|
It's a game with the good kind of bugs! Let's Play Bug Fables "The Paper Mario you've been waiting for [...] This is Paper Mario for grown-ups." -Arlo "Bug Fables transcends Paper Mario." -KingK Did you know that if you talk to an old man, then surf up and down the coast of an island halfway across the world, you can fight a block of glitchy static and multiply your items by 128? Of course you did, we all shared bug fables by word of mouth on the playground. Wait, I'm being told I'm getting this wrong, that's not what this LP is about? (I'm so sorry.)  Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling is an independently-developed, small-numbers RPG (or, in simpler terms, Paper Mario clone) set in a world of anthropomorphic insects. Developed by Moonsprout Games and published by DANGEN Entertainment, it was released on PC in November 2019 and consoles May 2020, after a successful crowdfunding campaign and over four years of development. The consensus among people who've played it is that the wait was well worth it; I'm inclined to agree with them, as this is one of my favourite games ever (maybe even my absolute favourite). Never mind the comparison to Paper Mario (though obviously fair, Bug Fables never tried to hide its inspiration), this game is just a really excellent JRPG-style experience all around, with a fleshed-out world and well-realised characters. Why did nobody think to use social insects as fantasy races before this? Here are links to various places you can buy the game, if you want to play along. In my opinion, it's a great value for your $20-25 (this game is packed with content; my first playthrough ran over 50 hours, and it's very replayable). Itch.io--Steam--Nintendo Switch--PS4--Xbox (The itch.io page also has a free demo you can download, though it's an outdated build of the game. It doesn't run as smoothly as the release version and some mechanics were changed, but if you're on the fence about buying the game, try it out!) The devs also have a Twitter and Tumblr. Nowadays, they mostly post fanart. Introduction and Motivation: I was something of a latecomer to Bug Fables, actually. I hadn't followed the crowdfunding or development history; I learned about the game from the Paper Mario: Master Quest LP thread here on SA, and didn't get around to playing it until last April. Despite its popularity within the niche community of classic Paper Mario fans, and its general success, I still think this game deserves wider exposure. Why do I want to LP this game? Plenty of other people (including but not limited to Paper Mario experts Kappy and Fatguy703) have already done video LPs on Youtube and several of those are quite good. I may have watched a lot of them. I think it deserves to be LPed in screenshot style, and I haven't seen one of those yet, so I figure there's a niche where I can still meaningfully contribute. In addition to having a well-designed and strategic battle system, this game is very well-written and charming, and has excellent worldbuilding and characters. I want to show off as much of the text as I can in a single playthrough (trust me, there's a lot of it!). I seem to remember the developers saying they viewed the amount of text as overindulgent and were surprised how much players actually liked it. I will try to keep things organised such that you can read what interests you and skip what doesn't, to the best of my ability. This is one of those games that just gets better and better as it goes on (the developers definitely improved in writing and design skill over the course of the 4+ years they worked on this game, and the early content seems to have been locked in before they really got into their stride); some people find Chapter 1 a bit dull, but I promise it's only upward from there. This isn't a perfect game, and I do have some minor critiques here and there, but it's drat good and it's worth playing if you like this genre at all. Content Notes/Warnings: This is a game about cartoon bugs. There are spiders in it. If you have arachnophobia, you might want to be careful. Despite the cute art style, this game can get dark at times, dealing with issues of trauma and loss among other things. Nothing too excessive (IMO), but it's not green grass and sunshine the entire time, and you may want to know that going in. There is a pair of recurring side characters (Mothiva and Zasp) whose dynamic comes across to many as emotional abuse. I don't think I can direct concerned readers to just skip certain scenes, either, because the issue is the overall dynamic that emerges more than any particular scene in a vacuum. The devs have stated they are intended to be a romantic couple, which suggests they might not quite realise how toxic a relationship they ended up writing. I'm not going to tell anyone not to read the LP or play the game because of it, but forewarned is forearmed. Details for this LP: This will be a 100% playthrough, completing side content as soon as it becomes available (more or less; I do have some exceptions in mind). Please keep the thread friendly to unspoiled readers. Specifically, please don't spoil the story. Talking about upcoming mechanics, items, medals, strategies, etc. is fine (within reason) as long as it comes up naturally in conversation, but this game's writing is great and I'd like the LP to stand as a way for newcomers to experience it. I will be playing on Hard Mode, with no other modifications. The developers have said that is the intended experience, and if you're playing along, I highly recommend doing the same for your first playthrough (you can switch off Hard Mode at will without losing any progress if it proves too much for you). This game offers a lot of difficulty options to customise subsequent playthroughs (including a built-in randomiser mode!), which I love, but I want to show off the baseline experience here. Once you get to know the game, the higher difficulties can be fun, but I think vanilla Hard Mode hits the sweet spot for a newcomer: challenging enough to make you pay attention and think, while not too overwhelming to be accessible. I am playing on PC, version 1.1 (released on the game's one-year anniversary, the most recent revision as things currently stand). This patch added new endgame content, as well as making several quality-of-life and balance changes. I'll admit I'm iffy about some changes relative to the previous version (1.0.5); I was almost tempted to revert to that version for the LP. I'll try to point out differences when they come up, but overall I think this is the version to play if you're starting now. (Later edit: a few minor patches came out over the course of the LP, and I updated to v1.1.2 during the postgame. I would recommend playing the latest version, though you may notice a few minor discrepancies relative to the LP.) I am using an Xbox 360 controller with the default control scheme, because that works for me. Any button prompts ingame will reflect that, as will buttons I mention in commentary (although I have a habit of calling the "Back" button "Select", I was a Nintendo kid). The game can also be played natively with a keyboard and will change the displayed prompts appropriately, and has fully customisable controls. I am sourcing various icons (character portraits, items, medals, etc) and some data from the Bug Fables Fandom Wiki. Music links will all be to the OST on Youtube  This icon is of Tristan's (the composer) ingame avatar, and will be used to indicate music links.While I have some definite plans for this LP, there will be opportunities for reader voting about things like how I build my party or what strategies I use for certain encounters. More on this later as it comes up. (This is also my first LP. I've been lurking/reading/commenting here for a while, it's about time I contributed something. If you have constructive criticism or think anything I'm doing isn't working, please don't hesitate to let me know. That said, as I'm still ironing out my workflow, don't expect a consistent update schedule for a while; please bear with me while I figure things out.) But enough ado. Let's get started. TABLE OF CONTENTS  Chapter 1 01: First Meetings 02: Snakemouth Way 03: Snakemouth Spelunking 04: Snakemouth Depths 05: Vicious Spider  Chapter 2 06: Meeting the Ant Queen (Part 2) 07: Cooking with Fry (Part 2) 08: Sidequesting in the Ant Kingdom (Part 2) 09: Golden Path (Part 2) 10: Golden Settlement 11: The Golden Festival (Part 2) 12: Festival Ceremony 13: Post-Festival Cleanup 14: A Pitcher's Worth a Thousand Words 15: Into the Golden Hills 16: The Sun is Also a Flower  Chapter 3 17: More Meetings, More Missions (Part 2) 18: A Study in Scarlet 19: Games Within Games 20: Sandbox Gameplay (Part 2) 21: Defiant Root (Part 2) 22: The Great Bugarian Bake-Off 23: The Queen on High (Part 2) 24: Lockdown (Part 2) 25: The Blob 26: Drone Strike  Chapter 4 27: New Complications (Part 2) 28: The Butler Did It, and Other Stories 29: Mother Mayhem 30: Chasing Cards 31: Metal and Paint (Part 2) 32: Victory is in the Cards 33: An Unknown Dungeon 34: Friendship Bites 35: One-Armed Bandit (Part 2) 36: Concerning Horns 37: Impostor Syndrome 38: The Magician and the Fool 39: Crossing the Streams 40: Tide Goes In, Tide Goes Out (You Can't Explain That) 41: Emergent Mysteries 42: Temple of Doom 43: The Mummy  Chapter 5 44: Bug is Weak to Fire (Part 2) 45: Follow the Leader (Part 2) 46: Unearthing Horrors (Part 2) 47: Truth and Reconciliation 48: The Hermit and the King 49: Maki the Mighty 50: A Bridge Too Far 51: Heart of Darkness 52: Too Angry to Die (Part 2) 53: Wasp Kingdom Sting (Part 2)  Chapter 6 54: Desperation and Diplomacy 55: Time For Reflection (Part 2) 56: Damsel(fly) in Distress 57: A Fog of Confusion 58: Lord of the Flies 59: Primal Screaming 60: Termite Territory (Part 2) 61: Colosseum Clash (Part 2) 62: Sidequest Smorgasbord (Part 2) 63: Subbing Out (Part 2) 64: Dancing With Danger (Part 2) 65: Team Snakemouth Goes to Prison (Part 2) 66: Security By the Books 67: Chekhov's Howitzer  Chapter 7 68: What Can Eternal Lie (Part 2) 69: A Chilly Reception 70: Through the Fire and Flames 71: Long Live the King (Part 2) 72: Dawn of a New Day  Postgame 73: Lore World Tour (Part 2) 74: Trials & Tangy Tribulations (Part 2) 75: Escort Missions and R&R 76: They Grow Up So Fast 77: Slack Off, Slack On 78: B.O.S.S. Me Around 79: Not the De-Bug Room! 80: What a Long Way We've Come (Exploring the Demo)(Part 2) 81: Fool Me Once... Fool Me Too Many Times (April Fools Gags) Miscellaneous Posts Design Interlude: Fixing the Devourer Design Interlude: Discussing Astotheles Design Interlude: Hopeless Boss Fights Design Interlude: Time and Ludonarrative Dissonance Design Interlude: Degenerate Strategies Bonus: Menu Codes & Randomiser Mode Preview Bonus: A Quick Look at Ruigee (Luigi's Challenge) Mode Interlude: Welcome to the World of Pokémon Appendix (Bugs may not have one but this LP sure does!) Dramatis Personae Bestiary (Chapter 1) Bestiary (Chapter 2) Bestiary (Chapter 3) Bestiary (Chapter 4) Bestiary (Chapter 5) Bestiary (Chapter 6) Bestiary (Chapter 7) Bestiary (Bonus Bosses) Mechanics & Skills Medals Items & Recipes Spy Cards Title Screen History Explopyro fucked around with this message at 19:44 on Mar 31, 2024 |
#
?
