#-as result the world/character building became lackluster)

[spotsupstuff]

Cap's got a new voice claim! feat. a tiny bit of Sparrows n her's unchanged vc because 1. it's cute to hear them together and 2. I snorted. The vibes are so different

[songs: So Familiar by Jean Castel and Driving Myself Home by Rose Betts]

[synthapostate]

My actual thoughts on the Fallout games, for people who are thinking about getting into them:

- Fallout 1 is great! But only if you enjoy that kind of game. Some people can’t get past the interface, and that’s okay.

- Controversial opinion, but Fallout 2 is not for everyone. Starts out a bit frustrating, ramps up to being really good, then turns into a total slog before the cool ending. It’s uneven, but the highs are very high.

- Fallout 3 is the fifth best Fallout game, but it contains my second favorite character. I have played the unskippable prologue many times, but never finished the game. I am willing to complain about this game to anyone who will listen.

- New Vegas is the best if you care about the development of postnuclear society. It’s a much more real and interesting setting than the oddly stagnant Bethesda games, where society is never allowed to progress except as a direct result of the player’s actions (and their all-American prewar vaultie values.) The old world is gone. Wastelanders make their own future. Also, a great set of companions. And Benny.

- Fallout 4 is very enjoyable to play, but I care more about romancing my companions and building settlements than the somewhat lackluster narrative. All the dlc is worth it, even if most of it doesn’t reach its full potential.

- Fallout 76 is certainly a game. (To be fair, it was updated after I quit playing out of boredom, so I don’t know what it became. It’s just hard to be interested in the story when none of your quests matter because everyone is dead, and the MMO element wasn’t worth it because players weren’t bothering to interact with each other. I will never care enough to give the current version a shot, but maybe others will.)

[gazeopard]

Marduk was a bad villain from the start because he was never established as a villain beforehand. From the very first page he had appeared, he had been J-Harper's character with a different personality, character design, and motivations. As I said in the comment section, he was a former Sky God turned into a dog for whatever reason, in order to live with them. Because of their falling-out and Kique blocking him on every platform, I don't know what else J-Harper had in mind for him in future chapters. The whole buildup to the final confrontation between him and Jahla could have been more impactful if it wasn't built on coincidences, and if we had actually SEEN him do villainous things, aside from using the obelisk a couple times. Her fight with Marduk was so rushed. She just tears his head off with zero effort, as a final slap in the face/"fuck you!" to his co-writer, I guess. And as usual, Kique can't even give us pages of satisfying, exciting, intense, bloody fights against the “heroes” and villains. Much like the potentially interesting concepts of his world and characters, his fight scenes and battles ALWAYS have to be rushed with unsatisfactory conclusions, and every character moves very statically and the camera angles are always the same. Even Rogihoe's "fight" against his inner-demon/ghoul was anticlimactic, unearned, and unsatisfying. Not just because the fight was rushed as fuck, not just because the characters weren't drawn from multiple different angles, not just because the movements of the characters were very static due to being heavily-referenced from Google images of jumping dogs, but because Rogio is a trash character who did absolutely NOTHING to earn his "redemption" moment. There are so many potentially-good scenes and ideas that Kique just underdevelops and rushes through to get to the next Roamer x Rogio scene. He has plenty of time to draw multiple bonus pages of NSFW dog porn on Patreon, and yet can't be bothered to show us more info of the world INSIDE OF THE COMIC, character development within the comic, their interactions and relationships with each other (and write them as HEALTHY and not co-dependent and toxic with only ONE party making all the decisions for the other person), and can't be bothered to at least give his readers some actual intense, satisfying fight sequences. I've seen anime and read Shonen manga that have had multiple chapters and pages of intense fights for fuck's sake!

I'm not saying fight scenes and battles must ALWAYS be long and drawn-out. You can have quick or short fights as long as it’s well executed, and it isn't sometimes necessary for a fight to last a long time, just as it can be necessary to have long fights. Also, sometimes bigger conflicts can get tiresome if they drag an unnecessarily long time. But if the characters and their struggles and relationships with the villains are engaging enough, they can make sitting through long-lasting fights worth it. However, if almost ALL your fights are rushed with lackluster and anticlimactic end results, there's a problem.

Also, you should NEVER rush your climactic showdown between your main protagonist and your main villain. These are two of your most important characters in your story, who’ve had chapters after chapters, pages after pages of development, personal animosity, and build-up to their final confrontation, so it is the responsibility of your protag as a character to settle their conflict with the main villain once and for all.

Also, don’t shove in another character to do the job FOR them if they never had a personal connection with the villain up ’til now, and it was never supposed to be THEIR fight to begin with. Basically, don’t do what David and Dan did to Arya and the Night King in Game of Thrones Season 8, and most likely what Kique’s going to do with Roamer and Ranach, never mind that Kargo and Ferah have more personal history with him than Roamer ever did. I guess you can argue that it became personal after Roamer got himself involved with Kargo and Ferah’s lives and rescued them during their second escape, and after Ranach killed Kargo…? But it still doesn’t feel organic and earned, it just feels more like it MUST be Roamer’s fight because he’s the hero and a Gary Stu self-insert.

But “heroic" or otherwise (and I say heroic very loosely, as Home’s characters can hardly be considered that, no matter how many times he tries to convince you), the majority of the characters within Home and their conflicts are not engaging, they're not relatable. Either they’re all idiots, or they’re unintentionally written as sociopathic assholes to everyone around them. How the fights in Home play out is ridiculous to look back to, especially considering how Kainan and his pack's final fight against Ranulfr and the army of Liulfr/Shield wolves lasted multiple pages, even if they were unceremoniously killed off too quickly due to the magic spears. Asmundr wasn't that good either, but at least the dogs had a reason to use spears in that comic, because those specific spears were designed to kill the Shield wolves.

Also, I hope Romé is dead. Dude was insufferable and just a yes-man (dog) to Jahla, and an overall idiot who didn’t even try to hide his suspicious attitude and dislike for his former-leader and colleagues when Jahla was held captive, and nearly got his whole pack killed over a stranger he had no reason to trust. Dude was an herbalist and could have just used the sleeping herbs to knock them unconscious while he snuck Jahla out, or he could have invented a lie about having to gather more herbs, as Kique mentioned on the wiki that herbalists have to travel a long way, depending on the type of herbs. He could have been actually smart and strategic, instead of coming up with that dangerous, stupid plan to create a stampede of buffalo that could kill his leader and colleagues.

As much as I hope Romé is dead, there is also a chance that Kique might unfortunately bring him back with the power of asspulling good guy plot-armor. Because good guys and author self-inserts just can’t ever stay dead.

I just found the updated archive and, wow, Marduk's storyline was so... bizarre? And now it's over? (Spoilers ahead)

I thought he was going to be the climax of the entire story, but he was little more than a B tier villain. Even now that he's dead, we never actually saw him do anything outright villainous, and it's just a frustrating tell-don't-show. How we got there also relied on so many coindicences and assumptions. Why did Asmundr pack trust the zioqa and rabisu without further questions? For all they knew, the rabisu could have been the real villains, with Marduk having legitimate need and reason to attack them. They could have lied to the Asmundr in order to gain their trust. At that point, it was still Marduk's word against theirs.

The climax itself also relied on Jahla coincidentally choosing right that moment to start translating the scrolls, and for those scrolls to contain Marduk's Sparknotes backstory. Those scrolls could have been Father's grocery list. It was then perfect timing for her to reach Asmundr right when Rhov and Feaf had coincidentally decided to run away, leading to the fight. Marduk's villain story isn't bad per se, but there was so little build-up to it, and now with Marduk dead and Ranach as the final boss, I doubt the avalanche of plot holes and moral conundrums will ever be addressed.

I'd also be surprised if Romé is actually dead

Now imagine if Jahla ascends to godhood lmfao

[beeblackburn]

The Anti-TBR Tag

I was tagged by @books-and-doodles! Thank you! And poor you, for I am a long-winded bastard.

1. A popular book EVERYONE loves that you have no interest in reading?

On general principle, I feel like the really popular stuff (Twilight, Throne of Glass, Divergent, The Mortal Instruments) ends up being stuff I’m inherently not going to be attracted to and some of them have their own hatedoms going on, so going after them in detail would be punching down (though I don’t particular like any of the above). So I’m going to try to go off the beaten path with these seven:

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab = nothing against her personally, though I heard her The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue was baaaaad, but apparently, she’s similar to Sanderson in the magic system being better than the characterization and I heard her writing’s got a white faux-female empowerment sort of thing going that I’m growing increasingly... discontent of by itself. I might try it out later, but I also got hundreds of books to drill through first and I’m in no rush.

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo = I’ve been increasingly getting the sense that Six of Crows was a flash in the pan, Bardugo’s style more defined by fun than genuine substance. And given a rather scathing review that points out unearned shifts in characterization, lackluster supporting cast, and two really uncomfortable exploitative sexual assault fantasy scenes (one of which was underaged!), I’m gonna say no.

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik = I generally like Novik! She’s a very solid writer to me and I’ve bought most of her books, so this is purely me not taking to the Wizarding School genre. Sorry, Novik, "a twisted, super dark, super modern, female-led Harry Potter" isn’t the selling point it once was, and even then, I probably wouldn’t have taken to it. Especially when I’ve already got The Gray House by Mariam Petrosyan to read.

The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson = I’ve got mixed feelings on Mistborn looking back: it’s hardly the worst of his oeuvre (Elantris is that and was admittedly his first book) and The Final Empire took a few narrative risks that I admire, I also found the resulting books a tad juvenile and I don’t take to steampunk, genre-wise. I’m not even that much of a Sanderson fan, so I’d rather just read the summary for all I care.

Storm Front by Jim Butcher = given what I’ve been told about The Dresden Files’ lessening of noir roots past the first few books, how it later became more flashy-and-bang magical, and how it’s pretty sexist early on (and from what I’ve been told, doubled down on it later on and having worse treatments of its female characters), I’m in no particular rush to read them. The urban fantasy genre on them only turns me off more.

The Doors of Stone by Patrick Rothfuss = hahaha, I’m sorry, I did read The Name of the Wind, and read select parts of The Wise Man’s Fear, but everyone, instead of waiting and devoting your time for this book to come, I would suggest reading Fitz, Who Is Actually Good and Can Wring More than Disgust and an Eye-Roll out of You in Robin Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings, given she is far better at characterization than Rothfuss.

Anything by Paul Krueger, Sam Sykes, and Myke Cole = fuck all three of these men and the idea that I’ll pay for their stuff. While I can’t demand any of you not buy from them and I’ll hardly claim to be a saint in terms of ethics, purchase-wise, I would beseech you all please don’t buy from these three authors who have a history of inappropriateness.

2. A classic book (or author) you don’t have an interest in reading?

Charles Dickens = look, I know his word count is padded because of serial installments back then, but I’m sorry, I wasn’t that impressed by the child-sanitized versions of Great Expectations and Oliver Twist. They were easily some of the most boring of out of the child-sanitized classics I read. It was the pictures that kept me going and barely at that. No thanks.

Emily Brontë =  look, if I wanted shitty people being shitty to each other, I’d much rather read Joe Abercrombie because at least I’ll get some intentional dark comedy out of dumb shitheads being terrible to each other (Best Served Cold comes to mind). And I know we’re not meant to like these self-destructive people, but I’d rather not hate everyone that much.

Alexander Dumas = Three Musketeers really didn’t age well, just from the TV Tropes page and I’m not really looking forward to an adventure that goes out of its way to valorize its protagonists being adventurous assholes who dueled, drank, and womanized harder than anyone else and we should commend that because they were men. Ugh.

3. An author you have read a couple of books from & have decided their books are not for you?

Leigh Bardugo = like I said, I feel like Six of Crows (and Crooked Kingdom, to a lesser extent) was a flash in the pan and she’s been increasingly running on fumes ever since then. Good and fun with a decent eye for characterization, but hardly revolutionary, considering how I think Crooked Kingdom isn’t quite as good as Six of Crows, and the less said about Shadow and Bone, the better.

Neil Gaiman = I’ve read some of his stuff (and I didn’t quite see the hype over his writing, but liked it decently enough) but having heard that, in his Sandman run, he wrote in a transwoman solely to get killed for an emotional ending and how he defended that choice for awhile left a battery acid taste for me to read more. He’s a formative part of people’s childhoods, so I don’t blame anyone for being fans, he’s just not for me.

Steven Erikson = really nothing against the dude, I’m sure he's probably a decent guy, but I didn’t take to Gardens of the Moon at all and skimming Deadhouse Gates and Memories of Ice (which were admittedly better) made me realize its prose was something I would need a hard and sharp shovel to crack through, and the darting around of many, many POVs made me feel not invested in anyone.

