Lurker > KamikazePotato

https://www.amazon.com/Scum-Villains-Self-Saving-System-Fanpai-ebook/dp/B09JRX3MJX/

Almost 3000 reviews on amazon. This story made bank.

I'd be down for teaming up some other time but for now I want to try out the characters and see what clicks. So far I've tried Wonder Woman and Harley, the latter seems fun.

Started playing. Matchmaking is shit. I'm fighting people significantly above my level with intrinsic perk advantages.

Actually, there's a little-known clause in the Constitution that states that, as long as you're a Republican, conflicts of interest don't exist for anything. I heard about it on facebook.

https://twitter.com/Amtrak/status/1565414263530950662

https://twitter.com/CNN/status/1565436402707435522

It's just honest. Game development is a grueling industry.

Xeybozn posted...

It's pretty much a lock that the GOP takes the seat back in November, right? Like, this is interesting as yet another example of the GOP underperforming post-Dobbs but won't have any real impact by itself.

The real impact is that this is going to make headlines and result in more momentum for the Dems.

I wonder how close Sans was to becoming an actual Smash character. Probably not THAT close, as there's still plenty of popular characters that had to be snubbed...but Toby Fox did visit Sakurai's house.

9/10

Turns out that Borderlands humor actually works if you exercise a bit of restraint! The characters are extremely likable too.

Up to $900k. Second day is going well.

Updated pledge breakdown:

Armed Fantasia Digital: 565 backers
Armed Fantasia Physical: 254 backers

Penny Blood Digital: 240 backers
Penny Blood Physical: 161 backers

Both Games Digital: 1,988 backers
Both Games Physical: 1,873 backers

The capital of Mississippi can't drink water, by the way.

Should clear the initial goal in the first 24 hours.

There's more music on the main website for those interested.
https://www.pennyblood.jp/?page_id=972&lang=en#music

The comments from Miyazaki (director of the series) about Lost Izalith are kind of hilarious.

https://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2015/09/11/creating-worlds-hidetaka-miyazaki-s-favorite-zones.aspx

Since I had the opportunity, I had to ask what Miyazakis least favorite zone from the franchise is as well. The answer should come as no surprise to fans of the series its the lava/dinosaur nightmare known as Lost Izalith in Dark Souls. Miyazaki comments Dont want to elaborate on this very much. There was a different person assigned to this area, and although I was involved, I dont want to pose very many negative comments for his sake. It can be a learning experience for all of us.

I never got into Wild Arms but all the music I've heard during the VGMusic Contests has been really good.

6

I really like its atmosphere. No other From Software game felt quite like it.

Bed of Chaos would honestly be tolerable to me if there was a bonfire right outside the boss room. It's the combination of the long trek through Izalith + immediately getting knocked down a pit by tree branches that makes it so bad.

Almost every kickstarter is frontloaded, but the legs would have to drop off very hard to only hit $1 million after thirty days. For reference, here's the trends for Eiyuden Chronicles (can you tell how much I miss contests):

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/3/5/AAIpcmAADndD.png

If you want the WRPG niche equivalent, here's the trends for Tides of Numenera, the successor to Planescape Torment:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/3/8/AAIpcmAADndG.png

And one for Yooka-Layle because why not.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/3/7/AAIpcmAADndF.png

Even the super frontloaded games had a decent Day 2. We'll see where things up, but I'm honestly fairly confident this gets to $2 million.

Kamekguy posted...

I dont feel any real animosity toward Yoshi, but this is the second game in a row where the conversation has been oh just wait until people get good with Yoshi, his fundamentals are SO strong. And then everyone gets bored of Yoshi and that never happens due to lack of interest. BUT THE POTENTIAL THO.

Check out Yoshidora in Japan, dude consistently beats some of the best Smash Ultimate players in the world.

I'm trying to figure out how this early performance indicates what the final total will be. Eiyuden Chronicles seems like the closest analogue, being another JRPG revival, and it made around $1.4 million on its first day and ended up at over $4 million by the end of 30 days. Also how the fuck did a Suikoden revival do so well, it's the 3rd-most popular video game kickstarter of all time.

If AF+PB reaches around $700,000 by the end of its first day (which is looking easily doable), that means by the end of 30 days it should have over $2 million. That's really good. Honestly way better than I was expecting when this was first announced.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

They should have learned from the Undertale controversy!

People forget that Muffet was also a Kickstarter character, and she's super popular. Sometimes it works fine. Sometimes you get the floatong neckbeard photos in Bloodstained.

Oh it's a great idea to pad kickstarter numbers.

Here's how the pledge distribution is breaking down so far:

Armed Fantasia Digital - 134 backers
Penny Heart Digital - 56 backers

AF Physical - 61 backers
PH Physical - 33 backers

Both Digital - 604 backers
Both Physical - 645 backers

While AF is the more popular of the duo (no surprises), I think the dual kickstarter gimmick is turning out to be an excellent idea that strongly benefits both games.

