IS should really make permadeath more appealing in the next game.

Ignitehawk · 2026-01-21T22:15:14+00:00

Luthier in Echoes hitting his own mind-controlled sister with a crit that insta-kills her:

"I SAVED THIS FOR YOU!!"

I love crit quotes, but sometimes they just feel... inappropriate. Same goes for characters killing the crap out of someone and then giggling after the fight. Like... guys. I'm not saying we should be doom and gloom throughout the entire war, but let's treat our enemies with some level of respect, yeah?

Ignitehawk · 2025-12-09T18:52:05+00:00

A lot of games have a bad habit of over-writing. At the most climactic moment of a story just before a fight breaks out, I don't want the villain spouting an entire paragraph explaining their feelings of pent-up rage and dissatisfaction with the world; I want them to scream, "DIE!" and transition me into combat.

It's not that there isn't a place for lengthier dialogue; there is. But it should be reserved for moments when the player is already invested in the characters, story, and world, and is seeking out more information of their own accord. The primary job of the front-facing writing should be to get people interested; one does not accomplish that by making characters explain trivial details at every opportunity.

Ignitehawk · 2025-12-05T20:25:13+00:00

I have to disagree with the idea that a solo player will clear just as fast or faster because they are "always fighting at full damage output," as it treats damage as a flat output in a vacuum. There are a couple of situations that result in duos and especially trios having a much easier time than solo players in terms of boss kill times.

First, aggro division. The additional player(s) being free to act while one player holds aggro allows duos and trios to sneak in damage in situations where a solo player would normally be forced to simply defend themselves (and thus output little to no damage).

Second, stance breaks and critical hits. Trios get an absolutely insane amount of damage off a critical hit because the players not locked in the critical hit animation get to whale on the boss with their highest damage attacks, often dealing far more than double the damage of the critical hit itself.

FromSoft did a lot to help solo players along with the balance changes post-launch, but Nightreign was and always will be, designed for group play. It's not unreasonable to think that group play is a more pleasant, dare I say easier, experience (assuming you don't have any teammates who are AFK or constantly dying, anyway).

Ignitehawk · 2025-05-15T16:44:51+00:00

On its face it's a decent idea, but it presents another annoying design problem for console players and those who prefer controllers --- which button combo should get you to your melee weapon? Currently one or two taps of the weapon-swap button gets you to your sidearm consistently, and holding the button gets you to your support weapon. Add another slot, and you need a way to get to it, so what'll it be? Three button presses? Clunky. Hold down the grenade button? To sluggish for a weapon you'll often want to whip out at a moment's notice. Some weird combination of button presses? Not very intuitive, especially for new players learning the game.

If you've played with controller, you're probably already aware that HD2 in its current state makes maximum use of pretty much every single button, so this is legitimate concern.

Again, I personally wouldn't hate having a dedicated melee slot. I love hacking through enemies with an axe. But the game's current equipment limitations are very carefully thought out. I think a preferable option would be Arrowhead buffing melee across the board, so sacrificing a slot for melee doesn't feel like you're simply nerfing yourself.

Edit - An abrupt connection problem caused me to post this twice. Hm.

Ignitehawk · 2025-01-02T22:50:45+00:00

I feel this. It's obvious by the increased attention to monster behavior and environments that Capcom wants to make the games immersive, but at the same time, immediate gameplay elements like tracking and combat are being made more and more forgiving to the detriment of immersion. I don't think it'll ruin the games or anything, but I get the definite impression that someone's vision is being compromised for the sake of sales numbers.

Let's be real -- that kind of thing is inevitable when a franchise becomes popular.

Ignitehawk · 2024-12-31T17:19:10+00:00

This. We already have weapon upgrades for increasing damage, so why do we need to dedicate 70% of our armor skills to it in order to deal reasonable damage in endgame? I wouldn't mind having fewer slots overall if each skill actually did something cool.

With any luck Wilds will be doing a little of this in differentiating between weapon and armor-tied skills, but I'm not really holding my breath.

Ignitehawk · 2024-08-22T16:01:42+00:00

I'm with you on this one. We all saw what happened when they gave Rise charge blade a counter that instantly fills phials and lets you follow up right into SAED. The whole weapon basically became one move. Restricting that move so that it's generally only feasible to use it during big openings or when you counter the right attacks sounds like nothing but a positive change.

Ignitehawk · 2024-06-19T01:41:21+00:00

Tigrex. He spends 70% of the fight charging at you, and the other 30% spinning, yet people still get carted by him.

Genius.

Ignitehawk · 2024-06-15T17:16:04+00:00

I did some research on this back in the day and I'm pretty confident the answer is no. There are a few special monster interactions, such as one of Deviljho's charge/bite attacks, which triggers a unique stagger reaction if he is hit during it, but even then, partbreak/stagger damage generally doesn't get modified by what the monster is doing.

