googleinfotech1

[dayvan]

i cant believe you'd include the original xbox in that poll but not hte dreamcast. what has this world come to [choking back tears

[felassan]

Edge – The Future of Interactive Entertainment magazine, issue #401 (October 2024 issue) – Dragon Age: The Veilguard story

The rest of this post is under a cut for length.

Update: this issue of this magazine is now available to buy from UK retailers today. it can be purchased online at [this link]. [Tweet from Edge Online] also, Kala found that a digital version of the magazine can be read at [this link].

This post is a word-for-word transcription of the full article on DA:TV in this issue of this magazine. DA:TV is the cover story of this issue. When transcribing, I tried to preserve as much of the formatting from the magazine as possible. Edge talked to BioWare devs for the creation of this article, so the article contains new quotes from the devs. the article is written by Jeremy Peel. There were no new screenshots or images from the game in the article. I also think that it contains a few lil bits of information that are new, like the bits on companions' availability and stumbling across the companions out and about on their own in the world e.g. finding Neve investigating an abduction case in Docktown.

tysm to @simpforsolas and their friend for kindly telling me about the article!!

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[image source]

Article introduction segment:

"[anecdote about Edge] We were reminded of this minuscule episode in Edge's history during the creation of this issue's cover story, in which we discuss the inspiration behind Dragon Age: The Veilguard with its creators at BioWare. Notably, director John Epler remembers the studio experimenting with a number of approaches during the early phase of development before eventually locking in to what the game was supposed to be all along, above all else: 'a single-player, story-focused RPG'. As you'd expect from BioWare, though, that was really just a starting point, as we discovered on p54." BioWare draws back the Veil and ushers us into a new Dragon Age

"BEHIND THE CURTAIN BioWare's first true RPG in age age is as streamlined and pacey as a dragon in flight. By Jeremy Peel Game Dragon Age: The Veilguard Developer BioWare Publisher EA Format PC, PS5, Xbox Series Origin Canada Release Autumn

The Dragon Age universe wasn't born from a big bang or the palm of an ancient god. Instead, it was created to solve a problem. BioWare was tired of battling Hasbro during the making of Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights, and wanted a Dungeons & Dragons-like setting of its own. A small team was instructed to invent a new fantasy world in which the studio could continue its groundbreaking work in the field of western RPGs, free of constraints.

Well, almost free. BioWare's leaders mandated that the makers of this new world stick to Eurocentric fantasy, and include a fireball spell - since studio co-founder Ray Muzyka had a weakness for offensive magic.

Beyond that, BioWare’s storytellers were empowered to infuse Dragon Age with their own voices and influences, leaning away from D&D’s alignment chart and towards a moral grayness that left fans of A Song Of Ice And Fire feeling warm and cozy.

In the two decades since, the world of Thedas – rather infamously and amusingly, a shortening of ‘the Dragon Age setting’ that stuck – has taken on a distinct flavor. It’s something director John Epler believes is rooted in characters.

“There’s definitely some standard fantasy stuff in Dragon Age, but everything in the world, every force, is because of someone,” he says. “The idea is that every group and faction needs to be represented by a person – someone you can relate to. Big political forces are fine as background, but they don’t provide you with those interesting story moments.”

Dragon Age: The Veilguard bears out that philosophy. The long-awaited sequel was first announced with the subtitle Dreadwolf, in reference to its antagonist, Solas – an ancient elf who once stripped his people of immortality as punishment for betraying one of their own. In doing so, Solas created the Veil, the thin barrier through which wizards pull spirits and demons invade the waking world. In other words, many of Dragon Age’s defining features, from its downtrodden elves to the uneasy relationship between mages and a fearful church, can be traced right back to one character’s decision.

“The world exists as it does because of Solas,” Epler says. “He shaped the world because of the kind of character he was. That’s, to me, what makes Dragon Age so interesting. Everything can tie back to a person who to some degree thought they were doing the right thing.”

Perhaps BioWare’s greatest achievement in slowburn character development, Solas is a former companion, an unexploded bomb who sat in the starting party of Dragon Age: Inquisition, introverted and useful enough to get by without suspicion. Yet by the time credits rolled around on the Trespasser DLC, players were left in no doubt as to the threat he presented.

Determined to reverse the damage he once caused, the Dreadwolf intends to pull down the Veil, destroying Thedas as we know it in the process. The next Dragon Age game was always intended to be his story.

“We set that up at the end of Trespasser,” Epler says. “There was no world where we were ever going to say, ‘And now let’s go to something completely different.’ We wanted to pay off that promise.”

Yet almost everything else about the fourth Dragon Age appears to have been in flux at one time. In 2019, reporter Jason Schreier revealed that an early version, starring a group of spies pulling off heists in the Tevinter Imperium, had been cancelled two years prior. Most of its staff were apparently moved onto BioWare’s struggling Anthem, while a tiny team rebooted Dragon Age from scratch. That new game was said to experiment with live-service components.

“We tried a bunch of different ideas early on,” Epler says. “But the form The Veilguard has taken is, in a lot of ways, the form that we were always pushing towards. We were just trying different ways to get there. There was that moment where we really settled on, ‘This is a singleplayer, story-focused RPG – and that’s all it needs to be’”.

Epler imagines a block of marble, from which BioWare was attempting to carve an elephant – a character- and story-driven game. “We were chipping away, and sometimes it looked more like an elephant and sometimes it didn’t”, he says. “And then we eventually realized: ‘Just make an elephant’. When we got to that, it almost just took shape by itself.”

2014’s Dragon Age: Inquisition was an open-world game commonly criticized for a slow-paced starting area which distracted players from the thrust of the plot. The Veilguard, in contrast, is mission-based, constructed with tighter, bespoke environments designed around its main story and cast. “We wanted to build a crafted, curated experience for the player,” Epler says. “Pacing is important to us, and making sure that the story stays front and center.”

Epler is very proud of Inquisition, the game on which he graduated from cinematic designer to a lead role (for its DLC). “But one of the things that we ran into on that project was an absentee antagonist,” he says. “Corypheus showed up and then disappeared. You spent ten hours in the Hinterland doing sidequests, and there wasn’t that sense of urgency.”

This time, The Veilguard team wants you to constantly feel the sword of Damocles dangling above your head as you play – a sense that the end of the world is coming if you don’t act. “There’s still exploration – there’s still the ability to go into some of these larger spaces and go off the beaten path to do sidequests,” Epler says. “But there’s always something in the story propelling you and the action forward, and allowing you to make decisions with these characters where the stakes feel a lot more immediate and present. And also, honestly, more real.”

No sooner have you finished character creation than Dragon Age: The Veilguard thrusts you into a choice. As your protagonist, Rook, steps into focus on the doorstep of the seediest bar in town, you decide whether to threaten the owner for information or make a deal. Brawl or no, you’ll walk out minutes later with a lead: the location of a private investigator named Neve Gallus, who can help you track down Solas.

You proceed into Minrathous, the largest city in Thedas and capital of the Tevinter Imperium – a region only alluded to in other Dragon Age games. It’s a place built on the backs of slaves and great mages, resulting in tiered palaces and floating spires – a kind of architecture unimaginable to those in the southern nations.

“When your Dragon Age: Inquisition companion Dorian joins you in Orlais, in one of the biggest cities in Thedas, he mentions that it’s quaint and cute compared to Minrathous,” Corinne Busche, game director on The Veilguard, says. “That one bit of dialogue was our guiding principle on how to realize this city. It is sprawling. It is lived-in. Sometimes it’s grimy, sometimes it’s bougie. But it is expansive.”

Immediately, you can see the impact of BioWare’s decision to tighten its focus. Around every other corner in Minrathous is an exquisitely framed view, a level of spectacle you would never see in Inquisition, where resources were spread much more thinly. “When you know that you’re gonna be heading down a canyon or into this plaza where the buildings open up, you have those perfect spots to put a nice big temple of Andraste or a mage tower,” art director Matthew Rhodes says. “You get those opportunities to really hit that hard.”

BioWare’s intention is to make strong visual statements that deliver on decades of worldbuilding. “People who have a history with Dragon Age have thought about what Minrathous might be like,” Rhodes says. “We can never compete with their imagination, but we can aim for it like we’re shooting for the Moon.”

The people of Tevinter use magic as it if were electricity, as evidenced by the glowing sigils that adorn the dark buildings – street signs evoking Osaka’s riverfront or the LA of Blade Runner. They’re just one of the tricks BioWare’s art team uses to invite you to stop and take in the scene. “A lot of what you start to notice when you’re the artist who’s been working on these big, beautiful vistas and neat murals on the walls is how few players look up,” Rhodes says. “We design props and architecture that help lead the eyes.”

For the really dedicated shoegazers, BioWare has invested in ray-traced reflections, so that the neon signage can be appreciated in the puddles. There are also metal grates through which you can see the storm drains below. “The idea behind that is purely just to remind the player often of how stacked the city is,” Rhodes says. “Wherever you’re standing, there’s guaranteed to be more below you and above you.”

