#Inferno Dragon Gameplay

[ragequitezekielrants]

Bethesda: The Art of Releasing Broken Games and Calling It Innovation

Alright, it’s time to take a stroll down memory lane, but this isn’t a happy memory. It’s more like a nightmare I can’t wake up from—a tribute to Bethesda, the illustrious game publisher known for their uncanny ability to release games that are as broken as the promises they make. You’d think after all these years, they’d have learned something. Spoiler alert: they haven’t.

Let’s start with the Elder Scrolls series, shall we? I mean, what’s not to love about a game where you can literally steal a person’s pants right off them while they’re talking to you? Truly a hallmark of “immersion.” You ever tried to walk down a street in Skyrim? Good luck dodging the army of invisible NPCs, teleporting guards, and horses that can defy the laws of physics. And don’t even get me started on the famous “I used to be an adventurer like you, then I took an arrow to the knee” line. Great voice acting there, guys. So good that it became a meme before the game even hit its first patch.

And let’s not forget about Fallout. Ah, the post-apocalyptic wasteland where you can take on the role of a vault dweller, battling mutated freaks and... oh, what’s this? Glitches galore! Want to walk into a building? Forget it. You’re just as likely to phase through the walls as you are to find a raider waiting to shoot you in the face. I can’t even count how many times I’ve seen someone stuck in a wall or NPCs having full-blown conversations with themselves like they just dropped their last brain cell into a puddle of radioactive goo. “Yeah, this is fine,” I think, as I watch the game unfold like a poorly written sitcom.

And the bugs! Oh, the bugs. I’m not talking about the creepy crawlies in the wasteland or dragons flying through the sky in Skyrim. I’m talking about the bugs that make you question your life choices. When your character suddenly decides to moonwalk into the stratosphere after taking a sip of Nuka-Cola, it really makes you appreciate the artistry involved. Who needs polished gameplay when you can have the sheer joy of watching your character literally fly off the map? It’s like they forgot to build a game and instead just built a sandbox for players to break in their own special ways.

Then there’s Fallout 76, which, let’s be real, deserves its own special section in this rant. If you thought the previous Fallout titles were a dumpster fire, then 76 is the raging inferno with marshmallows roasting over it. How do you mess up a game about exploring a post-apocalyptic world and make it feel even more empty than the actual apocalypse? By removing NPCs, of course! Because who needs engaging storytelling when you can have a barren wasteland full of “quests” that feel like they were pulled from a bad online forum? Ah, yes, nothing says “immersive role-playing experience” like reading notes left behind by people who actually knew what a game should look like.

And can we take a moment to appreciate how Bethesda tried to sell us on the idea that multiplayer in Fallout 76 was going to be revolutionary? News flash: no one wanted to play with strangers in a game designed around single-player storytelling. The only thing 76 did was remind everyone how badly Bethesda misjudged their audience. Watching people attempt to interact in that game was like watching a group of toddlers trying to figure out how to stack blocks. Spoiler: it doesn’t end well.

You want to know the best part? They released Fallout 76 with a $200 collector’s edition, and it came with a bag that was so poorly made that fans rioted over it. Because nothing screams “premium product” quite like a flimsy bag that looks like it was made from the leftover material of a discount Halloween costume. Good job, guys! You’ve managed to turn a beloved franchise into a punchline and a meme factory. “You had one job,” I mutter to myself as I watch another Bethesda game unravel like a cheap sweater.

And let’s talk about their bug fixes. Oh boy. The legendary “patches” that somehow manage to fix one thing while breaking five others. I’ve seen less chaotic systems in a toddler’s toy box. They could announce they’re rolling out a “major patch” to fix the game, and all I could do was sit back and wait for the inevitable chaos to unfold. “We fixed the freezing issues!” they cheer. “Great!” I respond. “Now I can enjoy the game while it crashes every fifteen minutes!”

And yet, somehow, despite all of this, Bethesda continues to thrive. They put out games that launch in a state worse than a train wreck, and people still line up to buy whatever garbage they’re selling next. “Starfield is going to be great!” they say. “This time they’ve really learned their lesson!” Sure, buddy. I’m sure they’ve learned absolutely nothing at all. If the launch of Starfield doesn’t turn out to be another catastrophic failure, I’ll eat my hat. Or my console. Probably my console.

So here’s my advice: if you’re thinking about buying a Bethesda game, save yourself the trouble. Just buy yourself a pack of gum, a used toaster, and a bunch of random junk. At least then you’ll get something that doesn’t crash, glitch, or drive you to the brink of insanity. You’ll have a better time cleaning your bathroom with a toothbrush than you will playing their latest masterpiece.

Until next time, stop playing bad games.

– Ezekiel

[estrfmp]

Related themes

Gods -

Gods Of War, Assassins Creed Odyssey, Skyrim

God of war is a 3rd person hack and slash set in ancient Greece, your goal is to kill all of the gods because one of them tricked you into killing your family.

Assassins creed odyssey is set in ancient Greece where you are tasked with finding your mother and discovering the truth of your heritage and godly ancestry while taking down an evil ancient cult and.

Skyrim is set on the fictional planet of Nirn, you play a man born with the soul of a dragon and are tasked with killing Alduiin the king of the dragons while you kill and absorb the power of dragons you kill along the way to grow in strength.

All of these games have a heavy emphasis on gods and are great examples of how to implement them into a game tastefully.

Villain -

Goat simulator, Knights Of The Old Republic, GTA V, Dead By Daylight

In goat simulator you play a goat. your only goal is of pure chaos and annihilation of everyone and everything that stands in your way for no purpose other than enjoyment.

In Kotor you play a budding Jedi who is tasked with uncovering the secrets of an ancient civilization and of the rulers of the evil sith empire Darth Malak and the late Darth Revan, except Revan isn't dead after all.

In GTA 5 you play from a cast of 3 main characters all of who are the worst kinds of people in different ways come together to complete 1 united goal, make as much money as possible, which you do by creating drug empires, robbing banks and many more ways.

Dead by daylight is an online 4v1 survivors vs killer where you play as either side where the survivors goal is to complete the repairing of exit gates and escaping through them and evading and saving your team from the killer whos goal is to stop you from completing the generators and to place you on hooks and kill the survivors to please an omnipotent entity in whos realm you reside.

Each of these games allows you to play either a broken and lost person trying to make there way through the world or a being of pure evil and hatred whos only desire is suffering.

Religion -

Far Cry 5, The Binding Of Isaac, Dante's Inferno

In far cry 5 you play a rookie cop who is sent to hope county to attempt in arresting cult leader Joseph Seed who has created an evil cult with his siblings which has taken over the county all in the name of god. And your objective is to successfully locate and kill each of the cult leaders.

In the binding of Isaac you play toddler Isaac who has been trapped in his mothers basement and you must fight off a plethora of deformed and evil enemies while finding objects that can increase your power and while siding with either god or the devil to increase your power, with an extreme emphasis on Christianity and religion you will have an interesting gameplay unlike any other of its kind.

Dante's inferno is a heavily modernized version of the original story where you play a crusader, Dante, where your goal is to descend into the rings of hell in the aim to successfully rescue your lover and killing as many enemies as you can on your way to her.

All of these games are deeply steeped in controversy due to there unsavory takes on religion and faith but are also highly popular games with amazing gameplay.

[felassan]

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition info

[source] - emphasis mine

Relive the legend of Commander Shepard in the highly acclaimed Mass Effect trilogy with the Mass Effect™ Legendary Edition. 

Includes single-player base content and over 40 DLC from Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, and Mass Effect 3 games, including promo weapons, armors, and packs – remastered and optimized for 4K Ultra HD. 

The updated trilogy launches May 14 on PlayStation®4 and Xbox One with forward compatibility and targeted enhancements on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation®5, as well as on PC via Origin and Steam.

ABOUT MASS EFFECT™ LEGENDARY EDITION: 

One person is all that stands between humanity and the greatest threat it’s ever faced. Relive the legend of Commander Shepard in the highly acclaimed Mass Effect trilogy with the Mass Effect™ Legendary Edition. Includes single-player base content and over 40 DLC from Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, and Mass Effect 3 games, including promo weapons, armors, and packs – remastered and optimized for 4K Ultra HD.

Experience an amazingly rich and detailed universe where your decisions have profound consequences on the action and the outcome.

RELIVE THE CINEMATIC SAGA: 

- Heart-pounding action meets gripping interactive storytelling where you decide how your unique story unfolds. 

- Three Games – One Launcher: Play through the single-player base content and over 40 DLC from all three games, including promo weapons, armors, and packs.

- Remastered for a New Generation: Experience the trilogy in 4K Ultra HD with enhanced performance, visuals, and graphics, all available in HDR.

- Visual Improvements on All Three Games: Updates include enhanced models, shaders, FX, lighting, and depth of field.

EXPERIENCE THE LEGEND OF SHEPARD: 

- Create and customize your own character, from appearance and skills to a personalized arsenal then lead your elite recon squad across a galaxy in turmoil.

- New Shepard Customizations: With improved hair, makeup, eye color and skin tones you can create your Shepard in a unified character creator with all options available across the full trilogy, or choose to play as the iconic Femshep from Mass Effect 3 now available in all titles.

- Gameplay Enhancements for the First Mass Effect™ Game: Enjoy improved aiming and weapons balance, SFX, input/controls, squad behavior, cover behavior, and gameplay cameras.

REFLECT ON YOUR CHOICES: 

- Your choices seamlessly travel from one game to the next. Each decision you make will control the outcome of every mission, every relationship, every battle – and even the fate of the galaxy itself.

