#Honestly find me another mmorpg that let's this

[inthecarpets]

One of my fave things about GW2's charr race is that you literally can run on all four paws as cat nature intended

[seeker-ophelia]

I agree with a lot of your points. I’m glad we know how much of a dumpster fire development was because this game hurts. Both good and bad. I obviously don’t know but some of the writing does feel like damage control, things aren’t mentioned but they’re also not denied. Isabella could still be with Hawke and just not have mentioned it. Awkward for sure but still possible. Combined with the DLC statement (tho I hope with the sales and reception EA will reconsider) I think they just wanted to get this out the door before EA full on canceled the game. It does suck, I’m not in denial about that. I want all those cameos and spotlights, (hell where is my girl Merrill? She FIXED a mirror on her own, there’s gotta be something there right?) but I’m hopeful for the next game.

Do you think there will be one? Do you think we’ll get DLC? I don’t think I can take another ten years of this.

Oh an ask! Hi!

I really do think that this game was BioWare fighting against EA, and EA's influence runs heavy through this game. I am so glad this is not a MMORPG or adjacent kinda game.

Do I think we'll get a DLC? Honestly? No. Not unless VG does very very well in sales (i haven't looked at the numbers and don't know what their projections were), and people constantly keep the hype up on social media. I would FROTH AT THE MOUTH to get a 'Keep' DLC, with none of the side quests actually having an impact on the main story, but we get to see & help out our old friends. A DLC where we learn more about the lore and history of the veil and spirits. If I am a new player to the DA franchise in this game, I feel the need to keep the veil up. Its spoken about ad nauseum. But, if you've played Inquisition, you know that its actually the veil that turns spirits to demons (Solas/Cole banter). Yes, there are some demons in the fade, but not as many as the game leads you to believe.

I'm rambling. Do I think we'll get a new game? they certainly set it up that way. I'm not on twitter but apparently devs have said there is plans for it. will it take 10 years? I fucking hope not. Hopefully development on 5 is more streamlined. Keep it an offline RPG. Not pass it through so many hands. Let BioWare cook with it. Let the community council pick apart the lore. But most importantly, is Corrine and Trick need to still care. Caring about something is what makes it great. And if they're burnt out or overworked or have to fight with EA, that's gunna show up in the game.

The scariest thing about Veilguard, for me, is that it didn't suck. I think its a good game in its own right. But its not a DRAGON AGE game. I'm hoping that this is because Trick wanted to make it his own, move away from Gaiders influence, and that they'll listen to fans and make the next game more adult, darker. Meaner (no, killing a dog doesn't make it mean, its just feels like a D&D/GoT way to SuBvErT ExPeCtaTiOns). This is a very esteemed franchise, and VG did drop the ball. Maybe not drop, but, rolled it over somewhere else? In a different direction. Which, again, isn't bad. Its just not Dragon Age.

When we heard about "the three choices" controversy, I posted something, i wonder if I can find it hang on. Bam got it.

The thing is, the Devs HAVE TO. HAVE TO. Care about the game. They have to put their blood sweat and tears into these games to make them fantastic. And I think, right now, they're probably tired. They need a break. And I don't want to rush them into anything, because shit is better if you let them have the time to cook it.

But Fuck I hope we get another Game. I hope the Twitter Trolls and the Youtube Bigots and the Money Grubbing EA Executives stay the fuck out of my Fantasy Dragon Game.

In the meantime, I'm gunna fucking INHALE all the new lore in this game, spoonfed or not, and hopefully we'll get another comic or book before the next game.

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 3/5

Book Blurb: From the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six (under the pen name Olivie Blake) comes Twelfth Knight, a YA romantic comedy and coming-of-age story about taking up space in the world and learning what it means to let others in.

*This luxe hardcover edition will include endpaper art by Little Chmura, a foil case stamp, and designed printed edges.*

Viola Reyes is annoyed.

Her painstakingly crafted tabletop game campaign was shot down, her best friend is suggesting she try being more “likable,” and her school's star running back Jack Orsino is the most lackadaisical Student Body President she’s ever seen, which makes her job as VP that much harder. Vi’s favorite escape from the world is the MMORPG Twelfth Knight, but online spaces aren’t exactly kind to girls like her—girls who are extremely competent and have the swagger to prove it. So Vi creates a masculine alter ego, choosing to play as a knight named Cesario to create a safe haven for herself.

But when a football injury leads Jack Orsino to the world of Twelfth Knight, Vi is alarmed to discover their online alter egos—Cesario and Duke Orsino—are surprisingly well-matched.

As the long nights of game-play turn into discussions about life and love, Vi and Jack soon realize they’ve become more than just weapon-wielding characters in an online game. But Vi has been concealing her true identity from Jack, and Jack might just be falling for her offline…

Review: A Twelfth Night modern day retelling set in high school following a girl who is known for being the unlikable Vice President and the school's star running back/Student Body president who find themselves bonding over a online game... but under different identities. Viola Reyes is known as a "bitch", she isn't everyone's cup of tea and most people dislike her. She is the vice president for the student body and is tired of having to do all the work of the President who just doesnt seem to care at all. The only real comfort Viola has is the online game, Twelfth Knight, in which she can be herself albeit by taking up a guy character and being treated with respect and understanding... something she doesn't get in her regular life. Jack Orsino is the star running back for the football team and the Student Body President. He's charming, popular and likable... except he gets into an accident and gets a football injury which leads him to begin playing in the world of Twelfth Knight. Jack's life is turned upside down when he is injured as his girlfriend dumped him, his football team doesn't seem to need him, and now he's trying to figure out what he's going to do next if he doesn't have football. Jack begins to befriend another player in Twelfth Knight while also striking a deal with Vi, if she helps him get his ex-gf back by talking to her, he'll do his duties and take over the dance duties he was mean to but she was made to do. The more time they spend together the more they begin to fall for each other... yet Viola is hiding the fact that she has become Jack's friend on Twelfth Knight and she's afraid that if she reveals the truth he'll hate her. I was initially super excited for this, as a huge fan of the classic Shakespeare story and a lover of modern adaptations, this was giving me "She's the Man" vibes and I couldn't wait. I liked Viola and honestly her friendship with Olivia was the real shining aspect of the book for me. They were so sweet together and I really had hopes this could have been a sapphic romance but I also appreciate the female friendship. Jack on the other hand... he's alright. He just didn't feel like he had a lot of character and his relationship with Vi was meh at best for me. I wanted to like this book but it felt a bit too long and it felt I just didn't see the romance or chemistry between Vi and Jack. Overall, if you'd like to read a modern spin on Twelfth Night, I'd say give it a go anyways because it's a unique twist on the classic story.

*Thanks Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group | Tor Teen for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

[silriven]

A bit of complaining about how Wrathion is written in the 10.1 PTR

So let's start at the beginning.   I hear that's a great place to start.

Wrathion from the MMORPG World of Warcraft is a rogue (/rōɡ/): 

Free from the constraints of a conscience, these mercenaries rely on brutal and efficient tactics. Lethal assassins and masters of stealth...Rogues often initiate combat with a surprise attack from the shadow. (...) Rogues must take special care when selecting targets...and they must be conscious of when to hide or flee if a battle turns against them.

- Official class guide for Rogue on the World of Warcraft website

Here are some examples of other characters from World of Warcraft who fall under the category of "rogue":

Mathias Shaw: Stormwind’s Spymaster and leader of the intelligence service, S1:7.

Vanessa VanCleef: Successor to her father, Edwin VanCleef, as head of the Defias Brotherhood and member of the Uncrowned.

Valeera Sanguinar: Advisor and bodyguard to the House of Wrynn, Shadow of the Uncrowned.

Lilian Voss: A Champion of the Uncrowned and member of the Forsaken’s Desolate Council.  She is perhaps best known for assassinating prominent members of the Scarlet Crusade, including her own father.

You might recognize these characters as ruthless tacticians who employ subterfuge to accomplish their goals, noble or otherwise, and to protect the things that matter to them.

Wrathion himself has done this, many times in the past, to varying degrees of success.  He even has his own network of loyal spies and bodyguards who he will often send into areas of interest to collect information that helps him formulate his strategies and schemes.   So how does Wrathion, a character who has spent just about his entire life working the long game from the shadows, decide to approach dangerous situations in Dragonflight.

(Text screenshots are taken from Portergauge’s two-part walkthrough of the 10.1 PTR campaign, which you can read here and here.  His follow up thread on the campaign is here.)

Sabellian says: Whelp!  Stop your showboating!  Fall in line and listen to my strategy!

Wrathion says: Your endless whining about a strategy will not win you the throne!

"Strategies are slowing us down.  I especially don't need to have one in order to pursue this contested position as leader to a flight of wary dragons during this fragile period of growth in our tumultuous history."

Alexstrasza the Life-Binder says: Do not underestimate the Incarnates.  Fair skies and strong winds to you all.

Ebyssian says: I must recruit Emberthal to our quest.  Wait for me at the entrance.

Wrathion says: Why?  Surely we four are more than enough.

"Why bother recruiting a useful ally.  Its not like that's ever helped me in the past.  Three dragons and a mortal should be '''more than enough''' to take on another Primal Incarnate when I know from first-hand experience that I alone was catastrophically outmatched against the first one."

Sabellian: I will not tolerate Ebyssian’s dawdling any longer.  These incarnates grow stronger every second, as does my impatience.  Wrathion and I are in agreement.  You may choose to waste your time in wait for our slow-winged sibling, but we would much rather you join us.

"I will proceed with this mission without the older brother that I actually trust and am fond of in favor of the one I have a strained and tenuous relationship with and whose approach to strategy I often find ridiculous."

Sabellian says: Keep low.  We have not been spotted--

Wrathion says: I usually prefer the stealthy approach as well, but now is the time to let dragons be dragons!  Remind these weaklings who they are dealing with!”

"I usually prefer the stealthy approach as well...BUT...." 

 It's honestly worse that they even bring this up because it means someone, somewhere, remembered that it's out of character for Wrathion to act this way and they went ahead with it anyways, for little reason.

Also, where is all of this bravado about the innate strength of dragons coming from.  Wrathion will fall back on that as an intimidation tactic now and then ("You do realize I am a dragon, yes?  That I can breathe fire?  Just making sure.") but he isn't one to flippantly overestimate his strengths and ignore his weaknesses when assessing danger.  His existence as a dragon has always been fragile.  That's why he has bodyguards.  That's why he works closely with mortals.  That's why he'll seek council from characters like Medivh.  That's why he didn't try to fight the Burning Legion with just himself and maybe three other guys. That's why he didn't charge headfirst into Ny'alotha on his own and spent the entire patch training the Horde and the Alliance on how to battle the Void.

Sabellian says: Father!--Wait...Father.  Yes.  I knew that relic back there looked familiar.

Wrathion says: Are you walking away from me?  Two can play at that game!  If you need me, <player>, seek me over there.

"You're not walking away from me.  I'M walking away from YOU!"   

What even is this dialogue.  One of the reasons why the Sabellian vs Wrathion thing is so grating is that it's not even clever banter that they're exchanging.

Wrathion says: Before we start...I know my relationship with Sabellian is certainly strained, but our behavior back there was out of line.  I think it is this place.  Something out there is testing my mental defenses.  Worming its way through my mind and keeping my teeth on edge.  I will speak to Sabellian about the outburst in my own time.  Things are never simple with him.  You both have my apologies.

So something that Portergauge covered in his recap thread about this patch that I agree with is that WoW, the game, does not do subtlety well.  Putting aside whether or not Wrathion can be influenced by the old gods' whispers, this concept is never conveyed well.

WoW has tried a couple of times lately to use magical reasoning to explain or excuse a character's behavior and the way its handled is so unsatisfying because it's often muddled with other emotional reasons why a character might be acting that way.

So is Wrathion behaving brashly because he's being influenced by the old gods' whispers or is is it because he's under a lot of pressure and Sabellian has thrown him off balance and it's making him get sloppy?  Or is it both, because it’s not like he acts any smarter or kinder when he’s in an area where the whispers aren’t so strong.

And where is this all going, what is the plan here?  Is this just how Wrathion is going to be written from now on?  Is he starting down a dark road that will lead to his own demise or is he going to make a come back?  Following through on in-game plot threads is also something that WoW, the game, has a track record of leaving hanging at the end of a patch or an expansion (the night elves' narrative in BfA comes to mind, Sylvanas' loyalist campaign is another) so it's hard for me to be optimistic that this is leading somewhere or will have a satisfying conclusion for him.

And I have to mention that the LAST time WoW tried doing something subtle where specifically old god corruption caused someone to act out of character, that wasn't the audience's takeaway.  It was: "Hell yeah, Anduin's manning up!  He is Varian's son after all!" 

 This time it'll be: "Wrathion's an idiot and an inconsiderate asshole."

There isn't enough of Wrathion acting as his cunning, competent self in this patch to counterbalance all of the times when he's acting thoughtlessly, rude, stubborn, and self-centered.  They take the time to find this balance with Sabellian. They do not with Wrathion.

I've been trying to keep my expectations reasonable (i.e. low), but when I first heard about the 10.0 storyline to pick an Aspect of the black dragonflight, I really did not expect it to turn into this extended exercise in not only why Wrathion would be a terrible Aspect but also why he's actually kind of a terrible and annoying individual, too.  It's not enjoyable seeing him reduced to being just this foil for why Sabellian and Ebyssian would make better leaders.

Wrathion says: He defeated us as if we were nothing.

Sabellian says: He is surprisingly stealthy.  I am sure we can devise an effective strategy if we are not distracted by...

Ebyssian says: The whispers...

Sabellian says: Yes.  They distracted us at key moments.  They are quieter when I use my visage.

And for all the talk of old god whispers, it's never brought up that this subject is Wrathion's bread and butter.  He spent Legion researching how to suppress them, to the success of devising methods that would shield Ebyssian and the Horde/Alliance champions from them.

Ebyssian himself doesn't think to bring this up.  He never once goes: "Hey, Sabellian, have you tried this neat potion of Wrathion's that will quiet those whispers?  It's the only reason why I can even leave the protection of Highmountain in the first place."

