Dark Souls 1 Character Build: Neolithic Rogue

  It's time for another "Neolithic Character Build" for Dark Souls 1. To remind everyone reading this, I keep seeing "caveman builds" in Dark Souls Remastered challenge run builds, so I decided to create a "more realistic" based on real world neolithic societies.

Today I started with the thief class, as they started with our weapon of choice, the Bandit's Knife. And this is my SL125 Neolithic Rogue

Vitality 50

Attunement 11

Endurance 40

Strength 22(I actually had to use this as a dump stat to get up to SL125)

Dexterity 50

Resistance 10 

Intelligence 12

Faith 11

Power Within

Wander Set +9

Pyromancy Flame(Upgrading does not affect Power Within) 

Longbow +10 with poison arrows 

Heater Shield/Target Shield +10, depending on how easy you find parrying

 Bandit's Knife +15 (this is the only knife available that doesn't require true steel working. It could feasibly be bone, iron or obsidian)

Hornet Ring

Wolf Ring 

This is definitely a PVP focused build, as most bosses can't be parried, though they can be bled. And if I wasn't restricting myself to Neolithic standards, I could easily take some of the strength points for intelligence and another in attunement so I'd have access to the Magic Weapon spells.

 But that's it for this Neolithic build, and until next time, Stay Beautiful Freaks! 

 

Dark Souls 1 Character Builds: Neolithic Shaman

 It's time for another "Neolithic Character Build" for Dark Souls 1. To remind everyone reading this, I keep seeing "caveman builds" in Dark Souls Remastered challenge run builds, so I decided to create a "more realistic" based on real world neolithic societies.

 Starting class was Cleric, and that helps push toward the Shaman build, where they're using the power of stories to heal, help when surrounded and to buff their weapon, since Miracles are stories of the gods. Here's the SL125 Neolithic Shaman

Vitality 40 

Attunement 14

Endurance 40

Strength 44

Dexterity 20

Resistance 11

Intelligence 8

Faith 30

Wrath of the Gods

Great Heal

Sunlight Blade

Pyromancer Set +9 (Neolithic people would wear cloth, with some stones for jewelry)

Great Club +15 (did a spear build last time)

Heater Shield +10 (Dark Souls has access to fire magic, so metal working is viable as long as they can find it)

Raw Shortbow +5 with Poison Arrows

Sunlight Talisman (Stronger than the basic Canvas Talisman, but still looking like a Neolithic person would use)

Havel's Ring and Wolf Ring, since jewelry has always been a thing humans do.

 This one's a little stronger in PVP than the Quality Spear Pyromancer build, only lacking in stamina regeneration buffs due to the weight of the weapons.

 This is the last of the magic capable builds in my Neolithic series, since Sorceries require schools and books.  Most I'd be willing to allow from this point on would be Power Within, since that's just pushing beyond the body's limits. 

 Until next time, stay beautiful freaks! 

Dark Souls 1 Character Builds: Neolithic Fighter

 So, I don't post to this blog very often anymore, mostly because I'm more active on Youtube lately. But after seeing a LOT of "caveman builds" in my feed from Dark Souls Challenge Runners, I came up with a more realistic build for person from a almost neolithic society. I have to make allowances for some level of metal working, but since this is a world with magic, a neolithic tribe would figure out how to use pyromancy to perform metal forging, because if I didn't, I'd be stuck with the "club, large club and great club" build those challenge runners use, and I want to utilize equipment that a neolithic society would use.

With that said, here's my SL125 Neolithic Fighter. Starts with a Pyromancer.

40 Vitality

28 Attunement

40 Endurance

35 Strength

35 Dexterity

12 Resistance

10 Intelligence

8 Faith

Great Fireball

Great Chaos Fireball

Power Within

Fire Tempest

Chaos Storm 

Pyromancer Set +9 (Neolithic people would have simple cloth clothes, but would also reasonably have simple jewelry with gems and polished stones.)

Spear +15 (I know the tip is steal, but we don't have access to stone tools in this game)

Heater Shield +10 (I know its metal, but with pyromancy, they could perform metal working to a lesser degree)

Ascended Pyromancy Flame +5

Reinforced Club +15 (Humans have been shoving sharp objects into blunt objects as long as we've been aware we could do that)

Short bow +10 with poison arrows

Wolf Ring, Cloranthy Ring or Bellowing Dragon Crest Ring. Jewelry is a reasonable thing for humans to create, since we've been doing that for as long as we've been human

 

And there we go. SL125 so it's good for PVP, and since it's a quality build, it's robust enough to use all the weapons  on the list. It's also a good PVE build due to the Pyromancy spells. I'll figure out a miracle build too, since in Dark Souls, Miracles are stories passed down through the generations, and humans have been storytellers for as long as we've been human.

That's it for now, so stay beautiful freaks! 

Dark Souls Remastered: Why the Deprived is the best class for new players

 Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to Sean's Workshop!

Once again, I know I'm late to the party, but I've been really into Dark Souls Remastered, and since there are people like me who are still picking up the game even now, I'm going to give my two cents on this. 

The Deprived is the best class for new players, in spite of what experienced players say. And there are a ton of good reasons for why this is true.  In fact, some of those reasons are why other players say this class is a "challenge for experienced players".

You cannot rely on armor.  Armor in Dark Souls Remastered is different than armor in the two games that come after. Yes, you gain defenses to physical, elemental and magical damage, but you're still going to take a lot of damage from anybody. The biggest thing about armor is poise, a stat that makes it less likely you're going to get staggered from enemy attacks. But on a first character, during the first 2-8 hours of the game (depending on how much you're dying), you don't want to rely on poise. You want to know how to block and roll, and the deprived offers opportunities to learn how to do both, since you have to do both.

Shields are important, but not all shields are created equal. The Deprived starts with the plank shield, a small shield. It has pretty good resistances to physical, ranged, elemental and magic damage, but it doesn't have 100% physical damage resistance, meaning you're going to take chip damage from oncoming melee hits from enemies. And even though you get a better shield in the Undead Burg early, you learn all you need to know about shields in a relatively safe environment, where you have abundant bonfires and estus available.

Weapons have wind up. The club is a good starting weapon; it has the third highest damage output for a starter weapon, with only the mace and battle ax doing more. And while it is relatively quick in attack, the club has start up lag that you need to account for. There are weapons faster than the club and there are weapons that are slower than the club, but the club give you what you need to make the decision of what kind of weapons you want in the future.

Keep on rolling. The Deprived is a class where you have to roll to survive, at least until you bet a better shield and some armor. Luckily, since its equip load is so low, the Deprived has the fastest roll in the game. This will get you through the Undead Asylum and part way through the Undead Burg until get your hands on the Hollow armor pieces. And if you return to the Undead Merchant (male) in the early areas of the Burg, you can buy some chain mail armor, both of which drop you down to a mid roll, which is the roll the game is built around. And if you're getting a fat roll, you need to either buff your endurance or take off heavy bits of armor, because a fat roll can get you killed.

