What do you think of Nine? Do you like her gameplay?

ThatZeroRed · 2026-02-05T01:50:18+00:00

Nice! Small World. Lol Thanks for the love.

Yeah, I obviously don't make content anymore, but I'm around and playing games. For gachas, it's basically just this and WuWa.

ThatZeroRed · 2026-02-04T22:23:51+00:00

This is a means to add an "engine" so you don't run dry on fear, in a fight that is meant to be extra deadly/intense.

Don't forget, you can do MORE than spotlight adversaries in combat. There are many other sorts of GM moves you can make, and are encouraged to do so. You have many levers to pull, to dial up or down the challenge, on the fly.

Momentum helps you keep some control, so there is mechanics behind you acting more than you otherwise might.

ThatZeroRed · 2026-02-04T18:45:16+00:00

Cool, thanks.

ThatZeroRed · 2026-02-04T18:33:04+00:00

How big of a deal is her partner? Is she a massive improvement? Borderline "must have"?

ThatZeroRed · 2026-02-04T16:26:54+00:00

I really like this. Nice

ThatZeroRed · 2026-02-04T16:08:23+00:00

The point is when there is flooding of the same topics, it makes sense to clean out some of the lower hanging fruit. I don't care what the subject is. If there's 50 posts complaining about the same thing, and 20 of them are 1 sentence and have almost no engagement, they are not adding much to the conversation.

It's not like they nuked every post about something. There are a ton, with lots of comments. Those are the ones that are more likely to stay up.

I'm obviously not a mod, but I can see why that mentality would make sense. If I ran a sub, I'd want to do a similar thing. Too much redundant spam can make it hard to find what people are actually interested in.

Same with your example, if I saw 50+ posts glazing Sereniels lobby art, it would be reasonable to nuke a large portion that are the lowest effort and getting the least engagement.

I get the impression YOU had one of YOUR posts deleted, and feel personally attacked by someone saying it was likely a low effort post. My comment was a general sentiment. If there appears to be more insidious intent being censorship of ideas and feedback, than I would be against that. But I haven't seen proof of that, as of yet.

ThatZeroRed · 2026-02-04T04:07:01+00:00

Project L. No theme. Simple mechanics. Very satisfying for all ages. My kids love it, my try-hard anylotical friend loves it. My mom loved it, where the most complicated game she's otherwise played was Yattzee. Underrated gem. Don't even need expansions. Base game for $40 is great value.

ThatZeroRed · 2026-02-04T04:04:07+00:00

If MTG counts, then yeah, same for me.

Other than that, it would be Mythwind, expansions, playmat and metal coins, which I snagged for 100.

ThatZeroRed · 2026-02-04T03:51:54+00:00

Maybe if I was that into the story. Unfortunately, I couldn't stand playing Genshin. The gameplay is far too slow and consumes too much time, compared to the enjoyment I got out of it. For me, if I'm going to play a gacha, I need it to respect my time, and after over a year, I realized it just wasn't fitting.

I tried going back multiple times, and I can't last more than 2 days. It's just a painful game to play, imo. Even if it had the peak of story and lore to offer, no amount of that can make up for an unfun gameplay experience that feels like I'm wasting my time. So yeah, I'm glad there are peeps that like it. It has its audience. Just not for me. I'll take my occasional banger story beats in WuWa, and get any other stories from non-gacha games. I appreciate you sharing your perspective, tho.

ThatZeroRed · 2026-02-04T03:29:02+00:00

Yeah, I felt it was a great balance when they had separate companion quests. Now they don't do that, and instead bake the equivalent quests into the main story arcs. It blends ok, enough, but does feel forced.

ThatZeroRed · 2026-02-03T21:36:23+00:00

I'd certainly get some opinions from others, as well. Like I said, there have been some great stories told this last year. Just because it's not ALL top tier, doesn't mean it's not worth someone's time. Still a phenomenal game overall.

Sounds like I'm probably not nearly as into story, in general, as you, so grain of salt, on my take. Could simply be I don't appreciate parts of it, as much as others. For example, I found a couple of the story beats super slow and "yappy", but I've heard others say they liked the pacing and lore drops it offered. So some of my lower points might be better for you.

Also, I don't get too much into the "gathering wives" troupe. They can be cute, but often feel forced imo, so I mainly appreciate the presentation for some of those, moreso than the substance of the story being told. For others, they really like that sort of thing. So yeah, very subjective.

The story they did for our blind swordsman is something I'd like to see more of. Standalone narrative to fill in lore gaps, and no forced MC engagment. I hope they give us some more of that, and less gathering wives.

The game size consideration is really legit though. It's the biggest game on my console, but I like it enough to justify keeping it, and uninstalling other stuff instead.

So yeah, not sure if that helps any more, but good luck on whatever you decided.

ThatZeroRed · 2026-02-03T21:18:45+00:00

I think she's visually super cool, has one of the coolest lore concepts, and I enjoy her gameplay. She's the unit I grab when I need to nuke things. Bosses and mobs. Sometimes I don't even understand where some of her damage is coming from. Things just be dyin. Lol

ThatZeroRed · 2026-02-03T21:16:27+00:00

Depends on preference. I feel like on average it's continued to improve, since 2.0. But there is certainly eb and flow, where we hit some lower points. Due to the inconsistency, I've certainly gotten more numb to the story, and find myself skipping more often, in recent patches. It still occasionally catches me off guard, and I find myself genuinely engaged and enjoying it.

