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wainwrightjakobshammerlock · 4 months

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what are your influences/inspirations for your art!! like, stylistically or thematically!

visual art, stylistically:

the Borderlands artstyle obviously. cel shading and outlines my fucking beloved. I am so fucking sad that gbx themselves is kinda toning down on it and that they didn't implement the crosshatch shader they put in teasers for bl3. come the fuck on

the Psychonauts artstyle. even if I do no longer draw in the hyperdeformed style I took from that game I still often deform characters and exagerrate their main features in order to make them more distinct. it also kinda made me addicted to shape language lolmao

Team Fortress 2. I am fucking serious btw. blame that one youtube video on its artstyle. it's been a formative experience for me when I watched it and it stuck itself in my brain. it made me appreciate blockiness/solidity/stockiness in art, as well as teaching me how to limit color palettes and how to draw attention to the important parts of the character by using color contrast.

as for actual artists and not. Video Games. I have been eyeing cubists and futurists recently (even went to a gallery with some of Picasso's earlier works) but it's nothing too substantial as of rn

visual art, thematically:

most of what I draw is characters & fanart so. yeah .

however one thing I've been enjoying recently is redrawing paintings or old photos. usually replacing the ppl in them with my fave old man yaoi. maybe it's cringe but they are a very "love in every time" sort of couple to me so :shrug:

literary art, stylistically:

positivist writing, particularly Lalka by Bolesław Prus. perhaps it's because I consider myself academically inclined, perhaps it's because naturalistic descriptions pander to my Biology Autism, perhaps it's bc of smth else idk

impressionism except not really bc im autistic and thus sensory descriptions come to me naturally

Terry. Pratchett. comparisons in my fics are often snappy(tm) as all fuck because they're, well, Borderlands fics, and to me a Borderlands novel should be Discworld-like. also because Discworld itself slaps

the work of Alexis Kennedy: the guy who wrote a lot of Fallen London, Cultist Simulator and also the Horizon Signal dlc for Stellaris. which is all shit im into. and good lird . its hard to describe you have to read this stuff for yourself

literary art, thematically:

again see the visual art section but largely my fics if they aren't self indulgent fluff are just. taken from my brain tee em because I cover topics or angles that the rest of the fandom wouldn't even think of

Alexis Kennedy again bc he writes gothic/cosmic horror. especially the latter. hoo doggy

other things that in general inspire me:

Darkest Dungeon. both the artstyle and the story have been big influences on me even tho I only played the game once and know everything abt it by watching youtube and bingereading wikis

the legacy of H. P. "Racist" Lovecraft. I guess. what can I say I am a sucker (haha) for those tentacles. except I do everything he ever did sexier and cooler and also he can go roll in his grave

legends, folklore, mythology and occultism. Hellenic of course since that's a big part of Borderlands symbolism but I ain't a coward I throw all that shit in there. slavic (creator bias lollll), norse, japanese, a bit of voudoun, biblical tradition, alchemy, tarot, et cetera. of course I usually don't talk about all the symbols that go into my Everything bc there's a crapton and everyone is entitled to their own interpretations but. yknow! and thats not even accounting for my love of assigning complex motifs to things

#this list is probably non-comprehensive but oh well #themanwhomadeamonster #lavos/alto #fourth wall mail slot

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jestlingnest · 2 years

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FIXED LINK VERSION

Hey guys, if you’ve been following me you’d know for sure that I’m a huge fan of Psychonauts 2. I posted about it all the time here until I made my sideblog.

So here’s why I think you should play it too!

It’s a very fun game full of platforming and combat that actually feels fun, and not something that’s a chore to get through. There’s so many cool abilities and devices to use! It has so much to offer!

Like characters! Take your pick, Psychonauts 2 has...

- a 10 year old comic nerd whose also a strong acrobat and a psychic

- a scary little girl who loves gardening and setting things on fire

- t4t couple

- a small, angry yam

- a deranged dentist

- a strange old guy who loves bacon who you shouldn’t worry about

- canonically and explicitly gay couple

- sad old people! a lot of them!

- elijah wood and jack black

It’s not just the characters that make this game wonderful. It’s also the setting. There’s so much variety, and everything is wonderful to look at! Well. Almost everything. Major warning for tooth horror in the first level. Anyway, we have...

Dentist themed workplace that I can’t post a picture for because of the mentioned tooth horror!

A hospital turned into a neon themed casino!

A cooking show filled with puppets and anxiety!

A level filled with so much color that it’s overflowing! I cannot send every photo that I would like to because there’s so much!!! But seriously this level is really good!

Small fragments of a shattered mind as smaller levels, each one a lot of fun! I’m only sending one of them here so that there aren’t too many images.

A level that’s entirely made out of books and ink!

And a beautifully made level with amazing story telling and visuals that make me CRY.

There’s more levels, but those would be spoilers!

Now finally, I talk about the story.

This story is very well done. The first six times I played the game, I cried multiple times. It’s a story about how people deserve empathy and healing and a second chance. And everyone has the chance to heal, no matter how long it’s been! All you need to do is ask for help. It’s a story about mental health. But it’s not just sad, it’s also a comedy. It’s filled with funny lines and jokes, but is still able to tackle these topics like anxiety, ptsd, addiction and more. I’m not kidding when I said this game changed my life. Ever since I’ve played it, I’ve been able to deal with my own trauma better. And on top of that, the game looks amazing!!!

The first game isn’t required to see the second, but it helps with the context. Here’s a playthrough if you are interested. There’s also a vr game that you can watch someone play, as its playstation exclusive.

I would highly recommend this game. For both gameplay and story. Seriously, this game is amazing. If you don’t want to buy it and play it, I recommend watching either Playframe or Hollowtones play it!

#i love psychonauts 2 so so much #seriously its so good #im reblogging this to my account with over 1000 followers

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britishsass · 3 years

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Also! Headcanons in general about Fred from Psychonauts? I've read a couple of your fics about the Thorny Towers crew so I'm curious, lol

(I swear I'll get on the other ask soon but this is my JAM)OKAY! FREDDY! Fred Bonaparte! My man, my me, he's such a vibe.

He's trans! Thorney Towers mostly... wasn't told. Whoops.

(His deadname is Alice)

His father tried to get him to name himself "Napoleon". He refused.

He was a band kid. (Specifically, he played trumpet.)

fred has a mild case of pantaphobia.

also he passes out a lot. like. way more than anyone should.

he keeps his arms crossed when not in the straitjacket because he just got used to it being that way

straitjacket was put on because he punched crispin. napoleon was proud of him. fred doesn't remember it now.

he’s a middle child of 3

He was in college when he became an orderly and then went mad. He was going to graduate that spring, but in winter, he lost it all

he used to drive to work in a pretty nifty car. too bad the car is gone now, but he remembers it sometimes. It was a cherry-red convertable.

Fred still talks in french post-psychonauts. it's not that he likes it, it's just easier sometimes.

He tends to put the weight of everyone elses problems on his shoulders. to the point of breaking his back with how much he takes on.

he could be seen as an empath, but he denies it.

He’s actually really good with most of the inmates! it's just freaking.... crispin.

He really likes white chocolate.

He has a bad habit of reading late into the night if he gets into something good.

He thinks that disco is still in. don't tell him otherwise.

He's seen a lot, mostly in his mind and because of Napoleon, but still

If he didn’t fight Napoleon, his mind was a real Waterloo battlefield. He had to put in a lot of effort in to keep it as a board game.

He does tend to use alcohol as a coping mechanism post-Towers and in high school. His partners have to stop him. It’s a rough moment in his life.

He has a lot of memory issues about his past. Can’t even remember his deadname post-Towers.

He, Boyd, Edgar, and Gloria are all one polycule. I love them.

His parents put a lot of pressure on him when he came out because he was “the closest thing we’ve got to a son” and therefore he was expected to carry on the Bonaparte name and such.

He was chess team leader when he was young! He’s actually really good at most board games, and therefore Crispin beating him so thoroughly hurt him a lot more when he was losing to someone when it’s his talent.

He loves hugs but he’s really badly proportioned for them.

He still sees Crispin in the corner of his eye or in reflections. He doesn’t like admitting it.

He, Edgar, and Boyd all go to Gloria’s performances and cheer the loudest. Everyone hates it because Fred’s so stupid tall that no one can see.

I love him, tbh. Good man. Great vibes. Deserves better.