Stats are for upgrades. And the biggest thing I like about the Deprived is that you are lacking in nothing. With 11s in all your stats at the start, you have access to 1 attunement slot and the intelligence and faith to use basic sorceries and miracles. You also have some good stats to start out with for strength, dexterity or quality builds, and a good amount of stamina and health to build upon. And resistances, the one stat nobody builds on, starts at a good level too. 

So yeah, the game starts out tougher for the Deprived, but before long, that difficult start doesn't matter for anything. My Deprived character, Rain, is about to head into Blight Town after finishing off the Depths, and I've built her into a low level quality/sorcery build. She's using a claymore, a long bow, and some weapon buffing sorceries as I build up her intelligence for higher tier stuff.

Rain the Deprived

Now, obviously I'm not an expert. But thanks to both walkthroughs and the lessons I've learned from playing Rain, I've gotten farther as the Deprived class than I've gotten with any other.

But for now, stay beautiful freaks, and don't you dare go Hollow!

Dark Souls Remastered: Why I like it despite not liking the hardest modes in games

 

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to Sean's Workshop!

Okay, so I know I'm late to the party. To quote CircletoonsHD, "I'm so late that it seems like I never got an invite to the party, showing up to Dark Souls' house a decade later with a party platter." But, as explained previously, I didn't have the hardware nor funds to play it.

But now that I've played it, I get the appeal. And unlike early adopters, I have access to a decade of information in the form of wikis and youtube walkthroughs and build ideas so I won't get lost and so I understand what to do and where to go.

Which is why I'm doing this entry and one major mission statement; Dark Souls Remastered is great and fair. Let me explain.

Dark Souls isn't hard. The rules of Dark Souls are different than most games. There's no such things as "invincibility frames", so things like rolling aren't used to avoid damage at the last second that games like Wind Waker and Devil May Cry allow. The combat is slow paced and everybody follows the same rules. Everyone has the same rules regarding wind up and attack, from the player character to the common enemies to all the bosses, everybody has the rules. You can parry, and you can be parried. You can backstab, and enemies can backstab. 

Dark Souls is built around its difficulty. There's no damage sponges in Dark Souls. Yes, bosses have greater health than you, as to higher "level" enemies. But everybody plays by the same rules regarding attacks and dodging. Even the most difficult bosses require you to fight the same way; blocking, dodging and striking, and then getting out of the way when they get ready to attack.

Dark Souls tells you how to play through the gameplay. Yes, there are a few tutorials in the early game that teach you the controls, as you'd expect from a modern game, but all the battles, all the boss fights, how to navigate the world, all taught through gameplay. For example, the Undead Asylum teach you how to fight human sized enemies and how to handle boss fights with the Asylum Demon. The Undead Burg teaches how to handle the ambushes and how to use items in battle, and the gargoyles teach you to handle fighting two bosses at once. Blight Town teaches you how to handle poison and toxic damage, and you're rounded out with a skill check with Ornstein and Smough. And if you can beat Ornstein and Smough, you're capable to handling the rest of the game. 

Dark Souls is robust in how it handles classes/builds. Now, yes, you have classes that determine how you start the game. The Warrior is a different experience than the Sorceror or Pyromancer in the beginning, but as you level up, you can build anything you want. Want a giant weapon wielding magic user? Go ahead. A katana wielding cleric? Done. The possibilities are endless.

That said, I ended up creating and abandoning several characters before I settled on the one for my first playthrough; a bandit with the master key that I intend to make a Giant Dad(yes, I'm going for the meme. Sue me, it looks fun!)

You can experience as much or as little of the story as possible. Dark Souls has a massive amount of lore, but very little of it is necessary to see. You get a goal at the beginning, to ring the bells of awakening and then go link the fire, but beyond that, all the story is in the item descriptions. You don't need to talk to anyone. But if you do? Well, there are entire youtube channels dedicated to the lore. My favorites are Vaatividya, The Ashen Hollow and the Silver Mont. 

And finally, a personal note; 

Dark Souls is a good allegory for living with depression.

This videos what actually made me interested in Dark Souls in the first place. Without rehashing the entire video, Dark Souls shows you how the whole world is against you and is dead set on destroying you. And speaking from experience with living with Bipolar Depression, I know how that feels like. Every failure feels like a quiet death, setting you back to where you started. 

And yet, you keep getting back up. You keep trying again, and again and again. You push forward, heading to the next bonfire, which is a small victory in and of itself, all so you can spend your souls and move forward stronger. You only go hollow if you give up. You build upon those who came before you, learn from their mistakes as well as yours, and gain strength from them lifting you up.

But we see those who succumb due to losing their purpose, their reason for going on. The Crestfallen Warrior, once you ring both bells of awakening, lost his purpose in mocking any undead who come through Firelink Shrine. Siegmeyer of Catarina loses his purpose when you save his life again and again, and goes hollow in Ash Lake, to be slain by his daughter. Vince and Nico of Thorolund go hollow when their ward, Reah, is trapped. Reah herself goes hollow when she teaches you all her miracles. Laurentius of the Great Swamp goes hollow if you show him Izalith Pyromancies and he can't find Quelana. 

All of these people show that, if you lose hope, lose your purpose, you lose yourself and die a little death. But if you don't lose hope in yourself, if you don't give up, you can succeed where others have failed. 

And that's what battling depression is; you keep fighting, or you lose a bit of yourself to darkness. And if you give up entirely, you "go hollow", not enjoying anything you did before, and even possibly contemplating taking your life. 

I've been hollow; I've had days in the past when I didn't know why I got up in the morning, when I just floated through my day, just going through the motions. But I did just that; I kept getting up. Kept moving through the day, looking for a purpose. Many of these blog entries were written when I was hollow, trying to find something, anything to make me feel whole again.

I still don't have a purpose today. But thanks to people carrying me when I was down and the efforts of my doctors, I'm no longer hollow. I've regained my humanity, as is the mechanic in Dark Souls. And like the mechanic where, the more humanity you have, the easier it is to find items, I see more opportunities ahead of me. I live knowing that sometimes, the quest for meaning is the quest to keep a man going.

So yeah, I love Dark Souls. It kicks my ass every time I boot it up, but does so in a way that is not cheap, and that every time I take damage, it's my fault. Just as a difficult game should be.

But for now, goodbye and stay beautiful freaks!

Changes with stories

 Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to Sean's Workshop!

Okay, so here's an update of what's going on with my stories and blog. First off, after months of problems with getting SWTOR to work on my new computer and a lack of help from both Bioware and EA on getting it to work, I've decided to cancel my subscription and abandon the game, at least for now. 

This means that my SWTOR story-summaries are on indefinite hiatus. 

