#Monica Niers

[blackbutterflypriestess]

Tag Game: 9 Favorite Characters

Every time I escape the hole @pillowfriendly is there to pull me back in. Stole her rules of sticking to one character per franchise.

Daeran Arendae - Wrath of the Righteous

Hedonist. Ethically bankrupt. Walking problematic. I love him. Best romance subplot in an rpg as he actually tries to woo the player. Love doesn't change him but he changes for love. When he ascends to godhood he actively ignores prayers but smites those who talk any shit about his spouse. Has a traumatic backstory as expected but doesn't neuter his character or development.

Bayonetta - Bayonetta

Tells all the gods above and the demons below to fuck off with a combination of high caliber and fem. There has always been a lot of discourse around her but I honest love that there's a female character whose femininity solely for herself and not in-spite of how much ass she kicks. She's an icon and I wish I could pull off purple eye shadow like that.

Raven - Gravity Rush

Goth girl with the power to manipulate gravity's effect on her and the surrounding area. Not super complex as a character but something about her design and dead-pan personality has always stuck with me. Also has a great enemies to not-explicit-but-I-mean-come-on-it's-obviously-sapphic-coded relationship with the main character Kat.

A2 - Nier Automata

Definition of suffering from success. The only survivor of the ill-fated YoRHa Pear Harbor descents and so good at her job that future YoRHa models were based on her. Absolutely lost her shit when her girlfriend died and began a one-woman crusade against the machine beings. We stan a woman with goals. When other characters are blowing themselves (and their skirts) up as their ultimate move, A2 just goes sicko mode. We're introduced to her when she murders a baby but does it count if the baby was also a robot and also super old? I will never forgive FFXIV for not including her in the Shadowbringers raid story.

Balalaika - Black Lagoon

Afghan War USSR Sniper turned leader of the Russian mob in Thailand. Is and always will be my go to template for the "motherly villain" archetype. I believe that scientifically they are known as the "Dommy Mommy." Watching unambiguously evil characters still be humans is always fun.

Leon S. Kennedy - Resident Evil

Our baby boy. Even when he's super-serious-government-agent-man he just serves so much golden retriever energy. Resident Evil is at its best when it treats the zombie survival scenario seriously but adds a dash of levity and one-liners to its characters. Leon embodies that.

Beatrice - Umineko no Naku Koro Ni

Beatrice is the culmination of my weird addiction to characters with unhealthy love languages. Reality warping witch born from the existentialism that comes with trauma that plays horrific death games with the family of the man she loves all as a means to communicate with him where words fail? Yes please.

Faith Connors - Mirror's Edge

Mirror's Edge is one of my favorite games of all time. The use of color, sound effects, and music always made me feel like I was seeing The City specifically as Faith sees it. This connection created a deeper bond and feeling of embodiment than other first-person games, especially at that time. Her story may not be the deepest or most complex but is so memorable. Plus I still really want her tattoo. The King in Yellow/Hastur - Various Horror Contexts

There's something so fascinating about the horror of The King in Yellow. Consumption brought on by enui, the loss of an artist to unreality, the fear that a single, sound, word, symbol, or thought could poison and entire society. Remember! DONT. SAY. HIS. NAME. Honorable Mentions:

The Princess - Slay the Princess Eda - Black Lagoon Monica - Hooky Neon Red - Neon White I have now completed my eldritch bargain with @pillowfriendly. @gunkreads I don't know if you fully comprehend what you have awoken. @iwishtobeafish, @notimpossibell, @crowbandit your ritual sacrifices are required.

[ao3feed-danganronpa]

Sexy Journal Entries After the End

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/B23FT19

by BurstEdge

A cataclysmic event has transformed the world drastically, killing off all the men and transforming most women into busty and/or muscular futas, as well as the young girls. What, expecting a dark and gritty wasteland adventure? Well, look elsewhere, because these are diary entries showing the survivors' sexual escapades.

Words: 113, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Series: Part 25 of Futaverse

Fandoms: Dangan Ronpa Series, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom, Dr. STONE (Manga), DARLING In The FRANXX (Anime), Suisei no Gargantia | Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Video Game), Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Video Game), NieR: Automata (Video Game), Virtual Streamer Animated Characters, Overwatch (Video Game)

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Underage

Categories: F/F

Characters: Enoshima Junko, Kirigiri Kyouko, Riju (Legend of Zelda), Purah (Legend of Zelda), Kohaku (Dr. STONE), Ruri (Dr. STONE), Zero Two | 002, Klaxosaur Princess | 001, Bellows (Suisei no Gargantia), Ridget (Suisei no Gargantia), Amy (Suisei no Gargantia), Saaya (Suisei no Gargantia), Melty (Suisei no Gargantia), Pyra (Legend of Zelda), Hikari | Mythra, Nia (Xenoblade Chronicles 2), Kagutsuchi | Brighid, Meleph | Mòrag Ladair, Mio (Xenoblade Chronicles 3), Eunie (Xenoblade Chronicles 3), Sena (Xenoblade Chronicles 3), Ghondor | Monica's Daughter (Xenoblade Chronicles 3), Monica Vandham, 2B (NieR: Automata), Junker Queen | Odessa "Dez" Stone

Additional Tags: Futanari, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Large Breasts, Large Cock, Prompt Fic

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/B23FT19

[wannabecatwriter]

“So you did know about the baby,” she inhaled sharply. “Even before I did.”

“Of course, how could I not? And if I knew, they would’ve known as well,“ Mitchell reasoned. “You were in danger while you were near me.”

“So you simply decided to play with my feeling the way you did to keep me safe,” Monica studied him. “How could you even know I’d keep the baby after the way you’ve talked to me? Did you even care?”

“What kind of a question is that?! Of course I cared!” he exclaimed. “I did what I did to keep you safe.”

“You know what would have kept me much more safe?” she told him. “Actually talking to me like a normal person. Telling me about the problem and letting me decide what to do next. But you took all those choices away from me with your actions.”

Monica knew he called her here to apologize, but she finally had a chance to let him hear it all and she was taking it.

“Should we mediate for them?” Terra whispered, observing the conversation. “It’s not going too smoothly, is it?”

“No, but he should’ve known better than to behave like a fool with her,” Matthew responded with a chuckle. “He wanted to talk to her - let him. For as long as necessary. But it sure won’t be a one-sided conversation.”

“Oh no,” Lakeisha agreed. “But a necessary one. Something tells me your mother has quite a bit to unload on him. I almost feel bad for him, but they both need this.”

[randomontheinternet]

Our Life Voiced Names A-Z

I heard some people wanted a list of the voiced names so far, so I took the time to copy down all of the names from A to Z. The names are under the cut to not clutter.

