#I kinda wanna make them play a random game as well but idk what

[shslpunkartist99]

Idk if I'm gonna have them all become Trump Cards at around the same time, but I had the funny thought of them meeting each other "for the first time" in a Leader meeting, and everyone's just dumbfounded/shocked/puzzled af when seeing each other

Except for Kurai, who didn't really know anyone, so he's just vibing in the corner

[diagonal-queen]

can i request first kiss with tetcho and anyone else you want? ^^

yes you certainly can my love!!

Their first kiss with you

♡ pairing: Tecchou Suehiro, Atsushi Nakajima, Oda Sakunosuke, Lucy Montgomery x gn!Reader

♡ synopsis: Your first kiss with them!

♡ cw: Very slight implications of NSFW in Tecchou's part, but otherwise pure fluff :)

note: Well, this took far too long. I'm sorry anon T-T fortunately I am starting to catch up with most of my reqs, so hopefully I'll be able to open reqs again soon! (for clarification I'm currently completing ones I received before closing my requests) Apologies for errors and I hope you enjoy x

Tecchou:

Offbeat as he is, he's secretly so serious about it. He's crazy adamant on not messing this moment up lol

He initially intended to make it fun and fancy, like take you out to some restaurant and make it all romantic (that's probably what the other Hunting Dogs suggested), but in reality you're both just sitting on the couch at your place together playing video games and eating pizza and other random snacks

Your relationship was progressing steadily but Tecchou wanted to make the next big move, so he wanted to kiss you while he was spending the night with you (and possibly do other things idk)

You guys were currently watching a movie (it can be whatever film you want) and Tecchou just keeps thinking about kissing you. He's even more aloof than usual and you do eventually notice it.

When you decide to ask him if something's wrong, he turns to you and asks "Is it alright if I kiss you?" Tecchou's always been a very direct person after all!

You pause out of shock for a second or two, but you quickly tell him that you'd be more than happy if he kissed you.

So, Tecchou does kiss you after gently caressing your cheek. He's a surprisingly soft and gentle kisser. You two end up making out for a while and ignoring the movie lol

Perhaps the casual staying-in date was a better setting for your first kiss with him after all ^-^

Atsushi:

You've never seen him so nervous in your life

Throughout your whole date you were already aware that he was planning to end it with your first kiss (poor thing is too obvious) but you didn't say anything because you didn't wanna embarrass him.

He tries to keep the mood at ease but he's just so clearly trying to build up his courage to do it so it's kinda hard to be normal with him without giving away the fact that you're in the know.

The date is the two of you going out to eat one evening (perhaps at a diner of some sort), and then wandering around the port together and admiring the environment (city lights are quite romantic, after all)

You two are sitting at a bench near the sea, it's comfortably quiet between the two of you, but you know Atsushi is still trying to figure out how to approach this

Eventually you decide enough is enough and just do it for him. You grab his attention, pull him in and kiss him. He short circuits and when you pull away is speechless, and his face is also so pink. It's honestly super cute

But when you kiss him again he's less shocked, and so he kisses back. And, what do you know, he's great at it! If you could, you would make out with Atsushi for hours.

"I've been wanting to do that for the longest time," he breathes, after you two pull apart for air. And that's hot, my friends. Only cowards would deny it 😌

Oda:

You two usually spent your dates in places that most people wouldn't really consider romantic (eg. Bar Lupin, just strolling through the danker streets of Yokohama, sitting in your car in a parking lot somewhere (it's an aesthetic guys))

On these dates you two tend to have conversations about life, philosophy, literature and other stuff like that.

You and Oda are sitting side by side, and he's watching you with this lovestruck look on his face while you're talking about something you're passionate about.

When you notice, you ask him what the matter is, to which he simply smiles and tells you that you look adorable.

As if that wasn't enough he then adds "To be honest, I'd really like to kiss you." Cue your short circuiting, and Odasaku's chuckling while he watches this.

Eventually though you tell him that you really wouldn't mind that, and so he slowly leans in and presses his lips to yours. Afterwards he tells you that you taste sweeter than he could have imagined, and he'll also kiss your hand like the gentleman he is

Whether or not you continue really depends whether or not you're in private or public, so you can either go back to talking or you can just make out with him (he's more than happy to do both)

On the surface your first kiss with Oda seems casual enough but you're both reeling with butterflies afterwards (help I want him so bad)

Lucy:

She kinda drags it out for a while. Lucy really wants to kiss you, but she's too afraid to admit that to you, but she also doesn't wanna kiss you out of nowhere because that's rude. She doesn't know what to do

You and Lucy would have super cute dates- cafe visits, walks in the park, classic romantic stuff. She's very cute and old school like that

This particular date is a picnic, like on a summer afternoon in the park. Often Lucy is a bit of a chatterbox and loves to converse with you but today she's a little quiet.

You ask her if she's alright because she's also eating less than normal, and with a blush she insists that she's fine and tells you to enjoy yourself.

You try to brush it off and the date continues all fine and well, but when comes the time to eat the cake that she brought, she offers to feed it to you. She's so clearly nervous while doing this, even though it's not the first time she's fed you

Once you both finish eating she takes a breath and finally blurts out "Can I kiss you?"

When it clicks that this is why she's been nervous the whole time you start laughing and she gets mad at you (though she's just a little embarrassed is all)

You tell her that of course she can kiss you, and so she does (with a huge blush on her face lol). And she tastes like strawberries <3

man it's been so long since i kissed someone...or had physical contact with another human being in any capacity...i'm not coping well guys T-T

[yakuzabrainrotlive]

Did start Yakuza 5 yesterday! I played for 6 hours, had a BLAST. Finished chapter 1 and got a good amount of time put into chapter 2. I enjoyed going around town, grinding and doing side content. Had to gather my thoughts so posts had to come later. Yes, this is a two-parter.

My stats at the end of my little session:

Some thoughts below! I made NOTES for myself on characters and such this time around. This post is gonna be more plot and character speculation-focused; the next post will be more about gameplay mechanics, side content, general thoughts etc.!

Small-ish rant/monologue about protagonist numbers in the last section, though. Could have gone into part 2, but wanted it off my chest asap lmao

This title screen is sooooo not ominous!! I did not shiver in fear of what's to come when I saw it!! I'm sure Kiryu will be having a BLAST this game!

....🥲😭

SO! We're in 2012. Two years, huh. Seems like everything has kinda gone the opposite way from my wishes after the end of Y4, especially in regards to Kiryu.. or should I say, Suzuki's character. I really wanna know what happened in these past years to make him run away like this. He seems MISERABLE!! I feel bad for him😭

Daigo infodumping to Kiryu about Tojo business while Kiryu was just trying to get his paycheck was kind of funny to me, not gonna lie. But also kind of sad. Kiryu seems to be trying even harder to cut off anything Tojo from his life, even as Daigo was trying to reach out. I'm so curious about this time skip era!! Give me the tea!!

Okay. I was kinda assuming Morning Glory was gonna be left behind or kind of in the background (based on Kiryu's outfit), but... Haruka as well, huh. That's. Yeah. And he (debatably) hasn't straight up just abandoned them 100%, he's putting SIGNIFICANT and harsh distance between himself and the people he cares for. Ouch. Feels eerily similar to what he did in Y0 with Nishiki, Kazama, Reina and Kashiwagi.

This is all very... drastic. Changing his name, moving away and leaving EVERYONE behind? Including Haruka? This is exactly the opposite of what Kiryu was vowing to himself, to Daigo and even to Saejima in a way back in Y4. Either the writers changed their minds about his arc or something is off. I'm dreading finding out which one it is. Currently I feel like he's either actively in major danger right now, and hence decided to resort to such measures, OR something happened that he blames himself for.

