Zodi Plays: Ronin (Hey, you got your Mark of the Ninja in my Gunpoint!)

[LaZodiac]

Hello and welcome back to me, LaZodiac, playing video games on the internet. Today we will be playing Ronin, a small indie game with the rather unique style of "turn based stealth platformer". You are the Ronin, a girl with a super powered, kinetic-energy powered suit and sword, who is hunting down the people responsible for killing her father and ruining her life. Will revenge taste sweet, or just turn to bitter ash on our tongue? Let's find out!

Like with all my main LPs this will update Monday and Friday. I'm going to say my usual "no spoilers" here, but there's... not actually much PLOT to spoil for once. In this case it's more of a mechanical event spoiler. Don't talk about levels we haven't been to yet, simple and easy. Of course this is doubly simple since I'm like, 70% sure none of you will have heard of this game before today. With that being said, let's leap through that window and get on with Ronin!

Zodi Plays: Ronin [1] Old Man

Video Length: 24:01

Aaah, tutorials. This one has a pretty basic tutorial, but a good one. You learn the basics, hack a few computers, jump through a few windows, and kill a couple guys. The last level of this batch is the only "real" one difficulty wise. Let's take a bit to talk about the enemies, since our own abilities are pretty well explained by the game itself.

First you've got the Security, who aim with a laser sight and shoot their pistol at you. I think they've got around 4 or 5 shots before they need to reload. They're super easy to dodge, even when a bunch of them are all together. The only real issue with them is that if they get staggered such that you're always being shot at every turn it can be hard to actually thin the heard. They are otherwise pretty easy to deal with.

Then you have the Samurai. These guys are tricky. They can't be knocked out by flying into them, all you'll get out of doing that is sliced in half. You need to get close enough to do your attack, and THAT will stun em for a few seconds so you can finish the job. Annoyingly, because this game is not perfect by any means, the samurai does not have a timer on how long they're stunned. It's basically a two turn window though. As well, their attacks suffer the same "it's not 100% accurate" issue that your jumps do. Sometimes they don't go as far as their aiming line goes due to just the make up of the stage. So they can be a little tricky on that regard. They typically swing around three times before needing to rest. Partly because they're typically falling from a great height after a couple of swings.

The Old Man is... not an enemy. He willingly goes to his death without any qualms. Our future targets won't... be like this at all, but it's a nice indication that even if these guys are basically just targets for us to kill, they do have personalities. I like it. That said his noble "allowing himself to die" bit is a total trap because of how the last level goes and I kinda like that. After all, even this old bastard betrayed our father; do you really think he's had enough of a change of heart to just die peacefully?

[DataNinja]

Yay, new game. Though, admittedly, Stealth's not my favorite genre.

Is slick, though. Can definitely agree with good character design.

"Stun enemies by jumping on them." *blood goes flying everywhere* Suuuuure. 'Stun.'

Oh, that's a neat Combat system. Though, I'm sure it'll expand later to give a few more options, because I feel like just arc projecting might get a little... one-note.
Oh, okay, yeah, neat, sounds like it expands.

Yeah, definitely gets to be more... overwhelming than just taking on one or two people at a time, I see. Looks neat.

[Lord Raziere]

Ronin is a term for wandering lordless knights much like knight-errants, so I'm not sure if this girl counts as a ninja or a ronin. the katana says ronin, but the jumping and other feats of athletics can be a ninja. however it should be noted that actual ninja were primarily spies, not killers. they could kill, and it was one of the thing they did, but their job was spying and subterfuge first. so this person constantly killing people suggests ronin. the decoy ability as well as other stealth based stuff in the skill tree suggests ninja ability though, so I don't see why she calls herself a Ronin, but then again I've heard fictional characters just use that as a name for no reason even if its not their actual profession. considering how fast combat goes in only a couple blows, ninja does make more sense.

wait. "hint: this is not a stealth game, just kill everyone." okay, now your sending me mixed signals. guess its just a fantastic kill ninja combined with the matrix that blends ronin and ninja. wait no, you can do cheaty, cheap things with the game thats definitely ninja.