A

Aaron

Aayria

Abby

Ace

Adrienne

Aeon

Aeriie

Aesilng

Aga

Aine

Aisha

Aisling

AJ

Aki

Akira

Akua

Alaina

Alex

Alexis

Alfonzo

Ali

Alice

Alijah

Alison

Alvis

Alyssa

Amanda

Amber

Amelia

Amy

Anaïs

Andra

Andre

Andrew

Andri

Angel

Angela

Angie

Anima

Anita

Anna

Anna-Maria

Anne

Annie

Annika

Anthony

Antoine

Aoife

Arabella

Aram

Ari

Arielle

Arrow

Arthur

Arturo

Arty

Ash

Asher

Ashla

Ashleigh

Ashlyn

Aspen

Asteria

Astrid

Athena

Atticus

Audrey

Aura

Aurora

Austin

Autumn

Ayanna

B

Barbie

Basil

Beach

Beata

Bec

Becky

Bee

Belen

Ben

Bethany

Bia

Blue

Bobbi

Bonnie

Boyd

Braden

Brian

Briana

Brielle

Brittany

Brooke

Brooklyn

Bryony

Bunni

C

Cadence

Cai

Cam

Cami

Cara

Carmine

Casey

Cassidy

Cato

Cecilia

Cecily

Celestia

Cerise

Chance

Chantal

Chara

Charlie

Charmaine

Chelle

Chris

Christie

Christina

Chuck

Ciara

Ciaran

Cillian

Claire

Cléo

Coco

Col

Conny

Cookie

Cora

Cori

Corrina

Cristal

Cristina

Crystal

Cygnus

Cyina

D

Dan

Dani

Dante

Daphne

Dara

Dayton

December

Denny

Deremy

Desiree

Desmond

Destiny

Devyn

Dexter

Diamond

Diana

Diane

Dorothy

Duane

E

Eddie

Eden

Elaine

Elda

Eleanor

Elegance

Elena

Elenus

Elissa

Eliza

Elle

Ellie

Eluned

Elysa

Ember

Emilith

Emily

Emma

Emmy

Enjel

Ennae

Eric

Erica

Erii

Erin

Ester

Eve

Evren

Ezekiel

Ezra

F

Felicia

Felicity

Felix

Fianna

Finist

Finn

Flynn

Francesco

Franklin

G

Gabrielle

Gaby

Gail

Garnet

Gavin

Gemma

Genevieve

Gerry

Gigi

Gin

Giulia

Glen

Grace

Gray

Gwen

H

Haley

Halima

Hana

Hannah

Hanni

Haru

Hazel

Heather

Helena

Héloïse

Hime

Hiyori

Hollis

Holly

Hon

Hunter

I

Ian

Iga

Illidan

Imani

Irene

Iris

Isabel

Ishan

Isla

Isolde

Issa-Kabeer

Ivy

J

J.R.

Jacob

Jade

Jaden

Jaiet

Jake

Jan

Janice

Jas

Jasmine

Jasper

Jatin

Javi

Jax

Jay

Jaycie

Jazz

Jeannie

Jeff

Jemma

Jen

Jennifer

Jenny

Jess

Jesse

Jessica

Jessinia

Jill

Jinx

Joanie

Joanna

Joelle

Johanna

Jordan

Jordanna

Joseph

Josh

Josie

Joy

Juleyma

Juli

Julia

Julianne

Julien

June

Jupiter

Justina

K

Kaden

Kai

Kala

Kaleton

Kalina

Karat

Karen

Kat

Kate

Katelyn

Katrina

Kay

Kel

Kellie

Ken

Kendi

Kenton

Kevin

Kia

Kiara

Kiba

Kie

Kien

Kim

Kimberly

Kimory

Kira

Kirsty

Kisa

Kit

Knox

Kodie

Kozmo

Kra

Kristen

Kyan

L

Laëtitia

Lanz

Laura

Lauren

Lavender

Leaf

Leann

Leina

Leo

Leon

Leslie

Letty

Levi

Lex

Lexi

Lia

Libbi

Lidia

Lilith

Lillian

Lily

Lindsay

Lindt

Linley

Lisette

Liss

Livia

Lotus

Lucy

Luke

Luna

Lyla

Lyric

Lvsander

Lysella

M

Maddy

Madeline

Mae

Maggy

Mahari

Mai

Maia

Mali

Mallory

Malyia

Mandy

Marcel

Marcella

Marcia

Marco

Margaret

Mari

Maria

Marianne

Mariposa

Maris

Marissa

Marlene

Martina

Mary

Mary-Elizabeth

Mason

Matina

Matthew

Maus

Max

Maya

McKenzie

Megan

Mel

Melanie

Melissa

Melly

Melody

Merlin

Mia

Mich

Michael

Michelle

Michiko

Mickie

Mikaela

Mikey

Mimi

Mina

Minette

Mini

Mira

Miranda

Mishal

Missy

Mizuki

Molly

Monica

Mordaine

Morgan

Morgana

Moriah

Morina

Muriel

Mykaela

N

Nakira

Nancie

Natalie

Natasha

Nathaniel

Neelam

Nessa

Nessi

Niamh

Nicole

Nier

Night

Nikki

Nina

Noah

Noe

Noel

Nui

O

Oda

Oliver

Olivia

Ollie

Omar

Onyx

Opal

Ori

Osmond

Oumou

P

Paige

Parvati

Patience

Patrice

Patricia

Patrick

Peter

Philippe

Phoebe

Phoenix

Polly

Priya

Q

Querriana

Quinn

Quinniece

R

Rachel

Rain

Rainie

Ran

Randi

Raphaël

Raven

Rayne-Beau

Rayraye

Rebecca

Reed

Rei

Reina

Rémi

Ren

Revan

Rhiannon

Rhi-Rhi

Rhyne

Rika

Riley

Rini

Riona

Risa

Riven

Riza

Robyn

Rory

Rosa

Rose

Rosetta

Rosie

Rowan

Runa-Lucienne

Ruth

Ryan

Rye

S

Sabrina

Sage

Salem

Sam

Samantha

Sammi

Sandy

Sara

Saro

Sasha

Savannah

Season

Selena

Selkie

Serena

Shaelei

Shakyra

Shay

Shayla

Sheena

Shelbie

Sid

Sienna

Silvia

Simmy

Simon

Sinead

Skye

Skyla

Skylar

Soffia

Soleil

Sonja

Sora

Soraya

Stacey

Star

Stefan

Stevie

Stella

Steph

Stephanie

Stephen

Story

Susan

Suzy

Sydney

T

Tama

Tammy

Tanisha

Tanya

Taylor

Ted

Teddy

Terra

Terrence

Terry

Thomas

Thorgunna

Tiago

Tida

Tobias

Toki

Tokiko

Tom

Tommy

Tomoko

Trey

Tricia

Tristan

Twila

Tye

U

Uma

Undyne

V

V

Vaeril

Van

Vandy

Vaughn

Vaylin

Velise

Venla

Vera

Verly

Verv

Vesper

Vi

Vicky

Victor

Vina

Vincent

Violette

Vivi

Vivienne

W

Wendy

Westley

Whispthera

Winnie

Wonder

X

Xander

Xavier

Xiri

Y

Yasmin

Ylthin

Yon

Yoonie

Yuki

Yukino

Yuli

Yvette

Yvonne

Z

Zachary

Zack

Zae

Zariyah

Zayla

Zen

Ziya

Zo

Zoey

[mereelskirata]

tagged by @runicmagitek to post ten characters from ten fandoms and then tag ten people to do this, as well. :D (thank you btw) 

So in no particular order... 

Rinoa Heartilly from Final Fantasy VIII

Ryne from Final Fantasy XIV

Jill Valentine from Resident Evil

Nero from Devil May Cry

Qrow Branwen from RWBY

Kaine from Nier Replicant/Gestalt

Hatsuharu Sohma from Fruits Basket

A2 from NieR: Automata

Xion from Kingdom Hearts

Two from Drakengard 3

Special mentions for: Anemone from Nier Automata, Vanille and Fang from Final Fantasy XIII, Elena, Tifa and Aerith from Final Fantasy VII, Emet-Selch from Final Fantasy XIV, Noctis, Prompto, Cindy, Monica and Dave from Final Fantasy XV :D Lots of FF characters LMAO

Now for tagging (absolutely no pressure to do this if you don't wanna): @iffylogic @tiifalockhart @promised-meadow @littleblackwing @rubybahamut @stunned--fox :D 

[leidemechanic]

Get to know me

Rules: answer 20 questions then tag 20 (give or take) followers you wanna get to know better! Tagged by: @dragoonxdive and @lucianprincess​ (ty you two!)