I love Nakajima. He's so good! In general as a person (at least it seems that way) AND to Kiryu. Which probably means he's gonna die. RIP in advance, King🫡🫡

This dynamic is either gonna be absolutely insufferable, or maybe kind of okay. I have no predictions on how this will turn out, I was completely wrong about Kiryu's possible character arc in this game so... idk. Kiryu has blindsided me. But for now I don't think this will become a romance.

What I find interesting is the tidbit Nakajima gave about the situation where Kiryu saved her, where Nakajima also met him for the first time - Kiryu was getting DESTROYED in a fight. Kiryu, destroyer of whole clans, the one-man army, getting his shit kicked in by random local yakuza? Was he trying to refrain from using any sort of violence (even in self-defence??), or... was he recovering from significant injuries he got before the fight?

Now, I'm just assuming, based on Mayumi's character profile section and Nakajima's description of the woman Kiryu saved (she was very pretty) that Mayumi IS the woman Kiryu was defending when Nakajima first met him. I'm quite sure it was her.

What I wouldn't give to hear his thoughts in this scene... I was very conflicted the whole time; on one hand I wanted to SHAKE Kiryu and side with the Tojo guys. Why abandon Daigo? I understand it's probably just so he doesn't get stuck in another Tojo mess, but... it's Daigo!! Come on!! But I can also see that Kiryu feels... guilty?? Conflicted?? There was a storm of EMOTIONS brewing in his eyes. What a mess. He clearly doesn't like the situation but he also really wants NOTHING to do with it.

Kinda off topic, but massive props to those two for taking Kiryu on so boldly despite knowing who he is (was? I have no idea). They are Tojo men, they've heard the stories. Yet, they still tried. The balls on these guys!!

As for the man of the hour... Daigo. MIA - conveniently right before this alliance (opposed by some important people) gets to fully come to fruition, as the current leader of the Kansai group is dying soon🤔

I feel as though Daigo knew something would happen. He sought Kiryu out and was quite insistent to talk to him. At the beginning of the game I found the lore dump he dropped on Kiryu's unwilling mind weird and almost amusing, but looking back on it now... it almost feels like he was giving Kiryu information he'd need to solve the case if he happened to go missing. He even named possible suspects.

Why not go to a trusted clan member? They'd probably throw a hissy fit and wanna call everything off, maybe even start a new, very bloody conflict. All just because Daigo suspected something might happen to himself. This whole situation stinks.

Current theory: one, or all three, of the Kansai leader hopefuls are in cahoots with the uhhh *checks notes* Yahata(?) dude. The Yamagasa family captain. Why? To stop the alliance because they all hate the Tojo clan. They probably have Daigo locked up. Or maybe Daigo is dead already.

One final thing: was NOT thrilled to see "Part 1: Kiryu Kazuma" 😬 I was kinda hoping for a single-protag game, tbh 👉🏻👈🏻

Okay, hear me out! IF the other protag(s) is/are the Yakuza 4 lads, I'll be okay! But if there's a new guy (or, god forbid, 2 of them), I don't know if I'm gonna like that. I liked Y4 a lot, but it was also a lot to keep track of, and it felt like everyone got very little time in the spotlight - especially Kiryu and Saejima.

I'm almost suffering from... new protagonist fatigue after 4. I'm okay seeing many new side characters, but new playable characters with their own fighting styles that I have to learn, human relationships, backstories and motivations... Getting to know and to "bond with" another batch of new playable people seems like a very tiring task to get through at this point.

If we have 2+ protagonists, I want them to be from Y4 or earlier, because I already know them in a way and I'm not opposed to seeing more of them because it doesn't seem as overwhelming. I wanna see more of Saejima at least, if we HAVE to have alternating protagonists.

[magicaii]

Need a spinneraki non-villain au where both of them are shut in losers. Like, shuichi is a college drop out who’s been a NEET for the past two years and has convinced himself that he will never fit into society so why even bothering trying and doesn’t even care enough to outside anymore and tomura never made it to college at all and just lives off of his rich dad’s (afo) income as he does nothing but stay home to game and browse the internet all day cause he’s addicted to league of legends and he’s a closet scaly.

so imagine tomura and shuichi meeting cause they ended up in the same game because tenko misclicked and chose the wrong tier, and because he’s a bit of a toxic gamer, when he notices shuichi’s character choice he turns on vc just to say, “seriously? fucking zilean in the jungle? you’re never gonna make it out of iron asshole” and he only said it be to be dick and ruin some guy’s day, but he actually ends up advising the guy to choose a better character because he’s weirdly innocent and clueless for a league of legends player and it completely takes tomura aback. he finds out the guy is a complete newbie, which kinda explains it.

and during the game, spinner (his online name) keeps asking him questions since he’s apparently just decided that tomura has signed up to be his guide. and tomura kinda just goes along with it, and they’re the only two talking in vc anyway, although he’s far from nice about it. (think: what the fuck? USE YOUR SKILL or SUPPORT ME IN TOP LANE IDIOT)

so after the game tomura is about to move on with his day but then spinner sends him a friend request and he’s like ??? why does this weirdo think I’d wanna be his friend. but the request comes with a message and it says “haha thx for the help today? I’m kinda new at this… wld appreciate some more guidance n stuff… hope I can be as good as u someday lolz” and now tomura is half convinced this guy is just a fucking troll or something, cause there’s just no way. but what the fuck else is he doing anyway? so they exchange discords to chat.

spinner is strange. sometimes spinner will say things like “why is everyone so nasty in this game :((” and tomura will be genuinely confused because?? everyone knows league of legends is a toxic cesspool?? one day he finally asks what spinner’s deal is and why he started playing, and spinner goes “well tbh I was looking for friends”. tomura just deadpans that he’s definitely looking for them in the wrong place. spinners like, “I thought it would be easy to talk to people since there’s a voice chat but turns out people just use it to yell at each other and get into arguments. why would anyone do that lol, crazy” tomura just pauses cause he doesn’t really know, either. he’s been getting into arguments with random people in voice chat for years, it’s practically become a routine at this point, but he never stopped to think about it much. it’s pretty much become his only source of social interaction apart from his dad. with a pit in his stomach, he just replies “maybe they’re lonely.”

sometimes weird background sounds will come out of tomura’s mic, and spinner, after a while, finally asks, “so I’ve been wondering for a while. sometimes it sounds like someone is being murdered in your basement, what is that” and tomura’s like “oh don’t mind that lmao, it’s just my dad. he’s an investment banker or some shit and he gets fucking tilted at the stock market. idk I mostly tune it out now” and spinner just goes really quiet and says “umm. ok!”

[blank-house]

ALR SO first of all I'm in love with the game and the extended demo is not even out, the "there's not really a good/bad/neutral ending it's just an ending" it's my favorite genre of games, it's like a weight out of my shoulders kdndn

anywaYs i wanted to know how exactly the gameplay works? Like-it's a visual novel duh and it's gonna have quicktime events/minigames (from what I've read) but the story is linear? It's event after event or you can choose which ones you wanna/can play depending the season?

Am i being clear? Idk I'm kinda confused I'm sorry jdbfks

ahdlkwhadl wahhh I'm glad you really like it so far! And same haha I really adore being able to give nuance to things rather than have them be told to me

Also no need to apologize! I kinda get what you mean-- and if I didn't then feel free to ask another question lol

But yeah the gameplay's pretty linear and you do get to choose the events you play through! I hope you're curious about the back end of things, but essentially the team's always gonna write 6 (ehh 7) events for a given season. One of them is the main event, which in the case of the first spring season is the BBQ event, and then the rest are invitational events. The way those work is that someone from the cast is going to invite you to do something in a buffer scene, whether its by text or by call, and you have the option to decline or accept it. Each time this happens, you get invited to three events out of the five at the same time. So when it happens it's always random BUT you'll always get invited to one of these events at least once.