Feb 4, 2021 19:38
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 28, 2024 17:33 |
|
|
Fanart! Bee smiley (by vilkacis)  "We do not see the appeal of your 'robe and wizard hat'." (by vilkacis)  "We'll be right back" (by Leraika)  Look who finally stopped by for a visit! It's the Team Snakemouth Makeship plushies! (These are mine)  More plushies! More! 
Explopyro fucked around with this message at 00:17 on Apr 4, 2024 |
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2021 19:38
|
|
|
01: First Meetings 01 - Bug Fables (The title screen evolves over the course of the game. I'll be posting changes as I see them, and will edit the most current one into the OP, but this is what it looks like when starting fresh.)    That'll do. 02 - The Everlasting Sapling  Ahh, the land of Bugaria. A peaceful, prosperous place where many adventurous bugs gather. Although it wasn't always that way...  Lured by the promise of riches and lush fields, a young Queen visited these lands many moons ago. Together with her daughters and fellow ant servants, she established Bugaria's modest first settlement. Her people were happy, the Ant Kingdom flourished... And yet, the Queen's dream had still not been fulfilled. For she had heard of an ancient people, who safeguarded a treasure of unbelievable power. It was none other than... The Everlasting Sapling! A plant which would grant unending youth and strength to any who ate even one of its leaves! She searched, and searched... and searched... Alas, she never found it. She entrusted her dream to the princess, before falling into a hard-earned sleep. Determined to succeed where her mother did not, the new Queen rallied the people together under her cause. Opening the doors of the kingdom to bugs of all shapes and kinds, she attracted ambitious and skilled adventurers! Her decree was loud and clear: "Find me the Everlasting Sapling, and you shall know wealth like no other bug ever has!" With this, the Explorers' Association was founded, with its many members searching across the kingdom for clues and treasure. Even though, to this day, the sapling has not been found. But every bug dreams of one day claiming it for themselves... 03 - Where Adventurers Gather (Before we get started, let's address the elephant beetle in the room. You might have noticed everyone has four limbs. The devs have actually commented on this; I don't remember exactly what they said, but essentially they tried to design them with six limbs at first and couldn't get it not to look awkward. They wanted everyone to walk upright and not look like centaurs, and couldn't find a place to put them on upright characters that didn't look weird. It's not that they didn't know, they just made a stylistic choice.) We open somewhat in medias res, here, this green beetle and mantis swordsman are clearly in the middle of an ongoing conversation.   Despite many unfortunate incidents, tales of your people helped me keep my adventuring spirit alive. Rest assured, Kabbu. They are not mere legends, but real history. This Explorers' Association, and all the explorers who risk their wings for glory, are proof of that. While Kabbu and Maki are talking, this bee sneaks into the scene behind them and approaches the blue beetle in the background. She walks at a fixed speed, irrespective of how fast you advance the text.  Unproven!? Maki, I've bested many hardships in the north! Or so you say. Your knowledge of our culture, and your passion for exploring are as true as my blade's edge, Kabbu.    I'M NOT A KID! Hm? Well, if you insist. After that bit of tutorial text, we are placed in control of Kabbu. We'll get to know him more in a bit, but first, since the game wants us to follow Maki and see what the commotion is about... let's not, and talk to everyone else in the room first. This game has a lot of situational dialogue, and if we don't talk to these people now we'll miss out on what they have to say. First up are these two over here by the table.  .png) No, he's just gonna cause a scene again. Like always. This sort of thing occurs frequently?.png) Hey, didn't Maki ask for you? Don't make him wait, or I'll make you pay! Gen, you're embarrassing me! You're not the head of his fangirl club! Yes I am! Now, to go upstairs. We have this charming wasp: Greetings, explorer.  Kabbu asking "why am I even up here" might be one of my favourite lines. The game knows you're going to want to meander around, so it simultaneously rewards you for it and calls out how little sense it makes. Last up, we have the orchid mantis behind the desk.  (Hm. I shouldn't disrupt his work.)Okay, enough procrastinating, let's get back on task. When we get Kabbu close, he moves into position automatically and this cutscene triggers.  This guy's calling me a kid, says I can't explore! Shouting isn't going to change the rules, you child! Shut it. It's not about age, it's about skill! I'm Vi, the best explorer the Hive has ever seen! I'm not some random bee!(By the way, since a lot of people find it ambiguous, her name is officially pronounced like "vee", it rhymes with "bee".) An explorer bee? Yeah. Got a problem? Saying bees can't explore? Expected honey and paint? Silence, please. This guild of ours is no place for petty squabbles. Look. I can't just give a permit to some bee. Much less without a partner. Teams should be a duo of explorers, you know? I'm worth like four bees, okay!? ... Hey, Vi. What do you want? What, do I look that desperate? I don't even know you! I have a promise I must keep, and for that I must explore. How bad could it be? Wait, you two are just crazy! You won't last a second at Snakemouth! I'll prove you wrong! Now it's Maki's turn to hesitate, it seems. No. You are both, most likely, mere novices, ruled by your strong emotions... I have no doubt that if you left today, you would return inside a bag. Sir Maki. Although you outrank me in spades, you shouldn't underestimate me. I... went through quite a bit to get here. Yeah. Bugs like you that look down on others are really annoying! Hmm. Very well. I shall test your resolve. Test us, huh? Who named you king of this joint?  I accept your challenge! Vi, get ready! Watch your own horn, I was born ready! 04 - FIGHT! We get this nice animation of leaves flying in to cover the screen for the battle transition. The game has lots of different variations on this animation, changing to fit the area and the circumstances, but for now we'll be seeing these bright green ones.  Kabbu kindly offers to initiate the tutorial. I'm going to take him up on this for now.  Listen, then. We can both perform one action per round, be it attacking, using an item, etc. We can power up our attacks by performing commands unique to each move. Watch this.(This game doesn't have a catch-all name for these, so I'll be calling them Action Commands, ala Paper Mario.) If I hold D-pad down long enough... I can power up my horn strike! Holding a button? Lame. Look at this! If I press A at the right time, I can power up my Beemerang! A... beemerang? Kabbu and Vi have each dealt 2 damage. Once you know more about the game's battle system, you might notice something peculiar about the numbers this turn; I'll explain in a moment. (It took me forever to catch this, I wouldn't have except I had to keep replaying this while troubleshooting recording methods.) See, we're doing great! Don't let your guard down, Vi. After our turn ends, the enemy's next!  Pressing A a bit before an enemy hits you reduces damage received! With perfect timing, you'll reduce even more damage!This is Bug Fables' version of timed defence. There are two overlapping timing windows; decent timing will reduce damage by 1, but if you hit the tighter window, that becomes a 2 point reduction. The game calls this a "Super Block". I am... not great at this. This should seem somewhat familiar to Paper Mario players, though it's a bit different to the systems those games used. PM64 had a single block timing, and TTYD had two different buttons: A to block normally, or B to "Superguard", which had tighter timing but negated all damage and also counterattacked. While the risk-reward tradeoff could be interesting, that system was horribly unbalanced and I'm not sorry to see this game using something a bit more reasonable. O-ow! What the heck?! You trying to kill us or something?  We should pay him back, tenfold! It's time to use a skill! They're just like attacks, but you select them from the yellow flower! Teamwork Points (TP) is this game's name for magic points. Think Flower Points (FP), in Paper Mario terms. Our team shares a combined pool, and right now we have 10 to work with.  This is actually a bad idea right now (though I'm going to do it anyway to show off how items work), because we started with one item and this will use it up. Vi has only taken 1 point of damage. Still, I guess it's good the tutorial covers items.   Here are Vi's skills. Right now, she has one: Tornado Toss, which costs 3 TP. Let's take it for a spin.  I messed up the action command a bit there, but hey, you can see what that looks like! Tornado Toss does multiple hits (one for each time we successfully press A). The damage starts at (Vi's attack - 1) for the first hit and decreasing by 1 on each subsequent hit. As long as the first hit did nonzero damage, the follow-ups will always do at least 1 each. This move might not look like much now, but it has some serious potential. Now it's Kabbu's turn. Let's look at his skills:  Kabbu also has one skill right now: Taunt. This costs 2 TP, and forces any enemy which is using single-target attacks to aim them at Kabbu. This also might not look like much now (Kabbu has 9 HP to Vi's 7, that's not exactly tank material yet), but as you might imagine, becomes very useful for a variety of strategies. Instead, I'll do what the tutorial wants and have Kabbu use an item. Right now, we have this Crunchy Leaf:  A dry leaf. Has a satisfying crunch when bit. Restores 4 HP to an ally.  