Kurotsune

Stop tempting me with cool avatars, Maelstrom.

So I was browsing this thread and stumbled upon this. First thought was "Mael, this is why you're my avatar guy"

Next!

Okay, I'm ready for a change. Hit me up with your crazy avatars, Reborn!

Matthew shrugged. "I want to live. Is that not a reason as good as any?" He peered around one last time, and finally lent the man a small nod. "Let's get to the fighting. I'd rather get this over with as soon as possible."

A very short post because Matthew has nothing left to say. Pretty much just waiting for the next step to happen.

"The hall of sorrows, is it? What a fitting place for an afterlife!" The man exclaimed with a hearty laughter that soon followed. He peered at the man, taking in his figure for a moment before continuing. "And are you death? My very own reaper, here to show me where I shall spend the rest of eternity? Am I doomed to wander this place alone and forgotten, swimming in the pool of my own regret for what I could've done in life?" Matthew was always one for dramatic flair, and always valued highly a polished vocabulary, even among his crew of pirates. He didn't wait for an answer, however, and continued. "But alas, 'tis a question I know the answer of as well. I'm not here to simply stay, am I? My passage is more temporary. If I'm to have my body back, I presume I am to be given a second chance?" He peered at the man, and then at himself. "How odd that one such as I would be given this chance. Perhaps there's something you want me to do first, or after? Am I to kill someone in your name? Spread the word of your divinity? I'll have you know, I drive a hard bargain for my services." Matthew spoke casually, but on the inside he carefully examined his surroundings, trying to make what he could of his situation. If he was simply to be given another chance, why awake here at all? Furthermore, why awake here with his weapons? His father's sword - The sword that was in his grasp when he died - was in his grasp again when he was given form. His clothing and armor, same he'd wore for years, were pristine and new as they adorned his features, as if just woven. Whatever this man wanted, Matthew knew he'd make him fight for it. "...Should I presume that if I succeed, I can live again? And if I fail, I am to face the end of my existence?" Absolution or redemption; Matthew couldn't quite tell which option he feared more.

Something in the OOC I should probably address sooner rather than later. I've been working under the impression characters come from several different points in time; Is this correct? The way I've envisioned it, Matthew is someone from a timeline much closer to modern times - being a man that lived during the equivalent of our real world 1500s. And I realize that's probably a lot further down the timeline than most of the current Graterras roleplays. So, should I replace my bullets for arrows? Is my assumption incorrect? Or can I continue as originally intended?

"I'm sorry, boss." The last words spoken still rang through his ears. Sorry my ass. Matthew rushed through the deck, leaping into the air with unparalleled grace even as bullets peppered his form; As he landed, he landed hard on the traitorous swine, his sword biting deep into the man's flesh, the snake's bite making his death as sure as Matthew's own. He knew he would die there, and that did soon follow. His form slowly released his grip on the man as he flailed to be free from Matthew's grasp; The sabre slid through the wound it inflicted smoothly, falling with it's master to the seas. When he hit the cold waters, he felt the waves wash over his form. The first felt like daggers to his wounds, the salt in the sea burning the bullet holes that tore his flesh. The second felt like a warm embrace, perhaps because the water was now mixed with his blood, it wasn't as cold anymore. The last wave he barely did feel as his consciousness faded away... "One day, Matthew, I'll be king of the seas!" The tall, rugged man exclaimed to the small boy in his shoulders. This man had a slender but exquisite frame that fit him well. A chiseled jaw adorned by a face that once definitely hid beauty within it, though now it was instead deformed by scars. The man wore his long dirty-blonde hair in a ponytail, and kept his son firm in his shoulders as he pioneered the ship. "And I'll be your first mate!" The boy exclaimed, excitedly. The man chuckles "Maybe. Or maybe you'll be captain all on your own." He sets the boy down, waving him off with his now free hand. "Go, lad. You've practice." "Aye aye cap'n!" Matthew ran off as his father watched him. ...Or was that his father? He felt as if he was living through his memories again, but they felt distant somehow. As if he was watching someone else's life unravel before his eyes, and find it oddly similar to his, and yet quite not the same. A spectator to his own show, oblivious of the contents within. He had no idea how long it had been now, since he had died. He barely remembered why. As he drifted through the seas of darkness that composed the afterlife, the once-man known as Matthew Corwil struggled to remember his identity. "I'm a man of the seas!" his thought raged. "I died with my father's sword in my hands!" they shouted. "I'm the captain!" Soon, however, even those sounds became muffled nonsense. Eventually he could barely remember who he was, and began to lose hope. Humans seek adversity. It is through adversity that we grow, that we develop. But what when adversity becomes too much? When faced with the torture of eternity, would one not prefer oblivion? And yet, just as his soul was about to give up... It did not. It held, a tiny ember, a spark of life long lost. It held to itself and to all that surrounded it, much like a baby's first breath of life, grasping at all that it could, giving it form, molding it anew. Soon, without really knowing why, Matthew saw himself as himself once again. Rain. He always enjoyed the rain... Even the storms. They made him feel more at home, somehow. As if being surrounded by water truly - Both above and below - made him more connected to the sea around him. His eyes close softly, the man enjoying the pitter-patter of the raindrops hitting the ground below, seemingly matching the rhythm of his own newfound heartbeat. The small things, you find, are the ones you miss most. And Matthew planned to completely enjoy this moment. The smell, the sound, the feel of the droplets of water as they washed over him, the man cherished them all, until he heard a different kind of tapping. Alien, but not unfamiliar. He opened his eyes to see who it was that walked near him and mused at the man for a bit. It was not unusual for him to see odd types in his life, but that man was a special sort. He admired him as he approached, and their eyes locked. Matthew recognized the gaze he was given; It was one of appraisal, but not one of surprise. The man very likely knew who he was, and very likely knew why he was there. He was not reacting to an unexpected event; His motions felt as fluid as one acting out a script. "I am the beggar in crimson". He replied in a mock-bow, taking the time to look over himself. "Or alas, I am not. 'Twould seem the tailors in the afterlife failed to produce the blood that so-adorably adorned my clothes at the time of my death. Or at least - That is what I am, correct? I decidedly remember dying. I do not remember much of what came afterwards. ...Or, of course, this is a side-effect of overindulgence in ale. It wouldn't be the first time." Matthew smiled at the man, half-joking, and breathed in heavily afterwards, slowly and soundly releasing the air through his nostrils before he continued. "Where am I, and why am I here?"