#Fred bonaparte #my BOY #i love that dumb frenchman #alcohol tw #psychonauts headcanons #psychonauts #cy-fi-theansweris42 #ask response

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bittlestofbats · 3 years

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I loved psychonauts 2 but i do admit that it could have used the characters, new and old, a lot more, like, the interns, sasha, Milla and the aquatos (sans nona) don't really fell like they do much in the story you know? (I also fell like the plot could have use a little more work, but i think that is just me)

Personally, for me, I can see the need for characters like the interns.

Spoilers under the cut!!

People at first glance assume the interns are supposed to play a big role in the story when in reality they are an obstacle Raz must get past if he's ever going to reach his goal.

This story really touches on the past of the psychic six/seven - finally giving us a reason for Ford's sudden decline in health. It shows us with Nick / Gristol that you can't just save people or " fix " them.

Nick played a huge role in this story caused in the past one we were given a villain, Oleander, who turned to good in the snap of his fingers. With Nick, he showed us that life isn't that easy. Nick showed us that not everyone wants help, or will even pay attention to it.

Unlike Lucrecia, who showed deep inside she felt terrible about everything she did but couldn't escape the ever-looming inner beast that was Maligula, Nick acted on pure greed and selfishness as well as blindness.

The plot touched on mental illnesses in a way a lot of games can't. And for that, I do feel like the plot stands strong. I mean Raz should have known that a ten-year-old isn't going to be promoted to an agent without climbing a ladder first, even adults aren't auto-promoted just cause they saved the world. Patience is key, and that was one of the lessons taught to Raz during this game.

The Aquatos were support characters, Sasha, Hollis, and Milla were teacher characters, and the interns were obstacle characters. They weren't really meant to be main characters in this plot, but instead, give Raz a motive to keep going. If they dive into everything about those characters we would get a headache from TOO much plot information. Sometimes things are better off when left up to the audience to imagine.

#bittle's rambles #personal opinion #psychonauts2 #psychonauts 2 spoilers

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genaleah · 3 years

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ANSWERING WILDCARD QUESTIONS

For the first time in about a year maybe??? Some of these might be even older than that.

Yes, it is Korka! I definitely want her involved, she’s a wonderful character and there is a *lot* of fun paranormal stuff going on in this setting that she can help them research. Also, I’d just love for her and Nelson to become friends!

Thank you! I love him a lot, and it’s fun to picture him interacting with the other guys. They’d all make for some interesting uncle figures, but they might not be that great in terms of role models.

OHOHO. Devilish laugh. That’s a wonderful idea, and a good way to keep him occupied at some point. He’s a great character, but he’s incredibly powerful, and I want these dudes to solve their own problems whenever possible.

A good question! I don’t remember most of my dreams, but there’s usually a consistent look to the vivid ones. Lots of water, mountains, creeks, and high, winding roads. There are also a lot of buildings that are closely integrated with nature, even though I have almost never seen construction like that.

I had not, but now I have! Here’s a trailer, for anyone else that missed it:

https://youtu.be/33HXHaaagsw

I really like these new models! I’m looking forward to watching a playthrough when that’s available. Just like with Rhombus of Ruin, I don’t think I’ll be able to play this one myself.

DOUBLE FINE, I WISH TO SPEAK WITH YOU- no, I’m kidding! I think great minds think alike. But I’m really excited to learn more about that character and possibly involve them in this whole au eventually.

I’ve actually tried to avoid almost any info about Psychonauts 2 so I can go in mostly-blind, and a lot of the characters are vague to me. It’s fun to look forward to, but it’s also a little harrowing because I don’t know how to anticipate for it!

N...NO..... I NEED TO... Honestly those are old enough that it might be a good idea for me to re-make them, as well as the playing cards I made for the mega playlist cover. I think it’d be nice to remake them as vectors... that might make for a nice art stream sometime. I’ll mention publicly if I start doing that, and sharing any of these conceptual Wildcards arts when they’re done.

And if you’re just curious about what the tarot cards for the other characters are going to be, it’s this:

Eddie: Judgement, The Magician, The Emperor

Manny: Death, Justice, The World

Sam: The Chariot, The Tower, Strength

Max: The Devil, Wheel of Fortune, Joker

Although! I may actually give the Moon card to Max instead of the Devil, and replace the missing card from Nelson’s selection with the High Priestess? 🤔 I’ll decide when I get to it.

Could be! I’ve flip-flopped occasionally on if I want the split-a-cab gang to participate much in the story. I think they deserve a break, and splitting an apartment in New York seems like a good situation for the four of them.

Oh boy, that must be so disorienting for him. The Psychonauts deal with a lot of hippy-dippy weirdness in a seemingly organized way, but it seems like they’re not as paranoid about safety as a real federal organization would be. Not necessarily a good thing, considering one of their camp counselors went AWOL one day, and the head of the Psychonauts got kidnapped the next. They kinda need to get their act together.

Fun fact, in one of the earlier drafts of Chapter 3 I was actually going to make Nelson get scanned by the equivalent of a metal-detector for malevolent thoughts at the door and get really spooked by it, but I decided against it.

YEAH IT’S ON THE LIST

Honestly, a big bulk of the plot in this just regards characters having to face their mental health struggles... via facing it as literal internal demons, unstable powers, etc. It’s going to take a little while for any of Eddie’s teammates to realize how MUCH he has going on under the surface because he does a pretty good job of hiding it. “Needing to help others above ever helping themselves” is a hard issue to notice if you’re not looking for it. But it’s a guarantee that once they find out he needs help, they’ll give it; whether that’s making sure he’s not working himself too hard, or fighting off demonic cultists. Care comes in many forms.

SHE NEEDS TO REST.... POOR SYBIL (on the upside, they don’t TECHNICALLY work there, so she might be fine most of the time.)

Strong Bad isn’t a Psychonaut! He’s just a vlogger and a petty (psychic) criminal. It’s honestly not very different from canon.

Free Country, USA is a smalltown hotbed of psychic activity. Nearly everyone there has some mild capacity for supernatural powers, but nobody really notices or cares. Strong Bad just pops the tops off of cold ones and.... sometimes alters reality, a tiny bit. But mostly just in regards to media. The cartoons, comics, etc, that he invents and talks about have a tendency to suddenly voip into existence and nobody knows how. I swear, there’s actually a line of him saying something to this effect, but I can’t find it anywhere. Don’t worry about it! Nobody in town is ever going to do anything truly nefarious with their powers, so it’s not a high priority on the Psychonauts’ radar, just a weird footnote.

The only reason Homestar is an actual agent is because he seems like exactly the kind of guy to sign up for a job like that on accident and then stick with it. And he’s a talented telekinetic! None of his other friends know about his job or notice his absences.

And just for fun, here’s some weird instances of psychic overpowering that happened in the cartoon:

---

(Poor Strong Sad)

I’ve actually answered this one before! BAM Pretty sure all of it is still accurate.

Nelson: He sees floating sheets of paper containing notes, questions, etc. Anything that he wants to know more about regarding that person. The notes are subject to edits, cross-outs, ripped pages, etc.

Guybrush: He sees the item that the person is carrying that he wants most. As he gets to know people better, he sees them for their useful skills first.

Manny: His view of most living people is not very kind...

The people he’s closest to will eventually look a lot less garish. More like a flattering, camera-ready versions of themselves.

Eddie: Sickass sketch drawings that look like they belong in the margins of a composition book. The illustrations improve as he gets a better picture of where they’d fit in the internal lore of his mental world.

Sam: A lot like Nelson; Sam pictures case files, though his are a bit more in-depth.

Max: Max’s visions of people are highly personal and uncomfortable for those who witness them. He sees Nelson as a puzzle with a piece missing. Guybrush is a ripped up voodoo doll. Manny is a forgotten ofrenda. Eddie is a powder keg with a long, lit fuse. Sam is Sam, but he’s the wrong one.

I also got two questions that were pretty big subjects, or that I didn’t want to repeat, so I’m gonna cover them pretty broadly:

REGARDING [X] CHARACTER OR SERIES INCLUDED IN THE AU

Sure, I support it! I’ve gotten this question a few times in regards to things that I haven’t had time to delve into yet, or I’m not interested in, so I’m not going to include it into the AU myself. But if you want to explore an idea like that, feel free! This AU is pretty dang collaborative.

My main focus is just on the main 6 properties: Psychonauts, Puzzle Agent, Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, Brutal Legend, and Sam & Max.

