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linisiane · 7 months

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The Self-Aware Player of Harry Du Bois

It's fascinating to me to think about how satire is used as the 'touch grass' or 'be fucking for real' genre. Oftentimes it's making fun of tropes/conventions by humorously contrasting them with reality, which is exactly what Disco Elysium is doing with the RPG!

It goes hand in hand with the idea of RPGs as escapist power fantasy. RPGs are often thought of as the ultimate self-insert fantasy by its detractors or worst players, ahem looking at all those DND horror stories about entitled mangsty murderhobos.

One of the most infamous criticisms of Disco Elysium is its lackluster combat.

ID A screenshot of a random forum discussion post by dungeon master Zed Duke of Banville. It reads: "Disco Elysium has neither combat nor exploration, and therefore is missing two of the three fundamental components (or sets of components) that define the RPG genre." End ID

The game has essentially bordered off your ability to make Harry into a power fantasy murderhobo because you just are physically unable to equip an longsword or cuisse to murder your average citizen on the street of Martinaise.

But even on a less mangsty level, it subverts a lot of the basic expectations of RPGs.

Like the encounter with the racist lorry driver! You never get the ability or quest to change his mind, you only choose how you react to him.

Where other RPGs might let you act as the white savior or the white knight of chivalric romance, no questions asked, you're changing the minds of everybody who's wrong so we can all get along, Disco Elysium really makes you confront your ability to whiteknight, makes you confront if whiteknighting is even helpful, and why you wanted to whiteknight in the first place.

It’s part of the fun/humor experience of Disco Elysium that you at first expect to solve the world’s problems with a couple quests and lines of ‘good’ dialogue and then get socked in the faced with the fact that yeah, you can’t do much, you’re one person, what did you expect, asshole? Cuno doesn't fucking care!

By subverting our RPG expectations, it forces us to become more aware that these expectations even exist and how they fall short of reality. Yet, despite this subversion, the world of Disco Elysium feels so much realer to us.

ID a screenshot of Disco Elysium dialogue YOU - "Don't call it a dump, you've made it nice and cosy here." NOVELTY DICEMAKER - "Yeah." She stares out of the window, not really hearing your words. "Or maybe it's the entire world that's cursed? It's such a precarious place. Nothing ever works out the way you wanted." "That's why people like role-playing games. You can be whoever you want to be. You can try again. Still, there's something inherently violent even about dice rolls." "It's like every time you cast a die, something disappears. Some alternative ending, or an entirely different world...." She picks up a pair of dice from the table and examines them under the light. End ID

Like, Neha is highlighting this little meta element of how you can stack your Harry in any RPG to pursue a certain ending or situation, but the actual outcome is still influenced by a dice roll out of your control.

A lot of the satirical humor in Disco Elysium comes from the absurdity that you can do everything right or everything wrong, and the dice can still fuck it up or save it for you—not just for things like high-fantasy attacks, but mundane things like remembering your name.

The dice are, at their core, about how RPGs aren't just for the control fantasy, of winning high-fantasy battles, but also can represent life as it is, mundane and uncontrollable.

Similarly, Harry is clearly written—complete with all the 'lore' that this would entail—to couch his RPG protagonist nature in the real.

If RPG characters are blank slates? Let's give ours amnesia! Need fast travel?! Kim teases the 41st Precinct for constantly running everywhere by calling it the Jamrock Shuffle. He needs to have deep and intimate conversations with everyone, even when they're strangers? Yeah, that's so weird we gave him the name 'Human Can-Opener,' and everybody remarks on his uncanny manipulation skills.

It's commenting on difference between controlling an RPG avatar and navigating in a human body.

As Kurvits said: “In reality we do not have control, or complete control, of our minds. Just like our body, it is something that we give-not even commands wishes to, and we hope it's gonna do it. We hope it's not gonna break down, we hope it's not gonna rebel against us.”

In one type of RPG fantasy, we don't even question our total control and even assume the joy is from the control.

But in Disco Elysium, we lack control and find joy in it anyway. That is the fun of the game making us, the players, 'self-aware' about its RPG elements, and it especially resonates with anybody not able-bodied, anybody neurodivergent.

#disco elysium #metas #My thoughts #harry du bois #harrier du bois #human can-opener #jamrock shuffle #yeah so im reposting my meta because i worked really hard but i feel like it was too long for anybody to appreciate :')

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dalishious · 8 months

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My Five Biggest Fears for Dragon Age: Dreadwolf

Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is highly anticipated by BioWare fans. At one point, I would consider myself to be excited for it too, however, unfortunately the long wait with zero information about the game has only wrecked my personal anticipation. Will my hype return once we actually start to get some regular news about the game? Most likely. But until that time comes, all I find myself doing is just… worrying.

These are the five biggest things I worry about.

5. Big, beautiful maps of nothing

In both Dragon Age: Inquisition and Mass Effect: Andromeda, most of the open world maps are very… empty. Instead of creating an adventurous feeling of excitement to explore, it just makes travelling those maps a tedious task. Games like The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim or the new Baldur’s Gate 3 have open maps too, but those developers actually made use of their space with level designs. Skyrim is full of caves, ruins, etc. content to stumble upon. So is BG3, as well as introducing new dynamics to a fight depending on which direction you approach the encounter from. These games prove an understanding of how to best equip an open world concept that BioWare has only executed in a few maps across both their most recent RPGs. I do not want to see Dragon Age: Dreadwolf be yet another case of luscious forests where developers spent far too much time making look visually beautiful, and not enough time actually filling with game content.

4. Shoddy attempts at retcon

For those of you who don’t know what “retcon” means, it is short for “retroactive continuity”, and refers to the phenomenon of fiction introducing new information that is inconsistent with past information. The purpose is to revise old material. Dragon Age: Inquisition had more than one attempts at retcon that were terribly executed. For example, the player is told not once, not twice, but three different times—as if repeating it enough will erase all the extensive lore up to that point saying otherwise—that the Dalish get rid of their mages if they have “too many”. This is despite the previous games and extended materials showing that the Dalish practically revere their mages.

Now, not all retcons are bad. For example, in Marvel Comics, the superhero Karma’s real name was recently retconned to be Xuân Cao Mạnh, a real Vietnamese name, after spending years and years with the made-up Vietnamese name, Xi'an Coy Man. This is an example of how retons can be used for a good purpose, like fixing a long-lasting mistake. But what exactly is the mistake in saying the Dalish are good people who don’t hate mages like most of Thedas? That was just a cheap, transparent excuse to villainize both elves and mages further.

Cheap, transparent excuses like that make me lose faith in BioWare’s writing. It concerns me with what other lore they view as needing “correcting” in order to reinforce their idea of Grey Morality™ where it doesn’t belong.

3. Imposter characters

One of the biggest grievances I had with Dragon Age: Inquisition, was how the Hawke written in that game was in no way the same Hawke I played in Dragon Age II. I understand that it would be impossible to capture the exact customized character, but the Hawke in DA:I was placed into the game with an anti-blood magic agenda, and wouldn’t shut up about it. This is hilarious, considering how many players chose to make their Hawke a blood mage personally!

With this in mind, I am terrified that my Inquisitor, who will very likely make an appearance in Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, will be used for whatever new agenda needs to be pushed. I better not hear a single anti-Dalish comment from my Lavellan, is all I’m saying.

2. Whitewashing ahoy

For all the talk about #diversity values, BioWare has a very extensive criminal record when it comes to whitewashing their own characters. Almost every single one of their most prominent visibly non-white characters have had their skin lightened or completely washed out, as well as ethnic features erased, at some point or another. This is why I cannot share any excitement or desire for existing characters to make a return; the fear that we’ll have to see Zevran next looking like Chris Hemsworth next haunts me too much.

But this particular fear runs even deeper than individual characters. Why? Because we know that Dragon Age: Dreadwolf will be taking place in northern Thedas, which up to this point has been consistently depicted as having largely non-white demographics. I’m not saying there are no white people in Tevinter, Antiva, etc., but I am saying that if I see the same mix of 80% pale tones and 20% “everyone else” we’ve gotten from the last three games, I will absolutely flip shit. White characters should be in the minority for a change. Otherwise, what is the point of shifting focus away from the dominantly white countries in the first place?

1. This will end of the Dragon Age franchise

Is this the most likely to happen of all fears? No; it is probably the least. But after the pathetic failure that was Anthem and the lacklustre response to Mass Effect: Andromeda, I would not be surprised if BioWare is on thin ice in EA’s eyes. (Which is ironic, considering the demands made by EA to chase after multiplayer fads and micro-transactions are what got BioWare into such a mess in the first place.) Electronic Arts is a garbage company run by garbage people. That much has been proven time and again. The executives behind BioWare itself aren’t clean, either. Unfortunately it will be average employee that suffers the most punishment and blame if the game does not meet the likely very high standards set out for it. In some ways, they are almost set up to fail.

It’s not fair, and there’s not we can really do about it, because the gaming industry is run by selfish idiots. It’s because of this that if events come to pass that the Dragon Age franchise was put “on hold indefinitely” so BioWare can work on clunking out an Anthem sequel, I would be very upset, but not very surprised.

