My Sexy Skill Has Increased! Let's Play A Dance with Rogues

You. You are the best.

It's got Giant Mecha... and it's an RPG. I love both of those things. I've wanted the game for a long, long time, but it's this LP by BoboTheVulture (warning, series is LONG) that put it firmly into my WANT list. Besides, it's a relaxing non-linear adventure! What's not to love?

Oh, forgot another game that I always try to play when I get the chance: Bubble Bobble. That damn game's cuteness personified. Cheers me right up if I'm feeling blue.

I

I have the game, and it's really great. I've wasted so many hours just playing my harmonica on the street corner. It really is a sort of relaxing, dreamlike game, but it's also got a lot of depth and is surprisingly sad.

Also you can run around dressed like a sailor with a mohawk and a bright pink steampunk spider mech.

Also, discussing Steambot Chronicles has me now humming 'In Your Voice.'

I forgot another one - that I'm amazed I did - Nier. This game. I bought this purely on impulse a few years back... I knew nothing about it save the developer, Cavia. Cavia's track record could best be described as 'spotty'; most of their games either had a crazy-awesome story and shit mechanics (Drakengard), decent mechanics and a shit story (Drakengard 2) or were just generally shit (Resident Evil: Dead Aim).

Nier, however, was possibly the only Cavia game that could be considered good, with rather nice graphics, a great (if depressing-as-hell) story, and an absolutely amazing soundtrack.

...It was also the last game they ever made, as they dissolved soon after it was released in the West.

Oh, and here's the intro! It's NSFW for language, though (and one character's rather skimpy outfit... it should be noted, however, that the main character actually comments on the absurdity of that character's outfit... it was really refreshing to see something like that, considering most JRPG's will have a female character in the equivalent of a G-string, and no one bats an eyelash)

And I find I have little patience for games with male protagonists. I've just spent so many years playing games with dudes as the MC that I'm just so sick of it.

Does Steambot Chronicles allow you to choose your gender? I know the one for PSP does and I've been looking to get my hands on it.

No, unfortunately... you can choose nearly everything else about Vanilla, though (at least storywise) - the game just rolls with it like it's always been the way things are. So many things to choose from, it's crazy. No two games will be exactly alike.

I like games where I can customize a character completely. Whether I play a male or a female just depends on the sort of character and story I create for them. For example, my Warden and my Hawke are male, but my Shepard is female. My Lone Wanderer is a woman, but my Courier is a dude. My character in Vampire the Masquerade is female and so is my Hero in Fable 3, but I'm usually a guy in Pokemon (with the exception of B/W).

I find that there are an awful lot of poorly-written protagonists regardless of gender and at the risk of sounding terribly preachy it's never really a good idea to pick a game based on protagonist gender. I don't really like "generic white thirtysomething brunette 5'o'clock shadow" guy that serves as the generic player character for a lot of games, though- that trend needs to die, now.

Agreed. I rather dislike the inverse as well: the teenage (or younger) wunderkind who always saves the day through the power of heart. It's nice in moderation, but I've played so many JRPGs that I tend to make my character a grumpy old guy if I can do so. Another reason why I like Nier; in the version we got in the West, the MC is a guy in his 40's who wants nothing more than to live a life of peace with his daughter (in the Japanese version, the MC's 18, and taking care of his orphaned sister).

Then again, I never did expect happy things from Nier... I played Drakengard. Which, by the way, I wouldn't recommend playing, but I would recommend reading about; it's notable for having almost no likeable characters - The dragon and Seere are possibly the only sympathetic cast members... and I'm personally iffy on Seere.

That's one of the reasons I got really, really sick of JRPGs. I haven't been a teenager for a while now. I don't want to see a bunch of dumb sixteen-year-olds flail around and save the world of with the power of friendship, then go home and grouse about the glory days for the rest of their lives since that's what happens when your life peaks in high school (and I know enough former prom queens and football stars who never went anywhere to say that with certainty). Some of the only JRPGs I can really still enjoy are the Persona series and something like Steambot Chronicles, which is more western-styled. Generic white thirtysomething brunette with a five'o'clock shadow might annoy me, but at least I can relate slightly better to him than generic (angsty/overly cheery) teenager with stupid hair going off on an ~adventure~ at the ripe old age of fourteen, or whatever.



Really though, at least a ginger would spice things up.

Yeah, there are a lot of great games with male protagonists (hell, a lot of my list is male protagonists), and I don't disqualify a game outright because you have to play a guy, but I'm just sick of pretty much every game having a male protagonist. It's ridiculous. You only really get cool femprotagonists on a regular basis from companies like Bioware and Obsidian that let you choose. And I'm also sick of games assuming that I'm a heterosexual dude whether or not I choose to play as a man or a woman. In all but a few games the objects of desire are women, and I can't relate to that at all (except in a few exceptional cases). It's frustrating.

Heh, I have a similar but different problem. I can relate to the objects of desire being women, but I can't relate to it being told from the viewpoint of a heterosexual man.

