her rage and sorrow.

And who is it that's been at Lucy's side and helping her? Chise. And who is it that allowed the Lycanthrope to flee with its tail between its legs? Chise. Lucy feels incredibly betrayed, and rightfully berates Chise because of it.

It's a great piece that further speaks to her inability to properly help people. Putting her life on the line at every turn, or allowing a terrible person to continue living on when she has no need to step in and change things. Chise continually finds herself running away from the situations that she's in, in the figurative sense. She'll jump into action without a second thought and put herself at risk, but as soon as someone else is threatened, she freezes up. It's great to see that core character flaw remain present, even if it's faltering and cracking under the pressure of a curse and another existence within her.

And with that, we finish the episode in front of the head of the Sargent family.

Definitely a more narrow episode than the previous, but it does well to explore the history of the Websters, alongside reminding viewers of just what and who Elias and Chise are in this world. My only complaint is how they handled the Lycanthrope scenes, as they felt rather thin and devoid of much impact. The characters and conversation are plenty fine, but the animation and storyboarding for it to work around just weren't up to snuff. Regardless, it seems the curiosities and questions will only deepen with the next episode, as we seem to be gearing up for past and present to clash over the future.

#ancient magus' bride #ancient magus bride #mahoyome #mahou tsukai no yome #mahoutsukai no yome #magus bride #魔法使いの嫁 #chise hatori #elias ainsworth #studio kafka #wit studio #anime recommendation #anime review #anime and manga #anime

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mesaprotector · 1 month

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Haven't posted about Elden Ring in a bit.

I've been off on vacation for two weeks, then sick for a week. I hadn't played since I finished the game but basically the only thing I could focus on while sick was farming every single item in the game. The Magma Blade was painful to get.

It occurred to me that I really avoided getting good at Elden Ring combat (except for some specific skills). One thing I'm going to do before the DLC is try to fix that. I guess I could post this on somewhere like Discord or Reddit that has a lot more PvP tryhards, but I honestly find those communities pretty unpleasant. So here goes.

I played the game blind. Well, mostly blind - I gradually caved and researched more once I got near the end. This meant my understanding of the game's mechanics was poor at best. I beat the game with effectively 23½ Vigor (25 with a permanent debuff I didn't know about), fat-rolled through almost every fight, and depended on summons and Torrent most of the time. The skills I did develop (strategic aggro, stealth, crossbow shots) were useless in most boss fights. My reasoning was "well, I'm not getting one-shot...".

I play with mouse and keyboard, and always have. I never owned a controller as a kid (I wouldn't have thought to ask my parents, and they wouldn't have bought me one if I had), and since I've grown up I've played games seldom enough that it was never a priority. I vaguely know how to use one thanks to trips to friend's houses, but I still find it a miserable experience. On my recent trip I went over to a friend's and started Stray, the game where you're an adorable cyberpunk cat. I got to the very first action sequence, and attempting to turn corners with the controller was useless, it felt like the floor was slippery ice. I plugged in my mouse and beat it first try.

Aiming with a mouse is just so natural for me. You don't need lock-on (which is a necessary evil for controllers, but is at least a little immersion-breaking). Horse combat, which most Elden Ring players think is clunky and difficult, becomes easy.

The main downside of keyboard and mouse* is that the default keybinds are quite awkward. Sprint and dodge are the same key (and can't be separated). Switching equipped items uses the ARROW KEYS which means one of your two hands needs to leave its position for a second. The pouch keybinds are obscure and I never used it my entire playthrough.

So, after 200+ hours in Elden Ring, I changed all my keybinds. Shift is now sprint/dodge; space is now jump; the mouse middle key is now heavy attack and mouse 4th button is now weapon skill. Definitely taking some getting used to and I expect a lot of silly deaths but I can already tell it's so much better.

(*some absolute genius said they used controller and mouse to play the game, which is definitely superior but too daring for me)

I played the majority of my run with the Treespear, which it turns out was a rare good decision on my part - it's one of the best Dex/Fai weapons - but the main reason it's so good is something I didn't know, which is that you can buff it with Order's Blade for crazy damage, one of only two split-damage weapons that's true for. I never used Order's Blade... it requires 13 Int and my character was dumb as rocks, and proud of it. Plus I kind of want to use something different on my next run.