Maki attacks Kabbu this time, and I flub the block, so he takes 2 damage. At this point, no more tutorial text is forthcoming, it just goes to the next turn. So I'll just have Vi and Kabbu use their basic attacks.   What gives? This time, Vi did 3 damage! Okay, it's time to explain the irregularity I mentioned earlier. Bug Fables has a positioning system in battle: the character in front deals 1 extra point of damage, in exchange for being targeted more often by enemies. (We'll discuss this in more detail once we get into some real battles.) But for some reason, this isn't the case on that first scripted turn.  Maki went after Vi this time, and I managed to get the Super Block! That's what that looks like. At the end there, you'll notice the screen beginning to fade out: this isn't a normal fight, and ends automatically after Maki's third turn. 03 - Where Adventurers Gather Kabbu seems impressed. You pass. This reaction is great, I had to show the animation. What? You performed well enough. I could feel your desire to see the world through your attacks. I am no one to keep you from your Explorer Permit. Eetl, you may grant it to them. I get no say in this, huh? ...But Maki IS the Queen's Blade. Here, you can have it. 11 - Key Item!And we get an  Explorer Permit. This is our first Key Item and we'll have it in our inventory for the entire game. Snakemouth Den, it lies to the west of the association. A simple path, although filled with danger.  Just as Maki might have told us more, someone shouts for him from off-screen.  My apologies, Kina. Vi, Kabbu, I must be going now. As you can see, duty calls me. May you succeed in your mission.Maki and Kina walk away. I guess he won't be telling us anything else for now. What a weird bunch. He ended up causing quite the scene himself. That fighting prowess... How many years must he have trained? ...So, uh. I'm Vi, I guess. From the Hive near the big tree. Oh! I am Kabbu. I moved in just one moon ago, from the north. Cool. Indeed. Well, this is awkward. Um, Sir Maki said Snakemouth was to the west, right? Should we get moving? Right! Yeah! Let's go right away! Don't fall behind, okay? ... Something wrong? I'm going to say no here, because that gets us the more interesting version of this exchange. (I'll show the alternative at the end.) What!? You'd go there without knowing anything!? It's like asking to perish! Shush, Eetl. Just say it. Your goal is to find an ancient artifact that is fabled to be inside Snakemouth Den. Many tried, but no one ever found it. Most never came back. I don't know what the Queen wants with that, but she is very determined to find it. We will find it. Don't worry. Yeah! I'm on the case, after all! 05 - Chapter 1 Guess that's it for the prologue. Chapter 1 begins here. We're now given some more tutorial text: Change the party leader by pressing (X)! You can check your inventory, stats, and other things by pressing (START)!Okay, let's have a look. First, here's what changing the party leader looks like. Now that Vi has joined the party, we're in control of her by default, and if we press (X) it will change which bug is in the lead (and therefore who we're controlling). Only the bug in front matters for purposes of platforming, contact with enemies, etc. This order will also determine our formation in battle. Switching looks like this:  If you look over on the left side, a little half-transparent icon of the character's face shows up when we switch to them. It's a nice touch. While the game defaults to controlling Vi now and whenever we reload a saved game, I tend to find myself preferring to walk around with Kabbu. For now, it won't matter much, but you might notice that in later updates. We'll look at the menus later. For now, let's talk to everyone again.  You can be sassy at me if you want, but I was just worrying about you. Give him some credit, Vi. Exploring isn't a game. Many... have been lost while searching for treasure. I know that! But we're not going to be one of those. Even Maki thinks we're decent. I hope his intuition is right. As do I. Let's not be careless, Vi. We'll make it back, don't worry.Now let's go check in with Gen and Eri again. (Gen, Eri. Get it?)  (This icon appears over someone's head if you're close enough that pressing A will talk to them.) Oh, Eri, why must Maki be so dreamy? Have you gone mad, Gen!? He's so arrogant! You tell her, Eri. Pompous as he was, he was at least kind enough to test us. Oh, no. He does that to everyone. You see this once a week. Gen's text is dancing here. Argh! That stupid, roleplaying wannabe gatekeeper! I'll show him! Kabbu mad. I shall challenge him to a duel to the death, our honor on the line! H-Hey! You don't have to go that far! Oh, um, he's just kidding! Right, Kabbu? Err, yes. Of course. "Kidding". I was most certainly only jesting. You better have been! Let's just go, Kabbu.I love this exchange, even if it's a tad out of character for Kabbu. He's usually not this bloodthirsty. If we talk to them again... Stay out of trouble. And far away from Maki!Now to go upstairs.  Greetings, explorer. Hm. Good showing. Not many stand Maki's blade. Why, thank you. I assume you've endured it as well? Anyone who belongs to this association can say at least that much. Woah. So everyone here is crazy strong! Or they've found a reliable partner to carry them. What? You trying to say something? Not at all. If you're offended by it, it only shows your insecurity. What's your deal!? You wanna fight!? Heh. Good luck, you two. You'll need it.If we try to talk to him again: Let's go, Vi. It'll do you no good to get angry. Hmph.And finally, in the back, the guy with the ! thought bubble. (If you're playing along, don't forget about him! A lot of people seem to miss this.)  Uh, okay. Who are you again? Excuse ya! I'm Artis, and I keep this place running. Oh? Thank you for all your hard work. Uh, yeah. Thanks. So you two faced Maki, eh? Bet ya found it a tad too easy? You know it! Heh. I see you lot like challenge. One sec, I have this one thing... Please take it. 10 - Medal Found! You got a Medal! These artifacts help you by giving different effects. To equip Medals, go into the Pause Menu by pressing (START), and select Medals and Stats. Once there, you can equip Medals to different party members using (D-pad Left) and (D-pad Right) to switch who you are equipping to. Medals cost MP to equip, be sure to check how many you have left! What is this? A Medal? Let's say it should make things more interesting for ya. The higher the risk, the higher the reward, as they say. If you defeat any powerful enemies while wearing it, come see me, alright? I won't say no to free stuff! You've got a deal! Thank you for entrusting us with it! Take care, Artis. Safe exploring, folks. Remember to check in every now and then.If we talk to him again: What're ya waiting for? Go explore! I gotta deal with the work coming in.Okay, so a lot just happened at once there. Let's break it down. Artis just gave us our first medal of the game, and it's  Hard Mode.Medals are, essentially, equipment. We have a pool of Medal Points (MP) for the party (we start with 5), and each medal costs some amount of MP to equip. Medals can do all sorts of things, and there are 80 different types for us to find over the course of the game. If you've played Paper Mario 64 or Paper Mario TTYD, this should feel familiar: it's almost exactly the same as Badges and BP in those games (I fully expect to slip up and call them badges from time to time), though now we can choose who equips which medal. Because Hard Mode is just a medal, you can put it on or take it off any time you want. If it ever becomes too much, or a specific encounter is giving you trouble, etc, you can always take it off, and then put it back on later if you so desire. You won't be punished for this at all. I like how willing this game is to let you make the experience exactly as hard as you want it to be at any given moment. (My only quibble is that, as Hard Mode is the intended experience, I think that would have been communicated better if it were the default and there was an Easy Mode medal instead. That said, I understand why they chose not to do that: psychologically people tend to be more comfortable saying "I opt out of Hard" than "I want Easy Mode", so maybe this way is better.) Hard Mode changes a lot of little things (the wiki has a full list here). The short version is enemies usually have increased stats, and their resistances to status effects increase faster so they're harder or impossible to stunlock (more on this later once we learn about status effects). Most bosses' behaviours change, and they usually get at least one new attack. And as Artis was hinting, there are also extra perks for playing Hard Mode. Every time we defeat a boss or miniboss with the Hard Mode medal equipped, we can come back and talk to Artis and he'll give us a new Medal. There are also achievements for beating each chapter boss in Hard Mode. None of this is lost forever if you choose to play without Hard Mode, however. The medals will all become available for purchase in a certain shop instead, and you can make up the achievements in boss refights (which I'll discuss more once they become available). That said, a warning to PS4 and Xbox players: some people report only getting the ingame achievement if they do that, not the global system achievement. Anyway, Hard Mode. Let's put it on. Okay, this is a good time to show off the pause menu too. First off, let's check our inventory.  