.....yeah this game is definitely screaming "turn based cyberpunk Sekiro" to me: your a badass ninja who can jump around and kill dudes real fast, but your also a fragile glass cannon if you don't a constant dance to avoid danger while breaking enemies posture to stun them so you can deathblow them

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Ronin is a term for wandering lordless knights much like knight-errants, so I'm not sure if this girl counts as a ninja or a ronin. the katana says ronin, but the jumping and other feats of athletics can be a ninja. however it should be noted that actual ninja were primarily spies, not killers. they could kill, and it was one of the thing they did, but their job was spying and subterfuge first. so this person constantly killing people suggests ronin. the decoy ability as well as other stealth based stuff in the skill tree suggests ninja ability though, so I don't see why she calls herself a Ronin, but then again I've heard fictional characters just use that as a name for no reason even if its not their actual profession. considering how fast combat goes in only a couple blows, ninja does make more sense.

wait. "hint: this is not a stealth game, just kill everyone." okay, now your sending me mixed signals. guess its just a fantastic kill ninja combined with the matrix that blends ronin and ninja. wait no, you can do cheaty, cheap things with the game thats definitely ninja.

.....yeah this game is definitely screaming "turn based cyberpunk Sekiro" to me: your a badass ninja who can jump around and kill dudes real fast, but your also a fragile glass cannon if you don't a constant dance to avoid danger while breaking enemies posture to stun them so you can deathblow them

As you said, 'ninja' (and no, they never wore the iconic black swathed outfit, that was an artifice of the plays that portrayed them) are primarily spies, not assassins. And when they do assassinate, they do so through lateral means typically, such as poison in the booze or changing marching orders so that he ended up unsupported in battle. A shinobi is more likely to be the mad beggar with his bowl upraised sitting outside the fortress gate (not being allowed inside, of course), counting every bushel of rice, every infantryman, every samurai, and every trade caravan to pass through the gates, and then reporting it to his superiors so they have an accurate accounting of their opponent's logistics.

Ronin, translated loosely as 'wave-man', are traditionally those who are highly skilled and trained at combat, but not pledged to serve a given house or noble. And one way to become a ronin is for your boss to get killed, because it is very doubtful that anyone else will be willing to hire you. And frequently, these newly made Ronin would, before trying to figure out what else to do with their lives, would at least do their best to make damn sure that whoever was responsible for their becoming a Ronin get sword-to-face or other means of ensuring they become deceased as well. This kind of story makes sense within this context.

So, ex-samurai whose boss got killed getting revenge on those responsible. It's a tale as old as time.

And, of course, there's no concept of Mercy in Bushido, other than for those who weren't involved. So, kill them all. Then kill some more. Blood is your stock in trade. By surprise, from behind... you are no longer bound by Bushido, so anything goes.

[LaZodiac]

Yeah Shneekey's got the gist of it. Our dad has been killed so we're gonna use this stolen tech and all of our sword training to kill all the people who betrayed him and anyone else in our path.

[DataNinja]

(and no, they never wore the iconic black swathed outfit, that was an artifice of the plays that portrayed them)

To be fair, nobody would suspect the stagehands.

[Aeson]

I'm like, 70% sure none of you will have heard of this game before today.

Heard of before, yes. Recall specific details about, not really.

Looks like you're having fun with it, and hopefully there aren't any parts of it nearly as frustrating as the songs were in Spirit Tracks - though since it looks like you've already played through it at least once I'm going to guess no on that front.

[LaZodiac]

Heard of before, yes. Recall specific details about, not really.

Looks like you're having fun with it, and hopefully there aren't any parts of it nearly as frustrating as the songs were in Spirit Tracks - though since it looks like you've already played through it at least once I'm going to guess no on that front.

I remember that post and laughing a little at it because I think I knew Ronin was next at that point? I forget.

and yeah I've beaten the game twice, once regularly and once on New Game Plus. There is at most two parts of this game that might draw frustration, and honestly after comparing regular game to New Game Plus after all this time... I sincerely doubt I'll have that much trouble at all. But we'll discuss New Game Plus when I beat the game and briefly show it off for kicks.

[Iruka]

Of course this is doubly simple since I'm like, 70% sure none of you will have heard of this game before today.

Hey now, I recommended this game like 2 years ago.
It does indeed look a bit like a flash game predecessor to games like Mark of the Ninja, Gunpoint and Katana Zero. It does lack some polish gameplaywise and has some bugs but it is still a very fun game with unique mechanics, a stylish look and atmospheric soundtrack.

Yeah Shneekey's got the gist of it. Our dad has been killed so we're gonna use this stolen tech and all of our sword training to kill all the people who betrayed him and anyone else in our path.