Or: "Hmm, Wrathion, your potion doesn't seem to be working as well down here.  Maybe that means something."   As a bonus, this would also offer Wrathion an opportunity to show concern for Ebyssian's well-being and/or Sabellian’s or something.  I don’t know.  There's any number of ways this could've been brought up.

Ebyssian: Our assault will not be successful without the stealth and cunning of Wrathion and his Blacktalon agents.  We must convince him to help us.  Thankfully, I know in his heart he will not deny someone in need--especially if they flatter him.

This is just kind of horrible coming from Ebyssian, of ALL CHAR-- 

 EBYSSIAN. 

 REMEMBER WHEN WRATHION SPENT *YEARS* PROTECTING AND WATCHING OUT FOR YOU FROM AFAR WITHOUT HAVING MET YOU *ONCE* FOR NO REASON OTHER THAN YOU ARE HIS BROTHER???

Besides when has anyone in the history of Warcraft *flattered* Wrathion for his help.  He is almost universally loathed and has always taken action for the good of Azeroth IN SPITE OF THIS. (Please post here if you can remember a time.  I would genuinely love to know.)

Wrathion and Sabellian are still arguing about who deserves to become the aspect and continue their father’s legacy.  Ebyssian scolds them for acting like whelps over a legacy of fear, control, and lies rather than starting a new legacy, one that benefits the dragons in their flight rather than empowers themselves.  Ebyssian and Emberthal then walk away, leaving Wrathion and Sabellian confused and thinking.

I get that this is placeholder text but in the midst of all of this, this in particular is just...disappointing. Wrathion's entire shtick, the core of his character, is supposed to be about forging a new legacy for his dragonflight outside the shadow cast by Deathwing.

Of course legacy is something that Sabellian and Ebyssian have to contend with too but that it's coming at the expense of Wrathion's character arc, in this way, as something he needs to learn...again...is a big let down.

I don't know how to wrap this up.  I guess sorry I got a bit sarcastic in places and that this was very ranty and not very constructive. I had a lot of thoughts about the 10.1 PTR and I just wanted to get them all out in one place and off my chest.

In conclusion:  Wrathion is a divisive character in the fanbase and I was kind of looking forward to seeing him shine in Dragonflight.  So far he's doing the opposite.  If this is just temporary then I don’t see a light at the end of this tunnel, either, this might be the only big patch where the black dragonflight gets center focus.  I’d still say that I enjoyed the short story but I don't really see what I originally liked about this character in the game itself.

[spiribia]

hello i booted up gw2 and i wanted to ask how to get started in the game? also how do you get a flying mount? like how many hours does it take? i asked someone in game and they said it was a lot of work :(

Hi! Happy to see another prospective gw2er! I don’t know if you’re looking for any advice about anything in particular, and feel free to ask (or even DM me if you’re comfortable) if you have any more questions at all. gw2 is intentionally pretty unique from your standard MMORPG experience – level 80 is the max level, and the process up to reaching that level is considered the BEGINNING of the game. It’s only after level 80 that the starting expacs become accessible, and a more traditionally linear, uninterrupted storyline begins.

The narrative before then comes in the form of a more branching, choice-based Personal Story, a new chapter of which unlocks every 10 levels until the conclusion at level 80. Gw2 carries a very “explore and do whatever appeals to you” philosophy, so to bridge these beginning story chapters you’re really encouraged to just wander the overworld. There aren’t really traditional sidequests, but doing tasks in the form of renown hearts and live events or even just reaching a new place or vantage point you haven’t been before (some require a bit of parkour) will get you a decent amount of experience.

You also can’t swap classes, so what you picked in character creation is what you are for life for that particular character, BUT each class comes with a lot of modularity in the form of different builds and weapons (equipping a new weapon completely changes the first 4 skills on your bar). The game is also super alt friendly - a lot of progress in terms of unlocks saves account wide rather than localized to a single character - so feel free to play around with that. That’s all I really have to say about getting started though, the early stretch seems mostly just for figuring out how you like to play yourself.

As for flying mounts, there are 2 in the game at the moment, the griffon and the skyscale. You currently need the Path of Fire dlc to unlock mounts overall, including the griffon, and the expac after that (Living World Season 4) to unlock the skyscale. These do honestly take some time, though I couldn’t tell you exactly how many hours – it’s pretty variable given the open-ended nature of the obtaining process. I’d say getting the griffon is popularly regarded as the less tedious of the two - its main obstacle is that you need to dump 250 gold into it, which is still nothing to scoff at. The skyscale comes at a much lower cost in gold if you don’t buy any skips, but requires a lot more running around and doing specific meta events and bosses, interacting with objects in the overworld, time gates, etc. A lot of people find this process soul-crushing, but I’m the weirdo who really liked it. I will say my one tip for a newbie regarding this is if you think you might be around long term and even kind of think you might want the skyscale in the future, start making charged quartz early. You can only make one a day, and you’ll need a minimum of 12 and an optional maximum of I believe 22(?) for the skyscale unlock. or you can buy the required stuff with gold instead, but it adds up to be pretty costly.

Although gw2 has a very robust mount system even for ground mounts, and I would say having a flying mount, though fun and convenient, isn’t make or break, if any of that sounds daunting to you. The springer mount, for example, lets you catapult yourself upwards vertically, which is great for rapidly scaling the environment. Heart of Thorns dlc (which comes free with Path of Fire) gives you a glider.

Hopefully that helped at all? But you’re always welcome to reach out if you need anything else

[im-immortal]

2021 Writing Wrap-Up

Here we are, at the end of another year, and of course I started more WIPs than I finished. But what else is new. I’m proud to say I didn’t experience any real bouts of writer’s block, although I did have a pretty big life-changing event right in the middle of the year that halted the process for a few long months. But I came back with more inspiration and motivation than ever before, and everything has worked out for the better, so I’m choosing to be grateful. I finished one WIP, started and finished another, and kept up with my longest and most popular WIP! Also, not only did I turn 30 this year, but I got fucking engaged ?!? So that’s pretty awesome. Anyway, I’m very proud of the couple of things I finished this year, and just as proud of the progress I made on some WIPs. And who knows, maybe 2022 will be the year I finally finish at least one of my longer WIPs? Here’s to hoping.

A list of all the works I posted/updated this year:

lost in the sauce: 47k+ words; 10/10 chapters Ideally, this fic would’ve been finished last year, but I managed to finish it before the first month of the year was over, so that’s an accomplishment in my eyes! Also, I immediately moved on to the next part of the series, which I feel turned out even better than this one. I still can’t believe how much positive feedback I received!

In Toto Corde: 6,823 words; one-shot This wasn’t a new fic, but it was a rewrite of one of my favorite fics that I wrote years ago. I’m very proud of it, even though it’s not popular at all. And I love the plot so much that by the time I finished the rewrite, I already had ideas for a sequel, which I’m heavily into and working on steadily. It will definitely be much longer, but I’m hoping to post it sometime next year.

thirsty: 219k+ words; 46/46 chapters My most popular fic... possibly ever. And damn, am I proud of it. This was so much fun to write, and I really dove head-first into the universe. It’s also probably the most smut I’ve ever written in such a short amount of time. I still can’t believe I managed to start and finish it in the same year. I’m already working on the next part in the series, with way too many damn ideas for future parts. 

Let us always find each other: the mermaid & the man / the bandit & the criminal / gamers I’ve been writing these little AU ficlets for a while and posting them exclusively to tumblr, but this year, I decided to officially post them as a collection. The mermaid AU was inspired by the time I spent in San Diego during the spring, and I was downright itching to write it by the time I got home from spending days on the beach and in the rainy/humid weather. Then the criminals AU, which was just for fun, and the gamers one was even more fun, an idea that had been sitting in my head for some time and that I miiiiight turn into a full-fledged story one day. I had way too much fun coming up with the mechanics of the MMORPG!

what we gotta do: 20,282 words; one-shot I don’t know where exactly this idea came from, but when I searched for “fuck or die” fics in the tag, I found a shockingly low amount, so I decided to take it upon myself to change that. It’s probably one of the most depraved things I’ve ever written, but I’m honestly very proud of how it turned out, and even more proud of the feedback I received on it. And of course, as I am prone to do, I already started a sequel because I had so many damn ideas floating around in my head before I’d even finished it. So hopefully I can finish the sequel and post it sometime next year!

Don’t Make Me Haunt You: 433k+ words, 89/? chapters And of course, my current baby! Easily the most popular fic I’ve ever written. Also the most fun! I didn’t get a chance to update quite as much as I would’ve liked to this year, but that seems to be changing as I get back into a routine with it and head towards the climax and final resolution. For the last 2 years, I’ve been saying, “this will be finished by the end of the year.” LOL I clearly overestimate myself. So I won’t make any bold statements like that this year, I’ll just cross my fingers and hope for the best and keep on writing.

To everyone who’s read my fics, shown some love, or just helped bounce ideas around with me... thank you endlessly! Happy New Year and I’m very excited to see what 2022 brings for us :)

[marimopeace]

there's a limit on how much you can be an isekai intellectual...

a bunch of analyses have been popping up before me all day so i wanted to throw my hat into the ring. all love to ppl who are exercising their creative minds + ppl like geoff here who just talk about these things because of fan interest but i feel like there reaches a point where exploring the "types" of isekai is pointless? i've seen ppl list out the different types of villainess revenge isekai or fantasy mmorpg isekai but eh why fit them all into separate boxes like that?

i think it's easier to think of isekai as a "type" (genre) of itself with only two categories: 1) a focus on isekai (lit. another world) 2) tensei (lit. to be reborn). this allows for a variety of applications and thus tropes that ppl see so many trends of!

with isekai - in another world

you see everything from:

pure fantasy (inuyasha, digimon wait maybe not the best example but in my childhood mind i count digimon as pure fantasy, fushigi yugi)

mmorpg inspired fantasy/adventure (.hack//legend of twilight, sao ugh, log horizon, overlord (LOVE OVERLORD!)

otome game-esque worlds >>> this is where it gets complicated with "villainess routes" since i admit there are multiple villainess tropes but this is why it's nice to not think of this as a "sub-type/genre" bc it frees you from those complications! (the saint's magic power is omnipotent, the white cat's revenge as plotted from the dragon king's lap soso cute!, the savior's book cafe in another world, i'm a villainous daughter so i'm going to keep the last boss wait i can't remember if she's reborn in this one lmaooo see this is why rules make everything hard)

with tensei storylines - being reincarnated/reborn in another world as *insert character/role*

you see...

the same tropes!!

pure fantasy (a returner's magic should be special, reminiscence adonis, the lady and the beast, light and shadow, i can't think of a manga off the top of my head for this ah)

mmorpg inspired fantasy/adventure (so i'm a spider so what i stan kumoko so hard, her majesty's swarm, can't name another off the top of my head ah i hate lists shorter than two things...)

self-insert based games/novels (fiance's observation log of a self-proclaimed villainess, who made me a princess, death is the only ending for the villainess, the villainess wants to marry a commoner, honestly games vs novels are different applications but i'm not in the headspace to try to remember a bunch of both lol)

*insert line break to give random ppl a break from scrolling but tl; dr just enjoy things for what they are no need to micro analyze*

similar variations occur in both genres (if ppl want to be super technical i guess i'm arguing that isekai itself is a massive genre that has the "another world" subgenre and "reincarnation" subgenre tl; dr) so i think it's honestly a huge pain to try to separate all these trends into so many different types of stories. for me personally it's easier to not get overwhelmed by this gigantic umbrella of "isekai" that spans light novels, manhwa, manga, and mobile games by just stripping each story down into its trademark tropes (aka character archetypes, story structures) and slapping "oh this is a person going to a world that's not ours" and "this person gets reborn as blank in another world". none of this "omg this power fantasy is such a this kind of isekai moment" or "there are 14 different types of villainess revenge stories and this series fits into this" bc AH labels! limitations! circle-jerks via ppl trying to compartmentalize everything and sound smart for leaving a comment on story analysis instead of ooh-ahhing over a character's face! dividing things into light novel manga vs manga vs korean manhwa ft. female characters!

the last bit is mainly why i feel frustrated by ppl's insistence to group everything?

the video linked at the beginning of the post (honestly good video essay, i enjoyed it, i just kept thinking in my head the whole time "marimo these are tropes do not take the genre talk literally") has a baby comment thread talking about "korean isekai manhwas" as a genre featuring nothing but reincarnated villainess' and i can't.

like i cannot acknowledge that as a genre of any sort. the energy i felt reading through some of those insights takes me back to 2012 when all yt americans discovered k-pop and deemed all korean music k-pop from then on! (ppl still do this now, yes you are seen and don't talk to me pls i don't like you. k-pop is korean pop music and nothing less and nothing more. take a few seconds and try to parse apart aspects of korean culture instead of slamming everything into a monolithic label that has the letter k and a hyphen.) it feels so odd to see a bunch of young ppl on ig and tiktok acknowledge korean media that happens to be in the form of a webtoon as "oh stories all about young girls becoming villains in stories they made/played" bc it feels so reductive u.u

(positionality disclaimer that i'm praying isn't actually necessary: i am a 3rd-generation korean of japanese descent do not fite me i am exhausted irl of ppl asking for validation/verification bc massive shove off.)

breaking news! korean manhwa...is just as multifaceted as japanese manga...bc how can comics as an art-form not have multiple genres...huh such a shocker?!?! same likely applies to media in other parts of the world like chinese manhwa and french comics--not my place to explain either of those i just know those industries exist bc of wakfu and donghua shows by Tencent.

at the end of the day it's not like analyzing any kind of isekai is wrong--absolutely not!! i think it can be super fun to think about how isekai elements complicate a story (MCs trying to go back home, ppl from the og world, reincarnation plot-twists) or maybe even bash a series for including some kind of other world element when they could have just written a super fun fantasy.

