I don’t know if I’d call Destiny 2 the best game I played this year. Hell, I don’t know if I’d even call it one of the best games I played this year (if I had to make an amendment to my GOTY list, I’d add Astro’s Playroom, which was delightful).

Despite all this, I finally understand Destiny 2, and it’s given me some of the most fun I’ve had this year.

Grim(oire) Beginnings

I was interested in Destiny when it was first announced in 2014. I wasn’t that much of an FPS guy, but I did enjoy Halo, and the idea of an MMO Shooter sounded appealing to me — even if this technically wasn’t what we’d end up getting. I picked it up for the PS3, played through the campaign, and then dropped off.

The main reason for this is that I had no idea what the hell was going on. Destiny purportedly had a very interesting story, but I didn’t see any of it. It was all locked behind a grimoire, where one would have to log into a separate website to read all the interesting lore within the game. This is probably the most baffling thing I’ve ever seen in a game, and I’ve played Kingdom Hearts. I quickly learned that when it comes to my playing habits, I require a why for what I’m doing to enjoy it. Killing for plot is what separates us from the beasts. Destiny did not seem interested in telling me why in a way that didn’t give me a headache, and thusly I was uninterested in playing it.

Time passed and Destiny 2 launched, and I decided to pick it up again. I got a little further this go-around, but now I had a different problem: I felt like I was left behind. It turns out some stuff happened in the Destiny expansions I never picked up. Events and characters were being referenced that I didn’t know. Who the hell is Mara Sov and why is she so hot? What the heck is a Crota? These were questions I was expected to know the answer to, but didn’t have. Moreover, while the Red War was a better campaign experience than Destiny 1’s, it still felt like a slog. No access to my Sparrow and a rushed plot left me cold. I played through it and the campaigns for Osiris and Warmind, but didn’t stick around after being overwhelmed with plot and things to do.

This was…disappointing for me. I was a Kingdom Hearts and Metal Gear Solid fan, and I love MMOs and loot. Destiny’s esoteric lore and constant rising numbers should have been a match made in heaven for me, but it wasn’t.

Beyond Lore

Obviously, that changed, or you wouldn’t be reading this. But why? Really, it was just a slew of luck. The stars aligned in multiple ways:

Tech Upgrades

The PS5 version of Destiny is the one that let me stick around, and there’s little wonder why. It plays like an absolute dream on the new system. The game runs at a constant 60FPS. Menu loads are snappy. Fast travel and planet hopping is quicker than ever. And there’s an FOV slider! These QOL upgrades make the whole experience more pleasant. It really felt like I was able to take in the game’s universe for the first time.

Onboarding Improved

Beyond Light’s New Player introduction is miles better than vanilla D2’s, or New Light. It’s a bit of a soft reboot, and it slowly introduces you to the available activities in the game, and how one is expected to progress. It feels more like an extended demo more than anything else once you’re done with it — there’s nothing to do but chase exotics or do strike playlists if you don’t buy the expansions — but by the time you’re done, you’ll actually be able to make an informed choice on whether you’d be interested in what the game has to offer.

I Watched a 4-Hour Lore Video

Okay. Yeah. Listen, I know this isn’t the ideal way to experience a game’s story. I am mad that Destiny made me do this because it has made piecing its story together so frustratingly difficult when it didn’t have to be. But for me personally, it was the final piece I needed to get into Destiny. I felt caught up, and I finally understand why I was doing what I was doing. I am incapable of enjoying things unless I can understand and consume them in their entirety, and Bif’s video let me do that. Which is rad. My hyper-fixation demons are pleased.

It’s Like a Ferrari

So, now that I have all the pieces put together, what’s so great about Destiny? Why have I been talking about it non-stop on Twitter for days?

I would honestly say that the most important thing is that this game handles like God. It is the best feeling FPS I have ever played in my entire life. You could strip Destiny of all its other parts and turn it into a simulator where I shoot targets in a dark empty room and I would still play it for hours. Every ounce of feedback when lining up your gun sights is serotonin for my poisoned brain.

The story is also really enthralling and gripping when you sacrifice your sanity by basically doing homework to understand it. Yes, it’s basically just Kingdom Hearts for Jocks (these people love to talk about the battle between Light and Darkness), but the stuffing feels more realized with tons of interesting factions and characters within them that are well-written and come with motivations that I care about. Really, it’s like Kingdom Hearts and Metal Gear Solid had a plot baby that also happens to be much gayer than either of those games — or at least, gay on purpose (Osiris is gay and also my dad).

All that said, Destiny 2 is probably most interesting to me on a mechanical level, specifically in its end-game. I created a Hunter and focused on the Solar ability tree, and found that I really liked throwing flame knives at people because throwing knives are cool. Knife throwing has a cool-down tied to the Strength stat, but as a Hunter, I can reset that cool-down by dodging next to enemies. I had found myself with a bunch of gear that was tied to the Mobility stat, which lowered my dodge cool-down to about 15 seconds. And thanks to my bud Ishiku, I got tipped off about an Exotic chest piece that let me have two dodges available to me at a time. With that, I could throw cool fire knives as much as I wanted!

It was extremely cool to come up with a build like that almost entirely on my own, and the level of flexibility isn’t something I’m used to when you consider that the only other game I’ve reached end-game in is FFXIV. There, your build is just whatever the most powerful piece of gear is, and then the materia you need to use which you can find through a quick google search (it’s usually Direct Hit and Critical Hit, just an FYI). Which is fine! But Destiny allowed me to basically completely change my play style, making my Hunter different from someone else’s. And I’m still theory-crafting, with my next target being an Exotic Auto-Rifle that will let me throw knives even more by regenerating my cool-down faster.

On top of this, despite Destiny 2 sometimes feeling like busy-work (we’ll get to that), it allows for a bit of freedom in how you approach objectives. One mission to unlock a gun allowed me to choose between using it in Strikes, Crucible (PvP), or Gambit. I don’t care for PvP that much and Gambit unfortunately gets me into big Heated Gamer Moment mode, so I went with Strikes instead. Weekly loot drops can also be obtained all sorts of ways, and while it’s probably optimal from a min-max perspective to do all of them, I can ignore one or the other when I’m not in the mood and still feel like I’m making some progress.

Are Ya Winning, Sunset?

Despite finding myself suddenly falling in love with Destiny these past two weeks, all is not well in the land of Nessus. I was lucky enough to play through Red War, Osiris, and Warmind before they got put in “the Destiny Vault,” but someone who’s new and might want to experience that story will now have to watch it on YouTube instead. I’ve seen a lot of attempted justification for this, and there just isn’t any good one. If Destiny 2 wants to be Destiny 3, then Bungie should just make Destiny 3. What we’ve gotten instead is this weird half-measured Destiny 2.5. Legacy content is important. I think Final Fantasy XIV’s ARR content is boring as sin, and I’m glad a chunk of the useless stuff was cut down, but imagine if it was all gone. The good plot we’re getting now would make zero sense because of the lack of context. I can’t comment on the sunsetting of guns because I don’t know much about this game’s gun meta, but getting rid of 1/3rd of your game’s plot is just. Not good! Sorry.

Moreover, I feel like most people are aware that Destiny 2 can be a chore simulator. I would and have argued that every game’s loop can feel like busy-work at a certain point, and Destiny’s loop is so good that I can usually ignore how chore-like some tasks can feel. But my God, sometimes I can’t. Progressing my Stasis powers, for example, has been a ridiculous grid. Yesterday I saw that I had to do more things in every specific ways to progress and just yawned before shutting my console off. I know I’ll get back to it soon — probably as soon as I’m done writing this piece — because the allure of loot is simply too strong, but yeah, would love it if you toned some of this down, Bungie.

Eyes Up Guardian

So yes. I had some qualms with Destiny 2, and I have a few more that have stuck around. But when my cute, cool as hell Hunter lines up a bow shot and lets it fly into a Hive Thrall’s head, making it explode into a confetti of loot and ammo, I forget every issue I might have had. Maybe I’m just in the honeymoon phase, and soon I’ll be complaining on the Destiny subreddit like half the game’s population seems to do. But for now, I’m very content to fly around Europa and help my hot robot girlfriend deal with her family trauma by blowing up a bunch of shit. Because I finally understand Destiny 2, and I’m having a blast.

Well, it only took 500 years but it finally showed up! I got my PS5 this past Friday and played it all weekend, and now I have some thoughts that I’ll be sharing. Unlike games, which have an artistic quality to them, hardware is a lot more defined, so I’ll be harkening to the old “GRAPHICS, AUDIO, GAMEPLAY” style of reviews this time around and split this piece into a few categories:

• The Console
• The Controller
• The UI
• The Experience
• Should I Get One?

Without further ado, let’s dive in!

The Console

I know it’s a meme, but it really does not hit how much of a damn chonker the PlayStation 5 is until you have to carry the box up a flight of stairs. Taking it out of the box was also difficult. Holding it was difficult. Moving it around was difficult. It is a gigantic piece of hardware that pictures do not do justice to. I don’t really care about how big the thing is because it’s now settled in the resting spot it’s going to be in for the next 11 months, but I’m going to curse about it again when I start packing for a move.

I have the PS5 lying on its side because I have never trusted a vertical console in my life, but I think it’s more aesthetically pleasing vertically to be honest. Getting it onto its stand was relatively easy, but I regret not getting it plugged in first — it’s very slippy-slidey and clearly not meant to be jostled about too much when on the stand, lest you risk it getting pushed off.

I know some people think it looks hideous, I get that, really. But I love it. I love how hopelessly weird this thing looks. My sister keeps saying that the aliens will be breaking into my house to get it back soon. I’m lucky in that all of my furniture is white, so it doesn’t actually stand out that much in my room, but I can see why people don’t like the color. Sadly, I can’t ignore how dusty it’ll get, so I’ll be wiping it down weekly.

The second best part of the console is that the buttons are physical, so I don’t have to go on a Dora the Explorer adventure just to find the Disc Eject button. The best part of the console is that it’s quiet. Honestly, if that was the only upgrade the PS5 brought to the table I’d still be happy. The PS5 might look like it’s about to take off, but the PS4 sounds like it’s about to take off, and that is significantly more annoying. I actually didn’t realize how much space the PS4’s fan occupied in my brain. I can never go back after the beautiful silence that comes with the PS5.

The Controller

So no joke, this thing slaps. It is already my favorite controller ever. You might have a different first opinion if you have small paws but I have big meaty claws and the DualSense fits very snug in my hands. The whole thing is wider, so my giant thumbs don’t knock together like they used to on the PS4 (and even more-so with the PS3) controller. The buttons are all satisfyingly clacky without being too loud, and the triggers feel nice. The light-bar is a lot less intrusive in the way it shines as well. Also, I for one am still happy that the trackpad stuck around because it’s useful for Final Fantasy XIV.

Also, the grips have little Xs and Os on them, which is cute.

The coolest part about the new controller is the titular DualSense feature. This is some real next-gen stuff, more than anything else I mention in this post, to be honest. Astro’s Playroom, the delightful game that comes bundled with the Playstation 5, shows off everything it’s capable of, and what it’s capable of is a lot! The feedback that comes from the triggers when aiming Astro’s bow, the way the controller vibrates to stimulate rain and Astro’s footsteps is all incredibly cool. I very much hope that games take good advantage of this feature if it’s easy to develop for because I’m a huge fan of it.

My main two worries, though, are that the DualSense will have, like, an hour of charge in it with all this fancy wizardry going on, and that the adaptive triggers won’t last for very long. Only time will tell!

The UI

I miss themes. I know they’ll probably come back eventually, but still. I don’t care about seeing a splash screen for whatever game I want to play. I want to see Tifa hanging out on the water tower in Nibelheim!!! Bring her back, Sony!

Anyway, other than that (and one other flaw that we’ll get to) I’m pretty fine with the PS5 UI, mostly because it’s extremely snappy and every loads up fast. I love that I can trim and upload videos through the share button without having to completely suspend a game now, which was a pet peeve of mine. Everything is butter smooth in comparison to the PS4, which is a huge plus.

It took a moment to get my footing, but once I did I was cruising along without much trouble. I do think some things take way too many button presses, like when trying to put the PS5 in rest mode. I also miss being able to use the Home button as a quick way to “pause” games. Now it takes you to Cards, which are nice enough, but most of the information doesn’t pertain to me that much, seeing as I’m not a trophy hunter. I liked how games on the PS4 would often be suspended. Very specific to my weird habits, though, so not a dealbreaker.

What is a dealbreaker is that the PS5 does not have folders. At launch. Again. All due respect but what the hell Sony. Here you can see that they were rushing to get this thing out before the holidays because that’s just inexcusable from a UI perspective in 2021. Get it together, and bring those back ASAP.

The Experience

That brings us to actually playing games on the thing. As I mentioned, Astro’s Playroom was a delight to go through, but one thing I immediately noticed is that load times were basically non-existent. From launch to start everything loaded in at lightning speed, 3 seconds or less, and that even included fast-traveling between areas. This doesn’t seem like a huge deal at first, but the main reason I was even willing to get a Platinum Trophy for Astro was because zipping around to complete all the stuff I missed after my play-through was quick. Not having to sit through loading screens is a feature that I hope the PS5 maintains as the generation goes on because I love it. The same is true for PS4 backwards compatible games like FFXIV: a trip to Eulmore used to take 55 seconds for me to load on the PS4, but now only takes 12. I’ve become less prone to pulling out my phone after a few hours of playing the Demon’s Souls remake because the time from a death to a restart is ridiculously fast. The more time I get to spend playing, the better.

One thing that I was surprised to enjoy in particular is Game Help. I fully believe this to be a feature that only First Party titles will really use, but the ability to look up a missing trophy or secret item after struggling to find it without having to pull out my phone to scrub through a 10-minute YouTube video is extremely cool. I was worried it’d be a clunky feature, but the snappiness of the PS5’s UI made the whole process super easy to pull off.

The next generation’s graphical prowess means nothing to me, even if Demon’s Souls is breathtakingly beautiful. What I find myself most impressed by is the quality-of-life that comes reduced load-times that let you spend more time in the game and less time waiting around. That time really starts to add up, and makes the idea of playing a huge open-world game or games where you expect to have to restart often a lot more palatable.

So Should I Get One?

Ehhhhh.

I got a PS5 because I got a new job and it was my gift to myself. But even putting aside the fact that it’s hell to get one right now, I don’t know how worth it it is.

If you’re a person with a base PS4, I’d consider it. You’re going to be making a 7-year upgrade, and you’re going to feel it. But if you have, say, a PS4 Pro, I don’t see the reason to get one just yet. It’s nice to be able to play all my old games with faster load-times and more stable frame-rates. But as of now that’s pretty much all you’re getting. The PS5 line-up is currently non-existent beyond Demon’s Souls, a remake of a game you might have played already with a sort of niche fan-base, and Godfall, a game that is not worth the $70 price-tag.

Overall, I like the PS5 quite a lot, and I’m excited to spend more time with it and for its roster to expand. But as it stands, it’s not a can’t-miss piece of hardware. Maybe it will be in six months — and hey, maybe there’ll actually be stock six months from now too.

That’s all for now! Do you have/want a PS5? Tired of Sony’s pathetic inability to handle stock? Let me know on Twitter @mintplaysthings! And if you like my writing, please consider donating to my Patreon or Ko-Fi. Thank you!

Do I even have to give a summary on what this year was like? I don’t think so, right? Well, maybe a little. On a global, grand scale, 2020 was pretty damn awful, but on a personal level, I’ve made a lot of pretty big, important strides. I got diagnosed for my ADHD for one: you can tell because this blog is the most content-filled it has ever been. And on top of that, after a year of busting my butt, I got accepted into Grad School, and started a new job. So yeah, 2020 was definitely a hell year in a lot of ways, but it was also a year for me that was filled with personal growth and some nice things. I’m very grateful for that, and for the people who have been along for the ride with me.

Below you will find the twelve games I played and loved the most this year. They are not ranked in any sort of order, as usual. I would also like to thank @sailorjubs for providing this year’s Game of the Year art — it is adorable, like all the art they make, so go check it out!

And with that: on to the games!

Final Fantasy VII Remake

I had little faith that Final Fantasy VII Remake would reach the astronomically high bar that was set for it the minute it was announced. I’m very glad I was wrong. Other than Final Fantasy XIV, FF7R is the greatest title Square Enix has put out in at least a decade. It has a perfect blend of Action-RPG combat, fills in the holes that the original couldn’t give time to, and adds some fascinating new surprises. I have never been so excited for the future of a Square Enix series since I watched the secret ending that came at the end of the first Kingdom Hearts, and I can’t wait to see how Cloud and Co.’s party fare in the sequel.

Also, I want Tifa to bench-press me.

Nioh 2

Nioh 2 is the best Souls game ever made. This is barely hyperbole. It’s incredible, and not just because it lets me create a buff green-haired lady with sick tattoos. Its combat has that shine-polished Ninja Theory design, with a plethora of weapons that all feel incredible, and a myriad of combat options that make every encounter as engaging and exciting as the last. And on top of all that, it tells a story that was much more affecting than the original. In fact, Nioh 2 improves on the original in pretty much every single way, so if that game turned you away, I implore you to try Nioh 2: I highly doubt you’ll be disappointed.

CrossCode

I have come to learn that outside of some specific instances, I’m a pretty mechanically driven person when it comes to videoed james. CrossCode is a mechanical delight. It is a smorgasbord of interlocking systems that all work in tandem to create a beautiful medley of gameplay, overlaid on top of a fun .hack-esque MMO world. Lea is a delightful protagonist, and her growth as the game progressed tied it all together for this solid little Puzzle-Action-JRPG. Definitely give it a shot.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon

RGG Studios never misses. Like a Dragon continues Yakuza’s charm, but brings it together with a lovable party and an emotionally charged story that left me breathless by its end. Kasuga Ichiban, full of heart and dumb of ass, is a fantastic foil to Yakuza’s legendary protagonist, and his unique perspective gives the series a breath of fresh air. This is also true of Like a Dragon’s turn-based combat, which was engaging from the beginning of the game to its end. I can’t wait to see where Yakuza goes next from here.

Trials of Mana

This game probably won’t be on many people’s GOTY lists, but I predicted it would be on mine last year. This is because, as I said then, Trials of Mana is one of my favorite games ever. The remake improves on everything I already loved about it. Yes, it’s absolutely a deluge of nostalgia-bait. I won’t deny that. But it’s nostalgia-bait for me, and thus, it gets my adoration. Even then, I do believe Trials of Mana is an extremely fun and cute AA Action-JRPG, and I hope we get more work like this from Square Enix — Chrono Trigger next, please?

Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Insomniac could release the same Spider-Man game with a new story for the rest of my life and I’d still love it. The fact that Miles Morales adds a bit of spice on top of what we already got just makes things even better. Beyond the already picture-perfect gameplay that we get from Insomniac’s Spider-Man, Miles Morales gives us a sense of community and heart that lets it stand apart from the game that came before it. I cannot explain to you the noise that came from my mouth and the way my heart swelled seeing a character that looked like me throw on his suit and swing through the streets of Harlem. Anyone who tells you representation doesn’t matter is a damn liar.

Ikenfell

Sometimes I worry my heart doesn’t work. I finished Ikenfell and put it away for the night, going to sleep without much thought. It wasn’t until 8 hours later, listening to the game’s soundtrack, did I finally burst into tears thinking about its cast of characters. I guess my emotions are just on dial-up. Ikenfell is a wonderful, gay little game. Playing it feels like wrapping up in a blanket with a cup of hot chocolate on a cozy Autumn day. And its impressive diversity and accessibility options put pretty much every AAA game to shame. You owe it to yourself to play it.

Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers

No, Shadowbringers didn’t come out this year. Yes, it was on last year’s list. The next expansion probably will be too. I could go on and on about how each expansion for FFXIV raises the bar higher than the last, or how incredibly fun the raids have been. And that’s all very true. But Shadowbringers earns a spot on the list this particular year because it’s given me something we all desperately crave in 2020: connection. Logging on every Friday night with my merry band of Sailers, laughing with them, celebrating victories over new content…it’s an experience I don’t think I’ll ever forget. It’s become a vehicle for my friends and I to enjoy ourselves in the hellscape that is 2020. I realize it’s a property owned by a multimillion dollar company, but I’ll say it anyway: I’m grateful for Final Fantasy XIV’s existence, and I hope it gets to remain a part of my life for a very long time.

Hades

There are very few games that I would call “perfect,” or near-that, but I truly believe Hades fits the bill. Every single thing about it is polished beyond belief, and blends to serve both its narrative and gameplay systems in a way no other game I can think ever has. Even hours after playing it, I still find myself uncovering new mechanics and new dialogue. I loved every single minute I spent with Hades, and its colorful cast of characters. And best of all, I love that the entire game was made ethically, with its developers in mind every step of the way. It’s hands-down the best rogue-like game ever made, and I’m not just saying that because I want Nyx to DM me.

Apex Legends

Apex is the other game that didn’t release this year or even do anything that special, but still appears on this list for what it did for me, personally. After the lockdown occurred, it became the game my buddy Flynn and I would turn to whenever we wanted to cool down for the day and talk about work and life. I mean, it helps that it’s the most entertaining and well-designed Battle Royal I’ve ever played, but that’s not the main reason why it has a spot on my list there. I have never been much of a social type when it comes to playing games — I’ve never been much of a social type in general — but the pandemic forced me out of my comfort zone, and I can see myself doing it a lot more often from now on.

Gun Rounds

Gun Rounds is the best game of the year no one played, and for this I am deeply disappointed. It’s a game with a basic premise — turn-based bullet rogue-like — but executes it so flawlessly that it defies description. This singular mechanic is perfect in every single way, and I got hours of enjoyment out of it. Moreover, it’s a perfect game specifically for phones: rather than try to put a console experience on your doom-scrolling device, Gun Rounds is content with giving you an experience that makes sense to be played with one hand. You’re probably reading this on a phone right now. If you are, and you haven’t played Gun Rounds, go to your designated App Store and download it right now. Go on, git! You’re at the end of this list anyway, I won’t be mad.

That’s it! Those are my games of the year. Frankly, this was a pretty great year for games, at least for me. What were your favorites? Let me know on Twitter @mintplaysthings! And if you like my writing, please consider donating to my Patreon or Ko-Fi. Thank you!

I finished Ikenfell yesterday. It’s an indie game about a bunch of very gay witches that go on an adventure in their magical school. It was very cute and fun, and again, very very gay. If you’re looking for an in-depth look at the game, you won’t find that here, because other people better than me have already done that — like this guy.

What I am here to talk about is the feature that makes Ikenfell one of the greatest JRPGs ever made by default. It is so good, so perfect, so important that I don’t think I’ll be able to live without it in games of its ilk going forward. I’m talking about the Instant Victory button.

Ikenfell is a tactical-ish turn-based game, where your party and enemies navigate a grid during combat, pick a spell, then cast it. As actions in battle occur, the better your timed button presses, the more damage you do / stronger buffs you get / less damage you take.

I really enjoyed Ikenfell’s combat. But as I mentioned in my article on Yakuza: Like a Dragon, JRPG battles exist on a sort of bell curve: The beginnings tend to start off slow, with limited options. Then the game picks up, with you learning more abilities, gaining new party members, and being given freedom to experiment with your toolkit. Finally by the end, you have a set strategy in place, you’ve found the characters you enjoy using the most, and there’s little in the way of change through to the game’s credits.

I started to feel this with Ikenfell. I thought I wouldn’t use the Instant Victory button, but after fighting the same four or five enemy types in a dungeon, I felt myself getting exhausted and activated it. Instant Victory can be used during a character’s turn, meaning you can press it whenever you want during a fight. Do so, and your enemies poof into EXP, letting you go on your merry way.

Pressing that button let me feel freer than I ever have playing a JRPG before. It became as much a part of my flow through the game as swapping equipment and solving puzzles. With each new dungeon, I would fight enemies a few times. Once I felt satisfied that I had gotten the “full experience” combating them, I would simply Instant Victory my way to the end until I reached that dungeon’s boss, which I would fight, rather than skip. I also used it to grind up levels when I was struggling during boss fights, skipping out on the tedious repeated battles that can come with leveling up to make my party of extremely gay witches stronger.

Was I denying myself the satisfaction of overcoming the challenge of combat by using the Instant Victory button? Not really: I wasn’t playing Ikenfell for the combat. I was more interested in the story, unraveling the mysteries of the titularly named school and praying that the characters I was getting to know would be happy by the game’s end. The combat was secondary, and while I enjoyed it, there came a point where I simply wanted to move on once I experienced everything the game’s loop had to offer.

Having finished the game, Instant Victory is the part of Ikenfell that will stick with me after the fact (well, that and the fact that I will never be in an emotionally fulfilling relationship). It just makes sense from both a gameplay and accessibility perspective. More choice is never a bad thing when it comes to games, and being able to choose how much I want to engage with particular systems in a game is extremely cool. It’s the natural evolution to Bravely Second’s ability to turn off random encounters, and the ability to instantly solve puzzles in games like 2017’s Spider-Man. And while ports of Square Enix’s Final Fantasy games have come with “cheats” that let you max out all your characters stats and have an infinite amount of money, they don’t allow for the same level of choice — you are either an overpowered God, or you have to play the game “normally,” with no in-between. Frankly, every JRPG should have an Instant Victory button, and I will not be satisfied until they do.

That’s all for now! How do you feel about Instant Victory buttons? Let me know on Twitter @mintplaysthings! And if you like my writing, please consider donating to my Patreon or Ko-Fi. Thank you!

I’ve been playing a large variety of games while I wait for my PS5 to come back from the war and land on my doorstep sometime in the next two years (seriously where are you?? come home, please. I’m worried). Let’s talk about them.

Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin

Sakuna is a very interesting game. It’s a farming simulator crossed with Muramasa: Demon Blade, but if you’re expecting something like Rune Factory when it comes to the fighting + farming shtick, you’re going to be surprised. This is a game that takes farming to near Euro Truck Simulator levels of realism. Are the rice seeds properly aligned? Have you allowed the water to fill to your ankles after planting? How’s the fertilizer looking? These are questions you’ll find yourself asking in Sakuna, and the game does very little in the way of handholding. This can be a bit aggravating at first, but as time goes on you’ll be proud of the progress you’ve made with each subsequent year of crops, which serve to power up Sakuna’s stats.

