[Outwitting, Outfighting, and Backstabbing Everyone! Hawkwing Plays The Sci-Fi Roguelike Deckbuilder Griftlands]

SAL’S CAMPAIGN DAY 1 BOSS FIGHT: Sal Ik-Derrick, The Bounty Hunter VS Sparky, The Spark Baron

Spoiler

With everything else done, let’s head back to the bar.

Kashio has her own theme. I’m so used to her having different music from the Early Access version that the new track still catches me off guard sometimes. Sadly, I can’t find the original music.

Well, first off, Sparky’s Spark Baron design encapsulates the Spark Barons better than any other Spark Baron.

Jokes aside, this section used to be far shorter, with the beginning being largely unchanged, except Kashio noticed Sal was there, grabbed and kicked her in a quick motion, and told Sal to “stay down”. She then left the fight to her goon. Part of me still likes the original intro, since it shows that Kashio is a competent combatant and a woman of few words. Intimidating as it was, though, I think the rewritten section helps both Sal and Kashio’s characters, as otherwise they rarely interact with each other.

With the exception of two of Smith’s boss fights (which is really annoying, but I’ll get to that later), every boss fight allows you to even the odds with a negotiation beforehand. In this case, we can convince Fssh’s bouncer, Bina, to do her job.

Sparky, it seems, is content with letting me talk to Bina first.

Quark and Fssh help out.

There’s also a different negotiation track that plays during nighttime. Helps make things less repetitive auditorily.

I start off with some quick thinking, because my drinking earlier clogged up my deck (that sounds really odd as I’m typing this out).

Since I have no composure cards, Withdraw will have to do.

It won’t prevent damage, but it will keep Quark in the debate a little longer.

I use both my fast talk cards and end the turn.

I catch a screenshot of the textbox before the text appears (didn’t know the game did that), Bina adds Crafty, and Quark takes 1 damage.

Solid Point appears and attacks Crafty.

Which annoyingly adds Ploy, though fortunately Good Impression can finish the job.

Since Quark will destroy Ploy, I focus on the core argument instead.

Once again, I can’t prevent damage, but I can prevent the argument from being destroyed.

As predicted, Quark destroys Ploy…

And takes one damage.

Yeah, I’m going to lose my influence this turn. Since the damage will go to my core argument, I defend that first.

I threaten Bina twice.

And Sal goes Super Saiyan!

Actually, it just means that my flourish is now available.

I won’t use it here, because the negotiation is close to being done, but flourishes are powerful cards that can easily change the course of a fight or debate. In negotiations, you gain points from dealing and taking damage, as well as just playing cards and destroying arguments.

I think the cards themselves find a nice balance between being extremely useful and powerful but not to the point that you hang onto them forever.

I may have lost my influence, but my core argument can still take a beating. I protect Quark one last time so that none of the damage carries over.

I use my other two cards to deal damage. Once again, drinking caused me some problems.

Quark attacks one last time

You did well, Quark.

I miss showing that Solid Point appeared and got rid of Bina’s composure

As well as how I was so excited to end the fight I forgot to show me selecting Sal’s Instincts and Inspiration.

And with that, the negotiation is over.

Nice! I finally upgraded some cards!

I almost always go for the “stone” upgrade, because applying composure automatically is difficult to pass up.

The less cards there are in your deck, the more likely it is that the ones you want to use will appear. That’s the mindset behind picking the “Destroy” upgrade… which I’ve never done because that puts me in the classic “but I can save it for later” mindset.

Boosted Threaten, meanwhile, just deals more reliable damage, so I select it.

Dominance can combo nicely if I draw another hostile card, so I choose the upgrade.

Your starting cards are unique in that they can have randomized upgrades. Every other card has 2 choices to pick from.

Abrupt Remark: I’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of this card. I’ve also drawn cards that would have been helpful if I didn’t run out of actions. Useful, but I tend to choose other cards over it.

Solid Point: Choose this one earlier.

Bellow: Useful if you’re running a hostility focused deck, which isn’t set in stone at the moment.

Having two Solid Point cards may pay off later when my deck gets larger, though I doubt I’ll grab a third.

I really like how there’s unique artwork for boss fights. Makes the battle that much grander.

Bina’s a smuggler. They’re essentially combat medics that fulfill both roles with flying colors. They’re one of my favorite allies in the whole game, and I’m glad you don’t fight against them that often.

Also boss music. For once, I actually prefer Sal’s boss music to the other two characters, even if Rook has the best critical phase theme in the game.

I defend first

Then attack twice

Since one more use will upgrade elbow strike, I decide to go for that over Sal’s Daggers.

Reason Why I love Jake Smugglers #1: They provide a ton of defense.

Quark once again gains power before attacking.

Sparky throws a spark grenade, damaging everyone.

Been a while since I fought dirty.

Since Sparky will be attacked by everyone this turn, I chose trip.

Then I stab him.

I have no reason to defend this turn, and would rather not have my deck clogged with tipsy cards.

The animation is fun, though.

Reason Why I Love Jake Smugglers #2: They have an attack that hits three times.

Quark helpfully gnaws on Sparky, causing him to bleed.

Sparky decides it’s time to actually use that arm cannon of his.

Counter is really fun to use and really annoying to deal with. It has also caused the most amount of accidental deaths on both sides.

Since I know it counter will hit for 7 damage, I give myself 8 defense and use elbow strike since it deals more reliable damage than stab and I won’t get countered twice like I would if I used target practice.

Reason I Love Jake Smugglers #3: They heal you.

I am very thankful Bina healed Quark and not me, since he took 14 damage.

Ah shit, Sparky’s cannon hits hard enough it will cause Quark to panic.

Luckily, I have a card that reduces the amount of damage Sparky can do.

Since I have no other options for defense, Gaff will have to do.

I manage to catch the animation before gaff loads in. Weird.

I miss the amount of damage Aimed Shot did.

Also, Reason I Love Jake Smugglers #4: They have a hard hitting attack.

Quark adds more bleed.

Which takes effect now.

I should really start praising how much I love Griftlands animations. I’m not doing it enough.

Since the fight will be over this turn, I aim for experience. First on hemorrhage.

Then on stab.

Which deals enough damage to end the fight. In hindsight, I should have played feint beforehand.

I don’t gain anything from sparing Sparky.

So I don’t.

Sal kills with a quick slash to the throat.

The fight is over.

Killing bosses offers both a negotiation card and a combat card.

Sparky’s unique item isn’t the most exciting one you can get from bosses, but it has its uses.

Moving on to upgrading cards

I’ll take hitting hard once per fight over hitting hard once in the whole game.

Some cards actually have a bonus if you discard them, so I’ll nab Strained Strike just in case.

I forgot to hover over each of the cards. That or I thought I did. Steam screenshots started running slow at this point for some reason. Not that it really matters, as I skipped this round.

Recall: Can be useful. I don’t have many, if any, cards that expend at the moment, though.

Brownbeat: Nice on paper, in practice I usually spend all my actions on something else.

Bellow: We saw this last time.

Hard pick, as all of them are useful.

Seeker: A good amount of defense, and one of the few cards that can heal.

Rummage: It’s free, you can get rid of a card you don’t need and hopefully draw one that will be useful. Also, I like the flavor text.

Spines: Apparently Sal can grow them now. Counter punishes the enemy for every attack they make, and even 1 counter can add up quickly.

Hard choice, but I go with Spines, as it combos well with another ability card and is helpful in general.

One of several cards you can randomly receive after killing someone. Some are useful, others are not.

You also get to choose a graft reward after defeating a boss.

You’ll notice that any graft that grants you an extra action has a drawback. For good reason, as you can do some serious damage with 4 actions.

I pick Interior Drill, as it’s hard to complain about playing a card at a cheaper cost, no matter what it is.

I don’t want to know what the drill is doing to Sal’s head.

You can do any last minute drinking or gift-giving, if you want.

I decide to end the first day.

Each character has various dreams. They’re quite interesting.

Ending the day automatically restores health and resolve.

It also gets rid of any cards gained from eating or drinking.

A summary of who loves, likes, dislikes, and hates us. It also shows all the cards and grafts gained.

SAL’S CAMPAIGN DAY 2 PICKING SIDES: Audience Participation Time!

Spoiler

I believe Sal always thinks this when waking up on day 2.

Like I said, one of the best boons.

Also apparently Kashio no longer hates us. The Forgiveness perk is doing its job.

This is the big split in Sal’s route. We get to pick between helping the Admiralty or the Spree.

But first, let’s chat.

Onto questions

I’ll say this again later, but I have fun with both sides, so I don’t have a preference.

We’ve exhausted our options here. Now to meet the rest of the people in the bar.

Peri, sadly, is not a platypus. Fortunately, he seems more sane than the one in Fates.

We met the Luminari earlier.

The Meat Market is where we recruit people to help us. I can’t afford it right now, so I won’t bother.

The Admiralty claims that we won’t have many friends, while if we go with the Spree we’ll make enemies of several Admiralty officers, but to be honest, it doesn’t matter much.

I have fun with the missions and characters of both, so I’ll let you guys decide.

Also, if anyone has a name idea for Quark, feel free to share it.

***

Day 1 complete! A little over a week since I first took screenshots.

I’ll probably wait 2 or 3 days before starting on day 2 to give people some time to vote. I might catch up on some games I’ve started. I’m not the fastest typer, so writing these still takes over an hour.

As a whole though, I’m having a lot of fun! I find it pretty natural to talk about the game and explain the mechanics, which I’m thankful for since one of my concerts before starting was that I would find that part difficult. Now I look forward to it.

I still need to get better at screenshotting and I might try something different with the formatting every now and again, but I expect that will come with practice.

See you in a few days!

Alternative titles: I too am surprised at how quickly I got this done.

Strawpoll here: https://strawpoll.com/polls/XOgOJXN6rn3 (Hopefully this works. Tell me immediately if it doesn't)

[Our real first look at the new Mario movie soon]

I remember one of the many leaks flying around before the Nintendo revealed the September direct was that a Star Fox game would be revealed with a tie-in TV show. While I'm not placing bets for that to happen anytime soon, I can see that being a possibility in the future. Star Fox is already divided into levels that could translate well into episodes, and letting allies and enemies banter and bicker outside of combat could be something a show could accomplish better than a game. Heck, the animation promoting Star Fox Zero already showed that such a template could work well.