Name:   Nickname: Cora Height:  5′3′’  Nationality: Welsh Favorite Fruit: Mango & Pineapple Favorite Season: Winter Favorite Smell: Vanilla Favorite Color(s): Light blues Favorite Animal: Corvids Tea, Coffee, Hot Cocoa: Peach tea! Average Hours of Sleep: Depends if I want to sleep or not. 3-7 Dogs or Cats: Cats  Dream Trip: Japan, Italy When my blog was created: I originally made the ciindyaurum url back in August last year, but I made this new blog recently. (July 15)  # of Followers: 70 Random Fact: I can’t think of anything... so have this instead.  Favorite Food: Cheesecake Favorite TV show: Game of Thrones, Grey’s Anatomy, Station 19, RWBY Favorite Movie: Atlantis: The Lost Empire Favorite Vine: “Oh fuck. I can’t believe you’ve done this.” Not my favourite, but it’s the first that came to mind.  Sexuality: Asexual Lesbian  Gender: Female Favorite Book Series: The Raven Cycle, The Mortal Instruments Favorite Video Game(s): Final Fantasy XV, Final Fantasy XII, Nier: Automata Favorite Subject: Arts Favorite Fandom(s):  Don’t know her.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Favorite Superhero: Thor Guys or Girls: Ladies *finger guns* Celebrity crush: Hana Song Chris Hemsworth Last time I cried: Early this year at my grandfather’s funeral Hair Color: Pink Eye Color: Brown What Should I Be Doing: Writing starters on Monica and replying on Cindy Q v Q  Tagging 20 people�� @edenslostwallflower, @perdiditetconfusa

[majornelson]

Major Nelson E3 Recap (10 June 2018)

Today was the Xbox At E3 briefing where we showcased a record 52 games on stage including 18 console launch exclusives and 15 world premieres. You can find a recap of the stories posted on Xbox Wire and videos posted on Xbox YouTube channel below + new releases and pre-orders for titles announced during E3.

Tomorrow we’ll be hosting another episode of Inside Xbox. Watch the teaser trailer here.

The big E3 sale is going on now with discounts on hundreds of games, accessories, Xbox Game Pass and Live Gold subscriptions, plus $50 off of ANY Xbox One. Read about the sale and see a list of discounted titles here – The Biggest Xbox Sale Of The Year Drops For E3 Week, Including $50 Off Xbox One X And Much More.

Xbox At E3 – Xbox Wire Articles posted on 10 June:

E3 2018: Everything We Announced at the Xbox E3 2018 Briefing

E3 2018: Announcing Devil May Cry 5 for Xbox One, an Insane, Over-the-top, Stylish Action Game Like No Other

E3 2018: Epic Fighting Game Mash-up Jump Force Leaps to Xbox One in 2019

E3 2018: NieR: Automata Become as Gods Edition Comes to Xbox One June 26

E3 2018: Announcing Just Cause 4 for Xbox One

E3 2018: The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit Releasing for Free June 26 on Xbox One

E3 2018: Tales of Vesperia, One of the Greatest Xbox 360 RPGs, Returns to Xbox One This Winter in HD

E3 2018: Launch was Just the Beginning for Sea of Thieves

E3 2018: Jump into Games Twice as Fast with FastStart

E3 2018: Compulsion Games Brings its Off-Kilter Worlds to Microsoft Studios

E3 2018: Experience Stunning Seasons and Open-World Adventure in Forza Horizon 4

E3 2018: Tripling-Down on Gears with Gears 5, Gears Pop!, and Gears Tactics

E3 2018: Microsoft Opens Brand New Game Studio The Initiative in Santa Monica

E3 2018: Undead Labs Joining Microsoft Studios

E3 2018: Ninja Theory Joins Microsoft Studios

E3 2018: Playground Games Joins Microsoft Studios

E3 2018: Commander Jaxon Welcomes You to The Agency in Crackdown 3

E3 2018: Ori and the Will of the Wisps Takes You Beyond the Forest of Nibel

E3 2018: World Premiere of Halo Infinite

Xbox At E3 – Videos posted on the Xbox YouTube channel on 10 June:

New Pre-Orders and Releases from E3:

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  mspb( "bppzvt8bz15n" ).then( function( badge ) { badge = badge.replace( /www\.microsoft\.com\/store\//g, "www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/" ); document.getElementById( "mspb-5b1e0ce28757e" ).innerHTML = badge; } );

  mspb( "btdcl6pvxvqj" ).then( function( badge ) { badge = badge.replace( /www\.microsoft\.com\/store\//g, "www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/" ); document.getElementById( "mspb-5b1e0ce28758b" ).innerHTML = badge; } );

  mspb( "bzvctg3f9fbq" ).then( function( badge ) { badge = badge.replace( /www\.microsoft\.com\/store\//g, "www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/" ); document.getElementById( "mspb-5b1e0ce287596" ).innerHTML = badge; } );

  mspb( "c2vmcxwlz2kc" ).then( function( badge ) { badge = badge.replace( /www\.microsoft\.com\/store\//g, "www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/" ); document.getElementById( "mspb-5b1e0ce2875a0" ).innerHTML = badge; } );

Tomorrow we’ll have another busy day with an episode of Inside Xbox to discuss all of our E3 briefing announcements. Tune in and watch the show, and hit me up on Twitter and let me know what you think of E3 so far.

via Xbox Live's Major Nelson https://ift.tt/2JLOQ0L

[easinalif]

5  best video games in the World

1. Pokemon Go (2016) 

ho-goodness pokemon-go 

Pokemon Go is ostensibly quite possibly the main telephone applications ever constructed. 

Niantic 

Tue to say animal crossing is another enjoyable game.

Pokemon Go is a definitive genuine strolling sim. Recollect those not very many weeks when Pokemon Go genuinely assumed control over the world and we were all getting our 10,000 stages per day? Bring back those halcyon days. 

2. Returned Home (2013) 

gone-home_1.jpg 

Still worth playing, after six years. 

Fullbright 

Furthermore, talking about strolling sims, Gone Home is an ideal, compelling cut of computer game narrating. Without Gone Home, such countless exemplary games - What Remains of Edith Finch or Firewatch - don't exist. What's more, no, strolling sim is certifiably not a pejorative. 

3. Nier: Automata (2017) 

Nier-automata 

The specialist's decision for a round of the year 2017. 

Monster Bomb 

In some other year other than 2017 Nier: Automata would have been a shoo-in for a round of the year. So it says a lot that in a year that gave us Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, and Horizon: Zero Dawn, Nier: Automata didn't lose its sparkle. It's an unimaginably liquid activity game with a heavenly soundtrack: You should play this computer game. 

4. Lord of War (2018) 

lord of-war-20180402115205 

Reboot did right. 

Santa Clause Monica Studio (PS4 Pro screen capture) 

This is the manner by which you do a reboot. You associate the story to its past, yet reconstruct starting from the earliest stage. You encapsulate its archetypes yet create everything in manners that unexpected its set up the crowd. Gigantic in scale yet engaged, God of War recounts a real issue, yet additionally feels individual. It's an extraordinary illustration of what AAA computer games can accomplish when they push limits. 

5. Rayman Legends (2013) 

raymanlegendsscreenshotlushjunglegc160462.jpg 

Each edge, a canvas. 

Ubisoft 

Drape each and every casing of this computer game in the Louver: Rayman Legends is delightful. It's likewise creative, a stage game that by one way or another figures out how to out Mario. This game won't ever age. It's as stunning today as it was the point at which it was first delivered in 2013.