- Performance Mode Options: Supports ultra-high refresh rates on PC, and offers a choice between ""Favorite Quality"" for increased resolution or ""Favor Framerate"" to boost your FPS on consoles.

INCLUDED CONTENT:

Mass Effect™ Legendary Edition includes single-player base content for all three titles (Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3), your favorite single-player story DLC, promo weapons, armors, and packs: 

[under cut for length]

Bring Down the Sky

Genesis

Zaeed – The Price of Revenge

Kasumi – Stolen Memory

Lair of the Shadow Broker

Firewalker Pack

Overlord

Normandy Crash Site

Arrival

Genesis 2

From Ashes

Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut 

Leviathan

Omega 

Citadel

Equalizer Pack 

Aegis Pack

Firepower Pack

Cerberus Weapons and Armor 

Arc Projector 

ME2 Alternate Appearance Pack 1 

 ME2 Alternate Appearance Pack 2

ME3 Alternate Appearance Pack 1 

Firefight Pack

Groundside Resistance Pack 

Recon Operations Pack

Collector's Weapon and Armor 

Terminus Weapon and Armor 

 M-21 Incisor 

 Blood Dragon Armor 

Inferno Armor

Recon Hood

 Sentry Interface

Umbra Visor 

N7 Warfare Gear 

AT-12 Raider 

 Chakram Launcher 

M-55 Argus 

 M-90 Indra

Reckoner Knight Armor

N7 Collector's Edition Pack

[demifiendrsa]

Mass Effect Legendary Edition - Official Reveal Trailer (4K).  It’ll launch for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via Origin and Steam, with forward compatibility and targeted enhancements for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on May 14, 2021.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition features the single-player base content and 40-plus downloadable content story, weapons, and armor packs from Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, and Mass Effect 3.

Featuring remastered character models and tens of thousands of higher resolution textures, improvements to shaders and video effects, updated lighting, and improved dynamic shadows, volumetrics, and depth, Mass Effect Legendary Edition promises an enhance visual experience.

Additionally, the original Mass Effect game features “comprehensive world-building enhancements” with added detail and depth to locations like Eden Prime, Ilos, and Feros, as well updated interfaces and user experience, a variety of quality of life improvements, and modernized combat and exploration through improved aiming, squad controls and behavior, Mako handling, and cameras.

The collection also features unified character creation options that persists across all three titles, complete with an improved an expanded selection of hair, makeup, and skin tone options. The female Shepard default appearance from Mass Effect 3 is now the default female Shepard appearance across all three games.

screenshots

Overview

Experience an amazingly rich and detailed universe where your decisions have profound consequences on the action and the outcome.

Relive the Cinematic Saga

Heart-pounding action meets gripping interactive storytelling where you decide how your unique story unfolds.

Three Games – One Launcher – Play through the single-player base content and over 40 DLC from all three games, including promo weapons, armors, and packs.

Remastered for a New Generation – Experience the trilogy in 4K Ultra HD with enhanced performance, visuals, and graphics, all available in HDR.

Visual Improvements on All Three Games – Updates include enhanced models, shaders, FX, lighting, and depth of field.

Experience the Legend of Shepard

Create and customize your own character, from appearance and skills to a personalized arsenal then lead your elite recon squad across a galaxy in turmoil.

New Shepard Customizations – With improved hair, makeup, eye color and skin tones you can create your Shepard in a unified character creator with all options available across the full trilogy, or choose to play as the iconic Femshep from Mass Effect 3 now available in all titles.

Gameplay Enhancements for the First Mass Effect Game – Enjoy improved aiming and weapons balance, sound effects, better Mako controls, input/controls, squad behavior, cover behavior, and gameplay cameras.

Reflect on Your Choices

Your choices seamlessly travel from one game to the next. Each decision you make will control the outcome of every mission, every relationship, every battle—and even the fate of the galaxy itself.

Visual Enhancements for the First Mass Effect Game – The game’s been given a full world-building pass including environmental art, VFX, and level relighting.

Performance Mode Options – Supports ultra-high refresh rates on PC, and offers a choice between “Favorite Quality” for increased resolution or “Favor Framerate” to boost your FPS on consoles.

PC Updates – Enjoy a modernized PC experience across all three games with native controller and 21:9 widescreen support, user interface navigation improvements, and DirectX 11 compatibility.

Included Content

Mass Effect Legendary Edition includes single-player base content for all three titles (Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, and Mass Effect 3), your favorite story downloadable content, promo weapons, armors, and packs:

Bring Down the Sky

Genesis

Zaeed – The Price of Revenge

Kasumi – Stolen Memory

Lair of the Shadow Broker

Firewalker Pack

Overlord

Normandy Crash Site

Arrival

Genesis 2

From Ashes

Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut

Leviathan

Omega

Citadel

Equalizer Pack

Aegis Pack

Firepower Pack

Cerberus Weapons and Armor

Arc Projector

Mass Effect 2 Alternate Appearance Pack 1

Mass Effect 2 Alternate Appearance Pack 2

Mass Effect 3 Alternate Appearance Pack 1

Firefight Pack

Groundside Resistance Pack

Recon Operations Pack

Collector’s Weapon and Armor

Terminus Weapon and Armor

M-21 Incisor

Blood Dragon Armor

Inferno Armor

Recon Hood

Sentry Interface

Umbra Visor

N7 Warfare Gear

AT-12 Raider

Chakram Launcher

M-55 Argus

M-90 Indra

Reckoner Knight Armor

N7 Collector’s Edition Pack

[hanatsuki89]

All multiples of 5 for the Dragon Age Questions ❤️

5. What was your first Hawke like?

Woman, mage, blue with a dash of purple (but mostly blue).

10. Share a pic of your favourite oc from any DA game.

15. Favourite DAO companion overall?

It's a tie between Wynne and Zevran.

20. Was everyone loyal at the end?

I still haven't finished my DA2 pt, so I can't say xD But they were for my DAO and DAI pts.

25. Favourite DAI place?

I like the Emerald Graves, but boring as it may sounds, I still have a soft spot for Haven.

30. What are your feelings on the Circle?

If they 100% change the way Circles are, they can stay. Otherwise, I dislike them and I am for dismantling them.

35. Who do you want to see return in the next game?

Zeeeeeevran. Him aside, I am hopeful we will see more of Maevaris and Dorian (if the game is set in the same timeframe as the others). Oh, and if she survived, please give me more of Calpernia since she was from Tevinter.

40. A moment you regret in-game?

Already answered!

45. Which 3 DA characters would you want as best friends?

Cole, Bull and Bethany.

50. Describe your perfect playthrough for any DA game?

I am unsure whether I understood the question. Like, all three of the games?

55. Your non-player character otps?

Dorian/Bull, Fenris/Isabela.

60. Who do you wish had been given more story?

A lot of characters xD Sera, for example.

65. Any epic gameplay moments?

That one time I was up against one of the High Dragons and I ended up basically tanking through the fight with just my Lavellan xD Knight-Enchanter is ridiculously overpowered. Oh, and the one time my team got flattened to the ground during the fight against the Mother and Velanna saved my butt with an Inferno spell.

70. Did you read the comics?

Not yet!

75. Do you edit images/gifs or make videos about DA?

Nope, too busy drawing art and comics :p

100. Circle, Templar, Chantry, Guard, Seeker, Inquisition or none?

I would say Inquisition.

Sorry for the ones I have skipped, but I had no answers for them besides "don't watch" and "don't have one", haha

[make-it-mavis]

Homesick (Entry #38)

(cw: fire, car wreck, implied death) ----------

01/29/88   1:30 AM

Hey.

Today’s entry is a big one. Significant. 

There have been a lot of these letters, or entries, or whatever you want to call them, that I’d anticipate pages in advance. I’d dread writing them and reliving the unpleasant or even horrible moments, so I’d spend days putting it off or figuring out just what to say. I’ll be honest -- I have been dreading this entry since the very first page. And I needed a few days to mentally prepare, once I arrived at it. But now that I’ve finally come to write it, I feel... calm.

Doesn’t mean my heart isn’t aching.

I spent a good amount of this unpleasant bedtime story searching for something. That something took on a few different forms, but at the root, I think they all meant the same thing.

Answers.

I wanted to know if you were still alive. Where you went. What you were thinking. If there was anything I could have done. If it was somehow my fault. If I’d failed you.

Today, I’ll tell you how I found… some of the answers. Not all. But certainly some of the ones I had been wanting most dearly. I didn’t understand them all at once. Some just spawned even more questions. And I can’t say that the truth I found didn’t wound me in its own, new way.

I think you’ll see what I mean.

So… let me tell you what I saw play out so pristinely clear in my mind, after the last explosion went off and I fell away from present reality.

August 7th, 1987 played out before my eyes.

The day your story ended.

The day this story began.

It was the day after our weird fight in your trailer, with the cut on my cheek, and the promise, and the kiss... and I couldn’t get you off my mind. Although we had said… so many things the night before, so many good, bad, and… strange things, we did not speak at all that morning. You’d left me in bed without so much as a note, and no time to find you before the arcade opened. I tried to think nothing of it. I figured you were embarrassed about last night and needed some space to think. But I still spent most of the day anxious over what I’d say the next time I saw you. I just kept coming up empty. It was pretty distracting, even as someone punched in my Easter Egg code and I was sucked into gameplay. But during said gameplay, something else caught my attention. Out in the arcade proper, past the gamer at controls, were a couple of kids playing Roadblasters. They were talking. I thought I’d misheard one of them, but then he said it again without a doubt.

