gaming Elena And Her Joystick

[Elena Ichinomiya]

You know, i've been meaning to make review of live service game until i realize that if i were to do that, i would need another dedicated gaming thread for it. Not only that, i also realize that i need to catch up on anything including patch and change and given how live service game were treated, it would take a lot of effort and not to mention i would be here all day talking about petty stuff that shouldn't even mentioned. Believe me when i said i want to give my piece of thought about DOTA classic and DOTA 2 after talking about Goddess Kiss way back then. But i decide to scrap the idea because i can't catch up and rather not to push my luck about it. Which is why the only time i talk about live service game is when the game is officially abandoned or their service are completely closed. I remember there's people who make  thread about Genshin but...eh, they gone now.

So rather than talk about it, why don't we do a little comparison about this game? I mean, i play these two for a good 3 digits hours so why not...

"If you're not interested but still curious what i think about it, its like comparing instant noodles to pizza. Both are cooked food, both taste delicious. But questionable in the matter of filling your appetite. Is it the taste that matter? Or how you made it?"

Thoughts?
Monster Hunter is a long running franchise made by Capcom in order to compete with...no one? Yeah, well you see, while today there's not much rivalry for this franchise, back then they only have themselves as their rival. Honestly i'm not surprised with the game playability knowing Capcom is the only game company who can make such project that actually arcade-like but not feel entirely like one. Have you notice many of Capcom game has a tendency of high scoring system and how they reward you well for a job well done in style? I'm not talking about just DMC mind you, almost all of their game release always stick to the "high score" and "repetitiveness" and to be fair, even RE don't feel like a chore and you would be surprised how quick the game actually is once you play the second playthrough. Not just Monster Hunter mind you. Dead Rising and Lost Planet 1 and 2 for example, both might seems like a clone of RE and Vanquish respectively but nope, those two are not play in the way you might think. Which is why i always told myself that if there's one game company who can give a repetitiveness some justice, Capcom might be the company you looking for. Sadly, i never trust them for a progressive type of game such as RPG genre though hopefully they gonna break it soon with their new game release. Speaking of RPG...

My thoughts about MHW and MHR storyline
It is blatantly obvious for me about why Capcom couldn't handle a heavy loaded stories JRPG style which is why most of their game tend to just show you what's up right off the bat or just placed on where you will dismiss it most of the time although not in very bad way mind you. MH is also one if it but as the former case thankfully. 

In MHW, you were recruited as hunter who is tasked to explore the New World and investigate the anomaly of the Elder Dragon strange behavior who somewhat "misled" to the wrong resting place, causing havoc in ecosystem as the result. It is also noted that the Elder Dragons seems to have their own agenda that somehow baffle the explorer and researcher alike because they (the Elder Dragons) only shows this behavior once every century, not every decade. Which is where you coming in to investigate. This role still apply in Iceborne expansion.

In MHR, you were a fella-turn-hunter who live in village of Kamura that possess grim history of rampage. After so many times of rebuild, the village now stand as a stronghold to prevent another rampage from destroying Kamura once and for all to the point that every single villager...include that twins who somehow stuck with you as handler, in way of fight against monster (which only shows if you play rampage mode or bring them as companion in quest specific hunt). And that's where you coming from. In the Sunbreak expansion, you were sent to Elgado fortress and tasked with...basically repeating what you did on Kamura only this time you do it on foreign territory. 

In my opinion, MHW background story give you the vibe of braving the unknown while MHR give you the vibe of hero of the day. Now if you want me to choose, i would prefer MHW because mind you, i'm tired saving the world theme since 2013 but hey, its the most easily absorbed theme so what can i say? 

Visual Wise?
It would be unfair to compare such thing knowing that MHW was released on powerful media while MHR was released as NSwitch exclusive before it released to other platform. So instead of comparing what missing, i only do some little thing that somehow Capcom has trouble with. What's that? The wash-out color. It is pretty common to hear from anyone who play the game to notice that the game is very wash out in color until you do some adjustment. Some blame RE Engine used in MHR because the engine tend to put a bit of "fog" unnecessarily, causing the game to look wash out. While in MHR, some people particularly blame the unstable HDR although in my opinion personally, Capcom just go with it because you most likely won't notice when you're in a fight. They do make some case but if they manage to keep one bane to another release on different game engine, that's some piece of work isn't it? 

It is also worth mentioning that in MHW, there's a major complaint at release for those who play in 4K resolution, which is where the "DLC" for 4K texture coming in. Some people complaint and said Capcom were just too lazy to implement it and force player to "take the game as is" due to the 4K resolution download size might discourage them. But i personally call it an option for those who, back in 2018, mostly have just plain HD screen at that time. Even with this fiasco, it didn't hamper the game visual in the first place so i just went along with it...or maybe because i've been living with potato PC so seeing a crappy texture is pretty much a-okay to my eyes. Look, at least they give those texture for free, be grateful!

As for MHR, Capcom seems manage to upscale the texture for PC release and i didn't found any single glitch in every area i explore. Like i said, i didn't expect much to say in this one because this was released for NSwitch with various hold back due to engine limitation. But if you allow me being petty, i would say my major complaint would be the lack of gesture and why most clothed part of your armor didn't sway by the wind. It's petty sure, but you know what, that's enough to make a hub a lively place with people being an idiot with their gesture. Oh right, talk about hub...

The Hub or your gathering place
I just be upfront here, Astera in MHW has a crappy navigation for you to reach one place to another. Sure there's a lift there to skip using the stairs but if you play MHW like i do, you would feel the agony of walking distance away to reach canteen, take a quest, and go to smithy. I mean sure there's a quest board near the entrance that you can use and depart but by doing that, you will skip the meal buff that can only be obtained on canteen which require you to walk some unnecessary distance to reach there. "But Elena! You can just eat at the camp!" you say, sure why not, right? Until you realize that at higher rank, you will most likely being thrown away from the camp and jump into the fight right away because you don't have much chance to make run for the camp, and in case you didn't notice, eating on camp didn't give you much buff compared to the canteen; after all eating on camp is treated as just-in-case option.

What about MHW gathering hub itself you ask? Underwhelming. While it share one lack feature that is the blacksmith way back to MH 2ndG/FU, Astera hub is a total kick to the shin. It has Quest table of course, table to order food buff, a shortcut to visit your room where you can manage your Safari envoy, a small numbers of commodity to fool around in the hub like a round table and arm wrestling. What it do lack however compared to the later hub at Selina is...

• No resource center
• No argosy
• No gardening management

Basically if you want to manage those feature, you have to hop in and out every single time to make report and check out your garden. The real pain in the butt here is the resource center because while gardening also share the same pain, at least it won't make you to go back and forth every hunt. In here, you have to go back and forth! It should be illegal to make hub like this! I get it if the hub lack one feature for one reason to another, but they lack three and those are vital for you to resource gathering for your armor or item to use on quest! I thought that maybe it has something to do with network saves which is why something had to be done on local (since going to gathering hub is pretty much like "activate" online feature). But no. Turn out later at Selina in Iceborne expansion, the hub (or pub in this case), has every single feature i mention above in one room. It baffle me to no end and question who on earth designing Astera hub to be that crappy. Hub are a place to gather and most of the time, where every needs for player are there to manage so they won't go back and forth some distance just to get their Mega Potions. Somehow Capcom slip up on that one. 

Meanwhile in MHR, since there's no such feature, they could get away easily on that facter. However with Sunbreak, everything are placed in one area which is very nice but honestly though? I prefer a specific place for hub like in Kamura. Oh and by the way, you can't fool around much in MHR hub except some gesture so there's that...

Seriously, if there's a place called gathering hub but i still have to walk and see 2 loading screens just to manage my resource, you really got problem.

The gameplay feels?
Now we're talking. The real meat of the content! But...it's pretty much to talk about so let's categorize it. Start from...

Weapon Arsenal : If you play MH series way back, MHW do offer some additional combo for each of weapon. However you might feel being let down on the Bow category since somehow MHW nerf the weapon that already feel like nerf gun in the first place. However in MHR, each classic combo making their return with additional "style" added with the new feature called "wirebug" and suffice to say, Bow user like me would prefer MHR gameplay...but i'm not fan of wirebug so i feel a bit conflicted here.

In MHW, should you main a Bowgun type for a weapon of choice, you can modify it to suit your need and not just additional damage and silencer addition mind you. You can mod the reload speed, muffle some recoil every shoots, empowering your Wyvern burst fire, adding scope (require specific option to be activated), increase firing range, increase hit numbers for pierce bullets, go wild. In MHR, you only have option for silencer and long barrel for more damage and range...it might sounds embarrassing but believe it or not, the classic MH series did only offer these two options but since MHW show us it can be more, this is pretty much underwhelming impressions. You can still go wild with bowgun in MHR though, believe me, i tried.

In both games, you no longer need to worry about the sharpness because at the very least, whetstone are unlimited now. I have not much complaint other than the bow in MHW but the rest is a-okay for me through every hunt.

Felyne Companion : MHW only allow you to bring one Felyne company but with proper equipment and gadgets, they can be pretty useful in various situation. Compared to every MH games i ever played, MHW felyne seems to be more active than MHR. The only setback is without a guide, you will stuck with healing gadgets. There's more than healing gadgets for your Felyne including the loot weapon that can give you a good amount of material drop in each attack of your Felyne. Heck, i remember there's this Felyne with a big volcano fire cracker blasting the monster on the face and throwing Molotov next seconds. It is also worth mentioning that you can manually give command to your Felyne to use their skills; provided they're not being attacked at the time.

MHR allows you to bring two Felyne if you want to, or one felyne and one Palmute (dog) for a fast moving across the map, or two Palmute if you really have ounce of confident on them doing their jobs. While the Felyne don't have specific gadget like MHW did, they do have ability to learn a skill which is a common stuff way back since the classic MH. There is a gadget but for Palmute only. Some can be obtained through story while some through the side-quest.
I personally prefer MHW company AI activeness. While its not always work as intended, you can tell they doing their job compared to MHR who most of the time only use their ability at random.

The environment
We talk about the wonkiness of the hub before, but this time i want to talk solely about the environment impressions.

Astera clearly show the impression of the founding the New World. The environment around there seems pretty much believable since the people in Astera is considered a new settlers and not native like in MHR. Meanwhile in Selina, as much as it remind me of Pokke village, did manage to give me the impression of the outpost feels. Keep in mind that the base at Selina is build from the ground up, not in some village of sort. Also, in MHW, there's always day cycle although in Selina, you won't notice it much.

Kamura set in Asian style environment that clearly have seen better days had it not for the rampage that loom. Sadly, it doesn't really shows that the village has been rebuilt plenty of times after each rampage as the story claimed. Not only that, the dev clearly miss out the opportunity to change the atmosphere of the village as story progress. I mean, when you have to fight Narwa, an Elder Dragon known for the windstorm approaching the village, somehow you still can see the blue skies back at the village? At the very least make the skies a bit cloudy will you, Capcom. This also apply in Elgado too. And to add more pet peeves of mine, there's also no time cycle on both area. Come on Capcom! If you can't put time cycle there, can you at the very least put instant day and night cycle that only change after you finish your hunt? 

I know they made it solely for NSwitch player in mind but is it really too much for a little immersion with time shift?

Clutch or Wirebug?
MHW introduce you to Clutch Claw, additional accessory for your slingshots. No need to worry about where to find it, you will receive one as story progress early in the game...with Iceborne installed...yeah. Anyway! The main function of this claw is, as the name stated, to clutch into monsters and tenderize their hard part for you to abuse. Some said this feature are a letdown, not because it barely function but rather make the hunt easy to cheese. But i personally call that BS because its not like you can clutch every single seconds whenever you feel like it. In fact, many player died because they being abusive with this accessory and should be noted to only use it at specific times but also at specific moment. I actually content fighting monsters with or without using the clutch claws and tend to forgot i have it...

MHR introduce Wirebug in exchange of clutch claw. The main difference here is you can't clutch to the enemy with this feature but instead, it give you more mobility through the map and evade some monsters attack. Again, the debate is still the same that Wirebug made the hunt easier to cheese. But again, i said, it's BS. Capcom aware of the Wirebug exploitation so they add some little tweak for the noob who exploit this feature to reach high rank. How? If you ever use wirebug to quickly evade and get out from dangers every single time, you will instantly lose your invulnerability window the moment you launch yourself and would be "juggled" by monsters next attack, Magnamalo and Valstrax is pretty much of the noob executioners for using this exploit. I'm not joking here, when i fight Narwa and it launch an attack with lots of dragonators, what did i do when i got hit? I keep lie on the ground until my character get up by itself. I did got bumped by other dragonators but no damage received because i got those invulnerable window for not using the wirebug escape. Who knew playing dead can be so jarringly helpful?

It is also noted that you can ride monsters easily if you keep WIrebug ability. And by riding, i mean like actually ride on the monsters and ride it along anywhere you like or use them to fight other monsters. Or just smack their head to the wall really. Just keep in mind that you can't do it every single minutes; there's cooldown for it you see? Unlike MHW who really demand you to do specific action before you can ride (and stab) the monsters while clutch claw are the one who can push the monsters around with your slingshot bullet.
In MHR, some special action can only be executed with required amount of wirebug in mind. This made so you won't cheese out the battle with same move over and over; unless you're range weapon user.

Long story short, if you prefer calculative action that worth the pain equal reward, Clutch claw might be your thing. If you rather go willy-nilly around the field while being stylish at it, Wirebug would be your right stuff. Me personally? Clutch claw of course. I mean, that's the only way for me to go dakka-dakka with my heavy bowgun right on the monsters face! You can't have that on MHR!

Dem NPC Presentation
I don't know why it has to be mentioned but apparently, Capcom seems to push the NPC role to new level unlike its predecessor. I won't mind that though, at least now we got other thing to talk about.

In MHW, lots of NPC are dressed to impress. What i mean by that is they really give their personality through their appearance alone and none of them seems off unlike FE Engage protagonist...yeah, THAT still a bloody mistake in character design right there for me. Anyway, each NPC in MHW has their own role and characteristic that might not keep you interested long, but up to this point, i still give a nod for Capcom to try and justify each NPC presence in MHW. Even the Handler. Both Handler i mean. You did have temporary change of handler for a bit after all. I still don't get it why people make a fuss about Handler though. I mean, we're silent protagonist, someone has to take over our speech. I also got a bit of laugh when someone mentions that they don't like Handler character because she always get in trouble. I mean, what do you expect then? Someone who always come and wash your back every time you finish hunt? I don't get it. It's not like she's a trouble maker in the first place anyway; most of the time, she is ambushed and completely left in the blank on purpose by others at some quest story, not for approaching the danger so naively and always think everything gonna be okay when its don't. If there's something i had to say about Handler as character in MHW, is her motivation. She's a gourmand at heart and...that's it? I think she mentions something about her grandfather but since Capcom push a bit of idea out of window, her impression seems a bit questionable for me to take in seriously. Anyway, i could be one of the few who can take Handler presence as-is without fuss. At least while she don't have the charming look of MHR quest handler, she's a glutton with a side of a good cook to cover it up. Yeah that! When you fail to charm everyone, fill their stomach and they will love you all the same!

In MHR, each of NPC represent the village without any point missed. As expected from the game representation of the environment. Even the "trader" herself don't seems to be out of place. While some NPC have some quirky presence and bio, none of it seems to bother me. It's just that unlike in MHW, i feel like playing God Eater 2 if i think about each NPC in MHR. It's not bad, don't get me wrong. But keep in mind i got choked with MHW first before playing MHR so i don't expect a merry sisters and merry company of a village to greet me instead. There's nothing that grind my gears, thank god. As for the role each NPC had however...ehhh...it's God Eater 3 all over again for me. You know, the scene where the twins got a bit "possessed" and being taught the world will end etcetera yadda yadda? Yeah that part is a bit turn off for me in the topic of NPC role. It is when i realize there's something spiritual going on is when i feel a little less of playing MH series. I mean sure MHW has this First Wyvernian and Seeker but they only goes far and between of being a spiritual. MHR really push it there. At the very least, i like the role for everyone in Elgado because Capcom really want to nail the Elgado story to a fairy tale-like theme. It might be subtle but i say they deliver be it through environment or NPC themselves.

Dem NPC...Monsters!
Hey, don't give me that look, those monsters are NPC! We can't control them directly after all! Anyway, we're once again playing comparison for both games here. But to keep it in fair scope, i will only compare the feature that exist in both game and comparing it to each other instead of telling you the feature that exist in this one but not the other one. Long story short, it's blatant tone down but if you're still curious, get a load of this...

In MHW...