[superfluousstuckupitude]

Tagged by @emakaylee​ and @hermionethequeen​

Rules: Tag people you want to know better

Relationship status: Single and happy that way

Favourite colour: red and blue

Lipstick or chapstick: Chapstick

Last song listened to: Night Riders by Major Lazer

Last movie watched: Moana

Top 3 TV shows: Don’t really watch that much TV anymore but some I can think of was Bones, Property Brothers, and anything on the Weather Channel

Top 5 characters: Temperance Brennan, Angela Montenegro, Moana, Nala (from the Lion King), and 2B (from Nier Automata)

Top 3 bands / artists: Monica, Selena, and John P. Kee

Books I’m reading: None

Podcasts I’m listening to: None

Uhh I tag @theworldaccordingtodee @sparkofinsanity81 @polarbearmorgan @findingtallahassee

[forhcarthandhome]

Ships:

Bold = Main Ship(s)

Final Fantasy VII

Rude/Tifa | Leslie/Tifa | Reno/Tifa | Kunsel/Tifa | Aerith/Tifa | Tseng/Aerith | Aerith/Biggs | Zack/Aerith | Zack/Cloud | Reno/Rude | Cid/Vincent | Rufus/Tseng/Elena | Rufus/Elena | Poly Turks/Rufus

Final Fantasy VIII

Seifer/Rinoa | Laguna/Raine | Zell/Rinoa | Squall/Selphie | Selphie/Quistis | Quistis/Irvine 

Final Fantasy X / X-2

Yuna/Tidus | Shuyin/Lenne | Braska/Jecht/Auron

Final Fantasy XII

Balthier/Basch | Balthier/Fran | Balthier/Ashe | Ashe/Basch | Vossler/Ondore

Final Fantasy XIII

Serah/Snow | Fang/Vanille

Final Fantasy XIV

Gaia/Ryne | Urianger/Thancred | Dulia/Chai-Nuzz | Y’shtola/Lyse | Y’shtola/Runar | Cid/Nero | Lyse/Fordola | Estinien/Vrtra

Final Fantasy XV

Cindy/Holly | Cindy/Aranea | Cindy/Crowe | Cindy/Lunafreya | Crowe/Lunafreya | Nyx/Lunafreya | Noctis/Prompto | Prompto/Gladio | Ardyn/Verstael | Ardyn/Aera | Monica/Cor | Monica/Dave | Cor/Dratuos 

Final Fantasy XVI

Terrence/Dion | Cid/Gav | Cid/Clive

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim 

Hijiyama/Okino | Keitaro/Natsuno | Ei/Iori | Ei/Miura | Yuki/Ryoko | Nenji/Tomi | Hijiyama/Keitaro | Keitaro/Natsuno/Ei (13SW!AU) | Yuki/Iori | Yuki/Tamao

Eighty Six 

Shin/Lena

Persona 5

Ryuji/Ann | Ryuji/Ann/Ren / Ann/Ren

Devil May Cry

Nero/Kyrie

RWBY

Blake/Sun | Blake/Sun/Yang | Blake/Weiss | Qrow/Ironwood | Qrow/Clover | Roman/Neo | Coco/Velvet | Ren/Nora | Ruby/Penny | Pyrrha/Jaune | Robin/Fiona | May/Joanna | Emerald/Mercury | Summer/Raven

DrakeNIer

Fyra/Sechs | A2/Anemone | Kaine/Nier (brother) | 2B/6O | Weiss/Nier (Dad) | Caim/Angelus | Two/Cent

Red vs Blue

York/Carolina | Carolina/Kimball | Locus/Felix | Grif/Simmons | Wash/Tucker | Church/Tex

Life is Strange

Chloe/Max | Chloe/Amber

Assassin’s Creed

Altair/Malik | Ezio/Leonardo

Resident Evil

Jill/Chris | Jill/Carlos | Jake/Sherry | Billy/Rebecca

The Last Airbender/Legend of Korra

Sokka/Suki | Korra/Asami | Zuko/Katara

Mass Effect

F!Shepard/Garrus | F!Shepard/Thane

Kingdom Hearts

Namine/Xion | Aqua/Cinderella | Kairi/Olette

Fire Emblem

F!Byleth/Dimitri

Voltron

Shiro/Allura | Allura/Lotor

The Legend of Zelda

Link/Mipha | Link/Sidon | Midna/Zelda

Honkai/Genshin

Itto/Gorou | Stelle/March 7th | Stelle/March 7th/Dan Heng

Star Wars

Ahsoka/Barris | Obi-Wan/Cody | Riyo/Fox | Bly/Aayla | Bail/Breha/Fox | Boba/Din

OC/Canon

  Aoife Dia (OC) /Dave Auburnbrie | Cora Thuraine  (OC) /Thancred Waters | Nero Sinclair (OC) /G’raha Tia

OC

Sebastian Blake/Cain Holt | Arethasgr/Unnamed Knight | Laughter/Axil

[tak4hir0]

