Interdimensional Observer

Balan Wonderworld was made by one of the creators of Sonic the Hedgehog, Yuji Naka, who left Sega years ago. Square Enix agreed to publish Wonderworld and provided funds and a developer for Naka to work with, Arzest, a thoroughly mediocre developer so I'm told. Naka decided he would make a 3D platformer, featuring a mischievous-looking titular character with elongated limbs, much like the titular character of Nights Into Dreams, one of his most famed games. And as with Nights and another one of his titles- Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg, he decided the characters, atmosphere, and story would all be child-friendly, akin to a good 3D animation movie. Now, Naka did nail the opening trailer for the game, and the other cutscenes in the game are good too. But, people, although hopeful it would all work out, were initially a little skeptical of the gameplay from what little was said of it. Then, one month before the game released, the demo was dropped onto various gaming systems. And what the demo revealed to the great majority of players, was that everything about the gameplay was horrendous. Not just that, but the visuals of the world itself were dirt compared to the cutscenes (more so on the Switch version, which was glitchier too). Square should have seen the negative feedback Balan Wonderworld was getting and delayed the game for months, but, they didn't. It shipped a month later as is warts and all. If there hadn't been that demo, maybe some Naka hopefuls wouldn't have canceled their preorders. And maybe some people would've bought the game day-one, without reading any of the critic reviews that rated it as a 6/10 at best (barring the one sincere 8/10 I saw). The demo raised so many red flags about the game's quality that it sank the game's sales prospects overnight. Critics can't even recommend the game as pure cinematic spectacle. The narrative has Balan as the only character who actually talks, the player characters are fairly blank slates, whose personal troubles are left unexplained and how helping others through their issues via an adventure in a dreamworld will help the player characters is also left unsaid. Leaving things open to interpretation and imagination is a fine idea, yet the game for many leaves things much too vague. The game might have been made "for children", except real children are going mostly to ignore and forget the dialogue and be living up in their imaginations anyhow, so dialogue and explanation being nonexistent helps no-one IMO. In questionable interviews that I've seen recently, how about this: https://www.gematsu.com/2021/04/story-of-seasons-pioneers-of-olive-town-interview-with-director-hikaru-nakano *Dodgetanks every question*

Geographically: Archanea is unique amongst FE continents to this day. It has something of a Mediterranean world design, which is to say it is land connected by water, water is not a barrier, but an essential bridge. Archanea is mostly islands and coast wherein travel by sea is required for interaction between countries, which should likewise have some economic and military impact. The core issue, is that Archanea doesn't realize it's like this and squanders the distinctive facets of islands & coast geography. There is never a mention of Archanean navies, when they would be invaluable in warfare. Valentia is a mere two countries, but SoV did brush on the Mediterranean architecture pleasantly. Not bad. Jugdral is visually samey to some degree. Silesse has snow, Yied is desert, Verdane is very forested, Thracia a lot of mountains and wasteland. And yet, I think the countries and Genealogy's signature gigantic maps which represent them, could paint them more vividly. Elibe makes each country distinct, except for Etruria which we barely see at all, it probably matches ordinary Lycia and naught more. Sacae is a great portrayal of plains. Elibe has the least geographically homogenous countries in all of FE I'd say. Magvel is not shown enough as a continent, Jehanna has desert, but that is about the end of it. The rest of the countries are visually indistinctive, and Frelia, like Etruria, is barely seen. Tellius compares favorably with Jugdral in terms of visual differences. The Laguz countries could be shown more, and I'd like a look at southern Begnion because we never visit there either. Still, it's good. Ylisse & Valm, for some people, be it meant lightly or more seriously, is becomes the target of "Why is this here?" and "Why has what was X in Marth's time, become Y in Chrom's". Awakening's approach to things make each landscape, barring meticulously-visited Plegia and maybe Ylisse, feel more localized than spanning an entire country, without having other clues as to what the entire country is like. Not judging Fateslandia, nor Fodlan, neither in this nor lore. TearRing Saga leans towards indistinctive. And we don't see Canaan or most of Leda. Lore-wise... Archanea has plentiful world-building, Kaga is likely to be thanked for this. But yet again, there is something missing from it, it doesn't feel so "alive". It's all dead stuff, dead or degenerate dragons and stuffy kingdoms, I like Archanea, but it needs a spark added to it. I won't judge Valentia. Jugdral- Thracia is splendidly developed, and Grannvale ain't bad. Much of the rest is undercooked. Elibe, the colonialism/imperialism of Etruria over the Western Isles is an unusual for FE. Lycia is finely developed too, albeit it leans a little bit towards "why bother with an aristocratic country, all that does is open the door to internal betrayal, so swap to monarchy". Whilst Jugdral and Tellius might have more total development, in terms of per-country basis, the development is most evenly spread out in Elibe I'd say. Magvel is underdeveloped practically everywhere. Maybe Grado, Jehanna and Carcino/Caer Pelyn are alright at best, but Frelia, Rausten, and ironically Renais the heroes' land, are all very lacking. Tellius has its faults, the Beorc-Laguz relations are imbalanced, the Laguz countries are underdeveloped, and the Blood Pact to name three. But by FE's standards, it is the continent with the best world-building overall. And it's world-building that feels "alive". Awakening geography was questionable, its world-building is even worse. TearRing Saga is basically the lore of Archanea and Jugdral thrown in a blender, with a few new flavorings I shall admit. I'm not sure where to place it however- above Jugdral, below Jugdral but above Elibe, below Elibe? I do not know.