This set-up makes sense narratively as well, because Sakuna is a big spoiled brat of a baby, who finds herself thrust into an island to farm and solve a mystery about a swarm of demons, despite having never done a lick of work in her entire life as the child of a harvest goddess and warrior god. She and her team of similarly crappy human farming mates must work together to survive. You learn to harvest with them, and along the way, come to see the cast grow and be less garbage to each other over time. It’s pleasant to see.

Sakuna is a very meditative game, despite its bursts of well-paced action-combat. The two skews of combat and farming go well together, but when I walk away from the game, I’ll be more likely to remember the moments where Sakuna and her friends sing farming songs as they plant one seed of rice at a time. This is a cutscene you can watch to the end. It’s skippable, and you gain nothing from watching it, but it’s there. And that’s what sets Sakuna apart from other farming games: it has a deep respect for the process of planting rice, and now, so do I.

Judgment

Yakuza: Like a Dragon has me craving more from the developers, and my buddy Flynn was nice enough to shoot me a tip about Judgment going on sale. So I grabbed it and it was worth it! Judgment is set within the same universe as the Yakuza games, but stars a disgraced Lawyer-turned Detective on the hunt for a serial killer in Kamurocho. It plays like Yakuza 6 on the Dragon Engine, but is a lot more refined in terms of combat. The game has a much decreased scale — a feat given how small-scale Yakuza games are already — with a more intimate story in contrast to most Yakuza games and a smaller cast of characters. This works in its favor, although I find that the Reputation System to unlock side-cases is a little grindy.

The investigation aspects are mostly good and a nice change of pace, but the find-a-pixel nonsense can be a drag sometimes. On the other hand, tailing missions are unequivocally bad, and should be removed from every game posthaste.

Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise

The OTHER Ryo Ga Gotoku game I’m playing, FotNS is also a blast so far. It doesn’t have the budget of Judgment and even feels like a PS2 game at times in its scale, but it feels real good to come back to the Yakuza 0 engine. Kiryu’s VA voicing Kenshiro is just chef’s kiss so damn good. I was hooked on my very first “Omae Wa Mou.” I’m not as far as I am in Judgement, simply because the story in the former is gripping me more, but I can’t wait to play further. One thing I can say though is that I’m worried the quick-time events will grate as time goes on, and I’m hoping Ken gets some secret techniques that take out groups of enemies to mitigate that fatigue. Right now I’m moving from enemy to enemy to do them and it’s getting just a tad on my nerves, depending on how long the sequence is for the technique I’m doing.

Even saying all of that though, FotNS is far and above better than most Anime game adaptations. At least it's not another goddamn Arena Fighter. Namco, please take notes. Or better yet, give all your IPs to RGG Studios. Sure they work for SEGA, but it'd be better for everyone.

That’s all for now! What are you playing lately? Let me know on Twitter @mintplaysthings! And if you like my writing, please consider donating to my Patreon or Ko-Fi. Thank you!

Yakuza: Like a Dragon is what I wish more JRPGs could be.

When the game was first announced, fans were worried. Would this be the same level of quality that they’ve come to expect from Yakuza games? What about the grind? Won’t it get repetitive and boring?

After a breathless 35 hours spread across a week of play, I can comfortably say that Like a Dragon doesn’t just meet the expectations the Yakuza series has created — it exceeds, standing shoulder to shoulder with Yakuza 0 as the best in the series.

It makes sense that I rank those two games together because I think Like a Dragon owes its existence as a JRPG to Yakuza 0. That game was the pinnacle of the series’ beat’ em up combat, to the point that 6, Kiwami and Kiwami 2 felt boring in comparison. Yakuza needed a change, and a JRPG was more perfect of a fit than I was expecting.

The game takes the genre-shift in stride, incorporating itself in every aspect of its themes and characterization. Kiryu Kazuma is replaced by new series protagonist Ichiban Kasuga, a Yakuza grunt with a love of Dragon Quest and an inability to watch his mouth. It didn’t take long for me to love Ichiban — he’s a clown and a himbo that has never learned what subtlety means. He also emotes in a way that Kiryu never would, and it allows for new, impactful storytelling opportunities as a result. He acts a bit like a shonen protagonist you’d see in an anime, but, you know, written well. Said protagonist is dumped in the town of Yokohama after jail time and a betrayal, and just like a JRPG lead, he has to start from level 1 and climb the way to the top to find answers.

Ichiban is also unlike Kiryu in that while he’s strong, he can’t just effortlessly beat anyone’s ass by himself. His strength comes from his friends (see what I mean by shonen protagonist?). Luckily, Kasuga’s pals, whom make up his party, are all extremely likable. They play out like a grown-up Persona cast, and their interactions are always heartwarming — or, in the case of the skits you can listen to around town, often hilarious. You can level up your relationships with your party by participating in battle and interacting with them in the bar that serves as your home-base. This is another parallel to Persona, but the conversations you have here feel more real, with the characters interacting like people instead of mouthpieces for several ideologies or romance options.

As I mentioned, Yakuza: Like a Dragon swaps out its punchfests for a JRPG combat system, and the result feels like an M-rated Earthbound. Ichiban and his pals use baseball bats, hand bags and batons to beat up yakuza, men in trash bags, otaku, and even stranger enemies that are best left as a surprise. Combat is semi-active, in that you can use timed button-presses to deal extra damage and reduce damage done to you, à la the Mario and Luigi RPGs. Each character has a set of jobs they have access to as well, which they can swap at a literal Job Center.

I’m going to be honest: Like a Dragon doesn’t really reinvent the JRPG wheel. But I honestly don’t think it needed to. My issue with JRPGs has never been that they’re boring or repetitive. Games have loops, and every loop can get boring with enough time — play 6 Yakuza games that involving pressing Square and Triangle, and you’ll start to get exhausted there too. In my mind what has sucked about JRPGs for so long isn’t its loop, but what’s built around it. JRPGs are inundated with spiky-haired protagonists, chosen ones, gross fan-service, terrible pacing, plots with too many Proper Nouns…the list goes on and on. They’re played out aesthetically. Like a Dragon takes that core of JRPGs and places it in a candy coating that I can’t get enough of. It stars characters that are adults, in a plot that’s engaging and human. It replaces The Kingdom of Who Cares with a city that you could walk around in real life. And the story it tells touches on things I care about, like immigration and society’s inability to help the “outcasts” that have fallen through the cracks of its system.

Any game can get stale 15, 20, or 30 hours in because every game reaches a point where it has nothing new to show you mechanically. At that point, it’s up to whatever game you’re playing to engage you in other ways. With Like a Dragon, that engagement comes from the story it tells, the characters it lets you interact with, the side-quests that will make you laugh and tear-up, and the mini-games that let you take a break from beating up stylists brandishing scissors on the streets of Ijincho. The combat doesn’t change that much from the beginning of the game to its conclusion, but I never stopped wanting to keep playing to see what would come next.

Except, that is, for one particular section, which is probably my biggest issue with Like a Dragon. Until this section, I would argue that the game’s difficulty curve is naturally sloped, not demanding much in the way of grinding for experience. But one spoilerific boss stopped me dead in my tracks and slapped me upside the head for taking it easy for so long. I had to grind quite a bit to power up my team enough to win, and it was close even then. Thankfully there’s nothing else after that section that’s nearly as painful in terms of difficulty, but it did leave a sour taste in my mouth. I also am not a fan of JRPGs where you automatically get a Game Over if your protagonist dies, which Like a Dragon sadly emulates. And while most of the Dragon Quest-based inspiration was welcome, it sucks that Saeko, one of your only female party members, is objectively the best healer in the game. We could have left that particular trope behind.

But these are minor bumps in the road for a game that did nothing but impress me in my time playing it. Yakuza: Like a Dragon is one of the best games I’ve played this year, and an incredible note to somewhat play this console generation out. As a fresh start to the series, I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone that wants to learn why I love Yakuza so damn much.

That’s all for now! Can you tell me how to get to the station? If you can, let me know on Twitter @mintplaysthings! And if you like my writing, please consider donating to my Patreon or Ko-Fi. Thank you!

Here's a trash post where I tell you how I feel about all the Fire Emblem Three Houses characters despite not remembering any of them because I didn't like Fire Emblem Three Houses ready set go

Boring

Boring but girl, stockings will rip on the battlefield

Twitter hates her. Horse girl. Heard she committed a war crime.

"Is he bothering you Queen"

"I am bothering the Queen"

Played guitar to impress girls in college. DMs you his favorite Wes Anderson films

Shonen Protagonist

Self-Esteem issues, super popular on tumblr

The hot girl that was nice to you in high-school despite hanging out in polar opposite social circles

Hot girl that's intimidating at first glance but actually very nice

Listens to Linken Park

Rejected Jojo character design

My FATHEr will be hearing about this

Extremely powerful when he cries

Himbo, despite looking like a jock he's extremely good at yugioh

I dunno, a nun?

Baby

Also a horse girl. Mean

Fetishized by white women

Is she bothering you, King

He seems sweet. Probably knows how to cook.

Permanant resident in his bully's locker.

Fujoshi, runs the anime club

Vice president of the anime club, A+ student, needs more sleep

All I know is that there's too much porn of this girl

Jock, bad at math

I don't like him but I don't know why

Baby, would break your phone if you gave it to her

Pip pip cheerio

Someone on the team had a teacher fetish, probably thinks she's too old despite looking in her 20s

Rando tank that you'd kill in any other Fire Emblem game

Probably has an extremely dedicated fan-base despite having that facial hair.

You wanna date her but she demands you go to a church service

My wife,

Anna

Wait is this actually a main character? Seriously?

He goes to hot topic and probably smells

No one's dumb like Gaston, does good crits like Gaston

Horse girl, racist

Dunno but she has big gay energy

There ya go, sorry if I insulted your favorite Fire Emblem Three Houses character but it's your own fault for playing Fire Emblem Three Houses in the first place, byyyyye–

No More Heroes and No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle surprise dropped onto the Switch recently and I immediately bought them, both to support the series, and to play No More Heroes 2 for the very first time. You see, both games came out when I was a much younger Mint, and while I was able to sneak my way through playing the first game without the maternal unit realizing, I never could get around to the second game. Now that I’ve played both, I’ve some quick thoughts. Spoilers for both games, kinda!

No More Heroes is about a stinky-looking otaku man named Travis Touchdown, who has a beam katana and the desire to become the number one assassin. To do so he has to climb the rankings by killing the top ten assassins, one at a time. NMH still slaps, frankly, and the port for the game is solid. The game was revolutionary when it first released, and it has mostly aged with grace. The only issue from a gameplay perspective is that driving around Santa Destroy can be kind of annoying, especially in the late game, when you have to grind out tasks for cash to get some of the more expensive upgrades. That said, the clash of menial labor vs high-octane murdering is still as stark and hilarious as it was 13 years ago. Nothing like de-stressing with some lawn-mowing after a tough assassination mission.

The high/low/grab aspect of beam katana combat works well, and though not complex, it never really feels like it overstays its welcome considering the game’s short length (about 8 hours if you know some of the cheesier money-making strategies). There’s also a great sense of satisfaction lining up as many goons as possible before flicking a joy con to slice four or five of them in half. That said, the last boss is annoying in the way that games from 2007 tend to be — even having beaten the game before, that fight was still a huge pain in the ass.

Now onto No More Heroes 2. It might seem like I’m rushing to talk about this game, but No More Heroes is a classic that doesn’t need much in the way of explanation. NMH2 is the one that I’m more interested in talking about because my feelings on it are…well, mixed, to say the least.

Let’s get the good out of the way: NMH2 forgoes open-world traversal for an interactive map. Pick an activity off the list, and you’re there. No more monotonous travel or accidental crashes on Travis’ bike. Thank god for that. The graphical upgrades in the sequel are nice as well.

I also love love loved that I got to play as Shinobu in the sequel, because she’s cool as hell. She plays just differently enough from Travis to feel like a fresh experience. I was very pleased to see she got some time in the spotlight, especially because I had no idea she was playable.

Combat feels tighter, and I don’t really have complaints about it, but I do actually prefer how the first game plays. It was more deliberate, whereas NMH2 is more button-mashy in comparison, at least on the standard difficulty. That’s fine, though, not everything needs to be a character action game, and it was still satisfying to pull off the assassination QTEs.

The part-time jobs being pixelated mini-games were a nice change of pace, although the economy of the game makes it so that you never really need money like you did in the first game, outside of one very expensive beam katana purchase, and cosmetics, if you care about that sort of thing.

All that said, my main issue with No More Heroes 2 is its plot. This might sound like a weird thing to say, but it’s true. At first glance No More Heroes seems like a nonsensical cluster, that kinda touches on violence in videogames and our obsession with enacting it as players. And you’d be right, mostly! But what makes Travis’ exploits memorable outside of that is that each assassin he fights on his way to the top has a point to their existence. Number 10 is the ultimate embodiment of the glamours life of an assassin, Number 9 represents what Travis stands to lose in his quest for power, Number 8 a reflection of the impact we can have on the generation that comes after us, and so on and so forth. It was wacky and zany, sure, but there was a through line about the consequence of violence.

No More Heroes 2 tries to maintain that momentum by demonstrating the futility of revenge…kind of? It’s messy and loose in comparison. For starters — spoiler alert — Travis gets his revenge, and loses nothing in exchange. There’s also this unspoken resolution where Travis disbands the UAA because he’s…tired of assassins being seen as tools, I suppose? Which is kind of out of left field and doesn’t come to any neat conclusion either. And on top of all that,the bosses in the sequel are ultimately not meaningful outside of being amusing to fight, and it’s disappointing in comparison.

Oh, and on top of that, the port of the sequel feels messy as well. I experienced a weird glitch with the bike sections that could only be fixed by switching from my Pro Controller to my Joy Cons. I also got a hard crash in the middle of a twenty minute combat segment near the end of the game that I had to start over from the beginning, and I was not pleased about that at all.

It’s still a fantastic game, and the fact that I decided to beat both games back to back instead of play through Watch Dogs: Legion for review speaks volumes to the quality of both games. But in the end, I wasn’t as satisfied with No More Heroes 2 as I’d have liked. I’m playing Travis Strikes Again next, and maybe I’ll have even more thoughts on that game that I’ll put down here!

That’s all for now! Did you pick up the No More Heroes ports? How’d you feel about them? Let me know on Twitter @mintplaysthings! And if you like my writing, please consider donating to my Patreon or Ko-Fi. Thank you!

A very exciting post today, by the first ever contributor for Mint's Café! Today Ghost is providing a guide on FFXIV's Bozjan Southern Front. Enjoy!

Hello i'm ghost!! Yehn'ir Mhollu on Zalera, and I really like the Bozjan Southern Front.

Running around with a bunch of other random lvl 80 and destroying what are basically 48-man raid level boss fights is the most fun in FFXIV I've had in a while and I wanna see more players have fun too!!

So I wanted to write a casual guide for folk just getting in there of what we can do to help make it not so hard because so many 'guides' at the top of internet searches just list questlines from the patch notes and like, c'mon, really...

And I wanna help folk that might’ve gotten discouraged from dying too much because maybe they ran in head-first day one and missed some good tips,

But mostly cause of that search thing I’m petty.

I won't tell you how to get there, this guide assumes you've already unlocked your resistance weapon quests and such so let's GOOO–

Step 1: We're gonna want a lot of fancy stat boost potions

Okay so if you’ve sped through the quest text in excitement to run in and fight with everyone you might’ve noticed that these mobs hit Hard!!

And those critical engagements? Basically 1hit KOs.

That's where these handy potions come in!

All mobs that aren't "4th Legion" mobs drop these Fragments that we can trade in to the appraiser at base camp for what basically turn us into GODS.

Turning those in will get us our very first stat potions, each tailored to what class your playing as! Some boost damage output while others boost HP and Defense. My white mage is a tank now 😈

Another neat thing you can collect from fragments are Lost Actions — basically duty actions that act as spells you can cast to buff yourself, or raise an ally, or cast Death???

You can combine actions as you like, maybe be a dps who can shield and heal themselves 🤔 ?  (this probably sounds snarky but it's a great solo strategy imo lol)

Step 2: have fun and don't die!

From here it's all on you babey do what you want!! Gather clusters, gain mettle and rank up! Become broken by opening lockboxes.

Remember this basic survival routine: kill mobs > get fragments to trade in for potions and actions > THEN go for the big hard hitting bosses. Don't feel rushed, these are constantly popping off on the map, so take your time ^^

My personal fave gameplay loop goes something like:

1. Destroy some mobs — the higher the rank mob, the higher chance to drop fragments we can trade in for more potions or duty actions.

• The ones right outside the first gate are perfect; they're all passive and easily solo-able.
• As you move up in rank and area, mobs will drop cooler and more broken potions and duty actions.
• If you kill "4th Legion" mobs, they have a chance to drop Bozjan Clusters that you can trade in for that sweet /guard emote and other things.

2. Join in on any skirmishes that break out near you — gain mettle to rank up! You can maybe collect memories for your resistance weapon in that other quest, this isn't a resistance weapon guide there are many of those already.

3. Join any Critical Engagement you qualify for — do you love Trial bosses? But with mechanics you have to actually pay attention to??? Every CE is a unique boss on it's own, and they drop lockboxes you open for a chance at that cool flight suit mount.

4. Remember to turn mettle in at rank up lol (editor's note: you can also lose mettle if you die, so make sure you're turning stuff in so you don't waste mettle after that Red Chocobo from hell destroys you with meteors!)

Okay I think that's all there is to it??

It doesn't get any more complicated than that I think!!

Remember to say tyfp o/

A huge thank you to Ghost for writing this guide! You can find their work and all the Yehn screenshots you could ask for on Twitter @pocketghosts so give them a follow there! This piece's art was also done by them so maybe hit them with a commission! They are a Ghost with many talents!

Hey what’s up. I know you come to this blog to read my often terrible opinions on videogames, but unfortunately for you, there are no games I’m interested in talking about at the moment. I already wrote about Apex, which is about 50% of how I spend my game time lately, and the other 50% involves shutting my brain off and playing The Division 2 — although, it might be worth it to write about that game’s terrible politics at some point. The industry is basically waiting around for November to hit, with a bunch of heavy hitters and the next generation of consoles around the corner, so we’re sort of spinning our wheels here.

That said — and at the risk of sounding dismissive — this is my blog and I get to do what I want!! So today I’m gonna tell you about all the tools I use to do my work and why I like them. I have found that my ability to focus on and do work, creative or otherwise, is dependent on systems that provide a range of helpful features without being bogged down to the point that using them effectively requires me to have a PhD. This year I got a fresh start on my workspace that actually makes me feel good when I am in the process of creation, so I wanted to share it. Maybe you will find this interesting. Maybe you won’t! I don’t have any analytics set up for this blog, so I can’t actually check to confirm. Also, there are a lot of Mac apps here, so I’m sorry if I upset anyone with my garbage taste in electronics.

What does the Camping Mint art by @pocketghosts have to do with this? I just wanted a cute picture as the header. Let’s go!

Ulysses

Ulysses is the main app I use to write this blog! It’s a writing app that is powerful enough to do a lot of stuff I need, but stays out of the way when I want to just focus on writing. You can separate documents out based on what they’re for, so I have a tab for work, a tab for my blog, etc. And those tabs are further divided out based on my own organizational flow.

The editor is markdown-based, and has a nice full-screen mode that operates like a typewriter, keeping what you’re writing at the middle of the screen. You can choose to have your current sentence, word, or paragraph be the only thing that’s highlighted, to help you focus further, and there are lots of stats you can keep track of, and a grammar checker. Most importantly, Ulysses uploads directly into Ghost! Two clicks and this draft will be placed right in my blog, waiting to be fully published.

Notion

Notion is a fantastic second-brain app that’s basically as powerful as you want it to be. It holds a ton of data that I want to keep hold of, but don’t always need on hand. It can work as a wiki, a bookmarking tool, a place to write, set tasks, or all of the above. While incredibly comprehensive and powerful, it can be a little intimidating. Not quite as “get out of the way” as I normally like my apps, but it’s the one place I make an exception.

One nice thing is that Notion gives free personal plans to people with EDU email accounts!

Fantastical

I have burned through so, so many to-do apps ever the years, and none of them have worked for me the way I’d like. Not sure if it’s just because I’m picky, or bad at getting my organized, but that’s how it’s always been, until I found Fantastical. I downloaded the trial on a whim, thinking there’d be no way I spend actual money on a calendar app, but wow was I wrong. Fantastical has a fantastic UI that makes blocking out time almost enjoyable. It lets me add events and tasks as needed, letting me organize based on what makes sense. And now that I’m a working Mint, its ability to detect events on my calendar and allow a one-click button that sends me straight to whatever Zoom meeting I need to go to has been a god-send. I love this app.

Day One

Journaling has been important to me ever since I was a teenager. Being able to go back and see the kind of person I was when I was 17 has been an illuminating experience, and a solid reminder that I’ve grown a lot in the years since. Day One has made the journaling process seamless for me for years now. It’s another app with a fantastic user interface that’s cross-platform between macOS and iOS, and places an emphasis on capturing all the memories you want to retain. It can hold photos, videos, has a tagging system to filter posts when you want to look back at them, keeps track of everything from weather to location, and even lets you make multiple different journals if you want to separate things out even more. Perhaps most importantly, your Journal is not held hostage by Day One, with the option to export in a variety of formats and even order a physical book of your journal!

Postbox

I have four email addresses that I have to keep track of, with only one of them being based in Gmail, and I like to have them all consolidated in one space. I also like desktop apps more than stuff that’s web-based, so Postbox has been a great tool for me. I only really recommend it for email power-users, but if you’re the type of person that often has to live in their mailbox, it’s a great choice. It syncs with email servers quickly, and has a bunch of great filtering options and tagging features. You can set emails as reminders, color-code them however you’d like, and archive and delete tons of emails at a time — great for someone like me, who is obsessed with having a zero-inbox because I’m a weirdo.

Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo

I didn’t feel like posting all my UI/UX tools in this piece since those are very niche (although I might in a separate article, if people are interested), but I will throw in some kudos to the Affinity Suite. Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo are what most people will ever need, and they are fantastic alternatives to Adobe tools, which are garbage when it comes to price. They can take a bit to get used to, but the transition from Illustrator and Photoshop was painless for me, and I hardly miss any of the features from those former tools. Best of all, they’re one-time purchases that get you free updates until the next major release, which tends to come out every two years — far more manageable from a financial perspective.

Apple Music

A year ago I would have balked at the idea of using Apple Music as my primary listening tool, but then every Final Fantasy soundtrack dropped on streaming services, and suddenly Spotify told me that I was exceeding their completely arbitrary cloud library limit. So, I made the switch, and frankly, I couldn’t be happier. Obviously, it helps that I’m fully walled off in the Apple garden, but even then, it really is that good. Sure, the algorithm for recommendations isn’t amazing in comparison to Spotify, but that’s never really something I cared about, since I like to search out music myself. Moreover, adding my own personal albums to the ones that I add from the streaming service is a simple drag-and-drop, meaning my obscure albums of dance music from Japanese Rhythm Games don’t get left behind either.

Tweetbot

Okay, this isn’t technically a tool for work, but I want to recommend it anyway. Tweetbot is great because it’s Twitter with none of the fluff. I happily pay for it to remove garbage like ads, recommended posts, and all that other nonsense. Notifications are a little screwy in comparison, but frankly, not getting pinged by Twitter all day is a pro for me, not a con. It’s showing its age design-wise, and I don’t know if we’re gonna get another update for it, but as it stands, it’s currently the best way to experience Twitter.

Fidget Cube

My most important physical tool! Designed by Antsy Labs — and wow, just as I wrote this, I realized why they’re called that — my Fidget Cube is my personal savior during meetings. I can click and clack and spin and tap away for stimulation all day to stay focused and engaged while people talk. Plus, now that I work remotely, I can do it without worrying that anyone will hear! I love my fidget cube.

Anker Bluetooth Ergonomic Mouse

They’re a little unwieldy at first, but my ergonomic mouse has saved my hand and wrist from crippling pain over the years. They allow me to comfortably rest my hand on the mouse for hours without pain. Super useful if your meat prison is weak and wimpy, like mine. Throw some grip strengtheners and a lacrosse ball in there and you’ve got yourself a mini physical therapist office!

That’s pretty much everything! Hopefully, you’ll find something here that helps you too. If you do, tell me about it @mintplaysthings! And if you like my writing, please consider donating to my Patreon or Ko-Fi. Thank you!

I was idly checking my old posts and realized that Mint’s Café is officially two years old as of three days ago! That set me to reminiscing, so here we are.

I have started many, many blogs since I was a wee Mint, and they’ve all been based around videogames to some extent. Did you know? My very first attempt at reviewing a game came about when I was 12 years old. It was a video review of Okami, cut from video clips I was able to download off of IGN. It was very much based on the old-school “Graphics, Audio, Story, Gameplay” header video game reviews, put together on Windows Media Player. How simple things used to be. From there I would start and stop wordpress blogs, destructoid blogs, kotaku blogs, and even Atavist, which doesn’t exist anymore, all under different monikers I used to use. You can probably find some if you know any of my old usernames. I will not be sharing them with you, because they’re embarrassing. My interests have expanded far beyond videogames in the past 14 years, but they continue to be my favorite thing to talk about, and are a big part of why I have the friends I do.

I can pretty easily say that Mint’s Café is the longest I’ve ever maintained a blog, and there are a couple of good reasons for that. The first is that this is my first personally hosted blog, built on Ghost, with a URL I purchased myself and my blood, sweat, tears and pixels poured into making sure it worked and looked good. The difference having a job can make, heh. The second is that my Mint persona/mascot/whatever has been my most comfortable online identity, and that’s helped me with how I express myself online as a whole. And the blog has only picked up steam since I finally came to terms with my ADD diagnoses, allowing me to focus on the projects I want to work on.

Beyond that, though, what’s made writing on this blog so much fun and long-lasting for me is you, the reader. Whether you’re one of my close friends, indulging me as I talk about Gravity Rush or evil corporate-generated anime girls, a patron that supports the maintenance of both mints.cafe and sunset.camp, or just a person passing through, this place would not exist without you, and I thank you for that. I hope that you’ll continue to stick around as I eject these cursed thoughts from my brain and into the internet so that my head doesn’t explode.

