#Hey op dp you mind if I do a take on this? I want to try it

[reverintherevery]

this is so beautiful omggggg.....

Cosmically intertwined or some gay shit idk

[twsthottakes]

imma be honest.... I'm quite pissed that Silver x Idia is not that famous. No it's not because I think this ship is better than the other yadda yadda.... it's just I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH SILIDIA FOOD TO FEAST :(((((((((((((( So if any artist/writer sees this and u see a potential between them... give it to me *gremlin noises* also pray for my wallet so one day I could commission my ship instead of weeping anonly thankyouuuurrr<3<3<3<3<3

HELPPP-

I'm personally more of an Azul enjoyer, but as a fellow rare pair fan, I absolutely get where you're coming from. And Silidia seems like a really interesting pairing! Two introverted people, and yet their perception on others is completely different, with Silver viewing others in a much more positive light than Idia.

While I absolutely understand your plight, if you haven't written or drawn anything for them yet, you might want to try! I used to feel the same way about a rarepair of mine, actually. Specifically, how it felt like all the authors for that ship clearly liked one character more. And I thought no one out of even the very few people who wrote for it would be interested in seeing anything I had to share, because 1. I wasn't confident in my own writing abilities (partially due to my age and lack of experience writing) and 2. The particular ideas I had were quite unpopular, not only rarepair centered but also favoring the character who most fans didn't favor.

But then, I was met with the pleasant surprise of people actually giving me a chance! People read my fics, and commented on them telling me how much they liked it! It was kind of crazy in a good way.

So yeah, if you haven't already, you might want to give making your own stuff a chance. You might even end up inspiring others and getting them into your ship!

But hey, not everyone likes writing or drawing, and if you already make stuff for your ship, this whole ramble was just a load of hot air. So take a complimentary Silidia drabble (below the cut) and see if my writing's even good enough for me to be listened to.

"So Ganyu's DPS seems good, but considering the powercreep, and how OP dendro is-"

The feeling of something soft on his shoulder stopped Idia.

"E-Eh, Silver...?"

It was Silver. Silver just fell asleep on his shoulder.

Silver just fell asleep on his shoulder. Silver just-

Fuck. Was this a special event or a final boss? Idia could barely tell.

"Ortho," he whispered. Would Silver wake up if he was too loud? Wait, no. Silver was a heavy sleeper. That was clear enough from how Idia's overheating hadn't woken him up yet.

Wait, no. Ortho was out with Ace-shi. He wasn't here to help.

Wait, but what would he even help with? Getting Silver to wake up? Doing that was getting the chance to unlock an extra-rare special event and just throwing it away! Only some weirdo who thought speedrunning a VN—wait, no, Idia'd done that before—would do that. But irl romance wasn't something Idia wanted to speedrun! It wasn't even something he even thought he'd get to have!

Motion. Fuck, w-was Silver waking up? Did Idia's overheating really get to him?

"Idia..."

"S-Sorry, I-"

"I love you too, Idia."

Huh? Where'd that even come from?

"Yes, our wedding was quite lovely, Idia. However, I must admit, your decision for a Cowboy theme certainly caught me off-guard."

Just a dream, then. Never mind.

W-Wait a second, they were married? Just in the dream, but still! They were married in there? Silver thought of them doing that?

Heh, he must've really seen their relationship going places, then.

Idia definitely didn't smile like some sappy romcom love interest at that. He did, however, calm down just a bit.

This was actually pretty based.