Not a man. While I can't attest for anyone but me, I'd say the level adjustment was mostly a way to make sure we don't have to go over the level cap. That's definitely something I'd personally not like. And as an addendum, I think it'd be good to decrease the soft caps so that we could encourage people to use more pokémon by not having to do so much grinding. I know I never change my party because I sure as hell ain' grinding anything up to level 70, so I can speak for experience that the lesser the burden of grinding upon the player, the better. I get it's part of Pokémon, but still, I think having to grind several pokémon hurts the overall idea of having the player use more than just six pokémon in their rotation. While I'd personally like to see a system added in that allowed your pokémon to gain experience in other ways to ease the burden of grinding, I've no ideas on that front, nor are there any plans to invest into it.

I just generally dislike games that hand-hold a lot. If I'm at the last boss, I sure as hell don't need you to tell me how to shoot.

Disclaimer: The below are my opinions and mine alone, and therefore I will be disregarding other members of the development team and addressing the issues from my point of view only. This is something I'd like to address. First thing is the difference between what Reborn "is known for" and what Reborn's focus is. Reborn may be known for it's difficulty, but it's focus is it's history. While, yes, the team puts considerable effort into making sure Reborn is a more challenging experience than the vanilla games (and I'm just gonna say that in regards to that, we're doing pretty well) and into making the game difficult, there are some facts that simply must be accepted. The main one is, Reborn is never going to be difficult. Pokémon is effectively an over-complicated rock-paper-scissors game. You're trying to guess the opponent's move while countering with your own and taking other variables in effect to control the flow of the battle. Thing is, the machine has it's limits. And the system has it's limits. To expand to those limits we add new systems, but they have to be made fair and balanced. Someone like me, who plays the game by simply covering all their bases, can very easily defeat every gym leader in the game by just throwing whatever they're weak against. Yes, the leaders themselves have counter-measures for their most common types, but I'm going to be completely honest here and say that never was an issue for me. Now, when we're dealing with a community where we can work under the assumption you've probably played at least one pokémon game before, we can kick things up a notch by adding a deeper level of strategy to the game. Due to this, Reborn is much more of a mental puzzle than other pokémon titles. The leaders are considerably harder than the original games', and the game being fanmade allows us to create additional systems, like field effects, to add even more strategy to the battle system. So we have three main issues when it comes to regulating the game's difficulty. Those are: 1-> Difficult X Accessible 2-> The community 3-> The engine 1-> Difficult x Accessible The first is a conundrum very common among any video game development team. How difficult can you make the game so that it remains accessible? Even games like Dark Souls, which are praised by their difficulty, are actually fairly simple in their approach. In the Souls' series case, the game becomes really easy if you master it's main focus of a passive observant approach. That usually happens naturally as the game progresses through the game, as that's what the game nudges the player towards doing. In a similar fashion, by throwing field effect after field effect at the player, Reborn tries to make so the players want to learn how to manipulate and control them, thus making several of the battles a lot easier than they originally are. If a player does this, they're making the most of the system. If they don't and just completely ignore it - like me, to be honest - they're probably still are going to be able to go through the game without running into a complete wall. ^ That, is the main idea for Reborn's difficulty. Something that someone invested in the game can easily go through, and something that someone can still enjoy if they just want to see the next story bit. This isn't what we have currently, but it is what we try to do. So the game won't simply get harder or easier - Later gym leaders are obviously meant to be more challenging than earlier ones, but we don't want the game to be so difficult a new player will immediately be disheartened to play due to the sheer difficulty of it. I know this already happens, but it's not an issue that needs to be aggravated. All in all, I think the current compromise is a good one; The game remains very fairly above the vanilla in terms of a challenge, but not so far that