So after farming everything in sight this past week and trying them out, I found a weapon I'd never looked twice at - the Guardian's Swordspear (Keen affinity). It only scales with Dex but can still be buffed; halberds are absolutely the #1 mounted weapon class; and it just feels natural. Still unsure on which weapon art I'll stick with but for now I have Piercing Fang. It's a quick running attack that has lovely synergy with Wrath of Gold.

And yes, I'm still going to use incantations on the next run - how can you be a Faith build and not? - but disallowing lock-on means I'll be focusing on close-up magic and buffs. Hitting soldiers from across the map is funny a couple of times, but it doesn't have nearly the visceral joy of getting the timing down on a Fortissax's Lightning Spear or a Catch Flame.

Dex/Fai is a weird combination because it feels it doesn't get a lot of balanced, merely "very good" weapons. You have unique weapons that are downright broken (Blasphemous Blade, Sacred Relic Sword, Envoy's Long Horn) plus ones that are situationally good but not a great primary choice (Godslayer's Greatsword, Black Knife, Vyke's War Spear). I'm hoping my new Swordspear strikes a happy medium and gets me up to scratch on dodging, spacing, timing, and everything else. I'm still never going to join the PvP scene - I just want to git gud for my own sake.

#elden ring #nerdy build thoughts #video games

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glitter-bunny420 · 2 months

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Chiori's kit simplified! (Teyvat for Beginners #2)

Welcome to the second edition of a series that I will be calling “Teyvat for Beginners”! I won't be including a section on Chiori’s Normal Attack since there's nothing special about it. This'll also apply to any other characters whose NAs don't have special features.

Also bc of how many characters there are, I'm only doing the girls for the sake of my sanity. But maybe one day, I'll do the guys if i feel like it, who knows!

Chiori's kit revolves a lot around AoE damage, but what does that mean? AoE is an acronym for "area of effect"; it covers any ability that affects characters within a specific range. For example, Diona's Burst creates a circle on the ground - the inside of the circle is the Burst's AoE. However, some AoE abilities don’t have a visual indicator so keep that in mind.

With that cleared up, let's take a look at Chiori’s cutting-edge skills!

Combat

Elemental Skill - Fluttering Hasode

Chiori dashes forward, sweeping her sword upward at the enemy whilst summoning a doll named Tamoto and dealing AoE Geo DMG. Holding the Skill button will allow you to adjust your aim and dictate where you want Chiori to dash to. With this, you can easily have Chiori perform Plunging Attacks.

Tamoto will deal Geo DMG to nearby enemies every 3.6 seconds that she's on the field - this damage scales off of Chiori's ATK and DEF, so the higher either of these stats are, the more damage Tamoto will do. It's usually recommended that you focus on Chiori's DEF stat.

When there is another Geo Construct on the field, a second Tamoto will appear; only two Tamotos can exist simultaneously. Geo characters who can create Constructs, and therefore be viable teammates for Chiori, include Albedo, Zhongli, Ningguang, Itto and Geo Traveler. The first four characters can make Constructs with their Skills, while Traveler can make them with both their Skill and Burst.

Elemental Burst - Hiyoku: Twin Blades

Very similar to her Skill in that it deals AoE Geo DMG and scales off of ATK and DEF.

Passive

Tailor-Made

If you tap Chiori's Skill again immediately after her sweep, the "Tapestry" effect will be triggered. This will instantly switch out Chiori for the next party member (for instance, if Chiori is in the first slot on your team, the character who takes the field will be the one in the second slot) and will grant your active character the "Seize the Moment" state - when the on-field character hits an enemy with a Normal, Charged or Plunging Attack, Tamoto will deal a coordinated attack as AoE Geo DMG. The value of Tamoto's attack will be the same amount of damage that Chiori performs with her sweep. The "Seize the Moment" state lasts for 8 seconds; it cannot be triggered if you manually switch to the next character after using Chiori's Skill.

