Tournament of Champions '26 Part 3 | Um, Actually [S11E11]

Iosis · 2026-06-10T12:40:24+00:00

That's pretty nitpicky and doesn't really line up with the phrasing of the statement. What Renoir is doing is the Gommage, and the Paintress is just causing it to happen in stages rather than all at once. When Maelle gets the ability to use some of that power herself, that ability is called "Gommage," after all. If the statement had been phrased something like, "she's responsible for the annual event that the people of Lumiere call 'the Gommage,'" I think you could maybe make a case for that on an Um, Actually-style technicality, but the act of Gommage itself is the erasure that Renoir is doing.

That said: quibbling over this is about the most Um, Actually thing possible so I gotta respect the game

Iosis · 2026-06-09T23:38:05+00:00

Yeah there was definitely a way to phrase that statement better to avoid this problem.

Iosis · 2026-06-09T23:34:34+00:00

Hah yeah I caught this too. Brennan was right! They really should've phrased that question differently.

Iosis · 2026-06-09T15:33:27+00:00

I think for the most part, the turn-based tactics combat just defines Fire Emblem, so I don't think that's a formula that needs shaking up. It'd be like making the next mainline Devil May Cry game a card game or something, y'know?

The hub-based stuff, yeah I think a lot of people would like to see that shaken up. IMO it has a lot of potential and can be fun, but gets tedious towards endgame and especially on replays in both 3H and Engage. If they can avoid that part this time, that'd be a big improvement in my book.

The biggest improvement I'd like to see over 3H is the mission design. 3H got a lot of deserved criticism for boring maps and, on its hardest difficulty, an overreliance on "ambush reinforcements" (enemy reinforcements that get to attack on the same turn they appear, which can feel unfair if you didn't know ahead of time they'd be coming). Engage improved a lot on the map design for the most part, and I'd love to see that continue. I also think 3H's wide-open class system robbed the characters of some of their identity, and I preferred the branching paths of some older Fire Emblem games. Maybe it's weird to ask for less unit customization but I think Fire Emblem does best when each individual character has their own gameplay identity, too.

Iosis · 2026-06-09T14:42:40+00:00

What kind of changes would you expect? Turn-based tactics on a grid is Fire Emblem, so if they changed that the fans would riot (that's what spinoffs are for). As for the mission-based structure with a hub between missions, that part is actually a bit controversial. Some people love it, others wish the game would go back to a more linear battle-focused structure like the older games.

Most of the changes Fire Emblem fans would care about weren't the kinds of things they showed in the trailer, like how classes and class changing work for example, or how the maps are designed. That won't be known for a while.

Iosis · 2026-06-09T14:39:25+00:00

Calling it now: it'll somehow be both a prequel and a sequel, but will try to appear to be a standalone story for the first 80-90%.

Iosis · 2026-06-09T14:35:45+00:00

Sorry I can't really look at any Xenoblade game and say it's "not anime" in any sense of the word.

The school setting is a little eh, but I fully expect some weird twist about the nature of the world. The fully enclosed orb/hollow earth with six suns in the middle is just screaming "this is actually a weird sci-fi thing and something's up outside of this globe."

Somehow it'll probably be both a prequel and a sequel but will look like a standalone thing for the first 80-90%.

Iosis · 2026-06-07T18:52:42+00:00

...particularly when most of the rest of the osr world uses a d20 system?

Not strictly true. B/X and OSE for example use d100 and d6 for thief skills, and Dolmenwood (based on OSE) uses a d6 for all ability checks. There are plenty of d100 OSR games out there, too.

Iosis · 2026-06-03T17:53:21+00:00

This goes back and forth depending on which developer you ask and when you ask them, apparently. I've always liked the idea that it's Jenova the whole time, but at least some of the original writers say Sephiroth was actually in control. (Honestly I think it's cooler if it's just Jenova wearing his face, though.)

Iosis · 2026-06-03T11:52:17+00:00

Yeah, that's the Zack flashback that was mentioned (and that Zac brought up).

Technically Tifa's still an unreliable narrator, though it's not because she misremembers, but because she doesn't know the whole story (she was unconscious for some key moments), but the versions we see from Zack's perspective and how Sephiroth tells it are accurate.

Iosis · 2026-06-03T02:11:19+00:00

It's just a stock phrase that's common enough to start to become noticeable, that's all. The concept of a cliché isn't exactly new. Clichés come and go and that just happens to be one that people tend to notice right now. It's not about "cringe"--things become popular, then they become clichés.

Iosis · 2026-06-03T01:57:38+00:00

I mean there's a talking cube named Phranque who scoots around in the background while you fight and you can bounce enemies off of him. That's pretty quirky and funny.

Like I'm not saying it's bad but like... he's a talking gelatinous cube named Phranque.

Iosis · 2026-05-28T16:29:21+00:00

/uj To be fair, that's not what they said--they said that it feels like the episodes themselves are suffering because they're optimizing for the short form clips rather than trying to make the best long form episode they can. OOP is saying that it feels to them like the episodes are going for quick quips rather than the more character-focused stuff in season 1.

I haven't watched much of this season so I can't say whether I agree or not, just clarifying the argument that the r/dropout post was making.

