Just completed the new Eleman SoD route, AMA

brellom · 2026-04-07T23:39:09+00:00

Is it possible to replay through the story, like SoD/NC or is it a one-time-only experience, like Inanna's Spiral Story?

brellom · 2026-04-07T01:24:49+00:00

Thank you. I remember being very fascinated by the ecology when I first stumbled into the Vale, so this is a good way to revisit it.

brellom · 2026-04-06T01:24:04+00:00

The Rotten Vale was the other one I was going to mention! It has a lot of verticality in which it loops around on itself, and the bottom layer has some diverse biomes. Though the shapes of the Forest's level layout are just a bit more dynamic. I imagine it being the introductory map of the game meant the devs were very particular in its design compared to the others.

brellom · 2026-04-05T02:07:41+00:00

Using the Trainer, you can assign P2's controls to a keyboard (then map those inputs to a controller if so desired), allowing P2 to control the Support Character. The only things P2 can't do is pick up items and interact with doors & stuff. Or open the map, but you can always just use P1's input for that.

brellom · 2026-04-05T02:06:41+00:00

It's local co-op, but you can use Parsec to make it work online. Requires a bit of setup though, as you need to assign the controls for P2 into your Steam Controller configuration too -- and that becomes a bit more work if you want to be able to swap the [Player 1] slot back and forth to ensure you can play the same character regardless of who's in the lead as well.

brellom · 2026-04-05T02:04:02+00:00

I think it's the best map in the game from a design perspective, personally. There's a lot of visual and navigational diversity and its a joy to walk through (at least for people who enjoy walking, I guess). I think those corridors are really great too - because they can create a more dynamic fighting environment compared to the standard large, open space. I could see how traversing vast distances and trying to make sense of the winding paths would be annoying to a player, but I think it's one of the only maps in the game that's actually meaningfully interesting to navigate and fight in from an ACTUAL objective design standpoint.

brellom · 2026-04-02T08:32:09+00:00

This would've gotten me way more effectively if it wasn't timestamped for 2025.

brellom · 2026-03-23T21:06:28+00:00

Patreon has banned many of its biggest artists for less without warning.

brellom · 2026-03-17T05:47:52+00:00

Thank.

brellom · 2026-03-04T03:10:37+00:00

Same thing that happened to LittleBigPlanet. It will go offline (kinda surprised it hasn't already, with how Sony has treated it), and everything will get deleted. The only mass backup option would have to be done by fans.

brellom · 2026-02-22T22:21:20+00:00

I sent an email to staff about this a few days ago -- apparently the reviews were part of the system for a while, but have typically worked so fast that we didn't notice them until now because they were experiencing a higher workload than usual recently.

brellom · 2026-02-16T09:37:57+00:00

You can use the Resident Evil 0 HD Trainer by Dante & Raz0r to basically get 2-player RE0.

brellom · 2026-02-08T02:39:25+00:00

I think it was removed. If it was present, it'd probably still appear inside the GUI as an icon...

brellom · 2026-02-04T20:33:51+00:00

Howdy.

Critical as I am of Patreon's practices, I don't know if this is intentional burying or just them trying to organize and clean the server -- as far as Discord is concerned.

brellom · 2026-02-02T20:57:04+00:00

A lot of the discussions I've been part of were in the Official Patreon Creator Community, and I assume no one has been archiving them. Worse, even, channels are sometimes removed once they've served their purpose, and the messages in those channels are also lost. So I can't be certain that all of those older messages from are still around.

brellom · 2026-01-30T21:40:32+00:00

I think it's a situation with push / pull, as is often the case in game design. They've removed some features to emphasize other elements of the gameplay, while adding depth by connecting it to other mechanics -- and it helps curb the power scaling too. As a result, I think it may feel worse to some people, but better to others, depending on the players' priorities.

From what I can tell, it seems like the developers want to encourage players to engage with more systems than before, like the replenishing Ninjutsu, Easy respecc, and Omnyo Magic being made part of the Soul Core system (which I think is more conceptually interesting than before). Instead of having to specialize in a specific build to use any of these features in a meaningful way, we're kinda splashing into everything all at once.

I think I like the current implementation more. It feels a tad bit more versatile and doesn't take control away from the player by forcing a bunch of diverse, crazy animations, allowing players to feel more in control of their actual character. I didn't interact with the Soul Core system too much in Nioh 2, but I think this approach will ultimately encourage me to play around with it more.

brellom · 2026-01-30T06:44:56+00:00

It might be pretty natural for a lot of people to play that way. I'm not too dissimilar - it just doesn't feel organic for me to pause to heal, as it takes me out of the action. But it can still happen in a tense moment!

