Rapier

Gamers Gamers Gamers We're very close to two big game sales.

I can't really remember much about 2019's state of gaming other than "I liked Bloodstained and Three Houses, I guess". It didn't appeal much to me. If there was something that 2019's game industry made me look up to, is to 2020's state of gaming. I expect so many games for 2020 that I already feel even more broke than I am. Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines 2 (and its many themed games that are due to be released in 2020 and beyond), Crusader Kings 3, Silksong, maybe Death Stranding, Nioh 2 and other games that I'm forgetting right now.

Which reminds me.

Many. The latest idea that I had was a mix between robots and arena fights + money/stats management, where the player gets to build their own robot and equip it with new parts as they defeat other robot enemies in the arena. While outside fights, the player would be able to train their robot, pick up new jobs to earn money on the meantime, spend time on repairs etc., although these free time actions would be limited. It'd have a similar aesthetic to Medabots. The combat would be on timed turns, similar to FF, Chrono Trigger etc. but hopefully you'd see the robots trading blows on the meantime, instead of having them look at each other menacingly for half a minute before doing anything interesting. Oh yeah and there'd be different builds/classes for robots and the game should encourage adaptability over a supreme build that conquers all, similar to a rock paper scissors system.

You could start writing all three (or make a very basic draft), play around and see which works best, I guess. I sorta want to go with Bloodborne for this one.

If you are already interested in her, then you're already past the event horizon - ask her out, try your best (I'd recommend to build up a relationship with her before declaring yourself though) and, if things fail, hey, life experience for you. Position doesn't matter that much (in this case, at least), and honestly she'll be the judge of that.

I remember when I was watching Joker and the scene in the train immediately reminded me the scene with Sayaka (which I honestly can't bring myself to watch again due to my current mood and how that shit kicked me hard in the balls the first time I watched it). Weird parallels. Rather like the prompt. Now to encourage myself to write it.

It's funny that there are many types of swords, but fantasy writers tend to use the same sword type when their protagonists use swords. It's like the japanese and katanas.

That. I don't think we should expect a consensus in groups that are so inclusive and broad, and that goes for any movement or ideology, but so long as they keep consistent on the main things they're supposed to advocate for, it's fine to have divergences. If there weren't any, it'd become a stale echo chamber. Expecting people to exactly follow to your standards or "they aren't true X", in cases where their position doesn't directly conflict or contradict what they're supposed to stand for, is cherry picking. Also, I honestly can't understand what the topic is about, even. The LGBT++(TM) Agenda pushing sexuality into children? What? "I remember the times when people pushed TOYS and not SEX"? I honestly don't understand who exactly you're talking about and it feels like you're hitting a strawman without any sources. If you have someone or something in specific you'd like to point at so we can discuss something actually tangible, feel free to. Otherwise, this seems like a generalized rant and I don't see this discussion getting anywhere productive. Oh man, I miss dondon

I think this post is very comprehensive about the other Legend of Heroes games (well, the Gagharv trilogy at least).

What are your impressions of the game? Did you buy it or play the trial? Personally, I'm really liking it. The gameplay gets some elements from more traditional action games, I think, with its skill and class system, and ties it up nicely with a Souls-like gameplay and game design that I'd argue feels like a less harrowing experience for beginners, as the game allows to bring partner AIs who tend to do their jobs very well, tells you where you should head to and actually gives you a map and allows for other players to help you regardless of where they are in the game. I also really like its aesthetics (the character creator is by itself one of the best things about the game) and its soundtrack is enjoyable. There are some parts of its level design and enemy design that I have issues with, ie. a particular level (the Cathedral) feels like a cramped labyrinth, most enemies have a wide arc attack that can hit the player very easily, there are enemies who are too beefy and hit hard and fast at the same time, enemy positioning and spawn is sometimes questionable (especially during invasions, we can have four enemies ganging at the player at the same time), big enemies screw the camera easily and body block it. Other than that, I have issues with how it doesn't care about invincibility time when you're down or how you're left as an easy prey after exiting the critical hit animation, which leads to some cheap deaths where enemies hit you when you can't do anything about it; and the hitboxes tend to be weird.

Nier Automata isn't really a game that requires much skill, and if you feel like the difficulty isn't to your liking, you can always set it to Easy. It's a very beginner friendly game. Anyway, I've been playing Code Vein and loving it. Except for the Cathedral. Fuck that place. And my internet for giving me so much lag in multiplayer.

