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maybecoffeemixed · 4 months

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MAIN PLOT LINE OF DLC HAS BEEN FINISHED, SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT (long post, be warned)

7.8/10, kieran doesn't actually kill us.

Seriously though, I enjoyed it!! Since I don't actually own the game (we poor), I watched a no-commentary playthrough so there are plenty of things I very likely missed, including optional dialog, side-quests, and whatever that thing with the professors is (still lookin' for a video without some guy over it), so I can only comment on the bits I saw! That being said, here we go.

First of all, the BATTLES!! Despite not being able to play them myself, they looked SUPER fun!! I screamed when I saw Lacey's tailwind/lightscreen prankster whimsicott, and even MORE so when I saw it was sashed! I loved the usage of competitive items, and the fact that all their teams weren't completely mono-type, each having one exception to their type (Lacey's excadrill, Crispin's Exeggcutor, Amarys's Reuniclus, and Drayton's Sceptile) that they DIDN'T terrastalize was lovely touch!! Amarys's fight was super hype in particular, despite having an over 20 level advantage, the person I watched still nearly wiped to her! Her trick room AI does appear a bit goofy, but it's a small flaw. Finally, Kieran's battle... I personally adore a good rain team, but unfortunately Kieran's politoed was frozen at the start of the battle, and remained that way all the way til the end, so I can't honestly say how difficult it looked. The one thing I will say is that before the indigo disk was out, I created a hypothetical team for Kieran, and I CALLED that Grimmsnarl!! Literally even the focus sash. If anyone's curious, here was the hypothetical team I made. I'm a nuzlocker, not a competitive player, so it very well may be shit. Apologies in advance.

Next is the characters!! Every design slapped as always, and I enjoyed their personalities! Lacey was adorbs, Crispin was fun, and Amarys might just be one of my new favorites! As for Drayton? Let me tell you, I was side-eyeing him the whole time the MOMENT after he said THIS to Kieran.

After all the hype around dokutaro/peechikeen (now know as pecharunt, apparently), and all the speculation that Kieran would fall victim to its influence, him saying "that's just peachy" made my rat brain go into overdrive. In the end, I think it was just Legends Arceus giving me Volo flashbacks.

Now, the main event... KIERAN! Let me tell you, he gave me GOOSEBUMPS. Every time he appeared, I could feel a chill run up my spine, and his battle had my heart RACING. ESPECIALLY his breakdown at the end of it! One of the best times I've had in a good while. The animation, his reaction, all of it was GREAT!! It was so refreshing to see him not immediately heel-face turn.

Unfortunately, though, what happened after that all disappointed me. I admit I got too attached to the Dokutaro Posession theory, buy it was still disappointing for Dokutaro (I know that's not its name, leave me be) to not play any role in the main story. It felt like a natural conclusion to what the game was setting up, I thought he'd throw the master ball at terapagos, it'd fail, and he'd become so overwhelmed with everything that has happened that he'd succumb to Dokutaro's control and we'd have to fight the Dokutaro-Kieran with Terapagos's aid. That's not what happened, and I felt a bit sad. His recovery from his breakdown was still set up nicely and had some atleast sufficient justification, but it still felt like too-little too-soon. It felt more like he just gave up all together rather than defeated his demons. He'd never be as strong as the player, and that's that, which is a sour note to leave off on.

We see that he legitimately has nothing. All the other students left the MOMENT he was defeated. No one came to help the kid who was clearly having a panic attack. The BB league cares about him, sure, but I wouldn't consider them his friends. They all thought Kieran getting defeated would "fix" him, and even when he clearly wasn't any better after being defeated, they didn't do anything to assist him. Sure, sometimes when someone has climbed so high, you gotta let them fall, but once they do, you can't just leave them lying on the ground. You need to be there to lift them back up before they start digging.

This isn't an attack on the BB league at ALL. Like I said, I really enjoyed their characters! In fact, this reaction is part of the reason I like them so much. It adds depth.

I just wish that Kieran DID start digging, and that it led to something bigger. Even if Dokutaro wasn't involved, I atleast wanted the final battle with him to be that big thing, and not just a turtle that can't do anything but throw out weak earthpowers.

Though the biggest failing to me is that Kieran apologizes to us, but we don't apologize to him. We as in the player, and Carmine

Kieran's actions are his own and I'm not saying he shouldn't have apologized, but he wasn't solely culpable for how things turned out. We and Carmine purposefully lied, kept a secret that was dear to him, and were the straw that broke the camel's back. Even if we the player didn't apologize, Carmine should've!! Her treatment of Kieran heavily impacted him, and he mirrored her abuse (Kieran telling Carmine to "Shut it", just like she did to him, for example).

Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, was in the wrong here. Kieran took things too far, Carmine behavior is a serious problem, and the played character was complicit.

I'm not demonizing anyone here, I am the number one Carmine defender after all, but everyone needs to take responsibility. Not. Just. Kieran.

I relate heavily to both Kitakami siblings, as both an elder sister with younger siblings who she's accidentally mistreated, and as a little sister with an older sibling who treats me like I'm lesser.

I've lashed out at my older sibling, and while my reaction wasn't proportional, it doesn't mean my emotions weren't justified.

I have severe genetic anger issues (that I'm now thankfully medicated for), and have unjustly taken them out on my younger siblings.

