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canmom · 2 months

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VR observations, 10 months in

I've been a game dev for 10 months now. It's pretty great, I'm enjoying it a lot, I get to spend my days doing crazy shader shit and animations and voxels and visual effects. Hopefully the game that will come out of all this will be one people enjoy, and in any case I'm learning so much that will eventually come back to the personal ~artistic~ side of things. I can't talk about that game just yet though (but soon it will be announced, I'm pretty sure). So this is a post about other games.

Mind you, I don't actually play very many VR games, or games in general these days, because I'm too busy developing the dang things. but sometimes I do! And I think it's interesting to talk about them.

These aren't really reviews as such. You could project all sorts of ulterior motives if it was. Like my livelihood does sorta depend on people buying VR headsets and then games on them. This is more just like things I observe.

Headsets

The biggest problem with VR at the moment is wearing a headset for too long kinda sucks. The weight of the headset is all effectively held on a lever arm and it presses on your face. However, this is heavily dependent on the strap you use to hold it to your head. A better balanced and cushioned strap can hold the headset still with less pressure and better balance the forces.

The strap that comes with the Quest 3 is absolute dogshit. So a big part of the reason I wouldn't play VR games for fun is because after wearing the headset for 30-60 minutes in the daily meeting, the absolute last thing I'd want to do is wear it any longer. Recently I got a new strap (a ~£25 Devaso one, the low end of straps), and it's markedly improved. It would probably be even better if I got one of the high end Bobo straps. So please take it from me: if you wanna get into VR, get a decent strap.

I hear the Apple Vision Pro is a lot more comfortable to wear for long periods, though I won't have a chance to try it until later this month.

During the time I've been working at Holonautic, Meta released their Quest 3, and more recently Apple released their hyper expensive Vision Pro for much fanfare.

The Quest 3 is a decent headset and probably the one I'd recommend if you're getting into VR and can afford a new console. It's not a massive improvement over the Quest 2 - the main thing that's better is the 'passthrough' (aka 'augmented reality', the mode where the 3D objects are composited into video of what's in front of you), which is now in full colour, and feels a lot less intrusive than the blown out greyscale that the Quest 2 did. But it still has some trouble with properly taking into account depth when combining the feeds from multiple cameras, so you get weird space warping effects when something in the foreground moves over something in the background.

The Vision Pro is by all accounts the bees knees, though it costs $3500 and already sold out, so good luck getting one. It brings a new interaction mode based on eye tracking, where you look at a thing with your eyes to select it like with a mouse pointer, and hold your hands in your lap and pinch to interact. Its passthrough is apparently miles ahead, it's got a laptop tier chip, etc etc. I'm not gonna talk about that though, if you want to read product reviews there are a million places you can do it.

Instead I wanna talk about rendering, since I think this is something that only gets discussed among devs, and maybe people outside might be interested.

Right now there is only one game engine that builds to the Vision Pro, which is Unity. However, Apple have their own graphics API, and the PolySpatial API used for the mixed reality mode is pretty heavily locked down in terms of what you can do.

So what Unity does is essentially run a transpilation step to map its own constructs into PolySpatial ones. For example, say you make a shader in Shader Graph (you have to use shader graph, it won't take HLSL shaders in general) - Unity will generate a vision pro compatible shader (in MaterialX format) from that. Vertex and fragment shaders mostly work, particle systems mostly don't, you don't get any postprocessing shaders, anything that involves a compute shader is right out (which means no VFX graph), Entities Graphics doesn't work. I don't think you get much control over stuff like batching. It's pretty limited compared to what we're used to on other platforms.

I said fragment shaders mostly work. It's true that most Shader Graph nodes work the same. However, if you're doing custom lighting calculations in a Unity shader, a standard way to do things is to use the 'main light' property provided by Unity. On the Vision Pro, you don't get a main light.

The Vision Pro actually uses an image-based lighting model, which uses the actual room around you to provide lighting information. This is great because objects in VR look like they actually belong in the space you're in, but it would of course be a huge security issue if all programs could get realtime video of your room, and I imagine the maths involved is pretty complex. So the only light information you get is a shader graph node which does a PBR lighting calculation based on provided parameters (albedo, normal, roughness, metallicity etc.). You can then instruct it to do whatever you want with the output of that inside the shader.

The upshot of this is that we have to make different versions of all our shaders for the Vision Pro version of the game.

Once the game is announced we'll probably have a lot to write about developing interactions for the vision pro vs the quest, so I'll save that for now. It's pretty fascinating though.

Anyway, right now I've still yet to wear a Vision Pro. Apple straight up aren't handing out devkits, we only have two in the company still, so mostly I'm hearing about things second hand.

Shores of Loci

A few genres of VR game have emerged by now. Shooting and climbing are two pretty well-solved problems, so a lot of games involve that. But another one is 3D puzzles. This is something that would be incredibly difficult on a flat screen, where manipulating 3D objects is quite difficult, but becomes quite natural and straightforward in VR.

I've heard about one such game that uses 3D scans of real locations, but Shores of Loci is all about very environment artist authored levels, lots of grand sweeping vistas and planets hanging in the sky and so on. Basically you go through a series of locations and assemble teetering ramshackle buildings and chunks of landscape, which then grow really big and settle into the water. You can pull the pieces towards you with your hand, and then when you rotate them into roughly the right position and orientation relative to another piece, they snap together.

It's diverting, if kinda annoying when you just can't find the place the piece should go - especially if the answer turns out to be that there's an intermediate piece that floated off somewhere. The environments are well-designed and appealing, it's cool to see the little guys appearing to inhabit them. That said it does kinda just... repeat that concept a bunch. The narrative is... there's a big stone giant who appears and gives you pieces sometimes. That's it basically.

Still, it's interesting to see the different environment concepts. Transitions have this very cool distorted sky/black hole effect.

However, the real thing that got me with this game, the thing that I'm writing about now, was the water. They got planar reflections working. On the Quest! This is something of a white whale for me. Doing anything that involves reading from a render texture is so expensive that it's usually a no-go, and yet here it's working great - planar reflections complete with natural looking distortion from ripples. There's enough meshes that I assume there must be a reasonably high number of draw calls, and yet... it's definitely realtime planar reflections, reflections move with objects, it all seems to work.

There's a plugin called Mirrors and Reflections for VR that provides an implementation, but so far my experience has been that the effect is too expensive (in terms of rendertime) to keep 72fps in a more complex scene. I kind of suspect the devs are using this plugin, but I'm really curious how they optimised the draw calls down hard enough to work with it, since there tends to be quite a bit going on...

Moss

This game's just straight up incredibly cute.

youtube

Third person VR games, where you interact with a character moving across a diorama-like level, are a tiny minority of VR games at the moment. I think it's a shame because the concept is fantastic.

Moss is a puzzle-platformer with light combat in a Redwall/Mouse Guard-like setting. The best part of Moss is 1000% interacting with your tiny little mousegirl, who is really gorgeously animated - her ears twitch, her tail swings back and forth, she tumbles, clambers, and generally moves in a very convincing and lifelike way.