Trails in the Sky FC. Excellent game with an excellent translation, and turns out the other games are also excellent games with excellent translations. Arguably my favorite RPG of all time. Mega Man X4, because I completely skipped the NES/SNES and it was one of my first PS1 games. I still like it enough to consider it one of the best X series games up to date, and it introduced me to Mega Man as a whole. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. Another of these cases where the localization is excellent, despite the amount of japanese cultural references. The game also made me open my eyes to interactive visual novels with puzzle elements. Zero Escape: 999 / Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors was pretty much my first "proper" VN and I loved the narrative and characters. I still regret it didn't sell as well as I hoped it would, and VLR (the sequel) didn't get enough good sales. At least Uchikoshi is back with new, non Zero Escape games. Crusader Kings 2 the Game of Thrones simulator introduced me to Paradox's Grand Strategy Games, which I love to this day, although CK2 remains my favorite (maybe of all time, because I have 1k hours in it already). Fire Emblem 7, not for being an excellent game but for getting me into the series and inspiring me to try other FE games. It remains one of my favorite series of all time. Bloodborne was the game that properly got me into Souls-like game design and gameplay. I had played DS1-3 before, but I never felt like progressing much in these games. This game made me see the strengths in Souls-like games and inspired me to get back to it.

So, Trails to Zero's translation is done and they finished editing. Now to wait until I can download the patch and figure out how to patch it to the PC version.

How much time until this prompt is over? The link in the timer is for 9 of September.

I thought there was no way to spare them, but I didn't really care much either way - I'd do it for the sake of drama.

Dragons aren't really losing their sanity by doing that, other than their powers (temporarily) and harming their pride, so I don't think the comparison stands. I mean, I'd take it because I'd still be able to use my dragonstone whenever I needed. There's no point in keeping to my original form and accepting my certain doom.

Birthright feels very generic, like a somewhat better and harder Awakening. Its story is ok because it's simple enough to deliver what is expected of it, without any redeeming or damning qualities. I'd say it only gets absurdly easy by the midgame, the rest is fine (but still not hard). Conquest's early game has some of the best maps of the series, in my opinion, and it reminded me a lot of FE10's maps both in design and difficulty. They're fun and challenging up to the midgame, where gimmicks become much more important (and annoying, in my opinion). Revelations is supposed to be the third route you play, but if you don't care about following the story, well... It has some of the worst, gimmicky maps I've seen. Imagine a fog of war map. With solid fog of war that hides units that move when they're discovered. Yeah, that sort of cool gimmick. It felt like an afterthought, unbalanced route with mediocre map designs at best. I second starting Birthright Classic Hard, but if you feel it's too easy, I recommend jumping straight to Conquest. Revelations is ok if you're curious about it, but it is the worst designed route.

I don't really mind "luck", because it still depends on a competent player to use well the hand they're given. A competent player could also use a bad hand well, depending on the situation. Randomness and how you deal with the situation presented to you are factors that positively increase the complexity of games, I think. DOTA Underlords comes to mind when I think of this - there are meta builds that pretty much guarantee you're going to win, but what if everyone is going for that meta build and you can't pull the necessary Heroes for it? Maybe using another build well, or picking up the right items, will ultimately win the game for you. It's a game that heavily encourages versatility and adaptation to what the game gives you, as well as how your opponent is building up their team, while still being incredibly easy to play but hard to master. It's what I loved the most in auto-battlers.

I think I'd enjoy a FE4 remake, but I'm expecting a new FE game.

I see no reason to include another prologue in FE4. If the game is split into many small maps, just make the first map somewhat like 3H's prologue. FE5's could have a prologue somewhat like FE9's, where Leif and the others are being trained, I guess. I don't see the rest needing any prologues for teaching how to play.

This might sound strange, but subjectivity also has a degree of universalism (well, not exactly universalism but there's a taste convergence for things that are perceived as "good"). All objective definitions for any area that deals with subjectivism (art, music etc.) draws from these elements that are perceived to influence the general opinion of its quality. That's how you come up with objective standards that, while definitely not perfect and still debatable, manage to highlight what makes subjective things bad or good.

I'd prefer if there were two tacticians (or councilors, or whoever is in that role - doesn't need to be a literal tactician), one that shows a more idealistic view and another that's more down-to-earth, somewhat like Soren and Titania or August and the other guy from Thracia. Bonus if the player can pick their choices after hearing their opinions.

I really didn't mind the "electronic music" influences for 3H. Whenever they're there, they're a nice touch that normally don't feel out of place - I love examples like Blue Skies and a Battle, but the dubstep missile was just silly. Shambhala's theme fits with the electronic music take. Overall, the other tracks do have a grand feel of orchestrated music that FE is known for. If anything, my only criticism for the songs are that they become repetitive very quickly.