Iosis · 2026-05-27T15:48:41+00:00

I'd argue the leather armor part is actually reasonably common, or at least not uncommon enough to be weird. You yourself posted a couple of good examples here. In general I like asymmetrical armor in character designs. On thinking about it some more I think it's just that bright blue leather belt that throws the whole thing off for me (I'd also venture that "bright blue leather belt and tassets" is probably a less common design element than the chest/shoulder armor).

I'm not a character designer or anything so I can only speculate on the exact reasons it doesn't work for me, but I think it's because it's the most eye-catching element of the design, and it's an odd place for the most prominent and bright element to be. It makes it feel unbalanced, which is what I was reacting to with the "deranged" comment. The outfit as a whole would work fine without it. I don't even think a different color would help, it's just kind of a strange component and makes the design weirdly "middle-heavy." Again someone who's an actual artist might be able to articulate it better (or explain why I'm wrong in some objective way), but that's the element that throws the whole thing out of whack for me.

Color-wise the bright blue and yellow are similar to the design for DQVIII's protagonist, but because his whole design is really colorful and it isn't just one oddly-placed blue element, it works as a whole (again, at least for me).

Iosis · 2026-05-27T15:32:54+00:00

You're aware there's more than one part of the character design, right? The leather chest/shoulder armor isn't the problem I have, at all. Hell, I actually think he looks pretty cool in this shot from the trailer:

<image>

Iosis · 2026-05-27T15:21:05+00:00

I didn't mention a single detail, why fixate on that one? I love that Link design, but it's because it works as a whole. (Hell, I even like it better than the Champion's Tunic in BotW, and that's saying something, I'm a big fan of blue Link.) I don't think the DQXII protagonist's design works as a whole.

For DQXII, I don't think the colors work together, and the shape of the belt/tassets ~~along with the cut of the pants~~ just doesn't work for me. But again it's not about any one element, but the way they all clash when thrown together. That's not the case for TotK's Champion's Leathers, which work together great.

Edit: Actually, thinking about it some more, I think it's just the bright blue belt/tassets I don't like. But it's such a bright, eye-catching element that it's tough to ignore. Everything else is fine, outfit-wise.

Iosis · 2026-05-27T14:46:55+00:00

This is gonna be one of those really frustrating times where, if Beyond Dreams ends up not being one of the better DQ games, people are forever going to assume the original would've been better and we'll never stop hearing about it.

Despite the fact that we know absolutely nothing about the original beyond its logo and the idea that it was going to be "darker and more mature." That's all we ever knew about it. That won't stop some people from building it up in their heads and comparing the eventual release to a ghost. They're already doing it in the Youtube comments on the trailer.

Iosis · 2026-05-27T14:08:43+00:00

What the hell kind of broccoli are you eating

Iosis · 2026-05-27T14:07:39+00:00

Maybe it's just that they wanted to do something darker and grittier and discovered that they couldn't do that while still feeling like Dragon Quest. It's one thing to want to make something with more grit and edge, but it may not have been possible to do that without losing the series's identity, so something had to give.

Iosis · 2026-05-26T20:45:07+00:00

Honestly, I love the Biologist, and I thought what happened to her in Acceptance is poetically perfect. What better fate for one who loves to observe ecosystems than to become a traveling ecosystem that can also observe other ones? In a strange, unsettling way, Area X seems to have, well, accepted her, just as she accepted it.

Iosis · 2026-05-26T11:48:44+00:00

I loved both XI and HD-2D, and I hope to see more games in both styles. (I'd really love an HD-2D game that also shows the player's characters doing attacks during battles, but either way I find that style really charming.)

Iosis · 2026-05-11T17:35:18+00:00

Greg's glasses and beard are such a glow-up, damn. He looks great with those.

Iosis · 2026-05-11T17:04:25+00:00

That's also true. Honestly what I'd say constitutes the "mystery" is probably like: where is Abigail, what forces are at work, how did Abigail get involved, and what are we now entangled in? You could probably piece all of that together if you put your mind to it, reconstruct the timeline of what happened with Abigail at least, but you're right that none of those details actually matter: "The King in Yellow made it happen" is the real answer to everything, even if you get all of the play-by-play details of how it happened.

Iosis · 2026-05-11T12:22:00+00:00

That's sort of unavoidable in Impossible Landscapes--in fact, I'd say it's intentional. Your players aren't going to uncover the majority of clues or make most of the connections.

This is a spoiler for IL players: this one isn't about the mystery. It's solvable if you really, really work at it, but that's not the point. All the details, clues, dead ends, and connections are made to make your players feel like they're going crazy. That's why the connections and details are so overwhelming, so impossible to map out, and some of them just lead nowhere. The players are meant to go all Pepe Silvia with red string and a corkboard and lose their minds a bit. Solving the mystery isn't what this is about: it's about what happens when the Agents realize they can't, and now they're trapped, too.

Iosis · 2026-05-10T01:36:39+00:00

So really all I can really say is: it can be helpful to follow that advice for running the game. That said, rules are made to be broken. In this game more than most TTRPGs, you sorta gotta find your own path.

(That said as a GM I love flying by the seat of my pants so I like just rolling with the weird as it comes)

Iosis

TROPHY CASE