But I'm not done with fanfiction. I've gotten back into Dragon Ball Xenoverse, as both my deviantart and this blog have noted, and I've created a new story, Dragon Ball Xenoverse - Legend of Peparia. This is the story of my Xenoverse 1 import character, Peparia, the Ancient Saiyan, last survivor of Universe 7's Sadala. Currently sitting at just a prologue, this will be the story of the rise, fall and rise again of the last survivor of the destroyed Sadala and ancestor to Vegeta. There will be multiple time skips, somethings one chapter right after the other, some after several chapters, before finally landing on being summoned by Trunks by Shenron to be the Time Patroller of Xenoverse 1.

Most of the stories for the Legend of Peparia have been floating around in my head for a long time, mostly of stuff that happened on Sadala. Followers of this blog will know of Peparia's tale of how she lost her first child, married the man who killed her decades later and the existence of her second child as she neared the end of her reproductive viability. This is one of several stories that happened to Peparia on Sadala before she reached the age of 50, when she was summoned to Toki Toki City.  There will also be the story of her first Great Ape transformation, her rivalry/future friendship with another girl Lottus, the fame she got with her daughter Celes, as well as Celes' death and her transformation into a Super Saiyan. 

Anyway, look forward to chapters of the Legend of Peparia on fanfiction.net, and check me out on twitter for more updates. Until then, stay beautiful freaks!

Stardew Valley: A Game I'd Never Thought I'd Love

 

Stardew Valley is a game where you play as a person who is beaten down by city life at the Joja mega corporation, taking up your grandfather's farm in Stardew Valley, a region on the southern part of the Ferngill Republic, bordered by the Gem Sea, north of the Gotoro Empire. You gather resources for your farm, plant crops, raise animals, get to know the townspeople and potentially marry one of the eligible bachelors/bachelorettes, and enter the mines to fight monsters. 

But even though Strardew Valley is sunshine and rainbows for your character doesn't mean it is that way for the town. The most obvious is Kent, the veteran who returns to Pelican Town in Year 2, was a Prisoner of War with the Gotoro Empire and suffers severe PTSD. His wife Jodi? She got married young and is unhappy that she's got nothing but her children to show for it, despite deeply loving her family. Shane and Jas lost Jas' parents in a car accident and were forced to move in with Marnie, and Shane has fallen so deep into depression that he's suicidal. He, as well as Pam, are alcoholics who destroy themselves at the local Saloon thanks to how much they hate themselves. Even Marnie isn't in the best place, having a physical relationship with Mayor Lewis, but she wants more, and Lewis not only doesn't, but actively tries to hide their relationship. (This bothers people so much that there are mods force them to confront this!)

I could go on and on about the hidden pain for all the townsfolk, like how Pierre and the Wizard both suspecting that Abigail isn't Pierre's daughter, or Leah and Elliot's desires to get away from past lives and reinvent themselves in Stardew Valley, or the pain and loss of new NPC Leo, but that's part of what makes Stardew Valley fun; getting to know these people and bonding with them. They're people, living their lives the best they can until you come along, carrying all the baggage that real people would have.

As for how I look at Stardew Valley, on paper, it's a game I shouldn't like; I'm not into doing completionist runs of games, and I'm certainly not into resource gathering games. I mean, back when Minecraft had an in-browser demo on their official website, I played that for an hour because I got bored with the resource gathering before giving up on it. And that fishing mini game is why I have cheats. In fact, the only part of Stardew Valley that I should enjoy is the dungeon crawling and combat, which, while still enjoyable, is my second least favorite part of the game!

So, why do I love Stardew Valley, despite the entire game being something that, on paper, would be a game I'd hate? Because of the charm. Stardew Valley is more than the sum of its parts, something I saw WAY back when Allochii of the Gaijin Gamers streamed a few episodes of the game for their channel! It was so sweet and charming, and that wasn't even counting the fact that Allochii was the one playing the game, as her voice made it all so much more so.

Now, I won't lie; I mod the game and use cheats. The fishing mini game is why I use cheats; much Sans fight in Undertale, I just can't get a hand on it. And on all but my completionist farm, I use the CJB Cheats menu and CJB Item Spawner to get what I need for the community center bundles/projects for the town, but I have rules for that, too. For example, I can't spawn in something in until I've collected at least one of, I have to craft at least one of something to be allowed to spawn it in, and when new content comes to the game, I have to complete it naturally without cheating before I can spawn that stuff in. 

Which brings me to the 1.5 update. This one is the reason I now have a completionist farm. There is a tangible reward for it, where we finally get access to the cliff that has been jumbled in the code since release, as well as the new statue and an extra scene with your spouse.

Yes, Leah, we have.

I really enjoy Stardew Valley, FAR more than I ever thought I would when I first heard about it. I never realized a game like this would be in my wheelhouse, but here it is. And I wouldn't change it for the world.

So come on down to Stardew Valley, get to know the people, and stay beautiful freaks!

What a Harley Quinn game needs to be good

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to Sean's Workshop! Today, I'm posting my formerly 48 hour exclusive to Patreon "How to make a Harley Quinn game good without directly copying the Batman Arkham Games" post.  So if you want to see these first, click on the link and donate at least the 1 dollar tier.

First off, we'd need to base Harley on her New 52/Rebirth incarnation, so this one's got the bleached skin from a similar vat of chemicals that the Joker was exposed to.  But more importantly, this one's not attached to the Joker anymore. No, this Harley Quinn actually despises the Joker for the abuse, but is still slightly in love with him despite that.  She is definitely a battered ex who needs to move on with her life.

And that's when her story comes in; Harley, who lives in New York, gets a letter from the Joker saying he wants to meet her. Knowing full well that she'll never be free so long as he lives, Harley decides its time to end things and finally kill the Joker, beginning her hub world/level progression game where she hunts him down with some help from her friends along the way.

Now, even though we've got a functional system from the Batman Arkham games, I'm not going to use that. Instead, we're going to use a system similar to Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines for combat and to show off Harley's insanity. Harley Quinn's arsenal includes guns, knives, a baseball bat, her mallet and a variety of explosives, all of which would work well with Bloodlines' combat system. However, instead of Bloodlines' melee system, we'd give Harley something more dynamic and destructive, since Harley is an antihero in this scenario, and she doesn't care who gets hurt in her quest for vengeance. And that's not even counting her gymnastics training allowing her what she needs to BE more dynamic in melee combat.

As for her her insanity, we could actually do something similar to the Malkavians from Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines; she's hear things that aren't there, see things that aren't there, and get insight into her quest.  Combine that with her genius level intellect and her training in psychiatry, Harley would be able to figure out any clue in her investigation into where the Joker is, as well as any other side quests she's involved herself in.

Which leads me to an idea about her insanity; we'd have a button that allow her to drop into her insane state at her whim, which she'd call "insight", and that would affect her in combat and in investigations; combat would be flashier and more damaging, and she'd find clues quicker.  But be warned, because "insight" usage would be tracked, and would affect her ending if used too much; would she continue to try to be a better person than the Joker made her, or she give in to her madness and stop fighting what the Joker made her?

