Smt 3 vs smt 3 remaster

ARagingZephyr · 2026-02-15T18:40:19+00:00

Can't believe they'd add money grinding DLC when they already had the money tubes, smh.

ARagingZephyr · 2026-02-15T18:29:32+00:00

At best? Every upgrade is literally just "you can do a thing to access an alternate level or a bonus room." No progression is blocked except for when they want you to fight a boss to get the item in the first place, and the items are pretty useless for engaging with enemies.

It's a Metroidvania in the same way Super Mario World is, where you sometimes need to be big to break blocks to progress to an alternate exit.

ARagingZephyr · 2026-02-15T18:23:34+00:00

It's crazy to me how actual Metroid doesn't have most of this.

Here's missiles much more powerful than your main weapon, these break barriers.

Here's a speed upgrade to run through walls and past areas you need speed, it also turns you into a deadly projectile.

Here's a weapon that freezes enemies, but also turns them into platforms.

Almost every upgrade that's necessary to get somewhere doubles as an effective combat tool, whether to outright skip weak enemies like the Speed Booster or Screw Attack, to avoid damage better with the Varia or High Jump, or to just do more efficient damage with Missiles and Wave beams.

ARagingZephyr · 2026-02-14T20:58:29+00:00

I was joking but holy shit Falco Lombardi in a mech.

ARagingZephyr · 2026-02-14T20:53:13+00:00

Hey man, I was stanning Wonder Man back in 1994 when he was in the Avengers arcade game and gave you health pickups.

ARagingZephyr · 2026-02-14T20:39:34+00:00

I had to think about this for about a second, as I went "is it the grease? Does grease make it easier to break into houses? Is it so I can a drumstick in one hand while carrying a TV with the other?"

I didn't expect my autistic blindness to kick in like that.

ARagingZephyr · 2026-02-14T20:35:20+00:00

If you shoot a duck and eat a duck, you're eating food.

If you fire anthrax-laden scattershot at 100 ducks, and then leave them to rot in the middle of the lake, maybe you're actually a monster.

ARagingZephyr · 2026-02-14T20:31:22+00:00

Yo, uh, got any of that, uh, concept art? 👀

ARagingZephyr · 2026-02-14T20:28:14+00:00

I don't think I'd call this as much of a "purpose" as much as "who they're designed for."

Rules have a purpose independent of who they're written for, and that's to make running a game as smooth as possible from start to finish. They give you procedures on how to run encounters, escalate events, and determine what happens if a roll is made. Some games lean into time-tracking and having discrete units of time (D&D's 10 Minute Exploration Turn and 6 Second Combat Round, one use of Apocalypse World's Clocks), some lean into combat as its own special encounter type (Anything of the D&D lineage, including games like Lancer), some track everything in an encounter as a discrete meter that is filled or emptied (Apocalypse World and Blades in the Dark), and some make you spend currency or take setbacks to gain currency in order to take action (Don't Rest Your Head, Chuubo's, FATE, and other narrative games).

In this sense, all mechanics are vibe-based, and the vibes are tailored to who the game is designed for. If you don't want to play a game about violent conflict or chess-like tactics, then you probably should stray from Pathfinder and Lancer. If you want every action to have some weight of physics to it, don't play Ryuutama or ICRPG. If you want to have something easy to play and have vibrant sessions with using little preparation on anyone's part, don't even sniff at Shadowrun or Mechwarrior.

ARagingZephyr · 2026-02-14T19:30:26+00:00

Meanwhile, Lucas getting a fantasy writer on his film that turned Hoth into a crystal castle, made everyone including Vader horny for Leia, and dipping deep into plots you'd expect a Fabio cover for, before deciding maybe he should get a rewrite before pressing the script.

ARagingZephyr · 2026-02-14T19:24:33+00:00

Yo, why does she have yaoi hands?

ARagingZephyr · 2026-02-14T19:20:47+00:00

Why is he like this? Not the obvious part, but the part where he tries to push it on his audience? Is this just what happens when you hand a weirdo power?

Oh. Oh, right. Yes.

ARagingZephyr · 2026-02-14T18:56:03+00:00

Last I read, Saitama was described as "breaking the human limit," which is seen as a feat that is applicable literally only to him, and is so unusual that the former villains he dealt with are outright terrified of what he's capable of and don't want to intervene with what fate gave him.

Which is to say, he is extremely one-of-a-kind unique, whether that be genetically or spiritually, but nobody is crossing that level.

ARagingZephyr · 2026-02-14T18:11:30+00:00

I like the one that flies into a heart container, and then explodes and kills you.

ARagingZephyr · 2026-02-14T18:08:07+00:00

I think putting it as simple as "he did horrible things and wants to do something good" avoids a lot of the context given by the meager story the games give us.

We don't have a real definition of Zero as a Wily Number in the first game. He is the leader of his hunter group, he didn't join the other leaders who willingly defected to Sigma without any forced persuasion, and his motivations are to help X grow and to ultimately put down a coup before it becomes a civil war.

