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ecargmura · 4 months

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The Mochi Mayhem Epilogue Was Hilarious (Review)

Here it is. The finale of the DLC. The ending to an era. How should we celebrate this milestone? Excuse me? Could you repeat that again? The Chicken Dance? What?

Anyways, this epilogue is bringing in the main story and DLC together by making the Paldea trio meet up with Kieran and Carmine, the DLC characters in one last misadventure to stop the land of Kitakami from doing the chicken—er, Mochi dance by a mysterious Pokemon that looks like a Pecha Berry.

The overall epilogue was very hilarious, but it also got me having a lot of questions. I know that the event starts in Kitakami when you examine the peach plush in Peachy’s. After the little scene that happens, Arven calls because he wants to come over to the player’s house, meaning you have to travel all the way back to Paldea where Nemona and Penny tagged along and then Kieran gives the player a letter, which then makes the Paldean group go back to Kitakami, which is when the event starts happening. I don’t know why the game makes it so that we have to jump through different regions. I know it’s for plot as the Paldean trio didn’t get offers to study abroad. It made me wonder what would’ve happened if they had come along during Teal Mask.

Despite that, Kieran meshes well with the Paldean trio. It sucks that Carmine was possessed throughout the whole story, but it makes sense as she had her fair share of spotlight in the Teal Mask. This is Kieran’s time to shine! I find it hilarious how he was theorized to have been possessed, but when Pecharunt showed up with the evil mochi, Kieran is the only other person aside from the player to not eat the mochi as it hit his forehead and flew off. Ha, take that, theorizers! I wonder what would’ve happened if Nemona had been involved in the Teal Mask DLC—maybe that was why they took the Paldea trio out of the story for the DLC because the story’s issues would’ve resolved fast.

Pecharunt is a weird Pokemon. While it has a connection with the Kitakami lore, it was never really explored. It just showed up and wrecking havoc. While it did give the Loyal Three their toxic chain, it never really had an involvement in Teal Mask until this DLC. The Loyal Three are its retainers, but there were slight hints of its existence sprinkled here and there. I’m also confused on why it decided to wake up and decided to possess everyone with toxic mochi. Is it angry? Chaotic? I’m not sure. Despite that, Pecharunt is no slouch in battle.

What I liked about the DLC is the fact that Kieran joins the player as a Multi Battle partner which is a definite redemption from his behavior in the Indigo Disk DLC. It was nice being able to battle together with him. I was actually surprised that Kieran’s grandparents were trainers too. They were pretty tough. Arven and Penny were challenging too. I do like that in the midst of the double battles, the last match is against Nemona, who is challenged as a single battle. I loved the mix-match of battling styles.

Once you complete the DLC, Nemona, Arven, Penny, Kieran and Carmine can be interacted with in the League Club with the former three being special coaches. I do like that they give you such a bonus afterwards. I feel like it’s a good way to end everything as you are reunited with the three most important characters in the main story followed by the two most important characters in the DLC. What makes Paldea special is the unique varieties of characters that makes it a worthwhile experience.

Argh, it’s going to be hard to say good-bye to these characters because they’re all so good. All the Gym Leaders, Elite Four, teachers, Team Star, students and DLC characters were just so GOOD! Scarlet and Violet legit shot up to my third favorite mainline Pokemon game because of how good the game and DLCs were. What will Pokemon do now after the masterpiece that was SV? If Unova remakes are true, will it live up to SV’s hype? Will it be better than BDSP? Only time will tell. What are your thoughts on this epilogue and the DLCs as a whole?