[Outwitting, Outfighting, and Backstabbing Everyone! Hawkwing Plays The Sci-Fi Roguelike Deckbuilder Griftlands]

SAL’S CAMPAIGN DAY 1 MISSION 3: Sal Gets Really Drunk And Agrees To Be Live Bait For A Herbivore

Replies:

Spoiler

On 9/23/2022 at 6:13 AM, Punished Dayni said:

Griftlands: in which we see a street skin graft applied.

I had to look up what skin grafts are. Yowch, but accurate.

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 I couldn't do that, I was too reliant on what I was quoting.

Yeah, I can see how that wouldn't be practical.

I mean, bullshit is continuous sadly.

If there is a comfort I've found in studying history, it's that the problems we face aren't anything new, and if people in the past were able to make it through, so can we.

As to the direct, personally the ports are really feeling the age and relative lower power of the switch and aside from something like Sifu I'd probably prefer to play elsewhere I only engaged with the new FE, the Kirby port and TotK.

Yeah, while in the past I rolled my eyes whenever "Switch Pro" was brought up, I'm starting to join that bandwagon. There are several games coming out that seem like they would fit well on switch, but the power differences seem like it would take too much effort to make a port, and even then it might not always run well. 

I suppose the big reason I was disappointed with the recent direct was because Nintendo kept to their word that the February direct would only show games that would release this year, so I was excited to see what Nintendo had in store for 2023. Needlessly to say, we got like, four farming sims instead?

At the very least, I can look back on the Switch's history and confidently say that there were some amazing games that released on the console.

When you're low on Resolve?

I suppose, it's just that there are more effective ways of regaining resolve that don't waste a random event.

Cash Money here seems to be very trusting.

He's just trying to enjoying those rare walks where you aren't attacked by a wild animal or ambushed by a bandit.

Lili in the third image looks drained.

"Dammit Sal, I'm stressing about this enough."

"You already took some of my money earlier today with that 'hidden fee' of yours."

So I suppose bystanders might rarely join you if you attack?

If they like you, sometimes. There is actually a mechanic to pay people to look the other way or help out in a fight. I rarely find it worthwhile, but it's an option.

He's helping the threat.

It seems his bark is as nasty as his bite, fortunately.

It's a little funny seeing you insist on these immutable character traits, but I get it.

To be fair, this is the only one I feel this way for. I suppose I have an odd subconscious respect for characters and people that can retain their dignity even in harsh situations.

Better than one of Smith's cards, which I still pick because the ability is good, but I'm not a fan of the implications. We'll get to that later, though.

I mean sure, she'll kill people, push others around, extort, but she will not beg!

Admittedly that case feels consistent.

One of the more believable character consistencies. Some bullies do have the virtue of courage.

Do these randomise as well?

Thankfully no. They're consistent with the characters class, so you decide whether or not it's worth angering someone or sacrificing a reward to have someone love you.

So, the game allows you to remove banes by killing the cause.

As long as you run into them and they aren't suspicious (I.E., necessary for the mission to continue), you can kill them. It makes the few times were a character hates you but then leaves the game world without dying especially dangerous, as you'll be stuck with the bane for the rest of the game.

This game is going to see a lot of dead people huh?

Depends on the run. Some have around 5 people dead, and I think my record is 34. A lot more people die in the brawl mode, as some missions straight up force you to kill. Fortunately, that mode is purely gameplay focused, so it doesn't bite you in the butt as often.

So the fleads are useable?

Are they defensive in messing with enemy attacks?

They gain defense automatically each turn, and several of their attacks apply impair.

Or at least, there was much indifference.

Seriously, I killed someone in the middle of a store, and not a single person cared.

So it's single use and then consumed? Makes items well worth keeping an eye on.

Most items have a limited number of uses before being destroyed, with some exceptions (boss items, for instance, simply expend). Makeshift dagger has a 50% chance to be destroyed every time it's used, so I got unlucky.

Just another day in Murder Bay.

Theme music plays.

Too bad Sal doesn't have any sunglasses to finish the theme.

Can't be robbed by a thief if you kill the thief.

The original title of the update.

 

 

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Fun fact of the night(?): Sal in Spanish means salt. Which is fitting, given how salty she is with Kashio and all.

Huh, that's neat. The more you know.

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I was going to present a suggestion, but then I couldn't come up with anything and I forgot to go back to it before hitting "submit reply."

Oof.

I'm still open to ideas.

This is an interesting role reversal, that's for sure!

I look forward to it!

That's fair enough. I just thought the opportunity was perfect.

Don't blame you. It's more of a pet peeve than can sometimes annoy me that anything else.

Because playing with pet is adorable.

I don't disagree, but playing with a pet doesn't make it do more damage in combat or help out in negotiations.

Dew it

Unfortunately, it's a situation that I feel loses it's impact if I try to explain it.

I'll say, I found that to be a pretty smart way to implement pre-game relationships without causing gameplay shenanigans.

I appreciate the change. It was always odd originally.

I shouldn't be surprised you've found a way to bring that one up haha

That's a contender for my favorite game I've played this year, which is a pretty big list. Seriously, I love that game's script and audio and art design and gameplay and...

This game's got some great dialogue.

One of many reasons I fell in love with Griftlands.

In Spanish "impresion" can mean both "impression" or a paper that's been printed. For a moment I considered making a pun regarding Sal's outstanding abilities with the pocket printer she keeps in her scarf. But alas, it doesn't work in English.

Now I have the mental image of Sal slapping people in the face with her scarf when talking to them. Thank you for that.

Fatigue is whatever. It's impatience that's the real crapper. I often couldn't finish fights fast enough to keep the enemy from powercreeping the heck outta me.

There's good reason Bluster is one of my favorite negotiation cards in the game. Flustered is incredibly useful simply for its ability to reduce damage.

Hah! Cute. I don't usually look at that kind of thing in gameplay.

This is really the only time I refuse to use a card for personal reasons, and I still use plead from time to time if it's a good option. I do love picturing how these negotiations actually play out, though.

Hahahaha... Ahh, yes, this. The fact that this is the optimal thing to do is nothing short of hilarious.

The fact that there are random events where you save a friend in trouble imply that this is universal in Havaria. Someone could make some serious money running an anger management class there, although it would probably end up becoming a front considering how the setting rolls.

Saying the same insult twice is quite effective, as not only does it anger the target, it also confuses them!

Not only did Grunjax's insult not work, Sal though he was deaf.

I wish there were extended versions of the critical phases. They're just the best.

There's good reason why Rook's is used in trailers.

Havaria in a nutshell?

Havaria in a nutshell.

Oh wow, that's actually awesome. And extremely evil of you. But awesome.

Almost every mission in the game accounts for someone involved being dead. Including important allies when they don't have plot armor.

Screw Lili. He deserves to die for killing me the one time.

You're going to absolutely hate every merchant in the game, won't you?

And some healthy punning.

I get it. Still don't know what to think of the subtitle.

 

 

Update:

Spoiler

More random events.

I don’t think I mentioned drugs under content warnings, as there is a substance called “slurry” in the game. That said, it appears so little that I’m not surprised it didn’t come to mind when writing it. We never become a drug dealer, if that’s what you’re wondering.

Anyway, Adrenaline Shot is nice, but I’ve gone so many games without it that I can safely say that it is by no means necessary.

Meditation, meanwhile, can help recover some of lost resolve.

“Meditate on the nature of meditation” is a hilarious sentence, but as damaging as it can be, it is one of the very few ways to increase your max resolve, so I choose it.

Well, it looks like I gave Sal an existential crisis.

Time to get drunk

As the name implies, night merchants offer useful services at night, and we get to choose which one we get a bonus with.

This is a good example of how Sal’s campaign finds a good balance between being welcoming to newcomers while still offering something to veterans. The night shop has the most options for things to buy compared to Rook and Smith, and people who already know how the game rolls have to decide which shopkeeper they’ll use the most this run.

Also… is that a Bilebroker in the background…?

IT IS!!!

DRINK WITH ME!!!

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!!

Doze bug is one of the best boons in the entire game, ESPECIALLY if you manage to nab it early!

Oh, right, drinking restores resolve, but comes at the cost of clogging your deck with Slurred Speech and Tipsy cards.

We meet Gura.

I forgot to mention that he’s a Shroke. They're a tough, thick-skinned race that gain a defensive bonus in combat, so they often work as mercenaries, soldiers, and thugs. They’re one of the less populous races in Havaria, though I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s simply because Klei didn’t find as many creative designs for them. Still, they look distinct from each other.

Gnak’s original name was Snack, and I wish I still had the screenshot to prove it. I swapped laptops twice, and discovered the hard way that Steam screenshots don’t carry over.

.

Our first look at an admiralty officer. There is a consistent color scheme across factions, and blue represents the admiralty.

I decided to get drunk with Gnak.

And pay a price I can work with right now.

Buying someone a drink is an easy way to get someone to like you. It usually pays off, as you never know when you’ll run into someone again and when they can help out.

Drinking alone restores more resolve and is cheaper, but obviously you aren’t making any friends.

And you restore health by eating. They upped the price of food compared to when I first started playing, but they also buffed the amount of health you heal. A change I was all for, honestly.

As I welcome having less bloated cards, well, bloating my deck.

Smith’s bartender is apparently the only decent cook in Havaria, and even then his food is just adequate (and Smith may have just destroyed his stomach with drinking and bar fights anyway). At least the drinks are good.

One more on the house.

I love this description.

Phroluk is one of my favorite NPCs personality-wise in the game, even if I slightly prefer the dialogue he had before Klei did some rebalancing and rewriting of Sal’s campaign. I’m kicking myself for not screenshotting his original dialogue and saving it somewhere.

See? The title has meaning.

Huh. It’s been a while since I last played (been addicted to XCOM the last few months), so I’m trying to remember if Sal’s dialogue changes if you have a different pet at this point. I think it does, as I’ve had a vroc (bird dogs. You’ll understand what I mean later) once before meeting him.

I know I said that fleads focused on defense, but Grawkits swim in it. Difference being you can’t domesticate one.

I remember Phroluk being a little more upfront about the “bait” part, though I could be off about that.

Forgot to screenshot the section where we ask questions. Least I’m learning now rather than later.

I suppose Sal has never heard of Hippos or Rhinos and the like.

Though to be fair, I don’t know many creatures that attack via bellyflop.

Hope you like swamps, because Rook is going to spend his time in Grout Bog.

The Vagrant Age was the time when the planet was discovered and everyone was still spacefaring. That technology has since been lost, so there’s good reason there’s an entire faction dedicated to finding it.

