#Might have different answers if it was Bioshock 2 | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

angellayercake · 4 months ago

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I'm seeing your Bioshock posting. Any project your working on that's related?

(I'm excited I love Bioshock)

Thank you very much for noticing!! I have been pretty obsessed with Bioshock and Rapture since I played it last year and then I had a brainwave about how similar the descriptions of Meliora is to the concept (not the reality iykyk) of Rapture.

So below the read more are some of my rambling thoughts. This may turn into a fic one day or it may just stay an idea but who knows? I have included no spoilers for either Bioshock or Bioshock 2 storylines as most of this takes place pre Raptures construction.

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So Jen, you might ask, how would Terzo even be invited to Rapture in the first place? Doesn't Ryan hate religion? Why would Terzo even want to be there?

And I have a very extensive answer for you! (after you chose with me to ignore all dates in canon because for this we need Terzo in his late 20s/30s in the 1920s)

To begin I must explain my headcanon for how the Ministry and the Clergy works. The Ministry was founded in opposition to the rise of the Catholic church in Italy. They opposed the strict and cruel ways the Christian church and wanted to offer an alternative and a sanctuary to those mistreated and maligned. Their numbers grew until they were noticed and forced to flee Italy.

They found a home in rural Sweden, taking advantage of the overwhelming rise of Protestantism and there they stayed, biding their time and increasing their ranks. Their congregation grew so large that they were starting to struggle to sustain themselves so the Clergy came up with a plan. The Projects were different businesses, outreach and recruitment efforts to build revenue and attract the rich and successful to their cause and it worked! They were truly self sustaining and starting to have influence in important places but the Clergy understood that they were playing the long game.

Which brings us nicely to New York in 1922. Terzo Emeritus, third son of the reigning Papa has been assigned to set up a speakeasy to make the most of the Prohibition movement. His goal is to make a load of money and convert as many sinners as he can find. He sets up his 'dance hall' which he calls his House of Sin. There are cocktails and dancers and escorts and cross dressers and all the outcasts and freaks that aren't welcome anywhere else. It gains a cult reputation as a wonderland where anything goes, seemingly built from nothing into the most inclusive yet exclusive club in New York.

Andrew Ryan begins frequenting the place, not because he has tastes for anything other than a pretty girl but because he respects their ethos. He has respect for anyone who disregards laws and social norms and makes their own rules. He is made to feel welcome as are any of the rich and powerful that frequent the club, not because Terzo necessarily likes them but because part of his work there is to recruit powerful people to the Church. He welcomes them personally, brings them the best men or women that they might desire, keeps the drinks and smokes flowing freely until he can bring the conversation around to politics, morals and values so he can see how receptive they might be to the Ministry's teachings.

With Ryan though he barely has to push, almost as if he had come to investigate Terzo's views and opinions for himself. He finds a like mind in Ryan, someone who sees the flaws in society and how they could be improved. He finds himself talking about Meliora openly much to his surprise, the gleaming metropolis of his imagination where people are unrestrained by the petty and the inconsequential, where the seven deadly sins are celebrated and encouraged.

He fears he slips up bringing his religion into his ramblings but Ryan is unaffected by the revelations. He asks directly if Terzo worships the Devil and when he says yes the response he receives is surprisingly respectful. Ryan doesn't believe in God so equally he doesn't believe in the Devil but if he had to pick between the two the one who would earn his regard is the one who chose His own path and didn't just blindly obey. They spend many a night discussing the possibilities of such a place well into the early hours neither of them sure that such a place would ever exist.

Time went on and the world changed. Prohibition ends and the club goes legitimate. Slowly but surely wider society begins to take notice of their live and let live policy and don't like it at all. What was once the place to be seen becomes the place an upstanding member of society would never be seen. Business dwindles as the depression takes hold and by the time the rumblings of the Second World War reach the US they close their doors for good. Terzo returns to the Ministry and to Europe, serving the Clergy in a much more traditional capacity, that is until in 1946 when he receives an invitation from an old friend.

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It takes a hell of a lot to convince the Clergy to let him go, most of them writing off this supposed underwater metropolis as impossible. Eventually though the curiosity and ambition win out and they allow him to go but only if he takes a company of ghouls to keep him out of trouble and who have the abilities to get him out if the worst were to happen, most leaning towards the roof caving in under the pressure of the ocean.

Rapture is almost everything he imagined Meliora to be. The grandiose architecture, neon lights and atmosphere of excitement. The only difference was the underwater setting. It was fascinating, the low blue glow coming from all of the countless windows. Wherever he went he would find himself captivated by the swaying plants on the seabed, the schools of fish or the dark shadow of a whale passing by. The longer he stays the more he starts to forget, until he looks out the window and is reminded all over again of the fascinating place he lives.

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He slips back into his old life so easily, finding many familiar faces from the social circles of New York making up the elite of Rapture. He secures a place in Fort Frolic and goes about recruiting the most beautiful and hedonistic people he can find to work at his club. Anything goes there as is the case with a lot of things in Rapture and it becomes so popular that Ryan even sends his mistress to work with him when she isn't otherwise occupied with him. Everything is perfect for a time but if you have played the games then you know what is coming next.

For now I think I will leave it there. I have a lot of ideas about how he tackles some of the issues that grow within Rapture but if this becomes a fully fledged fic I will save those for that. I hope you have enjoyed my ramblings and I would love to hear others thoughts and ideas if you have any!! I will leave you with the below quotes which were where I started with this so give them a read, would you kindly?

The world since he was last seen has changed. Called Moloch by some, the great industrial machine has been grinding away, grinding everything and everyone down in the process. Spies are everywhere. Their eyes are behind the screens of your televisions and devices, their ears attentive to every frequency in the air. Everything is mediated, pre-packaged, and pressure sealed, your lives preordained. From the cradle to the grave, the world moves along as if there is free will, but this is the grandest illusion. There is no power beyond that which the all-seeing eye controls. The gods are all dead. Even art is pure commodity. But some still fight, quietly at first, but soon they will rise and make the glorious noise of the ancients, donning their masks, these nameless ghouls led by Papa Emeritus III. - Source

To build a city at the bottom of the sea! Insanity. But where else could we be free from the clutching hand of the Parasites? Where else could we build an economy that they would not try to control, a society that they would not try to destroy? It was not impossible to build Rapture at the bottom of the sea. It was impossible to build it anywhere else. Source

"We would sit down to studying exciting Futurist manifestos, sketched the blueprints of utopian metropoles, spiked with shiny skyscrapers stabbing at the heavens belly… Wantonly swollen zeppelins would to carry our gospel of indulgence to the farthest corners of the globe to summon and enslave. (…) Forged in nostalgia of steam and fire, this brave new world of ambition, vice, lust and greed - all so inherent to the enlightened modernity, was always with him through all these years. And it is now - when our church continues to grow stronger and wealthier under wise reign of Papa Emeritus III - that these visions may finally be witnessed and embraced in the preaching's of 'Meliora’ - his most contemporary and humane Encyclical.” - Source

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I chose the impossible. I chose... Rapture, a city where the artist would not fear the censor, where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality, Where the great would not be constrained by the small! And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well. Source

#asks #terzo #papa emeritus iii #the band ghost #bioshock #rapture #headcanon #crossover #my writing #jen's bioshock au

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victorckk · 1 month ago

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PLEASE DRAW X-2 AND CASIMIR 😻

This has been in my drafts ever since you first sent it I apologize ong,, have not had the energy or motivation to draw lately

Tried to draw X-2’s helmet from memory,,, -1000 HP

Okay so on a more serious note, this actually made me realize that I NEVER made a design for Casimir’s D.D AU, so this counts as an answer to your ask AND an info post.

Yippee!

I have never seen the show so… take his backstory and information with a grain of salt? I’m hoping I didn’t get anything wrong or nothing, that would be EMBARRASSING !!!!

I did change his backstory though, so uh.. he’s no longer Queen Tyr’ahnee’s son.

———————

Basically the general idea for the DD!Casimir AU is that his home planet was destroyed by the Martian Empire (with the help of the other planet’s Empires), and he was taken in and raised by the monarch(s) at the time. He was given the name Phe’tulente, which is pronounced as petulant.

They only took him in because he was the only Saturnian who was royalty and young, but for reasons I can’t exactly mention (because they’re not kid friendly).

He and Tyr’ahnee are sibling-like rivals who are constantly fighting over the throne; Phe’tulente hates the Martian Empire for destroying his planet and eliminating his kind, and Tyr’ahnne despises Phe’tulente for always trying to destroy her empire from the inside out.

The two grew up together and were actually raised as siblings, but Phe’tulente was less respected and loved, because he was seen as weaker than Tyr’ahnee. They used to be very close, almost like twins; Tyr’ahnee thought it was unfair that he was treated the way he was, but Phe’tulente didnt pay attention to it and just assumed that everybody hated him. They did care about each other, but it didn’t last.

He was banished after Tyr’ahnee became Queen, and at one point he ended up faking a relationship with General Z-9 to get information from him about the Empire. The two worked together to overthrow the Empire, but for entirely different reasons.

As for his relationship with X-2… haha. Well, let’s just say that they have a love/hate relationship. They grew up together and X-2 can understand where Phe’tulente is coming from, but he also can’t abandon his Empire. Phe’tulente on the other hand, might have developed a bit of a crush on X-2, but he doesn’t like to talk about it much to keep up his Anti-Martian facade.

It’s obvious whenever he starts stumbling over his own feet and starts spewing words out of order from talking too fast whenever he’s around X-2, though. And Tyr’ahnee makes sure to tease him for it like the insufferable jerk she is.

———————

I also did a bit of research for the planet and the mythology of the Roman god to sort of get an idea of how his own Empire might’ve been like back on Saturn.

Saturn was mostly known as the God of time and agriculture it seems, so I was thinking that the Saturnian Empire may have followed the Steampunk aesthetic, but they also probably had a bunch of plants and whatnot as well to fit the agricultural theme too. So.. maybe something more like the Arcadia level in Bioshock (which is a favorite game series of mine).

I know I designed DD!Casimir’s parents not too long ago and they looked like moths, but I’m thinking that they could also be based on honey bees. The only reason Casimir looks more Martian-like in every AU is because his body adapted to Mars’ warmer environment, as compared to Saturn’s colder environment.

#👑 prince casimir #duck dodgers #commander x2 #Queen Tyr’ahnee when her brother King Gay Guys shows up /j

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zephyr-rat · 2 years ago

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The Game Medium: Tension Between Game and Narrative

(SPOILERS FOR THE GAME OMORI)

Heya guys. I’m thinking about making some blog posts that focus on game design and game narrative. These can just be leftover thoughts on a game or just observations that can be applied to the game medium or game genres. I don’t think I’ll do these routinely. These will just come up whenever I feel like it.

If you look at it a certain way, it might be a bit weird to call video games a narrative medium. It’s one of the few narrative mediums in which the medium doesn’t need a story to be truly engaging; the story can literally just be a 2 second premise that justifies the fun stuff you do the entire game like in Mario or it can have none at all like Pac-Man. In other words, the “fun”, the main source of engagement, can be completely disconnected from the in-text narrative.

When you step forth into game design school, one of the first things you’ll probably learn is the M/D/A paradigm: mechanics, dynamics and aesthetics. The mechanics of a game, the individual actions and abilities that you’re allowed to do (jump abilities), will inevitably dictate dynamics, the strategies a player can come up with (the sequence of jump abilities to make across a gap). These dynamics will eventually reinforce the overall aesthetic of the game, the art style, tone, and narrative. In a truly narratively cohesive game, how you feel when doing the dynamic should reinforce what the character feels in the story. However, this dynamic-aesthetic connection usually doesn’t focus on narrative as often as you think it does. In many cases when strategies connect to aesthetics, it’s usually that dynamics reinforce a power fantasy: the ability to be a superhero, a knight, the fastest thing alive, etc. As long as the power fantasy is reinforced through these mechanics and dynamics, you don’t really need a story to reinforce it even further because the mechanics and dynamics are already doing that. It’s entirely optional to have a competently written story for a game.