#Pokemon #pokemon scarlet and violet #mochi mayhem #epilogue #DLC #nemona #arven #penny #kieran #carmine #review #game review #ecargmura #arum journal

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legofemme · 4 months

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I have a lot of Thoughts wrt terastalization in the pokemon world and people. Mostly headcanons for fun and not anything serious . Gonna put em under a readmore bc its Long and bc theres spoilers for the end of sv in here 👍

Firstly: Tera crystal radiation and Terastalization itself

I headcanon that terastalization is some sort of magic radiation thing . A pokemons tera type is innate but can be changed (albeit rarely, and it takes a lot) and the terastalization process forces that to the front, making the pokemon appear more like its tera type. So like. In the pokemon world, i dont think terastalization looks like that . No big stupid hat. I think the pokemon just takes on some of the physical attributes of another pokemon that has the tera type as their main typing. So, my lapras has her tera type as steel. If i were to terastalize her, shed take on steel type attributes, maybe bisharp for example. Her fins would turn metallic like blades and her horn would get sharper. The shimmering sparkling of a terastalized pokemon is just residual tera energy hanging in the air like radiation particles in photos. However, these minor transformations and type changes take a lot of energy from both the pokemon and the tera orb. Hence only being able to terastalize once per battle and once per charge. Though i will say that i think that pokemon who consistently terastalize- like gym leader aces- will start to have those tera transformations stay in their normal forms

Secondly: Humans are pokemon.

This is hotly debated in the fandom and also within canon?? But. Imo humans are pokemon. The same way were animals. So it means. Every human has an innate tera type. As well. The only reason people dont notice and dont know is because 1: terastalizing like we see it can typically only be done with pokemon in pokeballs 2: even pokemon that terastalize outside of this dont do it for long (the random tera encounters) because again, it takes a lot of energy, and we can assume that wild pokemon have a trigger for terastalization the same way caught pokemon do. And, like other pokemon, humans will experience physical changes upon terastalizing

Thirdly: Area Zero

Using the radiation comparison is great for Area Zero where the air is described as being "weird". And you can see why when you get to the caves at the bottom of the area and see the massive tera crystals growing there. I think that area zero is the one place (with a couple of exceptions that are vaguely dlc spoilers, which i wont get into here) where humans can get close to- and actually- terastalize. With changes becoming more intense the deeper into the area you go . THAT SAID i have . Examples ♥️

1: at the top of area zero, where most of the crystals are still far away, you only feel mild tingling the same way someone would around a normal terastalized pokemon

2: going down towards the bottom is where things get Weird. Your skin would start to feel 'sparkly' And your eye color would change to match your tera type. Not smthn super noticeable but its There

3: in the cave itself your eyes Really change color and base body functions and instincts will shift to align with your tera typing. So, youre a grass tera youll want to be in the sun. If youre an ice tera you get cold to the touch, etc etc

4: at the bottom of the cave is where things get really fucky, and depending on how long youre down there you can start to see physical changes like fur/grass/metal growth, face shifting, etc etc. if youre in a building- like the lab stations or the massive lab itself- theres protection against the changes. But youll definitely start to see them if youre out with the giant crystals completely in the open

And a helpful little image guide ♥️

#vani verbals #i have More thoughts but those are dlc spoiler heavy so i figure this will do for now #idc if u . use these 4 anything but u shld @ me if u do bc i love to look at things ok. smiles #fun fact this is why i asked ppl what ice type id be. teehee

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applesjuice · 22 days

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I had a tought, when Akari come home, would they be interviewed about the pokedex to know if what fact where real or just myth?

Could be funny if people goes "why did you wrote that Spiritomb were composed of spirits? You could have chosen better idea, or even wrote their true nature?"

And she goes "But that's the truth :/????"

Cue Cynthia watching her Spiritomb in diesbelief.

Anyways, love what you're doing ;)

Thank youuu! Guys i promise I'm still working on this behind the scenes, I just really wanted to finish my ogerpon head so I was focusing on that.

As for interviews, I know I said previously that Akari would be uncomfortable with Cynthia upon getting back initially (because Volo) but once everyone is reintroduced and the drama of omg Kieran is alive has passed, Cythia would actually reach out with questions to both Akari and Ingo. I think Akari would go back to Sinnoh for a bit with Carmine (because she is sticking to that kid like glue) as a request from Cynthia to help clear up some misunderstandings on the pokedex and gain clarity on certain misconceptions they had about that time period.

The Spiritomb question would be hilarious because in SV they're just sort of...there lurking in ruins. So hearing " no yeah they're an amalgamation of 100 malevolent human souls" or whatever is insane, on the level of Phantump is the soul of a child who got lost and died in the woods. There has to be some sort of ethics behind how the greater public handles and treats pokemon who were supposedly once human.