That’s the Spark Barons, and I have almost as much to say about them as the cult. If I had to describe them in two words, it would be “cartoonishly grounded”. In a sentence, they’re train barons IN SPACE that are trying to figure out how to get the space trains working again. They’re at they’re most prevalent in Rook’s route, but like the cult, they appear in the other two stories.

Is it weird that lava eels from Bionicle came to mind when I heard of another creature that is kept as a pet until it is abandoned when they grow up and become destructive”? I had one of those lore books as a kid, and while I didn’t get as sucked into Bionicle as much as I know some others have, it’s still one of the most interesting settings I’ve seen for a toy line, or heck, just in general.

Phroluk always seems happy talking about animals.

Rake provides combat cards. Since everything is expensive anyway, I won’t be buying much anyway.

Like Grunjax, I spent my entire paycheck on food and beer. At least I don’t have a former coworker to stab me in the back now.

Don’t know what that smells like and I don’t want to know.

Not that it would probably matter. I have almost no sense of smell.

If I remember correctly, Phroluk’s original plan was for Sal to fight and scare it away in a certain direct, and then he would try to catch it in a net.

He still gave you cracklers.

Since we killed the last two people, I didn’t mention panic. If you damage someone enough, they’ll surrender, and you’ll have a choice whether to spare or execute them. In this case, Phroluk wants us to capture the beast alive, and it won’t be the only time we see a request to spare someone.

I’ll probably use them all in this fight.

Interesting insults

At least they worked.

Grawkit’s look like someone combined a beaver, a bear, and a boulder.

They can absorb at least 6 attacks before we can deal any real damage.

And they’ll do that belly flop maneuver after we attack them enough.

The white number above the health bar is the amount of damage they can take before surrendering. Interestingly, it looks like the grawkit was harmed before the fight. Maybe the last person Phroluk hired didn't last long?

Anyway, I use my crackler.

And miss the animation where we shoot it.

Won’t do any damage, so I may as well get rid of its stack.

Stab didn’t do anything, though I wasn’t expecting it to.

Quark finds it wise to gain some power and the grawkit decides to defend.

Sal throws four daggers to get rid of the defense.

And I finish the turn by using another one of my cracklers.

And I catch the shot this time.

Quark bites twice.

This attack would normally stun, but the playable characters are immune to the effect.

I protect Quark. Once with feint…

And the other with brazen attack.

Now he’ll take 1 damage instead of 4.

Always hard to complain about bleed.

Quark can’t do anything, so I decide to continue what he started and spill more blood.

May as well use my last crackler.

On the bright side, I caught the weapon at various angles and animations.

It takes some damage from bleed…

And decides its belly flopping time.

Unfortunately for the Grawkit, it just means every attack will hurt.

The two elbow strikes were unnecessary, but I may as well gain experience for them.

Same thing for the feint.

Quark seals the deal and the beast runs away.

Jarackle Free-Fighting: We’ve already seen Goober and this card before.

Over Extension: Hits hard, but I don’t want to clog my deck with injury cards. Interestingly, it’s implied Fssh may have taught Sal this move.

Freighter: Nice if you have a lot of high-cost cards, a waste of space otherwise.

Sometimes, it’s a good idea to just skip getting a card. More cards is not always better in this game.

Phroluk was far more laid-back about losing the grawkit previously. I distinctly remember the line “The only certainty in life is that it will one day end. Everything else is just details”.

If it sounds like I hate the changes, I really don’t. I enjoy Phroluk as a cheerful, laid-back animal lover, and I think the previous writing got that across slightly better. However, I’m fine with the new changes, and fully acknowledge some bias since I’m used to the older version.

As much as Sal hates Kashio, she doesn’t seem to mind hinting about her in a casual conversation.

Onto the night market!

The market has some background music. One of the handful of location music tracks I could find, but it’s pretty fitting.

Phroluk can upgrade pets, which is why I decided to help him.

I visit him first.

I forgot to show what he’s selling. Oh well.

There’s a reason I said Phroluk was one of my favorite NPCs in this game.

We’ll possibly fight this things’ mother. Needless to say, there's a good reason it’s a team fight.

I would love to see Phroluk run a blog where he just talks about animals, real or fictional.

Dammit! Spent so much money drinking I can’t give Quark armor. Guess I’ll have to do that tomorrow.

As pitiful as that amount is, Quark only lost 1 health. That’s tiny potatoes, and I have far better things to save my money for.

 

For fun, here’s his alternative introduction:

I love this dork

There’s a running gag where Plocka meets every single grifter, no matter where they’re located.

For good reason, too. She sells grafts, which you can otherwise only get after defeating bosses or doing certain missions.

She can also extend the number of grafts you can use, but I can’t afford it at the moment.

Endo sells negotiation cards, which I can’t afford right now.

I remember Rake having hair colored like sand, and the orange (red?) hair throws me off sometimes. Anyway, she sells combat cards.

***

That’s it for mission 3. Next time we’ll fight the first boss in the game, and there will be some audience participation to decide which faction Sal will ally with. Hopefully I can figure out how to add extra polls to a topic on Serenes Forest.

The next update should come out sooner than later.

 

[Gameplay Hopes and Expectations]

No Durability: I loved this feature in Fates and SoV as it encouraged experimenting with different weapons. In other Fire Emblem games, I typically stuck with iron and steel weapons along with the expected 1-2 range backup just because they did the job for the most part, and I usually only whipped out the big guns for a particularly dangerous/annoying boss or the final handful of maps where durability doesn't matter. It does depend on the rest of the game design for which system to choose. Echoes small arsenal worked because you could only equip one item and had to decide who would be the best person for the job of wielding the right tool. The balancing on Fates weapons was seriously hit or miss, but the system itself was fine, several weapons just need adjusting.

More Reliable Ways to Activate Skills: A multitude of other strategy games have shown that cooldowns or building up to an ability can work. I think Fire Emblem could work with such a system, instead of having abilities be activated by RNG. I believe Heroes uses this method, and that seems to function just fine.

Have The Emblem Mechanic Offer New Strategies: We haven't seen how it works yet, but give me a reason to equip Roy over Marth, or have different combinations of emblems totally change the way you can approach a map. If done right, this mechanic can lead to a ton of experimentation and replayability.

Have the Rewind Feature be Optional and Design Around Permadeath: By this I mean, let us choose whether to have a rewind feature or not before starting the game, similar to deciding between "normal or hard" or "casual or classic". Heck, maybe even have various options for how generous or rigid the rewind can be. Also, make sure the game is designed with ironman runs in mind from the get go. There are some Fire Emblem games where trying to continue after every death is more punishing than it should be.

[Our real first look at the new Mario movie soon]

Finally. I'm glad we're going to get something tangible after a year. I'm indifferent to Illumination (I liked Despicable Me and have a soft spot for the Sing films for being solid family night movies, and don't really care for anything else), so I'm not expecting a masterpiece. I just hope it's a fun family film at the end of the day.

What I do find more interesting is that Nintendo acquired Dynamo Pictures back in July and renamed it to "Nintendo Pictures". Dynamo Pictures were people that did the Pikmin shorts, and they've done a lot of CG work and motion capture for other movies and games, including Death Stranding and Persona 5, and even did post-production on Metroid: Other M. I am incredibly curious if Nintendo found the process of making the Mario Movie to be fun or lucrative and decided it would be a good idea to make more in-house. It will probably be a year or two before we see anything, but I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo games get a animation boost and we start seeing more movies or TV shows based on Nintendo properties in the future.

[What are your thoughts on Alear?]

Design-wise, Alear falls pretty hard into the "so bad, it's good" camp for me, to the point I hope there is some customization to make them look even more ridiculous. And hey, I'll take some dumb looking hair over Corrins thigh windows or whatever the hell Female Byleth was wearing.

The "thousand year old divine dragon" schtick has me concerned because we got avatar worship over less notable setups. At the same time, avatar worship and similar issues has been a constant critique of previous games, so I hope the writers address it this time around. The story so far seems straightforward enough that I hope they either have some neat twists in there or just have fun with Alear being a dragon.

Speaking of which, if the game's tone leans towards the lighthearted side, please for the love of God, have fun with the protagonist being a dragon and let me choose how the comedy plays out! If Alear learns how to breath fire, let us choose whether they're terrified about puking up flames or if they think that's awesome or if their first thought is "I can make s'mores on the go!" or something like that. If they grow wings want to practice how to fly, let us pick if they jump off something comically small or comically large or just see it as an excuse to jump on the bed without judgement or some other silliness. Allow us to decide if Alear finds having a tail or claws or sharp teeth to be ugly or badass or a mild annoyance or whatever. I am willing to forgive some conversations ultimately going nowhere if they're incredibly entertaining to go through.

[Favorite designs so far?]

Ironically Enjoy: Female Alears hairstyle falls pretty hard into the "so bad it's good" category and I end up finding it hilariously endearing. It honestly makes me hope there are other ridiculous costumes to equip for some more dumb fun.

Unironically Enjoy: Vander looks cool, and I've been warming up to the cobra dragon design. I also think the previous protagonists look great, though that could just be because they had good designs in the first place.

I don't have any strong feelings yet for anyone else. I don't hate the designs, but none are grabbing me. Weirdly enough, though, the three eyed villain is growing on me. The design is incredible generic, but after imagining the guy acting smug or getting angry and overall being scummy, I can see it being the fun kind of generic.

[What is your favourite map objective ?]

I'll go with defend as my favorite. For better or worse, in several Fire Emblem games you tend to do more damage during the enemy phase than on the players turn, and defend maps take advantage of that. I do agree that they work best when spaced out throughout the game, though I wouldn't mind seeing defend maps be the focus of a Fire Emblem title. It would require being designed from the ground up, but I think mechanics like setting up traps and ambushes or spying on enemies before combat could be interesting to experience at least once.

Rout maps have never bothered me personally, though that could just be because I've played so many videogames were "kill everything" was the standard objective that I never saw it as unusual that Fire Emblem did the same. Rout maps with reinforcements can go to hell though (I don't count cantors because at least there are some interesting strategies for dealing with them, and killing the summoner causes their monsters to disappear. Standing on a fort is incredibly boring).

Defeat Boss and Seize are interesting on paper. In practice, they end up being either "rout maps you can end early" or "an excuse to bombard the player with reinforcements".

