vanguard333

Yeah, grimdark was a really annoying trend for a while; I'm really glad that it's waning. Unending doom and gloom just doesn't hold interesting, and I'm sorry, but trying to make a story seem "more mature" by making it all doom and gloom just makes it come across as immature. I've been trying to avoid the "Ike is/isn't a commoner" argument, since it's not what this topic is about, but with it continuing to come up, I will respond just once, then ask that this topic not get derailed: Ike was a commoner: he was born a commoner, raised a commoner, and, perhaps most importantly given the statement someone made about headcanons: the story frames him as a commoner and treats him as a commoner, so it doesn't matter what I say: the story says he's a commoner. There is no doubt that Greil was a noble; emphasis on "was"; before Ike was born, he had fled Daein and been made an outlaw, and an outlaw was even lower than a peasant: they had zero rights and it was not a crime to kill them. Ike was born the son of an outlaw and a priestess; not exactly high-status. Everyone inherited from their parents in the middle ages: the farmer's son inherited the farm, the smith's son, unless he got an apprenticeship elsewhere, would inherit the forge. Calling him a prince just because he inherits something is misleading. There are two major differences though: first, Alm is treated throughout the game as someone special with everyone fawning over him and saying he was born special and better than them, with the explanation for it given by the second difference: Alm is secret royalty, and him being secret royalty plays into the plot as he inherits the empire. Alm's plot is a King Arthur and the Sword in the Stone plot. Also, Alm wasn't raised by a mercenary, but by a renowned knight and he was told that he was that knight's grandson, which gave him political perks. Anyway, I have said all that I wanted to say. I will say no more so as not to derail the topic.

I see. Okay; that doesn't really change how, in execution, the multiverse aspect was extremely stapled-on and made the game alienating to me as a newcomer who had never played FF7. Rather hard to appreciate a multiverse metanarrative about defying the events of FF7 when I haven't played FF7.

This is the reason I said, "appear less often" rather than the more specific, "not appear at all anymore" and titled this "Trends in Media That You're Tired of Seeing" and not "Tropes in Media That You're Tired of Seeing". I agree that Everything, Everywhere All At Once was great, and I don't want to see multiverse stories end; I want to see the huge surge in multiverse stories end. For me, the annoying thing about FF7R is that, as a complete newcomer, I just wanted a remake of FF7, and that's what FF7Remake was marketed as being. Instead, all the multiverse stuff meant that the game may as well have thrown up a big neon sign saying, "Come back after you've played FF7!"

Tropes are tools; ultimately, it's about how they are used. However, often when one is used well, it inevitably spawns imitators who use it poorly, leading to storytelling trends that boom and then bust. I recently made a thread about storytelling tropes that you don't see often and would like to see appear more; this thread is the opposite: this is about storytelling tropes that you feel you see too often, even if they're used well, and that you think should appear less often. Here's an example: 1. Timeline/Multiverse Stories: For the past few years, there have been a ton of branching-timeline/multiverse stories: Into the Spider-verse, Across the Spider-verse, No Way Home, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Loki, Multiverse of Madness, Quantumania, The Flash, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, the Final Fantasy 7R project (Remake, Rebirth, and the untitled part 3), and even Fire Emblem Engage to some extent, for just a few of the many examples I could list. And I'm tired of them. To be clear, I am not saying that all these examples are bad or that timeline/multiverse stories are inherently bad: Into the Spider-verse and Everything Everywhere All at Once were great movies that did a good job handling their multiverse stories, and I have yet to see Across the Spider-verse, but I've heard that it's really good. What I'm trying to say is that there has been a ton of them recently, and, for a lot of them, the timeline/multiverse aspect hurts more than it helps, and the timeline/multiverse aspect is sometimes stapled on to a story that would've been better without it.