Akari calls their Spiritomb Vessa for obvious reasons but like, do all the spirits merge into one being or is it just a mishmash of the souls of the damned screaming in eternal anguish? Spiritomb as a concept is terrifying.

But Akari would definitely be able to answer questions they have about the pokemon of the region and their more natural habitats before numerous settlements displaced them. Like there's some Hisuian pokemon present in the Terrarium in the DLC, so there has to be some sort of preservation or breeding initiative in place for extinct variants. Akari would know exactly where they lived, what they ate etc and have actual notes on it, so the chances of them finding preserved remains of these pokemon have significantly gone up.

Not to mention the variants they'd have brought back, along with Ingo. Alpha pokemon in particular were considered a bit of a myth so having literal alpha pokemon present confirming yes these things used to get this big in the wild would open a whole new area of study because HOW. And then there's the evolution of modern pokemon battling from battling wild pokemon and trying not to die, that's a whole thing to get used to again. Im sure there's regulations for a reason, stay behind the line for the trainer's own safety but in a controlled enviornment like what Ingo fostered with his path of solitude, it would be neat to see a different branch of competative battling being fostered similar to how HEMA differs from modern fencing.

But having access to one of the people who helped make the original pokedex would be such an exciting experience for that corner of academia because seriously, "how was porygon present in Hisui" "oh yea it came in a space time rift and i found these cable things during those too and thats how i could evolve haunter" would be WILD.

#ask #cynthia with her spiritomb: what do you want to dinner #“THE SOULS OF THE INNOCENT”#“ok so a bagel”#hisuian zorua never went extinct they just went into super hiding and some sinnoh changeling mythogy should be looked into more ;)#still not sure if mc should be florian or juliana aaaaaaaaa #legends arceus au #pokemon legends arceus

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eeveeas123 · 24 days

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Ah, when the main story, the Teal Mask DLC, Indigo Disk DLC and SV Epilogue are finished, there’s only one thing I have to do next:

RIGOROUSLY TRAIN EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY POKÉMON SO THEY’RE ALL EVOLVED AND AT LEVEL 100! (As far as I’m concerned, my game isn’t over until you have no extra side quests to do and species left to train)

It started in Pokémon Y, where I trained every species I had, all PC boxes were in use to store the 50+ Pokémon I had at level 100! I think it’s cool to experiment with every Pokémon possible!

#eeveeas123 #pokémon #pokémon games #pokémon sv #pokemon scarlet and violet #scarlet and violet #indigo disk #the teal mask #pokemon

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goldensunset · 4 months

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favorite random npc is this dude

1. out of the corner of my eye i’m always reading his line as ‘finally i can rest in peace’ and it always throws me off like oh we got a random lingering ghost in here? cool

2. the fact that there is only one tm machine in all of blueberry academy and yet ‘make yourself a tm!’ is such a common quest means i am stopping by here very often. i am disturbing his peaceful reading by dropping in from the sky on my loud electric lizard bike hitting buttons on the beep boop robot machine right next to him at least once every half hour. i almost feel like gamefreak did that on purpose

#i’m sorry bookworm npc. i need that bp okay #the sv dlc experience #teal mask/indigo disk #pokémon

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hamofjustice · 1 month

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Okay, so, I said I was working on Pokemon Scarlet / Violet fanfic and that's still kiiiinda true? But for the most part the past few months I've instead been working on...

HamOfJustice's League Club Expansion Pack

... which is a text-file-based imaginary mod of the game (but a blueprint for a real one if someone is able to make it, I guess) that massively expands the DLC postgame to include like a hundred things for characters to talk about, adds new friendship storylines, expands their team rosters and battle AIs, and lets them follow you anywhere in the world, making it not really a League Club thing at all except in spirit.

