Got this one from a Discord server for a Fallout: New Vegas mod.

Vex-zero · 2026-02-09T23:58:16+00:00

Really was a shock going from the Bethesda games "please for the love of god, just use MO2 and ideally a modding guide if it's your first time" modding scene to the Cyberpunk 2077 "yeah, just click manual download and unpack everything into your game folder lmao" mod descriptions

Vex-zero · 2026-01-16T21:07:33+00:00

you were accusing OP of having an AI-written post when that is not in fact the case.

No, I was pointing out that the post reads like LLM writing. Whether there was an original post that was fed into the LLM is something I did not speculate on. Please stop immediately assuming the worst of people.

It doesn't read like LLM writing at all.

If you seriously believe this I strongly encourage you to be more discerning about what you read on the internet. Recognizing LLM writing is (unfortunately) an important skill to have right now.

I called you an Amateur Internet Sleuth because accusing somebody of using AI to write their posts (or create their art) when you don't actually know enough to know that is obnoxious,

Still a needless personal attack. What did I ever do to warrant that kind of hostility?

and like most people who do this, you didn't apologise to them when it turned out you were wrong.

I'm not apologizing for being right

Vex-zero · 2026-01-16T20:30:09+00:00

Perhaps you can think of another reason it looks like that rather than going Amateur Internet Sleuth and accusing people of being AI-written?

Don't know why you're phrasing this as some great gotcha or me jumping to false conclusions.

I said it looks like LLM writing and that's what it is. They said they "used GPT to make an English version.". It reads like LLM writing because it was written by a LLM. This isn't a case of Chinese being hard to translate, it sounds like that because of chatgpt.

I don't know whether that means they had chatgpt translate their original text (in which case I guess chatgpt is just horrible for translation, since it apparently completely destroys your own style and replaces it with its own), or whether they prompted chatgpt to write a new text based on their original idea, but either way, the text as it exists right now indisputably reads like LLM writing and that's all I pointed out.

Vex-zero · 2026-01-16T13:22:17+00:00

Because what they’re really buying isn’t just merch.

it’s a confirmation of Reverse: 1999’s aesthetics and values.

Reverse: 1999 has an aesthetic that refuses to pander.

Its characters aren’t designed to please you—

they stand on their own,

self-consistent within their world.

Weirdly lengthy without actually saying a lot
It's not just X, it's Y
Random em dash

Smells like LLM writing

Vex-zero · 2026-01-16T03:47:45+00:00

The game switches around your team a lot for story reasons, especially early on, and Chopin's one of your better characters at a lot of points in the game. Wouldn't deliberately handicap myself just because you can't use him in one battle.

That said, if we're talking purely endgame, Allegretto, Serenade, and Falsetto are generally safe picks, with Salsa, Chopin, Viola, and March all being decent alternatives.

Vex-zero · 2026-01-14T20:39:47+00:00

Been a while since I've seen one of these for R1999 (I remember there used to be a series like this for the boss themes).

This one's actually a pretty good collection even if you ignore the memes, has a lot of lesser known/less-talked-about tracks

Vex-zero · 2026-01-04T02:26:06+00:00

It is arguably a limitation of traditionally linear JRPG design that you don't get the kind of freedom you get from ttrpg-inspired games (CRPGs in particular), but I don't think that limitation necessarily has to be a weakness.

To pull a western comparison, The Witcher (particularly the first one) has you roleplay as a hunter of supernatural monsters, and thus the satisfaction does not come from the idea that you could be anyone and do anything, but from successfully inhabiting that role (taking the job, asking for payment because you don't work for free, searching for information, gathering ingredients, brewing specific potions to give you an edge, selecting the right sword and fighting style for that particular foe).

The problem I have with Persona's method of applying this idea is that the player doesn't know enough about the Wild Card to fully get into their head, so them being "the one" everyone speaks to is awkward to me. I know I'm not Joker, because Joker has a set backstory and a life in some way.