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Times are really tough for me, and all my patron supporters are greatly appreciated! If you like my work, please consider becoming one yourself, and I'll be forever grateful!

#dragon age #dadw #dragon age dreadwolf #dreadwolf #bioware #meta

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txttletale · 9 months

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I just wanted to let you know that I just found your tumblr within the past week and you have immediately become my 2nd favorite tumblr, being only behind Blogatog. Love your ttrpg takes.

Anywho, you said to ask about flags, so what is your biggest/are your biggest red flags when it comes to ttrpg design?

thank you! i'm glad you enjoy my silly little posts. anyways i think my biggest red flag is unintentionality--the feeling that the writer of a TTRPG has done something by 'default', the inability to put myself in their shoes and understand (or even better, be told by the text itself) the reason why a particular decision has been made.

one of the biggest places this rears its head is in terms of tone and voice. let me quote jay dragon's really good the storyteller technique:

Another advantage of getting to know the narrator of your RPG is that it helps mitigate unconscious bias in your design. Dungeons & Dragons has a notably anthropological narrative voice, explaining other cultures and creatures like a scientist in the field. The language of D&D mimics the writing style of mid-century scientists traveling to “exotic” locations and cataloging non-Western experiences as part of a documentation of the Other. It’s easy for newer designers to want to “write a game like D&D” without regard for how even the narrative voice of Dungeons & Dragons carries unintended political baggage. Is a bird’s-eye and judgemental perspective really the energy you want to bring to your whimsical fantasy world? Or is there another perspective within your world that can be more useful, and allow you to find new perspectives on the world you’ve created.

narrative tone is a choice--the attempt to use a 'neutral' tone for rules text and description is also a choice, how formal and how informal you get with it is a choice, and when i read a text that seems to have made that choice thoughtlessly it imo bodes very poorly for the rest of the game.

other examples of this kind of unintentionality are games that have a comabt system despite not being about combat in any way--games with equipment rules despite them not setting out to tell the sort of story where which sword or gun a character has matters--games that measure themselves in exact distances without actually using a battlemap--&c.

while most of this unintentionality takes the form of 'falling back onto what DND does' because DND is the market leader and many people's first TTRPG, so imitating it without purpose is something that both cynical market-share chasers & unexperienced designers without a wide range of expereicne can do--it's absolutely not unique to it. one form of unintentionality i see a lot in indie TTRPG circles is creating far more Moves for your PBtA game than necessary--clearly more out of a sense that 'AW/MotW/Masks has a Move for this' than any specific understanding of what that move will do in your game

in game design--as in any art--there is no such thing as a 'neutral' choice or a non-choice. there are only choices, and how much someone's thought about these choices is important!

#ask #aork14 #nicey ask :)#ttrpg

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rpgsandbox · 3 months

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Welcome to Yeld! If this is your first time visiting the Magical Land, you're about to discover a hidden world full of adventures and danger! If you've discovered Yeld before, get ready to continue your adventures with a brand new book full of exciting new options and improvements!

The Magical Land of Yeld: 2nd Edition is an all-ages tabletop RPG with a focus on teamwork, exploration and shared storytelling. Our new edition refines and polishes the easy to learn Yeld ruleset and offers new Jobs, new art and lore, new monsters and plenty of quality of life improvements! Check out our Patch Notes to see what's new in Yeld: 2nd Edition!

Backwards compatible! Yeld: 2nd Edition is fully compatible with all of our previously published expansions. No need to re-buy any of those Job Guides! We appreciate your investment and assure you that you'll be able to continue to use your collection of Yeld expansions!

In The Magical Land of Yeld you'll take on the roll of children from our world (called Friends) who discover a land of magic and adventure hidden on the other side of a secret door! Take on heroic Jobs like Shepherd and Witch and set out on a quest across the Magical Land to challenge the infamous Hunters of Yeld and win their keys so you can unlock the door and return home!

But hurry! If you turn 13 while in Yeld you'll become a monster, and you'll never be able to go home again!

In each Yeld adventure the Game Master leads players through a story full of challenges and monsters, to a final confrontation with a Boss Monster! If the players can defeat the Boss Monster they'll collect treasure and Reward Dice that they can use to customize their Friends!

As players continue their adventures they'll be able to take on the Hunters of Yeld. Each Hunter is a powerful Boss Monster with their own unique story, adventure and treasure. Defeating the Hunters awards the players with their Key, and advanced the players to the next Rank. where they can equip their Friends with more powerful equipment and unlock new Advanced Jobs and benefits!

Once the player defeat all 7 Hunters, collect their keys and advance to Rank 4 they can unlock the magic door and return home! Or they can choose to confront the sinister Vampire Prince Dragul and continue their adventures in Yeld!

New to Yeld? Download the full 1st Edition Rulebook for free! We're proud of our game and we think the best way to learn about Yeld is to get your hands on it! That's why we're offering the original Yeld 1st Edition rulebook for free! Download it and see what our game is all about! Building Adventures: Adventures in Yeld are a story that you create and tell together. In each game of Yeld the Game Master will guide players through a story. But once the game ends the role of GM will pass to a new player. You'll tell the new GM what you’d like to see in your next game (More sword fights! Explore the Ogre Caves! Learn to cook Snake Cakes!) and the new GM will build a new adventure for you to play, using your suggestions to continue the story where the last GM left off. You’ll take turns as Game Master, making sure each player gets a chance to shape the story. We think you’ll discover that your adventures are more fun because they’re stories we’ve created together!

Fights: Fights in Yeld take place on an 8x8 grid called the Action Board and are similar to video games like Final Fantasy Tactics or Fire Emblem. We've taken inspiration from classic fantasy video games to provide deep turn based, team based action! In Yeld you’ll win fights with teamwork, combo building and improvisation, and every Friend will get a chance to shine! Here's the basics rules for fights:

Travel and time: Time and distance are important in Yeld. As you travel you’ll create a map that will show you where you’ve been and help you keep track of every town, cave and castle you discover. Traveling takes time, so you’ll mark off each day on your calendar. Yeld is full of special Holidays like the Blue Wind Kite Flying Festival and Black Opera Tournament, and if you arrive in the right town in time for these holidays you can participate in special events to gain unique rewards!

You may have arrived in Yeld as children, but each day you'll get older, and if you turn 13 while you’re still in Yeld you’ll become a monster! You’ll take on a Monster Job (like Vampire or Deep Mage) and be stuck in Yeld forever! Your time in Yeld is a race against the clock to see if you can unlock the door home before you become monsters!

Speaking of Monsters... Yeld is full of strange and creepy creatures. Not everything you meet in Yeld wants to eat you, but Vampires, Fairy Soldiers, Mermaid Raiders, Toothfacer Bandits, Tunnel Mummies, Serpent Oracles, Scuba Snakes and all kinds of horrible creatures are lurking around every corner and in every cave, and their favorite prey is young heroes! We’ll be providing a whole bunch of neat monsters for you to choose from, so you’ll be able to fill your fights with all kinds of fun challenges. But our game will also come with a revised Monster Formula, allowing you to easily create custom creatures for your Friends to face!

Lots of comics! We like to present our rules visually. While Yeld features a full comprehensive game text it also has lots of instructional comics to help make learning the rules simple and easy! Plus, comics are fun! Here's a comic about using magic:

Creating characters in Yeld is an ongoing process that continues even after your adventure starts! Your characters, called Friends, start as normal children from our world. Each Friend is between the age of 7 and 12, and each Friend Type (like Liar, Big Sister or Brat) has a different set of Core dice, Special dice and personality traits. You'll choose your Friend Type and age before your first game.

Once you step through the magic door and start to explore Yeld you’ll get to take on a heroic Job like Witch, Black Mage or Oathbreaker. These Jobs will give you powerful abilities that allow you to face down dangerous monsters and take on difficult adventures. They'll also allow you to customize your Friend with new Core dice and Special dice and new weapons.

As you set out on your quest and explore Yeld you'll have even more chances to customize your Friend. You may decide to switch Jobs, taking some of what you learned from your last Job to a new one. You'll collect Special dice and win Good or Evil dice through heroic deeds or cunning and underhanded acts. You'll discover treasure and trade for loot. You may even go on special quests to learn powerful Advanced Jobs like Vampire Hunter and Drudge Angel! In each adventure you'll have an opportunity to continue to customize and build your Friend!

If you can't escape Yeld before you turn 13 you'll take a Monster Job like Deep Mage and Serpent Oracle. Monster Jobs represent a change in your body and mind as your Friend grows older and becomes more accustomed to Yeld. Being a monster can be scary, but it can also be exciting! Some Friends discover that they love the power that comes with being a monster. And just because you've become a monster doesn't mean you're a bad person. You'll continue to travel with your Friends and help the people of Yeld. Being a monster will just make your adventures more... interesting!