But my general rule of thumb for “characters that exist somewhere within the background of this story” are any other properties owned by Telltale, Lucasarts, or Double Fine. And considering all of the licensed games that Telltale was getting into before it kicked the bucket, that includes some really weird characters, even up to the Venture Bros. I loved that series, but I’m not really interested in doing anything with them for this story! Partly for my sanity, the canon I’ve picked are already a lot of content to play with.

ASSORTED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE WILDCARD AU DISCORD

There’s no particular criteria needed to join the discord, and it’s not strictly on a need-to-know basis! Because it’s been a long while since anyone has joined, I've been hesitant about adding new people in... But I‘ve decided to try sending invitations again! Everyone who had asked about it in the past will be getting a ping by me in about a day or so, since I want to double-check if you’re still interested. If you’ve been nervous to ask you can reply to this post or message me privately.

Some things to keep in mind before asking or accepting the invite:

If you’re not a friend or a follower I recognize, I will likely double-check your tumblr along with some other current members before sending the invite.

Here’s the Rules page, so you know what to expect before you join:

Be Mindful - Respect other people's boundaries, don't do or say things that would cross the line. If your behavior makes other people feel uncomfortable or unsafe, I will remove you from the chat. In most cases I will try to resolve things with you and offer a chance to do better, but that will depend on the severity of the situation. And if you have any concerns regarding another member of the chat, you can contact me privately.

Health Boundaries - While discussions of mental health do occasionally pop up, do not rely on the chat for help. None of us are equipped to handle serious mental health concerns, and it will only cause distress for everyone. Please seek real help if it is needed! If you rely on people beyond the point that they have asked you to stop, I will remove you from the chat.

NSFW - Generally speaking, try to keep NSFW talk to a minimum. Swearing and humor is fine, but don't get too explicit please! Discussions should usually keep to a PG-13 / occasional R, but no NC-17.

Spoilers & Censorship - Please use the spoiler function to hide story spoilers, as well as discussions and graphic depictions of gore/excessive blood/body horror/severe psychological horror. Include a content warning so that people know what they could potentially be seeing when they click on the censored content. If the spoilered content is the subject of a back-and-forth discussion, please use another warning when you are switching to a different spoilered topic. (Note that these rules were added to the chat later, so be careful when using the search function or back reading.)

The canon series involved with the Wildcard AU are Psychonauts, Puzzle Agent, Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, Brutal Legend, and Sam & Max. Please be mindful of story spoilers!

Channel Organization - Also be mindful of which channel you're in and move a discussion over if need be! That way they don't get too clogged with unrelated info.

Creative Criticism - When it comes to writing, art, or character creation; try to be open to suggestions from others! Nearly all of the creative work in the chat is collaborative, so input from others is important! Creative criticism is not the same as judgement, and is not a personal attack.

Have fun! - Discussions move quickly in this chat! Don't feel bad if you ever need to step back, whether it's because of the speed or a disinterest in whatever current topic we're focusing on. If you ever want to come back, we're happy to have you and can give quick explanations if you feel out of the loop! :thumbsup:

We’re a group of approx. a half dozen to a dozen people, either posting very very quickly in a span of a few hours or barely anything for a few days. We’ve been in an activity uptick lately and there’s about a year and half of back content, too. If it’s hard to keep up on, not that interesting to read through, or you just have a hard time gelling with the group that's already there, there’s no shame in just lurking or dipping out if you need to.

We also talk a lot about Psychonauts OCs, so anticipate that.

#wildcard au #wildcard hcs

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sxrrandomfanfics · 2 years

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Is it agent??? You answered my first ask, so I know it's not camper.

Agent says that he can't "listen to him again" and that it would be "so easy to".

I commented really briefly on the zipties before and how I meant that is that the zipties could metaphorically represent him "holding himself together" and "holding something inside".

In chapter 5 Sasha notes how control is "almost too tight" and you know which raz we have seen that fits the themes of control and things that are too tight? Agent.

Agent is trying to be older than he is, representing the part of raz that is trying so desperately to be what he thinks is a "true psychonaut" and sort out his own baggage. Yet he never GETS to his own baggage, so concerned woth everyone else despite that being "his job".

Speaking of jobs, agent is the one who yells at Warden for "not doing his job" despite neglecting on of his own major jobs, sorting through RAZS baggage.

Also, rereading chapter 5 I noticed something, maybe it's nothing but.

Later on Camper comments that only Warden and agent visit him, cementing that its those 3 razs that have been in thw camp area so far as we know. And in chapter 6, the enablers don't work on camper. What COULD the enablers be for? They work in the dome keeping him in and isolated, but what ELSE coukd they be enabling? There didn't seem to be any enemies in campers area, so what are they for? Could they be for Warden, or more specifically agent? Boosting Warden or enabling agents control orientated mindset? Enablers tend to enable BAD behavior, such as the isolating from the dome, but what else?

In chapter 4 (I know you said the hints started in chapter 5 but I thought I'd mention it) agent wasn't expecting anyone in their part of the mind, almost as if he didn't want them to see it. Could it be that he didn't want them to see a darker part of his mind? Maybe, though it was probably just razs subconscious way of showing that he didn't want anyone to see HIS baggage and his issue sorting it.

My last thought is about how raz sees the idea of true psychonauts. Cuz for a while, it was obvious in the games that he thought Ford Cruller was thw greatest example of psychonauts. Yet that belief and ideation have been torn apart with the reveal of Ford and Lucy. Ford is still a psychonaut, but does raz see him as a HERO? As a paragon? Does he still think that psychonauts as a whole are good and well pit together? Cuz his thoughts and feelings on what he thinks a "true psychonaut" is effects how agent is. What happens to agent if he thinks that psychonauts could be BAD?

That's all I got for now and my memory kinda sucks so if I got details wrong feel free to correct me. I just wanted to leave off with my personal list from before last ask of who I thought the final boss could be from most likely to least likely.

Camper

Agent

Jackal (the clicks as he get angrier and imps comments in "blowing up again" put him here)

Warden

Zombie

I had thought it was camper, but you all but confirmed it's probably not.

It could always be Zombie as his trauma manifests Ina. Somewhat maligula way inorder to protect raz from further hurt, but idk. Too many options, too many ways you could play this honestly.

Keep in mind: We said that Camper was "a master of Psychological manipulation" and a "wooby dooby." So don't write him off just yet.

With the enablers: Enablers enable bad habits, mostly shown in protecting enemies that want Raz out of the mind. Specifically with Cassie's mind, she knows she needs help, so her enablers help the censors trying to harm Raz. But what's Camper's bad habit? Something that goes completely against Enabler's protection. Self-harm.

Yes, with Agent not expecting anyone in his part of the mind, he was trying to hide the emotional baggage. He does try his best to be the Psychonaut he wants to be, and he does try to be how Raz thinks he should be when he's older. The best Psychonaut helping other people.

#raz's regretful realm

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unclerippuascension · 3 years

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Autistic infodump about Balan Wonderworld or whatever the fuck

Man it really does suck that Balan Wonderworld fucking crashed and burned because unlike Mighty No. 9 I feel like there was some glimmer of goodness in there. Not in terms of gameplay, that’s borked because Yuji Naka still thinks we’re in the fucking 90s where games had one godamn button gameplay and yet also has 80 powerups (seriously what ganja was he smoking, is he ok?), but I mean the story. Which is so weird because the implimentation of story in this game was so passive agressive, like Yuji Naka didn’t want a story but Square was like “No no, you work at our company, you put a fucking story in your game”

Like... there’s clearly story here, but there’s no dialogue. Not having spoken dialogue isn’t a bad thing, but you need to have story shown off in another way and Balan Wonderworld doesn’t do that. That’s especially bad when your story relies on making us care about the struggles characters have. And the people who made this game knew that because they made a fucking light novel that explains everything about everyone. I just WHAT

Was is it too much for them to have a part of the pause menu where you can get a short biography of the characters you’ve met? Kirby Star Allies did this and that game didn’t have a story as big as Balan Wonderworld’s! Not to mention the novel really pulls a FNAF novel where it explains so much important lore that ain’t NOBODY who isn’t in the fandom is gonna read, hell with how much this game flopped I don’t even think anybody in general is gonan read it. Stuff like: did you know Balan was created by Lance, that weird hentai tentacle guy who’s kind of the Reiali of this game? (apologies to Nights fans if I fucked up the name) YEAH, ME NEITHER, YUKARI HAD TO TELL ME. Their whole thing is basically this one meme in case you haven’t read the novel like me

I want you really think about how much of a mistake this was. Don’t pull a FNAF novel series if you’re making a game, there are ways to impliment story without it being JRPG levels of involved. Again, just have short blurbs as an option in the pause menu.