Carmine needs to apologize too, or the cycle will just continue. Maybe she already did and I missed it, or maybe it happens in the post-game. However, if she didn't? It makes me feel unresolved.

Anyways, that all I gotta say on it!! Hope someone enjoyed this overly long rambling!!

(P.S. I still don't trust dragon boy. "Thats just peachy" my ASS, you know something ya toothpaste haired cunt. Why did they request to bring ya along to area zero anyways, ya plot relevant FUCK.)

#I actually really like Drayton I'd just also punt him off a cliff #pokemon #pokemon dlc #kieran #pokemon sv #the hidden treasure of area zero #kitakami siblings #the indigo disk spoilers #the indigo disk #pokemon spoilers #kieran pokemon #pokemon kieran #scarlet and violet #the teal mask spoilers #carmine pokemon #pokemon carmine

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talesfromthebacklog · 6 months

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Tales From The Backlog: Cult Of The Lamb

7/10

I bought this a few months back after I saw Mashed's very cute (and a little morbid) "Cult Of The Lamb" animation.

Cult Of The Lamb is an interesting franchise. It's so cute and yet has a great sense of crass humor. I put about 22 hours into this title and finished the game. (As well as got the DLC and finished some of the small side missions offered in game.)

It's a short romp but a good one nonetheless. Your own character motivation is very murky. You've been wronged, but have an opportunity to do a great deal of hurt in return. You're able to choose how benevolent (or malevolent) your cult becomes. I mostly stuck with the positive options because the villagers were ultimately so cute. (Though design wise I think the lamb is the cutest.)

The game is good but is financially broken quickly. Once you unlock the fishing ritual; kiss your money troubles goodbye. For a majority of my playthrough I wanted for nothing. This made the cult management part of the game a breeze which is a double edged sword. As I'm the kind of player where once I've started achieving things with too much ease I start to get bored. I don't want to struggle the whole game but I also broke it too quickly. (I picked up Rune Factory 3 Special in September which had a similar problem. I was 2/3rds through the game with $400,000 and had just finished year 1 summer in a few days. Not all games have to be long. I don't want this to be a long experience nor do I appreciate extending the game through empty grinding. I simply want the resources to be a touch more balanced.)

Don't get that complaint twisted, the cult management is fun. Though if they make any more of this game in the future I'd like to see some mechanics swapped for others. And maybe one or two more things to do. The villagers are great. I love how they defect, I like that they're dumb as rocks, it's cute you can customize each one. I kinda wish my marriage spouse had a special outfit to match you though. I want to see my spouse wear a special fleece or flower crown.

While it has good presentation I found the game likes to crash (and lag) a lot. Especially in-between transitions and loading screens. While those things aren't necessarily a game ruiner for me, I am surprised those problems haven't been patched out in the year-ish its been out. Its saving grace is its rigorous auto-save. Which does help make the problem more ignorable. But it is scary going through dungeons sometimes when that load screen takes jussssst a little too long and you're so close to the end with a bunch of good loot.

Okay? But what about the rogue-like portion of the game?:

You see a lot of bones of other games in Cult of The Lamb. Some I like. Some I don't. It mostly reminds me of The Binding of Isaac in terms of themes and gameplay. (A game I like aesthetically but don't like to play. Which in contrast I prefer Cult of The Lamb as it gives a break from its dungeon crawling and provides the dungeon crawling in shorter bursts. Binding is built well, but too long winded for my taste.) Also Stardew Valley. That fishing game was awfully familiar! Lol.

My main complaint is how I constantly seem to ONLY get my least favorite weapon of the game, the hammer. As a speedy player it's atrocious to play. Exiting/dying/finishing the dungeon and then coming back doesn't seem to fix my problem either. I keep getting the slow hammers. And I can play with them effectively... But they aren't fucking fun. Weapons just don't seem to have even distribution. I like the axe and the dagger damn it. It'd be less of a headache if weapon replacements appeared more frequently but the game seems to prefer ONLY giving me multiple curse/relic choices over multiple weapon choices. I've only ever seen the gloves appear two or three times in my playthrough and I was in the dungeons constantly.

I love how in a Cult of The Lamb dungeon romp the game gives you an option to play a dungeon as long or short as you like (Once you've beaten an area). The resource collecting is also fun and I like destroying the environments. And while I didn't use it, it was a nice touch that it allows players to turn off time progression in dungeons.

Other than that it's pretty standard fare. If you're good at these games you darn near don't need the curses and relics. Especially after you've racked up your tarot card deck. The tarot cards are arguably my favorite part of the dungeon sequences. They are small, decently substantial rewards for thoroughly exploring dungeons that give you some pretty fun boosts. Especially once you get multiple cards those boosts really start to add up and make you feel powerful. This paired with the "fleece" you choose to wear makes for a good time. The golden fleece was solidly my favorite of the lot.

The enemy variety is small but fun. I like the bosses. The fourth boss in particular I actually felt bad for to some degree. Learning more of the limited lore that is provided is satisfying. It's paced nicely too. And it is not lost on the game how hypocritical your own crusade is in your quest for freedom.

Overall this was a good experience and one I might come back to in a few years.

...

I am definitely getting some of their merch though the lamb is so stinking CUTE.

#cult of the lamb #tales from the backlog #narinder #devolver digital #gaming #gamer #video games #video game review #review #Nintendo switch #playstation #nintendo #playstation 5 #TFTB #the one who waits

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