Here's an example: Kiandra starts her adventures as a Big Sister. When she first comes to Yeld she chooses the Oathbreaker Job. She focuses on heavy armor and strong attacks to protect her Friends. Later, she goes on a quest to unlock the Boulder Knight Advanced Job, offering a nearly impenetrable defense to her Friends! When Kiandra turns 13 she chooses the Werewolf Monster Job. Being a Werewolf is a big change for Kiandra. She still wants to protect her Friends, but now when she loses control she can be a danger to them. Thankfully her supernatural strength and furry fury makes the challenges of being a Werewolf worthwhile. And the Special dice she collected as an Oathbreaker and Boulder Knight still help her protect her Friends as a Werewolf!

Yeld is a vast and mysterious land, built on the back of the slumbering Serpent God and harboring ancient secrets. No one knows how old the Magical Land is, and no one has ever seen its edges. The Fairies claim to be the oldest of Yeld’s people, and even they have barely explored Yeld’s secrets. Much of the Magical Land is dangerous wilderness, wildlands where Monsters roam and magic runs free. The people of Yeld make their homes in areas of relative safety, where magical disasters are rarer and Monsters less likely to hunt. Even these territories can be dangerous, and Yeld is littered with the ruins of crumbled cities and lost civilizations. Few kingdoms last long in the Magical Land.

he lands and climates of Yeld are varied. Harsh mountains give way to rainy foothills and plains. Rivers crisscross the lands, intersecting in swampy marshes. Deep forests stretch from coast to coast, and great oceans divide distant land masses. Burning desserts, frozen tundra and even stranger lands can be found in Yeld’s most remote regions. Yeld has always been a place of magic. The Fairies are the oldest inhabitants of Yeld, and they say that when they made their home there they found magic buried deep in the darkest forests and caverns. Some scholars suspect Black Magic is a gift of forgotten gods, all that is left after their magic destroyed them. Others think that all magic comes from the same source, the sacred and unknowable well of power that spawned the great ancient Witches and other monstrous god creatures.

Yeld is the name of the vast Magical Land, but also the name of a Kingdom that lies at the heart of that land. King's People. However, the King’s People are not the only ones who make the Kingdom their home. Fairies, Goblins, Mermaids, Vampires, Squidfolk, Toothfacers, Pi-Rats and the Animal Tribes all live within the territories of the Kingdom, as do other stranger creatures.

The Kingdom is ruled over by its regent, the Vampire Prince Dragul, and a council of nobles, knights, advisors and generals. The Prince and many members of this council are immortal Vampires, and have been alive and in power for over 1000 years since the Prince stole the kingdom from the rightful Princess after the death of the Old King. The Prince’s chief lieutenant’s are the notorious Hunters of Yeld, powerful warlords and monsters who bend their knee only to Dragul. As a reward for loyalty the Prince has given each Hunter control over one of the Kingdom’s territories. Some Hunters have interest in governing, or at least maintaining, their territories. Others have left the lands in their charge to ruin, in favor of waging war or running criminal enterprises such as the notorious Crimson Ministry.

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Kickstarter campaign ends: Sun, February 11 2024 6:00 AM UTC +00:00

Website: [Yeld Stuff] [facebook] [twitter] [instagram]

#RPG #kickstarter #The Magical Land of Yeld #all ages game

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dice-wizard · 1 year

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Hello everyone looking for a new fantasy tabletop game!

As it nears backer release, there's never been a better time to pre-order Exalted: Essence

Pre-ordering gets you access to the beta document and the early release backer pdf.

What's Exalted you ask?

Exalted is an epic fantasy TTRPG where players play the titular Exalted - humans elevated to superhuman/demigod status - in a wild and unique setting that draws inspiration from the ancient world rather than medieval Europe. Creation (the setting) draws key inspirations from the entire world. If you're used to having to make yourself visible on your own in other fantasy, there's probably some representation in Exalted.

It has explicit queer and trans themes about finding your people, creating your own identity, and having the power to punch back at the people who hate you. This isn't incidental. The writing staff is queer as hell. You can hear me break this down more here.

Curious to learn all you can? Well you can get a detailed overview of the entire game on the podcast Systematic Understanding of Everything hosted by myself, @presidentofbirds and @phillycuriosity

If I'm used to D&D 5e why should I pick this up?

Well, I presume if you're reading this post you're already interested in trying something new, so:

The entire game in one book. Exalted: Essence is self contained, character types, equipment, enemies and all!

An exciting style of fantasy that's different than classic D&D but like, textually gay, and very easy to have scenes like ballroom fights, epic galas, and touching homoerotic healing scenes - no house rules required.

But also, tactical depth and combat you can really sink your teeth into if fighting monsters and villains is your bag.

An excuse to use all your d10s at once

Character building and advancement mechanics designed to be familiar to a 5e audience. Characters "level up" based on story beats, and have Advantages, which are functionally similar to class and race features.

A world welcoming to most heroic archetypes, so it's easy to convert your favorite OC.

Extremely kissable dragons, demons, gods, elementals, ghosts, faeries, and unnamed ancient horrors

I'm a fan of a previous edition, what's Essence got for me?

Design focused on alleviating some of the previous versions' missteps

Virtues are back, baby

2e fans will find it an improvement from second edition's mechanical strengths - it's pretty easy to convert all your favorite 2e Charms to XS.

Streamlined versions of familiar rules to make it painless to introduce new friends to the game we love.

The Cliff's notes on Ex3's new Exalt types.

Did I mention it's all of Exalted in one book?

How does it play?

d10 dice pool looking for 7,8,9 as successes. 10s count as two successes, which can lead to explosive, heroic outcomes

Combat system designed to keep all players engaged the entire time - even characters who aren't focused on fighting at all.

Combat also narrows the gap between experienced and new players and players who want to win at RPGs and players who just wanna vibe so GMs aren't tearing their hair out trying to balance encounters.

Social system designed to resolve in a single roll so you can be immersed in role play and not interrupt it with constant rolling - without sacrificing a variety of social approaches

"Ventures" system for characters working on long term projects from traveling across the world to crafting magical wonders to building communities without forcing this to be "downtime" activity

Characters have access to Charms - exception-based special powers that make them extremely good at whatever they focus on.

It's easily my favorite game (and the project I developed that I'm the proudest of), so I'm excited for everyone to try it out.

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randomthefox · 1 month

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Thinking about the Dragon Quest games, it's funny how they started playing around with the formula they themselves had established as early as the 4th game x3

In 4 you spend the first entire half of the game playing short chapters as the various party members the hero recruits, playing through their backstory and learning WHY they go off to join up with the hero. One of which being a shop keeper who has an entire item shop management simulator mini game built into his chapter. It's only after finishing all those chapters that you FINALLY start playing as the actual hero of the game and go through the traditional journey and meet all these characters you played as and they join up like any other given RPG adventure.

In 5 you start out AS a party member in your Dads adventure group being guided along on rails by him walking around on the overworld map as he quests to find the fated hero. Then YOU spend most of the game questing to find the fated hero, collecting these legendary weapons and armor (that are the weapons and armor the main character of DQ4 used) which YOU are incapable of equipping because you're not the fated hero. And it eventually turns out the fated hero is your eventual child all along. So then you spend the last chapter of the game traveling to acquire the last of the legendary items to equip your kids with, because only they can use the legendary heros sword and whatnot.

#dragon quest

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vintagerpg · 11 months

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For a guy who has never played nor run a merchant-based RPG campaign, I sure do love a merchant RPG sourcebook. This is Far Trader (1999), a mercantile campaign frame for GURPS Traveller. It’s pretty great!

There is a density of information here that is a little alarming and, compared to other mercantile sourcebooks I have known and loved, it feels far more complete. Surprising no-one, probably, I am not the most economics-minded person, so I never really noticed how broadly drawn something like Dark Sun’s Dune Trader is until I peeped this. In comparison, Dune Trader is like “get a wagon, go places.” No wonder I never played a mercantile RPG, you need a book like this to know what to do!

There is a bunch of mechanical stuff that is good and supports the idea of a commerce-based RPG — character templates, new skills and such — but it’s the chapters on the interstellar economy that seems the most important, as they really lay out a gamified explanation of trade mechanisms and finance in a way that showcases how this sort of campaign can be fun and exciting to play. Maybe. Turns out there is a fair bit of bookkeeping, which is not my kind of fun. But these chapters kind of equip you to be able to handwave the numbers and make abstract profits and loss feel like they have weight. This stuff would put me to sleep in the real world, but in space, with laser guns and clear rules on how to defraud banks? Sign me up. RPGs are weird.

#RPG #TTRPG #Tabletop RPG #roleplaying game #D&D #Dungeons & Dragons #GURPS #Traveller #Steve Jackson Games #Far Trader

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satoshi-mochida · 5 months

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Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road delayed to 2024, Switch beta test set for March 2024

Gematsu Source

LEVEL-5 has delayed soccer RPG Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road from its previously planned 2023 release window to 2024 worldwide. It will be available for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Switch, iOS, and Android. A worldwide beta test demo for Switch will be held in March 2024 with support for English, Japanese, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese language options.