One of BioWare’s core creative principles for The Veilguard is to create a world that’s actually worth saving – somewhere you can imagine wanting to stick around in, once the crises of the main quest are over. To that end, the team has looked to ground its outlandish environments with elements of mundanity.

“A guy’s normal everyday life walking down the streets of this city is more spectacular than what the queen of Orlais is seeing, at least in terms of sheer scale," Rhodes says. “One of the things we’ve tried to strike a balance with is that this is actually still a place where people have to go to the market and buy bread, raise their kids, and try to make it. It’s a grand and magical city, but how do you get your horses from one place to the next? Where do you load the barrels for the tavern? It’s really fun to think of those things simultaneously.”

Normal life in Minrathous is not yours to behold for long, however. Within a couple of minutes of your arrival, the very air is ripped open like cheap drapes, and flaming demons clatter through the merchant carts that line the city streets. A terrible magical ritual, through which Solas intends to stitch together a new reality, has begun.

“We wanted the prologue to feel like the finale of any other game we’ve done,” Busche explains. “Where it puts you right into this media-res attack on a city and gets you really invested in the action and the story right away. When I think back to Inquisition, how the sky was literally tearing open – the impact of this ritual really makes that look like a minor inconvenience.”

Our hero is confronted by a Pride demon, imposing and armored as in previous games, yet accented by exposed, bright lines that seem to burst from its ribcage. “They are a creature of raw negative emotion,” Busche says. “So we wanted to actually incorporate that into their visual design with this glowing nervous system.”

When a pack of smaller demons blocks Rook’s route to the plaza where Neve was last seen, battle breaks out, and The Veilguard’s greatest divergence from previous Dragon Age games becomes apparent. Our rogue protagonist flits between targets up close and evades individual sword swings with precision. In the chaos, he swaps back and forth between blades and a bow. He blends light and heavy attacks, and takes advantage of any gap in the melee to charge up even bigger blows.

“Responsiveness was our first-and-foremost goal with this baseline layer of the combat system,” Busche says. Unless you’re activating a high-risk, high-reward ability such as a charged attack, any action can be animation-cancelled, allowing you to abort a sword swing and dive away if an enemy lunges too close. “We very much wanted you to feel like you exist in this space, as you’re going through these really crafted, hand-touched worlds,” Busche says. “That you’re on the ground in control of every action, every block, every dodge.” Anyone who’s ever bounced off a Soulslike needn’t worry: The Veilguard’s highly customizable difficulty settings enable you to loosen up parry windows if they prove too demanding.

Gone is the overhead tactical camera which, for some players, was a crucial point of connection between Dragon Age and the Baldur’s Gate games that came before, tapping into a lineage of thoughtful, tabletop-inspired combat. Epler points out that the camera’s prior inclusion had an enormous impact on where the game’s battles took place. “We actually had a mandate on Inquisition, which was, ‘Don’t fight inside,’” he says. “The amount of extra work on getting that tactical camera to work in a lot of those internal environments, it was very challenging.”

Gone, too, is the ability to steer your comrades directly. “On the experiential side, we wanted you to feel like you are Rook – you’re in this world, you’re really focused on your actions,” Busche says. “We very much wanted the companions to feel like they, as fully realized characters, are in control of their own actions. They make their own decisions. You, as the leader of this crew, can influence and direct and command them, but they are their own people.”

It's an idea with merit, albeit one that could be read as spin. “It’s not lost on me,” Busche says. “I will admit that, on paper, if you just read that you have no ability to control your companions, it might feel like something was taken away. But in our testing and validating with players, what we find is they’re more engaged than ever.”

There may be a couple of reasons for that. One is that Dragon Age’s newly dynamic action leaves little room for seconds spent swapping between perspectives. “This is a much higher actions-per-minute game,” Busche says. “It is more technically demanding on the player. So when we tried allowing you full control of your companions as well, what we’ve found is it wasn’t actually adding to the experience. In fact, in some ways it was detrimental, given the demanding nature of just controlling your own character.”

Then there’s The Veilguard’s own tactical layer, as described by BioWare. Though the fighting might be faster and lower, like a mana-fuelled sports scar, the studio is keen to stress that the pause button remains as important to the action as ever. This is, according to Busche, where the RPG depth shines through, as you evaluate the targets you’re facing and take their buffs into account: “Matching elemental types against weaknesses and resistances is a big key to success in this game.”

You pick between rogue, warrior and mage – each role later splitting again into deeper specialisms – and draw from a class-specific resource during fights. A rogue relies on Momentum, which is built up by avoiding damage and being highly aggressive, whereas a warrior is rewarded for blocking, parrying, and mitigating damage.

Those resources are then used on the ability wheel, which pauses the game and allows you to consider your options. The bottom quadrant of the wheel belongs to your character, and is where three primary abilities will be housed. “Rook will also have access to runes, which function as an ability, and a special ultimate ability,” Busche says. “So you’re bringing five distinct abilities with you into combat.”

The sections to the left and right of the wheel, meanwhile, are dedicated to your companions. Busche points to Lace Harding, the returning rogue from Inquisition, who is currently frozen mid-jump. “She is her own realized individual in this game. She’s got her own behaviors: how she prioritizes targets, whether she gets up close and draws aggro or stays farther back at range. But you’ll be able to direct her in combat by activating her abilities from the wheel.”

These abilities are complemented by positional options at the top of the wheel, where you can instruct your companions to focus their efforts on specific targets, either together or individually. Doing so will activate the various buffs, debuffs and damage enhancements inherent in their weapons and gear. “So,” Busche explains, “as you progress through the first two hours of the game, this full ability wheel is completely populated with a variety of options and different tactics that you can then string together.”

BioWare has leaned into combos. You might tell one companion to unleash a gravity-well effect that gathers enemies together, then have another slow time. Finally, you could drop an AOE attack on your clustered and slowed opponents, dealing maximum damage. The interface will let you know when an opportunity to blend two companion abilities emerges – moments BioWare has dubbed ‘combo detonations’.

“I like to think about this strategic layer to combat as a huddle,” Busche says, “where you’re figuring out how you want to handle the situation, based on the information you have on the encounter, and how you and your companions synergize together.”

Deeper into the game, as encounters get more challenging, Epler says we’ll be spending a lot of time making “very specific and very focused tactical decisions”. The proof will be in eating the Fereldan fluffy mackerel pudding, of course, but Busche insists this shift to fast action isn’t a simplification. “What really makes the combat system and indeed the extension into the progression system work is that pause-and-play tactical element that we know our players expect.”

The autonomy of The Veilguard’s companions doesn’t end with combat. BioWare’s data shows that in previous games players tended to stick with the same two or three beloved comrades during a playthrough. This time, however, you’ll be forced to mix your squad up at regular intervals.

“We do expect that players will have favorites they typically want to adventure with,” Busche says, “but sometimes certain companions will be mandatory.” Others may not always be available – part of the studio’s effort to convince with three-dimensional characters. “They do have a life outside of Rook, the main character,” Busche says.

"They'll fall in love with people in this world. They’ve had past experiences they’ll share with you if you allow them in and get close to them.”

Being separated from your companions, rather than collecting them all in a kind of stasis at camp, allows you to stumble across them unexpectedly. Busche describes an instance in which, while exploring the Docktown section of Minrathous, you might bump into Neve as she investigates an abduction case. “If I go and interact with her, I can actually stop what I’m doing, pick up her arc and adventure with her throughout her part of the story,” Busche says. “What’s interesting is that all of the companion arcs do ultimately tie back to the themes of the main critical path, but they also have their own unique challenges and villains, and take place over the course of many different intimate moments.”

Some parts of a companion’s quest arc involve combat, while others don’t. Some are made up of large and meaningful missions – as lavish and involved as those along the critical path. “While they are optional, I would be hesitant to call them side content in this game,” Busche says. If you choose not to engage with some of these companion-centered events, they’ll resolve on their own. “And it might have interesting implications.”

The Veilguard promises plenty of change, then, even as it picks up the threads of fan-favorite characters and deepens them, honoring the decades of worldbuilding that came before it. This is perhaps the enduring and alluring paradox of Dragon Age: a beloved series which has never had a direct and immediate sequel, nor a recurring protagonist. Instead, it’s been reinvented with each new entry.

“It’s a mixed blessing to some degree,” Epler says. “The upside is always that it gives us more room to experiment and to try new things. There are parts of the series that are common to every game: it’s always an RPG, it’s always about characters, and we always want to have that strategic tactical combat where you’re forced to make challenging decisions. But at the end of the day, I think what makes Dragon Age Dragon Age is that each one feels a little bit different.”"

Q&A Matthew Rhodes Art director

Q. Early BioWare RPGs were literary, with the emotions and detail mostly happening in dialogue boxes. How have you seen the studio's approach to visual storytelling evolve? A. This has been my entire career. When I first showed up at BioWare, it was at the tail end of Jade Empire, and then I was working on Dragon Age: Origins and early Mass Effect. The games had taken that next step out of sprites and 2D models, and it was like: 'How do we say more? How do we communicate more clearly?' During those early days, a lot of games depended on words to fix everything for you. As long as your character was talking bombastically, you could lend them everything that they needed. But as time went on it also became a visual medium, and it's been this long journey of trying to establish art's seat at the table. I've worked with some great writers over the years, and art is also an essential part of the storytelling. From Dragon Age: Inquisition on, I've been trying to stress with my teams that we are a story department.