[serrj215]

Please Pass the Tofurky

"I want to be alone"  Raven said those words so often Beast Boy often joked it was her catchphrase.  Raven normally relished solitude. It was a break from the constant emotional noise pollution her abilities picked up. It was a chance to put her mind in order and add new layers of control. Peace, quiet, a fresh stack of books to read, what more could demoness ask for?  Thanksgiving this year meant just that. The tower all to herself. Fate had handed her exactly what she wished for. "Alfred are you sure about this?"  Robin said over his cell phone. "Yes I know it's Thanksgiving but he has never made a big deal about it before." He was pacing back and forth through the empty common room. "Wait he wants to meet her?" he said a touch of panic creeping into his voice. "He's dying isn't he?.....I am not trying to be funny Alfred, this just doesn't sound like him. " Robin just continued pacing as Alfred on the other end tried to help him understand.  After a few minutes  Robin agreed "Okay the leer jet at Sullivan field tomorrow...okay….it's going to be good to see you too."  With that he hung up and stood there, just letting the last few minutes sink in.  He was going home for Thanksgiving and the closest thing he had to a father wanted to meet his girlfriend. "This is so...normal" he said looking back down at his phone. Starfire jumped at the chance to meet Robin's family literally. It was a good thing they were on the roof when Robin told her because she grabbed him and leapt into the air with joy. She was fully prepared to fly them both to Gotham right then and there.  Until Robin told her "Um Star my family already went to the trouble of sending the plane." "Oh I do not wish to be the rude. We will take the plane. Oh this is so wonderful! I feel like I am going to emfnar!" It was a good thing that they did take the plane. Starfire packed so much Robin wasn't sure even she would be able to carry it. She was still gushing  as they left the tower, and probably all the way to Gotham city.  She assured Raven as they were leaving  that when she returned that they would have the "girl talk"  and she would tell her everything in great detail. Cyborg ended up visiting/rescuing the Titans East. He got the call sitting in the driver's seat of the T-Car running another set of performance tests. "Hey Sparky we need a little favor."  Bumblebee said through the car's audio. "We need? or YOU need?"  He said as he was checking the computer's diagnostics. "And you never need little favors, you call me when you need to pull off something nuts." "WE! Volunteered to do a charity Thanksgiving dinner." "That’s nice, you're not getting Grandma Stone's Pumpkin pie recipe" He said flatly. "That says in the family" "Victor Stone, are you proposing?" Cyborg looked up from the readout on the console to the small speaker glad that this was not a video call. He cleared his throat. "Cute Bee. Okay Thanksgiving Dinner, what do you need from me?" There was a long silence making Cyborg think that the call had dropped until Bumblebee said quietly. "To cook it?" Another long silence this time it was Cyborg that had gone quite. "Cyborg you there?" "Let me get this straight" He stared too calmly for what he was just asked. "You volunteered to make the biggest meal of the year, for how many?" "Maaaybe 200." she said quietly "and then expect me to go across the county to cook it for you with two days notice?" "Oh course not, It's just that…" "What!?" he shouted back. "None of us know how to cook! I mean we thought Speedy could but all he knows how to make is chili and hot dogs!"   "You live with these people! How can you not know if any of them can cook?" Cyborg spat out. "What the hell have you been eating all this time!?"   The augment continued. Cyborg spent the next hour explaining what they would need to have when he got there. You had never seen someone be so passionate about explaining the difference between a dutch oven and a slow cooker and insisting he would need both.   Beast Boy was going east as well to see the Doom Patrol. It was a bit abrupt. Raven had found a note he had left on the kitchen table.

Dudes,

The DP asked me to come home.  Will be back Monday. 

Sorry won't be able to share the parade and Tofurky this year.

Beast Boy. 

Raven looked at the hastily scribbled note. She could almost feel the disappointment on it. She knew that Mento didn’t ask for anything, he ordered it. That the only reason that Beast Boy followed was some sense of family loyalty and it being the holiday.  Still a long weekend without video games, puns and stankball. She was going to call that a win. By Thursday morning Raven was in an empty tower. At first it was everything she could have hoped for, the empty common room was perfect for her morning meditation. Cyborg had left the fridge full, so there was no argument what was going to be for breakfast or lunch. She was able to finish the novel she was reading and start the next book in the series. All in the most glorious quite. "It's too quiet" Raven said to herself as night settled in. She didn’t believe her own ears. Sitting on her bed she pushed away the book she was reading. She just re-read the same page for the 4th time.  She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs.  Raven's eyes closed tight she tried to focus on her breathing, trying to slow the a new creeping panic.  She didn’t understand, she had been alone before,  and for much longer, just she had never felt alone here. This was her home this was different, the Tower didn’t feel right without the familiar presence of her friends.  It was cold and alien, like she was in a strangers house. It was a horrible realization that as much as she coveted solitude, there was always the comforting auras of the others nearby, now…she couldn’t help but wonder if this is what it was like to suddenly go blind or deaf. There was something missing and... In her mind there was a sudden flash of bright green.  Raven shot bold upright almost falling off the bed. Before she could process this a small envelope slid under her door and then the sound of rushed footsteps. "Beast Boy?" she said to the empty room.  He was supposed to be across the country, but it was definitely him.  Raven couldn't help it. She was actually glad that someone, even Beast Boy, was in the tower. Raven got up quickly snatching the small square of paper. She opened it and read. Ms. Raven 