Here's our items. We don't have anything right now because I wasted the Crunchy Leaf during the Maki fight, but if I hadn't it would be here.  And our key items. We just have the Explorer Permit right now.  Now let's see our medals.  Hard Mode costs 0 MP, so equipping it doesn't cost us anything. Press A and...  Hard Mode shows up highlighted in orange, indicating that it is now equipped. This orange colour is because it's what I'll call a "global" medal, it doesn't need to be equipped to any specific bug. Some medals work like this; others need us to choose a bug, and we'll see what that looks like once we find one. We can also press Y here to cycle through a few other screens: Equipped Medals (which shows only the medals we currently have on, instead of our entire supply), and then Skills (where we can see a summary of each character's skills). As we've already seen all the information that would be on those pages if we looked at them now, I'm not bothering to show them.  Next up is the Library. Let's see what this is...  Looks like we have our work cut out for us. These tabs are, from left to right: Discoveries, Bestiary, Recipe Book, Records, and Quest List. We'll learn more about all of these things later. For now, let's look at our quests...   And finally, there's the options menu.  I want to highlight one particular option here. "Mash Action Commands". You can change this between "Fill Bar" (which asks you to rapidly mash buttons) and "Sequential Keys" (it will display a button sequence which you have to match).   I'm going to be leaving this on the default, I don't have a problem mashing buttons, but I like that they give you a choice since this can be an accessibility issue for some people. That was a lot of menus. Let's actually go outside now? 06 - Outskirts Looks like the staircase up to the Explorers' Association is made of flowers. Isn't that cute? Anyway, there's something weird over to the left, let's go check that out?   We can't actually do anything with this weird mound of dirt right now, but I wanted to point out that it's here and we can get over to it. It's worth remembering for (much) later. Now, let's get back on track, we saw someone with an ! over their head... When we talk to him, before anything else, he... strikes the glowing yellow rock with a sword?    Huh? You REALLY don't know? Just tell us why. This one's a screenshot because I'm not sure if you'd have believed me if I transcribed it. That's... awkwardly worded, Levi. This is an Ancient Crystal, correct? They're unique to this land. They can store the record of previous travelers, if you smack them with something. This crystal is yellow, so it will even heal your wounds! You expect me to believe that!? All that awesome stuff for hitting a rock? Heh. You are one of little faith. Come on, Levi. Show 'em!   It is done. W-Woah! It really works! This must sell for a fortune! All you'll get for this crystal is prison time. Only the Ant Queen can authorize placing these rocks in public spaces. Even if you find one in the wild, they are too heavy to be carried by a single bug. There goes that idea... Still, their properties are amazing! Let's use them when we can, Vi. Yeah, sure. Let's get a move on. Best of luck! ...Okay, so that's our tutorial on save points (I like how it's integrated with all of these world details!). Yellow ones fully heal us in addition to saving; blue ones only save. Good to know. If we talk to them again, Levi doesn't have anything interesting to say (he just offers to help us save) Care for some healing? (yes) Very well. May the Queen guide you. (no) Let me know if you need me to do it again!I actually need to stop here and explain something, because this might seem a bit weird. Why is Levi hanging out here to save the game for us when we can just smack the crystal ourselves? Well, in versions 1.0.5 and earlier, Vi and Kabbu didn't have their field abilities unlocked yet, so they wouldn't be able to interact with the crystal. In v1.1, for some reason, they changed something about the field ability flags and they're unlocked from the start. So that's why it's like this. Celia has some new dialogue, though: It's nice of you to make friends and all, but don't distract us too much. We'll be going on an expedition of our own soon, and we must prepare. Hm. Best of luck, then.Let's have a look around the area.  The path to the north is blocked off by fallen rocks, but there are some travellers here with... a pack snail? Carrying canned tomatoes? How cute.   If this isn't cleared soon, we will lose money! Get on with it, ants! This should never even happen!!!Well, someone's angry. (These are the merchant caravan, but they're clearly not open for business right now.)  He seems a little more reasonable. There's also this fellow.  If we try to go east, the way is blocked by more large rocks.   But the ants seem to have workers on this. If we go west...  A sign helps us get our bearings.  The way south is blocked off too. Guess there's nothing else for it, let's go talk to the guard at the west gate.   We're prompted to show our permit here. Interestingly, if we press B, we can actually decline this:  But let's just show it and go on ahead.    Looks like the way is open, and we can head out on our journey to Snakemouth Den! ... next time. In the meantime, here are a few tidbits from alternate dialogue choices we could have made.  Let's have Vi refuse Kabbu's help.    Interestingly, Vi deals 3 damage here! It looks like the problem is specifically with the scripted attacks during the other dialogue. Also, interestingly, saying "no need" here doesn't actually skip the tutorial, it just changes this first turn and the rest of it proceeds the same way as it did before. I did take the opportunity to show off Kabbu's Taunt, though. Here's what it looks like:  Now, for the second thing. Let's see what Eetl says if we tell him we know what the expedition is.   Good luck out there. Thank you. We will be back soon. I promise.Much shorter this way. Anyway, that's it for this update! Next time on Bug Fables, we'll set out for Snakemouth Den (actually leaving the first room of the game, good grief!) and see some real gameplay. See you then! Explopyro fucked around with this message at 02:34 on Feb 26, 2021 |
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2021 19:38
|
|
|
Ugh, I found a whole bunch of screwups after posting the first update. I've fixed them now; hopefully I got all the mistakes? Sorry about that...
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2021 20:51
|
|
|
I'm not sure I can take this much cuteness overload. A beemerang? Amazing! The characters look so adorable. I'll be sure to follow this.
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2021 20:52
|
|
|
I was gonna comment on some small issues in the first update but then I refreshed the page and they were already fixed. So all I'll say for now is, I heard a lot of good things about this game but I've barely seen any of it so I'm interested to see what'll happen.
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2021 21:22
|
|
|
Oh great! This is a really wonderful game that absolutely deserves to be shown off.
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2021 21:26
|
|
|
Torrannor posted:I'm not sure I can take this much cuteness overload. A beemerang? Amazing! The characters look so adorable. I'll be sure to follow this.  It's really not the type of game I'm interested in mechanically and I wouldn't want to play it, but this specific iteration seems cute as hell.
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2021 21:56
|
|
|
Bug fables is really good. Although I find it interesting that hard is apparently the intended difficulty. Some of this early stuff is grueling even if you can snap the game over your knee once you get the right tools going. Definitely looking forward to following this
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2021 00:19
|
|
|
It's Mario, they put bugs in it!
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2021 01:53
|
|
|
Oh hey, this game's pretty good. Played through on 1.05 though and finished up the 1.1 content when that patch dropped. Definitely worth showcasing.Explopyro posted:The devs have stated they are intended to be a romantic couple, which suggests they might not quite realise how toxic a relationship they ended up writing. Wait what. I'll comment more on that later when it actually pops up. I did not know this until you stated it, but wow that relationship did not come across as romantic at all. Araxxor fucked around with this message at 02:14 on Feb 5, 2021 |
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2021 02:11
|
|
|
I like this game, but it had a nasty glitch at the end, didn't note that I had completed the game.
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2021 06:34
|
|
|
Fun minor fact: the name "Kabbu" is derived from a Japanese word for a rhinoceros beetle, 'Kabuto'.