So, with a new year of Mint’s Café comes a new look! You probably noticed it by clicking on this link, but I’ve redesigned the site a little bit. Hope you like it! If not, feel free to tell me — I can always revert back to the old one if enough people are disappointed in the new look. I also have some cool ideas in the pipeline that I hope to implement in the coming months, so stick around for that!

On top of that, I want to celebrate! So I’m holding a giveaway for a $60 gift card for the videogame shop of your choosing (Nintendo eShop, Playstation Store, Microsoft Store, or Steam)! All you have to do is follow me on Twitter and retweet the link to this celebratory post. I will be randomly selecting a winner in 48 hours. I am allowed a bit of marketing-based exposure after two years of work, as a treat. :)

Thank you again, everyone! May this Café continue to be your number one stop for thoughts on games and crying about the creative process!

-Mint

This is making me go absolutely feral, so I’m sorry that this is going to be less a structured blog post and more me screaming into the void, but real talk everybody: what in the actual hell.

So in case you aren’t aware there’s an account on Twitter (and Instagram, and Soundcloud) called @seradotwav. The creepy facsimile of a human being you just clicked on is a League of Legends character created by Riot “The Only Thing We Love More Than Money is Sexually Harassing Our Employees” Games, and I hate her more than I can possibly describe with words in this blog post.

I don’t hate Seraphine personally (although I guess she uses the souls of dead people to power her music, so she’s suss either way) but it doesn’t matter if I do or don’t because Seraphine isn’t real. She’s not a real person. Now you might think “why do you hate Seraphine, Mint? She’s just a vocaloid/vtuber, those are all the rage these days!” Except she’s not really that, either. Vocaloids like Hatsune Miku work because they’re blank slates that you can project yourself onto. Miku and Co. don’t have personalities beyond “plays music” (and “Made Minecraft”). You, the person that uses her voicebank, instill your creative energy into her. You dress her up in cute outfits, you make the songs she sings, you provide the “lore,” so to speak. Vtubers, on the other hand, are played by people, with such a razor-thin line of kayfabe that one sneeze will break the illusion.

Seraphine isn’t a vtuber, she’s the product of a company that wants to capitalize on the hype of vtubing. She’s a doll propped up by a group of marketers that exists to get you to buy her $25 skin in League of Legends.

That alone is gross as hell, but……my God. Folks, I’ll just let the tweets speak for themselves.

…This broke my brain. I have to spell it out clearly to fully come to terms with it, so here goes:

A game studio known for copious accounts of sexual harassment is running a social media account roleplaying one of its fictional characters……and then asking people to send it well-wishing messages because it is is having a depressive episode. A depressive episode that is not real, because Seraphine is not real.

So this is where we’re at! Corportations are now manipulating lonely and/or desperate people into developing parasocial relationships with virtual characters so that they can get them to buy some micro transaction packs. This isn’t even that abnormal, when you think about it. Remember when SunnyD was on suicide watch? Remember when Mr. Peanut died at the Super Bowl? Marketers don’t care anymore. They’ve realized that they can get away with anything they want, because regulation isn’t real, and “basic moral decency” is not a phrase in their vocabulary. I’d be almost impressed that companies have found another way to profit off the bodies and pain of women if it weren’t so revolting.

So: did it work? No! Because she’s just a retooling of an existing League of Legends character so everyone’s pissed!

Great job Riot, you really nailed it lmfaooooo

That’s all for now! Where will you be when the apocalypse comes in the form of an anime girl? Let me know in the comments or @ me on Twitter @mintplaysthings! And if you like my writing, please consider donating to my Patreon or Ko-Fi. Thank you!

I’ve been meaning to make this post for a while now, but I’ve never found the spark to get me to start it. I think it’s because Apex Legends has been such a constant every day of this past year and a half that I wasn’t sure I had anything interesting to say about it. How do you put down your thoughts on brushing your teeth, or getting dressed in the morning? That’s the level of permeance Apex has had in my life.

If you’ve known me for any length of time in the Pre-Mint years, this may come as a shock to you. I like weirdo JRPGs and MMOs with 10 foot tall Bunny Girls. I didn’t learn how to play a First-Person Shooter until I was 13, playing Halo at minimal graphical settings on a dinky Toshiba laptop my parents bought me so I’d stop hogging the family computer all day. I admired FPSes for the technical skill it took to play them well, much like fighting games, but they existed outside of my periphery.

I think a large part of that comes from the fact that, back in my day, the idea of a “free game” was a bit more of a novel concept. Sure there were online games like Runescape that you could play as a bored kid at the library for the price of Free.99, but AAA games were yet to be saddled with microtransactions that would make up the cost of their creation (and then some). My pocket change was limited, and if I had to choose between spending $50 on Nier or whatever Call of Duty was coming out, well, I was going to pick the Square Enix game every time.

Fortnite released a few years ago and took the world by storm, and of course I dipped into it like anyone else. I certainly found it fun, but the crafting and building elements threw me off, so I quickly put it away. In that time, however, I had found myself absolutely obsessed with a game called Titanfall 2. I picked it up because of the critical praise it received for its engaging single-player — which was well earned — but something about the way it played stuck with me. I had no litmus test for what the difference between good or bad gunplay in an FPS was, but Titanfall definitely felt like what I wanted in an FPS — the sprinting, sliding, wall-running and giant mechs created a symphony of mechanics that spoke to me in a way that no Shooter had up to that point in time. I have fond memories of passing the controller back and forth with my roommate in college, ripping through enemies in the game’s multiplayer mode while we blared Babymetal albums on repeat (a disparate fusion that worked surprisingly well).

All that said, it should come as no surprise that I was interested in Apex Legends, seeing as it came from the same devs, was launching so soon after its reveal that I wasn’t going to forget about it, and all for the easily accessible price of zero dollars. What I didn’t expect was how much I would love it, possibly even more than Titanfall 2. It easily sits near the top of my list of favorite games.

Apex Legends pretty much plays like any other Battle Royal you may have played yourself. A bunch of teams drop onto an island, and the last team standing is the winner. What makes this particular BR stand apart is its strong sense of character identity and maneuverability. Each character in Apex has a set of abilities that make them stand out. Bloodhound is a (nonbinary!!) hunter that can use their goggles to ping enemies’ locations through walls. Lifeline is a medic that can revive her teammates with a shield and drop a drone that can restore health. Caustic can set up poison traps that do damage to enemies over time, and so on. Each of these characters accommodates for specific play-styles. If you’re the support type, you have characters like Lifeline, but if you’re the more gung-ho type you might prefer characters like Bloodhound or Wraith. The kind of person that enjoys camping in the final ring of a Battle Royal might prefer someone like Caustic. On top of that, each of these characters has their own backstory, relationships with other Legends, voice lines related to aspects of the game, finishing animations, and so on and so forth. There’s a level of connection here that I like in comparison to other Battle Royals — it’s not just an avatar that I’m projecting myself in. I don’t play Wattson just because I like using her electric fences to control the flow of a fight, but because her bubbly personality and punny lines are appealing to me.

And while there isn’t wall-running like its predecessor, Apex features the same tight movement. Sliding down hills to gain momentum to clamber up a wall and out-maneuver your enemies never gets old, even with the obscene number of hours I’ve put into this game. Games like Fortnite and Warzone feel stiffer in comparison. On top of that, the game has an intricate context-sensitive ping system. With one button, you can alert your team of enemies, supplies, actions you plan on performing, where you want to move next and more. It's a system that allows for accessibility and communication even if you're not on a microphone, which means I'm much more willing to play with random people online (because I can leave them muted, heh).

It’s interesting: I used to hate the idea of playing a Battle Royal. Part of that stems from the same poisoned brain cells I have that demand that I be the best at whatever I do, so why try if my chances are winning so low? And while Apex helped ease me into the genre because it came from a developer I was familiar with and liked, I’ve found myself enjoying the style of game regardless, which I believe comes with the shift I’ve had mentally over this ridiculous, unbelievable year.

There’s a freedom that comes with playing Apex Legends. When I boot it up, my goal is to win, yes, but knowing how unlikely that is based on the dozens of variables that come with launching out of the game’s dropship has allowed me to completely relax while I play it. I jump into the waves and let them take me where they will, unworried about winning or losing. This has led to me appreciating the small interactions that I’ll always remember in the time I’ve spent playing the game. From finding the most ridiculous places I could climb up to with a squad of randoms, to getting excited about finding great loot in the Swamps, to sneaking around three squads in combat so a buddy could revive our party — the individual moments that come with playing Apex make losing over and over again worth it for me, the kind of person that’s usually too stubborn to just let a game be a game (even if I still look up strats at /r/ApexUniversity, heh…).

Apex is a damn good game that fits into my schedule perfectly with its quick play sessions and easy-to-pick-up style. Even if you’re not prone to playing Battle Royals, I encourage you to give it a try — you might be surprised with how much you enjoy it, same as me.

That’s all for now! Got a favorite Battle Royal? Thinking about jumping into the genre? Let me know in the comments or @ me on Twitter @mintplaysthings! And if you like my writing, please consider donating to my Patreon or Ko-Fi. Thank you!

Almost two years ago I wrote a post called Making Things Makes Me Sad. It primarily focused on how I felt about having my work seen as a creator, and the anxiety that came with it.

A lot has changed since then, and I do feel differently, so I’m going to talk about that. I also don’t want this blog to be exclusively about media I’ve consumed, which I feel it can be sometimes, heh.

I dunno if it’s just a matter of mellowing out, or how I feel about the internet nowadays, but I don’t feel that same level of anxiety anymore. For a long time I always wanted to be a person that was — for lack of a better descriptor — heard. I wanted to express my opinion and have it matter to lots and lots of people. This wasn’t like, a life-long goal of mine or anything, I just felt like I had interesting things to say and make, and I wanted to people to experience them. That’s partly why I started a blog in the first place. I figured that with a bit of elbow grease, I could get to the point where people knew who I was, and my opinions on things, or they’d have opinions on the things I made. Social media does a good job of making you feel like you’re pretty small in comparison to some big account Online, and that’s not what I wanted.

That has literally never come to fruition, and for a while it did bother me. It led me to make the post I did back then, fearing that what I was making was a waste of time.

But I’ve come to realize: being heard online sucks, actually.

I thought I’d enjoy any amount attention, but the reality is that I don’t have the personality to deal with it. That sort of attention has done nothing to make me happier or feel more fulfilled. On top of that, I’ve come to realize that I would never want to make a full-time living on any creative work I do, which was also always a dream of mind. I’m more than happy doing work that allows me to be creative, even if it’s not work I care about.

And so my mindset has shifted — the only attention I care about when it comes to my work are my friends.

I’ve become very content with making things for the people around me to experience. From stuff like Ask Her Out to fanfiction for my friends’ OCs to this blog itself, I’ve learned to derive joy from creating for my close circle. Frankly, my experience with the internet as a whole has shifted to focusing on this close circle, in everything from my time on Discord and Telegram to the forum I’ve created.

With that, I’ve become more fulfilled with my creations as a whole. I feel more of an intrinsic need to make things for the sake of making them, and not for the sake of being seen, which I think has been good for my mental health as a whole. It’s been pretty great.

So…yeah! This wasn’t a very planned out or even long post, but I just wanted to dump my thoughts out in a more casual manner. I’m sure my feelings on being creative will shift again with time, but for now, I’m pretty happy with the place I’m at!

There’s no sugar coating it, folks — despite 2020 being a hellhole on the outside, for me personally, life’s been pretty great nowadays! I’m starting a new job, I got accepted into Grad School, and I feel a level of consistency and positivity that I haven’t since, uh, well around this time last year! I’m not saying this might have anything to do with certain recent events but they line up pretty well…

So! While we wait for my life to collapse again some time in the next three months, let’s talk about some videogames shall we?

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim

The first game I wanna talk about is one that I wasn’t sure would be good. I’m still not sure if 13 Sentinels will end on a good note, but I’m more than impressed with what I’ve gotten so far, especially after being wary during its shaky development and Vanillaware’s focus away from its incredible action. 13S is the developer’s most ambitious game to date, and it’s immediately apparent that the basic geometrical combat exists to allow them more room to compromise and bring their vision to life. That vision involves time travel, clones, robots, robot clones, a magical talking cat, kaiju, and more. And I’m only about 50% through the game! While I always appreciated Vanillaware for their action, 13 Sentinels shows that they’re capable of writing a strong narrative. Despite having 13 protagonists and multiple timelines that weave amongst each other, I’ve had no trouble following along with the plot and getting wrapped up in the mystery of it all. The game is a lot like 999, Virtue’s Last Reward, or that third game that we’ve all decided doesn’t exist — but without the puzzles that make me feel like an idiot.

My main issue with Aegis Rim is how split combat is from the narrative. Basically, you can choose to engage in the combat sections whenever you want, and they’re essentially completely separate from the story sections. I’m starting to understand why that’s the case as I approach the end of the game, but I’m not super happy with this decision. It’s mostly personal, but I hate feeling like I might do something out of order, even if that’s a big part of this game as a whole. Totally personal con though, and if you’re interested in picking it up, I not only recommend that you do, I implore you to — as a certain game dev has said, we really need Vanillaware to stick around in the games industry.

Genshin Impact

Getting this out of the way: yeah it’s basically a Breath of the Wild clone. Yes it’s a gacha game. But as we know, I’m a sucker for those anyways, so am I enjoying it? Yes! Frankly though, Genshin Impact is probably the most fully developed and involved gacha game to ever release. It’d probably be better to describe it as a full-on free game with some optional gacha pulls attached to the side.

What makes the game most fun is the combat. After you muck around for a bit you’ll get a full party of four characters, each comprised of a different element. You can use their attacks to combine elements that set off status effects on enemies and deal more damage. For example, freezing an enemy with ice and then swapping over to a character with fire will cause them to Melt, and lighting paired with wind will set off an Overloaded explosion. It’s been a lot of fun finding good pairings that work together, and exploring the game’s beautiful world has been a lot of fun as well, even if the plot so far has been extremely bland.

We can’t know for sure how important the gacha for Genshin will bet ust yet. As of now I’ve found most content can be cleared with the free characters, but end-game will be the final determinate for how free-to-play it actually is. For example, I’ve spent a bit of time in the Abyss, the game’s floor-based dungeon crawl, and I don’t know if I’d have been able to beat Stage 3 without the 5-star I pulled with the free currency I was given, Fischl, who’s extremely powerful. It might be possible to just over-grind the characters you do get, but that’s yet to be determined. We’ll see how things go in the long-term, but so far Genshin Impact has been a good distraction while I wait for other games to come out.

Going Under

This game hurts a little too much to play. Not mechanically: it’s actually quite a blast as far as roguelikes go. No, it’s because the game doubles as a parody mocking tech start-up culture, and it goes for the throat every time. The writing in this game is witty as hell, with constant shots taken at everything from morning stand-ups to cryptocurrency, and it makes me laugh while also hurting my soul. As someone who’s had to immerse themselves in start-up culture before, it’s clear that Aggro Crab is intimately familiar with it, and it enhances the experience as a whole. It can be a little slippery to play at times, especially after experiencing something like Hades, but I’m excited to keep streaming it when I get the chance.

Star Wars: Squadrons

I’m not actually that far in this game but I already love it. I love flight sims — when I was younger, I always wanted to be a pilot, and I’d live out my fantasies playing games like Ace Combat and Microsoft Flight Simulator. But they release so infrequently nowadays. I wasn’t sure if Squadrons would be any good, especially considering EA’s track record, but the reviews were positive, and I was instantly grabbed by the game as soon as I started it. I’m still only in the story mode right now, but weaving my way through asteroid fields to dogfight TIE fighters while soaring Star Wars music plays in the background has made me feel like a kid again. I don’t want to say much more because I want to do a Thoughts On about the game after I get to try out the multiplayer, but yeah. So far: really damn good.

That’s all for now! What have you been playing lately? Let me know in the comments or @ me on Twitter @mintplaysthings! And if you like my writing, please consider donating to my Patreon or Ko-Fi. Thank you!

Supergiant Games can do no wrong. Every game they make is better than the last, and it feels like all the work they’ve done up to this point jas culminated in Hades, an incredible roguelike that engaged me, challenged me, and filled me with a level of pure joy that I rarely feel from videogames nowadays. It is a master class in game design, and I’m about to heap it with praise for the next few hundred words.

Hades is a game about Zagreus, entry-level Himbo and son of the titular God of the underworld, as he attempts to escape from Tartarus for reasons that become clear as you progress through the game. To do so he’ll need the help of his Aunts and Uncles of the Greek pantheon, a couple of sick weapons, and a banging Darren Korb soundtrack to power him through. It won’t be easy, though: he’ll be dying quite a lot to get out and find what he’s looking for.

What makes Hades such a treat is how it takes every aspect common to Roguelikes and finds a way to give it a fresh coat of paint. The Supergiant team is masterful at creating interlocking systems that all make sense whilst fitting into whatever narrative they’ve created, and never has that been more true than in this game. As a result, it finds a solution for the most common frustration that can come with playing a Roguelike: death.

Death in Hades isn’t really a loss as you come to expect in videogames. Each time you get sent packing back to the Hades’ halls, you’re rewarded with new dialogue, new characters, new story bits, and new gameplay mechanics. Despite dying countless times while playing the game, I never found myself angry, because I knew something new and interesting was waiting for me. I was astounded at the amount of dialogue and character interactions that were available with each new run. It kept my loops fresh even when I was banging my head against a difficult boss.

It also helped that the game simply feels immaculate to play as well. Hades has, in this humble writer’s opinion, the best combat to ever come out of a Roguelike. Controlling Prince Z is effortless and responsive — not once did I ever feel like a death was anything other than my own fault. The feedback from his weapons is also satisfying as hell, especially when you’re able to upgrade them with hammers during a run through Tartarus. Combat is tough, but fair, and thankfully the game comes with a “God Mode” (heh) that allows you to overpower your enemies if you’re just here for the trademark wonderful storytelling that Supergiant Games is known for.

What gives each run variety are the boons you can find as you progress. The Gods want Zag to be free of Hades as well, and so they lend their powers to him. Each boon you pick up allows you a choice of one of three powers from a particular God, allowing you to tailor your playstyle during a run. Athena’s boons focus on reflecting and defending from attacks, for example, while Poseidon’s allow you to knock enemies away from you. I was particularly fond of Zeus’ lightning powers. You can upgrade your boons as a run progresses, making them feel incredibly powerful before you reach the end. I never got tired of experimenting with builds and working with what tools I had available to me each time I dove back into the underworld, especially because even boons come with their own lore and dialogue to experience.

There’s more I could say, but honestly, it would spoil some of the surprise, and I just don’t have much in the way of critique. I can’t think of anything wrong with this game, other than the fact that I can’t date Nyx in real life. Needless to say: I am recommending — hell, begging you to play Hades. It is one of the greatest games of this year, and the best game Supergiant has ever made — until they make their next game, in which case, I’m sure they will top themselves all over again.

Who would you date from the hot Hades Pantheon?? Answer this very important question in the comments or @ me on Twitter @mintplaysthings! And if you like my writing, please consider donating to my Patreon or Ko-Fi. Thank you!

No jokes, it’s just perfect

Despite 2020 being an absolute dumpster fire, it’s been pretty good in the games department. Lots of great games have come out to help me cope with current events, which is nice. That’s all pretense though, because as likely as stuff like the Final Fantasy VII Remake will be on my GOTY list, it won’t have gotten as much playtime out of me as today’s topic of discussion. That game is Gun Rounds, and it is without a doubt the best game I’ve played this year.

There’s room for all kinds of games, but the ones that always reel me in for months, that I’ll go back to years later, are the kind that are mechanically perfect. They have a core loop that is simple on the surface, but deep and satisfying on closer inspection. Tetris, Puyo Puyo, Downwell: the kind of games that you can play for 5 minutes or two hours and still walk away from feeling like you haven’t wasted your time. Gun Rounds is that kind of game. It’s a turn-based roguelike shooter. Your avatar is on the bottom of the screen, and your enemies hover above you. Each turn you can do one of two things: shoot, or reload. Shooting takes bullets, with the amount used dependent on what you’re firing. Your initial pea-shooter takes away 2HP and uses one bullet, but you can unlock more from treasure chests in the middle of combat, and can carry up to four at any time. Eventually you’ll have access to piercing lasers, lightning bolts, cranking machine guns, and even a few swords.

Reloading gives you bullets back, but takes up a turn, and is connected to the other main gameplay conceit: defense. When it’s the enemy’s turn, each monster on the other side of the screen will fire back at you with some form of attack. You have a shield that can absorb the attacks with a well-timed button-press, which will negate damage and give you back ammo. However, if you’ve reloaded, that shield will be smaller, meaning your timing has to be closer to perfect as a result.

That’s basically it, other than the shop keeper at the end of each stage, who you can buy upgrades from to alter your gameplay (or, in traditional roguelike fashion, fight, if you’re feeling spicy). Every aspect of the game is so well conceived that you will immediately begin forming strategies in your head when fighting enemies. Will you use up all your bullets with this next attack, knowing you can get ammo back with the proper timing, or will you take a chance and reload to guarantee access to your most powerful attack on the next turn? Will you carry a bunch of high-powered, bullet-heavy weapons, or smaller ones that allow you to reload less? You also have to take into account the movement patterns of the enemies and adjust your firing accordingly. And on top of all that, choosing to equip a new weapon can heal your hearts, or even increase their total value during a run, encouraging you to constantly swap out the weapons in your deck for stat boosts.

I say “that’s basically it,” but Gun Rounds has taken over my life. I have played it pretty much every single day since it released — the fact that it’s available on phones has done nothing to help with my productivity. I mentioned Downwell earlier, and that comparison comes from the highest level of praise I can give: that game is another one of the all-time greats as far as I’m concerned, and Gun Rounds has that same level of polish, and even the same fun, sproingy two-tone pixel aesthetic. You can even unlock palettes to change the look of the game by doing runs, which I’m a fan of. I haven’t beaten Normal mode, because the game is hard and I am bad, but that hasn’t stopped me from trying. Each run I feel myself getting a little better, figuring out the best weapons and item load-outs that work for me (shield reflect is OP).

I don’t really have anything else to say! This post is light on critique and analysis, I know, but you’re just going to have to trust me. This game is a mechanical delight, and I frankly can’t find a single qualm with it. It’s really just that good and you should buy it right now. It’s a steal for the price, and I’ve already bought it two times over. Just play Gun Rounds!! Do it!!!

Are you a smart and cool person that is already playing Gun Rounds? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter @mintplaysthings! And if you like my writing, please consider donating to my Patreon or Ko-Fi. Thank you!

Is “Thoughts On” My Brand Now?

I’m sure you saw this post coming! Don’t worry I am not making a callout post on my Twitter Dot Com about specific people on Mastodon. I just wanna talk about what happened and how I feel about the place now versus two years ago. I also apologize in advice for having too much fun with the subheadings.

Firstly, if you want some writing about Masto that is better than anything I could put out (mostly because I don’t proofread lol) then take a look at this very good article that is constantly mocked by Mastodon users despite explicitly laying out its issues in a succinct manner regarding how people of color are treated on the website and wow this is just one huge warning flag I shouldn’t have missed, huh? Hindsight is a hell of a thing.

It’s also a good read if you don’t know what Mastodon is, which I’m not going to be explaining in detail here because this post is long as is. Sorry!

I joined Mastodon some time in 2017. Like many, I clowned on it for its seemingly impenetrable user interface and complicated set-up of instances. I didn’t know what the hell the difference between a Local and a Federated was. However, I decided to stick with it, and eventually, I came to enjoy it. I needed a new community and was feeling disillusioned with Twitter and its myriad of issues, and Mastodon filled that hole for me. Soon I went from skepticism to outright recommendation. Hell I wrote my own guide on how to use the damn thing!

Mastodon was not a net negative on my life. In fact, I technically (we’ll get to this) owe a lot to the community. It let me be more comfortable with my Grey-Aceness. Encouraged me to unabashedly love my original characters. And just generally let me be more open about the kind of person I wanted to be. Those are all good things! I also think that Mastodon as a software is still generally better than Twitter, especially regarding the Local timeline existing as a method to foster community instead of screeching into the void and hoping someone screeches back.

So in the words of the esteemed Matt McMuscles and/or Rickey Rat:

Let’s find out.

Look at Me: I’m the Sea-lion Now

As I got more comfortable on Mastodon I started to talk about issues that were important to me: namely, the racism I deal with daily.

This was widely considered by many Mastodon users to be A Bad Move. Oops!

Despite being touted as a less garbage version of Twitter, Mastodon has just as bad an issue with menchie invaders as any social media website. The only difference is that there’re fewer flavors of the kind of reply clown you’re going to get:

• A white guy touting FOSS
• A white person asking you to explain elementary racist concepts to them instead of just typing it into their search bar
• A white person explaining how racism isn’t real because /some bullshit reason.

Mastodon is hella white. Shocker, I know. There are a lot of reasons for this, but I think the biggest one besides “only white people have been allowed to be tech nerds” is that a large chunk of people joined it initially to “get away from politics.” Which is why every time I had the gall to mention some aspect of racism I was dealing with without putting a content warning up, some furry would show up to complain to me about how I was forcing them to confront…uh. Let me see here checks notes oh right, the specter of white supremacy that will haunt me until my dying breath. Sorry about that!

Clout! Huh! What is it Good For?

I have been told that I was a “popular Mastodon user.” Don’t worry, I will definitely be putting that on my resumé, right next to “moderated a big subreddit,” — it’s about as useful to me in real life. The reality is that all this did was attract attention I didn’t want.

The cycle was pretty clear, in retrospect: I’d say something that I thought was, by all accounts, generally accepted by leftists. It would not be generally accepted by leftists. Cue the Instance Explosion. Maybe it was about CWing racism. Maybe it was about how Islamophobia was bad, actually. What it was about didn’t matter — what mattered was that everyone has to have an opinion on Mastodon Dot Com. This is in spite of the fact that the software’s terrible search engine makes it impossible to find out the original focal point of “””Discourse.”””

So, what’s that lead to? Subposts about the Meta. Subposts smugly talking about how much better a User is for not engaging in the Meta. Takes literally no one was asking for. So on and so on — and so on, and so on, and so on…

Intermission: But Mint, Why Didn’t You Join the POC Instance?

LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO—

Did You Hear?

Let me sum it up, to a degree: Mastodon is just Twitter but with the intense community-drama of an early 2000s hobby forum. It’s also 2000% whiter than Twitter.

