y'know while me feeling bad about stuff that happened in 999 will definitely to at least some extent be because i played it so soon after Undertale, i do feel the games are concerned with some similar ideas
for example, both games offer a metaphysical explanation for game elements that are normally taken for granted as mere conventions of the format, and incorporate that into the plot
similarly, both games feature a major character who is a constant presence but remains concealed from the player prior to the true ending (if one considers genocide to be the ultimate end to Undertale, which i think you can make a case for): in Undertale, the ghost of the original Fallen Human, in 999, the dead child version of Akane, whose actions mirror the player's and who is psychically linked to the events in the present.
. . . now i'm wondering whether Undertale's diegetic explanations for what are conventionally abstract game design elements is the influence of MSPA on Toby Fox
since we got elements of that in both Problem Sleuth and Homestuck
i think i get the electrode puzzle in the Torture Room . . . kinda. i can reliably solve it, now, but there was never a moment where the solution "clicked" in my head and i fully understood how it worked, i just know it's easy to make it so both sides match the top screen
the Lights Out-style math puzzle in the Study still gives me trouble. i don't think i ever knew how to solve this kind of puzzle besides trial-and-error
i worked my way backwards from the solved permutation
i worked out every possible permutation one stage removed from the solved state, then every permutation one stage removed from each of those until i found one i could make from the starting point
still a bit brute-forcey, i didn't actually grok what was going on there, i just kinda figured a way around it
Anything I need to know about the Fallen London setting before I start playing Sunless Sea? I picked up the new Humble Bundle on the strength of that, Never Alone, and else heart.break (which gives me a Transistor vibe).
Anything I need to know about the Fallen London setting before I start playing Sunless Sea? I picked up the new Humble Bundle on the strength of that, Never Alone, and else heart.break (which gives me a Transistor vibe).
Anything I need to know about the Fallen London setting before I start playing Sunless Sea? I picked up the new Humble Bundle on the strength of that, Never Alone, and else heart.break (which gives me a Transistor vibe).
Nothing comes to mind immediately, but feel free to consult our thread if you have any questions
I can't do a longer write up because I'm just not far enough in the game, but everything about the worldbuilding, aesthetics, and characterization is just very... off to me.
So, something I liked from the latest FFXIV patch. (Spoilers for the main story up to this point. The Warrior of Light is the player character.)
A lord's youngest son, after almost sabotaging a peace conference by giving a poorly thought out order, that lead to his manservant being attacked, goes on a "woe is me" rant about how you could never understand what it's like to be in his position.
And then, just for a moment, the Warrior of Light, a woman known even in universe for predominately communicating in stoic nods, shows genuine anger. This is a woman who has repeatedly put her life in danger to slay gods, who has seen friends die again and again, and been made a fugitive by corrupt officials, all without a single complaint. And just this one time, she is furious.
Also I finally played through Fire Emblem to the end. The final battle was kind of amazing for showing which of my units were my top tier and which were just warm bodies. The little storybook showing what happened to everyone, with combined entries for married couples, was really sweet.
Although I still have all these SpotPass maps, so there's that.
or rather my computer thinks that my left mouse button is constantly clicking. Which seems like it would cause text to highlight constantly, but it's not.
So after busting my ass against Limoncelli and the first Crystal Soul in time to optimize builds before L30, even a Torment run of Avernum 2 basically just turns into this hilarious series of roflstomping your way across the map and utterly embarrassing anything that looks at you funny.
Everyone now has Adrenaline Rush, 13 Hardiness, and 11 Resist. And as soon as I hit 30, my tank is capping + training beyond additional stats. There's precious little left in the game that can even do decent damage to my mages -- the final boss notably not among them.
I still haven't even dug into wisdom crystals and alchemy mats yet because I was trying to keep my level low enough to hit build goals in time. There's probably enough of that to crank out another 2-3 levels per person just for the hell of it.
Started playing Sunless Sea. Three ignominious deaths so far--the third seemed to be going pretty well until I thought "hey, what happens if I go as far north as I can, does the map wrap around or what."
It was definitely an "or what". I almost made it back to London with a haul that would've made it all worth while, but then right when I was about to dock at Hunter's Keep I decided to jump into the ocean instead. Oh, well.
Funny thing. Going NORTH is generally considered to be a Bad Thing in Fallen London, to the point that the storyline that allows you to go there has been cancelled because it's so detrimental to your stats, bank account and so forth
It's a long story that has to do with the Chapel of Lights and the Avid Horizon, if you can reach them.
Take the Orb of Thralni to Erika's place, jump the river, then take a side path to a really nasty fight with like 8 efreeti, 2 gazers, and a basilisk (seriously wtf?). The post-fight text says there was nothing to loot afterward...but the back wall opens up into more Thralni jumps.
Man is a most complex simple creature: see what he weaves, and how base his reasons for doing so.
It's fucking stupid that I can't connect to other castles with my wi-fi. So I made my phone a hotspot and used that and it worked real well. Only 1 megabyte in total.
But God, it's good. There's so much stuff to explore in Fates. I'm seriously thinking of starting a castle-sharing thread, and by extension, a Fire Emblem general discussion. But I still have to finish Awakening.
Another day, another dead zee captain. How ironic, he used to be a priest but then his only ambition became accumulating wealth, and yet after gaining a lot of treasure he...uh...got killed by a monster.
Okay, that was pretty great. In the middle of otherwise smooth sailing (despite not being able to find either of the objectives I set out to), I encounter Mt. Nomad and have enough time to go "what the hell" and turn off the lights in an attempt to evade, but then it just straight up murders me.
I was laughing so hard. What did I do to piss off a mountain.
The Mountain's kind of automatically po'd at everyone. It's kind of unkillable.