Here is an overview of the game’s features:

New Features: Revamped Match System / Team Building / Player Rarities / Spirits / Focus / Scramble / Zone / Special Tactics / Fighting Spirit / Barrier System / Shot Chain / Shot Blocking / Long Shot / Win Treasures / Pre-Match Briefing / Equipment / Skill Switching / Hero Tokens / Ability Learning Board / Special Move Manuals / Passive Skill Manuals / Live Commentary / Character Voices

Story Mode: Most Animated Content in Series History (Animation: MAPPA) / Player Scouting / Story-Matches / Soccer Battle / Focus Battles / Regional Qualifiers / National Tournament / Practice Matches / Special Training

Chronicle Mode: Chronicle Competition Routes / Player’s Universe / Inazuma V Caravan Time Travel / Over 4,500 Characters Including Past Players / Over 4,500 Saveable Players

Online Player-versus-Player: Victory Road Online Tournament / Free Matches / Player Ranks / Rankings / Seasonal Management / Seasonal Player Collection / Additional Players and Teams Added Online

Other: Library / Scene Archive / Cast Switching Feature for Event Scenes / Player Encyclopedia / Team Encyclopedia / Toy Integration Feature / Additional Stories and Systems via Season Pass / Additional Stories and Systems via Expansion Pass

The worldwide beta test demo will include the following features:

Single-Player: Team Selection / Difficulty Selection

Online Player-versus-Player: Random Matches / Private Matches / Team Selection / Character Progression / Save Function (no transfer to the main game)

Story Mode: Chapter 1

Watch a new trailer and gameplay video below. Visit the official website here.

Trailer #4

English

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Japanese

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Traditional Chinese

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Strategy Meeting: "Vs Eastwind Peregrine"

English

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Japanese

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Traditional Chinese

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#Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road #Inazuma Eleven #Level 5 #Sport game #RPG #Gematsu #Youtube

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legionofmyth · 12 days

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Traveller 2E: World & Universe Building

🚀 Ready to master the universe? Dive into our latest video where we explore the endless possibilities of world building and sector development in Traveller 2nd Edition by Mongoose Publishing. From crafting detailed star systems to designing intriguing planets, this guide is your first step towards creating unforgettable adventures. Don't miss out on becoming the ultimate space architect. #TravellerRPG #WorldBuilding #SpaceExploration #TabletopGaming #RPGDesign

Traveller Starter Set Traveller 2E Core Rulebook (2022 Update) Embark on an unparalleled journey through the cosmos with our latest deep dive into world building and sector development in Traveller 2nd Edition by Mongoose Publishing. In this video, we’ll guide you through the intricate process of crafting your own universes, ensuring every star system and planet holds a story waiting to be…

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blag-fidray · 2 months

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#traveller #traveller rpg #equipment #repulsor

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uh-e-rinnie · 2 years

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[click/tap images for better quality]

(1/3) of my TSS RPG au, originally posted on IG

Character Details and Backgrounds underneath:

[This was formatted for Instagram!]

Logan

Prodigy turned Professor of the Academy of Knowledge

Character Class: Magician

Weapon Class: Catalyst

Specialization: Time and Space

Associated Titles:

Royal Magician of the Kingdom of Creare

[Text Content]

Character Background [Lore]

There is much praise for Creare's Royal Magician. Despite his cold and icy gaze, Logan has the heart of a humble man, shaped by hardship and trial.

Logan was not born a magician, unlike his peers in the academy. A simple farm boy living with his parents, poor as they may have been, the young boy was determined to pursue a life of knowledge with the support of his guardians through every step. Poverty be damned, the boy held his head up through every step he had to take.

One day, while out staring into the deep blues of the night sky, a star fell into the young boy's hands, and in the blink of an eye, magic bloomed on his palms and through his veins. A case, not unheard of, but extremely rare; A gift from the heavens above, some say, only given to those who are destined for greatness.

Of course, Logan would roll his eyes, and simply state in a monotone voice; Coincidences.

Still, many believe that to be the case; For little farm boy Logan, not having the gold or silver to afford the teachings of skilled magicians, took it upon himself to turn this blessing into a miracle. Stars blooming from tired palms, restless eyes scanning through every word in every book he could find, whatever may help this star shine brighter.

Such hard work was deserving of a reward, and rewarded he was. Why, anyone who catches the eye of the previous royal magicians from the Academy of Knowledge, must be quite the special star, wouldn't you agree?

Role in Party [Position]

Logan is a magician that specializes in space-based magic, heavily on elements of Time and Gravity, as well as common elements that may be associated with space (See: Fire, Electricity, Water, Earth, etc.). He uses a book (Letters from the Universe) passed down onto him by the previous Royal Magician as a catalyst for his magic.

Logan is well equipped in using his magic for combat, making him a good Damage Dealer. His range allows him to fight from up close and from afar, however, it has been observed that the closer he is to the target, the more damage he deals. The father he is, the quicker he is able to cast more combat magic.

Though he is more common with combat magic, he may also serve as a Support magician. With the ability to increase his party members' fight speed, or decrease enemy speed. He may also increase his party member's gravity to increase the weight of their damage, of course, this is only applicable to physical fighters or members' with physical weapons.

Logan also has minor healing abilities, but does not use them often as it is not his speciality. 'Leave it to the Sunshine Frog', he'd say.

Virgil

Odd Magician found on the outskirts of Creare

Character Class: Magician

Weapon Class: Catalyst

Specialization: Unknown - Not Previously Recorded

Associated Titles:

Wanderer to and from nowhere.

Character Background [Lore]

While only few know about this strange wanderer, many have seen him soaring in the sky as he travels from one kingdom to the next, never staring for longer than a week or two. Those who have interacted with the wanderer describes him as quiet, almost docile despite his rough appearance; Speaking in hushed tones and staring at the world around him wide-eyed and curious. For that reason, amongst many others, the wanderer was welcomes as he never seemed like a threat.

What may be even more odd about this wanderer is the question of what he is. Many had mistaken him for one of the beastfolk; of the avian kind, wings and all. Upon being questioned so, the wanderer would shake his head and shrug, before moving onwards on his path, unwilling to continue the conversation.

A particular debate surrounding the wanderer is the color of the feathers on his back, and the mop of hair on his head; Some say it would be a deep dark black, too dark, almost like the shadows beneath his feet. Others would say it would be as pale as the moon's glow.

Currently, the strange wanderer takes rest on the outskirts of the kingdom of Creare, garnering the attention of many of its people. Not just for the strange wanderer's eccentricities and mysteries, but for the new development in the wanderer's routine;

It's been over three months, with no tells of leaving anytime soon. How odd, this wanderer.

Role in Party [Position]

Virgil is a magician that uses a floating crystal (Eye of the Storm) as a magic catalyst in battle, such is a gift from a member of his previous party. He has two forms that he can interchange in battle, with the condition that he must give his previous form time to recharge. His role and range in the party depends heavily on the type of form he's taken.

Flight form is similar to his dormant form at night; His hair and wings turn a bright white, with his wings growing slightly larger than in his other form. His speed increases greatly, but his strength lowers just as much. This is his best form to take role as a Support, as this form consists of magic that can boost the other members.

Fight form is similar to his dormant form at day; His hair and wings turns a deep black, with his wings growing denser and feathers sharper. His speed decreases greatly, but his strength increases just as much. This is his best form to take role as a Damage Dealer, as this form consists of magic that can boost himself.

Changing forms while a form is still partially recharges is dangerous, and thus, not advisable.

Other Concept Stuff

Design: Logan appears tall and lean, with tan skin, dark blue eyes and black, slicked-back, hair. He wears rectangular shaped glasses with golden frames, attached to a golden beaded glasses chain.

He wears a dark blue tunic with gold accents; You may also notice golden planets, moons, stars, orbits as well as a large golden sun with the silhouette of a crescent moon in the middle. There is a noticeable sparkle of glitter surrounding those golden shapes. These golden swirls and shapes are also seen on his sleeves.

Two brown belts, with one connecting to a small pouch, hangs loosely around his waist and over his hips. Two ribbons are connected to one of the belts, a red and cyan crystal hanging from a respective ribbon.

Under his tunic is a black button up shirt and a blue tie.

He wears long fingerless black gloves that take up most of his forearm, with gold lining at the end of the glove and around his wrist. A blue crystal is attached to the glove, below his knuckles.

He wears black pants that are tucked into a pair of brown and white leather high boots that reach a few inches below his knees. These boots are accented with gold and a blue crystal is noticeable above the bridge of his feet.

There is a noticeable pin on the right of his chest, colored gold and shaped like a thing four-pointed star, with arrows and a golden ring around it. Much like a clock or compass.

His weapon is a dark blue floating book, with two dark blue ribbons attached between the pages with golden stars hanging from the tips, serving as a sort of book-mark. There are rings, similar to his pin on the upper right corner and lower left corner of the book.

Design: Virgil is a pale skinned man with a short frame, a short mop of hair on his head, with a noticeable braid of hair starting from his temples. His hair switches between black and white, depending on the time of day.

His ears are slightly pointed, with a black ring helix piercing on his left ear, and a black studded earring with a purple crystal hanging from both.

He has heterochromic eyes, with his right eye being purple and the left being green, with a black/purple ring of color under his eyes.