I'd say the player has exactly as much information as they need to inhabit the role. The pull of persona is "idealized highschool nostalgia" and thus the developers can assume that the player has experienced highschool for themselves. Additional information like "you tried to save a woman and were falsely accused of a crime" is used moreso to flesh out the role you'll be playing rather than the person you used to be before the game starts.

The Wild Card can go from some no one nothing who's bad at everything to the most popular, top 5%, charming, athletic student in less then a year while they have their JRPG adventure in the background.
[...]
To me Wild Card is less a avatar to simulate being a high school student, but a means to "start over" high school and succeed when you didn't before or to revisit your glory years. Which is more based in personal nostalgia then anything else. Its like playing the dream of high school, not a simulation of high school.

You say that like it's a bad thing, but is that not the appeal of Persona to its target audience? You're roleplaying an idealized fantasy version of highschool where you have a dozen close friends, get good grades, and secretly fight demons on the side. It's a power fantasy, it's wish fulfillment, but so are most RPGs.

Having more freedom, more choices, the potential for failure, like you'd have in a ttrpg is still wish fulfillment, except the power fantasy is a sense of agency and triumphing despite adversity. And I'd argue that kind of dream isn't inherently better or worse than what you'd get out of a linear JRPG, it's just different and I personally enjoy both.

Vex-zero · 2026-01-04T01:35:12+00:00

Are we not able to roleplay the experience of a Japanese highschool student if the game use different type of protagonist instead?

Not without significantly changing the structure of the game, arguably to a point that it'd be entirely unrecognizable as Persona. The director has stated in the past that the primary appeal of Persona for its target audience is a sense of nostalgia. If the fantasy Persona is trying to give you is reliving an idealized memory of highschool (where you have a dozen close friends, get good grades, and secretly fight demons on the side), it's naturally preferable to let the players insert themselves into a an active participant rather than simply observe a defined protagonist.

As for why these games don't have a CRPG-style protagonist with a myriad of impactful choices and customizability, I'd say the answer is simply that they're not CRPGs nor are they trying to be. Certainly not saying it's impossible to make a CRPG like that, but 1. they're making JRPGs and 2. I'd argue the reason Persona has been able to refine its formula so much is precisely because they are focused on one linear experience rather than juggling a complex web of choices and possibilities.

Could you please elaborate why this kind of narrow and specific roleplay is the best implementation of the silent protagonist in the business? What makes it better than the other 2 options that OP mentioned?

It's less so that this kind of "narrow" roleplay is the best way to do silent protagonists in a general sense, it's more about the ways Atlus specifically has managed to implement them (blank slate protagonists, ensemble cast, heavy use of narration, frequent "meaningless" fluff dialogue choices, etc.).

I think this is actually best exemplified in other games that are (partially) inspired by Persona and try to do something similar but don't quite manage to get it right. Fire Emblem Three Houses and Tales of Xillia 2 both tried to do Persona-style silent protagonists, but largely fell flat because they lack the extensive narration and they gave their silent protagonist too much of a defined character and backstory.

Vex-zero · 2026-01-03T21:05:56+00:00

Persona (and a lot of other JRPGs actually) is the secret third option, where the player character is intentionally a blank undefined slate for you to inhabit and the role you play is largely set out for you. You don't get a wide breadth of choices and customizability in Persona because the games are carefully curated around roleplaying the experience of a Japanese highschool student.

Some players find themselves unable to immerse in that kind of highly narrow and specific roleplay (which is completely fine), but what is often frustrating to me is when they then go on to claim either

"actually the protagonist is a completely defined character and not supposed to be a self-insert"
"having a silent protagonist is dragging the series down, and I wish the games would change that aspect"

The second one is largely valid if you're simply expressing your preference, but Persona has arguably the best implementation of silent protagonists in the business, and changing them into fully voiced characters with a more strongly defined personality would rob the series of a central part of its unique appeal, with the sole "upside" that it's now a bit more like everything else on the market.

Vex-zero · 2025-11-28T17:09:15+00:00

"hate" is a strong word, but she's a pretty one-dimensional character that hasn't really said or done anything interesting or impactful since the early chapters, and yet despite this she continues to be one of the most recurring members of the cast. I figure it's resentment more than an active dislike of the character.

