#GUESS WHO FINISHED THE POSTGAME

[sins-of-the-sea]

"Wow, these new Followers of the Leader look... particularly exotic. I hope we become friends.

"If the red lady without the throat can stop hitting on Ruixiong, though. Does she not know he's taken?"

[starflungwaddledee]

Hello hello!! I absolutely adore Starstruck Dee, she’s a darling!!

I hope it doesn’t sound too strange to ask, but I finished playing through Forgotten Land’s main and postgame stories, and between that and seeing all these wonderful ocs and everything… where can I learn more about the Kirby lore/timeline? Where would I even start with it?

Is it the sorta thing where the base concepts from canon are the same but everyone has their own interpretations of it?

Are Kirby and Bandee kids?? Younger adults? Is it a Rayman situation where they grow up over the course of their games?

I know I sound very uneducated but I really really want to learn!

hi there! thank you so so much! 🥺 i'm so happy that you like her!

this isn't strange to ask at all, and you don't sound uneducated! i'm thrilled to answer for you and if you have any other questions please don't hesitate to reach out!

i'm popping all of this under a read more just because it got very long!

topics covered: the joys of 30+ years of breadcrumb lore delivery, the diverse headcanons of a very creative community, and recommendations on where to step off from if Forgotten Land was your first kirby experience

to be honest kirby "lore" is enormous and sprawling and has been spread out in tiny little crumbs across multiple platforms and medias for over three decades. if you're poking around in tumblr fandom as a starting point, one of the reasons it can be so hard to figure out what's what is because a lot of folks pick one aspect (early game dynamics, ancient anime lore, the mirror world, niche subgames, etc etc) and hyper-focus to their hearts content!

one of the nicest parts about kirby is that the lore, while comprehensive and really cool, is very very open for interpretation. the fandom is very creative, and build all their own niches and headcanons based on the bare bones that we were given in canon, and it's wonderful to see!

for this reason though, i would actually recommend (and this was my personal experience, though only incidentally) you stay outside of the fandom for a bit and formulate all your own preferred headcanons and thoughts, rather than being influenced by others right out the gate. then you can come into fandom and see brand new takes that might surprise you, and hopefully find some folks who have come to the same niche conclusions as you!

a good starting point is Wikirby, and for games specifically their series list is very helpful. it shows you the mainline games, considered 'game canon', and the smaller titles in chronological order. this is often used by folks as a sort of "timeline" for the lore, though again it's totally flexible

forgotten land in particular was an unforgettable (ha!), incredibly beautiful and cinematic game, as well as the series' first foray into 3D gameplay rather than side scrolling platformer.

if you're looking for an active suggestion for which game to play next and you want a similar experience with familiar characters, (and you don't want to do a full chronological playthrough-- this would take you a long time; i should know, i've been working on mine for months!), i would recommend that you try Return To Dream Land Deluxe.

RTDLDX is a scene-for-scene remake of an older chronological game from the modern era of storytelling with a whole additional storyline, so it's a good place to start, and it's also available for the switch which i'm guessing you must have! you'll find familiar characters in there (Kirby, Bandee, King Dedede, and Meta Knight), multiplayer mode, recognisable copy abilities, and an engaging story-- read as little ahead of time if you haven't already so that it can surprise and delight you!

Star Allies is the other mainline game available for the switch, and it was made as a kind of love letter to the series up until that point. it honours dozens of characters who appeared in previous games and is chock full of nostalgia and uncharacteristically blatant lore drops, but in my opinion you'll enjoy it much more if you have at least a passing idea of who all the allies are!

if you're looking for something other than games, i highly recommend this tumblr masterlist for translations of the light novels! other medias you can check out are the anime and the various mangas. all three of these are quite different to the games, and can be considered to have their own separate canons; some folks prefer one over the other, or will mix and match elements from all medias! some even like to bring in "lore" from the real life kirby cafes!

kirby as a creative playground is diverse and really beautiful; it's the only franchise i have ever created for and fandom i have participated in actually, because i've not seen another quite like it. if you're interested in being creative yourself, i do strongly recommend that you play around in your own sandbox (or with one or two friends who are also discovering kirby) for a little while first to get a feel for what you like!

i hope you'll have a fun time interacting with the franchise, and if you play any of the other games i really hope you love them!! if you want any other suggestions, feel free to reach out!

as for the question of ages, you'll find this question in particular gets western fandom a little more riled up than most. none of the characters have any canonically stated ages, and in japanese remarkably few have genders. kirby himself is specifically intended to be projected on by the player! technically, that could make kirby your age, and your gender, if you so wish!

japanese fandom generally focuses on a very wide range of characters and interconnected relationships, even including a lot of common enemy characters, and considers most of the characters to be of comparable ages; either all teens or all adults. western fandom focuses quite a lot on the much beloved meta knight and dedede partnership, and subsequently-- as romance centric fandoms do-- likes to play around with the idea of kirby and bandee as their kids or wards.

fandom will offer you everything in this regard; far future AUs, baby adoption AUs, even AUs where meta knight and dedede are children while kirby and bandee are adults! it's really entirely up to you, and my number one suggestion is to always be respectful and kind towards everyone's creative headcanons, even if they do not align with your own.

for me, i naturally project onto player characters, and so i always saw kirby and bandee as similar in age to myself. as such, because i'm an adult, they've always been adults to me, and i do like to imagine that they have grown from young adults to full adults over the course of the series! i actually was quite shocked to learn that a lot of tumblr folks thought of them as kids, but that's the fun of joining fandom the way i did, and why i recommend it! bake your own cake, and then hop online and find a million others of all different flavours you can try!

