#parrying is probably my favorite mechanic | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

dootmoon · 3 months

Text

Some thoughts on Ex Astris

Okay so the TL;DR is: Go play it if you're someone who is mainly motivated by gameplay, it's one of the most enjoyable games i've played in like 10 years (im not kidding). the story is not bad, but it's very poorly told and leaves a lot to be desired. I should also warn that i'll probably spoil a couple of things, mainly on the gameplay side (because yes, I do believe some encounters are better if you dont know the gimmick).

Where do I even start, I only watched like 2 trailers before playting, i had 0 idea of what i was getting into, all i really knew about the game was that it was a full game release by the AK guys and that it was a turn based rpg. I legitimately bought it out of morbid curiosity, I was not expecting to find my favorite jrpg in a literal decade.

I'll go over what I liked the most and then explain the couple of issues I have with the game, it might sound like i loved it (which i did) but it's far from perfect and i think there's room for improvement. I think the combat is the real deal in this title, for those unfamiliar with it: it's a classic turn based jrpg but it has layers. The main 3 mechanics that make it stand out from other games is that each turn you have AP (action points) which limit what you can do each turn, however you can directly manipulate them with a combo system that gives you back AP. The second one is a parry system, during the enemy turn you can directly parry their attacks, you have 2 colors for parrying, both colors have different properties and there's certain attacks that can only be parried with the respective color. And lastly, theres a stagger bar, similar to FFXIII or posture bar in sekiro, although i think it's more akin to stagger in FFXIII. Once you break said bar you can enter hyper time for a few seconds where you have unlimited AP so you can combo them for massive damage. The combo system is very enjoyable, you will be blindly experimenting your combos for optimal damage each time you unlock new moves in the skill trees. Theres a very satisfying feeling to landing a big combo on an enemy that feels like it was entirely something you came up with. This sadly comes with a downside, once you figure out your big damage combos, there's not much of a reason to try anything different. It doesnt mean it stops being enjoyable but this is a wall most of games with combo systems have. Now the parry system, while it's fun, it sadly makes the game too easy. Sure theres enemies that will mix their timings to throw you off and a couple of unparriable attacks. But really, if you get good there's no reason to ever get hit. "But what about the unblockables?" yeah about that... Theres really just 3 enemies in the game that had them, and 2 of them were bosses, which you get a hard counter to the unblockable in the first boss that has it. I wish the game had more ways to work around you to make it more challenging. The only time the game REALLY tries to fuck you up is the final boss (this is a good thing) however it was still too easy. She really just makes the screen black and white and makes you parry based on the icon, then she makes you parry based on the color of the attack. This was sick and i wish there were more moments like this in the game. Now the dungeons were great, they feel like they belong in an older 3d zelda game. Sadly they dont get too crazy on the gimmicks, they were just box puzzles where you have to move them in the correct spots or point lasers to certain switches. Apparently this game has plans for DLCs so if theres something i wish upon to get explored more it would be this in particular. The rest of the game is the towns and the sidequests inside them, they're very usual stuff for a jrpg so you know what to expect, i cant elaborate much on it. Overall I think the game is meant to be replayed, by the end you're only able to fully build 3 characters out of 5 party members, sidequests expire and there's a bunch of stuff to mess around to make a playthrough different from the last one. The game changes a lot when you already know how it works or what really happens in the story.

Now the elephant in the room, the story: Yeah it's kinda just there, it's very poorly told. However it's HG and i can tell there was a lot of thought put into the wold building, it's very well made. It's just a shame that i could barely care about anything happening in it, even though I was kinda invested by the final hours i dont think that excuses the really bad storytelling. However starting my second playthrough is when I noticed it was indeed meant to be replayed. There's a bunch of stuff that feels so incredibly cryptic or really make no sense, once you go over it already having context it all makes sense and you just go like "oooh so that was they were talking about". I'm not excusing bad writing though, this is bad, but at least the story feels better on a second playthrough. Anyways, i'm kinda upset this was a mobile game, maybe if it wasnt, 10 people would've played it instead of just 5. I cant stress enough how this is a phone game that is way better than most of modern jrpgs in the market. it's like the devs went back and asked themselves what was the main appeal of the genre and what they thought made them fun to them and made an entire game around it. This is probably gonna be the biggest surprise of the entire year for me and i'm gonna have brainrot about this game for a while.

#ex astris #im just rambling because i havent had this much fun since fuckin smtiv and i must tell the world

14 notes · View notes

berryunho · 2 months

Note

hii a longg while back I had sent a long ask about how much I enjoyed the answer and had asked about what other cults/writing/media had inspired you when developing the storyline and its characters. In your response you had recommended a list of books that you enjoy/inspire you and I just wanted to share that I bought two of the books you recommended:) The Secret History by Donna Tartt and The Long Walk by Stephen King. It was so exciting and I thought of you as soon as I saw them at Barnes and Noble lol. It meant so much that you replied and recommended some great books because I really do enjoy your work and reading about how you come up with stuff when you write. This is so silly but I got so excited and wanted to tell you haha. You inspired me to start my book collection!! If you have any more recommendations please feel free to share if you would like🫶 I hope you have a great weekend!

OMG!!!!!!! im literally honored seriously this is so awesome !!! i really hope you enjoy the books and pls lmk what you think after you read them :] im actually touched for real thinking about you thinking about me hehehe <33 putting a read more before more recs !!! hehe

im gonna be so real with you i REMEMBER answering your ask and i remember giving some recs but i have scoured my blog (as well as i can w tumblrs shitty search mechanism) and i cannot find it to save my LIFEEEE so ill give some more recommendations but pls forgive me if i repeat a couple bc i cannot remember ... what i said ... LOLLL

so in no particular order here are some more books !! hehe

a canticle for liebowitz by walter miller jr (this book is from 1959 but its actually so funny and the vibes are immaculate)

the langoliers by stephen king (technically a novella but tell me why i have an urge to write an au like this LMAO)

giovanni's room by james baldwin (not like other books i recommend but very good)

chaos by tom o'neill (if you feel like learning about charles manson and the corruptness of the us government)

people who eat darkness by richard parry (if you feel like learning about a japanese serial rapist)

(this one is controversial but. we're adults.) a mother's reckoning by sue klebold (if you feel like learning about the columbine school shooting from one of the shooters' mothers' perspectives)

i probably recommended this BUT if you find yourself really liking stephen king (or even moderately liking him lol) i would. H I G H L Y highly recommend the dark tower series. it is amazing and incredible and i loved every second i spent reading it.

im gonna be so honest rn. i read the entire acotar series. do i think they're good books. no. but did i enjoy reading them and laughing at sarah j maas's writing style. yes. so [shrug].

and to finish i am currently reading dune (like everyone else) and its quite good along with a clash of kings which is. game of thrones. so. hard to read but fun.

but yeah !!!! thank you so much for thinking of me and taking my recommendations hehe it really means a lot !! like i said pls lmk what you think of the two that you got bc those are truly some of my favorite books ever :] <3

#anon #answered #recs !

5 notes · View notes

artistsystemhub · 2 years

Text

Metroid stuff and uhh yeah

So we've finally played through all the 2D metroid games, including AM2R, and I've had such a blast. I tried my best to go through the orignal 1 and 2 but just couldn't because of the lack of map, but Zero Mission, AM2R and the official Metroid 2 remake were fantastic anyway.

Honestly I just loved each of the games more and more as I played. So here's a few points about each game.

SPOILERS

ZERO MISSION

Honestly, made the original actually playable for me. It was the first one I played and how I got into the series. It's pretty simple compared to the other ones, but the final section after the escape sequence was just phenomenal.

I do think the zero-suit portion went on for just a little too long but it was worth it just to get the power suit back. Awesome shit. Fuck the mother brain fight though, that thing can just BURN.

SAMUS RETURNS

Samus Returns for the 3DS was really, really fun. I didn't play on hardware (please don't tell on me) so I can't say if the original controls were bad or not. I just love all the little mechanics they added, so many that came back improved in Dread like the parry.

I just didn't quite enjoy some of those metroid fights, and the powerbomb spiderball move was just so obscure and... strange. Also, please stop with the touchscreen stuff, it was so damn hard to change weapons in the middle of a fight.

That being said, I love the final section with the baby metroid. The cutscene was actually pretty cute imo, and a nice contrast against all of the great glory kills you'll see throughout. Great stuff all around, even if Ridley was a liiiittle bit ham fisted into the story.

SUPER METROID

This one is alright, I guess.

I'm kidding, obviously. It's a fantastic game. Now, I wouldn't exactly say it's the best as I personally enjoyed Fusion and Dread more, but I do not blame the people who find this their favorite. Playing through this I felt like that puzzles had just the perfect mix of obscure, foreshadowed and intuitive. It felt fair for the most part, and I just had a lot of fun.

The level design was great, the secrets felt great to find and I just loved exploring each and every new area. Plus with each entry the controls felt more and more refined. Incredible game. Also I saved the animals and that made me feel happy on the inside which something I cherish very much.

Oh and of course the ending + escape sequence, superb stuff.

METROID FUSION

Metroid Fusion really had me hooked with its plot and presentation. The opening cutscene, Samus's new suit design, the concept of the X and SA-X, it was all very intriguing to me from the get go.