4. A genre you have no interest in OR a genre you tried to get into & couldn’t?

I’ll answer both because I have the time:

I’m not interested in romance, mostly because it’s an entire genre built around the build-up. It’s usually the story about the beginning of a relationship, not the relationship itself. I’d genuinely like to read about the story of a romance that doesn’t stop shortly after the hook-up or before the honeymoon period ends. The City Watch parts of Discworld by Terry Pratchett, The Memoirs of Lady Trent by Marie Brennan and The Sharing Knife by Lois McMaster Bujold all have romantic elements that are relatively undrenched in melodrama or frills, but none of them are pure romances, which is a huge problem. I can take romantic subplots in fantasy, but I can’t take the genre as-is.

Urban fantasy is a genre I’m not against having my mind changed on liking, but right now, I generally find it insipid, a shortcut to good world-building, short on great characterization, and an excuse to lampshade and pretense to being above fantastical clichés in a tongue-in-cheek attitude while still committing to them. I do genuinely like Rivers of London by Ben Aaronvitch, but that’s really the concession I can give the entirety of the genre. I took a crack at Rick Riordan and Cassandra Clare’s stuff, but it didn’t feel like my sort of thing. Again, would like to be convinced, but I’d much rather read a domestic or slice-of-life fantasy set in a more overtly fantasy world than the urban one. 

Also, sci-fi, but I’m trying again with the Wormwood trilogy by Tade Thompson, An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon, and either the Imperial Radch trilogy by Ann Leckie, or the Teixcalaan trilogy by Arkady Martine. I snoozed through Azimov’s Foundation and generally bored myself of hard sci-fi books, so I’m hoping contemporary sci-fi changes my mind on the entire genre.

5. A book you have bought but will never read?

A book I personally bought? Honestly, Traitor’s Blade by Sebastien de Castell. No particular reason, I just bought it at a closing-down sale at a branch of my bookstore on the cheap because the cover looked nice and didn’t really take to its blurb. I heard good things though, so if anyone else wants to read it...

I tag @vera-dauriac, @xserpx, @autoapocrypha, @kateofthecanals, @turtle-paced, @insecticidalfeminism, @secretlyatargaryen, @helix-eagle-hourglass-nebula, @xillionart, @jovolovo and whoever else that is following me and wishes to do this tag (I’d like to read your posts, so please tag me! :D)

[magicalgirlfumiko]

2. An early OC I remember making

I am a loser nerd that has been on the RP scene since 2006 in various means. It really wasn’t until 2009 that I can say that I established a strong world setting and character feel. So I’ll just post two of my main characters from a science fantasy thing I should be writing on as a book but I don’t feel like it:

"We all have to endure crap. No matter the form it takes, no matter what species you may be, hardships come with the territory."

"When it all comes down to it, I'm just a brat who, having spent most of her life doing for others, just wants to live her own life and make her own choices and mistakes. WHO JUST WANTS TO HAVE FUN!"

"There are times I feel if I were to vocalize what really went through my head at times people would look at me much differently. With either awe or disgust or a combination of both. Heh."

"The biggest thing I've ever wanted out of life is to become a strong, ever-evolving person who is more than capable of following her curiosity, exploring and meeting head on whatever comes her way. I definitely have the fire inside of me to do so, but until recently...what I realize what I lacked most is a specific focus for all that energy."

GENERAL CHARACTER STATISTICS

Character Name: Skie JungbluthName Meaning: Simply from the English word sky, which was taken from the old Norse word for “cloud.”Alias: NoneGender: FemaleClan: AetherAge: 24B-Day: March 21Zodiac Sign: AriesPlace of Birth: Eternium, Zeledin

Current Residence: The airship, Ethereal (she did not wish to name it that. Skie lost a bet with her boyfriend Mel. It marks the only time she has ever lost one). Skie is almost always on her custom airship which serves as her main home since her 'assignments' take her all over the known world. As a result, most of Skie's work takes place on her ship.

Occupation: Smuggler, Aryeh's mentor. Professional Gambler.

School/Grade: Finished College

Family: Joshua Jungbluth (Father), Lassilsa Jungbluth (Mother), Bill Jungbluth (Brother)

Gemstone: Diamond

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Height: 167.64 cm

Hair: She has brown hair. Her curls help to soften her square face shape, while the long side-swept bangs bring the focus to those piercing yellow eyes. Skie keeps her hair shoulder length or just a little below. Before she became a smuggler, she often wore her hair long and flowing just like her mother but has shortened it to be look less like a kid in her mind's eye.

Eyes: Yellow and catlike. The reason for this is because of her usage of arcane magic. Unlike Rane, who used external energy from others, Skie is attempting the same kind of mysteries but at the cost to her own body.

Distinguishing Marks: None

General Appearance: Skie’s eyes are usually sharp, alert and often almond shaped. She typically flushes when she feels excited. When Skie hears good news, red color will flood her face. Angry: You can always tell when she is truly angry because she will turn quite red. She also flushes when she is embarrassed or when she over exerts herself such as when exercising. She is handsome and she knows it. Skie is powerfully built but still has a womanly body.

General Clothing: Skie likes to dress classy but comfortably. Her normal wears are a white button shirt, a brown waist length jacket, black slacks, and sometimes a tie. In colder weather, she wears her father’s old brown leather trench coat which is held shut by short leather tabs.

Strengths: Skie is very adept with Aether magic. This is the power from WITHIN. It is based upon the soul, the powers that are deep within the essence of who you are. The lesser known of the styles, Aether powers are often channeled through emotions and desires.

As a swordsman, Skie's abilities are lackluster; however, those around her have noted that her fighting style, however unrefined, is heavy hitting and vicious. As it turns out, Skie's style and progress mirror that of her father.

Weaknesses: The weakness of her magical style is that it comes completely from her own body, so if she is injured or drugged or unconscious, those powers can be interrupted. It is also based upon strong desires, so her emotions must be in tune with what she wants. One of the fundamental issues with her is that she literally has a well of power inside herself. She has to constantly use magic to prevent too much from building up inside her at once.

Skie is prone to have headaches, particularly migraines, and depression because of these powers.

More: Weight: 51 kg, Breast: 81 cm, Waist: 53 cm, Hips: 84 cm

MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS

Allies: Mel and Aryeh. Skie is a good friend, she always looks out for her friends with caring and generosity and will protect them should the need arise and encourage them with her natural optimism.

Enemies: Medus and the Yellow Brother's are her main rivals, but Rane is the bigger danger.

Current Goal/Purpose: She is sent out to find Medus by her brother. He has promised her a lot of money to do so.

Aspirations: She wants to succeed where others have failed. Skie wants to explore the world, change it to fit her whims and do her best at life.

Hobbies: Skie likes activities that involve mobility and less concentration like war games, fast sports, motor racing, gambling, and vibrant music. However, she also likes to grill and come up with meals.

Likes: Action, Coming in first, Challenges, Championing Causes, and Spontaneity

Dislikes: Waiting Around, Admitting Failure, No opposition, Tyranny, other people’s advice

Talents: She’s skilled at games of chance. Skie is also skilled with fixing up and redesigning airships.

Inabilities: Selfish and quick-tempered, Impulsive and impatient, Foolhardy and daredevil, if confronted, Skie can turn to be quite childish; she will fight back with her aggressive nature.

Fears: Feeling that her identity is threatened. Self-preservation is a primal instinct and goal for her.

General Personality: Skie loves to explore new ground. She reminds her friends that every moment is new and that life is about experimentation and discovery. It is through experiences that we develop and mature. We are here to advance our soul growth. We are not here to find a static, comfortable situation. We are here to go for the gold and to answer the call of our soul. We are engaged in an on-going process to release our resistance and to transmute all forms of fear into courage and compassion.

Skie is a courageous leader with a genuine concern for those she commands. Being a responsible lady, it is rare that she will use her subordinates to obtain her own objectives as a leader, but occasionally it does happen. She does not make a very good follower because she is too "taking charge".

Skie may be unwilling to obey or submit to directions for which she can see no reason, or with which she disagrees. She is much concerned with self, both positively and negatively - self-reliant but also self centered (sometimes) and concerned with her own personal advancement and physical satisfaction. Her immense energy makes her aggressive and restless, argumentative occasionally, headstrong, quick tempered, easily offended and capable of holding grudges if she feels affronted.

Skie is intellectual and objective, but can be in rare situations bigoted and extremist in politics. She is a champion of lost causes and last-ditch resistance.

Inner Personality: Skie is quick-witted but sometimes foolhardy and over-optimistic, lacking thoroughness and the ability to evaluate difficulties regarding the undertakings into which she often rushes impulsively. The great need of Skie is to exercise an iron self-control, to discipline the qualities and tendencies of her character to the advantage, not the detriment, of the society in which she moves.

Fondest Memory: Winning all the money out of the casinos that are present in Eternium.

Biggest Regret: None so far, she has lived a pretty good life so far and rarely decides to focus on the past.

Secret: She also loves the color pink.

SPECIALTY CHARACTERISTICS

Special Items: The Ivory Cross that Skie wears. It is the symbol used on Chenoan flags. This is used to show her support of the Chenoan cause against Rane.

Magic: Aether Lightning, Skie’s only usable combat spell as an arcane magus. Raw Aether magic arcs from her hands as lightning allowing limited ranged combat capabilities.

HISTORIC BACKGROUND

General History: Skie's upbringing was fairly typical for an upper middle class family in post-war Zeledin. After the Zeledin War, her father stayed out of the limelight. While Joshua was one of the founders of the Category following Rane's disappearance, he never sought a lot of personal wealth. He believed that it was better for his children to grow up modestly. When she was younger, it never crossed her mind that she’s the daughter of Joshua Jungbluth. Most of her childhood she moved around a lot since Lassilsa didn’t want to stay in the former capital of her queen. Skie and her brother didn’t get along even from this early age.

Lassilsa was her main teacher, since Joshua himself never mastered any magical abilities. Like her father, Skie’s genes were “overspecialized” with a connection to Aether. Thus, with her magical prowess in aether magic allowed her to attend the Eternium Military Academy. At age 22, she graduated with Study in Arcane magic. It was attending the school that she became close friends with Mel Rogero. They have been dating ever since.

Shortly after her graduation, Skie enlisted into the Category's AeroCorps, in Zeldin's capital city of Eternium. She wished to distance herself from the legacy of her father while enlisted, so she was made a junior officer on the CAC Drake. It was an unremarkable time for her on the airship. Her time in the military was very short. She was kicked out for being too hot headed.

At age 24, Skie left the AeroCorps and enlisted herself to be an aging bounty hunter. He gave her a new task; being a pilot and mentor figure. Her new role was to train Ary Fairwater in Arcane studies, which puzzled her. She dislikes being a teacher and doesn’t want a teen getting in her way. To this day she continues to indirectly train Ary. Though, it seems that it is Mel that does a lot of the mentoring.

Skie was recently hired by her brother to force Medus Tenpenny into the Category's Elite Unit. In response, Mel Rogero was hired to be her bodyguard by Lassie. Skie is more than aware that The Category might have plans to make Medus their trump card when they finally intervene on the war between Chenoa and Rane's forces.

Why not? One's gotta feel confident in a uniform."

"Because Skie is amazing. She has been putting in so much hard work and it payed off big time. It doesn't matter if she's not considered a "real" magus by Category standards. She is amazing as her own kinda woman."

"Once, I had a fortune told to me and usually I never take them into thought...This one I did. It said,"Greet your friends with open arms and happiness will come to you." I seriously sat there, frozen while reading it. I took it as, I should stop being so distant and accept my friends...Bring them back into my life, even if I'm not with them. I hope I can though."

"Don't you hate when you really want to say something,but don't know what?"

GENERAL CHARACTER STATISTICS

Character Name: Mel RogeroName Meaning: Mel is a pet name of Maethelwine, which means “Meeting Friend.”Alias: NoneGender: Male

Age: 25B-Day: 2/26Zodiac Sign: PiscesPlace of Birth:ChenoaCurrent Residence: Skie’s AirshipOccupation: Skie’s Body Guard. Seat of Water, Unit ZeroSchool/Grade: Finished High SchoolFamily: MJ Rogero (Sister). Other relatives not mentioned.Gemstone: Moonstone

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Height: 180 cm (5’11”)

Hair: Mel wears his black hair (almost violet) really long, which is considered the sign of an unmarried warrior in the Moon Clan. It is kept braided by white wraps.

Eyes: Blue

Distinguishing Marks: He wears one beaded earring in his left ear.

General Appearance: Mel is a gentlemen and not sloppy in his overall appearance.

General Clothing: Mel loves the color black and wears a military inspired tunic and trousers. When not in combat, he wears a purple cape to add to the ensemble, the sign of his family. This has more to do with tradition than anything else. Since Mel is the only male son in his family, it suggests that he’ll inherit the title of his father someday. It also keeps him warm in the colder regions of Mirabella.

Strengths: Some think of him as weak because, like water, he takes the path of least resistance. But by flowing on, resisting nothing, Mel overcomes all and his freedom from self (his greatest secret strength) provides him with limitless access to imagination (his second greatest secret strength). His emotions are known to guide his heart and his mind. Mel possesses a great trait that allows him to come in contact with a variety of emotions and not pass judgment on an individual.

Weaknesses: Mel does not have many combatant spells, since he put most of his focus on using overclock and natural smarts. Mel is also very meek, while this could also be considered a merit; Mel cannot take the life of an enemy, for he is a very religious follower of the Moon Goddess.

MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS

Allies: The Category

Enemies: None.

Current Goal/Purpose: Mel is Skie’s bodyguard and boyfriend. He is a man who enjoys helping and serving others. Mel is very observant and examines each person and situation closely. He is a dreamer, which allows him to relate intimately to Skie. Mel gives to her, a certain peace and security. He always tries to avoid all possible arguments with her.

According to Ivy Veyado, Mel makes Skie more docile and convenient. He shields her against her enemies and is able to pacify her fears and give her the emotional security she needs. Mel often possesses the fiery command and gentle nature which makes a perfect blend to keep her satisfied and affectionate.

Aspirations: To help everyone he meets to the best of his ability.

Hobbies: Mel finds infinite pleasure in the simple things, like the smile of a stranger, the touch of a child, or the tweet of a bird as it feathers its nest. Mel likes telling stories, painting, cooking, watching good cinema, and collects clothes from foreign nations.

Likes: Solitude to dream in, mystery in all its guises, anything discarded to stay discarded, the ridiculous, likes to get 'lost'

Dislikes: The obvious, being criticized, feeling all at sea about something, know-it-alls, and pedantry.

Talents: Healing magics, cooking, making tea, etc.

Inabilities: Escapist and idealistic, secretive and vague. Can sometimes be bossed around by Skie.

Fears: Upheavals are abhorrent to Mel, and stay with him for days but, it is not always understood, that he absorbs all kinds of atmospheres like a sponge and, just as the power of the sea takes time to settle after a storm, so Mel needs to be allowed time and space alone, to recover his inner calm.

General Personality: Mel possesses a gentle, patient, malleable nature. He has many generous qualities and is friendly, He is good natured, kind and compassionate, sensitive to the feelings of those around him, and responds with the utmost sympathy and tact to any suffering he encounters. Mel is deservedly popular with all kinds of people, partly because his easygoing, affectionate, submissive nature offers no threat or challenge to stronger and more exuberant characters.

He accepts the people around him and the circumstances in which he finds himself rather than trying to adapt them. Mel patiently waits for problems to sort themselves out rather than take the initiative in solving them. He is more readily concerned with the problems of Skie than with his own.

His nature tends to be too otherworldly for the practical purposes of living in this world as it is. He sometimes exists emotionally rather than rationally, instinctively more than intellectually. Mel longs to be recognized as greatly creative. Any rebellion he makes against convention is personal; however, as he often times does not have the energy or motivation to battle against the Establishment.

Inner Personality: Mel has an intuitive and psychic ability more than any other character in the series. He trusts his gut feelings and if he does not, he quickly learns to because he realizes that his hunches are usually correct.

Mel’s downfall is his sensitivity and his inability to reject another person. He does not like rejection and se tries to treat others the way they want to be treated so he will rarely say no to a person for fear of hurting their feelings.

He will help another person with their problems and like to do so because making others feel good in turn makes him feel good.

His inner conflict is extremes of temperament and conflicting emotions. He wants to learn to use his powers and his imagination in a positive, productive way.

Fondest Memory: He has many. But in reality, his fondest memories always involve spending time with Skie and making sure that she is always smiling.

Biggest Regret: He has a tendency to act like a “savior” and these are a number of times in which he was not able to help everyone that he deems needed his help.

Secret: Mel loves Skie with all his heart and secretly wishes to marry her someday. She is one of the few people who have faith in his dreams. His qualities create an excitement within her and she respects Mel whole-heartedly. To him, Skie has enough fire to spark his desires and lead him to great accomplishments, and give him the faith he needs to stand for dreams and wishes. She has always fiercely defends him in the past against those who judge him inaccurately due to his dreamy nature. She brings excitement and vigor to his life and teaches him to be a bit more practical.

SPECIALTY CHARACTERISTICS

Special Items: The Purple cloak that he is often seen wearing. It is a sign that he is from a long family of knights that work for the crown family of Chenoa. While this is more of a honorary role in the present, he is still proud of his background.

Weapons: A blade for back-up. Mel is a technical pacifist; meaning he is willing to beat people up as much as he wants. He may even get a few fatalities through. However, once it comes down to a choice between killing and not an opponent, Mel will not kill. He uses his sword in non-lethal ways to defeat his foes and to defend Skie.

Whip of the Rip Tide: A whip forged from the strongest batch of ather ever found thus far, it is a Class A weapon that is capable of causing major flooding and water spouts. It is a highly dangerous weapon that only Mel can wield with proper effect. It can also be used as a normal whip or lasso.

Magic: Mel’s magic is focused on using Overclock as his main area of study. In this case, he can separate the processes of his brain and excels at multitasking on things like paperwork and cooking. This is how he is able to use his sword effectively.

Mel does have access to using the powers of Dark Flames, which are a purple flames that extend from his palms and quickly engulfs foes in a cold binding chain. Mel’s other magic includes portal openings and displacements of weapons.

The common belief is that no one can best Mel in non-lethal combat.

HISTORIC BACKGROUND

General History: Mel is the youngest child in his family. His mother went out of her way to spoil him and make sure he excelled at something other than the normal soldiery activities of the Rogero family. Though, in the end he still chose the mantle of being a knight.

Being a member of Chenoa’s court, he had access to many of the best schools in the nation. There Mel learned all the trades to be a Knight in the royal court. However, he soon decided that he’d be better off working within the Category, since Chenoa didn’t have all the fun of the modern world like Zeldin did.

After finishing up his basic schooling, he went on to the Military Academy. During his time off, Mel would wander around the city day dreaming. It was on one of these walks that he first met Skie following one of her storming off from her barracks. She was a very different girl from the ones in Chenoa. One could almost say that she was exotic to him. .

Mel would then become an acquaintance of Lassi, Skie’s mother. Lassi’s goal was to attempt to get them to become a couple. Her greatest fear is that Skie will die a soldier. When Skie left the military, Lassi requested that her daughter be barred from Unit Zero. Skie was then recommended to become a mentor, a job not suited for her fiery spirit. Knowing that her daughter might try to run off and doing something foolish, Lassi has hired Mel to be her bodyguard. Mel was more than happy to take the assignment. While still very shy to Skie, they have known each other for a long enough time that he feels that he can get closer to her this way.

[adambethyname-blog]

There’s Exactly One Way to Save the Current Star Wars Trilogy

The world is going to by hyper-focused on “Avengers: Endgame” for at least another few weeks, with a slight dip in interest when we get our Episode IX trailer which is (rumored) to be coming on April 12th at Star Wars Celebration in Chicago. If the Episode VII and VIII trailers were any indications as to what we can expect, we’ll see a few new vehicles, exasperated sweaty faces, and zero clues as to what the movie is actually about.

After a lackluster Episode VII and the unfortunate reception of “Solo,” the mood surrounding Episode IX is just kind of “meh.” I even read that Mark Hamill, himself, was saying that America might be suffering from “Star Wars fatigue.”

The truth is, we’re wedged two-thirds of the way through a trilogy that saw a director and writer change after Act I that literally took the story in an unplanned direction and BOY, did it show. The whole idea of Act I is to set the characters in motion for a conflict in Act II, but director Rian Johnson stepped in for JJ Abrams  and abandoned multiple plot points that Star Wars fans became emotionally invested in. The result was a jumbled mess called “The Last Jedi.” Just to name a few:

• We’re led to believe Captain Phasma is some kind of bad-ass, chromed-out, super-soldier Stormtrooper; however, in two movies she gets bested by one of her trainees, not once, but twice and ends up presumably dead. Watch: if she shows up again, Finn will literally kill her a third time. She’s like the Jason Voorhees of Star Wars.

• Somehow, after the Death Star was destroyed, the Emperor was killed, and Luke defeated Darth Vader (Episode VI), someone named Supreme Leader Snoke sneaks in, picks up all the pieces of the Empire, gets them cooler uniforms, builds “Starkiller Base” (Episode VII), recruits Han and Leia’s son to run things and basically picks up exactly where the old Empire left off, rebranding themselves as “The First Order.” Who the hell is this guy? Well, you’re not going to find out because he got cut in half. 

• Going into the “It Worked Last Time” bin, we get teased with a little “Who are Rey’s parents?” flashback in Episode VII only to be told they’re just a couple of drunk people who sold her for beer money. What? 

Not only that, but the “Rebellion” who were supposed to somehow be victorious after “Return of the Jedi,” never even got their feet underneath them as they tried to restore the Republic in the galaxy. Stop and think about that for a second. All that work for three movies (four, if you want to slip “Rogue One” in there as a preface)... stealing the Death Star plans, blowing up the Death Star, running and hiding on Hoth, restarting the Jedi order, sneaking on to Endor and the only living Jedi in the universe takes down TWO Sith Lords. And for what? To hand the universe back to Skinny Emperor the Sequel in a handful of years? Who’s running the Rebellion? Paul Ryan?

Since “The Last Jedi” was released we actually have found out that JJ Abrams had a full three-movie treatment set up for Episodes VII, VIII, and IX, but when he stepped away from directing VIII, he basically told Rian Johnson “do whatever you like.” I honestly don’t think that he expected Rian to take him QUITE so literally and that’s most likely the reason JJ is back for Episode IX in what is most certainly a salvage operation.

But where are we in the story? We’re down to like 12 Rebels on the Millennium Falcon. Kylo Ren is leading First Order now. We know Leia is going to get it it somehow in IX thanks to Carrie Fisher’s unfortunate passing. Billy Dee Williams returns as Lando Calrissian but given the track record of original trilogy actors, I have even money that he flies the Falcon in a suicide mission, if Rose can stay out of the way this time. Snoke is dead. Luke is dead. Han is dead. Really the only expected outcome is Rey somehow defeats Kylo and it’s “Jedi” all over again... how predictable.

Not so fast.

Any scenario where Rey “wins” or the Rebellion triumphs is just going to be scoffed at as “who didn’t see that coming” and it will be the culmination of a disjointed, poorly told story.

Here’s how you salvage this mess.... the First Order wins.

Yes. Think about it:  Kylo Ren kills Rey in combat. Finn and Rose go out like Vasquez in “Aliens” grasping a thermal detonator in an air duct somewhere. You blow up the Falcon, with Lando AND Chewy on it (sorry, Chewy). Poe.... you know, I really don’t care about Poe. He’s so disposable. His name in the credits should just be “BB-8′s Owner.”

And you let Kylo get everything he wanted only to realize that he didn’t want it in the first place and that by “winning” he actually lost. It’s basically “White Men Can’t Jump” but with lightsabers. He killed his mother, his father, and the orphaned girl of drunken traders that he crushed on (guys love a “project”) and sadly, like Alexander the Great he will weep as there are no more worlds to conquer. Not everything can be a happy ending. Episode V is widely regarded as the best single entry in the Star Wars series and why? Because, like Dante said in “Clerks,” it ends on a down note, and that’s what life is - a series of down endings. 

That’s the only way through this. It’s the only unexpected thing you can do at this point to make this trilogy truly memorable. I’ll be honest: the prequels are better that what we have at this point. YES. I said it.

THE PREQUELS ARE BETTER THAN “THE FORCE AWAKENS” + “THE LAST JEDI.” 

I’ll take Jar Jar over Rose. I’ll take pouty Anakin over crabby, menopausal Luke. 

With “Endgame” just a few short weeks away, this is me, channeling my inner-Dr. Strange and seeing all the possible scenarios for Episode IX. There are 14,000,605 paths Star Wars can take. Exactly one doesn’t suck.

[filmista]

Retrospective: Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)

🤖“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” 🚀

A lot of us either are a Star Wars fan, or we know someone that’s a huge fan. Either way, there’s no real way to avoid coming across it; it’s so ingrained in the collective conscience of the entire cinema frequenting world, that we all are familiar with the basics of its universe. 

I’ve managed to avoid it until now during my 20 years on this planet, but I have a friend whose brother was an enormous fan of the franchise and owned multiple Star Wars sweatshirts that his sister would “borrow” but watch it she never could, because she found the whole world so far out there, that she thought it was hilarious. 

But alas, one day her brother convinced her and she decided to just give it a watch and actually ended up liking it. Ever since she’s been trying to get me to watch it, without much success in her endeavor. 

Until I recently got me curious about it myself, I thought if so many people love it there has to be a reason for it. And my experience was a huge success, I loved it on the second watch that is. 

The very first time, I actually ruined my experience. By really not paying too much attention to it and even talk during…

My problem was the attitude with which I approached it, I was expecting to not connect to it beforehand, I had a preconceived of what Star Wars was, which is a silly blockbuster that later became a money-making machine. 

Alas, I was wrong, and I deprived myself of a fantastically fun experience, because of my own preexisting conceptions. 

I admit to most of the time being inclined towards and maybe respecting, so-called deeper and intellectual films more, films that I can really sink my teeth into. 

I wouldn’t say I had a contempt for blockbusters and big studio films, I just generally don’t like them as much, I tend to find them over the top, too dramatic and sometimes a bit lacking in the emotional department. 