[theminecraftbee]

Honestly, his vtuber lore would work So Well with the vault part of vault hunters. Can't wait to see where he finds this loot shard ;D (more accurately how far into the mod they make it. After the herald would make a banger finale)

normally the players who get really into it get up towards level 100, and they ended last season with bringing everyone on to fight the herald! iskall has suggested in the past this is the season where they finally add the end/postgame to vault hunters, too, since he's stated that unlike in the original vault hunters the "final boss" isn't meant to be the end, so if that DOES happen i'm really curious what it'll look like.

if i had a guess as to how far they'll get: the Usual Suspects will hit level 100 or get close enough to burger to 100 whenever they do the herald. some of the gang is going to fall off well before that and that's normal and fine, and they'll mostly come back for events (or for fun special episodes where they get help from the others to boost to level). they'll ABSOLUTELY all fight the herald that'll happen for sure. and either iskallium team DOES finish a postgame, in which case some postgame element is the "finale", or they do the herald. my guess for herald tho is because half the cast has done it before instead they decide to do the time trial aspect of the herald some, once again ESPECIALLY if more post game exists.

personally, i want to know what god everyone decides to finish their points off with first. the "optimal" strat is of course 6/6/6/7 for when you first open the divine paradox (your choice who is 7) but i am ALWAYS curious.

[crystalelemental]

What do you wanna see the postgame in Pokemon you want? I feel like it's kinda tricky to figure out myself when I replay the postgame content in numerous times.

Okay this might go for a while, because the short answer is "I don't think I know anymore."

Part of the issue is defining what count as "postgame." Like, is Kanto Redux in Gen 2 postgame because the League is the finish point, and Red is optional superboss content, or is that part of main game? Is the second half of Unova optional postgame content, or is it main game because you technically never finished your League quest? Some situations, like the Emma and Anabel quests in Gens 6 and 7, feel pretty decisively postgame, as do things like Delta Episode. But what counts and what doesn't is up for some debate, and I'm...not really sure where I draw the line. I've referred to everything in the second half of Unova as postgame, but now I question that decision.

More to the point, postgame runs into two specific problems in both story and gameplay areas.

Gameplay is probably best explained by Bopper's Gen 2 video. In it, he expresses that a major selling point of Pokemon is the emphasis on continued growth and development, talking about how moves being learned late or late appearing Pokemon give players something to work toward, and keep the game fresh and interesting. And to be honest, this tracks. As someone who's owned cheat devices most of his Pokemon career, you do try to hack in final teams right at the start and they get stale really fast. Having something to work toward is part of the fun.

Postgames tend to run into the problem of not having anything left to specifically work toward. The difference between Crystal's Kanto Redux and Platinum's battle island is that in Platinum, my team is done and has learned everything. As a result, that island doesn't really offer anything particularly fun. While I've been a proponent of Gym Leader and League rematches in the past, they also have the issue of...not doing anything different. Red as a new final conflict requires a different approach from facing off against Lance and the League, but Cynthia 1 and Cynthia 2 go down to exactly the same strategy. There's less to work toward, so the island feels entirely boring to me. It's a complete slog.

While there are opportunities to switch up the team, sometimes that comes a bit late, and isn't exactly...engaging. It works in a game like Crystal because of how type matchups work, where Misdreavus can be caught and immediately blank Red's Snorlax, or Tyranitar countering half of Red's team. Or in Emerald, Mawile can hard counter Steven's entire team with careful play. But later games don't have that opportunity. It's just lower level stuff, sometimes weaker stuff, with no real gameplay benefit.

Which leads to the main thing. This is a Monster Collecting game. Its postgame is effectively completion of the dex. Which is something Pokemon is uniquely terrible at. A game like Nexomon (which is excellent and should be played) lets your postgame be hunting down everything, which is all available in that one playthrough. But Pokemon has version exclusives that demand two games, and internet connection, and with Switch paying for online connectivity. In addition, while Nexomon has a ton of Legendary status mons, it also gives a ton of Golden Nexotraps for assured captures to simplify the process. Meanwhile, Pokemon gives you one (1) Master Ball, then gives you a gauntlet of like a dozen Legendary Pokemon that are wretched to catch because of how annoying their systems are. Monster collecting in the most popular Monster Collecting Videogame is terrible by design. It's never been good, and they're never going to make it good. Though I guess they tried with Galar's Dynamax Adventures and Paldea's fights with main legends. Though they both still do the stupid catching thing in other ways, like the Galar birds and Treasures of Ruin.

I think ideal gameplay actually gives you something to work toward, but also Pokemon really just needs to improve how it operates with catching everything. Which I think it has. To its credit, Galar and Paldea do make it easier to complete the dex by making near everything available. But that's also predicated on dealing with the awful raids and dens, which is somehow worse.

The other element, story, is where things get dicey, and I'll use a comparison to explain. In Nexomon, your postgame events are...honestly the most story intensive segments. They're really good, and my personal favorite parts. More critically, they're continuations. Nexomon 1 follows up the main story of defeating Omnicron with your story of destroying his soul so he can't regenerate (spoilers I guess). Neoxmon 2 follows up all the heavy stuff that happens with a bit of a departure, but only in the sense of setting up the connection between things that happened and things that are about to happen. It's all excellent, and the postgame story is the hook. Granted, alongside new boss fights and challenges and developments that are engaging too. Shame about how the hunt for Tyrants goes, but I digress.

Gen 2 and Gen 5, while they offer postgame, tends to be very light and disconnected on story. There's not as much relevance. Even with things like XY and SuMo and the Paldea DLC, which are much heavier on story, they have...literally no significance to the main event. Like okay, you can argue the thematic relevance of Emma as a character, or that the UB hunt is related to Lusamine's actions, but like...it's really not that connected to what was going on before. Teal Mask is just 100% disconnected, and when they do connect in the Mochi Madness thing, it kinda sucks ass and they wrote Carmine out of it entirely like assholes. I will never forgive that.

I can't say Pokemon's ever really had a great story-centric postgame. It completely lacks in that area, and tells the story it wants to tell centrally. Not that Pokemon's ever been that intense on story. So this is an area it can't really work for. But the ones that do stand out...also run into issues. XY and SuMo have great events with Looker, Emma, and Anabel...but the actual playing of those segments isn't great. And going back to the initial question, does Teal Mask count as postgame if you can do it, entirely, from nearly the start of the game?