I've been scheduled for my first dose of vaccine later this week. Registration for all opened early this morning and everything close was booked, so it'll be an hour's drive away. But, the shot is worth the time and mileage. If you didn't hear, they took down the demo everywhere. Which is like throwing away a barrel of gasoline after the forest has been reduced to ashes. If it weren't for the demo, the game would still have gotten terrible reviews in all likelihood, but some people would've been deceived into buying the game and only afterwards regretting it. As is, for the week the game released, it failed to reach the top 30 in (physical) sales, meaning less than 2100 copies. It also failed to reach the top 30 in the Japanese and North American Switch eShops. And, it failed to reach the top 40 in the United Kingdom, losing to games that have been out for over 100 weeks. This game was multiplatform, but it's obvious that it flopped hard. There are a few genuine human fans of the game that think it is unfairly hated. But you also have Metacritic, where bots made weirdly-worded 10/10 reviews for the game- "glitterbombing" might be the term for this.

The choice for the whitish-grey I'm not sure of, although the alternate blue backdrop is used for the unofficial flag of Greek Macedonia (which is most of the Macedon of Alexander the Great), while the red backdrop is used for the independent Republic of North Macedonia. The yellow in the center is because the symbol is the Vergina Star/Sun, which was used in Ancient Greece, and later adopted as a royal symbol of the Argead Dynasty of Macedon- Alexander's family. In the late 1900s, the Vergina Sun was revived as patriotic symbol in the two modern Macedonias. Disgaea would provide an alternative to this, were one interested in making their own unique counter system. I've only played Disgaea 1 the DS version which was enough to tell me I wouldn't like the franchise, but the way counters worked there is... Each character gets a fixed number of counterattacks per turn, which fully replenished at the start of the next turn. If one unit counterattacks another, and the counterattacked unit has remaining counterattacks, they will counter the counterattack. This can continue until one or both sides run out of counterattacks. So if a character with 3 counterattacks attacks an enemy with 3 counterattacks who can counter their attack, it would proceed as follows. Attack-counterattack-counterattack-counterattack-counterattack-counterattack-counterattack. Color-coded to clarify the arrangement. Disgaea doesn't have doubling in the FE sense. -Just sharing. Call it World🐢, because Bowser sorta is one.

Each civ has four sets of "jersey colors". In a single-player game, the player always gets the first set, while the AIs are assigned color schemes that aren't too similar to each other, using the secondary jerseys or other color combos. Macedon four jerseys are: yellow-on-grey, yellow-on-dark blue, yellow-on-red, and lastly dark blue-on-yellow. The player can pick their civ's jersey colors in the advanced settings before starting a game. The default jersey colors often try to align with the country/people in question- America is blue and white, two of its patriotic colors. Although they don't always have a symbolic alignment. Nor do the colors align properly, Phoenicia has purple in its jersey, but it's not all the "Tyrian purple" the Phoenicians were famed for, Khmer has the closest shade. Also, someone posted this screenshot: Free second Settler on turn 1.🤩

I like a good terrible translation. But skimming the start of a longplay for the game, I don't see anything that looks anything out of the ordinary. Any screenshots of the bad stuff, or could you tell me at what point in the game to look for the "so bad it's good"?

