Sly 4 Was A Fever Dream And Didn’t Happen.

About Thieves In Time Redux's final boss fight...

I wanted to talk about the gameplay end of the fight scene. Remember how the vanilla boss fight was mostly QTEs? We'll only be seeing QTEs in the first and final phases.

The first phase, of course, has Penelope fighting Le Paradox, in an attempt to redeem herself.

As the fight progresses, the button commands increase in difficulty until they eventually become impossible for a human to complete. When that happens, Sly will join the fight and begin Phase 2.

You'll take control of Sly, Bentley, Murray, and Carmelita one after the other (in that order) as they enter the fight. No, you won't get to control the ancestors when they join in.

The final phase has you controlling Penelope again as she restarts her duel with Le Paradox. More QTEs follow, but now they're easier as our heroine gives her speech on what she learned about friendship.

I thought I'd skip ahead and work on Episode 2 for a bit (specifically Jail Break), but I've got a question for you, readers.

Is there an official name for the prison at Cotton Mouth Bluff? The one where Tennessee (and later, the boys) gets locked up in? If not, I'd love to hear name suggestions.

If you must know, the mission Jail Break contains a bit of a deviation from canon (aside from Penelope now being on the rescue team). The boys are being held in jail separately. Our three heroes (Penelope, Tennessee, and Carmelita) are going to split up to save them. Penelope's going to free Bentley, Carmelita's going after Sly, and Tennessee's stuck with Murray.

I'm thinking about how they're all going to pull this off, starting with Penelope freeing Bentley. The only catch with Penelope's part is I don't want her just using RC vehicles. She's going to actually fight guards. She'll start by picking a guard's pocket to get the key to Bentley's cell, then... she'll clean house.

Why is she doing it this way? She's trying to show Bentley she's not a helpless damsel. Spoiler alert: It works.

Thieves In Time Redux Meme #13

Here's how I fixed Thieves In Time...

Anyway, these changes are only the tip of the iceberg...

I know making Penelope the main protagonist is a bold move, but I can't see this story going any other way. Yes, this also means making her fully playable as well.

Episode 1 Progress (Thieves In Time Redux)

And here's what I've been focusing on...

I don't know. You tell me how to write anything that goes on in that geisha house. And Rioichi's dialogue.

My solution is to find stuff for Penelope to do in the background so I don't have to worry about anything Rioichi does. And it's perfect because at this point in the story, Penelope's not exactly going to be a team player yet.

I don't dislike Rioichi. I just don't want to write for him.

Random fact

When idling in Sly2, the characters will play their idle animations depending on how "safe" their positioning is and how close enemies are.

Murray will idle whenever he stops moving. Sly will idle when out of sight. Bentley will only idle when no guards are around.

Real Talk

Props to Bentley for driving from all the way from the jungles of the Bengal region of India to Prague in Sly 2, that is an insane drive. That is crossing through 8 countries, 4 time-zones, two continents and over 8,500 km. Non-stop, it would’ve taken him almost 5 days.

And he did that all without knowing at first how to drive stick.

Like look at how far that is. I know that’s only up to Lahore but I couldn’t get a drive route that’d go into India and I assume that has to due with the nature of driving through the Indian-Pakistani border. That’s also passing through some rugged terrain and some unforgiving weather conditions too.

Penelope and Henriette Cooper Gijinka

First pic: Henriette "One Eye" Cooper

Second pic: Penelope

How to Write Villains: 10 Traits to Give Your Villains That Are Guaranteed to Make Them More Interesting

They're a parent...but a GOOD parent: Gone are the days where the villain is a parent but they absolutely should not have procreated (or adopted) because wow, they clearly didn't read any parenting books. Give us a horrible, deplorable character but in another life, they were mother/father of the year.

They have a phobia that might be trivial in the face of their schemes: Your villain might be able to storm a highly secure facility and face off against their world's most armed forces and heroes without breaking a sweat, or tame the deadliest monsters known to all, but so help them if they see a roach in their lair or have to go get their blood drawn. Bonus points if the phobia totally incapacitates them.

Their middle name is "Overkill": It doesn't matter what they're doing, they always have to bump everything up a thousand notches. Their scheme involved burning down a building? Well, they decided to burn down the whole neighborhood instead just to ensure the job got done. Bonus points if they're nonchalant about it. Extra bonus points if it keeps happening without their intent.

They have an aesthetic, they're aware of that aesthetic, and they adhere to it religiously: Is your villain grunge? Or perhaps airing more on the side of cottagecore? Maybe they're giving E-girl? Whatever it is, they know exactly what their vibe is, they know how to achieve it, and fuck your hero in particular if they try to mess it up or say it looks tacky.

They'd be okay with being defeated as long as it's by one person/group in particular: Your villain might be the undefeated Big Bad McScarypants on top, but you know what? They would be content if somebody rolled up and actually had the skill and know-how to beat their ass fair and square.

They like learning about things that have nothing to do with/interrupt their schemes: Your villain could be some eons-old eldritch being that has come to Earth to cause the Armageddon, but they keep delaying their plans because they discovered Tumblr and have been doomscrolling for weeks on end and trying to learn what "blogging" is.

They didn't start out as the main villain, but eventually become worse than the main villain: This is majorly for my friends who have different acting antagonists in their stories. This villain wasn't initially the main threat, but after some solid scheming and sinning, they out-deprave the original villain and give "the devil you know is better than the devil you don't" a whole new meaning.

They scheme for gratification: Having a master plan go off and hoping for mass reactions from bystanders is to them as posting art on Instagram and hoping for a couple likes is to artists.

They constantly wonder if it's too late to go back: Their scheming is 50% building a master evil plan for world domination and 50% wondering if it's too late to just stop and live a normal life as a working class citizen.

They act a villain to protect their loved ones: Big Bad McScarypants is only Big Bad McScarypants because they're pushing away their most beloved companions. Bonus points if it's to protect them from another Big Bad.

Yet another cut scene from Sly 3…

I’m guessing this was the reason that the gang’s first attempt at breaking into Doctor M’s vault didn’t go very well.

replayed the sly cooper series recently and I missed these two so badly