#Shorter is sometimes better

[goombasa]

Embracing Shorter Experiences

So one of the things that I really wanted to do this year was make a concerted effort to try and clear off a lot of the games from my backlog. This has included a lot of older and more classic games, and let me tell you, one thing that I've noticed when going through several classic and older game collections, is that these older games, even earler 3D games, respected the player's time so, so much more.

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with a longer experience now and then. I love binging older anime that had upwards of near a hundred episodes. I have played a lot of modern RPGs that require something like 60+ hours to just see the end of the main quest. That's not me bragging, I just want to lay down that I have no trouble with longer experiences, but sometimes, it's so easy to get burnt out on them. I can't count how many games I've just dropped because it just took so long to get anywhere or move the game forward that I just sort of drifted away and didn't pick it up again. It wasn't out of rage quitting or anything, it was just taking so long and I wanted to do something else. For someone like me, who prefers to only focus on one or two games at a time at most, it can be real annoying to get a new game, get hooked on it, play it for several dozen hours, and then just drift away from it despite enjoying it and wanting to finish it.

It isn't like all modern games are like this either, there are  plenty of games, and even plenty of genres that essentially keep their playtimes fairly succinct and to the point. I can't recall the last time a platformer required me to spend an inordinant amount of time performing busywork in order to make progress. By the same token, it isn't like every older or retro game was good about respecting a player's time. Old-school dragon quest (Dragon Warrior in America) practically invented the concept of level grinding. If you actually look at a guide or a walkthrough for the original DQ, it's a remarkably short game, but it's runtime is padded out by the necessity to grind out both gold to afford better equipment and experience to level up to get strong enough to actually make progress to the next part of the game.

But I am thinking more of games that aren't necessarily shorter but always feel like you're making constant progress towards your goal. A lot of modern open world games break this rule because so much of what you're doing doesn't feel directly connected to your quest, it's just a load of busywork. And yes, while it does technically make you stronger in some ways, perhaps giving you access to more materials or better weapons, or filling out your map, or whatever it is that the side quests do, so much of it feels like a chore. That's what I mean by not respecting your time. When a game is so thick with story, it can also feel like it's wasting your time as well. That's the issue I had with Persona 5. I did enjoy the game, it was a lot of fun to play, but I ended up dropping the game on two separate occasions because it felt like it was taking forever to make progress… and that's a game that has a time limit, and a definitive end! Time marches forward in that game whether you want it to or not and I still felt like it took control and agency away from me often enough that I sort of zoned out and stopped enjoying it, needing something a bit more fast paced. In the moment, I could have fun with it, but longer stints of playing it really burned me out on it.

A game that respects a person's time isn't necessarily short, but it is one that feels like you aren't being held back by its design. Chrono Trigger is an RPG that I think pulls this off flawlessly. It's not a long game by RPG standards, roughly 15-20 hours or so, but you are constantly moving fowrard, constantly getting things done and moving the story forwards. It doesn't feel like the game's pacing ever slows down or takes control or agency from the player for extended periods of time.

Or how about a more modern game that I feel is good about this: Hades. Hades is a very, very long game if you want to see or do absolutely everything in it. Even getting through the main storyline takes several dozen successful runs at the very least, and that's not counting all of the side content and side stories and hidden dialogue you get even when you fail a run. It's a game that constantly feels like it's moving its plot and its characters forward, even when you aren't managing to successfully finish a run, and I think that's wonderful.

I bring all this up because, thankfully, shorter experiences are coming back, at least in the indie field. We've seen some attempts at AAA publishers to make shorter experiences that are still satisfying; Tango Gameworks' Hi-Fi Rush is an excellent, linear rhythm beat-em-up that is just long enough to be a great time without overstaying its welcome and making you feel like the experience is being dragged out, for example. But the indie space is where things like this really shine. Larger game developers, even since the shift to 3D it feels like, have constantly been pushing forward to make bigger, more cinematic spectacles, longer experiences that really push the technology they're on to its fullest degrees, and yet many of the games being put out don't feel nearly as fun or as satisfying to play because they feel bloated. Sometimes, a short experience is the best one.

I think most of us never asked for games to get bigger. It's impressive, to be sure, but it was never meant to be a regular thing. I don't want to read a book that's over 1000 pages unless it is a really, really damn good book. I don't want to watch a movie that's over four hours (or even two hours really) unless I feel as though my time is going to be well spent. I typically will drop a show, no matter how long running it is, no matter how much someone insists that it gets better two season in, if I can't be swayed into watching it after three or so episodes, I'm not going watch further.

Time is a precious commodity, something that I've grown far more aware of as I've gotten older, and so choosing where to spend it is far more important to me. I am someone who often laments when I don't see to the end of something, I always feel bad when I cannot or do not finish a game or a movie or a show or a book, but at the same time, if its length is causing me to feel like I'm just not making progress or that I could be moving on to something else, then I consider that a bit of a failing with the media in general. I want to see the ending, and that's why I've grown a lot more fond of things that actually have endings now, something I can play for around ten to twenty hours, see the ending, feel satisfied, digest what I felt about it, and then move on without guilt. Same with a movie or a show.

