Paul's Thursday Reviews CCXCIV · 8:24pm May 12th, 2022
Before anything else, someone out there needs a bit of help.
My Achievement Hunt continues! Yes, I’m talking about video games again. Why video games? Because I’ve got nothing else to talk about this week so I might as well.
My progress sometimes feels like it’s very slow, but then I look at the numbers and realize that’s not true. Since I started this little personal project I’ve 100%-ed thirty games, some of which took a long time due to the games’ natures, and have achieved an overall rating in my Steam profile of 54%. Not bad considering the sheer number of games in my account.
My current game projects include Stranded Deep, an open-world survival game where you play a lone survivor of a plane crash on an uninhabited island chain in the Pacific Ocean (in other words, Cast Away in game form); Soul Calibur VI, which requires no introduction; and X3: Terran Conflict, a open-world space simulator with a heavy focus on interstellar trade.
The third one is by far the most frustrating, with a steep learning curve, high initial difficulty, an expectation that you learn as you go (read: no tutorials), and a lot of work required before most achievements can be accessible. I like Stranded Deep, but its gameplay starts to get repetitive after a while and, given that there’s an achievement for winning without a compass and getting lost is ridiculously easy, I’m having to take things very slowly.
Soul Calibur VI, on the other hand, is great. I love that they brought back a more open and varied single player experience. One of the weaknesses of fighting games as a genre is that plot usually comes last, making for some rather dumb material for the most part. The Soul Calibur series breaks that mold, and it was nice to see SCVI expand upon that by continuing to develop its lore. Not looking forward to the multiplayer achievements, but they’re supposedly not that difficult to get.
Looking at all this, I wonder if I shouldn’t review video games. The Steam review system is character-limited, which stinks as they don’t provide enough space for my typical review style. For example, my review of The Void as it appears on this site was too large for Steam, which forced me to cut down on what I felt was important information for the Steam version. Worse, Steam doesn’t bother to warn you that you’re exceeding their character limit until after you’ve tried to post the review.
I’ve kinda-sorta wanted to review games again in the last year-and-a-half since I started this achievement hunt. I’ve been holding back because this is an MLP site and I wanted to stick with that. My review of The Void exists only because I had such conflicting feelings in regards to it that I wanted to get down. I dunno. Maybe I’ll do it some more. Any opinions on the matter would be welcome.
Alright, let’s get back to MLP stuff. Shall we have some reviews?
Stories for This Week:
Fiddling Around At The Hootenanny by Alicia Van Hammer
Her Knight in Sunlit Armor by AliceLiz
Griffon The Brush-Off - Extended Cut by AdmiralSakai
Total Word Count: 150,791
Rating System
Why Haven't You Read These Yet?: 0
Pretty Good: 2
Worth It: 1
Needs Work: 0
None: 0
Fiddling Around At The Hootenanny
7,988 Words
By Alicia Van Hammer
Adorable fashion horse in a never-before-seen ship? Oh, I am there.
Coco Pommel finds herself attending the latest Apple Family shindig as Rarity’s “plus one”. The Apples are a gracious and fun-loving set of hosts and Coco wants to enjoy the festivities. She especially finds herself interested in that fiddle player. The fact that said fiddle player appears to be making eyes at her would be a good thing if Coco’s insecurities weren’t piling on. After all, country folk have a certain reputation, and Coco… isn’t like most mares.
Here we find Equestria’s cutest pony is a mare in transition. Despite Rarity’s warm (and rather drunken) encouragement, Coco just can’t get comfortable around a large group of ponies she’s unfamiliar with, no matter how carefree they appear to be. She dreads what might happen if they find out she wasn’t born with the right “equipment”, and now one of these ponies is making advances at her? It’s an understandably nerve-wracking situation.
This was a warmhearted story about letting go of one’s baggage. Coco is as adorable as ever dealing with Fiddle Sticks’ eager interest, and I spent the entire story grinning. My only issue with the story is that Fiddle frequently felt too… exaggerated. She wasn’t so much a country girl as she was a flagrantly over-stereotypical caricature of one. I suspect that the author was going for a jokingly show-style format of country folk. Which isn’t a bad thing, but it does feel like they might have gone a bit overboard with the rendition.
