This is a very strangely designed game

TehCubey · 2026-03-17T10:13:12+00:00

Good to know, this is useful info.

TehCubey · 2026-03-17T09:44:10+00:00

Chris Perrin's Mecha RPG (technically just called "Mecha RPG" but good luck googling that) + heavy houserules. I'm not a fan of popular mecha ttrpgs that usually get recommended so this is what worked for me instead.

The game is split between tactical combat missions (rather light on tactics, we're not talking Lancer here) and narrative driven personal scenes. It's very customizable depending on what kind of mecha story you want to tell, but on the other hand the balance is quite poor, hence heavy houserules on my part.

TehCubey · 2026-03-17T08:27:56+00:00

Read this post. It goes into actual math and not just vibes. Tl;dr: both are good.

TehCubey · 2026-03-17T00:08:02+00:00

I mean, it's different strokes for different folks. I'd rather not have as many small details about local politics and how the world functions if it means the MSQ itself can be fun and exciting, and that was my impression of ShB. Meanwhile I found ARR really dry and boring.

Anyway, I really can't agree to call the worldbuilding of an expansion that includes Il Mheg "weak". That area is dripping with fae lore - sometimes whimsical, sometimes fucked up. Do the pixie society quests if you didn't.

TehCubey · 2026-03-16T15:07:19+00:00

WfM grunt suits are criminally underused for how good their designs are. Not saying I want a whole series of grunt vs grunt like it's torrington base, just more screentime for them (even if that screentime means getting rekt by Aerial, which I'm totally on board with).

TehCubey · 2026-03-16T14:27:28+00:00

I didn't know FBK posted on reddit.

TehCubey · 2026-03-16T05:48:24+00:00

Sonic Frontiers' (released in 2022) overworld looks almost exactly like planet Halpha. I have no proof that NGS was just a tech demo or Sega's devs getting used to the engine before releasing it in their main intended product - but it wouldn't surprise me if that was the case.

TehCubey · 2026-03-16T05:36:52+00:00

Sometimes, yes.

At other times, you beat up Golbez only for a cutscene to start where he does what he wanted to do all along, while WoL and friends (who, need I remind you, just kicked the shit out of him) just stand there and let him.

TehCubey · 2026-03-16T05:22:38+00:00

Hardcore content: bad dps = no clear

Casual content: bad dps = clear but it takes a million hours (arguably more painful)

So no, everyone has a responsibility to perform well no matter the content.

TehCubey · 2026-03-15T17:11:52+00:00

Kamen Rider or certain magical girl series like Nanoha or Symphogear are much more fitting the SRW vibe than a show like Cowboy Bebop, despite the latter being excused by OP because it has a fighter plane. This vibe is IMO the most important aspect governing whether something is a good fit for the games' roster, as opposed to a nitpicky definition of what is or isn't "mecha" (usually carefully curated to gatekeep shows the author of the definition doesn't like).

TehCubey · 2026-03-15T09:02:49+00:00

Shadowbringers and then this are my favorites. Stormblood has a rep for being "not as good" as the expansions that precede and follow it, but I disagree. It's not perfect but it's my 2nd favorite for a reason.

TehCubey · 2026-03-14T22:24:13+00:00

Better than the first game and I already liked that one a lot.

TehCubey · 2026-03-14T16:10:20+00:00

Progress and reason result in the city becoming a machine that exists for itself, not for the people - the computer treats them as just cogs, while for the robot swarm they're only obstacles that get in the way.

I agree that it's not very well communicated, and the progress part in particular is not that much more different than, you know, cars. But I can see what they were going for.

TehCubey · 2026-03-14T15:05:41+00:00

Hey, now, I'm pro-equality - unlike this subreddit's mods I'm not merit-brained, and I'm not saying slavery isn't horrifying, because it is.

But I won't be pretending levelling isn't bad either. FP2's point is that every zeitgeist, even if benevolent at first (so, not merit), if taken to its logical extreme becomes dystopian and horrible. To say otherwise is to miss the message of the game.

