(no subject)
STRAWBERRIES CONSUMED. Rambling begins.
What Bunny Likes
1. Real-Time Action-y Battles
Technical stuff first, it's easier. So... Yes. I <3 these, because while I have shit hand-eye coordination and poor reflexes, I CAN BUTTON-MASH LIKE NO TOMORROW. :D And/or sit my ass back away from the action and heal, or whatever. It depends on the game. Tales of Symphonia and Kingdom Hearts? BUTTON MASH, mostly. Star Ocean series? HEALER TIME. Why the difference? Tales of Symphonia - can't imagine being out of the action (and I can't figure out how to target my people, 'cause I suck). Kingdom Hearts - can't get out of the action. Star Ocean series? Can get off by the wayside (especially in SO3, with the GIGANTO-HUGE BATTLE SCREENS), and... I dunno, I just like sitting back and healing and/or attack-spell-casting. XD; IT'S JUST HOW I AM, OKAY.
The exception to this is menu-based battles. Kind of like turn-based, except while you're slogging through menus, your ass is getting kicked. Fortunately, you can usually swap over to a NOT STUPID option, but still. Who the hell uses that? ;; I LIKE MY TURN-BASED TURN-BASED AND MY ACTION-Y ACTION-Y, AND NEVER THE TWO SHALL MEET. ...UNLESS YOU STOP THE BATTLES WHILE I'M POKING THROUGH MENUS. ...YOU DOUCHE.
2. The In-Battle (or even better, Out-of-Battle) Graphics Acknowledging Equipment Changes
Besides the weapon. ...Or shield, if applicable. SERIOUSLY, THIS IDEA AMUSES ME AND I DON'T KNOW WHY. Well, okay, sometimes I do know why. Suikoden 4? Has some weird armour sets, including a "Bondage Set" and a "Venus Set". The latter is, as you may expect, uber-girly. And you can put it on at least one of your male fighters. I WOULD TOTALLY PAY TO HAVE HIM BATTLE IN IT, SERIOUSLY. IT'D BE AWESOME.
Incidentally, this is but one of the many reasons I'm waiting severely impatiently for FFXII. 'cause I saw somewhere that even out of battles (since it doesn't swap to a different screen for them), stuff you put on the characters changes their appearance. I'm hoping for pants for Ashe and a nice shirt for Vaan. Seriously. Girl's got a nice backside, BUT PANTS ARE NICE. (Ditto Fran for this, actually.) And have you seen that official art where Vaan's sitting and his vest's slipping off? Babydoll looks like a hooker. A REALLY CHEAP HOOKER. THAT'S NOT RIGHT. AT LEAST TIDUS LOOKED MODERATELY UNCHEAP.
On a related note!
3. Costume Changes, In and Out of Battle
NOTE TO STAR OCEAN 3: YOURS DON'T COUNT. *cough* Yes. It's just... I dunno. Mostly it's just something that amuses me, like in Tales of Symphonia. Some of the extra outfits? ADORABLE, if not by themselves then by how the character acts in them. (Sheena? Her swimsuit and party dress? On any other character, would be A. creepy and/or B. kinda slutty. Sheena, though, is A. adorable, and B. embarrassed about how much skin the dress, at least, shows. So it's all good. ...Ignore my sheer amount of fangirlishness for Sheena in this assessment, plzkthnx.) Some, though? Just cute by themselves. (Hee! Pirate!Lloyd! Lloyd in his trunks and snorkel and stuff! Katz!Genis! Klonoa!Presea!) Others? Simply amusing. (Zelos' "bathing suit"! Chef!Regal! The titles for party!Regal and beach!Raine! ("Dandy" and "No, Not the Sun!"))
And think about it! It's an easy (?) way to add a fraction of semi-realism! Characters going to a climate one or more of them are not suited for, outfit-wise? New outfit! Current outfit unsiutable for a certain activity? New outfit! (I'm looking at FFX & X-2 for this, by the way. Though, then again, I guess if they can hold their breaths that long while swimming and doing crazy moves and usually in a giant sphere-shaped "playing field", water resistance caused by swimming in not-meant-for-swimming outfits is the least of the problems here. 9_9;) Outfit ostensibly just really dumb? New outfit! (I like Lulu's dress, really. BUT HOW THE HELL DO YOU WALK IN THAT? Nevermind travel in all sorts of different areas, from magical sparkly forests to deserts to designed-while-on-drugs frozen climes. ...Yeah, I know. GAME HAS BLITZBALL. GIVE UP, kthnx.)