Since Ganondorf in the next game is undoubtedly going to be based on his Tears of the Kingdom version, part of me hopes that his final smash is his Demon Dragon form. Another part of me, however, hopes that the Demon Dragon and the Light Dragon will be a stage instead, and I'm not sure which of those two options I think would be more interesting. What do you think? Would the Demon Dragon be better as a final smash or as part of a stage?

I have played both games and Path of Radiance is my favourite video game of all time. I will just point out one thing: The Black Knight wanting to beat his master was established all the way back in Path of Radiance during the cutscene fight between him and Greil: Black Knight: Here. Use this blade. [Black Knight throws Ragnell near Greil] Greil: What are you doing? [Black Knight draws Alondite] Black Knight: I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. I would prefer it if you used your proper weapon, so that I might see you at your full strength… [Black Knight points Alondite at Greil] Black Knight: General Gawain, Rider of Daein.

My personal favourite is Torterra. It being my favourite starter in gen 4 is probably a big reason why, but I also just like Torterra. I also like Gallade, Aegislash, Altaria, Mimikyu and Decidueye. Gallade is a cool knight-in-shining-armour A Pokémon that's a sword & shield is really cool I think Altaria is cool and adorable. That said, I would've preferred if normal Altaria was Dragon/Fairy type, not just its mega evolution. Mimikyu is adorable with its sad backstory that it just wants to not be lonely so it tries to pretend to be Pikachu, and its disguise is adorable and a really powerful ability (that apparently was sadly nerfed in gen 8; I wouldn't know as I haven't played any gen 8 or 9 games). Decidueye has a cool design and the idea of an owl archer is cool.

Yeah, he strikes the ground to create a magic shockwave, with the magic shockwave being the attack. That's him casting a spell. The point of the list was to show how little he does so to the point that claiming that he punches and kicks is a massive overstatement. Once again, overwhelmingly, Ganondorf is a spellcaster and a weapon wielder; that's what he's known for and mainly relies on. "Zelda is a swordfighter; just look at [this non-canon spinoff game made by another company that's overstuffed with different movesets]." That's like saying Link fights by sitting in a bottle and having a Great Fairy do all the work; he can do that in a Warriors game, but that's not representative of anything he does in actual Zelda games. Okay, now it sounds like you're trolling; Tears of the Kingdom Ganondorf never once throws a single punch or kick; his every action revolves entirely around weapons and gloom magic. Ganondorf's smash moveset would not be representative of Tears of the Kingdom Ganondorf at all. I thought of that during my reply; I do freely admit that, with each iteration, they did try to include more things from the actual Zelda games for Ganondorf's moveset, and including the attack he used to kill the Sage of Water in Twilight Princess was a nice touch. Yeah, I agree; the game did provide that hint that Ganondorf will be the true final boss. My main problem with the Zant/Ganondorf dynamic in Twilight Princess is that Ganondorf almost feels like an afterthought, mainly because he doesn't do anything except empower Zant and encase Hyrule Castle in a crystal, and he has no real presence in the game aside from two flashbacks until the final boss fight. Anyway, so as not to derail this thread, I would go back in time and have the three House Leaders be the Three Houses DLC fighter instead of Byleth, and, if it couldn't be all three House Leaders, then just Edelgard.