Ah yes, an "extensive, not intensive" revolution. In the world of literature, this had begun with the invention of the Gutenberg printing press ~1450. It took until the 1600s for enough printing presses to become available to print anything and everything, but by this point, there were enough novels in Europe that a reader of literature could choose whatever they wanted, not merely forced to read what existed. It's not to say that prior generations of humanity had not been prolific writers, they had done that in spades since writing was first invented. But now copies of written works could be mass-produced quicker and more cheaply than ever, people saw more stuff on the store shelves and could afford it too. It's because of the printing press that fewer people (but still some) went crazy into Biblical interpretation and commentary than had been the case for centuries. That was "intensive" reading, when there was little else to entertain oneself with. -Although the Bible is a poor example in this case in one major aspect- because it is scripture, and therefore concerning the fundamentals of human existence, you don't want to literally burn in Hell. The King Arthur canon might be a better example as something purely for amusement with just a dash of morality. -History lesson for the day. I think I read Sony made them solely to maintain the oddity that is their legal rights over the films for arachno-hero. Spider-Man was given away prior to the MCU, because Marvel was desperate for income at the time, and had yet considered making movies themselves. And no mass shootings either. Capitalism unbound and gun rights run amok, two of America's biggest problems, alike shackled solely by the Black Death 3.0.

Not, not mandatory. Maybe there is a setting for that, but with the default setting, I'm told there are updates available when they are for the OS, but I don't have to update it. I've put those off for many months, even years before. Well this reads pointedly. I'm imagining corporate is trying to milk a very proven cash cow, except there has been enough MCU for some years to come. The fields should lay fallow to regain the creativity for nurturing a new crop years down the line. Corporate should find some new passing cinematic fad to make the mils and bils from instead. -Not that I've watched more than maybe three MCU films.

I've done Domination with: Scythia- I forget the map type, but it was in vanilla. Macedon- Inland Sea, with the Gathering Storm DLC, which doesn't really matter of Macedon, as GS doesn't mess with how they play. Rome- Fractal map, vanilla. Rome surprisingly doesn't have any incentives to war once the Legion runs out of usefulness. But it was my first Domination win, the free Monuments assure you some of the best early Culture gain. Fast access to Oligarchy is nice. Poland I used on Snowflake map in vanilla, the Winged Hussars were great. Gathering Storm nerfs them, because cavalry units can no longer benefit from Battering Rams and Siege Towers, only melee (Warriors, Swordsmen, Musketmen, Infantry, Mechanized Infantry) and anti-cav (Spearman, Pikeman, AT Crew, Modern AT Crew) units. Persia I dabbled in twice, not full scale conquest, just eradicating my nearest neighbor to claim some space to transition into a Culture Victory. Since this was early warfare, the Immortals were able to put up a good fight, as weird as they are. And the temporary movement boost is nifty. Sumeria I attempted thrice. The first was a Terra map, which is cheating for them; the second was TSL Earth, where Saladin was my immediate neighbor, he died real fast. The third was with Gathering Storm, and I dropped it because the added Loyalty mechanic caused me to keep losing Roman cities to rebellion- the earlygame didn't give me the means for dealing with it, although the War Carts were very effective. As for Domination with DLC civs: I tried using Nubia, but I took too long before I started warring, my incredible Pitati Archers bumped against Crossbowmen. Ancient-era warfare demands you succeed and thus strike fast, otherwise you'll have fallen behind. I tried the Zulu, I got stuck with Georgia as my nearest victim, Georgia gets bonuses towards walls, and I opted to drop the match because Tamar was no easy target. I need to try them again. Mongolia is top-tier Domination bar none, I won't hear it otherwise! Their Keshigs aren't actually great in combat, but keeping a few around to move Battering Rams/Siege Towers or Great Generals around the map faster is a good idea. Although known for their legendary skills on horseback, Mongolia is as amazing with foot soldiers. Send a trade route to a city you don't want to conquer, get a Spy and send them to create a Listening Post in the same desired cities, and research Printing. Each level of Diplomatic Visibility Mongolia has over the enemy civ provides them with double the Combat Strength bonus, meaning +6 for every single unit regardless of type. That is busted. Out of all the Domination-inclined civs, the Ottomans are the last to come into bloom. Once the Janissaries are ready and backed by siege units to demolish walls, they are great though. Hungary is... different. While you do want to build some units of your own, Hungary is all about levying City-State armies and using those for conquest. Matthias can be awesome, but he needs to find City-States, he needs them to not get conquered or razed by the AI, and he needs them to have plenty of soldiers. He also needs Envoys and Gold to suzerain and then order those levies. In short, the Hungary is highly variable, and might take some time before Matthias can start conquering. But, Hungary was very fun for me. I tend to go for Science or Culture Victories, but I do Dominate sometimes, and I think I'll be in the mood for another one of these soon. The Mapuche will worth using come Thursday's rebalancing update, so maybe I'll run with them. At least it wasn't my old Mac, which basically broke its 7-8-years old spine after a major OS update. I blame myself for doing that. Which also reminds me my current, year-old Mac is experiencing different boot-up problems right now, I need to get that fixed before it worsens.

