Rosalia Rambles

Author: rosaliarambles

  • Ratchet and Clank (PS4) Review

    Ratchet and Clank, a re-imagining of the original 2002 game, was released in 2016 coinciding with a tie-in film by Rainmaker Studios. And for the purposes of this review, yes, I am going to be specifically using the term “re-imagining” to describe this game because honestly, there is not enough of the old game intact to consider this a remake.

    I definitely enjoyed my time playing through this game, it has got the staple action platformer gameplay that I’ve come to expect from the franchise, with quality platforming sections, side tasks on various planets, and hidden collectibles placed within levels.

    But… there is no soul. Any of the slapstick comedy of previous entries has been removed in favour of a persistent and unfunny narrator, no interactions with characters who will be here for one world and then gone the next, and most egregiously, there is no real interpersonal conflict between any of the characters.

    Whilst the original Ratchet and Clank had a story reminiscent of traditional buddy cop films, the interactions between the two characters felt real and there was a distinct arc in the development of their relationship. Ratchet may have had a bit of an abrasive personality, but this contributed to the conflicts experienced by the duo.

    Story and Characters

    As opposed to the premise of “individual wants to escape from planet they’ve been stuck on for years”; the re-imagining begins with Ratchet going to try outs for the Galactic Rangers, because he’s always wanted to be a hero.

    The Rangers this time are not green robots with entertaining dialogue and interactions, they are instead a group of characters with minimal introduction and development throughout the game:

    • Cora Veralux, youngest ranger to ever be recruited and native of Novalis (that is most of her development by the way, she gets one moody scene apart from this)
    • Brax Lectrus, a brash ranger who prefers the all guns blazing approach as opposed to thinking out methodical plans (no development whatsoever and no missions with him as support)
    • Elaris, the technical support and strategist of the rangers, who aside from making one plan at the end, is never really seen, and is only heard briefly in cutscenes/mission dialogue

    They are all lead by the greatest superhero the galaxy has ever known…

    Captain Qwark.

    And no, I am not giving him an over the top intro, because frankly this version of Qwark is a toothless parody of a character who was already supposed to be satirical. The main point of his character is that he is a superhero who likes to take credit for the work that other people do, driven by vanity and greed.

    In the confused identity this game has, there is not really any clear characterisation for him and plot reveals involving him are incredibly lazy. He is jealous because Ratchet comes on the scene and starts stealing his thunder… and none of this is foreshadowed or explained up until the end of the game.

    Even the villains are disappointing this time around, which is incredibly disheartening to say considering this game both has the character and original voice talent of Doctor Nefarious (Armin Shimerman). Nefarious is supposed to be over-the-top, with ridiculous lines and crazy character moments…

    …and aside from a few cutscenes and some dialogue on a planet, the doctor is never heard from until the end of the game, where he suddenly fulfils the role of primary antagonist and even then, aside from a single throwaway line that gave me a chuckle, there isn’t anything redeeming about this development.

    And Drek.

    Chairman Drek.

    The evil ultra-capitalist from the first game, with a deep, guttural, intimidating voice that made any cutscene imposing despite his short stature has been completely ruined. There is no mystery or motivation to his plans this time round, what was once an impactful reveal at the end of the original is now relegated to a brief gag in one of the first cutscenes in the game. Aside from barking orders over comms and making a few threats to his military; there is not really anything there to show a player he means business.

    Finally, the dynamic duo themselves, Ratchet and Clank barely have any meaningful interactions during cutscenes. Before cutscenes involving talking to NPCs were dynamic, you could see the two emoting, having body language sell what the current scenario means to either of them, and most importantly, they’d actually look at each other and have a proper conversation about the events that just transpired. Now it boils down to a character saying, “It would be a good idea to check out Planet X!” and the other going “Yeah, fine by me.”

    Like I said before, there is no interpersonal conflict, and even when the game presents the potential of conflict, it is resolved as quickly as it appears.

    Weapons

    Coming in with a modest 14 weapons the re-imagined game does not have the largest roster of any game, but it comes close to matching the 15 weapons found in the original game. Despite this though only two weapons from the original are updated for this game, the rest are either originals or taken from other entries into the series.

    Whilst the weapons are all functioning and fun to use, it would’ve been cool to see what the Blaster as a modern-style Ratchet and Clank weapon would be like, or seen the potential of the PS4 be put to good use by re-imagining what the iconic Visibomb Gun could do.

    This does not necessarily mean any of the new designs are bad per say, one of my favourite weapons throughout the game was a completely original weapon, the Proton Drum. An area-of-effect weapon that launches out a large orb in a parabolic arc that is then deployed and sends shockwaves to nearby enemies, decimating crowds and softening up larger targets for finishing blows. Its upgrade incorporates bolts of lightning that will shock specific enemies for even more damage.

    The other new design in the game is a weapon known as the Pixelizer, the obligatory shotgun style weapon found in most games starting in 2 with the Blitz Gun. In this iteration enemies hit by the Pixelizer have a very amusing filter placed over their model which makes them looks incredibly low fidelity, which then causes them to shatter into cube shaped pixels upon death.

    Although the concept of the weapon is fun enough, and it is certainly massively damaging in close proximity, but for me it also lacked the bite that shotgun weapons need to have, there is no loud BANG followed by a click, there are only pixelized bleeps and bloops.

    It’s a bit hard to show the Buzz Blades off, just imagine all those red lines amplified

    Out of all the designs to return from another game, the one I ended up enjoying the most were the Buzz Blades. Fulfilling a similar role to the Disc Blade Gun from the third game, the main purpose of this gun is fast firing ricocheting projectiles that can bounce through crowds and tear apart larger enemies with some sustained fire making it a staple weapon in my arsenal right up until the end.

    However, none of these weapons compare to the sheer joy that I encountered when I got to fire this game’s iteration of the R.Y.N.O. For context, I have currently not finished any of the PS3 Ratchet games, I am currently playing Tools of Destruction when I visit a friend, but I have barely scratched the surface of that game.

    This meant that when I first got the R.Y.N.O, I saw the absolutely massive initial ammo count of 1000, and wondered “Why the hell does it need that much?”

    Then I held down the trigger.

    And everything made sense, because this is the first time I’ve had the experience of the R.Y.N.O playing an overture for me as I fire. And it gave me happy fuzzy feels I did not think were possible after playing through the story of this game. It is also immensely powerful, making enemies and bosses crumple before the unstoppable barrage of high explosive missiles, being able to take out the final boss in just over a minute.

    With the R.Y.N.O in tow, the only one they fear is you.

    Gameplay

    Before I move onto discussing new and returning gameplay, please join me in a moment of silence for the levels lost to this re-imagined world:

    • Planet Eudora, the logging site for Drek’s new planet
    • Planet Umbris, a fantastic gauntlet with challenging mechanics
    • Planet Orxon, the actual Blarg homeworld that Drek polluted
    • Planet Hoven, a high stakes race to destroy a planet busting bomb
    • Gemlik Base, the best level in the original game, atmospheric, gorgeous, and providing closure on a game long arc
    • Planet Oltanis, a Ratchet only challenge due to Clank being vulnerable to the raging storm around you
    • Planet Quartu (the good one), a two-part planet home to the origin of Giant Clank and an incredibly moving scene with Clank
    • Drek’s Fleet, the penultimate level which features both stealth and action segments as you jump between ships
    • The return to Veldin, a terrifying chase to save your homeworld
    Gone, but never forgotten you beautiful level

    For the levels that remain, they are mostly intact. A lot of the level design for returning planets is lifted straight from the original game, with tweaks in some areas and some getting complete overhauls like Planet Gaspar. Quartu is completely redone from the ground up to tie in with the new lore and the Deplanetizer is now its own self-contained level.

    In line with the source material, Gold Bolts are a hidden collectible, scattered throughout levels in locations old and new. Unlike the source material however, these are not used for unlocking superior Golden Weapons upon completion of the game/finding the hidden area in Gemlik base.

    They are instead used for unlocking things in the “Extras” menu such as screen filters, head, armour, and ship styles, concept art galleries and cheats, including Infinite Ammo and Invincibility at 27 and 28 bolts respectively. Additionally they are used to unlock more hangars in the “Insomniac Museum”, which, whilst a cute addition in the style of a museum to the franchise; it doesn’t have the same charm as the in-depth developer comments older museums had.

    A new collectible to this game are the “Holocards”, collectible cards that can be dropped by enemies and found in card packs around the galaxy. Holocard sets come in threes and completing a set will reward you with a passive income bonus, a buff to your Omniwrench damage, or the ability to unlock the “Omega” versions of weapons whilst in Challenge Mode. Holocards are also the way the R.Y.N.O is obtained in this game, as you need all nine R.Y.N.O holocards to have the full plans to construct it.

    The latter of these is at least enjoyable, as all the cards are either hidden in obscure locations or as reward for completing a difficult challenge, and since the last one isn’t obtainable right before the end of the game you don’t become all powerful too early on.

    My one gripe with holocards is that once you have completed all the sets; there is not really any use for the duplicate cards that continue to drop and all the packs that respawn per playthrough, no way to trade them in for something else.

    A similar complaint can be said for the other currency of the game, Raritanium. Found in hidden deposits throughout levels and sometimes dropped by enemies, the glowing rocks are used in a returning mechanic from the Future series, being used to upgrade your weapons. Each weapon has its own map of hex tiles that unlock a certain buff when purchased with raritanium, including “secret upgrades” that are only unlocked when all hex tiles surrounding them are bought.

    What is cute is that each upgrade map when completed forms a little image relating to the weapon itself, like a flame for the Pyrocitor, a buzz blade for the Buzz Blades, and an ominous skull-and-crossbones for the R.Y.N.O. Though as mentioned, once you have completed all upgrade maps for all weapons, the utility of raritanium takes a complete nosedive, leaving you with a stockpile in the hundreds as you obtain even more from blasting enemies.

    All weapons, as is franchise staple, can be upgraded through use going through 5 levels and turning into a more powerful form upon reaching that 5th level. In this game only damage/duration is upgraded upon level up, with more upgrade hexes unlocking to enhance ammo, rate of fire and additional effects to be chosen at the player’s leisure.

    This next complaint is a bit more personal to me, especially as someone who made an effort to mention this in every previous Ratchet and Clank review but…

    Why does this game run at 30fps? It baffles me completely, every previous game through the PS2 and PS3 ran at 60fps with dips in the only most exceptional of circumstances. I managed to make this game start to chug when just using the Pyrocitor on a crowd of enemies, I would rather see a downgrade on the fancy new graphics to get a solid, stable, 60fps. (Reference: played on an original PS4. Have not conducted framerate tests on PS4 Pro hardware)

    Clank levels returned, but only in his small on foot form as the locations where Giant Clank would have been used have been cut from the game. The Gadgebot variety has been changed from the original game with no options to use them for attacking or entering gates.

    Instead now Clank can take any Gadgebot and reprogram it to being one of three options:

    • Springbot, allowing Clank to jump to ledges he could not normally reach
    • Powerbot, provide electricity to machinery to open the path
    • Bridgebot, extend a bridge across hazardous pits

    Using these bots there were quite a few clever scenarios and puzzles during these Clank segments, including one near the end of the game where I was properly stuck for a moment before figuring it out.

    The time for the trophy is under 1:35…
    Hard work and determination (and loud swearing) paid off in the end

    Returning from the original game are the hoverboard races on Rilgar and Kaleebo III. Both planets now have three levels of race to compete in, Bronze, Silver, and Gold. The difference between these tends to be the number of explosive crates placed on the track, throughout my multiple attempts trying to attain the trophies for these tracks, I did not notice any improvements to the AI.

    New to this game are that you do not need an item to perform tricks to earn boosts, this ability is unlocked right out the gate. And believe me, you will need to use this ability religiously in the time trial trophies in order to keep a good amount of boost ongoing.

    Most gadgets return from the original game, minus the Sonic Summoner from winning the Rilgar hoverboard race, the Metal Detector from destroying the Blarg Warships on Batalia, and the PDA purchased on Oltanis.

    • The Swingshot is now unlocked from the beginning of the game, and functions in the exact same way as in all entries, allowing you to swing from and pull yourself to grapple points
    • The Hydrodisplacer retains its function of allowing you to fill/drain areas to proceed
    • The Hologuise now takes the form of Captain Qwark to infiltrate the Deplanetizer as opposed to Quartu
    • Magneboots and Grind Boots return for traversing ionised surfaces and grind rails respectively
    • And Clank can obtain all his pack upgrades, with the Power Slam from the Thruster Pack being replaced with the ability to turn heavier bolt cranks

    In addition to all these, the Trespasser also makes it return in a slightly upgraded form. After reaching a certain point of progression in game you gain the ability to toggle trespasser rings on and off, a feature which is essential in some puzzles but also gives you the ability to declutter the interface and look at a puzzle in a different way.