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2021 13:55
|
|
|
I'm glad to see people are interested in this! I was pretty nervous posting since this is my first time doing something like this. Full steam ahead, I guess.FoolyCharged posted:Bug fables is really good. Although I find it interesting that hard is apparently the intended difficulty. Some of this early stuff is grueling even if you can snap the game over your knee once you get the right tools going. I never thought Hard was that bad, honestly. Admittedly, my first time through I lost to quite a few bosses on the first attempt, but I liked that, it made evident that I needed to be thinking about strategy on a higher level (and honestly I think a lot of those losses were due to forgetting that important mechanics like relaying exist; this battle system really rewards mastery and using all the tools at your disposal). Then again, I first played Paper Mario when I was 12, so I was going in with a certain amount of baseline experience with this style of game. I can see why people might be tripped up if they aren't used to it; the small numbers can mean mistakes are harder to recover from. It's going to be interesting rediscovering baseline Hard for this LP, actually. My latest playthroughs were on HARDEST and TUFFBUGS (two of the optional harder settings) and I don't have a great recollection of the first one at this point. Araxxor posted:Wait what. I'll comment more on that later when it actually pops up. I did not know this until you stated it, but wow that relationship did not come across as romantic at all. ...Yeah. Yikes. Admittedly I'm going off second- or third-hand knowledge: I haven't seen the comments personally, only people bringing it up in discussions, so something could've gotten garbled in transmission (and maybe I shouldn't be so confident in repeating it?). I actually quite like how messed up those characters are and think they're interesting, it's just hard to wrap my head around being encouraged to ship them. We'll talk more about them when they actually show up. grandalt posted:I like this game, but it had a nasty glitch at the end, didn't note that I had completed the game. Are you sure about this? The achievement for "Complete the game!" actually means 100% completion and unlocks when you get every other achievement. I was confused by this too at first, I think it could've been signposted more clearly. Junpei posted:Fun minor fact: the name "Kabbu" is derived from a Japanese word for a rhinoceros beetle, 'Kabuto'. Yes! I wish I'd remembered to mention this, so thank you for reminding me. It's really the perfect name for him, since a kabuto is also a warrior's helmet.
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2021 15:10
|
|
|
02: Snakemouth Way First off, I want to apologise for a bit of sloppiness in the first update: I intermingled screenshots from the two runs, and if you pay close attention to my HP and TP in the menus, you might notice things fluctuating weirdly. I'll try to be more diligent about this in the future. This is going to be a shorter update. Also: Junpei posted:Fun minor fact: the name "Kabbu" is derived from a Japanese word for a rhinoceros beetle, 'Kabuto'. Yes! I wish I'd remembered to mention this, so thank you for reminding me. It's really the perfect name for him, since a kabuto is also a warrior's helmet. 06 - Outskirts When starting up, we spawn in close to the crystal we used to save.  Let's get back to business and head through the gate.  As soon as we go through, we see this little guy. Let's say hello?  When we get close, it sees us and starts trying to chase us. When it touches Kabbu, a battle starts. 04 - FIGHT! First things first, this is a new kind of enemy and we don't know anything about it. Can we fix that?  Yes we can. There's a lot of stuff in the Strategies menu, but right now we're only concerned with one option: "Spy". It says that'll give us information about enemies, so let's see what happens.  Despite their adorable looks, they plague many fields and have no qualms about devouring crops. Although weak and puny in comparison to me, their flying variation is troublesome, as I can't reach it... I'll have to ask Vi for help.We get a small dossier on the enemy (showing us its HP and defence), as well as some dialogue, which usually contains both flavour text and hints. Spy is, more or less, the equivalent to "Tattle" in the Paper Mario games. The difference is that in Bug Fables, every character can do it (so you no longer feel forced to use a specific character if you want to gather information), and they each have unique dialogue when they do, so they get a chance to show some personality. These are Seedlings. These plant ball things are the most basic enemy of the game (essentially Goombas), and we'll see more variations on them later. So far all the bugs we've seen have been based on things that really exist, but clearly the game isn't limiting itself to those. Walking plant monsters!  Once we've spied on a type of enemy, its HP bar will become visible. The little shield icon on the left side of the bar is their defence (this was added in v1.1 and it's very convenient, it even updates to reflect temporary changes like buffs). Anyway, now that we've done that, let's go on with the battle. This should be simple.   I knew you'd never forgive me if I didn't show the goofy animations you get when you fail the action commands, so I figured this was a good opportunity to show them since I could do so and still kill this Seedling:  Kabbu falls flat on his back.  And Vi trips and throws the Beemerang overhand.  07 - Battle Won!The Seedling dies anyway, and when it does, it bursts into these little icons. These are... Exploration Points. Not experience points, Exploration Points. Sure, whatever. It's functionally the same thing: when we get enough of these (right now we need 100), we'll gain a   When we get back to the overworld, the enemy sprite spins around and dissolves. It also drops this weird blue thing, which I'll pick up. A counter in the bottom right corner appears and goes up. We'll find out what this is later. One other thing happens when we Spy on enemies: their entry gets added to the Bestiary! Here's what that looks like.  It keeps track of how many we've fought, and how many we've killed (pretend it doesn't say 9 there, I obviously took this picture at the end of the update). When we open the entry, this is what we see:      The Bestiary is even kind enough to show us what Vi would have said if I'd had her spy on it, so I don't have to do that manually! We'll be collecting entries on everything, but this is the last time I'll have it in the middle of an update, I'll make an appendix for these soon. Let's press on.  These rocks help us jump across this narrow stream. Unfortunately, I timed it a bit off and Vi fell right in the drink - which gives me an opportunity to show how the game handles this. It just respawns her behind Kabbu and keeps moving on as though nothing happened. There are no consequences. (If the bug in front had fallen in, it'd fade out the screen and reset our position, though with no other consequences. This game is pretty forgiving about things like that. Paper Mario used to ding the player's HP in similar circumstances, but this game doesn't let things deal damage outside of battles.)  It's another Seedling! Looks like this one can fly, like Kabbu hinted earlier. (Though you'll notice we can still see its HP bar: a flying Seedling is still a Seedling.) Kabbu can't reach it, though. (See how the attack icon is greyed out? We can't choose it.) Oh no! There must be something we can do...  If I press B, the cursor moves to Vi and I can have her act instead! Her Beemerang knocks the Seedling down, and now Kabbu can finish it off. Notably, switching to Vi this way doesn't change our formation, nor does Kabbu lose his turn. Our bugs can take actions in whatever order we want on any turn, irrespective of their arrangement. As you might imagine, this adds a lot of strategic elements to consider. Anyway, I finish that battle.  Ask a friend who can fly or toss something at it to bring it down! Press (X) to switch positions in battle and attack!That said, this sign tells us how to change the formation if we want to do that, so let's try that out against the next one.  If I press X (while all characters can still act), it will rotate my formation to put Vi in front. Now she's getting the damage bonus!  Our two characters' attacks are just enough to take out this Seedling again (notice Kabbu does 2 this time, because he's in the back). I like how the design elements here are set up to encourage the player to learn the mechanics. Seedlings have 5 HP, which is exactly enough for Vi and Kabbu to kill in one turn if they both attack correctly. And the flying ones teach us to think about which attacks we're using when.   Now the Seedling encounters start having two of them. This means we're going to take some guaranteed attrition; right now there's no way we can output enough damage to kill both in one turn, even if we spend some of our TP on Tornado Toss. Better practice that blocking! (Especially since I don't have that Crunchy Leaf!)    Now I'll just finish off the second one. No need to show this, you know the drill by now.  That encounter was worth 14 EXP, 7 per Seedling. It's starting to add up!  That's all the enemies in this area accounted for, so let's move along.   More Seedlings are here.  This is another two-Seedling battle, this time one's flying and one isn't. You know the drill at this point, no need to show it.  Ooh, there's someone over there!  But let's check out this path to the south first.  Uh, yeah. I knew that.Or not. The game won't let us go this way. This looks a bit weird because I had Kabbu in the lead, so it looks like he tries to walk off, then stops himself; this dialogue would've made more sense if I'd had Vi in front. Oh well.  