insert marimo's brief ramble that hey you can get sick of truck-kun's hitting disillusioned guys who happen to be super duper smart or girls who happen to be master chefs/craftsmen but transporting a fully-grown being into a fantasy setting is the ultimate cheat code for making mundane modern technology seem cool and overpowered, and being reincarnated as a fully grown person in a world with a pre-made story/game set-up completely bypasses the need for an author to slowly flesh out world-building in a natural progression so isekai is actually a really smart writing tool it's just that there are some series where the author didn't use it well at all and it's cheesy or clearly isekai was misused as a vehicle for character/story development and it was pointless *DEEP BREATH OUT*

in this essay i will argue...lol i am such a culture studies major!! if i were an english major i would be talking all about writing but here i am having a side-tangent about world-building via someone being reborn wow i love this for me (don't get me started on when an author has someone reincarnate as a baby and the story is mostly them having warm fluffy moments with their family--typically father figures--and getting lots of powers i could and would and probably will rant about east asian toxicity)

but anyway am i crazy????? like yes for being passionate about the technical use of a word like genre (i am a scorpio rising let me be fussy pls) but i don't think it's a lot to ask for ppl to not unironically see "villainess revenge isekai" as the definition of korean manhwa.

idk as someone who resonates with why japanese isekai is so popular domestically + why a lot of korean manhwa feat. the same tropes (it's not for great reasons lads it's actually depressing tbh) i'm just starting to feel kind of pained by the generalization and need to separate "cute japanese girl in an otome game"/"japanese boy finds a harem in another world" from "korean girl dies and comes back as a villainess" bc they are just! applications to the same story device!!

recommendations for any who makes it this far down below <3

// also gladly recommend any of the examples i've listed in the above rant as i've read/watched all of them and adore them v much! //

save me princess

super refreshing fantasy manhwa ft. a princess and her ex-boyfriend having to save the world!

the beginning after the end

an AMERICAN web novel turned into a comic (but see it being not korean/japanese doesn't really matter when you just consider isekai as a genre...isn't it nice to not overthink it?) ft. a super-powerful wizard king reincarnated into another world and starting from scratch--gives mushoku tensei vibes but huge twists!

the reason why raeliana ended up at the duke's mansion

love love LOVE this story--read the title and you'll learn how this girl reincarnated as the character raeliana in a book gets married to a duke!

trash of the count's family

such a good novel!! a guy gets reborn as a lazy oaf and he takes the hero of the story under his wing...plot twists come up later on!

this time i will definitely be happy!

v good and refreshing for a shorter series! she's been reborn 3 times and remembers every time the hero's stabbed her in the back, and now she just wants to break up with him!

silver diamond

older manga but v good adventure w intrigue! a boy who loves plants get sucked into a desert world with demonic lizards and a mysterious bodyguard by his side. shonen-ai not BL but wonderful vibes nonetheless + great side characters!

the princess imprints a traitor

adore everything in this from the world (not in that way this society makes me so angry) to the machinations at play and the dynamic between the fl and ml

[remnantoforario]

Remnant’s Top Ten Anime of 2020

2020 Was certainly a ride wasn’t it? To those that managed to make to make it through in one piece, or any piece, good job. Hopefully 2021 is better to us all. 

Despite the world mostly being on fire, I’d hazard to say that a lot of good shows came out in 2020 (despite a number of them being delayed to either later in the year or this year altogether). I meant to release this list much earlier, but I kept changing it around. 

Anyway, here are the ones I thought were the best. 

Honorable Mentions:

Dorohedoro

Synopsis: The plot centers on a man named Caiman and his search for his real identity after a transformation by a sorcerer left him with a reptile's head and no memory of his former life. 

Along with his friend Nikaido, he violently assaults sorcerers in the Hole, with the aim of taking their heads into his mouth, where a strange face will appear and confirm whether the sorcerer he has bitten onto was the one responsible for his transformation or not.

As the residents of the Hole, the En family and the Cross-Eyes gang, along with many others, collide with one another, the mystery of Caiman's identity begins to unravel, reigniting ancient grudges and threatening to forever change both the Hole and the sorcerers' world.

Thoughts: This is the only Netflix anime I watched this year (I missed out on Great Pretender before the year ended), and I can honestly say I had fun with this one. It’s animation was good, the story was engaging enough, and the characters were all unique (Noi best girl). The one problem I would say with the show is that it can come off as unfocused at times, meandering from one plaot point to another with no real connective tissue. 

Still a fun series though. 

ID: Invaded

Synopsis: The anime follows the investigations of Narihisago, a renowned detective now in prison, who is tasked with diving into the id wells of various serial killers. 

Two years prior to the current events, Narihisago's daughter Muku was brutally murdered by a serial killer, leading Narihisago's wife to commit suicide. These deaths prompted him to hunt down and murder the killer, earning him his prison sentence. He is still depressed and haunted by his wife and daughter's deaths, but also uses this as motivation to take his work seriously and help stop serial killers. 

Thoughts: One of a handful of original series that came out this year. This show gave me heavy Inception/Minority Report vibes from both its premise and presentation. It wobbles under the weight of its own concepts towards the end, but it still a fun ride nonetheless. 

Gleipnir 

Synopsis: The story centers on Shuichi Kagaya, a high school student with an unusual secret. He has the ability to transform into a monster resembling a giant dog mascot costume with a zipper down his back and a large cartoonish smile. After rescuing a strange girl, Claire Aoki, from a warehouse fire, they join each other to search for Claire's older sister, who is assumed to be responsible for the death of their parents.

Thoughts: When the initial rollout for this show began I admit I wasn’t really a fan. I thought it was just going to be a hyper violent, fanservice show. Now in some ways it is that, but if you really look Gleipnir tells a very interesting tale of identity and what it truly means to have a wish granted. The music was pretty good as well, and that’s really something from me as a person who doesn’t pay attention to soundtracks. 

Hope this show gets a season 2, but if not I’ll more than likely start the manga. 

Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina

Synopsis:  Fascinated by the stories of Niké, a witch who traveled around the world, Elaina aspires to take the same course. Her determination of studying books and magic leads to her becoming the youngest apprentice witch to pass the sorcery exam. 

However, when Elaina attempts to receive training in order to become a full-fledged witch, she is rejected due to her extraordinary talents until she finds Fran, the "Stardust Witch," whom accepts her. After earning her title, the "Ashen Witch," Elaina begins her exploration around the world, visiting and facing all kinds of people and places.

Thoughts: As a fan of the Light Novels, I was pretty excited when it was announced it was getting an anime. For the most part it didn’t disappoint. Though it skipped most of the stories in the novels, the show still told a few good stories that made for some amazingly animated tv. 

Talentless Nana

Synposis: In the near future, mysterious monsters known as the "Enemies of Humanity" begin to appear, and with it so do children with supernatural powers called the "Talented". To prepare them for the upcoming battle against these Enemies, all the Talented are sent to a school located on a deserted island, where they have all their daily needs provided for until they graduate and communication with the outside world is forbidden. 

One day, a new student named Nana Hiiragi arrives at the school. Her friendly and cheerful personality lets her quickly make friends with the class. However, with Nana comes a whole litany of mysterious occurrences on the island. 

Thoughts: I can’t say too much about Nana without spoiling it’s first episode twist, but I will say that its a pretty interesting show with a fairly compelling game of cat and mouse being played. 

Now on the the actual list:

10. The Misfit of Demon King Academy 

Synopsis: After 2,000 years of countless wars and strife, the demon king Anos Voldigoad made a deal with the human hero, Kanon, to sacrifice his own life to ensure peace could flourish. Reincarnating 2,000 years later, Anos finds that royal demons now harshly rule over lower class hybrid demons in a society that values Anos's pureblood descendants over the demons who interbred with other species, such as humans and spirits. 

Finding that magic as a whole has begun to decline and his descendants weaker as a result of the peace he created, Anos, now technically a hybrid himself, decides to reclaim his former title of Demon King, but first, he must graduate from the Demon King Academy where he is labeled a total misfit.

Thoughts: Originally I was going to put Nana in this spot, but its lack of a real ending pushed it out of the list. If only slightly. Misft at Demon Academy is just a fun ride from start to finish. There’s always something about shows with ridiculous OP protagonists (Overlord, One Punch Man, etc.) that gets the blood pumping. 

It’s like junk food. Great for the right moment, but not needed all the time. 

9. Ikebukuro West Gate Park

Synopsis:  A charismatic troubleshooter tries to keep the peace between warring factions while protecting his loved ones in Ikebukuro West Gate Park.

Thoughts: I honestly had no idea what to make of this show when I first saw the synopsis, but I gave it a try on a whim. I’m glad I did because this was easily the dark horse of the Fall season. I really liked the mostly self contained story format the series had, and there were a few very good episodes here. Check it out. 

8.  My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!

Synopsis: Catarina Claes, the young daughter of a noble family, one day bumps her head and regains memories of her past life as an otaku. It is then that she realizes she has been reborn into the world of the otome game Fortune Lover, reincarnated as the game's villainess who, regardless of what route the player took in the original game, is doomed to be either killed or exiled. 

In order to avoid these routes that lead to doom, Catarina begins taking countermeasures to try and avoid things going the same way as the game. This, however, ends up having unexpected consequences on her relations with the other characters of the game's world.

Thoughts: Normally I’m not a fan of Reverse/Otome harem series, but somehow Bakarina managed to pull me in, to a good result. This show was easily one of the best comedies I watched this year with a good cast and a likable protagonist. 

7.  Deca-Dence 

Synopsis: In the fortress city of Deca-dence, the lowly Tanker girl, Natsume, dreams of becoming a Gear warrior following her father's death during a Gadoll attack. She is assigned to a maintenance team led by Kaburagi whom she discovers is more than he appears. Kaburagi has a secret role in eliminating "bugs", humans who threaten Solid Quake's operations. 

When Kaburagi discovers that Natsume is listed as dead in the company database, he decides to keep her under observation and offers to train her to fight.

Thoughts: Giant monsters and giant robots. What more do you need? Watch it. 

6. A Certain Scientific Railgun T

Synposis: The Daihasei Festival has begun, and that of course means that Tokiwadai Middle School—a prestigious all-girls' middle school—is competing too. Despite the participation of the "Ace of Tokiwadai," Mikoto Misaka, the other students who are participating are still putting their utmost effort into winning, no matter how impossible the feat may seem against her might. However, not all is fun and games. Due to the the festival, Academy City opens to the outside world, and various factions have begun plotting ways to infiltrate the city. Misaka appears to be on their radar, and as the festival proceeds, people lurking from the shadows begin to emerge...

Thoughts: Not really much to say here. It’s the third season of Railgun, but good thing here is that each season of Railgun is better than the last. Truly the best of the To Aru universe. 

5. BOFURI: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense.

Synposis: Urged on by her friend, Kaede Honjō begins playing the VRMMORPG NewWorld Online under the name Maple. Not wanting to get hurt, Maple opts to be a shield user with maxed out defense stats, and continues putting every status point she earns in the game into increasing only her defense level. 

As a result, she is left with slow foot speed and no magic, but her high defense allows her to endure most hits without taking any damage. This, along with her basic-level creative thinking, allows for her to make unexpected accomplishments in the game, its quests and events. By doing this, she ends up earning all kinds of equally unexpected skills and becomes one of the strongest players in the game. Thoughts: Bofuri is another OP power fantasy like Demon King Academy, but with the twist of being fused with CGDCT. The cast is extremely likable (especially Maple) and when Silver Link wants to they can make the battles REALLY dynamic. A nice comfortable watch, which was sorely needed in 2020. 

4. Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle

Synposis: The story follows Princess Syalis, a young princess who was kidnapped by the demon king, and her quest to sleep well while imprisoned.

Thoughts: A simple premise for a not so simple story. Sleepy Princess for me was easily the best comedy of the year, with plenty of heart and action thrown in as well. I was wary of the series at first, thinking that the premise wouldnt be entertaining for more than a few episodes, but boy was I wrong. Each episode was funnier than the last and Doga Kobo pulled out all the stops to make it look as gorgeous as possible.  

3. Jujutsu Kaisen

Synopsis: Idly indulging in baseless paranormal activities with the Occult Club, high schooler Yuuji Itadori spends his days at either the clubroom or the hospital, where he visits his bedridden grandfather. However, this leisurely lifestyle soon takes a turn for the strange when he unknowingly encounters a cursed item. Triggering a chain of supernatural occurrences, Yuuji finds himself suddenly thrust into the world of Curses—dreadful beings formed from human malice and negativity—after swallowing the said item, revealed to be a finger belonging to the demon Sukuna Ryoumen, the "King of Curses." Yuuji experiences first-hand the threat these Curses pose to society as he discovers his own newfound powers. Introduced to the Tokyo Metropolitan Jujutsu Technical High School, he begins to walk down a path from which he cannot return—the path of a Jujutsu sorcerer.

Thoughts: Originally I wasn’t going to put this on the list, because the season doesnt conclude this year, but I decided to make an exception since the show started so strong. Many people were hyping this up as the next big shonen, and they were right. Mappa really went balls to the wall with this show and I’m pretty hype for what happens this cour. 

2. Akudama Drive

Synopsis: The bustling metropolis of Kansai, where cybernetic screens litter the neon landscape, may seem like a technological utopia at first glance. But in the dark alleys around the brightly-lit buildings, an unforgiving criminal underbelly still exists in the form of fugitives known as "Akudama." No stranger to these individuals, Kansai police begin the countdown to the public execution of an infamous Akudama "Cutthroat," guilty of killing 999 people. However, a mysterious message is sent to several elite Akudama, enlisting them to free Cutthroat for a substantial amount of money. An invisible hand seeks to gather these dangerous personas in one place, ensuring that the execution is well underway to becoming a full-blown bloodbath.  

Thoughts: Want to know what it would be like if Quentin Tarantino made an anime? Well here you go. An adrenaline filled rollercoaster ride from start to finish with a crazy cast of characters and even crazier visuals. There’s even a bit of social commentary in there if you squint. 