“That looks like Turbo.”

That was weird, but it didn’t concern me too much at first. I was curious, but didn’t feel any reason to worry. Maybe a character in Roadblasters just happened to bear a passing resemblance to you, in the gamers’ eyes. Some Dev-made coincidence. Something like that. But as I strained to look while the gamer bounced me around, I caught a glimpse of what they were talking about.

You were there. You were in Roadblasters. 

My stomach had never dropped so hard. I could only watch as the next few seconds unfolded.

You drove back and forth across the screen. You drove into the player character, and the screen erupted into shuddering, harsh glitches. Then one of the boys called Litwak over.

He was going to unplug it with you still inside.

It all hit me, one after another, like bricks thrown at my body. I felt my heart shrivel, threatening to detach and climb up my throat. “No,” I said out loud, possessed by dread, even with the gamer watching. “No, no, NO!!”

Program be damned, I tore myself out of gameplay before my ten seconds were even up. I didn’t care. I had to get you out of there. The fact that you were in immediate mortal danger was the only thing that existed to me in that moment. Everything else was a meaningless blur. I flew out of my game at breakneck speed, through the cord tunnel, out into Game Central Station, and made a beeline for Roadblasters, but I barely even made it to the game’s cord station before two cars shot out of it and the wind of their momentum whipped me out of the air. 

Just as my head hit the floor, I heard the first resounding crash and chorus of sprites screaming.

I couldn’t think. The impact knocked the thoughts out of my head and filled it with pulsing shocks of pain. Dizzy and nauseous, I pushed myself up to my elbows and looked over at the commotion. Once my spinning, double vision focused, I saw an odd mangle of machinery. It took a second for me to understand what I saw. A big, armed Roadblasters car was smashed into the Game Central Station wall, and wedged beneath it, as if it had carried said car the entire way out of the game in order to publicly execute it, was your car. And in your car, I saw the distinctive color and shape of your helmet.

And then… BANG.

There was a second, blinding, deafening, heart-shattering explosion that shook the very floor beneath me. I threw up my hand against the light and my head lurched with the ear-splitting volume, but the moment those senses returned to me, I saw and heard what still haunts my dreams to this day. Sprites were shrieking and crying in horror. Many of them were on fire -- some being pulled away from the scene, some rolling and patting themselves, and others did not move at all. And where the two cars were before stood only a blazing inferno, shooting up a billowing tower of inky, black, deathly smoke.

No. 

No.

My blood turned to ice. For a second, I couldn’t move at all. 

Then once I started moving, I couldn’t stop.

I sprang to my feet and ran full-tilt towards the blinding fire. It wasn’t too late. I could still save you. I was the only one who would. I dodged a couple sprites trying to stop me, and I do actually recall having to jump over a burning shape that may or may not have been alive. I don’t care if that was horrible of me. I didn’t care. You mattered more to me. Saving you mattered more than anything I had ever known in this world, and nothing would stop me. Not even hellfire.

So I painted myself a Shield buff, and I leapt right into the flames.

With invulnerability, fire feels like nothing at all. But it was still so damn bright. What I managed to see was that gravity had taken hold of the larger Roadblasters car, and yours was slowly being crushed beneath it as the metal softened and warped in the heat. You were trapped. Without a second thought, I crouched beneath the burning wreckage and wedged my arm into your driver’s seat, calling out your name. I called again and again, but you didn’t answer. I couldn’t even seem to identify you by touch -- your car had all the same code as you. 

I kept calling, to no answer. I tried lifting the top car even a little bit, but it wouldn’t budge. I jammed my arm into the wreckage of your car looking for something, anything at all that could show me you were alive. Then my hand fell on soft fabric, and I nearly shouted in some sort of desperate excitement. I grabbed as much of it into my hand as I could, and I pulled. It wouldn’t budge at first, but I pulled, and I pulled, until it finally came free…

It was just your scarf and goggles.

My heart, my code, my binary, my everything… went cold.

That’s when both cars took on a blue, ghostly sheen, and their pixels started to discolor and glitch away into the air like embers.

“No,” I pleaded with nobody who could hear, “no, no, no, no!”

 I reached out, trying in vain to keep your car’s pixels together, but I felt a sensation right then that I won’t soon forget again:

Your dying code drifting through my arms and out of reach into the smog.

And that very moment was when I had overstayed my welcome. My invulnerability buff wore off, and the heat of the wreck closed in on me like the jaws of a dragon. The metal of your car scorched my hands. I began choking immediately, and I could barely open my eyes against the heat. But I couldn’t just leave. I couldn’t give up.

I couldn’t just leave you there to die.

Just then, I saw a blue flash, and I felt Surge grab onto me and try to pull me out. But I thrashed against him. Even as my clothes caught fire and the heat seared my skin, I fought him. I screamed at him, pulling against him with all my might,  “NO, NO, HE’S IN THERE! HE’S IN THERE-- HE’S DYING, HE’S DYING! LET ME GO! HE’S GONNA DIE-- LET ME SAVE HIM! MY BEST FRIEND’S IN THERE! LET ME GO!”

There was a flash of blue and a jolt of staggering pain as Surge shocked me. 

Everything was sucked away into blackness as I fell unconscious.

And… that was it.

That was it.

As I regained consciousness in real time, the time in which I had blown up my cousin’s apartment, the first thing I noticed was horrendous pain. I opened my eyes, and from where I lay in the grass outside Niceland, I could see smoke billowing out of Fix-it’s window up above. A glance down my body revealed the sources of pain -- burns, a foot twisting in an unnatural direction, and, presumably, whatever other broken bones that might have come with falling out of a window. As much as it hurt, part of me was numb to it. I was in such shock from all I remembered. 

And I remembered it all.

There was an eerie chill blowing through my pixels, like the wind before a punch. I was trembling, and my breath was coming in shallow. I just stared up at the smoke curling into the sky, with the image of your car’s flaming wreckage burned into the back of my eyes. I could hear the Nicelanders anxiously clucking nearby, and the hard clicking of bricks shifting under Wreck-it’s feet, but it all seemed so far away. So inconsequential, like a radio playing from one room over.

Similarly flat in my mind were the audible boings of Fix-it bounding over from wherever the cuss he was. He fell to his knees next to me, breathing hard, a few dark smudges on his face and a couple singes on the brim of his hat. He seemed so full of questions, but so frantic, not knowing where to begin. I’d clearly thrown him for a loop, maybe worse than I ever had before. He looked me up and down, hands repeatedly switching from touching his face to hovering over my wounds, mumbling to himself anxiously.

“Oh, Mavy-- Oh, gosh-- It’s okay, don’t move, it’s okay, just-- just relax and try to breathe, okay? You’re safe, it’s fine-- I can-- I can fix it,” he pulled out his hammer that shone audibly, looking over my burns and ankle. He just kept muttering, “I can fix it, I can fix it, I can fix it…”

I couldn’t stand it. Not for another second. The numbness encasing me snapped, and all the horrifying emotions I’d amassed exploded out of me in the form of misdirected fury.

“NO, Felix!!”

I sharply snatched the hammer right out of his hand. Touching such a densely coded item burned like hot iron, but I quickly threw it away from us and out of reach. Everyone audibly gasped, and I’d never seen my cousin so stunned. Seeing his face at all made me so angry, I wanted to tear it right off his skull. My body screamed in pain as I sat up as straight as I could, just so I could shove him hard in the shoulder. He grunted in confusion and fell back on his heels, but he didn’t get up.

“You CAN’T fix it!” I snapped, and then I shoved him again. And again. “You can’t fix it! It’s over! He’s gone already! There’s nothing you can do! You’re-- You’re useless! I’m useless! You can’t fix it and I-- I DIDN’T MAKE IT! I didn’t make it in time! I didn’t save him! I couldn’t save him! I messed up and I-- I LOST HIM! I LOST HIM!”

Then, before I even realized I’d moved, I twisted and, for the first time in my life, willingly hugged Felix. 

Not just hugged -- violently, aggressively, desperately crushed him in my arms. It hurt. It hurt a lot. His code is so heavy compared to mine. But I didn’t care. It just blurred into the tidal wave of pain already crashing down on my body and mind. He was frozen solid as I clung to him, trying to shout through my thick, choking sobs.

“He’s gone-- Oh, he’s really gone-- and I couldn’t save him! I couldn’t save him! Why couldn’t I save him?!”

Felix must have finally accepted what was happening, because he cautiously put his arms around me, and then slowly squeezed tighter and tighter.

“I know,” he said, shaking with his own tears. “I know. You tried, Mavy. You tried so hard. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

[spazbotoz]

The history of Adelaides incredible IT and internet gurus, from 1995, Quakeworld Multiplayer Online Servers to 2020: 20+ years of South Australias Online Gaming & Internet Pioneers.