Q. Is part of that also letting writers know that your storytelling assistance is available, to help them show rather than tell? A. On The Veilguard, that principle has been operating the best I've seen it. Where you would need a paragraph of dialogue in one of those exposition moments where a character just talks to you, we could sell that with a broken statue or a skeleton overgrown with vines. We've had more opportunities to do that on The Veilguard than most of the projects I've ever worked on combined.

To a hammer, every problem looks like a nail, and so in every department, writing will try to solve it with more words, and art will try to solve it with more art. I've bumped up against moments where it's like, 'As much as we could keep hammering on this design, I think this is actually an audio solution.' And then you take it to audio, and you don't get that overcooked feeling where each team is just trying to solve it in their silo. It's a really creatively charged kind of environment.

[main body of article ends here]

Additional from throughout the article --

Image caption: “Spotlights shine down from the city guards’ base as they pursue you through the streets of Minrathous.”

Image caption: “While most of your companions can be sorted into comfortingly familiar RPG classes, The Veilguard introduces two new varieties: a Veil Jumper and a private investigator.”"

Image caption [on this Solas ritual concept art specifically]: “The name previously given to the game – Dreadwolf – was a direct reference to Solas. Your former companion, now on his own destructive mission, still features, despite the name change.”

Text in a side box:

"RATIONAL ANTHEM The hard lesson BioWare drew from Anthem was to play to its strengths. “We’re a studio that has always been built around digging deep on storytelling and roleplaying,” Epler says. “I’m proud of a lot of things on Anthem – I was on that project for a year and a half. But at the end of the day we were building a game focused on something we were not necessarily as proficient at. For me and for the team, the biggest lesson was to know what you’re good at and then double down on it. Don’t spread yourselves too thin. Don’t try to do a bunch of different things you don’t have the expertise to do. A lot of the people on this team came here to build a story-focused, singleplayer RPG."

Image caption: “In combat you no longer control your companions directly – this is a faster-paced form of fighting – but you are able to direct them in combat, and can even blend their abilities in ‘combo detonations’.”

Image caption: “You’ll be exploring new regions across Tevinter and beyond – Rivain is a certainty, and that’s only accessible via Antiva travelling overland.”

Image caption: “There are three specializations per character class; on the way to unlocking them you’ll acquire a range of abilities.”

Text in a side box:

"MEET YOUR MAKER “Full disclosure: Dragon Age has traditionally not done skin tones well, especially for people of color,” Busche says. “We wanted to do a make-good here.” In The Veilguard’s character creator, you can adjust the amount of melanin that comes through in the skin, as well as test various lighting scenarios to ensure your protagonist looks exactly as you intend in cutscenes. “Speaking of our first creative principle – be who you want to be – we really feel these are the kinds of features that unlock that for our players,” Busche says. “We want everyone to be able to see themselves in this game.” For the first time in the series, your body type is fully customizable too, with animations, armor and even romantic scenes reflecting your choices."

Image caption: “Your companions are a mix of old and new – Lace Harding is a familiar face. Veil Jumper Bellara is new, with a new occupation, while Davrin is a new face with a familiar profession – he’s a Warden.”

Image caption: "Arlathan Forest is home to the ruined city of the elves, now a place of wild magic, Veil Jumpers and (allegedly) spirits".

Image caption: "Bellara is driven by a desire to learn more about the elves, rediscovering the shattered history and magic of her people."

[source: Edge – The Future of Interactive Entertainment magazine, issue #401 (October 2024 issue) - it can be purchased online at [this link].]

[angelbitezzz]

OKAY SO. Player replaces Bill. Design-wise, it depends how far you want the resemblance to extend. The good news is that UT is already a pixel-y game so the heart/SOUL is rather geometric. If you want it to really resemble Bill’s design (and, potentially, some backstory features??) I am sliding this (very rough) idea to the table:

(Made extremely quickly and badly in CSP.) It’s made out of three (approximate) squares to really reinforce the geometric visual. Ofc the eye could be weirdly organic like Bill’s, but that’s up to you. I do think an eye is fitting given that the Player bears witness to so much, is shown much more than they can ever hope to influence. Arms and legs are optional ofc. If you go without the limbs, you could even stretch the reference to the Xbox version of UT where if you disconnect the controller, you get a bunch of text about various body parts not being connected. (“No head is connected. No body is connected. No arms are connected…” and so on.)

(Maybe the heart shape isn’t their true form, merely the only one they can take to be visually comprehended here?)

Story-wise, I could see the Player seeing something of a kindred soul (no pun intended) in Gaster, wanting to show him the things they can see. (“There’s more to this than just your singular timeline in your singular universe” and “You could be so much happier if you do X, Y, and Z— believe me, I’ve seen other timelines” and “You’re the only one in this silly game who understands that there’s so much MORE! That there’s another existence. Just let me show it to you!” Maybe even a little bit of, “I’m doing this because you’ve always been my favorite.”)

Possibly originally well-intentioned, unlike Bill, but still neglects to really comprehend the cosmic horror they’re inflicting on Gaster. Do they encourage him to build something like the portal to escape this singular universe and timeline, only for it to go horribly? (You could tie in the machine in Sans’ basement…) Does he build it himself, because he desperately wants to witness the things the Player tells him about? Does he want to see the Player’s “true form”? (Is this a twisted love story? An “I will defy the nature of the multiverse to be in the same existence as you” story?) Is he doing this to sate his own curiosity, or to help others? (Basically— how much are you leaning into Ford’s character, and how much are you keeping in line with your Gaster/the UT storyline of wanting to solve a huge problem that affects everyone?)

Does the Player turn on Gaster? Or is it all a big misunderstanding? A mistake? Are they cruel, or kind? Given the nature of many UT players I would assume kind, at least at first. But this is your AU, not mine.

Anyway feel free to take or leave whatever, build on anything here, ignore it, change it— whatever! :3 Hope this at least gave you some ideas~

ohhhhhHhh I like these a lot. You're making me think THOUGHTS

[miloscat]

[Review] Sonic Free Riders (Xbox 360)

They made hoverboards fun and exciting, then the fans made it actually playable.

After Zero Gravity, Sonic Team were apparently not done with the Riders series. Not done using it for motion control experiments, that is. The next and final instalment was a launch title for Microsoft's ill-fated Kinect motion sensor accessory. This camera apparatus could track a player's full body and so you needed a large, empty area to play your games in, which has never been practical for me. So I considered this game essentially lost media as far as I was concerned, until I recently learned about a mod that reworked the game for traditional controllers that I could use on an emulator. The updated version of this patch was buggy but the original release worked a treat and I was finally able to experience this title.

Compared to previous entries, the plot is very low-stakes. Eggman is hosting another racing tournament in disguise, shenanigans ensue. The cutscenes are merely static character portraits, the dialogue nothing but banter and posturing with the framing device of Omochao reporting on the racing for a TV broadcast. But the strength this has over prior Riders games is including a broader range of the cast, with Teams Rose and Dark being involved and playable in their own story modes in addition to the usual Heroes and Babylon stories. Well, Team Dark is missing Omega and substitutes a random eggbot who is more than it appears in perhaps the only notable story development. And Team Rose is Amy, Cream, and... Vector... so Team Sonic Racing wasn't the first to randomly force him in to fill out another team, or to have a weird addition to Team Rose.

As for the racing, from what I could tell from the tutorial, there's a lot of actions you need to be able to do. It seemed complex and the pace of gameplay quite fast for something you control just with various body motions to an unresponsive IR sensor grid. In other words, compared to Zero Gravity it didn't feel as compromised by the control scheme, and translated reasonably well to a controller, so it's a shame they never officially offered that as an option. The game reviewed terribly at the time on the basis of its controls, but with a pad in hand I had a fun time. Sure it was easy most of the way through, but by the very last stages it did even offer a decent challenge.

There's no drifting, but a heavy turn assist helps with cornering. There's a boost function that drains your air meter, as well as a "lean forward (tilt control stick up) to go faster" mechanic. Stunts are done in Zero Gravity style, by jumping at the right time off a ramp, although you can spin to do a better trick (not supported in the original mod release). Arm flailing is a factor, where you can lean to grab rings that are just off the course, throw items that skew a little more Mario Kart in their effects while still being unique, rub steam or splatter off your screen, or grab poles to swing around and take shortcuts. As a power character you can punch to destroy obstacles, and flight characters have to have arms outstretched to remain airborne when necessary. It sounds exhausting but all these functions are mapped pretty well to a controller in the mod, and I got to grips with them quickly. And while it may sound overloaded with gimmicks, I thought it was a better balance than the previous games of keeping up your pace while doing them, or being ignorable entirely.