• You have to track them down with a clues in hand. Protip : Don't sprint every single time, you will miss out your next clue given by your scoutfly. Small scoutfly lead to gathering points, medium numbers led to clue (footprints, claw marks, spits...), big numbers lead to the monsters you looking for; or the pin you placed on the map.
• Some monsters are not always going horny over you. Some would remain chill until provoked such as Great Jagras. It is also known that when there's two monsters, do your best to focus on hitting the monsters you going after. Accidently hitting the non-target monsters would lead you into deeper trouble. However some monsters do not apply to this rule. Refer to the bestiary for more detail. 
• When you fight monsters, you can utilize the environment against them from flashfly to boulder trap. Some cooler mechanism also exist but can be triggered by monster attack only such as landslide and waterfall. It trigger a great cinematic camera which is a great addition.
• Should you ever want to escape or run from the aggressive non-target monsters, you can hide through specific bushes in each map or just use ghillie mantle should you happen to bring it. You have to keep moving though because some monsters are curious enough to look each point or sniff you out right away such as Odogaron. 
• Monsters have some immunity though varied for each type. Some easily poisoned, some don't, or not affected at all. This also apply to flashbomb. Rathian/Thalos might be susceptible to flashbomb but they would grow immune to it if you exploit it too often. Wait for a moment before trying it again. Paoulomu and its subspecies has higher resistant to it so you can't flashbomb them too often. Tzi-Tzhi Yaku however, are completely immune to it. Some Elder Dragon also share this value however, keep that in mind.
• Lots of monsters has turf war. Watch out for Deviljho though, when it finish a fight, they will use their prey as weapon against you.
• Two or three monsters could gather in one point and will keep rumbling on unless they're taking much hit already. Unless someone had dung bomb in store and use it to shoo them.

In MHR...

• Looking for clue? What's that? Everything is already on map, all you do is go after it...
• Every hunter is gangsta until they bump the monsters. No monsters in MHR are calm as the bestiary claimed. If they catch a glimpse of you or if you brush against them, they will kill you on sight. In rare case like Kul-Ya-Ku, it might run off to other section of the map.
• There's a few change in MHR environment trap since there's no presence of landslide or vine trap anymore in MHR. The most notable return is flashfly and boulder trap in old jungle map on Sunbreak expansion. In exchange for the missing environment trap, you are now allowed to take the "dung beetle" thing along with you which you can utilize like a slingshot (keep the range in mind). And take the toad with you instead of just kicking it right where it stand (mind your distance!). 
• You can just run easily from monsters by wirebug yourself out from monsters sights far enough or go to a place where monsters won't fight there such as behind the ruin or on top of the hill...
• Monsters immunity still exist in MHR though they are pretty much nerfed to oblivion. I remember there's a case where most of the fight i had against Gore Magala is so full of seizure inducing flash bomb fill the air, and never once that buster immune to it until some times. Funny thing is, except the Elder Dragons, you can trap monsters as many time as you like. I remember making fool off Scorned Magnamalo by keep trapping it on 2 shock traps and 2 pitfall traps (by always bringing trap tool and the rest of trap material) and keep restocking it whenever i'm near the camp. I'm not joking here, who need wirebug riding when you can cheese the battle like this? Its even more grand when you exploit this on multiplayer as the monster won't stand much chance to fight back because they got no immunity against trap while in MHW, the more you doing this, the more easy the monsters getting out of it.
• There's turf war but...most of the time the game just pair the monsters against someone they never had beef with in the first place so turf war only happen in one in between. But i gotta say Rajang turf war is a heck of a show you don't wanna miss in MHR.
• Unlike MHW, monsters tend to run off when they caught with each other, making the dung bomb basically useless item to carry around

I just gonna be fair with you here. If you don't like the ecology of MH series, MHR monsters might be your stuff than MHW because there's always a gap for you to survive with two monsters on same area while MHW monsters are really programmed to act as the bestiary said. Believe me, if you think Bazelguese is nuisance in MHR, in MHW that fella is basically a Godzilla looking for dishwasher. You will die from crossfire most of the time. Don't get me started with Uragaan.

Oh right, i just cut to the chase here. MHR has 72 monsters in total include the small one (Jagras, Gajaw, etc) and Sunbreak additions. MHW? A whooping 94 monsters include the small monsters, Iceborne expansion included. It might not be as much as MHGU which has even grander number of 127 but then again that's just MH Anniversary edition so everything is just piled up...which confuse me why MHR has outrageous small numbers when MHGU make a real killing numbers which also released on NSwhitch but eh, what do we know.

Some Petty Stuff That Grind My Teeth But Not Entirely Important
Capcom...be creative with the eating animation on next release please? I don't hate dango but for heaven sake, after all those glutton shows then suddenly we go like...what? At least change it to takoyaki or something if you really into balls eating! I can't believe i said that...

All That Said
I don't hate MHR but since i've been choked with difficulty spike on MH 2ndG/FU and the immersive world of MHW, MHR is pretty much like a monster hunter game for those who want to kickback and relax and told themselves "i do play MH series" to their friends. But now, i even begin to question my purchasing decisions the moment they release the Thank You later along with Primordial Malzeno release. I don't know guys, when i buy MHW and its expansion, i never regret it or questions it up to this day. I'm aware MHR is a port game of NSwitch but i don't expect it to be like this. Looking back of my play hour in MHR, then compare it to MHW, i feel like i'm really playing MH when i play MHW than MHR which, i can't believe i say this, felt like playing God Eater 3 all over again where the action is what that game is about. 

It's nice change of pace don't get me wrong, some people love it and my 500 play hours would be undeniable proof that i do enjoy the game. It's just the case of "I play MHR, love it. I play MHW, love it even more" scenario. I won't mind playing MHR but i'm more enthusiastic for MHW. Because in all honesty...MHW is what i thought MH should be. The immersion of environment, the monsters nature, the habitat, the ecology. It's all there. MHR lack every single of it in exchange for easy-to-play combat which is cool, i admit. But...

When i play MH series, i expect it play like MH series is about. If action is all about, i could just jump back to a game that was made solely for the genre like Elden Ring or even God Of War or even Capcom own franchise DMC5 and call it a day. Even so, i would still recommend MHR or MHW equally because while MHR might be a kick to the shin for the veteran hunter, it still have solid gameplay that function. But still...why Capcom pull a punch on MHR like that when they release MHGU on the same console with more meat of content? It baffle me. Oh and keep in mind they told us there's 2 more expansion left for MHR but seeing where they at right now...it's a total DOUBT moment.

Elena shutting off~

[Elena Ichinomiya]

You know, i've been talking about games that probably been in your reach so far. I'm in the mood to talk something out of radar for once. Yes, this time, i'm gonna talking about one unlicensed NES game! "But Elena! I thought you're SEGA person!" you said. Well, sad to say, Nintendo stole my virginity of gaming experience first before SEGA did. I never told you this but i do have NES and GENESIS in my younger days. Thanks to my father who actually a tech enthusiast at the time. Alright before i derail the topic, let's talk about a game that my dad bought along with Action Kung-Fu Jackie Chan, though we don't talk about that for now, it's great game by the way, give it a try. Here's the game that so legendary, so much so that the world don't deserve it that it fell into seclusion for it's perfection. A game that was made with slapsticks on top of slapsticks, and from actual franchise. Here it is...

"...Suddenly the Hogwarts Legacy scandal doesn't sounds so bad huh?"

How The Heck Do I Get This!?
Well, my dad did bought it on dollar store. The thing is, the game had actual cartridges of its own but the one who were bought by my dad is the 15 in 1 cartridge version. It is written on the wiki that this game do have that version which is also unlicensed but for Thai release. Somehow i got this in English regardless. It's not that much of a problem considering that this is a NES game which most of the time you're thrown in the thick of it without much of ABC to tell you what's up. But this game DO have a story. I don't know how this game works on my NES console at the time; guess i just lucky there. Anyway, i boot up, and the title screens shows up as you seen picture above. See something missing? Yes, there's no company logo around it. Just a title, a boy, and what looks like Hogwarts when Voldemort win. Just pay attention to it guys! Did you see there's a three dogs on that entrance? Only in Harry Legends! By the way, the actual cartridge didn't shy away at all despite being unlicensed. Look...

Yes, that's the actual cartridge. No tampering with crazy colors and just dismiss the Nintendo seals, that's what you get. Too bad though, i don't find the 15 in 1 cartridge version i played. Guess it was a bootleg cartridge, how ironic. Let's move on.

The Gameplay?
Simple, in this game, you journey on basic platforming...kind of, and fight obstacle. Yes, this game is actual beat-em up. Anyway! You play as Harry who fight on with just his kicks...despite being wizard. Anyway, If you ever play Spartan X2 or At least Double Dragon, that pretty much sums up the gameplay. You can summon a broom as ultimate attack but that consumes health and boy, the cost of health was punishing. By all mean, i don't use it unless i had to but once i got a grip on the control, i find myself rarely use it. Oh right, the game control...

It's awful! It respond in wonky way and not exactly good for a game where there's a platform section at one point.

Seeing this game is already awful by the book, you can expect a cheap fight here and surprisingly, not the boss who being a dick on you, but it's vice versa. If you ever manage to corner the boss, and keep kicking them non-stop, they can't fight back at all. I'm not joking, my 12 years old self can attest to this because this is how i beat the game! Not even using my ultimate attack at all! In any case, you fight enemies that is not very much like what you see in HP franchise. You fight fat buoys with legs, wasted 80s rockstar, rats, and dude with turban? Well the dude at the finale scene on HP Philosopher Stone did wear turban. Guess that's one point for this game. Anyway, i don't remember there's a scene where HP and the gang kicking rats and rockstars while also kicking fat guy on the sides like a bully. But eh, we barely scratching the surface here.

There's A Story Alright...
AND IT'S GOLD! Well if you watch the movie or read the book of the first HP, you can tell what you're up against and who might be the final boss. But keep in mind, we talking about unlicensed game here. So the premise is the same, where HP got bored to death in his house, receive letter, and aspired to become wizard himself. That's what i try to tranlate it to you guys because the actual story in-game is gold enough to make Silent Hill lore to shame...bright it! By the way, i write the storyline with same likeliness you see in-game which mean there would be odd spacing and weird end sentence here and there. I'm not being trippy here, the game did.

First stage, houses. Yes, you fight in Harry houses. When did that happen in the movie/books?

Quote

A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under inky sky, the very last place

you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry rolled inside his blankets without waking up.

One small hard closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was

famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours time by Mrs. Dursley scream as she opened the front door to (wait, hold on, does this mean Harry was slept OUTSIDE or he slept right at the entrance? Dudes a dog...)

put our the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his 

cousin Dudley... he couldn't know that at this moment, people meeting in secret all

over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voice : To Harry - The

boy who lived!

Told you its a wacky ride. Back then i thought nothing of it. I saw a nice pixelated house, no sarcasm there because it do look nice for pixelated art. And that's it. Now that i understand English, i question my 12 self if i REALLY play this little mistake. Seeing i'm talking about it now, guess i did. 

Second stage, Island. In this...hold the heck on, when was Harry got stranded on the island in movie/books!?

Quote

It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their neck and a chilly wind whipped their face.

After what seemed like hour they reach the rock, where uncle Vernon, slipping and sliding, let the way to the (I know the dude is huge but i expect him to roll but you do you)

broken down house. The inside is horrible? It smelled strongly of seaweed. The wind whistled through.

The gaps in the wood walls, and the fireplace was damp and empty. There were only two room.

He was in very good mood. He thought nobody stood a chance of reaching them here in a storm to

deliver mail. Harry privately agree, though the thought didn't cheer him at all.

I...really don't know what is going on. At first i thought Harry was alone but no, he got himself with Vernon. And then trapped in a damp house that smelled like seaweed, with only two rooms which i remind you Vernon is in a good mood at the time so imagine my confusion, and then he got mail which in movie was supposed to be delivered by Hagrid, not Vernon! Dang, talk about mess of a fanfic...oh wait, no, nevermind.

Third stage, subway. Yeah finally they got it right! Oh wait, train is for Potter! Not Legend! Legend ride subway!

Anyway, the third stage is just a plot of Indiana Jones intro so i just cut the chase here and surprisingly, the English isn't too broken than previous two so there's that. But what i really don't get it, the stage shows a picture of a tunnel...of a mine! Not Subway! I don't remember subway tunnel has torch around them! Oh right, it's Legend! Not Potter! Oh before i forgot, this stage feature a granny that you need to kick to death. I'm not sure what's going on now!

Fourth stage, Train...yeah guys i don't know what's going on with transit system on HP franchise but clearly our mister Legend had a long trip to become best wizard underneath the earth.

Just like third stage, the text isn't so convoluting and the pictures shown there isn't far off as it shows a steam train. The story goes without saying that Harry manage to get to the train to Hogwarts and that's it. Look, i'm not being lazy by not copy paste the dialogue in-game but seeing there's no error or funny stuff there unlike the 1st and 2nd stage, why bother? If it's any comfort, the stage in this chapter is...looks like a hotel than a train car honest to god. I mean you don't put queen sized bed on each car now do you?

Fifth and final stage, is at school! Finally! Harry manage to reach the academy he wanted and, again, no funny dialogue there so let's skip it. But instead of seeing you fighting other wizard or anything malicious, you were greeted by discount quidditch game that will throw you in a loop if you don't know what to do! Yes! I'm not joking! 

Seeing this is final stage, when you beat it? You won, back to main menu...i don't know what happen after he beat the guy with turban over and over but the game just end there with the fireworks, a book, and a big writing of Griffindor, that's it...

Something To Note
I can't say what the hey exactly knowing this game is another bad unlicensed NES game. The game did work in some way but only if you don't cheap out on exploit and bear with the horrible pixel perfect jumping, especially on 2nd stage. You'll die there a lot by pit than enemy, i'm telling you. Thing is, the developer, the Hummer team, what they doing here is not their first and the last. I did mention this dev team way back on the fighting game series i ever played. Turn out, they do a lot more than just making Harry Legend.

Remember the SF2 NES and Tekken 2 NES? The Hummer team did it. What's that? Did you say your first KOF game you played is on NES? Yep, that's Hummer team doing. Final Fight 3 and Earthworm Jim 3? Hummer team is on it. Donkey Kong 4? You bet, it's Hummer team works. Thing is, some of the game are not actual bootleg as a few of it are made from scratch, although it all share horrible control and convoluted graphic in the end, i commend them for trying. Harry Legend, this very game, was actually a slight hacked version of game called TITENIC, a game made by Hummer team themselves. If you compare the two games screenshots, you can see where it coming from. 

And i just found these interesting stuff when researching this game :

• Chinese version : "Harry Boy : The story"
• English version : "Harry Boy : The Legend"
• I also have to mention that in the game code, there's a line which shows that the actual game is called Harry Botter no matter which version you played. You know why.

But the most memorable part of this dev is how they hide their company logo. Remember that bacteria-like logo? You can search JY logo NES on google, and if you saw bacteria-like thing, that's the logo and i wasn't kidding when i said that's their actual company logo. Even more crazy is not only they do hide their logo, but you can actually see this horrible easter egg for yourself 24 hours by pressing up-down-up-down-left-left-right-right. Not every Hummer game has this code implemented though. But once you access it, there's nothing else you can do but stare at the logo and the only way to get out is reset the game. Talk about rude exit!

Before i end this post with similar crude exit, i have to tell you one thing when playing Harry Legend. No matter where or how many lives you have, if you die, you restart ALL the way to the beginning. Still question your purchase of Hogwarts Legacy? Then read this post again from beginning!

Elena, shutting off~

[Elena Ichinomiya]

You know, i never told myself that i'll be a good game reviewer because mind you, i work it all by myself. I play the game by myself, i unlock the game secrets by myself, so i'm fully aware that i will miss a huge chunk of gameplay that should be on spotlight. But you know what, at the end of the day, i'm just a pleb who play games, that's all. I don't work for big company, communities, or fanservice fan who support company even when they being obnoxious shite. I mean, EA for example, yeah i don't like them, but i won't dismiss their good product when it counts. KOEI also into this radar because the fact that i only don't like how they monetize their game while the real game work like charm, i can't just run my mouth about their bad sides every single breath now do i? But of course, even among reviewer, there will be a time where we will review a reviewer. And i think it's time for me to speak my thought about what matters to me for a game review as a whole.

I say again, MY thoughts. Don't misquote me there, i don't speak for every gamers here. We're all entitled to say whatever when it come to review...unless you're obnoxious bunch.

