#Also trying to do a video on an RPG might actually kill me

[thefloatingstone]

I wish I had more knowledge of Final Fantasy 6 just so I can discuss its writing and how it has no main character, the various ways in which it follows the plot structure of classic Opera, and how it was influenced by Dante's Inferno.

But it is not a game I grew up with and would have to approach it as a complete newcomer, which, considering the pedigree of this game and how beloved it is by people who will call it their favourite game since the 90s, is not something I can approach as some kind of voice of authority.

Anyway here;s Nobuo Uematsu and his band "The Black Mages" playing "Dancing Mad" and just going fucking insane.

Oh also here's a fan cover of "Aria di Mezzo Carattere" (which inspired that one scene with Mettaton in Undertale except not a joke)

This game was.... on another level.

Forget FF7, when does THIS get a big budget remake?

[winged-wheel]

Undertale's First Hint at Self Denial

Spoilers for Undertale, I guess, but surely if you're reading this you don't need a spoiler warning for this game...

Howdy!

A simple look at my reblogs will indicate that I'm a big fan of Undertale Yellow, at least currently moreso than Undertale itself. But that doesn't mean I don't think about Undertale a good deal too. And while I'm not exactly an extreme lorehead or Chara superfan like some others are (god knows how many blogs there are out there who have THAT covered) I do like to think, sometimes, about the exact nature of Undertale's metanarrative, the themes the game intends for you to take away from it (and the ones that fans have read into it that may not have been intended but which serve as interesting and thought-provoking alternative interpretations), and my own stance on things. Chara/the first fallen human, both who they are (were) and what they represent, makes up a lot of that.

So, context out of the way, I realized something that maybe other people have as well but that I've never actually seen anyone put into words (though it's entirely possible if not probable that I've just missed it before lol).

If Chara, on a metanarrative level, represents you--both through the game's expectation of you to use your own name to "Name the fallen child", but also in a less literal sense your inner desire for completionism, addiction to increasing numbers, disregard for video games as anything more than short-time entertainment to be moved on from, etc--then the image of their final resting place, the patch of golden flowers that grows at the bottom of the fissure outside the Ruins, the very first room in the game, takes on especial meaning with regard to the metanarrative itself.

Undertale's metanarrative choice that it gives you, to either treat the game and its characters as real, deserving of respect, and worth being let go of to allow them continued freedom after completing a true pacifist route, or to lean into what Chara embodies and treat it as "just another RPG game", grinding for levels as would be "normal" in so many other worlds until you reach the Absolute, is a well understood one more than 9 years on from the game's release. None of that is probably news to anyone (or at least anyone who's cared to try and understand the game lol).

But it never quite struck me until now that the former--the choice to treat Undertale as "real"--is symbolized by Chara's grave. In order to do that, to care about and respect Undertale's characters so much that you're willing to forego almost all the concessions of a normal RPG, and ultimately content yourself with refusing to True Reset after the credits roll, you have to bury that part of yourself. You have to kill the desire within you to see what happens if you level up. To get stronger. Those learned traits and tendencies which have been established as the expectation by decades of video games past, even if you didn't grow up playing them yourself, have to be interred in the very first room of the game.

I'll draw no ultimate conclusions as to what that means literally with regards to Toriel and Asriel's attachment to tending the flowers there, and certainly none in relation to the direct characterization of Chara as a character within the story itself, as details are notoriously vague, few in number, and tend to produce interpretations that vary wildly from one another and, from some, have the potential to engender feelings of distaste or assumptions about others' "understanding" of characters (or perceived lack thereof). But the metaphorical significance of Undertale's first room being a burial site was something I hadn't quite considered on a conscious level until recently, and I feel like it might at least be an interesting thought to share.

'Til next time...

[desultory-novice]

Here's a probably bizarre one

Are you into Table Top RPGs? And if so what do you think a Kirby themed one would look like? In just broad strokes at least, not asking you to get in depth with all the numbers or something

I'm trying to actually make one along with a few friends of mine as a "little" group project, we're throwing out ideas, figuring stuff out and what not. Turns out making a proper TTRPG is difficult and requires a lot of thought.

I used to be! In my family, playing D&D (2nd edition!!) was like watching sports for other families! I dropped out of the hobby sometime in my teens, as I started to struggle more with roleplaying ^^; and though I've shown interest in the occasional system and even played in a handful of one-shots, a lot of my knowledge comes from overhearing stories from my siblings, who are still into it!

When I brought this concept up to my sister briefly, she mentioned something (and maybe it was spun off something legendary blogger Prokopetz had said) about trying to "twist" D&D into a system for telling stories it just wasn't keyed to tell! That you CAN do that, sure, but maybe it's not the most efficient way...?

Soooo...

...In that sense two TTRPGs that come to mind when I think about alternate ways you could do a Kirby game other than just "explore dungeon and kill monsters!" (...Note that these might not be perfect fits either, they're just ones I've heard about and caught my interest!)

Magica Logia, a Japanese-only RPG (sorry...! ^^;;) that was really popular on NicoDouga/NicoVideo that is mostly based around playing these magicians with true forms (O~ooh, Soul Forms, you say?) who go around solving magical incidents!

While there IS combat, most of it is about learning what is even going wrong and using your skills (which are more like "concepts" and all HIGHLY interpretable) to detect just WHO has been affected through roleplay scenes that play out in a turn based structure!

It was REALLY popular to do long videos of characters from various games and anime playing versions of themselves via Magica Logia and so I often think that it suits a variety of more story-based settings! (Like, a huge focus on the story of a session is finding out who has been POSSESSED by the evil forces this time and I hope you can see my vision for how well that would work for Kirby!)

Another that I'm slightly less familiar with but I've always wanted to learn more about is Ryuutama, which, to quote the main website, describes itself as "Miyazaki's Oregon Trail?!" XD

A huge focus of the game seems to be around "regular" seeming characters going to new places because they're filled with wanderlust (and Kirby IS a wanderer!) and managing the resources to get there! (How much food you have at any given time feels like it would be a natural fit forany Kirby TTRPG) 

I also like that the journey and the places you go seem to be decided on by the group as a whole, with everyone contributing something! It reminds me very much of how magical various places in Pop Star (or the rest of the Kirby-verse galaxy) can be! And I think that kind of inventiveness would be wonderful.

Do you really want Kirby and the gang to explore a re~gular old cave? If it's going to feel like Kirby, the cave ought to have... Oh, crystal stalagmites in the shape of ice cream! Or that reflect your image like funhouse mirrors! Or the ceiling is covered with moss that acts like glow-in-the-dark bedroom stars!

...Again, I haven't seen this one played before like I have with the other one so I'm mostly going off concepts I find appealing from the product page! It does make you think though!

-

As for ideas of my own, I'm split when it comes to character creation. Either everyone should be allowed to make their own "Kirby"/Puffball and you KEEP it to puffballs, or you pass on playing Kirby and let people choose from a variety of commonly returning ally races (Poppy, Simirror, Birdo, Dee, Chilly, Joe, etc...) The reason I would suggest going either all puffs or all non-puffs is because even though my ideal Kirby TTRPG is not amazingly battle heavy, I still think that would really cut down on any questions of POWER SCALING (my beloathed... :shiver:)

I think that creativity in the interpretation of game mechanics should be emphasized, and that smaller numbered dice would be better (D4s or D6s, a D10 at most??)

I can see stats being more akin to MOODS rather than like, physical prowess and how fast you are/magic potential etc? After all, Kirby is strong enough to tackle on otherworldly horrors...but the comics often depict him as being unable to when he is, say, [Tired] or [Hungry] so having to balance your player character's ~total health~ as opposed to just their HP might make things feel more Kirby-esque, as opposed to just a Kirby-themed D&D reskin! (Not that there's anything wrong with that, if that's where one's interest lies!)

Another thing from Ryuutama that I liked the sound of was each character having a key [Personal Item] that is important to them! Maybe it's not EVEN magical, maybe it's just...emotionally significant?! Maybe part of the goal of story creation can be discovering what ties these characters together through an exploration of their items! (Everyone declares theirs to the game master and the game master builds the adventure around that?)

Anyway, I think I've made my preferences for a "non-standard" style TTRPG here clear! Sorry if that wasn't your desired direction...!

-

But yes, good luck with you and your friend's project! I'm sure it IS a lot of work! I don't know how much progress you've made in the week it took me to get to this one, but I would love to hear more if you think you've narrowed in on your idea! And I'm sure a bunch of others here would be interested as well!

[kob131]

Lily Orchard and Pokemon: Gen 3

Okay I'm gonna try to keep these shorter. But to be fair- Lily is going to start belly aching in Gen 4 beyond so I might have more to cover.

"Brendan misogynyist because he assume Gym Leader kid guy!"

Lily's, he's fucking ten. I don't even think you CAN be sexist at that age because I don't think your brain is developed enough to form complex thoughts or beliefs. Also that is LITERALLY the one time he mentions it.

"I like Brendan because he's not trying super hard to be friend or be rude!"

Again, Lily. You misread Blue who does nothing but slag you off and throw tantrums. Your view on story elements is so thoroughly tainted they can't be taken seriously.

"Brendan's salty when he loses!"

Huh, he actually kind of is. I never noticed that. I guess Brendan has about a quarter of a character. ... What, more than what May or anyone in Gen 6 got.

Still doesn't raise him above 'one of the worst rivals in Pokemon.' Also, good job Lily. You actually showed me something new. Took you only...50 minutes...

*Another captialism dig*

We get it Lily- You long to be locked into a gulag and then shot by a firing squad. Move on.

"What is it about Rock that makes it good for a first time Gym?"

That's the kind of thing a retrospective is supposed to SOLVE, Lily. You're supposed to be asking yourself 'Why did the developers choose to do this at this point instead of something else?' But so far, your video has been nothing but you either belly aching or you making half baked jokes.

Anyway- Rock is chosen to encourage the player to diversify their moveset as Rock resists Normal, the most common attacking type in the early game, as well as all of them being physically defensive, which counters most attacks in the early game as Physical Normal moves. It's also weak to Grass and Water, encouraging the player to experiment and understand type matchups better. The Fire problem is solved by either slapping the Fighting type onto the starter or giving it a Steel move in the case of FR/LG.

"Match Call is stupid! Before you could refuse everyone's numbers but now they get forcibly added and they bother you all the time!"

It's called 'world building' Lily. They call to make them feel like real people.

"The Macho Brace is dumb in the main game because you can't control what you fight in the main game so all your Pokemon become worse faster!"

