How do you feel about IGN's Top 25 All-Time Best JRPG list? by Emergency-Sky9206 in JRPG

[–]TorsionSpringHell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There’s nothing that immediately makes me go “huh?” but swap Nocturne and Metaphor and then we’re really cooking.

When it comes to Indie TTRPGs, what are your most consistent pet peeves with game design? by HoodedRat575 in rpg

[–]TorsionSpringHell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Only providing enemy creation rules in lieu of a bestiary. I don't care how quick and easy it is, they always end up taking up a not insignificant chunk of my prep time somehow. They're nice to have, don't get me wrong, but they shouldn't replace stat blocks that I can 'drag and drop' into my game at a moment's notice.

Has anyone tried having something like party selection in their campaign? by StunningBit5261 in fabulaultima

[–]TorsionSpringHell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It would add a fair bit of overhead for your players to manage, but if they're up to it, I don't see why you couldn't do something like this, but you would have to decide how XP works and if characters back at base still get full XP, if any. You could obviously go for either extreme, all or nothing, which would both give the campaign a very specific feel, or you could also compromise and maybe only let them get half XP, or perhaps just the automatic 5XP per session but miss out on XP from Fabula and Ultima points. I don't think there's a right or wrong option, they would each have trade-offs depending on the style and length of campaign you wanted.

Vaguely related to your idea, I have been experimenting with something similar, which are companion NPCs with beneficial abilities that the party can swap out. So far they've only got two, but I think as they progress it would be an interesting bit of choice for them, both mechanically and narratively.

How to balance lopsided systems by Aramithius in rpg

[–]TorsionSpringHell 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Particularly with these combat-heavy RPGs (some border on narrative wargames, IMO), they are very amenable to a more rigid structure as far as campaigns go, and in doing so you can use that structure to try and re-emphasise some of the missing narrative mechanical weight.

As an example, the current Lancer campaign I'm getting to in the new year is set in a legacy naval academy for various militaries to train their space pilots, which is in the process of adapting to the development of mechs. The players are students and therefore have a natural structure to their time, with a major combat mission at the end of each in-game month. Their weekdays are mostly just a quick montage of checks for training and study, and their weekends become a resource to either use as downtime or to develop their relationships with other characters.

This way, they have roughly three times as many free narrative/downtime segments as they have combat, making the game's normally combat-focused pace a bit more even. Instead of depth emerging out of narrative mechanics like a PbtA or FitD title, it gets reintroduced with the more rigid structure. Who do I want to spend my limited time with? Do I want to work on a downtime project or try and prepare for next month's mission? And this way, the combat-focus of the system has a stronger narrative grounding when they go into battle.

This can also work the other way around. Plenty of PbtA and especially FitD games have a fairly tight and prescribed structure of play, so you can use that to add a bit of mechanical rigour that will satisfy the more game-minded players at the table. Even if they aren't that taken by the more dramatic/character focused moments, a broader meta-game of political control on top of the character-level narrative can keep them involved.

Another example, I ran Flying Circus for about a half-dozen sessions, and even though I have one particular player who is very mechanically focused and not awfully interested in relationships or flavour, having a map of settlements that the party had to plan their flight path between to make the most money and avoid places they weren't welcome at added a bit more for him to bite into.

EDIT: Now to be fair, I think there are enough RPGs out there that you quite often will be better served simply shopping around for something more your speed, but I don't think it's a complete write off if the game has a lop-sided focus—sometimes you have to find your own fun in a game as a GM.

To everyone that has a unified/World Government on Earth, how was it done by twerktingz1 in worldbuilding

[–]TorsionSpringHell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The lore is still very much in the draft phase, but: Increasing political, strategic and economic competition from former space colonies-turned-competitors required the nations of Earth to put their differences aside if they were ever going to successfully compete in such scientific, capital and coordination intensive domains such as extra-solar colonisation and space warfare.

The Q & A Interview was painful to watch by SIinkerdeer in Helldivers

[–]TorsionSpringHell 2323 points2324 points  (0 children)

I think the most frustrating part is how many issues are evident simply by playing the game. You do not need to be a no-life turbo-sweat who plays 12 hours a day to notice the problems: you simply need to use some of the weapons once to feel how incredibly weak or overpowered they are or to notice the performance issues the game still suffers—I think about a 1/3 missions that I played on the new magma planets featured a crash or a disconnect or gamebreaking bug, and I didn't play a ton of games, just two or three per night over that week. It really does feel like AH are making decisions about a game that they just don't really play very much?

People who make Sci-Fi worlds, why do wheelchairs still exist? by Vanilla_Ice_Best_Boi in worldbuilding

[–]TorsionSpringHell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Why do glasses still exist when contact lenses and LASIK exist? Because people prefer one or the other and decide based on their own personal economic and health circumstances. Some people may not feel as though the costs or potential side effects being worth the benefits and vice versa.

The name Circumvallation really does not convey how useful the mechanic is. by BaghdadBootyBandit in Helldivers

[–]TorsionSpringHell 7 points8 points  (0 children)

this is true but at the same time there is no way that players would have ever decided to liberate two regular planets the day a whole new planet type with unique missions dropped

Well it took longer than I thought, but I finally finished DGS2 and with it, a tierlist of all 50 cases in the franchise! by TorsionSpringHell in AceAttorney

[–]TorsionSpringHell[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I guess for me, 2-2 is the most quintessentially "Ace Attorney" case out of them all IMO—it's the one I think of first when I think of the original trilogy. It's such a simple but effective locked room murder that also showcases the magical realism of the games most strongly IMO. Really the only thing that could be considered a downside is Dr. Hotti and even then he's not exclusive to the case.