A cutscene starts when we get close to this brown wood-borer beetle. Vi tried to walk past him, but Kabbu stopped and initiated the conversation  Hey! Kabbu! We're supposed to be adventuring! Snakemouth Den? Endless riches? Sorry, Vi. I cannot ignore an old bug in distress. First of all, name's Chuck. And I bet I'm younger than both of ya! But if you've gotta know... I'm almost done arranging my cozy rest space for travelers going to Snakemouth Den. I just can't pull out this darn weed! You call this cozy? Oh, Kabbu. ...Look, will you help me or not? I'm not doing any pulling. At least not for free. Hm. Watch this, Vi. If I press (B) near small bushes or rocks... I love how Chuck jumps for joy here. Woah, nice! Something like this is no match for my horn! I'll be! You actually helped me! This made my week! You've got a reward ready, right? Another favourite of mine, I love these little sarcastic asides. It's really, really not. Hohohoh. No worries. Helpful bugs deserve gratitude! I ain't got much, but please take this. Berries, so many berries! Use 'em to buy something nice later, alright? Thank you, we surely will. We'll be going now. Make sure to warn others of the danger!This is the game teaching us about Berries. That's what those things we've been picking up after battles are (and we have 20 now with the 10 Chuck just gave us, or 21 after I grab that one that spawned when I cut the grass). These are money. We won't actually be able to spend any of these until after the Snakemouth expedition, though.  This is where Kabbu's horn strike would be unlocked for use in the field, in v1.0.5 and earlier. I've been refraining from using it prior to this, but now I'll feel free. (One nice thing here: as that text suggests, that alert will appear no matter who's in front, even though only Kabbu can act on it.)  In particular, there's this suspicious weed over here. When we cut it, something pops out.  This will be useful. (Also, it amuses me that honey restores TP, because Honey Syrup was the basic FP restoring item in Paper Mario. They knew exactly what they were doing. Honestly, it makes more sense in this context!) Before we leave, we talk to Chuck again: Good luck, ye two!That's all he had to say.  In the next screen, there's this sign that helpfully explains how Spying works.  Cutting down weeds occasionally makes berries appear. Just assume I'll be doing this whenever I pass something Kabbu can cut, it's practically a reflex at this point. The weeds that have items in them (like that Honey Drop we found) are guaranteed to have those, and only once, but berries appear randomly.  Let's try out Kabbu's horn on this Seedling! It launches it into the air, and if we touch it after it lands...  Kabbu starts the battle with an extra turn! This is how first strikes work in Bug Fables. Hitting enemies outside battle will stun them, and if we touch them while they're stunned, the bug in front gets one bonus turn. Notably, it doesn't matter whose field skill did the stunning, it's the bug in front who gets the bonus. Kabbu should be able to kill the first Seedling by himself...   Wait, he only did 2 damage the second time? It was still enough to kill, but what's going on? This is a mechanic the game calls exhaustion. Each time a bug takes an action, each subsequent attack they make that turn will be reduced in power by 1. That second action is still good, but it's slightly weaker than the first one. (It's tricky to see in screenshots, but a character with exhaustion will have sweat drops coming off them while they idle. I'll point it out if we catch a better view later.) Anyway, the rest of that battle is nothing special.  Cutting down a weed over here yields another Crunchy Leaf. This is good to have, since my characters are getting a tad low on HP. Onto the pile it goes.  Let's move along. (Also, since we've got a clear view of it here, these little pier things extending over the void represent area transitions. And also are a huge Paper Mario reference, because this is the exact style used there.)  Looks like we've reached Snakemouth Den. It doesn't look that scary, you know? According to rumors I have heard, it is the grave of a thousand explorers. Having ended countless journeys, many a song has been written about its dangers. F-For real? Its interior must be absolutely riddled with monsters and death traps. We must be extremely cautious. Geez, way to sell it to me, Kabbu. But the higher the danger, the better the treasure! Hm. It's true that the artifact is likely to be inside. But are simple riches worth such a risk to you? Stop trying to scare me off. Let's get in there! (...I must make sure she stays safe.) What's this? Logbook updated?  Looks like we've gotten our first Discovery. Let's check it out.   Charming. Sounds like a fun place.  I cut down some grass and find another of these suspicious dirt mounds. Still can't do anything about it, though. Hmm, what's this weird shiny thing I see behind us...  You found a crystal berry! These are rare items sought by collectors around the world. Maybe someone will trade rare goodies for them somewhere! You can check how many you have in the Pause Menu. You can see our Crystal Berry counter in the bottom right corner. Also, we have 63 of the 100 EXP we need to level up, and we're up to 32 berries. Crystal Berries are one of this game's primary collectibles, and there are 50 of them for us to find. They're more or less analogous to Star Pieces in Paper Mario, though thankfully in this game we'll never need to worry about those !@%*# hidden floor panels. It'll be a while before we find out what these are for, but you can probably already guess.  The healing from this save point is much appreciated, my HP was getting low enough to make me a little uncomfortable.  Next time on Bug Fables, we go spelunking. Explopyro fucked around with this message at 02:46 on Feb 26, 2021 |
|
#
?
Feb 6, 2021 20:02
|
|
|
I'm liking the sound track, so far.
|
|
#
?
Feb 6, 2021 21:05
|
|
|
Rhinoceros beetles have wings and can fly, though? I demand realism in this game about talking four-legged bugs fighting with boomerangs and using blueberries as currency!
|
|
#
?
Feb 6, 2021 21:11
|
|
|
Black Robe posted:Rhinoceros beetles have wings and can fly, though? This will be explained later. Flight is actually kinda a huge deal in sapient bug land. Aw yes! Vi is the best bug with the best character arc. Though the other main protagonists are great, too!
|
|
#
?
Feb 6, 2021 21:47
|
|
|
This game is really adorable. Quite an achievement when all the characters are insects.
|
|
#
?
Feb 7, 2021 03:21
|
|
|
It's a classic character dynamic, but the interplay between Kabbu and Vee just works, even if they're insects. I really like them.
|
|
#
?
Feb 7, 2021 10:18
|
|
|
Carbon dioxide posted:I'm liking the sound track, so far. I have nothing but praise for the music and sound design in this game, and I highly recommend clicking the music links for anyone who hasn't been already. We won't get to my favourite tracks for a while yet, though. I remember thinking at first that something about the instruments or sound font brought Paper Mario to mind for me, especially in the early tracks, but I don't really hear that any more: it became its own thing very quickly, and for all I know I was imagining that anyway. (Also, I went back and added in links to the little fanfares that play when you get key items and medals, and the battle victory one, I'd overlooked those earlier.) Black Robe posted:Rhinoceros beetles have wings and can fly, though? This made me laugh Thanks for that.Last Transmission posted:Aw yes! Vi is the best bug with the best character arc. I think Kabbu is probably my favourite by a slim margin, but it's really hard to choose, everyone is wonderful and their dynamics together are even better. Qrr posted:This game is really adorable. Quite an achievement when all the characters are insects. I wasn't expecting that either, honestly! (I'm certainly no entomologist or even a fan of insects generally, but somehow this game had me near instantly. I love it.) Torrannor posted:It's a classic character dynamic, but the interplay between Kabbu and Vee just works, even if they're insects. I really like them. It's really well done. I love the writing in this game. I was really impressed with how quickly it established their core personalities and archetypes, and yet they don't feel like a cliche.
|
|
#
?
Feb 7, 2021 18:08
|
|
|
I have no idea what a "pay per mario" is but just taken by itself this looks interesting. The bug theme is cool and unusual, and also i listened to some of the music and found a track called MECHA BEE DESTROYER BLASTLORD in the related links so that looks promising too 
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2021 10:11
|
|
|
vilkacis posted:I have no idea what a "pay per mario" is but just taken by itself this looks interesting. Surely it's 100 coins?  Seriously though, this game holds up on its own and zero Paper Mario knowledge should be needed to understand anything here. I'm pointing out the comparisons because I know both games, that's all; of necessity that's probably going to be mostly frontloaded and I expect such comments to peter out once we get into the thick of things. vilkacis posted:The bug theme is cool and unusual, and also i listened to some of the music and found a track called MECHA BEE DESTROYER BLASTLORD in the related links so that looks promising too That's actually one of my favourite tracks, and one I keep coming back to. Although I'm not sure if it's that I actually like it, or trauma bonding from getting destroyed several times in a row by that boss on my first playthrough. This game has so many great songs and I'm really looking forward to sharing them.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2021 19:28
|
|
|
Nthing the love for this game. It takes its formula to surprising depths, and the characters are plainly well-written.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2021 22:26
|
|
|
Explopyro posted:Surely it's 100 coins? Ouch!  I don't mean to say the Paper Mario comparisons are a distraction or anything, just confirming that the game does seem to hold up on its own from the perspective of someone who hasn't played PM.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2021 11:38
|
|
|
Oooh, very excited to see more of this! I watched my husband play this and it seemed very fun. Your entries have both been very enjoyable so far--I look forward to reading more
|
|
#
?
Feb 10, 2021 05:54
|
|
|
Huh. Okay, so there's a guy on Youtube who does various Paper Mario challenge runs, and a while back I saw he was doing a playthrough of this game. Except for some reason I thought it was a romhack of Paper Mario, and not an entirely new game that's just mimicking the style. So, uh, thanks for helping me realize I'm a dumbass. I'm gonna get the game and play through it when I have the time, and then I'll come back and join in the thread
|
|
#
?