Now here's the kicker. Even though we've made five invitational events, you only play three of them in a season. Why we do this-- well it's because I want you to consciously decide what memories you want to make with our crew. Plus time isn't always on your side, so as nice as it would be to do everything, you can't always do the things you want to do. ^^, (also replayability HUZZAH!)

But anyway, once you played through the three you want, there's this kind of interlude event that wraps up the season and then you repeat the same process all the way to the end of the game!

Sprinkled in to kind of break the monotony of just "playing" through an event are the Quick Time Events and Minigames like you've read! QTEs would be more common, and you can disable it if you'd like, minigames are definitely rare but I do want to incorporate them too. There's one I really am excited for but it's unfortunately for a summer event so alas it won't be in the extended demo.

You can... hmm... probably think of Keyframes like Tokimeki Memorial if you know what that game is. And actually you should haha when I was pitching this game to our writing director that was all they could compare it to and after seeing a gameplay of it-- yeahhhh I have to agree. Stat-raising, deciding what you'll do for a day... yeahhhh

But hope that gives you an idea of what we're trying to do!

[reigningqueenofwords]

For the Horde

Pairing: Dean x Reader Request: @fayemenelmir Hey there. Is it possible to get some more Gamer Dean? Or a Gamer Sam (With him MMO’s would be awesome)? Read the Gamer Dean Series a 3rd or 4th time now. Probably reader and Sam or Dean meeting in a game, she is a hunter as well and they really like each other and are desperate to meet, but can’t since they are afraid to drag the other one into the hunter life. Then they meet in a bar before a hunt and idk… she tells him about this “hot guy I’ve got to work with now”?

Part 1 of the Games We Play

You drummed your fingers on your desk as you waited for you character to load. Your headphones were on your ears, as you preferred to hear it that way. Barely on 10 seconds, and his name popped up, making you grin.

Theinastus- Well hello.  Kanestinia- Hey :)

You bit your lip. You’d been talking to him for quite a bit now, and seeing his name always made you blush. 

Theinastus- How was your trip? Kanestinia- Pretty good. Boring all on my own :( Theinastus- Poor baby. Want some company? ;)

Laughing, you shook your head and typed out your reply.

Kanestinia- I’m sure I wouldn’t get much driving done! Lol Theinastus- Probably not. Wanna do a random? Kanestinia- Maybe in the morning :( I just got on to do a couple dailies. I’ve been slacking…  Theinastus- 11? Kanestinia- Works for me.  Theinastus- Sounds like a date. I’ll bring the looks.  Kanastinia- You are such a dork. But, I’ll bring the DPS.

The two of you continued to chat while you did your dailies and he screwed around. You didn’t know his real name, and he didn’t know yours. It was safer that way. While you really liked him, you couldn’t drag him into this life. It wouldn’t be right. You were a hunter, and not in that ‘shooting Bambi’ kinda way. You hunted all the evil things that actually existed.

Dean groaned when he saw you go offline. You’d stayed on 10 extra minutes just to talk to him, but had a long day tomorrow. Sam came in, raising an eyebrow at him. “Isn’t that where I left you? Like…4 hours ago?”

“Pretty much. I got up to get a beer, and take a leak. That’s about it.” He shrugged.

“Why don’t you just meet her already? You went from watching too much porn to…that.” He motioned to the computer.

He laughed. “First of all ‘that’ is World of Warcraft. I can be, or do, damn near anything. I was playing this before I started talking to her, not the other way around. And, no, Sammy, I’m not meeting her.” He got up, grabbing his empty beer.

Sam sighed. “Why not?”

“We’re hunters!” He pointed out. “In case you haven’t notice, we lose people we care about in this business. Let her stay some virtual chick that is perfectly safe from the bad luck that comes from being near us.” He ranted.

“You love her.” He grinned. “Dude.” Dean gave him a look. “You’re in love!”

“So what. It doesn’t matter. Drop it.” It was obvious that it upset him, so Sam let it be.

The next morning at 10:50, you logged on to see him waiting.

Kanestinia- Awe. Were you anxious to see me?  Theinastus-  Shut up. Wench.  Kanestinia- Is that anyway to talk to the future mother of your virtual children? :P Theniastus- Fine. Miss Wench!  Kanestinia- Just invite me so we can get in queue.  Theniastus- Yes, dear.

You quickly accepted the invite and hoped you didn’t get a dickbag group again. A couple weeks before you ended up leaving the group because a couple of the guys in group didn’t know what they were doing.

Thankfully you got a pretty awesome group- laid back, but knew how to get shit done. You went through pretty quickly, and thanked them before leaving.

Kanestinia- Not a single upgrade, man.  Theinastus- Wtf you bitching about? I didn’t win a single roll.  Kanestinia- I rigged it. Lol Oops.  Theinastus- How do you rig it? Did you pay someone off? How much gold do you have? :O  Kanestinia- Are you trying to find out if I’m wealthy? Are you a gold digger? *gasps* You just want me for my booty! LOL Theinastus- I’m sure it’s a very nice booty ;)  Kanestinia- I think so.

A week later, a new motel. Another night hoping to see him on. Sadly, he was nowhere to be seen, so you sent him in game mail.

Theinastus-  Hope you’re having a killer Friday night! Don’t get too wasted on me. I need my DH :( I’ll be on tomorrow morning for a few before I need to run some errands. Hope to see you then! -K

Hitting send, you opted to quest for a bit before heading to bed.

Dean ducked as a fist came flying at him. “Son of a bitch!” He growled, running into the vamp’s stomach with his shoulder, taking him down.

Sam came running from another room, blood splattered on him. He was breathing heavy as he rushed to help his brother.

“Awe, man.” He sighed, seeing your name go offline just as he logged on. Seeing he had mail, he grinned. Reading it quickly, he went to reply.

Sam looked over his shoulder to read. “Awe. How sweet. She needs you.” He chuckled, slapping Dean on the back before walking away.

“At least there’s a woman in my life, Sammy.”

“Who you refuse to meet.”

Dean turned and looked at him before typing. “Look at us. We came back to the motel covered in blood. You think I want to bring her into that?”

Sam gave him a sad smile. “I know you don’t, Dean. Go on. Write back.”

K- I’m sorry I missed you. You can say I had a pretty killer night. Lots of action ;) I’ll be on and waiting for you.  Until then- T

[osleeplessflowero]

hi!! i JUST finished reading your cowboy!stretch x reader oneshot on ao3 and i absolutely loved it, would you mind making a continuation of it? probably with them riding a horse. thank you so much for writing that i love it so much!!! :D

// HII omg!! I'm so happy you liked the oneshot, that one was super fun to write! I'd be more than happy to write a continuation. Hopefully I do your request justice! (Especially considering it's my first one!!)

🧡You can find the first oneshot Here. :)🧡

❤️ Reader has They/Them pronouns, and their SOUL type is up to you! 🧡 Country AU! Cowboy skeletons my beloved.. 💛 This takes place in a Crossover universe, so common fandom nicknames will be used!

It's been a few weeks since you met that dashing skeleton, Stretch, at Grillby's. After taking a few days, you worked your hardest and finally managed to fix up that old barn. Now she looks good as new, and you..need to find something else to do.

You sit in your house, kicking your legs back and forth as you lie on your stomach on your couch. Some random show plays on the tv in front of it you recognize, but you're not really focusing on it since you're facing your left scrolling through your phone. Nothing really sticks out to you, searching for something of interest before you see a little notification pop down from someone. You miss it the first time, pulling down the top of your screen and realizing it's from Stretch.

You sit up abruptly on your knees, shifting to face the tv and letting your legs rest on the wood floor. It's always nice to see what he's up to.

honey enthusiast🍯 - now -> heya, what are you up to?