... What?

First off- Wouldn't that make the Macho Brace a competitive focused item? Thus there being no real reason to bring it up?

Second- Yes, you can control what you fight. Go fight wild Pokemon with the Macho Brace. They'll give you the proper EVs if you care THAT much.

Third- EVs...can't make your Pokemon worse. They can be wasted but they are only ever buffs. And you don't need perfect EVs for the main game. Try proofreading.

"Team Magma/Aqua are good because you don't encounter them that often so they can concoct their plans!"

Lily, you just got done explaining why Maxie (and by extension, Archie in Sapphire) is a fucking moron for trying to erupt a volcano which would kill INNUMERABLE PEOPLE just to make land (or water) for Pokemon. (She says it's for people.)

By definition, they are not good just because there is less of them and thus they can make plans. It just means they have less time to fail those stupid plans.

"The Lavaridge Gym sucks because you have to navigate mud titles and which ones transport you and which ones are trainers are up to fate to decide!"

... Lily. If there are two titles right next to each other that seem to be blocking off more, distant titles that correspond to ones from above- they're probably trainers. Its very obvious which ones are trainers.

I found this out when I was EIGHT.

"Flannery stammers her intro which is dumb!"

Her character is that she's a newbie Gym Leader uncertain of what to do.

Story telling, Lily. A key feature of RPGs. Engage with it.

"Gardevoir broken because Special bulk and Calm Mind!"

A. This is a game for children Lily. Numerous Pokemon can sweep Gym Leaders.

And B. Fun Fact Lily- Most offensive Pokemon prefer high Speed over high bulk since cries are a thing. So if a bulky Psychic is broken, guess how monstrous a Psychic with say...10 extra Sp.ATK, 20 SP.Def and a HUGE increase in Speed would be.

... Oh right, that's GEN 1 ALAKAZAM. The same Pokemon you mocked as 'not being that strong'. Contradicting yourself AGAIN Lily.

"Hoenn has too many water routes, which are boring and annoying-"

Hub, I actually agree-

"-but everyone mock IGN!"

And there it is.

Lily, people mocked IGN both as a joke abd because they gave Ruby and Sapphire, objectively worse games, a 9.5.

"No one ever talks about how Pokemon uses music! They use good themes for the legendaries causing peoples in Ruby and Sapphire but not Emerald! Certainly not BW where N is fucking stupid or Zinna's theme is intense but not battle! The remakes ruined them!"

A- People bring up how Pokemon uses music all the damn time. The Area Zero theme was dissected for giving an atmosphere of entering a new world, unknown and dangerous waters and something completely foreign to everywhere else you went.

B-Lily, the remakes simply had cleaner OSTs. They sound very much the same. You even admit this as you call Omega Ruby's OST for Groudon 'like trying to escape a star going supernova'. A supernova. A term synomous with IMMENSE, INCONCIEVABLE HEAT.

and C-Ignoring N where you just go 'N bad!'- Zinnia's theme is intense because you're facing a Dragon Specialist, using a VERY dangerous Type of Pokemon, before rocketing into space to destroy a meteor threatening to kill everyone.

"Team Aqua and Magma aged well because they're charming! Not like other villains who just spout off philosophy!"

We get it, Lily. You don't pay attention.

Doesn't change the fact that you admitted that these one-note caricatures are so fucking stupid they didn't know fucking with primordial gods would cause issues. Or that exploding a volcano is BAD. That's bad writing Lily. You are praising bad writing.

"Why did you change Wally's Gardevoir to a Gallade? YOU MADEIT EASIER, SEXISTS!"

... Because they wanted to promote Mega Gallade. And they both represent Wally growing from a shy, insecure kid to a confident ACTUAL rival.

Gallade was made because it's a fucking knight guarding a lady, moving on.

"I was pleasantly surprised by Gen 3-"

Not surprised one of the blandest Gens got your approval, Lily. Considering your response to any game that tries to have any kind of ambition is to get pissy.

Well, let's go check Sinnoh.

[alexissara]

Upcoming Sapphic Games "Goddess List" Part 2.

I’m back with a new Sapphic Games Goddess List this list will mostly not be touching on any game I mentioned on the previous list so do check that out for even more upcoming sapphic games. A lot of the games from the previous list have now been released but plenty are yet to see their day in the sun yet so do give it some love, I am giving a forecast of what I see in the horizon for 2024 and beyond. I will likely make a new one of these lists when I think I have enough games to talk about. If you know about any games coming with any significant Sapphic parts of their narrative or gameplay please let me know and I will happily include them in the next list. 

I am just making these lists because for me, at this point I mostly want to play games I feel represented by so I am doing this research anyway, I may as well share with you all. That said this research is hard and long, I play every demo I can for games labeled LGBT that have a shot of being sapphic, I try asking devs if their game has sapphic content, I try to find every single place the games been spoken about, not to mention actually hunting down these games. It is a big process and if you would like to support me doing this research over on Pateron or Ko-fi that would be amazing, plus you’d be helping me make more sapphic art like my work  in the TTRPG space but also I am low key working very slowly on a video game because it’s something I always wanted to do. Could be 25 years for now but every dollar makes it more possible for me to make more polished art from comics to games but anyway, let’s move on from asking for cash to tempting you with things to spend cash on with the list. 

Non VNs

Sunnyside

Sunnyside is boasting a large as hell roster of romanceable characters with 24 characters being boasted to be on release. Like most farming sims you pick from the fabled three pronouns She/He/They and customize their character. You pick your gender on a slider from Female to Male so you describe your gender through the place in the slider you picked and characters have a preference inside of that. They said on a live stream that the minimum options you should have is 4 which I took to mean maybe if your gay or a lesbian you might only have 4 of those 24 options to romance which is not great really to know the game has so few options for you out of all the options in the game but we'll have to wait and see on how it plays out. There is also no polyamory in the game, you can be dating a few characters at a time but there is a lock in point where you must be monogamous. It's one I am keeping my eyes on but has it's ups and downs in it's approach to gender and sexuality. I do really appreciate it boldly moving outside of the norm though and actually standing out in the crowd of dating sims.

Witch and Lillies 

A dungeon crawler all about forming relationships between women and killing monsters in a dungeon. Characters form relationships and can even have stumbles in them similar to a game like Miitopia but a bigger focus is put on romance and all the characters you can generate are women. This game does not seem to have a focus on narrative even below the degrees of something like Etrian Odyssey but if you just want the story to be the mechanics that are in play and the building relationships of these women you create then it’s gonna be a really perfect game.  

Keylocker 

A tactical RPG with a cyberpunk flare and a built in relationship system. This game is a really flavourful game that just has an art direction that just totally captures the kind grim but with a sliver of hope cyberpunk it wants to capture. 

Dustborn

Dustborn labels itself as LGBT on steam, it says you can shape relationships, the main girl looks gay, I am gonna put it here and not in speculation despite it technically being speculation. Some people say this game looks cringe but honestly, I am cringe and I am free, I think it looks stupid in a fun way but we’ll see how it is when it comes out. 

Izrand allure

Izrand Allure is a game set in the world of one of the creators previous games Luxarane Allure, like that game this game will feature an all WLW cast giving us plenty of good sapphics, lesbians, yuri, etc. This game will be a complete standalone RPG with no need to have played the previous game and promises some evolved mechanics job system and a much larger cast too with 7 party members. If you were ever like I wish there was a game like Final Fantasy but lesbians were in it then I suggest you keep your eye on this one [and go download Luxarane Allure, it’s free and if you like it you could give the dev money].

Rouge Labyrinth

Rouge Labyrinth will contain romantic epilogues with characters including a poly option. There will be sapphic romance included within these although idk if the poly option is multiple women + Non Binary people or if it is as it is in the majority of poly representation in games one man and one woman. Time will tell on that but what I can say is this Rougelike game looks really fucking cool, fighting colonisim is an all time hobby and this is a game I am really keeping my eye on. The game has a demo so I for sure recommend you check it out and see how it feels for you. 

Narrative Games 

Living the Dream

While the game failed it’s kickstarter goal the developer hasn’t given up in fact the game’s scope is being increased. The game is a very queer game in general but when talking to the developer I did get it confirmed that this body swap adventure has sapphic romances inside of it and the designs are super cute. 

Renai Bakudan

Can love bloom in a love hotel, probably, ya, almost certainly.  Coming from the developers of Good Lucky Baby! and LOVE BAKUDAN comes Renai Bakudan an 18+ Yuri game all about lesbians [and probably other sapphics] lesbianing it up in a love hotel. Inside of this game is even more gayness with unlockable gay erotic written by sapphic erotica writers. You play as Ex-yakuza Juri Kido who know is a cleric at a Love Hotel and ends up meeting lots of hot women. There is 7 whole romance routes with one that’s going to be voted for because it hit the stretch goal. It’s an impressive piece of sexy accomplishment and one you should keep your eyes in. 

Lock and Key

A married couple of magical girls are having a pretty nice life. Only issue is magical girls lose their power at 30 and a murder mystery is brewing. Can they figure out what the hells going on while they still have their powers? While I don’t love the lose your powers when you turn 30 plot point I do think murder mystery and magical girls and lesbians is like a ton of good shit all backed into one good package. The demo is really solid and I think it’s a game you really should check out.

Our Home, My Keeper 

A writer goes to the countryside and finds love, a classic. That writer falls for a fairy in a really sweet little lesbian romance game. It’s not a dating sim where you're going to be picking between love interests but it’s a narrative adventure where you’ll learn about these characters and their world.

Summer At The Edge Of The Universe

A solar punk game with a bigger edge towards the scifi then the majority of Solar Punk. The game has two romances one with a non binary character and one with a woman. In addition there is an aro woman who you can make out with but is not interested in a romantic relationship, just friendship. 

The Phantom of the Black Rose Revue

Capturing a clearly classic manga style, The Phantom of the Black Rose Revue is the most aesthetically unique VN I’ve seen in a long time with a bold black and white take. You play as Chihiro Sato who has a dream of being famous for her acting in her all female theater troupe. She starts getting obsessive letters and mystery, romance, and more begin to take this story in all sorts of fun directions. Act 1 is all up for playing but there is more to come in the future. 

Read Only Memories: NEURODIVER

Midboss are one of the biggest people in Gayming. A sequel to Read Only Memories, a very classic VN in the indie scene, brings us more gay adventures with our sapphic lead who was a character from the previous game elevated to main character. This game gives a stunning cyber punk vibe that is a visual treat and delight. 