CUSTOM GAME ENGINES: A Small Study A couple of weeks ago I played (and finished) A Plague Tale, a game by Asobo Studio. I was really captivated by the game, not only by the beautiful graphics but also by the story and the locations in the game. I decided to investigate a bit about the game tech and I was surprised to see it was developed with a custom engine by a relatively small studio. I know there are some companies using custom engines but it's very difficult to find a detailed market study with that kind of information curated and updated. So this article. Nowadays lots of companies choose engines like Unreal or Unity for their games (or that's what lot of people think) because developing a custom AAA-level engine requires lots of resources, so, I decided to list here some of the most popular custom engines with the team-sizes and notable titles released with those engines. Most of the engines listed here have been developed along the years with multiple iterations and multiple videogames, those engines have gone through several versions or even complete (or semi-complete) rewrites from scratch, with a consequent engine name change. Also, important to note, most of those engines use numerous middleware for specific functionalities (Platform, Physics, Network, Vegetation, UI, Rendering, Audio...). *NOTE: I tried to be as much accurate as possible with the information about the employees count (I checked the companies websites, Wikipedia or company LinkedIn) but take it with a grain of salt (some employees numbers could not be up to date). The BIG Companies *From left to right: Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Final Fantasy XV, Red Dead Redemption 2 Below list is for very big corporations, sometimes with complex corporate structures with several divisions (not only focused on videogames) and various studios/subsidiaries developing games. Some of them work with multiple engines, not only custom ones but also licensed ones. Company Employees Studios Engine(s) Notable Games Activision/Blizzard ~9200 ~9 custom engine(s) Call of Duty series, Overwatch, Starcraft II Electronic Arts ~9300 ~36 Frostbite 3 Star Wars Battlefront II, Anthem, Battlefield 1/V, FIFA 20, Need for Speed series Ubisoft ~16000 ~54 AnvilNext 2.0 Assassin's Creed series Disrupt engine Watch Dogs series UbiArt Framework Rayman Legends, Child of Light, Valiant Hearts Snowdrop Tom Clancy's The Division 2, The Settlers Dunia (CryEngine-based) FarCry series Silex (Anvil-based) Ghost Recon Wildlands LEAD engine Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell series Dunia-based The Crew Capcom +2800 ~15 MT Framework Monster Hunter: World RE Engine Resident Evil 7, Devil May Cry 5, RE2:Remake, RE3:Remake Konami +10000 ~30 Fox Engine Pro Evolution Soccer series, Metal Gear Solid V Square Enix +4600 ~18 Luminous Studio Final Fantasy XV Nintendo +6100 ~8 custom engine(s) Zelda: BOTW, Mario Odyssey Riot Games ~2500 ~3 custom engine League of Legends Rockstar +2000 ~9 RAGE engine GTA V, Red Dead Redemption 2 CD Projekt +1100 ~4 REDEngine 3 The Witcher 3 Epic +1000 ~11 Unreal Engine 4 Fortnite Usually those companies invest in custom engines to have full control over the technology and also avoid the revenue cut imposed by the licensed engines. Despite that fact, there are some big companies that in the latest years have chosen Unreal Engine for their productions, the most notable cases are: Capcom is using Unreal for the new Street Fighter IV/V titles. Bandai Namco latest big hits are using Unreal: Jump Force, Dragon Ball Fighter Z, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, Tales of Arise. Square Enix also moved to Unreal for several new titles: Dragon Quest XI, Kingdom Hearts III, Final Fantasy VII Remake It's interesting to see that those big three are Japanesse companies, I wonder if that's maybe a market trend for Japan. Also to note, the chinesse holding Tencent owns 40% of Epic Games, I bet it has some influence in the Asian market. Middle-size Studios *From left to right: Rise of the Tomb Raider, Uncharted 4, A Plague Tale Here we have the medium-small companies that decided to create their custom technology for their titles. The number of employees could be a nice reference to consider because a custom game engine is usually developed in-house (I mean, not outsourced) but note that some of those companies could have a big number of people due to in-house artist/audio teams, while other companies out-source those parts of the development. It would be really nice to know how many engineers are working on the engine division for each company, I'm sure there would be some big surprises, probably by the low number of engineers working in the engine and tools! Also interesting to know more info about the tooling included with those engines, it's really difficult to have access to that kind of information. Engines tooling is usually a hidden-secret (beside some GDC presentations or some quick showcase videos). *From left to right: Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War, Death Stranding Company Employees Engine Notable Games Creative Assembly +650 Warscape Engine Total War series Bungie ~600 Tiger Engine Destiny series Infinity Ward +500 IW 7.0 Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Eidos-Montréal ~500 Dawn Engine (Glacier2-based) Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Paradox Interactive +400 Clausewitz Engine Imperator: Rome Bethesda ~400 Creation Engine Skyrim, Fallout 4, Fallout 76 Valve Corp. ~360 Source 2 Dota 2, Half-Life: Alyx Crystal Dynamics ~350 Foundation Engine Rise/Shadow of the Tomb Raider Avalanche Studios ~320 Apex engine Just Cause series, Renegade Ops, Mad Max, RAGE 2 Naughty Dog +300 Naughty Dog Game Engine Uncharted series, Last of Us Rebellion Developments ~300 Asura engine Alien vs. Predator series, Sniper Elite series Techland ~300 Chrome Engine 6 Dying Light Crytek ~290 CryEngine V The Climb, Hunt:Showdown From Software +280 Dark Souls engine Bloodborne, Dark Souls III, Sekiro Remedy +250 Northlight Engine Quantum Break, Control Guerrilla Games +250 Decima Killzone Shadow Fall, Until Dawn, Horizon Zero Dawn Platinum Games ~250 Platinum Engine NieR Automata, Bayonetta, Vanquish Santa Monica Studio +200 custom engine God Of War series id Software +200 idTech 6/7 Doom, Doom Eternal, Wolfenstein series Sucker Punch +200 custom engine Infamous Second Son, Ghost of Tsushima? Insomniac Games ~180 Insomniac Engine Rachet&Clank series, Marvel's Spider-Man Quantic Dreams ~180 custom engine Detroit: Become Human IO Interactive ~170 Glacier2 Hitman series Asobo Studio +140 Zouna A Plague Tale Ready At Dawn ~120 custom engine The Order: 1886, Lone Echo Mercury Steam ~110 custom engine Spacelords, Castlevania:Lords of Shadow series Monolith Productions +100 LithTech F.E.A.R. series, Condemned series, Shadow of Mordor/War 11 Bit Studios ~100 Liquid Engine Frostpunk Frozenbyte ~100 Storm3D Trine series, Shadowgrounds Kylotonn ~100 KtEngine WRC series, TT Isle of Man series, V-Rally 4 TaleWorlds Entertainment ~100 custom engine Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord Daedalic Entertainment ~90 Visionaire Studio The Whispered World, Deponia series Media Molecule ~80 Bubblebath Engine Dreams Deck13 ~70 Fledge Lords of the Fallen, The Surge, The Surge 2 Nihon Falcom ~60 Yamaneko Engine Ys VII, Ys VIII, Ys IX Croteam +40 Serious Engine The Talos Principle, Serious Sam series Some observations from this list: Rise of the Tomb Raider lists only 10 programmers working on Foundation engine in the credits, probably a good reference number to get an idea of the people working on the core engine. Kojima Productions use Decima engine, developed by Guerrilla Games, for Death Stranding, previously they used Fox Engine for Metal Gear Solid V. Media Molecule latest game/engine (Dreams) seems to have been developed by only ~15 coders, amazing! Companies targeting one single platform, usually have less restrictions and can push the limits of that platform. Unfortunately, that's a luxury that most companies can not afford. Asobo Studio, the company that originated this market study is not that small... but, like other companies, they seem to work in multiple titles in parallel. Very nice to see that some of the engines have entries in the Wikipedia with some details and titles released, it should be a must. Small-size Studios (Indie Studios) *From left to right: The Witness, No Man's Sky, X-Morph Defense Here we have some really small studios that also choose to develop a custom engine for their games. Note that most of those engines rely on other libraries/frameworks for certain parts of the game, the common choices we find are SDL (cross-platform graphics/input), OGRE (rendering engine), MonoGame (cross-platform game framework, also relyes on SDL, SharpDX, OpenTK, OpenAL-Soft...). One question many people could ask is, what parts of the engine are actually coded by the developers? Well, it depends, but usually coders take care of the screen-manager, entities-manager and content-manager as well as the wrappers/interfaces to the external libraries. Second question, what parts of the engine usually rely on external libraries/middleware? It also depends on the company resources but usually audio-system, physics, rendering, networking, ui-system, terrain-system, vegetation-system and some other pieces. *From left to right: Factorio, Thimbleweed Park, Owlboy On the following list (and the next one below) I added the publishing date (only +2012) and the link to Steam for all the games... there are not many games with custom engine from small studios out there and I think they deserve to be recognized and supported. Company Employees Engine Notable Games Shiro Games ~30 Heaps.io Northgard (2018), Evoland (2013), Evoland II (2015) Hello Games ~25 No Man's Sky Engine No Man's Sky (2016) Frictional Games ~25 HPL engine SOMA (2015), Amnesia series DrinkBox Studios ~25 custom engine Guacamelee (2013), Guacamelee! 2 (2018), Severed (2016) Supergiant Games ~20 MonoGame-based Hades (2019), Pyre (2017), Transistor (2014) Wube Software ~20 Allegro/SDL-based Factorio (2019) Chucklefish ~20 Halley Engine Wargroove (2019), Starbound (2016) Ronimo Games ~17 RoniTech Engine (SDL) Awesomenauts (2017) Runic Games ~17 OGRE-based Hob (2017), Tochlight II (2012) Lab Zero Games ~17 Z-Engine Indivisible (2019), Skullgirls (2013) Introversion Software ~14 SystemIV (SDL) Prison Architect (2015) Exor Studios ~14 OGRE-based Schmetterling The Riftbreaker (2020), X-Morph: Defense (2017) Tribute Games ~11 MonoGame-based Flinthook (2017), Mercenary Kings (2014) Thekla Inc. (Jonathan Blow) ~10 custom engine The Witness (2016) Terrible Toybox (Ron Gilbert) 9 custom engine (SDL) Thimbleweed Park (2017) Matt Makes Games (Matt Thorson) ~7 MonoGame-based Celeste (2018), TowerFall Ascension (2014) Coilworks ~7 custom engine Super Cloudbuilt (2017), Cloudbuilt (2014) Lo-fi Games (Chris Hunt) 6 OGRE-based Kenshi (2018) D-Pad Studio 6 MonoGame-based Owlboy (2016) BitKid, Inc. 6 MonoGame-based CHASM (2020) Double Damage Games 5 OGRE-based Rebel Galaxy Outlaw (2019), Rebel Galaxy (2015) Almost Human Games 4 custom engine Legend of Grimrock (2012), Legend of Grimrock 2 (2014) Wolfire Games 4 Phoenix Engine Overgrowth (2017) Some observations from this list: Nicolas Cannasse, co-founder of Shiro Games, is the the developer of Haxe programming language and Heaps engine, used by Motion Twin for Dead Cells (2017). Hello Games is a very small studio considering the size of No Man's Sky and that they use a custom engine. Really impressive! Runic Games was dissolved in November 2017, the founders created Double Damage, now they are working on Echtra Games on Torchlight III. Rodrigo Braz Monteiro, Chucklefish CTO, is the person in charge of Halley engine, actually the engine is open-source! In most of those studios the people in charge of creating the game engine it's only 1-3 persons! Lo-fi Games was a one-man team (Chris Hunt) for more than 6 years! Some of the games in this list took +5 years of development! Not many games... a couple of hits per year... One-man custom engines *From left to right: Stardew Valley, ScourgeBringer, Eagle Island Finally, the list of the heroes. Games developed by 1-2 people with custom game engines, engines mostly coded by one person! Respect. Creating an engine and a game from scratch to the point of publishing it is an extraordinary accomplishment, not many people in the world is ready for that. Almost all of them are 2D games, usually with very small budgets and developed along multiple years. Congratulations to the developers! *From left to right: Axiom Verge, Ghost 1.0, Remnants of Naezith Some observations from this list: Some of those teams are formed by 1-2 people but probably grew at some point and/or outsourced some parts of the development (art, audio...). Usually the publisher also helps with some resources (localization, marketing...). Omar Cornut from Lizardcube is the main programmer for Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap engine and also the developer of Dear ImGui, a free and open-source immediate-mode gui library used by lots of AAA custom engines. Ben Fiquet from Lizardcube is also the main artist for Streets of Rage 4, the custom engine of Guard Crush Games is written by Cyrille Lagarigue. Marc Flury programmed Thumper game engine rejecting the OOP paradigm in favor of a procedural programming approach. Christian Whitehead is the creator of Star Engine used in Sonic Mania but Headcannon (Simon Thomley) and PagodaWest Games (Jared Kasl and Tom Fry) were also involved in the development of the game. Some of the games in this list took +5 years of development! Not many games... a couple of hits per year... There are some other remarkable games using custom engines (usually XNA/MonoGame) that worth mentioning: Minecraft (2011), Braid (2009), Super Meat Boy (2010), Terraria (2011), Dustforce (2012), Sword and Sorcery EP (2012), FEZ (2013), Dust: An Elysian Tail (2013), Rogue Legacy (2013), Dyad (2012), SpaceChem (2013). Conclusions I'll start saying I'm biased, I'm really passionate about videogames-making technologies and I admire custom engines and game-making tools. I also contributed to custom engines ecosystem with my grain of salt: raylib and several game-making tools. I prefer a custom engine over a licensed one, I consider that the extra amount of effort put into the product usually translates into some specific great mechanic or some amazing in-game details. Said that, I must admit that creating a custom engine is a big endeavour and not many people are ready for that. I recognize Unity (and Unreal to less extend) have really democratized videogames development, lots of small-medium size companies can use Unity today to develop games quicly and put them on the market, sometimes with very low budgets... But, still, lots of big companies prefer to rely on their own custom technologies. From my gamedev-teacher perspective, I think students must learn how engines work internally with as much detail as possible. Relying only on engines like Unity/Unreal for education to allow students develop eye-candy project in short-time is not the way to go. At the end of the day, someone has to write the engine and the tools! NOTE: Feedback and improvements are welcome! :)