I'd be down for seeing more varied objectives in future games, such as assassinating a target and then escaping the map, or having to deal with multiple bosses and whichever one you defeat first leads to a route split, or having more engaging side objectives that go beyond "open a chest before a thief does" or "prevent the village from being destroyed".

[Outwitting, Outfighting, and Backstabbing Everyone! Hawkwing Plays The Sci-Fi Roguelike Deckbuilder Griftlands]

SAL’S CAMPAIGN DAY 1 MISSION 2: I Stab A Former Coworker for Telling The Truth

Replies:

Spoiler

On 9/20/2022 at 10:34 PM, AnonymousSpeed said:

Aw heck, Hawkwing is back.

So I am.

Glad you're feeling better. I might be keeping tabs on this- I'm really enjoying Slay the Spire right now, so "roguelike deckbuilder" sounds like something interesting to get some eyes on.

Thank you! I've heard there are comparisons between Griftlands and Slay the Spire, so it probably won't be too difficult to jump into the former.

 

On 9/21/2022 at 3:28 PM, Punished Dayni said:

Hawkwing's back

Good to see you anyways.

Thank you! Glad to be back.

So I assume it has good crossplay in terms of saves at least.

In terms of the computer and Switch versions communicating with each other, no. However, a playthrough of Griftlands can take 3-5 hours to complete, and it's meant to be replayed several times anyway, so it doesn't take much time to unlock stuff like new cards and costumes. If you're aiming for 100% completion however... don't bother getting two versions. Griftlands is the kind of game you gradually complete over time.

I had a whole reply but I managed to crash the laptop so lost it (I see those days are back :P)

This sentence gave me flashbacks. There's a reason I had a google doc open just to copy-paste what I wrote down in the event Serenes Forest deleted hours of work.

So a question or two and some statements then:

I assume when you get a reward to remove cards you have to do it then and there?

Yep. You choose which deck, then which card to get rid of. There is an option to skip it if you want, which I'm thankful for because the "remove card" reward can sometimes occur on mandatory quests. It can be useful for getting rid of annoying status cards you gain through some events, but I rarely bother.

What in particular is the reason for Sal's opening changing on subsequent runs?

If I had to take a guess, it's because "Havaria is a dangerous place and Sal wants revenge against Kashio" can be easily summarized in a single slide, so they do.

I'll let you get into the cult on it's own time but it's making it's impact so far. Not looking like a good bunch.

Smith's campaign is where the cult is most prevalent, but you can feel their influence long before you reach his story.

I'd say putting the combats in spoilers should be fine, unless it's story significant. Maybe the same for negotiations, but I don't know if that's what you'd want.

I'll test out a few different methods to see what works best.

Understandable given the online space, especially at the time, much as it hasn't improved much at all if not gotten worse in certain corners.

Not going to lie, I've occasionally had thoughts about coming back to Serenes Forest in the past, but it seemed like there was some more bullshit happening in the world every time I tried. Underwhelming as I though the recent Nintendo Direct was, it was a nice opportunity to come back and discuss videogames again.

 

On 9/21/2022 at 4:09 PM, Saint Rubenio said:

The man, the myth, the legend.

He has returned.

Glad to see I'm getting a warm welcome!

  Hide contents

Dude didn't need to pop off so hard with his battle theme. But he did, anyway.

Seriously, it's both incredibly fitting for Smith's character and is a bop in general. I debate whether I like his combat or negotiation music better, as they're both awesome.

Inexplicable oddities like these are the essence of videogames.

Like I mentioned for Dayni, Sal's probably get's a second one because her intro is easy to summarize.

Does it have garbage bagmen?

Unfortunately, no. They are loads of trash in different ways, however.

I did quite enjoy how varied the appearance of the non-humans are in this game. Usually they tend to blend together. Not so here.

It's amazing what something as simple as "how does an alien dog do their hair" can add to a setting. As much as stories try to focus on lore and worldbuilding nowadays, I find that it's mundane things that really ground a story for me.

Name them

Because it's a yote, I already have a name in mind. I'll see whether or not "Quark" grows on me.

Gone cheek is a hideous, hideous scar to have. Which I guess is why it's not seen more often.

The only other example I can think of is Harvey "Two-Face" Dent, and that depends on the artwork. It's a shame because I think the effect in The Dark Knight still looks really cool.

You just be grateful if this game doesn't have flashbangs to worry about

I did catch a black screen on the map, so I'll still have my own variant, even it it'll probably never make it into the LP.

She looks like she really angrily went "hey, look behind you!" and Goni turned his head to look behind him so fast that he hurt his neck.

Heh, it does.

Interesting to be on the other side interpreting odd animation timing.

Yeah, I think I would recommend just leaving fights out of spoilers. Otherwise we'll just know haha.

I'll try different variants to see what works best.

Coolest mechanic in the game.

It's more abstract than other examples, but that works to it's advantage in several cases. It's hilarious to visualize how these conversations play out, and the game does get creative with the scenarios you negotiate in.

I hated these guys. Merchant fucks, always traveling with strong bodyguards, not to mention the game lies and says they're not much in fight, but that toad woman with the brown jacket kicked my sorry ass one time. I hope you kill her at some point, I hate her.

Yeah, merchants on their own are fine to deal with, they're just rarely alone. Working as a team can a lot in this game, and it goes both ways.

Capitalism in a nutshell lololololol

I don't think killing someone for money is exclusive to capitalism.

On a more serious note, "hah, capitalism sux" jokes rarely hit for me. I suppose it's because as flawed as capitalism can be, a lot of it's problems are not exclusive to that system. That, and I care a lot more about on execution than ideology. Two countries can be democracies yet decide their laws in vastly different ways.

The internet can be a rough place. I'd say you made the right choice, admitting it was bad for you and stepping away. I can only hope you enjoy this second try better.

I'm glad I spent more time with family and friends over the past two years, even with the pandemic. As valuable as online friends can be, talking with someone face to face is something we still need to do.

 

21 hours ago, eclipse said:

Deck roguelike?  Check.  On Switch?  Check.  Using the combat system to haggle?  You have my attention.  I'll probably get this Sometime Later, when I'm not worried about a bunch of other things.  Looks interesting, but I won't read too much since this looks like something I'd like to play through myself.

Happy to introduce someone to Griftlands! And yeah, I do recommend playing blind, as the game offers different paths to complete missions, and the randomization keeps the game fresh. It helps that the roguelike elements focus on making each playthrough unique rather than trying to murder the player a thousand different ways.

 

Update (Trying out a different font size. Feedback is welcome):

Spoiler

Again, it wouldn’t be a roguelike without random events. Orange events are temporary, forcing you to choose one or the other or else they’re gone for good.

I decide Quark is more valuable than salvage.

I really don’t know why they give you the option to play with your pet when training pays off so much more in the long run.

Quark is now trained, so he’s even better in combat and his argument won’t disappear after one turn in negotiations.

Sal often gets to pick and choose her missions. The other two characters don’t have as much luck in this regard, though they make up for it in complexity.

A Matter of Faith is the primary reason (though far, far from the only one) I singled out the cult when writing the content warnings. While I don’t think the mission itself is necessarily provocative, I could write a few paragraphs about my thoughts on the situation.

Sal’s freelance missions can appear at various points in her campaign. Private Security is fun early on and an absolute pain in the butt if you tackle it later.

Seeing as I’ve put over 250 hours into Griftlands, I know I can do Asset Recovery at this point despite the increased challenge. Grafts are easier to show that to explain, but they’re always worth it.

It’s at this point I forgot to mention boons and banes. You gain a boon when someone loves you and receive a bane when someone hates you. Fssh grants us Cozy while Kashio curses us with Troubled Past, which cancel each other out.

Interestingly, when I first started playing, Fssh liked Sal from the start but never loved her, and Kashio hated Sal but didn’t give a bane. This was probably changed because as we’ll soon see, Fssh goes out of her way to help Sal, and it was weird that Kashio was the only exception to the bane rule.

And of course I run into something on my way to a mission.

Wonder what happened to Cash for him to lose both of his eyes.

I could rob him, but…

Clicking on his icon in the lower right brings us to this screen.

Oh, right! Voices! The game uses fictional gibberish when characters talk, and it does a great job getting tone across while giving different characters unique pitches that feel distinct. It was my favorite handling of it for a while until I played Warhammer 40K: Mechanicus.

Holy Crap does Mechanicus have amazing sound design. Not just in the voices, but all the whirrs and buzzes of machinery and the various bangs and booms of weapons being fired, topped off with an awesomely unique soundtrack that all together make Mechanicus one of my favorite games in regards to audio.

Now where was I? Right, Banes. On a lower difficulty, I could go for robbing him, as while Bad Credit does add up, there are ways to deal with it. However, considering that I’m on the hardest difficulty where everything is already more expensive…

Says the man who in another timeline was robbed of his wealth.

Looks like we’re extorting even more money out of Lili.

I love this exchange.

Another mission that lets us choose a card before starting.

Projector: Abilities always expend and tend to be costly, but they last the rest of the fight. Projector is useful if you have some improvisation cards, which I don't have at the moment.

Deception: Speaking of improvisation, we’ve seen this one earlier.

Target Practice: “Attack 2 random enemies” can translate into “Attack the same enemy twice”.

Which is why I chose it.

Grunjax was the smuggler who carried the package in the previous mission. Guess he found his calling as a cargo guard.

Since Enit likes me and will help out in negotiations or fights, I decide to go to Better Living Chemists.

People who like you will help out in negotiations, even if they have no stake in it.

This is one of the few times where there is an actual difference between self-defense and being the aggressor in a fight. Even though Enit likes me, her job is to guard the store, and thus will help out the defender. In general, more people jump to the defender's aid when you’re the aggressor, though this isn’t always the case.

I choose to talk.

I almost put this section in a spoiler, but several negotiations and a fight were so close together that I didn’t see the point.

Quark’s argument will now remain the whole negotiation until it is destroyed.

And it seems Grunjax spent his paycheck on alcohol.

Also, I think I was too caught up explaining how the gameplay works to share the music for negotiations. I really enjoy this piece. Does a good job conveying thinking on one's feet and bouncing between ideas of what to say.

The core argument for Jakes is Double Edge. They gain composure if they deal damage, but if the attack is entirely blocked, they take damage instead. Fitting name, and it’s incredibly fun to abuse, but it can be a pain in the butt when enemies start dealing more damage than you can hope to fully guard against.

