Rating ruina EGO based how it'd be to wear them. Long post!
This is part 1 with only the Floor of History. More to come later!
Okay so here's my criteria;
Utility, how USEFUL the gear is, keeping in mind mainly the supernatural powers that it bestows upon the wearer.
Coolness, how COOL it looks in general, without regard for how practical it is. Which leads me to the next one,
Practicality, how PRATICAL it would be to put it on and wear it on the day to day.
Lethality, how DANGEROUS it is in combat (which admittedly is NOT part of my personal daily life, but it is what they were intended to be used for).
Attunement, how easy it is to be in the overall MINDSET of the abnormality. Granted, this one is the trickiest of them all to classify, so it'll be graded differently than the others and work as a sort of "bonus points".
You could probably make a cool acronym for these categories... But I won't.
Starting strong with the floor of History, we have Fourth Match Flame!!
U: I'd give it a 7.5 out of 10. I'd imagine it's always burning, so hot to the touch? It'd be nice to keep warm, but you'd probably have to be careful not to burn anything by accident, although considering EGO gives you instant knowledge on how to use it effectively, it's probably not that hard. Still, the uses of fire may be plenty, but it doesn't seem to offer anything other than that.
C: Well, I'd say it's actually pretty warm, but I'll still give it a 7/10 in the coolness scale. I kind of like the tattered look, and the way the ember cling to the edge of the fabric, and the weapon is in a pretty sick shape, but it's pretty basic otherwise. It's almost a 6/10 tbh, but I'm being nice today.
P: 4/10. It's ON FIRE. Even if you know how to use it, I'm pretty sure if you tired to give someone a handshake, it'd still burn them. Or if you tried to sit down, you'd burn your chair! Heck, every step you are burning the floor a little bit. It's proabably not a "shit i just started a fire" burn, but it's probably gonna leave a mark on whatever you touch. Honestly I should rate it lower than 4. But I'm cold and I'd really like a suit that keeps me warm rn and that's what saves it in my eyes.
L: See, I was gonna give another 7/10, but thinking outside of just how lethal individually is, I think in general this EGO can do a lot of destruction in general, like you can burn a LOT of stuff around you before someone's able to stop you, and while fire itself is not that deadly? It takes a while to actually burn someone to death, and most victims of fires die by the smoke before the actual fire kills them. But it is like horrible and full of pain and suffering. So I'm gonna bump it to 8/10. There's more dangerous stuff in here so that's the max this is gonna get.
A: Well this one, as I said, is a bit tricky. Scorched Girl wants to burn all the good things in the world. I don't. Know if I've ever experienced that feeling exactly? I'm not someone who feels anger easily... so I'll say 2/5, at least to me.
so that's a 26.5/40, plus the 2 bonus points from attunement, so 28.5/40. Pretty okay!!
Here's a bonus, from the EGO concept art section! Looks pretty similar, but a bit darker. I also really like the horns, they're more interesing than the hair on fire (don't touch my hair pls)
Bear Paws!
U: I was so close to giving this a 2 or smth. But! It's actually pretty useful for at least one thing that we can be 100% sure on! Giving hugs! It's also probably got some sort of super strength right. I'm totally not just trying to find any reason to score his higher. 4/10.
C: On one hand, I love big claws. I love tearing stuff apart with my "bear" hands (heheheheheheh). On the other hand. I have a hard time calling this "cool". Sorry. It's cute? Not cool... 3/10.
P: 1.5/10. I like this EGO I swear. But. It's big bear paws. That's it. You cannot tell me that using that daily is gonna make your life easier. I would love to have them to give the biggest hugs ever but they would make my life a lot harder. I have to type a number password to enter my house. How do I do that with GIANT BEAR PAWS FOR HANDS?? Sorry again.
L: Yeah this is. Not looking good for the overall score. Sure, this EGO can kill, but like.... the amount of destruction and suffering is not in the same level as Fourth Match Flame. 3/10, better used for giving hugs imo.
A: 4.5/5. I will give no clarification. Do not look into what this means about me.
So that's a total of 16/40... That's pretty bad... but personally I'd still take it if I had the opportunity to.
I really like this concept art........ Ough the ears......... I also thought the neck thing was a zipper? It's not, but that would've been kind of cool too. It's really not that different I just thing the ears are cute.
Wingbeat!! A very cool-looking EGO, if I'm allowed to give some spoilers. I'm a big fan of how it's used in Limbus as well.
