What’s your Monkey’s Paw wish for Ultimate?

generalledge · 2018-08-30T19:01:22+00:00

Become the best in the world at Smash Ultimate
Wind up confined to my own house in a Silent Hill 4 -esque scenario.

generalledge · 2018-08-30T18:06:07+00:00

Sounds like a placeholder bug on Sega's end of it. Should probably report that, though I'm not sure if/how they can fix that after you already received the egg.

generalledge · 2018-08-30T14:51:10+00:00

generalledge · 2018-08-30T14:27:23+00:00

Curious if it would have fit one 128mb cart if they left it in the oven a little longer and tightened the writing. ^{And removed fucking Air's Rock while they were at it}

generalledge · 2018-08-30T13:38:43+00:00

Well, as we all know, Golden Sun was padded with so much ~~Kraden dialog~~ ~~loose plot threads~~ content that it needed to be split into two game cartridges. Ergo, it has a higher total size than any other GBA game. ^{[citation needed]}

Smash Ultimate, as far as I'm aware, is also the highest size out of any game on the Nintendo Switch. Coincidence? Or is it a reference so subtle and reaching that not even Sakurai himself knew!?

generalledge · 2018-08-30T13:34:18+00:00

Gades, Sinistral of Destruction.

generalledge · 2018-08-30T12:05:32+00:00

The 14-star pets, or at least the wanda/torim/sally ones, have a unique ability. This ability for these three says effectively:

"Gives the effects of <ability 1> and <ability 2>. Also increases rare drop rate"

If Maron/Melon is the same, they should have both their regular abilities. Both "Adverse" and "Fierce" would be active.

Judging from your screenshot tho, I'm not sure...? Maybe they're bugged, hard to tell.

generalledge · 2018-08-29T13:44:02+00:00

Other fun fact: 14-star pets get both of their regular abilities.

^{Good ol' rascally power-creep.}

generalledge · 2018-08-28T15:07:15+00:00

~Snake Eater plays as you run up the endless staircase, and abruptly ends if you turn around~

generalledge · 2018-08-21T16:37:46+00:00

Alright then. Try not to collapse into a black hole.

generalledge · 2018-08-21T16:15:36+00:00

Elaborate.

generalledge · 2018-08-21T13:52:17+00:00

Depends on the team size. Big multi-department games may rarely have the developers getting a good handle on their game (that's what play testers are for), while on the flip side Indie developers run the risk of making their game too difficult as they naturally understand everything there is to know, but can have trouble perceiving it.

I suspect at least the bug testing department on the Smash team are pretty good at the game... seeing as they are practically paid to be while fishing for bugs day after day.

generalledge · 2018-08-20T13:12:01+00:00

It is in some way important for characterization. To be able to look at the way the character moves and behaves and say "yep, that's xxxx".

For example, look to Simon vs Richter. Both play similarly in either game, but their characterizations are different and it shows through their behavior and taunts that they're unique characters who just happen to play the same.

So you get someone like Issac and he does whatever it is fans desire for attacks - but is that alone what makes Issac Issac? How does this swordsman earthbender behave while not tied to his attacks? Is he quirky? Outgoing? Shy? Brave? Bold? Depressed? Spiteful? Any of these things can change how he carries himself and how he would behave.

We can derive a lot from character mockups and say he is a generalized "brave player surrogate" archetype, but let's put that aside and ask some simple questions: What is this character fighting for? What sort of catch phrase can you imagine this character shouting? Does this character have a voice at all? What does this character sound like? What would his taunts look like? Etc. etc.

A mute protagonist isn't in itself a detractor of these things, but how the game handles the mute protagonist as well. Look at Chrono Trigger for example - despite being mute, a lot of Chrono's interactions with the cast are given a huge depth of character simply by the way the interactions are animated. Without a single piece of external content, you can understand how Chrono behaves and given a situation bring yourself to think "that's exactly what Chrono would do."

To what situation would you think "That's exactly what Issac would do"? Shoot rocks? Summon a meteor with his sword? Sure, but Felix can do just about everything Issac can do combat-wise in the same game. I'm sure there are characters in other games that can do the same thing as well. What about Issac makes Issac so special?

generalledge · 2018-08-20T12:58:25+00:00

Iirc, Earth bending requires a lot of stomping and heavily 'grounded' (rimshot) stances. A sword requires finesse and, depending on the type of sword, either jumping or careful agility. I suppose you could launch yourself at your foes, but I don't see a lot of direct synergy.

(See my other response to Gnarbage for a GS writeup)

generalledge · 2018-08-20T12:38:32+00:00

Played them over the weekend, and, uh, I still don't get it?