NOTE: I really like Blitzball, really. And managing to do the Jecht Shot is BADASS. It's just a really bad thing to think about too hard.
So, well... Yarr. I like playing dress-up with RPG characters, shut up. 9_9;;
4. Random World Info
Besides Zell, this is one of the reasons I like FF8. RANDOM, USELESS WORLD INFO EVERYWHERE. Also like FF9 and Tales of Symphonia and Star Ocean 3 and, well, other games for this. I mean, dude. RANDOM WORLD INFO. Do I need to know such-and-such was once a great and mighty empire? Not likely. Would I like to know anyway? IN A NON-OBTRUSIVE WAY, YES. So FF9 and ToS slip in random info here and there, where they can, in the story and sidequests, to go along with what you need to know. FF8 and SO3 do this too, kinda, but mostly they give you shitloads of stuff to look through. Seriously. If I go somewhere new? QUICK, CHECK THE APPROPRIATE AREA OF THE MENU. Hear about someone or something random? MENU. Someone looks at me funny? CHECK THE MENU, NOW. If you give me long enough, in FF8, at any given moment spent in the Balamb Garden, if I remember to, I WILL CHECK THE CONSOLE FOR RANDOM NPC CHATTER and etc. It just amuses me. It's like, hey! Here's a game! Here's the world it's on! Here's stuff that may or may not in any way involve or relate to you! See that? BASK IN MY AWESOME AMUSING WORLD-BUILDY RANDOMNESS. ROCK ON.
5. Amusing Skill Systems
NOTE TO GAME MAKERS: STOP MAKING CARD-BASED BATTLE SYSTEMS UNTIL YOU STOP SUCKING AT IT.
That said, even if something isn't inherently amusing to me in some way (i.e., dresspheres, the Draw system (it amuses me, shut up ;;;), Mana Eggs & Skill Books, etc.), just giving it backstory or something somehow will entertain me. Hell, giving it a relation to the world somehow or taking a concept and adding even a tiny new thing can amuse the hell out of me. The orders in Tos? Not that big of a deal by themselves, but you can customize them, and some number of playthroughs later, now that I'm using them, they AMUSE THE HELL OUT OF ME. On a note related to that and #3, TITLES. Not a skill-thing, really, but they can add helpful stat bonuses when you level up. More importantly, THEY AMUSE ME. Seriously, even the ones that don't change outfits. Just the titles themselves, their descriptions, what stats they boost, or how you get them. Besides the costume-changing "Dandy" and "No, Not the Sun!" mentioned before, there's things like Colette's "Oblivious" (earned by starting and finishing a battle while poisoned), "Ironing Board", and "Little Pickpocket" (Description: "I'm no thief! The enemies juat give me items!"), Raine's "Passable Chef?" (Raine's an awful cook. XD; There's even a Skit where Kratos casts a healing spell on himself after he eats something cooked by her.), Zelos' "Gigolo" (earned by talking to every female NPC with his Personal EX Skill), "Casanova" (earned by fighting a battle with him and three of the girls in the party), and his "Commander-in-Chief" and "Loudmouth" titles (earned by giving 4 or more party commands in one battle and from hearing his voice 50+ times in one battle), Presea and Regal's "Paw Mania" and "Paw Dandy" (...long story), etc. AMUSING STAT BOOSTS, DO YOU HEAR ME?
Then, of course, there's inspiring things like a certain Suikoden 4 pseudo-RP's "I practiced this pose. I HAVE A TRUE RUNE.", but those don't technically count. XD; (Though that RP did make my playing of Sui4 much more amusing than it could have been.)
Stopping for now 'cause my arms and hands and all are getting tired.
NEXT TIME: Affection levels, random character development, etc. And... that's it? >D;; Unless I think up other things. I dunno, anyone want to suggest something? EDIT: OOH, related to #3, rambling about character designs! Even though a lot of #3 was that! And part of #2! HA, I AM REDUNDANT.