This is another rambly post, I admit, but I'd like to know how other people feel about the generalized length of something. Not in how it relates to how much you pay for something, I've never felt that equating length to worth is a good metric, but in how it makes you feel. What does something very long have to do to keep you invested in it, make it feel like it's worth your time to continue on with it, even when it starts to approach 40, 50, 60 hours and beyond?

[royalarchivist]

Tallulah: tio pac and fit are so Perfecta by Miranda coded 🥹💕

Phil: This is Pac and Fit? [Dramatically zooms-in on the fanart and makes them "sing" along to the music]

Chat: he's LITERALLY making a ship amv right now

Tallulah: How things got weird 😞

Make sure to show love to the artist who drew this fanart!

[ Full clip ]

[reallyprofoundkryptonite]

some Sandor doodles because I love this man dearly and wish him the best.

Tormund was right, he does have very sad eyes.

also with quite a few of my designs/personifications for characters i kinda just tend to pick and choose things from the source materials (the show and the books) and go from there. Like the book’s description of Sandor was actually when he was younger, and actual time frame he Yk. Aged. Since he’s 35 years old in the show. (At the end he’d be about 40-42 I think)

but anyways

dog helm sketch/personal interpretation.

[dunmeshistash]

Sometimes I ramble while answering questions cause I'm actually writing down my thought process lmao

[shichidikai]

it still counts as alternating pov if sanji's scenes are megabeasts that delve into his thoughts, trauma, dreams, fears, childhood, inner demons, fantasies, what he had for breakfast, quantum physics, etc. while zoro's are like 1/12th the length and any insight basically boils down to "huh, he's hot. guess i like him" right

[boatboys]

Ohoho I'm excited by book 2, but that's a monster length. How many words is book 1 again? For comparison. Also, separate thought, where do the short stories fit on the timeline between books 1 and 2?

Shit, I had not actually checked until now! But it looks like AtS was about 185.5K. So at the current length of 395K, the next one is more than twice as long. I need to lie down!!! How and why do we do this to ourselves, haha.

RE: timeline, all the little novellas so far (with the obvious exception of Midnight Chicken) will fall between the two! The next one (working title Run Aground) takes place approximately a year and change after Taste of New York.

[royalarchivist]

I'm always so torn between posting full clips of funny moments / important lore moments or splitting them into two parts and cutting some things out, so I want to know your guys' preference:

[gabriestat]

actually it's so sad that criston cole is overly hated but at the same time who cares. and same with alicole. she doesn't love you and never will but you love her and the thought of her keeps you going through the battlefields. many such cases in life

[aurorauau]

post POSTponed because I just want it to be better but you will all be seeing Miyoko Tanashi very soon. I want to revisit some Miyo stuff as I'm not very assured in how I've been describing her role in Tokyo for example. this post is more about Meryl but they're both important...

[brainrot-has-overtaken-me]

I keep getting promotion for ExposureCraft and they have all been some version of “I miss old Minecraft. Since 2020 every server has just been lore streams with way too much content to catch up on! What ever happened to just playing Minecraft with friends? So I’m joining this new server with lots of mods and a life system gimmick that I’ll be streaming!”

Like I’m sorry?? But you’ve missed your own point! Many of those “lore” servers started as just playing Minecraft with friends and turned into something more because of a system on the server. And it’s way too much content to catch up on because it’s nothing but long ass streams that not everyone can catch live or have the time to go back and watch a vod of. You also mention missing “old” Minecraft but here yall are adding 40 something mods onto the server and adding a life system. Usually if people are talking about missing “old” Minecraft they mean vanilla Minecraft with maybe 1 or 2 mods.

Like just they way the creators are promoting ExposureCraft like they are better than other servers in the past few years when they are doing the exact same thing servers have been doing for the past couple of years rubs me the wrong way. I also looked up the vods for it and the shortest one I found was just under 3 hours long at 2:56, with the longest being almost 10 hours long and the average being 6 1/2 hours.

Just the way the creators have been promoting and talking about ExposureCraft puts me off watching it despite there being several creators on it that I love watching.

[seaofreverie]

So I actually finished listening to the whole Sparks studio album discography today, with Plagiarism, which I probably would have put off still for an indefinite amount of time, but since that was the last album on the list and the new Sparks era is now imminent... felt fitting to sort of finally listen to that. So I've been thinking of making a (short-ish? lol) post and talking a (little? lol) bit about all the albums I've left off from my Sparkstember writeups because I wasn't familiar enough with them yet at the time. So that the essay collection is completed at last yay. But well yeah, big day I guess, I'm officially all caught up, after... A year and 10 months?! I take my time with things... even if I'm super into them, or maybe especially??