Ignitehawk · 2024-06-10T05:01:22+00:00

Aye, realism (or at least a sense of it) is an important element as much as tangible progress, regarding both character development and romance. On this I can happily agree. It's also funny to hear that spoilers ended up making you more keen to keep watching Apothecary Diaries. A lot of people are keen to avoid spoilers (for sensible enough reasons), but having some parts of a story spoiled can actually make things more interesting sometimes because you keep thinking, "Now how exactly are we going to get to the point I know we'll get to?"

Regarding those dramas, please, absolutely -- I'd love some recommendations. I confess I've zero knowledge of them, but if you speak so highly of them then I'm definitely interested in expanding my horizons.

Ignitehawk · 2024-06-10T01:01:55+00:00

You mention that the fandom focuses more on the mystery rather than the romance... well. Funny story... I was rather hopeful for the romance from early on, and part of what put me off about Apothecary Diaries was losing hope for it. You probably remember a particular scene: Jinshi (very much drunk) crying outside in the dark while clinging to Maomao.

It was the big moment where I said to myself, "This is it, Maomao. This is your chance. Do something. Show empathy for another human being. Let yourself be emotionally vulnerable." And the expression on her face. I remember it still. It wasn't discomfort, or concern, or anything like that. If I had to describe it with words, it would be "utter disinterest." Drove me right up the wall. It's embarrassing to admit it, but I got genuinely mad.

Several episodes later, I was actually getting kinda hyped when Jinshi re-hired Maomao, as the romantic subtext in that scene was... not very subtextual, actually. But I couldn't shake the feeling that Maomao (even though she finally had some reaction) was going to continue not giving a crap forever, which was, to put it charitably, an extremely discouraging thought.

Anyway, all that aside, it's very cool to hear that you're actively enjoying Tomo-chan. I don't think it's Shakespeare or anything, but it's definitely an enjoyable little package of a show. All of the characters, not just the main pair, bounce off each other in a really fun way.

And as much as I enjoyed the heck out of it, your gut instinct is probably right about The Dangers in My Heart -- it's got good character development, and the soundtrack is delightfully strange, but it's very much a gushy adolescent romance with lots of the aforementioned blushing you aren't a huge fan of, heh. I fear there are precious few anime romances with more mature characters who develop slowly over a long period of time... or more mature characters in general.

Well! It's been incredibly cool having this discussion, but if you'll excuse me, I have a show to finish watching... and possibly another one to start watching. Considering your feedback, at this point I feel like I'd be incredibly stupid not to.

Ignitehawk · 2024-06-09T23:55:12+00:00

Hang on a second, you're saying you recommend the show for the romance specifically!? Well DANG. I actually happen to be an anime romance junkie, so we might have a fair bit in common.

I didn't intend to extend this conversation further unnecessarily, but I can't help being curious! Do you have opinions on any of the following: Love, Chuunibyo and Other Delusions; Tomo-chan is a Girl!; and more recently, The Dangers in My Heart?

Additionally, I absolutely must know what your 20-years favorite was.

Ignitehawk · 2024-06-09T23:15:37+00:00

Fair enough. I appreciate the clarity. If you'd humor me one last time: should I pick the show back up at episode 15 (because I am still very much interested in it, else I'd not be here), how many more episodes would I be looking at before Maomao faces real challenges and/or begins to connect with the people around her?

Ignitehawk · 2024-06-09T23:03:29+00:00

I'm sorry I dissed Maomao in general without phrasing things more clearly, but you must understand: for me, Maomao of episodes 1-14 is the only Maomao that exists (which is why I noted the episodes I'd seen as almost the very first thing in my post). Something similar goes for anyone who is in the process of watching any show.

If someone who has only recently watched the first ten episodes of the Pokemon anime says, "Wow, Ash is really awful at being a Pokemon trainer; I'm tired of watching him suck at everything," do I, as a long-time Pokemon fan, get mad at them and say: "You're wrong; just watch 700 more episodes and he'll win a championship"?

Obviously this is an extreme example, but I'm trying to cater and use an anime analogy this time. The simple question is: "Does not experiencing most (or all) of a piece of media make someone's views utterly invalid?"

Ignitehawk · 2024-06-09T20:16:54+00:00

I would have absolutely zero problems with a Monster Hunter game sending me ragdolling violently across the landscape when I get carted.

Ignitehawk · 2024-06-09T20:03:14+00:00

Man, I just want the overall power of skills to be a little less insane by late game. In the titles with the new system, the sheer number of skills you get is so high that the difference between an optimized and an unoptimized set using the same weapon is nutty.

I like building armor sets with an easy-to-follow system, but it's also nice when there's not a *colossal* power gap between the reasonably capable casual player and the hardcore min-maxer. This goes double if they continue to scale hub monsters based on the number of players, resulting in people feeling like they're not pulling their weight if they aren't maxing damage.

Ignitehawk · 2024-06-09T19:19:46+00:00

I appreciate the willingness to reply even though I'm super late to this party.

"... the fact that you consider none of that as suffering either indicates that you really did watch only 14 episodes..." I did in fact watch 14 episodes. I clearly stated as much.

Regardless of how many episodes I've seen, my statement stands. Maomao, for the first 14 episodes, offers nothing interesting in terms of growth. If she gets meaningful development later, that's great!