It is embarrassing more often than it isn’t. You can figure that out pretty easily by trying to tell literally anyone you know in real life about any dramatic Mastodon happening of the past six months. The way the community has been built may not encourage screenshot dunking or quote-tweeting, but those are just software issues. A community is more than that. It’s listening to POC. It’s recognizing the implicit (and frankly, explicit) biases that stem from a mostly white user-base. And it’s creating some sort of support system when a user is deeply upset. Wouldn’t you know it, that deeply upset user was me! And I was Fed Up.

I Was Fed Up

Yes, I was fed up! So, I took a break for a few days, and it felt great. Then I deleted my account. And Readers, seeing the aftermath confirmed undoubtedly that I made the right move.

It was another Instance Explosion, and it was the most embarrassing of all to watch. For a website that claims to hate politicians, its users do a fantastic job of emulating them when something bad happens. “We need to do better about the racism on Mastodon.” “Something needs to be done about the racism on Mastodon!” “Someone needs to do something about the racism on Mastodon!”

You. You need to do something about the racism on Mastodon. R-right? I felt like I was being gaslit. People were wielding my name as a weapon to get clout, pointing fingers at each other so that they could feel better about themselves. Hell, I even saw someone complain that I was getting too much attention when they felt like they should have had more. Oh, and I got accused of chasing clout and being a shitposter, myself.

I hope a couple of boosts were worth that to be honest because boy did it make me feel like shit. But only temporarily. Because I realized that, again, despite touting itself as being “The Superior Twitter,” very few people on Mastodon actually cared about me or POC issues beyond using it as a cudgel for internet points. That realization ended up being more freeing than anxiety-inducing (eventually, lol).

Did I get money thrown my way? Sure did. Did it make me feel any better? You’ll be surprised to hear this but no, actually. The last few days I cared about Mastodon were spent with me as a charity case, an arcade machine to put tokens into with the hope that racism would be defeated if I’m given enough. Money didn’t and won’t fix the issues Mastodon has.

So! That’s that. I guess in the end everyone on Mastodon got what they wanted. The uppity Black boy was successfully attrited from the site, and the people that “defended him” can sleep soundly knowing that they chastised everyone around them hard enough. The next time someone whines about how they don’t like being told that “white people are bad,” I certainly won’t be around to slap them out of that bullshit. I haven’t been back, but I’m about 99.97% sure that nothing has changed and it’s back to uwu business as usual.

That’s Depressing

Kind of, but that’s okay! The conclusion I’ve come to is that it’s all bad, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have better.

Twitter and Mastodon are proof-positive that open social spaces on the internet aren’t the answer in the long term. They just aren’t. Even leaving my door open just a tad is enough to let some racist with a Raspberry Pi and a dream come in and talk down my thoughts and experiences. Just because it’s the internet doesn’t mean you have to — or should — give everyone access to you as a person.

I still have a Twitter account because I need some sort of forward facing social media account to validate my writing and upload PS4 pictures to, but even then, I’ve been more relaxed there than I ever was near the end of my time on Mastodon. This is mostly predicated on the fact that there’s a variety of minorities there. It’s really that simple.

Sure wish Elephant Site could figure that out.

Phew! Glad I got all this off my chest. Did you read all that and still feel compelled to donate to me? That’s incredible actually! I do have a Patreon and Ko-Fi, which you can put dollars into for my creative ability and not to feel better about yourself! Thank you!

Beeps, Boops, Bangers

Here’s some tracks and albums I’ve been into lately.

Pulse: Through the Maelstrom

The singles for this Remix Album of FFXIV tracks got dropped and I’m dying for the rest of them. A perfect combination of my two favorite things: Final Fantasy and sick-ass beats.

Butter-Fly ~Miku Hatsune Version~

I had no idea this existed, but it’s so good? It’s one of my favorite openings and y’all know how I feel about Miku. Very cute and worth a listen if you’re a Digimon fan.

Steal Your Heart – EP

Steal Your Heart, by GameGrooves

5 track album

GameGroovesBandcamp New & Notable Feb 12, 2020

A great collection of Persona 5 remixes that really lean in on the rock in some cool ways that actually remind me of Persona 4. Short and sweet.

Cry of the Planet

Another GameGrooves collection, all proceeds for this one go to the Minnesota Freedom Fund. Some great mixes – it’s nice to hear more Shadow of the Colossus stuff, we don’t get much of that. And it’s for a good cause!

Square Enix Chill Out Arrangement Tracks – Around 80’s Mix

SQEX said “here’s some music to relax and study to,” and I’m unironically appreciative of it. Great for both relaxing and studying but unlike lo-fi the arrangements are actually interesting and not just some static and a “buh-dum-dum” beat slapped on top.

No Straight Roads

I haven’t actually played this game but I’ve listened to the OST about 30 times already. A fantastic mixture of pulsating EDM and sick Rock riffs. Highly recommended.

Cocobolo

Cocobolo, by HM Surf

8 track album

ChilledCowBandcamp New & Notable Sep 6, 2020

More chill tracks, this time brought courtesy of HM Surf. Can I just say I love this album’s art? The orange color is almost like…edible, haha. It’s very pleasing to the eye.

Panzer Paladin

Panzer Paladin (Original Game Soundtrack), by Patrice Bourgeault

33 track album

Patrice Bourgeault

I know it says it’s pay-what-you-want so you can get it free, but please do the right thing and give Patrice Bourgeault money. This OST is flames from beginning to the end and that would be highway robbery.

That’s all for now! What are you listening to? Let me know in the comments! And if you like my writing, please consider donating to my Patreon or Ko-Fi. Thank you!

(Re)Assemble

2020 is full of surprises.

If you read my previous thoughts on the Avengers Beta you’ll know that I was — and this is being polite — not exactly enthused with what we ended up getting. The Beta was a painful slog to get through once the initial allure of a shiny new toy wore off. Combat was painful. The gear felt like it wasn’t worth getting. The bugs were plentiful. There was just nothing I could point to as a recommendation for picking up the game.

Pretty incredible how much can change in a month.

The Avengers game I’m playing now feels like it’s not even the same game I originally experienced. It still has some flaws, but I can say that assuming you like this kind of game — which we’ll get into — I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Banter and Burkinis

I mentioned in my beta impressions that Ms. Marvel was the best part of playing the Avengers. That’s still true, but to an even greater extent now. I am unashamed to tell you that the opening scene of this game’s campaign reduced me to tears. It’s true that I’ve been in a pretty emotional mood lately, but getting to see the protagonist of a AAA videogame say things like Abu and Amni, talk about going to Mosque Retreats, and explain how she made her superhero outfit out of a Burkini fills me with a level of pride and joy that I have literally never felt playing videogames before. Hell, just typing this out makes me want to cry again. Just in case you were wondering if representation really matters. Kamala Khan is a damn delight through the entirety of the game’s 15 hour campaign. Her voice actress does a fantastic job giving a range of excitement being around these legendary superheroes, and getting serious when the moment calls for it. Ms. Marvel is my favorite comic character, and this is truly her game, to the point it may as well be called Ms. Marvel and the Avengers that are there too I Guess. If you love her as much as I do, the game is worth buying for that point alone.

Not to say that the rest of the cast are dead weight either. Despite being clowned on for being discount-brand MCU characters, these Avengers are all great and come into their own by the end of the game’s main story. Captain America is filled with quiet determination, and Iron Man is a great mix of jokes and heaviness when Nolan North isn’t just using his Deadpool voice (mostly during combat). They all compliment each other well, especially Kamala and Bruce, who have a very cute Uncle/Niece dynamic. You’ll get used to them quickly.

The Campaign is a blast. It slowly introduces you to each playable character, and has a fun, entertaining plot that kept me engaged the entire time. Having Kamala as the game’s emotional core let me be invested in her trials and tribulations on her path to becoming a true Hero with a capital ‘H.’ There are also some fantastic setpieces, which isn’t exactly surprising to see from the creators of Rise of the Tomb Raider. There’s one sequence early on in the game involving Kamala and Captain America’s shield that had me actually whoop in excitement, and don’t even get me started on the campaign’s final moments. If you don’t mind the length, this game is worth picking up for the campaign alone.

Grating Grind

That said, the campaign is just the start of Avengers, and once that’s done, this is where things begin to get…well, let’s say murky.

First, let’s get the good out of the way: For the most part, the performance of the Avengers game has massively improved. Motion blur and camera shake have been significantly reduced, and everything about the combat feels tighter and snappier, right down to jumping around ledges. It feels great to pull off combos and parry incoming attacks. Each character feels like they fill out a specific niche, so it was fun to try them all. Iron Man is great for fighting airborne enemies and to take out turrets, while Black Widow is a glass-canon that can pull off tons of critical hits and grapples, for example. On top of all that, there’s a setting on the PS4 Pro that allows for 60 FPS which makes everything feel smoother than butter.

I was worried that leveling wouldn’t be interesting, but the more you level up a character, the more options start to open up. I spent most of my time in early access leveling up Kamala, and quickly found that she could fit into a crowd-control and support role. She has healing abilities that can buff up her party, and her wacky inflatable tube arms let her smack lots of enemies at once. You can further specialize her by buffing her heals to let her revive herself while she’s down and jump back into the fray, or add more charges so she can heal more often.

Then there’s the gear. For most of the campaign and much of the early post-game, you’ll just be swapping out for the next piece with the highest numbered level. As you progress, though, the pieces start to come together (sorry). You get more gear that’s specialized for the character you’re playing as, and best of all, Exotics that you can get are entirely proc-free: no “X% chance Y happens” in sight, thank god.

All that said, post-game is exactly what you think it is, which is basically Destiny but as a third-person Brawler. Now, I don’t think this is inherently a bad thing, but I want to be extremely clear: if you do not like that style of game, where you grind for higher and higher item levels to craft better builds to do higher-level content, then I don’t think the Avengers will change your mind.

I have personally been enjoying the end-game, mostly. As I mentioned combat is significantly improved so it actually feels good to get stronger, and the gear you can pick up feels impactful, so it’s actually worth the incentive to get more. I especially love picking up Pym Particle items, which make my Ms. Marvel’s punches shrink enemies, letting her grab and squeeze even the biggest of mechs.

As is the case with all MMO-lite games of its ilk, content is a bit sparse at the moment. I also don’t think this is inherently a negative — unless you’re tearing through this game to review it like I am, or just love it enough to pour 50 hours in, then you’re going to progress at such a pace that this probably won’t matter. But as of now, you’re definitely going to find some repetitiveness once you finish the campaign. AIM’s bots are the only enemies you’ll be fighting, beyond stronger repeats of bosses you already fought in the campaign. Environments get very same-y, especially in the HIVEs themselves, and once you’ve seen the 7 or 8 objectives that exist, you’ve seen them all. You are not going to be experiencing joy by exploring in this game, so if you don’t enjoy the process of leveling, you’ll probably be quick to drop it.

But none of that is as bad as combat can get in later levels. This is my biggest problem with the game so far, and one that I’m hoping gets fixed soon, because a cursory glance at the game’s Reddit and Twitter comments quickly prove that I’m not the only one that feels this way. The issue is that Avengers gives you a ton of tools to take down enemies, and then feels obligated to not let you use them the way you want. You have a parry, but late-game enemies spam nothing but red highlighted attacks, which are unparryable. The game gives you a dodge, then throws in 200 off-screen enemies that shoot lasers at you, and suddenly you’re playing Dodge Dodge Revolution. You have a charged heavy attack to break shields, but the slightest poke will stagger your character and leave you open again. I didn’t have as much of a problem with this when I was able to play with human partners to share the aggro (when the Matchmaking decided it wanted to work), but it makes Single-Player late-game missions an absolute slog. If the goal is to force you to play these harder missions with other people, then it just shouldn’t make single-player an option at all, in my opinion. At its worst, it feels like a PS2-era budget action-game, and it’s frustrating, because it doesn’t have to be.

Luckily I don’t think these issues make the game unplayable, and they’re easily fixed with some balancing tweaks and value modifications (seriously, the Hulk shouldn’t stagger. He’s the Hulk.). Overall, the Avengers game has been a blast, with an extremely strong core that can be improved on with extended development. In the middle of writing this I wanted to go back in and play some more. If they can make those adjustments to the combat, and continue to add content and story that keeps players engaged, then I could easily see this game being entertaining for a long time to come for those that love comics or are looking for a new grind-em-up. In the end, the game is quite literally Destiny with an Avengers-skin coated on top. But I get to do Destiny-things by punching bad-guys with a buffed-up Pakistani Muslim Superhero. Is that worth the price of admission? For me, the answer is an absolute yes.

That’s all for now. Are you interested in the Avengers game? Let me know in the comments! And if you like my writing, please consider donating to my Patreon or Ko-Fi. Thank you!

Everything sucks, let’s play videogames.

New Super Lucky’s Tale

I crave platforming games like one craves water in the desert, but generally don’t find them worth the price tag they release with at launch, because I am a poor Mint and need to consider the dollar-to-playtime ratio that comes with the games I wish to play. So it’s cool that New Super Lucky’s Tale is on Game Pass. I had never heard of this game up until it released, but it’s pretty damn good, hitting that perfect spot of “fun, but something I never would have considered if it weren’t free.” The platforming is tight, the character designs are cute, and there’s just enough variety to fire off the synapsys in my depressed, slowly decaying brain.

There’s a cop outfit for your character though, and it sucks. It makes me feel like a right-wing furry twitter account.

Good game otherwise. There is a simple joy to platformers that remind me why I liked these electronic devil toys in the first place, but they’re hard to do well. The only con besides the pig outfit I have is that Lucky’s moveset is quite limited compared to someone like, say, Mario, who can triple jump, backflip and long jump on a dime. That might change — I haven’t actually finished the game yet — but as of now it feels like the game’s movement could get stale if it overstays its welcome. But again: Free.99. Who cares?

Warframe

Hey speaking of not caring: I don’t care about anything, right now! I don’t even care that Warframe isn’t technically a Game Pass game, because it’s free, and that’s close enough.

Not caring matters because it’s allowed me to finally enjoy the looter shooter with the hot alien mechs. In my three-to-four tries playing Warframe before, I cared way too much. I wanted to make sure I knew how to play the game, how mods worked, which Warframes mattered, what gear was worth collecting. It burned me out within an hour because I was trying to keep up with too much, and my brain would fry. I’m baby, and the only game that has space for optimization in my baby brain is Final Fantasy XIV, the only persistent game where I’ve hit the gear cap.

Now though, I boot up Warframe and let my cavemint brain shutdown. Not caring is a great strategy for Warframe because the movement and shooting feels good enough that you can just shut your brain off and slash through some monsters while you listen to Rising by Ambience for the 300th time in a row. Who cares if your build is optimal? Who cares if you’re not maximizing your crafting schedule. You just burned a bunch of aliens to death with your cool fire powers. Nothing matters, and that’s rad.

Bleeding Edge

This is another one of those games I wouldn’t give a second thought towards if it wasn’t free on Game Pass, which is a good sign that Microsoft knows what it’s doing with its digital Blockbuster equivalent. Bleeding Edge is a lot of fun in the brief time I’ve spent with it. It’s another one of those objective-based, character-with-abilities, “we-promise-we’re-not-Overwatch” type of games, but by Ninja Theory, so it plays like a Character Action Game instead. It’s basically an Anarchy Reigns Redux, which kind of makes sense considering NT cut its teeth with the Devil May Cry reboot that nobody likes to talk about.

But like that game, this one plays surprisingly well. The character designs are cool and the melee-based combat is a nice change of pace if you’re tired of hero shooters. My favorite character to play was Miko: not only was she hot, she was also the most fun playing a Support class in these types of games. Her attacks generate health for her allies, making for a unique style of play where you provide more help for your teammates by being aggressive in battle. Battle Mercys rejoice. There’s a very small but dedicated player-base here too, so I was playing very close matches once I got the hang of things — no fear of getting steamrolled when everyone knows what they’re doing.

The main issue with Bleeding Edge seems to be content. There just isn’t much here, and the game is in a weird place, considering Ninja Theory’s other, more popular projects most definitely taking priority. I don’t think it’s going anywhere soon considering it’s got Microsoft dollars backing it, but I also don’t think anyone who doesn’t already absolutely love it is going to make it their “main” game. I can definitely see myself getting back into it one of these days, though.

The Surge 2

I downloaded this game because a friend enjoyed the original, and I’ve come to realize that I almost always love Dark Souls-like games that aren’t actually Dark Souls itself — hello Bloodborne, Nioh 2, and Code Vein. And wouldn’t you know it, the trend continues. The Surge 2 feels like what would happen if you made Dark Souls on the PS2 in 2004 and also it was sci-fi. It fits in that glorious space of AA games, unpolished but full of passion. You’ve seen everything here before: the Bonfires are med-bays, the estus flasks are nano-injectors, and the shortcuts back to safe areas are intact. The main differentiator is that you can use your cool mecha exoskeleton suit to cut off your enemy’s limbs so that you can get upgrades for your gear. The animations for this are satisfying enough that I can recommend the game on that basis alone (again, for free). I don’t really know what the plot is, and like Dark Souls, I don’t care. There’s some sort of virus involved, and given current events, I don’t feel like engaging with that further. I also don’t see myself finishing the game either. But hey, if the above sounds interesting, you might.

There you go. There’s some cool stuff on Game Pass, and its value increases the longer you go not buying games. The Yakuza games are getting added to it. Final Fantasy XV is on it. CrossCode is on it. Kingdom Hearts is on it, if that’s like, your thing. It’s the perfect service for when there’s a drought of interesting game releases, or you’re like me, living contract-to-contract but still wanting to enjoy some semblance of entertainment on a budget. Take a look through it: you might find something you enjoy.

That’s all for now. Find any Game Pass gems yourself? Let me know in the comments, or email me at mint@mints.cafe. And if you like my writing, please consider donating to my Patreon or Ko-Fi. Thank you.

Not-Smash-Bros Meets Not-Triple-Triad

I’ve been struggling to find anything of note to write about for the café. I’ve mostly been playing Final Fantasy XIV and working on my new career path, so the well of inspiration has been as dry as the release of interesting games as of late. Luckily Dan “Absolutely Not a Furry” Fornace was nice enough to do me a solid by allowing me access to the new mobile game in the Rivals of Aether universe, Creatures of Aether. And I’ve been having a blast.

Creatures of Aether is one of those games that you can’t believe doesn’t already exist the minute you play it. The elevator pitch: it’s Triple Triad on your phone. That’s it. It’s Triple Triad on your phone, and it owns. Frankly if that were the long and short of it, it would be more than enough. Anyone who’s played Triple Triad knows what I’m talking about here — it’s one of the most addictive mini-games to exist (and the little JRPG that they attached to it as an Add-On was pretty good too). However just like Rivals of Aether, Fornace and the team weren’t content to simply mimic an already solid existing gameplay style on a new platform. There are wrinkles here that make Creatures stand apart from its inspiration, and give it more depth and longevity than the design limitations of a PS1 might have allowed.

To sum up the game as a whole, Creatures of Aether is a card game that takes place on a 4 x 4 grid. Each card you put down has a number that represents each card side. If your opponent puts down a card with a higher number on its side then the card it’s placed next to, it’s flipped, and the card becomes yours. Once all 16 cards have been placed on the board, whoever has captured the most cards wins.

So far, so Triple Triad. What makes Creatures of Aether unique are all of the additions to this system that take it from a fun way to pass the time to a full-on competitive card battler. For starters, cards in Creatures have elements attached to them, and there are elemental field that randomly dot the playing board as well. Placing a card that matches the element on the field will increase the numbers on its sides by the number indicated on the elemental field. Then there are cards with abilities, such as Ally cards, which can create elemental fields around them, or defender cards, which, when placed, increase the number values on all the cards that you have control of on the board.

Most interesting of all, however, are Rival cards. While most of the other cards in your deck are based on new creatures in the Rivals universe Rival cards are comprised of the main cast of Rivals of Aether. You’re only allowed one Rival card at any time, but they’re all powerful and can easily turn the tide of battle. Zettaburn, for example, can burn up every elemental field on the board when he’s placed, and Maypul can capture multiple cards in a line. You’ll soon find yourself building your decks around your Rivals, giving the game a MtG quality to it that adds even more depth to what could have easily been a phoned-in Triple Triad clone.

You’ll be spending a lot of your time playing against other players to climb the Ladder in Creatures of Aether, but there’s a lot more to do than just that. You can spend resources to enter dungeons, allowing you to play matches against the CPU to find treasure and cards. The gold you collect can also be spent in the game’s shop to buy booster packs or specific cards (although the game is Free-to-Play, so spending real money will inevitably become an option once it exits Beta). Getting duplicates of cards allows you to level them up for slight stat buffs, and you’ll want to spend time doing that to make sure your deck is as powerful as possible. There’s lots to do, and I found myself bouncing between all the various modes to learn new strategies and improve my deck.

The above is an understatement, frankly: I’ve been playing the absolute hell out of Creature of Aether these past few days. I literally took a break from writing this blog post just to play a few games. The quick nature of the game’s matches makes it perfect for bite-sized phone sessions, and its “easy-to-learn, hard-to-master” mechanics allow for marathon playing as well. Every L I took on the Ladders had me back to staring at my available cards, trying to improve my deck bit by bit. I am not a very competitive person outside of fighting games, and I’ve never played a competitive card game at all beyond the Pokemon TCG when I was like eight years old, but Creatures has definitely gotten me there, and I always enjoy when a game is accessible and interesting enough to introduce me to a new genre.

CoA is still in Beta, so there are definitely some issues, especially in regards to UI/UX, where things can really feel slow once you’ve gotten used to the game’s layout. Also, the game has pretty much two songs at the moment, so you’ll be muting the game fast. But it’s stuff that can be easily fixed. Mechanically, Creatures of Aether is solid. If it can maintain a healthy competitive and monetary balance, I could see it sitting on my phone’s Home screen for a while to come. If you want to try it yourself, you can sign up for the now Open Beta here.

That’s all for now! Are you going to play/playing Creatures of Aether? Let me know in the comments or on Mastodon @mint. And if you like my writing, please consider donating to my Patreon or Ko-Fi!

Can you believe I was scared of tanking at the beginning of this year.

I Love You Kamala I’m Sorry this Happened to You

I’m the middle child in a group of three, so I’m not really used to being spoiled. The Avengers beta has taught me that I am, in fact, spoiled — spoiled by the abundance of better videogames that are out there.

When the Avengers game was announced, people were skeptical. The characters looked like off-brand MCU lookalikes. The game looked like it was just another bombastic AAA game with set-pieces. And then after the reveal we found out it would be a loot-based live-service game. Except it also wouldn’t be? The information around the game was muddy, and we had no idea what it was supposed to be.

Turns out, after playing the beta, I’m still not sure what Avengers is supposed to be. Because what it feels like is a game that tries to be multiple things, but none of them are all that good.

I’ll try to sum it up as best as I can. There are three types of missions in the Avengers: Story missions that are played single-player, Dropzone missions that can be done alone or with friends and cap out around 20 minutes in length, and Villain Lairs that are best done with friends and can be 45 minutes to 2 hours long (allegedly). In these missions you run around to collect loot, beat up bad guys, and complete objectives as one of the Avengers.

Yes, the game has a loot system, which people were worried about. In the slice of the game I played, loot felt completely inconsequential. Some gear made my attacks turn green. Some made them turn blue. Every stat attached to gear was some variation of “X% chance for Y effect to occur” — not exactly compelling, and already done before. I spent my time pressing the L2 button to equip the gear I had with the best stats to get out of the myriad of menus as quickly as possible. Obviously gear could be more important at higher levels of play, but I felt no noticeable difference in my gameplay style even after leveling a character to max. So yes, the gear stuff is annoying, but at least you can pretty much ignore it.

What I couldn’t ignore was everything else. The Avengers is the most bland, PS2-era, “square square square, triangle triangle triangle” game I’ve ever played, with a loot system slapped on top. You move into a room, press the attack buttons until everyone in the room is dead, and then move to the next room and do it again. This is not inherently a bad design, even if it’s boring. Destiny gets away with being a loot treadmill because it plays like butter. The problem is that the Avengers doesn’t even do something as simple as that very well. Every action I took felt like it was happening underwater. The whole thing is jittery as hell. The screen constantly shook and blurred at the slightest touch of the controller — it could easily give someone a headache. Platforming felt like I was constantly glitching into and through ledges. You’re also constantly fighting dozens of enemies at a time, but they’re so aggressive and interrupt your attacks mid-animation so frequently that I spent more time dodging than fighting. I felt like I had no control over my character at any moment of time, which is a little important in a character action game.

The game was a bit more fun in multiplayer, in the few times I was able to get it to work. This was less because the mechanics shined when playing with humans, and more because humans were better at getting me through missions as quickly as possible than the AI was. The problem is that anything is more fun with friends. Watching paint dry is more fun with friends. Breaking into a bank is more fun with friends. Your game should be mechanically sound outside of becoming a place to mash buttons while talking about how your day was.

There is one gleaming beam of light, though.

Ms. Marvel is the protagonist of the Avengers game. She leads the charge in reuniting the team after a falling out and getting them back on their feet. She is the best part of the game. And this isn’t just because I’m a gigantic Ms. Marvel fan — although it certainly helps. Her dialogue is the best. Her attacks are the most interesting. The only time I ever felt joy playing this game was as her. The fact that a Pakistani Muslim girl is the lead in a gigantic, blockbuster AAA game is not lost on me, and I’m so starved for representation that I commend Avengers and the Crystal Dynamics team for that alone.

And yet, it’s not enough. I mentioned at the beginning of these impressions that the Avengers reminded me of how spoiled I’ve been. I ended the game’s beta by quitting out and reinstalling PlatinumGames’ Astral Chain to stream it. That’s not the kind of response you want from a play-test. I’m sure there are people who will be happy with the Avengers. The allure of getting to smash stuff as your favorite hero is appealing, I understand that. But even as one of her biggest fans, getting to play as Ms. Marvel isn’t enough to get me to enjoy this game, and that’s really saying something.

I’m going to try the Avengers beta again in the next few weeks. Who knows? Maybe the mechanics will be tweaked enough to feel good before the beta ends, as is the wont of these Live-Service games. As it stands, though, I can’t recommend it at all. So in the meantime: just buy her comics instead.

That’s all for now! How do you feel about the Avengers Beta? Let me know in the comments or on Mastodon @mint. And if you like my writing, consider donating to my Patreon or Ko-Fi!