1. Oregairu Climax

Synopsis: Resolved to become a more independent person, Yukino Yukinoshita decides to smoothen things out with her parents, and the first step toward achieving that goal is to prove herself. As graduation draws closer for the third-year students, Iroha Isshiki—the president of the student council—requests a graduation prom in collaboration with the Volunteer Service Club. Yukino accepts this request of her own volition, hoping to use it as a chance to demonstrate her self-reliance, but what lies ahead of her may prove to be a hard hurdle to cross.

At the same time, a chance for the Volunteer Service Club members to better understand each other presents itself. And thus, Hachiman Hikigaya's hectic and bittersweet high school life begins to draw to a close.

Thoughts: The gif says it all really. I could just leave that there and end this list on a somewhat high note, but I’ll explain it. 

Now objectively, there were better shows than this one (off the top of my head JJK comes to mind) but when you combine all three seasons there is no contest in my mind that Oregairu had one of the most perfect endings to a series I have ever seen. 

It was an ending 7 years in the making. The first season in 2013 was good, the second season two years later was even better, but Climax was Oregairu at is absolute best and that goes beyond the story and characters. A lot of praise also has to go to Studio feel., who took over animation duties from Brain’s Base in season 2. While BB’s animation was much more accurate to the LN, feel’s more realistic designs fit the more mature direction the story was starting to go, giving the anime some of its best moments. 

Watching Hachiman, Yukino, and Yui grow and change from naive teenagers to somewhat understood young adults was amazing and sometimes heartbreaking to watch. Hachiman’s search to find something “genuine”, Yukino’s desire to be independent, and Yui struggling with her feelings of love and friendship all clash and compliment in very interesting ways that makes these three characters even more relatable than they were before. 

Lots of long running series don’t stick to landing, but in my eyes Oregairu stuck it perfectly. That’s why its my favorite anime of 2020.

Here’s to 2021. 

[shadowfae]

1- Not much tbh, just what you've posted, and 2- To be honest I quite like your long answers. It can definitely wait though, you should get some sleep.

Is your warpriest link a constant thing? Does it ever fade into the background? I'm contemplating forming a second link, something happier than my copinglink, and I'm not sure how to tell when to tell when the line of a link vs a persona is crossed when not worn out of necessity.

And the original ask so I have it on hand. I did take a look at your original context, and if you're cool with it, I'll edit this post with a link for those who may find this is a useful answer and need that on hand. Otherwise, it'll stay a mystery.

But yes, it seems like my Sabe experiences would be a useful thing to talk about here. And in order to do that, I need to go over four things: who and what Sabe is, why he exists the way that he does, what that does for me, and lastly what I think he is in terms of terminology and why.

To start, here is his toyhou.se profile, if you want to read more about his actual story and thoughts and whatnot. But I doubt you'll have the necessary context for that, so let me go into it. RuneScape (RS) is one of the oldest MMORPGs in existence. WoW might be older but I doubt it. Basically it's a medieval magic fantasy that's very long running and you the player end up the World Guardian, aka the guy that stops the gods (who are very powerful folks who just don't die of natural causes and typically stand for some philosophy) from blowing the world up because Guthix, the dead god of balance, asked you to. Well, he voluntold you. And that makes you a major chess piece, Elder Gods get involved, it's a big mess.

But before all that happened, back in 2006 when I was introduced to the game and very shitty at it, well. I liked the lore insofar that I've always liked the lore, it was interesting and I liked thinking about it. I didn't have membership and I sucked at playing so I just read the wiki and the God Letters over and over and sometimes the Postbag from the Hedge. Alongside my two friends, we played at being children of the then-triad of main gods: Saradomin, Guthix, and Zamorak.

I liked Zamorak best, but I didn't think his ideas would be the best for society as a whole, so I ended up playing child of Guthix. Eventually we grew up and grew apart but every couple of years I'd go back to RuneScape, read the lore, settle on what choices I'd make if I could play, and think about being the player character. In 2010 I discovered a fic - dawn by khayr, it's on Ao3 and dA - about Iban, son of Zamorak, right around when I was reading Percy Jackson. Cue him showing up as a soulbond and an older brother figure and guiding me right up until the end of sixth grade. Iban got me through the ruthless bullying that would later set the stage for all my major suicidal-ideation and self-hatred for the entirety of high school: even then, I was more stable than I might've been otherwise, because he interfered.

Saradomin stands for strength through order. Procedures and law and diplomacy and war strategy. He was originally kind of a ripoff of the Christian god, but he's grown to be more of an order-over-peace character and is quite well-written. Guthix stands for strength through balance, and has been all over the board in terms of what he's done and will do. He's kind of a dick, actually, but his heart's in the right place.

Zamorak, as you've heard, is strength through chaos and personal strife. It's no "the strong over the weak" or "the strong take care of the weak", it's flat-out "everyone is strong, and just need the right circumstances to tap into it to be the best they can possibly be". Now, his philosophy is kind of more for warriors and scholars, but if you tilt your head, it applies to everyone. Chronically ill folks will find their chaos in fighting to get up every day and maintain a life. Folks in traumatizing, abusive situations find that chaos in their very survival. Scholars challenge themselves and their fellows and their predecessors trying to find the answers they so need. Nobody in lockstep, no such thing as "we've always done it this way."

A lot of human Zamorakians and Saradominist propaganda says that Zamorak is simply absolute evil: and to be fair, when most of that was written, he kinda was because he was based loosely on the Christian devil. Later writing says that they're typically mistaken on that. Zamorak isn't evil. The very first thing he did upon becoming a god was fulfill a promise and lead a slave rebeliion. (The Avernic uprising, if anyone's curious.) He stands for the downtrodden and says "You are never going to get your dignity by going through the motions and trying to peacefully show you're worth respect. Burn some shit down and prove that you won't stand for this bullshit."

Zamorak in a Saradominist's eyes is someone whose banner you wear when you want to be a crazy murderer. Zamorak in a Zamorakian's eyes is the singing voice who murmurs "Get up, this isn't enough to kill you, you can still do this," when transphobic laws get passed or you hear a slur thrown your way on the street.

And as someone who grew up queer and nonhuman, yeah, that resonates, and the older I get the more I think "Guthixian philosophy is best for a society at large, but Zamorakianism for individuals is good." Because Zamorakianism can't really apply on a theocratic level. It really doesn't. It turns into American bootstrap culture and no social services and all that shitty stuff.

The funny thing is that Zamorak himself has no issues helping out if he thinks you need it. (If he didn't, he wouldn't be cool with asking for help, or giving it when he's asked. Which he does do repeatedly so. The man has more kindness in him than people want to admit.) What I do find fascinating is what he thinks of the actions of some of his longtime subordinates, who clearly support him, but I don't think support his actual philosophy. Because if you ask me, he'd side with the downtrodden humans of Meiyerditch, not the vampire lords that treat them like cattle. He's proven that he likes humans, and doesn't see them as unworthy. I do wonder if Jagex will show us what he might do about that.

Either way. Ahem. Over the course of a decade and a half, I keep going back to RuneScape, refining my philosophy and side, thinking again what I would do playing the game proper. About... I want to say five years ago, Jagex opened up the Sixth Age and I finally noticed, and they rewrote every god's philosophy because they wanted every single one to be actually playable. Not just "hurr durr evil" but actually have a logical line of thought. They probably didn't have pop culture paganism in mind, but the gods of RS are incredibly well-suited to it.

Well, I found that out, and immediately went through every god's philosophy, and reasoned my way through it. What does a worshipper of this god look like? What sort of life would they lead? If i apply this to me, what does that look like from that perspective? Do I understand this? Is it comfortable to exist in?

And as it turns out, I understand Zamorak the most, followed a close second by Armadyl, which was quite surprising. Zaros remains incomprehensible and I don't trust like that. (That's another story.) So I thought about it more, and it stuck even when I wandered off to different fandoms and interests. But what happened was that I ended up internalizing it, unknowingly and without meaning to.

It meant that when, two years later, I ended up in a horrific and traumatizing situation, the anchor I hit that held me together was a mixture of being a Devil - I am a fucking God you will obey me and recognize my power - and Zamorak's core philosophy: this cannot kill me, this cannot stop me, this is pure fucking hell and I am going to laugh in the face of death because people are forged in hellfire and I will walk away knowing what I'm made of.

And I was right. Honestly, out of everyone who was there with me, I think I'm the only one that was that deeply entrenched and walked out without trauma. I do not believe I could have done that had I not internalized Zamorak's philosophy. (That isn't to say if the others had that philosophy they wouldn't be traumatized, because there were absolutely other factors I wouldn't know about and some that I do and didn't do them any favours; but I am saying that it saved my ass and without it, I might not have been okay.)

I walked out of that with zero regrets. Zero. Even now, I don't regret a thing. Because it doesn't matter what happened or how much I was lied to or if he deserved my kindness. I know what I perceived to be happening, and I know how I reacted, and when the pieces were down I was stronger than steel, gave kindness without considering the cost, and I walked away unscathed.

How many people can say they've looked death in the eye and laughed? More than there should be, not too many that knowing what I'm capable of when put into pure chaos isn't somehow impressive. Because it is. And Zamorak's words proved themselves, or rather, I proved him entirely correct.

And when I last went back to RuneScape, and thought about it with enough time to put it all into hindsight, well. Aw, shit, he was right. Then vaguely around that time I went back and read Dawn, which was unfinished, tracked down the author and demanded to know how it fucking ended. (She told me and we're still friends like three years later. xD) Then I went back and found my old OCs, and decided fuck it, I'm making my own World Guardian.

So first thing I did was log in and jump over to the Makeover Mage and make myself into a boy. Kept the plateskirt though, I wanted to have the RS equivalent of a limp wrist to prove I'm Very Queer. Then I went about remaking my character. I wanted to make a self-insert, I was old enough to know it wasn't cringey, it was just fun, but I didn't want to use my default avatar with the black hair over one eye and the Chaorruption. I wanted to make a new self-insert based in nothing I was already using.

So I made the most beautiful man I could! Long, dark brown hair, pretty semi-dark skin, looked Kharidian, and then I said fuck it and made him Zamorak's youngest son. Originally, he was adopted when he was young by Iban and Clivet, and suffered serious imposter syndrome when being WG meant he'd never get demigod powers. But as I grew more confident in myself, he ended up getting powers? And then eventually I rewrote his backstory, and then wrote about his mother, and her relationship with Zamorak, and then he had friends like Blaire and Icthlarin (who was also my furry awakening, rip me).

Then with the most recently questline I've been getting a bit more into RS magical theory, and I've been mulling it over lots, and Seanan McGuire's Middlegame definitely helped; and I figured out how I wanted him to handle being World Guardian: it didn't make sense for him to be openly Zamorak's son, the other gods would just target his family to manipulate him. So I had him play neutral openly and Zamorakian to his friends, effectively living a double life.

Then he just looked up one day and said "Oh, by the way, my father won't acknowledge me to keep me safe but I don't know that so we have a very unsteady relationship because I don't know if he loves me", and then Children of Mah came out, and he was all "Oh and I think I just got disowned (I didn't, Zamorak was protecting me, but I don't know that) so my relationship with Zamorak is Fucking Shitty" and he was stuck that way until I figured out how to save their relationship.

It culminated in Sabe not knowing how his Mahjarrat powers worked and guessing, and hating himself for being half-and-half, and missing everything about being a Mahjarrat, and literally you couldn't have gotten more obvious in order to tell me I was having Fucking Issues coming to terms with the fact I didn't have any understanding or knowledge of my own heritage, but whatever, eventually I noticed that.

And as I've been working to understand myself and my heritage, so too has Sabe been doing that with his Mahjarrat heritage. But for the longest time, no matter how I put him and Zamorak in the same room in a scene to try and get them to talk it out, it wasn't working. Something wasn't right. Sabe resented being World Guardian, hated having to betray his family, didn't know if he was wanted, and hated himself for having to kill Mah, the mother of his species.

Not that long ago, a few months actually, he informed me (which is my shorthand for 'I suddenly figured out this happened, and it genuinely feels like remembering that one fucking word you have on the tip of your tongue, I always knew and just forgot for a while') that no, he'd been ripped in two by a hope devourer, brought to his father's stronghold, and Zamorak split his magic between mortal and divine in order to get around his godproofing and heal him. Zamorak's intense worry for his youngest son was what caused Sabe to break down and tell him honestly what was going on and how he was feeling, which caused Zamorak to do the same, and they finally, finally made up.

A week later, I noticed the connection between Sabe's Mahjarrat issues and my Irish issues, and started to wonder if he was a linktype.

I mean... he's a self-insert. He makes the choices I would, the me in the here and now, that I think are best. He's not a person I was and still know myself to be, he's not someone I grow into, he's not living his life beside me like a shadow. He's me, choosing the things I do, because I say so. But he's also me in the things he reflects, the things he struggles with, and things I had zero fucking conscious input on.

Sabe is the person I am when a crisis hits and I have to deal with the chaos. Sabe is the person I am when I need to lead. Sabe is the person I am when I am desperate to be known and loved by those I consider family. Sabe is the person I am when I want to be sure in where I came from, where I will return to, and the things that I will always be. Sabe is a man of darkness who knows the light as an acquaintance and nothing more, who is cruel and careless and kind.

Sabe is a warpriest of Zamorakian philosophy, because it took me twenty fucking years to put into words how I see the world, and now that I know, I will argue them to death and use them to help others. Drakath may have wanted a messiah to share the hivemind with others. Sabe is a warpriest, spreading the word and calling home the broken and the damned. He is the Last Rider, not the last of the Ilujanka but the one who keeps riding towards the chaos and never falls, no matter what.

Some of who Sabe is I have conscious input on. A whole lot of him was unintentional and perfectly reflects me.

So when it comes to terminology... I don't know what he is. A self-insert, yes. A linktype, maybe. A kintype, also maybe. Sabe doesn't feel like my past linktypes, because Sabe isn't always catharsis and comfort. Until he made up with his dad, Sabe was brutal and hurt a lot and constantly yearning for his foundation and slowly going mad. It wasn't fun. I just refused to do anything but see the story through. I was going to get it right. I wanted to see it to the end. I wanted to be the Last Rider, even though I didn't phrase it that way.