The final issue is one of...well, the Battle Facilities. I hate them, personally. I have no investment in playing literal cheating AI at reading minds. Gimmick frontier stuff like in Emerald and Platinum can be fun, but stuff like the normal Battle Tower sucks. Add to it that legendary Pokemon don't count, and there's also very little benefit to gathering legends. You don't really get to do much but stomp the League with the box legends, and...then what? Do a bunch of extra stuff? Run battles that don't allow them? What's the point of having the postgame without those benefits? Galar fixes this a bit by letting anything into Tower, but it's a small concession more than a proper fix.

Honestly, I don't really know what this all adds up to. Part of it is desperately wishing Pokemon had better capture mechanics, because god do the current ones suck. Part of it is thinking that postgame should be a little quick, because usually my complaint is it goes on too long. But I really don't even know what I'd expect anymore. I think that, to some degree, postgame in Pokemon works while the generation is current, but falls off in importance on replays. It's why Daybreak made Legends Arceus worse.

[hamofjustice]

Hey it's the guy from that other rant about how Nemona, Arven, and Penny are getting ignored for no reason by DLC advertising in a game that's supposed to be about forming treasured unbreakable bonds with well-written sad kids who desperately needed friends and are presented as sort of Strength, Courage and Wisdom Trio by the ending, back with a new post now that one of the DLCs is out and haha I bet you know what I have to say don't you

What was the point of excluding Nemona, Arven, and Penny from The Teal Mask if there are three unnamed and generic-modeled but consistently written student NPCs present anyway, and the content is level 60-75, so you're clearly not intended to do it without finishing the game*? Not only do they not see you off or gain any new dialogue when you get home, they aren't mentioned or alluded to in any way shape or form. They're still statues standing in their rooms with one line of dialogue, the one thing I wanted DLC and updates to change the most. They never notice you left the country for a week.

* UPDATE: Apparently the DLC has level scaling even though the base game didn't, and it is accessible with 0 badges, and that is why there are no references to the preexisting story - it might not have happened yet. Fascinating. I guess that part holds less weight then and this whole post is a little less necessary. I'll leave the rest of the post unedited but it really did seem like this was designed as postgame content only regardless of when it becomes available. Guess not! So I guess, instead, the story got shot in the foot a little bit by the decision to make it available to new players instead of for no reason. I think they should have let it be postgame content, but, I'm a little less worried now. This makes sense within those rules. I guess.

Fanart like this is now coming out and getting tons of likes asking why this happened after six months of countless pieces of cute fanart like this all turned out to be for nothing.

As people are already realizing, it would have been really fun and logical for two of the three who don't really get along with each other yet (which is any combination of them, really, that's part of the fun, and part of why their stories should continue) to be forced to team up into an odd couple, while the third gets to know Carmine and perhaps build a rivalry with her. Wouldn't it be fun to see them talking about their own adventures they were going on, and how they were starting to get along, even if it was happening offscreen? (Because this DLC is focused on introducing new characters to set up for later and that's fine) Wouldn't it be smart to set up the group dynamic for Indigo Disc in advance as preparation for a return to Area Zero and that whole professor-haunted main plotline with a larger cast?

It's just giving me even more apparently-not-unfounded paranoia that yeah, we've never been shown the friend trio in new footage in a DLC trailer because not just Penny but somehow even Arven and Nemona are going to be completely irrelevant to a DLC about finding closure on Area Zero's story and going to a school all about top-level battling. Why else would they go this far out of their way to avoid including them as characters? This is like... active sabotage of their own story at this point.

... Could they really just not be bothered to model three characters in jinbei, and repeatedly shot in the foot their best story yet and all the setup they did for continuing it... over that? That'd be stupid, right? Unfortunately, I don't have the confidence in the company to put anything past them right now.

I just don't know how The Indigo Disc is going to carry the weight of everything they've set up expectations for it to do, unless it's like three times bigger than this little teaser of a DLC in terms of actual story and postgame battles, and most importantly to me, the postgame hanging-out that they very suspiciously also won't show the original friend trio for that we were promised by the story almost a year ago as a happy ending, that we haven't actually gotten to participate in on-screen at all, outside of the Ace Academy Tournament (whose music is perfect for that happy victory lap feeling by the way).

I'm afraid now more than ever that all of my happy thoughts about how this generation and these precious characters should be wrapped up and what should be in The Indigo Disc aren't going to happen, and... it'll just go unceremoniously into the trash can with the other generations after a few more months of trailers probably making it clear that despite all the sappy memories with your original group and the girl who calls the player character her treasure and her rival for life, the game is about Carmine and Kieran now instead of them joining the group, and it will be remembered as the half assed cash grab game and not the one with a big heart and deep character writing hidden in it, if they care THIS aggressively, out-of-their-way little about the reason the game has heart. Not that I don't like these new newcomers too, but. There was a different way to go about this.

Pokemon Masters and Pokemon Special and stuff will try their best to compensate and do the characters justice, but they're just fanfic writers like us except with a budget. The anime writers are forced to make the story about other characters, as if Nemona, Arven, and Penny's stories were something shameful or inappropriate they need to paint over, and not the saving grace for what was otherwise an embarrassing corporate product with good people stuck working on it.

It would have been so easy to integrate the three of them into this DLC, and it would've made the next DLC better to have done so. Literally just replace some character models and rewrite some dialogue. The Paldea students don't have festival outfits anyway afaik. We're talking romhack-level difficulty of implementation here. Come the hell on.

Between the contents of this first part of the DLC and how they've been advertising it so far, I cannot make myself believe Nemona, Arven, and Penny will be in the rest of generation 9. I don't want to get hurt by my expectations. I feel like they've been purposefully excluded, like TPC thinks there's something wrong with them.

... Anyone else feeling this?