I think the problem, obviously, is that straight men are still considered to be the main audience for videogames. Even when female options are there, it feels mainly like they're there for the straight men to have a nicer player character to look at. It's why all this talk about the upcoming Tomb Raider game turning Laura into "someone you'll want to protect," for example, causes me to break out in hives.

Clearly, we need louder female voices in the industry and the consumer base.

I KNOW, RIGHT?! I felt a bit sick to my stomach after watching that first Tomb Raider trailer, but it was the comments that the dev made about Lara's "vulnerability" that really made me nauseous.

Ah, I can see how that might be difficult. And I'm with you 100% that the parade of grizzled short brown haired guys needs to stop. Like, now.

Hell yeah. I'm trying to be as vocal as I can. Even pledged to that Tropes vs Women in Video Games thing as well as Oblivion's kickstarter project (which lets you choose your gender). Lately the topic has become much more visible, I think, which is always a good thing.

I'm just gonna bust right the fuck up in here and say that I've started playing NWN2 as the daughter of MC and Rizzen.
There is a half-drow race and i am abusing that fact and i just i love it so much
i love her so much ;w;

True. I mean, I'm only 21, so it's a bit easier for me to buy the teenage-hero bit, but still. I realize - at least with JRPGs - part of it's a cultural thing: there are quite a few Japanese myths with child heroes, after all. I think my issue is that, despite having teenage heroes... very rarely do they act like teenagers. I actually like Tales of The Abyss for exactly this reason... the main character starts as a haughty teen noble who ends up doing something incredibly stupid

and a good half of the game is him coming to grips with what he did and actually maturing. It was really nice to see that from a JRPG.

Interestingly, as much as I gripe about the kid hero archetype, I'm still looking forward to Ni No Kuni. This is mainly due to the story and the people developing it... This game's a joint effort between Level-5 and Studio Ghibli. Yes, that one. The game looks amazing, and I'm expecting the story to be pretty good, too. Here's the E3 Trailer:

EDIT: Also, The new Tomb Raider game was mentioned when I was writing this, apparently. All of my nope for that game. All of it.

One of my goals in life is to become a writer for the industry. Female writers get a lot of flack- I remember all the shit that one female Bioware writer took a while back- but they're absolutely essential in changing the face of the industry.

isn't that the
"RAPE MAKES YOU STRONGER"
game?

mmmmyeah, fuck you Tomb Raider C:

Remember, women can't have any agency. They must always be driven to act by men, preferably sexually, whether out of desire for a man or out of sexual violation.

Funny thing? Somehow, Tomb Raider was less offensive back in the 90's, when it was even more obvious they were pandering to the horny teenager crowd. Sure, she was your stereotypical wasp waisted, big breasted character... but at least she wasn't under threat of rape (and we've gone full circle to the thread's main topic!). Besides, I find it funny that they're trying to add "realism" to a character that has - canonically - killed dinosaurs and an eldritch abomination from worlds beyond. It just doesn't parse, you know?

I love Studio Ghibli, and I'm really looking forward to Ni No Kuni. Ghibli movies are some of my absolute favourite childhood memories. There's so much joy in the films that they create. Though when I first head about it I was annoyed that Studio Ghibli's first game (a studio famous for its strong female characters and headed by a self-professed feminist) had a generic-looking boy as its protagonist. :(

I wish you luck, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't cherish a similar hope. But I'm not sure yet what I want to do. I'm just focusing on school for now.

Rape is a surefire way to create a Strong Female Character don'cha know.

Never not relevant.

And thanks!

Also I just noticed this but the PSP game isn't very good. I played it because I loved the original, but it's nothing like it.

You know... we're already off topic a bit, and now that we're talking about character designs, I'm wanting to show off my (woefully un-updated) gallery of Oblivion Characters. It includes my three OB characters (and not a grizzled, angsty 30-year old in sight), a few companion pictures, and some scenic shots. So sad I can't play it now... I really do want to LP an Elder Scrolls game... even get some audience participation (maybe you guys can even get me to do the main quest XD)

Arena and Daggerfall are freeware these days, and quicker to finish than something like Skyrim.

I know. I still get distracted. I don't even know why. Although, a funny thing happened with Arena. I thought that, as in all other ES games, the overworld was one big map... when in reality, the overworld cells are rather small, and loop continuously. As such, I went in circles around the city of High Rock for a good 25 minutes before I finally realized I wasn't getting anywhere, and needed to fast-travel. I felt rather stupid.

Out of curiosity, has anyone on this forum LP'd Persona 2 Innocent Sin?

Nope (I don't think). Check Aaron's list to make sure.

Now that's a fun game. If one a bit too easy to get sidetracked in. So many personas. So much gambling. And that's not even touching the Fool cards.

I think it's more of a "i'd kill anyone who hurts the woman explicitly placed under my protection, vs killing anyone who hurts a woman anytime, anywhere". Because, welp, the latter would mean there's like two guys left in entire town if that's actually carried out.

But doubt Tony was comfortable with the overall situation there, and i think if it wasn't for the renegade smugglers interrupt he might've well come to decision to do something about it, given enough time to mull over it.