Are you referring to this conversation?: Now why in the world did they waste one of Vanessa's support conversations on this? I guess they thought her too ordinary and Moulder too old and boring for an actual interaction between the two.

Amalgolem has been destroyed for the fourth and final time. I've thought of it the weakest of the First Stratum bosses, although I never played EOIII and haven't touched EOIV in years, but the fight with the cute conglomerate was more challenging than I remembered it to be. I lost the first time, I lost a second, and my third, victorious attempt almost saw me lose. The fire and ice punches were OHKOing whoever they hit, and not having a Dragoon this time and skipping Magic Shield meant there wasn't anything I could do it to bring it down to survivable damage, other than defending. I was happily surprised by the rock-hard challenge. So far, the 2nd Stratum is proving quick and easy to progress through, I'm halfway through the 7th floor, since my team is now as built as it can be for this section of the game. Except for the Botanist and Harbinger, who need one more level to meet the skill level gates for some Master Skills once they're unlocked, everyone is conserving their SP for the promotions coming after this Stratum. Each character is pulling their weight, the Harbinger the least (because Wilting and maybe Stifling Miasma aside, its base kit is bad), and the rest contribute about equally. The Basilikoi Paides, which replaces the Barracks in the Encampment, should help keep you up in Science. Every combat unit produced (but not bought) in a city with a Paides provides Science equal to 25% of its production cost. Get a few high production cities dedicated to churning out units, and your Science shouldn't lag behind. The AI tends to build Barracks instead of Stables, and any city you conquer with a Barracks will have it instantly turn into a Paides.

A day went by and I didn't get to playing the one game I wanted to, all because I couldn't decide whether to buy & upgrade the second-best at the moment, but more readily available weapon for a character, or to hold off and kill a load of FOEs and get the materials for the best one for the present moment instead. -Really, me?🤨 It's more a visual novel than the real-time SRPG aspect I'm told, I'm not sure it'd be for you from a gameplay perspective. That is probably why you can't talk about it either, visual novels are a tad difficult to review, since the genre's main point -plot- is something you have to discover firsthand yourself. Also, the gray-heavy aesthetic and genericness of school uniforms are a waste of Vanillaware's artistic talent IMO. But I get the desire for a change from their more colorful and pure medieval fantasy offerings, it must get boring doing the same things all the time. I do think Vanillaware's entire lineup should be made more available. The games might not perfect, but Vanillaware's signature visual artistry (setting aside sometimes George Kamitani's hetero-horniness) is worth making available and preserving on the most lasting video game system- the PC. The problem there, is that Japan doesn't care for PC gaming, and I'm told they're increasingly abandoning consoles altogether for mobile gaming. The Switch's portability is saving it from the Japanese demise of the other consoles, and Sony for their part is basically giving up and ignoring Japan with the PS5. Vanillaware would have to consider if there would be enough potential Western fans to PC port, and for a smaller company, I can see them readily shirking away given the cost-benefits estimates of that.

Let me think... Shadow Dragon: Gaiden/SoV doesn't really count because of chests are dungeon-exploration mode there. New Mystery: Genealogy is all outdoors, so no chests. Thracia 776 (I didn't count how many chests, just the chapters with some): Binding Blade: Blazing Blade: Sacred Stones: Path of Radiance: Radiant Dawn: Not going to do Awakening, Fates, and 3H for now. But this should help answer your query. I'd add that 3H feels like it forced chests into a bunch of maps. They don't seem as "naturally" present to me.

Thoughts on the near-inevitability of decline of the established in gaming at some point (pessimistic stuff I know), makes me think I need to diversify my gaming profile somewhat. The thoughts have enough that I think I'll buy SteamWorld Dig 2 while it's on sale yet again for $7.99. I enjoyed the first, the sequel got critic reviews of 8-9, assuaging my boundless fears, which apply especially to Indies. Now if only Brigandine went on sale for once, I've never seen it discounted, still full retail price. I've a quarter of a mind to get it. Money exists, although money farming is slow, because candles give MP-restoring mana roses when MP isn't full instead of cash. That has been an issue in almost every post-Symphony of the Night Castlevania. The Zangetsu and Bloodless alternate modes don't have potions, as is the usual for alternate modes in Castlevanias. This makes Bloodless more challenging, but Zangetsu is ez mode for most of a run with him because of how good he is, I don't think it gets difficult until the very end. I do think around the time of the desert caves, the game got significantly harder for me. The way the areas are designed at that point, so many narrow, tall tunnels, are more challenging to survive than earlier area layouts.