[lucyav13]

Nastasia

(Credits of the art to @starlitwishes-art all of their art is great! <3 )

Nastasia's past is explained by Carson in one of his histories:

'Once upon a time, a man went to look for the girl he loved, who was missing. As he passed through a forest, he found a bat stuck in a trap. He set the bat free. It promptly thanked him and disappeared.

As he lay down to camp that night, he heard a voice and looked about. He noticed the sky was filled with a huge, round moon. There stood before him a woman he had never seen. The bat had transformed into the species of the one she had fallen for.' Now, I don't know if that's true or not...

The last part of the story was... 'The bat pledged eternal loyalty to the man out of love on that night.' ...

Obviously, we can suppose that the man in the story is Blumiere (before he turns into Count Bleck), the girl who he was looking for is Timpani and the bat who then turns into a woman is Nastasia.

Her name is Greek for "She who shall rise up again", possibly a reference to her only falling unconscious from a deadly attack or the story with the bat and the man Carson tells titled "Of Bats and Men". It is also a portmanteau of "nasty" and "Anastasia".

In the English version, she speaks in a casual manner, using words like "'K" and "gonna" often, although in the Japanese version she speaks much more professionally.

Her abilities enables her to control several people at once and command them to do tasks they would never consider doing in their right mind, such as forcing Luigi to attack his friends. However, her hypnosis is at least possible to resist, as shown by Peach during her wedding with Bowser. Nastasia seems to use her power by lifting her glasses, upon which a white glow flashes and her target is surrounded in square lasers, which puts the victim under Nastasia's (and by extension, Count Bleck's) control. Notably, the hypnosis she uses may sometimes cause physical changes in the victim, such as hypnotized Koopa Troopas donning dark glasses and spikes. (And perhaps that would explain the drastic change in Mr. L outfit)

Another fun fact is that, in the post-game, there's a boy on Flopside who was in love with Nastasia, but she comments to us her feelings for the Count, and decides that even if she could learn to love again, she probably never could have measured up to Timpani anyway.

Card type: Rare

Card Description: Nastasia is Count Bleck's executive assistant. She's in charge of scheduling, organizing, and brain-control. Word is, she's got a secret crush on her boss.

Trivia: Before the game's initial release, artwork of Nastasia and Tiptron together was released despite the fact that the two never interact in the game.

Tippi originally had a tattle for Nastasia in the postgame, though since Tippi would have already been gone by this point, it went unused and remains in the game's files. The tattle reads, "That's Nastasia, the count's executive assistant. She has served him the longest... Without him, she is quite lonely, but she manages to go on in her new life... It is hard for me to see her like this... I think I know exactly how she feels..."

Quotes:

"Yeah, I'll fire off a memo on that...but for now, we have another item on the agenda..."

"Yeah, so some minions in the Bowser organization are still resisting assimilation. So I'm heading out to squash the resistance..."

"So I guess you finished up that report on your own inadequacy that I needed?"

"Um, no, my count. I won't be doing that. My life is already sworn to you."

"If only I could have, y'know, been that girl... Things would have been different..."

"Yeah, I'm afraid your orders mean nothing anymore."

The above text is from the Super Mario Wiki and is available under a Creative Commons license. Attribution must be provided through a list of authors or a link back to the original article. Source: https://www.mariowiki.com/Carson

[msmargaretmurry]

27, 39, 54!

27. What is your most and least favorite part of writing?

my least favorite part is that stretch after you finish a big project when you don't know what to do with yourself because you are no longer immersed in said big project but you don't have a new concept to dive into yet so you feel all adrift and like, am i ever going to be consumed by creativity again?? what if that was my last good idea?? my most favorite part of writing is when i get a vision for a scene and then get in a writing groove and it all just flows and comes out exactly like i envisioned it. i think there is a little bit of magic in that.

39. Share a snippet from a WIP

At home after the game, Leon lies down on the sofa in his living room, his bad foot propped up on a pillow. He has large ice packs strapped to the front and back of his shoulder, thanks to some help from Charlie, who has been driving him to and from games since halfway through the first round. The bad foot is also Leon’s driving foot.

He finds the game on his DVR and skips forward until the on-ice coverage ends and the postgame breakdown starts. He never used to watch this stuff, but after a few years of making a habit of it, the familiar cadence of the conversation is strangely sedative. He shifts so the one ice pack isn’t digging into his neck, getting it back under the joint where it belongs, and closes his eyes as the panel chatters through the game recap. Yeah, the B’s got the win, but it’s questionable whether they were the better team. Puck luck. Scoring chances. A totally fluke first goal. But taking advantage of those situations even when you’re not totally clicking, that’s part of being a good team, too, right? Sometimes that’s what playoff series come down to. At the end of the day the team that wins is the team that wins. 

“But how about those two goals from Leon Draisaitl?” Taber asks. ��I guess he heard us all asking whether he’s too old for this and decided to answer.”

“Chucky, you’re our resident Draisaitl expert,” Subban says. “Is this typical of what we’re gonna see from him in this series?”

Leon cracks an eye open to look at the screen.

54. What’s your favorite part about the fanfiction writing process?

not to be a sap but the part where i'm doing it with my FRIENDS 💖💖💖 having trusted, enthusiastic friends who will bounce ideas around with you and be alpha readers who understand my ~vision makes for such a joyful writing experience! when i'm like "i put a new scene in the gdoc" and then get to sit there waiting for the gdoc comments to start rolling in..... sublime 💫

[larnax]

16, 21, & 24

doing it for octopath

12. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

i alluded to it before but at least when i still went into the ot1 tag regularly there were a lot of people who did the really lazy joke of having alfyn desperately try to hold back therions Evil Crimeman stuff which i think is so. fucking boring because the fact that in canon alfyn really doesn't do that is so interesting?????? in therion's chapter 2 when everyone else is still disgusted by him alfyn's reaction is to comment on how hard he's working and try to cheer him up. he's basically the only character who treats therion as a member of the party and a companion from day 1 including the fact that he's a thief! that's got so much stuff in it, and it's implied-to-stated that the reason he wanted miguel to reform isn't that he's a thief, it was that he's a murderer. which tracks with the fact that he overall prioritizes life as much as he can and suggests that he understands stealing as a way of avoiding starving to death. ALSO these dumb fucks never acknowledge alfyns chapter 2 where he secretly and without remorse feeds vanessa the Scary Weed That Gives You Guilt Nightmares and it's therion who seems unsettled by it and tells him to hold back a little. very rich vein to mine but uhhhh no whats really interesting is if alfyn's a massive narc

