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ceitfianna: Comment and I'll pick six interests of yours, which you then have to describe!
Fi picked:
Avalon Code is a rather interesting game for the Nintendo DS. The first interesting thing about it is the premise: as you're napping on a hillside, you are informed that the world is about to end and there's nothing you can do about it. But wait, says the player, you also just told me that I'm the Chosen One! For what was I then chosen, if not to save the world from ending?
It turns out that this world is constructed in an unusual way: each time the world is about to end, the Book of Prophecy appears and chooses a Chosen One to bear it. That Chosen One then goes about recording those things in the current world that should be included in the next. It is that recording that forms the central gimmick of the game.
Nearly everything except movement is done with the Book of Prophecy, which takes up the touch screen. In the book is recorded every field, street, room, or other location you've been to, along with everything you've "code scanned", which is done by hitting them with the book. Nearly anything can be code scanned, including flowers, monsters, people, food, dolls, weapons, armor, and - perhaps most usefully - recipe tablets.
The gameplay itself is like a cross between Zelda, Harvest Moon, Tetris, and - oddly - Homestuck. It has Zelda-style overworld and dungeons, along with basic fight and puzzle mechanics (though the puzzles have scores based on the amount of time you take to solve them); Harvest Moon-like romance (arguably a sidequest, but several characters who aren't directly eligible speak about it and it plays a significant role halfway through the story), and an inventory system that feels like a cross between Tetris and captchaloguing. It is in that inventory that the Book of Prophecy really both shines and stinks.
Each thing that you code scan has its own pair of facing pages in the Book. On the left is a picture; name and any relevant title; stats in the case of weapons, armor, and consumables; and a brief description. On the right is the Code Grid, which is a little like elemental DNA. Everything comes with some codes, which determine attributes such as stats, titles, appearance, combat strength, and even identity. These codes can be moved around by the use of a four-space buffer, and combined in interesting ways. For instance, any two different metal codes produce an "alloy", six Bug codes make Scorpion, and the right combination of Stone, Forest, and a few others can turn a hammer into a Giant's hammer. But it's not just titles; each recipe tablet contains instructions for turning a base item - for instance, bread, which can be scanned in an old lady's house - into something arguably better, or upgrading that better thing. Bread, for instance, is easily turned into (Hellfire) Pancakes, which restore about three times as much HP. The sword with which you start begins as a Rusty Sword, but by switching codes around it can become something very like a high-level Keyblade. Unfortunately, there is no search function, which means that you may have to flip through dozens of townsfolk, monsters, and weapons in order to find enough Ice codes to upgrade your wings without wrecking your glasses or your relationship with your preferred girl. Fortunately, the game usually pauses while you're manipulating the book.
Breaking the Wall is a fantasy trilogy by Jane Lindskold. I hesitate to call it urban fantasy, but it shares several of the same tropes. The premise is... rather complicated to describe. It involves the massive book burnings in Ancient China, which created a world derived from the beliefs and ideas that were burned; a deposed emperor in that world, who was banished with his twelve advisors (each having an affinity with one of the animals of the Chinese Zodiac) into our world; and the descendants of those exiles dealing with problems now flowing across the barrier between the worlds. All of the main characters can use magic based on the winning hands of Mahjongg, although at least three of them have to learn to do so over the course of the story. Complicating matters are representatives of other, "indigenous" magical traditions, many of whom object to the Exiles' descendants being there in the first place.
Dance-fighting is not, as the communities that share the interest would have you believe, two groups dancing at one another until one submits. It is... is the root of fight songs... is the combat of musical theater... is fighting with rhythm and grace... is dancing with the aim of physical damage... is Capoeira, more or less. Look, TVTropes can describe it much better than I can.
Minish Cap is a shorter way of referring to The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, the* Zelda installment for the Game Boy Advance. This was one of the first Zelda games I played, and still one of my favorites. Its central gimmick is the titular cap, which allows Link to switch between being a normal-sized boy and a miniature (diminished) person who can interact with the tiny Picori on their own scale. Naturally, it involves traveling all over Hyrule to save Princess Zelda from the depredations of an evil menace.
Waltzes are a type of dance that use a particular style of three-beat rhythm. I could head over to Wikipedia and look up how old they are and other such facts, but that's the basis of it. I find the BUH-buh-buh-BUH-buh-buh pleasing on an almost primal level.
Firekeeper is another Jane Lindskold series, this one more along the lines of High Fantasy - although, again, I hesitate to stick it freely into that category. The titular character is a girl raised by intelligent wolves, who wants more than anything to be able to become a wolf herself. There's plenty of political stuff, partly because she gets involved with high-ranking people and partly because the circumstances of her discovery mean it's entirely possible that she could be a long-lost princess and most direct heir to a throne currently held by an old man. For some reason, a lot of people don't want a completely uneducated wild child as their ruler. I should admit that I've never actually read the last book, perhaps because I don't want to admit that the story is over. I did, though, once consider apping Firekeeper herself at Milliways.
*Technically it's a GBA Zelda, but Four Swords doesn't really count on account of being a multiplayer-only game tacked onto a port of one of the classic Zeldas. There aren't very many things on which I unreservedly agree with Yahtzee, but this is one of them: a game must stand or fall on the strength of its single-player mode.
