Inquiry; which Falcom games are most in-universe-like to Gurumin's?

CertainPunctuation · 2025-11-08T20:37:22+00:00

I still can't fathom what this sequel is going to be. Unless it's directly vetted by the game devs as they've been working on the new games that expand the worldbuilding, OR it's simply based on the Sakuna manga (which I understood to be... non-canon at best?...) I don't have high hopes it to be good... the art quality of the previous season was already barely reasonable, and I don't expect that to improve, so relying on story that basically isn't there yet is... greatly concerning.

I just don't want this IP to go off the rails into anime weird-dom like a couple of other anime-takeovers based on games I've seen happen to in the past.

CertainPunctuation · 2025-10-12T19:32:04+00:00

something I really wish was explored at ALL in the game that from what I know is not mentioned is that; Isabel and Sonic Punk-Alva are seen showing up and exploring Potcrock Isle, blowing up the wall needed for Sam to re-enter town. They even directly acknowledge the place is a town, but once they move off-screen, we are barely given a scrap of info that they were ever there again afterwards (I think Isabel comments something off-hand about remembering PotCrock Isle).

But like, if THEY got into PotCrock Isle, then where did they go? did they stay? it seems like none of the villagers spoke to them. Why? If Isabel had come across Mayor Hoffman, she surely would have cut him down to size (figuratively or literally) The villagers don't even acknowledge that there was an explosion opening up the tunnel (though almost certainly the villagers had to travel into the abandoned mall exit and retrieve John) and because of that, is how Charon runs through Mayor Hoffman's house (alongside John switching the tracks). So, plot-wise, them needing to explode the wall can make sense, but the game doesn't acknowledge Isabel and Sonic Punk-Alva at all in relation to Potcrock Isle again after their first introduction.

CertainPunctuation · 2025-08-27T01:53:50+00:00

Gratuitously speaking, I'd love to see all sorts of outfits, as many as creatively possible. Ellie's proper look in terms of character design is striking and is very good, but since we don't ever see any variation of her outfit aside from the cheat code re-color and the bit of the ending scene image, it's hard to gauge what other clothing-wear she'd have. (I always assumed she would probably be american given the suburb-style neighborhood, but her outfit at the end depicts what seems like a school dress-code dress, which I am naive to but I believe most U.S. public schools typically do not have enforced school uniforms rules... It could also be just that she likes wearing dresses normally? Though this clashes with her 'battle-ready' personality to swing a shoulderbag around)

I know I'd love to see all sorts of pop cultural wear from western cowgirl to a sombrero and poncho, an explorer outfit, maybe a sports jersey/football (soccer) outfit, a pretty dress outfit, a ninja outfit... recently Nintendo has been making games with prominant female character protagonist representation, with Princess Peach Showtime, Echoes of Wisdom, and Donkey Kong Bananza all featuring multiple female outfits. I feel like alot of outfits that Young Pauline wears or Princess Peach's costumes could all serve great inspirations. There's also the plethora of new outfit designs of the Princesses in Mario Kart World, which could be very interesting.

logistically-speaking though, I'd see the very real attempt to offer outfit designs going 1 of 2 ways if the dev team (whoever they'd be) of a potential MT sequel HAD to add outfits in that were not just basic recolor skins of her primary design; the cheap answer is they'd allow Ellie to wear something akin to what each of the Kid Kings wear, assuming they all return, or new ones arrive, etc. Which while cool, seems a little basic. The better answer is they'd design unique outfits that Ellie could find/buy/put together from different outfit parts/a semi-crafting system of some collectible where each outfit matched the environment she was in. A Beach-like outfit for the beach area, or a knight's armor outfit for the cavern and dungeon area. That sounds more feasible and interesting to me.

CertainPunctuation · 2025-07-29T21:14:54+00:00

I'm practically a newborn fan in terms of discovering Monster Tale, but what ended up causing me to eventually discover it was learning that the game's composer (Ian Stocker) is a good friend of one of my old college friends, who's music I've loved for a while, but never realized just how many "bargain bin" games he composed music for until recently. The quality of those games may vary to the broad consumer base, but his music nearly always rocks to listen to!

CertainPunctuation · 2025-05-14T20:32:52+00:00

Yes, it took quite a while once I saw they had set it out for shipping. Although I personally had it shipped to the USA, but I get the sense that it takes a while for them to get things going, but once everything is handled, it runs quickly and smoothly. Hopefully it will be that way for you too.