21. part of canon you think is overhyped

postgame. both octopath postgames are bad and boring. 2 is worse because it's much longer and also mandatory to 'finish' the game but 1's quests are not very fun. vide is really underwhelming compared to galdera because shes just Galdera Again but with less mean mechanics, and every single postgame revelation made me like the story less. especially arcanette literally who cares

24. topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

unfortunately the octopath fandom does not have much in the way of blood and violence which is why im doing my part. temenos, i guess, hes the only character ive successfully started arguments about and i really hate some of the analysis ive seen of him

[dykedragonrider]

Finished Crymachina and I am so sad that a game that a game with that compelling of characters is attached to the most 4/10 action game I have ever played. It's like if Nier Automata was for formerly religious lesbians. Like. The gameplay is incredibly shallow and there are some important mechanics (backstabs doing more damage being the biggest example imo) that really feel like they shoulda been telegraphed better, you can just one button through the entire game, the scaling is fucked for damage and ExP, there's a lot wrong with it on a pure systemic level. The level design is also bad but in a way that I think adds to the narrative so. I will let that one go. The characters and their relationships are the real meat of this game IMO and that's mostly what I wanna focus on. The game is about lesbians, and they're both tropey and have legitimate depth? The plot takes a backseat for the most part, which is fine. It's not a particularly strong plot but it's good enough where it counts to work for its purposes. I guess first on the agenda is looking at Leben and Enoa, our protagonists? While the story mostly follows Leben, Enoa is the character the game is most *about* in actuality.

Enoa runs the Imitation Garden, AKA Eden. It's the main hub for everything, and she acts as the caretaker of both it and the E.V.E., because it's also where she lives. Having been broken down twice, the game is about her reconstruction and recovery on two levels, and I do think this is something the game's use of the Kabbalah adds to. As you unlock the levels in game, the main "nodes" you access are all named for the different sefirot of the Tree Of Life. As Enoa develops, you progress the Kabbalah. I think the fact that the game's main ending cuts off at Hod does undermine its use a little, but the sefirot of Malkuth, Yesod, and Netzach are also used in ways postgame that are clever, so I'll let it slide. Enoa is deeply caring, putting everyone above herself. She is earnest, incredibly emotional, and seeks to transcend her machinehood. She routinely invalidates herself and her experiences, given the fact she isn't an authentic human, because she has so much love for humanity.

To contrast that, is Leben. The first E.V.E. we get to see, and to some degree our player surrogate, but that's a role passed around and abandoned as needed, she just plays it the most given how she introduces us to the game. Leben is grounded, prone to flights of fancy but then often backtracking them upon realizing the full consequences of her actions. She resents humanity, and adores machines. Notably, Leben, unlike the other E.V.E., wasn't actually born out of Enoa simulating humanity. Leben was, at one point, Propator, but she's also not that person any more.

It's kinda hard to sell the dynamics in this game because well, it's their execution that carries it, but I still wanna paint the best picture I can. Leben and Enoa's relationship is very much them being lovey dovey, partially because they're fresh to it (I don't subscribe to the honeymoon phase as an idea, I think they're just figuring stuff out somewhat still), and partially because they're aware of their circumstances and are living their lives to the fullest despite that. There's a lot of care for one another in it, and their dreams are shared and centered around mutual joy for each other. It's very much a love that's still finding its feet, but the feelings they have do a lot of the heavy lifting.

For starting the other pair, we have Mikoto. A bona fide badass who values her appearance incredibly strongly. Not in a physical or vein way necessarily, she just values being cool a lot. She loves film as a medium, and likes ribbing other people, as well as sardonic jokes. Mikoto also speaks with her actions rather than her words consistently. She doesn't like being emotionally honest in words, despite the fact she also wears her heart on her sleeve. To contrast, Ami is a sweetheart. She's very cute and flowery in all she does, and is completely devoted to her family of the other three girls, but especially Mikoto who she consistently states her adoration for. She's also axe crazy as hell and is represented as an oni in her battle attire. Gap moe out the ass, basically. Ami also has to be wanted. If she can't be useful, she feels like she has no purpose. This, notably, isn't tied to her being in a wheelchair in her past life, but tied to her relationship with her family. Feels like a bare minimum thing but it still feels important to mention.

Ami and Mikoto don't ever label their relationship, but it doesn't matter because what they are is clear enough, maybe a little less to Ami given some of her anxieties, but you can know very easily. They've shared their existences in all the ways that matter, and at that point a label is set dressing. They've promised to spend eternity and a day together. They're like an old couple in how they talk and interact with the pair of Leben and Enoa, and it's super sweet.

Typing this I realize that I can't find the words to say what I want to say about this as well as I want to, because there's just a lot that I feel is done not through being able to communicate it, but the experience of it? Either way, the point is it's good. I just wish that the good relationship dynamics we have weren't attached to a middling action game that only goes on sale for 10% off and costs $60.