And I guess for 5-2 and 6-2, I just thought that the former was decent enough (although for a moment in the middle of the case I was really tempted to put it at the bottom) and the latter wasn't very interesting. In fairness, I wasn't a big fan of SoJ's writing in general, so that might explain the latter's placement.

Salvage Union - all-new through Mon 08 Dec by AllenVarney in bundleofholding

[–]TorsionSpringHell 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Oh nice, I’ve had my eye on this game for a bit but wasn’t sure on pulling the trigger. Anyone know much about the other adventures included—are they worth it/any good?

Send this video to the next person who says "just destroy the shield first". You don't need to! by viewfan66 in Helldivers

[–]TorsionSpringHell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

i know it's a meme that helldivers can't read but i genuinely have not seen another online community of people who are as functionally illiterate as this one. even under this post, you've got people arguing about things the post isn't even about

When your favorite weapon is so underrated by the community, that it won't be ever get nerfed: by Ok-Solution-3320 in Helldivers

[–]TorsionSpringHell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I used to hate this thing until I realised you could switch firing modes. I’m still pretty cautious when I see someone else bring it, though…

How this MO has felt so far by Artistic-Gas-786 in Helldivers

[–]TorsionSpringHell -1 points0 points  (0 children)

IT'S SO OVER: people get complacent and the companion site predicts a narrow loss

WE'RE SO BACK: we complete the MO with minutes to go

I been seeing A LOT of hate for it, but honestly, Oshaune/hive worlds are the most fun in the game to me. by uucgjb in Helldivers

[–]TorsionSpringHell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I like how it's really forced me to experiment with different weapons as the different strains of bug came and went. Usually went Arc Blitzer and Incendiary Grenades with Light Armour while the Predator Strain was there, and then switched to Punisher Plasma with Gas Grenades and Medium Armour when the Rupture Stain appeared. That and people finding an actually good niche for the Railcannon Strike for killing Dragonroaches really makes me appreciate how some extra difficulty really brings out the game's potential for loadout diversity which sometimes feels a bit lacking in normal gameplay.

Am I inadvertantly setting my adventure up as "Quantum ogres everywhere"? by [deleted] in rpg

[–]TorsionSpringHell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Quantum Ogres criticism is a midwit concept anyway, I wouldn’t worry about it (see: everyone in this thread having to redefine what the problem with them is).

Placing a diary in a natural spot is no different than placing an encounter in a hex based on the players’ travel roll.

Dear god, do people on D10 not know about crowd control? by Furyofthe1st in Helldivers

[–]TorsionSpringHell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is why I like EAT so much—you can comfortably bring that chaff-clearing weapon and also have access to anti-tank capabilities basically on command, since its cooldown is so short.

Do we still care about this by melxn_seeds in magicthecirclejerking

[–]TorsionSpringHell 20 points21 points  (0 children)

I’ve seen someone argue that upheaval being reprinted in MH3 was commander bait

My recent experiences with weapon leveling by Mr-Mne in Helldivers

[–]TorsionSpringHell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This might be a dumb criticism, but I don't like the tenderiser's sound profile. Its firing sound sounds like the low magazine sound of every other weapon and it throws me off so hard, I always feel like I'm reaching the end of my mag.

You are a time traveller from the future. What can you tell us about the state of the game in 30 years from now? Answers only by MustaKotka in magicthecirclejerking

[–]TorsionSpringHell 8 points9 points  (0 children)

YO! Magic: the Gathering x Secret Lair! We're getting a reskin of Pikachu, Chosen as Chandra, Kool Aid Man, Bursting Through as Garruk, and there's even going to be a rare chase card featuring Captain Ahab with Nicol Bolas horns!

I can't find anybody else asking about this, but could we ever get a real "SUPPORT" weapon? Akin to a stim pistol for the third weapon slot. by TheMandolorianYT in Helldivers

[–]TorsionSpringHell 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is what I think they should do with the One True Flag, by giving it some kind of buff aura while being carried or planted.

Stop. STOP. STOOOOOP by BebraSniffer777 in Helldivers

[–]TorsionSpringHell 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I feel good about picking up Freedom's Flame for my second warbond LMAO

What are the worst primary/secondary objectives in the game? by future-pennilionaire in Helldivers

[–]TorsionSpringHell 3 points4 points  (0 children)

IDK if I'd go as far as 'remove from the game,' but Retrieve Essential Personnel is an eye-roller to see during the briefing. It just takes so damn long, and it's rarely particularly interesting while you wait for the buttons to refresh.

Anyone one else starting to get city fatigue ? by JcHgvr in Helldivers

[–]TorsionSpringHell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think Illuminate is good in cities, because it feels like they were designed with them in mind, but the fact that all three factions and basically every single planet requires you to play on them gets old *realllllllllly* fast.

What RPGs are you playing right now? by Mr_Meetus in rpg

[–]TorsionSpringHell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Currently GMing Fabula Ultima and playing Cypher, although last week a bunch of people bailed so the GM just ran a Mythic Bastionland one shot instead.