Arguably this is the kind of game that doesn't need to be made in VR - we already have strong implementations of 'platformer' for flatscreen. What I think the VR brings in this case is this wonderful sense of interacting with a tiny 3D world like a diorama. In some ways it's sorta purposefully awkward - if Quill walks behind something, you get a glowing outline, but you might need to crane your neck to see her - but having the level laid out in this way as a 3D structure you can play with is really endearing.

Mechanically, you move Quill around with the analogue stick, and make her jump with the buttons, standard stuff. Various level elements can be pushed or pulled by grabbing them with the controllers, and you can also drag enemies around to make them stand on buttons, so solving a level is a combination of moving pieces of the level and then making Quill jump as appropriate.

The fact that you're instantiated in the level, separate from Quill, also adds an interesting wrinkle in terms of 'identification with player character'. In most third person games, you tend to feel that the player character is you to some degree. In Moss, it feels much more like Quill is someone I've been made responsible for, and I feel guilty whenever I accidentally make her fall off a cliff or something.

A lot is clearly designed around fostering that protective vibe - to heal Quill, you have to reach out and hold her with your hand, causing her to glow briefly. When you complete some levels, she will stop to give you a high five or celebrate with you. Even though the player is really just here as 'puzzle solver' and 'powerful macguffin', it puts some work in to make you feel personally connected to Quill.

Since the camera is not locked to the character, the controls are instead relative to the stage, i.e. you point the stick in the direction on the 2D plane you want Moss to move. This can make certain bits of platforming, like moving along a narrow ledge or tightrope, kinda fiddly. In general it's pretty manageable though.

The combat system is straightforward but solid enough. Quill has a three button string, and it can be cancelled into a dash using the jump button, and directed with the analogue stick. Enemies telegraph their attacks pretty clearly, so it's rarely difficult, but there's enough there to be engaging.

The game is built in Unreal, unlike most Quest games (almost all are made in Unity). It actually doesn't feel so very different though - likely because the lighting calculations that are cheap enough to run in Unity are the same ones that are cheap enough to run in Unreal. It benefits a lot from baked lighting. Some things are obvious jank - anything behind where the player is assumed to be sitting tends not to be modelled or textured - but the environments are in general very lively and I really like some of the interactions: you can slash through the grass and floating platforms rock as you jump onto them.

The story is sadly pretty standard high fantasy royalist chosen one stuff, nothing exciting really going on there. Though there are some very cute elements - the elf queen has a large frog which gives you challenges to unlock certain powers, and you can pet the frog, and even give it a high five. Basically all the small scale stuff is done really well, I just wish they'd put some more thought into what it's about. The Redwall/Mouse Guard style has a ton of potential - what sort of society would these sapient forest animals have? They just wanted a fairytale vibe though evidently.

Cutscene delivery is a weak point. You pull back into a cathedral-like space where you're paging through a large book, which is kinda cool, and listening to narration while looking at illustrations. In general I think these cutscenes would have worked better if you just stayed in the diorama world and watched the characters have animated interactions. Maybe it's a cost-saving measure. I guess having you turn the pages of the book is also a way to give you something to do, since sitting around watching NPCs talk is notoriously not fun in VR.

There are some very nice touches in the environment design though! In one area you walk across a bunch of human sized suits of armour and swords that are now rusting - nobody comments, but it definitely suggests that humans did exist in this world at some point. The actual puzzle levels tend to make less sense, they're very clearly designed as puzzles first and 'spaces people would live in' not at all, but they do tend to look pretty, and there's a clear sense of progression through different architectural areas - so far fairly standard forest, swamp, stone ruins etc. but I'll be curious to see if it goes anywhere weird with it later.

Weak story aside, I'm really impressed with Moss. Glad to see someone else giving third person VR a real shot. I'm looking forward to playing the rest of it.

...that's kinda all I played in a while huh. For example, I still haven't given Asgard's Wrath II, the swordfighting game produced internally at Meta that you get free on the Quest 3, a shot. Or Boneworks. I still haven't finished Half Life Alyx, even! Partly that's because the Quest 3 did not get on well with my long USB A to C cable - for some reason it only seems to work properly on a high quality C to C cable - and that restricts me from playing PCVR games that require too much movement. Still though...

Anyway, the game I've been working on these past 10 months should be ready to announce pretty soon. So I'm very excited for that.

#vr #computer games #game development #shores of loci #moss #Youtube

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optiwashere · 3 months

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Moar Asheera image 👉👈?

🥺

Well, I decided to start a very fast Asheera run through with some mods. Basically "play this game in the easiest possible way so I can focus entirely on Asheera's feelings about the companions' reactions and motivations" for some writerly inspiration. Plus, I've been feeling the need to re-experience everything and get some Act 1 and 2 screenshots/saves.

I know there's some nasty quest item related bugs right now, but I completely avoided any sort of bugs in my first playthrough so fingers crossed!

Anyways, where was I? Ah yes.

Nautiloid business. Freed Shadowheart. Woke up on the beach, etc.

I'm trying to focus on roleplaying Asheera here, and she was definitely tempted to look at the artefact but this Shadowheart - what a strange name, Asheera would think - knew a fair bit on the nautiloid. So, awake she goes. They naturally decided to group up for safety in numbers. Shadowheart's cagey about a lot of things, but now's not the time to think about it.

Next, the pair had a run-in with a few intellect devourers, but they were no problem. A few sword slashes and mace hits and they were good as dead.

Also, this is where I mention that I cheated in a bunch of gear because I really don't want to interact with anything but the companions, a few NPCs (like Rolan) and the main quest. I plan on doing this run in a few big sessions over a weekend or two!

When it comes to Gale, Asheera's first impression is that he's a strange, strange man. She thinks he needs to just get to the point sometimes. She of course said #2 here. (Again, pay no mind to the get up lmao)

But a wizard is a fine companion on a dangerous journey, even if he's a bit odd. Then again, aren't all wizards?

Up next, they had a little run-in with the warrior from the nautiloid. How curious, she's all stranded up in this cage? It's no matter, Asheera convinces a pair of tieflings to go away so that she can talk to this woman again. She's even more knowledgeable about the mind flayers than Gale or Shadowheart it seems.

Asheera is naturally convinced of a cure and committed to finding one, which immediately makes Lae'zel warm up to her. Even just a little. (Side note: I hate Lae'zel's new dismissal to camp dialogue. Why is she soft right away?)

Side note pt. deux: Shadowheart is starting to regret trusting Asheera after this whole... let Lae'zel out thing. She says she trusts Asheera, but I think at this point she's starting to reassess things.

The group follows the tieflings' directions to the camp they called out only to find a band of adventurers being attacked by goblinoids. They call out a war cry to "the Absolute," whatever that is. After they're dispatched, the party meets another friendly tadpoled face.

Wyll is familiar to Asheera because of his moniker, and it's nice to put a face to the name. It's also a bit odd to find out someone she considers a real Hero is a fair bit younger than her. He's teaching a young tiefling how to distract someone in a fight long enough to run away, and Asheera thinks that it's A) super wholesome and B) clever to focus on the child's ability to confuse and confound if things ever got to be that bad.