Because mechanics-dynamics are usually the core of what makes a game engaging, there can be this grave disconnect between what makes a game engaging and what makes the story engaging. This is why many games in earlier ages never really bothered with a story, because all you really need to make a good game is good mechanics and dynamics. This is also why, even in modern games, ludonarrative dissonance is a pretty severe issue, because the interactive engagement powered by mechanics-dynamics won’t be congruent with the engagement powered by narrative. This is how you get Bioshock Infinite where you spend the entire game driving hooks into skulls and gunning down masses of people while the narrative tries to wax poetry about violence and why it sucks.

Compared to other mediums, having different types of engagement is nothing new. A moviegoer can watch a movie just for the movie just for the spectacle, an anime fan can watch an anime just for fight scenes, and a reader can read erotica just to masturbate, but very few mediums allow such a massive disconnect between the narrative and the other types of engagement. The only type of medium I can think of is pop music. Tell me if you heard this before for a pop song: “the lyrics are kinda nonsensical (Rather Be by Clean Bandit) or awful (Sorry by Justin Bieber), but it’s such a bop!” Both songs referenced have reached the top 100 in the billboard charts in previous years. So if interactive engagement can be separated from narrative engagement, how do we handle that?

The easiest answer to this is to make the focus of interactive engagement and the focus of narrative engagement completely congruent to each other. This means making where the feelings of fun of the game happen when strong narrative and thematic beats occur, and having the emotions match accordingly. Boss battles tend to be great examples of this. At the end of a boss battle, how do I feel when doing my mechanics and strategies against them. Did the boss put in an extremely close duel and I feel honored for being able to beat them with my inventive strategies? Or did the boss just, in their final phase, sit there, waiting for me to kill them. These 2 bosses require different dynamics to defeat them, leading to different emotions, and, thus, requiring different story beats to them to match that emotion, to be congruent with the mechanics-dynamics used. However, what happens if the focus of interactive engagement intentionally causes tension with that of the narrative engagement?

OMORI: “The Cruelty of Fun” (SPOILERS FOR OMORI)

To summarize the game, OMORI centers around a kid named Sunny who, after 4 years, decided to become a shut-in after the death of his sister Mari. Ever since then, Sunny has been living within his dreamscape to escape from the real world and from truly processing his sister’s death. Meanwhile, Sunny’s perfect friend group back then completely broke up after the loss of Mari: Hero heads off to College, Aubrey turned into an angry delinquent, and Kel decided to focus more on other friends and high school sports. It’s not until Sunny’s family decide to move out of town did Kel finally reach out to Sunny, inviting him to hang out one last time before moving out.

From then on, the game takes place in 2 completely different worlds: Sunny’s dreamscape that he uses as escapism and the real world in Faraway Town. While both worlds use the same battle system, they differ from each other in certain mechanics, leading to completely different dynamics. The biggest mechanic of the entire game is the emotion mechanic in which each battle unit can hold a certain emotion, and, like most rock-paper-scissors type mechanics, the emotions force a unit to be strong against 1 emotion and weak to another. Happy beats angry, angry beats sad, and sad beats happy. What makes the system so interesting is that, unlike Pokemon or other RPGS, these emotions can be changed dynamically during battle. As such, many of the key dynamics of the game involve manipulating emotions to get the perfect setup and maximum amounts of damage.

Furthermore, another key mechanic of the game is the follow up system in which one of your party members can do a follow up action after doing a basic attack. These follow up actions can lead to massive changes such as changing the mood of a party member or allowing another party member to attack again. Mastering these follow up attacks will allow players the ability to do quick reversals and react to sudden changes. Both the follow up mechanic and the emotion manipulation mechanic are tested immensely in the minor battles and the boss battles, and, in my opinion, are the components that make the battles of Omori engaging.

Both of these key mechanics are only present in the dreamscape world, not in the real world. Because of that, the dynamics and strategies of the real world contrast heavily from that of the dreamscape. When you exit the house as Sunny, battle encounters are little more than a game of clicking the damage action or heal up any damage you receive, and then repeat until the enemy dies. The dynamics of emotion manipulation and the collaboration of emotion manipulation are simply not present, leading to battles in the real world feeling incredibly drab. In fact, if you didn’t get certain items, battles might feel impossible and hopeless as you just flail your arms at the enemy and waste away all your bandages to fix all of the damage.

Youtuber ABItorial made a fantastic video exploring this in which he investigated the dynamic contrast and explained how it affects the emotions of the player and how that emotion gets shaped by the context of the story. In the sense of Omori, it shows the alluring nature of escapism, to hide away in a room and believe in a dreamworld where you have all of the power, especially when in the real world, you just feel so helpless. ABI described it as the “cruelty of fun” in which, by imagining a world in which nothing is wrong and “everything is okay” by the game’s own text, your real friends suffer outside.

This cruelty is shaped by the contrast between what’s interactively engaging (by the mechanics-dynamics) and what’s narratively engaging. In terms of narrative engagement, the fun lies in the dreamscape where one can do interesting strategies in battle and have access to a variety of abilities. Meanwhile, all of the more three-dimensional characters and the tension of the plot lies in the real world. All of the characters in the dreamscape are two-dimension, or at least, flatter than their real world counterparts. The main consequences and conflict caused by Mari’s death exist in the real world while, in the dreamscape, the death is not even mentioned.

As such, there’s this tension between what the player wants to do in terms of a game and what the player wants to do in terms of the story, selling this feeling of what escapism is so alluring to some people. It sells what Sunny is feeling in Omori expertly and doing it in a way that only a game can, because games are one of the few mediums that can allow for a clean separation between game and story. Writers and video game designers, more than most narrative mediums, have to work harder to make those elements congruent with each other.

For the sake of argument, say that someone wanted to adapt Omori into a TV show or a movie: how would one make the dreamscape, with its two-dimensional characters and saccharine “friendship solves all” morals, as interesting or engaging as the game does through its mechanics and dynamics which, in game, symbolizes the amount of power, safety, and control Sunny has in his own world. One would have to make massive changes to sell that someone would want to stay in the dreamscape when literally a friend outside the dream world turns into a bully and another contemplates suicide. In a movie context, if you just do a direct copy and paste translation, Sunny would come off as selfish and cowardly, hiding behind a flimsy facade and refusing to help his own friends. Without a powerful interactive contrast causing tension between the narrative engagement, something has to replace it.

I highlight this aspect of Omori because this is a very unique aspect to games as a narrative medium and I feel, for more interactive and engaging stories, designers and game writers should explore it. Omori is not the only game that does this. Undertale’s genocide run heavily contrasts the interactive desire of being a completionist with being a murderer, something made explicit with Flowey’s motivation and Chara’s quote of “perverted sentimentality”. Another example of this is Lewis’s story from What Remains of Edith Finch in which the player is asked to play 2 games simultaneously: one where you play as an adventurer in your dreams and the other where you repetitively chop fish heads in your monotonous job.

The further we can explore these different aspects of the game medium, the more we can utilize the medium to its fullest. If you have any other games or game scenes that utilize this type of tension, please let me know! I’m curious.

#OMORI #Game #Game Design #Game Narrative #game medium

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unholyplumpprincess · 4 years ago

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Headcanons + Imagines Rules

My headcanons and imagines are open 24/7 and FOR everyone! They are totally okay to request at p much any point in time! Drabbles and fics are NOT done by request, however you can certainly TRY to give me a prompt I will be so inspired by that I Gotta write a fic for free (this is unlikely however, but it HAS happened) :D

Fic + Drabbles can be requested by friends and mutuals, check out that post: HERE

!!!Rules under the cut here to not fill peoples dashes!!!

• You must give me an actual prompt or question to work with. Just asking for like "Nsft headcanons for Fuse?" Will not work. Gimme smth to work with, as an example, "What would Fuse be like in bed with a reader/canon character if they were shy about being touched?" Or FULL PROMPTS like "How would Bloodhound respond to Revenant trying to make them horny in the arena by dirty talking them?" Etc! SFW is also allowed but I Am a whore :D

• To further explain the above, you also cannot Just give me kinks like "Pathfinder with an s/o with a choking and breeding kink having sex?" Or smth simple sfw like “Headcanons for miragehound in winter?” PLEASE give me some sorta prompt to work with! Otherwise I'll just tell ya no or to retry!

• You can also just straight up ask questions to form a prompt. Like instead of saying ‘nsft headcanons for fusehound?’ you could instead be like ‘Okay nsft headcanons for fusehound. Who tops who bottoms? What are their favorite ways to get each other in the mood’ etc!

• Example of SFWs might be something like “Michael Myers learning how to celebrate *insert specific holiday* as a family and learning all the fun traditions with his reader s/o.”, ‘What would the Huntress be like if she found out her s/o was pregnant?’ Etc!

• You can ask for up to 3 characters for a question like "What is their reactions to being caught under the mistletoe?", BUT you'll get a lengthier/more detailed reply if you ask for just one character!

• Due to my old blog getting deleted, you CAN ask old questions that I may have answered before bc I'll have a different response! However, if someone asks for smth and it involves ONE character, someone else can ask for that same question for another or two more. As soon as 3 characters are hit, no one can ask for that specific prompt again! (This is due to exploits in the past where I’d end up doing a full cast of 20+ characters.)

• If it is a question I can answer in One word or a quick sentence (Like a roster's fav foods or love languages) you CAN ask for more than 3 characters!

• Wanna make my day? Love OCs? You can ask about my OCs as well! Their masterlist can be found in my bio, pinned post, and here -> LINK HERE

• Canon character x Canon character, Canon character x Reader, My oc x Reader/Canon character are all allowed! If we are friends and I know ur OC extensively, I am happy to do them too!

• For readers, they will ALWAYS be gender neutral, but you can specify genitalia and what lingo to use for said genitalia if you like and the prompt is nsft specific! :D

• And ofc, I can refuse any prompt for any sorta reason!

• NOs: Any obvious ones like in/cest ped/o etc, Rape/sexual assault, miscarriages or anything that has to do with pregnancy in an unhappy way or children in an unhappy way, no angst (I'm a happy blog. Hurt and comfort is abt the closest you'll get!)

• Some fandoms I do (But feel free to ask for specific fandoms or characters before sending a request to make sure I do them! :D): Apex Legends, Overwatch, Dead by daylight, Slashers and horror icons (Michael Myers, Leatherface, xenomorphs, predators, etc), Arcane, Cloud Meadow (Monsters and NPCs), Resident Evil (All games), Stardew Valley, Destiny 2, Hannibal, Assassin’s creed (Some have not been played!), Bioshock, Mario, and lots more! Just send an ask or even DM me, I’m happy to answer :D

#rules #save #headcanons #imagines #princess talks

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victorianraccoon · 4 years ago

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hello, welcome to my Ted talk.

Today we will be discussing "Tales from the SMP". But before I blow your minds with my theory/realization we must first talk about the butterfly effect.

So, have you heard of the butterfly effect?

The butterfly effect, is used to say the smallest of actions can lead to catastrophic events. Like, for example, a butterfly flapping it's wings causing a hurricane.

Now the important part of the butterfly effect here, is where it was first brought up.

The term was coined by meteorologist Edward Lorenz in 1960. He studying how small changes within his computer algorithm would lead to massive changes to the final outcome.

As cool as that is, Edward Lorenz wasn't the first one to really instill the idea.

Have you ever heard of "A Sound of Thunder"?

It was a short story written by Ray Bradbury, and first published in a magazine during 1952. To pretty much summarize the plot of the story, it is about a man going back in time to kill a dinosaur and then dooming humanity.

To be more specific about it, There is a company that holds onto a time machine, going by the name of "Time Safaris Inc.". Unsurprisingly, They use it for "Time Safaris", in which they let people go back into the past and shoot a dinosaur of their choosing.

The main character of the story is "Eckels", who shows up to Time Safaris Inc. and ends up requesting to shoot a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Before Eckels is brought to the past, the tour guide takes a minute to explain how they plan out the process. The guide says that the Tyrannosaurus Rex they will be shooting is about to be killed by a falling tree. So that upon killing that T. Rex, they will only be effecting the way that the T. Rex dies and don't end up effecting anything else. They even remove the bullets from the bodies as to not leave anything behind.

Time Safaris have also ended up setting precautions. They have set up a metal floating pathway above the ground so they don't touch the ground and end up crushing the plants and/or insects.