U: 8/10, but honestly, I'm tempted to give it a 9! But I know some later ones are probably more useful, and this might be bias talking, but as we can see in Limbus, the wings do allow you to fly a little bit, or at least it speeds up your movement quite a lot! I think that's really useful! Imagine opening a window and just flying off to where you need to be?
C: It's cool, you can't tell me it's not cool. Look, I get it, that kind of onesie kind of deal isn't for everyone, trust me, I wouldn't like to be in one of those either, I like having my pants and shirt separate. But c'moooooooooon it's sick!! It helps sell the idea that it's supposed to be quick!! It doesn't pull the focus away from the big shiny wings and the also really cool weapons! For that, I'm giving it a 7.5/10.
P: 6/10, took some points off because of the weapons. They are cool, don't get me wrong, but lugging them around would be pretty annoying in most cases... I need my hands to do things! I don't wanna be carrying sharp objects in them! Other than that, the EGO seems easy and good to move around in, not too restrictive... well, except for those big ass wings... but you can make the sacrifice if it means not needing to take the bus or drive a car, right? I can.
L: While not as destructive as Fourth Match, the speed alone totally makes it more deadly than Bear Paws! Imagine something like the rooster IDs and their S3 that dash around multiple people, except, it's the Ishmael EGO doing that! Well, that would make the EGO less powerful imo, but if you bring that into the real world, most people would go down in one hit, so I think that makes up for it. 7/10?
A: I feel like hunger is a state of mind people can relate to, although some more than others. In the first game it was all about "oh these cute lil things that help me are kind of fucked up and not what they seem actually!", but in ruina they kind of swapped it for the whole hunger thing? I feel like that's hard to rate, but I'll put it in the middle, I think that's a good compromise. 2.5/5
That's 31/40, our highest score yet!! And deserved too, I'd say. One of the coolest EGOs, at least in the 3 first floors, imo.
Haha bald. They're basically the same, but it hits different in the other Idle pose. It's got a certain hunger in it, like Angela can barely keep her body straight.
Fucvk. I was not thinking. Is Hornet just Wingbeat but better? It flies better, it arguably has a more pratical weapon, and you can also argue it looks better? I think I like wingbeat more due to what it represents, but this is a really clean look too, and I'm a big fan of the ponytail (I loved wearing a ponytail when I had long hair). Y'know what. I don't even need to rate this one it's just better Wingbeat. I'll just add a point to every category, for a total of THIRTHY FIVE??? That's. I might be giving this stuff too high a rating too early but. It's fine. Yeah. It's all good actually. I don't mind this. 35/40.
The hat is so good too btw.
Okay, now things are getting good! Green Stem!
U: 9/10. This might be too much but I Do Not Care. It's free vine growth and control, and I'm plant. It's in character. I'm only not giving it a 10/10 cuz White Night exists and if you told me White Night EGO could give you 3 wishes I'd believe it. Creating as many vines as you want is extremely useful, you can use it as a bunch of hands to get things you don't want to, to transport you places, to idk build you a house?? Really really useful stuff. No. Y'know what. Screw White Night. 10/10.
C: I think these old time-y dresses are really cool actually. They seem complicated to get into but I admire those who go lengths to look good, because I am not one of those people lol I wear the most basic stuff ever. Easy 7.5/10 at the very least. I especially like the details of the vines being a part of the dress as well, and it's a nice red color that resembles an apple. It's more pretty than cool, but I think it fits anyway.
P: 6.5/10, I'm taking some points off because that dress doesn't seem very easy to move in, actually, Angela doesn't move AT ALL, so maybe she can't? Also because putting it on seems difficult, but if you can control vines, I think all of those are minor concerns.
L: 9/10. I was gonna give an 8, but that's the same score I gave Fourth Flame, and making fire is one thing, but VINES?? That you control. And grow anywhere? And can pierce human bodies? That's a lot more controlled destruction, thus capable of being more lethal and causing more damage overall.
A: Born of a curse, not allowed a happy ending despite everyone else getting one, spite, revenge... I feel like those are common enough feelings? A jealousy of sorts. I've felt jealous, but I can't say to that degree. Still, I'll give it a 2/5.
35/40, that's a pretty good score! Same as Hornet, but I think Green Stem is better overall due to being able to CONTROL VINES??? Although on the flipside you really can't move yourself, so maybe that's a pretty significant drawback.
I LOVE this design though. I mean, for wearing, it seems more pratical, but themeing wise the big dress is better. If the left one was the design though, I'd bump it a little higher. I haven't talked about the apple itself at all, but it's handy that in the other one it can float. The beret here is very cute too, but I also really like the crown... They're both really good.