Also, Asheera is beginning to see all these refugees and after talking to them she realizes they're likely from Elturel. As a Baldurian, she should be a bit frazzled by them. Some part of her probably is a bit annoyed to be helping people from what is essentially the rival school equivalent. But seeing children potentially in danger tempers that a fair bit.

Side note: Asheera laughed at this line from Shadowheart (there's a couple very fun, jokey lines Asheera says this early on for sure)

Asheera decides it's time to talk to the leaders of this place, and she gets wrapped in a whole thing with some girl named Arabella (side note: seeing her with her parents again legit almost made me cry)

I think this is a great time to talk about the fact that I'm using an Approval Dialogue mod. I want to see options when they conflict with companions' approvals and what the weighting implies. This won't always work since I'm going with my "canon" paths for everyone again, but it's something that I want to be able to see and think about from time to time.

This one where you talk to Kagha comes up after you can persuade her to let Arabella go (+1 to a bunch of approvals, but for right now I want to focus on Shadowheart for obvious reasons)

She has nothing to say about 1 or 3, but she gets a huge boost from 2. That's definitely the Sharran in her speaking through, but I do think part of it is her current mindset of pure survival instinct. If it was strictly "I'm a big evil Sharran" rather than whatever fucked up cocktail her brain is at this moment in the game, I think she would have some disapproval for 1 and IMO she might even enjoy 3 a little bit. But she doesn't necessarily mind 1 in particular, which is what Asheera says. It's a bit surprising to Asheera that Shadowheart doesn't have a comment on that. Worth noting for our half-orc.

She gets her hand pain here for the first time, but when Asheera asks about it the topic is stonewalled pretty quickly. Same with Shadowheart recognizing Dark Justiciars in one of the druids' wall murals. Fair enough. Asheera's a fair bit suspicious at this point, but they've got a unified goal and a paladin can cross that bridge when she comes to it.

Oh, and I got the wolf saving throw here which I didn't expect her to fail! It was fun having Asheera and Shadowheart talk about that so quickly. They're still a bit wary of each other, it's after all only the first (second?) day that they've even known each other. I think that Asheera would hear someone ask for comfort in a deep-seated fear and she would offer the simplest thing she can: protection. Shadowheart likely just sees it as a simple kindness given the way she words this, but I think it's very telling that just being... barely nice to her warms her to Asheera so quickly.

This is where Shadowheart's internal calculus shifts back to trusting Asheera again. Maybe she's a bit foolish about trusting Lae'zel, but there are worse people to have as a de facto leader in a situation like this.

(Also, I caught Asheera blinking lmao)

Summed up, Asheera's thoughts so far...

If this ceremorphosis is so deadly and swift, why are they all still alive?

The refugees need her help, and she's going to drag half this party into helping them if she has to.

Helping Elturians is not what she expected to be doing, but she also didn't expect to have a tadpole crammed in her brain so. You know.

Shadowheart is curious, secretive, and more than a little untrustworthy. She also approves of helping out the refugee children and seems a bit surprised to be offered basic kindness. So there's definitely more to her than the cold exterior shows, but Asheera can't quite figure it out yet. It could all be a façade. Asheera also has a thing for elven women with a little bite and wit.

Gale is an odd man with useful talents. He's been all right so far, being it's barely been a few hours, but of course a wizard would know to hide any ulterior motives right away. Asheera's suspicious of him and his kind demeanor.

Wyll and Lae'zel are the two that Asheera finds refreshing because it's clear what they want. Wyll wants to kill some devil, and Lae'zel is blunt about curing the parasite and going back to her people. They're easier than Gale and Shadowheart, even if Asheera is very lukewarm about Lae'zel. Wyll's a legend though, so she's just hoping this isn't a "don't meet your heroes" type situation.

Anyways, it was late when I decided to do this and I have other plans for the night. Next time, meeting Karlach and vampire boy and who knows what other fun moments! Toodles.

#hey you can ask me things!#oc: asheera #asheera replay posts #bg3 is a very easy game to begin with but I figured fuck it and I'm full sending a swift playthru #Hopefully I'll have time to play on the weekends? My Path of Exile fixation has ended for the league so there's time now #I actually had to jump back into an autosave for the Lae'zel screenshots because I'm still not used to taking them for myself lmao

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man-down-in-hatchet-town · 7 months

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Everything You Want

If you ever needed proof that I really love Shipwrecked, here it is: I tore myself away from Hatchetfield on NPMD RELEASE DAY (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) to put down some thoughts on Greater Gatsby, episode 7. As always, spoilers below the cut.

(Before we jump into that, though, MASSIVE shout out to Curt Mega for this podcast, Nerdy Prudes, and Pulp Musicals. He's worked on almost everything that's keeping me going right now. Man of the Season. Thank you for your service, sir.)

Okay, I got to say it. Ford suggesting that Peter Lorre, an ethnically Jewish guy who had to flee Nazi Germany, isn't used to hate mail was... a choice on his part. But the running gag of celebrities taking threats as complements is genuinely one of the best gags in the series so far.

So the writer of the letters is going after adaptions. The further we get into this, the more I start to wonder if these letters are really just an old-timey viral advertising campaign. If you build up this whole, buzzy, real-world-intrigue story about beloved actors being threatened for appearing in adaptions, you know what will happen when such adaptions come out? Ticket sails will soar. People will want to be part of the narrative, to see the movie Jimmy Stewart or Wilhelmina Vanderjetski put their life on the line to make. And someone in the business threatening other people's lives just to increase profits is thematically just the sort of thing that would exist alongside Ford Phillips and his hatred of the cynical, exploitative Hollywood system.

But the problem there is, what would that have to do with F. Scott's murder? There's got to be a reason both these cases are part of the same story. Perhaps Fitzgerald somehow found out in his deep-dive into Hollywood secrets, and the letter writer killed him to keep him quiet. It's not a worthy motive, but most aren't, and the greed at the top of the ladder knows no bounds. Or maybe the letters are being sent out by someone connected to the movie but unrelated to the murderer in order to specifically market a rewritten Greater Gatsby and further capitalize on Fitzy's death--make it seem like he died for the art. But then again, the public doesn't know he was even murdered in the first place...

Or maybe I'm flat-out wrong about the whole marketing angle. Really, the most obvious answer is that Greater Gatsby was basically an adaption, and the writer of the letters genuinely hates such movies. They threatened Fitzy, then simply followed through. But that falls apart if you look a little deeper. Beyond "hatred of adaptions" being the silliest reason to kill someone, such events would imply a pattern of the writer murdering a victim before moving onto the next and that hasn't held up. So maybe F. Scott was being threatened to stop work on his film by someone who had a secret to protect. The situation spun out of control, our threatener killed Fitzgerald, and is now writing all of those threats as a distraction. That way, if the threats he/she ever sent to Fitzgerald were found, investigators wouldn't see through to the real motive behind them.

