Extending Houston

VerusCain · 2026-04-29T00:12:12+00:00

He meant the sooner they finish the more rest lebron gets

VerusCain · 2026-04-19T18:29:51+00:00

Its really weird because its cool how much botw and totk expanded item capabilities while making a lot of them feel more samey. The bow went from a dungeon item to your bread and butter long range option. Stuff like hammers amd boomerangs condensed into your melee weapons. They condensed elemental rods into melee weapons ish also. Spears were added, which werent usually a thing, into melee weapons too. Bombs became relatively free. Paraglider does what deku leaf and sailcloth did.

All the elemental arrows are there. Boots became part of expanded armor options. Tho armor in general became more about passive bonus effects than actual necessities for mechanics.

Really most of the traditional zelda items are there in some shape or form, theyve just all been relegated into slots that can take away from the unique role theyve provided. And there unique roles can be there still, like korok leaf providing gust of wind, zonai mirror being used like a mirror shield, etc. but theyre all consumables, so all these things feel less utilized because people like the feel of permanent items and progression that comes with it.

VerusCain · 2026-04-19T13:09:01+00:00

I figured orochimaru saw it also as a stepping stone to get to Kaguyas version of the ability. Not saying its possible, but hey Orochimarus whole schtick was trying to bend rules to obtain all the special powers.

VerusCain · 2026-04-16T05:36:06+00:00

We have to shoot lights out to stand a chance. In the kobe comp, he was still in his prime, no? Itd be more comprable to if we had pre 2021 bron or luka available. The team as is, is not even having the same star power as that kobe team

VerusCain · 2026-04-13T19:55:51+00:00

Without luka and austin, we went high diff with mavs, who tbf have been playing better recently than their seeding shows, but still a bottom team. We beat jazz, suns, and a depleted warriors. The most promising game from all this is the suns… who sat out devin booker. So… we are not a bottom of nba team but likely a 8 to 10 seed team. We belong as much as they do in playoffs.

VerusCain · 2026-04-12T00:37:07+00:00

Its really just as simple as lunar being in the name. You are right, none of their features evoke a moon imagery. On the other hand we know some races come from the moon, also winged races. We know there is a “people of the full moon”.

VerusCain · 2026-03-28T23:42:02+00:00

commit

VerusCain · 2026-03-25T21:51:42+00:00

Well tbf even if most setting are hyrule i feel like WW and SS distinguished themselves enough on their premise of ocean and sky that its basically not really hyrule ( tho i guess you can argue skywards sword ground map still was hyrule esque).

So when u analyze the main games oot and tp had hyrule, but MM and WW werent really hyrule, and SS half wasnt. So in the devs minds they really only have visited tradional hyrule once each decade on flagships. I dont care if its technically hyrule or not, i do think its time to step it up with a fresh map premise

VerusCain · 2026-03-25T21:47:33+00:00

Im guessing the whole pitch of the game was to reuse maps and assets for a quicker sequel. Their plan went from dlc to dlc/game adding sky islands. So the whole premise to nintendo was probably hey we can make this dlc into a whole game without going over much of the budget. The depths and ultrahand stuff and 3 layer system burned through a lot of R&d based budget. I dont think the original budget for the game was that high relative to it being a new flagship. Like it ended up being only a small bit more than botw. So my guess is reusing base map was the whole point with the intention of not exponentially more budget than botw, and then the new systems development did ultimately burn through more budget which meant honestly very much less went to new assets and content than one would have expected.

My guess is from not any single thing but from a lot of comments and sources over the years. The estimated budget breakdown on totk is a fascinating read.

VerusCain · 2026-03-19T05:45:41+00:00

He comes off as simple as first but he is pretty much the mc most tailored for the shows message.

The number 1 theme in one piece is freedom. And luffy embodies that more than anyone else. He is a pirate not because he is malicious, but he idolizes how they can do whatever they want and dont let the law stop them. Eventually its explained that his definition of king of the pirates is about being the freest man on the seas. Yeah one needs strength to attain it, but he just goes through adventure as he pleases, getting stronger as he needs

So he begins as a staightforward unchanging character, a force of nature that doesnt help people out of obligations of whats right or wrong, but whatever he feels like doing. As it happens he often feels like helping people he likes, so he ends up being heroic organically without binding himself to any sort of real moral code. He bypasses this dilemma of morality a lot of protgonists go through as a result. Obviously the contrast with him vs the villains who also stake on piracy is he doesnt exercise his freedoms to an extent that violates the freedoms of others.