But the longer I’ve been watching films, and my recent experience with Star Wars, really has taught me something, there’s nothing with a film being innocent fun and just an adventure throughout. 

Afterward, I realized how ridiculous it is that I do value Jurrasic Park, which is also a huge blockbuster, but looked down on Star Wars, just because it all overall seems more plausible and is set in a world that’s still recognizable. 

There’s merit in building an engaging fantasy world, and in creating characters that are instantly likable and that the audience can care about. 

Star Wars (the whole franchise) has now become a piece of pop culture, and especially that first film, allows us to travel back in time, to the 70’s a particular period in cinema history, to the time of the first so-called blockbuster. 

My main beef with “blockbusters” is that I’m not talking about each and every single one, there are ones that I enjoy. 

But they’re often so formulaic and so played into what people will automatically like and be attracted to, and sometimes that results in something that I find lackluster, not spontaneous enough and without a fun, beating heart though.

And while Star Wars is the so-called first blockbuster, one of the films that changed film history. My dislike of it was completely unjustified. And the joke was on me because I missed out all those years. 

Whilst it is a big film and expanded into something even bigger over the years: a franchise. No one really knew whether there would be sequels, but George Lucas did set up the possibility for them. 

It really made marketing for these big films into a huge thing, the company in charge of making the action figures for Star Wars (Kenner) initially was unable to keep up with the demand, every kid that saw this at the time wanted one. 

Now that’s something normal, but Star Wars was really the first film to start that. and it’s mostly relatively unknown cast at the time, apart from Harrison Ford (who had previously starred in the George Lucas directed, American Graffiti) were propelled into superstardom and into 70’s icons. 

Everyone knows names like Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill, even if they’ve never seen a single Star Wars film. And everyone knows terms from the film, everyone knows what a lightsaber is and has a vague idea of what a Jedi is. 

So aside from all of its technical merits, and there’s quite a few, it’s above all else a historical document almost as well as a darn good piece of entertainment, and that’s more than enough in a film sometimes. 

And unlike some later blockbusters, Star Wars really is a charming and fun film, with a beating heart. You can see and feel the love that went into them, and the fun people involved were having. 

Its dialogue is super cheesy even corny, but it works because of the way the actors deliver them and their enjoyable chemistry with one another, also the cheesy dialogue is quite charming in its own right. 

The film is obviously more about what’s happening visually on screen, than any dialogue. And I think that was my problem initially, I always took it way too seriously… the terms didn’t make sense to me and annoyed me, and the world with all its creatures felt perplexing. 

This time I decided to just sit back, watch and not think too much and allow myself to be absorbed by it, really allow myself to be swept into the world. And it was a radically different experience. 

There are still terms of which I thought wait what is that, or what is that thing supposed to be? The truth is that doesn’t matter for one’s enjoyment of the film at all, once you stop trying to make too much sense of it, and look at it too rationally it becomes incredibly rewarding. It’s not about being realistic. the whole thing takes place in a fantasy world, Star Wars is like a surreal dream come to life. And it’s really a matter of suspending any disbelief and logical questioning and just accept that stuff is called the way it is, looks the way it is, and that it’s a world with giant slugs and rats that look tiny kangaroos. 

I was never before able to just let that element of it slide, and once you do start analyzing it, it can almost become funny. This time I set to myself: you’re gonna watch this, you’re not gonna question anything or laugh at anything. And I’m certainly glad me, myself and I had a stern talk. 

I generally don’t dig stuff set in space all that much or with intricate fantasy worlds. But Star Wars felt different, yes it’s in space. But it doesn’t feel confined to one space, nor does too outrageous… 

There’s something so familiar about that world, something we all instinctively know of how it works and that’s almost comforting and cozy to disappear in. 

It reminded me of when I would dive into comic books when I was younger, and just disappear into them an entire afternoon, Star Wars really brings back some of that childlike wonder and awe, and in that sense, it really is a purely magical film. 

I watched A New Hope, whilst feeling a little under the weather, and the afternoon passed incredibly quickly, which is what good films do: they make you unaware of time and space. It’s over two hours run time, actually felt quite short this time. And I can’t wait to check out the other ones as well. 

But to return to my previous point, part of why it’s so fun to disappear in and probably part of its enduring appeal and popularity is its coziness, the really lived in vibe of it all. The title also helps in this, by adding Episode to its title, it feels like being into introduced to a world that has always been there and that we’re just stumbling into it. 

It also doesn’t present us with any storylines, or conventions that are hard to grasp. You get an instinctive feel of the world and its rules and conventions. When it comes down to it, it really is a simple story of good vs evil, with the classical plot point of saving a princess thrown into the mix. 

The fun thing is that it does subvert some of these classical conventions, in any other story princess Leia would have waited passively for her rescue, whilst here she actually consciously chose to fight and resists until the end. At least in the first one, you don’t exactly find out why the empire is precisely so evil and why they want to rebel against it, but I figured it was just some sort of space equivalent to a fascist regime that wants to rule each and every one of the territories around it. Imperialism in space, heavy… 

The first time watching this, I questioned all of that too much, but this time I was like, okay the empire is run by some evil bastards in space, there are rebels fighting against them and they’ve got plans laid to destroy their massive weapon of mega-destruction. Which is what the empire wants to recover from the rebels, but of course, we all know Leia hid them in R2D2. 

Speaking of the robots, aside from their designs being super cute, as well as all the bleeps and blips. I loved how positively they were portrayed, no the robots are gonna take over and destroy all of us! 

That kind of film can be good, but it would be way too negative for Star Wars. Here they’re really seen as equals by the characters, and even worthy of being friends with. As well as having a personality as defined as the humans, the whole dynamic between R2D2 and 3CPO is both hilarious and heartwarming. 

And that’s again why it works so well, the lightness even the humor and all. There are moments of light bullshit almost that defy logic, like R2D2 and 3CPO talking the stormtrooper into letting them go, with the excuse of R2D2 having to go to maintenance, it’s like an almost ridiculously simple solution to the situation at hand. Lucas knows it’s nonsense, but just doesn’t care. After all, it’s part of the genre. 

If you really want to dig deep (well actually not that deep) but if you insist on an intellectual side to cinema, you’ll have realized that the force is actually one big metaphor for religion, a higher power. And that some believe in it and others don’t. Han Solo literally talks about the force in terms of: “I don’t believe in any of that hokey religious stuff”. 

But essentially it’s a metaphor for believing, for believing in something bigger than ourselves, that helps us overcome obstacles along our way. 

The whole given of The Force is actually incredibly well handled. At first sight, it seems like mumbo-jumbo - "The Force is an energy field that flows everywhere, you have to become passive and let yourself be led by it." In other words: relax and just watch what happens. 

That’s not exactly a very profound philosophy, given that it was apparently used for hundreds of years as a basis for peace and quiet in the Milky Way.

Yet it’s not bad that Lucas keeps it simple (and purposefully vague, you can see whatever you want in it) The Force is just The Force and no further bullshit. Everyone has an instinctive sense of what it is, but there are no long, pretentious monologues needed to make it work and have people grasp the concept. 

Seventies icons Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher have the nominal main roles, and don’t do a bad job at all, their friendship comes across as believable and is very enjoyable to watch.

The chemistry between Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher, also reveals hints of what’s to pass between the two later on in the story. The whole cast overall has fantastic chemistry with each other, you can’t really imagine that any of them got along badly in real life, they seem to be having too much genuine fun. But it is Harrison Ford who steals the show as Han Solo. It is only with his entry into the film, 45 minutes after the beginning, that everything really comes to life. All other characters are quite serious and have serious motivations. 

Princess Leia tries to save her people (although Leia is a really enjoyable character because of her boldness and sassiness), only to see her entire planet explode before her eyes. Heavy. Luke Skywalker, in turn, grew up without parents, with his uncle and aunt, who are also murdered at the beginning of the film. 

And Obi-Wan is of course little more than a wisdom-spouting old man who must stay serene at all times while scratching his beard. Han Solo, on the other hand, has absolutely no melancholy background. 

He is a mercenary, who is only out for money, and that gives him the freedom to spit out one-liners as much as he wants, to put his crooked grin on display and insult the other characters whenever he feels like it. 'Star Wars' is a series that keeps going in the direction of the bombastic.

Perhaps that is inevitable considering the genre film. The function of Han Solo's character is that he pierces through that bombast. Whenever it threatens to go all over the top, you just have to give him a scene, and immediately the atmosphere becomes lighter, more pleasant and enjoyable.

Another thing that can’t be avoided when talking about Star Wars, is just how beautifully worked out and brought onto the screen the whole universe is. While it’s all undeniably a product of its time and feels decidedly 70’s, it still holds up incredibly well and feels really realistic for its time. 

The different locations are all incredibly gorgeous to look at, and the special effects absolutely splendid. The colors and lights of some scenes is an absolute joy.  Whilst John William’s beautiful score, adds grandiosity and epicness as well as emotionally complementing certain scenes. 

Star Wars is undeniably a piece of film history that can’t really be avoided.  I wouldn’t have called it a masterpiece before, rather a very well made piece of entertainment. But now I’d have to change my view: a film can be a masterpiece, precisely for being an incredible piece of entertainment. 

"Someone Has To Save Our Skins. Into The Garbage Chute, Fly Boy."

[greentrickster]

@bucketoframen  #Okojspdjei #ALRIGJT WHO TAUGHT STANLEY ABOUT FANFICTION?? #it was Maya wasn't it? #It was totally Maya #People: *talking about the Bucket Man™️*. Stanley who is not even 3 feet away from them ._. #'yeah I heard that bucket guy is cool' <- is the bucket guy #Narrator finally touches grass. his life is changed forever

Good guess, and a close one, but it was Pearl, Pearl did it, and she had zero regrets! ;)

XD XD XD Yeah, pretty much, especially when he first heard them doing so! These days it’s more a :) reaction, like, “Yes. I am the Bucket Man, and I am happy with this.” Now the Narrator? Much less happy, ‘the Voice’ is such a lackluster title, he’s far too important and majestic for such a dull moniker. You know what’s a title that inspires confidence and awe? ‘Narrator.’ So everyone should just call him that. No he is not sulking, Stanley, what a ridiculous idea, preposterous, stop making that face right now or he’s going to reset you back to the base of these stairs you’re climbing, you see if he won’t-! (Listen, they love each other, but the Narrator is bossy all the way down and Stanley’s favorite activity is pushing buttons, especially the Narrator’s.)

Also you’re danged right touching grass changed the Narrator’s life forever! A good portion of the time they spent in the Ace Attorney universe the Narrator was just... experiencing stuff from a physical perspective. Textures, tastes, smells. Things he knew about previously, but in a second-hand sort of way, because he’d never felt the need to go physical before (at least not the way Stanley is), and it was a Shock. Of the three, touch is the newly experienced sense that the Narrator became most enamored with - taste and scent are both interesting, but touch is so incredibly unlike anything else he experiences as a non-corporal entity, and while it can be overwhelming, he finds it fascinating. Fun fact: the Parable has three times as many types of grass as our world does, just because the Narrator went on the creative equivalent of a bender with the concept. As a result, grass-touching tours are a real and popular pastime in the Parable, and the Narrator approves of this greatly.

It’s also worth noting that, while the Bucket Man is seen as friendly and approachable, the Voice is viewed as a much more neutral, dangerous entity. Not necessarily to be feared if you actually encounter it, but something to be treated with caution. The Bucket Man might build a sandcastle with you on the beach, or steal your lunch, or gift you with some of his stars. The Voice, on the other hand, could do anything from compliment your design to make you a side character in your own life, depending on how the interaction goes (though most often he just half-ignores you and talks to the Bucket Man instead).

Thinking about Stanley and the Narrator getting stories told about them by the other inhabitants as they explore the world they’ve turned the Parable into. Stanley’s the Bucket Man, who has a pocket full of stars and travels with the Voice. But it’s common to carry buckets here and, even in this world, Stanley’s very average looking, so most people don’t realize they’ve probably encountered the Bucket Man until after he and the Narrator have moved on. Something that increases the likeliness of Stanley not being recognized is if the Narrator is being physical and human-shaped at that moment, as the Voice isn’t supposed to have a physical form.

(And neither are Narrators, as he often complains, but sometimes he just really wants to hold Stanley’s hand or examine the textures of his game/world personally.)

(Also hugs are nice.)

(Maybe a li’l- just a li’l smooch. On the cheek. Just a li’l one.)

(“STANLEY WE ARE NOT BOTH HOLDING THE BUCKET’S HANDLE AT THE SAME TIME, WE ARE IN PUBLIC, THAT’S INDECENT-!!!!!)

[starberry-cupcake]

This is my entry for @whopooh‘s questions for fic writers! Thank you for developing this amazing questionnaire, it was very insightful and interesting to answer.  

I debated whether to answer these, but 2 out of 5 of my answers are Miss Fisher related and I have posted 1 Miss Fisher fic so far, so technically I’m good to answer these, according to the guidelines. Even if I do feel like I’m totally butting in, because I haven’t written for this fandom for as long as others and also I don’t tend to talk about my writing on tumblr much. Still, the questions were really good and I wanted to add my little contribution, so I hope that’s ok. It’s under “read more” because of length. Even if I probably don’t share all the fandoms included here with all of my followers, maybe some things are of interest and some of you, who also write (not only fanfiction, but anything at all) can relate to some of this. Sharing writing experiences is always interesting.   