[vitwixt]

9 people but I'm notoriously bad at selecting people, actually

@processintegrated tagged me so here we are (I will do many things for yves within my limited capability to do things) (Hi yves) I also had a few others but i was hung up on the tagging thing. me knowing who anyone is on this website is a nightmare anymore LMOA

last song I listened to: heads will roll - yeah yeah yeahs.

unfortunately I'm not immune to corporate bludgeoning (dancing with the stars ads) but not in the way they want (I just start streaming the bgm instead of actually watching the show. I don't care about your silly reality show, abc)

currently reading: (laughing nervously) fgo is basically a glorified vn so I mean, I Guess fgo

currently watching: I've been catching a lot of Bones, Columbo and Monk on syndication. absolutely fascinated by the lack of ethics in terms of coworker dating going on at the Smithsonian institute. I understand the appeal of Columbo immediately, this man's ability to be a thorn in anyone's backside by just existing is immaculate. Actively watching the new Futurama season whenever mondays roll around, too.

current obsession: if you have my nintendo switch code i dont want you to look at my play hours logged on splatoon 3. or maybe do, and scrutinize me. squid pvp does something to my brain idk.

I got back into playing legends arceus for a little bit also because I got back on a pokemon kick and remembered I didn't completely finish the postgame content up. at one point I ended up just doing nothing but gathering iron chunks. Hopelessly attached to the Ingot and what have you.

IDK IF YOU see this feel free to do it yourself. Do I know 9 people? yeah. do i know anyones name? fuck dude

[amaranth-moths]

the autism won, I will now talk about Bernard even if my infomation on the pikmin universe is limited at best, as I have still to finish the postgame. gonna put a readmore since it'll be a long discussion.

Ok so. Bernard has a shit wiki page.

LIKE WDYM. WDYM THE ONLY INFO HERE IS ABOUT HOW HE LOOKS LIKE ALPH. WHY IS THERE A LOW QUALITY PICTURE OF BERNARD OF ALL THINGS

ok this stuff aside, I wanted to check what planet he was from for a drawing, really normal stuff. He was from Nijo, which is neat!! I never noticed there were so many planets introduced in pikmin 4. I immediately wanted to check who else was from Nijo.

guys. there's only one more person and they are also a pilot???????????

my guess is Nijo has a really good pilot school, so most aspiring pilots tend to move there. but no one else is from Nijo. do only pilots live there. what. like considering the sheer amount of people that crashed on PNF-404 surely at least one of them would be a random person from there. if anyone has any information on the matter please inform me

side note; if y'all need more bernard information, I know he just sleeps alot thorugh the day, and besides that I got no more info. ok goodbue love you

[lunzoic]

After finally beating the game...

Big spoilers for Scalet/Violet ending!...

I think I'm echoing a lot of other people's sentiments when I say 'Huh, so that's where half the budget went'. I don't even mean that in a salty way, I'm just kind of baffled that there's such a strong contrast between the effort that went into this final area and the rest of the game. I seriously underestimated how much there was going to be too since the Pokemon tradition is that post Elite-Four content is kinda lacking, and the only hint that Area Zero was not 'postgame' was that credits had not rolled yet. I was really expecting Area Zero to just be an afterthought, similar to the usual optional postgame dungeons. Or like Ultraspace, in which: you go there, leave after having one big fight, and optionally come back later to find more ultrabeasts. And instead we got a fairly expansive dungeon that both contains the really cool paradox pokemon as well as like, the game's entire narrative weight, interesting character interactions, a big fight I was definitely not expecting, and all the actual intriguing plot elements in one ultra-concentrated dose. I actually prefer a fantastic ending to mediocre game rather than the other way around, it's just very surprising to see it happen when the opposite is so common. And yeah some of that perception is filtered by the bar of expectations being set so low by the rest of the game, and of course it was by no means a perfect ending. The jank still allows you to accidentally skip if you jump off certain cliffs, the scripted encounters with paradox Pokemon are just ok, and navigating Area Zero without Ko/Miraidon can be a pain if you take a wrong turn. But the pacing, the dialogue, the way the characters play off each other, the gradual reveals, and the whole final fight was actually incredibly well done. And it makes me feel a little sad to see that the dev team was clearly capable of making great story-driven game segments, but that it was only at the very ending of the game that they really got to flex those creative muscles. I feel like it's also created a weird dichotomy of people who could not abide the jank and put the game down or decided not to buy it in the first place/refunded it and the people who stuck it out to the end and got an unexpectedly quality finish. Good for us I guess? I definitely would have lost interest a lot sooner had friends who finished the game not given clues that they really enjoyed the ending...

More specific ending spoilers and commentary: Having an AI character being aware of having their own will being overridden was equal parts fucked up, heartbreaking, terrifying, and really effective. The way they're clearly fighting against it even as they taunt you, their whole speech about freedom and treasure, that moment when they seem to intentionally succumb to the programmed will in order to sincerely tell Arven that the original professor loved him (oh my FUCKING god)... Now THAT'S how you break the mold in terms of creating a different narrative hook than the usual formula! For me it really did retroactively change the feeling of the entire game, knowing that the 'professor' who started you on your whole journey was actually patiently waiting for you to become strong enough to venture into area zero and do what but their programming did not allow them to do. That they were vicariously enjoying every step of your adventure along the way, because their very nature as an area zero anomaly meant they could never leave themselves. Their final decision to send themselves to the past/future in order to disable the time machine, while kind of cheesy and nonsensical, was something that they willed with their own heart and wholly defied the original professor's wishes. That in their vast intellect they decided to stake the future on a bunch of teenagers is still pretty goofy but hey, it's Pokemon. Like a lot of people I did suspect that there would be some sort twist with the professor, but I did not expect THIS, nor did I expect a Pokemon game to handle a sympathetic AI character in a really emotional and interesting way. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised given that Pokemon as a franchise has had various created/artificial beings who are treated sympathetically? But it does also kind of highlight once again that the game feels kind of hodge-podge in regards to what audience it's catering to, due to the entire game feeling hand-holdy and kid-friendly in its appeal and then... that entire ending happens. I can imagine some kids not even being able to finish the game, not even due to difficulty spike but because of finding the Arven and robo professor story too scary and sad. On the other hand, Pokemon at its roots has always some pretty damn heavy themes, so I guess this could also just be considered a return to form? Pokemon themselves being fully sentient creatures forced to serve their masters no matter what, the entire arc of Mewtwo being created and then destroying its own lab... I remember finding those too sad to contemplate as a kid so I kind of just. Didn't. But those aspects were never really explored to the depth they could have been within the main game's stories (I do know the movies/anime/comics have darker storylines, but those are all 'extended lore' as far as the games are concerned). So this is the first time where elements like the death of a main character and having the villain be a human (in appearance) ally with explicitly programmed loss of will who doesn't want to turn against you are THIS front and center in the story of a main series game. And it was actually done pretty emotionally and effectively, so I do applaud the decision to take a risk and make a more mature storyline happen at all.