If you can get past that – or even understand what Fiddle Sticks is saying half the time – you may enjoy this. Especially if you’re a fan of the ever-precious Coco. I for one thought it was a lovely story, even if my inner country folk bristled a little.
Bookshelf: Pretty Good
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
New Author!
Her Knight in Sunlit Armor
73,286 Words
By AliceLiz
There’s a new student at Crystal Prep. Normally this wouldn’t be an issue for Twilight Sparkle. It’s not like she has any friends in the first place, why should she expect this to go any differently? But then Dean Cadance, ever the meddler, assigns Twilight the task of tutoring this ‘Sunset Shimmer’. There’s no way this can end well.
When I first started reading this, I was kinda-sorta hoping that it was set in an AU where the Dazzlings won and Sunset left CHS to get away from their ‘reign’. Alas, such a cool scenario was not to be. Instead, this is a post-Anon-A-Miss story in which Sunset never uncovered the CMC’s involvement and transferred to Crystal Prep to get away from her ex-friends. On the positive side, Principal Celestia adopted her, so that’s nice.
This plays out almost exactly as you’d expect: Twilight starts tutoring Sunset, they click immediately, Twilight spends half the story trying to confess her crush. The second half involves a trip to Equestria for no other reason than to satisfy the curious Sci-Twi, although a variety of topics do come up, including Sci-Twi’s discomfort with sex, Sunset getting reaquainted with Princess Celestia, and discussions on what to do about Sunset’s ex-friends.
The story is entirely predictable. That’s not a bad thing, per se, but it does mean you have to go in wanting that journey in the first place. If you came here hoping for something new and unique, you’ll be disappointed. Just about the only ‘new’ element is Indigo Zap being a bully towards Sci-Twi and Sunset attempting to protect her using her old tactics. Even then, you already know exactly how it’s going to go.
Actually, that’s one thing that I was curious about. The whole ‘Indigo Zap’ issue is resolved to a certain extent, but there’s an underlying problem that is never fully addressed. Apparently, Sunset wasn’t happy with how it was resolved. We can see this in her manner regarding the situation. Yet we never find out why. I kept expecting her to bring it up, but she never did. I feel like it would have been a good moment.
I came away from this with no strong feelings one way or the other. It’s decent for what it’s trying to do, but it won’t wow you. If you’re just after some TwiSet shipping – or shipping in general, I suppose – this will certainly cure that itch. Everyone else? Your milage may vary.
Bookshelf: Worth It
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
The Unexpected Adventures of Sparky Selene, Professional Pornstar — Pretty Good
Griffon The Brush-Off - Extended Cut
69,517 Words
By AdmiralSakai
Cowritten with Serketry
Sequel to Stare Master - Extended Cut
Twilight Sparkle has discovered a little-known material she’s called radion, which seems to have been widely present during the whole Nightmare Moon thing. Curious to figure out more, she looks into the substance only to find that the first recorded occurrence of it was a disaster in Canterlot nearly a century ago. When she tries to find out more, however, she is blocked at every turn by government figures. Even Celestia refuses to explain. There’s only one person not bound by government mandates and corruption able get her the information she needs: a griffon living in the foreign city of Innsbeak. Getting to the paranoid recluse is going to require some… assistance.
As should be expected by now, this story is nothing like its show counterpart. If you came here expecting Gilda to be annoyed by Pinkie Pie and a lot of Pinkie-esque antics, you will be sorely disappointed. Heck, Pinkie doesn’t even make a cameo. If that in particular bothers you, best to move on.
No, this involves Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity heading to a wretched hive of scum and villainy in an effort to find a powerful but reclusive and possibly insane griffon mage. They hire Gilda, still Rainbow’s old friend, as a bodyguard and guide in unfamiliar territory. Most of their work doesn’t even involve the griffon they’re hunting, but instead focuses on a local and irredeemably corrupt Lord Goldstone (who is apparently from the comics) whom they have to get through in order to get to their real target.