Tips to Not be SHLOPPY

I never shut up about Final Fantasy XIV. I’ve talked about it on this blog at least three times, and even more on Mastodon and Twitter. And now you’re looking to play, so you’ve come to me. Maybe my constant pestering has convinced you. Maybe you’re tired of being left out of all the in-jokes. Maybe you think Viera are hot. All of these reasons are valid, so I’m here to help you get into the world of Eorzea, and have a good time doing it.

This guide is…probably going to be big. Check back with me when it’s finished. I’m going to try to explain as much as I can in a way that’s clear and concise. But here’s my main tip, the one to take away if you can’t read the rest of this piece:

TAKE IT SLOW

I regret to inform you that you cannot learn how to play a gigantic MMO in one hour. Nor two. Not even three! I’ve been playing this game for 10 years and I still learn new things. It’s easy to get overwhelmed. You will not know everything right away, and that’s okay! Just take it slow. Frankly, the game in and of itself takes some time to get going anyways. The pieces will come together eventually.

And with that, we’re off!

Why Should I Play FFXIV?

Good question! There are few reasons. For one, this game has the best story in a Final Fantasy game in at least a decade. If you do none of the extra content and just play the story, you will get more than your money’s worth. It’s that good.

Beyond that, FFXIV is constantly improving and putting out new and interesting content, almost always better than the last. Each patch comes with new mechanics, new boss fights, new raids, new crafting recipes, and more! If you’re looking for a game that will satisfy you for a while, you’ve found it.

Not to say that it’s a full-time job, because it isn’t! It’s not 2005 anymore, we don’t have MMO time on our hands. I take breaks from the game all the time and don’t feel like I’ve been left out. Pretty much all content is available all the time so you can go at whatever pace you want. The only real time-sensitive stuff is capping your gear for hardcore raiding, but that’s a very small piece of the game’s puzzle, and if you’ve gotten to that point, then you’re uh, very far outside of the scope of this guide, heh.

Lastly, why should you play FFXIV? Because you can play as. Them.

Creating a Character

The first thing you gotta do when you log into FFXIV — either after downloading the trial, which lets you play for free all the way up through the first expansion, or by buying it — is create a character.

You start with picking your server. You want to coordinate with your friends here. Make sure you’re at least on the same Data Center as them. Servers that are within the same umbrella of Data Center can travel to each other to party up and whatnot.

Next up is your Race. All races are valid, their stat bonuses literally do not matter at all, so pick whatever you think looks cutest/coolest. However, know that Viera and Hrothgar have more limited options, and aren’t able to wear most hats in the game. Yes, I’m sad about it too. Also, picking Au Ra requires the Heavensward expansion, and Viera and Hrothgar require the Shadowbringers expansion.

When you jump into the game, play around with your emotes and animations, or look at a vid of animations online first. If you find that you don’t like your look, there’s no shame in rerolling a different character. You also get one (1) Fantasia when you finish the first main story of the game at level 50, letting you completely change your race and facial features — something that normally costs ten real dollars to do, so use it carefully. You can unlock the feature to change your hairstyle and color whenever you want later in the game, though. We’ll get to that.

Picking a Job

This is the one that paralyzes a lot of people, so we’re going to get a bit more into the mud in this section. It’s important to know, though: you are not locked to one Job in FFXIV. A unique feature of the game is that you can swap to any Job you want whenever you want when you reach level 15 on your first job. All you have to do is the job quest to unlock said job. Also, you should ignore all of this advice and play what you think looks cool anyways.

Now let’s talk about the three types of Jobs: DPS, TNK, and HLR.

Tanking

This person gets hit by the enemy’s attacks. They have big HP, and use mitigation abilities to decrease the damage being dealt to them. Tanking is a lot scarier than it seems, but often the players you’re running a dungeon with turn to you as a sort of “leader,” because you’re setting the pace of the dungeon, so if responsibility spooks you, maybe don’t start with theses Jobs. That said, it’s very satisfying and the queue times to get into content are pretty short.

Damage Per Second

These are generally considered the “easiest” Jobs to start with, and there are quite a few to choose from. DPS stands for “Damage Per Second,” and is exactly what it sounds like: doing damage as good as possible to kill the bad guys. These are a bit more responsibility-free, and I agree with them being a good place for anyone to start. However, you can’t just sleep playing these Jobs either! Each one generally has a lot to learn to do a good job, so make sure to read what your abilities do as you unlock them (good advice for all classes, honestly). Most people play DPS, so the queue times can get really long, as an FYI.

Healing

This Job keeps the party alive. Usually the Tank is who you’re focusing on, but you gotta worry about the DPS getting themselves killed pretty often too. Healing can be fun, but it can also be a bit thankless. If you’re doing your job properly no one notices, but if you mess up, everyone notices. Much like Tanking, if responsibility scares you, maybe save this one for when you’re more familiar with the game. That said, almost no one plays healers, so often your queue times can be instant.

Okay but which Job should I Play Tho?

Let’s go through them all real quick so you can decide, hmm? And I do mean quick, or we’re gonna be here forever.

Paladin

A pretty simple Tank, one that has you protecting your allies with mitigation abilities and even the ability to cast ealing spells on yourself and others. Sword and Shield, usually with a cape, and they love the color white.

Warrior

Full disclosure, I’ve never played this Tank, but I’ve read that it’s a pretty simple Tank as well, with lots of damage and survivability. They use axes.

Dark Knight

Real edgy boi hours. Another Tank that has you using a giant sword to protect your friends, and the ability to cast a shield buff on yourself if you take enough damage. Has the best job quests in the game. Remember to wear black. Requires you to have reached the Heavensward expansion area before you start playing it.

Gunbreaker

The last tank, it’s a very involved class that does some big damage and has combos similar to what a DPS might have. Simple to learn, hard to master. They use a gunblade like Squall from FFVIII and wear cool jackets. Must own the Shadowbringers expansion and have leveled a job to 60 to play it.

Monk

They punch stuff. How good they punch stuff depends on where they’re standing when facing an enemy. They’re getting a revamp soon but they’re pretty cool right now.

Dragoon

If you know Kain from FFVI, you probably know this Job. It has a very static rotation, so if you’re the type of person that needs stability in their life, try this class on for size. They jump around a lot with their spears, and they can buff their friends too.

Ninja

For the Naruto fans. This class is actually a little complicated? There’s some weird, big brain stuff to it, so if that turns you off, avoid it. They do cool ninjitsu, and can buff their pals with a skill called Trick Attack, which everyone loves.

Samurai

For the other kind of weeb. They are a very selfish DPS, in that they do very big damage, but don’t offer much in the way of buffs for others. A pretty simple rotation, and some cool animations. Must have purchased Stormblood and leveled a class to 50 in order to play it.

Bard

They have a bow! They sing and play instruments to buff their pals up. This class is very proc-heavy, which means that there is a bit of randomness to the rotation, so if you like some spice in your life, give it a go! A very support-oriented class.

Dancer

My main! They are even more buff-y and proc-y than bard. They do dances to make their party stronger, and can also give them shields and heal them a little too. Everyone will want to be your dance partner. They have chakrams, and do most of their damage in a small critical hit window. Not as much damage from these folks, but they look cute doin’ what they do! Must own the Shadowbringers expansion and have leveled a job to 60 to play it.

Machinist

The most static and selfish ranged DPS class. They do big damage but don’t do much support. They use cool guns and have a robot friend that lets them attack enemies. Oh yeah and a flame thrower. Oh and a Bio blaster. Do you like FFVI? Check this class out.

Black Mage

The selfish magic DPS. They sit in their casting circle and cast big explosions. They will never come out of their circle, even if they’re about to die. Not a very complicated class, but it feels like their rotation changes every ten levels, so maybe look up some guides.

Summoner

The attacking pet class. You use summons to do your damage! I’m not too familiar with this class, but I’ve heard it’s very “simple to learn, hard to master.” One nice thing about is that its level progression is tied to Scholar, so if you level it, you’re leveling up a healer at the same time! Pretty cool, huh?

Red Mage

The support magic DPS. They do magic damage for a bit, then swoosh in and stab with their swords all sexy-like. They have a very simple rotation and are good for beginners. Also, they can swift-cast raise to revive party members, which can save a run if your healers died. Requires the Stormblood expansion to have been purchased, and a class to have reached level 50 before being playable.

White Mage

My former main! The simplest healer, go with it if you’re a beginner. They have a lot of “oh god oh no” buttons that do big heals to help people survive attacks. Cute aesthetic. They wear robes and have a big staff. Also, assize is the best move in the game — you’ll see what I mean when you get it.

Scholar

The pet healing class. They use shields to stop damage before it can happen. That’s basically it. They’re easier to use the more knowledge of a battle you have, so it’s a class that ramps up the better you get at the game.

Astrologian

The most complicated healer, but satisfying if you can figure it all out. They can shield and regen depending on the situation, and give players cards to buff them up as well. For Yugioh fans. Requires you to reach the Heavensward expansion area to be playable.

Phew! We’re done. To summarize: If you’re not sure what to pick and just want the easiest class in their respective roles, here they are, in my opinion:

Tank: Paladin or Warrior

Healer: White Mage

DPS: Early game: Bard. After unlocking: Samurai, Red Mage, or Dancer.

Starting the Game

Finally, we can play!

Except, not really.

Check Your UI Settings

The first thing you’ll want to do when you start the game is go through your UI settings. I know, I know. It feels like homework, and there are lot of options to go through, some you might not even understand. Skip those. Focus on the stuff you get, and adjust it until you’re comfortable. I promise it’ll be worth it in the long-run. Then do another check once you’ve spent more time in the game. Maybe go through your menu options if you’ve got some extra free time, just to see what’s going on. You can get even more detail at the official UI Guide!

Change the movement setting to Legacy Controls

Just trust me on this one.

Make a Chat Tab

There will be a chat box in the bottom left of your UI. Press the + button you see there. Then go into your settings and filter everything in your new tab but messages from other human players. Call it chat, or talk, or whatever else you want.

Focus on the Story

Okay now you can play, and you should focus on playing the story to start. It’s the best part of the game, as I mentioned, but it also will help you figure out everything that’s going on. You will slowly learn new skills one at a time, learn about the world and its characters, and unlock a bulk of the main content. If you’re ever feeling overwhelmed, just follow the trail of that fancy little flaming exclamation mark. It will keep you on your path. You can always come back to other stuff later.

Skip Yellow Quests

They’re usually fluff and frankly kind of boring. They’re only really good for leveling up other classes, as you get generally enough EXP from the main quest to level whatever job you pick to maximum.

DO BLUE QUESTS

This is in all caps because it’s important, and something I didn’t realize for way too long — like long enough that I’m embarrassed to tell you how long. Blue Exclamation Mark quests are key. The blue signifies that the quest unlocks a feature of the game. This could be a side-dungeon, a mount, or even the ability to change your hair or dye your armor. If you see one, it’s generally advisable to do it.

Now What?

So you followed my sick advice and you’re feeling pretty comfortable. Maybe you hit level 50 and you want to see what else is up. Congrats! There’s lots to check out, but here’s some optional stuff worth taking a look at.

Alliance Raids

These are 24-player quests, split into teams of three. They are not nearly as scary as they sound…unless you’re doing the Ivalice Raid, but that won’t be for a while. They’re theme-park battles with fantastic fanservice for Final Fantasy aficionados (and Nier aficionados). It’ll soon be required to do the Level 50 Alliance Raid to progress the main story quests, so you’re gonna be playing them either way, but if you like the mandatory one, do the rest!

Glamour

The true end game. You can’t fight monsters if you ain’t cute. The Glamour system allows you to overwrite your current armor with other clothing so that you can have your own personal style! Once you’ve unlocked the ability to use them, grab some from the market board or the NPC in the city you start in. Then go to an Inn and check out the Glamour Dresser. Soon you’ll be obsessed with creating the perfect outfit: that’s when you’ll know you’re a real FFXIV player.

Try Another Class

Once you’re familiar with your own class, try a different one! Any class you level up gets an EXP bonus based on your highest leveled class, though, so maybe max one out before you do that. But again, you’re free to switch whenever you want at level 15 so don’t let that stop you either! I personally think it’s worth it to dabble in one class from each part of the Holy Trinity (Healer/DPS/Tank), because doing so helps you learn how to play overall. You get a good idea of the flow of battle and if everything is going smoothly. Or not, as is often the case.

Join a Free Company

You can play through the game without speaking to a single player, even while running dungeons with them, but that can be kind of boring. If you’re not already joining the game with some friends, which I recommend, try talking to players and maybe join a guild! I know it can be scary but it can also lead to some good times!

Raids

These are 8-person battles that are also not too scary with some practice. They are fun, somewhat challenging fights with interesting lore, and you can start doing them at Level 60.

One of them is a fanservice tournament arc, please do it, it slaps.

Crafting

Maybe your brain is poisoned by capitalism and you want all of the money. Crafting can help you do that! It’s a relaxing change of pace and lets you make clothing, weapons, furniture, and more! And you can make a profit off it too.

Don’t do the Bahamut Coils

Or like, do them, but with an unsynced party. An unsynced party lets you go into a dungeon or trial no matter your level, so you can overpower it through sheer damage numbers. The Coils suck and aren’t worth doing synced. Honestly you could just watch the cutscenes on YouTube and be fine — that would happen once you’re done with the Level 50 Main Story Quest.

Good lord. I think that’s it. This is the longest blog post I’ve ever written for Mint’s Café, wow!

Anyways: I hope this guide helps make your first steps into FFXIV more enjoyable! This is one of my favorite games ever, and I’d love to help more people enjoy it. I play on Zalera, so if you’re looking for a friend to show you the ropes, I’m always, always around to do that, both in game as Haruko Mint, or on Twitter or Mastodon!

See you in Eorzea!

That’s all for now! Are you going to try out FFXIV? Let me know in the comments or on Mastodon @mint. And if you like my writing, consider donating to my Patreon or Ko-Fi!

"A true samurai needs no clothes." – Jin Sakai after too much sake

I played Ghost of Tsushima recently! And I finished it. I feel like enough has been said about this game that it doesn't really need a Thoughts On. One thing it does need, however, is to be seen. You can tell this is the case because I took over 150 pictures of Ghost of Tsushima using its incredible photo mode.

The result is this blog post. 109 pictures detailing the journey I took from beginning to end. You can scroll through it all here. And if you want the higher-res images, you can find them all on imgbb, linked here. Content warning for blood, and spoilers for the entire game below, so tread carefully and enjoy!

Hope you enjoyed! Did you play Ghost of Tsushima? Show me pics and et me know your thoughts @mint. And if you like my writing, consider donating to my Patreon or Ko-Fi!

They Exist, I Promise

This article was voted for on my Patreon!

Gacha games. The bane of anyone that considers games a hobby. It is impossible to count how many times a long-forgotten, beloved IP has been repurposed into a Gacha that lasts for a year and then dies off. Wild Arms, Valkyria Chronicles, Castlevania…you name it. Not to mention the predatory pricing practices and often stale gameplay. There are a million reasons to stay far, far away from Gacha games.

Which is why it’s kind of embarrassing to tell people that not only do I play gacha games, I enjoy them.

That’s right: I think gacha games are fun. Gasp! Egad! Before we get any further, I want to make it very clear: these games are absolutely not for everyone. If you’re the type that gambles easily, don’t touch these games with a ten-foot pole. However, if you can enjoy a very specific set of circumstances that I’m about to detail below, you might be able to find yourself enjoying a gacha game. Let’s find out, shall we?

This post is going to be more segmented than usual, because I have a lot of ground to cover, so strap in!

Why Do You Play Gachas, Mint?

Good question! A couple of reasons.

They’re Something to Do with my Hands

You can ask any friend that’s had to sit with me through a movie: I can’t sit still. I always need to be doing something, or I get anxious and annoyed. Gacha games fill that void. They’re on my phone, they can be played in short bursts, and there’s always something to do. On top of that, I can play them when I want to do something fun but am too busy to sit down for a long game session or something else.

They Can be a Fun Challenge

I have an anti-gambling personality, so I play Gachas F2P, ie I don’t spend a dime on them. That said, for me, it’s a fun personal challenge to see how much I can progress in a game to clear content with the free pulls I get. Running a dungeon with a 3 Star team in Dragalia, or doing extra hard bosses in Dissidia with unconventional teams (shout out to Aerith/Garnet/Y’shtola) is part of the appeal for me.

I am a Dumbass what Loves to Grind

What it says on the tin! Gacha games don’t have definitive endings that often. The genre’s entire existence predicates itself on adding layer after layer of power-creep, causing players to grind to get their characters stronger and stronger with each new update. There are a million subsystems devoted to upgrading in games like Dragalia Lost and Dissidia. For some people, that’s a huge turn-off! But I’m the type of person that leveled Sora up to 20 before getting off of Destiny Island. Leveling up is a passion seared into my blood, honed by years of playing JRPGs as a baby Mint. Getting the stats to clear new content is a dopamine rush.

Alright Then. You Mentioned Gacha Games Worth Playing?

Sure did! Gachas are known to be pretty garbage, low-quality trash, and for the most part, this is true. However, with some digging you can find some genuinely high-quality experiences in the genre. So let’s talk about them!

Dragalia Lost

My first gacha game, and it still holds a soft spot in my heart despite me not playing it as often as I used to. But it’s a great game! It’s very F2P, handing out tons and tons of currency for pulls. It has a fun action combat system, especially at higher levels of difficulty, extremely cute character designs, and a story that is actually really good! Well, barring Euden, who sucks ass. The game is published by Nintendo and the Treehouse provides the localization, so the writing is stellar. Also the whole thing is backed by a Daoko soundtrack, so it’s bops all the way through.

What sucks about it, then? Well for one, Co-Op is required for high-level content, so if you plan on sticking around, you might need to make friends. As a high-anxiety person, that’s hard for me, heh. On top of that, high level content is unforgiving — one hit can end a run, so if you’re looking for something a bit more relaxed, look elsewhere. Worst of all is the base-building, though. It’s a layer of power-gating that takes an eternity to get through, so if you’re hoping to get into the end-game quickly…well, that’s simply not happening.

Romancing Saga Re;Universe

What a name. You can tell it’s a Square Enix game, huh? Re;U came out about a month ago, and it’s already been a lot of fun, taking the spot as my portrait-mode game (yes, I have a game for each phone orientation. I am weird person, okay? Feel like we should all realize that by now). It’s Romancing Saga through-and-through, so if you’re one of the ten people who are fans of that series, you should skip all this and download it. You’re gonna enjoy yourself. Its pixel art is crisp as hell, and it has that same classical combat system and amazing music that you know and love from Saga. Unlike other gacha games, the turn-based system is much more engaging than usual, with strategy and formations all being important aspects of the game. It’s also very free-to-play and generous in its free currency giveaways, but even if you don’t pull any of the higher rarity characters, it frankly doesn’t matter: nearly every unit in Romancing Saga is viable, with some lower-rarity units being better than their high-rarity equivalents. There are entire guides dedicated to clearing the toughest combat in the game with low-rarity units only, so if you’re looking for a fair game, you’ve found it in Re;Universe.

Con-wise: It’s a Saga game, so the grind is intense, even for a gacha game. On top of that, if you like pulling for new characters instead of alternate variations of existing characters, you might not like this game’s Style (pun intended). Also, again, it’s a Saga game, so it’s just generally hard as hell, as Romancing Saga games are wont to be. Even then, the game is a blast, so you should check it out!

Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omina

This is the big one. Up to this point I have been talking about gacha games in the context of “Good, for a gacha game.” Dissidia is not one of those. It’s just a good game, well-crafted from start to finish. To start with, it’s the most F2P-friendly game on this list. This isn’t just because you get tons of free currency (although you do, I currently have enough to do 100 ten-pulls) — more important is the fact that characters are frequently buffed to prevent power creep. So you pulled Garnet’s weapon and it sucks now? A few months from now she’ll get a buff that makes her better than everyone else. It honestly flies in the face of how Gachas are meant to be developed, a treadmill for players to never get off so that they can keep spending. Beyond that, if you don’t care about doing anything other than story content, you don’t really need to pull at all: every single character is unlockable just by playing their side-story. It’s inconceivable!

The combat is fun too, with a unique Brave/HP Attack system modeled after the fighting game it gets its namesake from. Where other games are meant to be auto-battled for anything but the hardest content, DFFOO is a game that you always play consciously, which I personally consider a plus. There are lots and lots of potential strategies and team synergies you can play around with. And while there is some Co-Op content, it’s generally not too taxing, and people are more than happy to hard-carry you through difficult levels.

Then there’s the fan-service. If you’re a big Final Fantasy fan, this is the game for you. There about 1.2 billion characters you can use on your team, even from deep cuts like Crystal Chronicles. Music from each game shows up constantly as well. The plot is a little dry, but it’s made up for by the fantastic character interactions, some of which could only ever happen in a crossover game. Zack, Tidus and Seifer getting into a push-up competition, Ramza and Garnet talking about the impact war has on their kingdoms, and Payne and Squall getting into a “…” match are all genuinely entertaining moments if you’re familiar with the characters.

“Mint you’ve been salivating over this game for 384 words now, what are the cons?” Sorry, sorry, they do exist. For one, there is a lot to wrap your head around in this game at first. The EX+ system, summons, weapon passives, artifacts, character boards, etc. etc. are all kind of dumped on you at once, so if you don’t have the patience for that sort of thing, it might be safe to skip this one. As far as grind, the game isn’t too bad, except for Summon Boards, which can get to be a pain unless a summon event is going on. Probably worst of all is that the game is starting to show its age, with long loading times and sometimes disconnect errors.

I’ll be honest though, this is the game to play, in my humble opinion. I mentioned that I play these games F2P, but I recently bought a costume pack for Garnet. The game has given me so many hours of free entertainment at this point that it was starting to feel criminal. And the nice thing is that a costume is a sure thing, so I wasn’t paying for a pull in the game either. Long and short: play Dissidia Opera Omina!

And that’s it! Gacha Games! They can be good, sometimes! They won’t ever replace the appeal of a full-priced game with a definitive ending, but as a distraction on the bus, or a way to watch big numbers go up MMO-style, they’re alright!

That’s all for now! Do you play any gacha games? Let me know @mint. And if you like my writing, consider donating to my Patreon or Ko-Fi!

Nods

Full disclosure: I’m not done with CrossCode. I’m only 20 hours in. Yes, “only.” This game is shockingly huge, apparently almost 40-80 hours long depending on how much time you spend with it. But game-loops tend not to change drastically ten hours after a game starts, so I’m pretty confident in sharing my thoughts. All that said, let’s dive in!

I knew I was going to like CrossCode before I played it, if we’re being honest. The game immediately grabbed me with its pixel-y aesthetic and interesting premise. You play as Lea, a blue-haired girl that herself plays the titular MMO CrossCode in order to recover her memories. Like I said, I’m not finished with the game yet, so I don’t know if it ends well plot-wise, but I’ve loved what I’ve experienced so far. It takes a while for things to get going, but the pace is pleasant. I’ve always been fond of the .hack game-within-a-game concept, and the players Lea hangs out with talk about their lives outside of the time they spend playing together. The dialogue is snappy and Lea is a great character. Her voice in the game is bugged, so she has a very limited selection of words she can speak, but she has an array of sprites that let her be expressive, from shock to smugness, and it does more than enough to establish her character.

I mentioned above that you can figure out if a game-loop is right for you within 10 hours, but that doesn’t mean that CrossCode stops being interesting at that mark. Far from it. This is game is so hard to describe. It is, frankly, one-of-a-kind when it comes to Action-RPGs. It draws inspiration from everything from Zelda to Final Fantasy XIII to Golden Sun to Devil May Cry and even your favorite twin-stick shooter. It has a gigantic world to fight, platform, and puzzle your way through. And it wears its MMO flavor text on its sleeve, with tons of quests to do, materials to collect, and secrets to uncover. Lea’s class in CrossCode is a Sphereomancer, which allows her to launch spheres out of her hands that ricochet off of walls, and can be used to solve puzzles or attack enemies. On top of that, she has a dash that can be timed to phase through attacks, and a guard that, when timed perfectly, can negate damage, Royal Guard style. And on top of all that there’s a gigantic upgrade tree to parse through, and the edition of elements that change Lea’s moves and how she interacts with the environment. Fire balls can do everything from lighting up torches to turning puddles into steam, for example, and ice balls can freeze pillars of water so they can be jumped across. Each layer that gets added to CrossCode doesn’t feel overwhelming or convoluted — it just makes the whole experience more engaging. I haven’t felt bored once in the 20 hours I’ve played. It’s like a Super Nintendo game that came through a time portal from the past, but somehow has all of the quality of life and depth in mechanics we’ve come to expect in the past 30 years.

I will say: CrossCode has a lot of puzzles. Like, a lot of puzzles. You will finish one big puzzle room in a dungeon, enter the next room, and find yourself in front of another puzzle. I am older and tired than I was even a year ago (2020 has aged all of us), so I found myself looking up the solutions for these puzzles pretty often, but if you don’t like solving environmental puzzles, this game might not be the one for you. Enemies and boss battles also hit hard and can kill you quick, making for a challenging experience. Thankfully, the game includes options to decrease how much damage you take, and even how harsh the timing for puzzle execution has to be. We stan a game with accessibility options.

I do have a couple of gripes with CrossCode beyond all the puzzles, and they aren’t as much a matter of taste. For one, quests can be hard to keep track of. I had to look up locations for quests many times after ten minutes of searching, and I would even sometimes lose track of NPCs I had first accepted quests from, running around everywhere to find them just so I could turn the quests in. Most annoying, however, are the depth perception issues. Lea can jump from one area to the next just by running up to a platform she can reach, Zelda-style. A lot of time, especially in the overworld areas, it became impossible to figure out where Lea could and couldn’t reach with her jump because of the lack of definition and shadow in the game’s sprites. I’d often be solving a platforming puzzle just fine, only to find myself jumping towards an area I couldn’t actually reach and landing on the ground below and having to start all over again. This isn’t a deal-breaker by any means, and most of these puzzles are for optional chests and the like, but it’s definitely irksome.

CrossCode is a damn delight. It is aesthetically pleasing and engaging to play. I’ve loved basically every minute I’ve spent with the game so far, and I’m sure that will continue to be the case as I make my way to finishing it. Its port to consoles has been immaculate — I’m playing the PS4 version, and haven’t experienced a single bug so far. Sometimes, first impressions are correct: I knew in my gut CrossCode was going to be fantastic, and now that I’ve finally gotten my hands on it, I’m satisfied and then some.

