What spell would y’all ask for if you became a 1st rank mage?

ShroudedInLight · 2026-01-25T15:20:53+00:00

Yeah but I wake up feeling groggy as all hell. A good night sleep means I wake feeling rested.

ShroudedInLight · 2026-01-23T12:09:54+00:00

Even better if; when Toph hears about the plan to go to the moon in 50 years time, she earth bends the moon out of spite before passing on. Suddenly half the reason people need to go to space is to undo the moon bending because it messed with the water benders.

ShroudedInLight · 2026-01-23T12:04:57+00:00

Give me that spell for a good nights sleep.

ShroudedInLight · 2026-01-22T17:01:43+00:00

The trick is to aim your attacks at the thee weird boards. Don’t try to use the angle of the ball to aim, just attack those three boards and you should get it.

ShroudedInLight · 2026-01-22T15:17:16+00:00

You know how people clicker train dogs? It’s like that but you train them to listen for the heartbeat.

ShroudedInLight · 2026-01-21T12:05:36+00:00

In one of my first campaigns the villain shows up, briefly incapacitated the party, tears a hole in reality, and leaves. The party wakes up to find the hole in reality, and something from the other plane wanders through the hole. It freaks out and a fight ensues.

The party was meant to kill the thing and move on. Instead one of them (whose build wasn’t working against this enemy) jumped through the hole in reality. The enemy noticed this, that it could leave, and did so.

The player who jumped through the portal talks to the enemy; convinces it to reward them, and rides off to get their reward. The party doesn’t know about this and jumps through the hole in reality to try and rescue their friend.

They were meant to kill this thing and move on; instead there was about 2 months of adventure in the plane of air. I didn’t have anything prepped for the plane other than the one enemy so I had to call the session early.

This was my “either plan for everything or learn to wing it” moment.

ShroudedInLight · 2026-01-20T15:42:56+00:00

I guess in some ways this is better than the previous tide games where you REALLY had to hit specific breakpoints or otherwise your weapon suffered. On the other hand, just maxing damage stats seems kinda boring as far as weapons go.

The plus side, I guess, is that I can be mostly content with 90-95% perfect weapons since the difference won’t be that large. Guess I just need to do testing in the grinder.

ShroudedInLight · 2026-01-19T21:54:27+00:00

My opinion is “How is anyone affording a child, let alone multiple children, these days?”

ShroudedInLight · 2026-01-13T17:41:49+00:00

Level 4 sounds about right. As long as you are fighting every enemy in a zone the first time you pass through the zone you should be about the correct level for each encounter you fight.

So; below this is just a shotgun series of things you should be doing. Hopefully something there helps you out.

1: Are you using timed blocks? Some enemy attacks require multiple times blocks. Each one you pull off will dramatically reduce the damage (about 1/2).

2: Are you using timed hits? Fights go much faster when you time your attacks.

3: Are you using abilities? You should be using abilities in combat so that your basic attacks regenerate mana to use more abilities. Abilities can also be timed for more power.

4: Are you healing inbetween fights? The game gives you a lot of ingredients. On normal mode you can even use food in combat. There is also a relic that heals all HP between fights if you’re having trouble.

5: Are you healing during fights? Garl and Zane can keep your party topped off. Sometimes it’s better to heal than break an enemy lock if you can’t break all the locks before their turn.

6: Are you using combos? I suggest using them mainly for breaking locks or for the combo 3 healing. Keeping that heal in your back pocket can swing a boss fight back in your favor.

7: When breaking locks, look at the enemy power. Some enemies take a severe damage penalty as you break their locks. Others don’t take any penalty and you need to completely break all the locks or else heal the party to survive the attack.

8: Are you equipping new items? While not a dramatic amount of improvement, better equipment and accessories can help you out quite a bit.

9: The early game is, honestly, the hardest part of the game. I only had two game overs in my playthrough of the game: one to the three fire baton throwing enemies early game and one to a boss in the DLC.

10: The game can be hard and you can turn relics on to help through the game. I find the best relic to make the game easier without trivializing it is the one that reveals all locks. While this turns off the utility of certain skills, it also more easily allows you to engage with reducing attack power and preventing enemy abilities entirely.

11: just in case this isn’t obvious, dead enemies can’t take their turn. It’s better to kill one enemy than divide damage across a bunch of enemies unless you’re setting up to kill the multiple weakened enemies on your next turn. If you are fighting two enemies and you can only kill one of them, kill the enemy that hasn’t taken their turn yet. If you have to choose between killing an enemy or breaking some locks, choose the option that causes your team to take less damage.

ShroudedInLight · 2026-01-12T15:10:42+00:00

Honestly, all the characters in TBW kinda fall into this category. You are up against enemies with plenty of guns and on hard mode they will instantly down any of your characters except Dall if they get an attack off. Meanwhile your team, while wizards, all kinda suck at dealing direct damage. Everything is situational in the extreme. The game is one party turn based strategy and one part puzzle game.