Speaking of Balan, they really did my mans dirty. It’s like the one Spongebob meme, “You used me...TO BRING IN PLAYERS”. You do not play as Balan in this game, you do QTEs. I never played Nights, Sonic was my Sega fix, but if I was a Nights fan I would feel so cheated. He’s got so much potential, and he’s probably a more developed character in the light novel, but here? He’s just the hook, and once you bite the rest of the game is just....

yeah.

Again, they could have had stuff for Balan that wasn’t QTEs. Maybe some gameplay like Nights? I get that the game isn’t a Nights game, but maybe have his short segments be little snapshots of that kind of gameplay? Please the game is so horrendous, people would find the game tolerable if they had the gameplay version of that cold glass of water in the middle of a marathon.

Also maybe cut back on the powerups, do we really need 80 of them? So many of them make other powerups obselete, this isn’t a Megaman game, Mr. Naka. We do not need 80 powerups that are all more or less recolors of each other. It doesn’t help that most of these costumes are ugly as sin, useless (serious, who thought Box Fox was a good thing, I just want to talk), or are just a recolor of another powerup. I heard there were originally going to be 40, but even 40 is too much. Your character has three slots for power-ups, have it be three powerups per world and make them permanent additions and not something you need to re-acquire because yes that’s a thing. To bring up Megaman again, imagine if you were using a powerup and you died, and now you’d have to battle the robot master again to get it back. It’s not exactly like that but its on the same track.

Yukari said this while we were talking about this topic, but Balan does feel like a game that should have been some kind of animated series or something. When this game is in cutscenes it is genuinely impressive with how it handles the conflict of the characters, well the characters who actually have compelling problems that you need to solve by Psychonaut-ing it into their heads. What do I mean? Well one world is around a little girl who’s cat got hit by a car, and the event made her so scared and upset that she is now afraid of cars and streetlights because it reminds her of that tragedy. That’s relatable! Even if the game doesn’t translate that, you’re still theoretically helping a child grieve the loss of a pet! And then the other guy is some smug old fart who got beat by a rival and isn’t the champion of chess anymore. Too my knowledge the game doesn’t really scale these problems like where the problems the characters slowly become more ‘intense’. Like the first guy you help is a farmer, but I feel like the chess guy should have been first because his problem is like... dude just get over it, you’re gonna lose nobody is perfect.

The worst part about all of this is that Square Enix told Yuji Naka he had one chance to make a platformer, and he pretty much wasted it with how this game was handled. I am pretty damn worried that Balan will be like Geno and Mallow where Square just never fucking uses them again, maybe not AS bad as Geno and Mallow but in that similar ballpark

It really does kinda suck, my guys. I just wanted a cool game with a funky clown-looking dude, man!!!

#balan wonderworld

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britesparc · 4 years

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Weekend Top Ten #437

Top Ten Predictions for the Xbox Games Showcase

So I wasn’t going to do this. I had my “Games Month” in June; that was supposed to be me getting it out of my system whilst the various publishers and platform holders held their Not-E3 video livestreams. That was supposed to take the place of my usual semi-serious lists of E3 predictions; a variety of more generalised run-downs of Stuff To Do With Videogames rather than me saying “A New Perfect Dark” ten times.

But then Microsoft’s “Showcase” event turned out to be the back-end of July, the videos and livestreams kept on pouring in, and I found myself ever devouring more salacious rumours of what games were upcoming, especially for the Xbox Series X. I have even found myself reading – shudder – Reddit.

I know.

Anyway, from being a simple thought experiment of “I wonder what games will be out when the Series X launches?” through to me imagining a blow-by-blow runthrough of the July 23rd event, I guess you could say that I am excited despite my better judgement. I think my problem with videogaming as a hobby is that I retain my fanboy enthusiasm from when I was a ten-year-old eagerly awaiting the next issue of The One Amiga, frantically swapping all eleven disks of Monkey Island 2, but I’m a grown-ass man with a mortgage and two kids and I just don’t have the time. I love reading websites like Eurogamer, and going on forums and checking out Twitter threads and all that, devouring news and titbits about all manner of gaming ephemera, and I often think when do these people have the time?!

Now look, I know hobbies, if you commit to them, can be expensive in terms of money and time. I have friends who collect Transformers toys, and let me tell you, that shit ain’t cheap. But daisy-chaining triple-A RPGs together feels like a lifetime commitment. I’m still playing Mass Effect Andromeda and Titanfall 2. I’ve just started Breath of the Wild and I’m waiting to kick off The Witcher III once I complete something else. I operate about two to three years behind the curve, and with work and kids and other commitments I struggle to find space for the oodles of games I do have, especially because most of the time I just end up on Civilization VI again. And yet…

The lure of the new still excites me. I really want to play all those Sony games on a Sony console that I don’t even own. I’m fascinated by the divergent next-gen philosophies of the big three platform holders. I can’t wait to see what the games I already own will look like embiggened on a 4K TV thanks to a suitable next-gen console. And so I keep consuming this stuff, keep wanting to try the latest thing, keep wanting to be part of the narrative. I’m still excited.

Therefore I’ve decided, against my better judgement, to offer up a prediction list like I usually do at E3 time. This one is just focussed on the upcoming Xbox Showcase on July 23rd. I doubt I’ll do one for the two remaining big showcases in August – I believe both Sony and Microsoft are doing one apiece, where we might finally hear prices of these damn things – because I think by the end of the month all the big game news might finally be out there. Aside from guessing how far off £500 both machines land, I think we’ve probably heard all the major announcements. Maybe I’m wrong! I’m wrong quite a lot! But that’s part of the fun.

So here we go: ten things that probably aren’t going to be announced next Thursday!

Halo Infinite opens the show – and is playable: we know that Halo Infinite will debut some campaign gameplay. As more-or-less a known quantity (even if we don’t know exactly what it’ll look like or how it’ll play), kicking things off with Xbox’s biggest star makes sense and won’t deflate any surprises. What I think might happen, though, is the announcement of some kind of multiplayer demo or closed beta, maybe only for Game Pass subscribers or something. They’ve done it before with Halo, so it’d be nice to get a chance to play one of the year’s biggest games early.

Hellblade 2 in-engine trailer: Senua’s Saga looks amazing so far, with a phenomenal launch trailer that displayed vast landscapes, intense detail, and some truly awesome facial animation. There’s a lot of speculation that, whilst the trailer was apparently in-engine and running in realtime, it was a fancy cut-scene with “hero assets”. I might have missed a memo somewhere, but I don’t think Hellblade 2 has been confirmed as a “launch window” title; as such, I think it will end up a Series X exclusive (as in, not appearing on Xbox One) and be out Christmas 2021. As such we won’t see a considerable gameplay chunk as with Halo, but we will see some proper in-engine footage – not a cutscene – running on Series X hardware.

Fable IV is out next year: is it an open secret at this point that Playground Games is making a Fable game? I guess maybe they’re not. Maybe there’s not even a new Fable at all. But I think there is, and I think Playground are making it, and I think we’ll see it next week. I guess it probably won’t be coming too soon; maybe Christmas 2021? So I think there’ll be a launch trailer of some kind – hopefully a Hellblade-style in-engine one rather than a rendered movie – but it’ll be a pretty big to-do to close out the show (unless there’s some other surprise “…and one more thing”).

Minecraft ray-tracing: we’ve seen it before, and I’m not sure how much time it’ll take up in the run of things, but I think Microsoft will confirm that there will be a ray-tracing graphics update for Minecraft on Series X. It’ll be part of some other line-wide update, of course – maybe the fabled “Super Duper Graphics” update that was cancelled once before – but Series X owners (or PC owners with the right hardware) will get lots of lovely rays to trace.

Gears Tactics on Xbox this Christmas: the Coalition said their piece about Gears 5 on Series X this week, so I don’t expect them to have a huge presence on Thursday (Gears 6 presumably being too far off), but I think we’ll get a trailer for the excellent Gears Tactics running on Xbox, and confirmation of a Christmas release for one of my favourite PC games of 2020.

Cyberpunk 2077 on Series X: all the footage we’ve seen of Cyberpunk thus far has been – I do believe – running on high-end PCs. CD Projekt Red should have a presence on Thursday, and I think they’ll debut footage – actual proper gameplay – of Cyberpunk running on a Series X. I think we’ll also see further evidence of a cosy relationship with Microsoft, as they announce something – maybe exclusive DLC – as well as just maybe some Cyberpunk-themed Series X hardware. I also think they’ll announce a Series X update for The Witcher III: Wild Hunt.