What Bunny Likes
1. Real-Time Action-y Battles
Technical stuff first, it's easier. So... Yes. I <3 these, because while I have shit hand-eye coordination and poor reflexes, I CAN BUTTON-MASH LIKE NO TOMORROW. :D And/or sit my ass back away from the action and heal, or whatever. It depends on the game. Tales of Symphonia and Kingdom Hearts? BUTTON MASH, mostly. Star Ocean series? HEALER TIME. Why the difference? Tales of Symphonia - can't imagine being out of the action (and I can't figure out how to target my people, 'cause I suck). Kingdom Hearts - can't get out of the action. Star Ocean series? Can get off by the wayside (especially in SO3, with the GIGANTO-HUGE BATTLE SCREENS), and... I dunno, I just like sitting back and healing and/or attack-spell-casting. XD; IT'S JUST HOW I AM, OKAY.
The exception to this is menu-based battles. Kind of like turn-based, except while you're slogging through menus, your ass is getting kicked. Fortunately, you can usually swap over to a NOT STUPID option, but still. Who the hell uses that? ;; I LIKE MY TURN-BASED TURN-BASED AND MY ACTION-Y ACTION-Y, AND NEVER THE TWO SHALL MEET. ...UNLESS YOU STOP THE BATTLES WHILE I'M POKING THROUGH MENUS. ...YOU DOUCHE.
2. The In-Battle (or even better, Out-of-Battle) Graphics Acknowledging Equipment Changes
Besides the weapon. ...Or shield, if applicable. SERIOUSLY, THIS IDEA AMUSES ME AND I DON'T KNOW WHY. Well, okay, sometimes I do know why. Suikoden 4? Has some weird armour sets, including a "Bondage Set" and a "Venus Set". The latter is, as you may expect, uber-girly. And you can put it on at least one of your male fighters. I WOULD TOTALLY PAY TO HAVE HIM BATTLE IN IT, SERIOUSLY. IT'D BE AWESOME.
Incidentally, this is but one of the many reasons I'm waiting severely impatiently for FFXII. 'cause I saw somewhere that even out of battles (since it doesn't swap to a different screen for them), stuff you put on the characters changes their appearance. I'm hoping for pants for Ashe and a nice shirt for Vaan. Seriously. Girl's got a nice backside, BUT PANTS ARE NICE. (Ditto Fran for this, actually.) And have you seen that official art where Vaan's sitting and his vest's slipping off? Babydoll looks like a hooker. A REALLY CHEAP HOOKER. THAT'S NOT RIGHT. AT LEAST TIDUS LOOKED MODERATELY UNCHEAP.
On a related note!
3. Costume Changes, In and Out of Battle
NOTE TO STAR OCEAN 3: YOURS DON'T COUNT. *cough* Yes. It's just... I dunno. Mostly it's just something that amuses me, like in Tales of Symphonia. Some of the extra outfits? ADORABLE, if not by themselves then by how the character acts in them. (Sheena? Her swimsuit and party dress? On any other character, would be A. creepy and/or B. kinda slutty. Sheena, though, is A. adorable, and B. embarrassed about how much skin the dress, at least, shows. So it's all good. ...Ignore my sheer amount of fangirlishness for Sheena in this assessment, plzkthnx.) Some, though? Just cute by themselves. (Hee! Pirate!Lloyd! Lloyd in his trunks and snorkel and stuff! Katz!Genis! Klonoa!Presea!) Others? Simply amusing. (Zelos' "bathing suit"! Chef!Regal! The titles for party!Regal and beach!Raine! ("Dandy" and "No, Not the Sun!"))
And think about it! It's an easy (?) way to add a fraction of semi-realism! Characters going to a climate one or more of them are not suited for, outfit-wise? New outfit! Current outfit unsiutable for a certain activity? New outfit! (I'm looking at FFX & X-2 for this, by the way. Though, then again, I guess if they can hold their breaths that long while swimming and doing crazy moves and usually in a giant sphere-shaped "playing field", water resistance caused by swimming in not-meant-for-swimming outfits is the least of the problems here. 9_9;) Outfit ostensibly just really dumb? New outfit! (I like Lulu's dress, really. BUT HOW THE HELL DO YOU WALK IN THAT? Nevermind travel in all sorts of different areas, from magical sparkly forests to deserts to designed-while-on-drugs frozen climes. ...Yeah, I know. GAME HAS BLITZBALL. GIVE UP, kthnx.)