Alternatively, if you use Chiori's Normal Attack after the sweep, she will enter the "Tailoring" state, in which her weapon gains Geo infusion for 5 seconds, allowing her to deal Geo DMG with her Normal Attacks.

The Finishing Touch

Chiori gains a 20% Geo DMG Bonus increase for 20 seconds when a teammate (both your own characters and Co-Op members) creates a Geo Construct.

Brocaded Collar's Beauteous Silhouette

If any of Chiori's teammates is wearing an outfit other than their default one, or a glider other than Wings of First Flight (the default pair), the whole party will have their movement speed increased by 10%. For example, if Chiori is in a team with Ningguang, who is wearing the "Orchid's Evening Gown" outfit, this passive will be triggered. This cannot stack with other passives that increase movement speed.

#teyvat for beginners #genshin impact #genshin #chiori #genshin theorycrafting #theorycrafting #I was gonna call it teyvat for dummies but that sounds mean and the purpose is to be educational

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bainhardt · 2 months

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Marchcember 2024 SPRING do - Part 2

I suppose it's fortunate this isn't a proper December To-Do, because next game off the list isn't even really backlog, although it is a similar enough scenario to Mega Serval which also got a post... We'll just say this one's more of a "March Playing a Video Game." I bought Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen earlier this month on sale and even finished it in time for this name scheme to still make sense! With my track record, it's practically a miracle this was done with such fast turnaround.

I had my feelings on the game already figured out during my playthrough at about exactly "half-fun." If I didnt like anything about it I wouldn't have bothered finishing, as should be pretty obvious. But there was no shortage of griping along the way. I'm already reminded of a couple other games, saying that...

I absolutely hated traveling. Dunno exactly why but the stamina running out on me all the time made it not fun in the least to explore. It was doubly cruel for the game to give infinite stamina inside Gran Soren, suggesting they did realize that idea had merit. Why not only have limited stamina during combat? The thought had me desperate for Elden Ring's design. At the same time, blaming this whole issue on stamina alone would feel wrong when I know I enjoyed similar games like Skyrim in their day.

I guess to hit on all my scattered thoughts on the subject - movement reminded me of Legends Arceus; the control didn't feel properly snappy and responsive and "fun." Clunky is the descriptor here. Also, the swarms of enemies in the wilderness are entirely pointless. This is maybe the only action game I remember playing that had random encounters. There wasn't much in the way of exp or loot to be gained from fighting my five-hundredth wolf or bandit, and it certainly wasn't fun to do for its own sake, so I employed the age-old technique from RPGs: I ran the fuck away constantly. And finally, the lack of any kind of quick travel was initially a huge turn-off for me, but as I progressed and discovered the portcrystals, I can give them, again, about half credit for this one. I think giving the player a limited number of warp points is a fairly unique compromise... but I would really prefer the warps themself be infinite. I can say with confidence that without the Dark Arisen infinite ferrystone, I wouldn't have played this one for very long.

As for the other side of our basic foundation mechanics, combat gets a "fine" from me. The third-person action approach is cool, but I feel it may have ended up a little too simple. This part reminded me, strangely, of Tactics Ogre (not a good sign); I never once felt like I had to change or reevaluate anything I was doing for the entire game. I learned three Thief skills right at the beginning and mashing the same buttons over and over always worked, so I had no reason to broaden my horizons. Trip enemy with rope, hit enemy with flurry attack. Dunno if that's typical because I haven't played many games like this. And I can imagine what you're thinking: you're supposed to branch out because you want to experience the other possibilities! ...Well, I think it's important to say I didn't really find combat so fun that I wanted to do it any more than necessary, or as said earlier, for its own sake.

Which establishes the main idea here: if the core gameplay loops the game spends most of its time asking you do to are not particularly fun for you, playing it can feel more like a chore. The proportion is so important, too. How much do you like and how much do you wish you could skip? It feels so stupid to talk about it like it's not obvious, but I think it's a huge underlying element of the games that lose me somewhere or other. I just want it to be all good.