It may sound like I'm being contrary but this quickly became my favourite of the Riders games. Because it expects you to be flolloping around, it's so much more forgiving and I found I wasn't constantly struggling against the game and its demands. It integrates a mission-like structure into the campaign so most of the time you're doing various objectives and single-lap runs of the courses in story mode, which moves things along at a quick pace. It also looks gorgeous, the environments varied and ultra-colourful, helped of course by being in HD for the first time. The tracks have fun setpieces like toboggan or minecart sections, jumping onto rooftops, or surfing while being pulled by a dolphin.

Free Riders kind of fulfilled the promise of what I wanted the series to be, for the first time. Fast-paced and bombastic, not overly punishing or bland. It's such a shame that that lively energy had to be locked behind an impractical peripheral gimmick. The assets were all there for a potential conversion or fourth instalment that takes the strengths but makes it play like a normal video game that people can actually play... but alas. As is often the case in the Sonic series, it was up to the fans to fix what Sega had broken, and I'm very thankful to Rei-SanTH for doing so in this case (please fix not being able to turn right on v1.1!).

[cobaltrequiem]

I meant to send this yesterday but as someone who has loved bioshock for years I’m genuinely very curious to hear your thoughts on the games if you’re up for sharing some of them

OMG HI sorry I didn't see this in my ask box! Thanks for the ask @sand-worms and appologies for the rambling ahead!

The first BioShock game is my favourite out of the whole series, but that's partially because I'm quite sentimental about it. It was one of the first "serious" games that I had ever played. I was a teenager and before that point I was only allowed to play "family friendly" games. BioShock was one of the first games I bought with my own money on my own console (a switch lite I saved up for myself), and it was wonderful. The way it wasn't afraid to be overtly political and it wasn't afraid to frighten or challenge the player. It didn't treat you like an idiot.

I soaked up every aspect of it. The gameplay. The setting. The area designs. The characters. The messages that it wore on its sleeve. And the story, god the story! I was completely transfixed by it.

I finished it in two days, and I still consider it to be one of my top 5 games of all time. I wrote an essay on it's themes for my higher english course, and still regularly think about it.

It is one of the two games ever that has caused me to have an epiphany about videogames, not as simply an enojyable experience but as art, and truthfully I cannot bring myself to replay it. My first experience with it was so thorough and meaningful that I cannot bring myself to replay it. I know it wouldn't be the same. You were beautiful and I can never play you again.

I played BioShock 2 shortly after, and was initially quite disapointed at it for not being BioShock 1. You could tell that the story was written after 1 and that bugged me. Its political messaging also didn't seem as pointed to me.

However, throughout the course of the game I grew to really appreciate it's differences. The personal connection between Elanor and Subject Delta was incredibly touching. The choices in the game felt more meaningful and gave it an aspect of replayability that the first BioShock game did not have. The gameplay aditions were also great! I loved using the drill in particular, it was an incredibly satisfying weapon to use. It's story about altruism also resonated with me despite the slow start and I thought the adition of multiple endings (that didn't hinge on "is murdering children bad?") was also great.

BioShock 2 only took me a single day to complete, I sat down for 10 hours and played it all the way through with very few breaks, and I do seriously intend to revisit it - I own a copy for the xbox 360 now which should be infinitely better than playing on a switch lite. Overall its a very well made game, it just doesn't hold the same place in my heart as the original.

BioShock Infinite haunts me.

It's a game that had so much potential. The religious horror. The game's aesthetics. Playing a character that talked and reacted to things!

I went in with high hopes and loved it initially. I had a very personal experience with it too, albeit in a very different way. When I was a young child my dad bought a copy of BioShock Infinite shortly after it released and I would sit in the living room while he played it. It terrified me.

I have particularly vivid memories of the scene at the fair, it was maybe one of the first genuinely terrifying things I'd seen in a piece of media. It was a foundational memory for me and is perhaps where some of my love of horror comes from as an adult because it didn't just scare me to the point of tears, it fascinated me. The gore laden glory kills and the mechanised patriots were similarly horrifying but I never stopped watching. There was something alluring about this game I shouldn't have been seeing.

I really wanted to like BioShock Infinite but just couldn't. The story at times seemed like an excuse to get you from one point to another, the fence sitting centrist politics were tiring, and it tried to do everything at once.

BioShock Infinite was not a good game, but it was mediocre in an interesting way and that has stuck with me.

It wanted to be a political drama. It wanted to be high concept sci-fi. It wanted to be religious horror.

The area design made you feel like you were going around in circles. Vigours had very little story or gameplay relevance making them seem like a pointless adition clearly only meant to imitate plasmids. It didn't feel like a BioShock game but despite all of that it had potential. So many different ideas went into it, so many interesting storybeats and scenes and themes went into it but it just ended up feeling muddy and convoluted.

I can pick out so many things I like about it, so many things that are interesting and could have been amazing but weren't

Not too long ago I read a post from someone on this site. Something along the lines of "a good game will stay with you for a week, but a game that's mediocre in an interesting way will stick with you for life"

My dad never finished BioShock Infinite, but I did. I still think about it to this day.

[c0rpseductor]

struggling to stay awake but i watched the sarah z video about fanfic as an art form (very good) and then in the related videos saw several from a youtube account that gives fanfic writing tips. i was curious so i watched the one that’s like, “tips for writing fanfic that can’t work in original fiction” and have thots

i guess i kind of feel ambivalent about it bc like. on one hand i agree fic as a medium encourages and can sometimes greatly benefit from a lot of stuff that doesn’t fly in original fiction, like cutting out canon events we’ve already seen or descriptions we should already know. a fic doesn’t have to be a totally standalone work given it already depends heavily on the context of the canon it’s derived from.

on the other hand i kind of struggle to see how some of these tips benefit _any_ form of writing? like “the pace can be very choppy or glacial if you want! pacing doesn’t matter!” feels like poor advice to me if you’re trying to make your fic read well. canon can prop up a lack of exposition but cannot change the way your fic reads as its own work. i think pacing very much still matters, and “good pacing” can be somewhat subjective, but the actual wording of the advice was along the lines of like, pacing straight up doesn’t matter, which i don’t agree with at all. i think a featured comment along these lines (bc the video maker showed some other writers’ opinions that they liked) was essentially like, “you can have really incredibly slow pacing and it be fine if the story is just a relationship study and there’s no plot or themes or meaning.” EVERY STORY HAS FUCKING THEMES AND MEANING IT COMES FREE WITH YOUR FUCKING XBOX. don’t fucking encourage people to be uncritical writers oh my god

i also like. i understand that i have different aims when i write fic than other people. with the longfic i’m working on right now, i want it to retell shadowbringers (hopefully on to endwalker) with my wol and highlight things FFXIV made me feel that were meaningful to me, and i’m choosing to have a slow pace so that readers can both have that experience again through my WoL’s eyes and figure out who the fuck he is without it feeling like a hasty exposition dump. i also personally don’t like how a lot of ffxiv fics in a similar vein read, bc they skip big important canon developments and emotional moments, so i chose to like…not do that. i also know i have at least one buddy (hi faiya) if not a couple buddies who are reading it fandom-blind, so i wanna add descriptions of locations and people. (plus, again, having a biased POV character means every description is Free Characterization, Baby!) i also think having descriptions immerses a reader more even if they reiterate canon, and it can be a helpful convention to establish so that describing new locations and so on doesn’t necessarily feel so, like, jarring. with shorter pieces i skip unimportant stuff but still like having the opportunity to set a scene and work in some inventive prose.

which, like, tooting my own horn i guess. obviously i like how i write or i wouldn’t do it like that. i try to have reasons for everything i do and think about my goals for what i want my writing to evoke and the experience i’m trying to create. however i am increasingly beginning to think the experience i’m trying to create is one that just really doesn’t read like fanfiction. on one hand, i don’t always like how fanfiction reads, so to me that’s good. on the other, though, if i don’t always like how fanfiction reads, idk if i’m the best judge of these kinds of intentional stylistic breaks in fanfiction as opposed to original fiction and how well they work. i don’t like choppy pacing, i don’t like fics that dwell or feel circular vis a vis pacing, i don’t like fics that just leave shit out that would potentially strengthen the story they’re trying to tell (100% bitching about emetwol shb retellings that skip and summarize every cutscene even when it would be a big relationship moment for emet and wol. like come on it’s free development they give it to you), and i’m okay with fics that don’t have much sensory description of established stuff bc i can fill in but they’re that much less engaging for it. some of these pieces of advice strike me less as useful shortcuts in a transformative work and more as shortcuts that actually weaken a transformative work. fic has to exist in conversation with canon, but a fic i think also has to have an existence as its “own story,” if that makes sense.

i know to some degree it depends a lot on the individual fic, too. for a short fic or a oneshot i feel way more like i’d agree and say “yes, by all means, skip the exposition and unnecessary description and get to the part we’re meant to care about, we have limited real estate here, devote it to the details of import!”, like i certainly don’t sit describing the layout of the crystarium room every time i write a ficlet about it. but i’m more reticent to say that about longer pieces where you have more time to explore and recontextualize and reiterate shit that might still be relevant to your work as a whole.