I mean, it can be, but it's the hardest boss in the game by far. I've beaten everything else in the game with its own damn rudder, but I don't even play with her.
Oh yeah. It's a she. That's very important. I feel like misgendering her would piss off her uncle and father.
It's fucking stupid that I can't connect to other castles with my wi-fi. So I made my phone a hotspot and used that and it worked real well. Only 1 megabyte in total.
But God, it's good. There's so much stuff to explore in Fates. I'm seriously thinking of starting a castle-sharing thread, and by extension, a Fire Emblem general discussion. But I still have to finish Awakening.
Aaaa you're making me want it more ;_;
We 100% need to play together once I get the game.
More Sunless Sea talk: I finally completed some companion quests that didn't end with them leaving or suffering some tragic fate (incidentally, the navigator with the tattoo's quest was totally inspired by Planescape Torment) and it was really satisfying to see them not only survive but get changed portraits and text that made them sound more confident and happy.
Also, holy crap does getting a better engine make all the difference. Like at first I assumed that because it drained fuel in proportion to how much faster it went, it didn't really matter--but then I realized that, besides the obvious savings in supplies/terror, it just cuts down on just waiting around, which makes the game a whole lot smoother.
Also also, the writing in this game is incredible, and I may have to check out Fallen London proper now.
More Sunless Sea talk: I finally completed some companion quests that didn't end with them leaving or suffering some tragic fate (incidentally, the navigator with the tattoo's quest was totally inspired by Planescape Torment) and it was really satisfying to see them not only survive but get changed portraits and text that made them sound more confident and happy.
Also, holy crap does getting a better engine make all the difference. Like at first I assumed that because it drained fuel in proportion to how much faster it went, it didn't really matter--but then I realized that, besides the obvious savings in supplies/terror, it just cuts down on just waiting around, which makes the game a whole lot smoother.
Also also, the writing in this game is incredible, and I may have to check out Fallen London proper now.
I realized I'd accumulated enough terror that on my way back to London I'd probably jump right before I made it again, so I went up to the surface instead. Got rid of all the terror very quickly, but I only had three crew at that point and it got rid of them before I made it back.
Guess I flew too close to the sun.
At least he left his son (I'm not sure of whom--the spy he loved and who died while he was away, or Maybe's Daughter) a pretty darn good inheritance, which he's determined to use to find his father's sun-bleached bones.
Aside from that, Kid Icarus Uprising has a bit of a learning curve (it doesn't control like any other game I can think of, but if you listen to the tutorial you'll be OK) but it's incredible. Graphically, musically, the writing, the fighting--it might be the best thing on the 3DS honestly.
Also, Hyrule Warriors Legends is coming out in a few weeks, and as far as "filling the emptiness" goes, the Wii U version was something you could play for literally hundreds of hours and this one apparently has even more stuff, based on Wind Waker. Lots of fun carving a path through mooks and just feeling like a badass.
If you have a New 3DS I hear Xenoblade is really good too.
I never understood the point of rereleasing Xenoblade on 3DS. Like, not only is it pretty much the only 3DS game out there that requires the new model nobody has. But half the appeal of the game was its gorgeousness, and on a screen that small all that's really left is mooning over how British everyone is.
A poorly thought out expedition left me with 0 fuel and supplies literally right outside London, and 2 echoes less than I needed to pay the tow fee. So I appeal to Salt twice, who starts by just raising my Terror, and then teleporting me to Kingeater Castle, which is both literally as far as you can get from London and, also literally, the worst place in the world.
Then I appeal to Storm, and just die outright, and think to myself "Thank you, that really was the more merciful option." And just when I had killed a bunch of lifeburgs and chosen "nah, we got enough supplies", to boot.
I guess it serves me right for ensuring the Dawn Machine's supremacy, causing the guy who gave me free fuel in exchange for port reports to just disappear. No regrets, but I'm definitely not doing that again. I will be content to pretend that in this next run, PROGRESS WITHOUT CHANGE is still happening in the background and the NPC in question just calmed down and came back to work.
Comments
for example, both games offer a metaphysical explanation for game elements that are normally taken for granted as mere conventions of the format, and incorporate that into the plot
similarly, both games feature a major character who is a constant presence but remains concealed from the player prior to the true ending (if one considers genocide to be the ultimate end to Undertale, which i think you can make a case for): in Undertale, the ghost of the original Fallen Human, in 999, the dead child version of Akane, whose actions mirror the player's and who is psychically linked to the events in the present.
since we got elements of that in both Problem Sleuth and Homestuck
the Lights Out-style math puzzle in the Study still gives me trouble. i don't think i ever knew how to solve this kind of puzzle besides trial-and-error
i worked out every possible permutation one stage removed from the solved state, then every permutation one stage removed from each of those until i found one i could make from the starting point
still a bit brute-forcey, i didn't actually grok what was going on there, i just kinda figured a way around it
not completely satisfied
like i notice that a clear symmetry emerges between permutations that are 2 steps away from the solved state
i'm not sure if this is significant or not
it's merely a natural consequence of the fact that the "light press" operation in Lights Out is commutative
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
A lord's youngest son, after almost sabotaging a peace conference by giving a poorly thought out order, that lead to his manservant being attacked, goes on a "woe is me" rant about how you could never understand what it's like to be in his position.
And then, just for a moment, the Warrior of Light, a woman known even in universe for predominately communicating in stoic nods, shows genuine anger. This is a woman who has repeatedly put her life in danger to slay gods, who has seen friends die again and again, and been made a fugitive by corrupt officials, all without a single complaint. And just this one time, she is furious.
[x]
???????
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (beaten), Pokemon X (beaten), TLoZ: A Link Between Worlds, and Fire Emblem: Awakening (lost) I don't really have a preference at the moment, I'm just looking for something to fill the emptiness with