Even with Adam telling me where to go at each turn, I felt the frustration Samus probably did. I think the linearity of the game helps its narrative quite a lot, and it was what had me glued to my screen, wanting to see what would happen next to the plot.

The two things about this game I didn't like very much were:

Anything that happened between that shitty spider boss and getting the plasma beam.

Sometimes I felt like I couldn't explore as much as I wanted to, and that I would just have to wait until the end to see most of the secrets.

Probably had my favorite ending yet, though. It was my favorite one until...

METROID DREAD

Metroid Dread was just the pinnacle of everything I played in each of the other games. The game and level design were on point, the narrative and writing were at their best and I just couldn't wait to play more everytime I put the game down.

The controls are snappy, along with the animations. It's for sure the best metroid game mechanics wise. It's responsive, it uses the upgrades in very interesting ways, the shinespark puzzles are the best in the series so far and everything I loved about the previous games was just amplified here.

Can't recommend this game more than I already have, and it seriously made me fall in love with the franchise even more.

AM2R

This fan remake was genuinely really well done. It feels almost official to play, even adding some QOL changes that not even Nintendo did. There's plenty to enjoy here from faithful recreations of particular rooms, to new mechanics to the metroid fights being a bit more interesting due to their arena changes.

Not to mention, it's not made obsolete by the official remake and it doesn't make that obsolete either. It's a lot more faithful to the original and has value on its own even if you've already played the one on the 3DS.

Every single one of these is absolutely worth a playthrough. An incredible series through and through, and I just cannot wait to see what they do with Dread's sequel and Metroid Prime 4.

Oh yeah, the Prime games. I gotta start those.

I hope they're not as bad as people say they are.

- Leaf

#metroid #samus #nintendo #metroidvania #metroid fusion #samus returns #am2r #metroid dread #super metroid #metroid zero mission #retro #gaming #review #opinion #hyper fixation #queer

9 notes · View notes

lichdragon-fortissax · 2 years

Note

As previously stated, Fortissax is my favourite boss in Elden Ring. The other contenders who were very close to also having that place include Maliketh, Placidusax, Radagon/Elden Beast, Godfrey/Hoarah Loux, Malenia and Morgott. Mohg and Lansseax are also very fun, good bosses, but lost out due to several factors. E.g. In terms of Lansseax, I was overlevelled and thus didn’t fully experience it as it should’ve been. For Mohg, the fight was over too quickly. I ain’t summoning for him in NG+ now.

Addendum: I’m not saying Mohg is a short fight, he’s reasonably tangy, but I won’t summon for him in NG+ or any future saves because the two summons I had seemed to have respeced specifically to counter him from what I could tell from how much damage they did to him compared to what Mohg did to them, and that’s if he hit them in the first place. I feel if I had the full proper Mohgin’ time experience, along with Lansseax, they’d be higher on my list of favourite bosses. My fault, not theirs.

...

Oh yeah, I totally feel that with Mohg. I remember learning him on stream with friends, then decided to summon my mimic tear on a whim and just fuckin' SHREDDED him. Same with Maliketh, which I actually regret doing because of how low his health pool was. Radagon/Elden Beast were also fights that I really liked a lot visually speaking, but Radagon gets trivialized with parries so I eventually began to see them as just the Hollow Knight/Radiance duo fight in the back of my brain again, lmao. Which doesn't degrade them at all, the sheer sorrow of the Hollow Knight fight and the anger of the fight against the Radiance just have an emotional whiplash that is completely different to the heartpounding awe I felt when fighting Radagon and the Elden Beast.

For favorite bosses, I think that mechanically Malenia and Maliketh are my top favs (MINUS THE FUCKING WATERFOWL DANCE, which can be dodged but is so finicky that it shouldnt be as dangerous as it is), with Rykard and Mohg coming in as close second for both the spectacle of their bossfights and how fun it was to fight them. Malenia and Maliketh are both Bloodborne-fast with their movesets, which matches perfectly with fast, aggressive fighters like me, and I enjoyed figuring out the trick to Malenia's fight, which is focused more around proper spacing than probably anything else in the game. Their design, lore, boss arenas, and voice acting are also spectacular- Maliketh's gave me actual fucking goosebumps when I heard his death-speech

The only major gripes I had with these two were a.) Malenia's waterfowl dance, and b.) Maliketh's low health. Malenia's waterfowl is perfectly dodgeable, but its not intuitive in the slightest, and is difficult to do if she initiates it right after you're recovering from an attack. The amount of damage done and the lethality of such a hard-to-manage move also makes the fight sometimes feel more rng than it should be, even though literally everything else that she throws at you is perfectly manageable. Someone mentioned that waterfowl dance feels more like a cut Sekiro attack than something that fits in Elden Ring, and I agree, because deflecting it feels like a much more viable strategy than dodging it. Her health regain is fine, I didn't have a problem with that at all.

For Maliketh, I really didn't like his first phase at all. I think they should have either made his second phase proc after you got 25% of his health down instead of 50%, or made him a two-healthbar fight like they did with Malenia. I'm guessing that the reason why they chose to give him such low health/make his second phase not last as long is because of the burn of Destined Death draining your health faster on successive attacks, but that could be fixed by just not making it stack, or to have it still stack but the health drain amount be decreased by a percentage if another damage modifier is present. Some more ground melee attacks would also be good for slower weapon builds, because as much as I love how he moves like a Bloodborne boss, very strength-focused builds are not made for speed in this game, and him bounding about and doing aerial flips can make him quite frustrating for those with slower weapons.

#elden ring #maliketh the black blade #malenia blade of miquella #morgott/margit fights were also fucking amazing but they made me sad #so theyre not on here

7 notes · View notes

nottoxicfr · 2 years

Text

Okay so I played through Bayonetta 3 and I'm definitely going to 100% platinum this game, but just my thoughts a couple hours after finishing.

I love Viola a lot, but the biggest hurdle in my affection for her character is that her parry mechanic was hard and I am very stupid :( I think she should have had a Bat Within mechanic that she unlocked later on. I know you can use accessories for Witch Time but that always makes me feel dirty and I didn't want that

Maybe she could turn into stained glass? That's the motif they give her walking animation I think.

I really like the story twist for her, even if I think it was really sudden the grand scheme of the franchise. As a whole, Bayonetta 3's story feels like it's like one and a half games put into one. That's just me saying that it could have been more built up, but I'm not averse to any part of it.

Sad for the shippers though. It's not even really a win for the rare pair.

Definitely gonna write some fanfiction about Viola and Bayonetta later, probably outside the scope of B3? Probably something to do with Bayo2 because she's my favorite Cereza design.

I'm gonna head canon that she had an Vigird accent as a kid, but it faded out as she grew up and things turned bad.

This is a weird thing to say but I think Viola's model needs different pants? Something about the pants and the jacket together made her torso look like it was 3 feet long and her legs looked significantly shorter. It's not an actual issue or criticism it's just every time I noticed it, and then I couldn't stop.

I hate to say it but maybe it was the way she was standing? Still a cool design.

All in all Viola was probably my favorite character. She's incredibly uncool and she made me cringe several times, but there were moments where I was like oh whoa Viola. Also, as I got her gameplay down it was easier for me to ignore the faults in her parry-gameplay.

I love her a lot. They need to give her a gun like in the concept art. Not a dart gun, like a real gun. Rodin please she's only 18

I really liked the game overall!! I'll talk about it more when I'm less busy.