Those big pledge tiers are wild. For $4000, you can help design an enemy, or a song, or voice a character, or put your pet into the game. If I was rich I would totally get all of those.

I vote for Jerry, but honestly, the show probably suffers the least if you remove Kramer. His character isn't as integral to the best situational comedy.

3

Comey is a name I'd hoped to never have to hear again.

Love the exasperating permeating that Roy writeup. It hit the nail on the head.

People have seen the gameplay clip right?

https://twitter.com/Coca_Colm/status/1563515207120744448

Penny Blood is a bad name, but the game looks cool, so who cares. New Shadow Hearts is very welcome.

One side note I forgot to mention: it genuinely bugs me that Shulk, who can canonically see the future, and comes from a game where changing the future is a major gameplay mechanic, has one of the worst counters in Smash Ultimate.

Shulk - Xenoblade Chronicles (original Wii version)
The Definitive Edition gets bonus points for being HD, but I honestly have never liked the art style for Shulk's face in it. Wii Shulk has the fidelity of an early PS2 character model, but at the same time he has more personality, looking more like the nerd he is rather than a stereotypical JRPG main character. This is overall a small thing. but Shulk is one of my favorite game characters so I reserve the right to be picky.

In either version of the game though, he's fantastic. Shulk is a perfect example of how to make a likable JRPG protagonist. He's smart, empathetic, mature, and has one of the absolute best voice acting performances I've heard in any game. If every JRPG protagonist was as good as Shulk, I think the genre as a whole would have a better reputation than it does. It's a shame that Adam Howden hasn't been able to fully replicate the Shulk voice since; his VA in Xenoblade X, Xenoblade 2, and Smash Ultimate has always felt a little off.

Best Smash Appearance: Ultimate
Shulk was the character I was hyped for in Smash 4. When I finally sat down and got to play him, I was...not quite underwhelmed, but a little confused? For the record, Shulk is one of the most inventive additions to Smash in the last two games. His Monado Arts allowing him to change his movement properties makes him unlike any other character. Despite being a relative unknown at the time, Shulk completely sidestepped the typical Anime Swordsman complaints by being wholly unique.

With that said, I don't think that interpretation is quite accurate. Shulk's gameplay in Xenoblade is only tangentially based on buffs. For the most part, he's a fairly squishy assassin type character who deals out tons of damage and exploits weaknesses while being able to create big shields in a pinch. Smash focused on the few property-changing abilities in Shulk's repertoire and added two Smash-original ones. The end result is probably more unique, but I can't help but feel like this was a Byleth situation, where they wanted to focus more on diversifying their anime swordsman portfolio than being strictly accurate. Which I guess is fair.

A bigger complaint for me is that this is the second time that Sakurai added major character I wanted and made them extremely slow. Shulk has the literal worst frame data in Smash Ultimate, but he's not at all that slow in Xenoblade. Same thing happened to Ike in Brawl, whose highest stat in Path of Radiance is literally Speed. I guess that Sakurai feels more comfortable taking liberties with less-known characters, but the result is me struggling with their frame 10+ options for 14 years.

I've mostly been voicing complaints so far, but when all is said and done, Shulk is fun to play in Smash. Difficult, and kind of awkward sometimes, but the variety of interesting gameplay he offers on a second-to-second basis is crazy high. Smash 4 Shulk would've been score lower due to being bad and the Monado Arts being on such an activation delay, but Ultimate buffed him, adjusted his Monado Arts to be more extreme, and added the instant Monado Art wheel, which finally made him a complete package. I have misgivings about his interpretation, but there's only so low I'm going to score a character that is both fun and unique. B

Sometimes I stop and think about the number of actual, real people that have died because of the GOP.

AW2 is better core gameplay and I overall played it for longer. AW1 felt like it had a bit more heart and soul though, so it's a close pick for me.

Yes

Roe's fate was sealed back in 2016. Nothing the Democrats could have done from them on would have prevented it.

8/10

Lacks the emotional weight of something like FFT, but is overall a good medieval fantasy branching path story.

I would strongly recommend the DLC if you're still looking for more content later on. It has three of best boss fights in the game. Overall, From Software DLC is top notch.

You somehow cheese Ceaseless Discharge in the way you're not meant to cheese him!

Pretty much agree on Wario and Olimar, for the reasons stated. Even as an immature teenager I thought the way they characterized Wario in Smash was lame.

I think it's fair to say that a game is lacking in content if it's in that state on release. Not everyone wants to wait for something to get good.

ChaosTonyV4 posted...

https://twitter.com/whitehouse/status/1562916200866267138?s=21&t=8M5ojtxuK_coUH8RGv401w

A thread of the actual White House Twitter account committing murder.

