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Post by Shin RyuKen on Apr 28, 2013 20:57:57 GMT -5
We've all done made a shit ton of abilities in the midst of all of the nearly hundreds of bios we've all done. But, shit, which ones stuck out for us? Which ones set the example for how to do an ability right? Which ones do we remember royally getting our asses kicked by to the point of being permanently ingrained in our minds? Which abilities and attacks brought further meaning to the character they identify with?
Well, that's for you to decide. Determine your five all time favorite abilities here. Remember that this doesn't have to do with the objectively "best written" ability, but your favorite ability that you've ever seen. It can be broken or poignantly done or otherwise, but it generally has to be what you like the most.
I'll list my top five next time I post.
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Post by deathsentence on Apr 28, 2013 21:40:34 GMT -5
Waaah...that's a very hard one. There are a ton of abilities so if I can think of any more, I'll edit my post.
The five I choose, I like equally, so no "bestest" favorites for me. So far I can only think of....
(R2C) Forget Lethe - Charon (Lost): maaan, do you guys remember this one by the main Reaper dude? Basically it was an ability that made your characters too retarded to do their abilities. Oh shit was that broke.
Velcan Shank Crystal (Lost) - okay...so it wasn't called that, but it was cool as shit. Once you got shanked, you became a bad guy. I love this ability because it can change the course of alliances in an RP, turning best friend characters into enemies that had no choice but to fight. I think this was one of the main reasons why Velcan was so feared.
I can't think of any other ones at the moment. These two were the first to pop up in my mind because of how crazy they were. I would list Aser (cheese) hax ability but my characters were not affected by that at all. So uh...yeah.
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Post by Jisui on Apr 28, 2013 22:26:39 GMT -5
Did some digging, this is what I'll post. EDIT: I FORGOT BASTILLE, SO THIS IS NOW A TOP 6 LIST Honorable Mention: -Tranny Carl -Zeus Cannon -Velcan's Crystals 6. Satumi's Vectors: Oh my god, if this was a list on broken abilities, this would be number one. Satumi, a character Lost made, pretty much had invisible appendages of doom that could rip through any flesh/metal/thing in it's way. You can't even see it coming unless you have some way of making the vectors visible. This ability is so broken that it's awesome, and I think they make her the scariest enemy in any RP we've done. 5. Suzuki's Seven Deadly Orbs: Suzuki had like seven orb thingies she could fire at people, creating effects off the seven deadly sins. I thought, and still think, that it's an awesome idea, and the potential for what happens after getting hit with a Lust Orb is epic. 4. Colt's Creation Orb Abilities: Colt had some really damn unique stuff going from him with his orb of creation. He could materialize guns and weapons at the cost of the stability of his Orb of Creation. While that was neat, the orb also let him absorb magic and fire it back at people (at the cost of his Orb stability). I just thought that his concept and abilities were all really cool and pretty well done. Props to Sapphire too though, who could also do this + the ability to turn into a mecha of destruction. 3. Bastille's False Purgatory: I actually really like all of Bastille's abilities, they're all themed really well, and they're all pretty cool. If he ever the opportunity to use the one where he summons Cerberus, it'd be the most epic moment in RP history. But yeah, Chains of Prometheus aside, I think False Purgatory was Bastille's signature ability, and it's a really badass one. Basically, he summoned this giant ethereal skull that flew at you, and if you were hit by it, you went through a mind rape and were essentially one hit KO'd. I can't remember anyone off the top of my head who was hit with it (one of my characters might have gotten hit), but it's pretty up there in terms of cool abilities. Actually, they get more than one hit KO'd. Let me go paste the ability from the archives. -"False Purgatory" - Bastille summons a giant, burnt decaying skull to swallow the opponent whole. The opponent finds them self inside of Bastille actual soul. Their punishment is decided by the sins they have committed through out their life. Those who are not pure evil by Bastille's standards find themselves floating in nothingness while being run through by ethereal needles. Those who are pure evil find themselves in front of the fallen Dragoon Kings gate, may he have mercy on their rotten souls 2. Kon's Soul Barrier: This is pretty old school, but I think this was our first ability that we all really remembered. The Soul Barrier literally pushed back everything that didn't attack from beneath it. It was the perfect defense, and a major reason why Kon was so feared in Sollius. 1. Noki's Eden Slash: Bwa ha ha ha three on one list Chaos. Ultra flattery incoming. To be honest, this isn't that creative of an ability actually. It's just an uber powerful slash. But it's a damn cool slash, and between the quote that comes with it, and the sheer amount of enemies that Noki has killed with it, I think it's the most iconic ability that we've made so far. The dude literally finishes off like everyone with it. And if you try to think of memorable abilities, this one will come to mind first, which is why it's my personal favorite.