NOTE: I really like Blitzball, really. And managing to do the Jecht Shot is BADASS. It's just a really bad thing to think about too hard.
So, well... Yarr. I like playing dress-up with RPG characters, shut up. 9_9;;
4. Random World Info
Besides Zell, this is one of the reasons I like FF8. RANDOM, USELESS WORLD INFO EVERYWHERE. Also like FF9 and Tales of Symphonia and Star Ocean 3 and, well, other games for this. I mean, dude. RANDOM WORLD INFO. Do I need to know such-and-such was once a great and mighty empire? Not likely. Would I like to know anyway? IN A NON-OBTRUSIVE WAY, YES. So FF9 and ToS slip in random info here and there, where they can, in the story and sidequests, to go along with what you need to know. FF8 and SO3 do this too, kinda, but mostly they give you shitloads of stuff to look through. Seriously. If I go somewhere new? QUICK, CHECK THE APPROPRIATE AREA OF THE MENU. Hear about someone or something random? MENU. Someone looks at me funny? CHECK THE MENU, NOW. If you give me long enough, in FF8, at any given moment spent in the Balamb Garden, if I remember to, I WILL CHECK THE CONSOLE FOR RANDOM NPC CHATTER and etc. It just amuses me. It's like, hey! Here's a game! Here's the world it's on! Here's stuff that may or may not in any way involve or relate to you! See that? BASK IN MY AWESOME AMUSING WORLD-BUILDY RANDOMNESS. ROCK ON.
5. Amusing Skill Systems
NOTE TO GAME MAKERS: STOP MAKING CARD-BASED BATTLE SYSTEMS UNTIL YOU STOP SUCKING AT IT.
That said, even if something isn't inherently amusing to me in some way (i.e., dresspheres, the Draw system (it amuses me, shut up ;;;), Mana Eggs & Skill Books, etc.), just giving it backstory or something somehow will entertain me. Hell, giving it a relation to the world somehow or taking a concept and adding even a tiny new thing can amuse the hell out of me. The orders in Tos? Not that big of a deal by themselves, but you can customize them, and some number of playthroughs later, now that I'm using them, they AMUSE THE HELL OUT OF ME. On a note related to that and #3, TITLES. Not a skill-thing, really, but they can add helpful stat bonuses when you level up. More importantly, THEY AMUSE ME. Seriously, even the ones that don't change outfits. Just the titles themselves, their descriptions, what stats they boost, or how you get them. Besides the costume-changing "Dandy" and "No, Not the Sun!" mentioned before, there's things like Colette's "Oblivious" (earned by starting and finishing a battle while poisoned), "Ironing Board", and "Little Pickpocket" (Description: "I'm no thief! The enemies juat give me items!"), Raine's "Passable Chef?" (Raine's an awful cook. XD; There's even a Skit where Kratos casts a healing spell on himself after he eats something cooked by her.), Zelos' "Gigolo" (earned by talking to every female NPC with his Personal EX Skill), "Casanova" (earned by fighting a battle with him and three of the girls in the party), and his "Commander-in-Chief" and "Loudmouth" titles (earned by giving 4 or more party commands in one battle and from hearing his voice 50+ times in one battle), Presea and Regal's "Paw Mania" and "Paw Dandy" (...long story), etc. AMUSING STAT BOOSTS, DO YOU HEAR ME?
Then, of course, there's inspiring things like a certain Suikoden 4 pseudo-RP's "I practiced this pose. I HAVE A TRUE RUNE.", but those don't technically count. XD; (Though that RP did make my playing of Sui4 much more amusing than it could have been.)
Stopping for now 'cause my arms and hands and all are getting tired.
NEXT TIME: Affection levels, random character development, etc. And... that's it? >D;; Unless I think up other things. I dunno, anyone want to suggest something? EDIT: OOH, related to #3, rambling about character designs! Even though a lot of #3 was that! And part of #2! HA, I AM REDUNDANT.