And yes, it is not lost on me that both a reluctant final boss and the subtle use of the menu interface in the finale are reminiscent of ah... a certain other game? I might be seeing stronger connections than I should due the killer music contribution by Toby, and I don't really care if it was intentional or not, but I'm just really happy to see any game make use of those tropes to great effect.

[redwineconversation]

Australia - Ireland Postgame Thoughts

Blah blah not doing this for every game, I feel like I am going to DIE I am so tired so idk how those who are chronically online manage to do this on a daily basis, etc etc. Pls send Red Bull or Starbucks, I need it so badly.

I still don't think that Australia is going to win and I have reservations that they will go deep, but they won the first game at home in front of a pretty big crowd. It's not that I thought nerves would get to them, but I wasn't exactly sure how they would handle the nerves either, if that makes sense.

What I wasn't concerned about was them handling Ireland's physicality. It's interesting to me because I don't think that Australia is "physical" in the traditional footballing sense of the term, more that they are athletic. But because of the athleticism they were able to cope with McCabe's traditional definition of defending.

For me, McCabe is the ultimate "what if" player. She's good, she's talented, I like her left foot. I am more than happy to acknowledge all of that. But holy crap does she lack structure / self-control, and I wish she would find herself in a team where reckless fouls had consequences rather than be encouraged. One of these days McCabe is going to cause an extremely severe injury to another player. When it happens, Arsenal fans will hand wave it away, saying that McCabe is "not that kind of player" and that she "didn't mean it." (second part I will probably concede)

I don't think McCabe actually wants to severely injure another player. At least, I hope she doesn't want to. But I also think it's only a matter of time before she will, because these reckless tackles are done intentionally. It's done with the intent to foul, to show that neither she or her team will be bullied. I'm fine with a team wanting to prove they are top dog. I'm less fine with it if the only way to do it is dirty fouls.

Steph Catley is under-rated. Her penalty was really well taken, excluding the last 10 minutes or so she managed to keep her team's composure under control pretty well, and she didn't let the occasion overwhelm her. I'm rapidly developing a soft spot for her but only as long as she plays for Australia.

Vine and Cooney-Cross are two of the younger players I really, really like. I do think they will be snatched up by bigger European teams if not this summer then by the end of next season for sure. They're fun to watch in that they're, well, quiet, just keep their head down and do their job.

One day Carpenter will cross accurately and I will finally know peace. Her finishing is something that definitely needs work. The plus side is she is young and it will happen - especially because she is working on it at both club and national team level. It's nice knowing she has room to grow, it's frustrating that there are growing pains. Overall I don't think her game was much to write home about in that she too just did her job without having to do anything flashy. I'd rather not notice my defenders because if you do then it means something is going wrong. The heat mat shows her exactly where she should be - defending on the lower right side of the field. So I guess it's a give and take: yes I would rather her crosses weren't on a "lob it into the box and hope for the best" level, but she also was defending a fair amount this game, which is kind of her job.

There's a dig to be made about the McCabe - Littlejohn - Foord drama but realistically I don't think it impacted the outcome of the game that much so it is what it is I guess.

Obvious penalty, dumb act to concede it. Not sure why people were up in arms about it when Raso was already getting fouled probably more than anyone (is there an actual tally? I got that impression during the game but it was also 3am and I was regretting my life choices). Shoving someone in the back in the box will always result in a penalty, particularly when they end up going to ground because of it, so yeah. Not sure why there were complaints about it. Raso didn't even dive.

Finally, just want to say thank you for New Zealand for delivering on #UpsetsWelcome from the very first game. I'd say I don't think there should be any surprises in tomorrow's games but I'd also have put real money that we would never see Hegerberg questioning her life choices while ending up as Norway's LB, so I guess never say never.

[bainhardt]

Curse Crackers really fun

gotta find more games like this and Gravity Circuit, love me some tight movement control retro style platformers or whatever

guess I'll just crosspost my Steam review here for posterity

Curse Crackers is so much fun. This is one of those games where you wish you could find excuses to keep playing even after you're finished. It's a good game. I say buy it, especially if it's on sale. The rest of this is just going to be me running my mouth.

The core gameplay is simply a delight. I love "get to the end of the level" platformers and this one is fun nearly at all times. All the different ways of jumping around are fun, bouncing off enemies or your buddy Chime is fun, finding secret items and hidden doors is fun. Even dying can be pretty fun because respawning is quick and painless and gets you right back to stubbornly trying that specific way you want to clear the screen again until it works (maybe that's just me). This is also one of my favorite character concepts I've played in a platformer. An acrobat with a persistent-projectile-platform-throwable-thing you can use in so many ways is just plain cool and a joy to fiddle around with and figure out as you play the game. You can dunk Chime into fatal pitfalls so he'll bounce back up to save you, and pulling it off in moments of clutch feels incredible.

Having hidden Roses to collect or Medals earned by beating stages with special conditions are natural choices; they keep you playing or even re-playing stages, and they're uniform across all stages, so it's always easy to check what you've done. The game also offering a small sampling of unlockable upgrade-type items makes sense, giving you new abilities to toy around with in a limited capacity. Some of them are endgame locked because they break the movement wide open, but that's fun in its own way. Some of them (Food) are contextual, but then afterwards become purchasable-consumables to bring along to stages as you please, which I think is strange. If they're single-use, I'm just never going to use them. All upgrade items are quest locked, which means whether or not you even notice they exist will depend on how much side content you check out.