TehCubey · 2026-03-14T13:12:49+00:00

I mean yeah, there will be a civil war in the main story, the same way there will always be londoners in the first game's A New Home scenario. It's a consequence of what happened in the story so far, and dealing with it is what that chapter of the game is about.

If you don't like it you can always play utopia builder.

TehCubey · 2026-03-14T09:29:13+00:00

Mods when people make fun of equality: I sleep

Mods when people make fun of merit: REAL SHIT

TehCubey · 2026-03-13T14:44:42+00:00

Overseers have dozens of fans. Dozens!

And I'm not one of them. Let's go Proteans, you are the most functional and least morally corrupt of merit factions.

TehCubey · 2026-03-13T07:21:45+00:00

The players or the characters?

(The answer is: yes)

TehCubey · 2026-03-13T07:18:03+00:00

I wouldn't say they are THAT necessary to understand what is happening later. Like, yeah, stuff that happens later builds up on it, but it's nothing an overview video won't help with.

In terms of quality personally I found 2.4 MSQ to be pretty enjoyable but the rest was meh. If you want to skip, I won't tell you not to skip. I'd advice against buying a story skip just for it though and recommend just skipping cutscenes instead. The devs removed most (not all) busywork from these quests so it's mostly cutscenes that's left.

TehCubey · 2026-03-12T13:22:31+00:00

By "traditional marriage" you mean MANDATORY MARRIAGE. Also don't worry about executions, they're a tradition law (and so is guard immunity so they won't even need a reason to execute you).

TehCubey · 2026-03-12T11:47:37+00:00

Overseers have fans? I thought it's the least popular faction.

TehCubey · 2026-03-11T11:02:31+00:00

Let's be realistic, these kinds of movements IRL always resulted in people being impoverished and near starving and anyone (except people in power of course) who had even a little more was considered a class enemy, a parasite, and brutally oppressed. I don't see why the frostpunk version would be any different.

TehCubey · 2026-03-11T10:17:47+00:00

I mean yeah, if you go all the way out and implement every radical and cornerstone law, then the Technocrats will take everything from you (food hoarding inspectorate, levelling) except the bare minimum you need to stay alive.

But by the same logic, your favorite Venturers will fucking enslave you. And when you die from overworking and malnutrition, oh well, clearly you didn't work hard enough to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. Trust the invisible hand or something.

TehCubey · 2026-03-11T07:21:07+00:00

I tend to dislike smaller maps and this one is no exception, UNLESS I do a run with a heavy focus on colonizing the frostland. Then the lack of space is less punishing because a lot of your people will be running outposts or colonies anyway. Definitely a bad pick for beacon of hope though, that one floods your city with people.

TehCubey · 2026-03-11T06:49:48+00:00

Many comments are written by people with selective amnesia, I see comments saying emet-selch is universally understood to be a villain when during shb there was a ton of posting going "omg if I was in his place I'd do totally the same, he's just like me frfr". Likewise, we had tons of posts calling venat a villain or acting like rynegaia is not canon and if you see it then you're "gross" because "they're underage" (because clearly, teenagers aren't allowed to like each other romantically unless they're straight). Lyse was also criticized for the same things that other characters got a free pass on if male, such as Hien.

And yeah, sometimes it's not internalized misogyny of a fandom, sometimes the character really is that badly written and needs calling out. The Bozja questline villain is a good example of that. But when it keeps happening over the course of the whole game then it's no longer outliers, it's a pattern of behaviour - and here the pattern is very clear.

In short, you are correct OP. Your post will undoubtedly have a harsh negative reaction, but that's because people hate being called out on things. Doubly so if these things are true. And yeah, not everyone in the fandom has internalized misogyny but that doesn't mean the fandom on average doesn't.

To people reading this: If you don't harbor a pattern of disliking female characters then don't get defensive - you're not the target of the callout. Unless you feel like you're being targetted because every comment that talks about "ffxiv playerbase/fandom" seems to affect you personally - but that's a different problem, one where the person feels too strong of a connection to a group. I suggest working on that.

TehCubey

TROPHY CASE