The Time Safari guides heavily stress how important it is to Eckels about how he cannot walk off the pathway.

"Don't stray from the path."

What ends up happening for the rest of the story is, once Eckels sees the Tyrannosaurus Rex, he ends up panicking. He steps off the pathway, and crushing a butterfly by mistake. This causes a change within the timeline so major that it greatly effects the human language. There are probably more changes to the present of that world, but we never got to see them.

Now, we are going to take a step back for a moment.

"Don't stray from the path."

Sounds... awfully familiar... doesn't it?

CC!KARL JACOBS, IF I AM PICKING UP WHAT YOU ARE PUTTING DOWN, THEN YOUR CHARATER HAS SCREWED THE TIMELINE

I will rant as to how Time Travler Karl has probably doomed the future in a minute, but I gotta be serious about my theorizing.

We have only seen five episodes of tales of the smp, which is not a ton of sources of info to go off unfortunately. Episode two probably isn't even "cannon", but eh I can't really say.

But we have seen the future once.

Episode three.

The one where Ranboo apparently had a moment where he really liked the idea of bioshock, built a city underwater, then had kids who made false assumptions from screwed up historical documents of the events of the Dream Smp.

There is a problem with this though.

Episode one, he was in the past. Some peasant village that dealt with some murders, probably one of the beginning settlements of flordia.

The issue about this is because since we haven't seen a future without Karl meddling in someway, that means we do not have a untouched future to compare this touched future against. We cannot figure out the type of time traveling rules are in place. Time traveling rules differ from story to story, but they tend to be--

1) Time is set in stone. You change minor events but you cannot change major events.

2) Time is malleable to a point but crushing a bug won't kill the world.

3) Stomping a butterfly to death can somehow mess up the human languages. Sneezing will end the world you are fucked everything is fucked the sun is collapsing because you had to sneeze you bastard you

So, the events that are happening could either be completely time traveler Karl Jacob's fault, or they could always be happening no matter what Karl Jacob's does.

Also there is complete possibility that it's a time loop, which those are confusing as hell and im not even going to try to talk about that.

But if that's the case, that means he's losing his memories for nothing.

All three are quite bad.

Also? There is a complete other possibility on the fact that what is going on in the dream smp could be the "best" timeline. I am not saying Time Traveler Karl thinks that what has happened is the best timeline, but it might be the best it can get.

( The descendent into madness starts here)

Time travel is so fucking complicated in the way that technically speaking if it is happening now in the past, it has already happened here.

Time travel is a very genuinely interesting story telling method, I'm not going to lie about that. It allows for more interesting settings and characters, but holy shit. The part of my brain that enjoys understanding storylines and timelines starts having a conniption whenever its brought up.

But there are so many loopholes that are left behind. Like- Time travel in its self is a Paradox! If the problem has already been solved, then why go back to fix it? Then there is nothing to fix the problem in the first place!

I hope as CC!Karl keeps releasing more of the series it will fill in more holes and answer more questions, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's just me looking too deep into things when I should just enjoy it face value.

Also? I know I am going somewhat on a tangent here, but I have started and I cannot stop. But there legit biological consequences of time traveling! Do you know how much disease Time Traveler Karl has probably been spreading around???

Because here is the thing about time, as it marches on, so does evolution. Evolution is always happening and occurring, some instances more noticeable then others.

If you were to go back in time, not only would you be exposed to very old diseases that your body might not even be able to recognize since how different they appear, you are also bringing newer, more specialized and better adapted diseases into the past.

Where people's bodies are not trained against those diseases.

AT ALL.

SO NOT ONLY HAS TIME TRAVELER KARL JACOBS FUCKED UP THE TIMELINE WITH THE POSSIBILITY OF THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT, HE HAS ALSO UNKNOWNINGLY BECOME A BIOLOGICAL WEAPON.

KARL JACOBS IF YOU INDEED ARE TRYING TO MAKE A CONNECTION TO THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT AND THE STORY "A SOUND OF THUNDER", I HOPE YOUR CHARACTER DOESN'T FOLLOW IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF ECKELS.

LITERALLY DO NOT STEP ON THE BUTTERFLY AGAIN PLEASE.

TDLR:

I lose my fucking mind over the possibility of there being a connection of the butterfly effect between "A Sound of Thunder" and tales of the smp.

#a sound of thunder #i am rambling #i wrote this with my essay skills #i swear to god karl i swear to god #i will fight you if there arent major consequences for your characters actions #i am kidding about fighting him #but genuinely #time traveler karl jacobs time hygiene is awful #also like is too oddly specific to not be connected to something #anyway tag rambling over #mcyt #tales from the smp #tales spoilers #tftsmp #literally just #fan theory #probably wrong and im just looking into things #would i tag this as apart of fandom?#does the even have a fandom?#mcyt theories #would this count as dream smp #i guess it would?#i dont fucking know i hate tags #mcyt fandom #mcytblr #i lied about the tag rambling being over by the way #karl jacobs #karl jacobs mcyt #YO HOLY SHIT I POGGED SO HARD WHEN RANBOO MENTIONED THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT #also i for some reason spent an entire day writing this and rewriting it

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rapturerecords · 4 years ago

Text

BioShock’s Soundtrack Timeline Quirks and Hiccups

Here’s a question customers have posed while shopping around in this record store: “Is the BioShock soundtrack historically accurate?”

The short answer is no. This is of course including a presumption of a distinct cutoff year. If on the other hand, you would consider the reverse, “Is the BioShock soundtrack historically appropriate?”, well we shall see.

So let’s briefly break down the soundtrack of each game.

In the first Bioshock, the game opens with the year 1960 before taking us down to the underwater city of Rapture. However, Andrew Ryan had cut off contact with the Surface some time before, coupled with the Rapture Civil War officially starting on New Year’s Day in 1959. Granted several songs in BioShock were recorded in that last decade through the 50s including “Danny Boy” (1952), “Papa Loves Mambo” (1954), “It’s Bad for Me” (1955) and so on.

Frank Fontaine’s smuggling operations could account for the fact of the very late 1959 release dates of Bobby Darin’s “Beyond the Sea” and Noël Coward’s “20th Century Blues”, however Fontaine allegedly died in September 1958 according to the newspaper article in the Rapture Standard.

Even with Fontaine’s shenanigans, it doesn’t account for the 1966 version of Patti Page’s “Doggie in the Window” or the 2004 version of Cole Porter’s “You’re the Top” as seen below. Other songs include the assorted instrumental tracks recorded in the 1990s such as “The Ballroom Waltz”, “And All the While I’m Loving You” or even the 1966 song “Academy Award”. Lastly, there is still the mystery of the numerous instrumental guitar and violin songs supposedly performed or inspired by Django Reinhardt used in BioShock.

Creative Director Ken Levine obliquely mentioned the problem of using re-recordings and alternate versions of songs in a 2007 interview with Electronic Gaming Monthly.

...Or I would research on Wikipedia or talk to my dad, and then I would go and listen to little snippets, and I'd ask myself, "Does this feel like it belongs in Rapture?" [Dealing with this era of] licensed music... is a very complicated process, because generally you're dealing with people who are dead and their lawyers are dead. The rights are often very complicated, and so a lot of times we'd want a song and we wouldn't get it. We'd have to find another person who performed it, or another version of the recording or something like that. We had to be fairly flexible.

Overall, BioShock 2 does have the most historically accurate soundtrack of the series, excluding the songs reprised from the first BioShock. The game ostensibly takes place in 1968, or 10 years later from 1958 according to the opening titles.

All things considered, its only soundtrack transgression is using the 1976 version of “Daddy’s Little Girl” as seen below.

Aside from that, its newest songs unique to the game are 1945′s “Dream” and “It’s Only a Paper Moon”. Many songs trend older towards the 1920s and 1930s, reflecting the older portions of Rapture seen in the game with some of the oldest tracks being 1929′s “Daddy Won’t You Please Come Home” and “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out”.

BioShock Infinite and the floating city of Columbia introduces time as central plot point and with it some interesting soundtrack implications. Keeping in mind the setting is 1912, its soundtrack can be broadly divided into three categories

Modern covers of existing period songs were recorded especially for the game such as “After You’ve Gone”, “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”, and the Scott Joplin rags.

Deliberately anachronistic songs are provided as a plot point courtesy of Messrs. Albert Fink and Scott Bradlee rearranging modern songs to sound period such as “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”, “Fortunate Son”, “Tainted Love” and so on.

Lastly there are the period songs meant to evoke the flavor of the 1912 setting. While some are authentically of the era including some very old Edison cylinders, quite a few bleed into the 1920s and 30s including “Ain’t She Sweet” (1927), “Button Up Your Overcoat” (1929), and “St. James Infirmary” (1930). Bessie Smith manages to crossover to both cities in both BioShock Infinite and BioShock 2 with “I’m Wild About That Thing”, “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out”, and “Need a Little Sugar in My Bowl”. In addition, several recordings are presented “live” in the game, but were recorded much later such as the prison work song recorded by Alan Lomax, “Black Gal” in 1959 and “Shake Sugaree” recorded in 1967.

Lastly, Burial at Sea features a coda. Both Patsy Cline songs “She’s Got You” and “Back in Baby’s Arms” were recorded in the 1960s, well after the 1959 date of the events of the game. However in a tragic twist of fate, she would die shortly after recording the songs in a plane crash.

Creative Director Ken Levine again mentioned the problem of finding music “that sounds great to the modern ear” in a 2012 interview with Wired magazine.

But one of my favorite parts of my job is choosing the licensed music. BioShock Infinite is set in an interesting time because it’s right at the beginning of jazz and blues. Music before jazz and blues is not very listenable. I mean popular music -– it’s really kind of awful. You know, the John Philip Sousa marches and stuff. And then you get jazz and blues coming in, with the early stuff like ragtime.

It’s much more challenging to find music from that era that sounds great to a modern ear. BioShock was set in 1959, so we had this huge slate of great music to choose from. But here we don’t have all the chord progressions, and the things we like didn’t exist or had just started to exist. So finding music has been a really interesting challenge...

The most important thing is that you get people to feel things. I’ll give you a hint: There weren’t flying cities in 1912 nor were there underwater cities and genetic technology in 1959 (laughs). So, yeah, you play a little fast and loose. You could argue that this is Columbia and we do things a little differently.

You’ve already heard some of the strange musical things in the game...

Less discerning record customers may have grabbed the wrong discs and are surprised to find the recordings don’t match what they’ve heard.

I have taken the liberty of conducting a synchronization of a number of the more unusual re-recordings which the games use instead of the originals. These are presented in the new stereophonic sound format, be advised it is recommended to have two speakers far apart to get the full effect, or at the very least avoid having two speakers that are too close together.

The original older track is on the listener’s left while the newer one used in the games are on the listener’s right.

Some of the more fantastically-minded among us down here in Rapture might be tempted to simply blame the above on those newfangled Tears. But it is the records that speak for themselves.

youtube

Patti Page’s “The Doggie in the Window”

1952 Mercury Records version (original)

1966 Columbia Records version (used in BioShock)

youtube

Cole Porter’s “You’re the Top”

1934 Victor Records version (original)

2004 version with Vince Giordano and The Nighthawks (used in BioShock)

youtube

Mills Brothers’ “Daddy’s Little Girl”

1950 Decca Records version (original)

1976 Ranwood Records version (used in BioShock 2)

The original versions of the songs are featured occasionally here with the addendum that they were not actually used in the game. They are marked with the RRR for Rapture Records Recommendation.

There are number of other instances where an artist recorded more than one version of a song, typically well before, such as Noël Coward’s 1959 “Party’s Over Now” and his slightly longer 1932 version. But that’s left for another revolution of the record.

#video game music #ludomusicology #bioshock music #bioshock #bioshock 2 #bioshock infinite #burial at sea

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lepoppeta · 4 years ago

Note

Jatlas for the Ship It Ask pls💖

SHIP IT

1. What made you ship it?

Uhm... that’s an excellent question. My Bioshock experience has been such a sudden whirlwind that a lot of that kind of thing gets lost to memory... but I think it was a combination of the fan-content and Atlas’ accent.

