iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 33m

They will also switch if they have Pokémon with abilities like Natural Cure or Motor Drive and such, but it's not often. Thinking about it, I think it happened when I battled Erika too.

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 36m

You're more likely to see it with NPCs with balanced rosters since they have more weight for decision making. Otherwise, NPCs only switch when faced with Perish Song or extreme stat losses. Some ROM Hacks have "better" AI, but this is only accomplished by having it cheat and read the player's moves.

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 36m

Blue is the only NPC with Boss Trainer AI in this entire run to switch when it makes sense and happened in my first battle with him too. It's so simple but makes for fun moments. You rarely see it occur in the games due to many trainers not having teams like Blue's to fire off the trigger for it.

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 6h

I can honestly see it a lot. Their games are pretty much why I don’t see the power of bonds as something corny or overdone like most tend to think~

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 14h

Doesn’t matter if the ultimate demand is wanting more content and me-me-me. I think majority of us would want *more* but not at the sacrifice of someone else’s well-being to get there. The waits can be slow but that’s what filling the gaps are for.

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 14h

Who cares about themes when we can focus on the art style and erroneously claim that no one ever liked Boruto to begin with? I had a “lovely” discussion with someone who believed if it switched to a weekly release that this would produce a higher art quality and story.

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Tal 🐇🕰️🃏 @talentlesshuman.bsky.social · 15h

🦇Rouge X Miku 💎💕

#drawing #fanart of #miku as #rougethebat from #sonic

#talentlessart #hatsunemiku #vocaloid #rouge

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 14h

Gotta love the new manga announcement simply being used as more ammo or as a way to delegitimize the series rather than everything standing together.

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 16h

Thank you! And I hope you’re enjoying it, Metaphor is such a fantastic game~

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缶詰蜜柑 @cannery.bsky.social · 21h

c(･ω･*c[＿＿] #PSO2NGS #PSO2NGS_SS

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ARKS Commander Naomi (Ship1) @arkscommandernaomi.bsky.social · 20h

Another Hostile enemy- #PSO2NGS #PSO2NGSGLOBAL

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 20h

Oh great another round of Ikemoto’s art style discourse

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 23h

On another note, this is why I don’t talk to some people because even when I’m very precise and thoughtful with my word choice it is ignored. That, and I spend a ridiculous amount of my social bandwidth responding to people so I rarely have any to start conversations on my own.

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Been a backer since forever. It’s a wonderful game~

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Good, because the bolded text is saying what that entire useless wall of text was really about.

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Here's a free writing lesson I gave my teammates

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Wicket: ARKS Defender @swordokamipso2.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

TFW You thought you're done with character creation and then you realized that SEGA snuck in new accessories to help with character creation. 🦔 #PSO2NGS 🦔 #PSO2_NGS_SS 🦔 #PSO2GLOBAL 🦔 #メンテの日なのでssを貼る 🦔 #SonicTheHedgehog

Sonic's done. Will highlight him for the next maintenance post.

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Yeah, it and Stardew Valley have been my comfort games for a good while now. If I need to decompress I’ll turn on either for awhile~

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

I’ve been following it for a looooooong time now and I’m so happy it’s reached 1.0~

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

So excited for this honestly. I sorta have an obsession with what happens during Blank Periods in any story with time skips lol

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

It’s just my observations because while I genuinely do love both games I find it that people often forget that the combat of both games is very different despite looking similar. In PSO2, Ranger used to facetank attacks for End Attract in some eras. If it tried that here it would be dead.

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Understanding the previous encounter did not mean you’d have an easier time with the next iteration. You had to actually adapt and learn as a player in whatever way that worked for you. This isn’t happening between XH and UH Persona even if it was adding a fancy new phase just because it has “aura”.

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

NGS encounters aren’t without issues, though I’d argue you notice that each encounter that’s iterated upon evolved with the game. There is a very clear distinction between Dark Falz Solus, Malignant Solus, and Sols Krypt. It’s the same boss but it’s now asking you different things.

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Even the “graduation test” with HTPD never left me satisfied because I didn’t feel tested. The hardest part was my mental load of doing it over and over while others died to telegraphs. Depth 100 Sodam wasn’t any better due to literally nothing changing outside of an overly inflated HP gate.