We've got, for direct heals: Mindstorm- Shield, targets all, also grants Potential Up, L signature unlockable after Chapter 10. Repair- Knife, single target, cures debuffs too, readily available from Enforcer, heals a fix percentage- 10% of HP at most, rather weak. Smooth Recovery- Knife, targets all, also grants Evasion up, Irina signature belonging to an Affinity Mission required for Chapter 5. Astral Heal- Photon Saber, costs 1000 TP, with Astral Horizon active it targets all (which demands another 1000 TP). Essence Exchange also exists for Photon Saber, although it's more likely to kill you, unless you're using it as part of some sophisticated Astral Horizon Heal build where it builds up your TP, only for you to then spend it on Astral Heal, which manages to heal more total HP than EE swapped out. Repair could be better, but Smooth Recovery does make the Knife a viable healer, albeit not a superb standalone. As for Auras with healing effects: Recuperate- Knife, Drifter/Cross only, heal over time, grants Evasion Up. Defensive Stance- Longsword, heal over time, reduces damage taken and lowers Melee Attack. Medic Free- Assault Rifle, revives on KO, increases resistance to debuffs. Overclock- Assault Rifle, heal over time, replenishes Skell fuel, exclusive to Alexa and capable of being unlocked for Cross until after Chapter 9. Enhanced Stand- Gatling Gun, heal over time, increases auto-attack damage. Titan Recharge- Gatling Gun, heals once upon Aura expiration (Cool Off could force this at anytime), and nullifies reflected attacks and shortens secondary cooldown, exclusive to Frye and requires Chapter 11 for Cross. Thirsty Edge- Dual Swords, heals with every melee hit that doesn't miss. Raijin- Javelin, heals with every art used, also enables reflect and provides electricity reflection, increases critical rate, but has a relatively short duration of 10 seconds. Speed Demon- Javelin, heals over time while sprinting like a madman and reduces art cooldown. Geolibrium- Photon Saber, heals over time, nullifies terrain damage, increases beam resistance. Astral Protection- Psycho Launchers, heals with every art used, increases all attribute resistances (capping at 50% with tertiary cooldown and the art at level 5). Looking at Skills: Healing Aura- Samurai Gunner, 12-20% of max HP restored with when activating an Aura. Rising Renewal- Shield Trooper, recover 10-30% more HP when revived. Lifeline- Winged Viper, 10-30% of max restored when activating an Aura below 50% of max HP. Blood Carnival- Full Metal Jaguar, 5-25% chance of restoring 4-12% of max HP when a melee auto-attack lands. Buff Heal- Enforcer, recover 100-500 HP when receiving a buff. Healing Touch- Reviving allies restores 30-50% more HP. Other than Healing Touch, all of these are affect only the person with the skill. For Augments, we know the XX quality stuff is exorbitant in price, V will have to do. And for that, we have Arts: Recover HP V and Melee: Recover HP , which are feasible ingame and per Augment provides +50 HP per Art/melee auto-attack used. Potential Up Vs are very simple and provide +12 Potential each, plus Potential-boosting Skills for as much of three of the healing Arts and Soul Voice healing as possible. HP Rebound is unreliable, and Overdrive: Recover HP is too little for how infrequent Overdrive activation will be. In summary, with Soul Voices and the fact Xenoblade fully heals you after each fight, you don't need crazy amounts of healing. Many weapons have at least one healing Aura, and Buff Heal or Healing Aura + Lifeline paired with one of those Aura could keep Cross alive for very long time. Albeit these require you sacrifice an damage-boosting Aura. And, "beginner's healing" -burst healing by commands- is quite scarce, with no one having access to more than 2 of those very few Arts, and they aren't humungous heals either without Potential stacking. As a player of Etrian Odyssey, I've sometimes done with few and infrequent command heals, that in a turn-based RPG where enemies hit hard. And for Xenoblade, I spent the vast majority of my XC1DE run so far using Shulk-Reyn-Dunban, which is short on heals, I know how to make it work. But, figuring out how to rely on offense or gradual heals-over-time requires thought and understanding, a Sharla/a typical medic does not. Whilst I wouldn't ask for another Sharla, I would might toss the Knife and Photon Saber another heal each, and definitely up the default potency of the ones they currently have. -Don't take this as a railing against XCX, it's a mild-toned dissection and critique. Archaic? -I've never thought of it that way in all my 2D Metroid and post-SotN Castlevanias experiences. The save room has long been and likely still is the norm in Metroidvanias. If you could save anywhere, anytime would it make surviving through the strings of rooms too easy? I've seen some Metroidvanias criticized for spacing out the save points more than necessary, but not the system itself. I think Guacamelee opted for fully-healing checkpoints, which were more frequent IIRC, but autosaves and "save anywhere" sound alien to the genre.