 

 

Mainstream Journalist
There's one wise fella who taught us that he despise Journalism, and photography. Back in the day, Journalist are the only source of media where we know about what game gonna come up next. Now? We can find it out ourselves. The thing is, while gaming journalist can be anything when it come to information, it should be noted about who they sent to review a game. You know who we talking about here. Let me just get to the point, what result do you get if you ask your friend who mainly play Call Of Duty or other FPS action where everything is fast paced, to play Pokemon. Or Animal crossing for example. You won't get much of it, which is fair. But what make it such a doofus is when the journalism think it's okay to publish an article made by someone who are obviously not into the game. This is why i always question the dignity of gaming journalist because while they have manpower, they just haphazardly ask someone who, or that someone think, can play the said games and understand the core of it. When they not. Just look at me here, i never review Pokemon despite being a large franchise, or the direct rival to it which is DIGIMON, whom i'm a fan of. I didn't say anything because i don't know the game direction and the point of the game. With that in mind, you can imagine the chaotic result of my review should i force myself to play the game. The best outcome i would probably say is..."The game is playable".

It is also need to be said that you can't review a game in such rush either. Unlike most of review channel you can find, gaming journalist has a lots to catch up to. By all mean, they can't sit around playing same game for even a good 24 hours in total play hours. This is what causing the gaming journalism so vulnerable; time constraint. You always heard the joke about gaming journalism only play at least 2 hours in the game and write whatever but the reality is, at least from this source i manage to scour, most journalist gaming only given a good 6 hour before moving on, which make sense because like i said before, they had a long list of games to be written about. This wouldn't be problem if the game is action-centric like God Of War or, of course, COD or multiplayer live service because with just less of an hour, you're already thrown into the action. But if the game is RPG, 6 hours ain't gonna do anything. Especially RPG games these days who didn't tell the point of the story outright and (god forbid) stretched tutorial that sometimes placed at inconvenient timing. Back then, its easy to, at the very least, write the synopsis of the game is about and what possibly your goal, while comparing the gameplay system to another RPG games that already exist. But given how my experience is with JRPG lately, that can't be done anymore due to change in game development style in RPG department which mean the journalist themselves must spare even more hour to make a proper impression that sounds legit of an impression. I didn't mean to say that games these days especially RPG is such a slog and should cater to reviewer, no, what i mean to say is if the game already obviously about story and progression, the gaming journalist should know better that they can't just throw anyone with similar hour of deadline to write a good impression. Even i had trouble writing down the  Dept. Heaven series up to this day because RPG genre, cannot be rushed. There's always this and that objective to be done to progress the stories, not that i complaint by the way, because that's what the RPG is about.

And the butt of the joke here is, like what i just mention before, the gaming journalism seems to throw whatever people who happen to be holding on the joystick to play certain games that the reviewer is not into it. The result is pretty much disaster. Like stupid opinion about "Too much water" in Pokémon, and early FF7 release that they journalism complaint that the game story take too long to progress...Goodness, my brother and sister of joysticks, you ARE playing RPG games! Not the Sims! This is where the kick felt too strong on the professional sides of reviewer. It should be noted that not all reviewer are up to any games. Don't believe me? I could talk about COD MW right here right now because i did play the game include COD 3 and even Medal of Honor 2013. But i decide not to because i'm not into that game much which is what make my gaming thread here felt weak. However those folks at the journalism had more manpower to do proper review in more areas. So if this one journalism isn't fit for the RPG review, they can just look for another.

But that doesn't seems to be the case because some doofus of a journalist will take any game because hey, there's bonus for the article they wrote so what can go wrong? Everything.

(Picture is just for example, i don't play Sekiro)

"Look man, VERY EASY mode are made for people of your kind when there's one available, i get it why it exist. But the fact that you resorted to cheat on some easy mode and then write the game experience as a whole in your journey of one-hit-kill, then prepare to be ridiculed. Cheater never flourish in any ground" - Elena in "P4G reviews"

Now you know why VERY EASY mode exist. Anyway, this is the peak of questionable gaming journalist that i still not sure what to say. Sure you don't have much time to go on let alone finishing a game. But please, can you be at the very least told us if the game is playable, the visual is charming or not, what engine the game use, is the game control feels okay, is the gameplay system is groundbreaking or similar to what already exist, that's enough for me personally because i'm sure our experience would differ from one person to another. I don't give a damn if you cheat or whatever, heck, i could talk about the day where i mod Skyrim at some point to avoid some menial quest but i didn't talk about it because that's not how the game should be played as a reviewer. If that's how it is, i could say Sims 4 is perfection than Sims 3 but clearly i'm BS around because turn out i enjoy Sims 4 because of its mod unlike Sims 3. If you had so much to talk about your personal experience playing a game, write it on your blog or something for the people whom interested. People see gaming review for review alone, not reading your experience with trainer turned on! If we really want to see actual fiasco well we go to a website where it shows the game fiasco, instead of visiting a gaming news. Focus on your job!

Gamer As Reviewer
Honestly, i always doubt anyone is a gamer when they flaunt it around the chat that they're a gamer on every single breath. But regardless, i commend them who play many hours of miserable game to make proper review about it...oh god, Dark Rose Valkyrie...anyway, while i could fall into this category, there's still a rule and limitation when it come into this category. Like i mention before, unlike the big journalism, this type of reviewer usually focus on one genre only. They had their things going but their target audience is clear. Like some channel who solely talk about Yakuza series for example, or YS series. However the weak point of such reviewer is, you won't hear anything else other than what they're interested on and it can be random. This isn't bad or anything, but if you're planning to become one of those reviewer, then prepare for some rise and fall of interest in your thread. Just an heads up, as long as people read what i write here from head to toe, i'm happy, even if you disagree. 

It is easy to tell what gamer type you can find especially on YT. Some talk about specific genre, some play game so casually, some just doing a playthrough, etc. But when it come to review, this is where things get tricky. You will not have excuse of 6 hours joke on your back which mean people will mostly doubt you when you release a review when your play hour isn't very much convincing. This can be such a double edge for reviewer of this kind and their audience because we don't know if those reviewer had job on the sides, or they put focus on their review thread/channel. While on the audience sides, they might steer clear from your channel when you talking about some game that they're not interested in. It might be not much for Journalism side; at least they still serve topic you might still interested about. But gamer reviewer most of the time, work alone. Dividing attention can be tricky, which i understand why they seems to abandon a franchise when they're not, just so they can focus on task at hand.

However even this type of reviewer are not far from being stinker. We all can see that way back in 2018 where i personally nominate it as year of wonky gaming review. Not only people just haphazardly play the game and write a BS about it, when clearly they're not into the game or bother to delve deep into the game enough to make a review, they also saying whatever that doesn't have anything to do with the game. Which birth another dilemma of "woman character must be sexualized or it won't sell", the brief return of "No Mai, no buy" in DOA franchise and "gender matter". Who care! Tell us how the game feels! I don't give a damn if my character never poop from start of the game to final boss! My words! Are you guys playing those game to review or using it as excuse to ramble on internet!? Hit the grass! No, don't touch, hit it! Goodness you guys pathetic mess.

This is also come into attention when a hater of specific game really bother to pay a bucks to play a game they hate and BS review about it on internet. Like one review about Yakuza game which they said the game scam us for selling the game as open world, over the top violence, and useless mechanic that shouldn't be in the game. Big question, when or where SEGA told us that new Yakuza game, a remaster at that, would be UBISOFT-like open world? Learn English before you visit gaming news you daft! Or that piss poor rooster who said Elden Ring isn't video game because its too difficult (for him) to play and then proceed to call the audience who play it, to get a life and criticize the gamer who spent hours in it. Nah, dude, i have life and humble gaming experience to boot to make gaming review unlike someone i KNOW. I'm good, get your own life by stop watching Little Britain on your TV's. Maybe by then you can make a good gaming review.

You see, this also become even more troubling that unlike journalism side, most gamer as reviewer are prone to be victim of either strike on their channel, or even outright lawsuit simply because they tell people how the game feels like. Yes, some people just love give a hurdle to hide the fact that they release shitty games and only fell silent when review bomb welcome their argument. That's on the pity side. The real beef i got in gamer as reviewer is when they outright told people to don't buy the game and then called the audience who buy it anyway, a moron. My words, are you a game reviewer or an activist? I visit your channel for game review! Not a separatist speeches! 

At The End Of The Day
Well, it might rich hearing this for me but i said it anyway. If you happen to be one of these reviewer, just do your utmost diligence at your job or at the very least to save your bacon from being roasted because your sloppy works. I can't say much about journalism side but for the gamer side, its okay to publish your review one month after the game released. Many people do that. Sure the clout might not be as much like day-one release review but believe me when i say people are waiting for actual review than hype talk more than anything. You know why i bother and fall in love with Trails series? Because of this 1 hour review of it which released 3 months after the game released. Why i decide to play CounterSide instead Arknight? Why, same reason obviously. 

The cycle of review i do as consumer in video game arena is pretty much like this. First, look it up on gaming news for the impression, and just impression alone. Second, wait for a bit, either to see if the game is working or has chance of possible monetization going. And third, look up how people fare in the said game. See? I put actual gamer review on the back because i want to hear people talk about it after playing it from head to toe where journalist can't have such luxury (with exception of MMO because it always expanded each update). I want to hear you guys talking about the game you played, and actually played, from start to finish. Its okay if your review are not detailed if its your first playthrough. At least its legit coming from you; even if you abandon it mid-game (like i did to Valkyria 4), at least you have glimpse what you rambling on instead of yapping nonsense just to make yourself sounds relevant among gaming circle. 

It might be subjective topic to talk about what review you should choke on, that's why i said this is my thought about game reviewer because at the end of the day, those folks has their own main for each genre of the game. You can't blame them for not playing your favorite game despite it share same genre. Like me for example. I like RPG games, but i never touch much RPG which set on fantasy setup. Either i go medieval or modern. You can't blame me for doing that, because i'm not into it and choose not to stir trouble on the fanbase by making pointless review. Just get this guys, if you see something that you know it will be waste of time without getting entertained...

...why bother spending your time there in the first place?

Elena, shutting off~

Edited July 18, 2023 by Elena Ichinomiya

[Elena Ichinomiya]

So...uhh...have you heard our neighbor are being shouted at for being a slow witted, numb controlling, and pain in the ass to work with? Yeah we don't talk about games for this one. Anyway, i saw the news about the XBOX S is being a pain to work with due to the limitation that i can very safe to say, same as my PC i had at the moment. I'm not joking when i say my PC been performing in similar fashion to XS since 2018 and believe me it was a mind blowing PC back then for its CPU and GPU alike, though its just missing the SSD part since i still run the pc with HDD.

Anyway, this time i want to give my thought about this inferior box that seems to cannibalize its brand (again!) when they should know better. But i'll say it beforehand to feel free to drop the comment or clearing something up because i publish this post purely from my own thought based on the news i heard and read. So...

"For starter, why? And second, why bother? Finally, what were they thinking?"

In General
I'm no XBOX player for starter. XBOX never sold well in my region even the most lucrative one fail to reach the highest peak request than PS3 despite PS4 is already on store, i'm not joking there. But even so, i still acknowledge XBOX for their console spec that always one step ahead from PS. Just one step though. When it come to console gaming, i'm pretty much stand with people who own console in order to play their game without bother to throw more money to upgrade their PC each years but still share the same experience of what other platform have for years to come. That's pretty much sums up the console existence. A bit ironic considering that PC used to be a complicated stuff to make games on back in the day...oh god, the 2000s games...but it surely improve now and so is the console.

Honestly i have no qualms who is better in console market; as long as your product work as it should, i would care less. We talking about technology after all and it cost a good fortune at that. When the product didn't work as it should, expect some ugly feedback and like i always said before on my status...

Quote

"If you made crappy product for the public, then expect crappy words in return. No matter how you look at it, when you release stuff for people, you better made it work as it should. It doesn't matter your excuse is as engineer of the said product; if it's crap, it's crap. No two ways about it. Customer are customer, they bought your service product and expect it to work as intended on paper, that's it. Don't mistake them for your college Professor who could just pass your product with grade and move on like nothing because remember, those people PAY you for your service. And they expect you to worth all the money you asked for".

- Elena in "Everybody Engineer" and "How To Handle Nuclear For Idiots"

My Real Confusion With Xbox X/S
Why they even bother? I mean sure PS did this on their part but let's head back a little bit. Back then, PSOne was released as single player only console despite having two controller ports...yes i'm not joking, you need multitap to play with others because the other controller port works as secondary port should the first port doesn't work. Hence they release another smaller but functioning two controller port on the get-go but also better air vent considering the first PSOne is not just bulky, but require additional fan to prevent it from overheating and burn your disk.

PS2, as far as i know, was released with lots of advantage but also catches. The "fat boy" version, despite the praise for the internet add-on and HDD extension (which is important back in the day if you want to play FFXI since that game is huge stuff to load on disc if at all!), has the most dreaded issues for the owner which is the disk error and overheating. Seeing that PS2 owner is focused on gaming, Sony release the slim version that really focus on gaming. You might lost the HDD support although the news outlet said that this is the feature that player won't mind missing at the end of the day (there's HDPro for slim PS2 though the setup can be grueling without guide. You guys are lucky there's YouTube today! I'm not tech savvy alright!?) but in exchange you will get less to zero disk error and better air circulation. Yeah, despite its humble size and lackluster feature, the endurance made up for it. I mean you don't want to play for two hours only to stop for another two hours before continue on playing your Cake Mania on your PS2 do you?

It goes on up to PS4 and i heard PS5 is about to release their "pro" version. I mean we manage to debunk what's happening and the setback of the original console so it's matter of time. My point is, Sony releasing another PS on the same generation but with improvement in mind.

Back on topic, when XBOX release X/S as consoles...i scratch my head. Why you release an inferior product alongside the superior one which is the main shows of your brand? I could easily pass it on for "casual" gamer on the budget or one would say a console for "soccer mom" who want to give XBOX for their children on Christmas but don't want to overspend for one large plastic doorstop, but it still confuse me to this day. Sure releasing two version of console seems like a greedy approach but at least the cost and the improvement are on equal for PS case. XBOX somehow releasing the main shows and inferior one at the same time which in return make up for profit...but does that mean they will release XBOX superior edition in the future once PS5 has their Pro version released or something? I don't know guys, but this don't sit well with me. Having 2 console of same brand is already a head scratcher but 3 in the same generation? Come on...

If we look back at PS2 era, when Sony release the PS2 slim, it was improvement to say the least, no two ways about it. The inferior stuff they do released are in the form of handheld console which is the PSP. Sure you don't get every PS2 games ported there but it prove itself to be capable to carry the brand on the casual gamer. I kind of get it why it felt inferior because by the looks alone is already shown. But XBOX X/S case are different. Both are released in form of home console, not handheld. This confuse me to no end. Get a load of this...

By the time the RAM issues being dug up, i decide to do a little research and compare XBOX S RAM vs Steamdeck RAM. Guess what? Steamdeck, despite being handheld, capable to hold 16 GB RAM while XS only hold 10GB RAM. Look, i get it if they run at the very least 12 GB but 10? My PC at the moment has 12 GB RAM way back since 2019, fyi.

I don't know how much of deal it is on engineer side but seeing dev begging MSoft to drop the XS mandatory in order to release games on their platform to save cost of development and time, it's pretty much a big deal after all. I mean you can make any games work there no problem; if you made a game based on XS specs first before moving on to higher place. But since many cross platform games are made from the latest specs, putting it on XS mean something need to be cut. You can see a lots of video and news outlet put this upfront about what you get on XX and XS. Sure in consumer side they don't feel anything like XOne experience with XS, but now they hurting their backbone with inferior mandatory request. Seriously?

This Is Just Theory But...
Is this why XBOX Game Pass are little worth to get now? I mean sure most of games there is perhaps already bought so you don't have to buy it, but seeing how the console itself tripping, is it possible the reason why the games that put there are the one who can also run on XS without a bang? I mean there's many potential games that can be added on game pass to lure people to subscribe but they didn't add it. It's just a bit glaring matter to me but hey, this is just theory.

And for the XS success, it now come to my attention that this might not what it seems. We see many tech reviewer saying XS is at least a good console to own. But that's the review when the console is released. And we know full well when new console are released, there's lots of ported games from yesteryear console which made on inferior hardware, resulting them to run smoothly on XS. It is only when the latest games which made for the latest console in the market is when XS show itself as a drag. Like i said, MSoft manage to confuse me again about why releasing inferior version to reach the "casual" market and expecting it to work for the long run. Cheaper price don't sold the game console, MSoft; the games is. And if the dev can't even make a dent to make their latest games work on XS, they might skip on it which is bad for your own brand console. Keep in mind MSoft demand you to release game on both XBOX version so it's either more crunch time or skip a leg and release it on PS and PC only, pick your poison. It's crazy to find out there's another console that make game dev discouraged to release on the platform since PS3. At the very least PS3 only has complex firmware that can be solved by learning it, but performance? You have to kick the manufacturer for it!