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Post by Tokrochiru on Apr 29, 2013 2:40:00 GMT -5
I feel bad. My top five most favorite abilities come from my own characters.
Man am I an egotist...
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Post by Jisui on Apr 29, 2013 3:10:32 GMT -5
I feel bad. My top five most favorite abilities come from my own characters. Man am I an egotist... Don't feel bad XD Just list them. The only reason I didn't list any of my own is because I don't think any of them are particularly memorable or cool to me. ALSO NICE SEEING YOU HERE AT 3:00 AM BRO
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Post by Tokrochiru on Apr 29, 2013 3:24:40 GMT -5
That's only midnight to me XD
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Post by Shin RyuKen on Apr 30, 2013 19:22:16 GMT -5
5. Lost ~ Jet ~ Metal Manipulation This shit. This fucking ability right here, is what made us fear Jet. This is what made Jet arguably the most unstoppable force of any character in Ethona and by far is, in practice, one of the dangerous abilities ever made. It takes a simple premise and applies it in so many unspeakable ways. Got a sword coming at you? Manipulate the magnetic field around it so that it slows the fuck down. Bullets spraying at you? Reverse the magnetic field around you so that they simply stop dead in their tracks and fall to the ground. Need to shoot a bullet at someone? Manipulate the magnetic field around it so it will almost never miss even if someone tries to sidestep that shit. There are so many other things this one ability could do but turned Jet's augmented precision into something of a complete monster. No longer could melee or ranged fighters alike scathe him in any way, and those who fought had to rely on cunning alone if they wanted to leave a mark on him. Even a mage couldn't do jack shit because Jet could just shoot mages in a second before any incantation started, and his raw parkour made it hard enough to land blows. It has so many applications we don't want to think about.
But that's why it's #5. Lost at the time didn't give it much definition as to what it could and could not do and coupled with Jet's superhuman capabilities, turned it into something of a borderline broken monster of an ability. But if any ability could make frustrate the hell out of us and still make us bow down, this would have to be that ability. And Lost did an oh so good job of that.
4. Chaos - Kio Kaiser ~ Lance Fist Preface - If Chimera Tech was an ability in and of itself, it would fucking be #1 on this list. Kio Kaiser in general is one of the best bios any of us have ever made that never got used in an RP. And that's really disappointing, because he's such a well made character and his abilities reflect this further. Every aspect of this bio was done with finesse and his attacks take it to another level of what makes a good ability.
I like abilities that have the general principle of being simple, but very applicable. Chaos applies this principle to attacks and that's why Lance Fist is one of my favorite attacks. Nothing about is flashy; it's really just Kio applying some spirit energy to a blow by force of will, but more importantly, there's so much Kio could do with this one ability. With an open hand policy to attacks, Kio could maintain the veil over his arms and generate a form of defense, or he could focus that defense upon his open palms - and thereby concentrate that force into a powerful blow. It takes little more than his own mind to apply this technique into something completely different, but it still manages to maintain the same theme. The only distinction between defense and offense is muscle memory, a schematic that's so goddamn simple but so well crafted that it deserves to have my #4 pick.
3. Hisui ~ Tsuki ~ False Moonlit Night Now I don't know how many of y'all have noticed, but we have very few genuine "battlefield altering" abilities in the RP. At the very least, the few we've had haven't been very memorable. But one stuck out to me particularly as a symbolic component of Tsuki, one of Hisui's flagship characters. When we think of battlefield-altering abilities we tend to associate a bunch of side effects and complicated boosts and "if you're on my side this happens vs. if you're against me this happens" stipulations. I can think of the many ways why these abilities don't make any sense, but Hisui set the example by exploring a different niche of ability, and doing it in a way that's simple and properly done.