If asked, I could ramble on about Avalon Code for considerably more time, but it wouldn't be long before the discussion dissolved into spoilery stuff or disjointed musings about characterization and worldbuilding.
ceitfianna: Comment and I'll pick six interests of yours, which you then have to describe!Fi picked:
Avalon Code is a rather interesting game for the Nintendo DS. The first interesting thing about it is the premise: as you're napping on a hillside, you are informed that the world is about to end and there's nothing you can do about it. But wait, says the player, you also just told me that I'm the Chosen One! For what was I then chosen, if not to save the world from ending?
It turns out that this world is constructed in an unusual way: each time the world is about to end, the Book of Prophecy appears and chooses a Chosen One to bear it. That Chosen One then goes about recording those things in the current world that should be included in the next. It is that recording that forms the central gimmick of the game.
Nearly everything except movement is done with the Book of Prophecy, which takes up the touch screen. In the book is recorded every field, street, room, or other location you've been to, along with everything you've "code scanned", which is done by hitting them with the book. Nearly anything can be code scanned, including flowers, monsters, people, food, dolls, weapons, armor, and - perhaps most usefully - recipe tablets.
The gameplay itself is like a cross between Zelda, Harvest Moon, Tetris, and - oddly - Homestuck. It has Zelda-style overworld and dungeons, along with basic fight and puzzle mechanics (though the puzzles have scores based on the amount of time you take to solve them); Harvest Moon-like romance (arguably a sidequest, but several characters who aren't directly eligible speak about it and it plays a significant role halfway through the story), and an inventory system that feels like a cross between Tetris and captchaloguing. It is in that inventory that the Book of Prophecy really both shines and stinks.
Each thing that you code scan has its own pair of facing pages in the Book. On the left is a picture; name and any relevant title; stats in the case of weapons, armor, and consumables; and a brief description. On the right is the Code Grid, which is a little like elemental DNA. Everything comes with some codes, which determine attributes such as stats, titles, appearance, combat strength, and even identity. These codes can be moved around by the use of a four-space buffer, and combined in interesting ways. For instance, any two different metal codes produce an "alloy", six Bug codes make Scorpion, and the right combination of Stone, Forest, and a few others can turn a hammer into a Giant's hammer. But it's not just titles; each recipe tablet contains instructions for turning a base item - for instance, bread, which can be scanned in an old lady's house - into something arguably better, or upgrading that better thing. Bread, for instance, is easily turned into (Hellfire) Pancakes, which restore about three times as much HP. The sword with which you start begins as a Rusty Sword, but by switching codes around it can become something very like a high-level Keyblade. Unfortunately, there is no search function, which means that you may have to flip through dozens of townsfolk, monsters, and weapons in order to find enough Ice codes to upgrade your wings without wrecking your glasses or your relationship with your preferred girl. Fortunately, the game usually pauses while you're manipulating the book.
Breaking the Wall is a fantasy trilogy by Jane Lindskold. I hesitate to call it urban fantasy, but it shares several of the same tropes. The premise is... rather complicated to describe. It involves the massive book burnings in Ancient China, which created a world derived from the beliefs and ideas that were burned; a deposed emperor in that world, who was banished with his twelve advisors (each having an affinity with one of the animals of the Chinese Zodiac) into our world; and the descendants of those exiles dealing with problems now flowing across the barrier between the worlds. All of the main characters can use magic based on the winning hands of Mahjongg, although at least three of them have to learn to do so over the course of the story. Complicating matters are representatives of other, "indigenous" magical traditions, many of whom object to the Exiles' descendants being there in the first place.
Dance-fighting is not, as the communities that share the interest would have you believe, two groups dancing at one another until one submits. It is... is the root of fight songs... is the combat of musical theater... is fighting with rhythm and grace... is dancing with the aim of physical damage... is Capoeira, more or less. Look, TVTropes can describe it much better than I can.
Minish Cap is a shorter way of referring to The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, the* Zelda installment for the Game Boy Advance. This was one of the first Zelda games I played, and still one of my favorites. Its central gimmick is the titular cap, which allows Link to switch between being a normal-sized boy and a miniature (diminished) person who can interact with the tiny Picori on their own scale. Naturally, it involves traveling all over Hyrule to save Princess Zelda from the depredations of an evil menace.
Waltzes are a type of dance that use a particular style of three-beat rhythm. I could head over to Wikipedia and look up how old they are and other such facts, but that's the basis of it. I find the BUH-buh-buh-BUH-buh-buh pleasing on an almost primal level.
Firekeeper is another Jane Lindskold series, this one more along the lines of High Fantasy - although, again, I hesitate to stick it freely into that category. The titular character is a girl raised by intelligent wolves, who wants more than anything to be able to become a wolf herself. There's plenty of political stuff, partly because she gets involved with high-ranking people and partly because the circumstances of her discovery mean it's entirely possible that she could be a long-lost princess and most direct heir to a throne currently held by an old man. For some reason, a lot of people don't want a completely uneducated wild child as their ruler. I should admit that I've never actually read the last book, perhaps because I don't want to admit that the story is over. I did, though, once consider apping Firekeeper herself at Milliways.
*Technically it's a GBA Zelda, but Four Swords doesn't really count on account of being a multiplayer-only game tacked onto a port of one of the classic Zeldas. There aren't very many things on which I unreservedly agree with Yahtzee, but this is one of them: a game must stand or fall on the strength of its single-player mode.
If asked, I could ramble on about Avalon Code for considerably more time, but it wouldn't be long before the discussion dissolved into spoilery stuff or disjointed musings about characterization and worldbuilding.