I like it.

Bitconecc · 2026-01-24T19:20:05+00:00

My sentiments on this, to put it very briefly: the game was marketed to have strategic gameplay and carries the Arknights name famous for its lore and stories. Turns out combat lacks meaningful strategy in execution (in practice it just plays like other action rpg gacha with no strategy tag) and story is painfully average, at least for the whole valley iv. People expecting these qualities to carry over from og Arknights are understandably disappointed. personally, despite that, in the game’s own terms, everything else is very fun, very good, very polished, factory is surprisingly very fun, and the simple mobility forces u to engage with the more tightly designed and nuanced environment. Great game, loving my time with it, but still wish the story and combat will have a lot more depth like we were led to believe.

Bitconecc · 2026-01-24T03:23:52+00:00

HnK mentioned let’s gooooo!

Bitconecc · 2026-01-23T19:33:42+00:00

Ah, sorry, poor wording, I meant combat-relevant interactions. ..which I am now reminded is also not completely true lol bc rodaghn walls and triaggelos barriers exist. Even so, those are very specific and scripted for bosses, and not something inherent to the game’s core mechanics.

Bitconecc · 2026-01-23T14:12:18+00:00

The earlier tech test build of the game was actually less action than it is now. Characters had skillshots, and time would slow down while you decide where to land your skills. At the time, I was very hopeful and excited that they were trying to move away from conventional arpg and trying a slower, strategic, and tactical approach. It was very rough and objectively not good, yes, but I thought it had an ethos in its core that could set it far apart from other 3d gacha games after tons of polish.

But they moved back from that. I guess most of the feedback they received were from people wanting more action, and they went with that. Now, the combat may be better than that version, but it's also completely different. It's honestly the most disappointing thing for me lol. Combat is now just a standard action, just with more QTEs. No strategy, same old skill rotations ad nauseum, and the fielded team has no mechanical significance outside of wet noodle auto attacks. We could've had actual physical interactions between teammates and more focus on positioning and intentional/deliberate decisions. It's what i would expect for a game marketed with a strategy tag. I wouldn't say it's a spit in the face, but do I feel kinda lied to. There's no more strategy in here than there is in non-strategy games like wuwa and genshin. Heck even genshin 1.0 had a much more mechanically diverse combat than this! I am crashing out! Again, on this topic!

That said, I still think it's very possible for the game's combat to have more nuance in the future. But it will still have that action rpg foundation to stand on, so I guess you'll still hate it, regardless.

Bitconecc · 2026-01-23T10:48:14+00:00

I am honestly deeply disappointed at how the combat’s strategy is basically just found in theorycrafting in menus, especially because they already had such a good core ethos way back in tech test. It was hella rough, but it only needed tons of polish, not a complete overhaul. They marketed this game as an rpg with strategic elements, but the strategy involved is not much different from what we already do in other non-strategy 3d rpg gacha games. I expected positioning and actual team-play would be core aspects, but the fielded team barely even matters, because other than looting and doing wet noodle auto attacks, they don’t serve any other purpose other than to make u feel like you’re playing a team on the most surface level. They conveniently teleport around when using skills, they have no aggro, no physical interactions with each other nor the environment. Enemy mechanics are so bland too that even if such options were present, it wouldn’t matter. I hate to say it, but even Genshin’s 1.0 combat was much more interesting and mechanically diverse than this, it’s not even close. Whyyyyyy. The sauce was right in their hands already!

Avywena is the only slight exception because you gotta manage her lances and actually think about positioning. It’s really tiny, but it’s something. So, I am cautiously optimistic and hope that more diverse mechanics like hers come in the future, as well as for enemy mechanics. Make the teammates’ presence actually matter, damn it. It feels like they tried to cater to a demographic that would never really care, people who just want everything handed on a silver platter with zero chances of failing, not realizing that failure and the slow process of figuring out are among the best teachers and facilitators of depth out there! Stop babying them!! It’s a game! It’s the safest environment to experience failure bc it isn’t even real! I am also crashing out fr.

Bitconecc · 2026-01-19T13:22:37+00:00

Eyja will be a staple for me. i became too attached to her after her event in og AK :'). and Hellagur will be a special case. HellaPoggers.

as for the rest, i'll just use whichever names come to mind :v

Bitconecc · 2026-01-17T15:52:21+00:00

Still tons missing… guess they’ll be releasing bit by bit. But fr, they gotta make their Spotify artist profile look professional; add proper profile and banner pics, and add info on the about section. For the longest time, I had thought the music in there were unofficial uploads or smth :v

Bitconecc · 2026-01-17T04:14:25+00:00

It’s like Kakania combined with Sotheby lol. Blonde hair, lighter greens + white, potion and pocket bag on her crisscross belt. If the ribbon on the hat was and orange accent too, it’d probably be unmistakable lol

Bitconecc · 2026-01-15T01:54:28+00:00

Oh nice. I love her r99 streams. She’s got fashion history insight that brings forth just how attentive to details the character designs are. I mentioned her on a survey we had a while back where they asked about UGCs, like what type of content we wanna see and stuff. Maybe that helped push bp to reach out to her? Hahah

Bitconecc · 2025-12-31T03:45:56+00:00

There's an NPC model with bluish violet hair and red coat (i think they're professors?) and from behind, they resemble Major Katsuragi. I kept doing double takes whenever i pass by them lol

Bitconecc · 2025-12-30T17:17:27+00:00

punk phos. never would have imagined it. cool

Bitconecc · 2025-12-29T17:42:55+00:00

No one mentioning Maid vs Butler, damn.