Your presence is requested in the ops room for a Thanksgiving dinner.

Formal dress is not required but will not be discouraged. 

Thank you.

Garfield Logan. Raven looked at the invitation. "Garfield Logan?" She asked herself.  It was not often that she heard his real name.  She knew that he didn’t really care for it but looking at it on the paper it wasn’t a bad name.  This wasn't like the scratched out note he left when he left, she could tell he tried to make the letters neat, he even spelled 'presence' correctly. Raven looked back and forth between the note and her door.  Wondering if this was some sort of elaborate prank.  I mean this was Beast Boy.  But curiosity got the better of her, and it led her out the door to the ops room. "What is this?" She asked as she entered. The couch was pushed over to one side.  In its place was a long table set with a white table cloth In the center of the room. There were several covered dishes and a basket of bread, Two place settings in the middle of the table across from each other.  The biggest surprise was Beast Boy himself. He was wearing a white button down shirt, with a black vest and dress pants.  He had even tried to run a comb through that mess of green hair.  He looked up at her from arranging the different dishes. "Happy Thanksgiving." He said softly not sure how she was going to react. "Beast Boy, what are you doing here?" She approached the table. "What about the Doom Patrol?" "I changed my mind."  he said sheepishly and quickly turned his attention to the food. " We got a ton stuff here I hope your hungry."

She could tell he was holding something back. Despite the smile on his face he wouldn’t meet her eyes. Still this was quite a feat to set this all up on his own. The food, his look, setting up the room, then Raven remembered the invitation.    

"Will all this keep for a few moments?" Raven asked, referring to the table.

"Ah Yea." Beast Boy said, slightly confused. Raven quickly left to go back to her room. Leaving Beast Boy to fiddle with the table not sure what was going on.  When she returned she was waring Deep blue sleeveless floor length gown. Her hair was pulled back, and she wore small gold and ruby stud earrings.

"I think this feels more fitting." She said as she came back into the room. "Wow." Beast Boy breathed out his jaw hanging open.   "Don’t get used to it. " She glanced at him "But since you did put in the effort. " "I just didn’t think you had anything in your closet but blue capes." Beast boy said unable to take his eyes off of her. It was Raven. The dark blue the way the dress flowed like her cloak even in the red accent of the earrings, it was still her but she was breathtaking.   "Starfire found this for me, under the mistaken impression that there will be a ball sometime soon."

Shall we eat?" "Ah,..Yes..ya" He said, pulling out the chair for her. They were both seated.  

"So where do you want to start?"  Beast Boy reaching for a one of the casserole lids.  

"How about with the truth?" She said folding her hands together. "Beast Boy what are you doing here?"

"Eating sweet potatoes?" a stiff smile on his face.

"Empath. Beast Boy I know there is something your holding back"

Beast Boy sat there looking at her chewing on his bottom lip. His eyes met hers again.  

"You sure that we can't just eat green beans and not talk about this?"

Raven just sat there and stared at him. She knew that her patience would win out over his impetuous nature. They sat there looking at each other for a few moments. Or for 26 years depending on the perspective.

"The house was empty."  Beast Boy whispered.  