As for her quest, it would be open world with a level by level system; you'd start in New York, do a little bit of open world there to advance the story, then head to Gotham, Metropolis and any other place the story takes her, doing the same thing until she catches up with the Joker. This mean that the open world aspects would be smaller in  scale than in Spider-man or Arkham Knight, but that's only because you're not just dealing with a single city.

Harley's got a few dozen friends too. Her long time love Poison Ivy, Catwoman, the Suicide Squad, even the Bat Family could get involved in Harley's story. Pamela, who loves Harley the most, would be like "Look, don't let him get to you. This is your life, not his. But if you have to do this, I'll help you.", while Catwoman and the Bat family would be like "bring him in, but don't kill him; you're better than that," while the Suicide Squad members would be like "Just kill him and be done with it." All would have quests for Harley to perform in their locations, and all would be integrated into the the story line.

And finally, the Joker. This would definitely be a boss fight, both physically and mentally. And how it would end would be determined by a number of factors; would she kill him or let him live? If she let him live, what would she do next? If she killed him, what would she do next? The madness meter would definitely play into this and would determine her ending.

Harley Quinn would definitely need a lot of work to be unique, but as illustrated here, it is totally possible.

What a Shazam game needs to be good

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to Sean's Workshop!

Today's hero is one who's still relatively in the public eye, Shazam, or the Original Captain Marvel before the New 52 reboot.

Now, unlike most of the heroes I'm covering here, Shazam is actually two distinct people; Billy Batson,  a good hearted child who was frustrated with his life being bounced around in the foster care system, and Shazam, the heroic individual with the Wisdom of Solomon, Strength of Hercules, Stamina of Atlas, Power of Zeus, Courage of Achilles, and the Speed of Mercury, which in turn grants him certain abilities and resistances/in-vulnerabilities.  For example, as Shazam, Billy knows things he shouldn't know, can fly, has the durability of beings like Superman, spellcasting, and an assortment of other powers available to him.

Now, since Shazam is essentially a magical version of Superman but with a different set of secondary powers, a lot of the same rules apply, but with a twist.  You see, unlike other super hero games, Shazam's civilian form is not an adult; he's a child.  So unlike the adult heroes, who have experience juggling a civilian and superhero lifestyle, Billy Batson does not. Billy still has to deal with everything a child has to; school, curfews, etc.  So that's why a Shazam game will need two distinct gameplay modes; Billy and Shazam. Billy can go anywhere he pleases that's not gated behind some kind of age restriction, and he can talk to people as he pleases, those who ignore him due to him being a child notwithstanding.  And because he's a child, he can get into small places and give him a stealth based gameplay.

Shazam, however, is at full strength all the time. He can fly, he can run almost as fast as the Flash, and can put out all the strength of Superman and take all the punishment Superman can. However, Shazam can't go into any building that's not part of a mission he's undertaking, and he can't blend in with normal people at all.

The important thing, though, is that Billy needs to be as fun as Shazam. So while he's making his way around the city, he could ride bikes, ride a skateboard, run, jump and scrap with other kids if it becomes necessary. He obviously can't fight adults due to a size, speed and strength advantage, but when he shouts the magic word "Shazam!" with heroic intent, needing to combat adults becomes a non-issue. However, he'd still do his best to maintain his secret identity, so he'd look for places to hide before transforming to do so safely.

Now, instead of the city being his life bar, we'd implement a clock mechanism.  You see, Billy Batson, as previously mentioned, is still a child, so he's still beholden to the restrictions of a child; so school, curfews and other appointments that are outside his control.  So not only would Billy need to keep to a schedule as Billy, but any time he's doing his superhero thing as Shazam, he'd need to keep watch on the clock.  So, if Shazam was facing off against one of his enemies, he'd need to finish up in time for bed or other restrictions.  And if he didn't finish up in time? Well, he'd get grounded and not be allowed into the city like he wants to.

Now, unlike the situation with Superman, Billy enjoys being a superhero; Shazam is a child's power fantasy, so there wouldn't be any alignment issues. Billy would do the right thing as Shazam, a child's desire for fun notwithstanding, which would be integrated into gameplay. For example, say Billy and his friends want to go to the baseball stadium after hours and knock a few balls around the park. Billy could fly there as Shazam, and either sneak in or fly in and they'd have fun. But remember, doing something like that is breaking curfew, and that could have consequences on the gameplay.

With all that said, this game would of course be open world, with full subway, bus and taxi routes for Billy and a full cityscape to fly through as Shazam. And as both Billy and Shazam, you could pick up side quests, though ones given to Shazam and ones given to Billy would be very different, though they could easily intersect.

Shazam could be fun if things are treated like a child's super hero fantasy, because that's what the character is. You don't need any moral ambiguity in a game like this either; Billy is a good kid with a good heart, and even though he sometimes struggles, he knows that he's been given a gift to help people. And that is the core of what would make a Shazam game good.

"How to make a good superhero game": Characters that won't be covered

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to Sean's Workshop!

Today, I'm going to talk about which characters archetypes I'm not going to cover, and why. The list will be simple, with a short explanation afterward.

Superboy and Supergirl- This one's pretty simple in that I've already covered how to do it in my one on Superman. Just take the same power set and follow the same rules as I set forth for Superman.

Other Lantern Corps- For pretty much the same reason as the Superman one, but with one exception; the Green Lantern one already has the other Corps built into it via the multiplayer.

Member of the Bat family- Batman already has a very good series of through the Arkham series.  Just take what makes those good and apply them to the other members of the Bat family.

Non-powered or low powered martial arts characters- These games could work as "Batman, but without...". So someone like Green Arrow, Hawkeye, Electra, Daredevil, Captain America, Black Panther and Iron Fist, they could all could function on the Batman Arkham in terms of combat and exploration.

Spider-Man- Spider-man has had good games since the Spider-Man 2 based on the Sam Raimi movie, and continues to do so to this day. No need for me to analyze him.

Deadpool- I don't like him, but I hear his game is good anyway, so whatever.

Gadget Heroes- If they're not Batman level in terms of gadgets, they're either one trick ponies or not well known enough for people to care.

Team based heroes- Teams like the Avengers, X-men, Justice League and others are a little outside this focus, since it would require me to analyze multiple characters, instead of just one.

Wolverine and his offspring- James Howlett has a great game from 2009. Copy that combat engine with a new story, and you're gold.

Now, that's not to say that there won't be exceptions; I've got some really good ideas for Harley Quinn and Gwenpool that would be perfect for this kind of analysis paper, and if I or my twitter followers come up with some good ideas for these kind of characters, I'll cover them, but for now, this is a great master list on what I will not be doing.

So until next time, stay beautiful freaks!

What a game about the Flash needs to be good

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to Sean's Workshop!

Today is one of the harder heroes I've had to do, the Flash. But not for the speed, no.  For the combat. But I'm getting ahead of myself a bit.