    However, unless you are bothered about getting the trophy for completing all Trespasser puzzles… the gadget is essentially moot, as now by pressing Square you can have the puzzle autocomplete itself for the penalty of not being able to earn the trophy and missing out on the bolts completing the puzzle normally would get.

    New to the game is the XK-81 Jetpack obtained on Planet Gaspar. Used in a handful of specifically locations, the jetpack plays mechanically similar to the Levitator in Ratchet and Clank 2, having fuel that you use to propel yourself upwards. In any jetpack enabled level you essentially now have sandbox levels of movement around the level, best shown in the area where it is obtained with wide open spaces and distant landmarks to discover.

    Controls

    As much as I take issue with various points of the game, the one area I cannot really fault anything are the controls. All aspects of the game control perfectly in my opinion, Ratchet’s movement is responsive, strafing and jumping side to side during combat still feels as great all these years later, and the Hydro Pack is even unlocked from the beginning to make swimming segments easier (partially because the planet where you would normally obtain it got cut).

    Aside from the previously mentioned feature of turning more difficult bolt cranks, the Heli-Pack and Thruster Pack function closer to how they work in later Ratchet and Clank games, it being closer to a personal preference than an edge during gameplay. As usual, once unlocked, I stayed with the Thruster Pack. I can never betray my roots.

    Returning from the original game are a handful of ship combat levels, with each usually introducing a gimmick to add diversity to them. This can be using a magnetic grapple on your ship to launch warbots into a warship, using newly acquired rockets to damage large vessels that are immune to your machine gun, or being stuck in a tractor beam with your movement stick now controlling your reticle to shoot down homing missiles.

    Aside from a few issues when it comes to turning around with the ship in tight spaces, I encountered no major issues with the controls here, and none of the gimmicks were too high of a difficulty spike, introducing the right amount of additional challenge into each encounter.

    Music

    This is a section I haven’t really covered in any of my previous Ratchet and Clank reviews, but as this game is specifically being based off a game with an absolutely banging and iconic soundtrack, I need to use the opportunity presented to me to say the music in this re-imagined version is not only considerably worse than the source material, it is bland in isolation.

    Iconic tracks such as Metropolis and Blackwater City have been dropped in favour of generic orchestral scores, sometimes overlaid with harsh electronic beats during more intense combat segments. There is no identity or impact to the music, and that is honestly a bit sad, considering the potential for remixes or remastered music to set the nostalgia neurons throbbing.

    Conclusion

    Ratchet and Clank (PS4) is a solid action platformer, with great weapons, fast-paced gameplay, and an overall enjoyable experience in isolation. However, when compared to what came before it, it is a hollow shell trying to find an identity in between being a re-imagining of the first game, trying to tie into a film, and trying to make you care about the characters within the game without any of the development that went into previous entries.

    In all honesty the film is probably what lead to this identity crisis the game seems to have, in place of cutscenes sometimes there are direct sequences ripped straight from the film, except that these scenes sometimes don’t have the context of what happened previously in the film, so events and actions can sometimes come out of the blue completely.

    It would have been awesome to see what Insomniac could’ve done if the brief was just “remake the first game for PS4, add in content that may have been cut, expand on old weapons in the new upgradeable style”. Instead what we got almost reeks of a soulless, corporate cash-in for a film that barely got off the ground (which, yes, I will be discussing at some point).

    This review was honestly painful to write in some segments, because for all my criticisms and gripes, I genuinely enjoyed playing through this game. And if it were not for a slightly annoying trophy I am still trying to get, I have got the Platinum trophy for this game, I did everything on offer.

    Because it is a Ratchet and Clank game, a franchise incredibly dear to my heart, and it is just sad to see what “re-imagining” the game did to the heart that was in the original. From the footage I have seen so far though, Rifts Apart seems to be a return to form, all we can do is wait and see.

    If you are a fan of the franchise and you can find this game cheap enough, I kind of do recommend it as a one-off experience. You will still find some joy to be had in some segments and weapons.

    But for me, the ultimate test is if I want to go back to replay this game on a fresh save like I’ve done with so many games previous… and sadly, I don’t think I’ll be revisiting this one for a while yet.

  • Marieya’s Torment

    (Content Warning: Death, threats of violence, brutal assault)

    A few weeks had passed since Marieya Ebontide was banished from the Shadow Realm for her actions resulting in the deaths of her close friends. Stowing away on a transport vessel she ended up in the port of Courlandia, using her deft nature to evade guards and “requisition” any supplies needed to survive.

    Work came quickly to the young shadow fey, finding odd jobs around town to bide her time and earn a modest living in the city, even managing to buy herself some defensive equipment after a while. Whilst other denizens had yet to present a threat to her some padded armour and a pair of daggers gave the now much more nervous individual some comfort.

    Though as the weeks passed and work on the bounty boards dried up, she felt a spark of her old self come back. A yearning for adventure and new experiences took hold once more, gathering her belongings, paying off her inn tab, and looking for a ship to take her somewhere, asking captains around the port where they were going and how far away it was.

    It was at this moment that an imposing individual approached her from behind, “Excuse me, miss?” he said, a deep foreboding voice catching her off guard, but a restrained tone stopping her from drawing weapons “You seem to be in search of something new, perhaps I may be of… assistance.”

    Marieya spun on her heels to look at the mysterious stranger, an instinctual hand going down to her sheathed daggers. He was a blue dragonborn standing at around seven-foot, lighter blue fins surrounding piercing eyes contrasted by a reassuring grin, dressed in fine red-and-blue robes trimmed in gold with runic designs around the cuffs and clasps, a moderate stack of tomes and official looking papers in his hands.

    “Assistance of what kind?” Marieya said, trying to suss out the intentions of the dragon in front of her.

    “Allow me to introduce myself first, my name is Corvus” he said, giving a slight bow “I am an emissary of the esteemed Mharoti Empire, and I feel you would benefit from a similar experience”

    Relaxing her muscles, the girl was able to respond, saying “My name is Marieya, good to meet you Corvus” before following up with more questions “What do you mean experience?”

    Corvus gave a bigger smile, handing his papers off to a passing associate and approaching the shadow fey, dwarfing her even more than he was before “The Mharoti are a proud people, and our outreach work with communities and cities around the world is second to none” he said “the job of an emissary is to continue this work, travelling to new places and informing populations of our glorious vision!”

    The idea of travel appealed to Marieya, having the resources to freely move from place to place would satisfy her craving for new adventures, and if she had to do a bit of missionary work on the side; so be it. Though the lack of conditions so far did raise further questions “Nothing in this life comes for free, what’s the catch here?”

    “It is fairly simple, you inquisitive girl” he smiled warmly, and ruffled her white hair affectionately “For you specifically I would request that you swear fealty to the Empire and one of our gods, serving them as a cleric in our capital, The Golden City of Harkesh.”

    Reassured, the shadow fey let her guard down, adopting a positive attitude and a more relaxed stance. “Alright then” she said “I agree to your conditions Corvus, when do we leave?”

    “My vessel departs within the next hour, please, join me!”

    Worries assuaged the pair departed for a medium-sized ship on the far end of the harbour. Befitting of Corvus’s status it was decorated in a similar manner to his robes, ornately carved wood painted in red and blue with gold detailing on runes, pristine white sails with the emblem of the Mharoti Empire, a rampant red dragon flanked by green stars and crowned by a red crescent, emblazoned upon them. Kobold attendants milled around the deck, carrying supplies, materials, or papers, a brass dragonborn manning the wheel.

    “Malmouda my friend, we prepare for the journey home immediately!” the blue dragon bellowed “And I bring with me a recruit for the Empire!” Malmouda laughed, wisps of flame escaping his mouth as he did, barking orders to the kobolds causing more fire to manifest around his head.

    Marieya was no stranger to fire. Her sorcerous blood boiled with the power of the phoenix, lying deep within her, and providing her the ability to cast multiple spells. But now, after everything that has happened, seeing fire evoked feelings of dread and guilt within her, suppressing any thoughts of ever using that kind of magic again.

    “Come, join me in my cabin, we have much to discuss on the long trip ahead of us” Corvus said, leading Marieya away into the insides of the ship, having a long spirited discussion about the pantheon of the Empire and which god would be best suited to serve.

    *****

    “Come on Marieya… let it out. Let go of all the pain and suffering, and burn everything to the fucking ground.”

    “You have no chance of going home, and wherever you end up can never become home, so give up now, embrace the monster you are.”

    “There’s no way to get rid of this Marieya… I will always be a part of you. And when you give in to the rage, you’ll always be that little bit of conscious I have left.”

    *****

    After a couple of weeks, the journey had finally reached its conclusion, the Good Intentions docking in the Harbour of Hellor. During the voyage it was decided that Marieya would become a new servant of Seggotan, the draconic god of the ocean, partially due to the newly discovered phobia of fire as the god demands that his servants “light no fires”.

    Where Marieya would be living for the foreseeable future was in the city’s “Old Harbour” district, where both the citadel and temple of Seggotan were located. On the way though, unease started to grow within the girl due to the behaviours of passing dragonborn, some directly turned their nose up at her, some shot death glares in her direction and some even went as far to verbally disparage her, with comments such as “Ugh, another non-scaly foreigner in our beautiful city. How uncouth.”

    Concerns for her safety growing, she said to Corvus “Is it… strange to see a shadow fey around these parts?”

    “Rather strange, but we have a number of foreigners within our city” Corvus said “Mostly merchants, but we tolerate others if they can present utility to us.”

    “Utility?” Marieya thought to herself “What kind of terminology is that?”

    “Such as yourself”, the dragon continued “Your disposition and general misdirection in the world made you a prime candidate for becoming useful to our greater purpose.”

    The shadow fey paused, looking down at the ground sheepishly before speaking up “Uhm… I don’t think I want to do this anymore…”

    Corvus spun on the spot, turning to look down on the now reluctant recruit “I’m sorry my dear, you will need to speak up, dragons aren’t used to such mumbling tones.”

    “I think you’ve oversold the experience I’d be getting here… I don’t want to be an emissary for such a place.”

    One deliberate step at a time Corvus approached Marieya, right up until he was in direct contact with her, leaning down to whisper. “You don’t have a choice anymore, you moronic child” he said, the previous soft tone gone in favour of acidic aggressive “You either serve the Empire loyally, doing what we ask of you, or we kill you, perhaps even turning you into lunch for a much bigger dragon. Understand?”

    Heart sinking, and new fears growing, Marieya gulped and nodded. “Y-yes sir… whatever you say.”

    “Good. Come now.”

    A further walk and a rickety rowboat trip across Old Harbour lead to the temple of Seggotan, on its own isolated island. The insides of the temple were barely visible from the outside, lit only by a sparse number of magical lights, a green dragonborn waiting on the steps to greet both, dressed in fine ocean motif vestments.

    “Welcome, Corvus. Is this the wayward one I have been informed of?” she said.

    “Indeed, her name is Marieya.” Corvus said in response, giving the girl a shove forward “She is to be a servant of Seggotan and trained as an emissary. Do not disappoint me Alara.”

    Alara nodded and took Marieya into the temple. Thanks to her heritage she was able to see more clearly once inside, seeing marble pillars supporting a vaulted ceiling, carvings depicting Seggotan fighting and taming creatures of the sea, a statue to the deity residing in prime position at the centre of the room.

    “Please excuse the darkness, my lord would be displeased if we lit fires” Alara said, a more consistent, natural calm tone as opposed to Corvus’s manufactured one.

    “It’s no worry, shadow fey can see in the dark naturally.” Marieya said in response, scanning the rest of the temple as she did “Can’t see colour but I know not to walk into things.”

    This bit of information seemed to intrigue Alara, but she continued escorting Marieya through the temple, reaching a set of stairs “Initiates and temple inhabitants live in rooms set up in our catacombs, emissary initiates share a room together.”

    “Great” Marieya thought, becoming more dejected by the moment “I’ve got to spend my nights shitting myself next to a dragon.”

    The catacomb stairs were carved from a less luxurious, but still fancy grey granite, seeming to spiral down into the ground forever. About thirty steps down lead to a long corridor of wrought steel doors with the same dim magical lights as upstairs flanking each one. “Oh good” a sarcastic thought manifested in Marieya’s mind “It’s not enough to feel like a prisoner, I actually am one now!”

    Three doors down would be her abode for the foreseeable future, no windows to the outside, only simple bedrolls to sleep on, and nowhere proper to store clothes and personal effects. Inside the room was a dwarf lying down, wearing a plain but dirty white robe, raising his head slightly as his new cellmate entered.