So I'll take that as the turning point to talk about stuff that was good! I really love the Arisen/Pawn system of the game, both mechanically and narratively. It made for a fascinating world setting. I initially wanted to know the story because of this, though I don't know for sure I got all of it because I was averse to doing anything other than what was strictly necessary (sorry). The Pawn AI was also fairly reliable. They didn't always do what I'd hope, but they never did anything I actively preferred they wouldn't, either. As I've mentioned, I haven't played other games like Dragon Age or whatever, but this feels like it might be the ideal version of your pseudo-D&D RPG experience in a game. You get all the fun of a full party while only needing to fuss over two of the members' finer details. Actually, to that point, I think I would have enjoyed more details to fuss over. Getting to decide more out-of-combat things my Pawn and I should be good and bad at would make outfitting the party even more fun.

Another plus - one of my own making - is that my characters never stopped making me laugh when they were on screen. This game let me create any character I wanted and I was so unsure of what to do I ended up a hulking, dykey Bart Simpson in a Princess Zelda cosplay. But the true star of the show was Tom Scott, who served as my rock and guide throughout Gransys. I don't know what I'd have done without him.

Quest and dungeon design seemed pretty good overall. While perhaps not many, all of the quests I remember felt unique and had me tracking down more interesting objectives than your usual slay monsters X times bullshit (while also cleverly including that through the bulletins). But it warrants repeating that I avoided even considering certain quests because I knew they'd require I carve halfway across the map through mobs of dull enemies feeling no sense of reward or satisfaction, only to do one cool dungeon and then immediately turn around and drudge my way back. Where I did journey, that ferrystone was always pulling a lot of weight.

And to make an important distinction here about the combat: boss fights were great. I enjoyed every boss that I recall - even when these encounters occasionally slowed down to a bit of a slog, I still preferred their far grander-scale slog to trash mobs at their best. Bespoke monster fights should've been like, the only fights in the game... or maybe that would've crossed too far into Capcom's Monster Hunter (though it's still nice for it all to be building towards a conclusion). But yeah, climbing on guys was fun, learning their moves and options, having your Pawns caught in the crossfire and calling out advice and stuff. Loved all that. This is where the game's systems actually engage the player on a proper level. I was chuggin' through items, reading about the myriad status effects I was suffering, smacking my forehead as That Same Pawn went down for the umpteenth time at the least opportune moment. To return to my point about proportions from before, boss fights felt like the only reward the rest of the drudgery in the game kept me wanting after, and they're easily the best memories from it. I specifically chose to fight the dragon at the end because I wanted to beat ass one last time! Polish up the combat a little and give me further ways to customize my characters around unique challenges and threats posed by these monsters, and I'd be begging for more.

Damn this got longer than I intended. To conclude, I'm glad that I got this game done and relatively quickly, but I am definitely not begging for more. I didn't even buy it because I wanted to play DD2... I just thought the Monster Factory episode was funny.

#Jeffu talk #December To Do

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thebard490 · 8 months

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Battle Breakdown: Exhibition Match, Mordred vs Leonardo (Scizor)

[Video id: A noivern messing with a camera. He hops back and tries clicking a couple of different buttons, messing with the lighting slightly, checking something offscreen, and then just resetting the lighting. "I'll work on that later. This one's already going to be late" he mutters. "Alright, live in three, two, one. Hello, and welcome to Battle Breakdown! I'm your host, Mordred. In this series I break down battles to help explain the tactics, strategy, and techniques used so you can become a better battler."

"In this episode, we'll be analyzing another one of my matches, mostly because I don't have anyone sending matches in yet. In this case, an exhibition match between myself and Burgh's ace on his champion circuit team. Let's get into the competitors."

An image appears of Mordred, alongside his stats, held item, and moveset. He boasts remarkable speed and decent special attack, but relatively poor attack and defenses. He is holding Bright Powder, and equipped with Psychic, Fly, Dragon Pulse, and Double Team. "So, me, for those unfamiliar, I'm a classic speed type, with a focus on using pseudomoves and my exceptional speed to help confound and outthink my opponents. However, I'm in for a serious challenge this time."

