GWJ Conference Call 892

Loved the shout out to Erana from Quest for Glory! One of my all time favorite series and kinda sad it’s mostly forgotten these days.

A couple more spells for consideration:
- FF7‘s “Knights of the Round”: We’ve had summons, yes, but have we had multiple (13) egregiously long mini animations in a single spell that takes about 1.5 minutes to complete? And then what if we added a materia that allows you to summon it two times in a row in a single action, for around 3 minutes of watching the same animation over and over. Ah that sounds great, but don’t forget you can also min-max the counter system in the game to chain together a single counter enabling recasting Bahamut Zero 56 times in a row, totaling over an hour of animation time. Might as well go run some errands while waiting.
- Master of Magic’s “Spell of Mastery”: A lovely early 4X game (and my personal favorite) that included a simple win condition of completing the Spell of Mastery, which would immediately banish all opposing wizards and thus win the game. The spell typically would take several rounds to complete and every other faction would throw everything they have at you to try to stop it, creating a chaotic and messy race to the end.

The 6 Best Video Game Foxes

6: The Persona 4 Fox

This game sucks but this fox sends you on random tasks to help townspeople and will extort you for healing services you desperately need in the game's dungeons while wearing a bib with hearts on it. Where did it get the bib? Who put it on the fox? Who cares this fox is their own person and they don’t need you. Except for your money which they need in the name of getting a blinged out shrine built in town. I am forced to respect the hustle even though I think the game is shit and the second best example of how a cool aesthetic will get people to overlook some truly horrendous content in the game itself. The best example is Persona 5. ACAB includes the Phantom Thieves don’t @ me

5: The Fox From Never Alone

A game about the universal human desire to be a small child on a journey with a magical animal. The fox here is an arctic fox which means two things, they are extra fluffy, and would be great to hug on a cold night. You also get to play as the fox to solve puzzles and they are animated very adorable. It does lose points though for turning into a person towards the end of the game which is a clear downgrade

4: The Skyrim Fox That Leads You To Treasure

The foxes of skyrim are a low poly lot, forever cursed to look just a touch melted as all things in Bethesda games do to this day. But unlike a lot of foxes in games they capture something about foxes few truly appreciate, the sheer derpy panic they live in at all times. The Skyrim fox has the vibe of a dude at a bar having a bad trip and trying to keep cool. And like that dude at the bar as soon as something spooks them they will run off as fast as they can, possibly crying as they do so. Unlike bar dude though they will sometimes lead you to treasure as the result of a strange quirk with the way pathfinding works in the game. They will also sometimes lead you to a horde of angry bandits for the same reason which is more in line with the weird dude at the bar. Foxes contain multitudes.

3: Chironnupu from Shin Megami Tensei V

Cute as hell AND they can carry you with support spells throughout the entire game? What more do you need! I got them early on and kept them the entire game despite that being an objectively bad idea and I have no regrets. Me and my little buddy were blasting god back to hell by the end of the game and I am pretty sure when I am old and senile I will be telling my grand-kids (Really whatever poor nurse has to take care of me at the old folks home. I’m sorry in advance) about our adventures as though they were real and frankly I don’t think I could ask for more.

2: Gregg From Night In The Woods

Gregg rules, we all know this. Except maybe Gregg. Foxes tend to be portrayed as tricksters and assholes, with little concern for what society thinks beyond how they can use that to get what they want. But here’s a secret; society sucks ass. But in a bad way. It’ll beat you down for having a hard time, set you up with a shit job you hate where you have to deal with the exact people that told you you ain’t worth shit and expect you to smile while you do it. Screw that. Find a boyfriend that loves you for who you are, and tell your boss you have trench foot to get the day off. You don’t owe them shit, spend your time where it matters. In short, Be Gay, Do Crimes

1: The Main Character From Tunic

What is a fox? It’s a small creature that’s too smart for its own good and too beset with anxiety about being eaten by some unknown nightmare that’s around every corner. In short it’s me but with a better color scheme and the confidence to go around in public without pants. But the fox in TUNIC isn’t me or a fox really. It’s the tiny version of yourself as a kid that was infinitely curious, always looking around the corner just to see what was there. And like you they’ll eventually grow up and out of that curiosity and trade that broad curiosity and boundless energy for the nuance and concerns of adulthood. And while I think we tend to conflate that trade off with loss, of innocence, joy, or just the safety of family. In doing so we forget the fear of what was around that corner, of the betrayal of that boundless energy on those days your father wanted but did not have time for you. You might feel trapped, watching your childhood self in the past wishing you could go back. But I think that’s a mistake. You can accept the things you’ve lost as you’ve grown, but to cling too hard to what you had can lead to resenting who you used to be when you should embrace that old version and the joy they felt. If you can look past what you lost, maybe that old version of you can forgive you for what you’ve lost, and you can embrace what you’ve gained, and the two of you can find a happy middle ground. Also the little wave they do when you first boot up the game is so cute it kills me and I love the little banks that are shaped like foxes. Game’s cute as hell. I love it.