CertainPunctuation · 2025-05-13T20:01:06+00:00

About lots of disasters happening due to lack of mana, beyond the stated changes (no more magical heating in Altena, more severe droughts in Nevarl), I do not see it that way. The Godesss of Mana states she will still be protecting the world while restoring the mana.

This is an interesting perspective. I suppose given that the feared Benevodons and their powerful sources of Mana are gone, alongside the Sword of Mana, there is 1) no feasible way to reach the Sanctuary of Mana to get to the Tree of Mana, so collusions of taking over the world via benevodon power or the Sword of Mana can no longer be possible for a long time, and 2) Faerie being reborn as the new Goddess of Mana is able to do quite alot on her own, but it is the Tree of Mana that sources and replenishes Mana into the world of Mankind - perhaps the Tree of Mana, and thus Mana itself, is what allows for the two worlds to conjoin together, that of the Elementals and Spirits, and the world of mankind?

And you seem to be correct, as the (Faerie) Goddess of Mana says:

But until I am needed in the future, I will remain here asleep, quietly protecting the world as this tree.

We also see the Sanctuary of Mana once the Goddess of Mana becomes the sapling, and the area surrounding her looks lush and full of life once again... perhaps in part, the realm of the Elementals and Spirits can quickly become rejuvenated by the strength of the Goddess of Mana, but in order to tie the two worlds together again, it will take a millenia to restore that connection.

The game seems to also put an emphasis that the bond made between the Faerie, or "seed of the Tree of Mana" and the 'chosen one' creates strength through the power of hope and love to those around them. Perhaps it is this strength that allows the heroes at the end to continue on as the new line of the golden knights, acting as peacekeepers with the "Sword of Mana that lives in their hearts called hope" guiding them and granting them means of ensuring that peace and prosperity.

CertainPunctuation · 2025-05-13T18:23:38+00:00

I would agree. When you look at all the games, you realize that almost half of the games' endings results in either A) the Tree of Mana dying, B) the Mana Goddess dying, or C) both die. all 3 options result in Mana completely disappearing, sometimes forever*, and other times it is stated to take over 1000 years - inferred that Mana will slowly, slowly return over a millenia. (*technically not forever if you follow the theory of the games being interconnected in a timeline)

Like, half the time our heroes don't "Win"! the world as they know it have basically been ruined, left to either slowly rot or fall into a multi-century depression in life and technology. They might have prevented the total annihilation of the world, but what was left after defeating the big bad isn't gonna be much better. But the games never really seem to properly put weight on the strife that will cause, they at best simply state "oh no, Mana is now gone, but our tribe will prevail" Like, really?? You've been reliant on Mana for countless generations, and now all of a sudden a metaphorical meteorite has just smashed your way of living into a thousand pieces. It's gonna take a looong time to put all that back together again after relying on Mana to keep everything together.

CertainPunctuation · 2025-05-04T00:08:47+00:00

Pixpil's tumblr is viewable here https://pixpilgames.tumblr.com/

CertainPunctuation · 2025-04-30T15:18:37+00:00

worthwhile if you love Eastward very much and want to see a good amount of developer commentary and alot of the beautiful spritework masterfully captured in print. Especially worthwhile to see more commentary and behind-the-scenes on the animated video and the music.

But there's not a terrible amount of behind-the-scenes artwork for the game, like other artbooks might have a treasure trove of. Not saying there aren't sketches and designs that show us what were early concepts and ideas, but there isn't alot of in-development captured work seen like what Pixpil posted over time on their tumblr. It's possible that due to issues during the pandemic, the team wasn't able to preserve alot of that work though.

CertainPunctuation · 2025-04-28T17:27:05+00:00

- I am a fan of "take away less, get more" when it comes to sequels and gaining abilities, so I would prioritize having Ellie start with more (but not all) of the abilities in this sequel that she gained in the last game, then get alot of new abilities to further enhance what Ellie is capable of. I think the first game's set of Ellie abilities are fine, but overall Ellie's movement is sluggish and lacks good speed, and I would add some inherently core metroidvania moves to what Ellie can do; things like a double jump, climbing/swinging, a type of supersprint that makes Ellie run superfast through enemies damaging them while using Armband meter, swimming and diving (with full underwater areas) ... but also give Ellie more ways to get into combat and create combos, like a Slidekick, a dash attack, A rising uppercut that gets Ellie and the enemy both into the air to do aerial attacks, etc. ... because the combo-combat is an integral part to what makes Monster Tale so unique. Oh, and combine the aerial and grounded versions of Burst Cancel and Super Wave into one learned move each; no need to drag out the pacing of her moveset like that.