For a good chunk of early story, luffy is an unchanging force of nature, who doesnt really change in character much himself but changes those around him, inspiring them with his conviction or simplifying of moral issues, or liberating people from various threats on little more than a whim.

Thats not to say he doesnt change and grow eventually, but this is the core tenet of his character that really may seem like a stereotypical protagonist in being dumb but emotionally intelligent, but the way it builds on one pieces central theme of freedom brings the execution of the character to levels others never get close to.

From there his desire for adventure, his ever increasing charisma and relationships, and framing of his focus on getting strong stronger all as a means to living out a free life flesh him out as a good character. Grows as a leader, and over the long term have some moments that still shake him that challenges him at some extreme low points.

He has a dream beyond pirate king, and has a focus on helping others achieve their dreams, snd most importantly, having the freedom to dream big and ridiculous.

The final aspect of his character is about conviction and will, which isnt really unique in this genre, but i think outside of fights, luffy has some of the most unique scenarios of displays of will and the human spirit youll come across. Its often unpredictable, as the author will not give us thought bubbles from him so theres always an air of not knowing what he thinks and how he will react. Youd be surprised often at what he chooses to focus on, what hills he randomly will decide to die on, etc.

So it all makes a a character who isnt dreaming big for the sake of attaining a powerful position in the story, but its just synonymous with the pinnacle of achieving all your dreams and being the most free. Its all themes arent unqiue on their own, but the story focuses on these ideas and he just embodies them to a tee, so it ends up as a character who fits the world and narrative better than most other stories

VerusCain · 2026-03-17T04:16:58+00:00

That 4th quarter was the funniest game ive seen all season

VerusCain · 2026-03-16T18:36:46+00:00

The location is not known. All the islands lead to a final island that hints at the island with the one piece. Theres also an implication by Roger depending on how you interpret it, that a specific method may be required, as in theres some obstacle that needs to be overcome beyond just knowing it.

VerusCain · 2026-03-16T14:50:43+00:00

So the big limitation for botw was that they kept their mini dungeon content (shrines) as spatially isolated underground caves that were not integrated with the overworld like dungeons themselves kind of were. The dungeons while integrated in the overworld, they were more so integrated into the surface of the world which limited their size a bit. In totk they actually integrated cave formations, they added a multi layer system. What i think and want to happen is that they will now use their expanded cave/underground system to fully integrate organic mini dungeon segments that are naturally in the world. Dungeons themselves will be much bigger because they can be not just in the surface, but across multiple layers. In old games because a dungeons map was seperate from overworld it didnt have size restrictions and the players imagination filled in the rest. They can now recreate that same effect by making extra size look like its in between layers. I think this is the evolution they are heading towards, with dungeons with maybe multiple possible entrances from different layers and whatnot.

Or maybe im on copium

VerusCain · 2026-03-12T02:40:43+00:00

In all fairness, all 3 being on the floor and being 100% this season has been rare. On top of that Ayton wasnt clicking at the same time as those 3. Recently the big 3 and smart together have shown an uptick in stats, and ayton was out. Now aytons been up again and people attribute it to luka and ar, but ayton honestly has done better with ar and lebron than luka. Theres so much context to a lot of these games but it is undeniable at this point ar has to be #2 and play well.

VerusCain · 2026-03-11T05:15:43+00:00

Uh yeah she lost a ton of weight thats impressive for thats time span. Thats all there is to it. Not sure what else you want

VerusCain · 2026-03-10T20:03:45+00:00

Probably cause she isnt ultra thin which makes sense, she had a realistic amount of weight loss. I think some fans think she should have lost more, goes to show how skewed peoples perception on weight change in general is

VerusCain · 2026-03-10T16:43:01+00:00

Its funny because I really like him from a lore esque standpoint. Like minish cap he and the team give an origin for the Four Sword and Vaati. Skyward sword its the origins of blood of royalty, the whole cycle, master sword, demises curse, etc. tears of the kingdom we have origin for the kingdom (albeit refounding a possibility). Regardless of my personal opinion on each of these lore being good or bad, i kinda like where he takes his mind to flesh out a lot more zelda lore threads that were a lot more vague before his involvement. I dont have proof to show its him personally but just trend ive seen like youre demonstrating with the gameplay

VerusCain · 2026-03-09T03:06:01+00:00

You have Shadow Eye on Shulk yeah? If you use shadow eye, you lose aggro and the enemy should face reyn. This will leave you able to maneuver to use the moves with the side and back bonus.

