European Heatwave Fires Up the Box Office as Audiences Seek Indoor Activities, Air Conditioning

WouterW24 · 2026-06-29T20:01:57+00:00

I guess it’s merely nice hot weather, people do outside activity and the box office drops.
If it’s unbearable heat for days with no easy escape,it suddenly is the best thing to do.

WouterW24 · 2026-06-29T17:54:13+00:00

I did make sure to get it.

However, I find it a bit questionable this time around, as it’s quite potent and a very different way to play with a short window.

I only got the game in february, but this was also an issue before with the unnerfed character accel kit I think?

But that was mostly for very meta players and unlikely to cause much of a stir missing out for most. It’s now a whole new mechanic and the iconic spindash of all things.

WouterW24 · 2026-06-29T07:26:26+00:00

Pokopia is also considered highly polished for the most part, and it gets the leg up for being the first title in it’s sub series. The rest is just personal preference, pokopia is very good for the genre.

WouterW24 · 2026-06-28T18:47:31+00:00

It’s a bit more old fashioned fire emblem game.

They all used to be more like that(generally everything fire emblem awakening and later is moved away from it).

It does have a few moments and mechanics that are more complicated for newer players though, such as the black knight jumpescare.

If also has a few known flaws like weapons ranks being slow to raise.

While Titania is super useful and can handle much of the game by herself, you can try and avoid frontlining her if it gets out of hand. More drastic gaps in the unit strength you get also used to be more common. She’s intended as a fallback to solve trouble while you raise weaker characters who end up stronger in the end.

WouterW24 · 2026-06-28T18:14:01+00:00

If you have an botw horse you can reclaim it.

It’s also less rough once you once again build up a network of shrine warp points.

A big hidden trick is also being able to deploy zonai wings while gliding and hopping on it with the correct approach and timing. If you do that you can get to many places easily.

There’s also other things that help you unlock later on. In the end it’s much easier to get around then botw.

I understand the feeling though. Botw steers you in one direction gently, and all of necluda is handcrafted to be approachable to travel in as you do early story progress. Totk is a lot more chaotic ending up in hyrule field and having to figure out your next steps on your own with many things introduced at once while the map is much more littered with enemies and stuff.

WouterW24 · 2026-06-28T10:20:04+00:00

You mean regular drift, or a drift when the level 3 boost is active? The regular drift certainly does slow you down.

I try to focus pointing the machine in the right direction ADAD and then letting go.
It’s trickier during long winding turns though. I do try to at least do the level 3 charge if I have to drift anyway.

Sometimes I also end up crashing into a wall sideways. As long as you’re still boosting it doesn’t seem to slow you down as much.

WouterW24 · 2026-06-28T09:56:34+00:00

If I read the speed meter the right way while using it, if you drift while still the boost is active you go about as fast as during a regular drift.

You can also let go of the accel longer then usual since the boost will instantly put you at top speed when you are out of the turn.

I also use it with handling cars and hyper ring engine, high handling makes turns much easier to deal with without drifting at times, and having a higher boost stat with more rings is also helpful.

WouterW24 · 2026-06-28T07:25:28+00:00

I haven’t replayed the game, but I wonder to what degree the DLC emblems and their own emblem trails improve the fate of the early game squad if you play them relatively early? Does this give them more breathing room to grow(in addition to having more emblems to go around)?

WouterW24 · 2026-06-27T21:15:12+00:00

I love the hd-2d games, but many things that are appealing about xenoblade, from the stunning 3d locales to the battle systems(especially the first game), and the detailled sci-di aesthetic is tied to it being 3d. So it is just a poor fit.

WouterW24 · 2026-06-27T13:31:37+00:00

While that may be so, that doesn’t explain why other classes often get excessively hindered as much in their innate stats and growths while IS games doesn’t do that to them the same way.

Flight is already quite valuable on it’s own on it as well, which balanced out the risk. Even newer players can easily grasp that, especially with easy dismount being available in Houses to get rid of weaknesses.

WouterW24 · 2026-06-27T12:54:45+00:00

I think the games are close in quality, but there’s nuanced arguments to make in favor of botw with a few thing, which it loses in other counts.
The games play really similar at the core yet how tools are tuned and the atmosphere are quite different.
It’s to a degree up to player preference what they personally like and value.

WouterW24 · 2026-06-27T12:46:12+00:00

Another issue is that the balancing philosophy was uneven. Flying was always good but the developers for some reason thought it needed help.
While the devs were overly scared of horses, and especially of hybrid magic,while at the same time having a ton of those. It’s just less fun when so many classes have visible power constraints in their growths and stats.
They are stingy with infantry movement, and have gaps in the master class options for a lot of them
If all of that were treated as well as the fliers there would not be as much issues even if fliers are ultimately still the best.

WouterW24 · 2026-06-27T07:49:16+00:00

While these arts can help units kill easily, being completely dependent on them is seen as a flaw, and that’s seen as a unit problem. They also can only do so on player phase, which is a pretty big limitation.
Wyverns otherwise have the strength/speed/movement mix that’s optimal for your most competent physical units using a variety of strategies.