He picked up his fork needing to do something with his hands. "The mission comes first." The words came out practiced. As if he had said that phrase a thousand times before. "I got to the Manor and no one was there. The place was dark, I found a note on the door. It said I was late. Something came up in the Andes. "

"Beast Boy I-"

"No, you know what's really funny, I thought it was a joke, like a surprise party or something so I went in anyway and ran over the whole house calling them, checking every room.  They were gone the jet was gone. " A the moment she could see him trying to hold back the tears. "But the best part, the fridge was empty! No Turkey defrosting for the big day, no potatoes,  just some bread a peanut butter in the pantry."

"So you came back here."

"I made a sandwich first, but yea." He wiped his eye with the back of his hand. "Thanksgiving is supposed to be about family and I wanted to be with family, they knew that and used that to get me to come home, and put me to work." his eyes fell to the empty dinner plate in front of him. "I am sorry Beast-" her voice froze for a moment. "I am sorry Garfield."  

This snapped his attention back to her. He had gone years without hearing his real name.  He remembered hating it, but in her voice, it was different.  

"Rae, I am the one that should be sorry. I mean I know you were probably loving having the tower to yourself. I half expected you to see all of this, ask me to stay quiet and go back to your room."  

"Too much of anything, even quiet and solitude is not a good thing." I guess I have gotten used to this place, the people in it." She looked up at him. "I missed my family. Thank you for coming home."

The blood rushed up into Beast Boys face. This was like a dream, she looked amazing, and she was here with him, alone.

"Well we have food. Oh! there is a replay of the Parade on Tv we can watch, or we co-"

Raven reached across the table and put her hand on top of his. "We could just talk some more?" She said.

The both stared at each other until for a moment. "Yea okay…I would like that."  His voice shook a bit. Raven puller her hand away, he Immediately missed it.  

"Where is the tofurky?" she as she cautiously started to take the lids off the dishes.

"Avoid the brown one on the end."

"Thank you."  

They ate, and talked, and talked some more. It was one of those conversations that took on a life of its own.  It was early Friday morning before they gotten up from the table and he walked Raven back to her room.  

*****************************************************************************

So its July, how about a Thanksgiving story? This was in the draft pile asked my wife to pick on and this is what she picked.  Besides some Fall would be welcome with this 100+ degree heat.  

[tlbodine]

Editing in Action

Someone asked me if I could show a before and after of my editing process (as detailed in this post) and GUESS WHAT I totally still have all of my editing notes from Nezumi’s Children. EXCITING. 

Big ol’ spoiler alert if you haven’t read the book, and I’ll pop this under a cut because it’s a long post. 

First off, let’s take a peek at the rough draft! Here is part of the final scene in the rough draft: 

The morning dawned, too early.  The rats lingered, uncertain if they wanted to go through with their plan.  Top Ear touched her nose to Bitey's shoulder and they were silent for a time.  Then the four of them bravely, resolutely, crossed the open space and found their way into the trap, allowing themselves to be caught within it.  They ignored the bait.  They waited.   

The exterminators came.  They wore orange suits and carried with them strange machines, the machines of death.  They smelled like death, and the rats in the trap huddled together in fear.  The rats in hiding huddled, also, and crept behind whatever cover they could.  

T​op Ear rushed at the side of the cage, realizing it was impossible to escape.  She threw herself at it, desperately, and squeaked miserably, and realized that she was inexorably trapped.  The feeling of being out in the open -- of vulnerability -- fell over her, and she shuddered; it was the most terrible feeling, being trapped in a cage when death was approaching, and she cast a horrified look at the others.  "We made the wrong choice," her expression said.  She couldn't bring the words out.  She could only feel the terror.   

T​hey would be trapped here, with no chance to escape, as the slow creeping death came over them.   

The air was nothing but death, she thought, hearing Nezumi's voice echo in her thoughts.  The air was death.  

And here is that same section from the final version: 

The morning dawned too early. Three rats sat huddled inside a cage. Another hung back fearfully in the shadowed overhang of the shelf. Between them, straddling both worlds, Bitey pressed herself against the outer wall of the cage.  She had neither moved nor slept, and the tendrils of gray light that crept through the skylight were the only hint of the passage of time.  