Best advice I’ve heard for surviving the harder difficulties in Griftlands; Treat your health and resolve as a resource. Sometimes it can be worthwhile to “spend” it for an extra attack, and sometimes it’s better to focus on “saving” it. Enemies grow stronger the longer fights and negotiations go on, so it can be worth taking some damage to end them early.

Speaking of which, I start off with Quick Thinking.

I choose Withdraw since I didn’t draw any defensive cards, and I want to take advantage of Double Edged.

Bait, by the way, is better on paper than in practice. It usually just absorbs a little damage that isn’t always worthwhile.

Technically, we already met, but I give Grunjax a good impression...

And it hits for max damage.

Threaten, meanwhile, just does one.

Quark scares Grunjax, I suppose.

And Double Edge hurts him

All kinds of enemies have patterns that you’ll gradually figure out by playing the game. Jakes, for instance, always start out by adding the Crafty argument, which hides what argument they’re going to attack and how much damage it will do. Doesn’t help that if you attack Crafty without destroying it, it adds another argument that damages you and gets stronger each turn.

Since I can’t destroy Crafty this turn, I focus on defense.

And attack his core argument with some fast talking.

Quark destroys Grunjax’s Drunk argument, which removes his attack.

I try to destroy Crafty in one go.

And fail, adding Ploy to Grunjax’s arguments.

I decided to defend my core argument and hope that Threaten deals full damage against Ploy, which it does.

Quark destroys Crafty, and the extra damage goes to the core argument

Double Edge activates

But I also lose Quark and take one damage.

Thanks to Double Edge, Grunjax has some composure, and like previous turns, I start off focusing on defense.

Dominance increases the amount of damage hostile cards do. Unlike influence, you lose 1 dominance each turn.

So of course I play threaten next.

The previous turn was my last chance to gain advantage of Double Edge, and Grunjax is now Impatient, increasing the damage of all attacks.

So instead, I focus solely on attacking

Good Impressions really does last longer than expected. A few turns in and it’s doing the same amount as damage as my starting diplomacy cards.

 

I annoyingly take damage and Grunjax gains defense and crafty again, but the fight is close to being over anyway.

Which is good, because the artwork matches my expression whenever politics are brought up.

Fatigued prevents cards from gaining experience for the rest of the negotiation, and the same thing can happen during combat. It’s annoying, but it encourages ending fights sooner than later, as well as indicating when you should start using your big guns without hesitation.

I attack twice and come frustratingly close to ending the encounter.

I end the turn by adding defense.

I take 2 damage and he adds ploy…

But this talk is over.

Onto the rewards

Heavy Handed: A pretty strong sacrifice, especially since some arguments can take a beating. The cost is that it requires you to already have dominance, which you lose each turn.

Plead: Free cards are always useful, and it’s easier to gain and keep influence compared to dominance. I tend not to pick it more for personal reasons than anything else. I respect Sal too much to reduce her to begging.

And yes, I am well aware that I am A-OK with making Sal a murderous bully but think pleading is below her. Shut up.

Solid Point: Hard to pass up on free damage and influence, even if it is only by one.

Like I said, hard to pass up.

The Roaloch is where most Bilebrokers do their work, which probably explains why there are only three in Havaria.

Well that turned ugly. There are various ways to get people to hate you, and some are inevitable if you aim to complete the quest.

There are worse banes than Thin Skin. It only happens once per fight, and you can always get around the extra damage by focusing on defense.

And because he hates me…

I can provoke him into attacking me!

Has he? We met, like, a few hours ago at most.

Then again, he is drunk…

Insult cards can be fun. You lose every non-hostile card, and in exchange gain dominance. Seriously, these can add up, and the dialogue for insults are some of the funniest you’ll see in negotiations.

Once again, Quark and Enit help.

I add defense to take advantage of Double Edge… again.

And realize I should have seen if drunk would have gotten rid of the attack first.

Oh well.

I’m enjoying taking advantage of Double Edge as much as I can. I won’t always have this luxury.

Defense

And the first use of insult.

While I don’t pay much attention to the dialogue during negotiations since I’ve seen almost all of it, insults are still fun to read.

What do you know? Double Edge works in my favor again.

Solid point activates on its own.

I try to soften the blow

And take advantage of the little dominance I have left.

And deal full damage with fast talk.

Influence is damaged but not destroyed

I destroy Ploy.

Ya already know about Double Edge and abusing it by now.

And I insult him for having such an exploitable ability.

 

You know the drill.

I hope we get more interesting cards soon, so I can say something more than “I defend then attack”.

Fleads are more or less oversized fleas. They’re a fun pet that focus strongly on defense, especially when compared to other beasts.

Why not gain more dominance?

And the exact amount of damage to end the debate.

And now Grunjax is so mad I can get away with murder!

 

Before I forget, battle music. Sal’s is one of the more subdued battle tracks in the game, though like everyone’s music I love the critical phase section that plays when either you or the enemy is near death.

Anyway, like in negotiations, each “class” has patterns that you can recognize through experience.

For instance, I know that he’s going to apply evasion next turn, so I use the dagger to increase the amount of damage I do this turn.

Some items have sprites. Makeshift Dagger doesn’t. Hard to see, but the shattered card effect means it’s gone for good.

 

Like I said, target practice means “attack the same enemy twice”.

Apparently, Sal’s elbows cause explosions.

And an unnecessary feint for the experience.

Quark gains power.

If someone hates you, they only target the player. Fine by me, as it means I don’t have to worry about Quark taking damage.

I nab Saber Grip before attacking.

I waste both of Grunjax’s evasion with a single card.

I cause him to bleed.

And take advantage of hemorrhage.

Sal does a funny jump and Quark looks mad.

That hurt

I feint twice to gain the same amount of defense that a normal feint card would provide, because exposed is annoying.

On a side note, I really like how defense is pretty vague and includes implications that it involves dodging along with blocking. Doesn't mean much mechanically, but it's fun to picture these fights.

Stab thankfully deals full damage.

And Quark keeps Grunjax’s blood flowing.

Yowch.

Yeah, Jake dockhands focus on wounding, which makes them especially dangerous when they have a partner to rack up the damage.

 

I predictably nab saber grip

And stab him twice.

Causing Grunjax to bleed to death.

 

Earlier today, Grunjax helped me kill a thug. Now I’m looting his body.

Gaff is one of the more useful item cards, as you gain defense while dealing damage.

Brazen Attack: Costly, but considering it ignores defense AND lowers the amount of damage enemies can do, it’s worth the 2 actions.

Barbed Defense: Another ability. An incredibly useful one, but unfortunately I have no way of gaining counter yet.

Slippery: A pretty useful defense card, since you gain an extra card to choose from.

Feint is doing its job defending me right now, and Brazen Attack deals damage while keeping me alive longer.

 

Seems like no one cared that I just talked to a customer and killed him shortly afterwards. Then again, that was the result of provoking him into attacking me. If you enter combat in a shop or bar for a different reason, it can cause the owner to dislike you for causing violence in their place of business.

I go to the place Grunjax said the goods were buried.

Looks like he was telling the truth.

Okay, so normally, I would be ambushed by Grunjax and a lackey, and have the choice whether to fight him or give up the goods. But because I already killed him, his corpse can’t steal anything.

 

Time to head back to Lili.

Sal conveniently never tells Lili that I killed Grunjax for being honest.

You really do. Your first package was nearly taken by a bandit, while the same guard stole your supplies. And the two times you hired Sal, she killed someone. Including your former employee.

I love this game.

 

Apparently I forgot to take a screenshot of the Graft selection screen.

Anyway, Buckshot applies 1 wound to a random enemy at the start of each turn. I’m not 100% certain what grafts are in-universe (they seem to be cybernetic implants, but not all of them make sense that way) but they provide extremely useful bonuses. They’re always worth going out of your way to get.

***

Mission 2 done. Quark is now trained, we killed Grunjax hours after working with him, and Lili really needs to be careful who he hires.

Tune in next time to see Sal have an existential crisis and get really drunk.

 

[Press Ctrl+V]

[Outwitting, Outfighting, and Backstabbing Everyone! Hawkwing Plays The Sci-Fi Roguelike Deckbuilder Griftlands]

Back in April of 2020 while watching Youtube, I got this advertisement:

This intrigued me enough to write down the name of the game, but otherwise I continued on with my day. It wasn’t until later in the summer that I saw the Early Access version of Griftlands on Steam and decided to purchase it.

Not only did it become my favorite game I played in 2020, which was the same year I played The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, and Resident Evil 4, Griftlands became one of my favorite games of all time. I put in over a hundred hours in the first month alone; the only other game to do so was XCOM 2, which I played this year.

I’ve had half a mind to do a screenshot let’s play of this game for over a year now, and decided that since I’ve rejoined Serenes Forest after a two year hiatus, there’s no time like the present.

A few heads up beforehand:

1. This is my first time doing any sort of let’s play, so it might be a bit of a crash course as I figure out which format works best. The animation of this game is amazing, for instance, but capturing that through screenshots may take some practice on my end.
2. I joined the game while it was still in early access. While I have forgotten a few things thanks to Griftlands officially releasing last year, I will still point out various changes or behind-the-scenes tidbits that I find interesting throughout this let’s play.
3. I also got Griftlands on the Nintendo Switch (yes, I love this game enough to double-dip), and I alternate between playing on a computer and playing there. This won’t affect much, but I do mix up which device I took certain screenshots from, so I might not always be able to show a funny story because it happened on the Switch.
4. This game has different factions you can ally with, as well as multiple endings, and I think it would be fun to have some audience participation to see which route to take. Let's hope Serenes Forest is cooperative with polls.

As well as a few Content Warnings:

1. While it never goes beyond its T rating, the game does feature blood, and some of the artwork and descriptions can get fairly visceral.
2. Topic matter includes drunkenness, indebted servitude, corrupt authorities, police brutality, exploitation of workers, worker rights, familial dysfunction, and lots and lots of lying, backstabbing, manipulation, and murder.
3. One of the factions in this game is a cult, and there is a lot to say about them. If I wish to discuss something in more detail, I’ll put it into a spoiler with a warning. Just note that it will be something I and others will be commenting on.

Without Further Ado:

SAL’S CAMPAIGN DAY 1 MISSION 1: When Have Escort Missions Ever Been Uneventful?

Spoiler

And so it begins.

There are three separate characters and thus three campaigns to go through, each with multiple endings. Sal Ik-Derrick is the first character available when you start the game. Rook is the man with the glorious mustache, pilot helmet and robot leg, and Smith is the snail looking alien. Each has their own mechanics that sets them apart, and we’ll see what those are in due time.