Call Me Cera

I got like a tiny bias in this in that they have made a little spinoff game and in it the characters play Thirsty Sword Lesbians which I worked on but they didn’t even mention any of the stuff I made for TSL in it and I also do not make royalties on TSL but I wanted to mention that the creator has great taste I guess. The game is focused on making meaningful connections and an attempt to move these games into a place where you make healthy decisions for you not just the right options to win someone's affection.

Skate & Date

Roller Derby is for the sapphic, we know this to be true and yet there is such a lack of Roller Derby sapphic romance games but what’s this on the horizon a derby filled game about girls who are gonna do a kiss. This game sounds really cute and it’s one I have had my eyes on for a while. 

Decent Gay Potential 

Project L

While project L does not currently have any of the many canon queer characters in the LoL universe as playable it is very likely that at least one of the canon sapphic characters are included in the roster of the game just given their popularity and that they are compatible with this kind of fighting game. If the roster leak is accurate we’ll have Vi in the game, which makes sense, big fists, in Arcane, one of the most popular characters, and just so happens to be a lesbian. Even if the leak was totally wrong, Vi feels fairly likely even with the already existing inclusion of Jinx and Ekko just because Piltover and Zaun in the Runeterra universe are probably the most popular region. 

Outside of Vi at present Nekko, Diana, Leona, Caitlyn and Nidalee are all canon sapphic women who could end up in the game as playable characters. Riot likes to reveal about 3 gays a year as has been the pattern since 2021, 2 at pride and 1 randomly in the year so it is possible 3 more women are added to this list before Project L’s release if it came out in 2024 and 6 are possible if it comes out in 2025.There will probably be some queer men, maybe they’ll finally say the one obvious trans woman is trans, we can’t know for sure but of the many characters in the their world I do think at least one of these women have a shot at making it in the starting roster. 

SaGa Emerald Beyond

There is a pair of bonnie and clyde styled cops and while ewww pigs they do seem kinda gay so I gotta mention it here it’s possible is all I am saying. The Saga series way back in the day had a Lesbian main character, it really wouldn’t be out of the blue for the game to include a new set of sapphic women. Especially given in the gacha game it is very clear that the sapphic women are two of the most popular characters given they have been given many alts and they would only get alts if those alts sold. 

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes 

This game is called 100 heroes, if they are gonna have 100 characters there should at least be one lesbian and 1 bi woman and they should get together. I think it could happen.  There is nothing to say for sure but I believe.

Mahou Senshi Cosplay Club

It’s listed under LGBT games and their previous game Chroma Squad had optional sapphic romance depending on what characters of what gender you put in what role in the game. There was no real way to know you were gonna end up with that but since then they know that they have a decent queer fan base so I think it is very possible to get some sapphic fun even if it’s chose your own gay style. 

Double Shake  Loam and Dinx seem to be intended to get together and the game is listed as LGBT+ so I am gonna go out on a limb here and say, probably sapphic. It could be that idk Loam is trans or Dinx is Ace/Aro idk for sure but I think sapphic. 

HellMall

It’s a gay furry game, these things tend to lean towards men but it is possible that this is a gay fury game with some goodies for the Lesbians. 

Spirit City: Lo-fi Sessions

This game probably doesn’t include proper sapphic representation but it’s kinda just a playlist and screen filter idling game to have on as you do work. What it does promise is some pride flags and maybe there will be some other queer things inside of it.

[beardedmrbean]

[Huey Zoomer anon]

The Left: I want to show more black people in history

Me: Okay!

The Left: *Proceed to bastardized history with a Marxist oppressed vs oppressors mindset and refuse to actually use actual African Civilizations properly*

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Also like the black Roman thing….hmmm do people mean like North African and MENA provinces where naturally west Africans would show up

Or are they trying to pretend that people of black descent would live in Roma and the Italia peninsula?

Also the black supremacy thing, where black characters can act like Victorian sociopaths because they were oppressed in the past

Don’t get me started on the renewal blood and soil arguments thanks to the Decolonial theory

Also why just more black people in historical eras? Why not show off the ancient Indian merchant (we found Hindu artifacts in ancient Egypt and even the infamous Pompeii dig sites)

Or make the “invisible Jews” more present as they were there

Actually AC origins was the first games I notice the proper cultural exchange between the Levantines and Egyptians

And this weapon from the game https://assassinscreed.fandom.com/wiki/Canaanite_Blade

Wait the Jews were known for their ferocity? *Glance at Hollywood portrayal of Jews and stereotypes of jews* that new, perhaps I can fun NON BIBLICAL and non holocaust focus books about Jewish people more

Hmm, I told this to Nunya in the dms, but what about a video game or two set about the unification of Israel under Saul and David? Not saying from this franchise. But I was thinking like similar to the recent AC rpg games like Valhalla and Odyssey. Mossad can kill me for this but hey

Prologue David as a youth: Baby boy (sorry he was the youngest of 8, the baby fat on his face must been strong af)

David after killing Goliath and his exile: Traumatized baby boy

Fully grow adult David after got his beard: Conquerer daddy

Hmm, have Israelites found any ancient breastplates? Might play with the Judah Tribe Lion Motif with David designs a lot.

Sorry for my rambling…despite being progressive, I think we regress back to 60’s representation with a woke hat

Or are they trying to pretend that people of black descent would live in Roma and the Italia peninsula?

Septimius Severus Roman emperor from 193 to 211. From current year Lybia, there's debate™ about him.

Black people in ancient Roman history - Wikipedia The Romans didn't really have a concept of black or white only roman or not roman, kinda like how the French have been trying to do it for a long time.

Also the black supremacy thing, where black characters can act like Victorian sociopaths because they were oppressed in the past

You can say Killmonger it's ok

Also why just more black people in historical eras? Why not show off the ancient Indian merchant (we found Hindu artifacts in ancient Egypt and even the infamous Pompeii dig sites) Or make the “invisible Jews” more present as they were there

Both would be nice, be interesting to get something going into where the afro iranians came from (same place African Americans came from, same reason too) but there were also traders and others that likely set up shop all over the land mass that makes up the "old world"

Small Jewish community in China been there for a long time, there's some debate about how long but even the most conservative estimates put it at over 800 years.

Actually AC origins was the first games I notice the proper cultural exchange between the Levantines and Egyptians

The Egyptians may have looked down on shepherds, but they still needed that wool at times.

Wait the Jews were known for their ferocity? *Glance at Hollywood portrayal of Jews and stereotypes of jews* that new, perhaps I can fun NON BIBLICAL and non holocaust focus books about Jewish people more

Fiddler on the Roof is good if you're looking for a Musical.

Hmm, I told this to Nunya in the dms, but what about a video game or two set about the unification of Israel under Saul and David? Not saying from this franchise. But I was thinking like similar to the recent AC rpg games like Valhalla and Odyssey. Mossad can kill me for this but hey

could be fun, could also be a minefield

Fully grow adult David after got his beard: Conquerer daddy

We could probably skip calling him that

Hmm, have Israelites found any ancient breastplates? Might play with the Judah Tribe Lion Motif with David designs a lot.

Resources on ancient Jewish armor? Reddit Brain Trust on r/ArmsandArmor has this and skimming it I'm going with probably not, looking around I'm seeing one place calling the garments the High Priest wore including the Breastplate with "the name" written on it listed as armor.

In fairness it was supposed to keep him from getting killed, just not by soldiers.

Found this too, easy enough to pick out the eras even if you can't totally read what it says, first 2 are Saul next is Davidic then Maccabean, and the last two are Herodian.

You'd have to look up what passes for a coat of arms for the different families to go past that. This looks like a fairly well accepted collection of what they crests are though

Sorry for my rambling…despite being progressive, I think we regress back to 60’s representation with a woke hat

going to the lowest common denominator has really done that a lot it would seem ya.

sorry some of this is a little short, gotta run out for the night soon so I wanted to get it out to ya

[yandere-flower]

Hi! Long time fan of yours and I absolutely love reading about your oc's! I wanted to ask: Say Darling is playing a videogame that the yanderes thought was just an action RPG that they've been playing for a while now. Darling has gushed about the cool story and the fleshed out characters that they grew to love, which they think is nice; Darling's having fun and this is a good distraction away from interacting with people. One day, they grew curious enough to watch you play for a bit. 1/3

It starts off like they expected, a lot of fighting and magic, doing quests, yada yada yada. They're about to leave until you reach camp and start talking with some of the characters and suddenly they hear you gasp as one of the NPC's starts talking all sweet to you? As they watch the scene unfold, they are shocked to find out that THIS GAME HAS ROMANCE OPTIONS?! And are you squealing and giggling over what they're saying?! (cough- Baldur's gate COUGH) 2/3

How would they react/feel about this revelation? I doubt any of them is going to be happy about it but would some be petty about it? Would some try to understand why Darling likes that character so much? Would they act differently if Darling was IN a relationship with the yanderes? I personally gush over some of the romantic scenes in games, and Baldur's Gate 3 has such great character interactions that I can't help but love all of them. I hope this isn't too much to ask, thank you! 3/3"

I knew this was about Baldurs Gate immediately cause same...only doing the boys here since it'll get long but let me know if you want the girls version!

Sawyer- He plays video games but isn't quite into the culture as isn't into turn based as much so he's like "sure whatever can we play together". Very slow at learning and will cast fireball on you and kill you constantly because he doesn't understand. But has so much fun being a nuance to the NPCs, and the moment he accidentally flirts with someone he goes full panic mode and starts apologizing, refuses to romance anyone. Is a bit peeved why you romance, but won't stop you. He does try to understand why however, and gets a little huffy at each romance scene. Also slightly makes fun of your choices. Will try and shove them off the edge when you're not looking.

Desmond - This man has not touched a game....ever, but he's happy to see you're happy and actually a little glad you're so engrossed in some that keeps you indoors and away from people. I actually thing that Desmond wouldn't care? He knows it's fictional, it'll hopefully get you in the mood, and he likes how if he asks you some thing about the game, you'll gush to him for hours. He still has you. But depending on your romance choice he might get curious why you chose that

Mizu - This fucker has already completely a playthough, bought you a custom cosplay of Shadowhearts camp clothes, and constantly wants to roleplay with you. But also gets insanely upset if you so much as mention your romance option and will make fun of all the characters you like. Makes you stop your own playthough so you two can play co-op and he can "watch you".