[captainofthetidesbreath]

To add a couple more:

The Stillness of the Wind (2019), Memory of God / Lambic Studios

Graveyard Keeper (2018), tinyBuild

Slime Rancher (2017), Monomi Park

Cultist Simulator (2018), Weather Factory (alright little loose on rpg definition here, but if you like Sunless Sea, this is also by its creator)

Pyre (2017), Supergiant Games

Hades (upcoming, early access 2018), Supergiant Games

Monster Prom (2018), Beautiful Glitch

Return of the Obra Dinn (2018), Lucas Pope

Celeste (2018), Matt Makes Games / Noel Berry

West of Loathing (2017), Asymmetric

Deltarune (2018, ongoing), Toby Fox

Hollow Knight (2017), Team Cherry

Hollow Knight: Silksong (TBA), Team Cherry

Dead Cells (2018), Motion Twin

In the Valley of the Gods (TBA), Campo Santo

Firewatch (2016), Campo Santo

Night in the Woods (2017), Infinite Fall / Secret Labs

Gris (2018), Nomada Studio

Minit (2018), JW, Kitty, Jukio, and Dom

The Red Strings Club (2018), Deconstructeam

Hyper Light Drifter (2016), Heart Machine

Pathologic 2 (TBA, in public alpha since late 2018), Ice-Pick Lodge

Draugen (TBA), Red Thread Games

Dreamfall Chapters (was released between 2014 and 2016, collected into a Final Cut 2017), Red Thread Games

Moonlighter (2018), 11 bit studios

And from AAA devs because people keep saying they don’t make them anymore:

Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018), Rockstar

Horizon Zero Dawn (2017), Guerilla Games

Spyro Reignited Trilogy (2018), Toys for Bob

Spider-Man (2018), Insomniac Games

God of War (2018), SIE Santa Monica

Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales (2018), CD PROJEKT RED

Death Stranding (TBA), Kojima Productions

Yakuza Kiwami (2016, worldwide 2017), Sega

Judgment, a Yakuza spinoff (2018, worldwide upcoming 2019), Sega

Devil May Cry 5 (2019), Capcom

Beyond Good and Evil 2 (TBA), Ubisoft

Resident Evil 2 remake (2019), Capcom

Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018), Eidos Montreal

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017), Nintendo

Nier: Automata (2017), Platinum Games

Prey (2017), Arkane Studios

Far Cry 5 (2018), Ubisoft

Like, I understand the frustration that much of game development now focuses on multiplayer games and the frustration that online multiplayers are valued much more highly by many developers and publishers, that it feels like online multiplayers are all anyone talks about, and that is a real frustration I share. But singleplayer RPGs are being made all the time, one doesn't even need to look that hard, and 2017 and 2018 especially were good years for them.

when will single player rpgs return from war

[wannabecatwriter]

“Thank you for telling me all this.” Matthew understood why she didn’t want to discuss the events that led to his birth. Monica was always a proud woman and she didn’t like being bamboozled like this, especially by someone she had strong feelings for. But this gave him another pause. What about his aunt? Harper really seemed nice. Would it be wrong of him to really talk to her? 

He wanted to, but he felt like he would be betraying his mother if he did.

“You should talk to her,” she told him, seemingly reading his mind. “Whatever happened between me and Mitchell happened between us. If she’s family, I won’t keep you from her. What’s she like, anyways?”

“Harper? I don’t know, but she’s a firefighter. Must be a decent person if that’s her work choice.”

“According to Adelia, she and Damon are good people,” Terra told them.

“Damon? Not Damon Bishop?” Monica asked for clarification.

“Him. They’re married.”

“I remember him,” Monica nodded. “He was one of Mitchell’s closest buddies. Huh… so much for that rule that forbade werewolves and witches to intermarry.”

“Rule? Never heard of it,” Terra admitted. She knew several intermixed couples like them.

“I know, dear. I took it at face value back then, but in the years past, I’ve never seen any mention of such rules anywhere.”

All this talk was making Terra’s stomach churn in the worst of ways. ��Excuse me,” she apologized, running to the nearest bathroom.

“Is she alright?” Monica asked.

“I’m not sure. She hasn’t been feeling well for a few days now,” he paused. “I’m sorry for digging all this up. I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories, but I just had to know.”

“I understand. I should’ve told you earlier.”

“Sorry about that,” Terra returned, only to run to the bathroom again, when the nausea returned.

It was just as good that Matthew wanted to know about his father, thought Monica. He might need lessons in parenting rather soon, if she was right about what was bothering Terra.