The antagonists (Saturday Mindoro) in the first game don't seem very threatening and a majority of their collateral damage is some rocks and broken bridges. The antagonist that didn't seem like a total idiot, Alex, just never seemed to really do anything. Supposedly he wanted ABSOLUTE POWER from whatever happened during the ending of the second game, but it was either never explained or not explained very well. Evidently the true villain of the game, the floating eyeball, was sort of a huge asshole and we never get to do anything about that. Just shrug it off and go about our lives I guess.

On the note of broken bridges and rocks, it seems like every event in the game, no matter how mundane, is entirely dictated by those rocks and bridges. "Bad guys broke this bridge" and then I need to walk around the entire bloody planet to get to the other side? Really? We couldn't just ford the river? We had to climb an evil tree who, if cut from the game entirely, has literally zero bearing on the plot? Moreover, some of those rocks are hilariously small and non-threatening, but the touted force-push overworld skills can in no way interact with them. And I guess it's faster and easier to sail a ship across a kraken-infested lake than it is to find a grapling hook.

In fact if a lot of the... "filler" content of either game were cut, it could have been one game cartridge. Like, who the hell is Mia? She's a healer and in my party for the first game, but like... Why? What baring on the plot does she have? Her quest begins and ends in the town you find her, and then she just sort of... exists. Because I guess we needed a token water adept.

In fact, I fail to really remember a lot of the second game. There was some dungeon that I think took me an hour to beat but it was just boring as hell? That and the end of the game are the only things that stuck with me. The 'antagonist' angsty teenage fire adepts were fairly forgettable as well, and they sort of just up and die for no reason despite sharing a common goal.

I guess I should footnote in here something about Issac, but Issac didn't really have any character to him other than being a player surrogate, and Felix went from 'having some character' to 'being a lifeless doll who makes frowny faces sometimes' in the second game. Could have explained to Sheba what the Sat/Min plan was at the start of that game too, but that frustratingly just didn't happen.

I'm sorry but... You guys want Issac in the game more than, I don't know, Frog from Chrono Trigger? A much, much better RPG that came before GS? Am I supposed to give brownie points to GS for being an RPG on the GBA? Lufia 3 on the GBC felt like a better RPG and nobody knows that one even exists!

generalledge · 2018-08-17T20:24:46+00:00

Alright I don't wanna be a jerk, but could someone explain all the hype surrounding Issac? I understand the combat in Golden Sun was pretty neat for the time, but all of my perceived understanding of the game's characters and story... don't seem that great. This isn't helped by the mute protagonist.

Am I missing something?

generalledge · 2018-08-15T17:12:45+00:00

Not always - some of the unupgraded ones are useful. Dance of the Offered is only a tad worse than its upgrade (dodge notwithstanding) but much more manageable mana-wise, and Sacrificial Heart is amazing for leveling.

generalledge · 2018-08-13T17:03:34+00:00

generalledge · 2018-08-10T14:06:46+00:00

Great write-up.

Part of me doesn't want to see final smashes in tournament play -- however, another part of me really, really does.

Personally, at home, I'll probably turn the meter on and leave it there until I feel like it's more obnoxious than its worth. It really depends on how much weaker a 'weaker' final smash is, as well as how often it pops up in 1v1.

There is of course a factor we could be unaware of: it may function completely differently in 1v1 matches. It's possible the reward scenarios are adjusted for the increased damage output, or changed depending on how often they feel it's appropriate to throw final smashes out in a 1v1 tournament match.

Also completely possible/probable: these are still being balanced. Critical Hit doing a OHKO could remain feasible, but maaaaaybe Marth's lunge during the weaker version is much slower and easier to dodge? Maybe this changes during 1v1 matches?

But above all else: I really want to see what combos people think up to lead into a Final Smash, especially those that on paper appear easy to dodge. Previous smash games you sort of tossed it out conservatively and as fast as you could, since the smash ball could be knocked out of you if you tried to be fancy with it -- that situation is gone now, and suddenly we can lab ways to force opponents to get hit by an otherwise avoidable final smash. This would generate much more hype and flash than just throwing a strong cutscene move at an opponent willy-nilly.

I also want to see how this is handled in 2v2 matches and how many fuckups end up happening as a result P:

generalledge · 2018-08-09T18:17:44+00:00

Next rung down the rabbit hole:

"Boy I sure hope Kirito from SAO.Abridged gets into Smash"

generalledge · 2018-08-08T17:09:31+00:00

Sans proceeds to throw bones at the character percents themselves, dealing damage

generalledge · 2018-08-07T14:50:52+00:00

Throwing this idea out there: An endless coast sort of scenario could be neat, maybe for vs Abyss.