The history of Adelaides incredible IT and internet gurus, from 1995, Quakeworld Multiplayer Online Servers to 2020: 20+ years of South Australias Online Gaming & Internet Pioneers. “Quaker the Home Breaker “ Adeliades New Geeks go global, Quake One and Idsoft and John Cammack the farther of Online Gaming, the new online world 25 years ago QuakeWorld Clan Arena FPS....Quakeworld Capture The Flagand Clan Arena” was the game that was the “gamechanger” for Online MultiPlayer Net Gaming in June 1995. Ive been playing online since John Cammack and Co. at ID Software built the game that changed PC gaming bigtime, there genius in terms of getting 30 plus players battling each other in real time was and still is the core “code” of TF2 and most other FPS games. The feeling of dropping into a fast paced in your face game of CTF for the first time online is like going to war literally against an enemy that is very real and you can feel your opposition even though there just avatars and packets of data you are emersed in a new world that is very real and very cool. Quake Gameserver to not lag or glitch out on a server thats providing gameplay with packets of data going round the world literally is an amazing software code and data compression that made quake a masterpiece of design. 1995 The Quake Game Engine Coded and Optermized for the network gaming. What was the new software tech that made Team CTF possible ? Binary Space Partitioning and the Reducing 3D complexity to increase speed optimise world rendering. The engine core optimise the world rendering. The Quake engine also used Gouraud shading for moving objects, and a static lightmap for nonmoving objects. Much of the engine remained in Quake II and Quake III Arena. The Quake engine, like the Doom engine, used binary space partitioning (BSP) to optimise the world rendering. The Quake engine also used Gouraud shading for moving objects, and a static lightmap for nonmoving objects. So the Two Johns at ID soft shifed the game paradigm online and even the Nets New Online gaming community new it was super cool and these Bullitin Board ( now ex Dugeons n Dragons Boardgame Players) /Nerds and Pimple Headed lovers of Tech were sucked into our world like the suns gravity into Global Multiplayer Team Quake the first true FPS and the First Person Shooters got status over DandD and importantly thats why TF2 and QuakeLive, Champions and clan arena etc are all the community spinoffs are as popular today as they were when CTF was massive and a global community of hardcore, underground gamers, guyz were chatting about, the like ur in the same room awesome game engine, net playability with full servers ( over 128k ISDN ) first released Quake1 i “Game Physics” was the hot online topic, and the ID quake game engine was a gamers “holy grail” producing realistic, balanced kickarse gameplay as if your were fraggin your mates on a highspeed Local Network (LAN). Your actually emersed in the game like your all playing Paintball In Real Time where it felt like we were fighting like an elite army of commandos that had milliseconds to react and save the team from losing the battle and online credability.Quaker the Home Breaker , after my mates and me lost girlfriends, jobs, etc because we played solid (24x7) sometimes for months, we were addicted to our new online gibbfest. The net was still basically a few startup ISPs with “stacks” of either 128k ISDN Modems, or if you could afford a bunch of Telsta T1 Pipes, say 10x (1.5mb ADSL) you had serious bandwidth, low pings and you were connected to backbone of the net to sydney, then ASIA, USA via big fat underground cables, and Mike new a dude who new another dude who found out chariot had a 50MB Pipe that he setup gave our Alliegence of Aust ganers and our crew a chance to play lagg free and be compeative against the best, our little ozzie clan, was now ready to frag and compete with 20ms pings, Mercury went from a very good player to a powerhouse, that pushed us to becoming better players as he fragged his way to Glory, in Japan and LA, that gave us a level playing field against LOW ping Asian Hi Speed Broadband and the US Hi Sped Biz Net. 20Ms Ping times we dreamed about came true. Multiplay FPS, quakeworld ctf, arena, deathmatch was our new world where we waged a global battle that in reality , jobs, uni etc was our clan AOD (Alligence of Destruction) was formed in 1997, so we play CTF and battle in Japan and the US (and Sydney/ Brisbane) against the best new CTF talent in the hardcore net gaming world, where avatars, claming ur cheating / bot coz U cant Rocket Jump like that dude, flaming and roasting your victums was a newbee craze as thats where all the good (best Quake players were ) So, thanks to Mike (Mercury) with his tech expertise, and off the rictor gaming skills (Especially with Quake, he was the Rocket Jump Guru that pissed off a lot of very good OS players that he just fargged to death till they wanted Mercury banned for life for cheating and doing shit that isnt possible with a RL and a Formula One Racing type of split second thinking. Back then, PC,s were its the start with a base hardcore SA clan of me (Kruger), Mercury, Quicksilver, Bloodsport and SMD. We “built our own “ , 586 DX Pentium Pro100mhz server from bits n pieces we got and somehow convinced the Network IT Manger ( a nubee Quake convert) to host the gameserver ( there was quake 30 players in SA ) at that time, we had LAN nights when we wernt online LOL :) roughly a new ISP startup (Chariot Internet) to TF2...is in my opinion...is an awesome in your face , well balanced , ultra fast, very tough “battle “ of the mind and a well organised team can turn the battle into a raging inferno (pyro deserves that), fire beats most, is so much fun it still gives me a buzz like quakeworld CTF did when we dubbed it

[marika-kurohime]

Tales of Asteria ~ chapter 5. Main story update...

UPD: okay... I think I can write this now. In this article on Tales Channel Plus website Namco has confirmed my greatest worry. Yuri 

was meant to be one of the mains for the 5th chapter but they kicked him out from the playable party due he and Eizen are pretty much alike. So, yeah, he IS important in this story and since we have some unexpected hell’s outbreak already

this is what I call a cliffhanger, alright. 

So... while it is really hard to see all the links and references this series has for so many years and a lot of things I wrote till now is only my opinion which can still be proven partly wrong, I need everyone, not only Yuri’s fans 

(Thank you, Namco, this is an AWESOME thing to defend MY favorite character 

who was... ABSOLUTELY NOT the Morning Star even in DE’s world too against ALL the headcanon extremely hard-to-understand bullshit 

currently happening in both ongoings, and other characters’ cards are pretty interesting to read too, Raven’s especially).

So, I need not only MY Yuri’s fans 

but EVERYONE to know this about another side of the plot headcanon currently forcing upon us.

Oh, yeah, and I can understand him if that “Yuri” he is so worried about acts like this on a daily basis, then sure.

So... now not only the Player’s presence is obvious to them in both games and we’ll find out our role someday (probably. Which begins from “D”... probably), 

it all is still fine  (happens every day)

except for “Yuri”. Honestly, this one didn’t do anything but annoy me and be a wonder to his team for all the time compared to the one I knew in Asteria’s world.  

(How the hell are you even able to play this? Do they teach Imperial knights of your home planet Japanese poetry too nowadays? And he wins obviously. And I have a good idea what is at work here.) 

So YEAH, you can compare even his voice acting in that welcoming scene. It is different no matter his VA being the same.  So... what reasons we may have behind this?

(That (half-) joke play from their 10th anniversary. He is playing a PRINCESS (if you can’t believe what you see). I’m calling “Her” 

Yuri-hime from now on TO NOT mix in this my favorite character I’ve lost... 

and this name is not even MY invention thanks to that anniversary play).

So... back to the topic. 

“The mysterious beauty of almost mystical beauty. Possesses remarkable power, but his motives are shrouded in mystery. Saves Yuri on occasion, but no one can say why”.  (Tales of Link Duke’s description)

So... yeah, this was arguable in the game because the moment Yuri holds Dein Nomos wasn’t flashy compared to this card

but we have this card and in Duke’s possession this sword is clearly RED with most of The Rays’ Duke’s artes themed with fire (like his 5th stars Flame (Inferno) Dragon arte for example). So... yeah, no matter what some cards and gameplay indicate sometimes, Yuri’s LIGHT is, in fact, shining darkness.

This card confirms the two very important things altogether

 (blood/birthright and affinity our Yuri-hime (I’m not calling Star “Yuri”)

naturally has no matter which world he is in)

and this headcanon knowledge calms my mind a lot. Too bad I didn’t see this sooner. Okay, back to the main topic.

“Saves Yuri on occasion, but no one can say why”  (с) and It WILL happen again

So... his blood and affinity are known and obvious to all his fans even before the Rays will come up with some Spirit Binding e.t.c. stuff for him and it really is darkness and his part in Bushin Soutenha dual mystic arte is darkness too. 

Soon this dual arte will be added to Asteria’s gameplay. And his dark seal in The Rays is FREAKING HUGE.   

This matter is so complex that it is not even right to call this darkness. “Dark light” will be wrong too. This comes from Ratatosk’s Ain Soph Aur (”The infinite light”) being dark elemental in the Rays... 

and Yuri’s...  being LIGHT-elemental is only natural. (My translation for this is “Devil’s guidance Star overkill” and don’t even start to tell me this is some “MAGIC star” crap when it clearly is not and not even “morning” to cover his home world’s nature anymore) 

Add to this that Tales of Asteria is currently doing really mean things to us. 

The 4th chapter was brilliant but messed up things A LOT then the story became monthly, but the portions of it we are getting are REALLY SHORT and end cliffhanger way a lot. I couldn’t even imagine how complex this plot is overall and somehow overlooked Asbel and all Asbel’s foreshadowing completely (he is not even one of the Mains for 5th story arc and yet...) and it hurts.

[calmevetlgreen-blog]

↓↓↓↓↓

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[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: Kefka Palazzo

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

Final Fantasy VI is a beloved SNES entry into the soul-shatteringly popular Final Fantasy series, renowned for its engaging story, diverse cast of characters, and the ease at which you can completely and utterly break this game and make it the easiest thing you’ve ever played. But perhaps the most iconic element of the game, and the thing about it that has stood the test of time the best is its villain – no, not the generic evil emperor you spend the first half of the game trying to stop from waging war, but his maniacal, cackling lackey, Kefka.

Kefka is a unique villain for sure, for a variety of reasons. There’s the fact he is very much a bait-and-switch antagonist, in that you are very much led to believe that Emperor Gestahl is the true villain and Kefka is just his right-hand man. There’s the fact that he is completely laughable in some moments and then utterly, horrifyingly reprehensible in the next, doing things such as pettily abusing soldiers in one scene and committing the brutal genocide of a kingdom via poisoning in the next, all while cackling like a madman. There’s the fact his character development actually parallels that of the heroes, going in the opposite direction.