    “Charak, this is your new roommate Marieya” Alara said, gently ushering the shadow fey in before closing the door, locking it “Please, take some time to familiarise her with the way things work around here.”

    Shaking the door to ensure it was locked, the dragon cleric walked back down the corridor and up the stairs. For a while silence enveloped both Marieya and Charak, both acknowledging the existence of the other but neither choosing to engage with another, it was not until an hour or so later that the dwarf spoke up.

    “Conquered, tricked, or volunteer?” he said, raising a ginger eyebrow in curiosity.

    “Tricked I suppose” Marieya said in response lying down on the bedroll.

    “Least you ain’t a volunteer, that would’ve made the next few moons unbearable for me.”

    “Yourself?”

    “Conquered, taken from my wife and child as tribute from a new dragon expansion campaign.”

    “I’m sorry to hear that, you must miss them dearly.”

    “Aye, don’t even know if I survive them right now.” Charak shifted on his bedroll, looking over to Marieya “How about you? Any family or friends you missing?”

    Marieya rolled to look over, his face being a visage of discomfort and regret “Not anymore… the friends I had are long gone now.”

    “Aye, I’m sorry for your loss lassie. I offer my sympathy.”

    A scoff rung out “Sympathy?” Marieya said “Forgive the bluntness, but you don’t even understand what I’ve been through, how do you intend to sympathise?!”

    Silence fell once more between them, a much more awkward and tense one than before, but also much shorter as Charak soon responded “Aye, you’re right. I don’t understand your grief. No one truly could.”

    He stood up, and came to sit down next to Marieya, who had raised from her bedroll in response. “But I understand pain lassie” he said, his tone turning sullen “You don’t lose good friends in a war against dragons without knowing pain, you don’t get taken away from your wife and child without feeling pain.”

    Marieya’s eyes shifted away, realising she had spoken out of turn “S-sorry… I didn’t mean to offend” she said.

    “Didn’t offend at all, no harm done” Charak said, working to quickly reassure her “Grief is personal, and whilst we can explain, the true nature of grief is hidden. Pain, however, is an inexorable concept. Grief is unique, but the pains caused by it can overlap with another’s pain, leading to a level of understanding.”

    “Wow…” Marieya said, intrigued by the wisdom just imparted to her, and smiling for the first time since she arrived in Harkesh “I wasn’t expecting to meet someone so worldly in a place like this.”

    The dwarf let out a resounding laugh, echoing through the carved stone halls “I may be built like a bloody brick wall, but I was a scholar before I got called to the front!” he said “I spent my days poring over pages to learn about the world, in fact…”

    Over the next few hours, the pair shared enlightening conversation. Charak sharing in great detail history of the surrounding area and the plane of Midgard as a whole, whilst Marieya informed him of the world of the Shadow Realm, her history there, and briefly divulging how she had actually came to be where she was now.

    For most of her time in this world, Marieya had been alone. And whilst she was now in a strange place surrounded by people of a malicious nature, she felt a hope in knowing Charak, that she had both an ally, and more importantly, a friend in the making.

    The conversation was interrupted by a harsh knock at the door which then opened before either had the chance to respond. Marieya’s heart sank as she saw Corvus enter the room, now in much more intimidating chain mail and carrying a large halberd. After him came a kobold attendant, carrying a singular, simple meal and placing it at the bottom of Marieya’s bedroll.

    “Oi!” Charak shouted after the attendant “Where do you think you’re going?! I still need to eat too!”

    Corvus gave a deep, menacing laugh “My friend, you don’t need to worry about food anymore…” he said, before grabbing the dwarf by the scruff of his neck and throwing him out in the corridor. Before he had a chance to react to what had just happened he cried out in pain as a sickening crack was heard, Corvus had slammed down the bottom of his halberd into Charak’s ankle, breaking it.

    “Your wife is organising a little resistance movement within the pathetic hovel we picked you up from…” Corvus said, snarling as he walked around to face the dwarf “…and as punishment for her treasonous acts, we’re going to send her your head, as a lesson.”

    “No, you can’t!” Marieya cried out as she tried to leave her cell to aid her new friend, only to be shoved back inside by Corvus.

    “Sweet little shadow fey… how little you know of the world…” he said, leaning down to Charak and placing the axe part of the halberd onto his neck.

    “Girl… don’t struggle… it’s up to you to live now…”

    Echoes of Ancil haunted Marieya as the dwarf spoke those words, but before she could respond Corvus was already too far through the act, with a horrifying squelch and a crunch as the blade glided through flesh, muscle and bone severing his end and ending his life.

    Tears of grief streamed down once more, raining onto the harsh floor as Corvus messily shoved the decapitated head into a sack and shouted to the kobold attendants “Leave the body there until dawn! Give this girl an impression of what happens if she strays out of line!” locking the door to the cell and departing.

    Even as she tried to eat the meagre meal she had been provided with; all Marieya could do was cry. And as she cried, the suppression of her sorcerous blood weakened, sparks swirling around her hands providing an unintentional benefit of warming her food but worrying her intensely, trying to block out the voice in the back of her mind as she finished eating and tried to get to sleep…

    *****

    “Oh look, another who fell because of knowing you. Doesn’t that feel terrible Marieya? Doesn’t that just burn you up inside?!”

    “I can see you’re carrying so many burdens, wouldn’t it be nice to just get rid of them all? You’re nothing but repressed rage and hatred Marieya, a person like you doesn’t need such burdens.”

    *****

    Dawn arrived with a gentle knocking against the door, this time belonging to Alara, a kobold attendant bringing breakfast and a set of fine clothes. “It is time to start your education wayward one, aren’t you lucky?” she said, smiling down at Marieya.

    Not being one for mornings it took a while for the shadow fey to come around to what was going on “Lucky feels like the wrong word here…” she said, reaching for the breakfast of fruits and nuts.

    “But you are lucky, we haven’t decided to kill you yet” Alara said in a disturbingly chipper tone “Unlike the treasonous wyrm whose body we just removed, you have the chance for redemption!”

    Fruit tasted bittersweet as those words stung Marieya. She was tolerated here, constantly being reminded that at any moment at her captors’ discretion she could be killed, and no one would think anymore on it. All she could do was keep her head down, do what she is told, and hope to actually get out into the world.

    “You’ll be spending today at the dragon emissaries and consulates” Alara said as she escorted Marieya back up into the temple and out to the rowboat “after night falls you will be permitted some free time to explore the city before returning here to perform some temple maintenance. Do you understand?”

    Marieya nodded, before getting into the rowboat and rowing herself across. Taking a moment to catch her breath as she walked onto dry land, she headed to the dragon embassies to begin her lessons.

    She was greeted by dragons dressed similarly to her, who took her into fairly official looking buildings to begin her education on both the history of the Mharoti Empire, which was presented to her as the “true, accurate” history of the world, and on how to operate as a Mharoti emissary. Deploying subterfuge and deceit to undermine local governments to bring the populace into favour with the empire, eventually aiding in later campaigns to claim towns and cities as their own.

    Included in this training was extensive knowledge on recognising Mharoti signs and sigils to identify safehouses or base of operations within these cities, able to rely on other agents to achieve the ultimate goal. By the end of it all, Marieya was positively worn out and had barely picked up on any of the details explained to her by the dragons, she did however pick up the useful advice for lying through your teeth to get others to do what you want.

    Upon leaving the embassy district night had fallen, and whilst there were still some people walking around with shopping or going to nearby taverns the city was remarkably quiet. Deciding to use her free time to relax and unwind rather than risk agitating the local populace; Marieya took a walk back to where she had first arrived: the Harbour of Hellor.

    The harbour itself was as full as was expected to be, a variety of merchant ships docked for the night getting ready to move onto their next stop, transport ships for Mharoti soldiers to provide reinforcements to new fronts of expansion and a handful of emissary ships similar to one Marieya had arrived on, including the Good Intentions.

    She wandered idly, just observing her surroundings, wondering what the merchants who traded with this empire were dealing in, and if they were even truly aware of what went on beneath the polished veneer of this “benevolent” empire. She also briefly wondered if she would be able to make it far enough to hijack a ship or stow away like she knew she could.

    These thoughts were interrupted as she walked into someone, and they started shouting angrily at her “Oi, you fucking runt, watch where you’re walking!”

    “Sorry…” Marieya said in response, looking up at who she had just walked into “I was lost in thou- “, and cut herself off as she realised who it was. It was in fact Malmouda, captain of the ship she had arrived on. “Have to hope he doesn’t recognise me” she thought to herself as she tried walking around him.

    “Wait a minute… you’re that pathetic little shadow fey I brought in with Corvus!”

    “Shit, he’s recognised me.”

    Malmouda grabbed Marieya’s shoulder and forcefully spun her around to face him “I know what you’re doing here, you’re thinking of legging it aren’t you?” he said, leaning close to her face, close enough that she was able to see the fire starting to brew within the throat of her aggressor.

    “N-no!” she said in response, starting to panic slightly at how strong Malmouda was, and how the fire whipping around inside him was starting to make her sweat with anxiety.

    “You don’t need to be afraid of his fire Marieya… use yours… immolate him.”

    “I was just taking a walk before going back to the temple of Seggotan, he has an affinity for water, so I figured this was a nice place to unwind!”

    The brass dragonborn seemed unconvinced, and continued to press the girl “Likely story, we have no shortage of dissent when it comes to pressing foreigners into service” he said, releasing his grip and instead reaching down for a shortsword on his belt “You know… it’s been a while since I’ve got to rip a dissenter apart… oh this should be fun!”

    “Show him how hot your blood runs, teach him what real fire is, become one with the flame!”

    Marieya’s breathing quickened, realising now that she was in real danger. Her eyes darted around as she backed away from Malmouda, looking for either an escape or something to attack with, and just as the dragonborn was winding up to an attack she found something, a brick that had fallen from a delivery. It was not much, but it would have to do.

    “If I’m faster than him, I have a chance” she thought as she moved in with her improvised weapon “I he’s faster than me… well, I can get to see everyone again, and say how sorry I am…”

    Time slowed for her as she dodged to the side of the stab Malmouda had attempted to make, and as a counterattack, she raised the brick into the air and then slammed it down hard on the top of his skull, stunning him enough to follow up with hitting it into the more vulnerable part of a head; the temples.

    Upon impact there was an audible crack, sending Malmouda crumpling to the ground, and it was clear that he had been knocked unconscious and would not be moving for quite some time. But the voice in the back of Marieya’s mind was not letting up.

    “He deserves more, and I know a monster like you can give more. Keep going.”

    Heart still pumping from the initial threats, her judgement was impaired, and so she listened to the voice. Strike after strike with the brick came down on the unmoving dragon, blood splattering across the wooden planks of the harbour as fragments of skull started to poke through the ruined scales atop the crumpling head.

    “Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it! Let the rage consume you!!!”

    Balls of fire manifested around Marieya’s hands as she continued her assault, eventually melting the brick until all she was doing was punching the now lifeless corpse of Malmouda with flaming fists. Marieya dragged his body across to the water, taking his shortsword in her hands as the voice began to laugh maniacally and slit his throat, letting what was left of his blood flow into the water.

    “You’re a monster Marieya! And that’s all you ever…”

    Suddenly, the voice was cut off. The fire around Marieya’s fists dissipated. And it began to rain.

    “That’s enough of that.” A male voice sounded in Marieya’s head, it was gruff but fatherly.

    “Who… who are you?” Marieya blearily asked, suddenly becoming aware of what she had done in her nervous rage. “Oh… oh god I killed him!”

    “You did, and then you offered his blood unto me” the voice said “I, Seggotan, lord of the ocean, accept this sacrifice, and implore that you also offer the body to the waves.”

    Wordlessly, Marieya complied, pushing the body into the water. As opposed to floating it sank instantaneously, disappearing into the depths without a trace as the rain washed the blood on the harbour away.

    “You are but a new servant, and you have many challenges yet to face” Seggotan said, working to ease the girl down “And I see you have an all-consuming fire resting within you, perhaps with time and dedication, I can teach you to control it more properly.”

    “I… don’t understand” Marieya said, her tone laced with confusion, her mind racing with more questions.

    “It will all become clear eventually. For now, return to my temple, and I assure you, for as long as you prove your devotion to me, I shall do my utmost to protect you.”

    The voice fell silent, and the rain stopped. A mix of emotions had washed over Marieya, horror at the murder she had just committed, confusion at why Seggotan had spoken to her in an supposed act of divine intervention, and mild relief that he had destroyed the evidence for her. Taking his advice to heart though, she returned to the temple where Alara instructed her to work on sweeping the main chamber.