Meanwhile, all of the celebrity cameos were very fun and silly, but didn't tell us much other than give the slightest glimpse into why Ford hates Jimmy Stewart so much (still perfect character lore). We got another mention of Eugene from the Punchwhistle twins, definitely making him feel less like flavor and more like set-up. And do we think Rex's perfect recall is going to come back, or was just a device for this one scene? In Ford's personal orbit, it sounds like Bixby's quest to fix his financial issues has gotten him into real trouble. There's clearly something clandestine about the group he's renting the backroom out to, and their potential relevance to Mo, one of the few people to see Fitzy's body, is another point in favor of that group connecting back to our murdered author. I still think they're working on remaking Greater Gatsby in secret.

Speaking of secrets, we don't know where Barnaby was the night of Fitzgerald's murder, or why he's lying about it. He could be the murderer, he could have also been having an affair as well... I gotta tell you guys, Barnaby might be one of my favorites but I wouldn't trust him with a moldy piece of bread. The way he stabbed Ford in the back and then instantly came to him for help because someone else was untrustworthy? What a guy. (He's right about the cops, though. Don't trust the fuzz.)

Regardless, it looks like Fig and Ford are setting their sights on Darby. I doubt she's the one behind the letters but I'm hoping we'll start to get answers about her "book club" and whatever the hell Bixby's gotten himself into...

#also sorry I think this one is the longest yet #but I got the fandom brain rot sooooo #Fig and Ford #shipwrecked comedy #the case of the greater gatsby #ford phillips #Barnaby Nightingale #Bixby

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experthiese · 7 months

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MUSE PERSONALITY ALIGNMENTS.

MBTI: ESTP-A, the Entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurs are the likeliest personality type to make a lifestyle of risky behavior. They live in the moment and dive into the action – they are the eye of the storm. People with the Entrepreneur personality type enjoy drama, passion, and pleasure, not for emotional thrills, but because it’s so stimulating to their logical minds.

With perhaps the most perceptive, unfiltered view of any type, Entrepreneurs have a unique skill in noticing small changes. Whether a shift in facial expression, a new clothing style, or a broken habit, people with this personality type pick up on hidden thoughts and motives where most types would be lucky to pick up anything specific at all. Entrepreneurs use these observations immediately, calling out the change and asking questions, often with little regard for sensitivity.

ENNEAGRAM: Type Seven, the Enthusiast.

Sevens are defined by their desire to experience everything life has to offer while avoiding pain and boredom. They appear to others to be lively, fun-loving and hedonistic. Sevens are often very busy people who bounce from one activity to another in their quest to squeeze every possible bit of enjoyment out of life.

They’re charming storytellers with a passion for many different hobbies, and see the glass as half full. Bright and expressive, Enthusiasts see the world as their playground and can be considered the ‘eternal children’ of the Enneagram. Sevens seek pleasure and excitement as a way to distract from the darker, more painful aspects of life.

TEMPERAMENT: Sanguine.

The sanguine personality is characterized by a cheerful disposition, lively energy, and a generally positive and optimistic outlook on life. Sanguine individuals tend to be highly social, extroverted, and enthusiastic, often possessing a contagious sense of humor that makes them the life of the party. They are usually creative, imaginative, and tend to be very entertaining.

Moreover, sanguine people are often charismatic and are able to influence and inspire others with their vibrant energy and contagious enthusiasm. Their natural ability to create and maintain relationships often leads to a large network of friends and acquaintances.

CHARACTER COLOUR: Red.

Wow, you're a spitfire! You're incredibly passionate and aren't afraid to stand up for others, even if you sacrifice your own reputation to do so. With your fierce loyalty, strong sense of justice, and incredible persistence, there's nothing you can't do.

Don't forget to be gentle with others, not everyone can be as strong as you.

#▸ major headcanon #▸ dash games

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argentumcor · 7 months

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Completed Phantom Liberty

Having been playing Palia and sitting shotgun for playthroughs of BG3 and Starfield, it is such a relief to go back to a world where human beings act like real people. Like, if someone is throwing themselves at you (Judy, looking for a rebound and someone to orbit, as she always has) it makes sense for that person and they have preferences and some experience with you, not because they are a digital sex doll. Reed, Alex, and Songbird (and everyone else) have complicated motives and feelings about things, whole internal lives that aren't about you or sex or even only their own huge problems. Reed reuniting with Alex hit me hard because it was like "oh, yeah, this is how you write characters."

So glad Johnny was not just a footnote and his relationship with V was still a huge part of the story. You should not dive into Phantom Liberty until you finish the main story, building a higher level rapport with him, because the tough affection between him and V is on display and makes no sense otherwise...also frankly the big combat missions near the end will kick your ass.

Johnny's lack of remorse about the tower is still on display, though it still doesn't make sense, though in a human way; it makes sense for it not to make sense. He has a compassionate heart, beaten as it is and as much of a bastard as he is. He'll crouch beside the corpse of some poor fool and feel sad for them. Read his commentary in the journal where he asks V to be the one to remember the ones who won't be remembered. He pities people, he has strong feelings about helping ordinary people- as long as they aren't part of some group he doesn't like, which is something he should have faced with River's quests (has anyone rerun those in 2.0? Was more of him added in? For some reason he has very little commentary, though he should be a chatterbox for a dozen reasons).

I was right; mercy is a big theme in Phantom Liberty. It runs through the whole game, this world without mercy, and what it looks like, but it's more obvious to me in Phantom Liberty. Perhaps it is only recent real-world events that bring it so prominently to mind.

The Relic skills are alright, nothing game changing IMO. Skill rebalancing overall is good. Maybe it's just me but I feel weapons handle better.

Some people were missing from Hansen's party, IMO- at least Rogue, Yorinobu, and Kerry (he's a recluse, a good excuse, but would have been a fun interaction, especially if you'd done his quests). Unless I missed them? I went around that whole party five times!

You can talk to the "companion" characters about what you did in Dogtown for a few lines of extra chatter, but not Rogue or other fixers.

Once again, pretty sure V is meant to be not a selfish jerk. I have a whole thing about who this character is, how she isn't your typical self-insert RPG PC, as well as my belief V is written to be female, something I don't believe or care about or think at all relevant in most games of this sort. Commander Shepherd, Revan, Hawke, a dude? Sure, fine, couldn't care less. V, however, is meant to contrast with Johnny, and I think the game implies V is default female in several ways. Need to write that up sometime.

Maybe I need to do some digging, but it isn't immediately clear what Songbird's problem was doing to her exactly (except it's like V's problem), how the Blackwall did it, and how the Cynosure AI would help her or V. I'd like to know the mechanics of it.

My Orpheus After the Fall sequel has gotten itself sorted out thanks to expansion. I had an array of directions I'd contemplated but couldn't make work, things I wanted to explore, but now I feel I have something to build on based on my observations.

#cyberpunk 2077

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coffeecatttt · 7 months

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On Starfield

The more I play Starfield, the more I get annoyed at how incredibly uncreative and unambitious its vision of a futuristic spacefaring world is.

There is a lack of any distinct culture among the game's different planets and factions. Aside from different aesthetics between the UC and FC, and the different political structures, there is basically no distinct religion, ideology, practices, or real sense of identity across any of them.

All of the non-joinable factions are the same. They're spacers, mercenaries, pirates, or cultists. They don't have motives, they don't have goals, they don't have agendas, they're just there for you to shoot on sight. In terms of gameplay they are all identical as well - they don't have different equipment, tactics, etc.