definitely a thing where like. i don’t want to get super egotistical or on my high horse about it bc despite feeling more confident as of late i do know i have a lot of room to grow as a writer and even just in terms of utilizing fic as a medium efficiently. but i wouldn’t be giving these out as blanket pieces of advice, which i felt the video was doing. the only blanket advice i would give out is “read and dissect published works to see how they construct prose and do other technical stuff,” because those are transferable skills and i think knowing how a story is constructed on the page is crucial to making informed decisions about how to take one apart and put it back together. but i’m also the guy who is saying this to you while very much aiming to apply it to unmonetizable age gap gay catboy porn a maximum of 15 people will read so you can take my words with a grain of salt approximately the size of your forearm

[the-ultimate-pie-family]

Blood visit cadaver part 2

"Blood was walking to cadaver place to visit this other twilight and spike too"

Yo cadaver, I brought a system to test your skills on some halo reach ahahah hello?! Twilight! spike? "Blood walked into a trap door and found the lab of Twilight. Oh, hey cadaver, what's up? Eh, the usual getting my organs replaced, oh yeah, I get that all too well. My Twilight does everything for my body, but every time my body part turns to the original color, I know your whiter, then Casper, the friendly ghost pony that's a good one they laughed for a few then Twilight came in with organs but blood already had it done and stitched cadaver back up huh? Who the fuck are you!¿! I'm your nephew from another realm aunty Twilight you should know your own stitch work on me "Twilight was shocked that he was telling the truth because his stitch work same as hers" You may be my nephew from another realm but not here ok? And I will take you if needed for breaking in my lab now get out. "Twilight was mad at the truth but doesn't want any part of family." Make me. I'm here for my stitch, brother, not you fuck face. "Blood chaos magic was sparking up, but Twilight instantly felt fear from the chaos magic he has." That’s impossible. discord must be your father, then who's your mommy, then punk? Pinkamena "Twilight fear increase as she started to studder" p-p-pink-kamena???..... "Twilight fainted from fear" ready cadaver? " Cadaver was shocked but said yes," then blood teleported to cadaver room. " Hey, where the other one at probably with spike, oh? Ok, just us, ok blood setted up the Xbox series x with some hoof controllers and blood put in Halo reach? Here's your vr helmet, homie. Oh, shit for real?! "Cadaver was excited he put on the helmet. Oh shit blood. This is awesome. we're on reach pretty cool, huh? Dude, this is so amazing, Cadaver look out, the army, huh? Oh fuck!, jump cadaver this way. "Cadaver ran into blood, falling out of a sky base" blood? Blood!? Dive Cadaver dive Roger that blood. "Cadaver started to dive. No matter what happened, then he caught up to blood" coming in behind blood

"Blood looked back," Roger, that stay dive homie were diving into battle in 3........2....... "The clouds started clearing up seeing an army of spartans and aliens battling. Blood and Cadaver landed, charging into battle they fired there assault rifle cadaver through a frag grenade. " Blood on your 6 got it. Thanks, look out."Blood fliped over cadaver, stabbing a brute that was in berserker mode" cadaver shoot this fucker off me I'll do the next best thing. "Cadaver spreed the brute blasting the brute then crushs his skull gears of war sytle" ahhhhh!!!!!! "Cadaver did a battle cry as him and blood charged into battle again." The game went on for an hour till they save the lone wolf mission for last~" Oh damn blood, that was awesome. I never had this much fun. Maybe our other stitch can play too his name is Fizz, right? Oh shit it's almost morning. I gotta go cadaver school starts soon gotcha go hurry bud "blood teleported away to home"

Mod pie: Not bad again. They had fun. I hope that Twilight shouldn't have been scared. I just guess, but sorry about twilight fainting

Tag: @clown-sip

[sc-intothedarknightofthesoul]

7 and 10 for the Soulcalibur Asks

7. Who is your favourite guest character?

I was introduced to the Xbox version of Soul Calibur 2 first when I was `just past my toddlerhood, so I thought Spawn was pretty neat. I remember being mesmerized by the flowing cape in the intro. So basically while baby me was watching Teletubbies and Barney, I was also playing Spyro games and beating people up as Spawn in Soul Calibur 2.

But I guess the guest character that really takes the cake for me is Geralt of Rivia, as he's actually written into the lore of Soul Calibur 6 and we actually get to meet him in Libra of Soul. It was also fun getting my friends together in a Discord call to play his Soul Chronicle and talk about the crazy stuff he got into during the events of the Witcher games or series (I got the entire game series and I still need to get caught up with that, but I also refuse to touch Netflix or wherever the series is hosted).

10. Who is your favourite final boss?

It ain't Inferno. I see that guy in Versus Random Soul in 6 on a higher difficulty and I dip out immediately. But before I get to my favourite (because I get the feeling there's gonna be people that will never respect me again after this but fuck it), I have a bit of a tale to tell regarding Inferno. So I brought my Soul Calibur 6 stuff to the living room (it's the Steam version, so I had to borrow my brother's computer and grab an HDMI cord to play it on the big screen) and we did mini tournaments between me and my siblings. Later that night, two of my brothers started playing against each other and the younger of the two picked Inferno while I think the older brother of the two picked either Geralt or Raphael but I can't be too sure. Anyway, the older brother learned pretty quickly how stupidly OP Inferno is, almost on the verge of tears while the younger brother kept kicking the poor guy's ass. But what made this a little scary is the fact that the older brother did not give up AT ALL until he finally, FINALLY, wiped the floor with Inferno. And this is the guy I accidentally traumatized earlier ago with that trick Taki does where she's on the floor, then does the back kick where he least expected it and it ended in a ring out for him.

As for my favourite final boss...lemme just explain something, if I haven't gotten into Soul Calibur 6 today, I would tell you that my favourites would be Nightmare and Algol in Soul Calibur 4 (depending on which character you play or which route your OC goes) as they are part of my childhood and that sounds more honest than what I was originally gonna write for this ask due to a bad mix of anxiety, RSD and media literacy dying at a rapid rate nowadays.

But then I wouldn't be here writing for this blog, and I did end up getting into Soul Calibur 6, and my favourite final boss is Azwel in the Libra of Soul story. Well okay, he's technically not the final final boss because that title goes to Grøh, but the narrative built Azwel up to be this big climatic boss in Libra of Soul, so I guess that still counts! I could go on about how Azwel's kind of a guilty pleasure to me, because one: he's got interesting lore hidden away in the game's museum that gives us clues as to why he does what he does once you unlock everything and you get past the fact that he's a quasi-religious creep that talks too much and uses Soul Edge and Soul Calibur almost similarly Algol, and two: I am a huge sucker for charismatic and cunning amoral bastards in media, we're here to talk about bosses. I guess to me, where Grøh gives a grateful smile to the Conduit after using Soul Calibur against him in the Good Ending made the entirety of Libra of Soul a worthwhile game mode to play, it's also a cathartic moment to finally stand up and use either Soul Sword against Azwel after everything he's done to you and your companions, even his own Vanguard, the defiance against his attempt to use YOU to bring about the Ultimate Seed because it is YOU who gets to decide your own fate. And not only have you fought back against a dangerous enemy planning to make you his (my autistic ass thought he reminded me of that one Saints Row 4 quote about not knowing whether he wants to kill me or sleep with me, like sorry dude, your rizz stinks), you have also conquered the very thing you feared from the beginning: The Astral Chaos. Not only have you saved yourself, you ended up saving the world along with it.

Well, that's it.

I thought it'd be a simple answer, but SURPRISE I gave you a novel.

Thank you for the ask, this was fun to do, and I hope you have a good day!

[sesshy380]

Your ask fed the brainworm soooo nice, so I'm returning the favor! No pressure if you don't want to answer all of them tho!

1, 2, 4-8, 12, 15, 28, 29, 41, 42, 49, 64, 101

Yay! Lot's of DA questions!

1- How did you get into Dragon Age?

I honestly don’t remember. I vaguely recall looking through the games section at Walmart and seeing it. Don’t remember if I’d heard about it before that, or if it just looked interesting so I decided to give it a go. I don’t even remember if I had it for PC or Xbox originally (though I have a feeling it was for PC for some reason). All I know is I somehow decided to buy the game and fell in love with it.

2- Have you finished all three games?

Technically, yes. I finished all of what was available for Inquisition prior to the DLC releases. I think that’s the only one I haven’t played the DLC’s for (though I do own them).

4- What was your first Warden (gender/class/race/personality)?

First Warden, oh boy. I want to say Female Dalish Rogue? As far as personality, I could not tell you. I played it when it first came out, and I’ve replayed that game more times than I can count.

5- What was your first Hawke like (gender/class/temperament)?

This one I do remember. I am very much a Purple Hawke person (is there any other?). And Rogue ofc, bc I like collecting all the things, which means I don’t like depending on others to (unsuccessfully) open chests.

6- First Inquisitor (gender/class/race/personality)?

Another Dalish Rogue (I really like the Dalish, okay). I did one thing different though, this one was a MALE Dalish Rogue. His personality was very ‘I’m here, this sucks, but going to make the best of it, because wtf else am I supposed to do?’.

7- Favorite DA:O backstory?