[chocobro-hijinks]

Chocobros + Ardyn + Ravus and video games

Noctis:

loves story-driven games with a decent amount of action

plays all the popular JRPGS and platformers, with the occasional puzzle  mobile game when they’re on the road

was obsessed with Undertale for a bit and then moved on, still randomly whispers “nyeh heh heh” when it’s too quiet

loves legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy games, harps about Nier Automata every waking moment because YOU CAN FISH WITH THE LITTLE ROBOT DUDE

if Prompto is into something competitive he will play with him just to win

YES PICK ME I WILL WIN I LOVE WINNING FITE ME

Prompto:

is a total masochist when it comes to rage games

he will play King’s Knight and I Wanna Be the Guy until he’s cleared them

gets SUPER DUPER INTO THEM and it’s impossible to make him notice anything else while he’s in the zone

doesn’t care about the story or tutorials JUST LET ME PLAY IT ALREADY I KNOW HOW TO PLAY VIDEO G- how do i sit?

challenges Noct in any way possible and they are always comparing their trophies and times

is an absolute completionist, will play a game 2572 times to get that bar to go to 100% and get the completion trophy

also plays Nintendogs recreationally

Gladio:

when Iris was a kid she asked him for games she could play and they stumbled on elouai and dressupgames

Iris now plays FPS and tomb raider, Gladio still plays dress up games because they’re relaxing and there’s no wrong way to do it

but actually gets competitive when there IS a winning option

calls Iris in the middle of the night yelling: MONICA FINALLY WENT OUT WITH BRAD I FINALLY FOUND THE RIGHT ACCESSORY FOR THE BLUE PROM DRESS

Iris gently puts the phone down and goes back to sleep

spends hours creating his sailor scout and gemsona but never saves it

Ignis:

fell in love with Harvest Moon the moment he played it as a kid

plays the mobile version even now, has spent 99 years in-game and finished everything there is to do

still waters his crops and brushes the cows and horse every day

occasionally dabbles in Cooking Mama

fights with his game because YOU DON'T SLICE ZUCCHINI THAT THICK FOR RATATOUILLE!

plays puzzle games and Phoenix Wright on his phone and asks the other bros for suggestions when he’s stuck, but never looks for an online guide because “that defeats the purpose of the mental exercise”

Ardyn:

can’t stop himself from seeking dat good mexican drama feel because of the grandma that he is

played dating sims ironically but seriously DEVOURED Mystic Messenger

doesn’t understand how the payment system works so he plays it hourly like it’s supposed to be played and the waiting is A G O N Y

accidentally got Yoosung’s yandere ending four times in a row because he can’t stop himself from selecting corrupting choices

sends screenshots to Aranea asking her what she would do about choices on Jaehee’s route, she tells him to go the fuck to sleep it’s 3 AM

his favorite character is Unknown and Vanderwood

"Rika is faking it” he insists with a knowing smile

Ravus:

isn’t much into gaming but was bullied into installing Mystic Messenger on his phone by Ardyn

got emotionally invested because Zen has white hair and Jumin has the life he should’ve had as the prince of Tenebrae

can’t be bothered to pay so he plays hourly like Ardyn

has disabled notifications so he misses whole days if not pestered to check his phone for them

they threaten each other with spoilers when they have a disagreement during war counsels, it works

nobody knows he even partakes in any entertainment save for Ardyn and Aranea who he has serious conversations with about the hard choices

“But isn’t she safer in the cage?!?!?!"

 V DID NOTHING WRONG !!!!

[snowfragrance]

California 2017 trip review

I’m back from a vacation in CA! As usual, just going to review the attractions, foods, and accommodations. The main areas will be Anime Expo 2017, downtown LA, and Venice Beach/Santa Monica. First up, Anime Expo...this will be long.

Anime Expo (AX)

This anime con is the biggest in the US. According to their website, this year the attendance for Anime Expo reached 115,726 with all the special shows. Originally, when my peeps were planning CA trip, AX was considered but not set in stone. But then I grabbed discounted 4 day tickets during Black Friday and that’s how we planned our stay in CA. I had decided to not cosplay and enjoy my time at the con but I saw that the weather was in the 70s-80s with no humidity so I packed 2B and wore her for Day 1 and 4.

The Good:

Everything about the Exhibit Hall was amazing. Since it is the biggest con, all the well-known names of anime/video games (Viz, Bandai, Crunchyroll, Blizzard, etc) are there to promote new shows/games, sell official merchandise, sign autographs, and give out freebies (my sister was constantly eating free samples of shrimp chips lol). And so much merch! The guidebook had 5 pages of all the sellers and the entire room took a good 3-4 hours to explore. I usually don’t spend a lot of money buying merch cause I could find cheaper prices online but I left with an empty wallet. There were so many things that you cannot find in the US. The layout of the room is very organized with each booth having a number and ceiling signs above the sections that show the number of each section.  

The artist alley was also massive! Lots of pretty art and I finally picked up a print from an artist that I had been eyeing for a while. Her booth was very popular lol. It took almost 20 minutes to reach her to buy a print. Traffic basically stopped. I was hoping to find more subtle anime prints…like a print with traditional ink calligraphy-ish style for LoL which didn’t happen. I didn’t have enough time to comb through everyone’s booth since I was spending a lot of time in the exhibit hall.

The entertainment hall had the itasha cars, arcade games, and the background sets for pictures. There was also an area that tested out a new tablet thing that made drawing digitally super easy. We also had fun in the background sets.

Badge pickup was ridiculously fast. They started pickup on day -1(?) and 0. It took minutes with no lines.

The guidebook’s map is the best thing ever. It’s organized and easier to read than the map on the app. The staff and volunteers are very helpful and well informed so we didn’t get lost that much. We still did but it wasn’t too much considering it was our first time and the convention center was massive. It’s also really nice how there are always an escalator around because I’m lazy and my vision was impaired when I was cosplaying.

AX provided a free shuttle to transport people to hotels and to the convention center. Using it was confusing and frustrating but it was nice that they had that as an option. Our hostel was only 20 minutes away with walking but catching the shuttle saved us time and energy.

The people who ran the AMV panels were really great. They knew their stuff and kept us entertained. There was no technical difficulties and all the programs started and ended on time.

The cosplays were really why I go to cons. It’s always amazing to see all the details and effort that goes into the costumes! And we were getting all the steps in from running after them! There were so many impressive ones. I’ve noticed a lot of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, FFXV, Overwatch, BnHA, Love Live!, Haikyuu, and very surprisingly Yugioh and Berserk were popular. I was expecting more AoT with S2 out or SAO since that’s like the go to cosplay for couples for some reason. There was also not a lot of Doctor Who, Supernatural, Marvel, and DC…I always see a couple of doctors running around in the eastern cons. Also, I saw no dancing which was unusual. In previous cons, there’s always someone who will have a dance battle or sing Disney songs while waiting in line.

The Bad:

The AX app was useless. It was ok to get new updates and to see changes but the map was difficult to navigate. The schedule shows only what the room was called and not where it was located. It would be better to know the actual room number so you know where to find it. I already know it’s a workshop because of the icon near the name so I don’t need to see the room as workshop1…I rather have it as room 404 so that I know I have to go to the 4th floor. Some panels had no summary so I had no idea if I wanted to go.

The bag checks in Day 1 needed to be expanded. Day 1 had a lot of people so it would make sense to have more entrance points. There were only a couple of bag checks so the line was behind and way past the convention center and continued to be long even after the sun was setting. I was kinda dying in my 2B cosplay. Everytime you leave the convention center, you have to go back through bag check. And all the cosplay meetups are held outside. So I noped out on my Nier meetup. And by the time I got settled and stopped oozing everywhere, most of the halls were closing and I missed all the panels I wanted to see. We also decided to have snacks for lunch because all the delicious and decently priced food trucks were outside of the convention center…and no one wanted to wait in line to enter the convention center again.