Is this actually spelled out in the game? My memory is a bit hazy, but I remember piecing that together mostly by guessing from the picture and the short monologue bits.

For me, [W] hacks computers.

[LaZodiac]

Hey now, I recommended this game like 2 years ago.
It does indeed look a bit like a flash game predecessor to games like Mark of the Ninja, Gunpoint and Katana Zero. It does lack some polish gameplaywise and has some bugs but it is still a very fun game with unique mechanics, a stylish look and atmospheric soundtrack.


Is this actually spelled out in the game? My memory is a bit hazy, but I remember piecing that together mostly by guessing from the picture and the short monologue bits.

For me, [W] hacks computers.

It is, yeah.

I remembered that eventually! The problem is that it was such a natural reflex that when it came time to actually think about doing it for an LP the information of "press W you dolt" left my brain completely.

[Amechra]

Is there a "record in real time" function in this game? If not... why? Seriously, I'd love to see a Frozen Synapses-style playback of these levels, where they'd take all of a minute.

[LaZodiac]

There is, sadly, no way to do that. I'd try and make that happen with editing but it's basically turn my commentary into a blank nothingness.

Katana Zero has it though, so definitely give that a whirl!

[Ninja_Prawn]

Hey guys, just catching up on the thread after the forum hiatus. Ronin looks cool, though I think I'd find it pretty frustrating, getting killed constantly.

What I did want to say is that I loved the Tactical Breach Wizards a taste of. Wishlisted it immediately. It reminds me a lot of Metal Gear Ac!d, but with less deckbuilding and more wizards. Genius!

[LaZodiac]

Hey guys, just catching up on the thread after the forum hiatus. Ronin looks cool, though I think I'd find it pretty frustrating, getting killed constantly.

What I did want to say is that I loved the Tactical Breach Wizards a taste of. Wishlisted it immediately. It reminds me a lot of Metal Gear Ac!d, but with less deckbuilding and more wizards. Genius!

Yeah Ronin can be a little frustrating some times.

Glad you liked Tactical Breach Wizards! It's quite fun! Also, glad to see you back Ninja Prawn

[LaZodiac]

Old Man is dead. Time for Wisegal.

Zodi Plays: Ronin [2] Wisegal

Video Length: 29:53

In this episode, hunt down Wisegal, the major mover and shaker of the corporation that killed our father. The first level is a rather large building with a huge, well lit middle section. It leads to some pretty tense moments, as we leap from wall to wall, platform to platform, avoiding gunfire. Thankfully, our new abilities are going to help out quite a bit. The second level involves elevatoring up past some deadly electrical wires and has a rather tricky combat encounter. The final level for Wisegal is infiltrating her awesome dance club, Swordpoint. Introduced in this set of levels are the Soldier, who takes aim and then fires for a full turn! They have to reload often, but otherwise are rather effective at cutting off means of attack. Wisegal herself is just a regular security gunwise, but she's clearly a bit jumpier or nervous than the others. She's well aware that there's not much she can do.

Lets talk a bit about our abilities. This episode we've unlocked Shuriken Strike. It takes the same amount of momentum to use than the Blade Throw, but it (usually) hits every enemy in sight, whereas the Blade Throw only hits one guy. It can be blocked by bodies (as I so helpfully show) so be careful, but otherwise it's a really effective tool to stun large groups of enemies. Blade Throw kills a guy, but only hits one person, can very easily whiff or hit the wrong target, and leaves you defenseless (for now) so it's a trade off on which move you want to do.

And, later in the episode, we get ourselves the Shadow Strike! This costs three momentum to use, and you need to be on the ground to use it, but it's VERY good. You can warp to any enemy within sight, stunning them. The real power of Shadow Strike, which I also show, is that since it gains you one momentum due to stunning a guy, and is fast enough that most enemies are still reacting to where you WERE... you can kill the person you stunned, gaining enough momentum to Shadow Strike again, zipping all the way across the room again. Repeat until everyone is dead.

All in all, Wisegal's chapter is a step up difficulty wise, but by this point you're starting to get the baseline powers the game wants you to have. It's got this nice ebb and flow to it, I think. I hope you all enjoys, I'll see you all next time!