An image appears of a Scizor, alongside their own impressive defense and murderous attack stats. They are holding a Life Orb, and have the ability Technician. They are using Swords Dance, Bullet Punch, Fury Cutter, and Focus Punch. "So this is Leo, Burgh's ace when it comes to fighting trainers who've already completed another region's circuit. Extremely skilled fighter, as evidenced by how he managed to learn Focus Punch, only Scizor I've ever seen with it. I found out after the battle he used to be part of the Ferrum Circuit, which is entirely focused on 1v1s and allows a much broader set of moves. Must have learned it up there. He's really making the most of his Technician ability with a priority move, multi-hit, and then Swords Dance and Life Orb to push those low power moves as far as possible. He's got a clear battle plan and plenty of ways of forcing pressure. The type matchup really isn't in my favor either, resisting everything except my Fly, which his heavy physical defenses and my poor attack makes a poor choice. I won't win a head on fight, but that's fairly normal."

"See, there's many different strategies used by different teams and pokemon, from hyper-offense, pivot, sweep setup, and BIG STALL. However, when it comes to one on one, there are four general types pokemon tend to fall into.

"The first and simplest are the pure power types. These are the ones with the raw power to simply take their opponents on directly and crush them. This includes both your typical physical brawlers like a Garchomp, and can also involve those with exceptional special attack, such as Gardevoir or Alakazam."

"The second type are the technique focused types. These ones don't necessarily have the raw power and bulk of others, but instead make the absolute most of what they do have. Lucario is pretty much the poster boy for this style, and it covers most fighting types."

"The third are tricks focused, myself included. Rather than focusing on direct combat, we focus on preventing our opponent from executing their strategy, and wearing them down using evasion, status effects, and superior tactics. I use Accuracy manipulation for my approach, but others will use confusion, paralysis, sleep, freeze, or burn to hamper the opponent's offense. I'm an example of this, but you'll also commonly see this among Zoroark."

"Finally, the fourth type are focused on attrition, using remarkable bulk and the ability to heal to wear the target down. They might use similar techniques as a tricks fighter, slowing down the target with a status effect, but they tend to favor passive damage approaches like Toxic, Bind, and Leech Seed, while either preventing an opponent from switching out, or punishing them for doing so using Stealth Rock or Toxic Spikes. These guys tend to have bad reputations due to Leech Trappers, but it is a valid strategy for bulky mon who lack traditional offensive abilities."

"So, based on Scizor's stats, you'd expect most of them to be powerhouse types. They're physically bulky and physical powerhouses, with next to no weakness aside from an admittedly major vulnerability to fire. We'd expect him trying to rush me down and clean my clock, keeping pressure high, but ultimately relying on brute force. Let's see what happens."'

A video begins, showing Mordred and Leonardo both facing one another down. The two remain paused for a long moment, before blurring into motion. The scizor closes in, fist cocked back, and Mordred unleashes a Dragon pulse, causing minimal effect. Mordred retreats to try and create space, before Scizor closes the area in a burst of motion and lands a body blow with Bullet Punch. Mordred responds with a blur of motion, evading the next strike with double team, continuing to fall back. Scizor keeps the pressure on, preparing another powerful blow, before being hit with another Dragon Pulse. The video pauses.

"So, this is already a pretty bad situation for me." Mordred admits. "Precisely because of Focus Punch. Let's get into this move in detail. It's a move with an extremely low priority, but immense power. If it lands, it hits just as hard as a hyper beam. With Leo's attack and Life Orb, if he lands it, I'm done. This means I can only try and set up my Double Teams if I know he's not using it, in other words, after he's already socked me with Bullet Punch."

"While I could get lucky and have him miss, bright powder plus one double team drops his chance to hit to 65% on a 100% move. Thanks to his Life Orb, he's dropping 10% of his HP each turn, and each one of his hits has dropped mine by about 25% each time he hits. An X-Scissor will do around 15%. So at the moment, he needs 2 hits to finish me, or one Focus Punch, and has lost probably around 40% of his HP thanks to the Life Orb and my Dragon Pulses. So I need to survive three more hits if I counter every time, or just dodge 6 moves, both of which seem improbable. So, time to get creative."