I'm aiming to do the following:

1. Give the players the living-happily-ever-after postgame that they deserve, and that Pokemon SV basegame really seemed like it was leading up to after Area Zero and all those friendship strengthening storylines

2. Prove I know this gamedev thing isn't easy and do all the work myself to see how viable it really could've been for SV and Pokemon games in general to have more meat on its bones, inspired by what we did get from it so far. I'm not asking for much of anything that requires new models, code, or animations, just text, menus, and repurposed features. Even the AI is pseudocoded by myself

3. Live up to the characters' potential more and leave less up to speculation and fanfic to really explore, explain, heal, capitalize on, and have fun with (okay, this is basically fanfic formatted as a fake datamine, but still) while still being consistent with the tone of the game and leaving plenty of subtext and small details to have fun discussing with other readers rather than stating everything outright

Basically, I wanted this so bad I just did it myself instead of complaining some more, and I want everyone who feels the same way to get to have that experience through me. I've been steadily working on this thing for months (the scope got a little out of hand as you can imagine) and I'm pretty close to releasing Nemona's files, which are the parts I'm most passionate about, but I'm hoping to keep at it after that if I can (Nemona, Penny, Arven, and maybe Kieran and Carmine, at least)

Reviews from people who've seen early previews of my project on Twitter or in DMs:

"You legitimately know more about [Nemona and Penny] than Game Freak, there's really no question about that at this point"

"OH MY GOD IM OBSESSED WITH THIS. it amazes me all the time how your characterisation and voice is PERFECT"

"Holy shit this is so cute... This dialogue is stellar"

"Oh wait this is ur fanmade dialogue? DAMN I THOUGHT IT WAS REAL"

"Goddamn, you went HARD. Congrats on writing more and better story in one day than was put into the DLC"

"AKJCJAJFHQBXBXB nemonas dialogue is so perfect like its EXACTLY her 😭😭😭😭 so is everyone's like Penny's too??? you must be some kind of secret game freak writer…. THIS IS AMAZING 💓💓💓💓💓💓"

There's a big ol' batch of old and new samples I've picked out for you today under the cut if you wanna look. Either way, expect the Nemona part of the actual project to be posted for real soon-ish and her friends one at a time after that, once I get past a bit of writer's block on one part and stop trying to make the angsty cathartic bits perfect

#pokemon #pokemon sv #pokemon scarlet and violet #nemona #hamofjustice league club expansion pack #hamfiction #nemonaposting #there's still going to be actual hamfiction maybe but it's lower priority when people are so excited about this

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weebsinstash · 9 months

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Hey so this is gonna seem wildly out of place considering I've been on my superhero shit lately but, the trailer for the new pokemon sv dlc just dropped and while I probably won't get it idk, seeing Adaman's descendant reminded me of an idea I had for him back when Legends Arceus was released and I was binging that game nonstop (and actually might play through it again honestly, I'm so psyched about the black/white legends remake rumors)

But like. In Legends Arceus you are quite literally isekai'd through time and space and meet two separate cultures who literally worship those things and if you take it on a more like, meta level, and consider your reader/trainer as someone who has had, you know, all of or most of your own "pokemon experiences", then, this all happens after your adventures in Diamond/Pearl too, so

You literally just fucking travel back in time, meet the guy who is literally dedicating his life to the reverence of, in casual conversation you're just like "wait are you guys confusing dialga and palkia with arceus, theres like 3, youre talking about 3 different pokemon, its like, time, space, and creation", you're from the actual future, and you both wind up meeting THE Dialga trying to fight you and all and you're just like "wait so if you're like a time God then, you should have all of your own memories across time and, even though this is in the past, you should still technically remember me from the future so, please don't kill me maybe??? Weren't we besties??? 🥺🥺🥺" And it totally works and you get the actual time god Pokemon to calm down cause That's Like Your Weird Pet that you're also friends with and like, would Adaman not just actually worship you at that point, you're practically a holy figure

You're over here showing Dialga what a malasada tastes like and catching up on old times meanwhile Adaman is instructing all his followers to revere you with respect as some sort of, symbolic figurehead, like, the saint/saintess/pope or whatever, but also like, He's Totally Down Bad In A Creepy Way. By all means, let him take care of your every care and anxiety. Step on his own body as to not soil yourself in puddles if you so wish. Please continue to go on your long-winded rants on things from the future where you constantly have to explain new concepts and ideas to him, teaching him all sorts of knowledge that he records with the utmost dedication