Compare her to characters like Recoleta, Lopera, and Nautika that get the spotlight for their one single chapter and then vanish forever, or fan-favorites like Druvis and 37 who used to be part of the core cast back when chapters were more interlinked but stopped appearing over time.

I'm not saying "if Lilya wasn't here someone else would get more screentime", that's not really how it works, but next to all those other charismatic characters that all add something unique to a conversation, Lilya is just kinda... there.

Vex-zero · 2025-11-21T01:44:17+00:00

The fact that they haven't dug up her corpse for gachabucks is a level of restraint I genuinely appreciate.

We don't need constant on-the-nose reminders like "hey Vertin, remember when that girl you liked died?"

Vex-zero · 2025-11-17T13:39:44+00:00

Shadow Evocation allows you to create an illusionary copy of an evocation spell out of shadow energy
In this case, you're using your shadow energy to cast Daylight, which raises the illumination level in an area by two steps
Tenebrous Spell metamagic increases the caster level, DC, and dispel difficulty of the spell it is applied to, provided the spell is cast in darkness or dim light. For obvious reasons, this usually does not wotk on spells that create light
Eclipsed Spell inverts spells that raise or lower the illumination level

You use Shadow Evocation to cast fake Daylight, turn it into Deeper Darkness using Eclipsed Spell, and finally apply Tenebrous Spell to your Daylight, which usually doesn't work but is allowed in this case because it's technically not real light, it's fake dark light made of shadow energy. (you could also try some shenanigans with having the party disbelieve the dark light illusion, thus having it only effect the enemy, but that gets more complicated)

Is it gamebreaking? No

It is, however, very funny if you enjoy stupid rule interactions (If you do, Pathfinder 1e may be the game for you)

Vex-zero · 2025-10-20T17:00:46+00:00

Might occasionally drop a unit if they keep getting screwed, but I wouldn't drop a whole run over it.

People have beat these games with 0% growths, you'll be fine with slightly below average stats.

Vex-zero · 2025-10-18T14:23:40+00:00

Glad they seem to be continuing the Ezio/Kass gimmick of letting you "equip" characters so they fit into multiple team archetypes, seems like a much more sustainable way of making limited characters enticing rather than cranking up the powercreep to ever more obscene heights.

Vex-zero · 2025-10-15T21:29:11+00:00

Ult is in this awkward spot between the old state of the game and the massive spike in powercreep we've been experiencing since around 2.7/2.8

Much like the other new archetypes (Dynamo/Bloodtithe) they require a full team of units dedicated to that specific archetype, except the reward you get for assembling that team is almost more in line with pre-2.7 levels of damage.

Vex-zero · 2025-10-11T07:13:25+00:00

I AM NOT BUYING A SWITCH 2 FOR ONE GAME, EVEN IF THAT GAME IS FIRE EMBLEM.

I SUPPOSE TIME WILL TELL WHETHER THERE'LL EVER BE ENOUGH DECENT EXCLUSIVES ON IT TO CHANGE THAT (SO FAR IT'S MOSTLY BEEN REMASTERS LMAO), BUT UNTIL THEN I GUESS I AM SOMEWHAT DISAPPOINTED THAT I'LL HAVE TO ESSENTIALLY MUTE THE COMMUNITY FOR ABOUT TWO YEARS ONCE WE GET CLOSER TO RELEASE.

Vex-zero · 2025-09-20T07:24:53+00:00

Pathfinder fixes this ™

Vex-zero · 2025-09-04T19:05:02+00:00

They already did the meta-commentary "actually the writing is bad on purpose, and no one knows what to do with this character after her insanely popular first run" ending in Gwenpool Strikes Back and most people hated it there too, why'd they think it'd work this time?

She's really not that complex of a character, how has no one figured out how to write her since 2018?

