snackbyte

[snackbyte]

♜ Our Doktah Family Mugs are hand drawn by Amiya and Rosmontis and packaged just for you, Terra’s Best Doctor! Definitely Kal’tsit-approved.

And if you're not into paramilitary pharmaceutical companies, we also have Family Reunion Mugs for your inner rock-cancer revolutionary!

Pre-Order mugs and more silly Arknights stuff here: ✨ http://bit.ly/DoktahFamily ✨

[snackbyte]

kal'tsit mug!! ☕🍵👾

+ some close ups!

also it's ready and available for pre-order on the usual #DoktahFamily forms!! 🇵🇭 PH Pre-Orders: ✨ bit.ly/DoktahMug ✨ 🌐 International Pre-Orders: ✨ bit.ly/DoktahFamily ✨

[snackbyte]

Not exactly Arknights related, but I've added Fern's Doodle Tote and Falin Tote-den to the Doktah Family order form!

Check them out if you like Frieren or Dungeon Meshi! Order yours here: ✨ bit.ly/DoktahFamily ✨

[snackbyte]

let's talk abt video games - cruelty squad

cruelty squad's premise is very simple: it is an immersive sim (yes, like deus ex and dishonored) where your goal is to take down your targets for each level, who is usually a (rival company, insubordinate subsidiary) CEO by any means necessary. it is grotesque, clunky, jank, and will destroy your senses.

and it is the best game i've played in a long time. do not mistake cruelty squad's simplicity or grotesqueness for a lack of depth, effort, or intelligence— this is absolutely a work of art.

when cruelty squad says "any means necessary", they mean ANY means. this game COMMITS to player freedom. whether you go in guns blazing, turning the level into a pathfinding platformer, sneaking your way around an alternate route, or breaking the game's geometry, go ham. you will be punished, challenged, and rewarded no matter which way you go.

enemies are so straightforward you will almost instantly die in 2 bullets the moment you are detected. in many other games that'd be incredibly frustrating, but that frustration gets quickly turned into a legitimate space for a player to explore options. and after you're done clearing enemies, to make money, you must harvest their organs and sell them on the in-game stock market. yes.

it's not exactly clear /when/ cruelty squad is set, but it is absolutely clear about its cyberpunk themes. (except i suppose you can replace the cyber with gross biological body augmentations like fartvomiting from your feet to double jump)

other cyberpunk stories still have the "😭 its so bleak and sad but i guess the tech and aesthetic is still kinda rad and cool", but cruelty squad doesn't give you a moment to want you to live in its absurdity. it has the same commitment to its thesis as it does with its level design: that capitalism is so miserable and stupid. the second mission, the target who is a startup founder who wasted company funds by buying many Chunko Pops, literally has searching for him in a posh executive village with the dumbest looking architecture (built over an ancient mass grave). every single NPC in this game spouts the most mundane, miserable, "i've been stuck in my desk job underpaid too long" vibed lines. the most expensive upgrade in the game is having your own house and your own clothes.

one of the things i find most genius about cruelty squad is how good it is at pretending to be "bad". the game is ugly as sin, and all that does is reinforce its themes and the experience. and even then, the game is surprisingly readable and clear, enemies on screen are easy to identify, and it's not /hard/ to find things on the UI despite the initial mess. there are hidden collectables, paths, and easter eggs in every level that really do feel like the classic video game approach to level design. there's a really interesting take on adaptive difficulty that ties incredibly well with the narrative. it's insane how much thought went into it despite what it wants you to believe

for the rest, it's hard for me to say what hasn't already been said by other reviews. i think cruelty squad is a masterpiece; it is focused and committed to what it wants to be, and i think that's what makes it so /good/. it's right up there with breath of the wild, dishonored, and the first dark souls. and gorbino's quest, who could forget gorbino's quest?

extra notes:

- the secret levels are even more clear about how much thought goes into the level design, this is actually where the more "traditional" level layouts are and for some of them, you wouldn't even think they're from the same game

- the game is funny as heck. the mechanics and visuals are funny enough to laugh at, but the writing is sharp as well. the equipment descriptions are hilarious. grappendix.

- the stock market updates in real time and gets affected by the levels in the game if you're paying attention to what happens, which is so cool to me

- the latter parts of the game get pretty philosophical and existential, they're lovely texture

[snackbyte]

red horse, extra strong 🐴💪🍺

the number one mare

KHAGANQUENCH

(A silly doodle based on a popular beer brand in the Philippines called Red Horse, the extra strong beer.)