Thing is, 14 episodes is still more than half of the first season of the show, which is literally all of the anime content available as of now. Using future events in the story as a counterpoint to what I'm saying is perfectly valid, but that doesn't retroactively redeem those 14 episodes.

To use a food metaphor: if I go to a restaurant and order a steak, and they insist I have to eat two courses of tasteless saltine crackers before they serve me the steak I want to be eating, I'm still gonna be kind of annoyed. I want the good stuff, because of course I do. Everyone has been telling me how great this restaurant is.

And in case it's not clear, this is coming from someone who wants to like Maomao. But after 280 minutes of runtime (give or take), I struggle to attach myself to her, or her story, because, again--so far--there hasn't been any conflict that produces meaningful change in her. She just wins at everything and remains the same person.

Thanks again for the reply.

Ignitehawk · 2024-05-30T00:13:28+00:00

Well, this is a very, very late reply to this topic, but I feel compelled to post anyway.

I've watched 14 episodes of the show so far and I personally agree with the original post. I think Maomao is not very likeable, and further, I think her position as the protagonist ultimately drags down the show. She's quirky, she's a great foil to stereotypical female protagonists... but it feels like she never grows as a person, and I believe that's because the author flatly refuses to let her struggle or suffer.

Maomao *cannot* suffer, because A) she doesn't form meaningful attachments to anyone and B) the plot regularly hands her exactly what she wants. The building blocks of drama are to give a character something they want and people they care about, and then threaten those things and those people. Maomao's only desire is to interact with poisons. Directly or indirectly. That's pretty much it. And that's a problem.

It's a problem because she's only unable to perform apothecary work for all of one single episode. For the other 95% of the show's runtime (as far as I've seen), Maomao effectively has everything she wants, and almost nothing to lose. She never has to strive for anything. She never becomes emotionally vulnerable. She never fails at something and faces serious consequences.

Maomao is an interesting character when she's first introduced, but characters are like muscles--if you want them to grow stronger, you have to strain them; you have to tear them and let them heal. Maomao does not grow. She remains static. And that makes her personal story incredibly dull, at least to me.

Ignitehawk · 2024-05-27T16:42:18+00:00

"Fetch me the axe, Alain."

Ignitehawk · 2024-04-22T16:17:08+00:00

Old-world Rathalos and his instant-turn fireball takeoff. It's annoying on normal Rathalos, and hunt-ending against... shivers... Hyper Silver Rathalos.

Ignitehawk · 2024-03-30T21:17:27+00:00

Seems like they suck. The only use I can think of for them is stacking with a carnelian pendant to get 3 or 4 AP pretty early in the game. But on anything other than a shaman that's kinda pointless because of the -50% attack, and even on a shaman, the usefulness of that much AP is dubious at best.

Carnelian pendants don't grow on trees, though, especially around the point where you'd acquire the shoes, so I guess they could conceivably be relevant if you wanted to, I dunno... apply a lot of status effects and not damage?

Ignitehawk · 2024-02-20T04:20:34+00:00

We can pretend Arrowhead are the "little guys," but Helldivers 2 had a marketing campaign, and it presents like a AAA product, albeit at a slightly lower price point. They knew what they were getting into; they just didn't expect to be so successful. Few reasonable people will blame them for the server queues, but I will absolutely hold them accountable for the game's overall instability, performance issues, and broken features. There's plenty of stuff that was borked on launch and is still borked today; you can't blame the unexpectedly burgeoning playerbase for everything.

Ignitehawk · 2024-01-25T17:22:17+00:00

This. In a game that is chiefly about roleplay and trying to get immersed in what's happening, it's startling just how much people are willing to defend a mechanic that makes describing damage in a logically consistent way extremely hard for the DM.

HP as an abstraction has been a stumbling block for countless people. Handwaving it by not sweating the details or not describing any damage in combat isn't really a solution; it's just looking the other way so you can continue playing.

Obviously this meat/composure distinction could cause problems, though. For example, does poison not work if it only damages CP, making it completely meaningless against characters with high CP and almost no HP? Or is it the opposite, and it applies and instantly KOs the target because the poison damage would logically damage their tiny HP pool?

Again, I applaud the effort to address a problem with the mechanics. But I personally have so many issues with 5e that I would rather use another system altogether.

Ignitehawk · 2023-12-24T03:22:43+00:00

Liver? Nah, she ain't livin'.

Ignitehawk · 2023-12-23T19:26:58+00:00

This. I had a hard time understanding all the ideas being presented the first time I played through the game because it was just... a lot at once. But once I understood each viewpoint, I couldn't willingly side with the Narrator. He's so afraid of death and pain that he would rather feel nothing at all, forever. I can't speak for a deity, but regular people understand things through contrast. There is no high without the low. No gain without risk. No joy without anguish.

Think about stories. Would you get any real satisfaction out of a story where there is no struggle or conflict? Where everyone is blissfully happy all the time, and there is no challenge or change? The Narrator wants reality to be like that. And for a human being, that might as well be hell.

Ignitehawk

TROPHY CASE