I'm not surprised by this. Germany, so it seems in the games with the trappings of history ("history simulator" is maybe too generous a term), is Bismarck-Prussia-Teutonics & 1930s-1940s, militant as all heck. Obviously, it has some historical truth to it, but it outright ignores the cultured side of Germany, and perhaps its scientific one as well. Although, if life is that bad for soldiers and everyone knows it, unless peaceful life is somehow worse, he will have to raise recruitment bounties. -Assuming Marth doesn't force conscription on people. I did remember reading that later in the 30 Years' War, they had to give out bigger payments for volunteers joining up, because everyone was well aware that war was hell after it had been raging for years and decades.

They're just trying to help. Malledus, or "Mal-Deus", is a soul splinter of the Shadow Dragon. The trifling regrets of the Earth Dragon prince against his choice to attack humanity, which came about and took physical form after his defeat by Anri. Being created at the moment of Medeus's first demise, it was shorn of draconic power, and was born into a body matured and old, albeit aging very slowly. With itself slain, it found no purpose in its existence, and after traveling around for decades, chose to settle to a peaceful life in a village in Altea. Possessing the full knowledge of the Earth Dragon, wisdom that alas went misused and unused once it turned evil, it was able to advise the humans who supported it and it lived among. His quiet intelligence led him to be requested by the court of Altea, which he humbly accepted in an informal role. When Medeus returned, he found purpose and sought to provide counsel to those who would attempt to slay him, which he found himself fortuitously in the position of doing. Malledus did not wish for anyone to know this, they needn't fear nor pity the old man. When Marth vanquished Medeus for the second time, it was different from the first. Medeus was in a position of weakness upon his first resurrection, his life-force was not what it was in Anri's time, and this remained so when Marth ended him then. The result was Medeus was deader, still not entirely depleted of his vast reserves of life-force, but it had dropped below a certain point relevant to Malledus. As Malledus retained a spiritual connection to himself, he began to weaken, partly because Medeus craved to live again and was trying to dematerialize Malledus into pure life-force to resurrect himself a second time. It took months before the effects of this began, as Medeus did fall spiritually unconscious after the defeat in Dolhr Keep, yet by the time the War of the Heroes was to begin, Gharnef had begun stirring Medeus awake once more, sooner than he naturally would have. This is the source of Malledus's "illness" that keeps him from advising Marth through his second ordeal. Malledus plummeted into deathly illness when Gharnef had brought back the Shadow Dragon, the pull on his being grew most intense. He survived it however, and regained a measure of vitality with Medeus's final defeat. It was enough to return to the capital and greet His Majesty Marth for a long ceremony in honor of the grand victory that had been won, which doubled as the prince's wedding to Caeda. Despite that, Malledus's physical body was worn by the stresses imposed on it by Medeus, and he lacked the means Gotoh would have to amend those internal wears. He remained unable to advise the Hero-King in a formal capacity, nor could he make the migration to Pales unless it the transport was most luxurious, which Marth was willing to pay for, but which Malledus rejected. So it was, in a manor along Altea's expansive coastlines, that he fell into his eternal slumber, his heart having no more to give. His creation had been incidental, who could've imagined it, and who could've cared? His short service in Altea's court, offering advice to commoners beforehand, guiding a prince against worse self afterwards, gave him meaning enough for his hundred-years of being. This decentralization of a kind doesn't have to entirely exclude epic moments associated with a strong central narrative either. Chapter 8 is 🍿. If they want to keep trying online components, better in a designated subseries than doing the funky Final Fantasy thing where XI and XIV shouldn't be numbered titles. Be it plot decentralization or online, delegating it to a specific subseries manages expectations and clarifies what every thing should be. Doesn't sound like they'll be dropping Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in this universe. Best army, best navy, the continent and the empire, France and Russia must be quivering.

I think the real question is why Innes isn't so great an archer that he can't shoot a lance from his bow. Now that would be one spectacular shot. A spear is but an arrow of greater dimensions to the right marksman. Do it, Petit Prince Publicly Professing Perfection though a Peacock Parading its Plumage.