[snackbyte]

kal'tsocks for my kal'tcrocs

[snackbyte]

ah yes my favorite arknights character

[snackbyte]

pls look at my new tote bag

falin tote-den 🧙‍♀️🐓🐉

these'll be available this weekend at Patrons of the Arts: Magics & Mystics Nov 9-10, 2024 at Elements Centris, QC!!

we'll be at booth B10!!

see you there!! ✨ #PatronsOfTheArts #PotAMagicsandMystics

[snackbyte]

now that it's done, here are some closeups of the doodles i made for Dokutah's Day Off, Arknights Cosplay PH's arknights cupsleeve event!

aaaaa i'm incredibly honored to have been able to contribute and i'm really happy with it all came out!!

[snackbyte]

theresa good theresis bad hahaha

a big gripe i have w a lot of arknights story discussion is that it often comes with a whole bunch of oversimplification

reunion bad, RI good, priestess bad, theresa good, theresis bad, babel good, doctor bad, doctor good, etc

there are a lot of moments in babel where the doctor's decisions are rooted in trauma of the past and fear of the future, they're believable and human but also an outsider perspective, and wiping those memories for a fresh start is the "magic" in the story. we can't just erase the context of history, but given the chance to the story argues that humanity will continue to strive to do the right thing with what they're equipped to do. this is also reflected in kal'tsit's (skin) lines about how "we can no longer draw from past experiences", and babel doubles down on that

another thing is how theresa's solution to the plight of the sarkaz is imposed on them. outsider education, progress, colonization etc. they're ideas also explored in the kjerag events that i really like. i find it so strange that a lot of people also missed how theresis understands the pain of his people, and that the solution must come from them, both anger and justice, and how he also trusts Manfred, the next generation, to come up with a solution of his own.

and i think another important bit here is how amiya's growth as a character is also forgotten. theresa putting the burden of change on amiya is a similar idea as doctor's memory wipe, a fresh start. the entire reunion arc is about how amiya finds her own justice, and how that arc also comes with empathy for those who fight back, because it is not they who cast the first stone

eepy

[snackbyte]

had a blast today at Dokutah's Day Off, our local #arknights cupsleeve event by Arknights Cosplay PH!! the team did an amazing job and im so happy i got to make art for it!! (i made the tote bag and the cupsleeve!)

there were lots of cosplayers and we decorated around the cafe with our art!!

aLSO FILIPINO THORNS REAL!!!!

[snackbyte]

omg.... thank you so much for the many 💖 and 🔁!! if u like doodles like this, random ramblings, or silly merch, feel free to give me a follow!!

skadoodle 🍕🍕🍕

[snackbyte]

laurentiners 🦈🦈🦈

[snackbyte]

skadoodle 🍕🍕🍕

[snackbyte]

arknights originium notes

with the release of babel, i just wanted to finally write down my own messy personal notes of arknights concepts that fascinate me

namely, what IS originium? what does it do

a lot of these thoughts aren't from CN, and mostly through our own notes and theorycrafting with my best friend.

So let's go through what we know:

Originium can have a host. - People can get infected. - Mephisto can make Originium Zombies by having them animate corpses, even if they are no longer alive.

Originium speaks. - Earthspirit: I think one of the first instances of this is Earthspirit, she can hear the voices of rocks, minerals, and originium in particular. This was further expanded with the introduction of Mudrock, who literally talks to said rocks. - Specter hears voices in her head. - Ifrit: very early on, also talks about how she hears a voice in her head. The Diabolic Crisis is only hinted at at this point, but there's a clear short story with her hearing this voice.

Originium has memory. - Originium stores information and has memory, like a computer.

Originium causes "natural" calamities. (Catastrophes) - They make storms, droughts, sandstorms, blizzards, you name it.

Okay, so here are the theories / notes with some rambling:

1. Originium is meant to terraform using past humanity as a blueprint. - Originium causes catastrophes, can have hosts, and weirdly gives control over different elements or magic. Heat, fire, ice, light, thunder, etc. - The idea that originium goes out of its way to create natural calamities, infect things to make them rapidly evolve, and have powers seem like its main purpose was to recreate Earth by rapidly evolving wildlife. - Through human memory imbued in itself, originium rapidly attempts to recreate Earth in the state it was in before it ended. In Terra, technology rapidly progressed but culture did not! - But the rapid evolution isn't perfect. The reason why old races exist might be because Originium cannot distinguish between real animals and the mythical beings from human culture! Thus we get the Pegasi and Draco!