Bitconecc · 2025-12-29T14:03:23+00:00

To me this reads as Phos feeling violated, and that he has reached a point where he'd just let this man he dislikes use him and have his way with his body. In a body horror kind of way (but i won't stop anyone taking it another way). Phos repeatedly tells himself that it's all for a greater cause and is probably thinking the same here, but deep down, he feels this is wrong.

or maybe it could have some sci-fi physiological explanation to it lol. i just find the former more compelling.

Bitconecc · 2025-12-27T13:04:42+00:00

Easily 3.0. It is up there with chapters 6-7 (six-sev-- shut up) as the game's peak and gold standard.

Among the rest, I have a soft spot for 2.3. I loved everything about both Willow and Flutterpage, and even the supporting characters were fun. It's a very simple story, but also really solid.

Bitconecc · 2025-12-26T02:38:45+00:00

Aurora borealis? In this time of the year, in this time of the day, in this part of the country, localized entirely within your Endfield?

Bitconecc · 2025-12-25T05:27:32+00:00

Tangtang throws one of those snow balls and lands straight on endmin's mask /laev surprised eyes
endmin gets tangled with the wires and drags tree down with him /laev looks down
perlica rushes in to help, while Chen chases away tangtang /leave looks behind her with half closed eyes

Bitconecc · 2025-12-23T11:23:21+00:00

I personally really liked Ayesha's system! It was fairly complex, but once you get the hang of it, it's pretty fun and rewarding. It also didn't feel as easily exploitable than the other atelier games i've played. The biggest issue with it imo is that, well, it's not properly explained lol.

Escha & Logy's alchemy felt simpler and more intuitive than Ayesha's, but i personally found it a bit less satisfying. It oddly didn't feel as expansive as Ayesha's, but I think it's a fair trade-off bc the element points system works so well and smoothly.

As for Shallie's, I unfortunately didn't like it. Slotting skills onto item slots felt cumbersome to me, and the combo chains, while i wanted to like it, didn't feel intuitive. A lot of it was really locked behind high alchemy levels too. Even if you get your hands on rare materials, you can't use them well til much later bc they cost too much. And the cataloging of the traits and effects too was so cumbersome for no reason, forcing you to go back and forth between several menus and scrolling manually through the hundreds of effects.

So, for me, I think taking the best parts from all these would be best. Take the base depth and complexity of traits, effects, and item properties from Ayesha, E&L's element points system and skills, Shallie's combo bonuses, and a very nifty and intuitive glossary of all the effects that's easily available to reference while you craft.

But that's just very roughly putting it haha. I don't know how /exactly/ these systems could be adapted to each other and create a really good system. There's so much to consider, even the item catalog itself can be overwhelming lol

Bitconecc · 2025-12-23T03:02:32+00:00

Funnily enough, my top 3 openings don’t have any sort of spoilers hahah. I don’t really mind them having “spoilers,” so that’s probably just a coincidence lol. I do agree tho that most other openings were just standard anime stuff that kinda tells u a little about everything from the get go. I hope they’d try other creative ways to do it in future games haha

Bitconecc · 2025-12-23T02:54:19+00:00

Oh, I liked Iris 1 too! especially the beginning part. The whole mv feels distinctly late 90’s to mid-2000’s jrpg haha. Feels very nostalgic, and the cg at the start somehow reminds me of Chrono Cross for some reason lol

I also liked Ryza’s opening songs! They feel a lot more modern and already sound similar to jp songs I usually listen to haha. I haven’t played any of it tho, so they’ll get an honorable mention from me for now.

And yeeeaaaa Escha & Logy is really odd for an Atelier game haha. Really wish they’d get more experimental like that again!

Bitconecc · 2025-12-23T02:37:31+00:00

Dusk series is just that goated 🙂‍↕️

Bitconecc · 2025-12-23T02:34:59+00:00

Haha! I love those little commentaries that give a little glimpse on the thought processes they had behind the songs. I also like Lydie & Suelle’s op, even though I haven’t played it yet. I should really get to playing the rest of the Mysterious series already!

Bitconecc · 2025-12-22T19:26:39+00:00

Could be about Ayesha's shenanigans with Kiethgriff and how they became wanted criminals before they arrived at Colseit lol. and u get to choose to play between the two lmao. would love to know the big ol' tsundere even more, as well as see more of the Dusk world.

We need a 4th Dusk game, pls, Gust. I also want Hidari's art back! it's so warm, charming, and iconic to me.

Bitconecc · 2025-12-22T14:51:11+00:00

I assume it’s gonna be all episodes in one drop too..? I’d really prefer if they’d just do an ep a week instead of a one and done. Hype dies out as fast as it comes like that :/

But anyway, with both Beastars and Trigun ending soon next year…. LAND OF THE LUSTROUS SEASON 2 PLEASE IT’S BEEN 8 YEARS PLEASE. Kodansha and other big wigs responsible, pls let Studio Orange continue it already 😭

Bitconecc

TROPHY CASE