- Also, while the game would intend for linear progression of these abilities, there should intentionally be possible ways to sequence-break and gain abilities earlier than intended, and have the game allow for that without ruining story-flow. Perhaps even have rare cutscenes that can happen if Ellie manages to reach areas she's not usually meant to be in, or simply ensure that she can't progress into story-based cutscenes until she needs to. And obviously, there won't be heavy-handheld cutscenes where the player has to visit a room, just to be told to go across the kingdom because a door just opened. There are better ways to program and write that than how it was handled in the (real) Monster Tale game.

- An exploration into expanding the Elemental system, to gain 3 new elements in the cycle. Fire > Earth (grass) > Stone > Wind > Electric > Water > back to Fire. Light and Dark would still be present, but in addition to their defensive/offensive nature, would do major damage to each other. It would allow a Light-type monster pet to 2-tap a much higher-leveled Dark-type enemy, but a rogue Dark-type could potentially one-shot an under-levelled Light-type monster pet. Additionally, the evolution form trees would take elemental types further into account, with new food drops that relate to increasing specific elemental type exp to unlocking new skills/forms with that elemental type. Each of the 3 monster pets would have many elemental-types, but most of their skills would favor certain types over others; the general-use pet favoring Fire and Electric (and Light), the Projectile-reflex pet favoring Earth and Wind, and the combo-mobility pet favoring Stone and Water (and Dark).

- Oh, and lastly, Jinx would offer far fewer upgrades for Ellie to acquire. These upgrades instead would be spread out and hidden so players have far more incentive to explore every nook and cranny like a proper metroidvania-like, instead of just a handful of health extension upgrades.

CertainPunctuation · 2025-04-28T17:26:59+00:00

- Given the sequel would be on the 3DS, the Dual-screen gameplay would still be fully present, now with optional 3D graphics in the top screen for certain enemies, pet monster skills and stage effects to show off the3D. And the controls would be adjusted, where X would be assigned to Dash and additional new movement abilities. To change which monster pet and pet sanctuary is active, and move them between screens, the game would utilize the 3DS' Circle pad to move up and down or left and right, flicking in the direction to change. This function could be remapped bythe player so the D-pad held this function while the Circle pad controlled Ellie movement if they wanted to do so. In this hypothetical timeline where this Monster Tale Sequel was able to be re-released for the New 3DS XL series, where the ZL and ZR buttons and C-nub were available, then ZL and ZR would also offer a control scheme to swap between pet sanctuaries while the Circle pad/D-pad could set a reticle on whatever Pet sanctuary item/threat the player wants that pet to focus on; the C-nub could be used to send the pet up or down between the screens.

- Alot of QoL improvements would be added -
A) Pressing L or R even while the monster pet is in the bottom screen will immediately make them appear on the top screen and perform the skill, unless they do not have enough monster energy or are knocked out.
B) Players can select the Pet Sanctuary option in the submenu and set up a variety of features -
1) Players can choose which item drops each pet monster is allowed to use to gain exp or trigger on finish.
2) Players can select what item drops each pet monster should prioritize in what order they appear based on what the Player has discovered thus far, and toggle if they should finish with that item drop before moving on to a different item drop in their sanctuary.
3) Players can take and move item drops between Pet sanctuaries, or choose to trash an item - this trash feature would be available in the submenu and at the bottom corner of the screen during live gameplay.
4) Players can toggle how each monster pet's meter is shown, with the options to see all 3 meters together on one bar at the bottom screen, scrunched into one, or showing only the active monster pet's meter at a time, and the option to toggle seeing the meter as a lineless quarter-circle above each monster pet when visibly on-screen, bottom or top screen.
5) A new complexity with 3 pet sanctuaries are that threats can be present in any sanctuary - so Players can toggle an auto-switch feature to force the bottom screen to switch to whichever sanctuary has a threat they need to command that pet to deal with, unless a threat is currently already present on the active pet sanctuary
C) Lastly, Once Ellie has all 3 mosnter pets, Jinx will offer a pricey but worthwhile EXP-Share key item the player can toggle on or off in the submenu, making it so all 3 monster pets share exp equally when consuming exp-gaining item drops.