------

So, Swordpoint. Now the initial obvious joke is that hah it's the point of a sword for stabby or whatever. The real joke to me is that Tom Francis' game Gunpoint (named such due to the general theme of "what is the point of a gun in a video game?") has... a lot of the same general mechanics as Ronin! Its not turn based and its hacking is more extensive but you're a super suit wearing badass who is launching people through windows with real big jumps. The art design even looks similar, especially with the buildings. I think it's a cute reference to what probably served as inspiration.

Somewhat unrelated; searching up Gunpoint's steam page to talk about it here made me learn that the bundle of Francis' three games (Gunpoint, Heat Signature, and Tactical Breach Wizards) is no longer called the Defenestration Trilogy, which makes me sad because it was a very good joke (but honestly WAS slightly misleading since while there is a lot of defenestration in Gunpoint, the game encourages you NOT to kill people, so jumping them through windows is one of the things you actually do the least...).

[Iruka]

What I did want to say is that I loved the Tactical Breach Wizards a taste of. Wishlisted it immediately. It reminds me a lot of Metal Gear Ac!d, but with less deckbuilding and more wizards. Genius!

Ooh, I somehow missed that video. I saw Tom Francis play it about a year ago on his own channel. (Which is pretty great btw, he does dev logs and videos on game developement in general.) I am looking forward to that game.(And really should get around to checking out 'Heat Signature'.)

Old Man is dead. Time for Wisegal.

Zodi Plays: Ronin [2] Wisegal

Video Length: 29:53

In this episode, hunt down Wisegal, the major mover and shaker of the corporation that killed our father. The first level is a rather large building with a huge, well lit middle section. It leads to some pretty tense moments, as we leap from wall to wall, platform to platform, avoiding gunfire. Thankfully, our new abilities are going to help out quite a bit. The second level involves elevatoring up past some deadly electrical wires and has a rather tricky combat encounter. The final level for Wisegal is infiltrating her awesome dance club, Swordpoint. Introduced in this set of levels are the Soldier, who takes aim and then fires for a full turn! They have to reload often, but otherwise are rather effective at cutting off means of attack. Wisegal herself is just a regular security gunwise, but she's clearly a bit jumpier or nervous than the others. She's well aware that there's not much she can do.

Lets talk a bit about our abilities. This episode we've unlocked Shuriken Strike. It takes the same amount of momentum to use than the Blade Throw, but it (usually) hits every enemy in sight, whereas the Blade Throw only hits one guy. It can be blocked by bodies (as I so helpfully show) so be careful, but otherwise it's a really effective tool to stun large groups of enemies. Blade Throw kills a guy, but only hits one person, can very easily whiff or hit the wrong target, and leaves you defenseless (for now) so it's a trade off on which move you want to do.

And, later in the episode, we get ourselves the Shadow Strike! This costs three momentum to use, and you need to be on the ground to use it, but it's VERY good. You can warp to any enemy within sight, stunning them. The real power of Shadow Strike, which I also show, is that since it gains you one momentum due to stunning a guy, and is fast enough that most enemies are still reacting to where you WERE... you can kill the person you stunned, gaining enough momentum to Shadow Strike again, zipping all the way across the room again. Repeat until everyone is dead.

All in all, Wisegal's chapter is a step up difficulty wise, but by this point you're starting to get the baseline powers the game wants you to have. It's got this nice ebb and flow to it, I think. I hope you all enjoys, I'll see you all next time!

Very elegant solutions, especially in the second level! I remember this being one the hardest non-boss levels for me due to the continuos lock-down threat. You made it look very easy.

You can actually kill Wisegal without anyone on her level of the building noticing, via the roof elevator. Alas, it is not that kind of game.
Taking out the majority of guards with the hangman execution makes it less tricky, however.

I don't think I really used Shadow Strike before. I never noticed it was possible to chain it like that.

The actual primary goal for every mission is landing on the motorcycle via blind jump.

Funfact: 'Wisegal' is called 'The Fox' in the german translation.

So, Swordpoint. Now the initial obvious joke is that hah it's the point of a sword for stabby or whatever. The real joke to me is that Tom Francis' game Gunpoint (named such due to the general theme of "what is the point of a gun in a video game?") has... a lot of the same general mechanics as Ronin! Its not turn based and its hacking is more extensive but you're a super suit wearing badass who is launching people through windows with real big jumps. The art design even looks similar, especially with the buildings. I think it's a cute reference to what probably served as inspiration.

IIRC, one of the hints says "This is not Gunpoint." Tom Francis actually wrote a blog post on this.