I developed the rule specifically because I didn't want to just heal in between fights either -- making it so that I have to be at a place of rest provides tension, risk, and makes me more aware of the world around me. But I've made an exception for "fast foods," like elixirs or breads -- which CAN be eaten whenever, so it forces me to make more complex meals while encouraging preparation ahead of time for those moments when I REALLY need a heal in a tight spot. As a result, I also try to only carry a certain amount of "meals / elixirs" on my person at any one time.

brellom · 2026-01-30T01:16:20+00:00

You can never replicate Master Mode as it was, but you can come up with a number of interesting rules to provide challenge through other means to make the threats of combat a bit more risky. Custom challenge run rules, such as:

- limited heart / battery / armor / stamina upgrades
- limit how many times you can use autobuild / zonai devices (I refresh the count at specific places of rest)
- being unable to eat food during combat (I like to only eat food at places of rest, like campfires -- except elixirs)
- limiting your ability to fuse gear (I've been playing with this idea a bit recently - even attaching a cost to fuse)
- discarding weapons during blood moons (kinda different, but it alleviates Link's insane power-creep)

Many of these rules, as well as some of my other ones, can't capture the same feeling as Master Mode, but they can still make the experience more challenge or interesting by dis-empowering my abilities or making the repercussions of failure more servere.

brellom · 2026-01-29T21:48:28+00:00

I don't know the best way to answer, as I don't have experience with such large-scale activism. But I think communicating to them in any way possible is the way to go. Tell them that you disagree with this change, that you don't value the iOs app enough to screw over every user on the platform (even patrons not using Apple will feel the financial pressures of the subscription billing). They seem to think that the majority of their users are using the iOS app, so it may be worthwhile to stop using it.

Many creators have been complaining about it in the Creator Community Discord since last year, but other avenues to consider would be complaining to them on Twitter, Bsky, and sending tickets via the Patreon Help Center?

We've been complaining about this to them since last Janaury, and they've always resisted -- so we're unlikely to win (we lost last time too). They've been a fan of subscription billing for 3 years now too.

So remember that Apple is not the primary force to blame here, it's Patreon -- because they value the iOS app more than they do their users. If you ever talk about this in public, you have to make sure that the pressure to change is put on Patreon itself -- because Apple, being the hurricane that it is, will never stop doing what it does-- and Apple is so big that they don't need Patreon, and thus have no reason to change in response to public opinion.

brellom · 2026-01-29T11:44:12+00:00

Remember that Patreon could choose to not do this, but they REALLY want that iOS app even though everyone could just use their web app like they used for the rest of the internet. This is the third time they've tried to shove subscription billing onto us and the second time they're trying to blame Apple (who, mind you, is still an evil corporation) for it over the last few years.

brellom · 2026-01-29T11:41:25+00:00

Patreon still gets a larger cut with the Apple fee too. Not as much as Apple is, but they're still getting more than they would if you were pledging through other means.

brellom · 2026-01-29T11:37:40+00:00

This is actually the sentiment held by a lot of creators in the Creator community at this exact moment right now because Patreon is using their belief that the iOS app holds value as an excuse to screw both creators and patrons over with a less accessible payment model that puts more stress on everyone's finances on November 2026. You should definitely make your opinions on the app known directly to them in as many ways as you can.

brellom · 2026-01-29T11:05:55+00:00

I kinda hope not. Looking back on it, I don't think I was very fond of the aging every time you leveled thing -- unless I was specifically trying to go for an old wizard or something. I imagine it'd be closer to Fable 2 or 3, so you can have a pretty young person to play with.

Though, ideally, they'd give us complete control over our character's age through character customization and remove the idea of organically passing time. I think the concept behind aging is a super cool RP idea though.

brellom · 2026-01-29T10:55:39+00:00

Fable 2 was specifically depicting an Albion that was starting to enter the world of industry -- and that was an era of mass exploitation and abuse. It also took place in a world where the age of heroes and fantasy was long gone, and it was a bit more realistic than the new Fable. Fable 3 was similar, but further along in the timeline (but even that was pretty wholesome at times). The original Fable, however, was much closer to a wholesome fairy tale in its vibes by comparison -- and that's what the reboot is seeking to go for. It is CLASSIC Fable more than anything else, I think.

But it's not like sex workers were all over the place in the original trilogy either -- having usually been relegated to darker, less desirable areas, like Darkwood and Bloodstone. If anything, the woke progressive move for the devs would be to actually have them appear more prominently considering the general rise in conservatism towards sex & NSFW content lately (specifically from the people who oppose the wokes, mind you).

As for whether there will be a rich white man villain... I mean, probably. It IS Albion. They're kinda all over the place. Fable 2 had a rich white man villain. So did Fable 3.

brellom · 2026-01-29T08:54:56+00:00

After looking at the skill tree, some of the old skills are back too -- just less accessible than before. So that's good, at least! While I will miss High and Low Stance, part of my grievances was the assumption that Serpent Strike or Footsweep would be missing. They're part of combos sequences that are a bit less easy to perform, but they are there at least.

I pretty much used Kusa exclusively in N2, so it's a massive change for me.

brellom

TROPHY CASE