Outside, footsteps crunched over gravel and debris.  Voices spoke and drew near as the echo of footsteps grew.  Great Ones, a pair of them, unlike any Bitey had seen before. They wore orange suits and carried with them the machines of death.  They smelled like death, too; they smelled of snakes and floodwater and poison.  Bitey, caught in the open, froze, every hair standing on end.  Competing messages – Run! Attack! Help the others! – flooded her mind and held her immobilized.  

“Hey, look at that,” one of the Great Ones said, in the deep lumbering voices made of sounds and earthquakes.  “Bold little thing, isn't it?”

“Not for much longer it won't be.”  

Top Ear rushed at the side of the cage.  “Bitey!”  She yelled, hopelessly.  “Bitey! Do something!” She threw herself at the mesh and squeaked miserably.  

Outside, Bitey found that she could do nothing.  It wasn't like facing the Big Water or fighting off the Ukeshu – times when the only choices were fear and courage.  There was not enough courage in all the Beyond to save her from this.  The feeling of being out in the open -- of vulnerability -- fell over her, and she shuddered; it was the most terrible feeling.  The others might be in a cage, but she was every bit as trapped as they were.

It's all just cages.  Everyone has become a snake.   “What do we do with this cage?”  The Great One's voice rumbled like the distant roll of thunder, like the approach of another flood-bearing storm. “There's a couple live ones in there.”

“I think some girl's coming for it, is what the owner said.  I don't know.  Come on – help me lay down the tubing.  If she's not here by the time it's done, we'll just keep going.”  

The air is nothing but death, Bitey thought, watching as the boot steps retreated.  None of it made any sense, but she knew in her heart that Dumbo's words – no, Nezumi's words, the usoothe's final prophecy – were coming to pass.  Another storm.  Another flood. Another cage.  

So a few things you can see here. One is that I stuck to a closer, deeper POV. The original draft had a very top-down omniscient perspective and head-hopped between all the characters all the time. There really wasn’t a protagonist in the story and it showed. So when I revised, I chose Bitey to be the main character (although others still carry a lot of POV) because she was the one who had the most dramatic character arc -- true to her name, she’s first introduced biting a a person and expressing her distrust of humans; by the end, she chooses to trust the human because that would keep her with her kin. 

You can also see that between drafts I got more confident with keeping the imagery consistent, and I went deep instead of the very exposition/telling-heavy almost list of actions in the rough draft. 

Here’s what my revision prep looked like: 

Nezumi's Children – One Pass Revision

THEMES:  

Blood is thicker than water

Misplaced faith can have deadly consequences

Nothing is as simple as it seems

25-WORD SYNOPSIS:

“Rats revere humans as gods. Abandoned, they must learn to survive alone in a world that is not as black-and-white as they thought it would be.” (27 words)

ONE-LINE STORY ARC:

“Bitey must put aside her preconceived notions about both rats and humans in order to survive one  inconceivable threat after another.”

250 WORD BLURB:

Bitey is a five-month-old fancy rat. Like her sisters and the other rats of Rocco's Pet Emporium, her world is a two-foot by three-foot plexiglass-and-wire hutch.  Twice a day, the sky opens up and the giant hands of the Great Ones invade Bitey's world to provide food and water.  Sometimes, the hands pick up rats and the Great Ones hold them for a time.  Sometimes, the rats never come back.  

All her life, Bitey has been raised to revere the Great Ones – to shower them with affection, to earn their particular attentions – so that one day she too might be taken by the hands to live in paradise amongst the Great Ones.  

But Bitey rejects the hands, nipping at their fingers and running from their touch.  Something in a deep, instinctual part of her believes that there is more to the world than her cage and some unknown paradise occupied by giants, and she yearns to see what's out there.  

When the Great Ones fail to arrive one morning – and, again, that night – Bitey and her kin realize that they have been abandoned.  What's more, Nezumi the ailing prophet is having visions of a terrible horror.  There are no words in ratspeak for “storm” or “flood” or “evacuation”, but she knows that something awful is coming, and before she dies, she imparts a final warning:  get out, before it comes.