Generally speaking, I liked this one. It didn’t feel as… interesting as Stare Master, at times a bit meandering, but it was still a curious approach to a well-known episode. Where the show focused on Pinkie Pie comedy, this was focused… Well, in truth it’s focus was more on Twilight’s goals than anything, but the relationship between Gilda and Rainbow Dash was a close second. Rarity had a handful of good moments – her work to manipulate Goldstone was great – but for the most part she was a supporting role rather than a critical feature.
Then they finally meet the mage himself, which leads to a flashback that was clearly influenced by Half-Life. I noticed the similarities well before AdmiralSakai openly admitted to it, although I’m pleased that they kept it more than original enough to not feel like some casual ripoff. But it does open up a lot of new questions. I can only hope the authors plan to start answering some of them eventually. One might be forgiven for having forgotten that there was this whole “someone’s stealing from Twilight’s project” mystery going on in the last two stories that has yet to be resolved at all.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention how entertaining I found the regular Agent Sweetie Drops sightings. I have to wonder if there’s some enchantment on her that prevents other ponies from immediately recognizing her as “that pony who keeps showing up wherever we happen to be”. Sent by Celestia to keep an eye on her student, perhaps?
I also like the way Twilight is gradually coming to recognize the intrigue going on around her. The realization that she can no longer trust her mentor and teacher to be honest with her (something you’d think she’d have figured out just by her teaching methods) was a nice touch.
The part that will probably interest the most people, however, if the authors’ interpretation of Gilda. She’s not just a jerk, she’s a minority from a poor background. Gilda’s upbringing was such that she had to steal just to survive in her youth, and she completely fails to grasp that her actions have consequences. She’s still not necessarily “good”, but Sakai and Serketry make pains to put her in a morally gray area. This is not an atypical approach for her I think, but they handle it quite well. It makes the eventual breakup between her and Dash a bit more painful for the both of them, and I appreciated that.
Another good entry into a long-running and fascinating series. I look forward to seeing what they do with one of my all-time favorite characters in the sequel.
Bookshelf: Pretty Good
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
Friendship Is Magic - Extended Cut — WHYRTY?
Feeling Pinkie Keen - Extended Cut — Pretty Good
Stare Master - Extended Cut — Pretty Good
Stories for Next Week:
Rest by Rated Ponystar
The Adventures Begin by Dragon Shimmer
Away by The Cloptimist
Recent Review Map:
Paul's Thursday Reviews CCXC
Paul's Thursday Reviews CCXCI
Paul's Thursday Reviews CCXCII
Paul's Thursday Reviews – Bingo Edition
Paul's Thursday Reviews CCXCIII
You Are Here
Paul's Thursday Reviews CCXCV
Paul's Thursday Reviews CCXCVI
Paul's Thursday Reviews CCXCVII
Paul's Thursday Reviews CCXCVIII
Paul's Thursday Reviews CCXCIX
Really glad you enjoyed Griffon the Brush Off EC. The Admiral and I had a collective 'oh shit' when we'd just finished writing the flashback portion... and then you reviewed that truly awful Half Life fic where Apple Bloom is... just sort of there? Other than that, this one was a lot of fun to write, filtering in details from my old home town, and really getting inside Gilda's head to create her voice and reasoning.
Also, we made sure that each of the four Sweetie Drops sightings were made by different members of Twilight's team; together it's obvious, but from each character's perspective, she's just another face in the crowd. As it should be.
Fun fact: although nothing about it would be really recognizable, the concept for Innsbeak was originally inspired by the city of Freeport from the Freeport Venture series. You mentioned a while back being surprised that Freeport is so friendly and easily navigable, and I had similar concerns when I read the stories up above. I wanted to throw my hat in the ring and present what I thought was a more realistic version of that, where lawless places like that are the opposite of fun. Other examples I was thinking of were a similar city from iisaw's later stories (I cannot remember the name of it and the stories in question seem to have been deleted), and Omega from Mass Effect.
Also, Lord Goldstone is not the only comic reference in the story:
derpicdn.net/img/2015/9/23/985883/large.jpg
I'm glad you thought the Half-Life references were suitably restrained. Serketry was the one who really pushed for including so many elements from the game, and I was starting to feel a little bit reluctant to be so obvious about it. Then that review dropped, and I thought "Well, come what may, at least we won't be Black Bloom" and basically included every single one of his suggestions. So, I guess we have you to thank for that.