We always start with the powers, and with the Flash, it's simple; speed.  Through the Speed Force, the Flash is capable of near lightspeed running, so he'd be running at a high speed with things like speed lines and warped visuals as he goes. And if you're a gamer, you're thinking of one series to take inspiration from; Sonic the Hedgehog. More importantly, the games where a boost mechanic is available.  What you'd have the Flash do is start running, and gradually reach a speed that feels high to the player, which you use the thumbstick for. You can also boost to high speed right away with a boost button, which would be tied to a trigger, and boost beyond what the player feels is fast once you're at the "top speed."  However, unlike Sonic, the Flash's Speed Force protects the environment from being destroyed like the boost-centric Sonic games do.

The Flash can also do a couple things that Sonic can't; running up buildings and vibrate through objects.  And also, using his cosmic treadmill, he can move forward and backward through time safely, though he can still do so without it.  So, all of these things would be integrated into the gameplay.

Which leads me into something that had me scratching my head for the longest time; combat. The Flash isn't like Batman or Wonder Woman or Superman; he's not a trained fighter or a power house, but Barry Allen, the Flash you'd be playing as, does have some nominal combat training due to his time at the Central City Police Academy.  So, Barry would have some basic punches and kicks and a grab ability.  So, while running around, Barry could punch opponents while moving at high speeds, kick them, or grapple them to the ground.

However, it's when we bring his ability to vibrate into things is when Barry becomes a powerhouse. You see, Barry's ability to vibrate allows him to create his Infinite Mass Punch, which basically gives him power akin to Superman in terms of damage potential. This is why we'd put the vibrate button on the controller and allow that to accent the punches, kicks and grabs.

And it's when we implement the Flash's rogues gallery that things get fun; all of them have something that either get around or outright neutralize his speed, or has speed akin to his own.  The Rogues, for example, are a team of thieves who use their powers and arms to neutralize the Flash's speed, while people like Reverse Flash can match him in terms of speed. So any boss fight with the Flash's rogues gallery would either be a puzzle to be solved like the Rogues or a combat race like with another speedster.

And speaking of puzzles, since Barry Allen is a police officer and forensic scientist, he's be very good at casing crime scenes, so you could implement something akin to Batman's detective vision from the Arkham series.

Which brings me to the story. First off, it would need to based on the comics, not the tv series. Comics Flash is an easy going, funny hero, where as tv Flash is much more serious.  You'd get a lot of comic relief and wisecracks that you'd see out of someone like Spider-man, making it a fun game.

And lastly, the type of game that would benefit the Flash; Open World.  Running around Central City would make you feel like the Flash the entire time, and would give you opportunities to perform side quests for the Flash family.

How about DLC? Well, I can think of two really easy packs; Wally West and Wallace West.  Wally West, the red haired Flash from DC Rebirth, would follow the current storyline of him being let out of prison after the events of Heroes in Crisis, and he'd be working to rebuild his name. As for Wallace, or Kid Flash, he'd be working with the Teen Titans where they are based instead of Central City.

The Flash would be a fun character to play if he's done right, and to be done right, you need both a good speed and running engines.  Let's hope whoever actually makes a the Flash game does it right.

What a Ghost Rider game needs to be good

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to the Assassin's Den!

To continue my "how to make a good super hero game" series, I'm going to talk about Ghost Rider.  Now, as of now, there has only been one Ghost Rider solo game on the PS2/PSP/GBA, and all had pretty bad reviews back in 2007 when they were released. 

Now, Ghost Rider's not the most popular character; Johnny Blaze, the most well known, was created in the 67, and only had 7 issues, then 84 between 73 and 83, and then didn't have a solo series again until 2001, which was a mini series, and then again having a full series from 2006 to 2009 with 34 issues, and then another 9 between 2011 to 2012. Danny Ketch, the next best known Ghost Rider, had the most consistently long running series with 93 issues from 1990 to 1998, with issue 94 coming out in 2007.  However, comics fans have seen him making a LOT of cameo appearances in other books, like Wolverine's solo series, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and plenty of other places, as well as a TON of team based video games.

But how do you make a good Ghost Rider solo game? Well, I've got a few games to reference, one for a big to do, and one for a big what not to do.

First off, the to do; Devil May Cry.  Ghost Rider's powers and abilities could benefit greatly with a combat system similar to the Devil May Cry series.  First off, when in his Ghost Rider form, he's functionally immortal, just like Dante.  And like Dante, he has multiple combat styles; hand to hand, the chains, and, depending on the character, a shotgun that can shoot hellfire. Hand to hand would be the fastest style, and would allow the Ghost Rider to manipulate hellfire at will. The chance would give him medium range, but would be slightly slower. They would limit the ability to use hellfire, but since the chains are fueled by hellfire, that's not a problem. And the shotgun would grant range and massive damage, but would slower than all the other styles.

Now, if the Ghost Rider can get a grab on an opponent, he can use his Penance Stare, an ability to force an enemy to relive tall the pain they've ever caused anyone. This ability would kill an enemy outright, and would be a great way to regain health.

Now, you can't be the Ghost Rider without the motorcycle, and this is where Ride to Hell Retribution for what NOT to do in motorcycle combat.  In Ride to Hell, you become glued to your opponent while you fight them in deliberate padding levels. For Ghost Rider, you'd want something similar to the Road Rash series, so the motorcycle combat needs to be as dynamic as Devil May Cry's combat system, as fast as possible with the ability to use all of Ghost Rider's powers in combat. For example, say you're speeding down a highway chasing down a boss fight and you see mobs all around you. You can use your hellfire shotgun on them to blow them out of your path, your chains to rip people out of vehicles or pull them toward you, or you can melee people with your hellfire fists. You could also use hellfire to boost ahead, jump without ramps, and do all kinds of crazy stuff like stick to walls and ram through buildings and vehicles alike.

And the best part is that you can summon the motorcycle at any time for use in general combat.

Now, if this makes you feel that I advocate an open world, I don't.  The best way to feel like Ghost Rider would be a linear level game. You see, Ghost Rider's not about saving people; he's about punishing the guilty.  If the Ghost Rider's involved in something, chances are he's after the worst of the worst in the Marvel Universe; demons, devil worshipers and other magical threats.  If the Ghost Rider's after you, chances are you are not worth saving. 

Which is why Ghost Rider's rogues gallery is pretty much demons from hell, with the occasional wizard thrown in for good measure.  So someone like Centurious the souless, Blackheart or Zadkiel would be perfect foes for the Ghost Rider.

Now, this game would also be perfect for something prevalent in the modern gaming industry; DLC. You see, the main game would be about Johnny Blaze, the most well known Ghost Rider, but DLC packs would give you a campaign for Danny Ketch and another one for Robbie Reyes.  Now, Danny's campaign would be easy to implement, since both he and Johnny are bikers with the exact same moveset. Just modify Danny's animations a little and you'd be fine.  But Robbie? Not only does he drive a car instead of a motorcycle, but he also doesn't use a shotgun, and based on the pictures I've see, he'd use tire irons, hammers and other stuff used in car repair in melee range.  And like the bikers, he can summon the car to use in general combat too.