most people who play will be discouraged to do so. That doesn't mean the systems don't need adjusting, however, and so threads like this are useful. Though replies like "The game is ez mode it should be hardcore make it harder gosh" are not helpful at all. In fact, quite the opposite. Seeing someone asking me to make the game harder just because they feel it should be makes me torn between making the game incredibly easy or so stupidly difficult no one could get through the first fight; Just because I'm kind of an asshole like that. 2-> The community This is a counter-intuitive thing, but it turns out that when it comes to difficulty, you guys both help and don't. Here's why: In one hand, having a lively community means we get more feedback (such as this thread) more frequently, allowing us to adjust the game more frequently to more properly respond to our target audience's desires. While my main job is not as a game developer, I can say my stance as a developer is that I'd rather focus my product to the ones that enjoy it, rather than dumb it down to the ones who don't. (Looking at you, EA) But the side-effect of a large bustling community like this is that you guys crack the code. Quickly. Days after the episode is released for beta testing in the Nightclub, most pokémon and items have already been traced and discovered; More than thirty people have already completed the game, and tactics are already out in the open about how to completely destroy a boss. That's amazing teamwork, and you guys are awesome for it. The unfortunate reality is, however, that we can't hope to compete. The game is always going to be easy as long as there are people discussing it and coming up with tactics and strategies, as well as guides on how to get the best available pokémon step-by-step. And that's fine; I personally believe the game should be played in the current episode, within the constraints placed therein, and using everything available there. That also means catching event pokémon, so go for it. But that means the game will be easier and in fact, become easier and easier as time progresses and tactics to defeat gym leaders are more well-developed. One good example I can mention is Julia. Using toxic spikes on her is such an effective tactic that there is almost no change we can make to her other than a complete rework of her team that'd make it no longer a simple battle. And personally, I'm fine with that. It just means you're putting effort into it, community. Good on you. Have a cookie. 3 -> The Engine I'll be direct. The AI is crap. Unless I rewrite it from scratch - and I've been tempted - it'll still be crap. We can tweak and adjust it as we will, but polishing a turd, alas, does not make it a diamond. The AI is bad, it should feel bad, and it's staying bad in the foreseeable future. Sucks to be us. To counter this, field effects have been created, but field effects can't be a clear advantage to a pokémon or a boss battle - Though, as we approach end-game, we may be adding some that break that rule (there's one I've come up with and I'm particularly thrilled about... But it's gotta be saved for a special occasion) but in general, field effects need to be easy to counter. So they are. If the tradeoff is that gym leaders aren't going to be that hard for it, well, that's just tough luck. To detail further, the AI works on a very simple point algorithm that if one put effort towards they could easily crack and control - I've done it, it's fun to never lose - and unless we recreate this system in a more complex manner, which is not a valid use of resources if I'm to be frank, or Essential fixes it's shit, which seems unlikely, it's staying that way. I'm not writing this post to say threads discussing the difficulty are unnecessary, mean, or anything else. I think they're great feedback and provide us information on what you're thinking, but I wanted to clarify a few things in regards to why Reborn "is not that hard after all" and add a caveat; Keep discussing these things, and keep making us aware. However, don't simply ask us what we can't do; We can't make the game hard because of the constraints above, and to keep those in mind when suggesting alterations to the game will not only optimize the chances of your advice getting through the game, it'll also help us when we come looking for valid feedback.

...That was literally my first reborn run.

I do, but I'm lazy, ugh.

From a distance, you can almost hear hundreds of players screaming "THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS!"

Go on. Never said that. In fact, from another post of mine in this very thread: And "doesn't always" sounds like trying to use an exception to invalidate the rule. Which you proceed to do in: One. The rest is your opinion, which is yours and I choose to respect. If new terminology were to be proposed, I'd admittedly be willing to give this a second glance.