Feb 10, 2021 15:45
|
|
|
03: Snakemouth Spelunking It's time to go into Snakemouth Den. 12 - Snakemouth Den Walking in triggers a cutscene conversation.  Uh huh... Hey, Kabbu? Do you really have to comment on every small thing? !!! I... I'm sorry. H-Hey, don't look so sad! Err, how about this? If I wanna know more about where we are, or about something or someone near us... I'll just tap (Back). Sounds good? ... Very well. I will make sure to have information at hand for when you do. Cool. Now, let's keep going!This conversation is our tutorial for yet another mechanic: we can press the (Back) button to get party banters. They'll talk about the room, or a nearby NPC if you're within talking range. Sometimes they give hints, sometimes it's just for colour. There are a lot of these - they also update situationally, so you might get different banters in the same room depending on plot flags, different conversations about an NPC before and after you talk to them, etc. It's going to make my life hell trying to get all of these (and I'm sure I'll miss a few), but there's a lot of charm in them and some are really worth it. Obviously I'm going to do this now. Snakemouth Den is quite dangerous, but this room's quite cozy. Let's go before you jinx it! Is that an enemy there behind the pillar? It doesn't look like a Seedling...  Well, I managed to hit it with Kabbu's horn at least. 04 - FIGHT! There's a new battle transition animation. The leaves are purple now!  Definitely a new enemy. Let's spy on it. I'll let Vi do the honours this time:  Its armor is really strong, so I can barely hurt it. I bet Kabbu can flip it over, though!Inichas (I don't know what if any real-life bugs these are supposed to correspond to, they seem to have features in common with pillbugs and caterpillars?) are our introduction to enemies with defence. Defence works the way you might expect: subtract it from the attack value to get the actual damage done. This is pretty scary, since Vi and Kabbu both have 2 attack right now: are we going to have to plink away at this thing, doing 1 point a turn from the positioning bonus?  Not exactly. Kabbu's done 2 damage, which might seem a bit weird. The game will explain this in a moment, but his horn attacks have the bonus property of ignoring 1 point of enemy defence. He can also flip enemies, if they're vulnerable to that.  That blue swirl icon indicates the Inichas has been flipped (if we couldn't tell from the way its sprite is upside down). While flipped, its defence drops to 0! (We can see that now, on its HP bar.) Let's finish it off.  Even with 1 turn's worth of exhaustion (if you look closely, you can see the sweat drops here), Kabbu still deals enough damage to finish off the Inichas.  The Inichas was also worth 9 EXP.  It also dropped a Crunchy Leaf, in addition to a nice few berries. Not bad. What's that green mushroom back there? That looks important.  It acts like a spring, launching us up the cliff.  Going south, there's a mushroom on top of the column. Unfortunately, we can't jump far enough to get to it (nor to see if there's anything on top of the second pillar further east). Let's go check that sign.  Sharp horns ignore some defense, and can even flip certain enemies, negating defense entirely!I'm glad the game explains this (though I do think it's a bit awkward that, as far as I remember, this sign is the only place the game mentions it; a player who skips reading signs is probably going to find the damage numbers confusing for a while). Let's move on.   Well, that's it. Game over. Let's go back. Wait, Vi. Hold on! It's too soon to give up! There must be a way... Duh. I was kidding, you know? Look over there! You can just fly over to it, right?(I'm glad someone is asking this) That's too much effort. I've got a better plan. I will trust you with this, then. Give it your best shot! The Beemerang hits the cord (not the crystal switch), breaking it and causing the bridge to fall. Well done, Vi. I wasn't expecting you to do that! Um, yeah! Of course! Just as planned! Whatever works, I guess. The bridge is certainly down and we can cross it now. (This is also the point at which Vi's Beemerang field skill became unlocked in prior versions. As such, we could also backtrack and use it to grab that  mushroom on top of the pillar... but I forgot to do that.) If we check the switch, we get this message. It doesn't do anything, no matter what we do with it. (I'm not sure what to make of this. I think that scene was supposed to teach us that these things are switches we should hit, and in the future they always will be, but this scene pointedly has the switch be completely irrelevant. It's just a little odd.) There's another Inichas walking around over here. It notices us.  Oh no! It hit us. And the leaves are red this time. Looks like the enemy has gotten a first strike on us.  The enemies don't give us time to wait, either, and start attacking as soon as the transition animation ends.  And it's not just the front enemy (or the enemy we saw on the overworld)! Every enemy in the battle gets a free swing at us (in Hard Mode, at least; without the medal, only the front enemy gets to attack). Both of these enemies went after Kabbu, too; his HP's starting to get low. Once that mauling is done with, it's finally our turn. This battle isn't particularly hard: two attacks takes down the Seedling, then the next turn Kabbu can flip the Inichas for Vi to finish off. Kabbu does take another hit, though, bringing him down to 3 HP.  It's worth a lot of EXP, though! Next battle we should level up.  It also drops a new item we haven't seen before. This  Aphid Egg isn't quite up to the standard of the Crunchy Leaf we're familiar with, but it's still a healing item and much appreciated. (That description's a bit morbid though, isn't it? Eat it before it hatches? This is just flavour text though, there's no actual mechanic for it to hatch: this isn't Earthbound.) Cutting down the weeds lets us get to this sign in the corner. Let's see.  "We have already lost one of ours to this wretched place..." Curses! This coziness was an illusion. Our path won't be easy, that much is for sure. No place full of treasure's ever been safe. So many have fallen looking for riches... Let's find the treasure quickly, so no one else ventures in here. (I will do this for them.) We also get the logbook message again. Looks like this is another discovery.   This sounds worrisome. We're definitely not the first to undertake this expedition, and it seems to have gone badly for our predecessors. We can't do anything about that now, though, we have to just press on. (Kabbu certainly intends our expedition here to be the last.)   Ouch! Another first strike. (Full disclosure: the last one was completely intentional, I wanted to make sure I showed the mechanic at least one. This one... wasn't. This caught me by surprise and, well, look what happened. I swear I'm not usually this bad at this game!)   Both enemies get free hits, and both of them went after Kabbu. Who was on 3 HP. I managed to Super Block one of them, but I'd have needed to nail the timing on both to prevent this outcome. Kabbu goes down.  She probably wouldn't admit it, but there's no way Vi could win this fight on her own. My only choice is to run away. The way running works in this game is pretty simple. The game presents a button sequence, and you need to hit the designated inputs in order before the timer runs out. If you get all the inputs, you flee successfully. Miss a single one, or run out of time, and not only do you fail to escape, it immediately becomes the enemy's turn (even if another bug had turns left). Running away also causes us to lose berries: the longer we take on the button sequence, the more berries we lose. Anyway, we get away successfully. One other important thing to mention here is that characters downed in battle will revive with 1 HP once the battle ends. So Kabbu is okay here; I don't need an item to revive him or anything. Let's try that again.   Much better.   Kabbu uses his two turns to get rid of the Inichas immediately, while Vi knocks down the Seedling. Unfortunately, the Seedling goes after Kabbu again (honestly, I should probably have taken him out of the front).  That said, the Seedling is on 3 HP, so Vi can just switch into the front and take it down. (Yes, downed characters still count for positioning.)  08 - Getting Stronger!That's more than enough EXP to  We have a choice to make!    Pretty self-explanatory. Each time we Rank Up, we get to choose one of these three stat bonuses: +1 HP for each bug, +3 TP, or +3 MP. (This is very similar to how levels work in Paper Mario, but you'll notice the numbers are pretty different. I honestly think these numbers end up working out a lot better.) I'm choosing MP for now because I have to pick something, but that might change! I'm taking input from the thread on my stat build; at the end of this update I'll outline the options and explain how to vote.  Vi also learns a new skill, Secret Stash! Each level, we'll usually get some kind of bonus, whether it's a skill or something else. Our characters are going to be learning a lot of skills this way. Let's see what Secret Stash does...  It's a healing move! It's pretty expensive for what it does, but that doesn't mean it's not useful. Back to exploring.  There's a mushroom back here. If we bounce on it, it launches us up...  To this ledge, where there seems to be some kind of block stuck in a vine. Vi's Beemerang can knock it down, so let's do that.  This room has a big door and some mechanisms on the floor. Before anything else, let's see what our party have to say about this room: We've reached a dead end. But it's ancient ruins, so not really. Right. If we leave no stone unturned, we will open a path!Subtle, game. Block pushing it is. (This is why we needed to bring down the block from above, there are two big round switches to hold down.)  When Kabbu gets close to the block, the ! icon indicates his horn will do something. Also, that bright green arrow appears, indicating the trajectory the block will take if he hits it from his current position. This is a really nice quality of life feature, and makes manipulating these blocks a lot less painful than it might be otherwise (but it wasn't always in the game, the arrows were added in v1.0.4). Let's get the blocks onto the switches.   