Commander

I'm a masochists now. I guess I'll add that to the list. Well good news is that my suffering is lessened now. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 31.5: This is the first and probably last half chapter because I have a new laptop now which hopefully resolves the issue permanently Creative title, I know. But yeah I decided to get a new lappy within my budget of 1k bucks which believe it or not I got almost half the cost of the old Lenovo one I had for 5 years. Let me tell you: I bought it purely so that I could play PS3 level games with no godawful lag and it feels great. I also discovered this game being made called Rhythm Doctor. That was a strange but fun demo. Might be a good time passer while waiting for my "quality" content chapters. Now for an actually decent lengthed chapter which you've all come to expect from me: (...I still think singing is a worse fate) (Oh look, Adam is actually awake. I'd imagine he has a headache now because that can't be comfy) (Can I just go die now?) (You're implying there was a good time to strike) Again, I feel like I'm the only one bothered by this but they are bloody jeopardizing everybody simply because of a single hostage situation. You know what, I'm not even going to continue. Let's just say that the more I think about this place logically, the less sense it starts making. Let's start off with the very start. The player had to have come here by boat with a duration of an unknown amount of time. Due to how boats work, it couldn't simply set off right away and likely would wait a few days for refueling and such. There's no talk on that subject for planning an escape that I remember and it's just thrown off. Let's just continue for now... (Basically an assault plan turned into an escape plan) I will say though while I'm not a fan of those Hydreigon statues I do like quite a bit of the sprite designs here. Some things I wish were more explained liked the stone seat outside, but my memory of this place is foggy from the first time I played through here. Not a fan of it back then and I thought it was bigger. (Adam, you're officially rising up in the ranks of my favorite people in this game) (Well, we are in prison and I'm here. Somebody is gonna suffer one way or another) (That's a joke, right?) (Seriously, Adam is the first character with a moderate IQ in this game) You know in defense for Aelita, I'm not a very big fan of characters with personalities similar to hers. Take Estelle from Trails in the Skies. I really did not care for her all that much in the first game, but her character development turned her into one of my absolute favorite characters. Same kind of went for Agate but he gave off a more arrogant appearance. What really changed my mind about these characters is that they have a lot more depth to them than they give off. There was a reason why Agate acts the way he does and Estelle actually turns out to be surprisingly smart. There's nothing wrong with this, but I pretty much see a broken record of lack of character depth. This has more to do with more with the mediums we experienced and age. When I was younger, I actually experienced mediums mostly to do with dialogue and writing. I mean I did watch TV and stuff, but most of what I watched was only out of boredom over enjoyment. I also grew up a lot more fond of games with a lot of text and depth over time. Paper Mario was one of the first games I played and loved, but over time I loved it even more than I did. So I did find my niches (story RPGs and action RPGs) which I play and look for. Jan I feel skews more towards shonen animes for inspiration and probably where his thought process grinds more towards. This is more action focused and more about the visuals and doing stuff. A vast majority of people prefer this style and it's what they seek. This ISN'T what defines the genre as well, but generally shonen works do not have all that much character depth and even sometimes one off characters. It's all about fast paced and being full of action. You can kind of see where the issue here is. I know there are a lot of people who absolutely love Rejuv the way it is story wise and don't mind a lot of characters because that's what you are looking for. It also leaves me puzzled by why people recommend playing this for the story if people played and loved Reborn's story. They're two different things and two different styles. Everything else about the games are similar where Rejuv has better side content while Reborn kind of has the better puzzles. That's where we go back to me. I'm not saying I dislike Rejuv as it does do a lot of really fun things, but it kind of is overall forgettable when it comes to plot to me. Now I'm not sure how people stand with my thoughts but just think about how much you agree or disagree with me on many of the subjects I said and talked about. It'll all click as I explain a lot at the end of this chapter for both sides. (Okay, that was a decent burn) (Wait...I think this is the Agate Trio if they were watered down...swear if Adam is the fighting leader) (If it were obvious she wouldn't be a hostage) (Like the guards or Neved? They seem to know everything) (Yes, because generic NPCs are willing to tell us everything) (Man, I wish I was better at making subcaptions) I think we kind of get the point that these are very long and uneventful dialogues so I may start cutting a lot of them out...not that I haven't been doing that already. Maybe you'll get to see sassy dialogue if I get tired of it enough...or right now: Valarie: We're the only important characters in this place so let's stand out by wondering around in the quarry where the guards can openly see us and ask numerous people questions not looking suspicious at all. But we gotta be careful because the guards are on to us after causing a bit of trouble before, but it's irrelevant as they are irrelevant and have no relevance to this place at all other than to make the place look tight on security. Saki: Okie dokie bossy lady who likes to talk a lot Adam: Why am I here again? So now my goal is to cut down the remaining segments by 200 pics since we aren't even close to halfway there. I'm not kidding. (They never really bothered explaining this detail. RIP Bow. You were the only thing I liked about Aelita) (Jan, I would also like to know the answer to this) (OBJECTION! NPC Bo said the opposite detail) This NPC will be called NPC Gi. I only picked a name fitting for their creativity. The old man in Akuwa town is now NPC Gra. From this point forth I shall name every NPC in a screencap in order to make this game feel more immersive. Time for more abridged Commander lines because he's tired of screencapping this unscreencappable stuff. Valerie: Two people told you two entirely different stories that contradict each other. Since they are NPCs they cannot lie nor be delusional so this all must be true. (So...you just wasted all our time when you knew the answer) Seriously, we could have deducted that already without having to move us to the quarry and waste even more time. Also another gripe I kind of have is that we always kind of just follow these three everywhere which is pretty much just Valerie and Saki doing everything. Basically, we're pretty much worthless for this entire segment...though that's not really anything new given everything that's happened (what's one thing we managed to achieve by ourselves). Valerie: That means you're shit out of luck there and she's as good as dead, but I spent a long time saying that we had to save her, but now she's irrelevant so let's get back to actually make progress on the plot which really hasn't been explained so far. Just an FYI if someone ever makes an abridged version of Rejuv, you have permission to use anything I write for the characters. Just don't ask me to make it. Only thing I'd ever consider doing is making a synopsis for Rejuv like I did for Redux. (It feels kind of awkward standing here like this...at least I'm inbetween two ladies) (This is the philosophy I live by) (Yes because Pokemon battles are so tiring on the body) OMG! I just thought of I perfect dumb Pokemon video. Have a guy say "I'm hitting the gym" and have him make workout grunts while giving orders. If something like this exist, please just link it to me. Would be surprised if somebody hasn't made that joke. (But I thought Adam was the reasonable one) (I'm pretty sure I'm the only one dressed and suited for that type of event) (Well hello suspicious person who I clearly don't know or recognize at all) Oh yeah there was an unauthorized message sending the guards in or something. Kind of weird they'd have that installed but I could possibly see why. (And we're about to get into one of the funniest things I get to talk about) I get the cloaked person stereotype, but uhhh....this kind of takes it to the extreme a bit. (Okay, so you're that desperate) (Never takes newbies to the warden my ass) Okay so let me explain a few things here. Her story really doesn't make any sense as you'll find out because of the whole cloak business. Falling into the water with that on would kill you, but let's not talk about that. If she was starving and cold that'd work because getting lost at see usually is a death sentence. (I'm guessing it's name is the Titanic) (Dat epic typo right there is a total W) I probably should report these things but...I'm a wee bit too lazy to. (And Neved is about to call it in 3...2...1...) (He and I are thinking the same thing) (Yep, that's what I'm about to get into) A person swimming in these waters for an hour actually is not impossible, but very unlikely. Now if M...ysterious Lady had a design that was not cloaked I'd believe it more tbh, but that cloak just contradicts everything I'm saying as a heavily clothed person wouldn't be able to make it. So there are people who swim in frigid waters and come out just fine and I think they can go for about 20 minutes. Based on the character attire and how they handle this environment, I'd say it's around 20-30 degrees Fahrenheit. So the waters would not be below 0 but still very cold to the point I think somebody could make it about 40 minutes before hypothermia kicks in and kills them. But for someone not trained in these conditions it'd be roughly 20 minutes before death, but we're going to give her 40 minutes due to reasons. Jumping into that water isn't going to kill you right away and you could probably justify someone lasting an hour. This though: (Oh boy this is gonna be fun to explain) (And oh boy this is going to be fun to explain) Now I actually only know 5 of her entire team, but only one of those 5 would actually even be capable of performing this because it's a flying type. We'll assume that the flying type would likely only be able to stay airborne for 20 minutes without needing to land due to various reasons. So yes she would actually be able to realistically swim to the island factoring everything in, but using her pokemon to swim makes little sense as none of them could carry her weight with the waters. Think about a human tugging another human along. That would not be easy and you'd probably not even make it very far before that person is exhausted. Likely this is all a cover story, but it may actually be possible if we calc the flying mon in. It just goes back to the old question about her clothes. If she touched the water at any point, she'd need to immediately warm her body up which stripping down kind of is needed. Also her soaking wet clothes would also reveal her face pretty much. That's a whole different topic which could be untold stuff, but this situation technically is possible, but highly unlikely pretty much stating the mysterious girl is lying somewhere. (Neved probably knows she's lying but doesn't really care) (This is actually an important detail) (...Does that mean I get stuck with her in my tiny room?) Okay, now I want to talk a minute about that little detail. We know this tiny island is close to Never Winter City so we know it's close to the colder climates, but we also know that it may not be as far off the map as we think. We know from the "shipwreck" that it's an hour a way from there. That actually implies it might be barely visible from ship routes. Still haven't figured it out. We were deported here in plain sight. Maybe we were tied into a crate or something but they basically used a normal dock to get the prisoners there. In other words, nobody would be able to figure out their suspicious activity because it all worked and functioned like a normal ship. It actually probably was a normal cargo ship with Xen affiliates in control who sailed the ship on a route from Akuwa to New Winter City, dropped the prisoners off, and then finished delivering its cargo. Would've been interesting to here these kinds of bits in the story as it's kind of a little bit cool lore about the place and how they maintain it like getting supplies and smuggling. (Wait, you didn't let me get an offer) (Tell me Neved really isn't that dumb to trust somebody not willing to show their face) (Neved, you are now the second most reasonable man in Aevium) (Probably that lazy guard. Biggs? Or was it Wedge?) (Nevy is already onto her) (I would answer that question, but I'd be banned from Reborn) (She swam across the goddamn ocean. She'd probably be able to break the guards in two) (What Neved is trying to say here is "This looks like the start of a beautiful relationship") (These two were meant for each other) (Looks better than the old version) (How old is this mysterious figure? I thought she was like 16 or something) (They're gonna bang each other, aren't they?) I have probably emotionally scarred so many people right now. And my response to that is: You're welcome. Believe me, I've seen weirder stuff than that. (Told you he's thinking about it) (Well he's technically not wrong) (And thus the temptations of man overcome intelligence once more) (Being the female gender is both an advantage and disadvantage at the same time) (But...we're out of rooms) (Wait, where is going to sle...do I even need to ask?) (Probably asking her to torture me because of how much he loves me) (Oh...I forgot to ask Neved the one question we've been needing to know for the past few months: Where's the goddamn bathroom in this place) And that's a good stopping point. Also, you guys realize I wing these things so I'm ruining all your favorite characters without even trying. I swear every time I feel like quitting I find something like that to keep me invested in this thing. Anyways, back to the thing I wanted to talk about before about how polarizing my thoughts are from the normal person: Blacksteeple Prison should have been the best segment in the game and actually isn't as bad as people make it out to be. The best way to put it is that it's lost potential because of how empty it is. There's nothing to this place other than following the trio around for very unimportant events which really aren't that interesting. I think that's the biggest problem with this place just being so much wasted dialogue. The other issue is how little involvement the player has. I'm actually going to completely change up the scenario a bit. What if instead of mysterious figure being the one who joins Neved side, you were the one to do his dirty work in helping. Think that's dumb but he has Aelita basically at his fingertips whom he could execute basically making you his puppet. Now you have a moral conflict as Neved wants you to destroy the resistance that's rising in the place (especially because they trust you), but also need those people to escape making some hard moral choices. Ultimately the result is the same, but you'd get some unique dialogue depending on your choices and actions shortly afterward before everything diverted back to the same path as before. If we did that, I'd honestly say this segment would likely be my favorite part of the game especially with how many options and story changes could open up (like having to beat a disobedient officer before they are murdered for treason). That's the kind of stuff I'm looking for, but alas the game is what it is and soon we'll be on another very long segment of this place. Hopefully, we'll be out before chapter 40.