Cliff - Has no interest in playing, but is familiar with DND back when it was popular when he was a child. Still not super interested, but he likes hearing you be passionate about something. If you mention your romance option he'll perk up a bit, get cheeky, and start to mimic the things you like if it aligns with him. Obviously expects you to romance Halsin though because he likes to imagine there are similarities....

Antonio - I'm torn, cause I do think he'll like the game but I also think he's a bit jealous of your time and will only let you play it with him "so I can share your hobby and see you get excited is all!" Will try and argue that you shouldn't have that character cause it's not good for your party comp, or try and disrupt your romance scenes. He wants to appear like a good sport, but very obviously isn't

Ezra- He hates it. He doesn't understand video games, but he likes seeing you happy. You should be hanging out with him though, and he knows there is co op but he's terrible at it and clearly isn't having fun. He seethes and mopes the entire time you play, and almost cries if you talk about your romance option. Why aren't any of them sweet or kind or like him?? Do you not like him??

[courtofmatchups]

Hey could I get a match up for Obey me or Twisted Wonderland?

Pronouns: He/Him

Sexuality: On the ace spectrum but I know for certain I like dudes.

Appearance: I wear thin glasses with the lens showing out more than the frame, and any frame there is, is a black on the top. I am chubby, which only shows more often than not in my face, with having a real chubby face. I have blue eyes, with dark short hair, swooped to the side. I am short, around 5’3”.

I often have that real nerdy look that I lean into. Mainly on the front I am one. Either dressing in graphic t-shirts of my favorite shows and movies, or straight up overdressed for occasions. A nice white button up, a nice pair of pants, with a sweat vest.

Personality: Generally speaking I have social anxiety. So it’s really hard for me to open up to someone face to face. I usually talk as a way to make the thoughts of anxiety go away, but when I am truly comfortable, it comes through actions. I love spoiling my friends with gifts, I love being there for people and listening to what they have to say, it’s my comfort to know that someone cares. Though as for myself, I struggle to give myself the benefit of the doubt.

I always try to go farther than I actually need to, when I do go far I struggle to give myself real credit. Especially for the things and accomplishments I have done. I always believe I am lazy when I am just exhausted. I always enjoy making fun of my friends and them with me.

Likes/Hobbies: Okay, where do I start. I really enjoy spicy food, I’ll often take on larger doses of spicy food because it usually tastes better. I enjoy indie music, though a lot of people find it weird. I enjoy RPGs generally speaking, as for the specifics, I absolutely would kill for a good game of any table top rpg (exg. D&D, Pathfinder, etc). I also always enjoy traditional rpg games like Hylics. Outside of gaming, I enjoy writing a lot to the point that in previous relationships I have written poems of the people I cared about. I also enjoy reading and watching movies, though for most of the time I restrict it to the horror genre, that doesn’t mean I don’t like other stories in these mediums. I also like to doodle and watch anime.

Dislikes: Guh, fucking hate people with no emotional intelligence, like whatsoever. It has to be one of the quickest ways to get right under my skin. I also have a short temper with people that assume major things about me due to my disabilities. And oversexualization or infantilization of me.

What I look for in a partner: Reliability. End of sentence. More accurately, I want a partner who is willing to respect my boundaries and hang out with me. I want a partner that I can rant my problems at and they are more than willing to open up about their issues.

Hopefully this isn’t too hard

It seems to me, you've captured the heart of...

Idia Shroud!

I read that you were more on the introverted side, and when I read about your interests, I KNEW he was the one. Idia, like you, is someone who struggles with face-to-face interactions and would deeply appreciate a partner who understands the challenges of social anxiety. He’d be able to relate to your nerdy interests, from video games to tabletop RPGs, and the two of you could bond over your shared hobbies in a low-pressure environment.

Given that he's a little bit anxious, you might need to make the first move, and seeing that you and he are basically on the same wavelength, that won't be too hard for you. There is also a chance that he might make the first move at Ortho's insistence.

Either way, the relationship between you is a dream come true for him. I hope you can understand rap lyrics (the really fast songs in particular) because the speed at which he yaps about his interests is reminiscent of that. Can you really blame him though? His love language is infodumping about his favourite things. Of course, he'd love to hear you ramble about your interests as well, especially if it's something he's not dipped his toes into, since he can learn more about that, and by extension you.

Idia is a lot more emotionally intelligent than he lets on. He chewed out Rollo pretty hard in the Glorious Masquerade event. He experienced something similar himself, and his speech did help Rollo see a different path (Saying all this with as little spoilers as possible just in case). That said, you don't need to worry about a lack of emotional intelligence.

With Idia, you’d find a partner who is just as introspective and understanding as you, allowing you both to share your love for games, quiet moments, and nerdy pursuits without pressure.

[shymerseysider]

Hi. This may sound out of nowhere but I'm making a video game about abdl and little space and want to pick the communities brain on what they'd like to see or do in the game.

Hi :)

So, first of all I'd just like to say how impressed I am that you're undertaking a project like this! It takes a lot of skill, knowledge, dedication and courage to do something like this, so kudos to you! :)

Secondly I'd like to apologise for my delayed response. I've finally had a week off work for the first time in six months which, on the face of it you'd think would leave me a lot of time for correspondence but which, in reality has actually just been really busy completing a lot of long delayed chores.

Additionally however, I also struggled with the question. I have literally no idea what kind of game you're trying to make, so any suggestions or thoughts I have may be entirely inappropriate or unhelpful. I have played a number of ABDL games over the years ranging from some really good interactive stories such as 'the special place' and 'Claire's Nursery' to adventure/RPG games like 'Diaperquest', and even some sillier games like Duckhunt (but with diapers instead of ducks :P ) So, as a game dev yourself I hope you appreciate my ideas may be worse than useless to you. If that proves to be the case, I can only apologise.

All that said, here are some things that I would broadly appreciate seeing in an ABDL game:

A loving caregiver ( I appreciate this isn't to everyone's taste as a significant part of the community seems to enjoy the more extreme end of humiliation, but personally I'm really just looking for care and affection. )

A little's PoV ( If your game includes visuals, then I'd really like to see the world through the character's eyes if possible. I find that a third person view can sometimes kill the sense of immersion )

Simple educational games ( I don't know why, but little mini games where you try to answer 'simple' questions in return for praise or rewards is really appealing to me)

A stuffie collection (Just a silly idea, but it'd make me happy. I'm trying to think of an example of what I mean from other computer games but I can't off the top of my head. You know how in some games you end up with like a trophy room where you can go and look at your achievements? Something like that, but with cute cuddly friends instead :P )

Perhaps other members of the community might like to add their own thoughts in the replies of this post?

Anyway, I hope this was helpful and I wish you the best of luck with your project! :)

[viktormaru]

Please explain your Borderlands opinions, but to someone who doesn't know much about Borderlands at all. I do want to hear!

there are so many about so many specific things so I'll just rate the base games for you after a brief explanation of why you should give it a try

its a run and gun game with no fall damage

ok with that out of the way- just kidding. Borderlands is a coop (or solo) shooter RPG in this post apocalyptic-ish scenario that has the Random Ass humor that is kinda great actually, so you can usually burn hours in it with tons of fun. It has this "randomizer" weapon system with different stats and stuff and differect characters with different skills and skill trees so its pretty fun all around.

With that being said here's my rating and why

Borderlands 2 > Tales from the Borderlands > Borderlands 3 > Borderlands the Prequel > Borderlands 1

I know, controversial, let me explain

BORDERLANDS 2: Please play it, its such a good game and has one of the best video games villains ever, Handsome Jack, who says very iconic lines such as "I will pay you to kill yourself". The story is fun, the characters are fun, the gameplay is fun, Borderlands 2 is the peak of the series.

TALES FROM THE BORDERLANDS: this is kinda cheating bcs Tales was made by telltale games and its a choice based game and not a shooter, but the characters are so entertaining and the story so good I rate it super high anyway. Heres the one to play if you dont like shooters, though this one is set after BL2 so it might get a bit confusing without context.

BORDERLANDS 3: I know I shouldnt rank it this high because my god the story SUCKS and the character assassination happening here is brutal, but the gameplay really has reached peak with the movement and the gunplay and stuff. I only played with FL4K though so IDK how fun the other characters are to play but hey, the DLCs are pretty good so that also raises the game in my tierlist

BORDERLANDS THE PREQUEL: It didnt do anything criminal tbh, I jsut didnt like the Oxygen mechanics they added, it kinda pisses me off a little bit. Fun characters though!! Like very much so! The story is alright, its about how Handsome Jack became who he is but... well... they dont introduce anything new really so it sits in the alright spot

BORDERLANDS: i misspelled is as boredlands while typing and had a laugh. Look, I still havent maanged to beat the game bcs its so old and clunky it was making me have a Gamer Rage moment. I shall review this tierlist once I finish it.

But seriously, borderlands its weird and quirky and edgy and fun and U should def give it a try... or at least watch a compilation of characters saying dumb shit

[knowlessman]

bnha s3e4-7

(watching OP) wonder when Top-Hat Rorschach shows up, what their deal is

'XD "oh, what's this, five people from Class A have to do the remedial homework when only one person from Class B does" says the person from Class B who has to do the remedial homework -- Ditto, I swear you had an actual personality back in the horse race -- "I'd like to know what his mental state is" pretty sure you're looking at it Mina

EMERGENCY MEETING -- I forget whether Mandalay's the pervert. If she isn't, her new nickname is Emergency Meeting. Yes I know Among Us was last relevant like ten months ago or something, shut up

dangit, Dancing Boy spawncamped Hat-n'-Clogs

oh, it's Bakuswole from the OP -- ("that's the guy who killed my parents") damn, show, not enough trauma going around already?

probably every time the show zooms in on Deku's knuckles from now on I'm gonna be thinking, "so when is that new gauntlet from Melissa gonna come in? did it get lost in the mail?"

(some dude, the Cenobite I think, found a hand) uhhhhh

hehehe Greninja sure does look like a guy combat flirting would work on, with that getup and that dumbass weapon -- wait no Froppy is Greninja, I forgot

(bakuswole asking about bakugeta) …huh. family resemblance then, possibly

(kota used Splash!) kota you dumbass -- huh. surprise title drop -- also tho. baka no hero ("idiot's hero"), you mean; you were sposed to run 'XD (p sure I have that right, p sure that's how possessives work?)

still can't get over how handface, like, doesn't have a damn costume and slendervoid is just so fucking fancy -- "I was thinking of it as an rpg when I should have been thinking of it as a tactics game" idk did you find the neoseeker guide, did you buy the right gameshark, did you try putting the cartridge in crooked you old fart -- this guy is like a televangelist among villains and for some reason he thinks in outdated video game terms. his boss even knows not to trust him with mooks now, he had to get these randos off craigslist himself (or did Slendy do it for him, I forget) and half of them are just gonna try to kill him when they realize he hates Stain. guy's a fucking loser. -- (handface holding up a picture of bakugo lecter) "in a society bound by rules, we're not the only ones being oppressed" …I'm not sure there's even been a single allegation so far of heroes abusing power or generally doing RL-cop shit (although I might've either missed it, forgotten it, or lost it in the translation). There's Endeavor's… whole deal, but do the villains in this (other than Dabi I guess) have anything behind their walls of monologue other than "society doesn't let us do murders whenever we want and that's bad"?