#toxic talks about #Bayonetta 3 #viola bayonetta

5 notes · View notes

thetoxicgamer · 10 months

Text

How Path of Exile 2’s combat learns from Elden Ring

Combat in Path of Exile 2 is so far looking extremely good. The Path of Exile 2 announcement at ExileCon demonstrates the truly interesting choices that the game's creator, Grinding Gear Games, is making to help design the next generation of combat for its cherished loot-chasing RPG title. Jonathan Rogers, the creative director of Path of Exile 2, explains to PCGamesN how Grinding Gear Games explores different genres to find intriguing concepts that might work well for its game. “We’ve always drawn inspiration from non-ARPGs,” Rogers tells me ahead of the ExileCon reveal, “The leagues that we do , we often tend to say, what’s a cool game mechanic from another type of game entirely – what if we could do that in PoE as a league?” We saw this in the Path of Exile Sanctum league, for example, which occasionally dropped players into a separate dungeon adventure inspired by the best roguelike games. Sanctum proved so popular that Grinding Gear Games is already preparing to bring it back in a new endgame format as part of the Path of Exile 3.22 update. That next league, meanwhile, is perhaps even more intriguing, with you building a team of AI companions to enter into a tournament of sorts. Rogers tells me the new mode is “inspired by sports games, weirdly enough – it’s more of a football game, in a way.” For Path of Exile 2, however, there are some clear inspirations to Elden Ring. The first of these is the robust dodge roll mechanic – an ability available to all classes at any time on the space bar, with “no cooldown and no restrictions.” This not only allows you to avoid incoming damage and reposition for your own attacks, it’ll also cancel you out of almost any skill, giving you a reliable safety net to attempt more involved attacks, such as channeled skills or ones with longer cast times. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8OL9qqnhDo Unlike Elden Ring, the dodge roll doesn’t give you true ‘iframes’ – so you can’t stand in the way of a big area attack and simply ‘roll through it’ the way FromSoftware games allow. It will, however, cause incoming melee attacks and projectiles to miss you if timed well, meaning you can take on Path of Exile 2’s “over 100” boss fights in a manner much more akin to that of a Dark Souls encounter than anything ARPGs have seen previously. Rogers actually points to a different mechanic as the most directly inspired by the likes of Elden Ring, however – the way crowd control works in PoE2. Unlike its predecessor, where effects like freeze and stun are binary states that an enemy can be put into, crowd control mechanics in the sequel use internal meters that you build up to apply the status effect. “It’s a little bit like Poise from games like Elden Ring,” Rogers tells the audience at ExileCon, “though the meters tend to be a lot smaller. When you freeze an enemy, it increases the amount of freeze you need to do to get another freeze, but the increased difficulty bleeds away slowly.” “More freeze will always let you freeze the boss more often,” he explains, “but this system means it will not get out of control in party play or interact badly with other crowd control mechanics, allowing us to let these kinds of mechanics actually work against bosses.” It’s similar to the way Diablo 4 boss staggering works, although a little more nuanced, as individual types of crowd control are handled separately in Path of Exile 2, meaning you’ll get to actually apply your specific effect rather than just a generic, all-encompassing stagger. The introduction of stagger meters for the bosses in Elden Ring was probably one of my favorite additions to that game – making it so that most of them could be susceptible to tools like parrying without it completely trivializing the fights in the process. I’m really glad to see it make its way into Path of Exile 2, allowing me to more eagerly pursue a status effect build. As for the reduced speed of combat in the demo, Rogers tells PoE streamer Octavian ‘Kripparian’ Morosan in an ExileCon sit-down that this was partly a consideration to help show off the game to an audience, though he does admit the final game “will be a little bit slower.” He explains that most players won’t notice this, however, as it’ll only really affect high-level players with the most broken builds. “At the top end of players, you get this absolute ridiculousness with 600 projectiles a second… You just can’t see fking anything, so you don’t have any ability to respond to boss mechanics.” He says this small change should help boss fights feel more interactive, but emphasizes that the team still wants it to get silly. “I still want the player to feel like, ‘Oh I totally broke the game with this bullst that I’m doing here – it needs to feel like you still broke it. The Path of Exile 2 closed beta begins Friday, June 7, 2024. Rogers says the team wants to “make sure we get it right,” so we’ll have to wait a while longer to get our hands on the finished product. In the meantime, you can tease your tastebuds with plenty of gameplay from the ExileCon stage. We’ve picked out the best games like Diablo you can play right now, if you’re eager to get your hands on even more tasty loot. Alternatively, the best free games are packed with more delightful choices that won’t cost you a thing. Read the full article

0 notes

bimboficationblues · 4 years

Text

So I’ve been running through the FROM Software games over the past month, here’s thoughts:

Dark Souls (Remastered)

The original Dark Souls really agitated me at first because of the one-two punch of the third and fourth bosses on the standard route, but once I broke through that wall I got really into it. I love the interconnected world and the tactically oriented combat; it really captures a great feeling of both adventure and foreignness.

Thematically I think it’s pretty interesting, even if I’m not sure the narrative is communicated in the best way possible. The player-character is essentially a sacrificial lamb for the powers-that-be (often without even realizing it as the player), and the boss encounters and world-building reveal the ultimate hollowness that stand behind thrones and crowns. Also, the bosses are great! I’ve been keeping track of which ones I’ve enjoyed most throughout the series and the vast majority of my favorites are from DS1; there are some serious low points (most of them in the Demon Ruins), but the high points are incredibly high. It makes me sad that the Remaster didn’t include anything new, like DS2′s Bonfire Ascetics, to allow me to refight Quelaag, Ornstein and Smough, or Artorias the Abysswalker.

The main things that keep me from lavishing DS1 with praise are certain tedious design choices (kindling bonfires, the inability to warp to any bonfire after unlocking warping, the incentives towards turtling up, and the incentives for finding cheap and unexciting ways to defeat bosses) and the truly disappointing last third of the game. The Duke’s Archives is a great level and I have mixed-but-positive feelings on the Tomb of Giants, but the Demon Ruins/Lost Izalith are hideous and full of boring encounters and bad bosses, and the New Londo Ruins is a slogfest from beginning to end (died to the boss? have fun on your way back to it, which requires going down an elevator, up a staircase, across a bridge, past five dragon enemies, through swaths of quick-attacking humanoid enemies that wear black in low lighting, all because there’s no bonfire in the vicinity).

Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin

Dark Souls II is not as bad as it’s made out to be and I disagree with the substance of most of the traditional complaints, but it is still pretty underwhelming. The enemy placements can be frustrating but are generally a good change for people already familiar with DS1′s approach to encounter design; the Shrine of Amana is singled out for this, but it’s really not that bad, especially if you summon for it.

The narrative--a falling into darkness, the cyclical decay and disappearance of states, the direct and observable involvement of Nashandra and the Emerald Herald in the plot--is arguably more interesting than DS1′s, though it takes longer to get off the ground. New quality-of-life changes, like the revised system for weapon durability, are also good. The introduction of new healing items was also helpful, although I disliked having to farm for them sometimes (the inevitable result of a very hard game tying healing items to currency, which is also an issue in Bloodborne).

“Dudes in armor” bosses are good, and DS2 does have some great dudes in armor (specifically the Fume Knight and the Looking Glass Knight), but the problem with DS2′s bosses (irrespective of whether they’re humanoid or monstrous) is that they are not well-served by the game’s camera direction, the arenas they’re in (which are consistently and observably just big empty circles), and their visual designs (which are generally drab). Ornstein and Smough felt like forces of nature, pale shadows of themselves who nonetheless tower over you and will wreck your shit through sheer inertia; their rough equivalents, the Throne Watcher and Throne Defender, feel like beefy standard enemies. Overall I think most of the bosses are “boring but practical,” which is not really what I wanted.

One thing I consider unforgivable in this game is the ruining of the parry system; not only are the timings very weird and hard to pin down, the changing of riposte attacks from a quick, desperate counterattack to a slow, arduous process of executing a prone enemy is really annoying. I would probably have made a parry-centric character as I did in DS1 and taken the time to learn the new attack timings, if it were not for how unrewarding it feels to riposte in DS2.

Dark Souls III

DS2 also makes changes that carry into DS3, namely the ability to warp at the start of the game between any accessed bonfire, the use of a hub world, and the need to regularly return to the hub for leveling up. These are all bad choices imo. Immediate access to warping is probably a good thing, but it instills a sense of relief at being done with a chore, as opposed to the unique atmosphere of curiosity and dread that DS1 instilled. In DS1 I was always excited and fearful to see what I’d run into next; in the sequels I was often hoping to barrel through to the next bonfire. The hub world also contributes to this lack of curiosity, and having to return to it to level up means you never really feel like an adventurer in a strange and terrifying land because you can--and must--just nip back home if things are getting too rough. DS3 is a little better about this with a slightly lower number of bonfires, but not by much. At the same time, DS3 abandons good ideas from its immediate predecessor such as the ability to refight bosses, lifegems, and the “power-stance” for dual-wielding weapons.

DS3 also introduces a god-awful mechanic; in DS1, there’s pretty much no real downside to being Hollow, while in DS2, remaining Hollow after repeated deaths will steadily decrease your max HP. DS3 instead puts a hard cap on your max health. (This is framed as losing a 30% HP “bonus” from being “Embered,” rather than a 30% cap, but they achieve the same basic effect, especially since being human is supposed to be the “base” state. If DS2 did this shit, people would be mad about it.) In general I dislike when these games punish players who are having a difficult time with a section or a boss by making the game even harder (which is also why I’m really not a fan of the PvP system).

DS3 also accelerates some of the frustrating things in encounter design from DS2; not only are there many areas with insane swarms of enemies, but those enemies are all often obscenely fast and hit like a truck. The new Silver Knights (who were some of my favorite foes in DS1) are the worst offenders so far; they were slow and methodical but punishing, but now they’re used as a gank-fight.

Finally, DS3′s narrative is mired in nostalgia-bait. While DS2 asked about Gwyn, Lord of Cinder, “who’s that?”, DS3 acts like Anor Londo was the most important kingdom to ever exist, undermining both previous games’ themes. It doesn’t really feel like it’s telling its own story. So even though DS3 is more technically polished than DS2, and I think definitely has a better selection of bosses and levels, I think it’s the inferior product overall.

Bloodborne

Bloodborne is definitely the most moment-to-moment fun alongside DS1 imo, but is less visually interesting so far compared to the hideous muck of Blighttown, the splendorous ocean of Heide’s Tower of Flame and grim industry of the Iron Keep, or the terrifying, frostbitten beauty of the Boreal Valley. But I also don’t own a PS4, so I only got a third of the way done playing on my friend’s. However, the new approach to warping, the streamlining of the weapons system, the emphasis on parrying, the rallying system, and the increased speed and flow of gameplay are all great developments and I’m excited to explore the game more in future when I’m able to.