Big Double Fine blowout: Microsoft’s purchase of Double Fine really excited me, because I’ve been a big Tim Schafer fan for decades. Aside from Psychonauts 2, we don’t know a great deal about what they’re up to. So I think we’ll see a lot of Psychonauts, as well as confirmation of a Christmas release. We’ll also get confirmation of classic LucasArts remasters – Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, and Grim Fandango – as well as something else. I’m not sure what. A remaster of the first Psychonauts? Brütal Legend 2? Scurvy Scallywags Series X? what I don’t think it’ll be, however, is any kind of Banjo Kazooie game, because I don’t really think Microsoft bought them to work on existing IP. I think we’ll see something new.

Third-party shenanigans: aside from Cyberpunk, I think we’ll get at least one other extended third-party trailer. Maybe Destiny 2, given the first game’s apparent preference for PlayStation? Maybe one of those military shooters everybody likes but me? Splinter Cell, which is becoming the perennial white elephant during Ubisoft presentations (and obviously has prior as an OG Xbox exclusive)? Or maybe we’ll see something like the announcement of Red Dead Redemption 2 as a Smart Delivery title. That would be pretty cool.

Japanese presence: I’m not sure what exactly, but I think Microsoft will make moves to entice the Japanese market. Perhaps it’ll be like the early days of the Xbox 360, when they published the likes of Blue Dragon. Maybe we’ll see a Western release of some venerated Japanese franchise. Or maybe some other sequel or reboot. Maybe it’ll even be the rumoured announcement of some kind of exclusive partnership with Sega? Who knows? Regardless I think we’ll see evidence of Microsoft making more of an effort in Japan; I think this will be part of a strategy to encourage Japanese gamers to subscribe to Game Pass/xCloud rather than buy more consoles.

One last thing: there’ll be a surprise. Everyone’s predicting everything, but I still think there’ll be a surprise. After the dust settles, good old Phil Spencer (t-shirt prediction: Viva Pinata) will leave us with a little something… a tease, a subtle tease, maybe even just a logo or character reveal. It could be a returning franchise, it could be The Initiative’s debut game, but I’d wager it’s something unexpected, something we’ve never heard anything about. It’s something that’s a long way off, but it’ll have a style or a hook or a brand that instantly makes everyone excited, and will bring the curtain down. Microsoft has largely done a good job establishing itself as a solid platform the last three or four years, but it’s sorely been lacking in mic-drop moments as hardware news is teased and studio acquisitions have taken time to bed in. So whether it’s Joanna Dark, a Mech, Banjo, or something I can’t fathom, we’ll leave on a high.

There we go: ten relatively reasonable, moderately level-headed predictions. I don’t think there’s anything too crazy there. I’ve not gone all-in on a huge Perfect Dark blowout, or Viva Pinata returning, or Microsoft buying Sega or Warner Bros or whatever else could be dreamed up. I’m sure there’s other stuff too; probably some gameplay from previously-announced titles like The Medium or (hopefully) Scorn, that really show off Series X capabilities; no doubt a montage or two, probably of some ID@Xbox games; Forza Motorsport 8, I guess, and I’d wager some info on Flight Simulator on Xbox. I do hope they make the whole presentation look nice though; Sony’s one, where they finally revealed the PS5 hardware, was excellent, with just enough talking-head developer stuff and those lovely idents that served to whet the appetite and tease the eventual look of the machine. We know there’ll be no new hardware or discussion about evolving services, so really all we’ve got to look forward to are games, games, games, which makes a nice change from the reveal of the Xbox One all those moons ago.

Okay, so my absolute crazy just-for-me wish? Well, things are getting thin on the ground now, as the big things I always want from Microsoft – Fable, Crackdown, Perfect Dark – have either happened or are strongly rumoured. Viva Pinata is next on that list, but beyond that? How does Black and White Infinite sound? That’s right, baby, next on my list – Lionhead rebooted!

#top ten #microsoft #xbox #xbox series x #halo infinite #games #gaming #xbox showcase

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0poole · 5 years

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Psychonauts is a funny thing

So, I got recommended the game on Steam after playing A Hat in Time because the games are uncannily similar (and Hat in Time definitely, 100% took some things from the game, I’m absolutely sure of it) and I just sort of passively cared about it for a while. I watched one of those compilations of the boss battles in the game, and it did look pretty cool to me. Then, the trailer for the sequel came out, and I watched it, had no idea what was going on, and reasoned I could probably play the original between then and the time it came out. The sequel looked pretty visually interesting, and if a sequel looks interesting surely the original has to be too. And, after a few months of sporadic playing, I finally finished it a few seconds ago. Basically, I’d recommend playing it.

But, I don’t think I’ve ever gotten this mad at a game before. It’s an odd feeling, being mad.

First of all, I bought the game on a Steam sale where it was literally only 99 cents. It was soon after the sequel trailer released, so surely it was there to draw people like me in. But, the issue was that the game wouldn’t even start when I first downloaded it. It played the intro, but it instantly minimized itself whenever I tried to pull it up. So, I put that off for a few weeks, and sure enough with no rhyme or reason it started working as intended again. Great. Surely this wouldn’t be representative of the future, right?

Well, sort of. There were a ton of glitches in the game. Most of them involving sketchy platforming, where I should’ve landed or grabbed onto a ledge but didn’t somehow, but only one legitimately stopped me from progressing. Not exactly spoilery, but I confused the first knife thrower you meat (no joke that was unintentional, but I’m keeping it) in the last (second to last?) level, and that made him completely stop doing anything, so I had to reset there. Not very fun.

But, before that, there was a glitch that actually was relatively cool. During the Den Mother boss fight, I used clairvoyance as intended, but after the first time it glitched (but I didn’t realize it) and the platform when completely invisible, but I could still see Raz’s body, so I just reasoned that it was just a progression of the difficulty of the fight. I could still piece together where I had to go to hit the boss, it was just going to be harder. Then, I died, and it started working as intended. It was a little lame, to be honest. Nothing changed from that point. I was obviously having trouble, though, so I wasn’t going to complain.

Then, an issue on my side of things was that I very often was stuck on what to do, and basically just ran around confused for 30+ minutes. I’m a pussy when it comes to video games, to be honest. I genuinely appreciate direction when I play, even if too much of it is obviously a bad thing. It’s usually because of how many Nintendo games I play. They usually give pretty clear hints where to go. I swear, if I couldn’t call on Cruller to help me, I would’ve never made it.

The funny thing is that, most of the time my confusion was a result of me just forgetting about the floating power. I would jump, fall, try again, and stare at the ledge until something magically appeared. Once I looked up the answer to my first problem online (where the old meat’s stench was the thing you had to float up on) I realized it, but still got stuck on later instances where you had to use it. I don’t know why that one mechanic constantly slipped my mind. I play video games. I should know updraft = you can float on it. That, and wood = burnable.

I do wish they forced you to get an item/power that you needed to get before you progressed BEFORE you actually got to the point where you needed it. Mainly when it came to the cobweb duster, at least. That thing was hella expensive, but I avoided it because I thought it was just one of those things for collectathon-ers who wanted to 100% the game. But, turns out, there’s only like one or two points where cobwebs are actually blocking your path, so I had to stop all progress and farm arrowheads to get that. Even worse, I bought other stuff with the arrowheads I got up until that point, so I had to farm a lot more.

But, apart from more specific stuff, that’s basically all the negative things I have to say about the game. Even though I did actually, legitimately get mad at multiple points, looking back on it all with a sound mind, it’s actually a really good, interesting game.

Honestly, the overall concept of the game is the best part. It has such insane potential, probably more so than any other concept I’ve heard of. The idea that you can go inside a person’s mind and interact with it in the form of a physical world/level is so cool. Really, there’s no better form of characterization. The serious contrast between the minds of someone like Milla, who’s clearly a partier, and Sasha, who’s clearly straight out of the Matrix, is such fun to experience. Obviously anyone would have a metaphorical, sprawling land as their mind, but how Sasha can control all of that and pull it out at will is really cool. On the other hand, Fred barely has a world to explore. He cares so much about the game that he only exists in a room, and the game is represented in the larger land, with all the different types of people. Then, Boyd the conspiracy theorist is trying to connect everything with winding pathways that flip over and cross with each other. Apart from the obvious ““normal”” neighborhood that’s constantly spying on him.