He wears a cropped hoodie, it is a pale lavender, with three patches of various shades of purple (with two being plaid) sewn together in the hoodie's lower half. The hood is dark purple and plaid, with two dark purple hoodie strings.

He has long gray half gloves, starting from under his shoulder to a few inches over his wrist. The gloves are secured on him through black strings, on his shoulders and wrist. There are three, beads around the string on his left wrist, colored in yellow, green and orange. Similarly to Logan, he has purple crystals on his gloves, under his knuckles.

He wears baggy dark gray pants that hang from his waist, secured by a brown belt, with two long belt straps hanging from it. There is also a gold strap on the same side, with red, blue, and cyan circles on it.

He wears long brown boots with black accents, stopping several inches below his knee.

He has thick wings that switch between black and white together with his hair. Though the wings do look bird-like, feathers and all, none can point out the type of bird it can be associated with.

Virgil also has black long nails with sharp tips.

His weapon is a crystal orb that consistently swirls between the colors black and white, usually towards its center. Floating around the orb are two golden shells shaped like wings turning inwards toward the orb.

this was tiring! but i missed designing characters so yay!

edit: 7/5/22 ID added.

#wooooo #look at em #rin tss rpg au #this was totally genshin inspired #sanders sides #logan sanders #virgil sanders #rinart #ts sides #ts logan #ts virgil #ts art #tss

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theresattrpgforthat · 8 months

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Are there any RPGs that would work well for a Touhou-styled game? What are your thoughts on recreating something as complex as a bullet hell shooter in tabletop form? Thank you!!!

THEME: Touhou Bullet-Shooters

Hello friend! Bullet Hell Shooters are not usually the kind of games I like to play. I prefer social drama over physical combat, although I definitely understand the allure.

I looked up Touhou and as far as I understand, it’s a shoot-em-up game in which the protagonists protect a haven for yoke called Gensokyo from various threats, or “incidents’. What I understand about bullet shooters is that knowing your enemy is key; so repeated runs or play-throughs are expected so that you can get used to enemy attack patterns, etc.

Now, I'm not a dungeon-crawling aficionado here, but from what I've heard about dungeon-crawls - that is, if you think from the point of view that rogue-like video games provide the same level of grinding and failure as a bullet-shooter. Dungeon crawls have the ability provide the same kind of feeling, because your characters have to travel the same ground over and over again. The difference might be that in dungeon crawls and rogue-likes, it's not just the player getting better - the character also receives upgrades in the form of equipment, or abilities.

So when it came to recommendations for this post, I found a few games that might vibe with Touhou themes, but I also tried finding some other rules systems that you could potentially play around with to find the style of play you're looking for.

Next Dream, by ohnoproblems.

A gmless, diceless game for 3-6 players using the belonging outside belonging system. You will need to know the rules detailed in Chapter 1: Playing the Dream found in the full rulebook to get the most out of this play kit.

Based on the Touhou series by ZUN, Next Dream lets you create and play your own stories in its world. Play as one of the colorful and eccentric denizens of Gensokyo as well as its undergirding social, metaphysical, and narrative pressures. Plot festivals and crash incidents; delve into the arcane and mingle with the divine; fill the skies with your own histories, emotions, and desires as written in the language of magical artillery.

I’m including this game even though it doesn’t really fit into the bullet-shooter vibe, because it’s inspired by Touhou. Your characters might be involved in conflict, but you could also take actions like “fall out of love” or “delve into old knowledge.” Belonging Outside Belonging games ask players to play both a character and a setting element, facilitating GM-less play. These games are usually very exploratory and emotional. I suppose the answer that the designer had for your question about recreating a bullet-hell-shooter was to… well not do that. Instead their goal was to focus on the story elements of Touhou that felt meaningful and abstract the combat out to look at the emotions underneath it.

This World Summons Too Many Heroes, by Nick Duff.

This World Summons Too Many Heroes!! is a tabletop rpg about regular people being pulled into a fantasy world to become heroes, demon lords, goblins, talking swords, or any kind of adventurer you could think of! Go on an isekai adventure in the Kingdoms of Ceria, where summoning scrolls have been scattered across the countryside and people are recklessly using them to steal people from other worlds and bring them into this one with new powers gifted to them by a goddess of reincarnation.

A hidden magical world is basically an isekai, so this game has some thematic elements that might resemble the setting of Touhou. The idea in this game is that people from other worlds keep being brought into one kingdom, and the sheer amount of them is causing a lot of problems. If Gensokyo is letting too many things past its barrier, perhaps the problems in This World Summons Too Many Heroes look pretty similar. The Goddesses Expansion is an add-on to this anime game, and it comes with new classes, new enemies, and new toys to play with in the same fantastical world.

I’m also including this game because it’s based off of the LUMEN system, which prioritizes combat and making your characters feel powerful. If you are interested in dynamic combat and the ability to face off against a vast number of foes, you should definitely check this system out. I even have a LUMEN folder where you can see a number of different themes!

Gun Witch - Lead, Thread and the Dead, by Blackberry & Holly.

GUN-WITCH: LEAD, THREAD, AND THE DEAD is a role-playing game designed for two or more players, centred on making your way in a world wracked by war and decay, where even the gods are struggling to find their footing. It’s a game about building community and connection inimical to the very context, about finding common ground with people who view things in a way you never could, and about doing what you can to bear a weight that you can’t let drop, no matter how much you might want to let go. It’s also about the weight and power of violence, wielding your weapon properly, and working astonishing miracles of life and death at the end of the barrel of a gun.

This is another game that lists Touhou in its list of inspirations, although it also digs into the western genre to give you a world full of danger and violence. This game also has guns as an integral part of combat - so expect to have the ability to shoot through your problems. Your characters are Covens of different orders, all of which take different jobs and walk the Sacred Path of the Six Chambers. The art really draws me in for this one.

Knave, by Questing Beast.

KNAVE is a rules toolkit by the creator of Maze Rats and The Alchemist's Repose for running old school fantasy RPGs without classes. If you are introducing a group of new players to OSR games, Knave allows them to make characters and understand all the rules in minutes. Every PC is a Knave, a tomb-raiding, adventure-seeking ne’er-do-well who wields a spell book just as easily as a blade. This is an ideal system for players who like to switch up their character’s focus from time to time and don’t like being pigeonholed. A PC’s role in the party is determined largely by the equipment they carry.

Knave is a pretty well-known game in the OSR scene. OSR stands for Old-School Revival, which is a very popular sphere for dungeon-crawlers. Your characters are pretty small and squishy, and you are raiding tombs. It’s very likely that your character dies during play - and you’ll have to create new characters to throw into the dungeon and try to solve problems that you didn’t survive the first time.

RUNE, by Gila RPGs.

You are an Engraved. Cursed to wander the shattered world of Obron, you seek the power to take back control of your fate. Explore Realms, kill Rune Lords, and carve the power of fate into your very being.

RUNE is a solo tabletop RPG inspired by the soulslike genre of video games, including Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring. In RUNE, you are a wanderer of the lands of Obron. The world is dangerous, but full of power if you are willing to reach out and take it. RUNE combines narrative exploration with tactical combat to capture the environmental storytelling and high stakes combat you love in soulslike games.

What stands out for me in the RUNE pitch is the following quote: “Enemies have movesets that are determined by dice rolls, telegraphing their intentions and giving you a moment to react.” The designer also describes RUNE combat as a “puzzle” that you will have to solve - which sounds similar to the idea of learning enemy patterns in order to overcome them. It’s not going to work for group play, but it’s something that you could play around in solo mode and maybe steal some ideas for something else!

Breathless Games (SRD designed by Fari RPGs)

Breathless Games are games about characters who are getting into more and more dangerous situations, with depleting resources that can only be re-charged whenever you decide to “take a breath.” The biggest problem about taking a breath is that, well, the GM gets to advance the situation, make it worse. There are a number of Breathless games that have been made for different genres, quite a few of which focus on horror and survival, but there’s also a Magical Girl game, a monster-hunting game, and a southern gothic game! You can check out my Breathless folder to see what I’ve found on Itch so far.

Other Games I’ve Recommended

Mystic Lilies, by Will Uhl at Merry Mancer Games.

Blood Neon, by Rad Mad. 11dragonkid's video about Infinite Revolution also mentions Touhou games in terms of game feel, even though the game itself is in space.

I’d also recommend checking out my Hellbusting Games post, particularly the bit about Hell Grinders.

#tabletop games #indie ttrpgs #dnd #game recommendations #asks #touhou #shoot-em-ups

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fluffypichu876 · 5 months

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In retribution to my dear mutual @prototypelq's post, I will also be writing about my 3 favorites games of all time! Making this list was a bit easier than I expected, but because I have too many beloved games to choose from expect a lot of honorable mentions hehehe

And the first game on the list is, of course:

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

It's no surprise that this game would be here. I mean, it's not like I replay it every year!