[LaZodiac]

Very elegant solutions, especially in the second level! I remember this being one the hardest non-boss levels for me due to the continuos lock-down threat. You made it look very easy.

You can actually kill Wisegal without anyone on her level of the building noticing, via the roof elevator. Alas, it is not that kind of game.
Taking out the majority of guards with the hangman execution makes it less tricky, however.

I don't think I really used Shadow Strike before. I never noticed it was possible to chain it like that.

The actual primary goal for every mission is landing on the motorcycle via blind jump.

Funfact: 'Wisegal' is called 'The Fox' in the german translation.


IIRC, one of the hints says "This is not Gunpoint." Tom Francis actually wrote a blog post on this.

Thanks! Unlike like, 90% of my LPs, I actually practiced for this. Gave me a good reason to clear New Game Plus mode.

I realize that now, but it occurs to me I've always thought you COULDN'T do that. Huh.

Shadow Strike is super good and AMAZINGLY vital during New Game Plus. I'll get into that Later.

The Fox is a really good name that is evocative of her entire character in a way "Wisegal" really isn't, which sucks.

I remember seeing that hint once and it making me laugh my ass off. Also god that's a good blog post.

I feel like for the sake of transparency, a billion years ago, I was involved in Gunpoint's game testing and while I never really contributed or kept up with it, it was quite fun and I bought the game on release and played it until I beat it. So I've got a weird history with these jumpy games.

[Iruka]

Also god that's a good blog post.

Yeah, Tom Francis is apparently not only a great game developer but an all-around excellent person.

[DataNinja]

I'mma be honest, I did not at all read 'Wisegal' as two words. So, thanks for the clarification.

Soldiers remind me of Robocop.

Yeah... definitely really ramping up in complexity here.

[Lord Raziere]

On Episode 2:
Yeah, that happens sometimes to me in games with good combat to. really simulates and makes you feel as if you come out of a fight that your like "ok, what was I doing before nearly getting killed?" makes it authentic.

yeah this games seems real minimalist story, seems it doesn't elaborate on it all and its one of those "you'll just to have to interpret what happened" kind of games. how many people in the photo are people she is going to kill, and who is she? I'm guessing Ronin is the little girl in it? and her father is the man beside her?

[LaZodiac]

On Episode 2:
Yeah, that happens sometimes to me in games with good combat to. really simulates and makes you feel as if you come out of a fight that your like "ok, what was I doing before nearly getting killed?" makes it authentic.

yeah this games seems real minimalist story, seems it doesn't elaborate on it all and its one of those "you'll just to have to interpret what happened" kind of games. how many people in the photo are people she is going to kill, and who is she? I'm guessing Ronin is the little girl in it? and her father is the man beside her?

Both of those things are correct! Ronin is the cute little girl, and her Dad is next to her. As for the others, well... you'll see~.

While it's not my preference, I actually quite like the minimalism at play here. It makes it really feel like a samurai revenge action serial. We get a little bit of information about the target, enough to root for their death. We get enough about the organization they're part of to tell that they're The Bad Guys who Deserve It. And we just let our little hero loose and she kills mostly everyone in sight.

[LaZodiac]

Posting today (April 7th)'s video today (April 6th, 50 minutes after midnight) in case I forgot in the morning when I'm very tired for staying up too late.

A Taste Of: One Step From Eden

Video Length: 27:40

This video is a very good example of how sometimes the first impression of a game is entirely different from how it actually ends up being. To put it bluntly the game has been patched twice in the time between recording and posting. Interestingly enough, my OPINION of the game has greatly swerved back and forth on the game during that two week period, which is genuinely fascinating.

Lets put it blunt. This is a roguelike with intense, master-level style Mega Man Battle network style combat. You are on a grid and you move around and you use cards to cast spells and it's very high paced and frenetic. The game has been patched to make it a little less overwhelming to the senses, and work is being done to improve the game further. My initial takeaway on the game was that it is very fun, very frantic and hard, but had some issues that it could maybe fix here or there.

My opinion verey quickly became "this is actually too frustrating" within a few days, and then became "okay this is better now and I'm learning the game so now it feels like it is working right" as I played a bit more... and then I beat the game and got the Neutral ending, which is that you die to no fanfare, and I went "this game ****ig sucks and has wasted my time" and after cooling my head a bit and talking with the developer about my concerns (to which he was very receptive and cool!) I went back and beat it on a good route with an ending. And it wasn't much but this was like a single small team working on a tight budget and as the dev himself said they just didn't have the resources to make it better and it is a thing he will be working on. Also it was fairly satisfying to have won properly, though "proper" is a right ole stupid term considering.