2. Originium is sentient and contains human memory. - Ebenholz: In Lingering Echoes, we learn about how the Witch King was pulled out of Kreide just by having a fraction of him within him. This same Witch King also continuously haunts Ebenholz. - Ifrit: The Diabolic Crisis turned a young Savra girl into a burning superweapon by imbuing her with Originium that contained the memory of the Diablo, an old Sarkaz king. - Surtr: I think one of my favorite things about Surtr is the amount that's unsaid about her. Her stand/persona/golem is headless with an originium halo. She has extremely powerful arts. And she has no memory. You know who else has fire powers? The Diablo. The Diablo's boss mechanics are incredibly reminiscent of Surtr. He summons a [Stand], he refuses to die, and he does a whole lot of arts damage and fire. My guess is that when the Diablo King was finally defeated by the old King of Sarkaz, he was not killed, but his memory was destroyed, and returned to the Sarkaz Originium Hivemind Network. And poof, we get Surtr. AND POOF, WE GET IFRIT.

- Passenger: Many of Passenger's lines imply that Elliot Glover, is dead. And not in a figurative sense. The Blue Originium imbued in him literally killed the child that day, and his animated skin implies that Passenger is exactly that, a Passenger in Elliot's body. - Another note I like about this one in particular is that Mon3tr, a creature made of full Originium, is wary of Passenger. The Blue Originium is alien to him because it's not of the same network. - Specter: When we got Specter the Unchained, we didn't get a "sane" Specter, but instead we got two characters: Laurentina, the original host, and Specter, the originium infused into her. For a long time, Laurentina was out cold, and Specter is the originium mind. The entire idea of Specter's character is about how two people share one body, and I'm really fascinated by this concept. - On a side note, this also says a lot more about Aegir, but we'll get to that later. - Executor: Executor is a cold, emotionless character, to a point where even his decision making is really interesting. He NEVER, and CANNOT break rules, like a robot. But my favorite thing about his character is that even with the way he speaks, his actions will always reflect "good". It's a huge contrast to his sister Arturia, who revolves around emotions. My guess is that there is no Frederico to begin with, only remnants of the Originium network forced to learn how to become human. - Amiya: Amiya holds the power of the King of the Sarkaz and all of their memories. But she also gets access to the Sarkaz Hivemind. The most interesting thing about this is that the most powerful Arts is one that has to do with memory. Because controlling memory means controlling Originium directly. 3. Originium is not compatible with Aegir. - Because Specter and Laurentina exist as completely different entities, Laurentina is not ACTUALLY infected. The fish people living in the sea have much less animal features than on land, so it's possible that the rapid evolution of the Aegir is on a completely different branch of induced evolution from Originium. A lot of Caerula Arbor also implies this. - The Originium Hivemind is completely different from the Aegir hivemind. No rocks involved.

4. At the heart of Originium lies the Boundless Master of All Creation. Which sounds pretty Evil.

Both Kal'tsit's (apocalypse) skin and Laurentina's skin imply that Originium has a link to this master of all creation, which may or may not be originium itself. It's the harbinger of the end, an entity that will consume everything.

4. Originium is NOT the only Terraformer. - AEgir: The rapid fishy evolution and high incompatibility with Originium feels like it's a completely different branch of tech that attempted to do the same terraforming to ensure humanity's survival. - Sankta Network: If the Sarkaz Originium Hivemind are 5G+ internet, then think of the Sankta Network as a localized network. It's a stronger, faster reception to spreading thoughts. This hits a little harder considering the Sankta were originally Sarkaz. - Nearls: The Nearls have perfect "blood" compatibility with Originium, but Maria's is the purest. They aren't "infected" in the same way the others are, but they have control over Originium in the way other people don't.

5. The Doctor and Kal'tsit are just Doctor Who lol - Regeneration, big box for time travel, companions

tbh im surprised a lot of this was discussed during Babel and i can't wait to see more. my favorite thing about Arknights is that they say just enough for you to figure things out by following the crumbs, and it's such a lovely storytelling format

[snackbyte]

dad doctor really has become my favorite cosplay

✅ enigmatic master strategist ✅ top originium researcher ✅ loving husband of an immortal lynx ✅ father of two adorable superweapons

i truly have become terra’s best doctor

[snackbyte]

I love your Little Witch Academia art ✨️

I saw this two months too late but thank you so much!!