    Whilst she worked, she passed by the statue of Seggotan in the centre of the room. Placing a hand on the plinth it stood on, she expressed thanks and praise for protecting her, reemphasising the pledge of devotion to him, promising him to offer gold and drownings in the hopes of pleasing him.

    Through the coming months Marieya’s life settled into a cycle, going to various classes to improve her skills as an emissary and working on maintaining the temple in the evenings. She kept her head down, and no one really bothered her, though the threats of death and dismemberment kept coming, along with being reminded with “how lucky she is” for not being killed or dismembered.

    Eventually, her training had finished, and she was now ready to venture out into the world as a devoted emissary to the Mharoti Empire, spreading the good word.

    “Yeah, right” Marieya thought to herself as she waved to Corvus and Alara as they saw her off on a merchant ship heading back to Courlandia “There’s no way I’m spreading their word properly.”

    She settled into her cabin, finally feeling the joy of sleeping on a comfortable bed for a change, dressed in the fine clothes she had worn throughout her education. Her exile from the Shadow Realm and her time with the dragons had changed her though, she had grown more nervous, more skittish, and become painfully aware of what suppressing her sorcerous blood was doing to her.

    However, she now had the ability to travel, equipment and money to afford a decent living and lifestyle in Courlandia, and a proper goal in mind.

    “I’m going to go out into the world” she said out loud as she gazed across the ocean from her cabin window, “I’m going to get stronger, I’m going to meet new people, I’m going to make new friends and keep them safe.”

    “And then, I’m going to come back here.”

    “I’m going to have a face-to-face meeting with Corvus.”

    “And I’m going to take his halberd.”

    “And I’m very carefully going to stab it into his chest.”

    “AND RIP OUT HIS FUCKING HEART!“

    Inspiration

    So… Marieya’s Screw Up was the longest piece of fiction I wrote in a long while… and now this one has comfortably overtaken that at 4778 words, coming close to twice the length of that and more importantly, forming one-tenth of a novel.

    In what has become a never-ending trauma conga line for Marieya, her time with the dragons was rough. Imagine what Corvus said to her, and what Alara said to her, and to an extent what Malmouda said to her, amplify that over several months, and you basically get a full impression of what she has gone through.

    Marieya’s character arc/focus has become clearer to me as I have played her more and explored her backstory, and the key theme of her character is a phrase I have used here and in the previous story.

    “It’s up to you to live now.”

    Ancil and Charak

    I consider it a very real, and honestly rather dark, possibility that Marieya could have very well given up after her banishment. She came close to giving up as the fires raged around her in the Shadow Realm, and at several points after that, she had the opportunity to just give in to any number of fates.

    But instead, she chooses to keep trying to live. She has survived everything up until now, what is to stop her surviving what else life can throw at her?

    One of these fates is something alluded to in the italic text throughout the story, and is something that needs explaining her because I honestly struggled to find a way to organically explain it fully in the story, only alluding to it at certain points.

    Marieya is a sorcerer, specifically, with help from my DM, she has the sorcerous bloodline of a phoenix soul fragment, meaning she is attuned with the fiery power of the phoenix. And in one conversation, we discussed the possibility of what it means that Marieya is suppressing this part of her, and whilst the disaster part of her lead to me saying “At some points she’ll just start farting fire”, it did lead to me thinking what this actually means.

    And that lead to what is used in this story and what I am tentatively calling “Marieya’s Manifestation”. (Better name pending)

    Marieya is carrying a lot of guilt and trauma from what happened in the Shadow Realm, her experiences with the dragons only worsening her trauma. This, in conjunction with suppressing her boiling blood, has led to an inner voice that manifests all three of these aspects. Marieya’s Manifestion is meant to be interpreted as an amalgamation of these three things, leading to Marieya to take a twisted view on what this manifestation means.

    I get a lot of use out of this screenshot

    To Marieya, the manifestation is the idea that she can give into her rage, hatred, and sadness to unleash her fire magic properly once more, becoming the pariah she feels she is and choosing instead to be feared and loathed as opposed to accepted and loved. It is also what is the main cause behind her flaw of “Leans to brutality when nervous”, when she is nervous, she has less control over the manifestation, leading to more drastic action.

    Accepting what has happened and trying to forgive what she has done are steps to banishing the manifestation, allowing Marieya to achieve her true potential.

    Small note to finish off, the title went through a few changes during the writing of this. It started off as “Marieya’s Trial”, as the tasks of training to be an emissary were quite taxing on her, then it changed to “Marieya’s Hell”, as the experience is taxing and incredibly arduous (the remnants of this name are found in the name of Corvus’s ship, as “the road to hell is paved with Good Intentions”).

    I eventually settled on “Marieya’s Torment”, as this encapsulates what she is going through in regard to her stay with the dragons and what the Manifestation is doing to her on a daily basis.

    Constructive feedback, as always, is massively appreciated.

  • My Magic: the Gathering Pet Cards (Part 1)


    (NB: Originally uploaded to https://geekoutuk.com/2019/11/08/my-magic-the-gathering-commander-pet-cards/)

    As is evidenced by an article on this very site, and to anyone who is near me for even the shortest amount of time, my favourite way to play Magic: the Gathering is in the Commander format.

    I’ve already talked about it before, but I’ll quickly recap the rules:

    • Legendary Creature(s) or Legendary Planeswalker(s) as your “Commander”
    • 99 card singleton (one copy of each card) deck (You can have duplicate basic lands)
    • 40 life starting life
    • Being dealt 21 points of combat damage by a single commander is an automatic loss
    • Traditionally played multiplayer but is viable in 1v1

    Over the two years I’ve been enjoying Magic both casually and competitively, I was slowly drawn away from the draft and Standard play I’d been participating in and moved into the format I keep brewing decks for today.

    And, as with most players who brew multiple decks, cards start to show up where you don’t include them because they’re the top tier of the format, or a must-include in your chosen colours; you include them because you like them.

    These are often referred to as “pet cards”, cards which tend to be incredibly personal to a player for various reasons. Pet cards can be powerful, generally and in the right scenario, but sometimes they can be a card you appreciate for the art, a card that holds significant emotional value to you, or pure, unfiltered, long shot jank.

    Here are just a few of the cards I consider my pet cards:

    Camaraderie

    From the start, Camaraderie has a steep hill to climb. Requiring 6 mana total to cast and two of it being different colours, the card should have a potent effect that goes a way to affect the board state in an impactful way.

    But it doesn’t, well, not massively so.

    For a start, without creatures on your side of the field; the card is dead in your hand until you develop a board back up meaning it’s not really a card you can play in response to a board wipe. The buff to your creatures is also fairly inconsequential, as a one turn only minor buff isn’t going to do much, unless you have a serious go-wide strategy going on.

    So why do I like it?

    It just feels right to me, for one reason or another. Despite its flaws whenever I’m building a deck which includes Green and White and I start to consider what sort of card draw I’m going to need, my mind usually drifts over towards including Camaraderie before anything else.

    I currently use it in my +1/+1 counter synergy deck and my token generation deck. In the former it fits right in with the greedy strategy I run with; I aim to get a good selection of big creatures on my board which fuels my card draw spells, allowing me to bring things to an end.

    In the latter, it has the potential to be bonkers.

    My token generation deck focuses on creating lots of smaller token creatures to achieve a “death by a thousand cuts” style of victory. But life gain, combined with the nuke that is Aetherflux Reservoir, has had some showings.

    Given 1 or 2 turns of carefully cultivating the correct quantity of tokens; Camraderie goes from “decent draw spell” to “drawing three times the maximum hand size”, which, yes, I do have to discard most of it because I don’t run cards that make me ignore hand size, but that then gives me something that can be just as important as card advantage: card selection. The ability to choose which cards are going to be best suited going forward.

    Simic Ascendancy

    As explained by Joel right here; you don’t necessarily have to deplete your opponent’s life total to gain victory. 25 of these alternate victory cards currently exist in the game and all of them offer a more elaborate route to victory.

    Simic Ascendancy is one of the more straight forward alternate victory cards, simply requiring for 20 +1/+1 counters to be placed on your creatures and to reach your next upkeep step. This counter can be accelerated through the mechanic Proliferate, which not only lets you add extra counters onto creatures; it also lets you add counters directly onto Ascendancy itself.

    Ascendancy is one of the few alternate victory cards that are able to fuel its own win condition. Many of them are static effects that will trigger when the condition is met, but the activated ability on the card allows for self-sufficient victory provided you have creatures.

    The major downside to Ascendancy (and other such cards)? No in-built protection. Without an ability such as Shroud or Hexproof to prevent removal spells from targeting it; Ascendancy is often left in a vulnerable position where turns worth of hard work can be undone within the constraints of a single phase.

    However, this downside has not stopped me from including it in every list which contains Blue and Green. Part of this is due to me owning a full playset (4 copies) of a promotional foil version of the card which adds a bit of flair to my decks, but also because of how easily it can slot into a deck.

    Even in decks where the main focus is drawn away from +1/+1 counters or proliferation it can become a silent threat on the table, slowly ticking over as turns go by until finally, when it becomes noticed by the rest of the table; it’s far too late.

    Deathsprout

    For a start, that goddamn art. Seb McKinnon consistently creates gorgeous pieces for Magic and this is no exception.

    Green and Black is a colour pair in Magic that is considered an “enemy” pair, in that the philosophies they represent are opposite. Green is the colour of life and its continuance, black is the colour of death and its inevitable nature. Whilst these are opposing views, together they form the belief that life ends in one form but can be reborn in another.

    This fact is referenced in the flavour text, attributed to Vraska, a prominent figure within the Golgari Swarm on Ravnica, a guild populated heavily by necromancers and one that subscribes heavily to the idea that both life and death are one large cycle.

    Flavour reasons aside, why I love this card? Utility.

    Comparing it to an existing card at a slightly lower mana cost, Murder, shows what Deathsprout adds to it. Both are instant-speed, single-target removal spells, but for one extra green mana you can fetch a basic land from your deck. Adding in what it would cost for fetching a basic at instant speed (Natural Connection), we can see that Deathsprout, in one card and for 4 total mana, gives us what otherwise would take two cards and a total of 6 mana. It’s rather efficient and I love it for that.

    End Step

    These are just a few of the cards which I always feel like slipping in whenever I build a Commander deck. Of course, I always have more to share, and perhaps I will one day. Have you got any cards that are must-includes in the decks you build? Are you the type of person who can’t go without a certain counter-spell? Let me know in the comments.

  • Star Realms Frontiers

    (NB: Originally posted to https://geekoutuk.com/2018/09/28/star-realms-frontiers/)

    Back in August 2017, I backed this product on Kickstarter as an early birthday present, under the impression it would’ve come in time for December that same year. A handful of delays with design and printing eventually led the EU fulfilment to happen this September.

    Was it worth the wait?

    Quick recap

    I’ve reviewed the original Star Realms on GeekOut before, so have a read here for the game’s mechanics in depth.

    In short, you get a starting deck of not-great cards, you use those not-great cards to buy new cards for your deck, with the goal of eventually cycling out the not-great cards so all you draw is straight gas.

    The game itself

    Since the basics of the game have been covered in the past, I’ll use this space to talk about how the cards in this box compare to the previous two sets.

    A new mechanic has been introduced in the form of “Double Ally Abilities”. Previously, faction synergy only required another card of the same colour to activate, however in a self-explanatory way, these new abilities require two other cards of the same colour.

    The game now natively supports 4 players, with a respective number of starter decks included. One major change is how a player’s Authority (life) can be tracked out of the box, a massive improvement at that.

    Previously the box would include double sided cards with 20/10 or 5/1 printed on them. I never touched these cards due to how clunky this system is; dice/phone counters being a preferable option. Now life tracking is done using two cards, one with digits, one with multiples of 10. These cards have been designed in a way that a multiple of 10 can be aligned next to a digit to represent a player’s total.

    The system is similar to using a D100 and D10 together

    The basic composition of the trade deck included is the same. 80 total cards (20 of each faction) with multiple copies of the smaller, cheaper ships and singleton copies of the more powerful, more expensive ships. Each of the factions retain their preferred playstyle from previous boxes:

    • Trade Federation/Blue focuses on synergy with bases, healing and trade
    • Machine Cult/Red focuses on destroying bases and scrapping cards from your deck
    • Star Empire/Yellow focuses on discarding cards to draw cards and making opponents discard
    • Blob/Green focuses on pure, unfiltered combat potential and card draw

    In terms of art direction, it is not only consistent, it is just as impressive. From the organic monstrosities of the Blob to the militaristic sleekness of the Star Empire; every ship and base conveys the identity of its faction in a way that creates flavour without words.

    Finally, the box contains a small selection of “Challenge Cards”, printed on oversized cards. Designed for either solo or co-op play, these cards can be used for a sort of Player VS Environment (PvE) playstyle. Each challenge plays differently from the others, with all the information on the rear of the card and in the rulebook included in the box.