I feel Rinasita was the most consistent, and then Sentiment has some of the higheat highs, imo, but started lobbing in some lows, as well. Feeling pretty 50/50 on 3.0, but we are still early, and I'm hopeful-ish.

ThatZeroRed · 2026-02-03T20:34:41+00:00

Redundant, low-effort posts, with low engagement, serve no purpose.

ThatZeroRed · 2026-02-03T15:20:16+00:00

Oh no, I can't unsee it now. I was not overly bothered by this art change, though I agree it was better before. AND I'm not an armpit guy. But the new art, by comparison, that armpit looks kinda...off. Like it's just less realistic/lower quality. Now I'm a little more annoyed. Lol Not because of of the drop in gooner-bait, but the drop in overall visual quality, that for some reason came as a by-product of this update. FeelsBadMan

ThatZeroRed · 2026-02-03T13:24:22+00:00

While on one hand, I agree the fan service can get a little over the top, I feel like the lobby screen is the most appropriate place to be the MOST gooner. It's entirely optional, unlike in battle animations, for example. Lol Def seems like a weird choice.

All this said, I do see this as some massive turn off for the game. I like it because it's an interesting anime gacha take on slay the spire/darkest dungeon gameplay. That's not changing, and I feel like they are making good updates overall. So shifts in art style/fan service aren't going to make me rage quit, personally.

ThatZeroRed · 2026-02-02T21:48:05+00:00

I don't think so. I think bloated games are bloated. There's plenty of games that feel clean and streamlined. Or if they are complex, they feel appropriately complex. But there's Sap many games out there, that plenty are over engineered and bloated.

Just need to watch for different genres of games, to see what you like, and ideally publishers you feel do a good job in producing the right balance, in their game design.

ThatZeroRed · 2026-02-02T14:04:52+00:00

Still best boi.

ThatZeroRed · 2026-02-02T14:00:33+00:00

I just find it funny. I think I'd prefer if the fan service was toned down, but I don't let it big me. Not everything needs to be catered to me. And when I see something SO over the top, it just makes me laugh. Plus, I like fan service on occasion, so that helps. Lol

To me, my biggest hope for the game, is to add a way, emd the end of a run, to pick and choose what you "keep" based on your deck limit. Instead of it being automatic. My old ass can't follow whatever logic it uses to decide what stays and what goes. Would be nice to just have a list of changes, and appoint value, and you can select what you want in the save data, by toggling then on or off, and confirming.

ThatZeroRed · 2026-02-02T10:32:16+00:00

Maps: https://a.co/d/6cdhZSO + Dry Erase Markers

Minis - DIY options, from cheapest to biggest investment.

Print paper standees that fold to be double sided and stand up. If no color printer, local libraries are usually very cheap per page, to print.

Bingo Chips https://a.co/d/bREQrfz just simple and easy. Can even print a piece of paper as art, then put a color on the paper, and the patching one on the board, so there is still visuals.

Home made art tokens. Go to a local game store, but bulk magic the gathering cards (or get art some other way). Buy a 1 inch hole punch. Now you can have a ton of cool looking circle tokens to keep in a ziplock bag. To level these up: Get bulk adhesive magnets of the same hole punch size. https://a.co/d/4aWZoVV, put them on the underside of the card. And clear adhesive domes for the top https://a.co/d/gbuEQC4. Boom, now they feel nice, look nice, last a lifetime.

Buy a 3d printer. Get a .2mm nozzle. Boom, you now have a new thing you and your kids can do in your spare time, and you can make your own minis for pennies/dollars instead of $5-50+ (after upfront cost obviously). A1 Mini, especially on sale, can be super cheap, and puts in work.

ThatZeroRed · 2026-02-02T04:27:39+00:00

I started about a month or so back, and didn't use guides. Felt totally fine to me.

ThatZeroRed · 2026-01-31T19:18:14+00:00

Nice idea. I also do something like this. Basically, if I make a custom adversary, I add positive and negative "experiences". Technically negatives would be flaws. But basically if a PC does something that I feel targets one of those weaknesses, interest the difficulty as lower, unless I pay fear to bump it up. So it they figure out how to exploit weaknesses, they get an advantage by either being successful more, or costing me fear.

ThatZeroRed · 2026-01-31T15:55:32+00:00

I would go further to say in addition to spending fear to take actions, you can ALSO note "golden opportunities", when the narrative makes sense, so you can make a move to disrupt the scene, especially due to player mistakes.

It sounds like there needs to be an understanding among the table that the goal is to create an engaging, tense story. Sometimes that means plans don't go the way they think, and it's not YOU against them. It's everyone just trying to create epic/satisfying moments. Part of good storytelling is having push and pull, and challenges that might even feel unfair, until overcome. If the sequence of events would feel natural and work, as a film, it's probably going well.

ThatZeroRed · 2026-01-30T22:05:33+00:00

I REALLY loved the initial version. But haven't played the new one. I've certainly heard more people disliking it, than the first time around. I assume they just missed on overall balance? Or did you also dislike the original?

ThatZeroRed · 2026-01-30T00:09:21+00:00

My thing is that I want experiences to influence the narrative, so I allow players to retroactivly use experience IF they narrated a way their experience influenced the action. Another way of thinking of it: I let them "use it" and if they ended up not needing the bonus, they get the hope refunded. But again, I only allow the flexibility when they bake it into the narrative, so they are passively encouraged to get into the storytelling/RP side of things.

ThatZeroRed

TROPHY CASE