(eraser v dabi) this is some hard naruto shit here. dang, and he knows mud clone jutsu? how many quirks does dancing boy have? -- oh mud clone jutsu is deadpool's quirk then. : | why is deadpool here

"you're not a real hero!" maybe get a real weapon before throwing stones

"everyone! free to engage!" inb4 bakugo blows up the planet -- …("kacchan is the target") as I said, inb4 bakugo blows up the planet

dayum. tokoyami… everything's kicking off

"I'll save both of them" deku with the Bat-plan. smart guy -- "surrender yourself to dark shadow" deku you say the damnedest things to the damnedest people

lol @ bakugo's saitama face here

-- "our mission is to escort bakugo there" vegeta-chan's gonna haaate this ♪ -- "with this team, we could even take on All Might!" ah yes, the rare Good Team Comp

oh, knife girl -- sakura getting to do things!

"you're protecting bakugo? then where is he?" I thought bakugo was walking in the middle -- "bakugo doesn't belong to anyone" says the guy carrying him in a marble. …implicitly carrying him in a marble -- …oh. he got tokoyami too. dang

who is this guy todoroki's carrying, anyway? he gonna wake up at some point?

didn't take where rorschach was running to into account, didja, geniuses

"don't come after me, deku" goddammit sasuke

"fifteen students were in serious condition from the villains' attacks" camera pans over one girl on a stretcher whose t-shirt literally says "dead" wtf -- squints wait that's jiro, okay she should be fine then she just has really weird fashion sense

whenever deku's hanging out somewhere (in the hospital in this case) and you see the door open, the first faces you see are Worst Character and Worst-Character-in-Training. oh they let the whole class in this time, okay then -- pfft. kaminari's even wearing a t-shirt with an omega on it cuz that's the tier he's aiming for

tokoyami: "I'm sorry I caused you trouble" birdman, your classmates used you for your quirk (not for no reason but still), stop apologizing for having it

"all might saves everyone he can reach, I could have reached him" not with both of your broken arms trailing behind you

yaoyorozu is still the most competent character in the entire show by a handy margin. hell, she has to know how that fucking tracker works in order to even make it

we already knew captain america civil war was a bad movie but god damn, the conflict here and the sheer… actual writing behind it -- did civil war even have a plot besides "tony stark can't forgive a guy who was being mind-controlled"? I do not remember. I think in the comics it was a whole thing about whether supers should be registered and tracked and stuff?

…can't decide whether to stop for the night : | eh, we're between arcs so this's probably a good spot.

[cheesey-rice]

Theory on the Soul in Deltarune. (Warning for spoilers on all routes.)

In case you didn't know already, there are two routes in the new Deltarune chapter. I think each one gives us a different perspective on Kris's motivations and their relationship with the soul that inhabits them.

I think the important thing that underpins my take on the game is assuming that the two other lighters who accompany you in the game, Noelle and Susie, are used to voice perspectives that Kris as a silent protagonist might share but be unable to express. This is a common tool used in silent protagonist RPGs, but if you don't agree with it my take might not hold much water for you.

I'll start out by talking about a fairly regular pacifist playthrough of this part. The main scene I'd like to discuss is the one at the end, where it is discussed that opening a dark fountain could bring about the Roaring.

Because it's pretty obvious that we are to think Kris is the "Knight" sneaking off to create these dark fountains with their knife, some people think that they intend to bring about the Roaring. I think their intentions are far less malicious than such a theory assumes.

Because the main thing is that we know that Kris as a character cares about the people in their life. They have a loving relationship with their family and take care of their friends automatically without us prompting them. When Susie consistently alludes to wanting to stay friends with Kris throughout the pacifist rounds, I assume these feelings are reciprocated. I also assume that most of the feelings Susie expresses about the dark world, that it's cool and fun and easier than the real world, are also feelings felt by Kris.

There's also another layer we can see to Kris's feelings about the dark world that comes from their own reactions. We know that Kris is a weird kid in real life, a lonely kid who looks up to their older brother and doesn't have any trophies on their wall like he does. In the dark world, Kris does get trophies on their wall in the room Ralsei makes for them. In the dark world, Kris is a confident, accomplished leader who can make as many friends as they want to thanks to help and guidance from a goat who is very similar to their older brother who they can't contact because of the internet currently.

It isn't really a ground breaking conclusion to say that Kris probably likes the dark world just as much as Susie does, as she talks only of how she wants to go back and have another adventure. Because Kris is the one making the dark fountains, one can see that the worlds are made for them. Made for their adventure with friends in a world makebelieved out of all their childhood toys and imaginings.

We also know that Kris has the ability to walk around, slash tires, eat pies, and make dark fountains without any input from us at all. They don't need us for that and have the ability to take us out whenever they want.

So if the theory that they resent the soul that controls their actions held true, why would we still be in control? Why would they choose to let us do that?

This is where it's important to consider Noelle in the alternate route, whose inner feelings we are often privy to due to Kris's strong understanding of her from childhood.

The alternate route is activated by forcing Noelle to kill people in the dark world. At one point, Noelle asks herself why she's following Kris's commands when they're asking her to do such awful things. The conclusion that she draws is, "but I keep getting stronger... They're just trying to make me stronger."

If this is the reason Noelle obeys Kris, then perhaps in turn we can extrapolate that this is the reason Kris obeys us.

Because we get results.

No matter which ending you get, Kris had an adventure, became stronger, defeated enemies it would have been impossible to go up against without us.

We also see that in scenes where we don't help Kris, where we aren't in control, they often suffer at the hands of these enemies. How Susie hit then against the locker in the first game, howthe King almost strikes them down after they help Susie, how Spamton would have killed them all alone in the basement if their friends hadn't interceded.

Kris wants to be cool and strong and have a fun adventure. For that reason, they are relying on another, external force to make their choices for them. To make choices that will matter.

In the Pacifist run, Kris gets their wish. A fun adventure with their friends where no one has to get hurt. Kris can just sit back and enjoy as a friendly dark power holds their hand through the whole thing.

In the alternate route, however, we see the start of a darker path. One where the dark power with hold over Kris makes malevolent choices that make them question themselves. Is this really the right thing?

We see this hesitation in how other characters react to Kris in this route. After Kris and Noelle kill Bertly, Susie notes that Kris's expression seems to be off some how. That something seems wrong with them, even offering to heal them because of it. Later on, Noelle notes that she sees some other voice coming out of Kris, something scary that she needs to investigate, foreshadowing a continuation of this plot in later chapters.

Kris experiences some amount of turmoil due to the actions of the player. But they still open the dark fountain and put the soul back into themselves later.

How do they justify that to themselves?

Think about Yoshi. If you talk to Garrison's descendent at his grave, they tell you that Kris drops Yoshi into the pit on purpose to complete a level in the video game. In video games Kris is already the kind of player that can distance themselves from necessary sacrifices.

Maybe they justify it to themselves the same way Noelle does at first. It's in the dark world, things are different there, it doesn't matter, it's not real. I'm still getting stronger. Isn't this what I wanted? Who cares if Berdley is dead, he sucked anyway, let's close our eyes and not even look so toby doesn't have to draw the sprite when we hide his body in the wire closet.

Perhaps the resign themselves to it, acclimate to it, become numb to the traumatic event in order to justify carrying on, like Flower or Chara in Undertale might be assumed to on a genocide run.

Because that's what having the soul allows them to do. It allows them to carry on.

On the notion of Noelle carrying on her investigation, it would be interesting to me if the endgame of deltarune turned out to be a fight where all the friends whose levels you raised by killing turn on you and try to either a) save Kris from you, or b) stop a Kris who is too far gone into apathy. That ending would seem sort of karmic to me so I would enjoy seeing it. I think a battle where you play as Kris but try to make them lose to their friends in a pacifist run ending might be interesting too seeing as they are the "knight" and all and are being set up as the big bad.

So basically my actual theorizing boils down to a) on pacifist run you're like Kris's replacement older sibling cajoling them into making friends on a little video game adventure and they're trying so hard to make you stay, or b) you take the alternate route and are just kind of traumatizing Kris into thinking murder is ok if they get to be cool and have fun adventures.

I also have some things to say about how Ralsei takes on Asriel's place of influencing Kris to experience empathy and when you follow those actions Kris is reminded of their big brother who they love and how the alternate route makes Kris cut themselves off from that empathetic power as part of maintaining their own self justifications but I should just make a different post if I'm gonna talk about that.

TLDR; Kris just wants to have a fun adventure like everyone else, I don't think they resent our control but are instead actively seeking it out to make their life easier.

[thechekhov]

So glad you decided to play Undertale! I think it would really suit you so I’m so happy you got into it! Could I have your thoughts about the game? I would LOVE to hear them. I’m ALL for long essays and rants, that’s my jam, but even just a small review from you would make me ecstatic!

Alright alright alright alright. 

I am ecstatic that someone asked because I have a lot to say AS ALWAYS. 

I’m gonna try to keep this readable, I swear. Will add pictures in between to keep things interesting. 

However, due to the length this will SURELY achieve, AND due to spoilers (and yes, laugh at me all you want, the game has been out for 5 years) I’ll put this under a cut. Read at your own (f)risk.

Metagaming - the game plays YOU

When I first started Undertale, I ‘knew’ these things:

there’s a stabby one with a knife, their name is chara

there’s a flower everyone hates

something something sans something something

and the last, and perhaps most important thing

you can spare your enemies to avoid killing them

The thing is. The THING IS. 

I did not realize how pervasive this strategy was. My thought at first was ‘okay, so I don’t have to kill EVERYONE.’

I had no idea that the reality was that I didn’t have to kill anyone.

