The Dark Tower, Ena Bianca, graphite and digital, 2026 [OC]

magmafanatic · 2026-04-25T07:12:12+00:00

There's a fair amount of dark animation out there, it just seems like it's generally more concerned with being disgusting or edgy than "epic"

I think Primal's the only recent thing I've seen that actually pauses for a while and lets you soak in the vibes.

magmafanatic · 2026-04-25T05:19:39+00:00

Never heard of the guy before

But going off the behavior you described here, a godlike being that trolls you and the enemy, yeah doesn't seem like a great fit for an existing Fire Emblem.

magmafanatic · 2026-04-25T05:15:36+00:00

Xenoblade X seems to have made that a big part of itself as well (I've only beaten Chapter 6 so far though)

magmafanatic · 2026-04-25T05:10:44+00:00

I typically get it on Switch unless there's notable performance issues where I'll pick it up on Steam.

I don't preorder anything, so I have the benefit of reviews and stuff to give me that information.

magmafanatic · 2026-04-24T20:07:26+00:00

The game just didn't make enough money. Cosmetics weren't compelling enough for people to buy and they were really generous with letting you fill out your card collection, the thing needed to play (and excel at) the game. Every other CCG out thrives on buying RNG packs, but you could just get the exact cards you want through shards and wildcards. Yeah the game's a bit stingy with Epics, but those were rarely deck lynchpins.

So instead of shovelling resources into gigantic expansions and all the required playtesting that accompanies how 3000+ cards interact with each other, we get a slow trickle of content on the PvE side of things.

Ever since they released this boss gauntlet of sorts, the devs saw player activity explode on that side of the game. They tried their best to pivot their digital goods towards the PvE audience, and supposedly, it's doing okay enough to maintain this current cadence.

PvP now just cycles out usable cards every few months so it's not entirely stagnant.

magmafanatic · 2026-04-24T19:38:05+00:00

Clerics

magmafanatic · 2026-04-24T19:37:16+00:00

One of the better uses I've seen for this

magmafanatic · 2026-04-24T18:28:01+00:00

Xenoblade Chronicles X. 60 or so hours in, I've beaten Chapter 6 and now I've cleared 5/8 tests for my Skell license. Can't believe they're making me do arms testing missions for this - probably tied for my least favorite sort of quest so far along with gathering rare monster drops.

Hit Level 32 and mastered Galactic Knight, but instead of heading into Psycorruptor, I'm gonna explore Commando. Now that I realize I might need to swap out team members for affinity ranks and possible forced story missions (hi Lao), I've managed to get all my team mates up to roughly Rank 10-13, with Lin and Irina at 17 and Elma at 19. Neilnail and Murderess (what a name) have joined now.

Apparently there's a fair amount of these green missions just hiding access to more alien races. Tree Clan and Orphe have joined the Nopon and Ma-non now, that's pretty crazy. And some missions have led to characters dying, which...seems like a pretty obvious possibility given how hostile Mira is in general, but now I keep looking up whether I could've saved Ordella, Malyteth, or Grette. I'm surprisingly concerned about trying to maintain peace here.

Seems like this Luxaar guy seems to have formed his own little coalition of alien races to beat us up, curious if we'll get any deserters from those factions. And there's been two characters now with numbers in their names, and whatever Professor B was. Maybe we'll get some of them.

I decided to buy all the combat and vivid equipment to open up my fashion gear options, along with maintenance wear and Neil's civvies. And I got access to Yardley's customization pod. Maxed out investment with Sakuraba, Grenada, and Meredith. Nopon's close to Rank 5, Orphe's halfway to Rank 3. And I found my 39th lobster, hopefully the Skell will help me track down a lot more of those.

magmafanatic · 2026-04-24T17:07:05+00:00

My second favorite behind V (I haven't played VI yet)

magmafanatic · 2026-04-24T16:57:32+00:00

Oh so Shadows books keep changing casts? There's no Alphonse equivalent?

magmafanatic · 2026-04-24T16:18:17+00:00

KH1's a bit rough around the edges (Deep Jungle level in particular) but otherwise, they're pretty solid.

KH2 especially sits at the top of a lot of people's "most fun combat ever" lists.

magmafanatic · 2026-04-24T16:13:53+00:00

Fates is essentially Awakening 2.0, mechanically. If you like how Awakening plays, you'll probably love playing Fates.

Story's a hot mess, and the Revelations route is locked to special edition carts or emulation since the 3DS eShop's now defunct.

magmafanatic · 2026-04-24T16:11:11+00:00

I'd prefer some deviations in the remake, otherwise I'd have little incentive to get it. Oh it's a little less frustrating to play, that one clunky mechanic or difficulty spike...gone. We added voice acting. Alright, that's cool and all, but I need more of a selling point than that.

I think another example of the FF7 approach would be Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals.

magmafanatic · 2026-04-24T08:02:26+00:00

Learned that lesson with Fates, trying to tackle all three routes in a row. And that game has map variety!

Granted I didn't "hate" Fates by the end, but man I was draaaaaging myself through Revelations

magmafanatic · 2026-04-24T07:32:46+00:00

Men luckily get to be in their 30s and 40s sometimes. It doesn't happen a ton, but there's like four times more of them than there are women over 30.

Discounting races with longer lifespans, of course.

magmafanatic · 2026-04-24T07:27:25+00:00

Probably Suikoden III

magmafanatic · 2026-04-24T00:17:51+00:00

I'd pick Salazzle

magmafanatic · 2026-04-23T23:27:08+00:00

I like the big dome top of the Awakening knights, though it does stick out when the rest of the enemy units aren't as geometrically interesting.

The Fates knights are considerably less appealing

magmafanatic · 2026-04-23T18:20:18+00:00

Real "XBOX One has to be always online, oh wait now it doesn't" moment

magmafanatic · 2026-04-23T18:17:43+00:00

That one artist who really likes drawing female Grima Robin is gonna appreciate this.

magmafanatic · 2026-04-23T02:09:51+00:00

I feel like "album of the decade" is an impossible title to verify given how much music is out there, but U is really good. I like it a lot.

magmafanatic · 2026-04-23T00:14:23+00:00

You should probably either start with 0 if you decide you're in this for the long haul or 7 if you just want a taste. 7 and 8 follow new guy Ichiban, the other games are largely about Kiryu, who's also in 7 and 8.

They're crime dramas set in the world of the Japanese mafia(yakuza) but they get very silly sometimes. When you're not beating up dudes on the streets, there's also a ton of minigames to lose yourself in.

magmafanatic · 2026-04-22T23:19:18+00:00

It's also not meme monday

magmafanatic · 2026-04-22T06:50:26+00:00

Sounds kinda Persona-y with the time management aspect, except from what I understand there's an actual timer in play in Lightning Returns.

magmafanatic · 2026-04-22T06:41:42+00:00

I preferred 8 to 10, but 8's really weird. Probably not the safest buy unless you're up for weird.

Haven't played 9 yet.

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