After I found out about the Twist I had probably thought something along the lines of: “Aw, shit. Atlas’ accent was too sexy to give up. I have to make him a separate person now, don’t I?” I don’t quite remember what made me ship him together with Jack -- I think I was browsing through the “Atlas isn’t Frank Fontaine” tag on AO3 and I came across it there.

As you can see I haven’t looked back.

2. What are you favourite things about the ship.

I think concisely it can be summed up with: “angst with a happy ending��.

If you’re wanting a more detailed answer then I’m probably going to have to dive headfirst into headcanon territory. Most, if not all, of my Bioshock fanwork operates within an Alternate Universe. I’m so enamored with my own concept that I’m in the process of making a Spotify playlist that tells the story in song -- and, as you might have guessed, Jack and Atlas get some of my favourite songs. Namely “Elsa’s Song”, “Achilles Come Down”, and “Exile Villify” all in a row.

I love how Jack counterpoints Atlas’ impatience and frustration with his own... I regret to say “meekness” but that’s the best word I can come up with for now. I love how Atlas’ spirit balances out Jack’s heart. I want them to threaten to shoot each other and then cry and kiss and fall into each other’s arms because I haven’t seen you in so long, what have those bastards done to you?

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I’m actually not too sure, since my version of the ship, while it’s still Jatlas, is... a different Jatlas, if that makes sense. Some people do ship the “Atlas and Fontaine are the same person” with Jack, and I personally don’t like that version of it. More power to ya!

#answered ask #ask game #bioshock #jack ryan #jack wynand #atlas #jatlas

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mediaeval-muse · 4 years ago

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A refresher

Just in case some people are new (or new-ish), here’s a refresher on me:

My name is Kelly and as of August, I have a PhD in medieval English lit. I specialize in Old English, but I have experience with Old Irish, Old Norse, Middle English, the History of English Language, etc. I also have some experience in “global medieval lit” (as bad a term that is). If you have library access, you can read my article on Cynewulf’s Juliana here. I’m happy to answer questions about how to grad school (in the US).

I’ve taught medieval lit as well as comics, sci fi, fantasy, and HEL at the undergraduate level. I’ve also taught college writing, from basic composition to business/professional writing. So, if you have questions on those topics or want to know “how to college” (in the USA), I can help you!

I also have extensive experience giving talks and writing about pop culture as a public scholar. You can see my work here (scroll down for full articles on Vampyr, Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse, BioShock, The Evil Within 2, The Dark Phoenix Saga, Love Death + Robots, etc.).

I don’t have an academic job because the job market is trash. But I can offer advice on job market materials.

I don’t post a lot about my studies on tumblr because I’m burned out, but I am always happy to answer questions or talk about aspects of medieval lit. If I don’t know the answer to something, I can usually point you in the right direction.

I also post a lot of book reviews and video game reviews (as I read/play them), and I’m happy to talk about them informally as well.

If you want to know my thoughts on academic books or wonder if an academic book might be useful, I also review those using a slightly different format.

I have a Ko-Fi for my art, but I don’t post art on tumblr.

I’m fairly political on this blog, so if you don’t want to see those things, block the tag “politics.”

I have a hard time seeing when someone tags or mentions me in something, so your best bet for getting me to respond to something is to send me an ask.

I’m committed to making medieval studies (as well as comics studies, pop culture studies, etc.) anti-racist and lgbt+ inclusive, so don’t come to me with your “historical accuracy” arguments. I’m not your white nationalist ally.

#personal

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seeveekat · 4 years ago

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20 TUMBLR CONFESSIONS

I was tagged by @criminalsenzuri (thank you btw!)

Rules: Answer the questions you are comfortable with and ignore the ones you are not, and tag eight people to do the same!

1. When did you join Tumblr, and when did you become active and started posting (broken down in case if different)?

joined in 2012 and basically started re blogging after like a month of lurking

2. Would you reblog your first ever Tumblr post after responding to these questions?

Naw i dont post cringe anymore

3. How many blogs do you follow?

I just checked I think it’s around i follow 1000+??? which is wild because i olnly see like the same 8 blogs??? many are probs defunct lol

4. How do you find blogs to follow; do you explore Tumblr by topic to find interesting ones, pick from the tags the ones who look interesting, see them on your dash via your current follows - or how?

mainly posts, sometimes reblogs

5. Do you have any other blogs, and if so, why and what are they about?

yeah a jjba one, a star trek one and an art one i dont use anymore where the only thing that is reblogged by people is a shitpost comic about how Mayuri, frieza, and orochimaru were my first anime crush.

6. How often do you change the theme of your blog and how many themes have you gone through overall (as far as you remember)?

Rarely and like two themes i think

7. Do you customize your themes or apply a theme as is?

naw b how ever it looks when i get it is how it stays

8. Do you automatically follow-back, or do you check the blogs of all your new followers, or only if they appear interesting?

I always check but after a while i might follow back

9. How many of the blogs you started following within the first few weeks/months of joining Tumblr you still follow (all, most, some, hardly any)?

a good portion of my Bioshock mutuals are still around????? thats solidarity alright

10. How actively do you use Tumblr’s messaging system?

occasionally to keep in touch with close friends

11. How many drafts do you have currently saved – or do you post/reblog straight away without saving drafts?

drafts??? on my blog??? never :)

12. Do you use Queue when posting?

only on accident

13. Do you use XKit, and if so, what are your favourite features in it?

yes god i love it. one click reply makes reblogging suuuper easy

14. Do you use tracked tags, and if so, what are your favourite tags you check most frequently.

yeah. I check the, Frieza, Mayuri Kurostuchi, Lutece Twins and Klaus von Reinhertz tag daily like the fucking simp I am

15. Do you use tracked blogs, and if so, how many blogs you track?

only for zine blogs :) Gotta stay updated on apps some how

16. Do you keep your Tumblr secret from people you know in real life?

yup, though i have had people follow my blog before knowing me before lmao.

17. A) Have you ever blocked anyone? B) Do you have anyone blocked currently, and if so, how many?

yeah :/ like 4 for “reasons” and a couple of tag spammers

18. Are you (to the best of your knowledge) being blocked by anyone, and if so, how many, and do you know why?

probably. thats just how it be baybee

19. Do you use blacklist, and if so, what do you blacklist against?

nah B people i follow barely tag and never reblog anything that may trigger me

20. Have you ever made a RL friend through Tumblr, someone who you have also met in real life?

Naw. Discord? Yes. Tumblr? No.

I tag: any of my mutuals lol. Do this is you want! Im curious to see your awnsers!

#just screaming into the void

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actiivevisiion · 5 years ago

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Here We Go!

Oh My Gosh! I cannot believe I am doing this! I know this might come at an awkward time - but, this is my first blog post on the Tumblr Universe! Before I begin I just want to say whether I see you when I stream on Twitch, Twitter, Instagram, etc. thank you for all supporting me time and time again! You are truly amazing human beings to share this world with and without you, I could not be happier! Let me start here! For the people who are new or just recently coming across my name, my name is Jessica! A lot of people know me by my username of ActiiveVisiion on Twitch. I am a variety broadcaster that currently streams a variety of games, like the Bioshock and Assassin’s Creed series to Destiny 2 and Call of Duty series. I am a transgender woman and have been transitioning for about three years (33 months). I currently live in Orlando, FL and have the best job in the world (to me at least). I have a family of my Mom and two amazing brothers residing in Florida as well. I have a wonderful cat, Aspen, which is about a year old. We do not unfortunately know what bread she is, but we know she has Dilute Calico fur. I will have funny pictures to show you later as she is really adorable. Now into the blog post…. I did want to really tell you something. Tonight was a surreal and memorable moment for me. I have always wanted to start a blog (as I just did) about what my thoughts are, what is happening in my life on a more personal level, and be able to interact in a different way instead of just social media and Twitter. I have always been encouraged to be able to help as many people as I can, whether it is in this town, country, or even around the world. I am so fortunate to be in your lives and being able to do this through Twitch. I am grateful for all friendships I currently have or have had in the past (yes, I forgive and start anew). (The [!!!] Will indicate the start and stop of a Trigger Warning) When my blog was all set up, I remembered I had an old Tumblr account that I had before I was in transition. I logged in and I was speechless. This was the first time since I felt it was time to leave Tumblr in 2015. I found Twitch to be my find myself to express how I truly felt. I had flashback moments as a young adult where it was difficult for myself to live as a male. For instance, it gave me a flashback of where I can only express myself through a screen behind closed doors. [!!!] This eventually gave me isolation and mental breakdowns where I wanted to attempt suicide, and I almost did. The night that I had my first suicide attempt was rough. I felt that I could not be true and that I was living a false life. I tried to suffocate myself through a couple of pillows at night when I laid down to sleep. All of a sudden I was gasping for air trying to catch my breath. I realized that I had to live for a reason…I did not know then that I was here for a reason, and eventually I know that I am after my first “real” suicide attempt (we will go into details about that another day). [!!!] Other instances came up that I was reminded of as well! As I took showers and baths as a kid and adolescent, I used to cover these parts with the soap. Also, I remember putting soap clumps on my chest thinking that they were breasts and covering my private parts with soap. I guess what I can tell is that I have come a long way. Just seeing this blog made me feel even more accomplished that I was able to become not the man I was, but the woman who I was meant to be. I just wanted to talk and tell you all some of the nostalgia that I felt. I really feel relieved, but terrified for the same reason. I just wanted to tell you what has been on my mind for a very long time. I was laying in bed last night wishing that things went back the way they were. The friendships and relationships that I had before my suicide attempt I truely miss. I have always felt out of the loop of everything since my return last March. I always felt that I could stream for a very long time. But, as the days go on, my feelings for Twitch have deepy diminished. Many people have approached me to tell me that I look so much happier in real life and on stream. In all honesty, I am not really as of recently. I felt the need of rebuilding those relationships with everyone, but I have had people look at me less and less as time fades. I have faced a lot of turmoil in my life, whether it is on stream or in the real world, but I feel that most of these people have thrown me away like a freshly bloomed pink rose. Due to this coronavirus, we have had to separate from each other, making me feel more isolated from each other. For myself, I have not had social interaction in person except towards my roommate for a few minutes a day. I have been having interactions with Aspen, though. But, this pandemic has been on a path of destruction since it started and it might not go away anytime soon. This is where I would lean on my friends, being able to survive on caring for each other and showing our love. I feel nothing and just numb. I feel like I cannot do this without your help. We need to do something together now so other people do not feel like this. As my time drifts away from Twitch, I come closer to the reality of the past….I do have a couple of people to talk to, and that is a blessing. But, besides these selected few, no one really checks up on me and it hurts. Friendships are two way streets. I feel like I am worthless to the point of why am I even on Twitch. I have never been able to make any dream of mine a reality, whether it is on Twitch or just in life. It is just killing me from the inside out and I just want help from all of you. This is why I have not been able to stream. I feel no compassion, support, love, and have very limited friendships on this platform. People also would say, “Jessica, why do you not take another break?” I will answer that question right here. It is because it is something I am passionate about. I feel like when I am on camera, I can make a difference in someone else’s life. I feel that I can do so much good but I cannot do it without feeling your love and friendships. I have done a lot of soul searching just to figure out this one part of my journey. This is what came out of it. I am alone in this world, to fight my own battles and wars. The world is a beautiful place to share it with, and I feel like I do not have barely any friendships to share it with. This is why I cannot stream as much as I do, and I am deeply sorry. All I want is forgiveness and being able to move forward with our friendships. I want to start thinking positive again and being happy around all of you. Green Day says in its first verse in their song Boulevard of Broken Dreams, “I walk a lonely road, the one that I have ever known. Don’t know where it goes, but it’s only me, and I walk alone.” Help me feel happy again. I think we can do it. Pre-Transition Tumblr: journeyfromwithin.tumblr.com

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listoriented · 5 years ago

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“B”een There

done that.

So here ends my time playing games that start with the letter B. Thanks for reading! It's been three years plus change. Back in early 2016 when I pondered how the world might look when I finished another letter, I never imagined, even from that unsteady ground, just quite how different things would become (in terms of global political-psychological landscape) - though really all the top-down drama happened that year, and everything since then has just felt like the normalisation and ratification of it, this splintered-systemic madness, the post-parody, post-fake fake-real. Or whatever you want to call it.