One of these days I may make a COGA on it, but death is a uhh...strange subject that's both complex and simple. The short term affects of it on characters and plot vary greatly, but in terms of the long term effects there's pretty much only two results: the people close accept that person is really gone and move on or it drives them to the point of changing who they are usually for the worst. With them dead, generally they aren't relevant to the plot and the plot focuses on other things. I'm not sure what else you expect from those characters as the only changes you could do is better buildup to their deaths. I wouldn't say their throwaway characters either as honestly they filled their role just fine and now it's time to move on. That's just how most deaths in games are. After all it's not the death itself that's the most impactful part, but how characters react to it. Also, those character weren't all that relevant to start so...oh well. If you want an impact, kill off a character like Venam whom Melia will forget about in 2 seconds be more focused on exploring a mansion Now if you'll excuse me, I need to take off before an angry mob with pitchforks arrives at my house.

Okay, I think I'm going to butt in here because there's a lot of repeats of the same conversation going on and the same people responding the same way. Under normal circumstances, the sheer amount of time invested in bug fixing is kind of inexcusable. We know about Reborn's E17 scenario where the game took two months for a release due to the sheer amount of critical bugs which heavily affected the gameplay to the point it could be considered unenjoyable. Not much was said by the dev team which lead to the ever so enjoyable wait period and explaining to people what the heck was going on. Seriously an official statement of "I know this is taking a lot longer than normal, but there's been a lot of major errors that need to be fixed so it'll like be a while before we can even get this release ready for the community. Sorry about that, but please be patient so that we can make E17 into a more enjoyable experience than it is. I don't really care about percentages as percents mean next to nothing in the long run. They are nice to show the increments of progress, but a feed is just as useful to show a project is active. That percentage also shows and represents no progress that has been made from now until the update was posted. So I don't necessarily think it's wrong to ask what is taking the game so long as it's not people trying to rush Jan and co, but more along the lines they want to know why so they can get a better estimate as to when the game will come out. As it stands, I don't know if it's coming out tomorrow or a month from now. Could be two months if it's that glitchy and systems need to be completely remade. And before you say it, no I'm not an impatient person. I generally wait 4 years for a certain company to release a game (cough *monolith soft* cough) so even three months is like a nothing to me. I also have a pretty good idea what's going on with that last 20% and why it's taking so long, but I was trying to speak for a good chunk of people who were more wondering about the why over the when. Like, I'm still wondering when in the hell SE is doing with that FFVII remake or even if they're still working on it. Because we all know KH3 is never coming.

From everything mentioned in the E15 dev blog site thread and a whole lot of various other posts, Ame does have plans for a post game design which she even debated increasing the cap past 100 due to that. There was never talk about a battle tower or island or frontier though ever, but very likely there will be leader rematches who will use X-league styled teams (which likely will take place in the nightclub). For legendaries I can't really say how they will be now, but we all theorized some old doors everywhere that were axed lead to them which were really fun to find. I don't know what Ame's plans are for them now but they indeed will be postgame. The most interesting thing mentioned is that Ame stated that she wasn't able to completely fill in all of the character storylines in the main story and has said she'd consider finishing them off in the postgame, but all of that is up in the air since Ame does have two other projects she wants to go into and work on as well as the infamous C&D looming around every corner. I can't actually say what will happen, but with 2 episodes left (this is the shorter of the two...I think), there's not all that much but to wait and see. E19 is the last planned episode. E18 will have one leader and E19 will have one leader and all the postgame content. Kind of weird thinking Reborn will be done and over in a year and a half from now.