But to answer your actual question, of what he feels like when I'm not actively being him out of necessity, desire, and active thought. If it fades into the background.

And like... it can? Sabe as he is, recognized for what and who he is, is kind of a new thing. Sabe as a concept is very old, but Sabe as what he is right now is new, and confusing, and honestly I'm still trying to figure out what to make of it.

Like, seriously. Sabe is Zamorak's son. Am I Zamorak's son? Is he keeping an eye on me as I am? Would he be proud of me? Would he offer his approval of my progress? Does that make me, in some way, the World Guardian?

I have not a clue, buddy. Not a goddamn clue.

So what it means is that I've been paying attention, really. I don't just become strong in times of crisis. I've been trying to do better. Be better. Learn, and listen, and rethink myself. Break out of lockstep, of doing things the way I've always done them. Try to always do better than I did, build habits I like, stop waiting for things to change and just do it. Become the chaos, instead of waiting for it to hit me.

It means I need to live up to what Guthix told Sabe to do. It means being gentler, being kinder, not burning bridges when I'm not sure. It means keeping an eye out for any sign Zamorak's listening, in case I am his son, in case I really have to decide what I'm gonna do about being the son of chaos incarnate.

But other than the questioning, what it feels like is just... what I was already dealing with, just a little more at arm's length and easier to deal with. Once I recognize that his issues are reflective of mine, if I solve his, I have a pretty good idea of how to solve mine. Some of it won't work exactly right - Zamorak will always forgive him for not being the son he expected he might have had, my own parents may not, yay I'm queer and pagan - but it's a good rule of thumb.

It's also just comforting to know that when in doubt, nothing can kill me, because I simply refuse to die. I am World Guardian, I am a demigod of chaos incarnate, all the hellfire in the world can do nothing but strengthen me. And if I present those to myself as unshakeable beliefs, because for Sabe they are, then I'll be okay. It probably couldn't stop most disasters or tragedies, but I got hit by a car, broke five bones, and walked away with a record recovery time, so I mean... I can't prove that I can't die by some accident or tragedy, but you also can't prove that I can. (Trying to do so usually falls under what we call 'murder', and I personally believe I can't be murdered. Only assassinated.)

But really, I think the worst that could possibly happen with a new linktype is that you learn what not to do. It's new, it's scary, it's chaotic, and from where I'm standing, that's the best way to learn.

[dharmadischarge]

A delusional blog I wrote about my favorite piece of media. cringe...core....

their is no way for me to exaggerate the importance that hunter x hunter has had on my life. it quite possibly the greatest piece of writing in any language after the gospels and is only rivaled by Jim Dodge's book stone junction for second place. i honestly am at a loss of words in trying to explain yoshihiro togashi masterpiece. it's wonderland with rules. it's nostalgia fighting it's way out of the grave. and above all it is a child's adventure story that will haunt you for the rest of your life. the premise is simple gon wants to meet his father and becoming a licensed hunter is the most immediate way of doing so. but the trials and tribulations of a life that involves "giving up what you have so can get what you want." is more complicated then the little boy can understand. he befriends a motley crew of associates that includes killua, the heir to a clan of assassins who is looking for a way to salvage his soul from the cruelty instilled in him for his survival in the family business.  kurapika a young man who want to avenge his people and collect the eyes cut out of there faces so that one day he may finally have peace. and leorio a man who wants to be a doctor so he can help those without the means to get what they need to survive. the series runs the gambit from film noir crime stories to a mmorpg with stakes so high that the children dance with death surrounded by the embers of hell. and learn that innocence is as dangerous in equal proportion to how vulnerable it makes you. a boy looking for his father, fighting chimera monsters and trying to figure out why all his friends are serial killers.

in one of my favorite exchanges between gon and nobunaga. gon says "why don't you save some of those tears for all the people you kill!" and nobunaga amazed by the reckless abandon of the youth decides the child will now be surrogate brother, a replacement for his dead comrade whose tears were claimed by gons wrath when shed for his dead friend. and in another moment much later gon (spoiler alert!) finally meets his father and breaks down crying saying it was his fault that kait (there mutual friend) was turned into a girl the chimera like empire ants and there shockingly conflicted king. to which ging the boys father says "it was his fault (kait), he got cocky but you are weak and you can take responsibility for that." and that is the parable of the series: you can do whatever you can get away with and still live with yourself and they can do whatever you cant stop them from doing. when confronted by monsters both human and savage your ability to change the situations is all that matters. to quote captain jack "all that matters is what a man can do and what a man can't do." to the winners go the history books. to the victor the spoils no matter what or who they are. the power to influence realty is a primary theme and motif within the series. the inherently japanese idea that if you work hard enough you may be able to stop the monsters from stomping the life out of their chained victims that are dying in the bad way for no other reason then someone enjoys doing it. life is a arena and the cage is the primary weapon of our oppressors. hope is the enemy of Nirvana and bliss goes against the apparent will of the powers that be. savage and ruthless more then any thing hunter x hunter tells us to not wait for some feel time with a therapist to look for our inner child and consul him/her if only so that we can find peace and stop raging like a bull in a china shop at every living thing that wants the same thing as us...to not be food and to have somewhere to rest out heads in-between our conflict with oppressive social energies and the quiet ones who stalk us as prey waiting for a moment we slow down so they can accelerate so that they can drown and resuscitate us on repeat until there is nothing left but a corpse. don't fear the reaper but fear his messengers because they (unlike death) enjoy the process.

it's just a adventure story but so is everything that happens between birth and death. but before i leave you let me just say hunter x hunter has been adapted into an anime three times and while the one currently airing on toonami is the best the anime has the relationship to the manga that super-book has as a adaption of the bible (just saying) which is to say it is very good but you are much better of going with the source material. in closing hunter x hunter is a playground for psychopaths a place where people get erection from killing. a place where turtles grow strawberry on their backs to lure men into the fog so that they may eat them. its a world made of the stuff of dreams but sometimes that shit is dangerous and it is best to leave that shit alone and not fuck with it. it reminds us why maturity is finding quiet place to call home and trying to protect it. not because the world is hostel but because it is indifferent. but more then anything it reminds of lonely it is to be a true seeker to give up what you have so you can gain what you want. it teaches us to respect our prey even as we rely on people we cant trust. seek and you will find understand and you will be understood. for the hungry will hunt and the prey will fear the hunter.

[system-of-a-feather]

That ask game you rbed, how bout 3 lol

“3. Rant. Just do it.“ - The Other Anon

(tw; positive cursing, bloodborne images so moderate gore)

OKAY HERE WE GO. I GOT ANOTHER THING TO RANT ABOUT. It took me time to get the topic and info dumping / rambling urges for something that I was comfortable posting here. So anyways

Our system has a bit of a thing with gaming and between our system, we have a pretty wide taste that includes a lot of things other than MMORPGs and those multiplayer stuff (Battlefield and COD); so we have like everything from Stardew and Harvest Moon, to Souls-borne, to Management Simulators, to Stealth Games, to Casual Garden / Plant / Animal Sims to Visual Novels to RPGs to some Horror to Minecraft and all that.

Me, Ray, and another part we don’t talk about here really take an affinity to gaming. I typically prefer more story-driven, management games, and more casual farming games. Ray on prefers a lot more AAA action titles. You know those games you bank hours and hours into and BARELY finish the main story - yeah those, I can’t play those for the life of me XD

But anyways, I usually REALLY love me some Bugsnax (lowkey a slight obsession lately), Stardew Valley, Pokemon, Harvest Moon, Hakuoki, Amnesia: Memories (even though they have a problematic “DID character”, its a guilty nostalgic like), and all that but like....

My absolute favorite is probably Bloodborne. A lot of the other ones have a nostalgic pull and/or I REALLY like them, but I think at this point Bloodborne and similar games have become my genuine favorite genre even though it stands out because firstly, they tend to have legit music, secondly, they tend to have legit aesthetic, and thirdly, they are so frustrating and well managed in combat that it is so much fun to just analyze it all and try to figure out the best way to go about doing things.

So like, lets start with Bloodborne in this - because believe it or not the original intent of this rant was not it, but I really do have to establish this. 

Reason Bloodborne is Awesome, lets go

One, the story - if you can follow it - is really interesting and well scattered, but I very very much particularly love the theme / question / moral of “Would you rather return to a world blissfully unaware of all the horrors you have seen and learned and live innocently unaware” or “Live in the horrors and be aware of the rest of eternity but at least you know the truth” cause honest to god, if that aint a fucking mood I don’t know what is. 

Secondly, GOD do they have the aesthetic down on point. Theres another ask below this asking about my aesthetic, and part of that answer is just fucking Bloodborne now. Like at one point I went “Man I would look cool in Bloodborne aesthetic clothing and shit” and I guess I accidentally ended up with bloodborne armor in the inner world and at first I didn’t know how to revert back to whatever I was wearing (I don’t even remember at this point) and I was like “Uhhh” but HONESTLY I don’t want to change it? I have not found something that is such a solid aesthetic that I love that makes me feel cooler when I’m running around in the inner world so why drop it? And also lowkey now I want to actually adopt that into my IRL life if I ever get the time and money so..??? I mean I’ll go more into that on the aesthetics post but dude look

Are you really going to tell me that isn’t a solid dark aesthetic? And then the bosses are legit af?

And then the clothing and Lady Maria???

Okay and then say all of that is just average or not selling you. Okay okay thats fine.

Like there is also how absolutely frustrating, meticulous and well planned the game is yeah yeah we all know that its Souls-borne genre, but sure - give that number three as a reason.

But number four, oh god NUMBER FOUR. I don’t know how much this has been made apparent on our blog, but our system is VERY in love with music as an art. We were raised with musical instruments (both older siblings played instruments from elementary to highschool, we still continue into college), growing up we were exposed to a lot of instrumental music, and we developed an EXTREME reliance on music to deal with both our abusive family / trauma, to help regulate our own mind, emotions and all, and to also deal with how uncomfortable silence is for us. 

So music has been a HUGE developmental factor in our life and we REALLY love and appreciate it and its sometimes painful. But the composition of Bloodborne music - it is BEYOND words for me. I could probably write pages and pages of appreciation for how masterly crafted, perfect and well put together almost EVERY SINGLE piece of the game is and how - after years of listening to them on repeat - I can still find new aspects of it and a new technique or aspect I hadn’t noticed or thought much about to still adore.

I legitamently have screamed over how certain parts just click together perfectly. I can get so much positive overflowing joy and excitement from how well the parts interact and how perfectly dramatic the music flows and how active and physical the experience is that I feel the need to SCREAM internally and sometimes externally. 

I obsess over orchestral music and OSTS and film music and trailer music and video game music and all of that and I have to say with almost complete confidence that I’m pretty sure Bloodborne is - in my opinion - one of the best crafted orchestrated units.

Even from my own source, one that I love, have they only recently been able to produce a SINGLE track that echoes similarly in the intensity and amazement that I would consider it around par.

I will DIE internally everytime I hear it and sometimes I have actually had to turn it off because it was TOO overstimulating to listen to because of how much UGH it brings me. 

More than it is fun to play, Bloodborne is AMAZING to listen to and I can’t state that enough ugh XD

But anyways, before I go on THAT too much, I love Bloodborne. Joke is that as a fictive it is my “second source” even though it makes no sense. I have adopted it, I have claimed it. I love it and I will die for Bloodborne

So LATELY I’ve started a new game I just bought called Code: Vein and its apparently Anime Bloodborne or something like that and so far its really legit and while the music will never compare to Bloodborne - at least from what I’ve seen - I’ve REALLY been enjoying it and its music isn’t half bad itself

It also hilariously talks about “hearts” and loosing them and also memory issues and I’m dying cause they legitamently took Bloodborne’s Aesthetic, put anime on it, gave it a dark story with memories and indepth characters and served it on a platter for me?

And like dude I love games that comment on memory and emotions and stuff like that and I love the aesthetic and that I can kind of look like myself AND wear cool clothes like? 

Man I’m enjoying it and I’m realizing that Souls-borne is probably my favorite genre officially and I’m embracing it. Good game play, good aesthetics, good fighting, and good stories. I love it.

Anyways to finish this rant, here is the first photo I took of my avatar.

-Riku (Host)

[obikenobi91]

Do you Consent to Stormwind city Watch rp?

For awhile I’ve been debating on whether I would make this post or not. However after recent interactions, I needed to have some clarity for myself. If you are roleplaying in Moonguard or Wrymrest Accord, chances are you have ran into the guild known as The Stormwind City Watch. They are a millitary based guild, who rp as the Stormwind guard.  At first they don’t seem to bad, thats until you get to know them more. 

Do you consent to Stormwind City guard interaction 

For starters when they ask you for consent to interact with them, what they really are saying. “You have to abide to our rules, and how we roleplay from here on out.” A good while back when I was role playing with some friends, one of them was being held by blade point. So my character decided to defend them. With consent from the bad guy, me and another friend broke them. When City guard got involved. They kept asking me if consent to arrest. OOC I asked them why they wanted to arrest me. 

They kept trying to get me to consent  “Either accept arrest, or this situation didn’t happen.” So right when I decided to say “fine arrest me. Their response. “We don’t want to anymore.” When it comes to roleplay, everyone has their own taste in how they go about it. Yet when it comes to the Stormwind City guard, if you don’t do what they want, they just ignore your IC actions. This is what I call forced role play. Don’t worry I’ll touch up on that soon. 

Always know where interactions are happening

There has been one instance, when my friends and I where tracking a friend in westfall in a cave, and suddenly right behind me “Do you consent to Stormwind City Watch interaction?” We all told them no sense that was straight up metagaming. The person ironically that called them here got mad and left the event, because we wouldn’t allow them to just magically know where we are. This is as metagaming as it gets. Oh someone told you OOC that we are in this location. Yeah that's not how these things work. Now keep the word Metagaming close to ya, because in a bit I’m going to show you how hypocritical they can be. 

They bring realism into a MMORPG.