You - now <- nothing much, just watching tv and dying of boredom lol ive got nothing to do now that the barns all fixed

honey enthusiast🍯 - now -> you could come over to me and my bro's place, it's just us here today

You - now <- rsally? *really?

honey enthusiast🍯 - now -> rsally

You - now <- stfu

honey enthusiast🍯 - now -> lmaoo but yeah im fr could show you the animals and stuff

You - now <- bet uh idk where you live tho

honey enthusiast🍯 - now -> i'll send you the location or i could just come get u if u want

You - now <- i think ill drive there i wanna remember the way in case i come over again :)

honey enthusiast🍯 - now -> alr sounds good to me lol i'll wait at the front gate for you sent attachment

You hop up from your seat on the couch, petting one of your dogs who'd decided to lie down in front of the couch and walking into your room to change.

"Okay, he..he lives on a ranch?? Well, I guess I should've gotten that from the cowboy getup, huh? I should probably wear somethin' I'm okay with gettin' dirty.." You browse through your closet, picking out some casual clothes that'll keep you cool and comfortable in the summer heat.

"Time to go." You walk out of your room, playing some music from the stereo in your living room and giving your dogs some pets before bidding them goodbye. You walk out to your truck and climb inside, turning the key and beginning to drive to the location you set your GPS to. A few familiar songs play while you make your way down several sets of roads. You promptly bop your head to them, lip syncing some of the words.

You knew you were at the right place the moment you saw it. The house was huge based on what you could see from the gate as you drove up to it, plenty of land surrounding it with fences up to keep any unwanted visitors out. You see a familiar shade of orange pop up as the skeleton opens the gate, walking over to your window and leaning his arms on it.

"howdy. glad you could make it, didn't get lost did you?" "Nope, got here a-okay. This place is massive- are you guys loaded or something?" You ask, flabbergasted. He chuckles at that, looking back at the house. "well, it just kinda happened when we exchanged monster currency for human currency. so I guess you could say we are." "Jesus." "you can go ahead and pull up wherever, it doesn't matter." He stands on the step just below your door, holding on. You smile at the action, driving further in and parking in a spot next to someone else's car.

He jumps down onto the ground and lets you get out, closing the door behind yourself and locking it before jumping down too.

You hear a faint "Hello!" in the distance as someone runs over, grinning wide. A skeleton, a pretty large one at that yet shorter than Stretch. His attire is pretty similar to the former, only his is buttoned up much more neatly and is blue rather than orange. Stretch's top button is currently loose, exposing a little bit of his sternum. You also notice how the two stick to one color scheme, Stretch sticking with orange and this one sticking to blue specifically.

"you're in luck, they just got here." "Yes, I'm Not Late! Hello, There! I'm Stretch's Brother, Blue. We Live Together Close To Some Of Our Friends." "It's nice to meet you, Blue. I'm.." You tell him your name, and the two of you chat about this and that before Stretch steals you away to show you around. You both walk around different parts of the ranch before you decide to go and visit the animals, saying hello to each of them promptly.

"You have so many horses-" "like. ten of them." "JESUS-" You pause, looking towards one, before turning back to him with a smile.

"..what?" He raises a brow, smiling as well with crossed arms as he observes you. "..Can we ride one?" "..you want to ride one?" "Yes- please-" "i mean, yeah, i don't see why not. though, we'd probably have to ride together. are you okay with that? if not, i can figure something out." "I'm okay with that. Won't bother me." "alright, just gimme a sec."

You wait patiently as he goes to get a proper saddle, walking over to a few horses and letting them smell your hands so they know to trust you. One in particular takes a liking to you, a black horse with a stripe of white from its muzzle to its forehead. It nuzzles its nose against the side of your head until Stretch returns, smiling as he walks over.

"somebody's attached. no, you can't bring the horse home with you." "Aww-" You fake pout, before smiling and gently petting its head. "but, you can come back to visit." "You bet I will." A determined look crosses your face. "you wanna ride this one?" He points with his thumb. "Yes- if they are okay with that, of course."

He nods, and after a few seconds the horse is saddled and ready to go.

"so, you're gonna have to sit in front of me. is that alright?" "Yeah, that's fine." "alright, cool."

He helps you get up onto the horse first. It's a bit of a strange sensation at first, but you gradually get used to it. He then climbs up and sits comfortably behind you and the saddle, gently taking hold of the reins. Feeling his arms around your waist has you feeling a bit flushed, your face heating up a bit as you hope he doesn't notice.

"comfortable?" He speaks calmly so as to not spook the horse, his head just above your shoulder. A shiver goes down your spine accompanied by an anxious smile. "Y- ..Yeah, I'm all good." You mutter, cursing yourself internally for stuttering as you hear him chuckle behind you. You don't realize at first when the horse starts to move before you snap out of a daze, looking ahead with a smile.

You feel..safe with his arms around you, even as you're very flushed. You can just blame it on the heat if he asks. What you don't know, however, is that he seems to be fairly flushed himself..a bright shade of orange lightly making its way over his cheekbones. He keeps his lazy smile as he looks over you, making sure you're alright and comfortable.

Blue has a cheeky grin as he watches you both ride around the field, leaning his arms on one of the fences.

His hold on your waist tightens a little when the horse picks up its speed, causing your face to heat up even more before that feeling is overcome by excitement. You cheer as it runs, carrying you both around.

This continues for a little while before both the two of you and the horse become tired. Stretch slides off and helps you jump down, guiding the horse back to where it can rest.

"That was fun! I wouldn't mind doing it again." "..maybe you can, next time you come over." "Yeah." You avert your eyes, your face admittedly still a little flushed. You can't fully bring yourself to meet his gaze until he reaches up to get some grass out of your hair.

"i wouldn't mind." He smirks, his eyes relaxed as he looks at you. You clear your throat. "Yeah, uh..looking forward to it." You smile in return as Blue walks over to greet you both.

"Why Don't You Guys Come Inside? I'd Love For You To Stay For Dinner. We Can Talk More!" He suggests with a friendly smile. You look over briefly at Stretch for a moment before turning back to him.

"Yeah, I'm cool with that. I'd better get home before dark, though. I've got dogs waiting at home for me." "you have dogs?" Stretch perks up, curious. "Yeah, two." "i wanna pet 'em-" "Well, maybe you can visit me next."

He grins as Blue guides you both inside, gently closing the door behind him.

Part 3? Ao3 Link:

[kozykricket]

big minecraft & terraria thoughtdump

just gonna say, exploration/basing/traversal/whatever in minecraft is a complex topic, because of how many differing views there are on how much travel should even be necessary and its really freakin hard to think about in an INFINITE WORLD as well. big random thought dump time

like i think terraria does the gameplay of exploration better than minecraft ever has or will do it, and thats fine its just because of what terrarias designed after

ah right i have an idea for a post on me having maybe possibly figured out why i like when terraria makes me go on sidequests to biomes vs i dont like when mc does that (its probably mostly bc i view terraria as an exploration game, and also most of the rewards are just relevant to the core gameplay loop, and. well. its a careful balance. locking some qol behind certain things is cool, but sometimes its too much. either way i know vanilla terraria does it greatly) anyways, i think minecrafts in a weird spot but . i do think more unique ore, animal, and hostile mob distribution in biomes... would help increase the desire for players to do stuff outside of just their home base. to actually have more wildly different biomes with outposts at them especially if like, crops grew faster or animals had shorter breeding cooldowns in the "right" biomes but the issue there is like. god i dont care how nice it can be to make paths, i am NOT making infrastructure to anywhere further than like 300 blocks away from my general base area. that'd just get a bit frustrating but also minecrafts kinda. for that? its made for that? idk i also feel like i have a lot i could say on When Tedium is Good vs When Its Bad in games i play a lotta tedious games but theyre like, enjoyable tedium . then theres adding qol to reduce that Fun Tedium is kinda... saddening (calamity m od reference) but adding qol to reduce tedium that really isnt interesting gameplay to anyone is like, yea thats good so i think qol is a careful thing to balance but i think mc needs more qol tbhh. stuff like how we got editing signs in 1.20