Another theory i had is, again, MSoft might caught their own beard on fire when PS5 is about to be released. This remind us back again when X360 was released in a rush to catch on console market sales after PS3 already release the launch date, resulting in a lots of malfunction. Perhaps they thought the hype for PS5 is greater, they decide to release a budget version to lure the PS casual player to move on XS...and seeing how it hold up, i can't say this is effective tactic. I mean what do they offer on S? Smaller storage when COD game size today can make it their bitch, smaller RAM that make game dev crunch, lower GPU and CPU that disable you from performance mode...look, i might be desperate to own PS5 obviously but if this is what PS5 offer instead, i wouldn't bat an eye either. Sure it can fool casual soccer mom for a gift at least but their target are gamers. And gamers these days aren't stupid or blinded by buzzwords to cover the console inferior specs. This is XBOX for goodness sake, not OUYA!

I can't say what fate await XS when PS5 Pro released because if my theory about MSoft releasing XBOX pro of their own become reality, i am literally stunned. And if they later decide to put that XBOX pro as one addition to mandatory requirement if you want to release game on XBOX, which gonna make it THREE consoles to work with without much care how it would cost game developer time and resource to make it work...

I just shutting down~ 

[Elena Ichinomiya]

I want you to look back at the time where i bash Genshin 1st Anniversary event. I honestly thought that very event is a pretty much setting a good example to those who want to try their hands on Live Service. But i guess lesson can only teach you so much knowing some company, an actual big company, not to say Mihoyo is small timer anymore but what the hell, who clearly clueless of what they even trying to deliver. Get a load of this...

"Well, they tried..."

In General
Blue Protocol is an...action online game? Sorry for the stutter but BANDAI (without NAMCO for some reason?), promote the game not as MMO despite what it's look like so please pardon my confusion. Anyway, Blue Protocol is an online game that seems to be hitting under after the poor global release teaser which i would say...not surprising coming from BAMCO division. If some of you didn't follow up the news, or just know this game recently, the global version which planned to be released by AGS (Amazon Game Studios) quickly met with backlash with the nonsense censorship included in the game. Not only it change some of the NPC looks but they had the balls to actually CUT the content in character customization which is part of game sales value. I'm not even sure what so bad about it, considering the content that was cut in the character maker is a character height. In original release, there's a preset height for the character you want to make from average, tall, to short. I say again, SHORT. And guess what part did AGS cut? Exactly.

Amazon Happen
I really don't get it how AGS find that as a no-no considering we got Genshin with fetus sized characters running around, smacked left and right, drowned, or fall from heights yet nobody complaint. I mean sure Genshin was released by different brand which is why they were let off but my point here is...who make that fuss in the first place? Japan, the parent company of this game don't find it a problem, the people who anticipate this game release don't find it problematic seeing it wasn't too explicit of a deal, but people in AGS?

I can't say for sure but this issue grow it's roots to the point that AGS decide to delete short characters option in the creation section is when some data miner notice the change of NPC looks on the AGS version of the game. Mainly, the swimwear content. Now i know this is a mix of disaster considering we got this short character option and swimwear but when i look at the said "problematic" NPC who has those two no-no tags, i sit there and think...who on earth consider that lewd? In fact, i want to talk with AGS folks who think that was problematic because as far as i'm concerned, those who see people wearing proper clothing at the proper place at the proper time as problematic, especially when they go as far to consider it's lewd, i think they're the real issues here.

It's just a girl on swimwear on a seaside! No R34 element at all! The heck you expect people to wear on the seaside, AGS? Disco pants and haircuts!?

But seriously, if AGS only change some NPC looks, that would be one thing that player would dismiss. But the fact that they went wild by cut off the core character customization related to it? Did Bandai give them the okay to do that? It's pretty much like removing coin in Mario Bros because they call it offensive against homeless which obviously something that they just made up.

Now i know what you're thinking but i can point out a lot of games that has fetus character in it along with a summer costume that never been considered a scandal inside and outside their community, 2.5D or 3D games alike. Heck, the gacha games i played right now has racing queen costume for such character. 

Oh and by the way, they also censor jiggle physic which mind you, Genshin went by the global release no problem (though not very noticeable, it is there). Heck, i could flaunt Black Desert right now to poke fun at people at AGS; might as well telling them that even IRL, woman do have jiggle physic. It's a small detail that people would eventually dismiss but AGS put it like its a big deal like, what the hey? When people run around slashing everyone neck off in say, Naraka, did they really pay attention to that? I don't know guys, as far as my 14 years of gaming experience, i never consider looking at Zhen Ji jiggle physic in Dynasty Warrior as i'm too busy knocking everyone with my flute. Heck, i would even say in DOA, i'm too focused on juggling instead jiggling because that's just a side feature that, mind you, can be turned off for those who think it's offensive. COME ON!

Quote

If censorship has no affect on the gameplay, characters, and story, they might as well make all the characters the same as big black bars. Cute characters have no affect on the gameplay, and they should be allowed. - Some YT Comment

If you are triggered by Japanese culture, and say the norms make U.S. people uncomfortable, that makes you a bigot. U.S. people love Japanese culture as it is as that is how they should be honored. - Some YT Comment

Dear companies, sell me a product. Don't sell me what to think. - Hyped Folks

Even SENRAN KAGURA: ESTIVAL VERSUS, which is an "M"-rated anime game with clothes-tearing AND an Intimacy Mode that includes KISSING, was approved by Australia! - My Neighbor Over There (for the context, while there's no "loli" level character in it, some character do look like minor of age such as 14 to be sexualized. But then again we talking about character age in video game and anime, you won't stand a chance, give up)

"Censorship is like telling a man he can't have a steak because a baby can't chew it." - Mark Twain...i think?

I remember wearing cute, little sailor outfits like that when I was a child. To see that being censored, or being used as an excuse for censorship, in a game with no explicit content, makes me think people are self reporting their own weird fetishes in the industry. -Some YT Comment

If there's anyone who can tell my kids what to play or not and giving them a reason why they can/cannot play it, it has to be ME, not YOU. When you paid for something in full price, you deserve to get what you paid for in perfect condition as it meant to be - Elena in "Money Could Buy You Any Fisting"

Look, guys, i didn't have ANY expectation out of you like, zero. But you still manage to disappoint me! - Elena in "Fuck You, Play Me"

We can talk about it all day. Let's sidetrack for a bit. Remember that time when i'm scared by fanservice? Yeah, a fanservice. Get a load of this...

"I don't wanna be gamers anymore..."

Anyway! That's the first kick to the shin. I don't know why Bandai didn't check out where they throw their live service considering we got a lots of live service game walking out rent free with their content since day one. But i get it, one mistake doesn't mean the end of the world. Which i would be saying if not for...

Trio Karaoke Bar Regular VS The World
Well, basically, the dev team was putting up livestream. An emergency livestream for some reason. Which baffle me considering that this announcement was for some reason sounds like aimed to excite the global players...when the global version isn't even released yet! That's the first. However if you think Genshin 1st Anniversary was bad, BP dev seems want to take that hats off as they manage to piss off the global community, before they even had their hands on the game.

1. The lack of information regarding the new class : So the dev want to talk about the new upcoming class but in all sincerity, they seems...confused with what they talking about? Well, maybe they're not the one who playtest the character and only read the result so we can cast that aside. Mind you, this is common practice but then come another questions...why don't they bring the actual tester to be part of that stream so he/she can explain it better?
    
2. The convoluted event : I play Genshin for a bit but even i admit some of that game event are great. By event, i mean the actual event such as anniversary or chinese new year, something that doesn't have anything to do with the storyline. But ever since the summer event in BP, player complaint that the event is very taxing and not exactly having a great time finishing it. Not only the event is repetitive, but it was unbalanced. Some redditor said that in order for you to purchase the event item, you had to grind killing hundreds of specific enemies. Opinion about grinding in event is subjective depending on each individual, but BP manage to piss their player base fair and square as the game spawn numbers is abysmal. For example! Let's just say you play Event in Genshin which requires you to kill Hilicurl 100 times to get enough event coin to buy one event item. Turn out the event want you to hunt specific Hilicurl for you to cull. Liyue Hilicurl for example. But there's the kicker, you know very well Hilicurl are rare in Liyue than Treasure Hoarder. By all mean, once you cull them all, you will find yourself still lacking the currency to get the item you want in that event and worse of all, you're left with doing nothing until those Hilicurl respawn which based from what the source say, take 12 hours. That's basically what happen in BP. Isn't that relaxing~?
    
3. The new content is basically recycled stuff : Read the title. Even the raid boss is just a reskin of the previous boss and that's it. It wouldn't be problem or a let down had it not for the fact that they promote it as "new content" when it's not. There's nothing new at all. At least Monster Hunter subspecies monsters despite only change of colors, at the very least has more attack pattern added to them to be excused as new content!
    
4. Planning to whale? : Go ahead, the game offer you a 4$ per pull. While my gacha games are different genre, at the very least they only ask me for a good 2.99$. F2P beware. I don't even know if the dummy pull are worth keeping. (UPDATE! Not at all, they add junk item in gacha system. Let that sink in)
    
5. You'll guarantee to look obnoxious as F2P : As the dev stated, the new cosmetic such as hair dye and stuff will be added...as gacha item. Read my previous point, this shouldn't be a surprise anymore. You know how gacha games i played treated their cosmetics? This...
   
   
   
   Azur Lane did the same if i remember correctly. You want that one? Go ahead, buy it, keep it forever for no more or less bucks. Hair dye and underwear included. My words...BP dev, i might not working with you but if customization is one of the appeal, putting it on paywall like this would pretty much discourage potential whale instead! At least if you don't want to let go, sell it in form of bundle would be fine too! By the pope guys, this make the economy in FFBE, FGO and Genshin look like godsend!
    
6. These Team Really Going Blind : Back to #1, i was right. The whole scenario really shows the audience nothing worth noting about the new class. The new class were not only introduced badly by these trio, but they also seems to lack any knowledge about how this character works, their essential roles (oh we gonna talk about this factor later), and what type of player who is suited for this characters. I wish i was joking but it is what it is. Dev, did you really make this game from scratches or you just found this game on discarded external drive at the cactus juice bar dumpsters!? What is going on there!?
    
7. The Bigger the L The Bigger The F : At the final of the stream, they had the balls to give player a code to redeem an item. Oh nice, what's in it? Junk consumable item. Guys look...i can't believe i say Genshin a lot but that game at least give the player a small but generous amount of primogem to pull a single gacha. It's not much but it's luxury to keep player base around. I even heard Phantasy Stars 2, despite it's shaky launch, still give the player essential stuff that make the stream worth to watch (or listen) to the end. Do you want player base to stay or not?
    
8. Wonky Nerf : Player deems it as unnecessary because the game is already a drag as it is but somehow the dev think that's still too much. While BP has it's own share of PVP, its focus is PVE. Which is ridiculous considering that when in PVE, take example Monster Hunter, the thing that you nerf mostly land on the enemy damage output just so it didn't one-shot anyone despite having high defense. BP didn't do that but instead they add delay in some skills and seems like wanting the player to tire themselves on button mashing instead of mixing a combo skills like most action games do. To add more salt to the brain...
    
9. Nobody Is Special : Most PVE game i played, from WoW, Rising Force, even Ragnarok to Lineage, has certain core gameplay that make people stick out. The role. You know, carry, tanker, support, ranger, etc. BP don't has that. Every class you pick is DPS centric. Basically if you play Monster Hunter, you only offered with either long sword or dual blade seeing those two deliver more blows which is what most class in BP act like. This part of feature is what partying don't feel very exciting seeing everyone is sitting on the same seat as you. No one sit on the back to support because your character built are leaning toward DPS anyway. The lack of variety is what make BP seems to be deserted by it's fanbase. Even CLOSERS Online despite the confusing micromanagement isn't this broken.
   
   This is just theory but this very main factor could also stemmed from God Eater franchise considering that game suffer repetitiveness in their gameplay variety factor. While you can play "healer" role in that game, you'll end up getting involved in the beating enemy anyway. Same goes for BP. Not helping with the fact that BP and GE come from same company, i'm not entirely shocked
    
10. To Be Fair With You : I never take BAMCO online division to be top tier same as CAPCOM do considering both release live service game is middling at best, outright wonky at worse. Or just straight up bad in general.

Seriously BAMCO, while you make a good bucks with FS games and fisting artist contest in later date, doesn't mean you can neglect your other division. This division of yours had clear idea what to make, but completely at loss as where they headed to. I'm not even sure they already set their target audience...

Elena, shutting down~

[Elena Ichinomiya]

Get a load of this...not sure why they announce it on the platform that has less traction to announce this but it is there. Someone is scared of the fame they craving for, apparently...

Now you might assume i'll talk about that one person who kick everyone shin and told them "good riddance!" which i would exactly do so, if i choose to ignore that i don't need the whole essay to convey it. So, Saint Row Reboot finally become nail to the bucket for its dev. It's one thing to have the team lay-off but complete shut down is pretty much of a taboo stuff among the game business. Which some would consider that's just the case of "another fiasco in Wednesday", if not for the fact that the dev of this not funny concoction Volition, who has been around for 30 years, finally went under. And not just under the bus, but six feet deep under.

The Game Already Set To Fail
In their marketing target at least. When the game producer make statement about what the reboot is all about, fans were, to put it mildly, had the feeling this game is another waste of time and money. If you happen to play the game before the reboot or didn't know what Saint Row is about, the short explanation i can give you is, they're pretty much opposite persona of GTA. The game has been known to poke and sometimes openly mock GTA in a way that was so over the top, it's hard to hate it. They went above and beyond to the point that they poke fun at any open world game in such brilliant way which is where the fanbase are coming from. Saint Row is a satire of video game in a form of video game.

The excuse of the change in that regard are pretty much vague at best with the producer claiming that "people taste has change so is the Saint Row" which might be the cataclysm of this disaster. I do admit that comparing GTA SA and GTA V formula including the dark humor and the jab at politic matter, it's a good point to consider to make the game feel relatable. But GTA has always been known to poke one politic view since way back then to the point of putting a stereotype in their game which become a running theme in series. Saint Row isn't about politic because keep in mind, this franchise has build it's status as satire of entertainment and to have them put a jab on politic is questionable. Which is very apparent when...

The Character Portray No One
In previous Saint Row games, you have certain theme of who you playing as which give you a clear picture, what the character goal is. But the reboot, despite the decent amount of character, are pretty much a...confusing mess? Most player point out that even if they put the horrible dialogue aside, every single characterization on this game isn't everyone cup of tea. Confusing personality, unclear purpose why they're there, convoluted background, and most importantly, who are they trying to be. The theme is also put to question. You got gangster flick for 1 and 2, over the top 80s flick on 3 & 4, but reboot? I don't know, your little The Sims "movie" you did back in 2011?

In all honesty though, Saint Row Reboot is actually poking fun at people who has their life stuck on their phone and social media, hence you see these type of character. While calling it over the top is rather overkill, this brought back Saint Row into questions. What are they trying to deliver? Not only these characters are poked by new player base as cringe inducing, unrelatable bunch (considering the dev seems aiming at Gen Z bunch), the old fans outright call it what happen if you let bad characterization in the video game. 

If some of you miss the point, Saint Row games character always put you in the gutter at the beginning which you have to work your way up into the top as the story progress. But this reboot put you in a shoes of someone who got college debt and toaster. If this is an attempt to make the character sounds hip, can you forgive me who forgot to put the laughing gas in my room? Sorry for giving too much opinion in this but i don't find this characterization has any message for us to consider their presence. Were they supposed to be funny? The only funny thing i personally had is when player on forum outright call these unfunny bunch a Tik Tok reject or unused Fortnite assets avatar. Now that's funny.

Totally Missed Opportunity
People been craving for urban criminal world a la GTA for so long. It's been years since GTA V release and people want something new. When Saint Row announce the reboot, despite the skeptic look from it's fans due to middling performance of 3 & 4 installment, they still welcome the announcement regardless as some would consider it an alternative or plan B should one day Rockstar had a screw up with GTA. Volition got that very chance to strike while the iron is hot when their rival Rockstar did facing a backlash for their scummy release of GTA Definitive Edition. Even by the time of the game release, Rockstar doesn't make any announcement for new GTA, so everything is all sunshine and rainbow for Volition. But like every story, there's always a plot twist...

They Messed Up Big Time
The game released in very such poor state that some would consider it's an old song and dance remix of Volition. Weird routing, graphical glitch, horrible driving mechanic, wonky immersion, and while we're at it, the lack of immersion. Which is big problem considering that Saint Row games are not linear games but an open world. Some say this world design is to mock Ubisoft open world idea but considering that idea is bad to begin with, why they put it in their own game? At the very least they can add some point of interest and be creative and crazy like every Saint Row games. But they didn't. The world is barren as well as bland. Who were they trying to mock here is unknown. 