Faced with the inconceivable task of climbing outside of the world itself without the hands of Great Ones, Bitey must find a way to lead her kin to safety – and that's just the beginning.  Turns out, the world is much bigger than Bitey had ever dreamed...and substantially more dangerous.  

(287 words)

(and then the scene list here, but I won’t bore you with that, there’s like three pages of them).

Some memorable changes I made between drafts included combining two similar side characters into one role, changing the order of when certain characters die (originally the titular Nezumi the prophet survives to the end before dying in the next-to-the-last chapter, rather than her death serving as the inciting incident), and a lot of POV tweaks to establish Bitey’s character arc and keep the head-hopping at bay. 

Anyway! I hope this progress shot is helpful :) If you want to see the finished product, Nezumi’s Children is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Nezumis-Children-T-L-Bodine-ebook/dp/B00EWTMONG

[kindabraveandlittlestupid]

A love/hate review of The Division game and all the things I wish it could have been. Please note that as of this point I have not played the massive update that supposedly took place to ‘fix’ the game. This critique is opinion based and if you love (or hate) the game more then I do feel to let me know how/why. Just be respectful of your dissent of my review.

I am of two mindsets about this game in the fact I thought it was a great concept and I generally enjoyed the setting and gameplay (to some degree) but on the other hand, the storytelling was less than exceptional, they had with PVP element and RPG damage system which ruined the game.

New York City Setting (Loved) Reading up on this game I appreciated the groundwork the developer put into getting the setting right. How they contacted with real government agencies to try accurately portray the JTF accurately and took thousands of pictures of New York to capture the city. Like a winter cemetery with monolithic skyscrapers looking like dark pillars reaching towards the sky from the very beginning you knew you were in the Big Apple. There are many games that take liberties with real-world cities in games by shrinking them down to manageable sizes, you can love GTA all you want but if you lived in LA you know San Andrea is like a shadow compared to the real thing. The Division had no such issue as almost every second (save the underground/sewer levels) kept me believing that I was elite agent fighting in for New York.

Shoot First, Ask Questions Never (Hated) An aspect of the game that really bothered me was “Always Shooting” approach to the gameplay. Find a group of guys in the street with guns? Shoot them. Meet a fellow agent in the Dark Zone? Think about shooting them. Find two people over a body? Shoot them too. I understand this was a gun game but this really undercut the morality and humanity that could have made this game great. In eyes of the developer, everyone was guilty of something but by the rules of probability, not everyone in the city who was armed had to be a ‘bad guy’. Those group of men standing with guns on the corner? Neighborhood watch protecting their community. The two guys over the body in the alleyway? Found it like that and looking for ID or supplies.

Point is they could have easily put a verbal engagement into the game where you get the drop on somebody and allow them to surrender peacefully. Give a Mass Effect conversation wheel where you can get to the root of what the hell they are doing and either let them go, arrest them, rob them or even (if they do end up being bad) shoot them. I don't believe video games desensitize kids but they don't make me arguing their case for them any easier when the only option is to kill kill kill. 

Story Telling (Love/Hate) The use of the hologram playback of events was an original way of telling stories and gives you an almost interactive perspective on what transpired before. As did listening to the voice recordings, hunting down missing agents and reading the walls also helped paint the city that is in utter chaos. 

Perhaps I spoiled myself with the Brian Wood comic DMZ (totally worth the read) which really dove into a New York warzone setting but I felt like the developers took the story to a point and then just kind of stopped. No long-term plot, no secondary missions with a rich fiction to delve into or even a good use of the secondary characters who made up the JTF. This a consistent issue with most Tom Clancy games (save the Splinter Cell series which is linear but fun as hell). I would have happily given up the whole ‘Dark Zone’ for investment in more plot but most companies look to multiplayer now as the measure of success instead of having the fans keep a lasting impression in their mind like Mass Effect or other story-driven games. I think that metric of success is simply wrong.

