Its really fascinating how the graphics of games in the past evolved from being created due to technical limitations, to being sought after and replicated as a stylistic choice.
Not to say that all games made in certain styles like low-poly or 16-bit had no thought put into them beyond technical limitations, but its just really interesting that games (particularly indie games) can deliberately look "bad" regardless of the technical advancements made beyond the point in time the style they aim to replicate was created at.
It also makes a lot of sense from a development standpoint, as games with an 8-bit style, for example, are very easy to create assets for, while still being able to allow players to use their imagination to construct what something "should" look like, which is a technique a lot of games in the past did as well.
I wonder if anyone has taken a crack at recreating the style of games from the mid-2000's (like God of War or inFamous), since that was a time where a lot of developers aimed for more gritty realism. Being able to capture a point in time like that is a really interesting concept.
I should probably talk about stuff here more cause this feels like a place where stuff can be easily interacted with. I really wish more sites had an unintrusive tagging system like this
as a certified filler enjoyer I'll come out and say I wish fairy tail had more filler. the cast of fairy tail is so big that there's practically an endless amount of side stories to tell with them. Something I would've liked to see is erza teaching wendy how to drive one of those magic leech vehicles:
Erza: "Okay put your foot on the gas pedal and gun it as hard as you can!"
Wendy: "Uh, Erza which one's the brake?"
Erza: "What do you mean brake?"
driving isn't super big in fiore, you have to have a nice amount of magic to use the cars and there isn't any paved road really, a horse or a train can practically get you anywhere but it's still a nice skill to have so erza tries to teach wendy.
of course the rest of team natsu get involved which ends in disaster. best to worst drivers are gray, erza, lucy, natsu. gray is better than erza just because of the fact erza is a super reckless driver. she drives like she had to be somewhere yesterday so when she tries to teach wendy she also tries to pass on all her bad habits. wendy is more concerned for the safety of everyone around her so she tries to over correct what erza teaches so she doesn't place her foot on the pedal as hard as erza tells her to and brakes more often then necessary which makes her just as much of an annoying driver as erza just in the opposite direction
somewhat surprisingly lucy can't drive because no one taught her. she was rich so why would she have to drive? she got pulled around in a horse drawn carriage so her and wendy learn at the same time. natsu, although he is below lucy on the list, can drive; he's just the worst driver you've ever seen. he drives the same way he fights, so he ends up putting way too much magic into the car at once. (he's blown up at least one car) while erza teaches wendy how to do cool u turns, natsu and lucy are in the back crashing into stuff which quickly turns into him being banned from helping her because damn it natsu these are rentals
gray is mostly trying to stay out of it, he trusts erza to teach because "she managed to teach that moron how to read". others from the guild probably stop by and give their two cents. laxus (who can drive) doesn't really offer advice other than "don't hit anyone cause you will have to pay for their hospital bills" which makes wendy abuse the brake pedal more. mira tries to give her advice about keeping a cool head while on the road but she has the craziest road rage known to man (gray reveals this) and it's a blessing cars in fiore can't honk. cana stops by but has no good advice because even though she knows how, she hasn't driven in five years. "I have to be sober to drive but I can get drunk on a train."
after all the lessons wendy tries to drive down the road and it goes like this:
Wendy: "Woah, this is actually kind of fun. Erza look! I'm-"
Gray: "Wendy keep your eyes on the road!"
*crashes into a building*
wendy doesn't become a master driver but she appreciates that so many people tried to teach her something. (while lucy doesn't learn anything at all) master makarov is a more than a little upset that they destroyed (2) cars but what can you do? erza definitely broke more than two desks trying to teach natsu to read so technically it could've been worse, he tries to rationalize to himself.
I've been playing this rpg called Breath of Fire II and I really like the party members in it, there's a lot of them and I was worried there wouldn't be official art of them but the walkthrough I was looking at was kind enough to include bonus sections with official art of the characters
In order are as follows:
Ryu, the main character and can transform into a dragon
Bosch, Ryu's childhood friend who is a thief. You spend the first third of the game trying to catch this other thief that got him framed
Lin, a cat woman warrior. She didn't trust you at first because she thought you were involved in a staged match against at the colosseum she fought in, but joins you after you beat the manager up
Rand, an armadillo man who also worked at the colosseum. He joins you to take down the manager and actually helps you survive the staged match
Nina, a Wyndian who is born with black wings and was outcast from her people due to the prophecy said wings hold. She has a younger sister called Mina, who you help to rescue from bandits, and you discover that she is royalty yet was still banished from her people anyway
Sten, a monkey man with really long arms. He likes to play tricks on people and was caught doing so by the party, so he joins to make up for it
Tapeta, the prince of Fort Naguer, is a kingdom of frog people. You help him prove he's the real prince after an imposter takes his place, since everyone in the kingdom never questions anything (except for his sister who knows the truth). He's pretty jovial and loves to explore, and he loves to paint and cook as well.
Aspera, a grassman who is able to speak to plantlife. They only just joined the party, so I haven't had a good read on them yet, but they don't show a lot of emotion (probably because they do not interact with people that much)
and lastly, Deis, a secret party member and was actually one of the party members from the first game, she even references this by calling herself "one-time savior of the world". She's extremely powerful and has access to a lot of strong spells for the point at which you get access to her, and is really flirty with Ryu
I really like this game and I'm excited to continue playing it. I really love turn-based RPGs, and I know the SNES is chock full of them. The game is filled with so many cool designs and characters, and I wanna take inspiration from them.
I think my favorite characters so far are Tapeta and Nina. I like Deis as well, but unfortunately, since she's an optional party member, she isn't involved in the story that much which is unfortunate.
I've noticed that a lot of stories that are focused on adventure have their protagonists not have a lot of blood family members be super important within the story itself, and if they are then they're either evil or killed off in some way.
The common things I've seen are:
- The protagonist is an orphan, and their biological parents are gone or dead
- They have one parent, with the other dying in some way or is otherwise not present
- If the dad is the one that's alive, then he may be super strict or controlling
- If the mom is one present, then she might also die as well
A lot of this often leads to the whole "found family" dynamic with the characters, where they form their own group have a connection that's deeper than just being friends.
I get why this happens a lot, as it's kind of an extreme example of the lesson that people eventually need to break away from their family and form connections with people without that inherent bond that comes with being in a blood family (most of the time), and in the case of found family, it's able to bring people together that have entirely different backgrounds from one another that the author can explore.
And there's also the whole thing about how you shouldn't feel the need to stay with family members who don't care about you, which, sadly, a lot can relate to nowadays.
Israeli attacks expose Palestinian children to daily horrors.
Children in Gaza can tell an F-16 from an F-35 from a drone. They know a whole litany of things that are beyond their years. Things that they shouldn’t have to know.
Over 10,000 children have been killed in Gaza.
The children who have survived have seen their families, friends and neighbors killed by the Israeli army. They have seen near-death by starvation and death by suffocation, under the rubble and by explosion.
Children in Gaza do not have the luxury of death being a mystery. It is a daily presence.
If a child in Gaza is hungry, they know not to throw a tantrum. They have become used to feeling hunger. The same is true of the cold. Every child in Gaza now knows what it is to be unhoused, to sleep in a tent or on the streets in winter.
trans activist, model, and actress hunter schafer was amongst the 50 people arrested yesterday at an action held in new york city to disrupt president joe biden’s appearance on late night with seth meyer.
she was there in coalition with the organization jewish voices for peace.
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