I’m sure many others have already said this, but Undertale kind of changes the way you think about other games. It forces to you examine simply fighting your way through the RPG by introducing completely non-murder-y ways to resolve issues. This conversation-based combat style is not the first of its kind, I’m sure, but it’s also incredibly well done. It ties into the story, it ties into your decisions.

It ties into your decisions SO MUCH that it changes everything else in the outcome.

Undertale is a game well known for breaking the 4th wall. However, it does so in a strangely eerie, heart-wrenchingly real way. It teaches us that there are other solutions to conflicts - and it really... it really TEACHES us, you know?

Which is funny because to be honest, it took me a while to get the lesson.

(You may already be fully aware of this but yes, my first True Neutral Route was extremely organic. I legitimately had no idea that there was even more than one ending. I was just stumbling about er... killing. Out of habit.)

The beauty of this is that the game drives home that point even more effectively because I was fully unaware of my own bias. I had assumed that some enemies would require killing - DESPITE TORIEL SPECIFICALLY TELLING ME TO TALK TO THEM, and the entire Ruins tutorial being about Mercy. I killed the Dummy on accident (granted, it was due to me pressing the key too fast a few times) and didn’t think much of Toriel’s disapproval. I killed a few monsters because I saw my level was low and decided to automatically grind a little bit. 

By the time I got to Toriel, I was still not comfortable with the mechanic. I knew I could Spare her somehow - after all, she was a kind monster, and clearly an important character - but the Spare option didn’t yield promising results the first few times I chose it. I ran out of patience and decided that maybe... maybe it was like pokemon! 

Maybe I had to get her health down to a certain level before she would allow me to pass through.

Funny thing though.... you know what happens if you attack Toriel one too many times? Even if she has most of her health left? 

Yeah uh... it activates that one-hit-KO thing from No Mercy Route.

So of course, what happened? I hit her one too many times... and killed her! And of course, immediately panicked and reset. 

I got back to my previous save, Spared Toriel PROPERLY this time, and walked out of the ruins only to be confronted with my own reliance on the magical ‘redo’ button which was... apparently... not that magical.

Because it WASN’T a clean redo. Flowey apparently remembered. 

The idea that the game would KNOW about my previous attempts beyond the save file snapped me out of my casual Undertale playthrough. I realized that something was up - this game was not going to be like the others.

I think it was from this point on that I tried to be more careful, but again - I still hadn’t quite gotten the memo about not killing. I took down a few monsters around Snowdin. And when I got to Papyrus, I grew frustrated about not being able to beat him (I ended up losing several times and coming back to try again) and went off to grind SOME MORE because I figured that could raise my HP and increase my chances of holding off long enough to Spare him. 

(The incredible thing about this game is that actually, raising your level gives you only a slight advantage. You can be level 1 and carrying no items, and as long as you’re relatively proficient at dodging the bullet hell style projectiles you will have no issues.) 

Anyway, the point is that I realized I could spare the big monsters and did so readily - but I didn’t bother to spare many of the smaller ones. 

I figured it didn’t matter. 

And then I successfully evaded Undyne, gave her a cup of water, etc... and then went to her house to meet Papyrus, fully expecting her to befriend me anyway. 

And you know what happened?

“She said she won’t hang out with a murderer.“

I think that probably hit me the hardest at that point in the game. 

I had a bit ‘....oh’ moment at that point because I realized that the game would punish me for killing even the ‘not-important’ civilians of the Underground. It wasn’t about just sparing the ‘boss monsters’. My actions had consequences beyond just the ‘elite’ characters that we all tend to focus on.

Because yes, it made sense. It wasn’t about just Undyne - why WOULD she randomly be my friend after I killed tons of living beings?

From there on, I spared everyone, but didn’t reset. I decided to see how it would unravel.

The thing I want to talk about, which is a little difficult, is that...

It took me that long to learn that kindness was the answer. And that, in itself, ends up being a metaphor. 

It’s difficult to be kind if you have not been show how to be.

It’s difficult to change the way you behave (in a game or out of it) if all you know is using other methods.

It was hard enough to spare Toriel before I realized I had to just be very patient and trust that her attacks wouldn’t hit - though at first I thought she would just kill me! 

It was hard to avoid Papyrus’ attacks and I had to die several times before I successfully got through it. 

It was near impossible to fight Undyne because I legitimately had no idea Fleeing was an option. I struggled for ages at her stage, and I had to ask for help to understand what I could do.

And that’s actually honestly very true to life as well.

Being kind takes risk. Being kind takes effort. And sometimes, being kind means asking others HOW to be kind. 

When you choose to be kind, you risk being hurt, and you risk being trapped (Toriel). When you choose to be kind, you need to expand a lot more energy to succeed (Papyrus). When you choose to be kind, you need to sometimes reach out to others to show you how to properly do it (Undyne).

The rest of the playthrough probably went about as you expect. I completed the game, didn’t kill any Boss Monsters, fought to the end and... got that really unsatisfying Neutral Ending which felt strangely bittersweet. 

And of course, after I was done, I was prompted to go back and do a proper Pacifist Run. Which I did. I learned about the background of Determination, about Chara and Asriel... and about how everything came to be the way it was.

The thing that gets me the most about this game is how it serves as a direct parallel to how we use videogames. In fact, Undertale is a videogame... about videogames. 

Chara appears to be a direct metaphor for the people that use videogames to escape - to cope with whatever happened to them in The Overworld. Bad family life, or bad relationships or whatever we suffer - escapism through games is not, in itself, a new theme. 

Chara arrived in Undertale by dropping themself down a hole in the mountain, perhaps even seeking to end their life. They dropped into a world which offered them comfort and companionship, a new family and a new life - but in the end, their nature was destructive because their means to finding a solution inadvertently used other people as fodder. Asgore, Asriel - they used everyone else to complete their plans. It wasn’t about forming connections - it was about Completing the Quest. 

I wonder - did Chara even HAVE access to a MERCY option? 

Was their world one without the option of sparing someone? Did they only have the choice of acting - and was Mercy in the hands of whoever attacked them? I wonder how difficult it might have been for them. I wonder how that, in itself, shaped their perception of the world. 

I wonder if that’s why, during the No Mercy run, people recognize you as Chara? If they come back and attach themselves to your resonating DETERMINATION?

If this is true, was MERCY perhaps created later, brought into existence once Asriel himself made the choice to NOT fight, to turn back and flee, even after being attacked by humans in the Overworld? 

(It would be a nice parallel to Asgore DESTROYING the Mercy option when you enter the fight with him...)

...

In the end, I think Undertale is about many things, including video games. 

But it’s also hurting - and being hurt. 

It’s about how trauma can shape us, how we deal with feeling grief, and loss, and depression - and not being able to feel anything.

It’s about how we focus on goals and use DETERMINATION to keep going - even when whatever it is that’s driving us no longer has any SOUL. 

It’s about how our action have consequences, but they also carry the weight of a choice, and how powerful those choices are, and how powerless we feel when we aren’t given a choice - not to fight back, nor show mercy. 

I think that’s probably the reason this game resonated with so many people. It really brings something we love about videogames to the forefront - that ability to fight back, to have full and total control of our own lives...

And it also shows us how having that endless loop of repetitive grinding and fighting with zero consequences can lead to an incredible hollowness and make us numb to how we interact with real-life people. 

Anyway. 

Good game. 

[self-loving-vampire]

I am now more than halfway done with The Chronicles of Myrtana: Archolos

I have nearly 100 hours of playtime and am in chapter 4/6, so here are my expanded thoughts on the game.

Someone else already posted a pretty good video examining several features of the game, although limited to the first chapter. I agree with most of the points in that video, which can be summarized as:

It truly feels like a professionally-made entry in the Gothic series of action RPGs (with all the traits that entails), with the same feel but including several quality of life improvements a couple of mechanical expansions, and incredible exploration, among other things.

However, the video also criticizes several points: The main story hook not being very motivating, too much “sub-questing” (which I actually like, I feel like it makes quests and the setting itself more complex when done well as it often is here), sometimes linear quest scripting, and so on.

I’ll try not to repeat anything in that video here, other than mentioning that the linear quest scripting gets worse at certain points, outright railroading the player in ways that feel very clumsy to me. This is really my main gripe with the game. Some aspects of it provide amazing levels of freedom while others are far more linear than they should be.

So here are other factors I think could be added to the list.

Positives

1. The quest design is generally good. 

Many of the quests that start out sounding pretty straightforward can include things like multiple choices for what to do, and your options for which path to take typically have some kind of reasonable justification behind them (in contrast to, say, the quest to nuke Megaton in Fallout 3, where there’s not really that much of a good in-universe reason to do it).

Many quests also end up featuring various complications that make them a lot more interesting. Even the most basic quests also often feature some proper in-universe context for why they need to be done that help flesh out the world somewhat.

The following two examples include some early/mid-game spoilers.

[[Spoilers start here]]

In one quest for the city guard, you are instructed to concoct some rat poison and then head down into the sewers under the slums to use the poison on several rat nests, which they spawn rats for you to fight. You are doing this in order to prevent the spread of a plague.

On the surface, this sounds only slightly more complex than the most generic RPG quest ever: Kill some rats in a sewer.

However, as you are doing this you are soon approached by a suspicious man who doesn’t sound very hinged and who claims to be collecting samples. After some conversation, he might offer to take you to his workshop to ask you some questions that might aid his research.

From this point, you could refuse and report him to the guard immediately for a reward, but isn’t that too hasty? There might be something worth investigating in his workshop, and he hasn’t done anything that actually seems criminal yet...

(But it is pretty clear that he’s doing some dangerous biological weapon research).

If you choose to follow him to his secret laboratory, you can answer some questions he has about the rats and their behavior. Afterwards, it’s not difficult to loot the valuables in the place and further enrich yourself. On top of that, he becomes a pretty good alchemy vendor, selling some fabulously rare herbs that are required for potions that cause permanent stat improvements.

At this point, you can still choose to snitch on his hideout for a reward from the guard but this obviously comes at the cost of losing access to his services, but who knows what might happen to the city’s health if this is not done.

There is an even more interesting example in a separate quest, assigned to you by an employee of a wealthy moneylender in the city. 

The largest vineyard in the island (which you probably have already visited by this point) is suffering from an ownership dispute between two brothers.

The older brother is Holdwig, who by the island’s laws and traditions has the rightful claim to the vineyard. Most of the workers also prefer him.

The younger brother Andreas is favored by your employer (one of the most influential people in the entire island) and is also much more intelligent. He makes the argument that under his more skilled management the employees would benefit more financially.

But there is more. You don’t simply choose one brother or the other. Both of them want you to do something illegal to undermine the other brother.