And speaking of lines, all the lines for normal ticket holders are outside. It’s really annoying to find the lines. I wish they could have the lines inside the building with a staff keeping tabs on how many seats are left. That way, no one gets a heat stroke and lines are easier to find cause it next to the room. The staff can turn away people once the capacity is reached so those people can do other things and not waste their time. It’ll also reduce traffic inside the building. Those who paid more for premium badges get to cut in line which makes attending workshops really difficult. We tried to go to a polymer class only to find all the seats were gone. And apparently, you must sit in a chair to view the panel/workshop. You cannot be standing or hanging out by the door. I don’t really know why this is a rule since it makes no sense

The shuttle location was moved after Day 1 to prevent clogging traffic around the convention center. We went to the new location and boarded without issues. However on the next day, we went to the new location again and found no shuttles even though the service should run 24/7. We called the info desk and got the same directions. We were at the new location but after that we could not find the shuttles again. There had been no other changes regarding location. It was super frustrating.

AX had ticketed events where you have to pay extra to go to. I don’t really care for the concerts or cafes but I was kinda interested in the masquerade. That started at $5 for horrible seats. I know they needed the money to give out cash prizes to the winners but I wasn’t going to be spending a lot of money for good seats.

I wanted to go the Miku 10th Anniversary (oh god, it’s been that long?!) dance but I didn’t do that either. We got in line and had a pretty good spot but then staff came around to tell us that large bags had to be checked and stored away. It seemed like we had to buy a locker for the bags. We had gotten free bags from the exhibit hall so we would have to get those checked and lose our spot. By then, the line already was wrapping around. Ugh, like you could have warned us sooner or have that requirement posted under the dance in the website, app, and/or the event sign by the door. We were waiting for almost an hour before being told this which wasn’t long by con standards but it was still wasted time. Literally everyone had those free bags and after that announcement, it was a mess.

Overall, it was fun and it’ll be my first and probably last AX. My local cons are just as good though I’m going to miss that exhibit hall with all the freebies and merch. I wished I could find something from QZGS but no luck. Here is a pic of my peeps and all my loot.

[breakingarrows]

Best Video Game Writing for June 2017

The Complete, Untold History of Halo

Steve Haske talks to sixteen developers about Bungie’s time with the Halo series, from founder Alex Seropian to Ryan Payton who was temporarily creative lead on Halo 4 prior to being replaced by Josh Holmes. The article covers the time leading up to Halo: Combat Evolved to Halo 5, though most of the detail wraps around Halo and Halo 2.

Outlast 1 & 2: Gamifying Found Footage Horror

Noah Caldwell-Gervais continues to be on of the best video essayists when it comes to video games, this time focusing on how Outlast and its sequel adapt the found footage horror genre for video games.

Prey vs. Prey [Total Spoilers]

Another Noah Caldwell-Gervais video, this time analyzing the differences between the two games that share the name Prey, and what each did successfully and not so successfully.

Does the Designer Behind ‘Nier: Automata’ Believe in God?

Patrick Kelepek of Waypoint talks to Yoko Taro, someone who has stated before his dislike of interviews which makes this a special occasion. The discussion has spoilers for Nier: Automata but some interesting themes from the game are addressed.

On the Terrific Power of Video Games as Time Capsules

Chris Scullion writes about how some games can help you relive periods of your life due to their recreation of specific areas during specific time periods.

The Story Behind Mass Effect: Andromeda’s Troubled Five-Year Development

Jason Schreier of Kotaku gives a detailed report on why Mass Effect: Andromeda took so long to make and why it released to a less than stellar reception.

Classic Game Postmortem: Sid Meier’s Civilization

Sid Meier and Bruce Shelley partner up to talk all about the very first Civilization game and its development.

The State of Virtual Reality

Brian Crecente of Polygon gives a summation of where virtual reality is complete with quotes from major proponents of the hardware/software production.

The Ringed City Review (Dark Souls 3 DLC)

Joseph Anderson closes out the Dark Souls trilogy with a video analyzing the final Dark Souls III DLC and his feelings on the ending chapter of the series.

Sports Games, Colin Kaepernick, and the Lie of Apolitical Stardom

Nick Capozzoli tackles how video games are failing to adapt a critical part of sports: the players politics.

Call of Duty: WW2′s Single-Player Seems Big on Thrills, But Lacks Soul

Chloi Rad of IGN talks about how the latest Call of Duty fails to deliver an experience different from past iterations despite some changes to try and make its campaign more emotional.

At E3 2017, Black Characters’ Hair Looks Better Than Ever

Gita Jackson of Kotaku covers the varying quality of hair on men and women of color who were present at E3 2017.

Nite Two at E3: Phil Spencer

Jeff Gerstmann of Giant Bomb sits down with Phil Spencer of Microsoft to talk about an hour about E3, the Xbox One X, and OG Xbox backwards compatibility.

Crash Bandicoot: An Oral History

Blake Hester talks to sixteen developers who all had a hand in creating the original Crash Bandicoot for the original PlayStation. He even includes a dispute between two independent artists and the Naughty Dog co-founders about who exactly “created” Crash Bandicoot the character.

Nintendo Explains Why They Didn’t Focus on Indie Games at E3

Austin Walker of Waypoint doesn’t avoid the tough questions with Reggie Fils-Aime of Nintendo when it comes to fan made projects like AM2R and the lack of an independent developer presence at any first-party E3 presentation.

God of War: The Quest to Redeem Kratos

Philip Kollar of Polygon speaks with Cory Barlog of Sony Santa Monica about Kratos’ previous inability to change and whether or not they will successfully make players empathetic towards his plight in the newest entry for the series.

Ghost in the Shell: A Gaming Overview

Lucas Raycevick gives an overview of the few Ghost in the Shell games that have been released and why each failed to properly adapt the source material in video game for.

Making Gran Turismo Sport: Real Driving

The IGN video team have put together a short documentary about Gran Turismo creator’s Kazunori Yamauchi and the upcoming GT Sport.

State of the Art: The Monsters of Prey

Philippa Warr of Rock Paper Shotgun speaks with Emmanuel Petit and Jason Timmons of Arkane about eh visual trickery that went into creating the otherworldy aliens of Prey.

GamerGate, Feminism, Cyberpunk: An Interview With ‘The Last Night’ Designer

Rob Zacny of Waypoint talks to Tim Soret of Odd Tales and David Martinez of Raw Fury about The Last Night’s themes but also Soret’s past comments regarding GamerGate and his current views on feminism.

Final Fantasxy XIV Documentary

Danny O’Dwyer continues to deliver high quality documentaries, this time on the death and rebirth of Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XIV MMO.

How Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy Offers a Return to My Most Important Gaming Memories

Jonathon Dornbush of IGN gives an emotional reason for why the Crash Bandicoot trilogy’s remake will help him relive memories of his now deceased mother and their shared connection through the Crash franchise.

‘Persona 5″ Can’t Champion Marginalized Underdogs Without Queer Characters

Sloane Cee describes how Atlus fails to give a true underdog story of outsiders overcoming their status by excluding those who are actually discriminated against, focusing mainly on the lack of any LGBTQ+ characters and romance options.

IGN Unfiltered 20: RPG Guru and Interplay Founder Brian Fargo

Ryan McCaffrey of IGN continues to have great one on one interviews with the big names of video game developers/publishers, this time with Interplay founder Brian Fargo about his introduction to development at a very young age and the troubled history at Interplay.

How PlayStation’s Japan Studio Stands Out

Andrew Goldfarb of IGN speaks to Shuhei Yoshida of Sony Interactive Entertainment and Allan Becker of Japan Studio about how the developer differentiates itself from Sony’s other first party studios.

Metro Exodus and the Developer That Won’t Stop Fighting

Philip Kollar of Polygon talks to Andriy Prokhorov, creative director at 4A Games about how the studio lacks the size and money of the usual AAA development house but continue to pursue making games that are of that quality and maybe even surpasses it.