And, of course, there is the fact that ultimately, unlike so many other villains even in his own franchise… Kefka ultimately wins.

Motivation/Goals: Kefka starts as nothing more than a lackey serving Emperor Gestahl, the first Magitek Knight created, but as the first in that experimental procedure, it made Kefka end up going a bit batty. As the game goes on and he goes to more and more extremes in the name of Gestahl, Kefka goes from a slightly nutty evil jester to an unstable madman, which culminates in his actions on the Floating Continent, in which he kills the emperor, upsets the balance of magic, and ascends to godhood, causing an apocalypse that splits the continents and causes untold deaths. Kefka proceeds to spend the next year blasting the ashes of the world, relishing in the suffering of those below.

In short, Kefka ultimately lives to bring misery and suffering to the world, relishing in the pain and misfortune of others. He is the ultimate nihilist, completely unable to comprehend why anyone would cling to a pitiful existence that must ultimately end, and so he decides to enforce his view of existence onto the struggling people of the ruined world. He’s just an utterly sick, monstrous individual.

Personality: As you can see, Kefka goes from a hammy loony to a nihilistic god. But beyond that, there is a rather depressing air to Kefka’s personality, an underlying tragedy to all of his actions. Kefka ends up becoming so utterly nihilistic he is unable to even comprehend things like love and hope; there seems a moment at the game’s end when the heroes reach through to him and he begins to understand the cruelty of his actions if only for a moment, but as quick as it comes he rejects it, famously quipping “Bleh! You people make me sick! You sound like the chapters from a self-help book!” Beneath the veneer of madness is a truly tragic figure, one of the most darkly tragic figures out there.

Final Fate: Despite wishing to create a monument to nonexistence and despite pulling all of the stops in trying to stop the heroes, throwing dinosaurs, behemoths, deadly super-weapons, legendary dragons, literal gods, and even symbolic imagery invoking The Divine Comedy before flying into battle himself with naught but a strip of cloth covering himself and what appears to be a massive boner, Kefka ultimately falls to all of the things he derided and denounced as Terra and her companions band together and destroy him.

Best Scene: While I would very much love to say it’s his final showdown, sadly this isn’t the case; despite all of the symbolism that makes the final boss a better adaptation of Inferno than the Dante’s Inferno game and despite his impressive bulge that he sports as he faces his sworn enemies, his boss battle is ridiculously easy by the time you reach him that for all of the spectacle it doesn’t really amount to much.

Frankly, his best scene in my book is his poising of Doma, because in that moment Kefka truly establishes everything about himself: his sadism, his sick sense of humor, and his willingness to go to any lengths to get what he wants, as well as his capacity to disobey and forge his own path, as he was ignoring orders from General Leo.

Best Quote: If there’s one thing Kefka has over other Final Fantasy villains like Sephiroth, it’s his veritable gold mine of excellent quotes. Almost anything out of his mouth is either hilarious, quotable, or awesome. But perhaps his best is the truly badass boast he gives before his final battle, a quote that sets the standards for the fight unreasonably high and leaves you a bit disappointed as you Ultima him to death in a couple of rounds: “Life... dreams... hope... Where'd they come from? And where are they headed? These things... I am going to destroy!” Then again, what boss could possibly live up to a boast as impressive as that?

Final Thoughts & Score: Kefka really is the perfect JRPG villain, but a lot of that isn’t actually thanks to Square, at least not originally; in the original Japanese version of the game, Kefka was one of the most despised characters and they just found him annoying. Ted Woolsey took Kefka during the process of translating the game and molded him into the wicked clown with an undying hatred and a bottomlessly nihilistic outlook we all know and  love today, and his interpretation not only won over America, it actually helped influence Kefka’s portrayals in all media from that point onward.

There’s just a lot to Kefka. While we don’t get a lot of backstory on him, just enough to know why he is how he is, enough to elicit some sympathy but not enough for you to ever forgive all he does. His character development, which has him go from a kooky subservient general to the nihlistic god who destroyed the world, is in stark contrast to that of the heroes, who go from being lost, wayward folks desperate to find a reason to fight to a fire-forged group of true companions who would do anything it takes to fight for the fate of the world, making him a thematic home run. Then there’s all the brilliant symbolism in his final battle, his endless quotes… hell, his crippling nihilism and inability to understand concepts like love and hope ultimately giving something of a reason as to why his final boss is so easy, as being confronted with things he literally cannot comprehend may have driven him to such a suicidal extreme that he basically turned his hatred and desire for nothingness inward, allowing himself to be killed.

And then there’s the fact that, even in losing, Kefka still wins. Kefka already slaughtered millions, gained ultimate powers, destroyed the world, ruled over the ashes for an entire year while the heroes struggled to survive, and drained the power of the Warring Triad to become the sole source of magic on the planet. And when he dies? All Espers and all magic go away forever. Kefka manages to do what so very few villains in fiction are capable of doing: he makes everything, even his greatest failure, into a victory after a fashion.

Kefka easily gets a 10/10. If I can criticize anything, it’s that his presence is sorely missed in the World of Ruin portion of the game, as he takes a backseat to the open-world nature and sidequest-oriented gameplay of that part and does not appear again until the final dungeon, unlike in the World of Balance in which he was a constant antagonizing force, but it’s really hard for me to deduct any points from a villain who was not only successful in their plans, but even in losing was still able to claim some sort of victory. Kefka is one of the few Final Fantasy villains to rival Sephiroth in popularity and belovedness, and it’s easy to see why.

And perhaps most importantly, it’s easy to hear why.

[nyrator]

And thus ends another Kresnyan week of wonders

It was quite an eventful week so buckle up for tons of photos, mainly arcade photos~

okay so I talked about Monday already

Tuesday was good, first thing in the morning we play F-Zero GX to wake us up, and somehow managed to beat the Ruby Master Cup with Silver Rat. What an awful, awful character, and yet such a good game for rewarding good mechanics.

Then we went around town exploring the local shops, got led into a strange pawn shop where the entire building was covered with junk, you had to shimmy through a small hall of junk to get through the place, and the owner followed in behind us without us realizing, pretty strange. Also entered a quiet little music shop and had Kresna serenade me with his good accordion skills, then visited my workplace and discussed seeing fireworks with them (we decided not to and instead played EDF and then more DDR, I also even bought a dance mat + two PS2 DDR games that day)

speaking of I got a second PS4 controller and so we played EDF 4.1 and over the course of a few days managed to 100% Hard mode with me as a Wing Diver and him as a Fencer, good times, lots of me dying and him saving me. Reminded me a lot of the PS2 one we played story-wise which after looking it up is a form of reboot of it, so neat. We decided to go straight to Inferno after that and managed to get up to about mission 23 before he had to leave, but man, we were decimating that mode (let’s ignore the having to deal with dragons in the future)

Bit disappointed we didn’t unlock Geist D because as dumb as it is I love the Geist, but mannn, got a sweet laser and Thunder Bow/Sniper 40s that I like to use

Anyway, Wednesday, the big event.

Round1

So initially it was a three-person trip that’s been planned all year, Kresna, Spade, and myself, though sadly but understandably Spade couldn’t make it this time. But mannnnnn.

So, we get up, struggle waking up, and head out on the two-and-a-half hour drive to Exton~

there was lots of neat street signs

there was also a Batman Road but couldn’t take a picture in time

also tons of great sights I forgot to take pictures of, but man, wouldn’t mind living in this area honestly, very pretty and very tree, we took a bunch of detours to avoid tolls and it was a very nice trip

but yes

round 1

this place is massive

this is what we first see going inside

that’s probably less than half of the cabinets they have

you got the shooting and driving cabinets to the right of the entrance, to the left is all more simplified games like pinballs and other popular brand ones, down the hall is the bowling alley which is adjecent to a bunch of claw grabbing machines for things from plushes to anime figures, past that you got the billards with karaoke booths, the fighting game cabinets, and at the mall entrance you have all the dance and musical cabinets, and mannnnn

see when I heard of this place I figure “oh yeah they advertise their bowling alley and also have karaoke, probably an arcade on the side, yeah”, no, this is an arcade feat. special guests bowling and karaoke

we got there at 1PM, took a small food break halfway through, and left around 5PM

my dudes, this place is amazing

I admit, I’m not much of an arcade gamer, but mannnn, what an amazing place.

Here are some of the games we playeddd

Kresna with his Tetris Grandmaster skills~ He played it three times, but man, given enough time he can easily top the scoreboards for sure

Some Outrun 2 SP~ My first time playing and I am bad at it but Kresna did pretty well

I tried playing some of that Gunslinger Stratos game I’ve heard about (aka saw there was Kuja costume DLC some years ago) but unfortunately the gun cursors were awful on the machine I used, all over the place, still beat two missions somehow with the girl in the giant robot, but mann, those cursors

heck yeah, some dekarissss and boy I absolutely am awful at tetris I am so sorry Kresna, the giant joysticks are fun though but man, multiplayer dekaris was suffering for the Kres

for reference, his solo attempt

there was also some rhythm heaven which was neat, Kresna again amazing at it and me not-so-much

we also decided to play this to fulfill our DDR thirst before taking a break

also SHOUTOUTS TO MUSIC GUNGUN, a simple but fun game with lots of good music and Kresna and I love it and may have to buy a cabinet, probably my favorite game there

after the break was more games but less photos to save battery life and repeating some of the aforementioned games, some that stood out

playing lots of Mario Kart DX, I won a grand total of once at the end but I’ll take that, thanks Waluigi and curse you Rosalina

I tried playing some Gitadora but failed miserably, my high school guitar hero skills were not enough for Medium Gitadora

meanwhile Kresna and his incredible talent at Beatmania

we finished the day at Round1 with some last bit of Music Gungun and trying out two-player Dancerush Stardom

and thus ended the trip to Round1, where we decided to head... east

East into New Jersey.