That’s all for now! Are you picking up CrossCode? Played it already? Let me know in the comments or on Mastodon @mint. And if you like my writing, consider donating to my Patreon or Ko-Fi!

Arrest the Cops That Killed Breonna Taylor

Wow who put that sub-header in there? Weird. Anyways I’ve been in a bit of a slump in pretty much every aspect of my life, but I’m starting to rebound, as demonstrated by the fact that I’ve been posting on this blog again. So I figured I’d tell you about the games I’m playing nowadays. An honorable mention goes to Apex Legends. I put a bit of time into every day, but it’s a Battle Royal and there’s really not much more I can say about it beyond “Loba is very pretty,” which, while true, is not very interesting.

Shantae and the Seven Sirens

As a lover of all things cute I have been a Shantae fan for quite a while. The aesthetic has always been pretty pleasing to me and the gameplay loop has always been satisfying. Well, give or take. I loved Pirate’s Curse, but while I enjoyed Half-Genie Hero, I didn’t find it nearly as engaging.

Luckily Seven Sirens is as good as Pirate’s Curse — it might even be a little bit better? I’d have to replay it to compare. Regardless, the game fully embraces the Metroidvania qualities the series was already inching towards with previous entries, with a wide map to explore that expands ever further as you obtain new abilities to traverse environments. A big part in making the game feel smooth to play is how transformations are now assigned to buttons instead of dances. For example, tapping a shoulder button triggers a Newt Dash, where Shantae quickly shoots forward, letting her attach to walls or slip through gaps. This small change makes navigating areas a lot smoother. The addition of Monster Cards are fun as well. Equipping them adds modifiers to your move-set, or what drops you get after defeating enemies. They’re not game-changing or anything, but they’re fun to collect.

My biggest con when it came to Seven Sirens is that it was shorter than I would have liked. That’s a pretty good problem to have, all things considered, and I hope Bozon and Co. go all out and making a gigantic adventure with the systems and assets they’ve built out since working on Half-Genie Hero.

Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling

I’m not too far into Bug Fables but I’ve gotten pretty good at knowing if I’ll enjoy a game early into playing. I know I am going to enjoy Bug Fables. In fact, I already am! It is a very cute Paper Mario-esque game, but honestly calling it a clone does it quite the disservice. It does its own unique thing, from the plot to the combat.

Especially the combat. You quickly get your full party of Vi, Kabbu and Leif in the first chapter of the game, and their differences are what make the combat so interesting. The order your characters are lined up in the overworld before you enter a battle has a big effect on the strategies you’ll implement when fighting enemies. Vi can hit airborne enemies, Kabbu can hit armored and spiked enemies, and Leif can freeze them with their magic. If you enter a room with a bunch of spiked enemies, for example, you’ll want Kabbu to be up front, as he’ll be able to act first to do damage to them. There’s also a Turn Relay system, where one character can pass their turn off to another so that they can attack two or three times, at the cost of each subsequent action doing less damage than the last. So if there are two flying enemies for example, Kabbu and Leif can pass their turns to Vi, letting her knock them down to earth. It’s not a complicated system of combat, but it’s very engaging and makes each fight interesting, which is exactly what I look for in RPGs that can last upwards of 25+ hours.

Beyond all that, Bug Fables is just super cute. The idea of a tiny bug world of adventurers is fresh and fun to experience, and the way it permeates the environmental design, with bugs living in overturned cups or fighting off giant spiders, makes exploring a blast. The dynamic between Vi the goblin child, Kabbu the positive mentor and Leif the sarcastic clown is also sublime. There are hints of an interesting, probably emotional story in Bug Fables, and I’m hopeful it’ll land the mark by the time I’m done with it.

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition

I own three copies of Xenoblade Chronicles, but the Switch version feels like the first time I’m actually playing it. The Wii version was held back by the game’s controls and SD visuals, and the 3DS version, while a technical marvel, was a poor fit for the game’s sweeping vistas. XC:DE is a culmination of everything that’s come before in the game, with a beautiful visual overhaul that makes everything look amazing on a wide-screen TV — although I will still defend the game’s original character models, sorry.

More importantly, the Switch version of Xenoblade offers numerous quality of life enhancements that I find are far more important in making the game a fun, playable experience. For starters, exclamation marks appear on Artes that you use in battle when they will be most useful, such as standing behind an enemy when using Back Slash. The Equipment menu is infinitely more bearable to navigate, which includes a glamour system that lets you change the look of your armor without affecting its stats. Best of all, the game has a completely revamped quest system, including quest markers for items that you’ll need to find on the map. There are still way, way, way, like way too many side-quests, but at least they’re easier to complete now.

All that said, if you tried to get into Xenoblade before this and couldn’t, this might be the version to fully rope you in. I still feel like the game is too much of a “I swear the game gets good at the 30 hour mark” situation, but the ride to the interesting stuff is now a lot smoother than ever before.

That’s all for now! What are you playing as of late? Let me know in the comments or on Mastodon @mint. And if you like my writing, consider donating to my Patreon or Ko-Fi!

I Swear I’m Qualified For This

(Thank you to @PocketGhosts for the art!)

There are very few things that I feel like I’m good at. Yes, that includes writing, despite it being my main form of creativity. That said, within the broad canvas of writing as a skill there is one thing that I would consider myself pretty alright at, and that’s Dialogue and Voice. So here’s some tips on them!

Dialogue

It’s real easy to think that writing dialogue in a story just requires you to write people the way they talk in real life. This is actually not a good process to writing strong dialogue, and that’s because listening to someone talk versus reading what they’re saying has two very different energies. You don’t want to mimic human speech too closely, because human speech is messy. People “um” and “ah.” They talk over each other, and reiterate the same points multiple times. They are, oftentimes, incomprehensible when they speak.

Most importantly, we are not in fantasy or sci-fi universes where we are protagonists of a story — at least, as far as I’m aware. Dialogue in storytelling generally needs structure. It needs to either address the plot, or add characterization, either to the character speaking, the character or characters being spoken to, or the world the characters inhabit. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t mimic the way people talk at all — that’s where “Voice” comes in, and we’ll be getting to that.

So how do you write good dialogue? “Practice,” is obvious, isn’t it? So is “read more.” I’ll try and give you advice that’s a bit more practical. When you’re about to write a scene of dialogue, think about what will be talked about, and why it’s being discussed before you start. How will the conversation start, and how will it end?

For example, here’s a quick scene between my characters Asha and Toni, after studying together.

It seems like it’s just small talk that leads into a transition to another scene, but I went into it wanting to set up a few things.

1. Toni is a hard worker. This is an aspect of characterization that will matter going further into the story.
2. Asha is nervous about Toni meeting Venus. This serves to explain Asha’s feelings about both characters, and what Venus is like as a person. If I want it to be, it can serve as foreshadowing for a potential disastrous meeting between Toni and Venus in the future.
3. Asha has a crush on Toni. This is because she’s gay.

There’s a start and end to the conversation, and it comes together with a “why.” Even minor pre-planning can help you write dialogue that’s snappy and concise.

Another strategy I use is to make sure that dialogue doesn’t  turn into “talking head syndrome.” THS is what happens when two characters

“Have a conversation.”

“Like this.”

“Do you see what I’m saying?”

“It’s a back and forth.”

The problem with this is that it becomes extremely stale to read for long periods of time. You want to break your dialogue up with actions that the characters take as they talk, or thoughts that the characters might have as the conversation goes on. These are stop-gaps that help the conversation become more readable, and breath life into the characters as well. Here’s another sample I’ve written that takes advantage of this strategy.

You can see that this is technically a back and forth between a series of characters, but there are punctuations of action that improve the flow that comes with reading the conversation.

This isn’t to say that rapid-fire dialogue doesn’t always work. You just want to make sure you’re using it properly. It can be very useful, for example, when a tense conversation is happening, or when two characters are fighting. The back-and-forth there can add impact to your writing.

Voice

So you know how to write a scene of dialogue. But how do you make your characters not all sound alike? This can actually be really difficult to pull off, even for me, when I’ve been writing for a while. If you’re not character, your characters will stop having their own voices and start sounding like you, the author. Or they’ll all start sounding like your protagonist, even!

To offset this, it comes down to making a character with a strong sense of…well, character! The more time you take to flesh out your characters, the easier it will be to take on their voice when you need to. Come up with their backstory in detail. Hell, interview them yourself until you find a voice you like! It can feel weird to do, but it can really help in the long run. Voice is where a character’s “human side” comes to life. Think of their personality and how that would effect the way they enter a conversation — or if they’d start a conversation at all.

Now, for one extremely weird tip: I act out my scenes in my room sometimes, complete with the actions I want to write them doing as they talk. I play each character, speaking their scenes aloud like a miniature movie. Again, it’s strange to hear, but doing it in person it can actually be really helpful to make sure you don’t lose your characters’ Voices as you write a scene out.

And that’s the advice I’ve got! I thought it’d be cool to write more semi-casual pieces that talk about my writing process. If you liked this let me know! I will try writing more.

If you like any of the stuff I write, please consider hitting up my Patreon or Ko-Fi. Thanks!

Oh hey look I can still write.

"Are you ready, Ramlah?"

I brushed the sand out of my light-blue hair.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

It was a particularly windy day in Cairo, which was a bit weird, but I would soon find out that everything about today was going to be pretty weird. I was posted up on top of a Pizza Hut —  ugh, tourists —  looking at my target across the street.

"You're sure this is the place?" I asked. Ahmed crackled through to my earpiece.

"I'm sorry, do you know of a different Pyramids of Giza that I haven't heard about? Yes, I'm sure this is the place. Specifically, it's one of the Pyramids of Queens, G1-b, if our client's information is correct."

I snorted. "Which you can't confirm."

"Don't take that tone with me! ...But yeah, no, I can't. I tried everything! Tracing our calls, getting some kind of address. Nothing. She may as well be a djinn."

"Maybe she is," I said, wiggling my fingers. There was silence on the other end of the line for a few moments. Finally Ahmed spoke.

"Anyways—"

"Hey, don't sandbag me—"

"Anyways, I know you barely skimmed the the mission brief, so I'm just gonna go over it again."

"Fiiiine."

"Our client is looking to get her hands on an AI that's hidden in an experimental research center of unknown origin. It is supposedly hiding under the Pyramids, but my initial scans didn't find anything, so you're going to have to find out where and how to get in."

I clicked my tongue in understanding, watching the sun set behind the Pyramids. Tourists below me were trying to find taxis home, and my people were beginning to close shop. Before I became a Phantom Thief, this would be the prime time to scam some shmuck out of his Pounds looking for a doo-dad to take back to his kids. Wasn't really in the cards for me anymore.

"The client didn't give us any specifics about how to steal the AI out of there, but that shouldn't be a problem with my Persona."

"I knew we kept you around for a reason, buddy!"

"Ugh. Just get going."

"You know I love our talks, Ahmed."

"Go."

I rose from my perch and stretched out, before gracefully leaping off the Pizza Hut's roof. I landed neatly, barely making a sound, and startling the boys that were playing soccer in the alleyway below me. I made my way out, barely looking on either side before crossing the street. No one was going to stop for me anyways.

"We don't know what kind of security you're gonna see in there, so be careful."

"I'm always careful," I said. I went into a light jog, then dropped flat, sliding under a gap in the fence that separated the Pyramids from the rest of Cairo. I had snuck in so many times to sell ice cream to tourists that it was second nature to me.

Security on the Pyramids wasn't exactly tight nowadays. The government had grown complacent in protecting it. Once, when I was younger, I was able to get close enough to climb onto the Sphinx if I wanted to, the only thing stopping me the earful I would get if my parents found out. Getting to G1-b was going to be the easy part.

It was now completely dark out, the heat quickly turning to cold that threatened to pierce through my light jacket. It was hard to see, but subsequently it was hard to see me. I grabbed a broken off piece of roofing from a construction place nearby, and slid down the desert hills, barely suppressing my urge to shout in excitement.

The Pyramids of Queens weren't nearly as popular as something like the Pyramid of Khufu, so security was light. I took a deep breath, then snapped my fingers.

A brief flash of light engulfed me, and then I was in my Phantom Thief garb. I felt the warmth of my mask, modeled after Bastet, as it settled on my face.

"What was that?"

Ah crap.

A guard noticed my transformation. I could see his flashlight pierce through the darkness, getting ever closer to where I was standing. No time to waste. I leapt out of the sand, three times higher and twice as fast as a human should be able to. I landed up on the stones of G1-b.

The guard made it to where I was standing seconds ago. He scratched his head.

"Huh. Guess it was nothing."

"Hey Mahmoud! Get over here, this poker match isn't over and I'm not done kicking your ass!"

The guard muttered a curse under his breath, before turning on his heel and back to his post.

"Always careful, huh?" Ahmed said over our comms, voice dry.

"Shut up."

I made a small prayer of forgiveness to the historians that would strangle me if they saw me sitting on the pyramid, then jumped off of it. I stared intently at the stones in front of me.

"What are you doing?" Ahmed asked.

"You told me I needed to find a way in, didn't you? I'm finding a way in."

"You're gonna stare your way into finding a secret laboratory that no one's ever heard of?"

I pushed the boy's taunting out of my mind, pursing my lips as I paced back and forth.

"You're going to leave footprints."

"Footprints that the wind will turn over in an hour's time. Remember that I've lived here longer than you have, Ahmed. In fact, it just so happens I was born here."

"As you so love to remind me every thirty seconds."

"I have country pride, okay?"

"You have pride in that football team?"

Before I could describe the terrible things I was going to do to Ahmed when I got back to HQ, I felt a rush of wind behind me. I turned to see my Persona, Ma'at, floating behind me. A year ago this would have scared the hell out of me, but I had gotten used to it. The goddess was her own being, not tethered to me like any of my friends' Personas. Rather, it seemed she simply chose to be by my side. Sometimes I wondered if she was even manifested by me.

The woman smiled, gliding past me in all her glory. I always marveled at her multicolored wings whenever she appeared. She stopped in front of the pyramid, then spread her arms wide.

There was a quiet rumble for a moment. Then, to my surprise, the stone in front of us lowered, getting swallowed up by the sand. When it was finally submerged, what was left looked like a stairway that led deeper beneath G1-b.

Ma'at turned back to me, gesturing towards the stairway. For once, I was at a loss for words.

"T-thanks," I said.

She smiled, before fading away, the glittering light she left behind returning to my mask.

"At least we have one competent person to count on during this Op," Ahmed said.

As soon as I stepped through the gap in the pyramid, I heard another rumble, and turned to see the stone that let me in rise back out of the sand, now locking me out.

"Whelp. Gonna need a new escape route when I locate the target," I said, pulling out my flashlight and beginning my decent.

"When you get to the lab, look for a map. I'll do the rest," Ahmed said.

I walked for what felt like hours, happy that I wasn't claustrophobic. My flashlight was flimsy and dim, more suited for finding a phone under the bed then exploring the depths of a pyramid. I smacked it a few times as it flickered, threatening to extinguish for good, and made a mental note to ask Yalina to procure us some new gear. Finally I felt the ground level out, and found a metal doorway standing in front of me.

"Bingo."

Only one problem. There wasn't a door handle. The thing was dead-bolted four times over, and it was thick enough to take a grenade blast and not get so much as a dent. I put a hand to my chin.

"Ahmed, you're up."

"Hell yeah! Thoth, let's do this."

My headset crackled with red energy, a tell-tale sign that Thoth was at work. Ahmed's Persona was able to interface with technology of any kind, and could hack it in an instance. A perfect companion for the guy behind the computer, so to speak.

The energy shot from my headset and towards the door in front of me. A second later, and the bolts quietly unlocked, the door sliding open. Light poured through from the other side, nearly blinding me.

"No thanks needed," Ahmed said. I could picture his smug face on the other end of the line.

"Your Persona did all the work," I said, shrugging.

"So did yours!"

"Eh, touché."

I stepped through the door, and felt the dirt and sand under my feet turn into stone tile. The walls on either side of me hummed with electricity, lines etched into them pulsing with blue energy. The hallway I found myself in stretched out in front of me, another door barring the way. This was definitely the place. Every aspect of it looked like something out of the sci-fi novels my cousins would always try to get me into. I was grateful I was wearing a jacket — the combination of being underground, and the metal all around me, was extremely cold.

I felt heat radiate off of my mask. The walls in front of me began to shift, expanding outward. They folded outwards, into the size of a football field. Stairways appeared, leading nowhere, and halls led to doors that may or may not have had rooms. It was like an Escher painting, if said paintings had a sea of wires and circuitry outlining every aspect of them.

"This is..." Ahmed whispered.

"The Reversal," I finished. I thought this would be a standard operation, but like I said, weird day. At least it explained how this place was hidden under the Pyramids with no one finding out.

"That means our client knows about the Reversal too, then," Ahmed said as I unsheathed my khopesh from my belt. I hummed in agreement.

"It certainly makes things more interesting."

"I guess that's one way to put it...well, that doesn't change the mission. Just be on the lookout for Reversed."

"Right."

I made my way forward, crossing the hallways that seemed to lead somewhere, although I constantly found myself hitting walls and having to turn around.

"Don't suppose you could help with that map, Navigator?" I asked Ahmed.

"The Reversal makes this a bit more complicated. I'm building it as you go, but it's going to take longer than an instant scan."

"I figured. By the way..."

I took a quick glance above me, noticing the polls above me that extended from nothing, hanging suspended in the air. At the end of them were small black orbs, looking not unlike the security cameras you'd see at a mall.

"I get the feeling we're being watched."

"You noticed too." I heard the tell-tale click-clack of Ahmed's fingers hitting his keyboard.

"Thoth's gotten ahead of me a bit. Take a left here and you should be able to move forward."

I followed the boy's instructions, finding another small room with a door on the other end of it. Before I could move forward, I noticed the space in front of me vibrate.

Reversed.

A gap opened in space, and out of it dropped three monsters. They were large, human-like, but with the heads of jackals. They each carried a large axe. I flipped my sword in dismissiveness.

"Really? Anubis rip-offs? He wasn't that bad. This is the tourists' influence, isn't it."

"Focus, Ramlah!"

One of the monsters swung. I leapt over it, bouncing off of its back before slashing it with my khopesh from behind. It turned into a puff of dust. I landed in a roll, before diving out of the way of another axe swing.

I bounced back a few steps, before ripping off my mask.

"Ma'at!"

The woman appeared again, but the gentleness was gone. I felt the heat emanating off of her as she came to life behind me, before shooting forward, using her wings to engulf one of the beasts in a sea  of flames. The last Reversed was lumbering towards me, but it wasn't going to get very far. I drew the throwing spear I carried on my back, winded up, and threw. My aim was true, the spear piercing the monster and carrying it all the way to the wall behind it.

"Good work," Ahmed said. I walked to the spear, yanking it out of the wall and untangling it from the wires it was embedded in.

"Pure praise? From you? You feeling alright?"

"Maybe I don't complement you because you're an ass about it."

"Probably."

I turned to see Ma'at float towards me, a look of worry on her face. She gestured towards the door we came through. If she was nervous, it was definitely something we needed to check on.

"Hey Ahmed," I said, holding a finger to my earpiece.  "Can you get access to one of the cameras from the hallway we just came through?"

"Yup." A beat of silence.

"Uh-oh."

"'Uh-oh?'" I repeated. "What do you mean, 'uh-oh?'"

"You know those things you just fought? There's like, thirty more of them coming your way right now."

"Uh-oh."

I looked around me, my mind working on overdrive. There was nothing to bar the door with and slow them down. Which meant this was now a race.

"Alright, well, your time to shine, Ahmed," I said, making a break for the door that led away from the incoming reinforcements. "We're on a bit of a time crunch now."

"Way ahead of you. Just follow my instructions."

I fled through the halls that Ahmed directed me through. Despite feeling completely directionless, there was a shift in the environment as I ran. I could feel that I was getting deeper into the facility. The bright white and blue that surrounded me slowly seeped away, replaced with grey, and then black walls. The blinking lights  shifted into a dark yellow. Screens started to appear on either side of me as I ran. I had no time to examine them, but the scrawlings on them were in no language I knew of, English or Arabic. They looked instead like runes of some kind, not of this world.

A Reversed burst through a door on my right, nearly clipping me. I tripped and stumbled, but Ma'at appeared, blasting it with a burst of fire before it attack me while I was down.

"Thanks," I said as she helped me up.

"They're trying to cut you off. I think they know what we're here for."

"Figures," I said, brushing myself off before breaking into a sprint. "We'll just have to be fast."

I could feel rumbling under my feet as I ran, trying not to imagine the scores of beasts that were right on our heels. Ahmed's sudden shout nearly made me jump out of my skin.

"There!"

A door was in front of us, this one marked distinctly with an upside down triangle that was surrounded by a circle and glowed gold.

"I already unlocked it, you're clear!"

The door slid open, revealing a dark room inside. I mustered the last of my strength to dash through it. I saw a large stone...something to my left, but it was too dark to recognize. Regardless, I pushed at it with all my might, Ma'at helping me, until it crashed in front of the door. That would hold them off for at least a moment, hopefully.

"Let me get the lights," Ahmed said.

I took a moment to catch my breath, before stopping to gather my bearings as the room became bathed with fluorescent light. I found myself in a giant, circular room. It looked almost like a college lecture hall, but the seats were replaced with a myriad of statues, displaying various gods from the Egyptian pantheon. Glowing gold lines were scattered across the ground, but all pointed to the center of the room, where a small cube could be seen hovering in encased glass.

"Target in sight," I said, taking the steps down to the box. I tapped the glass, before putting a finger on my chin.

"How are we going to get it out of there, though?" I asked.

"There's a pin-pad at the bottom of the case. The password is 2015."

"Oh, thanks Ahmed."

"That...wasn't me."

I drew my khopesh, looking about me as my pulse quickened. "Who's there?" I shouted.

"In here."

I realized the voice was coming from in front of me. I leaned in towards the floating cube.

"Are you...the AI?" I asked, eyebrows raised.

"Quick on the uptake," the box said.

"Wait a second. That voice!" Ahmed said. "I recognize it. That's the client's voice!"

What the heck?

"I'm sure you have some questions."

"That's understating it, lady," I said, crossing my arms.

"Regardless, I'd prefer if I could answer them outside of this box. We're on a bit of a timetable here, you see."

"...Fair," I said, crouching down to input the key into the pin-pad.

"You're just gonna open that thing up?" Ahmed asked, voice tinged with worry. I shrugged.

"This doesn't change the mission, right? We were told to steal an AI. We're stealing an AI. Except now I guess it's more of a breakout than a theft."

"True enough."

I could hear the Reversed banging on the door we blocked off behind us.

"Now's not the time to argue over this anyways."

Hitting the enter key, the glass case opened outwards, leaving the AI cube up for grabs. I swiped it, dropping it into my pocket for safe-keeping.

"Hey, careful!" the client shouted. "The next step won't work if you dent me now!"

"Next step?" I asked, keeping an eye on the door. The banging was getting louder. Ma'at appeared next to me, anxious about the fight we were about to get into — and probably wouldn't survive.

"Yes, next step! Go up the steps on the north side of this room. You'll find a panel on the statue sitting at the top. I'll give you the password."

I hopped up the steps as directed, finding myself in front of a statue of the goddess Hathor. There was a panel right below its feet, just as the AI said. I typed the password she gave me, trying to not let my fingers shake as I did so.

"Quickly..." Ahmed said. I resisted the urge to snap at him. I tapped my submission, and the statue moved away from me, melting into the wall. Out of the ground came...well, one of the most fascinating things I'd ever seen.

It was a girl. She looked to be my age, with jet black, shoulder-length hair, and wearing a black and white dress that went down to her knees. Her waist was wrapped in a leather belt, and I could see ribbons trailing out from behind her. She had ball-joints, like those of a doll. She looked to be sleeping, eyes closed as she lay suspended in a glass case not unlike the one the AI was in moments ago.

"This day just keeps getting weirder," Ahmed said.

"Finally...I've waited so long," the client whispered from my pocket. Now, could you please press me against the glass? Then the process will be complete."

"O...kay..." I said. I pushed the cube into the glass, and to my surprise, it phased through it without issue. It floated towards the girl's neck, where a small compartment opened up just below her collarbone. The cube settled inside, and I heard a series of whrrs and clicks. And then...

Nothing.

"Uh, was something supposed to happen there?" Ahmed asked. I checked the panel under the girl. The screen simply said "initializing."

"We're going to have to wait," I said.

"We don't really have time for that!"

"I'm well aware, Ahmed," I replied, drawing my khopesh as the door was finally blown open by the Reversed. They tried to swarm the room, but Ma'at was already at the entrance, leaving long trails of flame to block off their approach. Two of the beasts slipped through the fire, and I was able to quickly dispatch them with my blade, but they were immediately replaced by two more. I was able to destroy one, but the other Reversed caught me with a kick square in the gut, knocking me into one of the nearby statues.

"Ramlah!"

"I'm fine," I said. I spit blood, the color clashing harshly with the black tile below me.  "Just getting started. Keep an eye on the client."

I drew my spear and held it in my other hand. The Reversed came with reinforcements, three more beasts added to the fray. Ma'at was doing her best to hold the mass at bay, but I knew we'd be overwhelmed soon. I pointed my spear outwards.

"I've had a flawless track record in this line of work!" I shouted. "And to be frank, I really enjoy it. If you think you're gonna ruin that streak, you have another thing coming. Now whose getting their ass beat first?"

The Reversed stared at me, emotionless. No appreciation for dramatics. A tragedy.

"Fine then. You," I said, pointing at the nearest beast. I threw my spear into its head. Before its buddies could react, I was rushing forward, pulling the spear out and stabbing the next enemy. One of them swung its axe, but I had speed on my side, parrying the handle and slashing my khopesh clean through the beast's torso.

There was only so much I could do in a moment. The last Reversed swung its axe, and I was just barely able to block the blow with my sword. It shot out of my hand, the vibration from our clash numbing my arms. I retreated back to top of the room, the guard advancing on me in turn.

"Guess this is it..."

"Hold on, I'm trying to find an alternate route!" Ahmed said, frantically working on the other end of the comm link. I shook my head, calling Ma'at to me.