So yeah. Lotta... words, to say about this game. Which I basically need to since my commentary consists almost entirely of "ah **** whoa help I have no idea what I'm doing aaaahahaha!" and the like, because there's basically no way to live commentate on a game like this.

[DataNinja]

Well, this is indeed very early.

Oh, that first character is cuuuute. I love her!

Also, you sure have been on a roguelike kick lately.

Wow, yeah, that is a very battle networkesque grid...

Looks like Thunderstorm's a 4... and you only have 3 Mana. Oh dear.
Ah, and there it is. At least it wasn't in actual battle that it came up.

Oh, I'm just remembering what I meant to write in yesterday's video - the endscreen in that was, uh, a little borked.

[LaZodiac]

Well, this is indeed very early.

Oh, that first character is cuuuute. I love her!

Also, you sure have been on a roguelike kick lately.

Wow, yeah, that is a very battle networkesque grid...

Looks like Thunderstorm's a 4... and you only have 3 Mana. Oh dear.
Ah, and there it is. At least it wasn't in actual battle that it came up.

Oh, I'm just remembering what I meant to write in yesterday's video - the endscreen in that was, uh, a little borked.

Saffron IS cute, but I think my favorite character is Reva. I forget if we see her in this video.

I'm... aware, of the ending screen being borked. I accidently recorded the game wrong and as a result handbreak adjusted the screen size to fit the game, at the consequence of the end cards. I only noticed right when it became impossible to fix it. Oops v_v.

[Qwertystop]

The Flow tooltip doesn't say what Flow is because "get it from some spells, lose it when you cast" is all Flow is inherently – other things have special effects if you have Flow. Like Trinity, except it's more "after initial ramp-up you're stronger as long as you keep it going" than Trinity's burst-power every few casts. In the first version of the game it's kind of unbalanced, everything that gives Flow gives 1 and there's a few Flow effects that are just absurd if your deck is all-Flow, but since they only give 1, if your deck isn't almost entirely Flow-generating it sort of falls apart. The first balance patch made most Flow-generating spells give 2, so you can mix in more non-Flow cards without losing Flow entirely, but some of the ones with stronger on-Flow effects give nothing so you can't have a one-card Waterfall deck that doubles in strength every shuffle, or a one-card Rock Cycle that gives you endless high-damage shots without shuffles as fast as you can button mash.

Also: I am glad to see you discovered the fun of Glaive on a single stationary target. And the "Oh, come on" of a nonstationary target.

You did better on Selicy in your first run than I did every single time I fought her in every demo that I got to her in, and my first several runs in the final release besides.

Killing the bunny increases your Luck, which increases loot rarity and enemy difficulty. You can see your luck in the inventory.

You didn't show off not-killing bosses; if you do, instead of getting an artifact, they heal you and then come to help intermittently in future battles.

[LaZodiac]

The Flow tooltip doesn't say what Flow is because "get it from some spells, lose it when you cast" is all Flow is inherently – other things have special effects if you have Flow. Like Trinity, except it's more "after initial ramp-up you're stronger as long as you keep it going" than Trinity's burst-power every few casts. In the first version of the game it's kind of unbalanced, everything that gives Flow gives 1 and there's a few Flow effects that are just absurd if your deck is all-Flow, but since they only give 1, if your deck isn't almost entirely Flow-generating it sort of falls apart. The first balance patch made most Flow-generating spells give 2, so you can mix in more non-Flow cards without losing Flow entirely, but some of the ones with stronger on-Flow effects give nothing so you can't have a one-card Waterfall deck that doubles in strength every shuffle, or a one-card Rock Cycle that gives you endless high-damage shots without shuffles as fast as you can button mash.

Also: I am glad to see you discovered the fun of Glaive on a single stationary target. And the "Oh, come on" of a nonstationary target.

You did better on Selicy in your first run than I did every single time I fought her in every demo that I got to her in, and my first several runs in the final release besides.

Killing the bunny increases your Luck, which increases loot rarity and enemy difficulty. You can see your luck in the inventory.