um. what else... i just think like. minecraft exploration is weird because ill see something really cool thats far away and itll be like "woah! thats so cool (imagines building something awesome there) well anyways. never gonna come back here" and sometimes the world can get kinda repetitive to the point you just Run Through it. not really any small interesting things to grab along a journey. its gotta either be a significant structure you end up finding (which can end up being either a giant big side adventure which is cool but. i might not wanna commit to that. or its just a desert temple aka a 1 minute excursion where like, why did i even have to do any of this) i think terraria underground exploration nails it with more stuff than just ores, like life crystals and simple cabins with loot. they feel nice to find but then again. i dont wanna ALSO overanalyze whyi love terraria. ive already done that for minecraft and its both a blessing and a curse ill just say i love npc happiness, i love exploration, i love everything terraria has. except master mode and i love many things in minecraft, but i will always be a birdnester. i want to bring everything home with me. even though i think the game should prooobably design around reducing birdnesting just because like, the modern game is Definitely designed around exploration clearly ...i could make a whole post on the differences of the Vibes and Goals of modern mc vs old mc kinda tempted to wonder how many things id change about modern mc to keep all of its features but make it feel like old mc in a way. like, okay, i'd make stuff like frogs and sniffers far less animated. id make things in general feel less intentionally designed.. this post is long. im just gonna stop it here

[lilrobinbird]

Long Ass Tag Game

Cause I wanna get to know you guys better

Thanks for the tag @edas-boytoy <33 Putting this under cut

I accidently wrote looong answer for one question shdhs

How many tumblr accounts have you had before this one?

It's my first one actually haha, I've made like two/three more after this but now they're abandoned forever

Also for this blog I have two sideblogs, I don't really use them now either

How long have you been in fandom?

Like the current one? By the end of July 2023 I posted my first Kyoshi novels fanart and maybe one month earlier I started rebloging and commenting on posts from others, this was after I read the novels and I jumped into their fandom and then in the procces I've also got into tlok and atla (I enjoyed them way earlier but I just didn't participate in their fandoms)

Your favorite trope in fiction?

HMMMmmm Grumpy serious stoick ish x chaotic more fun (and other antonyms that matches first character idk) (whatever heituat has going on))), expressive women with strong personalities, girlfailures<3, severe stern ruthless etcetc women but caring deep down inside (optional), morally gray characters, and I'm just a little obssesed with mother daughter relationships in fiction if that counts as a trope

Your favorite random fact?

That might be well known idk, but sometimes for a video game character they'll hire one person as only just face model, and then differnt person as voice and acting/motion capture

Must feel weird and funny when you basically see yourself in video game doing stuff you didn't do speaking with a different voice

Your favorite game or kind of game?

Now I don't really play video games myself but since I've watched Until Dawn gameplay yeaaaars ago I still like to watch playthroughts of those choice based horror games (the quarry, devil in me, resident evil etc), and later I watch other playthroughts for different choices outcomes scenes etcetccc, The games can be kinda stupid but fun, alsooo playthroughts of adventure games(???), I usually watch them when I eat something

Also CHECK OUT "STRAY"!! I only watched playthrought too but it looks so cool, you basically play as a cat (they did good job with motion capture, feels like real cat moves and it looks so fun to play) and you're in a world when humans no longer exist and there are cool looking robots, you can stratch walls and make robots pet you but I promise it's not just that lolol it has an actual plot and wordbuilding

Aside video games I like chess but I suck big time, but for my defence I mostly played with my friend who sucks even more aHA, we downlanded one chess app for two players and played during some classes

I think I'm just interested in 3d models and graphics hehhh I like 3d modeling

There's also a game called Hades, and this one I actually started playing myself, not the kind of games I'm usually into (roguelike),but friend got me it and! The character designs are very cool

HA nerd long anwser

A place you'd like to visit? (If carbon emissions, logistics and money weren't in question)

Honestly idk, somewhere warm, Greece? Spain would be nice too mmm mm architecture

Or someplace with cool mountains

An animal you're irrationally afraid of?

Ladybugs. No further explenations. But I do appreciate their beauty on photos and from big distance, I'm serious they are very pretty

What's your favorite season?

HMmmm currenlty maybe spring

A smell that brings you nice memories?

I still remember taking a breath of fresh spring air in a specific room last year and getting hit with memories lol, is that even a smell? felt like a smell

(If you're ok talking about food. If not, delete this part)

What's your favorite food from where you were born? And what's your favorite food from some place else?

Pierogi, krokiety and bigos from our stupid potatoland, from other places hmmm, most kinds of pasta maybe, I love pasta, pasta!! which is a little boring but mmmmm mm mmmm pastaaaaa

What's your favorite drink (if you drink alcohol, alcoholic and non-alcoholic)?

I do drink but not too often and I don't really care what, I like flavoured beer, which is alcohol for babies as my friend would say and she might be right but I like it

Do you give your pets random table scraps?

Not too often but sometimes yeah and depends what is it

no pressure tag @korrasamibottles

[speaking-from-the-abyss]

Some random thoughts on Obey Me! Nightbringer up to lesson 10 (with LOTS of spoilers)

If you ask why I'm making a post like this in this blog is cause I will defend that this is a queer coded game to my last breath –and cause is my blog and I do what I want.

Full disclosure: I'm not done with the first game yet so no spoilers for that one please. I'm guessing I'll get spoiled by Nightbringer anyways as the story progresses, and I already did lol, but I wanna gush about this game because I love it so much already.

Starting with the title screen, oh my gosh the art is beautiful. 10/10 would definitely buy a poster of this.

They continue using they/them for MC and that's a thing we all gotta appreciate. Thank u.

The layout and the art of the game is just SO PRETTY in general. Definitely an upgrade from the first game, credits to the designers and artists.

It's a rhythm game!! I like it, the gameplay is easy enough and in classic Obey Me fashion you gotta be really precise when you click or else, which adds a good layer of difficulty.

We don't have 8 different types of support items, just 4, which makes it easier to keep count of how many we have. I am still broke in-game to buy them tho.

WE CAN GET DEVIL POINTS BY COMPLETING LEVELS THANK U SO MUCH. In contrast, I feel like they give less materials when you clear a stage? I mean, they gotta balance it I guess, or maybe is just me.

The game was lagging like hell when I first started playing tho. Idk if it was the game or my phone that couldn't run it or what, but it's fixed now.

I love the fact they're using the character songs for the levels!!! I was waiting for the unit songs and they took a while, but they're there too. The remixes are fun and I can't believe how good they sound.

Speaking of sound, this game's ost is SO GOOD like huh? I was kinda expecting it cause it's a big production and all but bruh. Every now and then I end up having to stop because I gotta appreciate the bgm. There was this one funny song where a banjo started playing and I straight up laughed out loud. 10/10

MK is that you?

Coming back to the layout and the designs: THERE'S SO MUCH RURI HANA IN HERE!!!!!! Love it. 20/10. Best thing ever. Whoever decided to add that I hope they're having an amazing day.

Also, is that a Ruri Hana Miss Em?? Gosh I love this game.

And I'm not done gushing about the designs yet cause LOOK AT HIM!!! LOOK!!!! He's so cute!!!!🧡🧡🧡

HE'S SO PRECIOUS JUST LOOK AT HIM!!!!! 🧡🧡🧡

The art for the cards is really pretty and I need more Levi cards so badly asap

Also, there's a shit ton of extra content, wow. I'm not sure how I feel about the whole 3D models yet (mostly cause my phone only gives me bad renditions of them) but the extra content is slice of life funny bits. I like that they're voice acted, they're good.