SOTN is a game of the genre "Metroidvania". You probably know this term if you have heard of games like Hollow Knight or Ori, but if you don't, basically, a Metroidvania game takes place on a huge map consisting of interconnected smaller rooms. When playing, you'll travel and explore around these rooms, defeating enemies and unlocking new abilities that allow you to acess new areas that were unaccessible before.

The OG Metroid on the NES can be considered the very first game of this genre, but Super Metroid and SOTN together were responsible for defining its standards and popularity today. Hence the term, "Metroidvania".

This game is a heck lot of fun to play. Dracula's Castle is huge and full of interesting areas to explore, filled with enemies and secrets of all kinds. SOTN is based on an RPG-like stat and level system, and you gradually grow stronger as you defeat foes, gain EXP, and level up. Weapons, armor, and other equipment are found all through the castle, further increasing your stats and other attributes.

The soundtrack is an absolute masterpiece. I'm not exaggerating when I say that Castlevania as a franchise has some of the best OST's out there. Michiru Yamane is a great composer, and her instrumental works fit CV's themes and tone really well.

SOTN does not use MIDI samples processed by the PSX's sound chip (except for the Librarian's theme). Instead, all of the game's songs are played through audio streams, granting them CD-like quality, which is a little rare in other games on the system. Here's an example of what Yamane could do with this audio quality:

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Sounds great, doesn't it?

Another aspect of SOTN that I love is of course, the visuals. To this day, I consider this game to have some of the best 2D graphics ever. The levels and backgrounds are beautiful, and every tile is filled with plenty of detail. All of Alucard's animations are fluid, graceful, and an absolute delight to watch and control. Often, the game will mix in 3D elements to enhance the beauty of an area, and it looks great.

There are so many little hidden details in the game that make you appreciate the developers's love and care even more. For example, in the Outer Wall area, a small suspended room can be found at the area map's bottom. In this room alone:

A falcon/hawk/eagle/bird of prey can be observed in her nest. As you progress through the game and return to this room, you can see the falcon coming back everytime to lay, incubate, and take care of her offspring. It's really damn cute.

A telescope can be found in the left wall. Using it allows you to see the Ferryman from the Underground Caverns.

Alucard can sit in one of the chairs. Leaving him there for a few minutes will cause him to fall asleep. Aditionally, in the Japanese version, the fairy familiar will sing him a lullaby (she can sing in any chair, in fact.)

Now, what is the purpose of this area, you ask? None. There are no items, weapons, enemies, or anything of use to the player (except for map completion). The devs just created this room to add more life and personality to the game. And this is just one example!

As much as I love this game, though, I do admit that it isn't as perfect as most people make it. It does have its flaws: the game has very bad balancing issues, and the difficulty curve is essentially non-existent.

I never liked the Inverted Castle. Not because it's just the normal castle turned 180º, but because it doesn't feel like it was coherently designed, instead just quickly put together so they could ship the game claiming it to have double the original content (Galamoth was a great addition, though. I might make a post someday on why I love this boss so damn much).

Overall, this game means a lot to me. It pretty much set up my standards and taste with video games, and it made me understand why I enjoy playing them so much. It's a great game that I recommend to pretty much everyone! It's fun and really easy to pick up, taking only about 12-18 hours to beat for the first time, at max.

Also, can we just appreciate Ayami Kojima's wonderful cover art for the game?

And now, for my second most favorite game:

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

My first (and only so far) FromSoft game, and boy did I fall in love with this game.

Well, to begin it, Sekiro has one of the best combat systems I have ever had the honor to experience. It's based primarely on player reaction, testing their ability to counter, parry, and dodge the various attacks thrown at them. Equipped with only one sword (and a few very useful prosthetic appendages), our protagonist Wolf must defeat all sorts of opponents, from respected warriors, shinobis with no honor, animals (yes I did die to a rooster. Twice), the undead, demons, and much more, all so can rescue and avenge his master.

Using your trusted katana, you have the ability to deflect enemy strikes based on your input timing, dropping their guard and allowing for attacks of your own. When fighting enemies in this game, you are not aiming for their health. Instead, you aim for their posture. As you deflect attacks with perfect timing, your enemy will slowy begin to lose posture, and once said posture breaks, you can go for a finisher attack that instantly depletes their whole health bar. It's hella satisfying to pull off. Deflecting attacks poorly can lead to your own posture breaking, though, so paying attention is essential.

There are other aspects to the game's combat, such as Perilous Attacks, which cannot be deflected. To deal with them, you must either dodge, jump, or counter, adding even more danger to a fight and demanding focus from the player. Your prosthetic can also hold a few unique abilities, such as the Firecracker, which helps stunning certain opponents. Wise usage of these Prosthetic Tools will greatly help you on the harder fights.

Oh, and there's a catch: Wolf is no mere shinobi. He was blessed (or rather cursed?) with the power of the Divine Heritage, granting him immortality and the ability to revive from the dead for all of eternity. Gameplay-wise, this means that whenever you die, you'll receive one (or two, sometimes three) chance to revive on the spot at half health, allowing you to properly finish off your opponent. But don't think this makes the game easy! Reviving in the face of a tough boss never means an immediate victory, trust me.

Unlike Dark Souls, which rewards a more defensive playstyle, in Sekiro, the player must be aggressive and constantly take risks to overtake their opponents. Dodging everything and staying away will only drag on the fight and allow the enemy to regain their posture. As a certain character would say, "Hesitation is defeat".

But the amazing combat isn't this game's only strength. Another aspect that I love is how beautiful the game looks. Everything from the lighting, the colors, the gorgeous views, and the very well designed areas come together really nicely, and exploring this rather linear game is an absolute delight.

The battles look graceful, and not just because of the combat system. The special effects look amazing, and add great beauty and danger to every strike. The Divine Dragon's bossfight is the most gorgeous part of the game. It's so cinematic and breath-taking that despite being one of From's easiest bosses, it's easily one of the most memorable ones.

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The instrumental soundtrack is really nice, complementing each moment of the game pretty well. The Divine Dragon battle above has one of my tracks in the game.

And as expected, the game is tough as nails (I died like, 50 times at the first mini-boss. The Ogre has no fucking chill). One of the hardest FromSoft games, according to fans. This game demands a lot of the player's attention, skill, and mostly importantly: their knowledge of the game and how everything works. Your first few hours will be very difficult, as you slowly get an grasp on the game. But once you beat Lady Butterfly or Genichiro (two of the game's most important skill checks), everything just clicks and the rest of the game becomes a lot more doable.

Overall, this game was an blast to play, but it may not be for everyone. I recommend it for anyone who likes FromSoft's other titles, as well as for those who enjoy a good challenge. If you want to get into more difficult games, this game is not too bad of a choice, since it's extremely balanced and very skill-based, completely free of bullshit.

Oh well, time for my last but not least favorite!:

Devil May Cry 5

This shouldn't come off as a huge surprise xD

I might have only gotten into this game earlier this year, but the 160 hours I currently have on it speaks more than enough. I LOVE this game and don't plan on dropping it anytime soon!

It's rare for me to hyperfixate on one specific game and play it for hours and hours without tiring like this, and DMC5 is currently my second worst case of this xD (the first one being Castlevania of course, in which I have 100%'d like 4 games :P).

DMC's combat system is simply too much fun. You have lots of moves at your disposal, and using them creatively and with as much style as possible adds so much depth to the game that beating the heck out of demons never stops being fun and rewarding.

It's also very skill-based, adding another layer of satisfaction to everything. Building up the skill to perform a new combo, finally managing to use Royal Guard with consistency, defeating that one difficult enemy/boss with an SSS rank, or just beating the higher difficulties is absolutely worth it. And even if you don't have much skill with the game, nothing is ever stopping you from bullying enemies in your favorite ways.

The dynamic soundtrack fits the combat really well and gives you the right ammount of adrenaline and motivation to slash through hordes and hordes of enemies. Also thank you Capcom for adding the Jukebox. I can finally listen to Devils Never Cry during an actual battle (and not just the DMC3 credits one!)

The characters are another great strength for me. The DMC Crew is so unique and fun to watch, and the Spardas in particular have a lot of depth to them, keeping the mind of fans very busy thinking about them xD.

So yeah, this game is way too fun for my own good, aparently. Never saw such a powerful brainrot coming. Absolutely recommend it to anyone and everyone who likes some good video-gamey time!

And now, time to cast the spotlight to a few games that I love, but not enough to consider them my top 3 favorites:

Honorable Mentions

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow & Dawn of Sorrow

My second favorite CV games. Aria of Sorrow picked everything that was good about SOTN and polished it to perfection, creating one of the best metroidvanias out there. Dawn of Sorrow may not be as good, but it has a very special place in my heart.

Final Fantasy IX

One of my favorite JRPGs ever. This game is so charming, but under it's seemingly light appearance is a great story about the meaning of life, and about coming in terms with your own mortality. The battle system is fun and the music is as good as ever. The characters are wonderful and I cherish them to this day.

Final Fantasy X

One of the best games I have ever played. Of all the (4) Final Fantasy games that I've played so far, this one has the best battle system and some of the best enemy/boss design in the series. Alongside the gameplay, the story is the game's second biggest strength, and it has a very high chance to make you cry. The soundtrack is one of Nobue Uematsu's best works for this franchise, making you feel all sorts of emotions. Can't recommend this game enough.