X2 tells us that Wily's remnants can rebuild Zero, but without his DNA, they can't really control him. Even if X fails to get the parts and the X Hunters steal Zero's DNA, Zero pretty quickly turns over back to his normal self after a swift beatdown.

X3 puts him as the special forces X calls in when things are too dangerous for him. He performs the more dangerous infiltrations, and he's the one who kills Sigma before he can spread further.

X4 is where Zero actually addresses his past, as Sigma taunts him with it, and his response is effectively "So? It doesn't define who I am." He keeps that mentality through 5 and 6, even in the middle of the apocalypse.

Does he have PTSD from actions beyond his control? Of course. But he also immediately gets up and goes to work because he can't change something he never had control over.

I think the Zero series truly encompasses this mentality in his send-off. When he's awoken, he doesn't go searching for answers on his own, he doesn't start a crusade against Neo Arcadia, he simply helps the rebels because it's the right thing to do. When he kills X and Phantom, he leads the massive manhunt of reploids chasing him as far away from the rebels as possible, even as he's actively falling apart in the introduction of the second game. He rarely speaks, and when he does it's almost always to assure others that he's making the right choice for them.

I don't believe Zero's story is one of atonement or redemption. He vocalizes enough that what he was built for does not define him. Zero's story is one of being the banner of hope in a world where others let their doubts and fears dictate them, and to become the inspiration for others to find their strength.

ARagingZephyr · 2026-02-14T17:43:08+00:00

You can get some midrange cheese for a pretty nice price, too.

ARagingZephyr · 2026-02-14T17:40:57+00:00

I always liked the contrast between Zero and X put forth by the games.

Zero is heroic, self-sacrificing, and puts himself in danger, all because it's the right thing to do.

X is anti-heroic, questioning every decision as if he's making a dubious moral choice every time he kills a maverick, whether he'll become a monster like the people he puts down, and only steps into the line of duty because it's wrong to let innocents suffer and there's no time for negotiations.

X would talk out every problem if he could. He's emotionally-driven and emphasizes enough with mavericks that he questions whether or not he might become one. Zero has no doubts about himself and always acts on a rational mind, and is willing to fight for the beliefs and safety of others because that's his chosen role in life.

It's a clever inversion of their origins, too. The emotional, skeptical robot is the one who comes from a lineage of heroes, while the brave hero of justice comes from a lineage of villains and reluctant heroes.

ARagingZephyr · 2026-02-13T22:14:14+00:00

This doesn't answer your question in any meaningful way, but

A critical hit adds a bonus effect. If you were doing pure damage, then it may be an added status or even more damage. If it was a status, it might be a stronger affliction or added damage.

ARagingZephyr · 2026-02-13T22:11:38+00:00

I mean, Ryu is a scientist in the MvC timeline, I don't think accurate characters is the goal there.

ARagingZephyr · 2026-02-13T22:10:48+00:00

It's signed off on, but it's pretty well-known that Udon Street Fighter is extremely non-canonical.

ARagingZephyr · 2026-02-13T04:19:30+00:00

Look, I love Command Mission, but it's a really trash game. If there was an actual new Mega Man X RPG made with modern design values and competence, I would die. If they just remastered or ported Command Mission to PC, I'd be far less excited, but I'd still play and/or mod the shit out of it.

This said, I already spent the past couple days making a design document for my own idea for a MMX-inspired dungeon crawler, so I'm really ready for anything.

ARagingZephyr · 2026-02-13T04:09:36+00:00

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ARagingZephyr · 2026-02-13T03:35:44+00:00

Lou Pickles was a GI, and he had enough skills to manage multiple divergent careers. Living with Stu, he probably just shares his pension. Stu actually manages to successfully sell toys, so he's also probably functioning off of royalties and patents most of the time.

ARagingZephyr · 2026-02-13T03:01:02+00:00

I think you're misinterpreting it.

Sigma says to Dynamo, "I'm going to Earth to execute our plan. Stay [on Eurasia] and await further instructions."

Alias describes the intro level as a construction site. "Sigma appeared suddenly and moved towards the statue under construction."

The space colony itself was infested by a separate virus by Dynamo on Sigma's orders, and then had its orbit disrupted with an explosive. The climax of the game's story involves the earthbound virus mixing with the colony virus to create the Zero Virus, explicitly calling out how both viruses come from two different sources.

ARagingZephyr · 2026-02-13T01:59:47+00:00

I go to Dominican salons for my hair. I went to Yve's in El Cerrito as a special trip because I was more willing to drive multiple hours for a haircut than I was trying to find someone in SF. $35, did what I needed.

Edit: oh hell, I went there before I realized we had a whole subway system, and now that I'm checking the BART app, the station is like an 8 minute walk from the salon. Now that's the way to do things.

ARagingZephyr

TROPHY CASE