 Lets say you are riding on your horse, or you have your pet out as you are a hunter, now picture them just walking up to you saying “Do you have permits for that animal?” That’s right, even when you try to escape from real life burdens, the Stormwind City Watch will be sure to bring it into the game. Lets say you play a half orc human race. “You will need to go to the city hall for getting citizenship.” Roleplay isn’t so we can face what we are going thru in a day to day basis in the real world. We play world of warcraft to escape for awhile. The Stormwind City Watch is notorious for making sure realism is part of the experience.

They give you Ultimatums

Remember when I said the word “Consent.” Is what they take pride in, its honestly their Slogan. Now lets say you have broken the rules to many times IC. They will now want to execute your character. Now now, isn’t that something that should be left up the person playing the character???? Well with the Stormwind City Guard will give you two options, either accept death, or be exiled from the Stormwind completly. Doesn’t this all seem a bit forced, well they don’t care, when you say you consent to their roleplay, you do as your told. If you try to resist arrest, or try fighting back, they will just stop the rp all together, and do something they seem to love doing alot. Retcon!!!

They love making up accusations

I’m going to share with you some screenshots of a friend, who I personally don’t have a problem with, they like to go with dark roleplay, and honestly thats what make certain interactions interesting. When I was part of the Stormwind City watch group, they started sharing this screenshot. 

 When I saw it, I was a bit confused. I didn’t take the person who played this character to say such things. Sure they liked dark roleplay, but to say something like this just seemed wrong. When I asked one of the higher ups if they said that. They just nodded and said “Oh yeah, they said it.” It was one of the reasons they Dned him to begin with. Well turns out this was a fake post, someone copied one of his characters names, and whispered that to a friend of theres. I’ll leave a link right here if you want to see their post on exposing them for trying to frame him. https://niserysrethowyn.tumblr.com/post/619961383685144576/niserys-rethowyn-fake-screenshot

They will target you, and make others turn on you.

I had some major repercussion for defending my friend. It wasn’t very long for them to find out which characters I played a couple months back. Ever sense I tried to be careful on how I named my characters. So I wouldn’t be attacked by them, however low and behold they find out I’m playing a Kul Tiran. So what happens when I tried role playing with others, trying to join in, the one known as Morrowgrove said “I have one of your alts DNE, and don’t consider you to be here.”  I ignored them, and tried to role play with the others, however, one of them said this to me. 

A few things, I never metagame, and if I realized that I was I own up to it, or if someone calls me out vice versa. I hate Metagaming, but this was the only thing That the Stormwind City Watch apparently has on me. I have friends who I have corrected that where metagaming in roleplay. 

But now The Stormwind City watch is trying to rally everyone against me. So when I vented and posted one of these screenshots in guild chat, this is how the guild leader treated me.

At first I didn’t want to share the screenshots with them, because I feared they would just use the screenshots against me. However she was acting like she was vouching for me. So I gave the screenshots to them, and this was their final response to me. Mind you I have never had a problem with this guild I was recently in. 

They blocked me, then sure enough my pally that I have in their guild was kicked from the guild. Not because I continusly broke their rules, are was being a total jerk, and treated others unfairly, I was kicked based off what the Stormwind city watch and anyone else who had influence has shared with them. It hurt when this happened, because its as if they where just seeking to ruin the experience for me, by making others that I had no problem with choose to be on their side. Once again, the experience is ruined for me because The stormwind City Watch doesn’t care about ruining the experience for one person, they will go out of their way to let others to not interact with you, all because they lie and say that I metagame. 

 https://thalsianiii.tumblr.com/post/624918513087397888#notes

In closing

When people come to roleplay in Wow they do it to escape. Its meant to be enjoyed with others, but when you are forcing the way others play when you are around them, this can make it very unpleasant, especially when you try having full control of the whole situation, at that point I’d say you are a godmodder. The Stormwind City Watch doesn’t mind throwing people under the bus when they see fit, nor do they care about peoples reputations around others, and will go as far to make up lies about you. It’ll be awhile till I feel comfortable with rping again, sense people like them enjoy ruining the interactions for others. But I hope if you are feeling as an outcast like me, and feel as if some are just trying to ruin the experience for you, remember thats just shows you the actual character they are in real life. Understand you matter, and so do the characters you create. Till next time, I HAVE THE HIGH GROUND!!!!

[stranger-who-writes-fiction]

Alright 5x19 let’s DO THIS.

(Warning: This will probably be long.)

WE BEGIN...by visiting Leviathan’s underground speakeasy.

The shot of Lex in the glow of the Kryptonite is great, 15/10 iconic Kryptonian Killer.

But SPEAKING of things that are green and bad...Gemma’s outfit is stage magician meets Mera from Aquaman and WAIT, WAIT, I’m just now remembering that the character in the comics was linked to Atlantis. Is that why they’ve gone with a green motif for her all season?

Probably not. Either way, still gives me knockoff Mera vibes. (*whispers quietly* I don’t like Mera’s outfit either.)

(I’m reading the Wikipedia entry for Gamemnae and did you know: she was exiled from Atlantis for being blonde?)

Anyways!

That’s just a very long-winded way of saying that the costume is kind of a weird choice.

Then we’re back in Kara’s loft and finally, FINALLY...someone tells Lena that there are BIGGER FISH, STOP REMINISCING.

And then the Superfriends arrive on the scene and they are ready to throw down.

Honestly same bro, same.

Also M’GANN IS ON THE TEAM I love it please, SG, please, hire Sharon Leal full-time. 

What is the current door-kicking tally--how many front entrances have the Danvers girls destroyed?

“Well the joke’s on Rama Khan and his big dumb gladiator outfit because I already defeated him once.” THIS. IS. WHAT. I. HAVE. BEEN. SAYING.

THE COSTUME IS SILLY AND NOT IN A FUN WAY.

Leviathan just has terrible fashion sense, is basically the theme of this season.

Oh my gosh M’gann being the one to suggest the multiple Karas and the WINK I love her, I love her so much.

PLEASE NOTE: That J’onn was like ‘the skirt is surprisingly comfortable’ but his response to the pants is, ‘they’re gonna chafe.’ 

J’onn J’onzz, Skirt Supporter. 

Then the Alex suit reveal and ooof, ooooof, probably the wonkiest of the scenes, unfortunately. (Can’t decide if I appreciate the effort of the CGI Alex or if it’s simply too uncanny valley.)

Also, put a pin in the Alex suit reveal. We’ll circle back to it.

(Oh wait and also: Kara’s scream and J’onn’s reaction all A+.)

Breaking chronological order here to just touch on the highlights and maybe discuss particular chunks in detail SO...let’s get right toooooooo....

Rooftop scene with Alex and M’Gann! Nice! But also I was like, ‘Alex just...has a bazooka? ...Yeah that tracks.’ And then I remembered that she has the martian weapon...honestly kinda prefer my accidental headcanon that she just owns one. 

Then back to Lena and Kara and we’ve come full circle because folks...they figuratively flew to Luthor-Corp...on a bus.

Oh if only that was the actual goal of this entire plot. I would applaud it.

SG writers, always: REAL threats come in groups of THREE.

I actually don’t mind it. They aren’t given a big introduction and amount of screen time, so it’s pretty unobtrusive. 

Then we get a Luthor-Corp lab scene AND a good look at Alex’s suit so LET’S CHAT.

Okay first and foremost: not opposed to vigilante Alex! Especially if it means she can work with Kara a bit more directly.

Love the color scheme! Love the hood! Love that the boots are no longer the stealth wedge heel but are just...heels. Good, yes, good! Also love that you can see it’s basically built on top of her DEO suit which totally makes sense, as...I guess Alex is building the suit mentally, not physically, technically, but she’d still be using stuff she’s familiar with to put it together in...her...mind?

I also think the top portion sits better than the DEO suit, which had that awkward...square-ish portion that covered the front of the torso.

But hmmmmmm the eye makeup is...a statement. 

Confused as to why they didn’t go with a domino mask...maybe it was an actor comfort thing but HMMMMM not my personal favorite, admittedly. (Also don’t love the lace up look on the front portion but that’s because it’s reminding me of some of the terrible costumes from Arrow.)

And then the hair clip, which. Okay. As someone who has been struggling to find a way to pull back short hair during this time of no haircuts...can’t be mad about it.

In fact, catch me over here, taking notes.

Alright, costume rambling OVER sorry for the tangent but, you know. New super suit, it’s always exciting. 

I like that Kara had to deal with not being able to be out fighting the threat! That’s a good bit of character stuff there.

“William went after Eve ALONE?!?!?” “No super hearing!” 

“Please, be careful.” “You know me.” “Yeah, exactly, that’s what I’m worried about.” And then a HUG and they’re just the best.

 Dunno if I’ve mentioned it yet but I love the effects they use for Gemma’s ‘true form.’ Very cool and creepy.

Does Andrea just...not question Gemma’s evil villain outfit...or...?

Much like Alex’s super suit we’re puttin’ a PIN in the Brainy plot we’ll get there but FIRST...

THE KARA AND LENA CONVERSATION.

Do I think it should’ve come earlier in the season? Yes! Do I care at this point? ...Okay, still yes! But that’s another pinned point I’ll get back to, right now let us just bask in the beauty that is specifically, verbally laying out all the CRAP Lena put Kara through, and Kara making sure Lena understands THAT is what hurt her, not ‘working with Lex.’

“You never understood.” BINGO. “I know I hurt you by waiting so long to tell you my truth but what about all the ways you hurt me?” EXACTLY. 

“I made one mistake, one mistake that was only ever meant to protect you and in return, all you did was hurt me in every way imaginable.”

Then Lena finally apologizes. For, you know, the stuff that was actually upsetting Kara. So. We got there. ...Eventually.

Then it’s off to save William and he’s talking down Eve! We love a noble journalist.

Kara cauterizing the bullet wound and William being like ‘DO IT no wait DON’T DO IT’ and Kara’s just like, ‘TOO LATE, IT’S DONE.’

RETURN OF THE POWER RANGERS SUIT NICE.

And theeeeen a lot of scenes that are fine but it’s mostly just legwork to get us to the bigger parts of the episode sooooo we’re jumping to...

Andrea! Pleasantly surprised with her part in the action of this episode. Had that nice moral conflict we saw in the front half of the season. It’s a little crammed in here, at the last minute, but. Still enjoyed seeing it.

A personal quibble on the visuals: I prefer the simple elegance of the season one hope speech, (Just a lone camera, in a rundown radio station XD) but I understand they had to convey ‘scale.’ Still think it’s a little much.

Oh man, totally forgot to mention, loved Nicole’s line read for, “Maybe you should’ve been meaner.” It was GREAT.

So there’s the fight against Rama Khan and his buddies, and Kara’s trying to talk people out of a MMORPG, AND Andrea shows up ready to kill somebody. 

The drama! The suspense!

THE SCORE.

I have another quibble with the cutting back and forth on the hope speech and it’s largely to do with perhaps inadvertent implications regarding who has to grow from pain and what pain in particular, but that might just be a ‘me’ thing, reading the scene a particular way, so I’m just gonna move on and say LOVE TO SEE A HOPE SPEECH.

Also:

Supergirl: “I believe in you.”

The VR peeps and us, the audience:

Alright time to talk about BRAINY.

Admittedly haven’t loved double agent Brainy, which felt more like a, ‘let’s add some drama’ move than anything else.

I do still stand by my assessment that Brainy being a few steps behind Lex made sense given his distress re: Nia and the Superfriends.

But also...was a little wild, IMO, that he didn’t have...some way to at least circumnavigate the radiation shield? Or at the very least limit it.

But again. DRAMA.

All that said...wow. Loved the two Brainys at the end, there. Genuinely touching.

“Will you stay with me?” “Till the very end.” 

BRAAAAAAAIIIINNNNNNNNY.

How do you make another Luthor reveal work when you ALREADY pulled the, ‘It was Lex all along!’ like, twice before?

You MAKE IT LILLIAN.

Like, dang it, I enjoyed it. How dare you, SG.

But THAT’S IT. NO MORE SECRET LUTHOR REVEALS. 

The terminator look and death shriek for Gemma was fittingly creepy very nice.

But also WOW, she never interacted with Kara. I am DISAPPOINTED. 

So anyways, that second Lena and Kara conversation! 

It was fine. It’s fine. This is fine. It’s...it’s fine.

(Except that it highlights a problem with the way this whole thing was set up and it’s not something unique to SG! It’s a problem I’ve noticed with a lot of redemption arcs--which seem to be all the rage, as of late--and that is a disproportionate amount of bad things done by the one character, and putting off the turn until like, the last possible minute to increase the drama factor and thaaaaat...is not a super satisfying conclusion because it’s a HUGE amount of build up for a relatively small pay off. Like, as Kara is listing the stuff that Lena’s done, it’s kind of a stark reminder that Lena physically and emotionally hurt Kara on purpose which. Is a glaring red flag. That’s the kind of thing that needs to be unpacked, maybe! Given some space!

Which isn’t to say that characters should never be forgiven, or that they need to be excessively punished. It just needs time. So saving the ‘redemption’ part for the very end where the characters NEED TO BE HEROES RIGHT NOW IN ORDER TO HELP OUT it’s...hmmmmmm. Too rushed.)

AND SO, SOME FINAL THOUGHTS ON THIS, THE SEASON FINALE, AND THE SEASON AS A WHOLE:

Wow but I did not like the focus on Lena. Not fun. No thanks.

Which is only made worse by the trashfire that is the SG fandom. 

Loved the moments of growth and agency for Kara, though. 

Loved the big crossover! It kinda made for a wonky set up of Earth-38 plot vs. Earth Prime plot but honestly anything the writers set up in the front portion of the season was going to be at the very least interrupted, if not completely derailed simply given the nature of what they intended to do with the merging of the earths.

Like give me SG’s approach to handling the front half of the season over Flash’s any day. 

Still too many characters! Still too much plot! Still weird pacing issues! XD

Forget it, Jake, it’s Supergirl.

Oh, honorable mention: The handling of Kelly! She was integrated so well into a nice intersection of plot points and characters that when she’s there to hack into the Obsidian stuff in the finale it’s like, ‘well naturally she’d be here.’ EXCELLENT WORK. 