1. Pick one fic that you’ve written and talk about what makes it important to you.

My Les Mis mutant AU The Downfall of the Juillet Institute is probably the most important I’ve written personally, even if it’s not my favorite. It was well received by readers, though, which is good for a fic that’s so personal. 

The main reason why it’s important to me is because it was there for me during some pretty heavy times, when a lot of things were happening and my life changed dramatically. In the middle of chaos, that fic was there. And I, the person who never writes chaptered fics because she thinks she’ll never finish them, had all the excuses to leave it unfinished. But I didn’t. I had a lot of encouragement and also very patient readers, and ultimately something very interesting happened. 

I started it with the intention of pushing myself to do in fic writing what I tend to do in personal writing. I don’t tend to use fic in the same way, I normally write fic to fulfill or add something I would have wanted to see in canon, but rarely I go as deep into it as I do in my personal writing, but not because I think it’s not worthy (it absolutely is! fanfiction is very important!). I had this idea that my fic writing and my personal writing were two completely separate things, with different reasons, motives and even languages (my original writing is in Spanish, my native language, and my fics tend to be in English, and I swear I feel my writing style is extremely different in both). I felt for a very long time that it had to be this way, because some things I had to “save” for one form of writing or the other, but in the end both are much more related than I thought and a lot of things I ended up including in my personal writing (I don’t want to call it “original” writing because there’s originality in fics as well) ended up being there because I integrated them first in my fics and worked through them there. 

With my mutant AU, though, I blurred the lines. I made an oath to push my fic writing to be more like my personal and create a story from the ground up with my own world-building in a complex setting (in sci fi, no less, which isn’t normally what I write), to include strong heavy emotional elements I don’t tend to include, and, to top it all off, to start posting it without having completely finished it. It was a gamble of massive proportions. 

I ended up learning more about my own writing process from this fic than I had with some of the creative writing workshops I’ve done. When all the issues started happening in my life, I found myself having to face this monster and some of the stuff I had set myself to include became triggering for me. So I had to find a way in which I could write it all and see it through. The fic helped me work through some heavy stuff and it ended up being an ideal place to project some of my issues and transform them into something new. 

I’m very grateful to that fic and very proud still today of having finished it. And even if some days I’m embarrassed of some of the ways in which I handled some stuff or some of the choices I made, I will always regard it with respect. 

2. Pick one of your older fics and say what about it you like most, and what you would do differently now.

I deleted every fic in my old fanfiction.net account and all traces of my young self in there, so I’m not linking it, but I had written once a ficlet in which I explored the different perspectives of the Black sisters from Harry Potter, Narcissa, Andromeda and Bellatrix. It was a bit lackluster, my English wasn’t the best (I hope it’s better now, who knows, not me), but the concept was rare for me at the time and I think it was a baby step towards my fascination with character archetypes and female representation in media. I had written plenty of HP fics before, but that one was a rarity and something that caught my attention at the time, how little we really knew of them individually and in comparison with each other. 

I think what I’d do differently now is a) fix the English grammar and b) go a bit deeper into each of them while also re-thinking my stance on some of my perceptions of them as women. I grew up and I see some things under a different light now, but I still feel strongly that it’s a worthy character analysis to do. I feel I was too tentative with it back then because I knew that it wasn’t really going to be meaningful for people, since it wasn’t a ship fic or had popular characters in it, but I think it was interesting and a bit of a prelude to something that’d be important for me in the future. 

3. Pick a fic and say something about why you wrote it – if there was a specific inspiration, perhaps from RL, fandom life, or a theme or a trope you felt needed to be written in a new way. 

I am not actively in the Yuri On ice fandom, in fact I wholeheartedly avoid it for different reasons. Still, last year I embarked on the task of writing a fic for it (A Revolutionary Act is its name) for one reason only: I wasn’t at all happy with how the fandom (and the show, for that matter) treated body image and Yuri’s body specifically. 

For those who don’t know me, I’m a plus size gal and have been my entire life.  Learning to accept and love my body is one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done (I’m still not all the way there), and body positivity conversations are very important to me. 

For the longest time, I avoided writing fat female characters in the stuff I wrote, in my personal stuff and in fic, because I was scared that people would think I was self-inserting. I felt, for the longest time, that people saying “is that supposed to be you?” was an insult to my creativity. So I avoided it. And then, after years and years of not seeing myself represented in books often (let’s not even talk about the Latina aspect, that’s adds another layer to it all), I asked myself “why are there so many plus size ladies writing books with female protagonists but none of them are plus size?”. And then it hit me, maybe it was for the same reason I was avoiding it. I couldn’t blame others for the lack of representation if I myself wasn’t willing to do it. You know that quote from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie? “the unintended consequence was that I did not know that people like me could exist in literature”? something along those lines. 

So I used fic to try that out and warm myself into writing characters more like me. I headcanoned my Cosette from Les Mis as a plus size Latina and projected that into her and left it for the world to judge. Surprisingly, people responded amazingly well to that. I wrote a fic for a friend in which I explored Cosette’s and Éponine’s relationships with their bodies using myself and my friend as inspiration for both points of view, no matter how shameless a projection that was (My Body Is Home was its name, because the Mary Lambert quotes are a thing with me). And some people thanked me for talking about it, some people needed to hear those things as much as I did, to see themselves in their favorite characters. 

Years passed and I came across the YOI situation. YOI is one of those kinds of “idol animes” in which the guys are represented as aesthetically pleasing for social standards of Japanese culture (mainly for women’s perception of male aesthetic archetypes in anime characters, that’s a whole analysis for some other time), and the fandom responded in the very same way. Yuri’s weight was a matter of mockery, of denigration and treated as an issue. Yuri’s “best” was when he was thin, Yuri’s “worst” was when he was fat. His fatness was associated with his lack of passion, his self-loathing, his loneliness. His thinness was associated with his triumph, his activity, his sex appeal. Both in the show and in most of fandom conversation/artwork/fanfiction. 

So, before embarking on a redeeming fic for that situation, I investigated about plus size figure skaters. I wanted to know how much of a “problem” weight was for competitive figure skaters and if there were plus size figure skaters anywhere at all. I found a lot of them, actually, and some of them competing professionally. And I also found the amount of awful comments they got, the bullying, people actively telling them in the comments of a video where they were pulling off amazing stuff, that they weren’t supposed to pull off that amazing stuff, because of their weight. 

I went ahead and wrote the fic. I had a lot of help for the Russian and Japanese cultural aspects, thanks to my amazing friends Anita and Aya, and I wrote what I knew would be my first and last YOI fic. My sole purpose was to put my grain of salt to fix a problem I felt the fandom was having, as someone who liked the show. It was the least I could do, if I felt something was wrong, to try to change it from the inside. 

The result was actually very good. My fic isn’t by any means as popular as most fics on that fandom, it may not be an epitome of modern storytelling by any means whatsoever, but I received comments from people who had no idea a perspective like that could exist in this narrative. At first I found it strange, because I surround myself with body positive people and vibes and inspirations, but I understood how it could feel for someone who doesn’t have the same influences, who was born in fandoms where aesthetically accepted social standards are conceptualized to sell and market character archetypes that propel fantasies that don’t necessarily associate with reality. 

All in all, it was somewhat out of character for me to write a YOI fic in the first place, because it isn’t the kind of fandom I tend to get involved with, but the results were positive for me and others and I feel I addressed a problem that I personally felt that had to be addressed. I did what I wish authors had done more of when I was a teenager reading fics, and I feel that’s a good use of my writing and time. 

4. Is there something you wrote in a fic that was read differently than you intended, and that made you see your own fic in another light?

Alright so here comes my first (and hopefully not last) Miss Fisher fic, In the Land of Lethe. This fic was a bit of an impulsive thing, which is a lot to say for me because I don’t do anything impulsive ever. I had seen and loved the show, I was (am) obsessed with it and I wanted to write something. I think I wrote it in like 3 days or so, I hadn’t been that inspired with a fic in so long. 

The truth is that I had been writing fic for fandoms where I either knew I didn’t belong, where I am not active but I create things for because I like the thing or where I didn’t form any strong bonds with people. 

So in I go to write a fic for a thing I just finish devouring, in a bit of an impulse, and it just came out so naturally and fast I was surprised. I had been writing a lot of original stuff but my fic work had been dwindling in the past years. I had no idea what to expect upon posting it, especially since I took a leeway with some things, (like focusing on Mac and Phryne’s friendship more than it was maybe originally intended, or being presumptuous enough to attempt to delve into Phryne’s thoughts and ideas of her own identity, when I’m totally new in the fandom). I decided to not question myself as I often do and post it anyway, and be it what it may. 

I am still shocked of how good people was to me. I got the nicest comments and the very things I was most worried about where the things people enjoyed the most. I realized that I had spent too much time writing fics for fandoms that were very critical and specific with the stuff included and that I was constantly trying to please, in a way, rather than please myself. And this impulsive fic I had done in a couple of days, with all the love for the show in my heart, was immediately welcomed among people who write amazing things. 

5. Is there a fic by another writer that has inspired you? 

In the Miss Fisher fandom once again, I have an interesting story with @firesign23‘s Snips and Snails and Squirrelly Tales, mostly with Fear Not The Bugle. 

I actually came across the last installment of the series first (Fear Not The Beagle) and, for some reason, didn’t see it was a last installment of a longer thing. So in I get into this narrative with absolutely no context whatsoever and I read that Phryne and Jack are married and have a kid. Cue my utmost confusion. I was not sold on the idea initially, to say the least, and when I discovered it was a series, I thought I’d do the right thing and start from the beginning (revolutionary idea, I know). 

And, holy crap, it was amazing. It was unexpected and absolutely in character and it introduced those unlikely things, that most people would normally feel at least a bit uneasy about, in a way that was so organic and true to their characters that you had no option but to give in and get this perspective. 

And I loved getting into that series/fic that way, from the back door kind of, because I got to appreciate the amount of work it was to develop these characters in a situation that left you no choice but to accept this reality and actually feel delighted by it. You need to know your characters, know your audience and know the absolute heck out of your social/historical context to pull a stunt like that fic. 

I don’t know this author personally, only through fic, but all my respect and admiration to the amount of work that was. A favorite, absolutely. 

[thebluephilosopher-blog]

Vexx

This one is an older favorite of mine. Now before you think I am a hardcore fan, let me point out, this game has not aged well. Banjo Kazooie has aged better than this game and that's 2 systems difference. But before you think its a terrible game, let me say what it has in flaws it makes up for in heart. Now, this game underwent a lot of changes from start to finish. Originally Vexx had a much less gritty look and style, he was even going to have a loopy pet lizard. In my explorations and research I haven't found anything that proves this for sure, but indulge my theory. If you remember the beginning of the movie 'Small soldiers' you might remember the scene where the two guys pitch their sales for the next line of toys. One of them has a very edgy angle, "Violence, action and explosions!" but next to nothing concept wise other than "these soldiers attack stuff." And then the other guy with less stage presence in his performance shows off his neat little alien explorers idea with rich background, character depth and even some concept art and models. Overall the boss likes the idea of the first guy but seeing as the first toys are shallow he hijacks the aliens and makes them their mortal enemies so it sells better. Now again, I can't prove this but I really get this feeling from the game. It's ads and sales tactics were geared toward "THIS IS SO EDGY JUST LOOKING AT IT MAKES YOU BLEED!" However if you look into the lore, the original designs and concepts and the world in the game, it really shows. This was somebody's baby and it was remade to be someone else’s 'Hit seller.' To some this is a sleeper classic, to others it's a forgotten title. But let us take a closer look.

Plot: There is not much plot to this entire game, in fact there are only about 3 or 4 cut-scenes in total. So if you want to play this yourself this is your last SPOILER WARNING. Okay, so we begin with some girl talking about how the world was great until her people decided to open a door to the the wraith's (A shadow race) world. The wraiths basically shatter their world so there are floating parts of it scattered around like an asteroid field. Her people were killed off as they were the only ones strong enough to fight back and then the wraiths took over the world. 700 years later she is the last one alive and that is where Vexx appears. The Shadowraiths attack and enslave him and his people forcing them to work in mines. Eventually Vexx can bear his anger no more and attacks a guard but is overpowered. Before he is killed by their leader Dark Yabu, his grandfather manages to land a hit on him, incurring his wrath instead. He kills him and imprisons his soul in his amulet where he will be tortured by fear until his soul fades away. Vexx sneaks away and looks for a weapon and finds the Astara war talons and they bond to his hands permanently. When he wakes up he is with a guy called Darby. Darby says there is nobody left and to "trust no one you meet." He explains that even after a wraith dies its heart stays behind. Basically the Wraiths fed on the energy of the world and the portal device, draining it. They could not help themselves and trapped themselves on this world. The energy you need to repower it can be gained by collecting them and feeding them back into the core. And that's when you are off to go collect them. Once you collect enough you power the elevator to the top of the tower. You meet Reia who was the narrator, the last Astari warrior alive and that Darby was Dark Yabu all along. Darkby is also spelled with mostly the letters from Dark Yabu so there was a complex trick. Anyway he beats them, steals the staff and you find out he tricked Vexx into powering the portal and now he has Reia's staff which can open the portal to his home world and others. So after a little more heart hunting you confront Yabu as the final boss, you win and because Yabu was keeping this entrance to his world powered, it crumbles with his death. He throws the staff into the portal before falling into the mist below and Reia seals the portal and Vexx inside forever. The ending credits shows him roaming the Wraith home world killing every shadow beast in his path. Truly gritty and edgy.