Demon’s Souls and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Demon’s Souls is next if I can acquire a PS3 copy (or if one of my friends gets a PS5), and while Sekiro strikes me as very different in kind from the rest of these games, it’s still on my to-play list.

10 notes · View notes

witcheringways · 3 years

Note

Love that we have a possibility to learn more about you through the asks! I'd like to read your answers to 4 (maybe you read my tags?), 16 (what are your favs?), 17 and 18~

I did see your tags! I was hoping you would Toss an Ask so it’s wonderful to hear from you! 4. Did I kill the Cat School Witcher or let him live?: I have played "Where the Cat and Wolf Play” both ways but the last few times, I’ve spared him. On the one hand, vengeance can be sweet and Gaetan is a challenge as he knows Geralt’s tricks and it’s a satisfying fight. Considering how Gaetan went overkill in slaughtering the entire village, it may even seem like justice especially if you skip the dialogue fast. But if you let the Cat explain why he spares the girl, he becomes more humanized when talking about how she reminded him of his sister who had by then died of old age.

As he’s a Cat school Witcher, it seems plausible that Geralt might not be as willing to show mercy considering the treachery of the Cats in their plot against the Wolf School which resulted in many deaths on both sides years before, as well as the fact that Cats are often willing to take on less ethical contracts and assassinations. On the other hand, I can see how Geralt might spare him because its a fair statement that he’s not one to judge the actions of another Witcher considering he’s got his own regrets as the Butcher of Blaviken. Depending on Geralt’s actions in TW2 and possible alliance with Letho in TW3, there’s actually quite a a lot of considerations to make in this one quest. So... it’s ultimately complicated but if you do spare Gaetan, you also get a nifty sword and either way, you can help little Millie so there’s another possible happy ending.

16. Favorite Mods: This might be a long list... I tend to switch up mods often but there are a few that never get turned off. Autoloot (stupid popups be gone!), Jump in Shallow Water, Glowing Eyes, and Indestructible Items are always on. I get annoyed having to fix gear all the time and although that may break immersion for some, it works for me. I *don’t* use Fast travel Anywhere, 9000 Weight, No Fall Damage (use the roll button or get good at the jumping/climbing timing, FFS!) because then the game is just too darn easy. I avoid mods that change combat and game mechanics because they tend to get glitchy or don’t play well with other mods; it’s always those ones that have given me trouble.

Most mods I use are strictly cosmetic. 4k retexture with Striga scars for Geralt, El’s Custom Complexions for the ladies (the Geralt version is lovely but he’s almost tooooo pretty), and lately Perverse Appearance are all ones that I highly recommend. HD Rework Project is an absolute must if your computer can handle it and Immersive Lighting is also a great choice to spice up the weather and lighting. If you ever have questions about mods I use in images, please do ask because I have pretty good memory for such things and will happily send links. 17. If I could change one thing...: Well, I don’t enjoy Gwent because I’d rather be out questing but I do miss dice poker from the previous games which is far more lore friendlier game in the Witcher universe anyways. Also the ability to drop Triss in the fountain at the Vegelbud Estate when she gets a bit too drunk & touchy...Sorry, but I just want to get back to Yen, lol. More time with my fellow Wolf School Witchers and a longer storyline in Kaer Morhen besides the battle would also be content I’d have enjoyed although the drunk shenanigans in “No Place Like Home” are probably some of the funniest in the game. It’s hard to choose just one...

18. Combat style: When I first started playing, I didn’t pay as much attention and hacked away with all fast attacks and heavy quen/igni but as I’ve played more I really enjoy the dance of graceful pirouettes. Using parry and dodge effectively makes the combat much richer instead of slamming the roll button constantly and losing stamina in heavy armor. Deflecting arrows is not only lore friendly but extremely satisfying instead of relying on armor glyphs to do the same trick. Alchemy is your best friend if you have the patience to track down all the recipes and time your attacks and it surprises me when other players say they never bother with it... potions and bombs can be the best tools in Witcher’s arsenal! (I do miss the throwing daggers from TW2.) I use my signs of course, but heavy sign builds take away some of the challenge and are ultimately way overpowered. For Mutations, I usually stick to Euphoria, Metamorphosis or Bloodbath. Piercing Cold is fun but it makes Geralt’s hair glitch and fly off about 3 feet from his body so while hilarious, I don’t bother with it.

Anyways, thank you for the Ask! It’s so much fun to talk about my love of Witcher with you! :)

#toss an ask to your Witcher #hagebutt #thank you!

3 notes · View notes

transfemininomenon · 4 years

Text

short answer: its a bad game

long answer: okay sit down i have so much to say about this game and full disclosure inevitably a lot of this is going to come to My Personal Opinion and ALSO full disclosure that i have not ever actually Finished dark souls 2 because ive on two separate occasions gotten half-way through and then given up because i just was NOT having fun FUCK shrine of amana piece of shit awful god damn fucking area what the FUCK were you thinking with that area with its heat seeking magic missiles and water and random holes in the world and millions of enemies an

its basically divided up into a few different sections - presentation & theming, quantity vs quality, how difficulty is handled in the game, and the gameplay itself, and how they all kind of go hand in hand with each other

on the subject of presentation & theming, THE big thing when it came to dark souls 1 is that the world is oppressive, dark, and Difficult. the difficulty of the game is put right into the theming of the game in that its a hard game while the WORLD is a shitty and difficult place in the story. but on the back of that is another theme which is that of yes the world is oppressive and bleak and feels hopeless - but you keep going Anyway and no matter how insurmountable something might feel you can and WILL defeat it

this is further built into the game through the covenant system as well as summonable npcs for boss fights. the game not only says that its okay to ask for help if need be, it actively encourages & rewards people for helping others with the covenant system. its not just a game that is Hard - its a game that’s scary and difficult and dark but also actively encourages you to seek help and to also BE the person helping others survive in a seemingly hopeless world. and that triumph of finally getting past something you were stuck on for so long feels SO good and becomes worth all the trouble

dark souls 2, meanwhile, buys right into the “dark souls is HARD casuals get OUT” mentality. literally the intro cutscene to the game is like “man youre gonna DIE youre gonna DIE so MUCH and youre gonna lose all your SOULS and youre gonna be so MAD”. in contrast with the original dark souls’ opening cutscene which establishes the base lore/story of the game while introducing different characters & future boss fights, the opening cutscene of dark souls 2 does nothing beyond “haha ur gonna be so MAD”

and it just really kills the vibe Immediately for me. it no longer feels like a really interesting story about overcoming adversity through determination and struggle. it just feels like well i gotta prove im Good and Kill The Boss

then there’s the issue of quantity vs quality. when it comes to both zones & boss fights, dark souls 2 by far went for quantity when it came to them and the actual quality of both suffered a Lot as a result. like, there’s a LOT of zones and boss fights in dark souls 2. a LOT. and yet i genuinely currently can, off the top of my head, remember around 5 by name, and none for any Good reason. a lot of the zones just end up blending together because there’s SO little actually memorable things about them

and the exact same is true with the bosses. many are reskins of bosses from 1, very few actually have much in the way of interesting mechanics or good design, and a lot of them are just so Easy. without even really trying when i was doing my attempts at the game id end up defeating some bosses in something like 10 hits without ever taking much damage. much like the zones there’s very few bosses i can even actively remember because they’re just SO unmemorable and boring. the bosses that i DO remember are only because they end up just getting reused as normal enemies, sometimes as quickly as the VERY next zone

which this ties into another one of my big issues which is how the game handles difficulty. when it comes to others games in the series the difficulty comes in ways that, while they may be frustrating sometimes, almost always at least seem Fair. if i die its PROBABLY because i fucked up, whether it be mistiming an attack, anticipating the wrong enemy move, or rushing into a situation im not prepared for. most of the time i die and i go yeah, okay, i see where i messed up, and that lets me bounce back in and do it better

the difficulty in 2, on the other hand, more often than not comes very cheaply. a big issue i have long complained about in terms of area design is there’s SO many random holes in the world for you to suddenly fall into, including a number of bosses where this is the case. then rather than having enemies actually have interesting or different moves to them the game tends to either send swarms of enemies at you or have them appear out of hiding and ambush you. very little when i die in that game do i ever feel like it was because i actually did something wrong and it always just feels cheap & unsatisfying

this is then weirdly paired up with bosses being so lackluster where most of them are just SO easy and require such little thought that even defeating those doesnt even give a big sense of accomplishment. there’s just so little Satisfaction to be gained from the game and SO much frustration

THE big thing with all of this is that all of those above three things i could forgive if the game itself was at least Fun but it just........... isnt to me. the game itself constantly feels SO clunky and slow, even compared to earlier titles - like demon’s souls of all games feels Better to play than dark souls 2 does. i never feel like i have the level of control with my character that i do with the other games and combat feels awkward and just in general not very fun

enemies tend to have really weird timing with their attacks, rolling feels weird, and it could just be the weapons ive tried in the game but none really ever feel Good. i tend to in soulsborne games go for Big Sword (except in bloodborne where i tend to move more toward dex builds on account if it being the one games where i actually Get parrying) and not even the act of swinging a Giant Sword around could ever make me happy in that game

exploration isnt fun because the areas arent interesting and the bosses suck................ it isnt fun to fight things because the game doesnt feel good and the difficulty always feels cheap.............. the theming isnt interesting and there’s nothing about it that draws me in or inspires me like various themes in the other games.................... its just overall nothing i really am interested in or want in a souls game and when the OTHER ones give me that in their own different ways there just really isnt any reason for me to want to play that game

this all isnt to say there arent aspects of dark souls 2 that i DO like - majula is a VERY good hub area and only beaten by the nexus on my list, and Lucatiel is my favorite character & storyline out of anything else in the whole series. she’s such an interesting and tragic character and her storyline better showcases the undead curse and the reality of how Terrifying and sad it is than any other storylines in the other games and its VERY good

those arent enough to make up for the issues i have with the game though so im going to long say that dark souls 2? sucks

30 notes · View notes

botwstoriesandsuch · 4 years

Note

4, 8, 9, 20, and 47 if you want to (i know it’s a lot but I’m curious 😅)

4) What have you named your horses?