There are some positive nods towards these ideas at times, like the two major religions, but these rarely come up. There are also things like Vlad's "pirate speech" that hint at more distinct culture, but he's he only NPC in the game who talks this way - even other pirates don't.

Enhance?

I also have to call out how badly Enhance breaks the setting.

This is technology that apparently lets you cheaply, safely, and easily alter your appearance in nearly every way. Sculpt your body. Remove signs of aging. Heal scars, skin conditions, and tattoos. Change your sex characteristics. All for 500 credits.

Yet you never meet an NPC who changes how they look regularly. You never see anyone experimenting with radical new looks, or experimenting with different gender presentation. You never hear about the medical implications for things like quality of life.

Obviously some people wouldn't want to make use of Enhance for various reasons, but the knock-on effects to society would be massive and nearly irreversible. For instance, wouldn't being able to constantly change how you look become a class signifier?

This also extends to gameplay - why isn't there a quest to track down an assassin who keeps changing how they look? Why can't you do the same to infiltrate a corporate HQ?

Starfield also features implants which are implied to be brain interfaces of some kind. You can install (and even easily swap) chips that plug into your head that make you more persuasive, intimidating, etc.

Why doesn't the impact of cybernetics that can alter human intelligence and capability ever come up? You'd think that this would be highly controversial - basically requiring workers to get modded or become obsolete. You'd also think the religions of the setting would have thoughts on these technologies and how they affect the human body as well.

There are already profound discussions about the impact of AI happening in our society, and this technology is barely a couple of years old. Why hasn't it completely changed Starfield's setting after presumably being around for many years now?

LGBTQ Stuff

This also more broadly ties into the game's trans and non-binary representation. Even though Starfield features a pretty big variety of fashion styles, hair colours, etc. and even lets the player select non-binary pronouns, you almost never come across anyone who is visibly queer-presenting. Nobody has fun hair colours, and you absolutely never see any kind of gender bending.

This isn't a cultural thing in the game - gay and lesbian relationships are frequently mentioned and seem commonplace, and it's clear there is no persecution of LGBTQ people in the setting.

Despite this, pretty much everyone presents as cis and heteronormative, even though this is a futuristic setting with all the tools available for maximum gender expression. It would have been great to see visibly AFAB people with facial hair, AMAB people wth femme presentation, or androgynous people who aren't obviously one or another gender. But we don't.

And for all the talk of pronouns, so far I haven't found a single NPC who uses they/them.

Starfield's vision of the future is boring

There are plenty of other questions beyond politics, culture, identity, presentation as well, that I haven't even touched on, like the fact that the game can't decide how its communication technology works (do people have the internet? email? do phones exist? why can't I just call or text people?). But I think the point I'm making here is pretty clear.

Basically, the more I play of Starfield, the more it just feels like a massively boring setting that squanders every single chance it has for creating a vibrant, colourful setting that feels truly futuristic.

This game doesn't need to be Cyberpunk 2077 - it has a different setting and different priorities. But it almost never, ever explores any of the ideas it sets up at any more than a surface level, it never bothers to pursue them to their conclusions, and it never offers answers or explanations for why things aren't more interesting.

What makes me most disappointed is how this seems to reflect on Bethesda as a game developer.

If this flat, sterile, unambitious vision for the future is the best that Bethesda can present its players, what does that say about the creative direction and leadership of the studio? Is this a reflection of its own team makeup? Or is it a reflection of the future it wants to see?

#starfield

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moonage-moth · 1 year

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Soul Hackers 2

I really enjoyed it! I thought Soul Hackers 2 would be okay at best, people talk badly about it on the internet so much, but it's a fine game! The game has endearing characters and story, runs super well, it just doesn't do anything special.

Okay, let's address the main complaint of fans here. Yes, dungeons are kinda bland and repetitive, but it really isn't THAT bad. Some are repetitive, the last one looks like "oh, fuck, we made too many assets, let's put everything here," but it's a fun game!

I personally found the characters interesting! They aren't that deep or complex, but each and every one of them has their unique motivations for being in the story and, best of all, are not highschoolers who fit a specific stereotype.

As a Shin Megami Tensei game, it's always fun seeing which demons get in the game. I really enjoy the demon fusion mechanic, so that alone was fun to me. I wish we could see our own demons in battle, but having the summoners use demon powers was fun too. It was nice hearing they give slight tips or commentaries through fights.

There are quite a lot of side quests too, which is pretty good! Some interesting stories there, others not so much, but they give you some very good equipments. Unlocking characters memories and seeing their backgrounds through Aion was interesting too!

Overall, I really enjoyed the game and may even play a New Game+! If I had more money (or skills) I'd get a Mimi plushie, it's very cute and I deeply missed her by the end of the game. Soul Hackers 2 is a fun and classic JRPG, as long as you don't expect much of it, it's very well worth your time!

#games #shin megami tensei #soul hackers 2

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icharchivist · 11 months

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i feel you on being sad about ff7r, i actually loved it at first because i personally really liked a lot of things about how they expanded the midgar section of the game and i wasn't thinking too hard about how some of the plot changes might remove a bit of nuance, or the sephiroth stuff, because i was just having so much fun while i was playing. but then the ending happened and the stuff with zack on top of it and i progressively got more annoyed because i just wanted it to essentially still be the original story??

i won't go on too much about it because i don't wanna leave an essay in your inbox but i just feel like, the original game is from 1997. it certainly has its own flaws and things that might make people not wanna play it, and it deserved to be recreated in beautiful 3d graphics and brought to the attention of a newer generation of gaming fans who may not have given ff7 a second look before. i wanted people who would get into this amazing story for the first time because of the remake to get the original story, more or less, and could've overlooked some flaws with how they expanded/changed it if it was still basically the same plot! i'm still gonna play every part of the remake but the whole stealth sequel thing they're doing is such a bummer to me lol, i've already talked to a lot of my friends and family about it and strongly recommended that they play the original game even if it might be a bit dated.

🥺🥺🤝🤝

i'm glad to hear about your experience with it and relieved it was a bit of the same.

oops a bit more under the cut (no spoilers this time though! just salt.)

Honestly i'm a bit on the same ground there because i did really enjoy playing the remake, it's fun, it's dynamic, there's new quests i think are really fun and great, and i was so hyped with seeing everyone else that i was willing to give even Sephiroth a shot. tbh originally i thought it might be just straight up hallucinations that aren't motivated by Sephiroth himself, just playing on Cloud's trauma, and while we lost the subtility, i am a sucker for exploring more of Cloud's trauma and complete collapsing "This Is Fine" mental health.

I was always a bit iffy about the Specters but i did go through the game mostly happy with what i got. But yeah ultimately it's really both the conclusion of the Specters storyline and the Zack scene that left me "huh." for a while.