Holdwig wants you to dig up dirt on Andreas to blackmail or ruin him. Andreas wants you to mildly sabotage the vineyard to damage Holdwig’s reputation with the laborers. Neither of them comes off like an entirely good person.

So which one is it going to be?

What if I told you that, if you dig thoroughly enough, you can find a secret third way to complete the quest and reconcile the brothers but which also requires you to do something extremely illegal?

I really like this and wish more RPGs had quest design like that. When the game isn’t using cutscenes to railroad you, the quests are generally brilliant.

[[End of spoilers]]

2. The city is large, dense, and interesting.

In terms of RPG cities, Archolos is definitely one of the better ones primarily due to its density of content. Each of the city’s many recognizable districts is just full of named characters who have some kind of useful role (as opposed to just being nameless extras used to fill space, though there’s some of those too).

Additionally, the developers seem to have made some effort to provide direction. While the city is completely overwhelming at first the extremely recognizable districts, the noticeboards displaying maps, the fact that you can just buy marked city maps from some of the first people you see upon coming in, and the fact that there’s guide NPCs scattered around who are willing to take you to places for money means that it’s hard to actually get lost for very long in the city.

And, if you do even just a fifth of the many quests in the city, you will soon familiarize yourself with it as well.

The city also comes with a separate sewer map to explore, filled with dangerous monsters and hiding many secrets in its multiple levels.

3. Just the right amount of fast travel.

Fast travel is a tricky thing in large, open world games. Whether it’s “good” or “bad” comes down to the specific game and questions like “Is this world actually worth traversing on foot?”, “How often will the player need to pass through here uneventfully?”, “How big is this place?”, and so on.

The Gothic games had a simple but effective fast travel system. At various points in the game you could acquire teleportation runes that can be used at any time to return to a specific location tied to the rune. It will generally be a while before you obtain any of these runes, but once they start showing up all of the major locations will be covered before long.

Archolos retains teleportation runes, except now they can only be used at special teleportation circles (meaning you can’t just freely teleport out of any location).

But in return, there are significantly more fast travel options than before. At various populated locations you can find wagons that can instantly move you around for a small fee. In other locations, you can purchase an identical service to travel by sea to other coastal locations.

Both Archolos and the earlier Gothic games also feature temporary speed potions, which boost your movement speed dramatically and can be used to rush through the map if desired.

These things add up to make it really convenient to move from one extreme of the island to another while still keeping the experience immersive and reasonably barring fast travel in and out of dangerous and wild areas at least until you find a relevant teleportation rune and circle.

Negatives

1. Too many immortal NPCs.

This is a similar but separate problem to the railroading. If you encounter a named NPC that isn’t set up to be fought as part of some quest, chances are you won’t be able to hurt them if you try to fight them. Even NPCs that you do fight in quests tend to be invincible until the time comes.

This immediately removes a lot of options from the player and contributes to railroading.

Gothic 1 and 2 had their share of immortal NPCs as well, but this tended to be limited to characters of more vital importance. 

Gothic 1 in particular gave you a lot of freedom to fight nearly anyone you wanted even if your only motivation was robbing them (as fits its setting, you were in a harsh prison colony after all).

But in Archolos, even a lot of the nameless NPCs are inexplicably invincible. This presents problems with the various quests where some kind of evil or injustice is happening and many players will be tempted to do something about it through basic gameplay, only to find that it doesn’t work at all.

2. The difficulty breaks too easily.

One of the defining characteristics of the Piranha Bytes design is the difficulty curve. In most of their games, you start practically from nothing. No items, no social status, and no knowledge of the world you have been thrust into.

The start of the game is often the hardest part. You are vulnerable, your attacks are clumsy, and you are easily defeated and tossed around by most people and monsters. 

You need to be cautious and resourceful to overcome this and begin the journey to grow strong enough to survive. Since the game does not scale anything to your level, it is satisfying to measure your progress against the world and then do so again after you have grown not just mechanically but in terms of your skills with the combat system.

Archolos is set up with this idea in mind as well. You start as a young and scrawny refugee arriving in an unfamiliar country. For most of the game’s first two chapters this progression actually holds very well too.

However, if you are thorough while exploring and doing side quests, the game will probably start feeling too easy by the time you reach chapter 3. I can say from experience that it is possible to have a master-level combat skill, all hunting training, at least 3 maxed non-combat skills, tons of HP, some magic ability, and over 150 effective strength by that point.

Gothic 2 (with the expansion) was particularly good at delaying this kind of excessive power gain, pacing it around the game’s gradual introduction of more challenging enemies more carefully. By the time I was in chapter 2 of that game, I still needed to sneak around several parts of the world (particularly in the Valley of Mines) because unless you abuse some cheesier tools even basic orcs are still formidable enemies at that point, and the worst was yet to come too.

3. The journal is sometimes too helpful.

Most of the time the journal is fine. It notes things you have learned and where to go next. It has separate entries for each quest, and an entire tab dedicated to cataloguing non-quest information you encounter (such as blacksmithing recipes, lists of traders and trainers, teleportation circles you can access, and so on).

The problem is that sometimes the journal goes on to suggest things that the player may not have heard or considered previously, often because the writing slipped in introducing these ideas.

The worst example I remember right now happens when you need to get information out of a man to progress the main quest. He refuses to tell you anything and it seems as if you have reached a dead end.

However, if you open your journal, you will find the protagonist has actually come up with a plan to craft a poison, make the dude take it, and then extort the information out of him by promising the antidote. 

As far as I could tell, nothing outside the journal suggests this course of action at that point. While it makes sense that the protagonist would write what he thinks should be done next here, I feel like the journal should not be the only place where you can learn such things beyond just blindly stumbling onto your next objective.

Fortunately events that bad were extremely rare but I still felt like the journal was often more specific about what to do next than the actual clues and hints I gathered had been.

On some level I understand why it’s like this. It can help less observant or driven players continue quests more easily. However, the increased guidance can also somewhat spoil the fun of figuring things out and there are some cases where the trade-off gets unbalanced.

Neutral

1. The game is more mundane.

The Gothic series has always been relatively grounded and immersive, however the games still heavily featured the supernatural.

In Gothic 1 the main antagonist is a demon worshipped by a mystic cult. In Gothic 2 it’s dragons in service of the god of darkness and death, and you have a divine destiny as the chosen champion of the fire god. One of your most helpful allies is a necromancer who regularly employs demons. The magical barrier surrounding the prison colony is one of the major details that define the setting of the first two games, with the consequences of its destruction at the end of the first game shaping much of what happens in the second.

In other words, you are frequently engaging with the setting’s more impressive fantasy elements.

In contrast, Archolos takes the realistic approach even further and heavily features conflicts between humans and human factions, as opposed to battles between humans and supernatural beings.

Or at least this has been the case so far, that could change in the game’s second half but so far it seems to be building towards a social conflict tearing the city apart instead.

Most of the problems you encounter in the game have to do with these conflicts and how they seem to be escalating as the situation on the island worsens. A lot of the quests are morally gray, many of the institutions and factions on the island are corrupt and decaying, and a growing movement of impoverished and resentful townsfolk seems to be about to make a move as the city’s power centers attempt to suppress it.

Some people prefer stories with more prominent supernatural elements like magic or dragons. While I wouldn’t say that more human conflicts are objectively better than that myself, they have a different sort of appeal that seems completely appropriate for the type of game this is. They can also end up feeling more real when properly explored in a setting rich enough to do that.

Anyway, having played this game for about 97 hours now (longer than the full length of many other RPGs) I still strongly recommend it, especially for people who liked Gothic 1 and 2. The game does have its railroads but more than 90% of it is very open, with branching paths and top tier exploration.

[jeremy-ken-anderson]

The Fantasy

I’ve seen these longstanding arguments about superhero fantasy - some of the argument taking place online, in the form of blog posts and essays, and some of it taking place on film, in the form of the kinds of movies various directors decide to make - dealing with what the fundamental desire is.

For some the fantasy is one of selfishness and aggrandizement. Some instances of Batman are little more than the fantasy of getting to exert power on whatever you personally consider injustice without concern for law or due process. They’re the fantasy of always knowing who the bad guys are by feelings in your gut, and always turning out to be right about that.

Others hold a nobler view. They say superhero fantasies are about obtaining power - perhaps by birthright or by accident or even by training - and then using that power in the service of others. They maintain that kindness, and service, are the fantasy. Merely getting to know for sure that where great need is had, you will be capable of providing great value.

I really like the nobler view, but tbh I came here to talk about an anime relative of the darker one.

I came to talk about the Just-Like-My-RPG Isekai subgenre.

Three isekai that run with this subgenre are - in order of how ethically they look at things - Log Horizon, How Not to Summon a Demon Lord, and Overlord.

In Overlord and HNtSaDL (henceforth pronounced “Hunt-a-Saddle” in my head), there’s a fantasy very similar to that of Edgelord Batman. In this case it’s due specifically to the subgenre. It’s “Because this is just like the video game I was always playing, I don’t need to treat these as real people.”

Both Ainz and Diablo deal very poorly with the women around them; In Diablo’s case he’s a NEET and that’s the joke and we’re constantly shown that he’s trying, though if he weren’t so OP as to be useful on a massive scale I’m not sure he’d be worth putting up with. Ainz, oddly, has a bit of an out on this front because the women he deals with are actual monsters and we see that he’s legit scared that they might turn on him. So his hamming up the role may be in self-defense to some degree.

But the bigger thing for both is their treatment of life. They just...have no respect for lives. Diablo attempts to take people alive, sometimes, especially when it could be inconvenient (such as getting them kicked out of town). But we also see that he’s willing to gleefully murder an army, for the game-style flex. Ainz is an absolute psychopath and gets worse the longer things go, starting from “overboard vengeance against the human garbage, for the human party-mates I had vague acquaintance with” and “happily setting myself up in pretend self-defense so I can wreck people who’ve underestimated me and still look like the good guy” to “luring people into a death trap and then murdering and/or torturing them” and then to “slaughtering towns and armies simply to try out my new mass-kill spell and see how cool it looks.”

What’s weird, and makes both shows creepy, is that we’re shown in a variety of ways that while the places they’re interacting with are modeled after the game they played very directly (to the level where their game knowledge lets them predict events in a way that would be unreasonable for a world native) the world natives are in fact definitely actual people.