    Kickstarter benefits

    The tier I pledged for Frontiers was one which came with all manner of add-ons:

    • A pack containing the stretch goal promo cards from the Kickstarter campaign
    • A pack containing recent tournament promo cards
    • A “Stellar Allies” pack featuring dual faction cards
    • Some additional expansions which I need for my collection
    • 7 “Command Decks”, one of which is Kickstarter exclusive

    The final bullet point is the one I want to elaborate on, as it is a radically different way of playing Star Realms.

    With Command Decks, you take the role of a prominent commander within a dual faction pair. In taking this role you get certain benefits which vary from deck to deck, the common theme between these benefits being your starting life and hand size for each turn. Each deck also comes with two “Gambits” unique to their commander, life tracking cards which art to reflect the theme of the deck and an 8-cost ship to add to your personal collection.

    One of the best ways to utilise a Command Deck is to play a game mode called “Raid”, which is a 1-VS-Many format. This game mode involves a player assuming the role of the Raid Boss, who uses a Command Deck to give themselves a boost. That said, playing with these decks in simple 1v1 play can diversify the experience along with ramping up the speed of play.

    Conclusion

    In answer to my earlier question “Was it worth the wait?”.

    Yes.

    Yes, it was.

    It’s hard for me to say what Star Realms means to me at this point, this is a card game I have collected almost every card from (save a few promos from supplemental products). It’s a card game that I always try to carry in my bag due to how easy it is to set up and play.

    Rob, Darwin, thank you. The extra time taken for this to get into the hands of backers has led to a fantastically well-rounded addition to an already brilliant game. I know it will be a while before new Star Realms content comes into circulation, but this little box is more than enough to tide me over.

    Now to get 700+ sleeves for this massive collection.

  • Gaming Genres: Multiplayer (with Friends)

    (NB: Originally posted to https://geekoutuk.com/2017/09/08/gaming-genres-multiplayer-with-friends/)

    The title does seem a bit generic, so I’ll clarify.

    When I’m talking about a ‘multiplayer (with friends)’ game, I’m talking about a game that can be played as a single player game quite easily — It’s designed in such a way that one person can progress normally. But the design is also in place to make the experience infinitely enhanced with the addition of your friends playing with you, either as allies, enemies or neutral parties (Read: Potential backstabbers).

    So how about starting with a game where a friend can go through all three of those positions?

    Sid Meier’s Civilization V (or Civ 5 for short) is a 4X strategy game (“eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate”) where the end goal is “to build a civilisation that will stand the test of time”. You do this through various means — Researching new technology, developing your culture to build social policies and, when it comes to it, nuking the ever loving hell out of anyone who wrongs you.

    Playing Civ 5 with friends is an interesting experience, to say the least. You can act amicable at first, sharing embassies, helping each other out through simple trade and maybe killing some barbarians, with the threats being only very vague and passive-aggressive in nature…

    …then you’ve declared war on every AI player and your friend, just so you can say you’re at war with everyone.

    Those are just the two far points of the spectrum of evil deeds during multiplayer in Civ 5 — You’ve also got imposing taxes on your friends to use your borders, or giving salt after a brutal war to, well, rub salt in the wound and — possibly the most brutal act your friends can commit — of nuking your capital city into the dirt when you’re playing as Venice, so that the only city you have left standing is a little city state that has nothing in it.

    Salty? Me? No.

    As much as I’d like to ramble on about when you get backstabbed by an ally, even during all-out war, I still have this element of joy flowing through me. Thinking about what move my friend will make next; what soldiers may be coming out from behind the frontlines; are the frontlines just a ploy to distract me? Combining that with all the previously mentioned elements, Civ 5 is a multiplayer game that can consume literal hours with a group of good people.

    And now, to give my editor flashbacks.

    Ahh… only a few people are going to get that, and that makes me happy.

    Terraria should be familiar to quite a few people reading this, due to its similarities to Minecraft and how both games shared a good amount of popularity during 2011.

    The advantages of Terraria come in the form of more of a set structure, with more armour tiers to advance through, biomes becoming harder as the game progresses and an incredibly diverse selection of boss fights.

    As someone who has spent a small time…

    …playing Terraria, I can vouch that the game has a veritable gold mine of possibilities for multiplayer.

    Of course you can progress normally by gathering materials and building a large castle, all to slowly carve your way up to the Moon Lord, the Cthulhu inspired final boss.

    However there are also options for PvP modes, with plenty of maps available online to download for these purposes, alongside inventory/character editors so all your friends are as powerful as each other, regardless of whether you use a mage, fighter or ranger build.

    A random game to play in multiplayer that I made up involves mining. You get a Spelunker Potion (which reveals ores and treasures with a glow for a brief time), a Teleportation Potion (which teleports the player character randomly once around the map) and a high level pickaxe/drill.

    The objective? Mine as much as you can before the Spelunker potion runs out. The person with the most ores and treasure wins. Simple, yet surprisingly competitive.

    With the previous two games, the amount of players in a single session can go up to sixteen and even higher. The next game is a bit smaller by contrast, on a scale as grand as the starry sky.

    Get it?

    Being one of the more obscure multiplayer titles to pick, Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Sky, is a JRPG developed by Level-5 and released for the Nintendo DS. The game follows the classic four person party composed of different classes with different abilities, going through a large open world completing quests, delving into dungeons and battling giant spear wielding cucumbers.

    Ahh yes, the cruel cucumber, truly the most chaotic evil of all vegetables

    The difference here is that the four-person party doesn’t have to be party members recruited at a tavern. They can be your friends in local multiplayer (recruiting these at a tavern is optional).

    DQ:IX handled multiplayer through a drop-in, drop-out system. In the main hub tavern of the game, there is a portal which you use to start connection with nearby DS systems, either opening your world to other players or trying to find the world of your friends.

    This system is downright amazing — and honestly I believe it’s the best way to play the game, even during the campaign.

    Sure, it is possible to soft sequence break your own world, by going into a friends world with more towns open and buying the better equipment there.

    But that ignores how ridiculously fun and satisfying it can get exploring the world as an actual party; the conversation you share in real life being the snarky comments actual adventurers would have in the face of monsters.

    Martial Artist, Armamentalist, Luminary and a healer character from that persons own party made up my band of adventurers, meeting up on the weekends to take on the harder bosses…

    …only to take up a lot of turn time using an attack with a pointlessly long animation, which, at the end of the day, didn’t even do that much better damage than a regular attack.

    That’s been my summary of a few multiplayer games I’ve enjoyed over my life. I’ll admit, I don’t play these with other people much these days, so a lot of my thoughts and ideas are from pure memory.

    But that’s the point of playing games with your friends; creating the memories that last.

    Be it sitting in a living room, making sure not to move too far away so the DS infrared connection doesn’t break, sitting in bed as suggesting Terraria as a game night idea goes horribly wrong, even to the people who prefer tabletop, gathered round a table playing Magic and D&D for hours on end.

    We’re all geeks here, building a community around these sorts of things is why we’re here.

    *****

    Present Rosalia here, and… reading this article back, especially as I got more into Magic: the Gathering shortly after I originally wrote this, and met even more friends because of that game, really gave me fuzzy feelings for the past.

    Multiplayer with friends brings back some of my greatest memories, and every time I play with friends these days I always seem to create some new memories as well, especially during the pandemic where remote play is the only time you’d get to talk to people you know.

    Keep playing, friends.

  • Rosalia’s Favourite Pokemon – Normal/Electric/Psychic Edition

    Normal – Porygon Z, #474

    Choosing a Normal-type to represent on this list actually ended up being quite difficult for me, as there’s a lot of good Pokémon to choose from, but none exactly stand out massively to me:

    • Do I pick one of the Starly line for being my personal favourite of the “three stage” bird lines in the series?
    • Do I pick Wooloo because the idea of rolling away from life’s problems seems appealing?
    • Do I pick Regigigas because I’m a memelord who wanted a shiny one to make a “MyBodyIsRegi” nickname joke?

    In the end, I decided on one where the background and design has always brought a smile to my face.

    The Porygon line in Pokémon derives from the core concept that it is a Pokémon that exists purely as computer code, giving it potential to operate in a near limitless amount of environments (though the Pokédex entry in Ultra Sun/Moon of most of the original Porygon being “obsolete” is quite entertaining).

    This artificial quality is reflected in how evolutions work along this evolutionary line. Trading a base Porygon with “Upgrade” turns it into Porygon 2, an upgraded version with better graphics hardware, as evidenced by the rough edges of the polygons behind smoothed out. You can then evolve Porygon 2 again by trading it with a “Dubious Disc” which does not upgrade the graphics hardware, in fact, no one is sure what it did.

    What exactly happens with this evolution can be left to interpretation, but two common ones persist:

    • The Dubious Disc infected Porygon 2 with a virus, not advertised on the disc, and this caused them to go haywire
    • The Dubious Disc was supposed to be what was advertised on the disc (interdimensional travel), but the programmers never finished the software, so it is full of bugs

    Porygon Z being a buggy mess is what appeals to me personally, because then that way I can have the concept of spaghetti code as a Pokémon!

    In terms of offensive capabilities, Porygon Z is primarily a special attacker, with a good range of Electric, Normal, and Psychic moves to choose from. With 90 base Speed it’s not exactly a slow Pokemon, but it most definitely benefits from a Speed-enhancing nature such as Timid, there is also some potential for working with a Choice Scarf build, but the lack of Same Type Attack Bonus (STAB) on the more powerful moves of the arsenal holds things back.

    Honestly, I am just happy to keep this as my fun glitchy mess.

    Electric – Ampharos, #181

    If the positive praise I heaped on Ampharos in one of my previous works is evidence enough, I love this little electric loaf.

    Their name also has a cute tie in to where you find a named Ampharos in the Gold/Silver/Crystal storyline. “Amphy”, belonging to Olivine City gym leader Jasmine, powers the city’s lighthouse. The second part of Ampharos’s name is derived from the Greek word “fáros”, meaning lighthouse, whilst “amp” is a unit of measurement for electrical current. It would be entertaining if the name came from the design scenario of needing an Electric-type Pokémon to rest on top of the lighthouse.

    Whenever I play through a game where Ampharos is in the regional Pokédex, it is always in high contention to join my team even when I am playing an entirely new region with new potential Electric-types to choose from, despite its low speed providing a potential disadvantage compared to faster Pokémon who may not hit as hard.

    One of its main boons is the fact that Thunder Wave, a fairly accurate Paralysis status-inducing move, is learnt on level up in the base stage of the evolutionary line Mareep. Having a move like this is valuable for difficult gym battles, working to make roaming legendary Pokémon easier to catch, and providing the same utility to static legendary Pokémon.

    Ampharos is also one of the Pokémon to have gained a Mega Evolution in Generation VI, becoming even more of a slow but impactful special sweeper. The ability of Mold Breaker allows Electric-type moves to bypass any shenanigans with Pokemon using Lightning Rod, and the addition of Dragon-type allows for STAB with the potential for Ampharos to learn Dragon Pulse starting in this generation.

    It has also clearly been using L’Oréal for its hair – got to respect its commitment to self-care.

    With a diverse move pool from both level up and TMs providing endless utility, this yellow loaf will always be special to me.

    Psychic – Gallade, #475

    A gallant knight, a wandering warrior, or a ferocious gladiator? Whilst the head of a Gallade has the appearance similar to the latter’s helmet; it is a much more honourable Pokémon than that. It utilises its Psychic/Fighting type combo appropriately, being attuned to the needs of others in dire straits and having the ability to telepathically predict the attacks of potential foes, allowing them to deliver devastating attacks.

    Gallade was introduced in Generation IV alongside many other previous generation Pokémon to get additional evolutions (one of many favourite features from the Sinnoh Pokédex in my opinion), this time being an alternate option if you didn’t want your male Kirlia growing up and just living with the gender role it was given, instead using a Dawn Stone to achieve the life he wants to live.

    Despite appearances and expectations, Gallade is not all that fast of an offensive Fighting-type, with a base Speed stat of 80. However, this is made up for with a great Special Defence stat of 115, which allows him to tank at least one hit from a super-effective Ghost-type or Fairy-type move, potentially two if a build utilising an Assault Vest is deployed.

    An all out offensive build with said item can have a decent chance of success, though as with a fair few Pokémon utilising a choice item (either a Choice Band or Choice Scarf here) can offer just as much damage output for Gallade, though the lack of a swapping move (such as U-Turn or Baton Pass) can reduce the versatility of the build.