Well, that's disappointing! That shaking made it look like the door was going to open, didn't it? Instead, all that happened was this mushroom falling from the ceiling. A mushroom? What!? We did all this for THAT?! Seriously? It wasn't even a rare item. Heck, it wasn't even a rare mushroom! Come now, Vi. Unfortunate as it may be, let's pick it up and start looking again! Grr!!! No being cheeky, the Beemerang won't pick up this mushroom. (Which should be a clue, really. Normally it can pick up items, like that other mushroom I forgot to go back for.) Oh well. We don't really have a choice. Mushroom is a new item, though. In addition to healing, it cures poison. Could be useful.   IYAAAAAAAAAA-- Oh, so she can fly after all! Phew. That was close. Hrgrgh... Kabbu! Are you okay!? Mrggfgh... I guess he is. Hmm... This is the perfect time to go home. I don't like the look of that place... But I'm his reliable teammate... ...I'm going to regret this... The door opened after all, but Vi and Kabbu have no way of knowing that. (I do love dramatic irony.)  Things don't look very good for Kabbu, do they. Nghgh... No rush. I can wait. I would have carried you, but you seem really heavy... I assure you I am lighter than I seem. Uh huh. Anyways, this place is really creepy. I must agree. And there doesn't seem to be a way back up for me. We will have to look around. Let's be careful, okay? You were almost a goner!(Is she talking about his fall here, or my lousy gameplay? You decide!)  Coming down from the mushroom, we see a yellow save crystal. We're still at full health, though. Let's see the banter here: We're trapped. Well, I am. How shameful, to make Vi come to such a dangerous place. Look, I can take care of myself. Don't make me regret coming with you. Sorry, I shouldn't undermine your choice. Let's press forward! At the far end of the room, it looks like... that's a spider web. Is someone caught in it? By the Queen! What a terrible fate... A moment of silence, in solidarity for a fallen explorer.   Quick! We must free him! Okay, I'm just going to see if the Beemerang can cut through web... I will make sure there are no other surviv-- Vi! Watch out! 13 - It's Getting Scary!He knocks her out of the way as a strand of web shoots in from offscreen, followed by this big spider.  How could a beast so huge sneak up on us!? Kabbu! We've got to run! Treasure ain't worth this! It's not that! We can't abandon this poor moth to his fate! I...I... Vi! Vi, wait! Curses! 14 - His Friends Call Him Spuder (Don't Call Him Spuder)  Looks like Kabbu's facing off against the spider alone. Can I spy...?  Doesn't look like it. Guess I'd better just attack...  That's not good.  Neither is that.   After another turn of back and forth, the spider raises itself up on some silk.  Must I really sit here and do nothing!? Yes, unfortunately. There's literally nothing else Kabbu can do.  The spider is still perfectly capable of attacking him, though, by spitting these purple globs. This isn't looking good. After this, it fades out and we leave the battle screen, though; clearly this is a foregone conclusion. 13 - It's Getting Scary!     Look, I-- By the holy jaws of the Queen, Vi! You left me to my fate! You are vile! You pushed me away from the web, but I still left, so I'm-- I will properly scold you later. The situation is dire, but I've got a plan. We will attack the web holding the moth while battling the spider. And we bail when we free him? H-Here it comes. Let's do this! 14 - His Friends Call Him Spuder (Don't Call Him Spuder)(While I do like this song, I have to say this upbeat jazzy dance number feels incongruous to the tense moment our characters are in; it's a strange choice.)   Well, we're back in battle with the spider again (although we still can't spy). Kabbu's told us what we have to do, though. Attacking the spider is pointless, but now we can target the web.    We repeat that sequence of events again. As far as I can tell, the web has exactly 10 HP, and when we've done enough damage, this happens:   With this, we exit the battle scene.       Huff... Huff... Gee, glad it's too fat to come in here. Um, Kabbu? Sorry for running away... ...Sigh. Very well. You are forgiven, Vi. It was understandable.  Let's turn over a new leaf, Vi. This moth is our priority. 15 - The One Left Behind (Leif's Theme)  What the... Hey! You okay? You hit your head? Jsgsn. Sjaika? Hsjaosidjs...? Could this moth be speaking in an ancient tongue? Perhaps he is of the fabled tribes lurking underground. Do you need, like, a minute? ......No. Thank goodness. You had us quite worried. Where are we? Where is the spider? Right... let's get you up to speed.  No big deal. It sucks that we're trapped, though. Were you looking for treasure as well, alongside fellow explorers? Err, what's your name? Leif is fine. And somewhat. A scouting mission, in fact. You've got some luck to be alive... Did you learn anything scouting? About the artifact? Artifact? If it is here, it's probably ahead. If we work together, we will surely find both it and the exit! We have little choice. We will accompany you. Can you fight? ...Not really part of scouting. Seriously!? You came into this place without knowing how to fight!? Make sure to stay behind us, so we can protect you. How reassuring. Ok. We've spent too much time here. Let's look for the exit! Another discovery?   As there's a save crystal just here, I think this is a good place to end the episode. Before we go, though, let's see if there's a banter in this room. This is that blasted spider's den. I really don't want to stay here any longer. No kidding. Can we just go?Sounds good to me. Next time on Bug Fables, we'll get to know our new companion. The only way out is further in. That said, before we go, it is... **VOTING TIME** We need to decide what I'm going to choose for my level-ups. There is a respec option in this game that lets you redistribute your level-up stats (and any other permanent stat upgrades you may get), so no choice we make is final. That said, it doesn't become available until pretty late in the game (chapter 6 of 7, which I do think is kind of unfortunate). So what I want to do is let the thread pick a plan for how I'll build my team, and I'll follow that plan until we get the chance to respec. (I can't ask for voting for each level-up because that would drastically inhibit my ability to actually make the LP.) Here are my suggestions: Plan A: Alternating. HP-TP-MP so everything is distributed evenly, repeating every 3 levels. This is honestly suboptimal, but it's what I did on my first playthrough (on principle) and I think it's the approach that most leads to the game feeling like a traditional JRPG. This makes it harder to break the game, but it also means it'll be trickier for me to show off some of the cooler strategies because we'll have fewer MP (but of course I could respec to show them later). Plan B: MP only. This will leave my characters a bit fragile in the early game, but nothing I can't deal with and long-term it's easily the best way to go. The more medals you can equip, the more crazy combos and strategies you can put together; you end up with a negative difficulty curve as you accumulate more and better tools, until you hit critical mass and basically become invincible. We'll get plenty of HP Plus and TP Plus medals to increase those if we need them; there are a handful of strategies that might want more TP, but not many, so we'll be able to do most anything. Plan C: Hybrid. We'll put a handful of levels into HP and/or TP (I'm open to suggestions for how many and when, but my preference is no more than 2-3 levels each), then go MP only past a certain point. This would allow us to see some of the same complexity we would in MP-only, while not quite going all-in. I'm putting a preemptive veto on "nothing but HP" or "nothing but TP". As far as I know it's still possible to succeed this way, but these are very much gimmicky challenge runs that would twist our experience of the game (for better or worse, like BP in Paper Mario, MP is overall the best stat). Otherwise, I don't really have a preference between these three plans, so tell me what you think. Please put your votes in bold. Explopyro fucked around with this message at 18:47 on Jul 7, 2021 |
|
#
?
Feb 11, 2021 03:57
|
|
|
I vote Hybrid, putting the first couple points in HP followed by the rest all in MP.
|
|
#
?
Feb 11, 2021 04:23
|
|
|
senrath posted:I vote Hybrid, putting the first couple points in HP followed by the rest all in MP. Having a little cushion to fall back on would be nice until the medals really get going.
|
|
#
?
Feb 11, 2021 04:30
|
|
|
MP only. Medals are cool, and apparently break the game.
|
|
#
?
Feb 11, 2021 06:09
|
|
|
Hybrid, putting the first couple points in HP followed by the rest all in MP. It makes it much easier to get through the first part.
|
|
#
?
Feb 11, 2021 06:30
|
|
|
Hybrid sounds nice.
|
|
#
?
Feb 11, 2021 09:09
|
|
|
Crush the game. MP only.
|
|
#
?
Feb 11, 2021 09:12
|
|
|
mp only Medals are both the strongest and most interesting option. This game does one up paper mario in that hp/tp plus medals aren't 1:1 transfers with the associated level up, so there's that. If I had one thing to say i didn't like about this game it's that for how hard it's inspired by paper mario it rushes straightforward into all the same balance issues paper mario had. There's another big one we won't see until you get a decent few medals.
|
|
#
?
Feb 11, 2021 11:56
|
|
|
MP only, why do an LP if not to show off as much as possible at the expense of safety and common sense?
|
|
#
?
Feb 11, 2021 11:59
|
|
|
Then i'll have to vote for MP only, as i have been told it's easily the best way to go in the long term  e: or perhaps rather
vilkacis fucked around with this message at 14:51 on Feb 11, 2021 |
|
#
?
Feb 11, 2021 14:06
|
|
|
MP Only
|
|
#
?
Feb 11, 2021 17:21
|
|
|
vilkacis posted:e: or perhaps rather ...awesome.
|
|
#
?
Feb 11, 2021 17:30
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 28, 2024 17:33 |
|
|
FoolyCharged posted:Medals are both the strongest and most interesting option. This game does one up paper mario in that hp/tp plus medals aren't 1:1 transfers with the associated level up, so there's that. Yeah, this is fair. I do think Bug Fables handled balance a little better than Paper Mario, but there are still issues, and after a while the question can become not "do I break things" but "which flavour of breaking things shall I do today"; in fairness, that's often still quite fun. (I admit I'm not completely sure what specific issue you're thinking of, though!) vilkacis posted:e: or perhaps rather This is awesome. I am honoured to be the recipient of your excellent spritework
|
|
#
?
Feb 11, 2021 18:28
|
|