Sunset never backs down from a gaming challenge, but when she finally faces a boss she can't beat, frustration is getting the better of her. On the verge of giving up for the first time ever, her friends show up to see if they can help, but will they be enough or will this be the first boss she's had to accept defeat from?
Something lighthearted and fun for Sunset Shimmer day.
Aw that was super heartwarming to read.
Quite the entertaining slice of life story.
Happy Sunset Shimmer Day!
I was kinda hoping that Fluttershy would be the one to beat it, but I suppose this is pretty good, too.
Always lovely to read SoL, work of excellence and elegance.
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Thanks! Sunset deserved way more group hugs than she got in the show.
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Should be a national holiday.
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Hey, she'll be the one to call to get through the difficult stealth sections
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Those real, down-to-earth moments are always my favorites too. I'm happy to hear you enjoyed it.
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Yeah, SoL is just the experiences of the soul.
Stay classy, H.
When Sunset beats a challenging boss, she gets hype like Maximilian Dood after a Boss Rage run!
I love how this story takes a look at the road to that glorious win as Sunset takes in each of her friends' strategies.
When they are at their best, the Rainbooms really are Sunset's rock.
Is this somehow inspired by sekiro? It is about sword fighting, final boss technically have 4 phases, he also have a spear the length of the whole arena and a freaking gun just like twilight said that shouldn't be in that era, and you can't actually block every attack, there's also lighting in the last phase, this really felt like sword saint fight.
A new Sunset story? From Holy??
*instant read and fave*
This was adorable and crazy wholesome! I like how Sunset combined everyone's strengths together to lead her way to success. I could really see this as one of those official EQG shorts that they have.
That was fun
Great. I could really see this as one of those official EQG shorts that they have.
To be honest with Sunset, I've been in that moment when I'm stuck on the final boss and won't stop playing till the battery runs out on my controllers
Delightful stuff. (I can only imagine what the stream made of Pinkie's attempt.) Thank you for a lovely contribution to Bacon Awareness Day.
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The power of friendship is always the key to victory, except when it's not.
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The glock saint has indeed claimed another controller. I thought the line about the random pistol in the sengoku period might be a little on the nose, but oh well.
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💛
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Thank you! Makes me happy to hear that as I was really trying to recapture that vibe of the shorts to give Sunset more happy moments.
"UNAVOIDABLE CHIN MOVE!!! - Arin Hanson
As a gamer, I know Sunset's pain.
Also, Pinkie's a maniac. But we already knew that.
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She always did.
This was such a fun story. I empathize with you, Sunset.
Ohh! Top of the feature box too! Congrats!!
That was fun. Sounded like she was trying to take on Vergil/Dante in DMC5.
Happy Belated Sunset Shimmer Day
I love this story. Friends coming together to try and beat something so hard feels so good. And I can understand Sunset's pain. Trying over and over just to keep getting beaten, but you just won't give up.
Didn't quite nail the EASILY part, but a W is a W.
I assume this is based on those so-called "souls-like" games kids keep talking about.
I keep meaning to try one, but nobody has been able to explain what souls-like is and how it's different from Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden or any other moderately challenging 3rd person game.
Though I imagine Rarity would quite like NG and DMC and be eager to try an Ayane or Momiji or Dante cosplay.
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And surely at some point Sweetie has begged Rarity for help in doing a Samus or Zelda cosplay to get Button's attention.
And now, to discover that Haterpro was Luna
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It's drawing from a specific fight in a specific game by the people who brought you Dark Souls and basically only make "soulslikes" and Armored Core.
As someone With ADHD and head cannons pinkie pie to have ADHD I hear this and think how are you not f****** tired, cuz if I had that much caffeine it would be nap time because it doesn't energize me
I see someone has managed to capture my experience fighting Halflight, Spear of the Church, and to a slightly lesser extent, my fight against Isshin Ashina.
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Thank you! If you ask me the site should have been completely overwhelmed with Sunset stories to properly celebrate the occasion but I did what I could to help at least.
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Spite is an extremely powerful motivator that's gotten me through many a boss battle as well.
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Not far off. My headcanon for her is that DMC5 is one of her favorite games.
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At this point, it's probably little more than a soda to her (apart from the immediately passing out afterward).
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I can totally see her playing the Devil May Cry games
I played a bit of Dark Souls on the Steam Deck.
Who's the weirdo who thought using shoulder buttons for attack and evade is a good idea? It's unnatural.
And why can't zombie-people jump? And everything is so paaaaaainfully slow and sluggish, as befits zombie people, I guess. Dante and Ryu could conquer this world without breaking a sweat.
Let me guess: In the end it turns out that you're not meant to fight the boss, just avoid it.
i was expecting a twist that the boss was bugged and sunset just needed to update her game
Ah, so Pinkie's trying Speedrun strats. Makes sense.
That was a good story.
It's good to remember your priorities.
What a well done fic! The characterisation, the actions and strategies each girl uses, the jokes, the resolving of the conflict with a true to the franchise ending message, the jokes, all fit perfectly together in this story about beating a video game boss—something I didn't expect would work so well, but it did. The video game part was also done well, which imo is very hard to make in words, but you did it in such a way that I had no problems following it.
Honestly, I expected that when Fluttershy took the controller that she'd beat it—and honestly I'm glad she didn't. While the short where Fluttershy beats Sunset in a video game was fun, I would probably be disappointed if this fic went this route.
My favourite was Pinkie Pie: The world must have gone slow motion for her, and in her true Pinkie way she got to the part and still lost—but was very close. And then she fell asleep—Genius
Also her waking up for a hug was a nice touch
I'm wondering how the chat was like—I think it would probably be a nice fic idea if there was also a chat log of the events happening in the fic—especially at the Pinkie Pie part—but well, chat logs are not allowed in fimfic, so whatever
Well, in short: Well done! I loved it
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It's bit more than a year late and you may already know this but allow me to try and explain souls.
Basically, unlike a game like dmc, you are quite literally a nobody that needs to learn about the world and get stronger through your failures. So these games are hard because almost everything in this world is there to kill you like the first enemy you encounter to the gravity it self. There's a reason why everyone "love" souls parkour.
Usually what makes games a souls like is respawning enemies every time you rest, loosing your xp or currency when you die, stamina system, the need to rely on dodging, deflecting or both as the main mode of defence, and challenging encounters.
What makes souls different from a hard game like ninja gaiden (never played this though heard about this a lot) is that souls games, if done right are not hard for the sake of being hard. There are so many ways to make the game easier that doesn't involve grinding because numbers don't matter that much in these games... kinda. The way these games make challenge is by punishing your mistakes harshly. They are pretty fair tbh, mostly. Got greedy on a boss? Hello one shot combo. Didn't look at every corner? Suprise attack! oh hey a ledge and dead.
While I do agree that ds 1 is pretty slow, later fromsoft games are pretty fast like ds3, elden ring and especially sekiro and bloodborne. Also nioh is one of the best souls like out there. Pretty fast too. Made by the same guys that made ninja gaiden.
Also yeah the controls feels weird but it's not that hard to get used to. Also keyboard and mouse isn't really a bad option like a lot of people say. For a game like dmc? Yeah a controller is easier but souls? Kb&M are fine. At least for ds. Nioh? I'd recommend a controller.