There was one more cabinet we needed to play.

Have some foliage that I forgot to take earlier to show how trees PA is~ There was a ton of nice foliage driving on the way there like I mentioned, just did not get to photograph ittt~

After another hour and a half drive (most of it spent in Philadelphia traffic, I will have you know that I am scared of heights or at least get vertigo easily, as well as being terrified of cars, and being in Philadelphia traffic is still absolutely terrifying to me)

I tried taking a photo of the Delaware but mannn could barely look up out of my seat because crippled with fear (seriously it’s only gotten worse the older I get for some reason)

anyway, just past 6:30, we finally arrive

Tilt Studio at Voorhees, NJ.

I admit, it had some neat cabinets, like Luigi’s Mansion, but nothing like Round1. However, we played none of these other cabinets

Kresna and I (mostly me) had a mission, and that mission was one cabinet

F-ZERO AX, BABYYYYY

look, you don’t understand

f-zero ax

I don’t have an addiction okay

anyway I brought my Memory Card (except I have unlocked basically everything in GX already so hm) and played with my custom vehicles~

and in just under $20 dollars worth of credits (with some used by Kresna of course) I managed to race every single race and I got my name on every single leaderboard (though they’re probably erased at the end of the day at this point)

yes we drove basically four hours to play F-Zero AX (plus Round1 goodness)

was it worth it? Yes

Sadly there aren’t any more licenses (to be expected though), but Kresna and I may have to buy our own cabinet, but a Deluxe Cabinet- the kind with moving seats and two-player actionnn

(it’ll happen you’ll see)

So then, the journey home, a night drive through NJ and bed

Thursday was firework day, though it was mainly EDF day for us. What a good game, EDF. Got some ice cream and hung out and was nice

Friday things began to slow down, EDF feat. more pizza and DDR dates~

Saturday was also pretty slow, slightly stressful day, including blahs from both of us, struggling at Inferno EDF and suffering my bad gameplay, and getting a flat tire on the way back from our last DDR trip of the night (oh boy), though we decided to watch a movie at least~ Genocidal Organ, based on a book Kresna read, it was pretty good~ Got Netflix to watch it (and Spy Kids 3D in honor of Red Square), though sadly SK3D didn’t have an anaglyph 3D option, and Genocidal Organ wasn’t on US Netflixxx, but we watched it through other means instead~

Today we finished the day with some car repairs, window shopping, and eating a big meal at a diner~ This is notable for being my first time eating somewhere in public and eating something that wasn’t just french fries (I had a blueberry pancake with whipped cream~)

Speaking of foods, this visit I tried sardines for the first timeee, not a fan but it was edible, my first time ever eating something fish-y~ Otherwise some neat treats from the Kresna involving many eggs and toasts and even an english muffinn

it was a good first anniversary week, and being with Kresna is always wonderful

And now to await the end of August, where I will finally migrate north and visit the Canadian lifestyle...

[xredsmoke]

Faith in Gaming

Introspection of a Recovering Christian

Faith in the video game community has always been a volatile subject. In one game, the player could be standing reverently in a cathedral, lighting candles and praying in hopes of finding relief for a child dying from cancer. Another game could catapult the player into a loose version of Hell, hacking at demons that project human genitalia as a form of ranged attacks. Obviously the method for which religion is approached dramatically different between each game, but both seek to fully immerse the player in a unique experience. Video games are a multi-billion dollar industry in the United States and, despite having humble beginnings with simple arcade games such as Pong and Pac Man in the late 20th century, a number of companies, commentators, and players have begun to investigate the depths of gaming’s spirituality. There are a number of video games that portray themes commonly found in Catholicism. The three that will be analyzed are Dante’s Inferno, Binding of Isaac, and That Dragon, Cancer. Many commercially advertised games, such as Dante’s Inferno explored the visually grotesque themes of Christianity. Indie games, however, such as Binding of Isaac, and That Dragon, Cancer, offer a much more open and honest interpretation of Christianity. This essay seeks to explore whether the more widely known games such as Dante’s Inferno negatively impacts the gaming communities perception of the Roman Catholic Church and whether Binding of Isaac and That Dragon, Cancer redeems those perceptions.

At its very core, Dante’s Inferno is a story of a man seeking to save the woman he loves. The game is loosely based off Dante’s The Divine Comedy, a book that has been a cornerstone in Christianity’s understanding of the afterlife by enrapturing and terrifying audiences through it’s detailed and imaginative description of Hell. According to Wagner, “In games, play is the “space of possibility” afforded a player to explore and to make choices within the game’s systems” (Wagner, p.32). Dante’s Inferno is an example of a video game interpreting scripture with a heavy emphasis on the idea of ‘play’. In this case, play is more important than the narrative itself and this shows in the developers execution of the game. Instead of Dante being a 14th century poet that starts his journey in Hell, he is now a young crusader who becomes disenchanted with war and returns to his fiancée Beatrice in Florence. When he arrives, he finds his house destroyed and Beatrice lying dead outside. Even worse, as he approaches, Lucifer appears and steals away her soul, dragging her screaming into the depths of Hell. Dante chases them through the circles of Hell, trying to save his love before she is lost forever. He faces his own sins and mistakes before a final showdown with the fallen angel. Already we see a sharp departure from the original narrative. This in itself is not terribly sacrilegious and perhaps can be seen as developers taking creative license in order to make a story more palatable to a general audience. However, it is the games depiction of Hell and the mechanics that it borrows from Christian mythos that truly set it apart from any other action game of it’s type.

It is more than understandable for a game to have it’s mature moments, especially if it is a game based on the sins of the Divine Comedy. Dante's Inferno, however, literally pushes the Mature rating to its most extreme point, as the player passes scenes of souls being tortured, copious of violence, and plenty of male and female nudity from level to level. Obviously, this is not a game for kids, but much of what developers choose to show is appropriate for a game that tries to explore the extreme nature of Hell and its punishments. Many reviewers have expressed that they have felt sympathetic to some of the damned souls. On the other hand, there are times when the game seems to include things just for shock value such as monsters that project human genitalia as a ranged attack. The gameplay of Dante’s Inferno can only be described as a mindless gorefest similar to another popular game that came out around the same time, God of War, with pixelated blood and body parts never being in short demand. When using finishing moves on monsters, the player has two options: Punishment (i.e. smash their face in) or Absolve (i.e. smash their face in but in a ‘pious’ way). The player can perform a Punishment by destroying them with their scythe and earn Unholy points. Absolve will blast a spirit with a cross   in order to net the player Holy points. Collecting points helps you to gain levels and purchase new attacks and abilities. This may be the games attempt to introduce a moral choice system into the story which would make a certain amount of sense and would be a great benefit to the game’s overarching Christian themes of retribution and forgiveness. However, there is really no difference whether you play the game one way or the other. “It (the combat system) is more like there’s a violent option or an equally violent but better spirited option” (Croshaw, Escapist). The developers might have been setting it up for their to be multiple endings to the game where if the player has too many Unholy points they are damned but if they have more Holy points they are saved. Yet the whole game seems to be rushed in development, possibly due to time constraints, thus the end is the same no matter what points you chose to invest. The lesson this seems to teach the player is that no matter what they choose to do while on their quest through Hell, they will be saved no matter the souls they may have damned on their journey. This is not at all what Christianity preaches in its message and is not even faithful to the Divine Comedies own overall message. It’s a cheap, cheesy, blasphemy that tries too hard to be like other games of the time and teaches the player that morality doesn’t really matter in the Christian faith when mindless violence will be able to solve any problem encountered. 

Binding of Isaac takes an overall different approach. The game was a result of developer Edmund McMillen’s desire to create a roguelike showcasing his feelings about both the positive and negative aspects of religion that he had come to discover from conflicts between his Catholic and born-again Christian family members while growing up. The story of the game was inspired by the biblical tale of the Binding of Isaac and shares many themes even as it seeks to turn the traditional narrative on its head. After Isaac's mother receives a message from God demanding the life of her son as proof of her faith, Isaac flees into the monster-filled basement of their home, where he must fight to survive. The premise itself seems rather outlandish in the 21st century but it is in the subtle storytelling woven through gameplay mechanics and cutscenes that the game is able to start an honest conversation about religion. In a sense, the story is a form of fanfiction; What would it be like if the Binding of Isaac happened today? Wagner makes the point that, “Consumption becomes production; reading becomes writing; spectator culture becomes participatory culture” (Wagner, p.46). The narrative thrives because of the alternative retelling. The content can be shocking, gross, ugly, distasteful and arguably gratuitous. But, unlike Dante’s Inferno, that’s the whole point. It’s not the gameplay that is supposed to engage the player, it’s the content as a whole.