Agreed. It would be hard to do since the reason Ganondorf was Falcondorf was the rush that Melee went through. In any case, we might not need time travel for this; Tears of the Kingdom brought back Ganondorf, the next Smash game will absolutely want to use the new Ganondorf, and the Ganondorf in Tears of the Kingdom never uses hand-to-hand combat; he is a multi-weapon user and a wielder of gloom magic. The brand new Ganondorf will be an opportunity to completely rework Ganondorf's moveset. Not once does Ganondorf ever throw a punch in any of his fights; at most, he throws one punch in a cutscene in Wind Waker to extract the Triforce of Courage from Link. He does all of one kick in Twilight Princess in only one phase of his four-phase fight; a phase that otherwise completely revolves around sword combat. Saying he uses punches and kicks in his games because of one punch in a cutscene and one kick in one fight that otherwise revolved around swords is like saying Zelda is a swordfighter because she holds a rapier once in a cutscene in Twilight Princess. In Ocarina of Time, he completely used magic when fought as Ganondorf and dual-wielded swords when fought as Ganon. In Wind Waker, he dual-wielded two swords. In Twilight Princess, he used magic and a sword while in Zelda's body, used his tusks when fought as a quadrupedal giant boar, used magic while on horseback, and used a sword while fought on foot. In all other games where he's Ganon, he fights entirely using a trident and magic. Overwhelmingly, Ganondorf is a spellcaster and a weapon wielder, not a puncher or kicker. Ganondorf has all of one sword attack in Smash Bros. Ultimate and none by default in Melee, Brawl or 4. His moveset otherwise revolves around punches and kicks taken directly from Captain Falcon's moveset with magic particle effects stapled on. At least Zelda actually uses spells directly from Ocarina of Time and Spirit Tracks in her special moves. In any case, you have to at least admit that, if they use the Tears of the Kingdom Ganondorf in the next game and his moveset remains the same, that would make no sense for that Ganondorf.

@Etrurian emperor Yeah, I never understood Bakugo's appeal either. He's not a badly-written character by any means; his protagonist-complex was amusing whenever it crashed into reality and him having to be chained to the first place podium in the sports festival arc is still one of the funniest moments in the series, but he's largely just another antagonistic talented shonen rival. Also, as a former victim of bullying, I really wasn't a fan of how long it took Bakugo to apologize for how he had treated Deku, especially when remembering that the first episode had him tell Deku to jump off the roof of the school. It felt like the story had just brushed it aside for a long time. Incidentally, I really have not been following along with the My Hero Academia manga or anime for quite some time; I really just have not liked almost anything after the paranormal liberation war arc, and the more I learn about what's been going on, the less interested I am in learning more.

True. Possibly more than three games depending on how many choices the game would want to include. Personally, I think it would be cool to see something like Oracle of Ages/Seasons again: multiple parallel games that each place emphasis on something specific (Ages emphasized puzzle-solving, while Seasons emphasized action and the cancelled third game likely was supposed to emphasize exploration). However, doing this would likely be tricky: Oracle of Ages & Seasons got to benefit from being 2D 8-bit Gameboy Colour games that could reuse a lot of Link's awakening assets.

To be clear; I'm not saying that open-choice dungeon order can't be done; A Link Between Worlds did have some really good dungeons. I'm saying that dungeons can be optimized for either a fixed order or for open-choice order, but not both, and a game that asks the player "Would you like the dungeons to be open-choice order or a fixed order" would either need two versions of almost every dungeon or have the dungeons be optimized for only one of those options.

Really? I had no idea about that. By the way, what did you think about my main point?

I don't think a Choose-your-own-adventure Zelda game would be a good idea. Choose-your-own-adventure games are always fraught as they run headfirst into the limitations of video games as a medium. Different media have different strengths and weaknesses, and the structure of choose-your-own-adventure games are held back by the natural limitations of video games; Yahtzee once did a decent video about why choose-your-own-adventure games almost never take off. And this idea is far more ambitious than a typical choose-your-own-adventure game. The main advantage of a linear dungeon order is that the developer can know exactly what the player has already completed and craft each dungeon with that prior progress in mind: what items the player has found, how much they have learned, and each dungeon can be more challenging than the last because the developers know what the player has already had to overcome to get to each dungeon. Dungeons that can be completed in any order can't do this, and the strength of that approach is instead in giving the player agency to choose when they tackle each dungeon. The problem that I'm seeing is this: let's suppose the game has four dungeons, and the player can choose to either have the four dungeons be given in a fixed order or have the dungeons be completed in any order. Then, there are three options, each with their own problems: The game has two different versions of each dungeon aside from the first: one that can safely assume that the player has already completed the preceding dungeons in the fixed order and one that doesn't for the latter options, meaning the game must have essentially eight dungeons, only four of which the player can experience in one playthrough. The game's dungeons are crafted with a specific order in mind. Then, although the player can theoretically complete the dungeons in any order, they will absolutely be encouraged to complete them in a specific order, and may possibly be outright required to visit the dungeons in a specific order (think the original NES Zelda game, where certain dungeons can only be accessed after the player acquires an item from another dungeon even though the dungeons can technically be completed in any order). The game's dungeons are crafted to be completed in any order. Then anyone playing the dungeons in a fixed order is getting nothing from doing so. I will not tolerate this Malledus slander! Just kidding; yeah, Malledus was a bit lame.