Madame X I actually planned for in advanced. You could say that level 100 Alakazam was my experiment to make sure it'd work. Let me tell you, that Alakazam didn't know what hit him. As for Post Amber, I actually don't know what happens in that segment other than a couple things I've seen here and there. Will be interesting for sure. Hahahaha! We aren't anywhere even close to being done. You'll just have to suffer with me to get through it since March is going to be get through a large chunk of Rejuv month for me. I also don't think Plot Armor is the issue but more like conveniences. I think the best reference to what we are talking about is the alm vs clive situation in FE Echoes. The scene wouldn't be half as good with one without the other as it revolves around Clive's reasonable choice being the wrong choice. I was more or less asking for the contrast over the actual choice because at this point we're just going through the motions. I actually thought a lot more about the topic and it's kind of scary to the whole did the leaders actually make the right choice. Which the result is a thrown chair. Yeah...we'll get to that discussion which won't be fun for me but fun for you to see me crack. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 31: We are Neved, Neved, Neved getting back to gameplay My chapter titles are getting dumber and dumber. So I have some bad news. My keyboard has decided to piss me off a bit by breaking. S three letters decided t break causing my keyboard t fnctn lke ths and nt wrk rerly as y can see. Have sltns fr t bt they aren't ractcal. Whle t'd be hlars fr a segment lke ths, 'll se rer englsh fr the caps. This is as painful as you can imagine. In addition, I cut my finger trying to fix it so now I'm apparently emo. It's a tad painful, but if I'm not suffering, it's not Blacksteeple. ([Has Flashbacks to Dr. Jenkel's lab]) (Excuse me for plot inconveniences preventing me from getting away.) I must say this little scene is actually kind of cute with the NPCs doing stuff. Adam taking a nap is amazing. (I thought my terrible jokes were terrible. Jan 1uped me) (Oh that reminds me...) A little girl threw an antenna 100s of feet in the air. Let that sink in for a minute. There's no logical way you could say that scene was smart, well played, or had any logic at all. Best part is that I don't really have a good recommendation to fix it since it's a required event to happen just like that. Also, the Dragon Ball Super Ultra Instinct song is stuck in my head. That makes this 10% more tolerable. (I don't know how Adam finds that comfortable...at all) (Now I know why Adam is asleep like that.) (If you're drawing what starts with an H and ends with an I, please stop. There's too many Houdini pics in the worlds as it is) (So all of that took an hour...damn Neved is quite that talker) (Reading this text almost hurts as much as typing) (Something tells me it's a way to bring back the dead) (hahaha! If only it were that easy) Now I'm actually going to get into Saki's character a little bit as this actually might make you hate her. Saki would need not only need about an IQ level of 180 or higher, but so advanced skills in machinery that she can dissect a machine and reverse engineer it in mere minutes. Basically, she's actually a superhuman. The only reason she isn't a Mary Sue is because she mostly gets ignored but everything else about her character aligns. Now we don't see this now but this is an old trope that I'm sure you've seen before. Generally it happens more in what I consider cartoon logic in which a character creates something almost instantly. That does bring up an old topic we always here me ranting on. The Saki thing really isn't that bad and I would let it slide a lot more if certain conditions were met. I guess this is also kind of confession time as well: If the plot was designed with an overall different tone and intention, Rejuv would most likely be the best Pokemon Fan-game created so far. Jan and his crew really aren't recognized enough for what they really should be because all I see people talking about Reborn vs Rejuv is about the plot generally. Rejuuv generally strives more in the visuals department and actually on the simple scenarios. In other words it's fun to watch and move around. Look at this scene even. It's actually pretty enjoyable and surprisingly full of life. And these things aren't easy to make either but there are so many which make them so memorable. Reborn relies heavily on environment and dialogue for most of the experience. While it's great, it also backfires quite a number of times. If Rejuv showcased the episode 1 I saw in the version of the game, I probably would've been more involved and actually helped resolve a lot of gripes people have about this game. Not really change it all that much but some significant changes would have happened. The first thing I'd probably mention reading the entire script of dialogue is ask what the heck is up with all this lore? A lot of it is just kind of forced in adding to large sections where you spend time being drowned in it and rarely is it relative. Who remembers what those statues said? What about Shadow Pokemon? I don't really remember anything about Dimensional Poke either. This really drowns out stuff I really like about this game and sure while I despise Melia, I feel like the picnic adventure is one of the better moments of Rejuv. I'd take her over long sections of explanation any day. Even Aelita over another Madelis scene to explain Team Xen's evil plan. I'd even have the balls to argue that the Team Xen concept and lore feels very forced into a promising game. Now I know my image is skewed since characters are generally what I'm most interested in the games I play. They are the actors and they perform the actions as good acting can save a bad plot in some cases. Exposition cannot be avoided, but I'm sure you've heard the term show, don't tell. I hate that term (not what it means), but it serves its purpose here. Something you need to know about writing a story is that people tend to forget...a lot about it. Very rarely can people remember what a character said or heavy details about the lore. I'm sure somebody is going to say they know all about Rejuv and I'll counter it saying I don't even remember everything from Reborn and I've probably looked at it a lot more than the average player. If you tell players all this stuff they are going to forget it so my rule of thumb is to grind 8 sentences of the exposition into a single sentence. Use the rest to give character insight and interesting, but unimportant facts. Let's me just show you something using Indy: "The ignorance of youth ever grows, but I cannot be too harsh as I must've been the same at your age. Listen well as this tale may save you from your own destined future. Long, long ago there was a girl born with a disfigured form. She was shunned by all of our ancestors believed to be the cause of a plague that spread far and wide on the region. Many desperate fools aimed to kill the girl in a desperate attempt to keep their loved ones alive. As much as they tried, they could not for the girl had a gift. She could see what was yet to come and use it to escape fate time and time again. Fate would have her way as she eventually was captured and to be executed in the middle of a local tribe. It was here where she foretold the infamous prophecy: 'The plague is but the calm for what is coming. The very threads of this land's fate will lie in your descendants. Five of their souls will unlock heaven or hell depending on how their heart swings. It'll all begin when one from beyond the grave fades away once more.' Her last words which puzzled scholars, but soon even they have forgotten the importance of them. Now, only a blind man couldn't see that time has almost run out." No idea how accurate that is because I completely winged it, but I tried doing a little bit of everything in that tale. While my version is indeed much longer, it grinds down to having a short thing straight up telling you or getting a lot of little worthless information but with more personality. There's actually a lot of ways you could have a scene like that be responded to as well which is the beauty of it. Thing I probably gripe about the most is when a game gets all explanationy to try and answer all questions we have or to better understand the situation. Would've actually been kind of cool if we didn't know about the fact we couldn't use our Poke Balls until we talked with Saki on the beach (letting players figure it out on their own looking at the menu). Not too much you can do about it because Rejuv is way too deep in at this point, but I'd imagine Jan would be really great at making light hearted adventures. That certainly isn't a bad tool to have. (But with Popsicle anything is possible) (There are some things he said that should not be repeated) (Damn ths c0mfeter es breaken and me needs ta stah w1th the ran 4 r1ght n0w) 1 have a new ladt0d wh1ch 1 was bsy transferr1ng stuff s0 that's why th1s dart 1s very sh0rt s0 s0rry ab0t that bat 1 am t1red 0f deal1ng w1th th1s br0ken keyb0ard.

I know this is gonna feel sucky for a lot of reasons, but it's honestly something I knew was coming but tried to avoid it at all possible. No, Redux is not getting canceled, but I'm very aware of my shortened time and the fact I know I'm not going to be able to do everything that I want. If you haven't figure it out, I'm cutting some planned content out. The big change is that I'm only focusing on the main story with some extras and that's it. But to be more specific this is what's getting cut: -the one big project I was working on (I'll hold off explaining it for now) -All of the CoM -The new Arclight Reward for the Mega Ring Quest It may not seem like much but there's just no way I can get that stuff done due to the sheer demand and investment they need. It kind of takes a crapshot on the party system, but I do have a solution to our little problem with adding the mons. Not the cleanest solution, but an NPC will be there to give you the mons in HCHQ. Yes you should be mad that I didn't keep my promise on some stuff, but now I need to make decisions so this thing both gets done and I don't drop it. These things won't be worked on by me, but if you guys really want to see them, then I really need help making them. I will need to do cuts in order to get things I need to do to get the mod done and there are 3 things still in the questionable zone. Don't worry as everything in E2 is more or less safe. Just more or less future content that's a boatload of work. I'm taking a break this month to work on two things (one is kind of apparent) but April I'll be back to work probably making a lot more progress than I did here. And come April if I don't receive help on those pieces, I'll make an open source version that can be played with for the Altered Path (E16 version though). In other news, I have a few ideas for Master Corey which yes, will happen.