I bite my tongue a lot around this game even before release. Not out of anger, but for doing hold your laugh challenge when one of the gaming channel REREZ, somehow got the review copy of that game and LIVESTREAM it which make it a cold hard proof how this game is such a mess. Believe me when i said even Shane himself facepalm a lot when he play the game. I even see some of the live chat saying something along the line "Ride To Hell at least has funny glitch and stereotype to mock at. This is just painful". There's a time where Shane drive the car in that game like someone who never drive a car in GTA which in his defense, he said that the car just feel sluggish when taking turn and even worse that when he told the audience that every single car feel the same, big or small. Even more grand is when he walk around aimlessly and decide to ride a jet ski, the jet ski physic went wild as it jump a bit too high from every single waves of water as if it want to fly or something. Even more crazy is when the jet ski land again on water, it outright SANK before it bobble up again on surface. Shane had to pause the game as he got too much laugh for this janky mess. 

Again, i bite my tongue, a lot. How they even had the balls to give review copy despite the state of the game is beyond me. Considering that REREZ livestreaming it without glossing over anything, i can safely assume the publisher just give him okay without much NDA involved. 

Despite All This
Given how the state of the game was on day one and even today, the game didn't manage to get what they aiming for. They try to hit up the young audience which is common practice for some games because us the veteran would one day retire from gaming, believe me, i'm not ready. Even Monster Hunter did this you know? But what they trying to convey in order to lure the new audience is pretty much like hearing your parent telling you why you can't do this and that because they don't like it and you should be like them because they like it. That's not going to deliver at all. If anything, i see most Gen Z are in awe of something that related to "be yourself" instead being told to be like this and that. And even more ironic is this reboot trying to be relatable to Gen Z network when turn out those trend stemmed from old trend such as meme in which they improve it to make their own network. The conclusion here is, SRR try to lure audience with the vibe of "be like us!" when in reality, the audience all retorted in echoing "be yourself" and think SRR are not something meant for them to enjoy. 

I might being called off as something for saying this but seeing many games i played from wholesome to blatant disaster, i'm gonna say this...

Quote

WOKE game, doesn't always bad. Broken game, is.

We've plenty of woke game under the rug believe me but thanks to the working mechanic, they were left alone without any mental scar left to the developer and public because at the very least if a WOKE game work as intended, we get ourselves a so bad it's good kind of game on the bright side. Had SRR address the issues the franchise had on previous release, they probably only had to endure being bashed for being WOKE while the game still probably blow, i'm sure of it. But not only they shift the tone about what the game is about and release it as is and even dare to give review copy to reviewer, the result is just obvious. 

And the less we talk about this abomination for hire...

...the better~

But It Get Even Better
When Running With Scissor, a dev team of Postal franchise, give a jab about this little disaster of a crew, they make status about it and to no one surprise, some folks had balls enough to show Postal 4 metacritic review score in which RWS lay down those statement nicely because they stated that they roast the reboot, but not the entire franchise. The person who deliver the post stated that the dev should stick together considering that Postal 4 was hit down with unsavory score like Saint Row Reboot did in his opinion. In which RWS replied, and i wish i'm the one who type this, they said...

Quote

It is common to have banter between developers even directly like Driver and GTA.

Pretty sure we can't just support someone who call their fanbase a terrorist.

Absolute. Bloody. Legend.

All That Said
While i'm not diehard fans of this game, doesn't mean i just diss the dev and laugh at the fanbase of the series for fun. Look, if you enjoy this reboot and play it to this day despite the f-words of an effort put in this game, i'm happy for you. What i'm really pissed is how the company treating the fanbase, simply for the reason that even they cannot explain and think they can get away with it. You deserve better for what you've been paying for. I'm not against idea buying the bad game on purpose just for the lol, that's your money, but when you pay a game that at least close to tripe A game, you deserve the quality of what you're paying for.

Bad game, isn't always bad. Broken game, is. Keep that in mind.

Elena shutting down~

Edited September 4, 2023 by Elena Ichinomiya

[Elena Ichinomiya]

My words, those Skyrim in space mod is wild! I mean, just look at them go without madlad sized day one patch- okay, we won't talk about that i just want to name drop it for some reason. I don't play the game yet, but it's safe to say you can buy that game if you want because its playable on day one. Now then...

I want to look back to the past once again. About the most unprepared, confusing, and unprofessional Esport tournament i ever heard. When people talk about some Esport game, what would came up in your mind? Now let's say it's Esport about underatted game, what would came to mind? If you say Stardew Valley, you deserve 10% raise for your next EcchiCredits. But if you say Dead By Daylight, then sit down, shut up, and get a load of this...

"If you're familiar with the picture, you can stop reading right now and move on"

In General
Dead By Daylight is an online asymmetrical survival horror in which 5 players, consist of 4 survivors and 1 killer, had to finish each task given for each role. Survivor have to fix the generator at the set numbers while escaping death one way another with either perk or item found along the way. As for Killer, their task is to prevent survivor from finishing their task and use everything at their disposal to catch the survivor and sacrifice them (through mean of meat hook).

Despite the middling review, which pretty much common for such game with live service in mind, DBD still retain it's status for the online recommended survival horror. I mean, if you compare that to Resident Evil Umbrella Project...yeah. But it's fame truly shown as there's lots of collaboration which include movies and video games alike. Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Stranger Thing, Hellraiser, down to Silent Hill and Resident Evil. Which back then would be pretty much like hysterical lunacy to put both SH and RE in one universe, i tell you.

But even so, there's also come with a flaw from the unbalanced issue, map maneuverability, cryptic killer method of escape, etc. Personally though, i never find DBD to be great or anything but at the very least i can find comfort with the fact that the dev are still around despite the failure of Deathgarden. But i never thought in my life someone would pick this game for official Esport tournament because even though i'm not avid active player of this game, even i aware putting this game on professional level would be a tall order. But these buster just went ahead and...sink...badly.

The Event Rule Are Convoluted If Not Confusing
I didn't manage to find the full set of rules given by the organizer but i do note that there's this one set of rules that ban ANY player from using any perk, killer included. This cause pretty much unbalanced game in already unbalanced game even more unbalance. As result, most player pick the same survivor despite from different team all for their own reason which cause the game is a little less exciting to watch. You can just imagine on EVO Tekken, where most if not all player always pick Jin to the point you see lots of mirror match of Jin up to the grand final. That doesn't sounds good in any way as people would realize the game is broken in every aspect unless you pick that character.

There is also a useless outrageous rules that ban survivor from camping like, at all. Now you might be thinking this is common but not when the game focus is survival horror in a map that wasn't too much to explore to begin with (bless you who play the game after the release of Clown because swamp realm used to be LARGER!). Not to mention that there's a system that will automatically tell where the survivors were hiding in case they been camping for too long in one place anyway, which make this ban not only useless but also cause even more unfair competition and put killer in favor.

To add even more salt to the wound is one set of rule in case of disconnection...

• If the team has one victim hooked or one generator fixed or one death count, the game must continue regardless of disconnection
• If one of the term above unfulfilled, the team earn the right to restart the match but only once

As you can tell, this rules quickly bent when there's one match where disconnection occur twice for one team, yet they were allowed to restart twice when the rules clearly stated that you can only restart ONCE.

Pretty wild indeed. But the real kicker of these event is...

DBD Is Peer To Peer Game
So basically if a game is peer to peer instead of using dedicated server, anyone who host the game, will act like a server which mean every game process are completely rely on that one guy PC (Monster Hunter player could relate). But the thing is, if the host has some issues like lag or high ping, the rest of the player will suffer the most as they will receive those high ping hit in every single action they take. This wouldn't help the matter when this competition...were GLOBAL! Let's just say you're America Esport team and have to face Russian team. By that alone you can tell each of the team will face the lag/ping issue no matter who is the host. This wouldn't help the matter even more when...

Some Team Host Exploit The High Ping
There's been discussion after this event including the team who were suspected to use exploit to win the match. As we just talked about, the host of the game will carry the load of the proceeding match but that doesn't mean everyone would carry their duty as intended because some Esport team who happen to be the host at one match, were accused to throttle their connection so their opponent faced with unresponsive input due to lag. This pretty much seal the deal for DBD that even dev themselves make a claim, said that they will direct the game as narrative driven one instead of putting effort to make it Esport material. Which i personally believe it's better that way because DBD wasn't aimed for Esport to begin with. Considering how the game hold up to this day, i say they mean their words about the game narrative direction.

The Tourney Was A Waiting Game
In most tournament like this, there's always a schedule for each team. Who against who, when they were competing, pretty much the basic. It might be nightmarish if the competitor numbers were a lot, but it is the requirement to make a well organized event like this. However these organization fail to organize (no pun intended) the main function of every competition. It is reported there's one team who were entering the match were told to wait until their names comes up, thinking they will competing soon but only to find out they were competing 4 hours later. This annoy some team so much that they end up too tired of waiting and decide to drop the match (aka feeding/throwing) so they can quickly go back to sleep. This won't happen if the organizer put everyone name on schedule and told them when they will compete. If the player know when their time is up, they can take some time to strategize or doing something else until their queue numbers came up, filling their time with something else to kick their boredom of waiting. But because they weren't told thanks to disorganized tourney, they all sit there waiting on livestream out of fear that their numbers is being skipped and disqualified. 

Putting pedal on the anal, is there's some account of the team who spill what happen behind the screen. They were told that they will compete against who and that is all. No clue when their number is up or even an update or anything. They all waiting for so long that some of them end up taking shift to watch the stream in case their name is up. And when it did, they were called by the organizer but thanks to the long wait, some of the team member are falling asleep and end up delaying the match for a good minutes as they had to launch the game and organize their character for the match. The rich part? The organizer blame the team for being disorganized. For being disorganized. FOR BEING DISORGANIZED!

The Livestream Is Everyone Nightmare
I can't say about everyone experience when watching Esport tournament from the likes of EVO, The International DOTA, or even CSGO. But one thing i can say for sure is the stream are looking pretty much organized be it from the match screen, cooling break time, or host talking with each other. Which is something that this event lack...

• The match wasn't held in a convention or anything but at home, and it was livestreamed through Twitch. Which is fine if not for the fact that the livestream are riddled with live chat, notification with sound effect, and space hogging host camera. All the while most important aspect of this match which is the sponsor, were put down bellow in a small space. Forgive me for taking it personally but can they just make it slide like a news ticker or something?
• The music used in commercial/cooling break isn't fitting with the game people are competing as they use EDM and Electronic genre music instead. To add more salt to the ear is they openly admit that the music were made by their friend (not business partnership) which make this very unprofessional to put self-advertisement like that, while the actual support were put down bellow, barely recognizable due to color scheme. This is even more hilarious considering this event were officially endorsed by Behaviour, the dev themselves! They can just ask the permission to use their music without fear of DMCA because this event are official to begin with!

The Commentator Is Nut For The Job (pun intended)
For the record, most Esport live commentary are not just a guy you can hire in any streets while being caught playing Rhythm Heaven on their 3DS. Event such as EVO for example, all of their host are not just anyone influencer but an actual person who spend real hours in the game and even make their presence known be in on ranked match or their activity on livestream. Which is why they always seems to be in the know, and know the term in-game that make every side of audience could take note of should they are still new to the game, while make the veteran sit contently knowing the host is not someone who bark and hark for the sake of bark and hark...which is what happen here at DBD Esport...

• Despite their claim, some audience manage to find the host game account and find out the host only play DBD for a good 70 hours. Keep in mind this game is live service where most thing need to be unlocked and take a good amount of time to grind which make those 70 total play hours questionable. (At the time of the event, The Clown is the latest update, which by that time, there's already new characters and perk to learn and grind, making the 70 hours even frowned upon)
• They forgot to mute their mic and some of them can be heard talking to the event manager who said clearly that they will lose the host if they restart the PC to fix the network issue on their side, showing even more proof that they were not prepared.
• Most if not all the time, the commentary were either cringe inducing or full of unfunny repetitive joke which to the point chat demand them to be muted or just outright switched. Talking while the game is on the way is fine as long as you don't break the competitive immersion but not only this guys talk too much, they keep talking about something that has nothing to do with DBD which is why. (DBD is about hide and seek or be killed but what did the host said most of the time? Dragonball reference and Valhalla whenever someone died. And they say this over and over in a 11 hours stream, let that sink in)
• At the commercial break, the host were dancing...
• The Host respond to negative chat...

Now for the last 2 points, i take that personally. These guys setup a music that is clearly not fit to the game theme, not only it was self-advertise which is unprofessional, but also vibing on camera on the already disgruntled audience. It's fine to vibing like that, but not on professional tournament where not just audience (which wasn't their audience as they only there to watch the competition), but actual sponsor who PAYS watching the stream! Why this sounds like this getting on my nerve, it is! The fact that the host blame the chat at the later of the stream for ruining the competitive vibe into negative one, i just can't help but want to tell them that they're the one who failing here. Host were supposed to carry the show by being the middleman which is why they have to be someone relatable but also keeping their business mindset around. Not only these nutjob are someone that no one knows in the side of livestream or community, but they clearly forgot that they were there for a great responsibility where every single of their action are accounted for. They pay this nutjob to do one job which they willingly take and they didn't expect this outcome or prepare for the alternative when things went south?

I know we're just human at the end of the day and has one or two emotional breakdown with the fact that some people got ugly side shown when they were off camera, but that was something that you do and say PRIVATELY, not upfront BS like that. Even if you cast the code of conduct aside, it still fall on human decency. You can't blame the audience speaking their mind about show that sucks, they might not paying audience that you could cast aside but they're vital for the sponsor and the game playerbase. Not only you ruin relationship and hype from audience for that game, you also put a middle finger on sponsor which would reflect badly on the future, especially if those sponsor are one of your streaming sponsor, which i can confidently say, that you don't and never will be. No one would sponsor someone whom outright freaking out like that. You don't. Do. That.

All That Remain
One account to another clearly shows that not only these organization are not prepared, but also give DBD dev an insight what this game is about if they want to reach Esport audience (which i already mention that they choose to abandon in favor of narrative). DBD is not exactly grand of a game but even so it still maintained by the dev to this day despite that factor. Even with the rise of similar slasher-genre horror like Friday 13th and latest release of Chainsaw Massacre, DBD team still persist on keeping the survival multiplayer genre seriously. Sure it's not a perfect game, which of course there's isn't one such game exist, but thanks to this mess, the dev manage to get a lots of resource to find what need to be fixed and keeping the narrative direction as their main idea, you can still see the game in recommended page on your Steam store beside nudity visual novel genre which we can safely say that they doing just fine despite this fiasco.

As for the Esport organization themselves, they bite the bullet than they can take up because slowly but surely, sponsor are pulling up, not even amateur Esport team want to participate their event, and lots what and whatnot. Even more crazy is they even remove the review out from their page due to backlash, before finally silencing their social media for good, saves their Youtube and Instagram. Last time i checked, their Youtube channel last update was 3 years ago, with just 100 subscriber remain. I didn't check their Instagram because i don't have Instagram~ unless it's part of my IRL job requirement, honest to god, don't let that happen!

This isn't the last time you hear DBD being put on Esport however. Some crazy bastards still dare to give this game a try. Despite various result, none has ever reach this peak of failure hosting that game so we can say that those crazy bastards at least know what they doing. Again, this is the event of the past which some of you might wonder why i love to lick the old wound. Simple answer. I just want to let you know/remember that this mishap can happen no matter how farfetched it sounds and you better know as long as it has your name, you will be responsible for any fiasco and pray it won't take long to settle and won't put a total life changing on your end...or just don't organize anything really, just to be on safe side.

Elena shutting down~

Edited September 10, 2023 by Elena Ichinomiya

[Elena Ichinomiya]

You know, gaming these days really don't make it easy for us to get our fun for what its worth. You bought pricy game, it end up bug ridden. You bought pricy game again, it has online only DRM even for single player mode. You bought another pricy game, it's plain shite. And then you bought decent game, it give you decent experience without much bug to write home about. And then you try buying another decent game, it somehow become your guilty pleasure. But then, you got possessed and bought cheapest game possible, it end up consuming your time so much that you even dare playing it on office due to its small size and can be minimized quickly. It's like buying pizza. It's sometimes delicious but sometime it taste like chicken. 

 

But at the very least you have lemon tea in your life to get those taste down the guts!