To show off, I’ll be playing on the hardest difficulty. Enemies are stronger, bosses have more tricks up their sleeves, Sal has less health and resolve, and everything is more expensive.

I’ve played this game enough to unlock all the perks, which are various bonuses you can apply to make the game easier, such as starting with more money or having two pets or even reviving once after you die. For now, I’ll be going down the boring but practical path of gaining more health and resolve, as well negating a single bane at the end of each day, which I will explain later.

Since I want to show off both endings, I’ll be replaying each character’s story twice. I may activate some custom game modifiers to spice things up the second time around, but for now, let’s start the show.

This is the music that plays during Sal’s introduction. It shows up on the pause menu, and I personally consider it to be Sal's theme. I have an easier time putting my thoughts into words with Rook and Smith's themes (and Smith's music in general. Seriously, the soundtrack for his route is amazing), but I still feel this is fitting for Sal. I suppose if I had to describe it it would be... sad and tired?

I hope you like this intro, because you’re only seeing it once.

Yeah for some reason Sal has an entirely separate introduction after your first game. So how am I showing it off?

Mods.

For the record, this will be the only mod I use for this entire let’s play, and I’ll be turning it off after this run anyway.

Since we haven’t even seen any gameplay yet, I won’t go into detail about modding yet. For now, I’ll just say that while I appreciate that it is officially supported, this isn’t the easiest game to make mods for. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Back to the main game, we enter the Grog n’ Dog.

Remember what I said about this being my first let's play, and having to learn a few things via crash course? This is an example of what I mean. I really appreciate how the game provides descriptions of various terminologies in the setting just by hovering over the word. It does a great job quickly explaining the in-universe lang while keeping the conversations flowing naturally. However, I don't know how easy it will be to actually read once posted, and it doesn't help that personally, I have an easy time reading small text.

Of course, I’m already familiar with all the terminology, and I am willing to write this stuff out (I just don't want to spend more time than I need on the writing phase), so if I miss something and anyone has a question, feel free to say so.

Yes, Fssh is a pun. I’ll leave you to figure out what it is. Prepare yourself, because it is far from the only one in the game.

Probably my biggest concern is that the game uses animations when characters speak, which means I won’t be able to transcribe the script. I may try out a few different methods to show the dialogue without having a thousand screenshots, and I’m welcome to suggestions and feedback.

But before accepting a job, let’s ask some questions.

Already I forgot I already hovered over the description for Havaria. Oh well.

The admiralty are the closest thing Havaria has to a police force, and they enforce the few laws of the land when they feel like it.

Deltree is mentioned a few times, but we never visit it. Each character’s story does take place in a different part of Havaria, however, so we’ll still be seeing a change in scenery.

Yeah, we’ll be seeing the common folk under enough hardships already. What we do hear about those in indentured servitude is not pleasant.

We can now ask about the annex.

I really appreciate how Griftlands provides exposition. For instance, here we learn that the admiralty isn’t popular, but Sal already knows that. This method is consistently used throughout the game.

You know? Crime Spree? Klei likes their puns.

Anyway, while the Spree aren’t the only ones robbing people off the street and engaging in criminal activities, they are the ones that do so most frequently.

There’s… a lot to say about the cult.

Such as how they don’t bat an eye about utilizing indentured servitude. This is just the start…

I’ll be skipping over some single text boxes to save on space. Particularly when there aren’t any animations.

Don't have much to say about Hesh right now, but get used to the name.

Make your Berwick Saga related jokes now. There’s not much humor to the derricks in the rest of the game.

Lumin is used frequently throughout Havaria, from lights to cybernetics to even drinks. There will be a few missions in the future revolving around nabbing or transporting the stuff.

I’ll probably bring this up again later, but Fssh is a Kra’deshi. They’re amphibians that can easily heal their wounds, which means they tend to be longer lived than the other races. This also means they often find their ways into positions of wealth and power. Note that I say tend to and often; the racial dynamics of this game are not universal. This is part of the reason I love Griftlands writing, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Questions over, onto the game.

We leave the building automatically.

This is the map screen, from which we’ll choose our job. This is the music that plays during when you see this screen. Rook and especially Smith’s versions are better listens, but I want to be consistent.

In my first draft, I almost didn’t talk about the mission descriptions. After over 250 hours of playing, I’ve already seen most of what the game has to offer, so I tend to look at the rewards first and the description second.

As the topic title suggests, this is a card game, and bounty hunter is a solid choice, though by no means necessary. The mission has a neat "dead or alive" angle that has pros and cons for either approach.

One of the less interesting missions, writing-wise, but extra shills are always welcome. Shills are this game's currency. Y’know, shilling? Maybe that one was too obvious.

There is a purpose behind removing cards, as bloat is a serious problem. However, it's a problem that tends to pop up later in the game. I don’t have a reason to thin out my deck this early on. Again, not one of the most exciting missions story-wise, but it is a good introduction to negotiations.

Since everything is more expensive on the highest difficulty, I decide to help Enit by guarding her stuff.

There is an animation that plays when traveling across the map, but it’s too quick for me to bother screenshotting.

Also, a bit of a heads-up that isn't the most exciting quest of the game, though I do think it is a nice introduction of how the gameplay functions. Just keep that in mind.

Here we are at Better Living Chemists. I don’t believe I’ve mentioned how good this games artwork is yet, because I love it. Everything looks worn down, second rate, and used, but without being ugly. I love comic book aesthetics in videogames, and this is my favorite one. I'll fawn over some of the designs later.

Before accepting the job, we can talk to the other two people here.

Couldn’t describe them better. When the cult needs a violent solution to their dirty work, the Luminari do so with shining efficiency. I’m not joking when I say that they’re quite possible the strongest non-boss opponent in the game. Let me put it this way, the game considers combat where you’re outnumbered and only have a Luminari as your partner to be a fair fight. And they’re right.

I don’t bat an eye at having to fight a Luminari one-on-one, but if there’s an alternative way to avoid combat, I tend to take it.

The Feud was the original name of the citizen faction, before “citizens” described it far more efficiently. The phrase still shows up from time to time.

Bilebrokers are perhaps the rarest faction in the entire game (The only exception are two other characters from completely other continents). All of them are eccentric and often interested in weird experiments, mostly involving chemicals or biomass. They are one of my favorite factions to negotiate with, as the game nails the sense of talking with an easily distracted person who jumps between topics. This will make more sense when we see how the gameplay plays out.

Also, I keep forgetting that you can buy cards in this game, so don’t be surprised if I never do so.

I low-key love Enit’s design. She looks like she only got two hours of sleep, is trying to stay awake on her third cup of coffee, and is mentally preparing herself to deal with someone's crap.

Also, she’s a Jarackle. They’re dog aliens. And Klei got far more mileage out of that concept that you might expect. Seriously, they have some of my favorite designs in the whole game.

Enit is part of the Jake faction. They’re dockhands and smugglers. We’ll mostly encounter them as the latter but never forget they can be the former.

Sal’s campaign takes place in Murder Bay, by the way.

First Mission let’s go!

Ah crud. I have to choose a card and we haven’t even seen how combat works yet.

I’m debating how much detail to go into, as Griftlands does a pretty good job explaining its mechanics and what each card does. For now, I’ll just give quick thoughts on each card and enjoy the funny descriptions.

 

Hemorrhage: Bleed is helpful in general, and if you’re running a deck focusing on dealing bleed, then the damage Hemorrhage deals adds up big time.

 

Improve Accuracy: Can be useful, but at this point of the game I’d rather have another attack than increased damage.

Jarackle Free-Fighting: Hey, it’s Goober! The fan nickname of a character that doesn’t appear in the game yet for some reason appears in card artwork. We’ll be seeing more of him when we reach Smith’s campaign. For now I can say that his actions speak for him.

Right, the card effect. Useful if you have a reliable way of gaining combo, which I don’t at the moment.

 

Also, each time you skip a card, the bonus shills you get increases. This is what trips me up the most switching between playing on a computer and playing on the Switch, as there are some combinations I forgot I did on the other system. Neat mechanic, but there are some cards I never bothered with.

 

I went with Hemorrhage. The other two cards aren’t useless, but they require set-up that I haven’t worked towards yet. Meanwhile, dealing bleed damage is useful from the get go.

Off to transport some possibly questionably legal cargo!

It wouldn’t be a roguelike without some random events now, would it?

Crayotes are often shorted as “Yotes”. I could joke that “yote” is the past tense of “yeet”, but to be perfectly honest, I never cared much for that particular meme.

Nice! We have a chance to gain a pet.

Took some damage, but it’s worth it.

Sal has the easiest time gaining pets, and they’re incredibly useful. Any extra help in combat is welcome, and they often pull their weight.

Also, you can rename pets. I’m indifferent to the default names, so if you have any ideas on what to rename Quark, feel free to share them. If enough people reach a consensus, I'll change the name. It may have to occur on day 2, though.

Welcome to the Gutted Yote… which is a little weird to say after saving one, but whatever.

This is the bar where the spree like to hang out.

Rude, but I suppose being standoffish is the expected response from people who are indifferent to you in Havaria.

Nadan has his own description and theme. He’ll be more important later, but for now, can I just say that I would love for a manakete to have his facial injury? That would be an awesome subversion for the 1000 year old looking youngling to have some serious battle scars.

We’ll never see the Bread Fields, and it's not brought up much anyway, but for now I’ll just say that they’re surprisingly relevant to Rook’s backstory… 

I… suppose the game’s not wrong about his smile…

On a more serious note, I love the character descriptions of this game. I might compile my favorites sometime in the future.

Gunjax joined as a party member, and we’re off to deliver whatever the heck he’s carrying.

Of course we’re being robbed. But I guess it’s not so bad to be robbed by a face like Goni’s, right?

I could pay the bandit to walk away…

Or take his offer…

But I’ve been hired to do a job, and it’ll pay better anyway.

FIRST FIGHT

(These sections can get quite lengthy, especially later on, so I'm testing what separating it in a spoiler looks like)

Spoiler

Whoo boy, I have to explain combat mechanics now.

Each turn, you have three actions. The number on the top left of every card states how many action points it will use. Orange cards are attack cards that primarily deal damage, while blue cards are maneuver cards that focus on defense or other effects.