Hmm....this isn't much to work with but more than you usually give us. I think what you need to find are what we call time sinkers which will have you invested in the games for a long while. Since you only mentioned Pokemon and Dangan Ronpa I'll give my recommendations to games similar on steam which you can pick up for each but NOT right now (wait for a sale): Games Similar to Pokemon: World of Final Fantasy: Everyone should have played one of the 15 final fantasy games one point in their life. This is a very odd game with an odd battle system where you collect and use enemies to make totems for battles. It's a really good love letter game to FF fans even using the sprite styled designs over the portraits (which is the better versions of characters like Bartz and Faris) with a surprisingly interesting story. Final Fantasy V: I've played the GBA version of this game (there's a fan translation of the SNES version, but the GBA is better imo...unless you like Butz). I absolutely love this game and could go on about it. Bravely Default took this system and cranked it to an 11, but this one has a better story than that game. Don't expect deep twists and you'll have a blast (it's one of the weaker story wise). This game is very customizable with the job system where you combine job abilities to do some pretty sick stuff. Need a healer, but don't like the White Mage class, have the Summoner attached with White Mage spells. My only gripe is that some stuff is permanently missable (summons off the top of my head), but it is far from a linear experience. It's also a surprisingly difficult game at points (Phoenix Tower being probably the worst part of the game). Legend of Heroes Cold Steel: This one is very less customization, but it's kind of a mix between things in Persona and FFVII in a sense. These games are very lore heavy and while this one is pricey 29.99 on sale, it's a fantastic adventure where I hit 100 hours on. Of the LoH games, this one is the weakest in story, but it's the combat that really shines. Combat is very flashy and has a little bit of strategy to it, but it's all the little mechanics that once you get the hang of you'll have a blast. Characters aren't as customizable, but you'll have these things called Quartz where you control stats and spells that'll be usable for a character. There's even ways to break the game with knowledge. Skies 3 is my favorite due to how learning spells works, but this is the best starting point to get into the series since combat is fast paced. Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones: While the only good way to obtain this game is either illegitimate means or the Wii U eshop, it's a good game to find out if you are into tactical games. These games are very customizable as no run is usually alike. SS is the easiest among the FE games and isn't as punishing along with what I feel is a pretty solid story for the time. It's a 20 hours or so journey so you could accomplish both paths in good timing. Tales of Symphonia: I've talked about this game quite a few times both in runs and in other places and it was a beloved GC gem. This now steam game usually goes on sale sometimes as low as $5 and sometimes free with a purchase of other Tales games. If you go into it expecting nothing, you'll find a lot of enjoyment. Since this is a GC era game, you'll find some dated elements like the graphics, lower quality VA (really, really good for the time), and a tad bit archaic battle system, but characters grow based on how you train them. Basically characters can learn different attacks based on if you go magical or physical with them. The cast is also overall very enjoyable and some skits are bound to get a laugh from you. Paper Mario: Like with FE:SS, not an easy game to find unless you do illegitimate or eshop it. Paper Mario is a fantastic simple adventure with secrets around every corner. There's lots of fun things to do and the battle system is simple yet active. There's also a mod to make this game harder if you're in for a challenge. One of my all time favorite games and probably my favorite N64 game. Games similar (storywise) to Reborn/Danganronpa: Xenogears: Mentioning this game is opening a can of worms. Basically the best way to describe it is "this is what happens when you put the Chrono Trigger team on making a M rated game." It's a really complex game that got the shaft for an infamous disc 2, but for what it is it stands the test of time as a darn good game with a lot of flaws. This is a long adventure and hard to find since it's a PS1 game (the PS3/4 shop is the only good way to play it legally), but it's got a lot of mature themes as well as humor on par with Reborn. It's not an easy game so be warned as I've had to reset and grind before in this game. It's also not a bad idea to get a guide to see how to learn some attacks. Chrono Trigger: I've mentioned this game many times, but it's easily one that all RPG gamers must play one way or another. It's a very short classic game, but what it does it does very well. I loved this game on the DS and will always highly regard it, but it's not an easy game to get your hands on legally besides eshop and the DS nowadays. Not much to say other than it has a great cast, great concept of time travel, and the fact your actions have consequences and affect history. Mother 3: You can't find and play this game legally as the only possible way is emulation due to it not having a localized release. This GBA game is the third game in a series but playing Earthbound isn't required to understand or find enjoyment in this. The battle mechanics aren't spectacular but they aren't bad either (something similar to DQ style minus the grind), but all I can really say is "Wow, what a game." I didn't enjoy Earthbound, but I loved this game. It's story is easily the highlight as it has both humor and a wide range of emotions. Did I mention that your dog is one of the main party members? Miscellaneous Game Recommendations: FFIX: People always debate about which FF is the best and VI and VII are always thrown around. I'm one of the rare few who'd argue neither of those deserves the top spot. Are they great games worth playing? Yes, but they have their own faults and limitations. IX is a game I unexpectedly fell in love with. I hated the character designs and the steal mechanic is annoying as hell. What makes this game great is its story and lore. People would generally argue that FFVI, VII, or VIII are the darkest game probably because FFIX looks absolutely nothing like a dark game. Its design gives the impression of a cutesy fun adventure, but trust me in that these characters have something many FF characters don't really reach: depth. I actually recommend playing all of the other Final Fantasy games before this as it's actually also a love letter to what makes Final Fantasy Final Fantasy at the time. Doki Doki Literature Club: This Visual Novel is FREE and that should be enough of a push to try it out and get the experience for yourself. I'm not going to say much more but if you're a fan of darker games this is an interesting game to try out. It'll be a tad boring to start out, but you'll know when you reach the halfway point because my god how to change someone's opinion in 10 minutes. The Longest Journey: This is a point and click adventure made in the 1990s (not to be confused with the sequel Dreamfall: The Longest Journey), but it has a lot of charm to it. It kind of has an environmental feel of Reborn City to start but it was a very enjoyable journey when I played it. It does test your wits quite a bit and even challenged me in my knowledge where I was stuck for hours trying to figure out one thing. It is cool how it rewards you for messing around and experimenting with something. This is probably the last time I'm going to make one of these posts to you because you can't seem to research and find what you like nor describe in detail what your searching for. In a sense, it's similar to both of us talking to a brick wall. It'd also probably be better for you to hop on discord as there's more gamers on there who've played a deeper of variety of games. But if you played one of the games I listed and really liked it we could go from there. What are you looking for in a game? What are some things you dislike in the games you've played? Those are the two most helpful things when giving recommendations and not "I've played this game." I'm an RPGamer but if I said I played Mario Sunshine, people would be recommending platformers like A Hat in Time and not stuff I'm really looking for or would love to try.

Normally, I keep my mouth shut on these topics, but I suppose I've been through this song and dance I can at least talk about it. No community is perfect and there will always be someone who dislikes you or talks crap about you anywhere. Me and the other veterans have plenty of stories we could share. I've also dealt with drama before and it passed. It always does with time. I've been in the phase where I thought this place was a paradise and perfect, but over time I've come to realize it's faults and ugly bits. You could say I view it as crusty and stale nowadays. And I'm okay with that and I still find enjoyment. Why am I bringing this this up? This is the third time you've said you'd leave Reborn. I'm not here to condemn you nor say you did nothing wrong. Comforting you also would do nothing because at this point I don't know if you're really gone or not. Stop beating yourself up and/or trying to make us feel bad for you. In the full view of this place, it's pretty much a collection of anonymous people discussing their interests in video game (and sometimes other subjects). Most people who may have said things to hurt you probably won't even be around in a year. Sometimes you just gotta take a deep breath and try to not take it personal. Is it easy? Oh hell no. But on the flip side if you're really that miserable around here on the community, nobody will hold it against you if you leave. I highly doubt anyone wants to see you be miserable or torture yourself sticking around in the community. The tl;dr version is this: It's your life. Do what you gotta do to be happy.