Hey so y'know how you can click on the characters and get voice messages in the home screen and how you interact with them in the surprise guest screen? In neither of those I can click on Levi's tail and I consider that a crime against all Levi stans.

OKAY SO when this game was announced and as time went on and we got little pieces of the plot, not gonna lie I was worried. When it comes to time and time travel this franchise has a, well, a record. I'm still worried how it's gonna develop but for now I really like the things they're showing in the main story regarding the characters and the plot. Just, y'know, fingers crossed it doesn't become a mess.

Honestly the timeline is a mess already as it is. We met Luke and he has apparently just started learning how to bake, but in the first game he says he's been doing it for about 300 years, so it's been only 300 years between the end of the Celestial War and the beginning of the first game? Shouldn't the time be at least a few thousand years?? I'm solving this by doing a headcanon that time moves differently in different worlds cause otherwise the lack of coherence bothers me too much.

I'm so intrigued about Nightbringer himself. You think the prologue is giving us a red herring about who he is? Will it be a new character? An old one? Us from the future? They did a good job in implementing the mystery and I can't wait.

I was rereading this chat we have with them at the beginning of the game and something caught my eye:

Do you think maybe we'll start jumping between time as the story continues? So that we'll be at and see different time periods with different characters?? 🤔

This guy has an omurice for an icon when we all know he can't cook to save his life and I find that so ironic xD I like how much he's getting involved in the story so far too

I still don't know who gave them the right to go THIS HARD on a rhythm otome game. I love this thing what the hell. I wish I went this hard with my own projects.

That's all, I'll be waiting for more lessons to drop✌️

[stinkywormynoob]

random late evening rambling

It seems that I got myself accustomed with the Worms franchise past its prime: their last all-new game was Rumble which got mixed reactions, and lately they released a mobile version of W.M.D and are now licensing a physical board game which is scheduled for next year. Even when I partake in a Russian Discord dedicated to the franchise, I find myself struggling to play with people other than a friend, and there are some things I want to try with others that aren't exactly newbie/casual-friendly - no one is obligated to become a pro at a videogame. Something makes me feel cautious of the Armageddon fanbase, it's probably knowing that in bigger fandoms you're more likely to stumble upon individuals you don't want to socialize with.

The idea of running a blog about Worms is kinda strange when I think about it. Many people on this site are into interesting and attractive characters, and shipping them. Worms is a game series where it's just fighting... and roping among enthusiasts. There's no plot and no actual characters aside from those in Mayhem AFAIK, and even if you look at renders for W4M you won't see story characters aside from the cyberworm, and even that one appears only in the last tutorial level. There's no shipping material in Worms, like, what can you do here? Worminkle x Queen of Sheba, just because he and his students ended up in the right place at the right time (he needs diamonds for the time machine and she had her jewels stolen, she promises to reward the one returning them), and he described her as lovely in mission briefing? Would've been intriguing to see that, but no, I don't wanna do it. Worms aren't attractive. Silly? Yes. Cute? Subjective, and depends on the game's art style. One needs to draw them with a more humanoid (naga-like) body for them to be considered "attractive". That one Armageddon wallpaper (if you know, you know)? Pretty sure that's just dark humor... what was the game's target audience again?

I'm just here ogling 3D worms, mainly Mayhem ones because the camera lets you do that and they're vastly superior to W3D ones in expression department. They've been my main art subject this year, oops. IDK how to draw most weapons though. I'm not friends with geometry. Well, I'll never do good if I don't try. The one thing stopping me from taking a bunch of pictures for reference is laziness.

I'm probably exhausted and can't think clearly because I spent the evening editing some Renewation footage where I was just failing.

[elderwisp]

Get to Know Me - Sims Edition

I was tagged by @happy-lemon Thank you very much this was a lot of fun :D

What’s your favorite Sims death?

- There was this one time I had a sim stargazing and completely out of a blue, a freaking meteor fell on them. I think this was TS2 but it was so random and honestly kinda hilarious so it’s my fave

Alpha CC or MaxisMatch?

- For TS2, I am a maxis match kinda gal. For TS3, I love alpha CC a bunch but clothing-wise, I like a mixture of the two. For TS4, it’s more a maxis mix but leaning heavily towards the maxis match. I guess I’m very open-minded to it all

Do you cheat your sims weight?

- Hecks nah

Do you move objects?

- All the time ALL THE TIME

Favorite Mod?

- Da pose player. Grateful 4 u everyday 

First Expansion/Game Pack/Stuff Pack?

- The Sim’s 2 Castaways. Mucho fun, I think I’ve played the campaign a solid 20-30 times

Do you pronounce live mode like aLIVE or LIVing

- NO WAIT this is news to me I literally am just like live mode I didn’t know that there was like an actual phrase

Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made?

- AHHHH ah this is so hard but I have to pick to OK hear me out but Frances and Atlas are near and dear to my heart. It’s funny because they were apart of a RP but they’ve been around since 2015 (y’all wanna see a pic? it’s so bad). I feel like there’s just a lot of history there and it’s so cool to see an idea just flourish from there and they just kinda stick with you for a good while. I also love Icarus and Taryn to death but like the deep and endearing kinda love has to go to Frances and Atlas

Have you made a simself?

- yis

Which is your favorite EA hair color?

- I like black hair a whole bunch 

Favorite EA hair?

- The short, choppy hair from Cottage Living or even the pixie from Get to Work! I love short hair

Favorite life stage?

- Teen! Especially in TS2, I feel like because of the extensive world building and all of the drama, it just makes it super enjoyable!

Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay?

- Gameplay! I do like to decorate, but I’m not much of a builder

Are you a CC creator?

- I know how to make poses and some recolors but that’s just about it ;3; I also know how to skinblend in TS3 B) Sorta B)

Do you have any Simblr friends or a Sim Squad?

- No, there’s one person I still keep in touch with back when I was more active in the community but she no longer has a simblr. I would however like to branch out when I idk learn how to talk to ppl 💀

Do you have any sims merch?

- HAH no

Do you have a YouTube for sims?

- HAHAHAH hah that’s literally how I got into posting the sims. I uploaded three seasons of a sim story as well as some machinimas ;___; I took it down tho because while I was very proud of doing something from start to finish, it is a lil cheesy

How has your “Sims style” changed throughout your years of playing?

- I feel like in the very beginning, it was very minimal. Like I did not know how to push my game. Now I feel like it’s a lot more authentic to me. I’m not gonna lie, I have a lot of fun prepping any posts, I feel like I don’t have to think as much. It also helps that there’s an arsenal of really sick CC at my disposal

What’s your origin id?

- Elderwisp :)

Who’s your favorite CC creator?

- I really like sunivva hairs or everything by sforzcc for TS4. Pralinesims is carrying the whole accessories and makeup team for both games. For TS3, rollo-rolls or even pocci and milla. ATS3/4 is really awesome too omg ok I’ll stop

How long have you had simblr?

- I’ve had this blog for six years but I had a blog prior to this since freshman year of high school (maybe earlier) but I deleted it because this person I knew, found out about it and started like pressuring me to show others and I was so freaking uncomfy 💀 Dawg she forced me to make her a simself ANYWAYS so prolly like ten years

How do you edit your pictures?

- It’s kinda simple, especially now that I have been learning how to utilize reshade. However, I like to add texture to my photos, maybe a transparent film border. I also like to add in shadows and highlights. Sometimes I’ll add soft/hard light or linear/color dodge. After that, I mess with the curves or exposure of a picture before finally sharpening and exporting the photo

I am now realizing this is a lot 😂

What expansion/ gamepack is your favorite?

- SIMS. 3. LATE. NIGHT. Bridgeport is EVERYTHING I love city worlds! 