*Silence, save for the sound of flowing water* 😨 We are of one mind on this. If/when X2 gets announced, I'm changing my avi to an Orphean. I need re-so-lu-tion! I'm not sure if it is the avatar that is to blame for the story issue. Opting to shift away from an emphasis on a main story to emphasizing the world via sidequests is the culprit of that. Takahashi said working with HD graphics for the first time is what caused them to do that, didn't want to try to tell an epic story at the same time they figuring out how to model everything while updating Monolith's technical expertise so, a lesson for 3H?. Compared to many an avatar (or chatty non-avatar person who feels like a lives-in-their-basement-gamer's wish-fulfillment) Cross was mostly well done. Barring one moment in Chapter 11, their effective disappearance from the plot after Chapter 5 was excellent. Cross, so it was said in a Japanese interview, was added and the Lone Hero ejected into Mira's mesosphere, because of the decision midway into the game's development to an online component. The online aspect, as irrelevant as it was for me and probably you and Armagon and yet others, was important enough to be a reason for the game's title.: "Right, we also named the title overseas Xenoblade Chronicles X, and the X symbolized alien life of the unknown, and exploring an unknown planet. In the Japanese version, we refer to the X as "cross," as in a place that can serve as a crossroad where people can come across one another unexpectedly. The game has an online aspect, so there will be a lot of player interactions, as if they're meeting each other at an intersection or a crossroads. A lot of intelligent life from other planets will also appear, and interacting with them can be a lot of fun as well. For example, they won't come to your town unless you find a way to come across and interact with them." http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/wiiu/xenoblade-chronicles-x/0/5 I never actually knew this before. I'm delighted to see that, what could easily be brushed aside and ignored as nothing special -all the Xeno species coming to NLA- was considered important enough to be integrated into the game's title. I wouldn't call it perfect. I know Monolith dumped the "healer" role because players found it boring (and I think most do), but they could afford to add a few more healing arts. If not for me or you, at least for the beginners. Skell combat needs to become more sophisticated as well, it's simplistic as is, foot combat ends up being more fun -once you learn how (some actually-existing tutorials would be a massive first impressions improvement too!). And with ground combat, Overdrive requires two adjustments. The first is explaining it to the player and making it more readily understandable how to get the most out of it. On my first XCX run, I used it once or twice, and thought it a waste of 3000 TP, because it did nothing for me. Unlike a Chain Attack, wherein the benefits and usage are explained and recognizable as soon as you unlock them, Overdrive requires effort to make good. If you don't figure how to raise the counter and extend the time effectively, Overdrive fizzles. The second modification is on the other end of Overdrive- the Infinite-Nonstop-Flyin'-To-Where-The-Earth-Was-And-Coming-Back-Before-Miran-Noon Overdrive. That Overdrive can be easily sustained indefinitely barring death once you know its inner workings and set up your gear, arts, and skills appropriately even right after it's been unlocked, is a blow against it. You don't require Overdrive, but if you can and know how, why not? You could raise the counterpoint "Well, why shouldn't I be discouraged from always using Overdrive? Are you saying XC1/2 should provide disincentive (other than revives) from Chain Attacks?". To which I respond, well, Chain Attacks can be awesome and powerful, but barring the Topple-Lock of XC1, can match the brokenness of unending Overdrive? Overdrive should be great, but, it should be forced to end. The online could use more exclusive special enemies other than the Telethia Plume and Yggralith Zero to make it more fun. It could extend the game's lifespan too, multiplayer games are the biggest ones around nowadays. Less grind for ultimate augments and Skells and the ilk, half the crafting costs of all of it, now that'd be perfect. Lastly, some balance tweaks amongst the weapons and arts, and skills. Dual Guns need to be less deadly so the Dual Swords can shine. Javelins need more hits, damage, or just about anything that'd help them.

*Looks it up* 2/10 🤨 It's Akashic Buster with the R-1 going for a ride doing diddly squat! -Or so it looked without being able to understand Japanese. They really shouldn't have gone with the 3D models, it had to have hindered the magnificence. Off the top of my head, I'd amend this by having T-Link Sword used on the Cybird, so it's flaming aura becomes a psychic flaming aura. And then at the end, the Cybird begins to decelerate and the R-1 lets go and uses the momentum + its own boosters to deliver a high speed T-Link Knuckle into the target, perhaps with some residual flames/prana coating R-1. I don't like his new outfit at all, staring the artwork It does fit his end of ToX career, but it doesn't work for me. The not-insignificant change in art direction (looks like the use of huge swathes of solid, bold colors was outlawed in ToX2 comparing all the heroes original and redesigned) overall combined with the total change of clothes, makes him look extraordinarily different, passable as a separate character if you tried. -Not to say I wouldn't like him as a character if his personality remained the same.