This is Dancer, my favorite, a five star speed boi. He loves swift carrots

Stormy, my fabulous blue haired girl. She has great stats, a 4-4-5 and she loves apples

This is Talus, named because I caught them by a Stone Talus and we fought it together

This is Fable. I love

And Epona, enough said

Plus, I just let the Royal and Giant horse free because I want to. But their names are Twilight and Boi respectively

8) Favourite Mechanics?

Hard to choose, I love everything about this game! The combat is so smooth and fun, flurry attack and parrying makes you feel like a bad ass. Also cooking???? Yes please, I am a master chef now. AND CLOTHES!!!! Dyeing my outfits, matching color schemes. Ugh I can’t choose, how dare you

9) One handed or two handed weapons

One handed all the way baby! Sure, the two handeds have better attack, but I value speed over all else. Plus, you can also do a durability transfer on weapons so

20) Did you get a house in Hateno Village?

Yes I did! I think I’ve paid off my mortgage by now…considering I have 69,420 rupees… :P

47) Do you ever shield surf? If so, how much?

I shield surf all the time! I use the ancient shield for speed and the Hylian shield for everyday use. If there’s a slope, I’m sliding. I’ve probably beat Selime’s record 30 times over, plus shield surfing means Bullet-Time Bounce glitches. Speed is key!!!

#botw #botw ask game #ask game #thanks for the ask!

13 notes · View notes

chronicallylatetotheparty · 5 years

Text

Second Love

LoganLight, AO3

Summary:

Adrien isn’t one to fall in love slowly. So, when his heart pulls him in a new direction he goes all in.

Notes: Written for Week 3 of Adrien AUG-reste.

————————————————–

Adrien parried Kagami’s strike and launched a counter attack. Kagami was ready however and dodged easily while landing a hit.

“Sloppy, Adrien,” Kagami commented as they retook their positions.

“Oh, you know,” Adrien replied with a teasing lilt. “It’s hard to focus when your opponent’s so pretty.”

Kagami missed her lunge and Adrien scored a hit. She lifted her mask so he could see her narrowed eyes. That was the first time Adrien called her pretty. Your underhanded tactics won’t be enough to secure victory!

“Is that why I beat you so easily?” Kagami asked.

Adrien lifted his own mask to reveal a smug grin. “You don’t need a handicap for that.”

Kagami felt a blush forming so she resumed her stance. He did likewise and they crossed swords.

Kagami was grateful for these one-on-one practice sessions. Even though they saw each other at many mutual high-class events it wasn’t the same. They were expected to act a certain way while representing their parents. But when they were fencing?

Adrien mirrored her movements perfectly. Her skill forced him to fight with everything he had. Kagami brought out the best in him and Adrien grinned at the challenge. There were no illusions when they were fencing. He could glimpse the parts of Kagami she kept hidden. Adrien was sure she could see him more clearly, too.

Kagami understood what it was like to be held up to impossible expectations. In his opinion, Kagami did it much better than him.

Which is probably why he was on his back at the moment.

“You let yourself become distracted,” Kagami accused while pointing her foil at him.

“Guilty,” Adrien admitted, embarrassed.

He got back on his feet and they started again. Kagami was always impressive with a sword; her movements fluid and sure like the Dragon she was. Especially motivated by his teasing to show him who’s boss.

But Adrien had motivations of his own. Recalling the move D'Argencourt used on him, Adrien twisted his foil around Kagami’s and shot it out of her hands. He could feel her surprise through the mask.

Removing his mask he smiled at her. “How’d I do?”

Kagami took off her own mask. “That was new.”

Adrien’s smile morphed into a grin. “I’m full of surprises. Some find it, disarming.”

Kagami stared at the self-satisfied look on his face. “… I’ll give you that one but you need better material.”

Adrien pouted.

Kagami turned away to hide her blush and the small smile tugging on the corners of her lips. “Anyway, we should get changed.”

They went to remove their sweaty gear. Adrien thinking of ways to make Kagami laugh. Kagami thinking of Adrien’s compliments and if they meant what she hoped they did.

——————————–

“What made you decide to switch targets?”

Adrien missed the intended keys and the piano clanged in protest. He gazed at her with wide, startled eyes then looked down. “I… I realized something recently.”

“And that is?” Kagami prodded gently.

Adrien took a deep breath. “That it’s not enough to choose someone. They have to choose you, too. And she didn’t. It took me a long time to accept that.”

Kagami was silent as she thought over her words. “You are sure this time?”

Adrien gave her a rueful smile. “You’re an incredible person, Kagami. Honest, brave, loyal. And you picked me. That… I’d like to make it work. If you’ll give me another chance?”

Kagami felt her cheeks heat up at his hopeful look. “I would like that very much.”

Adrien’s whole face lit up and this time it was Kagami’s turn to look away. She smiled at how Adrien wore his heart on his sleeve. For his part he admired Kagami’s rare, shy smile.

Adrien reluctantly pulled himself out of the gentle gaze he was giving Kagami. “… Do you want me to play anything?”

Kagami blinked as she came out of her own thoughts. “Pardon?”

Adrien rubbed the back of his head and gestured to his piano. “I do have to practice. Just thought you might want something specific?”

“I’d like to listen to your favorite, actually,” Kagami said. “You haven’t told me what it is.”

Adrien grinned and started playing an upbeat tempo that reminded him of black-and-white American cartoons and barroom brawls. Kagami wasn’t expecting that but what surprised her most was Adrien himself.

Kagami had never seen him so into a song before. She’d only heard him play a handful of times, true, but he didn’t smile then. He seemed to bounce with the melody and Kagami soon found herself tapping her feet to the rhythm.

The song was so unlike everything that was expected of them. It wasn’t the sterile so-called perfection that permeated their families. Kagami understood what this meant to Adrien without him having to say a word.

They smiled at each other as the joyful tune filled Adrien’s empty room.

—————————-

“No, no, no!” Vincent cried. “I need emotion! Like when your maman serves fresh made spaghetti!”

“Mother doesn’t cook,” Kagami replied stiffly.

Adrien smiled placatingly at the exasperated photographer and placed a gentle hand on Kagami’s shoulder. “Let me try.”

He turned Kagami away from the demanding cameras so they wouldn’t see her struggle. “How you holding up?”

“I’ve done photo ops before. Those photographers weren’t nearly so demanding,” Kagami admitted.

They were at a photoshoot to promote the Agreste and Tsurugi families’ joint venture.

Adrien gave her a sympathetic look. “Yeah, Vincent always gets the best photos but he’s not easy to satisfy. I remember how awkward my first time modeling was. It took me a while to relax.”

“You were quite awkward in the photo you showed me,” Kagami pointed out, a question in her voice.

Adrien rubbed the back of his head, blushing slightly at the memory of his first photo-shoot. “Father intervened.”

Kagami gave him a small smile. “It’s endearing.” Kagami took pleasure in watching his blush darken. “… I’m unsure I’ll be able to perform what’s expected of me.”

Adrien dropped his hand from her shoulder to lace his fingers through her’s. “Think of it as a fencing match. How do you prepare for those?”

“I imagine my opponent prostrated before me after I have defeated them,” Kagami stated seriously.

Adrien blinked then his lips curled up in a smirk. “Well, then think of that with Vincent,” he stage whispered.

Kagami’s eyes took on a predatory glint.

Things went more smoothly after that and they made good progress. Adrien was happy to have someone to talk with; it made the usually boring shoot fun. Kagami gained a new respect for Adrien. His schedule was filled with so many of these! It wasn’t like fencing really but thinking of that gave Kagami something to focus on.

As the photographer wrapped up the young couple wondered when they’d have time to go on their first proper date.

—————————-

Adrien and Kagami ran through the crowd hand in hand. They flew as though being pursued. Which would only happen if they’d made a mistake in sneaking away from their respective guardians.

Planning the date without telling either of their parents turned out to be harder than expected. The convention may last all week but their schedules didn’t align for most of it.

Still. Adrien had never cosplayed before and Kagami had never been to a convention. Neither was going to miss the first one dedicated specifically to the Guardians of Paris.