I'm tagging @raiiny-bay @pleaseputnamehere @percosim​ and honestly anyone else my brain hurt

Bonus content: Prehistoric Atlas jumpscare below

[cyrsed]

half-baked thoughts about what i'd wanna see in a ds2 remake, putting under a cut so nobody has to read a text wall they don't wanna lol :)

i was thinking about what they could do with ellie to make her a lil more interesting in a ds2 remake…. i don't dislike anything about her in ds2 except maybe the outfit not being all that protective, altho To Be Fair isaac is the only character (besides valor dudes and random security npcs, but i'm talking about like, mercer, kendra, stross, etc.) we see on screen wearing a full protective suit in ds1 or ds2 that i can think of (not counting ds2 dlc), so it's not like it's any more unrealistic than mercer or nicole or kyne running around the ship in their puffy pajamas.

but she's not that deep of a character either, and i'd love to see more of the like, mystery in ds1 pulled into ds2 a little more maybe, and i think just having more interesting characters/character relationships would help more than anything else bc that's where ds2 doesn't really do much for me even tho i like the characters lol :B

but like, i feel like the best possible solution is just to integrate the nicole stuff in with the rest of the game/characters, bc it's boring that stross and ellie never see isaac see nicole, and he never tells them about it either. it seems weird that the only person to mention nicole is the doctor at the beginning (but it would complicate things significantly to do it so i do get why they didn't).

if ellie knows isaac is seeing marker!nicole then marker!nicole could also have some kinda response to ellie/stross/whoever else, and you could just get any actual reactions from ellie to any of what is actually happening with isaac ahglksjdf like she could find out about nicole but not know that nicole is related to the ishimura until after they find it, and instead of just being like 'you ok? you sound nervous' 'yeah it kinda sucked last time' when he's going in, there could be like a 'oh yea this is also where my gf died :((' jflsdjf a la isaac oversharing to cross about how he met nicole. like i want to see any characters reacting to what the other characters are experiencing with more than annoyance/alarm

if they wanted to,,, they could subvert that plot point where isaac is like 'i couldn't save nicole but i can save ellie to make up for it' (which i personally find unsatisfying as any kinda resolution. lisa did it better!) by having ellie figure out that he might be planning to do that before he does it bc she she knows about nicole now and could have a little more understanding of like, who isaac actually is? bc it doesn't really feel like any of the main 3 chars get to know each other much during the story and i wanna see like, isaac and stross's relationship explored more? like how well do they know each other? does stross know about nicole? maybe He says something to ellie about her instead of isaac sharing it at first? maybe isaac could actually act like he cares about helping stross bc if he can help stross then mayyybe he's not doomed either?

idk how you'd get her away from the marker tho for the end but maybe she could get like, detained by tiedmann's dudes and taken on a shuttle that then gets [attacked by an infector? pilot loses control? idk] and she gets control of it to go back for isaac?

mostly i just want the relationships to get expanded more... let stross do more than just talk about symbols and crawling around in machines and let isaac stop being so cranky so him and isaac can get to know each other plsssss. oh and i want that bit where you go through ellie's work and hear the audio logs of her/her coworkers to be played up more maybe? or something? bc both of them are revisiting something traumatic that happened to them but idk maybe it's just me but i never found that bit to be super memorable...

oh and the marker should definitely affect ellie more and if she knew what was going on with isaac that would make it way easier to explain what's going on. or maybe if she's starting to get affected by it, he could explain his marker brain problems.

like thematically it's cute, the sprawl is a big, unfinished circle. like it's under construction, and idk maybe i'm wrong but i imagine that eventually it could circle all the way around, ellie goes in a circle back to where she was working when the outbreak started, isaac goes in a circle back through the ishimura, stross is in his cycle of grief/denial, but the character relationships are pretty weak imo and i wish they weren't cause they have the potential to be interesting!

anyway i love ds2 lol this is making me wanna start a new playthrough. i was also thinking of trying to put together a little list of abandoned plot/lore threads in the game just to see

[sunberry-strawflower]

Hi so SIF2 came out a week ago and I decided I'd post how I feel abt it so far (as someone who played the original SIF for nearly 7 years)

Pros:

1. Calibration is SO MUCH BETTER OMG. The last game's engine must've sucked or something bcz the rhythm was so weird. You had to change your calibration every 3 secs it was awful😭the only reason I even full combo'd most of the songs is bcz of the timer cards. Now in SIF2 I just had to set my calibration to 3 and I was good to go like the notes actually went with the beat.

2. Most (keyword being most) of the cards are really pretty and well done! I can tell they went all out with these initial URs they are GORGEOUS MY GOSH. And the first event URs are really good!

3. The home menu is a lot cleaner. I rlly like it!

4. OVER 500 SONGS HOLY COW. Ofc more doesn't equal good BUT if you know Love Live you know almost all of their songs slap I can't rlly think of any bad ones. I'm so happy they added their whole song catalog.

5. 3% UR rate instead of the last game's 1% thank God.

Cons:

(Note some of these are just some personal gripes I have with it)

1. Still no co-op live for some reason? Like maybe when an event rolls around there'll be one but idk why we need an event to do co-op lives. Plenty of other games have co-op lives without any events and the Rhythmic Carnival was a thing back in LLSIF and that stopped being event based why do we need events to do co-op lives? </3

2. We can't sort by characters in member lists. There are WAYYYY too many characters for us to just sort them by group come on😭what if I just wanna see my (not that great) collection of Keke cards? But nooo I have to see all of Liella.

3. Remember when I said most of the cards were really pretty? Well yes they are but then there's that some that I don't rlly like that much tbh.. Like You's card for example. I saw quite a few ppl like it bcz of the background and all that and I get that but ngl You's butt being in most of the shot kinda rubs me the wrong way like I get she dives but can't we just use a different camera angle? Why do we have to focus on her butt? She's SIXTEEN. Alsoalso some of the nijigaku and liella cards don't rlly do it for me--maybe it's cause of the differing art styles from the muse and aqours cards idk. I will say tho that Chisato's new event card and cards like Ayumu and Emma look AMAZING imo.

4. You can't set certain songs as favorites and sort them by your favorite :( that would've been a great feature to add especially bcz of the amount of songs there are. Looking for some of my favorite songs is a pain sometimes even with the member sorting system cause there's just SO MANY SONGS. Ik I just said 500 songs is great AND IT IS BUT PLSS LET IT BE EASIER TO SCROLL THROUGH </3 you can only scroll by like 3 songs it's pain.

5. The "Live 2D" is kinda disappointing to me. Like yea they move but that's kinda it. They don't change poses and bcz of that they aren't rlly that expressive. Poor Muse and Aqours especially they've been stuck in those same poses since 2013-2016 LET THEM MOVE MORE PLEASE💔also the "lip syncing" is just random mouth movements it doesn't actually sync with what they're saying.

6. I find the texting system to be very limited and tedious. I know it's the only way to bond with your members (other than grinding songs but bond points are given at a snail's pace with that method) and the chats don't last very long but aaaaa I just find them so boring. Even the group chats. And I can understand the gist of what they're saying so it's not like I don't understand. It's just boring.

7. There's not a lot of master charts for songs tbh--at least not satisfactory enough for me. Only 240+ out of the 500 have master charts for some reason? I know most rhythm games also have a limited number of master charts, but their expert/extreme charts make up for it. LLSIF's expert charts are so easy for me. Maybe it's cause I've been playing for a long time idk. I'll cut them some slack for this one tho bcz the last game also had this issue.

8. They removed a good majority of features SIF had. The rhythm game screen, notes, etc. aren't as customizable, you can't message your friends anymore, nor can you look at your friends activity like stories they read and cards they got. You remember side stories from the last game? Welp, they're gone. Remember the sticker shop? That's gone too. Support members? Gone. N girls? Gone. Blue vouchers? Nope. School idol skills? Screw those, amiright? They removed so many things that made School idol festival...School idol festival.