And honestly my reactions when the game was over was just "okay i'm not. sure what to do with it but i'll guess we'll have to wait and see."

but it's sitting on it for a few years now that really make me go, actually, i really dislike it 😭

Originally i think i wanted to go easy on the game because i was buying onto the "well maybe it's too much to expect them to do a plot that is exactly the same as the OG, they keep talking about how they don't want to redo the game 101 and i guess that's fair", but now in retrospect i'm just "... but it was advertised to be a remake. And Yuffie's DLC can show very well how they can do new things adding to the game without making it a straight up sequel. and why is ff7 having a metacommentary plotline anyway" and that's when i started to get beef about it. Like, it's shitty to punish the fans for them being mad they got sold something under false adverticizing.

The Grief theme from the OG is something i care a lot about so this was one of the first thing i started to think in depth about, and since it also meant trying to make sense of "why do i want /this/ death to happen again" it eventually made me think of the others themes i cared about the remake would not be able to follow through properly and *there* you get how i am today, fully jaded about it.

Truly the "Sephiroth locked himself in the Nibelheim Mansion" character arc. Going in with curiosity and coming out with, actually, the more i read the more i think it's too bad.

As for the second paragraph: 100%!!! Like, i've been here for 15 years and i know for a fact that recommending the OG is always met with "oh but it looks so bad" (it's stylized not bad!!! oh well), or "i can't focus without voice acting" or "but the gameplay sounds boring", which is added to how all the others entries in the series have polished graphisms to start with (even if some are early polished 3D and have clunky animation as a result, it still holds up that the more "modern" player can get into it yaknow)

and idk when you compare it to like RE2 Remake that balances remaking the old game with new graphisms and everything and then changing a couple of things either to upgrade the story or to make it more coherent with later update in the franchise.... It's kinda like the type of things we expected i guess???

And i've seen people decide to get into ff7 for the first time by the remake itself. Some people are waiting to see where the plot is going to go via the remake. And while the remake can work as a sequel if you squint, idk how i think about it being the first contact someone has with the saga. (tho i don't know how much i can criticize on that level since i started with Crisis Core, then watched Advent Children, and then i read the wiki for the OG and only played the OG years later. So i have no lesson to give on the "but you're not experiencing the ff7 saga in the right order :(" front)

I have a friend who's a game dev who also only got into ff7 via the remake, and we discussed it last time we met because he knows i'm a huge fan and he wanted my opinion as a Veteran™. Turns out, while he liked a few things from the game, there was a lot out of it that he didn't like and couldn't figure out why (except a few things he called "idk what's going on but it sounds like Nomura's fuckery", you can feel the KH veteran out of him). And the more we discussed it the more he realized that a lot of the things he really didn't vibe with were truly Remake Only Decisions. Like he didn't understand on what level Sephiroth is meant to be a legendary Antagonist while all he does is just being a generic villain who shows up early just to go "heheh i'll do evil", or complained about super long and eventless dungeons that were really just, remake only stuff. and he hated the Specters bc he kept seeing it as breaking from the immersion of the story itself and their appearance seemed to be completely separated from the main story, as if it was another story running in parallelism to the one we're going through.

On the other hand when i started to tell him how it was in the OG for instance and especially the difference in Sephiroth's writing he was nodding along like "*that* i get why it was impactful". (and he's not the type to lie about his feelings on something just to go with the opinion someone is holding, convos got heated before lmao)

So yeah like. idk. I just kinda wish they were forward about it not being a remake. and not derailling the plot of the game itself in order to make a metatextual critism on how fans demands those type of remakes and refuses to accept deviations from it.

So i'm all with you on that too 😭 i'm just so sad bc i remember in 2015 when they announced the remake being so hyped and finally feeling like the OG would be more accessible to people whom i knew at the time didn't want to bother with such an old gem game. But now i feel like it's kinda made even more inaccessible since i feel like some people would stop at the remake itself bc it's already a game that is way way bigger than the OG ever was, and it's already time consuming to start with just to have the same story told in another medium.

When Ever Crisis was announced it was supposed to be a mobile game which would actually go through the whole plot of the saga, without changing anything, but with characters's chibi, and i remember the devs using EC as a shield there like "well if you want to play the OG in good quality tune in for EC". And i didn't keep up with EC's newest news but at the time it was announced it was going to release one chapter at a time for the duration of the server, which. is such a downgrade in every front and also means you won't be able to keep the game on the long term doesn't it? and after the fiasco that was First Soldier this is even more of a dubious take.

All in all it's just, genuinely such a cynical remake and commercial approach it just makes me so sad.

so yeah i'm 100% with you on this one :(

and same i'll play the games, esp since there are still good things into them, the gameplay is enjoyable, the explorations are so fun, it's nice to see the world of the OG being given this approach! For all the stuff i would complain about there's a lot i actively like about the remake, for instance i'm so so glad we get more Aerith & Tifa scenes where they show how close friends they become (bc god the eternal shipwar pinning the girls against one another in a petty catfight was the most annoying part of the pre-remake fandom, despite the OG only ever treating them as good friends, not rivals, so the fact the remake hammers in even more "tHEY'RE!!! FRIENDS!!! STOP IT!!!" is everything to me.).

And there's stuff i think are genuinely good like, actually exploring Sector 7 and making us care about the people in it much more than the OG could prepare us for it! muah very good no note.

It just genuinely sucks that the biggest problem with ff7r is the actual core of the plotline they're going with to drive the whole story onward. Everything else goes from fine to amazing. And then this thing doesn't work for me. but since it's the most important thing of the game, it undoes everything that made me hyped to start with.

so yeah :( fully 100% with you on this one. Guess we have to push our "play the 1997 game" agenda even harder now. rip :sob:

Thank you once again for sharing <333

#ichasalty #ichafantalks ffvii #ichareply #anonymous

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atlaese · 2 years

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(This is a rant, not only no one asked for, but also got out of control in its length. Your opinion might diverge greatly, so feel free to ignore should it upset you. I expect no answer! I just wanted to express my feelings regarding the following topic somehow.)

While I am thrilled for you to get more likes/views on your Matt fanfictions, I find it utterly upsetting for people, only now, that he's been rumoured to appear in NWH, to appreciate the character and for him to get more recognition. As if his "potential" appearance in NWH is the sole reason, for some people, to get invested in him. He's fantastic on his own; his association with Spider-man shouldn't be the only "catch" why people should be interested in him. There's more to him than a simple cameo, best proven by the brilliance that is the show "Daredevil".

Furthermore, and pardon my uncontrollable rant, I sincerely hope they don't mess up his character, should he appear in NWH. (again: only entertaining the possibility, none of us know for sure.)

The Holland Spider-man movies, in my opinion, aren't known for their excellent writing. They mainly serve to display the consequences of other people's (movies) actions and plant the seed for future projects. I know a bunch of people love these movies, which is fine – to each their own. I'm grateful you found a source that provides you with joy and happiness, but I'm certainly not one of those people. I'm worried for them to include Matt, especially, because of the writing. Character development, motives, storyline and plot points, the substance in dialogues and motivations, the stakes, and more, truly lack conviction. It always feels rushed, empty and unearned.