This ability does one thing and one thing only: Put a fucking moon in the sky. This affects absolutely nobody on the battlefield and only inadvertently affects Tsuki because it gives him all of the bonuses of being under a full moon since he inherently has those effects on his other abilities. It's done in a way that's uncomplicated and there are precedents against abusing the ability; summoning the full moon sucks most of Tsuki's energy, a game of chance that is pragmatically balanced and done unlike any other ability we had ever done before. And any other ability we continued to do.
2. Slvr Mk. I ~ Carl Makkura ~ Carla Oh come on, let's be real here. Who didn't think this ability was fucking awesome? Mother fucking TRANNY CARL. In the midst of Shin Level 3 Light God Form transformations, in comes a sex change form that does one thing and one thing else: Increase speed in lieu of strength.
Why is it ranked so highly? Because although it is a gimmick, it is a very progressively minded gimmick. In an era where many of us manifested Lovecraftian abominations and reality-warping God modes in the form of transformations, Slvr did something COMPLETELY fucking different and fundamentally original. That Super Saiyan Level 3 Ascended Thunder God form y'all are used to? Slvr basically came and said "fuck that shit" and came out with a TRANSVESTITE MODE for Carl. Not only is it completely balanced and reasonable, it adds a new element to Carl's character and it fits him in a bizarre and unique way. It shows that as a character whose state of undeath, he has reached a state of mind over matter - one in which he can mold his gender to whatever fits the situation. It has a few minor benefits but they add a few important dynamics that are far more important than the actual benefits of the ability.
1. Mayor - Gesus Theman - Techno-Organic Virus ~ Code Methuselah
Man, y'all have no idea how good this ability was. It's a goddamn shame Mayor never got to use Gesus Theman, or that Sacchin never accepted this redesign for what it was. Behold, my favorite ability of all time, and arguably the best motherfucking ability any of us have EVER made. In practice, this could've been scary as all hell. Healing mechanism? Suturing wounds as soon as they reveal themselves. Defensive mechanism? Suturing wounds with fucking METAL. Biological mechanism? Because of the inorganic nature of this virus, no illness, poison, or nerve agent can do harm. And you know what? This ability was COMPLETELY balanced. Yet it still had the perfect amount of definition.
This is what good abilities are all about. It does more than make a simple concept applicable, it does so with grace and makes the character better. It brings further definition to the concept of Gesus Theman and pushes the character beyond being a simple mad scientist. No other ability that I know has done this with such skill and that's why this remains my all time favorite ability ever made.
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Post by Mayor on May 2, 2013 13:19:07 GMT -5
5- Perfect Homeostasis – All Inganni – Lost Quickly, name how many true racial abilities we've ever had. Quickly, it's one, and it's this one. Sure, there've been racial traits- Aves have wings, Arens have them red eyes and better speed, etc- but we've really only had one racial ability. And what an ability it is. It fits right in my criteria of “Simple abilities with straight forward applications” that I like to see in an ability, but this ranks so high out of all abilities overall because of its implications for an entire race. Any Inganni character (which essentially boiled down to any Templar, in the functional sense) had[/i] to have this ability, and it ultimately defined how each Inganni would function for abilities, while offering them the benefits of the Inganni weather proof hides. In the grand scheme of application, this ability didn't bring much to the table. But in theory, this is exactly the type of ability we needed. Primarily, it was an actual ability, but it also is an ability which enforces theme on a certain character type, the type of distinction we've needed and should have had more of. However, because of its limited application of success, and the fact that it's more a general ability than anyone's specific defining feature, ranks it as only my fifth spot. 4 - Enhanced Body / High Durability / The Flavor of the RP– Carl Makkura – Slvr In an era of massive nuking attacks, invulnerable abilities and ever increasing player freedom, one ability has remained functionally the same unaltered, despite appearing in numerous RPs. Call this ability whatever you want, since Slvr kept changing it, but this ability has always been at the core of Carl. Really, this is the ability that best describes the young lad. He's generally undead and he's got a fuckton of resilience. I think this ability gets overlooked because it's incredibly simple and not grand in the least. But therein lies the beauty. It simply defines Carl as a little bit more lasting, a little beefier, than anyone else. This ability is so perfectly Carl. It's an every guy ability for an every guy character. And sure, he may have become a dark avenger or an undead sex fiend, but this ability always applied to Carl, and was always there. It's more a part of Carl than THE CHAAAAAAAAAINS. 