I was actually referring to Now for my suffering to continue (there is legit one screencap I legit will suffer through many chapters just to make) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 30: I swear Adam has a Beard now (...But was she hot?) (...Is she related to Aang?) (Isn't that a good thing?) (This is a good time to explain stuff) So the important thing about slavery isn't actually about making the slaves feel comfortable/miserable or happy/sad because that doesn't matter in the end. The important thing is to keep them busy. Busy people do not have time to think or plan or talk. When people talk is when things can start to go bad because people are not dumb...like Aelita is being portrayed as. They'll eventually find weaknesses in your security and exploit them as a means to escape. So the work here I wish was addressed to keep discussion from going on or being bare minimal. There's actually what I feel like is a lot of wasted dialogue in this place that should focus on the environment, especially with the guards. (...Are you sure Marluxia isn't the warden? That'd explain a lot...Aelita better pray it's really Neved) (Worst. Abduction. Ever.) (I am the king of this castle! Obey my every order!) This made me think of something hilarious. Think about Neved for a second. Now picture him singing I wanna be like you. The sad parts is that song can sum up like half the events that happened here. But seriously Neved singing would make this part amazing. Hell changing any dungeon segment into a Disney musical segment would make it more bearable. I'll see myself out. (Hey look, I found a friend like me) (Sure, you do that buddy. You'll find a way off a freezing cold i...) Did anybody question why an island is freezing cold? I mean yeah it's possible, but the likely hood of all of this is so little it's actually kind of funny. You'd need resources to keep the place warm, proper dresswear...which most people don't have, and a way to replenish supplies. I say that because people here are treated nicely and it's not like a holocaust situation where they don't care if people freeze do death. It is possible for this to work, but it'd have to be around I'd say 20-30 degrees for people to not need warmer outfits than they use. I only know this because I'm from Indiana and we get great influxes of weather. This is something I really would've liked them going into more but they don't because the rules and logic of this place don't matter. (I don't like the sound of that...) (And bad thing happening in 3...) (2...) (1...) (What a shocking turn of events for our friend) I'm not going to lie, I would've preferred this scene didn't exist as it just is there to serve as a warning not to do something dumb. It is perfectly fine just to do this: (No, I won't back down) And after a very shocking surprise, you get sent back to your cell. Due to a glitch the other area becomes accessible for some odd reason. I probably could fix it if I looked at the event but it's a minor glitch. (Minor detail, but I'm surprised Jan removed the Pokemon screen from the menu) (You can't tell me it doesn't look like he has a beard) I'm just gonna say that I think I would love Adam more if he had a beard. You don't see characters with a beard in these games. Then I could call him Blue Beard...this is the dry jokes that kill people chapter, isn't it? (Missed opportunity to use the term wife, Jan) (Okay time out for a minute) You don't need to be below zero to have this environment. If it was that cold half of the people here would already be dead. And on the topic of freezing cold water, it actually wouldn't kill you so long as you weren't in it for too long. So that part is fine it's the below freezing that bothers me. Thinking on that....why are we planting flowers in the first place? I'm just...not gonna question it at this point because this whole place doesn't make sense. It would if it was warmer, but it's not. (You'd think Mr. Blue hair would be the water boy...or the steel...or the ice...) Seriously, what type leader even is Adam? (That's taking the ice bucket challenge to a new extreme) (You guys can make out whenever. Don't mind me here or anything.) (...I've been here the whole time...after the ECT) (He has a beard therefore he's awesome) (Aren't you looking at the girl who likes to defy reason?) (I feel like so much of this dialogue could be cut and it'd be fine) No really, from the start of this chapter to the end of Blacksteeple is roughly 1.2k pics. Most parts (from one badge to the next) barely don't hit the 1k mark. I think Marianette's hit 800. I don't normally make a comment on this, but I'd say a good 100 lines of text could be cut and we'd still have everything said still intact. It's very important when making long segments of dialogue without any action taking place. All I'm going to say on the ordeal...for now. (I WAS WRONG! ARE YOU KIDDING ME YOU JUST SAID THAT!) (Probably because you'd end up causing electrocution which could lead to more problems) (Uhhh...Gym Leaders from what I've seen hold no responsibility whatever other than being figure heads) (For some reason, I feel Adam and I understand each other a bit too much) (We're in the overworld. We all have big heads) (No, we're painting you as the lady crazy enough to swim in uncharted freezing waters) (OMG! IT'S A PIRATE!) (It gives you an adrenaline rush. That's not opening your mind at all, but a good way to blow off steam) (NO! The beard is a lie! You have betrayed me, Adam) (It's anyways...and wait, how do you know my name?) (Wait, you didn't answer my question) Like, how does she know my name? She's been swimming...oh Saki did say it so I assume she picked it up from that. Not very clear though. (I'd say reason for suffering is a better way to describe her) (The only difference is that Whitney's Miltank brings all the boys to the yard) Welcome to chapter 30 the "how many song titles/lyrics can we drop" (I haven't seen dialogue this dull since FF2) FF2 as in the actual FF2 which actually has a decent plot which was really good for the time it was built. That game sucks though, but dang was that game had balls. 3 of your party members died ballsy. (I'm sure that's just an excuse so Nevy could break out into song and dance) Well, I'm the king of this castle. The Island VIP. Just let me do this stupid stuff, okay. It helps me keep my sanity while continuing this. (You act like this is some really bad thing or something) (Gee...I wonder why he'd want a terrorist who was part of wrecking a big chunk of Team Xen's plans) (I hear rumor's Neved's singing is their most deadly weapon) (Okay, back up for a minute) I get the whole heroes have to save everyone business, but this part does piss me off. They literally act like it's a necessity to save Aelita or they can't do anything. Nobody suggests even leaving her behind for the sake of survival. Like if any normal person was given a chance to escape or survive, they very well would leave a friend behind for their own sake. Aelita is a stranger to these people yet they don't question leaving her behind for the sake of the greater good. Let me step into Xenogears for a second: Do you know what happens in D Block for Xenogears: Not saying that they shouldn't have tried to find a way to rescue Aelita, but something should have been placed to say maybe they'll have to leave her behind in the end. (Wait...doesn't that mean the guards can't use their Poke Balls either?) So what has to be a glaring problem with the logic here is the guards and Neved. There's a signal that blocks Poke Balls, but it doesn't block the signal of the guards and Neved. Since it doesn't do that, there has to be a way to do the same on other Poke Balls which Saki should have been able to figure out by now. Then again, Saki is uhhh...special is the best way to put it. (That ocean looks kind of gray...does that make Valerie...that'd explain a lot) (Why am I looking at the gray waves?) (Hey, I think I can see my house from here) (Yeah, Adam. Do whatever the woman tells you.) (More importantly, why does it not stop the guards?) (This is the root of the problem. Saki knows how Poke Balls work) >>>She study dem balls like nobody else (Hold on, so this is probably one of Madelis's inventions...given she's the tech expert) I actually feel bad for Madelis because she just got shoved out of any spotlight or recognition at all. Almost as shafted as Serra. (Oh good a full explanation of something nonsensical in the first place) (Oh good it continues) (Yes, Adam. You can't expand your balls and call out your Metapod) We are throwing everything in today (That's...a new one for me) (If you're hitting on me, I decline. I have enough crazy women in my life as is.) (.................................I just realized this is a very stupid conversation) Okay, I don't really see the point of Saki being like that at all. If it was to avoid cops hearing them I'd understand if she was subtle or going around the question, but she pretty much is being blunt and outright explaining so a cop hearing would understand what she's saying. Which brings back...oh god this is Madelis 2.0 conversation. Please end me now. (Something tells me it's not that easy) (....I feel my rant button being pressed right now. And you guys were doing so good) (Now I understand how Vegeta feels around the Goku crew.) (Adam, I believe this is the start of a beautiful friendship) I could imagine if the character could talk they'd have this kind of conversation: Adam: These two are going to be the death of me Commander: Welcome to my world. Every girl I've met was about to be killed then almost got me killed. Adam: So you know my pain. Commander: Dude, I've lived your pain. Both: I think I just found my new best friend. (The ocean...it's calling my name) (At this point, I'm pretty sure Saki is Melia's age. I really need a list of how old certain characters are) (Adam, you're with me, best buddy) (That is the dumbest place to put an antenna) Seriously hiding it behind stuff is a terrible idea as it gives interference let alone nobody can keep a good eye on it in case somebody touches it or meddles with it. Just saying. But of course these are also the people who plant flowers in below zero weather. (Whatever that antenna is smoking I want it) (Thank you best buddy for summing up my thoughts) (Basically it's not what we're looking for) Just for the sake of anyone play, please turn your brain off when playing this segment. That's what I did and it wasn't so bad. Now I have to go back and relive it and actually read these lines of dialogue. (Hack it to reverse the signal?) (That's...a terrible idea. Wouldn't someone realize the repeater is gone? Also it doesn't even solve the issue) (I'm starting to think Saki is black Melia...that sounds so wrong and so right at the same time) (Congratulations, Adam. You are now the smartest person in the game) (Seriously, what type does Adam use? Dolphin type?) (And cue the second stupidest scene in the game) I don't have a pic but the thing just flies away straight up (which it should not do that and if it did it'd be in the ocean). This hurts my brain. Like if it was a silly adventure I'd be more okay with this, but Rejuv does try to be serious and wants you to take it serious which is seriously a problem, seriously. (And we're about to die in 3...2...1...) (Wait, how is it even red like that outside?) I believe I lost 5 IQ points by this point in the chapter. I only have about 100 left. (Well at least we know what it did) (This...leads to a very stupid controversy later) (Best FE:A character) (Yeah. F*** the police!) (And...I F'd up) (IT WASN'T ME! IT'S THAT NPC GIRL DOWN THERE!) (Finally I get to talk to the man himself) (Last time I took the game seriously I ended up with a long rant) And...I'm just going to stop it right there because oh dear lord I was wrong. Fine, I'll at least go through Neved so that this isn't a torture chapter. (Does anyone else find it funny he has all these how powered pieces of technology yet still uses a candle?) (Ah yes, I remember you quite clearly now. You're my next door neighbor who hates my dog pooping on your lawn) (I...this line irritates me) (Ah yes back in the day where I wore a black cap and black...everything) (You realize that's one letter away from being Never, right?) So this is Nevy. He's...something. Honestly, he's pretty boring overall. And no, he doesn't actually sing. I would honestly be okay with this IF this was the only time he was going to show up in the game. Forgettable villains have a niche role of serving as bosses for one battle or giving off an impression to hate them, but forgettable characters are needed since there's this thing called bosses in RPGs. It helps make other characters shine out more or get a picture of the greater villain. Anyways, let's get back to Mr. Nevermore. (Pretty sure that's how every mod feels on here...especially in ye olden times) (I still don't get why everyone is afraid of you) Seriously, there's not a single Xen grunt on this island. I'm sure it pretty much consists of Akuwa residents and those on the SS Oceana only. Which goes back to I wish there's was more lore and context on the place because you have an interesting setup. It's the Stanford Prison Experiment in a sense. If you haven't done research on it, do it. It's a very interesting subject which this should have used as a reference. Just imagine good cops and people breaking and manipulating the minds of people and the effect it'd do to them. Then have a small handful of characters who haven't snapped into that position such as Neved, the leaders, and one other prisoner. It's a tool to distract players from the main scenario. It is A LOT more work but it gives players more interest than just wanting this segment to move on and be over. Just imagine prisoners treating you like crap simply because you were caught "breaking" the law and everyone was punished for it. Moves start becoming more important and time is now running shorter. I'll go into this more and more over time as it will make things that seem nonsensical feel more realistic and like they'd actually happen. But really please watch the documentary on the Stanford Prison or wiki it because it really is such an interesting subject to talk about then look at this game and simply put in the subtle lore and you have something very morbid. (If I wasn't compliant, I wouldn't be here and you'd be talking to yourself in an empty room...not that you didn't do that already) (And ho boy another long explanation) (I don't know why Jan just didn't write the elites of Team Xen. Though that's not saying much given we beat a few of them with weak teams) (He's basically saying we were doomed from the start) I'm not trying to pick on Jan too much, but Death Wings. C'mon man. You could come up with a better name than that. I would've accepted The Flying Dutchmen, The Ravens, The Winged Beasts, or my favorite, The Beatles. This totally wasn't an excuse to use another song reference. (Speaking of that, you may have missed an old man at the entrance) (Yeah, you're one of the few evil teams who need to send your elites to capture a mere 10-year-old boy) Don't worry, I'm sure Neved would put me in the torture chamber if my smart mouth went off. (You captured and enslaved children. I think we're beyond rash) (.....Because you want to use them as hostages to control the region?) Did anybody really wonder why they were abducting people? I'm pretty sure it's like the norm for RPG protagonists. "Oh the men of this town were slaughtered and the women and children were taken as hostages. Dammit, I wanted to watch the football game, but I guess this Monday will be spent saving their asses." Yes, their have been variations of that satire but I really want to know if there was a protag who wanted to watch a football game over the hero's duty. I'm being serious. (This is where I'd go "The heck did I do?") (You're kidding me, right?) There are three people you should blame for this whole mess: Madelis, Zetta, and Crescent. The only thing we've done is take out one of the Dimension Pokemon in that Shadow Factory which Keta would've done anyways and probably succeeded. Madelis was the probably the one who screwed up the most as she got Melia killed and her cockiness lead to the factory's demise. I mean I'd get that we know way too much, but so far we've been a mere fly who's done minimal damage. (She sounds like somebody with a very short temper. That's like sending an army of trucks to try and capture a little girl...wait a minute) (Why are you following this lady again?) I get Madame X is supposed to be intimidating but unlike Lin, she's throwing a temper tantrum right now. Don't believe me? She wanted to hunt down a mere pest because they cause minor problems and are far from the main issue. That'd be like Lin or Solaris gunning after the player due to being in the Mosswater Factory invasion. It's a little extreme. Doesn't make for an interesting main villain though. (I'm not sure if that's an insult or compliment) ([Facedesks] This is why Adam is the only person I can talk to) We aren't even the bloody problem. You people are literally just taking out your frustrations on me like my existence screwed you over. The only difference is that Aelita would've died in the explosion since Crescent doesn't care about her. Everything else would've happened nearly the same since Ren would've done half the things I did. The result would have been nearly the same as Crescent would've zapped Jenner and Zetta regardless when you think about it. And yes, I am basically stating that the main protag is basically irrelevant. (Can I leave now? This conversation is making my brain hurt.) (That's Madelis's fault and you bloody know it) (Oh hello my friend text skip jankiness) (I just can't take this serious) I'm sorry but I'm laughing rereading this. It's supposed to be intimidating, but she basically murdered people because things didn't go her way. She went on a rampage murder spree. "Oh no my plans failed. I better go murder everyone now." -Madame X. Yes, the leader of a super advanced and pretty powerful group (with pretty clever ideas and tactics) goes to barbaric murder when things don't go her way. I don't know why I find this hilarious but I do. Someone somewhere (probably Neved) is probably going to want to murder me for this...that pun was not intended. I can only imagine what she's like when she's out of clean clothes or when there's no food left. Gotta murder someone to make herself feel better. (Sorry, I'm too busy laughing my ass off) (That's one thing we can agree on) (DAMMIT YOU USED GRAMMAR INCORRECTLY!) (......that...makes...little...sense) (...you realize we're all trapped on this island so I'm bound to see you again) (It was the grammar. People with bad grammar, besides me, deserve to die) (The Sigmund is strong within this one) (I guess I'll do just that) (Thanks for that whole lot of pointless info dump you gave me, buddy) Okay, it wasn't that bad, but it could've been so good. 80% of that was just pure gibberish just to scare you, but much of that could've been saved for later. Oh well...I realized we've only reached the quarter way point from the start of this segment (Giratina Statue) all the way up until the end of Blacksteeple. That's right. We are only 1/4th of the way there. Kill me now. (Also, why are there fallen pillars here? For a castle that's supposed to be cleaned up, you'd think that's the first thing they'd want to get done)