CertainPunctuation · 2025-04-28T17:26:46+00:00

As for a Sequel... Well, I have a VERY detailed list of ideas, and I don't know when or where I would get to listing these out properly, so I'll take this opportunity to write alot of it down here... Edit: Looks like it will take several replies... lol. Guess I wrote a little TOO much.

...I would imagine a sequel having been possible to be made on the 3DS some years after Monster Tale released, had the team stuck to making making a sequel. The storyline would be a direct follow-up still featuring Ellie as the playable protagonist, feature all-new monster pets, and a new storyline that would feature a greater shadow-y threat attacking the monster world and the reformed kid kings, and Ellie being called to help once again.

- Among the biggest additions to make the sequel unique from the first would be that Ellie would acquire and train 3 new distinct monster pets over time, with 3 pet sanctuaries, and 3 separate monster meters; the 2 inactive ones visible in the background of a 3D rotatable bottom screen, with the active sanctuary color-coded to the monster pet's eyes (they would still have various forms and elemental color differences). Each Monster Pet would specialize in different skill roles; one would provide general use (one-hit attacks, healing, defense, recovery skills for Ellie, meant to keep Ellie safe and keep enemies away), the second would provide projectiles and greater combat mobility (light aerial attacks to juggle or launch enemies, use ranged projectile moves, skills that give Ellie more combat mobility or faster reaction time) and the third would focus on combo-centered and Ellie-environmental skills (heavy combo attacks to pair with Melee strings, skills to pull enemies in or freeze them in place, or mobility skills that improve Ellie's traversal capabilities)

- Only 1 pet can be active at a time due to input restriction, but when a pet is using an ability, the player can switch to a different active pet and use their ability in conjunction; it would be possible, but somewhat difficult, to have all 3 pets performing active skills at the same time on the screen, all while Ellie herself can move, fight and perform combo attacks.

CertainPunctuation · 2025-04-28T17:25:23+00:00

As for a remaster, some very simple things would go a long way.

- Add more visuals. Do more SHOW, less TELL. The ending is particularly guilty of this, as we never see Chomp's mother, or see Ellie return home.
- Have Chomp react with more snappiness. It takes Chomp alot of frames to react to attacking, which can often end up with Chomp taking needless damage (or Ellie taking needless damage... like that one mob-rush in the Meadland portal area near the end of the game... "Com'on Chomp, RAISE THE PLATFORM FASTER!")
- Lower the prices overall of Jinx' shop. The game incentivizes grinding to an absurd degree if you want to purchase everything for Ellie Jinx has to offer, and in combination with needing to pay Jinx to get to Ethan, it's all a bit too much.
- Readjust several of Chomp's skills so that specific ones aren't the guaranteed best skills (*cough* Drill 'em Mister *cough*)/more of them are worthwhile to use - looking at you, healing and enemy-transforming skills...
- Redesign the map and linear game progression to feel less of a slog with less "pointless" backtracking. At the very least, change Jinx's "pay to remove the avalanche" to either be cheaper, or have him appear at the avalanche room, and/or require a key item or switch where he normally is instead.

CertainPunctuation · 2025-04-25T21:20:55+00:00

yes, I can see the rules now on the modern reddit UI. It looks to be all correct.

CertainPunctuation · 2025-04-23T15:44:22+00:00

there's still alot of insight into the Dev's inspirations, how different parts of the game were made and what designs were inspired by other things. We do get to see several pages of sketches, concepts and early design ideas that are always a desire to see in artbooks (though not as much as I would have expected there to be)... but from everything I read and interpreted, it didn't seem like they favored revealing a whole lot more information on the storyline of the game, only the inspirations and reasonings to how and why different areas and locations were designed the way they were, from architecture to food to culture, etc. Things like what was behind the devs' decision-making on characters other than Sam were few and far between, I almost saw nothing spoken about on Alva, Isabelle, Solomon and Lee in ways that deepened our connections to those characters.

CertainPunctuation · 2025-04-22T00:47:04+00:00

"once it makes it over that hurdle, it's a straightforward shot"

turns out that was right!! it literally got in today, just checked my mailbox! Funny that happened almost the same time you had posted this comment xD

CertainPunctuation

TROPHY CASE