"You did your best, bud. We had a good run."

"Don't say that!" Ahmed said. His shouts receded from my mind as Ma'at looked at me, sadness  — and perhaps, pride? — etched on her face. The jackals swarmed into the room. There was nowhere else for us to run.

"Could you please duck for me?"

It was the client. Before I could respond, Ma'at knocked me to the ground, covering me with outstretched wings. I heard the sound of gears, followed by a low bass that I could feel all the way to my chest. There was a flash of light, and then...

Silence.

Ma'at picked me up from the ground. In front of us was the girl, her hand outstretched — except, where a hand should be, there was instead a canon, glowing with gold energy. There wasn't a single jackal in the room: they had all been turned to dust.

The girl shook her arm, and it reformed, snapping back into a human hand. She turned to me, beaming, and curtsied.

"Thank you for your assistance," she said. Her eyes were a piercing gold, the same color as the energy that coursed through her. It wasn't exactly pertinent to the moment, but all I could think about was how pretty she was.

"Y-you're welcome," I replied. "Who are you?"

The girl gave me a thoughtful tilt and frowned, before smiling again.

"You may call me Hathor," she said.

"Alright. Hathor."

When I said the girl's name, she rushed over to me. Before I could react, she swept me up into a hug, spinning me around the room.

"Yes! It feels wonderful to have a name, to hear it be said aloud by someone else. And to be free! Thank you so much!"

"No problem," I said after the girl put me down. I was dizzy, and my chest was on fire, but I wasn't sure if it was the spinning that was making me feel that way.

"You're alive!" I had forgotten Ahmed was still there. "Thank god. I really didn't want to find someone else to play Shadowverse with."

"Silence, clown. You can't quip me right now. You were sobbing thirty seconds ago."

"On second thought, I hope the jackals take you."

Another Reversed burst into the room. I readied my khopesh, but Hathor was ahead of me by a long shot. Compartments opened on either side of her legs, letting her burst forward on what looked like miniature rockets. She snatched the axe from the jackal, using the momentum of her engines to cut its head off in one clean sweep.

"Hey, Ramlah. Ramlah! You there?"

"I think I'm in love," I said as I stared at the girl, eyes wide.

"That's great, but do you mind being in love above ground?"

I shook my head.

"Right. Hathor, my mission's not technically complete until we get you out of here. Are you ready to go?"

The girl skipped over to me, hanging the axe over her shoulder.

"Yes! I know a way out. Let us go!"

"Whoa—!"

Hathor swooped me off my feet, carrying me princess-style. I couldn't believe it was happening, covering my face with my hands and hoping the girl wouldn't notice the heat rising to my cheeks.

"Ramlah, are you in need of first-aid? My sensors indicate that your heart-rate is rapidly increasing."

"No, I'm fine..." I muttered. "Just get us out of here."

"Onwards!"

Hathor shot out of the door, running faster than any human could, even if they were a Phantom Thief. We blasted through hallways, sometimes even barreling through jackals. The AI wasn't going to stop for anyone after obtaining her newfound freedom. I had to close my eyes from the dizzying speed of it all, unconsciously tucking myself towards the robot's chest.

Finally Hathor stopped, and I — somewhat regrettably — was let back onto solid ground. We were in a hanger bay of some sort, different in looks than anything else we had seen so far. It was a gigantic space, stretching out at least two or three football fields wide. There was a series of bridges that shot out into the center of the bay, suspended over a yawning pit of blackness that I couldn't see the bottom of.

"We'll take a personalized aircraft to escape!" Hathor said, skipping towards the nearest bridge. I followed after her, sword drawn in case of an ambush. I had to will myself not to look down as we reached the end of the bridge, where a floating vehicle waited for us. It was similar to a motorcycle, but bulkier, and shaped like the crescent rolls my mom would make during Ramadan. Two engines on its bottom kept it afloat in the air. Hathor hopped onto the airbike, reaching a hand out to me.

"Let's go!" She said, giving me another gigawatt smile. I gulped.

"R-right..."

I took the girl's hand, and she pulled me to sit behind her. I was close enough to realize that her hair smelled like bakhoor, and it reminded me of home. I was a little light-headed. Why did she smell so good?

"Keep it together, Ramlah," Ahmed said, somehow knowing exactly what I was thinking. Oh god. He was going to give me so much crap when we got back to HQ.

"Give me a second to interface with the system, and then we'll be on our way!"

I looked behind us. A swarm of Reversed were coming our way.

"I don't think we have a second," I said.

Hathor gave me a hand. Literally. She handed me her detached left hand.

"Press the little green button on the bottom of the palm!" she said with the cheerfulness someone would have if they were teaching you how to fold a paper airplane. I followed her instruction, and the hand reconfigured itself into a small cannon. A hand-cannon. Heh.

"The red button fires!"

"Hell yeah, you don't gotta tell me twice," I said, whirling on our pursuers. I pulled the trigger, and a burst of energy shot out of the canon, taking out at least five of the monsters.

"Hathor, you are literally the most amazing girl I've ever met."

I slammed on the trigger as if I were mashing buttons in a fighting game. A string of blasts decimated the area behind us, leaving huge chunks in the wall. However the sea of monsters that I destroyed were quickly replaced by more, bearing down on us.

"Let's go!"

Hathor slammed her foot on the peddle, and the airbike shot into the sky, almost leaving my stomach behind. I whooped in excitement, grabbing the girl's waist with one arm and continuing to fire at the monsters behind us with the other, out of enjoyment more than anything else.

"Ramlah, could you please destroy the ceiling ahead of us?"

I turned ahead to see the metal rushing towards us.

"Ack!"

I swung around, using Hathor's shoulder as a support as I fired multiple blasts into the wall. It crumbled a second before we shot through it. There was a second where we surrounded by darkness, and then we were home-free, shooting out of a sandy hill and into the desert skies.

I whooped again, pumping my fist.

"Mission complete!" I shouted. "We did it, Hathor! ...Hathor?"

The girl was looking out at the night sky, her golden eyes wide. Free from the pollution of Cairo, we were able to see a sea of stars that twinkled at us, as if welcoming us back from the underground.

"It's beautiful," she whispered. It took all of my willpower not to say the same of her. Instead I leaned back on the bike, trying to actually be cool for once.

"So, Ms. Client: what's next? Now that you're free. Got any plans?"

Hathor tilted her head as she thought carefully.

"I want to see...everything!" she finally said, turning to beam at me again. I wasn't used to being smiled at so much, but I wasn't remiss to having it happen more.

"That's not much to work off of, but...why don't you just hang with us?" I offered. "I—uh, we can show you around Cairo, at least. And then we'll play it by ear."

"I'd like that very much, Ramlah," the girl replied. As we smiled at each other over the Western Desert's horizon, I heard a crackling in my ear.

"Hey, what's your statu—"

I pulled the comm link out of my ear, shoving it into my pocket.

If you like any of the stuff I write, please consider hitting up my Patreon or Ko-Fi. Thanks!

(Can)’t Escape From Crossing Fate

THE FOLLOWING INCLUDES SPOILERS ON THE ENDING OF THE FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE AND EVENTS FROM THE ORIGINAL FF7. DO NOT SCROLL PAST THE CHOCOBO IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED ON THE ENDING OF FFVIIR. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

ONE LAST WARNING, I’M SERIOUS!

There are going to be a lot of thoughts and feelings on the ending of the Final Fantasy VII Remake as more and more people finish it. What was thought to be a series that would play the events of the original straight ends with the understanding that everything has the potential to be different moving forward. “The Unknown Journey Will Continue.”

In the words of The Hitchhiker’s Guide, “this was considered by many to be a bad move.” A lot of people are not happy with this ending, with some fans saying that it completely ruined the experience of the remake for them. I am not one of those people.

First, though, a brief synopsis on the ending of FF7R. As you play through the game, you start to notice some things. The most unsubtle are the Whispers, the ghosts that push the events of the story forward to match the original FF7. They stop Aerith from falling to her death in the church. Prevent Barret’s death when he gets kebobed by Sephiroth, and generally keep things just as they were in the glorious Playstation 1 days. The second thing you notice is that Cloud is having premonitions. The first thing he sees when he meets Aerith is her death during the Reunion. And Aerith seems to constantly know more then she’s meant to. She constantly makes comments on fate. She knows who Marlene is despite never having met her. And when Marlene and Red XIII make contact with her, they seem to understand something that we, the viewers, do not.

By the end of the chase out of Midgar, things really start to get turned on their head. Sephiroth shows up on the highway and spouts a bunch of nonsense. Then Aerith basically breaks kayfabe and tells everyone that their fates are being dictated by the Whispers, but that fate can be changed. Cloud and Co. square up and enter the portal Sephy walks through, then fight the Whispers. There’s a big one called the Whisper Harbinger, along with its three smaller Whispers: Rubrum, Viridi, and Croceo. They wield a sword, gun, and fist weapons, and if assessed, are described as “entities from a future timeline that have manifested in the present day. They fight to protect the future that gave shape to them.” My working theory is that these Whispers are the manifestations of Cloud , Barret and Tifa from the original timeline, trying to keep destiny on track. However, they are defeated — after Cloud calls one of the Whispers a bitch, no less — and destiny is basically unhinged. We can see that this has an effect on other timelines as well: Zack lives in his formerly-last-stand against Shinra, and Biggs (along with possibly Jessie, with her gloves on the table next to him) is alive as well. The game is called Final Fantasy VII Remake because the characters are remaking their futures into something different. There’s no “Part 1” in the name because everything changes from here on out. Classic Square Enix.

It’s wild! Sephiroth seems to know that his plan in the original game has failed, which implies some sort of time-travel. Aerith has the potential to live when she casts Holy. The only thing we know is that we don’t know anything about what could happen next. A lot of people have decried this is as a bastardization of the original Final Fantasy VII, a slap in the face of the fans that have played those games and wanted a repeat in HD.

I’m excited. I haven’t felt this kind of excitement about a narrative’s potential since the secret video in the originalKingdom Hearts. The original FF7 will always be there. But much like the Rebuild series of Neon Genesis Evangalion, this remake is a chance at something familiar but new.

Everything has changed since FF7 released 23 years ago. The world has changed. The creators have changed. We as people have changed. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with these directors, who are now different people, wanting to do something different with the story they originally told, or to say something new as their lives have changed. I know I as a creator have felt differently about the world and the stories I want to tell, even in comparison to a year ago, let alone two full decades.

Beyond that, a key critique I’ve seen of this remake’s ending is that it lessens the impact of the original’s story. “If the future can be changed, if Aerith’s death can be prevented, if Zack is allowed to live, then the story is lesser for it.” This is a perfectly valid feeling to have. I’m of a different mind, however.

In the year 2020, everything kind of sucks right now. A virus is ruining everything for everyone, and we’re in the midst of another economic collapse. I got laid off from my job, after getting laid off from a different job last October. I’ve felt more than a little helpless given the current state of affairs. It has truly felt like things aren’t able to improve for me and the people I care about, and at times has felt like this is just. How things are supposed to be.

“Defying fate,” can be a cheesy narrative device, especially in games and anime, but I carry a Gurren Lagann necklace around for a reason. The reality is that now, more than ever, I want to believe that a future that seems so thoroughly set in stone can be changed. That we can prevent terrible things from happening and create something brighter. I don’t know if that will be the position FF7R:2 — or whatever it ends up being called — ultimately takes. But wow do I want that to be the case. Sue me! I want Aerith to live. I want Zack to be alright. I want us all to be alright, and I want to believe that we can make that happen real badly.

We have no idea where the next Remake game is going to take us. Things could play out mostly the same, but with slight changes. Things could be entirely different. All I know is that just like the first time I played Final Fantasy 7, I’m going to do everything I can to try and save Aerith all over again. And beyond that, I’m going to do everything I can to help the people around me improve their lives in these extremely turbulent times. I needed a reminder that things can change for the better, and the ending of Final Fantasy VII: Remake gave me exactly that.

That’s all for now! If you like any of the stuff I write, please consider hitting up my Patreon or Ko-Fi. Thanks!

I <3 Tifa

I have a habit that I’ve never really broken. I use way too many descriptive adjectives when it comes to my media critique. The truth is that I’m not a very good writer, and these words help to fill the gaps that my lack of skill are unable to. This is helpful when I just want to get a post out quickly, lest I spend an hour instead lamenting my inability to be the writer I want to be.

The problem is when a game like Final Fantasy VII Remake comes out. Suddenly, my adjectives come back to bite me. So often have I said that “X game has the best combat system I’ve played in years,” or “this game has one of the amazing soundtracks I’ve heard in a long time,” when it comes to the games I’m passionate about. Now I’ve played FF7R, and I realize that using those same phrases won’t cut it. I should have saved words like “amazing” and “incredible” and “fantastic,” for the day this game came along. So you’ll just have to trust me when I say: Final Fantasy VII Remake is an amazing, incredible, fantastic game.

I should say, I don’t actually have that much love for the original Final Fantasy VII. I didn’t hate it or anything, but much like The Legend of Zelda, you tend to hold the game you played first most fondly in your heart. For me that was FFIX, a game that I felt was vastly under-appreciated on its release. I liked what I played of FFVII, and I had a crush on Tifa because I’m nothing if not predictable, but I didn’t hold its characters or its moments close to my heart like tons of other fans do. But I was intrigued by the remake, both as a momentous occasion for Square Enix, and as a possibility for me to see what I seemed to be missing when I played the original release.

Turns out the answer is: a lot.

Remake does a lot to fix my biggest issue with its predecessor, which is fill in the blanks. It’s kind of shocking that the PS1 original never got an updated translation — maybe because this remake was always in the cards. As a result, so much of the game feels like it’s lost in grammatical errors and sentences that didn’t make much sense. FF7R fills in these blanks and then some. Characters like Biggs, Wedge and Jessie get more dialogue and plot relevance. Sections of Midgar are expanded upon to make the city feel more alive. Barret doesn’t feel like a Mr. T parody anymore! It’s great. And AVALANCHE’s fight against a natural resource-exploiting corporation is doubled down on. The effects of Shinra on the populace are immediately apparent: I was surprised to find myself quite disturbed at the aftermath of the reactor detonation at the beginning of the game. Cloud and Co. walk through the destruction and rubble, and NPC reactions do a lot to get you invested quickly.

Cloud as a character has also improved. He’s always been characterized as aloof and even emo in the years since his game’s release. The remake presents an opportunity for a do-over. A multi-million polygon increase and motion capture help you realize early on that Cloud may be aloof, but he’s not callous. He’s a dude with PTSD that wants to get the job done and hopefully learn how to be a person again. That journey, and the way his interactions with the other characters changes as the game goes on, is a delight to experience.

It’s a faithful experience that adds to the original where it needs to in all fronts — especially musically. The new renditions are old favorites are impressive, and the new compositions by Masashi Hamauzu fit right into the world of Gaia. This isn’t the case for the entirety of the game, but to say further risks spoiling what I feel is the best part of the game. I’ll probably have thoughts on that in a separate blog post, so let’s move on.

There was a sizable amount of criticism towards the decision of making Final Fantasy VII Remake an Action-RPG. I never really had a problem with the switch, especially because I find everything but boss battles boring when it comes to most turn-based JRPGs. Even then, however, FF7R’s combat doesn’t stray as far from its roots as you might believe.

Battles have a very definitive weight to them. The feedback from Cloud and Tifa’s attacks is satisfying, especially when you finish an enemy off. As you perform regular attacks, you fill up an ATB bar that can be spent on special moves and magic. Things are further spiced up by a stagger gauge reminiscent of Final Fantasy XIII: fill it up to max, and you can do big time damage. At first I was content to just play as Cloud, letting the AI do its own thing while I cut goons up with a giant sword. This only works for so long, though, and I realized where the true strategy for the game came into play.

The AI in this game is terrible.

I thought this was a flaw at first. I wondered why my party members wouldn’t heal me with items when I got hurt, or spend their own ATB gauge. But I realized that the game doesn’t do these things because you are supposed to initiate them. Soon enough, the true depth of the combat began to shine. I would swap from character to character as their ATB gauges filled up, or if whoever I was controlling was hit by a status effect — not unlike taking a turn in the original — to control encounters. Combined with strategizing with Materia, you get a system of combat that’s engaging to master. This was especially true near the end of the game, when everyone’s ATB gauges would fill up quickly, and switching between character to choose their actions made the AVALANCHE crew feel like a real team that was hellbent on kicking Shrina ass.

This sort of quality is present in every aspect of FF7R, which is why I was able to complete so much of its side-content so quickly without burning out like I do with other games of its ilk. It has all the hits: weapons with different skills that can be unlocked and upgraded, encouraging experimentation. Materia that can be leveled up and paired together to enhance effects. A sprint button! And my favorite: the option to teleport straight back to a quest-giver once you’ve finished a task. I have a deep love for games that go out of their way not to waste my time, and FF7R makes sure to keep that in mind, along with making it clear whenever you’re about to reach a point of no return and might be locked out of quests or side-activities.

Final Fantasy VII Remake is more than just a good remake. Granted, that’s what most people wanted at the very least, but it goes beyond that. It’s just a damn good game. It’s probably the best game to come from Square Enix that isn’t FFXIV in the past ten or so years. It feels good to be able to say “I loved this Square Enix game” without any “buts” or “ifs” tacked on at the end. It’s an exciting combination of storytelling, music, and gameplay that all blend together well in a way that I feel doesn’t happen very often in the game industry anymore, at least in the AAA space. If you’re a fan of the original, I think you’ll be a fan here, and if you’re new to Cloud and Co’s adventures, I can say pretty confidently this is a fantastic way to be introduced. Square Enix somehow managed to do the impossible, and I’m excited to see how the rest of the Remake series plays out.

That’s all for now! If you like any of the stuff I write, please consider hitting up my Patreon or Ko-Fi. Thanks!

Insert Thanos Quote

Normally on this blog I like to speak about games in broader terms. I try not to delve into mechanics all that often, usually because getting into the nitty-gritty isn’t that interesting for people who aren’t already fans of the game I’m talking about themselves. It’s easy to talk about my enthusiasm for a game and how it plays without getting into hard numbers or moment-to-moment gameplay.

Today is not one of those days! Today I’m going to do something really weird, which is talk about the endgame of a mobile gacha game. There will be an assumption that you at least know the general idea of how Dragalia Lost plays, but I’ll try and fill in the gaps where I can. This is because this post is really a way for me to organize my thoughts now that I’m pretty deep into the late-game stuff in DL. Feel free to turn back now.

If you’re somehow still onboard with me, then here’s my rant.

Dragalia Lost is a cute little action-rpg that you can play for free on your phone. You run around with little chibi characters that you roll for in a gacha, slashing and bashing tiny enemies all in the name of reuniting your kingdom to beat a villain.

It is also one of the most demanding games I’ve ever played, putting even Final Fantasy XIV to shame.

There are two sides of Dragalia Lost: the story missions, and the end-game. And they may as well be two entirely different games. DL raids are some of the most challenging things I’ve seen in a phone game, and even some console games! And the comparisons to FFXIV aren’t unfounded: this game literally has bosses with stack and spread markers, and DPS/Health checks, just like the MMO.

I’ve played Dragalia Lost since the day it came out. It’s one of my favorite games in a long time, and even made it in my GOTY list the year it was released, despite being, yes, a free-to-play gacha game. But I’ve stayed away from the end-game because of how ridiculous it’s been to get into. Recently, however, I finally broke through the glass power-gap ceiling. I’m currently sitting at 28,824 Might, with Ieyasu, Cleo, Gala Alex and Mym making up my strongest units. I’ve beaten Standard and Expert Kai Yan stages, as well as Standard High Jupiter, and even Expert High Midgardsormr. And I have some thoughts. The Dragalia team has done a lot to make the harder content more accessible for players who are trying to get into it, but it could still use some work.

Pros

Chimeratech Weapons

There are so many weapons you can craft in Dragalia Lost that it can be hard to know where to start to increase your characters’ Might to get to those ever elusive High Dragon Trials. The Chimeratech Weapons do a lot to alleviate this process. They only exist for two elements right now, with more being released as time goes on, but they do a lot to boost your characters’ power in a linear way, while not being too difficult to actually get via the Chimera fights. I’ve actually hit a point where I can auto some of these fights with my teams.

Beating a Chimera once immediately gets you enough materials to craft one weapon. You have to grind to get more, but that might not be entirely necessary, because of…

Agito Trials

Once you’ve crafted a Chimera Weapon, you unlock the chance for a 6 Star Agito Weapon. All you have to do is beat the standard Agito trial connected to that weapon. Agito trials are a lot easier than High Dragon Trials, while still being challenging enough to be fun for people who want something new to do. The Agito Weapons you get from the Agito Trials can then be used to take on the High Dragon Trials, completing the throughline from Chimeratech Weapons to Tier 2 High Dragon Weapons. This new system has cut down a lot on the confusion that comes with figuring out how to do the harder DL content.

Mentor Bonuses

There’s also a system that lets people gain extra wyrmite, the free currency that allows for summons, if they clear content with players who are new to said content. This incentive helps to have people stick around after a group wipes, which cuts down on the time needed to learn new content. A small change, but a useful one.

New Mana Circles

The new Mana Circles have done a great job of making all kinds of characters that you might have more viable for end-game content. Getting Ieyasu to level 100 and maxing out his skills was pretty easy, all things considered, and it did a lot to help me take on the High Jupiter trial. The MCs help to prevent power-creep and keep characters relevant. It’s a great change overall. Just, please, Cygames, start upgrading the other elements. Shadow Units are fine now, I promise. Stop praying for them, they are getting too powerful.

Revives

Probably one of the best new editions to the game. For most new content, instead of instantly needing to give up after getting knocked out, you can revive with some HP to continue to fight. You might not beat the content even with Revives, but this allows you to at least see more of a fight over time, so that you can slowly figure out how to play through it.

Cons

Facilities

And here we have the worst part of the game. The Castle in Dragalia Lost sucks. It just does. There is literally nothing entertaining about building up the base over real-time days and hours. In fact, it’s a big part of why I made so little progress in the end-game in the first place. The facilities simply have too much sway over how much Might you can gain and how much damage your characters can do. It’s the most boring, carrot-on-a-stick part of the game, and to be honest, I’m not sure how it could even be fixed. Sure, Hustle Hammers that let you instantly build facilities help, but the very concept itself, in my opinion, is flawed. I still have tons of my facilities left to build before I can even consider getting into the Master High Dragon Trials, and it will probably take me weeks, if not months, to get to that point. In summation: it sucks, dude.

This is a Mobile Game, Folks

This con is a bit harder to explain, but I’ll do my best. Dragalia Lost is an action game, where you basically click and drag to move your character around, and tap to attack. This works well enough in most content, but in my opinion, shows its issues as harder and harder content shows up. These battles require more nuanced movement, which is honestly both difficult and annoying to do with one hand on an iPhone Whatever.

One place this particularly stands out is in Expert Kai Yan. A segment of the battle causes two circles to appear around two of the party members. These members must stack together before the circle creates an electricity field that can slowly kill you over time if you touch it, with Kai Yan performing a Stack Attack right after the circles dissipate. The circles are pretty small, and it is a nightmare trying to precisely line them up to overlap in front of Kai Yan so that the DPS can DPS. If you don’t do it properly, and you don’t have a healer on your team, there’s an 80% chance you’ll wipe. I think this kind of stuff needs to be taken into consideration when designing raids for such a limited control scheme.

Put Me In Coach

Lastly, I think harder content would be a lot easier to get into if there were more ways to practice them. Revives and Mentor Bonuses help, as do the Interlude versions of the High Dragon Trials, but why not add a mode that allows players to test their DPS checks? If you’re going to copy MMOs, you may as well steal the idea of Stone, Sky, Sea from FFXIV, right?

And there you have it! I think Dragalia Lost’s endgame has improved a lot since I first started playing the game, and it’s clear the devs are paying attention to helping new players break into the harder content without having to be hard-core raiders. But there’s still quite a bit more that could be done. All that said, the fact that a mobile game has been so enthralling to me that it was able to get me to write 1,400 words on it is impressive in and of itself. So, you know, if you haven’t, check Dragalia Lost out! It’s pretty damn good, in my opinion.

That’s all for now! If you like any of the stuff I write, please consider hitting up my Patreon or Ko-Fi. Thanks!

Slay the Network

I have been craving a new Mega Man Battle Network for years now. It feels like Capcom has reinvigorated every one of its brands besides it: Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, Street Fighter…okay maybe not Street Fighter. Hell, we even got remakes of Mega Man Zero recently! It’s been hard being a Battle Network fan after all this time.

Thomas Moon Kang seems to have felt the same, and decided to do something about it. But to call One Step From Eden a Battle Network clone is to do a disservice to the creativity and ingenuity on display in this game. It takes the best parts of the Capcom spin-off — mainly, the combat — and evolves it in exciting new ways, resulting in a game that should make almost every Battle Network fan happy.

Full Disclosure: I backed this game on Kickstarter. Mint and Saffron are actually chilling in my room right now.

I’m sure I would have loved this game either way, but for the sake of transparency, now you know. :)

One Step From Eden, which I keep wanting to call East of Eden because I love both things, is what would happen if you said, “wow, I’ve put 500 hours into Slay the Spire, but I feel like it’s missing something…twitch-based combat. Yeah, that’s it!” You progress through rooms, defeating enemies with cards, getting new cards, upgrading those cards, swapping out those cards, and buying new cards, all in the name of getting to Eden. The lore is sparse, but it’s also not what we’re here for — if your favorite part of Battle Network was running around as Lan, chatting with townsfolk and plugging into microwave ovens, this might game might not catch your eye.

I’d argue that most people played Battle Network for the combat however, and boy does Eden just absolutely nail it in that regard. Combat is on a grid, with the player and enemies getting access to 4x4 squares that they’re allowed to maneuver on. Unlike Battle Network, however, it’s faster. Much faster. Later stages will have you bouncing around the grid like you’re playing DDR (and in one boss’ case, you will literally be playing DDR). There’s a big amount of enemy variety, and while things can feel hectic, they all have pre-defined patterns that you can dodge around to deal damage. I look forward to the no-hit runs that will inevitably come out a few weeks after this game’s release.

