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Still my favorite line in all of John Carter

#john carter #barsoom #Martian #edgar rice burroughs #Classic pulp

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What's Daggerfall like?

Daggerfall is the kind of game where you can ride on a levitating horse in werewolf form, right when a courier gives you a letter as though the first half of this sentence didn't happen.

#the elder scrolls #daggerfall #bethesda #world of daggerfall #skyrim #morrowind

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Been doing randomized dungeons with myself for #fifthedition #dnd #dnd5e. They are at level 8. Left to right: Canim Drake (Battle master), Atalanta Solguard (Paladin) and Aeolis Starpath (Eldritch Knight). Those are images of the models I made through #heroforge #heroforgeminis .

#tabletop rpg #d&d 5e #dnd 5e #harpygg

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And Our Award for Most Out of Place Celebrity Hack Goes to...

Some time ago, I wrote how Video Games do not need Oscars. That was a thought piece of why award shows were terrible, biased messes, a spectacle trying to dictate what a good game looks like. And my feelings have not changed, in that respect.

But with The Gacha Awards 2023, it has only gotten worse. The actual creators were told to get off the stage right after receiving their award. The celebrities? They were given carte blanche. Ads for Fortnite, as though it needed any? Let's put it this way: Of the three hours this cancerous blob took up, there were only 48 minutes of relevance. Only 48 minutes of honoring the people that made this worthless, bloated show possible. Only 48 minutes dedicated to creators.

It has been said before by numerous journalists, Let's Players and people who actually know what they're talking about, but I'm going to say it anyway: This is Fucking Disgraceful.

Geoff Keighley, the hairbrain behind this spectacle, has claimed to try to "elevate" videogames to the level of film, making an "Oscars". He has never worked on developed a game in his entire life, I should mention. In reality, he sees videogames as a way to get rich and become a celebrity. Entered into the field of video games as a fledgling medium because he couldn't hack it in any other form of entertainment. He took advantage of the relative inexperience.

"Well, at least, there was G4." Have you seen G4 lately? We tolerated it because TV was still the primary outlet of media. All G4 has been was a vain attempt to grasp at relevance, failing to see that TV was (and still is) on its way out. Once that died, far more talented creators took up the slack and make up a much deeper understanding of the source material. LGR, Second Wind and countless others have put more thought and effort than the early 00s nonsense of that TV channel.

And The Gutted Awards of 2023 is revealing in this respect. Keighley's blatant disrespect for creators is laid bare. He does not represent the medium. Period. He's too wrapped up in celebrity culture to care and give the videogame industry what it deserves. He has said nothing of the countless layoffs that have happened across developers, and has become a cartoonishly stereotypical vision of elitist rich abuse. Especially with the economic downturn of the last 20 years. He should have had the creators' back. He didn't, he doesn't, and he never will.

Above all, what Geoff fails to realize is that the videogame industry has surpassed films in multiple respects, especially in terms of income. And it accomplished this without his little circle jerk, without random celebrities and without his show. You could remove the awards show and lose nothing. The trailers? Just put them online like a normal person.

The Gollum Awards does not deserve the attention, the creators or the spectators it receives. It is a relic of an older mindset where videogames need to play second class citizen next to the "grown ups". There are plenty of big names in the industry, but this show is not going to acknowledge them.

Fans, stop watching this mess. Wait for the damn trailer to come up online. Creators, stop attending this. You deserve more than a paperweight coated with their utter disrespect. A message needs to be sent to these hacks or videogames will always be made to play second fiddle.

And Keighley, just go. We don't want to see your brown nosing. We don't want your damn awards. And we certainly do not need your "prestige". You are no Hideo Kojima, you are no Shinji Mikami, you are no Jordan Mechner, and you are no John Carmack or John Romero. You're not even a Todd Howard*. You're a lucky hack with delusions of eloquence.

[* Sorry, Todd, you're easy to pick on, I love your games.]

#the game awards #g4 #geoff keighley #long reads

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This Friday, 12/1/23, at around 7:30 PM EST, I will be demonstrating a d10 game system I had been working on for the last couple of years. Feel free to come in!

#tabletop rpg #tabletop games #the elder scrolls

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I live for this.

𝗑 - 𝗑 / 𝗑 - 𝗑 / 𝗑 - 𝗑

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Tonight at 7:30 PM EST, we will be streaming Amid Evil's prequel expansion, The Black Labyrinth! See everyone there! https://www.twitch.tv/cteamlive

(Link is there, because Tumblr is being weird about it.)

#amid evil #Black Labyrinth #New Blood #indefatigable

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Final Fantasy for MEN™

Final Fantasy XVI was released recently, and I think it’s fair to say that the reaction had been mixed. You can count on Square Enix to make a compentently functional game, and I’m sure it plays fine. But the style and gameplay change had been a subject of debate.

Now, the gameplay is a subject in and of itself, as well as Final Fantasy’s overall identity. Personally, it fell out of favor for me when everyone looked like supermodels and dressed like a fashion designer was given too many belts. But let’s put my ranting points about the series aside to address another issue.