"Back then, even game worth less that 100 MB has their own hard copy because we don't have digital mean to own a game"

 

In General

While we have more mean to find casual game that would be close to idle game for our PC these days, back in 2000s, this kind of game is pretty much what fill the shelves around the corner. Have you heard about one of those "1000 in 1" kind of game collection in one disc? Yeah, this is pretty much it. But sometimes the dev are doing good enough to release their game on their own so their profit sharing won't go anywhere. While putting this minimalist game to "1000 in 1" are considered easy marketing back then because you won't have to worry about the publishing, it can put your game under the mud if those "1000 in 1" release was filled with games like Big Rigs. I'm not joking, many people bought those kind of game disc and they only manage to find one game that was deemed playable. 

You might be thinking, what's in those "1000 in 1" game disc contain. Well have you heard Diner Dash games? Yeah, that game is pretty much Call Of Duty of casual games in 2000s and they never escape those "1000 in 1" release. If you're too hip for that game, how about Vamprire Survivor? Any humble sized game that doesn't kill your hard disk (remember this is 2000s era of gaming) and easy to pick and play without much going on is what inside this cheap New Year gift imaginable. But then again, it's always quantity over quality when it come to this stuff. But would you believe that i found hidden gem of a bullet hell called SORA from this type of collection? Yeah, talk about treasure hunting.

 

So! Lemonde Tycoon

In this game, you play as a humble faceless man who sell lemonade. That's it. I mean its called lemonade tycoon for a reason, so if there's ice tea lemon, the game would be viable for false advertising. Anyway! There's two mode in this game.

1. Career mode, where every open ended game are
2. Challenge mode, where you have only 30 days to make as much profit as possible

Obviously the career mode is where the fun is but let me tell you little thing about challenge mode. You won't be able to reach Stadium in that mode before you the days run out.

There is also feature called LSX or Lemonade Stock Exchange that doesn't work anymore. I don't know what it's about but something tell me it's where you can flex your high score (profit) to others. Hey, gaming back then only won you bragging right unlike today who not only give you bragging right as well as being cancelled for liking game that some type of people don't like. Talk about sour!

 

The Game

Obviously you gonna prepare everything in correct order. The game won't let you sell anything if your supplies is lower than the recipe requirement or if your glass supplies is zero. Seriously, you can start your day selling one lemon because you forgot to buy more beforehand. Believe me, i tried. So it goes without saying that you have to buy supplies every time you want to start your day. Thing is, the game might be a hassle when you just started. Because you lack of equipment, your lemon supplies diminished slowly because they got spoiled. And you will always buy ice every single day because unused ice will melt away until you have ice maker which give you 100 ice cube and would slowly regenerate when it is used. Not only that, you also need to keep pricing in mind as certain people won't buy your lemonade if it was too pricy while some would go for broke to buy a glass no matter the price (as long as it wasn't too crazy obviously). 

It is also worth noting that there's also weather that would affect your sale. If the weather was nice and breezy, you will got decent profit. If the weather is blazing hot, you will get more profit as people would buy your lemonade more. If it was cold day or raining, people rarely buy your lemonade unless you already popular enough or at least, lower the price.

By all means...

1. Always resupply!
2. Be patient because you will not get profit much due to frequent resupply at the beginning
3. Keep in mind about your recipe (i'll tell you later)
4. Keep the weather forecast in mind to adjust your price accordingly
5. Don't go all horny over ads! Just one dollar for starter is enough!

 

The Recipe For Disaster

As you can imagine, you must adjust your recipe accordingly. Would you believe that you can sell lemonade without lemonade and ice and sugar at all which mean you only sold empty glass? Yeah, you can, some people weirdly enough never make complaint about the taste at all! Your popularity and satisfaction do get affected though.

Anyway! The recipe i use is 5 Lemonade, 3 Ice, 3 Sugar. Keep in mind you sold it in a pitch which...oh right, lemonade pitch. As much as you thought you could sell your lemonade like machine gun, you can't. You will always started with full pitch consist of 16 pitch. When it was run out, it will be "reloaded" before you can continue the business. Thing is, if you didn't have Juicer yet, it will take LONG time to get those pitch reloaded. Imagine yourself squishing those lemonade in front of those people. As you can tell, people would leave due to long serving time because you're being slow in squishing those lemonade. But don't worry! Its normal and you can still earn profit regardless.

As you can tell, the change or recipe is a must depending on weather. If it's nice and breezy, keep my old recipe in mind which is 5-3-3. But if the weather is blazing hot, you might want to tweak the ice. But if it was cold weather, lower those ice amount or even turn it to zero because WHO ON EARTH DRINKING ICE LEMONADE UNDER THE WINTER NIGHTS!?

...me?

 

Fishing For A Price

In this section, there's 2 pricing. One, how much your lemonade cost. And two, your advertise effort. Let's talk the easy part first, the ads. If you just started, don't get too crazy over the ads because it can easily kill your profit especially if it doesn't sell too well for a day. Just be humble and put flier ads for starter and only raise it if you think you know how the market are in your favor.

The actual pricing for your lemonade is suffice to say is the real key. If it was left alone, it's your safest bet but i usually rise it around 1 to 1.5 or even bold enough to get it up to 2 when the weather was blazing hot (opportunist bastard!). Now here's another immersive thing about this game. While 1.5 pricing might still affordable to some people, kids will shy away from buying your lemonade and some adult folks wouldn't likely want to buy on the first glance. Businessman will never make fuss though as i mentioned unless you're being nonsense. 

I mean who sold 100 bucks of lemonade...on a suburb!? Who buy that!? Andrew Torte!?

 

Staff!

What kind of management game without staff? Just manage. Anyway, you have 2 staff for hire. One is the cashier and the other one is a clown to keep satisfaction from diminishing. Both have same salary which is 60 bucks which obviously a no go for you if you just start your game...but, there's a little exploit.

Because this game is nicely done, doesn't mean it is bug free. If you hire the cashier, and then fire her at the same day before you start your business, her buff to serve the customer as fast as she could still remain without you paying a dime! But you need to repeat this process again if you exit the game however.

 

The Upgrade

This is where the real sink hole for all your selling effort. But they all worth every dime which is surprising because i expect some equipment would serve as sink hole trap as they serve little to no merit. Anyway, here's the list of equipment and the price. Given that you sold lemonade for 1.5, imagine the grind...

• High Output Citrus Juicer $49.99 Get the juice out of lemons in no time!
• ShadeMaker 3000 Canopy $129.99 Keep your customers cool.
• Miracle 9000 Power Juicer $149.99 Refill pitchers at lightning fast speed!
• EZserve Cash Register $249.99 Speed up your serving process!
• Mr. Fridge $249.99 Never waste money on spoiled lemons again!
• Ice-O-Matic Ice Dispenser $399.99 Tired of wasting money on ice cubes?
• Classic Stand $449.99 A classic look for a guaranteed hit!
• High-Five Sound System $799.99 Have the grooviest music around.
• Lemon Stand $999.99 The ultimate stand on the markey!
• Bright Lights Neon System $1249.99 Grab their attention.
• Take2 Lemonade Dispenser $1599.99 Lowers serving time/fill pitchers faster
• High Output Automatic Ice $2599.99 Never run out of ice again! Maker
• Castle Stand $9999.99 More than just lemonade.

Now then...time for explanation...*inhale*

• Citrus juicer will help you reload the pitch slightly faster
• ShadeMaker is unseen buff for your lemonade stand and keep customer satisfaction on the rise
• Power juicer will help you reload the pitch more faster
• Cash Register will help you serve your customer faster
• Fridge is self explanatory but it doesn't help you produce ice, it only keep your lemonade from spoiling
• Ice Dispenser is your basic ice cube maker that give you 100 ice that would regenerate over time
• Classic Stand is the upgrade for your lemonade stand. It offer you decent storage space to store more supplies
• Sound System is another buff like ShadeMaker to keep customer happy
• Lemon Stand is ridiculous shaped stand that help you store even more supplies...have you seen anyone sell lemonade with that thing?
• Bright Neon will help people notice your lemon stand
• Lemonade Dispenser is the final upgrade for your lemon squisher
• High Output Ice Dispenser is the final upgrade for your ice cub generator. You won't find the need to buy ice cube anymore
• Castle Stand is another ridiculous shaped stand with towers around it. Just for bragging right given the price but it also give you more space for supplies

Alright...i done it...with 5 breathing! I need my lemonade...while we're at it, here's the stand list and how much they can hold your supplies. 

• Default N/A 100 Lemons, 100 Ice, 200 Sugars, 200 Cups
• Classic $449.99 130 Lemons, 75 Ice, 500 Sugars, 350 Cups
• Lemon $999.99 250 Lemons, 150 Ice, 750 Sugars, 600 Cups
• Castle $9999.99 500 Lemons, 300 Ice, 1800 Sugars, 1200 Cups

 

Locations

Oh yeah! You think you gonna make everyone face sour with your lemonade around suburb? No way! Let the world know your terror of sourness by changing the location! Obviously i wouldn't recommend it if you just started. Anyway, the places are...

• The Suburbs $0.00 Your very own neighborhood!
• The Park $10.00 Kids love lemonade!
• Downtown $30.00 Now it's time to get serious
• The Train Station $30.00 Catch the commuters.
• The Beach $40.00 Hot spot for sunny days!
• The Mall $50.00 Welcome to consumer's heaven!
• The Marina $50.00 Sell to the rich and famous.
• The Old Square $100.00 Show the tourists some hospitality.
• The Magic Gardens $100.00 Are you big enough for this small world?
• The Hexa-Stad $150.00 Meet them at the ballgame.

*INHALE*

• Suburbs is where you start your business. Fear of not getting used to the market on your new location? You can always come back here rent free
• Park is mostly filled with kids so adjust the price that suits them or you'll only burn money renting this location
• Downtown is where the business people flock but keep in mind that while they won't mind slightly highest price, they're not exactly patient customer so don't move here yet until you buy the basic upgrade first
• Train Station also work like Downtown but even the normal looking folks are also impatient so don't move here until you get the basic upgrade
• Beach is like upgraded suburb but when the weather is scorching hot, people will get in line to your stand. I suggest to only move here when the weather is blazing hot and move somewhere when it isn't
• Mall is also upgraded version of suburbs. People have money but because Mall has air conditioner, you'll have to rely on popularity to make a killing. Unless certain situation cause the Mall air conditioner to malfunction that is.
• Marina is upgraded version of beach. Just move here when the weather is blazing hot but if your profit is stable enough, you can stay here longer
• Old Square is perhaps where the customer are picky just like the Mall. You'll need to rely on your popularity to make a killing
• Magic Garden...i forgot how this place run
• Hexa Stadium is where the peak of your career is. There are lots of people even on rainy days, they always buy your lemonade at higher price than usual.

But seriously if some of you see someone sold lemonade on a lemon shaped stand with lemon shaped helmet...it's a sour sour sour world we live in.

 

Random Event

Sometimes, your surrounding can alter how much you can sold your lemonade. Some even could alter what should be good day to sell lemon into bad day for business such as storm weather on beach or train accident on train station. But some of them can also profitable like Mall air conditioner went defunct which resulting Mall visitor to buy your lemonade more than usual.

Credits to Jubeik9 on GameFaqs for this notice because i only remember just a little of those newsletter!

Spoiler

o A Lemon a Day Keeps the Doctor Away! - Good for business

o Air Conditioning Problems At The Mall! - All the more reason to buy your lemonade

o All Government Employees Get Salary Hike! - Customers will pay more

o Anarchists Block Mall Main Entrance! - Bad for business at the Mall

o Annual Boat Show at Convention Center: Sea enthusiasts Stay Indoors! - Good for business at the Marina

o Back to School: Amusement Park Empties - Bad for business at the Magic Gardens

o Baseball AddictTM Homerun Record Holder... Is In Town for The Game Tonight - Good for business at the Hexa-Stad

o Beach Hosts International Surf Contest! - Good for business at the Beach

o Beach Ready For National Volleyball Competition! - Good for business at the Beach

o Beautiful Sunshine! - Good weather

o Big Chill Takes Town By Surprise! - Bad for business

o Bridge Closed: Drivers Take Train - Good for business at the Train Station

o Car Accident Blocks Bridge: Suburb Workers Get a Day Off! - Good for business at the Surburbs

o Cargo Train Collision! Is Rail Transport Secure? - Bad for business at the Train Station

o Chamber of Commerce Holds Convention Downtown! - Good for business at Downtown

o Championship Chances Depend on Tonight's Game - Good for business at the Hexa-Stad

o Citizens Boycott Mall for Selling Products Tested On Animals! - Bad for business at the Mall

o Citizens Invade Beach For Shrimp Festival! - Good for business at the Beach

o Citizens Relax As Long Weekend Approaches! - Good for business

o Citizens Rush Toward Downtown Area To Watch Parade for Mayor's Birthday! - Good for business at Downtown

o Citizens Unite Against Genetically Modified Lemons! - Bad for business

o Coach to Leave Captain on the Bench Tonight? - Bad for business at the Hexa-Stad

o Collection Of Ancient Boats On Display at the Marina - Good for business at the Marina

o College Bums Partied All night: Broken Glass found Everywhere At The Beach! - Bad for business at the Beach

o Country Music Star Suzy Spur Signs Autographs at the Mall! - Good for business at the Mall

o Crime Rate Alert: Mayor Advises Suburb Citizens to Stay Inside! - Bad for business at the Suburbs

o Customers rush to The Mall to Win Contest! - Good for business at the Mall

o Dead Fish Smell After Big Storm: Marina Stinks! - Bad for business at the Marina

o Doctors Say Waiting In Line Can Reduce Stress! - Customers will be more tolerable of waiting

o Dolphins Sighted From Beach Area! - Good for business at the Beach

o Election Campaign: Mayor Visits Suburbs Today! - Good for business at the suburbs

o Environmentalists Find Lemonade Stands Responsible For Littered Streets! - Bad for business

o Family Day At Amusement Park - Good for business at the Magic Gardens

o Fireworks Tonight At Amusement Park - Good for business at the Magic Gardens

o Free Outdoor Concert At The Park! - Good for business at the Park

o Full Moon Possibly The Cause For Citizens' Irritability and Impatience! - Customers will be less tolerable of waiting in line

o Health Survey: Lemonade Is Good For You! - Good for business

o High Waves: Coast Guard Recommends Staying On Shore - Bad for business at the Beach

o Hike in Air Fares Creates Spike in Alternative Transport. - Good for business at Train Station

o Historic City Gets Flooded: Historic Damages! - Bad for business at the Old Square

o Home Team Loses Six In a Row! - Bad for business at the Hexa-Stad

o Huge Sale At The Mall! - Good for business at the Mall

o Interest Rates At Their Lowest In Years! - Customers will pay more

o Kid's Day: Free Tickets for Today's Game - Good for business at the Hexa-Stad

o Lemonade Mania Strikes Town! - Good for business

o Lemonade Stand Competition Increases Around Town! - Bad for business

o Lemonade Stand Owner Wants to Be a Millionaire! - Good for business

o Little Girl Takes Syringe Home: Found in Park! - Bad for business at the Park

o Local Kid Sells Best Lemonade in Town! - Good for business

o Long Weekend: Tourists Invade Historic Center - Good for business at the Old Square

o Maintenence Repairs Downtown: Roads Blocked! - Bad for business at Downtown

o Maintenence Repairs: Mall Closes At 12:00 PM! - Bad for business at the Mall

o Major Power Failure: Generator Can Only Support Half of the Park - Good for business at the Park

o Medieval Music Festival Opens Today - Good for business at the Old Square

o Mosquitos Invade Park! - Bad for business at he Park

o National Tax Refund: More Money Into Citizen's Pockets! - Customers will pay more

o National Weather Service Announces Extreme Heat! - Good weather

o New Super Rollercoaster Opens Today - Good for business at the Magic Gardens

o No Clouds Ahead! - Good weather

o Open Boat Day: Owners Show Their Boats - Good for business at the Marina

o Our Word Of Advice: Don't Leave Home Without A Warm Sweater! - Bad weather

o Park Hosts Little League Baseball Final Today! - Good for business at the Park

o Pickpocket Raid Leave Citizens Penniless! - Customers will pay less

o Pickpockets Active: Tourist Gets Robbed - Bad for business at the Old Square

o Pigeons Get Mad: Raid Over Tourist Place - Bad for business at the Old Square

o Pilgrimage to Star Trip Convention: Thousand Of Fans Converge On City - Good for business

o Postal Strike Delays Delivery Of Tax Refund Checks! - Customers will pay less

o Rail Employees Go On Strike - Bad for business at the Train Station

o Rain, Rain, Rain And More Rain! - Bad weather

o Record Smog Covers Town Under Dark Clouds! - Bad weather

o Recurrent Traffic Problems Make Citizens Impatient! - Customers will be less tolerable of waiting in line

o Royal Marriage in Historic Church Today! - Good for business at the Old Square

o Save The Planet Day: Commuters Encouraged to Use Clean Transport - Bad for business at the Train Station

o Sewage Probems Make Downtown Stink! - Bad for business at Downtown

o Sharks Spotted Near Beach! - Bad for business at the Beach

o Sidewalk Sale Attracts Masses Downtown! - Good for business at Downtown

o Stock Market Collapses: Investors in Turmoil! - Customers will pay less

o Students On Strike: Access To Downtown Area Limited! - Bad for business at Downtown

o Suburb Citizens Celebrate "Stay At Home" Day! - Good for business at the Suburbs

o Suburb Empty As Citizens Lineup For Bart Crook's Concert Tonight! - Bad for business at the Suburbs

o Suburb Holds Biggest Garage Sale Ever! - Good for business at the suburbs

o Sudden Heat Wave Strikes Town! - Good weather

o Super Roller Coaster Hits a Bump: Repairs Needed - Bad for business at the Magic Gardens

o Survery: 10 out of 10 Citizens Hate Lineups! - Customers will be less tolerable of waiting in line

o Sweet Drinks Major Cause of Obesity! - Bad for business

o Teachers On Strike: No School For Kids! - Good for business

o Teen Gang Hassles Kids at the Park! - Bad for business at the Park

o Temperature Rises to Record Heights - Good weather

o The Sun Shines On Our Beautiful Town! - Good weather

o Thunder Storm Alert: Game Uncertain for Today - Bad weather / Bad for business at the Hexa-Stad

o Town Celebrates National Lemon Day! - Good for business

o Town Plans to Reduce Citizens' Stress By Offering Free Yoga Classes! - Good for business

o Town Under El Gringo's Effect! - Bad weather

o Town's Park Voted Most Beautiful of the Country! - Good for business at the Park

o Two Lions Escaped from Zoo Spotted Neat Park Area! - Bad for business at the Park

o UV Alerty: Authorities Warn Citizens to Stay Off Beach Area! - Bad for business at the Beach

o Water Contamination Possibility: No Swimming At The Beach! - Bad for business at the Beach

Yeah, when there's circumstance changes, make it sounds like a news and you'll felt immersed in the game...seriously who drop syringe at the park!? And those Environmentalist! Get off my stand you anti-oily faced peanut butter! I sold lemon, not gravy!