"Of course, the battlefield, despite being Burgh's, isn't actually that well suited to creativity. It's a solid floor, no substrate to kick up, inside a building, so minimal ability to use outside factors, and in this cocoon, limiting my area to move. However, he does keep his paints up here, so-"

The video resumes, and Mordred uses psychic to fling several of Burgh's paints up and into Scizor's face, blinding him. "Accuracy down by another stage, odds to hit on a 100% move, down to 50% with a 100% accurate move." Scizor goes for another Bullet Punch, and whiffs. Mordred goes for a Fly to punish, but Scizor evades and lands a powerful Bullet Punch, sending Mordred sprawling. The video stops.

"Alright, let's go back and look at this again, slowed down, because this is a seriously impressive trick he just pulled. You can see right here." Mordred says, scrolling back to the exact point where the attack wiffs. "He recognizes he's missed and is already moving to recover. You can see how he turns, moves with the momentum of his strike to keep as much speed as possible, sees me setting up a counter, anticipates it, and then this very light correction here to get himself out of the way, and counter-punch my counter for a guaranteed hit even with my evasion boosted. That's not a powerhouse type fighter, that's honestly masterful technique. There aren't many who are outright better than me in the air, and while I am faster than him, his skill in aerial maneuverability puts me to shame. This is the difference between a Gym Leader's ace and just a normal battle trainer. Quite frankly, I'm getting rinsed. Fortunately, I'm not fighting on my own." The video resumes

"Mordred! Fall back towards the edge, use the strings!" Sam calls out, and Mordred listens. "This is why it's always important to listen to your trainer. In the middle of a fight, you're focused on the fight, and can't necessarily see the full picture. Your trainer can keep a cooler head and help you recognize strategies you wouldn't in the moment." Mordred comments, as his past self falls back and evades another bullet punch. Pink Psychic energy shrouds several strands of the cocoon walls, and pulls them out, catching and entangling the Scizor.

"Now, set it ablaze! He's weak to fire!" Sam calls, and Mordred uses Dragon Pulse on the cocoon walls, creating a massive blast of fire and smoke that sets the Scizor ablaze, falling to the ground and rolling to extinguish itself. The video pauses.

"No matter the arena, there's always something you can use to overcome your weaknesses, and take on an opponent who would be traditionally more powerful, and even more skilled than you are. However, you also need to take into account any hazards from an arena. Such as for example, what tends to happen when you generate a ton of smoke inside a building." Mordred comments, grimacing in anticipation.

The video resumes, and the smoke from Mordred's attack sets off the fire alarm, filling the building with a piercing screeching sound. The bat dragon is clearly overwhelmed by the noise and staggers, unable to move clearly. The Scizor has no such limitation, and closes in, fist gleaming. There is a powerful BOOM that sounds through the arena, shaking the cocoon, and Mordred goes flying, smashing into the ground hard enough to dig a trench through the wooden platform.

"And that my friends is why you respect the focus punch. For anyone wondering, no that didn't hurt, I was unconscious too quickly. When I woke up on the other hand, that hurt like a motherf@#$#@. If you were wondering why this and the last one were a bit delayed, that's why. I'm still kind of sore from that."

"The headache aside, I hope this analysis further showed off the difference between different fighting styles, and some of the approaches one can use to overcome a power disadvantage, as well as the importance of understanding all the elements of your arena, and the consequences of your actions. No action takes place in a vacuum. If nothing else, I'm happy to show off another ace at the top of his game. I'm gonna have to go to Ferrum at some point if they're that skilled at fighting."

"In any case, this has been Battle Breakdowns. This is Mordred, signing off to go get another ice pack."

#pokeblogging #pokemon #gym leader burgh #scizor #noivern #battle breakdown #howthedistortiondidanoivernlearnvideoediting?#ow

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