Nor did I imagine that it would take me so long. But, life. I went overseas, moved houses, moved cities, went through a breakup, started a PhD, rode a bike, read some books, faffed around. I anxiously played hundreds of hours of Rocket League; I ticked off every achievement in Mini Metro; I spent too long trying to remember what I was doing in Stardew Valley. I reviewed some games over at Gamecloud, which wrapped up earlier this year. Time accumulated in a predictable but upsetting way.

Beloved demigod of gaming blogs RPS went through a full staff turnover, pretty much. It's weird, man. VR happened but remains a bit beyond my periphery, even if it gets brought up from time to time in the groupchat. Battle Royale games weren't a thing a few years ago, then they became everything, now they are still a big deal, the biggest deal, or maybe a large-medium deal, or just a large part of the background - I honestly don’t know how to quantify this. Steam's ubiquity has slipped markedly, through a mixture of managed negligence and increasingly aggressive competition. The inherent limitations of being bound to one commercial distribution system on one hardware platform have always been at the back of my mind, but I do increasingly wonder if my time would be better spent on a project that dug through other veins. The answer is, for now, that sometimes you've gotten keep doing the thing you said you were gonna do, if no other reason than because.

Tumblr, our home since 2016, has gone through its own shifts and controversies in this time too. They no longer seem to allow unencoded links (so no-one ever knows what they’re clicking on), it became less friendly to adult content, and as of today apparently Tumblr has been sold on to wordpress. I don’t really know the implications of this last thing.

Some Maths

I played fifty one games beginning with B. Of the forty-eight that I'd deem to have some notional metric of completability, twenty-four of those I (often in the most flexible sense possible), "completed". 50%: Not as bad as I'd expected, TBH, especially as that includes a couple of painful six/seven game streaks where I didn't finish anything.

Ceremonious Award Giving for Games Starting with ‘B’

It is always hard to pick favourites, and from any given vantage point they tend to change. Nevertheless, an act of self-canonisation is in order, as is tradition. Given the nature of this project, I do put a lot of value in titles that surprise me in one way or another. Batman: Arkham Asylum and Bulletstorm were equal Best Goofy Action surprises (it pays having low expectations, sometimes), with an honourable mention to Brigador. The Banner Saga was the most surprisingly thought provoking. Davey Wreden’s autoficitive The Beginners Guide gets the Anodyne Prize for Most Enjoyably Difficult To Put In A Box.

Botanicula was probably my Favourite (total) Revisit, or the best non-surprise.

B was a letter characterised by a few high-budget action series (of which my favourite part was Bioshock 2 (Minerva's Den)), held up by substrate of modest indie things of varying impact. My attention span was all over the place, too. We had a lot of short forays with little to say, but there was there were also more than a few wordier attempts at thought. I'm bad at judging what makes "good" writing, particularly of my own, which I oscillate between accepting and loathing, but I can tell you which games/posts took the cake for length and effort: Baldur's Gate for longest playtime; Burnout: Paradise for highest word-count (and longest gestation period); Battleblock Theater for the most time-consuming method of putting a post together; The Beginners Guide for the most times played through a game in order to try and parse it; Braid for the most external reading and referencing.

I think the most absurdly Expensive-at-purchase game here was Battlefield: Bad Company 2, which also gets the newly thought of I Can’t Believe It Still Has Functioning Online Multiplayer prize. I'm handing the Most Disappointing badge to Broken Age, despite (or because of) already having played it a bunch before attempting it for the list, though Before the Echo (fka Sequence) takes the Aquanox Award for game I inexplicably sunk the most time on trying to finish despite not really enjoying. I hold the Most Contempt for Breach & Clear. Black Mirror had the Worst Voice Acting, and it was also the Oldest Game here (2003), at least in terms of no-significant-alterations though depending on how you want to factor in remasters and remakes, you might alternatively give that prize to Broken Sword (1996) or Bionic Commando Rearmed (1988). Blueberry Garden was Purchased Most Long Ago, in 2009, though the Aquaria Trophy for Longest Unplayed Incumbent goes to Bob Came in Pieces, which I'd bought in 2010 then never installed (it's pretty good, it turns out!). However, the special Emotional Closure Award goes to Baldur's Gate, with which I already had nearly two decades of fond, scattered memories, before finally finishing for the first time during this project.

More Maths

When I started this letter I had 438 games in my steam library. Right now I have 1049 games, which is almost exactly three times the amount I had when I started this blog in October 2015 (~350). I've played 70 games total. A further 57 entered the list behind the marker, into the exempt scorched land of the already visited alphabet, which means we're at 127/1049 = 12.11% of the way through the list, which is a +7% increase on where we were at three years ago. That's not nothing. But at 2.5% per year, it's not a lot. Globally, the average human lifespan is 68 years.

Terrifying Implications For the Future

The maths says that the current terms aren't working, that I'm drowning in a heady mixture of my own relentless consumerism, hesitation, and procrastination from this task which is itself an avenue of procrastination - that at this rate I will probably die (or certainly give up) before even getting to the halfway point, and that we can't continue like this in good faith.

So I'm going to get a bit reckless, even change the rules slightly, in order to try and breathe new life into this thing. All games must still be played for at least an hour - yes, that one stands. But. BUT. I'm setting a hard time limit of one week, from one game to the next, post to post. For now at least. No more lofty words about striving to "finish" games as a rule rather than exception. It's quantity over quality (pretending for a second that quality was ever a concern) from here on out, business over pleasure, irreverence over lengthy considerations, scrapbooking over essays.

On the bright side, this means I can have a weekly posting schedule. Let's say Tuesdays? Tuesdays seem like a good day for posting.

A couple of other things:

List Oriented now has a ko-fi tip jar, just in case you, dear reader, enjoy this blog - or did before it went completely silent for the first half of this year - and feel like helping to pay for my caffeine addiction and/or encouraging me to keep going with this task.

Another thing I want to do is compile a list of links to good places for games-writing and other things that I like, because a) I feel like such a page would be helpful for me to keep a record, even if for nobody else; b) my conception of the internet is permanently stuck in 2008 but also; c) it's hard to remember where to look for good things on the internet, sometimes, these days, given our habitual over-reliance on various platforms to direct us to CONTENT. But one thing I want to include is a list of other places where people are doing this kind of list-oriented project thing. I remember a bunch of them sprung up a couple of years back when we gained a brief and relative flash of notoriety, though I’m not sure how many stuck at it. If you yourself are doing one, or you’re aware of any others who are, Let Me Know!

Anyway, looking ahead. C. An obtuse but interesting letter. Not so many of the big-hitters. A buuuuunch of city builders and management games, a few influential and/or janky platformers, more than a handful of puzzlers, some famed RTS series, a heap of question marks, a coupla interesting art things and a few uh *squints* Shooting Game. Happily for me, a lot of titles that I've not yet gotten round to giving a go, so this will be all...fresh.

I have a vague memory from when I got through A, of looking ahead to C and thinking at least it was a much more compact section than B, at the time, some light on the other side of what I'd already known would be a slog. But here we are three years later, and now there's fifty seven such games beginning with C, so there goes that thought. You'd think, having identified the consumerist-excess problem that catalysed this stupid thing, I would have stopped buying game bundles at some point, made this ridiculous project a bit easier for myself, a little more plausible for everyone else.

But, we must continue. It's a new day. A new letter. A new schedule.

The way is long and it is littered with videogames.

above: “celebrating” my “achievements” with a ‘b’eer

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jyfnhmlmwriter · 6 years ago

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Just a Note (Fully Updated as of 2/19/19)

Hello everyone! If you couldn’t tell from my name, I am a writer that writes for people of the MLM orientation. Meaning if you are a “man loving men,” these are for you! I also write for nonbinary/gender neutral people as well!

So, in case you are new to fanfiction and don’t know the lingo just yet, here’s a list of term’s you’ll likely 👀…

______________

(Y/N) - Your Name

(H/C) - Hair Color

(H/L) - Hair Length

(E/C) - Eye Color

(F/C) - Favorite Color

_______________

There is the possibility for more than that, but that’s the basics and I’ll inform you at the beginning of the chapter if that’s the case.

Next, the stuff I can do! I like a bunch of different things, so I’ll list off the ones I am able to do at the moment and add on either when I discover something new I like or someone reminds me of something. Here it is!

_______________

~Hetalia

~Supernatural

~ Fullmetal Alchemist (not done with this, but I know enough)

~ One Punch Man

~ Free!

~ My Hero Academia (not caught up all the way, but enough to know the main characters, yes I am open to doing some of the teachers)

~Avengers

~Guardians of the Galaxy (but not Groot or Rocket please)

~Spider-Man

~Deadpool

~The Arcana

~Mystic Messenger

~Bungo Stray Dogs

~Fairy Tail? (I've only watched part of season 1, but I'm willing to write for it)

~Death Parade

~Yuri!!! on Ice

~Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator (Only Craig for right now until I do the others’ routes, and platonic Amanda x Dad)

~2064: Read Only Memories (Only TOMCAT and Lexi for the time being, I’m not finished with the game yet)

~ Detroit: Become Human

~Castlevania: A Netflix Series

~Stardew Valley

~Bioshock Infinite

~Monster Prom (not for the most recent DLC, I haven't played it yet)

~Attack on Titan (I'm not caught up with the manga and part of season 3 so please have mercy on me lolol)

~Overwatch (I don't know all of the lore, but I'll do my best)

~The Legend of Zelda (I see you, Sidon lovers. You can't fool me)

~Dramatical Murder (I won't be writing for the twins because their route makes my skin crawl and Aoba is my son who deserves better)

·~· To be continued ·~·

How to Request

1. State which character you want

2. State whether you want the reader to be trans or cis male

3. Give me a plot. You can be really specific or kinda vague, either works. If you don’t give me a plot, I’ll ask if you have an 💡. If not, I’ll make one up myself, so please don’t complain if it isn’t what you had in mind.

FAQ - come here with any questions, comment if your question isn’t answered

Will you write for female readers?

I will only do male/FTM trans readers and male characters. There is an obnoxious absence of male reader stories and I want to cater to those trying to find them. Trans reader stories are even rarer, so I want to write for them as well. That being said, I won’t write for MTF trans people because I don’t know their experiences and I’d rather not write any than write them and offend people.

What about female characters?

If they are requested, sure! However, male characters are a higher priority since I, as someone who is sexually attracted to males, find it easier to write males in romantic situations over females in romantic situations. It also makes me slightly dysphoric, so it’s kinda uncomfortable for me to write females. I probably will write them, but it will take longer than male readers.

Will you write for OC’s?

I don’t mind if you have one, but I will not write them. First of all, I like deeply analyzing characters to get a grasp of their personality and how they talk and act, and I can’t do that with OCs. Along with that, I want these one-shots to be open for everyone and not have to have people skip past the fic with your OC to get to other reader inserts.

Can you use my name as the reader?

No. I won’t personalize stories to one requester. As stated above, I want to keep these one shots open to anyone who wants to read them, and I can’t do that with personalized stories.

Will you write angst?

No angst. It makes me 😔 and I’m just a sucker for cute stuff and would rather write that than 😔 stuff.

What about smut/softcore smut?

I’m more open to doing softcore stuff than full blown smut, but I might if I really feel like it.

Can it be platonic/family stuff/etc?

Yes. I am fully welcoming to writing characters as father/mother figures, parents, uncles or aunts, just friends, anything. But please specify if this is what you want. As stated above, I will only do what you tell me, so if you want something like this, please ask! I’ll also do stuff like changing the ages, such as the character and reader as friends at a young age or maybe a character’s 👶. That being said, if you want a specific age, I’ll 👀 what I can do!

Yeah, so that’s the basic gist of this thing so I hope you guys request and I can’t wait to write for you!

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theultimateegghead-blog · 6 years ago

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100 FOLLOWERS MEGA SPECIAL AWESOME 10 PART EVENT TOP 100 ENEMIES THE GRAND FINALE

THE GRAND FINALE!

Here we are, part 10, the final part. 10 more enemies to go. These 10 foes are the cream of the crop in my opinion, so let me share em with ya!

10 - Shy Guys - Mario Series

Enemy Status – Mysterious Masked Entity.