That level has to be my favorite in the entire game, even though it’s one of the ones that I got stuck on. A lot of that definitely came down to how the G-Men clearly inspired the C.A.W. Agents in A Hat in Time, who were really well done in both games. I noticed it instantly, and that made it so much more fun. Plus, that level introduced Clairvoyance, which might be the must useless yet the most interesting power in the game. They put so much effort into how you appear in the eyes of other characters (even the NPCs and enemies) that it’s kind of shocking. You really only use it for a part or two of that level and the boss fight (which made really good use of it), and then it just becomes a device for Easter eggs. Considering each of the other campers were mostly seemed like occasional throwaway jokes or funny images, they really thought about who they were and what they wanted.

Obviously, I’d be remiss to not talk about the character designs. This is essentially The Nightmare Before Christmas on steroids when it comes to character models. Some were obvious references to other things, like Sasha looking like Neo, or Cruller looking like Einstein, but even then they felt like their own characters. Overall, they’re a little too crazy to be at the top of my tastes, but they’re perfect for the atmosphere. I especially loved the Butcher’s design for some reason, even though it’s pretty standard for an over-exaggerated butcher character. He just looked really cool. The only design I was kinda iffy about was the Censors, who were awesome in concept, but looked a little too mortal-looking for something present in pretty much everyone’s mind. Maybe people just associate censoring with Cog-esque business people, and that’s why they always look like that. I do like the idea of them progressing into the giant Judges you see in the sequel trailer, though.

Then, the unsung hero of them all: The little bubble bug you always see in everyone’s psyches. I don’t think I ever actually used him, but he was adorable. Apparently his name is Oatmeal too? That’s adorable. I love him.

Back to the Butcher, though, with spoilers if you care: I liked the idea that both Oleander and Raz were embellishing their parents’ impressions of them and who they themselves actually were. It made sense, because children are so much more impressionable. They’d think that their dads are monsters, and carry that into adulthood (or, just later childhood in Raz’s case). Although, I do understand why Oly would be scarred by his father, but I don’t think we really got confirmation as to why Raz thought his father was so against his Psychic powers. Maybe that’ll be explained in the sequel? Maybe there’s some backstory I forgot about/didn’t know about? Probably. I doubt the writers just forgot about it.

Worth the 99 cents? Fuck yeah man. It sold me on the sequel, so they’re gonna get my money one way or another.

#psychonauts #opinions #review #rant #rambling #poole #2

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jestlingnest · 3 years

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you should totally tell me all abt psychonauts since i still havent gotten into it im v busy but spill 👀

Well, spoilers ahead! But I would really, really recommend watching a lets play or all cutscene compilation of the games, one of the most fun parts is piecing together the story when you don't know everything. And maybe if you happen to be in my discord server, I can get another server playthrough to happen depending on if anyone who can stream it wants to play.

So spoilers under the cut.

I don't even know where to start!!!! This game has so, so much. The first and the second! I just finished watching Snapcube play through Bob's Bottles. Happy(?) to report that I still tear up. It's such a good level!!!

Like I know that everyone loves this level, but it's for a good reason! There's so many layers! The bottles not only match the whole island theme (and it's an island because of how alone Bob is) but also it's because he's an alcoholic but ALSO it's because he bottles up his feelings and memories.

And the Sensorium... oh I still have wonderful memories of playing that for the first time. My friend Reven and I were staying up super late to play Psychonauts 2, and the only things I knew about it was the brain in a jar level, so as soon as I heard about getting Nick a brain, I was on my way to Otto's lab asap. I didn't even get the gadgets from Otto, I was too distracted! I missed a lot of dialogue. But anyway, when I went into that level, I really did have no idea who it was. I was just wandering around with my little buddy Psi King, taking in all the beautiful sights. Eventually I was convinced that this brain belonged to "that guy with the beard from the psychic 7" because of all the figments of him. And that he seemed to match the aesthetic the place had going on.

So I was very surprised when Psi King started to sing and then turned into Helmut. I grabbed my friend's arm and went "it's the viking guy!!! it's the viking guy!!". I didn't expect to like that character, but as soon as I saw him it was favorite character at first sight. I fell in love instantly. His design is so good. It was like. 4 am. When we got to his memories, it took me so, so long to figure out that the senses were his friends. Even when Dr. Touch directly got called Otto. It did click when he was talking about Bob though. To quote Reven, "the only reason they didn't kiss was because he's a fucking ear". We went to bed around 6 am and I could not stop thinking about Helmut Fullbear.

I can't think about Helmut and Bob for too long without getting sad, or angry. Both of their lives were ruined because Ford was like "whoopsie!! I fucked up and forgot!". I don't forgive him for what he did, but he is still my friend. Bob and Helmut lost so much time together. Twenty years... (or thirty years. I know they say 20 but it makes a lot more sense if it was 30 years). And when Helmut gets back? Bob is old, and he's been drinking for years. How much time does he have left? Ten years? Twenty years? And with Helmut, did the hyperice stop him from aging? Maybe, but would it still be like he had aged normally? Like he still looks the same, but physically he's in his 60s. Is it better to lose twenty years of your life and die "early", or is it better to still have those years but you're living them without your husband? These two make me sad. And it didn't have to happen if Ford had just not forgotten. Or labeled the jar. Or Otto investigated this random brain he found more. If Ford had just TOLD PEOPLE. Ok now I'm angry at Ford again haha. He fucked up. Didn't even say "I'm sorry." I mean at least he knows he fucked up and he regrets it and he tells Raz this, but come on. At least say I'm sorry.

Now I'm just going off on hypothetical scenarios, but if Ford apologizes to Bob, Bob would get angry and yell at him. But that doesn't make anything better. It doesn't even make Bob feel better. Having someone to direct his anger at should have helped, right? Part of him wanted Ford to argue back, to stop standing there quietly, but that was selfish of him to think. There was nothing left to be done. Ford knew he had done something wrong. He knew it was his fault. And he had apologized. Yelling at him wouldn't change anything.

I was gonna talk about all of Psychonauts but I ended up just talking about Bob and Helmut again. Whoops! I really, really like them. I wish I could replay the Sensorium right now. Ok but to talk about something other than those two!!! My top five favorite characters are Helmut, Bob, Cassie, Lizzie, and Mirtala. Yes, I know Mirtala does like. nothing. I don't care. I think she's neat. I also think Cassie is neat. She still wants things to go back to how they were before. I mean, who doesn't? But that won't happen. However, that isn't going to stop her from trying to trying to spend time with her friends again!

I've found myself talking about Helmut again. He is my friend. I mean, he does call Raz his friend as the Mote of Light, which I think is nice. And now, Raz is kind of like a nephew to him! Also I love the idea of him mentoring Frazie when she becomes an intern. I think that's really good.

I don't know how to end things so um. Ending! Yeah. Now I kinda want to write something about Psychonauts. I have ideas, I just don't really know where to start. Maybe one day...

#speaking of my discord server if anyone wants to join ask off anon or dm me #this took a very long time to write #psychonauts 2 spoilers #psn posting

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truemedian · 3 years

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Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Week? (August 28th)