Not for the first time Kagami thought about how unfair it was that he’d chosen her alter ego. Ryuko’s colors looked good on him. For his part Adrien thought the same thing about Kagami choosing to cosplay as Aspik. Especially since Viperion was much more popular.

Needless to say, both were blushing messes. Pretending they weren’t a romantic tension filled moment away from melting into a puddle of goo… Kagami was better at pretending than Adrien.

“Tell me again about this akuma video game?” Kagami asked. Adrien was very excited when he heard Max would show it off since he hadn’t gotten a chance to play it yet.

“Max designed the game himself! It’s got all the villains up to Gamer 2.0 and he’s thinking of adding the new ones eventually.” Adrien led her through the miling crowd of superheroes.

Mostly everyone dressed up as Ladybug and Chat Noir, with a few of the other heroes thrown in. Which was part of the reason Adrien insisted on coming as anyone besides them.

That and he didn’t want to see Kagami as Ladybug. That was just asking for trouble.

They found Max’s stall filled with people playing on a half dozen consoles. The line moved quickly as every pair was only allowed a three fight round. Max himself was engrossed in a fierce battle; Adrien didn’t want to break his concentration.

Kagami observed the unusual battles with interest. If she was going to beat Adrien she’d need every advantage. Finally it was their turn.

“I may not have played the game before but Max says the mechanics are similar to UMS III. And I’m still the second best player in our school,” Adrien boasted playfully, purposefully stoking her competitive side.

“Only second best? My victory is assured then. I may be rusty but my proficiency in gaming will be more than enough to destroy you.” Kagami would not let his smug smirk go unchallenged!

Adrien’s grin widened and he picked M. Pigeon, eager to see if the villain would be as effective as last time.

Odd but then so was her date; Kagami chose Riposte.

Adrien gave her a questioning look. Kagami straightened her posture in determination. “He doesn’t control me,” she said simply.

Adrien nodded, he was always in awe of Kagami’s strength and this small display was no exception.

Adrien and Kagami fought furiously for dominion. Learning the controls on the fly and trying to one up each other.

M. Pigeon’s victory caught Kagami by surprise. “Since when can he do that?”

“M. Pigeon used Meteor Strike! It’s super effective!” Adrien leaned into her space. “Say, what do I get if I win?”

Kagami leaned in. “I suppose you’d get to kiss me.”

Adrien turned bright red.

“And if I win I get to kiss you,” Kagami continued.

Powering through the thought of a kiss he could actually remember Adrien focused. “Isn’t that the same thing?”

Kagami gave him a predatory look. “Not at all.”

Adrien swallowed and met her charged gaze with his own. “Guess I better win then.”

Kagami won the next round.

“Why’d you pick Reflekta?” Kagami asked curiously.

Adrien sighed at the Mime’s victory pose onscreen. “I rock a mean pair of high heels.”

Kagami blinked in surprise, then she smiled. “How bold of you.”

Adrien rubbed the back of his head shyly.

Kagami picked Darkblade for the last round. Adrien thought of choosing Troublemaker like Ladybug had but decided to go with Kung Food.

The last fight was much more balanced as both of them had gotten used to the controls. Kung Food had greater range but Darkblade had better defense. Adrien threw cheese bombs as Kagami dodged and blocked. She managed to get close enough to make Kung Food pull out his sword.

Both were on their last sliver of health as they attacked. Their characters charged and hit each other simultaneously. Both fell as the screen proclaimed their battle a tie.

“… Max!” Adrien exclaimed.

“That was unexpected,” Kagami pulled Adrien out of the way of the next pair of players.

“He would put a mutual K.O. in his game!” Adrien grumbled as they walked to a less crowded corner.

“Are you upset because you think you don’t get to kiss me?” Kagami asked.

Adrien reddened slightly. “Well, we don’t have a winner and… What do you mean by that?”

Kagami turned to face him, her cheeks tinted pink. “In a certain sense we both won.” She let that sink in for a moment.

Adrien’s eyes widened and then he was giving her that soft look again. He stepped closer and Kagami did the same. Heedless of the noise of strangers surrounding them.

The kiss was gentle and tentative. Adrien was as soft as she imagined him to be. Kagami as warm as he knew she could be.

They pulled apart slowly and as they stared into each other’s eyes Kagami said the first thing that came into her head. “You smell like Camembert.”

Adrien’s face burned. "I’m sorry! I can’t help it! There’s this, um-“

Kagami placed a finger on his lips. "I like Camembert.” Adrien got even redder if that was possible and she swore she heard someone stifling their laughter.

“You do?” Adrien’s face was an odd mix of relief and chagrin.

“But I’m not sure I want a boyfriend that smells like cheese all the time.” Kagami teased stepping out of his grasp.

Boyfriend! “Yeah, hate for you to tell our friends your boyfriend stinks and give them the wrong idea.” Adrien reached out and grabbed her hand. That was the first time Kagami had called him her boyfriend!

“As opposed to the right idea?” Kagami decided that a blushing Adrien was well worth the effort. Even if he did get used to most of her teasing by the second go around.

Instead of answering immediately Adrien reached up to remove their masks. They didn’t get in the way of the game so they’d been left on.

“I’m sure they already know what my girlfriend got herself into.” Adrien was gratified to see Kagami’s blush darken to match his.

“Return my mask, Adrien. It completes the look,” Kagami said to distract herself.

Adrien complied. “I like being able to see your face. When I first saw you I thought: Wow, she’s cute!”

Kagami smiled shyly as she looked down at her mask. Adrien was always so liberal with his compliments. She had trouble in that department. “When you returned my saber to me I realized how honorable you are. Not many opponents would insist on a rematch after being declared the winner.”

“… You didn’t have to comfort me that day,” Adrien said. “But you did. You were gentle with me. Kind. And I-”

“You’ve already apologized for that,” Kagami interrupted. “And I will not have my boyfriend under a self-inflicted debt.”

“Well. Why don’t you humor me and let me take you ice skating again?” Adrien asked. “A proper date. Just the two of us this time.” He clasped her hands between his as he looked into her eyes.

“As I recall I took you ice skating,” Kagami corrected. “But I’m not opposed to the idea.”

Adrien laughed lightly. “I’ll take that as a yes!”

The young couple redonned their masks as they went to explore the rest of the convention. Wandering anonymously and aimlessly to whatever caught their eye.

And as they walked among superheroes Adrien realized that he hadn’t reacted to the red and polka dots once.

Kagami squeezed his hand and he returned the gesture. They were both making this up as they went along and neither was sure of where it would lead. But Adrien knew they’d figure it out together.

————————————————–

Notes: Basically I took that soft look Kagami got at the end of Oni-chan and ran with it. Also needs more puns. (Written before Desperada)

66 notes · View notes

ren-c-leyn · 4 years

Text

QnA tag game

I was tagged by @hyba to play this. Thank you very much.

rules: post your answers, and tag some pals.

1. When did you first learn you enjoyed writing?

Honestly, I used to hate writing. It wasn’t fun, it was boring school essays and annoying prompts on exams. That being said, I had always enjoyed storytelling, and had been telling stories since before I could remember.

How I reconciled that gap between the written and the spoken was I went through a really shitty period of time in my life and I took up poetry to help vent. And it was so freeing and fun that I kept with it.

I had been doing that for a while when I decided to try writing some fantasy story that popped into my head, though I can’t quite recall why I bothered to try. It wasn’t a very good story, but I filled up like an entire notebook with it and started writing it on another, and I discovered ‘hey, writing can be fun... if it isn’t about something boring.’

And over the years, fantasy has over taken poetry. I still write poems from time to time, but not like I used to.

2. Tell us about the first project you ever wrote.

It was one that tried cramming way too much into one story, but there’s elements of it that I still use a lot of. I can’t remember the exact plot I had in mind for it, because it was all over the place, but I remember there being some sci-fi, a lot of fantasy weirdness, and a chosen one who was both angry and horrified that her world ended when she had the power to save it, because no one knew what she was or that their world was in danger. It never got finished, but I had fun with it while I was working on it.

3. How does your favorite media shape who you are as a writer?

In ways I don’t even realize it did, I’m sure. Particularly since I binge read without really analyzing the writing techniques of people. My writer brain turns off and reader brain takes over. Which many people say is bad, but it works for me. That being said, I can draw some obvious parallels between things I’ve read and my own works.

I know that Tolkien was a big influence for my ‘this string pulls on this person’s string, which does that, which leads to a poor hobbit having to lose his finger to throw a cursed ring into a volcano and save the world’ kinda plots. I also enjoyed his world building, but, and this is just my opinion, it slowed the Lord of the Rings triology down a lot and made it a little clunky to read. So it taught me both what I kinda wanted to see in my world building, but also how I didn’t want it to come out in the story. Plus, The Hobbit is the book for me. It is one of the first ones I got when I finally learned ‘oh, reading can be fun’ (because child me hated reading like she also hated writing boring essays), and it’s the one that got me stuck on fantasy.

Douglas Adams, there are many who will probably consider it a crime I have not read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and yet still list his name in this, but my favorite book of all time is probably The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, and it was the way the characters existed and the hidden easter eggs that I’m still finding like 7 read throughs later and the pacing and red herrings. I learned from and loved a lot about that book alone.