All? I honestly have a really hard time starting new DA:O playthroughs simply because the origins are my favorite part. Especially when you come across all the little easter eggs later on from not only the origin you choose, but also the others that you don’t.

8- Preferred class overall?

So, I usually do my 1st playthrough of a new game as a rogue because I like the ability to open chests, but I actually like playing as a mage.

12- Do you prefer DA:O, DA2, or DA:I most?

Unpopular opinion time. I like DA2 the best. The day/night cycle thing is annoying, but unlike a lot of people, I don’t have a problem with reused maps. It makes it easier to find those nooks and crannies that have things hidden in them. The story though…it is one of those angsty ones that I just can’t tear myself away from. Like, I know what’s coming, and each time it still manages to just rip my heart out for poor Hawke.

15- Favorite DA:O companion overall?

It’s a close tie between Zevran and Shale. Zevran is…well…he’s called the Antivan Sex Pest for a reason lol. Shale is pretty much the Hulk. Point at something/someone you want destroyed, and I swear they rush over, kicking their feet like a giddy school girl lol.

28- Inquisitor’s feelings on being the Herald of Andraste?

I’ve only played one Inquisitor that took the role seriously. The rest were like ‘Ummm…this isn’t even my religion? I don’t even believe in the Maker? WTF???’. I even had one human Inquisitor that was very much atheist (he was my Dorian romance), and he absolutely hated the title.

29- What are your feelings on the Chantry?

I am torn between ‘Anders’ solution was a bit extreme’ and ‘Anders did nothing wrong’, and leave it at that.

41- Who did you romance in your first playthrough for each game?

Origins- Alistair

DA2- Anders

Inquisition- Cassandra (hardest romance imo and will never do it again)

42- Who do you wish you could romance that you can’t?

Varric. Fuck you Bianca (The bitch that dared threaten me, not the crossbow. The crossbow stays during sex lol)

49- Something you do in EVERY DA playthrough, no matter what?

I’m a completionist, so I have to recruit and make friends with all the companions. I failed to become friendly enough with Fenris on one playthrough where I was a mage and romancing Anders. I had to fight Fenris in the final battle. I wanted to cry.

64- Favorite achievement?

As much of a completionist as I am, I don’t pay attention to the achievements lol. I honestly can’t name a single one off the top of my head.

101- If you could meet your Warden/Hawke/Inquisitor, what would you say?

Warden- Don’t trust Zevran when he says he can disable a trap/open a lock. He lies.

Hawk- To hell with buying your mother’s old home. Use that Deep Roads coin and move somewhere that isn’t Kirkwall.

Inquisitor- (Specifically Lavallan) Don’t trust Solas. Stab him in the heart before he stabs you in yours.

101 Dragon Age Questions

[satoshi-mochida]

Octopath Traveler now available for PS5, PS4 - Gematsu

Publisher Square Enix and developer ACQUIRE have released Octopath Traveler for PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 via PlayStation Store for $59.99. A bundle containing both Octopath Traveler and Octopath Traveler II is also available for $74.99.

Octopath Traveler first launched for Switch on July 13, 2018, followed by PC via Steam on June 7, 2019, Stadia on April 28, 2020, and Xbox One on March 25, 2021.

Here is an overview of Octopath Traveler, via Square Enix:

About

Octopath Traveler, the RPG that sold over three million copies worldwide (as of September 2022), is now available on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4! Retro pixel graphics and modern 3D CG come together to create an enchanting HD-2D world where you can embark on an adventure all your own!

Story

In the faraway land of Orsterra, eight travelers venture forth. Step into their shoes and explore the realm as you see fit. Eight brave souls, each with a unique talent. Eight lands, eight stories to be told. So tell me, friend, what path will you tread? Set forth on a journey all your own.

Key Features

Journey through a unique and enchanting world of HD-2D graphics—a fusion of retro pixel art and 3D CG.

Classic command-based clashes combine with a unique “Break & Boost” system for more strategic battles.

Begin your adventure as one of eight travelers, each with their own origins, motivations, and unique skills. Where will you go? Who will you share the road with? Every choice is yours to make.

Watch a new trailer below.

Octopath Traveler Bundle Trailer

[paladin-of-nerd-fandom65]

Love the answers! Got some more :D are you tired of just me asking questions XD I can give you a break if you want?

1: I forget if you answer this already but what’s their favorite dance move?

2: does Kon pull the typical older brother pick on the younger brother stuff on Chris & Jon? Like giving them noogies, wet wilies, sitting on them, etc…

3: are they excited for the new dbz budokai tenkaichi 4 game? I’m actually quite excited myself lol

4: who’s their least favorite superhero or hero they think their ok?

5: what video game systems do they have?

6: I saw an earlier post about the starcave, can you tell me more about that like where’s it at & stuff?

Well @pin-crusher2000 , Given I’m sort of bit on a mini vacation as of right now, I got some time to spare ;-)

1) If the music is playing as per requesting the DJ at a party, Chris no doubt will take the floor doing the ever so catchy Achy Breaky Heart line. Let’s just say that good ole country music Pa showed Clark and him rubbed off a bit. Though if it was the Hamster Dance playing, Jon and him would instead freestyle

As for Jake, Mar’i and him steal the floor with a traditional Tamaranean ceremonial dance that sees them more or less air hit their fighting moves back and forth ending with their arms crossed like two swords for a good five minutes straight. When not doing so, Jake might be doing either the Monkey or the ever so classic Batusi

2) More like noogies, hair ruffles and lifting them by the legs upside down playfully (like Tadashi in Big Hero 6 did). He’s more of big brother that would verbal tease them but otherwise is pretty cool. So cool in fact he’s convinced he can make them Mini Mes of himself if only Clark and Lois would allow it

3) The following would be an accurate enough depiction of Chris and Jake’s reactions to the announcement trailer alone:

(For the record, I’m plenty excited for it too lol)

4) Probably either Hawkman (Carter Hall) or Captain Atom would be their least liked due to both of them being stuck in the mud, upright, little to no fun attitudes rubbing them both the wrong way in their own unique ways. Hawkman only more slightly given his own grim outlook on a lot of things, so grim even Batman himself once commented on it

(In canon too

Justice League International #19)

5) Nintendo Switches, PS4s (later PS5s), Nintendo Wiis, and Original Xboxs; those two have quite a wide range of time periods and differing generations of hardware that compliment their PCs as well.

6) The StarCave, aka the The Fortress of Fortitude, is located within the mountainous outskirts of the Bludhaven district, blending in well with the trees and limestone cliffs via active camouflage tech and shields. While it’s exterior once de-cloaked resembles a smaller blue and pink version of the original Fortress, the interior resembles something of a combination between colorful futuristic high tech base, a modern comfortable living room plus kitchen, a expansive and old timey gym area complete with numerous workout pads, exercise equipment and an entire wrestling ring for martial arts training, and almost the lot of it having wall to wall beige carpeting with only the gym and the hanger for their vehicles being the exceptions. So yes, even for a superhero base, they have a No Outdoor Shoes rule, though at the entrance way they do have some indoor slippers and sandals for themselves and guests.

[zzoupz]

oc questions !!! feel free to answer all or none :))

1. tell me about your favorite! (/pos)

2. tell me about your least favorite! (/pos) (stinky awful garbage man *gender neutral)

3. anything living in your head rent free? story concept, single scene without context, oc concept you wont get around to making?

4. tell me about your favorite relationship (friendship included!) between ocs!

5. do you have a favorite oc name? what is it and how'd you get it?

6. anything driving you truly batshit? going insane over them?

7. tell me something sad about an oc!

8. tell me something sweet about an oc!

9. any ""retired"" ocs you still think about?

10. pick a favorite character n tell me three songs you think theyd like!

hihi! sorry this is a bit late I want to get back on my pc for this

1. oh damn I have multiple favorites! I think ones that I enjoy the most (at the moment) are them

(yellow: Lee Harrison | blue: Bryan Dickinson)

they are basically a (in the 2000s) newbie punk band formed by two friends who are like brothers to each other. they bonded over both having not so great families (not like tragic-backstory awful but yknow. the average traditional family)

yeah I still can't figure out what their band name would be. yeah since 2020. sorry. such is life.

while they're not the ones I've wrote the most about, as in not much at all, I just really like them :)

2. Bartholomew. I used to like him then I realize how generic he is so I hate him now (/j) (yeah I actually do want to post about him less though)

3. been thinking about the dynamic normal human x immortal who finds them in every life. so simple and common but I go insane over it every time. I think it would be fun

4. ohohohoho man ok here are some in no particular orders

Time & Denial core, Denial/Dan (black hair, also the last image) is by @/ akamavarii

they were basically our coresonas, but they've became their own characters at this point so I think it counts

friends who commits OSHA violations together!!!

they share 1 brain cell and takes turns over it like an Xbox (quote from ami himself)

Iandithas & Lumeous (if you noticed one of the name changed its bc I did)

a bard & a wizard duo who are retired and are now a shopkeeper & a chemist

its funny I care about them this much bc Lumeous was supposed to be a dad and a side character to my other oc and Iandithas was a doodle of a random guy and now they mean the world to me

there have been like 5 people who pointed out that they look like a couple and you're right and I fucking hate that you're right. and they were roommates etc

Overseer / Conqueror

this one is new very obviously but I've been thinking about them for a LONG while.

friends to lovers to enemies heehoo heehoo heehoo heehoo heeh

can you tell I like it when queer relationships

5. Fakzky HAS to have my favorite origin. fun fact there's a bot on facebook that would combine the names of their followers (only if they request, don't worry) and it was my source of inspo for my fantroll names in 2020, Fakz is the only one I took completely from it and the post is still there!