After this chapter I have to pick it up and play it again which this is how I feel about that: As nuts as this may seem, I actually prefer doing the screencaps and writing about the run over actually playing them game. It's probably the only reason I haven't put it down. These last few segments are kind of bad simply due to the lack of side content and exploration. You get 1 sidequest in each of these segments. 1 vs the 5 or 6 in the first two segments. You don't get Shadow Pokemon which you got to do in the first two segments. There's only a couple meh event Pokemon excluding the mystery egg. Speaking on that, I got a Darmanitan but I RMXP'd it into something else that'll be a surprise (not sure when I'll use it). Oh wait there's 2 in the Marianette chapter because I forgot about the Kingdra statue. Still, you get the point. It also doesn't help that it went with Reborn's low exp strat making it very hard and tedious to swap out Pokemon without Audino grinding. I'm a firm believer that if you really want to train a new Pokemon at the start of an episode/segment, it should be ready or nearly ready by the end of the episode and able to face the boss. It's why I have a hard time playing these fan-games. I'm actually that guy in RPGs who actually swaps out all my party members and levels them all up. Even in Fire Emblem I still raise the full unit count you can take into battle instead of the recommended train only 8-9 up. Kind of sucks I might have to stop team swapping after this point (I do have a couple newbies in the works though). ------------------------------------------------------------------ Chapter 29: I fought the law, but the law won Well it's been along while, hasn't it? I'm kind of taking a break from Redux because it's more of a slow and steady pace (Episode 2 basically is the Episode 2 version of the last episode). Now as for everything that happened in the run, I hope you remember because I don't. Okay, I actually do because I had to read every bit to dialogue twice at least. Instead of just jumping into the story because everyone wants to see me go into that, let's actually talk about an infamous RPG element. If the desert isn't the worst area in an RPG, it's usually the prison. Here's some great advice for rookie storyboarders (if that's not a term it needs to be one): NEVER make a prison segment if you use a silent protagonist. If you have to include one, make it brief or fast paced. Chrono Trigger is one of the very few I've seen this concept work great but that was due to the brilliant build-up. I legit don't want to spoil it because it was one of my favorite surprises and it was brief, but set up a fantastic tone. I'm also talking about from a story perspective, as from a game perspective like Wind Waker it's a good thing to spice up the gameplay (which can be hit or miss, but another topic). So what exactly is a prison setting? It's basically a setting where the main character loses power to the point of feeling helpless. Trapped. Weak. Worthless. This is generally the stereotype as the MC really didn't do anything wrong or was tricked. When the hero actually is a villain, it does get a tad more interesting, but that's a different subject. The problem with a prison is that it's very tight and very restrictive. The player often ends up at points of not really being able to do anything or needs to wander around for progress. They also can't brute force their way out (then why would you even want a segment in the first place). It's in these parts where dialogue and map design is key. There's no fighting or lack of fighting making these generally drag out until near the end. Best way to go about these is to make them short, have little lore or brief, and conversations that develop characters if they are needed. In other words, a minimalistic approach is best. I generally dread these segments as they are usually boring but Xenogear's D Block really made me change my mind about them. Before I even go into this demon segment, I really recommend you guys playing or watching that segment because it is Blacksteeple Castle done right. And also thinking on it, SCREW THAT BOSS! It took me five attempts just to barely beat it. And now for what you've been waiting for: (How may I take your punishment?) (Did Jan just look at the name Deven and just flip it backwards?) (I think you are fortunate I'm not your warden or I would've fucked you over by now) (So he's a man of slave labor. I can get behind that.) (I mean it happens more than you think. Look no further than Kony). (.....It's because they can. What else is there to it?) I'm not going to lie, if you are going to make an argument or fight, I'd rather it be more forceful. Have Aelita spit at the guard so break free only to be shocked or beaten. It'd make a better impact than her typical "I don't understand" situation. Is it easy to make that? No, but leaves more of an impact. (Even the guard is stunned by how much of an airhead she is) (This line is good but...) There's nothing wrong with this line at all. Blindly following somebody is a good tactic to play for a villain as you don't give them a reason to betray you for your ideals. It's kind of the minion role of not asking questions so you can reap in the rewards. My gripe is the fact this goes completely unchallenged by the cops. These guys hold no moral compass at all and are quite easily disposable. They also aren't treating the two characters here like slaves or dogs. That's kind of why I wish the "cops" or guards were built up and fleshed out a lot more. A centralized focus on that would have been much more interesting...then what we'll be experiencing. (He kind of said that in non-idiot form) (She's not with me) Okay, how the hell do people think Victoria is WORSE than this. I mean Victoria can get irritating but at least she isn't dumb enough to call a bunch of armed men idiots while being completely defenseless. I'd have to relook at the Under the Grand Stairway events but that's the only good comparison to this. It's like that moment where the main protagonist declare that the villain CAN'T do something that they're doing. You just...cringe. Now let's...finish this scene before this gets delayed another 5 months. (I think you awoke bad cop) (I DIDN'T EVEN SAY ANYTHING!) Remember how I talked about Xenogears before, it's such a good works to examine to see how to fix this. Imagine this event happening without any of these characters and only Neved discussing it with an officer briefly. I'm pretty sure that's how it plays out. It's been like 10 years since I played that game so my memory is a tad rusty. (...............You are slowly stooping down below Melia) Instead of explaining it, I'll just show a pic that explains everything she just asked: (That legit happened not that long ago) (Can we make Aelita one of the 5 sacrifices please?) (........Excuse me while I go bang my head on that suspicious looking brick wall in the background) Okay, I get why Aelita is so dumb in this scene, but I am not a fan of it. She does these things so that we the player can understand why certain things are the way they are or why can't we do certain things. In my opinion, it's a bit of amateur writing. It's not forced writing, but it drives irritation and annoyance to the point it feels unrealistic. I've used the term realism when building characters as it's not a device to make characters as realistic or as logical as possible, but to make them feel like people who have feelings and emotions and not machines shouting out dialog text. I mean it's also hard to avoid these situations (when explaining lore, I had to have two characters have terrible geography knowledge which also was useful for some humor), but we've just been piled on by the same tactic for like half of the game up to this point. Man, I'm on a rant roll today. Heh...I feel obligated to make this: I spent way too much time making that. After all, I must deliver the finest levels of crappy entertainment. (Huh...it must be contagious or something) (Aelita in a nutshell) (Oh joy the brat next door decides to speak) Spoiler alert: I don't like Saki (The only time I ever like seeing girls fight is in the WWE...for reasons) (Now I understand why the officers don't question anything. I wouldn't want to deal with this either) (......I'm pretty sure that was only you, Aelita) (All of this is just for one explanation folks) (If you touched your balls like I did, you'd know why. Oh wait, you don't have any) (Hooray, we can't use our Pokemon because of reasons) (Basically the typical you can't use your weapons/your weapons are gone stereotype) I do prefer Xenogear's exploding collar as it lead to a couple interesting scenarios but mostly allowed everyone to move free while still being a prisoner. There really wasn't too much fighting though oddly enough minus the dungeon segment...which is a whole different scenario (and no it wasn't for escaping). (I figured that out a while ago) Like legit, all of this could have been summed up in this line... "Blacksteeple Castle is more like a prison to me. We here to do hard labor and to top it all off we can't even set our little Pokemon buddies out. Poor things are trapped in there. If not for ourselves, we gotta make it off this island to save them...somehow" Then you could have Sanaki butt in and things would turn out like they are. Like there's multiple ways to go about this scene, but the Aelita stuff is very old and I'm tired of seeing a girl that naive and no progress at all on her character. This is the fourth situation like this she's been in and learned nothing. You know what, I'm starting to sound like a broken record. I guess since it's been a while so I'll brief on what makes characters interesting and great (in this order): 1. Drive 2. Growth 3. Personality You don't actually have to have a reason behind a drive as it's just why a character is doing something. In Celeste, the main character is going to climb a mountain simply because she believes she has to but doesn't know why. If you can't tell me why a character is there or for what purpose, then there's no point in them even being there if not existing. Growth is very important if not as important as the drive. Growth talks about a change in a character after an experience. Estelle Bright is a character I hated from the moment I first saw her as I disliked a lot about her. After finishing Skies SC, she became my second favorite main protagonist simply due to her character growth. Personality is simply a flair to avoid giving characters monotone or static voices which grows stale very quickly. I hope you guys like rants because you're getting rant roll'd here (We literally could have been here in three lines of text) (Says the girl who literally acted like we aren't supposed to be here) (I really don't like Saki's personality) I can't say it's bad or anything, I'm not just hung up on someone using the same gag to prolong the conversation especially a simple term like baby. I didn't care for Terra that much...until I really dug deep into her character and she's easily one of the most interesting characters in the Reborn game. (She's doing her best. There's just a wall of text blocking her) (When Mosely reads my letter, I hope she comes to rescue me) Legend of Mander: Mosely's Awakening soon to be released in a store near you Now I'm imagining Mosely using a key to cut grass. Am I going to turn every character into some wacky version of themselves? >>>Everyone but Madelis apparently One of these days I may start a pool of donations to commission a piece of artwork referencing all the changes I did to characters (I'd match the donations if it's small enough). Probably not for a long time though. (Nope, never heard of you) (Wow...I'm starting to wonder if that ponytail is really a ponytail) (We checked one place...and ended up here. So yes, we looked everywhere) (...Why does she start to sound like somebody I know?) Btw, Waldo is easy. That dog though. There was one challenge with a whole bunch of pictures of that dog but only one was real. If you can find that, you can find anything. (We are in prison and there's nothing else to do. If we can't piss off the dumb one, then we have to handle with...(shudder)...boredom) (Not sure if serious or sassing) (Wait a minute! You're not black!) Sometimes I wonder how NPCs would react to some of my captions (Now Aelita, the one thing to do here is not let them know you're real name) (And the first to die is...) (The second thing to do is not let them know where you lived) (........That's literally the one thing you shouldn't say to an armed guardsman without a plan) (The first part fine...but the second part...) (That guard be like "I'm surrounded by idiots" on the inside) (Pretty sure she's only looking out for herself...and her sanity) (This is where you lie about where you're from) (...This is why you lie about stuff. To save your ass for a little while longer) Seriously, we were surrounded by Team Xen members who captured us and put us in jail. Team Xen hates us for screwing up their plans. Why would you ever want to give up your identity to them. (Probably to somewhere not nice) (I'm sure the warden would ask me questions...but the perks of being a silent protagonist) (Until we meet again...wait I'M FREE! TAKE HER! TAKE HER FAR AWAY FROM ME!) (That's definitely a good sign...that I'm safe) (...that's a terrible warden) (...not even real prisons are barbaric) (That...concerns me more) (Thanks mysterious voice in my head) (Hey, it's better than making screencaps for thousands of pics) (Oh good another beautiful lady who will drive me up the wall) (Oh good. Now I have another friend who I want to kill.) And we end it here...because for some reason I don't have any more screencaps. I'll say that Saki isn't that bad, but I'm just not really that much of a fan. I'm probably going to work on this run through March then get to back to work on Redux in April so don't expect like 4 month wait periods inbetween chapters. Also as a side note, I'll probably play through up until Valerie in the V9 version to avoid any glitches before updating. That should be released before I reach the end of Blacksteeple just as an FYI so some thing may have changed which feel free to mention to me when I get to those parts. Also, Never Gonna Give You Up is now stuck in my head so if you'll excuse me, I need to sing something else catchy to get it out of there.