You didn't show off not-killing bosses; if you do, instead of getting an artifact, they heal you and then come to help intermittently in future battles.

And nothing in game really explains it, which kinda sucks. I'd have liked an instruction manual before playing is all. It is a Preference of mine. It's easy to grokk after you've played for a bit but that feels weird. Things should be at least initially easy to intuit.

Thanks! I'm pretty good at Battle Network games, and Silicy in the earlier tiers of the game is basically Protoman and I step on him for fun so I kinda Got It, with her. Later tiers are a bit... quick, though. The easiest boss is Gunner by the way if you have him as your last boss before the finale it is pretty much always a free step to Eden.

Huh. I didn't actually think killing the bunny did anything. Neat!

This is something I would have really appreciated knowing before playing. There is no real way to tell what sparing or executing a boss does until you've done it. That sort of thing is part of what led to the... unsatisfying conclusion of the Neutral path.

[Qwertystop]

And nothing in game really explains it, which kinda sucks. I'd have liked an instruction manual before playing is all. It is a Preference of mine. It's easy to grokk after you've played for a bit but that feels weird. Things should be at least initially easy to intuit.

Thanks! I'm pretty good at Battle Network games, and Silicy in the earlier tiers of the game is basically Protoman and I step on him for fun so I kinda Got It, with her. Later tiers are a bit... quick, though. The easiest boss is Gunner by the way if you have him as your last boss before the finale it is pretty much always a free step to Eden.

Huh. I didn't actually think killing the bunny did anything. Neat!

This is something I would have really appreciated knowing before playing. There is no real way to tell what sparing or executing a boss does until you've done it. That sort of thing is part of what led to the... unsatisfying conclusion of the Neutral path.

Yeah; I asked the dev about the lack of tutorial, and they basically said they prefer the "mess around and figure things out" route. Though in the case of Flow, at least, I think it would have been clear pretty quickly if the Flow card in the starting deck had an if-cast-with-Flow effect instead of just generating Flow, so you had an immediate example. Almost every Trinity-generating card has a Trinity-cast effect, but there's a lot of Flow-generating cards without a Flow-cast.

Gunner being last is nice for an easy ending, but if you get him early and spare him you get a lot more healing in campfires – his assist is throwing you a potion. I actually prefer Violette or Shiso last, less useful assists and manageable fights. Selicy and Terra are the hardest lategame fights, for me. And Shopkeeper and Terrable, of course – still haven't beat them.

[LaZodiac]

Yeah; I asked the dev about the lack of tutorial, and they basically said they prefer the "mess around and figure things out" route. Though in the case of Flow, at least, I think it would have been clear pretty quickly if the Flow card in the starting deck had an if-cast-with-Flow effect instead of just generating Flow, so you had an immediate example. Almost every Trinity-generating card has a Trinity-cast effect, but there's a lot of Flow-generating cards without a Flow-cast.

Gunner being last is nice for an easy ending, but if you get him early and spare him you get a lot more healing in campfires – his assist is throwing you a potion. I actually prefer Violette or Shiso last, less useful assists and manageable fights. Selicy and Terra are the hardest lategame fights, for me. And Shopkeeper and Terrable, of course – still haven't beat them.

Violette is way too quick for me at the end-game level. Shiso... maybe, I just need to have the right level of concentration to deal with it.

Have not beaten Shopkeeper, but have beaten Terrable as I said above with the whole "beating the game properly" bit. And honestly if you have Gunner last all of the really dangerous people (Selicy, Saffron, Terra) happened early on so you don't NEED the healing that much.

[LaZodiac]

And back to Halo for further space ship adventures.

Zodi Plays: Halo [5] Keyes-stone General

Video Length: 20:02

See cause... cause his name is GEneral Keyes, but he's the keystone so if he dies you game over and... whatever.

Point is, this episode we finish going through Peace and Reconciliation, save Keyes who throws up some pretty big traitor flags, and then escape using one of the Covenant dropships. Heck yeah. Next level opens with us on a human dropship and I'm not entirely sure why, but I guess we'll cover that when we do.

Not much else to say, it is a shooty game and we didn't encounter anything new beyond the sword boys. Hope you all enjoyed~

[HalfTangible]

See cause... cause his name is GEneral Keyes, but he's the keystone so if he dies you game over and... whatever.

Zodi...

*ZODI*.

save Keyes who throws up some pretty big traitor flags

HalfTangible will remember that.