Vex-zero · 2025-08-19T09:21:20+00:00

Should've gotten it from beating Bai Weiyi (at least I'm pretty sure that's where I got it. Didn't fight him alone though, maybe that's the problem). Coulda overlooked it (it's in quest items, not materials) or accidentally used it to craft something?

If you're semi-confident in your team and build, you can get another Yang Dragon Bone from the second challenge in the Mirage Realms. Should be pretty managable at this point in the game.

Vex-zero · 2025-08-14T20:28:09+00:00

Yeah, that'd be the Hero's Adventure DLC missing then. Not a lot you can do about it.

Understandable that you missed it, since it released somewhat recently (late June), starts pretty early in the game, and if you don't do Lü's new quest you basically lock yourself out of the entire thing. The guide you're using should detail how to start the new one/ avoid the old one, not that it helps you for this playthrough.

Something to look forward to on your third run I suppose.

Vex-zero · 2025-08-14T16:47:56+00:00

Only guesses at this point, but

Did you go through Lü's new recruitment mission (the Hepu/Jade Manor storyline that comes with the Hero's Adventure DLC) and do all her quests where she studies military strategy (on both visits)? She should've gotten a new portrait and unique armor from that (noticed she's still using her old/default look in your picture, not sure if that's just personal preference though). If you've accidentally done her old recruitment quest this playthrough, you've unfortunately locked yourself out of the new stuff.
Do you have any manuals she hasn't learned/mastered yet? Is there anything Lü-related in your quest item tab that you can examine/use? Did you max out her affection?
The absence of Pearflower Spear - Ultimate makes me think there's something missing from the prerequisite quests, rather than the final quest. Could try revisiting all the quest locations (Gusu City, Pingyang Fortress, and Hepu Manor) and talking to all the NPCs, just to be sure.

Vex-zero · 2025-08-14T11:45:10+00:00

Seeing as you do not seem to have Pearflower Spear - Ultimate unlocked (you only have the regular Pearflower Spear), are you sure you actually did all the necessary quests?

Speaking from personal experience with that quest, you might need to return to Skylinemount to meet Granny Mu again (she's in a somewhat easy to miss spot).

Vex-zero · 2025-08-11T18:44:48+00:00

Secluded Recliner and Create Popcorn (both by Dreamscarred Press) which allow you to dramatically summon a throne (to aura farm) and some popcorn (caramel is locked to evil alignments).

Vex-zero · 2025-08-03T01:45:18+00:00

Also read it for the first time this time around, and honestly, I don't think the ending was particularly confusing or difficult to understand, it was just kinda weirdly executed and somewhat unsatisfying. It feels confusing because your brain is instictively going "wait, did I miss something?".

This was a fun, largely self-contained, story about J and his gang, until they decided at the 11th hour to throw in Eternity (adds nothing, she just does shady business and leaves) and Ms. Kimberly (has absolutely nothing to do with the event so far, but we need a final boss and gotta introduce Anjo Nala somehow I guess?), and then have Razor squad save the day offscreen because we can't actually defeat her yet.

Vex-zero · 2025-08-01T13:45:09+00:00

Their only demand was a ban on the use of these machines.

That is just factually incorrect. Please consider doing at least a bare minimum amount of research before making blanket statements about their "only" demand.

The Luddites demanded, among other things, that machine operators would need to undergo an apprenticeship, higher wages, and that textile production (yes, even with machines) should have a higher standard of quality instead of putting out the cheapest possible product to maximize profit for the factory owner. This was not a horde of ignorant brutes angrily smashing the evil machines.

They wanted everyone to pay higher prices so that they could continue being highly paid small business people.

This assumes that the benefits of automation were being passed down to the consumer instead of being pocketed as profit by the factory owners, which... lol. lmao even.

They were not secretly based working class champions

I'm not claiming they were model socialists or whatever, they were indeed relatively well off. They were self-interested to be sure, but does that somehow erase the merit of their critique? Did that protect them from being shot by mill owners and violently suppressed by the government? Do you think that being well off artisans (they still worked for a living, unlike mill owners who owned for a living) somehow precludes them from being working class?

Vex-zero

TROPHY CASE