If you hover over the top of each character, you can see who will be attacked, how much damage they’ll do, or if they’ll perform a status effect.

Like I said, the game does a good job explaining its mechanics, so I debate what to tell and what to show.

Ah, the effects you don’t notice until you actually have to time your screenshots properly.

Some defensive cards can be played on allies, while others only affect the player. You’ll generally know which does which by if you can target something or not.

Quark increases their power and thus the damage they deal, while Grunjax gains evasion, allowing him to straight up avoid two attacks.

Like so.

Turn 2, and I love this cards description.

Also, you may have noticed last turn that Grunjax had a red 9 over his head, while Goni has two purple numbers. A red number means that an attack will simply deal damage, while the pruple circle means that a status effect will be applied. There is also a yellow number, meaning that an attack will be piercing and avoid defense.

Sal’s Daggers gives a choice between hammer or saber grip.

Hammer grip gives combo, which various cards spend for various effects. Combo is neat, but it requires some luck on card selection to have a reliable way to both gain and spend combo in order to be truly effective.

Saber Grip, meanwhile, just deals bleed damage, which is always welcome.

Yeah, I almost always choose saber grip.

I stab Goni twice. I love this game's animations, but, uh, it doesn’t always translate well into picture format.

I might find a way to make gifs sometime. There are some animations that I really want to show off in their full glory.

Quark gnaws at the thug, causing him to bleed.

And Grunjax slices his knees, dealing enough damage for Last Stand to activate, along with other nasty effects.

Goni revs up his… spinning spike gloves, meaning that all his attacks will deal bleed damage.

Fight Dirty pulls three random cards to use, and you can’t get these any other way.

Goni’s almost dead anyway, so I choose Trip to hasten his demise. I think the descriptions for wound and exposed explain themselves.

And an elbow strike to ensure the next attack kills him.

Though not necessary, I give Quark some defense. The bar underneath the card name shows how much experience it has. Once it’s full, it can be upgraded. It can be worthwhile to use some cards just to gain experience.

And with that, Goni is dead. The first casualty of the entire Let’s play.

It also means we get to loot the body!

I accidentally nabbed his spare change before snapping a picture.

With the sole exception of the final bosses, every character in this game drops an item when they’re killed. The Spree carry makeshift daggers, and the description is pretty self explanatory.

After every battle, you gain a new card.

Concentration: Self-explanatory.

Deception: Another card that trips me up because I’ve used it on the Switch. While I generally prefer using another attack card, this one can come in handy if you drew more maneuver cards than attack ones. 

Target Practice: Attack 2 random enemies often translates to “Attack the same enemy twice”.

Which is why I chose it.

I have some concerns that handling it this way just spoil what happens, though. Again, recommendations are welcome.

We arrive at our destination without any more interruptions.

Nothing much happens animation wise.

But we can ask for more money.

Manipula- I mean, Negotiation Time!

Spoiler

Okay, so similar to combat, you have three action. You win by destroying the core argument of the opponent.

As you can see, characters core arguments have some kind of effect. Sal, for instance, gains 1 composure (essentially defense) every turn, while Lili adds a card to our deck that costs money to play.

Grunjax added Flustered, which reduces damage for two turns.

While Quark adds an argument that deals 3 damage. Arguments can be attacked and destroyed. Similar to combat, you can see what will be targeted and how much damage will occur once your turn is over.

Purple cards are manipulative, focusing either on defense or other effects.

Green cards are diplomacy cards, while red cards are hostile. Hostile cards tend to do more damage, while diplomacy cards tend to deal more reliable damage. Note I say “tend to” as there will be various cards that shake up or contradict what I just said.

Anyway, I defend first

And remember that I forgot to get the little description for Stab and Elbow Strike.

I dearly hope people can read them, because the flavor text is really fun. I'll likely make a complication of my favorite card descriptions later on.

I risk dealing higher damage with Threaten.

More descriptions

And more damage.

Also, while negotiations are pretty abstract (the game will get creative with some of the scenarios you talk your way out of), I love picturing how they actually play out. In this case, Sal just ignored what Lili will say, threatened him, and then did some smooth talking. There’s a particular mission with Rook that is hilarious to envision, and I dearly hope we encounter it.

Quark deals 3 damage, I take none, and I gain Kickback.

The amount of damage that flies around at the end of each turn can get crazy, so don’t be surprised if by the end of each campaign, I lose track of what’s going on.

Like fighting dirty, Quick Thinking brings up 3 random cards to choose from.

I choose Consideration, because I didn’t draw any composure granting cards this turn.

You may have noticed that Lili has a question mark inside the circle. This means that next turn he’ll add an argument.

I focus on dealing damage the rest of the second turn.

Once again, I take no damage and gain kickback.

Lili added the argument Tribute, which is useful to me if I destroy it, but distracts from dealing damage to the core.

After blocking damage, I decide I may as well destroy Lili’s Tribute argument.

If you deal more damage than the argument has resolve, then the extra damage goes to the core argument. Predictably, there are cards and arguments that change this rule.

Again, I take no damage. I embrace these moments while I can, because this will quickly not become the case.

I see an opportunity to end the negotiation this turn, and I take it.

This is what I mean by diplomacy cards being more reliable. The influence argument causes them to deal max damage. And since I have two diplomacy cards that can deal the exact amount of damage necessary to win this negotiation…

Victory!

Good Impression: Hits hard for longer than you might expect. Dealing less damage each turn sounds bad, but it takes a while for that to become truly detrimental.

Interestingly, the character in the artwork doesn’t appear in-game, but a variant with a similar hair style show up briefly in the 2019 E3 trailer for Griftlands (Side note, I really love the music for this trailer). I have no idea why he was cut.

Speaking of E3, I might talk about the 2017 trailer later on. This was one of those games that started out in an entirely different genre before things had to be shifted around. It's pretty interesting.

Setup: I forgot the last time I used this card. It’s useful, particularly when you have “spend influence to do X” cards, but I suppose in recent runs I found other methods of gaining influence.

On a side note, Smith has the most artwork of the three protagonists. The artists had a lot of fun with his expressive and bombastic design, and you’ll probably get a general idea of his personality long before we reach his story.

Aplomb: Hard to say no to defensive cards, especially if you have a reliable way of gaining enough influence to spare.

I take the extra damage as I'd like to end negotiations sooner than later.

We gain 40 shills, and head back to Enit.

A pretty lucrative day, all things considered. Sure, we killed someone, but that’s not unusual in Havaria.

***

I think this is a good place to end the update. Perhaps not the most exciting introduction to Griftlands, I admit, but when trying to write the entire day as a single update, it came off as pretty bloated and overstayed its welcome. It’s probably for the best that each update will be one mission anyway, as while Sal’s are pretty quick, Rook and especially Smith’s can get pretty lengthy and complex.

On the bright side, it takes around an hour to complete a day in Griftlands, so on the gameplay and screenshot front, I can get something done even on a busy day. The writing process came pretty naturally; I had an easy time remembering how things played out just by seeing a screenshot. My main concern at the moment is just finding a format that finds a balance between looking nice and not taking forever to set up, and I'll likely find a solution to that long before the let's play is over. I’m glad I found this process fun, and hopefully things will pick up speed in the future. Day 2 in particular is when Sal’s route starts getting interesting…

It's really been over two years:

Spoiler

So yeah, it’s been a while. To make a long story short, the constant barrage of bad news, petty politics, and intense division over the course of 2020 made me the most cynical and jaded I’ve ever been in my life. I realized that I seriously needed to take a step back from the internet and news and instead focus on the people around me who I could actually talk to and help out, instead of fretting about things outside of my control. Not to say I abandoned the internet entirely (I became a big fan of Scott The Woz and MandaloreGaming, so do not be surprised if I steal their jokes reference them), but I was a lot more selective and cautious about where I visited. There’s a lot more that happened in-between, but I can say that I am in a far healthier state of mind right now, and my home and work life are pretty calm. With the release of a new Fire Emblem game, I decided that I might as well come back.

 

[Nintendo Direct 9/13/22]

A few days late, but I personally found the Direct to be... underwhelming. Not bad, as there were a few interesting announcements, but I'm glad I watched it during lunch because I skipped through so many rpgs and farming sims.

Anyway, quick thoughts on individual games that caught my interest:

Fire Emblem Engage: I' already talked about this in a different thread. For now, I think it looks fun and I'm interested in learning more, but I'm not super hyped for it (yet).

It Takes Two: The only contentious things I've heard about this game is the story and the amount of swearing. Aside from that, I have not heard a single complaint about the gameplay, and the focus on multiplayer synergizes well with the Nintendo Switch.

Tunic: Another game that seems right at home on a Nintendo console. It will probably fall into the "amazing game I will play eventually" category personally.

Factorio: I laughed the hardest at this announcement because putting Factorio on a handheld/console hybrid is both one of the best decisions the developers could have made, and one of the most dangerous. I haven't personally played the game, I just know it's infamous for being incredibly addictive.

Sifu: Glad to see this game for something more than the Playstation, though the iffy framerate in the trailer is concerning. This is an action game that will punish your mistakes when things are running well, so I hope that's not indicative of performance issues.

 

I don't know whether to be happy or sad that we didn't get a trailer for the Mario movie. Miyamoto talked about a mobile game for three minutes before dropping Pikmin 4 on us, which reminds me I need to pick up Pikmin 3 at some point.

 

Breath of the Wild 2 gets an official name and release date, and lucky for me, it can be an early birthday present. That said... why did Nintendo go for another tease that only showed small snippets of new gameplay? At this point, Monster Mazes amazing videos on three patents leaked have me more excited for the game than any of the trailers. People are still finding creative uses for the tools you're giving in Breath of the Wild, so it baffles me that Nintendo isn't flaunting any of the new features. The time reversal mechanic seems tailor-made for amazing puzzles and unique combat, phasing through walls will allow for far more traversal options, and even skydiving, though the least interesting of the three, sounds like it lead to some engaging aerial battles. I genuinely don't get why Nintendo isn't showing off features that could easily get people excited and speculating about what they can do in Tears of the Kingdom.

 

Overall, I'm more concerned than curious about what Nintendo has in store for 2023. A big reason for my disappointment is that the February direct claimed that it would only reveal games that would release this year, and they kept their word on that. I got the impression that Nintendo was keeping their cards close to their chest and they would have even more big reveals later on. I suppose I just expected more, especially considering what they showed off earlier this year.

[Fire Emblem Engage has been Announced!]