Ghost Rider can be awesome. He looks awesome, his concept is awesome, so he should play awesome too.

What a Wonder Woman game needs to be good

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to the Assassin's Den!

After doing both a "How to make a Good Superman Game" and a "How to make a Good Green Lantern Game", I decided to tackle the final part of the DC Comics trinity, Wonder Woman.  (I won't be doing a Batman version, because there are already good Batman games out there). And when I did my research, I found something horrifying; Wonder Woman does not have a stand alone game.  She's part of Justice League games or games where the League is involved in, the Lego series and Injustice. Not a single solo title out there, even after her popular movie came out.  This needs to be fixed pronto, and I can give several ideas on how.

First off, we need to talk about her powers.  There's a reason it's been argued that Wonder Woman could beat Superman in combat, and for good reason.  She's as fast and strong as any Kryptonian under a yellow sun, and she's nearly as durable.  She's survived bludgeoning force from the likes of Superman, Doomsday, Shazam and Darkseid, and while edged weapons and bullets harm her, they are not fatal. Combine that with an accelerated healing factor, her ability to fly and her status as a demigod granting her biological immortality, Wonder Woman is a powerhouse, pure and simple.  Combine that with the Bracelets of Submission, made of nearly indestructible 8th metal, which can survive Darkseid's Omega Beams, and her Lasso of Truth, which is an unbreakable rope from the Greek Pantheon, which allows her to force anyone bound in it to tell the truth under any circumstances, even if the subject is under mind control, along with her magical sword and shield, also made of 8th metal, its no wonder she's able to take on some of the most powerful beings in the DC landscape and won almost every time.

Now, unlike Superman and Green Lantern, Wonder Woman's game can function perfectly well as a level based game, though a functional hub world would be beneficial.  She could have a base with her friends Eta Candy, Steve Trevor, one with the Justice League and one where she deals with the Olympians, since she is technically among their numbers. From there, she's sent on missions to perform in distinct levels, with boss fights happening every few stages.

The boss fights present a problem, because as Diana said herself, the reason she doesn't have a large rogue's gallery is because when she deals with them, she deals with them, making her one of few heroes who has no problem with killing.  Which is why I advocate two things; 1, give her an M-rated game and have the combat system be similar to the one presented in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and 2, make her boss fights be functionally immortal.  So, you'd want people like Ares, Circe, Medusa, First Born, Giganta and Cheetah.  All but Giganta are immortals, and there have been multiple Cheetahs.

Now, for the tutorial, you start out on Themyscira and teach her the basics of the combat engine, as well as covering how she gained her powers in Wonder Woman Rebirth, which shows her current version of her origin story, then do a timeskip to the current storyline, and move forward her game from there.

Now, do I think you'd want cameos from the Justice League in the game? No.  If the League facilities are used as a hub world, she can talk to them, but her game needs to be her own, since she's never really had one before now.  Besides, she's on par with Superman in terms of capability, so she doesn't NEED the help of the League for anything outside information or the odd mission.

And before I conclude this, there are two people you want to voice Wonder Woman in this game; Gal Gadot or Susan Eisenburg.  Both of these women have done iconic performances for Diana of Themyscira, and both would be perfect for the role. That said, Susan Eisenburg would be easier to get, since she's an established voice actor, while Gal Gadot is more focused on her movie career.

A Wonder Woman game could be awesome if done right, and compared to some other heroes, she's not that hard to do right.  Just give her the respect she deserves, make her the warrior she was trained to be while still maintaining what makes her a good person, and you'll get a great game out of it.

What a Superman game needs to be good

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to the Assassin's Den!

So, after rereading my blog post about how to make a Green Lantern game good, I thought about how to make a Superman game good.  And hoo boy, do we have plenty of examples of how to do it wrong.  Between Superman 64, Man of Steal and Superman for the NES, there's a lot of "what not to do" stuff.

The problem with making a Superman game is that you have to both feel like Superman while still having some real stakes.  So the best thing you can do is take what Superman Returns tried to do and make Superman physically invulnerable while making the city of Metropolis, as well as others that pop up in the story for certain missions, the health bar.  Doing this right will make you act like Superman, and not a generic action hero; do you break off from a battle with Darkseid or Doomsday to save civilians, or continue the fight and try to limit future damage to your city? How do you protect the people of the Earth?

Now, the major downfall of the way Superman Returns was how they handled how Superman reacted to civilians and the city.  And in this current landscape, with the DC movies and the Injustice series, Warner Bros is more open to a darker Superman. So they must introduce an alignment system; if you let too many civilians die, cause too much destruction or allow the villain cause too much destruction, you take an alignment hit. This still allows you to have access to all the power of Superman, but it allows you to have two different ending; a Classic Superman ending, or a Utilitarian Superman ending. 

Now, villains. Unfortunately, Superman's rogues gallery isn't as well known as some other DC rogues gallery; outside Bizarro, Lobo, Cyborg Superman, Brainiac, General Zod, Lex Luthor, Doomsday and the forces of Apokolips, most aren't known to the general public.  Heck, I'm looking at his Rogues Gallery, and I don't recognize half of them, and I'm a fan!  So, you take those well known guys and make them boss battles, and instead make most of the game's open world missions doing other things that only Superman can do; saving people in fantastic ways.  For example, say there's a burning apartment building and there are people still trapped inside. Superman would have to go inside the building, unharmed the entire time due to his own invulnerability, and he'd seek out people in danger. And, as I stated, the people's lives are his health bar; he's got to use his assortment of powers to seek out the people trapped and get them to safety.  If he lets too many die, he gets an alignment hit, and is pushed ever closer to the bad ending. From there, Superman can use his powers to put out the fire once people are safe.

You can even have Superman fight other disasters, like dam breakages, tornados, hurricanes (yes, he does have the power to fight natural disasters), and do all sorts of things that protect the people of Earth. And yes, I mean the people of Earth; he may make his home in Metropolis, but his duties are to the entire planet.

In fact, since Superman protect the entire world, you can have cameos from the Justice League to ask for help.  You can have Superman go to places like Gotham, Central City, Coast City, etc, and have him aid the resident heroes there in missions they can't handle on their own.  And this again brings in the alignment system; do you help, or do you leave them to handle things on their own? And if you do help, how do you help?

And this gives me an easy segue to the alignment system.  Basically, you start out with Superman's classic moral code; soft touch with humans, don't kill people, protect innocent civilians while trying to appeal to the better nature of those around him.  However, you can lose alignment points if you cause too much destruction, through action or inaction. And if you lose too many alignment points, Superman's outlook starts to darken; a sort of "what are the lives of a few million civilians to the fate of billions?" sort of thing.  And depending on how far down you go, you may lock yourself in to the bad ending. 

Now, certain missions would give an alignment boost; that fire scenario I mentioned earlier, for example, or things like saving a falling construction worker, repairing a dam or stopping natural disasters.  Your ending would be entirely determined by what you do in the game.