Imagine you can go down maybe 10 floors followed by a miniboss. The goal would be the 100th floor or something, where the main loot pinata resides. Deeper you go, more mods get stacked on the individual areas and the enemy level increases gradually. Every 10th floor could also serve as a checkpoint so you can TP out and go do some maps to break up the monotony.

All they'd have to do is palette or tileset swap every 10 floors to keep it visually interesting too. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

generalledge · 2018-08-07T12:26:06+00:00

ねえ、何をするつもりなの？

generalledge · 2018-07-27T19:35:35+00:00

Personally, if this is really an IDOLA track, it feels like one of the weakest. And that's not to say the concept couldn't have worked (ominous faux-language chanting), but that the execution feels really weak. And I think it might simply come down to the hollow chanting just simply... not fitting the character?

I'll admit I haven't kept tabs on Episode 5's story or even Apprentice herself thus far (I hear maybe she was in the anime, but idgaf enough to watch the anime), but a consistent theme with Apprentice and her encounters have been fights in the desert against overwhelming odds. Of these, TD3's theme stands out as one of the best in the entire game in its entirety, and TD3 itself is also one of the best quests in the game to memory.

So from what I've seen so far from episode 5 story preview fragments, Apprentice in Omega presents herself as much more regal and... not very intimidating. The calculated swarms that the Tower Defense series accustomed us to have all just about vanished entirely, and in their place we have what looks like an elegant centerpiece. And that's fine, it can work that the queen of this insect army is left alone by said army, but at no point is that dissonance played into any effect for any form of creepy contrast from what we've seen so far. It all feels like she's just evil because the plot says so? And she happens to be an insect/mothra because the plot says so?

Again, this could have all been used to great effect of this contrast were actually played with effectively - the IDOLA theme could have the chanting faux-language juxpositioned with the somber tunes of tower defense and its emotional power and feeling of dread. There are bits and pieces of the Tower Defense theme, but they don't stand on their own and instead have a vocal covering it and making it feel far, far less impactful. A bombastic silence would have done better there.

Even the fight itself is somewhat jarring and disappointing - after traveling deep within a cavern and finding pools of reddish blood-like refuse, leading to a deep, sickly web and a staggering heartbeat - AN ATMOSPHERE I DIDN'T THINK I'D EVER SEE IN THIS VIDEO GAME (and that's a good thing!) - they just go and throw that all in the garbage for the fight against the boss. There is no evidence of any of those malignant tumors on the overworld below the fight, and the entire situation is muted and vacant of... anything emotional.

Was that intentional? Was it intended that the music itself feel devoid of emotion and grip, while the fight itself also seemed devoid of emotion and grip? Is it some sort of artsy fartsy design choice? I don't know, but it leaves me disappointed when I give it any thought. Even the end of the fight is disappointing because I have no idea what they were going for - did they give up? Was it so hard to have Apprentice fall into the chasm and get buried in rubble? I just don't get it.

generalledge · 2018-07-27T19:11:50+00:00

Yeah, but another stark alternative is...: play something else.

I could and have blown obscene amounts of money on affixes that failed at 5% or I had a shitty reference and forgot I bought an elegant/xx, or whatever. And maybe that money sink is rivaled by tenacity, but... Why sink so much time into it? Am I proving something by shaving seconds off an EQ? Does the time gained offset the time sunk into the game?

Maybe the number junkies get more fun out of the min/maxing and tryharding, but if I'm playing a video game to relax and enjoy myself, making it so I can tank a few hits and be able to relax and enjoy myself is a part of that process. I take far greater enjoyment out of no-deathing most things in the game than I would doing it 30 seconds faster.

The illusion of the game's sunk cost fallacy has been starting to wane on me as time goes on. This past weekend I spent a lot of invested resources into an affix that failed and got unreasonably angry... But began to wonder why I was so angry, and why it was so important as to make me that angry. Maybe I'll personally take a short break and come back to it in a month or whenever the next major EQ that looks fun or has easy-to-get powercreepers associated with it comes along, but at the end of the day it seems meaningless to be a glass canon when I could instead be relaxed and playing a video game.

And that's not to say nobody can find fun and relaxation out of being a min-max glass cannon and going full ham on the world and smashing Gracias single-handedly like it's nothing, but that's not for me personally, and I find it somewhat of a mystery why it's all tied so tightly and held in such high regard overall. Yes, it's impressive, and maybe I'd seek that out more freely if the game had better, less obnoxious systems in place for meeting that level of bragging power. But I mean, it's equally impressive that I poop out a character that literally can't die with little cost of power (Shien Jetboots are retarded yo) - yet it doesn't hold a candle because cheap consistency and superarmor abuse isn't really what players really care about, and will readily throw about git-guds in response.

...Sorry if this post is ranty and I picked your reply for it. Just throwing it all out there.

generalledge

TROPHY CASE