Sound: Despite the very lackluster plot and stereotypical motivations the voice acting is very well done. But if you enjoy great soundtracks, check this game out. It has some very inspiring orchestral and choir music. This is one of the aspects the game really shines in, it stands apart from your generic soundtracks. Each level has a day and night music, with the night being a little more eerie and hopeless.

Gameplay: The gameplay is very solid even if it is basically the Mario 64 "collect set number of stars/hearts" style. The combat mechanics are a bit simple but offers you enough combo's to mix it up or even juggle enemies. One of my favorite things to do when I was younger was to jump up while climbing. It's fast, but you can actually jump over the top of the cliff if you are close enough like you are bursting forth like batman. Another aspect of the game was that at night the wraiths influence over the planet is unleashed, infecting all the natural wildlife and twisting them into meaner more aggressive creatures. But as long as you know where the time dial for the area is you can change the time as you please. However some portals only open at a certain time in levels so you have to time getting from the Sun dial to the portal before it closes. There is one fatal flaw to the game however. It was converted to work primarily with Xbox and ported to the other systems. And if you doubt this, there is a mock Xbox in one of the levels. As a result everything in the game runs smoothly but the images and textures were compressed. The game suffers from serious pixel damage and low quality textures to everything when you get a close look at it. From afar it seems alright. This is one aspect that really hurts it the most.

World: This is where the game makes up. The worlds are so rich with lore, world building and thought. To begin with there are Journals left behind by Reia, telling of her history and how she became to be the last survivor sealed in the tower. Wraiths can take on any form or shape they please, seeing as they are just shadows in the physical world. As a result it caused panic and paranoia in the populace after they were tricked several times. My favorite Journal is the one how the king, her father, told her to lock herself into the tower and not to open the door for anyone including himself. Then a few days later she see's him fighting another Astana warrior, and then when he killed it it was a shadowraith. Then he came to the door saying to come out and bring the staff key with her. But it was actually another wraith trying to trick her. later she documents Vexx's people slowly growing up before they are taken. I do like how one of them sort of says "I think Yabu may be looking for someone to collect the hearts for him." sort of a slap in the face if you didn't figure it out. But there is just too much about these worlds to sum up so I am going to give each one a little highlight. But I will say each heart has a little rhyme poem to clue you into what you need to do to get it.

Timberdale: You start out in a tomb dedicated to the old Astaran hero's of old. Its well made and the tapestries show off what your talons can do. Outside is the town of Timberdale. It is not mentioned if this is the town that Vexx lived in or if this is the remains of some other culture but it is a wood cutting town that lives in the biggest tree in the area. Outside you can see the meteorite filled sky from the planets remains but parts will occasionally crash and collide with this world periodically. Inside a cave is my favorite place. There are several towers and a fantastic landscape around them. The smaller 3 towers are filled with strange water effects. Water flowing up to the ceiling, pockets of water in layers you can swim through and twisting gates. The larger one goes up a great distance before you get the heart. But the Water wall portal is amazing. It only works in one direction but renders both worlds at the same time. This takes clever programing.

Dragonreach: This desert is pretty straightforward. There is a giant skeleton of a dragon, a tomb level and wells you can swim in. The music to this place is better at night. Arid levels tend to be a little empty but the massive skeleton distinguishes this place pretty well.

Neverglades: This jungle ruin level has more than meets the eye. At first it seems like a rather small level, however if you go into the ruins behind the gate you find a secret mechanical pyramid buried beneath sands you can raise up. If you go into the ruins in front of you, you will find a historical tapestry's to the history of the Astarans. It shows each phase of what happened, and even a few other talon bearers. To the side a large statue with a waterfall effect.

Tempest Peak Manor: This home used to belong to the storm giant. Not much is known of where he went or what happened to him. What is left is his massive home. If you are a fan of exploring the world as a small person then you will like this. The details to the environment here are expert. The piano organ has many hidden messages in it as does some of the objects in the room. More on that later. There is also the old pet of the giant that stalks the floor. Falling off the level to the floor won't kill you, but Rex will.

The Below: This is my favorite level of them all. This area seems like your typical tropical setting, but it has a giant dome aquarium right in the middle. You have to swim in through the pipes to get into the water dome but what is inside are more domes filled with air and different habitats. There is a giant waterfall tower inside one, a lush tropical Grimkin village in another and a small resort type room in the last. If that wasn't enough for you there is a giant fish swimming around that can eat you leading you to a secret area inside him. That still not enough? how about swimming down a cracked opening into a volcanic cavern? But the best part is the peaceful but sad violin music that plays. The whole idea of an artificial water dome is brilliant.

Summit of the Sages: This stage has a lot of detail to it. There is prominently a mountain cliff with head faces carved into it. There is even a little scaffolding in some areas. Inside one is a large flooded area, and inside the other is a mechanical factory. In front is a sort of lake with wood and metal platforms. There is rubble and a few structures remaining in the area but overall it's primary focus is on Mt. Vexxmore.

Daggercrag: This floating desert fortress differs from the previous one. First of all there is only one main land mass, and its the fortress. Pretty much everything else is floating debris. Some parts have been chained so as to keep them from floating off. Its the little touches that make a world interesting.

Frostblight Mill and Citadel of Shadows: These two levels have a special connection that is not clearly mentioned in the game. When Dark Yabu retreats to rebuild his forces he creates a large parasitic city that feeds off of the world, draining it of life. Frostblight is that place. This world was drained of all life and heat, leaving it a frozen wasteland. There are several places in towers or the windmill that indicate this place was not always frozen. The Citadel also has an interesting secret. As I mentioned each world has its own unique day and night sequence. A full cycle is about 3 hours. The Shadow Citadel has only a few minutes of daylight, meaning that all the enemies are powered up with darkness, have more health and make this level one of the hardest in the game.

Characters: There are only 4 main characters if you don't count Darby and are going for ones that appear in the main plot, but there are mentions of others in the lore.

Dark Yabu: Typical 'I am evil because I am evil' type villain. Not much depth of character but I will say that he is at least tricky and deceptive. He was not originally the leader but he was an important Wraith. After the war when both sides had been mostly killed off he managed to retreat and bide his time while he replenished his army. It is also confirmed that he also killed Reia's mother and her other sisters personally. In his fight he does shift into different forms each time Vexx hurts him but again, very copy paste type of villain.

Vexx: His personality is best described as angry or vengeful, like his name. He does not actually say any words in the game, but he sure does yell and growl. Originally before his "dark brooding makeover" his name was Jinxed. But I can imagined the name was not tragic hero enough for the manager, so after realizing they can't use the name Peter Parker they settled on Vexx. The extra X makes him more edgy. He started out with more of a spunky adventurer or explorer sort of look but as time passed he got more and more pointy and gritty.

Reia: In her lore it is mentioned that her father led the people and was helping the scientists with the warp portal tech and that she has sisters, although it is not mentioned how many. However her belt has the rune for 1 so I am willing to bet she was the first born. She has lived for many hundreds of years and still looks pretty young so perhaps her people do not age? or perhaps her time in the tower has suspended aging for her? Its hard to say. In the beginning concept art she was more reptilian and old. However as time went on she got younger and more humanoid, as did the Astaran's.

Wartalons: Yes the Astari wartalon's that Vexx wears are actually sentient. In the beginning they take his mind into a world to test him. Their sentience is composed of all the people who wore these before him and even tell him they will grant him all the knowledge and experience of the previous bearers. Which explains why the text always starts out in Astaran, then converts into English so you can read it, and also why he can speak the language of the various people and places he visits even if it is spoken in a different dialect. While they only get the intro, these are possibly the most interesting conceptual character in the main game.

Vargas: Vexx's grandfather. He really only plays a part to set up the hero so he might as well be named Uncle Ben or something and has no lines and only about 2 minutes of time. It is also not decided if Vexx was able to save him from the grim fate trapped in Yabu's gem, or if he was able to spare his soul in the end.

Monsters: Most of the creatures in this game change at night. Most. This is where I think there were also cuts to compress this for Xbox. In the game art they used for press release and screen shots you can see some of the creatures and their day and night forms are completely different. Some of the monsters just get dark purple but have the same model. I think they had to cut extra enemy forms to save space on the game. Im going to review the changes as best as I have discovered.

Puggle: This little guy is like a cross between toadstools and mean puppies. They will blindly charge at you if they see you and they make adorable little grunts that make you feel bad when you pummel them. At night they get more aggressive and more pointy. But they really are nothing more than an annoyance. They pose no real threat.

Grimkin: These bald little creatures are specifically interesting. In the manual it says that they evolved into two different strains. The first one developed, not bigger brains and intellects, but super thick skulls capable of sustaining high impact. Grimkin will attempt to headbutt you with their massive heads. At night they take a darker and more sinister look and their heads burn with shadow fire. Some may say that the heads are always on fire, but again I say model limitations. In the original art all the Grimkin have normal non burning heads. So I think someone saved some effort and just made the flame persistent in both forms to save space.

Hulks: These are the other half of the Grimkin. Again they did not develop smarts or thinking, they focused mostly on brute force, muscle and size. They don't really have any interesting traits other than big hulks that roam around and try and pummel you. Still the fact they are related is the best part about this pair.

Skinx: Strange little flying shells with tentacles are often a real pain but pose little threat if you time a counter strike. Personally I find the idea of a flying crustacean an interesting and rarely done. Even if they don't have much to them, the creative idea is appreciated.

Shreek: Unlike all the other enemies these ones do not actually attack you themselves. These poor souls are tied to a pole after their torment and used as lookouts. Their only respite in life is by keeping a lookout for other people to divert suffering on instead of themselves. You cant actually kill them and you could also feel sorry for them. A very boring and pointless existence as prisoners.

Bonus: Now there is a little something extra I have slightly touched on. This game has its own language and number system in it. If there is one thing I love more than anything more than interesting cultures, glorious fictional settings and amazing plot twists it is perhaps Cypher's and symbols. This game has an entire language cypher. The best part is the game uses it all over the place. For example, a box has "do not open" written on it where you can open it. They also have these kinds of words everywhere. There is one drawback. I mentioned the pixel damage problem earlier,  want to take a guess on which part that's hard to recognize properly if its really blurry or illegible? Yeah, Letters. So sometimes its nearly impossible to read them clearly so you have to guess. And there are a lot that don't make sense, but so many do read correctly so I know it has to be one of two things. A. Somebody just put cool looking runes on stuff for effect or B. The game detail makes it look like other letters. When you get the gloves a neat thing happens. When people talk the runes appear in the text box but are translated to English. So this links to my theory they give Vexx the ability to understand their language. But I digress, even the amount of time and effort to make a basic cypher of the alphabet with original symbols takes a very long time. And that's not counting extra sounds or a language outside of normal English letters. So when I translated most of this language for your enjoyment trust me when I say it took quite a while. So as you can gather I am a bit of a language and cypher enthusiast.

Final Thoughts: There is a lot about this game that is unfortunate and badly executed or made, but there is so much that redeems it that it is hard to condemn it either. Clearly someone put a ton of effort into a tragic tale of a civilization that has fallen, but it feels like someone hijacked it to make it into an edgy antihero game. There is next to no story and cut-scenes, but the music and world are so vibrant and diverse that it feels separate. I suppose if there is anything to learn from this that it is possible that a game is still good even if it has terrible parts. Ultimately we can intend for good things but that doesn't mean it will end that way. You could look at both the game and the way the game was received and see a similarity. The Astari were about to break through a new amazing scientific discovery, opening a portal to new worlds and new places. The game makers also wanted to make a great game that would be well received and had a lot of good ideas to build on. However the Astaran's discovered that beyond the portal gates was a world of very hostile creatures bent on taking over their world, thus ending their prosperity and ruining their own world. And the game makers tried to adjust the game to make it more edgy, rebel without a cause and hero with a dark past, ultimately sacrificing their original idea to use a gimmick that would sell the game better. But were met with very mixed opinions and was not well received. An ironic parallel. However I think the game gave a great line early on. "Take heart, for the measure of a person lies not in how one deals with the easiest situations, but rather in what you do when faced with the most hopeless of circumstances." It is easy to stand tall when you have all the cards in your favor, but it takes real courage to fight even if you know you are not going to win. I hope this has either given you inspiration or taught you something.