And that subject is thus: making a series veer toward adults. People have remarked about the tonal shift that FFXVI has had, feeling more like Game of Thrones rather than a proper Final Fantasy game. The upcoming Dragon Quest game is going for the darker and edgier route as well, with only a fiery number to show for itself so far. Yuji Horii, the series creator, had apparently had unspecified issues for aiming the series at adults.

But I would just like to point something out: I only started playing Dragon Quest games as an adult. While I bounced off IX, I fell in love with VIII when it came out on the 3DS, played through I and II on my phone, and XI became our evening play-and-watch (as in my wife watching and enjoying the characters) after Ys VIII and Tales of Vesperia. In fact, I’m not sure I would have had patience for them as an idiot, edgy teenager. I had enough of turned based games at the time and wanted fast, twitch based combat. I also insisted on darker themes (though I appreciated Prince of Persia: Sands of Time for lightening things up).

But there is the ironic thing about “aiming things” at certain audiences. You know who took up most of the theater seating in Team America: World Police? It was not adults; teenagers took up most of them. The South Park movie was quoted all the time back when I was in middle school. And I’m pretty sure the creators know this. Despite the R-Rating most of their material gets, teenagers make up their primary audience.

And it’s not just comedies; teenagers are a mix of emotions, growing up, and trying to find their identity. They want validation and part of that is finding where they are in the world at large. And that includes confronting the worse parts of human society. When I was a teenager, videogames were mocked as nerd and kid’s stuff, when we were “supposed to be” listening and watching edgier things. Diving into the adult stuff was not just a point of pride for a teenager, but also a point of mockery if you didn’t.

I imagine things have shifted in the last twenty years, but the human experience of a teenager is still there; searching for purpose and validation in an ever changing world. Interest in the more adult themes and stories do not start after you’re 17. They start younger than that. There is certainly some maturity needed to understand graphic violence and racier topics, and I’m not about to show a six year old Scorn, but interest in adult subjects happen at varying ages for different people. 

So, when a creator of a long running game series starts going on about how “they are aiming at adults”, I feel like they are missing an important point about fiction and culture. And it comes from the same dimwitted attitude adults in the US had toward both cartoons and videogames when I was growing up: That they are kids stuff to grow out of. But with communities growing with the internet, and validating the Strange and the “Nerdier” interest, I think it’s fair to say that the better of us have moved past that notion.

Both Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest have adult fanbases. Final Fantasy in particular hit big time back with VII and was already exploring adult themes. It had you following a trail of blood, to find the corrupt president of a mega corp impaled with a sword. Considering all the sequels, spin offs, older games getting western releases, and Kingdom Hearts, they are already appealing to adults.

Being an adult does not mean only watching dramas and staring at sales reports. Or only bloody violence. To not reinvent the wheel, I’ll just go ahead and quote CS Lewis:

“When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.”

I feared discussing my favorite games and cartoons as a teenager. And even in college to some extent. But during college, I was free to connect with like minded people and enjoy things openly, rather than pretend to be something I’m not. This led me to my lifelong friends and, eventually, my marriage. That is the mark of adulthood; finding your people and your own style, not just copying what a bunch of olds expect of you. Culture has become far too varied for that.

I imagine part of the tone change has to do with Dragon Quest’s record of success in the west. While Final Fantasy regularly makes bank here, including the two MMORPGs, Dragon Quest has yet to release its MMO officially in the States. While, yes, the rest of the series would eventually get released here, it took a longer time to get there and I imagine digital distribution gave them more confidence. Dragon Quest XI was a shot in the arm for the series, but I imagine it still struggles with its competitors.

The idea of “aiming at adults”, however, is a fallacy in understanding its audience. Adults are already playing the series, and abandoning the light hearted nature of the series will likely turn off part of the audience they already have. There’s a difference between “light hearted” and “kiddie”.

No, Dragon Quest VIII isn’t a dystopia like Final Fantasy VII’s Midgar. But we are also chasing a murderous clown possessed by a demon king. The first boss is a creature concussed by the same item we are trying to find, but our mode of airborne transportation is the ghost of a murdered child of a spirit bird. And there’s something about Akira Toriyama’s art style that makes the shift from sillier moments to down right heart breaking moments work very well, where the living dolls that are Bravely Default’s heroes doing over the top heroics just feels off. I love this style, I love its humor, and I love its characters, and none of that makes me feel like I’m being talked down to like I’m a kid. 

After eleven games, I guess a style and tone change is bound to happen at some point. And I don’t feel a franchise should be forced to do the same thing over and over again. But the point I’m making is that you’re not making it more appealing to adults. Or less appealing, for that matter. It is a change, neither better nor worse, and might be subjectively received favorably or ill-favorably depending on timing and climate. But, Horii, don’t feel that you somehow owe the gaming community a “darker” game now to show you’re grown up.

You’ve been appealing to adults for a long time now.

#JRPGS #Dragon Quest #Final fantasy #square enix #akira toriyama #yuji horii #Bravely default #mmorpg #darker and edgier #light hearted

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I mean, I’ve been calling him a fuckhead for at least 8 years now.