    Like with Ampharos, Gallade also has a Mega Evolution. The size of the crest on his helmet increases, the blades on his arms become red and gain a sharper edge, and, mostly importantly, he gets a cape, giving him the appearance of a mighty duellist, looking to prove his worth against opponents near and far.

    With this change comes a speed more befitting the power of Gallade, going up 30 points to 110 base. Special Defence remains at its high level of 115, Defence itself goes up to 95 from 65 indicating the close quarters skill of Gallade has enhanced, but the true power lies in his Attack stat, going all the way up to 165 base, placing it above other Mega Evolutions and even some legendary Pokémon.

    Gallade has always been a pet favourite of mine when it comes to competitive play, I know there’s better choices out there, but he always has a spot in my roster for both design and power.

    Part 2: Completed

    Normal/Electric/Psychic edition of this series completed. Once again, it’d be nice to hear your feedback on my choices and what your potential choices may be, next time I’ll be covering my picks for the most synergistic three types, Rock/Steel/Ground.

  • And I OOP: Object Oriented Techniques, and the struggle to understand them


    (NB: Originally uploaded to https://geekoutuk.com/2019/10/16/and-i-oop-object-oriented-techniques-and-the-struggle-to-understand-them/)

    (Disclaimer: not reflective of current abilities)

    Bit of background on me, I’m currently in my final year of a programming-based degree. It has a more specialised focus on using what is taught and applying it to game engines & programming, but at its core is teaching good practice and technique within programming languages.

    The majority of these languages are object-oriented (OO). Object-oriented languages are (surprising no one) built on the concept of pooling code and data into “objects”. These two core components of an object can be defined within a “class”; a class is essentially a blank state of an object and once created, can be used to create instances of these objects.

    OOP languages put a heavy focus on making code modular and reusable. This is often achieved by looking at a piece of code and thinking “how often am I going to need to use this?”. If it’s used for one start-up operation, it can just be left be.

    If it’s something that is core to the main operation of the program; its attributes can be placed into a class and the code is then placed into a “function”, meaning now that whenever that piece of code is needed, the programmer can just call the function as opposed to writing/copying the code out again.

    All languages are going to have different implementations of various features, but there’s 3 features which are implemented across the majority of them:

    • Encapsulation
    • Inheritance
    • Polymorphism
    Why have I left out abstraction? Two reasons: encapsulation goes a way to explaining it, and I genuinely don’t think I can explain it myself yet.

    I’m going to explain what each of those mean in detail, along with talking about my struggles with actually trying to implement them in my code. All examples I give are going to be in C#/C++ as this is the syntax I feel most comfortable with.

    Encapsulation

    When talking about data stored in a class, the phrase “visibility” will be used a lot. Visibility refers to what variables/methods the main program can see/access, in C#/++ this is mainly defined in three levels:

    • Public: the variable/method is visible to all parts of the program once an instance of the class is created
    • Private: the variable/method is only accessible within the class
    • Protected: as above, but can also be access in derived classes (more on that later)

    By default when a variable is declared, its access modifier is set to private. This is also good practice, as it means you don’t expose important data of a class to other parts of the program. But what if you need to use or modify this data?

    This is where the implementation of “getters” and “setters” come into play. A “getter” is a function call that simply returns the value of the variable, whereas a “setter” is a function call that modifies the value of the variable, either through passing in a value to add/subtract or providing a parameter to plug into an algorithm.

    In C# this is achieved through the use of creating a private variable and a public property. The variable stores the value, whereas the property acts as both getter and setter (and when programming, some IDEs will give you the option to create a property as you declare a variable).

    This is a bit more complex in C++, but not by much. Properties aren’t able to be created by default, so you either need to make your variables public which is not the best idea or, as is standard, write individual getter/setter functions into your classes. Whilst this can feel clunky, it also allows for more efficient design, if you have a variable that only needs to be passed to other classes; all it requires is a getter to be written.

    Out of all 4 concepts, this is the one I have the best grasp of. When learning C++ and knowing I had to write my own function calls for passing variables, I became more aware of how encapsulation can shape the design of a class and influence how functions that require data from other classes are designed.

    Inheritance

    If you ever want to make a sustainable income in programming games, you want to have one as a backup.

    …that’s not what this means? Huh. (Game devs deserve so much better)

    Inheritance continues the idea of writing reusable code, as it allows you to create a base class that can then be inherited from to create “derived” classes. Derived classes are able to access public member functions and protected variables of parent classes. The way inheritance can be shown is through a “class diagram”, showing the tree and/or lattice of classes.

    The example that is commonly used to explain this is by showing the base class of “shape”, which will contain basic data on what a shape is defined as.

    This base class is then used as the parent class of two derived classes, “2D shape” and “3D shape”, both of which extend the base class by adding in data such as “area” and “volume” respectively. These two derived classes can then be used as parent classes for defining derived classes for specific shapes, cutting down on needing to re-write variables for each new class.

    Whilst I am still unsure on this concept, I’ve slowly learnt how it can be used effectively. When applying it to games programming, it makes planning out non player characters (NPCs) much simpler, as you can create a base class for basic NPC function and then create derived classes to make diverse NPCs with less new code needing to be added.

    (Present Rosalia update: I’ve actually managed to use this correctly in one of my final modules, I created an abstract class to handle player characters within a game, with each unique player inheriting from that base class. It made applying functions needed across all player characters much easier to implement, and I’ll certainly be using the technique again!)

    Polymorphism

    Polymorphism is… strange, at least from my perspective.

    It is often defined as “the ability for a function, variable or object to take on different forms”, with this definition being applied to allow programmers to design their software without needing to think of specifics.

    In C#/++, this is seen as declaring a function with the same name multiple times, but changing what input parameters it has:

    • Output(int number)
    • Output(int number1, int number 2, int number 3)
    • Output(float number)
    • Output(vector<int> vector) [an aside, I love vectors in C++, such a useful data structure]

    These functions all have the same name of “Output”, but the actual nature of Output will only be determined when they are called with the specific set of parameters.

    I’ve not yet been able to see a useful application of polymorphism in my programs; I did briefly flirt with the idea of trying to write a function with an infinitely scalable number of parameters, but I got quickly talked out of it. From the perspective of games programming, it can potentially tie into inheritance, a function called “Movement” can be defined in a base NPC with it’s true behaviour only being determined when applied to specific types of NPCs.

    (Present Rosalia update 2: I’ve also managed to use this correctly, but in a smaller form factor than the previous technique, an enemy agent in my AI project needed to access positions on a map grid in different ways, so I made the same function name, but it either took in a Vector3 or a Vector2Int depending on what level of map access it needed)

    Conclusion

    Without sounding too full of myself, I think I’m a pretty good programmer. My problem solving skills are usually pretty sharp and (aside from a few flukes) I’m able to effectively line-by-line debug any errors I may have.

    These techniques, and being able to use them correctly, comes over time. I know for a fact that even when I’m starting to do this sort of work with the aim of producing my own games, I’ll be learning more about how I may be able to implement them; maybe in ways I never considered I could.

  • Ratchet: Deadlocked Review

    Introduction and Plot

    Ratchet: Deadlocked (or Ratchet: Gladiator in Europe, Australia, and South Africa) was released in 2005, and was the last game in the franchise developed by Insomniac to be released on PS2 as two years after this they would make the leap to the next generation with the Future games. There were two more games in the franchise to see PS2 releases, but they were:

    • Developed by High Impact Games as opposed to Insomniac
    • And were of… dubious quality

    Now in charge of the Starship Phoenix from the third game; Ratchet receives a call from Sasha talking about recent hero disappearances, being linked to an underground televised competition called “DreadZone” (referred to as DZ from now on), with DZ drones teleporting aboard the ship to bring Ratchet, Clank, and Big Al into their custody.

    They are transported to the DZ Space Station, where all three are fitted with collars that are set to detonate if they try to escape, refuse to participate in DZ challenges, or, as antagonist Gleeman Vox puts it “become boring”. Unlike previous entries, Clank now serves as Ratchet’s support as he competes in arenas and challenges, with two support droids named Merc and Green acting as utility and fire support during gameplay.

    The two bots share some banter between each other and observations on whatever situation Ratchet has gotten himself into, which can be entertaining in some scenarios. But much like the commentary from DZ presenters Dallas and Juanita, lines start to get repeated fairly early on, to the point I was able to recite a line fully before it finished in game.

    Deadlocked is a radical departure from the action platforming gameplay of the original trilogy, instead focusing more on gunplay and vehicle sections, with the traditional open planets also being scrapped in favour of individual missions on both the DZ Station and planets across the Shadow Sector. I sometimes jokingly refer to this game as “Ratchet’s response to Halo” because of this shift.

    Weapons

    Despite a greater focus on gunplay; Deadlocked features less weapons than the first game of the series. Whilst the original game had 14 weapons, with sequels increasing this number as well as featuring legacy weapons to fill out the roster, this game has 10 weapons, 2 of which are derivative of legacy weapons, meaning there is technically only 8 original weapons included.

    Part of the starting line up includes the Dual Vipers, two rapid-fire submachine guns perfect for crowd control against smaller mobs. However, unlike the rapid-fire weapons of previous entries, the low damage of the Viper rounds will quickly become a detriment as more powerful enemies are introduced to DZ challenges. They do find some utility as a weapon for the best chance of applying debuffs to resilient enemies using Omega Mods.

    A returning weapon is the Miniturret Launcher from R&C2, which does find a new lease of life in the more action-oriented scenarios of Deadlocked. Whilst all games put a focus on using your mobility to be decrease your likelihood of being hit Deadlocked provides areas and corridors where a defensive strategy paired with mobility will win the day, which is where this weapon shines. Its upgraded form also diverts away from its origin, becoming a focused laser turret instead of a beefier rocket turret.

    And as with all games, there is a R.Y.N.O-style weapon, both expensive and devastating, this time called the Harbinger. The operation of this is pretty unique compared to other variants of the R.Y.N.O, the Harbinger will fire rockets that paint targeting lasers onto the ground, at which point cannons will rain death from above, annihilating everything these enemies know and love. The upgraded version, known as the SuperNova, instead uses these targeting lasers to go Armageddon on your foes, showering them with meteors which leave behind impact craters.

    Usually with my Ratchet-based content, I leave the R.Y.N.O equivalent to last, as it is usually the most powerful weapon in the game. This time, I am speaking with my bias and spreading the good word of my favourite weapon in this game: the Scorpion/Leviathan Flail.

    Normally, melee weapons outside of the Omniwrench do not tend to interest me. The Walloper is underwhelming compared to even the wrench itself, and the Plasma Whip is boring until upgraded.

    The Flail takes all my expectations of a melee weapon and blows them out of the water. With the ability to handle crowds of mobs, small to medium enemies, and even some bosses the Flail offers the more daring user an interesting way to handle enemies close up as opposed to this games shotgun-equivalent, with it earning a mod on level-up to the Leviathan Flail that allows Ratchet to heal from the damage he deals to enemies mitigating the risk.

    It has been mentioned briefly throughout this section, but weapon modifications are greatly expanded compared to previous games, with mods comprising of two categories this time round: Alpha Mods and Omega Mods.

    • Omega Mods are one per weapon, adding either an elemental aspect to the weapon or a potential debuff, and must be brought from the weapon vendor
    • Alpha Mods are up to a total of ten per weapon, and are earned as a weapon levels up with the option to purchase new mods in Challenge Mode

    My advice? Put Shock on everything. Even with the low damage weapons Shock can turn the higher difficulties of the game into a complete cakewalk, and in the right scenarios can make your PS2 cry from slowdown as it struggles to render explosions, lightning effects and enemy bits flying everywhere as you rip and tear until it is done.

    Gameplay

    DZ Space Station acts as your hub level, this is where you start the game and return to after earning enough medals from completing challenges on other planets. Most plot progression fights/tournaments take place here and this is also where you can buy new weapons, upgrades, and cosmetics for your combat bots. There is also a little podium where you can check your DZ ranking against other contestants, who you never see so it is a bit pointless. Clank is also situated at this station and he serves no purpose except for cutscenes.

    As mentioned, the game has done away with exploration on planets, with the form of challenges taking its place. Each planet has between 3-7 primary challenges which are needed to earn medals to participate in the progression tournaments, and 1-3 secondary challenges unlocked after completing the primary challenges on most planets. Secondary challenges are mainly for bolts and “DreadPoints”, a minimum of which are needed to advance to other planets.

    Hidden collectibles such as gold/platinum bolts are not included in this entry, instead the skill point system is expanded upon from previous games, with each planet having 15 total skill points to earn and earning bolts when one is achieved. The criteria for these can vary with some persisting themes:

    • Complete a challenge on X difficulty level
    • Defeat X number of enemies with Y weapon
    • Defeat X number of enemies within Y timeframe
    • Complete a challenge without healing/taking damage
    • Complete a challenge within X timeframe
    • Inflict X amount of debuffs with Omega Mods

    All the criteria for the skill points are clearly described in the list for each planet, so achieving them is not the same as completing the obscure tasks required of you in previous entries.