The reason Log Horizon tops my list of these three as far as “how ethical is it” in spite of the very...iffy view it takes on underage girls and their attraction to older men and how it seems to think those men ought to react... is that it looks at this issue of the NPCs being real people head-on. It is a big deal, and the main character realizes that a) It’s a gigantic ethical can of worms and b) it’s going to be incredibly hard to convince his fellow PCs to yield any kind of power to the much weaker NPCs of the world - even if it’s power the PCs don’t need to live that the NPCs do need to live. In essence, the main character recognizes that his fellow PCs are likely to look at this in the unethical way presented by the other two series, if the behavior is not actively checked. I think this is brilliant and it’s one of the things that makes Log Horizon really shine as a subversion of genre/expectation. It doesn’t just note the problem, it lingers and it ponders the problem.

[natsukitakama]

Hey you <3 I just wanted to request a headcanon for the 104th cadets, please : how do they act while playing co-op games (you know, the kind you have to resolve some kind of enigmas, like pressing two buttons at the same time, etc) with their s/o ? Thanks a lot !

Author note : hi there ❤️ thank you for your request hope you’ll enjoy this ♡ Somehow I described them as a gamer ? Hope you’re fine with that, I actually really enjoy this 

i do not own those gifs credit to the owner(s)

Warning : rage quit / eren is litteraly me / Modern AU cause the canon-verse suck Lmao / I based this on my own experience 

Masterlist

Eren Jaeger - impulsive 

How did you not end up dumping him ? The man is DANGEROUS 

You think that he is all screaming and yelling like all the FUCKING time ? 

Play a game with him 

Spoiler : it’s worst 

I mean at first he saw this as a challenge and just getting the possibility to do play a game with you ? 

He couldn’t say no to that 

The thing he just took this way to personally, so he had to finish this with the best score getting the things you had to unlock during a game. 

He had to 

Doesn’t mean you want to.

The whole idea of co-op game is to play together in order to finish the game

But he didn’t hear that : he wants to do everything by himself 

And when he can’t do it he would ask some help.

Don’t expect him to be good with synchro-enigma he can’t he is either too quick or too late. 

I’m sorry to say that but he might complain about your game (while he was the one who is losing all the heart because he can’t read an enigma properly) 

And you see me coming but if can’t resolve an enigma and if you can’t help him he would just stop and won’t play at this game until he feels like he can do it 

Oh and he sucks at game like Overcooked you know those kind of things were you’re supposed to work at the same Time as his partners he is either too slow either too quick (but always pretend he isn’t his fault) 

Don’t think I mentioned that but he cursed a lot, he complained a lot (to my fellow frenchie he is like Sardoche in real life I don’t make the rule here) 

7/10 because it’s funny to see him being angry at a game 

Mikasa - skilful

i wanted to say that if you’re not eren she won’t play with you LMAO 

But if she is dating you, she would do it because she wants to please you and spend some good quality time with you (she is not a fan of video game but she can tolerate some RPG) 

She tends to be quiet while playing and only speaks when she got an idea about how to solve enigma or difficult game who implies being coordinate. 

You didn’t have to anything in such mission she will synchronise her game with you don’t question her. I don’t know how she is doing it but she can no matter if you tend to push way to quickly every button or if you’re a slow one. One look from her and she does it 

She is really god any games it piss me off

When you struggle at an enigma that you decided to resolve on your own she will either give you tiny tips or just ask you to just stop right now get some tea and try again later when you’ll be more relax 

The only problem with her is she wants to help so much that she might do everything on her own especially if one of your mission imply fighting (like kill a boss together to unlock another level) she would quickly get over it without questioning you and you end up getting so many xp and items while you didn’t ever touch anything 

She wants to help you so much poor thing ♡ 

Also if you’re hurt during a game or if you life are pretty low she would stop everything in order to heal you. Even if it’s very cute from her, it piss you off cause now you have to start again because both of you died together. 

9/10 she is the best she cooks cookie prepare some tea for you. 

Armin - strategic 

i love him I really do 

But you can’t play with him 

He needs to make a plan on every mission, Like sweetie just relax you need to chill a little bit. 

Although he tends to overthink everytime He is very good when your goal is to kill a boss, cause he will do two jobs : healing and helping you to kill him. Give him 5 min and he will give you a whole tactics so you can fight the boss easily and earn even more xp. He won’t be afraid to go and heal you too if you’re in need and would never judge you if you’re struggling (even if he guides you during the game) he understand that the game is pretty difficult. 

He is good to with enigma like it’s just sound quite easy for him. All he has to do is read the thing and BANG he got the solution how can you do that ?

He will even explain the whole thing so you could also resolve enigma with him 

The problem is he is way too slow, if your level implies being coordinate it would take you forever until being able to finish the game. Especially because he is not comfortable with a joystick like they got way too many button and he is not good with coordination so he ends up being confused with the button 

When it came to videotgameswhere all of you have to work in coordination, he is always slow. He really tries but he is always way too slow, but he counterbalances his lack of skills with his minds so after you’ll lose because he couldn’t manage to do something within 30s he’ll find a solution to win 

It’s really funny to play a cop-game with him on Fortnite cause he’s like « y/n why would you play at such a game ? What’s the point of killing people ? » and he is the one who is throwing a grenade and shoot at the same time so a lot of people can dies with one shot or planing a trap so a lot of people might die at the same time. He is very dangerous when he wants to just saying. 

8/10 because sometimes mind isn’t enough and you need skill to win 

Jean - Skill and minds 

Do not let him play with Eren 

I swear don’t do it otherwise they would spend the whole game yelling at each other « you should come quicker Horse face ! » « Oh yeah ? Who’s the one who though that would be wise to attack the boss without getting heal first uh ? Such an idiot bastard » 

It’s not comfortable if you’re playing while being on the phone but it’s so funny to see him getting angry because Eren (as usual) run without thinking about a plan

Like Armin he tends to be very good when it came to resolve enigma or find an enemy’s weakness : all he has to do is to let Eren, Connie and Sasha run at first so he could analyze the boss’ behavior (yeah he totally uses them as guinea pig and he doesn’t regret that especially when he hears Eren getting Angry or Connie complaining it’s so funny) 

Unlike Armin he is pretty food with a controller so he can actually being very efficient as long as Mikasa isn’t around 

He tends to be close to you EVERYTIME and he would even protect you, heal you everytime you got hurt because you protects Connie, Eren or Armin, it’s cute at first but very annoying then because he only focus on you and isn’t into the game anymore. When he turns like that, someone need to tease him about not being good like Eren and he will scream a little bit (how dare you as if he could even be worst than that suicidal bastard) but then he is on it. 

Watch him beating the shit out of the boss 

BUT when it came to games like overcooked when you have to share task he is bad. Not because he isn’t skillful but because he wants to be the chief so badly and of course Eren thought he could be the leader while everyone knows he isn’t coordinate enough to do that. So most of the time Armin is the leader in such a game 

Just give him a task where he has to be quick and he’ll be fine but don’t let him in the same group as Eren, they would argue about who should to this and you’ll end up losing because they argue. 

Also if you’re playing something like a RPG with him he gave you SO MANY things like everytime he drop something this is for you, at this point he doesn’t care about his character (he does but he can’t just not give you something) 

You didn’t ask it but I’m just say it, if you play animal crossing with him he would spoil the shit out of you, can’t blame him he just wants to help so badly. He’ll text you about his plan, the stuff he got he would even help you with flowers. 

8/10 because he tends to flirt with you or argue with Eren so you’ll lose precious time for the mission 

Connie & Sasha - Funny 

I put them together because 1) they tends to play everytime together 2) because they play the same way 3) they share one braincell (meaning either you’re dating connie or Sasha you’ll have to play together) 

One word : a mess 

Always questionnaire why we’re doing this or why we shouldn’t do this, this way 

BUT they’re like very synchronized, it’s like seeing someone and his reflection (sometimes you’re even jealous cause you can’t do that)

They tends to be very effective when you need to coordinate something 

They’re pretty skilled too 

But they can’t make a plan even to save their life 

The number of life you’ll lose because them and Eren decided to run into the boss’ lair without asking permission 

It should be illegal to run that easily anyway 

If Connie is really dumb when It came to enigma 

Sasha is very good to notice tiny elements that actually was the key to resolve the problem 

She tends to be super good to drop every tiny things that was hide behind a tree too a really hunt (but won’t share her things with you if you’re not giving her puppy eyes I’m sorry) 

But Connie is your best allies to fight couple of ennemie at the same time, like you were walking and boom you’re surrounded by NPC and he will come to save you. 

Connie is a protector 

I mean Sasha is too but she more into prevention, safety than protection but if during a game you might be in danger of course she’ll run after you (ask you extra cookies for that) 

Dont expect any of them to be good at enigma or games like overcooked, I mean Sasha might spend her whole call luring about foods while Connie might try to do everything on his own since he is incredible (he says it) 

If you’re calling one of them during a game, it’s actually more entertaining than the game, I can’t explain they’re just super funny

If you’re playing in a RPG that might have a huge map you’ll definitely lose them at some point during your game, they don’t have any sense of direction and since they can’t read a map (that’s me don’t bully me I’m trying) well they get lost and will send you a picture of their screen so you could help them  

6/10 because they’re trying to their best but since they share one brain cell well it’s always more complicated than it should be 

Bonus : Marco Bott - Motivating 

My cute sweetheart 

He is doing is best everytime you call him for a game 

He is so good at overcooked than I’m jealous of him 

Kinda good with Enigma but he is really good when game imply strategic (he also loves how focused you are and how he could motivate you with his plan) 

He doesn’t play at any games that involve war or anything so don’t ask him about a fortnite game he won’t do it 

He really love role-play (not put intended lmao), he is actually a good narrator and is so good at at owning xp : his character might not be the greatest when it came to strength but he is very balanced character 

Playing with him it’s actually relaxing, he never raise his voice and seemed to always find a way to relax anyone that might be too into it. 

Especially good when It came to help Eren and Jean to just shut up and play the game without yelling : don’t ask me how he does that the man is a genius 

If he teams up with Armin during game like Among us you loose any chance to win (I mean if you’re the traitor he would never say it but he noticed so does Armin but won’t say anything about it) the man knows everything, and is able to make you confess it’s really fun to watch but bother you when you’re loosing yourself in your explanation 

When it’s just you two playing a game together and somehow you struggle to resolve an enigma or a level, don’t worry your boyfriend Marco he is

The best cheerleader in the whole univers fight me on this 

+100 ego boost for Y/N 

In the end your resolve that damn enigma 

10/10 yeah I’m not impartial but I love him