6. the 35 awesome and cool animatics that exists in MY mind

7. oh man I don't wanna say something sad :( mostly bc I'm bad at it and it would sound cringe :(

8. I have a plague doc oc and she has 3 pet rats ^_^ they're all named after murderers from the bible but yeah whatever

(Dias Cain Jael in that order btw)

9. hmmm them I think. I make stuff about them way less nowadays but still draw them time to time. Cath is from 2018 and funnily is originally a fusion of two characters. and Danya is from early 2021 when I was just trying stuff out. I made them friends just cuz I think they look like they would do drugs together

10. I have no idea man I created them not know them (I am so so bad at this)

[sol-consort]

Hallo! i know little to nothing about Mass Effect and tbh all ur posts on here are getting me curious so when i can i think i might buy the games :) it also looks?? so pretty?? Im excited 2 see this blog grow hopefully and i hope you have fun with it and the game!

That is the highest of praise, thank you so much <3

Okay so, I'm assuming you're on pc too. If not, then tell me and I'll search around for ps or xbox deals and price history.

I recommend getting the legendary edition! It's three whole games and their dlc in one pack. It's original price is 60$ but during sale it goes down to 6$ which is a steal honestly, the game is phenomenal so far as an rpg and shooter.

And there is romance in it too! The characters are reoccurring and you can import your save from the first game to the second and third so the people and quests will be shaped to fit your story and choices in the previous game.

Here is the steam db sale link.

The last time it went on sale was during steam winter feast, and based on it's history it goes on sale on the 19th of January too! So maybe very soon, hopefully. If not, then there is also lunar New years on 27th of January.

Based on this chart, it's been going on sale very often, and the price keeps getting lower. So hopefully you'll get it even cheaper than I did. God knows I'd rather choke on acid than pay 60$ for a game. We don't count bg3 that was...a once a year purchase for my birthday.

I don't recommend paying full price at all, it falls off in comparison to today's 60$ games. Please wait for a sale.

I'm also new to this game! I've been playing it for the past week, and so, and oh my god, it stole all of my attention and heart. The fandom isn't...friendly, and it's mostly 35y+ people, so the fanfics are old-school millennial style.

But honestly, that's fine. We can make our own space. And I'm very open to requests for fanfics <3

The game does have some queer representation, which is nice. Even tho the first game is very old.

It's very easy, difficulty wise, and I am someone who sucks at shooter games. I've beaten far cry 4 with a bow. I can help you with anything you have questions about or need guidance for!

Again thank you so much Aaaa this made me very happy <3 it does feel lonely here by myself at times so I'm very grateful that you're willing to give this game a try. And it does have clear dnd themes in gith, drows and mindflayers if you're here from the bg3 blog. But they're just themes again and they take a lot of creatively in switching up these concepts. Mass effect is genuinely so beautiful! It feels like what starfield should've been at times. I keep staring at the planets and stars.

[parkerryland]

A comprehensive Look at all the different universal versions of me

So. I have been dealing with different multiverse versions of me for a while now. I've got the ones who like me and the ones who want to kill me.

I thought it would be a fun little activity to go through all of them in order for the ones that I know exist.

Philip Russel

Philip is from the "Soft" universe, from what I can tell everything there seems to follow this really cute, pastel color looking theme. Not a whole lot of bad people live there and Philip himself is just an absolute sweet heart. He speaks with this really soft voice and is constantly reassuring. He's a really nice dude.

Pan Rake

This motherfucker... Pan Rake comes from a "low budget" universe where everything looks like it was drawn by a kid using a mouse. He walks around like Mr. Game & Watch and when he talks his mouth just opens and only closes when he's done speaking, AND WHEN HE SPEAKS HE SOUNDS LIKE HE'S TALKING THROUGH AN XBOX LIVE MICROPHONE, COMPLETE WITH LOUD PUFFS OF BREATH AND BACKGROUND FANS FOR SOME UNGODLY REASON

He is the most annoying motherfucker I've ever dealt with.

Starry Knight

I don't know this dude's real name but Pan and Philip found him in a universe full of super heroes and super villains. From what I can guess he's some edgy ninja like motherfucker. If I had to make a direct hero comparison it would be Robin... Damien Wayne Robin.

I don't know enough about the dude yet, I don't see him nearly as much as I see Pan and Philip, apparently Pan sees him more and I'm surprised the dude hasn't decapitated Pan by now.

PURA

Another person I barely know about. This dude isn't really a "real" person, he only appears on my computer. But every time I talk to him Dog gets real upset.

Who's Dog? Well.

Dog

This guy's been living in my computer for god knows how long now. I thought he was a virus at first but honestly no computer virus is gonna steal your goddamn face. I dunno what universe he comes from or why he's on my computer, but he used to hate me, and ever since we've been dealing with Cancer Prince he's been helping me and the others.

And for some reason he absolutely despises PURA, still got no idea why.

Cancer Prince

Now we're onto the people who actively hate me and wanna cause me harm. Cancer Prince is from a universe where the world is represented by 4chan and its various boards. Cancer's basically "/vt/-tan", he's the one who represents the /vt/ or Vtuber board. He's a snarky asshole whos full of himself and uses that crown of his to harness his powers. That crown being some kinda copy of the original Cancer Lord's crown.

He also has this fuckin cat person henchman or something named Calvin.

I know the bullshit 4chan's done to this site so I'm preying to all of you, please don't fucking simp for Cancer Prince the way people on twitter did.

Karprex

No idea who this fucker is but this year he kidnapped me and threw me in my basement. He's the reason Pan and Philip has to find Starry, just so they could save me and get me the hell out.

From what I can tell this fucker knows magic and I heard him monologuing about how his universe was "Terminus" or something like that, I think that means his universe was fuckin destroyed. I dunno why he still serves Count Psyche if the dude destroyed his universe but whatever.

Speaking of

Count Psyche

The ringmaster of the previous evil parkers. This fucker is some sort of deity of the multiverse and can do almost anything he wants. One minute the dude's acting all cutesy, making pillow forts, having tea parties, the next he snaps his fingers and completely erases you and all memory of you out of existence because you forgot to remind him about something.

This fucker is pure evil and he wants to capture me, Philip, Pan, Starry, and apparently more Parkers for some sort of...reason? I dunno, none of us know why. I don't even think Cancer and Karprex know why either AND THEY FUCKING WORK FOR HIM.

I hope you enjoyed reading this. From what I've been told Philip and Pan are gonna start their own blogs soon so keep on the look out for that. Hell maybe even Starry will?

[danbenzvi]

The Terrible Gamer: “Immortality”

Available for? Currently, it’s available for Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S through Game Pass and PC through both Game Pass Ultimate and Steam.  From what I have heard, there are plans to also bring a version of the game to both mobile platforms (iOS and Android) as well as to Netflix’s planned gaming service. There is also no physical version of the game to be purchased, you will need to download it.

 I thought you weren’t going to be covering mobile games.  I’m not going to be covering games that originate as mobile games or that were designed primarily for mobile platforms.  This is not one of those cases.

 So, who’s this from? Sam Barlow (the gentleman behind the well regarded FMV video games Her Story and Telling Lies) and his studio, Half Mermaid.

 FMV?  It stands for Full Motion Video.  Instead of computer-generated imagery, the game is composed of filmed footage of live actors.  It’s a genre that’s had a rather sketchy past with games of uneven quality (some even arguing that games like Immortality aren’t games at all but are instead “interactive movies”).  Barlow has become a name in the FMV field for 1) primarily devoting his work to the FMV genre and 2) having a fairly stellar track record.

 So, how’s this game been received?  Very well. Reviews have been largely very good and, as of writing, the game is sitting at a very strong rating of 88 (out of 100) on Metacritic.  User reviews have been a bit more mixed and that’s to be understood.  Given that this is an FMV game and has a very specific tone and play style, it’s not surprising that not everyone who’s played it has taken to it.  This game is an acquired taste and there are some folks that just won’t vibe with it or won’t find it to their liking.

 So, what’s it about? Oh, that’s a loaded question (more on that later).  Immortality is a horror video game set in the film industry (partly due to Barlow deciding that if people kept calling his game “interactive movies”, he’d just set his next game in the film industry):

In 1968, Marissa Marcel was going to be a star.  Plucked from relative obscurity by famed director Arthur Fischer to be the female lead in his 1968 film Ambrosio, Marissa Marcel would go on to make two more films: Minsky (1970) and Two of Everything (1992).

None of Marissa Marcel’s films would ever be commercially released.