Games are made for the player. If you want full control, write a book. University level education teaches in the form of both theoretical and practical experience how to do something. I wasn't clear there. You're ultimately wrong because most people here would pass university level english, rather than high school level. Thus your point of "most people being good at a high school level" when in fact the great majority are much better if bothered to be is ultimately wrong. If you're referring to the roleplayers, you've made it sound like you did. If you're referring to the tiers, you didn't, but I did. Ranking people by skill may not be a huge sin, but the way it's presented is boisterous and offensive. At least is not a single word. Agreed. Agreed. Disagreed. I've never said it's not important to contribute to motivation. In fact, I've opposed your system because it's demotivating, and to say I'm against motivation is contradictory. I said motivation is the person's problem because it is. I can contribute to it and aid it as much as I can, but motivation lies ultimately within the self. You can keep the fire burning and even fuel the flames, but you can't start them if the person doesn't let you. So it's their problem. Doesn't mean I won't help. This one's gotten redundant, so I'm going to stop commenting on this. The irony of you mentioning that technique is refined by training, however, is also not lost on me.

Yes, one is a poor usage of ad ridiculum, the other is a subjective example of proper roleplaying. I'll be brief. If you want to nitpick your players and you're unwilling to help others improve, then you've failed as a DM before you've even begun. I'll trust the RP Masters themselves to list what they want in their RP, rather than someone else. Experience improves ability. This is non-debatable. To claim otherwise is nonsensical. Two processes called analysis and feedback, which are a part of developing experience, and not at all independent from it. I'd rather set an example. The idea that doing something several times improves your ability at doing said thing is the foundation of the worldwide educational system, and one website being the exception does not disprove the rule. That's their opinion. This is yours. I don't think you're trying to come across as arrogant, but I'd just drop the friendly warning that you are. And as patronizing. And ultimately wrong. While I'll agree that not everyone here is a writer, it doesn't mean they're intrinsically bad players, or that you have a right to rank their English level. As a side note, the irony that you've made a typo there isn't lost on me. Motivation should come from the self. That's their problem. The principle that motivation is necessary to improve? Yes. What you're preaching, however, is an ideology. Lastly, skill is subjective when it comes to art because what you may perceive as bad others may perceive as good. It's as simple as that.

I've various issues with how you've worded this. I'll go over them one by one. Roleplaying ability is subjective. I'll elaborate more on this later, but let's not start with the basic premise anyone is better than anyone else, or that anyone is bad. People have styles and yes, some can improve, but much like drawing, writing is a subjective art. The beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The authors of the guides are all active members of the community. Why don't you suggest the improvements they clearly lack rather than simply pointing it out? Only thing that can make anyone a "roleplaying master" is roleplaying. Guides do a good job at sugarcoating things, but if you want to get better at writing, write. Most importantly, find your own way of doing so; Mirror other people and the only thing you're going to become a master of is mimicry. While I understand those are generalized roleplaying terminology and rules, they're also from Gaia online. This forum has it's own rules, so why not link to them instead? Forgive my french, but qu'est que cette mierde? Let's not again part from a principle that you can rank people based on ability. Roleplaying is subjective. The idea of calling someone "illiterate" or "semi-literate" as perfectly-acceptable terminology depicting rank or level of ability is preposterous. I'd have no one be put down or be made to feel bad because they've been measured and they've "just come up short of semi-literacy". No. Some people write better than others, no one here is illiterate. I read this, and this forum has much better examples of roleplaying skills. I'm not going to go into detail or nitpick, but by page 4 there's already a gigantic amount of things I'd consider the opposite of proper roleplaying. Here we agree. Here we don't. Anyone can contribute to a storyline regardless of skill level. If anything, it's the DM's job to make sure players are engaged and contribute. If they're not that good at doing so, the DM has to be the best among them so he can motivate them in the correct way of doing so. That's the tabletop way of doing it, admittedly, but one I much prefer over saying "you must be this tall to ride". A tall claim if I've ever seen one. I've been roleplaying in it's various forms since the 90s and I still make mistakes more often than I'd care to admit.

I have a simple solution. I will write a profile for ALL REMAINING CHARACTERS! Cues evil laugh AHAHHAHAHAHAHA HAAAAAAHAHAHHAHAHHA AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH- Yeah okay fine I'll stick to one.

Amethyst in game seems to hold the position of both professor and mayor/manager of the Reborn Region. Thus, she can't be it's champion by a simple matter of vocation - She organizes it, and because of this she is permanently stuck at the great hall. (There's a victory road in the Reborn map, thus there's definitely a champion's place somewhere. If she was champion, for the sake of convenience, she'd most likely manage the league from there.)

I still want to play multiple characters. Can I boss? Please? Pretty please?

First, I'm going to say that I'm no stranger to being accused of things I didn't do or having my actions misunderstood in Reborn, so I feel you. Secondly, I'd say you'd be better off bringing this matter to an authority first (assuming you haven't). Making a post like this can make you get exactly the kind of attention you don't want - Bullies tend to be insecure, and with insecurity comes a fear of exposition. Thus, exposition tends to cause an aggressive response. Third, I'll discuss this in further detail privately if you want - Since I've no desire to call you out on anything - but I'd suggest rewording the post. There's a few things that could be taken the wrong way, and I sincerely believe you've composed it with good intentions.