The tone and layers of the game accurately portrays growing up in a conservative religious household. The player takes control of Isaac, a young boy locked in a basement by a mother that received a message from God. Isaac must escape, fighting past monsters using his own tears as projectile weapons. The entirety of the experience is littered with scatalogical humor, blasphemy, and obscenities. The main enemies at the starting area of the game are aborted fetuses and the multitude of power ups scattered across the stages will often give the player various diseases, mutilations, or grotesque mutations. Isaac is corrupted, contaminated, mutilated, and soiled throughout their journey to escape confinement. To progress, the player must orchestrate their own defilement even as they recoil at it. However, it is the childlike viewpoint of these very adult themes that gives the game it’s unique perspective. The gross imagery needed to be childish in order to establish the irredeemably corrupt and dirty world that the player must fight through. The entire premise would be lost if the game were to try and take an intellectual and mature approach to religion because it’s not intellectual and mature religion that causes harm, it’s the pagan superstition of childhood that will leave a child scarred and feeling dirty and ashamed. In the Bible it is written, “Because of this I say to you, all sin and evil speaking shall be forgiven to men, but the evil speaking of the Spirit shall not be forgiven to men” (Matthew 12:31). If a kid is told that speaking against God will lead them to eternal damnation, they will run with the idea and spend the rest of their childhood wondering if whispering ‘I hate God’ too loud is enough to damn them forever. Conservative Christianity only exacerbates this problem, teaching children that the world is ‘unclean’ and they must guard themselves against it. The problem worsens as the child matures. 

The game is, in a sense, trying to reconcile the conservative religion with the experience of growing up in the real world. Journalist Arthur Chu had this to say about the subject, “The dichotomy of learning to be a Typical Christian Hypocrite who plays D&D and surfs Internet porn and gets to third base with your girlfriend in the backseat of a car is… yes, it is kind of equivalent to The Binding of Isaac’s narrative of trudging through a revolting world made of excrement and entrails, becoming a disease-ridden pus-oozing monster and eventually murdering your own mother” (Chu, Arthur). The game teaches the player that by surrendering themselves to the unclean, by actively becoming part of the World, they are getting stronger and overcoming every obstacle in their way. It makes the journey all the more impactful when the game pits the player, a now disease-ridden, mutilated, and mutated version of Isaac, against the final boss, the original and angelic Isaac as which the player had started out. ‘Winning’ in a very real sense meant the player had to confront their past self, come face-to-face with their own naivety and not only overcome it, but also accept that they’ve lost that pureness and become something that their past self would have thought abhorrent. And the player must decide if they are okay with that. Few games are able to accomplish what Binding of Isaac does in such a simplistic manner. It forces the player to recognize the vast difference between who they were and what they have become.

That Dragon, Cancer is an autobiographical game that documents Ryan and Amy Green’s experience of raising their son Joel, who had been diagnosed with brain cancer at twelve months old and only given a few months to live. According to Wagner, “it’s easy to see why tragedies make bad video games - the notion of alternatives (gameplay loops) could ruin the pathos and thus the catharsis of the experience” (Wagner, p.48). However, the game itself was designed to be a completely cathartic experience because the events within the game are unchangeable. Despite That Dragon, Cancer being an interactive experience, the gameplay takes a backseat in order for the narrative to develop and allow the player to become attached to the story and characters. With the player taking control of either Ryan or Amy for a majority of the narrative, the game was designed as a simple point-and-click adventure game in order to create a sense of immersion that film would fail to capture. The games developers worked closely with the couple while Joel was still alive and Ryan himself personally contributed to the games growth and success. Ryan continued to develop the game and even reworked much of the project after his sons passing in order to better memorialize and personalize the players experience. When the focus of the game is a child dying of cancer, the overall message becomes loss. The player is destined to lose and needs to lose in order to understand that loss in all its depth. That Dragon, Cancer is an enriching, story driven experience with Christian themes heavily used throughout the narrative. 

Despite video games often being viewed as a medium of entertainment lacking in poignancy, That Dragon, Cancer is one of the few games that can provide its audience with a truly cathartic experience mixed with Christian beliefs. A game journalist had this to say about the experience, “The activity on the part of the player does not change: guidance and witnessing” (Zucchi, KillScreen). In the game and woven throughout the narrative, faith is used as a presence. Players are constantly in control of different characters, usually Ryan, Joel, or Amy, but the perspective of these characters and how they are controlled is what makes the experience unique. The player is allowed into the thoughts of these people and can move them to some degree with mouse and keyboard, but they can not interact seamlessly with the images on screen. Much like the story of Job in the Bible, the player is seen as a God like figure watching a tragedy unfold. They must acknowledge the grief as it develops even as they can’t change it. However, much like Job, self-awareness does not always lead to satisfactory answers. The game doesn’t ask God ‘why’ a young child was diagnosed with cancer. Instead, it struggles to answer the question of ‘how’ God is present in these moments. In That Dragon, Cancer, faith and God are not themes or characters, but instead the presence of the player and the silences that stretch between moments of lighting candles and praying for a child’s cries to lessen. There is no battling monsters or killing demons. There is no souls to collect or reconciliation. That is not the objective of the game. The player need only reach an understanding of Joel and his love for dogs and limited vocabulary as well as the pained expressions of Amy and Ryan as they watch their son suffer. There is only the silent comfort of empathy, of the assurance of a sympathetic witness, of the promise of understanding. That Dragon, Cancer is an experience that reflects the texture of belief.

Video games have commonly been seen as a source of mindless violence, but it is in the rare, truly introspective and great video games where faith can be further explored. Games such as Dante’s Inferno poorly portray Christianity due to the industry developing games as a mindless cash grab that fails to fully expand on ideas and narratives. However, there are games that can accurately and portray Christian themes and faith. Binding of Isaac, while crude in it’s delivery, does its best to engage the player in a conversation about faith as they progress through the narrative. The game constantly poses difficult questions about religion, the world, and coming of age to the player in hopes of reconciling all three. That Dragon, Cancer provides a more subtle use of faith. Religious imagery is used throughout the story, often being used as an identity for the family, but it is in the moments of interactivity between game and player that faith truly shines. Moving forward, it’s important that games dealing with religion be carefully constructed and well-thought out. Even if the religion is being used as more of a set piece, such as in Dante’s Inferno, developers should attempt to remain true to the source material or at least try and emulate the themes and theory behind the religion being used as accurately as possible. 

Works Cited

“BibleGateway.” Matthew 12:31 - Bible Gateway, www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Matthew%2012%3A31.

Chu, Arthur. “A Defense of Binding of Isaac from a Former Fundamentalist Christian.”Polygon, Polygon, 26 Jan. 2015, www.polygon.com/2015/1/26/7907061/binding-isaac-fundamentalism.

Haynes, Jeff. “Dante's Inferno Review.” IGN, IGN, 3 Feb. 2010, www.ign.com/articles/2010/02/03/dantes-inferno-review-2.

TheEscapistMagazine. “DANTE'S INFERNO (Zero Punctuation).” YouTube, YouTube, 22 July 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0ujx2JnjkA.

Wagner, Rachel. Godwired: Religion, Ritual and Virtual Reality. Routledge, 2012.

Zucchi, Sam. “Have a Little More Faith in That Dragon, Cancer.” Kill Screen, 22 Feb. 2016, killscreen.com/articles/have-a-little-more-faith-in-that-dragon-cancer/.

[anderwhohn]

anonymous asked: Besides Mass Effect and Dragon Age, what other games do you play?

Oh man, where do I even begin? Considering I own over 400 games on Steam alone (mostly thanks to Humble Bundle, sales, free forever giveaways, and a lot of patience), as well as others through the various other launchers, it's safe to say I enjoy a massive variety of games in general.

Some of my most played and favourite games beyond Mass Effect and Dragon Age are Skyrim, Cities: Skylines, Don't Starve, Planet Coaster, Slime Rancher, Two Point Hospital, Plague Inc. Evolved, Darkest Dungeon, Civilization V, Game Dev Tycoon, Portal & Portal 2, House Flipper, Okami, Kerbal Space Program, Stardew Valley, The Sims 4, Prison Architect, PC Building Simulator, The Stanley Parable, and Universe Sandbox.

And that's only barely scratching the surface, since a lot of those are where I've replayed them repeatedly beyond a single playthrough.

I love choice-based video games, where the story outcomes varies depending on your dialogue and chosen actions. I also love city builders and such, though I will admit that I usually play in sandbox mode and/or use cheats for infinite money simply because I can't be bothered with the career mode struggles.

Games with snarky, compelling villains are right up my alley (think GLaDOS from the Portal series), as are games with unexpected twist elements that you would never think would be in the game and yet there it is (fucking Stardew Valley... Farming simulator with weird ass shit going on).

I also enjoy the hell out of numerous horror games, but not the ones where it's simply jump scares (ie youtube bait, at this point). I love psychological thrillers, eldritch horrors, and the like, but I definitely have to be in the mood for them and have the energy to usually finish them in a single sitting because those kinds of games are harder to get into the right brainspace if I'm stopping and not playing it for several days before picking it up again.

I've played a few dating simulators and visual novels (Roommates and Long Live The Queen are the two I've played the most of, respectively). I enjoy releasing the dinosaurs on unsuspecting guests in Jurassic World: Evolution, since the chaos is entertaining, and the game otherwise hits that city builder vibe I enjoy. I've also played Fallout 3, New Vegas, and part of Fallout 4, though I haven't finished it yet between pc issues I had at the time and then mod issues I had once I fixed my computer.

I also enjoy weird little games like World of Goo, Little Inferno, and Human Resource Machine, as well as puzzle games like KAMI, Mini Metro, and various Popcap games like Bejeweled, Peggle Nights, and Plants vs Zombies.