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

It’s not really trying to shit on PSO2 when it’s a very recognizable design flaw. For how much players talk about balance they ignore how incredibly unbalanced the predecessor was. It had me honestly stop loving the combat later because nothing really mattered.

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Could you attain a good Endless score with a “bad” weapon or class? Absolutely, but this ignores the arguably ridiculous mountain you have to climb to get there, the hoops you have to jump through, and using unintended or poorly thought out gameplay mechanics to bridge gaps.

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Even in PSO2 content that nerfed lifesteal you could still press Megiverse and quite literally ignore 95% of attacks coming your way. While it’s fun, the game wasn’t really worried about providing a balanced experience. Even Endless had too much disparity due to the potential of class/weapon kits.

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

A NGS class could easily handle Omega Masquerade, but most PSO2 classes would lose to Ruine Masquerade or any Malignant boss or High Enemy honestly. They just don’t have the toolkit to handle those encounters.

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Specifically, the high-end encounter design of NGS more directly tests whether players can execute under pressure. Much of late PSO2 often undermines its own mechanics due to face-tanking, lifesteal, and broken classes. NGS has aspects of this, but they are heavily regulated and under control.

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Even NGS with the flak it gets distinctly has a very, very different identity from PSO2, especially in its combat. If you injected the average NGS boss from 2024 - 2026 into PSO2 it would be like hell mode.

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

In the distant future you could look at Phantasy Star and see MANY different games to scratch an itch for what you want. It’s why I think expecting each game to be like PSO probably is missing the point. Even a hypothetical next game shouldn’t 1:1 copy PSO, PSO2, or NGS and instead be its own thing.

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

It’s why I find it fascinating since despite being a near 40 year old franchise it doesn’t even behave like one. It constantly takes risks and experiments in every era so Phantasy Star is many things at once. But even if it means players won’t always get what they want I think it’s still a strength.

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Likewise, the recurring presence of Dark Falz provides a franchise motif, but the specifics of Dark Falz and the role it plays differ across continuities. The shared name does not mean a unified mythology. It’s why when folks expect Dark Falz to have a personality they misunderstand the series.

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

I think its most enduring identity comes from retaining its science fantasy aesthetic: technology alongside magic, ancient mysteries alongside futuristic elements, and supernatural/primordial threats embedded in worlds that otherwise have technological explanations (like Halpha for instance).

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

The only thing that honestly remains the same across each entry is all the terminology and the rules about Dark Falz. Contrary to popular belief, not every Phantasy Star game involves traveling space and often stay in one or a few locations.

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

This is kinda why I’m glad they don’t ALWAYS copy everything the previous game did and do their own thing in each entry. It would be incredibly stale and boring otherwise. But the lack of mechanical structure does hurt it. Saying you like Phantasy Star doesn’t say what sort of games you enjoy.

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

NGS carries forward PSO2's combat DNA and its highly experimental nature that feels like its multiple games trying to be different things at once while rethinking the surrounding experience. Whether every change succeeds is debatable, but the willingness to always change is unmistakably there.

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

There’s often deviations but Phantasy Star games are so different it’s kind of ridiculous. It really feels like SEGA’s weird experimental playground for their oldest child.

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Even within the classic series each game was extremely different and ambitious. And the same can be said for each entry into the Online series and various spin-offs. It’s kind of insane to see a formula change in a series with every entry. That’s extremely rare I think since most have a formula.

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Tbh no wonder it’s niche with how extremely experimental the series has always been. It’s the thing I both admire and get irritated with. Every game has a distinct identity to make them very unique, but the massive variance means it can’t maintain a coherent vision as an overarching franchise.

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Oh it absolutely is. Phantasy Star as a franchise has *always* been incredibly niche and reinvents itself every single entry tbh.

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

I'd love a Photon Quartz based gift~ (also cute high effort)

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

My general game tastes in no particular order.

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

This reminds me again of how well the Item Lab UI overhaul has been and *AGAIN* why I really want to see a weapon palette/combat UI overhaul too.

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𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙠𝙖 💫 @vanitys-emptiness.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

I always laugh at how lucky I am with these on a random attempt, but have no luck with anything else LOL

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JuminJams @juminjams.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

On this day, 5 years ago, I created Miso! Immaculately, she's still the same age. You got her a gift right? #PSO2NGS #PSO2NGS_SS

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