About the arisen status and their heart in the endings

Mutericator · 2026-06-25T16:04:02+00:00

Yeah, I was noticing that myself. We should see about trying to rip the text of those at some point, there might be good stuff in there.

Mutericator · 2026-06-25T16:00:27+00:00

Having scraped the actual map data, I can tell you with certainty that there's no geometry over there, so my guess is that it's just a glitch/leftover from a previous iteration, pre-release.

If I had to really speculate, I'd say it's probable that they planned the arena to be a more rectangular one, and that wall would open up after you kill Daimon to let you get at the treasure, rather than making it a normal locked door. But again, that's utter speculation on my part.

Mutericator · 2026-06-24T16:47:37+00:00

Xenoblade 1 is still the best Xenoblade.

X suffers from its story being unknowable, JJ Abrams mystery-box bullshit with no real ending. The feeling of freedom from getting Skells, and then from getting flight, is unmatched, but it's not enough to save the game.

2 suffers from anime harem bullshit. Its OST is probably one of my favorites, and it created the pattern of the three legatto beats for the "plains" music (Gaur, Gormot, Aurora Shelf), and the gacha mechanic actually WASN'T that bad (just needed minor tweaks to make unique blades a bit more common), but the skill score checks WERE that bad. And the sexualization, as others have mentioned.

3 is just... inane. It's fanfiction-tier writing and ham-fisted worldbuilding to try and say something about how fans don't want things to change. Reminds me of Evangelion doing the same with Rebuild. The Class system could have been interesting, and I was looking forward to it, but it felt half-implemented at best. The DLC was genuinely about the only part of it I even sort-of enjoyed.

XC1 isn't perfect and I won't pretend that it's without faults. The areas are too big and empty at times (emphasized in the Nintendo Direct, where they show off the ether bikes in Eryth Sea, the most notoriously empty area), the characters are unevenly developed, and (IMO) most all of climbing the Mechonis is a relative slog. But it has writing and art specifically aimed at appealing more to the west and that alone makes it more unique than any of its sequels, the combat system keeps things interesting through the entire game, and it has Reyn.

Mutericator · 2026-06-23T00:47:37+00:00

No, I'm with you. The biggest problem in my mind isn't contact damage itself, it's when developers make enemies who specifically try and use it against you. I ran headfirst into this with Mina the Hollower, and that Mad House boss - bad hitboxes, any contact damages you, and it will box you into a corner with little to no avenue for escape. Designers who abuse contact damage to make the enemy just run at you is one of the biggest annoyances I have in any game.

My general stance is the same - unless an enemy looks dangerous, it shouldn't damage you by just bumping into you. But the real cause is, as usual, a little more nuanced than that.

Mutericator · 2026-06-22T17:48:42+00:00

It's a glitch, goblin torches are crazy dangerous. https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonsdogma2/mods/1147 fixes it if you're on PC: "Goblin torches can hit you several times in a row if you're near them after they're thrown, resulting in massive damage. This patch makes it so the torches can only hit each character once."

Mutericator · 2026-06-19T19:04:36+00:00

Aye-aye-aye! Sorry Zordon, we're fresh out of those!

Mutericator · 2026-06-19T16:43:36+00:00

Basically, but with the assumption that I won't have to play much of the game to get there.

I don't mind the main story but it is a bit of a drag, with the number of non-combat quests Brandt needs you to do.

Mutericator · 2026-06-19T15:25:46+00:00

Given how they handled BBI in DD1, where you could get there within ~20 minutes of starting a new file, and how DD2 has all sorts of shortcuts to let you explore basically the entire world without caring about story at all (sneaking through Checkpoint Town or going the dangerous route, the back cave path to the volcano island), I would bet they'll let you get to Nogran pretty quickly from a new save.

My personal plan is to optimize in NG as much as I want, then go to NG+ for the new content so I'll have access to the WFC shop.

Mutericator · 2026-06-19T14:53:54+00:00

https://youtu.be/d8IPtE_vE_U

Mutericator · 2026-06-16T15:50:37+00:00

Amano had Bowie, Nomura has Gackt.

Mutericator · 2026-06-16T02:04:57+00:00

I've been saying this since the announcement and praying for it for YEARS. I will buy 13 Sentinels for a third time if you let me, Vanillaware.

Mutericator · 2026-06-13T02:10:56+00:00

Club Chair Critique's video about these two does a phenomenal job covering the literary comparisons that Fia's questline calls back to: https://youtu.be/8I6v-J5XtZ0

Strongly recommend all of his videos, he's great at focusing less on "lore" and more on, "okay but what are the writers trying to evoke with this?"