And finally, his powers. In order for Superman to feel like Superman, he needs to have access to his full array of powers from the start, and there's and there's an easy way to integrate a tutorial in a natural way; Jonathan Kent. Jonathan Kent is Superman's son with Lois Lane, and he's got access to all of Clark's powers.  The tutorial mission would take place on the Kent farm in Hamilton County and would be Clark teaching Jonathan how to use the powers they share. This would be a great way to demonstrate the powers and the alignment system; Clark would teach Jonathan of his classic values, and Jonathan would ask if they took a more utilitarian mindset regarding protecting the Earth, since Jonathan's still a child, but Clark said that they could, but remind his son that they have a responsibility to the people of Earth, reminding him that people can do amazing things without having access to their powers if given a chance. 

Superman is the toughest superhero to make a good game for, and for good reason.  But if a developer takes my advice, and put the love and care required to make Superman who he is, I'm certain a fantastic game can be made.

Star Wars the Old Republic: Gaming on the low end

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to the Assassin's Den!

So I've been thinking about some of the technical problems I have with Star Wars: The Old Republic, and I've come to the conclusion that almost all caused by the age of my computer, a few bugs in the game notwithstanding.  This computer that I'm typing this article out on was bought in 2007, and it's still really good at everything but SWTOR and a few other games made after 2015, and I thought it's time to talk about some of the issues I have, and some workarounds.

1. Performance- If I try to run this game on any real graphical settings, the game chugs. Pop in, being frozen in place, frame drops, all that. And that's why I'm forced to play on the lowest settings, in windowed mode.  At least, that's what Customer Support has told me.  And for the most part, playing on lowest functions properly, but I still get the frame drops, pop in and being frozen in place sometimes.

2. Audio Glitches- During cutscenes with explosions, the voice and music slow down and distort. This is most glaring during KOTFE Chapter 16, when Senya goes to save Arcann and talks to Vaylin from across the room. This happens no matter what device I've got it coming from, so I think it's a conflict between the game and my aging sound card.

3. Issues with cutscenes- This game is cutscene heavy, and under certain circumstances, they seize up entirely.  Some of them get pushed along if you wait; the portion where Valkorian knocks you down the stairs during his final set of cutscenes does push forward if you wait. But there are quite a few cutscenes that refuse to do so.  The most glaring are as follows;

• Shara Jen. Just her. All of the cutscenes that happen when she call the Agent ship freeze up entirely for me, and refuse to advance. 
• Warrior opening of Chapter 3 of their class story.  The first time the Emperor's Hand calls the ship, the cutscene freezes and refuses to advance.
• If Koth is dead in KOTET Chapter 4. The scene where you're supposed to talk to Vette to advance the story after a large battle with Iokath droids siezes up and refuses to advance.
• Theron Shan Romance while siding with the Empire on Iokath.  The scene where Jace Malcom dies and Theron cradles his father siezes up and refuses to advance.

It's for these reasons why I advice the next entry in this article.

4. Get used to how to do tickets- The only way to get past those frozen cutscenes is to contact CS. And here are all the mandatory stuff you need to tell CS before you can actually tell them your problem.

• Your current server
• Your current character
• The location it's happening
• The player affected (you in this case)

 From here, you need to tell them, in great detail, what happened and what trouble shooting methods you performed in order to fix the problem, which, depending on whom is answering you, may get ignored entirely. The trouble shooting methods are as follows;

1. Make sure you don't have any crew skill missions going on at that moment, since some CS reps will refuse to accept them on your behalf.
2. Ensure you are playing on lowest settings and in windowed mode
3. Reset the mission
4. Relog into the character
5. Relog into your account
6. Ensure your video card is up to date (this is where the conflict lies, and if your machine is as old as mine, your most recent update is 4 years old)
7. Flush your game's cache (you can find guides online for that)
8.  Completely reinstall the game(Or just say you did, since that's supposed to remove any previous conflicts)

And I must stress, MAKE SURE YOU WROTE DOWN ALL OF WHAT I JUST SAID IN THE TICKET. You don't want to miss anything in the event that you get a good CS rep the first time.

At this point, you stress you don't care about what storyline bits you miss by them pushing the cutscene forward, more than once at this point, and then tell them what's happening.  And then, you hope that you get someone useful who actually does as you ask, and doesn't close the ticket unresolved.

And I want to take a moment to rant here about that; closing tickets unresolved.  You see, when I worked CS while on Active Duty, I was told you NEVER close the tickets until the customer is satisfied with the solution.  But apparently, SWTOR tickets are set so CS HAS to close tickets in order to talk to you in said ticket, resolved or not. And I'd say 70% of the time, CS Reps will just tell you to do what you already listed that you've done and do nothing to solve the problem.  You have to open a second ticket, referencing the first one, to get them to resolve the cutscene issue.  I once had to open 3 tickets on the same issue before that CS rep FINALLY did as I asked and pushed that forward. I complained on twitter about that, and it took EA saying "Yeah, this is unacceptable" before anything got resolved.  EA. One of the worst companies to work for was the one who agreed that SWTOR CS wasn't doing their job. Think about that for a moment.

Now, do I believe SWTOR is not worth playing with all these things I've just said? Absolutely not. I'm still a subscriber, and I still love the stories.  But if you don't have the money for a more up to date machine, you're going to be dealing with a lot of the same issues.  And there are some easy workarounds; Don't Kill Koth (though you can still go Dark Side in KOTFE Chapter 10), don't romance Theron if you intend to side with the Empire on Iokath.  But sad to say, the Agent story is unplayable for me, since Shara Jen calls the ship after every mission for most of the game.  I'm honestly willing to fight through the Warrior one, though, since I actually like the Warrior story too much to not do, but the Agent, which has been getting on my nerves ever since I started experiencing symptoms of my now diagnosed, and treated, mental illness, I can't even force my way through it anymore thanks to these issues.

In short, these are the important things to know if you're playing with a computer as old as mine. Be prepared for them, know the workarounds, and stay beatiful freaks!

Guide to the Current DC Landscape: So you want to read DC Comics

So, you’ve seen the good DC movies like Wonder Woman, Aqua Man and Shazam, and you’re thinking “Wow, I’d like to read the comics about these characters!”, but soon realize that some of them have been around since the 1930s, and several have confusing histories! Well, today, I’m going to give you a beginner’s guide to getting into DC comic.

First off, start with 2011’s New 52 reboot. It was intended as a line wide reboot to open things to new readers, current landscape notwithstanding. The New 52 is a great place to see the origins of these characters you’re seeing on the screen.  Once there, the Justice League is the place that carries the main storyline of the DC Universe and introduces 6 of the major players of the DC Landscape, and, during many of the Justice League books, Shazam is a back up feature.  