*opens thread*

Oh god, it just keeps going

*opens thread*

Oh god, it just keeps going

I recently tried out Corrin for a hot minute because I love the anime swordsmen gameplay archetype in Smash and MKLeo made him look kinda fun. Quickly re-confirmed that, no, I would rather be playing literally anyone else in Smash Ultimate who has a sword.

I agree with Kamek that Byleth's design feels insecure, he was totally designed the way he is due to swordsman complaints, but he is way more fun to play than Corrin and has carved out his own fanbase niche.

Byleth got an unfortunately bad rap due to circumstances outside of their control. Three Houses was so successful that it definitely deserved representation, but Corrin + clone roster padding meant that FE fatigue was at an all-time high. It doesn't help that they came at the end of the end of Fighter's Pass 1, which contained four amazing 3rd-Party characters.

Also that trailer was hot garbage. A good trailer can make people hyped for any character, no matter how obscure. Byleth's trailer did the opposite.

Kamekguy posted...

Yeah that's no problem! I did already do Steve for the sake of it, but if you'd like, by all means. I just know I'm not an authority to say how well Shulk reps the Monado Arts, and Corrin I am steeped in a large amount of negativity toward Fates that I'd never be able to write something readable.

Oh yeah, you did do Steve already, and it was basically the writeup I would have done but better (and with a slightly higher grade).

As far as Corrin goes, I have no problems with airing my negativity proud and free!

Corrin - Nothing
Because he has no good appearances in any game.

While Smash Bros roster speculation can be fun, I tend to get really annoyed by Smash Bros pre-release discourse. The discussions about which characters people want to join the cast can turn toxic real fast. I've seen the term 'undeserving' thrown around more times than I can count, and almost always by people who misuse it.

With that said, Corrin is the most undeserving character in the entire roster, bar none. Imagine a character announced before their game came out (before they even had an English name), when their home series already got a full new character in Smash 4, and for their character to be widely maligned once the game actually releases. That's Corrin. Roy kinda did the same thing, but Fire Emblem was new at the time for US audiences, and he was a package deal with Marth that didn't cost an extra $5.99 to play. It's totally fine for Smash to be used as a vehicle for game advertising, but this was just *so* blatant that it rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.

This would have ended up fine if Corrin was cool, but sadly, Corrin is not. In Fates, they're strong, but who cares? Tons of units in Fates are strong. Modern Fire Emblem is easy enough that you can use anyone. The only reasons to use units are because you're forced to, or because you like the character, and Corrin's characterization is dog water. They're annoyingly naive, dumb, and inconsistent, yet the plot puts them on a pedestal for no reason.

Their implementation in Smash Bros is 'interesting' because they have all the elements of a fun character without actually being one. Unique specials, stylish animations, they sometimes transform into a dragon...it should be cool. But it just isn't. Corrin's sound effects lack any sort of punch, and their moves have this inherent aura of boring to them. Back air and forward smash are kinda fun to hit, but that's about it. Compare them to any other A-button spamming swordy and they look less entertaining, even Lucina a.k.a. Stale Bread Marth. Their implementation isn't even that accurate, as Corrin's dragon transformation mechanic in Fates is reduced to random animation fodder in Smash.

tl;dr - Corrin is a character that shouldn't have been in the game, and isn't particularly fun or interesting. It's hard to get much worse than that. D-

Best Smash Appearance: Ultimate
By default. Smash 4 Corrin, like most DLC, was super overtuned upon release. They nerfed him into oblivion during the transition to Smash Ultimate, then buffed him up to a reasonable state. At the moment, Corrin is in a good spot, not amazing but not weak either. Strong normals, unique tricks, mediocre combo game, mediocre mobility. Honestly one of the most balanced characters in the game.

I'm sure Corrin mains from Smash 4 will disagree, but his options in that game were far more degenerate and not really indicative of good game design. Lots of over-reliance on the pin, and the less said about his Smash 4 counter, the better. Corrin in Ultimate has some special sauce to them, but they also feel like they actually have to play the game. There's some bias in my decision as I think Ultimate's engine makes basically every character more fun, but hey.

Also, not to step on your toes, but I'd be interested in providing writeups for a few of the characters you said you don't feel comfortable rating (Shulk, Corrin, and Steve specifically)

Woo Simon love and Lucario hate

Snubs include: Card games, Manwha/Manhua, Live theatre productions

I considered removing Music as well because it's so broad, but eh

Suprak_the_Stud posted...

I hate saying it when stuff like this comes up because I don't want to sound like a Biden stan, but he's done much better than I was expecting most places. Admittedly, my expectations were about as low as possible going into his presidency with 50 D senators (which includes Manchin and Sinema). I thought we were going to get literally 0 on anything.

Obviously this is not what I'd want out of an ideal scenario with a presidential candidate I actually liked somehow winning. He's shaping up to be the best president in my lifetime though, which says a lot more than the other presidents than him but whatever.

Dude, just let yourself be happy about this lol