Shy guys are among the oddest foes in the Mario universe. Originally seen in a dream world and then all over Yoshi’s island. They are never seen without their iconic mask and they come in many forms. What is about them that I like? I am not sure, but I find their design simple yet timeless. They may be simple enemies, but I have always found them to be among the best the mushroom kingdom has to offer. These little guys win a spot on the list and secure the rank of number 10! Way to go shy-guy!

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9 - Ring Knight - Dark Souls 3

Enemy status – Protectors of the Ringed City.

The ringed city’s guardians are menacing foes. Large powerful knights with the dark soul insignia burned onto their armor and wielding large blades of fire. These are some of the deadliest foes the souls series has to offer and they are, in my opinion, some of the best designed. They appear throughout the entire city and are a thrill to fight, especially the one guarding the cathedral or the one randomly found in the far ruined future. These guys are also interesting from a lore perspective, and thus they win the 9th place on this list.

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8 – Bouncer - Bioshock

Enemy Status – Large Father.

The world of rapture is not a pleasant place. It is full of dangers and lethal traps that can end your life very quickly. This is seen in spades with the Bouncer. The Bouncer is one of the big daddies who protect the little sisters. They are usually neutral but can be hostile if antagonized. Thing is though, if you want to progress in the game YOU have to engage them. Be ready for a difficult fight. The bouncer charges without mercy with their drill arm and will attack relentlessly. They offer little breathing room and can be very dangerous at the beginning of the game. The bouncer is the “face” of Bioshock, and thus readily deserves a spot in the top ten! 8th place is good.

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7 - Hell Knight - Doom 3

Enemy Status – High Ranking Demon.

The beast of hell are no simple cretins, some of them are exceptionally dangerous. This is made very clear with the Hell Knight, high ranking and powerful monsters that often appear in groups of two. They lumber around and throw large fireballs. They also give a rather means punch as well. These guys are among some of the most menacing foes in the DOOM series and while they are not as powerful in the 2016 reboot, they are still a worthy opponent. The Hell Knight wins lucky number 7 on this list.

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6 - Helghast - Killzone series

Enemy Status – Soldiers from Helghan.

Of all the pure human enemies, evil armies and what have you, we decide to go the sci-fi route. Say hello to the Helghast. These foes are armed to the teeth and proudly represent their glorious empire. What makes them different from the generic terrorist, thugs and nazis we have all fought in war games? Nothing much, but what makes them iconic is their design. The iconic gas mask and black and white armor set them apart from all others and that is why they make it up here. Because I love their design quite a bit. Do not need much more of a reason that that, welcome to 6th place.

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5 - Lynels - Zelda Breath of the Wild

Enemy Status – Lion-man Centaur

Hyrule is home to many dangerous beasts, but none match the pure ferocity of the Lynel. The mighty Lynel is a fierce monster that has the lower body of a horse, the upper body of a man and the head of a lion. These beasts wield mighty weapons such as swords, clubs or bows and are capable of breathing fire. Nothing is scarier than one of these charging you at full speed! It takes skill and might to take one down and revel in the spoils of battle. Just be careful, because they can take a long time to best in combat. These monsters win the 5th place award.

-------------------------------

4 - Deathclaws - Fallout Series

Enemy Status – Mutated Jackson Chameleon.

The deathclaw is the apex predator of the wasteland and is among one of the most feared enemies of the wasteland. Many inexperienced adventurers met their end at the clawed hands of one of these walking death machines. They come in many different colors and sizes, but one thing is consistent, they are big, and they are aggressive. If you cross one early on your journey, be ready for a wicked fight. These iconic post-apocalyptic foes win 4th place!

-------------------------------

3 - Darknuts - Zelda Series

Enemy Status – Heavily Armored Dark Knight.

And the Zelda series finds a its place on this spot once again. The Lynel is the apex monster, but the darknut is the pinnacle of the humanoid enemy. These are among the original dark knight enemies in the history of video games. Regardless, the Darknut is an imposing figure that is a skilled fighter and a sturdy tank. They can dish out punishment and take a lot of damage. The closer they get to defeat, the more desperate and fast they get in retaliation. It is always a blast to fight one, and it can be a challenge to take multiples at once. Congrats on your 3rd place! Can you tell that I like knights?

-------------------------------

2 - Tonberry - Final Fantasy series

Enemy status – The embodiment of vengeance.

The tonberry is a dangerous foe. They are small unassuming enemies, they creep towards you slowly and raise a small knife. They stab and it does massive damage. These guys are among the most dangerous foes in the final fantasy and its great. Why is it great? Because they look so cute and unassuming, it can slay behemoths and other great monsters with ease despite its tiny stature. They get stronger with the more enemies you have slain. So, they win a spot for their cute looks and lethal abilities in combat. Welcome to 2nd place, Tonberry!

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1 - Elites - Halo series

Enemy Status – The covenants finest (until the Brutes showed up.)

The covenant is among the most feared empires in sci-fi history. Encompassing several races attempting to carry out a religion fueled genocide across the entire galaxy. The pinnacle of their militant forces are the elites. These aliens are mighty foes that rarely ever retreat or back down, they will fight tooth and nail to the bitter end. Even the lowest ranking elite is a dangerous opponent. They lead the lesser races into combat and should be taken out quickly to demoralize the other lesser enemies. Once Halo 3 rolled around they sided with the humans and have become allies. So, the elites are my favorite enemies in video games. They have amazing designs, are fun to fight and are intimidating foes to take down. They are a shining example of what makes a good enemy. Congrats, you wont the 1st place!

-------------------------------

And finnaly, after all this time it is completed, thank you all. We are actually already near 200 followers! Holy Cheese puffs! That’s a lot of people! I will be primarily doing video game reviews for a while, as I am running out of obscure characters to write about! But you can expect more list later down the line as well! Once we hit 200 followers Ill have a Q&A set aside for people who wanna ask me stuff! Ill answer the first 20 ask, then ill try to work on any others if I have the time. Take care!

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less-than-hash · 6 years ago

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Holes in the Firmament

Every dev I know has at least one dream game - stuff that they'd love to be able to make some day. The more ambitious these get - the more complex or long - the less likely they are to get made. And in a collaborative medium like games, the more people (and the more money!) involved in a project, the less control any given individual has over it.

This isn't intrinsically bad. (It can also be wildly valuable to a project and rewarding personally.)

But we devs still dream of those games we'd make if we had, say, the resources of a two hundred person studio, the backing of a major publisher, and absolute freedom.

Three of mine are behind the cut.

As a note, none of these reflect upcoming Obsidian projects. Nor are they projects Obsidian would likely ever make. They don't fit the studio's brand. Which is why I'm dreaming about them here, and not pitching them internally.

So, first up!

A Squad-Based 1st-Person Firefighting Game with a Robust Relationship System and a Branching Narrative

I don't understand why there aren't more games about firefighting - though if I had to guess it's largely because making fire look good in-game is extraordinarily difficult. As is making an environment decay over time (though I suspect there are probably some pretty good, easy solutions for this using dev sleight-of-hand).

There are actually a Iot of interactive sim games about firefighting for training purposes. Much like war and flight, firefighting is something best trained without risking real life and limb.

Firefighting appeals to me as a gameplay space because it's actively protective - it's about limiting destruction and saving lives. But it can very easily be modeled with similar gameplay loops to shooters - ultimately both are about emptying rooms of danger - here it's just with water instead of bullets.

I could be water!

In short, firefighters engage in almost unequivocal good. They're heroic. They’re human. They’re flawed. And they brave dangers every day. But our industry basically ignores them.

Firefighting would give us the opportunity to set games in the modern world with people who, during their off hours, experience much more relatable struggles than your average freedom fighter, super spy, or elite soldier - relationship difficulties, debt, children, and the like.

So what would this game actually look and play like? It would likely be mission-based (calls come in of their own accord, after all), make use of movement and environmental hazards (not unlike a cover-based shooter), and have simple companion-direction mechanics similar to the Mass Effect trilogy or Spec Ops: The Line.

(Alternatively, the action could be dialed down a bit to focus on positioning a la Valkyria Chronicles.)

The gameplay would be focused on keeping your squad alive while saving as many people as possible.

Between missions you hang out at the station, or the bar, or at home - or try to balance all three, a la Catherine. You build relationships, helping your squad perform better together. You never recruit anyone, but your companions, your fellow firefighters, can die in missions, altering the narrative in both tone and content.

tl;dr: Mass Effect 2 meets Rescue Me with some dashes of Catherine

Next!

Narrative-Focused Urban Fantasy RPG/Immersive Sim

How does this not exist yet? Where's our Dresden Files or Hellblazer inspired RPGs? Or even The Magicians or Harry Potter, for that matter?

Where my Chilling Adventures of Sabrina RPG?

There's Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines, which, while fantastic, is 13 years old.

While I'm looking forward to Necrobarista, that seems like a pretty tight, focused experience.

We've plenty of games with magicians in fantasy realms or in space - AKA BioWare's entire oeuvre - but few in the AAA space set in the modern world.

Unless you count superhero magicians.

Wait. Did Dr. Strange even get a game? Google suggests no. What’s going on here, videogame industry? Why won’t you suffer a witch to live?!

Honestly, I get to an extent why this is. There's a reason there've been Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf: The Apocalypse games, but no Mage games, either for Ascension or Awakening. Magic is broad, and often (especially in games) wildly destructive, which can be at odds with a modern setting (or rather what makes a modern setting interesting).

Art by Jason Chan, from Reign of the Exarchs by White Wolf.

But it doesn't have to be.

The flexibility of magic actually allows for a lot of different gameplay styles. You can do straight up first-person action like The Darkness or stealth survival like Last of Us. If I were to adapt Phonogram, a comic I love deeply, you can bet your ass there'd be beatmatch spellcasting.

A lot of gameplay mechanics we take for granted are actually damned-near magical.

Maps that point you where to go and tell you where your enemies are?

Dropping from a second story window without difficulty?

Regenerating health?

Items that make you smarter, stronger, or more likable?

Bullet time?

Rewinding to an earlier point in time to avoid death or a bad decision?

So that's another question a developer has to answer: if magic comes in so many shades, what color is yours? What are you hoping to accomplish?

For me, the presence of magic in the modern world demands a layer of secrecy that implies other layers of secrets. A modern world in which magic functions immediately deepens. What else lurks out there? Where are the other magicians? How are they using their abilities?

Additionally, magic is surreal. Bend and twist reality, and you're forced to look at it from new angles. If you can tweak people's emotional responses to you, how do you know the relationships around you are real?

And that's before you realize your dreams literally might come true - especially the nightmares. Is the face in the mirror a reflection, or something sinister and jealous? Is the ghost haunting you your literal past reaching out to reclaim you?

My dream modern magician game is an open-world immersive sim in an urban setting. Drop Prey, Dishonored, or BioShock style gameplay into a sprawling city filled with physics objects ripe for transmutation and NPCs waiting to be enchanted. Add an otherworld accessed by stepping through mirrors (the entire map within is reversed).

It's about what power can accomplish, what justifies its use, and what its limits are.

Populate the world with a few powerful magician NPCs with their own agendas; dozens of NPCs to chat up, learn more about, seduce, and manipulate; and a threat that could consume reality's very soul if someone doesn't step up to deal with it. Shake. Serve.

tl;dr: Dishonored meets Vampyr by way of Hellblazer and Hellboy

And finally!

Friendship Simulator 2019

My favorite parts of the Persona games and Catherine are the things outside of the core gameplay loops. The bits where you're hanging out with your friends, chatting with them, finding out more about them, and guiding and supporting them (or tearing them down).

Or hiding in the toilet to text your significant other.

One of the things I love about Persona 5: Dancing Star Night in Starlight is that the narrative is almost solely in this mode. It's entirely about learning more about your fellow Phantom Thieves.

Lest you think I uncritically and unabashedly love it, P5D has some major narrative problems - it entirely fails to pay off its initial premise, for example, and there's no persistence to the player choices or (player-driven) reactivity within the narrative.

Nor does the way the player "progresses" the narrative make a tremendous amount of sense within the fiction of the world.

Sorry I got distracted.

Point is, from a narrative perspective it's a game about getting to know people better - literally exploring their lives - and then supporting (or undermining, if you're terrible) them.