The Legend of the Zelda: Breath of the Wild

This is the only Zelda game that I've ever played (please don't kill me), but boy is it a good one. The land of Hyrule is vast and very fun to explore. The game has such a relaxing vibe: sometimes I would just ride my horse, let it follow a road automatically, and just chill to the music watching the beautiful landscape. I put 170 hours in this game and didn't even realize it until I beat Ganon xD

Devil May Cry 3

Second favorite DMC game! This game is surprisingly polished for its time, and it barely feels dated at all! I personally prefer DMC3's DMD mode over 5's, as I find it more fleshed out, but it sure is a LOT harder.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

My first Metal Gear game. It may be short and relatively simple in terms of combat depth, but it's a lot of fun, the soundtrack is a BANGER, and the cutscenes are a joy to watch. The memes just never end, do they?

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Quite possibly Kojima's craziest game to date, but also one of the most fun ones! Not as good as MGS3, but there's something about the old-school MGS gameplay that I absolutely adore. Also the dialogue and plot are so batshit insane that you end up enjoying it despite not understanding a single thing xD

Castlevania: Bloodlines

Most underrated CV game ever, and my favorite old-fashioned Castlevania game. It stands up to SCIV, its SNES counterpart, really well. In fact, I personally enjoyed this game's gameplay and level design more than the latter.

(just three more games I promise)

Pokémon: Black and White (and their sequels)

These games are the most fun i've ever had with Pokémon. They're really good. They've got the best plot of any Pokémon game, and the first BW games actually made me question the morality of keeping these creatures and leading them into battles.

The Great Ace Attorney

My favorite Ace Attorney game. Great story with lovely characters. The cases were a lot of fun, and I'm a huge Sherlock Holmes nerd, so it's only natural that this game appealed to me, I guess xD. I still have to play the sequel, tho.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

This game might be technically unfinished, but it has some of the best gameplay in the series. The filler side-missions get repetitive but they're oddly fun to finish. It's my second most played MG game, right behind MGRR.

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calextheneko · 5 months

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Mario RPG Post Game Bosses Quick and Dirty Guide

Okay, so I can't promise the tactics I'm going to suggest here are the best effective tactics in the game for defeating each of the bosses in the post game. But I will say they let me roll through all of them pretty fast. Also bosses are pretty much in the order I encountered them. If at any point you're unsure if what boss you should be fighting you can go talk to Frog Sage at tadpole pond to be hinted at where to go.

Before Any Fights

Make sure you've fought and defeated Jinx three times and beaten Culex in Montro town and got the Jinx Belt and Quartz Charm accessories.

Level up as much as possible. You can buy the EXP Booster from the frog coin merchant in Seaside Town which doubles the XP of the person who has it equipped even if they're not in battle. The Lucky Egg bought from the Treasure Hunter in the Moeville Item Shop can be used to double your XP earned a lot for the party if you're good at the shuffle game.

Buy the Earlier Times item from the Frog Coin Merchant in Seaside Time. When RNG just goes bad or you mess up this will let you restart the fight right away rather than having to slowly die and resume from the last save point.

Make sure you have a Feather. If you didn't get won from beating Dodo in the statue mini game you can buy one, or if you want a second buy a second one from the Treasure Hunter in the Moeville Item Shop.

Make sure yo have the Lazy Shell (Weapon and armor) and Safety Ring.

Get as many Kercolas, Red Essences and Rock Candies that you can.

Practice timed hits and perfect blocks because both are required for multiple boss fights and will be the difference between life and death.

Consider getting the Star Egg from Grate Guy's Casino if you can stand the torture that is winning 100 Games of Look the Other Way. It deals a flat 100 damage to all enemies so isn't the best damage but it's reliable and reusable so comes in handy when you need something to damage everyone.

Now to the bosses.

Belome

Fought in Belome temple. Don't be an idiot like me and immediately run through all of Kero Sewer and then have to do Midas River because he's not there. Frog Sage told me he was up to his old tricks. So old tricks made me think the sewers. It was the temple. Travel to Monstro Town and enter the temple from there to get to him instantly.

Belome is frustrating but easy. But you can get rid of most of the frustrating part. Take any party members you want but I recommend including Peach for healing like I will for every fight. You don't need any special preparations to beat him but immunizing your entire party to sleep will save you a lot of grief. I did not, I only had Peach immune to sleep. She had the Safety Ring. Belome spams Sleep attacks so Mario and Geno went to sleep A LOT.

Belome's main gimmick this time is that he can't be injured by any attack as long as he has a clone out. He'll basically bounce back and forth between creating a clone, attacking and attempting to put the party to sleep. If you're prepared (unlike me) and immune to sleep 90% of this fight is solved. Just need two characters who hit hard to rip through the clone as soon as it comes out and beat down Belome. He doesn't really have anything dangerous and aside from not taking damage and so much sleep spam is really not that different from previous fights.

Jinx

Since I was already in Monstro Town decided to go visit Jinx yet since based on the wishes I read on the Pink Stars (You'll see them when you start the post game and follow the story leading to the boss rematches) that he was one of them.

Preparation

Jinx is going to spam mortal blows on your party. Accessories like the Safety Ring and the Quartz Charm are absolutely mandatory unless you have flawless mastery of timed hits to the point you never miss, even so good to have them for safety on the occasion you mess up and they're both really good accessories. Party members, someone, anyone that you're really good with their timed hits and Peach for healing.

Jinx is a bit different in that you're not looking to deplete his HP. All you have to do is use a Team Attack and you instantly win. But before you try to be a smarty pants and go in with a 100% gauge prepped he will set your gauge to 0 when the fight starts. It doesn't matter if the team attack actually deals damage, Jinx wants to duel you to see how to get in synergy with your partners to do a team attack and so you will instantly win as soon as you use any attack. Recommend Lazy Shell and Safety Pin go specifically on Peach.

Jinx hits fast and hard as usual. Anytime you miss a timed hit rather it be attacking or healing Jinx will counter with an instant death attack. This is why you want protection from Mortal Blows. Basically, this entire fight is just a practice of your timed hits and defenses. His attacks can deal massive damage and sometimes one shot characters but all of them can be negated to 0 damage with a properly timed block. There's really no trick to it beyond that. Just used timed hits and blocks to build up your gauge and fire it of as soon as its full. Make sure all party members are up and able to perform the attack. Summoning Toad is not what he needs, you need all three party members. Peach with the Lazy Shell and Safety pin will survive anything he throws at her, so just use her to heal up and revive anyone that goes down while you build up that gauge. Don't lose your cool and keep that timing up and victory will be yours.

Punchinello

Preparation: Not a whole lot you can prepare to do on this fight. Like Jinx this fight is going to revolve entirely around getting your Timed Hits right. And you'll mostly be dealing with attacks that can kill you instantly if you fail to block. But they're not guaranteed 9999 damage like some later bosses they're just really strong attacks, might be survivable with something like Lazy Shell + Ghost Medal. Speed is probably the most important factor here though so the Lazy Shell armor can be a liability. Since Speed is important Geno is naturally one of the best fits for the party. And again I make Peach the third for reviving and healing others.

The Fight Itself

So like I said this game revolves around timed hits. You can't damage Punchinello directly. You can only attack the bombs he throws out. If you do a perfectly timed hit, the bomb will change the direction its facing and face him. Then when the bomb goes off it will explode on Punchinello and damage him instead of you. Be careful to watch the bombs before you attack them some of them will already be pointing at him leave those untouched. This is why speed is important. You only have four party members and he'll drop four bombs. And of course only perfectly timed time attacks will turn them around so if you screw it well hope you can go again before that bomb goes off. The bombs can be killed if enough damage is done but this is kind of a last resort sort of thing and you're more likely to kill one on accident from it taking damage when you damage all enemies with your perfect hits. Mastering the timing for a perfect block against the bombs is mandatory to survival. If you have a hard time feel free to use Earlier Times if you have it to restart the fight until you get it down. Basically hit A right before the bomb hits you. But if a bomb hits you and takes you down you either have to swap that party member out or waste a turn reviving them and lose up to two attacks possibly resulting in more bombs going off on you. Because your timing has to be perfect you they won't spin around loses happen sometimes. Just, best of luck with the perfect blocks and perfect timed hits.

Boster

Preparation

I hate this fight, with all of my hate. This is the first fight to kill me in the entire game. You must bring Geno for this fight, and equip him with a Feather to boost his speed. This fight is just... not a good fight, and is absolutely terrible design in an otherwise wonderful game because there is a very specific solution to the fight and it's just, screw you if you don't know it. Super fast Geno is that solution. Bring Peach for healing, and give Mario the Quartz Charm for damage.