Some of my very old school favourites are the classic Sonic The Hedgehog games (the ones for the Master System, Genesis, and Saturn, specifically), with Sonic 2 being my absolute favourite, especially when 'locked in' with the Knuckles cartridge (consoles were wild back then), though I always spent nearly the max level time in the Casino Zone simply because that was my favourite zone to simply play in, while I'd rush through the others, usually at breakneck speeds since I'd played so often I could finish most levels in under a minute.

Beyond that? I pretty much play whatever catches my eye. I've played some weird af games (and not all of them indie titles) as well as the standard big stuff from major devs that nearly everyone's heard of. The only things I don't really play is stuff like Call of Duty (though I think I do own part of the series, because it was a thing for Gary's Mod, iirc), since that kind of gameplay doesn't interest me and I'm not a big fan of most online games either (the only MMO I ever really played was Elder Scrolls Online, and I did most of the Aldmeri Dominion quest solo, with the exception of stuff where you had to find a group for a particular mission, but now my internet is such shit where I currently live that online gaming isn't even an option).

These days, I pretty much play exclusively on pc since I don't own a tv and/or any consoles any more, and I rarely play any mobile games unless severe weather's forced me to unplug my computer or I'm stuck away from home for an extended period of time. Besides that, I prefer pc gaming anyway because I enjoy playing with mods (even if I don't always enjoy setting up those mods, and then having to update those mods), mostly for community patches, accessibility fixes, and additional gameplay content.

So, yeah... I play a wide variety of games, and do so pretty frequently, though lately I've mostly been cycling through Mass Effect Legendary Edition with different Shepards (or even an AU version of a familiar Shep in once case, as I'm replaying Izzy to determine how things turn out exactly under her Compact AU) as well as Mass Effect: Andromeda.

Which the latter just really makes me want to give Shepard jump jets, because come on, imagine the chaos that is already Izzy, but with jump jets!! Sara is almost as chaotic, and she has them, so Izzy should have them too (and yes, I'm totally willing to say 'fuck it' and give her the tech in rp, especially given what the codex has to say about N7 training and such, since it does mention various skills that just aren't available through gameplay, just like how I toss whatever powers are needed whenever in the timelines, since Flare doesn't become available until ME3, but she can pull it off in ME1 rp, just not without some backlash then due to her L3 amp - it's not until she gets the Cerberus upgrades that she really starts using it combat, otherwise it's more of an instinctual self-defence thing).

Anyway, I think I've rambled on enough as it is, especially since it's nearly 4am and I need to go take my meds. Thanks for asking (and for reading the ramble, if you made it this far)! 🥰

[truthtom12]

Golden Dragon Sweepstakes: Exceptional Guide on this Online Slot

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More info https://bitbetwin.az/inferno-slots/

[eulangelo]

top 5 horror media, if you like horror? top 5 words also

1. the whole alien franchise

2. outlast (the videogames)

3. get out (i think it counts as an horror movie?)

4. i was into the hannibal lecter saga but mostly i liked silence of the lambs and red dragon

5. i cant think of a 5th one because i like many horror things but im so picky i struggle to find some i actually completely 100% enjoy 100%. for ex i appreciated some parts of midsommar, and i have a soft spot for corpse party because of a gameplay that i used to watch years ago during the summertime, and then theres stuff that i like but terrifies me like the movie "the green inferno" or juni ito's works

for words i have no idea, i like the italian word for saw (sega) a lot for dumb reasons, and the italian word for paddle (pagaia) makes me laugh

[theheavymetalmama]

Ten Video Games in 2018 I’m Most Looking Forward To

2016 was an absolute garbage fire of a year, 2017 defied expectations and managed to be even worse, and 2018 isn’t exactly off to a great start.

But on the plus side, both years gave us some great movies, TV shows, and of course video-games, and while no signs point to 2018 making the world any better it too seems to at least be delivering some great entertainment. This is the part where I’d usually say something clever and relevant, but I’m just not feeling it right now so I’ll skip to the good part. Here are video games coming out this year that I’m most looking forward to.

10. Hyrule Warriors: the Definitive Edition.

Pretty low on the list because I already have the original game, but I never played the DS version which had content the Wii-U didn’t have. I won’t go so far as to call Hyrule Warriors a masterpiece, especially since I’m hardly a DW fan, but ‘Hyrule’ is a great love letter to the Zelda series and the perfect game to play when I need to relax and unwind, which these days I find myself having to do more and more.

9. Far Cry 5

The Far Cry series is checkered to say the least. Far Cry 3 was a great game, even though the main character was terminally unlikable and the charismatic villain and face of the game Vaas was killed off halfway through via cutscene and was replaced by a villain nobody even bothers to remember. Far Cry 4 was a damn good game, but the main character was really dull, the villain was great but most of him was through a radio, and on the whole the game felt more like an extension of Far Cry 3 than it did a proper sequel. Primal was just dull, and as much as I’d love another Blood Dragon the jokes that such a game makes really only works once. Still, the more I hear about Far Cry 5, the more my interest grows. Especially after the latest video that showcases the...colorful supporting cast.

The Far Cry series catches a lot of flak for use of racial stereotypes, so maybe Ubisoft can prove that among other things they’re at least equal opportunity offenders. And hey, I get to kill cultists in a middle-American town not unlike the armpit I grew up in, so that’s a plus.

8. Red Dead Redemption 2

Red Dead Redemption was an amazing game that defied expectations not just in terms of graphics, gameplay, and aesthetics, but it was also a writing, voice acting, and storytelling masterclass. So why isn’t the sequel higher on the list? Well, because of Grand Theft Auto V. Oh, it’s a damn good game, but the story is an unfocused mess and I find the main characters just...insufferable. Of course taste is subjective and all, but when you look at GTA V’s single player mode and compare it to the online mode it’s obvious where the money and attention went. I just hope the same doesn’t happen with Red Dead 2, so...yeah. Fingers crossed.

7. Bayonetta 3

Bayonetta is a silly series with an inconsistent tone about a magic pole dancer with freakishly long legs who fights demons, angels, and Eldritch abominations with the power of magic guns, magic hair, magic lollipops, magic BDSM, and enough gratuitous boob, ass, and crotch shots to make Megan Fox from the Transformers movies look modest in comparison. Yes it is every bit as absurd as it sounds, and it’s a ton of fun to play. The first two games were a blast and I have no doubts the third one will be any different. Now here’s hoping this one actually sees commercial success.

6. Jurassic World: Evolution

Remember Jurassic Park: Project Genesis that let you build and manage your own dinosaur theme park? That’s this, but with modern graphics and more dinos. Sold!

5. State of Decay 2

Are you sick of zombie games yet? Me too! Luckily in the case of State of Decay, the zombies are just the wallpaper. You could replace them with mutants, demons, monsters, or whatever and the core game would still be the same. The point of State of Decay is gathering as big of a group of survivors as you can while you make the best use of their unique skills, the limited space of wherever you decide to make base, and the finite resources in the area. The original State of Decay was a surprise hit and the new one looks even better, and given that it has 4-player co-op it’s probably the closest thing to Left 4 Dead 3 we’re ever going to get.

4. The Call of Cthulhu

I always look forward to new horror games, especially ones based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft. The guy was a racist, misogynist piece of shit, but his works are iconic and stand among some of the best stories ever written and the horror games. This won’t be the first game based on the story, but from what I’ve see so far it looks to be nothing short of shit-yourself-scary. Which is a good thing, because more often than not publishers and developers alike completely miss the point. Cthulhu is not the unknown; he’s the unknowable. To look upon him is to go mad, yet time and time again publishers insist that everything must be an action-packed power fantasy and treat Cthulhu like a boss that can be beaten. Thankfully this game seems to be doing the exact opposite, and I can’t wait to play with the lights off. Speaking of which...

3. Agony

A survival horror game where you trek through the depths of Hell itself. Why hasn’t this been made sooner? No, Dante’s Inferno doesn’t count.

2. Megaman Legacy Collection, 1 & 2

For a long time it seemed like we’d never see a proper MegaMan game ever again, especially after the disaster that was Mighty No. 9. Now with MegaMan 11 coming and rumors that Capcom is considering revisiting the ‘X’ and ‘Legends’ brand, what better way to gear up than to revisit the golden years? Some of which weren’t so golden, admittedly.

Before I get to my #1 spot, here are a few honorable mentions.

Yoshi Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown Octopath Traveler Shenmue 3 Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries The Last of Us 2 Kingdom Come: Deliverance Kingdom Hearts III Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Darksiders 3

1. Telltale’s the Walking Dead: the Final Season

Go ahead and get your “lol, interactive movie!” reactions out of your system. 

Okay, you done?

Say what you will about the Telltale style of video-games, but the writing is great, the characters are endearing, and they keep adventure games of old alive. Regardless if you like the style or not, the fact that it still finds success in an environment where AAA publishers push harder and harder for the “games as a service” model is extremely important. No doubt the title “The Final Season” will get some smug gamers going “Thank God!” or “Should have happened after season one, lol!” and other such snarky remarks, but it doesn’t undermine the fact that this game will mark the end of an era.

Thousands of gamers watched Clementine grow up, and this will be the last time we see her. Given how the rest of the games have ended and the dozens of horrible things that happened in between...well, let’s just say that a happy ending is extremely unlikely. Still, the games have surprised us before. Nobody thought we’d see Kenny again after the end of season one, then season two was like “Ha, gotchya!”

Regardless of what’s in store, all we do know is that the sun is setting on Clementine’s story. We’ll have to wait and see how it plays out.