There's also serious quotes at the main menu but...oh well...

Spoiler

"Do other men, for they would do you." That's the true business precept. - Gahan Wilson

"The best advice I was ever given was on my twenty-first birthday when my father said, 'Son, here's a million dollars. Don't lose it.'" - Charles Dickens

"A good rule of thumb is if you've made it to thirty-five and your job still requires you to wear a name tag, you've made a serious vocational error." - Larry Niven

"God has mercifully withheld from humanity a foreknowledge of what will sell." - Dennis Miller

"Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue." - Bernard Miles

"Cut your losses and let your profits run." - Scott Adams

"A market is never saturated with a good product, but it is very quickly saturated with a bad one." - Proverb

"It's a poor workman who blames his tools." - Henry Ford

"Don't stay in bed, unless you can make money in bed." - Unknown

"More and more these days I find myself pondering how to reconcile my net income with my gross habits." - George Burns

"Gentlemen prefer bonds." - John Nelson

"If you owe the bank $100 that's your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that's the bank's problem." - Andrew Mellon

"I've got all the money I'll ever need if I die by four o'clock this afternoon." - J. Paul Getty

"To make a million, start with $900,000." - Henry Youngman

"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination." - Morton Shulman

"A bargain is something you can't use at a price you can't resist." -Oscar Wilde

"We didn't actually overspend our budget. The allocation simply fell short of our expenditure." - Franklin Jones

"If you can count your money, you don't have a billion dollars." - Keith Davis

I hate businessman but i love them when they talk about banks!

Think we're done? Oh no, no we don't. Because i, Elena Ichinomiya, has sour her own life by playing this game on steamdeck! Kidding, the game wasn't available there and i don't even own steamdeck. But i do play it on the 2000s bricks which is Lemonade Tycoon...on SYMBIAN and JAVA!

 

Lemonade Tycoon Symbian vs Java

The tricky part about this review is depend on the game version or resolution, it offer different option. So i'll just focus on the original version which is for the 176x204 or 240x320.

One thing for sure is the game are not much different from PC version. The difficulty spike also there and the challenge mode also exist. But the visual is what make contrast difference and also the UI. In Symbian version, you'll always greeted with basic UI along with the quotes. In Java version, some remove the quotes box. It is also noted that in my experience, the Symbian version has more smooth visual and better SFX that very close to PC version than Java who has sharp visual and janky SFX.

The real difference of this version to PC is...

1. Staff are not available
2. Some equipment are not available (mostly the highest tier upgrade such as Castle stand, High Ice Dispenser, and Lemonade dispenser). Sound system upgrade and Neon Box also not exist in mobile version.
3. Many location are not available (Train Station, Marina, Old Square, Magic World, Hexa Stadium)
4. LSX feature are not available...but then again it's defunct feature anyway
5. I forgot which one has this set back but i remember one version only has double speed feature but no skip button available
6. This is mobile version what do you expect!?

 

In Conclusion

Lemonade Tycoon is pretty decent game for those who might want to simulate a business from small to greater heights. The challenge are not too steep, the grind wasn't really a kill joy, some immersive in the weather and people mindset also give you challenge to set your recipe and price right, and the visual are not too shabby either. I mean if we don't talk about Java version that is but at least that also playable. I remember playing this game for a good amount of hours along with Townsmen 1 & 2 and also the peak era of my love for city building game.

All that said though, i'm sorry to say that i can't emulate the Symbian version because i never manage to find the Symbian emulator. But i do have J2ME emulator to play the Java version today. Guess i was lucky enough to own Nokia back then to have a taste of how a game that mostly require sit and watch has its own charm of their own. Let's cheer this year Halloween with lemonade and with that...

Elena shutting off~

[Elena Ichinomiya]

Inspired! Alive! Believable! That's probably something that you say when you see a character. Yeah this time, I'm in the mood to talk about game character presentation that to this day, still leave it's mark in my memory. I mean, come on, surely you have one video game character that you deem them very relatable and close to home regarding their background or personality. Or maybe amaze you so much that you never thought such presentation was possible. So without further ado...let's get off topic!

 

Yggdra Yuril Artwaltz (Yggdra Union)

If you ever ask me who is the most dangerous blonde female character that you don't want to mess around with in video game, i would say Yggdra would fit any bill. Say whatever about Zelda, because Yggdra is probably one of the most kickass presentation of a Princess whom you able to see how her characterization changed before your very eyes.

As you can tell, she look like unreliable and always believe diplomacy is an option type of Princess. But boy, she doesn't stick to the mud like that I tell you. Every progression of story, she start to learn that sometimes, war is the solution. At one point, she begin to take the fight seriously but still reluctant to do so deliberately even though the situation calls for it. In fact, at the chapter where you had to choose to kill either Rosaria or Rosewell, she still hope there's chance for negotiation but in the end, she (or you in this case) had to take up the sword and point at whoever you choose to die. After the battle, she still show remorse but reluctantly agree that bloodshed may be the only solution to any conflict.

And when you think her character are set to go, no you're wrong. There's a chapter that even though she seems innocent and diplomatic, she still had grudge burnt within when she saw the very nemesis who killed her parent and overtake her Kingdom, and personally chase after them in pure rage. This is pretty much what make her character strong and believable because there's no way in hell any people would just forgive and forget a person who deliberately butcher your family and burn your house in front of you in a blink of an eye. In fact, Yggdra is the only Princess character I know of who still show the real hatred toward her nemesis in such fashion, and somehow capable to hide her hatred without letting even the player themselves from being aware of how much intense her hatred is toward her nemesis because she never shown or talk about it other than telling us that she only care about reclaim what is rightfully hers; the throne. That is until the said chapter.

The moment when her army begin to counter the invader, I honestly thought that was it for her characterization but again, I was proven wrong. At one point, she realize what she had become; the very invader that she hate, but also the realization why it had to be done in which there's no point of return for her. It went so far beyond, that she begin to curse the very conflict itself. I'm not joking, if you play the game and reach this part, you'll realize Yggdra begin to accept her victory with pride rather than feeling glad she survive or feeling sorrow for hurting others to reach her goal. 

And of course the real meat is if you decide to invade the heaven at the end, her character is truly, utterly, and believably changed and I personally hope this is how she become. A Princess that loath the conflict so much, that she sworn that she would put an end the entity who start it all...the god themselves. I'm not joking, the innocent and pacifist lady you see in the picture slowly become the very embodiment of war itself. To this day, she still become my very base of how to do believable character is through the evolving personality due to their surrounding.

 

Rean Schwarzer (Trails of Cold Steel/Reverie)

Edgy? Won't blame you. Look depressed? Kind of agree with that. Preggo? Just kidding. Tongue tying last name aside, Rean is one of a few male character that I personally deem not overreaching every aspect of JRPG character trope. If anything, given you would bother to play the game from the 1st release, he is pretty much the embodiment of zero to hero, and not being blatantly oblivious nor obnoxious in its progression. Though he do give some "anime" speech whenever he goes to battle, his presentation did make up his character to be relatable. But again, given you would bother to play the 1st release of the game or else you just feel like seeing dude with sword anime power and that's it.

To start off, Rean was a "nobody". In the first game, he just son of baron who actually has little issue with his inner demon. You might think that, "Eh, he probably use it like devil trigger or when someone in danger". But no, he never do that on first game. For this part, I applaud the developer to stick to the lore because in novelization, Rean almost never goes all out with his inner demon to solve his problem, which is good because if the dev decide to let the power become usable ability, his inner demon won't feel so impactful to become the very vital part of his character presentation; a man who struggle to find the reason behind his mysterious power.

On the 2nd game, Rean as character seems to grow from a man who don't even know what he doing, into a man who brave the unknown. And it truly shown when he set off from Ymir as he finally, and for the first time, has clear goal. Throughout the sequel, he slowly become the leader of the group, something that he used to be shy away from. 

On the 3rd game is when I learn that just because there's time skip and all, doesn't mean you can't put the past issue in your character to become the main focus once more. True to the lore, Rean inner demon once again causing some issue and not to mention, he once again shy away from using it unlike on the 2nd game where he can brazenly use it whenever the situation calls for it. Rean hesitation and reluctance truly presented very well, given how true it is when human gain power that they didn't asked for or not prepared for, they will fear of themselves. Which again, make his presentation believable given that he show his hesitation without a doubt nor hide it through "anime" speech or getting push from loved one like what happen on 2nd game to pull through. In fact, despite the 3rd game being questionably underwhelming than the rest of the series for the story factor, Rean portrayal as person who struggling inside really presented very well and like i said, without any "anime" shout and moment, it shows how desperate he is to break free from the confusion.

On the 4th game is when he begin to slowly accept the help from anyone. This, in my opinion, is where Rean being one of the oddity among JRPG protagonist. He literally asked for help to keep his inner demon in control. Normally there's always part where the character just struggle by themselves and won over their shadow of themselves, but not Rean. He know he couldn't do it alone after all those years. You can say he's being pathetic but this is what I personally like from him as character. He already struggle for years, he tried and failed which already happen since 1st game, so he try other method by relying on each other. I also had to point out that somehow, Rean in 4th game sounds like a person who just want to laid everything to rest. It might be just me but he did sounds like a person who want to end himself after fixing his own mess he did on the 3rd game. 

Long story short, I like how his character progression wasn't rushed in just one game. Each game told you how he become who he is, what he went through to reach that point, and the result for each episode. It's pretty much like a book I dare say. And I'm glad I own 4 of it include Reverie...in case you wondering, I pick Laura.

 

Yuri Se-o (Closers Online)

Fair warning, I didn't delve the character much because the game was pulling the plug in my region. But then again, live service game tend to screw their own lore so there's that. Anyway...

If you familiar with character from Danganronpa 2 named Ibuki Mioda, she's pretty much alike. Both talkative, both are friendly, though Yuri is excel in Kendo than strumming an instrument.

Instead of amazed, I somehow felt inspired by this character background. Most of the character with superpower always had it easy. They either has it since birth, or awaken just now, yet they manage to be able to control it and live with it. But Yuri was different. She is late bloomer who can't control her own power which awaken when she's already a high school student. It was so unstable that at one point, she was called a danger to herself as the organization told her that she can kill anyone from a mere high five alone. You might assume she would be character who go gun blazing first, think later. But that's where you (and I) wrong. She might be carefree but when it come to her own power, she would feel shy and even sad about it.

Just get this, she won many Kendo competition without knowing her own power that has been dwelling inside her since birth. And winning competition is what keep the dinner on the table and paid off her schools bills. So when her power awaken, she was not only disqualified, she also denied from any award from previous victory include the privilege she used to had, leading to her struggle for living. To add even more rotten tomato on top, she lost every single friend respect who think she hide her ability so she can get easy win in every competition when in reality she don't even know she has that power. Even her closest friend despise her for being a Closer which is not Yuri choice to has that power. It would be the breaking point for any character. But instead of being edgy about her power given she has legit reason for it, Yuri as character just...well...

Normally i would say, "You try guys, you tried...". But I never find myself able to say that to her characterization. You could probably think she just hide her pain while still being bitter/sad she lost almost everything dear to her because of her power but no, not at all. She embrace those new power effective immediately, saying that it cannot be helped that she's a person with special power and use it for the right reason is the best thing she can do now. And she didn't say it as if she don't have any option; she just embrace the new life handed down to her. She wasn't being ignorant about her situation either, she still aware that she's hated by her friend and how her life gone south because of her power awaken so late. Normally most character just ignore the side character when they finally gain their footing in their comfort space, but Yuri as character, she still made to be aware of her own situation which is why she is easily relatable when it come to a person with great power who still searching what are her power meant for. Most of the character there hold their own typical edgy reason from old hatred, bitterness, unfinished business, loose end for being an agent but Yuri? She just thought it's a nice job with nice paying salary! Girl even dream of working in Government if she wasn't become an Closer agent so she can make living and her family won't go hungry, and even dream of having her own family for heaven sake! 

She's a side character believe me. But I think the story writer effort for her character is rather overkill for a person who supposed to be the humanity representation in this game. And I like it. Much. I wonder how her life goes in the story...too bad the game is shut down in my region. Oh well~ I can always continue it in my mind in form of fanfic~

Whoo-whee! That was a lot. It might be just 3 characters sure, I might bring up more if i could but i only have two hands and ten fingers alright, give me a break. Still though, I'm curious if there's any video game character that still live rent free in your mind for their greatness that it end up become the base of every OC you made today. I'm not joking when i said i always use Yggdra as a base for every progressing character I made, Rean for struggling character reference, and Yuri whenever i need a base for a tragic character. So yeah, maybe I would talk more about characters that impress me from my teen years to this day, or maybe some random game, who knows?

For now, Elena shutting off~

[Elena Ichinomiya]

Well, it hit the news already...

I'm not sure myself about this but I do agree on one thing. What just happen there other than Monster Hunter Wilds?

"This year game awards felt like as if EcchiDreams decide to put lots of filter on NSFW stuff include pictures despite being NSFW platform. It's as if people behind TGA this year is a bunch of geekd who is afraid to admit they're a geek in a place where people of their kind are welcomed."

Personally?
I do find this one weird moment when one Japanese developer who come up to stage with translator. Not Hideo mind you, I think the guy who made Zelda TOTK. I don't remember precise words of the translator said but it's something along the line of "I'll make it brief..." right after the Japanese dude speak up, which is not good. No I don't blame the translator because there's reason for that and believe me, for people who work as translator, saying and doing such thing is pretty much heavy handed decision they ever made as people might misunderstood what the person whom they interpret their language are trying to say. Why I said so? Because...

Almost All Dev Who Won Only Allowed To Speak For 30 Seconds
Which in or itself is pretty bad. I had one shameful moment where i had to deliver graduation speech back in high school and they give me a good 3 minutes. 3 minutes is the same duration of every music video, believe me, and it should cover enough time for dev to talk without butchering the show itself. To add more rotten cherry on top of the cake is this was proven by this teleprompter.

"Please fuck off, you talk too much samurai, we got ads to shows"

While Geoff dude said no one was being cut off in disrespectful manner, I had to pretend he just away to toilet at the time when BG 3 Dev is on stage. Because when the dev time is up and had to go off stage, the background music just started and muffle what the dev said before they rush off the stage as if they saw security guards is about to go up stage or something. Look, say anything about speeches but when you give people time to talk, you better give them time to talk. Cutting them off like that be it intentional or not is still total kick to the shin no matter how you put it. It's not special code of conduct, it's called human decency given the fact that the cutoff happen when the dev is dedicate their winning for the staff who pass away in mid-development, and the music just blaring off like that. 