The stars of the show are the cards. There are tons of them, and they all have different, interesting effects. Flame cards that leave damage on a grid, frost cards that slow enemies down, poison cards that apply damage over time. After a few runs you’ll start to understand how cards can work together to be effective, and you can even set a focus to increase the chances of particular kinds of cards to customize your deck. I’ve already spent hours trying different set-ups on my way to Eden, and it hasn’t stopped being a blast, even as I get rocked by the enemies over and over again.

Everything about OSFE feels tremendously polished. The UI is clean, and the battlefield is easily registered even in the heat of a fast-paced boss-battle. The music is filled with bangers top-to-bottom. And that doesn’t even keep in mind the alternate playable characters and unlock able costumes. I was honestly shocked at the quality packed into this game, given the short turn-around from Kickstarter to release.

However, there are a few caveats to consider. It’s a rouge-like, as I mentioned. The game is tough as nails, and it will knock you on your ass a lot before you even get close to reaching Eden, unless you’re very skilled. If that style of game isn’t your cup of tea, I don’t think OSFE will change your mind. But if you’re willing to take the plunge, you’ll find the most satisfying deck builder since Slay the Spire. We may not get a new Battle Network any time soon, but thanks to Kang, I don’t really need one for the foreseeable future. Never thought I’d get to say that, and boy does it feel good.

That’s all for now! If you like any of the stuff I write, please consider hitting up my Patreon or Ko-Fi. Thanks!

What's up nerds. I'm on lockdown and life sucks, so I'm just gonna write, play videogames, and write about videogames. So here's What I've Been Playing: Vol 3: The Games Strike Back.

Nioh 2

For a very long time, I thought no soulslike would ever beat Bloodborne for me. I don't like the Dark Souls games, and Code Vein was fun enough, but doesn't hold a candle to a game where you can use a cane that is also a whip. I figured Bloodborne would always be the epitome of the genre for me.

And then I got to play Nioh 2!

I figured I'd like Nioh 2, but surprisingly I'm absolutely loving it. And it's even more surprising considering I barely put in any time into the first Nioh. I think this is the case for a few reasons. For one, getting to play as my own player character certainly helps. Cutting down yokai and soldiers with an extremely buff samurai Mint is infinitely more entertaining than doing the exact same thing as the boring, white-bread William from the original game. But beyond that, Nioh 2 just feels better than its predecessor on every level. The new weapons like the nunchucks and switchglaive are entertaining, the combat feels tighter, and ki pulses seem more forgiving. On top of all that, the new Yokai Burst feature, which basically operates as a Just Counter, is one of the most satisfying moves I've pulled off in a videogame in recent memory.

There are so many options and systems in Nioh 2 that they could end up overwhelming, but they end up linking together perfectly, resulting in a game that with an addictive loop with a difficulty curve that ramps up steadily, barring two rough bosses near the beginning of the game. Deaths never feel cheap, and the map design is vastly improved over Nioh as well. It's better in every single way, and I'm excited to finish it in the near future.

Animal Crossing New Horizons

About as far on the opposite end of Nioh 2 as possible in terms of gameplay, ACNH has been no less addictive, and a great relaxer after a difficult section in Nioh 2. Yep. It's great for that reason alone, and has nothing to do with the current state of the world, heheh.

Anyways New Horizons has been everything I could have wanted from a new Animal Crossing game. I wasn't sure about the crafting at first, but it's just the push needed to feel like you're making a difference in the game. It's the slowest starting Animal Crossing by a country mile, but the tangible feeling of progress is so sweet that it all balances out.

The QOL improvements are wonderful, as are all the new options when it comes to both Island Development and personal customization. On top of all that, the online is easy to use, and I've enjoyed meeting up with all my friends online to hang out and trade fruits and whatnot. I don't think there's enough to change someone's mind if they found themselves not enjoying the previous Animal Crossings, but otherwise, it's a great game.

And I guess that's the theme, isn't it? Life sucks at the moment, but at least we have some good games to get us through it. I give a lot of flak to games, especially in regards to their communities and how stale they can feel. But in the end, I still love them, as is demonstrated by the general vibe of this little café. Right now, games are more useful, perhaps even important, than ever, and I hope people find enjoyment in them in these trying times.

That's all for now. If you like any of the stuff I write, please consider hitting up my Patreon or Ko-Fi. Thanks.

Introducing the Hero of Legend: Kevin

I absolutely adore Trials of Mana. When I first played it, it was only ever known as Seiken Densetsu 3, the sequel to Secret of Man. I ran it on an SNES emulator with a translation patched over it. The only game that ever came close to it in terms of how it effected my feelings about games and their design is Chrono Trigger. The multiple player characters, the intricate class system, the engaging combat and incredible music — it had literally everything, and it made my ten-year-old brain explode over how amazing videogames could be.

All this to say, I had incredibly high expectations for the remake of Trials of Mana, especially considering how…well let’s just say people didn’t exactly love the remake of Secret of Mana. Now that I’ve played it, I can say that my fears have mostly been laid to rest.

Trials of Mana is an Action-RPG that lets you pick 3 of its 6 characters to place in your party. Who you pick can drastically affect how you go about the game — roll a party without Charlotte, for example, and you find yourself missing a crucial healer. That said, the three characters you pick will be able to pick from branching classes to cover their weaknesses, or specialize even further. Ries, for example, can pick up white magic with the right class, while even a bruiser like Kevin can be a healer under the right circumstances.

All six characters have their own motivations that set them on their journey, and three pairs of the characters each have their own final boss. I’ll leave who’s who a secret, but I will say it’s a lot of fun replaying the game with different combos to see what changes. You’ll see the three characters you didn’t pick go about their own journeys as well. The remake has the added benefit of letting you talk to your party when you’re in town. It’s nothing intricate, but it does a lot to add more flavor to your team and get you to like them more. The same can be said of the new in-game dialogue that happens when you’re in combat. These little flairs add a lot to someone’s played this game, uh, checks notes, 8 million times.

I swore that I wouldn’t pick my usual party composition of Kevin, Angela, and Charlotte, but I couldn’t stop myself when the game started and nostalgia swept over me. Crucially, picking Charlotte third lets you get her earlier in the game than any other third party member — a trick that still works in this remake.

Everything in the game looks great. It pops with color and style, and remains very faithful to the original tile and sprite-sheets of the SNES original, all while maintaining Koichi Ishii’s wonderful character designs. However the remake gives these old areas much more depth. This is immediately apparent when you reach the Castle City of Jad in the Demo, which I have comparison screenshots of below.

The difference is immediate, and honestly staggering for someone who’s played the original so often. Everything is exactly where I remembered it, but with a new coat of paint. I couldn’t have been happier.

Thankfully, and unlike the Secret of Mana remake, Trials of Mana plays as well as it looks. The change in perspective means a change in the combat system, which is now full-on action. You can pull heavy and light attacks, as well as dodge roll. When you hit and defeat enemies, you can fill up a bar that lets you pull off special moves. It feels like a natural evolution of the original’s combat, feels great to control, and even improves the potential of some characters. Angela, for example, is the de-facto mage of the group, but in the SNES version, it took a while for her to shine, until she was able to get some spells under her belt. In the remake, she’s viable from the start, able to quickly string attacks and use her special moves that don’t cost MP, until she’s able to unlock her new spells.

There’s also a new leveling system, where a character gets points after they level up. They can then put those points into stats, and after a certain number of points are accumulated, new moves and passive bonuses can be unlocked and equipped. Some bonuses can even be used by other party members, covering their weaknesses or capitalizing on their strengths. It’s not overly complicated, and and adds a nice little layer of customization on top of everything else.

All that said, however, it’s not a complete knock out of the park for this game. While the environments and character models are beautiful, the way they’re animated can feel wooden, especially during cutscenes. Characters interact almost like puppets in their stiltedness, and it can be a bit distracting, especially during moments that are meant to be very emotionally impactful. On top of that, while combat feels great, it’s not particularly challenging even on hard mode, at least as of now, so if that’s something you were hoping for you might be disappointed.

Even mentioning the above, I’m more excited than ever for Trials of Mana now that I’ve played the Demo. It’s everything I could have wanted in a modern update of one of my favorite games of all time. I even am more excited for this game than I am Final Fantasy 7: Remake, if that’s any indication of what you can take away from this post. It’s definitely worth a look if you’re curious, and if you’re already a fan,  then it’s a no-brainer: get this remake!

That’s all for now! If you like any of the stuff I write, please consider hitting up my Patreon or Ko-Fi! Thanks!

Believe in Failure!

I got put in Gifted & Talented when I was in 3rd Grade. For 8 year-old me, this was the greatest thing that had ever happened up to that point in my very short life. I wasn’t just good at school. I was smart. I was born to be this good at reading Redwall books and knowing how to divide two numbers. I was sure I would be Gifted & Talented forever.

I was not Gifted & Talented forever.

This was a surprise to me as I went on in life. As I picked up new things, I found out I was not naturally good at them like I was previously.

It did not add up.

Being born into an East African family, I wasn’t going to get an explanation out of my parents. Immigrating to America was meant to be a chance for improvement. This meant that success in school was to be expected, and I didn’t want to worry them. I stumbled my way through High School and University with better than average grades, which was enough to satisfy them. I did not do much to tell them about my confusion. Why was this so hard for me? Why was I so bad at everything when I started it? Was I just dumb? Was I really not Gifted & Talented? Did I pick the wrong subjects?

I didn’t really get an answer for a very long time, and it was frustrating. This was especially true when it came to hobbies. I’d try to draw, see the incredible pieces that would appear online, get frustrated, and give up. I’d try to make music, not understand how notes were supposed to come out, get frustrated, and give up.

And boy was it true when it came to Fighting Games. I’ve had as turbulent a relationship with them as any other hobby, but it was my efforts here that hurt me the hardest. I may have been a failure at everything else I had ever tried, but videogames were supposed to be my domain. I beat Link’s Awakening when I was four years old, for crying out loud! But there’s a big difference between a single player game that pits you against the world, solving puzzles and fighting bosses, and a fighting game, where you go up against another human being and try to defeat them.

When I was a kid, I had always shied away from competition in general, for reasons I would not realize until a few years ago. But I figured I’d be able to get past that anxiety when it came to fighting games, at the very least. I was always interested in them, and had dabbled in Street Fighter and Soul Caliber, like anyone else. But I wanted to move beyond button mashing, be competent enough to beat more than a CPU. “No excuses!” I told myself. “Even if it takes you 100 hours, you’re going to learn how to do a hadoken.”

What came after that was research. Lots of it. I poured over everything from “Masher to Master” by Patrick Miller to videos explaining every potential mechanic that could show up in a fighting game. Crush counters, tick throws, reversals — you name it, I learned what it was. I got a copy of Under Night In Birth, which I had heard was relatively beginner friendly. I picked a character and went to work. I labbed for hours with Wagner, practicing combos and block-strings and corner pressure. Finally, a week later, I felt I was ready to enter a lobby and fight someone for real.

I got destroyed.

Not just once, or twice, or five times. Every single time I queued up for a match I was absolutely dunked on. This was a given, in retrospect, but in the moment I was devastated. I thought I had done everything right. Sure, I didn’t pick up fighting games naturally, but I put in the effort, more than for any other hobby I had tried to take on up to that point. I practiced and practiced and practiced, and it still didn’t amount to anything.

What I didn’t realize was that this was just the beginning. I thought I was near the summit of the mountain, when really all the work I had done up to that point was the equivalent of packing my gear.

You see, my real problem wasn’t that I hadn’t put in enough effort into the new thing I was learning. It was that I hated failing at it. I never learned how to fail. I didn’t have the mechanism that allowed me to learn from failure, rather than shy away from it, and I mistook failure to be something bad, that I needed to avoid at any and all costs.

That’s basically impossible to do in a fighting game, where there are people who have thousands of hours of experience on you. You are going to take an L, and it’s possible, if not likely, that people will see it. I was so embarrassed by my track record that I simply put the game away for a while afterwards.

This was for the best. There was still a lot of growing that I needed to do as a person before I tried to pick up an arcade stick again. At the start of 2020, I made one of my New Year’s Resolutions be to not fear failure so much. I picked up Tanking in FFXIV, fighting the fear of being the leader of a party, or pulling improperly and getting a wipe. And I picked up fighting games yet again, this time with Granblue Fantasy. At first, the fear of going online again was very real. I spent the first week I owned the game repeating the steps I took with Under Night, spending time in the lab and flip-flopping on a main.

This week, however, was a turning point for me. In a moment of spontaneity (I don’t have many of those), I signed up for Quarantined Rapport, an online tournament to fight COVID-19. It was almost like I was racing against myself filling out my tournament info, as if I was worried I’d talk myself out of it — and I probably would have if I gave myself the chance. Having done that, I realized I needed practice, so I finally threw myself into a lobby.

And for the first time…I actually enjoyed myself.

Don’t get me wrong, I lost way more sets than I won. But for once, a defeat didn’t send me spiraling. In all this time, I’ve been slowly untangling the synapses in my brain that associated failure with a personal statement about myself. If I didn’t do something right the first time, I was bad. I’ve only recently been able to take a loss as a learning experience, a chance to do better next time. I saved a replay of every loss I took, playing them back to see where, how and why I messed up. Hell, even when I won I knew why I succeeded.

This is probably a small thing for most people. What came as revelatory for me is probably standard for others. But I’ve let the specter of failure drag me down in every aspect of my life. Fighting games let me learn how to deal with that anxiety, and turn it into something positive. I am, frankly, proud of myself for coming this far, both in terms of dealing with failure and my improvement as a player of fighting games. On March 28th I will take part of Quarantined Report. I’m sure my heart will attempt to beat out of my chest when my first match starts, and there’s a very high chance that I will get absolutely bodied. But for once, I’ll walk away from the experience happy to have been able to participate, rather than upset that I failed.

That’s all for now! If you like any of the stuff I write, please consider hitting up my Patreon or Ko-Fi! Thanks!

Believe in Victory!

I was able to get my hands on a copy of Granblue Fantasy Versus, and I figured I’d give my initial impressions after a couple hours of practice. I haven’t actually gone online yet — in fact, 100% of my time has been in the training room. This is actually a good sign, because it means I’m taking your fighting game seriously, which would only happen if I was enjoying myself.

Granblue Fantasy Versus is a fighting game spin-off of the ridiculously popular gacha game, developed by Arc System Works, who are currently dominating the genre space with Guilty Gear, Cross Tag Battle, and the extremely popular Dragonball Z FighterZ. Personally, though, I’ve never been a huge fan of how ArcSys games play. Nothing wrong with them! They’re just very “anime” in their handling, with high speed and big combos being the name of the game. GBVS is a different beast entirely. In the time I’ve spent getting used to it, I learned quickly that it’s much slower-paced, akin to something like Street Fighter V. It’s even more grounded than Under Night, which was my main fighting game of choice for a few years. The game is very neutral-oriented, and doesn’t have much in the way of high combo potential. Attack strings are most lethal up against walls, otherwise they’ll max out at about 7 or 8 hits. I personally enjoy this style of fighting game the most, because a match ends up being about strong fundamentals rather than high-level execution (which, full disclosure: I’m bad at haha).

The most interesting things that separate Granblue Fantasy Versus from other fighting games are twofold. I’ll talk about the one I like most, first. In GBVS you can hold back to block. However you can also press a button to block (R2 on the PS4 controller). Doing so means you don’t have to worry about cross-ups and the like, so you won’t get caught off guard (pun intended). This adds a layer of accessibility for people who might not be used to these more complex fighting game techniques.

The other unique feature is the special button. Rather than input a technical command input, like a quarter-circle medium, in GBVS you can press the special button + a direction to execute a special attack instead. Gran’s special button shoots a fireball, right + special button executes a shoryuken, etc. This is a super cool and accessible way to get people into fighting games easily. Rather than worry about execution, they can get jump right into the action and pull off flashy moves without having to be taught how to rotate a stick. The downside, however, is that Granblue Fantasy specials are on a cooldown. And when you use the special button instead of a technical input, your cooldown lasts noticeably longer.

The special button is great conceptually, and will work well for casual play, but it still feels like a half-measure when it comes to accessibility in fighting games. The cost of using the special button makes it so that it’s simply not viable in high-level play. The alternative, in my opinion, would be to take out technical commands entirely, and have the special button the only method of pulling off specials, leveling the playing field. Alas, I’ve a feeling the fighting community as a whole is not on the same page with me here, so I’m sure that was never in the cards, conceptually.

All that said, the game does do a lot to get you acquainted with fighting game tech, more than any other I’ve played before it. Not only does it have an extensive tutorial that you can mostly play with your preferred character, but it includes match-up tutorials that you can play against characters that might be giving you trouble so that you can deal with them effectively. On top of that, there’s an extensive encyclopedia that gives detailed descriptions on common fighter terminology. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fighting game actively describe things like numpad notation, tick throws, or cancel buffering, but I welcome it and hope to see more games be as thorough in doling out knowledge to newbies.

I haven’t played every character in the game yet, but I do have a few faves.

Narmaya

She owns. She has cool horns, and she’s very cute. Oh and uh, she’s fun to play as too. Her ability to sheath and unsheathe her katana to use two entirely different sets of moves makes her mix-up game strong and unpredictable. She has lots of options to deal with things, allowing her to rushdown but play a mean keep-away game too. My only issue so far is personal, in that I sometimes lose track of which form I’m in, causing me to use a move I didn’t mean to. But it’ll probably work out alright — there aren’t any attacks that Narmaya has that I’d call bad. She’s a strong character overall.

Zeta

Also very powerfully cute. She seems like a simple rushdown character, but she has a deceptive amount of depth. The spear she wields is versatile, letting her attack at range, use a flurry of hits, or charge in multiple times. She also has a Ducktales-like pogo-move that she can combo pull off some tricky stunts with as well. I’d argue she’s more complicated than Narmaya, surprisingly enough — I found myself going into her parry stance on accident a lot. With some practice, though, I could see myself having a grand time with Zeta.

Katalina

Katalina is probably the character closest to Wagner, my main in Under Night, with a few differences. She’s very much in your face, but her long sword means that she can poke very effectively. She has a ranged option as well. Essentially, Katalina can control the pace of a match, which is pretty important in this neutral-heavy game. All that said, I’ll be honest — she feels a bit boring to play. She’s a bit like the Ken to Gran’s Ryu, which is fine, but not exactly unique. However, she might be worth picking up anyways — a boring character is usually very well balanced, and can do any job against any opponent.

That’s about where I’m at so far with Granblue Fantasy Versus. I’m really enjoying my time with the game, to the point that it almost makes me want to get back into fighting games as a whole.

I’m sure getting online will cure me of that ailment, however.

If you like any of the stuff I write, please consider hitting up my Patreon or Ko-Fi! Thanks!

This past weekend I was able to free myself from the shackles of Final Fantasy XIV...so that I could play a different MMORPG. Phantasy Star Online 2! There was a closed beta that went through until Monday, 1AM. I got to play it for about 8 hours — here's how I felt about it.

To start, it's incredible that I'm able to say "I played PSO2," in any capacity. The game has existed in Japan since 2012, and outside of dedicated fan-translations, it was impossible to play because the game was never localized. For some reason Microsoft decided to foot that bill and make it possible on Xbox One and PC. No idea why, but hey, thanks Phil!

After a server delay, I made Mint as a CAST, the series' mechas with human consciousness attached to their chassis. The customization options were surprisingly robust, and I was able to make Mint with relative ease (the question "will it Mint?" is very important when a game offers me a character creator). I picked the Bouncer class, which used twin blades and and hover boots to do damage and support allies. After a quick tutorial with an Australian space kid, I was dropped into the game and on my way.

Phantasy Star Online 2 is an Action-MMO, which has a noticeably different feel from something like FFXIV. The game basically plays like if Warframe was a JRPG instead of a third-person-shooter. There was a story, but I didn't experience much of it, mostly because I was too busy exploring every other aspect of the game. And wow if there isn't a lot to do! There are quests to complete for NPCs, expedition quests to unlock new areas, robo-pals called Mags that you can feed and customize to support you in battle, a casino, a stylist to customize your PC, gathering, fishing, apartment decoration, etc. etc...it was honestly a lot to take in, especially because I was in a rush to try everything in the limited time SEGA gave us to play. The general loop is similar to games like Diablo, however: do missions, get loot and level up to get stronger, rinse and repeat, all whilst partaking in story missions that give you a reason to play that's more than just chasing higher numbers.

Combat is fast and flashy. Though I didn't figure out how to use the Bouncer very effectively, I found a lot of success when I switched to the Braver, a class that gives you a katana and bow, and which lets you perform parries that negate any damage you would have taken if performed at the right time. Once I had figured out the timing and learned some of the enemies' attack animations, the game honestly felt like a character-action title that Platinum would make. Cutting down groups of enemies was smooth and satisfying, if not very difficult.

I wish the same smoothness applied to the game's UI, however. This is where PSO2 really shows its age. The game's menus are not easy to navigate at all. I'd say it took me about six hours to even start feeling comfortable figuring out all of the nuances of moving through a menu. I also sorely missed the PS4's touch-pad, which acts as an impromptu mouse that you can use to select things in FFXIV. I eventually got the hang of figuring out how to talk to and invite players, but it was a clumsy process.

The same can be said of the game's inventory system. Despite having enemies explode into a dizzying array of items like a piñata, PSO2 only gives you 50 inventory slots. You can send items to your Storage from anywhere, but it was a bummer having my alien slaying session grind to a halt because I needed to figure out what items I wanted to get rid of or put into storage so I could pick up the new ones on the ground. I'm hoping there's some way to deal with this aspect of the game in the long-run, but PSO2 is free-to-play, and I already know in my heart-of-hearts that inventory space expansion will probably cost real life dosh when the game releases in full.

The highlights of the beta were twofold. The first were Urgent Quests. These appeared at different times of the beta, and they were the most unique aspect of PSO2. 15 minutes before an Urgent Quest starts, the artificial sky of the game's lobby turn into red warning symbols. Tense music plays, alarms blare, and a ticker shows up in your HUD about an emergency. The lobby fills up with players as they wait on stand-by until the clock strikes. When it does, you group up and take part in a mission with a lot more spectacle and difficulty than the usual fare. One quest had me fighting through a dark and eerie alien stronghold. The other was even more bombastic, taking place on my ship's deck. We took on monsters while laser blasts and explosions billowed in space around us. Not only was it super cool, it also helped to give PSO2 an identity beyond being another loot-based MMO. The events give the game a sense of place and comradery with your fellow hunters.

I ended my time with the beta with an in-game live concert. This took place in the lobby of our spaceship headquarters. While we waited for the event to start, players chatted, kicked a virtual soccer ball back and forth, and of course, danced.

Eventually the screen dimmed, and the game's idol, Quna, got on stage and began her performance. A press of a button allowed you to watch the concert with more dynamic angles. Impressively, even the songs were localized into English, something you don't see very often when it comes to dubs of Japanese games. Once the first song ended, players could spam "Encore" in the chat to get a second song to be performed. After that, everyone who watched the concert got buffs to their stats, as well as an increased EXP gain rate. Again, moments like these helped make PSO2 stand out. I enjoyed the approach of making unique events where other players and I could gather to do something besides kill stuff.

There's a lot to like about Phantasy Star Online 2! Time will tell if it holds up under the F2P model, but regardless, it was great to be able to experience this (relatively) unreachable MMO, and get nostalgic about the old days playing Phantasy Star Online on the Dreamcast and GameCube. I'm excited to dive into the game with even more people when the Open Beta hits the PC and Xbox, so I hope to see you there!

If you like any of the stuff I write, please consider hitting up my Patreon or Ko-Fi! Thanks!

The header for this post is completely unrelated, I just needed a pic to attach and I had this screenshot lying around lol.

Hey what's up!! How are you doing. It feels like it's been forever since I wrote a post for this blog, but the reality is that I had like 3 posts up within two weeks last month. Sorry if you got sick of me but hey those "X of the Y" blog-posts do good numbers and ya boy likes to feel validated so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.  I've been meaning to make a new post since then but I've actually been glued to a different project, so I'm going to talk about that for a bit.

If you follow me on Mastodon you're probably aware that I put The Freelancers on indefinite hiatus last month. It was an incredibly difficult decision for a lot of reasons. I felt like I was letting everyone down for not finishing what I started. That I became one of those people who talks about making a book and then doesn't follow through. It was embarrassing. But the honest truth of it is that I don't feel like I'm ready to write that story yet. Not only does it need more time in the oven conceptually, it also just isn't a story I feel I can write at my current skill-level. This can be a hard thing to parse when it comes to writing, but to put it in art terms: it felt like I was trying to draw the Mona Lisa when I can barely scratch out a circle.

So I beat myself up about it for a few days. It was especially rough because I felt like my life wasn't go the way I wanted it to in a lot of ways last month – as one is wont to feel when a new year is approaching. But you know what? I wrote a whole first draft of a novel. Beginning to end, I had a whole story done. It wasn't good, and it certainly wasn't worthy of releasing to the world, but I wrote 50,000 words and finished half of a second draft, and that's more than a lot of people can say.

That said, I have a new project going, and wow y'all. It's nice to feel truly excited about writing again. I've gotten a couple hundred words in every day for 9 days straight. I have 8 and a half-chapters finished. I excitedly scribble new ideas on sticky notes to use later. I always know what I want to write next when I finish a session. It's like night and day. Turns out planning your plot from beginning to end with a clear motif makes it easier to tie the whole thing together. Who'd've thunk!!

Seriously though, I had gotten so used to the idea perpetuated by lots of writers that writing is supposed to be this daily, grueling process, like the verbal version of lifting weights. But I don't agree with it. There is an absolute joy to writing a story when it all clicks together. I like to joke that I picked writing as my main creative outlet because I don't know how to draw, but the reality is that storytelling is my favorite thing to do, as long as it's a story I want to tell.

So. Maybe one day I'll get back to The Freelancers, when I feel like I'm a stronger writer. I have some ideas of how to reboot it entirely, too, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. In the meantime, maybe you're curious about this new project? Sorry, I can't tell you much! I don't wanna spoil it until it's close to completion, so that if I do end up giving up on it, no one ever has to know. 🙃 I do have a couple of details I can share though:

1. It involves monsters and magic.
2. It's still pretty gay.
3. The initials of its tentative name are TRA.

Lastly, here's a sketch of the protagonist, by @cherrydere!

That's all for now! I'll have another post here soon, hopefully. In the meanwhile, if you're interested in learning more about the new project – or just supporting me in general, feel free to hit up my patreon or ko-fi!

Thanks for stopping by!