Similarly, nothing the player says in Persona (or, for the most part, Catherine) has any impact on the game. The player might progress a Social Link more slowly by being an ass to the protagonists' friends, but they'll still increase that Link over time, provided they put time into it.

And I don't want to be dismissive here. Time management is one of the major ways in which the player engages with the Persona games. Outside of combat and maybe monster-training, it's probably the most important mechanic at play. Taking longer to max out a Social Link means you're missing other content and missing opportunities to increase your stats. Or maybe the Social Link doesn't get completed at all. (Sorry, Haru.) Or maybe you’re not powerful enough to overcome the next Shadow in time and your game ends. Those are non-trivial consequences.

But the story of the Social Link, or the story of the game, will never change based on (the vast majority of) the player's interactions with their buddies.

Despite that, the games give the player a lot of freedom as to when (or whether!) they approach those relationships.

On the other end of the spectrum, Life is Strange (and Before the Storm) does a fantastic job of letting the player get to know the characters around Max (and Chloe) and responding logically to the player's choices.

The kid who has a crush on Max (Warren, I think?) remembers what the player promises him and then responds to whether or not the player follows through on it.

If Chloe plays A Game That Absolutely Involves Neither Dungeons Nor Dragons with her friends, they'll refer to it excitedly later and ask her to join in another round.

The TellTale games are also pretty good at this, especially Wolf Among Us, but that'll take me a bit far afield.

What Life is Strange does not provide the player is any control at all over the flow of the narrative. When the player completes a narrative beat within a scene, they're rushed along to the next scene, which is never one of their choosing. There's plenty of flexibility within the relationships (and within many of the smaller subplots), but little within the game's larger structure.

Ultimately, Persona provides little variability, while Life is Strange provides little narrative control.

I want to make a game that grabs the strong aspects of both of these while jettisoning their weaknesses.

(Far, far easier written than done!)

Basically, I want to make a game focused on the exploration of relationships. Where the personalities are the mysteries to unravel, and the interpersonal relationships between characters the dungeons to be navigated. Where the inner demons are the beasts in need of slaying - not through mystically entering the subconscious and doing battle with the Shadow, but through conversation.

I want a game about building a community, a family, and helping it come to support itself.

I think that one essential change that would make this significantly more doable is discarding the larger threats to the characters, especially those supernatural in nature. The relationships among the cast of Persona 4 are propping for the story of the Midnight Channel Murders. Arcadia Bay's pending apocalypse distracts from the relationships that seem to be the actual core story of Life is Strange.

(I find Before the Storm a stronger narrative than the original Life is Strange in large part because it's not being torn in multiple directions.)

Which isn't to say that there can't be threats, obstacles, and dangers. The world presents all manner of difficulties. Most of them requiring far more challenging and interesting solutions than "stick a sword in it."

That's a lot of abstraction, so what would this game actually look and play like?

Well, as I mentioned above, I think the Persona games, esp. Persona 4 Golden and Persona 5 already do a fantastic job of providing the player the framework for exploring a space and approaching relationships at their own pace.

Add into this characters that the player can engage with in order to learn more about them (not unlike Vampyr), help with their problems, and build (or break!) relationships with them or others, and you have something of an open-world interpersonal relationship game.

The narrative of these relationships would change based on the player's actions (both in regard to how they interact with the character and how they deal with (or fail to deal with) the character's problems). So would the player's reputation, which impacts their interactions with other characters.

(The reputation system is actually one of my favorite ideas in Pillars, but I think we sometimes fail to use it to its full potential. I certainly know I do.)

Side note: in this dream game, the relationships I'm describing are not expressed in a systemic way. They're not ranked like Social Links, and they don't have reputation bars like in Dragon Age or Tyranny. It's much more akin to Life is Strange here, with each character containing their own narrative(s) to be navigated.

Over time, you bring some of these characters closer to your protagonist, recruiting a tight-knit circle that helps you face the game's primary conflict. These relationships bounce off of one another. You can never make everyone happy, after all, and some people will never get along. Late game play requires that the player balance these relationships and help forge friendships or avoid catastrophic fallings out.

Yeah, but what is that primary conflict?

Potentially anything the world could throw at a person. A lot of television shows have provided us a framework we can borrow from. Veronica Mars comes immediately to mind. (Or one of my favorite films, Brick.) Then there's Lost, which is overtly about building communities and relationships in order to survive. The Wire is another possibility. (Imagine playing as a Stringer Bell type trying to build a crew while maintaining relationships with rival crews.)

My point being that we already know what these kinds of stories look like. We just have to be brave enough to make a game that's focused around understanding other people rather than shooting them.

tl;dr: Life is Strange meets Persona, minus the strange and the personas

And that’s three glimpses into my brain. Into my dreams.

You may have noticed a few through lines. I'm pretty clearly interested in making games:

Set in the modern day

That tackle modern, realistic (and I use that term extremely loosely) concerns

That are largely non-violent

With non-linear narratives

That involve exploring the lives and feelings of non-player characters

And give those interpersonal relationships systemic narrative bite

Obviously, the projects I've been involved in recently don't check off every one of those boxes on my wishlist. That's generally how it is, if you're making games with other people.

But if you're very, very lucky, you get the opportunity to work on projects that scratch at least one or two of those itches.

I've been very, very lucky.

Cheers, <3 <3 <#

#gamedev #game design #narrative #relationships #persona #catherine #mass effect #life is strange #prey #dishonored #vampyr #necrobarista

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frankly-art · 6 years ago

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Frankly-Art’s Top 10 Video Games of 2018

Also available to read on my deviantArt!

With every New Year comes another year’s worth of video games to look forward to, and 2019 promise to be a good one in that regard: the release of Kingdom Hearts III is only days away, Piranha Plant and Joker are certain to be innovative and entertaining additions to the Smash Ultimate roster, Animal Crossing is coming to the Switch… and those mark only a small fraction of the many things 2019 has in store for us in terms of gaming. Amid all of this hype, I got to thinking about the varied gameplay experiences I had over the past year; so, I figured this would be as good an opportunity as any for me to reflect on them with a bit of a critical eye and definitively rank each of the video games I managed to get to during 2018!

Keep in mind while reading that, even though this is a list featuring games I played in 2018, many of these games were ones released in years past that I never got around to until last year—so, if you were expecting a list of the top 10 games that were released in 2018, I’m afraid you’ll have to look elsewhere (but not until after you read my oh-so-important list first! I crave validation!); expect a healthy mix of new and old titles in the list below. Additionally, this list will rank downloadable content (DLC) separately from standalone titles, as I don’t find it fair to compare a DLC add-on to a fully-fledged game. I’ll be weighing the score of each DLC depending on how well it improves and expands upon the narrative and gameplay of its original game.

Without further ado (and with no better means of transitioning from this introduction to the list itself than to use a somewhat tired expression in the realm of video games), let’s-a go! (Please forgive me.)

-SPOILER WARNING IN EFFECT-

Favorite Characters: Revali, Urbosa, Kass Favorite Tracks: Monk Maz Koshia (all phases)

It might come as somewhat of a shock that a game with “Breath of the Wild” in its title would rank lowest on my list, but hear me out: no matter how much fun it was to be able to return to Hyrule in this DLC expansion, in my opinion, Champions’ Ballad just felt like more of the same of what we got in the main game.

Despite the nigh perfection that was Breath of the Wild, I have to agree with critics who said that the lack of aesthetic variation between segments of dungeon crawling and puzzle solving was a monotonous bore when compared to the varied themes and aesthetics of the dungeons in Zelda games past, and Champions’ Ballad did nothing to vary the atmosphere in its new shrines and dungeon from those of the main game. This disappointment was compounded with the fact that Champions’ Ballad added no new weapons to your arsenal (aside from a risky-to-use fork that functioned virtually like every other sword in the game) to allow for new types of puzzle solving or exploration. The unicorn motorcycle was certainly a cool reward for completing the DLC (the fact that I got to write the words “unicorn” and “motorcycle” next to each other is reward enough), but I had very little use for it since I’d already combed through the entirety of Hyrule during my first playthrough of the game. I simply believe it would have been nice for Champions’ Ballad to have given players something a little fresher to explore, even if it were just an aesthetic change of scenery.

I had also hoped that Champions’ Ballad might have expanded on the lore sprinkled throughout Hyrule and, even though we learned more about the four champions, I was a little let down that they didn’t really expand on anything else (Why can’t I climb to the top of Mount Agaat? Why does the entirety of the Akkala region fill me with a confusing sense of serene dread?? What the hell happened at the Typhlo Ruins???) I appreciate that, by not explaining everything, Nintendo give players the chance to interpret these things for themselves, but, when compared to the lore provided in previous Zelda games, I feel as though Champions’ Ballad fell short in fleshing out the history of this ruined Hyrule.

Favorite Characters: Prompto, Ignis Favorite Tracks: A Retainer’s Resolve, Apocalypsis Magnatus

Given how much of a beautiful mess Final Fantasy XV was upon its initial release, it’s certainly a consolation to the main game to see how well Square Enix supplemented its (rather disjointed) story and expanded upon its (frankly, lacking) gameplay through its various DLC expansion chapters featuring Noctis’ loyal Chocobros. And while I may not love Ignis quite as much as other chocobros like Prompto or Noctis, Episode Ignis was definitely an engaging and welcome addition to the enigma that is the Final Fantasy XV.

Particular highlights of Episode Ignis include its soundtrack, which features a heroic leitmotif for Ignis that really underscores the dire circumstances he and his teammates find themselves in during this segment of the story, and its addition of gameplay modes (Motorboat Simulator 2018 being one of them) are a welcome change of pace to the somewhat rudimentary battle and exploration systems found in the main game. However, a point of contention I have with Episode Ignis is with its narrative: while I appreciate that this DLC chapter finally explains how Ignis becomes blind, its multiple endings completely undermine the storyline of the main game itself. Does Ignis’ sacrifice save Noctis from having to make a sacrifice of his own in order to save the world? Does Ignis regain his sight after Noctis defeats Ardyn? Do Noctis and Luna finally realize that they’d be better off with other people (as it’s obvious that Noctis is already too preoccupied with his three boyfriends to make room for anyone else)? I need answers, Square!

Favorite Characters: Elizabeth, Atlas/Frank Fontaine Favorite Tracks: Patsy Cline – She’s Got You, Johnny Mathis – Wonderful! Wonderful!

I claimed to be a fan of the BioShock series for so long, even though I’d only ever played the first game in the series until the summer of 2017 when I finally bought a PS4 and, with it, the BioShock Collection. Now, I can call myself a fan of the series without reservation, having explored and discovered all that Rapture and Columbia have to offer. To me, BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea Episodes 1 & 2 are a love letter to the entire series itself, featuring elements from the three main-series games and tying together each of their narratives (save for maybe BioShock 2, which is absolutely criminal, considering 2 is my favorite game in the series) in a way that, while forced in some aspects, felt like Ken Levine actually cared about clearing up some of the more confusing questions that remained at the end of BioShock: Infinite.

Burial at Sea really came into itself during Episode 2, where gameplay was switched up to feature more fleshed-out stealth mechanics that made sneaking around Rapture and Columbia both exhilarating and terrifying. It was also refreshing to be able to finally take control of Elizabeth, one of the most iconic characters of the series after the Big Daddies of BioShocks 1 and 2, and learn more of her own personal motivations and desires as she maneuvers through hostile environments. As I already mentioned briefly, I know some took issue with the way Burial at Sea wove the first two BioShock games together with the third, but, considering the mess that was made when BioShock Infinite introduced multiverse science into its mythos (and the narrative mess that Infinite was in general—I took great issue with the way they framed the oppressed populations of Columbia as “just as bad” as the ruling populations simply because they used violence to, you know, try and liberate themselves from their oppression), I feel that Burial at Sea did the best job it could considering that the setting of Infinite differed so greatly from that of the first two games.

Also, fun fact: I studied this game as a part of my Master’s Project and played it through a total of three times: once in English and twice in French! Isn’t academia weird?