There was also J.A. Jance, the author of many of the murder mysteries my grandmother loaned me, and it was from her and other mystery authors that I finally, finally figured out how to set up suspense and tension. They were also really good studies in character motivations and how a character’s mindset can change the way they perceive the world and the things they notice and miss.

Video games is another thing I know has influenced me. I like story and lore rich games. Dungeons and Dragons is another thing I play a lot of and has followed me through my writings. The stories that get told can be every bit as awesome as a book, and the mechanics are also part of what helped me learn to structure my magic systems. Because if the wizards didn’t have rules, who would play a fighter who does? The same idea got translated into my writing very early on, ‘if I don’t give my wizards rules, why would warriors exist?’

And I can keep rambling, but I think I’ll leave it at this for now ^^

4. What’s something you’ve wanted to write, but aren’t sure you could? (A tv show, a genre, a style, a time period, a video game, etc)

I had an idea for a fantasy world inspired by various Asian myths, and even had a basic map drawn out in my head and some ideas for a magic system, but I’ve been too terrified to actually do anything with it, and it’s been so long since then that I don’t remember anything about it. Plus, I had no plot to use for it at the time.

I also wanted to write a mystery, but when I tried I found that while I has suspects and everything, I couldn’t think of the crime or how the heck anyone would just kinda figure it out from a bunch of random things normal people could just play off or not notice XD

5. What is the thing that keeps you from writing the most?

Procrastination is sometimes a problem, and I do occasionally need to kick myself in the shin. But there’s also life and plot snags and just days when a story isn’t working for me.

6. How do you deal with an inner editor?

That depends. Sometimes the inner editor saves me a lot of headaches later, and sometimes a tiny mistake can break the flow of writing. I normally don’t have an issue with fixing things on the spot, but on nights I need to focus on writing I just keep myself from reading back.

7. How long have you been writing?

I mean, they make kids write really young for school, so begrudgingly that long. Creatively and for fun? I’m not sure. I can’t quite recall how old I was when I started with the poetry. But considering the notebook I have the earliest pieces in is falling apart, I think it’s been a long time. lol

8. What is your general writing process? Do you write chronologically? Do you do a lot of planning?

I normally get this idea that shows up out of the blue as a daydream or a random thought. Then, there’s at least a month. If it’s still there, it gets considered. If it’s grown and expanded into something resembling either a world or a plot by then, it’s probably getting written.

After the idea finally bugs me enough, I’ll start world building and building a bare-bones plot, complete with bare-boned characters. I never flesh anything out completely, since I do most of that while I write and having strict outlines suffocates my story.

If the world building, characters, and whatever I have of a plot are interesting, I’ll start chronologically and keep moving from there.

9. Assign a scent to your writing style.

A scent for my style? Um... that’s kind of a weird question and I have no idea how I would even begin to think of an answer for that. Like, how do you translate comma usage and word choice into a smell? I mean, I use roses a lot in my stories, so maybe that would work?

10. One book you hope everyone reads?

I have to agree with hyba that I hope everyone just finds their version of the book. The one that gets them through a hard time, the one they really need, and that that book won’t be the same for everyone.

11. What is it about your least favorite genre that makes it your least favorite–and how might you change that to better appeal to you?

Oh that’s simple, it’s because horror does it’s job. That’s it. It’s nothing particularly about the style or anything besides that the genre is what it is.

12. Design a “collector’s edition” for your first novel. Include items that might be of interest to your audience.

Never thought about it, but I guess I could throw in the world map I drew for The Plight of a Sparrow into it.

13. If one thing was real from your project, what would you want it to be?

Nothing in particular? I can’t think of anything that would make sense to transfer from my projects to the real world, because I don’t want magic to be real, because my magic systems tend to be brutal, but also, we have stuff like or better than a lot of what doesn’t run off magic. Maybe some of the creatures would be cool, but I don’t know how that would affect ecosystems.... probably not for the better.

14. What’s something you always include in your work? Do you have any other Easter eggs?

As far as easter eggs, I can’t think of anything off the top of my head. If I do, it probably wasn’t intentional.

15. What is your favorite passage from your own work?

I still am not really comfortable with sharing things out of my WIPs on here. As far as things I’ve written for the blog itself go, there are quite a few pieces and passages that turned out really good. I think one of my favorites is from a really old piece I did back before I was doing fusion stories. It’s from this one specifically, if anyone would like to read the full tale, it is a grim one, though.

The very edge of the forest was about as welcoming as a gallows. Crows watched us hungrily, like we were dead men about to sway. None of them made so much as a peep as their dead eyes followed our trek through the knotted mess of brambles, ivy, knotted shrubs, and gnarled trees. We hacked at the plants, and they hacked right back at us. We traded blows like it was a war. hatchet and sword blows countered with sharp thorns and parried with thick branches.

I’m going to leave this an open tag, jump in if you’d like to. =D

#tag game

2 notes · View notes

coolgreatwebsite · 4 years

Text

Guest Article: Wheel Able's Video Games Post of 2019

Wheel able is an avid computer user and Game Boy Advance owner. Do not follow him on Twitter. Gamer's. Lately, I have been doing a bit of self reflection, which has, surprisingly, led me to realize some things: - It is the end of the year - I have played several video games - I am more or less literate - At this point, I have two options: try to realize more things, or type a bunch of words about video games.

10. Kingdom Hearts III

This game is so stupid. This whole series is so insanely stupid. For some history, I had only played a bit of the original Kingdom Hearts, and all of Kingdom Hearts II before jumping right into this one - so I definitely understood about as much as one possibly can when it comes to this series. For me, this meant that I knew to expect some great music and I guess some idiots wearing trench coats who like to sit in a stupid circle of thrones that are entirely too high off of the ground. No person could reasonably sit on them - they're too tall. Suspension of disbelief only gets you so far, and Too-Tall-Chairs are where I draw the line. Make them smaller.

9. Little Town Hero Contrary to what the previous entry may lead you to believe, I tend to care most about gameplay when it comes to JRPGs. That's not to say I will ever turn down a nice soundtrack or some ridiculous horse shit story about killing Anime God, but when it comes to your battle system, please just give me something that requires the use of my two remaining brain cells. Please, for the love of god, make me feel smart for once.

The battle system in Little Town Hero is something like a mashup of Mario Party and Magic the Gathering. I have never played Magic, but I know it has something to do with cards - which is essentially what Little Town Hero's mechanics boil down to (underneath a pretty JRPG exterior). Throw on top of that a board game map with environmental gimmicks, and you've got a battle system which makes me feel like I am actually thinking. And learning. And in the end, that is probably what every game should do (make me feel like I'm improving myself). 8. Pokemon Sword & Shield

I think Pokemon games are at their best when they're not trying to be anything more than what they are - simple adventures that make me feel like a dumbass kid again (as opposed to a dumbass adult). Conversely, I find these games to be at their worst when they force you down tunnels to ensure that you're laser focused on some overzealous Save The Galaxy From Evil story line. That's not to say SwSh (pronounced "swisshh" btw) isn't guilty of that to some extent, but for the first time in a while, it seems like the Pokemon team had the confidence (or lack of time) to not get in the way of the classic, grounded goal of becoming the very best Pokemon Master, like no one ever was (because they were all too busy trying to get the online features to work). 7. The Outer Worlds I don't usually have nearly enough awareness to realize that almost no Role Playing Games actually encourage Role Playing, but The Outer Worlds managed to have me paying attention to the decisions I make - which is just not something I ever do in any situation. At a certain point, I found myself actually thinking about how my character would handle certain situations, rather than myself (Role Playing?????).

To be fair, I have played basically no western RPGs, and a smarter man than me would point out that other western RPGs have had similarly good writing for years. But this "smarter man than me" sounds like a complete nerd, whom I definitely plan on bullying. 6. Link's Awakening

The original Link's Awakening soundtrack is one of my favorites due to its charm and earnest goofiness, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that Nagamatsu's arrangements were able to maintain that character. My favorite tracks of his were the underground dungeon and Mabe Village tunes. Anyway the game is still good. 5. Trials of Mana I played this game when it was still "Seiken Densetsu III", but now that it has an English title, that means I can put it on a list. I don't make the rules (citation needed).

This game is easily among the SNES's greatest offerings, and I'm pissed off NOW, knowing that I should have been pissed off back in like 1995 when they decided to not localize this game. No amount of anger I have in 2019 will ever make up for the pure fury I was clearly entitled to as a child.

4. Sekiro

The original Dark Souls is possibly my favorite video game, and I have yet to come across a FromSoft "SoulsBorne" entry that I don't like (there are plenty of """"souls-likes"""" from other developers that I don't care for, though!!).

Being a total Shit Coward, it took me all the way until Bloodborne to play these types of games without a shield - and I only did so because that game encouraged a more aggressive play style through its mechanics. Sekiro essentially requires that same approach, along with doubling down on the necessity of parrying. The result: Man It's A Hard One. While the gameplay in Sekiro is likely my favorite of the SoulsBunch, the setting and lore unfortunately didn't really do much for me - landing it at 5th place on my Souls Ranking List (please look forward to my upcoming video on WatchMojo dot com). 3. Resident Evil 2

I was too scared to play the Resident Evil series as a kid, so I just watched my brother play them instead. Now that I am a powerful and wise adult, I can play these games for a full thirty minutes without even crying once. 2. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night I've waited years to battle Dracula again, and it looks like I will have to continue to wait for more years, because Dracula is not in this game. What a disappointment (10/10).

