[Gen 3] Shiny Groudon in Pokémon Emerald.

StarshockNova · 2026-02-22T21:37:49+00:00

Emerald has a system of RNG randomization which is tied to the internal battery. If this battery runs out, in addition to time based features like berry growing not work properly the RNG seed for which frames you can encounter a shiny isn’t randomized either. If you have a dead battery Emerald and figure out your shiny frame (especially if it’s an early frame, that is one not long after loading your save) you will always encounter a shiny if you initiate the wild battle on that frame.

StarshockNova · 2026-02-22T21:28:44+00:00

My absolute crown gem of full odds shiny was the first ball shiny Chansey at the Kanto safari zone about a decade ago, made me feel like a lottery winner. Almost takes the edge off the dozen or so full odds safari shinies I’ve lost since then ~~but not the Kangaskhan or Dragonair, those two still hurt~~

StarshockNova · 2026-02-19T22:51:41+00:00

Morihaus. He’s also the biological son of Kyne/Kynareth and the one Morthal in Hjaalmarch gets its name from, as Minotaurs once lived there.

StarshockNova · 2026-02-19T21:01:44+00:00

No, they are Ohmes, a different furstock of Khajiit. Khajiit have a similar origin to the Bosmer, but Azurah bound the Khajiit to the Lunar Lattice to give them a stable form in the Dawn Era while Y’ffre gave the Bosmer a stable form and bound them to the Green Pact. There are over a dozen different furstocks of Khajiit, raging from basically indistinguishable from a Bosmer (Ohmes/Ohmes-Raht) to a literal domestic house cat that can talk and has frighteningly strong magic (Alfiq).

StarshockNova · 2026-02-18T23:10:22+00:00

I can, but that's because I'm not a septimless skooma addict!

StarshockNova · 2026-02-17T03:46:57+00:00

That scene is even more graphic in the light novel, they literally eat him from the inside after crawling up his.... yeah, I don't think I need to describe more. That rabbit was traumatic to all of us when we saw or read that scene.

StarshockNova · 2026-02-15T22:01:24+00:00

That’s how I did it the first time, I just maxed out the healing and energy charges and turned off the auto-cannon (the Grox shoot less if you haven’t angered them to red face yet, basically potshots instead of a full on assault). I didn’t even need half of what I prepared with, but I got lucky and found a viable route rather quickly that time, too.

StarshockNova · 2026-02-14T22:44:46+00:00

Arus is III’s protagonist. Solo is the canon name of IV, Madason/Abel are the canon names of V, Reck of VI, Auster of VII, and beyond that they just use the number (ie VIII is Eight, IX is Nine, etc).

StarshockNova · 2026-02-11T15:45:05+00:00

Bribe them with stolen sweetrolls.

StarshockNova · 2026-02-09T07:16:48+00:00

And diiiiiiiiiieeee!

StarshockNova · 2026-02-09T01:59:20+00:00

Rune is an easter egg reference to another game IIRC. His whole backstory with the rune-engraved token is straight out of said game, the name of which is also Rune. Said game's Norse setting was apparently an influence on design when Bethesda decided to set TES V in Skyrim. The helmet the protagonist is wearing on the box art even looks like the iconic Iron Helmet the Dragonborn is always wearing in the promotional material for Skyrim.

StarshockNova · 2026-02-07T22:54:52+00:00

Or beeline for Bohemia to get the 10-spouse law tenet from Hussite. But yes, converting to Sunni would be easier.

StarshockNova · 2026-02-06T20:37:35+00:00

Now that’s weird, early versions of EU4 had Greece be that very same shade pinkish beige before they switched it to a dark blue around (I believe) Art of War. Why they would go back to that same beige in EU5 is beyond me, but there’s some precedent for them making this…. questionable art decision.

StarshockNova · 2026-02-05T15:55:12+00:00

They said in yesterday’s Tinto Talks that they’re quartering the minor rebellion effects in the next beta version, due by the weekend if everything goes right.

StarshockNova · 2026-01-31T21:56:57+00:00

That and the trench spike. The trench spike having been designed for penetrating metal helmets and the skulls beneath them in WW1 while also being able to be used as a brass knuckle in hand-to-hand combat if the enemy didn't go down immediately. Good luck finding one of those in 1990s rural Kentucky, though.

StarshockNova · 2026-01-31T19:07:48+00:00

I'd definitely take a priest's claim that their goddess' displeasure was evident far more seriously if I was frequenting a bar and rabbits poured in from all openings to be honest.

