#I got friends I'm gonna continue streaming this game to for who have never experienced the original games and story

[xbraveheartx]

"𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚕𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚢 𝚍𝚎𝚌𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚏𝚢. 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚖𝚎𝚊𝚗𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚏𝚎𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚜𝚘𝚛𝚝. 𝙹𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚒𝚝 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔, 𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚊𝚡… 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚎𝚗𝚓𝚘𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚘𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚗𝚎𝚌𝚔."

[midnight-and-his-melodiverse]

MIDNIGHT'S INSCRYPTION CHARACTER REVIEWS #1 (out of 10): Leshy

CHARACTER REVIEWS #1: LESHY

By Midnight, (me hehe) (with special mentions to my friend Ame, who got me into this game hardcore after I watched a single playthrough from him <3 /p) A side note: Before we start, I’d like to admit that I’ve never reviewed characters in any aspect, especially in written form. So, this is gonna be a wild ride I think!

I also hope my formal writing ability will stay consistent throughout all these reviews! (though we’ll see what happens when I review a certain character whom I adore SO MUCH!) 

Ame knows who, of course, but no spoilers for the rest of you who haven’t played the game! With that… onto the review!

(rest of the review is under a read more, just for y'alls sake because I'm considerate!)

Part I: Leshy, a Brief Introduction

Leshy is the first character you are introduced to in the beginning of Inscryption and serves initially as a guide, to lead you on into explaining mechanics that become more prevalent throughout the rest of the game’s three acts.

At the onset of Act 1, you become familiar with the landscape of the game. You sit within the confines of a wooden cabin, and play a card game with living creatures whose premise becomes more mysterious as the acts prevail onwards.

Leshy’s appearance is that of a living tree god, bearing plain eyes with no iris that swirl orange when he speaks, and being taller than the average human. His appearance seems to be based on the forest deities of folklore, which plays well into the atmosphere you find yourself in the first act.

Part II: Leshy’s Purpose, and how well thought out it was.

Purpose

I gathered from what I watched of the game, from Ame’s playthrough, and surmised that Leshy’s purpose was to serve as a guardian to the player; one who would guide them and handhold them through the basics, and let them fail a few times to instill in them that failure is not a horrific result, but a place to learn from and improve on.

Such is the mechanics of the death cards. Leshy first mocks your shortcomings and failures to grasp the concepts by immortalizing your fate within Death Cards, a reminder of your past failings. However, he doesn’t insult you directly, which urges you to continue forth and persevere and develop your skills.

His role in the game is later revealed to be more prominent, with him being called the “Scrybe of Beasts”, by the other characters. Scrybes are a concept that is vaguely alluded to in the first act, but their prevalence is further delved into in the later acts, as being the gods of the world of Inscryption.

Thoughts on Purpose

Leshy’s purpose as being the player’s guardian was displayed really well, as he didn’t insult you after every death. In the death cards he crafted after your past failings, every death you experienced would give you more determination to do better in not failing a second or third time and teach you the concepts along the way.

Part III: Favorite Things About Leshy / Gripes about Leshy

Throughout watching my friend Ame play Inscryption on stream on a Discord voice call, along with my friend Rosie, here are some things about Leshy that I liked.

LIKES

The first is his appearance. His menacing eyes with no iris, were just so creepy and marvelous in every way possible. That, and the fact that his appearance is based on the Leshy, of which is a tutelary forest deity which presides over the forests in Slavic folklore.

Second is his very dramatic tone which I picked up on through his dialogue. It reminded me a lot of how DMs (Dungeon Masters) would tell stories to set up a campaign's world in Dungeons and Dragons.

Thirdly and finally, is how nice he is towards the player near the end of the game (of which, I will not spoil.)

GRIPES

Strangely, I can’t think of any gripes directed towards Leshy as a character.

Part IV: Favorite Quotes from Leshy

There are two quotes I loved from Leshy, and here they are in order:

"Stop shaking. The only thing you have to fear is your own inadequacy. Behold me. I am Leshy, The Scrybe of Beasts. We share a desire for you to challenge me. But first..." "I know what you're thinking. No. This is not my legendary camera. Not the one I used to create Beast Cards. This one is a mere replica. You may use it to create photos of the beasts in these woods. My subordinates... The Prospector, The Angler, and The Trapper... They each require a photo before they will consider battling you. Return to me when they are all defeated."

“Another challenger... It has been ages.”

Part V: Conclusion

Now that the review has come to an end, let me tie up some things:

As I’ve already explained before, Leshy’s willingness to hand hold the player through the first few minutes of the game was a thing I adored about him as a character.

He definitely reminds me of a dungeon master’s personality, when setting up the story for the game, and when he dramatically reveals his title as the Scrybe of Beasts.

It’s so amazing that he was based on a forest deity of the same name in Slavic folklore, I just found that really neat!

This is the first of nine reviews in this “series” I’ll call it! Hope you enjoyed it and look forward to the next review!

Epilogue Note I: Phew, that was a long one!

Epilogue Note II: Special thanks to @sizzlin-system (aka Ame) for getting me into this game hardcore <3 /p

[justherefortaylorswift]

there’s glitter on the floor after the party...