Favorite Characters: Rando, Buddy, Vega Van Dam Favorite Tracks: 666 Kill Chop Deluxe, He’s My Dad, Brokentooth March

Anyone who reads TV Tropes is likely familiar with the trope “Gameplay and Story Segregation” and its less-frequent counterpart, “Gameplay and Story Integration”. In the case of LISA: The Joyful, this DLC game (which could practically be its own standalone title if it weren’t for the fact Steam labels it as “DLC” and won’t let you play it without first purchasing LISA: The Painful) absolutely excels in the latter and completely subverts the gameplay mechanics and narrative structure of the base game, and this can all be attributed to the way both games focus on your use of the cure-all drug that makes you feel nothing: Joy.

Indeed, where LISA: The Painful makes you question your use of the drug Joy, LISA: The Joyful (Joyful) is nigh impossible to complete without taking it in nearly every battle after you’re left to your own devices when the muscle of your party abandons you. As anyone who’s played the LISA trilogy will know, Joy is a dangerous substance, mutating its addicts and twisting the minds of anyone who uses it, and that Joy is an integral piece of the trilogy’s social and philosophical commentary on the freedom and restriction of choice, the commitment and devotion one carries for a person or cause, and the inherent, inevitable grey area of any and all actions one may take. Despite these themes, LISA: The Joyful is far from a demoralizing experience: if anything, the way the game simulates the feeling of being backed into a corner and the refusal to give up despite the odds only affirms whatever moral code by which you may already live, or is at least an opportunity to feel relief that you yourself aren’t forced to make such drastic decisions for your own survivability and freedom.

That’s it for the DLC games I played in 2018; now, the real fun begins! Brace yourself for my list of the top standalone titles I played last year!

Favorite Characters: Katie

This game was recommended to me by a friend, and, as much as I wanted to enjoy it, this game wound up being my lowlight of 2018, with its simplistic, seemingly rudimentary gameplay and conspicuous lack of any compelling narrative. Put bluntly, this game was like a forgettable rendition of Animal Crossing, only without any cute animal neighbors to run errands for. The game’s environment threatened absolutely no danger to your player character, yet still didn’t offer any engaging or challenging puzzles to solve to make up for this lack of danger (most “puzzles” involved figuring out how to get to a particular point on the map… and that was it). Despite this being an open-world game that offered endless opportunities for customization, I found myself hurrying to complete the game’s main (5-hour) campaign so I could feel justified to move on to other gaming experiences. The most unfortunate part of this to me is that I know there’s still more to the game’s world for me to explore, but I’m in no way compelled to do so.

In all fairness, though, I think that I’m a little older than the target demographic this game was aiming for. This game was never meant to be challenging or stressful, it was made to be a relaxing escape for anyone looking to pass the time exploring and discovering a beautifully modeled and brightly colored world. This game also wins serious points for inclusivity, especially considering the age group this game was most likely made for; my fondest memory of this game is of a quest where a woman requests that you find her the ingredients to make a potion that stimulates beard growth because she wants to grow a beard of her own, and not once during this campaign is she ridiculed or belittled for wanting one. Since Yonder seems to be a game for kids, I believe quests such as this are an excellent step to socializing them into a world that’s less judgmental and more receptive to other people. So, despite my earlier critiques of this game, Yonder would be a great game to consider if you’re looking for a low-key and off-beat (and all-human) alternative to Animal Crossing.

Favorite Veteran Fighters: Peach, Zelda, Zero Suit Samus Favorite Newcomers: Daisy, Ridley, Richter Favorite Stages: Fountain of Dreams, Fourside, Hyrule Temple Favorite Tracks: All-Star Rest Area (Melee), Destroyed Skyworld, Athletic (Yoshi’s Island)

We all knew another installment in the Smash series was coming ever since the Switch was first announced back in March of 2017. In fact, you might even say that the quality of each console’s iteration of Smash reflects the quality of the console itself, with Melee demonstrating the power and potential of the GameCube, Brawl being a gimmicky romp on an equally gimmicky console, and Wii U/3DS (what a title, right?) completely failing to capture player interest for longer than a few rounds of Smash (the Wii U era feels like a fever dream to me at this point). It’s a letdown, then, that with the Switch being such a commercial and technical success, Smash Ultimate seems somewhat of a disappointment when weighed against the hype that surrounded it up until its release back in early December.

It’s true that Smash Ultimate really delivers in regard to the character roster (everyone is here!) and stage selection (almost everything is here!), but the cuts that were made to series staples like trophies, event matches, and the like, detract from Smash Ultimate becoming the be-all end-all title in the series that it could have been. Trophy mode was where I learned much about video game history and was introduced to obscure series I would have never discovered otherwise, and their replacement with spirits feels a bit cheap, especially since spirits don’t come with any kind of information to contextualize them. Event Matches were hybridized with Melee’s Adventure mode and Brawl’s Subspace Emissary, creating the “World of Light”; while the World of Light has grown on me the more that I play it, it’s somewhat discouraging to me that, by combining so many modes of Smash games past into one, there will be nothing left for me to do with the game once I reach its end.

Still, Smash Ultimate offers plenty to look forward to. I’m more-than-hyped about the additions of Piranha Plant and Joker from Persona 5 to the character roster, and I can’t wait to see who might be announced next (unless it’s another Fire Emblem character… please God [Sakurai] don’t let it be another Fire Emblem character).

Favorite Tracks: The Bridge, Touching the Stars, Up to the Nest

I could never have prepared myself for the beautiful-yet-heart-wrenching experience this game would put me through, but I’m oh-so-glad that it did. On the surface, RiME is a relaxing exploration and puzzle game that takes place in a beautifully rendered in-game world, with a brilliantly orchestrated soundtrack and a plethora of diverse landscapes to get lost in. And yet, every moment of your adventure is permeated by an inescapable sense of isolation and dread, making you ask questions like “Where is everyone?”, “Just who is that man in the red cloak?,” and, “Is he stalking me, or are I stalking him?”.

Indeed, RiME’s narrative unfolds wordlessly as you explore and leaves you to discover and interpret on your own exactly what tragedies transpired before the events of the game, tragedies of which are far more poignant and moving if you were to discover them yourself. I know I’ve put a spoiler warning in effect, but I highly recommend you play this game on your own (or at least watch a decent Let’s Play of it) if you’re curious to know what unfolds during the game’s narrative. RiME is a relatively short game, too, lasting only between 5-10 hours, so it would be an easy one to fit into your queue if you’re looking for a fun gameplay experience with a story that will haunt you for weeks and months on end after completing it.

Favorite Characters: Terry Hintz, Buzzo, Wally Favorite Tracks: Men’s Hair Club, The End is Nigh, Summer Love

Having already talked about this game’s DLC expansion of LISA: The Joyful, you’re already aware that I hold the LISA trilogy in high regard—it also means I can make this entry somewhat brief, since a lot of what I said about Joyful can also be applied to its parent title, LISA: The Painful. You see, it’s in LISA: The Painful where the conflict in Joyful begins, and where we learn more of how the world came to be so depraved after the White Flash, an extinction event that inexplicably killed all women on the planet (at least, as far as the characters in the game know). The game considers what the repercussions of such an event would be on our society (aside from dooming humanity to die off within a generation) and really explores the darkest depths of toxic masculinity to call into question the detrimental effects it has on our self-esteem, our relationships, and our will to survive. Gameplay-wise, it’s a fairly traditional JRPG, though as I mentioned with Joyful, LISA: The Painful integrates its story with its gameplay by permanently increasing (but mainly decreasing) your stats depending on whatever injuries you escape or sustain throughout your journey. All in all, LISA: The Painful is a truly harrowing experience from beginning to end, but a must-play for anyone with an interest in the more macabre aspects of human nature.

Favorite Characters: Aloy, Erend, Vanasha Favorite Tracks: Louder

You know a game’s going to be good when its title screen holds you in awe before even pressing start. Imagine a sunlit vignette over purple mountains and a glistening river, a haunting and triumphant melody underscoring it all, as the title slowly fades into view in white in the center of the screen: Horizon Zero Dawn. O.K., I’m in. This game just did so many things right as an open-world game during an era where the genre was oversaturated by mediocre games that rehashed the same tired tropes and mechanics in its gameplay and world building. Horizon Zero Dawn truly set itself apart from the crowd for a variety of reasons: its beautifully detailed setting (being a microcosmic interpretation of Western North America), its intricate combat system with a graciously forgiving learning curve, and its compelling and socially-conscious narrative all worked together to distinguish this game within the open-world genre.

What really sets this game apart most of all, though, is the game’s protagonist, Aloy: a rare female protagonist who is a breath of fresh air in a sea of male heroes, whose capabilities and intellect don’t come at the cost of her physical appearance and femininity. Aloy set an example for other game developers that female protagonists are more than viable (and are in fact, overdue) in the video games of today, and her status as a female character never felt gratuitous or shoehorned (e.g. Battlefield V’s inclusion of a female protagonist as an enlisted soldier in the British Army and serving in the line of duty during World War II). It’s difficult (read: impossible) to play Horizon Zero Dawn and not fall in love with Aloy for her wit, her strength, and her general stick-to-itiveness in the face of adversity (not to mention, she’s just really cute and knows how to work a belly shirt). With Aloy as the protagonist, you’ll never tire of adventuring through Horizon Zero Dawn’s 70-hours+ worth of gameplay as you explore the in-game world to learn just what happened to “The Old Ones” and their society all those millennia ago.

Favorite Party Members: Ryuji Sakamoto, Ann Takamaki, Makoto Niijima Favorite Confidants: Hifumi Togo, Sadayo Kawakami, Sae Niijima, Toranosuke Yoshida, Chihaya Mifune Favorite Targets/Boss Battles: Ichiryusai Madarame, Kunikazu Okumura, Leviathan, Yaldabaoth Favorite Tracks: Blooming Villain, Rivers in the Desert, A Woman, Aria of the Soul

I’ll bet no one saw this one coming! Just kidding—anyone who’s exchanged more than a few words with me since the fall of 2018 knows how much this game absolutely consumed my life over the span of, I don’t know, I think it was four months? Indeed, I wound up sinking a total of 123 hours into this game, and there’s still a loud part of me that wants to return to it to begin a New Game+ (you’ll even notice that it was too difficult for me to contain my favorite characters into one category, instead having to split them up in order to represent all of my favorites because of how much I love them all). I’m already a fan of JRPGs, so it didn’t take much for Persona 5 to win me over with its turn-based combat, but the addition of certain gameplay mechanics—like earning an extra turn for exploiting enemy weaknesses or improving your relationship with your friends outside of battle to unlock gameplay bonuses—prevent battles and exploration in Persona 5 from ever becoming stale. Indeed, Persona 5 was truly a masterpiece from start to finish and an experience that I never wanted to end.

Frankly, any drawbacks I could mention about this game feel almost nitpicky, like the way the status ailment “Envy” is represented during the final boss fight by the color indigo instead of green, or how Kawakami can only manage to make me one cup of very useful, SP-restoring coffee over the course of an entire evening. Still, Persona 5 isn’t without its faults: for one, Persona 5 loses significant points for its questionable representation of LGBT groups (the camp gay men who openly harass Ryuji on multiple occasions being the most glaring example), and this isn’t helped by the queerbaiting that’s prevalent in a lot of character dialogue and relationships. Additionally, the fact that you can’t romance any of your male confidants comes across as erasive at best and homophobic at worst, especially considering that 1) all but one of your female confidants are eligible girlfriends, 2) you can two-time all of them at once if you so desire (which isn’t just disrespectful, it’s also flippantly misogynistic), and, most importantly, 3) one of this game’s main themes includes rebelling against oppressive societal norms (a theme that will resonate deeply with any LGBT+ player). Female representation in Persona 5 is also somewhat of a mixed bag: while the game features a large cast of diverse female characters, its constant and blatant objectification of Ann is not only creepy, it’s incredibly obtuse considering the sexual harassment and abuse she suffers by one of her teachers during the game’s first story arc. Fortunately, each of these drawbacks is easy enough to ignore when discussing the game as a whole, but I hope Atlus improves upon them in future installments: considering how incredible an experience Persona 5 was, imagine how much more incredible Persona 6 could be if these issues were fixed!

So that’s it for my top 10 games of 2018. What are your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree with any of my commentary? What were some favorite games you played during 2018? I’d love to hear your responses and start a discussion, so please, leave your comments in the notes!

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