Brought to you By: P.A. Master- Great guy, he has a voice like a professional book reader but moonlights as an LPer. He can be quite humorous and can really deliver one liners quite well. Check him out https://www.youtube.com/user/PAMaster1000. He has even played a few games I have thought about going through. If he makes you smile even once then it's well worth it.

[thatha100-blog1]

Fire Emblem: Awakening

With the recent release of  Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, new fans of the series may be interested in Fire Emblem: Awakening, the first Fire Emblem game for the 3DS. I hope this review will help newcomers or strangers to the Fire Emblem series to find another gem for the 3DS.

Fire Emblem Awakening was originally planned to be the final game in the franchise before it’s massive success that reinvigorated the series. Awakening is a turn based strategy rpg for the 3DS that focuses on making new allies to wage war. The best way to describe it would be to imagine a giant chess board, and every piece has a story and stats. These characters are your windows into the world of Awakening. Awakening also features an avatar character who the player will be.  All characters have a story to tell with the games “Support” feature, in which two units will gain bonuses in battle for being paired up with friends after dialogue that offers more insight into the characters. Overall, this JRPG will leave players with one of the best experiences the 3DS has to offer.

Awakening’s story has come under criticism for being lackluster in a few areas, but overall, the tale of the Shepherds is engaging and won’t be forgotten soon. Populating the world of Awakening are a cast of characters who create an army that I can never forget. From the clumsy Sumia to the reserved Lon’qu, every unit has a personality, and a story. Most importantly though is that each unit has a reason for being with you. Lon’qu wishes to become a master swordsman while he is under your control, Tharja doesn’t wish to follow the orders of her King, so she joins your side. These small bits stitch together the army in a well balanced cast. There’s a character for everyone to use and enjoy. Personally, Lon’qu has a special spot on the battlefield in my save files. If you’re willing to learn about the characters and watch a highly engaging narrative play out, you’ll thoroughly enjoy the adventures of Chrom and Robin. I often laughed in the bits of humor mixed in with often serious moments of defending your country. The writing is superb and DLC is available that mainly features more story. Awakening will draw you in and will refuse to let you go once you jump in.

When it comes to the gameplay of Awakening, one must first understand the weapon triangle. While simplistic Fire Emblem is home to the Weapon triangle, a.k.a, Rock Paper Scissors. Swords beat axes, axes beat lances, and lances beat swords. Units live and die by the weapon triangle, and you better believe that the triangle won’t be taking your nonsense. The reason the triangle matters is that Awakening runs off of percentages deciding hits and crits. Slating your sword user to fight a lance user will result in your sword user missing like a chump and getting a spear through their head. Later in the game, the triangle will matter less, but you will get schooled if you mess up the triangle early game.

Your units can also pair up in battle, and this leads to your units getting in extra attacks or even blocking an entire hit from the enemy. The units can build supports which are small bits of dialogue between the character that will shed light on the daily routine of the shepherds or a character’s past. This friendship will often pay off in the form of temporarily boosted stats when they pair up which can help them survive.

Speaking of surviving, strangers to the Fire Emblem Series should know that when units die in Fire Emblem, they die for good. Losing characters that are vital to your team can force a reset or create a tragic moment that creates a more personal narrative for the player. Fortunately for newer players Awakening features casual mode for those who prefer to experience the narrative of Awakening first rather than strategically plan out a run to the numbers. There is a bit of discourse over the use of casual mode in a game known for it’s perma death, but for the first run through of the game, it really helps as the player can enjoy a story and prepare for future run throughs with the knowledge they have gathered.

The animations and sprite work in Awakening are flavorful experiences for the eye that keep you craving for more. The overhead view of the battlefield puts your characters into sprite form which all have animations for moving in all directions. Once a battle starts, the game drops you into a cinematic view of the battle, and the 3D models are gorgeous. Fluidity is one of the strong points of the models as well, whenever Chrom prepares to slam dunk an enemy with the Falchion, you can see the power behind the swing before the scenes goes into a slow mode. It’s truly a magical experience watching your units land a flurry of blows. Another example is whenever a pegasus knight attacks from pair up mode, as they swing right into the enemy landing a powerful blow.

One of the major selling points of this game, is the wonderful art of Yūsuke Kozaki. His artwork of the main characters is awe shocking. Each character has a memorable design. Lon’qu for example is only every portrayed from a profile shot, and Gregor is a youthful man in his older days, and you can sense this purely from the portraits made by him. Not to mention the boxart is perhaps the best I’ve seen of all time. It’s creative, it’s bold, it makes you wonder who those characters are.  

I remember countless sleepless experiencing the game as I couldn’t put the game down until I got my allies all safe through the battle. I felt engaged, going through battles, picking my favorite units to break the enemy. Awakening does strategy and immersion right, and that’s probably why it became one of the best selling 3DS games of the era.

Awakening is perfect for 3DS as pick up and play works well with a game like Awakening as you can either get comfortable for a long haul or fill in a short car ride. As of right now, finding a physical copy of Awakening would run you a bit more, but the Nintendo Eshop also has it available digitally. Awakening is a game that deserves the praise it gets and I hope more people can have that magical moment from Awakening.

This was my first ever video game review article, so any criticisms are welcome until I get into the swing of things! -Thatha

Pictures Used:

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-3DS/Fire-Emblem-Awakening-725039.html

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Life After Re:Mind: A Personal Post-Mortem on Kingdom Hearts III

I’ve been on the Kingdom Hearts roller coaster for almost its entire run. For the uninitiated, that’s about 18 years, approximately eight games across five different platforms (not even counting all the re-releases), technically a movie, and an ongoing mobile game’s worth of my gaming dedicated to this one franchise. The iconic, almost infamous Disney x Square Enix mashup has certainly made its mark on the industry in its long history, and its most recent entry—Kingdom Hearts III—stood out as a highly-anticipated title with 13 years of build-up and six years of development. 

While the state of its completion upon launch was rather questionable, a DLC add-on was rolled out almost a year later to fill in some of the gaps. Re:Mind was released on January 23 as a supplemental story that sought to provide further insight into the narrative and paint a more complete picture. It even added some new content and playable elements to boot.

    For all intents and purposes, Re:Mind brings the story of KH3 to a close. But how well does it do that? Rather than simply review the DLC, I’d like to take a deep dive (pun intended) into how complete the game feels now. As a hopelessly-devoted Kingdom Hearts fan who wanted so much more out of KH3 initially, I went into Re:Mind hoping for the package to be more substantial. In many ways, Re:Mind delivers on its promise of a fuller experience. But from what I’ve played thus far, I’m still not very confident in saying that the game as a whole is in any way perfect. 

But before we even get to Re:Mind, I should talk about my thoughts on the base game. After about a year of careful consideration, my reaction is lukewarm at best. 

**MAJOR SPOILERS FOR KINGDOM HEARTS III BELOW**

I have to admit that those first couple of hours were magical. With so many installments touting completely different play styles, KH3 had a strong start. It began as a return to form for the franchise, combining its classic action-RPG gameplay with some of the best mechanics from other games in the series. I felt that my patience, tenuous as it was, was rewarded with a gameplay experience that was both nostalgic and refreshing.

But when that initial charm wore off and the game progressed, it started to take a bit of a nose dive. Its enormous worlds had almost nothing in them and the dazzling gameplay became so broken that I don’t think I got a Game Over throughout the entire story.  Not to mention there were fan favorite characters that saw little to no spotlight, and the conclusion to the long-running Xehanort Saga that director Tetsuya Nomura promised us left more questions than answers. 

I won’t say I hated it. Seeing characters like Terra, Roxas, and Xion make a comeback during the climax was so emotionally gratifying that I can barely think about those scenes without crying. With so many characters having been resigned to grim fates throughout the series, it was all too satisfying to see some happy endings go around. But even then, it was missing far too much to be among my favorite Kingdom Hearts games.

If you compare it to any other title in the franchise content-wise, KH3 was a barebones and almost empty affair that left much to be desired. The final chapter proved to be lackluster with its shockingly unchallenging clip show of bosses from games past and a last world that was barely explorable. And the bittersweet cherry on top came as Sora disappeared by the end of the Keyblade War while his friends were alive and well, an ending that was far too hard to swallow for a story that has long deserved a real and honest conclusion.

Re:Mind, in its entirety,sought to change at least some of this. This three-part DLC package (three parts that I know of, at least) promised to deliver more playable characters, a deeper insight into the story, more real gameplay challenges, and a glimpse into the future of Kingdom Hearts. I’ve played and struggled through the first two (Re:Mind and Limited Cut), and am currently working on conquering the third (Secret Episode). But I have plenty to say on the matter already.

I’ll go in order, starting with Re:Mind itself. As a retelling of the final chapter, this first episode went into further detail on Sora’s journey to rescue Kairi’s heart after she perished by Xehanort’s hand. His own heart traveled back through time to collect pieces of Kairi, passing through every Keyblade wielder during their final respective battles, which lent itself to allowing the player to take control of different characters and use their abilities.

This was, without a doubt, my favorite part of the DLC. It gave me everything I wanted out of the conclusion of KH3. It wasn’t difficult to get used to any of the new characters (gameplay translates rather consistently between each of them), but it was so exciting to have some of my favorites take an active part in the final conflict and truly helped to raise the emotional impact of their returns. 

The big team-up between every Keyblade Master and Mickey Mouse’s unyielding efforts to fight back the darkness with his dwindling strength easily served as some of the most powerful gameplay moments in the entire series. It gave me the same kind of vibes I would get from watching epic anime battles ala Gurren Lagann or My Hero Academia. Characters from across the series overcame severe hardships in order to arrive at one last fight against Xehanort, which resulted in an immensely satisfying conclusion for the supporting cast.

What made this first part work was how it directly addressed some of the flaws of KH3’s denouement. While working its way into the main story, it was able to course correct much of the narrative payoff it tried to achieve the first time around. It was more than just Sora, Donald, and Goofy fighting one more evil person. It gave everyone a chance to shine and allowed its fans to be directly involved in seeing their stories through. Is it a perfect game after Re:Mind’s first chapter? Far from it. Do I lament that this content wasn’t available at launch? You bet I do. But Re:Mind itself was exactly the climax I wanted one year ago, and getting it now certainly counts for something in my book.

The same can hardly be said for what comes after.

Upon completing Re:Mind, you unlock the Limited Cut. Taking place one year after the main story, Riku and company have worked tirelessly trying to track down Sora with nothing to show for it. While trying to compare notes with Radiant Garden’s crew of Final Fantasy characters, they discover a strange collection of old Organization XIII data, and compile a digitized version of Sora to investigate it. This results in a gauntlet of bosses that pits you against beefed-up versions of the Organization members. And these fights are substantially more difficult than anything that the base game had to offer. 

This could’ve been a good thing. One of the major complaints I had with the initial KH3 release was that you could very easily unlock combat abilities that were nigh-invincible and easily tore through any enemy the game threw at you, even final bosses and secret enemies. By and large, these new bosses offered no such luxury. 

Reminiscent of KH2:FM, each Organization member required their own strategy and featured original gimmicks that you had to overcome. Almost none were so simple as “mashing the X button so you could press the Triangle button so you can mash X better.” This collection of newer bosses would’ve been nice to add as a secret room where you could test your abilities, and I certainly felt like a champion conquering them one by one. But it fails when you include it as a linchpin to the rest of the story.

Limited Cut presents itself as a legitimate continuation of Kingdom Hearts. In other words, surmounting this glut of superbosses was a requirement in order to know the rest of the story. That isn’t how superbosses should work. I enjoy being challenged with sidequests and extra content in any Kingdom Hearts game, but not when it serves as a barrier barring me from actual narrative. In the past, secret bosses were optional challenges that you could take on, where you’d be rewarded with extra scenes if you beat them. What came after Limited Cut hardly felt worth it. There were cutscenes to be had and I did learn something new in terms of what Riku must do to save Sora, but having to tear my hair out through several difficult bosses just for that one fact was the furthest thing from a fair tradeoff.

In fairness, that wasn’t all I got from beating Limited Cut. It granted me access to the Secret Episode, but that’s an entirely different beast as of now.

As the episode begins, we miraculously find Sora alive and well, albeit stranded in the Final World. He soon encounters a mysterious young man named Yozora (who you might remember from the Toy Box gag commercial and the original secret ending). Strangely enough, Yozora had been asked to “save Sora,” though his version of it seemed to involve drawing his weapon against him. So ensues one of the toughest, almost confusing boss battles I’ve ever encountered in Kingdom Hearts.

As of writing, I still have yet to defeat Yozora. I hope to do so soon just to see if anything comes after. If the secret content of previous games is any indication, it probably won’t be too much, but the potential of narrative compels me to see it through to the end. And that simply compounds the problem that the content after the main story seems to have.

There’s a stark difference between beating a regular boss to further the story and beating secret bosses to further the story. This unrelenting test of my skills feels more like a requirement for my KH3 experience rather than just a side challenge. The sense of accomplishment I might get from overcoming these enemies is diminished when you replace hidden content with vague and mandatory narrative as a reward. Of course I want to know more about what’s happening in the story, but having to work this hard for it has proven to be rather unappetizing.