3 - The Major Arcana – Eldredge – Hisui So if my list is partially reliant on characters being defined by their abilities, then I absolutely had to include Eldredge on my list. Now, for those of you who may have missed his greatness or perhaps forgotten, all five abilities came from his Major Arcana weapon, which are all functionally united as one ability. And each ability derived its use from a functional summon of the spirit of each card. Has any character before or since maintained a singular theme so well? (Hint: Fuck no.) Each ability fits perfectly to Eldredge's theme, and really define his fighting style. If I was ranking this list purely on how theme fit a character, Eldredge would be the undisputed number 1. That said, however, it only takes rank 3 from me for a couple reason. First is that while yes, each ability covers a bit of the Major Arcana, none of the abilities are linked together in terms of function. It's a scattershot of effects, so it can't really be considered one ability. And secondly, some of these are a bit broke for the energy investment, XV The Devil in particular. I understand Eldredge comes from a time when these abilities would have been par for the course, but current me ain't so much a fan. Still a fan of Eldredge though. 2 - Soul Barrier – Kon – Chaos Oh you know damn well why this is here. This is the OG villain ability, and its simplicity speaks volumes for its effectiveness. What did it do? Kept Kon safe. Fueled by souls, which the mother fucker harvested by the hundreds like any good villain should be capable of. Sure, Kon's other abilities were fueled by these souls, but the Soul Barrier would be their main consumption. But its not its simplicity that ranks it so high. No, it was Kon's use of it. Descending from the sky like some angel of destruction, sealed in a nearly invincible bubble, Kon's moments were instantly terrifying to any other character. After all, how do you defeat a boss who can't be hit? This was a recurring theme in Kon's fights, and really cemented the memorability of them. Kon came with an air of superiority, and why not? He could repel or neutralize most attacks without much effort, and he knew it. As is a recurring theme on this list, it wasn't balanced, but Kon was the primary antagonist for quite some time, and any solid, proper villain should be slightly better. And that's exactly what Soul Barrier did. 1- Crimson Breath – Taku Miyamoto– Lost If you ever made the mistake of trying to use a blade in Ethona, you know exactly the dread this ability brings to mind. My list has been defined by abilities I thought impressive, but that also have a track record: I like abilities that have shown what they can do. And Crimson Breath has the all time best success record out of any ability that I can think of, and admit it; this is the ability that earned Taku such fear and respect. In retrospect, this is one of the most broken abilities we've ever had. Is it an instant death beam 9000? Of course not. But its simple condition (charge the blade, then make contact with the other weapon) and interruptible effect made it broken in its own right. All Taku had to do was clash weapons once, and the opponent was trapped by an on-going effect that literally couldn't be stopped save for disarming one's self. This ability was more broken than a carton of eggs on Halloween night, but did any of us really care? Fuck no. And why? Because it fit Taku so well, and defined him as a true terror. If your character was unlucky enough to be challenged by Taku, you knew it was a lost battle (pun unintended but totally apt) from the get go. And he didn't truly even need this ability to kick ass. Taku was a nightmare to fight without this ability, a true number one headband if we've ever had one. And then on top of that swordsmanship, he's given this? It's unfair, but only ever served to better define Taku as the best. This ability, and its psychological effects for you as an RPer, will be forever ingrained in our minds, and is nothing short of the most important ability for character definition we've had.
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Post by Greed on May 2, 2013 16:52:10 GMT -5
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I remember Taku's counter-slash ability far more prominently as the one that was fucking everyone up.
Or that could just be me.
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Post by Mayor on May 2, 2013 17:07:45 GMT -5
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I remember Taku's counter-slash ability far more prominently as the one that was fucking everyone up. Or that could just be me. Kamikaze Slicer certainly disarmed a lot of opponents, but that was primarily because they were weakened by Crimson Breath well before Slicer. As a pair of abilities, they completely made Taku's theme (dueling swordsman extraordinaire), but Crimson Breath is the one with much more possibility for abuse and overall effects, so that's why I chose it. The moment you saw the sword was charging black, shit was about to go down.
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Post by Jisui on May 2, 2013 17:13:30 GMT -5
Yeah, like, the moment you got hit with Crimson Breath, you had to drop your weapon or die a slow death. So you had to disarm yourself, which, unless you had another weapon, meant you were gonna go 1v1 on Taku Miyamoto barehanded (and Taku doesn't like fighting ranged/magic users). Game over Nice list by the way Cheesebish.
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