He wants to give you everything, do everything, except for... letting you go back home, anyways ^^; like, OBVIOUSLY you were sent back in time with some sort of, divine purpose and reason, so, like... shut up maybe! Just be cool with it when he lures you into the Diamond Clan territory one day and suddenly doesn't let you leave! It's chill, he's taking your pokemon and all your items for safe keeping, duh! You don't need things that might help you escape anyways, silly 😊 he has to show his gratitude and respect for you for saving the world and also. Just, you know. Let him like, rub oil on you and pray to you and stuff from time to time maybe! Let him oil up his hands and touch your body in a totally not sexually charged way as he's murmuring all kinds of delusional incoherent ramblings under his breath ranging from some sort of actual like, PRAYER to, deranged horny drooling, and, also, Google says he's estimated to be over 6" so, that's always nice 👀 helps with the... forced worship based man-handling...

#yandere x reader #yandere stuff #sinprompts #hedonistic behavior is part of my daily routine i gotta be at that freak shit 24/7

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a-tale-of-legends · 7 months

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I honestly don't entirely mind the SV rivals not being in the teal mask. But I can think of reasons why and why not they would join the field trip ( if they were chosen to go with the player). This is mostly under the perspective that the dlc took place after the main game, cause before then, it's kinda alright if the SV rivals/friend group didn't come with.

Nemona

Would go: I think Nemona wasn't entirely interested, maybe she already did these field trips before, but between the player going and the fact that she gets to interact with more students from Blueberry Academy, I think her interest would be rise.

Would not: Girl is too focused on The Grind. Besides, she probably would want the player to experience this by themselves without her as a guide or something. She WILL want all the details, so remember to text her everything!!!!

Arven

Would go: Like Nemona probably not totally interested ( unless the field trip gives extra credit, which he desperately needs) but, he is interested in the food of kitakami. He wants to expand his culinary skills and taste, so he would love to get a recipe or two from there.

Would not: Poor boy is so behind on his studies, I don't think he could go if he wanted.

Penny

Would go: She got peer pressured/j. God, I keep saying "they wouldn't be totally interested" but that's just how I feel, especially for Penny who is a resident shut in. However, seeing her friends go, and getting the whole " you get to create even more experiences for yourself" she just went " okay, fiiiiiiinnnnnnne". I think she would enjoy herself, ultimately.

Would not: She is an otaku shut in. Do I need to explain more.

#r rambles #pokemon sv #pokemon sv spoilers #pokemon teal mask spoilers #nemona #arven #pokemon penny

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themscool76 · 4 months

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New SV DLC epilogue spoilers below

So I played the entire epilogue today and it was definitely an experience. All the interactions between the main crew and Kieran were amazing, but damn it was both way too short and there just weren't many interactions(and almost none with Carmine) which kinda made the main plot of the epilogue feel a lot more meh than I felt like it should've been? I'd still recommend playing through it, but yeah.

TL;DR gamefreak don't make your first actually engaging main characters only have 20 minutes of sincere screentime before becoming full-time chicken dancers

#pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon sv #pokemon #rant post

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sazorak · 4 months

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Every Game I Played in 2023, Ranked

I debated moving this list to Cohost (after all these years, the Tumblr text post interface still makes me want to punch a wall) but whatever, here we are! Keeping it relatively short this year.

A lot of the games I played aren't going to be on this list because I don't have much new to say about them (MTG, Dwarf Fortress, Strive, etc), but for those that I do, here's the games I played this year.

2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022

SD Gundam Battle Alliance - 2022 - Steam - ★★★

I really wanted to like this- you know I like me some Gundam- but the experience is simultaneously too thin, too grindy, and bereft of stakes. There's nothing like "oh no we have to preserve the Gundam metaverse from hackers ruining the archived story!" to make me go to sleep.

There's something about the progression system of every "hey, gotta catch 'em all!"-ish Gundam games that is designed exclusively for people who either played these games in the early 00s, or people with addictive personalities. There's been little in the way of evolution. Yeah, the gameplay here is different as a sort of Action RPG, but this is far more Dynasty Warriors than it is say Armored Core.

Just not for me!

... Where's my new Super Robot Wars at damn it?