    Like previous entries however they are still used for unlocking cheats, most of which are aesthetic minus 3 which add mods to your wrench and vehicle or give Ratchet a Ninja skin which improves his speed and physical capabilities. The aesthetic cheats range from changing the colours on your HUD, adding permanent weather effects to the world around you, or letting you hold one Dual Viper sideways to look more badass.

    The game’s presentation definitely shifted more towards darker colour palettes to fit the themes of the game more, thankfully this doesn’t lead into the mid-2000s territory of “everything is brown and dreary” as there is diversity in colours used, the overall aesthetic is just edgier. And as usual, the game runs at 60fps if you are not torturing it with Shock mod.

    There are some options for exploration within missions themselves, though this normally just leads to more of a certain type of enemy needed to fulfil a skill point, or a Jackpot crate which is just filled with a lot of bolts.

    RPG elements present in previous games remained, with XP being used to upgrade your health and weapons once more. Weapons can go up to Level 10 on a first playthrough, and once upgraded to a “Mega” variant in Challenge Mode can be levelled all the way up to Level 99.

    For the first time in the series, you were able to set your difficulty before loading up your save file, ranging from “Couch Potato” (1 star), going through “Contestant” (2 stars), “Gladiator” (3 stars), “Hero” (4 stars), and finally reaching “Exterminator” (5 stars) being unlocked upon completion of the game. My recommendation is Contestant if you are new to the franchise and going up if you want a challenge. Coach Potato is way too mindless to be fun at points in my opinion.

    Oh hey, a Naughty Dog reference

    Armour is unlocked through gameplay progression this time round, but all it does is offer a visual bonus with no impact on damage reduction. To this end you could be better off using one of the many skins that can be unlocked in the extras menu using the stars earned from completing challenges.

    Due to the gunplay taking centre-stage, there are actually very few gadgets Ratchet himself can use this time, any and all gadget play is relegated to the combat bots who can be commanded to use gadgets with the D-Pad, making sections of them using something like the Hacker Ray more like an escort mission than anything else.

    Vehicles now form a more integral part of the game, with multiple primary and secondary challenges putting you in control of one of four different vehicle options, three of which are returning/revamped.

    Returning from the previous game is the Hovership. With more refined controls than the previous entry and a slightly expanded arsenal, in addition to a damaging primary cannon there are now missiles that can be locked onto multiple enemies at once making it useful for dealing with both ground and airborne threats.

    Also returning but in a slightly adjusted form is the Hoverbike, last seen in R&C2. Whereas the Megacorp hoverbikes are more geared towards racing around tracks the DZ hoverbikes are more combat-focused, being able to strafe and having machine guns mounted on the front for skirmishes. Challenges centred around the bike tend to be more focused on speed.

    Building on the foundation of the Turbo Slider from R&C2, the Puma is a vehicle that has good speed capabilities paired with good offensive capabilities, equipped with machine guns on the front of the car if simple roadkill isn’t enough for you, and a more powerful energy cannon mounted on the top that can be aimed by a passenger.

    Finally, and completely original to this game, is the Landstalker. A quadrupedal walking tank, again equipped with machine guns but now also carrying plasma mortars that can be locked onto enemies before firing, allowing you to either eliminate a handful of medium enemies or concentrate your firepower on one large target. The Landstalker is often used in auto-walking target gallery challenges, requiring you to earn a specific number of points before reaching the end.

    Multiplayer was included again with it encompassing more of the game. The main campaign could now be played entirely cooperatively, with you and your partner gaining access to the gadgets your combat bots would use normally, and there was competitive multiplayer with an online mode that lasted until 2012 when the PS2 servers were shut down. If anything, I just love that this is another way the PS2 enjoyed such a long active lifespan as a console.

    Controls

    There is not much to comment on regarding the controls this time round, as Insomniac continued to use the fantastic system that had practically perfected with R&C3. There is no Clank this time around for thruster pack moves so everything is solely on Ratchet who controls the same as before, strafing and flipping from side-to-side during combat feels good to use.

    The Puma and Hovership control practically identical to their previous iterations, with some tightening of the Puma’s controls to adjust for the fact it is used for racing style missions now. The Hoverbike feels slightly floatier and not as tight to control as I would want it to be, but for the few missions where it sees use this is not much to complain about.

    And the Landstalker is… alright. Being heavy artillery, it is obviously a slow-moving vehicle, with some options for mobility in the fact it can leap to dodge out of the way or move towards a goal faster. This would be fine except for higher difficulties where the enemies are tougher, outputting more damage than you are, and you are in a tin can that will soon become your coffin.

    Final thoughts

    Deadlocked is a perfectly good game if you are interested in experiencing the mission style structure of the gameplay and how the more gunplay focused approach plays out. My main comment to make that this would be a perfectly fine standalone title if it were not for the Ratchet and Clank branding.

    This is not a Ratchet game, this has no business being a Ratchet game, it is perfectly enjoyable on its own but compared to the games preceding it (and then the games following on from it); you can definitely tell this was supposed to be something else entirely during development.

    I still enjoyed playing it all the same, and it provided a good challenge as well. If you find this cheap for PS2 or PS3 and fancy giving it a go, I recommend picking it up, especially if you can find a friend to play along in co-op with you.

  • Dubious Double-Sided Designs | A Magic: the Gathering Discussion

    (NB: Originally posted to https://geekoutuk.com/2019/07/22/dubious-double-a-magic-the-gathering-discussion/)

    (Foreword: Thanks to Joel for hearing me out on this idea one night and helping develop it. These theoretical card designs were created using mtg.design)

    Ever since their introduction in the original Innistrad block; double-faced cards have remained a very popular mechanic in Magic: the Gathering. To date, we have got:

    The penultimate entry is one for discussion today, because I want to test the idea of a Planeswalker that can become not-a-Planeswalker.

    Thematically, a Planeswalker is an individual who is gifted with a “Planeswalker spark”, an innate ability that allows them to travel between planes. Within the story there have also been instances of Planeswalkers giving up their spark to achieve various goals, so, a Planeswalker card that becomes something else can work in game.

    I’m going to work with an example that happened in the story itself, the ascension of Xenagos to Nyx.

    Xenagos, Scorned Satyr

    Gods in Theros are born and sustained by the belief of their followers. Xenagos ascended in the aftermath of a large celebration (or Revel, to be accurate), and more revellers joined in as time went on. Using this we can have the plus ability on our theoretical Xenagos create token creatures to reflect the Revel growing larger.

    The obvious choice here would Satyrs, but creatures of all forms joined in the Revel, so the potential ability could read as:

    +1: Create a red and green 2/2 Satyr with haste, a green 3/3 Centaur with trample, or a 1/1 red Human with “{R}: This creature gets +1/0 until end of turn” at random.

    As the Revel goes on, Xenagos’ power grows, and he gains more followers. And as more individuals join, the likelihood of something (and/or someone) getting broken is going up. Thankfully, the card “Destructive Revelry” gives us a pretty good idea of what this looks like, Planeswalker abilities have been known to mimic spells before, which gives us a minus ability:

    -2: Destroy target artifact or enchantment. Xenagos, Scorned Reveler deals 2 damage to that permanent’s controller.

    Finally, we need to have a way of transforming Xenagos. His ascension happened when the Revel reached a critical mass of followers, so we need to be able to represent this in an ability which should also interact with the plus ability.

    0: If you control ten or more red and/or green creatures, transform Xenagos, Scorned Satyr

    With all abilities lined up, we can now figure out what the mana cost and starting loyalty should be, though personally I feel keeping to original Xenagos’ layout of 2 generic mana, a red mana and a green mana with a starting loyalty of 3 works pretty well. The flip ability doesn’t require loyalty counters so they are purely there for survivability and using the minus ability every so often.

    (Present Rosalia notes: I like how I unintentionally designed “Outlaws’ Merriment” before it was officially revealed for Eldraine. I know sets are often designed years in advance, it’s just kind of funny to me)

    Xenagos, Usurper of Nyx

    Having now taken his place amongst the pantheon; Xenagos has gone from Planeswalker to a more fitting “Legendary Enchantment Creature – God”.

    As is expected, his first line of text is “Indestructible”. All Gods in Magic have some way of sticking around or surviving removal effects, and the most straight forward one works here.

    With already existing Theros gods, they use a mechanic called “Devotion” (the amount of colour mana symbols on cards totalled together) to determine whether a God counts as a creature. However, the previous side of Xenagos has been pumping out creature tokens, which have no coloured mana symbols on them meaning no progress towards devotion.

    To maintain the flavour of Gods needing a pre-condition to counting as a creature and making it so the mechanics of the previous side interact, a new mechanic can be proposed:

    “Following: Your Following count is equal to the number of creatures in the specified colours”

    So, the second line of text on our new Xenagos can read:

    “As long as your Following to red and green is less than ten, Xenagos isn’t a creature”

    This allows Xenagos to act as a creature from the get-go, as he had already gathered a required Following in order to ascend. Now he needs to have an ability that interacts with the heavily populated board state, and manifests the ideal of the Great Revel.

    With bonus hypocritical Heliod flavour text

    “At the beginning of your end step, create a red and green Eidolon enchantment creature token if five or more creatures dealt combat damage to a player. It has “This creature’s power and toughness are equal to the number of creatures you control.”

    An ability like this gives an ever-increasing payoff to a go-wide strategy, which reflects the rituals that Xenagos performed during his ascension, bringing Nyxborn entities into the mortal realm.

    And, as with Scorned Satyr, I’m keeping this Xenagos in line with his existing counterpart by making his power and toughness 6/5.

    So, that’s my proposal for a Planeswalker that has the potential to flip into something else. It’s most definitely unbalanced and requires refinement, but as a dubious design, it fits the title quite nicely. Please feel free to give any feedback, both mechanically and flavour-wise on how the cards turned out.

  • Marieya’s Screw Up

    (Content Warning: Death. This story gets heavy everyone, read at your own discretion.)

    Waves crashed against the ship, the sea itself was choppy but the weather was comparatively tame, a light breeze rustling the sails doing little to disturb a sky dense with clouds. The ship itself was a fairly luxury vessel, a mixture of expansive cargo holds and four-person cabins forming the inner workings below the deck.

    In one such cabin on the port side, Marieya Ebontide was reclining on a hammock, having been recently banished from the Shadow Realm on punishment of being hunted like prey and then killed in whatever way the victor saw fit. She was not alone however, as some friends had joined her in the realm of Midgard in solidarity with her.

    They included Izumi, a roguish looking individual, her small nub-like horns concealed underneath a hood that cast her eyes in shadow revealing only a mouth curved into a slight smirk, alabaster white skin reflecting in the moderate light provided in the cabin.

    The next compatriot was Vardal, a ranger of great renown within the Shadow Realm. His outfit muddied from tracking bearfolk on long hunts, long spiralling horns on proud display and the light catching on his dark grey skin. Beside him was his handcrafted bow and quiver, covered in several notches, one for each successful hunt.

    Finally, trying to keep to themselves and express minimal emotion was Ancil. One of Marieya’s oldest friends, they were the one who supervised her trip into the forest, the one that lead to her banishment.

    “Is there any reason you’ve dragged me out here Marieya?” Ancil said, a tone of exasperation lacing their voice, checking the buckles on all their gear as they followed the excitable Shadow Fey sorcerer, eager to try out new spells.

    Marieya spun as she walked and beamed happily at her fighter friend “Well, whilst I get to grips with using my spells in a proper scenario…” she said, casting a spell to produce a small puff of smoke around her hand “…I figured I could use a strong, strategic, handsome fighter to escort me!”

    The mildest apparition of a smile appeared on Ancil’s mouth before fading as they reached a small clearing. A fire pit smouldered gently around ebony logs that had been dragged close to act as makeshift sitting stools, and aside from a few crushed leaves, there were no remnants of the hunting party that used this area as a rest stop. Even the smallest dropped item could lead bearfolk trackers right to them.

    Approaching the fire pit rubbing her hands together in glee; Marieya closed her eyes whilst taking a deep breath, envisioning the spell in her mind before saying out loud “Fiiirreeeee… Bolt!”, flicking her hand forwards at the same time. Wisps of flame circled around her palm before forming into a more cohesive ball in the centre, launching out at high speed into the fire pit reigniting the smouldering logs with a flash.

    Giggling at finally getting to use her powers properly filled the young Shadow Fey with confidence, perhaps overconfidence considering her next move.

    “Hey” she said “Hey Ancil.”

    Ancil sighed, and said “What is it?”