Eight attacks, including two combinations? *Tries thinking of an OG mech, Weissritter is the first thing* Split Missiles, Triple Beam Cannon, equipped generic beam saber, Oxtongue Rifle B, E, D/X, Rampage Ghost. Seven attacks. What have they gone down to now, 4 per mecha minus combinations? What would the reason be? Putting excessive effort into the attacks they get? Have they stopped with the "dramatic, but actually very dull because of how long they go on for" pauses mid-attack? I never got around to ToX2 Jude's redesign is total turnoff, they brought back those useless Katz from ToS? I think I hired them once, maybe twice in my many playthroughs of that game.

No, that came from a stable time loop with Ocarina of Time, as did the Lost Woods/Treescape. Knowing full well big trees in video games are nothing unusual, because Yggdrasil, it wouldn't surprise me if IS took from "FEWii". IS seems to catalogue every old idea and even name and recycle them at a later date. Although I could be getting my architecture wrong, this does look loosely Mediterranean, the white and blue speak of Greece. And Greece is what Valentia is loosely inspired by, as Mila's 8-bit very Greco-Roman temple tries to show.

Without Multiheal, 70+ damage per turn to everyone is too much to survive and fight back. With Multiheal, and Oomph and Sap letting me deal ~150 damage each with the Hero and my Martial Artist, Baramos was roasted like the evil turkey it is. I don't think I over-grinded, it's more the boss difficulty is an on/off switch. Neat "twist" for the era. Now if only the game gave me a map of the new place, it's why I came up for a breather. I'll do the dungeons tomorrow or something. Jealousy as genetic aspect is peculiar, although general mimicry of appearance, is a thing IRL. See the coral snake, there are species of snake that look fairly similar to it, but aren't visually identical. These copycats are hypothesized to look like the species they try to pretend to be, because those other species are dangerous and avoided by would-be predators, while the imitators are less able to defend themselves from predators who would eat them. I slightly wished they revived it somehow, the images and artwork of the canceled game didn't look half bad.

It'll happen, and we'll get another electric rodent to boot! 😛 Did they keep inventing new knockoff 'chus after Gen 5? We got baby Pikachu, Magnet Mice, Blue Squirrel, and Flying Squirrel. After that I stopped with the franchise. I think I remember Armagon posting an image of that thing, Biollante was its name? Good idea to make them wholly separate, it frees them to be their own beings, instead of overusing the central figure. Sounds like a better idea than a Zombie G'. Zombies are overdone. Something spectral could be cooler; the Chozo Ghosts of Metroid Prime are entering my mind. I'm sure it's already been done at some point in the kaiju world, but invisibility and intangibility sound as though they could make for a fun clash. Sure you can beat what you can't see, but how can you win against something that doesn't stick to your plane of existence? -Only issue is a kaiju who keeps their attacks to the spectral realm may not be able to wreck buildings as is tradition. That, and Ghost Godzilla makes me think "the embodiment of the lives that Godzilla has in one way or another destroyed or negatively impacted, they as a collective entity have taken the form of that which hate, so as to kill it with poetic justice"- Revenge of the Skyscrapers & Automobiles and all. Thanks for typing out this information for someone who has no serious interest in the franchise! -No, I mean that seriously, thank you. "Window shopping" into worlds you don't actually want to dive into can be entertaining in a way. Because while you don't want to commit to that world, learning about it secondhand does expand one's understanding of... stuff. And regardless of what it is, I do think that many humans like learning, even if the topics they choose to learn about aren't "important".

For a franchise as old as Godzilla, it sounds quite surprising to think that this never happened before. MechaGodzilla aside, you'd think they would've invented and toss a dozen different Godzillas into a much earlier iteration of the series. You could rake in some easy yen doing this. You could tweak the design into a wholly separate non-Big G kaiju, but why? If I were in charge of Pokemon, what could get me more money, inventing a new non-legendary Dragon Poke, or making another Charizard forme? The cynic says that Charizard no. 941 would be more profitable, at least in the short term, because Charizard has an extant base of recognition. The "Singular" in "Singular Point" makes me think "singularity", which is the point at which something reaches infinity. Often referring to the center of a black hole, where matter is so unbelievably densely packed and time-space so distorted that mass becomes infinite. Therefore, infinitely many Godzilla forms.