There's a lot of other stuff in this game outside the stage-based main game and it's all... fine? But I think some of it distracts from the focus of the experience, and there's virtually no synthesis of these elements. There's a world map (fairly normal admittedly), side areas that aren't stages, side quests, and TONS of NPCs and dialogue. Some of the collectibles are straight-up books you can read in a library. Many are not uniformly distributed between stages - Swords, Tablet Pieces, Lost NPCs, and postgame Spirits all join the Books comprising a dizzying array of hidden goods. There is an admittedly cute in-game way of checking collectible progress, but it costs money, and I think it wouldn't have been too much to ask for some kind of stage checklist in the menu if they were going to be this random. I played all of the stages first, then went back to do most of the quests and talk to everyone. I ran all over doing fetch quests for people, revisiting almost every stage multiple times, learning who all the characters are and a lot about them and the world of the game...

But after all's said and done I still don't understand WHY this is all done this way. NPCs never show up in the stages or anything, and while a couple quests culminate in special extra stages, that's about it. All of this side content does not truly "matter" to the main game whatsoever and feels like a different game alongside it. I ended up playing all of this content and unlocking all achievements because the core game is so fun, but it felt like a mountain of extra effort. That's not to say any of this fluff couldn't be of interest to some players out there, and it is impressive in its sheer scope. But for me, it has absolutely nothing to do with why this game is fun. Personally, getting to play more stages no questions asked would have been good enough.

I'll say it again for good measure: it's a fun game. If you like unique platformers, buy it.

[galesdevoteewife]

Crafting List

Sooo I have way too many drafts piling up, and I'm having a bit of decision paralysis here 😅 Thought I would make a list of them. For the sake of my personal notes and perhaps some community help on choosing? Feel free to let me know if anything interested you! <3

! Spoiler ahead, all the way to epilogue !

Pregame

The Proud Arch Wizard

1. "Mine was a popular hand at the annual Blackstaff's Ball" -Yet Gale was the one who couldn't be won by anyone, for magic was his one true love. 2. Imagining his character at the time, how he had been "many things to many people." - "Chosen one" Finished: - Imagining baby Gale - Imagining teenager Gale

Zilvera’s Past

1. The chained elephants. In Menzoberranzan, an enslaver is nothing but a slave to another. There is no innocent in the cursed cycle. 2. Her friendship with a myconid. 3. A series of sicky dark romance with her ex-mistress.

Quarantined Gale’s Life

1. How he was frustrated by becoming a weave-thirst abomination. Finished: - Doodles of the seclusive wizard

Act 1

Some relationship curves, about how Zilvera was ironically learning there are other things besides survival from Gale. And how she was confused by the springing affection.

1. Cooking. 2. The names of the stars. 3. The hand that feeds. 4. The song of a friend. - Vibrating collar Finished: - Late night chat - Gale's Snack pouch - Gale complaining about being stealthy

Non-Romance

- Astarion’s vampire reveal -bloody and violent, yet only goblins died, so not too bad, I guess? -> something like this - Tav's tent design kit Finished: - Just a drawing of Astarion and Zilvera - Shower time

Act 2

Where the romance is getting real.

2-3 Sweetest dream you ever have Finished: - But I've got so many - My take on Act 2 cutscene. - The first morning together - The new couple still getting used to seeing each other's skin - Chatting with Astarion after first night

Act 3

A series of relationship bonding, a bit of bittersweet as they were so in love, but any day could be their last.

1. "If you need a moon, I will be one for you" – comforting Gale who was having doubts about his decision. 2. My take on Act 3 cutscene. Zilvera was feeling hurt by the way Gale phrased his request. 3. Gale was keen on studying...'anthropology'. He went consulting the professionals. - "Oh Mystra, goddess of the weave, mother of all magic... You think you are the only one playing the game. What will you say when I finally stand in an equal term with you..." Finished: - Kissing the wizard - "Marriage? What's that?" - Halsin's offer - "All I want is a life to share with you..." Jealous and bitter Gale - Zilvera's submissive kink reveal - The orb offer - Last kiss

Non-Romance

1. Astarion’s ritual choice. 2. Some doodles with the companions. 3. Zilvera left with Astarion in a rush at the dock. They spent some time saying goodbyes. Finished: - Astarion needed a 'mirror' so... - Zilvera's endgame character sheet

Postgame

Life in Waterdeep

1. Going home. 2. Propose. 3. *Wedding (which I have no idea how it should be yet lol) 4. Highest Ambition. 5. "I want to be who's best for you, but the more I try, the more I realize... I might never be the one." -Zilvera was frustrated, jealous, and scared. For Gale no longer needed to be saved, and she didn't know how else she could keep him. 6. Jealousy - a series of little stories where one of Gale’s apprentices, who was staying in his tower with them, had a crush on Zil. 7. A queue of stories where Zil was figuring out her place and finding goals. 8. Moments with Tara/Morena/Gale’s acquaintances, etc. ∞ Endless list of small sweet moments in life xD Finished: - Doodle about braiding hair - Christmas knitting competition [1] | [2]

God Romance AU

As the divinity roots deeper and deeper, they sometimes forget the reasons for holding hands. Still, there is hope since they have forever.

1. Some good days. 2. A means to an end - Gale was granting his love to his chosen, but he was also the one who felt hurt and confronting Zil for not saying anything. 3. How Gale’s insecurity was eating him and the God of Ambition was a possessive, jealous type of lover. - GodGale Epilogue Finished: - Just a drawing of crowning

Non-Romance

- The chosen: "Your spells single-handedly rebuilt half the Upper City. Baldur's Gate is your proof." What's everyone up to: - Astarion + Sebastian - Karlach + Wyll: "Hey it's Dammon!!!" - Wyll + Duke: Ration supply for the pride of the gate

I also want to create some nicely finished pieces, magic kink NSFW ideas, animatics, dividers, modern AU doodles, and, and... Did I ever mention they're constantly turning in my head 24/7???

[ask-gikabi]