Death By A Thousand Bullets (Hate) Probably the BIGGEST failure of the game was the DPS element to the guns. Nothing like being a firefight with a guy and pumping him with hundreds of bullets and only taking away a sliver of his health. I understand why they wanted to have a quality of weapons aspect of the game to encourage people to try/loot new weapons but going this route really just ruined the experience. They could have easily gone with a gun jamming up over time requiring maintenance or switching it out for something new to encourage alternative firearms. They did a really good job with the weapons system of Ghost Recon: Wildlands and for some reason omitted this game from that quality weapons system.

I just marvel the most at the fact that there was a probably an office somewhere full of developers creating this game and someone said “Hey shouldn't a bullet to the head kill a guy?” and someone saying “No, he is a level 13 and you’re only a level 2, therefore, your bullets do less damage!” “That doesn't make any sense...” “Shut up, Derek. No one likes you.” Did it actually play out like that but I promise you someone had a conversation like that AT LEAST once.

Missed Opportunities (Love/Hate) Getting passed the nitpicky elements above let's talk about some things it could/should have been. There was so much potential with this game for alternative missions, game modes and ways to play that I wish some developer might correct in the next version of this game.

The Convoy Mission - Seems simple enough but in a city full of cars, there should have been convoy mission where an APC or a group of Humvees needed to drive a couple blocks to help resupply one of the safe houses. Walking alongside it, dealing with the occasional attack and smashing open windows of cars that are in the way and push them to the side. Seems simple but a diversity of missions is never a bad thing.

Reclamation Tug-O-War - Would have been great to have seen a game mode where you hold your block and work to liberate surrounding areas from the various factions which sounds simple but also have those factions push back trying to reclaim blocks you control. This would have provided a replayable element where you take areas, establish a JTF presence and hold them until the city is under control.

Establishing Safe Houses - Like the Reclamation idea, when you set up a safe house it should have not simply been unlocked and then done. I would have enjoyed having missions focus on the success of these alternative safe house location away from the main base with tangible perks for doing a job well done. Could be complex like defend it from attack, find a new radio so they can keep in contact with HQ, or something simple like deliver the blankets where you keep the people happy and alive.

Zombie Mode - Lots of people shit on zombie mod mostly because they are dime a dozen but I doubt anyone could argue that this setting (the city itself) doesn't look like a setup for a zombie movie. It would be amazing to have a co-op horde mode being a separate playable game mode for players.

The Dark Zone (Hate) We know why they put this into the game but fuck me if it doesn't make any sense. “Hey! My radio stopped working over here.” *Shakes it* “Guess I can let my psychopath flag fly now and kill other agents.” This REALLY cut into the Achilles tendon and dropped the game to a new low. I already talked about how Shoot First, Ask Questions never basically was a green light for murdering anyone you came across but this game mode plays to the worse aspect of gaming culture.

Co-Op (Love) I wanted to end on two high notes after ripping into the game with so much hate. I enjoy games with a Co-Op element where 2 or more players join me in the world to set things right. There is always chance that one of my friends will flashbang me on purpose to piss me off but for the most part, it enhances the experience and the Division does this well, making Co-Op a feature and not a mandatory function for enjoyment.

Ola Strandh (Love) A special shout-out to the composer of the game's score. While I did not notice the soundtrack to much while playing the game, the score eventually popped up on my Spotify and with some easy listening, I started to appreciate the complexity of the music and the use of sounds to create an atmosphere. I would suggest giving it a listen and if you like composed movie/game scores adding this to your playlist wouldn't be all that bad.

Conclusion You’re a special agent with the license to kill murdering your way through a civilian population that was basically abandoned by their government during the quarantine. Kinda hard to have a moral footing when you think about the game like that. The story itself was unrealized and the RPG element to the game (along with PVP) killed the immersion that could have made this game epic. I leave the weapon/gear perk element in my RPG’s with the suspension of belief of ‘because fucking magic” but it has no place in the realistic shooters like this.  I will probably play it again as there was that update but I doubt they did the overhaul that this game badly needed. Regards Michael California