Don't get me wrong, any chance to see more Daredevil is a win for me, but it needs to be done right. I hope they hit the tone, acknowledge his traits and development – that are both deeply explored in his own series – and aren't using him just for the sake of a fun fan serving appearance. I hope they treat his character with respect and acknowledgement. No one wants to see a complete out of character Matt Murdock. I sincerely hope, they take all of his accomplishments, in his brilliant masterpiece of a series, into consideration and further build upon it. I hope they don't prioritize plot over character and, while doing so, mess up the opportunity to include a fully fleshed character to serve the storyline, rather than forcing his character to fit the plot. He is too good of a character to be sidelined or diminished in his achievements.

-love letter anon

I’ll tag this ask with #discourse because I feel like not everyone wants to read this, so feel free to filter that tag!

Indeed, his recent popularity stems not from the character itself, but from a possible minor appearance in a bigger movie trilogy. My opinion diverges a bit from yours on that account. I, for one, only got to know daredevil somewhere in July after I randomly found the show on one of my Netflix quests for new content. Personally, Daredevil or any of the other Netflix shows were never advertised to me, nor did I even know of their existence before (even when I rolled into the marvel fandom somewhere in the beginning of this year). I think so many people now think of daredevil again, because the show ended on such a weird note & people finally see some matt murdock content in the MCU. The daredevil character played by Charlie deserves so many more fans & it's fun to see how the fandom reawakened in a blink! I agree that he is amazing on his own (so is peter parker, tbh) so i think them working together would be awesome? they both love their city so much, are crazy smart and have an alter ego (where one is now discovered and the other one not). i think it would be amazing to see how matt deals with a very young kid that now has the whole world on his back.

I don’t think the majority of the people who are very excited about him possibly appearing (but, let’s be honest, probably not) in the larger movie universe are people who are new, I think they’re just rekindling their love of a very good superhero they missed after the cancellation of the Netflix show. For people who are new, however, I think it’s awesome that they are introduced to this guy, just because there was an arm in a trailer that resembled his! Like how cool is that?? I’ve never seen so many detectives at work as when that trailer came out, lol. So, i agree, there is more to him than a cameo, but hasn’t every marvel superhero had a cameo in another movie? I personally think it would be a very fun way to introduce him to the MCU, but again, that’s my opinion!

I do agree on the writing part in the spider-man movies, and I think I would extend that to all MCU movies and Disney+ series. We were blessed with the Netflix series. They had excellent writing, cast, pacing, character development & storylines. For me personally, I loved Daredevil, the Defenders & Jessica Jones (not season 2, that was horrible imho) because there was so much story to tell and they did not rush it at all. If I compare it to the Disney+ series we’ve been getting the last few months, there is a huge difference. I enjoy the Disney+ series nonetheless, but oh my god, are they rushed. Although I love the MCU movies, some really didn’t hit the same as the Netflix series did. I absolutely loved Tom’s movies so far (his movies are why I rolled back into the fandom too) and I’m super excited for this one. I kinda love that they make a broke kid deal with so much shit from other, better-equipped heroes. I don't have anything to say on the writing, aside that it kind of lacks depth for me. Sometimes it feels like the stakes aren’t high enough, so I hope with this movie, and the reveal of Peter’s identity that that might change!

So yes, there is a huge probability they’d botch daredevil’s appearance in no way home. Although, again, I don’t think matt will be in it, especially with Kevin Feige only recently saying that Charlie Cox would play matt if he’d make a return. (+ I don’t know a lot about the movie industry, but maybe Charlie would have some things to say about how they wrote him in the movie? didn’t he have some input in how much shirtless scenes etc he had to do? Lol anyway, maybe this is too naive, but I feel like Charlie would have some input in the writing process, which would be an absolute blessing!)

Yes, I agree!! Let’s just hope he gets his own series or movies with the same writers as the Netflix show. I think that would be the best possible outcome for good character development following an A+ Netflix series.

if anyone wants to weigh in on this, feel free! i'm just stating my opinion just like anon :))

#arianswers #love letter anon 💓#discourse #matt murdock #long post #tw long post #also sorry this took so long #i was feeling ill last night & just dead tired #and i only now got some time to reply

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retphienix · 3 years

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There are so many fucking games I want to play for the blog and I hypothetically have the time, but the energy, the attention span, the drive?

In more positive terms here are some various titles I plan to give a shot for the blog.

Let's do a 5am state of the blog kind of thing to clear some thoughts, eh?

Morrowind (Current Game ramble)

For the moment the blog is more or less on break with me playing Morrowind ""For the blog"" but mostly for me, because that's just a game I've wanted to explore. Not that every other game on the blog isn't that, just that I looked at Morrowind and said "That'll be a terrible game to present naturally. That's a stream game, or a condensed video, not a liveblog" and then did it anyway.

I'm loving Morrowind! Honestly the sense of mystery, fantasy, and adventure is just chef kiss levels of perfect to me.

But it's terrible in a photoset, I'm not particularly interested in doing another format for the game, and it's a game with less 'intense narrative themes!' and more 'Incredibly different game design compared to modern Bethesda' in terms of discussion material and let's all be real here:

We're all fucking tired of that conversation lol.

So there ain't much to talk on in depth, it's more of a "Here's a newbie seeing new things!" playthrough with nothing to talk about after the fact, which ain't a strong point for the blog- again- that's a stream/video kind of thing.

ANYWHO- Morrowind fun, about the only news I can offer on that series is that it might abruptly end and become a 'for me' series because I'm not particularly interested in beating the game nearly as much as I'm interested in exploring aimlessly and seeing what happens.

I'm not playing Morrowind for the end goal of beating the main quest, or beating the DLCs. I'm playing it to wander into caves and find new pants, so if I reach a point where I'm satisfied with what I've shared and my motivation has not borne a new end goal then I'll end the live blog and move on to a new game :P

Backlog

The short statement I'll make is that this blog is a hell for my backlog.

Even without infinite money on hand I've ended up with so many physical and digital games just sitting here waiting to be played either because they caught my eye or because of recommendations by various people over the years.

I keep sitting down, cataloguing my backlog, realizing it's pointless to catalog, deleting it all, and then starting over yet again.

The fact is, if anyone recommended it it's probably still sitting in a text document somewhere, or physically on my shelf, and I don't remotely know when I'll get to it.

I've yet to hit the point where I decide to turn this blog into work, so I have never sat down and gone "Well, Retphienix NEEDS to post! Sit down, 8-12 hours minimum, let's play the next game!"

And part of me wishes I'd do that, but the fact is this isn't a job. There's no money here, there's the opposite even! I don't remotely see it that way, but if you squint and tilt your head I've spent a lot of money on this blog over the years.

Capture devices (a lot of them!), consoles specifically bought for the blog, controllers out the wazoo, I've gone through multiple computers for this thing, and the games, my lord the games- so many games.

And that's fiscally, what about manpower? So many hours have gone into this blog, so many hours poured into the background of making all this work, researching shit, putting my all into formulating my opinions clearly for posts, writing, hell video shit even though it's mostly clips as my one step into edited content became an impromptu awkward hiatus from doing more lol.

What was I on about.

Despite all that nonsense, Retphienix is a passion project. Not a job.

If I lack the passion in some sense then the work doesn't get done "just for the sake of the work". And I don't mean lost passion as much as "No motivation on x day; tired on y day; interested in doing something else on z day" etc.