In 2022, Marissa Marcel has been largely forgotten.  Until a huge cache of footage from all of Marcel’s films has landed on your lap. It is your job to sort through the footage, examining it closely to find out what happened to Marissa Marcel and why none of her films ever saw the light of day.

Hold up, I’m confused? I thought you said this was a horror game?  I did. And it is.

 The plot you just outlined doesn’t sound like a horror game?  On the surface, it’s not.  But the plot summary is about 10% of what is really going on in this game.  As you examine the footage in more detail, you’ll find out what really happened on the sets of Marissa Marcel’s three films.  And it is intense.

 How intense, exactly? Well, let’s start with the fact that the game was given a well-earned M (for Mature) rating.  This is a game which comes with its own in-game content warning which reads as follows:

Viewers are warned that the film footage collected here contains subject matter that may be upsetting. The stories are taken from the gothic, thriller and supernatural genres and tackle themes and elements such as:

 Strong curse words

Blasphemy regarding the Catholic faith

Sudden and surprising visual cuts and sound events

Alcohol, cigarette and drug use

Abusive relationships

Nuidty, sex

Blood and wounding

Suicide

Sexual assault

Murder (asphyxia, knife and firearm)

 Let me repeat: this is an in-game content warning meant to refer strictly to the content of the three film’s Marissa made.  That it also applies strongly to the entirety of the footage in the game (including the secret footage) needs to be kept in mind as well.  Do not let the kiddos anywhere near this one.

 Secret footage? Ah, yes, the one thing the game does not tell you about from the very beginning that it really should. The game explains to you how you can use the controller to scrub through the footage, rewinding and fast forwarding through it.  The reason why you need to know this?  There is quite a bunch of secret footage hidden within the footage you are given. To access the secret (or “subverted” footage, to use the in-game term), you will need to rewind the footage that you’re watching upon being given the appropriate cue.

 Which is? There are two primary methods use to indicate when a piece of footage contains “subverted” hidden footage. There is supposedly a musical cue given to indicate the presence of subverted footage; I suspect that a combination of immersion within the game and my partial deafness led to me never noticing the audio cues.  Instead, I tended to rely on the second method: turning on the vibration function in the game and waiting for the controller to shake (depending on which controller you use, the force of the vibration will vary).

 How many cues are there when there’s hidden footage?  Usually, just the one.  There are some pieces of footage that have multiple pieces of “subverted” footage hidden in them. One particularly important one is a piece of footage from Minsky which explains why the film was never released. The surface level of the footage explains why, in fact, Minsky was never actually completed.  In the four pieces of footage beneath this surface layer, it not only explains the real story of what is going on during that moment but also will allow you to complete two achievements (for discovering the ultimate fates of two of the game’s supporting characters) by watching all of the hidden footage.

 A notable example of how this game plays around with the footage you’re given to examine is the first clip you’re given to examine: an appearance Marissa makes on a late-night talk show (clearly modeled on 70’s era Tonight Show with the host being a Johnny Carson copy) to both promote Ambrosio and hint at/set up Minsky in the narrative.  Whereas most of the footage is in good condition (being filmed footage), the talk show appearance is in noticeably worse quality, being an off-air recording of the appearance.  In the five times you will need to rewind through this recording in order to see all the “subverted” footage, the footage subtly (but visibly) degrades with each time the footage is rewound.

 Anything more we should know?  As I’m trying not to spoil: just the game’s primary mechanic.  All players will start with the talk show appearance mentioned above. To move on from there, you will need to pause the footage, choose a face or item within the footage and then button press to jump cut to the next piece of footage where that face or item is contained.  Except for the first piece of footage, all footage is obtained via random order. There is no in-game mechanic ensuring that clicking on an item in a piece of footage from Ambrosio won’t match you to footage from Minsky or Two of Everything.  You can narrow things down a bit by matching Marissa’s co-stars but even that’s not a 100% guarantee (as a few of the actors do recur between films).

 What’s the difficulty level for the achievements in the game?  I’ve got the full game complete/1000 gamer score on this one.  As that’s not a claim I can make about many games that I’ve played, I’d put difficulty at easy.  The achievements rely strictly on thorough examination of the footage and finding all of the footage available for all three films (and there are a number of lists online which will tell you which pieces of footage to pay special attention to/which items to click on within a piece of footage to help you find footage that you might otherwise be missing).

 And how long does it take to complete?  HowLongToBeat lists the game at 6 hours for main story completion, 9 hours for main and extras and 15 for completionist.  My personal experience had me at about 20-21 hours for a completionist playthrough so take that as you will.

 So, do you recommend it?  Yes, with a caveat.  This is a very niche game which will not be to everyone’s taste.  My ideal suggestion would be to make use of a Game Pass subscription (should you have one) so that you can download and play the game that way. If not, the game is available for under $20 on the Microsoft store and Steam so you won’t have to splash out much for it.

(Next up: a game which is probably as far as you can go in the opposite direction...)

[nickgerlich]

Seeing Blue

I grew up in a very different era. Different stores. Different cultural values. Different everything. If I were able to go back to the 1960s, the decade of my youth, I wouldn’t recognize the place, so much has changed since then.

And one of the biggest most popular retail chains back then was Kmart. It was Walmart long before Sam Walton could gather enough momentum to expand out of Arkansas. The chain traced its roots to founder traveling hardware salesman S. S. Kresge, who opened his first store in 1897 with a partner. The shops, which soon spread across the US, were part of what was then known as the “five and dime” category, meaning cheap stuff.

It was in 1962 that his successor opened the first large-scale retail store, a prototype of the big box phenomenon that would come decades later. They were suburban, whereas the original Kresge stores tended to be center city. Kmart quickly became a retail icon.

There was a shiny new Kmart not many miles from where my family lived at the time, which was the south suburbs of Chicago. My Dad the Accountant always loved a bargain, and had no problem going there in search of one. Mom was enticed by short-term promotional offers that helped her replenish household needs, as well as personal products. My brother and I went along for the ride.

It was Kmart’s signature promotional stunt that probably painted a black eye on the company, though. Their Blue Light Special caused customers to get in an uproar, but also became synonymous with inexpensive junk.

Let me paint a word picture for you. At a seemingly random time, a shop employee would start walking the aisles with a special cart that had a revolving blue light mounted atop a pole. This caught shoppers’ attention, because no one knew where he was going. They just knew that a free for all was about to happen. At the ordained time and location, he would stop, and a voice would come over the loudspeaker: “Attention Kmart shoppers…”

And the deal was announced. “Pantyhose in Aisle 8 for 99 cents!” The women would go wild, pawing over nylon stockings as if this were a Black Friday sale on Xboxes. My brother, Dad, and I were left scratching our heads wondering what we were seeing, primal instinct propelling these women to fight as if they would never own another pair.

It scarred me for life. But then again, maybe it helped shape my never ending fascination with consumer behavior. I still don’t understand that scene, though.

Anyway. I have digressed terribly. Let’s skip forward to the 21C, which found a struggling Kmart and Sears merging in 2005. Both chains had seemingly outworn their welcome on the American retail landscape. Eddie Lampert and his hedge fund orchestrated the unlikely marriage, ostensibly so he could invest vast sums of money in both and make them more competitive again.

It quickly became apparent that Lampert was not at all interested in retail, but rather the land beneath it. The two chains had massive amounts of valuable real estate, and he started closing stores so they could be repurposed or demolished for other purposes. By 2019, there was little left, and in a fit of bankruptcy—long after he had extracted the value—he sold it to Transformco in what was probably the dumbest purchase ever. Unless, of course, Transformco thought it could squeeze a few more drops out of the orange.

Today, there are 11 Sears stores left in the continental US, and one in Puerto Rico. And Kmart—God bless them—is about to close its one remaining full-size store next month. All that will be left is a seriously downsized Kmart in Miami, and stores in the US Virgin Islands and Guam (because there’s no competition on those islands).

Fans of old retail are mourning, although we all knew it was just a matter of time. Amarillo lost its Kmarts years ago, as did the outlying towns. I remember the one in Clinton Oklahoma closing not long ago, one of the long-term survivors. You can always tell an old Kmart store, even though the company was always swift to remove all signage and vestiges of branding. About the best you could hope for is what we call a “label scar,” meaning the fuzzy, ghostly imprint of lettering when the rest of the building had faded around it through the years.

I am pretty sure that most of my students have not experienced a Kmart, unless you grew up near one of the rapidly dwindling number of stores during the last 20 years. They were hideous, typically in disrepair, with merchandise scattered haphazardly throughout. It wasn’t just cheap. It reaked of cheap. “Blue Light Special” had come to characterize the whole place, not just a good deal over on Aisle 8.

I could be callous and say good riddance, but I recognize that Kmart served its purpose. In many regards, Dollar General and the other stores of this type are carrying on the tradition, although on a much smaller scale, and without colorful lights. By comparison, Walmart looks like Saks 5th Avenue, and Target is Nordstrom.

And yet I still remember the carnage of women gone wild that one day. Some memories you simply cannot erase.

Dr “But I Wish I Could” Gerlich

Audio Blog