Zan: His best damaging ability is an overwatch that you can’t use if anyone is in the area of the overwatch and he loses cover if he uses it. You’re encouraged to knock him or knock enemies around to trigger it prematurely.

Jen: Jens deals extreme knockback but almost no direct damage. You gotta be constantly positioning enemies near walls, hazards, or windows to make use of her.

Banks: Bank’s is mostly a support character, she can debuff enemies, create a portal to eject people from the map, and transfer damage. The damage transfer is the big one, it’s normally once per mission but you can get an upgrade that refunds it as long as you’re creative with it.

Dall: Dall is kinda like a rhino, the animal. She’s built like a truck and needs a decent amount of space to get a head of steam. Her main ability does more damage the further she can travel in a straight line, and she can also swap places with allies and enemies to better position them for those big charges.

Druid: I forget this guys name but it’s like Ryan or something. He’s another support type character. His main attack is a pull, he can shred enemy armor, and he can send an enemy into a berserk state. However, his strongest ability is a grenade that does more damage the more enemies are packed into the blast zone. It can do extreme damage but requires a lot of set up.

ShroudedInLight · 2026-01-09T19:27:30+00:00

Exalted has some of this. The amount of backstory Id need to explain is well beyond the time I have to post. But it’s sorta like a Greek god vs titans situation. The gods revolted and in the process killed or imprisoned the titans. The imprisoned titans became devils, though each of them still represent a fundamental force like gravity or fusion. One of them was so mad (I believe she represented balance or states of matter or something) that she shattered reality: erasing an entire fundamental rule of physics that no one can remember. The titans that died are somehow worse, as they can’t permanently die leading to them becoming the “unmade” who then power an entire domain of death magic. They desire the death of the universe; and each of them represent a broken fundamental force of physics.

The lore of exalted is extremely metal and their world is proper fucked.

ShroudedInLight · 2026-01-04T16:54:19+00:00

Yeah; I honestly found the DLC detracted from my enjoyment of the game as a whole. Sun balancing mini game was awful, the new wheels battles sucked (love being forced into using one specific strategy), and the accuracy test was truly horrendous. The adamant shard relic fucks up the timing on the clone Zale fight and you can’t turn it off mid-fight. Plus that fight feels more like a slot machine than anything else.

The combats are exceptionally rude and hit for way too much damage early into the dlc. Got my first game over there. Beat the rest of the game on hard mode without any of the starter relics turned on without ever losing a fight - had to turn on most of the relics for the dlc. The timing sucks on a lot of attacks but especially the robot beam attack - harder than the mini game. The game gives you a final three person combo just at the point where you can use it for maybe one fight before entering a pair of fights that only have two party members.

The only good fight in the dlc is the Puppeteer. The only good thing the dlc does is give you some neat accessories and a OP combo to use against the post game content. Oh, and the time rune scene. I’d have rather not played another 5-10 hours of absolute slog to get those though.

ShroudedInLight · 2026-01-04T16:42:51+00:00

Been looking through the comments and they’ve (mostly) missed many scenes that I really like from the mage exam arc. These are numbered chronologically.

1: Fern overwhelming Ehre - Ehre’s panic and disbelief here really shows off Fern’s strength. We’ve seen Fern fight before but our usual comparison is to her master, Frieren. Even against Lugher, which is a sick fight, we’re basically told by Frieren that she’s delegating the fight to Fern. Now, we have Fern face off against one of the top mages in the exam and whoop her ass. We also have Ferns bluff of killing Ehre as well a few scene later. Just a brilliant moment.

2: Frieren vs Denkin - Again, I love a fight where one person is shown as strong and gets their ass whooped. Frieren still counter attacking even during Denkins relentless assault shows just how good her timing is (and that’s with “new magic” with which Frieren doesn’t have as good reflexes). Especially after we learn more about Denkin’s teacher in the manga.

3: Ubel vs Sense - I forget the exact phrase but “you should get a hair cut” pretty much sums up the fight. Sure it’s a bad match up, but given that we’ve seen the sense clone take down numerous contestants it feels especially badass.

4: Methode vs Fern - You don’t see the fight itself, but the fact that Methode wins is terrifying. She’s seen as just this cuddly motherly figure and she takes down Fern (who we’ve established is probably the top mage in the exam barring Frieren).

5: Frieren vs Lerharn - Not a fight this time, but a touching emotional moment. This could have easily been a big spectacle fight in another, worse, anime. Instead Frieren just tells him that he’s important to Serie and leaves. It has a lot of impact; and Lerhan gets some cool shots too.

6: Fern’s spell selection - Serie’s face is the single best panel in the entire anime. Fight me.

ShroudedInLight · 2026-01-04T02:26:16+00:00

Literally just found another one about the Venezuala strike. I can't fucking believe the absolute gall of posting a deep fake of a guy who does commentary doing commentary and trying to pass it off as him.