The way I see it, the entire DLC package of Re:Mind worked at its best when it played into the game it’s attached to. The first chapter doesn’t fix all of the base game’s problems, but I found a much greater sense of gratification in seeing characters I’ve followed for years get a redo for their long-deserved epic comebacks. Unfortunately, it began to lose me as soon as the DLC started to stray away from the core experience.

As I mentioned before, Tetsuya Nomura promised us an ending to this saga of the Kingdom Hearts story. Even if the series continues from here, as it undoubtedly will, I still wanted that one decisive ending before moving on. I didn’t get it the first time around, what with the ambiguous final scene and two secret endings in the base game. Limited Cut and Secret Episode brought me even further from it, while kicking my ass to boot.

I wasn’t so naive as to think that Kingdom Hearts was ever going to end. The whole reason why I got the DLC in the first place was because I wanted more of it. When all's said and done, Re:Mind reflected my initial experience with Kingdom Hearts III. The first few moments dazzled me, but despite its best efforts and toughest challenges, there still remains so much more that could be done to salvage this game in its current, seemingly final, iteration.

Have you beaten Re:Mind yet? Which secret boss gave you the most trouble? Let us know in the comments!

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Carlos is a freelance features writer for Crunchyroll. Their favorite genres range from magical girls to over-the-top robot action, yet their favorite characters are always the obscure ones. Check out some of their satirical work on The Hard Times.

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

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The best multi-platform games you can buy

The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.

The Insider Pick:

Whether you have a PlayStation, an Xbox, or a Windows PC, you can play any of these great multi-platform games. Our favorite titles include “Doom,” “The Witcher III: Wild Hunt,” “Resident Evil 7: Biohazard," “Metal Gear Solid V,” and “Overwatch.”

The game industry is at an interesting crossroads right now. PC gaming has become hugely popular over the past decade or so, with many people even building their own custom machines. As a result, consoles makers have increasingly had to compete with stronger and more regularly-updated computer hardware. Many gamers still prefer consoles due to their lower cost and convenience of use, but there’s no arguing that these systems, by their nature, lag a bit behind PCs when it comes to delivering a bleeding-edge graphical experience.

Since the Nintendo Entertainment System, game consoles have typically followed generational releases with new ones coming out every five or six years. We may be witnessing the end of this traditional launch cycle, however. In an attempt to close the gap between gaming PCs and consoles, Sony and Microsoft have offered more frequent hardware refreshes with machines like the PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X. These units, while still technically falling within the current console generation, boast beefed-up hardware that allows developers to push them further and stay up-to-date with modern trends like 4K and VR – features that have been available on PC for a few years now.

This ongoing arms race between console and computer hardware has also seen a notable decrease in the number of system exclusives. The PC, Xbox, and PlayStation each have their own libraries of unique games that are particular to each platform, but we’re increasingly seeing games released across multiple systems. Compare this to a decade or two ago, when the vast majority of games were exclusive to one platform and these “multi-plats” were far less common.

If trends hold, then more frequent console hardware updates and multi-platform gaming appear to be the future of the industry. This is good news for PC and console gamers alike: Players who love the pick-up-and-play convenience of consoles don’t need a beefy custom computer to play the latest AAA titles at high resolution, and dedicated PC gamers now get to enjoy many franchises, such as Final Fantasy or Metal Gear Solid, that were just a few years ago confined to specific platforms like Nintendo or PlayStation.

The sheer number of multi-platform games available today makes it difficult to narrow it down to just five. And although things like DLC and micro-transactions have caused their fair share of controversy in the modern industry, one thing is clear: There have been some truly awesome titles coming out recently from developers around the world, and the past few years have been great for gaming.

In this guide, we’ve done our best to smoke out what are arguably the five best multi-plats available on the PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 so you can enjoy them all no matter what system you prefer.

Read on in the slides below to find out why we love “Doom,” “The Witcher III: Wild Hunt,” “Resident Evil 7: Biohazard," “Metal Gear Solid V,” and “Overwatch.”

The best first-person shooter game

Id Software

Why you'll love it: Id Software’s 2016 “Doom” delivers all of the insane and over-the-top FPS gameplay that made the original famous, offering the classic first-person shooter experience that gamers have been craving for years.

There are few games that can be called “legendary,” and id Software’s 1993 classic “Doom” is certainly one of them. Although it wasn’t the original first-person shooter, “Doom” remains perhaps the biggest pioneer of the genre and has sold more than 10 million copies to date.

The game is still revered today for many reasons: Its intense high-speed run-and-gun play style, its sprawling open level design that encouraged exploration, its famous silent protagonist (known only as “Doomguy”), and, naturally, its over-the-top violence, which was relatively unique — not to mention extremely controversial — at the time.

Id Software has developed a number of successful sequels and re-releases over the years, but the studio’s pledge to return to the original formula made 2016’s “Doom” the most ambitious of them all. “Doom 3” was the most recent release before then, and while it earned high praise from gamers and critics, it traded the high-speed shooter gameplay for a more fleshed-out narrative and a brooding survival-horror atmosphere. In contrast, the new “Doom” was built from the ground-up to capture the spirit of the golden days of first-person shooters, and at this, it truly excels.

A full reboot of the franchise, 2016’s “Doom” once again takes place at a research facility on Mars where a portal to Hell has been established. Doomguy (now referred to as the “Doom Slayer”) is a legendary demon hunter who has been trapped and kept asleep by the forces of the underworld. After the armies of Hell invade, you, as the Doom Slayer, are awoken and tasked with repelling the incursion and sealing the portal. All the classic ingredients are there: Familiar demons, familiar weapons, and the familiar fast-paced and violent gameplay.

But “Doom” is more than just an old-school FPS with a new coat of paint. This pony comes with a few new tricks all its own, like vertically-oriented level designs that take advantage of Doom Slayer’s new-found jumping and climbing abilities — a far cry from the original game where Doomguy couldn’t even look up and down, let alone jump around. The open stages encourage exploration in true Doom spirit, standing as a refreshing counter-point to many modern shooters which send you running from cover to cover down long corridor-like levels.

Another new combat element is the “Glory Kill,” which allows you to perform brutal melee executions on wounded enemies which yields extra ammunition and health bonuses. There are no recharging shields or health packs for you to rely on here. Instead, Doom Slayer heals his wounds only through violence. There is also no cover system that encourages you to hide behind obstacles or avoid fire – everything forces the player to keep pushing forward, making for a fast and furious experience that harks back to first-person shooters of decades past.

“Doom” stands as a gory, adrenaline-fueled triumph of old-school game design and is proof positive that in a sea of modern shooters, sometimes all players want to do is rip and tear.

Pros: Fun and fast gameplay exemplary of the glory days of first-person shooters, an intense metal soundtrack, and excellent level design that rewards exploration

Cons: Somewhat repetitive campaign, a lackluster multiplayer suite, and the extreme violence may be too much for some

Buy "Doom" on Amazon for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, or Windows PC for $29.99

The best action role-playing game

CD Projekt Red

Why you'll love it: A great story, excellent combat, and a breathtaking open-world make “The Witcher III: Wild Hunt” one of the best action role-playing games of all time and easily the best entry in CD Projekt Red’s award-winning series.

The Witcher series has had an interesting run. The action-adventure role-playing franchise, developed by the Polish studio CD Projekt Red, came out of nowhere in 2007 with “The Witcher” (the studio’s debut), which became a sleeper hit.

It went on to spawn two successful sequels: “The Witcher II: Assassins of Kings” greatly expanded upon the original, adding an enhanced combat system and more dynamic open world, while “The Witcher III: Wild Hunt” masterfully perfected these elements, earning its place as one of the greatest gaming achievements in recent years.

CD Projekt Red has stated that “The Witcher III” will be the last game to feature Geralt of Rivia — the titular “Witcher,” or monster-hunter — as the main character, and it’s the perfect game to cap off the trilogy. The plot of the series is based on popular fantasy novels by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The player, as Geralt, is tasked with bringing down a myriad of dangerous otherworldly creatures as he tries to find his daughter, who is herself being hunted by a supernatural force.

“Wild Hunt” drops you into a wide-open world — more than three times larger than that of “Skyrim” — and lets you tackle the main storyline at your leisure, giving you plenty of freedom to explore and complete the many side-quests available throughout the game. You control Geralt from a third-person perspective, duking it out with enemies both human and non-human utilizing a variety of melee and ranged weapons along with a number of magical attacks. The hack-and-slash action-adventure gameplay is layered with an RPG system that lets you level up your character, strengthening your skills and unlocking new abilities.

The gameplay is fluid, fun, and challenging, but where “The Witcher III” really stands apart is in its epic world design. With “Wild Hunt,” CD Projekt Red set out to redefine sandbox games by creating an organic, breathing, dynamic world that “lives apart” from the player character and his actions.

It worked: The realm of the Northern Kingdoms feels more real than ever before, equally dark and beautiful, and it truly comes alive with changing landscapes, ecosystems, and human communities. You don’t just feel like a character who was dropped into a static game environment of pre-programmed NPCs, but instead like a smaller part of a larger, truly active organic world that moves and evolves around you.

The breathtaking visuals, wonderfully-designed living world, great action-RPG gameplay, and well-written story are all capped off by a fantastic soundtrack executed by the Brandenburg State Orchestra using older instruments to create an authentic late Medieval/early Renaissance sound.

“The Witcher III: Wild Hunt” is also a meaty game: The main story alone will take you around 40 to 50 hours to complete, but all of the side quests, included DLC, and ample opportunities for exploration (which you will find yourself doing a lot) can keep you busy for well over 100 hours.

Pros: A huge and dynamic open world that truly feels alive, compelling story and character writing, excellent action-RPG gameplay, breathtaking graphics with masterful art direction, and a superb orchestral soundtrack

Cons: Some bugs and optimization issues (although this has mostly been patched), too many minor “fetch” quests that interrupt the main story, and the violence and sexual themes are not suitable for young players

Buy "The Witcher III: Wild Hunt Complete Edition" on Amazon for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, or Windows PC for about $27.99 on sale or $59.99 originally

The best survival-horror game

Capcom

Why you'll love it: “Resident Evil 7: Biohazard” represents a true return to fundamentals for Capcom’s long-running survival-horror series, delivering all of the atmospheric terror that defined a whole genre while still managing to put a modern spin on a classic formula.

In 1996, Capcom released “Resident Evil,” a classic that defined an entire genre of survival-horror games. Many developers attempted to imitate it with mixed success, and after a few well-received sequels, even Capcom grew weary of the standard formula it had created. “Resident Evil 4,” while massively popular, signaled a major change in focus for the series away from brooding slow-paced gameplay with a focus on scavenging and survival towards a faster, more action-oriented style that felt more like popular third-person shooter games.

A few lackluster sequels to “Resident Evil 4” were met with a lukewarm reception from players and critics. Gamers increasingly clamored for a new entry in the series that was true to the experience of the originals, and thankfully, it seems Capcom finally took the hint. Enter “Resident Evil 7: Biohazard,” a triumph of game design that heralds a much-needed return to the fundamentals of survival-horror that Capcom had largely pioneered.

As popular and beloved as the original Resident Evil formula was, it was not without its criticisms. The third-person view with pre-rendered environments came with a control scheme that felt clunky and awkward at times, especially during combat.

For “Biohazard,” Capcom instead implemented a first-person view (the first main entry in the franchise to utilize this, although a few unsuccessful spin-offs had tried it before). This goes a long way in addressing the problems with the old control scheme while greatly enhancing your immersion into this terrifying game-world.

The setting of “Resident Evil 7” will feel instantly familiar to fans, dropping the player into an old mansion that harks back to the setting of the first title. Instead of zombies, however, this house is inhabited by the bizarre Baker family along with bizarre humanoid creatures known as the “Molded.”

The player, as a man named Ethan, must use whatever means available to survive — stealth, caution, and escape are the focus here rather than combat, although you do get a number of melee weapons and firearms. Ammo is precious, forcing you to scavenge for it along with first aid supplies, adding to the tension and to the oppressive sense of danger and fear.

The return to the slower pace and exploratory gameplay also sees the return of the classic puzzles that the player must solve in order to proceed, but sadly, these are sparse and easily overcome. The boss battles also leave something to be desired, although this is not enough of a detriment to mar the fantastic atmosphere and edge-of-your-seat gameplay. “Resident Evil 7: Biohazard” is a true sequel, not a reboot or re-imagining, and some familiar faces appear near the end of the story to help out Ethan.

The final scene even alludes to the existence of a re-formed Umbrella Corporation, so it’s safe to say that Capcom is far from finished with this series or its story — and as long as the devs stick to the excellent formula of “Biohazard,” then fans of Resident Evil have a lot to look forward to.

Pros: Immersive and terrifying survival-horror atmosphere, a true return to the classic roots of Resident Evil, a great VR mode, and the new first-person perspective works extremely well

Cons: The puzzles are too easy and too few, the boss fights pale in comparison to the rest of the game, and it’s definitely not recommended for the faint of heart

Buy "Resident Evil 7: Biohazard" on Amazon for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, or Windows PC for $49.99

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