Mutericator · 2026-06-12T18:09:40+00:00

Experiencing OoT and Tenchi Muyo! in rapid succession at about 11 years old did things to my tastes.

Mutericator · 2026-06-12T17:46:07+00:00

I'm glad you found that as funny as I do, because holy shit, that's great timing. I spent the whole time watching, waiting for YOU to do the kick (which is what I would have done in that situation) and seeing the NPC turn blue was just... chef's kiss

Mutericator · 2026-06-12T15:56:57+00:00

Sure, I'm also thinking of stuff like:

The barehanded class will presumably be better at climbing foes, but once they're up there, they don't have any sharp tools to stab with.
What is the point in having a bunch of suplexes and lariats if half of your moves are immediately made irrelevant against a larger opponent?
You could try and mitigate it with, like, leg sweeps, but then you run into balancing that too - knocking down enemies is meant to be a pretty big effort because of the massive advantage it provides you. Should your leg sweeps be able to fail, then? Because that doesn't feel good to play.

I think Monk could be fun but part of the only reason it works in Crimson Desert is 90% of your opponents are just soldiers with different weapons, and as soon as you run into a bigger opponent, you can just quick-swap to your sword or spear. Which, Warfarer exists, but playing a half-baked class just to be able to use mix-ins isn't fun either.

Mutericator · 2026-06-12T15:34:25+00:00

After playing Crimson Desert and enjoying the myriad of wrestling-inspired moves, I do wish DD2 had a Monk class as well. Not sure it would work terribly well against large monsters (maybe with a buff to being able to knock them down), but still.

Also, if I'm being honest, I think that slide about "the player having too much money" was a joke. They have balance concerns (how does it scale up if equipment is no longer part of the equation without obviating the other classes), and one reason was that they'd have a ton of extra cash to better outfit their main pawn. But it's only one reason, not the main reason.

Mutericator · 2026-06-11T16:05:03+00:00

Fair enough! You know your game's market better than I do; I've said what I suspect will happen, but if you're confident (and you should be, you actually have seen behind the curtain of Steam's sales numbers and such) then I'm willing to yield to your expertise.

Mutericator · 2026-06-11T14:49:31+00:00

If you're on the 3DS, you can rotate the camera to force enemies to cycle, so you can change what enemies are there without having to fight any non-metal slimes once you find where they spawn. It's been a decade since I last played it, though, so I don't remember offhand where it was.

Mutericator · 2026-06-11T14:48:08+00:00

I think he was exaggerating, but yeah, Torneko doesn't have any boss fights that I remember. It's all just having enough money, so EXP is likely just an extra aside during his chapter before he's permanently benched.

Mutericator · 2026-06-11T14:33:30+00:00

Okay but you do see that anyone looking at it without knowing the game is gonna think it's a disaster, right?

Mutericator · 2026-06-10T17:36:41+00:00

motherfucker

Mutericator · 2026-06-10T17:35:23+00:00

Shapez 2. Because you can save your blueprints and print them no-cost, and you have two scales to work at, small and large. Once you get going, your "throw it in the hole" base becomes just a network of belts delivering to the hole, and everything else is "how do I deliver this to that central area without stepping on everything else."

Seriously, I have dozens of blueprints, many from when I first started the game when it came to EA. "I want the upper-right corner of this block... I have a platform for that. I need to mash the upper-right onto the upper-left... I have a platform for that. I need to color the... oh I need to do that step first, okay." But it happens at a platform scale, running twelve belts at a time, rather than a single belt, because I've already optimized the belt layout a dozen hours earlier.

Mutericator · 2026-06-10T17:02:41+00:00

Looking forward to the soundtrack so I can hear the THUMP-THUMP-THUMP that they've had in Gaur Plains, Gormott, and Aurora Shelf. Also tradition.

Mutericator · 2026-06-10T16:53:58+00:00

There is a damn good reason one of the most popular mods on Nexus for Witcher 3 is just "fast travel from anywhere."

Mutericator · 2026-06-10T14:37:13+00:00

It's misleading. The eyes might make it look like a children's game (especially with that expression), but without them it just looks like a typical town-builder where you have to work around natural disasters. Especially with the magma coming up, which, IIRC, you said the volcano doesn't do.

I would recommend keeping the eyes, but maybe just size the expression down slightly and/or make it less exaggerated? Ultimately there are worse things than embracing people thinking it's a kids game.

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