William and Andrea win ‘most improved over their intensely unlikable introductions.’

To be clear: I liked this season finale! And the fact that it all came together as well as it did is a testament to the skill of all the folks involved, considering the awful extenuating circumstances.

Though, upon further introspection, I think I really do dislike the CGI Alex. Too far into the uncanny valley, sorry. 

IN CONCLUSION: Very, very sad that it’s gonna be a whole year, or possibly longer, before we get new SG content but, glad that the actors will have a little more time off than they usually might, and I’m all for holding off the production as long as possible, in order to keep folks safe.

WHAT are Lex and Lillian up to, like, specifically, and WHAT is Alex’s superhero name??? WILL the folks in charge of the new Superman show remember that it’s a Supergirl spinoff?!??! Find out NEXT YEAR only on SUPERGIRL! (And Superman & Lois!)

EDIT: I used the word ‘quibble’ twice which feels like one time too many, but also it IS a fun word to say. ‘Quibble.’ Ha. XD

[wirewitchviolet]

I hate that I hate MMORPGs.

Yesterday, on kind of a whim, I installed an MMORPG and played it for a couple hours, and I had the exact same miserable experience I always do, for the exact same reasons. Basically, everyone who has ever designed one of these suckers (with maybe a few rare exceptions) just fundamentally does not understand and actively undermines the appeal.

I’m not going to sit down and go through Richard Bartle’s whole player classification system, but personally, here’s some things I look for in a game, in general, and an RPG in particular:

I want to engage with fun moment to moment game mechanics.

I want to hang out and socialize with some friends for a bit.

I want to get lost in a character.

I want to go on some cool heroic quest.

I want to explore a world.

That last one is the only one I’ve ever really gotten out of an MMO, and honestly I’m really being charitable and only listing it so I can’t say things fail on every level.

Really though, an RPG can mean one of several different sorts of games.

We’ve got the traditional pen and paper sort. Maybe the mechanics are neat? Rolling dice is kind of fun in and of itself, I can usually improvise cool stuff to do, that’s fun. I definitely get to hang out with friends, since the game really can’t happen without a consistent group meeting up once a week or so and all. The sky’s pretty much the limit on character creation and depending on the group I can go fully in character all night, great. There’s a one-off cool big quest we’re all going on that’s just for us, rad. Probably some interesting stuff going on setting wise, but that depends.

If I’m playing an old school console RPG... I definitely get my big epic quest on, probably in a cool setting, the basic gameplay.... I personally kinda tend to like in a comfort food sort of way, but really as video games go it’s pretty lacking. And there’s no real getting lost in a character or any socialization at all.

And then of course there’s big open world games where I can probably lose myself in a character even without socialization because such games usually put way more emphasis on customizing your character and personal style stuff than anything, and be pretty aimless.

Now, MMOs tend to suck at, again, basically all of this. The basic game mechanics always tend to suck because, well, it’s massively multiplayer. There’s a bunch of other people, likely on garbage internet connections, people coming and going, people playing once a week for an hour, people playing every waking moment. So anything timing dependent is kinda shot and anything really competitive won’t work, and I mean there’s room to innovate, but you’re always going to be less appealing than games that don’t have those concerns.

Hanging out with my friends... there’s a few issues here and I’m going to revisit this point, but I think it’s important to stress that I AM NEVER GOING TO BRING MY OWN FRIENDS IN. When I can get all my friends together to play a game, we’re going for traditional pen and paper RPGs. That’s hard enough to schedule and we aren’t going to double up. I want to make friends in the game and hang out with them. And I mean, one of the big barriers to that is how scattershot the scheduling is. There’s a few easy ways I can think of to either determine which players are on the same schedule or to just ask upfront in some preferences panel, and just kinda consistently throw people together, but, I’ve never seen anyone really try for it.

Now, getting lost in a character and going on a big epic quest are... kinda tied together here. There’s a trend I think started with WoW, where MMOs are written with stories that would work just fine in a singleplayer game. I’m the big chosen hero from this tiny little village that maybe burned down, and I need to go tour the world and eventually go confront a big evil villain or 10.

But the thing is, everyone else around me is also the chosen hero, from the same tiny little village, with the same tragic backstory, pursuing the same subquests, facing the same villlains... who repop after for the next person. That just... doesn’t work. I can’t get lost in my character when everything the game is giving me to work with is also being given to everyone else. We all canonically have the same backstory and goals...

... and that’s not even getting into the MMO loop! In literally every single one of these games I’ve ever played, you start in area A, you do a bunch of filler quests for the NPCs who live there, they reward you, piecemeal, with a new equipment set, you put that on, you get sent to area B, and you just kinda meander through the whole world like that.

So essentially what happens here is that not only is everyone running through the same story, but time and space are interconnected in such a way that at any given point, all the people you can see are on the same story beat you are. That can be handy if you’re really trying to encourage partying up I guess, but it really just exacerbates the issue of everyone playing essentially the same character. I came here on Farmer Brown from Easterdale’s suggestion and I’m helping kill these bees. Which Farmer Brown also suggested to these other dozen people. Who are all dressed exactly like me, with the clothes they got from everyone else in Easterdale (except all the guys get full outfits while me and all the other women are in a bikini variation).

What am I supposed to talk to these people about? There’s immediate mechanical issues like, well, “want to party up to grind these bees faster?” but that’s really about it. And if I do meet someone who seems cool and want to hang out, it’s inherently fleeting. Because unless we happen to be putting in the EXACT same amount of play time, we’re going to drift apart. If you go to dinner and I keep playing for another hour, I’m a town or two ahead of you on the treadmill, we’re never going to see each other again.

Plus I mean, “I want to walk through a progression of wide fields slaughtering the same monster 20 times to earn a pair of shoes” is decidedly NOT on the list of things I want to do.

One way to get around this, which I have fuzzy memories was actually done by D&D Online, is to really formalize adventures into these discrete events you enter as a member of a party and complete together in a sitting. Desyncing still happens, but for a given play session you at least have a proper social experience instead of the standard one where you’re just talking to the people ahead or behind you on the minigolf course as someone waits for a hole to clear.

Here’s my thing though. I don’t honestly particularly WANT the big epic world-spanning quest. I seriously have hundreds of single-player RPGs to scratch that itch, and trying to match pace with other people just makes it stressful or obligatory. I want to hang out with a character and bounce off people. I don’t want to be an eternal wanderer touring the world, really. I want to find a cool place, settle in, and be a local. Have some neighbors. We have our own stuff going on. It’s nice to stop at the tavern now and then and catch up. Or maybe I run the tavern. Maybe there’s some regulars, some people stopping by as they pass through.

Setting things up to encourage this sort of thing can even involve less work than the traditional route. If you want people to generally stick around the same areas and keep bumping into each other, for, you know, the whole social aspect of things, you inherently need less sprawling map and monster designs. Just a couple cool cities worth hanging out in and the roads between them.

Just... have different goals to pursue, with different mission chains. They don’t even have to be super unique. If someone wants to get the master beast hunter achievement, killing every monster in the world, they don’t need a lot of writing. If someone wants to just run a cool tavern, all you need are some gather rare ingredients quests, and some kind of simple archetectural/business management bit of gameplay to focus on instead of the crappy combat. Maybe organically encourage interactions like when I order all this rare spiced rum to put on my menu it generates a caravan escort quest for someone else to get it to me.

Also let everyone play dressup right form the start! Don’t force everyone with the same time on the clock to wear the exact same shirt/bikini  top.

[otakween]

.Hack//G.U. Light Novels Vol. 1-4 - Final Thoughts 

WELL. That was...that was something. These books were a TRIP man. I’m kind of speechless. 

Thoughts:

-I liked the novel-version of the story better than the games. There, I said it. It was waaaay more about the lore and philosophical stuff and waaaay more in continuity with IMOQ/SIGN than the games. It cut out the fat of having too many characters, too much focus on the arena and it actually EXPLAINED THINGS. -mind blown- 

-I was wondering why this was a 4 volume adaptation of a 3 volume game but then I got to book 2 and it was basically a book long recap of IMOQ/SIGN and I was like...oh. But it was so worth it! I understand so much more now. 

-I don’t care if the novels aren’t canon, they are in my heart.Just the fact that Ryo acknowledges Sora in the novels already makes them superior. I was screaming of joy when they FINALLY mentioned him:

-Ovan’s even more of an annoying asshole in the novels but it’s better because they call him out on it! They call him a weirdo like a hundred times and the fact that he talks in riddles is a plot point instead of something we’re supposed to find cool.

-SO much attention given to the player characters in this. Their real names are used constantly. This is what was missing from the games and the anime, this is what I wanted. Yesssssss.

-I liked Endrance a lot better because he didn’t randomly fall in love with Haseo for no reason and he was a lot more cynical and sassy. He felt more realistic and less of a weird predator gay stereotype.

-Ovan saying the word “vagina” several times was hilariously surreal

-DEEP explanation of how Aura works, how epitaphs work, how Morganna worked, how Anthroposophy inspired The World etc. I liked how they incorporated the “6 senses” into how the epitaphs work and the Buddhist concepts. I was pretentious af but interesting nonetheless 

-The changes made to Aina’s character were heartbreaking and added an interesting angle to Ovan’ character. It made him feel more pathetic and crazy

-I really enjoyed the moment when Haseo told Ovan “we’re not the type” when talking about how they aren’t heroes like Kite. It’s interesting to think that IMOQ was the archetypal hero legend and GU is more of an anti-hero story

-More queer baiting with Ovan calling Haseo “beautiful” and Haseo thinking about his love for Ovan. Although Haseo doesn’t really end up with anyone in this so...?

-Shino waking up in the end was such an after thought like...okay. 

Things I didn’t like:

-WTF was up with the scene where Ovan tortures Pi to death randomly? First of all, it’s really gross and creepy that he singles out PI. Second, uhhhh we’re supposed to sympathize with him after that? Yeah it’s a game but...they make it very clear she can feel it IRL. That whole scene was gratuitous.

-They kept calling Ovan stuff like “beautiful beast” -barf- stop feeding his ego

-The implications that Pi had the hots for her half brother were definitely unnecessary

-They must have used the phrase “connected to their PCs beyond their monitors and controllers” about 50 thousand times. Like...we get it...they’re special.

-Haseo’s winged form was pretty cheesy and over-the-top anime. I did like his Skeith staff tho.

-Some lines just threw me off completely and didn’t make sense. For example, in the last chapter Pi was like “Ovan let you name his daughter,” to Haseo. I’m guessing this was a typo or something because whaaaat?

-Confusing expressions. Like...wtf is an archetype and what’s a “borderline MMORPG”? Half the time I felt like they were just using random words to sound cool...

-No Alkaid :’( 

I feel like I have so much more to say and now I’m mad that I didn’t make a post volume-by-volume. I think Dot Hack works best in novel form. I can honestly say that I enjoyed AI Buster, CELL, Another Birth, and GU more than their respective games and anime. In game form especially, the complicated concepts of the story kind of get lost in the gameplay. These concepts need to be fleshed out with long exposition dumps and deep conversation. All in all, it’s probably just best to read the books alongside the games and anime to get the full experience as the creators intended. 

I give the .Hack//GU novels an 8 out of 10. Very enjoyable reads. 

[roses-are-blue16]

Novels-Random order

Novelupdates.com for more info about anything -> Back to Masterpost

Fave: 5/5

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation/Mo Dao Zu Shi

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Historical, Mystery, Romance, Shounen Ai/Yaoi Other Unofficial tags: Smart Protagonist, Shameless Protagonist, Smart ML, Love interest falls first, Devoted Love Interest,  beautiful couple, power couple, wuxia, interesting supporting characters    

Status: Ongoing 

Art: 1 2 3 4 5 

Other things: there is an Manhua & Donghua out, all posts tagged by name here

Official Summary: As the grandmaster who founded demonic cultivation, Wei WuXian roamed the world in his wanton ways, hated by millions for the chaos he created. In the end, he was backstabbed by his dearest shidi and killed by powerful clans that combined to overpower him.He incarnates into the body of a lunatic who was abandoned by his clan and is later, unwillingly, taken away by a famous cultivator among the sects—Lan WangJi, his archenemy.This marks the start of a thrilling yet hilarious journey of attacking monsters, solving mysteries, and raising children. From the mutual flirtation along the way, Wei WuXian slowly realizes that Lan WangJi, a seemingly haughty and indifferent poker-face, holds more feelings for Wei WuXian than he is letting on…

My Thoughts: First chinese novel I stumbled upon and I fell in love with. To me everything about this story is absolutely perfect, from characters, to plot, romance, mystery and worldbuilding...everything was so unique and beautiful. And the translation group Exiled Rebels does an excellent job portraying it in english as best they can. There are some hurdles tho: for example if you haven’t read any chinese novels before you have to adjust to terminology a lot- especially names (everyone has like three names). So if you’re like me who stumbled into it with no idea what expect you’ll probably get confused a lot but if you stick out you’ll get used to it and rereading the first few chapters later after adjusting is probably a good tip. Unlike other BL/Yaoi stories that I’ve seen (mostly japanese manga) the romance actually blends and makes sense; and not fetishized or forced, even if you don’t like the genre it won’t get in the way of the story (especially with china’s censorship).    

   2.  The Legend of the Sun Knight 

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Mystery  Other Unofficial Tags: Shameless Protagonist, Anti-Hero Protagonist, Strategy, Hilarious interactions, War, Neocromancy, Leader, Loyalty, Elemental Magic, Black-Bellied Protagonist, Demons, Sarcasm abound

Status: Complete  Other things: Manga-(Discontinued?) 

Official Summary: I am a knight. To be precise, I am the Church of the God of Light’s Sun Knight.The Church of the God of Light worships and serves the God of Light, and theirs’ is one of the three largest religions on this continent.As the whole continent knows, the Church of the God of Light has the Twelve Holy Knights, and each one has his own unique personality and features.To be the Sun Knight is to have shining golden hair, sky blue eyes, a compassionate nature, and a brilliant smile.“The benevolent God of Light will forgive your sins.”I must have said that line at least a million times in my time as the Sun Knight.However, the greatest wish in my life is to be able to stand before the entire continent and roar, “Damn your ‘the whole continent knows’! This Sun Knight just doesn’t feel like smiling! I just don’t want to forgive these human trashes! I just want to pepper my sentences with ‘f***’!”Unfortunately, even to this day, I continue to wear a smile as I say, “The benevolent God of Light will forgive your sins.”