Taylor,

*About 9 days ago, on May 22nd, 2018, I had just arrived home from your Seattle show at CenturyLink Field. It was 4am and I couldn’t sleep. I had so much on my mind and was still on a high from your show. So, in the early hours of the morning, after my friends had long gone to bed, I began to write. I’ve revised my original note quite a bit since then. I’ve also had the opportunity to do some additional reflecting since tour, and I have some thoughts. So, I guess this is the end-result of a mash-up of 4AM overly-emotional rambling, combined with well thought-out, fully coherent, mature writing. I feel like I really over-explained this. I could have been a lot less-awkward in setting this up. Let's just get into it:

[SO. I just got home from your Seattle show. It's 4 am and I can't sleep. This was my 6th tour, and I made what seems like an infinite amount of unforgettable memories with a group of incredible people I call my ‘Swiftie Fam” (the name needs work...). There's Cecil (my long-time, Canadian Swiftie friend, you’ll see him in earlier posts), Wanda (Cecil’s wife), Kaeden (7. Cecil & Wanda’s son. Major Swiftie. His first concert!), and finally the beautiful Maile (a recent addition to the fam, and now a life-long friend!).  It’s hard to explain in words, but we all have developed a connection that’s special and unique because of what we experienced together. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to stand by my side tonight. We danced, laughed, and cried together… I don’t think I’ve ever felt more understood. These people ‘get’ me.

Not surprisingly, I screamed every single lyric at the top of my lungs and subsequently lost my voice almost IMMEDATIELY. With that in mind, I suppose a more accurate description would be: I wasn’t so much singing, as I was gasping for the remainder of the show. I literally danced with until I was out of breath. I cried (ok, SOBBED) all of my make-up off (a Long Live/NYD mash-up… are you kidding me?! I FEEL ATTACKED). 

By the end of the night, I resembled a pathetic, overly-emotional, glittery, drowned rat.

and I was living my absolute best life.

Also, I was REALLY proud of our outfits this time around! I think we did a decent job of recreating your Direct TV commercial, with my rainbow two-piece, and Cecil’s interpretation of Olivia Benson dressed as a Caticorn (I can’t say I ever thought I’d use that in a sentence). It consisted of around 8-10 hours total of gluing, painting, and hand-sewing, leading up to the show. Everything turned out awesome, way better than expected. Totally worth the man hours! Wanda hand-made matching these adorable matching t-shirts for her and little Kaden (Big Rep & Little Rep), and Maile constructed a beautiful MASTERPIECE from the mountain LYWMMD outfit- it was freakin’ incredible and HOT!

There was something a bit different about this tour for a couple of reasons:

[The production.] I don’t think I’ve experienced such sensory-overload in my LIFE. The whole time it was like a constant stream of frantic, internal dialogue with a lot of run-on sentences, like, “WHAT IS HAPPENING SHE’S GIVING US CHOREO OMG YAAASSS WERK HONEY IF A MAN TALKS SHIT WE DON'T OWE HIM A DAMN THING OH MY GOD ITS RAINING CONFETTI I MUST COLLECT IT I HOPE THESE MULTI-COLORED FLASHING LIGHTS DON’T GIVE ME AN EPILEPTIC ATTACK WHERE THE F-CK DID THESE GIGANTIC SNAKES COME FROM THERE ARE LITERALLY STAGES EVERYWHERE I’M OVERWHELMED OH SHIT SHES PULLING A SPEAK NOW BY WALKING THROUGH THE CROWD WHAT'S GOING ON OH GOD F-CKING FIREWORKS THESE VOCALS ARE LIT THO I'M SWEATING I’M DEFINITELY GONNA NEED THERAPY AFTER THIS NEW YEARS DAY/LONG LIVE MASH UP IS THAT A FOUNTAIN WHATS HAPPENING OH GOD IT’S REAL WATER AND SHE’S IN THE FOUNTAIN I’M HAVING A 2008 SHOULD’VE SAID NO ACM AWARDS FLASHBACK MOMENT HOLY SH-T MORE F-CKING FIREWORKS SO MUCH PYRO IS THIS EVEN LEGAL” I’ve gotta say, you have BEST band (Paul, Amos and Mike..OGS), vocalists (Eliott and Kamilah…the TALENT), and all the dancers. Every single person on that stage was on FIRE, and their talent, passion, and individual personalities made the night sparkle.

[The fans.] I freaking adore this fan culture. I’ve never met a Swiftie who wasn’t ridiculously friendly, welcoming, and super relatable. The vibe was so positive. I’ve never smiled, waved and taken pictures with so many random strangers in my life. It felt as if we were literally in a different world that day. It felt like home.

[YOU!.]  We need to talk about this major GLO UP you’ve got going on, honey. You exude SO much confidence and you're just pure sunshine. When I think about the way you’ve carried yourself these past couple of years through all of the BS drama, I can’t help but feel damn proud. You’ve successfully converted pain into art, into music. Real music, that’s poignant, raw, and just BAD ASS. Your lyrics continue to foster a special connection you maintain with the audience...a connection that often times breathes life into brokenness.