If things aren't clickin' I don't force it, so the blog has all this backlog and isn't put together in a way that facilitates burning through it quickly.

I do sometimes wish things were different though, I know I'd still enjoy such a playstyle, but I can't justify "faking it til you make it" in a format that literally isn't built to pay and was never intended to.

I can't work myself for nothin'.

Hypothetical "Next" games

While the backlog is a wild wasteland of titles, there are some that just kinda guarantee their spots sooner rather than later.

Yakuza 6 and 7 along with Judgment, obviously. The series is one of my all time favorites and I generally have some of my absolute most fun on the blog side of things with those games, so it's a winner on two fronts. It's just fun to react to, post out of context things for, and talk with other fans about and for whatever reason tumblr has a healthy enough fanbase for the series that my meager blog gets some attention there.

Dragon Quest has a strangely weighted chance all things considered. DQ has many of the same advantages as Yakuza- it's a series I adore, it's fun to talk about in this format, and the fandom is big enough to occasionally spill my way making the blogging experience a bit more fun. It's also a series where I don't know what'd come next to be fair. Probably DQ4? I mean, might as well continue on from that point since I have 1-3 done. I can't exactly justify replaying the entirety of DQ11 no matter how much I want to! Turning on the games above gave me DQ goosebumps which kinda settled how likely it is to show up sooner rather than later, lol.

Jeez. I looked at one of my surviving lists and that's like all that's popping out at me.

Other series feel like giant leaps with no gas in the tank, like do I want to start playing Kingdom Hearts? Not really, not right now. Do I finally play Lisa? Eeeeeeh. Persona? Hmmmm.

I haven't the fuzziest. There are so many one off interesting titles, but if the drive ain't there they might as well be textbooks.

Perhaps instead of any major next game I'll just do some afternoons exploring random titles for a bit here and there with no intention of beating em.

The idea is enticing as hell, but the feeling of not giving the game's a "real shake" feels bad.

We'll see. The only certainties seem to be Yakuza and DQ, as much as I'd prefer far more.

Side project hypotheticals

Outside of the basic live blog stuff I'm still interested in exploring scripted stuff. Mostly to prove to myself that I can overcome some anxieties and break from the meandering pace the last effort gave- I can write! That much I know! So just gotta trick myself into writing for a video and then make the video after the fact lol.

Current thoughts are on a video exploring the monster taming sub-genre. It's a genre near and dear to my heart, and one I know some weird things about as is- but mostly it's a genre I KNOW I know very little about despite that, so I'd like to give it an overall look, or perhaps just explore some random entries, I haven't a clue lol. I'd mostly like an opportunity to talk about some interesting entries in the genre, things like explaining my adoration for DWM while explaining how the flaws make it really rough today, or the interesting mash of genres that is Lost Magic, or the more modern take that mashes idle-like mechanics with Siralim Ultimate.

Won't lie, playing the demo for Monster Hunter Stories 2 threw a wrench in that plan because it made me want to talk about it and how the genre might have a new breath of life after really grinding to a halt as pokemon became what it is today, but all to be seen or not lol.

As far as other things like streams? Not really.

The concept of writing a bit more on games is tickling the back of my head lately, but that mostly just means "more posts that aren't live-blogging" as I haven't the fuzziest where I'd share such nonsense.

Really it's all up in the air as far as retphienix content is concerned, beyond the live blogging obviously.

5am closing

It's fun to explore what games have to offer, both on the individual level, the personal level, and as a whole- as a medium.

So I like Retphienix.

And I like all I've made here.

I hope to continue for a long, long time- no matter what future formats might look like.

#Retphienix

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gaycey-sketchit · 2 years

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(Gary anon) Masters seems to be alleviating it for Blue somewhat, but of course, it's not a title most of the fandom is going to play. (Yeah, friendly rivals aren't bad. But you're not as motivated to beat them compared to rivals antagonize you. Anime-wise, what constitutes as a rival according to the fandom is mainly battles. Ran into quite a few people who struggle to call Gary a "real rival" just because he only battled Ash twice; as if Ash wasn't trying to beat him in any way possible.

(Part 2) Trip battled more during his rivalry, and look what happened to him. Even without coming off of Paul as a factor. But I digress.) I can believe the idea of Gary going to a contest or too. He can watch League matches despite retiring from badge quests and go on different types of research missions; him studying stuff from Contests like Ash has sounds plausible. (Since he likes to dress up, he'd fit right in) It's always fun when VAs get to add onto their characters, but they do

(Part 3) risk [unintentionally] forming chaos when they do. *eyes shipping fandoms* (True, though that depends on how much Gary shows up, much less his Pokemon. At least if him and Ash battle again, there'd be a little bit more to it. Aside from Nidoqueen, Scizor and Blastoise a little, his Pokemon didn't emote very much during the Johto League. Especially compared the Harrison fight) We still have at least a full year left to get a backstory, but I'm expecting things

(Part 4) to get a bit more tight here with all the main plots being built up. (Welp, Ash and Bea's battle's finished. While a cool moment for Lucario, I think I prefer the Volkner fight as a whole more. Winter special preview also dropped. Right on schedule, a month before it releases and with another poster. Team Rocket's here. Dawn, Cythnia and Infernape confirmed coming back. More than just time shenanigans happening this time)

Man I love Masters for that. Like, I understand why a lot of people wouldn't be into it, my interest in actually playing the game wanes periodically, but I'll at least open the app so Blue can tell me good morning. I love all his dialogue, he's so good and he talks about Red so much.

Yeah, I like them but beating them makes me feel so bad sometimes. Especially when they end up losing confidence because of it.

Yeah. I understand why people would base the strength of a rivalry in the anime on battles, but the thing is Ash and Gary's rivalry went deeper than battles. It's implied they were rivals before they even got their first Pokemon. Like, despite lack of battles between them, it just feels incorrect to say they didn't have a strong rivalry considering how much influence they had on each other. (And as the OG rival, Gary was the blueprint for a lot of future rivalries throughout the series--most notably how May and Drew's iconic rivalry in AG was clearly a parallel to Ash and Gary's--and he deserves credit for that.)

There's definitely a lot of things that can make a rivalry--like, I don't think anyone finds Paul and Ash's rivalry so strong just because of their battles (though the battles were good); it's about how Paul is Ash's antithesis and they have this conflict of principles that makes the stakes feel so much higher.

Yeah, I figure if Ash can compete in the occasional contest for fun, why not Gary? It suits him. (He'd definitely break out the cape again.)

It's good stuff! We have to remember it's still just one person's headcanons, of course, but it's still very cool. Yeah, some people, especially shippers, can get pretty intense about stuff, but it's still fun. (In general I am not a fan of people asking actors/VAs about ships specifically, because the things that can spark in fandoms are Not Great, but it's kind of funny when they respond in a way you'd expect the character to.)

True, true. I guess we'll have to see how things go.

Ooh, neat! I'll have to take a look at that preview and also finally get caught up on the important episodes I've missed, I've been so distracted. Speaking of things in December, we should be getting another batch of dubbed episodes added to Netflix then I think? Since it's mostly been an "every three months" thing except for that one delay.

#Andrew answers #Gary anon

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