It's a good thing I can't get enough of these Samus Belmont style adventures, because it seems like at least a handful of them are released every year. However, this one was at least twice as important as the others, because it was made by a man in a cowboy hat. Anyway, don't forget Dracula in the next one, Mr. Vania. I'm guessing you just forgot since it has been a while. 1(a). Ori and the Blind Forest

Like I alluded to earlier, I am indeed following the arbitrary GOTY guidelines and only including games that were released in 2019. BUT with the release of Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition this year, I think I can include this one?? Please do not call the police.

1(b). Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbrongus

Hey can you include expansions in a GOTY list? Somebody please email the president of games journalism and let me know. I am posting this list in five minutes and I don't want to fuck this up. Help 1. Outer Wilds Being fairly unintelligent, I am both terrified and curious when it comes to things I don't understand. Space is one of those many things.

I booted up this game on a complete whim while looking around on Game Pass one day, and I'm convinced that's the best way to experience it. Since Outer Wilds is a game based entirely around exploration and learning, it'd be silly of me to say a bunch of stuff about what's in the game - and I am definitely not a clown, from the circus. When so many games are carefully crafted to make the player feel big and strong and important, Outer Wilds constantly reminds you of your insignificance. I can only hope that this game teaches others what I have known all along: it is actually good to be/feel small. Well, that's it. I've played all the video games. Unless they, for some reason, decide to make more next year?? That seems like it could potentially be bad.

#article #guest submission

5 notes · View notes

jessiethewitchzard · 5 years

Text

Ramiel’s fight from NGE 1.11 is hands down my favorite monster of the week encounter from anything ever.

youtube

This is the single most alien monster design I have ever witnessed. Just a blue polyhedron. No visible weapons. No sharp teeth or claws. What the fuck is this thing going to unleash? Is it mechanical? Is it made of water? Surely it’s not organic?

Right off the bat, it sounds like a mix between sephiroth’s backup choir and the sonar pings of a nuclear submarine. It’s a monstrous angel of the lord, as well as a silent enemy approaching unseen from the darkness. Boom. Character introduction DONE. all necessary traits have been conveyed.

but then, you get in close, and it’s made of these minecraft looking cubes. It unfolds into some sort of unfathomable tesseract, with this weird meaty sound like skin being torn away from flesh, raising questions about what the fuck is even going on. Is it... hurting itself? It reveals some sort of central node. Normal logic would say this is it’s heart or brain or reactor core or whatever equivalent it has. Turns out this is the emitter for some sort of weapon. This is more like a dragon opening it’s mouth to breath fire.

It unleashes some sort of power, but even it’s MOST BASIC ATTACK is completely invisible. God works in mysterious ways, right?

Then, it shifts to a different weapon, complete with another weird impossible transformation, and this time is sounds like Alvin and the Chpmunks entering a berserker rage. This second attack’s activation sequence escalates the weirdness, having pieces actually appear from and vanish into thin air(as opposed to “just” changing size and shape), as a SIDE EFFECT of just arming it’s weapons. This thing casually and incidentally violates the laws of physics, and it may well be no more intelligent than a trained attack dog.

it fires the newer weapon, which is larger, and more destructive than the first, filling the entire screen, rather than just poking hole in buildings, and the we the NERV facility retract into the ground to lockdown for combat.

Then, it reverts back to its base form, which ends with a metallic clang. Maybe this is a machine after all. We’ve got a back and forth plot going just from audio cues. It floats above the city, framed from DIRECTLY below, filling the entire sky, and deploys some kind of drill thing to attack the underground NERV facility.

Then we have a shot from the distance that could almost be mistaken for a harmless child’s top. Cut to nighfall. It’s been rotating in place, drilling for several hours. It is slow and implacable, and confident enough to sit down and get to work directly on top of it’s enemy’s base. Notably, it’s drill is also rotating backwards to how a physical drill would. Even this recognizable, physical tool is weird and alien and just wrong.

There are various scenes about ‘oh no it’s drilling into the base’, and the heroes come up with a plan., Part one, the defenders send a barrage of missiles after it. It unfolds into this pinwheel orbital thing. Judging by its previous attacks, this radial symmetry suggests it’s using something like twenty nodes. We still don’t know much about this thing, but monkey brain says big number is more dangerous, so this must be bad. Then, it fires a single laser into space, and whips the now solidly linear beam around like a sword to smack the missiles away.

A concentrated barrage of artillery manages to catch it with it’s pants down(?) and it takes the first defensive action we’ve seen so far, which consists of turning into a heptagonal prism and making a bunch of little barriers to parry each individual projectile. There’s no literal melee combat happening, but we’ve progressed to more and more mundane attacks every time. Invisible force > laser > drill > basically an enormous lightsaber > lots of little shields

Then, it unfolds, and starts screaming. We don’t know a whole lot, but so far, that always means it’s angry. It fires a laser, evaporating the bunkers we’ve seen so far, but the heroes’ plan is working. They’ve procured so many missile launchers that it has to focus on parrying the incoming projectiles.

Now the basic plan to defeat this thing is that they have this huge gun that will use all the power in the entire power grid of japan to fire an enormous laser that should absolutely vaporize anything it hits.

From inside the EVA’s cockpit, we get a look at the thing through various lenses, and finally, the order is given to fire. Several beams are channeled through this big clunky cobbled together sniper rifle, as if the best the heroes have is a a crude parody of Ramiel’s multi-core laser beams, and it takes all the power of Japan just to fire it once. And here, ramiel has been throwing these beams around left and right.

The shot penetrates Ramiels defense, right through it’s core, the only thing it has resembling ‘important anatomy’, and it crumples/explodes/folds/ shifts into this starburst thing like a bullet hole hanging in the air, or shards of broken glass. Visually, it’s hurt pretty bad, probably. At least, we hope it is, unless this was just a weird dodge., but the audio sells it ten times over. It screams like a woman in enormous pain, not a good sound in any context, but so out of place here that it sparks a million questions just at the moment of this thing’s death.

And a death it is, because this previously perfect, geometric abstraction crumples up and starts to sag like a dry leaf in the wind. But that’s no it. There’s one more thing. It spews literal lakes worth of bright red human blood. That’s a good sign, right? it’s smashed and bleeding, and it’s impenetrable divine facade has cracked to reveal, in a very abstract sort of way, a woman who bleeds like anyone else. Step back for a moment, and appreciate that they’ve managed to communicate the idea of dying and coming back to life with an abstract polyhedron.

But then, cut to the center of the impact, and it heals itself. the damage just folds away, and the bloodstains retreat back inside. It reverts to it basic d8 form, as if nothing has changed. Our heroes have blown out the entire power grid of Japan in a crude mimicry of this thing’s basic attack, and it got them what exactly? they drew its attention away from their base? Pissed it off?

And then, the first thing it does after being all but killed is to IMMEDIATELY re-expose its core, and unfold another beam weapon. Then it keeps unfolding. And unfolding. this newest configuration is larger and spikier, and it’s got a whole five points rather than four. Without a single word or recognizable piece of anatomy, we can tell that the kid gloves have come off. It resembles nothing so much as a tesseract rotating in four dimensions.

It fires another invisible beam, this time with enough force to vaporize half a mountain. Shinji gets shook around inside the cockpit of the EVA, just by the back blast. We get a shot of Ramiel stopped for a moment, maybe recharging, or surveying the wreckage or something. Then, it’s drill penetrates the ceiling of NERV HQ. Apparently, Ramiel has been distracted this entire time, but now they’ve got it’s full attention, as it’s done drilling.

There’s a big rousing speech where the boss lady is like “no, give him a chance, he can save the day! we believe in you Shinji!”, during which Ramiel does nothing. Eventually, Shinji heroically gets the gun back in position, and looks down the scope to line up another shot, only to see that Ramiel is pointing directly at him, and charging up another blast. Before he can fire, it unloads, and the beam punches through the remains of the moutain, and devastates the outside of the ship. Luckily, Rei is there to jump in with a big shield and protect Shinji long enough to line up another shot. But there’s this moment of calm after she jumps in, there’s a beat, here she is, she’s saved the day and blocked the attack. But nope. The beam keeps coming. Ramiel doesn’t need ammo. It’s just opening the floodgates and pointing them at the heroes, and Shinji and Rei are surrounded by a blizzard of light with no sign of stopping. Rei’s shield slowly, layer by layer, burns away under the intensity of the blast, but before they’re obliterated, Shinji fires off another killshot.

Ramiel rapidly clamshells shut with a metallic clunk, but then a gout of fire comes out the back. That’s better than blood, right? apparently it can survive losing a lot of blood, but if it’s on fire, that’s gotta be progress, right? It explodes into a rosette of shards and screams again. Same as last time, but then irregular craters appear on its surface, and its cores explode one by one.

It comes and goes, and we never learn a damn thing about it. It’s just... a thing.

#aj oc #nge #neon genesis evangelion #ramiel

9 notes · View notes