Image: Suda51 It's been another hectic week of the Nintendo Life. Let's see, there was a Monster Hunter Rise x Street Fighter free update, all sorts of reveals from Gamescom Opening Night Live and follow-up streams, accusations of foul play in the world of retro collecting, a surprising crossover of Puma and Animal Crossing, and the launch of Pokémon TV on Switch. That's only scratching the surface, really, it was a busy ol' week. After all that it's time to chill out and discuss our weekend gaming plans. A few members of the Nintendo Life team have done just that below, so feel free to give our entries a read and then join in with your own via our comment section. Enjoy! Gavin Lane, editor I should really get back to Metroid: Samus Returns, I suppose. It’s good, but I’m playing it in short bursts and really need to find a few hours to devote to it. Metroid Dread’s approaching fast and time is running out. Beyond that, I’ll probably continue Islanders, which I started tinkering with earlier in the week, and I might download the newly-released Townscaper, too. I’ve followed that game’s development for some time and fell in love with the art style. Fingers crossed that it plays as great as it looks. Tom Whitehead, deputy editor I recently picked up This War of Mine: Complete Edition and, though the subject matter is rather grim, I'm intrigued to try it out for the first time. I'm also due a revisit of Monster Hunter Rise to try and catch up with the cool free updates, and it's also weekend tradition to continue my playthrough of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD; I actually don't play it on weekdays, weirdly. I also plan to pick up Inked: A Tale of Love, a gorgeous looking game that has probably been overlooked by many because of the week's various high profile releases. Outside of Switch I'm very much enjoying Psychonauts 2, and there's a new season in MLB The Show 21 to lure me in; that game is my greatest addiction and weakness. Kate Gray, staff writer Technically, my last WAYP entry was untrue - I said I'd be playing Minecraft, and I didn't have time. Instead, I played Final Fantasy on the NES, and I'll probably do it again this weekend. I've never played a NES game, and the only FF game I've ever played is the remake of FF7 on the PlayStation, so I really don't have much of a reference point for it! It's a little frustrating with the old-school save system and the repetition, but I'm still having fun. The NES buttons - the little concave tablets - are extremely nice to use, and my party is made up of Crug, the Fighter, Belb, the Black Belt, Egg the White Mage, and Sqeb the Black Mage. I love them all very much. Jon Cartwright, video producer I've been taking a look back at Nintendo's DLC efforts on Switch and really adore their output in 2018. Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna The Golden Country, Mario + Rabbids: DK Adventure and Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion all felt like stand alone entries rather than simple expansions. We're planning a video to highlight a few of these efforts and this weekend I'm going to spend some time delving back through Octo Expansion. I found the core single player of Splatoon 2 to be fine but perhaps a bit too similar to the original. Octo Expansion on the other hand is bursting with completely new ideas and introduces some serious lore to the Splatoon world. It was hands-down my favourite Splatoon campaign and I can't imagine those thoughts changing with this playthrough. On the non-Nintendo side (the horror) I started Psychonauts 2 the other day and good lord it's delightful. I can't recall the last non-Mario 3D platformer to feel this fluid and polished. It's incredibly entertaining and I think a lot of Nintendo fans would really like it. PJ O'Reilly, reviewer Hello. This weekend I’m gonna be pretty busy wrapping up a few reviews but I’m also absolutely determined to get stuck into No More Heroes III and Spelunky 2 if I manage to get a little bit of spare time. I’ve been patiently awaiting Travis Touchdown’s latest outing – Stuart’s review has got me even more excited – and Spelunky 2, well, it’s just a masterpiece innit, a must-play roguelite masterclass. Oh, and Super Animal Royale just came out...there’s too many good games right now! Have a good weekend whatever you’re up to or playing! Ollie Reynolds, reviewer Hello chums. This weekend I'll be diving back into Guacamelee! for a bit of comforting Metroidvania action. It's been a minute since I last played it, but it's easily one of the best games in the genre, in my opinion. I'll also be checking out the WarioWare: Get It Together! demo, since everyone's been raving so much about it recently. It's doubtful I'll buy the full game when it's out, but I used to love the older WarioWare titles, so I feel I have to at least give it a try! As always, thanks for reading! Make sure to leave us a comment below with your gaming choices over the next few days... Read More Read the full article

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symbianosgames · 7 years

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The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

TLDR.jpg (Also note: This gigantic lore-lump is just for choosing your character's sex.)

"Too long. Lose half." "Which half?" "The half that you don't need." - Their Finest

My whole career has been based on writing very story-heavy games, with lots of words. Our company, Spiderweb Software, is small. We can't afford fancy graphics, so we have to rely on words. Interesting, quality words.

We're currently remastering the series with our most loved story and our bestest words. We also finished a new series, which had a lot of words which I suspect weren't as good because it didn't sell as well. Now we're planning a whole new series, and we need to figure out how many and what sort of words to cram into that.

We have a lot of decisions to make, so I've been thinking a lot about words in games. I have made a number of observations.

For Reference

A decently sized novel contains about 100,000 words. The Bible contains about a million words.

My wordiest and most popular game, Avernum 3, which I am now remastering, had about 200,000 words. At its release, people talked about how very, very, many words it had. Yet, by current standards, it is very terse.

In comparison, one of the best-written RPGs in recent times, The Witcher 3, had about 450,000 words. For The Witcher 3, "best-written" means "One really good storyline and many, many other storylines that were basically OK." (To be fair, I think the Heart of Stone DLC was really well-written.)

The word bloat continues. While Divinity: Original Sin had a mere 350,000 words, Tyranny spent 600,000 words telling the story of how you became the word's most evil middle manager, on a bold quest to try to tell apart the game's 73 factions.

And this is positively tongue-tied next to Torment: Tides of Numenara's 1,200,000 words. I admit I am curious about what story is so gigantic and epic that it requires 3 times more words than The Lord of the Rings. I will never find out, as there is nothing that will tempt me to play a game with 1.2 Bibles worth of text.

This is me playing your RPG lol.

Vogel's Laws of Video Game Storytelling

1. Players will forgive your game for having a good story, as long as you allow them to ignore it.

2. When people say a video game has a "good story," what they mean is that it has a story.

3. The story of almost all video games is, "See that guy over there? That guy is bad. Kill that guy." This almost never leads to a good story.

For reference, this is how to get me to read the text in your RPG.

Observations About Words In Video Games

1. For a while, there was a big demand for games like Baldur's Gate and Planescape: Torment. That is, old-school icon-based RPGs with big stories, told in lots and lots of words. Early hits, like Divinity: Original Sin and Pillars of Eternity made a lot of money off this demand. Sales of later games in this style, like Tyranny and Torment: Tides of Numenara suggest that this pent up demand has largely been satisfied.

2. It's really easy to make words. Really, really, really easy. Any writer with half a grain of skill can spew out 500,000 like it is nothing. And if that writer's fingers get tired, an intern with aspirations of authorhood will chip in 100,000 more. And when that intern passes out, you can let your Kickstarter backers add words to your game and they’ll pay you for the privilege.

3. No, really, think about that last point. People will pay you to be able to write for your game! Adding words to your game has negative cost! Think about this the next time someone tries to use a giant word count to sell you a game.

4. The secret of great writing is not adding words. It's cutting them. You can almost always improve your writing by slashing chunks out of it and refining the rest. However, as game development is done with limited budgets and limited time, this editing process almost never takes place.

5. When a writer gets famous, they stop being edited. This is why the fifth Harry Potter book is 900 pages in which only like two things happen. This is also why, when a game in 2017 is written by a Big Name and has a script with one bajillion words, most of those words are going to be pretty boring.

6. There are well-written games. Fallout: New Vegas and Witcher 3 are solid. I remember Baldur's Gate II and Planescape: Torment were all right, but I played those 20 years ago, and there may be a lot of nostalgia in play there. (For me and almost everyone else.) Planescape was cool, but I definitely remember blasting past a lot of text just to get through it.

7. Sturgeon's Law is in play here: "90% of everything is crap." For every Planescape: Torment, where they had a cool setting and story idea and really put the time in to write good text and have it interface with the gameplay well, there have been nine other games where they just threw up a bunch of Tolkein-light Kill-that-Bad-Guy stuff and hoped it stuck. It didn't.

8. Having lots of lore in your game is OK. Some players really love lore. But then, a lot of players really don't. I think it's best if you try to keep your lore separated a bit from the significant game text, like Skyrim putting the stuff in books you could easily ignore. World of Warcraft quest windows did this perfectly. All of the lore was in one lump ("You mean dwarves like to dig mines? WOAH!"), and the actual text of the quest ("Kill 10 goblin toddlers.") was broken out of it so you could digest it quickly.

9. Humor is very hard to write well. It is also one of the most enjoyable things to read. If you can make your game genuinely funny, people will love it forever. (The actual gameplay of Psychonauts was only B-, but people LOVE that game because of how funny it is.)

10. The ultimate goal of writing in a game: Have it be good enough that getting past the gameplay to reach the writing is your goal. Your writing should be the REWARD. If your writing is something the player has to slog through to get to the game play, there is too much writing.

You have my UNDIVIDED ATTENTION.

Physician, Heal Thyself

Every game I've ever written has had a lot of words. Some of those games, my fans really loved the words. Some of them, not so much.

My goal for my next series is to use fewer words, but to make them as light and interesting and funny as I can. I want words to be the reward, the thing that pulls people through the story. I am dreading this, because, again, writing something good and short is way more work than writing something dull and long.

In the meantime, I am remastering my old Avernum 3, with its pokey little 200,000 words. This means giving those words an editing pass. A lot of my time is spent chopping out extraneous words and revamping what is left to make it smoother, easier to read, and, whenever possible, funnier. If the new version has more words than the old version, I've done something wrong.