9. Pokemon Scarlet/Violet DLC - 2023 - Switch - ★★★★

I talked last year about how I mostly liked this game in spite of its many, many issues. The DLC mostly plays to SV's strengths: fun plot and characters, improved open world catching system from Sword/Shield. They also run considerably better, due to a year of opportunity to make things more stable and address bugs.

That said: It doesn't address any of the other issues that have always been there. Open world exploration becomes kind of pointless when you have the ability to invalidate any level geometry. There is such a thing as too much mobility, believe it or not, when you can just jump over everything. At the same time, the ways cutscenes work is soooo slowwwww, to the point that getting through them to the "action" can be quite tedious.

This DLC also continues the unfortunate thing that drives me nuts about all these DLC, that the level scaling is just awful. It basically assumes you have done literally nothing since finishing Scarlet Violet, and not engaged at all with the post game. Which hey, works out for Lil Timmy who is experiencing this DLC in-line with the base game or only after beating it (since it does dynamically scale for earlier progression), but it makes the whole thing kind of a rote exercise for those who actually played the game more than that?

I realize this is multiple decades now of me barking that hey, it'd be nice if Pokemon didn't exclusively try to appeal to 5 year olds, which is definitely a lost cause at this point. We don't even get stuff like Battle Towers or Frontiers anymore really. Ah well!

8. Street Fighter 6 - 2023 - Steam - ★★★★

Ok, here's the thing: Street Fighter 6 is overall a very good game, lots of care and polish, but I got a few bones to pick with it.

1. I kind of hate its input buffer. Just drives me nuts, particularly with how it handles supers and specials with overlapping inputs.

2. World Tour while is neat, the progression of it is so goddamn grindy and miserable. So much HP for enemies as you go on, and you don't have access to a fighter's full skill set even at the very end due to how special "slots" work.

3. The cast feels too safe. I like the new additions a lot, and in general the old chars have been rendered quite well, but there's just not a lot of innovation going on. The system mechanics are quite good, but it's the thing where no one on the cast really calls out to me. Personal taste thing.

Marvel's Spider-Man - 2022 - Steam - ★★★★

I don't think I have anything particularly unique to say about The Spider-Man Experience beyond hey: that's a pretty good Spider-Man. I think the DLC was obnoxious as shit, and a number of the decisions tied to box-checking-completionist stuff were mean for someone like me who has the stupid brain that thinks it's important to do Everything no matter how tedious it is, but overall: a good Spider-Man. Some of the villain stuff felt pretty weak though.

7. Resident Evil 4 Remake - 2023 - Steam - ★★★★★

A great remake! They trimmed down some areas a fair but, but none of them particularly egregious (some of them, particularly a last act boss being removed, was quite appreciated), and the mechanical additions are fun.

Does it invalidate the old version? I dunno, maybe?

6. We Love Katamari Re:Roll - 2023 - Steam / Switch - ★★★★★

Hey, you know what's also a very good game? We Love Katamari. Not much new to say beyond hey: the name is accurate, and you should buy and play it. I liked it enough to buy it twice on two platforms, which is silly but it gave me the excuse to play more Katamari so quite understandable.

A thing that does annoy me about the game is them reusing certain models from the other Katamari Remake, even when they were deliberately replaced in We Love Katamari and are even called out as different in the item descriptions despite not being so. Arrgh. It doesn't really matter, but I got the dumb brain for that kind of thing.

5. Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising - 2023 - Steam - ★★★★★

A fighting game that I enjoyed years past now has actually good netcode! The mechanical additions have been very nice, and I've been enjoying myself grinding away for my meager gains. It's also funny having skipped all the base game's DLC and coming in now, since it's like this release just added 20 more chars I'd otherwise not engaged with before.

A ton of polish has made this a fantastic package across the board, so many smart decisions and little details. I'm sure for GranBlue gacha fans it's probably incredible as something that pays tribute as well.

… but see, my main annoyance with the game mostly ties to being unable to stand the source material it pulls from. It's not enough to diminish my positive feelings for the game, but none the less: man, everything about the lore and characters themselves just does NOTHING for me. This is nothing particularly unique to GranBlue itself even, it's pretty in line with how I feel about every gacha title that exists to roll out chars and appeal to as many niches as possible without real forward movement or actual story, but hey here we are.