I've been making progress on Advance Wars 1+2: Reboot Camp. I'm currently still on the first game, but I think I'm starting to get used to the combat. One thing I find a little funny: normally, when a game introduces a new playable character, the next mission is generally designed to be one that is tailored to show off what the new playable character can do. And yet, with this game, I just unlocked the third commander: Sami the infantry specialist, and the first mission for which the player can use Sami is one where Sami is the last commander the player would want to use to the large amount of flying vehicles, which infantry can't target, and the nerfs that vehicles get with Sami as the commander. I recently got another game that was on sale, but I haven't started it yet. The game in question is called Ys Origins; I got it while it was on sale for 70% off, and I had enough points to bring the price further down to less than 20 cents. My only experience with the Ys games is Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana. I loved everything about that game except its ending. This game is a prequel to the entire rest of the Ys series, so I'm hopeful that it will at least end strongly. Anything I should know in advance, such as how this game differs from games like Ys VIII? I saw that it uses a top-down perspective rather than over-the-shoulder 3D, and, since it's a prequel, Adol is not the protagonist but are there any other important differences I should know?

Here's mine:

I 100% completed Mario vs Donkey Kong. It was fun; I will say that it was more fun when the emphasis was on the "puzzle" part of puzzle-platformer, and less fun when the emphasis was on the "platformer" part. When I got the Mario vs Donkey Kong remake, I also got a used copy of Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp. I'm not very far in it because I haven't had much time, unfortunately. What I can say is this: I like the gameplay in theory. I like the grid map, I like the variety of units, and I like that long-range units can either fire or move but not both. However, so far, while it hasn't been too difficult, it has felt very easy to mess up in ways that are not fun to roll with. The Valkyria Chronicles games could sometimes feel like that, but those games had many save files and let the player save at any time. This game, by contrast, only has one save file, and it auto-saves after every move the player makes, so your options are to either resume from exactly where you left off or restart from the very beginning of the battle. I also don't like how little information is given to the player before a fight; the player is told how much damage their unit will do to a selected enemy unit, but it doesn't say how much damage the unit will receive, and that information is very important as units with less health deal less damage. Does anyone have any advice?

Yeah; I enjoyed the one on the Wii overall, but I'm not a fan. Speaking of 2D Mario, I recently 100% completed the Mario vs Donkey Kong remake, which I bought mainly because I like puzzle-platformers and I needed a game that I could play in very small amounts. I ended up liking it more when its levels placed more emphasis on the "puzzle" part of "puzzle-platformer", and I liked it less when it was placing more emphasis on the "platformer" part. Short version: overall, it was good, but I definitely prefer Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker.

I'm not a Dragon Ball fan and honestly have never seen anything in the Dragon Ball franchise, but this is still saddening to hear. May he rest in peace. I think, in a time like this, it is very important to not focus on anything he may have left unfinished, but to instead focus on what he did finish. He created a story that had a positive impact on an entire generation; that is something to celebrate. I'm reminded of when I learned about the death of Stephen Hillenburg: the creator of SpongeBob SquarePants, and someone I know pointed out, as words of comfort, that he had created a story that brought joy and laughter to an entire generation of kids and their parents, and that's worth celebrating.