I've only done laser tag three times...and I still don't understand how the game works.

This is a hard question because it really grinds down to the game. While nobody likes being bogged down for a couple hours purely for explanation, it can often end up being just as frustrating not knowing what to do or how to even go about stuff. I do think some tutorial designed stuff is needed, but not silly stuff like how to buy items or how to use them. Take Pokemon Colosseum for example. They treat you like you know how to battle, but explain new mechanics. Even if you don't know how to battle that well, they give you two really good mons against a bunch of weak trainers to get the hang of it. It'd be hard to know you could catch trainer Pokemon without them explaining it. I don't really like this question as tutorials are needed and have to be designed around (not all tutorials are explicit) as I really don't like being thrown into games without any idea and things being way too hard and forcing me to learn quickly.

Hey, I think I figured this secret thing out. Supposedly it's something that we'd never guess. After some deep thinking, I realized the truth. There is no secret. Nobody could guess the secret if there is no secret to begin with.

I've been fixing errors and an odd one popped up since it was a last minute fix. When you talk to a trainer in HCHQ he says this is a test and Ferns team will be added into your storage. This was me testing the party system and somehow the event decided not to delete itself and here we are. It's not a major error but it is fixed. I guess that is a good item farm or something...I thought I removed the stones off Fern. Anyways don't worry as it is harmless and won't screw up your save.

I'm just doing this as a separate post for the sake of the pings: @Candy Everything looked good and I added it in @hope4896 You forgot the level for Zangoose so I made it 65. Let me know if you want it to be something else. I noticed an error with the abilities so I fixed those already. The only thing that's throwing me off is the EVs as Scizor has HP and Attack (which is fine), but Zangoose has HP and Special Attack...I can easily correct that if you tell me what it was supposed to be. @Ainz Ooal Gown Everything looks good so I added you in @M4RC I know it was mentioned before but there were a couple errors, however, they will simple mistakes so I fixed them myself @DreamblitzX Looks good to me so it's added in and no problemos @Lord Drakyle I just gave them natural EVs as 0 EVs actually weakens them a bit. And this isn't really an error but as an FYI if a Pokemon doesn't have a nickname it comes out just like you put for the nickname there. I kept it just in case but it's no big deal either way. @pyrromanis ..........I'm blaming Azery (who I can't figure out who to ping because he keeps changing his name more than a girl changes her clothes) for this. Also, the app looks fine and is added @HUEnd Yep, your battle looks good. Also, feel free to go all out or make the fight really easy as variety isn't a bad thing. @DemICE You're good there, brother. Added you in the doc now. @SilverHelio Only mistake I noticed was spaces inbetween moves. Obviously, that was an easy fix and I corrected it myself. Everything else looked good. @Amine Chankey3ft7 Everything looked good from what I saw so I added it in. Only thing was natures weren't all caps (I don't actually know if that matters or not, but I think it does) and you missed an extra comma after 70 (unless you want all your Pokemon to be nicknamed false). Easy fixes so no big deal. In all honesty, I'm surprised how smooth this was. I'm like legit surprised how some people even made perfect submissions as I doubted anyone would at the start because even I make mistakes and I've done hundreds of these. Anyways, they are all added in so Ping me if you make any changes or want me to change something in the corrections I did otherwise those who I pinged bar the EV spread issue are all good. I'll be taking them all off the available slots now.

Okay, so I'm looking and I'm really surprised how clean and smooth this went. I'm a little busy but I'll check deeper into the applications tomorrow or Monday (or some day soon). The only quick thing I noticed was something I forgot to mention @M4RC You don't have to change it as I would have corrected it anyways (when in doubt just let me know and I'll fix it when implementing it in the PBS) is that Alola Pokemon are a different form so this: ANINETALES,86,LIGHTCLAY,AURORAVEIL,FREEZEDRY,MOONBLAST,NASTYPLOT,2,1,0,false,TIMID,31,255,Ame,false,,,4,0,0,252,252,0 Would actually be this: NINETALES,86,LIGHTCLAY,AURORAVEIL,FREEZEDRY,MOONBLAST,NASTYPLOT,2,1,1,false,TIMID,31,255,Ame,false,,,4,0,0,252,252,0 I also noticed the T-tar thing, but again, that would've been an easy fix as well for me. For those who are wondering and want Alolan mons, change the form from 0 to 1 and that'll make it the Alolan form. If you're in doubt just make a note. Don't worry too much about mistakes as I'm used to correcting even my own. Everything looks really solid and everything seemed formatted correctly from a glance so good job. Also, wow I was not expecting that many apps on the first day.