I'm glad you liked it, as the Gilda/Dash dynamic was one of the things that I really wanted to make sure was solid. Then, as the months ticked by post-publication, I really started to worry that we hadn't put enough focus on her. This puts my mind at much greater ease.
I continue to be pleasantly surprised by how many little bits like this you and other readers continue to pick up on. Of course, that's great encouragement to include more of them.
I'm also just going to throw out that I am keeping track of other things people are speculating about, but I don't want to comment on them before the truth is revealed in-story.
Achievement hunt continues, eh? A recent game I 100%'d was Elden Ring, which was surprisingly easy to accomplish as opposed to earlier titles in the series, especially the notoriously torturous Demon's Souls (PS3). had I not tried to explore everywhere in the game (and still missed a few things), I probably could've done this in about 40 hours which isn't bad for a game of that scale. for instance, my first play through, I wanted to miss nothing and put 130 hours into. My second has two major bosses and the final gauntlet remaining, and only has 21 hours on it. On top of that, this is a challenge run for me, and I'm restricting myself to soloing everything. If you want to lose yourself in a game, I highly recommend it.
5656979
5656988
To be fair, it's been well over a decade since I last played Half-Life, so any specific references to the game outside of the enemies and general concepts would have been lost on me. Still, I thought it was tastefully done; enough to recognize the intent without being a blatant copy.
I am very much interested in seeing how Trixie came out in the next one. I always enjoyed that pony.
5657073
Haven't played any of the Souls games yet. Go figure, the one game by FromSoftware I've got on my list for future playing isn't from the Souls series. I've still got 90+ games to get through in my library, and of those there are 25 I haven't even touched yet. I figure I should focus on those first, although every once in a while I'll add something from my wishlist to the library, particularly if it's on sale and I'm feeling like taking the opportunity.
I'm close to being done with Stranded Deep. The biggest challenge is simply exploring. You have to travel to different islands to gather resources, but there are no identifiers, no maps, and for achievement purposes I can't even use a compass. Go out on the ocean unprepared and you're all but guaranteed to get hopelessly lost. I thus created a methodology for identifying islands at a distance using three different factors and have been creating a sort of "spreadsheet map", but it takes time. A couple days ago I finally got the last exploration-based achievement in the game, but I still have to find the last boss site and the "final island", if you will. I doubt I'll be finished with the game soon.
Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying the game, but it takes a lot of patience if you're going in for achievements.
5657093
Sekiro or armored core? Sekiro is kind of like a souls game, and armored core is a different beast all together.
Dude, Elden Ring has a ton of landmarks and easily identifiable topography, and I still get lost in that game, even with the map. but I totally get the spreadsheet map thing. Once upon a time, I wanted to relive my childhood and play through Digimon World 3 for PSX, and there is a part in the game where it has a looping map. I didn't even think about guides at the time, and I mapped the whole thing out on a sheet of paper. explore a desert by marking which parts of the map have one or two cacti, and then figure your direction from there. good times.
5657105
Ah, the good ol' days when you had to make your own maps. In a way, the challenge of navigation in Stranded Deep is nostalgic. It makes things a bit trickier by having the map be randomly generated, so you're unlikely to get the same topography twice. There's a cartography mode, but you can only use it from the main menu (so no in-game map-checking) and it has no means to help you identify islands. At least it tells you which direction is north, so that helps a little. The best you can do is take a screenshot and annotate it as you go.
To answer your question, the game on my wishlist is Sekiro. I'm looking forward to it. Alas, I (mostly) choose my next game randomly for the sake of not skipping any due to favoritism, so no telling when I'll get to it.
5657111
So, Sekiro has this thing where, if you've mastered the mechanics, you can blast through the game in a few hours. You can also stealth through the game if you haven't, but this makes fighting bosses where you master the mechanics, which, uh, isn't all that fun. In a few words, git gud, or perish. Of all the "souls" games since it mostly is one, it has the highest learning curve.
5657114
Sounds like a fun challenge. I'm certainly looking forward to it now.