...Kldr thoughts...: 2020

I've spent a lot of time playing Phantasy Star Online 2 lately. Despite my love for the game, I sadly can't recommend it for one simple reason: Severe technical issues. It is currently only available through the Windows Store, and installing through there seems to lead to an installation that is prone to suddenly disappearing or breaking. Fans have made software to assist with installing and playing the game, but it can be a bit complicated to get it working due to the login system being integrated with windows. PSO2 is now becoming available on steam! Go there to get it.

Now on to the main topic: This game makes way more sense if I assume the art team is in charge, and the main goal is to have an excuse to make cool stuff.

Most of the time, when I play a game, I can identify a coherent vision the developers have for the game. With PSO2, I haven't really been able to find one behind most of the design. Lots of game mechanics such as the skill trees and lack of system for fixing mistakes just feels like it's there because of tradition.

The design is frequently awful (skill trees with lots of skills one is better off not taking), and many of the changes that get made seem more a response to player demand, than due to any sort of vision intended for the game. Many changes that improve gameplay actually end up breaking elements of the game. For example: At this point, any character that reaches level 40 in a class, can gain the ability to double jump. This enables characters to get signicant height and a lot of older bosses can't hit the player when they are that high in the air. Combining this with the ability to stay in the air with greater ease than in the past, and many bosses have become trivially easy that in the past were much more challenging.

If I assume the art team is in charge, and they are more interested in making cool stuff than game balance, then the lack of real attention to game balance and skill balance makes a lot more sense. They fix the things that get lots of complaints, and focus on what they really want to do: Make cool costumes and neat enemies.

While many fans of the game will gush about the action gameplay (which is rather good for an MMO) what I think is the real strength of the game is the enormous amount of cosmetic options available (You can play as a human sized mecha robot!), the large number of emotes (the pole dance emote is rather popular on block 69), and all the chat options (it's actually possible to send small images called symbol art). When it comes to making a fun avatar and chatting with friends, I feel like this game is actually better at social stuff than many programs designed specifically for socializing are.

In general, I think the art in this game is fantastic. A thing to note though: This game tends to take everything to ridiculous extremes. As can be seen in the latest NA only event:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPmqS51R3wA

Monday, June 15, 2020

Identity

https://old.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/gzpgje/oh_god_the_president_is_watching_one_america_news/ftjslp9/

Monday, June 08, 2020

https://old.reddit.com/r/TwoXChromosomes/comments/gw017g/for_whomever_needs_to_hear_this_coercion_is_not/

Monday, June 01, 2020

How bad copyright rules are:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Jwo5qc78QU

Saturday, May 23, 2020

Habitual lying

https://old.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/gowp7d/tara_reade_loses_her_attorney_as_new_reporting/frjk6ps/?context=1

Why is it that on the day I give up on this blog, I find something to post? Stories like this are why I like reading reddit. It shows me viewpoints I'd otherwise never see.

Distractions

I've gotten too distracted by reading and writing stories to keep posting things here. Maybe this blog is finally dying for real this time.

My stories are posted on Scribblehub.