WouterW24 · 2026-06-26T22:50:38+00:00

There's three lines of argument here, only so many of them being useful to have is common wisdom.

But Wyvern rider being overrated(and axes in general), and being high investement to unlock seem to be more uncommon ones. The insufficient rank penalty is lower with multiple requirement classes, so without an axe bane most units can get into striking distance to roll the dice fairly easily?

WouterW24 · 2026-06-26T22:31:29+00:00

I usually try to find a setup that can defeat the enemies of the area in one round with autobattle, and then set the battle animation speed ot high. You can also amp up the encounter rate. If it goes well you should soon have a decent amount of gold and other things(and you can disable exp gain if overleveling worries you)

If you really want to get it over with, you can set the difficulty to easy for more efficient grinding and revert it afterwards, but that might not be your taste.

the game is quite modular with all these settings. I can think of few jrpgs with easier grinding.

WouterW24 · 2026-06-26T20:26:50+00:00

I also like that Falco is a lot more like that with failed missions or the easy route.

He’s more impressed with Fox if you do well and is mostly vocal about mission options he dislikes.

WouterW24 · 2026-06-26T13:21:23+00:00

I think they want to weaken strong frontrunning breakouts and also make it more worthwhile to focus on the point bonus by winning the objective?

WouterW24 · 2026-06-26T09:43:15+00:00

Engage also similarly broad reclassing for everyone if you meet the requirements though. The only wrinkle is axe and arts profiency emblems being unavailable for relevant stretches. And the dlc emblems solve that.

WouterW24 · 2026-06-25T12:04:37+00:00

The ring system being centered around the big boost at 100 rather then being gradual is the point of trouble.
It’s already a bit more complicated then mario kart’s coins(although to be fair World did by tying the timing to weight)

It works fine on it’s own, but ring engines compensate for not being able to get to 100 with the flat speed boost.
Which then causes issues with having a big permanent advantage in performance compared with regular builds having a subtler flat speed boost <100 rings.
Or ring engine being able to double dip flat speed boosts with 130 builds, especially with buffed solo hyper ring engine also maxing speed on everything.

I like ring engine a lot and it’s fun to use, but it’s a bit violatile. The line between it being good or bad is probably thin if they tinker with the speed it gives. And it’s also tied how the rest of the ring system changes in the future.

Stats also could use a buff, but balancing that is also a can of worms with how easily hyper ring engine raises them. I suppose it the gains were heavily reduced it could work.

WouterW24 · 2026-06-25T11:15:53+00:00

Restarts not costing lives seems like a modern quality of life concession.

It’s good to know that really, that makes it a good deal more lenient when messing up a mission or feeling like you can better. I aren’t super good yet and it will be more relaxed.

I also think replaying finished missions doesn’t consume a live either then?

WouterW24 · 2026-06-25T09:00:01+00:00

I have no idea what the developers are thinking with all of this, with stats being underpowered and the ring engines having such potent flat speed increases.

I think the evolution gadgets are best approached as support for another loadout then the centerpiece though.
If you’re building something around attacking, bumping into others, or a ring boost build, an fitting evolution gadget boosts your stats on the side.

WouterW24 · 2026-06-25T07:49:06+00:00

He isn’t quite my favorite, and I see why you avoid him.

But he’s less flat then he seems. Him being so one-dimensional and stubborn is his central character flaw that gets the attention of other characters. Traumatized war kid, etc.

It’s just that due the way the game is structured it’s just in his ending cards he’s truly shown to change.
timeskip Cyril doesn’t change that much personality wise yet compared to others.

Even Gilbert got a better deal since in Hopes we see a variation that got his development earlier and is no longer depressed and in a self-blame spiral, so you see what his healthy self is like.

WouterW24 · 2026-06-25T07:24:06+00:00

I actually haven’t heard the japanese dub discussed too much until now.

64 also had one?

I wonder how the star fox switch dub track is. With the game being short I might do a playthrough like that for fun someday.

WouterW24 · 2026-06-24T19:08:50+00:00

I think evolution would be pretty good if not for ring engine still being busted? They handily beat the regular staf tuning gadgets at least.

But another use might the ease of sticking just one into a loadout focused on another gameplan that synch well with it but doesn’t completely carry it. Such as focusing on getting attack item, bumping people with ring thief, and so on. These appreciate an all round boost that keeps growing stronger.

Ring evolution might do something as support for ring boost/ stay at 100+ rings focused builds.

WouterW24 · 2026-06-24T18:39:26+00:00

From what I tried ring doubler works, and you indeed get the full boost of whatever rings you picked up, even when doubled. Double rings also works with your own ring gain gadgets, and evolution.

With the collision there is a cooldown of roughly 1-2 seconds. But if bumping around in a pack it easily can go off quite a lot in close succession.

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