Hello fellow players and yes, this is what I think it is. So one problem I've come across is that the rebattable trainers in the grand hall are...hard to scale and are very unreliable. So since this is a smaller mod, I decided to open this up a bit. Basically, feel free to make a team under these conditions: 1. No Legendaries 2. No early evolution mons (not a hard rule, but let's avoid level 20 Garchomps) 3. Sprites used can't be unique trainers (aka bosses) or any villain trainer class So how you go about creating your app is a little different from most people. I'm actually going to ask forms are going to be submitted mostly in PBS style format. This saves me hours of work, but don't worry about if you don't understand a certain part because it's easy to correct minor mistakes. So here's the format of the application: Now I'm sure half of you are wondering what the heck this Chinese I showed you is. Don't worry, I was like that when I first started working on HC back in the day. I'll break it down into parts now (I'll also provide an easier to follow example, but this is to let you know what all of those represent). Pre battle dialogue is self explanatory. It could be something like "Hey, I want to battle you." Before starting the battle. You could also give players a choice whether or not they want to challenge you. Not a big deal either way. If you don't put something there, I'll likely do something generic. If you want to do something special with your fight that's okay to and I really shouldn't need to explain those two categories. Now for the more complicated stuff. Trainer Class So to determine the sprite or who your character is, it's actually defined by a certain variable. That's basically what the first line is. The options are the following: Trainer Name Whatever you want to call yourself. If you want to be bob...fine. If you want to be called NorwayKing525...weird but okay. Number of Mons/Items Basically you have to put in how many mons are on your team which can be a max of 6. If you REALLY want items on your trainer, you'd need to put a common on it and a comma after every item otherwise omit the comma entirely (aka just put 6 on that line). Items have to be all uppercase and no spaces like SUPERPOTION,HYPERPOTION,POTION Pokemon Name This is really easy. Just the name of the Pokemon in all upper case. So SQUIRTLE JIGGLYPUFF MUK for some examples. As a side note, each of these categories are followed by a comma. Pokemon's Level Now this is one to pay attention to. So I'm accepting a certain number of apps per episode range. If you submit a team for a certain range, it needs to be in the following level range: Just check back with this section to see what slots are still open. Pokemon Item A majority of hold items are perfectly okay and easy. Light Ball is LIGHTBALL and so on. Z-moves are a little bit more complicated. Rockium-Z for example is ROCKIUMZ2. Anything with a hyphen(-) simply exclude just like spaces. All upper case as well. Pokemon Moves This is exactly like items. All upper case and a comma in-between each move. WILLOWISP and SPLASH for example. Hidden Power is a tad bit trickier as you need to insert the element in like HIDDENPOWERFIR for example. Just let me know if you want to use that move as I don't even remember all of them off the top of my head. Pokemon Ability, Gender, and Form Pokemon Abilities are confusing. There's no easy solution around it. MOST abilities follow the same form a Bulbapedia so that's a good source to use. 0 represents the first ability, 1 usually the second ability, and 2 is the hidden ability. Following this is Gender which 0 and M (you can use either) represents Male and 1 and F represents female. Then we get into forms. If you really need a certain form just let me know but most mons should just use 0 as the default. If it only has one form, just make the number 1, but if it's something like Rotom, I don't know that off the top of my head. I'll post it here when I look it up and find it though. As an additional note, any Alolan Pokemon would have a 1 as the form. Shiny, IVs, and Happiness If you want your pokemon shiny, make that section true, otherwise keep it false like the default. IVs are whatever you want them to be from 0 to 31. When in doubt, go with 20 is my rule of thumb. Happiness is kind of worthless unless you want to use Return which the max is...255. Default is generally 70 which I usually just put in so it's easier to read and fix. Nicknames and everything before EVs If you want your Pokemon to have their nickname, you can by putting it in that section. If you want Walter the Walrein, you'd put Walter there. I can't remember the max character limit but if the name is too long, it'll cross into the UI and look messy. As for the rest, I know the false is for Shadow Pokemon, but don't try being funny there. Just keep it false. I also can't remember what those spaces even do. I believe the first one is for Poke Ball type but iirc it doesn't work. If you don't want EVs, you can omit anything after the final false. EVs If you really want to add specified EVs on a Pokemon, just follow the format I listed in the template. The only weird thing about this format is speed is in the middle instead of at the end. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now, I know some of you might be overwhelmed, but don't worry as I believe examples are the best way to figure and follow this format. I'm doing it this way to actually cut a step of work from my side which is basically reading what people submit then converting it into that. One other note, I'm invoking a one month rule for submissions. If a month passes and a large number of slots are still open, you can make a second submission. Okay, now example time:

I'd rather people step in over keep a fight over me continue like it's an episode of the Bachelor. And really don't be afraid to step in and speak up. All should feel welcome and comfortable around Reborn. I'm not going to say much over the subject because anything I would've said has been said already. I guess it's best to drop the subject. On a different note: That reminded of the fact you have to remove a Pokemon from your party just to carry and egg. I'd take HMs any day over dealing with that because some of those eggs take like 20 minutes just to get back to (looking at you, Rowlett).

And it finally is bloody done. Well there was one area left to do, but I just blocked it for the time being. I'll explain in a moment but this is what you all have been waiting for: Download link And here's the change log: Here's some disclaimers or what's missing from E2: It might not seem much for 3 months of work, but I really underestimated the workload. Thankfully, E3 has a very light workload so I can pave out all of the missed stuff. I know some things are missing, but the big debate in my head was "Do I release it now with some missing content or hold off another month trying to get it out?"

You know when you really don't feel like explaining the full thing like you normally do but kind of have to because of the response you get, that's kind of my mood right now. People are having a very big misconception of Reborn right now: I'm not saying HMs are not a problem. They have their faults and weaknesses. I was making a point that Reborn despite making updates and such is a very dated game being made DURING the Gen V era. Implementing all the Gen VI stuff and more was actually not that hard on top of new ideas such as field effects was due to the fact Reborn was around the 35% mark roughly. 30% if you factor all of the changes and additions in. Yes, E11 was more like the 30% mark. We're now looking at a game that's 80-85% done. Most of the polishing has been completed and most of the big goals have been reached with the new AI being one of the last major goals of polishing. I'd say there was probably a good 2 years worth of time fixing the older parts of the game alone. In fact, there was a lot of small text polishing iirc for E15 alone. You're probably wondering why on earth I'm bringing this up. We actually already have seen the effects of what removing HMs would do from a story perspective with changes of E17. A lot of Reborn leaders (I mean all 32 who served in the league like Sigmund, Cain, etc) recieved team revamps breaking the monotype tradition. This actually hurt a few sections of dialogue such as with Cain and Popplio (he doesn't use poison types so he just says he doesn't want it over...not being something he'd usually use) or Fern in Aya's gym (he whines about it being a doubles instead of getting his ass whooped for using Poison Types). Likely, trying to get rid of them or pushing to the side would end up with a lot of jarring dialogue. And Reborn is not one to lazily put in feature like Insurgence/Zeta/Omnicron did as those Key Items would need animations and some sense to make it work. I'll only mention this one more time as it is A LOT more work than you people think it is. Simple solutions are very unpolished and clunky looking. Now we get to my favorite part. HMs are made for side exploration and help lock out strong mons for a wider Pokemon variety. In fact, there's only one area in the entire main story where you need more than 2 HMs to move on to the next segment. That is Amaria's gym which has a PC nearby and you don't even need an HM to face Amaria. Luna is the only other issue leader but you technically could face her without HMs, but it's inconvenient. Thankfully it's only rock smash which actually isn't a bad move against her given she's dark type. Not great, but handy. I consider those a blessing compared to the Route 1 puzzles and the field effect changing puzzles. For Telkinite (or however you spell it) you needed a move that is only learned by a handful of Pokemon. I guess Ametrine cave would be a little annoying, but thankfully a water slave would resolve that (I run 2 HMs on Lanturn and I have no gripes tbh). And I wouldn't even complain about Ametrine needed so many HMs because it has some of the best stuff in it including a life orb which will be available in E18. And now we go back to Gen V talk. When Reborn was being worked on, Ame kept a lot of the traditional Pokemon frame work. A lot of things from it actually bit her in the back in the long run which she has admitted for a few things she wish she did them differently now that she's older and wiser. There are things in HC/Redux that I could change or go back on, but I can't. You just have to accept the faults or the gripes with it and move on. That's a very long explanation which I'm willing to go into if you guys REALLY want to hear that, but the short version is this: we hear and know of these complaints, but opt not to deal with them to put effort into more important parts of the game.

I understand why people may not like the HMs and why they gripe about them, but I'm just looking and simply say "What the hell is Reborn supposed to do about it?" The game was literally built around HMs and they are key parts to the exploration aspect. You'll literally go to Apophyll just for an HM kind of important. HMs are also heavily implemented into the field effects to make them actually useful and helpful moves. Strength is actually really good in the Chess field, the Apophyll field, and Big Top for example. You can also overwrite them which was the biggest hindrance in the main games. Key items I suppose could be implemented but that's something more recent fan-games should consider. I think people forget Reborn is a Gen V game which implemented future features. The groundwork from that can only be changed so much before it becomes a hassle. I know a handful of dialogue and new animations would also need to be implemented to make this work...but then it goes back to why even have those HMs in the first place since most are situational. If it's really such a problem, there's a mod that makes sure you don't need the HM slave in your party.