For a long time, I sold games with a lot of words. Now there is a lot more competition in that space, and words are super-cheap. I need to try to sell good words. Even if I never make a nice, dank meme, in this crowded market, you need to get every little advantage you can.

###

Jeff Vogel sells his wordy old-school RPGs at Spiderweb Software. He is brutally forced to be terse at Twitter.

#IFTTT #Blogger

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auqre · 7 years

Text

rrRRrrRRrrRRrrRRrr

Today I started to unravel. I think my interview went swell but I felt strongly negative about the entire thing because, as a receptionist job at a retinal doctor’s office, I would expect them to not only not hire me because I’m a dude, but also because the position would most likely be given to someone who would be much more inclined towards ophthalmology - like a student or something, hoping to get experience working for the doctors they will soon become as they work at school.

Getting to work everyone complimented me on my bow-tie. I felt pretty good but like, too good. I became practically manic an hour or two later. Then it was full blown panic and depression because I was freaking the fuck out over the rent, even though I wasn’t being paid until tomorrow, and it wouldn’t (potentially) be due until 4 days from now, but still I wanted to make sure that I made it - so I stress the fuck out about it. I didn’t at all relax until I called State Farm and told them to suspend my account until I could pay it on Thursday of next week. Then I started to calm down because then I wouldn’t be starving for the rest of this week. Maria told me about her friend who tried to attempt suicide, and my shirt felt super uncomfy in the hot building. Also I had a disgusting sandwich at arbys.

Okay that’s enough bad things - time for the three good things for each :P

In the interview, I did a fantastic job telling her how much everything that I do at my current job can easily be transitioned into this one, and despite my doubts I need to understand that this was a great experience in figuring out what I do, how I feel, and how I think when it comes to “before the interview, after the arrival” kind of thoughts. I thought I was going to go in unprepared so I kept reading notes but the thing that I really had to do that helped the most was to calm myself the fuck down and not be terrified of where I was and fight my self-doubt about me not belonging there. I did belong there - I wanted this job and despite what I think those people in that lobby didn’t give a flying fuck who I was or what I was doing there. I wrote that app she handed me all the way out, and did my best to get that information in there, and it doesn’t matter if they don’t give me the job, I know that I can at least do this easily. I can impress others with aplomb, and I believe that I can convince others that I am more than capable of handling most situations. So what if I’m not a perfect fit for the position, I’m sure the other candidates are going to have a harder time speaking as well as I did during the interview - and they will remember me easily because of my bow-tie! So, when I call back, I’ll be remembered!

Also why should I doubt that they would want to talk to me again, the damn interviewer even fucking asked me if I would be interested in a second interview at a later time and what days would be good for me. The negativity is real! She was very receptive and smiled a lot at me, and we had a lot of casual discourse between the two of us - she seemed to enjoy my company not only professionally, but socially, which is a really good sign because obviously people are always looking for those they can get along with.

Why the heck do I feel “too good” at work? I wasn’t overdressed, and this outfit was handpicked by someone I love. I should feel proud and happy to let her know that everyone enjoyed my outfit very much. It was totally my imagination that the smiles I got for my dress were not in finding me clownish, but in finding me appealing. I received several compliments along the lines of “sharp” “nice” and “professional.” Taking them at face value, these are nice things compared to the whole lot of nothing I receive from everyone when I normally dress for work. I was annoyed with everyone asking about my interview, but in retrospect they are all interested in me doing something different. Something new and interesting being brought into their lives - someone dressing up for work, trying to better themselves, and of course the young ladies said they liked it as well <.< but don tell maria that. Besides, I personally felt attractive just by myself, and let out a lot of my stress today not only through music singing as well…so much so that I was hoarse when I got to work today. Woo rock music.

Superbrothers music by Jim Guthrie almost made me cry because I started to look at screenshots from the game and it made me feel really good inside to tear up at that amazing piece of artwork. I really would love to get Maria to play that sometime, possibly after we are finished with Psychonauts. It makes me really happy that she wants to play a game I enjoyed, though I know the rage is real lol. The music is mostly what makes Superbrothers incredible - it’s neither positive nor negative, it’s just there. But the part that made me tear up was when they started playing the music with those sprite things - it was a good kind of tear because that game makes you feel really good inside for some reason, it’s disarmingly-charming. Disarmcharm.

As for the rent, no one is dying of starvation. I postponed two bills that are coming up due, and I will be able to make them in on time with no penalties. State Farm told me that they are only allowed to permit this kind of suspension twice a year, so this is the first one, and I get one more and no more for the rest of the year - so I think I’ll be fine, unless I have to make major expenses again. Essentially everything will be fine, I’ll budget and things will be ok. If they start to not be I can always opt to turn off the internet and save an extra $28, because my 2GB Data, all the books I have to read, and the videogames on my computer/Wii/PSP will keep me well entertained. I couldn’t say the same for Ethan though - he loves his Netflix. As for the rent the positives are I am not in the red - I postponed two bills which were under no penalty and totally allowed to save myself $50 in the green - which means I can get groceries that will last me until the 4th of May…on top of this Tiffany told me she wouldn’t let me starve and would go with me, which prompted me to bring that up later as a thing I could do with her as a normal thing one day. I can learn how to better save money, make that a new skill. Also there’s no way in he’ll Gary is going to do my check first out of Allllllllllllll of the fucking tenants he has first thing in the morning at 9:05 am before Ethan and I get there. But he will be there early to begin, so what I can do in the meantime is get up at 9am (which is when Huntington opens) tomorrow, and tell them that I would like my account unlocked from the emergency overdraft thinger so that if, on Monday, Gary cashes the check and IF he cashes it before Ethan gives me the money, I will know the overdraft limit (I’m sure $200 is okay, but I’ll double check because the website says it has to do with your “account history,” and I was a FirstMerit person before I was a Huntington person, so they had better know how much I can overdraft and it better be $200 - I’ll just explain to them the situation) as long as I make sure that money is in there within a 24-hour period, which it will be, because Ethan had better get that fucking money to me before the bank closes. I know he will because he normally doesn’t work Mondays and I work at 12 so, he can get up with me. I just set my alarm to wake me up that early so I can get down there and ask, and I’ll be sure to ask for all the rules and such so I can now TAKE A DEEP BREATH AND JUST CHILL BECAUSE THE RENT IS GOING TO BE OOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH KAYYYYYYYYYYY because I just set all of the alarms and calendar notifications that the most autistic person would never forget - besides you won’t forget because you stress the fuck out way too fucking hard about this shit. To top it all off Ryan, it’s 4 days away - if shit goes wrong, parents and friends will bail you out because they know you are doing everything in your power to make sure it all works out. You’re going to be okay. You just need to worry about grocery shopping this weekend. Text Tiffany asking her to go with you this Friday after work maybe.

Maria’s friend doesn’t ruin her life, but you stressed out sure will. Chill, you being yourself is the cure for her and that it will make her feel better too :P The shirt isn’t the coolest and comfiest around but it sure will get you a job, make you look sexy, and works really well with 3 of your pants and your bow tie. And I think that one tie, but I’m not entirely sure. The silver one.

Finally, Arby’s sandwich was gross (pork belly, *vomit*) but your stomach stopped feeling massively in pain and alleviated that stress. Also you are going home now. To Maria apparently. Yay!

</.>

0 notes

symbianosgames · 7 years

Link

TLDR.jpg (Also note: This gigantic lore-lump is just for choosing your character's sex.)

"Too long. Lose half." "Which half?" "The half that you don't need." - Their Finest

We have a lot of decisions to make, so I've been thinking a lot about words in games. I have made a number of observations.

For Reference

A decently sized novel contains about 100,000 words. The Bible contains about a million words.

This is me playing your RPG lol.

Vogel's Laws of Video Game Storytelling

1. Players will forgive your game for having a good story, as long as you allow them to ignore it.

2. When people say a video game has a "good story," what they mean is that it has a story.

3. The story of almost all video games is, "See that guy over there? That guy is bad. Kill that guy." This almost never leads to a good story.

For reference, this is how to get me to read the text in your RPG.

Observations About Words In Video Games

You have my UNDIVIDED ATTENTION.

Physician, Heal Thyself

Every game I've ever written has had a lot of words. Some of those games, my fans really loved the words. Some of them, not so much.

###

Jeff Vogel sells his wordy old-school RPGs at Spiderweb Software. He is brutally forced to be terse at Twitter.

#IFTTT #Blogger

0 notes