    Marieya gripped a piece of cured leather tight in her hand, focused on her next spell, pumping her arms and shouting “Let’s see if your fancy swords can get through my armour!”, causing a translucent red magical energy of sorts to whip around her.

    Again, Ancil sighed, and shook their head. “Marieya… you’ve had some really blunt ideas in the time we’ve known each other” they said “But ‘goading me to attack you’ is probably the bluntest yet”

    With a slight pout, Marieya shot back “You’ve seen me studying” she said, “I’ve looked into what this spell does, and it should be able to withstand a hit from your longsword!”

    The fighter realised there was no way around this and no route to convincing their friend to back down, and so unsheathed their weapon of choice; a bespoke longsword with a straight blunt edge and a delicately sloped sharp edge, designed in such a way that allows the wielder to swap between lethal and non-lethal combat on the fly.

    Ancil tutted “You know that day I used the blunt edge on you?” they said, “There was no way I was going to risk gutting you because you didn’t know the limit of your powers.”

    Izumi laughed, twirling a shortsword in her hand “I would’ve done it”, she said, her voice dripping animosity “Would’ve taught her to fucking rein in.”

    As the blade was deflected off the ethereal protection projected by the younger sorcerer, she fully ventured into the territory of overconfidence, allowing her ego to be swelled. Ancil continued to show barely any emotion, aside from their body language indicating a train of thought of why exactly someone this talented with sorcery need their help.

    Putting the leather back into her pocket, Marieya cracked her knuckles and surveyed her surroundings. Many dark twisted trees make up the forests of the Shadow Realm, some young sprouts, and some ancient monoliths, but to the girl drunk on her own power; they all looked like targets to another spell.

    Interlocking her fingers together and muttering an incantation to manifest the spell, very soon glowing red darts of magical energy appeared around Marieya. First three appeared, but as she muttered more mystical words another manifested, and finally one more also materialised, five darts in total and with a sweeping motion of both arms away from her chest each dart launched itself into a nearby tree.

    The more brittle trees shattered almost instantly upon impact, sending bits of bark and wood chips flying across the clearing and to other trees. Stronger trees were visibly damaged, but the debris was more localised around the tree that was hit.

    Vardal tutted “Whilst it was an amalgamation of errors that lead to this situation” he said “that was most likely the root, as you had just surrounded the area in what was essentially kindling”

    Izumi chimed in and said “Yeah, I could’ve made it out if it weren’t for the bits of shit you had chucked everywhere.”

    In addition to the damage caused the spell was quite loud, leading to Ancil expressing concern to their friend “Alright, you’ve proved your power and that you can handle yourself” they said “But you just made a few loud bangs, so if people didn’t know we are here before, they definitely do now.”

    And soon enough, someone revealed themselves and was quite annoyed at what had been going down. “Marie, are you fucking insane!?” Izumi said, approaching the duo with a furious stride “I’ve been watching from the sidelines and it was all harmless fun until you blasted the shitting tree I was standing behind!”

    Marieya crossed her arms in a huff “Well where else am I supposed to improve?” she said, “If I did this anywhere else, I’d get shouted at.”

    “I’m shouting at you now you power tripping bitch! We’re friends but you seriously have to know your limits here.”

    “I know my limits just fine!” Marieya said in rebuttal, “Watch! I’ll use one of my most powerful spells with the utmost of control!”

    Upon saying this she reached into her pocket and pulled out a medium-sized red crystal, with minimal cutting and carving on it, leading to it having rough edges and an unusual shape. Nonetheless it brimmed with magical potential as an arcane focus, which the girl directed away from the group and started to concentrate on casting the spell.

    In her mind, she was going to create a large, fiery explosion at the furthest distance she could to demonstrate the proficiency of her power.

    However, the concerns of her friends clouded her mind, was she really going out of control here? Had she already done what she needed to be satisfied with herself? Was everything after protecting herself just needless showmanship?

    Realising her impulsiveness, Marieya lowered her crystal… but the spell had manifested, and in her doubtful state instead of the spell being casted at a safe distance; the spell was cast but thirty feet away from the group.

    Whilst they were not caught in the primary blast; the group were close enough to be pushed back by the force of the explosion. Izumi collided hard with a tree, falling to the ground quickly after whilst Marieya and Ancil were thrown back to the path they had initially travelled down, but the pain from the impact was the least of their concerns.

    The fiery explosion had ignited the scraps of trees leftover by the earlier magical missiles, which provided enough ferocity to the ensuing flames to start burning the trees themselves, in the moments whilst the two on the path were composing themselves; the fire had already engulfed a good portion of the surrounding forest.

    “Move.” Ancil said “Now.” Their previously ambivalent voice now provided insight to how they perceived the current situation, and they were not going to take any chances. The two began to flee the encroaching blaze, before Marieya looked back.

    “I-Izumi? Izumi come on we have to move!” she said, shouting to get her friend moving. There was no response. The hit from the tree had rendered her unconscious.

    “We don’t have time.” Ancil said, urging their friend to keep moving.

    “But… but… she’s our friend! I have to help her!”

    Marieya began the first steps back to try pick Izumi up, but the tree she had hit into was already burning, and before long a branch had caught fire, breaking off from the main tree and landing flat on her motionless body. If the impact did not kill her, the flame claiming her certainly did.

    Marieya shuffled in her hammock, looking over to Vardal and Ancil. “Time slowed down for me when that happened…” she said, a haunted demeanour washing over her “I was horrified… she died because of me… because of my selfishness.”

    Vardal seemed to agree, but took a restrained tone, saying “You had certainly laid the groundwork for such an incident, but your inexperience with a new spell is nothing to be ashamed of.”

    “N-no…”

    Ancil grabbed Marieya’s arm and pulled her through the burning forest, not giving her time to process the grief of losing a friend. The fire had continued to spread exponentially, each moment Ancil had to rapidly process the information around them to work out where to go next, within a given second a path could be blocked by falling flaming foliage requiring a moment to pause, a moment that could mean death.

    “Ancil! Marieya!” a voice called out from within the flames “Can you hear me? Try to follow my voice!”

    The duo complied, navigating their way through the burning forest until they reached the source of the voice. It was Vardal, presumably he had been on a hunt as there was a party of other rangers with him. “We need to get to the forest border” he said, taking control of the situation “We’re working on getting clerics and druids together to help control the blaze but we don’t know how long they’re going to be.”

    Once safely navigated through the last bit towards Vardal and his party, they continued their advance through the forest, with other rangers acting as lookout for more falling branches, passage eventually calming down despite the rage around them.

    “Alright, we’re close to safety” Vardal said “It should only be another three hundred feet, once we’re out we can check for injuries and- “

    There was a loud bang, disorienting everyone in the vicinity. More bangs were heard, and shards of wood went flying. “Shit!” a ranger said, “The hidden caches of alcohol are igniting and exploding!”

    Hidden throughout forests by various forward ranging parties; the caches were intended to be accessed by any explorers looking to relax or take the edge off a hunt, but instead now have become a deadly trap. More explosions went off, and in a spell of misfortune, Vardal was standing right beneath one of these.

    Marieya sighed in sadness, and looked over again, only Ancil looking back at her. “I hope the explosion ended it quickly for him…” she said “I can’t stand the idea of having caused him more pain than I already did…”

    Ancil nodded “I hope so too.”

    “…his legs being blown off is never going to leave my mind though.”

    The tears streamed down Marieya’s face; it was a shock to lose one friend due to her actions but losing a second shortly after was traumatising. If it were not for Ancil continuing to pull her along, she would have let herself be consumed by the results of her error, succumbing to the flames.

    Slowly, the border of the forest became clear, but the flames had managed to catch up to Marieya and Ancil, the latter not moving as fast as they were previously, their breathing had become laboured and their normally stoic expressed had twisted into a rictus of pain.

    “Ngh… sorry Marieya… this is as far as I go…” Ancil said, grunting, pushing Marieya in front of them.

    “W-what? No! We’re so close! Come on!” Marieya said, her voice cracking with guilt and fear.

    In response Ancil rolled up both their right and left trouser leg, revealing flesh penetrated with several chunks of wood “Barrel explosions got me good…”

    Marieya refused to leave her friend behind, not after the events of today, she tried to tug Ancil along, but she did not have the strength to. “Please… I can’t lose anyone else…”

    Ancil breathed deeply, realising the flames would reach them any moment now “It’s up to you to live now…”, and with that, they picked Marieya up, pushed the last bit of distance they needed to before throwing her clear of the forest, succumbing to the pain of their injuries and collapsing to the ground with the fire washing over them soon after.

    The impact on the ground briefly stunned the girl, but she turned on the ground to try running back to save her friend, but the flames were already too strong. All she could do is scream. Scream. Cry. Wail. Despair. Despair at the horror her hands had caused.

    Soon after the clerics and druids had arrived and cast spells to form a massive rainstorm over the forest, extinguishing the flames. A sorcerer had pulled Marieya aside and delved deep into her mind, discerning what had happened in the depths of the forest.

    “Marieya Ebontide, for the crime of gross misuse of magic, for the crime of death in the misuse of magic, and for the destruction of ranger caches, I hereby banish you from the Shadow Realm. I will conjure a portal to the realm of Midgard, if you do not leave through it in the time the spell lasts, I will execute you. If you ever return, we will hunt you down, and the victor will choose how you are executed.”

    Marieya laid in a hammock, trying to focus on anything other than what she had done.

    “I need to ask one more thing of you” Ancil said.

    Marieya jumped in shock “But… all the others disappeared… why are you here?”

    “Because if there’s one person to tell you this, your mind would rather it be me.”

    “Ahh…”

    “You need to forgive yourself for what happened that day.”

    “How… how can I forgive myself for such a heinous act?”

    “We’re all gone, and you’re in a new world. You have a chance to find a new start.”

    “I’d rather just stay on this ship, in this hammock, forever, and ever.”

    “Where do you think you are?”

    ***

    Marieya awoke with a jolt from her meditative trance, revealing true surroundings of large supply crates she had stowed herself between. As she heard a guard approaching to where she was hiding she pulled a tarp over herself to better conceal her position, loosening it as the footsteps became quieter.

    She wiped her eyes of tears before rolling onto her side, using the tarp as a makeshift blanket, and tried to settle down to sleep.

    She did not need to.

    She just hoped nightmares would hurt less than memories.

    Inspiration

    This is probably the most difficult thing I have written in a very long time. It is dealing with a topic I’ve never really explored in fiction, the most dialogue I’ve written, strange perspectives on telling the story, and is the largest piece of fiction I’ve written in almost 4 years (2695 words of main content). I hope it reads well enough and the details are understandable. Any and all constructive feedback is welcome.

    It somewhat seems appropiate that my first proper D&D character would go for the trope of tragic backstory, I also hope there’s enough interest in the content itself to make it stand apart. There’s honestly more to come when I explore her time training as a cleric.

    Through this though, Marieya is someone I’ve played as a walking disaster, and whilst the reasons for this haven’t been explore in-game, I definitely try lean into the more comedic side of this to add interest in the roleplay aspect, such as when she found Jørgen and Fauna in the city of Jozht (after having gotten a 9 on Investigation to try find them) and badly tried to describe the situation she had gotten into with Honesty.

    That situation is what spurred this story on, as Marieya had her mind delved into by a nothic, which prompted my DM to message him a secret privately, and that it can be anything. I decided now would be a good time to start drip feeding in the backstory I had been working on, especially since we uncursed the nothic, who now has this bit of knowledge in a more rational form.

    To put it more into game terms, Marieya in this story is a 5th level sorcerer, hence her having access to Fireball. The reason she does not have these abilities as a character right now are distinct but connected:

    • She lost her friends due to not being able to control herself and her spells, leading to her suppressing her sorcerous nature
    • She lost her friends to fire and fire related effects, and with a good portion of her spell list being fire based, she worked even more to suppress her magic

    The second reason is also why she has a phobia of fire. Whilst it is in the demands of Segottan to “Light no fires”, she came to fear fire long before she met the Mharoti Empire.

    What does this bit of information mean for her progression as a character both in-story and in-game? I honestly feel I have a lot of ways to advance with her, with several options already considered for potential multiclassing as either releasing her dormant potential, or speccing into one of the classes of her fallen friends.

    Or perhaps she will just continue as a cleric, realising the call of yesterday has long since passed, and that whilst her current path was not one of her choosing; she can now determine her own destiny.

    I will leave off with two things, one, for anyone who may be curious, here is Marieya’s sorcerer spell list:

    Secondly, the title. Something that inspired the storytelling (and I directly echoed in the ending) was the Scrubs episode “My Screw Up”, I’ll leave the clip below with a spoiler warning for Season 3, Episode 14.