[copper-dragon-in-disguise]

.

[kyistell]

Wow me, drawing Jersey? Craazzzyyyyy

Anyway, I had an original design for this type of look on the Ipad, ended up not looking at it once since I apparently have memory. Kinda glad I didn't since I could go just by memory and figure it out as I went along ya know. (ps, for those who don't normally read tags just like, please do, i put so many lil things in there lolz)

Okay SO, I have this lil headcanon, nothin big, that Jersey didn't used to wear shorts until like 2000 or something, maybe a bit before then. This is because he has some scars on his legs, just from over the years, and wearing shorts not only shows those but also make it easier for him to get scrapes and such.

He was fine wearing shorts around NY, Del, and Rhode, occasionally Mass as well if he happened to be around at the time. He couldn't wear them around anyone else for a long time, some scars had Memories(tm) attached to them, some good most bad, so he just never wore shorts.

He's gotten a lot more comfortable wearing them around the other states over the years, mainly because of Covid where Mass unfortunately wouldn't let him keep wearing the same two pairs of pants. So he's fine now, if still a lil uncomfortable around some states (the west mainly), you just won't see him wearing them until it's the first day over 60 in state.

Anyway I love NJ but this isn't surprising, I live here. I am NOT a simp for this bitch, he's my state, I have to like him, 'sides who else would I attach to? Pennsylvania? Florida? Or god forbid NEW YORK!? Absolutely not, that's sacrilegious that is.

[adore-gregor]

i did okay i guess

[weirdbabs]

i think if ed didnt have such a fear of confrontation they would diffuse situations the way i do: either blurt out the most random, off topic thing they could think of or, if it was directed toward themself, the most off the wall thing they could say that still works in context

[thegeminisage]

Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Fandom: Teen Wolf (TV) Relationship: Chris Argent/Derek Hale Characters: Chris Argent, Derek Hale, Kate Argent, Original Characters, Minor Characters, Araya (Teen Wolf) Additional Tags: Asexual Derek Hale, Stone Top Derek Hale, Wolf Derek Hale, Slow Burn, Enemies to Lovers, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Lovers to Friends, Friends With Benefits, Age Difference, Explicit Consent, Cohabitation, Grief/Mourning, Beards (Facial Hair), Trauma, Nightmares, Flashbacks, Unreliable Narrator, Past Abuse, Past Sexual Abuse, Past Underage, Sexual Dysfunction, Warning: Kate Argent, Minor Character Death, Blow Jobs, Grief Beards, Asexual Character Words: 55,331 Summary: Derek insists on coming along with Chris Argent and the Calaveras on the hunt for Kate, so he can see her dead for good. While following her trail back to Beacon Hills, they come to understand some hard truths about both each other and themselves, and struggle to find the reason why, after losing nearly everyone they've ever loved, they're still here.

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Fandom: Teen Wolf (TV) Relationships: Chris Argent/Derek Hale, Derek Hale & Laura Hale Characters: Derek Hale, Laura Hale, Chris Argent Additional Tags: Wolf Derek Hale, Grief/Mourning, Codependency, Cohabitation Words: 2,278 Summary: Derek's first day back home.

Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Fandom: Teen Wolf (TV) Relationships: Chris Argent/Derek Hale, Chris Argent & Scott McCall, Derek Hale & Scott McCall, Past Relationships:, Derek Hale/Paige, Kate Argent/Derek Hale, Chris Argent/Original Character(s), Chris Argent/Victoria Argent, Allison Argent & Derek Hale Characters: Chris Argent, Derek Hale, Scott McCall, Original Characters, Mentioned:, Kate Argent, Victoria Argent, Allison Argent, Gerard Argent Additional Tags: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Nightmares, Flashbacks, Grief/Mourning, Panic Attacks, Suicide, Suicidal Thoughts, Memory Loss, Repressed Memories, Guilt, Redemption, Codependency, Cohabitation, Asexual Character, Asexual Derek Hale, Sexual Dysfunction, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Murder Words: 36,500 Summary: Twenty-four hours after the death of his sister, Chris Argent wakes in Derek Hale's loft with his hands trembling too badly to load and fire a gun, and no matter what he does, he can't make them stop. He made a promise to protect Beacon Hills in Allison's stead, but now he has to decide how he carries on her legacy when he doesn't know if he can fight, if he can ever lay his guilt to rest, and if he's truly capable of doing good when he has already done so much harm.

...i wrote this series in 2017/2018 as teen wolf was coming to a close, but i didn't post them here since i was a little shy about my rarepair and also they're Extremely Explicit and i had a lot of kids following me for skeleton art. since those kids are all grown up now (?!?!?), here these finally are, on this blog for the first time Ever. the first fic is the best one, obviously - it's almost a ship manifesto, and i am proud to report i have won over skeptics with it <3 derek hale i love you forever