I felt like the luckiest girl in the entire world tonight. 

This may have been my best concert experience ever, which is actually pretty ironic because:

Unlike Red, I wasn’t in the Pit

I didn’t have VIP seating, like 1989

You weren’t close enough for any potential high fives, waves, or eye contact like I experienced at Speak Now at B-Stage

We were not chosen for Rep Room (or T-Party, Club Red, or Loft 89)

…But, it was OK. It was way more than OK. It was truly a dream.

Listen: Something I've always deeply admired about you is that you make it a priority to maintain a personal relationship with the fans.  It’s clear you want to meet as many of us as possible, and you make a conscious effort to do so. You get to know us as individuals and you CARE, and that means everything us and makes such an impact. I mean, you invite us into your HOME for crying out loud, you walk through massive crowds and give high-fives, you lurk our Instagrams and Tumblrs and interact on social media, and you always make a notable effort to meet as many of us as possible at tour.

However, this can sometimes turn into a bit of a "Catch 22" situation for people. The downside, is that it’s honestly SUPER easy to fall into the “trap” of being consumed with the possibility of meeting you after your shows. Due to the fact that the “selection” process is both intentional, yet also random. To be transparent, it's quite difficult to not obsess with the idea of ‘trying’ to get chosen. I witness this behavior so often, in others and in myself just as much, if not more. Selfishly, I often feel not only jealous, but UPSET when I see photos/read experiences of other fans meeting you. I sometimes feel like the only one who hasn’t yet gotten the opportunity.  It can quickly turn into a mind-game if you're not careful, which has the potential to become toxic if we allow the idea of meeting you to rule supreme over what it's actually about...which is the MUSIC. And, this amazing show you put on for us night after night. And somewhat understandably so, I've witnessed the obsession with being chosen to meet you become a main focus point for a lot of us (including myself a bit!). It's pretty stressful, and can easily dampen or cheapen the concert experience, if you're not careful. As dramatic as this probably sounds, Tumblr (and social media) can be brutal within this fandom, and dare I say ‘cut-throat’ at times. It's easy to get upset watching (what seems like) literally EVERYONE get that opportunity, except you. 

That said, I had a wake-up call/mini-epiphany recently, which manifested while driving home from your show at Midnight on May 22nd with my friends, feeling so amazing and so grateful for what I just experienced…but also a little guilty because I feel like I’ve spent way too much time worrying about the possibility of meeting at you when you come to Seattle, how to get the attention of Taylor Nation, where to find Mama Swift, getting that guitar pick from Papa Swift, and this time was no different. Granted, my intentions are 100% pure and it’s only because you’ve meant so freakin much to me for so many years, and it's almost as if my life won’t be complete until I finally get to tell you in person. That said, there is certainty a valuable lesson to be learned here. I am confident that you and I will come face-to-face one day (hopefully with my Swifie fam!). The stars will align at the exactly the right time, and I will have my moment with you, and it will be SO worth the wait. You can't "force" stuff like this, you know? The privilege of meeting you is almost ‘sacred’ in a sense. At least in my opinion. Anyway, my point is: I refuse to a continue to attempt to “create fate” by attempting to "earn" my worthiness in fandom. It’s not productive, it's not healthy, and it’s not cute.

Alright, this is getting out of hand. I need to wrap this up. 🤣 I’m not sure whether or not you’ve seen any of my throwback photo-posts I posted the week leading up to the show. They definitely explain a lot more about me, and my history being a fan. Either way, I must reiterate how grateful I am to have you in my life, and that support you 100% and will always be here. The amount of hope, joy and comfort you've given me over the past 10+ years is insurmountable, and I'll never be able to repay you for that. And I mean that in the most sincere way. Not a lot of things make me as happy as you make me (especially lately). This experience was the ‘boost’ I needed, I think. And like I said, the relationship I have with my friends/Swiftie Fam is invaluable, and I look forward to making memories with them at your shows in the future. You’ve brought the most random group of people together and created a bond that’s unique, unconditional and unbreakable, and I think that’s so cool.

This was A LOT longer than I originally intended it to be. This escalated quickly. Haha. Thanks for listening. 💗

Don’t read the last page…]

Love you, T

Crystal

@taylorswift

@taylornation

@ceunit

@maileswiftie

[photos]:  1) The whole crew: Cecil, Wanda, Kaeden, Maile and myself at our seats. 2) Kaeden the night before the show. SO EXCITED!! 3) Testing out the Caticorn onesie w/ Cecil 4) Cecil and myself FULLY DECKED and ready to go. 5) Wanda and Kaeden: Big Rep & Lil’ Rep! 6) the girls! Maile, Wanda and Me pre-show 7) Us at the end of the show! And yes, that’s me in the middle..in disbelief, exhausted, sweaty, and a physical and emotional wreck (see also: ‘drowned rat’ description above). 8) All of us after the show literally in a hotel lobby (and glitter on the floor after the party!), waiting for traffic to die down before we headed home.