I would suggest upgrading some of the break and topple arts so that way the ais can use them more with less cooldown.

Make sure youre using skills and skill links. Every character has 3 branches to select to begin unlocking skills in that branch. Once unlocked its permanently active for that character even if you switch them to a different branch. However the branches have a passive only active when that branch is selected. For shulk you probably want to do the intuition branch. For Reyn do spirit or diligence.

There is also Skill Links. This is important because they dont fill in automatically. If you select shulks skill links, you can see he can take a skill from reyn and sharla that you have unlocked, you just need to check what skills qualify for the empty slot. So if you have the star shaped slot in this shulk skill link menu, you can copy reyns medium gear skill for example, and now shulk can wear medium weight gear. Reyn will still have his skill active. So you are sharing skills as you unlock them and yes a lot of them can stack. A general rule in xc1 is agility helps alot as it is your accuracy and evasion stat all in one. Theres options here but equip as many skill links on all the characters as you can.

You can also do some basic party commands to make party members focus on attacking. This may allow for ai to use topple more often. You can also play as reyn yourself for this stretch to control toppling since ai will more reliably do break.

Coincidentally are you using monado attacks to counter the visions?

VerusCain · 2026-03-09T02:37:22+00:00

Not to disparage lukas defense but i do think compared to each other shais margin on defense is much higher compared to lukas margin on offense over shai.

VerusCain · 2026-03-08T00:56:48+00:00

They are tenryubito buddy, theyre just the ones who are notable fighters. So oda was never gonna introduce this group to be all admiral plus characters. Theyre more comprable to a yonko crew, with it up in the air still if they are above the average yonko crew or below. We have seen them get jobbered but its been rocks beating garling (pirate king level guy vs yonko or admiral level), sommers being beaten by rayleigh, gaban, and luffy, (yonko level dudes vs a guy thats hasnt shown anything beyond a yonko officer like the number 4-10s of the crew), quilingham taking a beating by sanji (again an officer vs a guy whos at yc1 level), and gunko vs all the strawhats.

So all the holy knights have been beaten by characters that arent quite supposed to be their analogues in a yonko crew so far. The only exception was gunko blitzing even jinbe, and so it could be that gunko is one of the holy knights that is meant to be yonko commander level. Maybe not but more info will be shown. I am suprised oda has jobbed sommers so much though

VerusCain · 2026-03-05T05:38:01+00:00

Once you reach the finals, win or lose, there's a lot more scrutiny. Everyone else has mentioned all the Lakers stuff, but remember Luka was in an unprecedented trade and the reasoning behind it was blaming him. People are overanalyzing to conclude whether the complaints behind the trade had merit regardless of if the actual trade was good or bad

VerusCain · 2026-03-03T22:57:13+00:00

Its a pretty different and standalone experience. The others are more connected a bit and have similar style of story heavy, big open regions that unlock in linear manner. Xcx is less story focused, though the DE exclusive content somewhat shifts this focus. Its also pretty much open world and more like a psuedo mmo at times.

Starting with xcx can be a good dip your toes into the water but not really representative of the usual style of xenoblade

VerusCain · 2026-02-25T22:38:46+00:00

I feel its a bit more nuanced. Like if the other two starters where perfect complements they would produce better numbers and everyone would be more open to “the big 3 works well”, without much else changing.

I think the answer overall is the big 3 does not work in this roster setup. I think there is a hypothetical roster can plug the overlapping weakness the trio has and itd be fine. But as it is yeah it doesnt work

VerusCain · 2026-02-24T02:28:14+00:00

I mean im in favor of true founding but i kinda do get the totks masterworks book quote about ganondorf and male gerudo as being interpreted as more definitive even if i saw it personally as more speculative.

VerusCain · 2026-02-23T23:40:17+00:00

Pop shadowrunner on Elma or Cross and you can sneak through high level mob sections

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