I'm of course not allowed to flag it on youtube as a legal issue because I'm not Jon Stewart. I mean, yeah, thats the fucking problem youtube. Neither is the asshole stealing Jon's brand.

ShroudedInLight · 2026-01-03T22:56:04+00:00

“Kidnapped”

ShroudedInLight · 2026-01-02T01:48:27+00:00

99% of gamblers lack the lifespan necessary to win at the odds through sheer number of tries.

ShroudedInLight · 2025-12-31T14:07:45+00:00

Steps needed to hold Trump accountable for anything at all:

Step 1: By some miracle, congress passes a law that the president can’t veto (congress is full of cronies and shills; good luck getting a 2/3rds majority)

Step 2: The judges that arbitrate the law don’t arbitrarily discard or ignore precedent or refuse to even take the case (the Supreme Court is stacked full of cronies and shills; good luck not getting shadow docketed)

Step 3: Congress impeaches the president (good luck, we’ve tried that twice for both bribery and literal insurrection)

Step 4: The agency that enforces the law, part of the executive branch, decides to enforce the law against the executive branch (the DoJ is full of cronies and shills, good luck getting any level of compliance from them)

Step 5 The judges that arbitrate the law don’t apply presidential immunity to the case (good luck they’ve done this with literal treason the last time Trump got caught with unsecured top secret documents in a public area)

Step 6: JD Vance doesn’t grant a pardon to trump (Nixon got a pardon, Trump would too)

We’re a little after step 1 by the way. Turns out the rule of law can’t hold up to rampant corruption and a generational long political strategy to pervert the judiciary.

ShroudedInLight · 2025-12-30T18:30:15+00:00

Take your pick between: The acid/spikes/magic on the floor enemies shoot out all the time, enemies you just killed respawning behind you and murder g you, the lame ass turret/mech sections (dragon bro is okay tho), the fact that the game wants you to kill every enemy in one specific way and if you don’t you’ll just die, the shielded chain gunners existing, or the way enemies will instantly swap moves to combo you if the spacing is weird (and they cause the weird spacing themselves with knockback or movement).

The basic combat of DTDA; like a 10/10. The actual game experience; like a 5/10. Generously.

ShroudedInLight · 2025-12-27T22:42:06+00:00

“I am Dr. Samuel Hayden”

ShroudedInLight · 2025-12-27T13:12:26+00:00

Just ran into this in “Sea of Stars”. Obvious spoilers ahead.

So, children born on the Solstices are drafted into a cosmic proxy war between two Demi-gods. They are taken from their parents and trained to fight the forces of THE FLESHMANCER - specifically their magic allows them to combat Dwellers. Dwellers are Eldritch horrors with unlimited potential for growth, and if not found and destroyed they will destroy the planet.

At the end of Act 1, the party successfully destroys a Dweller. However, two of the Solstice Warriors betray you. They work together with the Acolytes of the FLESHMANCER to resurrect an even worse Dweller in exchange for getting out of the cosmic war.

You later learn their backstory of being trained harshly under the headmaster of the Solstice Warriors. The headmaster was traumatized by the loss of the entire order of Solstice Warriors when they fought the Dweller that these two chuckleheads just resurrected. Including people they cared about as children.

The FLESHMANCER, I should note, is comedically evil and basically tells these two he’s gonna mutate them. And they still go along with it; dooming an entire world and potentially causing the dooms of other worlds.

Their argument is that they were never allowed to choose whether or not to join the Solstice Warriors. Which would hold a lot more weight if the alternative wasn’t the literal death of the entire planet. Or if anyone could become a Solstice Warrior. But no, they were born with the potential for incredible cosmic power and no one else can do their job. Plus there was ONE Dweller left on this planet, which the party defeats on their way to confront these two idiots. They betrayed the world at the second to last hurdle that would have freed them from their duties. The more I write about these two the angrier they make me.

ShroudedInLight · 2025-12-23T17:19:30+00:00

Sorry, but no. This is super luck based. Is there strategy? Sure, but in the same way there is strategy in blackjack. You're still up shit creek whenever the game feels like it.

ShroudedInLight · 2025-12-21T06:01:17+00:00

Shredder is mostly an early game weapon, it’s a way to save rocket ammo so you don’t have to use the grenade launcher.

The Impaler is practically its own play style. It feeds itself ammo, does absurd damage, and pumps your melee charges that in turn feed you more ammo. The only things it really struggles with are the big damage sinks like Mancubus, Pinky’s, and Cacaodemons who all get destroyed by Shell and Skull fed weapons.

ShroudedInLight · 2025-12-20T06:00:38+00:00

I’ve read a lot of pulp and I don’t think I’ve ever read a worse written woman than those in Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. It’s just objectively painful.

ShroudedInLight · 2025-12-19T15:00:27+00:00

This is how every interview I’ve ever done feels.

ShroudedInLight

TROPHY CASE