Ads And No Significant Trailer
No joke. If you see this year TGA and said it felt like as if seeing ads on any F2P game on mobile whenever you want free diamonds. Because that's what i felt in this year TGA. As for significant trailer, I frown upon the decision to put trailer that already on YT since last month into the show which is...why? We already know, so why you call it premier? The only pure premier I'm aware of is OD, Marvel Blade, Light No Fire which actually been teased but okay, and Monster Hunter Wild. There might be more trailer that wasn't release on public yet that I missed but my point is what trailer TGA had is basically rinse and repeat stuff that we already seen every time we open YT on our phone. Oh and any Season Pass also count as ads IMO.

Indie Dev Are Not Presented Properly
Not many Indie dev are set on the stage at all. Worse case is, one of the game called Dave The Diver is NOT and Indie game. Indie game is basically a game made by mostly small studio and handled by them personally without backing up of the big wig which is Investor and Publisher. They are their own entity. Dave The Diver, while look like Indie game, is not Indie as it has back up from Publisher. Yet they are categorized as Indie. Someone at TGA either not know what Indie Game is or they just let their dog eat their homework or something to let such obvious things like this slip. 

Rush B For Ads
Last year, I remember there's lots of speech going on for the dev who won any kind of award. But as soon as I'm tune in for TGA this year, things just...rushed off. From one to another topic, there's no pause and all until Forza Motorsport name being called. At first I thought maybe the dev who won that award mostly can't come which is why. But then If we remind ourselves on last year TGA, the show bother to contact the dev who can't come to deliver a pre-recorded speech video to thank the people who vote them. Kojima, again, was one of them back then. Because why would they bother to call Ironmouse for Content Creator winner to make short and quick burst speech video to thank her supporter because she can't come to TGA, but couldn't bother with the rest? Like, what the hell? Did the dev pass out? Did the invitation enter their spam?

Anyway, you don't see much face in this year TGA. And even when they did, they just go up take trophy, say thanks, and that's it. Sure you can say "But Elena! This is TGA! Not Stop The Oil Protester!", look, this is Game Award alright? Those dev run a whole miles, pleasing investor while tending the fire of the community, and deliver the game in best form as they could. I don't think it's too much to let them speak what they think about the people who support them now do they?

What About The Shoutout?
I think you already aware how lots of game dev speak in unison about the state of gaming Industry right now. Massive layoff, people perish along the way of development, horrible working condition, dev who scam, dev who got trapped in shitty situation where they always be rushed and crunched. I had to agree in this one. Back then they shamelessly call Activision for horrible practice and shitty situation they got themselves. But now they shy away when it's clearly right on the face? Mind you, Microsoft announce the layoff on their company which include game development team around 10k people. But that's not big enough for TGA? Were they only want to give shoutout if the clout was similar to Activision toxic situation? Color me mad, man.

All that said
TGA this year is underwhelming and pathetic. There's no build up to the last session of the even. You know, the tension when the winner is gonna be announced etcetera? Gone. The shout and scream for every winner? Gone. Huge roaring crowd cries on trailer? Gone.

And like i said, many dev got their foot stuck in the mud this year for various reason in order to deliver the game we played today, and now the supposed shows that honor their work treating them like nuisance for their sponsors ads?

But at the very least we can chalk this one as the first screwed moment for TGA because hey, let's face it, there's always one horrible day at work. Let's just hope this won't repeat or worse, become routine. What I think about MH Wild you ask? Well...

Just know for some reason Capcom release the news only in MH World section but not on MH Rise...Capcom you cannibalize your own franchise and fanbase again did you?

Elena shutting off~

Edited December 12, 2023 by Elena Ichinomiya
Indie Game presentation section added

[Elena Ichinomiya]

To be real with you, i never thought myself as gamer or pro gamer or whatever gaming trope you had in mind when its about myself. I'm just someone who happen to pick gaming as my drug than actual drug and cigar...and coffee. No hate toward those but hey at least we share one sentiment when we told ourselves to keep it under control. Thing is, sometimes we crave for that drug but with different mixt of taste at some point. But it wouldn't be easy considering not everything we love has different taste like a potato chips. But boy do I ever tell you i had to go medieval for this one?

"Points for you if you know how i get a try in this"

In General
If you familiar with Sims franchise, you might have heard the spinoff which is where this coming from. I mean I talk about one of it back then which is Sims Bustin Out for GBA. Of course you can tell by now i played the other spinoff other than Castaway one and mind you, this one is pretty much standout like Castaway did because not only the game just derivate the system from main series, but it also come up with their own gameplay.

While other Sims spinoff like Bustin Out, Life Story and Pet Story is basically The Sims with story mode slipped in between, Sims Medieval share the idea like Castaway where you play in different way but not too far to feel detached from the main series.

But one thing that make this standout than Castaway is pretty much a lot given this is based from Sims 3 which is one title that offer open world system to the series.

Gameplay?
From the start, you'll be asked to name your Kingdom before entering the "world map". I say that in quotation because the world in this game wasn't as grand like Sunset Valley of Sims 3. It was pretty small, but not without reason. You see, while this might be based from Sims 3, some system had to go and one of it are vehicle. Yeah, not even a horse are part of this game at all. You have to walk to point A to B and playing speed up in between. That honestly didn't grinding my gear though. 

As you follow through the tutorial after making your first character which would be the King/Queen of this new region, you should be able to tell the contrast difference in this spinoff than the mainline. Yes, you only have two moods which is hunger and energy. No more bath and fun time. The reason this was implemented is because the dev want you to be able to focus on finishing the objective without being interrupted too much. Heck, you don't even have to socialize anymore to fill those social moods just for this reason. But even though those moods were gone, you can still had those moodlet anyway by commanding your Sims to bath or wash their face, play cards to get fun moodlet, or piss on a pot for...yeah that, we're in medieval era alright? Good thing EA didn't go that far by making us to empty that pot per use or i'll be personally traumatized. Anyway those small mood boost is far more important in this game than the main series because your sims success rate in performing their objective are depend on how feel good they are. Believe me when i said i almost fail many time because my Sims always feel decent which give 50-50 success rate every time i perform action.

Like Castaway, Sims Medieval has their own set of story and rules you have to follow. But unlike Castaway, you had your own way to solve things beforehand. After you play the tutorial, you'll be asked which quest you want to take next or maybe built another expansion to the region which cost CP but you'll get those every time you finish quest so don't worry much about that. What you should be aware of is your Kingdom status. Your region has status consist of 4 things. 

• Security : marked with sword and shield icon. This status shows how much secure your Kingdom are. While there's no full scale Total War going on if this going too low, you'll see frequent NPC bandit run about the Kingdom causing unrest and mug the people (even your own soldier) and eventually, you might be unlucky enough to be robbed. High level of security mean less to no trouble in the region but also affect economy.
• Health : marked with heart icon. Heart shows how healthy the region are. Low health will always cause your Sims to always contract a disease, affecting their mood and generally not very great overall to finish quest in good note. Your Sims also easy to be injured in every venture including duel even though they perform well so get the quest regarding health if this get too low. High health level will result in your Sims to always feel great every time they wake up.
• Intelligence : marked with brain icon. Intelligence determine how people interact with each other. Low value mean the people, your Sims included, is a dullard rambling nonsense. While this might not affect much, your mage might find themselves failing their spell every time and negotiation with other region raise slower. High value would result in better spell casting and negotiation.
• Culture : marked with harp icon. Culture determine how much well cultured your people are. You can fulfill this mostly by having church building and tavern in which they'll spawn quest that raise cult level. Low level cult will result in uncouth Sims and just being rude in general. Some even come up to your castle being stink or just...ahem, fart around. High level cult mean better attitude from your people as well as giving them a "god" to worship. Don't worry, they still fear you no matter what.

So yeah, basically your performance do affect your surrounding so consider the situation wisely but hey, i won't stop you from playing however you want. Some quest however demand you to command two or even three Sims at the same time. Each quest raise the level the status of your region depending on each quest. However you'll get warning if your quest will result in exceeded amount of level will be wasted as it goes over the capacity. No harm in that, but you might want to take the other quest instead to raise other Kingdom stats. In order for you to expand those level capacity, you have to build other establishment that represent those status. For example, if your security status has reach max, that mean you have to build barrack, blacksmith, and spy quarter so on and so forth. The game told you what kind of capacity will be added before you build anything so don't worry about that. Just check them one by one.

Roles?
Now you might be asking, what are my role in this? The answer is, varied. Every quest will put you in different position. You might find yourself stuck as the Monarch, soldier, blacksmith, mage, healer, bard, even cultist.

Roles are pretty much like a job in Sims franchise though the difference is you already setup for it instead of looking for one on newspaper. Anyway each role has responsibility which will be shown like wishes/whims every 8 AM. Some role actually had complicated responsibility and i would suggest you not to take role merchant if you're not up for that as it can get confusing to finish unless the quest involve more than just them. Finishing responsibility grant bigger boost of mood than any other facility so its best for you to finish it before you move on with your objective. Huh? What are the role specialty in the game might do? Well...varied. Where do i started...

• Monarch : Your very first Sims to create but also a character with most interaction similar to Soldier but with authority in between. Monarch rule the region but also capable to hands down punishment as well as making negotiation trade (technically) on the war table. Basically jack of all trade and fairly easy responsibility. It also easy to put them in good mood.
   
• Soldier : Like monarch, but less authority. Soldier task is keeping security as well as feeding monster at execution ground. They also likely tasked with duel so get them some decent armor and sharpen their blade in their inventory and pray you're in good mood when doing so. Fairly easy responsibility though you might have tough luck if you were tasked to hunt for meat. Do not duel in bad mood/injured state as it will kill you!
   
• Blacksmith : tasked with mining and making weapons. Blacksmith is the only character that can figure out minerals you see on the world and also mining them. Blacksmith minigame when making weapon is kind of confusing but basically you only had to move in between heating the iron and hitting them. Don't get it too cold or hot as it will affect the product you made. While they do make weapon, they can't duel. Easy responsibility but time consuming in a way.
   
• Merchant : any outside trade is their doing. Though you were not demanded to put anything to sale unless your responsibility told you, you can play this character like normal sims as their special interaction is mostly rabbit hole type. But thing is, i personally never able to finish all their responsibility mostly due to how vague the explanation are. So yeah, confusing responsibility might get you in trouble with this one but hey, you might be able to figure it out how.
   
• Healer : the very core of your health level. Though grotesque their place are, they are the only person who can figure out which herb you might find on the ground. Healer, as the name stated, heal the people through mean of medicine and lots and LOTS of leeches! Which you can find on greenish part of the water. You need them a lot as well as the herb you can grab your hands on in order to make them function and fulfill their responsibility while questing with them. The minigame might seems complicated, but it wasn't that hard once you got it right. Just lower those bad blood level to the gold or near it, then...choke them out with medicine, then pry their belly open! Somewhat easy responsibility.
   
• Mage : very funny fella in this game. Mage might sounds grand but actually simple. Their responsibility also fair in my opinion. Mage can create spell that can be good or bad, depending on which one you made. You can't get creative with it though as you have to follow the recipe to make a spell. The reason why i find this role funny is, the mage will hit themselves in the head to forget a spell, and they don't need bed as they sleep standing and call it meditating that you can do everywhere even on the palace. Fairly easy responsibility overall. Just spare your mage from hitting their head too much alright? Oh and they also have very noisy place to live.
   
• Spy : a very hybrid role. They can duel, they can make poison, they can identify herbs and they can even intimidate like bandit. Though the latter might not exclusive as you can do it with other role that has weapon. Spy deal with any stats except health in some cases. The role spy might be brutal in a way as their quest involve killing and that include your very own monarch in some quests. Their responsibility is similar level to soldier.
   
• Priest/Cult : the very devoted people who worship you. I'm not joking when i said that because in their prayer, they will always facing toward you, the Watcher. The sect are split up between the two. Let's break it down.
  • The Peteran : the very humble version of your worshipper. They believe in your graceful presence if not kind guidance toward their life. They know YOU as loving and compassionate entity that always guide them through thick and thin without questioning your decision (hope you never burn your sim for fun for this!). Their prayer animation will make them face toward you while closing their eyes while trying to "feel" you. Overall they're resemble any poor village church trope with a priest that never stop smiling.
     
  • The Jacoban : the very strict and orderly version of your worshipper. They believe that your wrath and judgement would be swift and deadly as they come. The Jacoban believe that you're vengeful presence are the sign why every people must follow your command without ever questioning it else they'll face YOUR wrath. Their animation for prayer is spreading their hands to the air as if they want you to notice them. The Jacoban follower are far more grand and luxurious in their upbringing compared to the Peteran, regardless both worship your good and bad aspect. Remember, they follow and pray to YOU, not your Monarch!

Simply put, you can pick whoever you want and how you prefer people worship you. It won't matter much but at least its good to have option of morality to make people respect and fear you and respect and love for you. One thing that make them stand out in their role is they can convert and bless people, also their responsibility to preach to their follower. It won't be easy however, as low level priest would have to deal with constant booing and...well, you know the drill when it come to religion history right?

• Bard : the very symbol of culture if not rather eccentric. To be fair though, they might as well be a court jester in a way. Bard settle in tavern, writing and performing poem reading or singing in general. In order for them to do so is by writing them down first after gathering some inspiration. You can just go to any spot to get related inspiration such as visiting palace would get them inspiration about royalty, going to barrack will give you inspiration of bravery, going to market will give you mixed inspiration. But don't get fooled, playing as Bard earlier without complete set of establishment will get you in trouble fulfilling your responsibility to get specific inspiration especially religion related inspiration if you don't have any church built yet. By all mean, do not play as Bard until you built every single facility!

So yeah, you're not there to be pretty. You have job to do there. Seeing i'm talking about it like this then you can tell i've suffered a lot to get them right. But once you get a clue, playing multiple role is a breeze. I like Soldier role though. At least i can wear armor without too much responsibility other than fighting...

World?
Like i said, Sims Medieval are based from Sims 3 but far smaller than Sunset Valley in a size of world. The reason for that is because the lack of transport mean and perhaps to cut up some source, they had to make it small but not entirely time consuming for player as their Sims had to walk everywhere. It is also noted that while you can purchase any furnishing to your desire, you cannot change the building layout, hence no build mode in this spinoff.

You're not the only region in this universe however, as you can find other neighbor region through the war table. Depend on scenario, you might already make friend on enemy but only after you finish the starter scenario first. As far as i'm aware of, this game truly gone medieval without much fantasy. Not even your typical elf run about in this game. It's not entirely break the immersion though, i mean, you literally choke patient on the operating table while also slicing them open is already too much in comical way. Or blacksmith who keep burning their hands. Heck the cult who worship you felt so real i can't help but compare them to IRL religion. There is however a point of interest, perhaps for your conveniences, are placed for quick access point. While most are rabbit hole, there's one certain point that you can see in it's full glory. The pit.

The pit is where you either punish your people to stock or off them to pit where these hungry...thing rest. It wasn't clear it's full form are but the pit serve just that, to execute any sims who were sentenced by your monarch and only monarch can execute those sims. Won't weasel myself there but the execution final is rather morbid for Sims genre but hey, that's Sims for you.

But tell you what, if you're in good mood, you can throw yourself some party by dueling that bastard down there and won or even get item afterward. No joke. I'm not sure what exact factor that make it success or not but the only time you won't die from this thing is when you finally unlock free mode.

Quest?
Overall the quest always told you what to do. You'll never get lost doing it. However you'll be penalized if you being too slow in your progression. The only thing that get in your way is of course, your sims horrid mood which is why I keep saying to get your sims in good shape whenever possible. I would say you can get yourself one day off to fix your Sims mood at the start of the quest before set off unless they already in good position. 

But of course since it's video game, you should expect your quest would be blocked by none other than bugs. It is been pointed out that any quest related to getting married will get stuck as Sims wouldn't be able to find proper route to reach the point to conduct their marriage even private wedding. It wasn't clear if this happen on vanilla or their expansion but just to be safe, don't tempt the fate unless you ready to get tired for nothing for the said quest.

Quote

When prompted to Have Marriage Here on any lot locations other than the two churches, They will have tendency to complain that they have routing issues (with a few times successfully working as intended), and a notification appears that the wedding got cancelled due to someone got a cold feet.

Oh you...

Conclusion?
I might not saying much about this but i like the game in some way. Though the bug at the wedding nag me, and how vague the merchant role responsibility are, i still like it. Especially being blacksmith. It might be simple game but to my surprise it has it's own depth similar to Castaway who not only had different format but also unique setup that make them standout. In fact, I'm quite surprised EA greenlight this one considering they're pretty much not in a good grace at the time of this release. But hey, spinoff series tend to get overshadowed but compared this to Sims 4 Batuu expansion? Talk about party fowl!

Elena shutting down~