I think Chingling or Bronzor would work, since Bronzong is a giant bell. Oy, yeah; Phantump is from Kalos, so that wouldn't work. Another thing I can think of, though it would be anachronistic as the genre didn't really emerge until the 1910s, is a Phantom Thief Pokémon; the Phantom Thief genre really dominated a lot of French literature in the 1910s, with the most notable examples being Arsene Lupin and Fantomas.

Those are some good puns. I had a good laugh. If I recall correctly, in the book, the mask covered the whole face; it only covers half the face in the musical because that made it easier for the actors to sing. Other than that, I like the idea, though I'm not sure if Phantump is the best idea for a Phantom of the Opera Pokémon. What would its evolution be? I suppose Munchlax could work. A church bell would probably be more fitting than a lantern, since Quasimoto's job in the book was to ring the church bells.

Interesting idea. I'm not familiar with the Loup-Garou; is there something distinct about it? A Gardevoir variant inspired by Joan of Arc could work. I was trying to think of things from 19th Century France specifically, but I could see them making a Joan of Arc Pokémon simply because Joan of Arc is such an iconic figure in French history. Mr. Mime is already a mime; I'm not sure how much more of a mime Mr. Mime can be. The sword legendaries definitely should be here. The cloud legendaries were in Legends Arceus despite it making almost no sense for them to be there, so the sword legendaries should definitely be in Z-A. One possible source of inspiration could be Phantom of the Opera, though that novel released in 1909, making it a bit late.

I just got the Mario vs Donkey Kong Remake. I got it because I like puzzle-platformers and because I wanted something I could play in small chunks. After playing for only 30 minutes, I am already in World 2. So far, it's been fun. So far, it has felt more like a small platformer than a puzzle-platformer, but I'm guessing/hoping it will become more puzzle-like as I get further in the game. EDIT: I have now played a lot more of the game. It does get a lot more puzzle-like as it goes on. That said, for a lot of levels, I can't help but feel that they end right before they can reach their full potential. I imagine part of it is that these puzzles were designed to be completed under a timer, and part of it is that, being a Mario game, it is meant mainly for kids. Anyway, I recently completed the ice world. Playing through the levels of the ice world, I really appreciated that the slippery ice floors was used mainly for sliding puzzles rather than being an obstacle to precision platforming. Then I got to the boss fight, and my relief quickly turned to frustration. With the exception of three small platform sections, the entire stage is slippery ice, so one must avoid both spiked barrels and falling snow while running & jumping on slippery terrain. It wasn't challenging; it was just plain frustrating. Video games have existed until the 70s, so how come it wasn't until Mario Galaxy in 2007 that developers realized that players hate slippery ice in platformers? It's not challenging; it's just frustrating. EDIT: I just learned that the Ice World wasn't in the original game; it was added in the remake. I also got, but have not started, the Advance Wars 1 & 2 Remake.

I wonder if there will be any regional forms/evolutions in this game and, if so, what they will be. A lot of the regional forms in Legends Arceus were for Pokémon based on animals important to Hokkaido and Ainu culture: Ursuluna (bears), Basculegion (salmon), Decidueye (owls), etc. The most-likely time period for this game is mid-to-late 19th Century Paris, and I wonder what would have similar significance. My knowledge of French culture in that time period is limited to things like the works of Jules Verne (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, etc.), the Eiffel Tower, and that's about it. There is one thing I can think of that would be easy for Pokémon to adapt, though it would be 100 years too early: the Beast of Gevaudan. Basically, there were a number of reported animal attacks in the Gevaudan province in the 1700s that were believed to be the work of one monstrous hound called the Beast of Gevaudan (in reality, it was probably just a bunch of unrelated wolf attacks).

I was always more of an Altaria fan than a Flygon fan, so I was just glad that Altaria got a mega evolution that gave it the Fairy type (which, honestly, I think makes more sense for the standard Altaria to have as it would make Altaria more unique and really fit even the standard Altaria). But yeah, the additions of Mega Pidgeot and Mega Beedrill were a bit odd as choices for a gen 3 remake.