From there, you’re going to want to pick one or two characters out of the Justice League and follow their books. You don’t need to follow ALL the stories of the League members, and if you’re curious, there are resources like Comicstorian, Comics Explained, and many other places to help you catch up with certain characters and storylines when they perform crossovers and tie into Justice League storylines. However, beware of a couple of characters, since they require more reading than you may desire to do.

When it comes to characters, Wonder Woman, Aqua Man, Superman, and the Flash are all easy to get into.They are full reboots into the New 52, although Superman has a caveat that I’ll get into later.  Batman gets a partial New 52 reboot, but a few stories that came before are not retold into the New 52. Those stories are the origin story of Damian Wayne, the current Robin, Under the Red Hood, which are both retold in the New 52 movies, The Killing Joke and Tower of Babel, which are not retold as movies.  These all happen between Batman Zero Year and the five-year time skip that happens after the first story arc told in Justice League, save for Tower of Babel, which is just a character piece for Batman.  

As for Green Lantern? Well, that series treats the New 52 reboot like it never happened. It just continues on with the storyline started with Green Lantern Rebirth from October 2004 to May 2005.  Don’t get me wrong, the Geoff Johns Green Lantern Mythos is really, REALLY good, and if you still want to get into it, you can. But there’s a faster way to get caught up on the mythos that I’ll get to momentarily.

Now, the New 52 ran from August 2011 to June 2016.  In June 2016, they revealed that, in universe, the New 52 reboot wasn’t a reboot at all. In universe, what happened was that time was stolen from these characters caused by the events of the Flashpoint storyline that kicked off the New 52, which, like the Batman stories that I previously mentioned, is retold in an animated movie, so you don’t need to hunt down the books for it. More importantly, the Flashpoint event becomes a plot point in the DC Rebirth issue.  

With that in mind, there are a couple of books that you should pick up from the end of the New 52 run to help ease you into a few plot points. First is Superman: Lois and Clark from 2016.  This series introduces the Superman we’re going forward with from Rebirth onward.  This is the classic Superman, who happened to be outside space and time at the moment of the Flashpoint, the man who married Lois Lane and had a child with her, and who experienced all the events from Crisis on Infinite Earths(the first linewide DC reboot from 1985, I might add) onward.  This is the Superman that we think of when we think of Superman.

The next book is Titans Hunt.  Long story short, the New 52 version of the Teen Titans wasn’t well liked, and this is the introduction of the original Teen Titans, who had their memories removed of their time as the Teen Titans.  They’re full grown at this point and are facing down the ghosts of their past.  This team is where another important character, the original Wally West, will make his home for the first phase of the DC Rebirth.

Now, the DC Rebirth initiative is the desire to bring back aspects of the pre-52 continuity into the current one. So, events like Crisis on Infinite Earths from 1985, Zero Hour: Crisis in Time, Infinite Crisis, Final Crisis, Blackest Night, and the Death and Return of Superman all happened, but many of the heroes and villains don’t remember them.  In fact, save for the Blackest Night, only the Pre-52 Superman remembers these events happening, thanks to the stolen memories.  Rebirth is kicked off with the named “DC Rebirth” issue, which introduces relationships and characters that have been gone, like the Aquaman and Mera relationship, Green Arrow and Black Canary relationship, and the original, red haired Wally West that was in the Justice League cartoon back in the early 2000s. 

Now, remember how I said that there was an easy way to get into the Green Lantern mythos? Well, that’s what the Green Lanterns Rebirth is all about; the protagonists are brand new, barely trained Green Lanterns, and they’re learning about the Corp and mythos as the audience is.  It is a great crash course in the Green Lantern landscape without having to go back and read 12 years of comics, although I would still recommend going back and reading the Geoff Johns run, which is continued into Hal Jordan and the Green Lanterns series from his Green Lantern Rebirth in 2004-2005. It is THAT good.

And that’s the thing about the rest of Rebirth too.  Yes, going back and reading these crossovers is rewarding in and of itself, but you don’t have to.  All of the Rebirth books do a very good blending of pre-52 continuity and New 52 continuity.  For example, the first arc of Action Comics Rebirth has the reintroduction of Superman’s relationship with Doomsday, the being who killed him during the Death of Superman arc.  And all of the series are like that, blending the past with the New 52 continuity.

Now, the time has come where I’ve got to talk about the books to avoid. First off, Lobo. The Lobo introduced isn’t the Lobo fans of the character liked, nor is he even the current one.  He went from the parody of guys like Wolverine to a leather daddy stereotype, and at some point, between when his book was cancelled and when the classic Lobo returned, he was apparently captured and jarred up by the villain Brainiac.  And that’s where the New 52 Lobo sits, put on the shelf, never to return.

Next book that’s not very good is the New 52 Teen Titans.  This was not well liked by the fans, and two of the New 52 versions of old characters, Conner Kent Superboy and Bart Allen Impulse/Kid Flash, were not well received.  Skip this and go with Titans Hunt if you want to see the Teen Titans.

Third book that’s not considered good by fans is Red Hood and the Outlaws.  Like the New 52 Teen Titans, this versions of the characters, save for the Red Hood himself, were not well received by the fans, Starfire being the most glaring; she is NOTHING like the Starfire from the Cartoon Network Teen Titans series. though DC Rebirth treats her FAR better.  If you really want to follow Red Hood, just skip this and go with the Rebirth version of the team.  

And furthermore, since these books weren’t well received, none of them factor all that much into the greater Rebirth storylines.  That Lobo, those Teen Titans and that Outlaws team don’t really come up, save for a small cameo in Rebirth Outlaws book from Roy Harper and a Starfire AI.

However, I do have a bit of recommended reading. First is Shazam Rebirth. If you liked the movie, you’ll like this series. Second, is Wonder Woman Rebirth. This helps introduce her current version of her origin story, tying it in better with her depiction in the movie. Third is Superman Rebirth. Through his interactions with his son, you get to know the kind of man that this version of Clark Kent is.  Fourth, is Super Sons, the adventures of Jonathan Kent and Damian Wayne, both in and out of their costumes.  And finally, Dark Knights Metal.  The whole thing. Dark Knights Metal does a LOT of important stuff for the future of DC, including making Final Crisis better, explains away the confusing history of Hawkman and Hawkgirl/Hawkwoman, and does a great job of explaining the DC Multiverse.

Don’t think that you can’t continue with the books of characters you’ve been reading since the New 52’s beginning, though. Feel free. These are just a few stand out series that I highly recommend.

Well, that’s it for my primer on DC comics. Check out the resources below for more information on some of the things I referenced and check out the youtube channels of some comic focused youtubers to help you get up to date on characters you’re not familiar with.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_on_Infinite_Earths

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_Hour:_Crisis_in_Time!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_Crisis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Crisis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackest_Night

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Superman

https://www.cbr.com/dc-comics-has-solved-its-multiple-lobos-problem-for-now/

https://www.youtube.com/user/ComicDrake

https://www.youtube.com/user/comicstorian

https://www.youtube.com/user/fluidicbeats

https://www.youtube.com/user/VariantComics