First Impressions: After I stopped laughing about the leaks being real (which I could have seen going either way when I first saw them), I think the game looks fun, I'm interested in learning more, and I plan on picking it up eventually. At the same time, I can't say I'm super hyped for it (yet).

 

- I think the UI is an improvement over Three Houses, I'm glad to see gauntlets return in some fashion as they were my favorite addition in Three Houses, and I hope the hub is more compact and there is an option to do things in the menu instead of having to fast travel everywhere.

- I am very thankful for the addition of alterative costumes, as that's a feature I've been wishing for quite a while. I would have killed to swap out some of the weirder outfits in Awakening/Fates, and I am very happy Engage gives me that option.

- Speaking of visuals, I appreciate the game being more colorful than Three Houses, though I'm not sold on the character and class designs yet. I don't think they're bad, and I don't get the impression we'll get the strange class designs from Awakening or Fates, but aside from the protagonist and cobra dragon nothing stuck out either. My biggest concern is that the classes will be overdesigned and the characters will have a more "cutesy" look to them, which I don't want for Fire Emblem. However, I'll reserve judgement until I see more examples.

- Similar story with the animations. They look far quicker, dynamic, and engaging than they were in Three Houses, and I'm glad that terrain seems to be taken into account for certain actions. To be honest though, I still prefer Shadows of Valentia animations, as I think they were snappier and had more personality. That said, I looked back at SoV's reveal trailer, and I wonder if Echoes simply chose more interesting animations to show off compared to Engage. Again, I'll reserve judgement until we see more.

- As for the new "summon past heroes" mechanic... I just hope it comes with a lot of variety that legitimately changes how you strategically approach some situations and isn't just a marketing gimmick. I want to be able to say "If I equip Marth on this character and Erika on that one, then I can perform these actions. But if I equip Roy and Celica instead, I could combo these abilities together and complete the map a different way". If done right, I can see this mechanic offering a lot of experimentation and replayability.

- The story setup sounds really generic, which makes me think they'll take one of two paths for the plot:

1. The game will start of pretty standard, before taking a hard swerve and turning a lot of tropes and expectations on their head with twists galore

OR

2. The game is very predictable... and they have a blast with every cliche and story beat they can. I'm personally fine with a story being straightforward if it's fun to go through.

 

Overall, I'm interested, though I'll probably wait until I see some reviews and word of mouth before picking it up.

[Press Ctrl+V]

[Crime and Punishment - Fire Emblem edition!]

The RNG fails you when you create a tactically sound and reliable strategy.

I replace all the horses with motorcycles.

[The Race Issue: Is it going too far? Has Disney hopped on the train now too?]

17 hours ago, Lord Raven said:

The problem is more at the subconscious level.

That's why, in general, it takes generations to hammer these out. Not everyone has time to train their subconscious, and it's generally pretty hard to do so. Being aware of subconscious thoughts is the key here.

I agree. Forcing change will be met with opposition, while letting it be gradual means there will be troubles in the meantime. I don't really know a way to comment on combating subconscious thoughts without repeating what you said, so lets just say you took the words out of my mouth.

4 hours ago, Johann said:

I hope you read the rest of what I wrote there, was hoping more for a direct response to that. Republicans and the police are not demographics (as black people, women, etc, are), but organized groups that require a consensus on their thinking and methods to exist at all. A person can't be a member of those organized groups without at least endorsing the prevailing ideology of that group in some way.

I said earlier that any side can generalize another one. I would have originally said that the only difference was that one group had a choice and the other didn't, but one can legally change their nationality and there are ways to medically alter ones gender, and didn't want to deal with the arguments that came from that.

I don't really have much to add that you haven't said already, aside from republicans and police not being the only groups that have power that they have used and abused. And that one can be a part of a group without agreeing with every idea they supposedly represent.

4 hours ago, Johann said:

No, not at all, and I don't know how you arrived at that conclusion. Let me explain it again: People have subconscious biases that they might not be aware of. Saying "I don't see race" is to assume that you don't have any prejudices whatsoever, and ignore criticism if someone points out that you do. Failing to address any prejudices you may have perpetuates those prejudices and whatever impacts that may come about as a result of that. With that in mind, if you're not prejudiced, you don't have to announce it to the world, because it'll be clear if yo are to the people who are observing your actions. You don't get to be your own judge.

I see what you are getting at. I don't entirely agree, as there are people who know themselves well enough to state their virtues and vices just as there are people who believe they are nobler than they truly are. Of course, this depends heavily on the individual, and it is not obvious to determine this at first glance.

4 hours ago, Johann said:

I'm not sure if you're intending it to sound this way, but your question reads as "what are white people supposed to do, throw away their advantages? Lower themselves to the setbacks of black people?"

That is more or less my question. There are criticisms about white privilege all throughout this thread, yet few propositions on what the the people supposedly benefiting from these systems should be doing about it...

4 hours ago, Johann said:

The real aim is equity-- bringing the underprivileged up to the level of the privileged, not the other way around. People can vote, protest, support groups/movements that work against racist systems, educate themselves, pressure politicians and companies to understand and address these things, it's a long list. Basically everything about the the civil rights and BLM movements.

...aside from this. I know this is how such systems are combated, but my question is what do you believe people who are supposedly part of these systems in the meantime should do with their "privileges" that don't fall into "protest"?

4 hours ago, Johann said:

I'm not sure what you're trying to argue for here. "Historical accuracy" in video games is just a dogwhistle. There's little expectation for realism in video games, and the capacity for them to be informative is nothing compared to what you could get from other mediums, like books.

Not surprised you were confused. In hindsight, I focused a bit more on the "there can be factors outside of a creators control that affect the accuracy of a project" part than the "history is often twisted to suit whatever groups ends, no matter who does it" one. I could also point out how certain several strategy games have an almost obsessive focus with mechanically inserting the tactics, politics, weapon statistics, and more used in historical battles, but that is neither here nor there.

4 hours ago, Johann said:

The argument that it takes up too much effort falls flat when they could've had half of the existing characters be women, rather than design M/F options for every single character. You really don't need to make weak excuses for their decisions, dude.

I mentioned earlier that things that sound like weak excuses in one field can be legitimate issues in a different one. Robin Walker mentioned it an interview that there was an idea to make some of the cast females, but the team wasn't happy with the compromise, as the felt there was a "right way" to go about with the idea, yet in the end other aspects of development took priority. The memory issues and having to account for all the updates the game received over the years is likely the reason female versions of the characters haven't been added

The main point is that adding diversity isn't always as easy as it sounds when every factor of game creation is taken into account. It should definitely be a goal, but no product can do everything they set out to do.

4 hours ago, Johann said:

With a defeatist attitude like that, you have no hope of changing anything. No change was ever brought about by simply being nice. Disrupting is necessary and people, even the "nice" ones, are going to push back either because they don't understand or they're benefiting from the problem.

Defeatist if politics is the be all, end all of change. It isn't to me. Small, everyday actions create ripples that have far reaching impacts. It does not happen overnight, and their effects are not immediately noticeable, yet they can cause change, whether for good or ill.

4 hours ago, Johann said:

Woof, you're really not the philosopher you think you are.

Hey, I said it would be quick thoughts provided in a general manner. I was in no mood to write an essay, especially given most of the ones I write on this site end up being wastes of time. My mistake for commenting on that point, I suppose.

[First word comes to mind]

Crutch

[FE as described by memes!]

[What Would You Do If You Opened Your Door And Saw The Avatar Above You?]

Politely request they drink elsewhere, as alcohol and intelligent debates don't go hand in hand.

[Crime and Punishment - Fire Emblem edition!]

The rebels in the next game have a slightly better excuse to rebel now.

I try to convince IS to make Battle of Revolution a full-fledged game.

 

[Would you rather...?]

The one that whispers bad ideas all the time. No one said I had to actually use them, and they could be good for a laugh every now and again.

WYR be a one-man band or be the only one playing a unique instrument in an orchestra?

[Battle of Revolution translation?]

Fire Emblem WOD is the only place I managed to find an actual translation, and it is in Spanish. Despite how warped Google Translate can be, there are some interesting tidbits:

- It takes place near the end of the Edo period.

- The land of Valentia is suffering from famine and destruction in several places, and its isolation has attracted foreign countries to its shores.

- It seems that Celica is the leader of Zofia, and visits Valbar to request his aid.

- There are people who support the Shogunate (the ruling military power) and those that want them gone. People all across the country feel strongly about the issue and aren't afraid to use violence to prove it.

- Valbar and Celica gather allies, and when Valbar learns of the conspiracies behind the Shogunate, "his heart will hesitate. In the end, who really knows what they will believe?"

- The destination of the final battle is called "The White Feather".

-The game supposedly has a deep history, sub-episodes that show a characters past, and additional sub missions.

- There is a Hanafuda Card System (essentially card Amiibo. Remember those?) that may or may not affect permadeath, and the game has amazing battle animations.

- Unless it's a joke by the website, Chapter 1 is called "Blooming Flowers" and Chapter 2 is "Between Water and Fish". There also exists a magic system, supports, classes, and DLC.

 

Character Descriptions:

Valbar AKA Violent Steed: Although he is a native peasant, he is naturally kind and has a sincere personality, which led to him becoming the guard of "White Wind" (Zofia). His laughter always reaches the next village, and he is concerned about his "recent thirties-old belly".

Leon AKA Love Man: A ninja who fled from Iga. He longs to ride for Valbar (who is also known as the Violent Steed... make of that what you will), even enlisting for him. Leon changes his red eyeliner daily, is dandy and skilled with their hands, which draws the attention of young women. May or may not be occasionally mistaken for a female himself.

Kamui AKA Warrior Bear: A samurai without a teacher. He once brandished his sword against Valbar, which lead to him joining the "White Wind". Kamui hates being dominated, and despite his careless lifestyle is an expert with the blade. He is struck by a girl from a store, though he does not speak to her.

Marth AKA Prince Blue Runner: A young runner from Archanea, a domain next to Valentia. In a strange twist of fate, he ends up becoming the sovereign of Archenea with his heroic runs and races. A free DLC character.

 

These seem to be the (well, a) translations of the screenshots:

Again, it's google translate, so there is some weird phrasing, but it sounds like a pretty solid idea for a Fire Emblem game if I am being honest.

[First word comes to mind]

Cavalier

[First word comes to mind]

Mare

[Post a lie about the person above]

Is wondering why two different webcomics have "Reach for the Sky" as a comic title.