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Tomorrow, on 5/31, 7:30 EST, we will be doing a New Game+ character in Elden Ring! Hope to see you all there!

#elden ring #New game plus #From Software #soulsborne #open world

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Hey, what could it hurt?

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Term: Ea-Nasir

"A big named celebrity you have only heard about because of a scandal they caused."

#ea-nasir #iykyk

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Random Encounters in RPGs

Every once in a blue moon, I want to play a Japanese style of RPG. It is kind of hard to explain why, considering the hit or miss history I’ve had with the genre. Final Fantasy VII was not only my introduction to JRPGs, but to a lot of terms in RPGs in general, from leveling up to turned based systems and so on. But after hearing about the more western styles of RPGs, and how you could create a character and backstory and so on, I remember one night playing FFX thinking to myself “I really wish I was playing that.” But then games like Chrono Trigger, the Fire Emblem series, Golden Sun, Tales of Vesperia, and some of the Dragon Quest games have become some of my favorites.

But there is one aspect that I have been wanting to accept, but never really could: Random Encounters. Come to think of it, many of the above examples do not have them (even the versions of Dragon Quests VII and VIII do not have them). There is something kind of pure about them, as the combat runs on dice rolls and it would only make sense for encounters to follow suit. It can also be a good test of resource management, having enough potions and recovery items and deciding whether or not to use any right now. Yet, it tests my patience more than the actual combat system itself. I am fine with a standard turn based system. It’s kind of like how Doom is still very playable despite its age; it’s standard, but easy to pick up and play and still fun. But when I am barraged by them endlessly, it starts to get numbing after a while. The ultimate goal is to make these fights easier with leveling up, but that does not make it any less dull. I am here for challenge as well as story, after all.

And this is a shame, because this is a barrier to a lot of highly regarded games. Breath of Fire, Phantasy Star, most Dragon Quest games, have random encounters, and I want to play them, but I am growing more and more impatient with them. And it can be anxiety inducing, running through a maze, just trying to pick up an ite-- BAM THE 70TH SLIME IS OUT TO GET YOU. This one dungeon seems to have an infinite number of these creatures.

And that last point is really what opened up the true issue I have with these random encounters. You are given no context to why they are in that spot. A lot of this has to do with graphical limitations and there is only so much you could put on a map back in the day. But a lot of JRPGs still hold onto this tradition. Big empty room, and suddenly this 20 foot behemoth comes out of the blue.

The big counter point for this is the Tales series, namely the ones I’ve played through, Vesperia and Arise. I have given Arise grief, but it does encounters well. Now, we are not talking about whether it is turned based or not, merely the way you enter these combat encounters. The enemies you see in the exploration map will be the ones you face.

Now, Dragon Quest has also played around with enemies on the map in recent years. Often they appear and disappear at random, and wander around in random directions before they run at you. While this is preferable to the classic method, what Arise does better is take it another step. They’re not just milling about, there are set encounters placed on the map (reappearing when you leave and enter the area) and have some context. Giant wolves around an overturned wagon, Airborne monsters in a high place, bonus bosses in their given lairs.

The way they are distributed in Tales of Arise serves a couple of purposes. One, as noted, giving them context. Two, giving you a feeling that you cleared an area for the moment, that defeating the monsters has made the place (albeit temporarily) safe. Three, it makes the hunt for monsters in a given side quest into a search and not just bumbling around waiting to be struck.

Lastly, it also makes entering an encounter into a decision making process. Do you destroy every single one again for the exp, and possibly lose precious resources? Or have you done this room already and would like to take the path of least resistance to find your way to other treasures or a boss? This makes the interaction with these encounters more engaging.

While this is subjective, I stand by my statement that this is a more fun method. As for the supposed “purity” I am looking for, it probably is not what I think it is. On a tabletop, most DMs won’t have you barraged with fight after fight, since there isn’t enough time for that in a given session. And usually, an encounter is made for a story reason, not just to throw more goons at you. Simply put there is a lot more potential in having set up encounters on the map than random encounters. In my personal opinion, it is perhaps one of the many grandfathered systems (like gear grinding and constant number inflation) that needs a thorough re-evaluation.

#turn-based #JRPG #random encounters #Dragon quest #chrono trigger #phantasy star #Golden sun #Fire emblem #tales of series #Tales of arise

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Also, for later.

serana says fuck (for real this time)

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For later.

SERANA SAYS FUCK   (pt II)

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Hello everyone!

Tonight we are doing an easter egg hunt around Skyrim. We got a list of easter eggs in the game, and we will be taking a look at a few of them. Join us at 7:30 EST!

#Skyrim #Elder scrolls #Bethesda

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Got a comment myself. Yeah, just report it.

Quick PSA, if you get one of those "Work scanned, AI use detected" comments on AO3, just mark them as spam.

Some moron apparently built a bot to annoy or prank hundreds of authors.

There is no scanning process, your work doesn't actually resemble AI writing, it's all bullshit. Mark the comment as spam (on AO3, not the email notification you got about the comment!) and don't let it get to you.