Looking forward to that 2B.

4. Baldur's Gate 3 - 2023 - Steam - ★★★★★

A game I admittedly haven't completed yet (I got up to a certain kidnapping in the last act and had to set it aside due to stuff repeatedly coming up for the past couple months) but still: this is a very good tactical RPG. I enjoy the writing, characters, and gameplay quite a lot. A ton of polish went into this.

I don't think I have much to say about it that hasn't been said by others, especially with all the Discourse that has circled it for months-to-years now across Early Access into release.

If there's one thing that does kind of annoy me about the game design, it's the way the player characters are handled. You have the option during character creator to create a character with a number of character-build-y backgrounds, or use their pre-built characters that have existing stories. This choice is lose-lose.

A fully custom character is blank, unimportant. There's nothing special about them beyond their affinity with a certain orb and being Protagonist Man. Their background doesn't really matter, even as you express your personality. You have nothing behind you that meaningfully comes up or affects the story (no Gorion, etc) beyond your role in the conflict. In other words, there's not a lot of reason for you to exist except as a cypher for the named characters.

Playing one of the named characters also sucks, because you lose those the writing for those characters. If I'm stuck aping Karlach, I have no Karlach in my party. You barely even get voice acting once you choose to play those characters either. You effectively end up with less writing and characterization, which kind of sucks! Yes, you do get your backgrounds being looped in and mattering more, which is indeed something, but not enough.

There is secretly a third option that, the more I think about it, is the correct one, they just don't tell you it. You can choose your character background to be tied to the Dark Urge, which results in a lot unique interactions, gives your character an actual background and comes up, etc. They don't outright make this the main option presumably because it comes with a lot of baggage (which, yeah, it does), but it seems completely worth it by comparison to just flitting through the story as either a ghost or the phantom of a real character.

3. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective Remastered - 2023 - Steam - ★★★★★

Play Ghost Trick.

2. Armored Core VI - 2023 - Steam - ★★★★★

From Software continues to not miss. Fantastic game, some of the most satisfying mecha combat I've played. Story is great; it's still your usual "oops we're not explaining much other than in medias res or by circumstantial details" that From Soft has continued to double down on, but I really enjoy that stuff so hey. I 100%'d this game, got all the endings etc. Great stuff.

Really want some proper DLC so I can do even more, though.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - 2023 - Steam - ★★★★★

Let's face it: this wasn't going to end any other way. Breath of the Wild is probably my favorite game of all time, and this is basically just more of that, remixed and remastered into a Second Quest that builds on the first one.

Something I kept thinking about while playing is that while there is volumetrically more to do, more things happening, more mechanics, etc etc, the different approach it takes in terms of focus and approach doesn't make it necessarily a "strictly better" version of Breath of the Wild.

Breath of the Wild was deliberately spare, quiet, and minimalist. Like the name says, its about the quiet wilderness, a poignant world that you explore. Tears of the Kingdom drops much of that, in many ways turning into a kooky madcap version of BOTW. You don't spent nearly as much time smelling the roses and taking in the scenery, as you're often too busy blasting by using any number of the new movement abilities or combat tools or literal flying machines you can now Nuts and Bolts together.

It's a deliberate escalation, one that in my opinion requires the preceding part to work. They add together into one complete singular experience, rather than pulling against each other. That's awesome, exactly what I wanted. Now I get to have two favorite games of all time that are secretly just one-and-the-same.

Some minor thoughts:

1. Lots of great writing and characterization, built up well on BOTW there.

2. It's kind of funny how much it goes out of the way to avoid talking much about BOTW in case someone plays this game first.

3. The last of a Master mode this time around is kind of a bummer but oh well!

4. The vehicle crafting system and everything about it, including the way it plays into the existing physics system is fucking insane. Absolutely incredible game design. Bonkers.

I'm really curious how the hell they're going to follow these games up. Going back to square-0 from this formula- one that is so built up and diverse, seems like it'd be impossible to me. What the hell could you do? Looking forward to finding out.

#think piece #nonfiction #game of the year #video games #tears of the kingdom #armored core 6

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