Yeah, I was being flippant about it. I think a big part of it is, it's one thing to say "I'll kill this generic person who touches you, in theory" and "I'll kill this specific person who actually touches you," let alone "I'll kill my friend for touching you." I don't think it's a bad thing that Tony doesn't follow through on over-the-top threats.

But it's a serious problem that Tony takes basically the same view as everyone else does re: Vico: it's in the past, he obviously won't do it again, so you should be OK with hanging out with him -- when a) he does do it again, and b) what do you think he's hypothetically doing with those women you joke about him locking up in dungeons?

There's a disconnect between Tony's expressed desire to protect her and keep her away from other men and his actual practice of disregarding her feelings. I know I didn't transcribe the whole conversation, but "I'm glad he spared your life" feels very token, at that point.

"Maybe we should find a place to rest, first."

There's an abandoned inn towards the south, so we head there. On the way, we're attacked by a wolf.



"These woods are full of wolves."



In the morning, we continue east to the barrow.







"Uh..." Anden quickly averts his eyes.

"Stop that!" I fend the dog off.



"Uhm... Does he do that often?"

"I'm not sure. He has only been with me for a short while."



"You tell him."

The barrow isn't as uninhabited as Anden promised.





Once the barrow is cleared of goblins, we head down a narrow tunnel.





"Your dog must have picked that up in the big room we've passed. Goblins are known to eat their own kind. And that arm doesn't exactly look... fresh." Anden picks up the arm and throws it off in the direction we've come from.







"Do you have any open wounds?"



"Well, let us go on. I do not remember seeing any other bats in the cavern so we should be safe." He gives me a reassuring smile.

The dark tunnels ahead are empty, and the next few hours of travel are uneventful.



"Thank you."

"I really mean it. You're a brave young lady."



"Down, dog!" Anden's voice has a commanding tone to it I haven't heard before. The dog reluctantly obeys, longingly glancing at my thighs.



"Bad dog!"

"It might be a good idea to consider having your dog neutered." Anden sharply glances at the dog. "Don't do that again. Understood!?"

The tunnels end in a bear cave.





"Is it unusual to encounter these creatures here?"

"It is very unusual to find these wild creatures this close to the road. It is almost as if something drives them south..."

"Or they come closer to the city because nobody cares about these lands anymore."

"Who could say." He shrugs. "In any case, we rangers will have to investigate this."

"I'm on my way back to Betancuria. I live there."



"I'm a pickpocket." I grin.

"Oh..." He clears his throat. "Truth be told, I was expecting something like this. Isn't there another way for you to earn money? Stealing from other people is wrong!"

"Well, stealing from myself is kind of boring."

"You're making fun of me."

"I'm sorry. I did not mean to offend you."

He looks at me for a while, scratching his chin. "Well, you've certainly been a big help. I do not think you are evil. Maybe a little misguided."

"It is better than being a whore."

He looks at me, aghast. "Oh dear gods! That would be truly terrible! I pray to the gods that your life will take a turn for the better."

I pray for that, too. Although I don't know if my definition of "better" is the same as Anden's.

A worg jumps into the path as we continue north. The dog and Anden dispatch it almost before I can react.

IOW, I missed this entire battle because I had my feedback window reduced and was exploring on my own while Anden and Dog ran off to fight for me.



"You fought very well, Anden."



"Alrighty."



"Well fought. Good boy."

"Are you planning to take your dog into the city? It might not be such a good idea. He's a wild creature. Did you see how he tore the flesh off those bandits? And now imagine him in a crowded street..."

"Hm, you might be right."

"There's also that... other behavior he shows."

Anden suggests leaving the dog with the rangers to train him properly. It sounds like a good idea.

We go searching for more wargs, but find something else.





"What do you want, Gail?"

"Oh, just saying hello! It's been a while since you've been to my forest, after all."

Anden lowers her voice, speaking to me. "She's harmless, although she can be rather annoying at times."

"Aww, annoying?" She pouts. "You didn't find me all that annoying when you did it with me."

"Gail, I've never done... it... with you."

"Oh, right! I forgot you only do it with your animals! Are you sure you don't want to?" She wiggles her bottom at him.

The dog sniffs at her bottom. With a yelp, Gail runs off into the forest, the dog chasing after her.

We search for a few hours, but there's no sign of Gail or the dog, and we eventually have to give up.



I know I wouldn't have been able to keep him in the city, but it could have been nice to have a dog protecting me sometimes, if someone could train him to better behave himself.

Thank goodness we don't have to put up with awkward attempts at bestiality for any longer. I cut out a lot of the stuff with Dog, but I wanted to show some of the bizarre dialog choices you get throughout.

It's only a short walk to the gates of Betancuria.





I put my arm around Anden's waist and smile. The guards let us pass.





He smiles. "I'd very much like to see you again. Where do you live?"

"I live at the Bear Pit Tavern in Northern Betancuria."



next update

He might be boring, but he seems like a decent guy.

A decent guy.

A decent guy, on ADWR.

...

On the other hand, he IS kind of... terribly boring.

I just had to roll my eyes at this part. Yeah, bats are totally attracted to women on their periods. C'mon, game, don't give me that bullshit.