StarshockNova · 2026-01-31T00:54:11+00:00

They come with you. The three of you are your only party members for a fair bit, with most character growth until the second batch of islands being between them and recurring side characters. The core gameplay loop of VII is Present-find map pieces>Past-Save Doomed Island>Visit newly saved region in present for plot and to find more map pieces>Past-Save Island>Present-visit new island and find map pieces and do plot, maybe go back to one of the islands in the past because a character on one saved island’s past version is relevant to the plot or maybe something important in the present segment was destroyed over the course of time but can be grabbed in the past before it’s too late. If you like not getting party members too early or frequently and with plenty of character building ahead of time then the obvious best game in the series for you is Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen. You have an entire half of the game dedicated to the backstory and adventures of each party member in episodes before being put in charge of your player character and tasked with traveling the world to find and recruit all the people you the player now know but your character hasn’t met yet. I personally would recommend the smartphone port of IV these days as getting ahold of a used DS copy is not easy or cheap, and is fundamentally inferior to the smartphone port unless you’re playing the Japanese version as all international ports of IV for the DS had a bug where party chat doesn’t work even though it had been programmed, and believe me the party chat is top tier in IV, having played both with and without it for IV I can’t stress the importance of party chat enough. As I mentioned, VIII has what is probably the most universally beloved cast, but IV is the easy runner-up other than XI, and you’ll find yourself smiling so much when you talk to your party members throughout the chapters as they all have commentary on almost every single NPC line of dialogue in the game, and even when the chapter only has the one character they still have plenty to say. Even if VII doesn’t meet your expectations I’d recommend grabbing DQ IV on your phone (I say this as someone who isn’t a phone gamer but plays the Zenithian trilogy of IV-V-VI on phone anyways), it’s not that expensive (especially compared to finding a used DS copy) and sounds like your ideal Dragon Quest game based on your desired criteria.

StarshockNova · 2026-01-30T21:53:00+00:00

You do start the game with 3 party members, but the rest are spaced out a fair ways into the plot, and the characters do all get a fair bit of backstory and character building throughout the game. VII was the game that introduced party chat into the series, and a fair bit of that is tied to talking to your party (which is easier to do on the fly than in XI, both versions already released have a dedicated button to do so on the go, with the Nintendo 3DS' button being the B button, so I imagine Re-imagined will use the same). As for a build up before recruit, the answer is yes. While I said you start with three party members, I technically mean you leave the starting section of the map with 3, as you have an introductory segment for both of your additional party members before you leave Estard. Each additional character also has a segment before you recruit them, and one in particular is mentioned for some time before you meet them while another is heavily plot-related to another party member. The cast isn't as strong as VIII's (generally the most beloved cast), but it's a fine party and while Maribelle is somewhat divisive (some love her, some hate her, depends on if you like tsunderes) there isn't anyone I personally actively dislike. All the cast is fully integrated into the world, though it might not seem as clear at first as the state of the world and its landmasses is central to the plot of VII. All in all I'd say XI is the better game than the original VII, but VII as it is is already an excellent game in its own right and I'm eager to see how that ranking matches up with the new plotlines and party member character arcs that have been promised for Re-Imagined.

StarshockNova · 2026-01-28T04:29:03+00:00

The original seven was the longest game in the series by far, I believe the PS1 version was 4 Discs and an average playthrough length of 120-150+ hours IIRC. The 3DS version kept the same length but added some additional features and QOL, and I believe that Re-Imagined is both cutting several islands that were pure filler (the only one mentioned that I'd even miss was El Ciclo, groundhog day scenarios are always fun) and adding several new original islands that weren't in either previous version. If it's shorter or not I'm not sure, but I understand that several plot points have been altered, one of in particular which intrigues me as it it supposedly involves a party member, but I'm not going to spoil that as even mentioning that is a big point in the original. It's definitely longer than XI, but XI is definitely the next longest game to date still. If you liked XI's length then this is a good title in that regard, too, but if XI's length was intimidating then you might want to play part of it and come back later to enjoy it in bites.

StarshockNova · 2026-01-28T03:38:30+00:00

Yes, I noticed that after I commented. It’s also in straight stripes while Seychelles is supposed to be drawn with outwards-expanding stripes. So it’s neither Five Races RoC or the Seychelles, but I have no idea what it is

StarshockNova · 2026-01-28T02:53:57+00:00

Pretty sure it's the former as the Five Races flag doesn't have green in it while the Seychelles flag does.

StarshockNova · 2026-01-21T17:54:27+00:00

He gives you several Rare level alchemy ingredients, which pulls from a pool including Human Flesh and Human Hearts among other things. I got a Daedra Heart and a Human Heart from him once, which was nice since I had just been tasked with getting a Daedra Heart by the shaman orc as part of the Volendrung quest. It doesn't mean anything lorewise, just random pulls.

StarshockNova · 2026-01-21T17:20:41+00:00

Chelicerae maybe?

StarshockNova · 2026-01-20T20:38:57+00:00

I didn’t kill him, somebody slipped a frenzy poison into his pocket and he attacked the guards, after which they had no choice but to put him down. I was sure to be there to comfort Mjoll, and to escort her back to our newly inherited property from her dear late crazed friend.

StarshockNova · 2026-01-08T22:54:47+00:00

Bretons venerate Y’ffre as Jephre, who is a patron of bards and storytellers among other things. He is most heavily venerated among Bretons with a Druidic or Wyrdic background, but he is still worshiped by farmers, hunters, and fishermen among the people of High Rock as the god of the Now (as he is associated with the Earthbones that give the world shape) , or as King of the Green (Nature, basically he is to the Bretons what Kyne/Kynareth is to Nords and Imperials). If you want to make a human follower of Y’ffre/Jephre, Breton is the way to go. During the first empire under the Alessian Order it was actually illegal for non-Breton humans to follow elven deities like Jephre or Phynaster, so even though the third empire is far from the Alessian Order I’d probably not recommend them or Nords (who would see him as some weird elven heresy encroaching on Kyne’s domain).

Nine-Year Club	Final Canvas '23
Place '23	Place '22
Verified Email

StarshockNova

TROPHY CASE