The Fight

So at the start of every round Booster will start building his train. If it gets to his turn he will finish building the train and crash it into your party for 9999 damage. Coincidentally, every turn one of his Sniffets will cast Morale Boost that increases his speed every single turn. See why I hate this fight? The trick is Booster must be attacked before his turn each round to interrupt his building. Which is why you need Geno because the fight will quickly get to the point where no one can out speed him but a speed boosted Geno. Make sure he gets interrupted each round. Then I murdered the Sniffets next, in hind sight it might have been easier to go straight for Booster. Either way just deal as much damage as fast as you can. Rock Candies are useful to deal significant damage to everyone, Geno Flash, Psych Bomb (but only if Peach doesn't have the lazy shell) and of course if you're good at it Super Jump is always amazing. If you're not, kick a lazy shell into them. Just kill the Sniffets or Booster as fast as possible and be aware you might have to restart. If your backline party tags in I recommend immediately restarting the battle with an Earlier Times (You can buy it with Frog Coins in Seaside Town) because Mallow and Bowser will not be fast enough to really do anything unless Booster is low on health and they can finish him off right there. I don't know his HP but you can always have Mallow use Thought Peak once to see his HP if you go for killing Booster first to track the damage on him and know how close you are to killing him. Also, can charge a team attack before coming to the fight and swap Peach out for a turn to Mallow or Bowser to do a damage dealing team attack. I do not reccomend swapping out Geno because you want him there to interrupt Booster from building when the next attack starts. Roselina freaking Luma this fight is easily the hardest in the game for me and just so obnoxious. Best of luck.

Now then whose next... I honestly forget so I had to go google the post game fights. And it turns out it's the freaking cake again in Marrymore. Make your Portal references now.

Bundt Cake

Preparations: Not a ton of prep work here, Quartz Charm and Black Belt are recommended. Peach will put this fight into easy mode so should be included for something other than her healing. Other than her big your favorite damage dealer. Probably put Safety Ring on Peach as usual. She won't be focusing on damage.

The Fight

So the goal is to put out the candles just like last time. The catch this time, the chefs are there and will keep lighting the candles and if they light all the candles bad things happen. Which I never found out what would happen because I never let them get that far. So, you need Peach or as many sleep bombs as you can carry. Peach is better, because you're going to cast Sleepy Time to put both chefs to sleep. I believe if you spin the stick enough to max it out it's 100% chance of putting both of them to sleep but I'm not 100% sure. All I know is I never saw it fail when maxed out in the fight. I also never failed to max it out.

After you put the chefs to sleep, it's just a matter of dealing damage to the cake and healing up as needed. Chefs will wake up every now and then and need to be put back to sleep but as long as you keep them under control this fight is easier than the original fight with the cake. No wonder I forgot this one. I don't know when I actually did it. Just make sure to play it safe and keep yourself healed up and those chefs asleep and you'll be good.

Johnny Jonathan Jones

Preparation

This is going to be a one on one fight between Mario and Jones. Prepare accordingly and equip Mario with your best accessory. Quartz Charm is my preference. Can also do Lazy Shell Armor and Safety Ring if you want to try to turtle your way through the fight. Just a quick warning, there's no way to heal in the fight at all. You can't use items, and only Mario can fight. I guess Jones is a Melee player. Anyway before the fight you'll be asked to choose which party members you want cheering you on. You won't get anyone to fight but you will get buffs from the party. Best way to beat Jones is to take him down as fast as possible so I took Geno and Bowser for damage up and I guess defense up but mostly damage go up.

The Fight

This fight was the second one to kill me. It can be rough. It's going to test your ability to do perfect blocks. Jones will attack with both spells and physical attacks so you need to be ready to block them... And that's really all there is to this fight. Be able to block his attacks and strike back till he's dead. He doesn't have a lot of HP thankfully since the fight is 1 v 1. If you're a master of Super Jump you can probably kill him in one turn. I don't know I'm not good at Super Jump. Though I finally found out it was because unlike what Toad told me it's not hit the button right before the attack lands but actually when it lands. So with that new knowledge I will have to go back and try super jumping things again and get to 100. Right back to Johnny. So, again it might take you a few tries but you just keep practicing his fight until you can block all his attacks with the correct timing and then take him out. There's not really any shortcut or trick to this fight (Besides Super Jump) just gotta learn the timing.

Culex

Preparation: Here's the one we've all been waiting for. Let's get down to it. Culex is the main course and all the other bosses were just an appetizer before him. So first off, Lazy Shell and Safety Ring on Peach. Second, Geno with Quartz Charm and Mario with Black Belt or Safety Badge. Might want to also consider Zoom Shoes or Feather on Geno and give the Quartz Charm to Mario instead depending on how you want to play it. Finally, go into the fight with your Team Gauge already charged to 100%. We're going to be using Mario, Geno and Peach's Team Attack A LOT this fight. Savs-Us-All blocks the next attack each party member takes and will work on anything.

The Fight

Culex is as expected a beast. And the third and final character I have met my end by. Oh wait, no I didn't because every time I was in danger of dying I used Earlier Times. HA! Take that Culex! You technically never sent me to the game over screen, and I technically beat you on my first try. Anyway, his newest jerk move is to use an HP that deals your max HP -1 in damage. This is important. His new spell Meteor is not HP to 1, it is your max HP -1. If you have even a single point of damage on you the spell will kill you. Now, after he opens the fight with that he'll use it every five turns and give you a counter, and responding to that is going to be a large part of our strategy for how to beat him. Finally, make sure you are maxed out in your inventory on Red Essences, Rock Candies, Kercolas, and Pick-Me-Ups.

First off, surviving the first round is the most important and hardest part of the fight. Once you make it past the first round the fight becomes a lot easier. The largest problem is that depending on your set up there is a high chance that Culex will open the fight dropping your party's HP to 1 and then the Wind Crystal will go off and use an AoE killing your entire party. It's that kind of fight. So, you have two choices here, can keep using the Earlier Times item to restart the battle till you have at least two characters alive or can give Geno the Feather pre-fight so he can move faster and have him use a Kercola. Regardless of which method you use Geno will go first and use a Kercola to get the two or if if you're really lucky your entire party up to max health. Peach on her turn if anyone is dead use Come Back unless the living characters are in need of healing because they will get KOed if you don't keep yourself healed up. Basically priority is as follows

Negate or Survive Culex's Meteor Attack > Heal HP > Revive Down Allies > Deal Damage.

Now, on negating Culex's attack. There are a couple ways to do it. Peach should be going last each round while Culex goes first meaning she'll always go off before him. When the first Cooldown hits 1, have Peach use the Team Attack Save-Us-All on her turn and you'll just straight up negate Meteor when Culex uses it on 0. Other options is once you have someone guaranteed to go after Culex is to use Kercolas, but remember you only have three. Another is to throw a Red Essence on Peach and then have her heal everyone and the two others use Max Mushrooms as needed. Try to save Pick Me Ups for reviving Peach if she dies and use Comeback to revive your other allies, but if you need to get everyone up fast use it. Anytime you have your team gauge fully charged use Save-Us-All with Peach right before Culex casts Meteor. Obviously it won't be charged every turn and that's why you'll need to make do with Kercolas and Red Essences. Save the Red Essences for Peach you don't have enough of them to use on your entire party and last till the end of the fight.

Now... As for actually defeating the enemies. I recommend starting with the Wind Crystal it's weak to special attacks, all special attacks so Geno Flash or even just Geno Beam will make quick work of it. If you're good at Super Jump you can probably take out the Wind Crystal right away.

From there I took out the Water Crystal but I think it may have been a better choice to go after the Earth Crystal. One of them can summon Bowyer's button locks and seal one of your commands. I think it's the Earth Crystal that does it but not 100% sure. Fire Crystal felt like the least threatening of them so saved it for last.

While this is going on always be aware of when Meteor is coming and prepare accordingly. Remember that if Meteor goes off any character with damage on them will die unless Save-Us-All is active. Mario and Geno should focus on damage and killing as much as possible. In the rare event the party doesn't need healing on Peach's turn she should use a Rock Candy to damage everyone, or if you run out of those the Star Egg. You can also use the Fire and Ice bombs just be aware the naturally a the fire crystal resists fire and the water crystal resists water.

Once all the Crystals are down the fight becomes much easier to deal with. Culex will replace Meteor with Final Claw, an attack that deals 9999 damage, but it only targets one person, and it can be blocked with a perfect block. Timing is a bit tricky but it can be done. But either way losing one person is a lot better than the entire team and you have a countdown till he uses it just like Meteor so whenever Team Attack is charged can just use Save-Us-All and bam no Final Claw. So like the previous fight when Team Attack is charged always pop it with Peach when Culex's counter is on 1 to just negate his ultimate instant kill attack. At this point it's just a matter of keeping yourself healed and beating Culex down. Keep persisting and use that Team Attack anytime its charged to negate Final Claw and victory is finally yours.

And with that, you get a completely useless key item per Final Fantasy Superboss tradition that just says you beat the hardest boss. Huzzah! Hope that helps. Not a perfect guide by any means but this is what worked for me.

#Mario RPG #Super Mario RPG #SMRPG #MarioRPG #Boss Fights #Game Guide #Mario #Geno #Peach #Belome #Jinx #Booster #Punchinello #Bundt #Johnny Jonathan Jones #Culex #super mario rpg remake

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