My Thoughts: Actually read this years ago (5-6?), and I always thought it was a japanese novel but I guess it isn't(?)-anyways not important. This story was absolutely hilarious, you won’t meet a more entertaining guy.  The contrast between how he’s forced to act as the leader of the religion- belevont, kind, smiling, pure- is the total opposite of his real personality so much so that it gave a shock (of pure delight) cuz of the drastic inner and outer faces. There’s 12 knights in total ,each is totally unique and you get introduced to them super fast. There is different conflicts that occur, that fall on Grisia’s ( the mc) shoulder to solve as he is the leader and while it starts off lighthearted, in the end some serious stuff occurs. This is a very warm hearted story about brotherhood i think overall. (Also heard that Grisia falls into the legendary trinity of shameless protagonist: Wei Wuxian from GDC is one of them and I agree lol). Very unique storytelling, it twists all kinds of classic tropes and plays with them, overall a very fun read.

   3. Eight Treasures Trousseau 

Genre: Historical, Josei, Romance, Drama Other Unofficial Tags: Arranged Marriage, Calm/Lazy Protagonist, Ambitious ML, Politics, Power Couple, Royalty, Doting Love Interest, Beautiful Couple 

Status: Complete

Official Summary: Everyone in the City of Jing thinks that bestowment of marriage between Xian Junwang and the daughter of the Yi’an Marquis House is to insert a fresh flower into manure.Xian Junwang was that fresh flower and the di daughter of Yi’an Marquis House was that manure that was not liked.It is said that what is heard is false, seeing is believing. Who knows what the truth really is?

My Thoughts: A really nice story set in Ancient China, and in my opinion the best one written. The story has both the female lead and male lead on pretty equal field in terms of their relationship, you won’t see any weak-willed person in this couple. This story also portrayed realistically the difficulties of living in Ancient China as a woman, by showing us many different kinds of people. The villains make you feel complicated emotions even when you hate them, which shows you great storytelling. No-one is excessively stupid and the mc is just stomping over them with her “cleverness” in this story which I liked. The MC is actually very lazy and this gave the story a very relaxed feel, which lead to time just flying by. I’ve just recently reread it which rare for me to do.  

   4.  A Slight Smile is Very Charming  -Side Stories

Genre: Romance, Comedy,Josei,School Life, Slice of Life   Other Unofficial Tags: MMORPG, Gamers, College/University, Power Couple, Beautiful Female Lead, Handsome Male Lead, Smart Couple

Status: Complete 

Other things: Adapted to a drama: Love 020

Official Summary:What is it that makes a man fall in love with a woman at first sight? Appearance? Aura? Wealth? NO, when campus prince and gaming expert, student Xiao Nai first saw Bei Wei Wei, what made him fall in love was not her extraordinary beauty; but her slim and slender fingers that were flying across the keyboard and her calm and composed manner!!! Embarrassing, no?At the same time, gaming expert Bei Wei Wei was on the computer methodically commanding a guild war, and won a perfect and glorious victory despite being at a disadvantage; completely unaware of the fact that cupid is nearby.Soon after basketball player; swimmer; all-around excellent student; and game company president, Xiao Nai, uses tactics both on- and offline to capture this beauty’s heart. Therefore this romance slowly bloomed.

My Thoughts: This is a very quick, lighthearted story. It gets straight to the point with no drama, if you just want a nice, quick romance to read then I highly recommend. When I was debating whether to read it or not, one of the reviewers on novelupdates said it had a drama, and I usually hate drama’s but they recommended it, so I went to check it out before I started reading and I surprisingly loved it. I usually hate cheesy but they managed to pull it off real well, so I was squealing and cringing at the same time (lol), it’s probably because the actors are really good looking so you can’t help but let it slide. The drama added some drama not a lot but some to the story. When I went back and read the novel I realized how quick it was compared to the drama. I recommended both honestly, if you’re looking for some fun. 

   5. Rebirth of a SuperModel

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Slice of Life, Yaoi  Other Unofficial Tags: ShowBiz, Transmigration, Black-Belly Protagonist, Love Interest Falls First, Clever Couple, Talented Couple, Power Couple, Celebrities, Acting, Media 

Status: Complete    

Official Summary: In his past life, Ming Yu struggled in the European and United States fashion circles, eventually becoming the well deserved king of the catwalk.After dying from a serious illness and being reborn, Ming Yu was surprised to find: Huaxia stars shone brightly, there were successful names everywhere!In this better world, on a more vigorous and brilliant stage, the first supermodel tries to reproduce the glory of another world! Interviewer: May I ask Mr Xi, this year Ming Yu said he would surpass you. As the number one global supermodel, what is your opinion on this? Xi Ze: This is a bad question. My family has very strict rules. Home Owner Ming Yu: …….  The pair of black-hearted husbands will sweep the fashion industry, conquering the world. 

My Thoughts: A really fresh story, I never got bored. It focuses more on the MC and his rise as a supermodel, and sprinkles in the romance with ML. While reading it (before it got completed), it felt like me and other readers were cheering on the MC as fans as well, which was a lot of fun. I’ve read some other showbiz transmigration stories but I got annoyed or bored real fast, this one I found real fun, no matter how many days until the next chapter you could pick it up and feel happy. Some things people might not like: there a lot of photoshoot scenes (he is a model) so some might get tired of that, but they go by pretty quick. While MC was the number one model in his old world, it doesn’t make him OP, he has his own flaws and he grows a lot which makes him more interesting. 

   6.     Sansheng, Wangchuan Wu Shang

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Josei, Romance, Supernatural, Tragedy   Other Unofficial Tags: Goddess, Gods, Mythology, Heavenly Tribulations, Honest Protagonist, Protagonist loyal to Love Interest, Reincarnation, Beautiful Couple  

Status: Complete

Official Summary:  This is a story that follows the courtship between a stone from Hell and a god from Heaven that begins in the underworld and spans for three lifetimes in the mortal realm.

My Thoughts: Honestly was suprised how much I liked it. Despite the MC being naive, and ready to throw it all away for the ML, you can’t hate her. This a very fast story (about 15 chapter and 3 bonus stories), which adds to its charm. If it was longer I might have not liked it as much. There are overwhelmingly positive reviews about this story on novel updates which made me give this story a chance and I agree with them. If you like romance definitely check this out.   

    6.  The Earth is Online 

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Psychological, Sci-Fi, Supernatural, Shounen Ai/Yaoi   Other Unofficial Tags: Game Elements, Thriller,  Survival Game, Special Abilities, Calm Protagonist, Clever Protagonist, Slow Romance, Modern Day

Status: Complete       

Official Summary: Six months ago, tens of thousands of black phantom towers appeared all over the world, floating above the cities. Chemists, physicists, religious people… all of them could do nothing.Six months later, people became used to the towers and no longer paid them attention.One day, Tang Mo saw a flying insect crash into it instead of going through it. The next day, a sharp and clear child-like voice issued an announcement to all humans. “Ding dong! November 15th, 2017. The earth is online.”  The black tower’s three iron-clad rules: 1. Everything is explained by the black tower. 2. 6 o’clock to 18 o’clock is the game time. 3. All players, please strive to attack the tower.

My Thoughts: You won’t find a story more unique than this. I doubt there’s anything similar to this story. Something that might come close might be the manga Tomodachi Game, but that's only the doing games for survival bit. I don’t know how the author came up with this, the games are so smart, that you may feel like you’re getting smarter by the end of it or that you’re IQ is hopelessly low. And it’s not the fact that rules are ridiculous and don't follow logic either, when the answers are revealed they make sense.. Honestly reading this I’m glad something like (probably ;) ) won’t happen because I doubt I would survive. I have a real admiration for the author for coming up with this. The story is good at keeping you wary and on edge that something is going to happen at any moment. Some issues?: The romance was so so slow burning that it became a background character, and there wasn’t a big payoff moment like the author gave us this weird analogy when they finally did the deed, that I was burning with indignation, just thinking about it pisses me off, but it probably has to do with the censorship in china. Also there were too much straight explanations that kinda got annoying but could be ignored. I think with how well the author set up the survival element that you could ignore the flaws pretty quickly. So glad I found this novel.      

   7.  Quickly Wear the Face of the Devil - Side Stories

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi, Yaoi Other Unofficial Tags: Acting, Apocalypse, Artificial Intelligence, Episodic, Mob Protagonist, System, Virtual Reality, Cunning Protagonist, Devoted Love Interest, Possessive Characters, Hacker

Status: Complete       

Official Summary: A top hacker was chosen by the Lord God to be reborn into countless worlds, always as an expendable villain.With no free will, every world became a dead end. Every one of his lives ended tragically. Finally, after wresting control of the Villain System, this ace hacker decided to enact revenge. Even if his very bones were rotten, he’d choose to occupy the very heights of morality, if only on the surface.Thus, he would change his fate as an abused slag.

My Thoughts: If you’re on novelupdates you’ll hear about this story at some point, it has become infamous on the site. And for good reason, this is the top written System transmigration into multiple world stories, or just system stories. There a multiple worlds and each one has it’s own flavor you’ll definitely have your favorites. It’s a very fun story to read and if you’re new to system stories like I was when I read this, you’ll inevitably compare all others to this one.  

    8.  The Rebirth of the Malicious Empress of Military Lineage

Genre: Historical, Josei, Martial Arts, Mature, Romance Other Unofficial Tags: Betrayal, Politics, Military, Royalty, Scheming, Revenge, Beautiful Female Lead, Handsome Male Lead, Cunning Couple, Slow Romance 

Status: Ongoing 

Official Summary:  Shen Miao, the Di daughter of a military lineage, pure, amiable, quiet and yielding, foolishly in love with Prince Ding, threw herself into the role of a wife. After assisting her husband for six years, she finally became the mother of the world (Empress).She accompanied him to fight for the country, flourished the country’s territory, took risks to become a hostage in another country. When she returned five years later, there was no place for her in the Inner Palace.The beauty in his arms smiled brightly, “Older sister, the country is stabilized so, you should retire.”Her daughter met with a violent death and her son the Crown Prince was deposed. Her Shen family who sacrificed themselves for the country and the Emperor, not a single one of them were lucky enough to escape. With the change of one dynasty, everything was overturned. Her clan perished and she had to mourn for her children.Shen Miao never thought that being a married couple who have gone through trials and tribulations and mutually assisted each other was just a stage joke to him! He said, “Seeing that you have followed Zhen for twenty years, Zhen will grant you an intact corpse. You should thank this kindness.”Under the three Chi (1 chi = 1/3 meter) of white silk, Shen Miao made a malicious vow: In the time to come, she will take part in each and everyone’s end!Upon rebirth, she returned to the time when she was fourteen, when the tragedy had yet to occur, her family was still alive and she was still the pure, amiable, quiet and yielding Di daughter of a military lineage. Relatives hiding a black heart, Elder and younger (female) cousins are ruthless and malicious, the new Yiniang is like a tiger watching its prey and the disreputable man who wants to repeat the events?Her family must be protected, the huge enmity must be avenged, the Imperial seat of the country must also be a part of the trophy. In this lifetime, let’s see who can beat the others!

My Thoughts: I’ve tired to read numerous novels with the reincarnating to get revenge trope and I’ve never been able to complete them for variety of reasons but ultimately it’s because they end up sucking. This novel however is like a ray of light for this trope. Whatever way you think she’s gonna resolve something you’ll never guess right. I’m always pleasantly suprised. That’s something I can say for the whole novel it’s always surprising even with the current chapters with story almost at a close we readers just got shocked yet again. You’ll definitely experience a variety of emotions watching the story unfold, right now I’m pulling a napkin between my teeth (please author put us out of this misery already T.T). I doubt you’ll be disappointed.    

Great: 

Everyone Thinks that I Like Him 

Genre: Comedy, Romance, School Life, Shounen Ai/Yaoi  Other Unofficial Tags: Uni, Dense Protagonist, Slow Romance 

Status: Complete 

Official Summary: From infancy to maturity, what Ye Zhou dislikes the most was “two”.The reasons were: he was ranked second at home, he had been forever ranked second at school, no matter how diligently he worked and tried, he couldn’t shake off that “second” curse. What was more exasperating was that, at University, not only was he ranked second, but even his appearance that he was proud of had to be classified as second best! Why can’t I obtain the first place!The eternal second will rise!Then, Ye Zhou, after his vigorous efforts finally rises and the result was… the first became his boyfriend.This is the story of a man who has been forced to be “second” and how he became the first, most popular.Protagonists: Ye Zhou, Shang Jin.

My Thoughts: Cute, Fluffy, Funny. As you can see there is no drama tag so if you’re looking for an explosive story this is not it. But it is a very realistic story especially in regards to the acceptance of the couple how it differs for the younger generation vs. the older generation. The story is very natural and the characters believable. If you a cute story this is it.  

    2.  Empress with no Virtue 

Genre: Adult, Comedy, Drama, Josei, Mature, Romance, Smut Other Unofficial Tags: Arranged Marriage, Bickering Couple, Politics, Misunderstandings, Politics, Royalty, Imperial Harem, Power Couple,

Status: Complete

Official Summary:  The free-spirited and brutally honest Ye Zhen Zhen was unwillingly chosen as Empress to the playboy Emperor Ji Wu Jiu. Their very first wedding night, she kicked the Emperor down from their bed and he sought out his concubine instead. This completely disastrous start was only the beginning of their eventful life together.

My Thoughts: Although not especially memorable, I enjoyed reading it. It was fun watching the couple act petty to one another. Honestly their relationship reminded me of boys pulling on pigtails to get the attention of their crush. There are a lot of funny and fluffy interactions, made for a fun read.   

tbc.... Posted 2/13/19