In conclusion, uhmm it's alright. The rhythm game is fun but that's abt it </3 I can't help but be a little disappointed by this game simply because they took away so many features the original had and the features they did add weren't rlly doing it for me.

The fact a lot of the player base lost their accs for this is rlly upsetting.

I still have hopes this game can improve. Especially because it's in its first week so I don't wanna be TOO harsh. But with the way it is right now, I can't rate SIF2 any higher than a 6/10 :(

[skrunksthatwunk]

ok so idk if this is a hot take or whatever but i rewatched the rgg movie from 2007 and that shit ROCKS i like it so much more now bc like,, the first time i watched it i was expecting a straightforward adaptation of the first game's plot and that's just fully not what it is at all nor what it was trying to be

like yeah most of the nishiki final boss stuff at the end is pretty underwhelming but it's not about him. it's about kamurocho!! it's about the reasons people turn to crime and the humanity of everyone involved except for jingu lmao and how fucking bonkers mad you feel when it's a little too hot outside and?? sadomasochism??? between the masochist info guy and majima using the same door slamming technique on kiryu that he used for said info guy and then the very very sexual connotations to the majima chestsitting knife dick shot in the bedroom at the soapland I'm just saying there are. implications. like additional ones to the inherent ones of the kazumaji dynamic like yeah!! that's all good. and once you stop waiting on game events to happen you can just like,, enjoy the stuff happening in it. it's a very character-centric movie and that scratches an itch for me.

it's also like wayy funnier than i remembered lol. some of it's not really on purpose like the cg helicopter just skating all over town shattering windows for idk reasons I guess. probably because jingu's an asshole? idk you could probably read meaning into jingu's symbol of power carelessly wrecking kamurocho but i think it's probably just for shits. but like,, the baseball stuff (the scene where majima calls their match a doubleheader and then the subtitles explain what that is for like three lines over like 30 seconds of gunshot footage is fucking top notch) and kiryu's flip phone troubles and the hostage takers requesting nice expensive food and the hostages thanking them and then the cop being like "if they'd asked for anything more expensive we would have taken them out" and all that idk I'm so endeared to it rn

i also find it kinda fascinating that majima is so present in this because like,, to my understanding, before the release of 0 (and therefore before kiwami's majima everywhere system and whatnot), majima was considered this kinda random side character, like he'd just show up whenever and fuck off again like that. he played a much smaller role. he's not even especially important in the og yakuza, and this came out around 9 months before y2 so it's just based on y1 majima's vibe. yet they gave him significantly more attention than nishiki or kazama or even yumi (though all three were sorta background figures it's like they were already ghosts. man kazama doesn't even DIE in this, he just leaves. they make up for him living by making nishiki's hair a casualty bc oh my LORD what was that jdhshsh). truly goes to show what a silly guy does to a mf

(also they actually give majima and haruka an interaction here??? and he's kind to her and kiryu trusts him to not hurt her and she's like "idc I'll beat you up don't fucking TOUCH ojisan" and he's like "well damn. go on then" gah augh love. closest thing we have in rgg to my knowledge is majima kidnapping her offscreen and him [vague rgg5 spoilers] risking his and saejima's lives to save her bc she means so much to kiryu. here he just doesn't wanna hurt a kid)

obviously it's kinda weird to ditch most of the plot/key characters of the game and i don't think it's great that they tried to tie it in at the end how they did but like. eh idk I'm happy with it. it's a good time. i won't argue it's a masterpiece (mostly bc i don't like arguing over whether media is "objectively good" or whatever) but it DOES make me happy :D. so. thanks like a dragon (2007) mwah mwah xoxo

anyway point is it's about the vibes of playing yakuza, which is (for me) about getting immersed in the city and the little side plots of the people in it and whatever and then cramming the plot in last minute :)

[squid-ink-symphony]

im really liking story mode and splatoon 2 in general so far, and i just got to the 4th area, so here are some random thoughts i have on it in no particular order.

I rlly like that Marie is basically the only other character here. I may be biased cuz she's my second fav character (shiver is number one ofc) but i just rlly like her commentary. But not have Callie here to also say random stuff is kinda sad..... Like at first i was like yessss lets go only Marie(no offense, i love callie). But i miss her :(

I may be one of the few sheldon enjoyers as someone who actually likes reading all his dialogue, so i appreciate him also being here.

THIS IS HARD. I know i suck at video games... but some of these levels just feel so LONG. And making me fight enemy octolings with a charger is evil. Anyway yeah i need some easier levels spread out between these like splat 3 had. Cuz this is..... not good. I have to keep taking breaks cuz the long levels do be mentally taxing. Like hello this is funny squid game i cant be bad at smth intended for kids. I havent straight up failed a level yet but ive come close.

Hello?????? The ruins of ark whatever its called salmon run map is so cool????? Why dont we have this in splat 3 yet. Its so fun.

speaking of salmon run, not being able to throw eggs or have the movement of splat 3 is so cursed. like, what do u mean thats not a thing????

Yeah the not being able to do the lil charge thing up wallls is so unsatistfying.....

I had to play as a guy cuz i wanted my splat 3 hair. (the ponytail) which i dont usually care about in games, but the girl inklings have cuter voices.... Oh well i am a dude now lol. Luckily gender is a game to me so i dont actually care other than the voice difference

Pearl and Marina my beloveds.... HOW COME WE DONT DONT GET STAGE SPECIFIC DIALOUGE IN SPLAT 3????? not only do deep cut not get many chances to speak in story mode they also have repetitive news segments...... so sad.. its ok i still love them. But yeah i love these funny creechurs. why are they like that. they say so many insane things. pearl and marina are so funky :D

Forcing me to use the hero charger for certain levels is so evil and messed up. I only like dualies, rollers, and sometimes brella. They cant do this to me.. I cannot aim....

As with splat 3 i am enamored with the backgrounds in the story mode levels themselves. i love just wasting like 5 mins just staring at them. I want to make literally any of them my desktop background but idk how to get a good pic of them.... man especially the upside down city looking one in 3. its so pretty and just UGH ITS SO GOOOD/

I am so poor..... what do u mean clothes cost money/?? i have to play the game??? all i want is to dress up my funny lil squid... i need a splatoon spinoff that is just a casual game thats like a dress up/room decoration game. maybe w like a cooking minigame too. thats ideal. like animal crossing or smth but squids. Shooting ppl is stressful.... (dont ask me why i play splatoon if i dont like combat cuz its scary. i couldnt tell u)

WHY ARE ALL THE INK COLORS IN THIS GAME SO MUCH PRETTIER THAN THE SPLAT 3 ONES???? ITS NOT FAIR. Some of these blue's are so pretty... i want...

none of the multiplayer maps have rlly stuck out to me in any way. Like they all just kinda feel the same lol. I think like maybe one or two i thought were cool? but idk the names. i def like the aesthetic of a lot of them.

I wanna just try all the weapons and specials but noooooo i gotta level up. just gimme everything ok

i also wanna explore the stages but as far as i know there isnt recon. I was just gonna do a private battle but turns out u cant do those w one person. And i was so excited cuz there were splatfest stages availbe too...... so sad i just wanna check out the maps but idk how to/if i can do that.....

the amount of times ive fallen off the map in the main level select area of story mode is more than i can count. its not even funny at this point

I also just cannot find some of the scrolls/sardines in some levels despite playing them mulitiple times. Not to just expose myself as incompetent over and over today, but i am 100% gonna need to look up a guide cuz i do not have the patience for this.

Also the rhythm game is surprisingly one of my fav things so far??? Like i am having the most fun ever with this thing. I want it in splat 3 so bad w all the new songs. Its actually just so fun. Like idk maybe better than story mode somehow. Maybe i just have my priorities wrong tho lol

Anyway yeah tats all i have 2 say for now... I think. idk im having fun w the game so yeah