The only char in the game with a familiar

the only char with a familiar in the game

Bootstrap was an idea Ive been playing around with alot recently because of the illusion of self in everything. So often people say things like "if it wasnt for me" or "Im the only one who made a difference" and the truth there is people work together, and have to, in order to realize anything

The char though? is the young guy everyone was at some time or another who is just completely full of ego and conceit. In the game he even relies on his companion with complete disregard for the fact he has to, Using the bee to glide from one point to another by hanging from the tether like a balloon on a string. he brags with his hands on his hips and laughs off the smallness of everything, but in truth he's an ass and compensating for it
In the game he cant use the holy weapon or the thorn whip either. Purely a mace and axe and minor projectile character, primarily because he has the bee which helps him attack
enemies much in the way a trained falcon would

no, but this is why if anything the dog more resembles me for romanticism than the tiger, even on the best of days, which was sort of the point of things. the tiger char? is present for contrast among the options and there in case anyone wants to play a total codpiece of a char and just throw alignment to the wind

BS is, how do I put it? Like every Narcissistic A-type with a big head. he doesnt ask how he got somewhere or else doesnt care for just being able to pathologically argue he somehow pulled it off against the odds. There is no past to him, just the present and anything he's trying to realize, which is why the bee is there too symbolically speaking as a utilitarian pet and accomplice in his misguided effort to "single-handedly" defeat the bad guy.

In the game all the chars, no matter which one you pick, eventually cross paths. the reason for the diversity? just so you can try to play the game from different angles and with different respective abilities. naturally one of those had to be questionable for motive or character, so I figured why not a former OC from back when I started out?

he comes around eventually btw. he's just young and doesnt know any better. the point is the journey changes his outlook to where he grudgingly has to face the fact he owes more to his companions than he would like to admit

his signature attack is a running headbutt, to sort of argue his asinine hard headedness

bear in mind that i only stressed the regard for tigers as an animal as a creature of trial and solidarity, which is why he's one, though I do admit I should have fleshed that out better and posted it earlier than right when Im walking out the door

lol, man, you should have seen me reacting to the feedback too. Im like "Boy, these people are pissed about something. I wonder wha-oh, right. the definition of a bootstrap"

the vixen is probably like the only char who doesnt have some major flaw to her. The Berserker is a bit of a past-his-prime drunkard and the tiger is an egotistical fool, two different ends of the spectrum for both past and present, but just as easily one could become the other in the same way a retired athlete or wrestler becomes an old man someday and sort of humbled by the experience, though the sheep dog is sort of a bit less bleak for sort of arguing strength despite age and the indignity he channels, though he's sort of at risk of losing touch too for it, which is what makes the game interesting and adds a bit more underlying story to it for respective personalities

there are two more characters btw. the next is the hero, and also another female char, because honestly there's too many males and there needs to be three positive chars to outbalance the two

i did feel though there needed to be some dysfunctionality present. People often dont have any aging characters in a storyline, or for that matter a lone wolf who actually managed to complicate things for group effort

they couldnt very well after all just meet up and decide to work together either. the point like in any frpg is how theyre brought together and how that carries the plot along. there's the satellite ego of the one, the mortality of the other, and so it sort of adds to things

Bootstrap is sort of the Kylo Ren of the story. He's formerly a grunt of the bad guy and sort of a lesser general, and after getting his rear handed to him he sort of is forced to consider what course he's taking in life, which is why he changes alignment, that and for realizing how expendable he is to his commander. the difference and why he has a change of heart in the midst of things is he realizes he actually has something to come home to with the party, as opposed to the shadowy overlord who would pretty much just take power and then play god indiscriminately

he doesnt want to wind up a sandbag pretty much, or cannon fodder. In fact after a point he loses his villain getup and looks more like a conventional anthro tiger in the end, only, you know, wearing a he-man loincloth and girdle

he is also one of the few sub bosses who isnt an outright monster or huge for proportions

the thing on his chest is an x-shaped scar btw, not chesthair. I just stink at art

the berserker however is more to explore the excesses of artificial enhancement on one's health and stability, which is why despite being the strongest char in the game he also suffers for it due to limitations. where pride is the tiger's baggage, blind rage and power tripping is sort of his thing, but like BS he's softened and sort of propped up by the rest for company. where BS is just ridiculously overconfident, Smythe is just antisocial and easily frustrated, a surly hot-head with very little patience. he knows in a way that he's taking years off his life drinking the Weirding wine, but he's got this personal grudge and is sort of initially doing whatever he can to exact his revenge for what happened to him personally

he's your textbook nihilist pretty much at the onset of the game, and disillusioned by his loss and loses touch for it. what hes doing is akin to magic steroids to make up for his physical limitations

his name says it all, a combination of smith and smite, and everything to do with tempering. sort of like a wooly dog version of Juggernaut, only clearly overtaxed and over 50

One interesting note about Bootstrap is he initially is set on trying to seize power himself somehow, but in meeting Smythe and seeing how both his superior and the fighter are burdened by having to maintain their status he sort of is persuaded to rethink his objectives

Smythe actually suffers his misfortune due to his rep as a martial artist attracting attention, so in a way BS sort of is privy to the dog's having to defend his rank and what that did to him for inviting problems into his life. it actually costs him his family, which is why he's so eaten up over things. before theyre killed he was lying low as a blacksmith, and after the loss he becomes some red-eye maniac pretty much obsessing over how to get back at the people who took them from him

HIS change of heart comes from eventually confronting what he's doing being reckless, and the idea that he has a new family of sorts in the party itself, which he realizes fills the absence his family's deaths created. he's not some cur or madman to them

if like Mario were addicted to Star Power, you would have Smythe basically. it kind of adds a new depth to video gaming in a way for looking at it from another angle

at one point in the game there is sort of an option for dual co-op. At this stage you can pair chars and they can sort of ping-pong enemies between each other or use combo attacks. Smythe and Bootstrap actually compliment each other, with the dog throwing enemies at the tiger, who them rams them at greater force with his head much like a pitcher/batter sort of situation. This becomes useful fighting some bosses who are backed up with lesser henchmen, as their very support then becomes live ammo to be hurled at them. With Smythe being between the boss and Bootstrap he also shelters his assistance with his high HP, making him a sort of human shield